En la búsqueda de una ciudad deseable para vivir, una ciudad de todos y todas y para todos y todas, las pequeñas acciones constituyen un gran movimiento impulsor. En este estudio procuramos reconocer, definir y ponderar las aportaciones del vecindario de los barrios informales de Sao Paulo (la ciudad más poblada de Brasil) entre los años 2005 y 2012, a sus procesos de urbanización e identificar y cuantificar la importancia de la participación ciudadana para el éxito de la propuesta urbanística y arquitectónica. Este trabajo es pertinente por cuanto “El sentido acentuado de responsabilidad comunitaria es rasgo característico de las favelas brasileñas, definido por una cultura de comprometimiento”. Desde su origen, la población es quien desarrolla las ocupaciones informales donde establecen sus viviendas. Se indaga en seis casos de urbanización aquí analizados y llevados a cabo por la Secretaría de Habitación del Ayuntamiento de Sao Paulo, los elementos que identifican la interacción y contribución de su comunidad por medio de las asociaciones vecinales, desde el proceso inicial junto a los técnicos de la administración pública, en su contribución al proyecto de arquitectura y urbanización y, en algunos casos, en la obra. Para ello utilizamos parámetros de publicaciones de estamentos públicos brasileños e internacionales que nos guían en el análisis de los resultados encontrados en cada caso, relacionándolos con la aportación de su comunidad. Según Paulo Mendes da Rocha, “[…] la ciudad tiene valor por las personas que la habitan”, de esta forma se evalúa la colaboración del vecindario en la construcción de su hábitat y en el rescate de su identidad, reflejados en el diseño, uso, disfrute, apropiación y cuidado del espacio. En Sao Paulo, como en muchas otras grandes ciudades de América Latina, desde el principio de este siglo, muchos cambios en la base de la sociedad y en la economía han contribuido a su desarrollo e incremento en la calidad de vida. La mejoría de los servicios públicos: la garantía de acceso a educación, formación, alimentación, salud, vivienda, mejores condiciones de trabajo y mayor poder adquisitivo llevan directamente a una mejor condición social. La participación del usuario final es definida, por muchos arquitectos y otros profesionales, como fundamental para el resultado positivo de la urbanización de los barrios informales y en su integración a la ciudad formal. Esta investigación así lo ha demostrado, apuntando, además, algunas cuestiones a implementar para la mejora de futuros procesos. “Ninguna intervención urbana puede iniciarse sin que los vecinos y las vecinas intervengan en el diagnóstico y toda obra requiere la opinión y actividad de los usuarios para valorar y cualificar su mantenimiento, para interpretar su post-ocupación”. / Fundación CAPES, Ministerio de Educación de Brasil

The education act (SFS 2010:800) states that only those who have a teacher identity card are authorized to conduct teaching. The preschool curriculum (2018), on the other hand, states that everyone in the work team has a joint responsibility to conduct teaching and at the same time emphasizes the importance of division of work in teaching. According to this, there is a tension and contradiction in the curriculum as it emphasizes both the importance of division of labor and teamwork. Therefore, the objective of this essay aims to investigate how nursery attendants in preschool perceive their role as a teaching educator. The study method is semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that the work with teaching was everyone's responsibility, but there was an underlying unspoken uncertainty about the roles and what belongs to each professional role. The study's conclusion shows that the perceived role as a teaching educator is positive and this is mainly due to the fact that nursery attendants feel involved in the work with the teaching. The work with teaching is distributed equally and in this way the differences between nursery attendants and preschool teachers are blurred. / Skollagen (SFS 2010:800) menar att endast de med lärarlegitimation har behörighet att bedriva undervisning. I förskolans läroplan (2018) står det däremot att alla i arbetslaget har ett gemensamt ansvar att bedriva undervisning, samtidigt som vikten av arbetsfördelning betonas gällande undervisningen. Enligt detta ovansagda finns det en spänning och motsägelse i läroplanen då den både betonar vikten av arbetsfördelning och lagarbete. Denna studie har därför i syfte att studera hur barnskötare på förskolan uppfattar sin roll som undervisande pedagog. Empiriinsamlingen har i denna studie således skett genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med barnskötare. Resultatet i studien visade att arbetet med undervisningen var alla pedagogers ansvar, men det fanns en underliggande outtalad osäkerhet kring yrkesrollerna och det som hör till respektive roll. Studiens slutsats visar att barnskötarnas uppfattning kring rollen som en undervisande pedagog är positiv och detta beror främst på att de känner sig involverade i arbetet med undervisningen. Arbetet med undervisningen fördelas lika och på så sätt suddas skillnaderna mellan barnskötare och förskollärare ut.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur avsaknaden av spontana möten påverkar innovationsförmågan i samverkansprojekt och besvaras genom följande forskningsfrågor. Hur påverkar en övergång från fysiskt till digitalt samarbete den informella kunskapsdelningen i projektdeltagarnas nätverk och vilken effekt får det för produktiviteten? Hur upplever projektdeltagarna att yrkesmässiga relationer påverkas av distribuerat arbete? Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med projektledare från tio av landets 61 Science parks vars verksamhet är att främja innovation och utveckling genom att bilda ett nätverk mellan akademi, offentlig verksamhet och näringslivet. En induktiv ansats har använts då Coronapandemins restriktioner medfört att projektdeltagare som tidigare arbetat tillsammans i fysiska rum under 2020 på grund av restriktioner tvingats arbeta distribuerat i digitala rum. En förändring som kraftigt minskat möjligheterna till spontana möten och kunskapsdelning med andra individer i projektledarnas nätverk. En tematisk analys har genomförts och gett följande teman. Med förändring i fokus; verksamhet som vanligt?, möten, möten, möten; spontanitet går inte att planera samt relationer och organisationskultur. Slutsatserna inkluderar att avsaknaden av fysiska arenor ger minskade möjligheter till relationsbyggande och överhörning vilket på sikt kan hämma möjligheterna att upptäcka potentiella synergier och samarbeten vilket i sin tur kan leda till minskad innovativ förmåga. Det ligger även en utmaning i att genomföra innovationsmöten och planering i det digitala mötet jämfört med i det fysiska mötet. Orsaken är att det upplevs svårare att få överblick och göra sig förstådd samt svårare att föra informella samtal vilket begränsar utbytet mellan parterna. Projektledarna kommer med all sannolikhet att fortsätta arbeta delvis på distans efter restriktionerna då det möjliggör en bättre balans mellan arbetsliv och privatliv. Ur ett organisationsperspektiv medför förändringen nya möjligheter då vissa geografiska och logistiska begränsningar försvunnit, men även nya utmaningar i att upprätthålla organisationskultur och produktivitet över tid. / In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic project teams have been forced to workonline, in what could be described as "digital rooms". This has drastically decreased the possibilites for informal meetings. This study aims to answer how a transition from physical meetings to digital ones affects the informal knowledge sharing and what effect that might have on productivity. Further the study also aims to explore the effect on proffessional relationsship, as experienced by members of project teams. Following an inductive approach, ten semi structured interviews with project leaders, active in Sweden, was conducted. Thematic analysis was performed and four themes observed: /Change in focus/, /business as usual/, /meetings, meetings, meetings/, /spontanity can not be planned/, and /relations and culture/. Study found that the lack of physical meetings results in lesser opportunities for relationship building and informal sharing of information. Something that on a longer timescale could hamper the ability to find synergic effects and cooperations, which in turn could result in lessened creative abilities. Results also show that meetings aimed towards creativity and innovation is more challenging if held digitally instead of physically.  Meeting overview, missunderstandings and informal communication all becomes more challenging, which limits the interchange in between the project teams. Respondents will likely continue to work, partly, on distance also after the restrictions have been lifted, due to positive effects on the work-leisure balance. For organisations these changes carries new possibilities but also new challenges: geographical and logistic hinders have been removed, but to uphold company culture and productivity over time have become more onerous.

Diplomová práce Nedemokratické režimy, neformální instituce a sdílení moci se věnuje autoritářským institucím a problému sdílení moci v nedemokratických režimech ve vztahu k autoritářským parlamentům ve středoasijských republikách. Konkrétně se zabývá úlohou autoritářských parlamentů v neopatrimoniálních režimech a jejich vlivem na sdílení moci. Abychom pochopili efekt a funkci středoasijských parlamentů, práce analyzuje jak neformální, tak formální instituce v politickém režimu a principy jejich interakce. Nejprve představuje hlavní teoretické přístupy k autoritářským institucím a parlamentům. Další části se zabývají Střední Asií a zvláště popisují případy Uzbekistánu a Kyrgyzstánu. Klíčová slova: Střední Asie Neopatrimonialismus Kyrgyzstán Uzbekistán Neformální instituce Autoritářské Instituce

1 Abstract Informal care is one of the important sources of the help and support provided at home to the seniors requiring the assistance from other people. This topic is highly relevant since it is linked to the growing need of long-term care of seniors reflecting the ageing of population in developed countries. The care provided by informal carers is important also because of the changes in the social services. The changes are related to the shift from institutional care of depending persons including seniors to the social services provided in the natural social environment. Such approach supports the autonomy of clients. This master degree thesis addresses the support of informal carers in the area of the care of non self-sufficient elderly people. The investigation is focused on the needs of informal family caregivers as for the information support, financial support, the support from the social services and the support expected from the services of long-term residential care. The thesis also deals with the motivation of the carers and their understanding of the social context of provided care. The research which is included in the empirical section of the thesis was implemented through qualitative methods, namely using semi-standardized interviews. The interviews with ten informal carers were carried...

This thesis concerns the topic of normative solidarity in informal elderly care. The main aim is to find the normative premises of informal elderly care, their specific examples and to prepare a possible way of including normative solidarity into the model of solidarity premises of informal elderly care. The results are based on an analysis of in-depth interviews. Firstly, specific examples of the normative solidarity concepts are presented. Secondly, the possible option of how to include normative solidarity in the model is proposed, including eight main points that are mainly about a potential carer's previous experiences and her/his opinions about care. The quantitative research shall either prove this or show that it was specific to respondents of this particular research only.

This thesis deals with interpersonal relationships at a workplace. Its aim is to analyze the interrelationships of the selected company and map out subjective interpretations in the terms of employee relations. For these purposes the author uses interviewing techniques through interviews and observations, and based on their findings, she draws conclusions relating to both horizontal and vertical level relationships in the organization. The author formulates a positive and negative form of relationship through testimonies of respondents. She finds the differences between people preferring formal or informal dimension of the employment relationship, and at the same time she reveals several kinds of different strategies that people use in an effort of harmonious getting on at the workplace, both in the terms of prevention of bad relations and in connection with the intervention and the solution of the situation that has been problematic. The results show how "good" and "bad" relationships at the workplace are perceived through the eyes of respondents, nevertheless what is not confirmed, is the presumption that the negative form of relations will be most often represented by mobbing or sexual harassment at the workplace. Among respondents there is the concept of bad relationships linked primarily to...

Zimbabwean migrants in South Africa often send financial support to their relatives in Zimbabwe. This financial support is known as remittances and is sent as cash or in-kind. This study investigated the characteristics of the South African-Zimbabwe remittance corridor. A critical investigation of the remittance channels used, the type of remittances sent, and the remittance transaction costs involved was done. Data for use in this study was collected through interviews with remittance service providers and by actual remittance transfers to Zimbabwe. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of data using statistical analysis techniques was done. From the analyzed data, it was observed that remittance service providers fall into two channels: formal and informal. The informal remittance channels were found to be the most popular in this corridor. The popularity of informal channels can be attributed to lower transaction costs and a lack of documentation needed from the sender. Informal remittance channels do not require the remittance sender to provide any identification document, therefore, undocumented Zimbabwean migrants opt for them. Long-distance buses that serve the South Africa-Zimbabwe route were found to be a popular channel of sending remittances - both cash and in-kind - to Zimbabwe. In-kind remittances have gained popularity due to the perennial lack of household consumer goods in Zimbabwe. Due to the national lockdown imposed in South Africa as a response to the Covid19 global pandemic, the study was unable to find the volume of remittances that is sent through the informal longdistance buses and trucks. The lockdown resulted in the closure of borders and non-essential travel was not permitted. The study found that the remittance transaction cost in the South AfricaZimbabwe corridor was higher than the global average cost of 6.84% (for formal channels) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of 3% by the year 2030.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / This dissertation focuses on how the MAT program in Earth Science at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH MAT), a one-of-a-kind, museum-based urban teacher residency, conceptualized and enacted the project of learning to teach science for urban school contexts. The AMNH MAT is situated within the two nested contexts. The first context is its emergence as one of a number of new, state-approved graduate schools of education that offer teacher preparation, endorse teachers for certification, and grant master’s degrees but are not part of or connected to universities. The larger study of which this case study is part termed this phenomenon “new graduate schools of education,” or nGSEs. The second context is the program’s mission of preparing teachers for urban schools, a goal that is shared by other teacher preparation programs within the domain of nGSEs. This descriptive, interpretive case study analysis poses two major questions: How and to what extent does the American Museum of Natural History infuse its long-standing beliefs about science learning and public service into a teacher preparation program? How and to what extent does the museum conceptualize and enact science teacher preparation for the specific context of urban high needs public secondary schools? Analysis of multiple data sources revealed that theAMNH’s mission of disseminating science knowledge in service of a more science-literate public was instantiated in a teacher preparation program that centralized and continually reinforced a vision of preparing science teachers but had a less central and more limited approach to preparing urban teachers. This case study analysis of an innovative teacher preparation program in one of our nation’s largest cities has important implications for urban science teacher education research and practice. First, the AMNH MAT’s model of science teacher preparation offered two key features that are useful for the field. The first feature was its coherence around the developmentof a science teacher identity that included deep science content knowledge and a commitment to bringing informal science teaching and learning practices into schools. The second model feature was the MAT program’s required four-residency structure, which essentially reinvented the “field” in teacher preparation fieldwork. At the same time, the project of learning to teach at the AMNH MAT, like that of many other urban teacher preparation programs, revealed the difficulties and dilemmas involved in preparing teachers for urban contexts, particularly the responsibility of developing a new generation of antiracist educators. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

In recent years, Facebook has become a tool for practicing English. Language educators have been trying to integrate the social context of a community of practice into formal teaching, as a complement to classroom-based learning. However, social media platforms are used independently outside of the school context. For example, many English-language learners use the application Facebook Groups to choose a community of practice that shares the same purpose of language learning. With the aim of contributing to the understanding of English-language learners’ independent use of Facebook, this paper seeks to explore their online practices through non-participant observation and a qualitative analysis of the content shared and commented on the group wall. 858 posts (and related comments) shared by the members of an English language-learning group, open to the public, were analysed with the purpose of finding out which aspects of foreign language learning seem to be particularly relevant for the group and which of the four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are they trying to develop. Another important aspect is whether the interactions in the group are conducted in English as expected. The results show that reading skills tend to be promoted to a greater extent than the other skills. It was then observed that the group members use the English language consistently, with very few exceptions. In general, therefore, this study shows that the Facebook Groups contribution to learning English through participation in an English-language learning community such as the one observed here is rather limited and unbalanced.