<p>  </p> <p>Over the past decades, adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) has become an area of interest. The advancement of information and communication technologies in rural areas of developing countries offered opportunities to disseminate timely and accurate for rural development. However, the adoption and use of agricultural market information services (AMIS) remained insignificant among smallholder farmers in the rural areas of developing countries. Therefore, a sound understanding on possible factors associated with the use of mobile phone-based services in support of agricultural supply chain is necessary. This study applied an extended diffusion of innovation model (DOI). The study relied on a convenient sample of 200 smallholder farmers in Bungoma County, Kenya. Data was analyzed using descriptive and multinomial logistic regression (MLR) statistics to identify possible factors associated with the adoption and use of mobile phone-based services in Bungoma County, Kenya. The backward selection analysis confirmed that innovativeness, social influence, and compatibility were statistically significant on the use of mobile phone-based services in the study context. Overall, the results confirmed a positive relationship between the final model and the use of mobile phone-based services (M-services). Therefore, the results of this study may contribute knowledge to the domain of ICT4D in the rural context of developing countries. Further, the findings of this study established knowledge that may be useful for practical implications among smallholder farmers and policy makers in the field of ICT4D. </p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="">The study shows the financial impacts on costs per student at academic module level, at departmental level, at faculty level, and at institutional level, thereby showing the effects of cross-subsidisation at all levels of management. The reports were developed in termsof the guidelines compiled in terms of Llewellyn's five levels of theorisation.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style="font-family: Garamond / "><o:p></o:p></span></p>

During the past twenty years, the Swedish school systems have slowly changed to becomemore and more performance-driven. Private schools have been growing in general and, likeindependent schools and schools managed by municipalities, they profile themselves. Schoolsare becoming more performance and result-oriented, which has changed the roles of teachersin a dramatic way and is in general, still changing. By profiling students based on theirindividual performance, schools are able to help students identify themselves and their owngoals. The process of profiling is a slow one in which some teachers adapt more quickly thanothers, and one that is critical for other teachers to learn in order to keep up with the demandsof society.Schools, like ordinary businesses, are in constant competition with each other to keep up withthe newest and greatest models of teaching and to rank among the best in high achievements.Perhaps the downside of this modern school structure is that it is often difficult to have aschool where both school management and teachers see eye to eye. School management must heavily focus on the school’s results as a whole. They rely on the teachers to produce theseresults among their students, which at times creates a heavy burden on teachers. The teachersare expected to have a much larger role, often ones that have to do with advertising for theschool in addition to teaching their students. In order to attract more student applications,school management expects that their teachers follow a curriculum that will produce highscores and grades. This study was done with a secondary school in Stockholm, where four teachers and oneprincipal were interviewed in order to have their opinion of the discussion about teachers newposition in the school as they operate today.

Cette thèse a pour objet l'étude de la formation endogène des juridictions et en particulier ses propriétés ségrégatives suite à l'introduction de différents facteurs susceptibles de les intensifier ou de les réduire. Le premier chapitre est consacré à une revue de la littérature sur la formation endogène de juridictions basée sur les intuitions formulées par Tiebout: les ménages choisissent leur commune en fonction de la quantité de bien public disponible et du montant de taxe à y acquitter. Les différentes modélisations de ces hypothèses, les conditions sous lesquelles un équilibre existera, les possibles définitions de la ségrégation et les facteurs pro et anti-ségrégation développés par la littérature sont résumés et confrontés. Le deuxième chapitre étudie l'impact de l'introduction d'un gouvernement central mettant en oeuvre une politique de péréquation fiscale suivant un objectif bien-êtriste. Le gouvernement central peut ainsi taxer les ménages et/ou certaines communes afin de verser des subventions à d'autres communes. Bien que la péréquation fiscale soit susceptible de modifier l'ensemble des structures de juridictions stables, la condition nécessaire et suffisante pour que toute structure de juridictions stable soit ségrégée n'est pas affectée par l'introduction du gouvernement central si celui-ci cherche à maximiser une fonction de bien-être social utilitariste généralisée. La présence d'un marché compétitif du logement et l'existence de plusieurs biens publics locaux sont introduites dans le chapitre 3. Si la condition nécessaire et suffisante à la ségrégation de toute structure de juridictions stable n'est pas affectée par l'introduction du marché du logement, et reste nécessaire s'il existe plusieurs biens publics locaux, une hypothèse sur les préférences doit être ajoutée pour que la condition reste suffisante. Enfin, le quatrième chapitre relaxe l'hypothèse selon laquelle un bien public local ne souffre pas de problèmes de congestion et ne peut être consommé que par les membres de la juridiction qui le produit. Ainsi, s'il semble apparaître que la congestion favorise la ségrégation, alors que l'existence d'externalités positives générées par le bien public d'une juridiction dans les autres juridictions la réduit, la condition nécessaire et suffisante à la ségrégation de toute structure de juridictions stable est robuste à cette généralisation du modèle. / This thesis analyzes the endogenous formation of jurisdictions and in particular its segregative properties after the introduction of several factors that may mitigate or increase them. The first chapter is devoted to a survey of the literature on the endogenous formation of jurisdictions based on Tiebout's intuitions: households choose their place of residence according to a trade-off between the available amount of public good and the tax rate. The different models of these assumptions, the conditions under which an equilibrium exists, the possible definitions of segregation and the factors pro and anti-segregation developed in the literature are summarized and compared. The second chapter examines the impact of the introduction of a welfarist central government implementing a equalization payments policy. The central government can tax the household and/or certain jurisdictions in order to subsidize other jurisdictions. Although the equalization payments policy is likely to modify stable jurisdictions structures, the necessary and sufficient condition to have any stable jurisdiction structure segregated is not affected by the introduction of the central government if it pursues a generalized utilitarian objective. The presence of a competitive housing market and the existence of several local public goods are introduced in Chapter 3. If the necessary and sufficient condition for the segregation of any stable jurisdiction structure is not affected by the introduction of the housing market, and remains necessary if there are several local public goods, an additional assumption on the preference must be made for the condition to remain sufficient. Finally, the fourth chapter relaxes the assumption that a local public good does not suffer from congestion and can be consumed only by the members of the jurisdiction that produces it. Although it seems that the congestion favors segregation, while the existence of positive externalities generated by a jurisdiction's public good in other jurisdictions mitigates them, the necessary and sufficient condition to ensure the segregation of any stable jurisdictions structure is robust to this generalization of the model.

This work statistically analyses hypotheses about the presence of antisocial punishment in study of economic experiments. Analysed data source is author's own ABM simulation of antisocial punishment environment. Tested hypotheses and ABM simulations are evolutionary oriented. This represents natural selection of evolving agents (and their groups) interacting with one another. Work is divided by two independent parts of presumptions. Crucial hypothesis of the first part is evolutional advantage from retaliatory punishment, the second part tests hypotheses of evolutional benefits resulting from group selection. Findings of the analysis allow us to accept these crucial hypothesis, and it may be concluded, that antisocial punishment can be regard as an evolutionary advantage, which directly advantages individuals, as well as whole groups.

This thesis deals with the problem of water consumption in European Union and ways to overcome its excessive abstraction. The aim is to analyze whether the current abstraction in each area is sustainable in the future, and if there is any possible way how to ensure this sustainability. This work is based on the information about the development of abstraction in different sectors, changes in the amount of water that will be caused by global warming and the data on the current technical possibilities of obtaining water. The first section explains the concept of sustainable development and clarifies why the water consumption is excessive. The second chapter deals with the quantity of water and its resources, including alternative resources. The third chapter describes the water abstraction and the potential for savings. The last part focuses on policies and measures to ensure sustainable water abstraction.

Bakgrund och problem: Investeringar i företag och samhälle bidrar till en ökad BNPtillväxt därför är det av betydande vikt att identifiera investeringsbegreppet. Investeringar är även avgörande för ett företags framtida överlevnad därav är det viktigt att förstå investeringsprocessen och vilka faktorer som påverkar den. Framförallt är det viktigt att definiera detta i kommunägda bostadsbolag eftersom nya investeringar påverkar nyttan för kommuninvånarna. Trots detta faktum är tidigare forskning kring investeringsprocessens kontext genomförd i aktiebolag. Hur ser då investeringsprocessen ut i kommunägda bostadsbolag och vilka är de främsta faktorerna som påverkar investeringsprocessen? Syfte: Uppsatsens syfte är att skapa en fördjupad förståelse för hur olika faktorer påverkar investeringsprocessen i svenska kommunägda bostadsbolag. Vidare är syftet att belysa ett ämnesområde som inte tidigare har undersökts och därför göra ett bidrag inom ämnet. Metod: Studien har följt en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi och genomfört en komparativ fallstudie som forskningsdesign. Vidare var utgångspunkten för insamling av empiriskt material semistrukturerade intervjuer. Slutsats: Investeringsprocessen i kommunägda bostadsbolag är komplexa eftersom flera intressen och mål ska tillgodoses längs hela investeringsprocessen samtidigt som processen ska utformas i enlighet med offentlighetsprincipen. Faktorer som påverkar investeringsprocessen har identifierats som; Företagsspecifika, Marknadsförutsättningar, Ekonomisk påverkan, Allmännytta och samhällsansvar samt Kommunens intresse. Faktorerna påverkar investeringsprocessen gällande vilka investeringsmöjligheter som finns samt beslutsfattande om hur, vart och vilka investeringar som ska genomföras. / Background and problem: Investments in companies and the community creates a higher GDP growth, therefore, it is important to identify the investment concept. Investments are crucial to the future survival of a company hence it is important to understand the investment process and which factors that affect it. This is especially important in municipal-housing companies, as new investments affect the local residents. Despite this fact, research about the investment process has been done in private companies. However, regarding municipal-housing companies how is the investment process and which are the main factors that affect the investment process? Purpose: The purpose of this essay is to create an understanding of how different factors affect the investment process in Swedish municipal-housing companies. Furthermore, is the purpose to lighten a subject that is not previously investigated in. Method: The thesis is based on a qualitative research strategy and comparative multiple case study as a survey design. Furthermore, the collection of empirical material has been semi-structured interviews. Conclusion: The investment process in municipal-housing companies is complex because it has to meet several interests and goals along the whole process, as well as it must follow the principle of public access to official records. Factors that influence the investment process are: Company specific, Market conditions, Economic impact, Public good and the Municipality´s interest. The factors are affecting the investment process regarding the investment opportunities and also the decision making of how, where and which investment project that should be implemented.

一般而言，國際間無償移轉有兩大分析方向。為公共財理論（考慮外部性效果）；一為國際貿易理論（考慮貿易條件變動效果）。此兩種截然不同的分析方式卻有類似的結論（國際間移轉支付發生時，關係的國家之福利水準，可能會有各種矛盾的情形）。此點引起吾人之好奇，若將兩模型合併，是否使會此不同兩領域之分析結果改變。也就是說，若同時考慮外部性及貿易條件時，所有結論是否仍能成立。 　　本文中以一較符合真實狀況（有公共財之存在且考慮國際貿易）之模型成功的推翻了僅由公共財或國際貿易觀點分析時，所得之結論及矛盾條件。也得知在較複雜較接近真實之情形的模型下，移轉支出發生時，很難確定福利水準之變動。

<p>During the past twenty years, the Swedish school systems have slowly changed to becomemore and more performance-driven. Private schools have been growing in general and, likeindependent schools and schools managed by municipalities, they profile themselves. Schoolsare becoming more performance and result-oriented, which has changed the roles of teachersin a dramatic way and is in general, still changing.</p><p>By profiling students based on theirindividual performance, schools are able to help students identify themselves and their owngoals. The process of profiling is a slow one in which some teachers adapt more quickly thanothers, and one that is critical for other teachers to learn in order to keep up with the demandsof society.Schools, like ordinary businesses, are in constant competition with each other to keep up withthe newest and greatest models of teaching and to rank among the best in high achievements.Perhaps the downside of this modern school structure is that it is often difficult to have aschool where both school management and teachers see eye to eye. School management must heavily focus on the school’s results as a whole. They rely on the teachers to produce theseresults among their students, which at times creates a heavy burden on teachers. The teachersare expected to have a much larger role, often ones that have to do with advertising for theschool in addition to teaching their students. In order to attract more student applications,school management expects that their teachers follow a curriculum that will produce highscores and grades.</p><p>This study was done with a secondary school in Stockholm, where four teachers and oneprincipal were interviewed in order to have their opinion of the discussion about teachers newposition in the school as they operate today.</p>

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