С момента появления смартфона стало ясно, что клиенты быстро перенимают даже очень сложную и дорогую технологию, если она облегчает им жизнь. Другими словами, пользователи ценят удобство и простоту. Эти основные ценности превратили автомобиль в определяющий технический культурный объект 20-го века. Теперь пришло время перевести эти свойства в контекст сегодняшних — и завтрашних — технологий и общества. Магистерская диссертация состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения, библиографического списка, включающего 150 наименований. Работа включает и 50 рисунков. Общий объем магистерской диссертации составляет 81 страницу. / Since the introduction of the smartphone, it has become clear that customers are quick to adopt even highly complex and expensive technology if it makes their lives easier. In other words, users value convenience and ease. These core values turned the automobile into the defining technical cultural item of the 20th century. Now it is time to translate these properties into the context of today's – and tomorrow's – technology and society. Master's thesis) consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a bibliographic list, including 150 titles. The work includes and 50 figures. The total volume of the Master's thesis is 81 pages.

La thèse prend pour objet d'étude les institutions du droit des contrats dotées d'un effet rétroactif (nullité, résolution pour inexécution, condition suspensive ou résolutoire, ratification, etc.). Bien que menée en droit belge, la recherche s'appuie également sur des éléments de droit comparé empruntés principalement aux droits allemand, français et néerlandais. Elle vise à démontrer deux hypothèses.<p><p>Premièrement, elle tend à montrer que la rétroactivité n'est pas une notion conceptuelle, dont la signification serait donnée a priori en sorte qu'elle pourrait être déduite sur un mode purement logique de sa définition, mais bien une notion fonctionnelle dont la portée dépend du but en vue duquel elle est utilisée. La portée de l'effet rétroactif varie donc toujours selon l'institution examinée.<p><p>Deuxièmement, la thèse vise à établir que le principe constitutionnel d'égalité constitue un instrument efficace permettant de corriger certaines divergences de régime entre les institutions rétroactives, sans pour autant abolir toute différence entre elles. / Doctorat en Sciences juridiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Cette thèse a pour ambition d’analyser si la performance environnementale, sociale et de gouvernance (ESG) est intégrée par les marchés de la dette d'entreprise et souveraine. Le premier chapitre se concentre sur les informations ESG publiés à contenu négatif et leur impact négatif sur le coût de la dette. Plus exactement, dans les secteurs industriels et utilitaires les événements négatifs sociaux et de gouvernance font augmenter le coût de la dette. Également, un bon niveau général de performance ESG agit comme un mécanisme d'assurance contre ces événements négatifs. Dans un deuxième chapitre seront présentés les résultats d’une simulation de portefeuille intégrant la performance ESG d'entreprise. Un gérant de portefeuille peut améliorer le niveau agrégé de la performance ESG du portefeuille de 1,5 écart-type sans faire baisser la performance financière. Ainsi, le gérant peut combiner cette intégration avec des stratégies d'allocation d'actif financiers ou des stratégies de rendement absolu. Dans un troisième chapitre les résultats sur la réduction du coût de la dette dû à une bonne performance environnementale et sociale de souverains émergents seront analysés. Enfin dans le quatrième chapitre je décris comment la performance de gouvernance des souverains influence la différence entre le yield émis en devise étrangère et celui émis en devise locale. Dans les pays développés cette différence augmente avec le risque politique, i.e. le yield étranger augmente plus rapidement que le yield domestique. Dans les pays émergents, c'est l’effet inverse qui est observé. Cette différence entre les deux yields varie plus fortement avec un taux croissant de la dette domestique détenue par des investisseurs étrangers. / This thesis analyzes if and to what extent debt markets value the environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of firms and sovereigns. The first chapter shows that negative ESG news has a negative impact on the cost of debt of firms. The news relates to environmental and social events within the industrial/utilities sector. In this sector, a sound corporate social performance acts as an insurance against the adverse impact of negative environmental events on bond prices. The second chapter reveals that ESG scores integrated into portfolios do not change the financial performance ex post. A portfolio manager can increase the average ESG rating of her portfolio by 1.5 standard deviations without incurring cost. This leaves substantial room and opportunity for ESG ratings to be combined with asset allocation or absolute return strategies. The third chapter shows how ESG performance is linked to a lower cost of debt of emerging sovereigns. Research indicates that an emerging country’s average cost of capital decreases with its positive environmental and social performance. The fourth chapter discusses how governance performance may influence the spread of debt denominated in local and foreign currency. In developed countries, the spread between a foreign currency yield and a hedged local currency yield increases with our political risk indicator, i.e. the foreign yield increases faster than the domestic one. For emerging countries, the reverse trend is true. Interestingly, the foreign currency and local currency yield spreads move significantly stronger in absolute terms with increasing foreign investment participation in both emerging countries and developed countries’ debt markets.

The opening of a bank account serves as the genesis of a bank customer relationship. It is imperative that the establishment of a bank customer relationship be regulated by law. Both the common law and statutory law regulate the admission of new clients to the realm of banking. It is a minimum requirement, in terms of both statutory and common law, that the identity of a prospective client who wishes to open a bank account must both be established and verified. This, the need to know one’s customer, is not only good law but common sense and an effective measure to prevent criminals from accessing the banking system. Parties who work together must know each other. The need to establish and verify the identity of a potential customer is commonly referred to as the Know Your Customer standards, alternatively the Customer Due Diligence framework. The Know Your Customer standards are neither unique to South Africa nor have their origins in South Africa. The Know Your Customer standards are international standards which the Financial Action Task Force and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision have been advocating for quite some time. A confluence of the Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision greatly influenced the birth of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act in South Africa. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 prescribes the steps that a bank has to take in order to establish and verify the identity of a potential client. It will be shown in this dissertation that the identification and verification regime established by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 0f 2001 and the common law are not fool proof. This dissertation makes recommendations on how the current loopholes that exist in the law can be addressed. / Mercantile Law / LLM

The opening of a bank account serves as the genesis of a bank customer relationship. It is imperative that the establishment of a bank customer relationship be regulated by law. Both the common law and statutory law regulate the admission of new clients to the realm of banking. It is a minimum requirement, in terms of both statutory and common law, that the identity of a prospective client who wishes to open a bank account must both be established and verified. This, the need to know one’s customer, is not only good law but common sense and an effective measure to prevent criminals from accessing the banking system. Parties who work together must know each other. The need to establish and verify the identity of a potential customer is commonly referred to as the Know Your Customer standards, alternatively the Customer Due Diligence framework. The Know Your Customer standards are neither unique to South Africa nor have their origins in South Africa. The Know Your Customer standards are international standards which the Financial Action Task Force and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision have been advocating for quite some time. A confluence of the Recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force and the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision greatly influenced the birth of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act in South Africa. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 prescribes the steps that a bank has to take in order to establish and verify the identity of a potential client. It will be shown in this dissertation that the identification and verification regime established by the Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 0f 2001 and the common law are not fool proof. This dissertation makes recommendations on how the current loopholes that exist in the law can be addressed. / Mercantile Law / LLM

This study explored and described the impact of the rights and obligations of nurses on the delivery of quality patient care in a clinical setting. Quantitative research approach was utilised. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The research results revealed that respondents who participated in this study were aware of their rights and obligations, the effects and impact of factors influencing such rights and obligations on patient care. It was established that “patient abandonment” observed when nurses embark on a strike as their constitutionally enshrined right is not due to a lack of insight about their rights and obligations, but on how such rights and obligations are implemented. The researcher recommends that further research be undertaken to explore the causes of nurses embarking on strike actions despite their high level of knowledge concerning the impact of such actions on patient care in a clinical setting / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

Tillväxt genom företagsförvärv har under de senaste årtiondena blivit allt mer förekommande.Genom att köpa upp konkurrenter, leverantörer eller distributörer kan företag öka sinamarknadsfördelar och detta kan leda till högre vinst. Det råder ingen tvekan om attföretagsförvärv är en komplex och riskfylld transaktion. För att ta rätt beslut behöver köparenha god kunskap om vad köpet kan medföra. Av denna anledning genomförs en undersökningav företaget. Due Diligence är ett relativt nytt begrepp som i vardagliga ord innebärbesiktning av målföretaget. Undersökningen bidrar till att genomlysa det företag som skallförvärvas och används i slutet som beslutsunderlag för köparen.Due diligence är en typ av informationshantering mellan köpare och säljare. Detta innebär ettinformationsutbyte mellan parterna och därmed har köparen och säljaren förpliktelsergentemot varandra. Vid företagsförvärv regleras dessa förpliktelser med hjälp av köplagen.Köparens undersökningsplikt kopplas till att köparen inte får åberopa fel som denne kände tilleller förväntades känna till. Den upplysningsplikt som åligger säljaren innebär att allinformation som anses vara relevant och kan påverka köparens beslut skall presenteras.Utöver köparen och säljaren finns det ytterligare parter som är delaktiga vid ettföretagsförvärv. Då due diligence berör främst legala, finansiella och kommersiellaundersökningar är det vanligt förekommande att externa parter tas in som rådgivare. Detta dåde flesta företag inte besitter kunskapen att göra due diligence själv. De externa rådgivare somanlitas är vanligtvis advokater och revisorer.Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka vilken betydelse due diligence har vid företagsförvärv.Vidare undersöker vi ansvaret som åligger köparen och säljaren vid due diligence samt detansvar som rådgivare har vid due diligence.I uppsatsen har vi använt oss av en kvalitativ metod och tillämpat en abduktiv ansats. För attuppnå vårt syfte och kunna besvara våra forskningsfrågor har vi genomfört fyra semistruktureradeintervjuer, dessa ligger till grund för empirin. Samtliga är med personer som, istörsta mån, arbetar dagligen med att genomföra företagsförvärv. Intervjuade personer bestårav två finansiella rådgivare från revisionsbyråer samt två legala rådgivare.Efter genomförd studie kan vi konstatera att due diligence har stor betydelse vidföretagsförvärv. Inte minst för eventuella justeringar av köpeskillingen utan även att duediligence-materialet fungerar som beslutsunderlag vid slutförhandlingarna av förvärvet.Vidare visar studien att köparens och säljarens ansvar stämmer bra överens med köplagensbestämmelser. Lagen används som underlag men är inte det faktiska regelverket somtillämpas, istället hänvisar man till det avtal som skrivs mellan köpare och säljare.Avslutningsvis kan vi konstatera att revisorer och advokater som genomför due diligence harett stort ansvar både under och efter genomför due diligence. Agerar rådgivaren vårdslöst kandenne bli skadeståndsskyldig. Således krävs det att både revisorer och advokater begränsar sittansvar redan innan due diligence genomförs. / Growth through mergers and acquisitions has during the last few decades increasedexponentially. The company in charge of the purchase can increase their market share andcompetitive advantages by acquiring competitors, distributors or suppliers. There is no doubtin that it is a complex and risky process. To make the right decision the buyer needs to havein-depth knowledge of the company and what the transaction might result in. For this reason athorough investigation of the company is carried out. Due diligence is a relatively newconcept which highlights the process of examining a company. The examination providesdetailed information and is thereby used a tool when making the final decision, to buy or notto buy.Due diligence is used as an information trade between buyers and sellers. As with alltransactions, this exchange means that both parties have obligations to each other. When itcomes to mergers and acquisitions these obligations are regulated by means of the Sales ofGoods Act. The buyer’s duty to examine is linked to that the buyer may not invoke defectswhich he was aware of, or was expected to know. The duty of disclosure imposed on theseller means that all information which is deemed relevant and which may affect the buyer’sdecision should be presented. In addition to the buyer and the seller, there are more partiesinvolved in a business transaction of this kind. As the due diligence process primarilyconcerns legal, financial and commercial studies, it is very common for external parties to behired in order to conduct the due diligence process in these areas. The reason behind it isbecause most companies do not possess knowledge to do it themselves. External consultantshired are lawyers and accountants.The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the due diligence process in mergers andacquisitions. Further, we explore the responsibility linked to to buyers and sellers in a duediligence process. In addition we also explore the responsibility linked to the lawyers andaccountants involved in the process.The study is conducted by means of a qualitative method where we apply an abductiveapproach. To achieve the purpose of our study and answer our research questions we heldfour semi-structured interviews, these form the base for our empirical data. All interviewedare with people who work with due diligence on a daily basis. Two of the interviewees areconsultants from accounting firms, and the other two are legal advisors.The paper shows that due diligence is of great importance in acquisitions. Not only for anyadjustments in purchase sum, but also that it is a useful tool when making a final decision.Furthermore, the paper also shows that the obligations buyer and seller has rhymes pretty wellwith those written in the Sales of Goods Act. The act is use as a basis but it is not the actualrules that apply, instead you refer to the agreement signed between buyer and seller. Lastly wecan note that the obligations related to accountants and lawyers are fairly strict. If theconsultant acts recklessly, the consultant may be sued. Thus, both accountants and lawyerslimit their responsibility before the due diligence process commences.This study is written in Swedish.

Les marchés financiers sont traditionnellement considérés comme le lieu où se confrontent une demande et une capacité de financement. Le développement des intermédiaires financiers a toutefois contribué à complexifier les transactions et les nœuds de relations sur les places. L'objet de cette thèse est d'examiner le marché des euro-obligations non plus comme le lieu de rencontre d'une offre et d'une demande dans l'exercice d'un jeu concurrentiel, mais comme une organisation dans laquelle des membres adoptent des rationalités et des modes d'action diversifiés et évolutifs. La méthodologie utilisée articule une étude historique événementielle et une analyse des pratiques inscrite dans la longue durée. Les observations tirées de cette double appréhension sont confrontées, dans le cadre d'une démarche abductive, à des cadres conceptuels constitutifs de la théorie des organisations. Cette confrontation s'opère en trois étapes. Tout d'abord, l'évolution et les pratiques sont étudiées pour montrer en quoi le marché euro-obligataire se comporte comme une organisation, et pas seulement comme un lieu de transaction. Ensuite, les formes prises par cette dernière au cours de son histoire sont identifiées. Enfin, le modèle firme semblant le plus approprié pour caractériser la morphologie ultime du marché étudié, la question du mode de coordination mis en œuvre est envisagée. Au final, il est établi que le marché euro-obligataire s'apparente à une bureaucratie professionnelle. De ce fait, les risques dominants sur ce dernier ne sont plus des " risques de marché " à proprement parler. Ils émanent au contraire de problématiques typiquement organisationnelles : la maîtrise du comportement des membres et la gestion du changement.Ces résultats de recherche doivent contribuer à renouveler le regard porté sur des marchés financiers qui, du fait de la dérégulation, tendent à s'aligner sur ce qui faisait jusqu'à aujourd'hui la singularité euro-obligataire. Ces regards sont avant tout ceux des régulateurs, dont la capacité de contrôle sur les intermédiaires financiers demeure désormais limitée. Ils sont aussi ceux des emprunteurs qui, de facto, s'adressent plus à un fournisseur de fonds qu'ils n'en lèvent auprès d'un marché.

A credit default swap is a contract that ensures protection against losses occurring due to a default event of an certain entity. It is crucial to know how default should be modelled for valuation or estimating of credit derivatives. In this dissertation, we first review the structural approach for modelling credit risk. The model is an approach for assessing the credit risk of a firm by typifying the firms equity as a European call option on its assets, with the strike price (or exercise price) being the promised debt repayment at the maturity. The model can be used to determine the probability that the firm will default (default probability) and the Credit Spread. We second concentrate on the valuation of credit derivatives, in particular the Credit Default Swap (CDS) when the hazard rate (or even of default) is modelled as the Vasicek-type model. The other objective is, by using South African credit spread data on defaultable bonds to estimate parameters on CIR and Vasicek-type Hazard rate models such as stochastic differential equation models of term structure. The parameters are estimated numerically by the Moment Method. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

Although women’s rights have been widely recognized in the international agenda, violence against women in the private sphere does not seem to decrease. Women are still suffering today from not enjoying the most basic human rights. States fail often to recognize domestic violence as a human rights violation because it is committed in the private sphere by non-states actors. Because of this the European Court of Human Rights decided to develop the due diligence standard in 2008 to combat violence against women. This thesis examines the European Convention on Human Rights law regarding domestic violence and the meaning of member states positive obligation and the concept of due diligence. The European Court has established that member states have several positive obligations to fulfill in order to address the issue of violence against women in the private sphere. However states fail too often to exercise the due diligence by not living up to the standards that has been established by the Court. It has been proven that the Convention articles are inconsistent. The Court needs too clarify exactly which measures states should take to address the issue of violence against women and send a clear message how much effort it takes to fill the scope of the due diligence standard. This inconsistency allows states to take stand in the law enforcements, which are contemplated to be dominated by male norms. The consequence of this is that women are usually disadvantaged in state law enforcement when it comes to violence in the private sphere. It is therefor of great importance to pay attention to women’s rights when it comes to domestic violence, as well as analyzing states approach in the domestic violence cases. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze domestic violence as men’s violence against women from a critical gender perspective by highlighting elements that effects states actions in the cases. The point of departure is to recognize similar behavior in states actions by focusing on the concept male norm and private and public sphere. The results revealed a clear pattern of the concepts. In each case signs of male norms expressed in a male position, where men are superior to women were shown. States divisions of the private and public spheres were also proven in the cases. States would prefer not to intervene when a woman was exposed to violence in the private sphere. This leads to women being suppressed and unable to reach legal protection in the private sphere.