La tesi esamina la partecipazione della Santa Sede alla Conferenza per la Sicurezza e la Cooperazione in Europa (ora Organizzazione per la Sicurezza e la Cooperazione in Europa), concentrandosi sui documenti riguardanti la libertà religiosa. Premesse le circostanze geo-politiche che hanno portato alla convocazione della Conferenza e la posizione vaticana antecedente ad essa, vengono analizzati i lavori della Conferenza di Helsinki nonché delle Riunioni sui Seguiti di Belgrado, Madrid e Vienna. Inoltre, viene illustrata la trasformazione ed istituzionalizzazione della Conferenza e, quindi, l'attività dell'OSCE nell'ambito della dimensione umana dell'OSCE, esaminando le procedure e i meccanismi istituiti per la verifica degli impegni. Infine, viene preso in considerazione il programma promosso dall'OSCE sulla tolleranza e la non discriminazione verso gli appartenenti alle confessioni religiose. / The thesis investigates the Holy See's participation in the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (now Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe), focusing on documents about religious freedom. After a brief description of the geo-politic scenery that brought to the Conference and the Holy See's position, the thesis analyzes the Helsinki Conference's works and thereafter the Follow-up Meetings of Belgrade, Madrid and Vienna. The thesis examines also the Conference's transformation and institutionalization and, then, the OSCE activity in the human dimension, focusing on procedures and mechanisms provided for the commitments' implementation. Finally, the thesis investigates the OSCE program for tolerance and non discrimination to religions' members.

This thesis aims to explore the Transdniestr conflict in Moldova by examining the involvements of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Russian Federation in their attempts at finding a working solution to this conflict. The thesis focuses on the reasons for the emergence of the Transdniestr conflict, the initiatives for the settlement of this conflict, and the causes, as of today, why the conflicting parties and the mediators have not been successful in reaching a working settlement. Contrary to the line of thinking on this conflict which suggests that the conflict has its roots in domestic factors in Moldova and Transdniestr such as ethnicity, socio-economic underdevelopment and the weakness of democratic institutions, this thesis argues that the primary reason behind the persistence of this conflict is international. It is the radically different definitions of the conflict by the OSCE and the Russian Federation that makes the conflict very difficult to solve. Russia tends to value the Transdniestr region as a geostrategic tool for maintaining its influence over post-Soviet Moldova and its neighbourhood. Since the involvement of the OSCE in this conflict limits Russia&rsquo / s capacity to use the Transdniestr region as a geostrategic tool, it becomes extremely difficult to alter the status quo that contributes to the existing impasse rather than to its opening of new avenues for the peaceful settlement of this conflict.

In many of today’s work setting, workers are required to spend a considerable part of their day engaged in social interactions and managing social relationships with customers (Schneider, 1994), and with teams (Kozlowski & Ilgen, 2006). Furthermore, increases in globalization (Javidan, Dorfman, de Luque, & House, 2006), boundaryless organizational structures (Macy & Izumi, 1993), and workplace diversity (Mahoney, 2005) have increased the ambiguity and complexity of workplace interpersonal interactions. As a result, in today’s workplace there is a great need for employees to be interpersonally adaptable (Klein, DeRouin, & Salas, 2006). Though many assessment practices and measures intended to assess individual effectiveness in social situations exist, many of these measures and practices do not assess the situationally-specific and goal-oriented aspects of interpersonal adaptability. There were two primary purposes for the dissertation. First, this dissertation introduces a framework of interpersonal adaptability. In doing so, this framework was meant to highlight three opportunities to improve the assessment of interpersonal adaptability. Specifically, in order to conduct construct-valid ratings of interpersonal adaptability there is a need to design more contextualized assessments, improve the match between construct and method, and incorporate dynamic aspects. The second key purpose was to apply some of these opportunities to current assessment practices. Two empirical studies were included in this dissertation. For the first empirical study, role play assessment exercises were revised to account for context created by role players’ portrayed disposition. It was found that the portrayed disposition of the role player accounted for a significant amount of the between-exercise variance in participants’ demonstrated interpersonal behaviors and performance. For the second empirical paper, a validation study was conducted with measures from a multi-mini interview (MMI), which is a multi-stationed interview used to assess non-cognitive skills of applicants to health professional schools. An analysis of the MMI measures’ convergent and discriminant validity suggested that it continues to be unclear whether MMI measures assess participants’ interpersonal behaviors or interpersonal processing. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. / My dissertation is comprised of three separate, but conceptually related, manuscripts. The first manuscript is a conceptual paper that draws upon sections of my introduction from my proposal. It is targeted to be included as a chapter in an upcoming book. The second and third manuscripts are empirical studies that draw upon some of the findings from my dissertation research. A general discussion was also prepared in order to highlight the key conceptual, empirical, and practical implications from my dissertation research.

En este artículo, se analiza, a través de la interpretación de las últimas modificaciones de la normativa y conforme a los principios de la contratación pública, la posibilidad de ampliar el espectro de análisis de acreditación de experiencia de una persona jurídica cuando esta pertenece a un grupo económico. Para ello, se basa en el desarrollo de la Ley de Contrataciones del Estado y sus modificaciones, en conjunto con el papel que tiene la OSCE. Luego desarrolla la actuación de las Personas Jurídicas, que conforman grupos económicos, en la ejecución de obras, para poder acreditar la experiencia requerida por la normativa. Se concluye el artículo haciendo una comparación a través del derecho comparado para así implementar una nueva interpretación de la norma de contratación pública. In this article, the author discusses, through the interpretation of recent changes in regulation and according to the principles of public procurement, the possibility of extending the range of accreditation of experience analysis to legal persons when belongs to an economic group. This is based on the development of the State Procurement Act, as amended, in conjunction with the role it plays the OSCE. Then develops the performance of legal persons, that form economic groups, in the execution of projects, in order to prove the experience required by the regulations. Finally, the article makes a comparison by comparative law in order to implement a new interpretation of the law on public procurement.

Magister Curationis - MCur / The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a formative and summative assessment method used in several health science disciplines. The primary focus of this research study was to explore and describe the experiences of student midwives of the OSCE as used in a specific university context and determine how effective it is in preparing student midwives for clinical practice. However the researcher acknowledges the value of the OSCA (Objective Structured Clinical Assessment), which was not used in the context where the study was conducted. Due to the scarcity of academic literature in South Africa and internationally regarding the experiences of student midwives of OSCE assessments, this research study attempted to increase evidence of students’ experiences for improving the OSCE as an assessment method at a school of nursing used in this study. Research purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe student midwives’ experiences of the Objective Structured Clinical Examination, at the SoN, at a university in the Western Cape, and ascertain whether it prepared them adequately for clinical practice. Research design: A qualitative approach with an exploratory descriptive design was used for the investigation of the student midwives' experiences of this assessment method. Sample: Purposive sampling was utilised to select third year Bachelor of Nursing students, who completed the OSCE during semester one in 2014, at a University in the Western Cape. Nine participants were interviewed. Data collection: The data collection was obtained through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis: The data analysis was done manually using the Thomas (2003) data analysis process. Saturation was reached after nine interviews, when no new relevant knowledge was being acquired. Findings: OSCE preparation was supported by theory and clinical learning opportunities. The OSCE environment was found to be challenging and stressful. Alignment of OSCE stations to clinical skills, theory, clinical practice and appropriateness of time allocation. Students had differing views about their level of confidence and competence. Recommendations: Although the OSCE is a valued instrument in the summative assessment of midwifery students, attention must be given to the careful planning of the OSCE environment and the use of simulation techniques. Adequate support for students is essential, and adherence to a standard method of facilitation in clinical learning, in the skills laboratory, is crucial to fairness in learning and assessment. The direct input from valuable stakeholders in clinical training, such as educators and clinical supervisors, must be considered in order to identify ways to improve the OSCE.

Magister Curationis - MCur / The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is widely accepted as an effective means of assessing clinical competence and nursing skills. However, little is known the stress amongst first year nursing students associated with the first OSCE in all universities. In view of the paucity of literature available on stress associated with the OSCE, this study determined the perception of stress by the first year nursing students' associated with their first OSCE at this university. A quantitative, descriptive survey design is employed. The instrument used is an adapted form of an existing self-administered Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaire. This measures perception of stress, factors causing stress and the incidence of stress. Of the total of 213 first year nursing students who were invited to be part of the study, 82 completed the questionnaires. This represents a response rate of 38%. The data was analysed using Statistica 13. Descriptive statistics are used do the calculations. The results are presented in percentages and tables.The findings indicate that more than half (n=54), of the respondents experienced moderate stress levels. For these respondents, the most prevalent factor causing stress was the insufficient time to complete the OSCE. Ninety three percent (93%) (n=74) of the respondents perceived the incidence of stress at a moderate level. There was a statistically significant difference between those who perceived factors causing stress at a low level and those who perceived factors causing stress at a moderate level. Based on the findings of the study on perception of stress during the OSCE, it is recommended that practice session assessments should be conducted throughout the year to help to reduce stress for students during the OSCE. A follow-up qualitative research study should also be conducted in the same setting so the students’ experiences of stress during the first OSCE can be explored in depth. Although the relatively small sample of this study (38%) means the results cannot be generalised, this study does contribute to the literature on the stress experienced during the OSCE.

Clinical skills are often measured using objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) in healthcare professions education programs. As with assessment centers, it is challenging to provide learners with effective feedback due to burdensome human capital demands. The aim of this dissertation was to evaluate the viability of using a crowdsourced system to gather OSCE ratings and feedback. Aggregating evaluations of student performance from a crowd of patient proxies has the potential to mitigate biases associated with single-rater evaluations, allow the patient a voice as the consumer of physician behavior, improve reliability, reduce costs, improve feedback latency, and help learners develop a mental model of the diversity of patient preferences. Crowd raters, recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk, evaluated a set of video-recorded performance episodes designed to measure interpersonal and communication (ICS) and physical exam (PE) skills. Compared to standardized patient (SP) and faculty raters, crowd raters were more lenient and less reliable, when holding the number of raters and spending constant. However, small groups of crowd raters were able to reach acceptable levels of reliability. Crowd ratings were collected within a matter of hours whereas SP and faculty ratings were returned in over 10 days. Learner reactions to crowdsourced ratings were also measured. Blind to the rater source, a majority of learners preferred the crowdsourced feedback packages over the SP and faculty packages. After learning about the potential value of crowdsourced ratings, learners were positive about crowd ratings as a complement to SP and faculty ratings, but only for evaluations of ICS (not PE) and only for formative (not summative) applications. In particular, students valued the volume and diversity of the crowdsourced feedback and the opportunity to better understand the patient perspective. Students expressed their concerns about privacy as well as the accuracy and quality of crowd ratings. A discussion of practical implications considers future best-practices for a crowdsourced OSCE rating and feedback system.

The thesis focuses on the post-conflict reconstruction of a small Balkan state, Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the emphasis on a wide-range mandate assigned by the Dayton Peace Accords to the regional security organization OSCE. The second part of the thesis takes a closer look at the main causes of the current political, economic and social crisis hindering the development of the country. Although Bosnia is a unitary country, it is strongly decentralized in most of its public life as well as political and social sectors, including the political parties, media or education system.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In relationship-centered care, the relationship formed between physician and patient is critical to the creation of positive patient outcomes and patient satisfaction (Inui, 1996; Laine & Davidoff, 1996; Tresolini, 1994). Medical educators have increasingly utilized Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) to assess medical students’ abilities to utilize a relationship-centered approach in clinical interviewing. OSCEs, however, have recently come under scrutiny as critics contend that the overly scripted and standardized nature of the OSCE may not accurately reflect how medical students build and maintain relationships with patients. Although some studies have looked at how standardized patients help teach medical students interviewing skills, few studies have looked specifically at how the structured nature of the OSCE may influence relationship-building between standardized patients and medical students. Therefore, this study asks the question “How is relationship-centered care negotiated between standardized patients and medical students during a summative diagnostic OSCE?” Using an ethnographic methodology (Bochner & Ellis, 1996), data consists of an ethnographic field journal, transcripts of semi-structured interviews with SPs and medical students, and transcripts of headache and chronic cough videotaped scenarios. Using grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, 1998), a back-and-forth thematic analysis was conducted in discovering the saturation of conceptual categories, linking relationships, and in critically comparing interpretive categorical concepts with relevant literature (Josselson & Leeblich, 1999). Findings suggest that standardized patients and medical students hold differing expectations for 1) diagnostic information gathering and 2) making personal connections upon entering a diagnostic summative OSCE. SPs “open up” both verbally and nonverbally when medical students “go beyond the checklist” by asking discrete diagnostic questions and when overtly trying to connect emotionally. Fourth year medical students, however, expect SPs to “open-up” during what they experience as a rushed, time-constrained, and overly structured “gaming” exercise which contradicts their own clinical experiences in being more improvisational during empathetic rapport building. Differences between SPs and medical students’ expectations and communication practices influence how they perform during summative diagnostic OSCEs. Findings may suggest the re-introduction of more relationship-focused OSCEs which positions SPs as proactive patients who reflexively co-teach students about the importance of making personal connections.