The purpose of this research was to study the attitudes of police officers about handgun carry permit holders. Police officers from local police departments in Tennessee and Virginia were surveyed with a 30-question questionnaire. The questionnaire used the independent variables of sex (gender), age, marital status, and education to study officers’ opinions on the subject of handgun carry permit holders. The survey items asked police officers their attitudes about issues including carry permits in certain situations, training of the permit holder, and federal law. The research found that a majority of officers support handgun carry permit holders and that officers are not threatened by handgun carry permit holders.

This research analyzes the relationship between local land use regulations and commercial development in the City of Bakersfield, California, specifically focusing on how the regulations are used to inform commercial development to be sustainable or not. This research contributes to similar research efforts through its contribution of the Sustainable Development Indicator Checklist, the tool used to measure sustainable development within the regulations as well as the built environment. Analysis of six case study locations falling under the C-B (Central Business), C-C (Commercial Center), and PCD (Planned Commercial Development) zone designations indicated the local land use regulations were not informing development to be particularly sustainable, mostly due to vague language, constraining language, and sometimes a combination of the two. Recommendations are made for how the City of Bakersfield can improve the land use regulations to be more pertinent to the process of informing future commercial development to be more sustainable.

ABSTRACT For the past five years, I have been a Division I Women’s Basketball player under the National Collegiate Athletic Association. I have played at two different schools, I have spoken to numerous investigators and lawyers, and I am now on my third set of college basketball coaches. Most athletes that enter college have one set of four-five coaches during their four-five-year period, I have had thirteen. College basketball has presented countless challenges for me mentally and psychically. For a while I thought that the adversity that I was facing as a young woman playing a high level of athletics was considered normal, but now that I have grown, reflected, and sought out opinions of professionals I know that my experience wasn’t a “normal” one. Throughout my time as an NCAA athlete I have been home to the harsh routine that so many young student-athletes struggle to get through. In this paper, I am reflecting upon my experience as a college athlete and college sports as I know it. The NCAA is one of the most corrupt corporations in our modern-day world. Despite its claims that ensure success of student-athletes, the NCAA treats athletes not developing human beings, but as objects that contribute to their dirty multi-million-dollar franchise. At the end of the day, they NCAA is a business that operates around making money around student-athlete’s identity and runs in a way that doesn’t benefit student-athletes. Throughout my paper I will be discussing the rules of the NCAA and how they play out in reality, as well as how they can be improved. I am also writing this paper to have a conversation about how hard it is to be a college athlete in general, many people have a false perception of the life we live, and I want to clear some things up. The NCAA doesn’t take the mental health of athletes seriously. There are plenty of opportunities to improve the way the NCAA treats its athletes, while still profiting from the goldmine they make off of amateurism. The NCAA doesn’t put student athletes in a position to take full advantage of their scholarship, let alone gives them a chance at being a healthy, functioning, young adult. I will be telling personal stories that relate to bigger topics and issues within the NCAA, as well as how I think they can be improved for the well-being of college athletes. This paper is my story, this paper is a personal account of the power of resilience.

Hundreds of state regulations were passed during the “managed care backlash” of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Many of these anti-managed care regulations eased or eliminated constraints on patient utilization of health care services imposed by managed care organizations. Other regulations gave managed care providers more flexibility in the way they practiced care or helped patients appeal denials of claims. Despite the effort undertaken to pass these regulations, limited research exists on whether the regulations achieved their goal. To fill this gap, this study takes advantage of the variety of regulations enacted during the managed care backlash of the late 1990s and early 2000s to investigate their impact on patient-reported quality of care and mortality for managed care enrollees. The results indicate the regulations did improve patient-reported outcomes, but to varying degrees and only in the latter period of the backlash. Specifically, managed care enrollees who lived in states that adopted moderate-intensity regulations between 2000 and 2004 reported relatively better improvements in access to care and confidence in their provider than did managed care enrollees in states with low-intensity backlash regulations. The positive effect on access to care was similar in states that adopted high-intensity regulations. However, no positive effect was found for any outcome in the first period (1996-2000). These results show that states with the most intense regulatory backlash did not realize better patient-reported outcomes. Instead, states that pursued moderate-intensity backlash regulations experienced relatively better outcomes for their managed care enrollees.

This study examines voluntary intellectual capital reporting (ICR) in New Zealand firms' annual reports, with a view to contributing to understanding ICR practice. This study also reflects on content analysis with a view to refining the methodology when applied to investigating ICR.The literature includes widespread claims that intellectual capital (IC) resources are important value drivers and assets, and that IC information should be reported externally. However, complexities relating to identifying IC prevent it from being recognised as an asset under current accounting regulations. Consequently, the traditional financial reporting system is being criticised as out-of-date, giving deficient and irrelevant information, and having lost its value relevance. Numerous scholars have investigated voluntary ICR in several countries, but have presented different results and findings. The literature argues that the results of many ICR studies cannot be meaningfully compared because inconsistent data collection instruments have been applied. To advance ICR research, further refining and developing of the methodology is advocated; problems relating to applying methodological issues need to be resolved. Moreover, to establish consensus about ICR, more research and evidence is needed concerning exactly what and how IC is reported.The 2004 annual reports of the 30 largest (by market capitalisation) New Zealand firms listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange were analysed. Content analysis was applied to determine what and how IC is reported. Inferences about what IC is communicated were made based on an analysis of the content of texts and visual representations. To determine how IC is reported, voluntary reporting was categorised according to the form, nature and location of the disclosure. Frequencies of mention were recorded. Hence, each incidence of occurrence was coded and counted.This study reflected on content analysis methodology by searching the literature for guidance on how to apply this approach and how to deal with the challenges and problems it poses. The thesis discusses methodological issues that could be applied differently, and hence hinder the replicability and comparability of ICR studies. Moreover, the ICR literature provided limited guidance about how to deal with methodological challenges and problems, and revealed an absence of explicit recording instructions. Therefore, explicating this study's recording instructions should enhance replicability and comparability of future ICR research and hence further refine the methodology.Some results of this content analysis study disconfirm those of prior research: New Zealand firms show high levels of ICR, the most reported IC category is human capital, and the most reported IC item is employees. In line with prior research, this study showed that most ICR is presented in declarative terms. Moreover, more than one-third of New Zealand firms' ICR is disclosed as pictures. This indicates the importance of pictorial information as a means of reporting IC and the need to include graphics when conducting ICR research. This study's findings also indicate a narrative approach, similar to the European notion of story telling, to voluntarily report IC information. This approach suggests that narratives have possible potential for voluntary ICR, as an approach that departs from a measurement and quantification approach.

The interplay of forces behind globalisation, promoting trade and prosperity, and the desire for offshore trade are not fully understood. This is further complicated by the role of the political economy, global sovereignty versus national boundaries, economic status of a country and community needs. The literature found that 'one size does not fit all'. Globalisation results in the consideration of global similarities such as standards, harmonisation of laws, international codes and the growth of international organisations. In addition, there is international pressure to adopt 'performance-based' designs by members of the World Trade Organization countries in order to promote trade. This research examines the development of performance-based building codes at the international level, its benefits and issues and whether it will achieve a positive impact on trade for the Australian construction industry.

<p>The overarching aim of this dissertation is to study divergences in assessments of social assistance in Swedish social welfare offices. ‘Assessments’ here refers to whether applications for social assistance are granted or not, as well as the size of subsidies. Another aim with the dissertation is to explore whether differences in assessments have changed over time. A primary focus in this study is the importance of elements of changing character, e.g. varying organizational and individual conditions. Among these elements, the main focus is on the relation between organizational factors and professional discretion among social workers.</p><p>Primary data used for the study has been assembled among social workers (n=121) in eleven municipalities in the northern Stockholm area. The main section of the questionnaire used for assembling data consists of six vignettes, each describing a different situation. Data is supplemented with secondary material that derives from a similar study conducted in 1994.</p><p>Overall, findings show considerable divergences in the way social workers make their assessments. Some of the divergences are explained by different organizational conditions, e.g. varying levels of specialization and size of caseloads. Individual factors, such as sex, age and varying professional characteristics, e.g. work experience, influence the assessments only to a limited degree, while attitudes among social workers play a larger role. The study also indicates a substantial decrease in generosity over time. This might to some extent be explained by changed and elaborated set of regulations in the sphere of social assistance. Further, the individual divergences in assessments have increased over time. A plausible interpretation of the results is that an increasing number of regulations combined with professional discretion, entails a larger scope for social workers’ opinions and individual screening among rules.</p>

<p>International regulations target a global reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions through the allocation of national reduction targets and the definition of mechanisms to achieve these targets. One of these mechanisms is international emissions trading, these trading programs have been the targets of widespread criticism since they were introduced into the policy-making arena. The point of departure in this study has been that the trading raises questions about morality, since it implies signals, which legitimates pollution. The main purpose with this study has been to find out if emissions trading systems can be morally justified with the method of wide reflective equilibrium. From the study it was found that the moral intuition; it is wrong to pollute the environment, and perform activities, which legitimates pollution, finds support from the different theories within environmental ethics and Kantian ethics. But, it was also found that there are a number of background theories, such as neo-classical economic thinking, liberalism, and utilitarianism, that supports the notion of emissions trading. The paper argues that even though the concept of CO2-emissions trading raises moral questions it can be morally defended on the basis of rationality. When the theory about specification is applied to the concept of emissions trading it is possible to reach a situation were a wide reflective equilibrium is achieved.</p>

<p>This report is founded in lack of knowledge concerning the design and layout procedureduring a new engine room construction.The prime question is how the engine room takes its form from idea to construction and whathappens in between. We want to give the reader a better understanding in how the work isdone and why it is designed the way it is concerning layout, ergonomics and safety. Duringthis report we will enhance the knowledge concerning regulations and rules that are of greatsubstance such as SOLAS, Swedish Sjöfartsverket and IMO.By contacting the parties involved in the process in newly designing a vessel and its engineroom, we will assume their approaches and experiences. We will study the work progressfrom planning to construction of a vessels machinery spaces. We will with the help ofinterviews with interested parties get an idea of the approach and also compare the finishedproduct a bit depending on company size and resources.The investigation resulted in a good basis for how a ship engine room design takes shape andwhich aspects are taken into account, however, we found that the existing rules concerningengine room layout was very vague and was seen as the most recommendations. For thecontrol room, there were however some points to consider. We believe that it would facilitatea more comprehensive legal framework relating to engine room design.</p> / <p>Denna studie grundar sig i en okunskap gällande maskinrums design och layout. Frågan viställde oss var hur ett fartygs maskinrum kom till från idé till ritning och slutligen beställning.Syftet med arbetet är att ge läsaren grundläggande kunskaper gällande maskinrums design,layout samt ergonomiska aspekter då detta är relevant gällande säkerhet och avhjälpandekring det dagliga arbetet ombord på ett fartyg. Vi kommer även ta upp information som rörregelverk så som (SOLAS, Sjöfartsverket och arbetsmiljöverket),riktlinjer (IMO) standarder (ISO).Genom att kontakta de parter som är inblandade i ett nykonstruerande av ett fartyg och dessmaskinrum kommer vi utgå ifrån deras tillvägagångssätt och erfarenheter. Vi kommer studeravägen från beställning och planering till konstruering. Vi kommer med hjälp av intervjuermed berörda parter skaffa oss en uppfattning om tillvägagångssättet vid planering avmaskinrums designen och även jämföra resultatet beroende på rederiets storlek och resurser.Undersökningen resulterade i ett bra underlag för hur ett fartygs maskinrums konstruktion tarform och vilka aspekter som det tas hänsyn till, dock upptäckte vi att reglerna gällandemaskinrummets utformning var mycket vaga och sågs mest som rekommendationer. Förkontrollrummet fanns det däremot en del punkter att ta hänsyn till. Vi anser att det skulleunderlätta med ett mer utförligt regelverk som rör maskinrummets utformning.</p>

<p>This study deals with sustainability reporting in three governmental and three non-governmental Swedish companies in different industries. With increasing demands from the society regarding company’s CSR - Corporate social responsibility, the perspective of accounting gets broader and covers even non-financial information to meet not only the owners’ demands but also others stakeholders' requirements. Sustainability has become an important tool for creating company’s business value and a positive sustainable external image. Different requirements in the field of such accounting for state and non-state enterprises make the phenomenon interesting to study. The purpose of this study was to find out how the sustainability reporting differs between governmental and non-governmental Swedish companies and how it is influenced by the legitimacy and stakeholders’ perspective.</p><p>The six companies included in the case study were state-owned SAS, Vattenfall and TeliaSonera and non-governmental Peab, Alfa-Laval and RNB Retail and Brands. To understand the phenomenon and explain the empirical data the using of legitimacy and stakeholder theories were helpful. Furthermore, mandatory and optional regulations in the area were presented, as well as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, which are becoming more recognized as a standard for sustainability reporting. The Empirical data was taken from interviewing the qualified people from the respective companies, corporate sustainability reports and other sustainability-related information. After the completed research it revealed that sustainability reporting is different depending on the type of company, its business and its stakeholders. The non-mandatory regulation in the area creates flexibility for the company, which gives companies greater capacity and opportunity for self-regulation within the CSR field.</p>