In this thesis we examine the relationship between board composition and firm performance in Swedish companies. The selection of companies includes all Swedish limited liability companies, with the exception of micro enterprises, that have been active between the years of 2009-2010. We develop hypotheses based on resource dependence theory, agency theory, and the resource based view, and test these with regression analysis against collected data. Specifically, we examine the effects of board diversity, outside directorships, and CEO duality. Our findings show that none of the theories provide sufficient explanatory power of the relationship between board composition and firm performance, and that further research is required to better understand the role and effects of company boards..

A new build in the Swedish nuclear power system would entail increased re-quirements for the proposed repository, which is adapted after the reactors of today. With a fast reactor, capable of burning nuclear waste, operating in parallel with the light water reactors, the increased requirements on the repository could be reduced.In this thesis, simulations of a light water reactor and a fast reactor have been performed by using the Monte Carlo code Serpent to investigate the changes in the fuel inventory. The light water reactor in the study is a boiling water reactor and the fast reactor of the type sodium-cooled fast reactor and they have been used for three different operation scenarios.By studying the fuel composition and the results from the simulations of the three scenarios conclusions can be drawn. Conclusions regarding the change of the fuel inventory and decay heat in Clab as well as the interim storage facility and in the repository. Depending on the operation alternative the changes dif-fered significantly and especially regarding the mass of burned actinides for different fuels in the fast reactor.The lowest increase of fuel assemblies was meet when using 50 years old fuel with 20MWd/kg U burnout and 2,0 % enrichment for start up of the fast reactor and 30 years old fuel assemblies with 50MWd/kg U burnout and 4,7 % enrichment for the further operation of the reactor.The increase of the number of fuel assemblies was 3174, which is equivalent to 641tons of heavy metal.

In Sweden, the eutrophication of lakes, water courses and the coastal areas is considered the major threat to aquatic ecosystems and therefore actions taken to reduce the nutrient load to aquatic system including the Baltic Sea has high priority. There are many different sources of phosphorous and nitrogen and domestic wastewater is one contributing factor to the high load. Especially waste water from households that is not connected to municipal sewage treatment or a local small scale plant with appropriate nutrient removal efficiency is considered a problem. These types of households are quite common in rural areas in Sweden and in areas where summer houses has been converted to permanent living. Swedish legislation now permit the municipalities to decide in which areas within the municipality higher demands of the local small scale treatment facility should be met by the households (i.e.

Deposited waste material degrades within a short period in anaerobic environments. The methane gas that is formed provides a harmful contribute to the greenhouse effect, 23 times larger impact than carbon dioxide. It is therefore desirable to minimize the emissions of methane gas from landfills. This may be achieved by drain the landfill of gas. In this thesis the amount of produced methane gas at the landfill at Örebro has been calculated. Estimations have also been made of the amount of methane gas that might be produced in the landfill in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to explore web use and web navigation behavior. This paper presents findings from qualitative research based on interviews and diarie studies. The basis of this study is Eli Parisers work about ?the filter bubble?. As personalization systems shape our experience of the web, based on who we are, our bubble of knowledge and information becomes smaller.

In 2013 a new emission standard for heavy trucks was introduced and hence a number of new parts was brought in to Scania CV AB. This created a need for modifications in the silencers flow. The flow is highly complex involving several suppliers, call off methods and different models of silencers. The aim for this project was to improve the existing silencers flow. The flow, from supplier to assembling, has therefore been mapped.

The main purpose of this thesis is to examine the process of selecting films at Bibliotekstjänst and at Swedish public libraries. The tools that have been used for analysing and interpreting the results from the interviews and the questionnaire are theory-based models describing the selection process concerning film and Carl Gustav Johannsen?s quality definitions. The result of the investigation shows that Bibliotekstjänst doesn?t really work with any quality definitions in their selection process.

This bachelor thesis is a study about the change of the classificationsystems in Swedish libraries. The empirical data was collected through four qualitative interviews with both research and public libraries. The data was analyzed by the use of organizational theory based upon Joacim Hanssons book Libraries and identity: the role of institutional self-image and identity in emergence of new types of libraries. The empirical result points to a major change in how libraries and librarians look and work with their collections, it can also be said that the librarians do not seem to think that the users will be affected at all.The analysis was based on these issues: What positive and negative effects introducing DDC will there be on research- reflective public libraries?What will be the effects on the librarysector introducing the new classification system DDC?What will be the effects on the users introducing the new classification system DDC? .

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of how visions could be applied in subsidiaries and similar sub organisations of global enterprises. With increasing globalisation it becomes more difficult to work in accordance to same standards and towards a common and unifying interest. The study has a qualitative and deductive approach and is based on interviews with three global subsidiaries with some hundred people employed each.Conclusions are that the subsidiaries visions have to be based on a guiding philosophy issued by their mother entities and it is the responsibility of the sub organisation to develop a tangible image with a local vision, mission and strategy with targets requiring feedback. Sustainable strategies cannot be issued without a vision describing where the organisation want be in the future. Otherwise they will not come very far until they have to make a restart with a new strategy and they will never be a market leader..

The comprehensive purpose of this Master of Science thesis is to examine which fleetmanagement services for engineering vehicles, ?Fleetech? preferablyought to develop inorder to reach a broad market and meet the demands of contractors.Scanty explained, fleet management is the management of a company's vehicle fleet and theservices can include a range of functions such as driver management and fuel management. Inshort the thesis encompasses four sections:1.Survey of the general contractor industry: The survey has been preformed toevaluate the potential size of the market for fleet management services in the generalcontractor industry.2.Needs analysis: The needs analysis aim was to define what contractors tasks andgoals are, and to determine what functions they want and need from a system.3.The use of CAN and the technical premises: The prerequisite for developing asophisticated and generic system is that vehicle data can be accessed from the CANbuss.The use of CAN standards in construction equipment has therefore beenexamined.4.Specification: An explicit set of requirements have been set to be satisfied by a fuelmanagement service, based on CAN standard protocol J1939.Important conclusions: The use of CAN protocol standards are extensive and the prerequisitesfor developing elementary and CAN based services good. The services should be compatiblewith different manufacture?smachines.

In this paper we take a look at digital applications to help the user with public transportation. The main goal was to evaluate the problem a user can face when aiming to use the public transportation system, and to create a application for Apple Iphone that can enhance and help the user, no matter if he is familiar with the local public transportation system, or if he is less familiar with it. The aim was that the user wouldnt need any previous knowledge to be able to use our application. We combined Location-Based Services with Realtime-travelinformation and trip planning to examine if this combination could make both of the two different user-groups satisfied. To understand the problematics a user faces when approaching the public transportation-scene, Scenario-Based Design is evaluated as a method to grasp this problem.

The most predominant method for forest harvesting in Sweden is the cut-to-length method based on two-machines, a harvester that fells trees and cut them in a predefined length, and a forwarder which transports logs to a landing area for further transport to a processing facility. New machine solutions have to be much gentler to the ground than today?s machines. To be able to develop a forestry machine that preserves the terrain requires a proper understanding of the interaction between tire and soil.The goal of the project is to contribute to the existing knowledge of forest machine tire-soil interaction and to develop a tire-soil model that enables dynamic simulations of forest machines operating in rough terrain. The modeling has especially been focused on the interaction between tires and soft ground.A comparison of theoretical data of different WES-based terrain interaction models and a comparison test data from a full scale field test is presented.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight three preschool teachers and three child nurses? views on the educational work tool pedagogical documentation and Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, often associated with pedagogical documentation. Preschool teachers and child nurses? are all employees under the same pre-school director, and works on three preschools located in the same area. The purpose of the selection of respondents is based on highlighting how far the staff describes the concept of educational documentation, and pedagogy of Reggio Emilia, and how far their statements are consistent with each other or not.Questions: The thesis is based on three questions;How does preschool teachers and child nurses? describe pedagogical documentation?How does preschool teachers and child nurses? describe the Reggio Emilia pedagogical philosophy?If there are differences between the preschool teachers and child nurses?, what could these mean for the pedagogical documentation in preschool?Method: The study is based on empirical data collected through qualitative interviews.

Natural monuments are natural objects with special protection due to their high natural value or cultural significance. The natural value is determined by the occurrence of signal species found on and near the natural monument. The law surrounding natural monuments has evolved a lot since the first ones were declared, and today the title natural monument can be replaced with the title tree with high conservation value. The title has come later and can sometimes overlap natural monument. Some natural monuments lack the qualities required to be classified as a natural monument or a tree with high conservation value, but have a cultural importance.

Introduction: Public health is based on the determinants of health. They mutually influence each other. Structural factors and life conditions contribute to health inequality both within and between countries. Health inequality can be seen between different social groups, which can be the cause of differences in living conditions, health behavior and disease vulnerability. One of the consequences of this is segregation which means that certain groups live apart, where this distribution can be connected to economic resources and/or ethnicity.