<p>Reaching is an important and early emerging motor skill that allows infants to interact with the physical and social world (e.g., when sharing objects). Despite the importance of motor experiences in early infancy, few studies have considered the influence of reaching behavior on cognitive, social, and motor development. In this dissertation, reaching behavior was selectively manipulated in 73 non-reaching three-month-old infants using four different training interventions. Infants' reaching and social cognition skills were assessed and compared, and the long-term effects of one particular training intervention were explored.</p> <p>Of the four training interventions used here, one procedure--referred to as active training--facilitated domain-specific development (reaching and grasping behavior) and increased infants' preferential orienting towards faces in a visual-preference task (face preference). None of the remaining three training interventions facilitated motor development and only one increased face-preference behavior. However, a relation between face-preference behavior and motor experience was present in all trained infants as well as in three- to 11-month-old untrained infants. In untrained infants, face-preference behavior was the earliest social-cognition skill to emerge and was related to later emerging skills such as gaze following. Therefore, a preference for faces may be an important basic social-cognition skill that influences future social development.</p> <p>Additionally, the long-term effects of the active-training procedure were assessed in 14 infants who were tested one year after they had participated in the active-training intervention. Even after one year, converging evidence showed advanced manual exploration and object-engagement skills in trained compared to untrained infants. </p> <p>The studies described in this dissertation attempt to systematically investigate the role of early reaching experiences on subsequent development of motor and social cognition behaviors. The present findings demonstrate the importance of self-produced motor experiences on the development of social cognition and have implications for our understanding of typical development and the etiology of developmental disorders in social cognition.</p> / Dissertation

The thesis attempts to provide a critical evaluation of the social consequences of privatization. It is mainly based upon a field study conducted in Eregli, an industrial town in Central Anatolia, and evaluates workers&rsquo / attitudes towards the effects of privatization on their lives. For that purpose, firstly, social development paradigm is highlighted since its current premise is the necessity of privatization / secondly, Turkish Experience of the State Economic Enterprises is taken into consideration / and lastly, providing a case study on the privatization of S&uuml / merbank Eregli Cotton Plant, social consequences of privatization are examined more closely. Thus, it will also be possible to point out concretely that privatization is a social phenomenon in addition to its economic side. The main conclusion of this thesis is that a large scale privatization without taking into consideration social returns damaged the welfare of communities in which it experienced.

This study aims to provide an analysis of the evolving social development process of the underdeveloped region of Southeastern Anatolia, highlighting the significance of the concept of &ldquo / sustainable development&rdquo / in regards to regional development strategies and the local project of the GAP Administration in Mardin. It also provides a theoretical background with reference to the modernization theory that discourages the development of some regions. This analysis, based on document studies and data gathered from the Social Development for Youth Project Evaluation reports which have been obtained from GAP Administration, also includes my personal experience in Mardin where I worked as a Project Coordinator of this project. This study evaluates what has been done and what can be done in the future in order to obtain the social development in the underdeveloped regions of Turkey by depending on Mardin Youth Center model.

Fighting against the regional development disparities has been considered as one of the most important public policies recently. In this regard, Social Support Program, endorsed in 2008 under GAP Action Plan, is regarded as an important example of public intervention with increasing budget and geographical expansion. Objective of SODES is improving social inclusion of disadvantaged groups and enhancing regional social development. Accordingly, projects prepared by local actors to provide social inclusion, to increase employability and to support cultural, artistic and sports events are financed. &ldquo / Social inclusion&rdquo / is defined as policies and implementations targeting to increase access of disadvantaged groups to services like education, health, employment and social assistance. Debates on social inclusion literature include: lack of clear definition, dichotomy as &ldquo / them and us&rdquo / , focus on state rather than process and limited scope. Objective of this study is critically analyzing SODES, on the basis of social inclusion. In-depth interviews are conducted with beneficiaries, their families, project coordinators, local officials and policy makers to understand the impacts of the projects and SODES. It is observed that, there are important positive outcomes like the increase in schooling rate of girls. However, taking into consideration debates on social inclusion and evaluating SODES projects as a whole, it is argued that SODES has deficiencies regarding its project based structure, sustainability, accessibility of all target groups, evaluation, monitoring and institutionalization. The argument of the thesis is that such deficiencies of SODES are also arising from the concept of social inclusion which has its limitations in confronting structural inequalities in the society.

Domestic violence is one of the most important issues about the public affairs. The incidents of domestic violence not only cause damage to the individual¡¦s mind, but depress the country¡¦s competition ability. The negative side effects also were hard to evaluate. Even the main spirit of the prevention of the domestic violence reveals as ¡§protection the right of victims and prevention of the behavior of domestic violence¡¨. This slogan gives its positive age meaning and attached with infinite wish of public. By the inspection and reflection of the increasing cases with days, it would corrode the individuals and the public eventually, then cause the malignant effects on the Social development of basic stock and flow conditions. Though the government endeavors to issue many protection and prevention system, the results were still not satisfied by the reason of the southern social conditions and the uneven levels population structure. The outcome is the breaks and leakages of policy connection. Based on the variety between the professional fields and the pertinent departments, the author try to integrate and observe the complex phenomena with various aspects. There are the reason-results relationships of multiple elements to each other. This study describes the PAM and SDM theoretical structure frame and conclude positively with the V.C.S methodology.,As a methodology the conclusions of the output, with an extension of a more positive point of view. The study explore with qualitative interview as major method. Then conclude the integrated results from the practical interviews with the networks practitioners. The prevention and protection of domestics violence is an extremely huge reconstruction engineer to the social. The achievement of value of justice is the critical catalyst to ignite the progress of the order of works. Pluralistic society in the face of the complex of environmental factors¡ACut from the PAM to do analysis of the problem can be drawn from a more complete picture. Sexual cognitive and sex equity are crucial value and the prevention and protection of domestic violence is also the most vital public value of the government. The immature of practitioners¡¦ concepts is the tremendous challenge. It also has the influence on the establishment of professional knowledge. IV The prevention and protection of domestics violence is an system problem among the social structure. The key is the basement of social condition during the development of Kaohsiung City's social conditions. Though the system of the professional prevention and protection is complete, the subjective cognitive of the party is most restricted with the traditional concepts. It contributes negative driving force. The construction of the order is to achieve the justice of the case. The inter-government prevention and protection system is absolutely important to the prevention of violence. But its pertinent policies, resources and strategies involved is deficient. The networks have no strength like the action of law and the inspection order across the vertical and horizontal. The authority should plan the integrated executing of the policies, the distribution of resources, personals, inspection managements, the evaluation and communication. The media inspection only focuses on the blockbuster report. The justice of disadvantaged majority of the society is damaged and need the support of the construct from the inspection system participated by the democracy society in the civic participation.

The opportunities of the information communication technologies in the art lessons in the education of the teenagers’ social abilities are discussed in this work. In the introduction of the work the urgency of the theme is argued. As nowadays in the school of the general education it is important to use the information communication technologies (ICT) as much positive as possible using them as benevolent medium to the psycho social development of a teenager and taking into account every teenager’s cultural and social experience, abilities and individual opportunities. In the introduction the problems of this work are formed, the hypothesis is risen and the methods which were adapted in the work are indicated. In order to ground the aiming of the information communication technologies in the art lessons, upbringing teenagers’ social abilities theoretically, the understanding of upbringing and the understanding of the information communication technologies and information communication technologies as the development of the social form which shows teenagers’ psycho social development is benevolent time for using ICT. All this lets us to make the precondition that socialization problem is very urgent this time and positive, productive, creative teenagers’ communication should be induced and trained in every possible way, including art lessons which form peculiarly benevolent socialization conditions. In the second part of this work the opportunities in the content of the... [to full text]

<p>This study investigates the challenges facing the management of public enterprises in the Democratic of Congo. The study is based on the hypothesis that poor performance by state-owned enterprises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been influenced by inadequate management which has led to the dissatisfaction of citizens. Due to this problem increasing attention is being paid by the DRC Government to encouraging private sector involvement in services such as water and electricity. This study investigates the arguments for and against privatization, especially in the water and electricity sectors. In pursuing this debate the study explores the following main research question: To what extent will the DRC Reform Law aimed at transforming the commercialisation of public enterprises enhance the effectiveness of basic services such as water and electricity services in the DRC? A case study of the city of Bukavu in the eastern DRC is used to explore this question.</p>

Sailivik is a story about the evolutionary process of planning a mental healing retreat for the Inuit of Pangnirtung, Nunavut. The story is created through community consultation related to site selection, development of program and facility lists, initial site planning, and the building of a qammaq. It offers insights to methods of community work, Inuit landscape preferences, contemporary Inuit culture, and the land-based nature of sociological and psychological healing in an Inuit context. Further, any ideas of a finite outcome are challenged as the project continues to evolve and grow with further community efforts.

A plethora of cross-cultural research studies has been conducted and published on the conflict or collision between western models of education and indigenous knowledge and learning. Following on the visions of these studies, the research reported in this thesis explores how these tensions between differing bodies of knowledge impact youth identity in non-western societies. More specifically, the study examines the case of how western models of education impacts the Palauan traditional educational models and whether or not the privileging of western systems of learning over Palauan systems does in fact have a negative impact on the development of identity, well-being, and empowerment of Palauan youth today. Theoretical approaches in this study derived from the knowledge of Palauan elders and scholars as well as literature works of Freire, who argues for transformative education as a means of empowering people, and Lave and Wenger‟s theory of legitimate peripheral learning. Methodological approaches include narratives and a Palauan dialogic approach using questionnaires, unstructured and semi-structured interviews. Data were collected from June to September 2009 in Palau. Selected participants were the youth of Ulimang village in Ngaraard and a particular group of Palauan elders and scholars that are involved in Palauan education, knowledge, and research. Data were analyzed in two stages: a questionnaire for Ulimang youth and interviews for the Palauan elders. A range of concepts addressed in the analysis, such as cheldecheduch and relationships, strengthened the belief that Palauan knowledge was important in the lives of the Ulimang youth. The need to maintain Palauan knowledge to empower Palauan identities and to support the quality of life for Palauans was articulated by the Palauan elders. The importance of Palauan knowledge and values was stressed from the participants and emphasized how it informs identity development in Palau.

Sailivik is a story about the evolutionary process of planning a mental healing retreat for the Inuit of Pangnirtung, Nunavut. The story is created through community consultation related to site selection, development of program and facility lists, initial site planning, and the building of a qammaq. It offers insights to methods of community work, Inuit landscape preferences, contemporary Inuit culture, and the land-based nature of sociological and psychological healing in an Inuit context. Further, any ideas of a finite outcome are challenged as the project continues to evolve and grow with further community efforts.