The growing interest among consumers in the link between diet and health makes functional food one of the fastest growing sectors in the global food industry, especially functional dairy products. Understanding consumer choices with respect to functional food is an important and relatively new research area. Given the credence nature of functional food attributes, labelling plays a key role in allowing consumers to make informed choices about foods with enhanced health attributes. In 2007, Canada launched a review of the regulatory system for health claims on functional foods, which included rules concerning the approval, labelling and verification of health claims. In 2010 two new health claims related to oat products and plant sterols were approved by Health Canada. An analysis of how consumers respond to health claim information is therefore timely. This thesis focuses on examining the effects of different types of labelling and verification of health claims on consumers stated preferences for a specific functional food product, Omega-3 milk. The analysis incorporates reference-dependent effects. This study improves the knowledge of Canadian consumer understanding of health claims and the impact of health claims on consumer choice. This research is one of the first studies to simultaneously examine the effects of different types of health claims (e.g. function claims, risk reduction claims and disease prevention claims) and other ways of signalling or implying health benefits (e.g. symbols) on Canadian consumers' functional food choices. This study contributes to the knowledge in this domain by providing a comparative analysis of different types of labelling strategies. The extant knowledge of labelling effects in the formats of risk reduction claims, disease prevention claims and symbols or imagery on functional foods is limited. One of the primary contributions of this study is addressing this gap in the literature. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on random utility theory. A stated preference choice experiment is designed to examine consumers' response to Omega-3 milk under different labelling scenarios. Using data from an online survey of 740 Canadians conducted in summer 2009, discrete choice models, including Conditional Logit, Random Parameter Logit and Latent Class models, and Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) values are estimated. The results suggest that full labelling (function claims, risk reduction claims and disease prevention claims) is preferred over partial labelling (e.g. the use of a heart symbol to imply a health claim), but primarily for risk reduction claims. There is no significant difference between a function claim, such as "good for your heart" and partial labelling in the form of a red heart symbol. The results also suggest that consumers on average respond positively to verification of health claims by government and the third party agencies, however, the Latent Class models reveal considerable heterogeneity in consumer attitudes toward the source of verification. The influences of key-socio-demographic (e.g. income, education and health status) and attitudinal factors (e.g. attitude, trust and knowledge) provide further insights into consumer responses in the choice experiment to identify different consumer segments. Moreover, the results reveal reference-dependent effects where perceived losses of ingredient or price attributes have a greater influence on consumer choice than perceived gains. In terms of industry and public policy implications, this study suggests that food manufacturers in Canada would benefit from the ability to make more precise health claims. The implications derived from the Latent Class Models could help the Canadian functional food industry to identify target consumer segments with different characteristics for the purpose of developing marketing strategies. Furthermore, the results of this study suggest that Canadian consumers are receptive to both full labelling and partial labelling. It indicates that public policy makers need to pay attention to effectively regulating health claims for functional foods so as to balance the need for credible health claims to facilitate the development of the functional food sector with the imperative of protecting consumers from misleading health claims. Public policy makers should also be aware that the verification of health claims plays an important role in reducing consumers' uncertainty and making health claims more credible.

On April 1, 1999, Akimiski Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, became part of the newly created Inuit-dominated territory of Nunavut, even though the Inuit never asserted Aboriginal title to this island. This is why the Omushkegowuk Cree of the western James Bay region of Ontario, Canada, assert Aboriginal title over this island. Essentially, the Government of Canada has reversed the onus of responsibility for proving Aboriginal title from the Inuit to the Cree. In this paper, we examined whether the Omushkegowuk Cree fulfill all the criteria of the common law test of Aboriginal title with respect to Akimiski Island, utilizing all available printed and online material. All criteria of the common law test of Aboriginal title were met; however, the written record only alludes to the Cree using Akimiski Island at the time of first contact and prior, Cree oral history was consulted to illuminate upon this matter. I documented and employed Cree oral history to establish that Cree traditional use and occupancy of Akimiski Island was “sufficient to be an established fact at the time of assertion of sovereignty by European nations” (INAC, 1993:5; INAC, 2008); thereby, fulfilling criterion 2 of the test for Aboriginal title. As the Cree have now met all criteria of the common law test for proof of Aboriginal title in Canada, with respect to Akimiski Island, a formal land claim should be considered by the Cree.

This thesis questions the adequacy of the Department of the Interior's response to the land claims of Metis settlers in Green Lake, Saskatchewan.<p> Metis people originally settled in Green Lake because of the pattern of development of the fur trade. Green Lake was a major nexus on the fur trade transportation system, which encouraged Metis settlement and community development. After Confederation, when the national policy generated regional differentiation through uneven development, Green Lake remained under fur-trade domination.<P> National policy expansion reached Green Lake with surveys in 1909 and 1911, replacing fur-trade property relations with the Dominion Lands Act. The surveys revealed Green Lake as a fur trade settlement with property claims consistent with the fur trade economy. Prior treatment of such claims under national policy regulations promised recognition of Metis claims based on prior settlement.<P> Economic recession and World War I led to the abatement of national policy expansion. As a result, the department postponed action on the Metis claims until renewed interest in national policy settlement. Legislation passed in 1919 provided new direction to departmental consideration of the Green Lake claims. The only remnant of recognition of fur trade settlement was reference to 1908 legislation requiring occupancy at the time of treaty. The department subsequently disposed of Metis claims by offering most claimants only a right to purchase claimed land.<P> Departmental response to Metis claims at Green Lake was inadequate on several grounds. It failed to consider adequately property relations extant from the fur trade economy. It acted without due consideration for established precedents associated with the national policy. It acted ultra vires to carry out and justify a restrictive and mean spirited response to Metis claims. The retroactive nature of 1908 legislation unfairly penalized claimants in the Treaty Six area. The department's limitation of the eligibility of claimants by constrictive criteria was compounded by its failure to examine seriously the evidence of Metis settlement that would have met such criteria.<P> At the time of the 1930 transfer of land administration to the prairie provinces, the land claims of the Metis settlers of Green Lake remained unsatisfied.

The central problem of the thesis is to investigate the international legal validity of the Canadian claim to the Arctic Archipelago. In order to consider the bearing on the problem of the "sector principl" the area investigated comprised the islands, waters and permanent ice lying between the the 60th and 141st meridians of west longitude extended to the North Pole, which meridians are northerly projections of Canada's easternmost and westernmost boundaries.<p> After a brief review of the facts and law surrounding the transfer of British Arctic possessions to Canada in 1870 and 1800, the international law applicable to archipelagic formations and to the acquisition of title to terrae nullius was examined. There followed, in the perspective of international law and the historical precedents, an examination of the Canadian claims to (a) the islands of the Arctic Archipelago, and (b) the adjacent waters, especially the aftermath of the two voyages of the Manhattan and the Canadian legislation of June, 1970, extending territorial waters to a breadth of twelve miles and creating a large anti-pollution zone.<p> It was concluded that Canada's claim to the islands was very strong, either under the "prescription" or the "consolidation" doctrines, especially in the absence of serious adverse claims, and in the light of a vigorous Canadian manifestation of animus occupandi for several decades, at least.<p> Although the validity of the recent Canadian Maritime claims had been questioned by the United States, it was suggested either on the basis of the "consolidation" doctrine or in view of the evolving, norms of the international law of the sea that here also Canada could make out a strong case in support of the legislation of June, 1970.

Denna studie diskuterar hur kulturarv, i detta fall Friluftsmuseet Gamla Linköping, är uppbyggt och hur dess utformning gör att anspråk på historisk representation och autenticitet. De tre män som deltog som informanter i denna studie vet att Gamla Linköping är konstruerad genom omlokalisering av gamla byggnader till platsen, vilket skapar bilden av en liten stad i början av 1900-talet. Under intervjuerna med informanterna, frågade jag om de upplever Gamla Linköping som antingen ett museum eller en stadsdel - och svaret var komplex. I huvudsak ansåg informanterna att Gamla Linköping är ett levande samhälle som illustrerar det förflutna. Jag har genomfört denna studie genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och deltagande observationer på Adventsmarknaden i Gamla Linköping. Genom de deltagande observationerna på Adventsmarknaden blev det möjligt för informanterna att fortsätta reflektionen över vad och hur de uppfattar vara representativ och autentiskt i förhållande till Gamla Linköping miljön. Studien är indelad i fyra delar; Museum eller stadsdel?, Dåtiden i nutiden, Adventsmarknaden, Kulturarv - för vem?. I denna studie har jag diskuterat det faktum att alla kulturarv produceras av olika samtida maktcentra. Det innebär att kulturarv inte är något naturgivet objekt som i sig själv har ett värde – utan genom samtidens normer tillägnas vissa historiska kulturella uttryck värden och konstruerar subjektiva kulturarv. / This study has discussed how cultural heritage, in this case the museum Old Linköping, is constructed and how its design makes claim to historical representation and authenticity. The three men who participated as informants in this study know that Old Linköping is constructed through the relocation of old buildings to the site, thus creating the image of a small town in the early 1900's. During the interviews with informants, I asked the question if they experience Old Linköping as either a museum or a district - and the answer was complex. In essence, the informants generally held view that Old Linköping will be a living community that illustrates the past. I have conducted this study through semi-structured interviews and participant observations on the Advent market in Old Linköping. Through participant observation in the Advent market, it became possible for the informants to continue to reflect on what and how they perceive to be representative and authentic in relation to the Old Linköping environment. The study is divided into four parts; Museum or district?, Past in the present, Advent Market, Heritage - for whom?. In this study, I have discussed the fact that all cultural heritages are produced by various contemporary centers of power. This means that cultural heritage is not something given by nature but by current standards are directed toward certain historical cultural expressions of values and constructs a subjective cultural heritage.

The issue of South China Sea is one of the hottest international disputes in South East Asia due its location amid the connection between Southeast Asia to Northeast Asia and the rich resources. The undecided maritime delimitation makes the situation more complicated. Because each one of the ASEAN Claims has her own consideration of the interest, their claims and policies confront from each other's, and no consensus has been reached. However, encountering the fact that China proclaimed the entire region of South China Sea, ASEAN Claims attempt to unit themselves to deal with the threat, to negotiate the issue of South China Sea with China as a whole, and attempt to internationalize the issue. Thus, this paper is aimed to realize under what circumstance, ASEAN Claims will tend to unite in the issue of South China Sea, or vise versa, in what circumstance makes ASEAN Claims tend to collapse. According to the "Balance of Threat," China's threat to South China Sea affairs leads the changing of the unity of ASEAN Claims directly, and influences the consistency of South China Sea's policy. Besides the United States, the other side of the balance of the two counter powers, the treat brought by China in South China Sea affairs is the key to influence the South China Sea policy consistency of ASEAN Claims. "South China Sea Core interest" is one of match instance.

In today

Thesis (M. Geomatics Sc.) -- Dept. Geomatics, Univ. of Melb.

This dissertation explores the application of the techniques of mathematical finance to the achievement of investment targets and financial stability. It contains three self-contained but broadly related essays. Sharpe et al. proposed the idea of having an expected utility maximizer choose a probability distribution for future wealth as an input to her investment problem rather than a utility function. They developed the Distribution Builder as one way to elicit such a distribution. In a single-period model, they then showed how this desired distribution for terminal wealth can be used to infer the investor's risk preferences. In the first essay, we adapt their idea, namely that a desired distribution for future wealth is an alternative input attribute for investment decisions, to continuous time. In a variety of scenarios, we show how the investor's desired distribution, combined with her initial wealth and market-related input, can be used to determine the feasibility of her distribution, her implied risk preferences, and her optimal policies throughout her investment horizon. We then provide several examples. In the second essay, we consider an investor who must a priori liquidate a large position in a primary risky asset whose price is influenced by the investor's liquidation strategy. Liquidation must be complete by a terminal time T, and the investor can hedge the market risk involved with liquidation over time by investing in a liquid proxy asset that is correlated with the primary asset. We show that the optimal strategies for an investor with constant absolute risk aversion are deterministic and we find them explicitly using calculus of variations. We then analyze the strategies and determine the investor's indifference price. In the third essay, we use contingent claims analysis to study several aggregate distance-to-default measures of the S&P Financial Select Sector Index during the years leading up to and including the recent financial crisis of 2007-2009. We uncover mathematical errors in the literature concerning one of these measures, portfolio distance-to-default, and propose an alternative measure that we show has similar conceptual and in-sample econometric properties. We then compare the performance of the aggregate distance-to-default measures to other common risk indicators. / text

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the most widely used medications globally. There are generally two types: selective (COX-2) and traditional NSAIDs (COX-1). They are primarily used for the treatment of pain. They gained attention after a study about their basic mechanisms highlighted their toxicity. Several studies have reported an association between NSAIDs and risk of myocardial infarction (MI). However, the direction of the relationship is not conclusive. Further studies are needed to ascertain the direction of this relationship and evaluate the present situation with available drugs. Due to the seriousness of cardiovascular diseases as one of the leading cause of death, continuous monitoring of the NSAIDs-MI association is needed. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the association between NSAIDs and MI in a younger (30-64 years) Kentucky Medicaid population with a 12 year window of data. The three specific aims were: (1) to understand the characteristics of the Kentucky Medicaid population with respect to NSAID use: (2) to evaluate the NSAID-MI relationship with a 12 year follow-up in a young heavily-burdened population for cardiovascular diseases: and (3) to investigate the MI risk of meloxicam, celecoxib and naproxen compared to no exposure. A retrospective study was conducted employing data from January 1st 2000 and December 31st 2012. The data comprised demographic, prescription and medical files. Within this cohort, a nested case control study was conducted. Cases of MI were matched to four controls on race and gender. The results suggested that exposure to COX 2 presented an increased adjusted risk for MI (1.138(0.983, 1.318)). However, this risk was significantly increased for COX-2 only users compared to COX-1 only users (1.221 (1.03, 1.485)) and 30-40 year olds (1.600 (1.082, 2.367)). Meloxicam, celecoxib and naproxen compared to no exposure showed meloxicam presented a non-significant different risk for MI (1.26 (0.98, 1.63)) and celecoxib presented a significantly increased risk for MI (1.52 (1.26, 1.82)). This study considered pattern of use in determining continuous usage by looking at both continuous and sporadic users of NSAIDs and also considered patient switching patterns between classes of NSAIDs.