The essence of the most advantageous tender (MAT) is to allow the procuring authorities to carry out a comprehensive assessment on the technical merits, quality, function, terms and prices of tenders in accordance with the judging criteria listed on the tendering document. In this way, the award of contract can be determined that ensures the best quality within the budget and encourages good competition among tendering parties while eliminate vicious undercutting. Scandals arose from recent procurement projects such as the ETC procurement project, High Speed Rail vibration reduction project, the procurement of Kuan-hwa Fast Attack Boat Guide-Missile (F-ABG), and the construction of the southern courtyard of the National Palace museum have attracted great attention. On March 22, 2006, the Premier announced that ¡§Award to the lowest tender should be made the rule while the MAT should be the exception¡¨ in future government procurement projects. This announcement highlighted the flaws and problems yet to be improved within the existing system. After studying related literatures, conducting a thorough analysis of the current situation and different case studies of the tender selection process, this paper conducted a survey among the people involved in government procurement to find out how they think of the selection of the most advantageous tender legally and in practice, the function of the tender selection committee, the management and the efficiency of the selection process. Suggestions for improvement are put forward based on the findings and analysis. The survey found that the Ranking Method while considering the price factor and the Overall Evaluation Score Method are the most frequently used tendering methods in the past experience of our interviewees. Price may be a crucial factor in determining the most advantageous tender. The most important factor in the award selection process is technical merits. The process of selecting the most advantageous tender is most susceptible to flaws and scandals. The inappropriate appointment of the committee members is the main cause of these flaws. In practice, the selection of committee members itself is of great difficulty. The expertise, personal bias, as well as one¡¦s understanding of the procurement could all affect the fairness and credibility of the tendering process. Besides these committee members, top officials in the procuring institutions also play important roles in the decision-making process. Cognitive differences among interviewees in the understanding of the legal institutions of the MAT selection, the functions of the selection committee, the execution of the MAT selection, the management mechanisms of the MAT selection may be caused by elements such the institutions they work for, the nature of their works, the job title, the training hours they received, whether they are professionally accredited. Yet, different years of experience did not contribute to such differences. People with different job title, nature of work, years of experience, and training hours did cause significant difference in the understanding of the efficiency of the MAT selection. Working at different institutions and professional accreditation, however, did not result in such difference. Based on the above findings, a way forward has been provided: a set of comprehensive regulations for the most advantageous tender selection should be established. A standard of procedure and module should be designed. The decision authority of the procuring institution should be defined in order to actually fulfill the need of the procurement. A comprehensive list of suggested professionals should be compiled to assist different kinds of procurements. This list would ensure the fairness of the selection process. Specify the judging criteria for prices, weights of evaluating elements, and the scoring principle. Determine a set of reasonable scoring method for prices. Provide professional training for procurement professionals. Enhance the efficiency of the MAT selection. Committee members should receive professional training in order to improve the credibility of the selection process. A performance evaluation mechanism should be established in order to improve efficiency and put the government¡¦s budget to the best use.

<p>This thesis examines whether the fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty prescribe most-favoured-nation (MFN) treatment. The right to MFN treatment concerns the issue whether taxpayers resident in one Member State can “cherry-pick” the most beneficial tax treaty available to other taxpayers. Two issues of fundamental impor-tance are examined in this thesis. First, whether a resident of a Member State (A) who receives income in another Member State (B), can claim from that state, the most beneficial tax treaty available to a resident of a third Member State (C). Second, whether a resident can claim from his state of residence (A), the same tax treatment as provided in a tax treaty concluded by his state of residence and another Member State (C), when this tax treaty provides better treatment in terms of avoiding double taxa-tion in the state of residence than the tax treaty applicable to the source of income (B).</p><p>The ECJ has held that discrimination arises only through the application of different rules to comparable situations or the application of the same rule to different situa-tions. The current state of EC law prohibits unequal treatment of residents and non-residents as well as residents who have exercised their rights to free movement in comparison to residents who have not. The condition is that they must be considered to be in comparable situations and that there is no objective difference to justify the difference in treatment. The ECJ has so far not ruled on the MFN issue. It is there-fore uncertain as to whether Member States are obligated to treat; 1) different non-resident taxpayers equally and, 2) whether Member States are prohibited from treat-ing their own residents differently when they exercise their rights to free movement in different Member States.</p><p>This thesis identifies the requirements for the application of MFN treatment and ex-amines in which tax treaty provisions it is possible to apply MFN treatment. The ECJ, has in its case law, concluded that the application of tax treaties must be exer-cised in accordance EC law. It can be argued that a well-functioning internal market cannot allow bilateral tax treaties to provide preferential tax treatment to residents of one Member State, while denying it to residents of the remaining Member States. However, the application of MFN treatment could have far-reaching ramifications on the Member States’ existing tax treaty network. It is therefore fair to assume, as has been stated in other doctrinal opinions, that the ECJ will approach this issue care-fully when providing its interpretation on the matter.</p>

<p>The aim of this thesis is to clarify the affect that preferential and regional trade agreements have on the World Trade Organization (WTO), as being establisher of the international trading regime. The essay is an explanatory literature study, which strives to answer the following questions:</p><p>Are regional and preferential trade agreements a threat or a complement to the WTO?</p><p>Is an undermining of the MFN principle weakening the WTO?</p><p>How do regional trade agreements made by the EU affect the future of the WTO?</p><p>The empirical material is to be analyzed using an explanatory framework, which is based on neo-liberal instutionalism, theories on regime changes and a game theoretical approach, using prisoner’s dilemma. I will employ the EU-ACP relation, the Cotonou agreement to exemplify how an agreement of this kind can have an influence on multilateral trade. The result shows that preferential agreements do have an impact on the WTO, one that is fairly negative in scope. Preferential trade agreements do pose a threat to the WTO, in its current structure and may be harmful to the international trading regime. It is partly because the MFN is widely discouraged that PTAs are stumbling stones to the organization. By signing agreement that do not comply with WTO regulations and considering its role in international trade, EU does affect the future of the WTO.</p>

This study evaluated a parent implemented in-situ pedestrian safety skills intervention for three individuals with autism. Specifically, this study examined the utility of using a behavioral skills training (BST) to help parents implement the most-to-least prompting procedures in training their children with autism pedestrian safety skills in community settings. A multiple baseline design across participants was used to assess parent implementation of in-situ pedestrian training as well as child participants' independently performed correct skills. Results indicated that parents implemented most-to-least prompting procedures with high levels of accuracy across streets during intervention and fading of BST. All child participants improved their safety skills significantly during intervention. For one child, the acquired skills maintained during follow- up. The percentages of their independent correct use of pedestrian safety skills were similar to those in baseline during generalization probes.

The introduction and signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (hereafter EPA’s) have been received with mixed feelings legally, politically and economically. African Caribbean and Pacific countries have taken different positions with regards to their signing, ratification and implementation. A lot has been written about the legal effect of EPA’ The Southern Africa Customs Union (hereafter SACU) has not been spared either. SACU is made up of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Article 31 (3) of the 2002 SACU Agreement prohibits any of the SACU member states to negotiate and enter into new preferential agreements with third parties or amend existing agreements without the consent of other member states. Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland signed Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union in direct violation of article 31 (3) of the 2002 SACU Agreement. The actions of these three countries have exposed the vulnerabilities and short-comings of the 2002 Agreement. The key findings of this study are that Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland have violated the 2002 Agreement. Namibia and South Africa have openly castigated the actions of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. SACU institutions that are mandated to monitor and implement the 2002 Agreement such as the Council of Ministers, Customs Union Commission, Secretariat, Tariff Board, Technical Liaison Committees and ad hoc Tribunal appear to have not taken sufficient action to penalise the actions of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. This has led some critics to argue that the SACU 2002 Agreement has to be reviewed or suspended or that it has lost its legal force. / Thesis (LLM (Import and Export Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The introduction and signing of the Economic Partnership Agreements (hereafter EPA’s) have been received with mixed feelings legally, politically and economically. African Caribbean and Pacific countries have taken different positions with regards to their signing, ratification and implementation. A lot has been written about the legal effect of EPA’ The Southern Africa Customs Union (hereafter SACU) has not been spared either. SACU is made up of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Article 31 (3) of the 2002 SACU Agreement prohibits any of the SACU member states to negotiate and enter into new preferential agreements with third parties or amend existing agreements without the consent of other member states. Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland signed Economic Partnership Agreements with the European Union in direct violation of article 31 (3) of the 2002 SACU Agreement. The actions of these three countries have exposed the vulnerabilities and short-comings of the 2002 Agreement. The key findings of this study are that Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland have violated the 2002 Agreement. Namibia and South Africa have openly castigated the actions of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. SACU institutions that are mandated to monitor and implement the 2002 Agreement such as the Council of Ministers, Customs Union Commission, Secretariat, Tariff Board, Technical Liaison Committees and ad hoc Tribunal appear to have not taken sufficient action to penalise the actions of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. This has led some critics to argue that the SACU 2002 Agreement has to be reviewed or suspended or that it has lost its legal force. / Thesis (LLM (Import and Export Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This thesis describes the motif connecting two sides of a few selected aspects are essential to the concept of integral theme. The theoretical part is devoted to symbolic and philosophical significance of the theme of the bridge, which is linked to a gradual work. It focuses on the genesis of the architecture of the bridge together with social and cultural background. Subsequently imaging theme deals with the bridge in the history of visual culture. Practical implemented using spatial concepts of subjective motive in terms of symbolism encoded in a simplified bridge construction, located in the illusionary space of emptiness, allowing mutual connection.

A tese que apresento perante a Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo tem por foco a análise dos mecanismos de controle da dupla-tributação apurados pelas Convenções Fiscais Bilaterais e os princípios decorrentes dos Tratados Comerciais, especialmente o de não-concessão de subsídios e o tratamento da nação mais favorecida. Tomando como pano de fundo a relação entre os países desenvolvidos e em desenvolvimento, demonstro que a resistência dos Estados exportadores de capital na implementação das cláusulas de crédito fictício nas Convenções Fiscais Bilaterais é injustificada, prestando-se unicamente para dar prevalência à tributação com base na residência, em detrimento da neutralidade fiscal em face dos Estados de fonte dos rendimentos. Ainda, colocada a relação entre os fundamentos da celebração de Convenções Fiscais Bilaterais, afasto a possibilidade de o regime delas decorrente ser estendido a terceiros por força da cláusula do tratamento da nação mais favorecida constante do GATT e de outros Tratados Comerciais. / This thesis makes an analysis of the mechanisms of control of the double-taxation thickened by the Bilateral Fiscal Conventions and the principles of the Commercial Agreements, especially the one of no-concession of subsidies and the treatment of the most-favored-nation. Taking as backdrop the relationship among the developed countries and indevelopment countries, I demonstrate that the resistance of Capital Exporters States in the negotiating fictitious credit in the Bilateral Fiscal Conventions is unjustified, being only rendered to maintain to the taxation based in the residence, avoiding the fiscal neutrality in face of States of source of the revenues. Still, placed the relationship among the foundations of the Bilateral Fiscal Conventions, I move away the possibility of the regime of them to be extended in favor of Third Countries using the GATTs most favored nation clause.

Diploma thesis deals with geological, petrological and geochemical studies of neovolcanic rocks of the SW part of the Most Basin in the area of Tušimice power plant open pit. There are two lava flows affected by coal mining in northern part of the mine. Petrological and geochemical studies with K-Ar dating relatively recent rocks in mostly weatherworn volcanic rocks showed, that they can be classified as Ti-rich basaltic rocks without olivine (tephrites), which belong to the main volcanic phase in the evolution of the Eger graben. It was evidenced geologicaly and with K-Ar dating, that studied rocks were seperated from underlying beda by hiatus which caused erosion of volcanic rocks as well as crystalline bedrock. Mmajor and trace elements composition of co-magmactic volcanics showed that rock were derived from two slightly different sources of upper mantle. Composition of two samples indicates the formation from low degree of partial melting strongly metasomatic asthenospheric mantle. Chemical features of volcanic rocks show that mantle source was comparamble to recent OIB basalts. Last sample arose from less metasomatized and depth distincted mantle which was affected by higher level of partial melting. Melts from which crystallized both rocks were minimaly affected by asimilation or...

This diploma thesis deals with design of welding power supply for MIG / MAG and MMA technique with continuous output current 120 A. The first, theoretical part is devoted to welding process technology, physical characteristics of electric arc and description of individual welding methods. The thesis also deals with the concept of power converter. The design of the switched-mode power supply is based on a full bridge topology. In order to implement advanced controls of welding power supply, the ARM Cortex M4 microprocessor was selected. Due to the large power consumption of the stepper motor for drive the welding wire, an auxiliary switched-mode power supply was also implemented. The documentation describing the realization of the welding power supply and the results of the measurements are in the last part of the thesis. The welding power supply was successfully revived and reached nominal parameters. Inert gas welding has not been tested yet, due to lack of time caused by extensive work in order to complete mechanical realization.