Proceedings of the Flat-plate Solar Array Project Research Forum on High-efficiency Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

The high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar cells research forum addressed high-efficiency concepts, surface-interface effects, bulk effects, modeling and device processing. The topics were arranged into six interactive sessions, which focused on the state-of-the-art of device structures, identification of barriers to achieve high-efficiency cells and potential ways to overcome these barriers

From chasing violations to managing risks: origins, challenges and evolutions in regulatory inspections.

  The research considers structures and practices of regulatory inspections and enforcement, and particularly the relevance and effects of purported “smarter inspections” methods, e.g. risk-based ones, and how they compare with previously existing practices. Specifically, it considers efficiency and effectiveness of inspections in terms of achieving public welfare, and their economic impact. The first part considers the history of regulatory inspections and how specific inspection institutions started to appear from the 19th century onwards. Of particular interest is how path dependency resulted in important differences in structures and methods between different fields and countries, and how these in turn produced different effects for the public. The second part looks at existing research on the interconnected issues of regulatory compliance drivers, regulatory discretion and risk and regulation. It concludes to the importance of combining several compliance drivers to achieve better results, to the appropriateness of structuring discretion in inspections and enforcement, and to the adequacy of “risk” as an instrument to do so. The third part looks at several case studies (in particular occupational safety and health in Britain and Germany) to consider whether risk-based, ‘smart’ approaches effectively deliver better results with lower burden, and tentatively concludes to the affirmative.  The Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Law & Governance in a World of Multilevel Jurisdiction

DEVELOPING ISLAMIC FINANCE OPPORTUNITIES FOR TRADE FINANCING: ESSAYS ON ISLAMIC TRADE VIS-À-VIS THE OIC TEN-YEAR PROGRAMME OF ACTION

International trade has been defined as the engine of growth by international development institutions as more cross-border trade associated with more economic activity, higher employment, hence, poverty alleviation. If trade is the engine of growth, trade finance can be defined as grease for the engine. Hence, availing more funds to finance the enormous amount of international trade, counting about half of global GDP, is an important agenda for the OIC as well as many multilateral development institutions. The main reason behind the efforts to avail more funds for trade finance is to direct valuable financial resources from speculation to explore opportunities to increase international trade in a way to grease and roll the wheel of real economy. With reference to the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action to Meet the Challenges Facing the Muslim countries in the 21st century, this research aims to introduce outward-looking, cost-effective, and informal policy options for a resilient OIC trade integration to increase international trade among OIC countries. In this regard, the first essay aims to explore the determinants of recent increase in intra-OIC trade to ascertain if it is due to policy instruments implemented by OIC organs or some other externalities. It is argued that recent increase in intra-OIC trade percentage is likely to be the product of reverse effects of oil price surge and Euro appreciation but not trade diversion effect of OIC membership. OIC membership itself alone would not increase intra-OIC trade if not accompanied with policy instrument for trade facilitation to make cross-border trade easier among member countries. However, as customs revenue constitutes the bulk of public revenue for many OIC countries, they need to be convinced about benefit of trade facilitation. Accordingly, with reference to the unwillingness of OIC countries for trade facilitation, the same essay scrutinizes the effect of tariff and WTO Customs Valuation Agreement on customs’ revenue of OIC countries. The results suggest that increasing tariffs might increase customs revenue for big countries but not for small countries. Besides, the implementation of WTO Customs Valuation Agreement does not decrease customs revenue as its indirect undervaluation effect would be surpassed by its direct effect of less incentive for tax evasion. As a crucial crop for public finances in many OIC countries and initial stage of industrialization, special emphasis is given to development of the cotton sector under the OIC Ten-Year Programme of Action. The Third Expert Group Meeting on Enhancing Production Efficiency and International Competitiveness in OIC Cotton-Producing Countries adopted the Five-Year OIC Cotton Plan of Action (2007-2011). As per the mandate of OIC, two Islamic trade finance products are proposed, one for the cotton sector through the resources mobilized with mudarabah, by proposing salam for complete supply chain financing in the second essay, and another for resource mobilization based on 2-Step murabahah in the context of international trade as an alternative to commodity murabahah, sukuk as well as mudarabah in the third essay. In conclusion, based on further findings of the survey, the questionnaire and interviews; capacity building in trade facilitation for small countries to be complemented with OIC mutual recognition agreement for standard and conformity assessment within halal food standard development; integrated single window among OIC countries’ customs; OIC cumulation system of rules of origin for market access; inward processing relief as an alternative to free trade zones; development of the cotton sector among OIC countries to address production constraints of LDMCs and 2-Step murabahah to mobilize trade finance resources to boost trade of OIC countries, particularly for LDMCs, are proposed as a part of concretely defined and well-grounded OIC trade integration framework

University of Windsor Graduate Calendar 2006-2008

https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/universitywindsorgraduatecalendars/1021/thumbnail.jp

Perceived food quality and healthiness : integrating means-end chain and conjoint analysis, with emphasis on olive oil extrinsic cues

PhD Thesis. Accompanying CD-ROM to be consulted in the Robinson Library.Today's consumer attitude and behaviour are increasingly driven by quality, safety and health consciousnessF. rom the producer viewpoint, quality control has evolved from an efficiency challenge to a tremendous opportunity by building competitive advantages through pursuing relationships based on an integrated chain approach with quality guarantees. To succeed in today's competitive agri-food marketplace, two options are available: organise production more efficiently and work more consumeroriented in order to meet consumer requirements. During recent years, several concepts like Organic and PDO/PGI labels, and the ISO and HACCP schemes, embodied into the wider Supply Chain Management, or Total Quality Management initiatives, have been introduced. All these concepts share the objectives of adding value to the entire chain, of releasing competitive advantages and a better performance of the chain through increasedr esponsivenessto consumern eeds,w ants and demands. The research at hand addresses questions related to collecting valuable information at consumer level, since this is the prerequisite for the practical application of the aforementioned concepts by industries such as the olive oil industry. The work focuses on assessing both the quality perception of olive oil and the attitude of consumers to olive oil quality assurance schemes. The central theme of the study is the domestic consumer as an alternative source of profit and competitiveness for the high quality olive oil firms. This is be achieved through the identification of a quality and healthconscious urban segment and the explanation of its purchasing motives and behaviour by relating quality olive oil attributes to its personal values. Instead of following a "positivistic" way of clearly presenting the research hypotheses, a description of the wider environment surrounding the quality-conscious consumer internationally is chosen. In this mostly "phenomenological" way, ideas about the quality consumer are implied through induction from data. The methodological nature of the study is two-dimensional. The horizontal "conjoint analysis" dimension is used to quantitatively prove the findings of the vertical "laddering method" qualitative dimension, which develops quality consumers' psychographic profile and predicts purchase behaviour.State Scholarship Foundation of Greec