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This study investigates the driving forces of political participation in the Netherlands from a perspective of political equality. Following an article by Jan Teorell (2006) a procedural approach of political equality is examined by studying whether resources or incentives make up the primary driving forces of political participation. An equality hypothesis is derived from normative democratic theory perspectives of participation. The hypothesis is divided in two parts. 1a. and 1b. state that resources should have no direct impact on political participation and incentives should have a direct impact on political participation. Hypotheses 2.a. and 2.b. state that resources do not have an impact on incentives known to impact political participation and that incentives have an impact on resources known to impact political participation. The Dutch panel data LISS (Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences) is used and cross-lagged effect models test the hypotheses. The panel data approach improves on previous research in that it ensures the correct temporal order of cause and effect. This helps us better understand the causal relationships at hand compared to previous cross-sectional approaches in the literature. This also enables us to disentangle the effects of all different factors on each other. The results show that while incentives do have some effect on political participation, resources remain significant when controlling for incentives. Furthermore, the results show that resources and incentives are tangled and have several reciprocal relationships with each other as well as political participation itself. In light of these findings, it is concluded that opportunities for political participation are not equal in the Netherlands, despite it being a least-likely case for political inequality. Additionally, the relationships between resources, incentives and political participation in relation to political equality are more complex than normally assumed in the literature.

This work investigates the velocity-dependent coefficient of friction between concrete and 300 Maraging steel over short displacements. A modified torsional Hopkinson bar is utilized for rotating thin-walled steel rings in contact with a concrete disk under static precompression. Rotational velocity is varied between tests to determine the velocity dependence of the friction coefficient. Normal force is varied between certain tests to determine the pressure dependence of the friction coefficient between the concrete and steel. Three different types of concrete are tested to deduce any composition effect on the friction coefficient. Dry and greased conditions’ impact on the friction coefficient are also evaluated. Lastly, the displacement dependence (fade) is considered for the concrete with regards to the steel. Discussion of the usefulness of this data in modeling and experimentation of impact between concrete and steel is disclosed.

No / This paper considers the situation of people with dementia who are living in long-term care from two rarely-applied theoretical perspectives. The first, Agamben’s theory of biopolitical life versus bare life, demonstrates that the situation of people with dementia living in care homes or hospitals approximates to that of prisoners, internees and refugees, deprived of full citizenship or biopolitical life. In popular imagery people with dementia are frequently referred to, first in terms of numbers, as a ‘rising tide’, in a way that has historically been used to justify discrimination and social exclusion. In many, care environments it is, moreover, still the case that people with dementia are reduced to a condition of ‘bare life’ only: given little choice, having few rights, lacking freedom of movement, and subjected to almost constant surveillance. In other contexts, such treatment is known to cause or exacerbate many of the problems which – following a biomedical model – are constructed as ‘symptoms of dementia’, such as disorientation in time and space, sleep disturbance, hallucinations and repetitive movement. The second body of theory is Bakhtin’s work on cultural resistance. This demonstrates that many of the so-called ‘challenging behaviours’ manifested by people with dementia, can better be understood as coping, sense-making and self-determining strategies adopted in order to survive within prevailing organisational cultures. Based on a series of studies carried out in intermediate and long-term care since 2009, the paper draws on a range of narrative and film-based examples to demonstrate the ‘courage, humour, fortitude and cunning’ with which, as Walter Benjamin noted, the oppressed have always met the conditions of their oppression. In the process, ‘challenging behaviour’ is given political and ideological meaning, as protest, perpetrated by people who are struggling against extreme odds to be reinstated as full citizens. / Conference website: http://www.aginggraz2017.com/conference-schedule

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Upon entering middle school, students within the study district in southeastern Tennessee had low literacy proficiency scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) for 3 consecutive years. Middle school administrators implemented a program called Lexile Framework (LF) into the literacy curriculum in 2011 to improve TCAP scores. However, the change in literacy scores had not been examined following the implementation of LF. The purpose of this quasi-experimental research study was to examine the differences in literacy scores on TCAP of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation into the curriculum (2009-2011 and 2012-2014). The theoretical framework for this research study was Vygotsky's social development theory used within the LF to create student-centered learning in order for students to construct new knowledge by making connections with their literacy experiences. With a convenience sample of 225 students, a repeated-measure analysis of variance determined if there was a significant change in the archived matched literacy TCAP scores before and after the implementation of LF. The multivariate tests indicated a significant (Wilk's Î? = .21, F (3, 222) = 276.85, p < .01) and linear effect (F (1, 224) = 709.75, p < .01) with partial eta squared (η2 = .76) of LF on literacy TCAP scores of students across the years of pre- and post-LF implementation. Positive social change implications include providing school administrators with research findings to inform district-wide decisions regarding the use of LF in the curricula in their middle schools. Increasing students' literacy TCAP scores may ultimately improve graduation rates for students.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / Reissued 5 May 2017 with typographic corrections to degree, abstract. / Broadly, this thesis argues that success in Afghanistan—for Afghans and their neighbors alike—entails establishing state-building measures, supremacy of law and human rights, rapid economic growth, and strong Afghan National Security Forces who can encourage the Afghan public to accept the practices of stable democracy and good neighborly relations. To fix some of the myriad variables in Afghanistan's likely state in 2026, which will mark the end of the transformation decade following the U.S. withdrawal in 2016, the proposed project installs three hypothetical scenarios: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. These scenarios do not predict the future in Afghanistan but rather shed light on the factors and variables that will shape the postwar period. Examining such scenarios may allow strategic planners to develop alternative measures for complex situations. Sustained political stability and the will to reform by the Afghan establishment, fortified by consistent international financial and military support for at least 10 to 15 or more years, would likely be the key to success in the Afghanistan end game. Otherwise, Afghanistan will slip back into a situation much like the one that emerged once after the Soviet withdrawal—extremism, war, and instability. The scenarios are developed by examining several factors: the criticality of the Afghan issue throughout history; Afghanistan's indigenous facts and prospects; Pak–Afghan cross-interests and policy dimensions; Global War on Terror implications; conflicting interests; and regional and extra-regional politics. / Commander, Pakistan Navy

Autor: Daniel Kadlec Vedoucí práce: PhDr. Tamara Bučková, Ph.D. Univerzita Karlova v Praze Název práce: K vymezení žánru fantastiky na příkladu románové trilogie Inkoustový svět od Cornelie Funkeové Počet stran: 77 Název: K vymezení žánru fantastiky na příkladu románové trilogie Inkoustový svět od Cornelie Funkeové Abstrakt: Práce se zabývá fantastickou literaturou a na příkladu románové trilogie "Inkoustový svět" od CORNELIE FUNKEOVÉ poukazuje na některá specifika dvoudimenzionálních příběhů. V teoretické části je nejprve na základě rešerše definován pojem fantastická literatura / fantastika a posléze blíže popsány čtyři k ní náležející žánry - fantasy, science fiction, pohádka a fantastická povídka resp. fantastický román. Vlastní analýza trilogie "Inkoustový svět" je zaměřena na pojetí dvoudimenzionality a roli osudu v tomto díle. Předpoklad, že v "Inkoustovém světě" vytváří autorka dvě rovnocenné autonomní roviny světa reality a světa fantasie, se podařilo prokázat, stejně jako premisu výrazné role osudu, jenž lze změnit jen za pomoci vlastností jako jsou láska, přátelství a ochota k sebeobětování. Klíčová slova: fantastická literatura / fantastika; fantasy; dimenze reality vs. dimenze fantasie; Inkoustový svět; Cornelia Funkeová Author: Daniel Kadlec Supervisor: PhDr. Tamara Bučková, Ph.D. Charles...