Vid årsskiftet 2010 blev ca 17000 långtidssjukskrivna i Sverige utförsäkrade från Försäkringskassan. De hänvisades till åtgärdsprogrammet Arbetslivsintroduktion hos Arbetsförmedlingen. Riksdagens snabba beslut angående de nya reglerna för sjukförsäkringen kom att kräva mer av den sjukskrivne individen än någonsin tidigare. Det kom också att kräva brådskande planering kring organiseringen och hanteringen av de nya reglerna från både Försäkringskassans och Arbetsförmedlingens personal. Kunskapen var låg om hur de utförsäkrade upplevde hanteringen kring övergången och hur organiseringen och hanteringen kring regeländringarna skedde. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur de utförsäkrade individerna upplevde övergången från Försäkringskassan till Arbetsförmedlingen samt undersöka om det fungerade som det var tänkt med hanteringen kring regeländringarna i sjukförsäkringen. En kvalitativ undersökningsmetod med semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes med en handläggare från Försäkringskassan, en chef från Arbetsförmedlingen och fyra stycken utförsäkrade individer som gick på Arbetslivsintroduktionen. Undersökningen visade att idén med de nya regeländringarna i sjukförsäkringen var god men att övergången till Arbetsförmedlingen inte fungerade tillfredställande. Studien visade också att beslutet om regeländringarna angående utförsäkringen gick alldeles för snabbt, vilket personal vid Försäkringskassan och Arbetsförmedlingen uppgav

Purpose – During the past decades, implementing reforms becomes a popular topic for most manufacturers. With the aim to cope with the environment changes, there are urgent needs for these manufacturing companies to carry on reforms on the existing businesses. At the same time, value creation under a new service dominant logic for manufacturers are cited by many scholars. The aim of this paper is to analyze the new dominant logic, with the comparison of traditional goods dominant logic, recognize the advanced value creation model. To go a step further, this paper also discusses about the way of implementing reforms and new business logic for manufacturers. Methodology – This paper mainly takes the methodology of literature review. The literatures reviewed here include academic papers, books, and website information. The main field of literatures include: service definition and service characteristics; goods-dominant logic versus service dominant logic; and value creation (co-creation). On the other hand, some small case studies can also be found in this paper. Findings – After the comparing between goods dominant logic and service dominant logic, this paper suggests the service-dominant logic as a preferred business logic. Because it provides a more interactive way of consumption, presents a value-in-use view rather than value-in-exchange, and requires manufacturers playing a role of assisting customers in value creating process. For those manufacturers wish to implement the service dominant logic, this paper suggests them to take innovations on their business, which including the innovations on products/services, business processes, and business models. Research limitations/implications – As a relative new field of study, the research is mostly taken by literature review. However, the research on the implementing of new business logic and reforms requires more voice from the real industry.   Practical implications – Manufacturers may position themselves to new roles by involving in the customers’ value creating process. Taking innovations from a integrated view may help manufacturers to achieve the higher value under service dominant logic. Originality/value – This paper concluded the ongoing service dominant logic development, after which, offers a discussion on the implementing of which for the manufacturing companies.

Under den senare delen av 90-talet ökade utgifterna för sjukfrånvaron i Sverige lavinartat och 2003 uppgick dem till 40 miljarder kronor. Dagens politiker och myndigheter jobbar fokuserat med att få ner ohälsan i Sverige och med dem även kostnaderna. Ett viktigt led i att minska kostnaderna samt att undvika en liknande utveckling i framtiden är att studera sjukfrånvarons ersättningssystem samt de faktorer som påverkar ersättningen. Syftet med uppsatsen är att med hjälp av tidigare forskning, ekonomisk teori och regressionsanalyser studera vilka faktorer som påverkar sjukskrivningsfrekvensen. Jag undersöker även om sjukfrånvarofrekvensen är känslig för ändringar av nivån på ersättningen vid sjukfrånvaro samt om en glesbygdspåverkan förändrar ett eventuellt förhållande mellan sjukfrånvarofrekvensen och övriga undersökta faktorer. Mitt resultat visar på att det finns signifikanta samband mellan sjukfrånvarofrekvensen och de undersökta faktorerna. En av dessa faktorer är sjuk- och aktivitetsersättningen, den uppvisar ett positivt samband med sjukfrånvarofrekvensen. Detta beror bland annat på att sjukersättningen används som en ventil till sjukförsäkringen när denna blir alltför överhettad. Tidigare studier har visat att förändringar i ersättningsnivåer ger en stark inverkan på benägenheten att sjukskriva sig. Utvecklingen under 90-talet visar på att dessa tendenser till nyttomaximering mellan sjukförsäkringen och arbetslöshetsersättningen förekommer. Mina antaganden om effekten av 2003 års reform, som minskade ersättningen för arbetsoförmåga hos arbetslösa vid sjukdom, var i enlighet med ovan nämnda resonemang. Mina regressionsresultat för arbetslöshet var dock inte signifikanta och säkerställer därför inte mina antaganden. Däremot visar mina regressionsresultat på att 2003 års reform har påverkat sambandet mellan sjukfrånvarofrekvensen och arbetsmarknadspolitiska åtgärder. När det gäller hur glesbygdspåverkan inverkar på sjukfrånvarofrekvensens förhållande till de undersökta faktorerna kan jag inte med statistisk säkerhet påvisa att variabeln glesbygd haft någon inverkan på förhållandet.

Over the last decade, Supreme Court copyright jurisprudence has undergone dramatic changes, concurrent with governmental copyright reform initiatives. Both the Supreme Court and the government have used the popular but unhelpful language of “balance” to explain and justify their initiatives. Unfortunately, there is no consensus as to what constitutes an appropriate balance or how to facilitate this and the two initiatives have been moving in opposite directions. The changes in the Supreme Court have altered the purpose and application of copyright law in a way that favours user access to works. Conversely, had they passed, government amendments would have increased owner rights and incentives, moving in a protectionist direction and restricting access and use. This would have the potential to impede future innovation. This thesis suggests that balance is an inadequate metaphor, examines the differences between the Supreme Court and governmental conception of “balance” and proposes reasons for these differences.

This research explores the impact of Toronto’s urban reform movement of the 1970s on the Toronto Public Library (TPL) system. The TPL is the largest public library system in Canada, with 98 branches located in neighbourhoods across the city. These highly visible, accessible, and dynamic local branches promote social inclusion and community engagement through the provision of a range of programs and services. Public participation in the library planning process through citizens’ advisory groups resulted in the “equalization” of library services across the city, a renewal of the local branch system, and the restructuring of programs and services to meet community needs as defined by communities themselves. This research also discusses the possibility of creating new opportunities for patron participation at the TPL in the context of the recent resurgence in civic engagement on library issues.

This research explores the impact of Toronto’s urban reform movement of the 1970s on the Toronto Public Library (TPL) system. The TPL is the largest public library system in Canada, with 98 branches located in neighbourhoods across the city. These highly visible, accessible, and dynamic local branches promote social inclusion and community engagement through the provision of a range of programs and services. Public participation in the library planning process through citizens’ advisory groups resulted in the “equalization” of library services across the city, a renewal of the local branch system, and the restructuring of programs and services to meet community needs as defined by communities themselves. This research also discusses the possibility of creating new opportunities for patron participation at the TPL in the context of the recent resurgence in civic engagement on library issues.

This is a phenomenological study of the experiences of three teacher leaders in the context of high school reform. It examines the essence of teacher leadership and how these teacher leaders made sense of their experiences. At the outset is a portrayal of my position and connection to the phenomenon of teacher leadership. This study reviews literature within three distinct areas. First, the nature of school reform is examined, including the rationale for reform, the challenges associated with reform, how to achieve sustainable reform, and a review of six drivers for effective reforms. Then, an investigation of distributed leadership follows which includes a discussion of the processes and forms of distributed leadership and a description of the facilitators and tensions for distributed leadership. The third area of the review is focused on teacher leadership including the roles and characteristics of teacher leaders, their connection to staff development, issues of effectiveness, and tensions for teacher leaders. Following this review, the research design and methodology is presented. Transcendental phenomenology including the concepts of phenomenological reduction and imaginative variation are explored in detail. Protocol writing was utilized to select participants for this study. From collected writings by formal teacher leaders, participants suited for phenomenological research were selected. Three teacher leaders participated in in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The interviews were transcribed by the researcher. Participants shared their experiences as teacher leaders. Additional questions were asked to elicit more details about their experiences and to find out how participants made sense of their experiences. In the experiences of the participants, five themes emerged: Grappling with teacher leadership identity, facing the uncertainties of sustaining the reform initiative, negotiating the tensions between management and leadership, experiencing challenges of leading, and feeling the empowerment of success. Participants made sense of their experiences in these four ways: learning, communicating, doing, and reflecting. Several forces that impact the experience of teacher leadership and facilitate the formation of teacher leadership identity emerged. Through the process of making sense of their experiences, teacher leaders came to understand theory, which they termed getting it, and then enacted their learning. The ways in which teacher leaders made sense of their experiences were influenced in part by their leadership persona and in part by the culture and context within which they lived. Among the implications for theory from this study is that more needs to be learned about the leadership identity of teacher leaders leading reforms. Implications for practice include the provision of time for teacher leaders to reflect on and discuss their experiences, as well as the provision of professional development focused on change praxis and leadership praxis for teacher leaders and instructional leadership for in-school administrators. Among the implications for research are the need to investigate teacher leaders association with administration, both in their aspirations and in how they are perceived towards administration, the cognitive changes that occur for teacher leaders, whether a context of instructional leadership eases tensions in teacher leadership, and whether formal teacher leader roles are an effective way for school divisions to plan for leadership succession. In addition, the phenomenological research method is reflected upon.

Adding to a growing body of research on women and religion in English Canada, this historical study offers a glimpse inside convent culture in 1950s and ’60s Ontario, an area seldom studied by Canadian historians. The oral histories of two teaching communities in the Diocese of London, Ontario - the Ursuline Sisters of the Chatham Union and the Ontario Province of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary - as well as textual records from their convent archives, form the basis of this study. This thesis seeks to examine both the external and internal factors which precipitated reforms to convent life during the 1950s and 1960s, that is, the years preceding and immediately surrounding the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church. The external factors on reform include the pre-conciliar and conciliar mandates of the institutional Church, as well as social factors such as educational reform and changes in the roles of women throughout the postwar period. The more internal factors affecting change include shifts in sisters’ communal and individual identities and changes in spirituality. Taken together, these catalysts of change are reflective of the interplay of religious belief, institutional power and gender in postwar Canadian Roman Catholicism. Analyses of Church mandates, community responses, convent discourses on girls and women, and the spiritual reading practices of sisters throughout this period of significant change reveal that the reform efforts of religious communities were not only official and prescribed, but were also unofficial and grassroots in nature.

Over the last decade, Supreme Court copyright jurisprudence has undergone dramatic changes, concurrent with governmental copyright reform initiatives. Both the Supreme Court and the government have used the popular but unhelpful language of “balance” to explain and justify their initiatives. Unfortunately, there is no consensus as to what constitutes an appropriate balance or how to facilitate this and the two initiatives have been moving in opposite directions. The changes in the Supreme Court have altered the purpose and application of copyright law in a way that favours user access to works. Conversely, had they passed, government amendments would have increased owner rights and incentives, moving in a protectionist direction and restricting access and use. This would have the potential to impede future innovation. This thesis suggests that balance is an inadequate metaphor, examines the differences between the Supreme Court and governmental conception of “balance” and proposes reasons for these differences.

The Estate Tax is a toll that is imposed on the assets of a deceased individual in the United States. This tax, often dubbed the “death tax,” has been a source of great conflict in American politics for generations. The tax seems to ebb and flow with political tides, military conflicts, and societal trends. Because of this, it is often hard to make a solid plan for your future, and for the future of your children. This problem could not be more evident than in the last ten years. The estate tax exemption, or the amount of assets that is exempt from tax, has been changing almost every year for the past decade. In fact, in 2010, the exemption was unlimited and anyone who died in that year could escape tax free. Despite this constant ebb and flow of the tax, 2013 presents a new challenge, a year in which the estate tax exemption will return to $1 million. This, coupled with the likely inflation increase in the coming years, will result in more estate having to pay the tax. Subsequently, the estate tax will no longer be a rich man’s quandary, and the effects will be especially felt in the middle class. If proper planning is not done soon, many middle class families may get blindsided by a tax they never thought would pertain to them. This paper is an attempt to educate the middle class on certain planning techniques that will allow them to preserve their estate in a tax-efficient manner.