Home healthcare has been a growing sector of the economy over the last three decades with roughly 23,000 companies now doing business in the U.S. producing over $56 billion in combined annual revenue. As a highly fragmented market, profitability of individual companies depends on effective management and efficient operations. This dissertation aims at reducing costs and improving productivity for home healthcare companies. The first part of the research involves the development of a new formulation for the therapist routing and scheduling problem as a mixed integer program. Given the time horizon, a set of therapists and a group of geographically dispersed patients, the objective of the model is to minimize the total cost of providing service by assigning patients to therapists while satisfying a host of constraints concerning time windows, labor regulations and contractual agreements. This problem is NP-hard and proved to be beyond the capability of commercial solvers like CPLEX. To obtain good solutions quickly, three approaches have been developed that include two heuristics and a decomposition algorithm. The first approach is a parallel GRASP that assigns patients to multiple routes in a series of rounds. During the first round, the procedure optimizes the patient distribution among the available therapists, thus trying to reach a local optimum with respect to the combined cost of the routes. Computational results show that the parallel GRASP can reduce costs by 14.54% on average for real datasets, and works efficiently on randomly generated datasets. The second approach is a sequential GRASP that constructs one route at a time. When building a route, the procedure tracks the amount of time used by the therapists each day, giving it tight control over the treatment time distribution within a route. Computational results show that the sequential GRASP provides a cost savings of 18.09% on average for the same real datasets, but gets much better solutions with significantly less CPU for the same randomly generated datasets. The third approach is a branch and price algorithm, which is designed to find exact optima within an acceptable amount of time. By decomposing the full problem by therapist, we obtain a series of constrained shortest path problems, which, by comparison are relatively easy to solve. Computational results show that, this approach is not efficient here because: 1) convergence of Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition is not fast enough; and 2) subproblem is strongly NP-hard and cannot be solved efficiently. The last part of this research studies a simpler case in which all patients have fixed appointment times. The model takes the form of a large-scale mixed-integer program, and has different computational complexity when different features are considered. With the piece-wise linear cost structure, the problem is strongly NP-hard and not solvable with CPLEX for instances of realistic size. Subsequently, a rolling horizon algorithm, two relaxed mixed-integer models and a branch-and-price algorithm were developed. Computational results show that, both the rolling horizon algorithm and two relaxed mixed-integer models can solve the problem efficiently; the branch-and-price algorithm, however, is not practical again because the convergence of Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition is slow even when stabilization techniques are applied. / text

Esta pesquisa problematiza o jornalismo produzido pelas principais revistas semanais de informação brasileiras: Veja, Época, IstoÉ e CartaCapital. O objetivo geral é compreender como o discurso jornalístico das revistas semanais funciona ao introduzir, no texto informativo, efeitos de sentido valorativos próprios da opinião. Como objetivos específicos, a investigação busca identificar as principais estratégias verbais utilizadas na construção da opinião, bem como discuti-las na perspectiva de que o jornalismo é um gênero discursivo construído na moldura de um contrato de comunicação. No âmbito teórico, a dissertação trabalha com conceitos fundamentais à análise, como discurso, campo jornalístico, objetividade, contrato de comunicação, gênero e subgênero. No âmbito empírico, o estudo trabalha com 16 edições das revistas, aplicando na análise os procedimentos metodológicos da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa. O resultado apresenta a utilização de adjetivos, de alguns tipos de advérbios e de determinadas figuras de linguagem como as principais estratégias discursivas verbais de construção da opinião no interior dos textos informativos. / This research deals with the journalism produced by the main Brazilian weekly information magazines Veja, Época, IstoÉ and CartaCapital. Its general objective is to understand how the weekly magazines journalistic discourse works when it introduces value-related effects that are proper to opinion in informative texts. As specific objectives, this investigation identifies the principal verbal strategies used in the construction of opinion and discusses them from the perspective that journalism is a discursive area which is constructed with the confines of a communication contract. In the theoretical scope, this dissertation works with fundamental concepts to analysis, such as discourse, the field of journalism, objectivity, communication contract, gender and subgender. The empirical scope of this study was 16 issues of these magazines in the analysis of which the methodological procedures of the French line of Discourse Analysis were applied. The result presents the use of adjectives, some kinds of adverbs and certain figurative language as the main verbal discursive strategies for the construction of opinion within the informative texts.

Nesta pesquisa, observamos a construção e articulação dos discursos sobre o tema da mudança climática na cobertura da Rio+20, feitas pelas revistas Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. Com apoio das Teorias do Jornalismo e sob a perspectiva teórica-metodológica da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, analisamos as regularidades e diferenças dos discursos. Entendemos que desde a seleção dos temas, das fontes, do enfoque da reportagem, há uma visão específica de cada publicação — o seu “enquadramento discursivo”, que se constitui no lugar do movimento discursivo sobre o acontecimento relatado, e que responde basicamente a questão: “o que está acontecendo aqui?”. Por outro lado, observamos que o discurso das revistas é derivado de uma formação discursiva hegemônica, de viés econômico, ancorado nos conceitos de modernização ecológica, desenvolvimento sustentável, pela percepção do risco e da incerteza da humanidade sobre seu futuro. Percebemos que a racionalidade dominante — econômica — busca encobrir a complexidade ambiental. Na análise, contudo, identificamos alguns deslizamentos de sentido, oriundos de uma formação discursiva emergente, de viés ambiental. No discurso jornalístico, há a confluência de poderes, circunstâncias e construções que explicam porque as notícias são como são. Como o discurso é um processo dinâmico com sentidos em disputa, abre-se a possibilidade de pensarmos por que as notícias não são diferentes, outras, plurais? Ao propor um novo lugar para as notícias, evidencia-se a contribuição essencial dos pressupostos do Jornalismo Ambiental, seu papel questionador dos caminhos possíveis em relação ao meio ambiente, seu compromisso com o saber ambiental e com a construção da cidadania. / In this research, we observe the construction and articulation of discourse on the topic of climate change in the coverage of Rio + 20, made by Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. With the support of Journalism Theories and under the theoreticalmethodological perspective of Analysis of Discourse of line french, we analyze the regularities and differences of discourses. We understand that since the selection of themes, the sources, the focus of the report, there is a specific view of each publication — his "discursive framework", which is in place of the discursive movement on the reported event, and that basically answers the question "what's going on here?". On the other hand, we observed that the discourse of magazines is derived from a hegemonic discursive formation, economic bias, anchored in the concepts of ecological modernization, sustainable development, the perception of risk and of uncertainty humanity about their future. We realized that the dominant rationality — economic — search cover up the environmental complexity. In the analysis, however, identified some sense of landslides, coming from an emerging discursive formation, environmental bias. In the journalistic discourse, there is a confluence of powers, conditions and structures that explain why the news are as they are. As the discourse is a dynamic process with meanings in dispute, opens the possibility of thinking why the news is no different, other, plural? In proposing a new place for news, highlights the essential contribution of the Environmental Journalism assumptions, his questioning role of the possible ways in relation to the environment, its commitment to environmental knowledge and the construction of citizenship.

Esta pesquisa problematiza o jornalismo produzido pelas principais revistas semanais de informação brasileiras: Veja, Época, IstoÉ e CartaCapital. O objetivo geral é compreender como o discurso jornalístico das revistas semanais funciona ao introduzir, no texto informativo, efeitos de sentido valorativos próprios da opinião. Como objetivos específicos, a investigação busca identificar as principais estratégias verbais utilizadas na construção da opinião, bem como discuti-las na perspectiva de que o jornalismo é um gênero discursivo construído na moldura de um contrato de comunicação. No âmbito teórico, a dissertação trabalha com conceitos fundamentais à análise, como discurso, campo jornalístico, objetividade, contrato de comunicação, gênero e subgênero. No âmbito empírico, o estudo trabalha com 16 edições das revistas, aplicando na análise os procedimentos metodológicos da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa. O resultado apresenta a utilização de adjetivos, de alguns tipos de advérbios e de determinadas figuras de linguagem como as principais estratégias discursivas verbais de construção da opinião no interior dos textos informativos. / This research deals with the journalism produced by the main Brazilian weekly information magazines Veja, Época, IstoÉ and CartaCapital. Its general objective is to understand how the weekly magazines journalistic discourse works when it introduces value-related effects that are proper to opinion in informative texts. As specific objectives, this investigation identifies the principal verbal strategies used in the construction of opinion and discusses them from the perspective that journalism is a discursive area which is constructed with the confines of a communication contract. In the theoretical scope, this dissertation works with fundamental concepts to analysis, such as discourse, the field of journalism, objectivity, communication contract, gender and subgender. The empirical scope of this study was 16 issues of these magazines in the analysis of which the methodological procedures of the French line of Discourse Analysis were applied. The result presents the use of adjectives, some kinds of adverbs and certain figurative language as the main verbal discursive strategies for the construction of opinion within the informative texts.

Nesta pesquisa, observamos a construção e articulação dos discursos sobre o tema da mudança climática na cobertura da Rio+20, feitas pelas revistas Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. Com apoio das Teorias do Jornalismo e sob a perspectiva teórica-metodológica da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, analisamos as regularidades e diferenças dos discursos. Entendemos que desde a seleção dos temas, das fontes, do enfoque da reportagem, há uma visão específica de cada publicação — o seu “enquadramento discursivo”, que se constitui no lugar do movimento discursivo sobre o acontecimento relatado, e que responde basicamente a questão: “o que está acontecendo aqui?”. Por outro lado, observamos que o discurso das revistas é derivado de uma formação discursiva hegemônica, de viés econômico, ancorado nos conceitos de modernização ecológica, desenvolvimento sustentável, pela percepção do risco e da incerteza da humanidade sobre seu futuro. Percebemos que a racionalidade dominante — econômica — busca encobrir a complexidade ambiental. Na análise, contudo, identificamos alguns deslizamentos de sentido, oriundos de uma formação discursiva emergente, de viés ambiental. No discurso jornalístico, há a confluência de poderes, circunstâncias e construções que explicam porque as notícias são como são. Como o discurso é um processo dinâmico com sentidos em disputa, abre-se a possibilidade de pensarmos por que as notícias não são diferentes, outras, plurais? Ao propor um novo lugar para as notícias, evidencia-se a contribuição essencial dos pressupostos do Jornalismo Ambiental, seu papel questionador dos caminhos possíveis em relação ao meio ambiente, seu compromisso com o saber ambiental e com a construção da cidadania. / In this research, we observe the construction and articulation of discourse on the topic of climate change in the coverage of Rio + 20, made by Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. With the support of Journalism Theories and under the theoreticalmethodological perspective of Analysis of Discourse of line french, we analyze the regularities and differences of discourses. We understand that since the selection of themes, the sources, the focus of the report, there is a specific view of each publication — his "discursive framework", which is in place of the discursive movement on the reported event, and that basically answers the question "what's going on here?". On the other hand, we observed that the discourse of magazines is derived from a hegemonic discursive formation, economic bias, anchored in the concepts of ecological modernization, sustainable development, the perception of risk and of uncertainty humanity about their future. We realized that the dominant rationality — economic — search cover up the environmental complexity. In the analysis, however, identified some sense of landslides, coming from an emerging discursive formation, environmental bias. In the journalistic discourse, there is a confluence of powers, conditions and structures that explain why the news are as they are. As the discourse is a dynamic process with meanings in dispute, opens the possibility of thinking why the news is no different, other, plural? In proposing a new place for news, highlights the essential contribution of the Environmental Journalism assumptions, his questioning role of the possible ways in relation to the environment, its commitment to environmental knowledge and the construction of citizenship.

Esta pesquisa problematiza o jornalismo produzido pelas principais revistas semanais de informação brasileiras: Veja, Época, IstoÉ e CartaCapital. O objetivo geral é compreender como o discurso jornalístico das revistas semanais funciona ao introduzir, no texto informativo, efeitos de sentido valorativos próprios da opinião. Como objetivos específicos, a investigação busca identificar as principais estratégias verbais utilizadas na construção da opinião, bem como discuti-las na perspectiva de que o jornalismo é um gênero discursivo construído na moldura de um contrato de comunicação. No âmbito teórico, a dissertação trabalha com conceitos fundamentais à análise, como discurso, campo jornalístico, objetividade, contrato de comunicação, gênero e subgênero. No âmbito empírico, o estudo trabalha com 16 edições das revistas, aplicando na análise os procedimentos metodológicos da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa. O resultado apresenta a utilização de adjetivos, de alguns tipos de advérbios e de determinadas figuras de linguagem como as principais estratégias discursivas verbais de construção da opinião no interior dos textos informativos. / This research deals with the journalism produced by the main Brazilian weekly information magazines Veja, Época, IstoÉ and CartaCapital. Its general objective is to understand how the weekly magazines journalistic discourse works when it introduces value-related effects that are proper to opinion in informative texts. As specific objectives, this investigation identifies the principal verbal strategies used in the construction of opinion and discusses them from the perspective that journalism is a discursive area which is constructed with the confines of a communication contract. In the theoretical scope, this dissertation works with fundamental concepts to analysis, such as discourse, the field of journalism, objectivity, communication contract, gender and subgender. The empirical scope of this study was 16 issues of these magazines in the analysis of which the methodological procedures of the French line of Discourse Analysis were applied. The result presents the use of adjectives, some kinds of adverbs and certain figurative language as the main verbal discursive strategies for the construction of opinion within the informative texts.

Nesta pesquisa, observamos a construção e articulação dos discursos sobre o tema da mudança climática na cobertura da Rio+20, feitas pelas revistas Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. Com apoio das Teorias do Jornalismo e sob a perspectiva teórica-metodológica da Análise do Discurso de linha francesa, analisamos as regularidades e diferenças dos discursos. Entendemos que desde a seleção dos temas, das fontes, do enfoque da reportagem, há uma visão específica de cada publicação — o seu “enquadramento discursivo”, que se constitui no lugar do movimento discursivo sobre o acontecimento relatado, e que responde basicamente a questão: “o que está acontecendo aqui?”. Por outro lado, observamos que o discurso das revistas é derivado de uma formação discursiva hegemônica, de viés econômico, ancorado nos conceitos de modernização ecológica, desenvolvimento sustentável, pela percepção do risco e da incerteza da humanidade sobre seu futuro. Percebemos que a racionalidade dominante — econômica — busca encobrir a complexidade ambiental. Na análise, contudo, identificamos alguns deslizamentos de sentido, oriundos de uma formação discursiva emergente, de viés ambiental. No discurso jornalístico, há a confluência de poderes, circunstâncias e construções que explicam porque as notícias são como são. Como o discurso é um processo dinâmico com sentidos em disputa, abre-se a possibilidade de pensarmos por que as notícias não são diferentes, outras, plurais? Ao propor um novo lugar para as notícias, evidencia-se a contribuição essencial dos pressupostos do Jornalismo Ambiental, seu papel questionador dos caminhos possíveis em relação ao meio ambiente, seu compromisso com o saber ambiental e com a construção da cidadania. / In this research, we observe the construction and articulation of discourse on the topic of climate change in the coverage of Rio + 20, made by Veja, Isto É, Época e Carta Capital. With the support of Journalism Theories and under the theoreticalmethodological perspective of Analysis of Discourse of line french, we analyze the regularities and differences of discourses. We understand that since the selection of themes, the sources, the focus of the report, there is a specific view of each publication — his "discursive framework", which is in place of the discursive movement on the reported event, and that basically answers the question "what's going on here?". On the other hand, we observed that the discourse of magazines is derived from a hegemonic discursive formation, economic bias, anchored in the concepts of ecological modernization, sustainable development, the perception of risk and of uncertainty humanity about their future. We realized that the dominant rationality — economic — search cover up the environmental complexity. In the analysis, however, identified some sense of landslides, coming from an emerging discursive formation, environmental bias. In the journalistic discourse, there is a confluence of powers, conditions and structures that explain why the news are as they are. As the discourse is a dynamic process with meanings in dispute, opens the possibility of thinking why the news is no different, other, plural? In proposing a new place for news, highlights the essential contribution of the Environmental Journalism assumptions, his questioning role of the possible ways in relation to the environment, its commitment to environmental knowledge and the construction of citizenship.

Orientador: Mara Patricia Traina Chacon-Mikahil / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Educação Fisica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T02:56:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_ClaudineiFerreirados_D.pdf: 5106136 bytes, checksum: 3c8ba3f70ffe0e4630ab7e8c634b98d9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Os efeitos do treinamento com pesos realizados com diferentes intensidades, freqüências e volumes trazem respostas benéficas e são bem difundidos para populações de jovens e atletas. No entanto, estudos que procuram avaliar os efeitos do treinamento com pesos realizados em diferentes freqüências semanais são escassos para populações idosas. Assim, o propósito da presente pesquisa foi analisar e comparar os efeitos do treinamento com pesos sobre indicadores da sarcopenia, composição corporal, hipertrofia muscular e das capacidades físicas força muscular e flexibilidade de homens idosos submetidos a duas ou três sessões semanais de treinamento com pesos. Para tanto fizeram parte da amostra 27 indivíduos, subdivididos em: grupo treinamento com freqüência semanal de 2 sessões de treino (GT2, n=9), grupo treinamento com freqüência semanal de 3 sessões de treino (GT3, n=10), ambos submetidos a um programa de treinamento com pesos por um período de 16 semanas, e um grupo controle (GC, n=8) que não se envolveu com nenhuma rotina de exercícios físicos durante o período do experimento. Os indicadores da sarcopenia e composição corporal foram determinados por Absortometria Radiológica de Dupla Energia (DEXA). A sarcopenia foi determinada pelo índice relativo de músculo esquelético. Como indicador de hipertrofia muscular, a área de secção transversal do braço (ASTBr) e coxa (ASTCx) foram avaliadas pelo método de ressonância magnética. Os indicadores de força muscular foram determinados pelo teste de uma repetição máxima (1-RM) em três exercícios na sala de treinamento com pesos (supino, leg press e rosca direta). Como indicadores de flexibilidade, sete movimentos articulares foram avaliados por flexímetro. O programa de treinamento com pesos foi dividido em duas etapas, cada qual com oito semanas de duração. Na primeira etapa o protocolo de treinamento foi realizado com cargas fixas (três séries de 15 repetições) com ordem de execução alternada por segmento. A segunda etapa, os exercícios foram localizados por articulação. As diferenças nas etapas objetivam aumentar a magnitude da carga de treinamento progressivamente ao longo do período de estudo. Ajustes semanais nas cargas de treinamento foram realizados observando o princípio da progressão de carga. Foram realizadas análises intra e inter-grupos nos diferentes momentos do estudo. A comparação entre os grupos e os momentos foi realizada pela análise de variância (ANOVA) sendo adotado o nível de significância p<0,05. Os componentes da composição corporal, assim como, o indicador de sarcopenia não foram alterados após o período experimental em nenhum dos grupos. Contudo, diferença significante entre as mudanças percentuais foram observadas entre o GT3 e GC para a gordura corporal relativa e a massa livre de gordura. No teste de 1-RM foram obtidos aumentos significantes na condição pós treino para os exercícios de supino, rosca direta, carga total levantada e carga total levantada relativa a massa corporal para o GT2 e o GT3. Somente o GT3 aumentou significativamente a força muscular no leg press. A evolução semanal da carga de treinamento no exercício supino e rosca direta ocorreu mais acentuadamente para o GT3. Para o exercício de leg press GT2 e GT3 tiveram comportamentos parecidos. Ambos os grupos treinados mostraram aumentos percentuais maiores nos indicadores de flexibilidade para os movimentos de flexão de quadril direito e esquerdo e flexão de ombro esquerdo, quando comparados ao GC. Contudo, somente o movimento de flexão de quadril esquerdo aumentou significativamente para o GT3. Apesar de haver uma tendência ao aumento da ASTCx após o TP para ambos os grupos experimentais, somente houve aumento significativo da ASTBr (9,04%) para o GT3. Diante dos resultados analisados, a realização de três sessões semanais de TP mostrou-se mais efetiva para os grupos de idosos estudados. / Abstract: The effects of weight training made with different intensities, frequencies and volumes provide beneficial answers and are well spread among young people and athletes. However, studies that look for the effects of weight training held at different frequencies weekly are limited to elder populations. So, the purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the effects of weight training on indicators of sarcopenia, body composition, muscle hypertrophy and of the physical capacities of muscular strength and flexibility of elder men submitted to two or three week sessions of weight training. Twenty-seven (27) individuals were part of the sample separated in: group training with two weekly training sessions (TG2, n = 9), group training with three weekly training sessions (TG3, n = 10), both submitted to a weight training for a 16 weeks period, and a control group (CG, n = 8), which was not involved with any exercise routine during the experiment. The indicators of sarcopenia and body composition were determined by Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DEXA). The sarcopenia was determined by an index of relative skeletal muscle mass. As an indicator of muscular hypertrophy, the cross-section area of the arm (ASTBr) and thigh (ASTCx) were evaluated by magnetic resonance imaging. The indicators of muscle strength were determined by the test of one maximum repetition (1-RM) in three exercises in the fitness room (bench press, leg press and arm curl). As indicators of flexibility, seven joint movements were evaluated by the fleximeter. The weight-training program was divided into two stages, eight weeks each. The first stage of the training was performed with fixed loads (three sets of 15 repetitions), alternating the order of execution by body segment. On the second stage, the exercises were fixed for articulation. These differences in the stages aimed to increase the load training progressively along the stages. Some adjustments were made weekly in the loads, observing the principle of progressive load. Intra and inter groups' responses were analyzed at different times of the study. The comparison between groups and moments was performed by a variance analysis (ANOVA). The level of significance adopted for all analyses was p<0.05. None of the components of body composition, as well as the indicator of sarcopenia, was changed after the trial period for all groups. However, a significant difference between the changes percentage were observed between TG3 and CG for relative body fat and fat free mass. Significant increases were obtained in the 1-RM test for the bench press, arm curl and full load lifted up and relative load lifted up to the total body mass for the TG2 and TG3 post training. Only TG3 increased significantly muscle strength in the leg press test. The week load evolution in the training was more pronounced in the bench press exercise and the arm curl for the TG3. The leg press performance was similar for TG2 and TG3. Both showed higher increase percentage in indicators of flexibility, in the right and left hip flexion and in the left shoulder, when compared to CG. However, only the left hip flexion increased significantly for the TG3. Despite the tendency of a increasing in the ASTCx in both experimental groups, the significant increase in ASTBr (9,04%) happened only in the TG3. These results showed that the performance of threeweek sessions of TP was more effective for the elder studied group. / Doutorado / Ciencia do Desporto / Doutor em Educação Física

The M.A. thesis Metaphors of Nature in the Czech Weekly 'Reflex' explores the question of how the changing human-nature relationship is reflected in this journal's writing on nature over the period of the last twenty years. The rationale for the choice of the Reflex weekly magazine is that it is not focused on nature or nature-related themes, and thus what we find in it can help us understand how the relationship between humans and nature has changed not only in the journal, but also in society. The principal assumption underlying the present effort is that the many and variegated existing forms of the relationship between humanity and nature transform themselves into various metaphors. By uncovering and analyzing these metaphors we are able to better understand this relationship itself. The theoretical section of this thesis discusses various ways of understanding the metaphor in general, including the conceptual metaphor approach developed by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson which is applied to the textual material in the subsequent empirical section. The theoretical chapters also present a number of metaphors of nature that have previously been analyzed in the literature, and their implications for the human-nature relationship are indicated. The empirical section contains an analysis of the...

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Gerad D. Middendorf / Food insecurity poses an enormous challenge and is a matter of extreme urgency for The Gambia, where more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. Although extensive research confirms the problems of food insecurity in Africa, no research has concurrently advanced a bottom-up and top-down neo-endogenous theoretical framework to explore 1) the dynamics of food insecurity in The Gambia and 2) the extent to which measures used to combat it have had a positive impact. The current research aims to fill this gap by employing concurrent triangulation (mixed) methods that incorporate primary and secondary data sources. As envisaged by the neo-endogenous approach, structured interviews with participants in the weekly rural markets/ Lumo(s), underscore the crucial role this indigenous marketing system plays. This marketing system embeds socioeconomic activities in rural territories through the utilization of social and cultural capital that reduce transaction costs involved in direct marketing. Consequently this initiative increases Wassu community’s access to food and stabilizes the food supply. The results also reveal moderate effects of various interventions, particularly in the Western and North Bank divisions, where agricultural production of various crops and livestock has improved the livelihood of those rural communities. At the local level, the allocation of a greater proportion of arable land to coarse grain production along with the decline in peanut production hold great promise for reducing the problem of food insecurity. Although food insecurity still prevails in much of rural Gambia as indicated by the scale of stunting among children under age five, measures are being taken to address the problem. Combined with intervention projects and other developmental effects, the potential for the Lumo(s) to reverse food insecurity in the country is great, contingent upon the central government and international lending agencies’ devolution of significant powers and transfer of funds directly to rural territories.