For approximately the last fifteen years, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been mounting highly sophisticated undercover sting operations in Canada known colloquially as Mr. Big stings. These undercover operations involve multiple officers posing as members of a ruthless, powerful and wealthy criminal organization in order to trick suspects into making confessions to serious crimes, nearly always homicides. The undercover officers essentially orchestrate a chance meeting with the suspect, known operationally as the “target”, and exert their considerable influence and resources to convince him that he is being inducted into a criminal gang. The target is typically a person suspected of having committed a murder in the past, but who has never been charged due to lack of evidence. Over a period of months or weeks the undercover officers attempt to build a relationship with the target based on fear, greed, companionship, or a combination of those or other emotions. The target is given tasks to perform which appear criminal in nature, but which are actually staged crimes in which every participant is an undercover officer. The target is eventually told he must meet with the boss of the gang, the “Mr. Big” after whom the sting is named, in order for a final decision to be made on whether or not the target can join the gang. The target is told that he must confess to the previous murder of which he is suspected in order to join the gang. Sometimes the target confesses readily, other times he protests his innocence, but Mr. Big will not accept exculpatory statements. Often further inducements are offered by Mr. Big, most notably a promise to derail the investigation by using his influence over corrupt justice system participants. If the suspect admits culpability he will be charged with the crime and nearly always convicted at trial. Canadian courts have exercised virtually no control over police tactics in these cases. Defence counsel have argued against the use of the evidence on the basis of a breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with regard to the right to silence and also with regard to abuse of process. These arguments have been unsuccessful. Defence counsel have also argued unsuccessfully that the statements should be inadmissible under Canadian hearsay law. It has also been argued, equally unsuccessfully, that the undercover operators should be treated as persons-in-authority, and hence that the statements elicited from the targets should have to be proven voluntary beyond a reasonable doubt. Canadian judges have also been unwilling to allow the defence to lead expert evidence in these cases to tell the trier of fact about the possibility of false confessions. The ultimate result is that there is no control over police tactics in these stings. There has been one proven wrongful conviction as a result of these stings, that of Kyle Wayne Unger. Other wrongful convictions may come to light. Short of its outright abolition, probably the best way to control the sting and prevent wrongful convictions is to subject the statements to a formal voluntariness inquiry.

The recent enlargements of the European Union brought about a strategic shift in the EU’s approach to conflict management and security in the eastern neighbourhood. The Partnership and Co-operation Agreements between the EU and Moldova contained no mention of the Transnistrian dispute, while the agreement between the EU and Geor gia included a vague phrase regarding political dialogue which may include the issue of conflict resolution. The addition of new members to the Union, however, expanded the EU into its neighbourhood and brought closer the unresolved territorial disputes. Concerns that were once further away are now right next door. While the former accession states might have served as buffers to these concerns, they can no longer, as members of the Union, be seen as such. Therefore, there is a greater need to address security issues, such as the ‘frozen conflicts’ bordering the EU. This thesis will examine the evolution of the EU’s responses to security chal lenges in the Eastern neighbourhood, and assess the role the EU plays in addressing these ‘frozen conflicts’ through the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. Fur ther, this thesis will argue that the EU has thus far exerted limited direct pressure towards direct resolution of these conflicts and has instead approached regional stability through a variety of other indirect and long term means, such as the pursuit of economic growth and political stability. In particular, the research will look at the security sector reform (SSR) and will focus on the EU’s impact, or Europeanization, in the rule of law and border management sectors of Moldova and Georgia. It will be shown that these two sectors are related to promoting political stability and economic growth, which is in line with the EU’s effort to support development in Moldova and Georgia, and thus indirectly address ‘frozen conflict’ resolution by. altering the incentive structures. This thesis will conclude that the EU does have an impact on the rule of law and border management sectors and subsequently some impact on the ‘frozen conflict’ in Moldova but less so on the conflicts in Georgia.

Denna uppsats har skrivits som en del i de studier i krigsvetenskap jag erhållit under yrkesofficersprogrammet.      Syftet med detta arbete är att ta fram faktorer som påverkar luftburna förband, vad gäller deras förmåga till rörlighet på marken. Detta för att ge en ökad förståelse samt bidra till utveckling av reglemente för luftburen bataljon. Den metod som används i uppsatsen är komparation med litteraturstudier som presenteras i deskriptiv form. Den teknik som används för insamling är litteratursökning. Två frågeställningar har behandlats; Vilka faktorer påverkar den grundläggande förmågan rörlighet hos luftburna förband? samt vad säger styrdokumenten om förmågan rörlighet vid luftburen bataljon i Försvarsmakten idag? Utifrån mina gjorda litteraturstudier av Operation Market Garden samt styrdokumenten för luftburen bataljon har jag fått fram att följande faktorer påverkar rörligheten vid luftburna förband: ledning (formering av förband, samordning), verkan (direkt, indirekt, pansarvärnsvapen) underrättelser, skydd, materiel/utrustning samt underhåll.

Bakgrund: Vid prostatacancer är radikal prostatektomi en vanlig behandlingsmetod. Behandlingen förknippas dock med besvärliga biverkningar, så som erektil dysfunktion och urininkontinens. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att belysa upplevelser av livskvalitet hos män som opererats med radikal prostatektomi på grund av prostatacancer med avseende på urologisk funktion, sexualitet samt psykosociala aspekter. Metod: En litteraturöversikt med 10 vetenskapliga artiklar som är baserad på både kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier. Resultat: Teman som identifierades var, ”Påverkan på urologisk funktion”, ”Påverkan på sexualitet” samt ”Psykosocial påverkan”. Funktionsnedsättningar så som erektil dysfunktion och urininkontinens, samt psykosociala delar visade sig påverka männens livskvalitet på ett negativt sätt. Diskussion och slutsats: Radikal prostatektomi innebar en stor förändrig för mäns livskvalitet. Ytterligare kvalitativ forskning inom ämnesområdet behövs för att få en djupare förståelse för dessa mäns livssituation. Bakgrund: Vid prostatacancer är radikal prostatektomi en vanlig behandlingsmetod. Behandlingen förknippas dock med besvärliga biverkningar, så som erektil dysfunktion och urininkontinens. Syfte: Syftet med denna litteraturöversikt var att belysa upplevelser av livskvalitet hos män som opererats med radikal prostatektomi på grund av prostatacancer med avseende på urologisk funktion, sexualitet samt psykosociala aspekter. Metod: En litteraturöversikt med 10 vetenskapliga artiklar som är baserad på både kvalitativa och kvantitativa studier. Resultat: Teman som identifierades var, ”Påverkan på urologisk funktion”, ”Påverkan på sexualitet” samt ”Psykosocial påverkan”. Funktionsnedsättningar så som erektil dysfunktion och urininkontinens, samt psykosociala delar visade sig påverka männens livskvalitet på ett negativt sätt. Diskussion och slutsats: Radikal prostatektomi innebar en stor förändrig för mäns livskvalitet. Ytterligare kvalitativ forskning inom ämnesområdet behövs för att få en djupare förståelse för dessa mäns livssituation.

In recent years the electric power industry has been challenged by a high level of uncertainty and volatility brought on by deregulation and globalization. A power producer must minimize the life cycle cost while meeting stringent safety and regulatory requirements and fulfilling customer demand for high reliability. Therefore, to achieve true system excellence, a more sophisticated system-level decision-making process with a more accurate forecasting support system to manage diverse and often widely dispersed generation units as a single, easily scaled and deployed fleet system in order to fully utilize the critical assets of a power producer has been created as a response. The process takes into account the time horizon for each of the major decision actions taken in a power plant and develops methods for information sharing between them. These decisions are highly interrelated and no optimal operation can be achieved without sharing information in the overall process. The process includes a forecasting system to provide information for planning for uncertainty. A new forecasting method is proposed, which utilizes a synergy of several modeling techniques properly combined at different time-scales of the forecasting objects. It can not only take advantages of the abundant historical data but also take into account the impact of pertinent driving forces from the external business environment to achieve more accurate forecasting results. Then block bootstrap is utilized to measure the bias in the estimate of the expected life cycle cost which will actually be needed to drive the business for a power plant in the long run. Finally, scenario analysis is used to provide a composite picture of future developments for decision making or strategic planning. The decision-making process is applied to a typical power producer chosen to represent challenging customer demand during high-demand periods. The process enhances system excellence by providing more accurate market information, evaluating the impact of external business environment, and considering cross-scale interactions between decision actions. Along with this process, system operation strategies, maintenance schedules, and capacity expansion plans that guide the operation of the power plant are optimally identified, and the total life cycle costs are estimated.

To adhere to the current requirements for NOx and CO emissions in combustion systems, modern land and air based gas turbine engines often operate in the fuel lean regime. While operating near the lean blow out (LBO) limit does reduce some harmful emissions, combustor stability is sacrificed and extinction becomes a major concern. To fully understand the characteristics of lean operation, an experimental study was conducted to map the time averaged flow field in a typical industrial, counter-swirling, liquid fuel combustor. This study examined two steady-state operating conditions, both near the lean extinction limit for this swirl burner. Using an LDV/PDPA system, 2-D mean and fluctuating velocities, as well as Reynolds stresses, were measured throughout the combustor. These measurements were taken for both the non-reacting and reacting flow fields, enabling a direct analysis of the result of heat addition and increased load on a turbulent swirling flow field. To further understand the overall flow field, liquid droplet diameter measurements were taken to determine the fuel spray characteristics as a function of operating pressure and rated spray angle. Chemical composition at the combustor exit was also measured, with an emphasis on the concentrations of both CO and NOx emissions. This large database of aerodynamic and droplet measurements improves understanding of the swirling, reacting flow field and aids in the accurate prediction of lean blow-out events. With this understanding of the lean blow-out limit, increased fuel efficiency and decreased pollutant emissions can be achieved in industrial combustors, especially those used for thrust in the airline industry.

The ultimate goal of modern constitutionalism is to protect the human rights, and its realization is the establishment of a "limited government." To maintain national security, protect our society and people from all hazard, is the obligation of the government which owning the national executive power. In order to secure the national security, national defense, diplomacy and intelligence become the most important affairs of the government, and also with less oversight from the legislative power. The national intelligence services will influence the success or failure of national defense and diplomacy. To acquiring more early warning time, intelligence services are the indispensable work to secure the national security. Depending on the principle of Rule of Law of modern constitutionalism, the intelligence organizations shall follow the principle of rule by law. Also, the positive rule by law must abide by the ¡§Vorbehalt des Gesetzes.¡¨ Basing on the check and balance, intelligence services should be over-sighted by the legislative branch. However, because of the nature of secrecy, intelligence services should be only over-sighted in essential and limited sphere to avoid endangering agents¡¦ security and operations. This paper analyzes laws, histories and practices of the intelligence organizations in the United States, Germany and ROC, as well as intelligence-and-administration-in-one or separation. We also compare the tasks, missions and laws of intelligence operations of the United States, Germany and ROC. This paper also studies on how intelligence agencies are supervised by Congress in the principle of balance and check. This paper finds that the Intelligence Service Law of ROC is equivocalness between information and intelligence. Information collection through secret way is adopted by indefinite law concept, therefore, people lack the right of information self-determination and post-relief system. Legislative oversight lacks the substantial meaning, and merely has the work of administrative oversight by law. To establish the Intelligence Oversight Board seems to be not necessary.

Along with the rapid development of industrial and commercial industries, the extent of disasters in Kaohsiung city in recent years due to highly concentrated population, newly erected skyscrapers and factories is far beyond one's imagination. By using the Kaohsiung Emergency Operation Center (KEOC) as an example, this study investigates practical operations, including disaster prevention, disaster emergency action, restoration and reconstruction after disaster, etc., of the emergency operation center at a special municipality level. Methodologies utilized in this study include literature review, direct observation, questionnaire survey, and statistical analysis by using the SPSS software package for Windows (Version 8.0). Main conclusions of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The regional plan for disaster prevention and response needs to be specified. 2. Manpower for disaster prevention and response of Kaohsiung city needs to be increased and the duties need to be specified. 3. Budgets for disaster prevention and response need to be prepared liberally. More equipments and devices for disaster prevention and response need to be purchased. 4. Personnel training, exercise and teamwork/cooperation for disaster prevention and response should be conducted seriously. 5. Persuade the public that prevention is better than rescue. 6. Actions for disaster prevention and response should be incorporated into the local communities. 7. Modern emergency operation centers need to be well constructed. 8. Data for disaster prevention and response need to be integrated and processed into useful information. 9. Set up standard operating procedures (SOP) for disaster rescue and crisis management. 10. Integration and utilization of volunteers for disaster prevention and response need to be institutionalized. 11. Task schedules need to be well controlled, supervised, and checked. Recommendations from this study are summarized as follows: 1. Set up short, medium, and long-term objectives properly for disaster prevention and response. 2. Set up a duty-oriented unit for disaster prevention and response according to the law. 3. It is more appropriate than the current organizational system to combine the KEOC and Rescue Command Center, Fire Bureau into one task force and fulfill the services at one site. 4. It is recommended that Kaohsiung city government should actively pursue the establishment of the Southern Stand-by Supporting Unit, Central Emergency Operation Center in Kaohsiung city . 5. Amend related laws and regulations for disaster prevention and response as soon as possible. All recommendations mentioned above provide not only Kaohsiung city, but other counties and cities as well, with valuable references pertaining to establishing and operating the most efficient emergency operation center.

Business transformation has become the sole means of survival for today¡¦s traditional businesses in Taiwan that were, once upon a time, star performers. So challenging has the business environment become that even today¡¦s star performers¡Xthe high tech and advanced industries¡Xwill someday become yesterday's news as well. The lessons of business transformation, therefore, are applicable to all businesses. Old school thinkers used to emphasize the impact company strategies had over the operation performance of a company, that the right strategies could alone produce effectively and efficiently performing companies. However, it has been proven over the years that the same strategies adopted by different companies could produce vastly different results. Execution has proven to be a bigger deciding factor in the success or failure of an enterprise. This study aims to demonstrate that proper and effective execution of the right strategies plays a critical role in deciding the future of a company, and success of its transformation. This study utilizes case studies, investigating how the petrochemical companies in study choose their transformation strategies, and how the choice of execution methods affects their operating performance after effecting transformation strategies. It also aims to understand the cause and effect relationship between the choice of transformation strategies, execution methods and the operating performance. Interviews and analysis have been carried out in the conduct of this study. The following is a list of major conclusions: 1.A continuously competitive company is able to deliver a high operation performance. 2.Strategies towards business transformation impact the company¡¦s operation performance. In the petrochemicals industry, the most effective strategies towards business transformation include, in order of impact, vertical integration, globalization, multi-faceted strategy. Horizontal integration is not a recommended strategy. 3.Execution affects the operation performance. Petrochemical companies with effective execution deliver high operation performance. 4.Manpower is any company¡¦s important resource. A high operation performance is also a result of effective manpower. 5.Companies that have been successful in its business transformation are equipped with leadership abilities, high quality of manpower and astute leadership by top management are critical factors to a successful company.

Recently, with the relocation of major international trades fromEuro-America to Asia, all Asia-Pacific countries have been building moreand more harbors to compete for trade opportunities. Among them, Chinais an outstanding case. In this wave of harbor booming, the number ofcontainers in Kaohsiung grows stagnantly. As a neighboring country to those developing area, we should feel threatened. There are various keys to the successful management of harbor. Efficiency of operation is the major concern of most shipping companies. Aside from facilities and equipments, efficiency of ports operation must also depend on management. In this thesis, I propose that the electronification of operation procedures and information exchange is the key to efficient management and the building of a new business model. In this paper, I use Kaohsiung Port as my case of study. Employing Inter-Organizational system structure analysis, I will first analyze the business challenges Kaohsiung faces as well as providepossible response strategies. Through methods of management and support of information technology, how can we create a more competitive organization? Secondly, through interviewing different shipping companies, I will know to what degree the management and information exchange has been electronified.I propose that a new information platform must be built up to fasten operation and improve ports logistic issues. In this thesis, I will show that single service platform of ports operation, electronification of management and the establishment of new e-business model of operation can help to make ports operation more efficient and therefore enhance capacity for competition. Based on this model of management, I will conclude that this strategy can also be applied to ports with similar structure.