The purpose of this study is to determine to what extent the European Union (EU) functions as a market power in the case of conflict mineral regulation. Previous research by Partzsch has shown that the EU response to conflict minerals only somewhat qualifies for the EU to be seen as a normative power. There appears to be a clash between the norms of sustainable development and economic development, which could explain why the EU does not fully qualify as a normative power. Another theoretical framework has thus been chosen to explain the EU’s function in the case of conflict minerals. This theoretical framework is Market Power Europe (MPE) by Damro, which does not look to the collective norms of the EU, but rather on the market-related policies that the Union uses to influence other actors. With the use of an ideal type analysis of EU policy and official documents, this study found that the case fills the criteria to function as a market power in the case of conflict minerals.

A presente tese, de natureza analítica, defende, a partir da análise dos elementos subjacentes à ideia de direito como sistema por trás da discussão sobre a fragmentação do direito internacional, que a expansão do direito internacional no século XX foi acompanhada de uma mudança do conceito de legitimidade, que não se restringe mais apenas ao reconhecimento do Estado como produtor das normas internacionais, mas requer parâmetros substantivos que orientam a solução dos conflitos entre normas que são produzidas em diferentes esferas normativas. No entanto, ao contrário do que ocorre no ordenamento interno, cujo sistema jurídico estabelece uma hierarquia de normas neutralizada pela ideologia do regime existente, nas relações internacionais, a horizontalidade das normas do direito internacional reflete a inexistência de uma cadeia tal de valores; e nem mesmo a proliferação de normas secundárias na segunda metade do século XX logrou alterar os fundamentos da jurisdição internacional, a qual ainda encontra diversas restrições associadas às características do direito internacional de coexistência. Estes problemas serão evidenciados pela análise do que ocorre no âmbito da OMC e, dentre as diversas disputas que envolvem normas produzidas em diferentes esferas normativas, do caso Brazil Measures Affecting Imports of Retreaded Tyres (União Européia v. Brasil) [doravante Brazil Retreaded Tyres]. / From analysis of the factors underlying the idea of law as a system behind the discussion of the \"fragmentation\" of international law, this thesis, analytical in nature, argues, that the expansion of international law in the twentieth century was accompanied by a change in the concept of legitimacy, which is no longer restricted only to the State as a producer of international standards, but requires substantive parameters to guide the resolution of conflicts between rules from different normative spheres. However, unlike domestic domains, where the legal system establishes a hierarchy of norms neutralized by the ideology of the existing regime, in international relations, the horizontality of the norms of international law reflects the absence of such a chain of values, nor even the proliferation of secondary standards in the second half of the twentieth century managed to change the fundamentals of international jurisdiction, which still faces several constraints associated with the characteristics of the international law of coexistence. These problems will be highlighted by the analysis of what occurs in the WTO and, among the several disputes involving standards from different normative spheres, the case of Brazil Measures Affecting Imports of retreaded Tyres (European Union v. Brazil) [hereinafter Brazil - retreaded Tyres].

O poder constituinte, tal como entendido pela teoria constitucionalista clássica, é definido como poder bruto, original, ilimitado e incondicionado, a partir do qual nasce o Estado e, por consequência, a ordem jurídica. Esse poder, definido como supraestatal, não encontra limites no direito e, nas concepções democráticas, é titularizado pelo povo soberano. Essa concepção teórica passa por uma releitura no trabalho, a fim de se definir o poder constituinte como poder comunicativo criador da norma constitucional, de aparição episódica, por meio do qual é possível filtrar os argumentos morais, ético-políticos e estratégicos expostos pelos cidadãos na esfera pública democrática, representativos de um modo de vida compartilhado que se impõe politicamente. De acordo com a releitura apresentada, os postulados da ilimitação material e da incondicionalidade do poder constituinte não se sustentam em face do paradigma da racionalidade comunicativa e dialogal. Na qualidade de momento de fundação e fundamentação da ordem constitucional, o poder constituinte precisa respeitar direitos pressupostos, garantidores da autonomia individual, e institucionalizar os procedimentos discursivos que viabilizam a reprodução do direito legítimo. Entendido como processo extraordinário, no qual os interesses e os valores permanecem latentes na sociedade, o exercício do poder constituinte representa um momento único para análise do discurso de fundamentação normativa, objeto central da tese. Associando-se fundamentação normativa com legitimidade política, nos termos da teoria democrática exposta por Jürgen Habermas, conclui-se que o cerne da legitimidade das ordens estatais organizadas democraticamente é a institucionalização de uma ordem jurídica fundamentada discursivamente por intermédio de um procedimento de deliberação pública, no qual todos os potenciais atingidos pela norma possam exprimir o seu assentimento. O poder constituinte, ao estruturar o estado, garante que o processo de formação da vontade e da opinião pública se estabilize e o consenso seja alcançado. / Constituent power, based on classical constitutional theory, is defined as raw, original, limitless and unconditional power, from which the state and, consequently, legal order are born. Such power, defined as supranational, knows no boundaries in the law and according to democratic notions it is held by the sovereign people. This thesis reexamines that theoretical conception in order to define constituent power as a communicative power which creates constitutional norm; it appears occasionally and it allows for a selection of moral, ethical-political and strategic arguments introduced by citizens in the public democratic sphere which represent a shared way of life that imposes itself politically. According to this reexamination, postulates of constituent powers material illimitation and unconditionality cannot resist to the paradigm of communicative and dialogical rationality. As the founding moment and grounds of constitutional order, constituent power must respect presupposed rights which guarantee individual autonomy and institutionalize discursive procedures which enable the reproduction of legitimate law. Understood as an extraordinary process in which interests and values remain latent in society, exercise of constituent power represents a unique moment to analyze the normative grounds discourse, the core issue of this thesis. Combining normative grounds and political legitimacy, in the terms of the democratic theory introduced by Jürgen Habermas, the conclusion is that the essence of legitimacy of democratically-organized state orders is the institutionalization of a legal order based discursively through a process of public deliberation, where all individuals potentially affected by the norm may express their consent. By structuring the state, constituting power ensures that the public will and opinion formation process will become stable and consensus will be reached.

Submitted by Rosivalda Pereira (mrs.pereira@ufma.br) on 2017-09-04T21:31:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DavidLeal.pdf: 2328764 bytes, checksum: cfd5f4e1764514d2cc1ec64ea8574598 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-04T21:31:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DavidLeal.pdf: 2328764 bytes, checksum: cfd5f4e1764514d2cc1ec64ea8574598 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-11 / The exercise of the competences established in the Brazilian Constitution by the Brazilian Regulatory Agencies, especially in view of the concentration of functions that can be classified as typical by other powers of the Republic, in a single organ, have generated questions, especially when dealing with normative competence. The present work has the objective of analyzing whether the production procedure of Normative Resolution No. 414/2010, of the National Electric Energy Agency, can be considered as an inducer of legitimacy in light of the Theory of Legitimation by the Niklas Luhmann Procedure (1980). It was observed that the procedure adopted by ANEEL in the approval of Normative Resolution 414 of September 9, 2010 was sufficiently open to the flows of contributions of the most diverse groups of stakeholders, shaping the final product of the normative procedure and, thus, contributing To reduce the questions about this product, and it can be concluded that the procedure adopted can be considered as inducing legitimacy, in the form of the Theory of Legitimation by Procedure. Thus, it is clear that other mechanisms of legitimization are necessary in addition to those related to the function carried out by the agencies, such as those used in the context of this administrative procedure, which have allowed the establishment of an effective communication between the Regulatory State and the stakeholders of the most diverse categories, through The submission of contributions by the latter and of answers justified by the Agency, which allowed the procedure to be framed to the bases of the theory in question, since the procedure required the aptitude necessary to carry out structural changes in the expectations of those involved, reducing the possibility of not Acceptance of the state decision included in the resolution. / O exercício das competências estabelecidas na Constituição brasileira pelas Agências Reguladoras brasileiras, especialmente em face da concentração de funções que possam ser enquadradas como típicas por outros poderes da República, num só órgão, têm gerado questionamentos, especialmente em se tratando da competência normativa. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar se o procedimento de produção da Resolução Normativa nº 414/2010, da Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica, pode ser considerado como indutor de legitimidade à luz da Teoria da Legitimação pelo Procedimento de Niklas Luhmann (1980). Observou-se que o procedimento adotado pela ANEEL na aprovação da Resolução Normativa nº 414, de 9 de setembro de 2010 , foi suficientemente aberto aos fluxos de contribuições dos mais diversos grupos de interessados, moldando o produto final do procedimento normativo e, assim, contribuindo para a redução dos questionamentos acerca deste produto, sendo possível concluir que o procedimento adotado pode ser considerado como indutor de legitimidade, na forma da Teoria da Legitimação pelo Procedimento. Assim, restou evidenciado que outros mecanismos de legitimação são necessários além dos relacionados à função exercida pelas agências, como os utilizados no bojo deste procedimento administrativo, que permitiram o estabelecimento de uma comunicação eficaz entre o Estado Regulador e os interessados das mais diversas categorias, mediante a apresentação de contribuições por estes e de respostas justificadas pela Agência, que permitiram o enquadramento do procedimento às bases da teoria em referência, uma vez que ao procedimento a aptidão necessária para a realização de transformações estruturais nas expectativas dos envolvidos, reduzindo a possibilidade de não aceitação da decisão estatal encartada na resolução em referência.

There is a growing political discourse in Scotland acknowledging alcohol to be a significant contributor to crime. A significant portion of this is directly related to the evening and night-time drinking based leisure industry i.e. the night-time economy (NTE). The NTE is often characterised by violent and disorderly behaviour concentrated in and around pubs and nightclubs (‘hotspots’) on weekend nights presenting considerable public health, criminal justice and urban management issues. Recently the political rhetoric has been backed up by new legislation in an attempt to counterbalance what was previously a market-driven economy. There now exists various crime reduction partnerships and situational crime prevention technologies to restrict and control certain behaviours and the presence and movements of persons and groups. This research project has specifically focussed on the role of police in this rapidly changing regulatory NTE context. Combining data gathered from participant observation sessions with front-line police and in-depth interviews with multiple NTE stakeholders in a multi-site comparison study across Scotland, this research project provides a robust evidential base from which to analyse and interpret policing of the NTE at the national and local scales using various conceptual frameworks of contemporary policing in western societies. What my findings have shown is that front-line officers have adapted their police work in order to suit the specific context within which they are operating. I have termed this specific variation on traditional understandings of ‘cop culture’ as being the ‘street craft of policing the NTE’. Furthermore, while this street craft was evident across all three case study areas, the extremely tangled and convoluted nature of local security provision at the local scale necessitates that front-line officers adapt this street craft to meet the local specificities of their respective NTEs.

Alors que les personnes âgées de 80 ans et plus (oldest old dans la littérature anglophone) constituent un segment de la population de plus en plus important dans le monde et que l’âge est le principal facteur de risque de démence, peu d’études se sont intéressées à la cognition et à la démence dans cette population. Le premier objectif de cette thèse a été de synthétiser les données épidémiologiques et neuropsychologiques relatives aux oldest old dans le cadre du vieillissement normal et de la démence. Le manque de connaissances, d’outils et de normes adaptées pour les oldest old font de l’évaluation neuropsychologique un véritable challenge. Ainsi, dans un deuxième travail, nous avons développé des normes pour sept tests neuropsychologiques communément utilisés en clinique, administrés auprès d’une population de sujets très âgés. Néanmoins, les outils habituellement utilisés présentent des contraintes pour les très âgés qui peuvent remettre en cause leur fiabilité. Le Test des Neuf Images du 93 (TNI-93) - test évaluant la mémoire épisodique initialement développé pour les sujets de bas niveau d’étude - comporte de nombreux avantages eu égard aux spécificités cliniques des oldest old. Dans un troisième travail, nous avons cherché à étudier l’utilité du TNI-93 chez les oldest old en établissant des normes puis en étudiant ses propriétés de détection de la démence dans cette population. L’ensemble de ces travaux pourrait contribuer à améliorer la prise de décision diagnostique dans cette population, même s’il convient de souligner l’importance de promouvoir la recherche dans ce domaine pour comprendre les enjeux cliniques et neuropsychologiques du très grand âge. / While persons aged 80 years and over, the so-called “oldest old”, constitute the fastest growing segment of the population worldwide and age is the major risk factor for developing dementia, only few studies have addressed cognition and dementia in this population. The first objective of this thesis was to review the epidemiological and neuropsychological data relating to oldest old in the context of normal aging and dementia. The lack of knowledge, tools and normative data for oldest old make neuropsychological assessment a real challenge for clinicians. For this reason, the second step consisted in computing normative data for seven neuropsychological tests commonly used in clinical practice collected in an oldest old population. Likewise, the tools generally used in older adults testing involve constraints that question the reliability of the measurement. The “Test des Neuf Images of the 93” (TNI-93), (meaning Nine Images test of the district of Seine-Saint-Denis in the suburb of Paris) - test evaluating episodic memory initially developed for low-educational level subjects - could deal with the testing difficulties due to clinical specificities of oldest old. Thus, in a third work, we assessed the relevance of TNI-93 in oldest old by providing normative data, and also by studying its dementia detection properties in this specific population. Taken together, these works may contribute to improve decision-making diagnosis in oldest old population even though it is necessary to underline the importance of promoting research in this domain to deal with the clinical and neuropsychological challenges of the very old age.

Neuropsychological tests are standardized tasks used to measure psychological functioning that is associated with a particular brain structure. These tests often are used in diagnosing a cognitive deficiency resulting from brain injuries. Currently, there are a limited number of studies that have focused on standardization of neuropsychological tests in Latin America. Therefore, the vast majority of cognitive tests used in the evaluation of patients with brain damage have no normative parameters adjusted to the cultural characteristics of Latinos and Latinas. As a result, neuropsychological diagnoses among this population may be inadequate, and evaluation of rehabilitation program effectiveness limited. The importance of culturally appropriate indices of neurological tests cannot be overstated; of all the problems presented by individuals with brain injuries, cognitive disorders are the leading source of disability for adequate work, family, and social reintegration among this group. There is an urgent need to standardize neuropsychological tests in Latin America, among Latinos in the US and any other regions where neuropsychological test have not been standardized. An important population subgroup in Latin America severely lacking in norms for many neuropsychological tests are those deemed illiterate or unable to read or write. Developing normative data for individuals who are illiterate will allow neuropsychologists to have a more accurate comparison when attempting to diagnose cognitive deficits among this group in Latin America. This dissertation is unique, as no other studies have looked at the normative data and standardization of neuropsychological tests within this population in Latin America.

The measurement of achievement growth raises many challenges, including how to define "growth" and select or develop a growth measure that captures that definition. Despite these complications, current federal educational policies focus on student growth measures for accountability purposes. Student growth percentiles (SGPs) are one metric developed under these policies. They use quantile regression to produce normative growth interpretations: They describe how much a student has grown relative to students with similar past test scores. SGPs are increasingly popular, but there are gaps in the literature concerning their performance for small sample sizes and the number of prior years of test scores included in the model, as well as their invariance to transformations of the test scale. This study proposes an ordinary least squares analog, the percentile rank of residuals (PRRs). PRRs are the percentile rank of the residuals found by regressing the current grade-level assessment score on past grade-level assessment scores. PRRs may be a more robust alternative to SGPs, especially for small samples. They also stem from a wide array of regression based metrics in education and only require estimation of one regression line, as opposed to the 100 regression lines estimated for SGPs. This dissertation first places the growth metrics of interest in a framework anchored by four key contrasts in growth interpretations: (1) absolute versus normative, (2) unconditional normative versus conditional normative, (3) student- versus group-level, and (4) aggregated individual growth versus growth of aggregated-individuals. SGPs and PRRs afford normative conditional growth interpretations. They are investigated at the student level using simulated multivariate normal data and two statewide empirical datasets. These student-level analyses assess the accuracy of SGPs and PRRs by their recovery of benchmark growth percentiles under multivariate normality, or normal conditional growth percentiles (NCGPs), their robustness to scale transformations, their comparability to each other under varying conditions, and their stability over different sample sizes and numbers of prior years included in the models. SGPs and PRRs are also investigated at the group level by aggregating them with the mean and median functions. The robustness of the aggregated growth percentiles to test scale transformations is also assessed. Finally, the aggregated growth percentiles are contrasted against group effects from a simple layered value-added model (VAM). The analyses found that PRRs better recover expected growth percentiles under multivariate normality and are more accurate and stable for small samples, whereas SGPs are substantially more robust to test scale transformations. However, estimation issues with the SGPs can cause students with extreme initial statuses to obtain substantially different SGPs under transformations of the data. At the aggregate level, there is little distinction in how robust SGPs and PRRs are to scale transformations of the test score data. The mean SGPs and mean PRRs are consistently more robust to scale transformations of the test score data then their median counterparts. They are also the most highly correlated and rank order the groups more similarly to the value-added school effects than the median SGPs and PRRs.

<p>In May 2000 share repurchases were legalized in Sweden, with the purpose to provide companies with an efficient and flexible way to distribute capital. To buy back shares gives companies several benefits which are discussed in our study. The lack of academic research about this topic for Swedish companies gave us an incentive to provide knowledge specifically for this market. When companies announce a share repurchase program they are subject to uncertainty about the society’s reaction and economic consequences. Individuals within a well established organizational field deal rationally with uncertainty by adjusting to their institutional environment. The institutional environment can be defined as an abstract structure of regulations and behavioral norms that guide human’s decisions. This often leads to homogeneity in companies’ culture, structure and output. We ask the question if companies are realizing repurchase programs in a similar way over time, and if share repurchases have been developed as a more common used financial instrument since 2000. Our second question is if companies that decide to buy back shares pursue this under similar economic conditions as a result from becoming homogeneous.</p><p>The purpose of this study is to describe how institutional pressures in form of coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphism have affected companies’ decision to repurchase shares. We want to explain if there is an upward going trend of share repurchases, a standardized way to repurchase over time and if this decision can be determined by similarities in certain financial indicators of a company’s economic situation. To answer our purpose we used a quantitative research strategy with a deductive approach. The collected data was analyzed in a logistic regression analysis and by interpretations of descriptive statistics. We decided to examine for mimetic isomorphism public companies listed within the industrial sector on Stockholm Stock Exchange from the years 2000-2006. For the test of coercive and normative isomorphism with a logistic regression analysis we had to limit ourselves to investigate the years 2001-2003.</p><p>In reality the three institutional pressures are working simultaneously and should together lead to a common perception about share repurchases among companies. For our testing we separated institutional isomorphism based on our theoretical preconceptions. This allowed us to analyze each individual institutional pressure and how they interact together. We defined mimetic isomorphism as companies adjusting their repurchase behavior to other companies within the industrial sector. Our result has not shown any indications of such a behavior concerning time, amount or frequency of the buybacks. Testing if certain financial indicators such as excess cash, liquidity, solvency, dividends, volatile operative income, prior year return, growth opportunities, companies’ size, ownership concentration, institutional and individual shareholders could explain stock repurchase activity gave us the possibility to evaluate coercive and normative isomorphism. But the question how institutional isomorphism affects companies’ repurchase decisions still remains unanswered. We have not found any certain financial indicator which motivates companies’ decision to buy back their own shares. The decision might therefore be carried out under very different economic conditions and with different objectives. In the industrial sector and generally in the whole Swedish market only a relatively low proportion of companies buy back shares. The stated findings for the Swedish market imply a need for further investigations over a longer time horizon and for a larger population. Further investigations in this topic which has the potential to provide recent insight into the stock repurchase decision for Swedish companies would enhance and verify our statements.</p>

<p>The purpose with this essay was to examine how the European Union is working to</p><p>transfer norms to states they signed an agreement with and provide support for in</p><p>frame of the Barcelona process and the Tacis programme. The theory which we</p><p>used was Ian Manners (PhD in Political Science) theory of "the EU as a unique</p><p>normative power". The aim was to examine whether the EU - which Manners mean</p><p>- has had a normative power to influence states to change. We used a qualitative</p><p>approach through the use of a multiple case study and qualitative text and content</p><p>analysis. The States which formed the basis of our study were within the Barcelona</p><p>Process; Morocco and Tunisia as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia funded by the</p><p>Tacis programme. To this end, we were to answer the following questions: Can we</p><p>identify transfer of norms in the written bilateral agreements with these states, and</p><p>are there any normative demands? Can we on the basis of our study answer</p><p>whether the EU holds a normative power to influence these countries to change, in</p><p>accordance with the normative theory? The agreements that we studied was the</p><p>bilateral agreements that the EU signed with these States. In order to make</p><p>Manners five norms (peace, freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights),</p><p>which he argues that EU is based on measurable; we used the Freedom House</p><p>freedom index, and also by a historical study the development of the country. The</p><p>results we found were the following; in all the studied bilateral agreements we</p><p>found clear - but to varying degrees - the transfer of norms. Although it differs in</p><p>degree of regulatory requirements and also in the formulation of how the country is</p><p>committed to abide by and comply with the normative requirements differ</p><p>according to the agreements, we can find the so-called "carrot and stick</p><p>relationship" that Manners believes that the EU use in the transfer of norms. Three</p><p>of the states that we investigated under the Freedom House freedom index did not</p><p>developed in a democratic way did, and the positive steps taken cannot be directly</p><p>traced back to the EU's efforts. It may also be due to other States or other forces</p><p>influence. We can’t, through our study confirm that Manners is right in these states</p><p>but we can’t either rule out the possibility that the EU through the written</p><p>agreements has changed the norms of the state in question, although progress</p><p>seems to go very slowly.</p>