This thesis aims to assess the role played by disagreement in the High Court???s constitutional law decisions. It does so firstly by considering the theoretical arguments in favour of allowing expression of dissent and those which urge judicial restraint and observance of precedential values. The tensions between change and conformity, and also the individual and institutional aspects of adjudication, intersect when the Court divides. The complex nature of disagreement on a multimember judicial body is further examined in the context of devising an empirical methodology for the quantification of dissent on the High Court. The thesis selects a period of a little over twenty years for detailed examination. Within that timeframe, it measures the prevalence and nature of disagreement amongst the Justices of the Court, with particular emphasis upon constitutional cases. From these results, various streams of opinion are examined for subsequent significance. In particular, the thesis contrasts the practice of persistent dissent from the Court???s approach to an issue, with those occasions when a minority Justice yields to the demands of stare decisis. The impact of dissent upon the development of the Court???s constitutional interpretation is evaluated. Although the study finds that direct reversals in the law in favour of an earlier dissent occur very rarely, it argues that dissents may still exercise a powerful influence on the Court???s pronouncements. The contribution which minority opinions make to judicial deliberation is to inevitably alter the context of the Court???s decision. Consideration of two specific case studies illustrates that this may result in the law taking a more moderate path or may actually lead to greater efforts by a majority to strengthen the cogency of its approach. In either scenario, dissent plays a far more subtle role than suggested by the myth of a ???Great Dissenter??? and the dramatic redemption of his or her lone opinions. To only assess the value of dissenting judgments against that standard is to fail to appreciate the true nature of their influence in many cases and their importance to the work of the High Court.

This is a small scale research conducted by a Game Design student about attraction to a game concept of violent nature. A survey was executed and launched on social media such as Facebook to gain many participants in a short period of time. They were asked how attracted they were to the graphics of the concept and also if and how much money they would pay for a game like it. One of the most important parts of this research is that the participators are of a mixed group when it comes to age and gender, but also location, since these things tend to control our environment which in turn can shape a person and their morals. The results are presented in simple graphs and discussed together with results from similar research regarding violent games and how they affect the players and in turn society. Despite the violent contents of the graphics used in the survey, the most popular rating indicates that many participants are attracted to it and that they would consider paying for such a game.

SAMMANFATTNING INTRODUKTION: Sedan 1960-talet har dagspressens uppgift och marknadssituation diskuterats. 1971 infördes ett presstöd som skulle rädda tidningar som inte ekonomiskt kunde klara att överleva av egna krafter. Presstödets vara eller icke vara har debatterats flitig sedan dess och åsikterna går isär om stödet snedvrider konkurrensen på dagspressmarknaden eller om stödet ger ett bidrag till den svenska demokratin och värnar om en mångfald av tidningar. Vad är det som skiljer debattörerna i synen på dagspressens marknadsförutsättningar? Vilka ideologiska övertygelser är det som håller debatten vid liv och vilka olika innebörder lägger debattörerna i begreppen mångfald och konkurrens? MÅL: Att undersöka debatten kring det svenska presstödet i de fyra dagstidningarna Svenska Dagbladet, Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenskan och Göteborgs-Posten. Följande frågeställningar besvaras: Vilka olika pressideologiska värderingar eller synsätt har deltagarna i presstödsdebatten? Vilka marknadsförutsättningar tycker respektive sida i debatten ska gälla för dagstidningarna? Vad skiljer debattörerna åt i synen på mångfald och konkurrens i mediepolitiken? TEORI: Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i fyra normativa pressideologier: den auktoritära ideologin, den frihetliga ideologin, ideologin om socialt ansvar och den leninistiska pressideologin. METOD: Studien har två metoder. En kvalitativ metod för att skapa en djupare insikt i studiens frågeställningar genom analys av artiklarnas innehåll. En kvantitativ metod som beskriver material, innehåll och mönster i form av mängdberäkningar vilket ger ett större underlag för analys och slutsatser. RESULTAT: Den auktoritära pressideologin används som en skrämseltaktik av både stödförespråkare och stödmotståndare. Den leninistiska ideologin ger ett bidrag till den samlade bilden av hur världens olika länder kan organisera sin dagspress men den ger inget bidrag till debatten kring det svenska presstödet. Debattens deltagare befinner sig främst i den frihetliga ideologin och i ideologin om socialt ansvar.  Presstödsdebatten bedrivs på en elitnivå bland politiker, medieägare, fackliga tjänstemän, forskare och professorer samt journalister. Inga privatpersoner har intresse av presstödets vara eller icke vara. DISKUSSION: Studiens resultat visar två olika perspektiv på marknadsförutsättningar som respektive sida i debatten tycker ska gälla för dagspressen, ett marknadsekonomiskt perspektiv och ett demokratiskt ansvarsfullt perspektiv. De båda lägger var sin innebörd i begreppen mångfald och konkurrens. Dagspressen ska finansiera sig själv utifrån marknadens förutsättningar anser motståndarna i debatten men klarar inte marknaden detta så ska staten vara en hjälpande hand anser förespråkarna. Dagspressen är en del av Sveriges demokrati och presstödet är ett bidrag till denna.

With the advances in technology and popularization of the Internet, the interaction of human beings in real society has extended to the Internet forum. Due to the low barrier for entering the Internet, people can always speak their mind freely and make comments on whatever they want to. Behind a world that seems to have freedom and equality of speech, the expression of opinions is being tested by standards of different cultures and living backgrounds. Using Gossiping¢wthe most popular and interactive board on PTT¢w as the source data, this study identifies the spiral of silence between the mainstream opinions and non-mainstream opinions. Where the spiral of silence occurred, the study also examines the force which affected the spiral based on the theories of stigma and analyze its accompanying meanings. With different positions, people resulted in different critical standards and stigma phenomenon. When facing stigma, people should realize the causes of things from the social and cultural dimensions, and rethink the positive meanings that stigma brings to us instead of being afraid of it.

Prior research has established that stocks with high dispersion of earnings forecasts or short interest are associated with low subsequent returns. Assuming dispersion of forecasts is a proxy for divergence of opinions and short interest is a proxy for short selling constraints, these results have been traditionally attributed to correction for overpricing created by binding short selling constraints. This argument is provided by Miller (1977), and states that prices reflect an optimistic view when investors with pessimistic views can not trade due to short selling constraints, and that the more opinions diverge, the more stocks become overpriced. I test whether dispersion of forecasts exacerbates overpricing, but find evidence contrary to Miller’s theory. When dispersion of forecasts increases, prices decrease. I offer an explanation based on analysts’ reluctance to quickly revise their forecasts downward. I show that some analysts’ sluggish response to bad news results in dispersion of forecasts. The inertia in downward forecast revisions also leads to market underreaction to bad news. Therefore, the negative relationship between dispersion and subsequent returns may be attributable to analysts’ sluggish response to bad news. I also examine the return predictability of firms with high short interest and low institutional ownership. Short interest seems to predict not only future stock returns but also future earnings news, especially for firms with lower institutional ownership. Therefore, the return predictability of short interest seems to be associated with value relevant information short sellers seem to have gathered.

Household-level Canadian meat purchases from 2002-2008, a Food Opinions Survey conducted in 2008 at the national level and household-level egg purchases from 2002-2005 in Alberta and Ontario were used to explore consumer responses to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in Canada. The opinions survey focused on nutritional priorities, general and specific food safety concerns, and trust in government and food industry decision makers. The egg data set contained specific product information allowing us to distinguish purchases of conventional eggs from those of value-added eggs with perceived health attributes. Thus, the egg purchase data appeared to be an interesting proxy of revealed willingness-to-pay for health attributes and animal welfare attributes in products other than meat, and it served as a proxy of awareness and concern for farm-level production practices. Three measures of beef purchases were used to understand consumers‘ reaction to food risk. A random effects logit model was applied to test whether any beef was purchased during a given month. Consumption in terms of unit purchases was measured with a random effects negative binomial model, and consumption in terms of beef expenditure was measured with a standard random effects model. Regional differences appeared, with consumers in eastern Canada reacting most negatively to BSE. Consumers responded more to the perception that food decision makers are honest about food safety than to the perception that they are knowledgeable, in maintaining beef purchases during BSE events. Consumers who purchased value-added eggs reacted significantly more negatively to the second and third BSE events, as did those who reported increasing food safety concerns in the opinions survey. Their negative responses to BSE were stronger than those of consumers who purchased conventional products which indicated a relationship exists between concern for health and nutrition attributes and food safety. This study extends previous research by enlarging the time periods and more data sources which can be helpful to identify individual heterogeneity and the application of panel random effects models which also targets on controlling the unobserved and constant aspects of households.

The usefulness of a detailed examination of the fictional world of a novel is demonstrated in a study of Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.Analysis of the fictional world of Tristram Shandy, reveals a binary world which is created by the novel's narrative technique. Distinct outlines of the two fictional worlds of Tristram (TW) and the Shandy Brothers (SBW) can be established, and-the examination of these worlds provides new insights for explicating the structure, coherence, unity, and completeness of Sterne's novel.The duality of fictional worlds in the novel is not merely the reflection of movement between the two time frames of Tristram's present and his past. There are distinguishing differences not only of time, characters, and events, but also of place and quality of experience. As one views these worlds alternately but consistently throughout the novel, the bifocal perspective which emerges creates the depth perception necessary not only to see Tristram as he is, but also to comprehend a composite universe in which the attitudes, conflicts, and complications of the present world of Tristramn both mirror and complement those of the world of the Shandy family.Just as the juxtaposition of two fictional worlds augments the reader's perception of Tristram's character, life, and opinions, so also does it alter significantly the perception of the book he is writing. For it is by means of Tristram's narrative stance, his self-conscious role as author busily attempting to chronicle the events occurring in both worlds, and the perspective created by his dual narration of these events, that the reader comes to see and appreciate his book as an artifact watched in the process of its creation. As the artifact which Tristram is struggling to create, the book itself assumes a fictional role as an object in Tristram's world.In the process of his virtuoso performance in entertaining the reader while failing in the attempt to complete his autobiography, Tristram unwittingly succeeds in disclosing in his present world as much of his spirit and character as a reader requires in order to know him well. The ultimate success, of course, is that of Sterne, who has created a remarkably involuted, complex, and transparent structure of fiction by means of (1) Tristram's intrusive and digressive narration, in which the two fictional worlds emerge simultaneously; (2) the plot of Tristram attempting to write his Life; and (3) the unfolding character of Tristram. Taken together these elements interact and combine to produce a novel which is artful, ingenious, and a structure of paradox and irony.

This thesis aims to assess the role played by disagreement in the High Court???s constitutional law decisions. It does so firstly by considering the theoretical arguments in favour of allowing expression of dissent and those which urge judicial restraint and observance of precedential values. The tensions between change and conformity, and also the individual and institutional aspects of adjudication, intersect when the Court divides. The complex nature of disagreement on a multimember judicial body is further examined in the context of devising an empirical methodology for the quantification of dissent on the High Court. The thesis selects a period of a little over twenty years for detailed examination. Within that timeframe, it measures the prevalence and nature of disagreement amongst the Justices of the Court, with particular emphasis upon constitutional cases. From these results, various streams of opinion are examined for subsequent significance. In particular, the thesis contrasts the practice of persistent dissent from the Court???s approach to an issue, with those occasions when a minority Justice yields to the demands of stare decisis. The impact of dissent upon the development of the Court???s constitutional interpretation is evaluated. Although the study finds that direct reversals in the law in favour of an earlier dissent occur very rarely, it argues that dissents may still exercise a powerful influence on the Court???s pronouncements. The contribution which minority opinions make to judicial deliberation is to inevitably alter the context of the Court???s decision. Consideration of two specific case studies illustrates that this may result in the law taking a more moderate path or may actually lead to greater efforts by a majority to strengthen the cogency of its approach. In either scenario, dissent plays a far more subtle role than suggested by the myth of a ???Great Dissenter??? and the dramatic redemption of his or her lone opinions. To only assess the value of dissenting judgments against that standard is to fail to appreciate the true nature of their influence in many cases and their importance to the work of the High Court.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Το Υπουργείο Παιδείας, το έτος 2002-2003 προχώρησε στη λειτουργία του ολοήμερου δημοτικού σχολείου αξιοποιώντας τόσο τα παιδαγωγικά συμπεράσματα που προέκυψαν από τη λειτουργία των 28 πιλοτικών ολοήμερων σχολείων, όσο και την εμπειρία της οργάνωσης των σχολείων διευρυμένου ωραρίου. Δημιουργήθηκε δηλαδή για να συμβάλλει στην αναμόρφωση του όλου σχολικού κλίματος στη ριζική αλλαγή του ρόλου του σημερινού σχολείου και μέσα από διαφορετικές μαθησιακές και εκπαιδευτικές διαδικασίες να οδηγήσει στο σχολείο του μέλλοντος. Το πρόγραμμά του έχει προαιρετικό χαρακτήρα και περιλαμβάνει μελέτη και προετοιμασία των μαθητών για τα μαθήματα της επόμενης ημέρας, από υπεύθυνο δάσκαλο στην Ελληνική Γλώσσα και στα Μαθηματικά. Στο πλαίσιό του εντάσσονται επίσης επιλογές των μαθητών σε μαθήματα και δραστηριότητες που αναβαθμίζουν το ρόλο του σχολείου, όπως: η Ξένη Γλώσσα, η εισαγωγή στις Νέες Τεχνολογίες στην Εκπαίδευση, ο Αθλητισμός, ο Χορός, η Θεατρική Αγωγή, η Μουσική και τα Εικαστικά. Κίνητρο για τη συγκεκριμένη έρευνα αποτέλεσε η παρακολούθηση στατιστικών στοιχείων σχετικά με τη συγκρότηση και λειτουργία ολοήμερων σχολείων της Διεύθυνσης Αθήνας για τρία συνεχόμενα σχολικά έτη και συγκεκριμένα τα έτη 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006. Η μελέτη, λοιπόν, αυτών των στοιχείων λειτούργησε ως έναυσμα στο να πραγματοποιηθεί η παρούσα εργασία και με τη διεξαγωγή ποιοτικής έρευνας να μελετηθεί πώς λειτουργεί το πρόγραμμα του ολοήμερου σχολείου. Ειδικότερα στοχεύει μέσα από την αναλυτική καταγραφή των απόψεων των δασκάλων και των διευθυντών τεσσάρων σχολικών μονάδων ολοήμερου προγράμματος διαφορετικών περιοχών της παραπάνω Διεύθυνσης να ανιχνεύσει αν επιτυγχάνονται οι στόχοι του, ποια προβλήματα ενδεχομένως αντιμετωπίζει κατά την εφαρμογή του και δευτερευόντως αν αυτά συμβάλλουν στο φαινόμενο της διαρροής που προκύπτει από τη μελέτη των στατιστικών στοιχείων. Τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας έδειξαν ότι δάσκαλοι και διευθυντές θεωρούν ότι πετυχαίνει μερικώς τους στόχους του και κυρίως τους κοινωνικούς ενώ σε συνδυασμό με τα πολλαπλά προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίζει στην πράξη, μερικά παιδιά ωθούνται στο να το εγκαταλείψουν. Επίσης αναδεικνύονται θέματα ποιότητας της μαθησιακής διαδικασίας και οι ιδιαιτερότητες στην εφαρμογή του ολοήμερου προγράμματος της σχολικής μονάδας ανάλογα με τις τοπικές συνθήκες. / The ministry of Education, at the year 2002-2003 advanced in the upgraded operation of the day-long municipal school developing so much the pedagogic conclusions that resulted from the operation of 28 pilot day-long schools, as much as the experience of organising schools of extended schedule. That is to say, it was created in order to contribute in the reformation of all school climates in the radical change of the role of the current school and through different training and educational processes to lead to the school of future. His program has optional character and includes the study and the preparation of students on the courses of the next day, from a responsible schoolteacher in the Greek Language and in the Mathematics. In his frame are also included choices of students in courses and activities that upgrade the role of school, as: a foreign Language, an introduction in New Technologies in the Education, the Sports, the Dance, the Theatrical Education, the Music and Figurative. Motivation for this research constituted the follow-up of statistical elements regarding the constitution and operation of day-long schools of the third Address of Athens for three consecutive school years and particularly for the years of 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-2006. Therefore, the study of these elements functioned as spark to create the present work and with the conduct of qualitative research to study how the program of day-long school functions. More specifically it aims through the analytic recording of opinions of schoolteachers and directors of four school units of day-long program of different regions of the third educational Address, to detect whether his objectives are achieved, which problems potentially it faces during his function and if circumstantially these contribute in the phenomenon of leaving the day-long school, that results from the study of statistical data. The results of research showed that schoolteachers and directors consider that it achieves partially his objectives and mainly the social objectives while in combination with the multiple problems that faces when put into practice, a lot of children are prompted to abandon this institution. Moreover, issues of training process quality are elected and particularities in the application of a day-long program of a school unit depending on the local conditions.