This study examines the equity cost of capital between two periods distinguished by substantial differences in IPO activity. In light of the stemmed IPO flow to the Swedish stock exchange in 2012, this study regards the conjecture that the IPO count is related to the prevailing cost of equity capital for certain periods. By application of the Residual Income Valuation model the cost of equity capital is abstracted from sampled stock prices and compared at two points in time for which extreme highs and lows of IPO activity were observed. Using randomized samples from 1999 and 2012, significant differences between the estimated costs of capital are established. The findings indicate that the equity cost of capital, much as it may help influence, nevertheless plays a subordinated role in the going-public decision..

The purpose of this essay is to identify the costs of illness in different organizations, and compare the calculated result with the actual result in their annual reports.We collected information thru interviews with the personnel manager in the selected organizations, and used the annual reports to add necessary information.When we applied our model, we found that the selected organizations, in some cases, have a cost of illnes which is up to seven times higher than shown in their annual reports. It?s, in general, the costs that aren?t related to the salary (additional costs), which are much higher than shown.The absence of a model that calculates the costs of illnes can result in wrongful decisions. If a model would be applied in an organization, it should increase the awearness of the actual costs of illnes, which can lead to better decisions througout the whole organization.This report is written in Swedish..

This is a qualitative study where the purpose was to investigate what professionals experience to be the reason for an individual to become addicted to gambling and continues to gamble even though it leads to negative consequences. The purpose was also to investigate what the professionals experienced was of importance for an individual to recover from a gambling addiction. The study was based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable individuals in the field. The main findings of the study were that the motivation for individuals with a gambling problem to continue gamble was that they saw gambling as the solution to their problems by winning back lost money. It was common that gambling was an escape from anxiety, guilt, shame, and other gambling-related problems such as financial liabilities.

The purpose of this study has been to examine how the media presents policymakers from a gender perspective. We have made an analysis on the basis of genderdichotomies. We have studied images from the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet as well as the French newspaper Le Monde in order to achieve a greater understanding in which way the both medias contributes to the reproduction of gender in the media.The conclusion of the study has shown that the gender system is somewhat confirmed by the way in which men and women are presented in the medias. Men are presented with more traditional gender related associations than women who is shown in a more dynamic constellation, this is mostly evident in the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet..

Human-computer interaction is central for computer assisted development. The aim was to investigate the user experience of a new (U2) compared to an old (U1) computer system, within a cognitive psychology frame of reference. Six subjects, frequently using the system, participated in the study. It was shown that the new (U2) compared to the old system (U1) enhanced and supported more the users? system related procedures/tasks.

This thesis? objective is to evaluate the recently proposed Shy (2002) approach of estimating consumer switching costs. We apply Shy?s method for estimating switching costs on the Swedish markets for bank deposits and telecommunications. The evaluation has been achieved by comparing estimated results to economic theories, related empirical studies, and our expectations.

Västergarn is one of the smallest parishes on the island of Gotland. It?s a place of rich history and has been subject to numerous excavations throughout the years. The University of Gotland has conducted seminar excavations at Västergarn between the years of 2005-2012. During these excavations a lot of horse related finds have been found.

This empirical study aims to determine whether Linnaeus University's formation in 2010 and subsequent reorganization has affected the employees' perceived motivation and job satisfaction.A combined approach was used in which both quantitative and qualitative questions were asked in the survey form. 101 survey responses is the basis for the analysis and these have been associated with SDT-theory in order to draw further conclusions.The study shows that among the respondents, there is a frustration that is possibly related to the two organizational changes. They feel that they have lost confidence in management as a result of not being part of decision making. The study also conveys a very fragmented picture, members of the organization perceive that they have very different possibilities to peform well, participate and have clear goals to work towards..

The purpose of this bachelor-thesis is to investigate the possible effects of lease accounting on the estimation of bankruptcy. This is done by estimating the risk via prediction models based on accounting ratios for a sample of 43 listed firms in Sweden. Estimation is conducted twice for each firm, once base on unadjusted data as it is presented in the annual report of 2012, and one with data adjusted for operational leases (that is data is treated as if all leases present were to have been reported as financial leases). In the next step it is tested weather the predictive ability of the models is affected by this adjustment or not. For this purpose translation of bankruptcy risk into synthetic credit ratings via interest coverage ratios is done.

Manne Bouveng, CEO of Optimel AB had an idea for a new kind of storage cabinet that could be adapted especially for townhouse owners. I came in contact with Manne by a familiar friend for us; we met and decided that it would suit as my thesis.What was needed to be done was a market research that would possibly show that there was a need for a new kind of storage cabinet on the market. Because of this we continued to work on the basic idea. We came up with a solution where we developed a box that resembles Optimels known mailbox Biggi Rondo, the storage cabinet is a new solution of a storage cabinet, adapted after a market that need of a lot of new space. The solution is based on a simple construction which sits an inside hang-off device which can attach tool hooks, tool holders and shelves and so on.The purpose of the assignment was to develop a new type of storage cabinet with some kind of solution to attach tools and other garden related stuff. With this we have succeeded and the concept meets the requirements we set ourselves at the beginning of the project..

A current issue today is to try to implement creative design as a way to solve wicked problems in scientific contexts such as HCI. Since the problems are wicked, they have no given solution which makes the traditional methods inadequate. In these cases, creative design can be an alternative. Creative design is not used in scientific contexts because it is viewed as something unaccountable.In this essay we argue that creative design not necessarily have to be unaccounted. We discuss various views of creative design and translate theory to a practical context.

In a global context the traditional democratic process is facing new challenges. Scholars are talking about a transition from government to governance, where local and regional networks as well as international collaboration are an important part in how regional policy is produced and implemented. In this paper the processes in regional projects funded by the European Union are considered, and related to the traditional democratic process. The study has been fulfilled through informant interviews with representatives from four EU-projects. The interviews are supplemented by a qualitative text analysis of current statutes.

The aim of this study was to design short interventions based on the literature study, which will change the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problem-solving in mathematics and everyday life. An experimental group of 17 pupils in fifth grade participated in the study and were educated in everyday mathematics 20 minutes a day during four weeks. The intervention was measured in a pre- and after questionnaire, in order to control the design and discover possible changes in the pupils? posture on mathematics and connections between problems and everyday life.

Abstract: According to previous research, it is not unusual for online poker players to create profiles which indicate they are members of the opposite sex. This phenomenon, known as 'Gender Swapping', is partly being utilized in a strategic fashion. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate whether or not the gender of an opponent has an impact on decision-making in an online poker environment. An experiment was constructed where subjects made 15 poker-related decisions against seven randomly generated opponents, consisting of three male, three female and one genderless opponent. The results indicate no significant differences in decisions against male and female opponents.

A current issue today is to try to implement creative design as a way to solve wicked problems in scientific contexts such as HCI. Since the problems are wicked, they have no given solution which makes the traditional methods inadequate. In these cases, creative design can be an alternative. Creative design is not used in scientific contexts because it is viewed as something unaccountable.In this essay we argue that creative design not necessarily have to be unaccounted. We discuss various views of creative design and translate theory to a practical context.