The fundamental aims of this thesis is to demonstrate problems regarding key forms of liability formulated under the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard (‘FET’ hereinafter). These are problems that are likely to occur for developing countries who are attempting to prevent future breaches of the same type illustrated in the current jurisprudence, through developing appropriate responses. Principal Propositions: This thesis will propose the following regarding the FET standard: 1. The FET standard has been used to create rules. 2. The rules created under the FET standard operate on state institutions and state policy creating a framework of administrative liability that is unique as it operates without classic constitution constraints. 3. This form of unique administrative liability of FET confers a governance role on arbitrators, to control state institutions and policy sanctioned by liability, through transplantation of administrative law into the investment treaty framework. 4. This unique administrative liability is applied to developing countries through the investment treaty framework. 5. For reasons of lack of coherence of this unique administrative law and problems faced by developing countries accommodating legal transplants in the law and development movement; developing countries, those most likely to face administrative law claims, may not be able to comply with this unique administrative law. 6. If FET is to create unique rules of administrative liability, investment treaty arbitration must alter its current institutional approach to dispute-resolution under FET in order to, increase legal certainty, be sensitive to both problems faced by the law and development movement regarding legal transplantation and be aware of reasons why national courts may operate with constitutional constraints. Brief Note on Methodology Tudor’s work on the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard gives a comprehensive account of the origins and content of the standard.1 The aim here was not to repeat on what was done there but to initial key questions of acceptability regarding the content. Hence although a ten year period of jurisprudence is surveyed, between 1999- 2009, the aim here as been to predominantly highlight not only inconsistencies to deal with the important issue of coherence, but also to demonstrate the impact such interpretations may have on investment treaty arbitration as a system of rule-making, along-side issues of compliance of the content by developing states. To this end some focus is given to the following questions, which are considered questions of fundamental importance to the viability of the approach of rule-making under FET in the analysed period: What does this system of rule-making seek to do, and can it achieve those ends? If not, how can it be improved in such a role, if feasible, or is it realistic to detach such a role from it? Hence the method here is to survey the cases and illustrate what rules the FET standard is creating. Then it is to highlight whether these rules can be identified by those who may rely on them, investors, and those who face a burden under them, states. Critically, this approach does no t weigh approaches in the jurisprudence according to chronological patterns. This is fundamentally because this system was not designed to be a rule-making institution. Thus at present all decisions are of equal validity through both the existing method of identifying sources of international law and a procedural omission of a system of precedent governing what decisions take precedence over others. It is felt that to do this would be not only to create a criteria that does not exist as a matter of law, and to do so would be, as a matter of international law, wrong. It would also undermines the flexibility of afforded to the system of using a vast jurisprudence of international decisions, including previous investment treaty disputes, at its disposal in order to formulate arguments and judgments for both parties and adjudicators, respectively. My approach as outlined above, is thus to bring to the surface key positions in FET jurisprudence that illustrate the scope or rights available under three elements of it: (i) Legitimate Expectations; (ii) Transparency and (iii) Denial of Justice. Under first two, as it shall be seen, claims are posited predominantly with respect to acts of organs of the state. Under the third claims exist with respect to institutions and processes that may exist to deal with the investor’s complaints. These elements are chosen as they form the bulk of the current issues dealt with under FET, and due to a limitation of space available here to address the above key questions. The above three elements shall form an empirical basis in order to formulate a discursive and critical narrative that seeks to address the key questions. The steps in this process are outlined briefly below: Stages of the Argument: 1 I. Tudor, The Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard in the International Investment Law (OUP) (2007).The argument proceeds in the following stages: Chapter 1 explores the distinction between adjudication and norm-making, arguing that FET is used to make rules by arbitrators. Chapters 2 to 4 look at the following rules applied by the FET standard: legitimate expectations, transparency, and denial of justice. Chapter 5 and 6 discuss the implications of legitimate expectations and transparency on both investment treaty arbitration and developing countries, and any difficulties that may be encountered in practice. Chapter 7 proposes changes that may assist in dealing with these difficulties.

This research focuses on the current legal protection for agricultural biotechnological inventions in Europe and the U.S. It has been a subject of debate whether plants and agricultural biotechnological inventions which includes plants, transgenic plants and plant varieties, can be the subject of patent protection, in addition to or as an alternative to the protection afforded by plant variety rights. Biotechnological patents have been criticized for granting an excessive scope of protection to proprietors, whereas plant variety rights have been slighted for not providing enough protection. Hence, this research is built on a few main themes, namely; the discussion of IP protection for agricultural biotechnological inventions as currently in practice in Europe and the U.S., as well as the deliberation on the current system as practised in Malaysia. The research also discusses the issue of the interface between the patent regime and plant variety rights over agricultural biotechnological inventions as there are possible overlaps between the two systems, notwithstanding the exclusivity of protection of plant varieties under the PVR system. The research looks at the prospect for Malaysia as a developing country to enhance its current IP framework and legislation in order to develop its agricultural biotechnology industry. Hence, it focuses on whether there is a single system as a model of IP regime to be adopted by Malaysia in order to provide the best IP protection for its agricultural biotechnology industry. The comparative approach is inevitable, in referring to the European model and the American model as a guide. The relevant factors such as the different setting, society and economic strength are given due consideration in coming up with the proposal to amend the current intellectual property law and legal system in Malaysia. At the end, the thesis puts forward a model for Malaysia to further develop its system.

The Ultra-low-k material is required to reduce the RC time delay in the integrated circuits. However, the integration of the porous low-k material into the on-chip interconnects was impeded by the plasma induced damage during etching and photoresist stripping processes. This dissertation aims to study the mechanism of plasma damage to porous ultra-low-k dielectrics with the objective to minimize the damage and to develop methods and processes to restore the low-k dielectric after the plasma damage. First, the plasma etching induced surface roughening was studied on blanket porous SiCOH films in the fluorocarbon based plasma. Substantial surface roughening was found in the low polymerization region, where the surface roughening process was initiated by the unevenly distribution of surface fluorocarbon polymers in the pore structure and enhanced by ion induced surface densification. With oxygen addition, the surface densification layer increased the radial diffusion rate difference between the top and the bottom of the pits, resulting in further increase of the surface roughness. The best process optimization was found at a "threshold point" where the surface polymerization level is just high enough to suppress the roughness initiation. The second part of this dissertation investigates the mechanism of the oxygen plasma damaging process. The roles of plasma constituents (i.e. ions, radicals and photons with different wavelengths) were differentiated by an on-wafer filter system. Oxygen radical was identified as the most critical and its damage effect was enhanced by photons with wavelength smaller than 185nm. The oxygen radical kinetics in the porous structure of low-k, including diffusion, reaction and recombination, was described analytically with a plasma altered layer model and then simulated with a Monte Carlo computational method, which give guidelines to minimize the damage. The analytical model of oxygen radical kinetic process is also used to investigate the oxygen plasma damage to patterned low-k structure, which is confirmed by experiments. Finally, the dielectric recovery was studied using silylation and UV broadband thermal treatment, both individually and in combination. After both vapor and supercritical CO₂ silylation, surface carbon and hydrophobicity were partially recovered. However, the recovery effect was limited to the surface. In comparison, UV treatment can effectively remove water from the bulk of the damaged film and consolidate the silanol bonds with the help of thermal activation. The combination of UV and silylation treatments is more effectively for dielectric recovery than UV or silylation alone. The "UV first" treatment provided a better recovery in sequential processes. Under the same conditions, simultaneous treatments by silylation and UV irradiation achieved better bulk and surface recovery than the sequential process. / text

The ubiquity of mobile phones provides an opportunity to use them for learning programming beyond the classroom. This would be particularly useful for novice learners of programming in resource-constrained environments. However, limitations of mobile phones, such as small screens and small keypads, impede their use as typical programming environments. This study proposed that mobile programming environments could include scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones, and designed based on learners’ needs. A six-level theoretic framework was used to design scaffolding techniques to support construction of Java programs on a mobile phone. The scaffolding techniques were implemented on an Android platform. Using the prototype, three experiments were conducted with 182 learners of programming from four universities in South Africa and Kenya. Evaluation was conducted to investigate: (i) which scaffolding techniques could support the construction of Java programs on a mobile phone; and (ii) the effect on learners of using these scaffolding techniques to construct Java programs on a mobile phone. Data was collected using computer logs, questionnaires, and image and video recordings. It was found that static scaffolding, such as a program overview and constructing a program one part at a time, supported the construction of programs on a mobile phone. It was also found that automatic scaffolding, such as error prompts and statement dialogs, and user-initiated scaffolding, such as viewing of the full program while creating parts of a program, supported learners to construct programs on the mobile phone. The study also found that the scaffolding techniques enabled learners to attempt and complete more tasks than a non-scaffolded environment. Further, the scaffolding techniques enabled learners to complete programs efficiently, and captured syntactical errors early during program creation. The results also indicated that after the initial familiarization with the scaffolded environment, the scaffolding techniques could enable faster completion of programs. Learners’ feedback indicated that they found the scaffolding techniques useful in supporting programming on a mobile phone and in meeting learners’ needs. This study provides empirical evidence that scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones and designed based on learners’ needs could support the construction of programs on a mobile phone.

Concentrated ownership is perceived as an inefficient form of ownership because it allegedly increases the risk of minority expropriation, which is further exacerbated by the disproportionality of control and cash-flow rights of the controller. This thesis challenges the perception of concentration as a per se inefficient ownership structure. It argues that the 'inefficiency bias' is based on the oversimplified, incorrect assumption that concentration is characterised by the presence of one controlling shareholder and therefore disregards the variety of the forms of concentration. To substantiate this argument, this thesis categorises the forms of concentration based on the identity and number of the controllers and examines their impact on corporate governance. It is shown, that the distinct characteristics of the varieties of shareholders' profiles have an ambivalent impact on corporate governance: Families are strongly committed investors but also prone to extract private benefits of control; the state is inefficient in monitoring but can also be a driver of good corporate governance practices; multiple large shareholders improve internal contestability of control but shareholders' agreements can also be used for minority expropriation. In this context, the effectiveness of the legal framework to mitigate the arising corporate governance problems becomes the key factor which differentiates efficient from inefficient corporate ownership structures. The different corporate governance problems of concentration imply that adapted legal solutions and adequately flexible rules are the prerequisites of effective investor protection. Given the varieties of concentration, legal effectiveness and strong investor protection can therefore only be defined by reference to a given ownership structure. This thesis presents concrete examples of investor protection mechanisms which are adapted to the distinct characteristics of the varieties of concentration: In the case of family and state ownership, effective minority protection takes the form of special minority rights of board-representation; within multiple large blockholdings, shareholders' agreements limit the abuse of the governance rights of majority shareholders. Ultimately, the thesis deals with the implications of this complex interaction between ownership structures and corporate governance which compromise the reliability of indices as a metric of the quality of corporate governance, to the extent that the applied methodology fails to encompass the differences in shareholders' profiles and that a functional approach to the substantive legal analysis preceding the compilation of an index is not adopted.

This thesis examines the management of diversity through federation and the role of the federal arbiter. It does this by focusing on the plurinational federation of Canada and its federal arbiter, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). Its aim is to advance federal theory and policy (both for Canada and beyond) by looking at the important role the SCC has played in the management of conflict over the very nature of the federation. Through a comprehensive review of the SCC’s federal jurisprudence since 1980, the thesis demonstrates that the Court tends to impose particular understandings of the federation through its decisions. I argue such an approach by a federal arbiter is detrimental to the legitimacy of the federation and its ability to manage diversity. However, in a number of decisions, the Court recognizes federation as the process and outcome of negotiation between the subscribers of legitimate perspectives on the nature of the order. I argue this approach, which seeks to facilitate negotiation, can generate legitimacy for the federation and the way it manages conflict. These two lines of analysis support the point that federal arbiters are particularly important in managing conflict in diverse federations. The thesis consists of two broad sections. The first looks at the main approaches to managing diversity via federation and the associated roles for the federal arbiter, both in the Canadian context and more broadly. The second section looks at the SCC’s work as the federal arbiter to determine the extent to which it adheres to the facilitative approach. The thesis concludes by reflecting on the potential issues with this approach to managing diversity via federation and role for the federal arbiter, including its applicability beyond Canada.

This thesis argues that European Union law can serve as an instrument for the extension of the values of justice beyond the nation state. Approaching the question of justice from this perspective, however, presupposes three things: it challenges us to think beyond the contractarian reflex that equates justice with political self-determination by a demos; it demands that we allocate legal authority between the national and European level in accordance with their respective capacity to 'do' justice; and it requires that we construct transnational ideas of solidarity that integrate the different elements into a single, coherent, ethics of justice. This thesis offers all three. It argues that the ethics of justice that is emerging in the European Union focuses on allowing its citizens to live a 'good life', which both requires access to the positive entitlements that emerge from the national welfare states and depends on the capacity of the free movement rights to enlarge the range of available choices for citizens in deciding how to live that life. The stability of this tiered conception of justice, however, presupposes the careful incorporation of the normative assumptions that bind and connect individual citizens in Europe within the reciprocal structures that sustain the national welfare state. This thesis suggests that transnational solidarity can serve as a device for such incorporation. The first part describes a theory of transnational solidarity that distinguishes between the rights that Union citizens accrue under market solidarity, communitarian solidarity, and aspirational solidarity. The bulk of the thesis offers a critical in-depth comparative analysis of the incorporation of the demands of transnational solidarity by the Union legislator and the Court of Justice within the particular context of healthcare, education, social security and social assistance, and labour law.

Private international law has traditionally been perceived as a field of law concerned with resolving individual private disputes and achieving private justice and fairness in individual cases. This dissertation challenges this view by examining the systemic function of European private international law of employment, one of allocating and protecting regulatory (i.e. legislative and adjudicatory) authority of states in the field of labour law, thus maintaining and managing the diversity of European national labour law systems and safeguarding the objectives of uniform and harmonised EU employment legislation. This dissertation also explores the changes that the ‘Europeanization’ of private international law of employment has brought about in the traditional rules and perception in this field of law in England. In addition to introducing special rules of jurisdiction in employment matters that had not existed before, the European private international law instruments have largely merged the traditionally perceived contractual, statutory and tortious claims into one type of claim for choice-of-law purposes, thereby also abolishing concurrent causes of action. The conceptualisation of this field of law in terms of its regulatory function reveals something about the nature of private international law as a whole. The fact that European private international law of employment performs a regulatory function is a piece of evidence for the proposition that the division between the ‘private’ and the ‘public’, traditionally perceived as embedded in the foundations of the discipline and even expressed in its very name, has faded away.

This thesis addresses the nature of European Union criminal law (ECL). It claims that ECL has evolved along two main expanding dynamics, both with a significant punitive emphasis. The first dynamic of ECL focuses on the fight against a particular type of criminality that the European Union perceives as threatening to its goals - ‘Euro-crime’ - a criminality with particular features (complex in structure and which attempts primarily against public goods) that reflects the nature of contemporary societies. This focus was brought about by rationales such as the fight against organised crime, the protection of EU interests and policies, and recently, the protection of the victim. In turn, the second dynamic of ECL reinforces the State’s capacity to investigate, prosecute and punish beyond its own national borders. It does so, not only in relation to Euro-crime, but also in relation to a broader range of criminality. This thesis will further argue that these two dynamics have contributed to a more severe penality across the European Union by increasing levels of formal criminalisation; by facilitating criminal investigation, prosecution and punishment; and by placing more pressure on more lenient States. Furthermore, it will claim that this punitive emphasis of ECL has, more recently, begun to be nuanced. This has taken place at the national level as some Member States have shown reluctance to fully accepting the enhanced punitive tone of ECL instruments. It has also taken place at EU level as the punitive emphasis of EU legal instruments was modulated and the protection of fundamental rights has taken a more central place in the ‘post Lisbon’ framework. Thus, at this later stage of ECL a dialectic between punitiveness and moderation began to surface.

This thesis builds a normative theory of tort law by exploring the philosophical foundations of harm, actionability and corrective duties. In chapters 1 and 2 I survey previous literature in tort theory, arguing that normative questions have generally been neglected in favour of interpretive ones. I also defend the case-based methodology, familiar to moral philosophers, which I employ throughout. In chapter 3 I investigate the metaphysics of harm, making two claims: first, we should define harm as setback to wellbeing, and second, we should accept a complex version of the counterfactual view. In chapter 4 I distinguish between two fundamental forms of corrective action – negating and counterbalancing – and argue that they have important implications for tort theory. In chapter 5 I inquire whether a victim’s false beliefs about her wellbeing should have any impact on her claim to compensation against a wrongdoer. Chapter 6 offers a critique of George Fletcher’s theory of reciprocity as a moral basis for corrective duties. Having rejected it, I propose a set of alternative principles that more plausibly explains our judgement about whether an injurer ought to compensate her victim. Finally, chapter 7 discusses the relationship between corrective and distributive justice. I argue that, contrary to the claims of some theorists, corrective justice cannot be insulated from distributive justice.