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After the September 11th 2001 incident, the application of biometrics is a fast growing business. Essentially, a biometric system is a pattern recognition system that operates by acquiring biometric data from an individual, extracting a feature set from the acquired data, and comparing this feature set against the template set in the database. The technology relies on the automatic assessment of a unique body feature, such as a hand, face, ear, voice, odour (smell), gait, iris, DNA or fingerprint. Depending on the application context, a biometric system may operate either in verification or in identification mode. There are a number of biometric based identification and verification systems available on the market, mainly for military and forensic applications, with the main emphasis on identification. Financial institutions like banks, however, are seeking for biometric alternatives for verification purposes, in order to replace the commonly used PIN (Personal Identification Number). Only a few biometric technologies (iris, retina, DNA and fingerprints) may fulfil this requirement of the banks. Combined with a patent submitted by Dr. L.J. van Ruyven under patent number WO 93/18486, the TNO Research tests on a specifically, by Siemens, developed elastomer for this purpose, this project came to life. A comprehensive study has been performed on presently available biometric identification and verification devices, evaluating the pro's and cons. Collectability, acceptability and fraud sensitivity (resistance) pushed this research to the application of fingerprint verification only. Basically, there are two rules on which the science of fingerprint verification and identification is based on: 1. The fingerprints are "permanent" in that they are formed prior to birth, and remain the same throughout lifetime, until sometime after death when decomposition sets in. 2. The fingerprints are "unique"; no two fingerprints, or friction ridge areas, made by different fingers or areas, are the same or are identical in their ridge characteristic arrangement. Fingerprints can be classified in three levels; level 1 classification by fingerprint patters, level 2 classification by specific characteristics, like minutiae points such as bifurcations, ridge ends and dots and finally level 3 classification by dimensional attributes of a ridge, such as a ridge path, width, shape, pores, edge contour, incipient ridges, breaks, creases, scars, and other permanent details. The latter one is called high-resolution features. The specific level 2 features were detected by Sir Francis Galton and are therefore called Galton features. There are 13 different Galton features classified. It should be noted that the uniqueness of the fingerprint (set of papillary ridge lines) does not automatically imply the uniqueness of a set of features of a fingerprint. As, in general, only a portion of the entire fingerprint is investigated, the uniqueness of a set of features has to be proven. A portion of a fingerprint is taken and divided into cells with a dimension of 1 mm x 1 mm, whereby the frequency of occurrence of the 13 possible Galton features is tested. In our specific fingerprint set of features, we calculated the probability of a configuration of 16 minutiae in an observed area of 49 mm2, of 2.492 x 10-23. This outcome confirms the uniqueness of fingerprint feature configurations, necessary for the next step of the research. A patent was used, based on the assumption that persons could be identified by the geometrical property of distances between the papillary ridges. The combination with the elastomer foil should facilitate the performance of ridge tracking. The result was only partly acceptable for level 2 verification, as the foil on the applied press-plate is so stiff that only lines, bifurcations and endpoints of the fingerprint can be detected. It became clear that pores could not be detected with the applied stiff press-plate. The next step was to perform additional simulations, Finite Element Analysis, in order to check whether a press plate could be used at all for pores detection. A thinner and less stiff foil has been considered, applying a gel instead of an elastomer. The tests showed, however, that a weaker press-plate would result in a very vulnerable, almost unusable system. An even greater problem occurred by assuming that the ridge structure would behave like congruent images under all environmental conditions. The impact of Humidity and Temperature were tested separately to verify this assumption, but most of all to find a mathematical relation between the obtained images. It was concluded that the obtained images do change under different environmental conditions and that mathematical compensation will not solve this problem under all possible conditions. Therefore, the assumption of compensating congruent images is rejected. The final test, the impact of pressure, based on the mechanical properties of the skin, showed significant changes in ridge structures under different pressure and turned out to be the main reason for rejecting the usage of finger line tracking based on the patent. As the initial project description was abandoned, a different prototype design was developed and built, using a scanning technique of an orthogonal grid. The choice for this technique was mainly based on new results from literature research. With scanning in a grid all the necessary information of the fingerprint could be retrieved. The constructed prototype consists of an optical system with the press-plate, drives, data-acquisition equipment, reconstruction algorithm and the necessary interfaces. An altitude map chart, containing sufficient papillary ridge information was obtained for both slope directions (x- & y- direction). Initially, it was not possible to synchronise these two independent measurement data, a minor shift occurred. The obtained shift was caused by the not constant rotating speed of the rotating mirror. By applying two trigger signals, better results were obtained. By building this prototype, it was proven that images could be made and that the reconstruction algorithm for transforming the obtained slope information into an altitude chart is possible. Level 2 features are detectable. Nevertheless, this does not fulfil the requirement to distinguish pores. All the above-performed steps made clear that level 2 classifications could not suffice. An additional feature is required and pores seemed to be the most suitable level 3 add on. The characteristics of pores and its spatial distribution were investigated, showing the uniqueness of intra-ridge pores configurations. Therefore, adding pores to the standard level 2 classification techniques could result in the fulfilment of the bank requirements. The initial system architecture was adapted accordingly. By adding pores the required surface could be diminished, but the scanning resolution should be increased. In general, at level 2 verification, a scanning resolution (Rlevel.1 = Rlevel.2) of 20 points or pixels per mm is sufficient. As pores should be detected, the sampling period of half the size of the smallest pore, 60 µm, is applied. This results in a minimum resolution of the sensor of approximately 33 points per mm. A new prototype was developed using no moving parts and consisting of the following components: • Ring green LED illumination; using strike light instead of direct illumination. This application resulted in a substantial higher contrast of the image. • Telecentric lens; a telecentric objective certifies the same magnification when small distance variations in the axis direction occur. Therefore the position of the finger may vary slightly in that direction. • CCD camera; the spatial resolution, the sampling rate, is approximately 120 ppmm in the horizontal direction and 116 ppmm in the vertical direction. This is 3,75 times greater than the required resolution of the sensor. • Ring holder for the positioning of the finger; to assure that the position of the finger is almost similar at all circumstances, the choice is made for a ring, a kind of aperture, with a inner diameter of approximately 7 mm. Furthermore a ring has advantages over a standard glass device. As the reasons for these choices are comprehensively described in chapter 3 of this thesis, some unique features should be highlighted. The present available sensors mostly have direct light. By applying ring LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) strike light is obtained, improving the contrast ratio. The choice of a different green or blue wavelength instead of standard white light is also a unique additional feature. It is related to the penetration level of the light into the skin, in order to obtain the maximum reflection. To test the performance of all properties of the applied components of the set up, the optical design software program Zemax has been applied. These simulation tests have shown that this sensor set up fulfils the initial bank requirements. The chosen camera and the applied telecentric lens system meet the required MTF to obtain a sufficient contrast to distinguish the minimum size of a pore for level 3 classification. The field curvature of the sensor, as function of the distance to the optical axis is low, maximum 27 µm, and can be neglected. The depth of field shows that the image of the finger is still sharp with a shift of the finger of maximum 10 mm and an out of focus direction of maximum 600 µm. Vignetting, the loss of light, when the beam that enters the objective at an angle with the optical axis may miss a part of the second lens, or the chip of the camera, is less then 3-4 % and therefore negligible. Spherical aberration, coma and astigmatism are also negligible. It is concluded that the obtained images show distinctive pores, the main objective of the research. The final step in the design of an automatic fingerprint recognition system is the performance assessment of the system. The objective was to maximise the acquisition process, which mainly determines the performance of the complete system. A homemade software algorithm was added to combine two different, generally used, techniques based on grey value algorithms for level 2, ridges and minutiae, extraction and adapted thinning for level 3, pores extraction. A specific test image was used with distinct pores. This test image has almost negligible noise. The results of this extraction algorithm were used to match and compare with the fingerprint features statistical analysis and system performance estimates, as described by Roddy and Stosz [RS97]. The performance of a system is determined and judged by the feature uniqueness or variations of matching parameters, in other words by the False Acceptance Rate (FAR) and the False Rejection Rate (FRR). The FAR is directly related to the feature uniqueness of a configuration, the feature area, the number of features and the density of features. The FRR focuses on the inherent feature reliability, pores visibility, and the efficiency of the feature detection algorithm. The feature uniqueness has been proven for the sensor for different pores configurations, supporting the assumption of Ashbaugh and Locard [Ash95, Loc12], that 20 pores are sufficient to identify or verify a person. For the feature inherent reliability (Ri) and the algorithm detection reliability (Rd), separate methods have been applied. Ri has been determined empirically, as mathematical methods will generate algorithm errors. Algorithm detect reliabilities are determined by the missed detects and the false detects. All these determined reliabilities are combined to achieve the performance characteristics of our sensor, in other words, the FAR and FRR is determined, as function of the match score. Projecting these results on the required specifications of the bank, a FAR of 0,01% and a FRR of 0,005%, the outcome is above expectation. The observed performance of the prototype sensor meets the performance specifications of the banks by far.

Privatisation is mainly encouraged by the World Bank and the IMF to offer solutions for the failures of public ownership (Shirley & Walsh, 2001). The transfer of ownership and control of public firms into private owners was presumed to bring outcomes like improved Management Control System [MCS] practices and performance. Proponents of privatisation have considered the internal and external contextual factors as unproblematic and would pose no problems. The literature also does not show how MCS changes actually take place and studies did not address whether privatisation results meet the expectations mainly from the context of developing countries. Furthermore, evidence from former studies has indicated that the outcomes of privatisation had been inconclusive both in the developed and developing countries. In fact, some studies have suggested that the success of privatisation is likely to be affected by MCS practices and contextual factors. Therefore, this study was conducted in Eritrea to shed light on the relations among privatisation, MCS change, and firm performance, while taking into account the influence of contextual factors. In this respect, we have developed suitable conceptual framework to guide our study. We have applied a qualitative research approach and used the case study method. Findings from our three case firms indicated that the MCS practices, firm activities and performance were significantly affected by contextual factors. Factors that played positive role include the capacity and experience and involvement of multinational and local owners. Conversely, factors that had negative effects were mainly government regulations and political uncertainty (war).

The pursuit of a happy and good life is gaining importance increasingly. In today's world the orientation towards traditional values, such as religion or politics, has taken a back seat. In this context, art-of-living can provide assistance. It aims to instill a conscious way of living which leads to a fullfiling and happy life. In philosophy, the construct is defined as a mindful and self-determined way of dealing with one's self and way of life and it suggests a continuous critical reflection on one's own life. Consequently, it is important to recognize one's own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses and to be aware of the opportunities in life to obtain subjective well-being through mindful effort. Art-of-living can be assigned to positive psychology, which applies in this context, because it deals with the conditions and processes that enable self-development of the individual. The focus is on the systematic development of what is beneficial for well-being, such as human strengths, savoring, or optimism. It has been pointed out that this bundle acts to buffer stressful situations and can lead to a fulfilled life, which is also the aim of art-of-living. Research has shown that positive psychology does not only deal with adults. It has pointed out that positive psychology is also important for children and adolescents and so the study of positive psychology is alive and well in children and youth. Already young children have to deal with numerous life stressors. For this reason, the preventive use of positive action like dealing with one's self and dealing with life stressors is advocated by proponents of positive education. Hence, interventions of positive psychology have shown their effectiveness in numerous studies. Especially those who are developed for young children are promising. One context in which a lot of research on children and adolescents takes place is the scholastic context. There are numerous of intervention studies in the field of positive psychology dealing with different aspects, like well-being, resilience or mental health. In summary, to deal with children's positive psychology is of great interest for today's society. Nevertheless, there is no research that deals with the art-of-living of children and adolescents as of yet. Neither are there many instruments to measure art-of-living of children and adolescents as well as constructs of positive psychology. A huge number of instruments already exists but mainly developed for adults. It is common that researchers in the field of psychology for children and adolescents use instruments for adults and modify them. A lot of adult instruments consist of a huge number of items and so they cannot easily be used for studies with young children. Therefore, for some studies only a selection of items is made. It is uncertain whether complex constructs can be described with only a selection of items. Furthermore, there is an even smaller number of measurements in German. This is a limitation for cross-cultural studies and for research in Germany where young students are not familiar with the English language. In light of the described research gaps, the present doctoral thesis addresses the (1) development of interventions to improve art-of-living of children and adolescents, (2) training children and adolescents from different contexts, (3) the validation of child-adapted questionnaires, and (4) the translation of a common instrument in the field of positive psychology into German. The purpose of Study 1 was to develop an intervention to improve art-of-living of children and adolescents in the scholastic context for students of different age groups - primary school students and students from higher grades. Study 1.1 dealt with the initial examination of whether it is possible to enhance the art-of-living by training selected art-of-living strategies. Therefore, training with three conditions was developed and conducted with secondary school students (ages 16–19). For Study 1.2, a second art-of-living training was developed and conducted with children from primary school (ages 8–11). In summary, the training successfully enhanced art-of-living. In Study 1.1, the art-of-living measures increased significantly for the training conditions compared to a control group. In addition, Study 1.2 showed that higher levels of the art-of-living lead to a better quality of life. The aim of Study 2 was to transfer the art-of-living into the clinical-therapeutic context. Again, two studies were conducted. Study 2.1 aimed at identifying those art-of-living components that show differences for adolescents who are suffering from anxiety or depression by using a pre-experimental comparative design. The results could show significant differences of the art-of-living subscales in the comparison to a clinical and a nonclinical sample. A specific pattern was identified for the clinical sample. In Study 2.2, need-oriented and predefined art-of-living interventions were developed, implemented and evaluated based on a randomized two factors multivariate 3x3 design with repeated measures. The main outcome measures are art-of-living, life satisfaction, depression and anxiety. The results show that the developed training improved the art-of-living as well as the satisfaction with life, and reduced depression. Study 3 aimed at translating instruments for children and adolescents measuring constructs of positive psychology into German. Therefore, the Satisfaction with Life Scale - child version (SWLS-C), which is one of the most commonly used questionnaires in the field of positive psychology, was translated with the use of a backtranslation-proceeding (Study 3.1) and validated by a sample of 1099 students aged 8 to 17 (Study 3.2). The analyses included retesting of reliability, concurrent and discriminant validity by additionally measuring several established constructs of positive psychology. Model fit indices, internal consistencies, retest-reliability as well as concurrent and discriminant validity evidence were satisfying. In conclusion, this doctoral thesis makes an important contribution to research on the topic of the art-of-living of children and adolescents, particularly in the improvement by training art-of-living strategies. Moreover, the results allow implications for intervention programs for different contexts, i.e. school and clinical-therapeutic context, as well as different age groups. Furthermore, instruments to measure the effects on life satisfaction for children and adolescents were developed and can be used for the systematic evaluation of interventions in future studies for German speaking countries. As a consequence, SWLS-C data of children and adolescents of different nationalities can be compared and in addition as cross-cultural measurement invariance studies can be conducted.

With Israel's invasion of Gaza inching toward the possibility of a long-term ceasefire, if not a formal resolution, we can begin to draw certain conclusions about the strategic course of the latest Middle Eastern conflagration. Above all, despite inflicting widespread destruction on the impoverished Gaza Strip, Israel's stated maximalist objective of destroying Hamas appears firmly out of reach. While part of this failure to strike a decisive blow follows from the inherent difficulty of counterinsurgency operations, Hamas's major allies — Iran, Hezbollah, Yemen's Houthis, and Shia Islamist militias in Iraq — also played a significant role. Crucially, these forces, constituting a loose coalition called the Axis of Resistance, are pressuring Washington to push Israel to the bargaining table by striking American weak points in the Middle East.Central to the Axis of Resistance's apparent logic in the latest conflict, and its struggle against the U.S.-Israel alliance more generally, lies the inescapable fact that its enemies possess overwhelming military, technological, and economic advantages. Yet the very global primacy of the United States that underlies this disproportion can make Washington uniquely vulnerable to smaller, more tactically nimble opponents.The regional ripples of the current war make this vulnerability especially clear. Rather than face the U.S. and Israel head-on, Iran and its allies took advantage of the overstretched American position in the Middle East. The efforts of Yemen's Houthis in the Red Sea provide perhaps the most dramatic illustration of this asymmetrical strategy. Central to the United States' international status is its naval dominance, which has allowed American policymakers to confer on their nation the mantle once worn by Britain in its imperial heyday: global manager and guardian of seaborne commerce.With just a few cheap drones and missiles, the Houthis instituted an effective blockade of the Red Sea, thus challenging this U.S. claim to be the worldwide arbiter of freedom of navigation. While U.S. forces have apparently proven relatively effective in destroying Houthi projectiles once launched, even President Joe Biden has admitted that U.S-UK airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen have largely failed to degrade the group's capacity for action. According to one metric, as of this writing the volume of traffic moving through the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandeb strait, as measured by weight, remains less than half of what it was this time last year.Elsewhere in the Middle East, other members of the Axis of Resistance similarly turned building blocks of American global preeminence into liabilities for Washington. In Iraq, Islamist Shia militias, formally integrated into the country's military as components of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) even as they sustain close links with Iran, have maintained a steady stream of attacks against U.S. military infrastructure. Though the U.S. withdrew from Iraq in 2011, its forces returned in 2014 as part of the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In the minds of American planners, the bases thus established both bolster the U.S. presence in the world's major oil-producing region and its efforts to contain Iran. Now, though, they look more like sitting ducks than strategic assets. In fact, reflecting the entwinement of the Axis's goal of relieving pressure on Hamas with the narrower interests of its constituent parts, the consistent series of militia attacks likely contributed to Washington's recent ascension to formal negotiations with Iraq over a phased withdrawal of American troops — 2,500 of which remain in the country despite a 2020 resolution by the Iraqi parliament calling for their removal.The international struggle against ISIS also presented the U.S. an opportunity to gain a foothold in conflict-torn Syria, where American arms and training for rebel factions helped fuel a brutal civil war. The main U.S. presence in Syria is concentrated in the country's oil-rich northeast, though American forces also control the strategically vital al-Tanf border crossing with Iraq.The roughly 900 American troops in the country assist U.S.-allied Kurdish forces and allow Washington to deprive the Syrian state of critical oil revenue. But, like their counterparts in Iraq, they have lately been at the mercy of drone and rocket strikes, largely from the aforementioned Iraqi PMF. Indeed, analogous to the situation in Iraq, the precarity of U.S. positions in Syria as driven home by these assaults has reportedly spurred debate within the Biden administration about an American departure from that country as well.While such attacks in the Red Sea, Iraq, and Syria demonstrate the upside of the Axis of Resistance's regional campaign, its asymmetrical calculus is not without risks. Perhaps the best illustration of this was a recent drone strike, undertaken by Iraqi militia, against a secretive U.S. base in Jordan, near that country's tri-border region with Iraq and Syria. The attack killed three American troops, the first U.S. combat casualties in the present conflict.This result set off alarm bells in Tehran (and prompted the most wide-ranging series of American strikes yet against targets in Iraq and Syria). Central to the Axis's overall strategy, coordinated, if not — as many Western commentators insist — wholly directed, by Iran's national security apparatus, is the need to avoid full-scale conventional war with the United States. Without even factoring in the massive power disparity with the U.S., Iran's elite, in particular, can ill afford such a confrontation right now. The state is beset by a crisis of legitimacy, enflamed by its propensity for repression, and the nation's economy faces deep-rooted challenges, due in part to punishing American sanctions. As a result, Iran has taken steps to, temporarily at least, mitigate the chance of open conflict with the U.S. — most notably by curtailing strikes by PMF groups against American targets in Iraq.Yet, in taking that step, Iran's leaders likely feel secure in the knowledge that, despite the delicate balance required to tiptoe around the possibility of full-blown escalation, the Axis of Resistance's regional calculus has paid off significantly. In undertaking their broader campaign against the U.S., Hamas's regional allies leveraged Israel's intense dependence on its American patron. Without American support, Israel cannot hope to continue any major military campaign for very long — it is thus critically susceptible to pressure from Washington. While public opinion also plays a major role, the shower of blows rained upon American positions in the Middle East over the past few months has likely factored into U.S. policymakers' efforts to steer Israel away from its most maximalist aims and toward negotiations.Enabling both Israel's brutal assault on Gaza and the Axis of Resistance's ability to exert pressure on Tel Aviv through the U.S. are, of course, Washington's imperial ambitions. Iran and its allies have, unwittingly, presented American policymakers with a precious opportunity to pivot away from the kind of unilateralist overreach that, in large part, structures the present conflict. In doing so, they could begin to craft the kind of constructive foreign policy that puts the needs of U.S. citizens first — precious few Americans, after all, want to stumble into another Middle Eastern "forever war" just because of a few drones launched by Iraqi militias. And, perhaps most crucially, such a shift could perhaps prevent the kind of destruction unleashed on Gaza over the last few months — its scale a horrifying corollary to the depth of hubris that fuels American great power pretensions.

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy is a critique of the contemporary social space and how the characters are positioned within it. The novelist sketches her characters in a manner that examines them, especially the female ones in great detail. The novel is a study of the marginalisation of the characters perpetuated by social, political and economic factors. The paper attempts to look at the portrayal of the female characters and how they are positioned within the society. The paper also aims to explore the psyche of the women characters that, in turn, throws light on the inherent patriarchy of the society depicted in the novel. Arundhati Roy, being a staunch feminist, exposes the hypocrisy practised by the men folks. The novel is a study of the relationship dynamics that undergo upheavals at regular intervals because of the shifting trajectories of socio-cultural factors and power politics practised within the space of family. The paper aims to record the perceptions of the women characters and how they become victims of a patriarchal society. It is also to be noted how women respond to the patriarchy in different ways. The various responses offer an insight into the dynamics of the social space that is affected by socio-cultural and politico-economic parameters. The findings of the paper indicate how gender politics affect the social space and determine the positioning of women over the ages. The power politics within the space of family relationships is a microcosmic representation of the larger macro social space that is dominated by vested interests and agencies of repression. Overall, the paper analyses the 'small' voices that try to get themselves heard amidst the ever evolving social and political contours.

The authors analyse the phenomenon of bullying administering a questionnaire in the year 2007. The questionnaire, which was strictly anonymous was given to 350 students from seven primary and middle schools in the city and province of Catania.The replies given by students from the primary schools were compared with those of students in the first years of middle,and subsequently compared with the findings of studies conducted on nationally and internationally. The study was designed to ascertain the frequency and type of abusive behaviour, where these acts took place, differences regarding bullies' gender and age and their motivations as well as the attitude of students towards them. Also investigated were the propensity of students to talk to others about the violence they observed and the ability to devise strategies to resolve conflicts among peers. The results obtained showed, in particular, that the rate of bullying experienced was much higher (68% primary school, 56% middle school) than the figures previously found in Italy. Another finding was the widespread feeling of distrust, 30% of those interviewed, as regards the usefulness of reporting to others the episodes of violence witnessed. Other patterns of behaviour found were of particular interest as regards future action. The majority of students from both primary and middle schools were inclined to resolve conflicts at school by confrontation of victims and their bullies and by understanding their reasons, whilst only one student in seven (about 15%) favoured clearly punitive action. This finding is consistent with the new approaches regarding restorative justice and mediation in penal matter which are appearing in criminal justice policies in many countries. However, at the same time they contrast sharply with commonly held views and with the purely punitive lines of thinking which too often characterise criminal and school policies against bullying. The place in which acts of bullying were most commonly found were school playgrounds, classrooms, corridors and toilets.This confirms school to be the place where the majority of bullying occurs and that by taking action on site a substantial drop in bullying can be achieved, as has been demonstrated by many school programmes undertaken in Italy and particularly abroad. ; Gli Autori analizzano il fenomeno del bullismo somministrando nel corso del 2007 un questionario, rigorosamente anonimo, a 350 studenti appartenenti alle classi elementari e medie di 7 istituti scolastici di Catania e provincia, mettendo in relazione le risposte ottenute dagli studenti delle scuole elementari con quelle degli studenti delle scuole medie inferiori, e confrontandole con i risultati di molte ricerche svolte in campo nazionale ed internazionale. La ricerca si propone di rilevare le frequenze e le tipologie dei comportamenti prevaricanti, i luoghi in cui si verificano, le differenze di genere, di età e di motivazione dei bulli, gli atteggiamenti degli studenti nei confronti di quest'ultimi, la propensione degli studenti a parlare con altri delle violenze osservate, nonché la capacità di elaborare strategie di risoluzione dei conflitti tra pari. Dai dati emerge, in particolare, che le frequenze degli atti di bullismo subìti sono molto più alte (68% elementari, 56% medie) di quelle precedentemente rilevate in Italia. Si evidenzia, inoltre, un diffuso atteggiamento di sfiducia, pari ad un 30% degli intervistati,sull'utilità di riferire ad altri le esperienze di violenza di cui si è testimoni. Sono state, inoltre, rilevate tendenze molto interessanti in un'ottica di futuro intervento. La maggior parte degli studenti delle scuole elementari e medie è propensa a risolvere i conflitti scolastici attraverso il confronto tra bullo e vittima e la comprensione delle loro ragioni, mentre solo uno studente su sette (15% circa) è favorevole ad interventi espressamente punitivi. Questo dato è in linea con i nuovi orientamenti di giustizia riparativa e di mediazione penale che affiorano nelle politiche di giustizia criminale di molti paesi, anche se nel contempo si discosta nettamente dal sentire comune e dalle idee esclusivamente punitive che troppo spesso incarnano il volto delle politiche criminali e scolastiche contro il bullismo. Si è rilevato, infine, che i luoghi privilegiati dai bulli per mettere in atto comportamenti violenti sono gli spazi di ricreazione, le aule scolastiche, i corridoi e i bagni. Questo dato conferma che la scuola è il luogo in cui più facilmente si manifesta con maggiore frequenza il bullismo e che intervenendo in tale contesto si può ridurre sensibilmente tale fenomeno, come hanno dimostrato molti programmi scolastici in Italia e soprattutto all'Estero.

Verlagsinfo: "From the bestselling author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW comes a searing memoir of class, inequality, and grief - a daughter's search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult, and the lives she's lost. In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways you'd hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them. When Nicole Chung graduated from high school, she couldn't hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast, no longer the only Korean she knew, she found a sense of community she had always craved as an Asian American adoptee - and a path to the life she'd long wanted. But the middle class world she begins to raise a family in - where there are big homes, college funds, nice vacations - looks very different from the middle class world she thought she grew up in, where paychecks have to stretch to the end of the week, health insurance is often lacking, and there are no safety nets. When her father dies at only sixty-seven, killed by diabetes and kidney disease, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of financial instability and lack of access to healthcare contributed to his premature death. And then the unthinkable happens - less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as Covid descends upon the world. Exploring the enduring strength of family bonds in the face of hardship and tragedy, A Living Remedy examines what it takes to reconcile the distance between one life, one home, and another - and sheds needed light on some of the most persistent and tragic inequalities in American society"--

Introduction / Martin Guzman -- Part I. Inequality. A firm-level perspective on the role of rents in the rise in inequality / Jason Furman and Peter Orszag -- Parents, children, and luck : equality of opportunity and equality of outcome / Ravi Kanbur -- The middle muddle : conceptualizing and measuring the global middle class / Arun Jayadev, Rahul Lahoti, and Sanjay Reddy -- Part II. Microeconomics. Companies are seldom as good or as bad as they seem at the time / Gary Smith -- What's so special about two-sided markets? / Benjamin E. Hermalin and Michael L. Katz -- Missing money and missing markets : application to electricity markets / David Newbery -- Part III. Macroeconomics. Thoughts on DSGE macroeconomics : matching the moment, but missing the point? / Anton Korinek -- The "Schumpeterian" and the "Keynesian" Stiglitz : learning, coordination hurdles, and growth trajectories / Giovanni Dosi and Maria Enrica Virgillito -- Deleterious effects of sustained deficit spending / Edmund Phelps -- The rediscovery of financial market imperfections / John C. Williams -- Ambiguity and international risk-sharing / Brian Hill and Tomasz Michalski -- Part IV. Networks. Use and abuse of network effects / Hal Varian -- Financial contagion revisited / Franklin Allen and Douglas Gale -- The economics of information and financial networks / Stefano Battiston -- Part V. Development. Joseph Stiglitz and China's transition success / Justin Yifu Lin -- The sources of Chinese economic growth since 1978 / Lawrence J. Lau -- Knowledge as a global common and the crisis of the learning economy / Ugo Pagano -- Part VI. Law and economics. Conservatism and switcher's curse / Aaron Edlin -- The "inner logic" of institutional evolution : towards a theory of the relationship between formal and informal law / Antara Haldar -- Part VII. Public policies. Joe Stiglitz and representative and equitable global governance / Jose Antonio Ocampo -- The fiscal opacity cycle: how America hid the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan / Linda J. Bilmes -- It works in practice, but would it work in theory? : Joseph Stiglitz's contribution to our understanding of income contingent loans / Bruce Chapman -- The public economics of long-term care / Pierre Piesteau and Gregory Ponthiere -- Jomo E. Stiglitz : Kenya's first nobel laureate in economics / Celestin Monga -- List of contributors -- Index.

American communities are facing chronic problems: fiscal stress, urban decline, environmental sprawl, mass incarceration, political isolation, disproportionate foreclosures and severe public health risks. In The Price of Paradise, David Troutt argues that it is a lack of mutuality in our local decision making that has led to this looming crisis facing cities and local governments. Arguing that there are structural flaws in the American dream, Troutt investigates the role that place plays in our thinking and how we have organized our communities to create or deny opportunity. Legal rules and policies that promoted mobility for most citizens simultaneously stifled and segregated a growing minority by race, class and—most importantly—place. A conversation about America at the crossroads, The Price of Paradise is a multilayered exploration of the legal, economic and cultural forces that contribute to the squeeze on the middle class, the hidden dangers of growing income and wealth inequality and the literature on how growth and consumption patterns are environmentally unsustainable.American communities are facing chronic problems: fiscal stress, urban decline, environmental sprawl, mass incarceration, political isolation, disproportionate foreclosures and severe public health risks. In The Price of Paradise, David Troutt argues that it is a lack of mutuality in our local decision making that has led to this looming crisis facing cities and local governments. Arguing that there are structural flaws in the American dream, Troutt investigates the role that place plays in our thinking and how we have organized our communities to create or deny opportunity. Legal rules and policies that promoted mobility for most citizens simultaneously stifled and segregated a growing minority by race, class and—most importantly—place. A conversation about America at the crossroads, The Price of Paradise is a multilayered exploration of the legal, economic and cultural forces that contribute to the squeeze on the middle class, the hidden dangers of growing income and wealth inequality and the literature on how growth and consumption patterns are environmentally unsustainable

BACKGROUND: Web portals providing health information online have the potential to reach large numbers of people. Yet few studies have assessed usage and costs of health portals, especially over an extended period of time. OBJECTIVES: First, to assess the usage of a web portal on prevention and health promotion that was initiated by the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Second, to estimate average cost per pageview over the full web portal life-cycle. METHODS: Usage data were gathered through Google Analytics. The main usage metric assessed was pageviews originating from an IP address in Berlin or Brandenburg. Project cost data were reported by the local government and from own records. Descriptive and regression analyses were used to determine time trends in pageviews. RESULTS: The redesigned web portal Praeventionsatlas.de launched August 2011 and was discontinued March 2018. Analyzing the full calendar years only, the annual pageview number increased from 2012 (8492) to its peak in 2014 (11,876) and steadily decreased to its minimum in 2017 (7232). Pages of the web portal were most often viewed around lunchtime (12 to 1 p.m.), in the middle of the week (Wed to Thu), and at the beginning of the year (Jan to Feb). Adjusting for year, month, and weekday, the number of daily pageviews dropped on major public holidays (Easter −9, Pentecost −12, Christmas −12 and New Year's Eve and Day −20; p < .001) and increased during the fasting period before Easter (+6; p < .001). Average cost per page viewed from relaunch until the web portal went offline was estimated to be €0.38 (€0.33 to €1.67) per pageview. CONCLUSION: Usage of the web portal showed temporal variation and peaked before the middle of its 6.5 year life-cycle. Development and need for updates may require substantial investment in a web portal, such that a pageview can come at a considerable expense, even in small-scale projects. Assessing and discussing the cost-effectiveness of a web portal is therefore desirable.

1975 veröffentlichte Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008) seinen 70 Druckseiten umfassenden Essay "Walther von der Vogelweide – Reichssänger und Hausierer". Integriert in den Text waren 34 Übersetzungen von Gedichten Walthers, deren mittelhochdeutsche Fassungen im Anhang ebenfalls abgedruckt wurden. Wie es zu diesen Übersetzungen kam, wie Rühmkorf die Gedichte auswählte und präsentierte, welche übersetzerischen Verfahren er einsetzte und wie er sein Vorgehen – auch in Abgrenzung von bereits vorliegenden Übersetzungen – begründete, was das Übersetzen für sein eigenes Schreiben bedeutete, wie er dieses eigene Schreiben und die Walther-Übersetzungen im politischen Kontext der Nach-68er-Ära verortete, wie er die Walther-Publikation nutzte, um seine Position im konkurrenzgetriebenen Literaturbetrieb Westdeutschlands neu zu festigen, welche Rolle andere Akteure dieses Betriebs (Kritiker, Verlagsleute, Publizisten, Germanisten) dabei spielten – um diese Fragen geht es im Beitrag. ; In 1975 Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008) published his 70 page essay "Walther von der Vogelweide - Reichssänger und Hausierer". The text contained 34 translations of Walther's poems, whose Middle High German versions were also printed in the appendix. How these translations came about, how Rühmkorf selected and presented the poems, which translation methods he used and how he justified his approach – particularly in distinction to already existing translations – what translating meant for his own writing, how he located his own writing and the Walther translations in the political context of the post-68 era, how he used the Walther publication to re-strengthen his position in the competitive West German literary field, what role other actors of this field (critics, publishers, authors and commentators, Germanists) played in it – these are the questions dealt with in the article. ; In 1975 Peter Rühmkorf (1929–2008) published his 70 page essay "Walther von der Vogelweide - Reichssänger und Hausierer". The text contained 34 translations of Walther's poems, whose Middle High German versions were also printed in the appendix. How these translations came about, how Rühmkorf selected and presented the poems, which translation methods he used and how he justified his approach – particularly in distinction to already existing translations – what translating meant for his own writing, how he located his own writing and the Walther translations in the political context of the post-68 era, how he used the Walther publication to re-strengthen his position in the competitive West German literary field, what role other actors of this field (critics, publishers, authors and commentators, Germanists) played in it – these are the questions dealt with in the article.

Abstract Background The 5S management method (where 5S stands for sort, set in order, shine, standardize, and sustain) was originally implemented by manufacturing enterprises in Japan. It was then introduced to the manufacturing sector in the West and eventually applied to the health sector for organizing and standardizing the workplace. 5S has recently received attention as a potential solution for improving government health-care services in low- and middle-income countries. We conducted a narrative literature review to explore its applicability to health-care facilities globally, with a focus on three aspects: (a) the context of its application, (b) its impacts, and (c) its adoption as part of government initiatives. Methods To identify relevant research articles, we researched public health databases in English, including CINAHL, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. We found 15 of the 114 articles obtained from the search results to be relevant for full-text analysis of the context and impacts of the 5S application. To identify additional information particularly on its adoption as part of government initiatives, we also examined other types of resources including reference books, reports, didactic materials, government documents, and websites. Results The 15 empirical studies highlighted its application in primary health-care facilities and a wide range of hospital areas in Brazil, India, Jordan, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, the UK, and the USA. The review also found that 5S was considered to be the starting point for health-care quality improvement. Ten studies presented its impacts on quality improvements; the changes resulting from the 5S application were classified into the three dimensions of safety, efficiency, and patient-centeredness. Furthermore, 5S was adopted as part of government quality improvement strategies in India, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. Conclusions 5S could be applied to health-care facilities regardless of locations. It could be not only a tool for health workers and facility managers but also a strategic option for policymakers. They could consider 5S as the starting point of a government-led quality improvement initiative for improving safety, efficiency, or patient-centeredness aspects particularly in low- and middle-income countries. However, the evidence base, particularly in resource-poor settings, must be expanded.

KYC conformity entails the creation of auditable evidence of due diligence activities, in addition to the need for customer identification. There is necessity for financial institutions to validate that their customers are not or have not been involved in illegal activities such as fraud, money laundering or organized crime in order to meet KYC conformity requirements. This study examines factors that determine the level of compliance with KYC requirements by commercial banks in Kenya. Specifically, this study investigates the effect of customer characteristics, staff competency, information communications technology infrastructure and bank size on the level of KYC compliance requirements. The study used descriptive research design. The target population of this study was the top and middle level officers who are directly involved in the day-today operations of the commercial banks. For purposes of this study a descriptive survey design was employed. The target population was 43 commercial banks and 1 mortgage finance firms operating in Kenya. Target respondents comprised of top and middle level involved in the day-to-day institution's operations. Questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument. To address the objectives of the study, descriptive and inferential analysis techniques were utilized. Regression analysis was employed to ascertain the relationships between KYC compliance and the four variables of interest in this study. Computations of coefficient of determination indicates that four independent variables that were studied, explain 78.3 percent of the commercial banks compliance level with KYC requirements in Kenya, implying that 21.7 percent could be explained by other factors not examined in this study. Study findings reveal that customer characteristics are a key determinant of KYC compliance, small banks are not capable of meeting KYC compliance cost and that staff attitudes and physical facilities affect customer service and effective KYC procedures compliance. Regression analysis further reveals that there is a significant relationship between the four variables and KYC compliance level. Finally the study recommends that ICT is a useful tool that could be used to enhance compliance with KYC requirements.

Ahmed Al Ansari,1–3 Khalid Al Khalifa,1 Mohamed Al Azzawi,1 Rashed Al Amer,1 Dana Al Sharqi,4 Anwar Al-Mansoor,5 Fadi M Munshi6 1Department of General Surgery, Bahrain Defense Force Hospital, 2Surgical Department, Arabian Gulf University, 3Medical Education Department, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - Bahrain, 4Department of Internal Medicine, 5Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, Bahrain Defense Force Hospital, Riffa, Kingdom of Bahrain; 6College of Medicine, King Fahad Medical City, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Background: We aimed to design, implement, and evaluate the feasibility and reliability of a multisource feedback (MSF) system to assess interns in their clerkship year in the Middle Eastern culture, the Kingdom of Bahrain.Method: The study was undertaken in the Bahrain Defense Force Hospital, a military teaching hospital in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A total of 21 interns (who represent the total population of the interns for the given year) were assessed in this study. All of the interns were rotating through our hospital during their year-long clerkship rotation. The study sample consisted of nine males and 12 females. Each participating intern was evaluated by three groups of raters, eight medical intern colleagues, eight senior medical colleagues, and eight coworkers from different departments.Results: A total of 21 interns (nine males and 12 females) were assessed in this study. The total mean response rates were 62.3%. A factor analysis was conducted that found that the data on the questionnaire grouped into three factors that counted for 76.4% of the total variance. These three factors were labeled as professionalism, collaboration, and communication. Reliability analysis indicated that the full instrument scale had high internal consistency (Cronbach's α 0.98). The generalizability coefficients for the surveys were estimated to be 0.78.Conclusion: Based on our results and analysis, we conclude that the MSF tool we used on the interns rotating in their clerkship year within our Middle Eastern culture provides an effective method of evaluation because it offers a reliable, valid, and feasible process. Keywords: MSF system, interns, validity, generalizability

PurposeOrganizational downsizing, right sizing, layoffs, and restructuring that attempt to reduce labour cost and increase competitiveness, have generated considerable feelings of job insecurity among today's employees. Conversely, the rapidity of change in the Middle Eastern region, coupled with the unpredictability of economic conditions, the inevitable need to survive and the ever‐lasting craving for organizational success merge to aggravate the adverse effects of job insecurity. The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, management trust, peer trust and job satisfaction within Lebanon.Design/methodology/approachEmployees working within medium‐sized organizations in Lebanon were surveyed to measure their perceptions of job insecurity, job satisfaction, powerlessness, and interpersonal trust. Statistical analyses were performed using Pearson correlation matrix and linear regression tests.FindingsThe study identified significant positive relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, and negative relationships between job insecurity and management trust and job satisfaction. No significant relationship was found between job insecurity and peer trust.Research limitations/implicationsThe study adds to the existing job insecurity literature by empirically testing the relationship between job insecurity and powerlessness, peer trust, management trust and job satisfaction within Lebanese organizations. The researchers hope that this study will assist managers in understanding the importance of earning their subordinates' trust and its implications on job insecurity which could also negatively affect job satisfaction. Also, the issue of powerlessness should be seriously considered by management since it triggers the feeling of job insecurity.Originality/valueWestern organizational behavior literature has given the topic of job insecurity significant attention. However, no scholarly research has yet examined the topic of job insecurity within the Middle East. This paper sheds light on important results regarding job insecurity and its consequences. Powerlessness predicts and aggravates job insecurity, and is affected by the nature of the job; trust in management has a negative effect on job insecurity, while peer trust has no influence. Also, job satisfaction is influenced by the perceptions of job insecurity.