The thesis focuses on the barriers to the internationalization of SMEs. The theoretical part consists of four chapters outlining the basic theoretical resources necessary for the practical part. The first part explains the nature of internationalization and globalization, the second defines SMEs in the Czech Republic and the European Union, the third section presents the most important and most common barriers to the internationalization of SMEs, the last fourth part provides an overview of the institutions involved in export promotion in the Czech Republic. The practical part of the thesis consists of an analysis sample of four companies that led to the determination of the largest and most common barriers to the internationalization of Czech SMEs.

The spectrum of acute pancreatitis (AP) affects between 4.9 and 73.4 patients out of 100,000 worldwide annually (Tenner, Baillie, DeWitt, & Vege, 2013). AP uses the Atlanta classification system to establish a diagnosis of mild, moderate, or severe. The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) has established comprehensive clinical practice guidelines (CPG) for the management of AP, the most recent version published in 2013 (Tenner et al., 2013). There have been similar CPGs published internationally that integrate current evidence-based research into recommendations for practice. These guidelines along with the ACG's guidelines recommend initiating a diet for mild acute pancreatitis patients due to research findings of improved patient outcomes (i.e. reduced length of hospital stay, decreased rate of infections, and reduced mortality) (Horibe et al., 2015; Lariño-Noia et al., 2014). There is an international awareness of the need for increased CPG nutrition recommendation compliance in the practice setting as many studies have found providers prefer to keep patients nil per os (NPO) and do not adhere to CPGs (Andersson, Andrén-Sandberg, Nilsson, & Andersson, 2012; Greenberg et al., 2016; Sun et al., 2013). The purpose of this doctor of nursing practice (DNP) project is to assess providers' current nutrition therapy practice and knowledge of the ACG’s CPG nutrition recommendations for mild AP patients. The researcher conducted the assessment with a hospitalist practice at Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. The results of the project contribute to the current body of research on national adherence to CPGs for AP and act as a needs assessment for future projects where a nutrition protocol order set may be established. The investigation of nutrition therapy for AP patients seeks to improve and standardize the care this patient population receives while in the acute care setting.

Class of 2017 Abstract / Objectives: To facilitate a discussion among various healthcare professionals about the facets of interprofessionalism that occur, or do not occur, in a rural acute healthcare setting, and how interprofessionalism could be integrated into the facility’s current healthcare professional student programs. Methods: A focus group was conducted with 8 participants lasting about 45 minutes. Participants were one of three different professions (nurse, medical doctor, or pharmacist) and included administrators as well as staff employees. Six questions were discussed among participants and the answers from each participant were scripted onto a word document. This document was thematically analyzed and compared and contrasted to a previous study, which asked the same six questions in a different rural acute healthcare site. Results: The main findings of this study were that workforce shortage, lack of computerized physician order entry (CPOE), and lack of a uniformity throughout the hospital affected interprofessional practice, learning, and education. Conclusions: Perceived barriers of interprofessional practice at Canyon Vista Medical Center included: poor communication, understaffing, lack of a unified, computerized EHR throughout the hospital, and unclear policies. Some proposed ways to overcome these barriers include having a full staff, creating a unified electronic health record (EHR) system, offering interprofessional learning opportunities, and providing employees the opportunity to gain experience in departments other than their own.

The main aim of my thesis is to identify the obstacles with which the Czech companies face during establishing a new company on the French market and which obstacles facing French companies on the Czech market. I will compare the ease of entry to these two markets. On this topic I addressed 100 French companies developing their activities on the Czech market and 100 Czech companies operating on the French market.

E-government, in both developed and developing countries, has become the focus of governments' agenda because it offers enormous opportunities to reform the public sector and improve its performance. However, the evolution of e-government initiatives in developing countries is not at a satisfactory level which indicates that there are still enormous barriers and concerns that need to be addressed and solved.The major aim of this research is to investigate the supply-side stakeholders' perspectives of drivers and barriers forces that stimulate or impede the development of e-government initiative in Jordan and recommend strategies to e-government leaders on how to overcome and manage the encountered forces.This is a case study based qualitative research that employs semi-structured interviews as the primary source for data collection. In addition, template analysis approach and NVivo qualitative software have been used to analyze the gathered data. Moreover, a novel conceptual framework was initially developed by the researcher in order to be used as a helpful guide in the process of data collection and analysis. The framework was then applied to the research context to establish an overall view of the key drivers and barriers that influence the implementation of e-government at national level in Jordan.Research findings indicate that there are various drivers and barriers that affect the development of e-government initiative in Jordan. Most of the research findings confirmed what was already revealed by previous studies. However, this study added new and unique findings that were not discovered before including; The Holy Month of Ramadan, Ministers Reshuffling, Religious Beliefs, Preach Without Practicing, Wasta, and Improper Use of Technology. These new findings emerged distinctively from the Jordanian, Arabic and Islamic contexts. Finally, various recommendations have been proposed to demonstrate how challenges could be handled in practice. The value of this study is threefold. First, it contributes as new reference in e-government literature with respect to drivers and barriers to e-government in developing countries in general and in Arab nations in particular. Second, it proposes a conceptual framework that could be used as a tool to understand drivers and barriers that affect the development of e-government and their correlation to e-government initiatives success or failure. Third, it motivates changes in practice as it provides practical recommendations and guidance for practitioners and leaders of e-government in Jordan on how they should take actions to overcome and manage the encountered forces in order to reduce the possibility of the initiative failure and enhance the chance of its success.

The thesis focuses on the journey of women to management with focus on female managers in AVG Technologies. Thesis is focused mainly on the barriers and enablers women are facing during their careers. Theoretical part describes first the role of women in today's society, then the profile of a manager and lastly women in management. Practical part introduces the company AVG Technologies to the readers and describes the findings from the research conducted in the company with the female managers. Lastly recommendations are given to the company.

This dissertation examined the dimensions of food access and its effects on food selection for individuals enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); low-income senior citizens; and recipients of the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefit. This study investigated the use of the Link Up Illinois Double Value SNAP Nutrition Incentives Program (DVCP), a coupon with which recipients can receive twice as much fresh produce when redeemed at a farmers market. In addition, this study measured the organizational scope of administering the Double Value Coupon Program in the 12th Congressional District of Illinois. This information allows for the development of appropriate location-specific intervention strategies to increase the use of the Link Up Illinois Double Value SNAP Nutrition Incentives Program and, consequently, the findings can lend themselves to strategies that improve upon consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables among low-income seniors, SNAP recipients, and WIC recipients.

Offenders returning to the community face a multitude of barriers in the reentry process, including limited resources for mental health treatment, restricted employment opportunities, difficulties with housing, and community stigma. Considering the impact of such barriers, it comes as little surprise that approximately two-thirds of returning citizens are rearrested within three years of release. There are unique, but often unexamined, challenges for offenders returning to rural communities, including lack of transportation, limited access to public or private healthcare, and often extreme poverty. It is also possible that exacerbated barriers to successful treatment and reintegration occur for offenders who have committed specific offenses (i.e., sexual crimes). Treatment providers who work regularly with offenders are familiar with challenges that their clients face, offering unique perspectives from their field of work. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 38 treatment providers in social work, counseling, clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy. Using NVivo 10 software, interview footage was transcribed by trained research assistants. Qualitative data were subjected to a two-stage thematic analysis. Initial themes were identified and then examined for overlap and commonality. Similar themes were then condensed into more distinct themes and subthemes, which were then coded from transcripts. Given the additional barriers for offenders returning to a rural community, the purpose of this study is to qualitatively explore the specific impact of rurality on reentry from the perspective of those providing court-ordered treatment services. This was done via the examination of subthemes that emerged under the general theme of "Rural Needs." Each subtheme will be defined and explored individually, as well as in the general context of rural needs, to provide more in-depth understanding of rural offender reentry. A majority of the research on policy and programming for offenders is based in urban areas; however, translating urban models of care to rural communities is difficult. Implications for the impact of rurality on successful reentry in terms of the criminal justice system and treatment will be discussed.

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Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL) / The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) in the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training outlines access, participation and barriers as critical issues in post-school education (DHET, 2013). The main aim of this research paper was to investigate the relationships between access, barriers to participation and success among adult students registered for the National Accredited Technical Diploma (NATED) specialisation in Early Childhood Development (ECD) at a TVET College in the Western Cape. Although I concentrated on the interplay between the adult students’ experiences related to access, participation and barriers, my primary interest relates to how and why adult students succeed despite the barriers that they encounter.