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Further development of state adminstration and local government reforms is connected with the use ofsuch issues and principles as decentralisation and deconcentration of public administration, separation ofstrategy from the provision of services, diminishing the gap between democracy and efficiency, enhancingthe citizens participation and mutual trust of citizens in government and vice versa, creation of "entrepreneural"governments, principle of evaluation, reducing bureaucracy and increasing the openness,principle of diversity and possibility of choice, principle of simplifications, improving the quality of publicservice improving the political and administrative culture and integration of various institutions, reformsand activities in the context of the EU.The model of integration has been worked out by the Department of Public Administration of the Universityof Latvia and the Latvian Statistical Institute. The novelty of the model is that it proposes both verticaland horizontal communications of different institutions and people in the process of implementationof public administration reforms, local governance, national development planning and regional policy,beginning from the European Commission and ending with the citizens.

The methods and tools, essence and nature of external information-psychological influence on individualsand their groups are analyzed and presented in this article, associating the possibilities of their applicationwith the manifestation of peculiarities of human psychology and psyche, analyzing possible subsequencesof this influence both on the individuals, their groups, and political processes running in the society. Thepaper seeks to reduce some uncertainty coming both from many political processes, methods and tools ofinformation – psychological influence and their possible impact on the society development. The articletends to highlight potential threats and subsequences, which can be provoked by uncontrolled andirresponsible use of information – psychological influence methods, affecting human psyche in subconsciousnessstate, thus not giving any real possibilities to protect from that kind of influence.

All the sciences and even philosophical, ethic thinking and also practice are grounded by so called "line -thinking", which is efective in only limited sphere and time as synergetic paradigmus born in the 20 century. Unfortunatelypropositions under "line thinking" influence gave miserable results as much in politics as in government.The article shortly deals with some paradoxical synergetic confirmities (regularities) and the first observed resultsand chances of their using in the prevention of crimes, goverment in connection with the problem of theory andpractice. It is suggested to change "strategic planing" conception into "strategic thinking" concept which joins theoryand practice most effectively. In conclusion, connect of theory and practice are visible in teleonomy of emergeticevolution of social processes which are expressed namely by "strategic thinking" as intentionality obeyed to thesame synergetic laws.

Bericht vom letzten "EOSCpilot Stakeholders Forum", 21. und 22. November 2018 im Austria Center in Wien. Einen Tag vor dem Launch der "European Open Science Cloud" (EOSC) unter österreichischer EU-Ratspräsidentschaft wurde hier vorgestellt, wie weit die Initiativen zur Implementierung dieses ambitionierten Projekts schon gekommen sind. Präsentationen zu Governance und technischer Umsetzung wechselten mit Diskussionen über noch ungeklärte oder unfertige Themen ab und gaben einen Vorgeschmack darauf, wie die ab jetzt "Stakeholders Forum" genannte Veranstaltung zukünftig über die Weiterentwicklung der EOSC mitbestimmen wird. ; Report from the last "EOSCpilot Stakeholders Forum", 21st and 22nd November 2018 at the Austria Center in Vienna. One day before the launch of the "European Open Science Cloud" (EOSC) under the Austrian EU Council Presidency, this event presented how far the initiatives for implementing this ambitious project have come. Presentations on governance and technical implementation alternated with discussions on unresolved or unfinished topics and gave a foretaste of how meetings like this, now called "Stakeholders Forum", will in future be instrumental in defining the further development of the EOSC.

This paper addresses concerns with authenticity claims that surround mental illness and author identity in fanfiction. I will apply the critiques surrounding representation in media (see Mitchell and Snyder, 2001; Couser 2003, 2009) found in disability studies and fandom studies (see Jenkins 2012) to fanfiction. In this paper, I analyze two pieces of fanfiction which focus on Thorin II also known as Thorin Oakenshield, a character from J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit novel and Peter Jackson's film adaptations. I explore how in these texts the authors portray mental illness through their characterization of Thorin II. How the author's actual or perceived personal mental health status may impact their writing, and readers' responses to their writing, is explored through the lenses of identity politics (see Calhoun, 1994) and authenticity (Couser, 2009; van Dijk, 1989). In the context of disability and fandom studies, these fanfictions act as examples of a) combination fictional/ autobiographical writings which work to provide what the authors' perceive as accurate portrayals of mental illness, and b) how the author's mental health status impacts the perceived credibility of their work.

Road surface monitoring is a key factor to providing smooth and safe road infrastructure to road users. The key to road surface condition monitoring is to detect road surface anomalies, such as potholes, cracks, and bumps, which affect driving comfort and on-road safety. Road surface anomaly detection is a widely studied problem. Recently, smartphone-based sensing has become increasingly popular with the increased amount of available embedded smartphone sensors. Using smartphones to detect road surface anomalies could change the way government agencies monitor and plan for road maintenance. However, current smartphone sensors operate at a low frequency, and undersampled sensor signals cause low detection accuracy. In this study, current approaches for using smartphones for road surface anomaly detection are reviewed and compared. In addition, further opportunities for research using smartphones in road surface anomaly detection are highlighted. ; Sattar, S., Li, S., & Chapman, M. (2018). Road surface monitoring using smartphone sensors: A review. Sensors, 18(11), 3845 ; (This article belongs to the Section Intelligent Sensors)

This paper is part of a larger project investigating the relative roles of ideology and gender composition in determining organizational structure and behavior. The project's genesis arose from a study by Meinhard and Foster (2003) that found that Canadian women's voluntary organizations (WVOs) differed from gender-neutral and men's organizations on many different measures. Women's organizations were less likely to adopt a business orientation or pursue new revenue strategies, but were more likely to collaborate with other organizations and more likely to downsize. They also tended to be more pessimistic in their outlook and engaged in more advocacy and political action. Meinhard and Foster (2003) also found that among women's organizations, those that were members of the Canadian National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), an umbrella organization for feminist groups, were more extreme in their differences. In other words, although both NAC and non-NAC organizations differed significantly from gender-neutral organizations, NAC organizations differed the most. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation: ; Meinhard, A., Schwartz, S. & Handy, F. (2009). Mission (Im)possible? Determining Organizational Ideology by Examining Mission Statements (Working Paper Series Volume 2009 (1)). Toronto: Ted Rogers School of Management, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Ryerson University.

The voluntary sector has long been seen as the foundation of a healthy civil society (DeTocqueville, 1961; Leonard & Onyx, 2003). Yet, substantial growth in the last two decades in demand for voluntary sector services in Canada has been accompanied by a significant reduction in government resources supporting the sector's activities (Browne, 1996). This confluence of demand growth and decreased governmental support has resulted in increased competition among voluntary organizations for both capital and human resources (Meinhard & Foster, 2000). Furthermore, the ethnic transformation of Canadian society has raised knowledge, policy and practical issues across all sectors, including the voluntary sector. These conditions have pushed many in the voluntary sector to reach beyond their traditional bases of support to consider hitherto untapped segments of society, and have pushed governments to rely more and more on the voluntary sector for the development of social integration. However, research on the Canadian voluntary sector, particularly with a cross-cultural lens, is a relatively new research domain, with many gaps in the knowledge base. As a starting point, Berger (2004) and Berger & Azaria (2004) have proposed, tested and supported a framework that traces the relationship between sub-group identity and volunteering, as mediated by attitudes, norms and social barriers. In this paper we extend this framework and consider the role of civic engagement in processes of social cohesion and social integration. We use the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) to investigate how engagement in the voluntary sector contributes to the development of both bonding and bridging social cohesion, and thereby, social integration. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation: ; Berger, I., Foster, M. & Meinhard, A. (2005). Civic engagement, social cohesion and social integration in Toronto, Canada (Working Paper Series Volume 2005 (4)). Toronto: Ted Rogers School of Management, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Ryerson University.

This paper brings together findings from three separate investigations to provide a deeper understanding of the changing roles of the government, for-profit and nonprofit sectors in ensuring civil society. The first study, based on a survey of 645 nonprofit organizations from across Canada, revealed a nonprofit sector changing to meet the challenges of the times, despite a general pessimism among leaders of nonprofit organizations as to their future (Meinhard & Foster, 2003a & b). The second, based on interviews with 20 Government of Ontario officials with links to the nonprofit sector, demonstrated how civil servants struggled to help nonprofit organizations adjust to the new policies and also encouraged them to form partnerships with the for-profit sector (Meinhard & Foster, 2003c). The research reported in this paper, based on interviews with 17 senior officers of Ontario-based corporations active in philanthropy, focuses on the corporations and probes more deeply in to the myriad of ways they are getting involved in their communities as socially responsible corporate citizens.The findings from the corporate interviews are compared and melded with those from previous interviews with government officials and nonprofit organizations to provide a three-dimensional perspective of the direction in which Canadian civil society may be moving. Keywords: CVSS, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Working Paper Series,TRSM, Ted Rogers School of Management Citation: ; Meinhard, A., Foster, M. & Berger, I. (2005). Closing the loop: corporate links to the voluntary sector (Working Paper Series Volume 2005 (3)). Toronto: Ted Rogers School of Management, Centre for Voluntary Sector Studies, Ryerson University.

Emphasizing that e. government is becoming one of the attributes of globalization andmultilevel governance is influencing its development, the article analyses the initiatives of theEuropean Union (EU), European Commission (EC) and the Division for Public Administrationand Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and SocialAffairs, witch can be used for generalization of e. government development achievements and serveas a tool for its further development. The importance of the European Commission's strategicdocuments on information society development and periodically prepared studies on e. servicesin the European Union countries for e. government regional development is underlined. It is statedthat the United Nations reports on e. government development are an effective tool for globalcoordination of this development and they can help governments of different countries to determinee. government development trends and to take into account the good practices of other countries.

Nowadays global competition could be seen not only in corporate level, but also is exists among nations. Competition among nations is in following sectors – foreign investment, export and tourism. As there is competition between nations, regions and cities (as it is among corporations) there will be always need for methods to increase subject's competitiveness – this can be defined as a Competitive Identity (Porter 1998). Term Competitive Identity is used as broader expression of brand management for Nations, Cities and Regions. Higher marketing effort is needed for developing (emerging) nations, and nations without resources (natural or man made) representing absolute advantages. Nation branding has emerged relatively recently as an important field in the domain of international marketing. Anholt 2007 states marketing quality depends on all the national stakeholders (virtually society – people) working together in creating competitive identity. Media could be involved only after all the stakeholders speak one language about their country. Communication can't substitute positive change; it can only help change to happen faster. Latvian authorities too often start from the least efficient – communication. According to Nation Brands Index (NBI) and City Brand Barometer, Latvia and its capital Riga, shares one of the last places – 35 to 40th (depending on research type and year) place from forty among other nations and cities around the World.After regaining independence and collapse of almost all the industry, there was little left for positioning Latvia as a nation, so fanning for ice hockey was spontaneous and very convenient way for local people to speak common language about their nation. So the state became branded without any positioning effort, by people themselves. The message to the outside world was; ''we are small nation risen from the rubble, but we can be part of worlds elite either as players or also as supporters.'' In fact Latvian ice Hockey is among World's elite nations fluctuating between 7th and ...

After the Third Division of Lithuanian and Polish states almost the entire territory of the Lithuanian GreatKingdom was incorporated into the Russian Empire (except Uznemune that was devolved to Prussia). Lithuaniahas lost its lineament as a political society, therefore the citizens were alienated from the Western traditionof administration and law. After annexing Lithuania, Russia has initiated the reorganization of the administrative-territorial distribution of the occupied country as well as rehashing the former and creating the new administrativeinstitutions. While ruining the previous governance system the deployment of autocratic-centralizedmodel of state administration and law was started.

The article examines the post-communist Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Polish parliamentary elitesand their relations with the Soviet regime. Two dimensions of these relations are highlighted: retrospectively,negative political experience in the former political regime (membership in the CommunistParty and the nomenklatura) and positive credentials of being involved in the dissident movement. Thestudy is guided by hypotheses underlying revolutionary nature of post-communist transition and stressingachievements of the electoral politics, market reforms and liberal mass media. Research shows differentshares of ex-communist activists and ex-dissidents, as well as their asynchronous changes in the postcommunistparliamentary elites. Variations are related to different meta-histories of the nomenklaturas, thecommunist parties and dissident movement in the country cases and recent experiences of democratization.

The new case of transformations in the Baltic region and in the European Union in general, as well asthe unified social, economic and technological space formation processes in the Baltic region are describedand analysed. These processes are comprehended as an important factor of further social, economic andtechnological modernization in the Baltic countries, as an precondition for more intensive and active integrationof Baltic economic systems into the European and global economic and technological structures, aswell as an knowledge based society and knowledge economy creation factor.The arguments determining the idea of the Baltic region community and unity, as well as opposingarguments are evaluated. The main principles of integration in the Baltic region, as well as the possibleintegration strategies are analysed. The unified social, economic and technological space in the Balticregion as an research area is described.Raktaþodþiai: integracija, transformacijos, vieninga socialinë, ekonominë,technologijø raidos erdvë,Baltijos regionas