QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONALS\u27 EXPERIENCE AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE EVALUATION OF INTRODUCING A NEW WORK MODEL IN SOCIAL CARE CENTRES

U radu su prikazani rezultati kvalitativnog istraživanja provedenog s petnaest djelatnika pet CZSS-a uključenih u »pilot projekt« uvođenja novog modela rada u centre za socijalnu skrb poznatog kao »ured sve na jednom mjestu«. Svrha istraživanja bila je identificirati dosadašnja postignuća i poteškoće iz perspektive rukovoditelja i stručnih djelatnika. Istraživanje je provedeno metodom fokusnih grupa, a u koncipiranju istraživačkih pitanja i analizi nalaza koristila se metoda analize okvira. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su da model organizacije rada nije jedinstven u svim CZSS-ima, već su se u praksi razvijala tri modela (teritorijalni model, model izvrsnosti te abecedni model). Također se pokazalo postojanje niza poteškoća vezanih uz razumijevanje i provođenje individualnog plana skrbi/rada (IP) kod svih sudionika – djelatnika, ravnatelja, korisnika. I djelatnici i korisnici iskazali su nepripremljenost za novi načina rada, a kao posebna poteškoća istaknut je rad s nedobrovoljnim korisnicima na izradi IP kao i nedovoljno tretmanskih mogućnosti u lokalnoj zajednici koje su značajne za provođenje IP.The article presents the results of a qualitative research with fifteen professionals employed in five social care centres participating in the pilot project of introducing a new work model in social care centres known as »one-stop office«. The aim of the research was to identify achievements and difficulties from the perspective of managers and social care professionals. The data were gathered by a focus group method and framework analysis was applied. The research results suggest that the model of work organization is not consistent in all social care centres and that three models developed in practice (territorial model, excellence model and alphabet model). Data reveal a series of difficulties related to understanding and implementing the individual care/work plan in all involved: social workers, managers and service users. Both social workers and service users expressed their unpreparedness for the new modality of work; the work with involuntary users in the development of individual care/work plan as well as insufficient possibilities of treatment in the local community are underlined as a special difficulty

A Complexity O(1) Priority Queue for Event Driven Molecular Dynamics Simulations

We propose and implement a priority queue suitable for use in event driven molecular dynamics simulations. All operations on the queue take on average O(1) time per collision. In comparison, previously studied queues for event driven molecular dynamics simulations require O(log $N$) time per collision for systems of $N$ particles.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Computational Physic

Fibril elongation mechanisms of HET-s prion-forming domain: Topological evidence for growth polarity

The prion-forming C-terminal domain of the fungal prion HET-s forms infectious amyloid fibrils at physiological pH. The conformational switch from the non-prion soluble form to the prion fibrillar form is believed to have a functional role, since HET-s in its prion form participates in a recognition process of different fungal strains. Based on the knowledge of the high-resolution structure of HET-s(218-289) (the prion forming-domain) in its fibrillar form, we here present a numerical simulation of the fibril growth process which emphasizes the role of the topological properties of the fibrillar structure. An accurate thermodynamic analysis of the way an intervening HET-s chain is recruited to the tip of the growing fibril suggests that elongation proceeds through a dock and lock mechanism. First, the chain docks onto the fibril by forming the longest $\beta$-strands. Then, the re-arrangement in the fibrillar form of all the rest of molecule takes place. Interestingly, we predict also that one side of the HET-s fibril is more suitable for substaining its growth with respect to the other. The resulting strong polarity of fibril growth is a consequence of the complex topology of HET-s fibrillar structure, since the central loop of the intervening chain plays a crucially different role in favouring or not the attachment of the C-terminus tail to the fibril, depending on the growth side.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Pokrajinske predstave o slovenski Istri

A cultural landscape is simultaneously a complex phenomenon and a process; it is a medium and a result of human activities and perception. This monograph is based on a postmodern view of the landscape and it understands the landscape not only as a physical phenomenon, but especially as a social and cultural document. Reading this document discloses the layers of meaning and processes that comprise it. This study examines the understanding and perception of the spatial effects from the history of Slovenian Istria in the twentieth century. It does not deal with direct changes in cultural landscape features, but rather with people’s relationship to them, and so social representation theory is used to represent landscape as a complex phenomenon. The focus is on representations of the landscape and history, such as their appearance in various literary, professional, and scholarly texts. Any literature can be a source for scholarly study and can enable the creation of new geographical knowledge and awareness. This study is constructed on the metaphor “the landscape is a text" that is written or shaped by society. This text can be read and interpreted by both scholars and those that use the landscape. The landscape is no longer the thing we see; it is a construct of this world. The empirical section traces the processes of grounded theory using ATLAS.ti software; 147 texts were analyzed, totaling 3,344 pages or 6,189,564 characters. More than 1,000 concepts were coded and then combined into categories revealing a diverse social conception of Istria’s cultural landscape and landscape dynamics, expressing the close interconnectedness of the material and intangible spheres, as well as their underlying processes. The result is nine aspects of the landscape: the landscape as a natural environment, the landscape and links with neighboring areas, the landscape as a living source, belonging to the landscape, alienation from the landscape, the landscape as a rural idyll, the gendered landscape, the landscape as accessibility and mobility, and the landscape as a rural-urban relation. The following conclusions were reached based on a thorough synthesis of the nine aspects mentioned above: - The driver of development in rural Istria is the relationship between town and countryside, which is also an expression of the power relationship between the two. - The political situation after World War II, the implementation of communism, and the isolation of Slovenian Istria from Trieste caused the greatest changes to the landscape. - Border changes and the accompanying social and political conditions had a decisive impact on people’s lives, which is outwardly expressed in the cultural landscape. The changes were so sudden and wide-ranging that people did not have time to internalize them, which created feelings of alienation and subsequently led to an identity crisis. - Borders cut deeply into Istrians’ everyday lives, and so they led to negative reactions. - Time is a significant factor in cultural landscapes because changes have a temporal dimension.Kulturna pokrajina je kompleksen pojav in obenem proces, je medij in rezultat človekove dejavnosti ter njegovega dojemanja. V knjigi prikazujemo dojemanje in zaznavanje prostorskih učinkov posledic zgodovinskih dejstev v slovenski Istri v 20. stoletju. Niso nas zanimale neposredne spremembe sestavin kulturne pokrajine, ampak odnos ljudi do njih, zato smo uporabili teorijo družbenih predstav, s katerimi predstavljamo pokrajino kot kompleksen pojav. V empiričnem delu smo z računalniškim programom ATLAS.ti analizirali 147 besedil s skupno 3344 stranmi. Monografija temelji na postmodernističnem gledanju na pokrajino, v katerem pokrajina ni več samo materialna stvarnost, ampak družbeni in kulturni dokument. Njegovo branje omogoča razkritje pomenskih slojev in procesov, ki ta dokument sestavljajo.   &nbsp

Pokrajinske predstave o slovenski Istri

A cultural landscape is simultaneously a complex phenomenon and a process; it is a medium and a result of human activities and perception. This monograph is based on a postmodern view of the landscape and it understands the landscape not only as a physical phenomenon, but especially as a social and cultural document. Reading this document discloses the layers of meaning and processes that comprise it. This study examines the understanding and perception of the spatial effects from the history of Slovenian Istria in the twentieth century. It does not deal with direct changes in cultural landscape features, but rather with people’s relationship to them, and so social representation theory is used to represent landscape as a complex phenomenon. The focus is on representations of the landscape and history, such as their appearance in various literary, professional, and scholarly texts. Any literature can be a source for scholarly study and can enable the creation of new geographical knowledge and awareness. This study is constructed on the metaphor “the landscape is a text" that is written or shaped by society. This text can be read and interpreted by both scholars and those that use the landscape. The landscape is no longer the thing we see; it is a construct of this world. The empirical section traces the processes of grounded theory using ATLAS.ti software; 147 texts were analyzed, totaling 3,344 pages or 6,189,564 characters. More than 1,000 concepts were coded and then combined into categories revealing a diverse social conception of Istria’s cultural landscape and landscape dynamics, expressing the close interconnectedness of the material and intangible spheres, as well as their underlying processes. The result is nine aspects of the landscape: the landscape as a natural environment, the landscape and links with neighboring areas, the landscape as a living source, belonging to the landscape, alienation from the landscape, the landscape as a rural idyll, the gendered landscape, the landscape as accessibility and mobility, and the landscape as a rural-urban relation. The following conclusions were reached based on a thorough synthesis of the nine aspects mentioned above: - The driver of development in rural Istria is the relationship between town and countryside, which is also an expression of the power relationship between the two. - The political situation after World War II, the implementation of communism, and the isolation of Slovenian Istria from Trieste caused the greatest changes to the landscape. - Border changes and the accompanying social and political conditions had a decisive impact on people’s lives, which is outwardly expressed in the cultural landscape. The changes were so sudden and wide-ranging that people did not have time to internalize them, which created feelings of alienation and subsequently led to an identity crisis. - Borders cut deeply into Istrians’ everyday lives, and so they led to negative reactions. - Time is a significant factor in cultural landscapes because changes have a temporal dimension.Kulturna pokrajina je kompleksen pojav in obenem proces, je medij in rezultat človekove dejavnosti ter njegovega dojemanja. V knjigi prikazujemo dojemanje in zaznavanje prostorskih učinkov posledic zgodovinskih dejstev v slovenski Istri v 20. stoletju. Niso nas zanimale neposredne spremembe sestavin kulturne pokrajine, ampak odnos ljudi do njih, zato smo uporabili teorijo družbenih predstav, s katerimi predstavljamo pokrajino kot kompleksen pojav. V empiričnem delu smo z računalniškim programom ATLAS.ti analizirali 147 besedil s skupno 3344 stranmi. Monografija temelji na postmodernističnem gledanju na pokrajino, v katerem pokrajina ni več samo materialna stvarnost, ampak družbeni in kulturni dokument. Njegovo branje omogoča razkritje pomenskih slojev in procesov, ki ta dokument sestavljajo.   &nbsp

Stories about real and imagined landscapes: the case of Slovenian Istria

This paper presents the cultural landscape as an abstract concept and the result of a complex relationship between the natural environment and human society, and at the same time as a result of comprehension and personal views. A landscape is a story about the people that created it. The theoretical part establishes parallels between a landscape and the stories that this landscape has generated as well as their connection with geographical knowledge. This is followed by stories about real and imagined landscapes from Slovenian Istria, as ascertained through an analysis of extensive material using the ATLAS.ti software and taking into account the principles of grounded theory. This approaches a holistic view of the landscape, or understanding the landscape as a system of material and non-material elements and processes that direct them

Pokrajinske predstave o slovenski Istri

A cultural landscape is simultaneously a complex phenomenon and a process; it is a medium and a result of human activities and perception. This monograph is based on a postmodern view of the landscape and it understands the landscape not only as a physical phenomenon, but especially as a social and cultural document. Reading this document discloses the layers of meaning and processes that comprise it. This study examines the understanding and perception of the spatial effects from the history of Slovenian Istria in the twentieth century. It does not deal with direct changes in cultural landscape features, but rather with people’s relationship to them, and so social representation theory is used to represent landscape as a complex phenomenon. The focus is on representations of the landscape and history, such as their appearance in various literary, professional, and scholarly texts. Any literature can be a source for scholarly study and can enable the creation of new geographical knowledge and awareness. This study is constructed on the metaphor “the landscape is a text" that is written or shaped by society. This text can be read and interpreted by both scholars and those that use the landscape. The landscape is no longer the thing we see; it is a construct of this world. The empirical section traces the processes of grounded theory using ATLAS.ti software; 147 texts were analyzed, totaling 3,344 pages or 6,189,564 characters. More than 1,000 concepts were coded and then combined into categories revealing a diverse social conception of Istria’s cultural landscape and landscape dynamics, expressing the close interconnectedness of the material and intangible spheres, as well as their underlying processes. The result is nine aspects of the landscape: the landscape as a natural environment, the landscape and links with neighboring areas, the landscape as a living source, belonging to the landscape, alienation from the landscape, the landscape as a rural idyll, the gendered landscape, the landscape as accessibility and mobility, and the landscape as a rural-urban relation. The following conclusions were reached based on a thorough synthesis of the nine aspects mentioned above: - The driver of development in rural Istria is the relationship between town and countryside, which is also an expression of the power relationship between the two. - The political situation after World War II, the implementation of communism, and the isolation of Slovenian Istria from Trieste caused the greatest changes to the landscape. - Border changes and the accompanying social and political conditions had a decisive impact on people’s lives, which is outwardly expressed in the cultural landscape. The changes were so sudden and wide-ranging that people did not have time to internalize them, which created feelings of alienation and subsequently led to an identity crisis. - Borders cut deeply into Istrians’ everyday lives, and so they led to negative reactions. - Time is a significant factor in cultural landscapes because changes have a temporal dimension.Kulturna pokrajina je kompleksen pojav in obenem proces, je medij in rezultat človekove dejavnosti ter njegovega dojemanja. V knjigi prikazujemo dojemanje in zaznavanje prostorskih učinkov posledic zgodovinskih dejstev v slovenski Istri v 20. stoletju. Niso nas zanimale neposredne spremembe sestavin kulturne pokrajine, ampak odnos ljudi do njih, zato smo uporabili teorijo družbenih predstav, s katerimi predstavljamo pokrajino kot kompleksen pojav. V empiričnem delu smo z računalniškim programom ATLAS.ti analizirali 147 besedil s skupno 3344 stranmi. Monografija temelji na postmodernističnem gledanju na pokrajino, v katerem pokrajina ni več samo materialna stvarnost, ampak družbeni in kulturni dokument. Njegovo branje omogoča razkritje pomenskih slojev in procesov, ki ta dokument sestavljajo.   &nbsp