This thesis has aimed to study steering process and institutionalization in the context of educational policy work. This has been conducted by using empirical material from the political decision-making process that preceded the implementation of a new national program on how principals should be educated and certified. By using an aggregated theoretical point of view containing new institutionalism and traditional Swedish curriculum theory, the process was analyzed from different perspectives. The results depict a process that contained several actors who tried to shape the principal education program differently. From the theoretical perspectives, the decision-making process could be understood as an act of both self-interest as well as trust in their own beliefs and cultural values.

It has become fairly common for a company to outsource one or several of its logistic activities to a party separate from the business of the company itself. Since the original agreement usually involves two parties, the seller and the buyer, the logistics company is called the third party. The relationship between the outsourcing company and the third party varies in form and in depth but can sometimes be very close, almost to be considered a joint venture. When the co-operation between the two parties includes more than just one separate logistic service and the third party adapts its business to a certain extent to his principals needs, it constitutes third party logistics. If the logistics company, or a party employed by it, becomes insolvent when having the entrusted goods in his possession questions may arise concerning the right to the property.

SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] penetrated China in spring of 2003, created havoc in the social society, exposed weaknesses within the political system and pushed the nation towards a crisis of confidence. At the same time the crisis revitalised the Party's position, brought people from different social stratum together and had a beneficial impact on the populace's knowledge on health related issues.What makes the SARS crisis in China interesting for further and deeper investigation is the method it chose to respond to its national crisis. They plan of response was indeed a retrogression back to "older" times, using methods and propaganda very much like those used during Mao Zedong and later Deng Xiaoping. The first step of response was denial and cover up of the real situation, which quickly turned to unprecedented transparency, as the magnitude of SARS became known. The Party and the government were quick to proclaim themselves as the bearer of the key knowledge and information on how to best fight the disease, this in sharp contrast to the political trend of more co-operation between the private and public sector and political transparency.

In music performers and music-making are oftenused different distortion effects to give the desiredcharacter on the individual sound sources andinstruments. These have different names (fuzz,distortion, overdrive) depending on the character. Tocarry out this work, an extensive literature study ofthe circuit diagrams of a large number of the classicdistortion circuits implemented. In this work, adistortion effect of the character fuzz was createdfrom several other existing effects. MeasurementsFFT, frequency response have been conducted tovalidate the desired results along the given problem.The finished effect was named Instant Carlos and aprototype was manufactured.

The aim is to develop a new decision-making model for credit-loans. The model will be specific for credit applicants of the OKQ8 bank, becauseit is based on data of earlier applicants of credit from the client (the bank). The final model is, in effect, functional enough to use informationabout a new applicant as input, and predict the outcome to either the good risk group or the bad risk group based on the applicant?s properties.The prediction may then lay the foundation for the decision to grant or deny credit loan.Because of the skewed distribution in the response variable, different sampling techniques are evaluated. These include oversampling with SMOTE, random undersampling and pure oversampling in the form of scalar weighting of the minority class.

Bakgrund och Problem: Aktiemarknaden påverkas både av inhemska och utländska faktorer. Därför är det av intresse att se vilka makroekonomiska variabler som påverkar den svenska aktiemarknaden. Anledningen till att Sverige har valts som den geografiska punkten är att det är av intresse att se hur ett litet land som Sverige, som har en öppen ekonomi påverkas av de utvalda makroekonomiska variablerna.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att med hjälp av information samt analys, studera hur de olika makroekonomiska variablerna påverkar den inhemska aktiemarknaden. Olika faktorer som påverkar aktiemarknaden kommer att lyftas fram för att i sin tur även se till de olika branscherna.Metod: Då data enbart består av hämtning av tidigare information fokuseras det enbart på sekundärdata i form av historiska siffror samt historiska undersökningar. De statistiska tester som tillämpas är Granger Causality test, Johansens Cointegration test, Impulse Response Function test, ADF test, KPSS test, Mulitpel regression.Slutsats: Med de resultat som presenterades i denna studie, skulle vi nog inte kunna säga att vi har ett svar över vilka aktier en investerare ska införskaffa.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.

External forces have significant impact on organisations. This study analyzes the implications of one type of external forces in aid-focused NGOs through two qualitative case studies where it is investigated if Sida?s reporting requirements have the intended effects: learning and control using a theoretical framework where it is recognised that the requirements may also result in dysfunctional behaviour: decoupling and colonisation. The study shows that when the demands are the result of institutional pressure rather than an ambition to generate learning and control, the demands tend to be unrealistic and the NGOs therefore decouple the formal fulfilment of the demands from the actual activities. It is argued that a partnership, which incorporates trust and dialogue, is a prerequisite, not only for learning, but also control.

AbstraktTransformativt ledarskap och empowering ledarskap undersöktes i en kvantitativ studie där 89 medarbetare vid ett större skogsföretag i Sundsvall besvarade en enkät och skattade sina chefers ledarskapsbeteende. En principal komponentanalys visade stöd för att det var två olika typer av ledarskap, och multipla hierarkiska regressionsanalyser visade stöd för att effekterna av transformativt ledarskap och empowering ledarskap var ledarskapseffektivitet och tillfredställelse med arbetsledningen. Resultatet av studien överensstämde väl med tidigare internationell ledarskapsforskning och indikerar att det går att predicera vilka effekter ett ledarskap hade på medarbetarna och därmed indirekt på medarbetarnas prestationer..

Cuttings of Lonicera xylosteum L. were treated with willow extract to study the response in rooting capacity. The extracts were prepared by mixing chopped pieces of Salix x smithiana Willd. with water in a warring blender. The investigation comprised 2 types of salix extracts based on differences and dynamics between twigs in winter dormancy and twigs with new shoots. To explore the rooting response, three tests were made.

Denna studie syftar till att undersöka om den grundläggande synen på identiteter USA:s ledande politikers besitter går att utläsa i strategiskt viktiga tal med koppling till USA:s insats i Afghanistan. Syftet är också att undersöka vad dessa synsätt haft för inverkan på konfliktrelationerna i detta fall. Den besvarar därför vilken grundläggande syn George W. Bush och Barack Obama uppvisat gällande identiteter. Den berör också vilken påverkan dessa identitetssyner haft för USA:s konfliktinställning och hur det förklarar konfliktutvecklingen.För att besvara dessa frågeställningar presenteras ett teoretiskt ramverk bestående av Carol Bacchis teori om problemformuleringens betydelse samt de essentialistiska och konstruktivistiska perspektiven.

Bakgrund: Det senaste decenniet har allt fler stormarknader och lågprisbutiker öppnat vilket har lett till att de mindre livsmedelsbutikerna blivit utsatta för större konkurrens. Parallellt med att stormarknaderna tagit marknadsandelar i dagligvarubranschen har även större fokus riktats mot ökat samarbete och informationsdelning i försörjningskedjan, så kallat Supply Chain Management (SCM). Inom dagligvarubranschen har Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) utvecklas ur samma idéer som SCM men med fokus på livsmedel och dess försörjningskedjor. I grund och botten handlar ECR om företagens gemensamma arbete för att integrera verksamheter, minska kostnader samt producera största möjliga nytta för slutkonsumenten. Med tanke på den ökade konkurrensen i dagligvaruhandeln samt det faktum att det finns ont om tidigare forskning om små och medelstora företag (SME:s) relaterat till SCM/ECR, är det intressant att undersöka hur dessa företag påverkas av samarbetet.

A new code for corporate governance was introduced for major companies in Sweden in July 2005. This act is to some degree a follower to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that was introduced in the U.S.A. after the Enron scandal. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the effect on the controller in response to the introduction of this new act. Three controllers in major Swedish companies was interviewed and asked if and how they had been affected by this new act.

The society is developing fast and the development is constantly on-going, new technology results in new opportunities and new problems for both companies and consumers. The use of Internet has heavily increased around the world; this means that the companies can use Internet as a channel of communication to reach the consumers. The most recent type of marketing is web marketing. The fact that web marketing is constantly changing raise the question of how effective different types of web marketing are.The purpose of this study is to investigate four selected types of web marketing. This is achieved by comparing the response from the consumers and the cost for the different types of web marketing.

Syftet med föreliggande undersökning var att identifiera faktorer som bidrog till känslan av "yrkesstolthet" hos anställda vid Försäkringskassan Dalarna inkluderande personalens tillfredsställelse med yrkesrollen. Sammanlagt 163 personer, 123 kvinnor och 40 män, från 25 till 66 år (X= 49,8 år) deltog i undersökningen. Denna genomfördes med hjälp av General Nordic Questionnaire for Psychological and Social Factors at Work (QPS Nordic) inkluderande 123 frågor samt 9 frågor gällande yrkesrollen. Frågorna besvarades väsentligen med hjälp av en 5-gradig skala av Likert-typ. Huvudresultatet uträknades med hjälp av Cronbachs Alpha, Principal Component Analysis och multipel regressionsanalys.