No description available.

<p>The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon&rsquo / s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity.</p>

<p>Governing an ethnically diverse country constitutes a major challenge for state power and government in Cameroon. The call for national unity, championed by the regime in power has had to survive strong demands for greater autonomy and threats of secession by groups from within an English-speaking minority. In response to these demands and threats, and in conjunction with reforms to improve democratic governance and service delivery, Cameroon&rsquo / s state administration has in the last decade resorted to decentralization as a technique for promoting national unity. The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon&rsquo / s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon&rsquo / s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it&nbsp / simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity.</p>

No description available.

This document describes studies of two independent regions of the interstellar medium (ISM). These studies have the common element that both pertain to regions in our Galaxy that are known to be associated with present-day star formation. These studies aim to help us understand the ISM, star formation, and ultimately where we came from, since, after all, our star, the Sun, is itself the product of star formation 4.5 billion years ago. The first project measured the Zeeman Effect on the 21 cm H I absorption line in order to create a map of the line of sight magnetic fields near a star forming region called W3. From the map of the field, it was possible to create a three dimensional model of the magnetic field morphology. Also, calculating the various energies associated with W3 revealed that it is most likely in virial equilibrium, not expanding or contracting. The second project used an instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to measure the abundance of iron in a neutral region near the Orion Nebula called Orion’s Veil. One of the goals of this project is to investigate whether solid dust grains can be destroyed by ionizing radiation by comparing the amount of solid iron in Orion’s Veil to the amount in the nearby ionized regions. By measuring the depletion of iron in the neutral Veil and comparing it to the depletion of iron the H+ regions of the Orion Nebula, it was possible to conclude that iron was not being released into the gas phase by ultraviolet photons. In addition, oscillator strengths for two Fe II transitions were measured.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a worldwide issue as organizations are under increasing pressure to behave in socially responsible ways. Environmental responsibility as a part of CSR is often connected with sustainability and protection the environment. This is of a significant importance to New Zealand and its 'clean' and 'green' image. One industry having an impact on the environment, and also having a strategic position in the economy of New Zealand is the wine industry. The aim of the research is to understand what motivates and sustains companies' CSR practices. This exploratory study examines (1) what drives the industry to engage in CSR practices, (2) the role of stakeholders in the company's decision making, and (3) CSR practices in the wine industry. A qualitative research approach supplemented by quantitative measures was adopted to answer the research questions. 24 case study organizations (wineries) were studied and 31 managers interviewed. The research found that the most important drivers of CSR practices are personal values, preferences and satisfaction with this profession. This is followed by product quality and customers' demand. Though New Zealand wine companies are also driven by the market; the market still does not value CSR initiatives and companies do not receive a price premium for sustainable or organically grown grapes. Furthermore, environmental regulations belong to important drivers affecting companies' decision-making. However, companies do not consider current New Zealand's regulations as significantly difficult to follow. On the other hand, companies want to preempt future regulations. The research also revealed that the most important stakeholders are owners, shareholders, customers, wholesalers and international businesses. The role of communication and ecolabelling is also discussed. As a result, the study proposes a typology matrix that differentiates organizations' involvement in CSR according to the extent of CSR practices and their drivers. This study contributes to understanding of the New Zealand wine industry status in environmental CSR at the present, the extent of drivers of proactive environmentalism and companies' stakeholders, and the description of a typology matrix of companies engaging in CSR. This contribution is valuable for those interested in CSR, and the future of New Zealand's wine industry.

Exhaustible resource rents are an important taxable base in many countries, with revenue sharing often part of the scheme. In some cases large shares are retained for the central government. Generally, the discussions of exhaustible resource taxation consider assignment of resource rent tax base and revenue sharing from the limited perspectives of efficiency and stability. Tax assignment and sharing arrangements are assumed to have a neutral effect on investment of resource rents in long-lived public goods. We attempt to demonstrate that this may not be the case, specifically looking at the question of whether rent assignment is neutral to effects on investment of rents in long-lived public goods, a normative policy objective, and under what conditions it occurs. We test the theoretical propositions with data from the Russian Federation to derive empirical results. The results from the Russian Federation point toward an important dimension of rent tax assignment in a federation. They results show that ceteris paribus, higher share of rent for the federation may lead to lower investment in long-lived public goods and may be constrained by stability. Another argument has been made for reconsidering rent tax assignment using assertive ethnic identity as a manifestation strong ownership claims. Communities with strongly valued identities value ownership over land and exhaustible resource endowments in their areas. This may be the case especially if ethnic identity is important to the resource owning community. The empirical results show that a decrease in the regional share of rent resulted in a fall in investments in the republics and regions with strong ethnic identity. Republics among the producing regions have historical claims to a distinct identity and may have a preference for preserving their identity. This preference is manifested as higher levels of rent investment. Following this line of argument, it can be concluded that rent assignment, through rent tax or revenue assignment, should favor producing regions within the range of stability in a federation, if the objective is achieving higher investment in long-lived public goods.

In this paper we present an econometric framework aimed at obtaining projections of income growth in Europe at the regional level. We account for model uncertainty in terms of the choice of explanatory variables, as well as the nature of the spatial spillovers of output growth and human capital investment. Building on recent advances in Bayesian model averaging, we construct projected trajectories of income and human capital simultaneously, while integrating out the effects of other covariates. This approach allows us to assess the potential contribution of future educational attainment to economic growth and income convergence among European regions over the next decades. Our findings suggest that income convergence dynamics and human capital act as important drivers of income growth for the decades to come. In addition we find that the relative return of improving educational attainment levels in terms of economic growth appears to be higher in peripheral European regions. (authors' abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon's national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon's national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon's political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity. / Magister Legum - LLM

Governing an ethnically diverse country constitutes a major challenge for state power and government in Cameroon. The call for national unity, championed by the regime in power has had to survive strong demands for greater autonomy and threats of secession by groups from within an English-speaking minority. In response to these demands and threats, and in conjunction with reforms to improve democratic governance and service delivery,Cameroon’s state administration has in the last decade resorted to decentralization as a technique for promoting national unity. The question this paper seeks to answer is whether decentralization is helpful or harmful to Cameroon’s national unity. This study traces the historical, constitutional and political development of the concepts of national unity and decentralization and critically examines their application in the Cameroonian context. It further tests the consolidation of national unity in Cameroon against a theoretical and empirical framework of decentralization. A one-dimensional view of the findings of this study is not very encouraging to regimes seeking to enhance national unity through the implementation of decentralization. However, the major conclusion of this study holds the position that the political outcome of decentralization on Cameroon’s national unity is largely a product of the constitutional regulation of both concepts and the manner in which the theoretical dimensions of decentralization are transplanted onto Cameroon’s political landscape. The paper recommends certain reforms to assist and guide Cameroon as it simultaneously implements decentralization and consolidates national unity. / Magister Legum - LLM