Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-05, page: 2668. Adviser: Stephanie L. McFall. Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation presents findings from ethnographic research conducted with members of the Sociedad La Unión Martí-Maceo, established by segregated Black Cuban cigar workers in Ybor City in 1904. For decades, Tampa officials have initiated numerous urban revitalization projects aimed at developing a world-class tourist destination and metropolitan center. Often, these efforts have centered on highlighting the ethnic history of Ybor City, from which the participation of Black Cubans and the Martí-Maceo Society have been actively excluded or ignored. The main issues related to contemporary Afro- Cuban identity in Tampa and which will be examined in my dissertation, include the changing nature of the Afro-Cuban community in Tampa in light of increases in migration of Cubans and other Latinos of color to the area; Martí-Maceo members’ struggle to reclaim an Afro-Cuban heritage within Tampa’s larger historic preservation efforts over the past decade; and an examination of the Martí-Maceo Society as a voluntary association that appears to have outlived its usefulness in present-day Tampa despite efforts by elderly members to sustain and expand it.

For this research project I used grounded theory methodology and qualitative research methods to examine how and why citizens participated in local community-based planning and land development entitlement processes, and learn about their experiences participating in those processes. I conceptualized the citizens' main concern as preserving the character of the place they consider their community. This research demonstrates that citizens participate in community-based planning and land development entitlement processes out of a concern for preserving the character of their communities. They define the character of their communities in terms of their geographic boundaries, history, traditions, people, lifestyle, and qualitative features including land uses, architecture, terrain, and environmental attributes. "Preserving Place" refers to citizens' efforts to maintain the character of their communities as they know and embrace them. Citizens participate in collaborative community-based planning because they believe the process affords them an opportunity to set public policy that directly impacts their lives and their communities. Likewise, citizens participate in land development decision-making and entitlement processes in an effort to ensure that land use decisions are consistent with their community plan and preserve their community's character. Citizens form networks, such as voluntary community organizations, through which they organize their efforts and mentor each other to learn about complex local government land use processes and how to participate in them effectively. Through their network organizations citizens also marshal resources when necessary to mount formal legal actions in response to land development decisions they perceive as inconsistent with their community plan and their community's character. Citizens who participate in local government land use processes are often pejoratively called "activists" and accused of being "anti-growth" or "NIMBY" (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). However, this research shows the main concern of citizens who participate in the community-based planning and other land use processes is not to oppose growth and development in their communities; but rather to plan for growth and development and ensure they occur in a way that respects and preserves what the citizens know as the character of the places they consider their communities. I collected data from public records of community-based planning workshops and other land use decision-making processes that affected three communities in Hillsborough County, Florida between 1998 and 2011. I analyzed public record archives and interviewed 22 citizens, all of whom had participated in community-based planning or plan review processes and land development entitlement processes. The model that emerged from the data in this research demonstrates how significant the character of a community is to the people who embrace the community and consider it their home, and how their concern for preserving the character of their community motivates people to get involved in land use policies that affect them. The model further demonstrates the capacity of citizens to organize their efforts to defend and preserve their community's character. This research contributes to the literature on citizen participation by providing an explanatory model that demonstrates how and why citizens participate in local government land use processes. This research can also be applied to practice to improve collaborative processes and help local government land use policy makers and land developers understand the motivations behind citizen participation in land use processes, and thus how to approach the resolution of conflicts among citizens, planners, local governments, private landowners and land development interests.

Why do people work in the voluntary sector? Is the sector distinct, with characteristics that differentiate it from the private and public sectors? Is it important to consider the existence of the so-called ‘third sector’ when analysing behaviour in the labour market? Is altruism really an important motivation for workers in this sector? This dissertation is concerned specifically with the labour market in the voluntary sector: that is, workers who are the paid employees of independent nonprofit organisations. Using a large, national dataset, we explore empirically the predictions of the economic theory of voluntary organisations. In particular, is there evidence for a ‘warm glow’, the extra utility that workers receive for working towards a goal that they share with their employer? Does this glow exist, and is it brighter in the voluntary sector? We examine in turn sector differences in wages, working hours, and find evidence that employment in the voluntary sector is significantly different in some characteristics from both the private and public sectors. The main economic theories of voluntary sector wage-setting rely on some formulation of ‘warm glow’ utility or intrinsic motivation derived from working for an organisation with a mission shared by motivated employees. This leads to a prediction of lower wages in the voluntary sector. The empirical findings in the existing literature have focussed on US data, and the results have been mixed. Using pooled cross-sectional and panel datasets based on UK employment data between 1997 and 2007, we show that there is some evidence of warm-glow wage discounts in the sector for male workers, but that these wage differences have been eroded as the sector has grown. Although there is not a significant sector wage difference found for women, there is evidence that they have also experienced faster wage growth in the voluntary sector than the private. There are significant sector differences in working hours within the Health & Social Work industries, particularly in overtime working. Workers in the voluntary sector work more hours of unpaid overtime, whilst those in the private sector work more hours of paid overtime. Controlling for overtime hours has a significant effect on sector wage differentials. In particular, accounting for unpaid overtime results in evidence of a warm-glow wage discount for female workers. We analyse this data at a time when the sector has been growing dramatically, driven by government policy to reform public services. Our findings suggest that this policy has had unintended consequences for the voluntary sector labour market.

Where do people go to meet friends in the digital age? How do people understand with whom they want to be friends? Drawing from qualitative interviews, participant observation, and content analysis, I examine the website Meetup.com, which allows people to search for common interests on the Internet and meet up with groups of people face-to-face. My study offers new insights into why people turn to the Internet to meet new people; how voluntary organizations determine who they want as their members; and how gender and sexuality shape people's friendships and participation in these groups. This thesis has larger implications for the study of friendship, voluntary organizations, social capital, and Internet studies. / text

Den första januari 2005 blev det obligatoriskt för noterade bolag med koncernredovisning inom Europeiska unionen att redovisa enligt IFRS. För onoterade bolag finns det också möjlighet att redovisa koncernen enligt IFRS, men det är frivilligt. Regelverket anses mer komplicerat än de svenska reglerna som annars ska tillämpas av dessa företag. I denna studie har vi undersökt vilka anledningar företag har att frivilligt anta IFRS och få en förståelse för varför man väljer mer komplicerade redovisningsregler när det inte är tvunget. Vi har haft ett tolkande synsätt med en kvalitativ ansats. Data har samlats in genom telefonintervjuer eller enkäter med ekonomichefer på sex stycken företag. Samtliga företag höll vi anonyma. Genom en litteraturstudie tog vi del av resultat som presenterats i tidigare studier. Vi identifierade sex stycken faktorer som enligt tidigare studier kan förklara antagandet av IFRS. Dessa faktorer är att höja redovisningens kvalitet, att uppfattas som mer legitima, påverkan av revisor, informationsverktyg mellan företag och ägare, sänkta kapitalkostnader och upphandlingsincitament på en global marknad. Dessa faktorer analyserades med grund i institutionell teori och isomorfa tryck. Vid datainsamlingen undersöktes om dessa faktorer även förklarar svenska företags val. Av de sex faktorerna fann vi empiriskt stöd för fem. Koncerner som verkar i Skandinavien upplevde inte någon skillnad i kvalitet. Däremot upplevdes en kvalitetsökning av företag som verkar på en större global marknad. När investerare och långivare är utländska verkade internationella regler vara av betydelse. Revisorerna hade en viss påverkan på företagens beslut. Vid en eventuell försäljning av företagen fungerade internationell redovisning som ett informations-verktyg för köpare. Vi kan se att investerare på en global marknad har krav på IFRS. Däremot fann vi inget stöd för att företag infört IFRS för att minska sina kapitalkostnader. Intervjuerna gav oss ytterligare fem faktorer; ett enhetligt redovisningsspråk över koncernen, en framtida börsintroduktion, inget avskrivningskrav på goodwill, rekrytering samt branschjämförelse. Vi fann stöd för att företagen påverkas av alla tre isomorfa tryck när de beslutar att anta IFRS. / On January 1st 2005 it became mandatory for listed companies with consolidated financial statements within the European Union to account according to IFRS. For unlisted companies there is also a possibility to submit a consolidated financial statement, however, this is on a voluntary basis. The regulations are considered more complicated than the Swedish regulations that otherwise need to be practiced by these companies. In this study we have examined what the reasons are that companies voluntarily adopt the IFRS regulations and obtain and understand why the more complicated set of consolidated financial regulations are chosen when not necessary. We have maintained an interpreted tactic with a qualitative approach. The data has been collected through telephone interviews and surveys with financial directors at six companies. All companies have been kept anonymous. Through literary studies we obtained results that were presented in earlier studies. We identified six factors that according to previous studies can explain the acceptance of IFRS. These factors were to raise the quality of their accounting, to be seen as more legitimate, influence accountants, information tool between companies and owners, lower cost of capital and procurement incentive on the global market. These factors were analyzed based on institutional theory and isomorphic pressure. When collecting the data it was also considered if these factors could explain Swedish companies' choice. Of the six factors we found an empirical support for five. Companies active in Scandinavia did not experience any difference in quality. However, it was perceived that companies active on a larger global market were searching for quality. When investors and lenders are foreign it seems as if international regulations are of importance. Accountants have a certain influence on the companies' decisions. In case of a potential sale of a company the international regulations acted as an information tool for the buyer. We can see that investors on the global market have a requirement for IFRS. However, we found no evidence that companies that have introduced IFRS did so to reduce capital costs. The interviews provided us with five additional factors; a uniform financial language across the company, a future listing of the company, no depreciation on goodwill, recruitment and industry comparison. We found support for companies being influenced by all three isomorphic pressures when deciding to adopt IFRS.

This dissertation applies economic theories and econometric methods to analyze the interactions between government policies and economic agents in two important and current topics: the protection of the environment and illegal migration.Following the introduction, the second chapter studies the empirical strength of bi-directional linkages between environmental standards and performance, on the one hand, and environmental innovation, on the other. Our empirical results reveal that environmental R&D both spurs the tightening of government environmental standards and is spurred by the anticipation of such tightening, suggesting that U.S. environmental policy (at least in the context of the manufacturing industries that we study) has been responsive to innovation and effective in inducing innovation.The third chapter studies whether a voluntary reduction pollution programs can prompt firms to develop new environmental technologies that yield future emission reduction benefits. Conversely, a VRP may induce a participating firm to divert resources from environmental research to environmental monitoring and compliance activities that yield short-term benefits in reduced emissions. We find evidence that higher rates of program participation are associated with significant reductions in the number of successful environmental patent applications four to six years after the program ended.The fourth chapter examines the migration duration of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. using data from the Mexican Migration Project (MMP). In the past, temporary migrations were frequent, and often the rule rather than the exception in the case of Mexican immigrants. This pattern may be changing due to the tightening of the border between Mexico and the Unites States. Moreover, this paper examines whether migration experience, demographic characteristics, economic conditions or social networks drive the time Mexican immigrants to reside illegally in the United States. The empirical analysis shows that the migration duration increases as the U.S. expected real wage increases. Tighter U.S. migration policies have an ambiguous effect on the migration duration while longer distances decrease the hazard of return to their state of origin.In the final chapter of this dissertation, the general findings are concluded and some future avenues of research are discussed.

Climatic change has sparked a broad range of responses on all societal levels. New initiatives and negotiations, scientific findings, and technological developments, have established a novel framework for policymaking and industrial abatement investments. Lessons on the evolving framework should be analysed and utilised to handle the dynamic reality of climate policymaking processes. Governments in the majority of economies only have an indirect and long-term influence on reducing industrial emissions, as they do not own the emitting operations. As representing one-third of the global carbon dioxide emissions, industry is therefore a key stakeholder group in whether or not the political agenda will be fulfilled. How industry perceives that obstacles and opportunities affect investment calculi are thus important. Hence, policymakers should facilitate policy learning (PL) to aid the creation of effective and efficient political agendas. This is important to acknowledge the policy and investment experiences of industrial actors and to deal with a number of plausible investment obstacles identified under the novel framework. Taking stock of PL and other policy theories, this thesis is aimed to develop recommendations for facilitating PL and thus contributing to more effective and efficient climate policy frameworks. The results highlight the role of industry in abatement and political strategies where policymakers need to gain knowledge on how industries perceive abatement investment obstacles and how these may be bridged. The intrinsic learning values of government-industry negotiated agreements (NAs) are emphasised and a framework for operationalising PL through NA designs is developed. PL is furthermore identified as important, and NAs are recommended as a policy instrument, to fill knowledge gaps identified in two case-studies of promoting complex and novel industrial operations. This thesis also recommends a participatory policy evaluation tool that is sensitive to industrial competitiveness and establishes a forum for discussions on perceived investment obstacles and opportunities under different conditions. The results are not aimed to provide a blueprint for a comprehensive climate policy framework but as a contribution to literature and the incremental learning that this thesis strongly promotes.

Prostitution is considered to be systematic sexual relations with various partners for a certain payment, which is the only or one of the basic sources and means of subsistence. It is also the usage of facilities given by procurers or people providing the room for prostitution activities. Besides it is a tollage for prostitution to criminal structures. The main reasons determining prostitution: social-economical, cultural- valuables, educational, influence made by negative means of information, commercial reasons, the absence of men’s responsibility concerning prostitution, legitimate reasons.

Farming relies on the ecosystem services provided by biodiversity for production. Farming has been, however, responsible for habitat degradation and destruction, and consequently, biodiversity loss. At present, efforts to increase habitat on farmland are largely confined to voluntary programs. The effectiveness of the provincially delivered Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation (ABC) program was measured using a quantitative survey. Follow-up interviews during farm tours further explored qualitatively how farmers value biodiversity and biodiversity conservation on their land. Results from the survey quantitatively link ABC program participation to increased engagement in riparian management and modified harvesting activities. Qualitative results suggest that the motivation for engagement in biodiversity conservation stems from the farmers’ interest in preserving the balance between production and 'nature', thereby preserving what they perceive to be the health of their land. These results have implications for the improvement of the ABC program and of future stewardship program design.