This doctoral thesis contains three essays on the economics of climate change and the electricity sector. The first essay deals with the subject of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and economic growth. The second essay addresses the issues of climate change policies, especially the role of the emergent innovative technologies, and the restructuring of the electricity sector. The third essay presents a model of transmission investments in electric power networks. Chapter One studies the impacts of climate change on economic growth in the world economies. The paper contains explicit formalization of the depletion process of exhaustible fossil fuels and the phase of technology substitution. The impacts of climate change on capital flows and welfare across countries are also investigated. The restructuring of the electricity sector is studied in Chapter Two. It also analyzes how climate change policies can benefit from emergent innovative technologies and how emergent innovative technologies can lower GHG emissions. It is shown that the price of electricity is strictly rising before emergent innovative firms with zero GHG emissions enter the market, but strictly declining as the entry begins. In Chapter Three, a model of electricity transmission investments from the perspective of the regulatory approach is formulated. The Mid-West region of Western Australia, a sub-system of the South West Interconnected System is considered. In contrast with most models in the literature that deal only with network deepening, this model deals with both network deepening and network widening. Moreover, unlike the conventional investment models which are static and deal only with the long run, this model is dynamic and focuses on the timing of the infrastructure investments. The paper is a study of an optimal transmission investment program which is part of the optimal investment program for an integrated model in which investments in transmission and investments in generation are made at the same time.

Throughout the development process within organizations, various complications can appear that can reduce the quality of a software or contribute to immense costs to organizations. This is especially true for organizations that operate in fields such as the health industry where stern rules and requirements are often a fact. This paper explores challenges that can arise during the development process of health applications as well as what effects these can have on the applications and organizations. The paper then examines how these difficulties can be prevented or mitigated. The intention is that this thesis should help organizations and developers to be able to go through a development process effectively without being overwhelmed by difficulties that can arise during the development process of health applications.

Compliance is a key feature for the management of non-consumptive wildlife viewing, as it can link management measures to performance and aid in developing recommendations that promote sustainable practices. Whale watching is a prominent wildlife viewing industry that is steadily rising in demand around the world. Managing vessel-cetacean encounters and operator behaviour (both commercial and recreational) is key to limiting impacts on cetaceans, yet the scale of regulatory compliance is often poor or unknown. Although efforts exist to regulate whale watching, challenges arise for the assessment of compliance in marine environments, as they are inherently spatially vast, lack physical boundaries, and can involve mobile stressors (i.e. vessels) and species. Chapter 1 reviews the shift in paradigms from consumptive to non-consumptive activities and highlights challenges for those tasked with managing the growing wildlife tourism industry, and in particular, whale watching. After reviewing a suite of measures prevalent around the world, this chapter then focuses on the Salish Sea’s approach to managing whale watching. This area epitomizes a major whale watching hub and displays complex, multi-jurisdictional and constantly evolving measures. Due to a lack of knowledge in this region, Chapter 2 shifts from theory to practice and assesses regulatory compliance with marine mammal distance regulations from 2018 to 2019 in the Salish Sea. Although compliance was nearly 80%, key drivers including vessel and species type were found to significantly influence non-compliance. Recreational vessels were non-compliant 41.9% of the time and 74.2% of non-compliant encounters occurred around killer whales across both years. The findings of the study demonstrate that case-specific investigation of compliance is necessary as each region is unique in its approach to management. Lastly, recommendations are proposed that can benefit marine managers and policymakers to enhance the performance of measures and subsequently minimize risk to cetaceans. / Graduate

Le développement rapide de l’industrie chimique dans le monde et les risques insoupçonnables et souvent insidieux des produits chimiques ont permis à la communauté internationale de réglementer la commercialisation de ces produits. Ainsi, il a été élaboré des textes et des Conventions internationales réglementant le commerce de ces produits. L’objectif de la majorité de ces instruments est de favoriser le développement économique sans pour autant mettre à mal la santé publique et l’environnement. L’application de ces instruments internationaux a seulement atteint une maturité dans les pays industrialisés mais pose un véritable problème de société dans les pays en développement. L’effectivité de ces règles dans les pays en développement et principalement au Bénin est problématique. Les Etats se doivent de les ratifier ces instruments et de les transposer dans leurs législations nationales. Le législateur béninois a bien suivi cette démarche à travers la loi n°91-004 du 11 février 1991 portant réglementation phytosanitaire au Bénin et la loi-cadre sur l’environnement dont les dispositions sont applicables en matière de substances chimiques ou de pesticides. Ces différentes lois, ont-elles permis d’atteindre les objectifs de la protection agricole, de la santé publique, et de l’environnement ? Comment peut-on mettre en jeu la responsabilité des distributeurs béninois en cas de dommages liés à ces produits ? Les réponses à ces interrogations nous ont permis de constater des défaillances dans ces lois et que le législateur béninois doit moderniser sa législation dans le but de renforcer l’encadrement de ces produits. Quant aux mécanismes nationaux de responsabilité, la réforme à ce niveau est indispensable. Sinon les régimes de responsabilité ne permettent pas de responsabiliser les distributeurs. Les mécanismes de responsabilités existant dans le droit positif comportent des insuffisances pour une mise en œuvre efficace de la responsabilité des distributeurs. Ces insuffisances sont aussi bien réelles sur le plan de la responsabilité civile que pénal. Le législateur doit profondément revoir tout le dispositif applicable aux distributeurs, tout en modernisant le droit de la responsabilité civile avec la consécration de la responsabilité objective du fait des activités dangereuses. Aussi faudrait-il consacrer la responsabilité des personnes morales dans le droit pénal. / The rapid development of the chemical industry in the world and the unsuspected and often insidious risks of chemicals have enabled the international community to regulate the marketing of these chemicals. For example, texts and international conventions regulating trade in these products have been developed. The majority of these instruments aim to promote economic development without undermining public health and the environment. The application of these international instruments has only reached maturity in the industrialized countries but poses a real societal problem in the developing countries. The effectiveness of these rules in developing countries, and especially in Benin, is problematic. States must ratify these instruments and transpose them into national legislation.The Beninese legislator has indeed followed this approach through Act No. 91-004 of 11 February 1991 on phytosanitary regulations in Benin and the framework law on the environment, the provisions of which apply to chemical substances or pesticides. Have these different laws made it possible to achieve the objectives of agricultural protection, public health and the environment? How can the Beninese distributors be held liable for damages related to these products? The answers to these questions allowed us to note deficiencies in these laws and that the Beninese legislator must modernize its legislation with the aim of reinforcing the supervision of these products. As for national accountability mechanisms, reform at this level is essential. Otherwise liability schemes do not allow distributors to be held accountable. The mechanisms of responsibility in the positive law contain inadequacies for an effective implementation of the responsibility of the distributors. These shortcomings are as real in terms of civil and criminal liability. The legislator must thoroughly review the entire system applicable to distributors, while modernizing the law of civil liability with the recognition of the objective liability for dangerous activities. Consequently, the liability of legal persons should be enshrined in criminal law.

Saudi Arabian entrepreneurs face major difficulties with the country's complex regulatory system. Based on Schumpeter's theory of entrepreneurship, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to reveal the lived experiences of Saudi entrepreneurs in navigating regulatory procedures in Jeddah. Data were collected through prolonged, face-to-face phenomenological interviews with 22 Saudi businesspeople who started successful businesses. The van Kaam method and member checking helped validate the transcribed data, which were subsequently coded into 4 themes. Four themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) obstacles in regulatory processes, (b) lack of information, (c) cumbersome procedures and need for alternatives to stringent protocols, and (d) persistence strategies needed to maneuver through inflexible regulations. For entrepreneurship progress among these individuals, business rules needed to be comprehensible, shorter, and less bureaucratic. These findings also suggest that, once entrepreneurship rules are transparent, Saudi Arabia may become a choice country for international businesses. These findings have implications for positive social change by informing the efforts of governmental authorities in their work towards effective regulatory processes as roadways to the economic well-being of businesses and communities, and could be a catalyst to boost foreign investments in the country.

Cyclotourism is one of the most popular recreational activities nowadays, and specially protected areas are often chosen as a preferred destination. This thesis covers the issues that can arise from excessive tourist use of the area, or by not complying with the rules set by the law, or by an administration of the protected area. Cyclotourism has a considerate impact on the environment. The most affected components are vegetation, soil, aquatic ecosystems, and animals located near trails. Regulatory instruments of cyclotourism in specially protected areas are analysed and compared in this thesis. This analysis has covered four European countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and Austria. The lowest level of restrictions was found to be present in the Czech Republic, the highest on the other hand in Austria. The degradation of the environment caused by cyclotourism is examined in the practical section of this thesis. On cycling routes in 9 specially protected areas, segments were randomly selected for sensitivity assessment... Indicators of sensitivity were: presence of a water body, forest, tourist attraction, elevation change level, and geological subsoil. Segments with increased sensitivity were visited and evaluated. Out of total of 73 segments with increased sensitivity, degradation...

Considered the most cost and energy-efficient mode of transportation, the shipping industry is responsible for 90% of trade and is predicted to grow. Although it has been central for the development of nations, this activity is not exempt of negative externalities, largely contributing for unsustainability. A sustainable transition is, thus, required to address the overall supper wicked problem of the sustainability challenge. This thesis employed qualitative research composed of two main research phases. The first one assesses the alignment of IMO´s legislation with a sustainable transition for the shipping industry. A document analysis of this regulation was done by applying a methodology based on sustainability principles from the FSSD. Our findings point to multiple misalignments with both social and ecological principles, as well as a lack of a systems perspective of the industry. The second phase of the research explores what different practitioners perceive is needed for the sustainability transition. For this, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted. An inductive data analysis resulted in 15 main findings, addressing different topics perceived as relevant for this transition. This included the need for a just and equitable transition; enhanced governance and more stringent regulations; as well as fair and unbiased treatment of seafarers.

Proactive behaviors are defined as employees’ future-oriented, agentic behaviors that aim to improve workplace conditions. Recent research alludes that employee perceptions of whether they have permission to act proactively may influence their actions. With these ideas in mind, this dissertation introduces the concept of proactivity permission, which is defined as the perception of the extent to which an employee is allowed to perform proactive actions at work. Using a multilevel research design with 501 employees from 112 work groups, I examined the effects of employee and supervisor personality characteristics, relational factors, and contextual factors on proactivity permission. Findings indicate that employee personality characteristics (i.e., psychological entitlement and psychological reactance) positively influence employee proactivity permission beliefs, whereas supervisor personality characteristics (i.e., social dominance orientation and rule-based reasoning) negatively influence proactivity permission judgments of supervisors. The quality of relationships (LMX) between a focal employee and his/her supervisor positively affects both employee proactivity permission and supervisor proactivity permission judgments, while workplace contextual factors (e.g., organizational rule formalization, rule consistency, and normative tightness) are relatively distal to, and play a minor role in, proactivity permission. Additionally, this dissertation finds that employees who believe they have permission to act proactively engage in proactive behaviors to a greater extent, and that supervisors are more supportive toward the proactive behaviors of those employees who they perceive to have greater permission to act proactively. In all, this dissertation offers important contributions to theory and research on employee proactivity and suggests several practical recommendations for managers and organizations who are interested in fostering greater proactivity in the workplace. / Business Administration/Human Resource Management

The movement of the exotic and destructive plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum into unquarantined areas via the plant nursery trade provides a potential outlet for transmission into eastern United States forests. A two-year survey of Phytophthora species in a forest adjacent to an ornamental plant nursery in Mississippi isolated P. ramorum 20 times from water and once from vegetation, with an additional detection of 14 Phytophthora species and one provisional species. Isolates were recovered from soil, water, and vegetation using baiting and filtering techniques, and verified by their DNA through Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) followed by genomic sequencing. This study confirms the ability of P. ramorum to sustain itself in Mississippi, although disease progression appears to be inhibited by the relatively small window of favorable environmental conditions.

This research provides a comprehensive picture of the economic status of the U.S. catfish industry through investigating several critical economic aspects such as technological progress, functional production relationships in intensive systems, regulatory costs, and economic contribution of the industry. The use of primary data is a unique aspect of this work reflecting the economic realities of catfish farms. Primary data collected through extensive in-person farm surveys covered over two-thirds of the catfish production areas in the U.S. The results of the study provided evidence of intensification in the U.S. catfish industry through increased adoption of two relatively new alternative production systems viz; intensively aerated ponds (6,315 ha) and split ponds (1,176 ha). The use of complementary technologies such as hybrid catfish on 53% of the catfish producing area and increased fixed-paddlewheel aeration rate of over 7.8 kW/ha also provided proof of technological progress on U.S. catfish farms. This study also identified critical factors contributing to productivity in increasingly adopted alternative production systems through two distinct production function models. Feed fed, as well as stocking biomass were found to be significant variables in both production functions. Results indicated further room for improvement in the use of inputs to increase production, especially in feed management. Along with identifying the nuances in the catfish industry, the study quantified regulatory costs on U.S. catfish farms at $45 million. Although faced with several hardships on the production front, the U.S. catfish industry contributes over $1.9 billion to the regional economy, supports more than 9,100 jobs, and generates over $78 million in tax revenues. The findings of the study serve a multitude of stakeholders including aquaculture farmers, researchers, Extension specialists, and policymakers who work towards improving the economic sustainability of the catfish industry as well as the U.S. aquaculture industry.