Europeanization of substantive criminal law Petra Meinlová This master thesis is focused on the development of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters in the European Union and the Europeanization of particular crimes. The thesis is composed of four chapters. The introductory chapter defines basic terminology, the European Union with its powers, the European law and the main legal instruments with the effect on criminal law, and finally the part investigating the idea of Europeanization of criminal law. Chapter two focuses on the definitions of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters. The cooperation in criminal matters is very problematic in relation to the state sovereignty, second part of the chapter outlines the main features of this relation. Chapter three describes the evolutionary process through which the European Union has acquired the competence over criminal law affairs. The cooperation in criminal matters is relatively new field of the European integration. The original purpose of the European integration was the economic cooperation with the target of creation the common market, the founding Treaties of European Community did not refer to the criminal law. The idea of an "European judicial space" was first introduced in the 1970s. Until 1993 criminal law was an...

This thesis deals with the Europeanisation of criminal law. The aim of the thesis is to examine the evolution of Europeanisation within the European Union, to analyse current regulation and to focus on law enforcement institutions. The paper is composed of three chapters. Chapter One is introductory and explains the notion of the Europeanisation of criminal law and describes the evolution of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters within the European Union. The text then concentrates on the impact that case law of the European Court of Justice has had on the Europeanisation. Chapter Two investigates the current versions of treaties and the main changes that the Lisbon Treaty brought about. Subsequently the paper explores the harmonisation of substantive criminal law and criminal procedure, the new legal concept of the 'emergency brake' and the extension of powers of the European Court of Justice. The following part of Chapter Two illustrates the accession of the European Union to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and it also discusses the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. A brief summary is given at the end of Chapter Two. The last chapter is essential and looks at law enforcement institutions. It consists of three parts. Part one deals...

Este trabalho tem por objetivo mostrar o uso de piadas em sala de aula de Língua Inglesa em um Centro de Línguas, procurando verificar se houve um aprendizado maior e se a motivação aumentou com a introdução dessa nova estratégia. Nossa pesquisa foi norteada por três teóricos do humor do século vinte, que explicam a função social do humor, o prazer causado pela liberação de energia, essencial em nossa pesquisa, que lida com o riso ou mesmo, o sorriso na sala de aula. Esses teóricos também trataram do fator que causa o humor - a incongruência. Estudamos a piada sob três aspectos: sua interpretação, sua estrutura e a aprendizagem por meio delas. Tais prismas oferecem uma forma mais completa para a análise das piadas, uma vez que elas não podem ser vistas por um único olhar. Questões culturais estiveram também presentes, pois os chistes podem ser considerados como manifestação cultural de um povo e, em se tratando de duas culturas, é natural que apareçam as barreiras culturais: o aluno não consegue entender o implícito no texto. A compreensão de piadas também exige que se preste atenção às diferenças individuais, pois serão elas que informarão ao professor das possíveis mudanças de estratégias que são necessárias para obter o resultado esperado - aprender a língua estrangeira de maneira divertida. A metodologia que foi aplicada é a análise de interação, e os instrumentos de pesquisa, utilizados foram: observação, testes, entrevistas e questionários. Observamos sete grupos, durante três semestres. Primeiramente, aplicamos um questionário para todos os alunos do Centro de Línguas e suas respectivas professoras. Tabulamos todos os questionários. As observações foram feitas em turmas de controle, sem o uso da piada, e nas turmas experimentais, com as piadas. Em ambas as turmas, a professora foi a mesma. Também observamos outra professora para exemplificar com maior precisão os métodos empregados nas aulas do Centro de Línguas. / The objective of this thesis is to show the use of jokes in classes of English as a foreign language in a Language Center and verify whether students learn more and are more motivated when this new strategy is introduced in their classes. Our research was guided by three twenty-century theoreticians that wrote about humor, explaining its social role - the pleasure caused by the released of energy, essential to our research which deals with laughter (or even smiles) in class. These philosophers also deal with the factor that causes humor - incongruence. We study jokes from three different aspects: their interpretation, their structure and as learning tool, which offer a methodology rather complete to analyze jokes, since these humor texts cannot be observed from only one point of view. Cultural issues were also present, because jokes can be considered a cultural manifestation of a people and, as we deal with two cultures, it is more than natural that to understand humoristic texts, cultural barriers will have to be faced. In order to tell/understand jokes it is also necessary to individual differences, because they will inform the teacher of the need of possible changes in strategies so that his/her goal will be reached, i.e., to make students learn a foreign language having fun. The methodology applied is interaction analysis, and we used, as research instruments, observation, tests, interviews, and questionnaires. We observed seven groups, during three semesters. First we applied a questionnaire to all the students and their respective teachers. We computed the results. The observations were carried out in control classes, where no jokes were used, and in experimental classes, with jokes. The teacher was the same in both classes. We also observed a different teacher to exemplify more precisely the methodologies employed in the classes at the Language Center.

Audited financial statements are the most substantial source of information concerning bank loan decisions, and investors mainly base their investment decisions on the financial statements in combination with the audit report. The financial crisis brought attention to the existing expectation gap between auditors and stakeholders. An attempt to narrow the gap has been done by IAASB. The new standards require auditors to provide additional information in the audit report. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the extended audit report is perceived by Swedish bank directors. The study has a quantitative research strategy with an experimental design. The experiment includes one control group and seven experimental groups, and the participating Swedish bank directors amounted up to 122. An ANCOVA is performed to test the research questions regarding the bank directors’ perceptions and decisions. The empirical findings and analysis reveal that the disclosure of the assurance level has a positive impact on bank directors’ confidence in the financial statements, perceived quality of the audit report, perceived value of the information the audit report contains, as well as the probability of granting a credit. The results also indicate a significance for key audit matters (KAM) regarding the perceived value of information, meaning that the disclosure of KAM improves bank directors’ perceptions of the informational value the audit report contains. The disclosure of the materiality level does not appear to have a significant impact on the extending of the audit report, implying that a disclosure of the applied materiality level may not be beneficial for bank directors’ perceptions and decisions.

Student Number: 0516329A - MSc research report - School of Public Health - Faculty of Medicine / In the face of diminishing traditional controls on adolescent sexual behaviour, parents are becoming the focal point of guidance on sexual issues. The main objective of the study is to establish if residing with one’s parents has any effect on one’s sexual behaviour among adolescents in the Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana. A sample of 7056 adolescents aged between 10 and 24 years were interviewed between April and October 2003 while the 2004 household socio-economic data was used to generate a household wealth index. Females are less likely to have had sex (AOR 0.75; CI: 0.63; 0.88) and also less likely to initiate sex before age 16 (AOR 0.30; CI: 0.21; 0.43) compared to males. Living with one’s father only is associated with a 36% decrease in the likelihood of having had sex among males (AOR 0.64; CI: 0.42; 0.96) compared to living with both parents. Females living with neither parent were 76% more likely to have had sex than those living with both parents (AOR 1.76; CI: 1.21; 2.55). Discussion of sexual matters with parents increased the likelihood of initiating sex. Family structure is an important predictor of sexual behaviour among adolescents and therefore should be considered when designing and implementing interventions. Longitudinal and qualitative studies are recommended

Alzheimer’s disease is a growing public health concern with the current number afflicted of 5 million in the US expected to triple by 2050. Since there is currently no cure or preventive pharmacological treatment, AD prevention research is now recognized as an important enterprise, with a goal to identify modifiable lifestyle factors that can reduce AD risk or delay its onset. Among these, increased physical activity, healthier food choices, more cognitive stimulation, better sleep quality, stress management, and social engagement have been identified as reasonable targets for behavioral intervention. A smartphone application-based behavioral intervention targeting these six behavioral domains was recently developed and a six-month randomized controlled trial was conducted, both to determine feasibility and compliance with technology usage and to test its efficacy. This study, titled the Gray Matters Study, was conducted in Cache County, Utah, enrolling a sample of 146 middle-aged participants (aged 40 to 64 years) randomized to treatment or control condition. Under the Health Belief Model, individuals who perceive a greater susceptibility to a particular health condition are hypothesized to be more likely to engage in more positive behaviors to reduce disease risk. Following this model, perceived threat of AD (operationalized by fear of AD, family history of AD, and metacognitive concerns) was examined for prediction of behavioral change over the six-month Gray Matters intervention period in these same six behavioral domains. Persons with a moderate level of fear of AD made significantly greater improvements in physical activity than those with low or high levels of fear. Family history was not a significant predictor of health-related behavioral change. However, persons with a moderate level of metacognitive concerns made significantly greater improvements in both physical activity and food quality than those with low or high levels of concerns. This is the first study to examine these psychological constructs related to AD risk and the extent to which they predict health-related behavior change. Future studies should extend the length of follow-up to at least one full year, include a more diverse sample of participants to expand generalizability, and build upon these findings to personalize supportive behavioral change interventions in order to be sensitive to these psychological factors.

There has been a dearth of research on ‘auditors and environmental matters’ since Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997) completed their study on the views of UK auditors about whether auditing is changing, or should be changing, in relation to environmental concerns. It is now more than ten years since the publication of that study. Growing international concern for environmental matters has since led to the issue of International Auditing Practice Statement (IAPS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial report in 1998 and, in New Zealand, Audit Guidance Statement (AGS) -1010: The consideration of environmental matters in the audit of a financial statement in 2001. Yet, to date, there has been no examination of the impact of IAPS-1010 or AGS-1010 on either current audit practice, or the issues raised by Collison (1996) and Collison and Gray (1997). This doctoral thesis has attempted to address the environmental impact gap in the auditing research literature. In particular, it has investigated the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports in the light of AGS-1010, with a view to understanding better the following issues: (1) how auditors generally perceive the consideration of environmental matters in the audit of financial reports; (2) the common approaches and practices auditors undertake when auditing environmental matters; (3) the challenges (if any) that auditors face in the audit of environmental matters (4) the impact (if any) of AGS 1010 on current audit practice and, finally, (5) how current practices in the audit of environmental matters may be improved and further developed to meet better the espoused aims of AGS-1010. Qualitative interviews with twenty-seven senior financial audit practitioners and others in New Zealand provided the basis for the findings. The interviews were taped, transcribed and managed with the use of computerised qualitative analysis software (NViVo7). Key findings from the research interviews were as follows: (1) the introduction of AGS-1010 had little impact on current audit practice in New Zealand; (2) environmental matters were treated no differently from any other audit issues, and auditors tended to apply common, familiar audit approaches in dealing with environmental matters; (3) auditors found the effective auditing of environmental matters challenging owing to their inability to identify such matters, and their lack of relevant expert knowledge. The most significant finding from this study is that, in general, common audit practices were riddled with issues of concern. These issues point to a broader and more significant problem. It would seem that current audit practices fail to consider many potential audit issues (including environmental matters) adequately in the audit of financial reports. For auditors to be more effective in their audit practice and in protecting the public interest, not only does audit methodology need a major review, but auditors themselves need to change their attitudes and mindsets in their approach to auditing.

Oro tarša yra viena svarbiausių žmonijos problemų Lietuvoje ir pasauliniu mąstu. Oro taršos poveikis kelia didžiulį pavojų aplinkai ir visų gyvų organizmų tolimesniam egzistavimui. Viena pagrindinių problemų daugumoje didesnių miestų yra užterštumas kietosiomis dalelėmis. Šiame darbe pateikiami tyrimų duomenys apie kietųjų dalelių ir sunkiųjų metalų koncentracijų kiekius Šiaulių miesto aplinkos ore 2007 m. Darbe įvertinti atliktų kietųjų dalelių koncentracijų tyrimai gyvenamųjų mikrorajonų aplinkos ore šildymo sezonu, iš kurių paaiškėjo, kad labiausiai kietosiomis dalelėmis užterštas Medelyno mikrorajonas, o KD10 koncentracija kito nuo 0,4 iki 1,16 DLK. Įvertinus sunkiųjų metalų koncentracijas miesto aplinkos ore buvo nustatyta, kad jais labiausiai užterštas miesto centras, kur didžiausi autotransporto srautai. Iš Medelyne atliktų kietųjų dalelių dispersinės sudėties tyrimų buvo nustatyta, kad pavojingiausių dalelių (KD2,5) yra ~60%, KD10 ~15%, 20-60 µm dalelių ~25%. Taip pat darbe buvo sumodeliuota, programų paketu „Varsa“, pietinio pramoninio rajono ���monių išmetamų kietųjų dalelių emisijų sklaida. Paaiškėjo, kad šie teršalai dažniausiai vėjo nešami centro link, į šiaurinę miesto dalį, o aplink taršos šaltinius jų kiekiai siekia 0,3 mg/m3. / Air polution is one of the most important problems in Lithuania and all over the world. Air polution causes hudge harm to environment and to all egzisting organizms. Particulate air polution is one of hazardous part especialy in the bigger citys. This master degree‘s work represents the research data on the concentration volumes of the solid particles and heavy metals in the environmental air in Šiauliai city in 2007. The concentration analysis of solid particles in the environmental air, at housing/residential areas, during winter seasons, research proved that Medelynas district is mostly pulluted district in Šiauliai and the PM10 concentration varyed from 0.4 to 1.16 MPC. Due to the biggest flow of transport, the town centre is mostly polluted with heavyweight metals. A result of a solid particle dispersional analysis showed the size of solid particules,and that the most dangerous amount of particles (PM2,5) is about 60%, PM10 ~15%, 20-60 microns size ~ 25%. The simulation of emmision from the stationary polluting sources of solid particles at industrial enterprises in the south of the town gets carried by the wind towards the center of the city and it reaches the amount of 0.3 mg/m3 concentration of solid particles around the industrial enterprise district.

In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.

An employee is usually entitled to representation in a disciplinary hearing. The question arises whether this representation includes legal representation or whether it is limited to representation by union representatives or a fellow employee? An employee's right to legal representation will in most cases be determined by a collective agreement, the employment contract or a disciplinary code. Over the years the Courts have indicated that they are not prepared to grant an absolute right to legal representation in disciplinary enquiries. Yet in some cases the courts found legal representation to be a sine qua non for a fair hearing and an intrinsic part of natural justice. It seems that the conclusion that can be drawn from this research is that legal representation might soon become a requirement for a fair disciplinary hearing in serious and complex matters. This research looks at numerous decisions both in die public and private sector before and after 1994. The right to legal representation is also discussed in the light of a fair hearing. The various advantages and disadvantages of legal representation are briefly examined. It is argued that all employees should be granted legal representation in complex and serious matters where the employee is likely to be dismissed. It is thus said that all presiding officers should be granted a discretion to allow legal representation in serious and complex matters. / Thesis (LL.M. (Labour Law))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.