330 research outputs found

    St. Mary's Church in the village of Labova e Kryqit in Gjirokstra Analyses of the Church's Construction Stages, its Age and Some Static Issues

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    St. Mary's Church, which is situated in the village of Labova e Kryqit (translated as Labova of the Cross in English) and falls under the municipality of Libohova, has brought to the repertoire of the Albanian Medieval Architecture the brilliant demonstration of one of the most wonderful architectonic formulation and such a great iconographic program in terms of its functions, the decoration of the interior and exterior that it might be compared to its equals in the elite of this genre in the Byzantine culture worldwide. The architectonic type of this church is defined as a cross imprinted with the upper volumes of its arms extending up to the level of the roof. Viewed from the perspective of the formulation of the compositional core area which consists of the square structure formed by four columns with three arcades among them to create the cubic base sustaining the tambour of the dome, this type of church provides the best example of a metropolitan style of church and shares similarities with other churches alike. Similar churches are found in the complex of Theotokos Peribleptos in Constantinople, built by the famous emperor Romano III Argjiro, v.1028-1034. Oher similar churches that we can mention are also the church of Teorakos Parnrnakaristos, in Constantinople, dating from the XII century, Monastery of Saint John, in Libos (Fenari Isa Cami) in Constantinople which dates from the X-XII century, Saint George Church in Mangano, 1042-1057, etc.Keywords: St. Mary's Church, the village Labova e Kryqit, Gjirokastra, cupola, arcade, static condition, byzantine architecture; restoration

    Can a computerised training paradigm assist people with intellectual disabilities to learn cognitive mediation skills? A randomised experiment

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    Aims: The aim was to examine whether specific skills required for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) could be taught using a computerised training paradigm with people who have intellectual disabilities (IDs). Training aimed to improve: a) ability to link pairs of situations and mediating beliefs to emotions, and b) ability to link pairs of situations and emotions to mediating beliefs. Method: Using a single-blind mixed experimental design, sixty-five participants with IDs were randomised to receive either computerised training or an attention-control condition. Cognitive mediation skills were assessed before and after training. Results: Participants who received training were significantly better at selecting appropriate emotions within situation-beliefs pairs, controlling for baseline scores and IQ. Despite significant improvements in the ability of those who received training to correctly select intermediating beliefs for situation-feelings pairings, no between-group differences were observed at post-test. Conclusions: The findings indicated that computerised training led to a significant improvement in some aspects of cognitive mediation for people with IDs, but whether this has a positive effect upon outcome from therapy is yet to be established

    Patients\u27 behavioral intentions and the influence of service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction in the Albanian healthcare industry

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    The primary objective of this study was to measure patients’ perceptions of service quality and customer satisfaction with a private hospital experience and to estimate the effect that each of these constructs will have on future behavioural intentions. More specifically, the present study was an attempt to assess empirically the most important dimensions of service quality and transaction-specific customer satisfaction dimensions that drive both patient loyalty and ‘overall’ or cumulative satisfaction in the Albania private hospital industry. For the purpose of this study, buying intentions was used as a surrogate measure of loyalty as measured by willingness to reuse the hospital and/or willingness to recommend it to others (word-of-mouth endorsements). Initial exploratory research was conducted with the aim of assessing the views of three private hospital stakeholder groups, namely former patients, doctors and management about what the quality of service and customer satisfaction meant to each individual interviewed. The study was conducted nationally at private hospitals owned by one of Albania’s three major hospital groups. Five private hospitals in capital of Albania, Tirana were selected on a non-probability convenience basis to participate in the study. The hospital group’s senior management and the management at each selected hospital gave their full commitment to ensure that the survey was successfully conducted in their hospital wards. Data were collected by means of a quantitative study using a selfadministered, structured questionnaire. Patients had to meet certain qualifying criteria which included being of adult age, in the hospital for an operation and at least one overnight stay. A total of 300 questionnaires was distributed to patients on a random basis in selected wards at the five hospitals by senior hospital staff designated for this task. From this distribution, 285 questionnaires were returned of which a final sample of 300 could be statistically analysed

    Development and Protection of Economic Competition in Kosovo: Case Study Gjilan Region

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    This paper investigates development and protection of economic competition in Kosovo focusing on the analysis of the level of competition in one region of Kosovo (the Gjilan region). The paper deals with the legislative aspects of competition, the sensitive sectors (banks, insurance, gas stations and pharmacies) where the competitions is damaged and finally are presented the measures on improvement based on the EU practices. Like other economies in transition, the economy in Kosovo the activity for protection of competition is faced with many challenges. Moreover, these challenges result from the fact that Kosovo was the last country in South Eastern Europe to start implementing the principles of a free market economy after 1999. Through a case study, it is attempted to give a realistic picture of the level of competition development, where competition is undermined, general business knowledge about the functioning and enforcement of the law on competition protection, and concrete measures to be taken in order for competition to function based on the rules of the market economy

    Order and chaos in the local disc stellar kinematics induced by the Galactic bar

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    (Abridged) The Galactic bar causes a characteristic splitting of the disc phase space into regular and chaotic orbit regions which is shown to play an important role in shaping the stellar velocity distribution in the Solar neighbourhood. A detailed orbital analysis within an analytical 2D rotating barred potential reveals that this splitting is mainly dictated by the value of the Hamiltonian H and the bar induced resonances. Test particle and N-body simulations reveal how the decoupled evolution of the disc distribution function in the two kind of regions and the process of chaotic mixing lead to overdensities in the H>H_12 chaotic part of the u-v velocity distributions outside corotation, where H_12 is the effective potential at the Lagrangian points L_1/2. In particular, for realistic space positions of the Sun near or slightly beyond the outer Lindblad resonance and if u is defined positive towards the anti-centre, the eccentric quasi-periodic orbits trapped around the stable x1(1) orbits - i.e. the bar-aligned closed orbits which asymptotically become circular at larger distances - produce a broad u<0 regular arc in velocity space extending within the H>H_12 zone, whereas the corresponding u>0 region appears as an overdensity of chaotic orbits forced to avoid that arc. This chaotic overdensity provides an original interpretation, distinct from the anti-bar elongated quasi-periodic orbit interpretation proposed by Dehnen (2000), for the prominent stream of high asymmetric drift and predominantly outward moving stars clearly emerging from the Hipparcos data. The effects of spiral arms and of molecular clouds are also briefly discussed within this context.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures (3 in gif format). A&A, in press. Full resolution postscript paper (5Mb) and MPEG movies available at http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~fux/streams.htm

    The non-majority communities' rights in Kosovo: implementation of the right to employment and education

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    International and national legislation guarantees the right to employment and education for every citizen, including members of non-majority communities. As a multi-ethnic state, Kosovo has very advanced legislation to guarantee access to employment and education for members of its non-majority communities. This study aimed to examine the actual level of enforcement of these two rights by members of non-majority communities. Relevant scientific works, local and international legislation, and statistical data on the level of access to the labor market and the education system of non-majority communities in Kosovo were consulted for this study. The research results show that access to the labor market and the education system varies across communities and has not continuously increased in 2015-2021. The situation has particularly affected the RAE community, which has the highest percentage of unemployment (over 90%) and the lowest access to pre-university education (below 5%). Therefore, this article recommends that relevant stakeholders take measures to ensure the proper enforcement of access to employment and education rights for non-majority communities in Kosovo
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