This paper describes and develops a trade off model of optimal capital structure by Bradley et al. (1984). The model is then tested to examine how changes in corporate tax rates affect the optimal capital structure of firms. Based on theoretical implications of the model, four hypotheses are derived stating that firms? optimal debt-to-value ratio is (1) negatively related to financial distress costs, (2) negatively related to non-debt tax shields, (3) negatively related to firm volatility and (4) positively related to the corporate tax rate.

I vårt examensarbete undersöker vi hur en lärare arbetar med nyheter i undervisningen och hur elevernas uppfattning är kring detta. Vår undersökning bygger på intervju med läraren samt enkätutdelning till 23 elever från en klass i årskurs 5. Vi använder oss av b.la Vygotskjis sociokulturella perspektiv i vår undersökning samt tidigare forskning och studier om barns upplevelser av nyheter i undervisningen. Vårt resultat visade att både läraren och eleverna hade en positiv inställning till nyheter i undervisningen. Regelbundet visas nyhetssändningar i klassrummet via TV:n som sedan följs av diskussioner.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate what information needs arise from the interest in music, which sources are preferred, how this information is sought and what part does the public library play in providing music materials. Brenda Dervin`s Sense-Making theory is what serves as a theoretic framework for this study. A qualitative approach was undertaken in the investigation and nine interviews were conducted with people interested in music. Findings indicate that different ways of acquiring information are used depending on the situation in which the information is needed and also what kinds of music people prefer. The main findings of this study suggest that people interested in music are keen to constantly discover new music to perform or listen to.

This study examines imagined boundaries between Swedes and non-Swedes. Rather than using pre-determined definitions as a starting point, the attempt is to examine the discursive construction of difference. The purpose is not to study the portrayal of immigrants per se but to examine how the ?immigrant-ness? is constructed. The result shows the perception of ?immigrant-ness? is linked more to a person?s origin than to the act of immigration itself. The selected newspapers are Dagens Nyheter (DN) and Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) for the period of 15th November ? 21st November, 1999.

The purpose of this study is to examine how parliament executes its responsibility of oversight against the government. In Sweden, parliamentary oversight of the government rests with a standing committee of parliament known as the constitutional committee.Drawing on general principal-agent theory I construct a model in which members of the constitutional committee are seen as agents in double and conflicting agency assignments. This constitutes a problem for the agent. Since it is the party group in parliament that controls the fulfilment of the agents? objectives, the agent is presumed to follow the party assignment to the detriment of the parliament assignment.The model generates two hypotheses concerning they type of oversight we should expect the members of the constitutional committee to perform against the government.

Background: The background explains different financial crises and the effect those crises had on the Swedish acquits regarding variable compensation. The resent discussion regarding variable compensation and the main problems with bonuses is also explained. Our theories for this essay is mainly based on the new directions from Finansinspektionen FFFS 2009:6,7 and stakeholder theory. Other theories used are agency theory, stewardship theory and economic man.Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to analyze the new directions for variable compensation and to investigate if these new directions can lead to a more long-term thinking for managers in banks. Method: We used semi-structured interviews with open questions for our survey.

Property companies? results are affected by unrealized changes in value of properties. Since market values are never completely reliable there is always a risk with revaluation with property´s value. The fair value is determined only when a sale is completed. The paper studies how well the Swedish listed property companies reported under the accounting standard, IAS 40.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how nuns regard reading. The reading of the Bible is a regular element in their everyday life. This study however, focuses mainly on the nuns? self-chosen reading beyond the reading of the Bible.

Today, youth crime is a topic that recurs daily in the news and politics; the subject arouses motions both within the professional community and among private individuals. The purpose of this study was to shed light on how social workers reason and work with young people aged 15 and above who are in criminal environments. We also shed light on how motivation can contribute to young people accepting the voluntary interventions that social workers have available. The study helps draw attention to the potential challenges that social services face when motivational work is insufficient, and the concern is not sufficiently high to warrant the use of coercive interventions. Our empirical material was collected using semi-structured interviews with social workers who have a degree of Bachelor's degree in Social Work, whose work is to carry out investigations of young people who, due to their own behavior, may be in need of support or protection from social services.

Not all payments that an employee receives are cash salary, but may also be salary benefits. It should not matter in which form an employee receives payment, taxation shall be equal despite the form of salary. Cash salary as well as salary in benefits are covered by a general rule in the Swedish Tax Law and shall therefore be taxed when they have a connection to the work performed. There are exemptions to the general rule as some benefits are tax free. In general, taxation shall be easy to foresee.   The legal rules that are treated in this thesis have a general meaning.

In many European countries there is an increasing concern about the occasionally high concentrations of nitrate and pesticides in drinking water. The advent of the EU Water Framework Directive particularly highlights this. The directive states that all large drinking water sources should be identified and protected from pollution before 2009 and that by 2015 all water bodies should reach a 'good status'. In Sweden about 60 percent of the drinking water sources have protection areas. This means that about 700 new water protection areas need to be designated before 2009. This will affect many farmers, restricting their farming practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate which methods are used in other countries concerning nitrate and pesticide pollution from agriculture. From this, the expectation was to generate ideas on what could be undertaken in Sweden when designating new protection areas.

With numerous applications in both military and civilian life, the demand for accurate 3D models of real world environments increases rapidly. Using an airborne laser scanner for the raw data acquisition and robust methods for data processing, the researchers at the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) in Linköping hope to fully automate the modeling process.The work of this thesis has mainly been focused on three areas: ground estimation, image segmentation and classification. Procedures have in each of these areas been developed, leading to a new algorithm for ground estimation, a number of segmentation methods as well as a full comparison of various decision values for an object based classification. The ground estimation algorithm developed has yielded good results compared to the method based on active contours previously elaborated at FOI. The computational effort needed by the new method has been greatly reduced compared to the former, as performance, particularly in urban areas, has been improved.

Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka ?venture capital?-branschen och hur omfattande problemen med asymmetrisk information och ?moral hazard? är samt hur risk hanteras. Syftet är också att arbeta fram en hypotes för framtida kvantitativ forskning. Ansats/metod: Med en deduktiv ansats har en kvalitativ studie genomförts. Datainsamling av empirisk primärdata har skett genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Teoretisk referensram: Det teoretiska kapitlet tar upp grundläggande teorier kring asymmetrisk information, ?moral hazard?, ?agency costs? och riskhantering.

This research is about six pedagogue´s and their reflections about the size of the children´s group in the preschools. Then I will discuss the pedagogue?s recommendation on the significance of the size of a children´s group learning and development and it´s practical significance for the preschool function. The pedagogue?s statements will be discussed in relation to The Swedish National Agency for Education (TSNAE) guidelines on group size.The theoretical framework of this essay will take an overview of the social cultural perspective, the group size and its significance for both the children´s learning and development, for interaction and communication and TSNAE advice and guidelines.

2012 was the year when the podcast had a breakthrough in Sweden. As media corporatehouses developed, they adopted new forms to mediate journalistic material, whereas the podcasts was one of them. The podcast has had a rather informal reputation in Sweden in contrary to The United States and Great Britain, where it holds a higher sense of prestige and professionalism. It is therefore relevant to investigate what happens when media corporatehouses i Sweden embraces the podcast through themes such as tabloidization, commercialism, convergence and divergence. We chose to investigate the content of the podcast in the tabloid press Aftonbladet, and in the serious press, Dagens Nyheter.