Unemployment among formerly incarcerated citizens is a complex problem that continues to grow. Previous reentry studies describe the collateral effects of incarceration on employment from the perspective of formerly incarcerated individuals, yet little academic research exists regarding reentry practitioners' perceptions of constraints during the job search process. Using Goldratt's theory of constraints as the foundation, the purpose of this case study of reentry and employment in a mid-Atlantic state was to explore from the perspective of practitioners, the types of constraints individuals with criminal records face during the job search process, the most difficult phase of the job search process, and recommendations on improving employment outcomes. Data for this study were obtained from 20 reentry professionals in Maryland, who completed an online, open-ended response survey. Data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis procedure. The results showed that practitioners perceived the background check to be the most difficult phase in the job search process, and that external and environmental constraints such as employer bias and social stigma prevent individuals with criminal records from securing job offers. The results also showed that reentry professionals support automatic record expungement, record shielding, employer partnerships, and employment programming that provides job leads, resume building, and mock interview assistance. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include policy recommendations to policy makers to include centralizing and expanding the location of statewide employment centers, record shielding under the Second Chance Act, and fair education access through Ban-the Box for state colleges.

<p>This essay’s focus lies on the collaboration that takes place in hospitals and called a care-plan (vårdplanering) between the two organisations: Health-care (landsting) and social-care (kommun). According to the Swedish-law are these organizations responsible for the care of elderly individuals in Sweden. The aim of this essay has been to study closely this collaboration in order to see which partner has the most influencing power.</p><p>This essay is of a qualitative character, which means that the results that are presented are based on six individual interviews with employees from the two organizations. The employees chosen for this essay all have job experiences from the collaboration that takes place during care-plans in hospitals.</p><p>One of the main results of this essay has been that the two organizations are not equal collaboration-partners. All the interviewed individuals talked highly about the importance of collaboration while in reality they end up in an subliminal battle against each other. The main conclusion of this essay is that the focus of a care-plan meeting appears to be on gaining the most power, in order to influence the outcome of a care-plan, rather than giving priority to the elderly individual’s needs and concerns.</p>

This essay’s focus lies on the collaboration that takes place in hospitals and called a care-plan (vårdplanering) between the two organisations: Health-care (landsting) and social-care (kommun). According to the Swedish-law are these organizations responsible for the care of elderly individuals in Sweden. The aim of this essay has been to study closely this collaboration in order to see which partner has the most influencing power. This essay is of a qualitative character, which means that the results that are presented are based on six individual interviews with employees from the two organizations. The employees chosen for this essay all have job experiences from the collaboration that takes place during care-plans in hospitals. One of the main results of this essay has been that the two organizations are not equal collaboration-partners. All the interviewed individuals talked highly about the importance of collaboration while in reality they end up in an subliminal battle against each other. The main conclusion of this essay is that the focus of a care-plan meeting appears to be on gaining the most power, in order to influence the outcome of a care-plan, rather than giving priority to the elderly individual’s needs and concerns.

Integruojant specialiųjų poreikių vaikus į bendrojo lavinimo mokyklą keičiasi mokykla, mokytojų gebėjimai, ugdymo programa, ugdymo proceso organizavimas, vaikų vertinimas. Todėl svarbu atskleisti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos mokytojų požiūrį į specialiųjų poreikių vaikus bei turimas specialiojo darbo kompetencijas, išanalizuoti specialiųjų poreikių asmenų sutrikimų grupes ir jų laipsnius, palyginti miesto ir rajono mokyklų teikiamą pagalbą specialiųjų poreikių vaikams. Tyrimas atskleidė, kad bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos mokytojas su specialiųjų poreikių vaikais bendrauja kaip su visais vaikais. Specialiųjų poreikių asmenų sutrikimų grupių ir jų laipsnių klasifikacija padeda susiorientuoti sutrikimų įvairovėje. Mokytojai yra kompetetingi dirbti su specifinių pažinimo, kompleksinių, emocijų, elgesio ir raidos sutrikimų turinčiais mokiniais, nes turi patirties. Mažiausiai informacijos mokytojai turi apie regos, klausos, judesio ir padėties, lėtinius somatinius ir neurologinius sutrikimus. Mokytojams trūksta įvairių specialiųjų žinių ir mokymo metodų. Miesto mokyklose ypatingiems vaikams teikiama specialiojo pedagogo, socialinio pedagogo, logopedo pagalba, bet tik keliose mokyklose suteikiama psichologo ir mokytojo padėjėjo pagalba. Beveik visose rajono mokyklose specialiųjų poreikių vaikams nesuteikiama jokia pagalba. Juos ugdo tik mokytojas. Tik keliose rajono mokyklose suteikiama dalinė specialistų pagalba ypatingiems vaikams. / Special needs children integration into comprehensive schools affects a school, teachers‘ skills, curriculum, education management, children‘s assessment. Therefore it is essential to reveal comprehensive school teachers‘ opinion on special needs children as well as on existing competencies of special work, to analyse special needs‘ disorder groups and their degrees, to compare urban and rural school help for children with special needs. The research revealed that comprehensive school teacher treats special needs children the same as other ones. The classification of special needs individuals‘ disorder groups and their degrees helps to orient in the variety of disorders. Teachers are competent to work with pupils having specific cognitive, complex, emotional, behavior and development disorders, because they are experienced. The least information that teachers have is about sight, hearing, movement and position, chronic somatic and neurology disorders. Teachers are lacking various special knowledge and teaching methods. In urban schools there is a special pedagogue‘s , social pedagogue‘s, logopedical help provided for special children, but only a few schools provide psychologist‘s and teaching assisstant‘s help. There is no help provided for special needs children in most of rural schools. They are educated by teachers only. Just in a few rural schools there is a partial help provided by specialists for children in need.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the viability and sustainability of preferential procurement in the metals and engineering sector. Preferential procurement is one of the seven elements of Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and seeks to encourage companies to procure goods and services from black empowered suppliers. The Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment Act was legislated in 2004 as an improvement on the previous Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). The objective of these legislations was to increase participation of previously disadvantaged groups in the mainstream economy. BEE was deemed to be narrow because it focused exclusively on ownership and management control. BBBEE was enacted to broaden the number of beneficiaries and included five other elements, namely: Employment Equity, Skills Development, Preferential Procurement, Enterprise Development and Socio–economic Development. The two companies that engage in preferential procurement should benefit from the relationship and value should be created in the process. Companies should not procure from black suppliers for accumulating points on the generic scorecard. Black–owned suppliers should provide service and products of the highest quality standards that meet customer requirements. The questionnaire that reflects on the objectives of this study was drafted and circulated to black–owned suppliers for completion. The suppliers were asked to comment on statements that reflect on capacity, profitability, working relationship and continuity. The results show that the SMMEs have capacity to perform according to specification of customers. The area of concern was the difficulty for SMMEs to maintain the current preferential status. This is a risk that needs urgent attention. This needs further in–depth study and analysis. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the viability and sustainability of preferential procurement in the metals and engineering sector. Preferential procurement is one of the seven elements of Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and seeks to encourage companies to procure goods and services from black empowered suppliers. The Broad–Based–Black Economic Empowerment Act was legislated in 2004 as an improvement on the previous Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). The objective of these legislations was to increase participation of previously disadvantaged groups in the mainstream economy. BEE was deemed to be narrow because it focused exclusively on ownership and management control. BBBEE was enacted to broaden the number of beneficiaries and included five other elements, namely: Employment Equity, Skills Development, Preferential Procurement, Enterprise Development and Socio–economic Development. The two companies that engage in preferential procurement should benefit from the relationship and value should be created in the process. Companies should not procure from black suppliers for accumulating points on the generic scorecard. Black–owned suppliers should provide service and products of the highest quality standards that meet customer requirements. The questionnaire that reflects on the objectives of this study was drafted and circulated to black–owned suppliers for completion. The suppliers were asked to comment on statements that reflect on capacity, profitability, working relationship and continuity. The results show that the SMMEs have capacity to perform according to specification of customers. The area of concern was the difficulty for SMMEs to maintain the current preferential status. This is a risk that needs urgent attention. This needs further in–depth study and analysis. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Med denna socialpsykologiska studie ville vi få en ökad förståelse för vad socialt stöd upplevdesbetyda för rehabiliterande individers syn på sin psykiska ohälsa. De åtta intervjuernagenomfördes i anslutning till ett rehabiliteringsprojekt för personer med psykisk ohälsa i enav Sveriges kommuner. De intervjuade personerna var inskrivna i rehabiliteringsprojektet ochdeltog i dess aktiviteter. Resultatet visade att dialoger med personer som hade erfarenhet avliknande psykisk ohälsa och professionella hade störst inverkan på individernas syn på sinpsykiska ohälsa. I analysen använde vi Goffmans teori om stigma, Meads teori om rollövertagandeoch Bubers dialogteori. Enligt analysen bidrog personer med liknande psykisk ohälsaoch professionella till vad vi kallar frigörande dialoger, där respondenterna kunde bli förståddaoch accepterade såsom de var. Betydelsen dessa personer hade för individernas förståelseoch acceptans menar vi baserades på deras förståelse genom sitt igenkännande och sittarbete. Vi menar att denna nivå av förståelse inte kunde fås av personer utan dessa egenskaper,oavsett vem det var, om inte kunskapen skaffades. / With this social psychological study we wanted to gain an increased understanding of whatimportance the social support had for how rehabilitative individuals' look at their mental illness.The eight interviews were conducted in a rehabilitation project for people with mentalillness in one of Sweden's municipalities. The people we interviewed were enrolled in the rehabilitationproject and participated in its activities. The result showed that dialogue withpeople who had experience from similar mental illness and professionals had greatest impacton how the respondents' looked at their mental illness. In the analysis, we used Goffman’stheory of stigma, Mead’s theory of role taking and Buber’s theory of dialogue between individuals.According to our analysis, people with similar mental health and professionals contributedto what we call liberating dialogues in which respondents could be understood andaccepted as they were. We mean that the significance these people had for the individual'sunderstanding and acceptance was based on their understanding by their recognition andwork. We mean that this understanding could not be obtained by any person without suchproperties, no matter who it was, if the knowledge wasn’t acquired.

The genus Populus is ideally suited to investigate questions related to the interplay between an individual’s environmental history and its capacity to respond to external stimuli. In order to dissect the influence of individual history on subsequent plant responses, transcriptome level changes due to water deficit were assessed in clonal populations of Populus hybrids. Results indicate variation in the drought transcriptomes of genetically identical clones originating from different locations can be shaped by the individual history of the clone. Additionally, yearly variations in drought transcriptome patterns showed specific trends associated with a clonal population that were not related to an unknown influence at a location, nor with the biological source of cuttings. Despite these sources of transcriptome variation, a common shared response was identified across all populations. The findings hint at the influence of the environment and epigenetic factors in the dynamic regulation of transcriptome level responses in clonal individuals.

The genus Populus is ideally suited to investigate questions related to the interplay between an individual’s environmental history and its capacity to respond to external stimuli. In order to dissect the influence of individual history on subsequent plant responses, transcriptome level changes due to water deficit were assessed in clonal populations of Populus hybrids. Results indicate variation in the drought transcriptomes of genetically identical clones originating from different locations can be shaped by the individual history of the clone. Additionally, yearly variations in drought transcriptome patterns showed specific trends associated with a clonal population that were not related to an unknown influence at a location, nor with the biological source of cuttings. Despite these sources of transcriptome variation, a common shared response was identified across all populations. The findings hint at the influence of the environment and epigenetic factors in the dynamic regulation of transcriptome level responses in clonal individuals.

In this thesis I interrogate the possibility of 'willing and social' work participation in industrial organisation. I draw on Habermas's (1976, 1979, 1984 & 1987) work to synthesise marxist and weberian ideas, and to derive a socio -cultural or cultural Marxist perspective on Capitalism. From this position I highlight the limitations of social action in theories of organisation and work. Moreover, I theoretically derive a model of work participation that acknowledges broader orientations to work. I interrogate that model of work participation in a study of four dominant forms of industrial organisation. Those organisations are SEQEB the South East Queensland Energy Board, Eagle Boy Pizzas in Queensland, the New South Sugar Milling Cooperative Ltd, and Budge -Ellis Staff Co-operative. Gathering data for this study involved both primary and secondary research. I used a comparative and longitudinal field research approach, unstructured interviews with an interview guide, and the collection of documents recommended by interviewees. I interviewed people working in the organisations and relevant government agencies. My research involved travel in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia. Ultimately, I produce a sociologically informed model for the establishment of 'willing and social' work participation. I conclude work participation exists within the context of capitalism, and social relations - either formally free or free; that work participation is directly influenced by rational configurations of the world of work comprising economic, political and social worldviews; and I argue the dominance of a worldview depends on whether the political action premises of buffering and shoring successfully neutralise competing worldviews; and whether the moral dictums or espoused values of work are prescribed or invoked and result in the exploitation or deployment of internal values. My thesis points in the direction of further work on co-operative forms of organisation and work and their commonweal ideologies. In particular, my findings demonstrate a crowding out of co-operative forms and ideologies, not only by capitalist forms but also by trade union collectives. The type of research I suggest has the potential to increase the legitimation of co-operative forms of organisation. Although, the Australian co-operative movement has many achievements there remains the problem of establishing a socially progressive rationality that makes practical or operational sense to people at work. The emancipator ideal of willing and social work participation is intended to epitomise the goals of the enlightenment project, and to lead in that direction.