There is a pressing need for better assessment of bone strength as current clinical tools do not directly measure bone mechanical properties, but offer only surrogate measures of bone strength. We conducted an ex-vivo study of emu bones to examine how two investigative devices, hr-pQCT and MRTA, compare to current clinical tools (DXA and QUS) in predicting true bone mechanical properties. We found that hr-pQCT parameters were able to assess bone strength as well as DXA and better than QUS, while MRTA was able to predict bone strength well in low-density but not high-density bones. Our results suggest that both hr-pQCT, which has the unique ability to specifically assess the various determinants of bone strength, and MRTA, which measures a bone mechanical property (stiffness), have great potential for use as clinical tools that can assess various components of bone strength not measured by current devices.

In this thesis, I describe the behavioural ecology of an Australian passerine, the Southern Emuwren Stipiturus malachurus (Maluridae). The southern emu-wren is threatened in several parts of its range, and yet information on the species’ breeding biology, habitat use and mating system is lacking. These data are fundamental to effective conservation management. My research investigated the breeding behaviour and habitat ecology of a population of southern emu-wrens in Portland, Victoria, Australia, over three breeding seasons (2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03). also collected data pertaining to habitat use from populations located in Anglesea and Lower Glenelg National Park (Victoria, Australia). Southern emu-wrens commonly formed socially monogamous pair bonds, although cooperative breeding was observed for the first time in this species, where male offspring within several families delayed breeding to help raise younger siblings. Successful nests produced 1.8 fledglings on average, however, a nest had only a 56% chance of success during incubation and nestling phases. Nest failure was mainly attributed to depredation and snakes were identified as major nest predators. The slow breeding rate of the southern emu-wren is typical of a small passerine in the Southern Hemisphere. Nevertheless, adult mortality was unusually high. In one breeding season the adult population was reduced by 50%. The population recovered when individuals dispersed from the adjacent coastal heathland to fill territory vacancies. This highlights the vulnerability of populations to local catastrophe, and potential extinction if spatial separation of populations exceeds the species’ dispersal capacity.

Thesis (Doctoral)--Göteborg Universitet. / Thesis title and abstract on inserted sheet. Includes bibliographical references.

The concern with persistant high government deficits and debts has been one of the most controversial and discussed issues among academics and policymakers during the last two decades of the twentieth century. Despite recent efforts towards fiscal consolidation in most developed countries, expensive welfare programs and unfunded social security systems can exert a considerable strain on public finances over the next generations. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate whether current fiscal policies are sustainable, that is, able to guarantee the government's solvency, and what are the consequences of unsustainability on monetization, inflation and interest rates. The first question is tested by examining the long-run univariate and multivariate stochastic properties of the fiscal variables, as implied by the intertemporal budget constraint. The second question is assessed within a vector autoregressive framework, which allows the consideration of feedback mechanisms often neglected in the literature. More specifically, the econometric methodology employed throughout the study comprises recent developments in cointegration analysis, panel data techniques, bounds-ARDL procedure, and Granger non-causality. The empirical analysis is focused on a comparative study of six core members of the European Union, during the post-war period: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and United Kingdom. The evidence suggests that only Germany and the Netherlands have been following a sustainable fiscal path, although the latter remains vulnerable to the consequences of an ever-increasing stock of debt. However, unsustainable fiscal policies do not seem to have imposed an excessive burden on monetary policies, as predicted by the conventional economic theory. Apart from Italy, there is no empirical evidence that high deficits necessarily imply monetary financing, growing inflation and rising interest rates.

Česká republika za několik let vstoupí do Evropské hospodářské a měnové unie. Tato práce je zaměřena především na předvstupní období, během kterého bude muset ČR dosáhnout uspokojivých výsledků v hospodářské oblasti a také se na přijetí eura připravit po stránce technicko-organizační. Před vstupem bude muset ČR dosáhnout určitého stupně vývoje v oblasti nominální konvergence s ohledem na plnění Maastritských kritérií a ani oblast konvergence reálné by neměla být opomenuta. Národní koordinační skupina pracuje v současné době na shrnutí úkolů ve všech oblastech národního hospodářství, které je třeba provést, aby přijetí eura proběhlo bez problémů.

Paper evaluates current status of the preparedness of the Czech economy for the currency Euro. It includes both aspects of the process, i.e. formal preparation and the real convergency. In the field of formal preparation the functioning of EMU is described, based on which current formal status of the czech EMU membership is assesed. The Maastricht criteria are considered part of the formal process as well. On the other hand, a range of real indicators, which are chosen based on various OCA resources is evaluated, giving the full picture of the current situation.

The diploma thesis deals with detailed description of adoption the european currency in Slovakia. The opening focus is dedicated to the transformation of Czechoslovakian economy, upon which the current monetary policy has been built. Next section depicts Slovak pro-european policy that culminates in entering the European monetary union. The center point of the thesis closely anatomizes changes that the new course of monetary policy has brought and defines benefits and costs of introducing Euro. By means of the analyze, established findings are applied on specifications of Czech republic.

This Master thesis is focused on the fiscal imbalance of the countries of the EMU, which deterioration was a consequence of the financial crisis. Most of the economies had to finance its deficits through the issuance of the sovereign bonds, which are associated with the longterm interest rates. The postcrisis development is characterized by the spread of sovereign bond yields. The thesis focuses on the determinants which have contributed to the spread. Moreover, the thesis discusses proposals for the common issuance of the eurobond which are seen as a solution of the debt market crisis.

This diploma thesis discuss the influence of the euro currency on economical situation and its development in Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain. It is also concerned with the debt crisis which these countries are passing through. First, I analyze development of these countries in the last 20 years prior to entering the eurozone. After that, I focus on the fulfiling of Maastricht criterias and Optimal currency area theory, mainly the convergence of business cycles. Next chapter puts in place the questions of positive expectations, which should have be brought be the euro. In the fourth chapter the work shifts in time to the period after adopting the euro and it analyses the development of several macroeconomic values in the years 2001 - 2010 in southern countries. The results of these research are explained with focus on the influence of the euro. Last chapter concerns about the path of Italy, Portugal, Greece and Spain to the debt crisis, which peaked by the incapability of further finacing some of these countries. It research the possible effects of euro as well.

The goal of this diploma thesis is to examine whether the theory of Optimum Currency Area (OCA) confirms the view that the economies of southern and northern member states of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) display different economic characteristics. The thesis strives to answer whether a hypothetical separation of current EMU into two separate monetary blocks makes sense from the perspective of the theory of OCA. First, the thesis examines the evolution of the theory of OCA with a special focus on suggested criteria and their usefulness for the analysis of hypothetical break-up of EMU. These criteria are subsequently divided into economic and political criteria and into centrally fulfilled and separately fulfilled criteria. The thesis then examines how the member states of the EMU cope with the proposed criteria.