Sweden is one of the countries in the world where investing in mutual funds is most prevalent among the population. The supply of funds in the market has increased significantly in recent decades as well as the public debate on ethical issues. This has contributed to the development of the market for ethical funds. There is no clear definition of what an ethical fund is but generally it is a fund that takes into account factors related to social responsibility in different ways. This study analyzes the ethical funds historical performance levels in comparison with the corresponding traditional mutual funds. Three questions have been answered with the help of quantitative and qualitative analysis. A computational model has been constructed in Excel to analyze historical data from a range of ethical funds and traditional mutual funds. The results of the calculations are the basis for the quantitative portion of the analysis. These have been supplemented by external expertise. The effects, which the commodity prices have had on the yield differences between traditional and ethical funds, have also been studied. In this study, the price of oil has been chosen to illustrate these effects. It is not possible to reliably reach any general conclusions about how ethical funds as a fund category have performed in comparison with the corresponding traditional mutual funds. However, a pattern is observed, that the risk levels for the selected ethical funds, during the periods studied when the market went sharply up or down, respectively, were higher in all cases. The reason for this seems to be the diversification problems that have arisen due to the ethical constraints, something that both the underlying theory on the subject and the discussion with one of Swedbank Roburs portfolio manager’s support. The increased level of risk has contributed to the fact that ethical funds have found it harder to reach an equivalent risk-adjusted rate of return when the bull and the bear markets were examined. / Sverige är ett av de länder i världen där sparandet i fonder är som mest utbrett bland befolkningen. Utbudet av fonder på marknaden har ökat markant de senaste decennierna och i takt med att samhällsdebatten kring etiska frågor ökat, har en ny marknad vuxit fram, marknaden för etiska fonder. Det finns ingen tydlig definition på vad en etisk fond är men generellt är det fonder som tar hänsyn till faktorer kopplade till socialt ansvarstagande på olika sätt. Denna undersökning analyserar etiska fonders historiska prestationsnivåer i jämförelse med motsvarande traditionella aktiefonder. Tre frågeställningar har besvarats med hjälp av kvantitativ och kvalitativ analys. En beräkningsmodell har byggts i Excel i syfte att analysera historisk data från ett urval av etiska fonder och traditionella aktiefonder. Resultaten från beräkningarna ligger till grund för den kvantitativa delen av analysen som därefter har diskuterats med extern expertis. Råvaruprisernas effekter på skillnader i avkastning mellan traditionella och etiska fonder har också analyserats. I denna undersökning har oljepriset valts för att studera dessa effekter. Det går inte att med säkerhet komma fram till några generella slutsatser kring hur etiska fonder som fondkategori presterat i jämförelse med motsvarande traditionella aktiefonder. Dock kan ett mönster observeras under de perioder som undersökts då marknaden gått kraftigt uppåt respektive neråt, nämligen att risknivåerna för de utvalda etiska fonderna varit högre i samtliga fall. Anledningen till detta tycks vara de diversifieringsproblem som uppstått till följd av de etiska restriktionerna, något som bakomliggande teori inom ämnet och intervju med en av Swedbank Roburs förvaltare stödjer. Den ökade risknivån bidrar till att de etiska fonderna haft svårare att uppnå en likvärdig riskjusterad avkastning när den uppåtgående och den nedåtgående perioden granskats.

As an investor, the goal is to get as high return at as low risk as possible on an invested stock. Theories show a positive relationship between high risk and high return. However, there are studies that contradict this statement, which creates misleading investors. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between risk and return, to see if increased risk really leads to a higher return. The study is limited to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange between the period 2010-2019. The index examined is Germany's largest index DAX, which comprised 30 shares on 1 January 2015. Four portfolios have been created: two low-risk portfolios and two high-risk portfolios, where fictitious investments were made to then measure the return after a period of five years. The two risk measures used in the study for calculation are beta value and volatility. The beta value has been used in CAPM to calculate the expected return. The results of the study using correlation and multiple regression analysis obtained a negative significant relationship between risk and return. The portfolios also showed a negative relationship between higher risk and higher return. The results from this study are consistent with many previous studies, but the variables used to measure and define risk can be questioned. / För en investerare är målet att få en så hög avkastning till en så låg risk som möjligt. Finansiella teorier och allmän uppfattning hävdar att det finns ett positivt samband mellan hög risk och hög avkastning. Dock finns det mycket tidigare forskning som motstrider detta påstående, vilket kan bli vilseledande för investerare. Syftet med denna kvantitativa studie var att undersöka sambandet mellan risk och avkastning, för att se om ökad risk leder till en högre avkastning. Utöver det undersöktes om CAPM kunde ge en korrekt estimering av framtida förväntad avkastning. Studien avgränsades till Frankfurtbörsen mellan perioden 2010-2019. Det indexet som undersöktes var Tysklands största index DAX som det såg ut 2015-01-01, det omfattades då av 30 aktier. Fyra portföljer har skapats: två portföljer med låg risk och två portföljer med hög risk, där fiktiva investeringar gjordes för att sedan mäta avkastningen efter en tidsperiod på fem år. De två mått på risk som studien använt är betavärde och volatilitet. Betavärdet har använts i CAPM för att beräkna förväntad avkastning. Studiens resultat har med hjälp av korrelation och multipel regressionsanalys visat på ett negativt signifikant samband mellan risk och avkastning. Portföljerna visade också på ett negativt samband mellan högre risk och högre avkastning. Resultatet från denna studie är i enhetlighet med många tidigare studier, dock kan de variabler som använts för att mäta och definiera risk ifrågasättas.

Bakgrund: Offentlig information som finns tillgänglig visar att det är en stark majoritet män i bolagsstyrelser. I takt med att mångfald diskuteras i samhället och allt fler yrken blir mer jämställda, har styrelserummens könsdiversifiering inte omvandlats på samma sätt jämfört med andra yrken. Vissa skandinaviska länder har vidtagit åtgärder för att öka jämställdheten i företagens styrelser. Det kan berika att veta om de vidtagna åtgärderna ger det förväntade resultatet. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka om det finns något samband mellan avkastningen och könsfördelningen bland styrelseledamöterna i nyintroducerade bolag på Stockholmsbörsens, Large Cap, Mid Cap och Small Cap. Metod: Studien utgår från en kvantitativ metod med multipel regressionsanalys för olika oberoende variabler för att undersöka korrelationen mellan lönsamhet och könsdiversifiering inom bolagsstyrelser på kort sikt samt lång sikt. Därtill utfördes t-tester för att pröva om skillnader mellan genomsnittlig avkastning finns. Slutsats: Resultaten från denna studie finner inga evidens på statistiska samband mellan könsdiversifiering i styrelsen och lönsamhet i avkastning över durationen på ett år från att börsnotering skett. / Background: Public information that is available indicates that there is a strong majority of males ruling in the board rooms. As diversity is becoming widely debated in society and different occupations are becoming more gender equal, the boardrooms do not convert in the same past as other occupations. Some Scandinavian countries have gone to long measures to increase gender diversity in the corporate boardrooms. Furthermore, it can enrich to know if the measures taken give the anticipated outcome.  Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there is any relationship between the profitability and the gender distribution among the board members of newly listed companies on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Large Cap, Mid Cap and Small Cap. Methodology: The study approaches a quantitative method with multiple regressions analyses with separate control variables to examine the correlation between profitability and gender diversity in corporate boards on short-term and long-term. In addition, t-tests were performed to investigate differences between average returns. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there is no statistically determined relationship between the gender diversity of the board and the stock return over the duration of a year from going public.

Abstract Title: Announcing an acquisition, what happens next? Authors: Carl Åkesson and Hasan Beslija Supervisor: Katarina Eriksson Background: Sweden is the Nordic region's largest market for M&A. Despite this, there is a limited research base for how acquisitions affect abnormal returns on the Swedish stock market. There is no consensus among previous studies on how the bidding firms are affected in the short run by acquisitions or how the abnormal return is affected by firm size and form of acquisition. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there is an abnormal return in the short run for bidding firms when announcing an acquisition and how it differs between different company sizes and different forms of acquisitions. Methodology: The study is of quantitative nature and has been conducted with a deductive approach. The research questions of this study have been chosen with previous studies in mind. Furthermore, the study has used two methods; event study and regression analysis. In addition to these methods, tests have been carried out with the aim of statistically ensuring the abnormal return that has arisen in the event study. Results: The results of the study show that an announcement of an acquisition leads to a negative average cumulative abnormal return in the short run. For the different company sizes, large cap has the most negative average cumulative abnormal return. For the various acquisition forms, horizontal acquisitions have the most negative average cumulative abnormal return. The study's regression analysis show that company size and acquisition form have a low degree of explanation for the emergence of abnormal returns. Keywords: Abnormal returns, acquisitions, event study, cumulative abnormal return

Emerging markets (EMs) contribute significantly year-on-year to global gross domestic product (GDP) and continue to offer developed countries huge opportunities such as raw materials and readily available markets for various goods and services produced in developed economies. However, multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed markets operating in emerging countries continue to develop inappropriate perceptions and assumptions influenced by Western imperialist and arrogant attitudes, which carry a very short-term view on the future of developing countries, despite extracting multibillion-dollar profits from these regions. The objectives of the research study were to establish the relationship between strategic management practices (SMPs) and the financial performance of MNCs in emerging markets, by testing, validating the viability and applicability of the SMPs framework and by evaluating SMPs financial contribution to the bottom-line of MNCs. The research study found that for MNCs with comprehensively adopted and implemented the SMPs framework their financial performance continues to improve year on year, depicting a positive relationship between SMPs and overall financial performance of MNCs with business interests in emerging markets. The study, however, concludes that the MNC executives wrong assumptions about emerging countries results in the crafting of strategies within business models that fail to fit in emerging markets. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Context: Scimitar syndrome is a congenital anomaly of pulmonary venous return where right pulmonary artery drains into right side other heart, instead of the left side, causing pulmonary hypertension resulting in shortness of breath, recurrent lower respiratory tract infections, chest pain, and fatigue. Early diagnosis and surgical intervention would correct this congenital anomaly reducing morbidity and complications in otherwise healthy young patients. Case Report: We present a case of an 18-year-old female who presented with exertional shortness of breath, fatigue, and recurrent lower respiratory tract infections. She had unremarkable physical examination but chest x-ray showed an abnormal opacity next to right heart border. Computed tomography (CT) chest was performed that showed possible scimitar syndrome. Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) and right heart catheterization (RHC) confirmed the diagnosis. Conclusion: Scimitar syndrome is a very rare congenital anomaly of pulmonary venous return. It is usually diagnosed in early childhood but the diagnosis may be delayed until later in adulthood. The consequences are pulmonary hypertension, right-sided heart failure, and frequent pulmonary infections resulting in increased morbidity, mortality, and frequent doctor visits for otherwise healthy young patients.

Objective: There is growing evidence that therapeutic hypothermia and other post-resuscitation care improves outcomes in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Thus, transporting patients with return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) to specialized facilities may increase survival rates. However, it is unknown whether prolonging transport to reach a designated facility would be detrimental. Methods: Data from OHCA patients treated in EMS systems that cover approximately 70% of Arizona's population were evaluated (October 2004-December 2006). We analyzed the association between transport interval (depart scene to ED arrival) and survival to hospital discharge in adult, non-traumatic OHCA patients and in the subgroup who achieved ROSC and remained comatose. Results: 1846 OHCA occurred prior to EMS arrival. Complete transport interval data were available for 1177 (63.8%) patients (study group). 253 patients (21.5%) achieved ROSC and remained comatose making them theoretically eligible for transport to specialized care. Overall, 70 patients (5.9%) survived and 43 (17.0%) comatose ROSC patients survived. Mean transport interval for the study group was 6.9 min (95% CI: 6.7, 7.1). Logistic regression revealed factors that were independently associated with survival: witnessed arrest, bystander CPR, method of CPR, initial rhythm of ventricular fibrillation, and shorter EMS response time interval. There was no significant association between transport interval and outcome in either the overall study group (OR = 1.2; 0.77, 1.8) or in the comatose, ROSC subgroup (OR 0.94; 0.51, 1.8). Conclusion: Survival was not significantly impacted by transport interval. This suggests that a modest increase in transport interval from bypassing the closest hospital en route to specialized care is safe and warrants further investigation.

Cloud computing is about delivery of different computing services involving databases, analytics, software, networking with the use of internet to enhance innovation, incorporate flexibility in resources and broaden profitability. However, Internet of Things (IoT) is an essential system for interrelating computer devices, digital machines, people and others which are offered with unique identifiers where data can be transferred with human involvement and wireless network. 42% of organisations in UK use cloud computing. The problem with cloud computing revolves around security and privacy issues as data is stored by a third party from inside or outside of the organisation leading to broken authentication, compromising of credentials and others. The use of IoT is vulnerable as it provides connectivity to devices, machines and people therefore, it needs to contain more storage that is made from cloud facilities. Survey has been conducted where primary quantitative method has been considered to obtain data from 101 managers of the organisation that has adopted cloud computing and IoT. However, 8 close-ended questions have been asked to 101 managers. Positivism philosophy has been used to make quantifiable observations along with descriptive design and others. The results and discussion will analyse responses of the respondents after conducting statistical analysis. However, research has been revolving around making a comparison between using cloud computing and IoT along with analysing organisational behaviour. / Revisión por pares

Visual selective attention operates in space- and object-based frames of reference. Stimulus salience and task demands influence whether a space- or object-based frame of reference guides attention. I conducted two experiments for the present dissertation to evaluate age patterns in the role of inhibition in object-based attention. The biased competition account (Desimone & Duncan, 1995) proposes that one mechanism through which targets are selected is through suppression of irrelevant stimuli. The inhibitory deficit hypothesis (Hasher & Zacks, 1988) predicts that older adults do not appropriately suppress or ignore irrelevant information. The purpose of the first study was to evaluate whether inhibition of return (IOR) patterns, originally found in a laboratory setting, could be replicated with online data collection (prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic). Inhibition of return is a cognitive mechanism to bias attention from returning to previously engaged items. In a lab setting, young and older adults produced location- and object-based IOR. In the current study, both types of IOR were also observed within object boundaries, although location-based IOR from data collected online was smaller than that from the laboratory. In addition, there was no evidence of an age-related reduction in IOR effects. There was some indication that sampling differences or testing circumstances led to increased variability in online data.The purpose of the second study was to evaluate age differences in top-down inhibitory processes during an attention-demanding object tracking task. Data were collected online. I used a dot-probe multiple object tracking (MOT) task to evaluate distractor suppression during target tracking. Both young and older adults showed poorer dot-probe detection accuracies when the probes appeared on distractors compared to when they appeared at empty locations, reflecting inhibition. The findings suggest that top-down inhibition works to suppress distractors during target tracking and that older adults show a relatively preserved ability to inhibit distractor objects. The findings across both experiments support models of selective attention that posit that goal-related biases suppress distractor information and that inhibition can be directed selectively by both young and older adults on locations and objects in the visual field.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore whether customers’ return reasons differ between product groups and if their e-commerce experience is related to the return reasons. Moreover, we test if customers’ e-commerce experience is related to whether they refrain from ordering apparel when there is a perceived absence of information, and what product-oriented tools they prefer when purchasing apparel online. Design/methodology/approach: This is an exploratory mixed methods research within a fashion e-commerce context. We initiated the study by a systematic literature review to identify an underdeveloped area in the literature. As a result, it details an investigation of return reasons and product-oriented tools based on a focus group and customer survey. Findings: Results show that return reasons to some extent were similar between the product groups, where size and fit were the most common reasons for returns. However, the given share of the return reasons differed between the product groups. It became evident that some product-oriented tools are more preferred than others, namely product reviews and model-related tools (i.e. specified measurements and pictures on different sized models). Findings further show that a majority of respondents would completely or sometimes refrain from purchasing when there is an absence of information online. These findings were also investigated in relation to customers’ e-commerce experience, where we found a relationship between the variables. Practical implications: Several meaningful insights for fashion online retailers are developed from the results of this study, which can help them minimise unnecessary returns. While return reasons among apparel have, in the past, been analysed on an aggregated level, this study contradicts this practice. This study further suggests retailers to determine whether and how to manage, maintain and prioritise product-oriented tools on their website while still being in line with customers’ preferences and expectations. Originality/value of paper: This study contributes toward the literature of returns management in the fashion e-commerce context by, firstly, examining whether customers’ return reasons differ between product groups and secondly by investigating their preferences of product-oriented tools when purchasing apparel online. Lastly, it contributes through taking customers’ e-commerce experience of purchasing apparel online into consideration.