61,143 research outputs found

    Agri-food Trade Specialisation Pattern in the New EU Member States

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    The paper analyses development of agri-food trade specialisation pattern in eight EU Member States of the 2004 and 2007 enlargements (NMS) during the period 2000 – 2005. Over the period analysed, the NMS were not able to hold trade positions in the most competitive commodities, but on the other hand, positions of a number of previously uncompetitive commodities improved. We show convergence of dynamism of agri-food trade specialisation across NMS in trade with the partners/groupings investigated.agri-food trade, specialisation, EU Member States of 2004 and 2007 enlargements, International Relations/Trade,

    Shared leadership and member engagement in Western Protestant house churches: a naturalistic inquiry

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    2013 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Western Protestant churches measure success through member engagement. Waning church member engagement has led some to argue that ineffective leadership structures are to blame. While the possibility of shared leadership has been advanced to this end, its use in Western Protestant Church settings has yet to be explored and understood. Thus, this study sought to inform and illuminate how member engagement occurred in Western Protestant house churches that practiced shared leadership. This study was conducted within the Naturalistic paradigm, utilizing the embedded methodologies of hermeneutic phenomenology and ethnography to (a) understand the lived experience and in situ culture of individuals who attend Western Protestant churches where shared leadership is practiced and its perceived effect on their resulting engagement as members of those churches and (b) based on these findings, offer thick description for deep understanding, informed action, and further study as to how shared leadership might be utilized within Western Protestant churches to foster member engagement. Findings indicated that he culture of the house churches selected could best be described through the practiced mediums of the house church including meeting in homes, fellowship time, the physical set up, the flexible structure, and the study of scripture. These mediums were indicative of the underlying beliefs, values, and assumptions of the house church culture. Additionally, the adaptive nature of the church has, in notable part, instigated this shift towards house churches. Some of the manifestations of this shift are seen through the enactment of shared leadership as visible through decision-making and the ways in which church members take initiative to be involved. Additionally, the manifestation of church member engagement is visible through how these members construct, shared and individual, the experiences of participation in the weekly gatherings, interaction throughout the week, and an increased sense of ownership and responsibility. Finally, the themes that had emerged were predominantly confirmed via a final quantitative member checking survey and enabled me to develop contextualized definitions for shared leadership and engagement

    Leadership identity: an interpretive phenomenological analysis of how undergraduate fraternity New Member Educators understand and experience leadership

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    2021 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.The purpose of this study was to focus on how New Member Educators understand and experience their role as a leader within their organization as well as how they perceive their role in leading their organization into the future. Overall, the overarching question of this study is the following: What is the experience of undergraduate fraternity New Member Educators concerning their leadership identity in relation to their organization? Additionally, research questions focused on how these men experience and identify themselves as leaders, how they understand their leadership as it relates to their organization, how they experience their leadership influencing the congruence of the behavior with the stated values of their organization and finally, how they perceive their role in leading their organizations into the future. To examine the development of leadership identity for undergraduate fraternity New Member Educators and their understanding of the way their role and experiences relate to their organization, this research study utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). Through choosing IPA, the researcher made a commitment to explore and interpret the way participants made meaning of their own experiences through gaining access to detailed personal accounts (Smith et al., 2009) of nine New Member Educators concerning their leadership identity in relation to their organization. The analysis detailed several themes in which the participants provided a broad range of perspectives on their experience concerning their leadership identity related to their organization, Delta Delta Alpha. There were four superordinate themes that emerged from the analysis. These included: being able to comprehend leadership, being conferred to lead, being compelled to lead, and understanding and experiencing congruent leadership. Within each superordinate theme, two to three ordinate themes were identified. The themes identified and derived through the interpretive phenomenological analysis of the data lead to the development of the essence of the experience of undergraduate fraternity New Member Educators. This essence of the experience of these men concerning their leadership identity in relation to their organization subsequently created the findings within this study. The findings within this study led to the identification of five components that could be considered for use in future research, investigation, action and practice. This study focused on one organization (Delta Delta Alpha) and one position within the organization (New Member Educator). Thus, these five components could be explored further in terms of how fraternity men (and perhaps, more specifically New Member Educators) consider their leadership identity in relation to their organization. These five components were: modeling, reflection, experience, motivation and congruence. These components could potentially be used within leadership practice in terms of how men in fraternal organizations consider their leadership identity

    How the European Union Interacts with its Member States. IHS Political Science Series: 2003, No. 93

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    The paper seeks to identify concepts and theories to analyze and explain the relationship between the Member States and the European Union. It mainly adopts a top-down perspective looking at how the European Union has affected the Member States and to what extent it has changed their domestic institutions, policies and political processes. What is the effect of the European Union on the Member States? The paper reviews the existing literature, which offers different insights on each of the three questions. While by now most students of the European Union agree that its effect on the Member States is differential, there is still little consensus on how to account for variation in the processes, degrees and the outcomes of domestic change. Nor has the literature paid much attention to how the Member States have responded to the increasing effect of the European Union on their domestic institutions, policies and political processes. The paper therefore concludes with some considerations on how to conceptualize the feedback loops between ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ dynamics in the relationship between the EU and its Member States

    [[alternative]]Wen’s Town and Talent Member School Project: Idea and Practice

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    [[abstract]]The goal of ‘Town and Talent Member School Project’, which Sayling Wen and Kenny Lin launched into, is using modern technology and the internet to develop a knowledge-based economy in the Chinese western region for a bright future. The author tries to make a thorough inquiry to understand how member schools in the town and talent project could lead local economic development and thereby digs out educational significances within. According to the research results: (1) Through e-charity platform member schools can bring more moral education into practice; (2) By practicing town and talent project member schools can expand their social functions; (3) To educate is the most fundamental work to change impoverished situations in the world; (4) The development of educational technology will promote the transition of learning styles. In this paper the author also points out that town and talent member school project begins with technical interest, and grow up with practical interest and emancipatory interest. Finally, comments for and against town and talent member school project are offered.

    Author Peter FitzSimons speaking at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 13 November 2012 /

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    Title from acquisitions documentation.; Part of the collection: Portraits of author Peter FitzSimons speaking at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 13 November 2012.; Acquired in digital format; access copy available online.; Mode of access: Online.; Photographed by a staff member of the National Library of Australia

    Portrait of author David Foster at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 8 June 2011 /

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    Title from acquisitions documentation.; Part of the collection: Portraits of author David Foster at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, 8 June 2011.; Acquired in digital format; access copy available online.; Mode of access: Online.; Photographed by a staff member of the National Library of Australia

    Implementing a Benchmarking Model for Assessing Internet Users’ Complaints in University of Ibadan, Nigeria

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    The Internet is the most important research tool in a university, research being a major activity. It is therefore important to capture users’ satisfaction of the Internet services of a university. This work seeks to improve the performance of the Internet as a research tool by developing a benchmar king model of users’ complaints using University of Ibadan as a case study. Python Natural Language Process (NLP) technique was used to analyse users’ complaints while tokenization, stemming and stop words were used to extract keywords. The identified pro blems from the complaints benchmarking were classified into 32 groups which are clustered into four separate unit which are: “No signals”, “weak signals”, “physical problems” and “users related’ problems. The user related problems had the highest count, fu rther broken into, “Software problems”, “Hardware problems” and “Network problems”. The study revealed that users’ problems have the highest constraint within the university network . A database was created to capture and store user network complaint which was analysed using natural language processing algorithm . Similar complaints were matched with solutions, in order to improve on users’ satisfaction while using the Internet as a research tool as well as to facilitate the work of network administrators in decision making

    Board member perceptions of board effectiveness in public community colleges: an interpretative phenomenological analysis

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    2015 Summer.Many organizations have a governing board in place to assist in monitoring high level policy decisions and establishing organizational direction and goals. Studies have examined board members of different types of higher education institutions; however, the perceptions of public community college board members related to board effectiveness has not been studied. The current qualitative study, drawing upon Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), addresses this gap in the literature by researching the lived experiences of seven public community college board members with two or more years of service related to board effectiveness in one western state. The findings resulted in four superordinate themes: personal development and engagement, board engagement, college commitment and engagement, and community engagement. Board effectiveness is demonstrated when board members are personally committed to fostering an environment that promotes and values board member development through participation in orientation program and ongoing board education. Board member development also promotes an understanding of the board's role and works to alleviate unhealthy personal or political agendas an individual may bring with them to the board. Participants highlighted the importance of building relationships with other board members and the CEO. By working together as a team, the board and CEO can focus on the college's mission and establishing the future direction for the college. Board effectiveness is also demonstrated through being involved in college activities and events and by ensuring the college is establishing board policies that ensure consistency in the board's operations for planning and decision making purposes. Community colleges have more of a local focus as compared to other organizations where effectiveness studies have been conducted. The findings of the current study deviated from previous board effectiveness studies independent, private colleges in the importance of the CEO's relationship with the board. The findings also diverged from the studies on public university board effectiveness related to community connections, with community colleges having a need for more of a local focus versus public universities needing to build stronger connection with state government. Effective community college boards embrace their responsibility to represent the community's interests in the college and to strengthening relationships with the public they serve. A common term throughout the findings of the current study is "engagement" with an emphasis on being actively involved in all aspects of boardsmanship. Effective board members are engaged in being oriented, educated, and developed as a board member, in working together as a team and with the CEO, in establishing and maintaining the college's mission and future direction, and in connecting with the communities and citizens served
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