The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how the economic return of a software investment can be assessed and managed. This topic has been studied in research and has been a concern for firms making software investments. In order to study this we need a model of the underlying factors affecting the economic return. Assessing and managing the return of a software investment is been argued to be difficult due to specific economic characteristics of a software investment, i.e. high degree of intangible consequences and uncertainty about the total investment cost. Given these characteristics it is has been concluded that it is difficult to derive a return function. In this dissertation we question this conclusion and propose a comprehensive model to assess and manage the intangibles and the underlying uncertainty. The model is deduced from general assumptions of the economic behavior of the firm. To develop the model we analyze the relevance of intangibles in relation to the economic purpose of making a software investment. Based on this a new way of deriving a cash flow function for a software investments is defined. Further it is analyzed how the underlying uncertainty of a software investment can be managed. The analysis uses a quantitative approach and methods from financial economics. It includes how the application of a real option and portfolio approach can reduce the uncertainty in a software investment and the role of efficient software platforms. The relation between software platforms and the opportunity to create different types of real options for future development is inferred from empirical studies. The studies in this dissertation show how a managerial view on a software investment corresponds with the overall economic goal of the firm. They also show how a strategic value of a software investment can be created, assessed and managed.

This study analyzes 66 Swedish actively managed mutual funds investing in the Swedish stock market during the period 2005-2014. The purpose is through pooled data regressions analyze the relationship between both the mutual fund’s annual fee and risk-adjusted return to the fund’s characteristics. The characteristics of the study are the size of the fund's assets, age, if the fund is bank managed or not, Tracking Error, and standard deviation of return.By using the performance measures of CAPM, Fama and French 3-factor model, and Carhart’s 4-factor model monthly risk-adjusted returns are created for all funds over the period. Two pooled data regressions are performed with the Fixed Effect Model in which the annual fee and risk-adjusted return is set up as explanatory variables against the various characteristics.The results of the study show a clear correlation between annual fee and tracking error against the risk-adjusted return. A higher fee adds value to the investor through a higher risk-adjusted return, but will not fully compensate for the increased fee. The relationship between Tracking Error and risk-adjusted return is negative, which means that mutual funds that are distant from its benchmark perform worse than the mutual funds close to its benchmark. To explain annual fee this study finds low economic significance for the characteristics included. Although several variables show statistical significance, it is difficult to say anything about the characteristics that affect a mutual fund's annual fee due to the weak economic significance.

Norway has a high prevalence of sick leave compared to other Nordic countries and has been criticized for offering generous sick leave benefits. This qualitative study aims to explore experiences of graded sick leave and return to work in Norway. Six employees from the private sector were interviewed regarding their experiences of the Norwegian model for earlier follow-up of employees on sick leave. The collected data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results indicated several important aspects of the return to work process which were perceived as both obstacles and opportunities. The possibility of having time to recover as well as finding a balance of a manageable work load with stimulating assignments were seen as essential and communication was crucial to attain the latter.

Processes and patterns of migration on a global scale have changed in profound ways during the last two decades (Smith and King, 2012). In the European context, this is exemplified by transformations to the traditional mobility patterns from East to West Europe (Koser and Lutz, 1998), with migrants more likely to be involved in temporary circular and transnational mobility (Favell, 2008). Since the end of the Second World War, historical and political events in Europe have facilitated the mobility of ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe to Germany. Subsequently, the fall of the Iron Curtain has permitted unrestrained East-West movements, which resulted in mass migrations towards the West and diaspora fragments in the East. However, after settlement in the West, ethnic Germans have also been absorbed within wider temporary and transnational movements (Koser, 2007). Within this context, this thesis examines the post-migratory lives of three generations of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany by exploring the cultural, social, economic and political dimensions of this community. This thesis aims to contribute to on-going academic debates about diasporas by explicitly responding to Hoerder s (2002) call for more studies on ethnic German diasporas. It shows that Transylvanian Saxons, who relocated to the ancestral homeland, do not disrupt identities and lives forged in diaspora, but rather, they negotiate complex identities and belongings in relation to both home and homeland . It reveals a double diaspora and the necessity to perceive identity and diaspora as dynamic processes and constantly evolving in relation to time, space and place. This double diasporic allegiance in the case of the Transylvanian Saxons suggests interrogating the formation of a return diaspora and its importance for processes of international migration.

In this thesis I develop an account of Nietzsche’s great man framed around the idea that he is a ‘monster of energy.’ In the first part I establish that Nietzsche developed a criterion to assess the value of values, centred on whether they express abundance or exhaustion. Cultivating an abundance of energy is the key to how we should approach the problem of suffering, how we master ressentiment, and ultimately, how we experience authentic joy. We should thus use energy expenditure as the standard to evaluate the different narratives that we use to interpret ourselves and our existence. In the second part I use this criterion to establish the types of narratives most conducive to creating oneself as the monster of energy. I argue that the great man should desire to determine his own will, should cultivate strength of character, believe in the freedom of his will, and take responsibility for the self that he has created. Finally, I examine the attitude the great man should adopt towards his past, and argue that we should reject the idea that the eternal return plays an important role in the process of becoming a great man, since this process should emphasise the necessity of self-mastery, asceticism, and the cultivation of a unified and volitional self.

The significant impact of method of payment on the share price abnormal returns following mergers and acquisitions have been broadly considered and documented in US and UK empirical studies (Agrawal and Jaffe 2000). In the UK, all-cash acquisitions show insignificant negative or small positive abnormal returns, whilst the all-equity acquisitions have significant negative returns. Whilst it is tempting to conclude that it is simply the form of financing that separates the shareholder value destruction of equity-financed takeovers from cash takeovers, such a conclusion tends to ignore the question of where the cash to fund the acquisition comes from in the first place. Theory tells us this should matter. Whilst different theories on firm financing offer competing explanations on both managerial choices and shareholder preferences, it seems reasonable to ask the question whether the source of the cash influences the long run wealth effect of the acquisition. In order to shed light on this issue, this investigation looks at short-term daily abnormal returns as well as long-term abnormal returns including a five-year horizon of post-takeover returns and a three-year horizon of pre-takeover returns. The short-term daily abnormal returns support the signalling information hypothesis to some extent as acquirers financing takeovers using internal cash out-perform those financing takeovers by equity or debt issues. After categorizing the research sample firms into two sub-groups, one being internal funding while the other being external sources including equity or debt, the share price abnormal returns show statistically significant differences between these two sub-groups over 11-day event windows. Further, by using one- and two-dimensional analyses and a univariate test, the results reveal that UK cash acquisitions explored by this investigation contradict the free cash flow (FCF) hypothesis. Regression models show that book-to-market ratio is important in explaining the short-term daily abnormal returns. The long-term post-takeover stock performances show sensitivity to the benchmark adopted as well as the calculation used for the long-term abnormal returns, i.e. cumulated or compounded. Owing to the small sample firms entering the calendar time monthly portfolios, the calendar time approach employs White (1980) corrections and a GLS model to mitigate the effects of heteroskedasticity in the research sample. Generally speaking, long-term abnormal returns show a negative pattern for the whole sample as well as the sub-groups depending on their dominant financing methods. Furthermore, the univariate and multivariate tests demonstrate that the FCF hypothesis cannot explain the 60-month share price abnormal returns of the research sample. According to the coefficient derived from regression model(s), the most significant factor to predict 60-month abnormal returns is relative size (market value of target to that of bidder). The results suggest that the bigger the relative size of the target, the more negative the abnormal return will be (Hansen 1987, Martin 1996, Loughran and Vijh 1997). Besides, the institutional investors contribute a positive effect on long-term share price performance, which is consistent with the findings of Chen, Harford, and Li (2007). The pre-takeover share price abnormal returns over three years intervals prior to the bid announcements clearly show that cash acquirers overall experience a significant positive stock performance. This result is robust to adopting various benchmarks of event time and calendar time regression-based framework. Based on the dominant financing method used for the acquirers, firms issuing debt before the bid announcements do perform extremely well. Those firms subsequently perform badly for post-takeover long-term intervals. Accordingly, this phenomenon demonstrates a mean reversion picture. Regardless of whether an event time or a calendar time approach is used, high q firms always have higher abnormal returns even when allowing for other factors, such as free cash flow or cash stock. However, multinomial logistic tests fail to find any statistically significant link between pre- takeover abnormal returns and the form of financing.

The benefits of a good education are numerous; it not only offers knowledge and power to individuals, but also enables them to lead the life they wish to; and to benefit both their own family and country. Education has a positive impact on the development of a country. An educated society can eradicate poverty, illiteracy and unemployment, and help in the improvement of the health care standards, the political structures, and the national productivity. The contribution of education in this development process is evident and easily recognized. Many studies show that investments in education generate benefits for people (private benefits) and society (social benefits), similar to those of the physical capital investments. Due to the important role that education plays in the development of human capital, in order to conduct the process of development in developing countries, to achieve their growth aims, significant attention should be placed on studying human capital investment accumulation through the means of the rate of return on education (RORE). So far, numerous economists and researchers have attempted to estimate the RORE for the purpose of observing the efficiency of educational spending and resource allocation (see Psacharopoulos, 1973, 1980, 1985, 1994, 2002, and 2004), in order to be able to analyse the output of the educational process on the economy. The estimation of the rate of return on education (RORE) can help in describing different phenomena, such as the following: employees of the public sector benefiting greatly from higher earnings as compared to the employees of the private sector working in the same capacity; the observed difference in the attendance between males and females to complete their education; the large demand for 'easy-discipline', 'aversion‘ (sub) specialties and the high rate of dropouts from school by males. The research problem of this thesis is that there has been a lack of information regarding estimating the RORE in high income petroleum-based developing countries, such as Kuwait, as most of the existing research has not accurately differentiated between low and high income developing nations. The aim of this research is to clarify the influencing variables and factors affecting the investment on education and their relationships by identifying these factors. This study endeavours to develop a framework based on the RORE model and to verify it by estimating the rate of return in high-income petroleum based economies in developing countries, and in this context, data is acquired from Kuwait to verify it, as a case study. The results of the employed regression model show positive and economically significant parameters for return on education and a negative return for extra years of experience. The estimated rate of return for females is relatively higher than males. The average estimated rate of return to education is 5.2%; with the estimated return for females being 6.7%; and for males 5.5%. On the other hand, by expanding the model to include the 'level of education‘ terms, the results show the highest return for primary education and lowest for intermediate and diploma education. Results indicate also that the highest rates of return on education for females occur in high school, whereas for males in bachelor-level higher education.

Contract of donation may be considered as one of the most common contractual type of the civil law that everyone can meet in everyday life. On the opposite its present legislation in the Civil Code represents one of the briefest ones in comparison with other contracts regulated there. Not only for this reason problems while interpretation appear, especially with respect to the special legal institute of return of the gift which gives the donor the right to revoke the gift under certain circumstances. The aim of this thesis is to provide its reader the comprehensive view of the contract of donation and subsequently return of the gift itself not only from the viewpoint of the civil theory but also from the perspective of judicial practice when it is impossible to dispense with it given the concise legislation. It is not an easy objective particularly when it comes to the institute of the return of the gift that is defined in only one provision of the Civil Code which provoked just from the beginning of its existence a number of consideration and discussion among professional public over some controversial matters; there is no need to mention that suggested solutions diverge. Then there is also important role of practice of the courts that attempts to interpret the undefined terms, but it is similar as...

Title: Analysis of tennis single on clay Objectives: The aim of the work was to analyze 10 elite players on clay and also to discover differences in observed aspects of their plays. Methods: The analysis was done by observing video recordings of chosen matches from the French Open 2016 tournament. It was a notational analysis. The results were recorded into record sheets that were prepared in advance. Firstly, descriptive analysis was used to analyze all of the matches. Thereafter, all of the matches were analyzed by descriptive analysis of graphs and measured values. Results: The results show different techniques and styles among male athletes on clay, given the service and its variations, the return and its variations, the length of plays, and other observed aspects; resulting in other tactical differences among the players. Keywords: Tennis, men, differences, serve, return

Master of Science / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted C. Schroeder / This study focuses on the effects of food safety recalls on a firm’s shareholder value. In this study, the effects of six recalls are studied using the event study method. Three models were used involving the daily stock returns for each recall, the daily prices from the S&P 500 and the S&P 500-Packaged Foods and Meats prices. Each of these models was used to determine the abnormal returns for the individual recalls during a determined event window. The four companies responsible for the recalls are all large, highly-diversified food production companies. Overall, the results from this study show there is short-term effect on shareholder values for the companies included in this study. This is an important topic that was widely studied in the late 1990’s and early part of the 2000’s. There have not been any notable studies in this area in the past decade which is why this study is useful. Results of this study are comparable to those mentioned in the literature review section.