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In Sweden there is an ongoing debate on ways to enhance accountability and transparency in order to avoid future scandals both in private companies and local government. Until now the debate has had clear political overtones, and there are no generally accepted methods for analysis of this issue. The purpose of the article is to survey and analyze the chain of accountability to be reviewed by the auditors and through the use of principal‐agent (PA) theory to identify the problems that may arise in holding persons accountable.

The paper shows how PA theory can be used to structure and analyse the intricate situation in Swedish local government. The model is particularly suitable in complex systems of accountability. Therefore, the paper explores two cases where the outcomes were discharge from liability. Based on the two case studies, the paper extends the empirical investigation to a list of 63 qualified audit reports in local government for 2002 and 2003.

PA theory facilitated the understanding and structuring of the complex accountability situation and helped to identify important weaknesses in the system. The analysis underscored that neither better accounting nor better auditing systems alone will resolve the dilemma in improving accountability. The link between auditors and elected officials and civil servants needs to be investigated and clarified. Among other things, this means that the focus of today's debate should shift toward the lack of clear responsibilities within local governments.

This paper explores an area of research where few studies have previously been conducted – therefore, the paper is to some extent exploratory. In the future the number of empirical examples could be increased, and the different problems in the system of accountability in local government could be discussed in more detail.

This research paper is based on an empirical investigation – as far as we know no such study has previously been performed in Sweden The principle of public access to information in Sweden provides unique opportunities for openly studying the work of auditors in the system.

The research shows that PA theory may be used to structure complex issues of accountability. In addition, the study recommends a new focus for the debate on accountability.

Purpose – Using elective egg and sperm freezing as a case to compare representations of men and women as agents of biological reproduction, this chapter aims to understand how gender and risk are co-produced in the context of new reproductive technologies (NRTs).

Methodology – Through a content analysis of newspaper articles published between 1980 and 2016 about egg and sperm freezing, the author traces how fertility risks facing men and women are portrayed in the media.

Findings – Candidates for egg freezing were portrayed in one of the three ways: as cancer patients, career women, or single and waiting for a partner. The ideal users of sperm freezing are depicted in primarily two ways: as cancer patients and as employees in professions with hazardous working conditions. Threats to future fertility for women pursuing careers uninterrupted by pregnancy and child-rearing and women seeking romantic partners are largely portrayed as the result of internal risks. However, threats to future fertility for men working in dangerous professions are largely portrayed as external to them.

Research Limitations – Race and class did not emerge as dominant themes in these data; given the lack of accessibility to NRTs by class and race, this silence must be interrogated by further research.

Value – By comparing the constructions of at-risk groups, the author argues the medicalization of reproduction is gendered as fertility risks portrayed in the media take on a different character between men and women. This research shows how the gendered construction of infertility risk reinforces normative expectations around child-rearing and perpetuates gender inequity in parenting norms.

Gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the linear and nonlinear, static and dynamic analyses of basic structural elements from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore aims to give the reader an encyclopaedic view on the subject. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains 2,025 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the analysis of beams, columns, rods, bars, cables, discs, blades, shafts, membranes, plates and shells that were published in 1992‐1995.

The case describes the popular Russian children's animated TV series named the Smeshariki, its parent company (Marmelad), the domestic animation industry, and the principal international rivals and their respective animated products and/or services. The series' success led to the organic growth of vertically and horizontally related business units. Marmelad's business units' scope included producing more than 200, six and one-half minute episodes of the Smeshariki, branded children's products (e.g. educational games), granting licenses to manufacturers, establishing a network of kindergartens, and licensing the Smeshariki animated series to exhibitors in international markets. Key issues the company faces include: brand management for the Smeshariki and Marmelad, domestic and international competition in the Russian animation industry, and the need for professional management. The case provides instructors with a range of options including a holistic marketing case, or one that concentrates on focused marketing issues (i.e. all or parts of the marketing mix, brand architecture, brand equity and brand management).