External public piano examinations in Malaysia : social and symbolic significance

The thesis investigated the social and symbolic significance of acquiring a 'music education' through the taking of piano tuition and external public music examinations. It aimed to discover why the learning of the piano and the certification of musical attainment are so prevalent and revered among Malaysian music students. Its purpose was to unravel the socio-cultural raison d'etre of this approach to music education through the creation of a metatheoretical schema, which is premised upon the theories of symbolic interactionist, George Herbert Mead, music analyst, Heinrich Schenker and social theorist, George Ritzer. Central to the argument in this instance is the symbolic significance associated with the act of playing the piano. The investigation attempted to determine if this 'act' conveyed a symbolic meaning that is peculiar to a specific cultural vista. It further examined the degree to which this practice represented both a validation and a sense of conformity to social norms in the continuity and stability of an expanding middle class society in Malaysia. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) is the largest of the five main external public music examination boards that operate in Malaysia. Since 1948, over one million candidates have enrolled for ABRSM examinations in Malaysia and a team of approximately thirty ABRSM examiners visit Malaysia for three months every year. The majority of the candidates are pianists. Given such large numbers of piano candidates, one might expect a healthy development of musical talent in the country with aspiring pianists eager to demonstrate their musical prowess. However, this does not seem to be the case. On the contrary, there appears to be a curious lacuna between the growing number of students who enrol for external public music examinations and the seemingly lack of interest in public music making and the honing of general musicianship skills. The thesis hence examined the symbolic meaning of this socio-musicological phenomena.

The State and transnational banks: lessons from the Bolivian crisis of external public indebtedness

Includes bibliography

Projecto de parceria entre a ONGD Estímulo e a Rede de Farmácias Portuguesas: a união de esforços entre sectores para a resolução de problemas contemporâneos

Trabalho de projeto apresentado à Escola Superior de Comunicação Social como parte dos requisitos para obtenção de grau de mestre em Gestão Estratégica das Relações Públicas.

Comunicação Externa em Business-to-Business

Esta versão não contém as críticas e sugestões dos elementos do júri

Évaluation d’un programme novateur de réadaptation par les arts de la scène pour des jeunes présentant un trouble psychiatrique stabilisé : le programme Espace de Transition

L’objectif de cette thèse était d’évaluer Espace de Transition (ET), un programme novateur d’intervention par les arts de la scène visant à favoriser la réadaptation psychosociale d’adolescents et de jeunes adultes présentant des troubles mentaux stabilisés et à diminuer la stigmatisation des individus aux prises avec des problèmes de santé mentale. Ce programme a été conçu par une équipe de cliniciens du département de psychiatrie du Centre hospitalier universitaire Ste-Justine, en collaboration avec des artistes professionnels, et est livré depuis le printemps 2009. L’évaluation du programme ET a été conduite de manière indépendante, selon des approches collaborative et naturaliste et en usant de méthodes mixtes. Les données de recherche ont été recueillies avant pendant et après le programme auprès de l’ensemble des participants à deux sessions distinctes (N = 24), de même qu’auprès des deux artistes instructeurs, de la psychoéducatrice responsable du soutien clinique, ainsi que des psychiatres et autres intervenants ayant référé des participants (N=11). Des entrevues semi-structurées individuelles et de groupe, des observations directes et des questionnaires ont servi à recueillir les données nécessaires à l’évaluation. Des analyses quantitatives de variance, ainsi que des analyses qualitatives thématiques ont été réalisées et leurs résultats ont été interprétés de manière intégrée. Le premier chapitre empirique de la thèse relate l’évaluation de la mise en œuvre du programme ET. Cette étude a permis de constater que le programme avait rejoint des participants correspondant de près à la population visée et que ceux-ci présentaient globalement des niveaux élevés d’assiduité, d’engagement et d’appréciation du programme. L’évaluation de la mise en œuvre a en outre permis de conclure que la plupart des composantes du programme identifiées a priori comme ses paramètres essentiels ont été livrées tel que prévu par les concepteurs et que la plupart d’entre elles ont été largement appréciées et jugées pertinentes par les participants et les autres répondants consultés. Le second chapitre empirique consiste en un article portant sur l’évaluation des effets du programme ET relativement à l’atteinte de trois de ses objectifs intermédiaires, soient l’amélioration 1) du fonctionnement global, 2) du confort relationnel et des compétences sociales, ainsi que 3) de la perception de soi des participants présentant des troubles mentaux. Les résultats de cette étude ont révélé des changements significatifs et positifs dans le fonctionnement global des participants suite au programme, tel qu’évalué par les cliniciens référents et partiellement corroboré par les participants eux-mêmes. Des améliorations en ce qui concerne le confort relationnel, les compétences sociales et la perception de soi ont également été objectivées chez une proportion substantielle de participants, bien que celles-ci ne se soient pas traduites en des différences significatives décelées par les analyses quantitatives de groupe. Le troisième et dernier chapitre empirique de la thèse relate une étude exploratoire des mécanismes sous-tendant les effets du programme ET ayant conduit à l’élaboration inductive d’une théorie d’action de ce programme. Cette investigation qualitative a révélé quatre catégories de mécanismes, soient des processus de 1) gain d’expérience et de gratification sociales, 2) de désensibilisation par exposition graduelle, 3) de succès et de valorisation, et 4) de normalisation. Cette étude a également permis de suggérer les caractéristiques et composantes du programme qui favorisent la mise en place ou l’impact de ces mécanismes, tels l’environnement et l’animation non cliniques du programme, la composition hétérogène des groupes de participants, le recours aux arts de la scène, ainsi que la poursuite d’une réalisation collective et son partage avec un public extérieur au programme. Globalement, les études présentées dans la thèse appuient la pertinence et le caractère prometteur du programme ET, tout en suggérant des pistes d’amélioration potentielle pour ses versions ultérieures. Par extension, la thèse soutient l’efficacité potentielle d’interventions réadaptatives mettant en œuvre des composantes apparentées à celles du programme ET pour soutenir le rétablissement des jeunes aux prises avec des troubles mentaux.

¿Cuál es la manera como se realiza la rendición de cuentas en el sector público?. Un estudio realizado al modelo utilizado por la Contaduría General de la Nación

En 1991 la Constitución Política de Colombia incorporó las estrategias necesarias para hacer realidad la Rendición de cuentas como un proceso que contribuye a la gobernabilidad. El presente documento presenta no solo la legislación del gobierno sino también los modelos utilizados por la Contaduría General de la Nación-CGN y otras instituciones en diferentes países: Asociación Internacional de Administración de Ciudades-ICMA, Instituto Federal de Acceso a la Información-IFAI, Organización Internacional de Instituciones Fiscalizadoras Superiores-INTOSAI y la Organización Europea de las Instituciones Regionales de Control Externo del Sector Público-EURORAI. Adicionalmente se presentan conclusiones basadas en evidencia empírica proporcionada por los stakeholders y las recomendaciones necesarias para poner en práctica el concepto de Rendición de cuentas en la CGN y presentarlo ante los ciudadanos y otros stakeholders.

Monetary arrangements for emerging economies

In this paper we look at various alternatives for monetary regimes: dollarization, monetary union and local currency. We use an extension of the debt crisis model of Cole and Kehoe ([3], [4] and [5]), although we do not necessarily follow their sunspot interpretation. Our focus is to appraise the welfare of a country which is heavily dependent on international capital due to low savings, for example, and might suffer a speculative attack on its external public debt. We study the conditions under which countries will be better off adopting each one of the regimes described above. If it belongs to a monetary union or to a local currency regime, a default may be avoided by an ination tax on debt denominated in common or local currency, respectively. Under the former regime, the decision to inate depends on each member country's political inuence over the union's central bank, while, in the latter one, the country has full autonomy to decide about its monetary policy. The possibility that the government inuences the central bank to create ination tax for political reasons adversely affects the expected welfare of both regimes. Under dollarization, ination is ruled out and the country that is subject to an external debt crisis has no other option than to default. Accordingly, one of our main results is that shared ination control strengthens currencies and a common-currency regime is superior in terms of expected welfare to the local-currency one and to dollarization if external shocks that member countries suffer are strongly correlated to each other. On the other hand, dollarization is dominant if the room for political ination under the alternative regime is high. Finally, local currency is dominant if external shocks are uncorrelated and the room for political pressure is mild. We nish by comparing Brazil's and Argentina's recent experiences which resemble the dollarization and the local currency regimes, and appraising the incentives that member countries would have to unify their currencies in the following common markets: Southern Common Market, Andean Community of Nations and Central American Common Market.

Essays on international finance, default and inflation

This thesis is composed by three papers, each one of them corresponding to one chapter. The first and the second chapters are essays on international finance appraising default and inflation as equilibrium outcomes for crisis time, in particular, for confidence crisis time that leads to speculative attack on the external public debt issued by emerging economies. With this background in mind, welfare effects from adopting common currency (chapter 1) and welfare effects from increasing the degree of economic openness (chapter 2) are analyzed in numerical exercises, based on DSGE framework. Cross-countries results obtained are then presented to be compared with empirical evidence and to help on understanding past policy decisions. Some policy prescriptions are also suggested. In the third chapter we look to the inflation targeting regime applied to emerging economies that are subject to adverse shocks, like the external debt crisis presented in the previous chapters. Based on a more theoretical approach, we appraise how pre commitment framework should be used to coordinate expectations when policymaker announcement has no full credibility and self fulfilling inflation may be possible.

La sostenibilidad de la deuda pública y la postura fiscal en el ciclo económico: el Istmo Centroamericano

Incluye Bibliografía

O DESENVOLVIMENTO DE EVENTOS COMO ESTRATÉGIAS DA COMUNICAÇÃO ORGANIZACIONAL: UM ESTUDO DE CASO DA UNIVERSIDADE METODISTA DE SÃO PAULO

Pesquisa sobre os eventos da Universidade Metodista de São Paulo na busca de verificar a eficiência dos mesmos no cumprimento dos objetivos e metas organizacionais. Com base na pesquisa bibliográfica, se buscou entender as organizações, relacionando as comunicações que dispõem para contato com seus públicos, dentre as quais: publicidade, relações públicas, assessoria de imprensa e, principalmente, os eventos. Através da literatura existente, procurou-se averiguar tipologias e funções dos eventos e, ainda, perceber se funcionam como ferramentas estratégicas da comunicação organizacional. A metodologia consiste em pesquisa bibliográfica e documental, além de estudo de casos organizacionais. Foram aplicados questionários ao público participante dos eventos: Dia da Universidade Aberta (voltado ao público externo da Instituição) e Aniversário do Instituto Metodista de Ensino Superior (voltado para o público interno da Universidade), ambos desenvolvidos pela UMESP. Além disso, foi feita entrevista semiestruturada com o Diretor de Comunicação da Instituição, estabelecendo uma relação entre o que o público percebeu durante os eventos e o que a Universidade pensou ao decidir pelas suas realizações.

A comunicação da ASF com os colaboradores e com a comunidade em geral

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo principal analisar a comunicação da ASF com os colaboradores e com a comunidade em geral. Para tal, identificaram-se ferramentas e ações na comunicação dirigida ao público interno e ao público em geral e, por fim, apresentaram-se campanhas e ações de comunicação. A ASF tem por missão assegurar o bom funcionamento do mercado segurador e dos fundos de pensões em Portugal, por forma a contribuir para a garantia da proteção dos tomadores de seguros, pessoas seguras, participantes e beneficiários. A falta de notoriedade, credibilidade e compreensão das funções desta entidade junto da comunidade em geral, nomeadamente dos consumidores, são os principais pontos fracos da sua estratégia de comunicação. Posto isto, criaram-se ações específicas para o público interno que, naturalmente, tiveram implicações diretas no público externo, e permitiram alcançar objetivos da ASF. Foram desenvolvidas atividades na revista de imprensa, nas plataformas de apoio à gestão, monotorização e análise dos dados media e da intranet, edição de materiais e organização de eventos, nomeadamente o aniversário da ASF. Também se participou no PNFF (Plano Nacional de Formação Financeira) e no processo da mudança da designação ISP (Instituto de Seguros de Portugal) para ASF (Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões) o que possibilitou à equipa de comunicação desenvolver novas e melhores estratégias. Por fim, considerou-se ainda que a ASF deveria implementar uma estratégia em que a imagem de qualidade do seu trabalho fosse do conhecimento público, ou seja, deverá primeiro ganhar notoriedade e depois desenvolver as associações pretendidas para a imagem que quer criar junto do público. A aproximação a escolas e aos jovens poderá ser uma forma interessante para atingir os objetivos da ASF, essencialmente junto do público externo; Abstract: The chief goal of the present thesis is to analyses the communication of the Insurance Supervisory Authority and Pension Fund (ASF) towards its collaborators and the community, in general. In order to achieve this purpose, the thesis identified the tools and actions of the communication developed for the internal public and the community, then, it identifies specific actionist presents specific actions of communication. ASF aims to ensure the proper functioning of insurance market and pension funds in Portugal, in order to contribute towards ensuring policyholders protection, insured persons, participants and beneficiaries. Under the new strategy implementation on behalf of insurance and pension funds consumers a form of communication was developed focused on promoting consumers understanding about the running of this sector. Specific actions for internal public were intensified, which, of course, have had direct implications on external public, largely achieving the ASF objectives. The main weaknesses of this entity’s communication strategy are the lack of notoriety, credibility and understanding of the functions. Activities have been developed within the management of the press review events, such as ASF’birthday. The participation in PNFF and the process of change to the new designation enabled the communication team to develop communication strategies. Concerning the analysis of ASF’s communication strategy, it is suggested that the company should implement a strategy in which the quality of its work is of public knowledge. This means that, first, it should gain notoriety and, then, it should develop associations between the brand and the public.

Public sector ethics in Sweden : a 4P-model of internal and external determinants in codes of ethics

This article summarizes and aggregates the results of a study conducted of the largest 100 public sector organizations derived from three categories in Sweden. These categories of organizations comprise 40 entities of government, 40 municipalities, and 20 county councils. The objective was to describe the determinants of codes of ethics in Swedish public sector organizations. This research reports on the responses of 27 organizations that possessed a code of ethics. The principal contribution is a 4P-model of seven internal and external determinants in public sector codes of ethics. The identified determinants relate to four principal sectors of a society, namely: public community sector, private corporate sector, private citizen sector, and political/policy conduct sector.

External control of the public water supply in 29 Brazilian cities

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Seven years of external control of fluoride levels in the public water supply in Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil

luoridation of the public water supplies is recognized as among the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century. However, the positive aspects of this measure depend on the maintenance of fluoride concentrations within adequate levels. Objective: To report the results of seven years of external control of the fluoride (F) concentrations in the public water supply in Bauru, SP, Brazil in an attempt to verify, on the basis of risk/ benefit balance, whether the levels are appropriate. Material and Methods: From March 2004 to February 2011, 60 samples were collected every month from the 19 supply sectors of the city, totaling 4,641 samples. F concentrations in water samples were determined in duplicate, using an ion-speciflc electrode (Orion 9609) coupled to a potentiometer after buffering with TISAB II. After the analysis, the samples were classified according to the best risk-benefit adjustment. Results: Means (±standard deviation) of F concentrations ranged between 0.73±0.06 and 0.81±0.10 mg/L for the different sectors during the seven years. The individual values ranged between 0.03 and 2.63 mg/L. The percentages of the samples considered low risk for dental fluorosis development and of maximum benefit for dental caries prevention (0.55-0.84 mg F/L) in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years of the study were 82.0, 58.5, 37.4, 61.0, 89.9, 77.3, and 72.4%, respectively, and 69.0% for the entire period. Conclusions: Fluctuations of F levels were found in the public water supply in Bauru during the seven years of evaluation. These results suggest that external monitoring of water fluoridation by an independent assessor should be implemented in cities where there is adjusted fluoridation. This measure should be continued in order to verify that fluoride levels are suitable and, if not, to provide support for the appropriate adjustments.

Seven years of external control of fluoride levels in the public water supply in Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil

Fluoridation of the public water supplies is recognized as among the top ten public health achievements of the twentieth century. However, the positive aspects of this measure depend on the maintenance of fluoride concentrations within adequate levels. To report the results of seven years of external control of the fluoride (F) concentrations in the public water supply in Bauru, SP, Brazil in an attempt to verify, on the basis of risk/benefit balance, whether the levels are appropriate. From March 2004 to February 2011, 60 samples were collected every month from the 19 supply sectors of the city, totaling 4,641 samples. F concentrations in water samples were determined in duplicate, using an ion-specific electrode (Orion 9609) coupled to a potentiometer after buffering with TISAB II. After the analysis, the samples were classified according to the best risk-benefit adjustment. Means (±standard deviation) of F concentrations ranged between 0.73±0.06 and 0.81±0.10 mg/L for the different sectors during the seven years. The individual values ranged between 0.03 and 2.63 mg/L. The percentages of the samples considered “low risk” for dental fluorosis development and of “maximum benefit” for dental caries prevention (0.55-0.84 mg F/L) in the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh years of the study were 82.0, 58.5, 37.4, 61.0, 89.9, 77.3, and 72.4%, respectively, and 69.0% for the entire period. Fluctuations of F levels were found in the public water supply in Bauru during the seven years of evaluation. These results suggest that external monitoring of water fluoridation by an independent assessor should be implemented in cities where there is adjusted fluoridation. This measure should be continued in order to verify that fluoride levels are suitable and, if not, to provide support for the appropriate adjustments