Biobanks pose unique challenges to legal and bioethical frameworks, and raise many as yet unanswered questions, including how these collections of biological samples and information should be governed and for whose benefit. While some commentators have suggested that biobanks should be regulated through specific legislation, I focus on exploring alternative models of governance. I examine, in particular, the interrelationship between benefit-sharing and public engagement, arguing that public engagement is a benefit in itself, valuable both in its own right and as an essential component of good governance, and critically examine proposals for more direct 'representative‘ forms of participant involvement and 'power-sharing‘ arrangements in the biobanking context. Central to my arguments is the concept of the "common heritage", which has been invoked by UNESCO and HUGO in relation to the human genome. From its early beginnings in the law of the sea, this concept has been linked to notions of solidarity, reciprocity and equitable access and sharing. Applied in the context of biobanks, the "common heritage" highlights the value of genetic collections and research for the benefit of present and future generations. Viewed as a third generation human right, the "common heritage" also links to notions of citizenship, civic involvement in policy processes and, ultimately, to participatory or deliberative democracy. From this, I suggest that robust biobank governance mechanisms require not only effective benefit-sharing arrangements but that these must necessarily involve provision for effective public engagement. Drawing on democratic and business management theory, I argue for a 'stakeholder' model of governance. This model draws its basic ideology from communitarian philosophy and regards any organisation (whether it be a corporation or a charity) as a 'social entity', accountable to a broad range of stakeholders. It is my contention that a stakeholder model is the most appropriate model of governance for large-scale population biobanks, such as UK Biobank, which are designed for public benefit, to enhance the health of all, including future generations. In sum, it is a model through which the common interest vested in biobank research might materialise.

The purpose of my thesis is to analyse the legal regulation of insurance of liability for damage caused as a result of a car operation. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one briefly describes a history related to the subject of my thesis. The chapter consists of three subchapters which are divided according to time periods. Chapter two represents a general introduction to the subject of my thesis. This chapter deals with injury and also in general deals with liability insurance and its legal regulation. The second chapter also focuses on principles of insurance of liability for damage caused as a result of a car operation. The main part of my thesis is chapter three which examines the current legal regulation in Czech Republic and also contains my views. Third chapter is widely divided. It consists of nine subchapters. The first subchapter explains formation of insurance. The second subchapter characterises an insurance contract. The next one describes an extent of insurance of liability for damage caused as a result of a car operation. The forth subchapter deals with the payment of premium and with its calculation. The fifth one considers the rights and duties of contractual parties. There is a description of the insurance incident and its removal in the next subchapter. The seventh...

Over the past few decades, the organic sector in most developed countries has flourished. Growth in the sector has been paralleled by a substantial amount of research on several arenas (see Cobb et al. 1999; Robles et al. 2005; Jackson and Lampkin 2008; Lobley et al. 2009c; among others). Reasons for adopting organic farming have been studied in a variety of instances (Padel 2001a). Although there is a considerable body of evidence that supports the distinctly ‘risky nature’ of organic farming, our identification and understanding of how this nature affects farmers’ decisions whether or not to farm organically are limited (see, for example, Lockeretz 1995; Duram 1999; Midmore et al. 2001; Baecke et al. 2002; Hattam 2006). It seems that there has been widespread acceptance of the hypothesis that organic farmers are more likely to be risk-takers compared to non-organic farmers. Similarly, the hypothesis that organic farmers with Non-Farming Backgrounds (NFBs) may have different attitudes towards risk has not been investigated yet through detailed empirical analysis. Accordingly, this thesis seeks to analyse the importance of farmers’ willingness to take risk in organic farming in their decisions regarding the adoption of organic farming where it is assumed that there is a link between attitudes and behaviours. The thesis employs a variety of methods: a questionnaire; familiarisation; in-depth interviews; and secondary data. The findings of this thesis suggest that not all sources and types of risks associated with organic farming are differently perceived by non-organic and organic farmers. In Devon (i.e. the study area), more non-organic than organic farmers mentioned the existence of ‘farm-related risks’ and ‘risks related to farmers’ belief’. Further, ‘risks related to financial returns’ were perceived to be of concern by non-organic farmers compared to their organic counterparts. On the other hand, other types and sources of risks associated with organic farming were equally perceived to be of concern by both groups. As expected, the recent risky environment of organic farming played a significant role in this respect (see also de Buck et al. 2001; Flaten et al. 2005). The wider environment was moreover the cause of greater concern regarding production, market and institutional risks (as opposed to personal ones) among organic farmers in Devon at the time of the questionnaire survey, when compared to the level of concern at the time of adoption. This shows that perceptions of types and sources of risks associated with organic farming are subject to change across time (CRER 2002). Compared to their non-organic counterparts, organic farmers in Devon were willing to take risk in organic farming. With regard to risk in farming and to risk in general, more organic farmers expressed risk-taking attitudes than did their non-organic counterparts. Consequently, and based on the main reasons for adoption and non-adoption of organic farming, this thesis suggests that willingness to take risk in organic farming acts as an extremely significant trigger for the uptake of organic farming. This in turn confirms what has been emphasised by many researchers (see Baecke et al. 2002; Acs et al. 2005; Serra et al. 2008; among others). It also suggests that investigations into people’s behaviours and decisions in relation to a ‘risky activity’ should take into account their attitudes towards risk in that activity. This thesis, in common with other studies (e.g. Kaltoft 1999; Lobley et al. 2005), also shows evidence of heterogeneity among organic farmers. A small group of organic farmers in Devon from NFBs was in search of the ‘good life’ and wanted to produce public goods from organic farming. Although technical, market and institutional risks associated with organic farming were of concern to organic farmers from NFBs in this study, these farmers did not have distinct risk perceptions. In contrast, they had distinct attitudes towards risk in organic farming. More organic farmers from NFBs than organic farmers from Farming Backgrounds (FBs) were willing to take risk in organic farming. Finally, and in accordance with Morris and Potter’s (1995) work, this thesis has placed 79% of surveyed farmers in Devon on a typology which reflects the fact that farmers are not homogeneous. The ‘conditional non-organic farmers’ and ‘pragmatic organic farmers’ in this typology may, with varying degrees of ease, switch between organic and non-organic methods at any point in the future due to possible changes in their attitudes towards risk in organic farming. In contrast, the ‘resistant non-organic farmers’ and ‘committed organic farmers’ at the two extremes of this typology will very likely be resistant to changes in their current farming systems. Accordingly, a set of policy recommendations which may help to increase future organic adoption in the UK has been set forth.

This diploma thesis deals with the funding of the municipal investment projects. Its main objective is to evaluate how the way of funding the project influences the process of decision-making in a municipality. The first chapter describes theoretical preconditions for a case study with respect to the different types of municipal revenues, management of these funds and basic criteria that should be considered during the decision-making process. The costs and benefits of investment projects are briefly discussed as well. The second chapter looks closely at the revenues of the municipality Hluboš and the possibilities to use these funds to finance investment projects. The third chapter is then devoted to a concrete investment project of the municipality Hluboš and its funding. The realized interviews showed that the main reason for realization of the evaluated investment project was the existence of the grant and if the project had to be financed from other resources it would not have been realized at all. Based on this comparison, it is stated that the municipality did not consider the basic criteria in its decision-making.

The UK domestic building sector accounts for a substantial amount of the final energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To this extent, the sector can play an important role in GHG abatement and energy demand reduction, essential objectives of a more ‘sustainable energy system’. Microgeneration, or production of electricity or heat from small-scale sources, have been advocated by some, including the Supergen ‘Highly Distributed Power Systems Consortium’ to which this thesis contributes, as important means towards achieving these objectives. In this thesis, three assessed microgenerators; specifically a 600W microwind system, 2.1 kWp photovoltaic (PV) and building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) systems, and a 2.8m2 solar hot water (SHW) system have been analysed through an ‘integrated appraisal toolkit’ in order to assess their respective economic and financial performance in current UK context. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is applied, based on outputs and results from energy analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA), and other tools such as financial appraisal, cost-effective analysis (CEA), and simple multi-attribute ranking technique (SMART) are also performed in order to asses how these systems perform on an individual household level or when compared to other energy technologies. The CBA, which included environmental impacts quantified through the LCA, obtained negative net present values (NPVs) for all the assessed microgenerators with the exception of microwind in a high-wind resourced ‘open’ area with lower end capital costs. The NPVs in the financial appraisal, which excluded environmental impacts, yielded relatively poorer results still. Only with the proposed feed-in tariffs would the systems all achieve positive NPVs. Given that the CBA included a substantial qualitative part, alternative tools, such as CEA and multi-criteria evaluation were applied (in brief) in order to place the assessed systems in the context of other energy generating sources in the UK, and to enable a more confident decision with respect to whether these systems should be advocated or rejected.

This was a two phase study exploring lay perspectives of medicines for dementia. In phase one, participants were recruited from 4 local branches of the Alzheimer's Society in the southwest to take part in a single focus group or interview. In total 5 people with dementia and 23 carers participated. The aim was to explore perceptions of medicines on day-to-day life. Findings fell into 3 superordinate themes: On Being a Carer; Interacting with Healthcare Professionals and Living with a Degenerative Illness. Participants described great variability in access to medicines and in outcomes of consultations with healthcare professionals. Ageism and therapeutic nihilism were commonly encountered. Phase Two was a longitudinal study exploring the impact of medicines for dementia in early stage disease using a case study approach. Seven case studies were recruited via memory clinics; with four receiving a medicine for dementia and three not. Case study participants were followed over a 13-month period. The superordinate themes were: Living with a Memory Problem or Dementia; Interacting with Healthcare Professionals and Medicines for Dementia. Even in the early stages of a dementia spousal relationships were negatively affected. Medicines for dementia enabled renegotiation of spousal relationships and adjustment and acceptance to take place. The Mini-Mental State Examination was perceived to tell only half the story and was insensitive to improvements in alertness, initiative, engagement with the individuals' lifeworld and ability to maintain and engage in social relationships. Overall both phases found access to medicines for dementia a complicated and long procedure. The methods for assessing response were perceived as threatening and unrealistic. There was a perceived need for greater education about dementia and its treatment for healthcare professionals, people with dementia and their carers. It was identified that pharmacists could take a more proactive role in providing a pharmaceutical care service.

Birks' unjust enrichment formula was intended to provide a common descriptive structure to all the instances where there was recovery. He did not, however, engage in an analysis of the various reasons why courts awarded restitution. My thesis seeks to fill this gap. I argue that without such an account Birks work is incomplete. According to Birks, for example, money and services both amounted to enrichments and so should be considered together. But there are some differences and similarities between money and services. In order to be able to group them together Birks needs to be able to say that the reasons for giving recovery in money and service cases are similar enough that they can be grouped together. The same goes for all the unjust factors. The point is, the generalisation that Birks sought to do, can only properly be done if one is attuned to the reasons why recovery is granted in each of those cases. If the reasons are similar then the generalisation makes sense. But if they are not then it does not make sense to so generalise. The argument of the thesis is that there three relevant principles to justifying unjust enrichment: the Property Principle, the Benefit-Burden Principle and the Autonomy Principle. The Property Principle states that one should not have property belonging to another. The Benefit-Burden Principle states that if one takes a benefit then one must bear the associated burdens; to put it more colloquially: you have to take the rough with the smooth. These first two principles provide reasons for considering a situation to be defective and the last principle provides a constraint for the operation of the first two. It is there to ensure that the imposition of liability will not unduly affect the autonomy of the defendant. Based on that the thesis proposes that the scope of the unjust enrichment formula be trimmed down to only cover defective transfers of money and other assets. For the other cases, a different analytical structure is needed. This is because the reasons for recovery in those cases are different.

Body temperature affects physiological processes and, consequently, has a large impact on fitness. Lizards need to thermoregulate behaviourally to maintain their body temperature within a range that maximizes performance, but there are costs associated with thermoregulation. The thermal quality of an environment is a major cost of thermoregulation because it directly affects the time and energy that must be invested by an individual to achieve and maintain an optimal body temperature for performance. According to the cost-benefit model of thermoregulation, lizards should only thermoregulate when the benefits outweigh the costs of doing so. Thus, in habitats of poor thermal quality, individuals should thermoregulate less. Using two systems, an elevational gradient and a pair of habitats that vary in the amount of solar radiation they receive, I tested the hypothesis that investment in thermoregulation by lizards is dictated by the associated costs of thermoregulating. Temperature, and thus thermal quality, decreases with elevation. I found a significant positive relationship between elevation and effectiveness of thermoregulation of Yarrow’s spiny lizards (Sceloporus jarrovii). When comparing thermoregulation of ornate tree lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) living in the thermally superior open-canopy wash habitat or the closed-canopy upland habitat, I found that habitat type was a significant predictor of accuracy of body temperature. In the poorer quality habitat, lizards had smaller deviations of body temperature from their preferred temperature range. Overall, I conclude that the thermal quality of a lizards’ environment impacts their thermoregulation in the opposite direction than predicted by the cost-benefit model of thermoregulation. This suggests that the disadvantages of thermoconformity may be greater than the costs thermoregulating as habitats become more thermally challenging.

Práce analyzuje problémy spojené s předinvestičním hodnocením IS/ICT projektů, zejména v oblasti veřejné správy. Stručně představuje co CBA je a k čemu se používá, spolu s možností jejího využití v IS/ICT oblasti. Nabízí postup zpracování CBA projektu veřejného informačního systému, její obsah a nejdůležitější součásti včetně analýzy rizik, spolu s výslednými ukazateli a jejich vyhodnocením. Prezentuje některé nástroje pro odhad nákladů a přínosů budoucí investice, a hodnotí jejich užitečnost a vhodnost využití. Popisuje hlavní důvody proč by zpracování CBA mohlo být užitečné z pohledu jak dodavatele, tak zákazníka v projektu informačního systému. Stanovuje kritické faktory úspěchu při zpracování analýzy.

Dissertation is about the problems with vaccination of children, whose part is also the inoculation against tuberculosis. The objective is the analysis of opinions and approaches of parents toward the problems with vaccination of children in Czech Republic and to discover the level of their knowledge about tuberculosis disease and about vaccination against it. To get the information needed, the anonymous questionary has been used. In the first part we will familiarize ourselves with the main terms from the area of vaccination and also about tuberculosis's basic data. The second part includes presentation of data collected, which are sorted into the bars and graphs. It includes also the calculation of coefficient of benefit for area vaccination against tuberculosis. In the conclusion of work is the summary of collected data and their rating