Thesis (M.A. (Human Rights))--Mahidol University, 2006. / LICL has E-Thesis 0018 ; please contact computer services.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2010. / Thesis Advisor: Lee, Doowan. ; Second Reader: Berger, Marcos. "June 2010." Description based on title screen as viewed on July 16, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Terrorist networks, organized crime, illicit activities, money laundering, financial crimes, nation-state, exploit, infrastructures. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-50). Also available in print.

Background and Objectives: The rise in cases of online child sexual exploitation has become a global problem. Understanding both the psychological profiles of this offender group and the strategies employed during the process of exploitation, is crucial for aiding prevention and detection of these crimes as well as informing treatment and educational programmes. Thus, there were two main aims of the thesis. Firstly, a systematic review was conducted to investigate the psychological characteristics of online child sexual offenders (OCSO). Secondly, research was carried out to examine the utility of a pre-existing process model of grooming in the online sexual exploitation of children (O'Connell, 2003). Methodology: A systematic search of papers published between 2006 and 2016 was carried out. Those eligible for inclusion measured psychological characteristics using psychometric tools. A quality checklist was designed to appraise the methodological robustness of each paper. For the research study, qualitative content analysis of 63 online chat logs between offenders and children was undertaken. Logs were initially coded for correspondence to stages and strategies outlined by O'Connell, and additional codes assigned to themed text that did not fit this model. Results: The systematic review revealed fourteen papers for inclusion, and collective strengths and weaknesses were identified. Compared to contact offenders, few differences in psychological characteristics were identified; however tentative evidence suggests that online offenders experience greater interpersonal deficits whilst contact offenders present with more antisocial difficulties. Qualitative content analysis of chat logs revealed partial support for O'Connell's model. Several offender strategies proposed to take place during the sexual stage were evidenced. However, no logs showed evidence of all six stages. Additional offender strategies identified included flattery and minimising their behaviour. Various child strategies were identified, with children refusing all sexual advances in the majority of logs (n=34). Conclusions: Generic sexual offender treatment packages may not best meet the needs of OCSO. An alternative is discussed. Future research should focus on the development of psychometric tools for use with OCSO. Offenders appear heterogeneous in their approach to online sexual exploitation of children. Effective educational programmes must emphasise the speed at which many offenders will introduce sexual content, for whom traditional notions of grooming do not apply.

O presente estudo se propôs a discutir e tensionar o conceito de exploração sexual a partir do referencial teórico dos Estudos de Gênero, dos Estudos da Sexualidade e dos Estudos Culturais. A pesquisa buscou problematizar de que forma as redes de atendimento que deveriam se constituir como redes de proteção à infância e adolescência compreendem esse fenômeno e de que modo crianças e adolescentes do gênero feminino em situação de exploração sexual vivenciam tal realidade. Para tanto, foram produzidos materiais de pesquisa a partir de três fontes. O material 1 partiu de uma pesquisa documental realizada durante um período de 3 meses em uma delegacia especializada em violência contra crianças e adolescentes, sendo selecionados três inquéritos envolvendo casos de exploração sexual. O material 2 consistiu de entrevistas realizadas com seis participantes profissionais atuantes tanto nas organizações de enfrentamento como nos serviços de atendimento, utilizando-se um roteiro semiestruturado. O material 3 partiu do acompanhamento a três meninas/jovens, com idades entre 11 e 14 anos, identificadas em situação de exploração sexual e atendidas nos serviços de acolhimento na modalidade casa-lar e abrigo. Foram realizados encontros com grupos focais e entrevistas individuais seguindo-se um roteiro semiestruturado. Os resultados apontaram que, nos processos de erotização precoce, analisados aqui como processos de pedofilização e que dão sustentação à cultura do estupro, a/o violência/abuso sexual se fez presente na vida das meninas/jovens interlocutoras desta pesquisa. O forte investimento erótico no corpo jovem feminino, em suas pedagogias de gênero e de sexualidade vivenciadas nas relações afetivas familiares, perpassou desde as figuras masculinas mais próximas, como padrasto, padrinho, tio, avô e irmão, além das próprias mães, que, de alguma forma, reconheciam (ou atribuíam) esse poder em suas filhas pelo simples fato de serem jovens. Por parte dos homens, esse corpo jovem exerce um fascínio, despertado a partir de uma erotização das desigualdades, seja pela questão geracional ou ainda pelos atravessamentos de classe social, reafirmando, assim, uma masculinidade heteronormativa e perpetrando uma sexualidade vista como “desenfreada” e facilmente cedida aos “apelos” femininos juvenis. Tal perspectiva é legitimada pela figura materna, que, nas negociações de suas filhas com esses homens, colocam os corpos jovens de suas meninas como disponíveis, para também terem acesso ao poder econômico por eles exercido. Diante de toda a estimulação sexual impressa nessas meninas/jovens, a exploração sexual acaba por ser uma das possibilidades de expressão e exercício da sexualidade, sendo uma estratégia utilizada por elas para serem reconhecidas e apreciadas enquanto mulheres. O trabalho das instituições de proteção torna-se complexo e dificultoso, principalmente por chegarem até as meninas tardiamente, quando elas já encontraram suas formas próprias de lidar com a violência sexual sofrida. Ao se darem conta dessa dificuldade, as meninas constroem estratégias para burlar as regras cotidianas desse controle institucional, emergindo como insubordinas, chegando mesmo a fugir dos abrigos ou casas-lares. Diante do quadro de insubordinação, elas passam a ser alvo de controle e normatização por parte do estado por meio da administração de um forte tratamento medicamentoso. Muito mais do que combater ou erradicar a exploração sexual – entendendo aqui que essa dimensão não pode ser abandonada – para que essa “proteção” possa cumprir os seus propósitos, as questões envolvidas nesses processos de erotização precoce necessitam ser reconhecidas, assim como os seus efeitos na vida dessas meninas/jovens. / The present study proposed to discuss and stress the concept of sexual exploitation as a theme based on the theoretical framework of Gender Studies, Studies of Sexuality, and Cultural Studies. The research aimed to discuss how the Child and Teenager Protection Network understands this phenomenon and how female children and adolescents that experience sexual exploitation live this reality. To this end, research material from three different sources was produced. Material 1 came from a documentary research conducted over a period of three months in a Police Station specialized in violence against children and adolescents. Three surveys that involved cases of sexual exploitation have been selected. Material 2 consisted of interviews conducted with six professional participants working both in coping and in customers service organizations following a semi-structured guide. Material 3 started from monitoring the three girls/young people aged between 11 and 14 identified in a situation of sexual exploitation assisted in childcare services in private-home and shelter. Meetings were held with focus groups and individual interviews following a semi-structured guide. The results indicated that, in cases of early eroticism analyzed here as processes of pedophilização lending support to the rape culture, violence/sexual abuse was present in the life of the surveyed girls/young women. The strong erotic investment in the young female body, in its pedagogies of gender and sexuality experienced in the family, affective relations ranged from the closest male figures such as stepfather, godfather, uncle, grandfather and brother besides the mothers themselves who somehow recognized (or attributed to) that power in their daughters simply because they were young. On the part of men, this young body exerts a fascination, awakened from an erotization of the inequalities, either by the generational question or by the crossings of social class, thus reaffirming a heteronormative masculinity and perpetrating a sexuality seen as “wild” and easily transferred to the young feminine “appeals”. Such a perspective is legitimized by the mother figure who in the negotiation of their daughters with these men, make their young bodies available, to have access, also, to the economic power they exercise. And in the face of all sexual stimulation printed in these girls/young women, sexual exploitation ends up being one of the possibilities of expression and exercise of sexuality. It is also a strategy used by girls to be recognized and appreciated as women. The work of the protection institutions becomes complex and difficult mainly because they arrive too late to young people when they have already found their own ways of dealing with their suffered sexual violence. And when they realize this difficulty, the girls construct strategies to circumvent the daily rules of this institutional control, emerging as insubordinate fleeing from the private-homes and shelters. In face of the insubordination they become the target of control and standardization on the part of the state through the administration of a strong drug treatment. Much more than combat or eradicate sexual exploitation - understand here that this dimension cannot be abandoned – so that this “protection” can fulfill its purposes, the issues involved in these processes of early erotization need to be recognized as well as its effects on the lives of these girls/young people.

O presente estudo se propôs a discutir e tensionar o conceito de exploração sexual a partir do referencial teórico dos Estudos de Gênero, dos Estudos da Sexualidade e dos Estudos Culturais. A pesquisa buscou problematizar de que forma as redes de atendimento que deveriam se constituir como redes de proteção à infância e adolescência compreendem esse fenômeno e de que modo crianças e adolescentes do gênero feminino em situação de exploração sexual vivenciam tal realidade. Para tanto, foram produzidos materiais de pesquisa a partir de três fontes. O material 1 partiu de uma pesquisa documental realizada durante um período de 3 meses em uma delegacia especializada em violência contra crianças e adolescentes, sendo selecionados três inquéritos envolvendo casos de exploração sexual. O material 2 consistiu de entrevistas realizadas com seis participantes profissionais atuantes tanto nas organizações de enfrentamento como nos serviços de atendimento, utilizando-se um roteiro semiestruturado. O material 3 partiu do acompanhamento a três meninas/jovens, com idades entre 11 e 14 anos, identificadas em situação de exploração sexual e atendidas nos serviços de acolhimento na modalidade casa-lar e abrigo. Foram realizados encontros com grupos focais e entrevistas individuais seguindo-se um roteiro semiestruturado. Os resultados apontaram que, nos processos de erotização precoce, analisados aqui como processos de pedofilização e que dão sustentação à cultura do estupro, a/o violência/abuso sexual se fez presente na vida das meninas/jovens interlocutoras desta pesquisa. O forte investimento erótico no corpo jovem feminino, em suas pedagogias de gênero e de sexualidade vivenciadas nas relações afetivas familiares, perpassou desde as figuras masculinas mais próximas, como padrasto, padrinho, tio, avô e irmão, além das próprias mães, que, de alguma forma, reconheciam (ou atribuíam) esse poder em suas filhas pelo simples fato de serem jovens. Por parte dos homens, esse corpo jovem exerce um fascínio, despertado a partir de uma erotização das desigualdades, seja pela questão geracional ou ainda pelos atravessamentos de classe social, reafirmando, assim, uma masculinidade heteronormativa e perpetrando uma sexualidade vista como “desenfreada” e facilmente cedida aos “apelos” femininos juvenis. Tal perspectiva é legitimada pela figura materna, que, nas negociações de suas filhas com esses homens, colocam os corpos jovens de suas meninas como disponíveis, para também terem acesso ao poder econômico por eles exercido. Diante de toda a estimulação sexual impressa nessas meninas/jovens, a exploração sexual acaba por ser uma das possibilidades de expressão e exercício da sexualidade, sendo uma estratégia utilizada por elas para serem reconhecidas e apreciadas enquanto mulheres. O trabalho das instituições de proteção torna-se complexo e dificultoso, principalmente por chegarem até as meninas tardiamente, quando elas já encontraram suas formas próprias de lidar com a violência sexual sofrida. Ao se darem conta dessa dificuldade, as meninas constroem estratégias para burlar as regras cotidianas desse controle institucional, emergindo como insubordinas, chegando mesmo a fugir dos abrigos ou casas-lares. Diante do quadro de insubordinação, elas passam a ser alvo de controle e normatização por parte do estado por meio da administração de um forte tratamento medicamentoso. Muito mais do que combater ou erradicar a exploração sexual – entendendo aqui que essa dimensão não pode ser abandonada – para que essa “proteção” possa cumprir os seus propósitos, as questões envolvidas nesses processos de erotização precoce necessitam ser reconhecidas, assim como os seus efeitos na vida dessas meninas/jovens. / The present study proposed to discuss and stress the concept of sexual exploitation as a theme based on the theoretical framework of Gender Studies, Studies of Sexuality, and Cultural Studies. The research aimed to discuss how the Child and Teenager Protection Network understands this phenomenon and how female children and adolescents that experience sexual exploitation live this reality. To this end, research material from three different sources was produced. Material 1 came from a documentary research conducted over a period of three months in a Police Station specialized in violence against children and adolescents. Three surveys that involved cases of sexual exploitation have been selected. Material 2 consisted of interviews conducted with six professional participants working both in coping and in customers service organizations following a semi-structured guide. Material 3 started from monitoring the three girls/young people aged between 11 and 14 identified in a situation of sexual exploitation assisted in childcare services in private-home and shelter. Meetings were held with focus groups and individual interviews following a semi-structured guide. The results indicated that, in cases of early eroticism analyzed here as processes of pedophilização lending support to the rape culture, violence/sexual abuse was present in the life of the surveyed girls/young women. The strong erotic investment in the young female body, in its pedagogies of gender and sexuality experienced in the family, affective relations ranged from the closest male figures such as stepfather, godfather, uncle, grandfather and brother besides the mothers themselves who somehow recognized (or attributed to) that power in their daughters simply because they were young. On the part of men, this young body exerts a fascination, awakened from an erotization of the inequalities, either by the generational question or by the crossings of social class, thus reaffirming a heteronormative masculinity and perpetrating a sexuality seen as “wild” and easily transferred to the young feminine “appeals”. Such a perspective is legitimized by the mother figure who in the negotiation of their daughters with these men, make their young bodies available, to have access, also, to the economic power they exercise. And in the face of all sexual stimulation printed in these girls/young women, sexual exploitation ends up being one of the possibilities of expression and exercise of sexuality. It is also a strategy used by girls to be recognized and appreciated as women. The work of the protection institutions becomes complex and difficult mainly because they arrive too late to young people when they have already found their own ways of dealing with their suffered sexual violence. And when they realize this difficulty, the girls construct strategies to circumvent the daily rules of this institutional control, emerging as insubordinate fleeing from the private-homes and shelters. In face of the insubordination they become the target of control and standardization on the part of the state through the administration of a strong drug treatment. Much more than combat or eradicate sexual exploitation - understand here that this dimension cannot be abandoned – so that this “protection” can fulfill its purposes, the issues involved in these processes of early erotization need to be recognized as well as its effects on the lives of these girls/young people.

The pharmaceutical sector has undergone many changes, particularly in the past several decades. The purpose of this research was to ascertain the existence of further changes to the division of labour and changes in the markets for technology within the sector. This research was also undertaken to understand the specific issues that may be impacting the division of labour and the changes in the markets for technology including the role of finance and the role of a surplus of unexploited knowledge. The division of labour between large and small new firms was initially more pronounced as the fully integrated firms continued to develop, manufacture and market drugs while 'classical biotechnology' firms pursued an exploratory business model of supplying knowledge and early stage drug candidates to these fully integrated companies (McKelvey, 2008). However, firms are changing in this sector and changes may be evident that have not been discussed in the literature to date. A new type of firm is evident within this sector, the No Research Development Only (NRDO) firm, as well as changes in the existing firms. This has impacted markets for technology as changes are also apparent in the way in which firms exchange products and knowledge. A combined quantitative and qualitative study was used to answer the research questions. A random sample of 100 EU and US companies that own and develop drug products was generated. Descriptive statistics were gathered to form a database of information and case studies were compiled to provide in-depth data related to a sample of eight firms. The newly identified NRDO firms do not possess internal capabilities to discover their own products; surprising given the historically research intensive nature of the types of small firms that operate in this sector. There also appears to be changes in the markets for technology as large firms are selling drug candidates to these hitherto research-intensive discovery and development (DD) firms who are willing to in-license these drug candidates to bolster pipelines and financial valuations. Markets for knowledge in this sector have undoubtedly evolved and a more complex set of arrangements are evident. The roles of finance and a surplus of unexploited knowledge have played an important part in these changes as the sustained level of exploration in the sector has resulted in a greater number of exploitation opportunities. Overall there is evidence to support further evolution in the sector.

In managing organisations for peak performance, managers have to deal with the strategic paradox of either exploiting their current resources, skills and competencies, or exploring and finding new alternatives. Managers are constantly challenged with this complex paradox and must decide how to leverage these seemingly opposite tensions for best performance. This study investigates the factors that affect exploitation and exploration, the implications of not balancing them, and finally whether they should be traded off against one another or done ambidextrously, which is a metaphor for organisations that are equally dexterous at exploiting and exploring. To this end, a qualitative research study with an explorative design was conducted in order to delve deep into this quandary. Interviews with 14 leading executives and four strategy experts were held to uncover their unique insights into this paradox. The insights from these in-depth interviews formed the basis of the data that was analysed using content analysis to produce the research findings of this study. The research identified the factors that could influence the degree to which an organisation explores or exploits. The research confirmed that exploitation and exploration are interdependent and should be done ambidextrously. The exploitation versus exploration management model emerged from these research findings. This model will assist managers in understanding the paradox and will put them in a position to better manage exploitation and exploration in order for the company to be sustainable. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / lmgibs2015 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon. Of particular interest is the ability of promising technology based ventures to recognize and exploit opportunities. Recent research drawing on the Austrian economic theory emphasizes the importance of knowledge, particularly market knowledge, behind opportunity recognition. While insightful, this research has tended to overlook those interrelationships that exist between different types of knowledge (technology and market knowledge) as well as between a firm’s knowledge base and its entrepreneurial orientation. Additional shortfalls of prior research include the ambiguous definitions provided for entrepreneurial opportunities, oversight of opportunity exploitation with an extensive focus on opportunity recognition only, and the lack of quantitative, empirical evidence on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition. In this dissertation, these research gaps are addressed by integrating Schumpeterian opportunity development view with a Kirznerian opportunity discovery theory as well as insights from literature on entrepreneurial orientation. A sample of 85 new biotechnology ventures from the United States, Finland, and Sweden was analyzed. While leaders in all 85 companies were interviewed for the research in 2003-2004, 42 firms provided data in 2007. Data was analyzed using regression analysis. The results show the value and importance of early market knowledge and technology knowledge as well as an entrepreneurial company posture for subsequent opportunity recognition. The highest numbers of new opportunities are recognized in firms where high levels of market knowledge are combined with high levels of technology knowledge (measured with a number of patents). A firm’s entrepreneurial orientation also enhances its opportunity recognition. Furthermore, the results show that new ventures with more market knowledge are able to gather more equity investments, license out more technologies, and achieve higher sales than new ventures with lower levels of market knowledge. Overall, the findings of this dissertation help further our understanding of the sources of entrepreneurial opportunities, and should encourage further research in this area.

No description available.

La planification forestière est un exercice ardu qui demande des efforts humains et matériels très importants. Plusieurs modèles de planification forestière sont proposés dans la littérature. Cependant, ils sont généralement difficiles à implémenter. En outre, leur performance est limitée aux forêts de petite taille ou de taille moyenne. L’objectif général de cette thèse est de proposer des outils simples et efficients qui permettent de réduire la complexité de cet exercice en utilisant la modélisation mathématique. Les modèles proposés dans cette thèse traitent le problème de planification forestière sur un horizon tactique et considèrent principalement deux restrictions spatiales qui sont des restrictions d’adjacence ou de période de régénération et des restrictions de rendement soutenu de récolte. Dans la première partie, nous avons proposé une nouvelle formulation mathématique basée sur la programmation en nombres entiers qui permet de modéliser le problème de planification tactique sous des contraintes spatiales. Nous avons eu recours à une méthode de résolution exacte à l’aide d’un solveur commercial pour résoudre le problème. Nous avons utilisé plusieurs forêts réelles de tailles différentes dont trois sont de très grandes forêts dans la région de la Mauricie au Québec. Pour évaluer la performance de notre modèle proposé, nous avons utilisé deux autres formulations mathématiques qui sont déjà proposées dans la littérature pour résoudre le même problème sous les mêmes contraintes. Les résultats ont montré que notre formulation est plus simple d’un point de vue de la modélisation et de l’implémentation. En ce qui concerne la résolution, les résultats ont montré qu’il n’y pas une formulation qui avait une performance supérieure lorsque la taille des forêts est petite ou moyenne. Cependant, lorsque la taille des forêts devient large, notre formulation avait une performance supérieure. Dans la deuxième partie de la thèse, nous avons proposé deux méthodes pour résoudre le même problème en utilisant les grandes forêts. La première méthode est une heuristique basée sur la relaxation linéaire. Pour évaluer sa performance, nous avons comparé les résultats qu’elle a fournis avec ceux obtenus en utilisant un solveur commercial pendant une durée de résolution prédéfinie. Les résultats ont montré que le solveur est plus performant lorsque le problème est mono-période. Cependant, lorsque le problème est multi-période, contrairement à notre heuristique, le solveur n’était pas capable d’obtenir un résultat pendant le temps de résolution fixé. La deuxième méthode consiste à contrôler la taille des problèmes à résoudre à travers un indicateur qui contrôle la forme des regroupements de peuplements à couper. En plus de sa simplicité, cette méthode permet de réduire significativement la taille des problèmes et d’avoir une planification opérationnelle plus efficiente par l’élimination des regroupements de peuplement ayants des formes non désirables. Dans la troisième partie, nous avons proposé un modèle intégré stochastique bi-niveau qui permet la planification de la coupe tout en considérant les feux de forêts. La formulation mathématique proposée dans la première partie de la thèse représente le premier niveau. Le deuxième niveau est un modèle de propagation de feux. Il considère des points d’ignition du feu, des points critiques tels que des municipalités et des croisements de routes forestières et deux scénarios de différentes directions et vitesses de vent. L’intégration est possible à travers la reformulation primal-dual des conditions d’optimalités du problème du plus court chemin entre les points d’ignition et les points critiques. Nous avons utilisé des forêts hypothétiques pour les expérimentations. Les résultats ont montré que les regroupements de peuplements planifiés sont localisés dans des zones qui permettent de retarder la propagation du feu des points d’ignition vers les points critiques. / Forest planning is a difficult task that needs important human and material efforts. Many forest planning modelsare proposed in the literature. However, their implementation is usually complex. More over, their performanceis limited to small and medium forests. The whole objective of this thesis is to propose simple and efficient tools to reduce the complexity of the forest planning using mathematical modeling. In this thesis, proposed models are applied for tactical forest planning and consider mainly two spatial restrictions that are adjacency or green-up restrictions and sustainable timber yields restrictions.In the first part, we proposed a new mathematical formulation based on integer programming to model the tactical forest planning under spatial restrictions. We solved the model with an exact method using a commercial solver. We used many real forests with different sizes. Three of them are very large forests and are located in the Mauricie region of Quebec. We evaluated the performance of the proposed model using two other formulation sexisting in the literature to model the same problem under the same restrictions. Results showed that there isno formulation that out performed others when small and medium forests are used. However, the proposed formulation out performed others when large forests are used.In the second part, we proposed two heuristic approaches to solve the same problem using large forests. The first one is a linear relaxation heuristic. We compared results obtained with the heuristic with those obtained with a commercial solver when a computational time is predefined. Results showed that the solver is more performant when mono-periods problems were solved. However, when multi-periods problems were solved, unlike ourheuristic, the solver does not find any feasible solution within the fixed computational time. The second heuristicis a size reduction heuristic which uses a shape index to control the shape of the clusters of stands. Besides its simplicity, this method is very beneficial as it reduces significantly problems size and anticipate the operational planning by eliminating non-profitable clusters. In the third part, we proposed a stochastic programming model formulated as an integrated mixed integerprogramming model for scheduling harvesting operations, which directly takes into account a fire spread model. It is a bi-level model. In the first level, we used the tactical forest planning model proposed in the first part. The second level represents the fire spread model that considers fire spread between ignition points and critical points, which could be, for example, municipalities and important road crossings. It considers multiple scenarios, which takes into account wind direction, and wind spread. The integration is possible due to a reformulation of a bi-level optimization problem where the lower level shortest path representation is written explicitly with aprimal-dual reformulation of its optimality conditions. Results based on a set of illustrative instances are presented. Results vary depending on spatial restrictions considered in the model. However, harvesting scheduled are usually allocated to delay fires reaching critical points and tends to allocate harvesting operations around critical points.