“Human trafficking” has become part of the everyday lexicon in the United States and globally over the last fifteen years. The issue has made its way into political platforms, scholarly work, church congregations, and international aid agendas. Florida is currently recognized as third in the nation for number of cases of human trafficking. This thesis employs ethnographic interviews and observations to understand one portion of Florida’s human trafficking problem referred to as domestic minor sex trafficking. This type of trafficking affects mostly teenage girls from marginalized populations, such as those that have experienced the child welfare system, homelessness, and impoverished circumstances. In 2013 the state passed the Florida Safe Harbor Act, modeled after the New York State Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act, to address the needs of this population through legislation. The Act specifies certain policy and procedural changes, as well as the role of the Department of Children and Families. Further, it prohibits minors from facing prostitution charges, recognizing that they cannot consent to commercial sex because of their age. This study investigates the Safe Harbor Act’s impact on agencies and the public in terms of raising awareness about domestic minor sex trafficking. With no immediate funding attached to the bill, or dedicated in the state budget, Florida is still struggling to provide adequate care for this population. In addition to policy analysis, this study examined existing services, assessed current needs in the field, and created an interactive map to locate services for professionals working in the field. While Florida has clearly improved its ability to manage these cases over the last three years, there is still much work to be done to address domestic minor sex trafficking. Based on these findings, this thesis offers recommendations for policy and further research on successful practices in working with this population’s specific needs.

In the past three decades, the HIV pandemic has struck sub-Saharan Africa and resulted in devastating consequences. Increasingly studies have shifted from applying a bio-medical approach to HIV to applying a social approach. This study focuses on applying a social approach. One of the major factors that contributes to the high HIV prevalence is women’s inferior social status. Women are unable to challenge their partners in situations of sexual intimacy and as such they are often at risk of contracting HIV. In Malawi, patriarchyis the dominant ideology structuring gender roles. These gender roles reinforce social hierarchies where women’s capacity to practice agency is significantly decreased. The domestic responsibilities female scholars carry often leads to their drop-out from school. Their lack of formal education, as a result, decreases their ability to pursue income generating activities. Furthermore their inability to acquire income increases their dependence on their partners. It is in part this dependence that perpetuates women’s vulnerability and ultimately increases their risk of contracting HIV. This study focused on how women are socialised to perform certain gendered roles and how this socialisation ultimately affects their capacity to negotiate safe sex.Various institutions and organisations have driven intervention programmes in communities in Malawi in order to address the issue of HIV/AIDS. This study looks at how socialisation of young women living in a peri-urban community in Malawi has changed and how this change has influenced their capacity to negotiate safe sex. The study found that although socialisation had changed and had some impact on increasing female scholars efficacy with regard to their education, they still remain constrained by their social status in a patriarchal context. Through the adapting of the curriculum, schools address issues of gender inequality and the changing roles of women. However, these institutions continue to remain male dominated. This poses an obstacle as they reinforce gender roles of subordinate women and in doing so diminish the impact of the new curriculum. Gender roles continue to make it difficult for women to practice agency in particular with regard to negotiating safe sex. In instances where women have suggested condom use, they have been subjected to domestic abuse or faced the withdrawal of financial support for a given period. This study proposes a continuum of agency ranging from submissive to autonomous. It suggests that women are never entirely submissive or autonomous. They either practice agency by manipulating their boundaries or pushing their boundaries. This study revealed that although there have been significant changes in the process of socialisation, women’s ability to practice agency is considerably limited. Where it is exercised, it often results in separating from their spouses. However, in spite of all the difficulties, women do practice agency on various levels. It also revealed that scholars are developing agency with regards to education. However, social structures continue to reinforce patriarchy. This creates contradictory messages which the scholars are not always able to negotiate. / Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Sociology / unrestricted

This study describes how AIDS prevention education programs were constructed, delivered, and implemented in Vancouver between 1983 and 1994. Biodeterministic models of disease are examined through a historical analysis of documents that include newsletters, minutes of board meetings, policy reviews, annual reports, and personal journals. This study assumes that AIDS is as much a sociocultural phenomenon as it is biological. The findings suggest that present educational guidelines for AIDS prevention are unable to identify what messages should be communicated and fail to identify to whom they should be conveyed. This study does not recommend the use of biodeterministic models of AIDS prevention education which reflect plague metaphors. Instead, culturally relevant strategies need to be developed throughout all aspects of AIDS prevention curricula. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Abstract Prenatal alcohol-related disorders are highly prevalent and result in permanent, lifelong disabilities. The child may be born with debilitating birth deformities and severe cognitive deficits. These children have a low life expectancy, and a low quality of life. They are disproportionately represented in juvenile justice and foster homes, and they are more likely to be high school drop outs, incarcerated, or misdiagnosed, and have higher rates of mental illness. Despite these impairments, there are few state statutes in place that protect the rights of the fetus. This is because the fetus has not been recognized as a person. Feminist groups argue that if the fetus was granted personhood and rights, then women would be relegated to the inferior position of a fetal vessel. This paper addresses these concerns and advocates for state enforced mandatory rehabilitation for pregnant women who are addicted to substances. Mandatory rehabilitation has precedent and is a logical solution. Additionally, this paper investigates the controversy of whether there is a safe dosage that can be consumed while pregnant that will not harm the fetus. While there is no safe dosage found, and women are strongly advised to understand that an unnecessary risk is involved with any prenatal alcohol consumption, there is a body of evidence suggesting that low-level drinking may not have a clinically significant effect on the fetus. Thus, women should be allowed, within the law, to make the choice to drink lightly during pregnancy, because it is not assaulting the fetus. By drinking prenatally, the woman chooses not to provide the most optimal intrauterine environment. However, the fetus is not entitled to an optimally pregnancy, but is entitled to a non-assaulted development

The aim of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the issues of safe mobility ‎for the elderly population in Sweden. ‎This is achieved first by assessing the geography and patterns of ‎elderly falls at the county level and then by conducting a detailed survey with residents in senior ‎housing to investigate the relationship between indoor and/or outdoor environmental ‎characteristics and elderly safety. Safety is regarded as a multidimensional concept that ‎involves risk of falls, crime victimization and elderly people’s perception of their ‎overall safety. Using a case study approach, the study also assesses the types of outdoor places where most crimes ‎against the elderly take place and the types of places most feared by them. The study ‎adapts a set of qualitative and quantitative methods ‎to capture the nature of the phenomena; trends, patterns and frameworks that support ‎the analysis and implications of the results for both research and practice. The findings show ‎that elderly falls in Sweden vary geographically and exhibit gender, age, environmental, and socio-‎economic differences. The mobility of the older population is influenced by their ‎perceived safety in indoor and outdoor environments. Certain features of apartment layout and furniture arrangement are identified as potential causes of falls. Older adults’ ‎perception of safety exhibits a distance-decay effect from their senior housing building. Distance decay indicates that safety is deemed highest closest to their homes and decreases as the distance increases. There are indications that older adults take longer routes and increase their mobility because they are fearful at certain spots in their neighbourhood. The thesis ‎concludes with a discussion of the results and implications for both research and policy making at the local and ‎county levels. ‎ / <p>QC 20170602</p><p>My doctoral project was funded byLars Erik LundbergScholarship Foundation.</p>

Ingeniero Civil / En el presente trabajo se compara la respuesta experimental de muros rectangulares de diferentes configuraciones de hormigón armado (H.A.), con modelos de elementos finitos generados con elementos cuadriláteros con capa tipo membrana. Se utiliza la plataforma SAFE-TB, de F. Rojas [11], desarrollada en Matlab, la cual realiza un análisis numérico no lineal de elementos finitos ante cargas verticales estáticas y ante cargas laterales por medio del método pushover cíclico, con el fin de validar la plataforma y verificar las leyes constitutivas de los materiales asumidas. Cada uno de los muros modelados representan muros experimentales ensayados por otros investigadores, los cuales serán usados como validación de los resultados, replicando sus condiciones de ensayo, cargas dispuestas y ciclos de desplazamiento utilizados. Para el análisis de los resultados, se comparan las respuestas experimentales con los mo- delos, utilizando envolventes en ambos casos y comparando la rigidez. Los desplazamientos producto del corte y flexión se estudia de igual forma que en las investigaciones de los muros ensayados. Se valida la capacidad de la plataforma de modelar muros de H.A., prediciendo correcta- mente su comportamiento ante desplazamientos impuestos, con distribuciones de esfuerzos y deformaciones, rigidez durante los ciclos por medio de una envolvente, además de lograr analizar los desplazamientos por flexión y corte por separado.

Considering the institution of the Convention on the rights of the Child as Swedish law (Regeringskansliet, 2020), now, more than ever, the importance for children to exist and strivein safe environments is highlighted in society. In light of reports on lacking implementation of child rights policies in sport context, this study aimed to contribute with knowledge of schools and sport clubs’ child protection work, to discover how the organizations manage situations where children get hurt. From interviewing physical education teachers from four elementary schools and administrative personnel, board members and sports directors from three sport clubs, a thematic analysis was conducted. The results consisted of three themes of managing: conversing, reporting, and acting. I discuss implications for schools and sport clubs and offer some recommendations based on the current results. I also make suggestions for future research.

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are an influential technology which can enhance life in multiple ways. However, they must be able to sense and operate safely with manned aircraft. Radar is an attractive sensor for UAS because of its all-weather performance. It is challenging, though, to meet the size, weight, and power (SWaP) limitations of UAS and especially small-UAS while still maintaining the needed sensing capability. A working FMCW radar prototype has been created which meets the SWaP requirement of small-UAS. A simulation model for the radar was developed to test the processing algorithms of the radar and proved to be advantageous in that purpose. An automatic target detection algorithm was also successfully developed to allow the radar to identify targets of interest in a cluttered and dynamic environment. Fixed-wing airborne tests have been performed with the radar which show that the radar meets the SWaP requirements of small-UAS. They also show the prototype requires a higher sensitivity to detect other small-UAS. A successful redesign of the radar's receivers was done to make the radar more sensitive.

Anthropogenic effects are causing significant environmental degradation, and regardless of actions taken to mitigate further changes, humans and animals will have to live with these impacts (IPCC 2019). Rapid population growth in coastal regions, saltwater intrusion (SWI), lowering water quality, and increased presence of toxic materials are degrading coastal resiliency. An important and popular coastal region for the United States is the state of Florida, and it is also an area extremely vulnerable to aspects of climate change such as sea-level rise (SLR) (Noss 2011). This project analyzes how the state is currently experiencing the direct and indirect impacts of toxic materials on the state’s people, environment, and economy. It will do so through analysis of the performance of federal legislation created with the intent to protect human and environmental health, quantification of current rates of using toxic chemicals and potential pollution, as well as quantifying effects of both anthropogenic and natural toxic materials on Florida’s housing market. It was anticipated that legislation such as the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to ensure strict enforcement of drinking water standards and the Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA) to prevent toxic pollution would be present in the vulnerable region. Also that natural phenomenon such as the harmful algal blooms significantly degrade the housing market through decreasing income through tourism and lowering housing prices in coastal neighborhoods. This project found that the SDWA is not being enforced, EPCRA data shows a huge risk to potential exposures from large storms, and that algal blooms are significant to housing prices in the state. Using these scientific findings to improve policy and appropriately communicating complex scientific topics to the public is extremely important. Doing so will enable a higher level of coastal resiliency as communities continue attempt to mitigate climate change, but also learn to understand current impacts and better live in a degrading environment.

The diploma thesis is focused on the emergence of danger at work. Related to this is the identification of risks and their management. It defines all emerging risks and their preventive measures. The main task of this activity is to minimize accidents in the workplace. Subsequently, the current level of occupational safety was assessed using a questionnaire obtained from the State Office of Labor Inspection. The work is divided into 4 categories. The theoretical part of the diploma thesis describes the key concepts that are necessary for the elaboration of a diploma thesis. Terms such as risk, threat, risk identification and risk assesment methods are explained. The conclusion of the theory includes BOZP, work-related injuries and a description of what the Safe Company certification means.The analytical part is an analysis of the current situation, BOZP assessment and risk management analysis of the main production process. The last practical part of the diploma thesis is focused on preventive measures in the main production process using FMEA analysis and proposing BOZP improvements.