Revelations of kickbacks from surgical device manufacturers to surgeons raise the question whether surgeons can continue to collaborate with industry and maintain public trust. Using qualitative and quantitative methodology, this thesis explores surgical patients’ views on financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers and patients’ recommendations for managing these conflicts of interest. A majority of patients approve of surgeon’s relationships with manufacturers that can benefit patients but disapprove of those that primarily benefit the surgeon and the manufacturer. The majority of patients do not endorse disclosure as a sole method of managing these relationships. The majority of patients trust the surgical profession to self-regulate and favour professional oversight rather than by government to ensure financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers are appropriate. My data supports my argument that there should be professional oversight of financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers, which may allow continued collaboration with manufacturers while maintaining public trust.

Revelations of kickbacks from surgical device manufacturers to surgeons raise the question whether surgeons can continue to collaborate with industry and maintain public trust. Using qualitative and quantitative methodology, this thesis explores surgical patients’ views on financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers and patients’ recommendations for managing these conflicts of interest. A majority of patients approve of surgeon’s relationships with manufacturers that can benefit patients but disapprove of those that primarily benefit the surgeon and the manufacturer. The majority of patients do not endorse disclosure as a sole method of managing these relationships. The majority of patients trust the surgical profession to self-regulate and favour professional oversight rather than by government to ensure financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers are appropriate. My data supports my argument that there should be professional oversight of financial relationships between surgeons and manufacturers, which may allow continued collaboration with manufacturers while maintaining public trust.

Activities in and connected to cities are responsible for around 70 % of the global CO2 emissions and as the urbanization to cities are likely to increase in forthcoming future, actions to handle this situation are of vital importance. Through the integration of sustainable development in cities’ urban development, this have large potential to improve social, economic and ecological aspects in the cities. Besides being the places where most of the global consumption and emissions come from, it’s in these specific places where essential effects can be reached. There’re, however, difficulties with this, due to that it requires participation and responsibility from all stakeholders in the city. Different cities have different capabilities and conditions to work with sustainable development, which is why this study examine the two cities of Linköping and Norrköping. The study is based on interviews with actors that are closely connected to the urban development in the both cities. The results shows that the cities have different historical background and city structure, causing them to work a bit differently. Furthermore, the result also indicate that the largest challenges are how to handle the transportation issue, conflicts of interests as well as cooperation between different stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: It has been claimed that the involvement of commercial companies in medical and health research poses risks relating to potential conflicts of interest. In response, many journals have developed conflict of interest policies, and there has been a proliferation of related guidance from publishers, professional associations and commercial companies, mostly centred on processes of voluntary disclosure. Studies and commentaries on these have raised concerns regarding the adequacy of such practices, but there has been limited analysis of the underlying context – how and why policies have been constructed in this way – or exploration of alternative approaches. AIM: This thesis examines how actors within medical journal publishing conceptualise conflicts of interest. It analyses their understandings of conflicts of interest: which types of interest are deemed most significant; which actor groups are seen as conflicted; and how conflicts are managed. Through doing so, it explores the barriers to, and possibilities of, change. METHODS: The study draws on two distinct sets of data. The first is a sample of conflict of interest policies and guidance. The second is 48 semi-structured interviews with actors working in a range of roles related to medical journal publishing. These data were thematically analysed to illustrate how medical journal publishing conceptualises and manages conflicts of interest, to identify perceived strengths and weaknesses of current approaches, and to identify potential opportunities for improvement. RESULTS: There appears to be an established discourse around conflicts of interest, which emphasises particular stakeholders, while others, who also have opportunities to influence journal content, are frequently absent from the debate. Financial interests are readily highlighted, while non-financial ones receive less attention and are thus often unregulated (Chapter 5). High levels of consistency characterise the ways in which actors discussed the management of conflicts of interest: for example, self-disclosure was regularly highlighted, despite the acknowledged weaknesses of this approach (Chapter 6). The existence of further mechanisms that offer the potential to assist in managing conflicts of interest were identified, though findings suggest that, in practice, these currently have limited uptake (Chapter 7). Interviewees’ suggestions of how conflicts of interest might be better managed (e.g. through greater data transparency) are also analysed. Overall, narrow interpretations of conflicts of interest and their management appear to have become institutionalised in ways that serve to limit the uptake of alternative approaches. DISCUSSION: Given the substantive importance that medical research can have on health policies and treatments, robust processes are required to protect the integrity and legitimacy of journals. This research shows that existing, institutionalised understandings of conflicts of interest have critical limitations, which leaves medical publishing open to potentially unethical practices that may be a source of bias in published evidence. This poses a significant threat to the desire to attain ethically robust, peer-reviewed medical/health research that can be used to inform policy and practice. Drawing on the interview data, the thesis explores some possible alternatives that may warrant further consideration.

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På senare tid har fråga om jäv vid konkursförvaltaruppdrag uppkommit i samband med flera större konkurser. Konkursförvaltarnas uppgifter blir allt mer avancerade och idag tar förvaltarna många viktiga beslut i sin förvaltning. Det är givetvis väldigt viktigt att en konkursförvaltare är oberoende vid sin handläggning av en konkurs. Att någon i en maktposition med behörighet att ta beslut som kan påverka någon annan negativt om den i maktpositionen är jävig strider mot grundregeln för en objektiv och opartisk rättsskipning. Det stipuleras i lag att en konkursförvaltare inte får anta ett förvaltaruppdrag om han står i ett sådant förhållande till gäldenären, en borgenär eller någon annan att det är ägnat att rubba förtroendet för hans opartiskhet i konkursen. Utöver regleringen i lagen finns rekommendationer om god förvaltarsed. Oaktat bestämmelserna antar vissa konkursförvaltare uppdrag trots att en beaktansvärd risk för jäv föreligger. Systemet bygger på självgranskning och någon strängare påföljd saknas. Konkursförvaltarna följer inte alltid rekommendationerna, utseendeprocessen av förvaltarna är oreglerad och systemet med att en person kan föreslå en förvaltare leder ofta till att en osund relation uppstår. I förarbeten, utredningar och artiklar har jävsproblematiken diskuterats och det har under åren givits alternativ på förbättringar av systemet. Förslag som har uppkommit har exempelvis varit att en auktorisation av konkursförvaltarna ska införas, att en ny tillsynsmyndighet ska inrättas och/eller att en ny lag för konkursförvaltarna ska konstrueras. Genom införandet av en auktorisation skulle utseendeprocessen för det första bli reglerad samt skulle kunskapsnivån för förvaltarna förbättras och lättare kunna upprätthållas. Dessutom skulle en konkursförvaltare om han missköter sitt uppdrag kunna fråntas sin auktorisation, med rätt att överklaga beslutet. En ny tillsynsmyndighet skulle innebära att en specialiserad myndighet infördes. Myndigheten skulle kunna handha auktorisationen, utseendet av förvaltarna samt utöva tillsyn över förvaltarna. Ett sådant system används idag för revisorerna, där det är Revisorsnämnden som auktoriserar och granskar revisorerna. Eftersom dagens reglering i frågan om konkursförvaltarjäv är undermålig är resultatet av uppsatsens utredning att en reform är nödvändig.

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Real estate firms operating in the field of tenant representation may represent both tenants and landlords. As such their interests might be in conflict with those of the tenants they represent. A questionnaire was created and sent to 800 individuals. 78% of respondents indicated that they are aware of such conflicts. Meanwhile, only 40% of the respondents perceived such conflicts to be positive rather than negative. A game theoretical model showing how a tenant hires a tenant representative was created with three different scenarios, all using data from the questionnaire to mimic reality as closely as possible. In the first scenario, a tenant hires a representative at one occasion only. In the second scenario a tenant is considering to hire the representative for two sequential transactions. In the third scenario, a contract is introduced to ensure alignment of incentives between the representative and the tenant. The questionnaire and the modelling shows that if no incentivized contract is written the representative always benefits from engaging in conflicting business and, regardless of the conflict of interest and extra benefit to the representative, the tenant always benefits from hiring the representative. However, introducing a contract to align incentives it is shown that there exists a break even point at which the representative starts to benefit from not engaging in business with conflicting interests. Moreover, there exists little correlation between awareness and perceived effect, involvement, or premises size. / Real estate firms operating in the field of tenant representation may represent both tenants and landlords. As such their interests might be in conflict with those of the tenants they represent. A questionnaire was created and sent to 800 individuals. 78% of respondents indicated that they are aware of such conflicts. Meanwhile, only 40% of the respondents perceived such conflicts to be positive rather than negative. A game theoretical model showing how a tenant hires a tenant representative was created with three different scenarios, all using data from the questionnaire to mimic reality as closely as possible. In the first scenario, a tenant hires a representative at one occasion only. In the second scenario a tenant is considering to hire the representative for two sequential transactions. In the third scenario, a contract is introduced to ensure alignment of incentives between the representative and the tenant. The questionnaire and the modelling shows that if no incentivized contract is written the representative always benefits from engaging in conflicting business and, regardless of the conflict of interest and extra benefit to the representative, the tenant always benefits from hiring the representative. However, introducing a contract to align incentives it is shown that there exists a break even point at which the representative starts to benefit from not engaging in business with conflicting interests. Moreover, there exists little correlation between awareness and perceived effect, involvement, or premises size.

Self-Dealing within a Joint-Stock Company and a Limited Liability Company Martin Pástor The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the regulation of self-dealing in Czech law with a brief regard to theoretical fundamentals that influence the legal approach to such regulation and further to compare it with Slovak regulation of self-dealing and the future regulation of self-dealing after the recodification of private law in the Czech Republic. The regulation of self-dealing is provided for in section 196a of the Commercial Code. This highly controversial provision causes many interpretation difficulties and strongly influences the legal certainty of entrepreneurs and non- entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic. As I mention in the introduction of this thesis, the legislator incorporated this provision into the Commercial Code due to negative experience of Czech society with so-called tunneling after the change of regime to capitalistic and with an intent to regulate transactions with conflicts of interests, in particular transactions carried out between a corporation and related persons. The second chapter briefly describes the agency problems, meaning the conflicts arising among particular persons involved in a corporation, problems of which are the theoretical foundation of self-dealing regulations....

Abstract The aim of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the conflicts of interests that may arise between the differing land use needs of a municipal planning agency and The Swedish Armed Forces. The study is based on three distinct cases located in the municipalities of Umeå, Luleå and the region of Gotland; each respective case presents unique contextual factors at the local level and these also serves to exemplify the issue at a national level. The work has been carried out as a case study and the methods employed were research interviews, document-based research and literature studies. The results indicate that there are significant differences in the planning practice used by the respective municipal planning agencies and that employed by The Swedish Armed Forces in terms of differing aims, methods and outcomes. The study also highlighted how the outcome of each case was dependent upon a combination of contextual factors and the impact of external factors such as national politics, changing security policy, urban development and progression of the environmental legislation. In short, The Swedish Armed Forces is a land use agency that has had significant impact on the municipal planning in each of the locations that has been studied. In a Swedish context, their land use needs are classified as being of national interest and thusly have precedence over competing land use claims. These factors have combined to create conditions in which municipal planning is, to some extent, often restricted by the land use needs of The Swedish Armed Forces.