Universiẗat, Diss., 2002--Jena.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2004--Münster (Westfalen).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Trier, 2005/2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. xiii-xxiii).

Zugl.: Berlin, Humboldt-Univ., Diss., 2007

A key expectation of elections is that voters hold elected officials to account for their performance in office. A contradiction exists in the literature between those who believe voters are incapable of exercising accountability and those who believe voters are successfully able to do so. This thesis addresses this contradiction and presents four empirical case studies in which I test the conditions under which voters exercise accountability. In order to explore these conditions I focus on situations in which partisan voters in the US receive a performance signal that directly contradicts their partisan loyalty. I refer to these voters as cross-pressured partisans. In the thesis I examine who these voters are and how they behave at election time. I find that partisans are responsive to signals about the quality of economic management of the incumbent government and that candidate competence matters at the local level. I find that the electoral response to corruption is more mixed. Although some partisans punish their party in light of a corruption scandal, corruption also depresses turnout and a lab experiment shows that voters do not punish candidates who embezzle funds if the candidate shares their group identity. The thesis finds that three factors moderate the extent to which partisan voters hold their own party to account: (1) individual voter characteristics; (2) the electoral context and; (3) the type of government performance. First, partisan voters with strong levels of affiliation to a party are less likely to exercise accountability whereas those with moderate levels are most likely to do so. Second, if the partisan stakes of an election are high, democratic accountability is low. Third, although partisan voters exercise accountability in the domain of economic management and candidate competence, the electoral response to corruption is more mixed. The thesis shows that there are many partisans who are conflicted between their loyalty to their party and their evaluations of incumbent performance. Under certain conditions this conflict incites behavioural change at election time. Partisans are therefore not incapable of holding their preferred candidate or party to account for their performance in office, but neither should they always be expected to do so.

Our knowledge of climate variability in the densely populated Northeastern United States is limited to instrumental data of the last century. Most regional paleoclimate proxies reflect a mix of climate responses, which makes reconstructing historical climate a challenge. Here we analyze tree-ring chronologies from Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides) as a potential regional paleotemperature proxy. We evaluate our tree-ring network for spatiotemporal climate signal strength and reconstruction skill across New England. Atlantic white cedar sites in the northern section of the species' range exhibit positive significant annual growth relationships with local and regional temperatures. Chronologies constructed from northern sites yield skillful reconstructions of temperature that reproduce centennial, multidecadal, and interannual variability in the instrumental record, providing a novel paleotemperature record for New England.

Oil is the world's most valuable energy resource without which no highly industrialized society can survive and whose availability must be guaranteed, if necessary by military. This thesis contributes to supporting this reality by analyzing the role of oil in the process of providing for the energy security in the United States. The framework introduces the concept of oil in the economy and its position in providing for the energy security.

La Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) fue sede de la segunda edición del “University Premium Training” organizada por Bloomberg, empresa líder en información financiera y económica a nivel mundial. / El evento, que fue realizado los días 5, 6 y 7 de noviembre en el campus San Isidro, tuvo como objetivo poder reforzar las competencias de los docentes de diversas universidades de Lima que emplean Bloomberg como una herramienta didáctica para la educación y planificación financiera. Esta compañía brinda herramientas de software financiero, como análisis, plataformas de comercio capital y servicios de datos para las empresas quienes deseen consultar información bursátil y financiera en tiempo real. / Además, se contó con la participación de expertos que emplean la herramienta como apoyo para la toma de decisión financiero: Lizzette Lara; especialista en riesgos y derivados, André Lapponi; especialista Senior en Portafolio y Análisis técnico, Pedro Cortejo, CEO-Founder de Decision Capital, entre otros. / Se explica el análisis de las últimas crisis en USA, la estrategia de Warren Buffet, la selección de acciones y portafolio. Ponente: André Lapponi, especialista senior en portafolios y análisis técnico – Bloomberg.

The diploma thesis deals with the causes, progress and consequences of the overthrow of the democratically elected and reform president of Guatemala - Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán in 1954 - the coup d'état of the "National Liberation Army" under the leadership of Carlos Castillo Armas and his "secret" US allies. The main reasons for the overthrow of the Árbenz's regime in Guatemala were the potential threat of "leaking of international communism" in the US sphere of influence, i.e. Western Hemisphere and threat of US economic interests in Guatemala which are interrelated with the agrarian reform declared by president Árbenz. The aim of this diploma thesis is to answer key questions related to the overthrow of president Árbenz in 1954. Keywords: Guatemala, USA, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, Carlos Castillo Armas, Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thesis deals with female prisoners in the American prison system and their overall position within the system. The research question is whether the American prison system is able to reflect the increase of incarcerated females as well as the differences between needs of incarcerated males and females. Likewise, the thesis also aims at researching whether the prison system offers the care incarcerated females need. The thesis outlines a brief history of the U.S. modern prison system's origin and development as well as its current main attributes together with financing. The main part is devoted to incarcerated women, their positions and conditions that await them in the prison. Because the needs of incarcerated women differ from men's, for example regarding the health care, this thesis tries to describe their needs as well as how they differ from the needs of male inmates. An important part of the thesis is devoted to health care provision in the prison. Health care is a good example that illustrates that female inmates have different needs regarding check-ups, diagnosis and needed medications. It is also described how pregnant and mentally ill inmates are treated. As an answer to different needs of female prisoner a possibility of gender- responsive treatment is discussed. This treatment would...