The purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the main determinable factors of Swedish SMEs capital structure decisions and to investigate whether existing capital structure theories are applicable on Swedish SME financing. We have used panel data to run regressions of various capital structure determinants on three measures of capital structure; short- term debt, long-term debt and total debt. We found that growth opportunities, profitability and age are the most important capitalstructures determinants for our sample. Firm size shows a small explanatory result but the effective tax rate and the asset tangibility do not seem to explain the capital structure at all. Thematurity matching principle is considered significant..

SVENSKA: Vårt kandidatarbete gick ut på att ta reda på om det var möjligt att utveckla ett kort spel i hög teknisk kvalitet och ändå skapa ett djupt intryck på spelaren. Under projektets gång utvecklade vi, med hjälp av UDK (Unreal Development Kit), ett skräckspel i 3D till PC vid namn The Horror at MS Aurora. För att erhålla den höga tekniska kvaliteten som vi var ute efter användes metoder som räknas som standard för stora speltitlar på marknaden: Animationer spelades in med Motion Capture och musiken skrevs med en full symfoniorkester i åtanke. Innan produktionsfasen tog vid gick alla gruppmedlemmarna igenom en research-fas, där var och en satte sig in i de områden som skulle komma att vara aktuella under produktionen (d.v.s. hur UDK fungerar, musikteori och orkestrationsteknik, hur man arbetar med Motion Capture-data o.s.v.).

I have written an experiential essay about my role as a preschool director and the important work decisions that I face. What is best for the child? That is something that I think is important to take into consideration.In the narrative, I describe how an induction occurs at my preschool. We use an "old" tried and true method which spans two to three weeks, which I believe is best for children under the age of two. They need to first connect withone educator who they are comfortable with before they are secure enough to play and explore the environment of the preschool.In recent years, another method has emerged which is shorter and which has quickly became popular in many preschools.

The main purpose of this study was to examine own and social influence on perfectionismwith individual athletes. The participants (n= 96) of this study represented ten different sportsand their ages was between 15 and 44. An interview with four of the participant wasconducted. The instruments used for this study was the Positive and Negative PerfectionismScale (Terry-Short et al., 1995) and for the interviews questions was based on own and socialinfluence. The results showed that there was a relationship between positive perfectionismand own influence, negative perfectionism and own influence, negative perfectionism andsocial influence.

In today's society, more and more people traveling with transports such as trains and buses. With this type of travel it often exists waiting at stations that in many cases perceives as negative. Previous research demonstrates that distraction can get people to experience the waiting as less negative. This paper aims to examine how waiting can be affected by distraction, and if it is possible to use a second type of waiting as a distraction. The authors have chosen to focus on travelers who are waiting.

SVENSKA: Vårt kandidatarbete gick ut på att ta reda på om det var möjligt att utveckla ett kort spel i hög teknisk kvalitet och ändå skapa ett djupt intryck på spelaren. Under projektets gång utvecklade vi, med hjälp av UDK (Unreal Development Kit), ett skräckspel i 3D till PC vid namn The Horror at MS Aurora. För att erhålla den höga tekniska kvaliteten som vi var ute efter användes metoder som räknas som standard för stora speltitlar på marknaden: Animationer spelades in med Motion Capture och musiken skrevs med en full symfoniorkester i åtanke. Innan produktionsfasen tog vid gick alla gruppmedlemmarna igenom en research-fas, där var och en satte sig in i de områden som skulle komma att vara aktuella under produktionen (d.v.s. hur UDK fungerar, musikteori och orkestrationsteknik, hur man arbetar med Motion Capture-data o.s.v.).

Due to a globalised world business travel is flourishing. This paper examines how middle level executives, travelling a lot in their work at a multi-national company, feel about their travel. It looks for links between business travel and work satisfaction among them. A short presentation of the patterns of business travel and relevant motivational and stress theories is given. Data for the paper is collected using a survey (78 participants) and interviews.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems are influenced by natural and human disturbances. In the tropical regions the highest impacts on disturbance in forest C cycles are related to human activities such as conversion of natural lands to cropland and pasture areas and to forest plantations. The disturbances in the forest C cycles will release CO2 emissions to the atmosphere triggering global warming. In this study the focus was set in subtropical soils in Brazil, south extreme region of Bahia. The aim of the study was to investigate whether reforestation of Eucalyptus plantations under former pasture areas will help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration.

Traditional financial management has lately been criticized, since it gives inadequate and unilateral information for decisions and strategy of the operation. The purpose of this essay is to investigate if a balanced scorecard is able to work together with a budget and become a stronger control system for the management. Essential theory underlies the gathering of data as well as the analysis, and the empirical investigation is based on personal interviews. The conclusions drawn from my analysis are that two parallel control systems could complement each other?s weaknesses.

This paper investigates the relationship between the two modernist writers Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. The two authors had a frail and complicated friendship that influenced their fiction and fictional characters more than the general public knows. My paper investigates how Woolf can have found her fictional story ideas direct from their friendship. With a comparative theory I?m finding and giving examples of how their friendship is reflected in their fictional stories, and I?m backing up my examples with citations from their own diaries, letters and notebooks.

The inhuman element in Djuna Barnes?s works has been widely acknowledged. So far the research has, however, concerned itself primarily with animality, thus neglecting the importance of things and thingliness in her texts. In this essay I outline a new way of approaching Barnes were things are taken into account as a vital element in her literary world, using theories on prostheses, fetishes and souvenirs. In Nightwood and four of the short stories, ?A Night Among the Horses?, ?Aller et Retour?, ?Cassation?, and ?The Grande Malade?, I examine clothing, interiors, collections, statues and dolls as objects that in different ways harbour meaning, dream, riddle, memory, history, longing and desire.

Transmission of digital signals is today more frequently used than transmission of analog signals. One reason for this is that a digital signal is less sensitive to noise than an analog, another reason is that almost all signals today are handled in a digital format. This thesis describes the development of a system that receives digital video signals through FireWire. The standard for FireWire, which is a high performance serial bus, is under development. Today the standard of the bus supports transmission of data with a speed of up to 400 Mbit/s.

Stockholm is constantly growing and changing. Despite this, for various reasons, it is difficult to execute large building projects. With starting-point in decision making theories we have tried to investigate these difficulties. More specifically we have chosen to study why it has not been possible to rebuilt Slussen in Stockholm. To help us structure our study we have based our research on another large comparable building project, the Globen City project.

This study compares the sample variance of the mean in a simple random sample (SRS) and a systematic sample from a surface. The study also compares the prediction error variance in a SRS and systematic sample from a random field. Recommendations are presented on which method to use in the clearance and exemption process in the nuclear industry. The results indicate that quadratic systematic sampling outperformed SRS in most instances and proved to be especially efficient in the presence of a long-ranged covariance function and high sampling intensity (i.e. short distances between observations).

This paper presents empirical evidence on the determinants of interest rate swap spreads in Sweden during the period 1999-2003. The results suggest that the spread between STIBOR and the general collateral repo rate is positively related to shorter maturity swap spreads. The risk premium associated with commercial bonds is positively related to swap spreads of all maturities. A negative relationship is observed between the term structure of interest rates and swap spreads. The short-term interest rate is positively related to spreads with shorter maturities.