The objective of this thesis is to examine the capital structure of Swedish small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Accounting data from Swedish game developers, combined with the result from a survey, is used to examine their financial conditions and capital structure decisions. We find that non-debt tax shield, firm size, growth opportunities and age are, to various extents, the determinants of capital structure in the game industry, while effective tax rate and asset structure have marginal effects. Our study also implicates that most of the existing capital structure theories can explain SMEs leverage decisions to some extent; however, some adaptation is needed to fit these theories into the SME context. Additionally, we find the existence of a financial gap in the game industry which might need efforts from both demand side and supply side to eliminate..

Background: A majority of strategic alliances do not create value for the participants. One of the main reasons for the high failure rate is an inadequate process for partner selection. If the correct partner is not selected, it can have serious effects on the management of the partnership. This is a serious problem since failed alliances usually are very expensive for the involved companies. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate which theoretical factors are important when selecting a partner for a strategic alliance.

This research addresses the issues of identity and culture in Latvia in the context of the upcoming European Union enlargement in 2004. Political self- determination of Latvia was historically indebted to culture. The phenomenon of cultural identity, so important 12 years ago when Latvian independence was regained, is largely ignored by politicians in the upcoming enlargement process. This is especially worth attention since the 8-th parliamentary elections took place in October 2002. The obvious lack of interest in cultural issues on the part of politicians is compensated by the apprehensions in the society (reflected in mass media) to loose Latvian specific culture and identity when joining the big European family.

According to the theory of elitist democracy civic political participation should be reduced to participation in the democratic elections. This essay examines whether a high rate of institutionalized political participation beyond the elections leads to: (a) that those who are included gets a more favourable treatment at the expense of the common interest, in other words that their self interest threatens the political equality, (b) reduced freedom of action for the politicians and the headmasters, (c) the emergence of vague conditions of responsibility. These hypotheses are examined in an empirical study of user-boards at four schools on three locations in southern Sweden. In these user-boards the parents are in majority and have the right of decision, which has been delegated to them from the local government and the headmaster. The main conclusion is that, based on this empirical investigation, there is no support in any of the hypotheses.

How should a fair income tax system be designed? Since Estonia became the first country to introduce a flat tax on incomes in 1994, this question has been in focus of public debate. The aim of is this thesis is to show that a flat income tax system, combining a proportional tax rate on all incomes with an allowance exempt from tax, is consistent with the demands of justice. In order to achieve this I construct a two level argument using normative method. The first part consists in the justification of a specific ethical theory which is derived from to notion of human dignity.

This essay has examined the effects that new issues had on the four Swedish football clubs that are organized as sport limited companies. The difference between a limited company and a sporting limited company is that the clubs always have majority ownership by the 51% rule. Previous research on sport limited companies and on new issues has been associated with the agent theory and the pecking order theory in order to explain the effects.The thesis is a qualitative study with an inductive approach, where the interviews have been selected as the method of collecting data. Through the years the clubs have performed new issues several times. The study says that the clubs perform a new issue for two reasons, either for investment purposes or because they have a poor economy and must collect liquid assets.

An increasing number of health problems in the population and an uneven distribution of health between different groups in the society, have been identified as a problems and has therefore been put on the political agenda in Sweden. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to estimate and discuss the significance an individual?s behaviour, in a number of areas, has on his/her level of health.The empirical material for this thesis is taken from a nationwide inquiry conducted in 2004,which was called ?Hälsa på lika villkor?? (Health on equal terms?) The material used consists of the answers and records from individuals living in the administrative district of Kronoberg. 9972 individuals were included in the sample and the answering frequency was 63,2%. To map and analyse the material, which was done mainly through crosstabs, chi-square tests and logistic regressions, the statistics software SPSS 11.5 was used.The parameter used to measure the health level is the individual?s own perception of his or her general health.

Diabetes mellitus typ 1 är en kronisk sjukdom och en av de vanligaste barnsjukdomarna som påverkar det endokrina- och metaboliska systemet. I dagsläget beräknas 497 100 barn i världen ha sjukdomen. När ett barn diagnostiseras får föräldrarna ett stort ansvar då sjukdomen kan vara livshotande om inte behandlingen sköts på rätt sätt. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie var att beskriva föräldrars upplevelser när deras barn diagnostiseras med diabetes mellitus typ 1. En transitionsteori användes för att strukturera föräldrars upplevelser i tre faser.

The technology used in the development of web-applications is evolving at such rate that it has become more and more important to keep web-applications modern. If an application is based on a technical platform that is not renewed, the platform may over time develop into an obstacle in further development of the application. There may be compatibility issues and some of the code may be unnecessary due to abstraction, and therefore more time consuming to work with. Sometimes the reason may be that an application has been built to run, and is running on an application server that is no longer being maintained. The system can be large and modernization can cost a lot.

Based on an analytical overview of post-Communist civil society development in Russia, the present thesis attempts a critical discussion of general civil society theory from the perspective of its relevance for the case study in question. The text consists of three closely interconnected, mutually reinforcing parts. In the first part, major issues of current civil society research are being thematically presented and discussed. The second part concerns itself with the case study as such. It is divided into two parts, one dealing with the relations between state and civil society in Russia, the other with civil society and the individual.

The main purpose of this Masters thesis is to contribute to the understanding of high school teachers information seeking behaviour in the transition from university studies to occupational practice. The theoretical framework encompasses theories of professional socialization, the sociology of knowledge, of professions, and of library and information science. The empirical material has been collected through interviews with six recently qualified high school teachers in different subjects. The interviews have been analysed on two different levels; first on a descriptive level and then on a theoretical level. The major findings are that the academic context limited the student teachers information seeking and they did not have the opportunity to choose cognitive authorities on their own initiative.

This master?s thesis was written on the behalf of Saba Frukt och Grönt AB inHelsingborg and is the final part of the Master program in MechanicalEngineering at Halmstad University.The main task was to introduce visual control and increase the rate of concept intwo of the departments of the company. The goal is to come up withimplementation proposals, and if possible to implement one in the near future.The author attacks the problem by using the Six Sigma DMAIC-methodology as itis a clear and structured approach. As a complement Lean-inspired tools are used.After compiling the results from the interviews and benchmarking somesuggestions are made. These are reviewed with stakeholders and a discussion ofhow to go on further was held.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the situation for youths leaving foster care and entering adult life. The study examines the services provided by the social service in the Stockholm area when a youth is leaving foster care, and if a recent change in the legislation has had any impact on the operating procedures of the social service. The study includes interviews with youths who recently left foster care, as well as information collected from social service offices through a survey, supplemented by interviews with practicing social workers. All the assembled data have been analyzed using Ecological Systems theory with focus on the child perspective and the term significant others. The study shows that the respondent youth have trouble identifying the formal ending with social services, as well as the support they received or were offered.

The interest in the significance of public health for economic growth has increasedsteadily in recent years and a clarification of this connection may be of importance forthe status of public health. Aim: The aim of this literature based study is to describewhat previous research has shown in terms of the connection between public health andeconomic growth, focusing on high-income countries. Method: The study is based ontwelve scholarly articles retrieved from four scholarly databases. Result: The resultclarify that there is a positive long-term correlation between good public health andeconomic growth in high-income countries. Good health has a positive effect onproductivity, which leads to increased economic growth.

This paper aims to analyze how preservation of and access to old and rare book collections are organized in public libraries in Serbia. The paper is based on an analysis of documents, a survey and qualitative interviews with librarians in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Serbia is a country that has experienced violent historical periods with far-reaching consequences for its old and rare book collections. The interpretative background refers to documents about cultural policy in Europe and in Serbia. Serbia is a country in transition which aims to join the European Union.