Identification and ethnic diversity underlie support for multicultural rights : a multilevel analysis in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is historically a multicultural society, composed of the Bulgarian (ethnic) majority and a number of ethnic minorities among which Bulgarian Turks and Roma are the largest. Both minority communities are stigmatized in contemporary Bulgaria, though to different degrees and for different reasons. Ethnic minorities' rights to preserve their culture, customs, and language are a topic of contentious debate. The purpose of this study was to examine individual- and context-level antecedents of the ethnic Bulgarian majority's support for multicultural rights of ethnic minorities. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted with International Social Survey Programme ISSP 2003 data (N = 920 in 28 Bulgarian districts). At the individual-level, an ethnic conception of the nation and anti-Roma symbolic prejudice were negatively related to support for multicultural rights, whereas national identification was positively related to the support of these rights. Over and above individual-level effects, and in line with recent extensions of intergroup contact theory, thepercentage ofBulgarianTurks withindistricts was positively related to support for multicultural rights. Importantly, support for multicultural rights was particularly high in districts characterized by ethnic diversity, that is, in districts with high proportions of both Bulgarian Turks and Roma. The beneficial effects of ethnic diversity and theoretical implications of findings are discussed.

A rationalist perspective on the autonomy of international sport governing bodies : towards a pragmatic autonomy in the steering of sports

International sport governing bodies (ISGBs) are built on the foundations of freedom of association and traditionally enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their decision-making. Their autonomy is increasingly confined, however, and their hierarchical self-governance is giving way to a more networked governance, in which different stakeholders exert power in different ways and in different contexts in a complex web of interrelationships. Taking a rationalist perspective on the autonomy of ISGBs, this article demonstrates that ISGBs are deploying strategies to safeguard their waning governing monopoly over international sport. Opting for an inductive approach, the authors present four possible conceptualizations of autonomy as applied to ISGBs, namely political autonomy, legal autonomy, financial autonomy and pyramidal autonomy. For each dimension, they describe the different strategies ISGBs wield in order to safeguard different dimensions of their autonomy. This article uses governance theories to hypothesize that the autonomy of ISGBs can be understood as 'pragmatic autonomy' since ISGBs only cede certain aspects of their autonomy under particular circumstances and when being subject to specific threats. Acting in a rationalist manner, they are able to keep control over governance developments in sport by using indirect and more subtle forms of governance.

Synergy Sources, Target Autonomy and Integration in Acquisitions

Determining the appropriate level of integration is crucial to realizing value from acquisitions. Most prior research assumes that higher integration implies the removal of autonomy from target managers, which in turn undermines the functioning of the target firm if it entails unfamiliar elements for the acquirer. Using a survey of 86 acquisitions to obtain the richness of detail necessary to distinguish integration from autonomy, the authors argue and find that integration and autonomy are not the opposite ends of a single continuum. Certain conditions (e.g., when complementarity rather than similarity is the primary source of synergy) lead to high levels of both integration and autonomy. In addition, similarity negatively moderates the relationship between complementarity and autonomy when the target offers both synergy sources. In contrast, similarity does not moderate the link between complementarity and integration. The authors' findings advance scholarly understanding about the drivers of implementation strategy and in particular the different implementation strategies acquiring managers deploy when they attempt to leverage complementarities, similarities, or both.

Les besoins en soins de support chez les patients en phase d'un traitement ambulatoire, suivant l'annonce d'un diagnostic de cancer : étude descriptive transversale

Problématique L'incidence du cancer ne cesse d'augmenter dans les pays occidentaux et en Suisse, en constituant la deuxième cause de mortalité après les maladies cardiovasculaires. Si d'une part, les différents traitements oncologiques ont le potentiel de guérir certains cancers et d'augmenter l'espérance de vie des personnes concernées, ils sont associés à de multiples problèmes physiques et psychosociaux. De même, l'annonce de la maladie provoque une fragilité émotionnelle et sociale et la phase de traitement qui suit le diagnostic de cancer est souvent associé à des besoins psychologiques et d'information élevés. But Cette étude vise à décrire les besoins en soins de support insatisfaits chez les patients nouvellement diagnostiqués d'un cancer, au cours d'un traitement ambulatoire dans un Hôpital Cantonal de la Suisse. Elle vise également à identifier les associations entre les besoins en soins de support insatisfaits et les caractéristiques sociodémographiques et médicales. Méthode Cette étude corrélationnelle descriptive a été conduite auprès de 67 patients nouvellement atteints d'un cancer primaire ou d'une récidive, recrutés selon un échantillonnage non probabiliste par convenance consécutive. Le questionnaire auto-administré comprenait le Supportive Care Needs Survey Short Form 34 et un questionnaire sur des données sociodémographiques. Les données médicales ont été collectées par les chercheurs à travers les dossiers médicaux. Résultats Les trois besoins exprimés comme les plus insatisfaits étaient « la peur que le cancer se propage » (48,5%), « l'incertitude face à l'avenir » (45,4%) et « vos préoccupations face à l'incertitude de vos proches » (43,9%). Nous constatons une insatisfaction plus élevée des besoins psychologiques (M: 32,6 ; ET: 20,4) et des besoins d'information (M: 29,3 ; ET: 17,5) par rapport aux autres dimensions de besoins. À propos des caractéristiques associées a un plus haut niveau de besoins insatisfaits, nous trouvons qu'être plus jeune (29-56 ans) ou âgés de > 72 ans est positivement associé aux besoins insatisfaits du domaine psychologique (F = 3,50 ; p = 0,02) et de l'information/système de santé (F = 3,48 ; p = 0,02). Le jeune âge est aussi associé à plus de besoins dans le domaine sexuel (F = 2,85 ; p = 0,04). Il semble exister une association négative entre le niveau d'instruction et le degré d'insatisfaction des besoins psychologiques (F = 2,92, p = 0,06). Être retraité coïncide avec un plus grand degré d'insatisfaction dans les besoins physiques et des activités de la vie quotidienne (F = 4,64 ; p = 0,013). Finalement, avoir un moins bon état général est relié à plus de besoins physiques et de besoins issus du domaine des activités de la vie quotidienne (t = -2,85 ; p = 0,005). Conclusions Les présents résultats concordent avec les études antérieures. Cette étude a la particularité d'avoir identifié les besoins insatisfaits durant la phase de traitement qui suit l'annonce du diagnostic, sans se restreindre à une maladie cancéreuse spécifique, ce qui a été peu effectué auparavant. Les chercheurs infirmiers devraient poursuivre, en collaboration avec d'autres professionnels de la santé, les recherches visant le développement d'approches efficaces pour réduire les besoins insatisfaits chez des personnes atteintes de maladies cancéreuses.

Etude du support publicitaire, des critères de choix et de la satisfaction des patients de deux centres dentaires

Le propos général de ce mémoire est de déterminer pourquoi un nouveau patient choisit de prendre rendez-vous dans un centre dentaire et d'évaluer son niveau de satisfaction. L'étude est basée sur un questionnaire distribué lors du premier rendez-vous des nouveaux patients. Il est constitué de trois sections (socio-démographie, critères de choix, satisfaction) et est complété par le patient en deux phases, les parties socio-démographiques et critères de choix avant le traitement par le dentiste et la partie satisfaction après le traitement. L'échantillon de patients provient de deux centres dentaires ayant les mêmes exigences en termes d'accueil et de qualité des soins, l'un étant situé dans le canton de Zurich et l'autre dans le canton de Fribourg. [...] [Extrait p. 4]

La formulation de cas dans la formation à la psychothérapie. Enjeux pédagogiques du recours à un support filmique.

Un cas exemplaire, un cas d'école, un beau cas, un cas de figure, un cas extrême, un cas particulier, un cas épineux, un cas limite ... Les modalités de l'étude de cas sont multiples et expriment le fait que tout raisonnement suivi, toute explication, toute théorie bute une fois ou l'autre sur la nécessité d'explorer et d'approfondir les propriétés d'une singularité accessible à l'observation. Publier un ouvrage sur la question du cas unique, c'est participer à ce moment de réflexion sur les méthodes scientifiques en psychologie. C'est aussi oeuvrer à un repositionnement constructif de cette modalité de faire science, en donnant la parole aux auteurs spécialistes de ces questions ou directement concernés par celles-ci à travers leurs recherches ou leurs pratiques.

Extracorporeal support for pulmonary resection: current indications and results.

Extracorporeal assistances are exponentially used for patients, with acute severe but reversible heart or lung failure, to provide more prolonged support to bridge patients to heart and/or lung transplantation. However, experience of use of extracorporeal assistance for pulmonary resection is limited outside lung transplantation. Airways management with standard mechanical ventilation system may be challenging particularly in case of anatomical reasons (single lung), presence of respiratory failure (ARDS), or complex tracheo-bronchial resection and reconstruction. Based on the growing experience during lung transplantation, more and more surgeons are now using such devices to achieve good oxygenation and hemodynamic support during such challenging cases. We review the different extracorporeal device and attempt to clarify the current practice and indications of extracorporeal support during pulmonary resection.

Developing a conceptual framework to analyse professionalisation in sport federations

Existing research on sport organisations is imprecise in the use of the concept 'professionalisation'. Furthermore, we do not know if analytical concepts of professionalisation correspond with the understanding in practice. This study explores the perceptions of practitioners and proposes a framework to analyse professionalisation in national sport federations. Expert interviews were conducted with six key people from Swiss national sport federations and then analysed these for characteristics of professionalisation using a hermeneutic approach. The characteristics were divided into three areas: (1) changed management philosophy, (2) functional differentiation and specialisation, and (3) application of management tools. However, professionalisation is primarily perceived to be a matter of 'professional' attitude that transforms into federation culture. The practitioners disclose an ambivalent view of professionalisation, e.g. business-like culture vs. voluntarism, for-profit vs. non-profit orientation, autonomy vs. control. A framework is developed that synthesises analytical concepts and practitioners' perceptions to support future comprehensive research into causes, forms and consequences of professionalisation in national sport federations.

Bidding support for computational resources

Peer-reviewed

Present and future methodology for the implementation of decision support systems for traffic management

Real-time predictions are an indispensable requirement for traffic management in order to be able to evaluate the effects of different available strategies or policies. The combination of predicting the state of the network and the evaluation of different traffic management strategies in the short term future allows system managers to anticipate the effects of traffic control strategies ahead of time in order to mitigate the effect of congestion. This paper presents the current framework of decision support systems for traffic management based on short and medium-term predictions and includes some reflections on their likely evolution, based on current scientific research and the evolution of the availability of new types of data and their associated methodologies.

Technology roadmap for new sales support and management system for crane manufacturing company

Sales configurators are essential tools for companies that offer complicated case specifically crafted products for customers. Most sophisticated of them are able to design an entire end product on the fly according to given constraints, calculate price for the offer and move the order into production. This thesis covers a sales configurator acquisition project in a large industrial company that offers cranes for its customers. The study spans the preliminary stages of a large-scale software purchase project starting from the specification of problem domain and ending up presenting the most viable software solution that fulfils the requirements for the new system. The project consists of mapping usage environment, use cases, and collecting requirements that are expected from the new system. The collected requirements involve fitting the new sales system into enterprise application infrastructure, mitigating the risks involved in the project and specifying new features to the application whilst preserving all of the admired features of the old sales system currently used in the company. The collected requirements were presented to a number of different sales software vendors who were asked to provide solution suggestions that would fulfil all the demands. All of the received solution proposals were exposed to an evaluation to determine the most feasible solutions, and the construction of evaluation criteria itself was a part of the study. The final outcome of this study is a short-list of the most feasible sales configurator solutions together with a description of how software purchase process in large enterprises work, and which aspects should be paid attention in large projects of similar kind.

Gathering support from rivals: the two rivals case

Two voters must choose between two alternatives. Voters vote in a fixed linear order. If there is not unanimity for any alternative, the procedure is repeated. At every stage, each voter prefers the same alternative to the other, has utilities decreasing with stages, and has an impatience degree representing when it is worth voting for the non-preferred alternative now rather than waiting for the next stage and voting for the preferred alternative. Intuition suggests that the more patient voter will get his preferred alternative. I found that in the unique solution of the sequential voting procedure obtained by backward induction, the first voter get his preferred alternative at the first stage independently from his impatience rate. Keywords: sequential voting, impatience rate, multi-stage voting, unanimity

Developing an Improved System for Allocating Support Unit Costs to Business Units

The objective of this study is to develop an improved support unit cost allocation system for a medium-sized technology company, and to examine which options for overhead cost accounting exist. The study begins with presenting the terminology and methods associated with overhead cost accounting and responsibility accounting. Also the most common challenges and resulting benefits of overhead cost allocation system development are brought up. As one research method two case studies were conducted for benchmarking purposes. These external cases are compared with the principal company’s cost allocation system and reflected against the theoretical background. In the empirical section interviews were used as the primary source of information alongside self studying principal company’s old cost allocation method. Interviews revealed the main weaknesses of the old system and proposals for a new one, which were utilized in setting targets for developing the new system. As a result of the development process an improved support unit cost allocation system was realized for year 2009. The new system is able to handle support unit costs in more detail enhancing the transparency and fairness of resulting cost allocations. Parts of support unit costs are now seen as business units’ own costs rather than group-level overhead. Also recommendations for further development are made after analyzing how well the targets were reached.

Análisis de los apoyos que reciben los jóvenes con discapacidad intelectual en su transición a la vida adulta en España: una investigación a partir de experiencias de profesionales y personas con discapacidad = Analysis of support received by young people with intellectual disabilities in their transition to adulthood in Spain: an investigation based on the experiences of professionals and people with disabilities

The objective of this study is to gather information regarding the adaptation of the range of socio educational projects and services aimed at the transition to an adult life of young persons with intellectual disabilities in Spain. The research of the study has been done in three stages. During each stage, a specific tool has been used. One to one in-depth interviews have been undertaken with 45 professionals and 20 individuals with intellectual disabilities. The Delphi method has been applied to two panels consisting of 20 experts each. Firstly, results focus on the approach to different issues related to the devices. Secondly, the training opportunities that these individuals receive to ease the transition period is addressed. And finally, the study refers to the participation of the individuals themselves and their families in the process. The developed analysis allows us to propose strategies to improve the transition to adult life

Investigating university students' adaptation to digital learner course portfolio

Digital learner portfolios are of growing importance in higher education as the sector seeks new teaching-learning-assessment methods which promote students" autonomy as managers of their own virtual learning environment. The purpose of this study was to analyse descriptively the undergraduate students" perceptions, attitudes and behaviour when using an eportfolio to support their learning and assessment in practice based courses at two traditional Spanish universities. The participants were 88 students, who were studying through a blended learning mode. Data were collected through questionnaires: a computer experience survey, another which examined the psychological, pedagogical and technological dimensions of eportfolios use. Further, an individual overall reflection was obtained from each student to help gain an understanding of their experiences of using the eportfolio. A mixed-method analysis was applied in order to study the impact of this technological innovation on students and their satisfaction. The results showed that the students had positive opinions and self-efficiency through the eportfolio as a tool to manage their learning and assessment during a semester, especially from the second month of use. However, the expected impact on their learning was not so significant. Nevertheless, the students emphasised that the eportfolio was valuable as a personal developmental learning tool.