This paper is an assessment of whether the Nordic countries constitute an optimum currency area (OCA) or not. Hodrick Prescott-­?filtered data of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and rate of employment are used to investigate the similarity of business cycles between the target countries through a series of correlation analysis with Sweden as the base reference country and also by using a linear regression model. Additionally there is an evaluation of trade volume and labour mobility between the countries. Our results indicate that Iceland had the least similar business cycles within the Nordic countries and that the area should therefore possibly comprise Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. .

I denna rapport presenteras det examensarbete som Emanuel Öhman utfört under vårterminen 2012 på Mälardalens Högskola. I rapporten redovisas det projekt som utförts för att vidareutveckla en häckvagn som används inom friidrott.Uppdragsgivaren Nordic Sport AB har i dagsläget en häckvagn på marknaden, som bland annat kommer användas i friidrotts-EM 2012 i Helsingfors. Syftet till vidareutvecklingen av häckvagnen är att sänka produktens fraktkostnad.Direktiven var att ta fram ett koncept som uppfyller kundkraven som ställs på produkten, samt att minska produktens volym och vikt, då dessa är direkt styrande av fraktkostnaden.Projektet börjades med en problemförståelsefas för att få en ökad kunskap, samt ta reda på vilka önskemål och krav som ställs på produkten. Utvecklingen av den befintliga produkten utfördes med olika produktutvecklingsverktyg.Resultatet blev en häckvagn vars helhet påminner om Nordic Sports nuvarande häckvagn, där vikt och volym reducerades. Samt att vagnens ramkonstruktion kunde dimensioneras ned efter simuleringar och beräkningar.Analysen visar att konceptet uppfyller de krav som ställs på produkten på ett mer resurseffektivt sätt än vad Nordic Sports nuvarande produkt gör och projektets mål kan ses som uppnått.I slutsatsen framgår det att projektet gått bra.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the employers? responsibilities for rehabilitation ofemployees in Sweden, who due to illness or injury are unable to work. The process of therehabilitation will be analyzed in a gender perspective. A minor comparative study aboutrehabilitation in Denmark will also be carried out. The purpose is to see how the process ofthe rehabilitation is designed for those who due to illness or injury are unable to work, whichfactors that affects the rehabilitation and which differences there are between Denmark andSweden regarding the employers responibility for rehabilitation.

Whiplash is a bodily injury, where the person that is injured is subjected to force towards the neck, mainly in traffic accidents. Even low speed accidents can cause severe damage due to the complicated muscle and nerve structure of the neck. Symptoms range from neck aches and headaches to numb fingers and this makes the Whiplash injury difficult to diagnose. Whiplash is also a treacherous injury due to the fact that the symptoms can not be objectively verified. The principal symptom of the injury is pain, which is to its nature highly subjective.

During the Nordic Bronze Age, houses were not exclusively connected with profane contexts, but did also feature in burial places, a peculiar fact when considering the careful separation of settlements and graves. What kind of houses do we find in these sacred contexts? What did these houses stand for? Why was the house symbolism chosen to accompany the dead? And why did the house symbolism flourish during the Nordic Bronze Age? To answer these questions three representatives for the house symbolism in Sweden are discussed in more detail, such as the burial in longhouses, peculiar houses called cult houses and house urns. Further, the phenomenon has been put in its temporal, geographic, social and ideological context, where aspects such as trade and settlement structure are presented. The house symbolism is, however, not confined to northern Europe.

Introduction: In January 2005, a nationwide mandatory bicycle helmet law for children under the age of 15 was introduced in Sweden. In the current study, the effect of this law was evaluated by analyzing national trends in hospital admissions due to bicycle-related head injuries during the period 1998-2011.Methods: An interrupted time-series design with segmented regression analysis was used to evaluate the intervention effect on head injuries as a percentage of all injuries (%HI) among cyclists in age- and sex-specific groups. Effect was measured as a change in level and/or slope of the trend at the time of legislation.Results: A total of 35261 cyclists (0-54 years) were hospitalized due to a bicycle injury during the study period. Linear regression analyses of the entire study period (not segmented) showed significant year-to-year decreases in the %HI of 1.3-1.7% in all age and sex-specific groups (p < .0001). Results from the segmented regression analysis showed that, at the time of legislation, a significant drop in level occurred among males under 15 years (-4.5% [95% CI: -7.7% to -1.3%], p = .01) and a significant change in slope occurred among females aged 30-54 years (-1.6% [95% CI: -2.9% to -0.2%], p = .025).Conclusions: The law seems to have had an effect on males in the target population (<15 years).

The aim of the present study was to estimate the correlation between Euro NCAP pedestrian rating scores and injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes, with special focus on long-term disability. The study also surveyed most frequently injured body regions and risk differences for specific elements of pedestrians hit by cars. Another aim was to determine whether Brake Assist systems affect the injury outcome in real-life car to pedestrian crashes and to estimate the effect in injury reduction of a high Euro NCAP ranking score combined with Brake Assist.In the current study, the Euro NCAP pedestrian scoring was compared with the real-life outcome in pedestrian crashes that occurred in Sweden 2003-2010. The real-life crash data was obtained from the data acquisition system STRADA, which combines police records and hospital admission data. The medical data consisted of International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) diagnoses and Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) scoring.

Bakgrund: I Sverige lever cirka 5000 personer med spinalskada. Där spinalskadan lett till nedsatt blåsfunktion är ren intermittent kateterisering (RIK) den metod som rekommenderas i första hand.Syfte: Att undersöka hur personer med traumatisk spinalskada som använder ren intermittent kateterisering (RIK) upplever detta. Syftet var även att ta reda på vilka hanteringsstrategier som finns för att underlätta det dagliga livet.Metod: En kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer användes där fem personer med traumatisk spinalskada som använder RIK intervjuades.Resultat: Att behöva tillägna sig metoden väckte blandade känslor. Män upplevde det lättare att RIKa jämfört med kvinnor. Den egna kompetensen och kunnandet om metoden RIK ökade med tiden och de hittade nya hanteringsstrategier för att underlätta vardagen.

Purpose: The main purpose of the thesis is to examine the profitability of Momentum Strategies on the Nordic stock markets. This will provide insight and contribute to the debate on efficient markets. Finding profitable Momentum Strategies will provide strong evidence of inefficiency in the market. A secondary purpose is to examine factors which might cause or impact the profitability of the Momentum Strategy. We will look closely at the relationship between the profitability and factors such as risk (CAPM-beta), market capitalization, trading volume and seasonality.

Injuries of the superficial digital flexor tendon are common in racehorses with many reports on different treatment regimes. However there are few studies in riding horses. The purpose of this study was to document the result of conservative treatment of injuries on the superficial digital flexor tendon in riding horses and to find factors that may be important to the outcome. Hospital records from 1999 to 2003 of 17 non-racehorses at ATGs Animal Hospital in Skara with the diagnosis tendonitis of the superficial digital flexor tendon were reviewed. Follow-up information on treatment, convalescence and final outcome was collected.

Nordic Summer Evening is a theoretical painting, today an important icon of Nordic art from the turn of the century. The purpose of this essay is to analyse the painting, and to investigate and identify its declaration of program, and in a wider context, the emergence of a program of the nationalistic art at the turn of the last century. The essay also investigates how the painting has become more popular throughout the century, and why Americans tend to see the painting as an exposé over a quarrel, filled with sexual tension, while Swedes tend to make a point out of the harmony and stillness of the painting..

Introduction: Balance is a complicated term which includes a static, dynamic and functional part. These parts have, during a long period of time, been included into the existing training programs through several different balance exercises, which aim to prevent sports injuries mostly focused on the knee and ankle. In floorball these injuries are common and a sports injury prevention program is required.Purpose: The purpose is to explain the balance term and relate it to injury prevention training and the existing theories. A second purpose is to see whether five weeks of balance training increases the balance ability in female floorball players and thereby increase the test values in the two tests.Method: Twenty female floorball players participated in the study and were divided into a training group and a control group. They performed a Star excursion balance test (SEBT) and a Multiple single leg hop stabilization test (MSLHST) before and after a five week training period, containing exercises of balance.Results: The training group showed improvement after the training period, however only one significant result was found.

In my degree project I have focused on how to make it easier for ambulance personnel to remove a motorcycle helmet after an accident. During my research I have interviewed ambulance personnel from different cities and a trauma surgeon to get a better understanding of how they work today and the problems they experience. Some of the problem areas are that you need a lot of force to remove the helmet, that the padding catches the ears and that the chin guard catches the face. Since ambulance personnel always assume that there is a neck injury after an accident, all these problems make it difficult to remove the helmet safely.The result is a motorcycle helmet with a focus on safe removal after an accident, to reduce the risk of worsening a neck injury. The solution suggested is that a small part of the back of the helmet is detachable, to make the opening larger.

The aim of this study was trough qualitative interviews with teachers and counsellors in Swedish schools, to study their experiences and perceptions of non suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents. During the study three teachers and three counsellors who worked in four different schools were conducted. The theoretical approach that was used is Michael Polanyis theory tacit knowledge. The outcome of the study was that schools did not seem to talk about NSSI as a problem and the teachers knowledge about it had come from own experiences meeting adolescents whit NSSI. The interviewed teachers and counsellors felt it hard to define NSSI, they mainly referred it to someone who cut themselves.

In my degree project I have focused on how to make it easier for ambulance personnel to remove a motorcycle helmet after an accident. During my research I have interviewed ambulance personnel from different cities and a trauma surgeon to get a better understanding of how they work today and the problems they experience. Some of the problem areas are that you need a lot of force to remove the helmet, that the padding catches the ears and that the chin guard catches the face. Since ambulance personnel always assume that there is a neck injury after an accident, all these problems make it difficult to remove the helmet safely.The result is a motorcycle helmet with a focus on safe removal after an accident, to reduce the risk of worsening a neck injury. The solution suggested is that a small part of the back of the helmet is detachable, to make the opening larger.