Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2005. / "May, 2005." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 198-218). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-115).

The merger between Arthur Andersen (AA) and Ernst & Young (EY) in Australia was announced on the 16th May 2002. The merger was the culmination of seven months of speculation and drama surrounding the future of AA, following its involvement in the collapse of Enron in the United States of America (US). With the number of Big N firms having been reduced to four, concerns were raised over the impact of the merger on the competitiveness of the Australian audit services market (Boreham, 2002; Robertson, 2002; Hamilton et al., 2008). The objective of the thesis is to evaluate the impact of the merger of AA and EY on the market for audit services in Australia. In this regard, consideration is given to two specific questions. First, whether the Australian audit services market became less competitive subsequent to the merger of AA and EY. Second, whether any benefits, either in relation to audit pricing or efficiency, accrued to the firms involved as a consequence of the merger. In order to address these objectives, the impact of the merger on Australian listed firms is examined. This was done for both the market as a whole, as well as for the clients of EY. The sample was drawn from the 1271 available firms on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in 2002. The results show that the audit services market in Australia is still competitive subsequent to the merger of AA and EY. This is so, even though the changes in concentration would suggest that anti-competitive effects could be occurring. One possible explanation for these findings is that the measures of market concentration as identified in the industrial organization literature are difficult to apply to audit firms. Additionally, the lack of benefit to EY from the merger, either through increased pricing or efficiency, may simply be due to 2002 being too early for benefits to be realised, possibly due to the stickiness of audit service fees (Ferguson et al., 2005) or merger implementation issues (Lawrence and Glover, 1998).

Some quasistatic evolution problems for a phase transition model with nonconvex energies are studied in the generalized framework of Young measures. More in details, an existence result for a generalized notion of globally stable quasistatic evolution is proved both in the continuous and in the discrete case (infinite many/ finite many phases); an existence result for a notion of approximable evolution is also provided via a sort of vanishing viscosity.

<p>Computer mediated communication (CMC) has created new arenas for social interaction in contemporary society, also for children and young people. This raises questions about how these arenas are used by children and young people. Drawing on the sociology of childhood, this thesis addresses children’s social interaction on a website designed for young people, where issues of masculinity, femininity, emotions and sexuality are discussed. The general aim is to explore the construction of meaning in relation to these issues; more specifically patterns of online interaction and the ways children express and share ideas and values in the “now” of the interpretive communities on the website, and at the same time deal with ideas, norms and values mediated through society at large. </p><p>In three discussion groups on the website, 143 discussions initiated by virtual children aged 12 to 15 followed by discussions with several virtual persons at the same age and older were collected and analysed. Three patterns of interaction were identified according to the degrees of ‘horizontal’ versus ‘vertical’ communication: ‘Playful interaction’ is characterised by a horizontal communication where curiosity and experiences are shared between virtual children in the same age ‘Corrective interaction’ is characterised by vertical interaction and more explicit advise and instructions from participants in different ages, drawing on arguments from the ‘adult world’. In ‘Orienting interaction’ there are aspects of both horizontal and vertical interaction as older or adult virtual participants express their points of view and experiences as it were to strive for a shared understanding. These patterns of interaction, and the ways they are related to the different topics in the discussion groups, are discussed in terms of the on-going positioning of children as a ‘social group’ and the construction of gender, generation and cultural notions of children as innocent or knowing.</p>

<p>Sverige är ett mångkulturellt land och forskningsområdet kring hur det är att leva med två kulturer är viktig att belysa. Denna studies fokus riktas mot hur unga vuxna upplever kopplingen mellan den personliga och etniska identiteten. En kvalitativ undersökning genomfördes med 16 intervjuer. Respondenterna levde i den svenska samt en utomeuropeisk kultur. Resultatet visade att deltagarna upplever sig som en blandning av de två erfarna kulturerna och att den etniska identiteten upplevs som stark. Svårigheter hos deltagarna låg i den personliga identiteten som påverkas av att ha en etnisk identitet. Den personliga identiteten var vacklande bland annat på grund av en svår anpassningsprocess till båda kulturer. Studien bidrar framförallt med fördjupade kunskaper om den personliga identiteten.</p>

No description available.

<p>I dagens svenska samhälle är motion och matvanor aktuella ämnen. Forskning i ämnet har bedrivits med kvantitativ ansats där fokus ofta ligger på hälsoproblem som övervikt eller ätstörningar. I kontrast till fokuseringen på ohälsa syftar föreliggande studie till att undersöka uppkomsten av positiva hälsobeteenden genom att belysa moderspåverkan på sina döttrars mat och motionsvanor. Tidigare forskning har påvisat att modern har en betydande påverkan på dotterns hälsobeteenden genom att fungera som en modell samt genom socialisationsstrategier. Kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med nio unga kvinnor som alla motionerar regelbundet. Intervjuerna analyserades med meningskoncentrering. Resultatet visade att det finns en koppling mellan mor och dotters mat- och motionsvanor men att sambanden inte alltid upplevs så starka av döttrarna.</p>

<p>The purpose of the essay is to analyze the welfare state from a gender perspective. Further, the paper analyzes and critically examines three different normative solutions provided by Irish Marion Young, Nancy Fraser and Jürgen Habermas for the realization of a welfare state that includes women.</p><p>Habermas argues that the welfare state has created a situation of dependency and state paternalism which reduces both individual and collective self-determination. Young follows Habermas‟ argument. She argues for a political climate where justice is reduced to the distribution of material goods rather than the elimination of underlying relations of domination and gender specific patterns. Fraser and Young therefore argue that the new client role is female and that the welfare state rests on the heterogeneous nuclear family norm with a male provider which restricts possibilities for women. The Scandinavian welfare model tends to be considered as "women friendly" because of its broad gender debate, well-developed social security that brackens the line between public-private together with a high degree of representation of women in political institutions. What is critical about the Scandinavian model is that it restricts political participation to representation. Rather, what is needed is a model of democracy that gives room for women to discuss in their own voice what their needs are and to use the discussion as a means for broader political debate.</p><p>For women to be given such a voice in society, we need a model like Habermas‟ deliberative democracy with procedural rights. The strength in Habermas‟ model is that it makes it possible for women to participate in political will-formation through critical rationality. The deliberative rationality makes it possible for women to come together in the public sphere to influence the welfare state, its design and the allocation of resources. Habermas‟ democracy model has certain shortcomings because it overlooks the gender structures which affect women's access to the public sphere. It is therefore important to understand how rational communication can be achieved in a society that is socially stratified. I argue for a welfare state in which recognition, redistribution and political participation are secured and where women can participate as equals in the public sphere. This is achieved by adopting Fraser concepts of society as consisting of a multiplicity of publics rather than by a single public. It is important however, that the public sphere makes room for groups‟ particularity and I therefore argue for Youngs‟ concept of a politics of difference. It also requires an interaction between institutions and political participation through procedural rights. These rights enable women to influence societys‟ institutions and overcome the client role and gender structures in society.</p>

No description available.