This thesis is a critical analysis of the law relating to insider trading in three common law countries. Chapter One, addresses the merits and demerits of the regulation of insider trading and presents a review of the academic literature relating to this field. In Chapters Two, Three and Four, the law of insider trading in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom is analysed and discussed on a comparative basis. Each of these chapters is in two sections. The first section describes the regulatory system and institutions, and the second section discusses the regulation of insider trading, highlighting the critical elements of this type of regulation, such as the definition of an 'insider' and the scope of 'inside information'. It concludes with a broad discussion of the differing approaches of these countries to insider trading.

This PhD study centres on analysing the changing employment service portfolios available to disadvantaged people out of work in Britain and Germany. Looking at the recent wave of comparative studies on ‘activation’ reforms, it springs to mind that the question of the changing portfolio of ‘active’ labour market policy (ALMP) measures has received only little attention in the sense of a rigorous comparative analysis. In order to address that gap, this study develops a novel normative and analytical perspective for the study of ALMP, which then is applied to the empirical cases Britain and Germany. I first develop the concept of personalisation as the normative and analytical framework for the analysis of ALMP. I show that the diversity of ALMP portfolios, which is a precondition for a personalised service provision, can serve as a proxy for measuring personalisation. Equipped with this analytical tool, the analysis subsequently focuses on the changes to ALMP portfolios over the past 15 years in terms of diversity. It is shown that during this period both Britain and Germany reformed working-age benefits in a way that led to a closer integration of the benefit system at an institutional level. Taking the policy rhetoric that closer integration will lead to more ‘personalised’ (UK) or more ‘tailor-made’ (Germany) services as a starting point, I analyse whether these developments at an institutional level have indeed led to a more personalised, or more diverse, provision of employment services. This study looks in particular at the situation of those groups in the two countries who have been most affected by recent integration reforms. These have primarily been claimants of second-tier working-age benefits, namely incapacity related benefits in the UK, and ‘Sozialhilfe’ (SH, social assistance) and ‘Arbeitslosengeld II’ (ALGII, Unemployment Benefit II) in Germany. I find that in both countries, employment services for claimants of these second-tier benefits have become more diverse in the wake of the integration reforms of the past 10 to 15 years, thereby increasing their personalisation potential. However, the two countries have each followed very specific reform trajectories. While the volume and coverage of ALMP have increased in both countries, the portfolio of services for second-tier claimants today is much more diverse in Germany than in Britain. This is primarily due to the existence of a large volume of services directed at claimants more distant from the labour market that follow a social integration & employability approach. These services are more marginal in Britain, where measures that follow a work-first approach are dominant. This divergent development is indicative of major and persistent differences in terms of ideational context as well as institutional (operational) factors. New Public Management reforms have influenced operational policy to different degrees in the two countries, effectively limiting the diversity of employment services in Britain more than in Germany.

Research investigating women-owned businesses has developed considerably over the past two decades. There are, however, few British studies that have specifically focussed on growth oriented women-owned businesses. The current study aims to fill this gap. Its purpose is to explore the effect of social capital and human capital on the growth of women-owned enterprises in the UK. The research contributes to the knowledge of women's entrepreneurship as the first to study the moderating role of human capital in building and using social capital in the UK. It develops the theoretical premise that women entrepreneurs with higher human capital gain credibility and centrality in networks, accumulating social capital based on their importance for other network members and their business stakeholders. This mixed method study involves both collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data. Statistical analysis using SPSS was applied to analyse quantitative data collected through 517 on-line completed questionnaires from three different regions. The qualitative data collected through face to face interviews with 42 women entrepreneurs were also analysed and interpreted. The findings suggest that the social capital possessed by women entrepreneurs plays an important role in the growth of enterprises. Women entrepreneurs use different sources to build and use their social capital at different stages of growth and in different industry sectors such as manufacturing or services. Women entrepreneurs with higher human capital are more likely to identify opportunities, generate ideas and show creative thinking in introducing novel products, services, location, processes or systems, which makes their growth path exponential. There are implications of this study for women entrepreneurs to build and use their social and human capital for the growth of their enterprises. And there are also implications for politicians and business organisations, who must devise policies to develop opportunities for existing or potential women entrepreneurs for building their human based capital.

Providing a socio-legal analysis of the issues, expert evidence and judgment in Reay and Hope v BNFL plc., the thesis offers an insight into the complexity of the toxic tort. Starting with an overview of the history of Sellafield, the thesis reflects on the scientific and epidemiological concerns surrounding the link between childhood cancer and nuclear installations. Drawing on scientific knowledge and epistemological considerations, the thesis moves on to the difficulties of verifying causation in science and the problems of establishing causation in law. Outlining the role of the expert witness and scientific expert evidence, the thesis proceeds with a case analysis, before broaching the thorny issue of judicial decision making and in particular, the difference between the 'discovery' and 'justification' process. Moving on to the Judgment in Reay and Hope, attention is given to the potential application of probability theory to the judicial decision making process. Lasting just short of one hundred days and including the testimony of numerous scientific experts, Reay and Hope marked new ground in a number of ways; it was the first personal injury claim to test the concept of genetic damage from radiation; the only time that a Queen's Bench Division Judge had been allocated a full-time judicial assistant; and one of the first trials to endorse a satellite video link for examination of international expert witnesses. As far as judicial management is concerned, the case was a forerunner in having Counsels' Opening Statements in writing in advance of the trial, as well as having written daily submissions of key issues from plaintiffs and defendants upon conclusion of oral evidence. The circumstances that led to the trial relate to events in excess of thirty to forty years ago when the fathers of Dorothy Reay and Viven Hope were employed by the Defendants and their predecessors (the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority) as fitters for the Sellafield Plant. Intrinsic to the litigation was whether paternal preconception irradiation caused or materially contributed to a predisposition to cancer leading to Dorothy's death from leukaemia and Vivien Hope's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. As a consequence of the various statutory provisions, the Plaintiffs did not need to prove negligence on the part of the Defendants. In order to succeed the Plaintiffs had to prove on the balance of probabilities that radiation from Sellafield was a material contributory cause of the Plaintiffs' disease. The fundamental issue therefore was causation. In addition to the case analysis, two pieces of empirical research were conducted for the purposes of this thesis. The first, a Social Survey (consisting of thirty four questions) was circulated to 160 members of the Academy of Experts (quantitative research); the second, a letter, involved written communication with sixty five judges from the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court (qualitative research). Underlying this socio-legal case analysis are fundamental questions with regard to existing legal principles, liability and judicial decision making.

Despite of the sociality of TV viewing, advertising researchers have traditionally studied the solitary viewer. The study of the social uses of advertising has been limited, and the reception of advertising in a naturalistic setting has practically been ignored. As a consequence, contextual factors of time, space, and everyday life have received only scant attention in the advertising literature. This thesis adopts the ethnographic method to investigate within a naturalistic setting the phenomenon of the consumption of commercial breaks. Eight households in Northwest London varying in age, socio-economic factors and other variables were filmed during a two-week-period and later interviewed. The videoethnography led to the identification of a set of cultural themes, which are illustrated in the thesis by behavioral episodes and interview excerpts from the participating households. In addition to the identification of archetypical behaviors, the thesis underlines a set of contingencies that have implications for behavior of potential audiences for television advertising, such as audience composition and time-of-day effects. As a scholar or practitioner with an interest in advertising, it is easy to overplay the role of advertising in people’s lives. However, the everyday life of the consumer consists of a myriad of demands and choices. For the consumer who needs to prioritize among countless information sources and competing demands for her attention, advertising is at best of minor importance. The results of this thesis highlight that advertising watching is merely one of many behaviors – and by no means the default one – that consumers engage in during commercial breaks and demonstrate the importance of balancing prevailing advertising-centered approaches to the study of television advertising consumption with an audience-centered approach. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan i Stockholm, 2007</p>

The provision of consular services is an obligation of every government to its citizens who are living abroad. In providing such services, efforts must be made to ensure that they are accessible to all citizens, wherever they may be. Under the current economic climate, maintaining an extensive network of embassies and consulates around the world is an expensive venture. It is against this background that governments must be innovative in providing services by ensuring that private and third sector organizations are involved, in order to complement their work of ensuring that consular services reach their citizens at affordable costs - wherever they are. Besides rendering consular services to South African (SA) citizens, consular offices can be a vital investment vehicle of the government abroad, by ensuring that much-needed investment is obtained. Furthermore, the consular services can serve as the first line of defence of a country, by ensuring that people who can cause harm to the country do not enter it. Despite the daunting challenges facing the post-apartheid government in SA, a number of changes have been undertaken to ensure that consular services are modernized. However, those changes have been inadequate and have fallen short of meeting the expectations of most South African citizens who are living abroad. This study makes a vital contribution on the concept of using partnership and outsourcing as tools for increased access to consular services in one of the critical missions of SA abroad - the United Kingdom, by showing that the traditional way of rendering consular services from a diplomatic mission is inadequate to reach potential customers scattered in parts of the host country. The study concludes with significant recommendations that, inter alia, include even using post offices and the internet to ensure that consular services reach all parts of the United Kingdom, where South Africans live. Given that consular services have inherent security implications, the study also notes that among factors that must be taken into account before outsourcing consular services, or even setting up a partnership, the chosen service providers must, amongst other things, be able to maintain and protect the confidentiality of their customers. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The provision of consular services is an obligation of every government to its citizens who are living abroad. In providing such services, efforts must be made to ensure that they are accessible to all citizens, wherever they may be. Under the current economic climate, maintaining an extensive network of embassies and consulates around the world is an expensive venture. It is against this background that governments must be innovative in providing services by ensuring that private and third sector organizations are involved, in order to complement their work of ensuring that consular services reach their citizens at affordable costs - wherever they are. Besides rendering consular services to South African (SA) citizens, consular offices can be a vital investment vehicle of the government abroad, by ensuring that much-needed investment is obtained. Furthermore, the consular services can serve as the first line of defence of a country, by ensuring that people who can cause harm to the country do not enter it. Despite the daunting challenges facing the post-apartheid government in SA, a number of changes have been undertaken to ensure that consular services are modernized. However, those changes have been inadequate and have fallen short of meeting the expectations of most South African citizens who are living abroad. This study makes a vital contribution on the concept of using partnership and outsourcing as tools for increased access to consular services in one of the critical missions of SA abroad - the United Kingdom, by showing that the traditional way of rendering consular services from a diplomatic mission is inadequate to reach potential customers scattered in parts of the host country. The study concludes with significant recommendations that, inter alia, include even using post offices and the internet to ensure that consular services reach all parts of the United Kingdom, where South Africans live. Given that consular services have inherent security implications, the study also notes that among factors that must be taken into account before outsourcing consular services, or even setting up a partnership, the chosen service providers must, amongst other things, be able to maintain and protect the confidentiality of their customers. / Thesis (M. Development and Management)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Purpose ¿ The purpose of this study is to investigate the customer's perception of service quality within the context of the pharmaceutical supply chain, and look specifically at the supplier/customer relationship. Design/methodology/approach ¿ The research in question focuses on the trading relationship between a pharmaceutical wholesaler and its pharmacy customers. Existing literature shows that quality of the overall service is determined by the customer's perceptions of that service; therefore it is important that the supplier measures the customer's perception of service quality and understands what factors influence that perception and build this into their service delivery. The data were collected via a series of qualitative semi-structured interviews with hospital and retail pharmacies located in the North West of England. Findings ¿ The findings show that pharmacy customers have a range of vitally important to less important criteria associated with good service quality and that pharmaceutical wholesalers as suppliers should aim to excel at the vital and important issues and meet those of lesser importance to satisfy customers expectations of service quality. Research implications/limitations ¿ This reinforces the importance of measuring customer expectations and incorporating outputs into service design to ensure a customer focus to the service provided. Further consideration should be given to adopting the SERVQUAL tool in conducting future research and analysis. Practical implications ¿ Suppliers should be aware that there are vital activities that customers expect to have performed/delivered and that they need to know what these are and excel at these, whilst managing less important criteria effectively. Originality/value ¿ This paper provides an insight into the customer-supplier relationship within the pharmaceutical supply chain in the NHS, which will be of benefit to practitioners and academics in this field.

The thesis is divided into two parts, Part I contains four chapters which map the pattern of legal changes relating to domestic violence against women from the 18th century to the 1980s. The history is written from the viewpoint of the legal interventions available to and used by women victims of domestic violence. Statutory enactments, case law and procedural changes in the relevant areas of criminal, family (ecclesiastical) and welfare law are described. Throughout Part I the discussion of the remedies available and reforms implemented is supplemented by the inclusion of case examples and statistical evidence showing local and national patterns of use. Chapter 1 describes the period from the start of the 18th century to the begining of the 20th; Chapter 2,1900 to the 1960s, Chapter 3 from 1969 to 1977 and Chapter 4 the more recent history in the 10 years between 1977 to 1987. Part II contains five chapters and is based upon an analysis of women victim's needs in contemporary socio-legal discourse. Part II grew out of a concern about the part played by the law in the secondary assault of women. The main aim of the discussion is to look at how women victims' self defined needs inform the practice of the law and how the legal approach contributes to the creation of violent relations between men and women in the social institution of heterosexuality. Part II emphasises the use of written and spoken language in interactional settings to define women's needs. The discussion is based upon the analysis of: 1. a survey of women involved in 54 legal cases concerning their partners' behaviour supplemented by interviews with legal advisors; 2. case records obtained from solicitors' offices with the womens' permission; 3. over 300 decisions traced from the published Law Reports; 4.105 press reports of cases of domestic violence against women. Chapter 5 describes the method employed in the research for Part II. Chapter 6 contains the analysis of the women's cases; Chapter 7 the reported decisions and Chapter 8 the press reports. Chapter 9 offers a summary of academic discourse and the abuse of women as well as a concluding discussion on some possibilities for the empowerment of women in law.

DESCRIPTION: The research is divided into five chapters (plus an introduction and a conclusion) as follows: INTRODUCTION, in which the work is introduced, the problem is identified, and the need for the research. is presented. CHAPTER ONE: The image of the Arab in the West (from the old sources up to the present time). CHAPTER TWO: The Arab view of the West, The development and the changing approach in viewing the World from pre- Islamic Arabia including the contemporary schools of thought in the Arab world. CHAPTER THREE: Political cartoons as a medium of communication, their influence and role in opinion changing and image making. CHAPTER FOUR: UK-Based Arab Owned Mass Media. A survey of the newspapers and the magazines published in the United Kingdom and owned by Arab personalities, companies, governments and political parties. That includes the 38 daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly publications. This chapter studies the attitudes and presentations of the Arab media in a definite period of time, in regard to the West. (from Dec. 1987 till March 1991) CHAPTER FIVE : The Case Study. The image of the West in the Arab-owned press through political cartoons (four London-based daily newspapers). The findings of the field work, categorising and analysing the main features and elements of the image. CONCLUSION: Room for Improvement. Recommendations for better understanding, presentation and improvement in the Arab-West International relations and presentations. The major, original, part of the thesis has been devoted to surveying the Britain-based Arab press, as well as an analysis of the coverage of some of these papers and magazines of the West, using the political cartoon as indicators of the public perceptions of the West. The research also makes an attempt to trace the main outline of the historical development of perceptions of the West in the Arab mind. Appendices; Appendix(A): Arab Political Cartoonists. Appendix(B): Cartoons of Arabs in the Western Media. Appendix(C); Cartoons of the West in the Arab Media. Bibliography