This thesis examines how the Swedish Act On Support and Service to Certain Impaired persons (LSS) has given rise to substantial opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in society and to live under the same conditions as all other citizens. These objectives have in turn created a new profession, personal assistants, who work daily to transform the words of diversity and community participation into practice. The terms of employment of this new category of workers appear in diverse way both when it comes to the scope of their working tasks, as well as the employment protection especially for workers in the private sector. Because of the discrepancies that exist against the Swedish Employment Protection Act (LAS) and the rich variety that characterizes the performance of work, this inquiry aims therefore to seek to investigate to what extent an employee can be dismissed in relation to the LSS-right to personal assistance as well as how this can be understood from the impaired persons point of view. Initially, a legal scientific method is used to seek answers in this area. A sociological approach has also been applied to complete the parts where laws and other traditional sources of law have not been able to provide satisfactory answers. The findings that conclude this investigation claim that the perceived uncertainty of the tasks as well as the discrepant employment protection is maintained through the continuous link to the LSS-legislation.   Key words: LSS, private sector, dismissal, employment protection, the impaired person’s attitude towards the personal assistant

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore consumers’ attitudes towards native advertising and its perceived value. Design/methodology/approach – This research has a qualitative and exploratory nature. Forthe empirical material, primary data is collected through conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews. Findings – Consumers’ persuasion knowledge in relation to native advertising is found to be low. The advertising value of native advertising is positive since the consumers considered it to be entertaining, informative and credible. Furthermore, it was not considered as irritating which enhances the advertising value as well. Design was found to be its own category as it has an effect on all dimensions to enhance the advertising value. Since the advertising value is positive and enhanced, the attitudes of consumers towards native advertising are positive. Research implications/limitations – The main implications of this research are: native advertising can be used as a solution to consumers avoiding online advertising and in order for it to be successful, the design, content and frequency have to be taken into consideration. Since this research is qualitative, it has a subjective nature which might result in researcher induced bias. Furthermore, the age of the interviewees’ range from 21 to 38 years old which unlikely represents the whole population. Originality/value – As there is a lack of research in the field of native advertising, this research contributes to the field with knowledge about consumers’ attitudes towards it as well as how native advertising creates value. Additionally, the researchers applied the attitudes-towards-advertising model for this specific context and augmented it with a new dimension, design. This research also contributes with knowledge about each dimension in the native advertising context. Lastly, this research shows advertisers how native advertising should be used in terms of content, frequency and design.

Abstract Turkey has emerged as a major actor in the Middle East over the last decade, since the ruling party AKP came to power in 2002. Turkey is now playing a mediation role in regional conflicts and has been speaking out loudly on sensitive issues such as the Iranian nuclear program and the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. Furthermore, Turkey has established close ties with the Arab world which has suffered the relationship with its long-time ally Israel. This new presence in Middle East has been criticized by Turkey's allies in west. Critics argue that the country is about to abandon its former western relationship and strengthen their ties with the Arab world instead. This thesis has two main purposes. First, an empirical purpose which is to describe and explain changes in Turkish foreign policy towards Middle East. Second, this thesis has a theoretical purpose, aiming to make a contribution to the study field also on a theoretical level. The ambition is therefore to provide with ideas and/or modify the model of Gustavsson in order to make it more applicable of other cases of foreign policy change. The theoretical framework applied on this thesis is Jakob Gustavsson's model for explaining foreign policy change. Turkey's foreign policy change will be analyzed through a qualitative case study that focuses on the country's relations with the Middle East. Based on Gustavsson's model, possible explanations to Turkey's foreign policy change towards Middle East are structural changes in the international and national system. The end of the bipolarity system during the cold war resulted in a major structural change, thus Turkey had to adapt to the new system by hammering out a new foreign policy doctrine. In addition to this, the growing opposition to a Turkish membership within the EU is considered to be another explanation to Turkey's improved relations with the Middle East. The results shows furthermore possible explanations on a national level such as growing economy, a strong Turkish public opinion, new actors and also AKP:s ideological affinity with Muslim aspirations. The Iraq crisis, which arose in 2003 when Turkey rejected a resolution authorizing the deployment of American forces in Turkey in a war against Iraq, functions as a catalysts for the changes in Turkish foreign policy. One of the main components in the model emphasizes that the individual key actor needs to go through a change within its belief system, however the author have not found such evidence in this case and thus suggests that this part of the model becomes slightly modified or even removed. Keywords: Turkey, AKP, Ahmet Davutoglu, Middle East, foreign policy change, zero problems towards neighbors

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa6 (hereinafter the Constitution) gives everyone the right to fair labour practices.7 The Labour Relations Act8 (hereinafter the LRA) regulates the relationship between employers and employees as well as the relationship between employers and trade unions. These labour relations are quite extensively regulated by statutory measures. The same can unfortunately not be said about the relationship between a trade union and its members. Because a trade union is a legal entity, a trade union is controlled and managed by certain functionaries like any body corporate. The management structures of the trade union are defined in the trade union’s constitution. A trade union can not perform any legal functions which are not provided for in the trade union’s constitution. 9 The trade union’s constitution states the nature of the relationship between the union and its members.10 Workers join trade unions in order to protect themselves and their rights in the workplace. An expectation is therefore cultivated by the members that the trade union, through its representative power and mandate to act on behalf of the members, will do so in the best interest of the members. The disruption of the relationship can have negative implications for the trade union. In this study, relevant case law will be sited to explain the contents of the legal responsibility of a trade union to its members. The specific focus of the study is the legal responsibility of a trade union if its members would suffer pecuniary loss or harm as a result of the trade union’s actions. The purpose of this study is to discuss the regulation of the relationship between a trade union and its members in South Africa and to find a solution for the fragmented regulation or non-regulation thereof. The authority that a member grants to a trade union, mostly in the form of a contract, involves the expression of the will of the members that the trade union has the necessary power to perform judicial acts on its behalf. The discussion is limited to the actual authorization originated by a contract of mandate between a trade union and its members. In terms of the common law’s contract of mandate a representative is obliged to perform his orders with care and diligence, convey information, to act in good faith and to account for his actions. There are no statutory measures that regulate the nature of the legal relationship between a trade union and its members provided for in the trade union’s constitution. This study discusses the regulatory challenges that the regulation of the relationship between a trade union and its members in South Africa are facing, and some recommendations are made with regards to the possible application of existing legislation and the common law contract of mandate. / LLM (Labour Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Advertising plays an important role in society, since it reflect the norms and also helps create and educate social roles and values. However, advertising might not always be a true reflection of the reality, and instead might create and uphold negative cultural stereotypes. Sex-role portrayals refers to the study of how genders are portrayed within advertising and how these are characterized in relation to other characters and knowledge of how to portray the male gender is paramount for marketing practitioners. The decisions on how to do so must be based on the targeted segments and a consumer segmentation that in such a context must be given attention are married and unmarried women. In a two-step study, the purpose is to "explain the brand attitudes of married and unmarried women in advertisement with a traditional and non-traditional male portrayal" The initial first step utilized a qualitative approach consisting of a focus group with the aim to confirm or challenge previous theories of what is considered to be a traditional and non-traditional way of portraying the male gender within advertising. Emerging from this are two written advertisements, one with a traditional male and one with a non-traditional male, that are included in the subsequent step. Taking on a quantitative approach, the second step took on measures of brand attitude among married and unmarried women in a total of 205 self-completion questionnaires. The results indicated a more favorable evaluation elicited from the non-traditional male portrayal, with limited variance between the segments.

Special Educational Needs (SEN) in Jordanian schools appears to be in a state of confusion. Numerous obstacles exist that hinder teachers from providing sufficient services for children with learning difficulties. This study investigates the current service provision for students with learning difficulties in Jordanian schools. Semi-structured interviews (N=31) with SEN teachers were conducted in two phases (23 and 8 respectively). Goffman (1963) was utilised as a theoretical framework, to interpret and understand the data, especially concerning that of social stigma. The analysis revealed that SEN teachers in Jordan faced various difficulties responding to the needs of their students with learning difficulties (LDs), which inevitably had a negative effect upon their performance. The results indicated that the difficulties arose from: parents who denied the disability of their children, classroom teachers who refused to cooperate with resource room teachers (responsible for teaching children with LDs), pre-service teachers who had little training in SEN, non-disabled peers who bullied their disabled peers, school administrators who had little understanding of the needs of children with LDs, and finally the Ministry of Education’s supervisors who were better equipped to support the educational needs of typically developing children. These negative attitudes are rooted strongly in local culture and seem to overlap with expressed religious values. Negative attitudes also varied among parents according to their socio-economic class and the type of school (public and private) their child attended. It appeared that the services provided in private schools were more in tune with the needs of children with LDs than those in public schools. Ultimately, I conclude that there is an urgent need for the reconstruction of services in Jordan to support children with LDs. Teacher training should be aimed specifically at equipping resource room teachers to cater effectively for students with LDs, and legislation should facilitate a shift of responsibility to the Jordanian Ministry of Education and away from the Ministry of Social Development. Most importantly, there is a need to facilitate a dialogue that seeks to amend attitudes towards disability in general and LDs in particular.

Goal of this diploma thesis is to present trends of induced abortions attitudes towards abortion in four European countries at the end of 20th century and beginning of 21st century. At first, study mentions definitions and legislations related to induced abortions. Furthemore there is mentioned methodology which is used in this study. In this part issue of international comparison of induced abortion is emphasized. Introduction into matter of induced abortion is provided by next part and it includes continuity with anticonception. Afterthat analysis of induced abortions follows. There is briefly mentioned long-range development in the Czech Republic, France, Italy and Sweden and then scope is dedicated to induced abortion patterns by age of women. These trends are represented by rates and ratios. At the end of this part is mentioned average age of woman at induced abortion. On the basis of international survey European Values Study, was examined public attitude in chosen European countries towards induced abortions. Next to last part is devoted to this topic. At the beginning of this part are used variables and basic hypothesis. Respondent's attitudes are analysed not only by descriptive statistics but also by binary logistic regression and GLM. In conclusion are summarized the main findings of this diploma...

TITLE: Attitudes of secondary school students to alternative ways of diets at Tabor AUTHOR: Bc. Jana Polčáková DEPARTMENT: Department of education and social education, department of health education SUPERVISOR: PaedDr. Eva Marádová, CSc. ABSTRACT This diploma thesis deals with the attitude of students to alternative nutritional guidelines. The focus of this thesis is to analyse the interest of students in alternative nutritional guidelines. Theoretical part analyzes the literature, contains definition of target group, high school students (adolescents) with the main characteristics of this age period. Subsequently the thesis focuses on the impact and importance of nutrition on health of individuals during their development in adolescence and focuses on attitudes to food itself, the relationship to adolescent physical dimensions (body image) and also to issues related to these themes, ie. eating disorders. This thesis is also concerned with the general characteristics of alternative dietary guidelines, such as vegetarianism, macrobiotic diet and divided meals diet. The practical part explores the extent of alternative nutritional habits among high school students in Tábor, their reasons of choosing these ways of eating a and evaluation of their attitudes. There are recommendations based on the results of...

Political participation is paramount to the well being of a democracy. Concerns over low turnout rates across the world have prompted a growing body of research on the potential for political institutions to foster electoral participation. Amongst those institutions, compulsory voting is found to have the largest and most robust impact on maximizing participation rates. Under this system, eligible citizens are required by law to go to the polls on election day, and are subject to penalties if they fail to do so. Beyond its positive impact on turnout, we know far less about what other aspects of the democratic process are influenced by compulsory voting. The main goal of this dissertation is to inform the debate on how and when the effects of compulsory voting extend beyond voter turnout. Specifically, I draw on numerous sources of survey data across the world to investigate the impact of compulsory voting (herein CV) on three distinct political aspects: citizen attitudes towards voting, political engagement, and elite campaigning. The first step in understanding the broader effects of CV is to examine whether it influences citizens’ perceptions of the democratic act of voting. In chapter two, I develop a detailed theoretical framework that highlights whether compulsory voting increases citizens’ feelings of civic duty, or generates resentment amongst eligible voters. I also argue that the impact of CV on attitudes could be neutral—by devaluing the act of voting and making individuals indifferent towards the democratic process. Using a hierarchical modeling technique and survey data from Latin America, I show that voters living under CV are no more likely to report either increased feelings of civic duty or higher rates of resentment, compared to their counterparts under voluntary voting. Instead, individuals who are required to turn out by law are slightly more likely to feel indifferent towards electoral participation. Then, chapter three takes advantage of the recent abolition of compulsory voting in Chile to evaluate whether CV laws promote political engagement beyond election day. An empirical analysis of public opinion surveys over a 10-year period pre and post reform shows that rates of political engagement—specifically, watching and reading political news and discussing politics with family—are significantly higher under compulsory than under voluntary voting, and this is especially the case for those with lower levels of education. These findings suggest that when presented with the task of turning out at the polls, citizens seem to incur the extra costs necessary to make an informed decision. Finally, in chapter four I investigate whether mandatory voting laws alter the way political parties decide to engage in outreach during political campaigns. Using a comprehensive dataset of post-election surveys of over 40,000 individuals in 27 different countries, I find that political elites do adjust to their institutional context—when voting is mandatory, parties invest in campaign outreach at similar levels (not less) than when voting is voluntary, and that this outreach is much less skewed towards individuals of higher socioeconomic status compared to when voting is voluntary. I also show evidence that parties under CV are more likely to engage in persuasion rather than mobilization via party outreach. Taken together, this dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of how maximizing electoral participation through a legal requirement to vote shapes individual and elite behavior, contributing to our understanding of the implications of political institutions for the quality of representative democracy worldwide.

O aprendizado de Estatística vem se tornando cada vez mais importante para o sucesso de empresas que competem em cenário globalizado e tem destacado os profissionais que, de fato, possuem este conhecimento. Em especial na administração, a estatística auxilia nas tomadas de decisão e é usada como ferramenta em diversas áreas como Finanças, Marketing e Produção, contudo, é utilizada também em outros cursos. Sabe-se, porém, que existe certa dificuldade no aprendizado desta disciplina, seja porque a atitude perante a Estatística é negativa, ou mesmo porque existem diferenças de estilo de aprendizagem. Tanto aluno como professor têm a necessidade de conhecer melhor as variáveis que contribuem para o aprendizado efetivo. Com o objetivo de identificar como variáveis demográficas, estilos de aprendizagem dos alunos e a atitude perante estatística influenciam o desempenho dos alunos, este estudo analisou os as características, estilos, atitudes e desempenho dos alunos de Estatística aplicada da FEARP-USP. Foi utilizado o índice de estilos de aprendizagem de Felder e Soloman e a escala de atitudes de Schau. Os resultados desta análise reforçam os estudos que sugerem que as atitudes positivas influenciam no desempenho do aluno. Não foi conclusiva a associação entre gênero, idade e vínculo trabalhistas com desempenho, uma vez que as disciplinas apresentaram resultados diferentes. Com relação ao estilo de aprendizagem, nota-se que os estilos dos alunos são similares, com diferença apenas na dimensão sequencial global. / The learning of Statistics has become increasingly important to the success of companies which compete in global scenarios and has highlighted the professionals who, in fact, have this knowledge. In particular for the business administration, statistics assists in the decisionmaking process and is used as a important tool in several areas, such as Finance, Marketing and Manufacturing Process, such as used also in other subjects. It is known, however, that there are some difficulties in learning this discipline, because attitude towards Statistics is negative or, even because there are differences of learning styles between students. Both student and teacher have the need to better aknowledge the variables that contribute to an effective learning. This project aims to identify how demographic variables, styles of learning, attitude towards statistics are related to the performance of the students, this master thesis analyzes the students of Statistic subjects of the Business Administration and accounting courses of FEARP-USP. The index of learning styles proposed by Felder and Soloman and the attitude scale proposed by Schau directs this work. The results confirm former studies that suggest the positives attitudes causes influence in students performance. It was not possible to conclude about gender, age and labor relationship with performance, because the subjects presents different results. Relating to learning styles, the students styles are similar, but only sequential-global dimension.