Suchergebnisse

Even though throughout the years there has been a growth in the society's mindset concerning environmental and social issues, it is still a field with several gaps and which severely lacks legislation. Several studies have already showed that by increasing legislation, there may be an increase on the amount of the companies' environmental disclosures. Therefore, in order to regulate and increase the environmental disclosures in Europe, the European Union issued a Recommendation for its Member-States which was transposed to Portugal as an accounting standard – DC29 (Environmental Matters) - which should've been followed by the companies. The purpose of this research was to analyse how the environmental reporting practices have evolved in the Portuguese Public Transports sector, and whether it was influenced, or not, by the issuing of the DC29 Accounting Standard (And from 2010 onwards, the NCRF26). The public transports sector is currently one of the most pollutant sectors of the European Union. This thesis was based on content analysis of the Annual Accounts and Sustainability Reports of four of the biggest companies of the Portuguese Public Transports sector. Findings seemed to indicate that, even though the companies are not disclosing accordingly to the standard, the quantity of disclosure did increase, and the quality also evolved into more comparable, and more objective information. ; Apesar de ao longo dos últimos anos ter existido uma clara mudança de pensamento relacionada com aspectos ambientais e sociais, este é ainda um tema com várias falhas, sendo de realçar a falta de legislação. Vários estudos académicos mostraram uma relação entre o aumento da legislação existente e o da divulgação ambiental das empresas. Assim, de modo a regular e aumentar a divulgação ambiental na Europa, a União Europeia emitiu uma recomendação para os seus Estados-membros que foi transposta para Portugal na forma de Directriz Contabilística (DC 29 - Matérias Ambientais), que deveria ter sido seguida pelas empresas nas suas Demonstrações Financeiras. O objectivo desta tese é o de analisar o desenvolvimento das práticas de divulgação ambiental no sector dos transportes públicos, e se este foi ou não, influenciado pela publicação da DC 29, sendo que este é, neste momento, um dos sectores mais poluentes da União Europeia. Esta tese foi elaborada com base na análise de conteúdo dos Relatórios Anuais, de Contas e de Sustentabilidade, de quatro das maiores empresas portuguesas de Transportes Públicos. Os resultados revelaram que, apesar de as empresas não estarem a divulgar as suas matérias ambientais de acordo com o que está explícito na DC 29 (e a partir de 2010 na NCRF 26), a quantidade da divulgação de facto aumentou, a sua qualidade evoluiu positivamente e as partes interessadas passaram a ter acesso a uma informação mais comparável e mais objectiva.

Political realism is the major theoretic tradition in IR. But in contrast to the ever-gro­wing variety of realist theories, one meets growing difficulties while trying to define the realistic approach to international politics. Contemporary theorizing in the name of "realism" marks the retreat from the basic assumptions inherent to the original tra­dition. This process has its immanent logic and important implications, and therefore must be analysed on its own terms.The task of this paper is to reveal the relation between the core principles of the original tradition of realism and new theories of realism after the Cold War. In the first part, the works of historically most influential classical realists are examined. Careful analysis of the main descriptive and prescriptive elements in the theories of Thucydi­des, Machiavelli and Hobbes enables to reveal three common descriptive principles: (I) the object of realism is politics – the never-ending and diversiform struggle for power, rooted in man's will to power. (II) Political agents behave under Athenian thesis: power boosts their necessity to dominate. (III) Political outcomes are hardly predictable and eventually develop under the scenario of tragedy. The principles of pure realism deny the worth of abstract prescriptive reasoning. In the XXth century, these same principles were perfectly reflected in theories of Carr and Morgenthau. They both restored the old tradition and made it relevant in the age of "total" wars and nuclear weapons.In the second part, misconceptions of realism after the Cold War are analysed. It is shown that the shifts in content of contemporary realist theories are path-dependent and rooted in "Waltz paradox". The paradox led to three different modes of realist enterprise: (i) conservative reaction; (ii) "middle way"; and (iii) radical reaction. These stages purport the gradually increasing deviation from the original descriptive principles of realism. Conservative reaction is based on a false assumption that states can follow rational winning strategies. Middle-way "realists" (mis)treat the political struggle for power only as an outgrowth of specific circumstances. More and more of them follow the liberal agenda, trying to find and neutralise the "irrational factors", and thereby secure the rational (universally acceptable) political outcomes. Finally, radical reaction means reconstruction of realism as an entirely prescriptive discourse and moral guidelines for peaceful accommodation and liberal political order. The implications of these theoretical changes are exemplitied by discussing stan­dard "realistic" explanations of US foreign policy after the Cold War. It is shown that none of today's "realist" approaches is realistic enough to grasp the operation of the principles once known to realism. The findings of this research challenge the false truths about the relation between political realism, scientific IR enterprise and political practice.

This thesis consists of three separate, but interlinked chapters on national fiscal policy in a monetary union. Throughout, I employ new Keynesian models that are augmented by the introduction of overlapping generations of the Blanchard-Yaari type. The first chapter presents an analytically tractable two-country model of a currency union, which abstracts from distortions other than sticky prices in the goods market and failures of the Ricardian equivalence. Here, the government chooses a certain level of public spending. The government's options of financing its public spending are limited to public debt or taxation. I find that, depending on the financing decision of the government, fiscal policy measures can have very different effects on key macroeconomic variables. The spillovers of national fiscal policy depend on the composition of government spending, the type of the fiscal measure and the cross-country substitutability between goods. The second chapter restricts the attention to a new Keynesian closed economy model that features public as well as private investment. The government is in a position to employ either spending-side measures, i.e. cuts in public consumption, or improve public revenues in order to finance a temporary fiscal expansion. Both, the financing decision as well as possible failures of the Ricardian equivalence have a large impact on how fiscal measures affect key macroeconomic variables. The results suggest that a single deviation from the standard model, e.g. failures of the Ricardian equivalence, is not sufficient to reconcile theory and empirical evidence. The last chapter builds on these findings and develops the issue further by extending the model of chapter 2 to a two-country model of a currency union. I focus on fiscal measures that are frequently employed in practice. When assessing the impact of central components of the European Economic Recovery Plan on the economy of the implementing country, I look also at the implied spillovers. Finally, a brief summariy of some major results of the three chapters: Failures of the Ricardian equivalence enable theoretical models to yield predictions that are close to empirical evidence. However, this comes at the price of deviating from the Ricardian equivalence in a way which cannot be confirmed empirically. The introduction of a more complex fiscal sector and the assumption that fiscal policy is endogenous, allows for moving theoretical predictions closer to the empirical evidence without having to rely crucially on deviations from Ricardian behavior. My results suggest that focusing on distortions in intertemporal optimization is a too narrow approach to tackle with research questions related to the conduct and effects of fiscal policy in theoretical models.

Определены границы гражданского общества: теоретические посредством трех измерений понятия «гражданское общество», аналитические посредством концепции посредничества интересов, практические посредством концепции негативной и позитивной свободы на примере Центрально-Восточной Европы и Запада. Авторы приходят к выводу о существовании разных границ у организаций гражданского общества, действующих в демократических и преддемократических условиях. ; Civil society continues to be one of the central topics in modern social sciences and tends to become a popular subject of interdisciplinary research. But the theme is also important in political actuality of democratic states, that partly explains the wide range of public debates. The authors try to answer such controversial questions as: What do we understand by civil society? Can civil society be comprehended analytically? Where does civil society begin and end? In order to answer these and other questions they outline the theoretical, analytical and practical limits of civil society. The theoretical limits are set by the sum of philosophical, political and sociological dimensions of the civil society concept. According to the philosophical-normative concept, civil society is a perfect type of social order being settled in Modern time. In political practice the concept is being used as slogan of political movements and parties in their struggle for power, thereupon its meaning varies with political goals of individual groups. As analytical concept of social sciences civil society has three interpretations: institutional level of political sociology, phenomenon in the region of values and convictions, descriptive-analytical concept of political science being applied to all the collective citizen activities of public utility in private sector. The analytical limits are concluded from the concept of interest intermediation. Guided by U. Alemann's interest groups classification supplemented with a category of material and immaterial interests, the authors figure a four-sector model of interest intermediation. A nonpolitical, social sector of associations pursuing both material and immaterial interests is a civil society sector. The practical limits are exposed by analysis of civil society history carried out by means of negative and positive freedom concept applied to the Central-East European and Western countries. As the authors argue, the civil society history springs from the second half of the 19th century and is linked to the rise of bourgeoisie. Using the concept of negative and positive freedom, the authors analyze different progress of civil society in West and East. They conclude, that the limits of civil society organizations operating under democratic conditions are different from those operating under pre-democratic conditions. Organizations striving for negative freedom break down after having prevailed, while the limits of those enjoying positive freedom are defined by social interests in the pre-political area.

За последние годы в государственной политике России в области образования произошли существенные изменения относительно оценки места и роли гражданского образования и воспитания. Законодательно закрепляется новая концепция высшего образования, где акцент переносится с узкопрофессионального подхода к подготовке специалистов на многостороннее интеллектуально-духовное развитие личности обучающегося в соответствии с той возросшей ролью, которая уготована ей в современном обществе. В них образование определяется как единство обучения и воспитания, как процесс овладения правилами и нормами общепринятых отношений между индивидом и обществом. При этом целью гражданского образования выступает подготовка учащихся к ответственной и осмысленной жизни и деятельности в демократическом правовом государстве, гражданском обществе. Определение сущностных основ понятия «гражданственности» в современных научных исследованиях через соотношение с основными сферами личности поможет определить требования к гражданскому воспитанию, которые предполагается взять за основу построения модели гражданского воспитания в современном вузе. Автор приходит к выводу, что гражданственность будущего специалиста определяется тем, как он понимает свои права и свободы и умеет использовать их на практике; способен вести позитивный диалог с властью, другими гражданами; относится к своей деятельности с определенной оценкой, согласовывая интересы и потребности свои и общества, государства, страны. ; In recent years in a state policy of Russia in the field of education there were essential changes concerning an assessment of a place and a role of civic education and education. The new concept of the higher education is legislatively fixed, where the accent is transferred from the narrowly professional approach of the specialists training to multilateral intellectual and spiritual development of persons being trained according to that increased role, which is prepared for it in modern society. In them education is defined as unity of training and education, as process of mastering rules and norms of the standard relations between the individual and society. Thus the purpose of civil education is the preparation of pupils for responsible and comprehend life and activity in the democratic constitutional state, civil society. Definition of intrinsic bases of concept of "civilization" in modern scientific researches through a ratio with the main spheres of the personality will help to define requirements to civil education which it is supposed to take as a basis of creation of model of civil education in modern higher education institution. The author comes to a conclusion that civilization of future expert is defined by how he understands the rights and freedoms and is able to use them in practice; is capable to carry on a positive dialogue with the power, other citizens; treats the activity with a certain assessment, coordinating his own interests and the requirements and ones of societies, the states, the countries.

El objetivo de este artículo es presentar algunas reflexiones desde la perspectiva de la sociología del derecho y de género, sobre la discusión actual entre género, ciudadanía y derechos humanos tanto desde un punto de vista teórico como práctico. Los ejemplos son tomados de América Latina en general y, de manera especial, de los acontecimientos ocurridos recientemente en Argentina. El contexto del debate es resultado de la particular inserción del tema en el proceso de globalización y, consecuentemente, en las reestructuradas instituciones de un Estado Nación que ha cambiado incluso los conceptos básicos de soberanía, territorialidad, autoridad, producción de derechos y ciudadanía. Algunas de las preguntas de interés en esta investigación son las siguientes: ¿Cómo afecta el proceso de globalización a la función del Estado Nación y al concepto de ciudadanía desde una perspectiva de género en América Latina? ¿Cuál es la interrelación entre ciudadanía, género, clase y etnicidad? ¿Qué relación existe y ha existido entre el desarrollo de los derechos políticos, socioeconómicos y los derechos sexuales y reproductivos de las mujeres en el continente? El trabajo realiza un análisis cualitativo de las investigaciones desarrolladas por autores latinoamericanos, europeos y norteamericanos; también incorpora los estudios realizados por organismos internacionales (ONU), regionales (OEA) y organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONGs) de carácter nacional e internacional.English:The article examines the relationship between the concepts of gender, citizenship and human rights, both from a Sociology of Law and a gender perspective. It takes into account the various theoretical perspectives and the distinct established practises in Latin America, which involves the relation between theory and practice. It also brings some empirical cases from the region into examination, particularly from Argentina. The current framework in the discussion revolves around the existing process of globalisation and the transnational phenomena and how they influence the structure of the Nation-State. This includes legal and welfare institutions as well as the concept of national sovereignty, territorial authority, the production of law and the concept of national citizenship. A number of interesting questions in the investigation relates to how the current process of globalisation influences the role of the Nation-State and how the concept of citizenship in Latin America is seen from a gender perspective. What is the inter-relation between citizenship, gender, class and ethnicity? How has the interrelation and development between the political, the socio-economic and sexual/reproductive rights of women on the continent progressed from the past to the present? The study is based on a qualitative analysis from previous research in this field, by Latin-American, European and North-American writers, as well as, studies done by international and regional organizations, such as the UN, the OAS and international and national NGO.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht sprachspezifische Phänomene und Praktiken, die die Interaktanten im Mediengespräch als Mittel kommunikativer Strategien und der Selbstbilddarstellung verwenden. Im Mittelpunkt der Arbeit steht die Untersuchung sprachlicher Äußerungen, die im Fernsehinterview die Informationen über soziale Rollen und Selbstbilder der Gesprächspartner sowie deren Beziehungen zu anderen Kommunikationspartnern präsentieren. Die Arbeit hat zwei grundlegende Zielsetzungen. Erstens wurde die Aufgabe gestellt, die Kommunikationsstrategien im Fernsehinterview theoretisch zu erfassen und zu beschreiben. Hierfür wurde in der Arbeit die Einheit der kommunikativen Handlungsstrategie entwickelt und diese für die Analyse sprachlicher Äußerungen im Fernsehinterview im Hinblick auf handlungsspezifische und interaktive Merkmale des sprachlichen Handelns angewendet. Zweitens ging es darum, am Beispiel ausgewählter Kommunikationsstrategien zu zeigen, wie sprachliche Äußerungen als Mittel des kommunikationsstrategischen Handelns funktionieren und wie sie das Selbstbild der Interaktanten im politischen Mediendiskurs beeinflussen. Die Analysen von konkreten Interaktionsabläufen in den Fernsehinterviews haben gezeigt, dass die Auswahl und die Verwendung sprachlicher Äußerungen von Gesprächspartnern in verschiedenen Phasen des Interviews durch das Selbstbild und durch die kommunikative Strategie der Interaktanten beeinflusst werden. Da im Fernsehinterview im Unterschied zu anderen Textgattungen solche Strategien wie Forcieren, Dominanz und Durchsetzungsaktivitäten sowie die Präsentation des eigenen Image an Wichtigkeit gewinnen, werden von Gesprächspartnern direktive Sprechhandlungen, emotional geladene und metakommunikative Äußerungen bevorzugt. Besonderes Augenmerk wurde in der Arbeit auf die direktiven Strategien im Fernsehinterview gerichtet. Als empirische Basis für die Analysen wurden Gespräche aus deutschen Fernsehinterviews ausgewählt. Die Dissertation versteht sich als eine interdisziplinäre Untersuchung, die sich auf die Methoden der interaktionalen Linguistik, der Semiotik und der Medienwissenschaften stützt. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit sollten daher nicht nur einen wissenschaftlichen Beitrag zur medienlinguistischen und kommunikationswissenschaftlichen Forschung leisten, sondern auch in der Beratungsbranche und im Medienbetrieb Anwendung finden. ; The thesis deals with the language-specific phenomena used by the dialogue partners in media conversation as communicative strategies and means of the self-image representation in the media. The main focus is laid on the analysis of utterances in the television interview, which provide the information on the social roles and relations with other communication partners and their self-images. This study has two common objectives. First, it should be represented, which linguistic practices are available for using them by the interaction partners as means of communication strategies in the television interview. The second aim is to show the examples of selected communication strategies and the ways how they are related to the self-image of interview partners in the political media discourse. The analysis of the interaction in the television interviews has shown that selecting and using of the utterances by the interlocutors in various stages of the interviews depend on the self-image and the communication strategy of the dialogue partners. In the television interview in contrast to other types of text forcing strategies, dominance and enforcement activities and the presentation of the own image of the speaker are gaining in importance increasingly. Therefore, directive speech acts, emotionally loaded utterances and meta-communication are preferred by the dialogue partners. Special attention in the thesis was paid to the directive strategy in the television interview. As an empirical basis for the analysis were selected German television interviews. The thesis is intended as an interdisciplinary study, based on the methods of interactional linguistics, semiotics and media studies. The results of the study is not only an important contribution to linguistics and media – and communication science research, but also could be applied in the consulting and media industry.

Previously called ward sister because the activity is widely feminine and marked by the presence of nuns to this post, the nurse managers exercise an activity that exists in hospitals from their origin: the organization and supervision of care services. They can also practice in nurses' schools as master trainers. However, the missions and the status of these supervisors evolved a lot, because of medical advances and technology of care activity that generate an increasing specialization of tasks, but also political and organizational changes. If all nurse managers were first worked as a "caregiver", they are now carrying out duties related primarily to management. In addition, they must be trained in an executive's school for a year and now belong to a unified category which comprises three sectors, together twelve allied trades. Nurse managers are currently still in France from the health paramedical care, care remains the heart of their business. We analyze in this research what is played in the passage of a trade to a nursing management function in construction skills. It is indeed moving from a culture where priority is the patient to a manager posture, accountant of a balanced budget-related activity. We wonder especially how "caregivers" acquire executive's skills. ; Auparavant appelés surveillants, ou plutôt surveillantes puisque l'activité est largement féminine, les cadres de santé exercent une activité qui existe dans les établissements hospitaliers depuis leur origine : l'organisation et la supervision des services de soin. Ils peuvent également exercer dans les Ecoles d'infirmières (IFSI) en tant que cadres formateurs. Cependant, les missions et le statut de ces surveillants ont beaucoup évolué. En effet, les progrès médicaux et techniques de l'activité de soin ont engendré une spécialisation croissante des tâches, mais aussi des changements politiques et organisationnels. Si tous les cadres de santé ont d'abord exercé le métier de soignant, ils effectuent aujourd'hui des tâches relevant avant tout de la gestion et du management. De plus, ils doivent suivre une formation dans une école de cadres pendant un an et appartiennent désormais à un corps unifié qui comprend trois filières, rassemblant douze métiers paramédicaux. Les cadres de santé sont pour l'instant en France toujours issus de la filière soignante paramédicale, le soin restant leur coeur de métier. Nous analysons dans cette recherche ce qui se joue dans ce passage d'un métier soignant à une fonction d'encadrement dans la construction des compétences. Il s'agit en effet de passer d'une culture où la priorité absolue est celle du patient à une posture de gestionnaire, comptable de l'équilibre budgétaire lié à l'activité. Nous nous demandons surtout comment ces soignants acquièrent des compétences d'encadrement.

Previously called ward sister because the activity is widely feminine and marked by the presence of nuns to this post, the nurse managers exercise an activity that exists in hospitals from their origin: the organization and supervision of care services. They can also practice in nurses' schools as master trainers. However, the missions and the status of these supervisors evolved a lot, because of medical advances and technology of care activity that generate an increasing specialization of tasks, but also political and organizational changes. If all nurse managers were first worked as a "caregiver", they are now carrying out duties related primarily to management. In addition, they must be trained in an executive's school for a year and now belong to a unified category which comprises three sectors, together twelve allied trades. Nurse managers are currently still in France from the health paramedical care, care remains the heart of their business. We analyze in this research what is played in the passage of a trade to a nursing management function in construction skills. It is indeed moving from a culture where priority is the patient to a manager posture, accountant of a balanced budget-related activity. We wonder especially how "caregivers" acquire executive's skills. ; Auparavant appelés surveillants, ou plutôt surveillantes puisque l'activité est largement féminine, les cadres de santé exercent une activité qui existe dans les établissements hospitaliers depuis leur origine : l'organisation et la supervision des services de soin. Ils peuvent également exercer dans les Ecoles d'infirmières (IFSI) en tant que cadres formateurs. Cependant, les missions et le statut de ces surveillants ont beaucoup évolué. En effet, les progrès médicaux et techniques de l'activité de soin ont engendré une spécialisation croissante des tâches, mais aussi des changements politiques et organisationnels. Si tous les cadres de santé ont d'abord exercé le métier de soignant, ils effectuent aujourd'hui des tâches relevant avant tout de la gestion et du management. De plus, ils doivent suivre une formation dans une école de cadres pendant un an et appartiennent désormais à un corps unifié qui comprend trois filières, rassemblant douze métiers paramédicaux. Les cadres de santé sont pour l'instant en France toujours issus de la filière soignante paramédicale, le soin restant leur coeur de métier. Nous analysons dans cette recherche ce qui se joue dans ce passage d'un métier soignant à une fonction d'encadrement dans la construction des compétences. Il s'agit en effet de passer d'une culture où la priorité absolue est celle du patient à une posture de gestionnaire, comptable de l'équilibre budgétaire lié à l'activité. Nous nous demandons surtout comment ces soignants acquièrent des compétences d'encadrement.

The United Nations (UN) development system is well established and ubiquitous in the global development system. Its functions range from providing a forum for dialogue, decision- making and norm-setting, to research, advocacy, technical assistance and humanitarian aid. The UN's universality and neutrality, its broad mandate, and its embodiment of a rulebased international system are assets that the world will need even more in times of multiple global crises. However, the UN development system is in need of thorough reform. It currently punches below its weight. What reform options are on the table? Reform options include the radical merger of agencies, or the more incremental building of a unified country presence (Delivering as One Initiative). Some argue that the UN should gain clout visà-vis the Bretton Woods Institutions. Others argue that it should confine itself to niche areas (such as fragile countries)where it can perform better than other actors considered less legitimate and neutral. How do key stakeholders position themselves? Negotiations remain mostly trapped in the traditional North-South conflict in spite of evidence that the divide no longer reflects global power structures. Western donors push for a rationalised UN with greater focus, efficiency, and development effectiveness. Developing countries perceive this as an attempt to further marginalize the UN in questions of economic development. Current reform dynamics The most recent round of reform negotiations showed that the time is not yet ripe for a consensus on fundamental reforms. But more incremental reforms gained approval and have led to improvements. UN agencies are becoming more results-oriented, working more closely together and harmonising their business practices. The Delivering as One pilot initiative shows promise. What lies ahead? Incremental reforms have their merits. There is real room for improvement if governments act more coherently across governing bodies and make UN agencies deliver better results more efficiently. But there are limits to what can be achieved. Governments should begin to strategically build the basis for a more fundamental reform of the UN and its development system. New multilateralist reform coalition Political leadership is necessary to overcome the North-South divide at the UN. A new multilateralist reform coalition is called for. The Global Governance Group, initially formed to demand a more inclusive G-20 process, might become its nucleus. But not only small states should rediscover the merits of the UN which – however imperfect – stands for an international system based on the rule of law. The key to success or failure will be the attitude of emerging powers in the UN. Currently the potential of the UN and its development system is hardly tapped. Governments should prepare to change that.

Since 2005, the Government of the United States of America has provided more than US$ 50 million to advance influenza vaccine development in low-resourced countries. This programme has provided a unique opportunity for the US Government to develop a comprehensive view of, and to understand better the challenges and future needs for influenza vaccines in the developing world. The funding for this programme has been primarily through a cooperative agreement with the World Health Organization (WHO) to support directly its capacity-building grants to government-owned or -supported vaccine manufacturers in developing countries. A second cooperative agreement with the Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH) was initiated to accelerate the completion of a current Good Manufacturing Practice cGMP production facility, along with supporting facilities to obtain a reliable source of eggs, and to conduct clinical trials of influenza vaccine manufactured in Vietnam. This mechanism of utilizing cooperative agreements to support capacity-building for vaccine development in low-resourced settings has been novel and unique and has yielded fruitful returns on minimal investment. The information derived from this programme helps to clarify not only the development challenges for influenza vaccines and how the United States may assist in meeting those challenges, but also other vaccine development issues common to manufacturers in developing countries. While building the initial capacity to produce influenza vaccines can be a straightforward exercise, the sustainability of the enterprise and expansion of subsequent markets will be the key to future usefulness. There is hope for expansion of the global influenza vaccine market. Ongoing burden of disease studies are elucidating the impact of influenza infections, particularly in children, and more countries will take note and respond accordingly, since respiratory diseases are now the number one killer of children under five years of age. In addition to achievements described in this issue of Vaccine, the programme has been successful from the US perspective because the working relationships established between the US Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and its partners have assisted in advancing influenza vaccine development at many different levels. A few examples of BARDA's support include: establishment of egg-based influenza vaccine production from "scratch", enhancement of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) production techniques and infrastructure, completion of fill/finish operations for imported bulk vaccine, and training in advanced bio-manufacturing techniques. These HHS-supported programmes have been well-received internationally, and we and our partners hope the successes will stimulate even more interest within the international community in maximizing global production levels for influenza vaccines.

This research paper describes the political and social conditions that surround the emergence of the Tuning project in Europe, its scope, perspectives and actions with regard to the consensus in higher education mediated by the Bologna Declaration, as well as its appropriation for Latin American practices and their effects. This study uses history as a case study, analyzing the set of skills that the Tuning project promotes, and the various forms that have been installed, through statistical studies in various programs and faculties, in Latin American and Colombian universities. The article intends to raise a critique of the concept of curricular convergence proposed and implemented by this project. ; Describe las condiciones políticas y sociales de la emergencia del proyecto Tuning en Europa, sus alcances, perspectivas y acciones a propósito del consenso en educación superior mediado por la declaración de Bolonia, muestra la apropiación de éste para América Latina, sus efectos y prácticas, y el conjunto de competencias que promueve Tuning y las diversas formas que se han ido instalando en las universidades latinoamericanas y colombianas, a través de estudios estadísticos en diversos programas y facultades. Utiliza como caso de estudio los programas de historia. El artículo pretende plantear una crítica al concepto de convergencia curricular propuesto e implementado por el proyecto ; L'article décrit les conditions politiques et sociales de l'émergence du projet Tunning en Europe, ses atteints, perspectives et actions, à propos du consensus en éducation supérieure, par l'entremise de la déclaration de Bologne. De la même manière, on montre l'appropriation de ce projet-là pour l'Amérique Latine, ses effets et ses pratiques. Dans le même sens, on analyse l'ensemble de compétences promues par Tunning et les diverses formes qui se sont installées dans les universités latino-américaines et colombiennes, à travers des études statistiques en diverses programmes et facultés. Les programmes d'histoire sont pris comme cas d'étude. L'article a la prétention de poser une critique au concept de convergence proposé et implémenté par le projet. ; O texto descreve as condições políticas e sociais do nascimento do Projeto Tunning na Europa, seus alcances perspectivas e ações baseadas no consenso em educação superior, segundo a declaração de Bologna. Além disso, mostra a apropriação dele para a América Latina, seus efeitos e práticas. Analisa o conjunto de competências que promove Tunning e as diversas formas que se têm instalado nas universidades latino-americanas e colombianas, a traves de estudos estatísticos em programas e faculdades. Utilizam-se como caso de estudo os programas de história. O artigo faz uma crítica ao conceito de convergência curricular proposto e praticado no Projeto.

This paper is based on a pilot audience reception study using focus group research in an African context. We aimed to explore how Cameroonian women respond to, and interpret Sisters in Law (Florence Ayisi & Kim Longinotto, 2005), and thus establish the kinds of meanings and debates generated in the process of actively watching and discussing a documentary film within a specific socio-cultural context. Sisters in Law was funded by Channel 4 Television and has been distributed and exhibited widely around the world in festivals, cinemas and on broadcast television. Within the wider context of the life cycle of a film text (production – exhibition – reception), our study focuses on the premise that the way audiences interpret a film is directly related to the film text itself. Consequently, this paper will evaluate the responses of the individual focus groups in relation to how film language generates and conveys meaning, and also take in consideration the demographic background of the respective groups. This neo-pragmatic perspective within film hermeneutics ascertains a degree of "textual facticity rather than infinite elasticity or malleability," (King, 1998) and acknowledges the importance of the audience's background, as well as the form and aesthetics of audio-visual representation. Thus, our study will encompass close readings of the film, considering notions of narrative structuring, character identification and phenomenology. In addition, our paper politicises the study of audience reception and places it into a post-colonial and transnational context. Given that this documentary was not targeted to the local (Cameroonian) market, our study aims to also explore how the indigenous audience understands a transnational representation of their own society. This objective is situated within the wider discourse of decolonization of culture, and also what Mahoso (2000) calls a "valuable opportunity that allows the postcolonial 'silent audiences' to explore their own consciousness, their own memory, their own space". Therefore, the wider scope of this reception study is to establish Cameroonian women as cultural readers, and to find out what kinds of debates, dialogues and meanings are generated from their experiences of actively watching a non-fiction film that reflects 'real' issues, people and places that they can connect with in relation to identity, gender and religion. The results sketch a portrait of differing reactions, views and interpretations based on the different socio-cultural and economic backgrounds of the respondents. The conclusions will be expanded to a media-political sphere where we argue that Ideological State Apparatuses (Althusser, 1970) need to embrace more self-reflexive and pluralistic practices, whereby the representation of African women and culture becomes a conscious ideological discourse.

The goal of my research is to explore ways to improve the welfare of populations that are targeted by public programs. In particular, my thesis consists of three chapters on health insurance and education. The first chapter looks at Medicaid take-up decisions among poor children. Medicaid is public health insurance that is available to low income individuals, and it is provided freely by the government. However, there is a puzzling observation that many low-income children are uninsured despite their eligibility for Medicaid. As one possible explanation, I propose that the low level of access to health care that Medicaid provides can explain incomplete take-up. Existing literature suggests that the low level of Medicaid fee payments to physicians reduces their willingness to see Medicaid patients, creating an access- to-care problem for these patients. Using variation in the timing of the changes in Medicaid payments across states, I find that improving Medicaid generosity increases the take-up rate and reduces the uninsured rate among poor children. These findings provide a partial explanation for why Medicaid-eligible children in poverty remain uninsured. While my first chapter focuses on traditional means-tested public health insurance which targets mainly low income families, the second chapter explores the issues with a more recent intervention that extends beyond low income families. In recent years, several states have allowed young adults as old as 30 to remain covered under their parents' employer-provided health insurance. For those who qualify for these benefits, the expansion of parental coverage partially reduces the value of being employed by a firm that provides health insurance since adult children can now get health insurance through another channel. We employ quasi-experimental variation in the timing and generosity of states' eligibility rules to identify the effect of the policy change on young adults' labor market choices. Our results suggest that the expansion of parental coverage increases the group coverage rate and reduces labor supply among young adults, particularly in full-time employment. The third chapter analyzes the effect of educational tracking by decomposing it into the separate roles of peer effects and coursework. The practice of tracking often results not only in grouping students by different ability, but also in providing different types of coursework for students. For instance, the advanced track may have both higher achieving peers and higher level coursework. Using detailed panel data from the San Diego Unified School district, I find that having high achieving peer is beneficial, while I do not find convincing evidence that taking more advanced math coursework predicts student's test score

Using qualitative in-depth interviews with daughters-in-law, my dissertation engages a feminist analysis of gender and power dynamics in Taiwanese, Chinese American, and Mexican American families. A primary theoretical objective is to "research against cultural essentialism" as reflected in a tendency to view racial/ethnic minority families as homogeneous and without internal variation, thus reducing racial/ethnic family dynamics to ethnic values and ideals. This study challenges cultural essentialist assumptions that predominate in the family literature by identifying similarities among three groups, as well as variations within each group. Further, I consider how socio-structural factors account for between-group similarities and within-group variations. Chapter 1 interrogates how cultural values of filial piety inform Chinese American daughters-in-law's understanding of their relationship and power dynamics with immigrant Chinese American mothers-in-law. Ideals of filial respect accord limited authority to mothers-in-law who engage other mechanisms of power, such as their domestic expertise. Many respondents covertly resist by feigning compliance in the presence of their mother-in-law but disobeying in her absence. These findings suggest scholars should not assume Asian cultural ideals dictate actual family practices, or that ritualistic displays of deference indicate powerlessness.In chapter 2, I explore the stereotypes and ideologies daughters-in-law utilize in understanding and giving meaning to their relationships with their mother-in-law. Many women draw on the ideology of "intensive mothering" and "feminization of love" to describe their ideal of a good mother-in-law and utilize these ideologies to evaluate their mother-in-law. They frequently use their relationship with their mother as a "contrast structure" to explain that with their mother-in-law. I explore the implications of this comparison and how it can contribute to disappointments in the relationships of daughters- and mothers-in-law. I also explore how drawing on stereotypes and unrealistic expectation of the mother-in-law can exacerbate negative family relationships.Chapter 3 examines family power dynamics from the perspectives of Chinese American and Mexican American daughters-in-law. Findings indicate that childrearing is the most conflictual area for women and their mothers-in-law. When mothers-in-law offer unsolicited advice, some women interpret that as criticism. Many women want to change their mother-in-law's childcare methods; however, many feel they do not have the power to make such demands, especially those who rely on their mother-in-law for childcare. Spousal support is an important resource for women as some rely on their husband's authority to negotiate with their mother-in-law. Finally, despite possible conflicts, some women identify their mother-in-law as a source of support when she is perceived as willing to understand and help them work through marital problems.