Fire fighters are involved in critical decision making situations, and under-performance and lack of job satisfaction due to burnout could adversely affect the welfare of the people that are being provided with the service. This study thus investigated the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction amongst operational fire fighters. Two measuring instruments were used: the Pines, Aronson & Kafry (1981) Burnout Index, and the Smith, Hulin and Kendall (1969) Job Descriptive Index. This study was conducted amongst 102 fire fighters working for a local authority. Through a literature review, burnout and job satisfaction were defined, and a link between the two constructs outlined. Through an empirical study, the relationship between burnout and job satisfaction was determined. Supporting evidence indicates a negative correlation between burnout and job satisfaction, as well as revealing social support amongst co-workers as being an important buffer against the effects of burnout. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

Quel est le point commun entre George Orwell, André Malraux, Davy Crockett et Oussama Ben Laden ?Cette question pourrait en surprendre certains. Comment trouver un point commun entre, l’auteur de La Ferme des animaux et de 1984, le résistant et ministre français et l’élu du Congrès des États-Unis ancré dans la culture populaire ?Qui plus est s’ils le partagent avec l’ancien leader d’Al Qaida.Comme des milliers d’autres, ils ont été des « combattants étrangers ». En des temps différents et pour défendre des causes différentes, ils entreprirent un voyage qui les mena à prendre les armes dans des guerres étrangères. Ce phénomène historique a connu, depuis la dernière décennie, un nouveau tournant juridique à travers le flux des milliers d’étrangers qui ont rejoint l’une des parties belligérantes en Syrie ou en Irak. Pour faire face à cette menace pour la paix et la sécurité internationales, les Nations unies ont alors créé le statut juridique de « combattant terroriste étranger », soumettant ces étrangers des conflits armés aux dispositions de la lutte contre le terrorisme. Toutefois, ce statut semble souffrir de nombreuses lacunes qui, notamment, ne permettent pas de différencier un terroriste international d’un simple volontaire international, d’un membre d’un groupe armé organisé ou encore d’un combattant d’une force armée étatique. George Orwell, André Malraux et Davy Crockett seraient aujourd’hui sûrement considérés comme des « combattants terroristes étrangers ». De plus, l’application de ce statut pour identifier des acteurs des conflits armés entre en opposition avec certaines règles du droit international. Finalement, pour trouver le statut juridique des « combattants étrangers », pour les identifier et encadrer leurs activités, y compris leurs actes terroristes, c’est vers les règles du Droit international humanitaire qu’il faut se tourner. Les « combattants étrangers », même terroristes, sont déjà identifiés par les statuts du Droit dans la guerre. / What do George Orwell, André Malraux, Davy Crockett and Osama Bin Laden have in common? This question might be surprising to some. How to find a common trait between the author of Animal Farm and 1984, the French resistance former minister, and the elected representative of the United States congress rooted in popular culture? Especially, if they are to share it with the former leader of Al Qaeda.Like thousands of others, they were "foreign fighters". In different times and to defend different causes, they undertook a journey which led them to take up arms in foreign wars. This historic phenomenon underwent a new legal turning point the last decade through the flow of thousands of foreigners who joined one of the belligerent parties in Syria and Iraq. To address this threat to international peace and security, the United Nations created the legal term of “foreign terrorist fighter”, subjecting these foreigners in armed conflicts to provisions in international counter-terrorism law. However, this status suffers shortcomings, which make it impossible, in particular, to differentiate between an international terrorist, an international volunteer, a member of an organized armed group or even a combatant of a state armed force. Today, George Orwell, André Malraux and Davy Crockett would probably be considered as "foreign terrorist fighters". In addition, the application of such status to identify actors of armed conflicts is in opposition with some rules of international law. Finally, to determine the correct legal status of "foreign fighters", to identify them and thus regulate their activities, including their terrorist acts, it is to the rules of international humanitarian law that we must turn. Even when qualified as “terrorists”, "foreign fighters" are already identified by the status of the law of war. / Doctorat en Sciences juridiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Firefighters providing emergency services to the public are involved with some of the most tragic aspects of the boundary between life and death, often in a context over which they have little or no control. The outcome of this may be that stress at work and at home are without doubt the reason that highly qualified and loyal firefighters give themselves over to alcohol or drug abuse, extramarital relationships and suicidal thoughts. The general aim of the research is to evaluate job and family stress amongst firefighters in the South African context, and to use the results in developing a developmental/counselling programme for firefighters and their families. The research is quantitative and qualitative, consisting of a survey design and a phenomenological design. Three measuring instruments were used, namely the Biographical questionnaire, the Experience of Work and Life Circumstances questionnaire, and the Stress questionnaire. Task characteristics, organisational functioning, physical working conditions and job equipment, career and social matters, remuneration, fringe benefits and personnel policy were identified as causes of job stress originating within the work situation. Interviews were conducted to determine how these firefighters experience job and family stress. Marital dysfunction and divorce, limited time with the family, problems with children, alcohol and drug abuse, lack of exercise, suicide, anger aimed at family members, physical and emotional exhaustion, lonely marital partners, unavailability to help the family when needed and depression were identified as causes of family stress arising outside the work situation. The main recommendation is to implement a developmental/counselling job and family stress programme. The programme can be instituted to enhance the wellness and psychological health of firefighters and their families, or for counselling of firefighters and their families who are experiencing job and/or family stress. The multi-dimensionality and flexibility make this programme unique and one of its kind in the South African context. / Indust & Org Psychology / DLITT ET PHIL (IND & ORG PS)

CHDS State/Local / The analysis of domestic incidents of terrorism has revealed many gaps in our Nation's capability to effectively manage the multi-jurisdictional response. Although many gaps have been addressed through implementation of measures based on lessons learned, the most pervasive unresolved issue remains the ability to properly identify first response personnel on incident scenes. The nature of incidents of terrorism requires force protection to be a priority because of the threat of a secondary attack. Identity must be established and authenticated to protect responders and prevent infiltration to perpetrate a secondary attack. This thesis examines and evaluates several options for closing this pervasive identity management capability gap. The current decentralized identity system, a defined and typed response resource for identity management, and the federal identity project initiated under HSPD-12 are examined and evaluated as mechanisms for improving on-scene identity management in the response to incidents of terrorism. The thesis argues the development of a standardized nationwide responder identity token that can be rapidly authenticated and establishing dedicated identity management response resources are essential to improving the response multi-jurisdictional and catastrophic incidents of terrorism. / Corporal, Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, Frederick, Maryland

CHDS State/Local / ments is evaluated, smart practices are identified and reviewed, and a new model firefighter candidate screening policy supported and driven by a formal strategic plan is proposed. / Fire Chief, Concord; New Hampshire Fire Department

The current conflict in Syria and Iraq has attracted a large number of foreign fighters (FFs) from Western countries. The main question of this thesis is why these countries do not have a similar pattern for their proportions of FFs. This thesis explores this question in nine Western countries with varying proportions of FFs: Finland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, England, Canada, Australia, and America. Through a case study of Islamic State’s online FF recruitment campaign, it will be shown that common religious identity is the main part of the group’s recruitment message. However, comparing the identified countries on factors related to Muslims’ identity and integration uncovers that common Muslim identity itself is not capable of answering the question; instead, it is Muslims’ integration into their surrounding societies that correlates with proportions of FFs from identified countries. / Graduate / 0615 / 0616 / 0750 / mhashemi@uvic.ca

The purpose of this study was to propose an exploratory causal model that examines the influence of several antecedent variables on burnout. The antecedent variables included age, marital status, education, tenure, Type A personality, Jungian types, death anxiety, leadership style, job satisfaction, stress, coping efficacy, and marital satisfaction. The validity of the causal model was tested by using path analysis. Subjects were 100 male firefighters who completed self-report measures of the predictor variables. Instruments included the Jenkins Activity Survey, Myers- Briggs Type Indicator, Collett-Lester Attitudes Toward Death Scale, Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire, Job Descriptive Index, Perceived Job Stress, The Coping Inventory, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Perceived work stress made the only direct contribution to the variance in burnout. Direct paths were found to stress from job satisfaction, Type A personality, and single marital status. Job satisfaction was directly related to leadership (consideration) and the Jungian Introversion, Feeling, and Perceiving preferences. Direct paths were found to marital satisfaction from death anxiety, leadership (consideration), and leadership (structure). Leadership (consideration) was directly related to structure. From the above results, it can be concluded that perception of stress is an important factor in predicting burnout. Other factors are important contributors to stress and have indirect effects on burnout. Implications for the prevention and treatment of job burnout are discussed.

This study explored the relationship of Type A/B personality and leadership style to absenteeism. Absenteeism data were gathered for 243 male fire fighters and fire engineers. Each subject was administered the Jenkins Activity Scale to measure his Type A characteristics and the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire to measure his perception of his supervisor's leadership style. The results, though non-significant, revealed that: a) Type A's had less absenteeism than type B's; b) Subjects who perceived their supervisors as being low on consideration had less absenteeism than those who perceived their supervisors as being high on this dimension; c) Type A's absenteeism was low and Type B's was high when working under a leader perceived as low on structure. Finally, a weak but significant three-way interaction effect revealed that the highest amount of absenteeism occurred when Type B' s worked under supervisors who were high in consideration and low in structure. The least amount of absenteeism occurred when Type A's worked under supervisors who were high in structure and low in consideration.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka jämställdhetsfrågors aktualitet och betydelse i den sydafrikanska politiken. Detta görs med förhoppningen att kunna säga någonting om landets potentiella jämställdhetsutveckling, och om huruvida en sådan utveckling kan påverka den generella utvecklingen i ett land som är viktigt för regionen både ekonomiskt och inom jämställdhetsområdet. Studien undersöker därför Sydafrikas tre största partiers valmanifest inför de lokala val som hölls i augusti 2016 – ANC:s, DA:s och EFF:s - för att ta reda på hur jämställdhetsfrågor behandlas, alternativt icke behandlas. Undersökningen genomförs med hjälp av kvantitativ och kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultaten påvisar att valet, ur en partipolitisk synvinkel, inte genomsyrades av jämställdhet eller av en jämställdhetsinriktad diskurs. Därför är undersökningen pessimistisk till Sydafrikas vidareutveckling inom jämställdhetsområdet inom den närmaste framtiden, och därmed även till dess positiva inverkan på den generella utvecklingen i landet. Detta trots ett skiftande politiskt landskap.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Political Studies, 2016 / The emergence of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) as a new and ‘radical’ political party significantly altered the shape of the political landscape in South Africa. As one of the starting points in this paper, I show how the EFF comes out of a history in the ANCYL before turning attention to public discussions on the organisation. These contemporary debates about the EFF have taken numerous forms, oftentimes in deeply polarised ways - from those who argue that the EFF is pejoratively populist or fascist to arguments that the party is a crucial left alternative. Within the context of these debates, this research paper grapples with the question of the political character of the EFF, ultimately arguing that the EFF is populist. I use, however, a framework for populism set out by Ernesto Laclau thus marking a break with most discussions on the EFF that are often theoretically limited. This research works with both the empirical and the theoretical – in doing this I utilise Michael Burawoy’s ‘extended case method’ to ground the discussion and to provide a method that encompasses the field research – I used semi-structured interviews and participant observation – with a theoretical inquiry. This research is based on the Marikana Branch of the EFF, in the North West Province. In using data from respondents, a number of conclusions about the EFF in Marikana are drawn out around the membership base of the EFF, organisational structures, the relations with other organisations as well as the class, gender and age substance of the party. These conclusions partly stand on their own in building an understanding of the EFF. They are also used in a central discussion around populism in the EFF and the building of a collective political subjectivity that is premised on the popular. In this way, this research works on two interlinked levels that feed into answering questions around the EFF as a new political formation. In line with Burawoy’s method that is used throughout this research, I also outline some of the key limitations of using Laclau’s theory of populism in understanding the EFF and how we move from these limitations through the work presented around the Marikana Branch. / MT2017