La législation irakienne définit le contrat comme étant l’union d'une offre faite par la partie contractante avec l'acceptation d'une autre partie et ce de manière à établir les effets dans l'objet du contrat. Ainsi, la place occupée par le contrat de vente en droit irakien est importante. Lorsque les parties relèvent d’ordres juridiques différents, leurs rapports sont régis par le droit international privé, qui détermine le tribunal apte à trancher le litige. Cette thèse de doctorat vise alors à vérifier la capacité à appliquer les règles de conflit de compétence internationale en droit irakien sur des contrats « virtuels » ou dématérialisés. Comme nous le verrons, dans ce domaine, « virtuel » ne veut pas pour autant dire que ce contrat n’est pas réel, comme le spécifie très clairement la loi irakienne. Il reste rattaché au territoire. Le problème est que le droit irakien, en ignorant les notions de frontière et de territorialité, ne reconnaît pas sa propre « immatérialité ». Cette réalité dans les textes et la pratique implique que les opérations qui se produisent sur Internet ne sont pas prises en compte par les règles de conflits de compétence internationale. C’est la raison pour laquelle nous avons souhaité vérifier et comprendre la capacité et l’effectivité des règles de conflit de compétence internationale dans le cadre de litiges sur Internet. Ce faisant, nous espérons mettre en lumière les règles les plus appropriées, qui correspondent le mieux à la nature du contrat virtuel, à savoir son immatérialité. Pour ce faire, nous entreverrons quelques développements sur les litiges de l’Internet. Ainsi nous disposons de deux domaines de recherche : un premier au niveau de la législation nationale, comme le droit français et le droit américain ; un deuxième au niveau des conventions internationales, comme les conventions des Nations-Unies en 2005, la convention de la Haye en 2005, la convention de Bruxelles en 1968 ou encore les règlements de Bruxelles 2000 et 2012. / Iraqi law defines the contract as the union of an offer made by the contracting party with the acceptance of another party and that in order to establish the effects in the contract. The place of the sales contract under Iraqi law is important. When the parties come from different legal orders, their relations are governed by the private international law which determines the court will decide. This thesis research aims to test the ability to apply the international rules of conflict of jurisdiction under Iraqi law on the virtual contract, which is paperless. We shall see, this is not to mean however that the contract is not real, as clearly specifies Iraqi law. It remains attached to the territory. In contrast, the Iraqi law does not recognize its immaterial that meanwhile ignores borders and notions of territoriality. This reality in the texts and practices therefore makes transactions that occur on the Internet are not taken into account by the rules of international jurisdiction conflicts. That is why, we wanted to check and understand the capacity and effectiveness of international jurisdiction conflict rules in the context of Internet disputes. So we will try to find the most appropriate rules, consistent with the nature of the virtual contract, namely its immateriality. This search will reveal developments in litigation of the Internet. Thus, it takes two directions: first at the national legislation, such as French and US law. Second, at the stage of international conventions such as the United Nations Conventions 2005, Hague Convention, the Brussels Convention 1968 and the 2000 and 2012 regulations.

In my first chapter, we document and study the use of Rule 10b5 1 preset repurchase plans. We exploit this new and widespread form of payout to examine an issue at the core of payout decisions—the tradeoff between commitment and financial flexibility. Relative to open market repurchases, preset plans provide an expanded repurchase window and increased legal cover, albeit at the cost of reducing repurchase flexibility and the option to time repurchases. These costs and benefits are significantly associated with Rule 10b5-1 adoption. Consistent with preset plans signaling commitment, Rule 10b5-1 repurchase announcements are associated with greater and faster completion rates, with more positive market reactions, and with more dividend substitution than open market repurchases. Lastly, we find that preset repurchase plans represent a unique payout tool whose introduction encouraged a different set of firms to buy back stock and significantly altered the payout landscape. My second chapter examines the strategic use and timing of share repurchases by insiders for personal gain. Using grant level compensation data and a hand-collected sample of monthly repurchases, I find a positive relation between CEO equity sales and share repurchases. I identify the relationship by instrumenting equity sales with equity grant vesting schedules. This relation is persistent across firm characteristics and does not appear to be destroying shareholder value. The results indicate managerial self-interest motivates a subset of share repurchases.

Low wage workers are faced with unique challenges such as shift work, scheduling conflicts, and increased job demands, all of which have the capacity to prevent work and family balance. Recently, supportive supervisors and flexible work arrangements have been suggested as essential to mitigating negative work family outcomes. Due to the underrepresentation of low wage workers in the literature, however, the nature of these relationships in the context of low wage work remains unclear. The present study examined the relationship between family-supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) and work family conflict and enrichment as mediated by flexibility characteristics. The sample consisted of 104 supervisor-subordinate pairs working in various retail and fast food industries. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships, and although flexibility characteristics were not found to mediate the relationship between FSSB and work family outcomes, the overall model was supported. Results suggest that flexibility characteristics have a significant impact on work family conflict for low wage workers. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

The problem of system identification for dynamic effects on spacecraft has become increasingly relevant with the surge of agile spacecraft, which must perform large amplitude maneuvers at high rates. Precise knowledge of the state of the spacecraft, as well as of the parameters characterizing its motion, is vital for the design of control algorithms enabling stabilization and pointing accuracy. Traditional rigid body models and estimation methods are no longer sufficient to provide this knowledge. This thesis focuses on estimation of flexibility effects and spacecraft parameters through methods based on the unscented Kalman filter, an estimator for nonlinear dynamic systems. A spacecraft model consisting of a rigid central body and a flexible appendage described as an Euler-Bernoulli beam in pure bending is built, and equations for its translational and rotational motion, as well as the deflection of the beam, are derived in the Newton-Euler framework considering the first bending mode of the flexible deformation. Observability tests are successfully conducted to ensure that estimation of the relevant states and parameters can be performed exclusively from linear and angular velocity measurements. A total of eight filters, estimating the spacecraft’s state along with different combinations of parameters, are developed, implemented, and tested on simulated data. Grouped under the common denomination “UFFE” (Unscented Filter for Flexibility Effects), they are made available as Simulink library blocks. State estimation is performed for the linear and angular velocities of the spacecraft and the modal coordinate and velocity of the appendage, with estimates following closely the truth model of the state variables and estimation errors at least an order of magnitude lower than true state values. Simultaneous state and parameter estimation is implemented from two approaches, joint estimation and dual estimation, whose performance and applications are compared. Estimated parameters include the moments of inertia of the system and natural frequency, damping ratio, and modal participation factors of the flexible appendage. Convergence to true parameter values is reached in the first 100s of the estimation for inertia terms and natural frequency, while the estimation for modal participation factors is conditioned to precise tuning of the filter. Estimates of the damping ratio are biased, most likely due to the control input not being optimal for observation of this parameter. The dual approach to parameter estimation is found to be advantageous when proper filter tuning is possible, as it enables the continuous operation of a state filter combined with short runs of the parameter filter activated at will; this configuration could be employed to track the variation of spacecraft parameters along space missions.  The causes of estimation error are identified and methods for automatic tuning of the process noise and process noise covariance are researched. Five such tuning techniques are implemented and tested, with promising results found for online sampling of the process noise covariance through Monte Carlo methods. A discussion on the limitations of the chosen dynamic model and estimator, along with recommendations for extensions and future applications, concludes this work.

Although the tremendous catalytic power of enzymes is widely recognized, their exact mechanisms of action are still a source of debate. In order to elucidate the origin of their power, it is necessary to look at individual residues and atoms, and establish their contribution to ligand binding, activation, and reaction. Given the present limitations of experimental techniques, only computational tools allow for such detailed analysis. During my PhD studies I have applied a variety of computational methods, reviewed in Chapter 2, to the study of two enzymes: DfrB dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and methyltetrahydrofolate: corrinoid/iron-sulfur protein methyltransferase (MeTr). ¶ The DfrB enzyme has intrigued microbiologists since it was discovered thirty years ago, because of its simple structure, enzymatic inefficiency, and its insensitivity to trimethoprim. This bacterial enzyme shows neither structural nor sequence similarity with its chromosomal counterpart, despite both catalysing the reduction of dihydrofolate (DHF) using NADPH as a cofactor. As numerous attempts to obtain experimental structures of an enzyme ternary complex have been unsuccessful, I combined docking studies and molecular dynamics simulations to produce a reliable model of the reactive DfrB•DHF•NADPH complex. These results, combined with published empirical data, showed that multiple binding modes of the ligands are possible within DfrB. ¶ Comprehensive sequence and structural analysis provided further insight into the DfrB family. The presence of the dfrB genes within integrons and their level of sequence conservation suggest that they are old structures that had been diverging well before the introduction of trimethoprim. Each monomer of the tetrameric active enzyme presents an SH3-fold domain; this is a eukaryotic auxiliary domain never found before as the sole domain of a protein, let alone as the catalytic one. Overall, DfrB DHFR seems to be a poorly adapted catalyst, a ‘minimalistic’ enzyme that promotes the reaction by facilitating the approach of the ligands rather than by using specific catalytic residues. ¶ MeTr initiates the Wood-Ljungdahl pathway of anaerobic CO2 fixation. It catalyses the transfer of the N5-methyl group from N5-methyltetrahydrofolate (CH3THF) to the cobalt centre of a corrinoid/iron-sulfur protein. For the reaction to occur, the N5 position of CH3THF is expected to be activated by protonation. As experimental studies have led to conflicting suggestions, computational approaches were used to address the activation mechanism. ¶ Initially, I tested the accuracy of quantum mechanical (QM) methods to predict protonation positions and pKas of pterin, folate, and their analogues. Then, different protonation states of CH3THF and active-site aspartic residues were analysed. Fragment QM calculations suggested that the pKa of N5 in CH3THF is likely to increase upon protein binding. Further, ONIOM calculations which accounted for the complete protein structure indicated that active-site aspartic residues are likely to be protonated before the ligand. Finally, solvation and binding free energies of several protonated forms of CH3THF were compared using the thermodynamic integration approach. Taken together, these preliminary results suggest that further work with particular emphasis on the protonation state of active-site aspartic residues is needed in order to elucidate the protonation and activation mechanism of CH3THF within MeTr.

研究動機：(1)深入探討中小企業成功的原因(2)探討中小企業內部及外部資訊交易成本低的原因 (3)探討中小企業機動性高對其經營行為及經營績效的影響研究方法：個案研究法，共收錄七個產跨產業的個案研究發現：(1)中小企業主親自負責促銷及其廣泛的人際關係網，對其外部資訊交易成本的降低有很大的幫助(2)中小企業主親自參與每個部門的運作提高部門目標的統一程度並提高內部資訊傳遞到產生共同目標的速度(3)中小企業主的集權作風有助於提高其機動性(4)中小企業因為必須倚賴網路來取得所需的資源，所以十分強調關係的經營，也會與離職員工維持良好關係(5)中小企業在本國市場面臨生存壓力時，本國市場不足以支持規模經濟或被少數大廠壟斷，則中小企業在外銷市場上的表現較佳(6)中小企業擅長針對商機，做產品的修正或細部設計差異以求更有效滿足目標市場的需求。

<p>Den svenska arbetsmarknaden är under förändring och blir mer individualiserad och flexibel. Lagen om anställningsskydd blir mer ifrågasatt och det finns diskussioner om att förändra denna lag. Uppsatsen behandlar vilka strategier Handelsanställdas förbund Avd 3 har för att möta individualisering och flexibilitet.Syftet med föreliggande uppsats är att med utgångspunkt i aktuella teorier om individualisering och flexibilitet, det vill säga förändringsprocesser, i arbetslivet undersöka dels hur en fackförening (Handels) upplever nämnda förändringsprocesser samt dels om och hur fackföreningens agerande påverkas av förändringsprocesserna.De teorier som ligger till grund för denna uppsats behandlar individualisering, flexibilitet samt arbetsrätt.Vi har gjort 4 stycken semistrukturerade intervjuer med fackligt aktiva medlemmar inom Handelsanställdas förbund Avd 3 i Halmstad.Resultatet är uppdelat i fyra olika teman: Facklig verksamhet, individualisering, flexibilitet samt arbetsrätt. Strategier som Handels använder sig av för att möta individualisering, går ut på att träffa ungdomar tidigt.Om ungdomar är mer individualiserade i dagens samhälle än gårdagens samhälle innebär det att Handels på sikt kan få problem. Med problemet menas att de ungdomar som väljer bort ett medlemskap utifrån ett individuellt val, kan leda till att Handels förlorar medlemsantal och därmed deras förhandlingsstyrka på arbetsmarknaden.</p> / <p>The Swedish labour market is changing and becoming more individualized and flexible. The law on employment protection will be further challenged and there are discussions about changing this law. This essay deals with which strategies Handelsanställdas förbund Avd 3 has to accommodate individualization and flexibility.The purpose of this essay is based on current theories of individualization and flexibility, meaning, changing processes in work life and examine how a trade union (Handels) experience changes, and whether the union's behavior is affected by processes of change.The theories and previous research underlying this essay deals with theories of individualization, flexibility and labour law.We have made four semi-structured interviews with trade union officials in Halmstad.The result is divided into four themes: trade union activities, individualization, flexibility, and labour law. Handels is working on issues such as work environment, salary and work hours. Strategies Handels are using to accommodate individualization, is to communicate with young people in an early stage.If young people are more individualized in today's society than yesterday's society, Handels may in the long term have a problem. With the problem, it means that if young people will not be members on the basis of an individual choice, this may lead to Handels losing members and thus their negotiation strength in the labor market.</p>

<p>A qualitative survey has been carried out in a manning company whose business concept was to employ pensioners. Six pensioners have been interviewed regarding their views on resumed employment. The results of these interviews have been analysed supported by analytic induc-tion. Areas investigated cover: promotion of better health through work, motivation factors, groupings and control, experience and learning, work and spare time and finally strategies that appeal to an older workforce.The purpose of the survey was to investigate whether the manning company utilizes pension-ers’ experience and work skills from their former working life. We also wanted to examine if and whether continued employment contributed to an increased quality of life.The result showed that few employees were employed in positions that had any connection with their former working lives. The majority of tasks given were similar to ordinary house-work. To be needed, to perform purposeful work, to have social contacts and be appreciated were important. Few pensioners commented that the reason for their continued employment was financial. Time for recreation and own activities were expressed as important in the pen-sioners’ way of life. None of the pensioners wished to own their own business, they were sat-isfied with being employed despite a lower remuneration.</p> / <p>En kvalitativ undersökning har gjorts på ett bemanningsföretag som riktat in sig på att anställa pensionärer. Sex pensionärer har intervjuats om sin syn på fortsatt anställning efter ett långt yrkesverksamt liv. Resultatet har analyserats med stöd av analytisk induktion. Följande områ-den har behandlats: hälsofrämjande perspektiv på arbete, behovs- och motivationsfaktorer, grupperingar och kontroll, erfarenhet och lärande, arbete och fritid samt slutligen strategier som tilltalar äldre arbetskraft.Syftet var att kartlägga huruvida bemanningsföretaget tog tillvara den erfarenhet och yrkes-kompetens som pensionärerna tillgodogjort sig i sitt yrkesverksamma liv. Vi ville också un-dersöka på vilka sätt en anställning bidrog till en ökad livskvalitet.Resultatet visade att få anställda utförde arbeten med koppling till sitt tidigare yrkesliv. Flerta-let arbeten liknade hushållsnära tjänster. Att vara behövd, utföra ett meningsfullt arbete, social kontakt och uppskattning var viktigt. Få pensionärer påtalade att de var anställda av ekono-misk anledning. Tid för återhämtning och egna aktiviteter fördes fram som viktiga delar i pen-sionärernas liv. Ingen pensionär kunde tänka sig att arbeta i egen regi utan trivdes som an-ställd, trots en sämre ersättning.</p>

<p>Den externa redovisningens uppgift är att förse olika intressenter med information om företagets finansiella situation. Den visar inte bara på hur det har gått för ett företag utan ger också en grund för möjliga investeringar i företaget. Informationen är ett viktigt redskap för företagets intressenter och det blir naturligt för företaget att styra informationen åt de håll som förväntas av omvärlden. Det är då begreppet kreativ redovisning kommer i uttryck. Det kan förklaras med att företag på något sätt förskönar bilden av ett företags prestation som presenteras i form av en årsredovisning.</p><p>Det finns olika syften med att använda sig av kreativ redovisning, beroende på vilken intressent företaget vänder sig till. Företagen har många intressenter som kan ta skada av felaktig eller förvrängd information. Enligt svensk lagstiftning ska en årsredovisning upprättas efter god redovisningssed och ge en rättvisande bild av företagets prestationer och det kan ge möjligheter och utrymmen för en kreativ redovisning. Det finns olika kända metoder som kan utföra detta och användandets omfattning kan variera stort. Det finns metoder som är fullt lagliga som använder sig av flexibiliteten i lagar och praxis och sedan finns det metoder som är mer allvarliga och kan betraktas som rena bokföringsbrott.</p><p>Syftet med vår uppsats är att definiera begreppet kreativ redovisning och titta på om det är ett stort problem i Sverige. Eftersom det finns många intressenter som använder sig av företagens finansiella information har vi valt att endast studera de som investerar i företagen, det vill säga investerare och analytiker. I vår teori/litteraturstudie börjar vi med att definiera begreppet kreativ redovisning följt av olika metoder som används, hur kreativ redovisning motverkas och varför företagen använder sig av kreativ redovisning. Vidare tar vi upp om val av redovisningsmetoder, olika sorters kreativ redovisning och om den kreativa redovisningen är i strid med god redovisningssed och rättvisande bild. Slutligen presenteras svenska exempel av kreativ redovisning samt att ge en definition om vad som krävs för att det ska uppfattas som ett problem. I vår empiri har vi valt att utgå utifrån en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervju för att ta reda på om det uppfattas som ett problem i Sverige av våra respondenter.</p><p>I vår slutsats har vi bland annat kommit fram till att det inte uppfattas som ett stort problem utifrån intervjuerna och det har inte funnits någon exakt definition på vad kreativ redovisning är utifrån hur respondenterna har svarat men även hur författarna beskriver begreppet från vår litteraturstudie.</p>

Constructivism is a learning theory that states that people learn by actively constructing their own knowledge, based on prior knowledge. Many different perspectives exist on constructivist pedagogical principles and on how to apply them to instructional design. It is thus not only difficult to evaluate the conformity of existing learning systems with constructivist principles, it is also quite hard to ensure that a new learning system being designed will ultimately facilitate and stimulate constructivist learning. A critical characteristic often mentioned in learning systems is adaptability. That is, the ability to provide a learning experience that is continuously tailored to the needs of the individual learner. The present research aims to help designing truly constructivist and adaptive learning systems. For that purpose, it is necessary to clarify what constructivism entails in an operational manner: I propose a set of criteria for certain aspects of constructivism and use it both as guidelines for designing learning systems and for evaluating the conformity of learning systems with these constructivist principles. One facet often mentioned as being strongly relevant to constructivism is cognitive flexibility, meaning the ability to spontaneously restructure one's knowledge, in many ways, in adaptive response to radically changing situational demands. The claim I make in the present thesis is that the operational approach I proposed makes the design and use of adaptive learning environments supporting cognitive flexibility straightforward and effective. More specifically, the dissertation makes four main contributions to the interdisciplinary field of learning and e-Learning technology. Firstly, the thesis proposes operational criteria for cognitive flexibility and presents both justifications and examples of their use. The set of criteria may be used in different instructional situations for designing and evaluating conditions of learning. Secondly, on the basis of the criteria for cognitive flexibility, the thesis proposes an operational instructional design process and shows an example of its use. The process may also be applied in a variety of instructional situations for the design and use of learning systems fostering cognitive flexibility. Thirdly, the thesis introduces a new, open-source, domain-independent, Web-based adaptive e-Learning platform, named COFALE, and illustrates an example of its use. The platform may be used for designing adaptive learning systems supporting cognitive flexibility in various domains. And fourthly, the thesis reports on a preliminary evaluation of the example handled by COFALE with actual learners. The study provides a certain number of encouraging results for fostering cognitive flexibility by means of ICT-based learning conditions.