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This ethnographic exploration tackles meanings of childhood in Qondwa village, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa, by illustrating how childhood is constantly shifted, negotiated and contested. These attempted definitions of childhood defy the Western constructs of childhood, regarding the ethnography here is undertaken in African context. I dedicated six months carrying out qualitative research on these meanings. For purposes of my research, I adopt the local term, rather than recorded Western definition of a 'child' in Qondwa which is expressed as any boy or girl who is financially dependent on parents or guardians, regardless of age. Furthermore, a boy only transitions into a man, as a girl into a woman, when financially independent of their parents/guardians, regardless of age. I hereby argue that there is no universal meaning of childhood and provide comparative ethnographies of childhood to cement this argument. I adopt Karp's theory of personhood to further argue that personhood of children determines how children experience realities. I go further to discuss childhood in the context of parents/guardians, childhood in the context of defined socio-geographic spaces, childhood in the context of traditional cultural events which show that there is no universal meaning of childhood, even within a culture displaying the complexities of such definitions. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Anthropology and Archaeology / MSocSci / Unrestricted

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Most scholars who study the transition from authoritarian regimes to democratic ones use an actor-oriented approach, and assume four major actors participate in the negotiated transition. They explain the results of such transitions by analyzing the strategic interactions of these four major actors. If the configuration of actors and their interactions differ from one case to another, then those differences need to be explained. The case of South Korean democratization differs from democratization in other countries in two major respects. First, without significant division within the regime, the opposition bloc can manage to make a transition to democracy by maintaining coordination between the social movements and the moderate opposition party. Second, the U.S. played an important role in the process of negotiation. The negotiated transition model offers no account for the participation of a third party, and it fails to cast light on the participation of the U.S. in the Korean democratization process. This shortcoming can be solved by complementing the negotiated transition model with the mediation model in which the role of a third party can be addressed. Owing to U.S. mediation, the dynamics of negotiated transition changed in the Korean transition to democracy. / Master of Arts

Internationally, health systems have been undergoing an extended period of endemic change, where one effort at health system reform inevitably seems to lead to further attempts to make adjustments, re-direct the focus of the reform effort, or bring about further, sometimes very different changes. This phenomenon is described as churning in this thesis. Churning is a result of continual efforts to adjust and �improve� health systems to address intractable �wicked� problems, often through applying solutions based on neo-liberal reform agendas that have influenced public sector reform in developed countries since the early 1980s. Consistent with this, the South Australian health system has been caught up in a cycle of change and restructuring for almost thirty years. This qualitative study explores a case study of unsuccessful organisational change initiated by a group of health care agencies in the southern metropolitan area of Adelaide, South Australia, which took place between 1996 and 2001. The agencies sought to develop and establish a regional health service through a process they called �Designing Better Health Care in the South� which aimed to improve the way that services were provided in the area, and to enable the agencies to manage the increasing budgetary and workload pressures that they were all experiencing. A significant policy shift at the state government level meant that this initiative was no longer supported by the central bureaucracy and could not proceed. The agencies reverted from a focus on regional planning and service delivery to an institutional focus. The changes that are described within the scope of the case study are universally recognisable, including centralisation, decentralisation, managerialism and integration. The experience of Designing Better Health Care in the South as an unsuccessful attempt to implement change that was overtaken by other changes is also a universal phenomenon within health systems. This study locates the case study within its historical and policy contexts. It then analyses the key themes that emerge from consideration of the case study in order to understand the reasons for constant change, and the structural and systemic impediments to successful reform within the South Australian health system as an example of health systems in developed countries. As a case study of organisational change, Designing Better Health Care in the South was a story of frustration and disappointment, rather than of successful change. The case study of Designing Better Health Care in the South demonstrates the tensions between the differing priorities of central bureaucracy and health care agencies, and the pendulum swing between the aims of centralisation and regionalisation. The study uses the theory of negotiated order to understand the roles of the key themes of trust, partnership and collaboration, and power and control within the health system, and to consider how these themes affect the potential for the successful implementation of health care reform. Through analysis of the case study, this thesis contributes to an understanding of the difficulties of achieving effective reform within health systems in advanced economies, such as the South Australian health system, because of the complex power and trust relations that contribute to the functioning of the health system as a negotiated order. The study is multidisciplinary and qualitative, incorporating a number of social science disciplines including sociology, political science, historical analysis and organisational theory. Data collection methods for the study included interviews, focus groups, document analysis and a survey.

O presente trabalho objetivou a formataÃÃo de uma metodologia de elaboraÃÃo de base de informaÃÃes para alocaÃÃo negociada de Ãgua visando subsidiar as decisÃes dos comitÃs de bacias e das comissÃes gestoras nas operaÃÃes dos reservatÃrios monitorados pela Companhia de GestÃo dos Recursos HÃdricos â COGERH. O AÃude Arneiroz II, localizado na bacia hidrogrÃfica do Alto Jaguaribe, no municÃpio de Arneiroz, estado do CearÃ, responsÃvel por perenizar 113 km do rio Jaguaribe, atà a sede da cidade de JucÃs, foi o reservatÃrio identificado para realizaÃÃo da supracitada pesquisa, por possuir uma complexa dinÃmica de perenizaÃÃo. A metodologia para elaboraÃÃo da base de informaÃÃes iniciou-se da validaÃÃo das informaÃÃes de oferta e demanda do sistema que compreende o AÃude Arneiroz II, dados do manancial e dos estudos de perda em transito ao longo do percurso perenizado. Assim, concluiu-se que, para este estudo de caso, o cenÃrio para o transporte de Ãgua que atende as demandas existentes de forma satisfatÃria e eficiente, se dà por meio de dutos abertos ou fechados, e nÃo pela perenizaÃÃo direta do rio Jaguaribe atà a cidade de JucÃs. O cenÃrio de perenizaÃÃo apresenta como prejuÃzo a diminuiÃÃo da garantia da oferta de Ãgua em pelo menos trÃs anos de seca extrema, enquanto que as perdas em trÃnsito representam 79% da vazÃo mÃdia liberada pela vÃlvula do AÃude Arneiroz II numa operaÃÃo anual de perenizaÃÃo. / This study aimed to formatting a methodology for development of information base for negotiated allocation of water in order to support the decisions of watershed committees and management committees in the operations of reservoirs monitored by the Company Management of Water Resources - COGERH. The weir Arneiroz II, located in the basin of Alto Jaguaribe in Arneiroz municipality, state of CearÃ, responsible for evergreening 113 km Jaguaribe river to the headquarters city JucÃs, the reservoir was identified for conducting the above research, by have a complex dynamic of evergreening. The methodology for compiling the information base began validation of information supply and demand system comprising Weir Arneiroz II, data source and loss studies in perennial traffic along the route. Thus, it was concluded that, for this case study, the scenario for the transport of water that meets existing demands satisfactorily and efficiently, is by means of open or closed ducts, and not by direct perpetuation Jaguaribe river to the city of JucÃs. The scenario presents evergreening as losses decreased guarantee the supply of water for at least three years of extreme drought, while the losses in transit represent 79 % of the average flow rate released by the weir Arneiroz II valve on an annual operation evergreening.

This dissertation is an effort to understand the processes and systems housed within the infrastructure of a dynamic urban environment. Jeppestown, or Jeppe, as it is known by its inhabitants, is a post-industrial wasteland on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg CBD (central business district). This rich cultural landscape was formed over generations by optimistic prospectors intrigued by the illusion of riches posed by the City of Gold. The project is focused on linking and transforming voids within the urban fabric, which are threatened by gentrification, into a healthy and productive network of public space. Guided by mapping and observation techniques, the designer can formulate the conception for a landscape architectural intervention aimed at maintaining and amplifying certain aspects coinciding with the ritualistic activities of everyday life as established within Jeppestown. Anchored by a series of social and economic nodes, a spinal development emerges, addressing thresholds between public and private realms by investigating edges as vessels for environmental and social systems. The designer uses a combination of existing characteristics of this urban artefact and newly introduced sustainable design principles to carve a coherent and productive public environment from an amalgamated entity termed the landscape slate. / Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / ML(Prof) / Unrestricted

Alcohol abuse is a worldwide public health concern. Nurses, representing the largest body of health care providers, are a potential resource to provide screening and brief intervention for patients with alcohol problems. This study evaluates the effect of an educational intervention on the attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels of nurses regarding screening and brief intervention for alcohol problems. One hundred eighty-one students at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing participated in a four-hour educational intervention to train providers in brief negotiated intervention (BNI) for screening, early detection and brief treatment of alcohol problems. Participants completed questionnaires before and after this training. Analysis of the data using paired t-test and one-way analysis of variance showed statistically significant positive change in the nurses' attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment after the educational intervention. For example, the percentage of nurses who reported always having confidence in assessing patients' readiness to change their behavior increased from 8.3% to 23.5% after training. In conclusion, the BNI educational intervention can be effective in promoting positive changes among nurses in attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment.

In a global system of increasing instability and civil society protest movements, it is important for IR to pay attention to revolutions. In the past, Marxist-structuralist theories have contributed to the research on revolutions and the international but are insufficient to explain recent cases and a contemporary generation of scholars has provided more multivariate and processual theories about revolutions.Within this field, this thesis concerns the theory development about revolutions and their international dimension. The guiding argument guiding is that revolutions are international events which are being shaped by and shaping the international system. Using the concept of “negotiated revolutions” by George Lawson, the Armenian “Velvet Revolution” 2018 is analysed as a comparative case-study to describe its international aspects. By applying the theory to a new case, it can be explored whether it still holds in another context beyond the cases with that Lawson established it.The analysis uses qualitative data from multiple sources, employing an intersociety approach and incorporating different contemporary explanations into the analysis of the case and its characteristics. It is concluded that the concept negotiated revolution is well suited to explain the dynamics of the Armenian Revolution in relation to the international system.

The bonding power of the gift has been the subject of much social scientific research. My dissertation adds to this by examining the relationship between gift giving and commitment to a social network or an employing organization. Ideas and concepts from social exchange and identity theories provide the theoretical underpinnings for this investigation. Social exchange theory views human interaction as a series of resource exchanges, and I contend that how people exchange resources may have ramifications for the bonds that develop between them and for their commitment to particular social relations. This study has two parts. In the first half of the dissertation, I ask whether the greater relational solidarity that results from direct reciprocal exchange, as opposed to negotiated exchange, differentially affects whether actors choose to leave their existing exchange networks for new ones and if so, why? Direct reciprocal exchange involves actors directly and independently giving resources to others without knowing whether the recipients of those resources will reciprocate in kind. Negotiated exchange involves actors jointly bargaining over the terms of an agreement. Differences between these two forms of exchange inform my causal argument about why actors are more like to stay in social networks if they participate in direct reciprocal exchange. I test this argument using an experiment. The second half of the dissertation continues this investigation into reciprocal exchange by examining the factors that affect gift giving in the workplace as well as the effects of gift giving on organizational commitment. Here, gift giving is defined broadly to include any act that involves people freely and independently volunteering to provide either tangible or intangible benefits to others without knowing if others will reciprocate. Data from a survey distributed to registered nurses working for a large healthcare organization provides the empirical basis for this investigation. Together the experiment and survey allow for an in-depth investigation into how exchange processes affect commitments to social networks and organizations. As such, the findings reported herein advance sociological understanding about how micro-level processes shape macro-level structures. They also speak to the practical issue of organizational retention.