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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1993. / Includes vita and abstract. Order number 9320541. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-186).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1993. / Includes vita and abstract. Order number 9320541. Includes bibliographical references (p. 180-186).

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / While the term participation is widely used by development agencies and government alike, its meaning is still widely contested. An emerging consensus on citizens' participation is the active involvement of the people in the planning process, the communication of their preferences, demands, interests, needs, and collective problems and aspirations in relation to those in charge of democratic development policies. For many, particularly in the rural areas, citizen participation has proved problematic as it is often tied up to the implementation of development projects conceptualized and spearheaded by outsiders. Participatory approaches provide few insights as to how to go about resolving the contradictions and paradoxes that participation unveils when introduced into systems with long histories of top-down approaches to decision-making. In Uganda, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government introduced a participatory development programme of National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS) which entails contracting Agricultural Extension Services (AES). This was done to boost participation, expand coverage andimprove agricultural performance in rural areas. The objective of this dissertation was to analyse elites and grassroots understandings of democracy and citizen participation using the case study of NAADS programme. To achieve this objective, a variety of research assessment criteria – qualitative and quantitative interviews with elites and grassroots – were employed. The results demonstrate that Uganda has made strides towards encouraging inclusive and meaningful participation through NAADS in Bushenyi district. Yet the research also illustrates that there are salient mismatches in terms of perceptions that exist between elites and grassroots conceptualisations of citizen participation in NAADS. The majority of elites interviewed were concerned with getting NAADS programme right as required by the legislative frameworks, rather than creating ties with grassroots with a view to promoting participatory development and empowering grassroots communities. The grassroots communities exhibited willingness to participate in the NAADS programme, although the research findings illustrate that it has been implemented in a top-down fashion. There is also proof to show that NAADS participants were barely consulted in making decisions and no effective mechanisms are in place to handle complaints inclusively. Although there is evidence to show participation in the NAADS programme improves the socioeconomic reality of farmers elsewhere in Uganda, this has not been consistently the case in Bushenyi. The dissertation concludes by underlining the benefits of democracy and citizen participation, but cautions that the findings show that the discourse on democracy and citizen participation, like any other discourse, contains many practical limits. / Flemish Inter-University Council (VLIR)

The research undertaken in this study is an attempt to determine the influence of farm advisory services, socio-economic factors, and physical factors on the aggregate toxicity of pesticides used by cotton and peanut farmers in the Albemarle-Pamlico Watershed of Virginia and North Carolina. An aggregate toxicity index is developed for all pesticides used on each farm site. Four different types of farm advisors are considered in this study, namely, hired staff, university and state extension agents, chemical dealers, and scouting personnel. Regression analysis is used to estimate how the aggregate toxicity index and the aggregate pesticide expenditures were affected by farmers' choice of the most important farm advisory services; the farmer's age, education, and farming experience; productivity of the soil; soil erosion index; distance of farm from nearest water source; and the state in which the farm was located. The results of this study indicate that hired staff, scouting personnel, and extension agents are associated with higher aggregate toxicity of pesticides on cotton farms, while scouting personnel and chemical dealers are associated with higher aggregate toxicity of pesticides on peanut farms. More years of farming experience is associated with a slight decrease in aggregate toxicity on cotton farms. Increasing age of farmers is associated with a slight increase in aggregate toxicity on peanut farms. Training of farm advisors should include information about potential environmental damage from alternative pesticides. Advisors should be informed about the effects of soil physical characteristics on potential for environmental damage from pesticide use. Farm advisors should also be trained in methods to disseminate information to farmers on pesticide toxicity to the environment. More information on pesticide toxicity could also be publicized on pesticide packages. Continued research on less toxic pesticides and alternative pesticides is also an important strategy to reduce pesticide toxicity. / Master of Science

Studies have shown that library employees often choose not to use readers’ advisory tools but to instead rely entirely on their own experience, often doing the library user a disservice. However, very few have looked at why this is so. This thesis looks at to what extent thirty individual employees in thirty Swedish public libraries use readers advisory tools when helping a patron find a good book, with the major focus on what motivates them to use these tools and why some choose not to use them. It was found that readers’ advisory tools where not used with any consistency and that many things influence the library employees’ use of these tools. Among other things, having access to readers’ advisory tools was of course essential, as was that the library employee felt there were no major time constraints. The usability and usefulness of these tools was also central, as was the library employees’ competence and confidence at using them. Many also stated that they had trouble remembering that there were readers’ advisory tools available at all. The optimal tool, according to the participants in this study, is easy to access and easy to use. Outside of these criteria opinions divide on what is most essential, that they are organized by genre and based on the opinions of professionals or that they focus on the reading experience of library patrons. / Program: Bibliotekarie

<p>När en person söker en första kontakt med hälso- och sjukvården sker det oftast via ett telefonsamtal till vårdcentralen. Vid telefonsamtalet, som tas emot av en sjuksköterska, bedöms och åtgärdas vårdsökarens ärende. Sjukskrivningar är ett av många ärenden som hanteras. De senaste åren har hanteringen av sjukskrivningar i Svensk hälso- och sjukvård förändrats vilket har orsakat en minskning av antalet sjukskrivningar. Sjuksköterskor har i varierande grad deltagit i denna utveckling och denna studie vill synliggöra sjuksköterskans deltagande i vården av sjukskrivna på vårdcentralen.</p><p>Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av telefonrådgivning på vårdcentralen och speciellt hantering av sjukskrivningar. Studien är kvalitativ med induktiv ansats. Datainsamling har skett genom fokusgruppssamtal med 14 stycken sjuksköterskor som arbetar med telefonrådgivning på tre vårdcentraler. Insamlat material analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys.</p><p>Gruppsamtalen visade att sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av telefonrådgivning är att arbetet är kvalificerat och stimulerande. Hanteringen av sjukskrivningar innefattar att göra bedömning, ge patienten information och bevaka patientens rättigheter. Hindrande och möjliggörande omständigheter påverkar sjuksköterskornas arbete och deras hantering. De hindrande omständigheterna kan ibland leda till att sjuksköterskan vill frånsäga sig ansvar. Studien har identifierat ett behov av att tydliggöra omvårdnadsansvaret för verksamma sjuksköterskor i telefonrådgivning på vårdcentral så att sjuksköterskans bedömningar i telefonrådgivningssituationen i högre grad baseras på omvårdnadens mål.</p> / <p>When a person seeks contact with community health services in Sweden it’s usually via a phone call to the primary health care centre. By the phone call, received by a nurse, the health seeker’s case is assessed and addressed. Sick leave is one of many cases being managed. In recent years, management of sick leave in Swedish primary health care has changed and decreased the number of sick leaves. However, nurses have in varying degrees, participated in this change. This study will visualize the nurse's participation in the care of patients on sick leave at the primary health care centre.</p><p>The aim was to describe nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services at the primary health care centre and especially the management of sick leaves. The study is qualitative with an inductive approach. Data collection was done through focus group discussions with 14 nurses working with telephone advisory services at three primary health care centres. Collected material was analyzed by qualitative content analysis.</p><p>The group discussions demonstrated nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services as qualified and stimulating. The specific management of sick leave was described as a combination of making assessment, providing patient information and monitoring the patient's rights. Obstructing and enabling circumstances affect nurses telephone advisory services and their management of sick leaves. The obstucitive cirumstances sometimes causes nurses wanting to abdicate responsibility. The study has identified a need to clarify the caring responsibility for nurses in telephone advice services so that nurse's assessments increasingly are based on caring goales.</p>

När en person söker en första kontakt med hälso- och sjukvården sker det oftast via ett telefonsamtal till vårdcentralen. Vid telefonsamtalet, som tas emot av en sjuksköterska, bedöms och åtgärdas vårdsökarens ärende. Sjukskrivningar är ett av många ärenden som hanteras. De senaste åren har hanteringen av sjukskrivningar i Svensk hälso- och sjukvård förändrats vilket har orsakat en minskning av antalet sjukskrivningar. Sjuksköterskor har i varierande grad deltagit i denna utveckling och denna studie vill synliggöra sjuksköterskans deltagande i vården av sjukskrivna på vårdcentralen. Syftet var att beskriva sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av telefonrådgivning på vårdcentralen och speciellt hantering av sjukskrivningar. Studien är kvalitativ med induktiv ansats. Datainsamling har skett genom fokusgruppssamtal med 14 stycken sjuksköterskor som arbetar med telefonrådgivning på tre vårdcentraler. Insamlat material analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Gruppsamtalen visade att sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av telefonrådgivning är att arbetet är kvalificerat och stimulerande. Hanteringen av sjukskrivningar innefattar att göra bedömning, ge patienten information och bevaka patientens rättigheter. Hindrande och möjliggörande omständigheter påverkar sjuksköterskornas arbete och deras hantering. De hindrande omständigheterna kan ibland leda till att sjuksköterskan vill frånsäga sig ansvar. Studien har identifierat ett behov av att tydliggöra omvårdnadsansvaret för verksamma sjuksköterskor i telefonrådgivning på vårdcentral så att sjuksköterskans bedömningar i telefonrådgivningssituationen i högre grad baseras på omvårdnadens mål. / When a person seeks contact with community health services in Sweden it’s usually via a phone call to the primary health care centre. By the phone call, received by a nurse, the health seeker’s case is assessed and addressed. Sick leave is one of many cases being managed. In recent years, management of sick leave in Swedish primary health care has changed and decreased the number of sick leaves. However, nurses have in varying degrees, participated in this change. This study will visualize the nurse's participation in the care of patients on sick leave at the primary health care centre. The aim was to describe nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services at the primary health care centre and especially the management of sick leaves. The study is qualitative with an inductive approach. Data collection was done through focus group discussions with 14 nurses working with telephone advisory services at three primary health care centres. Collected material was analyzed by qualitative content analysis. The group discussions demonstrated nurses' experiences of telephone advisory services as qualified and stimulating. The specific management of sick leave was described as a combination of making assessment, providing patient information and monitoring the patient's rights. Obstructing and enabling circumstances affect nurses telephone advisory services and their management of sick leaves. The obstucitive cirumstances sometimes causes nurses wanting to abdicate responsibility. The study has identified a need to clarify the caring responsibility for nurses in telephone advice services so that nurse's assessments increasingly are based on caring goales.

La certification volontaire offre aux consommateurs des informations détaillées sur le processus de production et/ou de fabrication des produits. Les organisations paysannes jouent un rôle important dans la gestion de certification et de l'accès des petits agriculteurs aux marchés certifiés. Les organisations de producteurs du Costa Rica ont historiquement joué un rôle important dans la participation des petits producteurs aux filières certifiées et leur motivation à accéder aux marchés certifiés. Les organisations paysannes jouent un rôle important dans la gestion de certification et de l'accès des petits agriculteurs aux marchés certifiés. Pour ces raisons, le Costa Rica offre un environnement intéressant pour étudier la façon dont les organisations de producteurs de café arrivent à gérer la certification de leurs membres.Cette recherche se concentre uniquement sur les coopératives et les consortiums de coopératives puisqu’elles sont importantes dans le processus de certification. Considérant le manque de connaissances sur le rôle des coopératives et de la certification volontaire du café, cette thèse traite les questions suivantes: Quel est le rôle des coopératives dans la gestion des certifications volontaires ? Quels sont les changements induits par la certification, au niveau des coopératives et des exploitations ?, Quels aspects sociaux uniques propres au Costa Rica influencent la gestion et l'efficacité de la certification?Les administrateurs de vingt des vingt-deux coopératives de café au Costa Rica ont été enquêtés. Quatre coopératives ont ensuite été sélectionnées pour les études de cas approfondies.Bien que les certifications soient souvent critiqués de ne pas provoquer d‘amélioration au niveau de l'exploitation en raison de la sélection des exploitations conformées uniquement, le facteur qui encourage les coopératives à choisir la certification individuelle est la structure des certifications, y compris la faible demande de café certifié, les incitations faible et variables des prix, les coûts élevés de l'audit et des exigences élevées en gestion et en formation. Au Costa Rica, la certification de café volontaire fournissent des avantages réels, bien que minimes aux coopératives ainsi qu’à leurs membres. Les coopératives prennent des décisions sur la gestion des certifications en fonction de leurs stratégies commerciales, du type de café qu'elles produisent et de leur dotation en capital social, cette qui se manifeste comme une solidarité de groupe ou une approche commerciale. La certification incite à une approche plus holistique de la production de café en nécessitant plus de formations et de services liés à la production durable. Elle encourage les coopératives à collaborer avec d'autres parties prenantes, en augmentant leur connectivité et leur capital social. Cela donne aux membres un accès à de nouvelles connaissances et services, ce qui peut potentiellement créer un cercle vertueux de production de capital social.La certification peut cependant encourager les coopératives à offrir des services supplémentaires ou des incitations financières à une partie de leurs membres seulement. Un niveau élevé de capital social est nécessaire au niveau administratif pour assurer une répartition équitable des avantages de la certification tout en offrant des incitations aux membres à poursuivre la certification. / Voluntary certifications offer consumers information on the process in which products are produced. Farmers’ organizations play an important role in the management of certifications and in small-farmer access to certified markets. Costa Rican farmers’ organizations have a long history of participation in the certified value chain and in fomenting small farmers’ access to certified markets. Farmers’ organizations also make strategic decisions related to the organization’s participation in the certified value chain and how farmers are supported and incentivized to join.For these reasons Costa Rica provides an interesting milieu to study how farmers’ organizations manage certifications. Because of their importance in the certification process in Costa Rica, this research focuses on cooperatives and consortia of cooperatives. Considering the gap in knowledge regarding the role of cooperatives and voluntary coffee certifications, this thesis presents the following questions: What is the role of cooperatives in the management of voluntary coffee certifications?, What are the advantages and disadvantages of participation in voluntary certifications for cooperatives?, What changes do certifications induce at the cooperative and farm levels?, What social aspects in Costa Rica influence the management and effectiveness of certifications? Administrators from twenty of the twenty-two coffee cooperatives in Costa Rica were interviewed to obtain basic data on harvest size, membership and management and participation in certifications. Four cooperatives were selected for in-depth case studies.Certifications are often criticized for not eliciting widespread change at the farm level due to the selection of compliant farms, but it is the structure of the certifications, including low demand, weak and variable price incentives, high costs of auditing and high requirements for management and training, which incentivize cooperatives to choose individual certifications.In Costa Rica, voluntary coffee certifications promote small but real benefits to cooperatives and their members. Cooperatives make decisions about the management of certifications based on their business strategies, the type of coffee they produce and the social capital inherent in the cooperative, which is manifested as a group solidarity approach or a commercial approach.Certifications incite a more holistic approach to coffee production by requiring training and services related to sustainable production. Certifications encourage cooperatives to collaborate with other stakeholders, increasing their connectedness and organizational social capital. This gives members access to new knowledge and services and has the potential to create a virtuous cycle of the production of social capital.Certifications, however, may induce cooperatives to offer additional services or financial incentives to some members and not to others. A high level of social capital is needed at the administrative level to ensure an equitable distribution of the benefits of certifications while still offering members incentives to pursue certifications.

There is ample debate around the conceptualizations of rural development as well as its implementation and impacts. Contemporary understandings underline the importance of social movements in social change, which has become a fundamental part of development. The Rural Development Tuki Association (RDTA) is such a social movement from Dolakha district in Nepal that originated within a Swiss-funded development project in the 1970s. The organization was a prime actor in social change and influenced the development of the villages in their district. There is a lack of applied research focusing on the history, evolution and context of social movements.The junction between social movement studies and organizational theory originated the theory of ‘strategic action fields’ that is used to analyze and understand the dynamics that underlie the emergence, stabilization and contestation of movements and organizations. The findings that are to inform this framework were collected during a field visit to Dolakha district through six informal gatekeeper-selected interviews and the analysis of documents provided by the organization itself. All this data was analyzed through content analysis and complemented by an extensive literature review on rural development, rural advisory services and Nepal’s political history to better understand the wider context within which the actions retold by members or related individuals took place.The RDTA originated as a novel approach to delivery of rural development services to village communities aiming to increase their self-reliance and agency in development. The ‘Tuki’ were selected members of village communities that received training and were then to share the newly acquired expertise with their peers like an expert-farmer or farmer-to-farmer extension system would. At first the villages struggled to accept the new authority and governance at the time made it impossible for the Tuki to formally organize. There was considerable conflict between Panchayat officials and Tuki members. Towards the end of the Panchayat the Tuki became respected members of village communities and started to increase their influence on local politics as well as widen their network within the district. This enabled the organization to claim and maintain a dominant position within rural development in Dolakha from its official registration in 1991 until the end of the direct financial support from the Swiss Agency of Development and Cooperation (SDC) in 2004. The support from Switzerland had significantly influenced the Tuki’s focus, ideals and organizational structure and the work done by SDC was a progressive reflection of the rural development discourse that was predominant at the time. The organization was able to stabilize after its funding crisis around 2004 but was never able to return to previous stability and activity. The ability to identify community needs, create collective identities and mobilize individuals to engage in action frames that aim for the common good where the main forms of social skill that enabled the RDTA to reach the network and impact it did and maintain its activity throughout different political scenarios that threatened the organizations ability to continue its action. The RDTA is facing challenges of identity, funding and staff-turnover and will need to reengage in debates around its focus and organizational structure if it is to continue its legacy in Dolakha.Social movements and civil society actors played a crucial role in the development of Nepal’s rural areas and its evolution towards a democratic, egalitarian and inclusive society. More research is needed to better understand the impact the RDTA has had on village life and how national and international discourses on rural development have informed and influenced their activities and frameworks. The theory of ‘strategic action fields’ provided an excellent framework that was crucial at analyzing the dynamics that govern the emergence, stabilization and contestation of strategic action and its broader environment.