The aim of this thesis was to develop an objective and automatic method for identifying capillaries in microscope images of the skin. Furthermore, statistical data about the identified capillaries and the capillary distribution should be computed and stored in a database. The method was implemented using the platform independent programming language Java. An analysis of microscope improvement using various polarization filter setups and wavelength filtershas also been performed, as well as a pilot study of the effect of applying a local anaesthetic cream on the skin. The method is developed and aimed at research on various pathological skin conditions affecting the capillary distribution.

Sammanfattning Uppsatsens titel: Informationshypotesen - Ger förändringar av utdelningar någon information om framtida vinster? Seminariedatum: 2008-02-04 Ämne/Kurs: NEKK01 ? Examensarbete kandidatnivå 15hp Författare: Stefan Setterlund Handledare: Erik Norrman Fem nyckelord: The information content of dividends, informationshypotesen, utdelningar, effektiva marknader, vinster. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hypotesen om att aktieutdelningar innehåller någon information om framtida vinster. Metod: Undersökningen genomförs med hjälp av en regressionsanalys med årliga data på bland annat utdelningar och vinster för 46 svenska börsbolag mellan åren 1990-2006. Vinstförändringar är den beroende variabeln och utdelningsförändringar är en av de förklarande.

After Sweden became a member of the European Union, EU, the debate regarding the Swedish participation in the EU?s currency co-operation, the European Monetary Union, EMU, has been intense. One of the biggest issues has been how our national economic politics will work within such a monetary union. What instrument will remain for the national economic politics within the EMU are highly uncertain. The question whether we will be able to affect our own economy or not has long been the essence in the Swedish debate.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and clarify the facts surrounding one of Vattenfall's district heating plants; The "solar field" and associated rock cavern in Lyckebo, Storvreta. The plant was built in the '80s by the formerly municipal utility,Uppsalakraftvärme AB, as an experimental building. A ground water filled cavern would serve as seasonal storage of solar heat from an adjacent solar field. Since both the energy company and the facility itself has undergone major changes over the past 30 years, there was a great need to gather facts in order to provide a picture of its current condition and potential for continued use. The thesis investigates the plant's history and problems with the rock cavern losses, and how the operation developed. It also presents the calculations regarding the possibilities of again supplementing the facility with solar energy - which is not the case today - as well as the economic conditions for it. Regarding a re-launch of solar energy, primarily a concentrating solar collector has been studied, as it has the advantages of an integrated control system.

171 miljoner människor i hela världen har diabetes enligt World Health Organisations (WHO) senaste undersökning år 2000. Den kroniska sjukdomen påverkar individens hälsa och syftet med magisteruppsatsen är att undersöka om diabetiker har fler sjukskrivningstillfällen och sjukskrivningsdagar än icke-diabetiker? Uppsatsen empirisk data kommer från HILDA (Health and Individuals Longitudinal Data and Analysis) och teorin baseras på Grossmans ekonomiska teori om individens hälsoinvesteringsbeteende (2000) samt Kristian Bolin et als (2002) utökning av Grossman teori. Ekvationerna i uppsatsen bygger på teorin men det är nya hälsomått på efterfrågan på och investeringen i hälsa; sjukskrivningsdagar ? respektive sjukskrivningstillfällen.

The purpose of this study is to investigate what kind of idea a group of students in third grade, who attends a school in the Stockholm area, have on group work in school and how they think it affects their learning.The study is based on two questions:What opinion do the students have about group work?What opinion do the students have about how group work affects their learning?The method I have used to retrieve information has been to interview six different students, where the interviews were both individually and in groups. I started by interviewing students individually and then had a group interview. The idea with the group interview was to end it all with a brief discussion about the thoughts that came up during the individual interviews. I chose a selection of six students, four girls and two boys which they all were at the age of 9 and go to the same school.The socio-cultural and structural perspectives, is those theoretical perspectives that my study is based on.

This essay aims at understanding the experience of the use of ayahuasca, and similarities and differences between interview protocols and socio-cultural identities. The work is based on field studies conducted in the Peruvian Andes, in the village of Pisac September to November 2009. What has emerged is that the experience does not seem to be dependent on cultural manifestations as much as it is dependent on general human cognition. Theories have been applied on an empirical phenomenological descriptive study. Various brain activities, along with mental mechanisms contribute to a deeper understanding of the findings in the descriptive analysis.It seems that the cultural differences, which I have classed as typological in the phenomenological study, mostly are expressions of meaning for the informants.

The globalization of political and economic processes is a growing moral concern for theologians and political philosophers alike. My thesis aims to outline, analyze, and compare church studies of globalization with global theories of justice.To do this, I draw upon recent studies of globalization made by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). The WCC and LWF are two global reaching church organizations. They have a common aim of uniting churches for ecumenical dialogue and are involved in social, economic, political, and ecological questions. The WCC and LWF analyze globalization by applying biblical and theological principles from the Christian tradition.

Fairtrade is a certification of products that has grown from the criticism of conventional trade. By increasing the focus on the producers? economic and social conditions, poverty can be fought and the producers? voice in the marketplace can be strengthened. Fairtrade City is a certification for municipalities who wish to engage in ethical consumption. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the Fairtrade City concept and how this can be a tool for working towards sustainable development. To be more concise, we want to answer the following questions: Why does Örebro municipality work with the Fairtrade City certification and how can Fairtrade City be used as tool for working towards sustainable development? The thesis is based on qualitative interviews and e-mail interviews with members of the steering committee for Örebro Fairtrade City and on literature studies. We have in our thesis identified Örebro Fairtrade City as a result of 1) that Örebro municipality through Fairtrade City wants to change their surrounding environment by engaging in ethical trade 2) that the surrounding environment effects Örebro municipality through isomorphism regarding its way to deal with sustainable development 3) that the municipality through its work with ethical trade becomes legitimized by their surrounding environment.

Samhällets resurser är begränsade och en prioritering av olika verksamheter nödvändig. Cost-utility-analysen är en typ av ekonomisk utvärdering som syftar till att utgöra en del av beslutsunderlaget vid prioriteringsbeslut. Uppsatsen gör en cost-utitlity-analys av den ickefarmokologiska hypertonibehandling som genomförts vid Vindelns hälsocenter på individer där traditionell behandling inte haft önskvärd effekt på blodtrycket. Det sänkta blodtryck deltagarna på internatet erhöll minskar riskerna att drabbas av hjärtinfarkt eller stroke. Cost-utitlity-analysen inkluderar både till behandlingen relaterade kostnader och inbesparingar samt framtida till behandlingen orelaterade kostnader, som en följd av att individiden lever längre när riskerna minskar.

SammanfattningDenna uppsats utreder sambandet mellan privatiseringsreform av vattendistribution och det teoretiska begreppet ojämlikhetsfällan. En ojämlikhetsfälla är ett tillstånd av relativ brist på tillgångar och möjligheter, skapat och bevarat av en snedvriden institutionell miljö. Vår frågeställning är huruvida ojämlikhetsfällan som fenomen består efter en genomgripande privatiseringsreform. Det fall som vi undersöker är Buenos Aires, som 1993 genomförde världens hittills största vattenkoncession. Koncessionen annullerades 2006, sjutton år i förtid.

Forecasting stock market returns is an interesting topic since more and more Swedes enter and invest in this market. Theory implies, however, that such exercises should be impossible. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the possibility to forecast future stock returns by looking at macroeconomic variables? history. The study is limited to the Swedish market as it is based on the OMXS30-index which represents the 30 most exchanged stocks on Stockholms¬börsen, the Swedish stock exchange.

Syftet med vår uppsats var att med hjälp av Model Confidence Set (MCS) finna de bättre presterande modellerna bland de mest ?kända? och undervisade volatilitetsmodellerna. Vidare har vi även rankat dessa modeller inbördes. Eftersom prognoser om volatiliteten är mycket viktigt vid prissättningen på derivat, i detta fall ett räntederivat, är ämnet ständigt intressant. Med Model Confidence Set fann vi ett set av bättre presterande modeller utifrån vårt urval av ursprungliga modeller.

Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka huruvida det går att skapa överavkastning påden svenska aktiemarknaden genom att använda sig av strategin 52?week highmomentum. Uppsatsen syftar även till att undersöka huruvida eventuell överavkastningkan härledas till bolagsstorlek. Metod: Aktierna i dataurvalet rangordnas i förhållande till sina årshögsta. Portföljenkonstrueras genom att gå lång i de 30 % av aktierna som ligger närmast sitt årshögstaoch gå kort i de 30 % av aktierna som ligger längst ifrån sitt årshögsta.

In agricultural educations you learn to use different economic planning tools, as basis for decision. The purpose and goal of this work has been to find out if economic planning tools are used by the farmers in Sweden. We choose to do an investigation through personal interviews, and used an inquiry to get as equivalent answers as possible from the farmers. This work contains a literature study with relevant facts about the questions that is brought up in the inquiry. This study of literature explains shortly some different calculation methods and bases for decision. It also contains useable information that is important to know before an investment. The questions that are asked to the farmers have focused on the use of calculation methods and economical planning tools.