<p>The purpose of this study was to investigate how the daily press, morning and evening papers respectively, describe homeless people and their situation from a number of chosen articles. Was there a possibility to make clear if the public opinion of homelessness has changed from a media perspective during the last five years? In order to meet the purpose of the study, the authors have used discourse analysis of the chosen articles as well as the theory of social constructions and the theory of stigmatizing. The articles have been chosen from the two largest daily morning papers and the two largest evening papers. From each article many rich and close quotations are used, which subsequently have been analysed and interpreted. The quotations used are those considered best illustrating the questions to the articles. The result of the study showed certain differences between the morning and evening papers and how they describe the homeless and their problems. Differences were also noticed among the people interviewed in the various articles. Also the choice of words used by both the journalists and the interviewed will affect how the text in an article will be perceived by the reader.</p>

<p>Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva socialsekreterares uppfattning om och klienters upplevelse av en hjälp- och stödverksamhet riktad till utsatta barn. Intentionen med studien var dessutom att undersöka vilka förslag dessa har på framtida förändringar av verksamheten.</p><p>Metod: Tre personliga intervjuer med två målgrupper genomfördes. Målgrupp 1 var klienter som tidigare deltagit i insatser hos hjälp- och stödverksamheten och målgrupp 2 var socialsekreterare med minst fem års erfarenhet inom det sociala yrkesområdet.</p><p>Resultat: Resultatet visade en samstämmighet mellan målgrupperna, gällande stödverksamhetens positiva effekter gentemot utsatta barn. De mest framträdande positiva effekterna var att barnet gavs kunskap om sin omkringliggande problematik och en insikt i att de inte är ensamma i sin livssituation. De aspekter där de två målgrupperna hade olika syn på denna form av insats var huruvida insatsen är lämplig och tillräcklig för alla utsatta barn. En framtidsvision som framkom var att båda grupperna ansåg att ett införande av ett personligt ombud skulle vara positivt för utsatta barn.</p><p>Slutsats: Den slutsats som framkommit under denna studie är att hjälp- och stödverksamheten är en betydelsefull insats utifrån ett barnperspektiv, men att det inte är en åtgärd som kan ses som en slutlig lösning av ett problem. Således bör denna insats kombineras med fler insatser som rör familjeproblematiken från andra synvinklar, för att på så sätt nå ett helhetsperspektiv.</p> / <p>Objective: The objective with this study was to describe social welfare sekretaries opinion of and former clients experience of one help and support programme for vulnerable children. An additional intention was to examine the informants’ suggestions of future changes of the programme.</p><p>Method: Three personal interviews were made with two interview groups. Interview group 1 was former clients of the help and support programme and interview group 2 was social welfare secretaries with at least five years of experience in the profession of social work.</p><p>Results: The result of the study shows consensus between the interview groups according to the positive outcomes of the programme for the vulnerable children. The most appearing positive effects were that the children were given knowledge of the problems in their families and an insight in the fact that they are not alone in their situation. The aspects where the interview groups had different points of view concerning this form of effort were whether this contribution is suitable or enough for all the vulnerable children. One future vision that came through was that both groups considered that it would be positive for the vulnerable children to introduce a personal representative for their cause.</p><p>Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that this form of help and support programme is an important contribution from the children’s perspective, but not a final solution of a problem. Therefore, this contribution should be combined with more efforts that involve the problems in the family from other points of view, to reach a perspective of entirety.</p>

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2007.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the daily press, morning and evening papers respectively, describe homeless people and their situation from a number of chosen articles. Was there a possibility to make clear if the public opinion of homelessness has changed from a media perspective during the last five years? In order to meet the purpose of the study, the authors have used discourse analysis of the chosen articles as well as the theory of social constructions and the theory of stigmatizing. The articles have been chosen from the two largest daily morning papers and the two largest evening papers. From each article many rich and close quotations are used, which subsequently have been analysed and interpreted. The quotations used are those considered best illustrating the questions to the articles. The result of the study showed certain differences between the morning and evening papers and how they describe the homeless and their problems. Differences were also noticed among the people interviewed in the various articles. Also the choice of words used by both the journalists and the interviewed will affect how the text in an article will be perceived by the reader.

Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att beskriva socialsekreterares uppfattning om och klienters upplevelse av en hjälp- och stödverksamhet riktad till utsatta barn. Intentionen med studien var dessutom att undersöka vilka förslag dessa har på framtida förändringar av verksamheten. Metod: Tre personliga intervjuer med två målgrupper genomfördes. Målgrupp 1 var klienter som tidigare deltagit i insatser hos hjälp- och stödverksamheten och målgrupp 2 var socialsekreterare med minst fem års erfarenhet inom det sociala yrkesområdet. Resultat: Resultatet visade en samstämmighet mellan målgrupperna, gällande stödverksamhetens positiva effekter gentemot utsatta barn. De mest framträdande positiva effekterna var att barnet gavs kunskap om sin omkringliggande problematik och en insikt i att de inte är ensamma i sin livssituation. De aspekter där de två målgrupperna hade olika syn på denna form av insats var huruvida insatsen är lämplig och tillräcklig för alla utsatta barn. En framtidsvision som framkom var att båda grupperna ansåg att ett införande av ett personligt ombud skulle vara positivt för utsatta barn. Slutsats: Den slutsats som framkommit under denna studie är att hjälp- och stödverksamheten är en betydelsefull insats utifrån ett barnperspektiv, men att det inte är en åtgärd som kan ses som en slutlig lösning av ett problem. Således bör denna insats kombineras med fler insatser som rör familjeproblematiken från andra synvinklar, för att på så sätt nå ett helhetsperspektiv. / Objective: The objective with this study was to describe social welfare sekretaries opinion of and former clients experience of one help and support programme for vulnerable children. An additional intention was to examine the informants’ suggestions of future changes of the programme. Method: Three personal interviews were made with two interview groups. Interview group 1 was former clients of the help and support programme and interview group 2 was social welfare secretaries with at least five years of experience in the profession of social work. Results: The result of the study shows consensus between the interview groups according to the positive outcomes of the programme for the vulnerable children. The most appearing positive effects were that the children were given knowledge of the problems in their families and an insight in the fact that they are not alone in their situation. The aspects where the interview groups had different points of view concerning this form of effort were whether this contribution is suitable or enough for all the vulnerable children. One future vision that came through was that both groups considered that it would be positive for the vulnerable children to introduce a personal representative for their cause. Conclusion: The conclusion of this study was that this form of help and support programme is an important contribution from the children’s perspective, but not a final solution of a problem. Therefore, this contribution should be combined with more efforts that involve the problems in the family from other points of view, to reach a perspective of entirety.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka uppfattningar av utsatta barns behov i förskolan hos förskollärare. Studien utgick från följande tre frågeställningar; Vilka uppfattningar förekommer hos förskollärare av utsatta barns behov i förskolan? Hur uppfattar förskollärare sina möjligheter att skapa gynnsammare förutsättningar för de utsatta barnen i förskolan? Vad är förskollärares uppfattningar av hur utsatta barn i förskolan upptäcks? Den här fenomenografiska studien genomfördes med hjälp av sex kvalitativa intervjuer med förskollärare från fyra olika förskolor. Resultatet redovisas som skilda beskrivningskategorier. När det gäller utsatta barns behov är kategorierna; behov kopplade till barnet; psykosocialt och biologiskt samt behov kopplade till miljön. När det gäller gynnsammare förutsättningar för utsatta barn i förskolan är kategorierna; externt stöd för gynnsammare förutsättningar i förskolan och interpersonella relationer för gynnsammare förutsättningar för barn i förskolan. När det handlar om att upptäcka utsatta barn i förskolan finns följande kategorier; explicita tecken som indikation på utsatthet samt implicita tecken som bidrar till misstanke om utsatthet. Resultatet visar en variation av uppfattningar och de diskuteras utifrån ett utvecklingsekologiskt perspektiv där förskolan som miljö kan ses i ett sammanhang där alla aspekter och miljöer samverkar och påverkar utsatta barns möjligheter att utvecklas till välmående människor. / The object of this study was to make research into preschool teachers’ perceptions of the needs of vulnerable children in preschool. The study starts off with the following three issues; what are preschool teachers’ perceptions regarding the needs of vulnerable children in preschool? How do preschool teachers view their opportunities to create more favorable conditions for vulnerable children in preschool? What are preschool teachers’ perceptions of how to discover vulnerable children in the preschool setting? This phenomenografhic study was based on six qualitative interviews with preschool teachers working at four different preschools. The result is shown as different descriptive categories. When it comes to the needs of vulnerable children the categories are; needs in connection to the child; psychosocial and biological and needs in connection to the environment. When it comes to more favorable conditions for vulnerable children in preschool the categories are; external support for more favorable conditions and interpersonal relationships for more favorable conditions in preschool. Regarding how to discover vulnerable children in preschool there are these categories; obvious signs as an indication of vulnerability and implicit signs contributing to a suspicion of vulnerability. The result shows a variety of conceptions and they are looked upon from the standpoint of the ecological systems theory where the preschool setting can be seen in a context where all aspects and different environments influence vulnerable childrens opportunities to develop into healthy human beings.

Globalized markets, resources and means of communication reshaped the modern world. Today global supply chains are more agile and vulnerable to any crises. There is a need to have appropriate measures and strategies to dismantle and mitigate effects of any small or major disasters in the supply chains. Today supply chains are both directly and indirectly under influence of crises. The purpose is to study how companies assess and avoids risk in their supply chains and how they mitigate risks. Two cases have been used to explore the subject. Primary face-to-face interviews have been conducted with representatives from the two companies. Further secondary documentation from the companies has been analyzed. Managers are well aware of the risks embedded in their supply chains. They have processes to forecast and handle disruptions. Redundant resources are used in various extents to prepare for unforeseen events. To ensure uninterrupted supply different techniques such as dual-sourcing is used. Even though they see themselves as prepared companies are having problems mitigating the impact of uncertain events and these disruptions can have a big negative impact on their supply chains.

Under path dependent consideration, we discuss vulnerable option pricing problem. Two pricing models are proposed: Model(1) use stepwise regression and Monte Carlo simulation, and Model(2) is based on multi-level regression method. Since the option price was approximated by quadratic surface at each time point in Model(1), large mean square errors are induced. Therefore, we further propose a stepwise subset regression method to improve Model(1) approach. At present, this proposed method can compute the option price accurately for no credit risk options. For Model(2), we utilize a multi-level regression method to price vulnerable options, and simulation results show that the method can also obtain accurate option prices.

Older offenders (offenders 50 years and older) are a distinct groups within the U.S. correctional system. Studies 1 and 2 were intended to investigate mental health and stressors among jailed older offenders. Study 1 examined the prevalence rates of mental health disorders and explored the relationship between mental health disorders and stressors. Participants 50 years and older (N=330) from the 2002 wave of the Survey of Inmates in Local Jails (SILJ) were studied via descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and a logistic regression to determine which variables were related to the probability of having a mental health problem. 65.8% of participants had at least one mental health disorder, with high rates of substance abuse reported. Individuals who were between 50-59 years of age (compared with those over 60) and individuals who were unmarried had a significantly increased likelihood of being in the group with mental health problems. Caucasians and participants with fewer instances of childhood abuse were significantly less likely to be in the group with mental health problems. Study 2 compared stressors over the life course between late life first time offenders (offenders whose first arrest occurred at age 50 or older; hereafter LLFTO) and habitual older offenders, who had one or more arrests. This study descriptively and comparatively analyzed individuals who were age 50 or older at arrest and reported their age of first arrest from the 1996 and 2002 waves of SILJ, with a final sample of 62 LLFTOs and 357 older offenders with previous arrests. LLFTOs were significantly older, more likely to be married, and more likely to be female. Over the life course, LLFTOs were more likely to have lived with their father or other relative as children, were less likely to have used alcohol or had friends with a history of delinquency as adolescents, and were less likely to have been homeless as adults. This dissertation research shows that older offenders have a variety of needs during their incarceration that may persist upon release. Addressing mental health disorders, and stressors across the life span, is needed to promote successful aging.

Kyoto University (京都大学) / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地球環境学) / 甲第19160号 / 地環博第135号 / 新制||地環||27 / 32111 / 京都大学大学院地球環境学舎環境マネジメント専攻 / (主査)教授 ｼｮｳ ﾗｼﾞﾌﾞ, 教授 岡﨑 健二, 准教授 西前 出 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当