Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Nexus Theory'

Without doubt a well-developed financial sector is related to efficient resource allocation and growth, but there is modest consensus on the direction of that link, on the notion of what is meant by "well developed", on which subset of the financial market is crucial and thus which organisational set-up provides optimal returns for both architects and market participants alike. With sluggish growth, torn down market barriers and systemic change in the EU accession countries the direction, magnitude, sustainability, institutional set-up of the finance-growth nexus (and which), becomes one of the core issues of both macroeconomic theory and practice. This paper reviews the economic theory available, provides a well structured overview of 54 empirical studies conducted since 1964, sets the stage for constructing a data base encompassing the major three segments of financial markets (stock, bond and bank credit) and provides the methodological background for combining cross-country production function and time-series approaches in order to answer the following questions: (1) What is the direction of the finance-growth nexus, (2) which segment of the financial sector drives whatever nexus there is, and (3) what are the features of a growth supportive financial architecture.
Series: EI Working Papers / Europainstitut

In the last four decades, one of the fastest-growing fields of research in economics has been the contractual theory of the firm developed in Coase’s (1937) footsteps. Yet despite what otherwise seems to be a genuine success story the question of the nature of the firm remains an empirical and theoretical challenge, painfully illustrated by the lack of consensus regarding the definition and boundaries of the firm. The argument of this thesis is that many thorny questions that plague the literature, including issues related to ownership, boundaries, and intra-firm authority, are due to the fact that contractual theorists of the firm have generally overlooked a key legal feature of the economic system, without which theories of the firm are like Hamlet without the Prince. An elementary institutional fact about firms and markets is that in order to become a fully operational firm in a modern market economy, an entrepreneur or an association of resource owners need to go through a registration or incorporation procedure by which the legal system creates a separate legal person or legal entity in which ownership rights over assets used in production are vested, in whose name contracts are made, and thanks to which the firm has standing in court. With this assignment of legal personality, the legal system creates the efficiency-enhancing nexus for contracts that literally carries the organizational framework of the firm, and secures its continuity by locking-in the founders’ committed capital, thereby allowing them to pledge assets, raise finance and do business in the firm’s own name. Given the basic principle that only legal persons may own property and have the capacity to contract, and the implication that legally enforceable contracts can only exist between legal persons, it is something of a paradox that the notion of legal personality is absent from the prevailing narrative in the contractual theory of the firm. The thesis examines the reasons behind this state of affairs, and identifies alongside the widespread view among economists that firms can be defined with little or no reference to law, particularly statutory law, the lasting influence of Jensen and Meckling’s (1976) ambiguous dismissal of legal personality as a legal fiction that unavoidably leads to misleading reification. In order to disentangle the issues involved, the thesis puts this argument into historical perspective, and suggests that much can be learned from the corporate personality controversy that in the past has addressed the same questions. As the overview of the history of this debate reveals, the category mistakes that Jensen and Meckling presented as inevitable can be easily avoided once the meaning and functions of legal personality are properly understood. The thesis dispels enduring misunderstandings surrounding the notion of personhood, and proposes a legally-grounded view of the nature and boundaries of the firm that recognizes in law’s provision of legal entity status a fundamental institutional support for the firm while fitting the overall Coasean narrative.

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited
Victory in irregular war and insurgency is not simply a matter of combat actions and civic aid; it is a matter of population mobilization. Winning the sympathy of the population will do little good for either the state or the insurgent if he fails to mobilize the population in a manner that allows him to reap the resources and legitimacy that either side needs to win. A winning strategy by the state must be one that either limits the insurgent's ability to mobilize the population or allows the state to mobilize the population more efficiently than the insurgent. The use of social movement organizations offers an effective method for insurgents to mobilize a population during an insurgency. In many cases, the use of social movement organizations is more efficient as a mobilization strategy than are other strategies such as coercion or persuasion. A strategy by the state that disrupts the insurgent's ability to use a sympathetic social movement organization offers the state an effective means to limit the resources available to the insurgents. In these cases, the state can also create its own social movement organizations to allow it to mobilize the population effectively in support of the government.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009.
Thesis Advisor(s): Lee, Doowan ; Borer, Douglas. "June 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 10, 2009. DTIC Identifiers: Social movement organizations, social movement theory, irregular warfare, Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah, Baath Party, Sunni uprising, Galula, mobilization strategy. Author(s) subject terms: Insurgency, Irregular Warfare, COIN, Mobilization, Social Movement Theory, Social Movement Organizations, Darul Islam, Jemaah Islamiyah, Baath Party, Sunni Uprising, Indonesia, Iraq, Civil Affairs, McAdam, Mao, Galula, McCuen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-143). Also available in print.

The human-technology nexus is a strong focus of Information Systems (IS) research; however, very few studies have explored this phenomenon in anaesthesia. Anaesthesia has a long history of adoption of technological artifacts, ranging from early apparatus to present-day information systems such as electronic monitoring and pulse oximetry. This prevalence of technology in modern anaesthesia and the rich human-technology relationship provides a fertile empirical setting for IS research. This study employed a grounded theory approach that began with a broad initial guiding question and, through simultaneous data collection and analysis, uncovered a core category of technology appropriation. This emergent basic social process captures a central activity of anaesthestists and is supported by three major concepts: knowledge-directed medicine, complementary artifacts and culture of anaesthesia. The outcomes of this study are: (1) a substantive theory that integrates the aforementioned concepts and pertains to the research setting of anaesthesia and (2) a formal theory, which further develops the core category of appropriation from anaesthesia-specific to a broader, more general perspective. These outcomes fulfill the objective of a grounded theory study, being the formation of theory that describes and explains observed patterns in the empirical field. In generalizing the notion of appropriation, the formal theory is developed using the theories of Karl Marx. This Marxian model of technology appropriation is a three-tiered theoretical lens that examines appropriation behaviours at a highly abstract level, connecting the stages of natural, species and social being to the transition of a technology-as-artifact to a technology-in-use via the processes of perception, orientation and realization. The contributions of this research are two-fold: (1) the substantive model contributes to practice by providing a model that describes and explains the human-technology nexus in anaesthesia, and thereby offers potential predictive capabilities for designers and administrators to optimize future appropriations of new anaesthetic technological artifacts; and (2) the formal model contributes to research by drawing attention to the philosophical foundations of appropriation in the work of Marx, and subsequently expanding the current understanding of contemporary IS theories of adoption and appropriation.

This study examined the relationship between drug use and violence among justiceinvolved women in Appalachian Kentucky. Goldstein’s (1985) conceptual framework was used as a theoretical guide in formulating the drugs and violence relationships. Therefore, three types of drug use and violence relationships were explored, including: 1) psychopharmacological violence; economic-compulsive violence; and 3) systemic violence. Although these drug-related violence typologies have been investigated, little research has been devoted to rural justice-involved women. Moreover, to date no studies have examined how these drug/violence relationships might be associated with behavioral health factors. Ergo, there were three aims of the current study. First, to build psychopharmacological, economic-compulsive, and systemic drug/violence predictive group models. Second, examine the associations between mental health symptomology and predicted group models. Third, examine the associations between infectious disease risk-factors and predicted group models. This study used secondary data from a NIDAfunded grant focused on risk reduction among high-risk incarcerated women in Appalachia (N=400). All study recruitment and data collection procedures were approved by the university IRB. Predicted drugs/violence groups were developed using a series of discriminant function analyses. Predicted group models were examined for associations with mental health symptomology and risk factors for infectious disease using a series of binary logistic regression analyses. Results indicated that rural justice-involved women can be discriminated into distinct drugs/violence subgroups, and the psychopharmacological group showed the greatest prevalence. In addition, several behavioral health factors were uniquely associated with the psychopharmacological group and the economic-compulsive group. These findings could offer novel considerations for theory development regarding the drug-related risks for violence victimization among rural justice-involved women. The current research may also inform future traditional substance use treatment (e.g., outpatient or residential) and jail-based treatment (e.g., brief intervention) for rural women. Implications for theory development, substance use treatment and policy, future research, and the social work profession were discussed.

There is a conceptual knot at the intersection of moral responsibility and action theory. This knot can be expressed as the following question: What is the relationship between an agent's openness to moral responsibility and the intentional status of her behaviour? My answer to this question is developed in three steps. I first develop a control-backed account of intentional agency, one that borrows vital insights from the cognitive sciences – in the form of Dual Process Theory – in understanding the control condition central to the account, and demonstrate that this account fares at least as well as its rivals in the field. Secondly, I investigate the dominant positions in the discussion surrounding the role of control in moral responsibility. After consideration of some shortcomings of these positions – especially the inability to properly account for so-called ambivalence cases – I defend an alternative pluralist account of moral responsibility, in which there are two co-extant variants of such responsibility: attributability and accountability. The latter of these will be shown to have a necessary control condition, also best understood in terms of a requirement for oversight (rather than conscious or online control), and in terms of the workings of the dual system mechanism. I then demonstrate how these two accounts are necessarily related through the shared role of this kind of control, leading to my answer to the original question: if an agent is open to moral accountability based on some activity or outcome, this activity or outcome must necessarily have positive intentional status. I then apply this answer in a consideration of certain cases of the use of the Doctrine of Double Effect.

This thesis re-examines the relationship between finance and growth. Most previous studies that have dealt with different aspects of this relationship show that a well-developed financial system is important for economic growth. However, instead of concentrating on the aggregated perspectives of this relationship, this research investigates whether financial development influences the level of competition in the real sector, as one possible mechanism through which finance may influence growth. The study focuses on the changes in industrial structure and performance following a regime change in the financial system: from financial repression to financial liberalization. It has been suggested that financial liberalization may be a key policy to promote industrialisation as it removes the credit access constraints on firms, especially small and medium ones. Competition among financial institutions, which accompanies financial liberalization, leads to greater availability of finance and a reduction in the cost for firms of raising capital for investment. In turn, this encourages creation and entry of new firms and promotes industrial growth, particularly of those firms and sectors that are external finance dependent. The implications of financial liberalization on the real sector are investigated using industry-level panel data from Malawian manufacturing, a variety of econometric methods, and standard measures of industry structure and performance, as well as financial development indicators. The analysis aims to ascertain whether financial liberalization in Malawi has had any impact on the availability of credit for manufacturing firms and whether its effects, which are hypothesised to influence industry structure and performance, differ depending on characteristics such as the degree of external finance dependence of firms or firm size. The main empirical findings show that financial liberalization, even if it results in greater supply of credit and a larger number of lending institutions compared with the pre-reform period, does not remove financing constraints on firms, especially the small and medium ones. Instead, it is the large existing firms that benefit from a more liberal financial regime. Indeed the evidence is that financial reforms have mostly facilitated the expansion of existing establishments rather than the creation of new establishments, and have resulted in greater industry concentration. Further, profitability and output growth are disproportionately higher in large firms than in small ones. The implementation of financial liberalization in Malawi has been judged a success; nevertheless the evidence is that these reforms have been detrimental to competition in industry. What are the policy implications of these findings? This study shows that financial liberalization is not the key for the promotion of industrialisation. In the presence of pervasive market failures in financial resource allocation, as have been experienced in Malawi, the withdrawal of the state from credit allocation decisions is unlikely to result in industrial development.

This thesis examines whether director gender matters in terms of investment in corporate social responsibility, and how such initiatives in turn influence financial performance. Based on a large sample of US firms over a 17-year period, this study reveals that female directors contribute significantly towards corporate social value creation and this positively affects firm value. The research contributes to the debate about the impact of gender on firm outcomes.

In Singapore, there is an increasing presence of theatre artists as educators across varied sectors of the educational institutions. However despite their active engagement with education, research on what and how they do their teaching is limited. This thesis sets out to investigate the theatre artists’ teaching practices in education settings. The literature reviewed as part of this inquiry point to an identifiable system of pedagogy in the theatre artists’ teaching practices. As such, one of the key strands of this research is to identify and name what is distinctive about theatre artists’ teaching practices. But more than just identifying characteristics, I am interested in understanding if there is an overarching philosophy that guides these practices. To that end, I conceptualised a framework, which examines the theatre artists’ teaching practices as inhabiting a nested nexus of two distinguishably separate fields: Theatre and Education. Each with its own variegated influences and systems of knowledge and values that govern practices. Working with an overarching Bourdieusean theoretical framework, in particular habitus and field, as well as invoking Lyotard’s notion of differend, the study relies on interdisciplinary theories to aid explication of key concepts related to the study. The study also employs a melding of ethnographic case study and reflective practitioner as its methodology. Additionally, it works with “critiquing across difference” (Lather 2008) as a means to challenge and destabilise the reflective practitioner lens. This is achieved by structuring the research into two phases. Phase I involves researching in England. Working with four theatre artists, I examine how each assumes their position as educators in various education settings both within and beyond the school environment. The opportunity gained from this experience informed Phase II research in Singapore, the main focus of this inquiry. The findings suggest that to understand theatre artists’ teaching practices require an examination of contexts influencing their teaching acts. This includes their layered histories of both artistic and teaching experiences as well as the relationship they have with the school culture and the objectives and needs of their teaching projects. Additionally, in examining their teaching moments, the study discovers a pattern of doing the same approaches or strategies, differently. Working from the data, an overarching world view guiding the construction of their teaching practices is eventually proposed.

The complexity of credit-money is conceived as the central issue in the banking-macro nexus, which the author considers as a structural as well as process component of the evolving economy. This nexus is significant for the stability as well as the fragility of the economic system, because it connects the monetary with the real domain of economic production and consumption. The evolution of credit rules shapes economic networks between households, firms, banks, governments and central banks in space and time. The properties and characteristics of this evolutionary process are discussed in three sections. First, the author looks into the origins of the theory of money and its role for contemporary monetary economics. Second, he briefly discusses current theoretical foundations of top-down as well as bottom-up approaches to the banking-macro nexus, such as dynamic stochastic general equilibrium and agent-based models. In the third part he suggests an evolutionary framework, building on a generic rule-based approach, to arrive at standards for bottom-up foundations in agent-based macroeconomic models with a banking sector. (author's abstract)

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2007.
Title from electronic title page (viewed Apr. 25, 2008). "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of a Master of Arts in the Department of Political Science." Discipline: Political Science; Department/School: Political Science.

Discussing, defining and engaging with ‘terrorism’ has long been limited to the narrowly framed situations in which parties to an asymmetric conflict resort to the use of force and to the legitimacy they have in doing so. The problem with the limited understanding of ‘terrorism’ and ‘counterterrorism’ as ‘facts of objective reality’ is the lack of attention to the role of the extreme asymmetry of power in conflicts involving ‘terrorism’ that does not lend itself to analysis readily. This thesis introduces a new theoretical concept, the Terrorism Complex that signifies the complexity of power/knowledge relations and the complexity of power/knowledge practices that operate on a discursive and non-discursive level through time and are affected by the mechanisms of power that stem from the asymmetry of power between the actors involved in a conflict. The research into the Terrorism Complex involves an ontological and epistemological widening of the research focus to account for these effects of the interplay between power and knowledge on the production, construction and perception of ‘terrorism’. I draw on postmodern scholarship and the Critical Terrorism Studies to present a theoretical and methodological framework that is used to examine the production of knowledge in relation to the asymmetries of power. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is used as a case study for the study of power asymmetry in the political field that determines who will be labelled a ‘terrorist’ and who will be able to claim the moral high ground. The research also reveals the surprising extent to which the power over discourse obscures the role of the systemic terrorising exercise of state power in inducing ‘terrorism’. The final chapter concentrates on the media’s role in the Terrorism Complex. It applies the findings from other chapters to observe the Terrorism Complex in action.

This project is comprised of a novel, Being Helle, and an accompanying dissertation. Being Helle explores in fictional form a number of ideas relating to the uneasy relationship between the individual, digital media and late-capitalism that emerge after undertaking a reading of the fiction of Don Delillo and Bret Easton Ellis alongside the critical theory of Jean Baudrillard and Fredric Jameson. Being Helle interrogates Baudrillard's contentious notion that the hegemony of capitalism undermines the autonomy of the individual subject. This is evident on a number of levels, both stylistically and thematically: the novel explores and reflects how late-capitalism's pervasive digital media affects the writer, the individual and the shape, form and scope of fiction writing. Following the life of photographer Helle Dahl, who has recently moved to Copenhagen, Being Helle ultimately challenges the limits of Jean Baudrillard's theoretical position as regards the influence of capitalism on the individual subject. Although the essential self may well be under attack in an era of rabid capitalism, Being Helle considers whether there are ways and means of formulating some kind of resistance to this, especially through artistic endeavour. The accompanying dissertation, Creative Writing at the Nexus of Fiction & Theory, is a case study analysis of the interaction between reading and creative praxis, focusing in detail on the kind of reading and thinking that took place in the production of Being Helle. In this way, the critical component of this project documents how when a writer engages in reading critical theory alongside fiction a "possibility space" is established which allows for a criticalcreative "cross-over" to occur. In the dissertation I posit that a writer who's methodological approach to novel writing embraces the reading of critical theory and fiction in tandem establishes a useful basis from which an informed cultural debate in the form of a novel can occur.

The overarching objective of this dissertation is to conceptualise the spatiality of citizenship through an exposure to its various others – especially to mobile subjectivity. In particular, it examines the changing patterns of territorialising space, distributing rights and regulating mobility in the intertwined politics of citizenship and that of migration in the EU. Building on the approach of critical citizenship studies, it assumes that the practices and discourses of othering have been constituent of the very foundation of modern citizenship, and understands citizenship at the interface between the governing structure and the acts of the governed that rupture, resist or appropriate it. In this framework, the thesis first of all looks at the spatial configurations of national citizenship by analysing the trajectories in which the interrelated concepts of territory, rights and mobility participate, and are reshaped, in the project of making the citizen and her various others.

The main part of the thesis investigates the ways in which the interrelations between these spatial dimensions of citizenship are reconfigured in a multiplied citizenship-migration nexus under the process of Europeanisation. It first looks at two different notions of territory – a statist one and a networked one – that are visible in the official discourses, yet it highlights the fact that the technologies that are supposed to produce each type of territoriality often converge. Thus I read the politics of Eurostar and the Channel Tunnel project as one that involves competing patterns of territoriality and manifests the dynamics between facilitated and obstructed mobilities at a moving border. However, the permeability of this border is partly enabled by the uneven and ambiguous configurations of Schengenland itself, and draws attention to the excessive forms of mobility that challenge and break with the official formulation of free movement rights. Thus we turn to the intricate relationship between mobility and citizenship in Europe following our dialogical approach: focusing on the rationalities implied in the government of free movement on one hand, and the paths through which to redefine the right to mobility on the other. In the light of Rancière’s reconceptualisation of rights and democracy, I present two examples each employing different strategies to politicise and mobilise mobility: one is through appealing to the universal, the other legitimating the particular. The politics of mobility is also seen as an endeavour of producing alternative spaces against the territorialised state-centric space to which the imagination of citizenship is usually limited. In discussing a possible global ethics, however, I argue that the dynamics between rights and citizenship are not bound to an emancipatory end. While the juridical system of differentiated rights is constantly challenged by those who claim that they have the rights they are denied to, once the ‘achievements’ of rights-claims are re-appropriated in the juridico-political form of citizenship, this form continues to reproduce boundaries and differential inclusions which shall again be contested. A self-critical global ethics therefore should be conscious about the imperfectability of citizenship and the impossibility of community.
Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales
info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This paper outlines the core issues of the introduction of a new PE nexus based on digital presence. It puts forward its essential features and rethinks the foundations of the concept of sourcing for income tax purposes in the global economy. Our proposal of a new PE nexus based on digital presence is also supported by a theoretical reconstruction in the light of a new dimension for the benefit theory. Our work directly relates to Action 1 of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project. However, the development of a new PE nexus is in fact not an instrument to counter BEPS, but reflects a structural revision of the criteria for allocating taxing rights on cross-border business income in the era of the digital economy. This paper should be understood as a discussion paper and first proposal to shed further light on (i) whether there is a theoretical justification for a new PE nexus based on digital presence, (ii) how a new PE nexus based on digital presence could be defined and (iii) whether and how potential implementation issues could be resolved. By publishing the present blueprints for a new PE nexus, the authors wish to provoke a more concrete discussion on this particularly important matter. (authors' abstract)
Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Series

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
With regard to education, the humanization process, based on the Cultural-Historical Theory and Activity Theory principles, is materialized through the process of appropriation of knowledge historically constructed. So there is the need of organization of institutionalized education, the contents choice and of teaching activities planning that enable individuals be in activity. The Math Club arises in this context as a learning space organized for children in the early years. Learning triggering situations (LTS) have been prepared in search for situations that promote the different knowledge sharing, collectively, mediated by a content. Algebraic conceptual nexus were chosen as the study object of the individuals in the LTS. Thus, we conducted a didatic experiment, assumed to research methodology, with 12 children from 5th grade of elementary school, from a public school in Goiânia, in order to show evidence of appropriation of the conceptuals nexus of symbolic algebra. We seek to understand our research object through oral and written manifestations of the students and their actions, during the teaching and learning process from Math Club. Obtaining empirical data was through audiovisual recordings, observation, field journal, record sheet and circle of conversation. The software webQDA was taken as a further methodological resource to assist in the analysis and organization of qualitatives data. We assume the analysis units concept, proposed by Vigotski, to apprehend research object, namely: the collective actions and reflections on learning space; playfulness as a feature in LTS organization; signs of appropriation of conceptual nexus of symbolic algebra. Conclusively, we inferred that the children showed signs of appropriation of algebraic conceptual nexus, in a process that begins from the representation need of simbolic algebric language for the beginning of a generalization process. However, the product of this process consisted in teaching organization composed of regular movements, from particular to the general, that emphasized, in a way, the generalization and abstraction processes guided by empiricism.
Tratando-se de educação, o processo de humanização, com base nos princípios da Teoria Histórico-Cultural e da Teoria da Atividade, concretiza-se por meio do processo de apropriação do conhecimento construído historicamente. Com isso, há a necessidade da organização da educação institucionalizada, da escolha dos conteúdos e do planejamento de atividades de ensino que possibilitem aos sujeitos estar em atividade. O Clube de Matemática surge, nesse contexto, como um espaço de aprendizagem organizado para crianças nos anos iniciais. Situações desencadeadoras de aprendizagem (SDA) foram elaboradas na busca de situações que promovessem a partilha de diferentes saberes, de forma coletiva, mediados por um conteúdo. Os nexos conceituais algébricos foram escolhidos como objeto de estudo dos sujeitos nas SDA. Deste modo, realizamos um experimento didático, assumido como metodologia de pesquisa, com 12 crianças do 5º ano do Ensino Fundamental, de uma escola municipal de Goiânia, com o intuito de evidenciar indícios de apropriação dos nexos conceituais da álgebra simbólica. Buscamos compreender o nosso objeto de pesquisa mediante as manifestações orais e escritas dos estudantes e as suas ações, durante o processo de ensino e aprendizagem do Clube de Matemática. A obtenção dos dados empíricos se deu por meio de gravações audiovisuais, observação, diário de campo, folha de registro e roda de conversa. O software webQDA foi tomado como mais um recurso metodológico para auxiliar na análise e organização dos dados qualitativos. Assumimos o conceito de unidades de análise, proposto por Vigotski, para apreender o objeto de pesquisa, a saber: as ações e reflexões coletivas no espaço de aprendizagem; a ludicidade como característica na organização das SDA; os indícios de apropriação dos nexos conceituais da álgebra simbólica. De forma conclusiva, depreendemos que as crianças apresentaram indícios de apropriação de nexos conceituais algébricos, em um processo que perfez da necessidade de representação de uma linguagem algébrica simbólica para o início de um processo de generalização. Contudo, o produto desse processo constituiu-se em uma organização de ensino composto por movimentos regulares, do particular ao geral, que valorizou, de certa forma, aos processos de generalização e abstração pautados no empirismo.

Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
Informationist Science Fiction theory provides a way of analysing science fiction texts and narratives in order to demonstrate on an informational basis the uniqueness of science fiction proper as a mode of fiction writing. The theoretical framework presented can be applied to all types of written texts, including non-fictional texts. In "Informationist Science Fiction Theory and Informationist Science Fiction" the author applies the theoretical framework and its specific methods and principles to various contemporary science fiction works, including works by William Gibson, Neal Stephenson and Vernor Vinge. The theoretical framework introduces a new informational theoretic re-framing of existing science fiction literary theoretic posits such as Darko Suvin's novum, the mega-text as conceived of by Damien Broderick, and the work of Samuel R Delany in investigating the subjunctive mood in SF. An informational aesthetics of SF proper is established, and the influence of analytic philosophy - especially modal logic - is investigated. The materialist foundations of the metaphysical outlook of SF proper is investigated with a view to elucidating the importance of the relationship between scientific materialism and SF. SF is presented as The Fiction of Veridical, Counterfactual and Heterogeneous Information.

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This work examines the relation of causality through the theory of objective imputation, searching to verify under different approaches, which is the ideal criterion to attribute a normative result to a criminally relevant behavior. It was taken care of to discourse on the function of the Criminal law (under the optics of the doctrine and the Brazilian legislation) for, from then on, meeting the bases on which it intends to construct a correct theory of the imputation. It was analyzed the evolution of the criminal systems, since the classic until the funcionalist , in order to verify the approach that it was given, through them, to the causal nexus. The central argument of the work consists of firming position in the direction of that the causality nexus cannot be considered under an exclusively natural approach, otherwise it is to become the Criminal law into an appendix of Natural Sciences. In order to achieve this, it is necessary, in first place, to define in which system should the structure of the crime anchor. It must, then, be considered the existing peculiarities in our legal system, which contains the nexus of causality in the Criminal Code (art. 13). From these premises, this study considers a harmonization between the material relation of causality, as stated on the Code, and the theory of the objective imputation, as an adequate factor to restrict decurrent injustices of the rule foreseen in the Legal Text
Este trabalho examina a relação de causalidade à luz da teoria da imputação objetiva, buscando verificar, sob diferentes aspectos, qual o critério ideal para se atribuir determinado resultado normativo a um comportamento penalmente relevante. Cuidou-se de discorrer sobre a função do Direito Penal (sob a ótica da dogmática e da legislação brasileira) para, a partir daí, encontrar-se as bases sobre as quais se pretende construir uma correta teoria da imputação. Foi analisada a evolução dos sistemas penais, desde o clássico até o funcionalista, de modo a averiguar o enfoque que se deu, dentro deles, ao nexo causal. O argumento central do trabalho consiste em firmar posição no sentido de que o nexo de causalidade não pode ser considerado sob uma abordagem exclusivamente naturalística, sob pena de se converter o Direito Penal em apêndice das Ciências Naturais. Para isso, é necessário, em primeiro lugar, definir qual o sistema em que se deve ancorar a estrutura do crime. Deve-se, então, considerar as peculiaridades existentes em nosso ordenamento jurídico, o qual normatizou o nexo de causalidade no Código Penal (art. 13). A partir destas premissas, este estudo propõe uma harmonização entre a relação de causalidade material, conforme acolhida pelo Código, e a teoria da imputação objetiva, como fator adequado a restringir injustiças decorrentes da regra prevista no Texto Legal

With the advent of new interactive Internet technologies in government, a move from the transactional loop of electronic government to a more web-like structure of interaction is anticipated for government information systems. It has been argued that that web-like structure of information systems will dictate a new organizational form for government organization. Explored within the dissertation are two primary research questions. The first research question relates to understanding the nature of adoption of new interactive Internet tools in government agencies and whether that adoption differs from the adoption process for transactional systems. To understand the nature of interactive technology adoption, presidential directives, legislation, and laws implementing transactional and interactive information systems are evaluated. Discovered in evaluation are the motivating factors in technology adoption and related technology adoption and organizational outcomes. Accompanying that evaluation is an exploration of the new technologies being used by government agencies as a part of the technology adoption process. To understand the nature of the differences in infrastructure of information systems associated with transactional information technologies and interactive information technologies, a series of case studies were developed. For each case, an exploration of the technology implemented and a map of the Internet architecture for the technology were constructed. Findings suggest that the adoption process and the information system architecture of transactional and interactive technologies are different. Though it is too early in the adoption and implementation process to discern any impacts to the government organization, the technology adoption and implementation is couched in larger organizational theory. Extrapolations are made to address the future form of the government organization and policy outcomes for continued implementation of interactive systems and the organizational impacts are discussed. The second research question relates to the value associated with the implementation of new interactive Internet technologies. To understand any value associated with implementation of technologies, a qualitative assessment of the value conversations within government agencies was conducted, an assessment of citizen value ranking of data was undertaken, and a quantitative analysis of differences in customer service scores given the use of interactive information technologies is conducted. This analysis is triangulated against a historical evaluation of increasing and decreasing scores and an exploration of specific evaluations conducted for interactive technology projects. Findings suggest that that there is value in implementing interactive Internet technologies. However, that signal is weak. A suggestion of research is that evaluation metrics be developed to understand the value of implementing of interactive technologies. Policy suggestions are outlined for technology value evaluation. The concluding outcome of the dissertation is a suggestion of a path forward for interactive Internet technology development in government and an argument for the construct of the emerging organizational structure associated with information organizations.
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Thesis (M.M. (Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, Wits Business School, 2017.
This explorative study examines the decision making criteria at the screening stage by venture capital firms in South Africa. The study also probes into the decision making criteria on the personality side and whether that has any association with the “big five” characteristics. A threesection questionnaire including both Likert style type (decision making and short version of big five) and nominal questions was sent to venture capital firms. Logistic regression as well as correlation analysis was run on the data. The findings were that individual attributes (entrepreneurs’ characteristics and experience) environment, industry and macro economic environment (characteristics of product and services, characteristics of the market and financial considerations) are all positively related to venture capital firms’ decision to grant finance to an entrepreneur. Findings on the big five characteristics are that only openness to experience, consientiousness and extrarversion were seen as critical considerations by venture capital firms, but not agreeableness and emotional stability characteristics. The study findings are beneficial for entrepreneurs and venture capital firms.
MT2017

yes
This study examines the impact of internal corporate governance mechanisms on insurance companies’ risk-taking in the UK context. The study uses a panel data of all listed insurance companies on FTSE 350 over the 2005-2014 period. The results show that the board size and board meetings are significantly and negatively related to risk-taking. In contrast, the results show that board independence and audit committee size are statistically insignificant, but negatively related to risk-taking. The findings are robust to alternative measures and endogeneities. Our findings have important implications for investors, managers, regulators of financial institutions and effectiveness of corporate governance reforms that have been pursued.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New School for Social Research, 2002.
Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 265-272). Also available in electronic format on the World Wide Web. Access restricted to users affiliated with the licensed institutions.

A fundamental change in societal values and economic structures is required to address increasing pressures on ecosystems and natural resources. Transition research has developed in the last decades to analyze the co-dynamics of technological, institutional, social and economic elements in the provision of key functions such as energy, water and food supply. This doctoral dissertation provides conceptual and methodological contributions to the pro-active governance of sustainability transitions. Three research gaps are identified that are addressed in this dissertation. First, a comprehensive conceptualization of learning in sustainability transitions is currently missing that comprises learning at multiple societal levels (ranging from individuals to policy-actors). Learning concepts are often not explicitly discussed in transition research even though learning is considered as fundamental for innovation processes, niche formation and development as well as breakthrough and diffusion of innovations. Second, methods for the analysis and design of transition governance processes are lacking that specify case-specific intervention points and roles of actors in the implementation of innovations. Third, participatory modeling approaches are only applied to a limited extent in transition research despite a high potential for supporting communication and learning. The conceptualization of multi-level learning developed in this doctoral research conceptualizes learning at different societal levels as specific learning contexts ranging from individual and group contexts to organizational and policy contexts. The conceptual framework further differentiates between learning processes, intensity, objects, outcomes, subjects and factors, allowing for a more detailed analysis of learning within and across learning contexts. Thus, learning contexts can be linked by processes that involve actors from different learning contexts (e.g., community groups and policy-makers), as well as exchanges of physical aspects, institutions and knowledge (in the form of ‘learning factors’). This research has also provided a classification of model uses in transition research that supports a purposeful discussion of the opportunities of modeling and promising future research directions. The methodology developed in this doctoral research aims at the analysis and design of transition governance processes by specifying the various opportunities to contribute to sustainability transitions through purposeful action at different societal levels, as well as related roles of stakeholders in implementing such processes of change. The methodology combines different streams of previous research: 1) a participatory modeling approach to identify problem perceptions, case-specific sustainability innovations as well as related implementation barriers, drivers and responsibilities; 2) a systematic review to identify supportive and impeding learning factors from the general literature that can complement case-specific factors; and 3) a method for the analysis and design of case-specific transition governance processes. Three case studies in Canada (topic: sustainable food systems), Cyprus (water-energy-food nexus) and Germany (sustainable heating supply) have been selected to test and iteratively develop the methodology described above. The results for each case study reveal that there are learning objects (i.e., learning requirements) in all learning contexts, which underscores the importance of multi-level learning in sustainability transitions, ranging from the individual to the group, organizational and policy levels. Actors have various opportunities to actively facilitate societal transformations towards sustainable development either directly through actions at their particular societal levels (i.e., context-internal learning) or indirectly through actions that influence learning at other societal levels. In fact, most of the learning factors require cooperation across learning contexts during the implementation process. The comparing of learning factors across case studies underline the importance of several factor categories, such as ‘physical a ‘disturbance or crisis’, ‘information and knowledge’. Of the 206 factors identified by stakeholders, 40 factors are case-specific and not contained in the general, review-based factor list. This underscores the value of participatory research, as general, top-down analyses might have overlooked these case-specific factors. The methodology presented in this dissertation allows for the identification and analysis of case-specific intervention points for sustainability transitions at multiple societal levels. The methodology furthermore permits the analysis of interplay between individual, group, organizational and policy actions, which is a first step towards their coordination. The focus on sustainability innovations links the broad topic of sustainability transitions to a set of opportunities for practical interventions and overcoming their implementation barriers. The methodology presented allows for the analysis and design of these interlinkages between learning contexts. While the methodology cannot provide any ‘silver bullets’ for inducing sustainability transitions, it is flexible enough to identify an appropriate abstraction level for analyzing and designing transition governance processes. The methodology developed in this doctoral research also provides several contributions for the development of participatory modeling methods in transition research. Thus, the participatory method supports an integrated analysis of barriers and drivers of sustainability innovations, and allows application in practice and education. The concepts and methods developed in this research project allow for reflection on transition governance processes from a systemic viewpoint. Experiences in the case studies underline the applicability of the concepts and methods developed for the analysis of case-specific transition governance processes. Despite substantial differences in the geographic location, culture and topics addressed, all case studies include promising sustainability innovations and the engagement of multiple actors in their implementation. The diversity and multitude of initiatives in the case study regions provides an optimistic outlook on future opportunities for large-scale sustainability transitions.