This Report examines the “paradox” of physician privacy: while physician privacy has been explicitly or implicitly invoked over the last century to defend physicians against greater transparency, proposals that might cause them economic harm, or interference by government or corporate entities, there has been little comprehensive work done to examine the substance and source of any privacy rights physicians may actually enjoy. This Report attempts to make three primary contributions with respect to physician privacy. First, the Report examines the current state of physician privacy and the legal framework that governs it. Second, the Report argues that physician “privacy” is not, and should not be considered, a unitary concept encompassing a singular meaning. Rather it is a broad umbrella term that encompasses not only a variety of legal protections for privacy, but guards against a variety of very different perceived harms. As a result, this Report argues that in evaluating policy initiatives, discussions about “privacy” implications can be counterproductive because the term obscures the real values, concerns, and policy judgments at play. To address this, the Report’s third aim is the proposal of an analytical framework that policymakers and others may use to consider the impact of various initiatives on the values and concerns that physician “privacy” actually protects: professional autonomy; economic considerations; personal dignity; and practical difficulties. / text

Caruthers argues that the mindreading capacity and the introspective capacity are in fact one and the same capacity. This single capacity relies on the same sub-personal "interpretive" mechanism that takes sensory information as input and produces attitudes as output. I use neuroscience research to show that if the “interpretive mechanism” exists, and moreover that it operates in accordance to Caruthers’ description in mindreading tasks, (e.g. detecting external cues and paying attention to others’ behavior), then this operation would have to be handled or implemented at the neural level by the Task Oriented Neural Network. On the other hand, it is well known that self-referential thought, including introspective thought is handled by the Default Mode Network. This consequence is problematic for the view that self and other attitude attributions are done by the same mechanism. The same cognitive operation can not be implemented by two distinct neural networks that are in competition with one another. Moreover, the Default Mode neural network and the Task Oriented networks implement such different types of thinking that they oppose and interrupt one another’s functioning. If the only difference between the two networks were that one simply handles a larger quantity of information than the other, then they wouldn’t be in competition. It appears that there is indeed something special about the very nature of self-referential information such that it determines the type of operations involved in its processing. / text

Being ethical and sustainable is a fate in doing business, since unsustainable business practicedamages the environment, and causes lack of resources currently and in the future whichdiscontinue economic development. The purpose of this study is to understand and analyzethe influence of stakeholder dialogue in the new governance integrated in CG & CSR forunsustainable business such as oil and gas industry particularly in BP Company, as well ashow and why the notion “new governance” including self and meta-regulation affects on BPCompany to perform ethical business. This study based on the case study methodologywhereby the theoretical framework of secondary data of CG, CSR and the new governancefound in journal articles, relevant textbooks, NGO reports and the information found on BP’swebsite were employed. Furthermore, the main findings of this study is that there is asignificant variation in BP’s CSR adoption regarding the TBL of CSR in which socialresponsibility performance found the worst performance among the TPL of CSR since thecompany selects where to demonstrate great interest on social responsibility and where toignore. Consequently, BP’s self-regulation is ineffective which signifies lack of transparencyand accountability. More importantly, meta-regulation is very effective in keeping BP ontrack in the face of wrong doing. The study conclude that BP’s non-financial reporting needto move beyond the traditional reporting on company’s policies, philanthropic actions, andCSR successes and give priority to risks and incidents considering the seriousness andimpacts. More importantly, BP needs new standards of transparency and effectivemanagement system to ensure good CSR performance. The study assures that for as long asBP’s operations touch the daily life of people and other organisms in our planet it mustprioritize the interest of its stakeholders via continual dialogue since it is one of thefundamental principles of corporate citizenship.

No description available.

<p>The study focused on financial reporting in the public sector with the view to understanding the impact of the present financial management system in South Africa is adding value to the measurable outcomes-based objective process as required by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). The study determines the role of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) in financial reporting, in relation to the business plan (strategy) and measurable outcomes and results of the Department of Community Safety. The primary objective of this study was to perform an assessment of financial reporting and its effectiveness in terms of the PFMA as the legislative framework and the MTEF as a financial management tool. The secondary objectives were to: (1) to provide a theoretical perspective of public financial management and reporting in government / (2) to provide an&nbsp / verview of policies, legislation and strategies / (3) to record and develop a case study of financial reporting in the Western Cape Provincial Government within the Department of Community Safety (WCPG) / (4) to present the research findings on financial management, and (5), to apply the theoretical framework to the case study in order to develop findings.</p>

<p>Ethiopia is exercising decentralisation of the health system and thus this study assesses lessons learned about the experiences of the decentralization of institutions in heoretical terms. The problem investigated in this study concerns the lack of institutional capacity to effectively provide services, lack of transparency, responsibility and accountability. Decision making is also very remote from the people with regard to resource allocation and public health service delivery. The scope of this study covers the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People&rsquo / s Regional State of Ethiopia and its relationship with the Cheha District in the area of health service decentralization. The objective of this study was to identify fundamental elements of decentralization of health institutions and the impact on the performance of the health system at local government level in the Cheha District in Ethiopia.</p>

<p>During this study, the challenges and best practices of youth participation in problem identification, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programmes were investigated and the effect of project outcomes on the youth and its implications for community development observed. The use of the qualitative research methodology to examine the extent to which the youth are involved in the decision-making processes was employed. In addition, a literature review that pertained to youth development and participatory community development was conducted. In particular, the participatory concept, and its relation to the inclusion of the youth at the decision-making table, was examined. By providing evidence from the empirical data, an argument is&nbsp / presented that there are internal rigidities that are a hindrance to the youth in expressing their voice in the decision-making platform. However, the conclusion can be drawn that in order to understand the process of participatory development, it is crucial for the youth, community development practitioners and other stakeholders to understand the socio-economic conditions surrounding the youth as these will ensure positive programme outcomes as well as subsequent sustainable youth development.<br /> &nbsp / </p>

<p>Development thinking in the 21st century has embraced the challenge to inform development practice towards managing the relationship between the macro and micro level of development,&nbsp / with an emphasis on people-centred development (PCD) and a participatory development approach (PDA). People-centred development advocates a process focused on people, which&nbsp / enables beneficiaries of communitydevelopment initiatives to empower themselves through participation. People-centred development has been universally accepted in the development&nbsp / community as the only viable option, with the potential to reverse decades of top-down approaches to development through the engagement of community stakeholders in a meaningful participation process. The social development scene in South Africa is characterised by a strong presence of the civil society in general and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in&nbsp / particular, which are major role players in socio-economic development at the grassroots. Most of these organisations are committed to participatory development methodologies in order to&nbsp / meet the needs of povertystricken communities in South Africa. This thesis critically assessed participatory development in the Small Business Development Departments&rsquo / (SBDD)&nbsp / programmes/projects at the Elgin Learning Foundation, in the Overberg district of the Western Cape. A qualitative research methodology was applied throughout the study. This research&nbsp / approach was chosen&nbsp / because the purpose of this project was to understand and describe community participation at the SBDD from an insider&rsquo / s perspective, and not to predict social action&nbsp / or make generalisations about it. Accordingly, observation, in-depth interviews, documentary analysis, and focus-group discussions were utilised for data collection. The study also used&nbsp / secondary sources of information, namely policy briefs, project proposals, annual evaluation reports, and minutes of meetings. The findings indicate that the community-development activities&nbsp / of the SBDD are very visible in the Overberg region, and that the organisation maintains good relationships with community stakeholders. In addition, the department contributes significantly towards entrepreneurship and skills development in the&nbsp / community, through its training and mentorship programmes. However, results also suggest that community-development at the SBDD is not always people-centred because training&nbsp / programmes are largely externally designed, monitored and evaluated, without taking into consideration the felt needs of the people. Participation that is perceived as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself can be described as tokenistic. In this light, the study recommends that the SBDD develops context-specific strategies to implement participatory methodologies at all stages&nbsp / of project-cycle management, in order to provide an enabling environment for the genuine participation of people at the grassroots. This approach can empower community members and build&nbsp / local institutional capacities to ensure project/programme sustainability in the long term.</p>

There have been few studies conducted on how children from other than Western populations perceive and learn different graphic symbol sets or systems, especially on how children from poverty contexts learn graphic alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) symbols. Multicultural research is necessary in order to advance and to ensure the quality of the service of AAC for culturally and linguistically diverse AAC users. In the present study the authors strive to describe the learnability of the Blissymbol system in a non-western culture using a semiotic theoretical framework. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the iconicity and learnability of the Blissymbol system for Kenyan children with two different language backgrounds, Swahili and English. This was done in an attempt to investigate potential cultural and linguistic influences of the interpretation and learnability of the Blissymbol. The design and test material was adopted from a previous study (Jennische &amp; Zetterlund, 2012). In the present study, 127 typically developed children in the age six to seven in class one or two in primary school, both from private and public schools, participated. The children had never before encountered Bliss. The children were asked to interpret single Bliss-words and compound Bliss-words, first spontaneously through giving free proposals and then after being given an instructive explanation. The test results were analyzed on a group level and compared between the different groups (age, class and language background). The results show that there was a significant improvement between the pretest and the posttest for all children in the different groups. This indicates that the Blissymbols used in this study had a generally low transparency but a generally high translucency. The results also indicate a generally high learnability and that the children were aided by the instructive explanation. Furthermore, there were significant differences between the different groups, where the children from class two performed better than children from class one and where the English-speaking children performed better than the Swahili-speaking children overall. Age was not significant. The results also indicate that there were differences in how the children interpreted the symbols, but that there were similarities within the specific groups. Further, this indicates that the symbols were interpreted in a similar way by children that belonged to the same age, language and socioeconomic background.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuotas ir įvertintas viešųjų pirkimų vykdymas Lietuvoje ir jo efektyvumas, iškeltos viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo Lietuvoje problemos bei pateikti siūlymai kaip šias problemas spręsti, t. y. kaip padidinti viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo efektyvumą. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje teoriniu aspektu yra tiriamas viešųjų pirkimų teisinis reguliavimas, samprata, tikslai ir principai. Pateikiamos apibendrintos mokslinėje literatūroje ir viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo praktikoje nustatytos viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo Lietuvoje problemos, apžvelgta viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo Lietuvoje kontrolė. Antrojoje darbo dalyje yra nustatyta viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo Lietuvoje vertinimo metodologija. Trečiojoje dalyje yra atlikta Viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo Lietuvoje analizė, kurioje ypatingas dėmesys skirtas viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo efektyvumo rodiklių atskleidimui: skaidrumo didinimui, elektroniniams ir centralizuotiems pirkimams, teisiniam reglamentavimui, viešųjų pirkimų vykdytojų kvalifikacijos kėlimui, viešųjų pirkimų vykdymo trukmei. / The Master’s Thesis provides analysis and evaluation of public procurement procedures as well as their efficiency in Lithuania, identifies problems of public procurement procedures in Lithuania and defines proposals aimed at solving these problems in order to improve efficiency of the public procurement procedures. The first part of the Thesis presents overview of legal regulation, concept, objectives and principles of public procurement from the theoretical point of view. Problems related to the public procurement procedures in Lithuania, as summarized in the scientific literature and identified in practical implementation of public procurement procedures, are presented and control of public procurement procedures in Lithuania is reviewed. The second part of the Thesis defines methodology for evaluation of public procurement procedures in Lithuania. The third part provides analysis of public procurement procedures in Lithuania with a special focus on the establishment of the following efficiency indicators for the public procurement procedures: increasing of transparency, electronic and centralized procurement, legal regulation, development of qualifications of officers responsible for public procurement, duration of public procurement procedure.