The objective of this dissertation is to evaluate how regulatory and market factors affect title insurance charges in different states. As substantial components of home purchase closing costs, title insurance charges have been controversial for decades, and both practitioners and analysts have pointed out apparent variations in title insurance charges among states. Although existing studies have suggested a set of regulatory and market factors as explanations for these among-state variations, empirical evaluations are limited. To fill in this gap, this dissertation empirically assesses whether these factors influence title insurance charges. The research outcomes of these dissertation indicate that after taking into account market factors such as services included in title insurance charges, title-related losses, property values, state populations, home sale volumes, housing prices, and income levels, regulation styles can still partially explain the title insurance charge variations in different states. In particular, states with promulgation regulation can have a higher average title insurance charge than states allowing free competition. This dissertation also tests whether regulation affects title insurance charges by influencing competition in the market and whether regulators' characteristics are related to the effect of regulation on charges. The test results imply that appointed commissioners can be associated with a higher average title insurance charge than elected commissioners. This dissertation provides insights into the title insurance regulatory reform in different states. More broadly, one methodology (multiple model for change) used in this dissertation simultaneously assesses regulation's over-time and state-by-state effects on title insurance charges, which contributes to the development of regulation evaluation methods. The outcomes of this dissertation can also provide empirical evidence to the theoretical debate of regulation versus competition. / text

Yes / Intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) in corporate annual reports has received growing European attention. To date, few studies have undertaken systematic analysis of the factors influencing the decision to disclose Intellectual Capital (IC) related information in annual reports. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the level of hidden value (market-to-book ratio), share price volatility, listing age, board composition, ownership structure, audit committee size and directors’ shareholding, in addition to other firm specific factors influence ICD in 100 UK listed knowledge-rich firms. The dependent variable is measured by a 183 item index score, supported by word count and percentage of IC word count metrics to assess the extent, volume and focus of ICD respectively. Results of the analysis based on the three measures indicate significant association with hidden value, using market-to-book ratio as a proxy, and listing age. We further find firm size, share price volatility, director shareholding, audit committee size, and ownership concentration to be associated with ICD in a manner consistent with theoretical expectations. The implications of these findings, hitherto largely untested, are explored from a number of theoretical perspectives.

Migracijos reiškinys yra analizuojamas jau seniai. Iki Lietuvos narystės ES (ir po Lietuvos įstojimo į ES) paskelbta daug darbų migracijos tema. Ypač skaudi valstybei bei aktuali yra aukštąjį išsilavinimą turinčių žmonių emigracija, nes tokiu būdu yra ne tik prarandamos lėšos įdėtos į kvalifikuotos darbo jėgos paruošimą, bet ir prastėja valstybės teikiamų paslaugų kokybė, smunka vidutinis šalies kvalifikacijos lygis, o kartu ir šalies konkurencingumas tarptautinėje rinkoje. Darbo objektas – darbo rinkos politikos įtaka aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų emigracijai. Pagrindiniai uždaviniai - išryškinti emigracijos esmę bei pasekmes; išskirti teorinius aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistams pritaikytus bei su darbo rinka susijusius emigracijos veiksnius; atskleisti Lietuvoje taikomą migracijos politiką; įvertinti aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų emigracijos veiksnius Lietuvoje, didelį dėmesį skiriant darbo rinkos politikai; atlikti ketinimų emigruoti dėl darbo rinkos situacijos kiekybinį tyrimą bei sukurti jo rezultatus apibendrinantį modelį. Darbas susideda iš trijų pagrindinių dalių. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje išryškinama teoriniai aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų migracijos aspektai, antrojoje darbo dalyje nagrinėjama statistiniai su emigracija susiję Lietuvos ir emigracijos tikslo šalių duomenys, trečiojoje darbo dalyje atliekamas empirinis tyrimas, siekiant įvertinti ketinimų emigruoti sąryšį su darbo rinkos situaciją. Pagal tyrimų rezultatus, pateikiamos išvados bei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The subject of the Master work is emigration of highly qualified specialists. Emigration of highly qualified specialists is known for a long period of time, just now the scales of emigration is higher than ever. Economic recession is playing a big part in this, as all the countries are affected by recession at the different level. Due to migration of highly qualified specialists government looses money, which was spend in gaining the qualification, as well country looses tax payers and overall country looses competitiveness in international arena. The object of the study is the influence of labor market policy to the emigration of highly qualified specialists. The main tasks are to highlight the nature and consequences of emigration; to reveal theoretical immigration–related factors; to evaluate Lithuania’s migration policy; focusing on labor market policy to distinguish to high–qualified specialists orientated emigration factors; to perform a quantitative survey and create a model summarizing the results. Work structure: work consists of three main parts: in the first part is made an analysis of theoretical high qualified specialists emigration aspects, in the second part is made a statistical analysis of Lithuania’s and other countries migration related data and in third – an empirical research made to evaluate the influence of labor market factors to the emigration decision. Working volume: 73 pages, 23 tables, 26 figures and 83 references used: 55 Lithuanian and 28... [to full text]

Yes / Purpose - A number of studies have examined firms’ intellectual capital (IC) disclosure practices. However, the presentation format of IC disclosure (text, numerical and graphs/pictures) is yet to be examined. In addition, there is little evidence on the impact of capital market pressures on IC disclosure. This study aims to examine the relation between presentation format of IC disclosures and three market factors (market-to-book ratio, share price volatility and multiple listing). Design/methodology/approach - Using content analysis, we examine the level of IC disclosure provided in the annual reports of 100 IC-intensive listed UK firms. A 61-IC-item research instrument is used to measure IC disclosure and regression analysis is employed to examine the relation between disclosure and the market factors, controlling for corporate governance and firm specific variables. Findings - Text is the most commonly used format for IC disclosure, whilst the use of graphs/pictures is very low. The findings of the relation between market factors and IC disclosure are mixed. Market-to-book ratio is significantly related to disclosure in text and numerical, but not to graphs/pictures. Share price volatility is only associated with graphs/pictures, whilst multiple listing is only related to text. Originality/value - Our findings suggest that the impact of capital market pressures on IC disclosure might differ with presentation format. In this context, the study makes a significant contribution to the IC disclosure literature.

How artists develop their ideas has been envisaged as a mysterious and intriguing process, difficult to understand or emulate. The "mystery" of how art ideas evolve has carried through to education, where students and teachers may view the introduction of how to formulate ideas as an unachievable task. Art educators have recognised the investigation of how artists think through the progression of their own practice as being an important aspect of understanding the evolvement of art ideas, and have advocated that approaches to teaching and learning should be grounded in such artistic thinking. This study was based on the notion that it is important for research to give insights into the differing ways visual art ideas are constructed and to also identify the influences that may impact on this process. Through researching the formulation of art ideas over time in influential contexts, a revealing picture of the process of art idea evolvement emerged. The findings of the research are presented as qualitative categories of description based on the participants' own knowledge and lifeworld experiences as artists.

This thesis deals with the issue of market IS / ICT, particularly focusing on the analysis of the current situation. The first part is devoted to a slight look into the past and then the market IS / ICT has been analyzed in terms of factors and market actors. The following part of the paper focuses on the analysis of the structure of firms implementing its activities in the market IS / ICT. The last part of the paper explores the potential market developments and tries to predict the development and the key trends for the future are seen dynamic network services, teamwork, mobile enterprise, security, and last but not least, green computing for sustainable development.

The submitted thesis focuses on establishing the extent of influence of material composition of selected segment of real estates (units) on their market price and price of the existing properties in the locality, including reasoning and experimental validation of market value (or market price) assessment methodology of the given property. It is indisputable that there are many subjective opinions and views of each individual assessor (of expert opinion) entering into the process of property assessment. Therefore it is necessary to “standardise” or rather unify, if possible, at least some input data in a way most likely preventing disproportions that are still a part of expert practise nowadays. The influence of material composition on the value (price) of the property, as for the relation to unit size, its locality and also its age and technical condition, is within this thesis verified first of all in computational phase of the assessment of the specific unit, when it in principle shows possible inaccuracy in assessing the final price of property, which should be avoided by a proper expert assessment. Practical impact and use of the influence of material composition is applied within the comparative method as one of several assessment methods that can be employed in establishing (assessment) of market value of the property.