This paper?s objective is to investigate whether Modigliani and Miller (MM) I & II proposition from 1958 with regard to capital structure, is still valid among public Swedish firms.We have chosen the 63 firms on the Stockholm Stock Exchange (OMX) that Affärsvärlden magazine?s general index (AFGX) has categorized as industrial firms. We based this selection on the assumption that these firms are relatively capital intense and have a clear focus on production and, therefore, mainly uses capital structure as a mean to finance their production and not as a means in itself.To be able to fully evaluate these firms we have calculated the current key ratios based each firm?s annual report. To make the figures comparable across the entire population we adjusted them to each firm?s turnover.The results we have reached concur with MM?s proposition I regarding capital structures independence of the firm value.

This master thesis concerns whether Swedish non-financial listed firms act in accordance with the optimal capital structure theory and/or pecking order theory. The examined period is 1998-2004 and we discover that Swedish companies neither follow optimal capital structure theory nor pecking order theory. From our results we conclude that there exists no single point of the capital structure which is optimal. Rather it seems as if the optimal point lies in-between an interval from 0 to the industry average, where firms tend to be indifferent to their debt-ratios. Our results show that Swedish companies prefer internal financing followed by equity and as last choice debt issuance..

Previous work by researchers as Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French, show that average return on stocks are related to a firms characteristics like size and book-to-market ratio. These kinds of patterns in average return is not explained by The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), and are therefore seen as anomalies. Fama and French have proposed a three-factor model, which captures patterns observed in U.S average returns associated with size and value.

The purpose of this study is to explore how teachers in Sweden and Croatia work with children that have problems like ADHD and dyslexia in school. I have chosen to compare pedagogical methods between Swedish and Croatian teachers which are used in work with children with difficulties when it comes to the education and teachers approach to these children. I have done a qualified study and have interviewed teachers in both Sweden and Croatia and one specialist in pedagogy in Croatia. I compared with these interviews information from earlier studies and literature. Results show that teachers in Sweden are of the opinion that every student who has these difficulties is different and therefore the use a variation of pedagogical strategies is crucial.

The thesis handles the principal-agency problem between shareholders and the Chief Executive Officer. The purpose of the thesis was to examine the link between CEO compensation and corporate performance measured as a change in Market to Book ratio. Data was collected from corporate annual reports between the years 2000 ? 2008 and the study covers 39 Swedish companies from the Stockholm Stock Exchange Large Cap list. To examine whether there is a link between the CEO´s compensation and firm performance, we performed a regression analysis, and no significant relation is found.

Vägar och järnvägar är viktiga transportsystem som har stort påverkan på vårt vardagliga liv. Att fortsätta utvecklingen för att skapa större förståelse för hur dessa konstruktioner påverkas av nedbrytning är viktigt för att inte skapa långlivade konstruktioner som inte uppfyller morgondagens förändrade krav. Hos konstruktioner som består av ballastmaterial beskrivs nedbrytning orsakad av yttre laster främst som förändringar på jordmassans egenskaper. Ett steg i riktningen för att bättre förstå nedbrytning är att beskriva de kornformsförändringar som uppkommer. Ett antal beskrivande storheter för kornform presenteras: soliditetcirkularitet, aspect ratio, roundness och .

The aim of this study is to learn about the nineteenth century poor relief system, how itoperated in the rural parish Kristdala during the period 1881-1890, and not least, who was thesupported person? The poor are defined as the individuals that received public poor relief, but in onechapter this definition of poverty is contrasted with a definition based upon tax exemption:inability to pay taxes. Two villages have been selected for intensive study, namely Kroxhult and Calerum, and Calerum is the smaller one. The connection between age and the poverty ratio is clear, and tobe a lodger was especially disadvantageous with respect to poverty. Further the position ofwidow was the most unfavourable among the female poor people.

This Masters thesis work describes a comparison between two different methods for estimation of the down channel (base station to mobile subscriber) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA). The first estimation method, Optimal Feed-forward Channel Estimation (OFCE), is a conventional method that bases the estimates on data that is known to both sender and receiver, so called pilots. The second method, Decision Directed Channel Estimation (DDCE), is an elaboration of OFCE. It also uses user data for estimation. Simulations show that DDCE, in comparison to OFCE, does not attain an improvement in signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) for high bit error rates (BER).

In this investigation has an attempt to find out whether so called transplanting shock depends on the moving and transplanting of trees, to other conditions, or if it is due to the imbalance between the root to shoot ratio. Seventy trees of Prunus avium have been part of the investigation and these trees have been divided into four different groups depending on methods of production, untouched on the field, trees still on the field but with root pruning, trees moved and planted into Root-Control-Bag, trees moved and planted into Spring-rings. To be able to answer the question, measurements of the length of the terminal shoots and the lateral shoots and the dimension of the stem growth have been done and also has a visual judgment of the trees vitality been performed. The result shows that it is not only the move of the trees that gives them transplanting shock, but rather the loss of roots which gives an imbalance between the root and crown..

Transformation of inorganic mercury (Hg) to methyl mercury (MeHg) is a biotic process that is proposed to be conducted primarily by sulphate reducing bacteria (SRB). The formation of MeHg is of great interest because it is the mercury species that biomagnifies to the greatest extent in the aquatic food webs; about 90 % of all Hg in fish is MeHg. Our understanding of factors involved in the production of MeHg is very important for making a reliable risk assessment. The purposes of this study were to investigate the different factors that control the solubility of Hg and the production of MeHg in a contaminated lake sediment. The lake Ala-Lombolo, Kiruna municipality, is well-known to be contaminated by mercury from different sources. Sediment cores were sampled at three different locations (N, SW and SE) in the lake and divided in three different layers; 0-5, 5-10 and 10-15 cm.

In southern Sweden, beech (Fagus silvatica) and spruce (Picea abies) are two species with similar demands on soil properties. With increased global warming and high acid deposition the future may bring larger areas were the two species are overlapping, competing for the same soil. The aim of this study was to compare spruce and beech concerning distribution, cultivation and soil properties. From available data comparisons were made between spruce and beech forests in Sweden. Soil analyses were made on samples from beech forest in southern Sweden, with and without natural regeneration of spruce.

This Masters thesis work describes a comparison between two different methods for estimation of the down channel (base station to mobile subscriber) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA). The first estimation method, Optimal Feed-forward Channel Estimation (OFCE), is a conventional method that bases the estimates on data that is known to both sender and receiver, so called pilots. The second method, Decision Directed Channel Estimation (DDCE), is an elaboration of OFCE. It also uses user data for estimation. Simulations show that DDCE, in comparison to OFCE, does not attain an improvement in signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) for high bit error rates (BER).

This report is a part of the process of enhanced cooperation between fire rescue services in the region of North West Scania. The aim of the report is to study and analyze how the fire rescue service should be structured, in terms of rescue units and personnel, if no account is to be taking to the current organization. Two types of accident are considered in the report, traffic accidents and building fires. These are more affected by decreased response time than other accidents. Several suggested organizations are presented and they are evaluated with the computer program REP.

During our formative years, technology has always had a natural part of everyday life, and for us technology has never been particularly gendered. If this depends on the climate and the attitude of our homes, ourselves, the combination of both or something completely different is a question we have asked ourselves at times. But our approach to technology does not seem as obvious to all women, and today the IT industry is heavily dominated by men. This has meant that we have asked the question whether there is any underlying reason why so few women opt for IT courses? Is there a link between how different IT organizations profiles and the prevailing gender ratio? The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is any connections between how IT organizations are related to gender issues and how the structures, attitudes and gender actually looks like in the IT industry today, and how this can be seen in their branding efforts.

Ribs from sheep, goat and pig are rarely assessed  to species due to the fact that they are very similar in their morphology and size. The ribs are instead considered unidentifiable although it is possible to see what kind of bone it is. If these ribs would be identified to species not only would species assessment degree of archaeological source material   increase, the relationship between meat-rich and meat poor regions would change.To find out whether there are morphologically measurable differences between sheep, goat and pig ribs, three measurement points on each rib has been defined and measured. At each measurement point two measurements were measured, one medial-lateral measurement and one cranial-caudal measurement. The ratio between the medial- lateral measurement and the cranial-caudal measurement was calculated for each point.