The increasing holdings by institutional investors have raised concerns about the institutions passive investment strategies and the implications for corporate governance. A way for investors to address moral hazard and opportunistic behaviour of management is to demand conservatism in accounting practices. This paper analyses the relation between institutional ownership and accounting conservatism in the Swedish market by studying firms on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm over a three-year period. Furthermore, the study investigates whether ownership by institutions with high probability of monitoring managers leads to higher conservatism in financial reporting. To measure accounting conservatism this study uses the asymmetric timeliness measure developed by Basu (1997).

Title:Employer Branding ? Medias Influence on Vattenfall?s Employer Brand (Employer Branding ? Medias påverkan på Vattenfalls arbetsgivarvarumärke) Purpose/Aim:The aim of this study is to examine how a negative media image influences the Employer Brand of the Swedish company Vattenfall. First of all I will examine if Vattenfall have a strong Employer Brand and then if the media image have any influence over the Employer Brand. My hypothesis is that Vattenfall?s Corporate Culture is a big part of the Employer Brand and because of that negative media images has no power to influence on Vattenfall?s Employer Brand.

This thesis investigates the effects of active ownership on the return on assets (ROA) of Swedish listed companies during the years 2003 to 2013. Active ownership is operationalized based on the probabilistic voting model that is used to calculate the minimum amount of shares the largest shareholder needs in order to possess control of a contested vote at the shareholder meeting. We study the three largest lists on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm, having 1454 observations from 207 companies to test our hypothesis. The main result from the study is that there's a significant positive relationship between active ownership and ROA during the investigated period. The active owners' relative strength also proves to have a significant positive relationship to ROA..

Farmed mink often perform stereotypic behaviours which is considered to be a sign of reduced welfare. Previous studies have shown that enriched cages can reduce the frequency of performed stereotypies. Most studies on mink in Sweden have been done on adults. The aim of this study was to investigate if larger enriched cages with two or four mink kits reduce stereotypies in mink kits during their growth period in comparison to traditional cages. In the present study the behaviours of mink kits that were kept in four different treatments at a private mink farm were recorded. Traditional cages with two mink kits were used as a reference and the other treatments consisted of larger cages with shelves with two kits, larger cages with shelves and a plastic cylinder with two kits, and larger cages with shelves with four kits.

The aim was to examine whether measurements of creativity as a domain general trait can explain possible connections between a domain general creative performance and one of the creative domain specific areas, humor. Another aim was to examine whether the maladaptive humor styles can explain possible differences in creative performances. An Internet-based survey was used on 281 students from a Swedish university. The survey was composed of three parts consisting of three separate measuring instruments ? Sense of Humor Questionnaire (SHQ-6) was used to measure the respondents? sense of humor, Humor Style Questionnaire (HSQ) measured the respondents? humor style and Alternate Uses Test (AUT) gave the respondents an opportunity to account for their creative performances.

Since 1820 there has been a continuous discussion about the contents of history courses and the current debate considering this school subject is no exception; it is as vital as ever. Both in educational policy and public debate the role of history as a school subject has been brought up for discussion.In this study the writer has chosen to study the politically independent interest organization HLF. The organization is a non profit association, which works for the consolidation of history in Swedish schools.The purpose of this study is to investigate how the organization HLF has received and met the ongoing debate on this issue. The writer has chosen to examine the strategies the organization has used in order to influence this school subject and if they have succeeded in doing this.To carry out this study the writer has made use of HLF´s annuals as well as Aktuellt om historia, which is a publication that the organization issues three or four times a year. The conclusion of this study is that HLF has little influence when it comes to the formulation of the education of history.

The purpose of this thesis is to describe the marketing channels Gen Y is exposed to, uses and is influenced by. The thesis also seeks to comment on whether there are other factors, in addition to the marketing channels described, which influence Gen Y in their consumption choices. In addition, we intend to develop knowledge about whether the generalizations of Gen Y have any bearing, or if they are only assumptions with no support. From the empirical results, we have seen a consensus among the respondents concerning which properties they want commercials to hold, but they differ in their opinions regarding which marketing channels the commercials should be distributed through. Overall, the respondents want the commercials to be entertaining, relevant to their interests, and they want to be able to choose themselves whet­her to take part of them or not..

Artificial insemination (AI) has had a great influence on the development of pig production and is today widely practiced (Gerrit et al., 2005). With AI, genetic progress can at a short period of time be spread worldwide compared with using natural service and the best boars can be intensively used. This is also one of the biggest risks with AI; the impact of semen containing a genetic disease or contamination of pathogens can be enormous. Fortunately, it is a small risk of disease transmission due to many tests of the boars and the semen before use (Maes et al, 2008). It is important that the boars used for insemination have good breeding values along with good reproduction features and have good fertility results (Robinson et al., 2005).

The purpose of the present study was to study if the systemic blood pressure in cats significant increases due to stress associated with a visit to a veterinarian clinic. We also wanted to investigate the clinical utility of two different methods for indirect blood pressure measurements in cats by assessing how easy they were to use and how reliable measurements they provided. The methods that were used were oscillometric (Memo Diagnostic) and ultrasound-doppler technique (Minidop). The blood pressure was measured in both clinical environment and home environment. Fifty cats were used in the study, from which measurements were impossible to obtain in one cat.

The purpose with this final thesis has been to study the aesthetics and design of roundabouts and to ascertain important factors that influence the experience of them. The investigation was carried out through literature-, field studies and interviews with persons that in different ways have participated in the formation of roundabouts. Furthermore, six roundabouts have been explored in more depth so that the survey would get a more practical link. These six roundabouts all occur in the rim of a city and do thereby have an important role as a gateway. The environments in such contexts are often complex which adds additional difficulty in achieving a visually appealing design, especially when taking into account the usually high traffic intensity.

The establishment of loan-based structures within a group of associated enterprises with the purpose of lowering the group's taxes by using deductible interest payments to transfer money has become increasingly popular in Sweden during the past few years. The legislator has therefore implemented new laws which restrict the amount of interest payments that are deductible within a group of associated enterprises. As a consequence the definition of associated enterprises has become of high importance. The definition has been criticized and is perceived by many as vague and difficult to interpret. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the definition of associated enterprises in Swedish tax law with the aim of clarifying its scope and meaning.

This study is based on a statistical analysis of fundamental key ratios on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period 2004-2012. In total 35 financial ratios of 90 companies were tested, ultimately five ratios remained within the 5% significance level. These ratios were ROA, P/B, Total Yield, EV/EBIT and Operating Margin. A custom made investment model was created based on the purpose to achieve a risk-adjusted excess return. The results in general did not show any significant difference in return between the model's portfolio and index.

Betting under ordered forms has been around for a long time, but the recent increase in Internet betting and the large sums of money that are now involved makes it even more important for betting companies to have correct odds. The purpose of the essay is to calculate probabilities for outcomes of football games using a statistical model and to see if you can find better odds than a betting company.The data contains the 380 games from the 2004/2005 season and the variables form, head-to-heads, league position, points, home/away, average attendance, promoted team, distance and final league position from previous season. After performing an ordered probit regression we only find the variable ?form of the away team? to be significant at the 5 % level. We suspect the presence of multicollinearity and perform a VIF-test which confirms this. To fix this problem we perform a second ordered probit regression where a number of variables are combined to index variables. In the second regression we once again find only one significant variable.

AimThe aim of the present study was to study possible evidence for shock wave therapy on pain and function in patients with plantar fasciitis.Questions1. Does shock wave therapy reduce pain in patients with plantar fasciitis?2. Does shock wave therapy improve function in patients with plantar fasciitis?MethodA systematic review of the literature was performed in the databases PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane and Cinahl.

This essay deals with the paradox of why the immigrants in Sweden, despite their considerable size of 12 % of the population and common interest and living opportunities, haven?t mobilized politically in any significant way. The aim with this essay is to reach a theoretical understanding of why this paradox exist. By the use of a critical case and a theoretical model, based on theories of collective action, the conclusion of this essay is that, despite the fact that the immigrants have a common interest and an organizational structure, the immigrants in Sweden has not mobilized politically in any significant way. The main reason for this is that they have a weak common identity and they don?t have the structural opportunities to act..