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Cílem této diplomové práce je popsat a analyzovat marketingovou strategii asistenční společnosti Europ Assistance, na tomto konkrétním příkladu uvést specifika marketingu služeb a nalézt odpověď na otázku, čím je navíc odlišný marketing společností poskytujících asistenční služby. Diplomová práce obsahuje charakteristiku služeb, popisuje odvětví asistence a jednotlivých forem asistenčních služeb. Dále prezentuje hlavní firmy na trhu asistence. V hlavní části se zaměřuje na prezentaci a historii společnosti Europ Assistance, její novou strategii a její promítnutí do regionální organizace společnosti, jejích aktivit a proměně firemní identity společnosti.

The purpose of this thesis is to analyse in depth the EU position in the international effort to increase the Official Development Assistance with respect to the situation of poverty in developing world and current initiatives on searching for potential solutions of this crucial issue. In connection with poverty traps in developing countries the EU came up with many important initiatives in the field of international development policy, which indicates a strong commitment of Member states towards the poverty eradication. Based on predictions analysed in the 3rd Chapter of this thesis, it is possible to deduce that the EU as a whole will be able to reach its targets in the area of ODA increases. However, there will be a different situation in case of individual Member states - not all of them report about appropriate ODA increases needed for reaching the individual declared targets. There are many more or less suitable solutions: new allocations of additional financial resources from donors` public budgets to the ODA purposes, debt relief, innovative financial resources or methodological changes in the ODA statistical reporting. In any case, it is always needed to pay attention to the principles of effectiveness and raising the ODA quality and impact. The potential for reaching the official targets was, is and will be affected by plenty of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats on the side of the EU, developing countries and the whole international community.

La thèse « Arrêt cardiaque réfractaire aux traitements pharmacologiques: quelle solution proposer pour améliorer la circulation systémique et cérébrale? » a montré que l'amélioration de la fonction circulatoire peut être obtenue à plusieurs étapes de la prise en charge de l'arrêt cardiaque. La première étude du travail, sous la forme d'une étude expérimentale à double randomisation, a montré que l'assistance circulatoire type extracorporeal life support ECLS apporte un bénéfice sur la mortalité dans la prise en charge de l'arrêt cardiaque réfractaire chez le cochon, et que l'adrénaline administrée en intraveineux lors de la résuscitation prolongée n'améliore pas la survie des animaux. La deuxième étude a montré que la canulation pour l'ECLS peut être réalisée rapidement par voie percutanée à l'aide d'un repérage échographique et en utilisant des guides rigides en salle de cathétérisme cardiaque chez les patients en arrêt cardiaque réfractaire, permettant l'initiation de l'ECLS dans des centres dotés de salle de cathétérisme sans chirurgie cardiovasculaire. La troisième étude a retrouvé que l'état de choc et le pH artériel<7,11 sont des critères pronostiques identifiant les patients qui, après un arrêt cardiaque, présentent une reprise d'une circulation spontanée mais sont à risque de décéder d'insuffisance circulatoire réfractaire au traitement par catécholamines. La quatrième étude à montré que la stabilisation de la fonction circulatoire par l'ECLS peut être suivie par une meilleure récupération de la fonction ventriculaire gauche en modulant la postcharge, par un dispositif pulsatile diminuant le débit de l'ECLS lors de la systole cardiaque. Enfin, l'optimisation de la circulation cérébrale nécessite en plus de l'optimisation de la circulation systémique, le contrôle de l'interaction entre la pression en gaz carbonique et le débit sanguin cérébral qui est amélioré par une normalisation de la pression en gaz carbonique en stratégie pH-stat. Cette stratégie mesure la pression en gaz carbonique à la température réelle du patient au lieu de la température de référence 37° comme dans la stratégie alpha-stat. L’ensemble de ces résultats, pouvant être appliqués à différentes étapes de la prise en charge d'un patient présentant un arrêt cardiaque, pourraient permettre l'amélioration du pronostic des patients. / The doctoral dissertation « Cardiac arrest refractory to pharmacological treatments : what solution to propose to improve systemic and cerebral circulation ? » showed that circulatory function improvement can be achieved at several stages of the management of cardiac arrest patients. The first study of the dissertation, a double randomization experimental study, showed that extracorporeal life support - ECLS type circulatory assistance improves mortality in refractory cardiac arrest in pigs, and intravenous administration of epinephrine during prolonged resuscitation does not improve survival.The second study showed that cannulation for ECLS can be performed rapidly by the percutaneous technique using echography guidance and stiff wires in the catheterization laboratory in refractory cardiac arrest patients allowing for ECLS initiation in centres with catheterization laboratories but without cardiovascular surgery.The third study found that circulatory shock and arterial pH<7.11 are prognostic criteria identifying patients who, after a cardiac arrest, have return of spontaneous circulation but are at risk of death from circulatory failure refractory to catecholamine treatment.The fourth study showed that hemodynamic stabilization by ECLS can be followed by a better recovery of the left ventricular function by modulating afterload using a pulsatile device lowering ECLS output during systole.Finally, optimization of the cerebral circulation requires besides optimization of the systemic circulation, the control of the interaction between carbon dioxyde partial pressure and cerebral circulatory output, which is improved by normalizing carbon dioxyde partial pressure in pH-stat strategy. This strategy measures partial pressure of carbon dioxyde at the real temperature of the patients instead of the theoretical 37° reference temperature as in alpha-stat strategy.All these results can be applied at different stages of the management of cardiac arrest patients and may improve their prognosis.

This thesis examines the effectiveness of foreign aid in Nepal, and adds to the growing literature on the issue of aid effectiveness. Until the mid 1960s, almost all development projects in Nepal were financed by foreign aid. Since 1970, the average aid/GDP ratio remains at over 6 per cent, and in 2002 foreign aid financed over 50 per cent of Nepal’s development expenditure. Despite the constant flow of foreign aid and decades of aid-financed development efforts in Nepal, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world, with per capita income of about US$ 243 and almost 40 per cent of the total population living in absolute poverty. This thesis is the first rigorous study of aid effectiveness in Nepal. It examines the issue from three complementary perspectives. First, it looks at aid’s contribution to per capita GDP within the framework of the neoclassical production function. Second, it examines aid’s contribution to Nepal’s gross domestic investment within a framework of the two-gap model. Since aid is channelled through the government, the thesis lastly examines the impact of foreign aid on government expenditure and revenue efforts. Our study uses time-series data for the period 1970-2002, and employs cointegration and the error correction mechanism as the estimation procedure. The results show that aid has a positive and significant relationship between per capita real GDP, savings and investment in the long-run. In addition, we find that aid effectiveness improves in a good policy environment, that is, one characterised by a stable macroeconomy, openness to trade and a liberalised financial sector. The study also finds that bilateral and multilateral aid are equally effective in the long-run. However, grants aid has a stronger positive association with per capita real GDP in the long-run than loans aid. Finally, the relationship between aid and per capita real GDP in the short-run is found to be negative in both aggregate and disaggregated forms. This implies that Nepal, as in the case of most other developing countries, suffers from lack of absorptive capacity and high aid volatility. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Literature to date suggests that child coping is often a direct result of coping assistance provided by parents. Findings have not considered aspects of the stressor that may impact what the parent suggests; specifically, the child’s role, and the controllability of the stressor particularly for children with intellectual disabilities. The current study examines how the child’s disability status and parental perceptions of the child’s control over a peer problem influence the type of coping suggestions parents offer and how specific types of coping assistance affect the outcome of the coping situation. Results indicated that mothers of children with mental retardation provided more passive coping assistance and perceived their children as having less control over peer problems. Coping assistance was not directly linked to problem outcomes which suggests future studies should incorporate measures of factors such as direct parent and teacher assistance and child’s willingness or ability to implement coping suggestions.

This study is about the child’s perspective when it comes to work with financial assistance. The purpose of the study was partly to describe how social workers regard the child’s perspective in their work with financial assistance and partly to look into whether they impose a child’s perspective in their practical work. To fulfill this purpose the authors used a quantitative method and sent out a web based survey to all the social workers actively working with financial assistance in Stockholm town. This study is based on the results of 93 replies. The results show that the social workers believe to a great extent that they have an understanding for the child’s perspective. They also claim to practice the child’s perspective to a relatively great extent. The social workers are less inclined to acknowledge the principle of children’s right to make themselves heard. According to the Convention on the Rights of Children as well as Swedish law children have the right, when it comes to matters that involve them, to express their opinion and have it taken into consideration, with regards to their age and maturity, but in the financial assistance procedure that right is not being met

Around the globe the number of older people in relation to the rest is constantly growing. As a result, medical and care facilities cannot handle the growing number of patients. Therefore, elderly in-home assistance gets more attention an importance. Due to issues regarding memory, physical strength and reduced self-assessment, old people face a lot of challenges in accomplishing their activities of daily living. This thesis is meant to address these problems by analysing the required infrastructure of a home-care facility as well as the arising issues regarding used components, especially wireless sensors. After the analysis, a prototype of a home-care system is designed and implemented. Furthermore, the issue of energy consumption of the used wireless sensor node is addressed by modifying the intelligence of the used sensor. After that, the design and components of the prototype used for the energy consumption analysis is explained, together with the programming structure of the sensor nodes used in this thesis. Thereupon, the results are of the simulations are discussed and compared with the authors ‘expectations. Finally the overall outcomes of the thesis are analysed and summed up, followed by a short outlook of further possible improvements and developments.