When making decisions, individuals rarely possess all the facts. This can be forgiven in a world where action is time sensitive; life rarely affords the luxury of comprehending all the nuances of an environment. However, individuals do not just ignore valuable information when it is costly to acquire, individuals often ignore veridical information even when it is freely available. Instead of employing an accurate understanding of a situation, individuals frequently make decisions with the aid of ignorance and misunderstanding. This dissertation attempts to examine why. I argue against the notion that such behaviour is always caused by cognitive limitations. Instead, I demonstrate that ignoring veridical information can be advantageous in a variety of contexts. Throughout this work, I examine several settings where research has shown that individuals consistently ignore freely available information. Using a combination of formal analysis and simulations, I demonstrate that such behaviour can be advantageous. Lacking veridical knowledge can be functional in order to navigate cooperative societies (Chapter 3), unpredictable environments (Chapter 4), investment markets (Chapter 5-7), and inefficient institutions (Chapter 8). Not only does this work contribute to explaining previously confusing human behaviour, it offers insight into the potential advantages of self-deception (Chapter 2).

Incorrect and inaccurate municipal billing system poses a challenge in the local government system in South Africa. The communities in the various municipalities were dissatisfied with the incorrect and inaccurate municipal bills that were being issued. Consequently public confidence in terms of the billing system dwindled, communities were unwilling to pay for the bills issued and as such debt accumulated and the municipalities could not recover the debt. The research question, therefore, is that the municipal bills sent to customers were incorrect or inaccurate and revenue was lost. Public confidence with regard to municipal billings system declined and communities were unwilling to pay for the incorrect or inaccurate bills issued. Debts accumulated and seemingly the municipal billing system had an impact on revenue collection in selected South African cities. There is currently no scientific research which has been conducted at academic level to determine the core problem as reported in newspapers, public domain and municipal areas to share the information nationally and internationally regarding the state of municipal billing system, debt and revenue management challenges. The research suggests that in order to improve the efficiency of the collection of service charges, the billing and collection systems must be decentralised, accessible to the consumer, matched with the income cycle and paying capacity of the consumer. The study covers an analysis of the municipal billing system and revenue collection in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality and Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and suggests measures for financial sustainability in the three cities. The study used both the qualitative case study and the quantitative approach to effectively collect and analyse the data needed. The research problem which informs this study is incorrect, inaccurate municipal bills sent to customers and lost revenue. The result of incorrect and inaccurate bills was that public confidence declined and communities protested to pay for the incorrect, inaccurate bills issued and thus debt accumulated. In examining this problem, the research begins with a description of the context of empirical analysis, of the local government system, municipal billing system and revenue collection in South Africa. The study analysed profound issues regarding local governance systems namely: legislation, policies, procedures, public administration and its environmental factors, spheres of government, financial administration and standards, intergovernmental relations functions, municipal structure and functions, elements of municipal billing systems, sources of revenue, municipal billing systems challenges in the three metropolitan municipalities, debts accumulation and deficiency in municipal billing systems and information technology. The study recommends the need for a sound municipal billing and collection system essentially regarding the taxes levied and collected by these metropolitan municipalities. A sound municipal billing system should be configured with a short turnaround strategy to serve demand notices and the collection of dues from individual customers, thereby enabling efficient cash recycling. An efficient billing system is essential for taxes levied by municipalities and their collection from consumers. The study also provides an opportunity for further academic research in the field of municipal billing systems and revenue collection. Hopefully, this study will become a catalyst for future research, policy alternatives and planning for local government and academic institutions nationally and internationally regarding the municipal billing system and revenue collection fields. / Dissertation (MAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / School of Public Management and Administration / unrestricted

AIM: To conduct a systematic literature review on the existing literature on the prevalence of medication errors across the medicines management system in primary care; To explore the systems of error management in primary care; to investigate the prevalence and nature of medication errors in children, 0-12 years, and in older patients, ≥65 years, in primary care; and to explore community pharmacists' interventions on medicines-related problems. METHODS: 1) Systematic literature review; 2) Questionnaire survey of Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and NHS Area Teams; 3) Retrospective review of the electronic medical records of a random sample of older patients, ≥65 years old, and children 0-12 years old, from 2 general practices in Luton and Bedford CCGs, England; 4) Prospective observation of community pharmacists' interventions on medicines-related problems and prescribing errors from 3 community pharmacies in Luton and Bedford CCGs in England. DATA ANALYSIS: Quantitative data from records review were analysed using Microsoft Excel on data extracted from an Access database. Statistical tests of significance were performed as necessary. Descriptive statistics were conducted on quantitative data from the studies and inductive qualitative analyses were conducted on aspects of the questionnaire survey. RESULTS: • The systematic literature review demonstrated that medication errors are common, and occur at every stage of the medication management system in primary care, with error rates between ≤1% and ≥90%, depending on the part of the system studied and the definitions and methods used. There is some evidence that the prescribing stage is the most susceptible, and that the elderly (over 65 years) and children (under 18 years) are more likely to experience significant errors, although very little research has focussed on these age groups. • The questionnaire survey of PCTS, CCGs and NHSE demonstrated that national and local systems for managing medication errors appeared chaotic, and need to be better integrated to improve error learning and prevention in general practice. • The retrospective review of patients' medical records in general practices demonstrated that prescribing and monitoring errors are common in older patients and in children. 2739 unique prescription items for 364 older patients ≥65 years old were reviewed, with prescribing and monitoring errors detected for 1 in 3 patients involving about 1 in 12 prescriptions. The factors associated with increased risk of errors were: number of unique medications prescribed, being ≥75 years old, being prescribed medications requiring monitoring, and medications from these therapeutic areas: corticosteroid, NSAID, diuretic, thyroid and antithyroid hormones, statins and ACE-I/ARB. 755 unique prescription items for 524 younger patients 0-12 years old were examined, with approximately 1 in 10 prescriptions and 1 in 5 patients being exposed to a prescribing error. Factors associated with increased risk of prescribing errors in younger patients were: being aged ≤10 years old, being prescribed three or more medications, and from similar therapeutic areas as above. Majority of the errors were of mild to moderate severity. • Community pharmacists performed critical interventions as the last healthcare professional defense within the medicines management system in primary care. However, this role is challenged by other dispensary duties including the physical aspects of dispensing and other administrative roles. CONCLUSION Prescribing and monitoring errors in general practice, and older patients and children may be more at risk compared to the rest of the population, though most errors detected were less severe. Factors associated with increased risk for errors in these age groups were multifaceted. The systems for periodic laboratory monitoring for routinely prescribed drugs, particularly in older patients, need to be reviewed and strengthened to reduce preventable hospital admissions. Antibiotic dosing in children in general practice needs to be regularly reviewed through continued professional developments and other avenues. As guidance on local arrangements for error reporting and learning systems are less standardised across primary care organisations, pertinent data from adverse prescribing events and near misses may be lost. Interventions for reducing errors should therefore explore how to strengthen local arrangements for error learning and clinical governance. Community pharmacists and/or primary care pharmacists provide an important defence within the medicines management system in primary care. Policy discussions and review around the role of the pharmacist in primary care are necessary to strengthen this defence, and harness the potential thereof.

Writing assessments have taken two primary forms in the past two decades: direct and indirect. Irrespective of type, either form needs to be anchored to making decisions in the classroom and predicting performance on high-stakes tests, particularly in a high-stakes environment with serious consequences. In this study, 11th-grade students were given a classroom assessment in which they had 1 minute to think and 3 minutes to write. Student work was scored for correct word sequence (CWS), total words written (TWW), and correct minus incorrect word sequence (CIWS). Students were also given a high-stakes state test to determine eligibility for graduation. This study focuses on the relation between performance on the classroom assessment and the state tests, with comparisons made between the performance of students receiving special education services (SPED) and students in general education. In an age of accountability, test validity has become an increasingly complicated topic. The social consequences of assessments impact students and their educational experience.

This diploma thesis focuses on the topic of "Liability for damage caused by incorrect administrative procedure" under Act No. 82/1998 Coll., on liability for damage caused within the exercise of public authority by a decision or incorrect administrative procedure and on the amendment to Act No. 358/1992 Coll., on notaries and their activities (Notary Act), as amended. Formally, the thesis is divided into seven chapters, which are further split into individual subchapters. The first chapter deals with the historical development of legislation governing state liability within the exercise of public authority and with current sources of law, including the introduction of literature. The second chapter focuses on the characterization of the liability as a part of private law and on the basic definition of the term "incorrect administration procedure". This term is generally defined as any procedure of a public authority excluding decision-making activities, which is in conflict with generally applicable legal regulations. The third and fourth chapters respond to the adoption of Act No. 89/2012 Coll., Civil Code, and analyse individual impacts of its secondary application to liability obligations. In particular, the thesis address the question of the conceptual change of liability, namely in direct...

Researchers and instructors have only recently embraced the role of errors as vehicles for learning in the algebra classroom. Studying a mixture of correct and incorrect worked examples has been shown to be beneficial relative to correct worked examples alone. This study examines the effectiveness of having students generate, or anticipate, errors another student might make. Five Algebra 1 sections at a suburban mid-Atlantic public high school participated amid an early equation-solving unit. During teacher-led instruction, all five sections examined 2-3 correct worked examples. The final example varied across conditions. One section received an additional correct worked example. Two sections examined an incorrect worked example. The remaining two sections engaged in an error anticipation exercise where the teacher wrote an equation on the board and asked the students to predict errors another student might make in solving. The study measured conceptual and procedural knowledge, encoding ability, and student-generated errors. Although no meaningful significant differences were found, students in the error anticipation condition saw no difference in performance in conceptual and procedural items versus those who examined incorrect worked examples. Analysis that combined the error anticipation and incorrect worked examples conditions showed that those students trended toward outperforming those who examined correct examples only on procedural items. These results support further examination of error anticipation as a worthwhile instructional activity. / Math & Science Education

In the beginning of the 20th century, villa easements were formed to regulate land use in residential areas. Villa easements were created as a prohibition for the property owners to use their own property in a certain way. Because of the societal develop- ment, villa easements no longer have the same function as they used to. Villa easements cause problems for surveyors regarding increased investigative work, decreased reliability of the land register and a lot of questions from the property owners. All these factors result in increased costs for interested parties. To solve the problems with villa easements they should be eliminated. This report presents vari- ous approaches to get rid of villa easements. To collect information to the report, a questionnaire was sent to experienced survey- ors.  Furthermore, interviews were conducted to find out how villa easements are managed today by surveyors. The outcome of the investigation indicates that the best approach for managing the problem is property regulation. By using property regulation both rights and registra- tions are removed. The analysis contains a general discussion on the information obtained during the investigation. Pros and cons of options for repeal of villa easements and how to clean the Land Registry are discussed. The options are compared and our recom- mendation is that the most effective course of action for repeal of villa easements is property regulation. / I början av 1900-talet bildades villaservitut för att reglera markanvändningen i bo- stadsområden. De upprättades som ett förbud för fastighetsägare att använda sin egen fastighet på ett visst sätt. På grund av samhällsutvecklingen fyller villaservituten inte längre samma funktion som då de bildades. Villaservitut orsakar problem för lantmätare genom ökat utredningsarbete, brist på tillförlitlighet till fastighetsregistret samt många frågor från fastighetsägare. Alla dessa faktorer leder till ökade kostnader för sakägare. För att lösa problemen med villa- servitut krävs att de rensas bort. I denna rapport presenteras olika metoder för rens- ning av villaservitut. För att samla in information skickades en enkät ut till erfarna lantmätare. Dessutom genomfördes intervjuer för att ta reda på hur villaservitut hanteras av lantmätare idag. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att den bästa metoden för att hantera problemen med villaservitut är att upphäva dem genom fastighetsreglering. Genom att tillämpa fastighetsreglering försvinner såväl rättigheter som inskrivningar. I analysen förs ett generellt resonemang kring information som framkommit under undersökningen. Därefter diskuteras för- och nackdelar med alternativen för upphä- vande av villaservitut och rensning av fastighetsregistret. Alternativen jämförs med varandra och fastighetsreglering presenteras som vår rekommendation av det mest effektiva tillvägagångssättet för upphävande av villaservitut.

The current study assessed an error reflection intervention on Algebra I students’ conceptual and procedural knowledge and sense of belonging to mathematics. Also of interest was whether perceptions of the functionality of errors mediated the effect of condition on learning and sense of belonging to mathematics. Middle school students (N = 207) were randomly assigned within classroom to one of four conditions: 1) a Problem-Solving Control group, 2) a Correct Examples Control group, 3) a Correct Examples Error Reflection condition that promoted reflection on hypothetical errors through self-explanation prompts, or 4) an Incorrect Examples Error Reflection condition that promoted reflection on displayed errors within the example through self-explanation prompts. Conceptual and procedural knowledge, sense of belonging to mathematics and perceived functionality of errors were measured pre- and post-intervention. After controlling for unanticipated clustering effects, results suggest that reflecting on and explaining errors within a worked examples intervention is just as effective at promoting learning as traditional problem solving alone or working with traditional correct worked examples and written self-explanation prompts. Students’ sense of belonging to mathematics or perceived functionality of errors for learning were high at the start of the study and remained so throughout the intervention. Perceptions of the functionality of errors were unrelated to learning and sense of belonging to mathematics. The limited size of the minority population in the sample did not allow for exploration of differential effects of condition for underrepresented minority (URM) students. However, these students reported lower feelings of belonging to mathematics than non-URM students. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. / Educational Psychology

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:12:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcelo Juca.pdf: 629535 bytes, checksum: 95910b700e53b7b51502db3fb6d58c69 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-08-08 / Laughter finds in the social the fullest way to manifest itself. Constituted by language, it compliments, denounces and puts forth the multitude of wishes which pass through the symptomatic signs of culture. The pleasure obtained from irony or laughter pleases the ego or the mass, and demands constant repetitions to fulfill the libido. This work is based in the consequences, on the communication field, of the assertive ridendo castigat mores assertion (with laughter the habits are punished). The wit, especially the published ex-professo by the media, obtain not only funny sense as like can name the forbidden true. The main objective of this work, based on the humour studes and the Joke teory of Freud, include the politically incorrect that obtain pleasure in the readres as well inquire the social power. In this case of the brazilian media, three important publications, of different times, are studed: the journal A Manha, of Barão de Itararé; the Pasquim and the piauí magazine, analyzed by psychoanalytical semiotics, as example the pleasure obtained from laught and the social critic act. The first and second chapters contemplate the essence of laughter and its inherently humane quality of creating pleasure. The third and fourth ones treat historical matters of mass communication and the brazilian press, and the fifth and final penetrates in the freudian structure by means of the daily praxis and puts the laughter on a polymorphous position to unveil the malaise in the civilization / O riso encontra no âmbito social o modo mais pleno de se manifestar. Deflagrado pela linguagem, elogia, denuncia e evidencia a multiplicidade de desejos que perpassam os signos sintomáticos da cultura, nos regimes por eles constituídos. O prazer conquistado da ironia ou da gargalhada agrada um ego ou a massa, e demanda constantes repetições para saciar a libido. Este trabalho baseia-se nas conseqüências, no campo da comunicação, da assertiva Ridendo castigat mores (Com o riso se castigam os costumes). Os ditos espirituosos, especialmente os veiculados ex-professo pela mídia, produzem não apenas efeitos engraçados de sentido, como podem nomear verdades proibidas. O objetivo da pesquisa, ancorada por estudos sobre o humorismo e a teoria dos chistes de Freud, abrange os dizeres politicamente incorretos que não somente geram prazer nos leitores, como também questionam os poderes constituídos. No caso da imprensa brasileira, são estudadas três publicações representativas de épocas distintas: o jornal A Manha, do Barão de Itararé; o Pasquim e a revista piaui, analisadas pelo prisma da semiótica de extração psicanalítica, a fim de exemplificar o riso como satisfação e como elemento de crítica social. O primeiro e o segundo capítulo contemplam a essência do risível e sua qualidade propriamente humana de gerar prazer. O terceiro e o quarto tratam das questões históricas da comunicação de massa e a imprensa brasileira, e o quinto, por fim, desenvolve a leitura da práxis cotidiana que coloca o riso em posição privilegiada para desnudar o mal-estar na civilização

This dissertation deals with night insomnia in children. With the growing number of complaints of parents about insomnia in particular in infants and toddlers, this problem becomes very topical and frequently discussed not only among parents themselves but also among the medical workers involved in the child care. No unambiguous cause of why some children sleep well and other children do not has been yet proven. However, experts dealing with these problems present an opinion in the literature that the main cause lies in the incorrect approach of parents to creating sleep habits in their children. They supplement their opinion by a set of recommendations how to avoid or possibly solve the problems by applying the appropriate approach. Our dissertation thus aims at ascertaining how parents' approach affects creating of incorrect sleep habits in infants and toddlers. The other objective consisted in subsequent drawing up of the nursing diagnosis and nursing care plan by means of which the nurses could independently solve the problems related to insomnia in children. A qualitative research based on the contingent valuation method has been carried out. The methods of data collection included the structured interview performed with two small sets of mothers of children. The first set comprised mothers of children with no sleep problems and the second set was composed of mother of children suffering from sleep problems. The prepared questions related in particular to children's sleep habits. Both sets were compared and the data were also subject to the Fisher's exact test. Although it was not possible to prove that inappropriate approach of parents to creating sleep habits in children is the unambiguous cause of the children's sleep problems, we believe that such inappropriate approach is a related factor. This assumption is supported also by the result of the other part of the research, a non-structured interview. This interview from which casuistry was subsequently created was performed by one of the mothers whose child had suffered from sleep problems. The said mother was willing to try to implement the recommended measures and she subsequently described to us how her son's sleep problems attenuated significantly. On the basis of our hypothesis that creation of correct sleep habits might help children suffering from insomnia, despite the fact that no direct relation between the sleep habits of children and their sleep problems has been proven, as the output of this dissertation we have drawn up the above mentioned nursing diagnosis and nursing care plan which could help the nurses independently solve the children's sleep problems. We also believe that it would be appropriate to carry out research in the future dealing with direct evaluation of success or failure of the recommended measures in solving insomnia in infants and toddlers.