In this thesis, I enquire into how the USA ? our world?s wealthiest and most powerful nation ?  and its federal government has dealt with two of its most severe natural disasters: the drought and dust storms that plagued the Great Plains during the 1930?s, i.e. the Dust Bowl, and Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in late August 2005. I attempt to identify differences and similarities and analyze if and, in that case, how the hegemonic politico-economic paradigm affected the federal management of these crises. This comparison is made relevant by the fact that two differing paradigms were at play during these events. In the thirties, President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched his ?New Deal?, a series of counter cyclical measures in line with the Keynesian school of economics, as a response to the overwhelming economic depression as well as the raging drought.

I denna uppsats undersöks hur aktivt förvaltade svenska aktiefonder presterat i jämförelse mot passiv förvaltning i perioder av upp- och nedgång på Stockholmsbörsen mellan åren 1995-2010. I ett urval av 36 aktivt förvaltade Sverigefonder undersöks hur prestationerna står sig mot passiv förvaltning, om fondernas prestationer håller i sig över tid och om fondstorleken har betydelse för prestationen. Genom en uppdelning olik tidigare studier på fonders prestationer, där perioderna bestäms utefter marknadens upp- och nedgångscykler kan resultat tydligare framställas om aktivt förvaltade fonder presterar bättre än passiv förvaltning. Vi riskjusterar fondernas prestationer och jämför deras utveckling mot SIX Return Index och indexfonden Handelsbanken Mega Sverige Index (den passiva förvaltningen). Vi finner att aktiv förvaltning överlag inte lyckas genera högre avkastning än index i perioder av uppgångar men att de går bättre än index i nedgångar.

Unit testing is a type of testing technique which is becoming quite fashionable to the developers and companies that are in the business of creating and managing software. Alas there are seldom any concrete data to support the positive claims of the authors in unit testing methodology books. These claims are instead based on empirical studies and the experience of the authors. The problem that arises from this situation is that it becomes problematic for managers and also the developers themselves to convince both customers and their own management to use this type of testing as there is no exact return of investment model. This essay examines this problem from two points, the first point is from the literature itself and interviews conducted with a number of developers at a software company located in Umea, Sweden.

Forecasting stock market returns is an interesting topic since more and more Swedes enter and invest in this market. Theory implies, however, that such exercises should be impossible. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possibility to forecast future stock returns by looking at macroeconomic variables? history. The study is limited to the Swedish market as it is based on the OMXS30-index which represents the 30 most exchanged stocks on Stockholms¬börsen, the Swedish stock exchange.

This essay is called Imaginary non-community, How Swedish press portrayed the fight for freedom in Tunisia and Hungary 1955 and 1956 and it describes how two similar struggles for freedom are portrayed through the eyes of the most popular Swedish news papers Dagens Nyheter, Aftonbladet and Expressen. In 1955-56 Sweden is a country where the focus lies within the nation itself with economic growth and the building of folkhemmet. The Swedish social program for a more improved living condition. Outside of Sweden the cold war is reigning and the Swedish international politics is careful and passive. The fear of communism makes Sweden side with the western powers and therefore they (Swedish politicians and news papers) do not object to the French military effort to strike down the rebellions by force in North Africa.

Purpose: The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the profitability of Momentum Strategies on the Nordic stock markets. This will provide insight and contribute to the debate on efficient markets. Finding profitable Momentum Strategies will provide strong evidence of inefficiency in the market. A secondary purpose is to examine factors which might cause or impact the profitability of the Momentum Strategy. We will look closely at the relationship between the profitability and factors such as risk (CAPM-beta), market capitalization, trading volume and seasonality.

Bakgrund: Börsen ger en möjlighet för företag att erhålla kapital och för placerare atttillgodogöra sig avkastning. Personer med insyn i det egna företaget, så kalladeinsiders, kan dock i egenskap av sin position inneha kurspåverkande information somövriga aktörer på marknaden inte har möjlighet att ta del av. Tidigare forskning harpåvisat att insiders utnyttjar denna informationsasymmetri för att på så sätt tillgodogörasig överavkastning.Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om insiders kan tillgodogöra sigöveravkastning genom handel med aktier på Nasdaq OMX. Vidare ämnar studienutröna eventuella skillnader i överavkastning beroende på företagsstorlek,transaktionsstorlek samt tidsperiod.Metod: I denna studie har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi i form av en eventstudietillämpats. Studien har en deduktiv ansats och undersöker insidertransaktioner från 90företag på stockholmsbörsen under tidsperioden 2006-01-01 till 2011-12-31.

Bakgrund och problem: Det som fokuseras är bedömningen av vad som är utgifter för utveckling, om dessa ska aktiveras som en tillgång i balansräkningen eller kostnadsföras löpande, och vad som påverkar redovisningen.Syfte: Syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen om och förståelsen för hur företag redovisar utgifter för FoU. Ett delsyfte är att också förklara varför de redovisar som de gör. Ett annat delsyfte med studien är att undersöka om redovisningen och bedömningen av vad som är FoU påverkas av subjektivitet.Metod: För att uppfylla studiens syfte har en kvalitativ metod med fallstudier som huvudsaklig undersökningsdesign använts.  Fyra intervjuer har genomförts, varav tre med för studien intressanta företag som har möjlighet att aktivera utgifter för utveckling i balansräkningen. För att få en kompletterande bild och ett annat perspektiv genomfördes även en intervju med en revisor.Empiri och slutsats: Den främsta orsaken till hur företagen i studien redovisar är vad standarden, IFRS, säger. Med en tillräcklig och övertygande argumentation, så är det ändå möjligt att göra företagsspecifika tolkningar och tillämpningar av principerna i IFRS.

BackgroundAccording to the Swedish Statistics Central Office (SCB) there were 2 064 000 detached houses in Sweden in 2009. The same year Nordea Bank released a report which described an increased interest in private finances among 2,4 million Swedes. Within the area of private finances lies that which concerns real estate. We argue that a house (detached house) is one of the most financially valuable assets a person will ever own and thus the increased interest in private finance is justified.In regard to this, the financial valuation of the property becomes an issue. When discussed, people mostly refer to the market value, which is the estimated value of the property on the open market.

In the last decades the Swedish labor market has been characterized by a stereotype perception on women?s role and position on the market. The perception speaks of the characteristics of female leadership as being less qualified causing the gaps between the two genders to transform into a gender segregated society. The historically slow progress has limited the career opportunities for women to reach top management. However the increasing discussions during the 21st century on how to reduce the gender differences in the labor market has made it more acceptable with women on higher positions.

Värderingsproblematik för materiella anläggningstillgångar har identifierats av författare och företag vilka har belyst avsaknaden av bättre värderingsmöjligheter då vi idag främst använder oss av värdering till anskaffningsvärde som. Problematiken grundar sig i att redovisningen inte helt avspeglar värdet för företags materiella anläggningstillgångar vilket gör att jämförbarheten och trovärdigheten kan ifrågasättas. Syftet med studien är att undersöka olika tillämpningar av värderingsmodeller som finns samt belysa varför företag väljer en viss värderingsmodell. Metodiskt kommer den genomföras som en fallstudie. Detta då uppsatsen bygger på ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt för styrkandet av studiens verklighetsförankring.

Suspensory ligament injuries are a common cause of lameness among sport horses. These injuries are expensive due to slow healing, extensive convalescence and high risk of recurrence. The prognosis has been reported to be everything from good to guarded depending on the size of the lesion and the location within the suspensory ligament. The purpose of this study was to determine how different factors such as age, use, and location of the lesion are associated with the final outcome after a suspensory ligament injury. Material: Hospital records of 27 horses treated for suspensory ligament injuries at SLU equine hospital in Skara, Sweden, between January 2002 and July 2003 were examined retrospectively.

An increasing number of heat pump producers have developed heat pumps that can be connected to solar panels. In this thesis we have examined the possibilities of connecting solar panels to existing ground source- and geothermal heat pumps that has not been adapted to solar panels. During the work process, a prototype plant has been built to compare our theory with the practical results and with our designed sizing tool. The work has rendered in knowledge that will be used to build a sun module that can be easily connect to the existing heat pump system. The existing heat pump, our test plant, has been supplemented by an advanced storage tank used to allow different operating modes.

The Swedish healthcare system is characterized by lack of resources and extensive hospital queues. In order to counter these difficulties the Lund University Hospital have introduced Lean Healthcare to the hospital organization. The purpose of this scientific paper is to study the relationship between the implementation of Lean Healthcare and the experienced motivation among the staff. This essay thereby intends to impart knowledge, which could be used on future implementations of Lean Healthcare at other hospitals. In order to fulfil the purpose of this essay a case study have been conducted at two wards at the Lund University Hospital in which qualitative research interviews have been the method chosen in order to gather data.

In the future the Swedish pension system will face major problems. With an increasing aging population combined with a decreasing share of working population the financing of the pension system is becoming a bigger problem than previously predicted. This means the individual himself will have a bigger responsibility to invest money for their future retirement. It has been shown that a large proportion of the people who invests for their future pension have neither the interest nor the time to actively invest their pension capital. To make it easier for those who invest for their retirement, some Swedish banks have created so-called generation funds.