The present architectural proposal aims to foster engagement, support independence, and promote a sense of meaning, comfort, and safety for dementia residents of care facilities. The proposed Iron Heart Memory Village aims to improve the quality of life for dementia residents by redesigning healthcare facilities and integrating everyday lifestyles into their living spaces. Dementia, characterized by cognitive decline and functional impairments, poses significant challenges to individuals and their caregivers. By reimagining program spaces within low-density housing and providing access to public amenities, entertainment, and natural environments, healthcare facilities can emulate familiar everyday settings. In terms of design, Iron Heart Memory Village offers a setting that prioritizes interactions between residents, healthcare professionals, and visitors through low-density residences, individual courtyards designed for the different stages of dementia, shopping, cooking, entertainment, public amenities, and simple living. This proposal considers the proposed site's history, climate, site, demographics, economics, and other factors to best design a building that serves not only dementia residents but also the neighborhood. The proposal addresses the multifaceted needs of dementia residents and their caregivers through sustainable architecture and construction. Innovative architecture, such as green roofs, solar panels, locally sourced materials, open designs, and more, are some of the elements used to enhance mobility, stimulate mental abilities, and create environments conducive to holistic well-being. Through a deeper understanding of dementia as a condition influenced by various factors, including brain damage and other underlying conditions, this project underscores the importance of design and architecture as a means to alleviate symptoms and improve overall outcomes for individuals affected by dementia. / Master of Architecture / Dementia is a big challenge for people, families, and healthcare systems worldwide because it affects memory and everyday activities. As more people get older, dementia is becoming more common. This means we need new ideas to help those with dementia. Many traditional healthcare places struggle to help people with dementia properly, which can make life harder for them and their caregivers. However, new research shows that changing how healthcare buildings are designed and including things from everyday life can make a big difference for people with dementia. This sets the stage for a proposal to improve healthcare places for people with dementia by redesigning them to feel like regular homes. The proposal suggests making healthcare buildings more like real homes by adding things like places to hang out, entertainment options, and nature views. It also suggests activities people enjoy, like shopping and cooking, to help them stay social. Plus, it includes changes to make the buildings easier to get around for people with mobility issues. Overall, the goal is to make life better for people with dementia by making healthcare places feel more like home and helping them stay active and independent. This could also make things easier for their caregivers. The proposal is a plan for this and could be a model for future dementia care.

In this qualitative research study, I share first-generation college students' help-seeking experiences with writing tasks and use an affective lens to investigate how first-generation students feel when navigating various help-seeking situations. Often, students' experiences and emotions highlight their commitments to independence. In this study, I found that students' feelings of insecurity and confidence both encouraged and discouraged help seeking with writing, that students expressed determination as a central affect when describing their commitment to independence, and that loneliness is a significant affect in regards to writing help seeking and independence. These findings provide writing center faculty and tutors and first-year composition instructors a framework for interpreting first-generation college students' expressions of confidence, insecurity, and determination. Using this framework, I give suggestions on effectively responding to the help seeking of first-generation students.

This thesis examines the context and causes of signal reform in the British Royal Navy during the American War of Independence. It argues that changes in the ethos of the officer corps before and during the American War of Independence led to a complex period of signal reform. The original system was tied to the General Printed Sailing and Fighting Instructions, more often referred to as the Fighting Instructions. For around a century (ca. 1690 to ca. 1790), the Royal Navy utilized the Fighting Instructions as its main system of communication. During the American War for Independence, however, some sea officers began to question the system and devise new methods of signaling. This change was brought on by changes within the officer corps. Among the changes were trends of centralization and the influence of Enlightenment ideals. Both of these shifts helped to inspire the signal reformers, while also creating the environment to sustain signal reforms. This thesis examines the signal reforms of the three principal signal reformers of the war: Richard Howe, Richard Kempenfelt, and George Rodney. / Master of Arts / This thesis examines the context and causes of signal reform in the British Royal Navy during the American War of Independence. It argues that changes in the ethos of the officer corps before and during the American War of Independence led to a complex period of signal reform. For nearly one hundred years, the navy utilized the same system of signaling to communicate between ships: the General Printed Sailing and Fighting Instructions, more commonly known as the Fighting Instructions. During the American War of Independence, some British sea officers began to question that system and propose alternate systems of their own design. Influenced by their lengthy naval experience, shifts in trends of centralization, and the influence of Enlightenment ideals, officers like Richard Howe, Richard Kempenfelt, and George Rodney experimented with new methods of signaling.

Yes / Despite the importance of the ongoing debate on audit tendering and its possible implications for the audit profession including audit market structure, audit quality, and auditor independence, there is an apparent lack of research into this area. Using content analysis, this study reports the results of an examination of the comment letters sent to the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in response to its consultation document on the 2012 revisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code. The results indicate a general support for the FRC’s proposals with a number of key concerns related to audit quality, audit cost and auditor independence. There is also clear conflict of interests among some groups such as audit firms and companies on one side and institutional investors on the other side. There is evidence of conflict of interest between Big 4 and non-Big 4 audit firms. The findings could influence future revisions of the Code with regard to tendering and enhance policy makers’ understanding of the position taken by each group of stakeholder.

Background: Earnings management has been a popular topic of discussion for many decades, and researchers always look for underlying factors that can reduce the phenomenon. A common subject for this has been board independence, and the implications that independent directors have on earnings management. Additionally, researchers have argued that legal protection is a big part in how independent directors can exercise their monitoring, as well as the use of control-enhancing mechanisms (CEM). Purpose: To investigate the relationship between board independence and earnings management. This thesis will also examine if shareholder protection and CEMs respectively affect independent directors´ ability to reduce earnings management. Method: This thesis adopts a positivistic view with a deductive approach using a quantitative method where data was collected using databases, websites, and annual reports. Further, the data was analyzed using a Spearman correlation matrix and an OLS regression for each hypothesis. Findings: The findings show that there exists no relationship between board independence and earnings management. Furthermore, the thesis does not find support that shareholder protection has a moderating influence on the relationship, and thus has no effect on independent directors’ability to reduce earnings management. However, the thesis finds indications that firms who have the CEM of dual-class shares experience increase in earnings management as the share of independent directors increases.

On July 31st of last year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo held its first multiparty democratic elections in over forty years. These elections followed nearly half a century of the oppressive dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko, as well as a recent civil war. The Congo was first recognized as a cohesive land area during the 1884-85 Berlin West Africa Conference, which formally recognized King Leopold II of Belgium's hold over the economically strategic area. The Congo "Free State", as it became known, officially became a Belgian colony in 1908 when Leopold conceded personal administrative control to his country, and remained so until its independence in May of 1960, which involved the interests of many Western powers, including the United Nations. There is much debate on the influence of the West on the Congo's current instability, from Belgian colonial policy to Western interference in the years directly following Congolese independence. This thesis will attempt to prove the negative impact that the West has had on the current state of the Congo, and defend the Congolese against the argument that they in fact have promoted their own instability and could have effectively changed their own destiny. This will be accomplished through a multi-faceted analysis of Belgian educational policies, Western economic and political policies and influences, including sections on colonial influences and the secession of the province of Katanga, as well as an in depth analysis of the potential of Patrice Lumumba as a stable leader for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Personlig assistans är en insats inom lagen om stöd och service till vissa funktionshindrade (LSS) och syftar till att ge individen kontroll och självbestämmande i sitt liv. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur den assistansberättigade upplever sin personliga assistans utifrån självbestämmande i förhållande till de aktörer som är inblandade i processen såsom sjukvården, Försäkringskassan, kommun, assistansanordnare samt personliga assistenter. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten var Self-determination theory, vilken utgår från begreppen självbestämmande, kompetens och tillhörighet. Semistrukturerade intervjuer med nio assistansberättigade, analyserades tematiskt. Resultaten presenterar fem teman som centrala för upplevelsen av självbestämmande: relationens betydelse - personkontinuitet underlättar; makt, kontroll och kunskap; ingen assistans, inget självbestämmande; kommunikation och stöd för kommunikation samt politik och besparingar. Resultatet visade att relationen till samtliga aktörer påverkar upplevelsen av självbestämmandet, samt att kunskap, kommunikation och stöd är av vikt. Genom att själv vara arbetsledare för sin assistans återtar individen kontrollen över viktiga beslut och kan därmed utöva självbestämmande.

Titel: The Art of Balancing: The Auditor’s Integrity and Client Relationships in Focus   Level: Final Assignment for bachelor’s degree in business administration   Author: Danait Bri and Mahir Khan   Supervisor: Fredrik Hartwig   Date: 2024 – May   Aim: The study aims to create an understanding of how accountants balance in negotiation situations between maintaining good relationships with their clients while maintaining their independence and integrity.   Method: In this study, we have used a qualitative method where the data collection took place through semi-structured interviews with five authorized accountants. A deductive approach together with an interpretive perspective has been used in data collection and analysis. A thematic content analysis has been used to answer the purpose of the study.   Results and conclusions: The study shows that a long-term relationship does not lead to emotional involvement with the clients, but to a certain comfort. A higher degree of self-realization and taking an outside perspective helps the accountant resist external pressures. The auditor's independence can be threatened in long-term client relationships or by the prvision of non-audit-related services. Direct negotiations are unusual, instead there are discussions with elements of negotiation.   Contribution of the thesis: The work highlights accountants' challenges in balancing the relationship with clients. The study shows that auditors usually have discussions with elements of negotiation rather than direct negotiations. The study has contributed with a new strategy which involves lowering the clients' expectations from the start to arrive at a reasonably good solution.   Suggestions for further research: In future studies, it may be interesting to examine wheither the clients perceive that there are direct negotiations or discussions with negotiation elements that occur. / Titel: Konsten att balansera: Revisorns integritet och klientrelationer i fokus   Nivå: Examensarbete på grundnivå (kandidatexamen) i ämnet företagsekonomi   Författare: Danait Bri och Mahir Khan   Handledare: Fredrik Hartwig   Datum: 2024 – maj   Syfte: Studien ämnar skapa förståelse för hur revisorer balanserar i förhandlingssituationer mellan att upprätthålla goda relationer med sina klienter samtidigt som de behåller sitt oberoende och sin integritet.    Metod: I denna studie har vi använt en kvalitativ metod där datainsamlingen skett via semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem auktoriserade revisorer. En deduktiv ansats tillsammans med tolkande perspektiv har använts vid datainsamling och analys. En tematisk innehållsanalys har använts för att besvara studiens syfte.   Resultat och slutsats: Studien visar att en långvarig relation inte leder till känslomässig inblandning med klienterna, dock till en viss bekvämlighet. Högre grad av självförverkligande och intagning av utomstående perspektiv hjälper revisorn att motstå externa påtryckningar. Revisorns oberoende kan hotas vid långvariga kundrelationer eller vid tillhandahållandet av icke-revisionsrelaterade tjänster. Direkta förhandlingar är ovanliga, istället är det diskussioner med förhandlingsinslag som förekommer.   Examensarbetets bidrag: Arbetet belyser revisorers utmaningar med att balansera relationen till klienter. Studien visar att revisorer oftast har diskussioner med förhandlingsinslag snarare än direkta förhandlingar. Studien har bidragit med en ny strategi som innebär att sänka klienternas förväntningar från början för att i slutändan kunna komma fram till en rimligt bra lösning.   Förslag till fortsatt forskning: I framtida studier kan det vara intressant att undersöka om klienterna upplever att det är direkta förhandlingar eller diskussioner med förhandlingsinslag som förekommer.

Politics today is facing a troubling trend towards the empowerment of nationalist movements. With strong historical traditions and a powerful Scottish National Party, Scotland would appear to be a prime candidate for such movements. However, this thesis argues that Scotland represents a nation with a unique civic culture. This thesis seeks to determine which elements of Scottish political and cultural history have led to its modern day civic culture, in the form of a civic nationalism, or patriotism. It asks: why is Scottish nationalism unique, and why does it matter? To answer, I have broken down the thesis into three main chapters that consider the theories of nationalism that are significant to the study of Scottish nationalism, the foundations of Scottish nationalism, and how Scottish nationalism manifests itself in civic contexts. The results reflect that Scottish civic culture deeply permeates the nation's politics. Even when given the opportunity for independence, Scotland chose to remain a part of the United Kingdom in order to maintain its interests with the European Union. And, while political cultures are subject to rapid change, the current state of Scottish culture reflects a civic manifestation. / Master of Arts / This thesis looks at how Scotland represents a political nation that resists instinctive, exclusive political decisions, despite its history as a strong and proud nation. This paper is organized in a way to give an overview of what national identity is, and what nationalism means, as well as what Scottish national identity means and how it influences Scottish politics. The question I asked was: How is Scottish nationalism unique, and why does it matter? I determined that in Scottish politics, both the Scottish people and the Scottish government act in a way that is very open to interconnected, international interactions, such as those found in the European Union. Scottish nationalism, or patriotism, embodies a love for their own nation, while keeping an open mind to other nations and countries. In addition, the Scottish nation is willing to put aside its drive for independence for the greater good of what they want to accomplish politically.

Yes / Introduction The Community Ageing Research 75+ Study (CARE75+) is a longitudinal cohort study collecting an extensive range of health, social and economic data, with a focus on frailty, independence and quality of life in older age. CARE75+ is the first international experimental frailty research cohort designed using Trial within Cohorts (TwiCs) methodology, to align applied epidemiological research with clinical trial evaluation of interventions to improve the health and well-being of older people living with frailty. Methods and analysis Prospective cohort study using a TwiCs design. One thousand community-dwelling older people (≥75 years) will be recruited from UK general practices. Nursing home residents, those with an estimated life expectancy of 3 months or less and people receiving palliative care will be excluded. Data collection assessments will be face to face in the person’s home at baseline, 6 months, 12 months, 24 months and 48 months, including assessments of frailty, cognition, mood, health-related quality of life, comorbidity, medications, resilience, loneliness, pain and self-efficacy. A modified protocol for follow-up by telephone or web based will be offered at 6 months. Consent will be sought for data linkage and invitations to additional studies, including intervention studies using the TwiCs design. A blood sample biobank will be established for future basic science studies. Ethics and dissemination CARE75+ was approved by the NRES Committee Yorkshire and the Humber—Bradford Leeds 10 October 2014 (14/YH/1120). Formal written consent is sought if an individual is willing to participate and has capacity to provide informed consent. Consultee assent is sought if an individual lacks capacity. Study results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed scientific journals and scientific conferences. Key study results will be summarised and disseminated to all study participants via newsletters, local older people’s publications and local engagement events. Results will be reported on a bespoke CARE75+ website. / NIHR CLAHRC Yorkshire and Humber - www.clahrc-yh.nihr.ac.uk (study funding number IS-CLA-0113-10020) and supported by the NIHR CLAHRC South West Peninsula and West Midlands CLAHRC.