The direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is a very promisingpower source for low power applications. High power and energydensity, low emissions, operation at or near ambientconditions, fast and convenient refuelling and a potentiallyrenewable fuel source are some of the features that makes thefuel cell very promising. However, there are a few problemsthat have to be overcome if we are to see DMFCs in our everydaylife. One of the drawbacks is the low performance of the DMFCanode. In order to make a better anode, knowledge about whatlimits the performance is of vital importance. With theknowledge about the limitations of the anode, the flow field,gas diffusion layer and the morphology of the electrode can bemodified for optimum performance. The aim of this thesis is to elucidate the limiting factorsof the DMFC anode. A secondary goal is to create a model of theperformance, which also has a low computational cost so that itcan be used as a sub model in more complex system models. Toreach the primary goal, to elucidate the limiting factors, amodel has to be set up that describes the most importantphysical principles occurring in the anode. In addition, experiments have to be performed to validatethe model. To reach the secondary goal, the model has to bereduced to a minimum. A visual DMFC has been developed alongwith a methodology to extract two-phase data. This has provento be a very important part of the understanding of thelimiting factors. Models have been developed from a detailedmodel of the active layer to a two-phase model including theentire three-dimensional anode. The results in the thesis show that the microstructure inthe active layer does not limit the performance. Thelimitations are rather caused by the slow oxidation kineticsand, at concentrations lower than 2 M of methanol, the masstransport resistance to and inside the active layer. Theresults also show that the mass transfer of methanol to theactive layer is improved if gas phase is present, especiallyfor higher temperatures since the gas phase then contains moremethanol. It is concluded that the mass transport resistance lower theperformance of a porous DMFC anode at the methanolconcentrations used today. It is also concluded that masstransfer may be improved by making sure that there is gas phasepresent, which can be done by choosing flow distributor and gasdiffusion layer well. Keywords: direct methanol fuel cell, fuel cell, DMFC, anode,model

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether foreign direct investment, FDI, has any impact on economic growth in Mexico. In order to find a possible connection I use a multiple regression analysis with GDP per capita as dependent variable. Furthermore, I critically examine previous studies of FDI and its effect on GDP per capita in Mexico as well as other studies with several developed and developing countries. The difference between this paper and previous studies is that the data is more up-to-date here. My results, like most of the previous studies, do not indicate on any statistical significance that FDI has a positive effect on economic growth. FDI do however seem to produce positive spillover effects on the domestic economy, mainly through knowledge and technological spillovers.

Crude oil can attract a lot of investments and development into a country but when not managed well can as well cause a lot of destruction and conflict. Like fire, crude oil is a good servant but can be a bad master too depending on how it is handled. Using Dunning‟s eclectic paradigm, a positive relationship between foreign direct investment and locational attraction was established. Of the two components within the locational attraction, natural resource attracts more foreign direct investment than market size in the case of Africa. It was established through our case study of Angola that oil attracts foreign direct investment because oil is a location attraction which attracts foreign firms. These investments on the other hand contribute to the productive capacity of the receiving country thus stimulating economic development. However, the availability of natural resources (oil) and its ability to attract foreign investment does not guarantee economic development. The establishment of appropriate institutions, mechanisms and policies would ensure efficient use of oil revenue for sustained economic growth. We identified vital policy options (the Fund mechanism and spending rule) available to Ghana , with inference from Norway, which could help evade the „Dutch Disease‟. Oil production could thus attract more foreign direct investment and contribute to the economic development of Ghana only on condition that appropriate oil revenue management policies are implemented.

The world-wide globalisation that has taken place during the past decades has led to more Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) choosing to relocate some parts of their organisation to other countries. China, which is in command of the world’s lowest-cost manufacturing plants, is the first destination for MNEs. Although China presents a great opportunity for MNEs, this investment does not come without its difficulties, MNEs wishing to invest in China are confronted with certain challenges. MNEs are faced with dealing with the notable differences in Western and Chinese business culture. One particular difference is related to intercultural communication between western managers and Chinese managers. The theory of low context and high context cultures states that the Chinese communicate indirectly and Western countries directly. The main purpose of this research is to find out if the Chinese manager, after obtaining experience negotiating with foreign managers from low context cultures, adopts a more direct communication style. The purpose of this research is to answer the following question: Does the Chinese manager have a preference for direct or indirect communication when negotiating with foreign managers? The following hypotheses were stated: Ho: Chinese managers prefer direct communication during business negotiations with foreign managers. Ha: Chinese managers prefer indirect communication during business negotiations with foreign managers A quantitative method with a positivistic epistemology was used for the research. Quantitative research is an exploratory study with a deductive approach and therefore the most appropriate method for this research was a survey. A survey was chosen for data collection and a questionnaire based on the research model was developed and used as the survey instrument to collect data from the target group. The target group was stated as Chinese managers with at least three years work experience, fluent in English and with experience in negotiations with managers from cultures considered as low-context cultures such as Germany, Sweden and the United States of America. The target group was selected from the MBA programs at Fudan University. The SPSS program was utilised to analyse the responses and to test the hypothesis. Numeric values were assigned to each of the responses, with 5 being the most direct and 1 being the most indirect. The scale was appropriately reversed for negative questions. Descriptive statistics were obtained about distribution, variability and central tendency of the variables. t tests were applied to compare group means. Furthermore, a regression analysis was conducted to estimate a linear relationship between direct communication and the lack of miscommunication showed by the descriptive test. All tests were conducted at a 95% confidence level. The result of the hypothesis test indicated that Chinese managers have preference towards direct communication when conducting business negotiations with foreign managers.

Not long ago, Brazil was a country with an unstable economic system; inflation and interest rates were high and the political system was corrupt and complex. Still Brazil has for a long time been a successful market for Swedish companies. In São Paulo, the financial center of Brazil, a “little Sweden” has emerged which is considered to be the largest center for Swedish industry outside of Sweden. The purpose of this thesis is to examine why a ‘little Sweden’ has emerged in Brazil as well as examining what importance different economical factors have had for Swedish foreign direct investments in Brazil. Theories regarding foreign direct investments as well as other business theories have been used in the research. To get a deep understanding of the subject, four interviews have been made with organizations involved in helping Swedish companies in Brazil. The research has shown that the most important factors in the creation of the ‘little Sweden’ has been; access to production factors such as natural resources, the competitiveness of the home market together with the size of Brazil’s market, the financial capacity of the Swedish companies, the fact that Swedish companies could offer products and services that suited the demands of Brazil, as well as the fact that the Swedish entrepreneurs had a long term thinking and a great optimistic visions for the future.

Mainland China since its economic reform has become one of the countries that attract most foreign investment, which brought significant influence on China¡¦s economic development. However, the foreign investment has a highly unbalanced distribution within China, with the coastal area absorbing more than eighty per cent of the total amount. The uneven distribution exacerbated the development disparity among different regions. In an effort to address the regional development gap and ameliorate inland economic development, central government in China put forward the Western Development Program in 2000. This paper seeks to analyze the impacts foreign investment brought to west China, by examining China¡¦s foreign investment policy since its economic reform, and its Western Development Program since 2000, respectively. The research concludes that as economic reform began in China¡¦s eastern area, the region benefited from government¡¦s favorable foreign investment policy and advanced its economic development. Western area, on the contrary, demonstrates otherwise. The Western¡¦s Development Program failed to attract substantial foreign investment into inland China, and the preferential policies for foreign investment had only very limited success. This is due to a range of factors taken into consideration by foreign investors when contemplating operating in the western area, including the infrastructure and the investment environment in west China. As such, government¡¦s preferential policies remain ineffective and the distribution of foreign investment continues to be highly asymmetrical.

The most common method of monitoring and mapping groundwatercontaminants is to extract and analyse a number of groundwatersamples from wells in the investigation area. However, thereare a number of limitations with this type of point-wiseinvestigation, as it is hard to acquire an adequate picture ofa heterogeneous and anisotropic subsurface using a fewpoints. To overcome the limitations of point investigations and toimprove ground monitoring investigations in a cost-effectiveway, support can be provided by direct current resistivitymeasurements, which give a characterisation of the electricalproperties of a ground volume. The main objective with this work was to investigate theusability of the resistivity method as a support in monitoringgroundwater contaminants in glaciated terrains and underdifferent seasons, both in long-term monitoring programmes andintracer tests. The work comprised field investigations at several differentsanitary landfills and four tracer tests in differentgeological environments, around the Stockholm region. The maininvestigations have been done at Högbytorp, Stockholmwhich has been used for long-term investigations of theresistivity variation, together with a field set up formonitoring and measurements on seasonal variation in soilmoisture, ground temperature and precipitation. It can be concluded that the use of resistivity measurementssupplies valuable information in the case of mapping andmonitoring conductive groundwater contaminants andfurthermore: The variation in resistivity (in shallow investigations<1 m) can be extensive between different seasons (around30 % compared to a mean value in till and clay soils) andshould be considered, so that anthropogenic affects can beseparated from natural resistivity variation. For deeperinvestigations (>5 m) the seasonal resistivity variationwas more moderate (around 15% compared to a mean value intill and clay soils). Soil moisture variation shows a strong relationship toresistivity variation in the investigated clay and tillsoils. Together with temperature correction 47 to 65% of thevariation has been explained. Three types of monitoring systems can be applied:Permanently installed, partly installed and fully mobilesystems. For the actual measurements, all three types can useeither high-density techniques such as CVES (ContinuousVertical Electrical Sounding) or low-density measuring withone or some different electrode spacings. The suggested evaluation tool for monitoring programmesshowed that it was possible to detect a decrease of 15 % inthe mean value at a specific site using Modified Double Masscalculations between resistivity time series and time seriesat a reference site with a comparable seasonalvariation. Resistivity measurements may be used as a valuablecomplement to groundwater sampling in tracer tests. Adecrease in resistivity, a minimum and a recovery phasereflect the passage of a NaCl-solution, which can be used toestimate flow velocity and flow patterns of the investigatedaquifer. The achieved recovery of NaCl in the tracer testscarried out was estimated to 20 to 70 %. The measurement system for long-term monitoring or tracertests, which should be chosen with regard to layout andfrequency, depends on the purpose of measurement and onsite-specific conditions and therefore no standard solutioncan be proposed. Key words:Resistivity, Direct Current, Monitoring,Groundwater, Contaminant, Tracer test, Geophysics.

The concept of security is a contested one. The United Nations definition in UNDPs Development report of 1994 is the most authoritive and commonly cited. The civil war in Sudan has led to 2 million deaths and over 5.5 million refugees. In a resolution from 2005, the UN decided that the war in Sudan was a threat to international security and peace. The 10th of January UN decided that a peace commission ought to be send with 10 000 military and civil men including 700 policemen. The main purpose of this thesis is to improve our knowledge of those factors which can cause an increased risk of conflict within a state, and how that can affect the social conditions for individuals. First, I analyse which kind of threats to human security that are to be identified in Sudan. Secondly, I discuss and analyse the role of UN in Sudan, focusing on the human security issues. Different information from sources is analyzed through qualitative content analysis, with quantative components. The theoretical perspective is based on Johan Galtungs theory concerning positive and negative peace, but also on the concept of human security. Based on the collected data and the theoretical framework the conclusions are that it is a clear connection between the direct violence and the structural and cultural violence in south Sudan. It depends on the historical legacy but also because of the deep rooted structures of the institutions in Sudan. The conflict is about the oil and the ethnic and cultural identification. All this is a threat to the human security in Sudan, due to the condition about social equitable and the right to have a decent life. The UN has resolved the immediate military threat in the south of Sudan. There are a lot of things to be done before the security situation reach the UN definition of human security. The Sudan government must be responsible for implementing policies to assure this security.

This thesis investigates the determinants of Swedish foreign direct investments to 24 European countries during the period 1998 to 2008 with 2000 and 2008 as sample years. The thesis emphasizes five factors that affect the Swedish FDI flows to these countries, which are grouped into OECD countries and CEE countries (Central and Eastern European Countries). The explanatory variables studied are economic growth, property rights, labor cost and two dummy variables with one targeting whether the country is culturally affiliated with Sweden and the other is dealing with whether that country is an OECD country or not. We use multiple regressions to find out to what extent each of these variables can explain the variance of FDI during the years 2000 and 2008. The coefficient estimates show the expected sign in the relationship between FDI and the various explanatory variables, with the exception of labor cost but only OECD membership shows a significant relationship to FDI (and only when using 2000 data).

Malaysia is one of the developing countries in the world that is on the verge to become de-veloped (Internationella Programkontoret, 2003). In 2004, Malaysia had a growth rate around 7% (United Nation Statistic Division, 2005) and it is implied that the Malaysian market is continuously growing. One factor that can increase the growth rate in Malaysia is foreign direct investments (FDI), which is, according to Chino (2004), one factor of sus-tainable growth. It has been noticed that the world is getting smaller and more companies are looking for opportunities outside the country boarders and in this situation Malaysia is an attractive alternative for establishment. The purpose of this study is to investigate and deepen the understanding of cultural factors affecting the establishing process for Swedish companies in Malaysia, and through that cre-ate an awareness that can simplify the establishing process. To answer the purpose of this study, a qualitative research has been used. Interviews with Swedish companies newly established in Malaysia have been performed. The respondents have been asked about the establishing process in Malaysia and the Malaysian culture. Ad-ditional interviews with the Swedish Trade Council and the Swedish Embassy have also been performed. The interview guides have been based on theories about FDI, the estab-lishment process and culture. Hollensen’s market entry strategies, Hollensen’s network model and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are the main theories used throughout this study. The authors have found through this study that the different ethnic groups in Malaysia are highly influential on the business environment and that foreign companies establishing in Malaysia have to be aware of this situation. The multicultural society is an advantage for Malaysia, through the locals’ ability to adapt to different cultures and the many different languages in the country. However, foreigners moving to Malaysia need to be aware of the special treatment of the Malays and how that affects the business environment. Two main problems have been found by the authors; the Malaysian bureaucracy and the locals unwill-ingness to let foreigners into their networks. This can be problematic for foreign compa-nies, but can be handled through the help of governmental functions such as MIDA or MSC, or through a company secretary or auditor. Through this visualization of the cultural factors that affect the establishing process of Swedish companies in Malaysia, the authors hope to minimize the risk of them running into the same problems and obstacles.