Preference for palatable and energy-dense foods may be a risk factor for body weight gain and has both genetic and environmental components. Once obesity develops in an individual, weight loss is difficult to achieve. Indeed, obesity is often characterized by repeated attempts to reduce the overconsumption of energy-dense foods, followed by food craving and relapse to overconsumption. Relapse and loss of control over intake are observed also in drug addicts, and it has been shown that obesity and drug addiction not only share behavioural features but also neural circuitry, e.g. the mesolimbic dopamine pathway. In this thesis, we sought to investigate the mechanisms related to food preferences and craving using animal models previously used in addiction research. The risk of gaining weight may implicate behavioural traits and emotional states. We showed in rats that a risk-taking behavioural profile was associated both with increased preference for a high-fat (HF) diet and with increased motivational response to a palatable high-sucrose (HS) diet. Hypothalamic urocortin 2 expression was associated with the preference for the HF diet. We also tested the hypothesis that consumption of HS and HF diets separately or provided simultaneously (HFHS) affect anxiety-like behaviour and locomotion. Furthermore, we showed that withdrawal from HFHS food affects diet-induced obesity-prone (OP) and obesity-resistant (OR) animals differently. OP animals had increased motivation (craving) for HS food pellets as measured by the operant self-administration technique during withdrawal. Dopamine receptor expression in the striatum differed between OP and OR animals both at access to HFHS and during withdrawal. This strongly implicates dopaminergic signaling in the OP phenotype. In humans, food preferences may be monitored using questionnaires. We analyzed food preference data from parents of preschool children, and identified an inverse association of parental preference for high-fat high-protein food and overweight in children. In conclusion, we have employed animal models previously used in the addiction field to identify molecular mechanisms related both to food preference and vulnerability to obesity, and to food craving associated with withdrawal from palatable food. These findings add to our current understanding of obesity.

För- och nackdelar med belöningssystem - en studie om Scania Vårt syfte är att beskriva hur ett belöningssystem kan vara uppbyggt och studera vilka för- och nackdelar ett belöningssystem medför. Vi studerar närmare hur Scanias belöningssystem ser ut och hur väl det fungerar som en motivationsfaktor för de anställda. Vi vill också undersöka om det finns något som kan förbättras med Scanias belöningssystem Vi använde en kvalitativ metod. Utifrån litteraturstudier skapades en referensram. Därefter intervjuade vi sex personer på Scania om deras belöningssystem. Utifrån resultatet från dessa intervjuer analyserade vi referensramen. Vi har kommit fram till våra slutsatser utifrån detta. Vi kom fram till att det inte finns något perfekt belöningssystem. Alla system har sina för- och nackdelar. Vi tycker att Scania har valt ett system som inte leder till missnöje eller orättvisor. Bonuslönen är inte direkt motiverande på kort sikt men leder på lång sikt till att de anställda känner mer samhörighet med företaget de jobbar i. Vi upplever att den största motivationsfaktorn i Scania är alla förmåner och utvecklingsmöjligheter som företaget erbjuder. / Advantages and disadvantages of reward systems – a study of Scania Our purpose is to describe how a reward system can be constructed and study the benefits and drawbacks of what a reward system entails. We are studying the details on how Scania's reward system is designed and how well it works as a motivation factor for the employes. We also study if there is anything that can be improved with the reward system that Scania has. We used a qualitative method. Based on literature studies, we created a frame of reference. After that we interviewed six persons at Scania about their reward system. Based on the results of these interviews, we analyzed the frame of reference. We have reached our conclusions from the analyze. We found that there is no perfect reward system. All systems have their advantages and disadvantages. We think that Scania has chosen a system that does not lead to dissatisfaction or injustice. The bonus remuneration is not directly motivating in the short term but in the long term it leads to that the employees feel more affinity with the company they work in. We believe that the most important motivation factor in Scania is all the benefits and opportunities to develop that Scania offers.

Syfte: Att undersöka vilka framgångsfaktorer som företagsledningar i konsultföretag använder för att få sin personal motiverade.  Metod: Jag har valt en kvalitativ metod med ett induktivt synsätt. Min intervjuform är semistrukturerad med öppna frågor.  Resultat och slutsats: Ledningen i företagen som ingick i studien har använt sig av en ekonomisk motivationsfaktor i kombination med flera icke ekonomiska motivationsfaktorer för att motivera personalen. Denna kombination av motivationsfaktorer kan ses som framgångsfaktorer i företagen.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Samma typ av studie men istället en undersökning av en annan bransch, en annan storlek på företagen, eller ett annat geografiskt område t.ex. i en större stad. Ett annat förslag är att intervjua personalen istället för den personanalansvarige. Att mäta motivationen, före och efter, vissa motivationshöjande åtgärder. Uppsatsens bidrag: Uppsatsen har bidragit till att bättre förstå vad som motiverar personal i konsultföretag. / Aim: To investigate what kind of success factors management in consulting companys uses to get a motivated personnel. Method: I have chosen a qualitative method with a inductive position. My interviews are done semistructured with open questions. Result and conclusion: The management in the companys who was part of the study has used a economic factor of motivation combined with several non-economic factors of motivation to get their personnel motivated. This combination of factors of motivation are success factors in the companys. Suggestions for future research: The same kind of study, but instead a investigation of a another  industry, another size of the companys or a another geography area, for example a bigger town. Another proposal is to interview the personnel instead of the personnel management. To measure motivation, before and after, certain measures that increases motivation. Contributions of the thesis: The essay has contributed to better understand what motivates the personnel in consulting companys.

Denna kvalitativa studie genomfördes för att undersöka vilken roll utvärdering av belöningssystem har i företag verksamma i Sverige. Studien utgår från teorin Evidence- Based Practice och dess underkategorier som specifikt behandlar belöningssystem. Dessa teorier applicerades på data inhämtad från intervjuer med personer ansvariga för belöningssystem på olika företag. I studien framkom, i likhet med de få tidigare studier som genomförts inom området, att utvärdering av belöningssystem inte har någon central roll hos de undersökta företagen. Anledningen till denna undanskymda roll anses dock inte vara en misstro mot behovet av det. Istället framkom att en starkt bidragande orsak till det restriktiva utförandet av utvärdering är att området anses komplext med stora problem relaterade till att identifiera lämpliga metoder för det praktiska utförandet.

This thesis describes the research conducted on the use of historical performance data in assessing the financial risk for a power distribution utility in a performance based regulation (PBR) regime. The historical utility data used in this research are taken from the Canadian Electrical Association (CEA) annual reports. The individual utility data in these reports are confidential and only provided to the participating utilities. Thirteen utilities that participate in the CEA data reporting activity agreed to provide their individual utility data for the research described in this thesis. These utilities are anonymous and are referred to by numerical designations in accordance with the CEA protocol. This research could not have been conducted without the support of these utilities. The objectives of the research described in this thesis are to examine and analyze the variations in the annual performance indices of the thirteen participating utilities and the aggregated systems including the overall indices and the cause code contributions, and to examine the possible utilization of historic utility reliability indices to create suitable reward/penalty structures in a PBR protocol. The potential financial risk and actual financial payment analyses for these selected utilities are conducted using their historical performance data imposed on a number of possible reward/penalty structures developed in this thesis. An approach to recognize adverse utility performance in the form of Major Outage Years (MOY) is developed and the influence of the MOY performance in PBR decision making is examined.

The aim of this essay is to give an overview of the topic of intrinsic motivation based on psychological an neuroimaging research. More specifically, the objective is to give an overview of the various benefits of intrinsic motivation, discuss its relationship to extrinsic rewards, and review the existing neuroimaging research that has explicitly explored intrinsic motivatoin. A positive relationship betweeen intrinsic motivation and persistence, conceptual learning, creativity, and both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being has been demonstrated. A wealth of studies has shown that extrinsic rewards undermine intrinsic motivation, while the validity of these findings has been debated. Initial neuroimaging studies concerning the neural basis of intrinsic motivation have been conducted, showing unique activations in the intrinsic motivation conditions in e.g. the anterior precuneus and the right insular cortex. Conceptual and methodological problems have been discussed, and it is suggested that the neuroscientific findings mentioned above can be interpreted in terms of the neural distinction between wanting and liking, rather than in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, and that psychological research can draw on neuroscientific findings in order to make its research more precise.

This thesis describes the research conducted on the use of historical performance data in assessing the financial risk for a power distribution utility in a performance based regulation (PBR) regime. The historical utility data used in this research are taken from the Canadian Electrical Association (CEA) annual reports. The individual utility data in these reports are confidential and only provided to the participating utilities. Thirteen utilities that participate in the CEA data reporting activity agreed to provide their individual utility data for the research described in this thesis. These utilities are anonymous and are referred to by numerical designations in accordance with the CEA protocol. This research could not have been conducted without the support of these utilities. The objectives of the research described in this thesis are to examine and analyze the variations in the annual performance indices of the thirteen participating utilities and the aggregated systems including the overall indices and the cause code contributions, and to examine the possible utilization of historic utility reliability indices to create suitable reward/penalty structures in a PBR protocol. The potential financial risk and actual financial payment analyses for these selected utilities are conducted using their historical performance data imposed on a number of possible reward/penalty structures developed in this thesis. An approach to recognize adverse utility performance in the form of Major Outage Years (MOY) is developed and the influence of the MOY performance in PBR decision making is examined.

Introduction: Companies today are forced to function in a world full of change and complexity, and it is more important than ever to have the right employees in order to survive the surrounding competition. It is a fact that a too high turnover rate affects companies in a negative way and retention strategies should therefore be high on the agenda. When looking at this problem area we found that there may be actions and tools that companies could use to come to terms with this problem. Research told us that leadership, remuneration and elements like participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere is important for job satisfaction and retention. Object: The main objective is to increase the understanding regarding employee’s retention in relation to leadership style, remuneration and elements such as participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere in the Swedish financial sector. Method: We wanted to investigate how employee of the Swedish financial sector prefers to be retained, and how they consider and react to the chosen areas. The survey has a quantitative approach with a web based questionnaire and includes 129 respondents from banks, insurance and finance companies. The theoretical framework includes leadership and leadership style, financial as well as non-financial remuneration and research done in later years regarding participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere connected to retention. Conclusion: The result shows that regarding leadership the respondents prefer leadership based on relations were they feel appreciation. Both appreciations from the closest manager as well as the company management influences employee job satisfaction in a positive way. More money was the most common reason for wanting to change jobs, and when asking how the remuneration system should be designed, base pay with additional bonus and benefits were preferred. But also non financial factors such as participation, feedback, autonomy, fairness, responsibility, development and work-atmosphere must be taken in consideration to satisfy since they seem to increase employees’ willingness to stay in the company.

HRM is an important issue whether companies are successful or not in the global market. Many authors have different views on how important culture and local factors are and to what extent it should be taken into consideration when managing units. Taylor et al (1996) state that companies can use three different approaches of HRM: adaptive, integrative or exportive. Considering whether or not culture is a factor taken into consideration when shaping HRM in two different affiliates, three hypotheses were formulated: Hypothesis 1: Culture and local aspects are to a large extent taken into consideration when shaping Human Resource Management. Hypothesis 2: Culture and local aspects are to some extent taken into consideration when shaping Human Resource Management. Hypothesis 3: Culture and local aspects are not taken into consideration when shaping Human Resource Management. Our purpose is to confirm or reject the formulated hypotheses by identifying, analyzing and comparing the shaping of HRM in Carrier Refrigeration in Ingelstad (Sweden) and in Jászárokszállás (Hungary) regarding: • how different types of responsibility are decentralized • how employees communicate • how employees are motivated & rewarded In the aspects of responsibility, communication and motivation & reward the three different approaches are seen. When each aspect is summarized the different approaches are seen as follows; responsibility shows overall an exportive approach, communication shows overall an integrative approach and motivation & reward shows overall an integrative approach. Since two of the three aspects show an integrative approach the second hypothesis (H2) is confirmed which means that the first (H1) and the third (H3) hypotheses are rejected. The hypothesis that is valid is formulated as follows: Culture and local aspects are to some extent taken into consideration when shaping Human Resource Management.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera om Handelsbankens vinstandelsstiftelse Oktogonen ger upphov till motiverade anställda samt om Oktogonen och bankens låga personalomsättning har ett samband. Studien bygger på en fallstudie. Datainsamling har skett genom främst intervjuer och tidigare forskning i form av böcker och artiklar. Resultatet har visat att viktiga faktorer för att uppnå en låg personalomsättning inom banken bland annat är en decentraliserad organisation samt att anställda känner en trygghet till sin arbetsgivare. Oktogonen påverkar i begränsad utsträckning, dock främst äldre medarbetares rörlighet. / The purpose of this paper is to study if Handelsbanken’s profit- sharing foundation Oktogonen creates motivated employees and if Oktogonen and the bank’s low employee turnover are connected. The study is based on a case study. The data comes primarily through interviews and previous research in books and articles. The results showed that key factors in achieving a low turnover of staff is a decentralized organization and that the employees feel a sense of security to their employer. Oktogonen affects a limited extent, but mainly the older employees mobility.