<p>Project management used to be described as rational and well structured - a notion that builds on a traditional view that project management is about planning, budgeting and controlling. Nevertheless, it has been questioned if this is a full description. Even though project management techniques were developed for large projects, those techniques and models are used today in small projects of short duration - projects that are quite dissimilar to the large ones. The present study takes a practice perspective to investigate what project managers do when they lead such short projects. Its observations and interviews are used to analyze what happens in the everyday life of project managers. Using classical managerial behaviour studies as a foundation, seen through a practice perspective lens, the study finds that the work of project managers in a software development project is fragmented – their time is filled with formal and informal meetings of different kinds and efforts to resist disturbances in the project.</p><p>Three challenges were found in the project manager’s work. The first was to Understand: to create meaning. The plans were clearly defined at the start of the project but as the goals were later re-defined, it was scarcely possible to finalize them before delivery. Contrary to the traditional view that plans are inflexible, these plans were discussed, negotiated and interpreted throughout the project. This was the continuous work of creating both meaning in the plans and a common understanding of the project.</p><p>The second challenge was to Order/coordinate: to manage resources. The project manager reacted to emerging issues rather than acting to prevent things from happening. These reactions led to creative ways of managing and finding solutions to problems. One important way of managing new or changed conditions was to reorganize resources to cover the needs of different teams. The meetings played a central role in this work as arenas for negotiating resources, which became especially evident in times of stress or high workload.</p><p>The third challenge was to Make it in time: to manage time. Time is a central aspect of project management as projects are temporary organizations; they have a beginning and an end. Previous research has found a point in time, in the middle of a project, when the team starts to feel pressured and stressed about meeting their deadlines. For project managers there is always a struggle to manage time, as dates for delivery are one of the things in a project that are not negotiable. In short-duration projects where projects follow each other seriatim, there is an almost constant feeling of urgency; stress and pressure. The project manager used experiential data to determine and plan the amount of time that would be needed to manage changes in the project, intending that the slack created would enable the project to deliver on time. Although changes and deviations were expected, the project manager rarely knew beforehand what they were or when they would come.</p><p>The three challenges, previously described as separated from each other, were observed to be all managed simultaneously. The site, the practitioner and the practices influence daily work practice.</p>

Lhumectation des surfaces végétales, due principalement aux précipitations sous forme de pluie ou de rosée, joue un rôle déterminant lors de la phase de contamination des plantes par de nombreux agents phytopathogènes. La connaissance de la pluie et de la rosée constitue un élément fondamental pour létude et la compréhension du fonctionnement des modèles de simulation des épidémies et des systèmes d'avertissements agricoles. Lobjectif de cette recherche est de contribuer à lamélioration du système davertissement des principales maladies cryptogamiques affectant le blé dhiver au sud de Belgique et au G-D de Luxembourg. Notre démarche a consisté, dans un premier temps à évaluer les potentialités du radar météorologique de Wideumont. Nous avons décrit son fonctionnement général ainsi que son principe de mesure et nous avons détaillé les différentes sources derreur qui affectent les estimations de précipitations dérivées des observations radar. Les mesures radar sont moins précises que les mesures de précipitations par des pluviomètres. Néanmoins, le radar permet dobserver en temps réel les précipitations sur un large domaine avec une très bonne résolution spatiale et temporelle. La comparaison quantitative et qualitative des précipitations mesurées au sol avec celles estimées par le radar a été faite sur une période de trois ans (2003, 2004 et 2005). Les résultats de la validation des cumuls mensuels font apparaître que le radar a tendance à sous-estimer les précipitations. Lerreur calculée pour lensemble des stations varie entre -50% et +12%. La validation qualitative du radar a été réalisée sur des occurrences de cumuls horaires. Les indices calculés à partir des tables de contingence donnent des valeurs de POD (Probability Of Detection) entre 0.44 et 0.80 durant la période étudiée. Limpact des estimations radar sur les périodes dinfection de Septoria tritici simulées par PROCULTURE a été évalué durant trois saisons culturales (2003, 2004 et 2005) par comparaison entre les données de sortie du modèle (alimenté par des estimations radar de précipitations horaires) et les estimations visuelles du développement des symptômes de la maladie sur les trois dernières feuilles. Les outputs de PROCULTURE via les données radar ont montré un grand accord entre la simulation et lobservation. Le radar météorologique devrait dès lors être bénéfique pour des régions où le réseau des pluviomètres est inexistant (ou moins dense) et où lincidence de la septoriose est importante. Dans un deuxième temps, sur base dune recherche bibliographique, un modèle dhumectation a été choisi. Le modèle sélectionné, appelé SWEB, se base sur le bilan énergétique et le bilan hydrique. Il simule la durée dhumectation due à la pluie et à la rosée sur lensemble du couvert végétal à partir des données issues des stations agrométéorologiques. Le modèle a été ensuite testé et validé sur différentes variétés de blé dhiver. Les données de sortie du modèle ont été comparées statistiquement aux mesures des capteurs (préalablement calibrés) et aux données dobservation obtenues sur des parcelles expérimentales et au champ durant les saisons culturales 2006 et 2007. Sur base des résultats obtenus, le modèle SWEB semble sous-estimer la durée dhumectation et plus particulièrement pour les événements de la fin dhumectation (dryoff). Lerreur moyenne en général est inférieure à 90 minutes. Dans un troisième temps, afin dobtenir une relation entre les périodes dhumectation et le développement de la septoriose sur les trois dernières feuilles, les périodes dhumectation simulées par SWEB ont été comparées dune part aux périodes dinfection de Septoria tritici simulées par PROCULTURE et dautre part aux estimations visuelles. Le modèle de la durée dhumectation simule avec succès des périodes dhumectations, dues à la fois à la rosée et à la pluie, qui ont déclenché linfection de la septoriose observée sur des parcelles expérimentales. Une durée minimale dhumectation favorable à linfection des feuilles de blé par Septoria tritici a été déterminée. Il est donc désormais nécessaire délaborer un système opérationnel intégrant le radar météorologique, le modèle de la durée dhumectation et le modèle épidémiologique. Notre travail a permis dacquérir via lanalyse des données agrométéorologiques et des données phytopathologiques, les connaissances nécessaires à lélaboration dun tel système et de participer ainsi à lamélioration des modèles davertissements existants. En effet, nous avons analysé les avantages et les limites du système radar comme données dentrée aux modèles et son aptitude dans la spatialisation des données. Nous avons également testé le modèle dhumectation pour la détermination des périodes dinfection nécessaires au développement de la septoriose. Dans une perspective dune meilleure opérationnalisation du système, lapproche envisagée pourrait facilement être intégrée dans le système existant pour la simulation dautres maladies comme les rouilles, loïdium et la fusariose à léchelle régionale. En définitive, ce travail aura prouvé une fois de plus lintérêt du "mariage" entre lagrométéorologie et la phytopathologie. [en] Summary - Weather-Radar Rainfall Measurement and Simulated Surface Wetness Duration for Septoria Leaf Blotch Risk Assessment. The persistence of free moisture on leaves, mainly as a result of precipitation in the form of rainfall or dew, plays a major role during the process of plant infection by most fungal pathogens. Acquiring rainfall and leaf moisture information is needed for accurate and reliable disease prediction and management. The objective of this research is to contribute to improve forecasting Septoria leaf blotch and other fungal pathogens on winter wheat in Belgium and Luxembourg./In the first part of this work, the potential of weather-radar rainfall estimates for plant disease forecasting is discussed. At first step, we focused on assessing the accuracy and limitations of radar-derived precipitation estimates, compared with rain-gauge data. In a second step, the Septoria leaf blotch prediction model PROCULTURE was used to assess the impact on the simulated infection rate of using, as input data, rainfall estimated by radar instead of rain gauge measurements. When comparing infection events simulated by PROCULTURE using radar-derived estimates and reference rain gauge measurements, the probability of detection (POD) of infection events was high (0.83 on average), and the false alarm ratio (FAR) of infection events was not negligible (0.24 on average). FAR decreased to 0 and POD increased (0.85 on average) for most stations, when the model outputs for both datasets were compared against visual observations of Septoria leaf blotch symptoms. Analysis of 148 infection events observed over three years at four locations showed no significant difference in the number of simulated infection events using either radar assessments or gauge measurements. This suggests that, for a given location, radar estimates are just as reliable for predicting infection events as rain gauges. As radar is able to estimate rainfall occurrence over a continuous space, unlike weather station networks that do observations at only a limited number of points, it has the great advantage of being able to predict the risk of infection at each point within an area of interest with an accuracy equivalent to rain gauge observations. This gives radar an important advantage that could significantly improve existing warning systems. In the second part, a physical model based on the energy balance, known as the Surface Wetness Energy Balance (SWEB), was applied for the simulation of Surface Wetness Duration (SWD) on winter wheat canopy. The model, developed in the United States on grapes canopies, was adapted for the winter wheat cultivars and was applied for use with agrometeorological data easily available from standard weather stations and weather-radar rainfall estimates. The SWEB model simulates surface wetness duration for both dew and rain events. The model was validated with data measured by sensors and with visual observations of SWD conducted in experimental plots during two cropping seasons in 2006 and 2007. The wetness was observed visually by assessing the presence or absence of surface water on leaves. Based on the results, the SWEB model appeared to underestimate surface wetness duration and especially for the dry-off events when compared statistically to visual observations. The error, on average, is generally less than 90 minutes. In order to establish a relationship between the surface wetness periods and Septoria leaf blotch development risk on the top three leaves, the SWEB model SWD outputs were compared with the number of hours of high probability of infection simulated by PROCULTURE as well as with visual plant diseases observations. A minimal surface wetness duration of favourable infection conditions for Septoria tritici was established. It is now required to develop an operational system that would integrate weather radar, surface wetness duration and foliar epidemic model. In this work, we have analyzed the advantages and limitations of the radar system as input to models and its ability for spatial interpolation of rainfall. We also tested the model for the determination of surface wetness periods required for Septoria Leaf Blotch Risk development. The proposed approach could be integrated in the existing system. Finally this approach shows once more the "happy marriage" between agrometeorology and plant disease management.

This dissertation consists of four papers, each with an application of a discrete dependent variable model, censored regression or duration model to a credit market phenomenon or monetary policy question. The first three essays deal with bank lending policy, while the last one studies interest rate policy by Central Banks. In the first essay, a bivariate probit model is estimated to contrast the factors that influence banks’ loan granting decision and individuals’ risk of default. This model is used as a tool to construct a Value at Risk measure of the credit risk involved in a portfolio of consumer loans and to investigate the efficiency of bank lending policy. The second essay takes the conclusions from the first paper as a starting point. It investigates if the fact that banks do not minimize default risk can be explained by the existence of return maximization policy. For this purpose, a Tobit model with sample selection effects and variable censoring limits is developed and estimated on the survival times of consumer loans. The third paper focuses on dormancy, instead of default risk or survival time, as the most important factor affecting risk and return in bank lending. By means of a duration model the factors determining the transition from an active status to dormancy are studied. The estimated model is used to predict the expected durations to dormancy and to analyze the expected profitability for a sample loan applicants. In the fourth paper, the discrete nature of Central Bank interest rate policy is studied. A grouped data model, that can take the long periods of time without changes in the repo rate by the Central Bank into account, is estimated on weekly Swedish data. The model is found to be reasonably good at predicting interest rate changes. / Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Handelshögsk.

The present thesis concerns aspects of the interaction ofmatter in gas, liquid and solid phases, with electromagneticradiation, ranging from the optical to the X-ray region. Overthe last decade the availability of ultrashort strong laserpulses as well as of high power synchrotron sources of tunableX-ray radiation has stimulated a rapid development of newexperimental techniques which makes it possible to analysedifferent physical, chemical and biological processes inunprecedented detail. All of this urges a concomitantdevelopment of adequate theoretical language and methodscombined with simulation techniques. The first part of the thesis addresses nonlinear propagationof strong optical pulses. This study is motivated by thebreakthrough in synthesis of novel organic materials possessingprespecified nonlinear optical properties and which has led toa multitude of potential applications such as, for example, 3Dimaging and data storage, optical limiting and photodynamiccancer therapy. In order to clarify the underlying physics, astrict solution has been derived of the density matrixequations of a material aiming at an explicit treatment of itsnonlinear polarization without addressing a conventional Taylorexpansion over field amplitudes. Such a formalism is developedfor many-level molecules, allowing to solve the coupledMaxwell's and density matrix equations for the propagation of afew interacting laser pulses through a nonlinear molecularmedium. The theory presented is capable to account formulti-photon processes of an arbitrary order and for differentsaturation effects. The theory is applied to simulations oftwo- and three-photon absorption as well as to upconvertedstimulated emission of organic molecules in solvents. The second part of the thesis is devoted to resonant X-rayRaman scattering from free molecules, solutions and polymerfilms. The temporal analysis of the spectral profiles isperformed using the technique of scattering duration whichallows to select physical processes with different time scales.The slowing-down/speeding-up of the scattering by frequencydetuning provides insight in the formation of the differentparts of the scattering profile like atomic and molecularbands, resonant and vertical scattering channels, anomalousenhancement of the Stokes doubling effect. The lifetimevibrational interference (LVI), playing a crucial role inresonant scattering, is found to strongly influence thedispersion of the Auger resonances of polymers in agreementwith experiment. An almost complete quenching of the scatteringcross section by LVI is observed for the N2molecule. It is found that the interferenceelimination of the scattering amplitude gives valuableinformation on molecular geometry. The electron Doppler effectis minutely studied making use of a wave packet technique. Thesimulations show an "interference burning" of a narrow hole onthe top of the Doppler broadened profile of the Auger spectraof molecular oxygen. For the SF6molecule the Auger Doppler effect is found to besensitive to the detuning due to the scattering anisotropy. Inall of these studies the temporal language was foundconstructive and enormously helpful for understanding theunderlying physical processes. Most theoretical predictionsmade have been verified by experiments.

Several previous studies have found that various characteristics of the Indian monsoon rainfall have shown secular changes over the past century. In this study, using a gridded (1degree) daily rainfall dataset, we analyse the spatio-temporal characteristics of the intensity and duration of monsoon (June through September) rainfall for secular changes over the last 50 years. The characteristics of the duration of rain events are described by wet and dry spells. A wet/dry spell is defined as a period of consecutive days with rainfall above/below a particular threshold. We choose to use a threshold that is a function of the local climatological mean, given the spatial heterogeneity of mean monsoon rainfall. The wet and dry spells are then divided into three categories: short [1 to 7 days], moderate [8 to 10 days], long [11 and more days] and analysed for changes over the past 50 years [19512000]. We find that while the number of short duration wet spells show a significant increase over the last 50 years (~15% change), the number of long duration wet spells show a significant decrease (~25%). Furthermore, while the numbers of short duration dry periods have shown a significant increase, the moderate and long duration dry spells do not shown an appreciable change. This increase and decrease in the short and long duration wet spells offset each other and consequently the total number of rainy days during the season has not shown any significant change over the past 50 years. In addition to the duration of wet and dry spells, we also analysed for changes in the accumulated rainfall of the short, medium and long duration wet spells. Our analysis suggests that while the depth of accumulated rainfall in short duration wet spells has shown a significant increase (~20%), the depth of rain in the long duration spells has shown a significant decrease (~30%) in the past fifty years.

There is a lot of research made on second language (L2) learning (Jesney, 2004). However the relationship between foreign accent, intelligibility and acoustics within pronunciation tutoring is quite an unresearched area (Thorén, 2008). The aim of the study was to analyze how a course in Swedish pronunciation affected foreign accent, intelligibility and acoustics among L2-learners of Swedish. A total of 41 people participated in the study: 16 L2-learners, 4 native Swedish speakers consisting a control group and 21 perceptual assessors with Swedish as native language. The L2-learners foreign accent and intelligibility were rated by the listeners before and after a course in Swedish pronunciation on an eight-point Likert-scale. The listeners also answered a questionnaire on factors potentially affecting the ratings. The acoustic measurements were made on ten words that were read aloud consisting of long and short allophones of five Swedish vowels. Formants, vowel duration and fundamental frequency were measured for the three closest and the three furthest from native pronunciation rated L2-learners. The results indicate that a class in Swedish pronunciation significantly decreased the L2-learners foreign accent. A strong correlation between the foreign accent and intelligibility ratings was found. Despite a strong correlation, no significant improvement concerning intelligibility could be established. The only factor that affected the intelligibility ratings were the assessor’s geographic affiliation. People from the western part of Sweden rated the intelligibility as less intelligible than raters from the eastern part of Sweden. The results from some of the acoustic measurements corresponded with the assessors ratings of foreign accent and intelligibility. The L2-learner rated as closest to native pronunciation was also the one with acousticly measured results close to the reference values regarding vowel duration (Elert, 1964; Gårding et al, 1974; Kügler, 2007; Thorén, i.d.) and fundamental frequency (Pegoraro Krook, 1988). The conclusion is that Swedish pronunciation tutoring should be focused on exercises that increase intelligibility because exercises that improve the foreign accent not necessarily increase the intelligibility. / Det finns en hel del forskning kring andraspråksinlärning (Jesney, 2004). Dock är förhållandet mellan brytning, förståelighet och akustiska variabler ett område som inte är lika väl beforskat inom uttalsundervisning i svenska (Thorén, 2008). Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur en kurs i svenskt uttal påverkade brytning, förståelighet och akustiskt mätbara parametrar hos personer med svenska som andraspråk. Totalt medverkade 41 personer i studien varav 16 stycken var andraspråkstalare, 4 stycken var kontrollpersoner och resterande 21 var modersmålstalare av svenska som agerade lyssnarbedömare. Lyssnarbedömarnas skattningar baserades på två inspelningar av andraspråkstalarnas spontantal före och efter en kurs i svenskt uttal. Bedömningen gjordes på en åttagradig Likert-skala gällande grad av brytning samt förståelighet. Bedömarna fick även fylla i ett frågeformulär gällande vilka faktorer som potentiellt kunde påverka skattningen av brytning och förståelighet. De akustiska mätningarna gjordes på tio upplästa ord innehållande fem av svenskans vokaler. Formanter, vokalduration samt grundtonsfrekvens undersöktes hos sex andraspråkstalare, där de tre närmst respektive tre längst ifrån ett modersmålslikt svenskt uttal analyserades. Resultaten i föreliggande studie visade att kursen i svenskt uttal signifikant minskade andraspråkstalarnas brytning. Det fanns dessutom en tydlig korrelation mellan brytning- och förståelighetsskattningarna. Trots detta kunde ingen signifikant förbättring gällande kursdeltagarnas förståelighet påvisas. Den enda faktor som visade sig påverka förståelighetsskattningarna var bedömarnas geografiska tillhörighet där personer från västra Sverige bedömde förståeligheten som sämre jämfört med personer från östra Sverige. Resultaten från några av de akustiska mätningarna överensstämde med bedömarnas uppfattning av kursdeltagarnas grad av brytning och förståelighet. Det betydde att den som skattats närmast ett modersmålslikt svenskt uttal av lyssnarbedömarna också låg närmast referensvärdena vid den akustiska analysen gällande vokalduration (Elert, 1964; Gårding et al, 1974; Kügler, 2007; Thorén, i.d.) och grundtonsfrekvens (Pegoraro Krook, 1988). Slutsatsen i denna studie är att uttalsundervisning i svenska bör fokuseras på övningar som förbättrar förståelighet då övningar som förbättrar brytning inte nödvändigtvis gynnar förståeligheten.

La tesi si compone di tre saggi su disoccupazione e mobilità del lavoro in Italia, presentando anche un focus sulla regione Lombardia, oltre che da una parte iniziale che inquadra tali tematiche. Il primo capitolo offre infatti una disamina degli sviluppi ed empirici connessi a disoccupazione e mobilità del lavoro. L’obiettivo di questa parte introduttiva è duplice. Da un lato si cerca di fornire un quadro pressochè esaustivo sulle evoluzioni teoriche ed empiriche connesse alle tematiche citate. D’altro lato si introducono le analisi oggetto dei successivi saggi come evoluzione degli sviluppi proposti dalla letteratura, enfatizzandone logiche sottostanti ed originalità. Il primo saggio analizza le determinanti della durata della disoccupazione ed i relativi “competing risks” per la regione Lombardia. La scelta di tale contesto non è casuale. La Lombardia, infatti, rappresenta una delle regioni economicamente più sviluppate ed i risultati ottenuti con tali metodologie di stima possono fornire spunti utili e rappresentativi sia delle regioni europee maggiormente sviluppate, sia di altre rilevanti regioni italiane (Emilia Romagna e Toscana). Il secondo saggio estende l’applicazione di modelli di durata e modelli a rischi competitivi all’intero territorio nazionale. In questo modo è possibile enfatizzare la rilevanza di tali tematiche per il contesto italiano, ed ottenere un quadro esaustivo circa l’evoluzione del fenomeno della durata della disoccupazione. Le tecniche utilizzate per tali analisi, ovviamente, differiscono ripetto a quelle impegate per la regione Lombardia, ed anche questo aspetto consente interessanti considerazioni. Il terzo saggio sposta l’attenzione alla rilevante tematica della mobilità del mercato del lavoro. Tale aspetto è ovviamente connesso al fenomeno della disoccupazione, e consente di approfondirne nonché di delinearne le possibili cause. In tale capitolo vengono proposte due metodologie di analisi. In primo luogo, ed a livello macro, sono fornite le stime aggregate dei flussi fra i principali stati o condizioni (occupazione, disoccupazione, inattività) del mercato del lavoro. Questo primo step consente appunto una prima quantificazione del fenomeno della mobilità. La seconda parte del capitolo si focalizza invece su una stima - a livello micro - delle determinanti delle transizioni fra gli stati del mercato del lavoro. Tale aspetto consente appunto di investigare ed esaminare le cause sottese alla mobilità riscontrata a livello macro. / Structured in three essays, this thesis focus on unemployment and labour mobility in Italy and Lombardy (the biggest Italian’s region). The first essay offers a picture of the main theoretical and the empirical issues related to these complex phenomena. The purpose of this section is twofold. On one hand we aim to offer an exhaustive picture of the theoretical and empirical developments of such phenomena. On the other hand, we introduce the empirical investigations of the subsequent essays as evolutions of the ones proposed by literature. We also emphases the original contribution and the logic behind. The second essay investigates the determinants of the unemployment duration and of the related competing risks (CRM hereafter) for Lombardy. The choice to concentrate the initial part of this dissertation on Lombardy is primarily driven by two factors. First, there is interest in applying relevant techniques to a regional context characterized by a certain degree of homogeneity of economic indicators. Further, Lombardy is one of the most important Italian regions (confirmed by many economics indicators), and is quite homogeneous in terms of labour market indicators (only little differences between provinces, with the north-east with the fewest unemployment problems), This allows verifying the effectiveness of these investigations of the determinants of unemployment duration and the related CRM without dealing with the typical dualism between north and south which is a structural feature of the Italian labour market. This is a way to investigate in depth the characteristics of the relevant phenomenon of unemployment for a significant partition of Italy, which is representative of both richest regions in Europe and Italian regions as well (such as Tuscany or Emilia Romagna). The third essay enlarges the attention to Italy by employing techniques of unemployment duration and competing risks to analyse the overall Italian unemployment and its main exit routes. Those are tools to get an exhaustive picture and relevant insights on the evolution of the Italian unemployment duration. The techniques employed for the overall country obviously differ from the ones used for the region of Lombardy, and these differences also offer the scope for interesting considerations. The fourth essay deals with the relevant issue of labour market mobility. This is a theme quite linked to unemployment, since it allows understanding and exploring its causes. We focus on two different kind of analysis. At macro level, we estimate the gross flows between the relevant labour market states of employment, unemployment, and inactivity (three-state representation of the labour market) to quantify the overall labour market mobility. The second part of this section, instead, offers micro econometrics estimates of the determinants of such labour market transitions, to investigate the causes of such mobility.

<p>Background: The global human resources for health crisis has affected Uganda deeply as is evidenced by grossly inadequate medical doctor to population ratios. Strategies to increase training and retention initiatives have been identified as the most promising ways to address the problem. In Uganda, the dual track tuition policy of higher education (called the Private Students Scheme or PSS) at the University of Makerere was initiated in the academic year 1993/94, to boost student intake and to supplement university revenue. However, the impact of this scheme on the enrolment and graduation of medical students at this University is unknown. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of the PSS on enrolment, time to completion, attrition and number of graduated medical students at Makerere University Medical School after (post-)&nbsp / the Private Students Scheme (PSS). Study design: A quantitative cross-sectional descriptive&nbsp / study based on a retrospective review of enrolment and graduation records of medical students was conducted comparing records of students enrolled five years before and after the&nbsp / privatisation scheme. Numbers enrolled, attrition rates, time to completion and graduation numbers were analysed. Results: There were 895 students enrolled in the study period, 612 (72.2%) males and 236 (27.6%) females. Pre- and post-PSS periods had 401 and 494 enrolments respectively (a net increase of 93 students). During the post-PSS period, 447 (90.5%) government&nbsp / sponsored students were enrolled - 351 (71.1%) males and 143 (28.9% females) / in the same period, 47 (9.5%) private students were enrolled, 30 (63.8%) male and 17 (36.2%) female.&nbsp / Graduation rates for the entire study period were 96% (859), which represented 44% (378) in the pre-PSS and 56% (481) in the post-PSS periods. Private students contributed 8.9% (43) of the graduates 9in the post-PSS period. The majority of students (90.4%) graduated in five years. Thirty four students (3.8%) dropped out in the entire period, constituting significantly more in the pre-PSS - 22 (5.5%) than in the&nbsp / post PSS-period - 12 (2.4%). Males were more likely to drop out: 31 males did so (4.4%) compared with 3 (1.2%) females. In the post-PSS period, males made up 83.3% (10/12) of the attrition&nbsp / rate. Nine of them were government sponsored while three were private students. Conclusions: The PSS resulted in a 10% increase in enrolments when compared to the pre-PSS period.&nbsp / Furthermore the number of private medical student enrolments contributed 8.9% of the total graduations indicating that PSS succeeded in increasing the number of medical doctors graduated at MUSM. More males than females enrolled across all the years which might indicate&nbsp / a tendency for females to pursue non-medical professions which should be discouraged. Attrition of students&nbsp / was low which is encouraging but the finding that males were more likely to drop out than females deserves attention.</p>

Despite their prevalence, the study of Canadian minority governments has been the object of few published studies. In particular, the issue of how governments that must rely on the support of one or more opposition parties in Parliament manage to remain in power (viability) and pass their legislative proposals (effectiveness) has not been thoroughly investigated. This study examines the parliamentary dynamics at play in these situations by applying a majority building framework grounded in and supported by three theoretical perspectives, namely the rational choice tradition, new institutionalism, and the role of party politics and party systems, to four minority governments that have occurred in the last 50 years or so: 1- Diefenbaker (1957-1958), 2- Pearson (1963-1965); 3- Clark (1979-1980); and, 4- Harper (2006-2008). The data on the specific circumstances that held during these minority governments has been gathered from archival records, from the recorded debates and votes in the House of Commons, from previous Canadian studies on minority government, from political autobiographies, and from third party accounts of the events at the time. The study finds that majority building is a function of primarily two interrelated variables: 1- bargaining power (interparty dynamics and intra-party cohesion) and 2- agenda control (House business, confidence tests, other institutional features). It also stresses the importance of government concessions as an effective means of achieving desired goals and outcomes. Furthermore, this study highlights the capacity and skill of individual parliamentary actors in the exercise of legislative politics generally and in manipulating institutional and party system levers specifically, as a contributing factor to their government’s duration and legislative output. This study adds to the empirical knowledge of the minority experience in Canada and provides a conceptual framework to better understand legislative politics and its impact on the success of minority governments in Canada and elsewhere. / Malgré leur fréquence, les gouvernements minoritaires au Canada n’ont pas souvent fait l’objet d’études. En particulier, peu d’attention a été portée à la question de comment un gouvernement minoritaire réussi à obtenir l’appui d’un ou de plusieurs partis d’opposition dans le but de rester au pouvoir (viabilité) et de faire passer ses propositions législatives (efficacité). Notre étude examine les dynamiques parlementaires qui se déploient dans ses situations. Plus précisément, elle cherche à les comprendre à la lumière d’un modèle de stratégies menant au consensus sur un vote parlementaire. Ce modèle est fondé sur trois perspectives théoriques, soit la tradition du choix rationnel, le nouvel institutionnalisme et le rôle de la politique partisane et du système de partis. Nous étudions quatre gouvernements minoritaires des cinquante dernières années : 1- Diefenbaker (1957-1958), 2- Pearson (1963-1965), 3- Clark (1979-1980) et Harper (2006-2008). Nous avons accumulé nos données sur ces gouvernements minoritaires à partir de documents d’archives, de la transcription des débats et des votes à la Chambre des communes, d’études canadiennes sur les gouvernements minoritaires, d’autobiographies politiques et des souvenirs de tierces parties présentes lors du déroulement des événements que nous étudions. Notre étude identifie deux variables liées à la création de majorités législatives au Parlement, soit : 1- le pouvoir de négociation (la dynamique entre les partis et la cohésion à l’intérieur des partis) et, 2- le contrôle de l’agenda parlementaire (affaires découlant de la Chambre, les motions de confiance et d’autres facteurs institutionnels). De plus, elle identifie l’importance des concessions gouvernementales dans l’atteinte de ses objectifs. Notre étude souligne l’importance de la capacité et du doigté des joueurs parlementaires particuliers dans l’exercice de la politique législative en général et dans la manipulation des composantes institutionnelles et partisanes en particulier pour garantir la longévité et l’efficacité de leur gouvernement. Notre étude contribue à ajouter à notre connaissance de l’expérience minoritaire au Canada et nous offre un modèle nous permettant de mieux comprendre la politique législative et sa contribution au succès des gouvernements minoritaires au Canada et ailleurs.

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering