This dissertation examines the operation of neoliberal environmentality through the instrumentalization of the Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in Wyoming. It treats technological interventions within environmental construction as generating biotic-machinic entanglements termed technonature. I present the formation and operation of the Wyoming Conservation Exchange as a case study of technonatural territorialization connected to global trona and hydrocarbon commodity flows. The theoretical framework elaborates how "the environment" is constructed and governed through tactical instrumental deployments connected to technocratic management allowing economically powerful actors to inscribe their desires within Wyoming's landscape, politics and biota as a function of environmental security related to commodity development. The question motivating this work is "Whose environment is the Environmental Defense Fund defending?" The Greater Sage-grouse has become an object of U.S. Federal environmental governance since the late 1990's. It has experienced significant population declines due to anthropogenic disturbance and habitat loss through industrial action across its range. Wyoming's Sagebrush Steppe contains 37.5% of the remaining range wide population. The grouse was listed as a candidate species under the 1973 U.S. Endangered Species Act triggering responses from Federal, State, and international wildlife management agencies, as well as environmental non-governmental organizations. Wyoming could lose nearly a quarter of its surface should Federal regulations require the designation of critical sage-grouse habitat. Governor Dave Freudenthal signed Executive Order 2008-2 into law in response to the regulatory threat to Wyoming's hydrocarbon and mineral based economy. The grouse, in response was de-listed as a candidate species in 2015 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. EO 2008-2 established the Wyoming Core Area Strategy as a statewide conservation umbrella and laid the framework for a habitat mitigation economy allowing industrial activity to continue within sage-grouse habitat. This incentivized the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to test a market-based instrument – a habitat exchange – within Wyoming. The Greater Sage-grouse is a test species as it is highly sensitive to changes in its environment and this dissertation examines how the habitat mitigation economy advanced by EDF is drawing the grouse into global commodity networks as a territorialization process for global flows of hydrocarbons and minerals. At stake is the ability to write the history of the species, land, and the global environment as EDF develops conservation technologies prioritizing flows critical to the hydrocarbon environment through the technology of the Wyoming Conservation Exchange. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) entered Euro-American scientific study as early as the Lewis and Clark expedition as they explored the Intermountain region of Western North America. The first thorough scientific study of the sage-grouse in the 20th Century, The Sage Grouse in Wyoming, by Dr. Robert Lansing Patterson included the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on grouse populations. Since the 1952 publication of Patterson's study, Greater Sage-grouse numbers have been declining as the bird loses its home to encroachments such as urbanization, agriculture, grazing, mining, and fossil fuel extraction. The last stronghold of the grouse is the Sagebrush Steppe within Wyoming containing nearly 40% of the remaining population. Known for its flamboyant mating displays, the ground-dwelling avian species has become a political flashpoint in conservation, land management, and environmental circles as its numbers declined steadily since the 1990's due to an accelerating energy boom threatening its habitat. The bird became a threat to extractive industry in Wyoming at the turn of the Millennium as environmentally concerned groups petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (UFWS) to evaluate its populations under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Nearly a quarter of Wyoming's surface would be strictly policed as critical habitat were the grouse listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA. Wyoming and its partners created the Wyoming Core Area Protection Strategy (CAP) as a wildlife management framework through Executive Order 2008-2. The Wyoming CAP includes the foundation of a habitat mitigation economy allowing industry to trade surface disturbances within critical sage-grouse habitat for modified land purportedly to the benefit of the species. The Nature Conservancy invited the Environmental Defense Fund to form the Wyoming Conservation Exchange – a market-based conservation instrument tailored to trading in habitat mitigation credits. This dissertation studies the Wyoming Conservation Exchange as an instrument connected to larger networks of wildlife management agencies, non-governmental organizations, and mining and fossil fuel interests. It evaluates the effects of the Wyoming Conservation Exchange and the economy it seeks to establish as changing how the environment is managed across the Sagebrush Steppe. Environmental Defense Fund's conservation instrument is reviewed through the economy created for and through the Greater Sage-grouse as an object of environmental governance. Habitat offsetting can, has and will change the physical, and political environment of Wyoming allowing powerful actors to write the rules of how the environment should be managed. As such, this dissertation questions whose environment the Environmental Defense Fund is defending as it explores sage-grouse management within the state.

Student activities accounting procedures are carried out in all public school systems throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. These accounts are created to allow individual educational agencies to deposit, disburse, and account for all funds relating to school activities. In 1954 the original manual for Student Activities Accounting was developed by the Virginia State Department of Education and was revised in 1989. The policies and procedures contained in this manual are intended for application throughout all public schools in Virginia, and are not considered regulatory. However, local school board policies should be reviewed so that they meet the objectives of the manual while conforming to the policies and procedures that are unique to each school system. The purpose of this manual is to provide assistance to those persons who are involved in the financial accounting and management of school activity funds for all Virginia Public Schools. It reflects the newest legislation concerning school accounting and considers the opinions of the Executive Director of the Association of School Business Officials and Virginia Certified Public Accountants. Recommendations were solicited from assistant superintendents of finance representing small, medium and large school divisions as well as elementary, middle and high school bookkeepers. Additionally, Attorneys’ General opinions relative to the management of school activity funds were obtained and are included in the revised manual. All aspects of student activities accounting procedures and practices are covered. The manual is designed to be a user-friendly guide that allows school personnel easy access to accounting information. It offers recommendations to ensure proper accounting policies and procedures as related to student activity accounting, guidance for accurate disposition and accounting for all funds, and explicit explanation of the forms needed to carry out day-to- day business practices. It is available in binder form and disk to all public school systems throughout Virginia. There are several accounting software packages available at reasonable costs that will save time and will help to eliminate careless accounting errors. Technology will also provide the principal and bookkeeper with immediate information through detailed printed reports, receipts and check printing. The manual contains examples of all necessary forms which may be duplicated or may be purchased through the State Department of Education. The forms have been revised to allow utility for bookkeepers who use a ledger or computer software. / Ed. D.

Bakgrund: I Sverige har 76 % av befolkningen innehav i fonder och den totala fondförmögenheten uppgår till 1 925 miljarder. Kapitalvinstskatten ligger på 30 % och utlöses endast vid en realisation av vinsten. Många svenskar undviker gärna att aktivera denna skatteeffekt och blir därmed inlåsta i sina fonder. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån intervjuer med privata fondsparare och aktörer inom branschen förklara hur kapitalvinstskatten påverkar privatpersoners resonerande och agerande. Detta beteende kommer sedan att analyseras utifrån befintliga teorier inom beteendeekonomi. Metod: För att nå studiens syfte har vi använt oss av en abduktiv metod. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in med hjälp av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Totalt har vi intervjuat 10 fondsparare och 6 personer inom branschen. Materialet från intervjuerna har sedan förklarats med hjälp av de teorier vi valt ut. Slutsats: I vår studie har vi kommit fram till att inlåsningseffekten varierar beroende på fondspararens ålder. Den yngre gruppen ställde sig mer likgiltig inför kapitalvinstskatten, med anledning av en kort placeringshorisont. Den äldre gruppen hade en mer ospecificerad placeringshorisont och baserade sina investeringsbeslut utefter skattekonsekvensen. Kapitalvinstskatten hade då en bromsande effekt, eftersom det skulle minska den totala förmögenheten. / Background: In Sweden 76 % of the population has savings in mutual funds, with a combined wealth of 1 925 billion SEK. The tax on capital gains is 30 % and is activated when the profit is realized. Many Swedes avoid triggering this tax effect and is therefore locked-in in their mutual funds. Purpose The purpose of this study is, from interviews with private fund investors and industry players, to explain how the capital gains tax affects individuals’ reasoning and actions. This behavior will then be analyzed in terms of existing theories in the field. Method: We have used an abductive method to achieve the purpose of this study. The empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews.  We have conducted 10 interviews with private fund investors and 6 people in the fund industry. The material from the interviews was then explained by means of the theories we have selected. Conclusion: In our study we came to the conclusion that the lock-in effect varies depending on the fund savers age. The younger group was more indifferent to the capital gains tax, due to a shorter investment horizon. The older group had a more unspecified investment horizon and based their investment decisions along the tax consequence. Capital gains tax then had a braking effect, as it would reduce the total wealth.

Purpose: Aims of this paper is to evaluate a comparative study between China and Russia funds in respect of the risks and returns. We also want to examine what has affected the funds in their respective domestic stock market.                                                             Method: The study is based on qualitative methodology to complement the quantitative survey by first gathering of secondary data from Morningstar, and fund manager´s stories on fund and banking companies' websites.  Primary data is conducted by the interview with fund manager. The sample consists of all land funds for China and Russia has found more than 10 years on the stock market. Results and Conclusion: The survey shows that China funds will generate better in decline than Russia Funds in both return and risk-adjusted Sharpe ratio. Because the China funds had better risk diversification and its holdings spread across different industry area while Russia funds is more directed towards oil and gas industry. The upturn managed Russia Funds better to recovery than China Funds in terms of return and risk-adjusted Sharpe ratio, which was due to China funds were cautiously optimistic, with the government's stimulus package, while Russia Funds earned at the price of oil in the world increased and a greater willingness to take risks of the global financial system. During the 10 years period, Russia funds better growth compared to China Funds in the total seen by far. For Russia have large oil resources and raw materials including exporting to the fast growing Asian. In China, due to good growth in the consumption good and growing middle class in the country, but also increased projects in financial and infrastructure.

Mutual fund portfolio managers do not always meet risk-adjusted performance expectations, resulting in loss of capital reserves. Out of 3,612 U.S. based open-ended mutual funds, the risk-adjusted performance of 2,890 (80%) failed to meet or beat the S&P 500 (index fund) performance between the year 2006 to 2016. Grounded in Markowitz's modern portfolio theory, the purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between mutual fund class type, portfolio turnover, fund longevity, management turnover, and annual fund risk-adjusted performance. Archival data were collected from 88 U.S. based equity mutual funds companies. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated the model as a whole was able to significantly predict annual fund risk-adjusted performance for the 5-year period ending 2016, F (4, 83) = 3.581, p =.043, R2 = .147. In the final model, mutual fund class type and portfolio turnover were statistically significant with mutual fund class type (Ã?= .249, t = 2.302, p = .024) accounting for a higher contribution to the model than portfolio turnover (Ã? = .238, t = 2.312, p = .023). Mutual fund longevity and management turnover did not explain any significant variance in annual fund risk-adjusted performance. Society can benefit from the results of this doctoral study because investors and mutual fund managers could better predict the return based on the information from the study, which may lead to higher families' confidence in the positive contribution of the mutual fund in their portfolio.

<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida en aktiv individ får högre framtida pensionsutbetalningar än en individ som låter kapitalet vara kvar i Premiesparfonden.</p><p>Vår undersökning har en<strong> </strong>deduktiv ansats, då ekonomiska teorier har utgjort grunden för de beräkningar som har gjorts. Beräkningarna bygger på hårddata, i form av historiska fondvärden, och studien är därmed kvantitativ. Tidigare undersökningar och beräkningar används för att styrka uppsatsen, som i och med detta är en sekundäranalys.  </p><p>Den placeringsstrategi som<strong> </strong>visade sig ge högst framtida utbetalningar med hänsyn tagen till risken var den aktiva placeringen. De portföljer som de aktiva premiepensionstagarna har att välja mellan i vår studie, ger alla högre framtida utbetalningar än Premiesparfonden. Vidare kan tilläggas att Premiesparfonden är ett av alternativen som har för hög risk i förhållande till dess låga avkastning.</p><p>Det skulle vara intressant att om några år, då Premiespar-fonden har förändrats till generationsfonder, göra om denna studie och då undersöka om detta leder till högre pensionsutbetalningar för de icke-aktiva premiepensionstagarna.</p><p>Denna studie bidrar med och stärker, genom konkreta exempel, det som en del andra författare redan påpekat, att de icke- aktiva premiepensionsspararna får lägre framtida utbetalningar än de som är aktiva i sitt sparande.<strong></strong></p> / <p>The aim of this thesis is to compare if being an active premium pension saver give rise to higher future payments, than keeping the capital in the Premium Savings Fund.</p><p>This essay has a deductive approach, as we started to study financial theories. It also has a quantitative research, since our calculations are called statistical data, which are composed of these financial theories. Previous studies and calculations are used to prove our essay.</p><p>The best investment strategy with the highest future payments, regarding risk preferences, turned out to be the active choice. All the choices an active premium pension saver can make by choose one of our different portfolios, has proved higher future payments, than The Premium Pension Fund. Further, the Premium Savings Fund is one of alternatives which have a lower return, regarding to the high level of risk.</p><p>It would be interesting to remake this study, when the new funds "generationsfonderna" has been introduced, and to see if this alternative leads to higher future payments.</p><p>This study<strong> </strong>contributes, through substantial examples, what some other writers already have done. A non-active premium pension saver gets lower future payments then the active savers.</p>

<p><strong>Purpose:</strong> Aims of this paper is to evaluate a comparative study between China and Russia funds in respect of the risks and returns. We also want to examine what has affected the funds in their respective domestic stock market.                                                            </p><p><strong>Method:</strong> The study is based on qualitative methodology to complement the quantitative survey by first gathering of secondary data from Morningstar, and fund manager´s stories on fund and banking companies' websites.  Primary data is conducted by the interview with fund manager. The sample consists of all land funds for China and Russia has found more than 10 years on the stock market.</p><p><strong>R</strong><strong>esults and Conclusion</strong>: The survey shows that China funds will generate better in decline than Russia Funds in both return and risk-adjusted Sharpe ratio. Because the China funds had better risk diversification and its holdings spread across different industry area while Russia funds is more directed towards oil and gas industry. The upturn managed Russia Funds better to recovery than China Funds in terms of return and risk-adjusted Sharpe ratio, which was due to China funds were cautiously optimistic, with the government's stimulus package, while Russia Funds earned at the price of oil in the world increased and a greater willingness to take risks of the global financial system. During the 10 years period, Russia funds better growth compared to China Funds in the total seen by far. For Russia have large oil resources and raw materials including exporting to the fast growing Asian. In China, due to good growth in the consumption good and growing middle class in the country, but also increased projects in financial and infrastructure.</p>

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka huruvida en aktiv individ får högre framtida pensionsutbetalningar än en individ som låter kapitalet vara kvar i Premiesparfonden. Vår undersökning har en deduktiv ansats, då ekonomiska teorier har utgjort grunden för de beräkningar som har gjorts. Beräkningarna bygger på hårddata, i form av historiska fondvärden, och studien är därmed kvantitativ. Tidigare undersökningar och beräkningar används för att styrka uppsatsen, som i och med detta är en sekundäranalys.   Den placeringsstrategi som visade sig ge högst framtida utbetalningar med hänsyn tagen till risken var den aktiva placeringen. De portföljer som de aktiva premiepensionstagarna har att välja mellan i vår studie, ger alla högre framtida utbetalningar än Premiesparfonden. Vidare kan tilläggas att Premiesparfonden är ett av alternativen som har för hög risk i förhållande till dess låga avkastning. Det skulle vara intressant att om några år, då Premiespar-fonden har förändrats till generationsfonder, göra om denna studie och då undersöka om detta leder till högre pensionsutbetalningar för de icke-aktiva premiepensionstagarna. Denna studie bidrar med och stärker, genom konkreta exempel, det som en del andra författare redan påpekat, att de icke- aktiva premiepensionsspararna får lägre framtida utbetalningar än de som är aktiva i sitt sparande. / The aim of this thesis is to compare if being an active premium pension saver give rise to higher future payments, than keeping the capital in the Premium Savings Fund. This essay has a deductive approach, as we started to study financial theories. It also has a quantitative research, since our calculations are called statistical data, which are composed of these financial theories. Previous studies and calculations are used to prove our essay. The best investment strategy with the highest future payments, regarding risk preferences, turned out to be the active choice. All the choices an active premium pension saver can make by choose one of our different portfolios, has proved higher future payments, than The Premium Pension Fund. Further, the Premium Savings Fund is one of alternatives which have a lower return, regarding to the high level of risk. It would be interesting to remake this study, when the new funds "generationsfonderna" has been introduced, and to see if this alternative leads to higher future payments. This study contributes, through substantial examples, what some other writers already have done. A non-active premium pension saver gets lower future payments then the active savers.

Pension funds play a large role in the UK pension system since the returns of the funds determine how large the total pension will be. The future retirees can choose between active and passive fund management where the active management often is more expensive. In this study 102 actively managed UK equity pension funds are analyzed in order to see if managers have sufficient skill to generate risk adjusted return to cover the cost imposed on the investors. The result implies that the active pension funds in aggregate, before expenses, hold a portfolio that imitates market returns during 2000 to 2012. Bootstrap simulations suggest that only eight funds out of the sample of 102 have skilled managers and six of these managers are skilled enough to produce risk adjusted excess return large enough to cover the expenses imposed on the investor.

《境外基金管理辦法》的實施是台灣基金市場發展的一個重要里程碑，意味著我國境外基金市場之新時代來臨，讓原先「不能銷售、只能推薦」境外基金業者放膽招兵買馬。國內核准的境外基金數目已超過700檔，正式宣告境外基金進入戰國時代，如何打響名號，讓投資人印象深刻，進而願意放心將錢交由這些公司來管理，將是業者面臨的最大挑戰。 本文以相關文獻探討為研究基礎，並以總代理之基金數較多、規模較大、較具代表性之總代理人進行個案訪談，同時輔以對投資人之問卷調查，剖析境外基金總代理人的STP行銷策略、4P行銷組合策略，以及關鍵成功因素，歸納出相關研究結論如下： ■STP行銷策略：市場區隔主要變數為顧客類型、所得及年齡。三大目標市場分別為理財專員、法人與高所得大戶，以及小額投資人。在市場定位方面，定位為專業投資顧問以提供穩健優質的商品與服務。 ■產品策略：「產品績效」最為重要，能提供績效表現優異的基金，才能提高顧客之滿意度。「附加價值」為次重要，包含服務品質、知名度與形象、買賣的便利性、投資標的，以及商品的廣度（包含基金類型與數量）等。 ■通路策略：以銀行為主要銷售管道，並建立保險與證券等新的通路之合夥關係。成立直銷部隊搶攻法人機構及金字塔頂端的高所得客戶。建置電子商務部門以逐步開拓小額投資人市場。 ■促銷策略：業者最常使用的促銷工具為說明會，並密集舉辦理財專員的教育訓練課程，提供大量的文宣DM，同時與理專形成緊密的夥伴關係。 ■價格策略：由銷售通路端不定期作手續費的折扣促銷，業者為了避免削價競爭引發不當後果，試圖以優質、專業的服務取代價格大戰。 ■關鍵成功因素：精準鎖定關鍵顧客、開發與管理綿密的行銷通路、創造價值的行銷活動、運用充沛資源進而贏得客戶口碑、每個投資流程都作化顧客關係管理、視員工為最重要的資產、強化媒體關係等。