L’adoption coutumière inuit au Nunavik et le comportement de l’enfant à l’âge scolaire

Le principal objectif de cette thèse est de documenter les liens entre l’adoption coutumière inuit et le comportement de l’enfant adopté à l’âge scolaire. Au Nunavik, un tiers des enfants sont adoptés conformément aux pratiques d’adoption coutumière. Le premier article décrit le contexte culturel et les principales caractéristiques de cette pratique. Couramment qualifiée de « don d’enfants », elle repose sur la cession libre et volontaire d’un enfant à un proche parent (tante, oncle, grands-parents) ou à un autre membre de la communauté. Contrairement à l’adoption plénière, en vigueur ailleurs au Canada et aux États-Unis, l’adoption coutumière n’est pas confidentielle et le lien de filiation biologique est préservé. Actuellement, les informations disponibles sur le développement de l’enfant inuit adopté proviennent d’un petit nombre d’études menées auprès d’enfants inuit suivis par les services de protection de la jeunesse. Basée sur les données d’une étude longitudinale prospective menée au Nunavik, cette thèse porte sur un échantillon de 46 enfants adoptés et de 231 enfants non-adoptés suivis de la naissance à l’âge scolaire. Des informations sur l’environnement prénatal et familial ont été collectées et le comportement de l’enfant à l’âge scolaire a été mesuré à l’aide du Child Behavioral Checklist complété par le professeur. Le deuxième article compare les enfants adoptés et non-adoptés sur un ensemble de variables prénatales et familiales et détermine la contribution du statut d’adoption au développement de problèmes de comportements à l’âge scolaire. Les résultats indiquent que le statut d’adoption n’est pas associé aux problèmes de comportements, mais que les enfants adoptés et non-adoptés sont élevés dans des environnements familiaux distincts. Compte tenu de ces différences, le dernier article s’intéresse aux facteurs de risques associés aux problèmes d’attention et aux problèmes externalisés chez les enfants inuit adoptés (n=46). Les caractéristiques de l’environnement familial expliquent une part plus importante des problèmes d’attention et des problèmes externalisés que les caractéristiques prénatales. Ces résultats contrastent avec les études sur l’adoption domestique et internationale menées auprès de populations allochtones. Les points de convergences et de divergences sont discutés et certaines pistes d’explications sont proposées.

Enforcing international financial standards in Brazil: limits and possibilities for adoption of IOSCO principles

Foreign capital and institutional investors play a key role in the Brazilian capital and financial markets. Internationally promoted regulatory patterns, especially IOSCO principles, have been increasingly influencing administrative rule making by the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) as well as the adoption of transnational rules in Brazil by means of self-regulatory activity. Even though there is a certain level of convergence of market regulatory standards at the transnational level, implementation and enforcement of rules remains essentially domestic. We analyze two case studies regarding the transposition of international standards into the Brazilian legal system, which illustrate this tension between the transnational and domestic dimensions of financial markets regulation. The first case concerns a CVM rule on disclosure of executive compensation and the its interpretation by local courts. The second case refers to the adoption of suitability rules.

Does Mandatory IFRS Adoption in the EU Level the International Playing Field Between Foreign and Domestic Analysts? ACES Working Papers, October 2011

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) have been promoted as a global set of financial reporting standards that will help integrate global capital markets. We examine whether the mandatory European-wide adoption of IFRS in 2005 improved the forecast accuracy for foreign analysts relative to that of domestic analysts. We find that, on average, foreign analysts experience no incremental improvement in forecast accuracy relative to domestic analysts. However, we find that those foreign analysts who are familiar with IFRS do experience an incremental improvement in forecast accuracy relative to domestic analysts. We also find that this incremental improvement in forecast accuracy relative to domestic analysts is concentrated among firms domiciled in countries with both strong enforcement regimes and domestic accounting standards that differ significantly from IFRS. Our results highlight that both familiarity with IFRS and the quality of countries' enforcement environments play key roles in determining the extent to which IFRS adoption can reduce information asymmetry between foreign and domestic analysts.

Rethinking the development, dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies

This paper focuses on the higher order factors affecting successful adoption of technologies. Drawing on the "actor-oriented perspective" in rural sociology, it is argued that successful examples of adoption at this higher level result from a complex conjunction of people and events, with outcomes that may have been quite unanticipated at the outset. From this perspective, research and extension projects and programs are viewed as arenas in which social actors–village leaders, farmers, researchers (local and international), aid officials, municipal agents, extension workers, and traders–pursue their own short- and long-term objectives and strategies. To this end, they maneuver, negotiate, organize, cooperate, participate, coerce, obstruct, form coalitions, adopt, adapt, and reject, all within a specific geographical and historical context.

The Anatomy of an International Cartel: Cyanide 1897-1927

The development of a new product or a new process, if adopted by the market, may generate a number of economic processes including secondary innovations to promote the exploitation of the new discovery. Such technological advances may also promote new industrial ventures which may exist over many decades, enhancing economic development. The history of the adoption of the cyanide process for the extraction of gold from its ores exemplifies such developments. One outcome was the formation of an international cyanide cartel.

International Grassland Congress Outlook: An historical review and future expectations

Features of the history of the International Grassland Congress are mentioned. Aspects of a number of failed themes in grassland science are described with respect to molecular biology, intensive systems of ruminant production, carbohydrate use in plant growth, plant succession and range condition, and stocking method. Future expectations are focused on meeting a balance of objectives, maintaining reductionist science, taking new initiatives in plant improvement and in the development of animal production systems, and reducing barriers to international trade. The adoption of grassland science depends upon the growth of new learning, especially through cyclical interaction between scientists and farmers.

Adoption and maintenance of contour bunds and hedgerows in a dynamic environment - Experience in the Philippine uplands

The widespread adoption of soil conservation technologies by farmers (notably contour hedgerows) observed in Guba, Cebu City, Philippines, is not often observed elsewhere In the country. Adoption of these technologies was because of the interaction of such phenomena as site-specific factors, appropriate extension systems, and technologies. However, lack of hedgerow maintenance, decreasing hedgerow quality, and disappearance of hedgerows raised concerns about sustainability. The dynamic nature of upland farming systems suggests the need for a location-specific farming system development framework, which provides farmers with ongoing extension for continual promotion of appropriate conservation practices.

An international perspective on sunken state vessels as underwater cultural heritage

On 2 November 2001, the General Assembly of the United Nations Scientific, Economic and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) adopted the convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. Among the many complex issues addressed in the convention is the legal status of sunken state-owned vessels, including warships. Prior to the adoption of this convention, no conventional or customary international law existed with regards to the question of abandonment of state-owned vessels or the application of the principle of sovereign immunity to sunken state vessels. While difficulties between coastal states and maritime and former colonial powers resulted in a regime that does not comprehensively address the issues, the convention does provide some guidance in this regard and may provide a basis for further development.

The international harmonization process of public accounting in Portugal: the perspective of different stakeholders

This paper investigates the reform of public accounting in Portugal through the IPSAS adoption highlighting the perception of different stakeholders. Two competing theories (NPM and the institutional theory) are used to understand public accounting changes within the Portuguese context. In general, different stakeholders agree with the favorable moment and the context of the reform. The context of financial crises and the great external pressures to cut public deficits and to improve the quality of financial information seem to be the most important factors to stimulate changes in public accounting. In addition, stakeholders recommend the use of different strategies to ensure success.

IFRS adoption in Europe: the case of Germany

From 2005 onwards, consolidated financial statements of listed European companies will have to comply with IFRS (IAS). Many German companies began adopting those standards in the 1990s, on a voluntary basis, because of their need to access international capital funding. Spanish companies, by contrast, are not permitted to adopt IFRS before 2005. This paper has two purposes: first, it analyses the financial impact of initial IFRS adoption on the statement of changes in equity and the income statement of individual German companies. Second, and taking into account the German experience, it focuses on the expected impacts on a sample of listed Spanish companies in two industrial sectors: chemical-pharmaceutical and fashion. Our analysis of German companies comprised all non-financial DAX groups applying IFRS plus additional listed companies in the two selected industrial sectors identified above. The impact of initial adoption of IFRS on German companies was, both individually and overall, very significant. The analysis suggests that the expected impact on Spanish companies is likely to be significant but to a lesser degree than in respect of the German companies in the study.