Anthony Downs public choice theory proposes that every rational person would try to meet their own desires in preference to those of others, and that such rational persons would attempt to obtain these desires in the most efficient manner possible. This thesis submits that the application of this theory would mean that public servants and politicians would perform acts of corruption and maladministration in order to efficiently meet their desires. As such action is unavoidable, political parties must appear to meet the public demand for accountability systems, but must not make these systems viable lest they expose the corruption and maladministration that would threaten the government’s chance or re-election. The thesis demonstrates this hypothesis through a study of the history of the public sector in Queensland. It shows that all governments have displayed a commitment for accountability whilst simultaneously ensuring the systems would not be able to interfere with government control or expose its flaws.

Never before has the learning experience of incarcerated persons been captured by one of their fellow inmates. Public perception is that prisoners should be denied access to educational opportunities and be punished for the crimes committed. In this groundbreaking study, situated in the qualitative paradigm, I recorded the learning experiences of a group of inmates who are studying at undergraduate level, via distance learning. This phenomenological study originated from my experience of studying while incarcerated, and is aimed at increasing our knowledge of, and enhancing our understanding of incarcerated persons. The study focuses on the learning experiences and challenges encountered by these students. Data was collected from the participants using qualitative methods and analysed using content analysis. Interpretation of the data revealed a number of factors which impede the studies of these students. The investigation is of importance to all persons involved in the Corrections environment but also the general public as inmates return to their communities upon release. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

År 2005 blev det obligatoriskt för noterade bolag inom EU att upprätta sin koncernredovisning enligt IFRS. Dessa internationella redovisningsstandarder har som mål att skapa jämförbara, transparenta, relevanta, tillförlitliga och begripliga finansiella rapporter vilka behövs för att fatta ekonomiska beslut. Användandet av IFRS ökar inte bara inom EU utan också länder utanför EU, så som Kanada, Ryssland och Japan. Vid införandet av IFRS gick många bolag från att redovisa avskrivning av goodwill, till att göra nedskrivningstest enligt IAS 36 p. 134 och skriva ned goodwill vid behov. Användningen av nedskrivning av goodwill istället för avskrivning kan ge en klarare bild av företagen för intressenter. Det existerar dock kritik mot hur IAS 36 p. 134 och dess föreskrivningar för nedskrivningar tillämpas i redovisningspraxis. Tidigare studier i ämnet harmonisering, har visat att arbetet med att skapa jämförbarhet i praxis inte alltid lyckas. Samtidigt är differentieringen mellan anglosaxiska och kontinentala redovisningssystem inte lika tydliga idag som de varit i det förflutna. Detta gör det intressant att undersöka harmoniseringen och jämförbarheten i redovisningspraxis i företag, med länder som inte är medlemmar i EU. Genom en komparativ studie mellan länderna Kanada, Ryssland och Japan undersöks till vilken grad de tillämpar IFRS och vilken skillnad som existerar mellan de olika länderna.Studien använder sig av ett abduktivt förhållningssätt och syftar till att göra en komparativ studie över hur 85 företag redovisar nedskrivning av goodwill i länderna Kanada, Japan och Ryssland. En kvalitativ ansats, med en komparativ design används i första hand eftersom denna studie syftar till att undersöka harmoniseringsprocessen och dess kontinuerliga utveckling.Resultatet i studien visar att företagen i de tre länderna skiljer sig åt i vilken utsträckning som de redovisar enligt IAS 36 p. 134, som behandlar nedskrivning av goodwill. De kanadensiska företagen följer i genomsnitt paragraferna under IAS 36 p. 134 bättre än de andra länderna, medan resultatet för de företag som tillämpar nedskrivning av goodwill visar att de japanska företagen följer underparagraferna bäst.Slutsatsen som kan dras är att beroende på ett lands redovisningstradition samt vilka redovisningsprocesser som länderna använder, så kommer företagen följa internationella redovisningsprinciper i olika utsträckning. / In 2005, it became mandatory for listed companies within the EU to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with IFRS. These international accounting standards aim at creating comparable, transparent, relevant, reliable and comprehensible financial statements that are needed to make financial decisions. The use of IFRS increases not only within the EU but also in countries outside the EU, such as Canada, Russia and Japan. When introducing IFRS, many companies failed to write impairment tests under IAS 36, p. 134, and write down goodwill if necessary. The use of goodwill write-downs instead of depreciation can provide a clearer picture of the companies for stakeholders. However, there is criticism of how IAS 36, p. 134, and its provisions for impairment are applied in accounting practice.Earlier studies in the subject of harmonization have shown that the work of creating comparability in practice does not always succeed. At the same time, the differentiation between Anglo-Saxon and Continental accounting systems is not as clear today as they have been in the past. This makes it interesting to investigate the harmonization and comparability of accounting practices in companies, with non-EU countries. A comparative study between Canada, Russia and Japan examines the extent to which they apply IFRS and the difference that exists between the different countries.The study uses an abductive approach and aims to make a comparative study of how 85 companies report goodwill impairment in the countries of Canada, Japan and Russia. A qualitative approach, with a comparative design, is used primarily because this study aims at examining the harmonization process and its continuous development.The result of the study shows that companies in the three countries differ to what extent they report in accordance with IAS 36, p. 134, which deals with write-downs of goodwill. Canadian companies, on average, follow the paragraphs of IAS 36, paragraph 134, better than the other countries, while the results of the goodwill impairment show that the Japanese companies comply best with the under-paragraphs.The conclusion that can be drawn is that depending on the country's accounting tradition and the accounting processes used by the countries, companies will comply with international accounting principles to a varying degree.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa litteraturanalys var att undersöka hur neuropsykiatrisk och intellektuell funktionsnedsättning skildras i fyra olika bilderböcker som är riktade till barn i förskoleåldern. Resultatet av analysen visar att tre av bilderböckerna skildrar både negativa och positiva aspekter av funktionsnedsättningen, med ett visst fokus på de positiva. I dessa tre bilderböcker kretsar även handlingen kring funktionsnedsättningen, som är det primära i berättelsen. I en av de fyra bilderböckerna skildras funktionsnedsättningen enbart på ett positivt sätt. I denna bilderbok kretsar dock handlingen kring något helt annat än själva funktionsnedsättningen, som inte är det primära i berättelsen. Analysen visar även att funktionsnedsättningen är mest tydlig i bilderböckernas text, och att bilderböckerna skiljer sig åt gällande estetisk utformning. / The purpose of this qualitative literature analysis was to examine how neuropsychiatric and intellectual disability is portrayed in four different picture-books aimed at children in pre-school age. The results of the analysis show that three of the picture-books portrays both positive and negative aspects of the disability, with a certain focus on the positive ones. In these three picture-books, the disability is also the primary in the story. One of the four picture-books only show the positive sides of the disability. However, in this picture-book the disability is not the primary in the story. The analysis also show that the disability is mostly noticeable in the text of the picture-books, and that the picture-books are different regarding their aesthetic design.

The aim of the present thesis is to carry out an architectural study for the reconstruction of the chateau complex Zdounky, located near Kroměříž in Litenčiče Downs. The chateau complex covers the area of ca. 9 hectares and consists of a four-wing chateau, a Baroque granary, a new farm building with an old orchard, and a large landscape park in the English style with a number of small-scale buildings such as a greenhouse, an ice house and other valuable and remarkable natural sites, for instance an old lime tree alley or a restored animal park. The proposal complies with the intention of the current owners, i.e. to use the complex as a centre for environmental education of the youth and to make it available to the general public with an interest in nature and ecology. Therefore, the main goal of the study has been to find an optimal urban-architectural solution in order to preserve the historic value of the buildings and at the same time allow the possibility of using them for their new purposes. The concept of the reconstruction is influence by the correspondence of the surrounding landscape, the place’s history, the historic value of the individual buildings and the morphology of the terrain. The whole complex is organized in order to give the impression of unity where all the functions are connected in a logical way. It was the division of the complex into public, semi-public and private zones that represented the main guideline for the present plan. The design of the reconstructed chateau includes the semi-public and private zones - it comprises both the educational centre with accommodation as well as the owners’ residence surrounded by a private garden. The Baroque granary is reconstructed and used as a museum. Additionally, a new orangery is added and its facilities used for a cider house (in the form of a small café) where local production commodities are sold. Both of these are open to the general public as well as the chateau park. Furthermore, the design includes a trail around the chateau. For the purposes of the present thesis, it was necessary to find and redraw the old plans, verify and document their true condition and measure the Baroque granary, whose documentation was completely missing.

In comparison to normally developing children, many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) do not possess the same opportunities to be physically active due to the impairments exhibited by their disorder. A systematic review using the Downs and Black checklist and the PEDro scale was conducted to assess the methodological quality of the literature on promoting physical activity in children with ASD. The following inclusion criteria had to be met: (1) subjects must include children with a clinical ASD diagnosis (2) the children have to be under the age of thirteen years old (3) the interventions must target physical activity; lastly, (4) they must be a relevant peer-reviewed English language study. The search was conducted using four electronic databases: MEDLINE, ERIC, PsycInfo, and CINHL with no restriction on the publication year. The following keywords were utilized: "Autism", "ASD/ Autism Spectrum Disorder", "Asperger", "Pervasive Developmental Disorder" Those terms were paired with "physical activity", "physical exercise", "exercise", "fitness", "aerobic", "swim", "aquatic", "jog", "walk", "recreational activity" Which were also paired with the terms "school age", "child", "toddler", "preadolescent". This multi-step search procedure occurred during February 2013. The methodological quality of six studies was evaluated in February 2013. Overall, the conclusive scores determined by the Downs and and Black checklist and the PEDro scale varied greatly. The scores reported by the Downs and Black checklist ranged from 19 to 21 on a 27-point scale. PEDro scale yielded scores ranging between two and six on a 10-point scale. A vote count revealed that the exercise interventions increased the physical fitness, aquatic skills, social behaviors, and sensory integration children with ASD. In summary, the variation within the scores and the quality of the studies leads to a demand for future research.; In order to adequately determine what exercise interventions effectively increase physical activity in children with ASD, future researchers should conduct randomized controlled trials in order to produce the highest quality of evidence.

The purpose of this study is to compare and investigate how three nationwide sports media report on the same Allsvenskan football matches through push notifications, headlines and pull downs. In the study, the analyzed media included Sportbladet, Expressen and SVT Sport. By comparing and analyzing the media coverage of these pseudo events, the study aims to identify differences in news aspects, tonality and use of visual elements. The study further attempts to illustrate how different media convey and shape football news to their readers and how this can affect the interpretation and perception of events in Swedish football. We examined 69 headlines and 69 pull downs in total – 24 each from Expressen and Sportbladet and 21 from SVT Sport. 72 push notifications in total were also examined – 33 from Sportbladet, 31 from Expressen and eight from SVT Sport.  The study has been made with a qualitative and quantitative content analysis where the authors have been working with separate analyses with push notifications on one hand, and headlines and pull downs on the other hand. The qualitative analysis (critical discourse analysis) consisted of four different themes to cover the result. The quantitative analysis was made by six diagrams – all to shed light on the actual result. The theoretical framework is based on theories of framing, pseudo events and news evaluation, combined with previous research on headlines and push notifications, the medialization of elite sports, the commercialization of journalism, the meaning of Swedish sports journalism and the reporting on Allsvenskan. The study’s result shows that there are both differences and similarities in their strategy when it comes to headlines, pull downs and push notifications. The biggest difference, however, is between the commercial media (Sportbladet and Expressen) and publicly funded  SVT Sport. The commercial media is more keen on using sensational language and often hides information in the headlines. They also find different ways of making a headline rather than the result of the football game more often than SVT. The three media also like to represent big losers and winners and also scapegoats and heroes. Conceptual metaphors are also widely used. SVT Sport were also more informative in their headlines, but at the same time they also used a more varied language. Many of the headlines seem also to be written on pure routine. When it comes to push notifications the language and strategy was similar – but the commercial media sent out significantly more push notifications regarding Allsvenskan than SVT Sport.

Manual signs are an augmentative and alternative communication mode which enables and facilitates communication for persons with impairments in speech, language and hearing. There are different ways of teaching signs to persons with intellectual disabilities. One of them is milieu teaching, which is a method where the teaching takes place in natural settings. This method has proven to give good results in generalization and maintenance. Teaching signs to staff in groups has been shown to be effective. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether sign intervention affected the number of signs and the number of different signs, used by two persons with Down’s syndrome and eleven staff on a day center. The study was carried out as a single-subject design. A sign intervention was conducted at the day center with the two participants with Down’s syndrome. They were educated individually with a procedure inspired by milieu teaching. When the intervention with the two participants was terminated, the staff was educated in a group format. The number of signs and the number of different signs used by the two participants with Down’s syndrome and the staff were registered. The sign intervention with the two participants led to an increased use of signs for one of them and the sign intervention with the staff led to an increased use of signs for the staff together with one of the participants. The main reason for why the sign intervention was effective for one of the two participants with Down’s syndrome and for one group of staff, but not for the other participant or the other group of staff, seems to be that the participants use of signs had an impact on each other. One of the participants with Down’s syndrome and one group of staff seems to have had a positive impact on each others use of signs. The intervention also seems to have been too short and therefore has not given effect for all of the participants.

This thesis deals with the applicability of Anthony Downs rational choice theory to the Czech environment, respectively the utility of its model to explain voter turnout and identification of rationality among Czech voters. First part provides theoretical foundation of work, explanation of basic concepts from which the work draws and alternative theories to the research problem. It also presents current state of society in terms of policy perceptions, and participation in elections. The core of the work is to present Downs' rational choice theory, different views on it and its possible extension in terms of criticism. The basic variables introduced are here, in particular how are percieved by various authors, what is their content and what affects them. In the analytical part, the variables are examined within the reserach aims in terms of frequency in the population and individual segments of the electorate. The primary parameters of the rational choice theory model are then tested in terms of interdependence, and in terms of their significance in the model and their influence on voter turnout. The conclusion summarizes the research results, and demonstrates evaluation of the applicability of the model to the Czech voters, the relevance of individual variables representing the rational choice...