The economic development and industrialization that has taken place in many parts of the world during the past century has brought about a huge increase in economic welfare. During this process, it has repeatedly been debated whether the gains from economic development are shared by everyone or just a few. In the field of economics, vast research has been conducted on this particular subject ever since the 1950?s. The most famous contribution might be said to be Simon Kuznets article, Growth and Income Inequality from 1955 and the ?inverted U?-hypothesis that was formulated on the basis of that article.

The purpose of this study was to examine customer attitudes towards flagship stores and how they perceive them. To ascertain this, and obtain answers to the research questions covering the study's main issues, we decided to turn to the customers who recently visited a flagship store.Our background theory is based upon literature from previous research done on the subject in the form of scientific articles and books. We present the theoretical concept that explains how flagship stores are used as a marketing tool and what impact they have on the new market. These will be helpful in answering our questions when we evaluate our results.!A theoretical framework, consisting of three value dimensions, was used as a support throughout the implementation of the study. These three values; hedonic, practical and social, should give us a better idea of what customers experience and what they value when they visit the flagship stores.!The method used in our investigation is of quantitative form, so that it can be feasible on a large crowd to thus contribute to a quantitative result.

In this essay, I make a queer feminist analysis of Mats Strandberg?s and Sara Bergmark Elfgren?s teenage novel ?Cirkeln?, which is about six teenage girls who learn that they are witches with a mission to save the world from demons. Using Judith Butler's theories, I examine the norms of sex/gender, ethnicity, class and sexuality found in the text and how these standards are created. I also analyze whether, and if so how, these standards may change when the magical elements enter the text.I also discuss the fact that older Gothic novels with magical elements often have been regarded as queer through history. .

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether abnormal stock returns could be identified as a result of a layoff announcement during weak economy.Method: An event study methodology.Theory: Efficient market hypothesis, signal theory.Empirical results: Quantitative data from observations of stock prices in thirty two companies listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, in the period 2008 -2012.Conclusion: The results indicate that the market reaction was negative because there were negative abnormal returns on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2008-2012 in connection with the layoff announcements. The market reaction was milder when staff reductions were carried out as a result of a restructuring and stronger when staff reductions were carried out as part of a cost reduction program.The layoff announcements elicited different market reactions depending on the company's industry affiliation. The most negative reaction was in the Healthcare industry. Negative abnormal returns were lower in industries Industrials, Consumer Services and Consumer Goods. There were no abnormal returns for shares of companies in the industry Financials.

The present study deals with the importance of play for children's learning in preschool. The purpose is to investigate the importance of play for children's learning in preschool from a pedagogue?s perspective. The study is based on two issues: How does the pedagogue´s who were interviewed reason about the impact the play has on children's development? How does the pedagogue´s approach to make play a learning situation? The empirical data is based on semi-structured interviews with four preschool pedagogue´s.

How do men who define themselves as feminists create and maintain an identity as men? In this qualitative study four men involved in feminist organizations were interviewed about their views on women, men, sex and feminism. Theories of language, psychoanalysis and ethics were utilized to further our understanding of the material these men produce in their effort to define themselves. Our object of study is the text, which we believe holds the key to understanding how an individual shapes his world and himself. The result is our interpretation of the text and its underlying mechanics.

The Trappan Model is one of the most implemented treatment programs for children who have experienced domestic violence. This study undertakes a wider evaluation of the model through a pilot study. The approach is both quantitive and qualitative. Theory as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire have been used to fulfil the aim. The design is pre-post.

The purpose of this essay was to find the reasons why some students do not dare to participate verbally in the classroom. I also wanted to know how teachers are working to make it easier or students with communication apprehension. After that I put the teacher?s answers in contrast to the theory. I used qualitative interviews as the method.

This bachelor thesis is a study about the change of the classificationsystems in Swedish libraries. The empirical data was collected through four qualitative interviews with both research and public libraries. The data was analyzed by the use of organizational theory based upon Joacim Hanssons book Libraries and identity: the role of institutional self-image and identity in emergence of new types of libraries. The empirical result points to a major change in how libraries and librarians look and work with their collections, it can also be said that the librarians do not seem to think that the users will be affected at all.The analysis was based on these issues: What positive and negative effects introducing DDC will there be on research- reflective public libraries?What will be the effects on the librarysector introducing the new classification system DDC?What will be the effects on the users introducing the new classification system DDC? .

The aim of this thesis was to study elderly people?s experiences of and approach to their usage of home care services with tax deduction. The aim was also to describe how elderly people reason about their underlying motives of using home care service with tax deduction. The study is based on six qualitative interviews with people between the ages of 65 and 80, living in Nacka, Sweden. This thesis is a collaboration with Stiftelsen Stockholms la?ns A?ldrecentrum/ Stockholm Gerontology Center and part of their follow up study concerning simplified administration for elderly people applying for home care services in Nacka.

Human - Technology - Organization (HTO) is a well-established, general unifying concept in the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (SHK) that represents an approach, knowledge and use of various tools regarding interactions between people, technology and organizational factors. The HTO-perspective is well described in literature but there are few studies on how SHKs staff experiences working according to this method in their investigations. The aim of this study was therefore to describe their HTO-perspective, examine how it is used in the investigations at SHK and describe the investigators experience of working with the HTO-perspective as well as the method's usefulness compared to old methods in accident investigations. A literature study has been conducted in the areas of HTO, Theory of planned behavior (TPB) and safety culture. TPB and safety culture are described in this paper since they highlight the different aspects of a HTO-perspective.

 Tediousness, fear and boredom are all part of everyday?s life for a student. How can a teacher counteract these feelings of boredom and replace them with a feeling of pleasure of learning? Students have to be motivated and want to go to school every day. By comparing student?s experiences of motivation this essays purpose is to create a theory about factors for motivation in education.

The aims of the study were to investigate the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli in chicken and chicken products, and to investigate farmer awareness of antibiotic resistance development. The study was conducted in the Can Tho province in Vietnam during six weeks in October to November 2008. Ninety-six samples from raw chickens were collected from twelve market places and analysed for the presence of Campylobacter. A total of 96 cloacal swabs from 20 farms were obtained and analysed for the presence of Campylobacter. Farmers were asked to answer eight questions concerning the housing of the chickens, modes of handling sick animals as well as use and knowledge of antibiotics and resistance development to antibiotics.

The purpose of this study is to gain insight on how art teacher?s reason about what is ?plagiarism? in the subject of art. This study focus on how different art teacher´s reason on the boundaries of plagiarism. What are the rules of duplicating an image before it is looked upon as plagiarism? The five interviewed teachers refer in its reasoning to the main curriculum and the rules of copyright; they also support the negative view of the plagiarism in the world of art. The theory of originality is a theory that deals with the vision of the originality in contemporary time.

This is a study about the transition process and the consolidation of power in Belarus. In this paper the concept of "authoritarian state building and the sources of regime competitiveness in the fourth wave" is the major theory used. After giving a description of the theory?s concepts a short historical background of Belarus follows. Chapters four describes and explain the political situation in Belarus during five periods.