En av de allra centralaste aspekterna vid investerings- och finansieringsbeslut handlar om den risk som en investering innebär och den avkastning som marknaden kräver. Som kapitalplacerare vill man veta risken i en potentiell investering för att kunna beräkna det avkastningskrav man måste erhålla, och om investeringen motsvarar ens egen riskexponering. Investeringsbeslut på olika marknader innebär att olika typer av risker tas i beaktande och resulterar därigenom i att avkastningskraven skiljer sig åt mellan marknaderna. Området för den här undersökningen ligger i risker och avkastning på Private Equity marknaden där skillnader existerar jämfört med investeringar i börsbolag. Förespråkare för Private Equity industrin menar att Private Equity innebär möjligheter till betydligt högre avkastning än investeringar som görs i noterade instrument och då främst i jämförelse med aktier.

The aim of this study was to compare the Query-by-Humming systems Midomi, Musicline and Tunebot regarding their retrieval effectiveness. The aim was to see if there were differences between the systems but also between the user groups common users, musicians and singers. Query-by-Humming system means that the user sings a tune that the system then use to find the right melody.To compare the systems and their users, queries where collected from the different user groups and replayed for the systems. Mean Reciprocal Rank and Friedman test was used to do the comparison.The results showed that the system did not achieve equivalent and that there were no difference between the user groups. The Mean Reciprocal Rank showed that the systems had very different retrieval effectiveness, where Midomi was the system with best result and Musicline with the lowest result..

Today digital guides are most frequently used by the museum and tourism industries. They are also used for education purposes. They make it possible to distribute information and have it easily accessible. In addition to written information they add sound, pictures and videos which lift the whole impression of the visited place to a higher level. A variety of systems currently in use today have been evaluated.

The requirements for wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are gradually increasing, partly because of higher incoming loads, which in turn require a more efficient treatment process. In parallel with environmental and economic goals there are also desires to lower energy consumption without compromising the wastewater treatment. Furthermore, there is a demand on WWTP´s to alter eutrophication in aquatic systems through better nitrogen and phosphorus removal. An increasing number of WWTP´s have acquired biological nitrogen and phos-phorus removal. A by-product of this type of biological treatment is the formation of nitrous oxide, which is a potent greenhouse gas.

Konceptet kring kluster har fått mycket uppmärksamhet de senaste årtiondena. Dels beskrivet som ett viktigt fenomen, dels som ett bidrag till effektiva nationella ekonomier. I denna kandidatuppsats ämnar vi undersöka några viktiga drivkrafter som driver koncentrationerna av svenska bankers etablering inom kluster för Private Banking i Luxemburg. Finansklustret lever kvar trots ändrade förutsättningar och hårdare regleringar. Genom en kvalitativ studie av två svenska banker som har enheter i finanscentrum i Luxemburg, undersöker vi drivkrafter bakom etableringarna.

An investigation of the remedies in the Swedish Public Procurement Law. The result of this investigation shows that the remedies are not satisfactory in upkeeping the Procurement Law. The swedish legislator has not fulfilled the demands of the European Councils Regulations in this area. This results in ineffective use of public funding as well as discriminating actions against private suppliers. I have found that some changes must take place in the legislation and that an electronic procurement procedure makes the legislation easier for both the public and the private parties to understand..

The connection between management control systems for controlling sustainability and a firm's motivation for engaging in sustainability is not completely understood (Arjaliès & Mundy, 2013). The aim of this thesis is to develop a more profound understanding for management control in achieving sustainable companies. To do this, we raise the question: How and to what extent do companies use management control systems to achieve sustainability compliance Simons's Levers of Control (1995) are applied to this question in order to get a consistent and thorough insight of management control systems. Hence, a case study of ABB:s work to achieve material compliance in accordance with EU-regulation was conducted. The findings of the case study reveal that ABB uses the regulations as explicit goals and implement them in sustainability procedures.

Plant nutrients are important for all life on earth and are also important as fertiliser infood production all over the world. Because of this, plant nutrients are of great valuebut they also bring problems. As an example, the loss of nitrogen and phosphorusfrom agriculture and urban society's sewage systems contributes to some of today?smajor problems in water environment. Another problem associated with plantnutrients is that finite recourses are used in the production of mineral fertilizers.

I Sverige pågår idag en samhällsdebatt angående huruvida private equity?industrin bidrar till den ekonomiska utvecklingen genom att skapa långsiktigt starka och lönsamma bolag eller om de förstör värde genom nedskärningar och bolagsuppdelningar. Med private equity menas riskkapitalbolag som investerar i onoterade företag, så kallade portföljbolag, med avsikten att tillföra värde inför en avyttring några år senare, vanligen 3-5 år. Syftet med denna studie är att studera värdeutvecklingen på ett antal av dessa svenska portföljbolag, från riskkapitalbolagens avyttring till och med två år efter försäljningen. I studien har nyckeltal med fokus på lönsamhet, tillväxt och kapitalstruktur tagits fram för portföljbolagen.

Our study is focused on how the public sector can collaborate with the private sector on a certain issue. The public sector wanted to create a project to increase bicycling in the municipality of Kalmar. Our problem was to develop a sustainable way to collaborate between the two parties. We managed to present a suggestion on how the public sector with communication could improve their Public Relations with the private sector and therefore letting the parties benefit from their differences, thus making it possible to release synergy.Using semi-structured interviews and a workshop, we could clarify the values and attitudes of the parties to bring forth the core values to develop a shared vision. Where the identified differences were found, we used a dialog strategy based on intercultural conflict management as a communication tool.

The purpose of this master thesis is to, with the strategies of the organization and the preferences of the co-workers in mind, explore how reward systems can be designed in heterogeneous organizations. This is done by interviewing store managers and sales personnel in a heterogeneous organization. The frame of reference deals with theoretical approaches on reward systems and is divided in the following sections, individual or group based, differentiated or not differentiated rewards systems and goals, measurements and rewards. These sections are highlighted from the following aspects, equity, implementation possibilities and finally environment. The theoretical discussion ends in the conclusion that heterogeneous organizations should have several different reward systems, but not if a restructuring process is in progress or the system becomes too costly.

Sammanfattning Utvecklingen och utbredningen av Leveraged buyouts förvärv har ökat i Sverige de senaste 5-15 åren, detta kan vara ett resultat av ett mer flöde på kapital och intresse av att investera. Dessutom har förmodligen den allt mer mogna private equity marknad tillsammans med det ökande behovet av effektivisering av bolagen bidragit till att allt fler förvärv sker med belånat kapital. Vi har i denna kvalitativa uppsats intervjuat tre private equity företag med syfte att försöka klargöra vilka investeringskriterier som ligger till grund för en leveraged buyout-transaktion, samt vilka branscher som lockar dessa private equity företagen. I slutsatsen har det framkommit att PE-företagen gör investeringar i mogna företag utan några preferenser på specifika branscher. Vidare har vi funnit att de två viktigaste faktorer som PE-företagen tar i beaktning vid investeringar är stabila kassaflöden och kompetent företagsledning i målbolagen..

This is a thesis performed at GEMS PET Systems AB in Uppsala. GEMS PET Systems AB is a company within GE Healthcare. GEMS PET Systems develops and manufactures equipment for manufacturing of radioactive isotopes for PET which is a scanner used in medical applications. The systems includes an accelerator of cyclotron type and other support equipment. One system is shipped in two or three containers depending on order configuration.

Man's life has changed in many ways since technology made it?s entry for public at large. In response to this change the science of human-machine interaction was invented. It has in turn evolved into human-computer interaction. With this science the focus is on the customization of the system for the actual person who will use it.The thesis has been implemented in a telecom company's development department.

Water is the most essential resource for life. In cases where drinking water is processed from surface water it is important to ensure the raw water is of good quality, and is suitable for processing through the water treatment plant.The drinking water for Västerås is sourced from Västeråsfjärden, in the western side of Lake Mälaren. The city itself is home to marinas, ports, a wastewater treatment plant, the Svartån outlet, sewage pumping stations and stormwater outlets. Because of the negative effects these activities have on surface water quality, Mälarenergi AB is interested in relocating the raw water intake point to Granfjärden, 10 km east of Västeråsfjärden. At Granfjärden the intake point would be less exposed to the activities in Västerås, and could be placed at a greater depth, resulting in better water quality.In this Master?s thesis the water quality and the pollution risks at Västeråsfjärden and Granfjärden sites are compared.