<p>The main part of this work has been a literature survey, reviewing scientifical reports forinformation on how steel cleanness is evaluated today, and also how the steel cleanness is related tothe fatigue performance of clean steels.</p>

<p>There have been numerous studies, both theoretical and empirical, dealing with how the degree of experience rating affects employment. The results have been often contradicting, giving ground for ongoing debate among the economists. Here in this thesis I will present the most central studies done concerning the effects on employment induced by layoff costs and UI payroll tax in particular. A special interest will be put on the implicit-contract model, since it appears to be especially useful when studying the effects of experience rating. The theoretical approaches and the existing empirical evidence will be discussed. By doing this survey I will make an attempt in explaining and summarizing the crucial and sometimes contradicting conclusions made though the years, so that a reader unfamiliar with those concepts will be able to easily grasp.</p>

<p><font face="ArialMT"> <p align="left">The study recommends that performance management has to be approached from an integrated perspective. The process of the design of performance management must include a thorough consultation with major stakeholders. The implementation of the system has to be supported and driven by top leadership and management. The change management process should be supported by a proactive communication strategy and it should be managed strategically and by competent staff. A reward system that distinguishes high from mediocre performance should be put in place. Programmes must be implemented to ensure high levels of staff motivation. Monitoring and evaluation mechanisms must be put in place to ensure implementation of sustainable performance management systems. These recommendations led to the design of an integrated performance management system. The study concludes that integrated performance management, as a multidisciplinary methodology related to organisational strategy, structure, culture, systems and processes, should be regarded as a critical tool for improving motivation and performance of individuals, teams, departments and the public service as a whole.</p> </font></p>

This study aims to investigate the relationship between systematic risk and credit ratings. The systematic risk, frequently measured by beta, is an important consideration for both investors and corporations. Therefore it is interesting to examine if indications about the systematic risk could be gained by looking at credit ratings, especially on the Nordic market, where credit ratings are seemingly growing in importance. Consequently, the following research hypothesis is posed; We intend to establish a relationship between market risk (Beta) and credit ratings for firms in the Nordic countries. In order to confirm or deny the research hypothesis, theories from peer reviewed databases were collected. These were divided into three sections; background theories, hypotheses about credit ratings and a literature review. The background theories consisted of two classical financial theories, the Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which are the foundation upon which the research field have progressed. The hypotheses is specifically designed to explain the relationship between credit ratings and either systematic risk or stock price. The literature review contains information about studies which did not contribute to theory building, but produced results interesting in the research area.   The actual sample in the thesis consisted of the 58 credit rated companies on the Nordic stock market. These companies were rated by Moody’s and/or Standard &amp; Poor’s, the two largest credit rating agencies in the world. As a measure of the systematic risk, betas for each of the companies were calculated. To investigate the relationship between these variables a regression analysis was performed, as well as one sample T-test using the software SPSS.   The result revealed a moderate relationship between beta and credit risk, a relationship which was not statistically significant on the five percent level. Our results suggest that credit ratings contain some information about companies’ systematic risk, a finding that might be useful for market participants.

Bakgrund En stor majoritet av Sveriges befolkning sparar i fonder. Utbudet av fonder är mycket omfattande och det kan vara svårt för den enskilda fondspararen att välja fond. Till hjälp för investeraren finns företag som betygsätter fonderna utefter prestation. Det största av dessa företag är Morningstar. Syfte Vårt syfte är att undersöka huruvida det föreligger ett samband mellan Morningstars fondrating och framtida prestation. Vidare ämnar vi jämföra prediktionsförmågan hos Morningstars rating med en alternativ rating, baserad på Sharpekvot. Genomförande Tidsseriedata över fondkurser och Morningstar-rating för Sverige-domicilierade fonder samlas in. Fondernas prestation, mätt med ej riskjusterad avkastning och Sharpekvot, beräknas. Med hjälp av regressionsanalys undersöks om prestationen, efter ratingtillfället, skiljer sig mellan de olika betygskategorierna. Sambandet mellan Morningstar-rating och framtida prestation jämförs sedan med sambandet mellan en alternativ rating och framtida prestation. Vi undersöker även Morningstar-ratingens varaktighet. Slutsats Våra undersökningar visar på att det föreligger ett tydligt samband mellan rating och framtida prestation. Våra undersökningar där sambandet mellan Morningstars rating och prestation jämförs med en alternativ rating baserad på Sharpekvot visar på ett tydligare samband och en högre signifikans hos den alternativa ratingen. Studien av varaktigheten visar att en hög rating till viss del är varaktig. Resultaten pekar på att fondernas prestation upprepar sig vilket innebär att den effektiva marknadshypotesen kan ifrågasättas. / Background A large majority of the Swedish people invest in mutual funds. There is a vast amount of funds available to the investor and it may be difficult for the investor to choose between the funds. To assist the investor in choosing funds, there are a number of companies that rank the funds based on historical performance. The largest of these companies is Morningstar. Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between the Morningstar fund rating and future performance. In addition to this, we aim to compare the predictive ability of the Morningstar rating with that of an alternative rating, based on the historical Sharpe ratio. Implementation We collect time series data of the funds’ NAV and Morningstar ratings of all mutual funds domiciled in Sweden. The funds’ in sample performances are then measured using un-adjusted return and Sharpe ratio. Via regression analysis we examine whether the performance, after the rating, differs between the different rating categories. A similar study is made based on the alternative rating, and the results are compared. In addition to this, we examine the persistence of the Morningstar ratings. Conclusion The results show that there is a strong relationship between the Morningstar ratings and future performance. However, our study of the predictive ability of the alternative rating shows that there is an even stronger relationship between the historical Sharpe ratio and future performance. Our study indicates that there exists, to some extent, a persistence in the Morningstar ratings, i.e. highly rated funds tend to keep high ratings. These results indicate that fund performance repeats itself, which is not consistent with the efficient market hypothesis.

There have been numerous studies, both theoretical and empirical, dealing with how the degree of experience rating affects employment. The results have been often contradicting, giving ground for ongoing debate among the economists. Here in this thesis I will present the most central studies done concerning the effects on employment induced by layoff costs and UI payroll tax in particular. A special interest will be put on the implicit-contract model, since it appears to be especially useful when studying the effects of experience rating. The theoretical approaches and the existing empirical evidence will be discussed. By doing this survey I will make an attempt in explaining and summarizing the crucial and sometimes contradicting conclusions made though the years, so that a reader unfamiliar with those concepts will be able to easily grasp.

Levnadsvillkoren för individer med utvecklingsstörning har under de senaste decennierna förändrats till det bättre. Att känna sig delaktig i sitt liv och ha möjligheten att själv påverka livssituationen är viktigt för dessa människor. Uppsatsförfattaren ville med den här studien undersöka om skillnad finns i hur aspekter av delaktighet uppfattas av två grupper; individer med utvecklingsstörning och personer i deras omgivning. En enkätstudie genomfördes med en omarbetad version av ”The Arc’s Self-Determination Scale” (Wehmeyer, 1995).En rangkorrelation visade på samband mellan vissa frågeområden. Resultatet diskuteras i relation till tidigare forskning och till svårigheter att undersöka upplevelser hos personer med utvecklingsstörning.

In healthcare, personal protective equipment (PPE) are sometimes misused due to improper skill acquisition or skill decay before clinical practice. Training is often didactic or web-based but it is unclear whether these methods transfer to effective physical performance. There is no standard method to evaluate these competencies and scheduling or space restrictions can limit physical practice. A Delphi survey produced relevant checklist and global rating items for evaluating use of PPE. Principles from skill learning and human-computer interaction were combined with the survey results to develop an interactive computer-based simulation for procedural practice of these skills. The assessment tool differentiated between experienced and newly-trained users and demonstrated inter-rater reliability. Learners rated their satisfaction with the simulation similar to a provincial online tutorial and pilot studies with the simulation demonstrated that learners practiced for a longer period when using the simulation as compared to the provincial online tutorial.

In healthcare, personal protective equipment (PPE) are sometimes misused due to improper skill acquisition or skill decay before clinical practice. Training is often didactic or web-based but it is unclear whether these methods transfer to effective physical performance. There is no standard method to evaluate these competencies and scheduling or space restrictions can limit physical practice. A Delphi survey produced relevant checklist and global rating items for evaluating use of PPE. Principles from skill learning and human-computer interaction were combined with the survey results to develop an interactive computer-based simulation for procedural practice of these skills. The assessment tool differentiated between experienced and newly-trained users and demonstrated inter-rater reliability. Learners rated their satisfaction with the simulation similar to a provincial online tutorial and pilot studies with the simulation demonstrated that learners practiced for a longer period when using the simulation as compared to the provincial online tutorial.

In healthcare, personal protective equipment (PPE) are sometimes misused due to improper skill acquisition or skill decay before clinical practice. Training is often didactic or web-based but it is unclear whether these methods transfer to effective physical performance. There is no standard method to evaluate these competencies and scheduling or space restrictions can limit physical practice. A Delphi survey produced relevant checklist and global rating items for evaluating use of PPE. Principles from skill learning and human-computer interaction were combined with the survey results to develop an interactive computer-based simulation for procedural practice of these skills. The assessment tool differentiated between experienced and newly-trained users and demonstrated inter-rater reliability. Learners rated their satisfaction with the simulation similar to a provincial online tutorial and pilot studies with the simulation demonstrated that learners practiced for a longer period when using the simulation as compared to the provincial online tutorial.