Background: In the food market, certification marks are considered to give guidance and orientation. This specific market is constantly growing in its product range, which causes a choice overload for the consumer. At the same time, anincreasing differentiation of customer’s needs and demands exists. This increase requires information about the product and led to the development of further certification marks. Thus, it has come to a profusion of certification marks which results in a loss of information value for the consumer and ultimately in a deficient information process and understanding of the certification marks. Purpose: This study investigates the influence of semiotics in the information processing of certification marks. Further insight into the final stage of the consumers’understanding of certification marks is given, in order to reveal semiotics as a communication medium on certification marks. Furthermore, the study aims todraw attention to the current deficiency of the certification marks’ informationprocess and provides improvement measures. Method: An abductive research approach with an interpretivism philosophy was chosen to analyze the collected data. The exploratory study used a total of 17 semi- structured interviews, which were divided into three different modules. The firstmodule shortly investigated a consumer’s general grocery buying behavior andtheir understanding of certification marks. The following modules were basedon the information process. The second module looked at a consumer’sabsorption capacity of certification marks and the third module was divided intothree further themes that explored a consumer’s associations with semiotics. Conclusion: A lack of understanding certification marks was identified in the study, which is based on a deficient information process of the consumer. The first deficiency was detected between the sensory register and short-term memory showing that consumers have a limited absorption capacity for semiotics in certification marks. A further deficiency, found in the short-term memory, reveals that issue scope associations must align with the semiotics used in certification marks in order to be understood. Additionally, the product of the certification mark influences the information process. Finally, it can be said that semiotics play a key role in understanding certification marks as they strongly influence aconsumer’s information processing.

<p>This thesis discusses South Scandinavian cup marks in general, and cup marks in Kronobergs County in particular. The question is whether the cup mark phenomena can be viewed as an ordinary family-based cult for a kind of everyday use, or more likely as a community passage ritual. The thesis also suggests that cup marks were made by ritual participants in, or in the process of trying to reach, an altered state of consciousness.</p>

Ekonomiska nackdelar som uppstår till följd av att en verksamhet bedrivs genom flera självständiga dotterbolag istället för under ett bolag med flera driftställen avhjälps normalt med lagregler om koncernbidrag. Dessa regler är emellertid endast tillämplig på nationella koncerner, dvs. koncerner där samtliga bolag har säte i ett och samma land. Problem uppstår emellertid när de olika dotterbolagen är belägna i olika länder. Denna uppsats behandlar problematiken kring gränsöverskridande förlustutjämningar inom EU. Grunden för uppsatsen är det kontroversiella målet Marks &amp; Spencer där frågan om gränsöverskridande förlustavdrag ställdes på sin spets. Målet fick stor betydelse för rättsutvecklingen i såväl Sverige som övriga Europa.

The European Union (EU) is built on the principle of freedom of establishment, meaning that companies have the possibility to establish themselves as a company or by setting up a secondary establishment in other Member States. This right has been confirmed by the European Court of Justice through case law. A basic feature in domestic tax legislation is that losses are allowed to be set off against profits when calculating the tax liability of a company. At the moment cross-border loss compensation within the EU is restricted, unfeasible or just accepted on a temporary basis. This lack of recognition of loss-offset gives the fact that double taxation may occur and claims form two or more national tax systems leads to uncertainty in the way a company will be taxed. Depending on whether the secondary establishment is a subsidiary or a branch, the rules relating to loss compensation differs. Taxation of secondary establishments is based on the principle of whether or not they are considered as a resident or a non-resident of the state. In regards to taxation of secondary establishments, the PE is considered to be a non-resident and a subsidiary considered to be a resident. However, the European Court of Justice approach of non discriminatory treatment and equal treatment that has been developed and seen in the history of case law leads to the question if the Marks &amp; Spencer ruling that concerned secondary establishments in form of subsidiaries can be applied to permanent establishments. The most vital difference between a subsidiary and a permanent establishment is connected to the taxation of the two. The subsidiary is considered to become a resident of the establishing state while the permanent establishment is seen as a non-resident. This legal difference between the two leads to different treatment under tax law. Taxation under a tax treaty leads to the situation where one of the contracting states will either credit or exempt the income deriving from the permanent establishment. Permanent establishments are often taxed under the method of exemption. In the Marks &amp; Spencer case it was held that losses and profits were two sides of the same coin. Applying this statement to permanent establishments gives the notion that if a contracting state exempts an income, there will be a set off of the symmetry of having losses and profits within the same tax system. This lead to the fact that if applying the Marks &amp; Spencer ruling on permanent establishments that are taxed under the exemption method, allowing terminal losses to be taken into account at the head office will set off the symmetry. Therefore it can be considered as the Marks &amp; Spencer ruling shall not apply to permanent establishments.

The vampire figure is very much a part of the literary landscape of today, and has been so for the last 200 years. The vampire has not always appeared as it does today, as the rich, urbane gentleman, but has its origins in old folklore legends. The idea that the vampire figure has changed over the course of history is not new, but instead of discussing the phenomena influencing, and changing, the vampire motif, this essay will try to shed light on the aspects of the folklore vampire that are still part of the vampire of today. By applying the theory of folklorism (folklore not in its original context, but rather the imitation of popular themes by another social class, or the creation of folklore for purposes outside the established tradition), presented by Hans Moser and Hermann Bausinger among others, this essay attempts to prove that the modern vampire is in fact a folklorism of the old folklore legends. The essay examines the more recent incarnation of the vampire, the literary vampire who emerged during the 18th and 19th century, with the intent to prove that, while it is different from its origin, it has several features in common with its ancestry as well. To show this, examples from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and the more recent novel Fangland (2007) by John Marks have been chosen to serve as basis for the analysis. Both novels clearly show instances where folklore has been brought into the narrative as a way to define and depict the vampire.

This thesis discusses South Scandinavian cup marks in general, and cup marks in Kronobergs County in particular. The question is whether the cup mark phenomena can be viewed as an ordinary family-based cult for a kind of everyday use, or more likely as a community passage ritual. The thesis also suggests that cup marks were made by ritual participants in, or in the process of trying to reach, an altered state of consciousness.

<p>The European Union (EU) is built on the principle of freedom of establishment, meaning that companies have the possibility to establish themselves as a company or by setting up a secondary establishment in other Member States. This right has been confirmed by the European Court of Justice through case law.</p><p>A basic feature in domestic tax legislation is that losses are allowed to be set off against profits when calculating the tax liability of a company. At the moment cross-border loss compensation within the EU is restricted, unfeasible or just accepted on a temporary basis. This lack of recognition of loss-offset gives the fact that double taxation may occur and claims form two or more national tax systems leads to uncertainty in the way a company will be taxed. Depending on whether the secondary establishment is a subsidiary or a branch, the rules relating to loss compensation differs.</p><p>Taxation of secondary establishments is based on the principle of whether or not they are considered as a resident or a non-resident of the state. In regards to taxation of secondary establishments, the PE is considered to be a non-resident and a subsidiary considered to be a resident. However, the European Court of Justice approach of non discriminatory treatment and equal treatment that has been developed and seen in the history of case law leads to the question if the Marks & Spencer ruling that concerned secondary establishments in form of subsidiaries can be applied to permanent establishments.</p><p>The most vital difference between a subsidiary and a permanent establishment is connected to the taxation of the two. The subsidiary is considered to become a resident of the establishing state while the permanent establishment is seen as a non-resident. This legal difference between the two leads to different treatment under tax law. Taxation under a tax treaty leads to the situation where one of the contracting states will either credit or exempt the income deriving from the permanent establishment. Permanent establishments are often taxed under the method of exemption.</p><p>In the Marks & Spencer case it was held that losses and profits were two sides of the same coin. Applying this statement to permanent establishments gives the notion that if a contracting state exempts an income, there will be a set off of the symmetry of having losses and profits within the same tax system. This lead to the fact that if applying the Marks & Spencer ruling on permanent establishments that are taxed under the exemption method, allowing terminal losses to be taken into account at the head office will set off the symmetry. Therefore it can be considered as the Marks & Spencer ruling shall not apply to permanent establishments.</p>

<p>Ekonomiska nackdelar som uppstår till följd av att en verksamhet bedrivs genom flera självständiga dotterbolag istället för under ett bolag med flera driftställen avhjälps normalt med lagregler om koncernbidrag. Dessa regler är emellertid endast tillämplig på nationella koncerner, dvs. koncerner där samtliga bolag har säte i ett och samma land. Problem uppstår emellertid när de olika dotterbolagen är belägna i olika länder. Denna uppsats behandlar problematiken kring gränsöverskridande förlustutjämningar inom EU. Grunden för uppsatsen är det kontroversiella målet Marks & Spencer där frågan om gränsöverskridande förlustavdrag ställdes på sin spets. Målet fick stor betydelse för rättsutvecklingen i såväl Sverige som övriga Europa.</p>

Στην παρούσα έρευνα αναπτύχθηκε μια γρήγορη μεθοδολογία για την ποσοτικοποίηση των αλιευτικών ιχνών από ηχογραφίες ηχοβολιστή πλευρικής σάρωσης. Πεδίο έρευνας ήταν δυο γειτονικές περιοχές, ενός αλιευτικού πεδίου μηχανοτρατών πυθμένα με υδραετούς («πόρτες») στον Πατραϊκό κόλπο. Οι υψηλής ανάλυσης ηχογραφίες αποκάλυψαν αλιευτικά ίχνη στον πυθμένα από τη σύρση των «πορτών» του αλιευτικού εξοπλισμού και υβώματα βιογενούς προέλευσης (biogenic mounds). Η περιοχή έρευνας ταξινομήθηκε σε επιμέρους περιοχές με βάση τους ακουστικούς τύπους που προέκυψαν από την ερμηνεία των ηχογραφιών. Η στατιστική ανάλυση των αλιευτικών ιχνών περιέλαβε τον υπολογισμό: 1) πυκνοτήτων ανά μονάδα επιφανείας, 2) μέσων διευθύνσεων ανά μονάδα επιφανείας, 3) συνολικής μέσης διεύθυνσης, και 4) συνολικού μήκους. Χρησιμοποιήθηκαν τα λογισμικά ArcMap® και Matlab®. Τα αποτελέσματα αποκαλύπτουν την ύπαρξη έντονης αλιευτικής δραστηριότητας στη περιοχή έρευνας, η οποία φαίνεται να ελέγχεται από την βυθομετρία και την παρουσία των βιογενών υβωμάτων. / This study suggests a promising, reliable and rapid methodology for the quantification of trawl marks from sidescan sonar records. Two adjacent sites were surveyed, from an otter trawl fishing ground in the Gulf of Patras. The high resolution sidescan sonar records revealled trawl marks made by the doors of the otter trawls as well as biogenic mounds. The study area was classified on the basis of the acoustic types resulted from the interpretation of the sidescan records. The statistical analysis of the trawl marks included the calculation of: 1) densities per surface block 2) mean directions per surface block, 3) total mean direction and 4) total length. ArcMap® and Matlab® softwares were used. The results reveal the existence of intensive fishing activity, which seems to be controled by the bathymetry and the presence of biogenic mounds.

On the 6 of October 2009 the European Court of Justice came with a preliminary ruling in the PAGO case concerning the geographical extent for a Community Trade Mark with reputation within the European Community. The judgment has given rise to a lot of questions. The fact that the ECJ, the Advocate General and Lawyers have different opi-nions on the geographical extent and on the outcome of the case creating big discus-sions on the topic of the necessity of Community Trade Marks. This has given rise to the purpose of this thesis which is to investigate the requirement for having a reputation in the Community according to Art 9.1 (c) CTMR, and analyze the legal consequences and possible threats to the Community Trade Mark system and proprietors of trade marks after the judgment of the PAGO case. This investigation has shown that there are four possible consequences for the CTM system after the judgement. Small countries, such as Luxembourg, are now might seen as a substantial part of the Community, PAGO is now protected within the European Community even in those countries where no one has heard about the brand, companies can obtain injunction in a country without proving reputation there and companies can put all their marketing effort into one country and thereby get protection in the whole Community. The outcome of this case is positive for proprietors of CTMs since it makes it easier for them to gain protection against other actors on the market. The biggest threat for the CTM system is the fact that unclear terms and judgements dis-rupt the Countries within the Community and destroys the harmonization, which the TMD, CTMR and the CTM is trying to build up.