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This report examines how different regional and local governance patterns and specific spatial planning strategies impact on peri-urban land use in Rural Urban regions. It draws from seven regional case studies, presenting a diverse mix of strategies ranging from protecting biodiversity and agricultural land, creating recreation and tourism opportunities to reducing pressure from building and infrastructure development. To study the means of influence or power an analytical framework of ‘policy arrangement’ was employed (Tatenhove et al, 2000): specifying rules of the game, resources, coalitions and discourses. Both government and nongovernment actors such as environmental groups or developers can form coalitions, adopt rules, employ resources and develop discourses to influence policies and developments in urban regions. The analytical and assessment frameworks defined by regional researchers and practitioners helped to organize the case study data and to evaluate both processes and outcomes of governance in peri-urban areas. The outcomes are represented in a summarized way for each strategy and region.

The report provides examples of unsustainable developments in peri-urban regions and how certain strategies helped to counteract these, and emphasizes the importance of recognizing peri-urban areas as a policy field in its own right.

A sustainable spread of land use over the Rural Urban region requires regional authorities whose jurisdiction covers the Rural Urban region and who have the appropriate mix of policy means of influence and relative power over lower level authorities. Under the current predominant discourse of ‘sustainable’ development largely being equal to economic development, the outcome of sustainability concerns depends on urban areas taking financial responsibility for the inclusion of common good interests such as ecosystem services, cultural heritage and social and environmental justice into the periurban areas. Recommendations for policy makers at different levels conclude the report.

Home  Peri-urban futures: Scenarios and models for land use change in Europe  ChapterGovernance and Sustainability of Peri-Urban Areas: A Comparative Analysis of the PLUREL Case StudiesCarmen B. E. M. Aalbers & Katarina Eckerberg ChapterFirst Online: 01 January 20122144 Accesses2 Citations2 AltmetricAbstractThis chapter examines the analyses and strategies presented for each of the case studies in Chaps. 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 and presents a comparison in order to draw out the main findings which may provide possible solutions for policy makers working in other regions. As explained in Chap. 1, there are a range of particular policy challenges in the urban fringe. The policies of several adjacent municipalities or local authorities may be combined and managed by an indirectly elected regional authority, while different national and EU-level sectoral and regional policies frequently interfere with each other in such areas. Problems of implementation deficits with sector-based strategies are commonplace following institutional fragmentation, calling for increased co-ordination and better integration mechanisms (Tatenhove et al. 2000).

Ett fungerande arbetsmiljö och säkerhetsarbete är viktigt för att förebygga olyckor i arbetet. Därför är det intressant att undersöka hur säkerhetsarbetet i en processindustri upplevs, en organisation där medarbetare dagligen utsätts för risker i arbetet. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer har problemområdet undersökts i syfte att identifiera aspekter som påverkar säkerhetsarbetets förutsättningar. Studiens resultat visar att säkerhetsarbete är ett komplext område där organisatoriska, tekniska och kulturella aspekter kontinuerligt samspelar. Att säkerhet ständigt tävlar om prioritet mot produktionen är dessutom en ständig utmaning.

SMEs serve as a backbone to keep an economy going and to boost it up in times of difficult hours like recession, for example. They are considered as the main source of modernization, innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. Like rest of Europe, 99% of enterprises are SMEs in Sweden which form a ratio of approximately 58 SMEs per 1000 inhabitants. Moreover SMEs employ around 60% of Sweden‟s manpower which shows their concern toward social responsibility.

Several companies irrespective of their size are bound by the statutory rules of a particular country in which they operate to prepare financial reports that conform to specified set of accounting principles. There has been much ongoing debate regarding the suitability of one set of accounting standards in a country for all its operating enterprises, regardless of their size. In July 2009 the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published the International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs). The IFRS for SMEs is intended to be applied to the general purpose financial statements of entities that do not have public accountability. The main theme of our thesis is to examine the suitability and difficulties faced by SMEs in Sweden towards IFRS for SMEs. Furthermore, this thesis will identify the problems that will be faced by SMEs in Sweden, in the process of adopting IFRS for SMEs. Lastly, this study will be conducted to check whether SMEs in Sweden prefer to choose and use IFRS for SMEs or Swedish GAAP.

In order to achieve the determined objectives, the study "Assessing the preparedness of small and medium-sized entities in Sweden to adopt International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs)" was conducted. A qualitative research employing semi-structured interviews was carried out with eleven interviews in order to solidify the quality criteria of our research work. Sample was selected based on convenient sampling from Umeå due to the limitations of resources in terms of cost and time; opinions from three different categories of respondents (audit firms, SMEs and experts‟ opinion from the academic perspective) would be gathered. All collected data would be analyzed against the theoretical framework, and with the help of analysis conclusion regarding this study would be drawn.

Based on the qualitative results, the findings exhibits that SMEs in Sweden are not inclined towards IFRs for SMEs and are not ready in any way to adopt these standards. The Swedish GAAP has been designed over years and all SMEs are very much familiar with the rules and principles applicable in Swedish GAAP. Therefore, according to our research inclination of SMEs in Sweden is towards Swedish GAAP rather than IFRS for SMEs.

Different scandals around the globe during the past, in specific during the last decade, have intrigued the stakeholders to question the roles of both auditors and management. But most of the fingers since then have been raised on the role of auditors, because it is the auditors who are entrusted with the responsibility to detect any errors or frauds in the financial reports of the client-firm. Apart from this, the long-term auditor client relationship has been the center of attention in most of the discussions and debates as well. Numerous studies have been conducted by the academic researchers, financial and professional analysts, regulatory authorities and governing bodies, and in some cases by the auditors and the firms as well regarding the effects of long-term auditor-client relationship on audit quality, equity risk premium, financial reports quality, audit pricing etc. These studies provide us with different results, both with the positive and negative associations and effects of long-term auditor-client relationship on the basis of different factors and contexts.

For long, auditing has been discussed in different studies and research areas but mostly in association with publicly listed companies. Less attention has been paid to the relationship of auditors and clients as far as clients in SMEs are concerned. In any country around the globe, SMEs are of major contribution in terms of backing the economy, giving it both the boost and the stability, as they collectively form the major chunk of the economy. If we specify our study to the SMEs in Sweden, then 99% of the enterprises in Sweden represent the SME sector; in addition they employ around 60% of the manpower. Based on these facts, and due to less attention given to auditor-client relationship in terms of SMEs, instead of; we have directed our concerns towards the study of effects of auditor-client relationship on audit quality in SMEs in this particular research study.

In this study, we have opted for qualitative research with semi-structured interviews to be used as the tool for data collection. Interviews were conducted with two different groups of interviewees, one group representing the auditors and the other group representing the client-firms (SMEs). A total of seven interviews were conducted in order to strengthen and validate the results for our research question. Due to the limitations of this study, mostly in terms of cost and time, samples were selected from Umeå, Sweden. The data interview structure, data analysis and discussion, and conclusions were all made based on existing theories summarized in the theoretical review of this study. The results of this study suggests that (1) long-term audit tenure is beneficial for the audit quality if certain risk factors like risk of auditor independence and risk of developing complacency are controlled; and (2) factors such as NAS, industry specialization, knowledge and experience of the auditor, internal control in the client-firm, professional ethics, proper audit plan, providence of unbiased information by the client, and appointment of the auditor by the client-firm itself enhances the audit quality.

nternational market entry strategies gained increasing importance due to globalisation. Companies became multinationals. Therefore, new challenges arose due to different market and customer requirements. One topic, which gained importance in B2B context, is customer value. Customer value can be defined as the perceived benefits a company delivers its customers in comparison to the perceived expenses. Nevertheless, no uniform definition exist. In addition to that, if there is a direct connection between B2B customer value and international market entry strategies have not been investigated yet. Therefore, this thesisprojectdeals with the influence of B2B customer value on international market entry strategies. To determine the link, following research question guides this thesis: How does B2B customer value influence international market entry strategies in Northern Europe?The research isnot only focused on Northern Europe but also on the data centre segment. The investigated countries are Norway, Ireland, UK and Finland. These countries are highly interesting for the commission partnerdue to market developments and mega trends. Furthermore, the commission partneris represented by local subsidiaries in the four countries of interest. In order to answer the research question, deep insights are generated via semi-structured interviews. Three customer groups are investigated: Data centre operator as well as owner, constructors including panel builder and system integrators as well as design consultants. The interviews are conducted either face-to-face or if necessary via telephone in the four countries of interest. The interviews include questions about B2B relationships, brand and marketing.If culture influences B2B customer value is investigated indirectly bythe questions on B2B relationship.Market intelligence questions are added in order to create a deeper understanding of the market.Furthermore, these insights also help to interpret the answers of customers. Due to the interviews, a picture of the B2B customer value in Northern Europe is created. Northern European customers value reliable suppliers who can offer quality products as well as solutions. In addition to that, the importance of global brands andmarketing of competences is determined. Due to combining the findings with the cultural dimensions of Hofstede, it is concluded that customer value differs between other countries.Hence, customer value influences international market strategies, as different customer value require distinct international market entry strategies.

Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i barns övergångar från förskolan till förskoleklassen med fokus på det organisatoriska perspektivet. De två skolformerna ska samverka och utbyta information om barnens utveckling och lärande i syfte att främja progression i ett långsiktigt perspektiv. Det är sparsamt med nationell forskning som inriktat sig på skolformernas organisatoriska förutsättningar att gestalta likvärdiga övergångar utifrån de uppdrag styrdokumenten förespråkar. Studiens syfte har varit att bilda kunskap om hur förskollärare i förskolan och lärare i förskoleklassen beskriver övergångsprocesser och hur ansvarsfördelningen mellan förskolan, förskoleklassen och huvudmannen kan förstås. För att undersöka ovan nämnda syfte föll valet på kvalitativ metod där semistrukturerade intervjuer genomförts med tre förskollärare i förskolan och tre förskollärare/lärare i förskoleklass.Den insamlade empirin har bearbetats genom kvalitativ analys som visar att brist på tid för samverkan och otydlig styrning är centrala utmaningar för både förskolan och förskoleklassen. Behov av tydligare styrning av övergångsprocesser diskuteras samt behov av framtida forskning kring förskollärares och lärares förutsättningar att gestalta övergångar. Vad som ska göras finns tydligt beskrivet i styrdokument men hur är frågan som behöver rätas ut för att främja jämlika övergångar för barn.

Som ett komplement till de undersökningar som visar att det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet med inriktning studie- och yrkesvägledning inte genomförs av alla skolenheter och huvudmän syftar denna policystudie till att, genom dokumentanalys av tre gymnasium med respektive huvudmans dokumenterade kvalitetsarbete, ge en inblick i hur det görs. Studiens tre specifika frågeställningar är:

• Hur kan det systematiska kvalitetsarbetet, med inriktning studie- och yrkesvägledning beskrivas utifrån dokumentationen?
• I vilken utsträckning är det studerade dokumenterade arbetet förenligt med de riktlinjer som finns?
• Vilka skillnader återfinns i det dokumenterade arbetet huvudmän och enheter emellan?

Resultatet, som baseras på data från tre gymnasieskolor med huvudmän, visar att det finns variationer i innehåll och genomförande av det dokumenterade systematiska kvalitetsarbetet med inriktning studie-och yrkesvägledning mellan enheter och mellan kommuner. Innehållet, eller i vissa fall bristen på innehåll pekar på att reglering av systematiskt kvalitetsarbete och studie- och yrkesvägledning inte har resulterat i det systematiska kvalitetsarbete och den studie- och yrkesvägledning som var tänkt.

I den studerade dokumentationen kan okunskap om både studie- och yrkesvägledning och systematiskt kvalitetsarbete samt brist på kontinuitet och mätbara relevanta mål skönjas som förklaringar till glappet mellan intention och praktik. Det finns dock anledning att, med hjälp av den teoretiska referensramen policyenactment, beakta och diskutera mer komplicerade underliggande processer i fråga om tolkning, relationer, motstånd och performativitet som hinder för utveckling av jämlik studie- och yrkesvägledning, av hög kvalitet, enligt de riktlinjer som finns i dagsläget.

Concerns about problematic gaming behaviors deserve our full attention. However, we claim that it is far from clear that these problems can or should be attributed to a new disorder. The empirical basis for a Gaming Disorder proposal, such as in the new ICD-11, suffers from fundamental issues. Our main concerns are the low quality of the research base, the fact that the current operationalization leans too heavily on substance use and gambling criteria, and the lack of consensus on symptomatology and assessment of problematic gaming. The act of formalizing this disorder, even as a proposal, has negative medical, scientific, public-health, societal, and human rights fallout that should be considered. Of particular concern are moral panics around the harm of video gaming. They might result in premature application of diagnosis in the medical community and the treatment of abundant false-positive cases, especially for children and adolescents. Second, research will be locked into a confirmatory approach, rather than an exploration of the boundaries of normal versus pathological. Third, the healthy majority of gamers will be affected negatively. We expect that the premature inclusion of Gaming Disorder as a diagnosis in ICD-11 will cause significant stigma to the millions of children who play video games as a part of a normal, healthy life. At this point, suggesting formal diagnoses and categories is premature: the ICD-11 proposal for Gaming Disorder should be removed to avoid a waste of public health resources as well as to avoid causing harm to healthy video gamers around the world.

Although Europe’s population is greying, the future of Europe does not look grey. What can be learned from this book is that old age is not necessarily characterized by frailty and decline, but instead can be a time of self-fulfillment, activity, and social participation. Moreover, we now know that population ageing does not need to threaten extant social and welfare state-related institutions, but instead opens up potentials for restructuring and reinvention. Life expectancy is longer than ever before and living conditions that enhance healthy ageing have very much improved. New technologies and Information and Communication Technologies may assist older people to stay in their homes longer. The growing possibilities to reach a good old age may have given rise to what is sometimes called ‘a silver economy’: an economy with all kinds of new products and services, particularly aimed at the growing share of healthy and wealthy senior citizens. The greying of Europe might, thus, ultimately lead us into a bright and colourful future.

Anställda spenderar en stor del av sin tillvaro på arbetsplatsen och den psykosociala arbetsmiljön blir då en viktig faktor för att främja ett längre och mer hållbart arbetsliv. Rollen som första linjens chef kräver idag stor kunskap och förmåga för att hantera de krav som finns från organisation, medarbetare, chefer samt lagar och förordningar. Det är därför av stor vikt att arbetsgivare och organisationer har väl fungerande strukturer och processer för att följa upp sina chefer och medarbetares psykosociala arbetsmiljö. Syftet med studien var att bidra med en ökad förståelse för hur första linjens chefer inom regional hälso- och sjukvård upplevde sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö, hur de ansåg att den borde kartläggas och följas upp samt påvisa vilka behov cheferna har för uppföljning av den. Studien syftade till att få fram chefernas egna tankar och upplevelser kring deras psykosociala arbetsmiljö. För att undersöka detta användes en kvalitativ ansats med semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visade att chefernas relation till sin närmsta chef var avgörande för hur de upplever sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö och i sin tur vilka behov de hade för uppföljning och stöd. De chefer som beskrev en god relation till sin verksamhetschef upplevde i större utsträckning att deras behov av uppföljning tillgodosågs till skillnad mot de chefer som upplevde en sämre relation till sin verksamhetschef. De chefer som beskrev en sämre relation till sin verksamhetschef beskrev att behoven i mångt och mycket skulle tillgodoses om relationen till verksamhetschefen vore bättre. De slutsatser som kunde dras var således att relationen och kommunikationen med närmsta chef var avgörande för hur man upplevde sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö. Cheferna beskrev även att det fanns ett stort behov av fler informella möten med chefskollegor och att deras psykosociala arbetsmiljö skulle gynnas av att ha en mindre arbetsgrupp. 

De nasjonale lederprogrammene i Sverige og Norge blir sammenlignet ved hjelp av et forskningsbasert internasjonalt rammeverk for hva som kjennetegner god ledelse. Målet er å undersøke om og i hvilken grad de nordiske programmene er influert av internasjonal forskning om profesjonsutvikling av skoleledere. Noen områder for videreutvikling av de nordiske lederprogrammene blir foreslått.

This article examines and compares principal training programs in Sweden and Norway, the two Nordic countries with national leadership programs for already active school leaders. To investigate the knowledge base and design of the programs we draw on two research-derived tools about successful professional learning programs for school leaders. Based on the examinations, we suggest that the programs reflect international research both in terms of content and process factors. In addition, we identify topics and issues, such as balancing democratic participation with managerial decision-making, which can be characterized as making up a Nordic profile.

Under de senaste åren har miljömedvetenheten i samhället blivit

alltmer påtaglig och i synnerhet är det debatten om växthuseffekten som fått mycket stort utrymme i media. Detta har medfört att företagens intressenter börjat ställa allt högre krav på att även företagen ska ta sitt miljöansvar. Ett vanligt sätt att få struktur på miljöarbetet är att implementera ett miljöledningssystem i verksamheten. Företagen väljer ofta att certifiera sig i och med

införandet av ett miljöledningssystem, vilket även fler och fler av företagens kunder kräver. Idag är det fortfarande i första hand stora företag som miljöredovisar och använder sig av gröna nyckeltal för att visa sin miljöpåverkan för dess intressenter. I mindre företag är inte denna företeelse särskilt vanlig. Med detta som utgångspunkt blev vår problemformulering:

Vad driver mindre företag att använda miljöledningssystem och gröna nyckeltal och hur bedriver de sitt miljöarbete?

Vårt syfte med denna uppsats är att kunna ge vägledning om vilka gröna nyckeltal som kan vara relevanta och som mindre företag kan använda sig av i sin redovisning. Vi vill se om det går att identifiera drivkrafterna bakom miljöredovisning och hur intressenterna påverkar

denna. Vi försöker fånga upp trender inom området och använder företagskoncerner som jämförelsegrund för att visa alternativ och ge exempel på miljöarbete.

Teorin inleds med en redogörelse för olika drivkrafter som kan finnas bakom miljöredovisning samt en djupare diskussion om gröna nyckeltal. Vidare beskrivs intressentmodellen och legitimitetsteorin samt vad olika intressenter använder miljöredovisning till. Vi valde att

kombinera en kvantitativ och kvalitativ metod för insamlandet av det empiriska materialet till vår studie. Vi börjar med den kvantitativa

metoden för att få en överblick samt för att få respondenter till den kvalitativa delen av vår studie.

I vår analys av det empiriska materialet har vi utgått ifrån vår teoretiska referensram där vi dragit slutsatserna att yttre faktorer och intressenter var viktiga vid initieringen av miljöarbetet och införandet av ett miljöledningssystem hos företagen, men att det senare var de interna fördelarna som värderades högst. Vad det visar är att mindre företag upplever en press utifrån att miljöcertifiera sig men att det i praktiken verkar vara av mindre betydelse vid

upphandlingar. Det framstår helt klart att implementeringen av ett miljöledningssystem i företaget gör att miljöarbetet blir mer konkret och strukturerat. Vad avser användandet av gröna nyckeltal är det energiförbrukning i olika former som är den dominerande indikatorn,

däremot verkar det finnas problem att relatera denna på ett enkelt och rättvisande sätt.

BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a common pain problem in powerlifters. There is a lack of evidence to guide powerlifters and health-care professionals in understanding the role of powerlifting in the development of LBP and treatment of injuries in powerlifters. This study aimed to describe functional impairments and patho-anatomical findings in eight powerlifters with and without LBP. METHODS: First, four powerlifters with LBP were recruited. Each powerlifter was then matched with a pain-free lifter (Control) by age, Body Mass Index and competition weight class. They all performed physical performance tests and were examined with magnetic resonance imaging. Four weeks prior to the examination the powerlifters also recorded training load. Powerlifters with LBP were also examined by a physiotherapist in order to define their pain and impairments. RESULTS: The four male powerlifters with LBP had a nociceptive pain associated with non-ideal squatting technique, higher flexibility in their lumbar spine than in their hips and patho-anatomical findings such as degenerated discs (four), spondylolysis (one) and spinal stenosis (one). However, the controls also showed similar functional impairments and patho-anatomical findings. CONCLUSIONS: Powerlifters with and without LBP show similar functional impairments and patho-anatomical findings. However, powerlifters' LBP seems associated with pain during movement and loading of the lumbar spine. The association and causation between specific functional impairments, patho-anatomical findings and LBP in powerlifters has to be further investigated in studies including more participants.

The aims of the study were (1) to investigate the effects of participation in low impact body conditioning classes on physical fitness in sedentary women at different ages and (2) to examine the correspondence between physical self-concept and participation in, and fitness change after, the participation. Ninety-two sedentary women (mean age 44.2 years) participated in 11-weeks of bi-weekly classes that included cardiovascular, strength, core, endurance and mobility exercises, all performed in synchrony with music. Cardiorespiratory fitness, maximal lifting strength, mobility and balance tests were performed pre- and post the exercise period and the short-form Physical Self-Description Questionnaire (PSDQ-S) was completed. Zero-order Spearman correlation analyses showed that women who rated the PSDQ-S dimension Sport competence higher participated in a larger number of sessions (rs=0.24, p=0.040). At post-tests, all participants had increased their balance, the participants aged 20-34 years had increased their lifting strength, and the participants aged 35-65 years had increased their cardiorespiratory fitness and mobility. Most PSDQ-S dimensions did not affect performance change, but the perception of being physically active was related to increased cardiovascular fitness. We conclude that women with a sedentary lifestyle who wish to increase their physical capacity benefit from music exercise and that inquiries about perceived sport competence and physical activity can improve recommendations made by strength and conditioning professionals.

Background Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting are two sports that expose the body to great forces. Injury characteristics have not been systematically reviewed for these two growing sports.

Objective The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature regarding various definitions of injuries used, injury localisation, the prevalence and incidence of injuries and the associated risk factors for injuries in weightlifting and powerlifting.

Design Systematic review.

Data sources Five databases, PubMed, MEDLINE, SPORTDiscus, Scopus and Web of Science, were searched between 9 March and 6 April 2015.

Eligibility criteria for selecting studies Studies assessing injury incidence and prevalence in Olympic weightlifting and powerlifting were included. The Quality assessment tool for observational cohort and cross-sectional studies was used to assess methodological quality.

Results 9 studies were included in the review. Injury was defined fairly consistently across studies. Most studies were of low methodological quality. The spine, shoulder and the knee were the most common injury localisations in both sports. The injury incidence in weightlifting was 2.4–3.3 injuries/1000 hours of training and 1.0–4.4 injuries/1000 hours of training in powerlifting. Only one retrospective study had analysed possible risk factors.

Summary/conclusions The risk of injury in both sports were similar to other non-contact sports also requiring strength/power, but low compared to contact sports. The severity of injuries differed in the included studies. Since little has been studied regarding possible risk factors to injuries, further research is therefore warranted to explain why athletes get injured and how to prevent injuries.

Trial registration number PROSPERO CRD42015014805.

Det här examensarbetet utforskar hur covid-19 har förändrat sättet för industriföretag i norra Sverige att arbeta med supply chain risk management, där fokus ligger på de två processerna riskidentifiering och begränsningsstrategier. Supply chain risk management är ett växande ämne som fått allt mer uppmärksamhet hos forskare. Fortsättningsvis har existerande litteratur visat att covid-19 fick stora effekter på företags försörjningskedjor i form av störningar och att förändringar inom arbetet med risker tagit sin början. Däremot saknas forskning på hur förändringarna fortsatt utvecklas fram till idag som en konsekvens av pandemin. Därav saknas ett helhetsperspektiv över vilka förändringar som har skett från innan covid-19 fram tills idag. Vidare har existerande litteratur framhållit riskidentifiering och begränsningsstrategier som de två mest kritiska processerna i supply chain risk management och därför valde vi att rikta in studien på just dem. Fortsättningsvis har norra Sverige valts som geografisk kontext för studien eftersom det hittills varit ett outforskat område. Dessutom har industriföretag varit föremål för studien då de ofta har globala och komplexa försörjningskedjor. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka och skapa en djupare förståelse för hur industriföretag belägna i norra Sverige har förändrat arbetet med riskidentifiering och riskbegränsning inom processen supply chain risk management från tidsperioden innan covid-19, under covid-19 och tiden efter covid-19. I studien genomfördes 6 semi-strukturerade intervjuer med respondenter från olika industriföretag i norra Sverige. En kvalitativ metod valdes för den här studien, tillsammans med ett induktivt synsätt, vilket har gett oss flera insikter om hur industriföretag förändrat sitt sätt att arbeta med risker från innan covid-19 till efter. 

För det första indikerar våra resultat att en förändring som har skett är att förståelsen har ökat under covid-19, för hur pandemier fungerar och vilka konsekvenser en pandemi kan orsaka för företagens verksamhet, från att knappt ha existerat innan covid-19. Det här medförde att företagen implementerade en mer strukturerad riskidentifiering och började arbeta mer konsekvent med riskidentifiering under covid-19. För det andra observerades en förändring där en övergång skett från fysiska riskidentifierings möten till digitala riskidentifierings möten, vilket berodde på social distansering. Samtidigt som mötensfrekvensen ökade för att kunna identifiera kritiska komponenter för verksamheten. För det tredje kunde resultatet visa att det har skett en förändring från att företag haft liten kunskap om leverantörer och avancerade datasystem under covid-19, till att de efter covid-19 införde verktyg för att förstå leverantörer tillsammans med avancerade datasystem. För det fjärde visar resultatet att företagen arbetade med leverantörer utifrån just-in-time innan covid-19, vilket förändrades under covid-19 då företagen blev medvetna om just-in-times utsatthet. För det femte påvisar resultatet att företag arbetade med endast en eller ett fåtal leverantörer innan covid-19 vilket förändrades under covid-19 då second sourcing infördes som begränsningsstrategi. För det sjätte användes inte strategin säkerhetslager under covid-19, men infördes efter covid-19. Slutligen bidrar studien med praktiska bidrag till industriföretag och personal. För det första, framkommer vikten av att ha kunskap och struktur för riskidentifiering och begränsningsstrategier hos industriföretag. För det andra, behöver företag arbeta mer med samarbeten och öka sin förståelse för olika intressenter för att hantera risker. För det tredje bör industriföretag införa säkerhetslager och second-sourcing för att hantera risker. För det fjärde, bör industriföretags personal få ökad möjlighet till information och kunskap om risker och hur dessa hanteras. Vårt teoretiska bidrag skapar en helhetsbild för hur riskidentifiering och begränsningsstrategier har förändrats på grund av covid-19 inom geografiska kontexten norra Sverige. Därutöver har studien bidragit med kvalitativ forskning på ämnet och gett en ökad förståelse för att det behövs mer forskning gällande makro-riskers påverkan på företags verksamhet och försörjningskedja. 

Background: Hyperacusis is intolerance of certain everyday sounds that causes significant distress and impairment in social, occupational, recreational, and other day-to-day activities. 

Objective: The aim of this report is to summarize the key findings and conclusions from the Third International Conference on Hyperacusis.

Topics covered: The main topics discussed comprise (1) diagnosis of hyperacusis and audiological evaluations, (2) neurobiological aspect of hyperacusis, (3) misophonia, (4) hyperacusis in autism spectrum disorder, (5) noise sensitivity, (6) hyperacusis-related distress and comorbid psychiatric illness, and (7) audiologist-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for hyperacusis.

Conclusions: Implications for research and clinical practice are summarised.

Studiehandledning på modersmålet är ett sätt att stödja nyanlända elevers kunskapsutveckling i alla ämnen samtidigt som de lär sig det svenska språket. Studiehandledning på modersmålet har funnits i förordningarna för grund- och gymnasieskolan sedan 1997. Ämneslärarens och studiehandledarens roll är av stor vikt när det gäller studiehandledning på modersmålet. Ämneslärare planerar undervisningen och studiehandledaren följer planeringen.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka samarbetet mellan ämneslärare och studiehandledare, vad som framträder i studiehandledarens respektive ämneslärarens yrkesroll och hur ämnesläraren och studiehandledaren beskriver samarbetet när det gäller studiehandledning på modersmålet. Dessutom lyfts vilken betydelse samarbetet har för nyanlända elever i skolan.

Studien har genomförts på en gymnasieskola som undervisar nyanlända elever och informanterna är ämneslärare och studiehandledare. Sammanlagt genomfördes sex intervjuer: tre ämneslärare och tre studiehandledare deltog.

Resultaten av denna studie visar att ämneslärare och studiehandledare samarbetar för att stötta nyanlända elever i deras lärande. Det visar att tidsbristen är ett hinder för samarbetet och att kompetensutveckling inom området studiehandledning på modersmålet är en förutsättning för samarbetet mellan ämneslärare och studiehandledare.

During the period of 2013-2022, there have been many interesting developments in the football industry in Europe. From accumulation of debt to disregarding the regulatory framework put in place by UEFA, football clubs have changed their capital structures to accommodate their financing needs.

There has been previous research that has found a relationship between ownership structure and financial performance, but none that has explored how ownership structure affects debt and liquidity given current circumstances. The scope of this study was to ultimately determine how the capital structure and the liquidity is affected. This is a broad topic and the authors have covered several aspects within the field. However, there have been suggestions on further research regarding how one could go about valuating a football club as most of the football clubs in Europe have private ownership structures. In the end, the sample consists of 8,588 firm-year observations and adapts a longitudinal methodology. The tests carried out consist of OLS regressions as well as a multivariate regression. To be able to compare the different ownership structures, several regressions were made to put each ownership structure as the reference group.

The authors of this thesis found that ownership affects debt and liquidity both individually and collectively. Therefore, answering the research question “What is the effect of ownership structure of football clubs in Europe on debt and liquidity?”. Football clubs in Europe have experienced low profitability, but rather high liquidity. The capital structures of said football clubs contain more debt than equity, where equity is negative in some cases. By comparing ownership structures, their effects on both debt and liquidity differentiate. This thesis contributes to already existing literature by contradicting Modigliani and Millers' assumption regarding bankruptcy costs. It also contributes practically to managers, investors, stakeholders, and regulators by providing context to different key financial metrics.

The present study investigates the role of the Front-End phase within the context of Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises through the project management lens, focusing on what practitioners can do to manage this phase. Taking a cue from the assumption that the Front-End phase of a project is a very critical and important stage, this study begins with a literature review on innovation and on its role among the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, and moves to the identification of the main challengesthat an Innovative Italian Small and Medium Enterprise has to face in the Front-End phase. Particularly, the research focuses on the strategies that a project manager can implement to deal with the fuzzy nature of the Front-End phase, originated by uncertainty, equivocality and complexity. The study has an inductive approach and a cross-sectional time-horizon. A case study strategy has been employed, together with semi-structured interviews as data collection technique, involving six Italian Innovative Small and Medium-sized Enterprises identified through the framework of legal requirements provided by the European Union. Although literature poses on the same level all three elements, results show that there is a general consensus about the main role played by uncertainty. Practitioners identify several strategies to employ in order to deal with uncertainty, while the number of strategies identified to reduce equivocality and complexity is limited. Furthermore, this study identifies a correlation between the size of a company and the type of strategies employed to deal with the fuzziness. The more resource a company allocates on a project, the wider is the range of possible strategies project managers can adapt.

Detta arbete handlar om våld i nära relationer och avgränsar sig till mestadels kring kvinnornas situation i fråga. Mitt syfte med denna rapport är att, dels förhöja mina kunskapsnivåer inom problemområdet samt dels att utvidga och förhoppningsvis förbättra mina initiala åtgärder i mitt framtida polisiära arbete. Visserligen döms gärningsmännen idag enligt drygare dom vid brott i nära relationer än tidigare. Men de största problemen är dock fortfarande att målsägande inte vågar anmäla att de har blivit utsatta för sådana brott samt att de drar tillbaka anmälningar innan brotten hunnits utredas. Detta medför stora problem för polisens brottsbekämpning inom detta område men utgör samtidigt en oerhört viktig informationskälla för en del av den siffra över hur många sådana ouppklarade brott som årligen begås. För att sammanställa denna information i rapporten har jag tagit hjälp av litterära samlingar ur polisutbildningen termin 4, respektive fältstudier hos polismyndigheten i Skåne samt rapporter från brottsförebyggande rådet. Resultaten förblir tydliga, polisens initiala åtgärder är avgörande för hur hela utredningen bearbetas och uppklaras i slutändan. Samtidigt är samarbetet av de olika aktörerna i en kommun för brottbekämpningen och förebyggandet oerhört viktigt. Därmed säger slutsatsen i denna rapport tydligen att en skärpt disciplin inom rättsväsendet är av behov och att fullfölja dess skyldigheter i deras initiala utredningsarbeten.

This thesis answer the two main questions, firstly, the role of technological development in the production of RE with special reference to investment subsidy in supporting schemes and research and development (R&D). Investment subsidies in supporting schemes and R&D are widely used to promote RE technology and considered economical, efficient instruments than regulation approach. Secondly, the study investigates the relationship between the production of RE and the economic development. Panel data for twelve European Union (EU) countries are analysed for the period 1990 to 2013. The study uses a Cobb Douglas production function to estimate the EU's rational behaviour of investment subsidy between supporting schemes and R&D. For the estimation techniques, the study uses the unit root test, cointegration test, and dynamic pooling average group (PMG) model. The selection of the PMG model is based on the results of diagnostic tests, i.e. cross-sectional dependence, heteroskedasticity, serial correlation, and Hausman. Furthermore, the cointegration test confirms that in the long-run all the variables move together to achieve equilibrium. The PMG model confirms the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable. Thus, it is concluded that the investment subsidies in supporting schemes have a positive and significant effect on the production of renewable energy in the long-run. However, the investment subsidy in research and development also has a positive but insignificant effect on the production of renewable energy in the long-run. Based on the long-run result, thus the study suggests that it is more rational to invest subsidy in supporting schemes than in R&D. In order to find the relationship between the production of RE and economic development, the result of the study confirms that economic development has a positive and significant impact on the production of renewable energy both in the short-and long-run. In addition, the test of the causality confirms the bidirectional relationship between production of RE and economic development. The bidirectional relationship states that both energy and economic growth are associated and complement each other.

This explorative study aims to gain more insight into Swedish-Iranians' purchase of second homes in Turkey. The study is based on 22 questionnaires (19 of them from owners and buyers), field observation, and participant observation. Motives behind owners' and buyers' purchases are: other Swedish-Iranian friends/relatives bought there; cultural proximity; absence of visa restriction for Iranian citizens; geographical proximity to Iran and relatives living in Iran; economic factors, including the low prices and costs and investment for retirement; and the climate. The respondents are well-integrated into Swedish society and have access to different types of resources which facilitate the purchase, but they also show the potential to partially become integrated socioculturally into their Turkish communities. A meaningful proportion of them are seriously planning to live permanently in Turkey after retirement, but the majority stay there for longer periods or semi-permanently. Despite some limitations, this study makes an important contribution to the area of diaspora second-home tourism and to the field of diaspora studies.

Sammanfattning

Studien syftade till att kartlägga och beskriva hur det psykosociala välbefinnandet såg ut bland socionomstudenterna vid Umeå universitet.  Tidigare forskning visar på att nedsatt välbefinnande är vanligt bland studenter.  Genom att undersöka studenternas psykosociala studiesituation i relation till deras subjektiva och objektiva välbefinnande kartlades en bild av hur det ser ut på socionomprogrammet. Studien omfattar alla campusstuderande terminer vid Umeå universitet. Krav-, kontroll- och stödmodellen har använts för att beskriva studenternas psykosociala arbetsmiljö och General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12) användes för att mäta studenternas välbefinnande. En enkät skickades ut till samtliga studenter, vilken innehöll kvantitativa och kvalitativa inslag. Resultaten visar att 47,2% av studenterna har ett nedsatt välbefinnande samt att 64,2 % upplevde lätta eller svåra upplevelser av ångest, oro eller ängslan. Majoriteten av studenterna hade besvär med sömnen och visade på trötthetstecken som huvudvärk samt upplevde stress i relation till sina studier. Ju högre stress studenten upplever desto sämre välbefinnande. Studenterna visade på högt eget inflytande över sina studier (94,6%) samt att de kan hantera de krav som ställs på dem (97,3%).

Entrepreneurial ecosystem is made up of multiple participants, components, and actors. The entrepreneurial ecosystem in Sweden consists of various components, all of which contribute to the creation and enhancement of entrepreneurial experiences for novice entrepreneurs. Research on immigrants has been carried and published, emphasizing men as the primary group within the immigrant population. The contradictory point about women remaining in the shadows is still vital and valid. This research tries to describe and explain the inclusion of these novice immigrant female entrepreneurs into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Based on a literature review on the entrepreneurial ecosystem, women's motives for starting a new venture, and the breakthrough process, a qualitative approach was deemed appropriate to understand the flow and dynamics of this inclusion process. The case study method was used as the research strategy for two different groups of actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with two groups of people: The first group, business coaches, business developers, business consultants, and general managers who work on consulting and support projects for entrepreneurs. The second group consisted of foreign-born novice female entrepreneurs. The findings indicate that the obstacles to inclusion are more than just road paves. The most frequently addressed obstacles were those related to communication, cultural backgrounds, knowledge and training. Communication barriers prevent these entrepreneurs from engaging with other entrepreneurial ecosystem actors, resulting in exclusion. Another obstacle was the cultural background, which included social factors, language, norms, and beliefs. The final barrier was knowledge and training, which facilitated network building and provided entrepreneurs with the necessary information to establish and run their businesses. The analysis identified that obstacles and road pavers for the inclusion process are extending to all the actors included in this research; novice entrepreneurs must identify and build multiple ties that connect them to the other ecosystem actors, and the other actors must do the same to include these novice foreign born female entrepreneurs in the ecosystem. Communication for novice foreign-born female entrepreneurs, on the other hand, is to establish ties with other ecosystem actors, which will promote access to financing, consultancy, government rules and regulations, and training sessions. However, it was noted that ecosystem actors play an important role in the communication process and can turn it into a road paver. Another obstacle found through the study is the social and cultural influences that impede the communication process. For example, the paper identified language as a significant obstacle and the beliefs and norms that form these women's attitudes, and one of the significant attitudes is a lack of trust in government rules and regulations. Finally, knowledge and training are regarded as a communication tool that connects these novice immigrant female entrepreneurs to the other ecosystem actors, besides introducing them to the components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem like financing and funding. Since the paper focused on a small number of actors and ecosystem components, it was not easy to thoroughly define and justify the inclusion process. Further research could investigate the steps of the process and the participants, including other actors and ecosystem components not covered in this paper.

Digitalization has increased over the past decade and changed our ways of solving problems. Studies have shown that digitalization has made a dramatic change in our lives and it's a huge challenge for government, organization, company and citizens. In about 15 years half of today's job will be disappears and will be replaced by digitalization, automatization and robotization. The purpose of the study is to describe and create an understanding of the new digital service that has been implemented in restaurant businesses, a new way of interaction between customers and company. A literature study has been made to give a fair picture of the theory and interviews with the purpose to gathering new information on how the digital restaurant works and get the knowledge of efficiency in business. Qualitative material has been analyzed and compared to theories from the literature study. The results of the study showed that there is immense difference between the employees view and company view of digital service in restaurant.

The fast-growing economy in China attracts the world’s interests, which includes the Chinese stock markets. The market efficiency of Chinese stock markets is widely discussed by researchers in different approaches. The involvement of government in stock markets is a unique case in the financial world.

By this paper, we are answering the question that is the degree of market efficiency of stat-owned companies different from that of private companies in Chinese stock markets. This will bring us knowledge about Chinese stock markets as well as the impact from ownership, market value and management styles on market efficiency.

To clarify the influence from government involvement in stock markets, we select 938 stocks distinguished by ownership structure. This quantitative study is preceded on daily data from 2007 to 2011. We use auto correlation, Chi-square test, and linear regression together with Spearman’s correlation to test our hypothesis. The degree of market efficiency of each ownership group is examined and compared to each other. Market efficiency related to ownership and market capitalization are inspected if they are anomaly factors in Chinese markets.

The empirical results indicate that the degree of market efficiency of state-owned companies is significantly different from the degree of market efficiency of private-owned companies in China. The market capitalization is one of the existing anomaly factors in Chinese stock markets, as well as it is correlated with degree of market efficiency to some extent. For state-owned enterprises, active management on stock market does not provide a better market efficiency compared to passively managed companies.

Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka hur en grupp anställda inomen statlig myndighet har upplevt sin arbetsmiljö vid hemarbete underpandemin. För att svara på syftet har vi utgått från tre frågeställningar 1) Hur har de upplevt sin psykosociala arbetsmiljö, 2) Hur har de upplevt sin fysiskaarbetsmiljö, 3) Hur har de upplevt sin organisatoriska arbetsmiljö. Vi har valt att arbeta utifrån kvalitativ metod och intervjuat respondenter utifrån en semistrukturerad intervjuguide. Resultatet av intervjuerna har analyseratsmed hjälp kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Material till bakgrunden har inhämtats från tidigare forskning, rapporter och kartläggningar. Resultatet visar på att växla från kontor till hemarbete har inneburit en stor omställning för alla arbetstagarna, erfarenheter innehåller både negativa och positiva aspekter av övergången till hemarbete. Negativa erfarenheterna har beskrivits i form av försämrat kollegialt och chefsstöd, avsaknaden av ergonomiska och tekniska förutsättningar, fysiska besvär samt känslan av ensamhet. Positiva erfarenheter har varit ökad fokus och därmed förbättrad produktion och ökad balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv.

Today, mergers and acquisitions often grab headlines due to the large sums of money involved, and the number of stakeholders affected by it. Still, the increase in merger and acquisition activities, the capital involved, and the pervasiveness of these activities stand in sharp contrast to their high rates of failures. Scholars have attributed the failure of mergers and acquisitions to management failure when it comes to dealing with human aspects during the integration phase.

The purpose of this paper was to examine how individual’s identities change overtime in a merger. More specifically, it examines the process of post-merger organizational identification in merger contexts through the lens of social identity theory. From this purpose, we formulated the following research question and two sub-questions:

• • How can post-merger identification be managed and integrated in an organization?
• o How can organizational identities transit from a pre-merger state to a post-merger state successfully?
• o What is the outcome of the post-merger identification process?

The method used in this study was qualitative with an interpretive approach, which allowed us to gain a deeper understanding regarding the purpose and to answer our research question. Primary data came from purposive sampling, where 14 semi-structured interviews with individuals with various managerial positions in post-merger integrations were conducted to gain an understanding of how they tackled the integration process. The secondary data used resulted from previous research, literature, articles and other internet sources. The interviews were qualitatively analyzed through a thematic coding procedure.

The backbone of our theory consists of perspectives on mergers and acquisitions from the lens of social identity theory. Particularly, it was used to understand the post-merger organizational identification process. The theoretical components were used to understand group formations and intra- and intergroup relationships, the effects mergers have on individuals, and what the effects of the outcomes of post-merger identification have on group and organizational identity.

Our findings disclose that organizational identities are exclusive by nature and that they remain in this state unless managerial actions are taken which triggers commitment from groups to change. These actions must combine communication efforts with managerial interventions which promote intergroup cooperation, prototypical norms and values. Depending on the actions and the goal of the merger, the nature of the post-merger identity is a combination of two identities which forms an overarching one, or an assimilation of one identity into another.

The contributions from this study come in two forms: theoretical and managerial. The theoretical contributions come through our findings showing how organizational identity emerge, change and how they are formed. The managerial contributions provide recommendations on how practitioners should facilitate the process, the vital role the manager has in the process and approaches they could take based on our findings.

Det har på senare tid växt fram en rad olika entreprenörskapsutbildningar i det svenska utbildningsväsendet och det verkar som att satsningarna på den här typen av utbildningar kommer att fortsätta att öka. Detta relativt nya sociala fenomen i det svenska utbildningsväsendet innebär att många elever och lärare i dagsläget har genomgått någon formav entreprenörskapsutbildning. Frågan som jag vill kasta ljus på i den här studien är: Hur utvecklas elevers företagsamma förhållningssätt genom entreprenörskapsutbildning?

Till min hjälp har jag använt mig av en kvalitativ metod där jag har intervjuat elever och lärare som genomgått entreprenörskapsutbildningen Ung Företagsamhet. Jag har fördjupat mig i tre av dessa elever och en av lärarna. Ett aktörssynsätt utifrån ett bottom-up perspektiv används för att besvara studiens forskningsfråga och syfte. Vidare används en multipel fallstudie där jag analyserar varje fall var för sig och avslutar sedan med en jämförande analys mellan fallen från vilken slutsatserna dras.

Det teoretiska ramverket fungerar som teoretiska utgångspunkter och innehåller begrepp och modeller från teorier om entreprenörskap och lärande. Dessa teoretiska utgångspunkter har utvecklats utifrån studiens angreppssätt som är abduktion eller den gyllene medelvägen. Centrala teoretiska begrepp som används i studien är lärandesituation, lärandeprocesser och lärandenivåer vilka sammanfattar studiens teoretiska referensram.

Det huvudsakliga syftet med studien är att baserat på det teoretiska ramverket bidra med djupare förståelse för hur elevers företagsamma förhållningssätt kan utvecklas genom entreprenörskapsutbildning. Slutsatserna för denna studie är att utvecklingen av ett företagsamt förhållningssätt bestäms av olika inre och yttre lärvillkor i lärandesituationen. Lärandeprocesserna för de olika aktörerna kategoriserades som kognitiva (kunskapsmässiga), psykodynamiska (emotionella) och sociala (samarbetsmässiga). Lärandenivåerna som berördes av eleverna kategoriserades som: know-me, know-what, know-when, know-how, know-who och know-why.

Today the world faces a lot of societal challenges in the economical, social and environmental spheres that needs to be overcome. Global warming, poverty and increasing economic inequality are only some of these challenges. The public debate has been focused on finding solutions to them and one of these has been addressed as social entrepreneurship. This phenomenon is about the era of the new type of entrepreneurs – social entrepreneurs – that recognize these challenges as opportunities that can be exploited in a both profitable and sustainable manner. Social entrepreneurship has in this way emerged as an interesting phenomenon and a new area in the entrepreneurship research.

This study examines the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship by scrutinizing the concept SIFE - Students In Free Enterprise. SIFE is a non-profit organization that claims to be actively engaged in working with social entrepreneurship. The general purpose of this study is to bring a deeper understanding of the social entrepreneurship phenomenon, by describing the particular purpose, the case of SIFE Umeå University as a social entrepreneurship model. Our study is a qualitative case study using semi-structured interviews. Six respondents have been interviewed from different levels of the organization - SIFE Umeå University - in order to reflect the entire organization. We have used a deductive approach by establishing a theoretical framework that guided the interviews and has been used in the analysis of the empirical data.

The main conclusions in this study show that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship is mainly about socioeconomic and personal development. Another conclusion is that cooperation with partners from different sectors of the society is an important fundament in their work with social entrepreneurship. Furthermore, SIFE Umeå University can be considered as hybrid of a voluntary organization and social enterprise since it includes similarities of both organizational forms. Moreover, the study shows that entrepreneurial skills play an important role in SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship. Finally, we can from this study draw the conclusion that SIFE Umeå University’s work with social entrepreneurship can be divided in six steps: Target group, Job/life training, Commercial enterprises, Personal development, Socioeconomic development, Partnership Network.

Stories have always been present in the life of people as a part of their culture, it is a rather ancient narrative technique. The message delivered in a form of a story is specifically appealing to listeners, which makes it a powerful communication tool. The thesis explores storytelling practices in project management by answering the question: “How project managers use storytelling in new business process implementation in ICT projects?” The choice of the topic was driven by the gap in the literature and the choice of context was chosen by the level of maturity of project management in ICT industry. Within the framework of interpretivist research paradigm, the data was collected by interviewing ten project managers of new business process implementation in ICT projects.

The thesis findings suggest that storytelling in implementation of new business processes in ICT projects is used in formal and informal forums in written and verbal format. Project managers use storytelling to pursue several goals: making sense of ICT projects, human resource management, promoting adaptation to new business processes, knowledge management and attracting new customers and investments into ICT projects. Storytelling in ICT projects is also limited by storytelling conditions, such as organizational culture, extent of change, governance structure. Storytelling in projects is subject to challenges, such as logistics and timeliness of practices.

From the practical point of view, the thesis explores storytelling as an effective communication tool that can be used for multiple goals in project management. It allows adding storytelling to the requirement list of new soft competences of project managers. The thesis has bridged a literature gap between storytelling and project management, which opens new theoretical perspective of interpreting the reality in projects and creates space for further research.

Ökad mångfald och flerspråkighet i den svenska skolan har fört med sig nya utmaningar för lärare i dagens samhälle. Enligt Skolverket uppmanas lärare att anpassa sin undervisning för att möta elevers individuella behov för att främja en positiv språkutveckling. Trots detta så har det visat sig att många flerspråkiga elever har stora utmaningar i sin språkinlärning. Tidigare forskning menar att en större mångfald i klassrummet tenderar att vara belastande för skolan samt att lärarna måste ge rätt verktyg och kompetens för att kunna möta de flerspråkiga eleverna i deras språkutveckling. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka lärares arbete med språkutveckling hos flerspråkiga elever och de utmaningar lärarna upplever i undervisningen för flerspråkiga elever, med fokus på att identifiera utmaningar och strategier för att stödja deras språkutveckling. En kvalitativ forskningsmetod med semi-strukturerade intervjuer används i denna studie, intervjuerna har analyserats genom en tematisk innehållsanalys. Intervjuer har genomförts med sex grundskolelärare från tre olika skolor från samma kommun. Tydliga teman och mönster återfinns efter att ha analyserat svaren från sex olika lärare angående de utmaningar som upplevs i att utforma undervisningen för flerspråkiga elever. Framför allt diskuteras brist på elevens ordförråd som en utmaning, speciellt då eleverna har en varierande språklig bakgrund och kunskapsnivå i det svenska språket. Ytterligare diskuteras brist på tid och rätt resurser i klassrummet som en utmaning, där lärare upplever utmaningar i att hitta tid för att utvärdera elevens språkkunskaper samt anpassa undervisningen utifrån detta. Vidare forskning behövs om föräldraengagemang och stöd i hemmet för flerspråkiga elever samt om på vilket sätt den pågående digitaliseringen i klassrummet kan komma att fungera som en behjälplig resurs för flerspråkiga elever i framtiden.

Denna studie behandlar begreppen dynamiskt mindset, grit och motivation som nyligen varit fokuserade i forsknings- och undervisningssammanhang, och kunskaperna bland förskollärare kring dessa begrepp. Studiens avsikt var att undersöka vad ett dynamiskt mindset kan innebära för förskollärare och sedan i sin tur hur det kan påverka deras elever. Detta omfattar hur förskollärare och elever kan utveckla sitt dynamiska mindset. Studien bygger på en kvalitativ metod och utgår ifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem förskollärare från olika förskolor. Resultaten visar att förskollärarna är positivt inställda till att utveckla ett arbetssätt med att lära ut dynamiskt mindset inom förskolan och en därmed få en tydligare pedagogik. Resultaten visar även att förskollärares pedagogiska kompetens skulle gynnas av en läroplan som visar tydligare riktlinjer kring hur barn ska motiveras, hur de ska arbeta med barns inspiration till ett dynamiskt mindset. Slutsatsen innefattar bland annat att mer forskning kring studiens begrepp behövs i samband med förskolans värld. Och att förskolepedagogiken i sam-band med begreppen dynamiskt mindset, grit och motivation behövs för en förbättring av läroplanen för förskolan. Detta kan göras ihop med förskollärarutbildning och en utökad återkoppling för examinerade förskollärare.

Drawing a framework from agency theory, we use a panel data design to examine the factors motivating the level of demand for reinsurance in the rapidly developing Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar period 1919–39. We find that as hypothesised, reinsurance enabled Swedish fire insurers to mitigate underwriting and solvency risks and thus increased their capacity to underwrite new business in uncertain economic times. This in turn helped to increase the supply of indemnity coverage for property (buildings) fire risks in the Swedish insurance market. We also find that as expected, investment earnings are inversely related to reinsurance purchases. However, contrary to what was hypothesised, reinsurance appears to be positively related to liquidity levels, suggesting that over our period of analysis, fire insurers could have been reinsuring to ‘protect’ earnings and accumulated cash reserves therefore enabling investment opportunities to be realised. Analysis of the sub-period 1919–28 further supports this contention, while our results for the economic depression years after 1929 show that reinsurance helped mitigate underwriting and insolvency risks, suggesting that the reinsurance decision of fire insurance companies could be motivated by macroeconomic factors.

Syftet med denna studie är att, från behandlares perspektiv, undersöka vilka bakomliggandefaktorer som kan leda till alkoholberoende i arbetet med vuxna alkoholberoende. Studien hargenomförts med hjälp av en kvalitativ ansats genom att tre intervjuer gjorts med behandlareinom den privata öppenvården. Bakgrunden till studien är att det finns attityder ochgrupperingar i samhället som inte anser att alkoholberoende är en sjukdom, att det finns olikasynsätt på de bakomliggande faktorerna till beroendet. Studiens resultat stämmer i stor delöverens med det som finns i den tidigare forskningen inom ämnet. Tidigare forskning påvisaratt det finns två huvudsakliga faktorer som kan ligga bakom alkoholberoende, där den ena ärgenetik och den andra är miljö. Denna studies resultat stämmer i stor del överens med dentidigare forskningen eftersom behandlarna som intervjuats ser alkoholberoende som ensjukdom med flera symtom och de ser själva beroendet som en sjukdom. Enligtrespondenterna kan det även vara ett samspel mellan genetik och miljö, och att man ej skallutesluta det ena över det andra. Miljöfaktorer fokuserar mer på livshändelser och socialasituationer, medan genetiken fokuserar på ärftlighet och gener. Vid vändpunkten närklienterna söker behandling så finns det en rädsla för att förlora sin identitet när det måste taslivsviktiga beslut.

To deepen the understanding of how society affects our experience of various phenomena, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of culture and society in the experience of divorce in childhood at a later age. The study uses the Middle East's culture and social structure as a starting point to investigate the perceived impact of the experienced divorce on self-esteem at a later age, and how the participants experience affects their love relationships. To meet the aim of the study, six participants between the ages of 20 and 30, with a background from the Middle East, who experienced divorce during childhood were recruited. Participants answered questions in an in-depth interview conducted via Zoom due to the current situation with Covid-19. Their answers were narratively analyzed by keeping interviews intact while re-creating stories to facilitate analysis. The focus was on the basic plot, the direction of the story and identified turning-points. Stories were then compared. The results indicated that the social structure of the Middle East plays an important role in the experience of divorce. The participants experienced low self-esteem, which seems to depend on the role that society played in the experience of divorce. Furthermore, the results indicated that the low self-esteem, based on society's role in the divorce experience, seems to affect their success in love relationships.

Indicators are widely used in climate variability and climate change assessments to simplify the tracking of complex processes and phenomena in the state of the environment. Apart from the climatic criteria, the snow indicators in ski tourism have been increasingly extended with elements that relate to the technical, operational, and commercial aspects of ski tourism. These non-natural influencing factors have gained in importance in comparison with the natural environmental conditions but are more difficult to comprehend in time and space, resulting in limited explanatory power of the related indicators when applied for larger/longer scale assessments. We review the existing indicator approaches to derive quantitative measures for the snow conditions in ski areas, to formulate the criteria that the indicators should fulfill, and to provide a list of indicators with their technical specifications which can be used in snow condition assessments for ski tourism. For the use of these indicators, a three-step procedure consisting of definition, application, and interpretation is suggested. We also provide recommendations for the design of indicator-based assessments of climate change effects on ski tourism. Thereby, we highlight the importance of extensive stakeholder involvement to allow for real-world relevance of the achieved results.

The main objective of this thesis is to identify the impact management accounting has on the human resources. Management accounting on all the business practices such as human resource, marketing and customer relation, cost management and production is a current trend in the business world today. With evaluation of the cost management; Management accounting plays a major role by inter relating to all the above-mentioned areas in an organization. Since it is a broad subject to explore, in this paper it has been discussed the impact of the management accounting to the human resource management (HR) and HR department. The data were gathered by conducting a questionnaire with open ended and close ended questionnaire form by delivering to the employees who work in human resource management, accounting and finance and administration departments on a global level. The main objective of the questionnaire form is to identify the budgeting process, employee recruitment process, rewarding process, sustainability activity and employee’s opinion on the sustainability activities in the organization and overall view which employees have on their companies which they work in. Data gathered from participants who is working in Sri Lanka, Sweden, Pakistan and UAE. By collecting information from the questionnaire, research has been done by using both qualitative and quantitate analysis (Since we used both open and close ended question). Through the research we could identify that; there is a positive relationship between the human resource department and managerial accounting; managerial accounting act as mediator of information provider, decision maker, analysists and resource allocation planner.

This qualitative study delves into the effects of Computer Assisted Audit Tools (CAAT) onthe quality of audits in Sri Lanka. Recognizing the lack of a universal definition for auditquality, this research draws upon established frameworks by Knechel et al. (2013) and theInternational Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) from 2014 to explore auditquality indicators within the domains of input, process, context, and outcome. The researchadopts an Interpretivism paradigm to appreciate subjective viewpoints and humanisticaspects within its methodology. In order to gain an in-depth understanding, semi-structuredinterviews were conducted with auditors from the big four, private firms, and large localaudit firms in Sri Lanka.Selection criteria ensured a diverse sample size of seven participants from each firmcategory. Findings reveal that not only does the use of audit software contribute to enhancedaudit quality in Sri Lanka, but motivated auditors armed with effective tools are also morelikely to produce reports devoid of misstatements.Furthermore, the study observes a discrepancy in technology adoption for auditing purposeswith larger firms utilizing more advanced systems compared to smaller local entities anddiscusses how this dichotomy impacts overall audit practices. The research ultimatelyunderscores the significance of technological innovation and auditor motivation in elevatingaudit quality within the Sri Lankan context and offers valuable insights for practitioners,regulators, and academics aiming to bridge practices with global standards.