Thesis--Albert-Ludwigs-Univ., 1931. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-89).

Thesis (PH.D.) -- Syracuse University, 2006 / "Publication number AAT 3251774."

Thesis (M.S.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2007. / Thesis advisor: Kathleen Bantley. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Criminal Justice." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-45). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Dissertation, Technische Universität München, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (SpringerLink, viewed Nov. 21, 2009). Includes bibliographical references and index.

Concerns about the impacts of intensive agriculture in the 20th century led to the introduction of policy initiatives intended to halt environmental deterioration and reverse biodiversity losses. In England, agri-environment schemes have enabled deintensification of agricultural land management and active promotion of habitat types of conservation value within the farmed landscape. One such habitat, lowland wet grassland, is represented within several Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESAs), including the Upper Thames Tributaries (UTI) ESA. Current UK agri-environment schemes provide the policy context for this study. An investigation to determine whether soil seed banks of former, and extant, floodplain grasslands could contribute to the restoration of floristic diversity concluded that propagule availability was likely to be a major constraint on restoration and recreation of wet grassland as seed banks are too depauperate for restoration of all species. At the beginning of the study, there was some doubt as to the efficacy of ESA prescriptions for reversion of arable land to wet grassland, which involved sowing a limited range of grass species only. Site-specific floristic targets for wet grassland recreation at an ex-arable site in the UTT ESA were derived using a reference habitat. Several treatments, based on the re-introduction of species as seed, were formulated to test whether sowing a wider range of species would be more effective in generating the type of species-rich grassland aimed for under the ESA scheme. The effectiveness of the seed treatments, including the ESA scheme's recommendation, at re-establishing species-rich wet grassland on ex-arable land was assessed in a field experiment which tested the site-specific targets developed and evaluation criteria. Results concurred with those of the seed bank investigation: restoration of diversity requires the introduction of increased numbers of species. The evaluation criteria developed enable progress towards the target to be quantified, but emphasise that reference conditions must be chosen with care. Targets developed using a reference habitat were site-specific and unrealistic in the short-term. Objective, catchment-wide targets can be derived from the species distribution dataset for the study area using a number of approaches to enable identification of: (i) extant high quality lowland wet grassland - to be protected and to act as 'sources' of propagules for restoration; (ii) priority sites for restoration ('sink' fields), according to their potential to be restored to the target habitat; (iii) species that are constant in extant wet grasslands and that should form the basis of species-rich seed mixtures; and (iv) habitat-specific 'indicator species' to evaluate restoration success. Re-creation of characteristic lowland wet grassland in the UTT ESA will be possible, although early ESA recommendations for reversion of arable land, based on simple management prescriptions and low intervention, will not achieve even the poorlydefined scheme objectives. The ESA scheme could make an increased contribution to the promotion of biodiversity within the UK by targeting high quality wet grasslands for protection, and sites for restoration based upon the ease with which species-rich grassland could be established. The 'value for money' of the scheme could be increased by careful selection of species for (re-) introduction and by monitoring the success of restoration using habitat measures based on the characteristics of the target habitat to identify why restoration may be failing and where further intervention may be required.

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University

Islamic finance has extended the debates on corporate governance beyond the traditional stockholder-stakeholder models to a Sharī'ah governance (SG) perspectives. Sharī'ah governance issues dominate the agenda of Sharī'ah compliance in institutions offering Islamic financial services. These institutions profess to apply principles and precepts of the Sharī'ah to ensure equitable satisfaction of stakeholder interest in their products and services, beyond maximisation of shareholder value. As subset of the opaque industry of banking and finance, Islamic banks and financial institutions shroud their SG practices in secrecy. Extant academic research on SG has mainly applied surveys using traditional deductive models of explanation, based on statistical generalizations, to examine the state of SG practices and the disclosure of Sharī'ah committee reports and Sharī'ah concepts in annual reports and websites. There is a dearth of literature on the Sharī'ah governance process itself. Meanwhile, various governments and jurisdictions have approached the issue of SG in diverse ways, ranging from lukewarm attitudes SG to regulatory-based SG. To date, countries are classified in terms of their approach to SG from regulatory perspectives into five: a 'passive approach', a 'minimalist approach', a 'reactive approach', an 'interventionist approach' and a 'proactive approach'. Malaysia applies the proactive approach to SG, where the regulator institutes a comprehensive SG framework to strengthen Sharī'ah compliance in Islamic financial Institutions (IFIs). The common law country also operates a dual banking system - conventional and Islamic. And it is considered to have the most advanced and conducive legislative and infrastructural environment for Islamic finance globally. This thesis attempts to contribute to our understanding of SG within the broader framework of corporate governance in IFIs. The thesis explores the relationship between corporate and Sharī'ah governance and product operations of a bank in Malaysia that adopts a unique approach to providing Islamic and conventional banking products and services concurrently, known as the Dual Banking Leveraged Model (DBLM). With this model, the Islamic franchise leverages on the infrastructure and human resources of the holding company to operate an Islamic banking business. Given the dearth of literature on this model, the study draws on Scapens' (1990) version of holistic case study and Dubois and Gadde's (2002) 'Systematic combining: an abductive approach to case study research', to conduct an in-depth case study using multiple sources: observation, information from websites, annual reports, financial statements, and primary data via interviews with different stakeholders of the bank (the board, Sharī'ah committee, management and staff) to gather evidence on the application of corporate and Sharī'ah governance in the operations of CIMB Islamic.

M.Cur. / Awareness of the growing list of potential and inherent risks and hazards associated with receiving donor blood has created a mushrooming interest in alternatives to blood transfusion. Despite the fact that there are programmes, protocols and guidelines in place in the private health sector, blood conservation has not got off the ground. Therefore the aim of this study was to explore and describe the perceptions of health-care professionals regarding blood conservation in the private health sector. An exploratory descriptive contextual design was employed. Data was collected through the use of semi-structured focus group and individual interviews. Conceptualisation as well as data from the interviews served as the basis for the formulation of guidelines for health-care professionals to improve blood conservation. The results of this research show that the interaction among health-care professionals are negatively influenced by the lack of communication, feedback, support and uncertainty, a lack of trust, education, planning, implementation, involvement, commitment and co-ordination. Therefore the outcome of blood conservation cannot be achieved. Effective communication, education and participatory management have to improve in order for these negative factors to be overcome. It is recommended that these guidelines be implemented to improve blood conservation in the private health sector. Conclusions, limitations and further recommendations were made based on the results of this study.

M.Com. (Marketing Management) / Companies in the industrial sector, where merchant banks generate 80% of their returns, are the best source of business for these banks. Because merchant banks' markets are largely restricted to the industrial sector, market segmentation of the industrial market and the concomitant assessment of the needs of the market are vitally important. The aim of this study was to develop a workable model for merchant banks, on the basis of which they may segment their markets meaningfully and simply, and may assess their clients' needs within the markets. with this aim in view, the first step was to gather background information on merchant banking, subsequent to which a theoretical analysis of market segmentation was carried out. The market research carried out, consisted of two parts. The first part entailed developing a computer model that could do market segmentation by combining the existing sources of information within the merchant bank and those of outside bodies. Internal sources used were the accounting and marketing records of merchant banks' own clients. External sources reflected the demographic, psychographic and geographic information on merchant banks' markets and the enterprises within these markets. These consisted of databanks of the BFA-NET (The Bureau of Financial Analysis, University of Pretoria), the Central Statistical Service, Bureau of Market Research (UNISA), McGregor's "Online Database" and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange...

South African firms, subject to the pressures of globalisation, are having to reassess their mode of competing, as they increasingly find themselves facing foreign and international competitive threats in their domestic markets. This research explores the strategic responses undertaken by South African incumbents subject to international competition by investigating the strategic responses pursued by three South African banks to the entrance of Barclays into the South African market in 2005. The research also aims to explore the level at which these strategic responses are influenced by the firm’s strategy formulation process, as well as the perceptions harboured by the actors within the organisation. A case study methodology is employed to offer a rich description of the processes undertaken by the organisations and the various factors influencing the strategic design process. The research gives evidence to a number of strategic responses implemented by incumbents, ranging from an aggressive defence of domestic market share and profitability to an active expansion, taking South African products and services into new markets. These differences in responses are shown to be influenced by the organisations’ strategy formulation process, its positioning in the market, as well as the perceptions that it has of the competitive threat. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted