Research has consistently highlighted the short term and familial difficulties (Munn, 2000), long term difficulties (SEU 1998) and the financial costs to society (Parsons, 2011) resulting from the permanent exclusion of young people from education. Key legislative changes and government publications (DCSF 2004; 2005 & 2010) have repeatedly recommended the use of managed transfers as an alternative to permanent exclusion, yet there is very little research evidence to support this. National and local exclusions statistics suggest that the implementation of managed transfers has contributed to a reduction of the numbers of young people being permanently excluded from school, but does this statistical phenomenon equate to an increase in the inclusion of young people? This research aims to explore the experiences of young people, their families and professionals working within the managed transfer system, to address the research question What are different stakeholders’ experiences of the managed transfer process?Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was core to the design of the study and was used to analyse individual interviews from five young people and five parents, and focus group data from eight professionals working in mainstream settings, all of whom had experienced at least one managed transfer in the same local authority. Individual analysis of pupils’ experiences raised superordinate themes relating to relationships, control, identity, rejection and education. Individual analysis of parents’ experiences produced themes relating to relationships, agendas, control, pupil identity, flexibility, communication, acceptance, education and statementing. Analysis of focus group data relating to professionals’ experiences of managed transfers, produced themes around cognitive dissonance, relationships, agendas, exclusion/inclusion, motivation and feelings of failure. A deeper level of analysis, including all stakeholder experiences, produced two global superordinate themes; cognitive dissonance and relationships. The theme cognitive dissonance represented the behaviours that participants engaged in to reduce conflict, often between their own beliefs and the beliefs or actions relating to the managed transfer. Although this theme encompassed many of the earlier themes, the behaviours and mechanisms employed by different individuals to reduce dissonance differed, as did the cause of conflict causing the dissonance. Relationships were highlighted by nearly all of the participants, but different relationships were valued by different individuals and at different stages during the managed transfer process. Despite the initial similarities across the experiences, this research highlights the individuals’ sense making activities in relation to this complex social phenomenon and drew many parallels to research with young people and their families whom had experienced permanent exclusions from school. This research concludes with some overarching recommendations to improve the experiences of all stakeholders, not by applying a stringent set of rules or procedures, but through the development of a shared ethos and rationale, with greater inclusion of all stakeholders, allowing for processes to be flexibly applied and reasonable adjustments to be made in response to individual need, making inclusion central to the transfer rather than focusing on top down processes.

Stereotypical definitions associating disability with incapacity or abnormality, marginalise persons with disabilities and subject them to discrimination, neglect and abuse. Although societal inclusion of persons with disabilities is progressively recognised as a human right, many obstacles still prevent them from participating in all aspects of community life, including church activities. The paucity of literature on disability within religious environments include few studies applicable to the diverse Southern African socio-cultural context. The purpose of this study was to determine and describe the perceptions of persons with disabilities, primary caregivers of persons with disabilities, and church leaders within a specific Christian congregation, to determine what they deem barriers and facilitators to participation within their unique context. The study was framed within a qualitative, descriptive case study design. Using focus groups with three different participant groups as the data collection method, a comprehensive and in-depth account of the participants’ (n=17) perceptions was documented. Data analysis occurred inductively and deductively. Emergent themes were linked to the relevant theoretical framework, the ICF. Themes included perceptions concerning the social status of persons with disabilities, and how this relates to addressing and accommodating their needs, based on the levels of awareness and understanding of disability. Additionally, perceptions surfaced around access to the physical environment and necessary resources. Numerous connections between the themes and the ICF environmental codes verified the participants’ perceptions that factors in their congregation’s environment hinder, rather than enable, the participation of persons with disabilities in church-related activities. The findings were presented by a social deconstruction of disability, describing disability from a systems thinking perspective. The results implied the need for practical measures to ensure the participation of persons with disabilities in church ministries, and for open communication among all the stakeholders. It is essential to recognise and change the mental conceptualisations that sustain exclusion. The findings also provide recommendations where future research can make additional contributions to the relatively small body of knowledge addressing participation in local churches. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / MA / Unrestricted

Denna uppsats berör det rådande digitala utanförskap som många äldre svenskar i åldrarna 66+ idag upplever. Fokus har riktats mot anledningarna till vad utanförskapet beror på och vilka eventuella lösningar mot detta som går att ta fram. Studieprocessen är av slaget Design and Creation och består av både kvantitativa och kvalitativa data. Förutom att utföra litteraturstudier har datainsamlingar uträttats genom analys av stora datasets, enkätundersökningar och andra metoder som Customer Journey Mapping.Den främsta anledningen till att denna studie utförts är att det blir allt mer fundamentalt att ta del av de nya, digitala alternativ till de samhällstjänster som svenskarna behöver tillgång till jämt. Därmed innebär det att om man själv inte är villig eller inte har möjlighet att delta i övergången från analogt till digitalt så riskerar man att uppleva konsekvenser av detta på flera olika plan, inte minst ekonomiska.Forskningsfrågan som studien avser besvara är “Hur kan man bistå de äldre i digitalt utanförskap för att motivera dem till att börja använda internet?” och har sedermera brutits ner till fyra underfrågor för att lättare angripa de olika problemområden som ligger till grund för problematiken bakom den stora forskningsfrågan.Studien kastar ljus på heuristiska riktlinjer och principer som kan användas för att designa och utveckla mjukvara särskilt anpassad för äldre såväl som kvantitativa data som visar användningsstatistik m.m.Några viktiga slutledningar som går att dra från denna studie är vikten av att utvecklare börjar ta äldre människor i större beaktande när de utvecklar. Vidare har det tydligt framgått att de äldre som antingen inte vill eller känner att de kan använda internet och annan mjukvara kan och bör motiveras att övervinna sina farhågor. Detta görs bäst genom övning med hjälp av instruktioner. / This essay addresses the prevailing digital exclusion that many older Swedes aged 66+ are experiencing today. The focus has been on the reasons for what the exclusion is due to and what possible solutions to this can be developed. The study process is of the design and creation type and consists of both quantitative and qualitative data. In addition to conducting literature studies, data collections has been conducted through analysis of large datasets, survey surveys and other methods such as Customer Journey Mapping.The main reason why this study was carried out is that it is becoming increasingly fundamental to take advantage of the new, digital alternatives to the community services that the Swedes need access to constantly. This means that if you yourself are not willing or do not have the possibility to participate in the transition from analog to digital, you risk experiencing the consequences of this on several different levels, not least financial ones.The research question that the study aims to answer is "How can we assist the elderly in digital exclusion to motivate them to start using the internet?" and has subsequently been broken down to four sub-questions to more easily address the various problem areas that underlie the major research issue.The study sheds light on heuristic guidelines and principles that can be used to design and develop software specially adapted for older as well as quantitative data showing usage statistics etc.Some important conclusions that can be drawn from this study are the importance of developers starting to take older people into consideration when developing. Furthermore, it has become clear that the elderly who either do not want or feel that they can use the internet and other software can and should be motivated to overcome their fears. This is best done through practice with the help of instructions.

Social exclusion has garnered much attention from researchers across the social sciences, especially among social psychologists. However, given the fact that social relationships and consumption are two of the central activities in daily life, there is surprisingly little research on the impact of social connection threats within the realm of consumer behavior. This study examines the effect of social exclusion on proenvironmental behavior and green consumption. More precisely, the objectives of this study are threefold. The first objective is to examine whether the findings in social psychology literature on how excluded individuals respond to exclusion when they are exposed to proenvironmental consumption behavior. The second objective of this research is to find the underlying mechanism and to rule out some of the possible explanations (e.g., mood) for this effect. The final objective of this study is to establish some of the boundary conditions (individual differences and situational factors) for the proposed effect. The hypotheses of this study were developed based on two main theoretical bases borrowed from social psychology literature: empathy-altruism hypothesis (Batson 1991) and social reconnection hypothesis (Maner et al. 2007). Overall, it was proposed that while social exclusion decreases individuals’ inclination to engage in proenvironmental activities, socially excluded people are motivated to use green consumption behaviors to establish new social bonds with others. These propositions were tested and supported across four experiments. Across these experiments, the findings demonstrated that social exclusion causes people to express lower tendency to engage in proenvironmental behaviors. The findings also consistently suggest that mood does not explain why social rejection leads to negative environmental outcomes. Additionally, social exclusion appears to cause a temporary absence of empathic concern toward others, which leads to less green behavior with altruistic motivation. Further, the role of emotional empathy as a boundary condition was tested in this study and the findings indicate that experiencing social exclusion does not negatively impact proenvironmental behavior in highly empathetic individuals. Finally, this investigation showed that when a proenvironmental behavior is perceived as an opportunity to reconnect and positive social feedback is expected from peers, socially excluded participants favor products that signal to their peers that they too are concerned about environmental issues. In addition to its contributions to consumer research and marketing, this work provides several practical implications. For instance, as established in this study, green products by default are not perceived by excluded individuals as tools that facilitate social reconnection. However, when such products are positioned properly, such individuals tend to capitalize on the social acceptability of their behavior to help them fulfill their threatened need for affiliation. The implication here is that marketers should attempt to customize their promotional strategies accordingly and direct the consumer’s attention to this covert benefit of green products.

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Getting Exclusionary Reasons Right offers a defense of exclusionary reasons as originally conceptualised by Joseph Raz. Exclusionary reasons are second-order reasons to refrain from acting for some reasons and are used to explain the ordered nature of practical normativity, and the various normative concepts that are said to follow from it, i.e. mandatory rules, rule-following, authority, and promises to name just a few. Exclusionary reasons differ from other kinds of defeaters in that they exclude valid reasons, i.e. reasons that still justify or make eligible the actions they count for. According to Raz, this is because excluded reasons are defeated not qua reasons, but as reasons we can act for, or that motivate, which explains why exclusionary reasons are reasons to refrain from acting for a reason. However, the coherence and distinctiveness of the idea of an exclusionary reason—understood in this way—has faced serious challenges. I take up these challenges in what follows. Chapter one presents a coherent account of exclusionary reasons as reasons to refrain from acting for a reason, or to ‘not-φ-for-p’. It both clarifies the sense in which exclusionary reasons concern motivations and motivating reasons, and rejects alternative accounts according to which exclusionary reasons have as their object other normative reasons. It is argued that when they are understood as excluding some considerations as reasons that can rationally motivate, exclusionary reasons confer value on or point to an agent’s not acting for otherwise valid reasons. That is, they justify our not being responsive to certain values on some occasions. Chapter two vindicates the notion of acting-for-a-reason on which Raz’s account relies. It considers objections which claim that not acting for otherwise valid reasons presupposes a level of control over our reasons and motivations that is incompatible with the rational constraints on attitudes (beliefs, intentions, etc.), and shows how exclusionary reasons, as they are restated in chapter one, avoids them. Perhaps surprisingly, it is argued that instances where exclusionary reasons are relevant, when properly understood, are not instances where reasoning about what we ought to do involves choice. Getting Exclusionary Reasons Right concludes by considering the implications the account offered herein has for rationalist approaches to obligations and authority. Namely, it makes clear how fully rational agents can ever be moved to act for, or out of an awareness of their obligations. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / Getting Exclusionary Reasons Right investigates the distinctiveness and coherence of the idea of an exclusionary reason—a reason to not act for other reasons (i.e. promises, rules, commands, etc.). It first defends exclusionary reasons as reasons to ‘refrain from acting for some reason(s)’. Understood in this way, exclusionary reasons are relevant where it matters not just what we choose to do, but how we choose to do it. Promises, rules, commands, etc. are features of the world that make it valuable to or justify our not acting for otherwise good reasons when they apply. It then considers what ‘refraining from acting for some reason(s)’ consists in. While exclusionary reasons are thought to be reasons to have motivations of certain kinds, they are not reasons to choose to be motivated in some way. They are instead, reasons that determine for us the reasons we ought to act for. It is argued that while there are some instances where determining what we have reason to do is up to us, exclusion is not one of them. Getting Exclusionary Reasons Right concludes by considering the implications the account offered herein has for rationalist approaches to obligations and authority.

The Exclusion Argument for physicalism maintains that since every physical effect has a sufficient physical cause, and cases of causal overdetermination (wherein a single effect has more than one sufficient cause) are rare, it follows that if minds cause physical effects as frequently as they seem to, then minds must themselves be physical in nature. I contend that the Exclusion Argument fails to justify the rejection of interactionist dualism (the view that the mind is non-physical but causes physical effects). In support of this contention, I argue that the multiple realizability of mental properties and the phenomenal and intentional features of mental events give us reason to believe that mental properties and their instances are non-physical. I also maintain (a) that depending on how overdetermination is defined, the thesis that causal overdetermination is rare is either dubious or else consistent with interactionist dualism and the claim that every physical effect has a sufficient physical cause, and (b) that the claim that every physical effect has a sufficient physical cause is not clearly supported by current science. The premises of the Exclusion Argument are therefore too weak to justify the view that minds must be physical in order to cause physical effects as frequently as they seem to. / Philosophy

With forty-nine officially recognized ethnic groups, Kenya has long struggled with ethnic politics and tribalism. Ethnic tensions within the country often erupt and lead to violence during high political seasons, significantly impacting the economy and threatening national stability. In Kenya’s three major cities, where pluralism is more likely than in smaller towns, ethnic tensions exist submarinally as potential harm to social wellbeing and ever-present danger to communal flourishing. This study is a digitally conducted ethnographic study of city-living Kenyans investigating how they navigate citizenship and negotiate belonging and exclusion to make sense of the tribalism challenge in their daily existence. Affirming Kenya as a national combination of indigenous communities, the study acknowledges the moral processes that contribute to public presence and performance between several active centers of belonging and exclusion, namely: indigeneity and cosmopolitanism, ethnicity and nationality, and ultimately, individual and community. Contemplating the impact of living in these liminalities for Kenyan city-dwellers, the study attends to the nature of kin-making and boundary-forming that transcend communal commitments and are navigated on social media and other online platforms. As argued in this research, the digitization of kinship temporarily lifts closed boundaries to allow for moral deliberation and negotiation over social challenges. The study thus affirms that communitarian formations and malfunctions in the public sphere make room for Kenyans to reclaim, rearticulate, and reassign both the ethnic and national aspects of their identity. Identifying social activism as an avenue, which supports the forbearance of kinship ties for social change, the research addresses the digital public sphere’s role in facilitating an arena for moral accountability, subjective morality, and communal reasoning towards moral transformation. / 2026-03-07T00:00:00Z

Livestock best management practices (BMPs) such as streamside exclusion fencing are installed to reduce cattle impacts on stream water quality such as increases in bacteria through direct deposition and sediment through trampling. The main objective of this study is to assess the effects of different cattle management strategies on water quality. The project site was located near Keezletown, VA encompassing Cub Run and Mountain Valley Road Tributary streams. During two, one-week studies, eight automatic water samplers took two-hour composites for three periods: baseline, cattle access, and recovery. During the cattle access period, livestock were able to enter the riparian zone normally fenced off. Water samples were analyzed for E.coli, sediment, and nutrients to understand the short-term, high-density, or flash grazing, impact on water quality. Additional weekly grab and storm samples were collected. Results show that cattle do not have significant influence on pollutant concentrations except in stream locations where cattle gathered for an extensive period of time. Approximately three cattle in the stream created an increase in turbidity above baseline concentrations. E.coli and TSS concentrations of the impacted sites returned to baseline within approximately 6 to 20 hours of peak concentrations. Weekly samples show that flash grazing does not have a significant influence on pollutant concentrations over a two-year time frame. Sediment loads from storms and a flash grazing event showed similar patterns. Pollutant concentrations through the permanent exclusion fencing reach tended to decrease for weekly and flash grazing samples. / Master of Science