Kapitalstruktur - En studie över Market Timing och dess påverkan under finansiell lågkonjunktur

4 Abstract Title Capital Structure – A study about Market Timing and its affects during a financial depression Seminar data 2013-05-29 Course FEKN90 Degree Project, Master of Science in Business and Economics, 30 ECTS Authors Amelie Persson and Robin Fransson Advisor Maria Gårdängen Keywords Capital Structure, Market Timing, Depression, Driving Factors, Debt Level, Nordic Market Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate how the relationship between Market Timing and Capital Structure changes during a depression compared to a booming economy. Methodology This study has a quantitative approach using panel data regression to investigate the connection between the Market Timing-hypothesis and the Capital Structure. This is done by researching certain variables that may affect a company’s Capital Structure. Theoretical perspective The theoretical framework is based on previous theories about Capital Structure, mainly covering the Trade-off theory, the Pecking order theory and the Market Timing theory as well as previous studies on this topic. Empirical framework A sample containing 247 listed firms on the Danish, Finnish and Swedish exchange markets during 2003-2011. Conclusions The findings of this study shows that there is a relationship between Capital Structure and Market Timing covering the entire survey period. The explanatory variables of this study had a larger impact on Capital Structure before the depression, which indicates that other variables affect during the depression. Furthermore the results of this study cannot conclude that historical M/Bs have a permanent affect on the companies Capital Structure

Ägarlägenheter – Värda en satsning?

In May 2009, a new Swedish legislation made it possible for a new tenure to enter the housing market – condominiums. Since the law took effect, only a few condominiums have been built, mainly by minor construction- and property companies. This thesis aims to investigate under what circums- tances it’s favorably to build condominiums and also to identify what ob- stacles and opportunities that can be associated with the form of tenure. The outcome is presented in a SWOT- analysis. The aim is to raise aware- ness among housing developers so that condominiums are not discarded as a form of tenure because of lack of knowledge. Owning a condominium gives the owner a legal right to pledge, sublet and transfer the apartment without permission from a housing association. The buyer also receives the deed to the property. A number of arguments for and against condominiums as well as possible effects of the legislation have been presented in a public report from the Swedish government (SOU 2002:21). Condominiums introduction to the housing market will allow for a new housing option. This option, however, is limited to those with suffi- cient financial means. Increased tenant influence has also been raised as a result of the introduction and would mean that the owner has a great- er opportunity to influence the design of the apartment, possibly already at an early stage. Increased risk of segregation and speculation is mentioned among the negative effects of the introduction. The Swedish public's poor knowledge of what a purchase of a condomi- nium means has proven to be one of the biggest threats to the tenure. This fact probably contributes to that many Swedes today prefer alternative well known housing options. Providing the right information regarding the te- nure should fall within the company that intends to establish the apart- ments. It’s also important to prepare and inform the banks and insurance companies to ensure that loans and insurances are offered to future buyers. Establishing a good contact with banks and insurance companies has prov- en to a good factor for success. Companies with rental business can choose to either sell or rent out the condominiums. This has proven to be an important strength. For those companies that lack rental business it’s of greater importance to promote and sell all apartments, this to avoid loss- making projects. Difficulties in engaging the residents in the property association and that the capital investment of a condominium is high, are facts that are men- tioned as weaknesses in this report

Clinical Neuropsychology as a Specialist Profession in European Health Care : Developing a Benchmark for Training Standards and Competencies Using the Europsy Model?

The prevalence and negative impact of brain disorders are increasing. Clinical Neuropsychology is a specialty dedicated to understanding brain-behavior relationships, applying such knowledge to the assessment of cognitive, affective, and behavioral functioning associated with brain disorders, and designing and implementing effective treatments. The need for services goes beyond neurological diseases and has increased in areas of neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, among others. In Europe, a great deal of variability exists in the education and training of Clinical Neuropsychologists. Training models include master's programs, continuing education courses, doctoral programs, and/or post-doctoral specialization depending on the country, with no common framework of requirements, although patients' needs demand equal competencies across Europe. In the past 5 years, the Standing Committee on Clinical Neuropsychology of the European Federation of Psychologists' Association has conducted a series of surveys and interviews with experts in the field representing 30 European countries. The information, along with information from the existing literature, is used in presenting an overview of current and relevant topics related to policy and guidelines in the training and competencies in Clinical Neuropsychology. An option for the way forward is the EuroPsy Specialist Certificate, which is currently offered in Work and Organizational Psychology, and in psychotherapy. It builds upon the basic certificate and complements national standards without overriding them. General principles can be found that can set the basis for a common, solid, and comprehensive specialty education/training, sharpening the Neuropsychologists' competencies across Europe. The requirements in Clinical Neuropsychology should be comparable to those for the existing specialty areas in the EuroPsy model. Despite the perceived challenges, developing a specialist certificate appears a step forward for the development of Clinical Neuropsychology. Recommendations are proposed toward a shared framework of competencies by the means of a common level of education/training for the professionals in Europe. Benchmarking training standards and competencies across Europe has the potential of providing protection against unqualified and ethically questionable practice, creating transparency, raising the general European standard, and promoting mobility of both Clinical Neuropsychologists and patients in Europe, for the benefit of the professional field and the population.Peer reviewe

Core Competencies in Clinical Neuropsychology as a Training Model in Europe

The multitude of training models and curricula for the specialty of clinical neuropsychology around the world has led to organized activities to develop a framework of core competencies to ensure sufficient expertise among entry-level professionals in the field. The Standing Committee on Clinical Neuropsychology of the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations is currently working toward developing a specialty certification in clinical neuropsychology to establish a cross-national standard against which to measure levels of equivalency and uniformity in competence and service provision among professionals in the field. Through structured interviews with experts from 28 European countries, we explored potential areas of core competency. Specifically, questions pertained to the perceived importance of a series of foundational, functional, and other competencies, as well as current training standards and practices, and optimal standards. Our findings revealed considerable agreement (about three quarters and above) on academic and clinical training, despite varied actual training requirements currently, with fewer respondents relegating importance to training in teaching, supervision, and research (a little over half), and even fewer to skills related to management, administration, and advocacy (fewer than half). European expert clinical neuropsychologists were in agreement with previous studies (including those conducted in the United States, Australia, and other countries) regarding the importance of sound theoretical and clinical training but management, administrative, and advocacy skills were not central to their perspective of a competent specialist in clinical neuropsychology. Establishing a specialty certificate in clinical neuropsychology based on core competencies may enable mobility of clinical neuropsychologists across Europe, and, perhaps, provide an impetus for countries with limited criteria to reconsider their training requirements and harmonize their standards with others.Peer reviewe

European Clinical Neuropsychology : Role in Healthcare and Access to Neuropsychological Services

This study analyzed aspects of the work of clinical neuropsychologists across Europe. There are no published comparisons between European countries regarding the nature of clinical neuropsychologists' work. Forty-one national psychological and neuropsychological societies were approached, of which 31 (76%) responded. Data from seven countries with less than 10 neuropsychologists were excluded. A license is required to practice clinical neuropsychology in 50% of the countries. Clinical neuropsychologists work independently in 62.5%. Diagnostic/assessment work is the most frequently reported activity (54%). Most neuropsychologists work in public hospitals, followed by health centers. Adult neuropsychology was the most frequent area of activity. Services in public institutions are covered by public entities (45.8%), or by a combination of patient funds and public entities (29.2%) and only 4.2% by the patient; whereas services in private institutions are covered by the patient (26.1%) and the combination of patient, public entities (21.7%) or patient and private entities (17.4%). The data suggest that the number of neuropsychologists working across European countries is considerably low in comparison to other medical professionals. The results of the survey identified similar aspects of neuropsychologists' work, despite variations in terms of reimbursement and mechanisms, reflecting economic and healthcare differences. Estimates on the number of clinical neuropsychologists suggest insufficient access to neuropsychological services.Peer reviewe

A Glial Signature and Wnt7 Signaling Regulate Glioma-Vascular Interactions and Tumor Microenvironment.

Gliomas comprise heterogeneous malignant glial and stromal cells. While blood vessel co-option is a potential mechanism to escape anti-angiogenic therapy, the relevance of glial phenotype in this process is unclear. We show that Olig2+ oligodendrocyte precursor-like glioma cells invade by single-cell vessel co-option and preserve the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Conversely, Olig2-negative glioma cells form dense perivascular collections and promote angiogenesis and BBB breakdown, leading to innate immune cell activation. Experimentally, Olig2 promotes Wnt7b expression, a finding that correlates in human glioma profiling. Targeted Wnt7a/7b deletion or pharmacologic Wnt inhibition blocks Olig2+ glioma single-cell vessel co-option and enhances responses to temozolomide. Finally, Olig2 and Wnt7 become upregulated after anti-VEGF treatment in preclinical models and patients. Thus, glial-encoded pathways regulate distinct glioma-vascular microenvironmental interactions

Overview of the MOSAiC expedition - Atmosphere

With the Arctic rapidly changing, the needs to observe, understand, and model the changes are essential. To support these needs, an annual cycle of observations of atmospheric properties, processes, and interactions were made while drifting with the sea ice across the central Arctic during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition from October 2019 to September 2020. An international team designed and implemented the comprehensive program to document and characterize all aspects of the Arctic atmospheric system in unprecedented detail, using a variety of approaches, and across multiple scales. These measurements were coordinated with other observational teams to explore cross-cutting and coupled interactions with the Arctic Ocean, sea ice, and ecosystem through a variety of physical and biogeochemical processes. This overview outlines the breadth and complexity of the atmospheric research program, which was organized into 4 subgroups: atmospheric state, clouds and precipitation, gases and aerosols, and energy budgets. Atmospheric variability over the annual cycle revealed important influences from a persistent large-scale winter circulation pattern, leading to some storms with pressure and winds that were outside the interquartile range of past conditions suggested by long-term reanalysis. Similarly, the MOSAiC location was warmer and wetter in summer than the reanalysis climatology, in part due to its close proximity to the sea ice edge. The comprehensiveness of the observational program for characterizing and analyzing atmospheric phenomena is demonstrated via a winter case study examining air mass transitions and a summer case study examining vertical atmospheric evolution. Overall, the MOSAiC atmospheric program successfully met its objectives and was the most comprehensive atmospheric measurement program to date conducted over the Arctic sea ice. The obtained data will support a broad range of coupled-system scientific research and provide an important foundation for advancing multiscale modeling capabilities in the Arctic

En analys av sambandet mellan arbetsplatsolyckor och konjunkturcykeln i Sverige

Every year in Sweden approximately 50 people die due to work related injuries. The development of non deadly injuries at work, however, has been varying. Between 1980 and 2008 it's been decreasing while, during the last 10 years, the number of injuries has instead increased. It is of interest to see why the number of occupational injuries has been increasing as well as understanding if there exists any relationship between any external, economic, factors and occupational injuries. Understanding these relationships enables further research which potentially can lead to fewer events of this kind in the future. The relationship between the business cycle and occupational injuries has been the focus of many studies since the end of the 1940's. The results, however, has been varying. While some parts of the literature has found a pro cyclical pattern, exhibiting an increasing amount of occupational injuries in upturns of the business cycle, another part has found an opposite relationship. This, counter cyclical, relationship instead display a decreasing amount of occupational injuries in business cycle upturns. By using the data of workplace accidents between 1998 and 2017 from the Swedish Work Environment Authority and two measures of the business cycle, a regressions analysis was conducted. The measures of the business cycle were gross domestic product (GDP) and notice of termination statistics. The data of workplace accidents were divided into number of accidents per 1000 workers. Moreover, the data was divided into five industry sectors, agriculture, mining, construction, manufacturing and trade respectively, to enable a comparison between them. The results indicated a pro cyclical relationship between occupational injuries and notice of termination, although only construction, manufacturing and trade displayed significant results. It was found that when the number of notices per 1000 workers increased with 1%, indicating a downward business cycle trend, the number of occupational injuries were decreasing. The regressions of GDP rendered differing results between the sectors

ARIMA-modellering av anlagda bilbränder i Sverige

An ongoing trend the last couple of years has been the intense reporting of an increased amount of deliberate vehicle fires in Sweden. As the overall assumption in society is that the number of deliberate vehicle fires is steadily increasing, a statistic model trying to investigate this was made. In 1998, the share of deliberate car fires were estimated to 12%, the same number in 2015 was 38%, indicating a growing problem. In addition, these types of criminal behaviour is characterized by a high number of criminals not getting convicted since there seldom is neither a lot of witnesses nor technical evidence. By dividing data collected from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency into three subcategories, namely large cities, medium-sized towns and smaller towns, a time series analysis was conducted. To further concretize the difference between these subcategories, the data was collected as a relative number, the number of deliberate car fires per 1000 residents. All available data in the database of the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency were used, meaning the analysis contained data between the years 1998 and 2017. The analysis was made by fitting ARIMA-models, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average-models, to the data in order to enable the creation of forecasts as well as prediction intervals. By removing a subset of the last 10% of the data before the analysis (datapoints from 2016 and 2017), a form of reference was made to observe the quality of the predictions. The prediction intervals were found to be too narrow in the case of large cities and smaller towns when compared to the subset. A possible reason for this may be that the real observations made between 2016 and 2017 contained sporadic unforseen events, such as rebellions. The feared positive upwarding trend was confirmed as all predictions predicted a steady increase in these types of crimes