abstract: This dissertation is a visual and narrative-based autoethnography that narrates the lived educational experiences of the author from preschool through doctoral studies. The text portrays a story that explores issues of power, identity, and pedagogy in education. Told in narrative form, this project utilizes visual data, thematic coding, layering, and writing as a method of inquiry to investigate and more fully understand injustices found in the American education system. Findings show how the author’s identities of student, teacher, and researcher influence and impact one another, and lead to the development of a future vision of self. By examining the author’s roles as a student, teacher, and researcher this study centers on conflicts and inconsistencies that arise at the intersections of self, community, institutions, and society. Included in the narrative’s analysis are issues related to positionality, visions of success, empowerment, resistance, neoliberalism, colonialism, psychological distance, and ideological purpose in teaching. The narrative concludes with the development of a personal vision of purposeful, empowering, liberating, and transformative pedagogy. This study contributes its voice to conversations about inequity and inequality in education by asking the reader to examine conflicts, ask new questions, and critically engage with the dialogic text. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2016

O foco desta pesquisa é verificar a viabilidade da utilização de uma ferramenta gerencial que forneça subsídios para a tomada de decisão dos gestores na atual realidade organizacional, momento em que a concorrência se tornou mais intensa. Mais especificamente, este trabalho trata da aplicação prática, através de um estudo de caso, da metodologia do custeio alvo em uma instituição de ensino que oferece cursos de pós-graduação lato sensu, localizada no interior do estado de São Paulo. Tem-se, assim, a possibilidade de testar, utilizando o ramo de prestação de serviços, uma metodologia sobre a qual há poucos estudos desenvolvidos no país, e cuja utilização tem sido muito reduzida mesmo em âmbito mundial. Neste estudo, faz-se, primeiramente, um levantamento dos antecedentes que definem o problema da pesquisa, traçando os objetivos e hipóteses do trabalho. Em seguida, faz-se um levantamento de toda bibliografia acerca do assunto, elaborando um estudo conceitual sobre a metodologia do custeio alvo, na qual está incluída a técnica da engenharia ou análise de valor. Por fim, realiza-se a aplicação prática da metodologia através de um estudo de caso. Inicia-se o desenvolvimento da metodologia do custeio alvo com uma abordagem histórica, relatando seu surgimento e evolução. Prossegue-se com sua conceituação, objetivos e procedimentos necessários para implantação, culminando com os benefícios obtidos com a metodologia, bem como com suas principais limitações e críticas. Esquematiza-se posteriormente, a estrutura conceitual da engenharia de valor, considerada a base de existência do custeio alvo, apresentando uma abordagem histórica e conceitual, desenvolvendo a técnica processual para obtenção do índice de valor, o que possibilita gerenciar os itens que devam ser substituídos, eliminados, reprojetados ou incentivados, alcançando uma administração de custos orientada para a otimização dos resultados. O estudo de caso, através da implantação da metodologia, permitiu identificar e, por conseqüência, administrar de forma pautada os componentes que formam os custos de um curso de pós-graduação, diminuindo custos ou alavancando atributos, baseado na plena satisfação dos consumidores. / The focus of this research is to verify the viability of the utilization of a managerial tool that gives subsidies for the decision making of the managers in the current organizational reality, a moment in which the competition became more intense. More specifically, this work cares for the practice application, through a case study, of the methodology of the target costing in an Educational Institution that offers latu sensu post graduation courses, located in the interior of São Paulo. There is, this way, the possibility to test, using the service branch, a methodology about which there are few studies developed in the country, and whose utilization has been very reduced even in world scope. In this study, first the antecedents that define the research problem are sought, tracing the goals and hypotheses of work. Soon after it, a bibliographical research is done concerning the subject, elaborating a conceptual study about the methodology of the target costing, in which the technique of the value analysis or engineering is included. Finally, the practice application of the methodology is accomplished through a case study. The development of the methodology of the target costing is initiated with a historical approach, telling about its appearance and evolution. We continue with its conceptualization, objectives and necessary procedures for implantation, culminating with the benefits obtained with the methodology, as well as with its main limitations and criticism. It is schematized afterwards, the conceptual structure of the value engineering, considered the base of the target costing existence, presenting a historical and conceptual approach, developing the procedural technique to obtain the value index, what enables the management of the items that should be replaced, eliminated, replanned or encouraged, obtaining a cost administration guided for the optimization of the results. The case study, through the implantation of the methodology, allowed identifying and, consequently, managing in a ruled way the components that form the costs of a post graduation course, decreasing costs or leveraging attributes, based on the full satisfaction of the consumers.

In Canada, individuals accused of a criminal offence can raise a defence of Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD), stating they were suffering from a mental disorder that rendered them incapable of appreciating the nature or quality of the act, or of appreciating that it was wrong. Individuals found NCRMD are then rendered under the jurisdiction of a provincial mental health review board tasked with evaluating whether or not the individual represents a significant risk to the safety of the public. This study adopted a methodological approach using qualitative content analysis to investigate the construction of risk in the decision-making process of the Ontario Mental Health Review Board (ORB). Results from the analysis of 30 printed rationales for decision, the justificatory document for any disposition made by a review board, indicate some ambiguity in conceptualizing risk and justifying the dispositions made by the ORB. In an effort to open the black-box of these justificatory documents, this study notes the objectivity effect of a medicalized language that obfuscates understanding of terms used by the ORB to justify risk assessments. Ultimately, the complexity of the notion of risk is reduced to a function of medical-biological psychiatric diagnostics and intervention, community or social normativity, and secondary risk management (defensive decision-making by professionals involved in the review process). These interpretations are then discussed in terms of policy implications under a new politics of uncertainty (Power, 2004).

This Master Thesis describes marketing strategy of G2 Student Account that was adopted by Komerční banka, a.s. in 2007. Despite a strong competition , within a year after its launch the bank became a market leader in student accounts segment. Objectives of this work are to introduce theoretical approaches to marketing strategy creation, to depict activities connected to launching a particular marketing strategy and last but not least, to evaluate its results and propose possible corrections.

The focus of this study was to understand my experiences of teaching sensitive topics in my professional capacity, as a female beginner teacher who has an Islamic upbringing and strong religious views according to which I live. The purpose of this study was to make sense of these personal and professional experiences when teaching sensitive topics as an Islamic beginner female teacher. In so doing this study sought to contribute to body of knowledge about key concepts namely sensitive topics, an Islamic context, female beginner teacher identity and autoethnography as research design. The literature reviewed for this research study was centred around the said key concepts and included scholarly work by Collins (2017), Lowe and Jones (2015), Du Bois (2014), and Anacona (2014). Theoretically, this study was underpinned by an interpretivist epistemological paradigm informed by Berg (2007) and from a conceptual point of view I drew on tenets of both the religion and feminist theory guided by the work of Rambo (1999). Data was generated in the form of short anecdotal self-reflective narratives spanning over 25 years and encapsulated the gist of my upbringing and later experiences which all influenced the ways in which I have experienced the teaching of sensitive topics as a female beginner teacher female within an Islamic context. Findings were divided into three main themes, namely the Islamic religion, Islam and gender and teaching sensitive topic as a Muslim, female beginner teacher. Findings were refined into relevant subthemes. The gist of the findings revealed that a strict Islamic upbringing contributed largely to the discomfort experienced by a female teacher when teaching topics of a sensitive nature, such as sexual education which is compulsory in the current Life Orientation curriculum. Findings further pointed to the fact that this discomfort can be alleviated through self-talk, engagement with scholarly work and deep thought incited by engagement with sensitive topics. Recommendations were suggested for classroom practice. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted

The volitional theory of action has recently been assailed as an outmoded account of human action, while attempts have been made to preserve the theory on grounds which side-step the traditional difficulties. Both approaches to the theory have left it without a coherent expression. This thesis is an attempt to give a coherent theoretical foundation to the theory and to effect its critical evaluation. Preceding a discussion of the theory is a historical appreciation of its tradition, and this is used as a backdrop for viewing two aspects of the theory which serve today as its paradigms. The one is an analysis of human action in terms of a volition which is considered as something which an agent performs, and the other is an analysis of human action in terms of a volition connected causally to an item of behavior, The incompatibility of these aspects is indicated, and an attempt is made to locate them within a wider theoretical structure. This is done by distinguishing between atomic actions and instrumental actions and by attributing to the theory two definitions of an individual human action which preserve these paradigms and which account for both sorts of actions. The final segment of the thesis is concerned with a critical dismissal of the theory. The stock arguments against the theory are first defeated, end it is then argued that one aspect of the theory fails to account for forbearances and that the other aspect does not provide an adequate account of atomic actions. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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One of the proxies for the success of a corporate strategy is firm performance. This is because “performance is a surrogate for the alignment between an organization’s internal processes (strategy, structure, etc) and the external environment.”1 Business excellence therefore hangs together with the attainment of such an alignment. It is two of the processes that support such an alignment between customer and supplier that are the subject of this paper. The processes in question are so called “Key Account Management” (KAM) and competitive intelligence (CI). [... aus der Einleitung] 1 Subramanian R., IsHak S., Competitor Analysis Practices of US Companies, 1998, S.13

This thesis deals with credit unions in the Czech Republic. The work describes historical development and current situation of the credit unions. Trend of recent years is compared with the situation in the bank sector. Two representatives of credit unions -- AKCENTA and Moravský peněžní ústav -- are analyzed closer. There is also a comparison of competitiveness in current and saving account between two mentioned credit unions and two banks -- Česká spořitelna and mBank.

This study provides a historical understanding of the adoption, adaptation and education of account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies. At the time of this writing, minimal academic research had focused on the discipline, and even less on the discipline in Hispanic advertising agencies. According to the United States 2010 census, the Hispanic population surpassed 50 million, making in the largest minority group in the country, accounting for over 15% of the population. Hispanic advertising agencies as a group are charged with reaching this market, and within these agencies, researching, strategizing and briefing are their account planners (also called brand planners, strategic planners, creative planners and research planners). Grounded theory was employed to interview twenty-nine account planners in five states who work, or at some point worked, in a Hispanic advertising agency. The results present a thorough explanation of the adoption and adaptation of account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies, as well as an overview of what account planners who want to work in this market should study. The findings suggest that account planning in Hispanic advertising agencies has experienced innovation diffusion and big brother syndrome, involvement, improvement, and fictive digital kinship. Study limitations, future research, managerial and educational implications are presented as well. / text