This diploma thesis deals with investment subsidies, which municipalities obtain as a contribution to the budget, and the fact whether the amount of the subsidies is affected by the political affiliation of the mayor. The introduction of the thesis brings the description of public administration of the Czech Republic, and the characteristics of the region and the village. The following part focuses on fiscal federalism, district budget as well as particular revenues of municipalities. Additionally, this part provides the explanation of the term 'subsidy', and lists different kinds of sources which municipalities can draw financial means from. The last part introduces analysis of selected towns. The conclusion presents the overall evaluation and summary of the results.

The diploma thesis concentrates on the area of Structural funds of the European Union and their applications in the field of support in research and innovation in the Czech Republic. The main objective of this thesis is to provide the reader with a complex view of support in the field of research and innovation from the EU Structural funds in the programming period of 2007--2013 and also in the future period of 2014--2020. Partial objective is to evaluate the application of EU Structural funds on the basis of a specific operational programme supporting field of research and innovation. The research question is defined as the meaningfulness of settings of the operational programmes in the field of research and innovation and the evaluation of their effectiveness and sustainability. The first chapter introduces firstly the regional policy of European Union and its main instrument, the EU Structural funds and then concentrates shortly on the field of research and innovation in the Czech Republic. The second chapter focuses on the specific operational programmes which are supporting the field of research and innovation for both programming periods and furthermore evaluates the drawing of EU Structural funds in the Czech Republic. Lastly, the third chapter offers a practical application of the Structural funds of EU on the base of a specific operational programme, the Operational Programme Research and Development for innovation (OP R & DI). The main concentration is devoted to evaluating the sustainability of research and development centers supported by the OP R & DI.

La Louisiane présente la particularité de posséder la seule agence d’État dont le rôle consiste à préserver et diffuser une langue minoritaire, en l’occurrence le français. Le CODOFIL (Conseil pour le Développement du Français en Louisiane) fut créé en 1968 par la loi 409 du Congrès de Louisiane. Son président fondateur, James « Jimmy » Domengeaux était persuadé que la réintroduction du français dans les écoles, à raison de trente minutes quotidiennes (dans le cadre d’un programme de Français Langue Seconde ou FLS), permettrait de freiner le déclin de cette langue, chassée des établissements scolaires par la constitution de 1921. Sa décision d’importer un corps enseignant étranger, majoritairement issu de France, de Belgique et du Québec afin d’enseigner le français international et non le vernaculaire louisianais, allait entraîner une rupture profonde entre la population francophone et le CODOFIL, sans pour autant ralentir la baisse du nombre de locuteurs cadiens. Cette situation poussait alors certains chefs d’établissement et parents d’élèves, dans les années 1980, à demander la création de programmes d’immersion française où les élèves reçoivent un enseignement des matières principales en français. Le succès constant de ces programmes (ils scolarisent aujourd’hui plus de 3.400 élèves en Louisiane) devrait logiquement en faire le fer de lance de l’action du CODOFIL car, au contraire du programme de FLS (dont les effectifs sont pourtant six fois plus importants), les classes d’immersion produisent véritablement des francophones. Une enquête présentée dans ce travail et menée auprès de 49 professeurs étrangers exerçant dans ces classes montre que tel n’est pas le cas et que le CODOFIL ne s’implique pas dans le volet pédagogique relatif aux programmes d’immersion et laissent aux enseignants étrangers le soin d’inclure, ou non, des séquences à vocation identitaire dans leur progression, tâche pour laquelle ils ne reçoivent aucune formation émanant du CODOFIL. Ce dernier se contente d’un rôle administratif de pourvoyeur de visas. La conséquence majeure de cette politique est l’absence presque totale de la langue et de la culture cadiennes dans les salles de classe. Une loi adoptée en juin 2010 par le Congrès de Louisiane, alors que ce travail de recherche était en cours, est venue modifier la mission du CODOFIL et établir l’enseignement immersif comme un de ses objectifs prioritaires : le législateur considère désormais que diffusion du français, programmes d’immersion et intérêt économique de l’État sont étroitement liés. / Louisiana is the only state in the USA to possess a public agency whose role consists in protecting and transmitting a minority language, namely French. CODOFIL (Council for the Development of French in Louisiana) was created in 1968 by an act of the Louisiana legislature. Its founder and first president James “Jimmy” Domengeaux held that the reintroduction of French in the schools of Louisiana with daily 30-minute classes (French as a Second Language program or FLS) would slow down the constant decline of this language that had been banned by the 1921 constitution. Domengeaux’s decision to import foreign teachers from France, Belgium and Quebec to teach international French and not the Louisianan variety that he deemed unfit for the classroom was to leave the cajun population displeased and resentful towards CODOFIL, while the number of French speakers kept falling. This situation led some school principals and parent support groups in the 1980’s to demand a change of policy and the creation of immersion. Instead of studying French as in the FLS program, pupils are taught the main subjects in French. Given the growing success of those immersion programs (they now comprise more than 3400 pupils in Louisiana) which churn out real French speakers (unlike the FLS programs and their 18 000 pupils), CODOFIL should be expected to focus its core action on them. A survey presented in this work and conducted with 49 French Associate Teachers (FAT) shows that CODOFIL is not, leaving the FATs to their own devices when it comes to teaching Cajun culture and language. Generally ignorant of those features when they arrive in Louisiana, they are deprived of a serious training. CODOFIL is content with its administrative role consisting in delivering. The main consequence of this policy is the near total absence of cajun culture and language in the classroom. A recent and unexpected act of the Louisiana legislature (June 2010), adopted while this work was still under way, is meant to radically alter the mission of CODOFIL and establish the immersion programs as a high priority: the transmission of French, immersion classes and the economic interest of the state are now regarded as closely linked.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur ett urval av svenska kommuner arbetar med avhoppare från kriminella grupperingar, samt huruvida detta arbete är likvärdigt mellan kommunerna. Tidigare forskning som utförts inom detta område är främst internationell vilket tyder på att forskningsfältet är relativt outforskat i Sverige. De studier som gjorts tydliggör dock att avhoppare är en målgrupp i behov av ett omfattande stöd, då individerna går igenom en stor förändring gällande livsstilen under avhopparprocessen. Vidare visar tidigare forskning att avhoppare i stor utsträckning inte upplevt myndigheter som en betydelsefull del i att lämna kriminella grupperingar, samt att tillgången till det stöd som krävs varierar. De teoretiska perspektiv som legat till grund för denna studie är Luhmanns systemteori och Goldbergs förklaringsmodell, där begrepp som funktionell differentiering av samhället, interpenetration, strukturell koppling och självbild varit användbara. Det framgår utifrån resultatet att enbart 14 av de 26 kommuner som ingick i urvalet har ett påvisat arbete med målgruppen avhoppare, och det arbete som utförs inom dessa 14 kommuner varierar gällande typ av verksamhet, insatser och krav. Detta indikerar på att arbetet med avhoppare ännu kan bli mer likvärdigt i svenska kommuner. Resultatet i denna studie kan tillföra betydelsefull kunskap gällande arbetet med avhoppare, vilket således kan bidra till en vidareutveckling av det sociala arbetet med målgruppen.

Le développement des logiciels et leur restructuration deviennent de plus en plus complexes à cause de l'adoption massive des architectures parallèles, ce qui nécessite une expertise considérable de la part des développeurs. Bien que des nombreux modèles et langages de programmation permettent de créer des programmes efficaces, ils n'offrent pas de support spécifique à la restructuration des programmes existants afin d'en augmenter l'efficacité. En même temps, les approches automatiques sont trop conservatives et insuffisamment précises pour atteindre une partie substantielle de la performance du système sans que le développeur aie à fournir des informations sémantiques supplémentaires. Pour répondre à ces défis, nous adoptons l'approche de la restructuration interactive des programmes qui lie la manipulation semi-automatique des programmes avec la visualisation des logiciels. Dans cette thèse, l'approche de restructuration interactive est illustrée par l'extension du modèle polyédrique - une représentation des programmes moderne et puissante - pour permettre la manipulation de haut niveau ainsi que par la conception et l'évaluation d'une interface visuelle à manipulation directe pour la restructuration des programmes. Cette interface visualise l'information qui n'était pas immédiatement accessible dans la représentation textuelle et permet de manipuler des programmes sans en réécrire le code. Nous proposons également une représentation de l'optimisation de programme, calculée automatiquement, telle que le développeur puisse la comprendre et réutiliser facilement ainsi que la modifier d'une manière textuelle ou visuelle dans le cadre du partenariat homme-machine. Afin de représenter plusieurs aspects de la restructuration des programmes, nous concevons et évaluons une nouvelle interaction qui permet de communiquer l'information supplémentaire et non-cruciale pour la tâche à accomplir. Après une étude empirique de la distribution d'attention des développeurs face aux représentations textuelles et visuelles des programmes, nous discutons des implications pour la conception des outils d'aide à la programmation dans le cadre du modèle d'interaction instrumentale. La restructuration interactive des programmes est supposée faciliter la manipulation des programmes dans le but d'optimisation, la rendre plus efficace et plus largement adopté. / Software development and program manipulation become increasingly complex with the massive adoption of parallel architectures, requiring significant expertise from developers. While numerous programming models and languages allow for creating efficient programs, they fall short at helping developers to restructure existing programs for more effective execution. At the same time, automatic approaches are overly conservative and imprecise to achieve a decent portion of the systems' performance without supplementary semantic information from the developer. To answer these challenges, we propose the interactive program restructuring approach, a bridge between semi-automatic program manipulation and software visualization. It is illustrated in this thesis by, first, extending a state-of-the-art polyhedral model for program representation so that it supports high-level program manipulation and, second, by designing and evaluating a direct manipulation visual interface for program restructuring. This interface provides information about the program that was not immediately accessible in the code and allows to manipulate programs without rewriting. We also propose a representation of an automatically computed program optimization in an understandable form, easily modifiable and reusable by the developer both visually and textually in a sort of human-machine partnership. To support different aspects of program restructuring, we design and evaluate a new interaction to communicate supplementary information, not critical for the task at hand. After an empirical study of developers' attention distribution when faced with visual and textual program representation, we discuss the implications for design of program manipulation tools in the instrumental interaction paradigm. We expect interactive program restructuring to make program manipulation for optimization more efficient and widely adopted.

Les applications de transmission de messages distribués font partie du courant dominant des technologies de l'information car elles exploitent la puissance des systèmes informatiques parallèles pour produire des performances plus élevées. La conception de programmes distribués reste difficile car les développeurs doivent raisonner sur la concurrence, le non-déterminisme, la distribution de données… qui sont les principales caractéristiques des programmes distribués. En outre, il est pratiquement impossible de garantir l'exactitude de tels programmes via des approches de test classiques, car il est possible que l'on n'atteigne jamais avec succès l'exécution qui conduit à des comportements indésirables dans les programmes. Il existe donc un besoin de techniques de vérification plus puissantes. La vérification des modèles est l'une des méthodes formelles qui permet de vérifier automatiquement et efficacement certaines propriétés des modèles de systèmes informatiques en explorant tous les comportements possibles (états et transitions) du modèle de système. Cependant, les espaces d'état augmentent de façon exponentielle avec le nombre de processus simultanés, conduisant à une «explosion de l'espace d'état» .La réduction dynamique de l'ordre partiel basée sur le dépliage (UDPOR) est une technique récente mélangeant la réduction dynamique de l'ordre partiel (DPOR) avec des concepts de théorie de la concurrence tels que dépliages pour atténuer efficacement l'explosion de l'espace d'états lors de la vérification des modèles de programmes simultanés. Il est optimal dans le sens où chaque trace de Mazurkiewicz, c'est-à-dire une classe d'entrelacements équivalents en commutant des actions indépendantes adjacentes, est explorée exactement une fois. Et elle s'applique aux programmes en cours d'exécution, pas seulement aux modèles de programmes.La thèse vise à adapter UDPOR pour vérifier les programmes distribués asynchrones (par exemple les programmes MPI) dans le cadre du simulateur SIMGRID d'applications distribuées. Pour ce faire, un modèle de programmation abstrait de programmes distribués asynchrones est défini et formalisé en langage TLA +, permettant de définir avec précision une relation d'indépendance, ingrédient principal de la sémantique concurrentielle. Ensuite, l'adaptation de l'UDPOR, impliquant la construction d'un dépliage, est rendue efficace par une analyse précise des dépendances dans le modèle de programmation, permettant des calculs efficaces d'opérations habituellement coûteuses. Un prototype d'implémentation d'UDPOR adapté aux programmes asynchrones distribués a été développé, donnant des résultats expérimentaux prometteurs sur un ensemble significatif de références. / Distributed message passing applications are in the mainstream of information technology since they exploit the power of parallel computer systems to produce higher performance. Designing distributed programs remains challenging because developers have to reason about concurrency, non-determinism, data distribution… that are main characteristics of distributed programs. Besides, it is virtually impossible to ensure the correctness of such programs via classical testing approaches since one may never successfully reach the execution that leads to unwanted behaviors in the programs. There is thus a need for more powerful verification techniques. Model-checking is one of the formal methods that allows to verify automatically and effectively some properties on models of computer systems by exploring all possible behaviors (states and transitions) of the system model. However, state spaces increase exponentially with the number of concurrent processes, leading to “state space explosion”.Unfolding-based Dynamic Partial Order Reduction (UDPOR) is a recent technique mixing Dynamic Partial Order Reduction (DPOR) with concepts of concurrency theory such as unfoldings to efficiently mitigate state space explosion in model-checking of concurrent programs. It is optimal in the sense that each Mazurkiewicz trace, i.e. a class of interleavings equivalent by commuting adjacent independent actions, is explored exactly once. And it is applicable to running programs, not only models of programs.The thesis aims at adapting UDPOR to verify asynchronous distributed programs (e.g. MPI programs) in the setting of the SIMGRID simulator of distributed applications. To do so, an abstract programming model of asynchronous distributed programs is defined and formalized in the TLA+ language, allowing to precisely define an independence relation, a main ingredient of the concurrency semantics. Then, the adaptation of UDPOR, involving the construction of an unfolding, is made efficient by a precise analysis of dependencies in the programming model, allowing efficient computations of usually costly operation. A prototype implementation of UDPOR adapted to distributed asynchronous programs has been developed, giving promising experimental results on a significant set of benchmarks.

Thesis (MPA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The study investigated the management of the social reintegration programme in the Department of Correctional Services in Mbombela Municipality, Mpumalanga Province. The role played by the stake holders in the programme and the department in rehabilitating and reintegrating the offenders. The purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme; social acceptance and the application of skills obtained in the correctional facility as a deterrent to committing a further crime. Section 50 of the Correctional Services Act, 1998 (Act No. 111 of 1998); provide the following mandates; the objectives of the study is amongst others to afford sentenced offenders an opportunity to serve their sentences in a non- custodial manner, to enable persons subject to the programme to lead a specially responsible and crime free life during the period of their sentence and in future, to enable offenders to be rehabilitated in a manner that best keeps them as integral part of society and to enable them to be fully reintegrated into society when they have completed their sentences. The investigation is both qualitative and quantitative whereby; it would be descriptive; analytical, interpretive and evaluative. The findings of this study have shown that the majority of offenders do not lead a crime free life after imprisonment. However, Correctional programmes rendered are designed to equip offenders with skills to lead a responsible life on reintegration and also the level at which other stake-holders are involving themselves in the reintegration of offenders in order to reduce reoffending. The recommendations suggest the following as research findings: • Offenders should be equipped with skills that can make them employable and self-sufficient in the outside world. • Offenders should also be monitored even after hours; there must be no specific time of monitoring. • More resources should be channelled to the programme. • Correctional Services should employ the aid of external service providers in order to equip offenders with skills in the community and reduces the chances of reoffending. • External stake-holders should continue rendering programmes to ex-offenders who exited the system.

Thesis (M. A. (Social Work)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / This dissertation on the Evaluation of an Employee Assistance Programme determines the worth or value of the programme by assessing its effectiveness or ineffectiveness. It also seeks to determine if the target population was reached. This study evaluates the level of EAP awareness and utilization by prosecutors. It also focuses on the effectiveness of the programme in addressing their work and personal challenges. It further seeks to understand the level of referring prosecutors to the EAP by their supervisors. The study is evaluative in design and is based on evaluation theory. The population of the study comprises 31 prosecutors from all three Magistrate complexes within Capricorn District (Limpopo Province), namely, Mankweng, Polokwane and Seshego. The total number of prosecutors reached is 31. Data were collected through questionnaires from all the respondents. The study collected information on absenteeism, sick leave and disciplinary matters in order to measure EAP utilisation before and after the programme was introduced to employees. The wish was not successful because the Human Resources system utilised within the NPA did not capture such information as anticipated. The main findings of the study are that prosecutors are aware of the Employee Assistance Programme and most respondents who used the EAP referred themselves. It is clear that prosecutors are aware of the benefits obtained from the programme. Even though a large number of prosecutors were aware of the existence as well as the services offered by the EAP within the NPA, the utilisation rate of the programme was low. The other major finding is that the EAP within the NPA is underutilised. Lastly, the EAP within the NPA in Capricorn District, Limpopo Province is not effective in addressing prosecutors’ work and personal problems.

Thesis (M. Dev.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / Recent changes in the Department of Sport and Recreation have placed new external pressures and challenges on Sport officials to change their ways of managing School Sport Mass Participation Programme in their sphere of operation. The above challenge prompted the researcher to investigate the Management and Implementation of School Sport Mass Participation Programme (SMPP) in selected secondary schools at Malamulele East Education Cluster in the Limpopo Province. The study is concerned with the development of effective strategies that will enhance the capacity of sport officials and change their perception; and that of other stakeholders on the management and implementation of the School Sport Mass Participation Programme. This study used the context of Malamulele East cluster as its spring board in engaging in the daunting subject of the School Sport Mass Participation Programme. Surely, with all the changes that are involved in the implementation of the above programme, there is a need to review the way the School Sport Mass Participation Programme should be implemented, hence this study. The literature review established the relationship between Sport Management and the implementation of School Sport Mass Participation Programme. In this regard, the study showed that managers who apply the principles of management, motivation, participation in decision making, management by objectives and delegation can enhance the management and implementation of School Sport Mass Participation Programme in the area of the study. In this study, a mixed research design approach was employed to investigate the factors that promote and hinder the management and implementation of the School Sport Mass Participation Programme in Malamulele East cluster. Both questionnaires and structured interviews were employed to collect data from the respondents. The main findings of the study confirmed that there are challenges associated with the management and implementation of the School Sport Mass Participation Programme in Malamulele East cluster. Challenges such as lack of managerial skills, clear delegation of powers, lack of clarity on policy guidelines, inadequate resources, lack of cooperation vi and shortage of financial resources hampered the successful implementation of the School Sport Mass Participation Programme in Malamulele. In conclusion, the study also led to suggestions of strategies and recommendations that can improve the management and implementation of School Sport Mass Participation Programme in Malamulele East Education Cluster in the Limpopo Province.

Beginner teachers’ identities are formed by past school experiences, the ideas, and approaches promoted by their teacher education programmes and an ideal of teachers they hope to become (Beauchamp and Thomas, 2011; Anspal, Eisenschmidt and Löfström, 2012). The focus of this study was to understand the possible influence of two different teacher education programmes on beginner teacher identity and the forming thereof during the early years of teaching. This study was underpinned by an Interpretivist epistemological paradigm, in line with the reiterative process of understanding which marks the fluid progressions of beginner teachers’ identities. The conceptual lens employed in this study consisted of the Possible Selves Theory (Markus and Nurius, 1986), combined with the metaphorical use of “threads”. This study employed a qualitative methodological paradigm, with a comparative case study as research design (Zartman and Goodrick, 2005). Participants were selected by purposive sampling and involved six beginner teachers within their first three years of teaching; three from each teacher education programme (full-time and part-time). Selection criteria stipulated participants had to be within their first three years of teaching, have graduated from either a full-time or part-time teacher education programme, and that part-time participants had to be employed full-time at a school while studying to be selected. Data collection methods comprised of semi-structured interviews, researcher’s journal and field notes. The process of data analysis was guided by thematic content analysis. Findings from this study attest that beginner teacher identities are unstable; classroom reality differs vastly from teacher education programme curricula; and teaching practice plays a significant role in the preparation of student teachers. The main finding of this study was that full-time participants only comprehended the reality of teaching once full-time employment commenced, compared to part-time participants who realised the realities of teaching considerably earlier. Recommendations were made regarding practice, policy, and future research. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Humanities Education / MEd / Unrestricted