Thesis (DPhil.)--University of Oxford, 2009. / Supervisor: Professor Steve Rayner. Bibliography: p. 405-453.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 102). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Diss., 2003.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 102).

Climate change has been described as a malign, wicked, and super wicked problem. I focus on key characteristics that make international collective action challenging: asymmetry, fear of free riding, scientific uncertainty, and inherent interdependencies. I argue that an institution designed to tackle such a complex problem requires a key set of features: leadership, linkage, quality information, differentiated obligations, monitoring/enforcement, transparency, and flexibility. I assess the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol to determine what aspects are missing. I then ask why the European Union (EU), with incentives to the contrary, set broad unilateral goals. I argue that the framework of political and economic integration made deep cooperation possible. Lastly, I consider whether this experience is specific to the EU and ask whether regional trade networks have a role in the global arsenal of climate change solutions.

Conservation of biodiversity and sustainable resource use are central aims within ecology. This thesis focuses on the current data and environmental frameworks used to support these aims across different states in Europe. In particular, it examines the impact of geo-political boundaries on data-use, funding and planning for temporal movement of species in response to climate change. It also examines the current environmental framework agreements in Europe and their capacity to deal with trans-boundary aspects of biodiversity change. Through examination of European biodiversity datasets, undertaking species distribution modelling of forest taxa, examining economic data, palaeo-ecological data, and assessing international environmental framework agreements, this thesis identifies a number of important knowledge gaps. Probably unsurprisingly, the distribution of biodiversity in Europe mostly does not match political entities, all of which have individual aims, financial resources, and biodiversity management regimes in place. All have a significant impact on biodiversity conservation planning because i) the use of geo-politically truncated data influences modelling predictions, ii) financial commitment to biodiversity conservation varies between countries influencing success outcomes, iii) biodiversity persistence in current and future climate change does not recognise geo-political boundaries, and iv) many of the key environmental frameworks are implemented within countries and do not considering trans-boundary issues. Overall these findings significantly improve the understanding of conservation and resource management in Europe and fill a number of important knowledge gaps. They highlight the importance of appropriate trans-boundary ecological datasets and the need for more consistency across Europe in financial resources for biodiversity conservation. They also highlight the need for appreciation of areas of high-persistent biodiversity regardless of geo-political boundaries and environmental framework agreements that support cross-border conservation measures.

It is common in today’s society that a business transfer occurs. Collective agreements hold a strong position in Swedish labour market which means that the majority of companies around Sweden have collective agreements. I therefore intend to study how collective agreements are applied during a business transfer. My study is mainly focusing on the legal framework in 28§ MBL since it regulates how collective agreements are applied during a transfer. The study is focusing on four different situations when a business transfer occurs. The situations that are treated is following: The transferor has a collective agreement but not the acquirer, the acquirer has collective agreement but not the transferor, both the acquirer and the transferor are bound by the same collective agreements or bound by different ones. The Council directive 2001/23/EG prescribes in article 3 that an automatic transfer of all rights and obligations is made when a business transition occurs. This rule has been implemented through the 6 b § LAS Furthermore, the safeguarding of the employees’ rights when it exists a collective agreement are regulated in 28§ MBL. 28§ 1 st MBL precludes an automatic transfer of the regulations in the transferors collective agreement into the acquirers organisation unless the acquirer is bound by a collective agreement. If the acquirer is bound by a collective agreement, they are still obligated to apply the transferor collective agreement during one year. This is just a couple of examples of how collective agreements are regulated during a business transfer. The applications of collective agreements can be complex depending on the situation. I have compared all of the situations above in an analysis in chapter 4.

After many years of deliberations, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued its new standard on Leases. This thesis will examine how the new lease standard can affect a company’s debt agreements with lenders, more specifically debt covenants. It will discuss how the revised lease accounting can alter common debt covenant ratios, and the implications of classifying the lease as operating vs. finance from the perspective of the lessee. A detailed case study incorporating the new accounting changes will illustrate the impact of the new standard on a set of common solvency and liquidity measures. This thesis will then discuss how lenders incorporate leases when structuring debt agreements. It will conclude with a discussion on whether concerns over the new standard are warranted, given that the obligations of the borrower remains fundamentally the same.

A presente pesquisa teve por objetivo problematizar os combinados, essa prática aparentemente comum na educação de criança pequena, aquela da educação infantil e dos anos iniciais do ensino fundamental. A análise foi realizada a partir de alguns escritos foucaultianos, bem como de autores que se valem deste, em torno de conceitos como governamentalidade, sujeito e relações de saber-poder e se debruça sobre os discursos produzidos pela Revista Nova Escola (1996 a 2015) ao utilizar tal prática, observando o modo como esse periódico opera para que tais discursos se tornem regimes de verdade. Consequentemente, a dissertação também envolveu uma releitura de teóricos construtivistas que, de certa forma, estão envolvidos nas teorias e nos discursos que possibilitaram a conjectura para que os combinados se tornassem parte da prática cotidiana das escolas. No contexto acima exposto, a pesquisa problematizou as receitas contidas em alguns dos conteúdos dos periódicos, as condutas dos professores (leitores da revista) no que se refere à produtividade para incluir tal prática em seus planos de aula, a representação da palavra combinado para as crianças e, principalmente, como todos esses sujeitos (professores, alunos, orientadores etc.) podem tornar-se reprodutores dos mesmos discursos. A análise envolveu também investigar se, e como, os combinados se tornaram regimes de verdade; como podem estabelecer determinadas formas de relações de poder; e como contribuem para que o aluno seja visto como sujeito moderno, racional, essencial, que se autogoverna. / This research aimed to problematize and discuss the \"agreements\" which is apparently a common practice in child education of early childhood and in the early years of primary school. The analysis was carried out from some Foucault scholars, as well as writings of authors who use this around the concepts such as governmentality, subject and know-power to study the discourse produced by the Magazine Nova Escola (1996 to 2015) observing how it works in order to become real schemes. Consequently, this dissertation also involved the rereading of constructivist theorists who are involved in the theories and discourses that made it possible to conjecture the agreements to become part of the daily practice in schools. In the context above, the survey discussed the \"recipes contained in some of the contents of the journals, the conduct of teachers (readers of the magazine) as regards the productivity to include this practice in their lesson plans, the representation of the words agreed for children and, primarily, as all these subjects (teachers, students, counselors, etc.) can become players of the same speeches. The analysis also involved investigating whether, and how, the agreements became real regimes and how they can establish powerful relationships and how they help the students to be seen as modern, rational and self-governed beings.