The purpose of this research was to review a significant body of literature that related to music and arts education in the context of community engagement. An examination of the literature identified several issues affecting the engagement of communities in arts education pertaining to arts education policies, the role of arts organizations and the relationship between schools and communities. The summation of this research included an overview of models of successful collaborations between the public school and community institutions at national, state, and local levels in the United States with implications of future reform to the arts education policy. With such a vast array of program offerings initiated through the collaborative partnering of schools with communities and local arts agencies, valuable insights can be gained from concerted research efforts in the field of music education as to the unique opportunities afforded through purposeful community engagement.

Nondisclosure of positive status drives the secondary transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This cross sectional quantitative survey study grounded by the consequence theory evaluates fear of stigma, lack of social support, and level of HIV-related knowledge as barriers to self-disclosure of HIV-positive status to stable heterosexual partners. A sample of 303 HIV-infected respondents (111 men and 192 women) accessing antiretroviral therapy at 4 designated centers in Warri, Nigeria, completed the self-administered questionnaires. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the association between these factors and spousal HIV-positive status disclosure. Results demonstrated: (a) social support availability significantly predicted HIV status disclosure (OR = 1.038, CI = 1.022, 1.053, p = .000); (b) no significant correlation between high scores on HIV knowledge scale and HIV status disclosure (OR = .992, CI =.921, 1.067, p = .822); and (c) high stigma scale scores significantly predicted disclosure of HIV status in an inverse association (OR =.982, CI = .968, .997, p = .020). Independent t test analysis demonstrated that the gender difference in disclosure rates (females, 67.7%; males, 64.9%) was statistically nonsignificant at t (301) = -504, .614, p > .05. Multivariate analyses found marital status, length of relationship, knowledge of partners HIV status, and duration of HIV diagnosis as disclosure predictors. This study, which established a disclosure rate of 66.7%, and a discordance rate of 40.9%, may promote timely HIV-positive status disclosure and prevent secondary HIV transmission at the local level, resulting in the control of HIV epidemic at a global level.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Evolving out of my past experience as municipal manager, the study addresses one of the topical issues in municipalities, viz. the quest for more effective and sustainable local economic development (LED) in small towns. Through an extensive review of the literature and best practices of LED among South African and international municipalities, viable and reproducible strategies were examined and compared. The focus of my in depth research falls primarily on towns in the Western Cape, but lessons from other parts of South Africa also form part of this research. The conclusions drawn are not only relevant in South Africa, but can also be applied in southern Africa and other African sub-continents. Based on the qualitative evidence gathered from three in-depth case studies and a Western Cape sample of tourism places, the study explores the interaction of public- and private-sector involvement in the generation of LED momentum. As such the study focuses on the principles of successful public-private partnerships and how such partnerships can be enhanced through different types of projects. The study presents an LED framework, also referred to as a "development hub", to bring together the different elements of an integrated strategy. Based on the lessons drawn from the case studies and the literature review, the final section of the study presents a strategy framework which should be useful and applicable to other small towns, even if their growth is not tourism-based, and they are not located in South Africa's Western Cape. Hopefully the study will stimulate serious and in-depth debate among policy planners as well as key development stakeholders in small towns regarding viable LED strategising and the practical implementation of those strategies.

This doctoral thesis focuses on creation of strategic partnerships between small and medium enterprises. The purpose of the thesis is to study the attitude of enterprises toward strategic cooperation and to characterize the cooperation of enterprises within strategic partnerships. The research started with collection, evaluation and analyze of secondary data on strategic cooperation. It has been found, that in spite of high number of publications, there is a lack of joint methodology and unified use of the basic notions. Strategic cooperation is becoming a more and more up to date topic in the Czech Republic these days. One of the partial objectives of this thesis is to enrich the knowledge in this field by creation a complex theory. Other part of the research focuses on small and medium enterprises in the South Moravian region. This is connected with the second partial objective which is the analyze of the environment the companies are embedded in. In the framework if this, strong and relatively new, but fast developing branches of economy are distinguished. The creation of strategic partnerships within these branches can be a key issue in the short future. In order to get a more detailed view on attitudes of enterprises toward strategic partnerships and to find out the special features of these relations a primary research has been conducted. Both, qualitative and quantitative methods were applied with an aim to get a more complex overview on the topic. After the analyze of research data, the hypotheses were tested and conclusions and recommendations were formulated. The final part of the thesis emphasises its contribution to the theory, practice, as well as education.

Objectives: The study examines how Loansome Doc services are implemented and used by libraries in the Southeast Region and describe end users' experiences with and attitudes toward Loansome Doc. Methods: 251 active DOCLINE libraries and 867 Loansome Doc users were surveyed. Results: Roughly one half of the libraries offered Loansome Doc services. Of those that did not, most indicated no plans to offer it in the future. The majority had a small number of end users and experienced minimal increases in interlibrary loan activity. Problems were relatively rare. Satisfaction with Loansome Doc was high among all types of libraries. End users were usually physicians or other health care professionals who requested articles for research and patient care. Most learned about Loansome Doc through PubMed or Internet Grateful Med. End users appeared to be largely self-taught or received informal instruction in Loansome Doc. Loansome Doc filled document requests in a timely manner, and end users reported being satisfied with the service. Conclusions: Greater promotion of what Loansome Doc is and how it can benefit libraries can increase the number of participating libraries. While satisfaction of Loansome Doc end users is high, satisfaction could be increased with more help on the PubMed screen, more library training, and faster delivery methods.

Student engagement is a topic of interest among teachers and school leaders. In an era of high-stakes testing and a push to make students prepared for the workforce, teachers are finding ways to increase their student’s level of engagement. One method to increase student engagement is to use community partnerships to help enhance classroom instruction. This can be accomplished through work-based learning, problem-based learning, civic engagement, or service learning. While much research has been conducted on what public schools are doing with community partnerships and student engagement, little research has been conducted on faith-based schools. The goal of this study is to utilize the case study approach on two faith-based schools and see how they are using their community partnerships and whether these are improving student engagement or not. More specifically, this study looks to study the relationship between voluntary and compulsory course and/or program requirements in these schools and how teachers explain the role of their administration in such learning experiences. / Policy, Organizational and Leadership Studies

Experiential learning programs, such as service learning, help students in Spanish medical interpreting classes to increase their interpreting proficiency, which includes their cultural understanding, linguistic performance, and professionalization (Rudvin & Tomassini, 2011). Currently, the Spanish Medical Interpretation class at Brigham Young University uses a community service-learning project in which students volunteer six hours of their time interpreting within the community. While largely beneficial, not all community partners offer the same learning opportunities. Some include training and shadowing programs, while others do not. This thesis seeks to determine the impact that shadowing opportunities and community partnerships have on interpreting proficiency and the service-learning experience. Pre- to post-test data cannot prove significant correlations between different interpreting proficiency categories and the impact of shadowing programs. Furthermore, there is no significant correlation between the six community partners and linguistic performance or cultural understanding of the participants. There was however a negative correlation between professionalism and one community partner. This is especially concerning considering the current "readiness-to-work gap" experienced by interpreters (Humphrey, 2015; Johnston, 2007; Martínez-Gómez, 2018). Furthermore, student responses to surveys indicate that there is more to the service-learning experience than interpreting proficiency alone. Survey data also suggest that students would benefit from an increased focus on service learning throughout the course.

The past few decades of research support both the impact of trauma (e.g., abuse, neglect, violence) particularly in childhood, and the ability to lessen its effects through the implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC). We have successfully developed a communitywide system of TIC enhancing collaboration and common language across sectors and organizations within sectors. The collaboration involved more than 100 individuals from more than 45 organizations including healthcare, education, children’s services, the faith community, behavioral health providers, criminal justice, law enforcement, private businesses, and others. The process for developing a system of care has been evaluated through community surveys and focus groups, verifying its ability to increase understanding and implementation of TIC principles, replication in a nearby city, and the development of an instructional toolkit to aid other communities in creating such systems of care.

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This study sought to explore the governance mechanisms that result in agent principal alignment in Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), with specific reference to Job Creation. This is important to understand in South Africa as infrastructure PPPs are central to the government’s economic growth strategy. The Renewable Energy Programme (REIPPPP), a decade-old PPP, was identified as the ideal context given its consistent job-creation alignment between the state and its agents, Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Agency Theory posits that agents are inherently self-interested and thus unlikely to act in the interests of principals. However, while some theoretical propositions envisage instances of agent-principal alignment, what is less known are the precise mechanisms by which this can be achieved. This study explored the questions of moral hazard and adverse selection, which refer to goal conflict and information asymmetry in agent-principal relationships. The research was undertaken through a qualitative study, comprised of secondary data analysis as well as semi-structured interviews. It was found that by aligning contracts across multiple stakeholders, agents can increase their enforcement capacity. Furthermore, a rigorous data collection system accompanied by credible penalties, results in greater compliance. This contribution enhances the theory in respect of governance mechanisms whilst simultaneously providing practical guidance for PPP structuring. / Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted