This thesis seeks to explain the effect of private equity ownership on the amount of invest- ments made in a company. We use three capital expenditure based key ratios to determine if there is a tendency for private equity owned firms to invest more or less than comparable companies. Our dataset involve 27 Swedish buyout companies that were sold by a private equity fund between 2001 and 2009. Each buyout is assigned a peer group of two firms in similar size and in the same industry. Firstly, we compare the key ratios to determine potential differences in the level of investment.

It is important for every store to have a good financial performance which can be affected by the average purchase and the number of customers in the store. Customers shopping experience can affect both of these factors and therefore it is important for retailers to know about how an in-store environment can affect this experience. The purpose of this study is to give retailers an indication of the importance of consumers' shopping experience and how this may affect the store's financial performance. To study this subject an in-store survey was conducted in four grocery stores in Stockholm where a total of 320 consumers answered a total of 41 questions about their shopping experience. By sales data it was possible to conduct a statistical analysis to see which variables regarding consumers shopping experience influenced the average purchase.

Länsförsäkringar in Värmland, Sweden, had during the year 2003 a total level of 6.1 percent of people on the sick-list, which was higher than average in the business (4,5%) and for salaried employees in the private sector (3,3%). The average age of those put on sick-list was 47 years, whish is four years higher than the average for the whole LF-group. The cost for the total amount of people being on sick-list at LF-company (6,1%) was estimated to 1 500 kkr, according to a calculation model coming from Försäkringskassan. For every percent the sick level could be reduced, the company would save 239 kkr. To map out the state of health of each and every collaborator in LF, the company offered all employees to make a health profile at the company's health service, Clarahälsan AB.

This thesis is a feasibility study for a future product development project. The purpose ofthis project is to evaluate the possibilities and difficulties associated with the design of anelectric power assist servo for all terrain vehicles (ATVs). The project has been carriedout in collaboration with Nira Control AB. Nira designs and manufactures electric andelectro mechanic products mainly for the motor sport market segment.Nira Control AB is developing a fuel injection system for a new line of large ATVs oncommission. To be able to compete with manufacturers like Yamaha and Honda thecommissioner should be able to offer optional power assist steering.

Resultatet av denna undersökning och detta arbete har visat på ett ifrågasättande av systemet, av såväl anställda som chefer. Huvudanledningarna är framförallt okontrollerbarheten, den låga motivationsfaktorn och vad belöningen grundar sig på. Vår slutprodukt består av ett antal förslag till förbättringar av Kopparmyntet inom Swedbank.

Uppsatsen behandlar våldtäkt som krigföring och hur fenomenet kan förstås med ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Detta har vi gjort utifrån fallstudien som metod då vi har låtit en dom från the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), vilken behandlar en rad händelser i staden Foca, Bosnien-Hercegovina, stå som det huvudsakliga empiriska exemplet. I analysen utgår vi från denna dom samt tidigare forskning för att komplettera empirin, men även för att föra vidare teoretiska diskussioner om våldtäkt som krigföring utifrån vårt intersektionella perspektiv. Detta innebär att vi visar på hur olika maktstrukturer samverkar och vad de har för betydelse för det granskade fenomenet, något som den tidigare forskningen har saknat hittills. Utifrån de socialt konstruerade kategorierna kön, genus, "ras"/etnicitet, religion, nationalism och sexualitet erbjuder uppsatsen förklaringar till användandet av våldtäkt som krigföring, vilka alla går ut på att "de andra" skall nedvärderas samtidigt som den egna identiteten uppvärderas.

This degree thesis is based on an assignment from BEOMAT in Storfors. BEOMAT is a company that constructs and sellsclay pigeons to both the national and international market.Our main purpose with this paper is to find a solution/system that can replace the expensive and space demandingOlympic trap facility. Our solution will replace fifteen clay pigeon throwers with one automatic thrower whosimulate all throwers together. The system will be provided with an appropriate control system for mass productiontherefore this system needs to be user-friendly so no previous knowledge is required.Totally 405 different throw coordinates will be stored in the programme in nine different subprograms. According tothe Olympic-rules the throwers should coincidence within certain specified conditions, this will be solved with anrandomizer in the programme.

Being a trustee within the disability care will, in most cases, put big responsibility on the trustee both as a representative for the klient but also as a representative for the standards of the society. The assignment as a trustee is to strengthen the client and ease his/her way of living in the society. The Swedish legislation that controls the process and the regulation of the trustees, is by the authors of this paper preceived as kind of vauge, leaving a lot of room for interpretation. So  how do trustees comprehend their assignment and how do they actually interpret it? Using material from eight interviews with trustees within the disability care, this paper aims to examine these questions, and focuses only on the trustees and their experiences.

The aim of this project is to optimise the sawing patterns used for sawing Scots pine at Säters Ångsåg AB. The thesis has a theoretical approach and does not claim to be fully applicable in a practical point of view. The input used in this project is last year?s sales volumes and prices of sawn products. The input of the timber is collected from the database ?VIOL?.

Arbetet är en komparativ studie om stress mellan nyutexaminerade pedagoger och de pedagoger med många års erfarenhet. Vi undersökte vilka stressituationerna är, hur de hanterar dem,vilket stöd från kollegor och ledning de får och vilken stressutbildning pedagogerna har..

The aim of this study is to analyze how individuals experience their eating disorder, the focus being if anorexia may be perceived as a secure safe zone in the new modern world. The aim is to examine if individuals affected with anorexia nervosa understand the disorder as a solution to the modern worlds changes and the new individual freedom that it entails. This will be analyzed with the help of terms in Erich Fromms theories about escape mechanisms and Catarina Kinnvalls theories about the modern worlds ontological insecurity.The study is based on data collected from four informants of different ages and gender. The interviews were conducted through email and informants were chosen based on a strategic selection and snowball sampling. For the analysis of the empirical material Fromms escape mechanisms (authoritarianism, destructiveness and automaton conformity) and Kinnvalls theories of identity in the modern world have been used.The results of the analysis show that the eating disorder has a great significance for the individual construction and maintenance of identity and that the eating disorder becomes a safe zone to retreat to in a world of performance anxiety.

This bachelor?s degree thesis was conducted in mechanical engineering at Halmstad University during spring semester 2010 in close collaboration with the company Gremo AB, located in Ätran, Sweden. Gremo AB produces, developes and sales forest machines in both Sweden and on the international market.Gremo AB belongs to one of the market leaders in forest industry, especially with their forwarder. In order to become a market leader even with their harvester, the company decided to change the harvester to have a swivel and a leveling driver cabin.The aim with this bachelor?s degree thesis was to develop a design concept for the harvester driver cabin, which Gremo AB can apply on the new harvester.

Grus i maskineriet ? en fallstudie om förbättringspotentialVäxeln AB, a company that provide sales, service and repair of industry gears, has contacted the authors of the essay and asked us to investigate in which areas of the company that has improvement potential. Persistent improvement is a recurring and up-to-date issue that many business leaders not put enough resources on. A big problem in many companies is the issue that there is no comprehensive view and therefore some of the workers tend to not follow the routines that are required for the whole system to work.The goal with the essay is to give Växeln AB advice on to which areas in the company that have improvement potential.We have used a qualitative method with mainly semi-structured interviews which has led to an inductive approach. 13 co-workers that work in different areas of Växeln AB have taken part in the interviews.

Jag har i denna studie velat titta närmare på, och få en förståelse för, vad nyktra alkoholister inom AA upplever har varit viktiga faktorer för att lyckas bibehålla nykterhet. Studiens frågeställning har lett till en tillämpning av kvalitativ forskningsmetod med målsättningen att få fram så nyanserat och relevant data som möjligt. Studiens syfte har varit att få en en förståelse för vad nyktra alkoholister upplever har varit viktigt för att kunna leva ett nyktert liv, samt att få en förståelse för hur dessa individer upplever begreppen meningsfullhet och kontroll och hur dessa eventuellt inverkar på bibehållen nykterhet. Resultaten visar att det råder relativt hög samstämmighet i individernas uppfattningar om viktiga faktorer för att bibehålla nykterhet. En faktor är vikten av att inse att individen är alkoholist och inte kan återfå kontrollen över sitt drickande.

The purpose of the study was to investigate, through an experiment, if positive mood promotes creativity and flexible thinking. Participants were a total of 93 college students. The main hypothesis was that subjects induced with positive mood would perform better than subjects induced with negative mood, at a test reflecting creativity. To further explore the implications of priming (subliminal manipulated moods), a neutral control group was included. The cognitive test used in the study was Duncker´s The Candle Problem, a test which aims to get the subjects to apply flexible and creative thinking.