Το πρόβλημα της κλιματικής αλλαγής αποτελεί έναν από τα κυριότερα σημεία έντονου ενδιαφέροντος για τις περισσότερες χώρες. Μάλιστα, τα επόμενα χρόνια αναμένεται να δοθεί μεγαλύτερη προσοχή στην ανάπτυξη πολιτικών που θα μειώνουν τις εκπομπές ρυπογόνων αέριων ρύπων. Η εξοικονόμηση ενέργειας, ως μέτρο πολιτικής, θα συνεχίσει να αποτελεί μια σημαντική στρατηγική ανάπτυξης για την οικονομία της χώρας μας, μια και συνδέεται σε σημαντικό βαθμό, με την κατανάλωση ενέργειας όπως και με την μείωση των εκπομπών αερίων ρύπων. Επιπλέον, συντονισμένες προσπάθειες τόσο από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση όσο και από άλλους οργανισμούς (IEA, OECD) θέτουν σε βασικό άξονα προτεραιότητας την μείωση της κατανάλωσης ενέργειας, την χρησιμοποίηση εναλλακτικών μορφών και ανανεώσιμων πηγών και την μείωση των ρυπογόνων εκπομπών ιδιαίτερα στον βιομηχανικό κλάδο. Στα πλαίσια της παρούσας διατριβής αναλύονται θέματα που σχετίζονται με την υιοθέτηση τεχνολογιών εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας από Βιομηχανικές επιχειρήσεις. Κεντρικό στοιχείο αυτής της προσέγγισης είναι το “Παράδοξο της Ενεργειακής Αποδοτικότητας”. Τρία συγκεκριμένα θέματα εξετάζονται σε αυτή την κατεύθυνση. Πρώτον, η διερεύνηση των παραγόντων που οδηγούν στην εμφάνιση του “παραδόξου της ενεργειακής αποτελεσματικότητας” και συγκεκριμένα αν οι αποφάσεις των επιχειρήσεων για υιοθέτηση τέτοιων τεχνολογιών συνυπολογίζουν το στοιχείο της αποδοτικότητας των επενδεδυμένων κεφαλαίων. Δεύτερον, και με δεδομένο ότι στα αποτελέσματα του προηγούμενου σταδίου ανάλυσης αναδεικνύουν την σημαντικότητα του παράγοντα της πληροφορίας, αναπτύσσεται μια εκτενής προσέγγιση που αφορά τόσο το περιεχόμενο όσο και τον ρόλο του παράγοντα της πληροφορίας στην διαδικασία υιοθέτησης ΤΕΕ. Τρίτο, διερευνάται η επίδραση της υιοθέτησης των ΤΕΕ στην παραγωγική αποτελεσματικότητα και παραγωγικότητα των βιομηχανικών επιχειρήσεων. Για τις ανάγκες της ανάλυσης αυτών των θεμάτων αναπτύσσονται δύο επιμέρους μικροοικονομικά υποδείγματα και μια μέθοδος μέτρησης της παραγωγικότητας σε ετερογενής τεχνολογίες. Το πρώτο μικροοικονομικό υπόδειγμα διερευνά την διαδικασία λήψης επενδυτικών αποφάσεων σε ΤΕΕ υπό το πρίσμα της συσχέτισης της επενδυτικής επιλογής με την κερδοφορία, σε πλαίσιο μερικής παρατηρησιμότητας. Το δεύτερο μικροοικονομικό υπόδειγμα επανατοποθετεί την έννοια της πληροφορίας και διερευνά τους παράγοντες που προσδιορίζουν το επίπεδο πληροφόρησης της επιχείρησης για ΤΕΕ. Τέλος για την μέτρηση της επίδρασης των ΤΕΕ στην παραγωγική αποτελεσματικότητα και παραγωγικότητα αναπτύσσεται μια μέθοδος που λαμβάνει ρητά υπόψη της την τεχνολογική ετερογένεια. Η διερεύνηση των τριών αυτών ζητημάτων βασίζεται στην ανάλυση εμπειρικών δεδομένων που αφορούν επιχειρήσεις οι οποίες ενέταξαν στην παραγωγική τους διαδικασία τεχνολογίες εξοικονόμησης ενέργειας στην περίοδο 1990-2004. Οι επενδύσεις αυτές επιδοτήθηκαν κυρίως στα πλαίσια του Β’ και Γ’ Κοινοτικού Πλαισίου Στήριξης. Τα δεδομένα συλλέχθηκαν με την μέθοδο των προσωπικών συνεντεύξεων (ερωτηματολόγια). Συμπληρωματικά δεδομένα αντλήθηκαν από την βάση δεδομένων της ICAP. / The improvement for energy efficiency is generally viewed as an important option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental damage caused by other pollutants (e.g. NOX,SOX). Moreover, is clearly interwoven with the exploitation of new and innovative technologies through the production process and its consequent paradox, the so called “energy efficiency paradox”. This paradox has recently attracted the interest of researchers and organizations (IEA,OECD) in an attempt to bring to light the source of it, the causalities between the adoption of energy efficient technology (EET) and the behaviour of firms . Three research questions have been examined in the specific Phd Thesis. Our first main research question were examined by formulating and testing the following hypothesis: the decision of the firms to adopt or not EET, is correlated to their profitability. Our second research project develops in two stages. The first stage aims at examining the factors influencing retrieval of information concerning EETs by manufacturing firms, while at the second stage we distinguish between readily available and emerging energy efficiency technologies and examine the factors affecting information acquisition for each one of these two broad sets of technologies. Finally, in order to disentangle firm’s heterogeneity we developed a methodological framework to calculate total factor productivity and its components differences arising from EETs adoption. Our first research question examines the energy efficiency paradox demonstrated in Greek manufacturing firms through a partial observability approach. Maximum likelihood estimates that arise from an incidental truncation model reveal that the adoption of the energy saving technologies is indeed strongly correlated to the returns of assets that are required in order to undertake the corresponding investments. The source of the energy efficiency paradox lies within a wide range of factors. Policy schemes that aim to increase the adoption rate of energy saving technologies within the field of manufacturing are significantly affected by differences in the size of firms. Finally, mixed policies seem to be more effective than polices that are only capital subsidy or regulation oriented. Answering the second research question, we aim to redefine the notion of awareness regarding the adoption of EETs. In a second stage we explore the crucial factors that affect the information level of EET adopters, distinguishing between epidemic and emerging technologies information. Our empirical findings reveal that the main factor that exerts positive influence on the level of information acquired by the firms may be encompassed in a set of variables that reflect what may be called a “business culture” regarding the EET Finally, we examined the impact of EETs adoption to Greek manufacturing firms operating under heterogeneous technology sets and we measured the components of total factor productivity (TFP) and its components arising from scale and technological differences. In order to examine our research questions we formulate a unique database. Our database came to light from the necessity of the Greek government to conserve energy in manufacturing and to reduce dangerous emissions in order to meet the criteria of the Kyoto Protocol. An extensive questionnaire was addressed to the 298 firms across the country that adopt EETs that have been subsidized from (i) the Support Frameworks for Regional and Industrial Development, (ii) the Energy Operational Program (OPE), which was part of the second European Union Support Framework (1994-2000) and (iii) the Operational Program ‘Competitiveness’, which is part of the third European Union Support Framework (2000-2006). Finally, 161 of them agreed to be interviewed on the basis of the questionnaire. Face to face interviews took place in the first six months of 2004. Additional data derived from ICAP financial database.

Avec le début du processus de négociation entourant la création d'une éventuelle Zone de libre-échange des Amériques, il est permis de se demander si l'entente, prévue pour 2005, aura un impact significatif sur l'évolution des normes réglementant les investissements directs étrangers (IDE). À cet égard, à l'échelle internationale, l'évolution des normes sur les IDE est caractérisée par deux grandes phases. Une première phase concerne l'évolution des règles et principes destinés respectivement à sécuriser et garantir les investissements internationaux. Cette phase pourrait et sera probablement consolidée juridiquement avec la conclusion prochaine de la ZLÉA. Conséquence de l'effacement progressif des doctrines politiques réfractaires ou dissuasives à l'IDE, particulièrement vrai depuis la fin de la guerre froide, ces principes sont largement connus des juristes: traitement national, traitement juste et équitable, traitement de la nation la plus favorisée, règles en matière d'expropriation et de nationalisation, etc. La seconde phase concerne, elle, les règles destinées à libéraliser le cadre juridique entourant les opérations d'investissements. i.e. les règles visant notamment à assurer une libre admission des IDE sur le territoire de l'État hôte de l'investissement et une plus grande liberté de gestion en faveur de l'investisseur étranger. Cela dit, contrairement aux règles destinées à sécuriser les IDE, il n'y a pas de consensus politique suffisamment important dans les Amériques, enfin selon nous, pour voir ces principes se cristalliser de manière extensive dans un accord pan-américain. Le présent mémoire examinera les règles juridiques appartenant à ces deux phases d'évolution. Celles-ci feront plus précisément l'objet du second chapitre de notre mémoire. Le premier chapitre, quant à lui, portera sur l'évolution et la réaction de "la société internationale face à ce phénomène de multinationalisation des entreprises, pour ensuite porter sur l'évolution conceptuelle des notions d'investissements et d'investisseurs internationaux. En sus des trois versions de l'avant-projet de chapitre sur les investissements rendues publiques sur le site officiel de la ZLÉA, les ententes bilatérales et sous-régionales occuperont aussi une place privilégiée dans nos analyses. Alors qu'historiquement les premières 1n11:latlves d'intégration économique (en Amérique latine et centrale principalement) étaient marquées par l'idéologie du développement et celle du Nouvel ordre économique international (NOEI), la ZLÉA, comme processus d'intégration, est guidée elle au premier chef par l'idéologie libérale, sinon ultralibérale. Dans les Amériques, compte tenu des différences tangibles de développement des économies nationales des 34 États invités à négocier, le consensus de Washington, présent en 1994, semble s'effriter et annonce la conclusion prochaine d'une entente minimaliste. Cela affecterait dans une même proportion la question des IDE auquel cas il faudra admettre que la ZLÉA ne révolutionnera pas le cadre juridique dans lequel se font les opérations d'investissement. / With the beginning of the negotiating process that should be leading to the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas for 2005, it's interesting to take a look at the possible evolution of the roles and principles related to Foreign Direct investments regulation in the Americas. On the international level, there's two basics categories of norms. The ftrst one, are essentiaily design to protect and guarantee the investor and his investment. The eventual conclusion of FTAA could consolidate, at the hemisphere level, such category of roles and principles. Consequently to the end of cold war and the alignment of many country, but also many developing countries, in regard of the liberalism doctrine, the nature of these roles and principles are weil know by lawyers and professors in north-America: national treatment, fair and equitable treatment, most-favoured-nation treatment, roles concerning expropriation and nationalization, etc.. The second one, concern the roles and principles design to liberated the copusjuns afferent to FDI : for example, the roles and principles concerning transfer clause or performances requirements. That said, contrary to the ftrst category, there's no consensus over theses roles and principles. The absence of such consensus will probably influence the content of the agreement in a way that will be unsatisfted either for export-developing countries, such as the Canada and the United States, or developing countries. The present paper will examine roles and principles design for both protection and liberalization of FDI regulations. Indeed, the second chapter will entirely be treating of these matters. The ftrst chapter will instead be treating about the "transnationalization" of the private ftrm and the reaction of the international community regarding this phenomenon. The first chapter of our paper will also be the occasion to look at the conceptual evolution of both notions of "investor" and "investment" in regards of the FDI regime developed in the FTAA draft. On that matter, a special attention will be accorded to the FTTA process but also to bilateral and regional agreements signed over the last 15 years between members of the FTAA negotiating process. Historicaily and ideologicaily, the FTAA is link with the recent NAFTA process. There is no doubt about it. The integration process in the Americas is far from been recent in Latin America, with the difference that this last process was mostly inspired by the ideology of "development" and the project of NIEO. The FTAA process, on the other hand, is clearly guide by the liberalism ideology which not always take into account the particularize needs of developing countries. When the FTAA process begin, there was a consensus, among leaders, over the idea that free-trade, as weil as liberal FDI regulations, will beneftt to developing countries and ftt their economic and social aspirations. Since then, this consensus, the so-called "Washington consensus", has been lost and that will, necessarily, have some effects on the evolution of the roles and principles related to FDI regulation in the Americas. / "Mémoire présenté à la Faculté des études supérieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de LL.M. Droit Dans le cadre du programme de Maîtrise en droit(LL.M.) 2-325-1-0 en option recherche et droit des affaires"

No description available.

This dissertation investigates the relationship between genre and the representation of war-time violence in five texts written during and shortly after the United States Civil War (1861-1865). The texts are The Narrative of Edmund Wright (1864), John William De Forests Miss Ravenels Conversion from Secession to Loyalty (1867), and three short stories by Henry JamesThe Story of a Year (1865), Poor Richard (1867), and A Most Extraordinary Case (1868). These texts deal with the theme of war violence through generic mechanisms associated with the spectrum of writings often dichotomized as romance and realism. The main theoretical approach to genre depends on a distinction between criterial theories of genre and contingency theories of genre. Criterial theories emphasize the shared characteristics of literary texts: that is, criterial theories of genre are classificatory in orientation. Contingency theories emphasize the ways in which social forces influence the act of classification: contingency theories of genre, in other words, concentrate on the notion that genres are social constructs. This dissertation maintains, in line with contingency theory, that genre is affected by the social, political and cultural circumstances of the period in which the genre operates; as a result, this dissertation uses documents from and about the American Civil War to substantiate its claims. The work of Alice Fahs, David Reynolds, and John Frow has influenced the approach to genre theory and to nineteenth-century American literary history. / English

The submitted diploma thesis deals with the topic: ,,Physical activity of working people focusing on the employees of the Police of the Czech Republic". The definition of terms describing the physical activity is included in the theoretical part of the thesis. The physical activity is one of the factors influencing the heath of the population. The thesis objective is to monitor the physical activity among the employees of the Czech Police. It is evaluated on the basis of the standardized IPAQ-long questionnaire and measurements using Yamax Digiwalker SW-700 pedometers. The detected results of the measured physical activity are subsequently compared with the general recommendations for physical activity.

My work is focused on perceive reality through autistic view and their subjective perception. Part one consists and explains of basic terms of autism spectrum disorders problems. Part two is methodology. It consists of a study which tries to answer research questions. Two techniques are used interview and observation. Respondents are split in two groups in first group are children, which responded themselves, in second group responded parents of children as they were not able to respond themselves. Part three provides work summary, processing the results of the research. It highlights the most important areas of the entire research. Those are analyzed and completed by relevant literature.

Submitted by Lucas Pimentel Vilela (lucaspimentelvilela@gmail.com) on 2017-05-04T01:19:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Hypothesis Testing in Econometric Models - Vilela 2017.pdf: 2079231 bytes, checksum: d0387462f36ab4ab7e5d33163bb68416 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Almeida (maria.socorro@fgv.br) on 2017-05-15T19:31:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Hypothesis Testing in Econometric Models - Vilela 2017.pdf: 2079231 bytes, checksum: d0387462f36ab4ab7e5d33163bb68416 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-15T19:32:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hypothesis Testing in Econometric Models - Vilela 2017.pdf: 2079231 bytes, checksum: d0387462f36ab4ab7e5d33163bb68416 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12-11 / This thesis contains three chapters. The first chapter considers tests of the parameter of an endogenous variable in an instrumental variables regression model. The focus is on one-sided conditional t-tests. Theoretical and numerical work shows that the conditional 2SLS and Fuller t-tests perform well even when instruments are weakly correlated with the endogenous variable. When the population F-statistic is as small as two, the power is reasonably close to the power envelopes for similar and non-similar tests which are invariant to rotation transformations of the instruments. This finding is surprising considering the poor performance of two-sided conditional t-tests found in Andrews, Moreira, and Stock (2007). These tests have bad power because the conditional null distributions of t-statistics are asymmetric when instruments are weak. Taking this asymmetry into account, we propose two-sided tests based on t-statistics. These novel tests are approximately unbiased and can perform as well as the conditional likelihood ratio (CLR) test. The second and third chapters are interested in maxmin and minimax regret tests for broader hypothesis testing problems. In the second chapter, we present maxmin and minimax regret tests satisfying more general restrictions than the alpha-level and the power control over all alternative hypothesis constraints. More general restrictions enable us to eliminate trivial known tests and obtain tests with desirable properties, such as unbiasedness, local unbiasedness and similarity. In sequence, we prove that both tests always exist and under suficient assumptions, they are Bayes tests with priors that are solutions of an optimization problem, the dual problem. In the last part of the second chapter, we consider testing problems that are invariant to some group of transformations. Under the invariance of the hypothesis testing, the Hunt-Stein Theorem proves that the search for maxmin and minimax regret tests can be restricted to invariant tests. We prove that the Hunt-Stein Theorem still holds under the general constraints proposed. In the last chapter we develop a numerical method to implement maxmin and minimax regret tests proposed in the second chapter. The parametric space is discretized in order to obtain testing problems with a finite number of restrictions. We prove that, as the discretization turns finer, the maxmin and the minimax regret tests satisfying the finite number of restrictions have the same alternative power of the maxmin and minimax regret tests satisfying the general constraints. Hence, we can numerically implement tests for a finite number of restrictions as an approximation for the tests satisfying the general constraints. The results in the second and third chapters extend and complement the maxmin and minimax regret literature interested in characterizing and implementing both tests. / Esta tese contém três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo considera testes de hipóteses para o coeficiente de regressão da variável endógena em um modelo de variáveis instrumentais. O foco é em testes-t condicionais para hipóteses unilaterais. Trabalhos teóricos e numéricos mostram que os testes-t condicionais centrados nos estimadores de 2SLS e Fuller performam bem mesmo quando os instrumentos são fracamente correlacionados com a variável endógena. Quando a estatística F populacional é menor que dois, o poder é razoavelmente próximo do poder envoltório para testes que são invariantes a transformações que rotacionam os instrumentos (similares ou não similares). Este resultado é surpreendente considerando a baixa performance dos testes-t condicionais para hipóteses bilaterais apresentado em Andrews, Moreira, and Stock (2007). Estes testes possuem baixo poder porque as distribuições das estatísticas-t na hipótese nula são assimétricas quando os instrumentos são fracos. Explorando tal assimetria, nós propomos testes para hipóteses bilaterais baseados em estatísticas-t. Estes testes são aproximadamente não viesados e podem performar tão bem quanto o teste de razão de máxima verossimilhança condicional. No segundo e no terceiro capítulos, nosso interesse é em testes do tipo maxmin e minimax regret para testes de hipóteses mais gerais. No segundo capítulo, nós apresentamos testes maxmin e minimax regret que satisfazem restrições mais gerais que as restrições de tamanho e de controle sobre todo o poder na hipótese alternativa. Restrições mais gerais nos possibilitam eliminar testes triviais e obter testes com propriedades desejáveis, como por exemplo não viés, não viés local e similaridade. Na sequência, nós provamos que ambos os testes existem e, sob condições suficientes, eles são testes Bayesianos com priors que são solução de um problema de otimização, o problema dual. Na última parte do segundo capítulo, nós consideramos testes de hipóteses que são invariantes à algum grupo de transformações. Sob invariância, o Teorema de Hunt-Stein implica que a busca por testes maxmin e minimax regret pode ser restrita a testes invariantes. Nós provamos que o Teorema de Hunt-Stein continua válido sob as restrições gerais propostas. No último capítulo, nós desenvolvemos um procedimento numérico para implementar os testes maxmin e minimax regret propostos no segundo capítulo. O espaço paramétrico é discretizado com o objetivo de obter testes de hipóteses com um número finito de pontos. Nós provamos que, ao considerarmos partições mais finas, os testes maxmin e minimax regret que satisfazem um número finito de pontos possuem o mesmo poder na hipótese alternativa que os testes maxmin e minimax regret que satisfazem as restrições gerais. Portanto, nós podemos implementar numericamente os testes que satisfazem um número finito de pontos como aproximação aos testes que satisfazem as restrições gerais.

The aim of the dissertation is an overview of the historical development and work carried out on the never realized regulation and the construction of the city of Prague. This development is described thematically on the basis of the different areas of the proposed regulatory plan. At the same time, several long-term construction projects are selected, in which the process of designing the project, its assessment and subsequent implementation into the regulatory plan is shown in detail in the form of a historical probe. The work is planted between the two world wars, ie. between 1919 and 1939, with a thematic overlap over both set dates. Keywords: Regulation, Urbanisation, Prague, State commission for regulation of Prague and suburbs, New Town, Main railway station, Masaryk Railway station, Nusle bridge, Petřín communication, Letná plains, Invalidovna, Water treatment plant, Water plant for undrinkable water.

The main aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse the state of remuneration of employees, the way of their motivation and suggest a possible change of the system based on the found results. The aim of the first, theoretical part is the synthesis of professional publications, the output of which will be a literary overview. The comprehensive view of the issue is set and there are analysed the most important theoretical findings relating to the medium-sized business, motivation, motivation theory, motivation and remuneration, remuneration management and its objectives, rewards and work performance, the structure and form of wages, evaluation of work, the most common forms of wages, employee benefits, MS as an instrument for motivation and remuneration. The course of the research is presented in the practical part and it is carried out in the XY health insurance company. At first, this organization is briefly described and then a self-directed research is conducted through a questionnaire survey of counter staff, client centre managers and project managers / shoppers, the current state of employee remuneration and motivation is analysed.Subsequently, an analysis of the effect of the IMS reward compared with the adoption of IMS and motivation for improvement of client center managers and counter-staff is performed. Thus the data obtained from the questionnaire survey with the data provided by the company on IMS remuneration are compared. Finally, the acquired data are evaluated, suggested recommendations for improvement of the situation and a summary of the work is drawn up.

The graduation thesis is focused above analysis of Legal Entity Income Tax and include new trends aplicated in the Czech Tax Administration. First there is described tax audit general procedure, including operations that are necesarry to do before of initiation of tax audit. Next there is carried out of tax audit till its finishing. After I try to meet readers with implementation of new audit instruments used in tax audit. In the practical part of my thesis there are the most frequent tax frauds and mistakes, from those I aimed for analysis for the problem of the rectyfiing items to claims of course all this operations are carried out with e-audit instruments, especially with analytic software IDEA.