In this thesis, we will discuss two separate topics. First, we find a critical knot for an knot energy function. A knot is a closed curve or polygon in three space. It is possible to for a computer to simulate the flow of a knot to its minimum energy conformation. There is no guarantee, however, that a true minimizer exists near the computer's alleged minimizer. We take advantage of both the symmetry of the minimizer and the symmetry invariance of the energy function to prove that there is a critical point of the energy function near the computer's minimizer. Second, we will discuss how to determine the number of complementary domains of arrangements of algebraic curves in 2-space and ellipsoids in 3-space. In each of these situations, we supply equations that provide an upper bound for the number of complementary domains. These upper bounds are applicable even when the exact intersections between the curves or surfaces are unknown.

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In recent years transfer pricing has become one of the most important issues for tax authorities and companies. As the area has become more complex this has lead to an increase in disputes and a need for dispute resolution procedure. Advanced Pricing Arrangement (APA) is the latest dispute resolution procedure and was introduced in Sweden in 2010. APAs determine a taxpayer’s future taxation of cross-border transaction by a taxpayer. Through co-operation the taxpayer and the tax authorities reach an APA that aims to avoid double taxation. The legislation is based on the guidance from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and it serves as a framework for many domestic legislations. Other countries with more experience from APAs have implemented additional guidance from the OECD in its legislation but the Swedish legislation has left some options outside. The Swedish APA does not allow for unilateral APAs where an agreement is concluded only with one tax authority in a cross-border transaction. In Sweden, only APAs negotiated with other tax authority are allowed. To increase legal certainty where unilateral APAs are the best or only way Sweden should implement them it its legislation. As the APA process is costly and complex small and medium companies cannot benefit from the advantages. In order for smaller companies to be able to take advantage of the APA program a simplified system should be implemented. In some countries the tax administrations also allows the APA to be applicable retrospective, referred to as roll-back. Through a roll-back taxpayers can avoid potential disputes regarding past transactions as well as the advantages from the APA for future transactions. This can be done while a taxpayer is under audit and is considered a less hostile alternative.

The child and the youth are the overall national properties. Constructing a safe growth and social environment is the first priority to safeguard its rights and interests. Our country in view of the child-youth rights' and interests' safeguard can be seen in the Criminal Law, the Civil Law, the Youth-Event Processing Law,the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act, and the Children and Youth Welfare Act . However, this article aims on ¡§the child-youth sex trade prevention regulations¡¨ in view of the country and ¡§the Children and Youth Welfare Act¡¨ relevant stipulation, examining the country in regard to promote the positive body-and-mind development of the child and the youth, safeguard its rights and interests, promote its welfare, fulfill the goal of ¡§child and youth¡¦s best interests¡¨, by using the family-care pattern compulsory devices, achieves by the protection placement mechanism's implementation method, therefore, to finally examine whether the goal and the methods used meet the proportional principle. This article examines and discusses the foundation of the child and the youth law standard, the legislative reasons and impetus process of child and the Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act and the Children and Youth Welfare Act. It compares the relationships between the mechanism of child-and-youth placements and the proportional principle of these two regulations, and therefore, to propose the defects that our country has presented nowadays and provide suggestions and new directions for the government as a reference to emend the law and social workers to implement the child-youth protection placement in a better way in the future.

With the increasing need for highway maintenance and the decreasingly available funds, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Austin District has sought to better utilize maintenance section employee resources by implementing a compressed workweek. The primary goal of this thesis is to establish a framework and methodology to study the effects of a compressed workweek on maintenance crews in both rural and urban environments. Secondly, this thesis will provide a background of best practices of popular flexible work arrangements, including compressed workweeks, telework, and flextime. The compressed workweek is a type of flexible work arrangement that allows employees to work longer days during a part of the week in exchange for a partial or full day off later in the week. Compressed workweeks can offer numerous benefits to maintenance crews, including increased production, less set up and shut down time per week, decreased operating costs, reduced overhead, and increased employee morale. TxDOT will implement a six-month pilot project in two rural maintenance sections and one urban section. Compressed workweeks have proven to be successful in other districts with rural maintenance sections, but application of a compressed workweek in an urban maintenance section has yet to be studied. Therefore, maintenance crew activity data from previous years will be compared to data collected during the trial period to understand changes in productivity and to estimate vehicle operating costs. Lastly, surveys of maintenance employees will be conducted throughout the study to solve any personal issues that arise as well as determine employee satisfaction with the new schedule. / text

This thesis focuses on the development of the Conservative Party's policy in respect of the form of the National Health Service in England between the general elections of 1964 and 1979. By form is meant the basic principles of the Service and the organisational arrangements (structure, management processes and financing) made to give effect to those principles. After an account of the form of the NHS in 1964, the thesis documents the development of Conservative Party policy on those aspects of form to which attention was given between 1964 and 1979. In doing so, it draws extensively on primary material, much of which (especially that relating to the Party's periods in Opposition) has not, as far as the author can discover, been brought together previously in an historical study. By examining this material in its appropriate context, it is hoped that the thesis makes intelligible a passage of history quite tightly circumscribed both in terms of subject and period. Insofar as an overall theme might be said to emerge, it is of a Party committed to the idea of a comprehensive health service, uncomfortable with the consequences of aspects of the form enacted in 1946 but, conscious of the popularity of the NHS, cautious about making radical changes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed Aug. 22, 2007). PDF text: 74 p. : music. UMI publication number: AAT 3237872. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Family Studies and Social Work, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-60).

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral analisar se e de que modo o cooperativismo pode ser um meio eficiente para auxiliar a concretização do ideal democrático de uma economia de mercado com inclusão econômica e social, oportunizando o desenvolvimento de caráter endógeno, em um modelo desenvolvimentista com participação da sociedade civil e novas formas de organização econômica, favorecendo a emergência de uma nova classe empresarial. Como objetivos específicos, figuram analisar as origens do cooperativismo e as conformações específicas deste sistema, enquanto valores e ideais de sociedade; analisar os aspectos econômicos e institucionais do cooperativismo; analisar o cooperativismo na atual Constituição brasileira, de acordo com os valores que regem essa norma e sua relevância teleológica; bem como, formular sugestões de princípios de organização institucional do cooperativismo, para potencializar seu emprego como meio de concretizar os ideais democráticos e suprir carências brasileiras, como as existentes nas áreas de educação, infraestrutura e saúde. São empregadas conjuntamente diretrizes teóricas tanto da área econômica quanto de áreas correlatas ao tema, com o intuito de demonstrar a possibilidade de adoção do cooperativismo como ferramenta de desenvolvimento social. O trabalho é composto por quatro partes, sendo a primeira focada na análise das origens do cooperativismo. Na segunda parte, são analisados os aspectos econômicos e institucionais do cooperativismo. Esse item do trabalho foi complementado por três anexos de cunho jurídico: um sobre a evolução da legislação referente ao cooperativismo no Brasil, o segundo sobre a personalidade jurídica das cooperativas e o terceiro sobre as sociedades cooperativas no Código Civil. Na terceira parte, consta a análise do cooperativismo na Constituição Federal de 1988. Na quarta seção, são formuladas propostas de princípios de organização institucional do cooperativismo. Mais precisamente, dado que o ambiente e os arranjos institucionais têm acentuada influência sobre o comportamento dos agentes econômicos, são citadas propostas para mitigar eventuais dificuldades microeconômicas próprias das cooperativas, bem como para constituir incentivos na adoção do cooperativismo como ferramenta auxiliar na concretização dos ideais democráticos e na supressão das carências atuais existentes no Brasil. / This paper has as its main objective to analyze whether and how cooperativism can be an efficient means to assist the realization of the democratic ideal of a market economy with economic and social inclusions, providing opportunities for the development of endogenous character, in a developmental model with participation of civil society and new forms of economic organization, favoring the emergence of a new entrepreneurial class. Specific objectives include analyzing the origins of the cooperativism and the specific conformations of this system, while values and ideals of society; analyze the economic and institutional aspects of cooperativism; analyze cooperativism in the current Brazilian Constitution, in accordance with the values that govern this standard and its teleological significance; as well as make suggestions of principles of institutional organization of cooperativism to enhance their employment as a means of achieving democratic ideals and meet Brazilian needs, as those existing in the areas of education, infrastructure and health. They are employed together both theoretical guidelines of the economic area as well as of those related to correlated areas, in order to demonstrate the possibility of adoption of cooperativism as a tool for social development. The paper consists of four parts, the first focused on the analysis of the origins of cooperativism. In the second part, the economic and institutional aspects of cooperativism are analyzed. This item was complemented by three appendixes of legal nature: one on the evolution of the legislation on cooperativism in Brazil, the second about the legal status of cooperatives and the third on the cooperative societies in the Civil Code. The third part consists in the analysis of cooperativism in the Federal Constitution of 1988. In the fourth section, proposed principles of institutional organization of cooperativism are formulated. More precisely, since the environment and institutional arrangements have marked influence on the behavior of economic agents, proposals are cited to mitigate eventual microeconomic difficulties characteristic of cooperatives, as well as provide incentives for the adoption of cooperativism as an auxiliary tool in the realization of democratic ideals and suppression of current deficiencies in Brazil.

This thesis identifies and analyzes current problems in the healthcare market in China. Although many health indicators of China such as life expectancy and child mortality rates have improved significantly and suggest that the healthcare reform in China is successful, there have been many more reports of patient's violent attack towards the doctor, the sudden death of doctors, and decreasing doctor supplies that suggest otherwise. I observed that the relationship between doctors and patients are intense, doctors experience enormous working pressure, and many doctors are leaving the market. It makes me wonder how did government fail to improve its healthcare quality while health indicators suggest huge improvements. This thesis mainly focuses on how institutions contribute to the market inefficiencies. I hope this thesis will provide some insights for future reform policies.