The search for new identity factors and shared values in the post-Soviet region has given rise to a process of reevaluation of the role of religion in society. Not least the Central Asian countries are struggling with these issues in their nation building processes. They share important parts of their history with other Muslim dominated nations, but the Soviet heritage sets them apart. The focus of this study lies on the way religion as a general concept and Islam in particular are treated in four textbooks used in Kazakhstan’s school education. The contents of the textbooks are analyzed within a historical and societal context as well as a framework of contemporary secularity theory. The results elucidate a contrast between the discourse on religion found in the textbooks and the official legal status of religion in Kazakhstan today, which is taken as an indication of an ongoing reevaluation of religion leading away from the staunch Soviet secularity and possibly towards a situation where religion is seen as a natural part of societal developments. At the same time, however, the normative effect of official discourse is a double-edged sword, which, while shaping ideas of what religion is and ought to be, may also undermine the credibility and authority of a religion too closely associated with political authority.

Cooperation between authorities is of great importance for effective crisis management. A new crisis management system was introduced in Sweden in 2002 to enhance the ability of public authorities to manage accidents and extraordinary events. It expects authorities to cooperate with each other both before and while dealing with such situations. An important aspect of this cooperation is the exchange of information, which is hampered when authorities are obliged to observe secrecy rules even if this limits their ability to manage accidents and extraordinary events. It may be said, therefore, that the legislation governing the exchange of information by authorities, chiefly the Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400), is essentially at variance with the rules that require cooperation. The thesis analyses legal requirements on authorities to cooperate and exchange information when dealing with accidents and extraordinary events and how these requirements relate to secrecy rules. The study does not merely examine the legal requirements placed on authorities to cooperate and exchange information and to observe secrecy rules when dealing with accidents and extraordinary events; it also undertakes a critical analysis of the current legislation, with the aim of identifying deficiencies and ambiguities, taking as its criteria that good legislation should be clear, coherent and well-balanced. Since the thesis shows that there are deficiencies in the legislation, it also suggests improvements and alternative forms of regulation.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Darbo tikslas: Ištirti darbuotojų požiūrį į darbo kokybę VšĮ Varėnos ligoninėje. Uždaviniai: 1. Ištirti darbuotojų požiūrį į paslaugų kokybę ligoninėje. 2. Įvertinti medicinos personalo požiūrį į kokybės sistemą ligoninėje. 3. Įvertinti darbuotojų požiūrį į kokybės sistemos dokumentus. Tyrimo metodika: 2007.11.05 – 2007.11.20 laikotarpiu VšĮ Varėnos ligoninėje bu¬vo atliekama anoniminė anketinė darbuotojų apklau¬sa. Buvo išdalinta 254 anketos, atsakė – 205 respondentai (atsakas – 80,7 proc.). Rezultatų statistinė analizė atlikta SPSS 13.0 versijos programiniu paketu ir MS Excel. Rezultatai: Kokybės sistemos diegime dalyvauja šiek tiek daugiau kaip pusė (57,7 proc.) darbuotojų; aktyviausi tyrimo dalyviai yra gydytojai (81,1 proc.) ir slaugytojos (71,9 proc.). Dauguma (85,1 proc.) darbuotojų mano, kad kokybės sistema didžiausią naudą duoda patiems darbuotojams. Darbuotojų nuomone darbo instrukcijos, metodikų supratimas ir naudojimasis jomis tiesioginiame darbe yra naudingi. 44,0 proc. respondentų mano, kad kokybės sistemos diegime dalyvauja gerai vykdydami jiems patikėtas dokumentuotas procedūras. Pagrindinė darbuotojų pasyvumo priežastis, diegiant jų skyriuje kokybės sistemą, yra motyvacijos (3,89 balo) ir paskatinimo iš vadovų (4,60 balo) (p<0,05) trūkumas. Išvados: Medicinos personalo nuomone ligoninėje kokybės vadybos sistema nėra įdiegta. Darbuotojų aktyvumas diegiant kokybės vadybos sistemą yra vidutinis. Paskatinimo iš vadovų trūkumas yra esminė darbuotojų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Aim of the study: Examine the attitudes of the employees to work quality in the Varėna Hospital. Objectives: 1. Examine attitude of staff to the quality of services in the hospital. 2.Evaluate attitude medical staff’s of to wards the quality system in the hospital. 3. Evaluate attitude of staff of to wards the quality system’s documents. Methodics of the research: Anonymous questionnaire survey of employees was carried out in the Varėna Hospital during the period of 2007.11.05 – 2007.11.20. 254 questionnaires were distributed and 205 respondents have answered (response – 80,7 %). Statistic analysis of the results was performed using SPSS 13.0 version of programme pack and MS Excel. Results: Half of all employees (57.7 %) took part in the implementation of the quality system; the most active participants of the research are doctors (81.1 %) and tenders (71.9 %). The majority of respondents (85.1 %) believe that employees themselves benefit most from the quality system. Work instructions of the department, understanding of methodologies and their usage in direct work are very beneficial. 44 % of respondents believe that they participate in implementation of the quality system by performing to them assigned documented procedures well. The main reason of employees’ passiveness in implementing a quality system in their department was a lack of motivation (3.89 points) and encouragement (4.60 points) from the managers (p<0,05). Conclusions: Medical staff suggested that the... [to full text]

This thesis looks at public participation in the formulation of three official community plans within the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. As background, a historical review of the literature makes the case that historical events led to the democratization of planning and supports communicative action theory as a pragmatic framework for modern planners. An examination of local government legislation and practice exposes the great deal of discretion afforded to each local government. Local resident advisory group members’ experiences, gained through face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews, are analyzed using qualitative data coding. The analysis reveals four major themes across the three processes: sense of agency and level of input, process, power and group identity and cohesion. The interview analysis is then fed back through the literature, lending varied support to the communicative turn in planning and providing a more broad interpretation of the data that informs future planning practice.

This essay examine how temporal claims (past, present and future) are used in two Official Government Reports (SOU) in Sweden considering rape and sexual assault. The Official Government Reports constitute an important and particular system for long-term planning, and the reports are used as an instrument to achieve desirable changes within the nation. The temporal pretensions in SOU 1976:9 Sexual offences: proposed new wording of Penal provisions against virtue, and SOU 1982:61 Rape and other sexual assaults, are analyzed in relation to the concepts realization of the possible and actualization of the virtual, in order to see how the concepts correspond to the process of desirable change in the reports. The temporal claims are used in a spatially sense where space is assimilated to the concept of time which in return create notions of spatio-temporal images of the past, the present and the future. This is partly a problem for the reports in their aspiration to transform old norms and create innovatory values and ideals.

Personality inventories in South Africa are challenged with many factors restricting unbiased and fair measurement. The Employment Equity Act clearly stipulates that all psychometric measuring instruments should be proven bias free, equivalent, and fair. Most of the current inventories utilised in South Africa are imported from Europe and/or the United States of America, and these instruments are translated into either English or Afrikaans, which restricts the language proficiency factor of respondents from other language groups. There are 11 official language groups in South Africa; people also differ regarding race, culture, socioeconomic status, and educational backgrounds. All of these factors are not always properly accounted for in the standardisation of imported inventories - which limits their appropriate employment in the South African context. The objective of this study was to uncover the personality structure of each of the 11 language groups in South Africa, and to identify the shared and unique personality dimensions of the different language groups. From this structure, an instrument will be developed to measure personality in such a way that it will meet the Employment Equity Act. A qualitative research design was used in this study. Quasi-sampling («=1308j was implemented in order to identify participants from each of the 11 language groups, which differed from each other with regard to age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Following the lexical approach, structured interviews were conducted in the native language of the participants to gather information about personality-descriptive terms. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel, and sent to language experts for language editing and translation into English. Ambiguous, superfluous and non-personality terms were removed from the data. Following this process, more than 50 000 personality-descriptive terms were identified. Content analysis was utilised in order to interpret the personality- descriptive terms to personality dimensions. Language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The 50 000 descriptive terms were reduced to 190 personality dimensions through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. The 190 dimensions were also divided into those that are common (shared by all 11 language groups), semi-common (shared by seven to ten of the language groups), semi-specific (shared by two to six of the language groups), and language-specific (unique to a particular language group). It was discovered that 78 dimensions were common, 69 semi-common, 32 semi-specific, and only 11 were language-specific. Most of the personality dimensions seem to be shared by the language groups, rather than to be unique. These 190 dimensions were clustered further in order to build the indigenous personality structure. Similar methods from the initial clustering phase were implemented. Clustering concluded 37 sub-clusters, which consisted of two to ten dimensions, and nine overall clusters consisting of two to six sub-clusters. These nine clusters are Extroversion, Soft-heartedness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, Intellect, Openness, Integrity, Relationship harmony, and Facilitating. Many indigenous aspects are evident, as well as universal aspects within the structure. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This thesis looks at public participation in the formulation of three official community plans within the Columbia Shuswap Regional District. As background, a historical review of the literature makes the case that historical events led to the democratization of planning and supports communicative action theory as a pragmatic framework for modern planners. An examination of local government legislation and practice exposes the great deal of discretion afforded to each local government. Local resident advisory group members’ experiences, gained through face‐to‐face semi‐structured interviews, are analyzed using qualitative data coding. The analysis reveals four major themes across the three processes: sense of agency and level of input, process, power and group identity and cohesion. The interview analysis is then fed back through the literature, lending varied support to the communicative turn in planning and providing a more broad interpretation of the data that informs future planning practice.

Personality inventories in South Africa are challenged with many factors restricting unbiased and fair measurement. The Employment Equity Act clearly stipulates that all psychometric measuring instruments should be proven bias free, equivalent, and fair. Most of the current inventories utilised in South Africa are imported from Europe and/or the United States of America, and these instruments are translated into either English or Afrikaans, which restricts the language proficiency factor of respondents from other language groups. There are 11 official language groups in South Africa; people also differ regarding race, culture, socioeconomic status, and educational backgrounds. All of these factors are not always properly accounted for in the standardisation of imported inventories - which limits their appropriate employment in the South African context. The objective of this study was to uncover the personality structure of each of the 11 language groups in South Africa, and to identify the shared and unique personality dimensions of the different language groups. From this structure, an instrument will be developed to measure personality in such a way that it will meet the Employment Equity Act. A qualitative research design was used in this study. Quasi-sampling («=1308j was implemented in order to identify participants from each of the 11 language groups, which differed from each other with regard to age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Following the lexical approach, structured interviews were conducted in the native language of the participants to gather information about personality-descriptive terms. The results of the interviews were transcribed and captured in Excel, and sent to language experts for language editing and translation into English. Ambiguous, superfluous and non-personality terms were removed from the data. Following this process, more than 50 000 personality-descriptive terms were identified. Content analysis was utilised in order to interpret the personality- descriptive terms to personality dimensions. Language and cultural experts were employed in order to validate the initial interpretations. The 50 000 descriptive terms were reduced to 190 personality dimensions through the use of cluster analysis. The analysis included the grouping of synonyms and antonyms, together with the use of dictionaries, literature and knowledge about content. The 190 dimensions were also divided into those that are common (shared by all 11 language groups), semi-common (shared by seven to ten of the language groups), semi-specific (shared by two to six of the language groups), and language-specific (unique to a particular language group). It was discovered that 78 dimensions were common, 69 semi-common, 32 semi-specific, and only 11 were language-specific. Most of the personality dimensions seem to be shared by the language groups, rather than to be unique. These 190 dimensions were clustered further in order to build the indigenous personality structure. Similar methods from the initial clustering phase were implemented. Clustering concluded 37 sub-clusters, which consisted of two to ten dimensions, and nine overall clusters consisting of two to six sub-clusters. These nine clusters are Extroversion, Soft-heartedness, Conscientiousness, Emotional stability, Intellect, Openness, Integrity, Relationship harmony, and Facilitating. Many indigenous aspects are evident, as well as universal aspects within the structure. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.