O presente trabalho visa analisar por que até hoje o Imposto sobre Grandes Fortunas não foi implementado no Brasil. Para a consecução desse objetivo, o estudo apresenta a situação da desigualdade no mundo e no país, através de apontamentos realizados pelo economista Thomas Piketty em sua obra “O Capital no Século XXI”, bem como de dados contidos em relatórios da distribuição da riqueza mundial; demarca os conceitos teóricos relativos à tributação, especialmente à justiça fiscal e à progressividade, apresentando a seguir a teoria da tributação equitativa; relata experiências internacionais relacionadas à tributação sobre a riqueza com destaque para os casos da Espanha e da França, mostrando em seguida dados referentes à tributação brasileira, em especial a distribuição da carga tributária do país e a alta participação dos tributos indiretos no total arrecadado, além da baixa participação dos tributos patrimoniais; e apresenta um breve histórico do Imposto sobre Grandes Fortunas no Brasil e os principais projetos de lei para sua regulamentação, analisando as questões que permeiam as discussões sobre o tributo, com o intuito de identificar as causas de sua não instituição até os dias atuais. A conclusão do trabalho aponta que a causa principal é de natureza política, pois os parlamentares e indivíduos com influência nas decisões do Congresso Nacional, ao aprovarem a implementação do imposto, criariam sobre si mesmos uma nova imposição tributária. Ademais, o temor de que ocorra fuga de capitais e redução da poupança interna, além da possível arrecadação baixa constituem causas secundárias para a não regulamentação do tributo. / The present work aims to analyze why until nowadays the Wealth Tax was not implemented in Brazil. In order to achieve this objective, the study presents the situation of inequality in the world and in the country through notes made by the economist Thomas Piketty in his work "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", as well as data contained in reports on the distribution of world wealth; demarcates the theoretical concepts related to taxation, especially fiscal justice and progressivity, and presents the theory of equitable taxation; reports on international experiences related to wealth taxation with emphasis in the cases of Spain and France, showing next data on Brazilian taxation, in particular the distribution of the country's tax burden and the high participation of indirect taxes in the total collected, besides of the low participation of the patrimonial taxes; and presents a brief history of the Wealth Tax in Brazil and the main bills for its regulation, analyzing the issues that permeate the discussions about the tax, in order to identify the causes of its non-institution to the present day. The conclusion of the study indicates that the main cause is political in nature, since the parliamentarians and individuals with influence in the decisions of the National Congress, when approving the implementation of the tax, would create upon themselves a new tax imposition. In addition, the concern of capital flight and reduction of domestic savings, besides the possible low collection, are secondary causes for the non-regulation of the tribute.

This work introduces two new parameterizations of graph problems generalizing vertex cover which fill part of the space between vertex cover and clique width in the hierarchy of graf parameterizations. We also study parameterized complexity of Hamiltonian path and cycle, vertex coloring, precoloring extension and equitable coloring parameterized by these two parameterizations. With the exception of precoloring extension which is W[1]-hard in one case, all the other problems listed above are tractable for both parameterizations. The boundary between tractability and intractability of these problems can therefore be moved closer to parameterization by clique width.

This thesis investigates the mechanisms that might be used to determine the rights and obligations of Turkey, Syria and Iraq to govern the Tigris and Euphrates River Basin (TERB) in accordance with the international water law. In particular, it advocates for the protection of Iraq?s equitable rights through the establishment of a legal and institutional framework for joint use of the TERB. As a contribution towards addressing the issues of transboundary water law at the TERB level, this thesis explores the possibilities for potential cooperation between the three riparian States of the TERB through forming a legally binding treaty under the auspices of contemporary international water law. From this perspective, the thesis hypothesises that international law provides a solid basis on which the State of Iraq can rely on for achieving its legal entitlements to the equitable and reasonable use of the TERB. In this context, the thesis first examines international law in order to establish how it applies to the TERB. Next, the thesis considers how the legal positions of the riparian States can be determined under international law. When the aforesaid requirements are met, the thesis makes recommendations on how international water law can strengthen the legal framework for equitable joint use of the TERB. The thesis offers the methodology and analytical framework that deals with different relevant issues covered within the scope of the thesis. Later on, water uses within the TERB are discussed, followed by a literature review of publications on contemporary Middle East transboundary water conflict and cooperation. Afterwords, the thesis examines the applicable international law and international water law to the riparian States of the TERB. Finally, it explores the legal regime of the inter-State relationships in order to foster improved transboundary water management of the TERB.

In this dissertation, we introduce three techniques for network sciences. The first of these techniques is a series of new models for describing network growth. These models, called network specialization models, are built with the idea that networks grow by specializing the function of subnetworks. Using these models we create theoretical networks which exhibit well-known properties of real networks. We also demonstrate how the spectral properties are preserved as the models grow. The second technique we describe is a method for decomposing networks that contain automorphisms in a way that preserves the spectrum of the original graph. This method for graph (or equivalently matrix) decomposition is called an equitable decomposition. Previously this method could only be used for particular classes of automorphisms, but in this dissertation we have extended this theory to work for every automorphism. Further we explain a number of applications which use equitable decompositions. The third technique we describe is a generalization of network symmetry, called latent symmetry. We give numerous examples of networks which contain latent symmetries and also prove some properties about them

Defende a compatibilidade de licenças compulsórias com o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro e indica hipóteses em que esse instituto poderia ser implementado no Brasil. Para tanto, analisa as licenças compulsórias para obras intelectuais previstas no Direito Internacional e no Direito Estrangeiro, bem como os institutos assemelhados que também permitem o uso de obras intelectuais sem a prévia e expressa autorização dos titulares de direitos autorais, mediante garantia da justa remuneração a esses titulares, apresentando justificativas fundadas no ordenamento jurídico brasileiro para a adoção de alguns desses regimes no Brasil. Identifica dois grupos de licenças compulsórias: um justificado diretamente pelas necessidades culturais e educacionais de países em desenvolvimento, e outro fruto de razões econômicas e práticas, especialmente da impossibilidade de obtenção de autorização individualizada de todos os titulares de direitos autorais das inúmeras obras a serem usadas, por exemplo, no rádio, no televisão, e, atualmente, pela Internet. A primeira parte da obra esclarece que a licença compulsória é um instituto mais conhecido no âmbito do Direito de Patentes do que no Direito Autoral, enquanto a segunda parte apresenta um breve panorama histórico da origem das licenças compulsórias para obras intelectuais. A terceira parte da obra apresenta as licenças compulsórias para tradução, para reprodução, para gravação de obras sonoras e para radiodifusão previstas na Convenção de Berna e na legislação de diversos países estrangeiros. Apresenta, ainda, as soluções estrangeiras para questões de obras órfãs e de uso privado, as quais incluem a adoção de licenças compulsórias ou de institutos assemelhados (direitos de remuneração e licenças coletivas estendidas). Na quarta parte, verifica-se que o ordenamento jurídico brasileiro reconhece a necessidade de balanceamento de direitos constitucionais e a necessidade de impedir o abuso de direito, apresentando o instituto das licenças compulsórias para obras intelectuais como um instrumento para atingir esses objetivos. Em seguida, são avaliados os artigos das duas versões do Anteprojeto de Reforma da Lei de Direitos Autorais que mencionam as licenças compulsórias, indicando-se as possibilidades de melhoria em tais dispositivos. A quinta parte da obra distingue as licenças compulsórias de outros institutos conhecidos no Direito Brasileiro e indica, ao final, sua natureza jurídica. A sexta parte analisa a veiculação de obras por meio da Internet e traz propostas de implementação de regimes de licenças compulsórias no Brasil como aprimoramento à atual estruturação do Direito Autoral brasileiro. Conclui que as licenças compulsórias são sistemas de gestão dos direitos autorais, inexistindo impedimento para a sua instituição no Brasil, especialmente como uma forma de solução aos desafios enfrentados pelo Direito Autoral no tocante à veiculação de obras pela Internet, defendendo a instituição de um ônus geral transitório até que se possa estabelecer uma licença legal definitiva para usos não comerciais e de um sistema duplo para usos comerciais: instituição de licenças obrigatórias para as hipóteses autorizadas pela Convenção de Berna e de licenças coletivas estendidas para as demais hipóteses de usos comerciais. / The work defends the compatibility of compulsory licenses with the Brazilian legal system and indicates cases in which the institute could be implemented in Brazil. It analyzes the compulsory licenses of intellectual works under international law and foreign law, as well as the similar institutes that also allow the use of intellectual works without the prior written consent of the copyright holders, by ensuring fair compensation to such holders, presenting justifications founded in Brazilian law for the adoption of some of these schemes in Brazil. It identifies two groups of compulsory licenses: one directly justified by the cultural and educational needs in developing countries, and another by economic and practical reasons, especially the impossibility of obtaining individual consent from all copyright holders of the numerous works to be used, for example, on radio, on television, and nowadays, on the Internet. The first part explains that compulsory licensing is a widely known institute for the Patent Law and less known for the Copyright Law, while the second part provides a brief historical overview of the origin of compulsory licenses of intellectual works. The third part introduces compulsory licenses provided in the Berne Convention and in some foreign countries for translation, for reproduction, for recording and for broadcasting. It also presents foreign solutions to orphan works and private use issues, which include the adoption of compulsory licenses or similar schemes (right to compensation and extended collective licensing). In the fourth part, it is shown that Brazilian law recognizes the need for balancing constitutional rights and the need to prevent abuse of law, presenting the institute of compulsory licenses to intellectual works as a tool to achieve these goals. Then, the two versions of the Draft Bill to reform the Brazilian Copyright Act that mention compulsory licenses are reviewed to point out possible improvements in such provisions. The fifth part of the work distinguishes compulsory licensing of other known institutes in Brazilian law and indicates its legal nature. The sixth section analyzes the transmission of works through the Internet and it brings proposals for implementation of compulsory licensing regimes in Brazil as an improvement to the current structure of the Brazilian Copyright Law. The work concludes that compulsory licenses are copyright management systems, whose implementation is compatible with the Brazilian legal system, especially as a form of solution to the challenges faced by Copyright Law regarding the transmission of works over the Internet, advocating the creation of a general, transient, levy until a definitive legal license can be established a for non-commercial uses and a dual system for commercial uses: imposition of compulsory licenses for the cases permitted by the Berne Convention and of extended collective licenses for other commercial uses.

The interplay between spectrum and structure of graphs is the recurring theme of the three more or less independent chapters of this thesis. The first chapter provides a method to relate the eigensolutions of two matrices, one being the principal submatrix of the other, via an arbitrary annihilating polynomial. This is extended to lambda-matrices and to matrices the entries of which are rational functions in one variable. The extension may be interpreted as a possible generalization of other known techniques which aim at reducing the size of a matrix while preserving the spectral information. Several aspects of an application in order to reduce the computational costs of ordinary eigenvalue problems are discussed. The second chapter considers the straightforward extension of the well known concept of equitable partitions to weighted graphs, i.e. complex matrices. It provides a method to divide the eigenproblem into smaller parts corresponding to the front divisor and its complementary factor in an easy and stable way with complexity which is only quadratic in matrix size. The exploitation of several equitable partitions ordered by refinement is discussed and a suggestion is made that preserves hermiticity if present. Some generalizations of equitable partitions are considered and a basic procedure for finding an equitable partition of complex matrices is given. The third chapter deals with isospectral and unitary equivalent graphs. It introduces a construction for unitary equivalent graphs which contains the well known GM-switching as a special case. It also considers an algebra of graph matrices generated by the adjacency matrix that corresponds to the 1-dimensional Weisfeiler-Lehman stabilizer in a way that mimics the correspondence of the coherent closure and the 2-dimensional Weisfeiler-Lehman stabilizer. The algebra contains the degree matrix, the (combinatorial, signless and normalized) Laplacian and the Seidel matrix. An easy construction produces graph pairs that are simultaneously unitary equivalent w.r.t. that algebra.

No description available.

Project (M.P.P.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Master of Public Policy Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

The purpose of this study was to examine the causes and historical impact of the Armstrong investigation into the practices of the life insurance industry. As a long-time admirer of Charles Evans Hughes, and a serious student of the history of insurance, I found the opportunity of looking into an important part of Hughes's early career and the most significant event in the annals of insurance history to be especially compelling, particularly as my research came to show the need to re-assess much of what previously has been written about the episode.In addition to basic resource materials available at Bracken Library, I found that extensive use of contemporary newspaper accounts, principally those in the Chicago Tribune andNew York Times, revealed the vivid images that caught so well the attention and imagination of the American public in 1905. I also have made valuable use of James Hazen Hyde's personal papers in the archival section of Baker Library at Harvard University. This important collection of private correspondence and records has been largely overlooked by insurance historians writing about the period. Those who have written about the New York Times also have ignored the Hyde material, most significantly the items linking the financial condition of the New York Times with the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the principal firm in the great financial scandal. That embarrassing link explains the newspaper's restrained and even bland reporting and editorials concerning the unfolding events.Little mention is given the Armstrong investigation in the insurance textbooks used in American colleges and universities. The occasional references to the most important public investigative body of its time are limited to phrases beginning with "because of" or "prior to" and rarely provide more than a minimal amount of background explanation. Certainly more of the history of insurance needs to be taught.While institutions of higher learning offer students the opportunity to study the history of many subjects, such as art, music, medicine, law, and economics, none of the more than two hundred universities in the country offering insurance courses includes study of the history of insurance. Of the many rich and intriguing events in the realm of insurance, the story of the Armstrong investigation, with its startling findings and resulting widespread reform legislation, should serve well as the nucleus of an insurance history text. Completion of such a textbook indeed will finish the work started by this thesis. / Department of History

The Social Security Act 1991 incorporates the general legal meaning of property in its definition of an asset, for the purpose of the pension means test. This creates the opportunity for pension applicants to argue that assessable assets held by them should be reduced by the amount of any equitable proprietry rights held by others in the assets. The Federal Court has held in Kintominas v Secretary, DSS and in Kidner v Secretary, DSS that equitable proprietry claims under remedial doctrines, such as under the constructive trust doctrine discussed in Baumgartner v Baumgartner are to be regarded as property even though there has been no judicial declaration of their existence, no dispute between the legal owner and the person claiming an equitabe interest, an no unconscionable abuse of title rights by the legal owner. This thesis argues that the Federal Court’s approach is not the preferable one, for three main reasons. The first relates to the changing nature of the constructive trust to a necessary element. The second is that, at a time when the constructive trust in Australia is in transition from the traditional institutional conception to a remedial paradigm along North American lines, the beneficial interest should no longer be viewed as existing independently of a judicial decree. The third argument is that, even if an equitable interest under a remedial constructive trust is accepted as existing independently of a curial declaration, it cannot be valued for the purposes of the assets test.