Banks have been some of the biggest operators on the market of business customers financing. When the Swedish Förmånsrättslagen was changed 2004 the banks became more restrictive to allow traditional bank loans. The change made it more difficult for customers to get their loans granted. For that reason customers had to find other forms of financing. Factoring is an alternative that means companies can mortage/sell their claim on customers to finance companies.

The purpose of this study is to examine how participants perceive virtual agents shown on a computer display. In particular, it is explored to what extent participants transfer gender and attraction stereotypes that are commonly applied in the physical world to virtual agents. Previous related studies have often explored only text or voice interfaces, without any visually appearing agents, and here indeed found evidence for a transfer of gender stereotypes. Our hypothesis was that the addition of a visual agent interface would reinforce this effect. The results support our hypothesis that participants transfer human gender and attraction stereotypes onto virtual agents, as well as that these processes are affected by the visual representations of the agents..

The aim of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers reason about gender stereotypical and gender neutral toys and other material. I would also like to see how the pedagogues reason about gender segregation when it comes to toys. To investigate the issue, I have interviewed three pedagogues from different preschools. The results showed that the work procedures differed a bit from school to school, although they all wanted to achieve the same goal. A goal that our curriculum mention as well: Not to make a difference between boys and girls.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen har varit att undersöka fyra gymnasieelevers erfarenheter av språkundervisning i moderna språk. Uppsatsens frågeställningar är: ? Hur beskriver eleverna sin språkundervisning? ? Vilka strategier använder sig eleverna av vid språkinlärningen? ? Vilka teorier kring lärande går att observera i elevernas undervisning? Underlaget till uppsatsen har varit fyra gymnasieelevers utsagor om språkinlärning i form av kvalitativa intervjuer. Elevernas utsagor har analyserats med hjälp av olika teorier med anknytning till språkinlärning. Slutsatsen är att denna språkundervisning lägger tonvikten på den sociala interaktionen, vilket speglar den forskning som har gjorts de senaste 30 åren. Det visade sig även att det fortfarande finns spår av äldre metoder i dagens undervisning, och att det är problematiskt att hitta en balans mellan lärarcentrerad och elevorienterad undervisning..

This report analyzes and examines a hypothesis for finding a method to optimize thelength of the delubrication process time based on a total charge weight. The work hasfocused on the holding time for delubrication and the total charge weight.An important step in the manufacturing chain of cutting tools is when the greenbodies undergo the sintering process. Today, the delubrication step has the sameprocess time independent of the total charge weight. An implementation of a methodto adjust the delubrication process time would give more consistent quality of thecutting tool´s internal characteristics but also reduce the time course of the sinteringprocess. In the present project two methods for this goal were tested, thedevelopment of an algorithm and a weight interval subdivision with associateddelubrication process times.During delubrication a pressure increase is observed due to the decomposition of thePEG in the powder mixture.

This bachelor thesis is a study in the analysis of paintings with focus on the technical exami-nation within the framework of ATSR. ATSR is a methodology based on an interdisciplinary study with the aim of putting the object in its context.The study is based on questions concerning which information the object can give, how we access this information and how it can be put in a larger context. My thesis contains three major parts. First a short overview of methods of analysis used in this form of investigation is presented. This is followed by two case studies which exemplify the technical investigation.

This essay examines a presupposed correlation between the way one look upon values and the way one look upon the will of the people in a theoretical democratic context. The more specific purpose is to test the following hypothesis: There is a reversed connection between the way one look upon values and the way one look upon the will of the people in a theoretical democratic context, that is; a strong claim of values give reason to a limited conception of the will of the people and a weak claim of values gives reason for a more unlimited conception of the will of the people.In order to test the hypothesis I examine three different conceptions of democracy, these are: pluralist democracy, deliberative democracy and constitutional democracy. I analyze the way they look upon values, there view of the will of the people and finally if there is a connection between the way they look upon values and the will of the people. Values should be understood in a metaethical context. In other words it is not values in the ?common? meaning, instead its how val-ues in them selves should be understood, and even more relevant, what we mean when we ex-press values.My conclusions are, first and foremost, that there is a correlation between the will of the people and values, according to the formulation of the hypothesis.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the origin of generalized trust. We compare existing theories on trust to determine what approach is more fruitful in explaining the prevalence, or absence, of trust. Our conviction is that trust should be viewed as an interaction, rather than a disposition or a rational choice. The sample is based on the countries of the OECD. In total, five different hypotheses are tested: i) that generalized trust is created by equal distribution of income, ii) that generalized trust is created through monitoring of the state, iii) that generalized trust is created through rule by law; iv) that generalized trust is created when the welfare apparatus is guided by principles of universalism; or iv) that generalized trust is created when the state integrates trust networks.

One purpose of our study was to investigate if equality in work time and parental leave in a relationship affect the time that parents spend with their children. Our first hypothesis was that increased equality in work time and parental leave leads to a reduction of the parents? total time with their children, ie the children spend more hours in pre-school and begin pre-school earlier. In order to test our hypothesis, we investigated the relationship between the woman?s and the man?s work time and parental leave and the time that the children spend in pre-school as well as at what age they began pre-school by using two surveys.Our study showed a significant coherence between both working women?s work time and the children?s time in pre-school as well as women?s parental leave and the children?s age at start in pre-school.

Goal-Oriented Action Planning (GOAP) är en AI-arkitektur som tillämpar ett måldrivet beteende åt agenter i spel. Mål uppnås genom att planer med åtgärder genereras med hjälp av en sökalgoritm. Syftet med denna rapport är att undersöka hur två sökalgoritmer, A* och IDA*, presterar under planering i GOAP.De experimenten som används är dels en miljö där agenter simuleras, samt ett test där planer genereras för samtliga implementerade mål utan rendering och simulering av agenter. Data som utvärderas är bl.a. planeringstiden, antal besökta noder under sökning och genererade planer.Utvärderingen visar en tydlig fördel till A*, som i snitt är 38 % snabbare än IDA* vid planering av åtgärder i GOAP.

Banks have been some of the biggest operators on the market of business customers financing. When the Swedish Förmånsrättslagen was changed 2004 the banks became more restrictive to allow traditional bank loans. The change made it more difficult for customers to get their loans granted. For that reason customers had to find other forms of financing. Factoring is an alternative that means companies can mortage/sell their claim on customers to finance companies.

Pharmaceuticals are environmental pollutants that are a major threat to aquatic ecosystems and very little is known about their ecological consequences. In this study growth, survival and behaviour (sociability, activity and boldness) of perch fry (Perca fluviatilis) were examined in order to study the possible effects of exposure to a benzodiazepine anxiolytic drug, Oxazepam, during embryonic development. The study tested following hypotheses: (1) perch growth is affected positively by exposure during embryonic development; (2) early perch survival is affected positively by exposure during embryonic development; and (3) boldness and activity increases while sociability decreases in perch fry exposed during embryonic development. Embryos of naturally spawned perch were exposed to water with two different concentrations of Oxazepam. The embryos were exposed during different parts (24-hour periods) of the embryonic development, because embryos may be more vulnerable at certain times during embryonic development and/or because the exposure at different times can produce different effects.

 This paper evaluates the effect of exchange rate risk on the sum of bilateral trade. To distinguish the effect between different types of countries, two groups are defined: advanced and developing economies. Economic theory on exchange rate risk and trade proposes ambiguous effects of increased volatility. However, the ex ante hypothesis is that developing economies are more sensitive to volatility. Contrarily to the hypothesis, the empirical results suggest that advanced economies would benefit up to twice as much from a removal of exchange rate risk.

What do we really mean when we are talking about the perfect leadership? Does a leadership like that really exist in the world we live in today? Being perfect is something that many people are longing for, but that is hard to achieve. In school, in families and at work: the longing for perfectionism is everywhere. Being a leader is a tough goal to master, being the perfect leader is something impossible. Many managers in Sweden today all want to be successful and perfect at what they do, many of them don?t have the time to reflect over how the perfect leadership should be characterized.

Antalet flygresor har ökat markant i världen de senaste decennierna. Detta har medfört en ökning av flygets koldioxidutsläpp som därmed har gett en ökad påverkan på klimatet. Forskning angående människors syn på och uppfattning om flyget är relativt ny och forskning rörande ämnet är mer förekommande idag än för ett decennium sedan. Tidigare undersökningar är dock i stort sett eniga om att människor, både miljömedvetna och icke-miljömedvetna personer, inte tänker ändra på sina flygvanor och flyga mindre på grund av flygets klimatpåverkan. Denna studie undersöker klimatengagerade personers flygvanor och vad de har för syn på flyget och flygets påverkan på klimatet.