The devolution and judicialization movements of the past thirty years have dramatically changed the nature and structure of state-federal governmental relations. States and localities are now playing a larger role in the implementation and delivery of basic government services. Many state legislatures, such as Virginia's, because of their limited sessions and inadequate staff assistance, often leave the interpretation of complex, technical matters to state and local administrators. As a result, the role of state and local administrators in public policy formulation and implementation has become increasingly important. Often, these administrators work in a complex environment marked by unclear lines of authority and ambiguous law. The question then becomes, to whom do state and local executive branch officials turn to for assistance and legal interpretation when legislation or regulatory schemes are unclear? One answer is the state and federal judiciary, however the process of adjudication is often an ineffective instrument for solving complex administrative questions. The risk is that courts will create what Lon Fuller (1964) calls an "undanceable tune," one to which none of the participants know the steps necessary to keep in time with the judicial order. Building upon what Fuller (1964) referred to as the "distinctive competence" of certain legal institutions, this paper offers the opinion writing function of the state attorney general as a viable alternative to adjudication. All state attorneys general issue opinions. These opinions can shape policy and the development of law, partly because the opinions may be the only guidance on statutory or constitutional issues in the absence of prior litigation. Building upon the French Council of State, and using the state of Virginia as a model, this dissertation examines the guiding role that state attorney general opinions can play in resolving issues of ambiguity and statutory construction in various areas of public management and administration. Specifically, this dissertation will examine the influence of Virginia Attorney General Opinions from the years 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, and 2000. The reason for choosing these years will be explained in Chapter One. The dissertation will conclude with a discussion of how state attorney general opinions contribute to the governance dialogue, as well as their potential as transmitters of what Rohr (1989) terms "regime values." / Ph. D.

This thesis seeks to examine how the meaning of corporate identity was constructed through the corporate advertisements that were published in Nigeria's national press media between 1970 and 2005 by the major operators in the Nigerian banking industry. In order to accomplish this task, this research has been divided into ten chapters. The first chapter introduces the research. It conceptualises a research question and provides an overall trajectory for this thesis. Chapter two established four ontologically grounded reasons for pursuing this research from the social constructionist perspective and chapter three sought to examine how the meaning of corporate identity was constructed (in theoretical literature) between 1970 and 2008. Chapter four presents an analysis of the construction of the meaning of the concept of corporate identity in the Nigerian banking industry between 1970 and 2005. Chapter six concerns research methodology and the specific research method drawn to address the question being investigated in this research. Chapters seven and eight presents the empirical findings and chapter nine makes an attempt to establish what has been accomplished in the process of this research by discussing its outcomes. Chapter ten concludes the thesis. It considers the contributions emerging from this research and its implications in terms of relevance for corporate identity theory and practice. In addition, it examines the limitations of the research as well as possible future research directions of this study. Finally, the thesis ends with a summary and conclusion. Findings from this research indicate the emergence of four new scholarships, namely generic, distinctive, innovative and transformative corporate personalities. Importantly, the outcome of this study provides ample evidence to argue that the industry construction of the meaning of corporate identity witnessed an ongoing flow of changes and stabilities, which run through these new scholarships.

Cette thèse traite de l'acquisition des consonnes par des enfants francophones monolingues. Son but est de montrer que l’utilisation des traits distinctifs et des principes qui leur sont associés (hiérarchie des traits, évitement de la marque, économie des traits) rend compte du parcours d’acquisition des consonnes en français. Le corpus de cette thèse est constitué des productions spontanées longitudinales (pendant 16 et 28 mois) de deux enfants francophones. L’analyse a dégagé deux grandes étapes dans le parcours d’acquisition des contrastes consonantiques. Chacune d’elle repose sur l’intervention d’un principe associé aux traits distinctifs. La première étape rend compte de l’acquisition isolée des contrastes opposant les consonnes, dont l’ordre est guidé par le principe de hiérarchie des traits, exprimé par leur robustesse : plus un trait est robuste, plus il sera acquis rapidement. L’acquisition d’un trait suppose également l’acquisition des deux valeurs de ce trait par l’intervention du principe d’évitement de la marque : la valeur non-marquée de chaque trait sera acquise avant la valeur marquée. La seconde étape consiste en la diffusion, à l’ensemble du système, d’un trait acquis de façon isolée. Cette diffusion est guidée par le principe d’économie des traits : plus un trait participe à l’économie du système, plus il se diffusera rapidement. Afin d’extraire de l’input de l’enfant, l’information utile nous permettant d’exprimer l’actualisation de chaque principe dans la langue, nous avons conçu des calculs de fréquence des traits. Nous avons établi un lien entre l’expression des principes de hiérarchie, d’évitement de la marque et d’économie, et ces différentes fréquences des traits dans le langage adressé à l’enfant. En appréhendant l’acquisition consonantique comme l’acquisition de contrastes au sein d’un système, nous avons modélisé le parcours d’acquisition des consonnes grâce aux traits distinctifs et à leurs principes associés, en le mettant en regard des travaux sur la structuration des inventaires sonores adultes. / This work focuses on consonantal acquisition of monolingual French-speaking children. Its aim is to show that the use of distinctive features and their associated principles (feature hierarchy, markedness avoidance, feature economy) captures the path of consonantal acquisition in French. The data of this dissertation consist of spontaneous longitudinal productions (during 16 and 28 months) of two French-speaking children. Analysis of the data reveals two main stages in the acquisitional path of consonantal contrasts. Each of these stages relies on the intervention of a principle associated with distinctive features. The first stage captures the isolated acquisition of contrasts between consonants. The order of the acquisition of contrasts is guided by the feature hierarchy principle, which is expressed by feature robustness: the more robust a feature is, the faster it will be acquired. The acquisition of a feature also implies the acquisition of its two values through the intervention of the avoidance of markedness principle: the unmarked value of a feature will be acquired before the marked value. The second stage of the feature acquisition path consists in the distribution of a feature - acquired in an isolated way - throughout the whole system. This distribution is guided by the economy feature principle: the more a feature participates in the system economy, the more rapidly it will diffuse. In order to extract the relevant information from the child’s input that allows us to express the realisation of each principle into the language, we designed feature frequency calculations. We established a link between the expression of the hierarchy, markedness avoidance and economy principles and the different feature frequencies in child-directed speech. By approaching consonantal acquisition as contrast acquisition within an entire system, we were able to model the consonantal acquisition path based on distinctive features and their associated principles, paralleling it with work on the structure of adult sound inventories.

Following financial cuts introduced by the government in 2010, fewer funding and decision-making powers are held within local authorities, restricting their role as the provider of public services (Buser, 2013). As a result, the majority of local authority educational psychology teams have adopted a partially or fully-traded model of service delivery, with the aim of generating income to meet some or all service costs (Woods, 2014a). Educational psychologists have expressed concern about whether service commissioners value their distinctive contribution enough to purchase services (Fallon, Woods & Rooney, 2010). This study sought to investigate the response to trading and what impact this has had on the role of the educational psychologist, from the perspectives of service commissioners and educational psychologists. A multiple-case study design was implemented, following a mixed methods approach. Two partially-traded local authority educational psychology services were recruited. Participants from the emerging service included five educational psychologists and three small scale service commissioners. Participants from the established service included three educational psychologists, three small scale service commissioners and two large scale service commissioners. Focus groups, interviews and service brochures provided qualitative data, which were incorporated with quantitative service delivery data. All qualitative data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis. Findings were presented as thematic maps. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics to describe trends in service use. Findings show that the impact of trading on the role and contribution of the educational psychologist has been largely positive. Trading appears to have had a regenerating effect by creating the opportunity for an extension in the type and range of work now being completed. The findings are discussed in relation to current and future educational psychologist role and give an up-to-date insight into why the role exists, who may be willing to pay for the role and how this evolving role fits within the broader political contexts of education, special educational needs and disability.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) found that Botswana's information and communication technology (ICT) networked readiness index (NRI) had declined from position 89 in 2012 to 104 in 2015. A decline in Botswana's ICT NRI resulted in a modest gross domestic product (GDP) growth increasing from 4.2% in 2012 to 5.0% in 2015. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies ICT service provider managers use to build employee competencies to address ICT infrastructure performance deficiencies. The target population for this study consisted of over 120 managers from 2 ICT service providers located in Gaborone and Francistown in Botswana. The conceptual framework for this study was information technology (IT) competency model. Face-to-face interviews with 15 managers and a review of 12 company documents were gathered and all interpretations from the data were subjected to member checking to ensure the trustworthiness of the study findings. The thematic analyses of participants' interviews and company documents resulted in the emergence of 3 common themes: developing professional employee competencies through training, promoting knowledge acquisition and skills transfer, and developing budgets for funding the development of employee competencies. Participants cited training and professional development as a reason for ICT infrastructure performance deficiencies. Social implications from this study include developing strategies business managers can use to build employee competencies to improve ICT infrastructure performance, which could result in improved services to citizens and enhanced national development, social transformation, and economic diversification.

Novelty and distinctive character are the conditions of protection for a registered design in Turkey. This study investigates the ways in which novelty and distinctive character are interpreted and assessed by the parties actively involved in the assessment process &ndash / judges, court experts, the Turkish Patent Institute experts, attorneys and design agents. The face-to-face interviews conducted with 51 participants from the parties involved indicate that the assessment of distinctive character presents more challenges than the assessment of novelty. Not being exactly the same with a previous design is the main consideration in the assessment of novelty. The assessment of distinctive character is primarily identified with the comparison of designs&rsquo / overall impressions whereas designer&rsquo / s degree of freedom remains as the least mentioned consideration. The study suggests that being subject to protection of designs not fulfilling the conditions of protection coupled with the uncertainties in the assessment of novelty and distinctive character, which may have a negative impact on the public trust in the design registration system. The study concludes with a set of suggestions for developing an assessment guide for the design registration system in Turkey.

The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of resource schools 1 as a human services organization and institution, based on teachers and principals’ perspectives. The purpose of resource schools is to provide the students tools and resources to enable them to return to the regular school within two years. The study also aims to examine more closely how this objective applies to the studied resource schools in the studied municipality, as well as highlighting the success factors and barriers that exist to achieve the goal. Previous studies show that this kind of differential practice tends to become a permanent solution. The categorization of the children concerned may also affect their future negatively. Four interviews were conducted with six teachers and principals at three of the municipalities’ four resource schools. The results shows that teachers and principals are defending resource school as an institution because they fulfill a need that regular schools do not. Staff expertise and pedagogical design are described as success factors. The study also shows that the objective to return to regular school rarely is reached. The barriers described include lack of collaboration between the resource schools and regular schools and their inability to adapt the working environment for the target group of students. Teachers and principals can also be seen as barriers as explained by neo-institutional organization theory

Bakalauro darbe analizuojami specialiojo pedagogo veiklos ypatumai mokyklos vaiko gerovės komisijoje. Tyrime dalyvavo bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos vaiko gerovės komisijos nariai iš Vilniaus rajono (6 specialieji pedagogai, 2 logopedai, 1 psichologas, 1 socialinis pedagogas, 2 pavaduotojos ugdymui). Teorinė darbo dalis atskleidžia specialiosios pedagoginės pagalbos ypatumus šiuolaikinėje mokykloje, parodo vaiko gerovės komisijos vaidmenį koordinuojant specialiąją pedagoginę pagalbą ir užtikrinant jos veiksmingumą, nustato specialiojo pedagogo funkcijos mokykloje, pristato specialųjį pedagogą kaip vaiko gerovės komisijos komandos narį. Naudojant interviu metodą, atskleidžiami specialiojo pedagogo veiklos parametrai, bei jo veiklos struktūros komponentai vaiko gerovės komisijoje. Taip pat vaiko gerovės komisijos narių požiūris į specialiosios pedagoginės pagalbos veiksmingumą mokyklos vaiko gerovės komisijoje. Analizuojant Vilniaus rajono bendrojo ugdymo mokyklų atsakymų kokybinio tyrimo rezultatus, buvo pastebėta, kad vaiko gerovės komisijos nariai specialiojo pedagogo veiklos parametrus vaiko gerovės komisijoje supranta ir apibūdina kaip platų, daugialypį procesą. Apklausti informantai teigia, jog specialiųjų pedagogų veiklos sritis ir pobūdis yra labai platus. Išryškėja tokios veiklos sritys, kaip darbas su SUP mokiniais, mokytojais, tėvais/šeima/įtėviais, darbas komandoje, tai pat išryškėja dar viena veiklos sritis – dokumentų tvarkymas, o kalbant apie specialiojo pedagogo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This thesis analyzes the distinctive features of the Special Education Teacher's activities in the School’s Children Welfare Council. The research was made using the interview method. Interviews were conducted with members of Children Welfare Commission from different basic education schools of the Vilnius district (6 special education teachers, 2 speech therapists, 1 psychologist, 1 social educator, 2 deputy directors for educational matters). The theoretical part reveals the features of special educational support within a contemporary school, demonstrates the role of the School’s Children Welfare Commission in coordinating special educational support measures as well as in ensuring their efficiency. It also discusses the functions of the Special Education Teacher within a school, introduces her (him) as a member of the School’s Children Welfare Council. The interviews conducted reveal the parameters of a Special Education Teacher as well as the components being part of the structure of the activity within the School’s Children Welfare Council. They also provide an evaluation of the efficiency of special educational support within the School’s Children Welfare Council by the council members. The results of the qualitative research of the answers made by representatives of schools of the Vilnius district showed that the council members perceive and describe the parameters of the Special Education Teachers within the School’s Children Welfare Council as a broad and... [to full text]

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 393-404).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1993. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 180-187).