This thesis examines the appropriateness of the current secondary school curriculum in the Republic of Maldives within an overall context of national education and development planning. Emphasis is placed on access to secondary education by all. In pursuing this aim, data was gathered on aspects of the economy and demography of the country as well as government policy on education. Data was also gathered on student performance in the period 1985�1992, and subsequent employment characteristics of graduates. The framework of analysis adopted for this thesis encompasses the special problems faced by Small Island States in their efforts to provide education for their people. Links between education planning and development planning are explored in depth. The analysis of the data established that the current system of education contributes to increasing social inequalities. Further, it was established that this system cannot be sustained in the long term. It has been argued in this thesis that this system of education could, in the long term, contribute to the demise of national and cultural identity. Hence, it has been argued that the current curriculum is inappropriate for the people of the Maldives at this juncture. On the basis of the findings of this thesis, a broad outline of an alternative education system which could be developed, and the assumptions about development made by this model is presented.

Thesis (M.A.)--Grace Theological Seminary, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-56).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in English. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [337-354]. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99192.

"Der Tscheche Věněk Šilhan sagt heutigen Lesern in Deutschland meist nichts. Er hat als Ökonom mehrere Bücher und gewichtige Aufsätze verfasst. Auf dem berühmten Parteitag der KPTsch in Prag-Vysočany, der sich der militärischen Okkupation am 21. August 1968 widersetzte, wurde er in Abwesenheit des internierten Alexander Dubček zum geschäftsführenden Ersten Sekretär des ZK gewählt. Dadurch ist er zu einer der Symbolfiguren des Prager Frühlings geworden."

Review of forestry policy and deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with a look at REDD, national parks, forest certification systems, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and a focus on community-based conservation.

Background: Access to improved water and sanitation are key measures of the World Health Organizations. However, while a community can be classified as having access to improved water and sanitation, the possibility of microbiological contaminations exists. Globally, there is a need to assess the quality of drinking water to better classify levels of microbiological quality in attempts to reduce diarrheal disease burden. Utilizing the test for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) producing bacteria test is a cost effective and easy to use method that may be comparable to the traditional yet more costly method (IDEXX Colilert Quantitray). Due to a paucity of data on the test for H2S producing bacteria, this study was performed to examine how well the test for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) producing bacteria compared to traditional measure of fecal indicator bacteria total coliforms and E. coli in drinking water. Furthermore, an analysis of the ability of the test for H2S producing bacteria to predict diarrheal disease was also examined. Methods: The following conditions for the H2S were examined in the study: 2 volumes (10mL or 90mL), 2 incubation times (24 and 48 hours) and the use of a semi-quantitative scoring system that measured the intensity of the black precipitate formed (H2S). To examine how well these conditions compared to E. coli and total coliform results, the following analyses were performed: 1) analysis of sensitivity and specificity to examine presence/absence of bacteria in both samples, 2) linear regression to examine how well a semi-quantitative H2S scoring system predicted bacterial concentrations and 3) logistic regression to examine how well the H2S test predicted risk of diarrheal disease. Results: Within the dataset, there were 816 observations among the 7 communities involved in the study. The H2S test condition that had the highest sensitivity and specificity (94.23% and 36.07% respectively) for total coliforms was 90mL volume at 48 hours. This test condition also produced the highest sensitivity and specificity for E. coli (97.82% and 78.67%, respectively). An analysis using linear regression demonstrated that a semi-quantitative H2S scoring system was able to predict both total coliform and E. coli concentrations in the same samples. In a logistic regression analysis of diarrheal disease, the test of H2S producing bacteria suggested an increase in diarrheal disease risk for higher levels of H2S (OR of 1.18 (p=0.03; 1.02 – 1.35)). Discussion: The initial results here suggest that the use of the test for H2S producing bacteria has potential with high sensitivity (>90%) for E. coli and total coliforms. The application of the semi-quantitative scoring system may also have applications in predicting concentration of E. coli and total coliforms and well as possibly predicting diarrheal disease. However, more work needs to be completed to standardize the semi-quantitative approach to reduce subjectivity of scoring as well as examine the role of the test in additional epidemiologic studies. INDEX WORDS: waterborne disease, E. coli, Dominican Republic, microbial testing

Modern capitalism is not singular. There are varieties of capitalism in the contemporary world. This thesis aims to apply the Varieties of Capitalism approach developed by Hall and Soskice (2001) to the case of the Czech Republic and ascertain whether the Czech market economy is approaching a liberal or a coordinated ideal type defined by these authors. At the same time, such findings might provide an answer to whether the Varieties of Capitalism approach designed for advanced industrialized economies is fully applicable for analysis of a post-socialist country that underwent a complicated process of economic and institutional transformation.

<p>This dissertation investigates how recognition of Plato's <italic>Republic</italic> as a pedagogical text and of the milieu of competing disciplines in which it composed suggests new readings of its philosophical content. I contend that close attention to the cultural context in which the <italic>Republic</italic> was written reveals the degree to which its arguments were constructed not only with an eye towards the philosophical demands put upon it, but also in response to the claims of epistemological authority made by other fields. Furthermore, I show that close attention to the pedagogical function of the text reveals the degree to which Plato relies upon the dialogue's characters and figurative language to entice students away from alternative pursuits and world-views and towards Platonic philosophy.</p><p> The <italic>Republic</italic> was constructed in a revolutionary period for both texts and teachers, in which texts were beginning to function as a kind of tutor. In my first chapter, "Educating Athens", I survey the changing Athenian attitudes towards education from the sixth to the fourth centuries BCE, with a special focus on the rise of the concept of paideia. I also consider some of the ways in which earlier scholars have regarded the <italic>Republic</italic> as a prescriptive text on education in order to distinguish their approaches from my own: unlike these earlier readings, my approach to the text is to regard it as itself educating the reader, rather than as describing a system of education. The development of systems of paideia is intimately connected to the phenomena discussed in my second chapter: the rise of disciplines and the explosion of the written word. I conduct a historical survey of the evidence for literacy and texts in the seventh to fourth centuries BCE and show that the gradual increase in texts and literacy did not replace oral culture in Athens, but rather supplemented it. I point out striking similarities among medical texts, oratorical works, and the Socratic dialogues written by Plato's contemporaries as a basis for comparison with Plato's <italic>Republic</italic>.</p><p> In the final three chapters of my dissertation I examine three aspects of Plato's <italic>Republic</italic> which have presented problems for envisioning the <italic>Republic</italic> as a unified work. My third chapter examines the Socratic interlocutors of book one as negative models for the reader, and shows that by the end of the book Plato has demonstrated the importance of passion, creativity, and deference in the successful philosophical student. As well, I suggest that Plato deliberately shows the weaknesses of the elenchus in the first book in order to argue against the methodologies of his fellow authors of Socratic dialogues, and in order to showcase the new philosophical methods which he displays in the remainder of the <italic>Republic</italic>. In the fourth chapter I continue to emphasize the relationship between the philosophy of the <italic>Republic</italic> and the work's pedagogical mission by examining the "two starts" to the <italic>Republic</italic> at the beginning of book 2 and book 5. I show that important work is done in books 2-4 to prepare the reader for the radical reevaluation of knowledge that will come in books 5-7 In the fifth chapter I consider the use of stories within the <italic>Republic</italic>, and what such stories can tell us both about Plato's theories of how education occurs as well as about how the <italic>Republic</italic> is meant to function. </p><p> Ultimately my dissertation demonstrates that by locating the <italic>Republic</italic> within the intersection of competing pedagogies, new disciplines, and the recent rise of texts, the text can be understood as functioning on a number of different levels. It dismisses the merits of other disciplines and privileges Plato over other philosophers, all within the structure of a work which is gradually molding and guiding its reader towards Plato's particular ethical and epistemological system. Although the <italic>Republic</italic> has been read as a work on ethics, on political philosophy, and on psychology, its disparate components and topics coalesce only by reading it first as a work which educates.</p> / Dissertation

Zugl.: München Univ., Diss., 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Borer, Douglas ; Tsypkin, Mikhail. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 29, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: NATO enlargement, Georgia, Russia, New Great Game, ethnic separatism, deterrence, realism, idealism. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-75). Also available in print.