Folkbladet är en dagstidning i Norrköping med en stark lokal prägel vars prenumeranter till största delen är sportintresserade män. För att försöka bredda sin läsekrets har man sedan 2009 gett ut en tidning kallad Trend, som vänder sig till kvinnor i åldern 20 - 50 år. Denna tidning med lokal prägel, i form av ett livsstilsmagasin för kvinnor, handlar om mode, skönhet, heminredning och resor. Maga- sinet ges ut i fyra nummer per år och delas ut gratis till alla hushåll i Norrköping med omnejd. Det har inte tidigare genomförts någon grundläggande målgruppsanalys för att identifiera vilket innehåll eller utformning läsarna tilltalas av. Trend saknar dessutom en tydlig struktur som skulle kunna ge ökad igenkänning och en röd tråd genom innehållet. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vad kvinnor i åldern 20 - 50 år i Norrköping med omnejd ställer för krav på innehållet och formen i en gratistidning i form av ett livsstilsmagasin, samt att ta reda på hur väl magasinet Trend uppfyller dessa krav och de vedertagna normer som finns inom tidskriftsbranschen. Utifrån syftet formulerades följande frågeställningar: Vilken typ av innehåll tycker målgruppen är önskvärd i en gratistidning i form av ett livsstilsmagasin? Vilka krav ställer målgruppen på utformningen av ett sådant magasin? Hur väl lever magasinet Trend upp till målgruppens krav samt till de vedertagna normer som finns inom tidskriftsbranschen? För att uppfylla syftet och besvara frågeställningarna har en nulägesbeskrivning av Trends innehåll och utformning utförts, i kombination med en målgruppsundersökning, där kvalitativa djupintervjuer har genomförts med sex respondenter ur målgruppen: kvinnor i åldern 20-50 år, bosatta i Norrköping med omnejd. Resultaten av nulägesbeskrivningen har sedan stämts av mot resultaten av målgruppsunder- sökningen, samt mot de vedertagna normerna i litteratur om tidskriftsdesign. Analysen visar att Trend endast till viss del uppfyller både målgruppens krav och vedertagna normer. Innehållet täcker delvis de områden målgruppen efterfrågar: mode, skönhet, inredning och resor samt har den lokala förankring som målgruppen anser är viktig. Målgruppen vill dock även läsa mer om människor med en intressant historia, få lokala evenemangstips och hitta lättlagade recept i tidningen. För att fånga upp en större del av målgruppen bör det därför övervägas att lägga till dessa ämnen i Trend. Av de redan befintliga ämnesområdena är det heminredning och resor som uppskattas mest av målgruppen och dessa bör därför få ett större utrymme i tidningen. Analysen visar också att Trend behöver anpassa både innehållet och utformningen för att inte uppfattas som en reklamtidning.   Det redaktionella innehållet blandas ihop med reklam både på grund av hur texterna är skrivna och på grund av att utformningen av de redaktionella sidorna inte är konsekvent. Ett sätt att skapa större tydlighet kring de olika typerna av innehåll är att strukturera tidskriften enligt en modell med fram- vagn, mitt och bakvagn. Dessa delar bör ha olika slags texter med olika längd, samt en tydlig utform- ning som särskiljer dem från varandra. Layoutmallar och stilmallar är till stor hjälp för att särskilja de olika delarna. Detta är något Trend saknar idag och bör införa. / Folkbladet is a daily newspaper in Norrköping with a strong local touch whose subscribers are mostly men interested in sports. In an attempt to broaden its readership, since 2009 Folkbladet publishes a magazine called Trend which targets women aged 20-50 years. This magazine in the form of a lifestyle magazine for women with a local touch is about fashion, beauty, interior design and travel. This free magazine is published four times a year and is distributed to every household in Norrköping and its surroundings. No target group analysis has been done to identify which content or design the readers would appreciate. Trend also lack a clear structure that could increase recognition and provide guidance through the contents. The objective of this paper is to examine what women aged 20-50 years in Norrköping and its surroun- dings ask of the content and design in a free lifestyle magazine, as well as to find out how well the magazine Trend meets these requirements and the established standards within the magazine industry. Based on this objective the following questions were formulated: What type of content does the target group find desirable in a free lifestyle magazine? What does the audience ask of the design in such a magazine? How well does Trend magazine meet the target group’s requirements and the established standards that exist within the magazine industry? To meet the objective and answer the questions, the current content and design of Trend has been described, combined with a target group survey in which qualitative interviews were conducted with six respondents from the target group: women aged 20-50 years, living in Norrköping and its surroun- dings. The results of the current state description has been compared with the results of the target group survey, as well as with the established standards in the literature on magazine design. The analysis shows that Trend only partially meets both the target group’s requirements and the established standards. The content covers some of the areas demanded by the target group: fashion, beauty, interior design and travel, and it has the local touch that the target group finds important. But the target group would also like to read about people with an interesting story, get information about local events, and find simple recipes in the magazine. To reache a larger share of the target group these topics should be considered as additonal content. Out of the already existing topics, interior design and travel are the ones most appreciated by the target group and should therefore be given more editorial space in the magazine. The analysis also shows that Trend needs to adapt both the content and design so as not to be perceived as entirely advertising. The editorial content is confused with advertising due to the way the texts are written and because the design of the editorial pages are not consistent. One way to create greater clarity about the different types of content is to structure the magazine according to a model with a front, a middle and a back section. These sections should have different types of texts of different lengths, and distinct design that distinguishes them from each other. Layout templates and style sheets are a great help for distinguis- hing the different parts. This is something that Trend currently lack and that should be implemented.

Phosphorous (P) has been found to be the limiting nutrient in freshwater systems, directly affecting rates of planktonic growth. The P circulation is very complex, and its pathways through lake systems are difficult to determine. Motala Ström is the biggest watercourse in the south-east of Sweden and an important source of P to the Baltic Sea. The aim of this study is to conduct a P mass balance analysis of the lakes Roxen and Glan over a period of time. The analysis will also include a quality control of the concentrations data. The P concentration data used in this investigation were collected from the Motala Ström River Association, consisting of seasonal or monthly concentration data of Tot-P during the period 1960-2010. Daily water flow data used in this study were modelled by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) using the S-HYPE model. P concentration deviations from monthly averages at each sampling station were calculated, followed by a seasonal Mann Kendall trend analysis. At five out of eight sampling stations, negative trends were detected, indicating decreasing concentrations. The exception was the outflow from lake Glan, Stångån and Finspångsån. Linear interpolation of P concentration data was performed to create daily data for the period 1980-2010. Following interpolation, daily transport values were calculated and summed up to annual values. Lake Roxen has acted as a source of P during the whole period 1980-2010, except for one year. Lake Glan has acted as a source during 22 of the 31 years. There is a tendency of Glan to become more of a source over the years, which is in line with the deviation observations, but variation between years makes it necessary to analyse also future data in order to establish any possible trend in P transports. Before construction of wastewater treatment plants, the lakes were certainly sinks of phosphorus. But at least for Roxen, the switch from sink to source was completed before 1980.

Problems related to sustainable development such as environmental issues, human rights, orlabor conditions, are nowadays deeply integrated in our society. It became primordial forcompanies to take into consideration these problems in their business development. For morethan a decade now, car companies started to publish official documents summarizing theircommitments in favor of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) actions. Through thesesustainability reports, car producers disclose information concerning their sustainable policyand bring details to stakeholders on performed sustainable actions. Because publication of sustainability reports is a relatively new phenomenon, a lot of studies still have to be made in this sector. In this way, no main studies were made regarding howCSR actions performed and disclosed by car companies evolved in the past decade. Didcompanies keep focusing on the same type of sustainable actions or did some changes occuron the way they conduct their CSR policies? No trends were available to try to understandhow car companies CSR actions evolved. This thesis is an attempt to fulfill this gap and bringa first set of useful findings on this topic. Based on three different car producers which are BMW Group, Ford Motor Company andMitsubishi Motors Corporation, our study analyses these companies 2002, 2006 and 2010sustainability reports and looks at how CSR actions are disclosed. The purpose is firstly todescribe how companies’ CSR commitment disclosure is evolving between 2002 and 2010and secondly to find explanation to the key trends. In order to achieve this, we used six mainCSR categories (Economic, Environment, Human Rights, Labor Practices and Decent Work,Product Responsibility and Society) and classified disclosed information in relation with thesecategories to create trends. For each of these six categories, sub-categories were used in orderto be more precise in the analysis process of the documents. Results showed an important interest of car producers for the environment category whichrepresents, on average, more than 40% of disclosed information in sustainability reports.Society category trend shows an important increase between 2006 and 2010 which led it tobecome the second most represented category in reports. Other categories trends present amore stable evolution with time. As it is explained more in detail in our analysis part, thisattraction toward environmental issues for car producers can be explained by the badreputation given to car producers in terms of emissions, energy consumption and moreglobally environmental protection. Cultural background and business mindset are alsoinfluencing companies’ choices. Responsive behaviors resulting from stakeholder’s pressureas well as adaptation to a weak regulatory framework are additional elements to explain the key disclosure trends.

This paper studies the role of fluctuation of the aggregate consumption-wealth ratio(cay) for predicting Taiwan stock return. The effect of cay on U.S. stock return has been recently confirmed by Lettau and Ludvigson (2001) with a two stage method. In the first step, estimate the ratio used a dynamic least square(DLS) technique. Second, to investigate the performance of cay, they use in-sample and out-of-sample test. In this paper, we follow the method which Lettau and Ludvigson(2001) use to examine the predictability of cay. Using quarterly market data from 1998 to 2010, we find cay is strong predictors of excess return in out-of sample test. We also find that this ratio is a better forecaster of future returns at intermediate horizons compared to short time.

Abstract The competitiveness of enterprises improves and lies in exploring, analyzing and solving the problem constantly, to keep and build an environment suitable for long term management. This research aims to discuss the profit factors which deeply influence the enterprise, let the case company understand the possible income statement faced in the future after analyzing, and reduce the risk of management by preparations in advance. To the case company, there are two main factors which influence profitability - oil price and the exchange rate of new Taiwan dollar to U.S. dollar. This research makes an analysis, do a prediction and judge to the future price trend. The crude oil has already stepped into high price era, and it is predicted to last for a while. Regardless the main reason that the oil-producing country has tasted the wealth that the high oil price has brought, the demand for crude oil is increasing constantly in China, and the high oil price doesn¡¦t bring great damage to the economy growth and inflation of the global, all sorts of signs show that high oil price will not be discontinued, and the exchange rate of new Taiwan dollar to U.S. dollar depends on the currency policy of U.S. dollar and the development of Taiwan¡¦s economy. And because the ability of consume is still strong constantly in the U.S., the Taiwan¡¦s policy to China has been indistinct as well, all enterprises are full of uncertainty to the future. Those factors influence the economy in Taiwan, thus the long-term pressure of exchange rate appreciation slackens relatively .It is unavoidable to fluctuate in a short time, when the hot money is passed in and out the stock market recently , the fluctuation becomes increasing and violent. But on long terms, in order to maintain the competition advantage for Taiwan exports, the possibility of wide range fluctuation on exchange rate is small. Finally, in order to seek the stable development for case company in the future , they issues new stock to raise the capital in secondary market and invest to the relative enterprises to obtain raw materials , so it is another main purpose of this research to evaluate rational value of new shares for reference.

In this thesis, we propose an investment strategy for the world mutual funds. We first define the global trend indicator (GTI) for evaluating the price change trend of the funds in the future. Then, based on GTI, we derive the monitoring indicator (MI) to measure whether the fund market is in the bull or bear state. MI decides the buying or selling signal. The goodness of a fund is determined by some weighted combination of short-term performance and long-term performance. The weights of various performances are decided by the genetic algorithm, which can dynamically adjusted with priorities of interested funds according to their past performances (profitability). When a buying signal is triggered by MI, the funds with high performance are more likely to be picked than those with low performance. In our experimental results from January 1999 to December 2008 (10 years in total), we achieve the annual profit higher than 10%, which is a significant improvement to other existing methods.

The Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC) has operated the No. 6 Naphtha Cracking industry site at Mailiao of Yunlin County for 14 years since it completed the construction in 1995. Although the plant were assessed according to the process of environmental impact assessment as required by government¡¦s guidelines before the approval of FPCC establishment at the site, there is a need to re-evaluate the site strictly for problems resulting from the industry activities over the year. The present study is initiated to research and assess the environmental monitoring data collected over the years to determine the spatial and temporal trend of heavy metal contaminants associated with the FPCC operation at site and its coastal areas. The data information used in this study consist of government annual survey reports with regard to the oceanography data of the site, seawater, sediment, and air quality. The FPCC¡¦s monitoring data are also evaluated for including in the environmental quality assessment of Mailiao coastal areas. The present study employed the annual total contaminant discharges reported by the FPCC for obtaining the total burden emitted into the nearby counties Taihsi and Lunbei. The results showed that the coastal marine environment around the industrial site and the Jhuoshuei River have major immediate impacts and problems from the activities. The results of sediment metal content have substantial increase over the years, although the value of metal concentrations is proclaimed that it is within the government provisional guidelines of sediment contaminant standard. In the current circumstance, there are no standard criteria for sediment metal concentration in the marine environment reported elsewhere in the world with exception of Canada. The air quality results showed that Lunbei which is located east side of FPCC site have a decreasing trend of contaminant discharge compared with Taihsi which is located at southern side of FPCC site have a increasing trend of contaminant discharge. Nevertheless, the FPCC site have an increasing total annual discharge. The present study also conducts a survey at Mailiao and Taihsi residences on the social-economic development and the influence associated with the FPCC operation. The survey consists of all stakeholders such as government municipality official, marine aquaculture farmers, non-government organization and fishery cooperation representatives. They are concern the influence on the social-economic development and environment impact from the industry operation. These include the problems of low spat rating in oyster farming and dust falling into the marine farm site to cause the death of bivalves. The health of local residences from FPCC site is of concern due to the expansion program of plan to the site. The present work shows the change and alteration of marine environment resulting from the FPCC activities that have worsened the sustainability development of coastal area.

<p>In this thesis I am going to investigate the trends within e-business, what it is that drive</p><p>these trends and why these drivers are of such importance. I chose this subject since I have</p><p>found it very interesting and useful in my career because of the importance it embraces in</p><p>today’s business world.</p><p>The aspect of e-commerce has changed a lot lately to in the beginning of the 1990s be</p><p>about being present on the Internet with a web site, to being about transactions, meaning</p><p>to buy or sell through digital media at the end of the 1990s, to today be about being used to</p><p>make profitability – an era that can be called e-business, because it is now that e-business</p><p>finally gets its big breakthrough and starts to be recognized as a necessity for companies to</p><p>survive. As long as e-business has existed so have trends in the same matter. What will be</p><p>the trends of e-business in the future? Impossible to say of course, but by taking today’s</p><p>major trends into consideration, and to look at what drives these trends might have, will</p><p>make it possible to get a glimpse of the future of this relatively new business phenomenon</p><p>called e-business.</p><p>To get the best result possible of my thesis I have made a wide literature study in the subject</p><p>by reading and examine accurate literature and articles as well as carried out interviews</p><p>with different IT-gurus and other persons that is thought to withhold a lot of information</p><p>about my chosen subject.</p><p>I have focused on two major trends being customer oriented trends and service digitization.</p><p>Customer oriented trends are trends which have their focus towards customers such</p><p>as customer service, offering more product choices and to have integrated solutions. Service</p><p>digitization is the transformation of paper-based transactions into the new integrated</p><p>multi-channel processes. The driver I have found of most significance and therefore focused</p><p>on is customers. Customers are important as drivers since they have adopted a new</p><p>role in the business process. Customers nowadays have found a way to let their voices to</p><p>be heard. With the help of blogs, social networks and wikis over the Internet they can express</p><p>their feelings and suggestions about products as well as companies and have so to say</p><p>gained a more active role as customers to also taking part of the development. This voice</p><p>of the customers is highly essential to listen to if you as a company want to survive in a</p><p>business world where customers get more and more power.</p><p>After finishing this study I came up with the importance of service, and especially customer</p><p>service as well of personalization and customization (to personalize the shopping experience</p><p>for the customer). Another important conclusion is the importance of customers,</p><p>both as trends to focus on, as well as drivers behind these trends.</p><p>ii</p><p>Acknowledgements</p>

In der Diplomarbeit wird die Weiterentwicklung eines Prototyps zur Nachrichtenklassifikation sowie die Integration in das bestehende Web-orientierte Informationssystem (WEBIS) beschrieben. Mit der entstandenen Software vorgenommene Klassifikationen werden vorgestellt und mit bisherigen Erkenntnissen verglichen.

Birthweight is one of the most important health indicators for a newborn infant. Birthweight at either the lower or higher end is associated with adverse health outcomes in later life. In recent years, birthweight distribution in the United States has shifted to the lower end. This dissertation uses US vital statistics data from 1989 to 2007 to document recent birthweight trends in the US and examines the possible causes behind the trends. Results are reported for all births and by race/ethnicity/nativity. Descriptive analysis suggests that the lowering birthweight trend is the result of the rapid increase of lower-birthweight multiple births and decreasing birthweight among singleton births. The lowering birthweight is reflected in all birthweight measures. Low-birthweight rate is rising, mean birthweight is declining, and the proportion of macrosomic infants is decreasing. While this trend is most pronounced among US-born non-Hispanic whites and least among non-Hispanic blacks, it is prevalent among all race/ethnicity/nativity groups. Regression results suggest that much of the birthweight trend can be explained by shortened gestational age but common maternal socio-demographic, health and behavioral, and health care and medical intervention factors cannot fully explain the birthweight trend. Regression decomposition concludes that both the trends in maternal factors and the changes in the effects of these factors on birthweight contribute to the birthweight trend. Trend in gestational age is the biggest contributor, contributing more than 100% to the birthweight trend, while improvement in education, reduction of smoking during pregnancy and improvement in prenatal care have slowed down the birthweight decrease. Further research needs to be done to identify factors leading to the recent birthweight trend that are not available from the vital statistics. / text