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This thesis is a study of the occupational group consisting of the independent trash collectors in Center Township of Delaware County, Indiana. It represents an attempt to discover who the individuals are who comprise this group and what characteristics they have as trash collectors.This thesis explores the attitudes of the independent collectors toward the public, their attitudes regarding the public’s conception of them, and the collectors’ attitudes toward their work. The views these men hold regarding their future and the future of their business are also examined. This thesis also discusses the equipment which the collectors own and use and surveys the present situation and future developments likely in the trash business.

Thesis--University of Michigan.

Garbage collectors (GCs) automate the problem of deciding when objects are no longer reachable and therefore should be reclaimed, however, there currently exists no automated process for the design of a correct garbage collector. Formal models exist that prove the correctness of individual GCs; more general models describe a wider range of GCs but do not prove their correctness or provide a concrete instantiation process. The lack of a formal model means that GCs have been designed in an ad-hoc manner, published without proof of correctness and with bugs; it also means that it is difficult to apply experience gained from one implementation to the design of another. This thesis presents Surf, an abstract model of distributed garbage collection that bridges the gap between expressibility and specificity: it can describe a wide range of GCs and contains a proof of correctness that defines a list of requirements that must be fulfilled. Surf’s design space and its requirements for correctness provide a process that may be followed to analyse an existing collector or create a new GC. Surf predicts the abstract behaviour of GCs; this thesis evaluates those predictions in light of the understood behaviour of published GCs to confirm the accuracy of the model. A distributed persistent implementation of the Train Algorithm is created as an instantiation of Surf and the model is used to analyse progress in the GC and drive the design of a partition selection policy that provides a lower bound on progress and therefore reduces the GC’s complexity to completeness. Tests with mesh data structures from finite element analysis confirm the progress predictions from Surf. Published GCs cluster mostly in one corner of the Surf design space so this thesis explores the design of a GC at an unoccupied design point: the Tram Algorithm. Analysis via Surf leads to the prediction that Trams are capable of discovering topology in the live object graph that approximately identifies the strongly connected components, permitting O(1) timeliness that is unique to the Tram Algorithm. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Computer Science, 2008

A significant segment of the urban population in many low-income countries derives their living from the harvest of marketable materials from urban waste streams. The activities of so-called "scavengers" or waste pickers in many African, Asian, and Latin American cities have also come to be understood to have environmental benefits: the diversion of materials from the urban waste stream decreases the volume of wastes that need to be collected, transported and disposed of. However, due to their daily contact with garbage, these men, women, and children are usually associated with dirt, disease, and squalor. The work of the scavenger is often conceptualized as being poverty driven and undertaken as a survival strategy or coping mechanism in a harsh urban environment. In recent years, various programs and projects have been developed by nongovernmental organizations, religious institutions, community-based organizations, and local governments to address the needs of scavengers. Such intervention schemes are designed in one way or another to alter the scavengers' existing situations. This study looks at the possible linkages between the evolving understanding of scavenging and the various approaches to intervention that it engenders. This study first examines how scholars and researchers analyze waste picking issues and their suggestions for potential interventions and then relates this understanding to how institutions, citizens, non-governmental organizations, and aid agencies are addressing these issues in practice. It is found that different conceptualizations of waste picking issues have led to different intervention prescriptions, and that the prescribed interventions are motivated by environmental, economic, or humanitarian concerns. This study contends that the recommended and implemented intervention prescriptions are simply promoting market means in an attempt to achieve humanitarian ends, and, therefore, are only short-term measures that will not solve the identified waste picking issues. Data sources used in this effort include academic journals, conference papers, case studies of development programs, newspaper articles, Web sites, and field reports. Data were also obtained by contacting researchers and organizations that have studied or are currently working with waste pickers in a variety of geographical settings.

A significant segment of the urban population in many low-income countries derives their living from the harvest of marketable materials from urban waste streams. The activities of so-called "scavengers" or waste pickers in many African, Asian, and Latin American cities have also come to be understood to have environmental benefits: the diversion of materials from the urban waste stream decreases the volume of wastes that need to be collected, transported and disposed of. However, due to their daily contact with garbage, these men, women, and children are usually associated with dirt, disease, and squalor. The work of the scavenger is often conceptualized as being poverty driven and undertaken as a survival strategy or coping mechanism in a harsh urban environment. In recent years, various programs and projects have been developed by nongovernmental organizations, religious institutions, community-based organizations, and local governments to address the needs of scavengers. Such intervention schemes are designed in one way or another to alter the scavengers' existing situations. This study looks at the possible linkages between the evolving understanding of scavenging and the various approaches to intervention that it engenders. This study first examines how scholars and researchers analyze waste picking issues and their suggestions for potential interventions and then relates this understanding to how institutions, citizens, non-governmental organizations, and aid agencies are addressing these issues in practice. It is found that different conceptualizations of waste picking issues have led to different intervention prescriptions, and that the prescribed interventions are motivated by environmental, economic, or humanitarian concerns. This study contends that the recommended and implemented intervention prescriptions are simply promoting market means in an attempt to achieve humanitarian ends, and, therefore, are only short-term measures that will not solve the identified waste picking issues. Data sources used in this effort include academic journals, conference papers, case studies of development programs, newspaper articles, Web sites, and field reports. Data were also obtained by contacting researchers and organizations that have studied or are currently working with waste pickers in a variety of geographical settings. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

MPH / Department of Public Health / Health and safety issues pertaining to workers are global concerns and a major priority to the employers and government respectively. Employees in general across industries are faced with various health and safety risks. Epidemiological research has shown consistently that waste handlers are mostly exposed to various risks and hazards during their work as compared to other professions globally. This study focused on waste handlers employed by the Thulamela Municipality in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study employed qualitative explorative design and targeted all municipal waste handlers. Municipal waste handlers were sampled using non probability purposive sampling. In-depth interviews, using an interview guide, were conducted by the researcher and a voice recorder was used to record data from the participants after obtaining permission from them. The sample size comprised of 18 participants and was determined by data saturation. A thematically analysis technique was used to analyse data. Data from the participants were clustered into main theme, categories and sub-categories. The following themes emerged from data analysis: physical hazards, psychological hazard, biological hazards and chemical hazard. The study revealed that the municipal waste handlers are exposed to various occupational risks and are experiencing shortage of personal protective equipment, ranging from hand gloves, safety helmets, rain coats, overall uniforms, safety jackets and boots, to keep themselves safe from health problems and occupational injury when collecting waste. It is recommended that the Thulamela municipality should prioritise the working conditions for municipal waste handlers, by distributing suitable personal protective equipment such as hands gloves, safety helmet, rain coats, safety jackets and boots) and overalls / NRF