The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of capital structure in Swedish small and medium sized firms. The study includes 24.859 Swedish firms which are further analyzed with regards to their financial characteristics. These characteristics consist of short term debt, long term debt and total leverage. The study compares the relationship between these characteristics and six independent variables.The result shows that profitability is the greatest determinant for capital structure in Swedish small and medium sized firms with regards to total leverage. When profitability increases the total leverage of the firm decreases.

In this thesis we have examined why the establishment process of travel destination is essential for the tour operators and how the process can be influenced by different conditions. The thesis is written from the perspective of the tour operators and with the tour operator Ving as our case study, we have been able to create a picture of how the establishment process of travel destination may look like.We have chosen to deal with some different areas in this thesis that all are important for the creation of a holistic picture of the process. The overall segments listed in this thesis are the process itself, the tourist, marketing, the product creation and demand. By connecting our theoretical framework to the collected empirical data from our case study, we have analyzed the establishment process and drawn our conclusions..

This Thesis in Military Technology deals with experiences drawn from the forced introduction of Weapons Station 01, 2009. The work aims to identify the experiences regarding the forced procurement of military equipment to see how they can develop normal and fast procurement of equipment. The main conclusions of  this work, is to achieve greater capability and increase the military utility, are: -          Common objectives and priorities of stakeholders-          Response and joint types shall determine requirements for system-          Ensure an integrated project team also at lower levels-          Engage the integrated logistic support early in the materiel process-          Include Armed Forces staff as early as possible in the testing and validation-          Prioritize work to facilitate the rapid development of decision on use (BOA)-          Provide back up for increased redundancy in the mission area .

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge regarding the connection between the socialization process and the organizational commitment perceived by junior accountants. Based on Van Maanen and Schein's (1979) model, we intend to identify and describe how selected socialization strategies affect junior accountants? perceived affective, continuous and normative commitment during the initial five years in the firm.Research methodology: Semi-structured interview was chosen as the key approach for gathering essential data. Interviews were conducted at three major accounting firms with a total of eight interview participants. The study has a qualitative approach because of the ability to go in depth on the studied phenomenon.Conclusion: The socialization process consists of individual, informal, sequential, fixed, serial, and investiture strategies.

AbstractPurpose: The purpose of this thesis was to examine to which extant the politically governed organization, Swedish association of local authorities and local regions (SALAR), has been mediatized. Furthermore the purpose was to examine how SALAR being a Meta-organization affected the mediatization process. To accomplish this the thesis studied how SALAR organized themselves internally in order to form opinion through the media in one of their prioritized issues. A further purpose was to equalize SALAR?s mediatization process with the mediatization process for the whole political system. Method: This is a qualitative study which the gathered material has been collected through two types of methods, semi structured interviews and field observations.Material: A total of eight interviews were made distributed over three departments inside SALAR.

This thesis is written at WSP management and investigates the practice of pre-project planning and feasibility studies at Swedish construction companies, through the study of the ongoing feasibility study of the mall Sturegallerian in Stockholm, and through interviews with experienced project managers in the construction industry. There is currently a big span in the way Swedish construction companies plan the pre-project phase and the aim of this thesis is to present a more generic and standardized way that helps minimize project risks and maximize efficiency and profit. The result is a generic model which can be used in pre-project planning. The model describes the phases in the preproject planning process and the activities that span these phases. Is also describes the categories of professions that need to participate in the preproject planning group and which activities that each profession executes. The other result is a list of factors that need to be considered for a well performed pre-project phase, as found during the interviews. Among others the thesis stresses the importance of involving the client as a key participant in the process.

This is a thesis project in the field of information technology which begins by evaluating existing food price comparison systems and subsequently aims to design an improved, web based system for said purpose. The system features interfaces for price reporting, price comparisons as well as various search and review functions. The objective is to create a system able to compete with existing price comparison systems, which requires careful selection of products that can be found in all foodstores that also represent different households; a user-friendly price reporting and price comparison interface and an efficient tool for ensuring the validity of reported prices.The designed system features a more accurate formula for calculating average prices in events where the real price is missing; a more reliable security mechanism forv alidation of reported prices and a more comprehensible interface for viewing price reports, reporting prices, reviewing stores and products in comparison with existing systems. The system does, however, suffer from some optimization issues primarily in the form of inefficient database modeling; SQL queries and JavaScript code although testing has shown that these shortcomings do not hamper overall performance to such a degree that usability is compromised. Further usability testing performed on the system with five test subjects shows that a high level of overall user-friendliness has been achieved even though some special features, such as the detailed report containing price information per product for each store need to be improved.It is not possible to say at this time whether or not the designed system will be able to compete with existing ones or if the very concept of food price comparisons per se is viable in terms of profitability and marketability.

With gas prices persistently rising, electric and hybrid vehicles are getting more and more common and in recent years several new electric cars have evolved on the market. Although the energy consumption and low emissions are a huge benefit of the electric cars, they inevitably suffer from high prices, short range and time consuming recharging periods. To be able to withstand the competition it is important that electric vehicles not only can withstand general were and tare, but also the harsh conditions that ordinary cars is exposed to in daily usage. The purpose of this project is to develop a test methodology which replicate situations that could appear in daily usage of electric or hybrid cars and to understand the problems related to usage of electric cars in winter conditions. This paper also discusses the major differences between hybrid cars and electric cars.

This report presents a master thesis project performed at Elekta AB during the fall of 2013 and early 2014. Elekta is a medical technology company and their main product in the Stockholm office is a gamma knife used for radiosurgery. The gamma knife contains a cluster of a dozen motor servos and motors used for adjusting the patient and the radiation sources over a CAN bus. A self-developed hardware-in-loop simulator running on a PC with LabVIEW is currently being used for integration level testing of the control system of the gamma knife. The simulator has some problems with it not running in real-time and having other performance issues.

This report is the documentation of a project in the education Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. The project was carried out at Alfakonsult AB. The purpose of the project was to map out the transference of information between the different operators in the supply chain of medicine in Sweden and to analyse this in order to reduce lead-time and the total throughputtime. The supply chain of medicine in Sweden consists of producers, distributors, one wholesaler, prescribers and patients. The mapping of the transference of information showed that most operators in the supply chain have done well introducing technical aids to facilitate the transference of information.

This report contains a programming improvement work in a LabVIEW? fire testing furnace control system for SP Fire Technology in Borås. Here materials and products behaviour are tested and evaluated, being exposed to fire. For this task, UGNET is being used for control and surveillance of the testing furnace system. System hardware has been updated gradually through the years, while the software has been neglected.

The effect of total dietary fat on the blood lipid profile: a reviewFat consumption has increased in Sweden in the 21th century, probably due to the advancement of the diet low car high fat (LCHF). Also, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of premature death in Sweden. Various blood lipids are used to evaluate the cardiovascular disease risk; total cholesterol, LDL, HDL and triglycerides among others. High levels of total cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides and low levels of HDL are believed to increase the risk. The purpose of this review was to examine the effects of high-fat-diet on blood lipids, cholesterol, LDL, HDL the ratio between LDL/HDL and triglycerides through a systematic review.

Return handling is often regarded as a slow and complex process. Studies have shown that it is not unusual for a return to cost up to nine times as much as a standard outbound delivery. An efficient return handling process is therefore essential to all competitive companies dealing with logistics. This report investigates, analyzes and gives suggestions on development with the purpose to improve the return handling process at LensLogistics AB in Kista, north of Stockholm, Sweden. The study has been conducted from a deliberately practical point of view in order to suggest improvement suggestions possible to implement and thereby change the entire return handling process.

The contribution of biofuels to the total consumption of energy in Sweden must increase to 49 % in order to meet the goals for the year 2020 set by the European Union. In order to do so, improved information systems are needed to support the business processes within delivery scheduling between customers and suppliers.Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a concept to enable the alignment of Business processes and Information Systems. EA is the framework for the architectures of business, information and applications. With a comprehensive view of the architectures, an Information System aligned with the Business processes can be enabled. The first step in the development of an Information System is documenting the business processes.The goal of this study is to clarify a generic sequence of activities performed within the delivery scheduling process and the information needed to perform the activities.Data for the study was collected through qualitative interviews, first through a meeting with the respondent and after that a following telephone interview with in total 5 suppliers and 6 customers of biofuels.

This report presents a master thesis project performed at Elekta AB during the fall of 2013 and early 2014. Elekta is a medical technology company and their main product in the Stockholm office is a gamma knife used for radiosurgery. The gamma knife contains a cluster of a dozen motor servos and motors used for adjusting the patient and the radiation sources over a CAN bus. A self-developed hardware-in-loop simulator running on a PC with LabVIEW is currently being used for integration level testing of the control system of the gamma knife. The simulator has some problems with it not running in real-time and having other performance issues.