In the last twenty years, regional trade agreements have proliferated. These have usually taken the form of customs unions (CUs) or free trade areas (FTAs). This thesis concentrates mostly on the formation and behaviour of CUs. Union members levy a common external tariff (CET) on non-members. Existing theoretical models, however, do not agree on how the CET rate is chosen. Every model imposes a different choice rule exogenously. In this thesis, for the first time, plausible choice rules, based on the CU's social welfare function, are derived endogenously. The strategic behaviour of members and non-members, reveals that responsibility for CET choice tends to be assumed by the member that can induce the rest of the world to levy those tariffs members prefer to face. Relatively few general results exist describing the relationship between country characteristics and trade bloc formation. Here, new light is shed on this issue, by systematically analysing bloc formation in an asymmetric world, and investigating the role of preferences in coalition formation. It is found that global free trade is most likely to arise when all countries are similar. Customs unions tend to form between relatively well-endowed countries or those with similar preferences. It is also demonstrated that CUs will usually Pareto dominate FTAs, except where preferences differ significantly. The role of transfers in CU formation has received relatively little attention in the regionalism literature. In this thesis, optimal intra-union transfers are introduced and their impact on CET choice is investigated. The impact of transfers on CU behaviour depends on the direction of the transfer. When the relatively inelastic member is the recipient, the CU responds less aggressively to non-member tariff choices than it does when transfers are not permitted. However, if the relatively elastic member is the transfer recipient, the union's aggression increases. Moreover, when one union member exercises a similar degree of control over both CET and transfer choice, then the equilibrium CET tends to be lower than in the corresponding no-transfers situation.

<p>Most organizations are exposed to increasing competition and must be able to orient themselves in their environment. Therefore, they need comprehensive systems that are able to present a holistic view of the organization and its business. A data warehouse (DW) may support such tasks, due to its abilities to integrate and aggregate data from organizationally internal, as well as external sources and present the data in formats that support strategic and tactical decision-makers.</p><p>Traditionally, DW development projects have focused on data originating from internal systems, whereas the benefits of data acquired external to the organization, i.e. external data, have been neglected. However, as it has become increasingly important to keep track of the competitive forces influencing an organization, external data is gaining more attention. Still, organizations are experiencing problems when incorporating external data and these hinder the organizations from exploiting the potential of external data and prevent them to achieving return on their investments. In addition, current literature fails to assist organizations in avoiding or solving common problems.</p><p>Therefore, in order to support organizations in their external data incorporation initiatives, a set of guidelines have been developed and contextualized. The guidelines are also complemented with a state of practice description, as a means of taking one step towards a cohesive body of knowledge regarding external data incorporation into DWs. The development of the guidelines, as well as the establishment of a state of practice description, was based upon the material from two literature reviews and four interview studies. The interview studies were conducted with the most important stakeholders when incorporating external data, i.e. the user organizations (2 studies), the DW consultants, and the suppliers of the external data. Additionally, in order to further ground the guidelines, interviews with a second set of DW consultants were conducted.</p>

<p>It is generally recognized that firms face both internal and external environmental forces. However, few studies have attempted to describe the importance of various strategic factors and the relation between them. This study has been conducted to identify the main strategic determinant in the software industry and the reason behind the existence of these determinants. The study is based on a qualitative study. The empirical data have been collected from interviews. However, the frame of reference is based on well- established theories within the field of business strategy. The research identified certain strategic determinants in software industry. These are Market/Customer, Technology, Economy, Rivalry, Core Competences, Core Products, Technical and Human Resources. These factors have an impact on researched firms separately and jointly as well. However, competitive advantage can be achieved by focusing on product innovation and development, relation building with customers, technology and human resource management, capabilities/competences building and alliances with other companies and industries.</p>

<p>A complete Java interface to OpenModelica has been created, supporting both standard Modelica and the metamodeling extensions in MetaModelica. It is bidirectional, and capable of passing both standard Modelica data types, as well as abstract syntax trees and list structures to and from Java and process them in either Java or the OpenModelica Compiler.It currently uses the existing CORBA interface as well as JNI for standard Modelica. It is also capable of automatically generating the Java classes corresponding to MetaModelica code.This interface opens up increased possibilities for tool integration between OpenModelica and Java-based tools, since for example models or model fragments can be extracted from OpenModelica, processed in a Java tool, and put back into the main model representation in OpenModelica.</p><p>A first version text generation template language for MetaModelica is also presented. The goal for such a language is the ability to create a more concise and readablecode when translating an abstract syntax tree (AST) to text.</p>

<p>I vårt examensarbete undersöker vi olika typer av motivation. Vårt syfte med arbetet var att <em>undersöka lärares syn motivation samt elevers egen motivation i skolan. </em>De frågeställningar vi utgick från var: <em>1</em>. <em>Vilken typ av motivation har elever i år 4 och år 5?</em> <em>2. </em><em>Finns det någon skillnad mellan pojkars och flickors motivation? 3.</em> <em>Vilken typ av motivation strävar lärare efter att elever ska erhålla och använda sig av?</em> <em>4</em>. <em>Hur ser lärare på intrinsic (inre) motivation, extrinsic (yttre) motivation samt amotivation?</em> Vi börjar med att redogöra för begreppet motivation och sedan hur läroplanen ser på motivation. Vi lyfter sex olika huvudteorier inom motivation och går sedan in mer grundligt på <em>intrinsic</em> <em>and</em> <em>extrinsic</em> motivation. I denna teori finns Self-Determination theory och inom den amotivation. Self-Determination theory används i detta arbete när vi tittar på elevers olika styrningsformer inom <em>motivation</em> De fem olika styrningsformerna är: <em>inre motivation, identifierad styrning, omedveten styrning, yttre styrning </em>och<em> amotivation. </em>I arbetet gör vi elevernas olika styrningar synliga genom figurer. Vi använde oss av metoderna enkät och intervju för att få svar på våra frågeställningar. Undersökningens resultat påvisar bland annat att eleverna i år 4 och år 5 generellt har god <em>intrinsic</em> <em>motivation</em>, men använder sig också av <em>extrinsic motivation</em>. Lärarna som vi intervjuade tyckte att <em>intrinsic motivation</em> är den viktigaste av motivationsformerna, men menar samtidigt att <em>extrinsic motivation</em> är den form som är lättast att motivera eleverna genom.</p>

<p>Departing from the case of textile and clothing trade dispute between the EU and China in 2005, it has been noticed that the EU’s policy in textile trade to a large extent has been situated in a position of dilemma. On the one hand, the growing global impetus of liberalization in the sector forces the EU to open up its market to cheap textile imports from the developing countries; on the other hand, the fierce protectionist pressures come from the domestic producers and slow down the paces towards liberalization, or sometimes even take setback towards more conservative performances. By placing this case in a broader context, the EU’s external trade policy is confronted with the similar dilemma, swaying between the trade liberalization and trade protection. Consequently, does the EU emerge in the current multilateral trading system of the WTO as a force for trade liberalization or a force for trade protectionism?</p><p>Bearing this question in mind, the general climate of global trade under the GATT/WTO and the EU’s external trade policy will firstly be examined. Then, the EU’s trade protectionism is about to be explained by strategic trade theory, the high political content of the EU’s external trade policy and the fragmentation in the EU’s policy networks; while the EU’s inclination towards trade liberalization will be explained by the implications from the conventional trade theory and new institutionalism, and as well as the impacts from the general climate of global trade.</p><p>The results shows that the EU’s external trade policy under the global trade liberalization is a mixture, neither pure liberalization nor pure protectionism. With regard to the trade issues concerning to the vital interests, the Union without exception inclines to conservative protectionism; whereas concerning the issues of less importance, compromises and concessions always lead the outcomes of the policy to the inspiring liberalization.</p>

<p>The aim of this paper is to try to explain how specific, foreign policy decisions are made, and why one state decides to use violence against another state. A qualitative method is used, and text and documents are analysed. The two theoretical points of departure are central within foreign policy analysis: realism´s theories on external threats and constructivism´s theories on ideas´ policy influence. The empirical case chosen is the US decision to use military violence against Iraq. The paper investigates whether the real threat from Saddam Hussein´s Iraq was the cause of the American military attacks, or whether the ideas of leading politicians in the USA were decisive for the decision to invade the country. The main theoretical assumption is that politicians´ ideas – rather than real, external threats – influence their actions. </p><p>The differences between President Clinton´s benevolent Iraq policy and President Bush´s aggressive Iraq policy can be summarized as a result of a combination of a changed external environment and differences in ideas on the use of military violence. The general conclusion is that politicians´ ideas – rather than real, external threats – influence their decision-making on specific foreign policy decisions.</p>

<p>Stakeholder management is a topic that has received increased attention in later years. Researchers have tried to answer the question of which stakeholders that really matters to organizations and developed ways for identifying and prioritizing among stakeholders. This thesis fills a void in academia by looking exclusively on external stakeholders in large and complex projects such as the construction of power plants. The thesis investigates the approach towards external stakeholders as well as the process of identifying and prioritizing external stakeholders in this specific setting. By using attributes identified in earlier research, a theoretical framework was created that was used to investigate two of Sweden’s largest companies through a qualitative case study. The thesis describe how stakeholder identification and prioritization occurs in the different case companies and ultimately contribute with a new model that can be used by managers to prioritize among external stakeholder in organizational projects.</p>

<p><strong>Background:</strong> Coronary heart disease kills more than 7 million people worldwide each year. High levels of blood fat, cholesterol, contributes significantly to coronary heart disease. Lifestyle changes combined with lipid-lowering drugs, statins, is an effective treatment. But adherence to statins is low, not even a myocardial infarction always contributes to adherence. Adherence requires patient education and good communication between patient and physician. There is no deeper knowledge of why coronary heart patients stops with statin treatment. <strong>Objective:</strong> To describe how coronary heart patients experience the disease and the statin treatment, and furthermore, opportunities and difficulties to adhere with statin therapy. <strong>Design:</strong> An exploratory qualitative study. <strong>Method:</strong> 10 male coronary heart patients, 55-78 years were strategically selected from a cardiology clinic in a larger Swedish hospital. Patients were interviewed individually in a semi-structured form, 2009/2010. Data processing was done according to content analysis and yielded four themes: <em>empowerment, effects, decision basis, </em>and<em> trust.</em> <strong>Results:</strong> The patients did not mentioned heredity among the factors they could not affect in association with the disease. Several patients saw the medication as a limitation, doubted its efficacy, but mostly took it anyway, at least for a limited time. Medication and illness were associated with each other. Information requirements were in most patients. Many patients wanted to discontinue the statin therapy. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Retention of power over the own body, good reference base for decision about adherence, and trust in health care. These are crucial components of patients’ adherence to statin therapy, in connection with coronary heart disease.</p> / <p><strong>Bakgrund:</strong><strong> Kranskärlssjukdom dödar drygt 7 miljoner människor i världen per år.</strong></p><p><strong>För höga halter av blodfettet kolesterol i blodet bidrar kraftigt till kranskärlssjukdom.</strong> <strong>Livsstilsförändringar kombinerat med blodfettssänkande läkemedel, statiner, är en effektiv behandling. Följsamheten till statiner är dock låg, inte ens genomgången hjärtinfarkt ökar följsamhet. Följsamhet kräver patientutbildning och god kommunikation mellan patient och läkare. Det saknas djupare kunskap om varför kranskärlspatienter slutar med statiner. Syfte: </strong><strong>att </strong><strong>beskriva hur kranskärlspatienter upplever sjukdomen och statinbehandlingen, samt möjligheter och svårigheter att följa statinbehandlingen. Design: </strong><strong>explorativ kvalitativ studie. Metod: </strong><strong>10 manliga kranskärlspatienter, 55-78 år valdes strategiskt via en kardiologklinik på ett större svenskt sjukhus. Patienterna intervjuades personligen i semistrukturerad form, 2009/2010. Databearbetning skedde enligt innehållsanalys och gav fyra teman:</strong><em> egenmakt, effekter</em><strong>, </strong><em>beslutsgrund, tilltro. </em><strong>Resultat:</strong><strong> Patienterna nämnde inte ärftlighet bland faktorer som ansågs opåverkbara i samband med kranskärlssjukdomen.</strong> Flera patienter såg medicinen som en begränsning och tvivlade på effekten, men tog den oftast ändå, åtminstone under en begränsad tid. Likhetstecken sattes mellan medicinering och sjukdom. Informationsbehov fanns hos flertalet patienter. Många patienter ville sluta med statinbehandlingen. <strong>Slutsats: </strong>Bibehållen makt över sin egen kropp, god referensgrund för beslut om följsamhet samt förtroende för sjukvården, är avgörande förutsättningar för kranskärlspatienters följsamhet till statinbehandling.<strong></strong></p>

<p>During a three-year period (1989-91), all patients living in the county of Uppsala, Sweden, with a radiographically verified fracture of the clavicle were prospectively, consecutively followed (n=245). </p><p>The epidemiological study (I) was restricted to the two first years with 187 fractures in185 patients. The short term study (II) with 6 months follow-up included 222 patients. The long term study (III) with 10 years follow-up included 208 patients. The malunion study (IV) included eight patients and the nonunion study (V) 24 patients all of whom were consecutively operated between 1988-2000.</p><p>Displacement, especially with no bony contact in the initial radiographs, was a statistically significant risk factor for sequelae.</p><p>Comminute fractures, especially if including transversally placed fragments, were associated with a significantly increased risk of remaining symptoms. An increasing number of fragments was also associated with an increased risk of sequelae.</p><p>Patients with remainig symptoms after 6 months were on average older at the time of injury as compared to patients without remaining symptoms. Advancing age was also a significant risk factor for sequelae – specifically pain at rest – still after 10 years.</p><p>There was no difference between gender with respect to the risk of sequelae, except for nonunion.</p><p>Fracture location did not predict outcome, except for more cosmetic defects (middle part).</p><p>Shortening defined as overlapping at the fracture site was a significant risk factor for cosmetic defects after 10 years.</p><p>Patients who experience pain at rest and/or cosmetic defects more than twelve weeks after the fracture have a higher risk for sequelae.</p><p>The radiographic examination should always consist of two projections: the AP (0°) view and the 45° tilted view. Transversally placed fragments are not seen in the 0° view.</p><p>Removal of excessive callus in patients with persistent symptoms even several years after the fracture showed a good outcome. One does not have to stabilize the clavicle when excising the hypertrophic callus.</p><p>Symptomatic clavicular nonunions should be treated with surgery. Reconstruction plate combined with cancellous bone gives a faster and more reliable healing rate than external fixation.</p>