A More United United Kingdom: The Impact of Post-1999 Devolution on National Identity and Feelings Towards Independence in Scotland

Scottish nationalism has always been part of the political debate in the United Kingdom since the birth of the Union in 1707. In the 1880s, inspired by Irish Home Rule, Scottish nationalists began to demand greater autonomy from London. To appease the nationalists, London began devolving small amounts of power to Scotland. However, this small amount of devolution was not enough for the Scots. In 1967, the Labour Government of Harold Wilson responded to the growth of Scottish nationalism by proposing more devolution. It would not be until 1999 under the Tony Blair Labour Government that Scotland would experience its greatest form of devolution with the creation of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood. The purpose of this thesis is to determine if post-1999 devolution has impacted Scottish national identity. In particular, it explores whether or not devolution has led to an increase in the number of individuals attributing themselves with a dual national identity. The rise in the number of individuals attributing themselves with a dual national identity is important because these individuals are less likely to support independence compared to those that identify solely as Scottish. To examine the impact of devolution on national identity, Scottish Social Attitude Surveys from ScotCen Social Research were used. This thesis also compared its results with findings from previous research on Scottish national identity in the pre-1999 devolution period, as well as with how individuals voted in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. Finally, it predicts the outcome of a potential second referendum on Scottish independence

Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of The Third Grade Summer Reading Camp Intervention Program In A Larger Urban School District

This study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the third grade Summer Reading Camp (SRC) in a large urban school district. The SRC curriculum was assessed to determine if it aligned with effective remediation and filled the third grade students’ knowledge voids in reading. The study further analyzed how the school district officials selected the curriculum content utilized in the SRC. This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative methods. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews of school district personnel on the SRC committee regarding the implementation of the 2012 lesson plan, and from students’ Winter Benchmark Assessment scores. The school district implemented the SRC to fulfill a state requirement that all students who received a Level 1 on the reading Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) Reading must receive remediation. The SRC committee designed the curriculum using the state reading benchmarks and decided the activities required during SRC would be whole group, small group, writing, and independent reading. The program was to be evaluated each year using teacher and administrator survey data and the analysis of test scores to determine changes to be implemented. Of the 10 benchmarks assessed on the school district reading benchmark test, only three were aligned with the students’ knowledge voids. There were a total of eight FCAT tested reading benchmarks that were not taught during SRC. The researcher suggests the school district re-align the curriculum with the needs of the students as identified by the Winter Reading Benchmark. It is further recommended that each iii student’s specific remediation needs be evaluated to ensure the curriculum is meeting the needs of all the students in attendance at SCR

Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) in Canada: Following Bill C-14 through Parliament

This thesis explores the Government of Canada’s legislative response to the Carter v. Canada (Attorney General) ruling. More specifically, this thesis analyzes the major issues that afflicted Bill C-14, or An Act to amend the Criminal Code and to make related amendments to other Acts (medical assistance in dying), as it progressed through the House of Commons and the Senate. I utilized a thematic analysis to determine the issues that shaped the debates on Bill C-14 and whether or not they had an impact on the proposed legislation that is now a law. These issues include whether or not Bill C-14 complies with the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruling, if Bill C-14 would adequately protect the vulnerable, and if Bill C-14 would adequately ensure access to medical assistance in dying (MAID). This thesis will further enrich our understanding of a relatively new end-of-life care option in Canada and speculate the future of MAID legislation

A Complete Theory of Everything (will be subjective)

Increasingly encompassing models have been suggested for our world. Theories range from generally accepted to increasingly speculative to apparently bogus. The progression of theories from ego- to geo- to helio-centric models to universe and multiverse theories and beyond was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the sizes of the postulated worlds, with humans being expelled from their center to ever more remote and random locations. Rather than leading to a true theory of everything, this trend faces a turning point after which the predictive power of such theories decreases (actually to zero). Incorporating the location and other capacities of the observer into such theories avoids this problem and allows to distinguish meaningful from predictively meaningless theories. This also leads to a truly complete theory of everything consisting of a (conventional objective) theory of everything plus a (novel subjective) observer process. The observer localization is neither based on the controversial anthropic principle, nor has it anything to do with the quantum-mechanical observation process. The suggested principle is extended to more practical (partial, approximate, probabilistic, parametric) world models (rather than theories of everything). Finally, I provide a justification of Ockham's razor, and criticize the anthropic principle, the doomsday argument, the no free lunch theorem, and the falsifiability dogma.Comment: 26 LaTeX page

Using the u-cube for career counselling with adolescents to develop career conversations

The U-Cube is a play-based tool for constructivist career assessment and counselling. The U-Cube is fashioned on the famous Rubik’s Cube. Each face of a square side has career-related words that can be manipulated as part of a counselling process. Clients can be asked to find words that are personally meaningful and talk about these words with the counsellor. This tool is particularly useful for clients who benefit from additional support to engage in dialogue in relation to their career. The case of 'Reece' demonstrates the utility of the cube for facilitating career conversations

Pastoral profits guide, a paddock guide to achieving sustainable livestock productivity

Most pastoralists appreciate the need to deliver an economic, environmental and social \u27profit\u27 from their business. Achieving these profits can be a real challenge given the comparatively low productive potential and the substantial seasonal variation in the WA Southern Rangelands region. This guide was written to assist pastoralists to meet their specific livestock production, financial and range condition objectives through the better alignment of feed demand (stocking rate) to feed supply (carrying capacity). We provide nine basic steps that simplify the process of managing the feed supply, equipping pastoralists with the tools to make· decisions and to critically assess the outcomes. The first part of the guide details the nine steps and worksheets that are used to make the assessment and assist in making a stocking decision. The second part provides reference material

Decent Work’s Association With Job Satisfaction, Work Engagement, and Withdrawal Intentions in Australian Working Adults

The present research is focused on the measurement properties of the Decent Work Scale (DWS) in Australia and adds to the cumulative evidence of the measure’s international utility for psychological research into the role of work in people’s lives. The study contributes new evidence via a survey of a sample of workers (N ¼ 201) who completed the DWS and criterion measures of career-related factors including job satisfaction, work engagement, and withdrawal intentions. Correlated factors, higher order, and bifactor models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis. All models were satisfactory and the bifactor model evinced preferable fit. The DWS Values Congruence subscale predicted all criterion measures. Workers’ incomes and ratings of their occupations’ prestige had no main effects or interaction effect on the DWS subscales. Recommendations for future research include testing the DWS’s relations with measures of mental health which are known correlates of career-related outcomes

Sheep Updates 2007 - part 3

This session covers seven papers from different authors: PROFITABILITY 1. Benchmarking demonstrates both the potential and realised productivity gains in the sheep and wool industry, Andrew Ritchie, Edward Riggall and James Hall, ICON Agriculture, Darkan 2. Improving sheep genetics will increase farm profitability, Gus Rose, Johan Greeff Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, John Young Farming Systems Analysis Service, WA 3. Meat, Merinos and making money in WA Pastoral Zone, M. Alchin, M. Young and T. Johnson, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, GRAZING 4. Nitrogen - farmers\u27 friend or foe? John Lucy and Martin Staines, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 5. Drought proofing grazing systems - a case study from Binnu 2006/7, Tim Wiley & Rob Grima, Department of Agriculture & Food Western Australia 6. Minimising \u27Esperance Storm\u27 livestock losses, Sandra Prosser and Matt Ryan, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 7. Sub-tropical grasses in WA - what is their potential? Geoff Moore, Tony Albertsen, Department of Agriculture & Food Western Australia, Phil Barrett-Lennard, Evergreen Farming, George Woolston, John Titterington, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, Sarah Knight, Irwin-Mingenew Group, Brianna Peake, Liebe Group, Buntine, W