The Swedish dairy production today consists of big farms and different housing systems are in use. These systems put demands on the cows? ability to cope with the environment and one challenge is the claw health in the herds. Some claw lesions that are frequently observed are foot rot, hemorrhages, digital dermatitis and sole ulcers, which can be caused by, for example, the claws? environment and the flooring type used.

The purpose of this study was to illustrate how professionals, who work with psychosocialproblems among children, look at the impact of social factors on behavior that causes ADHDdiagnosis and at the relationship between social factors and the increased diagnosis that hasoccurred in recent years. To answer our purpose, we chose a qualitative approach byinterviewing six professionals who had different professional affiliations. We analyzed theresults using systems theory and attachment theory. The results showed that the professionalssaw various social factors that influenced the behaviors that cause ADHD diagnosis, particularlytroublesome growing environment and the school environment that requires greater cognitiveability and social skills of children today. They also saw that social factors could have an impacton the increase of diagnoses, particularly that the diagnosis can result in that the understandingchanges and that it is considered easier to get extra support at school with a diagnosis..

The goal of this project was to make the requirement process at the Swedish Coastguard more effective. The first step to achieve this was done by locating bottle necks in the process with value stream mapping method. The result of this study showed that the biggest restriction in the requirement process was while examining older requirement documents to understand what elements were suitable for the particular project. This was followed by a study of literature, interviews and theory of Lean Production with the ambition to investigate how the requirement process was handled on other companies and how to improve the process on the Swedish coast guard. This led to a number of potential enhancements of the process which later was evaluated.

The purpose of this study was to create a deeper understanding for, and shine a light on the exit process for former criminal gang members. Which conditions appear to be important and what may constitute the enabling and inhibiting factors of an exit process? The study was based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with respondents who themselves have experience of a criminal lifestyle and gang affiliation, and with professionals in social work. Our theoretical approach is based on Helen Ebaugh?s definition of an exit process, labeling theories, strain theory and control theory.

The main aim of this thesis is to investigate the implications and dynamics behind consistency between individual resource allocation decisions and corporate strategy concept. The telecom industry, a high-velocity environment going through an extensive deregulation process, is put under the magnifying glass. Japanese telecom giant NTT Group is compared to its German counterpart Deutsche Telekom. Potential antecedent factors in the strategic decision-making process to consistency are studied. It is also examined whether there is a direct interplay between consistency and economic performance.

The purpose with this exam project has been to explore how satisfied the buyers of forest land have been with their real estate broker through the transfer process. The respondents had the opportunity to rate a number of different questions around the current acquisition. A questionnaire with 19 acquisition-related questions was sent to 134 people. People who since 2008-01-01 until today, have acted as a buyer of forest land. 80 responses were achieved and the result shows that the majority of buyers have a high gathered satisfaction..

Many times it can be the simple things that affect the attitude of work and which have an importance on the organization's effectiveness. These are not always apparent but can have a large importance for the motivation and the attitude of work. Large number of companies uses wage and other financial rewards system but is there any form of informal factors that have an importance for the coworkers and that affects motivation. What factors that affect the motivation within the industry are interesting to examine and specifically the factors that are not apparent, in other words informal factors that increases the motivation. The purpose of this thesis is to examine and describe which informal motivator factors co-workers/employees in a production department think are meaningful.

The purpose of our study is to examine whether stress among social workers is present, and ifso, what strategies they and their supervisors use to manage work-related stress. The study isbased on a qualitative method. The data consist of interviews, with six social workers andthree supervisors. The study?s theoretical framework is based on KASAM, SOC-sense ofcoherence by Antonovsky, demand- control- support model by Karasek & Theorell, stresstheory by Hans Selye and coping strategies by Lazarus.

This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of interest rate swap spreads in Sweden during the period 1999-2003. The results suggest that the spread between STIBOR and the general collateral repo rate is positively related to shorter maturity swap spreads. The risk premium associated with commercial bonds is positively related to swap spreads of all maturities. A negative relationship is observed between the term structure of interest rates and swap spreads. The short-term interest rate is positively related to spreads with shorter maturities.

The purpose of this study is to understand how the school manages to question norms, and in doing so might prevent its students from being subjected to discrimination and other degrading treatment. This has been done with a focus on how gender related norms are represented, reproduced and questioned in children?s fictional literature. Two methods have been used; a survey and an literary analysis. The survey was conducted on primary school teachers with the intent to collect information related to their thoughts when choosing books to use in their classrooms, and also to source commonly used fiction.

Problem: The question is if investors falls into psychological decision traps when they are about to make an investments decision. Research in other areas suggests that this may be case. The reason is that they are not aware of that psychological decision traps exist. If so, it can lead to pernicious consequences for the return on the portfolios they manage. Purpose: To investigate if investors fall into four different psychological decisions traps: anchoring, confirming evidence, overconfidence and regression towards mean, at investments in IPOs Method: We have collected data through a form of experiment.

This study aims to theoretically investigate the concepts of the interpersonal actions 'to motivate' and 'to manipulate' and also to examine possible differences and similarities between the two. The method used is a conceptual review based on the Self-Determination Theory, related to the concept of motivation, and Machiavellianism, related to the concept of manipu-lation. The results show that 'to motivate', according to Self-Determination Theory, concerns influencing the intrinsic or extrinsic motivation, where intrinsic motivation is related to the feeling of self-determination, inner locus of causality, being or feeling competent and exercise activities for the pleasure of it, whilst extrinsic motivation is related to external locus of cau-sality, external pressure and engaging in activities for the purpose of reaching a goal or re-ward. 'To manipulate' is according to Machiavellianism based on the manipulator doing whatever it takes to reach a certain goal and gain something for himself with no regard of what methods being used. The comparative analysis showed that the crucial difference in how an behaviour is interpreted as either, or both, motivating and manipulative is based on who is doing the interpretation, what information she has and which aspects that are focused on..

Since 1983 the people of Sri Lanka has endured an ongoing Civil war, however the intencity has varied over the years. The aim of this theses is to examine what influence the asymmetric relationship between the Sri Lankan goverment and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has on the process of negotiating a solution to the civil war. I am also examining whether the asymmetical relationship has changed over time and if these changes have had any effect on the process.To analyze the asymmetries I divide them into material and non-material. I measure the material asymmetries in economic and military resourses, and to measure the non-material I use indicators such as commitment, alternative, controll and legitimacy.The results show that the asymmetrical relations between the parties in Sri Lanka have changed since the 1990s. Factors like 9/11 and the recurrent suicide bombings by the LTTE has had a great influence on the singalese-tamil relationsship.

The topic of our thesis is Packaging Design as a Brand Building Tool and we are presenting the Scandinavian perspective. We found the topic interesting because, from a theoretical point of view, we identified a scarcity in research focusing on packaging design as a brand management tool, and from a practical point of view, we found out that businesses use packaging design at different levels in their communication efforts. Thus we wanted to provide both academia and business world with a clear picture to what extent and how businesses use packaging design in their brand-building process. Therefore the aim of our thesis is to provide practitioners and academicians alike with a better understanding of how packaging design can be used to create strong brands in the FMCG sector in the Scandinavian market. To reach the stated aim first we provided a solid theoretical background of packaging, its elements and its role in the marketing mix.

The study aims to describe and analyse the relationship between norm and practice regarding social services casework on honour-related problems. The relationship between norm and practice involves the difference between the way it is intended that social workers shall operate in these cases and how they perceive that this works in practice. We interviewed two focus groups of eight Swedish social workers, four in each group. We also held an individual interview with a social services business developer. Focus group interviews were based on two vignettes; one depicting an honour-related case and the second an "ordinary" case.