Since criminality started to rise steeply in most western welfare states following the second world war the relationship between welfare support and criminality has been debated. For a period of time thought to be an effective preventive measure against crime welfare support has since from time to time come to be seen by some as ineffective and in some cases even as a contributing factor to the rise in crime. It remains a contested issue as new theories, such as social support theory, which is employed here, attempt to contribute to the understanding of what effects general welfare has on overall crime levels. As a connection which is relatively well-researched in the USA, altough still not yet fully understood, this study strives toward a better understanding by testing the relationship in a swedish context. The relationship might not function in the same way considering that the US is a fundamentally different welfare-regime than Sweden, liberal and social-democratic respectively.Untangling the relationship is attempted by employing a multivariate regressionanalysis on a crosssectional dataset consisting of data from 2012 covering 247 of Swedens total of 290 municipalities.

Att ha tillämpningsprogram som användarna upplever som ?användbara? är en av de grundläggande förutsättningarna för företag som vill skapa produktivitet, konkurrenskraft och överlevnad på sin marknad. Användbarhetsaspekterna är det som faktiskt avgör om program kommer att vara produktiva eller inte. Användbarhetsbrister kan vara av varierande karaktär men kan alla vara källor till stress hos användaren. Syftet med denna rapport är att ur användarens perspektiv bedöma användbarheten för tillämpningsprogram.

Payday loans are becoming a challenge of increasing gravity for society. Statistics show that the number of young adults with financial issues related to such loans has been growing over the past few years. Despite efforts to halt this trend, little is changing. Government mandated warning labels in commercials are typically used to inform about the risks associated with the consumption of certain goods and services, such as alcohol and tobacco. Despite issues related to payday loans, there is currently no legislation in Sweden mandating the inclusion of warnings in marketing of such loans.

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.

The purpose of this essay is to discuss and compare different ways of learning new words and expanding your vocabulary in a foreign language. This is done by an examination of relevant literature and available research, as well as by an empirical study with two upper secondary school classes, in which two different methods are put to the test: one traditional method of the kind that is found to be most common in second language acquisition, and one designed to take existing research into account. The results show that, although effective in the initial stages of acquisition, the traditional method, where words are learned in isolation and via translation to L1, results in a very limited form of knowledge. A big part of the words acquired via this method is also forgotten soon afterwards. The other method, where words were learned and tested in its proper context, was found to result in a broader form of vocabulary knowledge, covering more aspects, and that remained over time.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the occurrence of Cosmetic Earnings Management (CEM) among Swedish companies. CEM refers to the small upward rounding of reported net income to reach cognitive reference points. Important cognitive reference points are multiples of ten (N*10^x) of reported net income and rounding towards these has been documented in other markets around the world over the last 20 years. The occurrence of CEM on the Swedish market is studied using digital analysis, frequency testing and Benford's law. Firstly, reported net income of publicly traded companies between 1996 and 2010 is examined.

This report describes how to process audio signals in real time with a digital signalprocessor. The digital signal processor used in the thesis and described in the reportare the Blackfin processor ADSP-BF537 from Analog Devices.In the body of this report there is theory of the processor characteristics and thevarious programming languages used. All experiments that were made on theprocessor are described, these descriptions also help in understanding the annexeswhere the experiments will be presented. The body of this report also describes theprogram used to do experiments. Testing the CPU limit was done and the results arepresented to get a good view of what it can handle.

Inadequate data quality has a negative effect for organizations, however utilization of modern technology and data analysis may shape new values for organizations. Our research has found that the quality of information in field reports for error reporting varies significantly. In many cases, the information in the field reports are deficient in such way that the field report need additional information from the sender, thus risking prolonging lead times in the error reporting process. More efficient use of information has become possible with today?s technology.

This thesis presents the work of developing and testing a programming tool specially designed for children. The purpose of this tool is to make children capable of creating visual simulations and games that consist of actors interacting in a virtual world. The name of the programming tool is Behavior Cards, which comes from the fact that actors are programmed by giving them cards representing different kinds of behaviors. Behaviors are to some extent pre-programmed and can include general events specifying how the actors should act in different situations, in contrast to specifying every possible situation that can occur. The idea is that Behavior Cards should be easier to use than a more traditional text based programming tool, but it should also be expressive within the domain of visual games.

Tile covered bathrooms require a wellexecuted waterproofing in order toprotect the underlying construction frommoisture. Länsforsakringar Uppsala paysannually out millions in insurance fordamages related to poor waterproofedbathrooms. In recent years, SP (SwedishNational Testing and Research Institute)investigated and researchedwaterproofing products, resulting ingreater shortcomings of product defectsthan expected.This report raises the problemsconcerning waterproofing and discusseswhy they occur. By studying productinstructions and insurance cases anddamage reports provided byLänsforsakringar, the most commonproblems concerning bathroomwaterproofing where concluded. Animportant part of the report was tofind out the actual cause to whywaterproofing damages occur.The results of the survey indicate thata common cause of water damage usuallyis related to poor productinstallations.

The purpose of this master thesis is to examine how Dublin Core corresponds to the findings in the IFLA report Functional requirements for bibliographic records FRBR, and what consequences this correspondence has on the usability of Dublin Core as a bibliographic standard. While the study describes the conceptual model of FRBR and the entities work, expression, manifestation and item, its main focus is the mapping of attributes and relationships to the user tasks defined, namely to find, identify, select and obtain entities. The study makes a comparison between data that FRBR rates as highly important for any user task, and the elements defined in DCMI Metadata Terms. The outcome of the comparison is then analyzed as to how it affects Dublin Core's possibilities to assist in the different user tasks, and common problems are discussed. The results show that problems in expressing attributes and relationships through Dublin Core elements concern all of the four user tasks.

Pastern dermatitis is a common condition among horses. It is a symptom, a reaction in the skin of the pastern rather than a diagnose. There are a lot of homemade treatments when you ask horse owners how they handle pastern dermatitis, but what does the science say about how it should be treated? Today there is a growing problem with antibiotic resistance, but how good are the veterinarians on testing for resistance before they describe antibiotics? Bacteria and fungus is seldom the primary cause for pastern dermatitis, the reaction is often secondary to environmental factors. It?s difficult to diagnose the primary factor and it´s even more difficult when the horse has been treated in different ways before the veterinarian gets involved.

WesDyne TRC AB is a fully owned subsidiary of the global WestinghouseElectric Corporation. WesDyne is a world leader in non-invasive methods for theinspection of nuclear power plants. One of the inspection platforms used to scanfor defects in and around the welds in the reactor vessel is called the T-crawler.The T-crawler operates under water in a radioactive environment by stepping onthe vessel (reactor tank) inner wall using suction cups. The environment is harshand many traditional positioning sensors are not suitable for implementation. Thisthesis investigates the possibility to use a gyroscope and a pressure sensor tocreate an alternative and independent positioning system.

The evaluation and assessment of a pupil?s knowledge is today an important part of a teachers work. The function of the evaluations for younger pupils (grades 1-3) has assumed a more prominent role in the school system due to the introduction of written assessments as well as national testing in grade 3. One of the purposes of this research has been to find out the teacher?s opinions of the written assessment in grade 3.

This thesis aims to examine the conditions for entrepreneurship in Taiwan by the occurrence of cultural phenomenon guanxi. Based on the concept of familiness and guanxi, the family is central in this study of family business. Traditional descriptions of the Asian culture claim that guanxi is vital in the business context. Though, recent studies indicate that significance of guanxi seems to be changing. Therefore the purpose of this thesis is to create an understanding of the importance and relevance of guanxi in the context of Taiwanese family business.By travelling to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to interview six managers of Taiwanese family firms this study?s empirical material was gathered for further processing based on a qualitative approach.