Suchergebnisse

This study explains the way in which six African writers depict and denounce postcolonial violence in Africa in the period 1990 – 2000. In particular, it shows how the narrative strategies used by these novelists support the expression of this violence. The analysis shows that the entire mechanics of fictional writing operate to this end: the theme of violence is built up following a continuous and linear progression of the thematic sub-units which make up the central axis of this violence; the distribution of the narrative roles is directed in relation to the categorization of the characters; the latter are characterized according to specific modalities which are most often borrowed from the traditional African narrative, which assimilates them (especially those wielding power) to monsters or ferocious beings; space and time are designed and described as proper actors in the distribution process of this violence; the narrative system whose variations tend to match, translate and authenticate the violence thus represented; many other narrative and rhetorical processes are used to amplify the tragic and beyond that the satirical tone of the texts analyzed. The entire narrative mechanics contrive to make perceivable the violence which Man inflicts on the world described. Postcolonial African society, which the fictional world portrays, is described here like the jungle: those wielding power (those who inflict violence) are like monsters or ferocious beasts and the people are their prey. The indictment made against this world of excessive violence makes the analyzed texts sound like a cry: a cry of distress and anger, but also, ultimately, a cry for freedom, peace and food, in short, happiness for all. However, the analysis also shows that this writing about violence, gives rise to a violent style of writing, as close attention is paid to the question of form, and thus to the aesthetic dimension of the works studied. This thesis is original in that it illustrates in a detailed and convincing way the link between the representation of violence and the search for artistic beauty through formal strategies developed by the authors of the corpus. Such work has not always been done, or has not been done enough, in most previous studies on the subject. By stating that the introduction of the political element (in this case, violence) in the novel can be combined with the search for beauty, which means that expressing the cry does not exclude the quest for beauty, this study makes it possible to take a stance in the debate on the commitment of African writers. It tends to denounce and qualify the argument of inhibited creative activity held by the defenders of the world literature against the grafting of history on to the works, and thus against the concept of commitment. Moreover, it includes fiction writing by the authors considered in the dynamics of the aesthetic renewal which began in the previous decades (before 1990). It also confirms the topicality of the concept of commitment in African literature from the dual political (description of the immediate reality) and literary point of view (quest for the aesthetics of efficiency). In this respect, this study could serve as a benchmark for research into the perspective of literary history, particularly when considering the question of writing and commitment in the Congolese novel between 1990 and 2000. As regards this same question and period, it could even serve to illustrate the situation of African novels written in French in the whole of the black continent. ; Cette étude rend compte de la manière dont six écrivains africains représentent et dénoncent la violence postcoloniale en Afrique au cours des années 1990 à 2000. Elle montre notamment comment les stratégies narratives mises en œuvre par ces romanciers soutiennent l'expression de cette violence. L'analyse relève que toute la mécanique de l'écriture romanesque fonctionne dans ce dessein : mise en place du thème de la violence selon une progression constante et linéaire des sous-unités thématiques constituant l'axe central de cette violence ; distribution orientée des rôles narratifs en rapport avec la catégorisation des personnages ; caractérisation de ceux-ci selon des modalités particulières, le plus souvent empruntées au récit narratif traditionnel africain, qui les rapprochent (particulièrement les personnages du commandement) des monstres ou des êtes féroces ; conception et description de l'espace et du temps comme de véritables actants (acteurs) dans le processus de distribution de cette violence ; système narratif dont les variations tendent à s'accorder, à traduire et à authentifier la violence ainsi représentée ; usage de nombreux autres procédés narratifs et rhétoriques qui accentuent le ton tragique et, par-delà, satirique des textes analysés. Toute la mécanique narrative concourt à faire percevoir la violence de l'homme sur le monde décrit. La société postcoloniale africaine, que figure l'univers romanesque, est peinte ici à l'image de la jungle ; les agents du commandement (producteurs de la violence), comme des monstres ou des bêtes féroces et le peuple, comme leur proie. Le réquisitoire dressé contre ce monde de violence à outrance fait des textes analysés l'expression d'un cri : cri de détresse et de colère, mais aussi, in fine, cri de revendication de la liberté, de la paix et du pain, bref, du bonheur pour tous. Mais l'analyse montre aussi que cette écriture de la violence donne lieu une écriture de violence du fait d'une attention soutenue à la question des formes, c'est-à-dire du fait d'une grande préoccupation pour la dimension esthétique des œuvres étudiées. L'originalité de cette thèse est d'illustrer de manière détaillée et convaincante l'articulation entre représentation de la violence et recherche de la beauté artistique à travers les stratégies formelles exploitées par les auteurs du corpus. Un tel exercice n'a pas toujours été fait dans la plupart des travaux antérieurs sur le sujet, ou alors insuffisamment. En attestant ainsi que l'insertion de l'élément politique (ici, la violence) dans le roman peut bien aller de pair avec la recherche du beau, c'est-à-dire que l'expression du cri peut bien s'accommoder de la quête esthétique, cette réflexion permet de prendre position dans le débat sur l'engagement de l'écrivain africain. Elle tend à dénoncer et à nuancer l'argument d'inhibition de l'activité créatrice allégué par les tenants de la « littérature-monde » contre l'inscription de l'histoire dans l'œuvre, et donc contre le concept d'engagement. De plus, elle inscrit l'écriture romanesque des auteurs étudiés dans la dynamique de renouvellement esthétique entamée depuis les décennies précédentes (avant 1990). Elle confirme par ailleurs l'actualité du phénomène de l'engagement en littérature africaine sur le double plan politique (description du réel immédiat) et littéraire (quête d'une esthétique de l'efficacité). Dans ce sens, cette étude pourrait servir de repère aux recherches engagées dans la perspective de l'histoire littéraire, notamment lorsqu'il pourrait s'agir d'examiner la question de l'écriture et de l'engagement dans le roman congolais des années 1990 à 2000. Elle pourrait même, sur cette question et pour la même période, servir d'illustration de la situation du roman africain francophone dans l'ensemble du continent noir. ; (ROM 3) -- UCL, 2011

Peatlands cover only about 3% of the terrestrial surface but are significant players in the global carbon (C) cycle and the climate system, since they store roughly one quarter of the global soil carbon (C) and are among the largest natural sources of methane (CH4). Since the resulting feedbacks on the climate system are uncertain, research efforts aim at identifying key processes and quantifying the C exchange from ecosystem to regional and global scales. To identify peatland ecosystem dynamics requires analysis of yet different scales. The key scale for their C dynamics is the microform scale, which is the smallest entity of the system. To estimate ecosystem dynamics, up-scaling from the microform scale is needed. Up-scaling demands (1) a correct estimation of the spatial heterogeneity and (2) the correct aggregation. In this thesis, the traditional spatial weighting of microform fluxes by the microform distribution is evaluated by (1) analyzing the flux calculation procedure, (2) investigating the effect of the resolution of the landcover maps on the up-scaling and by (3) cross-evaluating the up-scaling result with the directly measured ecosystem flux. Eventually, it is evaluated how these dynamics are considered in a mechanistic ecosystem model (LPJ-WHyMe). CH4 fluxes were measured on the microform scale with the closed chamber technique and on the ecosystem scale with the eddy covariance (EC) technique. The quantification of microform fluxes relies on the correct flux calculation. Since only few gas samples are taken during the closure period, traditionally the linear regression is applied when calculating CH4 fluxes from chamber measurements. Still, the chamber itself affects the diffusion gradient between peat and chamber atmosphere resulting in a theoretically non-linear concentration increase in the chamber. Using data with six data points per measurement from different microform types it is tested whether the linear or exponential regression fits the data better. In the majority of cases, the linear regression fits best. However, the exponential concentration change might still not be detectable resulting in an underestimation of the 'real' flux and the test of different techniqes to estimate the slope of a non-linear function with small sample amounts is recommended. To define the spatial heterogeneity of the peatland surface, the application of remote sensing techniques offer the advantage of supplying area-wide information with less uncertainty when compared to vegetation mapping along transects. However, the required resolution to resolve the microform distribution is <1m which in this study was derived from near-aerial photography. Besides for up-scaling, the resulting high-resolution landcover map was used in combination with a footprint model to analyze (1) the effect of landcover on the directly measured ecosystem flux and (2) its spatial representativeness. It was shown that fluctuations of the measured ecosystem flux over periods of several days could be explained by changes of the landcover composition in the source area of the EC measurements. The estimated budget was slightly biased towards the higher emissions from lawns which could be corrected. Still, the seasonal ecosystem CH4 budget was higher than the estimate derived from the up-scaling of microform fluxes. This is most likely due to an underestimation of microform fluxes by the chamber technique. Generally, the budget estimate derived from EC measurements was more accurate, i.e., characterized by less uncertainty than the up-scaled estimate. The developed approach depends on (1) identification and accurate measurements of all relevant microform types and (2) on spatial information which should be smaller than the footprint size of the EC measurements and available on the scale relevant for the studied process, i.e., the microform scale. The demonstrated effect of microform dynamics on the ecosystem flux highlights the importance of dealing with spatial heterogeneity of ecosystems in mechanistic modelling. For example, in LPJ-WHyMe, the ecosystem flux is simulated with mean input variables as water table level. To investigate its model performance, flux data from the rather homogeneous peatland margin and the more heterogeneous peatland centre were compared with the model output. At the homogeneous peatland margin, the ecosystem flux was clearly dominated (with a contribution of 91%) by one microform flux. In this case, one water table level as input variable could be used to estimate the ecosystem flux. However, for a heterogeneous site such as the peatland centre in this study, only one mean water table would simulate a mean microform flux but not the ecosystem flux. Consequently, it is recommended to incorporate at least one high-emitting and one low-emitting microform type in the model to increase the model performance. ; Moore bedecken nur ca. 3% der terrestrischen Erdoberfläche, spielen aber eine bedeutende Rolle im globalen Kohlenstoffkreislauf und Klimasystem. Sie speichern rund ein Viertel des globalen Kohlenstoffs im Boden-Pool und sind mit anderen Feuchtgebieten die bedeutendste natürliche Quelle für Methan (CH4). Die daraus entstehenden Rückkopplungen mit dem globalen Klima sind noch Gegenstand der Forschung. Die entscheidenden Prozesse innerhalb des Moor-Ökosystems zu identifizieren, setzt Messungen und Modellierungen auf mehreren räumlichen Skalen voraus. Haupteinheit dabei ist die Skala von Mikrostandorten, die die kleinste Einheit des Systems repräsentieren. Um Eigenschaften des Ökosystems daraus abzuleiten werden Informationen auf diese Ebene hochskaliert. Hochskalieren setzt (1) eine genaue Abschätzung der räumlichen Heterogenität voraus und (2) ihre korrekte Aggregierung. In dieser Arbeit wird der klassische Ansatz, die gemessenen Flüsse der Mikrostandorte mit ihrer räumlichen Verteilung zu gewichten, evaluiert. Es werden (1) die Flussberechnung analysiert, (2) der Effekt der Auflösung der räumlichen Daten auf das Skalieren untersucht und (3) der geschätzte Ökosystemfluss mit einem direkt gemessenen Fluss auf dieser Skala verglichen. Darauf aufbauend wird untersucht in wie weit diese Dynamik in einem mechanistischen Ökosystem-Modell (LPJ-WHyMe) berücksichtigt wird. Die CH4 Emissionsraten wurden mit der Haubenmethode für die einzelnen Mikrostandorte ermittelt und auf der Ökosystemebene mittels der Eddy-Kovarianz-Methode. Die Quantifizierung der Emissionen von Mikrostandorten hängt von der adäquaten Flussberechnung ab. Da die Haube selbst die Diffusion zwischen Boden und Haubenatmosphäre beeinflusst, ist theoretisch von einer nichtlinearen Konzentrationsänderung in der Haube auszugehen. Mit einem Datensatz aller Mikrostandorte mit sechs Datenpunkten pro Messung wird hier untersucht, ob eine lineare oder eine exponentielle Funktion die Konzentrationsänderung in der Haube besser beschreibt. In der Mehrheit passt die lineare Regression besser. Es kann aber durchaus sein, dass ein nicht-linearer Konzentrationsanstieg mit sechs Punkten noch nicht identifiziert werden kann und daher mit der linearen Regression der Fluss unterschätzt wird. Um die räumliche Heterogenität der Mooroberfläche zu definieren, bieten Fernerkundungsdaten den Vorteil, dass sie flächendeckende Informationen liefern, die zudem genauer sind. Die notwendige hohe Auflösung (<1m) wurde in dieser Arbeit mittels near-aerial photography erreicht. Die resultierende Klassifikation der Oberfläche wird neben dem Hochskalieren zusammen mit einem Footprint Modell dafür eingesetzt, den Effekt der unterschiedlichen Oberflächen auf den direkt gemessenen Ökosystemfluss und (2) dessen räumliche Repräsentativität zu untersuchen. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass Schwankungen des Ökosystemflusses über den Zeitraum von einem bis mehreren Tagen mit Änderungen der Oberfläche im Footprint der Eddy-Kovarianz-Messung erklärt werden konnte. Die resultierende Bilanz war geringfügig mehr beeinflusst durch die höheren Emissionen der Lawn Mikrostandorte, was korrigiert werden konnte. Die Bilanz war danach immer noch höher als die der hochskalierten Flüsse der Mikrostandorte. Dies ist wahrscheinlich auf eine Unterschätzung dieser Flüsse durch die Haubenmethode zurückzuführen. Generell ist die Abschätzung der Bilanz basierend auf Eddy-Kovarianz-Messungen genauer, d.h. mit einer geringeren Unsicherheit belegt, als die hochskalierten Flüsse. Der entwickelte Ansatz basiert auf (1) der Identifizierung und Beprobung aller relevanter Mikrostandorte sowie (2) vorhandener räumlicher Information auf der prozess-relevanten Skala, d.h. Skala der Mikrostandorte, die kleiner sein sollte als die Ausdehnung des Footprint der Eddy-Kovarianz-Messung. Der beschriebene Effekt der Zusammensetzung der Mikrostandorte auf den Ökosystemfluss zeigt die Notwendigkeit, räumliche Heterogenität von Ökosystemen in mechanistischen Modellen zu berücksichtigen. In LPJ-WHyMe z.B. wird der Ökosystemfluss mit mittleren Eingangsvariablen wie dem Wasserstand modelliert. Um die Funktionsweise des Modells zu evaluieren, wurden Messdaten vom eher homogenen Moorrand und vom heterogenen Moorzentrum mit dem Modellergebnis verglichen. Am homogenen Moorrand war der Ökosystemfluss klar dominiert von einem einzigen Mikrostandort (mit einem Beitrag von 91%). In diesem Fall kann ein Wasserstand als Eingangsvariable zur Simulierung des Ökosystemflusses verwendet werden. Für heterogene Systeme, wie dem Moorzentrum in dieser Arbeit, würde ein einzelner Wasserstand auch nur einen Fluss für einen mittleren Mikrostandort modellieren aber nicht den Ökosystemfluss. Es wird daher argumentiert, dass mindestens ein viel-emittierender und ein wenig-emittierender Mikrostandort in das Modell inkorporiert werden sollte, um die Funktionsweise zu verbessern.

This research stands in the context featuring the proliferation of criminological studies and discussions about the evolution of the responses of the penal system that lead, among numerous changes, to an increase in the severity of punishment, or also the diversification of measures taken against the perpetrators of criminal acts. The situation in Brazil doesn't elude this abundance of penal options nor the intense debate raised, especially as the criminological policies conducted after the "restoration of democracy" in the country, over the last twenty years, bear witness to important changes, putting into practice widely differentiated conceptions of penality. Our contribution wishes to offer a description and a theoretical reading of the various "ways of thinking" the control of delinquency and penal justice, starting from the study of debates in the Brazilian parliament about the age of penal majority, as they have developed over this period following several proposals of constitutional changes presented in the Parliament, that are aimed at lowering the age threshold. The research firstly puts all these debates in context by linking them, on one hand, to demonstrations of violence in the Brazilian society and policies enacted to cope with it, and on the other, to the progressive enhancement of juvenile justice, distinct from adult criminal justice, as can be observed in the legislative evolution of the country in the last century. In the core of our exploration we will propose an inductive analysis of parliamentary speeches about the age of penal majority, dealing with the way in which agents of Brazilian parliament, considered as political actors, view the response to be given to criminal acts by youths. By highlighting the arguments and cognitive references that these debates put in motion, we will synthesize, under the form of four types of speech, the different "ways of thinking" the control of delinquency. The results of this practice will then be analysed using a particular conceptual tool – modern penal rationality – that will enable us to cast a new light on parliamentary speeches, studied in order to perceive in them, beyond the traditional distinctions between favourable and unfavourable positions concerning the reduction of the age of penal majority, the existence of a dominant and transversal system of thought to which the various positions can be indexed in spite of their distinctions. In the wake, we will discover that certain parliamentary communications seem even so to elude this dominant thought, witnessing approaches that will be better qualified in the light of the concepts of innovation, on one hand, and of regression on the other. Thus, the modern penal rationality, the innovation and the regression will constitute an important conceptual trilogy to represent the different "ways of thinking (and enacting)" on penal matters. However, we will propose in conclusion a complementary approach of the "ways of thinking" the control of delinquency, putting the accent, this time, on the ways of looking at the problems of violence and its characters, in respect of which responses must be proposed. We will mainly observe the "ways of viewing" that emerge from the parliamentary speeches, which will have already been brought to light by our inductive analysis. Thanks to an etymological reading of the words of danger – "danger", "risk", and "peril" – that will reveal different "ways of relating" to the object that these terms represent, we will arrive at the discovery, sustained by our empirical material, of a renewed reading of the former conceptual trilogy. ; Cette recherche s'inscrit dans un contexte caractérisé par la multiplication d'études et de discussions criminologiques sur l'évolution des réponses pénales favorisant, parmi de nombreux changements, l´augmentation de la sévérité punitive ou encore la diversification des mesures prises à l´égard des auteurs de conduites criminalisées. La réalité brésilienne n'échappe pas à ce foisonnement d'options pénales, ni aux intenses débats qu'elles soulèvent, d´autant plus que les politiques criminelles menées après la « redémocratisation » du pays, au cours des vingt dernières années, ont témoigné d'importantes transformations, traduisant des conceptions fort différenciées en matière de pénalité. Notre contribution prétend offrir une description et une lecture théorique des différentes « manières de penser » le contrôle de la délinquance et la justice pénale, à partir de l'étude des débats parlementaires brésiliens sur l'âge de la majorité pénale, tels qu´ils se sont développés pendant cette période, à la suite des nombreuses propositions de modification de la Constitution, déposées au Sénat et à la Chambre, visant l'abaissement de cette limite d'âge. La recherche met d'abord en contexte l'ensemble de ces débats en les rapportant, d'une part, aux manifestations de la violence dans la société brésilienne ainsi qu'aux politiques menées pour y faire face et, d'autre part, à la consolidation progressive d'une « justice des mineurs », distincte de la justice des adultes, telle qu'on peut l'observer dans l'évolution législative du pays du dernier siècle. Au cœur de notre exploration, nous proposerons une analyse à caractère inductif des discours parlementaires sur la majorité pénale, en nous intéressant à la manière dont les mandataires brésiliens, entendus comme acteurs du champ politique, envisagent les réponses à donner aux conduites délictueuses des jeunes. Par le biais de la mise en évidence des arguments et des référentiels cognitifs que ces débats mobilisent, nous synthétiserons, sous la forme de quatre discours-types, les différentes « manières de penser » le contrôle de la délinquance. Les résultats de cette démarche seront ensuite remis sur le métier de l'analyse grâce à un outil conceptuel particulier – la rationalité pénale moderne – qui nous permettra de jeter un nouveau regard sur les discours parlementaires étudiés pour y percevoir, au-delà des clivages traditionnels entre positions favorables ou défavorables à la réduction de l'âge de la majorité pénale, l'existence d'un système de pensée dominant et transversal auquel ces positions peuvent être indexées, en dépit de leurs différences. Dans la foulée, nous découvrirons que certaines communications parlementaires semblent néanmoins échapper à cette pensée dominante, témoignant d'approches qui seront mieux qualifiées à l'aune des concepts d'innovation, d'une part, et de régression, d'autre part. Ainsi, la rationalité pénale moderne, l'innovation et la régression constitueront une « trilogie » conceptuelle importante pour représenter les différentes « manières de penser (et de faire) » en matière pénale. Cependant, nous proposerons, en fin de parcours, une approche complémentaire des « manières de penser » le contrôle de la délinquance, en mettant cette fois l´accent sur les « manières de voir » les problèmes de violence et leurs personnages, face auxquels il s´agit de proposer des réponses. Nous nous pencherons davantage sur les « modes de connaissance » à l´œuvre au sein des discours parlementaires, qui auront déjà été mis en exergue par notre analyse inductive. Par l´entremise d´une lecture étymologique des mots du danger – « danger », « risque » et « péril » –, qui révèlera différents « modes de rattachement » à l´objet que ces termes représentent, nous aboutirons à la mise au jour, soutenue par notre matériel empirique, d´une lecture renouvelée de la trilogie conceptuelle antérieure. ; (CRIM 3) -- UCL, 2011

[spa] El fenómeno global ha venido generando y promoviendo importantes cambios a nivel mundial con la finalidad de impulsar al Comercio Internacional; por lo tanto, capitalizando los beneficios derivados de la Nueva División Internacional del Trabajo, los procesos de producción se deslocalizan con el fin de obtener los mayores beneficios a nivel global; para ello, se han gestado e impulsado en su momento acciones a través de organismos internacionales como el Fondo Monetario Internacional (FMI), el Banco Mundial (BM) y el Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo (BID), que al otorgar apoyos a los países localizados en la periferia, sujetan muchos de estos soportes al adelgazamiento del Estado, privatizaciones, eliminación de subsidios, reformas a la seguridad social, flexibilización laboral, políticas de apertura comercial y de simplificación administrativa, tendientes a crear las condiciones que más favorezcan desplazamientos tanto de capitales como de importantes volúmenes de materias primas para su transformación. En este nuevo concierto de acciones dirigidas juegan un papel fundamental la construcción de nuevas y más grandes embarcaciones, que faciliten la transportación de grandes volúmenes de cargas, así como los puertos que para recibir a estas nuevos buques han venido transformando y modernizando sus instalaciones portuarias y vías de conectividad, con el fin de responder a estas nuevas exigencias mundiales en materia de transportación, que en la actualidad ya no dependen de los hinterlands portuarios cautivos o tradicionales, sino de las ampliaciones y extensiones alcanzadas como resultado de la creación de puertos secos y de mejores ejes carreteros y ferroviarios. Como consecuencia de estas acciones, los puertos en México, que conforman el sistema nacional portuario hasta antes de la proyección de puertos industriales en litorales mexicanos, si bien recibían inversiones por parte del gobierno federal para realizar la transformación de sus instalaciones éstas, en la mayoría de los puertos, no lograron ajustar la reestructuración a los niveles demandados; por ello se decidió apoyar la creación de puertos nuevos, dotados de estructuras modernas que respondieran al comercio internacional. En este nuevo escenario puertos como el de Tampico, que por falta de recursos se rezagó de esta dinámica, dejaban la posibilidad para que otros puertos capitalizaran los beneficios de estas adecuaciones, que en el caso de Tamaulipas, está representado por el puerto de Altamira, que en su calidad de puerto industrial, obtenía los beneficios de importantes inversiones para su construcción e inserción en el sistema portuario nacional, con el fin de aprovechar que los armadores buscan afanosamente puertos que ofrezcan las mejores condiciones para sus flujos de cargas, con los correspondientes impactos negativos para el puerto de Tampico. La metodología empleada para la realización de esta investigación fue de tipo cualitativo, ya que se consideró que al partir de lo particular hacia lo general nos permitiría identificar algunas de las causas más importantes que han marcado el declive del puerto de Tampico. Para este propósito se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas en profundidad con un número de personas predeterminadas para este fin, que forman parte del conglomerado de empresas con actividades ligadas, directa e indirectamente, con los puertos como agentes aduanales, agentes consignatarios de buques, transportistas autoridades portuarias, municipales, ferrocarrileros, y líderes de opinión; sus respuestas fueron clasificadas y una vez identificadas las palabras clave se procedió a su análisis. Como parte de los hallazgos, podemos citar la falta de una planeación estratégica de mediano y largo plazo, que hubiera permitido prospectar el puerto deseado para responder a las nuevas exigencias en materia de comercio internacional, y realizar las ampliaciones y modificaciones estructurales y tecnológicas indispensables, incluida la posibilidad de incrementar el calado del río o la determinación oportuna de una vocación para el puerto de Tampico, evitando los resultados de una competencia totalmente desigual entre estos puertos del mismo estado, localizados a menos de 50 kilómetros. ; [eng] The global phenomenon has been creating and promoting major changes worldwide, with the aim of promoting international trade, thus capitalizing on the benefits of the New International Division of Labour, are relocating production processes to obtain greater benefits globally, for that have gestated and driven at the time, actions by international bodies like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that by giving support to the countries located in the periphery, holding many of these supports, the thinning of the state, privatization, elimination of subsidies, social security reforms, labour deregulation, trade liberalization policies and administrative simplification, aimed at create conditions more conducive to both the capital movement of large volumes of raw materials for processing. In this new concert for action, play a fundamental role to build new and larger vessels, to facilitate the transportation of large volumes of cargo, and ports to meet these new vessels, have been transforming and modernizing its facilities connectivity ports and roads, to meet these new global demands on transportation, which now no longer rely on captive or traditional port hinterlands, but additions and extensions, reached as a result of the creation of dry ports and better road and rail axes. As a result of these actions, the ports in Mexico, which make up the national port system even before the screening of Mexican coastal industrial ports, while receiving investment from the federal government to perform the transformation of its facilities, these, in the most ports restructuring failed to adjust the levels defendants, it was decided to support the creation of new ports, equipped with modern structures, to respond to international trade. In this new scenario ports like Tampico, that lack of resources fell behind in this trend, leaving the possibility that other ports capitalize on the benefits of these adjustments, which in the case of Tamaulipas, is represented by the port of Altamira that as the industrial port, got the benefits of major investment for construction and integration in the national port system in order to take advantage of the owners, who zealously ports offering the best conditions for their cargo flows , with corresponding negative impacts to the port of Tampico. The methodology for conducting this research was qualitative, as it was felt that from the particular to the general, allow us to identify some of the major causes that have marked the decline of the port of Tampico. For this purpose ended interviews in depth with a number of defaults for this purpose, as part of the conglomerate of companies with activities related, directly and indirectly with the port and, custom brokers, agents, shipping agents, carriers, port authorities , municipal, railroad, and opinion leaders, their responses were classified and identified after the keywords, then analyzed. As part of the findings, we can cite the lack of strategic planning and long-term prospect that would have allowed the desired port, to meet the new requirements of international trade, and make additions and structural and technological changes necessary including the possibility of increasing the depth of the river or the timely identification of a vocation to the port of Tampico, avoiding the results of a totally unequal competition between these ports from the same state, located less than 50 miles.

Since the 1991 Constitution, most rulings and sentences tend to consider that individuals in charge of the local executive power (mayors, governors) should be some sort of tuling aldermen responsible for their particular territories and their "controlled decentralization" instead of actual governing actors, advocates and defenders of the governance of their territories. This fact raises the questions of why and how they can possibly play this double role. The bulk of the answer to this question can be found by examining both the logic behind public policies (Muller) and the conditions in whixh these are implemented in each territory, or "territorial deployment" (Medellìn).According to Muller, the territoriality of a particular public policy refers to a situation whereby the prevailing logic is territorial or horizontal (regulation of a geographical territory follows a center-periphery scheme), whereas its sectoriality refers to a situation whereby the prevailing logic is sectorial or vertical (regulation of a sector's reproduction is vertically determined by a global-sectorial scheme). For each regulation logic behind public policies there is a corresponding way of governing a particular territory: governing the territory for the sake of sectoriality, and governing it for the sake of territoriality.As opposed to the French case, whereby the construction of the State signals the purposes of a territorial logic ("traditional territoriality"), the Colombian State is na endemic one, a fragmented State struggling for territorial control and in fear of the fragmentation of territorial unity (Navas). Its limited capacity to cover the whole territory and to act on it (its "limited or partial territoriality", according to Medellín) affects governability as well as the deployment of public policies, which is frequently subject to uncertain negotiations related to the problem of governance.That es why governability in Colombia is only possible through hybrid public policies, which are in turn the result of the "indissoluble marriage between sectoriality and territoriality", the result of a sort of "secterritoriality" which combines in various proportions a sectorial logic (or sectoriallity, which implies centralization) and a territorial logic (or territoriallity, which implies decentralization), all due to a hybrid form of governmen, or "governance" of the territory, a complex and variable dosage of both government and governance. Keeping this in mind, it is possible to establish the degree of territoriality and sectoriality of a public policy at a particular time, and to classify public policies according to their degree of territoriality and/or sectoriality, that is, according to the relative importance of the logics behind their regulation.From the early 70s to the early 80s, sectoriality prevailed and governability was guaranteed almost exclusively through the separate territorial deployment of each sector, then, from 1984 to the present, "controlled decentralization" has shown partial changes in the regulation logic behind public policies by resorting, at least in part, to a logic of territoriality in response to some sort of sectorriality crisis.As can be clearly seen after analyzing and evaluatin public policies in matters such as statesubsidized housing, municipal land development and legislation, education, water and sewage services, governability during this second period can only be guaranteed by governance in the territories or by a combination of both, government in the territory and governance in the territories. In other words, governability is possible thanks to a type of hybrid government that allows those in charge of exercising local executive power to reconcile their bias towards the governance of their teritories and their duties vis-àvis the government of the territory, but capable of being, at the same time, governing actors and ruling agents, active modern-day aldermen. ; El hecho de que, desde la Constitución de 1991, normas y sentencias tiendan en considerar que los ejecutivos locales (alcaldes, gobernadores) deben ser unos agentes regidores que practican el gobierno del territorio y la "descentralización controlada" más que unos actores gobernantes, defensores de la gobernancia de sus territorios, plantea la cuestión de saber por qué y cómo aquéllos pueden combinar este doble rol. La mayor parte de la respuesta se encuentra en el examen simultáneo de la lógica de regulación de las políticas pública (Muller, 1997 y 2002) y de las condiciones de su implementación en el territorio o "despliegue territorial" (Medellín, 2003). La territorialidad de una política pública se refiere, según Muller, a una situación en la cual la lógica dominante de una política pública es una lógica territorial u horizontal (regulación de un territorio geográfico en una dialéctica centro-periferia), mientras la sectorialidad se refiere a una situación en la cual la lógica dominante de una política pública es una lógica sectorial o vertical (regulación de la reproducción de un sector determinado verticalmente en una dialéctica global-sectorial). A cada lógica de regulación de las políticas públicas le corresponde una manera de gobernar un territorio: el gobierno del territorio para la sectorialidad y la gobernancia de los territorios para la territorialidad. Al contrario del caso francés en el cual la construcción del Estado marca el fin de una lógica de territorialidad (la "territorialidad tradicional"), el Estado colombiano es un Estado endémico, un Estado fragmentado confrontado a la lucha por el control territorial y el temor a la fractura de la unidad territorial (Navas, 2003). Su capacidad parcial por cubrir todo el territorio y actuar sobre él (su "territorialidad parcial" según Medellín) afecta su gobernabilidad y el despliegue territorial de las políticas públicas, sometido a negociaciones inciertas, cercanas a la temática de la gobernancia. ; O facto de, desde a Constituição de 1991, normas e sentenças tendam a considerar eu os executivos locais (prefeitos, governadores) devem ser uns agentes regedores que praticam o governo do território e a "descentralização controlada" mais que uns atores governantes, defensores da governança de seus territórios, apresenta a questão de saber porquê e como aqueles podem combinar este duplo papel. A maior parte da resposta encontra-se no exame simultâneo da lógica de regulação das políticas públicas (Muller, 1997 e 2002) e das condições de sua implementação no território ou "dispersão territorial" (Medellín, 2003). A territorialidade de uma política refere-se, segundo Muller, a uma situação na qual a lógica dominante de uma política pública é uma lógica territorial ou horizontal (regulação da reprodução de um setor determinado verticalmente em uma dialética global-setorial). A cada lógica de regulação das políticas públicas corresponde-lhe uma maneira de governar um território: o governo do território para a setorialidade e governança dos territórios para a territorialidade. Contrário ao caso francês no qual a construção do Estado marca o fim de uma lógica de territorialidade (a "territorialidade tradicional"), o Estado colombiano é um Estado endémico, um Estado fragmentado confrontado à luta pelo controle territorial e o temor à fratura da unidade territorial (Navas, 2003). Sua capacidade parcial por cobrir rodo o território e atuar sobre ele (sua "territorialidade parcial" segundo Medellín) afeta sua governabilidade e a dispersão territorial das políticas públicas, submetido a negociações incertas, próximas à temática da governança.

Dottorato di ricerca in Scienze ambientali ; Sistemi agricoli ed ecologici sono intimamente connessi (l'agricoltura gioca un ruolo importante nei modelli ecosistemici) e l'attività agricola concreta in se concetti di gestione e cambiamento ambientale atti alla produzione di beni (in primis gli alimenti). Durante il secolo scorso, l'attività agricola si è intensificata caratterizzandosi sia nella crescente dipendenza da fattori esterni sia nella conversione delle coperture del suolo. Sebbene tale processo abbia incrementato la produttività, la sostenibilità di numerosi agroecosistemi è stata compromessa. Nei Paesi sviluppati la situazione è particolarmente critica e richiede una riorganizzazione del settore agricolo al fine di recuperare la sostenibilità venuta meno. Al fine di affrontare le questioni emergenti connesse con la crescita demografica mondiale e la veemenza tecnologica nella biosfera, assume una fondamentale importanza il quantificare la sostenibilità degli agroecosistemi. La sfida dei ricercatori è quindi quella di bilanciare le questioni bio-fisiche con quelle socio-economiche per promuovere lo sviluppo sostenibile dell'agricoltura. In Europa sono presenti modelli di sviluppo rurale sostenibile ed essi devono essere maggiormente compresi, esplorati e diffusi in quanto magnifici esempi di conoscenza acquisita tramite la tradizione e il sapiente uso del suolo. Il principale obiettivo della presente ricerca è quello di produrre un'indagine ambientale ed economica finalizzata alla progettazione e gestione di agroecosistemi sostenibili. Al fine di perseguire tale obiettivo, è necessario adottare un approccio multidimensionale capace di associare le caratteristiche agroecosistemiche alla gestione sostenibile. Questa ricerca vuole contribuire alla costruzione di una Scienza della Sostenibilità tramite la definizione di soluzioni pratiche capaci di incrementare la sostenibilità agricola, con minime ripercussioni sui livelli produttivi. La ricerca (articolata in vari studi) ha riguardato la valutazione della sostenibilità di alcuni agroecosistemi, a livello gerarchico di paesaggio (Lazio meridionale) e aziendale (Lazio meridionale, Provincia di Viterbo e Isola di Terceira), tramite indicatori di diversità (paesaggio e azienda) e di input/output (azienda). Gli studi condotti a livello di paesaggio hanno analizzato la sostenibilità ambientale in termini di metriche territoriali distinguendo l'ecoregione in base ad alcune caratteristiche (proprietà, altimetria e fitoclima). I risultati forniscono un profilo ecoregionale dell'Italia centrale dove i modelli storici di uso del suolo sono sopravvissuti a testimonianza della capacità umana di bilanciare il proprio sviluppo in base al contesto locale. Anche se i recenti cambiamenti sociali hanno portato a una maggior irruenza antropica e tecnologica sull'ambiente, la tradizione nei modelli d'uso del suolo (tramandata tra le generazioni mediante la cultura, l'educazione e le regolamentazioni locali) ha contribuito nel mitigare l'impatto umano ed ha agire da cuscinetto per la resilienza degli ecosistemi. Gli studi condotti a livello aziendale hanno analizzato la sostenibilità ambientale ed economica, in termini di circolazione dei flussi di materia ed energia, confrontando alcuni regimi gestionali contrastanti (biologico e convenzionale, misto e non misto). In generale, i risultati mostrano migliori prestazioni delle aziende biologiche rispetto alle convenzionali in ragione dell'organizzazione aziendale maggiormente portata al reimpiego della energia-materia prodotta e alla minor richiesta di energie ausiliari esterne provenienti da fonti non rinnovabili. Gli studi confermano il ruolo fondamentale degli allevamenti in quanto componente essenziale a migliorare l'efficienza e la sostenibilità aziendale (tale ruolo non viene sempre riconosciuto in termini sociali ed economici). In situazioni di bassa diversificazione strutturale e forte ascendente politico sul processo decisionale aziendale (come ad esempio sull'isola di Terceira) i costi ambientali dell'agricoltura possono aumentare significativamente. Al fine di informare in maniera appropriata i soggetti (pubblici e privati) coinvolti nel processo decisionale, sono necessarie maggiori risorse di conoscenza e di finanziamenti per misurare e monitorare le condizioni di sostenibilità dell'agricoltura. ; Agricultural and ecological systems are directly connected (agriculture plays an important role in ecosystem patterns) and the agroecosystems convey a high sense of stewardship care and historicity as food providers. During the last century, agriculture activity has intensified worldwide, characterized by an increasing dependence on external inputs and on land cover conversion. Although agriculture intensification has increased productivity, the sustainability of many agroecosystems has been compromised. In developed Countries the situation is particularly critical and requires a reorganization of the agricultural sector which would recover the sustainability failed. The measurement of agroecosystems sustainability has become of supreme importance, now essential to address the obvious problems related to the large population growth and technological vehemence in the biosphere. Defining socio-economical and bio-physical balance is a fundamental challenge for researchers in order to promote the sustainable development in agriculture. In Europe examples of sustainable rural development should be better acknowledged, explored and disseminated as meaningful case studies of traditional knowledge and wise land use. The main objective of the present research is to provide environmental-economic frameworks in order to design and evaluate agroecosystem sustainability. To achieve this objective, a multidimensional approach is needed that combines the feature of the agroecosystems with sustainable management. This research want to be a contribution in building a science of sustainability developing practical ways of improving sustainability in agriculture, with minimal impact to production. This research (containing various studies) has concerned the assessment of agroecosystem sustainability at landscape (Southern Lazio) and farming (Southern Lazio, Viterbo Province, Terceira Island) level based on the use of diversity (landscape and farming studies) and input/output (farming studies) indicators. Landscape level studies have analyzed the environmental sustainability in terms of landscape metrics distinguishing the landscape according to some characteristics (ownership, elevation and phytoclimate). Results provided a profile of an ecoregion in Central Italy, where historical land-use patterns are still alive on the territory and testify the capacity of human beings to develop a balanced relationship with their context of life at local level. Even if recent changes in society trends bring about more demographic pressure and more environmentally-aggressive technological fixes, tradition in land use patterns transferred from generation to generation through culture, education, regulations and action at local level, can help mitigate human impact and operate as a cultural buffer for ecosystem resilience. Farming level studies have analyzed the environmental and economical sustainability in terms of energy and material fluxes circulation comparing groups of farms in contrasting management regimes (organic vs. conventional; mixed vs. non-mixed). In general terms, results shows a diffuse better performance of organic farms respect to conventional ones because their organization was based on increased re-use of on-farm produced energy-matter flow and reduced demand of external inputs of non renewable energy-matter sources. The studies have confirmed the fundamental role of livestock as crucial agroecosystem component that improves the efficiency and sustainability of farms (this role is not yet acknowledged by society in economic terms). In situations of low structural diversification and strong policy ascendancy on farm decision making processes, the agricultural environmental costs may be enhanced significantly (eg.: Terceira Island). More intellectual and financial resources for measuring and monitoring sustainability conditions in agriculture are necessary, in order to appropriately inform decision making processes at both institutional and individual level.

My project explores and compares different forms of gender performance in contemporary art and visual culture according to a perspective centered on photography. Thanks to its attesting power this medium can work as a ready-made. In fact during the 20th century it played a key role in the cultural emancipation of the body which (using a Michel Foucault's expression) has now become «the zero point of the world». Through performance the body proves to be a living material of expression and communication while photography ensures the recording of any ephemeral event that happens in time and space. My questioning approach considers the gender constructed imagery from the 1990s to the present in order to investigate how photography's strong aura of realism promotes and allows fantasies of transformation. The contemporary fascination with gender (especially for art and fashion) represents a crucial issue in the global context of postmodernity and is manifested in a variety of visual media, from photography to video and film. Moreover the internet along with its digital transmission of images has deeply affected our world (from culture to everyday life) leading to a postmodern preference for performativity over the more traditional and linear forms of narrativity. As a consequence individual borders get redefined by the skin itself which (dissected through instant vision) turns into a ductile material of mutation and hybridation in the service of identity. My critical assumptions are taken from the most relevant changes occurred in philosophy during the last two decades as a result of the contributions by Jacques Lacan, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze who developed a cross-disciplinary and comparative approach to interpret the crisis of modernity. They have profoundly influenced feminist studies so that the category of gender has been reassessed in contrast with sex (as a biological connotation) and in relation to history, culture, society. The ideal starting point of my research is the year 1990. I chose it as the approximate historical moment when the intersection of race, class and gender were placed at the forefront of international artistic production concerned with identity, diversity and globalization. Such issues had been explored throughout the 1970s but it was only from the mid-1980s onward that they began to be articulated more consistently. Published in 1990, the book "Gender trouble: feminism and the subversion of identity" by Judith Butler marked an important breakthrough by linking gender to performance as well as investigating the intricate connections between theory and practice, embodiment and representation. It inspired subsequent research in a variety of disciplines, art history included. In the same year Teresa de Lauretis launched the definition of queer theory to challenge the academic perspective in gay and lesbian studies. In the meantime the rise of Third Wave Feminism in the US introduced a racially and sexually inclusive vision over the global situation in order to reflect on subjectivity, new technologies and popular culture in connection with gender representation. These conceptual tools have enabled prolific readings of contemporary cultural production whether fine arts or mass media. After discussing the appropriate framework of my project and taking into account the postmodern globalization of the visual, I have turned to photography to map gender representation both in art and in fashion. Therefore I have been creating an archive of images around specific topics. I decided to include fashion photography because in the 1990s this genre moved away from the paradigm of an idealized and classical beauty toward a new vernacular allied with lifestyles, art practices, pop and youth culture; as one might expect the dominant narrative modes in fashion photography are now mainly influenced by cinema and snapshot. These strategies originate story lines and interrupted narratives using models' performance to convey a particular imagery where identity issues emerge as an essential part of fashion spectacle. Focusing on the intersections of gender identities with socially and culturally produced identities, my approach intends to underline how the fashion world has turned to current trends in art photography and in some case turned to the artists themselves. The growing fluidity of the categories that distinguish art from fashion photography represents a particularly fruitful moment of visual exchange. Varying over time the dialogue between these two fields has always been vital; nowadays it can be studied as a result of this close relationship between contemporary art world and consumer culture. Due to the saturation of postmodern imagery the feedback between art and fashion has become much more immediate and then increasingly significant for anyone who wants to investigate the construction of gender identity through performance. In addition to that a lot of magazines founded in the 1990s bridged the worlds of art and fashion because some of their designers and even editors were art-school graduates encouraging innovation. The inclusion of art within such magazines aimed at validating them as a form of art in themselves supporting a dynamic intersection for music, fashion, design and youth culture: an intersection that also contributed to create and spread different gender stereotypes. This general interest in fashion produced many exhibitions of and about fashion itself at major international venues such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Since then this celebrated success of fashion has been regarded as a typical element of postmodern culture. Owing to that I have also based my analysis on some important exhibitions dealing with gender performance like "Féminin-Masculin" at the Centre Pompidou of Paris (1995), "Rrose is a Rrose is a Rrose. Gender performance in photography" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of New York (1997), "Global Feminisms" at the Brooklyn Museum (2007), "Female Trouble" at the Pinakothek der Moderne in München together with the workshops dedicated to "Performance: gender and identity" in June 2005 at the Tate Modern of London. Since 2003 in Italy we have had Gender Bender - an international festival held annually in Bologna - to explore the gender imagery stemming from contemporary culture. In few days this festival offers a series of events ranging from visual arts, performance, cinema, literature to conferences and music. Being aware that any method of research is neither race nor gender neutral I have traced these critical paths to question gender identity in a multicultural perspective taking account of the political implications too. In fact, if visibility may be equated with exposure, we can also read these images as points of intersection of visibility with social power. Since gender assignations rely so heavily on the visual, the postmodern dismantling of gender certainty through performance has wide-ranging effects that need to be analyzed. In some sense this practice can even contest the dominance of visual within postmodernism. My visual map in contemporary art and fashion photography includes artists like Nan Goldin, Cindy Sherman, Hellen van Meene, Rineke Dijkstra, Ed Templeton, Ryan McGinley, Anne Daems, Miwa Yanagi, Tracey Moffat, Catherine Opie, Tomoko Sawada, Vanessa Beecroft, Yasumasa Morimura, Collier Schorr among others.

Hasta hace pocos años, las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas (Pymes) en Colombia estaban enfocadas únicamente hacia la obtención de una rentabilidad que garantizase sus propios beneficios. Esta visión interna fue pasando a una externa en la medida en que el concepto de Responsabilidad Social fue permeando las empresas y obligando a orientar el grado de acciones de este tipo de empresas hacia la proyección y mejoramiento del bienestar de la sociedad. En consecuencia, la responsabilidad social implica la orientación de una empresa para adoptar y asumir decisiones y acciones que beneficien a los otros. Este trabajo de investigación se propuso detectar si la responsabilidad social adoptada por una Pyme además de mejorar el bienestar de toda la sociedad, representa o no un mecanismo efectivo para el aumento de su productividad y de su generación de valor. El método para argumentar a favor o en contra del planteamiento consistió en hacer un diagnostico y analizar el desempeño de la Pyme antes y después de la implantación de la actividad de responsabilidad social. Los resultados más importantes encontrados son: Las acciones sociales y las acciones éticas de las Pyme pueden ser lucrativas. La responsabilidad social mejoró la imagen pública de la Pyme. La responsabilidad social aumentó la viabilidad de la Pyme. La responsabilidad social en la Pyme aumentó el sentido de pertenencia y el orgullo de sus dueños. Como conclusión general podemos afirmar, que la iniciativa de mostrar como la RSE puede impactar positivamente en la generación de valor de una compañía es válida en la medida que por ahora no existe legislación en el país orientada a la RSE, la cual se pueda ligar a lo laboral, medioambiental, comercial, tributación e inversión extranjera es bienvenido en este ámbito en beneficio de la empresa. La principal conclusión particular sobre Niños de América es que la RSE como herramienta de competitividad no se encuentra formalizada ni alineada en lo absoluto con los objetivos generales de la empresa, sin embargo esta noción comienza a mostrar resultados concretos en la creación de valor para la compañía. Ganan valor y posicionamiento los productos y servicios socialmente amigables como Expovida y simuladores médicos sobre los productos tradicionales de la empresa como los modelos anatómicos, láminas y globos terráqueos. Esta posición favorable a la responsabilidad social garantiza la supervivencia de la Pyme en el largo plazo. Ser socialmente responsable tiene su precio, sin embargo las Pyme pueden trasladar con legitimidad el costo a los consumidores en la forma de aumento de precios. Esa obligación tiene como objetivo el bien común, porque cuando la sociedad mejora, la organización se beneficia. ; Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey ITESM ; 1. INTRODUCCION 11 2. DESCRIPCION Y FORMULACION DEL PROBLEMA 13 3. JUSTIFICACION 15 4. OBJETIVOS 17 4.1 OBJETIVO GENERAL 17 4.2 OBJETIVOS ESPECIFICOS 17 5. FORMULACIÓN DE HIPÓTESIS 18 6. MARCO TEÓRICO 19 6.1 ESTADO DEL ARTE 19 6.1.1 ¿Qué es Responsabilidad Social Empresarial? 19 6.1.2. ¿Cómo se mide la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial?. 21 6.1.3 Las Pymes en Colombia 25 6.1.4 La Responsabilidad Social de las Pymes colombianas 27 6.2 MARCO CONCEPTUAL 29 7. DISEÑO METODOLOGICO 36 7.1 ALCANCE DE LA INVESTIGACION 36 7.2 SELECCIÓN DE LA MUESTRA 36 7.3 FUENTES DE INFORMACION 37 7.3.1 Fuentes primarias 37 7.3.2 Fuentes secundarias 37 7.3.3 Fuentes terciarias. 37 7.4 RECOLECCIÓN DE LOS DATOS 37 7.5 ANALISIS DE LOS DATOS 37 8. RESULTADOS 39 8.1 DIAGNOSTICO DE NIÑOS DE AMERICA 39 8.1.1 Presentación de la Pyme 39 8.1.2 Componentes de la estrategia empresarial 39 8.1.3 Diagnostico Interno 40 8.1.4 Las configuraciones 41 8.1.5 Nivel gerencial 42 8.1.6 Partes básicas de la organización 44 8.1.7 Mecanismos básicos de coordinación 44 8.1.8 Parámetros fundamentales de diseño 45 8.1.9 Cultura organizacional 47 8.1.10 Clima organizacional 51 8.1.11 Nivel mercadeo y ventas 52 8.1.12 Nivel producción 56 8.1.13 Nivel Recursos Humanos 58 8.1.14 Nivel financiero. Estados Financieros de Niños de América años 2007 y 2008 (ver anexo). 62 8.1.15 Diagnóstico externo 65 8.2 FUNDACIÓN NIÑOS DE AMÉRICA 67 8.2.1 Acciones de difusión de contenido social como oportunidad de negocio 68 8.3 ANÁLISIS SITUACIÓN NIÑOS DE AMÉRICA EN LA ACTUALIDAD: 71 8.3.1 Acciones de difusión de buenas prácticas de contenido social 71 8.3.2 Acciones de difusión de buenas prácticas de contenido medioambiental 71 8.3.3 Monitoreo y análisis del beneficio de las acciones de RSC 71 9. CONCLUSIONES 80 10. RECOMENDACIONES 82 BIBLIOGRAFIA 84 ANEXOS 89 ; Maestría ; Until a few years ago, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia were focused solely on obtaining profitability that guaranteed their own benefits. This internal vision was passing to an external one as the concept of Social Responsibility permeated companies and forced the degree of actions of this type of companies to be oriented towards the projection and improvement of the well-being of society. Consequently, social responsibility implies guiding a company to adopt and assume decisions and actions that benefit others. This research work aimed to detect if the social responsibility adopted by an SME, in addition to improving the well-being of the entire society, represents or not an effective mechanism for increasing its productivity and its generation of value. The method to argue for or against the approach consisted of making a diagnosis and analyzing the performance of the SME before and after the implementation of the social responsibility activity. The most important results found are: Social actions and ethical actions by SMEs can be lucrative. Social responsibility improved the public image of the SME. Social responsibility increased the viability of SMEs. Social responsibility in SMEs increased the sense of belonging and pride of their owners. As a general conclusion we can affirm that the initiative to show how CSR can positively impact the generation of value of a company is valid to the extent that for now there is no legislation in the country oriented to CSR, which can be linked to labor, environmental, commercial, taxation and foreign investment is welcome in this area for the benefit of the company. The main particular conclusion about Niños de America is that CSR as a competitiveness tool is not formalized or aligned at all with the general objectives of the company, however this notion begins to show concrete results in creating value for the company . Socially friendly products and services such as Expovida and medical simulators gain value and positioning over the company's traditional products such as anatomical models, sheets and world globes. This position favorable to social responsibility guarantees the survival of the SME in the long term. Being socially responsible has its price, however SMEs can legitimately pass the cost on to consumers in the form of price increases. This obligation aims at the common good, because when society improves, the organization benefits.

L'agriculture et l'élevage occupent plus de 80% de la population des zones semi-arides de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Ces populations en tirent l'essentiel de leur alimentation et de leurs revenus. L'un des problèmes de cette agriculture est la pauvreté des sols. Dans les pays comme le Niger où prédominent les agroécosystèmes culture élevage, le rôle du bétail dans le recyclage de la matière organique et des éléments minéraux azote, phosphore et potassium peut constituer un atout pour l'augmentation de la production agricole et animale et assurer une sécurité alimentaire durable. Les bilans et flux de ces matières organiques et éléments minéraux ont été utilisés comme indicateurs d'état qui caractérisent la durabilité des systèmes de production. Cette recherche porte sur l'évaluation de ces flux et bilans organiques et minéraux aux échelles de l'exploitation agricole et du terroir dans le sud-ouest du Niger et la mise au point d'un indicateur de risque d'épuisement de la fertilité des terres des exploitations. L'étude porte sur trois terroirs agropastoraux de cette région couvrant une superficie de 500 km2 et sur un échantillon de 461 exploitations agropastorales. Les trois terroirs diffèrent essentiellement par leur pression agricole sur les terres, et par l'importance de l'élevage. Dans ces systèmes mixtes culture-élevage, la dualité de l'organisation spatiale qui les caractérise avec une gestion des cultures à l'échelle parcellaire centralisée à l'échelle de l'exploitation agricole et une gestion de l'élevage liée aux ressources pastorales communautaires de tout le terroir, fait que les modèles classiques de gestion sont confrontés à cette intégration d'échelles. Deux modèles ont été donc été utilisés pour l'évaluation des flux et bilans partiels de N, P, K à des échelles différentes, celle de l'exploitation agricole et celle des occupations de sol à l'échelle du terroir. NUTMON, un modèle existant, est utilisé dans la détermination des flux à l'échelle de l'exploitation et de ses composants. La modélisation spatiale des flux à l'aide des systèmes d'information géographique est opérée par articulation de NUTMON avec l'outil NUTPAST développé dans cette thèse. Cet outil développé avec les systèmes d'information géographique prend en compte la dynamique spatio-temporelle de la végétation et du cheptel pour l'évaluation de l'ingestion et de l'excrétion animale à l'échelle de l'ensemble des occupations au sein d'un terroir. Un modèle de régression par quantile et de régression logistique polytomique on été utilisés pour la détermination d'un indicateur de risque. Cet indicateur de risque intégré d'épuisement de la fertilité des terres a été conçu par exploitation à partir de variables de viabilité biophysiques relatives à l'utilisation de l'espace communautaire et de variables socio-économiques en lien avec la propriété des terres et du cheptel. Les bilans partiels obtenus à l'échelle du terroir montrent globalement un équilibre entre les flux de gestion agricoles et de l'élevage à l'échelle des terres des exploitations, avec des valeurs de N,P,K moyens respectifs de 0.3 ± 0.6, 1.2 ±0.2, 0.9 ± 0.5 kg/ha. Ce bilan fait ressortir une grande disparité entre les exploitations qui montrent un bilan fortement positif chez les propriétaires de bétail et négatif chez les villageois ayant très peu de bétail. Les indicateurs de risque, basés sur les facteurs de pression sur les terres, les dotations en terres et bétail par habitant, laissent apparaître qu'en dépit d'une faible intensification par la fumure, la pression agricole sur les terres combinée à la faible dotation des exploitations agricoles en bétail est un facteur de risque d'épuisement relatif de la fertilité des sols très élevé à l'échelle des villages. Ce qui peut compromettre la durabilité de l'agriculture dans ces régions. Les problèmes d'utilisation des ressources communautaires au profit des seuls propriétaires de bétail posent le problème en termes de politique foncière dans ces agroécosystèmes. Avec la pression agricole actuelle, un autre mode d'intensification agricole est à rechercher avec une politique foncière d'accès aux ressources équitable. ; Agriculture (including crop and livestock) employs more than 80% of the work force in semi-arid regions of West Africa and provide most of the food requirements and incomes. In most developing countries, soil nutrient depletion is a major issue for soil degradation. Crop-livestock integration is an effective means by which nutrients can be rapidly recycled within and between farms. In West Niger, where mixed farming systems dominate, livestock's role in recycling organic matter and mineral nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) must be better assessed to increase production and ensure sustainable food security. Nutrient flows through forage uptake and excretion deposit by grazing livestock must be assessed at a wider scale than the farm. Organic matter and nutrients balance and fluxes were used as measurable criteria for sustainable agriculture production. This research focuses on these indicators assessments at farm, land use unit and village level. This study was conducted in three agropastoral territories in the Fakara region of western Niger (Dantiandou District) that lies between the Niger River to the west and the Dallol Boboye (Bosso), a fossil valley tributary of the Niger, to the east. The area has homogeneous geological characteristics and rainfall conditions, but land use history, human and animal population density and cropping intensity vary within the region. 461 farms were concerned. In the mixed crop-livestock systems, the duality of the spatial organization, crop management at field level and livestock management with communal rangeland is a major issue for nutrients balance and fertility management modeling. Two models were then used to assess flows and nutrients balances. The NUTMON Toolbox developed by Dutch researchers is used to assess agricultural fluxes at farm parcels level. Spatial modeling was done with NUTPAST, a GIS tool developed in this thesis framework to assess livestock intake and excretion fluxes at land use scale. This tool takes into account the spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation as well as livestock seasonal variation. Quantile regression analysis and multinomial polytomous logistic regression modeling was used to assess soil fertility depletion risk indicator based on farm agriculture viability variables and nutrients partial balance. The results obtained show a less negative partial nutrients balance than in previous studies when the livestock spatio-temporal effect is taken into account. The results bring functional improvement and analytical evaluation of flows and partial nutrients balance calculation, while taking into account the functions of livestock in the organic matter recycling. The overall partial balance of N, P, K are 0.3 ± 0.6, 1.2 ± 0.2, 0.9 ± 0.5 kg/ha. The review highlighted a wide disparity between farms which show a strongly positive balance among livestock owners and negative balance among Fakara small farmers with few land and livestock endowments. Owning animals allows some households to maintain soil fertility by capturing and mobilizing soil nutrients. Risk indicators, based on land pressure indicator at 3x3 km geographic grid level, livestock endowments and land per capita reveal that despite a slow intensification, the trend for a risk of relative depletion of soil fertility is very high. This trend may compromise the sahelian agriculture sustainability. The problems of unequal benefit from communal resources remain a big issue of the sahelian agriculture. With increasing pressure on land, it is necessary to look beyond the traditional free range communal grazing systems to more intensive alternatives and stronger land tenure policies.

Polvilumpion sijoiltaanmeno on tavallinen, usein nuoren aikuisen akuutti polven nivelsidevamma, joka liittyy tyypillisesti liikuntasuorituksiin. Sijoiltaanmenon yhteydessä pääasiallisin polvilumpion tukirakenne, sisempi patellofemoraaliligamentti (MPFL), vaurioituu. Polvilumpion ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon jälkeen monilla esiintyy toistuvia polvilumpion muljahteluja tai sijoiltaanmenoja, polven kipua, liikunnallisen aktiivisuustason heikkenemistä ja polvilumpion liukupinnan nivelkulumaa. Polvilumpion ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon hoitotapa on ollut epäselvä, koska laadukkaita tutkimuksia on niukasti. Perinteisesti suurin osa polvilumpion ensimmäisistä sijoiltaanmenoista on hoidettu ilman leikkausta saranalastalla tai polvilumpiotuella. Tämän väitöskirjan tarkoituksena oli selvittää polvilumpion ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon ilmaantuvuus, riskitekijät ja vertailla eri hoitomenetelmiä. Lisäksi tutkimus selvitti nykyaikaisen MPFL-leikkauksen pitkäaikaistuloksia ja sekä MPFL-vammakohdan kliinistä merkitystä. Tutkimus kohdistui vuosina 1994-2002 varusmiespalveluksensa suorittaneisiin nuoriin miehiin ja naisiin. Tutkimusaineistoon kuului yli 130 000 nuoren, 18-28 vuotiaan aikuisen väestö, jota analysoiden selvitettiin polvilumpion ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon ilmaantuvuus ja riskitekijät. Väitöskirjatutkimuksessa verrattiin MPFL-leikkauksen ja perinteisemmän polvilumpion tukileikkauksen pitkäaikaistuloksia, kun leikkaus oli tehty toistuvan polvilumpion sijoiltaanmenon vuoksi. Väitöskirjatutkimukseen kuului myös kaksi etenevää tutkimusta, joissa verrattiin tähystystekniikalla tehtävää polvilumpioleikkausta ilman leikkausta hoidettuihin sekä satunnaistetussa tutkimusasetelmassa polvilumpion avoleikkausta ilman leikkausta hoidettuihin. Hoitoryhmiä seurattiin keskimäärin seitsemän vuotta. Lisäksi väitöskirjassa analysoitiin kolmen eri MPFL-vauriokohdan pitkäaikaisennuste, kun jälkihoito oli ollut sama, ilman leikkausta, saranalastaa käyttäen. Päätemuuttujina tutkimuksissa olivat vamman jälkeinen polvilumpion tukevuus ja liikunta-aktiivisuustason säilyminen. Väitöskirjatutkimuksen perusteella polvilumpion ensimmäinen sijoiltaanmeno on aiemmin arvioitua yleisempi polvivamma, jonka vuotuinen ilmaantuvuus on 77/100 000 nuoressa aikuisväestössä. Potilaan pituus ja paino todettiin olevan polvilumpion sijoiltaanmenon riskitekijöitä. Huono fyysinen suorituskyky, ylipaino tai heikko lihaskunto ei lisännyt riskiä saada polvilumpion sijoiltaanmeno. Modernilla MPFL-leikkauksella saavutettiin perinteistä leikkaustekniikkaa vastaava polvilumpion tukevuus, mutta polvilumpionivelen kulumaa kehittyi merkitsevästi vähemmän. Alkuvaiheen tähystysleikkauksesta ei todettu merkitsevää hyötyä ilman leikkausta hoidettuihin verrattuna. Sen sijaan etenevä satunnaistettu tutkimus polvilumpion ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon hoidosta paljasti, että ilman leikkausta hoidetut kärsivät merkitsevästi enemmän polvilumpion löysyydestä kuin alkuvaiheessa leikatut. Leikatut eivät silti olleet oireettomampia muissa mittauksissa. Kun jälkihoito ensimmäisen sijoiltaanmenon jälkeen oli ollut samanlainen, MPFL-repeämä reisiluun kiinnityskohdasta ennusti merkitsevää fyysisen suoritustason laskua ja merkitsevästi löysempää polvilumpiota kuin MPFL-repeämä polvilumpion kiinnityskohdassa tai nivelsiteen keskiosassa. Väitöskirjatutkimuksen perusteella polvilumpion ensimmäinen sijoiltaanmeno, joka liittyy akuuttiin polven vääntövammaan, aiheuttaa MPFL-vaurion. Vauriokohta tulisi magneettikuvausta käyttämällä määrittää, koska tulkitseminen auttaa oikean hoitomuodon valinnassa. Polvilumpion ensimmäinen sijoiltaanmeno, johon liittyy MPFL-repeämä reisiluun kiinnityskohdasta, näyttää olevan hyödyllistä hoitaa alkuvaiheen leikkauksella. Väitöskirjatutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että polvilumpionivelen kuluma on merkittävä ilmiö polvilumpion sijoiltaanmenon sairastaneilla. Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa nivelkulumaa on esiintynyt runsaasti sekä ilman leikkausta hoidetuilla että perinteisin leikkausmenetelmin hoidetuilla. Tämän tutkimuksen mukaan anatomiseen korjaukseen pyrkivä MPFL-leikkaus vähentää nivelkuluman kehittymistä. Tämän vuoksi polvilumpion sijoiltaanmenon leikkaushoidoksi suositellaan MPFL-leikkausta, joskin polven anatomiset poikkeavuudet tulee huomioida leikkaushoitoa suunnitellessa. ; First-time (primary) traumatic patellar dislocations are considered to be a consequence of active lifestyle and defined as acute ligamentous knee injury. After first-time patellar dislocation various subsequent problems may occur such as anterior knee pain, recurrent patellar instability, decreased level of sporting activity, and development of patellofemoral osteoarthritis (OA). The management of a primary traumatic patellar dislocation has been controversial with no evidence-based consensus how a clinician should treat these injuries to achieve the best possible result. Traditionally, most primary patellar dislocations have been treated nonoperatively. Recently, however, increasing interest has been focused on investigating primary traumatic patellar dislocation and the possible benefits of initial surgical management. This phenomenon has arisen since the medial patellofemoral ligament (MPFL) has been recognized as the primary medial stabilizer of the patella and MPFL inju! ry has been associated with traumatic patellar dislocations. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the incidence, risk factors and initial management of primary traumatic patellar dislocation, the long-term results of MPFL reconstruction and the clinical significance of the MPFL injury in primary traumatic patellar dislocation. The study population consisted of Finnish military conscripts who served during 1994-2002. Five data sets were used. The first data was obtained from a large military health care database of over 130 000 young adults 18-28 years of age. This information was combined with the Finnish National Hospital Discharge Register in order to assess the incidence and risk factors for primary traumatic patellar dislocation. The second data compared MPFL reconstructions and distal realignment procedures performed in Central Military Hospital in 1994-1997. The outcome variables in this study were long-term recurrent instability and the presence of patellofemoral OA. The third and fourth data consisted of two prospective cohorts comparing initial arthroscopic medial repair and nonoperative treatment, and stabilizing surgery and nonoperative treatment (randomly allocated), respectively. These patients were clinically followed-up and the outcome variables were subsequent patellar instability and clinical symptoms. The fifth data consisted of a cohort of conscripts with nonoperatively treated primary patellar dislocation with MPFL injury. In this cohort, the predictive value of the MPFL injury location was assessed when subsequent instability was used as the primary outcome. The follow-up review of these physically active young adults disclosed that primary traumatic patellar dislocation is a common knee injury yielding an incidence rate of 77/100 000 person-years. The risk factors for primary traumatic patellar dislocation were height and weight, not poor physical performance or muscle fitness. MPFL reconstruction compared to distal realignment procedure achieved comparable patellar stability but significantly less patellofemoral OA progression. The prospective study comparing initial arthroscopic medial repair to nonoperative management failed to show any benefit with initial arthroscopic stabilization. The prospective randomized study with or without initial stabilizing surgery revealed that patients who underwent surgery had more stable patellae at follow-up. To explore the clinical significance of the MPFL injury location, the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of nonoperatively treated patients proved that a femoral avulsion o! f the MPFL predicted subsequent instability and lower return to preinjury level of activity when compared to other MPFL injury locations (patellar and midsubstance). While previous studies have concluded that MPFL injury is frequently associated with primary traumatic dislocations with variation in the location of the MPFL tear, the studies in this thesis are the first to indicate a clinical aspect of using MRI findings in guiding the treatment pathway. In primary traumatic patellar dislocation, MR images should be evaluated because of the predictive value they carry. It may be concluded that patients who have high demands of patellar stability are likely to benefit from initial surgical repair or reconstruction. If we look at the long-term consequences of patellar dislocation, there are specific circumstances where initial stabilizing surgery should be considered; cases presenting substantial disruption of the MPFL at its femoral attachment, an osteochondral fracture that requires surgery, a laterally subluxated instable patella in patients with high demand of patellar stability, and in patients not improving with appropriate rehabi! litation. This thesis also indicates that PF OA is a frequent sequel of patellar dislocation. Based on the previous findings of PF OA presence after nonoperative management and traditional distal realignment surgery, there is a role for anatomic MPFL reconstruction that seems to reduce the risk of OA progression. Especially when stabilizing surgery is considered after traumatic patellar dislocation, MPFL reconstruction should be preferred. Based on the findings of this study and previous literature, a treatment algorithm for first-time traumatic patellar dislocation is proposed.

Miesten juomista kontrolloidaan enemmän kuin naisten Juomisen epävirallinen kontrolli on selvästi yhteydessä sukupuoleen: miesten alkoholin käyttöä kontrolloidaan enemmän kuin naisten, eikä kontrolli riipu juomisen määrästä. Suomalaisista miehistä noin neljännes ja naisista noin joka kymmenes oli kokenut, että joku oli viimeisen vuoden aikana yrittänyt saada heitä juomaan vähemmän tai harvemmin. Tavallisimmin juomista yritti rajoittaa puoliso. Epävirallinen kontrolli on Suomessa kuitenkin harvinaisempaa kuin useimmissa muissa tutkituissa maissa Euroopan mittakaavassa Suomi sijoittuu suunnilleen keskitasolle. Suomessa siis vallitsee epäsuhta juomisen suuren määrän ja epävirallisen kontrollin välillä. Voidaankin pohtia, juotaisiinko Suomessa vähemmän, jos siihen puututtaisiin nykyistä herkemmin myös epävirallisissa yhteyksissä, lähinnä kodeissa. Kontrollin kohteeksi joutumisen todennäköisyys kasvaa sitä mukaa, mitä enemmän juo tai mitä useammin on humalassa. Tutkittujen maiden välillä oli suurta vaihtelua siinä, kuinka suuri osa vastaajista oli kokenut juomiseensa puututtavan. Kehitysmaissa puuttuminen näytti olevan huomattavasti teollistuneita länsimaita yleisempää. Näissä maissa aktiivisia puuttujia ovat muutkin kuin puolisot. Juomisen epävirallisen kontrollin taustalla on aina jokin syy, eikä kontrollia ole ilman ongelmia. Ennen puuttumistoimiin ryhtymistä kontrolloijan on oltava sitä mieltä, että toisen juominen on ongelmallista. Tietoisuus ongelmista aiheuttaa paineita ja haittaa kontrolloijalle. Kun juomishaitat lisääntyvät yhteiskunnassa, lisääntyvät myös välillisesti tai suoraan muihin kuin juojiin kohdistuvat haitat. Niillä voi olla kauaskantoisia vaikutuksia kansanterveyteen ja jopa kansantalouteen. Suomessa juomista kontrolloidaan virallisesti enemmän kuin monissa muissa maissa. Suomessa alkoholia myös käytetään enemmän kuin useissa muissa Euroopan maissa, joten haitatkin ovat yleisempiä. Kun alkoholijuomien hinnat laskivat Suomessa vuoden 2004 veronalennuksen ja alkoholin tuontirajoitusten purkaminen seurauksena, alkoholin kulutus ja juomisesta aiheutuvat haitat lisääntyivät huomattavasti. Juomisen ja juomishaittojen kontrolloinnin siirryttyä osittain valtiolta paikalliselle ja yksilötasolle epävirallisen sosiaalisen kontrollin, käytännössä läheisten ihmisten kontrollin, merkitys on korostunut. Stakesin tutkija Kirsimarja Raitasalon väitöstutkimuksen kohteena oli alkoholinkäyttöön kohdistuva epävirallinen kontrolli. Tutkimus tarkasteli alkoholin käytön epävirallista kontrollia Suomessa ja kansainvälisesti. Päähuomio oli puolisoiden välisissä kontrolliyrityksissä, sillä juomisen kontrollointi on yleisintä parisuhteissa. ; This study examines the informal social control of alcohol consumption. The study attempts to discover how respondents interpret the survey questions about alcohol consumption and about the control of alcohol usage, and how control exercised by the spouse affects the drinker's concerns about self-control and the drinking patterns. Further, the study discusses the cultural differences in drinking and social control. The research object is viewed from the perspective of social control theories. The study proceeds from the subjective level to the general social level, and further to the informal social control of drinking in Finland as seen through international comparisons. The main focus is on control exercised by the spouse, as controlling alcohol consumption is most common in a couple relationship. The degree of formal and informal social control depends on the norms for acceptable drinking and drinking-related problems. Furthermore, the underlying reasons that trigger control are linked with both the cultural norms as well as subjective views on when alcohol use becomes unacceptable. Informal social control of drinking is expressed only when drinking exceeds the subjective or cultural norms. It should be noted here that subjective norms are always linked with the norms of the society. Hence, the level of informal social control is always linked to the level of formal control. Recently, EU legislation and the expanded markets have caused the traditional Finnish alcohol policy and restrictive pricing policies to lose much of their impact. Consumer prices were decreased as a result of the reduction of excise duty on alcohol and the liberation of passenger import in 2004. Consequently, alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems have increased dramatically. In the current situation, where control has to some extent been removed from the central, governmental level to the local and individual levels, the importance of informal social control in reducing alcohol consumption and alleviating the related problems has increased. Research data was partly taken from the international GENACIS Project (Gender, Alcohol and Culture: An International Study). Of the participating countries, the 18 countries that had asked a question on the social control of drinking were included in this analysis. As for Finland, the data from the STAKES 2000 Drinking Habits Survey was used. In addition, a qualitative study by STAKES in 2001 were used in this study to analyse in more detail how the questions in the other sections of the survey were understood. Gender is clearly a factor in the informal social control of drinking: irrespective of the amount of drinking, the drinking patterns of men are more often controlled than the drinking patterns of women. Of the Finnish men, 23% felt they had been persuaded to drink less or less often during the last 12 months. For women, the percentage was 9. Control was most commonly expressed by the spouse. This is true across all the countries that participated in the surveys, including Finland. The amount of alcohol consumed and especially the frequency of excessive drinking, together with the drinking-related harm, increase the likelihood of becoming a subject of social control. Across the countries, there was considerable variation on how many of the respondents had felt that their drinking habits were being controlled. Compared with the industrialised countries, interference in general seems to be much more common in the developing countries. In these countries, other members of the society not just the spouse have also actively interfered with drinking. The frequency and extent of the social control of drinking seems to be strongly linked with the amount of abstainers in the country. The more there are abstainers, the more drinking is controlled. For men, but not for women, the frequency and extent of control is linked with overall alcohol consumption. The qualitative study shows that there are several ways to interpret the meaning of "controlling drinking". This draws attention to the formulation of the survey questions: they need to be explicit in order to be uniformly understood by all of the respondents. Social informal control of drinking is always triggered by some underlying reason. When there are no problems, there is no need for control. The problems may be serious or the severity can be a subjective estimate of the situation. Before applying any form of social control, the controller perceives that the drinking is harmful on some level. The frequency of informal social control reflects the extent of drinking-related problems in the society. Being aware of these problems causes stress and anxiety to the people who are looking after the drinker. Living under such stress usually causes problems that are reflected in the physical and/or mental health, work or in other areas of life. In society, the increase in drinking-related problems will directly or indirectly give rise to problems concerning non-drinkers. These problems will burden e.g. public health care, and may have far reaching effects on primary health and even national economy.

Many countries have worked towards a common understanding of the concept of Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), which, according to Principle 2b (UNCED 1992), in a broad sense aims at managing forest resources and forest lands sustainably in order to meet the social, economic, ecological, cultural and spiritual needs of present and future generations. These forests, which are to be sustainably managed, are in most cases inhabited by indigenous and immigrant peoples who have customary rights to these forests and developed ways of life and traditional knowledge that are in tune with their forest environments. However, forest policies usually imposed by the state frequently treat forests as if they were uninhabited and therefore available for activities like logging, safari/sports hunting and conservation projects. The question therefore arises as to how the policy and practice of SFM (with its social, economic and environmental criteria) incorporates the welfare of these forest people. The criteria and indicators of the concept of SFM are usually defined too globally, such that the socio-cultural context of the forest dwellers, which usually is not the same for every region of the world or even within countries, is not acknowledged. This has been the main problem in understanding how and why people use and manage forests the way they do. The Sangha Trinational Conservation Area (the research area), which is also inhabited by indigenous people, is a high biodiversity area. The area comprises of: - the Lobéké National Park in Cameroon, - the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park in the Republic of Congo, - the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central African Republic, - the Buffer Zones and - the Agroforestry Zones. Many of the problems in this area are faced by both, indigenous men and women, but this has often led to the subordination of gender in favour of collective rights for the indigenous people. This is problematic because women do not only face the problems they have in common with men, but in addition also face problems which stem from gender inequality in the society. Therefore, for these people to be involved in forest management, a socio-economic study organised along gender lines (and other diversity analysis i.e. ethnic groups) is necessary to be able to assess the needs and roles of each group of the society in forest use and management. The objective of this research is to illustrate that in order to improve on SFM, it is necessary to include both, the indigenous men and women in the management process, because sustainability requires an understanding of the construction of gender roles as a function of resource use and management. This study draws from two concepts of the feminist theory. These are the concepts of power and gender construction in relation to forest use and management. It uses the gender analysis and the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework to analyse the activities of the forest dependent people in the research area. The research focused on the inhabitants of six villages within the research area. The methods used to obtain this information included group discussions (ethnic groups separate and these groups further separated into men/boys and women/girls groups), individual interviews, field observations, informant interviews and household surveys. The two ethnic groups in the villages are the Bantu and Baaka. The Baaka are semi-nomads, who migrate between the forest and the village and form the minority group. The main economic activities in the area include agriculture, hunting/gathering, fishing and distilling of local alcohol. The results of this research show that forest use is gendered. Conservation regulations, which limit the activities of the local people in certain parts of the forest has led to conflicts between the local people and the conservation projects. The local people complain that they have been allocated only resource poor areas while resource rich areas are out of their reach. The forest products at their disposal have been reduced, thereby reducing the amount of assets and resources available to them to obtain livelihood outcomes like income, food security and wellbeing. The most important result of this research concerns the differences between men and women and the importance of these differences to SFM and the improvement of local livelihoods. The different activities and knowledge systems of one group are complementary to those of the other, meaning one group usually depends on the other to be able to develop strategies to efficiently use and manage the forest, in order to produce the livelihood outcomes they long for. This therefore indicates how important men and women are to the management process and that they should therefore be considered equal partners in this management process. ; Nachhaltiges Waldmanagement im weitesten Sinne bedeutet (laut UNCED 1992) das nachhaltige Managen von Wald und Waldressourcen, um den sozialen, ökonomischen, ökologischen, kulturellen und spirituellen Bedürfnissen jetziger und zukünftiger Generationen gerecht zu werden. Nachhaltig zu managende Wälder werden in den meisten Fällen von Naturvölkern bewohnt, welche dort seit jeher Gewohnheitsrechte in Anspruch nehmen und sich unter Nutzung ihres traditionellen Wissens eine Lebensweise angeeignet haben, die im Einklang steht mit der natürlichen Waldumgebung in der sie leben. Die aktuelle Waldpolitik vieler Länder behandelt allerdings die Wälder als wären sie unbewohnt, indem sie die Wälder freigibt zur Abholzung, zum Jagen und für Naturschutzprojekte. Daher erhebt sich die Frage, inwieweit Politik und Praxis des nachhaltigem Waldmanagements (mit seinen sozialen, ökonomischen und umweltbezogenen Kriterien) das Wohlergehen der lokalen Bevölkerung mit einbeziehen. Die Kriterien und Indikatoren des Konzeptes von "Nachhaltigem Waldmanagement" dienen dazu, Trends der Entwicklung des Waldmanagements zu beobachten und zu beurteilen. Sie sind jedoch zu global definiert, so dass der jeweilige soziokulturelle Kontext der Waldbewohner nicht zur Kenntnis genommen wird. Das trifft insbesondere für das in dieser Dissertation zu untersuchende Forschungsgebiet zu, das Sangha-Trinational-Naturschutzgebiet in Zentralafrika. Dieses Gebiet umfasst: - den Lobéké-Nationalpark in Kamerun, - den Nouabalé-Ndoki-Nationalpark in der Republik Kongo, - den Dzanga-Ndoki-Nationalpark in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik, - die Pufferzonen und - die Agroforstwirtschaftlichen Zonen. Viele der Probleme in diesem Gebiet betreffen sowohl die Männer als auch die Frauen. Allerdings hat die Behandlung von Männern und Frauen als kollektives Ganzes eine Unterordnung von Gendergesichtspunkten zur Folge, was besonders für die Frauen problematisch ist, da sie zusätzlich zu ihren allgemeinen täglichen Problemen auch noch mit Problemen konfrontiert sind, die von einer Geschlechterungleichheit in der Gesellschaft herrühren. Um diese Menschen in das Waldmanagement involvieren zu können, ist es notwendig, eine sozio-ökonomische Untersuchung durchzuführen, um die Bedürfnisse und Rollenverteilungen aller Gruppen der Gesellschaft in Bezug auf Waldnutzung und Waldmanagement zu beurteilen. Das Ziel dieser Untersuchung ist es zu zeigen, dass es notwendig ist, sowohl die Männer als auch die Frauen in den Managementprozess mit einzubeziehen, da Nachhaltigkeit das Verstehen der Konstruktion der Geschlechterrollen als Funktion von Ressourcennutzung und -management erfordert. Diese Untersuchung baut auf zwei Konzepten der feministischen Theorie auf: das Konzept von Macht und das Konzept von Geschlechterkonstruktion in Relation zu Waldnutzung und -management. Die Studie nutzt die Geschlechteranalyse und das Konzept des Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, um die Aktivitäten der waldabhängigen Menschen im zu untersuchenden Gebiet zu analysieren. Die Untersuchung bezog die Einwohner von sechs Dörfern innerhalb des Forschungsgebietes ein. Es wurden folgende Methoden benutzt, um an die Informationen zu kommen: Gruppendiskussionen (ethnische Gruppen separat und diese Gruppen weiter aufgeteilt in Männer/Jungen und Frauen/Mädchen), individuelle Gespräche, Feldobservationen, Informantengespräche, Expertengespräche und Haushaltsumfragen. Die beiden ethnischen Gruppen in den Dörfern sind die Bantu und die Baaka. Die Baaka stellen die ethnische Minderheit dar. Die wichtigsten ökonomischen Aktivitäten umfassen Landwirtschaft, Jagen, Sammeln und Fischen sowie das Brennen von Alkohol. Das Ergebnis dieser Untersuchung zeigt, dass die Waldnutzung geschlechterabhängig ist. Naturschutzreglements führen zu Einschränkungen der Aktivitäten der lokalen Bevölkerung in bestimmten Teilen des Waldes und damit zu Konflikten zwischen ihnen und den Naturschutzprojekten. Die Dorfbewohner monieren, dass ihnen nur ressourcenarme Gebiete zugeteilt wurden. Das bedeutet einen Rückgang der von ihnen nutzbaren Waldprodukte und damit einen Rückgang der Ressourcen, welche zur Sicherung ihres Lebensstandards notwendig wären. Zu den wichtigsten Ergebnissen dieser Forschungsarbeit gehört die Herausstellung der Bedeutung, die die unterschiedlichen Rollen von Männer und Frauen beim nachhaltigen Waldmanagement sowie beim Bestreiten des Lebensunterhaltes haben. Die unterschiedlichen Aktivitäten und das unterschiedliche Wissen von Männern und Frauen ergänzen sich. Das bedeutet, dass sie voneinander abhängig sind, wenn es darum geht, Strategien zu entwickeln, die zu effizienter Nutzung und nachhaltigem Management des Waldes führen und damit zu ihren Überlebensstrategien beitragen. Deshalb ist es wichtig, dass Männer und Frauen als gleichwertige Partner in den Managementprozess einbezogen werden.

For years I have asked my Intro to Comparative Politics class: what would it take for your generation to abandon its passivity and lack of interest in politics and become mobilized as students all over the world did in the 1960s? From the évènements de mai in Paris to the sit-ins against Vietnam and police brutality in American universities, to the strikes against oligarchic democracies in South America, those were the times when the terms "young" and "mobilized" were almost synonyms.In response to this question, my students would just laugh softly, shuffle in their seats and avoid a direct answer. A couple of times someone would say: "well, if the government took away our rights, we would certainly do something about that…"After twenty years of teaching, I think I have the answer─ for the American youth to become mobilized, it takes fear and loss of national self-confidence, usually due to ineffective presidents who, through their misconceived and reckless policies, escalate the level and intensity of an earlier conflict. Lately, the manic reaction of George W. Bush to September 11, his mediocre and short-sighted populist presidency and his failure in the fake war against terrorism in Iraq, have had that effect.Finally, after eight years of failed foreign policy that certainly has not made the country safer, indeed, many would say it has made it even more vulnerable and hated in the world, students all around the United States are mobilizing around Barack Obama, whose charisma and message have struck such a deep chord in many Americans, that he is being called a "phenomenon" against which it will be very difficult to run a successful traditional campaign.Every twenty years or so, after a bad war and some wound-licking and soul-searching, Americans coalesce around a leader that reminds them of their national identity, proposes a new way and makes them feel better about themselves and the country's destiny.This happened with John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, then with Reagan after the shameful decade of the 1970s and now it has happened again.This American tendency of losing its self-esteem follows a clear pattern: after a big fear has engulfed the nation, the government, instead of assuaging those feelings, builds on them to justify its foreign policy adventures. During the late 1950s it was the growing concern with the Soviet threat, the arms race and the competition over the imminent conquest of Space. Kennedy appeared on the scene. Young, passionately articulate, strong and handsome, he reassured the nation about its own strengths and powers. He embodied the hope they yearned for, the hope that could assuage their fear.The foreign policy establishment watched him suspiciously. Wasn't he a big liberal that would be soft on Khrushchev? If elected, he would be the first Catholic President─ wouldn't that mean his first allegiance would be to the Pope and not to the nation?The younger generation was energized, as were others, by this promising young figure and they managed to put him in the White House by a narrow margin.In the short time he was given a chance to govern, before he was abated by a lone gunman on October 16, 1962, he proved himself as a world leader, well-liked by most, yet respected by "the enemy." He restored pride and self-confidence to all Americans, even if behind the scenes he had a much darker side, including increasing the involvement of US in Vietnam and even condoning the CIA killings of certain dictators.Then came the 1970s, the lost war, Nixon and Watergate, and American morale plummeted. This, followed by the Iranian Revolution and Jimmy Carter's failed attempt to rescue the American hostages in Teheran, made the mood even more somber. To the rescue came Reagan, in his entire Hollywood cowboy splendor, with his wonderfully reassuring smile that said: "Vote for me and I will restore your pride!" America became once more the "shining light on the hill", a beacon of freedom and prosperity. He was blessed not only with a great personality but also by destiny: his challenge to Gorbachev ("Mr. Gorbachev, bring down that Wall!") could not have been more perfectly timed. America was back on top. Again, in FDR's uplifting words, we had nothing to fear but fear itself.The 1990s were the times of peace dividends, low mortgage prices, balanced budgets and prosperity for all Americans. The future extended before us, without a cloud in sight. It was the End of History, the end of ideological conflict, and American style democracy and capitalism reigned supreme, unchallenged.Then came September 11, and with it, bunker mentality, the rallying around the opportunist president who could not wait too long before he used the spectacularly terrible attack to gather his posse and plan the completion of the war against Saddam. Americans were scared, and we sacrificed young people's lives and our own personal freedoms in order to be "safe again". It took a while to realize that complete security is an absurd concept, and that good police and intelligence work, together with cooperation with the rest of the world, was the only rational response.Now, five years into an unwinnable war, after a terrible toll of young deaths and injured veterans, many with severe mental problems, the light shines again on a new leader. Out of the shadows comes Barack Obama. He is the poster child of the post-modern candidate: dark, tall, with a winning smile, from a mixed racial and religious background, and a JD degree from Harvard, he dismisses the "silliness" of Washington-style politics and scare tactics, of building walls to keep immigrants out, of eavesdropping on citizens to track down terrorists, of arousing the worst emotions on people for political gains. Instead, he wants to change the face of America, talk to the "enemies", to leave ideology behind and use good ideas pragmatically, even if they happen to be "Republican" ideas. He appeals to a broad base of college educated young white men and women (under 50), African Americans, and even Hispanics.Never mind that his middle name is Hussein, as some insist on bringing up, and that he for a while followed the Muslim faith (he professes to be a Christian now): young people are so tired of the barrage of propaganda against anything and anybody foreign, that they don't even listen. False nationalism based on violence and war does not sway them anymore. Serenely cool, this gifted orator voices the youth's angst, promises change, a new beginning, a fresh approach, and non-partisan solutions to problems. He shares their fatigue with the lies, the corruption, and the meaningless sacrifice of the young in Iraq.He leads, in Max Weber's terms, by a "gift of grace" (charisma), the strongest source of legitimacy at times when the other two, namely tradition and statute, are deeply discredited. His oratory hits the right tones, he inspires devotion, he embodies the confidence the country is thirsty for. Let's move on, he says, and show the world the real face of America. He is more than "a narrow and vain upstart of the moment".He is the post-modern candidate.Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science and Geography Director, ODU Model United Nations Program Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia

Die historischen Stadtzentren (Downtowns) ländlicher Kleinstädte in den USA unterlagen in den letzten Jahrzehnten des 20. Jahrhunderts einem allgemeinen ökonomischen Niedergang und verloren ihre ursprünglich zentrale Funktion, primäre Einzelhandelsstandorte einer Stadt und ihres Umlands zu sein. Ursachen dafür sind vor allem in der Entstehung attraktiver Einzelhandelsstandorte am Stadtrand zu suchen. Ein genereller ökonomischer Aufschwung der Stadtzentren konnte trotz vielfältiger Bemühungen um eine Revitalisierung bisher nicht erreicht werden. Allerdings bestehen Anzeichen eines in erster Linie qualitativen Wandels und einer Spezialisierung ihrer Einzelhandelsfunktion. Auf der Grundlage des Forschungsstands wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit der Einzelhandel in Stadtzentren ländlicher Kleinstädte untersucht. Dadurch soll der in der Literatur angedeutete, aber weder vertiefend beschriebene noch beurteilte Wandel umfassend charakterisiert werden. Folgende Ziel- und Aufgabenstellungen sind damit verbunden: Erstens sollen der Einzelhandel in den Stadtzentren beschrieben und Typen des Einzelhandels abgeleitet werden. Zweitens geht es um die Kennzeichnung von Einflussfaktoren der Entwicklung unter Herausstellung des Wirkens von Stakeholdern. Drittens sollen Schlussfolgerungen zum funktionalen und strukturellen Wandel der Stadtzentren gezogen werden. Im Besonderen wird die Entwicklung des Arts and Crafts Einzelhandels berücksichtigt, der ein im weiteren Sinne kunsthandwerklich orientiertes Warensortiment mit dekorativem Charakter vorhält. Aus Voruntersuchungen kann von einer hohen Bedeutung dieses Einzelhandelssegments ausgegangen werden. Die konzeptionellen Grundlagen dieser Arbeit werden durch die Diskussion standorttheoretischer Ansätze sowie durch die Analyse der Literatur zur Entwicklung des Einzelhandels und der Stadtzentren in den USA gelegt. Daraus werden Annahmen zur Entwicklung des Einzelhandels und der Stadtzentren als Ausgangspunkte der empirischen Untersuchung abgeleitet. Diese besteht aus drei Teilen. Erstens wird eine auf ganz Ohio bezogene Untersuchung zur Lage des Einzelhandels in ländlichen Kleinstädten durchgeführt. Zweitens geht es um die Analyse des Downtown-Einzelhandels in ausgewählten Städten Ohios. Drittens werden im Rahmen von Fallstudien die Strukturen und Einflussfaktoren der Entwicklung zweier Stadtzentren untersucht. Die Methoden der Datenerhebung umfassen Kartierungen, leitfadengestützte Experteninterviews, teilstandardisierte Befragungen von Händlern sowie Dokumenten- und Datenanalysen. Im Hinblick auf den Downtown-Einzelhandel ist festzuhalten, dass (1) kleine Betriebsformen vorherrschen und Filialen von Mehrbetriebsunternehmen weitgehend fehlen, (2) Anzeichen der weiteren Ausdünnung traditionell in Downtown ansässiger Branchen bestehen, (3) zahlreiche Kleinstbetriebe mit geringwertigem Warensortiment (marginal business) vorkommen, (4) der Anteil des spezialisierten Einzelhandels hoch, aber ein weiteres Wachstum unsicher ist und (5) sich der Arts and Crafts Einzelhandel in den Stadtzentren konzentriert. Aus der Untersuchung von mehr als 100 Betrieben werden neun Typen des Einzelhandels in den Stadtzentren abgeleitet. Die Typenbildung erfolgt zunächst anhand der Sortimentsbreite sowie der Zugehörigkeit zum Arts and Crafts bzw. sonstigen Einzelhandel. Darüber hinaus werden Merkmale des Qualitätsniveaus (Low Quality Stores), der Absatzwege (Delivery Stores), der ökonomischen Rationalität (Self-Realization Stores) und der Betriebsgröße (Downtown Anchor Stores) als Vergleichsdimensionen herangezogen. Im Resultat der Untersuchung von Einflussfaktoren der Einzelhandelsentwicklung können als grundlegend benannt werden: (1) die entscheidende Bedeutung lokaler Faktoren, (2) die bestimmende Funktion des Wettbewerbs als Barriere der Entwicklung, (3) die hohe Bedeutung von Kostenfaktoren und der Kostenminimierung, (4) die grundsätzliche Präferenz der Konsumenten für Standorte mit größerer Angebotsvielfalt und (5) die dezidierte Rolle von Stakeholdern. Die letzte Aussage wird durch die Beschreibung und Beurteilung besonderer Entwicklungsfaktoren weiter untersetzt. Dazu zählen die Tätigkeit von Downtown-Managern, das Wirken privater Investoren sowie das Engagement der kommunalen Politik und Verwaltung für die Entwicklung der Stadtzentren. Schlussfolgerungen zum strukturellen und funktionalen Wandel der Stadtzentren als Einzelhandelsstandorte betreffen (1) die Gefahr der wirtschaftlichen Marginalisierung der Stadtzentren, (2) die Bestätigung einer fortgeschrittenen Standortspezialisierung, (3) die Funktion des Stadtzentrums als "Experimentierfeld" für den nicht-filialisierten Einzelhandel mit lokalem Ursprung, (4) die Ausrichtung physischer Strukturen an historischen Vorbildern und (5) die weitgehende Stabilität soziokultureller Funktionen von Downtown. Die Untersuchungsergebnisse zu Einzelhandelstypen und Einflussfaktoren werden schließlich aufgegriffen, um stabilisierende und destabilisierende Effekte für die Standortentwicklung zu beurteilen. ; Historic town centers (downtowns) of rural small cities in the U.S. underwent a process of economic downgrading in the later decades of the 20th century. In consequence, they lost their originally central function as being the primary retail location of a small town and its surroundings. Reasons for this development, particularly, can be found in the emergence of attractive shopping centers at the suburban edge. In spite of manifold revitalization activities, a true and overall economic recovery of downtown cannot be stated. However, there are signs of further change in downtown, mainly linked to qualitative transitions and to the specialization of its retail functions. On the basis of the current state of research this dissertation aims at a comprehensive analysis of downtown retail in rural small cities. Potential developments and changes that have only been mentioned in the literature will be characterized in detail. Three objectives and tasks are connected to this statement: First, the downtown retail shall be described in detail and types of retail businesses shall be derived. Second, impact factors shall be identified, specifically considering impacts of stakeholder activities. Third, conclusions shall be drawn with regard to the functional and structural change of downtown as a retail location. Special attention of this dissertation is connected to the emergence and possible growth of arts and crafts retail businesses selling goods with mainly decorative character. This interest originates from previous research, naming the importance of arts and crafts retail as a possible growth segment of downtown retail. The conceptual foundation of this dissertation contains a discussion on location theory as well as analyses of empiric and further theoretic studies on the development of retail and downtowns in the U.S. In a preliminary conclusion, assumptions are drawn as starting points for the empiric part of this study. The empiric research contains: first, a survey on the location of retail businesses in rural and exurban small cities throughout Ohio; second, an analysis of downtown retail in several chosen small cities in Ohio; and third, an examination of detailed case studies on the structures and development factors of two Ohio small city downtowns. Methods of data collection contain mapping, expert interviews, semi-structured surveys of retail businesses, and data analysis. From the characterization of downtown retail it can be concluded that there are: (1) high percentages of small retail formats in downtown and almost no chain stores, (2) clear indications of further decreasing "traditional" downtown trade-lines, (3) high percentages of very small "marginal businesses" with assortments of lower value, (4) high percentages of specialized retail stores but without considerable signs of further growth, and (5) concentrations of arts and crafts shops in downtown. Furthermore, nine different types of downtown retail businesses can be derived from an investigation of more than 100 stores. For this purpose, downtown businesses are rated by the range of products they offer and by their belonging to arts and crafts or other retail sectors. In addition, further dimensions lead to special types of downtown retail considering specific characteristics of retail stores such as the quality level ("low quality store"), the means of distribution ("delivery store"), questions of economic rationality ("self-realization store") and the size of a store ("downtown anchor store"). The analysis of impact factors identifies the importance of: (1) local factors against non-local factors causing differences among downtowns, (2) competition as a barrier for downtown retail development, (3) cost factors and the minimization of costs for downtown stores, (4) the consumers' general preferences for larger locations with a wider range of supplies, and of (5) stakeholder activities as being decisive for downtown development. The latter fact receives further attention in this research by assessing specific constellations of stakeholder activities. Among them are the effects of downtown manager action, the impact of private investors, and the commitment of local administration and politics to downtown. Conclusions on the structural and functional change of downtown as commercial location pertain to (1) the danger of marginalization of downtown's economic role, (2) the affirmation of an advanced specialization of downtown locations, (3) the incubator or laboratory function of downtown for locally-based retail, (4) the orientation of physical structures towards historic ideals, and (5) the widely stable situation of socio-cultural functions of downtown. Finally, the types of downtown retail and impact factors that have been generated in this dissertation are subject to further assessments. They are rated with regard to potential effects on the stabilization or destabilization of downtown's role as a commercial location.

The subject of quality has been a pervasive issue on the agenda in higher education around the world for more than a decade. A greater focus on quality in higher education resulted from a range of competing factors, among the most prominent were: political control over higher education (exerted particularly by national governments), the growth in the number of students in higher education (including general changes in the student population and their expectations) and financial control on the part of national governments (frequently related to the previous two factors). Quality monitoring has become a mechanism for governments worldwide to tackle these competing factors. However, at the same time, it can be argued that it was frequently employed to disguise the dominant focus on accountability in higher education rather than on enhancement. Many of the quality assurance models and systems applied to higher education originated in the business and manufacturing sectors. They have often been found unsuitable or only partially suitable for the higher education sector, because they largely disregarded the nature of higher education and its employees, in particular the academics. It may be argued that the quality movement has driven higher education more towards greater uniformity, which may be detrimental to what was understood as the "real" quality in higher education. For instance, innovation was regarded as an important aspect of academic work. Nevertheless, the present quality development drive seems to be working against the nature of academic work. Given this background, it is alarming that the academic voice seems to have had little impact to date on the development of quality systems in higher education. Therefore, the present thesis attempted to investigate the academic voice concerning higher education quality. Overall, this thesis had two main objectives. First, based on the analysis of stories of academics and higher education leaders, the thesis endeavoured to construct a framework of significant quality issues for the potential use in future policy development in higher education in the two countries investigated in this research (the Czech Republic and England), and prospectively in other higher education systems around the world. In particular, it aimed to introduce more human-centred measures into the area of higher education quality. Second, in terms of developing a methodology, the thesis attempted to illustrate the way in which a critical event narrative inquiry study of heterogeneous and complex environments, such as higher education, could be undertaken. Employing such a critical event narrative inquiry approach, the researcher endeavoured to highlight important aspects of higher education quality, which have been largely overlooked in the area, and thus assist the improvement of the practice of quality development in higher education. The study utilised face-to-face interviews with academics and higher education leaders concerning their perceptions of the issue of higher education quality. The researcher anticipated that eliciting of "critical events" through interviews with individuals involved in the area of quality in higher education (academics and higher education leaders) would uncover some important aspects in higher education quality which would not be revealed using other more traditional empirical methods of inquiry, particularly quantitative research methods. To investigate the area of higher education quality, the researcher elected to look into the English and Czech higher education systems. The choice of the English higher education system was influenced by the knowledge that England, and more generally the UK, was among the first countries in the world, and certainly the first in Europe, to introduce a formal quality assurance system into higher education. Australia followed this trend soon after it was introduced in the UK. The researcher elected the Czech higher education system, as a culturally different educational system, distinctive from the Anglo-Saxon educational tradition, and which is uniquely placed on the divide between Western and Eastern Europe. In this respect, the critical event narrative inquiry method was proposed as a suitable method for the investigation of significant aspects of cultural difference. Employing the critical event narrative inquiry method, the researcher uncovered a number of significant issues. Some of these issues were identified by English and Czech academics and higher education leaders as not featuring strongly in their countries' current higher education quality enhancement practices, and yet they were regarded as important by the academics. Some of the issues uncovered in this research, on the other hand, were highlighted as impacting negatively on the quality enhancement processes in their respective higher education systems. There were a number of issues which were identified as common to both the English and Czech higher education systems. These issues might have been an indication of potential wider relevance of such trends among a broader range of higher education systems worldwide. This thesis proposed a framework for a human-centred approach to quality enhancement in higher education based on issues which were common to both English and Czech higher education systems. This framework featured: • Regard for the academic voice in higher education quality policy development; • Attention to human-centred aspects of higher education quality; • Need for a collegial approach and reflection on the purposes of quality evaluation processes; • Equal value afforded to teaching and research; and • Focus on innovation and change. There were also some culture-specific issues uncovered, particularly in relation to the Czech higher education system. These culture-specific issues may be relevant to certain common trends and features in other higher education systems in Central and Eastern European regions. In this respect, the thesis proposed a framework for a human-centred approach to quality enhancement with regard to culture-specific issues. The framework focused specifically on Czech higher education and may be of potential relevance to other Central and Eastern European higher education systems. This framework included: • The significance of transparency in educational processes; • The need for a fundamental change in the style of pedagogy in higher education institutions; to focus more on thinking processes and reasoning; • The need for a more systematic move towards a student-centred approach across the whole higher education system; • The need to address the factor of pressure on Czech academics to publish mainly in English in order to receive international recognition; and • The need for education of Czech academic staff to enable a broader and better understanding of the concept of higher education quality in the context of the Czech higher education system. Investigation of the academic voice in English higher education did not reveal any culture-specific issues. In other words, the English academics and higher education leaders did not identify any issues in higher education quality that were distinctively different from the general issues highlighted also by Czech academics and higher education leaders. Some of the issues pointed out in the English context occurred on a more advanced level due to the different historical, political and socio-economic context of the UK higher education. It appears that quality in higher education is here to stay. As such, it is essential for the future of higher education that quality enhancement be based on education-focused approaches. Overall, this thesis proposed a human-centred approach to quality enhancement as one way of attaining educational focus.