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This study explores the online users' behavioral intention to utilize the governments' websites and their electronic services. The research methodology validates the measuring items from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to better understand the participants' attitudes toward their performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social norms, facilitating condition and behavioral intention to use the electronic government (e-gov) services. The findings from the structural equations modeling approach reported a satisfactory fit for this study's research model. The results suggest that there were highly significant, direct effects from the UTAUT constructs, where the utilitarian motives predicted the online users' behavioral intentions to use e-gov. Moreover, there were significant moderating influences from the demographic variables, including age, gender and experiences that effected the individuals' usage of the governments' online services. In conclusion, this contribution identifies its limitations and suggests possible research avenues to academia. ; peer-reviewed

TPL, ; Electronic reproduction. ; Mode of access: Internet. ; 44

Mass media have often been described as the "new public space" of the current democratic societies (Ortega, 2003: 61). The increased popularity of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) is certainly motivating a change in the paradigm: according to the Society of Devisers, it is linked to the notion of collectiveness, it is demystified and fragmented. That is to say, it is taken out of the journalistic showcases and transformed into something alive, incomplete, accessible and multiple. The new society, fissured and emotionally hyperactive, is crossed by the mirror-neurons. This society of anonymous individuals gives public space triggering bursts of energy and enables, in the multidirectional map of devisers, its own central nervous system, although in close connection with the human body. In the next article of revision, the authors describe some of the characteristics which define the advent of that social emergence.

Democratic consolidation in the Philippines is stagnating despite the country having a vibrant civil society. A comparative exploration of three local chambers of commerce in the Visayas and Mindanao reveals that it is the advantages of non-confrontational stances toward government that keeps the chambers from contributing to democratic consolidation. It is apparent that working within the existing clientelistic structure of the informal system of interest intermediation is the most efficient way of achieving political goals, for publicly confrontational strategies, which may be most conducive to democratic consolidation, can actually take a heavy political and economic toll.

Neue Verfahren, neue Organisationen oder neue Formen des Denkens sind alles Arten der Innovation. Trotz einer beschleunigten Verstärkung des Aufwands für Bildung in Brasilien startend in 2005 sind soziale Innovationen nur in Form von Bildungsinitiativen von kommunitären und Nichtregierungs-Organisationen (NGO) weit über das Land verteilt. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, inwieweit Bildungsinnovationen in Brasilien auf diese Vernachlässigung durch den Staat reagieren und welche Akteure Innovationen auf lokaler Ebene unterstützen. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit wird dabei der Rolle der Lehrer in Sozialinnovationen gewidmet. Durch einen historischem Ansatz wird in dieser Arbeit die Beziehung von Sozialinnovationen und großen radikalen Umbrüchen, Sozialbewegungen und Reformen in Brasilien beobachtet. Durch Nutzung von Interviews und Fokusgruppen werden zwei Fallstudien in São Paulo analysiert: eine an einer Schule am Stadtrand und eine in einer NGO im Stadtzentrum. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass durch Innovationen neue Regeln und Verfahren eingeführt werden, die ein Subystem erzeugen, das die lokalen Machtverhältnisse verändert. Die NGO hat neue Verbindungen zwischen Schulen, privaten Akteuren, NGOs und der Kommunalverwaltung hergestellt und mit sozialen Netzwerken basierend auf Bildung und Kunst gearbeitet. die Schule hat ein neues Modell eingeführt bei dem Schule und Gemeinschaft zusammen die gemeinsamen Probleme von Unsicherheit und Bildung lösen. Sozialinnovationen umfassen die dringendsten Probleme in einer Gemeinschaft, die nicht auf ein Feld beschränkt sein müssen. Diese Forschung trägt zum besseren Verständnis von Sozialinnovationen, mit Fokus auf Brasilien, in den Sozialwissenschaften und in der Politikwissenschaft bei. ; New methods, new organizations or new forms of thinking are all forms of innovation. Despite the increased spending on education in Brazil from 2005 onwards, social innovations have only spread in the country in the form of community participation and non-governmental organization's initiatives for education. This study investigates to what extent innovations in education in Brazil respond to omissions on the part of the state and the drivers that foster innovation at a local level. Particular attention is devoted to the role of teachers in social innovation. Through a historical approach this study observes the relationship between social innovation and major radical changes, social movements and reforms in Brazil. Drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus groups, two case studies in São Paulo were analysed: one in a school in the urban periphery of the city and an NGO in the city centre. The findings suggest that innovations introduce new rules and practices, creating a subsystem which modifies local relations of power. The NGO established new relations between schools, private actors, NGOs and local government and worked with social networks through education and art. The school implemented a new model that brought the school and community together to solve common problems of insecurity and education. Social innovations embrace the most urgent needs in a community, which are not limited to one field. This research contributes to sociology and political science for a better understanding of social innovations and community participation, specifically in the Brazilian context.

Introduction. The article presents an analysis of North African society on the eve of Belisarius's campaign against the vandals in North Africa (533-534). The campaign directed by Justinian under the leadership of Belisarius aimed to return the territory of North Africa to the Roman Empire. Methods. The methodological basis of this work is the concept of the Late Antiquity, the core of which is studying the people's mentality, since the existing work on this issue focuses solely on socio-economic and political cause-and-effect relationships of the further confrontation between the Moorish and Roman tribes. Actually, the methods are the following: the historical-systemic method was the most important (an attempt to analyze the specifics of North African society on the eve of the war with the Vandals). Analysis. We divided North African society into three groups: the Vandals, the Libyans, the Moorish. The last two groups and their attitude towards the inclusion in the Roman Empire were of the greatest interest. Some of the tribes supported Justinian's idea of the Reconquista and fought against the Vandals. Some supported the vandals. Nomadic tribes remained neutral. In our opinion, supporting the military campaign against the Vandals was due not only to economic reasons, but also mental ones. Thus, the research interest was caused by the transition period but not only in relation to the "Late Roman - Early Byzantium" line, but also because the region was romanized (presence of Latin culture, including the language segment), then it was part of the Vandal kingdom, after that - part of the Roman Empire (synthesis of Greek and Latin culture, with the predominance of Greek one). Results. In the course of the campaign against the vandals, North African society was represented by several social groups: the Vandals, the Libyans and the Мооrish - tribes that have their own cultural characteristics. Some tribes, who were in the Romanized zone (before the arrival of the Vandals), were on the side of Belisarius and fought against the Vandals. With extreme caution, we can say that this was due not only to socio-economic or political reasons, but also to mental ones. In our opinion, Byzantine Africa was a synthesis of Latin and Greek with the prevalence of the latter, and the Romanized population still wanted to feel part of the Roman Empire. © 2019 Volgograd State University. All rights reserved.

The article analyzes the problems of a democratic society building and the development of people's factor in the narrative "The Deceived Stars by M. F. Akhundzadeh. In the article it is noted that most of literary scholars dealing with M. F.Akhunzadeh's narrative "The Deceived Stars" wrote that the author exposed the Eastern despotism in the example of Shah Abbas character, and created the character of a just ruler by the image of Yusif Sarraj. The work has been analyzed as the confrontation of despotism and justice in the example of these two persons so far. In the article one of the thoughts is that the analysis of the work in this context does not enable us to accurately define the author's main idea and clear up the causes that led Yusif Sarraj to defeat. The author wanted to point out from the standpoint of enlightenment that as long as people are politically passive or indifferent to their destiny, they will never be free. Yusif Sarraj who came to power without people's will suffers a defeat due to their indifference. M.F. Akhundzadeh's thoughts on people's government, active and educated people have been summarized in the article. It is noted that M. F. Akhundzadeh benefited from the doctrines of European philosophers, including J. Milton and J. S. Millin in the issues of building a democratic society.

The article formulates provisions that make it possible to realize that the problem of ensuring road safety still occupies one of the leading places in the socio-economic development of Russia, and its solution is among the priorities of state policy. The authors note that an effective mechanism for ensuring an appropriate level of road safety in modern society is the activity of promoting road safety, since this activity is part of a single set of measures aimed at reducing accidents.

It is estimated that, in the United States, around 20 percent of all police-reported road crashes involve driver distraction as a contributing factor. This figure increases if other forms of inattention are considered. Evidence (reviewed in this volume) suggests that the situation is similar in other countries and that driver distraction and inattention are even more dangerous as contributing factors in crashes than drug and alcohol intoxication. Having a solid evidence-base from which to develop injury countermeasures is a cornerstone of road-safety management. This book adds to the accumulating evidence-base on driver distraction and inattention. With 24 chapters by 52 authors from more than 10 countries, it provides important new perspectives on the definition and meaning of driver distraction and inattention, the mechanisms that characterize them, the measurement of their effects, strategies for mitigating their effects, and recommendations for further research. The goal of this book is to inspire further research and countermeasure development to prevent and mitigate the potentially adverse effects of driver distraction and driver inattention, and, in doing so, to save lives.

Recent years have witnessed the proliferation of urban experiments responding to low-carbon and sustainable transitions. There is a tendency of prioritizing the role of government interventions in transitions while neglecting the agency of other parties. This tendency is especially true in China, where an authoritarian governance dominates the transition process. The Rizhao case, however, exhibited a distinct bottom-up pattern in the early-stage development of solar water heater (SWH) technology, when both the civil society and the market were still immature. Through this rare case of urban energy transitions in China, this study looks into the sociotechnical experiments from the bottom-up. The study shows that before the intervention of local governments, a niche market of SWH technology was established and consolidated successfully in Rizhao through the mutual effects of both resident-led social experimentation and entrepreneur-led technological experimentation. The study further uncovers that in a less-developed civil society in China, the diffusion of novel innovations relied heavily on interpersonal social networks.

Der Band vereint 25 Beiträge für die Jahreskonferenz der "International Society for African Philosophy and Studies" (ISAPS) vom 1.-12.3.2000 in Nairobi. Die Beiträge werden unter fünf Abschnitten subsumiert: Unter "Approaches and methologies" geht es in sechs Artikeln um afrikanische Renaissance, Zivilisation, Anthropologie, Umweltethik, das Verhältnis von Europa, Asien und Afrika und die universalistische These. Im nächsten Abschnitt, "Problem of missionary and colonialist thinking", werden Afrikas Identität, eine mögliche südafrikanische Philosophietradition, der Einfluss von nicht-afrikanischer Philosophie und Religion auf das afrikanische Leben und die Rolle des Imperialismus in Ruanda thematisiert. Im Abschnitt "Gender and culture in Africa" geht es um feministische Philosophie, den Status von Frauen in den äthiopischen Philosophie-Literatur und schließlich um Initiations-Zeremonien und das moderne Bildungssystem in der Abagusii-Gemeinschaft in südwestlichen Kenia. Unter der Überschrift "Sage philosophy" geht es um die Rolle der Philosophie bei der friedlichen Konfliktlösung, um philosophische Weisheit in der Blues-Musik von W.C. Handy und um die Philosophie von Oginga Odinga. Im Abschnitt "Philosophy, ethics, and politics" befassen sich die Autoren mit der Frage, wie Philosophie soziale Probleme angehen kann, "Pragmatic vs. Ideological development in Africa", mit moralischer Ignoranz und Korruption, mit der Frage der Wohlstandsverteilung, mit Rassismus, Ethnizität und Nation-Building in Südafrika sowie mit der Theorie und Praxis der Demokratie in Afrika. (DÜI-Sbd)