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The Palestinian Authority (PA) offers an interesting case study of statebuilding in a conflict-country context. Created as an interim administration in the West Bank and Gaza in 1994, the PA has been hampered by the statebuilding framework enshrined in the Oslo Accords, its lack of sovereignty, the lack of final status negotiations, and the 'partners for peace' paradigm which is an attempt by donors and international organisations to support who they regard as the 'right' type of elite - that is, those willing to 'make peace' with Israel (as defined by Israel). This article explores the impacts of this paradigm and argues that it has paralysed the formal political process in Palestine and has securitised democracy.

Ernest Boyer's The Basic School: A Community for Learning (1995) aligns with other important research and programs that encourage parent involvement to maximize each child's educational potential. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand and to document the first steps undertaken by one school as it began to address Boyer's school as community priority by reaching out to an uninvolved parent population. Meaning was constructed from the perspective of the researcher who was an active participant in the process. Research questions included: 1) What happened when one school began to address the needs of its at-risk population by intentionally reaching out to involve the parents of these students in the life of the school? 2) How was this accomplished within the context of a school beginning to address the priorities of a "Basic School?" 3) What structures were created to facilitate the process and guide its progress? Teachers in the School as Community Family at Kizer Elementary School were the initial focus of this study. Additional groups with related purposes became part of the inquiry as the process unfolded. Transcripts, field notes, and related documents were collected from all relevant group meetings and outreach activities from June of 1997 through January of 1998. The process of data analysis yielded descriptive conceptual models and an interpretive narrative case study that follows a modified chronology of the communicative action steps undertaken by a group of educators readying themselves for outreach to an alienated parent population. This study produced practical implications for schools wishing to begin the steps toward increasing the level of family and community engagement with student learning. A case was made for self-reflective action to create opportunities for authentic conversation that can empower families to take greater initiative in the public education of their children. If schools can learn to build, support and sustain relationships with parents, particularly their at-risk populations, they might expect a greater level of success in educating their children. / Ed. D.

This study examines the "off-the-job" behavior of individuals in office-level leadership positions across the Big 4 audit firms in the U.S. In their leadership role, the managing partner is responsible for setting the tone at the top of an office through formal communication of firm-wide policies and an informal example through their behavior and preferences. Given this role, I predict that engagements conducted within offices led by individuals who are willing to break the rules will exhibit characteristics synonymous with increased audit risks. Relying on their history of legal infractions to identify rule-breaking behavior, I find managing partners with prior infractions are associated with engagements that reflect increased misstatement risk and detection risk (i.e., lower auditor effort). Additional tests reveal that the results are concentrated in offices that are located further away from alternative governance mechanisms within the same audit firm. Importantly, after controlling for the risk of misstatement, I find the pricing of misstatement risk declines significantly on engagements in offices with infraction managing partners. The results are robust to alternative measures of managing partners' prior infractions and the use of entropy balancing techniques, along with several other robustness tests. Collectively, my study contributes to our limited knowledge of the quality control structures in place at large audit firms and provides a potential mechanism for tone at the Big 4 audit firms to vary across offices. / Doctor of Philosophy / In their leadership role, office managing partners are the "top executive" appointed to lead the Big 4 audit offices across the U.S. While audit firms have reputation and litigation incentives to provide high quality audits, these incentives do not necessarily apply to individual auditors. Therefore, audit firms are required to formalize a system of quality controls—including leadership and tone at the top—to ensure promote professional skepticism, stress quality service, and reduce overall audit risk on engagements. Relatedly, during inspections, the PCAOB examines whether the actions and communications by managing partners in local leadership positions demonstrate a commitment to audit quality and compliance with applicable regulations and professional standards. Grounded in revealed preference theory, I rely on a managing partner's history of legal infractions to identify offices led by partners with impulsive, risk-taking, and present-oriented personalities. Criminology and psychology research empirically validate the cross-situational consistency of individual behavior and decisions over time and in different settings. In other words, individuals who commit legal infractions—including less severe traffic violations such as parking tickets—exhibit a preference or propensity to break the rules. To the extent that an individual's leadership style is influenced by their personal ethics, values, and attitudes, I expect variation in a managing partner's history of legal infraction to reflect variation in their leadership style and office tone towards audit risk on engagements. Consistent with this prediction, I find managing partners with prior infractions are associated with engagements that reflect increased misstatement risk and detection risk (i.e., lower auditor effort). Additional tests reveal that the results are concentrated in offices that are located further away from alternative governance mechanisms within the same audit firm. Importantly, after controlling for the risk of misstatement, I find the pricing of misstatement risk declines significantly on engagements in offices with infraction managing partners. The results are robust to alternative measures of managing partners' prior infractions and the use of entropy balancing techniques, along with several other robustness tests. Collectively, my study contributes to our limited knowledge of the quality control structures in place at large audit firms and provides a potential mechanism for tone at the Big 4 audit firms to vary across offices.

The purpose of this study was to analyze 10 national corporations represented on the national business/industry advisory board of DECA, a national association of marketing education students. DECA's mission is to enhance the cocurricular education of students with interests in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship. DECA's National Advisory Board works directly with the association to influence its educational program that prepares students in career skills and job training. This study was designed to identify major factors, which contribute to successful business partnerships with this national association of marketing students. Upon conducting interviews with representatives of the 10 identified companies, the researcher found that the partnerships existed because each party received something. The companies gained present and future employees as a result of being able to recruit marketing students from DECA. Likewise, through the results of this study, it was determined by the researcher that DECA was able to link school and work through successful integrated education efforts nationwide. This undertaking resulted in building a responsive workforce preparation program. DECA also gained information about its National Advisory Board operations. / Ph. D.

Using the perspective of sexual script theory (Gagnon & Simon, 1973) and growth curve modeling, this study examined whether characteristics of parents and parent-adolescent connectedness influence change in lifetime number of sexual partners from adolescence through young adulthood. Living in a blended family, having at least one college-educated parent and on-time parent-adolescent sexual communication positively predicted later lifetime number of sexual partners. Parent religiosity and parent-adolescent connectedness negatively predicted later lifetime number of sexual partners. Parent-adolescent sexual communication that focused on negative consequences of sex and parent disapproval of adolescent sexual activity were not significant in the overall model. Control variables included adolescent race/ethnicity, gender, physical maturity, marriage history, virginity pledge history, and expectations of positive consequences of sex. Physical maturity and gender were not significant in the overall model. In conclusion, parents have significant and far-reaching influence on their children's later sexual behavior. This study extended research in the field by examining lifetime number of sexual partners across four time points, which allowed observation of change in this outcome variable with age and accounted for the nested nature of the data. / Master of Science

Yes / Over half a million people aged 65+ live in care homes (ONS 2011). Yet, sex, sexuality and intimacy and old people remain overlooked in social policy and professional practice (Hafford-Letchfield 2008). We explore narratives from a feasibility study based in Northwest England that consulted on the significance of researching sexuality and intimacy. We draw on narratives generated with two focus groups of professional carers (n = 16) and interviews with three residents, (two male and one female) and four female spouses (n = 7). All three types of stakeholders expressed concern about privacy and environmental impediments to intimacy (e.g. shortage of double rooms). However, distinct concerns were expressed by each group. Residents’ expressed scepticism that the topic was ‘too personal’, that old people were post-sexual or that sex/intimacy were part of range of needs and could be eclipsed by those relating to grand-parenting, avoiding isolation and personalization of care. Spouses emphasized the importance of intimacy over sex/sexuality as an indicator of the depth and longevity of a relationship but were concerned about unmet needs and loss of influence over their partners’ care. Obliged to meet a complex of legal, professional, ethical and interpersonal obligations, care staff articulated a need for guidance to help them support residents and their significant others. We conclude with practical recommendations that address barriers to enabling intimacy.

Bakgrund: Prostatacancer är den vanligaste formen av cancer bland män i Sverige. Att få en cancerdiagnos innebär stress för både patienten och dess partner.Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka grad av stressreaktioner i form av undvikande beteende och påträngande tankar hos patienter med prostatacancer och deras partner. Ytterligare ett syfte var att kvalitetssäkra mätinstrumentets formulering och svarsalternativ.Metod: Arbetet var en kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie. Datainsamlingen gjordes med hjälp av enkät “Impact of Event Scale” (IES) samt en enkät utformad enligt “The Question and Answer Model” (QAM) för att kvalitetssäkra IES. Enkäterna delades ut på kirurg- och onkologmottagningar i Uppsala och Falun under våren 2013. Studiens inklusionskriterier var att de patienter som tillfrågades vid ankomst till mottagningarna hade prostatacancer och en partner (n = 34). 12 respondenter deltog. Data analyserades deskriptivt och med Mann- Whitey-test.Resultat: Det visade sig att patienter (n = 6) med prostatacancer har måttlig grad av stressreaktioner i form av undvikande beteende. Partner (n = 6) till patienter med prostatacancer visade sig ha kraftig grad av stressreaktioner i form av påträngande tankar. Det gick inte att se någon signifikant skillnad mellan patienter och partners grad av stress. Majoriteten av deltagarna i studien (n = 11) var säkra på sina svar i enkät IES.Slutsats: Partners tycks ha en högre grad av stress än patienter med prostatacancer, vilket går i linje med liknande studiers resultat. Interventioner för att nå denna grupp och se till dess behov är önskvärt. Fler studier fodras. Det övergripande resultatet tyder på att mätinstrumentet IES är av god kvalitet och mäter det som är avsett att mätas. / Background: Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer among men in Sweden.Getting a cancer diagnosis is stressful for both the patient and their partner.Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of stress responses in the form of avoidance behavior and intrusive thoughts in patients with prostate cancer and their partners. Another purpose was to assure the quality and design of the measuring instrument and its response options.Method: The study had a quantitative cross-sectional design. The data was collected using the questionnaire "Impact of Event Scale" (IES) and by a questionnaire framed according to "The Question and Answer Model" (QAM) to safeguard the quality of the IES. Questionnaires were distributed at surgical and oncology clinics in Uppsala and Falun during the spring of 2013. Inclusion criteria for the study were patients with prostate cancer and their partners (n = 34). 12 respondents participated. The data were analyzed descriptively and with Mann-Whitey test.Results: It was found that patients (n = 6) with prostate cancer have moderate degree of stress responses in the form of avoidance behavior. Partners (n = 6) were found to have strong degree of stress responses in the form of intrusive thoughts. Any significant difference between patients and partners dit not appear. The majority of study participants (n = 11) were confident of their answers in the IES.Conclusion: Partners seem to have a higher level of stress than patients with prostate cancer, which is in line with similar studies' results. Interventions to reach this group and ensure its need is desirable. More studies are lined. The overall results indicate that the measuring instrument IES is of good quality and are measuring the concepts that it indicate to measure.

Although Provoked Vestibulodynia has a great impact on women’s relationships, including their partners, research has predominantly focused on the women. This thesis aimed to expand the knowledge regarding psychosexual health of the partner. Depressive symptoms, anxiety, sexual distress, and domains of sexual function (erectile function, orgasmic function, sexual desire, intercourse satisfaction, overall sexual satisfaction) were investigated through descriptive comparisons, correlations, and regression analyses. The sample consisted of male partners (N=53) of women with PVD, aged 20-50 years. Baseline data from a larger RCT was compared with data from external studies. Results showed that PVD partners reported similar levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety as comparison groups. However, PVD partners expressed higher levels of sexual distress, and lower levels of sexual function than comparison groups. Several domains of sexual function predicted overall sexual satisfaction, whereas depressive symptoms did not explain levels of sexual distress. However, depressive symptoms co-occurring with poorer overall sexual satisfaction and orgasmic function, explained higher sexual distress. We conclude that partners have a perceived impaired sexual health. Their impairment is localised to sexuality and not generalised to the rest of their lives. Partner involvement is integral in the treatment of PVD and should be investigated in future research.