I examine the effect of ownership structure on firms' propensities to save the proceeds of a share issuance as cash. Specifically, I focus on changes in cash savings at the time of a seasoned equity offering (SEO), a moment at which the firm experiences a large inflow of cash, to determine whether ownership structures such as managerial blockholdings or the presence of institutional investors materially affect firms' decisions regarding their level of cash savings. I find that firms with managerial blockholders are more inclined to save share issuance proceeds as cash, relative to firms with outside blockholders or no blockholders present. This finding could be interpreted as consistent with either managerial entrenchment or incentive alignment, so I distinguish between these competing forces by examining SEO announcement returns. The market's reaction to SEO announcements when managerial blockholders are present is significantly worse on average when the firm has excess cash, lending support to the entrenchment explanation. I also find that firms with greater total institutional ownership save more cash from equity issuance, which is consistent with the theory that greater firm monitoring allows optimal corporate cash holdings to increase because shareholders are less concerned about potential misuses of cash.

Using a sample of 57 master limited partnerships (MLPs) formed from corporate assets between 1982 and 2011, I examine the share price effects on parent corporations from forming MLPs. Specifically, I compare announcement period returns during the first and second waves of MLP formations—1982-1987 and 1988-2011, respectively—to assess the effect of structural changes in the MLP agency and operating environments on the market response to MLP formation. I document significantly higher 3-day and 5-day announcement period returns for second wave MLP formations, suggesting that changes to the MLP agency and operating environments have enhanced the value impact of MLP formation. I also find evidence that parent corporations benefit from the increased opportunity to exploit conflicts of interest with the MLP, which arise from these changes. Finally, I examine the prediction of prior literature that MLP formation improves the parent company’s information environment, finding support for this assertion in the form of reduced idiosyncratic return volatility.

This dissertation focuses on the cultural representations of the one-child policy ever since 1978. The artistic discourses about the one-child policy provide a fantastic space to explore China’s post-socialist society and contending ideologies. It also sheds light on the intricate relation between aesthetics and politics and these among the state, family and individual. Moreover, as discourses, artistic narratives and images also participate in the redefining of reproduction/one-child policy. Therefore, inquiries into the interaction between aesthetics and politics enrich our understanding of how reproductive ideals are constructed, negotiated and transformed. This dissertation can be divided into five parts. In the introduction part, I introduce issues related to the one-child policy, materials which I use and my main approaches to interpret them. Chapter Two explores how post-1978 family planning films and novel envision the ideal reproductive lives of peasants through the construction of ideal reproductive subjects, especially ideal female models. These artistic works also show changed representations of the ideal role models. Chapter Three looks into the patriarchal reproductive subject in Mo Yan’s Frog which centers on the conflict between state power and traditional male-centric reproductive culture. Although there are ambiguities, the novel demonstrates that the state has failed to transform peasants’ traditional reproductive ideas. Chapter Four deals with women’s exploration of reproduction from the 1980s on. The writings of some female authors demonstrate a consciousness of independent female reproductive desire. In some works, we can even see the emergence of a new kind of female reproductive privacy. In these works, reproduction becomes the female protagonists’ personal, private matter and women’s subjectivity is seen in their ability to make reproductive decisions according to their own interests. In the Coda, I talk about my future research plans. Overall, in this dissertation, I trace the political, economic, cultural, and technical factors that contribute to the gradual emergence of pluralism in reproductive ideas and practices. My dissertation demonstrates the dynamic interaction among different forces affecting reproduction, one of the most strictly controlled realms in Chinese life. Although reproduction is still mainly dictated by the state current two-child policy, a push towards greater individual autonomy is starting to gain momentum. / 10000-01-01

O objetivo da presente pesquisa é examinar qual a associação entre quatro diferentes tipos de conflitos de agência previamente estudados pela literatura de governança: entrincheiramento do gestor, consumo de perquisites, decisões de liquidez e tomada de risco. Para tanto, inicialmente detalharam-se a origem e as diferenças entre esses quatro conflitos estudados. A seguir, fez-se a revisão de diferentes mecanismos de governança corporativa potencialmente capazes de mitigar esses conflitos. Também se identificaram, ao nível do país, índices de proteção à riqueza e aos direitos dos investidores acionistas e credores que a literatura anterior comumente sugere serem capazes de mitigar esses conflitos. Ao todo, foram analisadas 7.994 firmas de 35 países entre os anos 2010 e 2013 (aproximadamente, 22.000 observações-ano). Ao longo do trabalho, cinco diferentes hipóteses de pesquisa foram discutidas e testadas. Resumidamente, encontraram-se evidências consistentes de que gestores entrincheirados mantêm maiores níveis de liquidez e que maiores níveis de liquidez estão associados com maior consumo de perquisites. Há evidências também de que o entrincheiramento do gestor, via alta concentração de propriedade acionária e via participação no conselho de administração, altera suas preferências de consumo de perquisites e de risco. Em geral, essa tese sugere que os conflitos de agência estão associados e que, especialmente, o entrincheiramento do gestor altera suas preferências em relação aos três outros conflitos. / The purpose of this research is to investigate what is the association between four agency con icts that are studied by previous corporate governance literature: managerial entrenchment, perquisites consumption, cash holdings and risk-taking. Initially, I detail the source and di erences between these agency con icts. Then, I discuss different types of governance mechanisms that are potential candidates to mitigate these con icts. Furthermore, I collect and discuss country-level investor protection indices that relate to the protection of shareholders' and the creditors' rights, and that help to mitigate these con icts. The nal sample contains 7.994 rms from 35 countries analyzed from 2010 until 2013 (almost 22.000 year-observations). I discuss and empirically test ve hypothesis. In a nutshell, there is consistent evidence that entrenched managers choose higher levels of cash holdings, and that cash holdings are positively associated with perquisites consumption. There is also evidence that managerial entrenchment, either via high managerial ownership concentration or via CEO duality, changes managers' preferences over the consumption of perquisites and risk-taking. In general, this thesis suggests that di erent agency con icts are associated and that entrenchment a ects managerial preferences over the three remaining conflicts.

This thesis examines local transitional justice programmes and processes in Sierra Leone. I will examine both recognised mechanisms – official institutions with preconceived goals and processes that are already recognised as part of the transitional justice ‘toolkit’ and unrecognised mechanisms – processes outside the institutional transitional justice scope and discourse. Much research and analysis of these processes often prioritise organisations and their programmes as the starting point of investigation and fail to recognise the various individual actors involved, both within the organisational structures and the groups for whom these programmes are designed. Moving beyond discussions of impact and effectiveness, this thesis examines the actual activity of Sierra Leonean individuals in both recognised and unrecognised processes. Fambul Tok is an example of a recognised local transitional justice programme, which seeks to facilitate justice and reconciliation through bonfire ceremonies to make the programmes more contextually relevant for rural communities. I will look at the various individuals involved in constructing and shaping how Fambul Tok operates and is represented to different audiences to better understand dynamics amongst different Sierra Leoneans with attachments to different places, all of whom theoretically constitute the local. My thesis will demonstrate how transitional justice processes are not only institutional, but also individual. I move away from discussions about ‘societies,’ normative questions of institutional effectiveness, the underlying assumptions that propel transitional justice programmes and mechanisms and look more specifically at the activities and appropriation of individual actors within these transitional justice processes to better illustrate the diverse means through which individuals construct as well as engage with local transitional justice programmes and the unique unrecognised ways individuals move past their war-related experiences.

abstract: A sequential mixed-methods action research study was undertaken with a group of 10th-grade students enrolled in a required English course at an independent secondary school. The purpose of the study was to investigate students' negotiation of agentic writer identity in a course that featured a three-strand intervention: (a) a high degree of student choice; (b) ongoing written self-reflection; and (c) ongoing instruction in mindset. The researcher drew on self-determination theory and identity theory to operationalize agentic writer identity around three constructs—behaviors, identity, and belief. A questionnaire was used to identify an array of cases that would illustrate a range of experiences around agentic writer identity. Questionnaire data were analyzed to identify a sample from which to collect qualitative data and to identify prominent central relations among the three constructs, which were further explored in the second stage through the qualitative data. Qualitative data were gathered from a primary group of six students in the form of student journals and interviews around the central constructs of writing belief, writing behavior, and writer identity. Using a snowballing sampling method, four students were added to the sample group to form a second tier of data. The corpus of qualitative data from all 10 students was coded and analyzed using the technique of re-storying to produce a narrative interpretation, in the style of the Norse saga, of students' engagement in agentic writing behaviors, espousal of agentic writing beliefs, and construction of agentic writer identities. A defense of the chosen narrative approach and genre was provided. Interpretation of the re-storied data was provided, including discussion of interaction among themes that emerged from the data and the re-storying process. Emergent themes and phenomena from the re-storied data were realigned with the quantitative data as well as with the constructs that informed the survey design and sampling. Implications for classroom teachers, as well as suggestions for further research, were suggested. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2017

abstract: As securities companies occupy an increasingly important position in the national economy, and the most valuable competitive advantage for whom is human resources; therefore, Security Industry practitioners pay close attention to the influences of securities companies' incentive mechanisms regarding to various business types. This paper finds that asymmetry of information in business models is the motivation of the gaming for all participants, through analyzing the differences of various business models of securities brokerage services. Further, various incentive mechanisms under different circumstances result in diverse strategies of gaming. It varies development paths of securities companies. Therefore, the purpose of the paper is to theoretically deduce the most reasonable and optimal securities companies’ incentive mechanism. This paper intends to identify the principle component factors influencing securities brokerage services via questionnaire investigations towards 75 branches under the same securities company and 13 different securities companies, respectively. In addition, based on historical data, the paper aim to explain rationales between adjustments of incentive mechanisms and market shares of securities brokerage services.Lastly, combining author’s personal experience of various incentive mechanisms and development tracks in four securities companies that hopefully presents valuable information and clues for deducing the optimal securities company incentive mechanism. There are two critical agency relationships in securities brokerage services. One is between principals, securities companies, and agents which are directors of branches. The other is between principals, securities companies, and agents which are securities marketers or brokers. Because of such operational setup, information is highly asymmetrical between all parties. It brought prominent problems regarding agency relationship and motivation aspects. Under the certain circumstances, implementation of Incomplete Contracting Theory with franchising models in securities companies is quite useful. Specifically, for the former relationship between securities companies and marketers, the motivation effects of sub-license franchising are better than bonus compensation structure. Fixed salaries without bonus have the worst stimulating effects in such business model. For the latter relationship between securities companies and directors of branches, the agents focus on long term residual value claim rights, since it coincides with agents’ appraisals, focusing on incremental market shares and profit drawings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Business Administration 2018

abstract: Multimedia educational technologies have increased their presence in traditional and online classrooms over the course of the previous decade. These tools hold value and can promote positive learning outcomes but are reliant on students’ degree of cognitive engagement and self-regulation. When students are not cognitively engaged or have low self-regulation capabilities, their interaction with the technology becomes less impactful because of decreased learning outcomes. Building or altering technologies to cognitively engage students is costly and timely; the present study investigates if introducing higher agency roles, to change the role of the student, increases learning outcomes. Specifically, this study investigates if higher agency roles of a designer or teacher enhances cognitive engagement and improves learning when compared to the conventional role of a learner. Improved learning outcomes were observed from the pretest to posttest for the learner, designer, and teacher role. Participants engaged with higher agency roles did not demonstrate more growth from pretest to posttest when compared to the control group, but participants in the teacher role outperformed those in the designer role. Additionally, reading ability did not impact learning gains across groups. While students who engaged with higher agency roles did not achieve greater learning outcomes than students in the control group, results indicate a learning effect across groups. Results of this study suggest that it was underpowered. Further research is needed to determine the extent of the impact that higher agency roles have on learning outcomes. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Human Systems Engineering 2018

Promotion to partner has always been a future goal for auditors, still becoming a partner is not an easy task, and it has many requirements, and since the audit profession is a sensitive profession and it concern everyone in the society, and since partners are the most important capital that audit firms have, so that is why we thought it is very important to investigate how this position can be reached?This research has a qualitative methodology and has interviews and internal documents as research strategy. The research consist of 7 interviews varied between authorized auditors who are still working in auditing firms or left it before becoming partners, partners and HR, the interviews were performed personally via phone or face to face.The findings are based on semi structured interviews and internal documents. There is significant effect between profitability and promotion to partner beside many more aspects such as Reputation, personal characteristics, promotion systems, personal branding, overtime, industry specialized, education and gender, but being profitable was the most important one.

A presente dissertação parte de uma análise dos principais corpos regulatórios nacionais e internacionais da governança corporativa para buscar os traços essenciais que caracterizam tal sistema. Uma vez identificados os traços essenciais a partir dos elementos regulatórios, passa o texto a analisar os elementos caracterizadores da governança corporativa por meio das principais disposições doutrinárias sobre o tema. Após estabelecido um conceito funcional de governança corporativa, busca-se compreender as bases econômicas que originaram e auxiliaram no desenvolvimento do sistema da governança corporativa. A partir deste ponto são levantadas as principais Indagações acerca do funcionamento do mercado em um ambiente de informações assimétricas, ressaltando-se o impacto advindo dos agency costs. Finalmente, após levantados os problemas relacionados à assimetria de informação, essencialmente focados no agency problem, se propõe a dissertação a vincular o desenvolvimento do sistema da governança corporativa à mitigação dos problemas de assimetria de informação. / The present work starts from an analysis of the main national and international regulatory provisions in connection to corporate governance searching for the essential traces that characterize such system. Once the essential traces are identified by means of the regulatory elements, the dissertation moves on to analyze the characterizing elements of corporate governance through the main academic considerations on the subject. After a concept of corporate governance is reached, the intent of the works shifts to comprehending the economic basis that have originated and further developed the corporate governance system. From this point forward, the dissertation addresses the main questions on the working of markets under asymmetric information, mainly taking into consideration the impacts arising from the agency costs. Finally, after the problems related to asymmetric information are addressed, basically related to agency problems, the work deals with the objective of bonding the development of the corporate governance system with the reduction of the problems arising from asymmetric information.