The fractured lives of German Bohemian children, born 1933-40 in the area known as Sudetenland: a memory study, Nablonz-Neugablonz

At the Paris Peace Conferences of 1918-1919, new states aspiring to be nation-states were created for 60 million people, but at the same time 25 million people found themselves as ethnic minorities. This change of the old order in Europe had a considerable impact on one such group, more than 3 million Bohemian German-speakers, later referred to as Sudeten Germans. After the demise of the Habsburg Empire In 1918, they became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia. In 1938, the Munich Agreement – prelude to the Second World War – integrated them into Hitler’s Reich; in 1945-1946 they were expelled from the reconstituted state of Czechoslovakia. At the centre of this War Child case study are German children from the Northern Bohemian town and district, formerly known as Gablonz an der Neisse, famous for exquisite glass art, now Jablonec nad Nisou in the Czech Republic. After their expulsion they found new homes in the post-war Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, testimonies have been drawn upon of some Czech eyewitnesses from the same area, who provided their perspective from the other side, as it were. It turned out to be an insightful case study of the fate of these communities, previously studied mainly within the context of the national struggle between Germans and Czechs. The inter-disciplinary research methodology adopted here combines history and sociological research to demonstrate the effect of larger political and social developments on human lives, not shying away from addressing sensitive political and historical issues, as far as these are relevant within the context of the study. The expellees started new lives in what became Neugablonz in post-war Bavaria where they successfully re-established the industries they had had to leave behind in 1945-1946. Part 1 of the study sheds light on the complex Czech-German relationship of this important Central European region, addressing issues of democracy, ethnicity, race, nationalism, geopolitics, economics, human geography and ethnography. It also charts the developments leading to the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after 1945. What is important in this War Child study is how the expellees remember their history while living as children in Sudetenland and later. The testimony data gained indicate that certain stereotypes often repeated within the context of Sudeten issues such as the confrontational nature of inter-ethnic relations are not reflected in the testimonies of the respondents from Gablonz. In Part 2 the War Child Study explores the memories of the former Sudeten war children using sociological research methods. It focuses on how they remember life in their Bohemian homeland and coped with the life-long effects of displacement after their expulsion. The study maps how they turned adversity into success by showing a remarkable degree of resilience and ingenuity in the face of testing circumstances due to the abrupt break in their lives. The thesis examines the reasons for the relatively positive outcome to respondents’ lives and what transferable lessons can be deduced from the results of this study.

Intellectual Property Protection : an External Factor that Influences a Foreign Company’s Market Entry Mode into a Prospective Market

Intellectual Property Protection is been understood in this paper as IP laws and enforcement of these laws in order to protect intellectual property rights. The goal of this research work is to understand how Swedish companies view issues regarding to Intellectual Property Protection (IPP) and how it influences a foreign company?s market entry mode. In order to achieve this objective, the Nigerian market situation and its? laws that govern IPP will be used to analyzed this issue. This paper argues that IPP is an important factor that influences a company?s entry mode and this argument finds IP laws and enforcement as two variables that influence the market while the market situation influences the foreign company. In carrying out this research literature was reviewed and interviews carried out. The research methodology section has presented a qualitative research and explains the nature of the interview stages that have been used to achieve the goals concerning the findings of the empirical data. A qualitative method was adopted by carrying out in-depth semi-structured interviews. The empirical data collected from the investigation were gathered and analyzed based on the research questions. The findings show that IPP of a host market influences a potential foreign company through the market situation that is also influenced by IP laws and enforcement. The outcome of these findings argues that the Swedish companies that were interviewed in this research will enter the Nigerian market through an intermediary mode. This has been based on the current IPP system of Nigerian.

A home environment test battery for status assessment in patients with motor fluctuations

Background and aims Evaluating status in patients with motor fluctuations is complex and occasional observations/measurements do not give an adequate picture as to the time spent in different states. We developed a test battery to assess advanced Parkinson patients' status consisting of diary assessments and motor tests. This battery was constructed and implemented on a handheld computer with built-in mobile communication. In fluctuating patients, it should typically be used several times daily in the home environment, over periods of about one week. The aim of this battery is to provide status information in order to evaluate treatment effects in clinical practice and research, follow up treatments and disease progression and predict outcome to optimize treatment strategy. Methods Selection of diary questions was based on a previous study with Duodopa® (DIREQT). Tapping tests (with and without visual cueing) and a spiral drawing test were added. Rapid prototyping was used in development of the user interface. An evaluation with two pilot patients was performed before and after receiving new treatments for advanced disease (one received Duodopa® and one received DBS). Speed and proportion missed taps were calculated for the tapping tests and entropy of the radial drawing velocity was calculated for the spiral tests. Test variables were evaluated using non-parametric statistics. Results Post-treatment improvement was detected in both patients in many of the test variables. Conclusions Although validation work remains, preliminary results are promising and the test battery is currently being evaluated in a long-term health economics study with Duodopa® (DAPHNE).

Flipped classroom and learning strategies

This paper seeks to answer the research question "How does the flipped classroom affect students’ learning strategies?" In e-learning research, several studies have focused on how students and teachers perceive the flipped classroom approach. In general, these studies have reported pleasing results. Nonetheless, few, if any, studies have attempted to find out the potential effects of the flipped classroom approach on how students learn. This study was based on two cases: 1) a business modelling course and 2) a research methodology course. In both cases, participating students were from information systems courses at Dalarna University in Sweden. Recorded lectures replaced regular lectures. The recorded lectures were followed by seminars that focused on the learning content of each lecture in various ways. Three weeks after the final seminar, we arranged for two focus group interviews to take place in each course, with 8 to 10 students participating in each group. We asked open questions on how the students thought they had been affected and more dedicated questions that were generated from a literature study on the effects of flipped classroom courses. These questions dealt with issues about mobility, the potential for repeating lectures, formative feedback, the role of seminars, responsibility, empowerment, lectures before seminars, and any problems encountered. Our results show that, in general, students thought differently about learning after the courses in relation to more traditional approaches, especially regarding the need to be more active. Most students enjoyed the mobility aspect and the accessibility of recorded lectures, although a few claimed it demanded a more disciplined attitude. Most students also expressed a feeling of increased activity and responsibility when participating in seminars. Some even felt empowered because they could influence seminar content. The length of and possibility to navigate in recorded lectures was also considered important. The arrangement of the seminar rooms should promote face-to-face discussions. Finally, the types of questions and tasks were found to affect the outcomes of the seminars. The overall conclusion with regard to students’ learning strategies is that to be an active, responsible, empowered, and critical student you have to be an informed student with possibilities and mandate to influence how, where and when to learn and be able to receive continuous feedback during the learning process. Flipped classroom can support such learning.

Aprendizagem e desenvolvimento organizacional : uma experiência com o modelo da quinta disciplina

A complexidade e pressão que o contexto atual de mudança tem gerado para as organizações, tem exigido delas habilidades diferentes daquelas privilegiadas na era das organizações mecanicistas. A aprendizagem tornou-se uma das habilidades-chave para sobrevivência e desenvolvimento das organizações modernas. Alguns modelos gerenciais apresentam-se visando melhorar as capacidades de aprendizagem das organizações. Alguns tratam da questão estrutural, outros da questão comportamental. Um desses vem recebendo interesse especial, pela sua ênfase no elemento humano nas organizações: o modelo da Quinta Disciplina, de Peter M. Senge e seus colegas do M.I.T. - Massachussets Institute of Technology. Por ter como pressuposto que as organizações são em essência produto do pensar e interagir dos seus membros, sugere que a sua transformação passa por mudanças fundamentais nas formas como as pessoas pensam e interagem. Todavia, observa-se que a prática educacional e experiencial do modelo não tem levado em consideração alguns dos seus aspectos fundamentais. Desta forma, este estudo exploratório pretende descrever e avaliar as reações à aplicação do modelo numa realidade organizacional como forma de obter insights úteis para a prática e pesquisa em organizações, uma vez levando em consideração estes aspectos fundamentais. Como resultado, este trabalho descreve e analisa a experiência à luz das cinco disciplinas, unidades básicas do modelo, dando ênfase especial ao pensamento sistêmico, e descreve e analisa a experiência à luz de algumas variáveis, processos e dimensões-chave do estudo das organizações que apresentaram-se relevantes dentro do trabalho.

Gestão do conhecimento: uma comparação entre empresas brasileiras e Norte-Americanas

Continuando a Pesquisa realizada em 1999, a presente pesquisa examinou os conceitos e tecnologias envolvidas na Gestão de Conhecimento no contexto nacional e comparou-os com os conceitos e tecnologias que tem norteado as empresas norte-americanas. Para tanto, utilizamos o Survey como metodologia de pesquisa.

Por uma teorização das organizações de produção artesanal: habilidades produtivas nos caminhos singulares do Rio de Janeiro

The purpose of this thesis is to support the argument that workmanship production centers don¿t represent just survival strategy of social groups marginal to economical structure. Workmanship organizations are productive schemes that survived, in a parallel way, to the industrialization process, although they don¿t have been considered by the organization theory. The knowledge reserve in administration, from the traditional approach to critical studies, increased concerns on industrial organizations and business arrangements. Nevertheless, it is possible to find in Teoria da Delimitação dos Sistemas Sociais, from Guerreiro Ramos, elements to comprehend workmanship organizations as: technology, scale and sustainability, cognition, space and relationship and time. The research methodology used was bibliographic, field and documental, regarding action-research. It comes to the conclusion that, at present time, to keep it as distinct productive schemes, workmanship organizations must be associated to tourism and culture. The production must be thematic, with territorial identity, creative and sustainable, by the management of local raw material.

Atitudes relativas a meios de comunicação: um estudo exploratório sobre o Wap

The new economy stimulated by the bigger Internet participation as an interaction mean between people and business has been changing the companies¿ management routine. Nowadays, Internet access goes through telephones, in the houses and offices, or through nets of the Intranet kind, with the users in their working settings. The Internet personal access added, with mobility, surely will bring changes to our contacting form to the outside world as well as it will create a possibility of giving the customers a bigger variety of products and services. The present study aims are: (i) to verify the customers behaviours related to this new media, presented in the mobiles digital screens; (ii) to explore some of their main features, and (iii) to compare them with the other media features, as the radio and the TV ones. The applied research methodology was the data collecting through phone interviews. To obtain a Confidence Interval of 95%, 470 WAP, Internet, radio and TV current users¿ answers were gotten. To compare the media, the Fishbein multi-attributes model was used what possibilities to form comparative scores of the attributes built for the research. To mark the discussion concerning the public behaviour related to the differentiated use of the mentioned media out, the study produced uses the McLuhan theoretical reference (1969), specially concerning to his theoretical building, denominated hot and cold means. But this referential theoretic mark could not be supported by the accomplished quantitative study result. The comparison of built attribute scores averages has differentiated the hot media WAP, like radio, as well as the cold media one, like TV. This way, showing that the access new technology appearance, WAP, not only enlarges the Internet use, but also appoints to a new theoretic classification possibility to this new media. The accomplished quantitative research revealed that, through the user point of view, the ¿Contents¿ category is considered as one of the most important WAP aspects. The TV and the radio received significantly lower grades in this subject. The public considers that is important that the WAP information is ¿trustworthy¿, ¿easy¿ to find, ¿available¿, ¿sufficient¿ and that attends the ¿urgency¿ expected by the user. It was observed that the WAP score ¿emotion¿ is inferior to the radio and TV and superior to the Internet ones. But, the differences found are not significant. Considering the low score of importance given to the attributes group ¿emotion¿, is not recommended the WAP use as media when the emotional users aspects are wanted to be reached.

Contratos de terceirização de manutenção industrial na modalidade risco: análise comparativa das avaliações e expectativas entre o setor industrial e as empresas fornecedoras de serviços

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é avaliar as formas de contratação de manutenção industrial praticadas nos últimos anos e identificar os elementos que devem ser considerados na elaboração de um contrato baseado em performance, com remuneração variável e cláusulas de risco, sob a óptica de quem contrata (indústrias) e de quem fornece (empresas especializadas) esse tipo de serviço. Para se chegar ao modelo sugerido, o estudo utiliza uma analogia com o "jogo da forca" (jogo infantil de salão que baseia-se no processo de tentativa e erro) para desenvolver um processo de desconstrução dos modelos atuais de contratação de manutenção, identificando os fatores determinantes (para cada forma de contrato mais utilizada) para o insucesso financeiro e operacional atualmente percebido. Após a tentativa de ordenação das causas dos problemas correntes, o trabalho passa para o objetivo principal, que é o de listar os fatores críticos de sucesso para um contrato de manutenção por performance e, finalmente, sugerir um modelo básico de atuação para que os resultados almejados sejam obtidos. Com a identificação e implementação desses elementos num novo modelo de contrato de risco de manutenção, acredita-se ser possível minimizar os problemas comerciais e operacionais que atualmente representam obstáculos ao sucesso da terceirização da manutenção em plantas industriais, particularmente no Brasil . A metodologia se baseia em análise dos resultados de pesquisa de campo através de questionário realizado junto aos principais gestores de grandes grupos industriais e com os executivos das empresas prestadoras de serviço de manutenção industrial.

Posicionamento estratégico das cadeias multinacionais de hotéis na avaliação de mercado hoteleiro brasileiro para negócios

Trata-se de um estudo exploratório/explanatório que visa avaliar a convergência entre a percepção de atratividade do mercado hoteleiro brasileiro e o posicionamento estratégico para negócios das grandes cadeias multinacionais de hotéis na avaliação de seus altos dirigentes. A pesquisa está inserida no contexto das estratégias de negócios internacionais e da expansão global hoteleira, tendo o Brasil como alvo.

Differences in doing business in Brazil and norway: evidence from norwegian expatriates

With more and more business being done between Brazil and Norway we are seeing an increasing number of expatriates from Norway moving to Brazil!to work. Most!are!related!to!the!oil!and!gas!industries.!With!the!two!cultures,! countries!and!backgrounds!being!so!different!what!are!some!of!the!issues!and! challenges!that!arise? Using!existing!literature!as!well!as!faceRtoRface!interviews!of!Norwegian! expatriates!working!in!Rio!de!Janeiro!this!thesis!tries!to!compare!the!two! countries!and!at!the!same!time!explore!some!of!these!potential!issues.!The! research!focuses!on!differences!in!trust,!negotiation!style,!planning,!organization,! conflict!as!well!as!general!cultural!challenges. Analysis!of!the!responses!shows!that!for!some!issues!there!are!no!clear!problems! or!challenges!but!for!others!there!are.!Specifically!the!treatment!of!time!and!the! general!timeliness!in!Brazilian!society!seems!to!be!a!challenge!for!Norwegian! expatriates.!Secondly!and!equally!as!challenging!is!the!hierarchical!way!of! organizing!businesses!in!Brazil!compared!to!the!flatter!structure!found!in! Norwegian!businesses.!With!the!hierarchy!comes!also!bureaucracy,!another! factor!that!the!subjects!in!this!thesis!found!to!be!difficult!to!deal!with. The!thesis!is!divided!into!6!chapters!starting!with!“introduction”,!followed!by! chapter!2!“Literature!review”.!Chapter!3!is!“Research!Methodology”!followed!by! chapter!4!“Data!presentation”.!Finally!the!results!are!discussed!in!chapter!5! “Analysis!and!discussion” and!concluded!in!chapter!6.

Does Regulation matter? Institutional dimension of the 2008 financial crisis

Why did house prices fall in 2007‐2009? This is the fundamental question to most Americans, and to those who lent them money. Most homeowners did not care why residential real estate prices rose. They assumed prices always rose, and they should simply enjoy their good fortune. It was not until prices began to fall that people were left searching for answers. How much did regulation or lack thereof play in the role of the devastation? To what degree did greed and unrealistic consumer expectation have on the real estate bubble? Using existing literature as well as face to face interviews of experienced leaders within the real estate industry in California who experienced both the up and down of the real estate cycle, the overarching purpose of this study is to investigate the opinions and beliefs of the leaders and drivers within the real estate industry about the cause of the real estate bubble that occurred sharply in 2008 . Specifically, this project will focus on the opinions of real estate industry leaders who worked in the center of the subprime universe located in Irvine, California, during 2004‐2008. Comparing the mainstream beliefs with the interviewees it is fair to say that the main finding in the mainstream beliefs are reflected very well with the finding of the subject’s opinion. The thesis is divided into 6 chapters starting with “introduction”, followed by chapter 2 “Literature Review”. Chapter 3 is “Research Methodology” followed by chapter 4 “Data Presentation”. Finally, the results are discussed in chapter 5 “Analysis and Discussion” and conclusions in Chapter 6.

Importância da orientação educacional no processo educativo

Este trabalho sobre a importância da Orientação Educacional no processo educativo, teve como principal objetivo analisar aspectos fundamentais da orientação que justificassem a posição assumida. o problema de nosso estudo prende-se, sobremodo, a dois aspectos que consideramos fundamentais: 1º - a Orientação Educacional, como parte integrante do processo educativo; 2º - a Orientação Vocacional como sendo área da Orientação Educacional. Na Metodologia utilizamos o tratamento descritivo crítico dos dados da revisão bibliográfica dos assuntos mais importantes tratados nesta proposição. Procurou-se levantar dados, sobre a Orientação Educacional com o objetivo de não só realizar a nossa pesquisa, mas também, contribuir para subsidiar os orientadores educacionais com uma ampla revisão bibliográfica. A escolha dos tópicos, calcada nas hipóteses do trabalho, deve-se à importância dada a aqueles estudados, pelos autores consultados e, também, a própria experiência no campo da orientação. Objetivando o desenvolvimento da presente pesquisa, procuramos na evolução histórica da Orientação Educacional o marco inicial de nossos estudos. Visando a importância, para o trabalho do orientador de uma fundamentação teórica, selecionamos, segundo certos critérios os enfoques que mais tem influenciado os estudos e trabalhos sobre orientação educacional. Procuramos, também, mostrar à importância da orientação Educacional do ponto de vista da Lei 5.692 que a institui obrigatoriamente nas escolas de 19 e 29 graus. Partindo deste campo para o estudo do Serviço da Orientação Educacional, procuramos analisar a "praxis" dos fundamentos teóricos já assinalados. Neste estudo, a título de ilustração foram levantados elementos que esclarecessem a situação da Orientação no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Observa-se que o número de reinadores das escolas, cumprimento de uma exigência legal, longe ainda está de uma situação que favoreça totalmente à consecução de seus objetivos. No sentido de alcançar os objetivos da Orientação Educacional como nos parecem, particularmente relevantes, sugerimos uma visão integrada da práxis da Orientação Educacional nas escolas. Assim sendo, para satisfazer, não só o imperativo legal. como também, as necessidades da própria escola, torna-se mister que a Orientação Educacional assuma uma posição integrada - posição esta fundamental e imprescindível - para o resultado eficaz no processo educativo.

O uso de indicadores aplicados ao planejamento de políticas públicas em municípios abaixo de 50 mil habitantes

As discussões sobre o uso de indicadores aplicado à formulação de políticas públicas ganham força no cenário nacional. Entre os desafios que englobam o tema está pensar instrumentos apropriados para apoiar os gestores de pequenos municípios a fazer diagnósticos e planejamento baseados no conhecimento estruturado da realidade. O presente artigo visa contribuir para esta temática ao buscar entender quais elementos possibilitariam a criação de instrumentos capazes de apoiar gestores de municípios de pequeno porte na utilização de indicadores para diagnóstico e planejamento da atividade pública. Para chegar a tal objetivo, recorreu-se a bibliografia especializada e a realização de uma investigação que englobou entrevistas com prefeitos e especialistas de instituições produtoras e disseminadoras de dados. Os resultados da pesquisa apresentados nesse artigo apontaram para uma série de especificidades que dificultam o uso de indicadores por administrações municipais menores, o que possibilitou sugerir recomendações para subsidiar instituições produtoras e disseminadoras de dados a direcionar produtos mais adequados a esse público.

Práticas de ensino nos programas de mestrado acadêmico e doutorado em administração: considerações à luz do construtivismo

No presente estudo analisamos as práticas de ensino de docentes de mestrado acadêmico e doutorado em administração de três instituições do Rio de Janeiro e uma do Rio Grande do Sul. À luz da epistemologia construtivista buscamos compreender como essa epistemologia se insere na formação de gestores e docentes. Os pontos de partida teóricos foram as múltiplas abordagens de ensino, a aprendizagem situada e as comunidades de prática. Os resultados da pesquisa foram analisados com base na técnica da análise de conteúdo. Por meio desta técnica construímos sete categorias de análise, a saber: aprendizagem, avaliação, comunidade de prática, contexto sócio-histórico-cultural, educação, práticas de ensino e relação professor-aluno. Concluímos nessa pesquisa que as práticas de ensino à luz do construtivismo são inseridas na formação de gestores e de docentes por meio de microprocessos de aprendizagem que consideram o contexto sócio-histórico-cultural em que o aluno está inserido, que privilegiam a aprendizagem social e que incentivam a construção de comunidades de prática. Sendo assim, práticas de ensino que apreciam o contexto do aluno como os exercícios que buscam resolver problemas reais do dia-a-dia e a simulação realista, ou que visam unir teoria e prática como a visita técnica, o núcleo de pesquisa e os estudos de caso e que privilegiam o debate como a discussão de artigos e os seminários são práticas que podem ser chamadas de práticas construtivistas e são consideradas, pelos educadores que defendem a epistemologia construtivista, como as mais eficazes para a formação de gestores e docentes em Administração.