These days, the Supreme Court of the United States represents a very important and irreplaceable role in its home land: protection of constitutionality, explanation of federal laws, as well as appellate court of last resort within the framework of American courts. Today there is no doubt about its jurisdiction, but there were doubts. In the beginning of its existence no one was sure if the Court could overcome the initial obstacles which were in the way. This diploma thesis deals with the initial existence of the Supreme Court of the United States, its role within the framework of the US federal power system, and its progressive integration as equal with the legislative branch and executive power - The United States Congress and the President, respectively. The main objective of this thesis is to introduce the federal judiciary of the United States, show its differences from the continental system, and accentuate the importance of precedents. First, I focus on the history of the United States; colonization by British citizens, the American War for Independence, The Declaration of Independence, and the formation of American statehood in the 1780s, which resulted in the acceptance of one of the longest- lasting written constitutions in the world. After the historical excurse, the thesis focuses on...

En France, un habitant sur quatre est exposé aux inondations. Dans cette thèse, nous nous sommes donc intéressés aux mécanismes de l'adaptation individuelle à ces risques naturels. Plus précisément, nous avons examiné l'influence des caractéristiques des individus et de leurs situations par rapport aux risques sur leurs décisions d'adaptation. Pour ce faire, nous avons mené une enquête quantitative auprès de 331 personnes résidant en zone inondable dans les départements de l'Aude et du Var. Le questionnaire utilisé lors de cette enquête a été développé à partir de la littérature et de l'analyse d'une enquête exploratoire par entretiens semi-directifs. D'après nos résultats, la perception de la menace liée aux inondations et la perception de la gravité de l'inondation vécue ont un effet positif sur les intentions d'adaptation, comme décrit dans la Protection Motivation Theory adaptée au domaine des inondations (Grothmann et Reusswig, 2006). Nos résultats suggèrent également l'existence d'une rétroaction négative de la mise en place d'une mesure de prévention sur la perception de la menace liée aux inondations. Cela invite à considérer avec prudence les relations observées empiriquement entre les perceptions et les décisions d'adaptation passées. De plus, nos résultats montrent une relation positive entre des indicateurs de la fréquence et de la sévérité des inondations et les perceptions de ces caractéristiques par les répondants. Comme ces perceptions ont un effet positif sur l'intention de s'adapter, cela signifie que les personnes les plus susceptibles de s'adapter sont celles qui sont exposées aux inondations les plus sévères et fréquentes dans l'échantillon étudié. Nous avons aussi examiné les relations entre les perceptions et les attitudes dans les domaines des risques financiers et d'inondation et étudié l'influence de ces variables sur l'adaptation individuelle. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé la sous-échelle psychométrique concernant les risques financiers de l'échelle DOSPERT (Weber et al., 2002; Blais et Weber, 2006) et développé une sous-échelle psychométrique sur le même modèle, mais qui concerne les risques d'inondation. Cette dernière présente des cohérences interne et externe satisfaisantes. L'analyse des données récoltées en utilisant les sous-échelles des domaines des risques financiers et d'inondation suggère que ces deux types de risques ont tendance à entrer en compétition. Ainsi, l'importance accordée par les individus aux risques financiers par rapport aux risques d'inondation semble avoir un effet négatif sur les intentions d'adaptation. En conséquence, les mesures de prévention ne peuvent pas être considérées comme des formes d'auto-assurance, qui permettent de réduire uniquement les risques de pertes financières. Ainsi, nos résultats suggèrent que l'adaptation individuelle dépend notamment des perceptions et attitudes des individus en ce qui concerne les risques financiers, les risques d'inondation, mais aussi de leurs perceptions concernant les moyens d'adaptation aux inondations. Or, d'après la théorie de l'amplification sociale du risque (Kasperson et al., 1988), les perceptions et attitudes peuvent être modifiées par l'expérience directe ou indirecte d'un risque. Nos résultats corroborent l'hypothèse selon laquelle le fait d'avoir vécu une inondation modifie les perceptions et attitudes non seulement dans le domaine des risques d'inondation, mais aussi dans celui des risques financiers. Pour examiner l'influence de l'expérience indirecte des inondations sur l'adaptation individuelle, nous avons développé un modèle théorique qui décrit les relations entre les composantes à considérer pour étudier la diffusion d'un moyen d'adaptation au sein d'un réseau social. Ce modèle prend notamment en compte les interactions sociales. / In France, one in four inhabitants is exposed to floods. In this thesis, we studied the mechanisms that lead individuals to adapt to these natural risks. More specifically, we examined the influence of the characteristics of individuals and their situations relating to risks on their adaptation decisions. To do so, we conducted a quantitative survey of 331 inhabitants of flood-prone areas in the South of France. To design the questionnaire used in the quantitative survey, we relied on the literature and on the analysis of an exploratory qualitative survey. According to our results, the appraisal of the threat posed by floods and the perception of the severity of past experiences of such disasters have a positive effect on adaptation intentions, as described in the Protection Motivation Theory (Grothmann and Reusswig, 2006). Our results also suggest the existence of a negative feedback effect of past adaptation decisions on the appraisal of the threat posed by floods. Consequently, caution should be taken when interpreting the observed relations between perceptions and past adaptation decisions. Moreover, our results show a positive relation between indicators of the frequency and severity of floods and the respondents' perceptions of these features. Since these perceptions have a positive effect on the intention to adapt, it implies that the individuals who face the most frequent and severe floods are the most likely to adapt to these risks in our sample. We also examined the relations between perceptions and attitudes in the domains of financial and flood risks and studied the influence of these variables on individual adaptation to floods. To do so, we used the financial subscale of the DOSPERT psychometric scale (Weber et al., 2002; Blais and Weber, 2006) and developed a new subscale following this model, but relating to flood risks. The new subscale has acceptable internal and external consistencies. The analysis of the data collected using the flood and financial risks subscales suggests that these two types of risks tend to compete with each other. Hence, the importance granted by the respondents to financial risks compared to flood risks seems to have a negative effect on their adaptation intentions. Consequently, precautionary measures cannot be treated as types of self-insurance, which reduce only the risk of financial loss. Thus, our results suggest that individual adaptation to floods depends in particular on people's perceptions and attitudes regarding financial and flood risks, but also on their perceptions regarding the measures that can be taken to adapt to floods. According to the social amplification of risk framework (Kasperson et al., 1988), perceptions and attitudes can be modified by the first-hand or indirect experience of a risk. Our results support the hypothesis that first-hand flood experience changes attitudes and perceptions, not only in the flood domain, but also in the financial domain. To examine the role of indirect experience of floods on individual adaptation, we designed a theoretical model. It describes the relations between the components which can be taken into account to study the diffusion of an adaptation measure within a social network. In particular, social interactions are represented in this model.

The topic of the thesis is the connection of the renowned bard and writer William Shakespeare with the Law. The thesis points out some of the most interesting legal remarks, which can be found during the course of the study of the Shakespeare's texts. The aim of the thesis is to broaden the knowledge of the depth of Shakespeare's plays, romances and sonnets and their legal connotation that never ceases to amaze both the general public, and the readers of legal education. The thesis is prefaced by the treatise regarding the connection of the law with the literature through the Law and Literature movement. The following chapter notes reasons why is it appropriate to study literary texts for the practice of legal professions, namely in the connection to the courts' decisions. Decisions of the US Supreme Court and the Czech Constitutional Court are mentioned in the thesis. In the following lines the author notes the issues one might face while translating the Shakespeare's remarks, especially those of legal connotation ; and mentions some of Shakespeare's law-related remarks. A notable portion of the thesis deals with three plays and their law-related contents. In the passage regarding the comedy Measure for Measure, Shakespeare's interest in a topic that is still actual nowadays is pointed out - the...

This collected volume gives a concise account of the most relevant scientific results of the COST Action IS1104 "The EU in the new complex geography of economic systems: models, tools and policy evaluation", a four-year project supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). It is divided into three parts reflecting the different perspectives under which complex spatial economic systems have been studied: (i) the Macro perspective looks at the interactions among international or regional trading partners; (ii) the Meso perspective considers the functioning of (financial, labour) markets as social network structures; and, finally, (iii) the Micro perspective focuses on the strategic choices of single firms and households. This Volume points also at open issues to be addressed in future research.

The physical and social space in which a consumer finds herself is a large influencing factor on product evaluation and decision-making (Solomon & Rabolt, 2004:434). De Klerk (1999) states that, although most clothing consumers have a preconceived idea about where to go shopping for clothing and which type of clothing is desired, the final decision-making takes place within the store where consumers need information about the clothing products in order to evaluate the quality and to be able to make the final decision. It is said that retailers need to spend enough money, space and time on fitting rooms as the fitting room can be seen as the point and place where most apparel-based decisions are made (Lee & Johnson, sa:2). Fitting rooms are one of the critical areas in clothing stores; this is where the consumer tries on apparel products, makes evaluations about the products, and decisions to buy these apparel products or not (Rea, Mang & Underhill, as quoted by Baumstarck, 2008:12). The research problem of this study is that in order for consumers to evaluate apparel products effectively and to make apparel buying decisions with which they can be satisfied, the fitting room experience plays a role. However, it is not known how consumers evaluate apparel products’ quality and how the fitting room experience should be in order for the consumers to evaluate the apparel products’ quality effectively. Therefore the purpose of this study was to explore and describe the role of the fitting room experience in Mzansi youth female consumers’ evaluation of apparel products’ quality. The retail experience entails the aesthetic (stimulus, emotion and cognition) as well as functional (synchronising impressions, layout, space, service, furniture & fixtures) aspects. Evaluation of apparel quality comprises intrinsic, extrinsic and behavioural characteristics. The behavioural characteristics include the apparel products’ functional (durability, comfort and maintenance) and aesthetic (stimulus, emotion and cognition) qualities. The justification for conducting this research was that this research could lead to the generation of new information. This information may be used by retailers to enhance the fitting room experience in order to make it easier for consumers to evaluate apparel products’ quality, so that the most appropriate apparel buying decisions can be made and customer satisfaction may be increased. The confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm was used as theoretical perspective for the study. This paradigm was integrated with the literature and the relevant concepts to form the conceptual framework which directed the study. This study was conducted qualitatively where the aim was to explore and describe the phenomenon. Phenomenology was used as strategy of inquiry. The Mzansi youth female consumers, who are part of the Black Diamond consumer group, were used as unit of analysis for this study, as the literature indicates that the Black Diamonds are the fastest growing consumer group within South Africa. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to accumulate the participants of the study. Fifteen females took part in this study. Fortunately data saturation did occur, so no more participants were needed. The researcher used unstructured interviews to gather data as well as a photo-elicitation technique. The photos were used as an external stimulus in the interview process. This ensured data with depth and breadth. Two interviews (approximately 30 minutes each) were held with each participant. The second interview was only conducted after each participant had completed a specific task. The data was analysed by using the five steps suggested by Yin (2011:176). The findings showed that the fitting room experience does play a crucial role in the Mzansi youth female consumer’s evaluation of apparel products’ quality. Furthermore it showed that the Mzansi youth female consumers do have clear expectations regarding the fitting room’s aesthetics and functionality, and also how these two elements should interact and should be in order for the Mzansi youth female consumer to be able to evaluate the apparel products’ quality effectively. The findings further showed that when these expectations are not met by the actual fitting room experience it leads to the Mzansi youth female consumer being dissatisfied and therefore stopping her evaluation of the apparel products’ quality or even leaving the store. Therefore this study came to the overall conclusion that the fitting room is the place where the final decision to buy or not to buy is made, and where decisions about possible future visits are made, irrespective of the rest of the retail environment. It should therefore be treated like the queen of the apparel retail environment, and certainly not like the Cinderella. / Dissertation (MConsumer Science)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Consumer Science / unrestricted

Cette thèse comporte 3 chapitres principaux. Les chapitres 1 et 2 présentent des résultats expérimentaux issus d'un jeu de coordination proposé par Rosenthal (1981) et Beard and Beil (1994). Ce jeu comporte deux équilibres de Nash: le premier est efficace, le deuxième repose sur l'usage de stratégies faiblement dominées. Dans les expériences en laboratoire fondées sur ce jeu, les joueurs échouent très souvent à prendre les décisions qui maximisent simultanément les gains de toutes les parties. Ces échecs de coordination efficace proviennent de deux comportements: (i) les sujets doutent que les autres joueurs vont chercher à maximiser leur propre gain, et (ii) ceux doutes sont, dans certains cas, justifiés. Dans le chapitre l, nous présentons une nouvelle expérience qui permet de vérifier si ce comportement est dû à par l'inégalité des paiements entre les joueurs (qui subsiste dans la plupart des implémentations de laboratoire menées jusqu'à présent). Nos données montrent clairement que l'échec à maximiser les gains personnels, ainsi que la crainte que les autres pourraient se comporter de cette façon, ne proviennent pas de l'aversion pour l'inégalité. Ce résultat est robuste quant aux variations dans la saillance des décisions, à l'apprentissage par répétition, ainsi qu'aux différences culturelles entre la France et la Pologne. Nous étudions ensuite l'impact de l'information sur le comportement stratégique dans ce jeu. Les traitements expérimentaux introduisent trois mécanismes améliorant le niveau d'information dans le jeu: une simple répétition, des messages de type "cheap-talk" et l'observation des actions passées du partenaire. L'apprentissage par répétition augmente les fréquences de l'issue la plus efficace, ainsi que le risque de défaut d'appariement stratégique le plus coûteux. De plus, ce type d'apprentissage est remplacé par des signaux individuels. Comme les études précédentes, nous montrons que les signaux aident à prévoir les intentions des partenaires, ce qui réduit la fréquence des échecs de coordination. Néanmoins, contrairement à ces études, nous trouvons que la transmission d'information entre les partenaires, que ce soit en utilisant les messages ou l'observation, ne suffit pas à augmenter significativement l'efficacité globale des résultats. Cela arrive surtout car la transmission d'information ne restreint pas l'utilisation des stratégies dominées. Dans le chapitre 2, nous proposons une expérience qui applique la théorie de l'engagement, établie en psychologie sociale, dans le contexte économique du jeu de coordination. Dans cet environnement, le jeu de coordination, qui se déroule avec communication, est précédé par l'étape du serment où les sujets ont l'opportunité de s'engager solennellement à dire la vérité. Trois résultats principaux émergent. Tout d'abord, en présence du serment, la coordination sur l'équilibre le plus efficace augmente de près de 50% pour atteindre un niveau de 75%. Ensuite, grâce à la procédure du serment, les joueurs deviennent plus honnêtes: ils envoient des messages qui correspondent plus souvent à ce qu'ils font effectivement dans le jeu. De plus, les actions qu'ils choisissent sont aussi plus efficaces. En un, les joueurs qui reçoivent les messages, deviennent plus confiants et ils choisissent plus souvent une action conforme aux intentions qui leur sont envoyées. / Chapters 1 and 2 revisit the Beard and Beil (1994) two-player coordination game with two Nash equilibria: one Pareto-efficient, the other is Pareto-inefficient and involves a weakly dominated strategy. Existing experiments using this game robustly show that suboptimal outcomes arise as a result of two puzzling behaviors: (i) subjects doubt that the offer players will seek to maximize their own payoff (ii) these doubts are, in some instances, justified. In Chapter l, we report on new experiments investigating whether the inequality in payoffs between players, maintained in most lab implementations 0 this game, may explain such behavior. Our data clearly show that the failure to maximize personal payoffs, as well as the fear that others might act this way, do not stem from inequality aversion. This result is robust to: varying saliency of decisions, repetition-based learning and cultural differences between France and Pol and. Then, we assess whether information about the interaction partner helps eliminate inefficiency in this game. Our treatments involve three information ¬enhancing mechanisms: repetition and two kinds of individual signals, messages from partner or observation of his past choices. Repetition-based learning increases the frequencies of the most efficient outcome and the most costly strategic mismatch. Moreover, it is superseded b, individual signals. Like previous empirical studies, we report that signals provide a screening of partners' intentions that reduces the frequency of strategic mismatches. Unlike these studies, we find that the transmission of information between partners, either via messages or observation, does not suffice to significantly increase the overall efficiency of outcomes. This happens mostly because additional information does not restrain the use of the dominated action. Therefore, this chapter identifies important limitations of cheap-talk communication -- a mechanism generally considered by economists as a useful means to improve the efficiency of economic interactions. It suggests that in the absence of a pronounced link between one's words and actions, institutions involving communication may well happen to be insufficient for this purpose. This issue is addressed in Chapter 2 where we explore whether the social psychology theory of commitment via a truth-telling oath can improve the performance of pre-play communication regarding the coordination of strategies and the efficiency of outcomes. As an addition to the classical cheap-¬talk communication protocol utilized in Chapter l, we ask ail players to sign voluntarily a truth-telling oath before entering the lab. Three principle results emerge with commitment-via-the-oath: (1) efficient coordination increases by nearly 50 percent; (2) senders' messages are significantly more truthful and actions more efficient, and (3) receivers' trust of messages increases.

In the past decade South Africa experienced major political and economic changes. In addition to these major changes, South Africa is a highly diverse country and a country of extremes in many respects. Within this dynamic and diverse environment the agricultural sector has to survive and grow financially. In order to survive and grow, good decision-making within the agricultural sector in terms of policies and business strategies is extremely important and necessary. However, within the dynamic and extreme environment it is very difficult for decision-makers to make correct decisions since the likely impact of changes in markets and policies is difficult to quantify. The general objective of this dissertation is to identify and construct a type of farm-level model that will have the ability to quantify the likely impact of change in markets and policies on the financial viability of a representative farm. The specific objective is to construct a model of a representative grain and livestock farm in the Reitz district, Free State province, South Africa. The approach to farm-level modelling that is followed is a positivistic approach since questions of “what is the likely impact” is asked, and not “what ought to be” questions. Apart from behavioural equations, this farm-level simulation model also consists of accounting identities. The model is of a deterministic type since explanatory and descriptive types of questions need to be answered. The development of this farm-level model contributes to research in the field of farm-level modelling in South Africa due to the fact that it has the ability to simulate the impact of changes in markets and policies on a representative farm’s financial position. This is done by linking the farm-level model to a sector-level model developed by Meyer (2002) as well as outputs from several other institutions in terms of macro-economic variables and social variables. There are, however, several issues that became clear in this study. Firstly, positivistic simulation models have the disadvantage that validation and verification are difficult and time consuming due to lack of accurate and detailed data. Secondly, due to the positivistic nature of the model, the assumption is made that very little adjustment in terms of the farm structure takes place during the simulation process. One possible solution to this problem of not being able to simulate adaptation to changing conditions is to develop a model following a normative approach. The third problem with specifically the deterministic type of model is the fact that the model and simulation process assumes no risk. Lastly, in following the positivistic approach, the modeller needs theoretical as well as practical knowledge and understanding of the system modelled and simulated, in order to simulate reality as closely as possible. / Dissertation (MSc Agric)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development / unrestricted

The desire to obtain value and justify investments from the different Information Systems in place in organizations has been around for a long time. Organizations constantly theorize and implement different approaches that provide some sort of alignment between their different business objectives and Information Systems. Unfortunately, the environments in which these organizations operate are often dynamic, constantly changing with influence from external and internal factors that require continual realignment of the Information Systems with business objectives to provide value. When businesses evolve, leading to changes in business requirements, it is hard to know what direct Information System changes are needed to respond to the new requirements. Similarly, when there are changes in the Information System, it is not often easy to discern which business objectives are directly affected. Whilst the different Enterprise Architecture frameworks available today provide and propose some form of alignment, in their implementation, they do not show links between business objectives and Information Systems, i.e., indicating what Information System is directly responsible for different business objectives thereby allowing for anticipation and support of changes as the business evolves. This thesis utilizes insights from Business Intelligence and uses the User Requirements Notation (URN), which enables modeling of business processes and goals, to provide a framework that exploits links between business objectives and Information Systems. This Business Intelligence - Enabled Adaptive Enterprise Architecture framework allows for anticipating and supporting proactively the adaptation of Enterprise Architecture as and when the business evolves. The thesis also identifies and models levels within the enterprise where responses to change as the business evolves are needed and the ways the changes are presented. The tool-supported framework is evaluated against the different levels and types of changes on a realistic Enterprise Architecture at a Government of Canada department, with encouraging results.

This master thesis focuses on the planning of a coffeehouse in the city of Almaty in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The goal of this work is to discover the costs required to start such a coffeehouse and to estimate the return on the entire investment by incorporating mathematical methods. The main tools used are: methods based on the theory of decision and project management theory. Moreover, this thesis shows the way the precision of mathematical methods can be used when planning a project in the sphere of gastronomy. During the preparation of the business plan, requirements were set for location and qualities of employees. Further, all steps necessary for opening the coffeehouse were specified, together with an analysis of resources, costs and time for the project. By incorporating several methods of the theory of multicriterial decision making, the most favourable location for the coffehouse was found. In order to offer quality service, the best employees were also identified. Based on these results, a financial analysis and return on investment were calculated.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to cover the problem of usefulness of financial statements and accompanying notes in relation to the most important users and their investment decision making. First part of the thesis describes substantial principles of financial statements and notes and forms theoretic basis for subsequent practical analysis. The role of annual accounts information in the decision-making process is further determined. General usefulness of financial statements is covered together with its qualitative and quantitative aspects. In practical part of the thesis the scoring-based model is used to assess usefulness of financial statements by examining its qualitative and quantitative aspects. The final part of the thesis is intended to reveal main sections of financial statements which can be easily adjusted to mislead investors in their decision making. The thesis is focused on financial statements based on both IFRS and Czech accounting standards, where both systems are being compared.