This thesis concerns with water, energy, and food (WEF) security in Nepal in relation to hydropower development. Hydropower is challenging to WEF security in three ways: First, the focus is only on energy generation which overlooks the impacts on land, forest, water and biodiversity. Second, the hydropowerprojects are being built in the tributaries of transboundary rivers where local, national and international interests and priorities intersect because these rivers are sources of the economy; water, energy, food commodities; and other ecosystems services. Third, discourses on renewable energy, sustainable development and climate change portray hydropower as a promising renewable energy source as other renewable energy sources hold very less potential in Nepal. In this context, this thesis evaluates if the benefit-sharing approach can be a solution to overcome problems related to the implementation of hydropower which challenges WEF security. Therefore, the study adoptsWEF Nexus Framework and Benefit-sharing Framework to evaluate the challenges and possibilities for rising WEF security minimizing the hydropower-induced trade-offs. The study finds hydropower development in Nepal is rapid and haphazard which merely conceives trade-offs between energy production and other benefits. But benefit-sharing practice, though it is still in its nascent phase, has positively impacted WEF security primarily at the local level, mainly by providing irrigation and drinking water facilities, rural electrification, and agriculture-related livelihood training and support. However, a well-planned benefit-sharing approach as an integral part of hydropower development is lacking which foils equitable distribution of benefits among stakeholders across all levels and smooth implementation o f hydropower projects to enhance the sustainability of hydropower.

Geographic variation in thermal tolerance in Daphnia seems to represent genetic load at the loci specifically responsible for heat tolerance resulting from conditional neutrality. We see no evidence of trade-offs between fitness-related traits at 25 °C vs. 10 °C or between two algal diets across Daphnia magna clones from a variety of locations representing the opposite ends of the distribution of long-term heat tolerance. Likewise, we found no evidence of within-environment trade-offs between heat tolerance and fitness-related traits in any of the environments. Neither short-term and long-term heat tolerance shows any consistent relationship with lipid fluorescence polarization and lipid peroxidation across clones or environments. Pervasive positive correlations between fitness-related traits indicate differences in genetic load rather than trade-off based local adaptation or thermal specialization. For heat tolerance such differences may be caused by either relaxation of stabilizing selection due to lower exposure to high temperature extremes, i.e., conditional neutrality, or by small effective population size followed by the recent range expansion.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第21410号 / 経博第585号 / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 黒澤 隆文, 教授 渡邊 純子, 講師 IVINGS Steven / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DFAM

This thesis uses an event study methodology to investigate the short- and long-term effect on shareholder value from Lex ASEA-approved spin-offs' on the Swedish market between 1991-2022. The impact of spin-offs has been examined by estimating the effects on the parent firm, the spun-off entity, and a value-weighted pro-forma entity. This study has also attempted to capture sources of any abnormal returns by testing several potential determinants. The study found positive but insignificant short-term abnormal returns for all measured entities, which contradicts the positive results of previous US and European studies. Testing for relative spin-offsize and industry focus as determinants for abnormal announcement returns indicated that smaller intra-industry spin-offs yield greater abnormal returns. The spun-off and pro-forma entities showed significant long-term abnormal returns compared to the OMXSPI index benchmark. When compared against a portfolio of matched firms, only the spun-off firms delivered significant abnormal returns, but only for one of the tested intervals. Testing for relative spin-offsize and industry focus as determinants for long-term performance found that cross-industry spin-offs yield positive long-term abnormal returns for the spin-off firm. Lastly, testing the proxies for operational performance for the parent firms show general improvements in ROA and EBITDA/TA post spin-off and inconclusive results for gross profit margin. Consequently, the short-term findings presented in this study do not exhibit any increase in shareholder value related to the announcement of spin-offs. In contrast, the long-term results show increased shareholder value for the spun-off entity and the hypothetical pro-forma combined firm.

This dissertation consists of two studies related to internal capital markets and bank relationship using Japanese corporate spin-offs. The first study analyzes the relation between internal capital markets and banks by examining 137 Japanese corporate spin-offs created between the years 2001 and 2003 (since the establishment of new spin-offs law in 2001). In a univariate analysis, we find significant positive average cumulative abnormal returns around the announcements, market-adjusted excess returns after the spin-offs, an increase of the Herfindahl index, and a reduction in the diversification discount after the spin-offs. In a cross-sectional analysis, we find that bank-related governance variables such as the keiretsu-affiliation indicator, bank loan to total asset ratio, main bank ownership, and indicator variable of the existence of a bank-appointed director on the board indicator variables are significantly positively related to cumulative average abnormal returns around the announcements, market-adjusted excess returns after the spin-offs, an increase in focus of firms in terms of the Herfindahl index, and a reduction in the diversification discount. Therefore, we conclude that there is a significant relationship between internal capital markets and banks in Japan; after the internal capital market reorganization through spin-offs the closer relationship with banks creates shareholder wealth and increases the focus of firms. This paper is now co-authored with Professor Yoon K. Choi. The second study analyzes the investment policy changes in internal capital markets and the effect of banks' monitoring on the investment changes using Japanese corporate spin-offs, including merger-facilitated spin-offs within conglomerates. We find that investment sensitivity increases significantly after internal restructuring through spin-offs, consistent with Gertner et al. (2002). Furthermore, our results show that bank-related spin-offs' investments are more sensitive to investment opportunities, Tobin's Q, after being spun off. This suggests that the efficiency of Japanese internal capital markets has increased through spin-offs after the financial deregulation in 2001. We conclude that banks seem to play significant monitoring roles in internal capital markets to increase the investment efficiency after spin-offs. This paper is now co-authored with Professor Yoon K. Choi.

Researchers in human resource management (HRM) have long been concerned with the attraction and retention of organizational members (Breaugh, 1992; Rynes, 1991; Vroom, 1966). However, as the U.S. work force has become more diverse (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000), the need to consider how issues of cultural diversity are related to the recruitment process has become increasingly important. For example, although past research has investigated relations among individuals' values, personality, and job choice preferences, no research has examined the job choice trade-off preferences of culturally diverse individuals. Moreover, researchers have not examined explicit job choice trade-off preferences involving job and organizational factors, even though expectancy theory-based models of recruitment implicitly suggest that individuals make trade-offs among valent job and organizational factors. Therefore, the purpose of the current research was to examine the relations among individuals' (a) cultural values (power distance, Protestant Ethic-earnings, Protestant Ethic-upward striving), (b) ethnicity (European-American, Hispanic-American), and (c) their job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay using Thurstone's (1927, 1931) law of comparative judgment method. Study 1 served as a pilot of the procedure and measures. Based on the results of Study 1, changes were made to improve reliability of measures prior to Study 2. Study 2 tested hypothesized relations among cultural values, ethnicity, and job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. Results from Study 2 showed that power distance cultural values were related positively to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay and that Protestant Ethic-earnings cultural values were related negatively to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. In addition, Hispanic-Americans were more likely than European-Americans to prefer job choice trade-offs for organizational prestige over pay. However, Protestant Ethic-upward striving cultural values were unrelated to job choice trade-off preferences for organizational prestige over pay. Moreover, ethnicity was unrelated to power distance cultural values, Protestant Ethic-earning cultural values, or Protestant Ethic-upward striving cultural values. Study results suggest that including cultural values and ethnicity in future recruitment research can enhance the understanding of individuals' job choice preferences and provide practitioners with information to attract multicultural job applicants.

L'exposition à des niveaux faibles de radiation ionisante est connue pour déclencher une réponse adaptative qui inclut la stimulation immunitaire et l'augmentation des effets protecteurs à long terme incluant l’amélioration de la détection et la réparation de dégâts causés à l’ADN, la croissance renforcée et la longévité. Tandis que les aspects hormetique de la réponse adaptative augmentent clairement la santé physique en présence de stress environnementaux, ils doivent la diminuer dans des conditions environnementales normales parce que les mécanismes biologiques responsables ne sont pas maintenus dans un état amélioré, mais exigent plutôt une certaine forme d'exposition sensibilisante. Il a été suggéré que la stimulation de la réponse adaptative pourrait être métaboliquement coûteuse cependant aucune mesure directe du coût métabolique de la croissance stimulée de radiation a été précédemment essayée. Cette thèse a évalué si la croissance stimulée de radiation du grand corégone (Coregonus clupeaformis) est accompagnée par un compromis dans l'efficacité métabolique ou par une augmentation durable de demandes énergiques. L'exposition à un régime fractionné de radiation ionisante d'une source de 137Cs s’est avéré stimuler considérablement la croissance dans des embryons du grand corégone comparés aux contrôles avec une augmentation correspondante de la consommation de jaune. Cependant, les mesures d'efficacité métabolique utilisant une série de temps de poids secs non préservés ont montré que la croissance stimulée était non-accompagnée par une réduction de l'efficacité métabolique. Une température moyenne exponentiellement transformée a été utilisée comme un point de référence quantitative pour évaluer la vulnérabilité du développement des embryons du grand corégone à la disparité phénologique. Le temps d’éclosion différait des prédictions de références sous des régimes thermiques asymétriquement variables. Les écarts ont été attribués aux embryons grandissant à dans un stade plus avancée de développement sous des températures basses. Le terme heterograde est proposé pour décrire la dépendance thermique dans l'étape d’éclosion qui peut avoir évolué comme un mécanisme pour synchroniser l’éclosion de larves viables pour l'augmentation de la densité de zooplancton qui accompagne le débâcle printanière Un modèle de prédiction incorporant l’éclosion heterograde a permis une amélioration significative dans l’exactitude des prédictions comparé aux modèles précédents. L'efficacité énergique a une importance particulière pour le grand corégone comme il a une des périodes d'incubation naturelles les plus longues pour un poisson d'eau douce, avec des températures d'incubation les plus basses et avec des œufs seulement 10 % de la taille de la plupart des salmonidés non-coregonine. L'évolution de mécanismes pour synchroniser l’éclosion au démantèlement de couverture de glace hivernale met en évidence la vulnérabilité du grand corégone à la disparité phénologique et ce par le développement accéléré qui cause l’éclosion asynchrone des embryons avec le démantèlement de la couverture de glace d'hiver ou par une augmentation durable de demandes énergiques qui augmentent leur vulnérabilité à la famine. L'absence de compromis mesurable dans l'efficacité métabolique indique ce dernier comme un coût général plausible de hormesis. / Exposure to low levels of ionizing radiation is known to trigger an adaptive response that includes immune stimulation and the up-regulation of long-lasting protective effects including improved detection and repair of DNA damage, enhanced growth, and longevity. While the hormetic aspects of the adaptive response clearly increase fitness in the presence of environmental stresses, they must decrease fitness under normal environmental conditions because the responsible biological mechanisms are not maintained in an upregulated state but rather require some form of sensitizing exposure. It has been suggested that stimulation of the adaptive response could be metabolically costly however no direct measurement of the metabolic cost of radiation stimulated growth has been previously attempted. This thesis assessed whether radiation-stimulated growth in the lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) is accompanied by a trade-off in metabolic efficiency, or by a sustained increase in energetic demands. Exposure to a fractionated regime of ionizing radiation from a 137Cs source was found to significantly stimulate growth in lake whitefish embryos compared to controls with a corresponding increase in yolk consumption. However, measurements of metabolic efficiency using a time series of unpreserved dry weights showed that the stimulated growth was unaccompanied by a reduction in metabolic efficiency. An exponentially transformed mean temperature was used as a quantitative baseline to assess the vulnerability of developing whitefish embryos to phenological mismatch. Hatch timing was found to deviate from baseline predictions under asymmetrically variable thermal regimes. The deviations were attributed to the embryos growing to a more advanced stage of development at low temperatures. The term heterograde is proposed to describe the thermal dependency of hatching stage which may have evolved as a mechanism to synchronize the hatching of viable larvae to the increase of zooplankton density that accompanies spring break-up. A predictive model incorporating heterograde hatching yielded a significant improvement in predictive accuracy over previous models. Energetic efficiency is of particular importance to the lake whitefish as it has one of the longest natural incubation periods of any freshwater fish, at some of the lowest incubation temperatures, and with eggs only 10% the size of most non-coregonine salmonids. The evolution of mechanisms to synchronize hatching to the break-up of winter ice cover highlights the vulnerability of the lake whitefish to phenological mismatch whether through accelerated development that causes embryos to hatch asynchronously with the break-up of winter ice cover, or through a sustained increase in energetic demands that increases their vulnerability to starvation. The absence of any measurable trade-off in metabolic efficiency points to the latter as a plausible general cost of hormesis. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

A Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) is a technology that allows unlicensed users to utilise licensed spectrum by detecting an idle band through sensing. How- ever, most research studies on CRNs have been carried out without considering the impact of sensing on the performance and security of CRNs. Sensing is essential for secondary users (SUs) to get hold of free band without interfering with the signal generated by primary users (PUs). However, excessive sensing time for the detection of free spectrum for SUs as well as extended periods of CRNs in an insecure state have adverse effects on network performance. Moreover, a CRN is very vulnerable to attacks as a result of its wireless nature and other unique characteristics such as spectrum sensing and sharing. These attacks may attempt to eavesdrop or modify the contents of packets being transmitted and they could also deny legitimate users the opportunity to use the band, leading to underutilization of the spectrum space. In this context, it is often challenging to differentiate between networks under Denial of Service (DoS) attacks from those networks experiencing congestion. This thesis employs a novel Stochastic Activity Network (SAN) model as an effective analytic tool to represent and study sensing vs performance vs security trade-offs in CRNs. Specifically, an investigation is carried out focusing on sensing vs security vs performance trade-offs, leading to the optimization of the spectrum band’s usage. Moreover, consideration is given either when a CRN experiencing congestion and or it is under attack. Consequently, the data delivery ratio (PDR) is employed to determine if the network is under DoS attack or experiencing congestion. In this context, packet loss probability, queue length and throughput of the transmitter are often used to measure the PDR with reference to interarrival times of PUs. Furthermore, this thesis takes into consideration the impact of scalability on the performance of the CRN. Due to the unpredictable nature of PUsactivities on the spectrum, it is imperative for SUs to swiftly utilize the band as soon as it becomes available. Unfortunately, the CRN models proposed in literature are static and unable to respond effectively to changes in service demands. To this end, a numerical simulation experiment is carried out to determine the impact of scalability towards the enhancement of nodal CRN sensing, security and performance. Atthe instant the band becomes idle and there are requests by SUs waiting for encryption and transmission, additional resources are dynamically released in order to largely utilize the spectrum space before the reappearance of PUs. These additional resources make the same service provision, such as encryption and intrusion detection, as the initial resources. To this end,SAN model is proposed in order to investigate the impact of scalability on the performance of CRN. Typical numerical simulation experiments are carried out, based on the application of the Mobius Petri Net Package to determine the performance of scalable CRNs (SCRNs) in comparison with unscalable CRNs (UCRNs) and associated interpretations are made.

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