No description available.

What religion does for its followers and how people use religion in their lives is something that is of interest from a historical perspective as well as from a contemporary perspective. The purpose of this essay is to analyze and interpret how functional aspects of world religions are presented in textbooks. To perform this content analysis I will be using functional definitions of religion, that I will explain and interpret and then use as tools in the content analysis of the textbooks. Based on the results of the content analysis, I will compare similarities and differences in how the functional aspects of world religions are presented in the textbooks. I discovered that the similarity in its presentation of the functional aspects of the religions is that they are based on social systems which include the creation of social representations and perception of reality. The main difference in their presentation is that Christianity is described from a Swedish perspective and in relation to the Swedish context, while the other world religions are described in a more common way. The functional aspects of these religions are described in a basic and generalizing way, for example, that there is only one kind of Judaism and one Buddhism.

Many teachers want to help their students develop a growth mindset about their ability to do mathematics. Research has shown, however, that teachers simply do not know how to promote growth mindsets in their classrooms. Existing research suggests that one way teachers can support students' development of a growth mindset is through the written feedback they provide students. This study combines the research done on students' mindsets and written feedback to examine the interaction between student mindset and written feedback by analyzing written feedback provided to students in a College Algebra class and how students used that feedback based on their homework resubmissions and their interviews. This study suggests that students do not use their written feedback relative to their mindset towards learning mathematics, but rather that their definitions of success in a mathematics class drive their interpretation and use of their written feedback. This study also suggests that students' definitions of success in mathematics contribute to their mindsets towards learning mathematics. Findings from this study inform teachers about how students interpret and use written feedback in a mathematics class. Teachers should provide students with opportunities to change their definitions of success in mathematics, which may change their mindset towards learning mathematics.

Hunger and food insecurity are lingering public health problems, made more challenging by their evolving definitions, broad landscapes of interest groups, and complex political solutions. There is an important role for public health professionals and congressional committees in shaping the discourse and fortifying their relevance in food security policymaking. In short, the what, when, and who of issue definition becomes a foundation for food security policymaking. This study used in-depth content analysis to examine the evolution of food security discourse and interest group mobilization between 1974 and 2009 in media coverage of the issue of food security. Additionally, over 200 congressional documents were analyzed to investigate the role of specialized congressional committees in sustaining political attention to the issues of hunger and food security. The findings of this three-paper dissertation indicated that the evolution of food security conceptualization is ongoing and less comprehensive than anticipated. The study also found public health groups' remained at the periphery of mobilization on the issue. Finally, results demonstrated that congressional attention to hunger was significantly sustained during periods when a select committee, along with prominent policy entrepreneurs, was dedicated to the issue. The chapters and conclusion of the dissertation discuss ways in which public health groups can refine their media presence and move from the margin of mobilization to more effectively drive food security discourse in both the informal media venue and more formal policymaking venue of Congress in order to positively influence public health policies and outcomes related to food security. / Public Health

Forced marriage is generally viewed as a clash between culture and gender and the fact that men are also victims, in a small number of cases, escapes attention of policy makers and activists. While the overall approach to forced marriage has helped men as well they, however, have remained below the radar of public concern. A problem particular to men is their unwillingness to articulate in public forums their predicament as questions of masculinity are then raised. Ultimately men will have to break the silence, organize and mobilize collectively if they wish to see specific policies that target men.

Historically, the federal government has been the institution responsible for setting the nation's drug policy. Since 1996, however, the federal government's authority and legitimacy in this issue area has increasingly been challenged through state ballot measures introduced via the initiative process. While only eight percent of ballot measures historically are approved by voters (Initiative and Referendum Institute 2004), half of the 28 state ballot measures on illegal drugs have been approved by voters over the past decade. The stated goal of those supporting legalization through ballot measures is to "build a political movement to end the war on drugs" (Nadelmann 2004). Nadelmann (2004) suggests that victories in the states show that the "nascent drug policy reform movement" can win in the "big leagues of American politics" and that the successful models presented through the ballot measures will increase "public confidence in the possibilities and virtue" of regulating the non-medical use of illicit drugs. To date there has been no detailed examination of the issue framing strategies in this venue; nor has there been an effort to link the problem definition and direct democracy literatures. This dissertation links the problem definition and direct democracy literatures, using drug policy as the vehicle and applying Stone's (2002) analytic framework of problem definition to make descriptive inferences about the issue framing devices employed in state ballot measures on illegal drugs. The research examines a range of materials related to the state ballot measures on illegal drugs including the language appearing on voter ballots; the full text of the ballot measures, including ballot titles and political preambles; and the voter information statements and their authors. In addition, the dissertation describes the elements of legalization proposed by the ballot measures that were approved by voters and examines three key legal challenges to Proposition 215, one of the first ballot measures on illegal drugs approved by voters in California in 1996, including two U.S. Supreme Court cases. / Ph. D.

Academic freedom is a much-discussed topic in the literature. However, little empirical research has been performed that describes the faculty perceptions of academic freedom at Christian colleges and universities, a unique segment of institutions within US higher education. Specifically, little recent research has shown how faculty members at Christian colleges and universities define academic freedom, how they describe experiences where they encountered issues of academic freedom, and how they navigate the interaction between academic freedom and institutional religious doctrines (as found in official statements of faith). The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze how faculty members at Christian colleges and university perceive academic freedom. For this qualitative study, I employed the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) to collect data from full-time faculty members of Christian institutions. I present the findings discovered through this study, discuss their ramifications, offer recommendations, and draw conclusions. / Ph. D. / Academic freedom is an important concept for scholars working in higher education. However, little research has been performed that describes how faculty perceive academic freedom at Christian colleges and universities, a unique segment of institutions within US higher education. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze how faculty members at Christian colleges and universities perceive academic freedom. For this qualitative study, I employed the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan, 1954) to collect data from full-time faculty members of Christian institutions. I present the findings discovered through this study, discuss their ramifications, offer recommendations, and draw conclusions.

States commit to military alliances for numerous reasons. Consensus on many variables among the states in these alliances is a key factor in why they form alliances and establish written treaties. However, not all military cooperation results in a written treaty, even when facing an external threat. This study explores the role of consensus on external threats as an explanation for why some states formalize their military cooperation in a written treaty while others do not. Using a case study comparing the Nato-alliance and the Quad-cooperation, this study uncovers how the ideological threat, coupled with shared state security interests, serves as an explanatory factor. This insight has implications at the strategic military level, helping to define common security interests among states and foster consensus on dealing with external threats, ultimately leading to the establishment of written treaties.

This dissertation applies philosopher Henri Bergson's methodology and his ideas of duration and creativity to the definitional problem of art, particularly as formulated within analytic aesthetics. In mid-20th century, analytic aesthetics rejected essentialist definitions of art, but within a decade, two predominant definitions of art emerged as answers to the anti-essentialism of the decade prior: functionalism and proceduralism. These two definitions define art, respectively, in terms of the purpose that art serves and in terms of the conventions in place that confer the status of art onto artifacts. Despite other important definitions (including historical and intentionalist definitions), much of the literature in the analytic field of aesthetics center on the functional/procedural dichotomy, and this dichotomy is an exclusive one insofar as the two definitions appear incompatible with each other when it comes to art. I use Bergson's methodology to demonstrate that the tension between functionalism and proceduralism is an artificial one. In turn, abandoning the strict dichotomy between these two definitions of art opens the way for a more fluid conception of art. Using Bergson's application of duration and creativity to problems of laughter and morality, I draw parallels to what a Bergsonian characterization would entail.

Titel: Revisionskvalitet - En studie beträffande hur låg revisionskvalitet vidareutvecklarkonceptet revisionskvalitet. Bakgrund & problematisering: Revisorer befinner sig i förtroendebranschen där skandaler, vars grund ligger i bristande revisionskvalitet, har fått allmänheten att se på revisionsprofessionen med misstänksamhet. För att inte missbruka professionens förtroende såväl som frambringa skandaler finns ett behov av att reducera bristande revisionskvalitet. Då majoriteten av tidigare forskning, gällande konceptet revisionskvalitet, fokuserar på konceptets högre spektrum menar vi att ett nytt angreppssätt för att konceptualisera revisionskvalitet och därmed reducera bristande revisionskvalitet är nödvändigt. Syfte: Uppsatsens huvudsyfte är att utforska vad låg revisionskvalitet innebär utifrån den kontroll- och tillsynsåtgärd som övervakar revisionsprofessionen från insidan, för att på så vis skapa en vidare förståelse för konceptet revisionskvalitet. Uppsatsens delsyfte är att redogöra för utvecklingen av låg revisionskvalitet över tid fram till aktuell tidpunkt, för att på så vis få en mer flerdimensionell förståelse för hur låg revisionskvalitet har vidareutvecklat konceptet revisionskvalitet. Metod: Uppsatsen har tagit utgångspunkt i en abduktiv forskningsansats och har där igenom antagit en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod och longitudinell design. Den kvalitativa undersökningsmetoden har utförts i två steg, varvid förstudien har tagit sin utgångspunkt iintervjuer, medan huvudstudien har tagit sin utgångspunkt i en innehållsanalys av disciplinärenden utförda av Revisorsnämnden med den disciplinära åtgärden upphävande av auktorisation eller godkännande. Slutsats: Revisionskvalitet som koncept kan genom uppsatsens förstudie och huvudstudie definieras utifrån låg revisionskvalitet i from av överkategorierna; Dokumentation, Granskning, Okunskap, Regelverk, Formella brister samt Uppfyller inte steg i revisionen. Således har denna uppsats, genom nya aspekter såväl som nivåer, preciserat befintlig teori och befintliga konceptpå så vis att utvecklingen av låg revisionskvalitet har vidareutvecklat konceptet revisionskvalitet. Nyckelord: Audit, audit failure, audit failure definition, audit service quality, audit quality, audit quality definition, dysfunctional auditor behavior, ethics, etik, going concern warning, high audit quality, legitimacy, legitimacy theory, low audit quality, profession, professionalduty, revision, revisionskvalitet, revisionsmisslyckande, revisor och quality. / Title: Audit Quality - A thesis regarding how low audit quality further develop the concept ofaudit quality. Background & problem: Accountants are in the trust industry and scandals, whose foundationlies in the lack of audit quality, has thus gained the public to see the audit profession with suspicion. In order not to abuse the trust as well as produce scandals there is a need to reduce low audit quality. Since the majority of previous research has been focusing on the concept's higher spectrum, we believe a new approach for conceptualizing audit quality is necessary in aim to reduce low audit quality. Purpose: The main purpose with this thesis is to explore what low audit quality means based on the control and enforcement measure that monitors the audit profession from the inside, to thereby create a wider understanding of the concept of audit quality. The subsidiary aim of this thesis is to describe how the low audit quality has developed over time, compare with the current situation and thereby obtain a multidimensional understanding of how low audit quality has developed into the concept of audit quality. Method: This thesis has an abductive research approach and has therefore adopted a qualitative research method and longitudinal design. The qualitative survey methodology was conducted in two stages, the feasibility study has been based on interviews, while the main study has been based on a content analysis of disciplinary proceedings conducted by the Supervisory Boardwith the disciplinary action waiver of authorization or approval. Conclusion: Audit quality as a concept can through the thesis feasibility study and the mainstudy be defined by low-quality audits in the form of the categories; Documentation, Review, Ignorance, Regulatory framework, Formal shortage and Does not fulfill the stage of the audit. Thus, this thesis, through new aspects as well as new levels, has specified existing theory and existing concepts in a way that the development of low audit quality has further developed the concept of audit quality. Key words: Audit, audit failure, audit failure definition, audit service quality, audit quality,audit quality definition, dysfunctional auditor behavior, ethics, going concern warning, high audit quality, legitimacy, legitimacy theory, low audit quality, profession, professional duty andquality.