This paper discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using different benchmarking models to measure and compare the efficiency of Swedish gas distributors. It also discusses to which extent the results of a benchmarking study should influence the revenue-cap which will be implemented in the gas distribution sector in Sweden from year 2011. The discussion is based on arguments from both theory and practical applications of benchmarking. The results suggest that benchmarking Swedish gas distributors against distributors in another country using a parametric model is most favorable, but the reliability will be increased if non-parametric models are used also. Partial and total productivity measures could be used to confirm results of other benchmarking analyses.

This BSc thesis is a part of an initial step of a collaboration between Skansen and Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) and constitutes of an inventory of the Nairobi Animal Orphanage run by KWS. Animal Orphanage takes care of orphaned and injured animals arriving from throughout Kenya. The project started out as a refuge and as a temporary place for animals in need of care and help. With time it has evolved to an establishment that resembles and functions more like an animal zoo. The aim of this inventory is to focus on how the biological needs of Congo grey parrots ( Psittacus erithacus erithacus) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) are met, in terms of management and housing.

The focus of this research is to investigate how the client's emotions can affect the social worker and how the social worker manages these feelings in order to make the right decisions. We have used a qualitative approach in our investigation. We have interviewed six social workers at social welfare bureaux in southern Sweden. Our theories are ?Nai?ve Theory? and ?Affect Theory?.

This essay concerns PR-consultants and their view on their work. The purpose was to find out which type of communication they use in contact with the target. By target, we mean the group of people the employer wants to reach with help of the PR-consultant. For example: Jägarförbundet wants to get help from a PR-consultant to influence someone in the government so that Swedish hunters can shoot more wolves, than the target group is the one in the government. We also wanted to find out if the PR-consultants are aware of the image the public have of them and if they are trying to change it into a more positive one, by using more ethics, openness and to have more focus on the relations aspect.  PR in the future with new social media (like Internet) was also a subject, where we wanted to know how much they involve social media in their work.  Our main questions were:How do PR-consultants relate to openness in communication, ethics and social media?Which one of Grunig?s PR-models is most occuring in the PR-consultants work? We made a qualitative study where we carried out interviews with six PR-consultants.

Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN) is a way to graphically draw a diagram of a business process. A BPMN diagram consists of several so-called flow objects. These are interconnected in the graph through sequence  flows. BPMN models are merely graphical representations of business process and there is a need to simulate these diagrams for different purposes. The simulation that now is available for BPMN is that the model is evaluated by checking if it is correct.

Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen iKulturvård, Konservatorprogrammet15 hpInstitutionen för kulturvårdGöteborgs universitet2012:19.

The aim of this essay is to study how the University Church is represented in student newspapers. By conducting an inductive thematic analysis on sixteen articles chosen from newspapers distributed by the student union at three Swedish universities, the main purpose of the study is to further understand the role and function of the University Church in a contemporary Swedish context. Three themes emerging from the initial step of the thematic analysis were chosen for further analysis: (1) a secularized church?, (2) provocation and (3) reasons to seek out the University Church. The themes were then highlighted by two theoretical perspectives: Mark Chaves? theory of internal secularization and a theoretical framework developed by Anders Bäckström with the aim to explain the role of the church as a welfare agent in Sweden.The study shows that the University Church is portrayed as both an ambiguous and complex organization.

Animal welfare during transport has for a long time been a problem around the world. Many animals are transported in stressful environments for slaughter. Even during Roman and Antiquity times wild animals were transported from Africa to the amusement parks in Rome. The aim of our work was to compare how well Sweden and Denmark are performing their inspections of transports of cattle and pigs for slaughter. Today, overloaded transports and poor treatment is not uncommon in Europe and every year 22 million animals are transported between countries.

This study aims to make out, which notions and ideas about gender and sexuality that comes into expression in the description of the deviant youth. This study is a narrative analysis, based on a queer theoretical approach. The queer theory directs attention to the normative frameworks on gender and sexuality. Queer theory also illustrates the relationship between the normative and what is considered abnormal/deviant. The study's empirical basis is 8 legal texts, legal documents formed in a Swedish context, which include the welfare state´s judiciary and social services.

This thesis is focused on what impact stall confinement has on a horse?s mental and physical welfare. It was of great interest to get a gathered picture of how Swedish horseowners had experienced having their horses in stall confinement. A survey study was conducted to achieve this. The survey included twelve questions which for example investigated the horses? age at the time of stall confinement, the length of stall confinement and their sexes.

Foreign aid is a very debated and controversial topic. The most recent studies have focused more on GDP growth and foreign aid correlation, however not much of the debate has focused on what kind of foreign aid should be given. The most common foreign aid is budget support, often a bilateral funds transfer between two countries. This kind of foreign aid can be both conditional and unconditional from the donors? perspective.

Those who have invested in apartments, i.e. tenant-ownership, within the city centre of Stockholm have gained a higher than expected return on investment due to a buoyant real estate market. During the latest twelve-month period, the prices have risen more than 20 per cent in the city of Stockholm, resulting in an increased wealth together with a higher debt burden among investors. The aim of this thesis is to investigate which factors determine the prices from a micro perspective, and to what extent. An attempt is particularly made to estimate the degree of capitalization of the monthly fees; a factor which has turned out to be important according to other studies; but also to construct pricing models in order to set target prices for apartments.

The purpose of my study is to question the model service marketing triangle and propose an alternative ways of looking at service marketing. The study is based on a deep, qualitative research. In the research of the material an abductive approach has been used. The primary information sources are interviews with project workers, which are being analyzed together with the theoretical background in part argumentations in the course of the thesis. In the last chapter they are unified.

The jetengines of today are growing in complexity. Reliability for aircraft engines are of extreme importance, mainly due to safety reasons but also economical ones. This master thesis deals with faultdiagnosis in the turbine section of RM12, the engine used in Saab/BAe's Gripen. Three different faults which can occur in the turbine section was studied. These faults are: clogged fuel nozzle, hole in outlet guide vane and sensor fault.

The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is one of the big feline species kept in zoos worldwide. The wild populations are quite small and therefore the captive population make up an important part of the total population of the world. Although life in the wild is not always easy and a captive environment provides shelter and food it does not come without problems. In captivity cheetahs become chronically ill and also develop stereotypic behaviours. Neither of these are problems in wild populations and both can be linked to stress in captivity.