The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the ideational influence of Ordoliberalism on EU Competition Law while addressing a problematic social issue that has been witnessing a surge in the number of cases, which is excessive price abuse under Article 102(a) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) within the spectrum of pharmaceutical sector. By utilizing Nedergaard (2020)’s analytic framework for Ordoliberalism’s operationalization, the study successfully proves the impacts of five characteristics of Ordoliberalism, including Politics by rules, Economic Constitution, Market Construction, Role of Consumers and Role of the states towards consumers, on the practices of EU Competition Law, using the empirical data collected from two excessive pricing examples: Aspen in Italy and Pfizer/Flynn in the United Kingdom. The study also highlights the unique features of the pharmaceutical market due to its significant impacts on public healthcare and medicine assessment. At the end of the study, some recommendations are provided for further investigations.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(農学) / 甲第20005号 / 農博第2189号 / 新制||農||1045(附属図書館) / 学位論文||H28||N5014(農学部図書室) / 33101 / 京都大学大学院農学研究科地域環境科学専攻 / (主査)教授 藤原 正幸, 教授 村上 章, 准教授 宇波 耕一 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Agricultural Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

Bakgrund: Träningsvanor som går till överdrift riskerar att leda till allvarliga negativa hälsokonsekvenser och utbredningen av dessa ohälsosamma träningsbeteenden ökar. Personliga tränare (PT) har en potentiell möjlighet att upptäcka samt påverka utövare vars träningsbeteenden föranleder en destruktiv inverkan på hälsan. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie är att beskriva hur PT på gym i Sverige upplever att de kan upptäcka ohälsosamma träningsbeteenden och påverka personer som befinner sig i riskgrupp. Metod: En kvalitativ studie baserad på fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med PT på svenska gym. Datamaterialet transkriberades och analyserades med en induktiv konventionell innehållsanalys där meningsbärande enheter identifierades och kondenserades för att belysa och presentera det essentiella innehållet. Resultat: Ohälsosamma träningsbeteenden beskrivs som överdrivna, kontrollerande, extrema och tvångsmässiga. Samtal med klienterna är en vanlig metod som PT använder för att identifiera och förebygga ohälsosamma träningsvanor. Klienternas individuella och unika förutsättningar försvårar dock PTs möjligheter att fatta rätt beslut. PTs moral, synen på sin ansvarsroll samt klienternas benägenhet att kommunicera uppriktigt är samverkande faktorer som påverkar PTs möjlighet att upptäcka och åtgärda riskbeteenden. Deltagarna anser sig inte alltid ha det primära ansvaret för klienternas hälsoutfall men uttrycker önskemål om tydligare riktlinjer som konkretiserar ett hälsofrämjande arbete med personer i riskgrupp. Slutsats: PT som yrkesgrupp har i varierad utsträckning möjlighet att upptäcka ohälsosamma träningsbeteenden på gym. Vilka strategier som tillämpas varierar med anledning av bristfälliga riktlinjer på svenska gymkedjor. Studiens fynd visar ett behov av evidensbaserade handlingsprogram som konkretiserar ansvarsfördelningen och skapar tydliga riktlinjer för att reducera ohälsosamma träningsbeteenden och främja folkhälsan. / <p>Betyg i Ladok 240111.</p>

Previous studies suggest that religious individuals are more likely than non-religious individuals to perceive their pornography use as problematic. For our six-month longitudinal study, we recruited a sample of adults from Turkprime.com. We hypothesized that more religious individuals who use pornography at baseline would report higher self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months, which would be associated with higher depression at six months. We constructed and validated our own measure of self-perceived problematic pornography use, which included two factors: excessive pornography use and compulsive pornography use. We ran two separate structural equation models, one with excessive use at three months and the other with compulsive use at three months. Contrary to our hypothesis, religiosity was not related to self-perceived problematic pornography use in any of the models. Both models were moderated by biological sex. For men, religiosity at baseline was associated with increased pornography use at six months. For both men and women, excessive pornography use at three months was associated with increased depression at six months. For men, depression at baseline was associated with self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months. For women, higher self-perceived problematic pornography use at three months predicted lower frequency of pornography use and higher depression at six months. Women’s pornography use was more stable over time than men’s. Our findings are discussed in light of theories of depression, religious incongruence, and sexual scripts.

No description available.

No description available.

Additional tax on gambling winnings was announced by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Gordhan in the 2010 National Budget Speech. This additional tax was proposed to discourage excessive gambling in South Africa. In 2011, it was proposed that all winnings above R25 000 will be subject to a final 15 per cent withholding tax. Gambling plays a significant role in the South African economy and contributes to job creation, infrastructure investment and overall economic growth. The Government faced negative comments from the gambling industry where the administrative challenges of implementing a withholding tax were emphasised. Challenges such as the difficulty in implementing, controlling and administering the proposed tax were mentioned. The objective of the proposal was questioned because excessive gambling declined in South Africa during the last few years. This led to the Government changing their proposed method in 2012 from a withholding tax at 15 per cent to a national gambling tax, based on gross gambling revenue, on a uniform provincial gambling tax base, which constitutes an additional 1% national levy. This raised two main problem statements. The first is which role of government, regulator versus stakeholder, is taking precedence through the implementation of the proposals to levy additional taxes on gambling in South Africa? And the second, is this role (identified above) the correct role that government should play that best supports government‟s objective of curbing excessive gambling in South Africa and does it justify the need for an additional tax to be levied on South African gambling? The two proposed methods were scrutinised to identify the ultimate role of the government. The fact that only the winnings will be subject to a withholding tax system did not contribute to a regulator role to decrease excessive gambling and thereby minimising negative externalities. Not all gamblers will be directly affected by this type of tax. The provincial tax base taxes all gambling activities, as all gamblers participating in gambling will be subject to the additional levy. The problem here is that the gambler will not be directly taxed and will then not be directly influenced to have any effect on their gambling behaviour. The government also recognised that they want to decrease the negative externalities that are associated with excessive gambling. It would seem that the main objective should rather be to address the negative externalities rather than the excessive gambling. It is debatable whether an additional tax levied in any form other than a sin tax would achieve this goal and give the role of regulator precedence. The role as stakeholder took precedence when the government decided to move to a provincial tax base. Research indicated that the main motivational factor behind the election was purely driven on how government would be successful in implementing an additional tax in the most administratively efficient and cost effective manner, while still benefiting from it through the collection of additional state revenue. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Additional tax on gambling winnings was announced by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Gordhan in the 2010 National Budget Speech. This additional tax was proposed to discourage excessive gambling in South Africa. In 2011, it was proposed that all winnings above R25 000 will be subject to a final 15 per cent withholding tax. Gambling plays a significant role in the South African economy and contributes to job creation, infrastructure investment and overall economic growth. The Government faced negative comments from the gambling industry where the administrative challenges of implementing a withholding tax were emphasised. Challenges such as the difficulty in implementing, controlling and administering the proposed tax were mentioned. The objective of the proposal was questioned because excessive gambling declined in South Africa during the last few years. This led to the Government changing their proposed method in 2012 from a withholding tax at 15 per cent to a national gambling tax, based on gross gambling revenue, on a uniform provincial gambling tax base, which constitutes an additional 1% national levy. This raised two main problem statements. The first is which role of government, regulator versus stakeholder, is taking precedence through the implementation of the proposals to levy additional taxes on gambling in South Africa? And the second, is this role (identified above) the correct role that government should play that best supports government‟s objective of curbing excessive gambling in South Africa and does it justify the need for an additional tax to be levied on South African gambling? The two proposed methods were scrutinised to identify the ultimate role of the government. The fact that only the winnings will be subject to a withholding tax system did not contribute to a regulator role to decrease excessive gambling and thereby minimising negative externalities. Not all gamblers will be directly affected by this type of tax. The provincial tax base taxes all gambling activities, as all gamblers participating in gambling will be subject to the additional levy. The problem here is that the gambler will not be directly taxed and will then not be directly influenced to have any effect on their gambling behaviour. The government also recognised that they want to decrease the negative externalities that are associated with excessive gambling. It would seem that the main objective should rather be to address the negative externalities rather than the excessive gambling. It is debatable whether an additional tax levied in any form other than a sin tax would achieve this goal and give the role of regulator precedence. The role as stakeholder took precedence when the government decided to move to a provincial tax base. Research indicated that the main motivational factor behind the election was purely driven on how government would be successful in implementing an additional tax in the most administratively efficient and cost effective manner, while still benefiting from it through the collection of additional state revenue. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The corporate governance set-up in South Africa has undergone fundamental changes during the past decade, with the country today being responsive to most corporate governance issues. South Africa should be complimented for its King Code on Corporate Governance, the Companies Act and Johannesburg Securities Exchange Listing Requirements which have significantly strengthened the country’s corporate governance framework. These legal instruments have been influential in limiting directors’ powers and regulating the way directors are remunerated as a way of achieving good corporate governance. The research discusses the South African corporate governance framework with particular focus on the legal and regulatory framework that seeks to regulate directors’ powers and remuneration. An evaluation of the extent to which the legal and regulatory framework restrains directors’ powers and curbs excessive remuneration is undertaken. Recommendations are then provided on how the existing framework can be improved to adequately and effectively regulate directors’ powers and remuneration so as to achieve good corporate governance. / Mercantile Law / LL.M.

X-linked myopathy with excessive autophagy (XMEA) is a skeletal muscle disorder inherited in recessive fashion, affecting boys and sparing carrier females. Onset is in childhood with weakness of the proximal muscles of the lower extremities, progressing slowly to involve other muscle groups. Pathological analysis of skeletal muscle biopsies shows no inflammation, necrosis or apoptosis. Instead, forty to 80% of fibers exhibit giant autophagic vacuoles with heterogeneous degradative content. Numerous critical functions of all cells are compartmentalized in particular pH environments established by the intracellular transmembrane V-ATPase proton pump complex. Assembly of this complex, directed by the Vma21p chaperone, is well-studied in yeast but completely unknown in other organisms. The aim of my project was a better understanding of XMEA pathogenesis, with a focus on finding the disease-causing gene. In this thesis, I identify mutations in XMEA patients in a novel, previously uncharacterized gene, which we name VMA21. Most of the mutations are located in splicing-relevant positions and decrease splicing efficiency. After establishing that XMEA is caused by hypomorphic alleles of the VMA21 gene, I show that VMA21 is the diverged human orthologue of the yeast Vma21p protein, and that like Vma21p, it is an essential assembly chaperone of the V-ATPase. Decreased VMA21 reduces V-ATPase activity, resulting in altered lysosomal pH and a blockage at the degradative step of autophagy. Towards understanding disease pathogenesis, I show evidence of compensatory autophagy upregulation consecutive to the impaired clearance. Accumulated autolysosomes due to increased autophagy continue to face the degradative block and are slow to disappear. Instead, they merge to each other and form the characteristic giant XMEA vacuoles. These results uncover a novel mechanism of disease, namely macroautophagic overcompensation leading to cell vacuolation and tissue atrophy. This work describes the clinical outcome at the cusp of tolerable reduction in V-ATPase, with implications on common diseases like osteoporosis and cancer metastasis, where increased V-ATPase activity is an important component. Our XMEA patients show that the safety margin of reducing V-ATPase activity in humans is wide, increasing the potential to utilize chemical or biological V-ATPase inhibitors as possible therapies.