This research was purposed to discover how students perceived the impact of participation or lack of participation in school music classes on their global school experiences during secondary school. The research stemmed from concern that recent focus on state and federal mandates may have resulted in a return to educational policies that discount consideration of student experience. All choir students (N = 160) at a large university in the southeastern United States comprised the participant population for the initial screening questionnaire, with 135 students returning completed surveys. Questionnaire results informed the purposeful sampling of 16 students in six focus groups. The focus-group responses guided the selection of the six students from the focus groups to participate in one 30-45 minute individual interview. The researcher-designed screening questionnaire was a structured survey with open-ended and closed questions (Creswell, 2012; Markus & Nurius, 1986). The interview instruments had guiding questions based on the phenomenological suggestions of Moustakas (1994). The resulting information is in narrative form. Analysis, beginning with the data generated by the questionnaire, was ongoing throughout the study. Hallam’s (2002) motivational model positing the malleable aspects of the personality such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, possible selves, and the ideal self anchored the final analysis. Students reflected on the overarching question, “Did involvement or lack of involvement in school music affect students’ perceptions of the global school experience and extra-musical success?” The findings support the premise that participation in school music can have a positive affect on students’ comprehensive school experience extending to a sense of community, increased self-confidence and leadership, enhanced learning in non-music classes, and a time of relief from academic stress. At-risk students described the ameliorating effects of music participation on their challenging life situations. An ancillary finding was that many students were advised to discontinue music classes to take advanced academic classes, rather than for remediation. These results of this study may provide a useful tool for advocacy. Future research could investigate whether participation in music classes promotes learning and memory consolidation of academic knowledge by providing divergent learning tasks that stimulate new modes of thinking.

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Magistro baigiamojo darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti investicijas į žmogiškąjį kapitalą ir įvertinti jų grąžą Lietuvoje, remiantis atlikta mokslinės literatūros analize. Konceptualiojoje darbo dalyje žmogiškojo kapitalo bei investicijų į jį diskusiniai klausimai aptariami teoriniu aspektu remiantis lietuvių bei užsienio autorių darbais. Analitinėje – tiriamojoje darbo dalyje pateikta investicijų į žmogiškąjį kapitalą kaštų ir naudos, grynosios dabartinės vertės, atsipirkimo periodo ir pajamų normos analizė. Skaičiavimais gauti rezultatai lyginami su kitų šalių rodikliais, siekiant objektyviai įvertinti investicijas į aukštąjį išsilavinimą ir jų grąžą Lietuvoje. Trečioji darbo dalis apima investicijų į žmogiškąjį kapitalą tobulinimo krypčių numatymą. / The aim of this final Master paper is to analyze the investment to human capital and evaluate its return and effectiveness in Lithuania according to the scientific literature. Conceptual part of this paper discloses the debatable questions of human capital and investment to it based on literature of Lithuanian and foreign authors. Analytical part of the paper investigates costs and benefit, net present value, payback period and rate of return of investment to human capital. Results according to main calculations are compared with foreign countries in order to be objective when evaluating the return rate of investment in human capital in Lithuania. Main trends for improvement are included in the third part of the paper.

This thesis looks at the politics of labor market policy in the postwar period in the advanced industrialized democracies. Specifically, the dissertation seeks to explain stark cross-national differences in unemployment benefit systems and employment protection legislation. The theory advanced in this thesis emphasizes significant differences in union organization across the rich democracies. This view, “Varieties of Unionism”, shows how the varying political capacities and policy preferences of labor movements explain most of the cross-national policy differences. In particular, the research points to union movements’ ideological traditions and varying rates of union density, union centralization, and involvement in unemployment benefit administration as crucial explanatory forces. Each feature of union movements captures an important part of why they might choose to advocate on behalf of the unemployed and to their differential ability to have those policy preferences realized, as well as indicating the kinds of preferences they will have for employment protection legislation. In the case of policies directed at the unemployed (or so-called labor market ‘Outsiders’), these insights lead to the construction of an index of “Outsider-oriented Unionism”, which correlates very closely to cross-national variations in unemployment benefit generosity as well as to active labor market policy spending. The thesis also introduces a new fourfold typology of unionism that helps to explain the different combinations of employment protection legislation and ‘Outsider policy’ generosity that exist among the rich democracies, or labor market policy ‘regimes’. The thesis makes this argument with multiple regression analysis of fifteen rich democracies and with detailed historical case studies of Britain, The Netherlands, and Sweden. In making this case, the thesis strongly challenges the explanations of labor market policy put forward by the Varieties of Capitalism literature and Insider-Outsider theory. In addition, the thesis reformulates the traditional Power Resource view by introducing a more rigorous theory of labor movements’ policy preferences and thereby qualifies recent statements that have emphasized partisanship almost alone. Most broadly, the theory challenges the “individualist turn” in recent comparative political economy scholarship and suggests that the field needs to return its gaze far more toward organized interests.

This thesis looks at the politics of labor market policy in the postwar period in the advanced industrialized democracies. Specifically, the dissertation seeks to explain stark cross-national differences in unemployment benefit systems and employment protection legislation. The theory advanced in this thesis emphasizes significant differences in union organization across the rich democracies. This view, “Varieties of Unionism”, shows how the varying political capacities and policy preferences of labor movements explain most of the cross-national policy differences. In particular, the research points to union movements’ ideological traditions and varying rates of union density, union centralization, and involvement in unemployment benefit administration as crucial explanatory forces. Each feature of union movements captures an important part of why they might choose to advocate on behalf of the unemployed and to their differential ability to have those policy preferences realized, as well as indicating the kinds of preferences they will have for employment protection legislation. In the case of policies directed at the unemployed (or so-called labor market ‘Outsiders’), these insights lead to the construction of an index of “Outsider-oriented Unionism”, which correlates very closely to cross-national variations in unemployment benefit generosity as well as to active labor market policy spending. The thesis also introduces a new fourfold typology of unionism that helps to explain the different combinations of employment protection legislation and ‘Outsider policy’ generosity that exist among the rich democracies, or labor market policy ‘regimes’. The thesis makes this argument with multiple regression analysis of fifteen rich democracies and with detailed historical case studies of Britain, The Netherlands, and Sweden. In making this case, the thesis strongly challenges the explanations of labor market policy put forward by the Varieties of Capitalism literature and Insider-Outsider theory. In addition, the thesis reformulates the traditional Power Resource view by introducing a more rigorous theory of labor movements’ policy preferences and thereby qualifies recent statements that have emphasized partisanship almost alone. Most broadly, the theory challenges the “individualist turn” in recent comparative political economy scholarship and suggests that the field needs to return its gaze far more toward organized interests.

Purpose of this study is to identify and to evaluate the main trends in the development of old-age pensions and sickness benefits schemes (by designing social insurance system models) and to determine the possible ways how to increase the efficiency in consumption smoothing policy and how to increase the financial sustainability of the old-age and sickness insurance schemes. This study searches for answers to the questions: how to maintain the consumption opportunities of beneficiaries, how to maintain a balance between the contributions paid and benefits received (the balance between the price paid and goods received), how to reduce the risk of budget deficit explosion and how to maintain the consumption opportunities of beneficiaries and insured. Consumption smoothing analysis focuses on the identity between the contributions paid and benefits received, on the analysis of replacement rates, on the analysis of pensioners to insured ratio (and on the possibilities of interpretation the analysis provide). The study determined the cycles of Lithuanian social insurance system development, examined and evaluated three different pensions' indexation policies, examined and evaluated the utility and performance of second pillar pension funds and carried out the study of possibilities of raising the efficiency in Lithuanian sickness benefits scheme. This study helps to deeper the understanding of how population aging affects the economy and provides the materials for future... [to full text] / Disertacijos tikslas – sudarant socialinio draudimo sistemos modelius, nustatyti ir išanalizuoti svarbiausias senatvės pensijų ir laikinojo nedarbingumo išmokų raidos tendencijas, atsižvelgiant į jas, pagrįsti efektyvumo ir tvarumo didinimo galimybes senatvės ir laikinojo nedarbingumo socialinio draudimo išmokų programose (srityse). Disertacijoje ieškoma atsakymų į klausimus: kaip palaikyti išmokų gavėjų vartojimo galimybes, kaip išlaikyti pusiausvyrą tarp sumokėtų įmokų ir gautų išmokų (pusiausvyra tarp sumokėtos kainos ir gautos prekių apimties), kaip sumažinti socialinio draudimo biudžeto deficito atsiradimo riziką ir palaikyti dirbančių asmenų ir išmokų gavėjų vartojimo galimybes. Vartojimo galimybių palaikymo efektyvumo įvertinimas apima tapatumo tarp sumokėtų įmokų ir gautų išmokų analizę, pakeitimo normos analizę, išmokų gavėjų ir dirbančių asmenų santykio analizę, šių rodiklių ir sąryšių interpretacijos atskleidžiamas galimybes. Disertacijoje nustatyti Lietuvos socialinio draudimo sistemos raidos ciklai, išnagrinėti ir įvertinti trys išmokų indeksavimo variantai, įvertintos antros pakopos kaupiamųjų pensijų fondų sistemos galimybės ir veiklos rezultatai, atliktas laikinojo nedarbingumo išmokų sistemos efektyvumo didinimo tyrimas. Šis darbas padeda geriau suprasti visuomenės senėjimo padarinius ir numatyti priemones būsimų procesų reguliavimui.

Today succesful corporations recognise the importance of employees involvement and motivation and therefore apply one or other kind of remuneration and benefits system. The problem is that employees motivation is highly dependent on a lot of factors, such as individual employees characteristics, country‘s believes and attitudes, corporations policy and so on. Not to mention the time factor, which brings changes into settled norms and therefore modifies the motivation concepts. As a result of this, it is important to constantly explore and seek to understand the composition of the employees motivation in order to create an effective remuneration and benefits system. The research question is how remuneration and benefits affect employees motivation? Research aim is to analyze the impact of remuneration and benefits on employees motivation. Research objectives are: 1. To analyze the concepts of remuneration, benefits and employees motivation and come up with a linkage model of these concepts. 2. To investigate the importance and satisfaction of motivating factors for Lithuanian employees in advertising industry. 3. To explore the correlations between remuneration, benefits and employees motivation. 4. To explore the associations between motivators and employees behavior. 5. To check the relation of motivators with employees demographic characteristics. Empirical research methodology. Quantitative combined with qualitative approach is chosen in order to create a valid research... [to full text] / Šių laikų sėkmingos įmonės vis labiau pripažįsta darbuotojų įsitraukimo bei jų motyvacijos svarbą ir dažnai taiko įvairius atlygio ir papildomų naudų metodus. Darbuotojų motyvacijai įtaką turi tokie veiksniai kaip individualios darbuotojų savybės, tam tikros šalies kultūriniai ypatumai, įmonės vykdoma politika ir t.t. Labai svarbus yra ir laikas, kuris atneša permainų į jau nusistovėjusias tvarkas ir taip keičia motyvacijos sudėtį. Dėl minėtų priežasčių, nuolatinis darbuotojų motyvacijos analizavimas yra labai svarbus, ypač norint sukurti efektyvią atlygio ir papildomų naudų sistemą. Tyrimo problema yra kaip atlygis ir papildomos naudos įtakoja darbuotojų motyvaciją? Tyrimo tikslas yra išanalizuoti atlygio ir papildomų naudų poveikį darbuotojų motyvacijai. Tyrimo uždaviniai yra: 1. Išanalizuoti atlygio, papildomų naudų ir darbuotojų motyvacijos sąvokas bei pasiūlyti šių trijų koncepcijų bendrą modelį. 2. Ištirti Lietuvos darbuotojų, dirbančių reklamos srityje, pasitenkinimą motyvacine sistema. 3. Išnagrinėti sąryšius tarp atlygio, papildomų naudų ir darbuotojų motyvacijos. 4. Išnagrinėti ryšius tarp motyvacinių faktorių ir darbuotojų elgesio. 5. Patikrinti, ar yra ryšys tarp motyvacinių faktorių ir darbuotojų demografinių charakteristikų. Empirinio tyrimo metodas. Kiekybinis bei kokybinis tyrimo metodai buvo pasirinkti siekiant atlikti pagrįstą tyrimą ir išanalizuoti motyvacijos bei pasitenkinimo svarbą įvairiais motyvaciniais faktoriais, o taip pat siekiant nustatyti tų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Magistro darbe nagrinėjama Valstybinės socialinės apsaugos samprata, socialinės apsaugos sistema, Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo struktūra ir identifikuojami Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo biudžeto subalansuotumą lemiantys veiksniai. Remiantis teorinėje darbo dalyje išanalizuota literatūra apie Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo biudžeto subalansavimą lemiančius veiksnius atlikta Lietuvos Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo biudžeto įmokų ir išmokų dinaminė ir struktūrinė analizė 2004 – 2009 metų laikotarpiu. Atlikus Lietuvos Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo biudžeto įmokų ir išmokų analizę išskirti esminiai veiksniai ir priežastys įtakojančios Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo įmokas ir išmokas. Taikant modeliavimo metodą numatomos ir pagrindžiamos Valstybinio socialinio draudimo fondo biudžeto subalansuotumo problemos kryptys. / Master's thesis about the State social security concept of the social security system and the State Social Insurance Fund and the identification of the structure of the State Social Insurance Fund budget balance factors. Based on theoretical work in literature on the analysis of the State Social Insurance Fund budget balancing factors taken Lithuanian State Social Insurance Fund contributions and benefits in a dynamic and structural analysis of the 2004 - 2009 period. After the Lithuanian State Social Insurance Fund contributions and benefit analysis and identify key factors influencing the causes of the State Social Insurance Fund contributions and benefits. For the purposes of modeling provided and supported by the National Social Insurance Fund budget lines of equilibrium problems.

There is substantial optimism for urban agriculture as a form of alternative agriculture that can enhance the food security of individuals within our food system. However, productivity and efficiency of this form of agriculture are not well understood in the literature. This research is the result of a case study of Guelph where fifty gardeners were selected and asked to complete a garden diary in which they recorded their production and input costs (land, labour and capital). The results indicate that the average vegetable gardener in Guelph is not able to achieve high yields but their inputs of labour and capital are quite high. Further investigation of motivations and barriers found that production was not a major motivation for vegetable gardening, but that there were numerous other benefits involved. This suggests that backyard gardening is not a viable food security strategy.

Encouraging the participation of the local population in the preservation of World Heritage Sites is one of the mission’s of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. Community involvement is also critical in the planning process. This dissertation argues that community involvement should be part of the World Heritage List nomination process and long-term preservation of the sites and that mechanisms should be in place to ensure this as part of the nomination file. To support this argument, literature on community involvement and World Heritage Sites is reviewed. Part of this dissertation is to provide a framework for community involvement at World Heritage Sites. In order to accomplish this, the known potential socio-economic benefits of World Heritage designation are also reviewed. This provides a framework whereby communities can be consulted and involved in activities at World Heritage Sites with the goal of preservation of the site and achieving additional socio-economic benefits. This framework was used to explore the attitudes of eight Western Ukrainian communities on the use of their wooden churches that are nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List to improve their socio-economic conditions as well as preserve the churches. Previous studies focused mostly on the effects of World Heritage Site designation to produce social and economic benefits. This dissertation takes a different approach by involving the community at the nomination stage to determine which of these benefits they support and develop a plan of action and guidelines focused on achieving the desired changes. A community survey was developed under the supervision of this dissertation committee and Dr. Bevz at the Department of Restoration and Reconstruction of Architectural Complexes at Lviv Polytechnic National University as part of a J. William Fulbright grant to Ukraine. The survey responses were analyzed using both summary and statistical analysis to develop guidelines and a plan of action to be implemented by Lviv Polytechnic. This dissertation provides much needed research into community involvement at World Heritage Sites for their preservation and to achieve socio-economic benefits for the surrounding communities. The framework laid out in this dissertation has implications not only for Western Ukraine, but cultural heritage sites throughout the world.