Vartotojų aptarnavimo kokybės gerinimas paslaugų sferoje yra labai svarbus dalykas kiekvienai šiuolaikines rinkos įmonei. Bet kuri įmonė siekia pelno, ir dalies paslaugų rinkos, dėl to yra priversti vykdyti savo mikro ir makro aplinkos bei marketingo komplekso elementų analizę. Kadangi daugelis paslaugų įmonių yra mažos, jos neturi išteklių, reikalingų siekiant pagerinti klientų aptarnavimo kokybę, ko pasekoje, prarandamas potencialius klientus, kas vėliau labai ryškiai atsispindi jos finansiniuose pasiekimuose. Mūsų tyrimui suteikia svarbą ir tai, kad paslaugų veikla Lietuvoje yra pakankamai jauna, todėl ne iki galo išanalizuota, trūksta praktinio pritaikymo paslaugų rinkoje. / Consumer service quality improvement in services is a very relevant thing for each of the modern market company. Any firm seeking a profit, and part of the service market is forced to go to their micro and macro environments, analysis of marketing, which is one of the most important elements of people, or otherwise - by consumers. As many service firms are small, they are not the resources needed to improve the quality of customer service resulting in a loss of potential customers, who then very sharply reflected in the financing of its achievements. Our investigation gives relevance and the fact that as marketing activities, including market research and concept, Lithuania is young enough, and therefore not fully analyzed, and is limited to the practical use of the service companies.

Jürgen Habermas’ The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere has been described as outdated and incompatible with 21st century democracies. Among other things, Habermas’ initial formulation excluded the state from the public sphere. Recently, a revised model of the public sphere has emerged that positions the state and other law-making bodies at its centre. Although some theorists have embraced this revised model, others continue to exclude the state or oversimplify its role. While some research has examined how parliaments fit into this revised model, no research has been published on this in a Canadian context. This thesis attempts to fill this gap by answering the research question: Does the Canadian House of Commons constitute a form of the public sphere? To answer this question, the Canadian House of Commons is explored along three dimensions of the public sphere – structure, representation, and interaction. This system of classification conforms to the essential function and institutional criteria of classical theory and also accounts for revised models of the public sphere. Ultimately, this work argues that the Canadian House of Commons satisfies the structural and representational dimensions of the public sphere. Its interactional dimension, however, is found to be inconsistent with public sphere theory due to a lack of real deliberation and the pervasiveness of party politics.

Much recent scholarship celebrates the early modern period for its development of broader public political engagement through printed media and coffeehouse culture. It is the argument of this study that the formation in England under Charles II of a public sphere may be shown to have followed a reassessment of political discourse that began at Westminster during the troubled reign of that king’s father, Charles I. The narrative of parliament’s growth in this era from an “event to an institution,” as one historian describes it, tells of more than opposition to the King on the battlefields of the English Civil War. Parliament-work in the early years of England’s revolutionary decade also set new expectations for rhetorical deliberation as a means of directing policy in the House of Commons. The ideals of discursive politics that were voiced in the Short Parliament (May 1640), and more fully put into practice in the opening session of the Long Parliament (November 1640), were soon also accepted by politically-minded authors and readers outside Westminster. Prose controversy published in print and political poetry that circulated in manuscript both demonstrate that the burgeoning culture of debate outside parliament could still issue “in a parliamentary way.” Such promotion of productive textual engagements eventually constituted a wider, notional assembly, whose participants – citizen readers – were as much a product of deliberate education and fashioning as they were of the “conjuring,” “interpellation,” or “summoning” that recent scholarly vocabulary suggests. Following the spirit of reform in the English parliament, and subsequently developing through the years of partisan political writing that followed, public opinion, like the Commons, established itself in this era as an institution in its own right. These public and private assemblies disseminated the unprecedented amount of parliamentary writing and record-keeping that distinguishes the period under review, and this rich archive provides the literary and historical context for this study.

A closed Riemann surface which can be realized as a 3-sheeted covering of the Riemann sphere is called trigonal, and such a covering is called a trigonal morphism. Accola showed that the trigonal morphism is unique for Riemann surfaces of genus g ≥ 5. This thesis characterizes the cyclic trigonal Riemann surfaces of genus 4 with non-unique trigonal morphism using the automorphism groups of the surfaces. The thesis shows that Accola’s bound is sharp with the existence of a uniparametric family of cyclic trigonal Riemann surfaces of genus 4 having several trigonal morphisms. The structure of the moduli space of trigonal Riemann surfaces of genus 4 is also characterized. Finally, by using the same technique as in the case of cyclic trigonal Riemann surfaces of genus 4, we are able to deal with p-gonal Riemann surfaces and show that Accola’s bound is sharp for p-gonal Riemann surfaces. Furthermore, we study families of p-gonal Riemann surfaces of genus (p − 1)2 with two p-gonal morphisms, and describe the structure of their moduli space.

Recent application of using spheres as carriers of LNG on ships has highlighted a lack of guidance given to the inclusion of imperfections and to the operating con- ditions imposed as a result of the motion of the ship. Spheres with a radius to thickness ratio of between 450 and 1700 were made by electrodeposition of copper on a wax former. Imperfections of three types were introduced: <ul><li>a) A local flat.</li><li>b) A zone of reduced curvature.</li><li>c) A bulge.</li></ul> These shells were tested under partial vacuum and the deformation at selected points monitored by proximity gauges. Buckling pressures were found to range between ⅕ and one-fifteenth of the theoretical value for a perfect shell. The experimental results were analysed on the basis of Koiter's imperfection theory and by a numerical computer solution. The former showed good agreement with types a) and b) and no agreement with type c); the latter showed little agreement with the experimental results. The ASME design code was found to be adequate for all imperfection sizes considered, BS 5500 only partly. Cast epoxy models with a radius to thickness ratio of 900, supported on an equatorial ring and partially filled with water, were subjected to vertical accelerations both normal and inclined to their equatorial rings. Buck- ling was detected by proximity gauges, and occurred as a result of tensile meridional and compressive circumferential stresses. The sphere was found to be imperfection insen- sitive and to be more susceptible to buckling at approximately ⅓ and ⅔ full for respectively the normal and inclined loading cases. Both a numerical com- puter solution and an analytical analysis were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. Both the ASME and BS5500 design codes were however, found for this mode of failure to be too conservative for design purposes.

Pedagogic practice often involves preparing the student for different roles in society as well as personal development. The aim of the thesis is to investigate how the concept citizen is understood by single individuals and is shaped in pedagogic practice. Its theoretical starting points are taken from sociological theories about society and from theories about education. It is primarily Jürgen Habermas’ theories about society and communication that provide the framework for this investigation and discussion. Even the criticism which Habermas has received is presented and discussed. Society is presented as divided in a private and a public sphere where the individual fulfils the role as a citizen by acting in the public sphere. Four empirical studies are carried out; interviews with single individuals, observations at a folk high school, observations in study associations and analysis of reports from European projects where folk high schools and study associations participated. The public sphere that is most apparent is an every day, local public sphere where single individuals and participants in folk high school and study associations discuss common matters. In the discussion there are few references to public political discussions on national or international level. Assuming that citizen is defined broader than as a relation between the individual and the state, the study presents and discusses a variety of ways to act as a citizen within and outside pedagogic practice, and also the obstacles. The thesis provides arguments for a discussion about the concept citizen and citizen action within pedagogic practice. There are also arguments for independent citizen actions outside the pedagogic context. Thereby the citizen action can be brought back to the pedagogic discussion for reflection.

There are many examples where creation and usage of porous substrates play important roles in various fields of application in material science and technology. In the manufacture of ceramic products, as an alternative to the plaster molds, porous resin molds are used in order to resolve the drawbacks that result A porous substrate can be produced by various ways. In this study, porous polymeric matrices of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and poly(methyl methacrylate-co-2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [poly(MMA-HEMA)] polymers were prepared by connecting the polymer microspheres to each other by an epoxy adhesive. To improve the surface properties, methyl methacrylate (MMA) was copolymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA). The microspheres used were synthesized by suspension polymerization and characterization was done by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Particle Size Analyzer and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The porous samples were prepared with PMMA and poly(MMA-HEMA) copolymer microspheres with two different HEMA contents and their surface energies were measured. In addition, the effect of mean particle diameter of the microspheres used and the epoxy content of the solution used to bind the microspheres, on the impregnation capacity, morphology and the impact strength of the porous samples prepared, were studied. Inclusion of HEMA into the formulation improved the impregnation capacity of the samples. Using microspheres with narrower particle size distribution resulted in larger representative capillary radii and higher rate of impregnation of the samples. Increasing the epoxy content of the solution used to bind the beads, increased the impact strengths of the samples prepared.

No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--University of Melbourne, 2005.

This thesis examines online journalism in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and its role in political debate in this emerging democracy. It also focuses on the role of the internet in the public sphere, explores the historical context in which Kurdish online journalism has developed and compares mass media in the Kurdistan region to that in other newly democratic countries, in addition to the mass media landscape, human rights conditions and political system in the Kurdistan region and Iraq overall are explored. Data has been collected through in-depth interviewing of journalists, both independent and affiliated with political parties, as well as media academics and other educators. Moreover, as a case study, a qualitative thematic analysis has been carried out on opinion articles in online news sites to search for key themes and messages published and explore the limits of free discussion online. The thesis argues that although there are many barriers to media work and freedom of expression, online journalism in the Kurdistan region is an alternative tool for expression and constitutes a better medium for promoting freedom of speech than mainstream media outlets. It then suggests recommendations for conducting further studies about the development and influences of online journalism and social media on Kurdish society.