A quantized control means that the control force is restricted to takes only a finite number of prescribed levels. The well-known bang-bang control or relay control belongs to this category. This kind of control has the advantage of simple circuit realization using electronic switches or relays that feature low power consumption in their on-off operation. However, quantized control introduces noise and distortion, and even worse its high nonlinearity makes the stabilizing compensator design difficult. This thesis applies the concept of dynamic sliding mode to the synthesis of a multi-level quantized control, with the aim to stabilize the system, perform reference tracking and attenuate the switching noise. The applicability of the presented sliding-mode quantized control is demonstrated on a three-level buck converter. Compared with the conventional PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) scheme, it eliminates the use of a complex three-level PWM generator and a current sensor. A 12V/8V three-level buck converter with sliding mode quantized control is designed and realized, which shows the output voltage with 0.4625% of average DC error, 2.8988% of the static output ripple and 2.3% of load regulation error in response to the load current steps from 0A/3A to 3A/0A, at a slew rate of 6.25A/£gsec.

This thesis is concerned with the speed control of a brushless DC (BLDC) fan motor by switching its coil currents. Because fans are the most common cooling devices for computers, the demand for a quit and efficient fan that is capable of automatically regulating its speed according to temperature grows with each passing day. A mixed linear and switching control scheme which consists of two loop of feedback compensation for a two-phase BLDC fan motor is presented. Roughly speaking, the linear outer loop is mainly for speed regulation, and the inner loop is to generate a switching control signal while doing plant compensation. This control structure is simple and effective, emphasizing on low power consumption, accurate velocity regulation and low switching noise. The performance and stability requirement can be easily met by tuning several positive coefficients in the controller. The experiment shows an average steady-state regulation error of 0.563% in the range of fan¡¦s speed from 1050 to 2231 r.p.m.

This very research was conducted through in-depth interview and affiliated with secondary data gathering to discuss the motive, entry mode of wood industry companies¡¦ China investment as well as its successful management experience. Wood industry companies in Taiwan have considerably started overseas investment owing to the market saturation that causes less and less sales. Furthermore, China¡¦s market opening policy and its great local demands both greatly contribute to more and more overseas investment. This very study has suggested wood industry companies to focus their overseas investment on locations where Taiwan based companies cluster. For those companies that aim to develop China¡¦s local market, it highly suggested Joint Venture or Strategic Alliance as entry mode since it¡¦s much easier to establish the relationship and secure the local resources. This very study has shown five key successful factors for wood industry companies¡¦ overseas investment in China. 1.The managing director has to develop the customers by himself or herself and organize a team that is be able to work independently. 2.A managing team that could fully devote itself to China market has to be built up. 3.Core competence ¡V Specialized Knowledge and Experience is successfully diffused among the team. 4.Creative fund raising mode is applied so that sufficient capital is provided. 5.The company has to keep very good relationship with the raw log group.

Background: Over the past few years Swedish fashion has expanded and gained attention, both in Sweden and abroad. Every year fashion weeks take place around the world with the purpose of showcasing fashion designers new collections for the up-coming season. Fashion week in Sweden is arranged in Stockholm four times a year in the end of January, in February, in the turn of June and July and in August. The different occasions have different activities and focus. The main focus of January and June/July are fashion shows and the main focus of February and August are trade fairs for buyers and wholesalers. The fashion shows and trade fairs are closed to the public, but other fashion events directed to the public takes place during these weeks. Seeing as many stakeholders are involved in fashion week they all have some kind of relationship to one another. This makes fashion week in Stockholm an interesting case to study and analyze from a sociological theoretical approach.

Intresset för ekologiskt mode har ökat tack vare dagens intensiva klimatdebatt och konsumenterna vill handla mer miljövänligt. Större företag anpassar alltmer sin verksamhet efter en miljöprofil och det har skett en ökning av ekologiska modeföretag. Undersökningen går ut på att se om det finns en möjlighet till långsiktig överlevnad för de mindre ekologiska modeföretagen. Syftet med uppsatsen är att analysera och utvärdera miljö som marknadsföringsstrategi inom textilbranschen. Materialet som ligger till grund för undersökningen är intervjuer med fyra olika modeföretag samt enkätundersökning med tillhörande konsumenter. Resultatet visar att intresset för ekologiska/miljömärkta kläder är stort men att konsumenterna prioriterar utseende och pris vid köp av kläder vilket tyder på att de ställer sig låginvolverade till ekologiska/miljömärkta kläder. Företag med oäkta eko-struktur marknadsför inte sitt gröna sortiment medan företag med äkta eko-struktur genomsyras av miljötänk. Slutsatsen blir att de mindre ekologiska modeföretagen med en äkta eko-struktur måste ha en dialog med sina kunder och skapa relationer för att kunna skapa mervärde. De har en stark grund att bygga konkurrensfördelar på men behöver inspirera konsumenter så de ställer sig höginvolverade till miljömärkta/ekologiska plagg vilket leder till långsiktig överlevnad.

The agriculture is the basic industry of national economy, and as it has the characteristic of feebleness, its development requires the safeguard and support of many kinds of mechanisms. The agricultural insurance has a great significance for avoiding the risk during agricultural production and promoting the rural economy. But at present the demand and supplies of the agricultural insurance are both dispirited, and the status quo of development is not very atisfactory in China. Therefore, develop Chinese agricultural insurance is significant and urgent all the time. Although Chinese government has done a lot of innovations and experiments in some places, the agricultural insurance market is still dead-alive in China. This thesis constructs the research from the point of the present situation of the agricultural insurance, studies and compares the data of agricultural insurance modes in Shanghai, Xinjiang and Heilongjiang in the way of using the real diagnosis, thus to propose the new viewpoint on the mode of the agricultural insurance’s present stage which is used to anticipate the future of the agricultural insurance in the end.

Uppsatsen syftar att genom svenska Elle, amerikanska Vouge och mexikanska Marie Claire ge en ökad förståelse och kunskap om texternas dolda grundvärderingar och grepp och hur dessa kan påverka läsarens identitet.

”Att vara smal är något som väldigt många drömmer om. Mode och ideal lockar unga till bantning. Men det finns de som inget annat vill än att gå upp i vikt. Undervikt förknippas ofta med sjukdom eller ätstörningar men ibland beror det på det genetiska arvet eller en förhöjd ämnesomsättning. På grund av de förutfattade meningar som finns kring undervikt händer det ofta att smala personer blir mål för kommentarer eller avundsjuka. Möt dem som dagligen arbetar med undervikt samt tjejen som ensam kämpat med sin undervikt under flera år.”

Aim: As a result of growing globalization and competition the issue of internationalization is becoming more and more important and relevant for companies all over the world. With fading barriers to trade, investment opportunities and technological innovation, more and more companies see new openings for increased profit and growth by going international. During the last number of years new Swedish fashion brands and clothing companies have entered the international market, and Swedish clothing in general is gaining wider interests outside Swedish borders. Due to this I found it interesting to look at how Swedish small and medium-sized clothing companies start their international expansion, particularly in terms of market selection and choice of entry mode. Polarn O. Pyret (PO.P) is a Swedish clothing company and one of the leading concepts for children wear in Sweden. PO.P has successively expanded internationally and is becoming bigger and bigger. The company was therefore a good source to gain a deeper understanding of the internationalization for Swedish clothing companies. Method: This thesis has a descriptive and exploratory purpose and a qualitative approach. Furthermore, a single case study strategy has been used. The data is collected both from primary resources such as interviews by mail, face to face and phone, while secondary data is collected from homepages and annual reports. For the analysis a within-case data analysis has been made. Result & Conclusions: The main finding for this thesis is that PO.P does not follow the traditional Uppsala model for internationalization. PO.P seems to penetrate new and more distant market stepwise while gaining more knowledge and experience about internationalization, but only by the use of franchising. The motivators to go international for PO.P can be described as proactive as growth and profit are the main motivators, instead of reactive such as demand from someone else. The result also implies that market condition in terms of competition and growth potential, in addition to socio-cultural factors play an important role in the internationalization process for PO.P. It seems that it is important for PO.P when selecting the right market for internationalization, that the market is close in geographical distance, in addition to low psychical distance, as the customers in these markets can more easily understands the brand and the concept, due to similarities in culture, climate and development. PO.P is using a combination of wholly owned concept stores and franchise stores in Sweden and master franchise agreements internationally. By using franchise agreements PO.P does not have to be responsible of all the risk and they can easily gain experience by the franchisee. Using master franchising can on the other hand also give them less control over the activities in the markets abroad.

The aim of the thesis is to describe the entry mode choice and market development progress of the successful MNC ABB in the specific emerging market China. The authors also want to use theories in the master course of International Business and Entrepreneurship to explain the internationalization of one specific company ABB