Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Educational Leadership / Jeffrey Zacharakis / In this study, the researcher explored the effects of a formal education and leadership development program (LDP), Command Team Spouse Development Program–Brigade Level (CTSDP-BDE), given to spouses of senior military service members (command team spouses) in preparation for brigade-level command team roles and environments. This study employed a nonexperimental, embedded, concurrent, mixed-methods approach to answer the overarching research question: “Can formal educational programs influence life effectiveness for adult participants, assuming informal leadership roles?” Findings from quantitative data indicated that the CTSDP-BDE course influences life effectiveness in participant personal and social abilities and beliefs and organizational skills as defined by scales in the Review of Personal Effectiveness and Locus of Control (ROPELOC) instrument for command team spouses who assume informal leadership roles. No change occurred for Active Involvement or participants’ measures of locus of control (internal and external) because of attending the program. Findings from qualitative data supported quantitative findings, and raise and provide deeper insight into the CTSDP-BDE and spousal education within the United States Army (U.S. Army). Additionally, the researcher demonstrated that formal educational programs could positively influence the informal leadership capabilities of adults. In this study, the researcher used research participants from the CTSDP-BDE, who were housed at the U.S. Army’s School for Command Preparation located in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Command team spouse participants (n=40) completed both presurveys and postsurveys over the course of a 7-month data collection period. Likewise, the researcher conducted follow-up, qualitative interviews (n=10) to further investigate the effects of the CTSDP-BDE program.

M.Com. ( Business Management) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This study explored how avid users of Second Life (SL) experience and make meaning of informal learning activities in virtual art museums and similar cultural spaces through their avatars. While recent literature has laid the groundwork for studying student engagement and formal learning, the lacuna of research bound by the historical traditions of qualitative research design has done little to ease the skepticism surrounding the value of virtual worlds for learning. Within the context of museological discourse, virtual museum learning experiences have the potential to shift viewing practices as well as how meaning is generated, interpreted, and disseminated. Technical, conceptual, and methodological barriers to studying virtual worlds remain. Another goal of this study was to demonstrate the potential of hermeneutic phenomenology, particularly my conceptualization of virtual hermeneutics, to study virtual worlds. Hermeneutic phenomenology has the potential to make practical understanding of the informal learning process in SL explicit by providing an interpretation of this process. The challenge lies in applying the philosophy behind the methodology to the changing reality of virtual worlds. It is only by studying these experiences in context and situated within virtual spaces that we can expand our understanding of the avatar-mediated informal learning process. Findings from this study show that in-world informal learning experiences can, in fact, be studied on their own terms. Furthermore, rich textural data can not only be extracted from exclusively in-world interaction, but collaborative relationships can also develop with no actual world contact. These experiences and interactions can lead to experiential learning, but also transformational learning where the avatar-identity can affect users' actual world viewing practices and meaning making. It is not so much the technology per se that can affect change, but rather identity exploration, diegesis, and relationship building afforded by the technology. Albeit some learning outcomes were observed, affective outcomes and cognitive strategies, including metacognitive skills, were more frequently described by participants. Due to the complexity of assessing such outcomes and the present obsession with quantitatively measurable outcomes in formal education, it is unlikely that SL can or will be used outside the scope of informal learning in the near future unless formal education undergoes social reform.

In summer of 2012 archaeological excavations were conducted at the Iberville Housing Projects in New Orleans, Louisiana. The excavations were conducted in order to gather archaeological data pertaining to the site’s history as part of New Orleans’ notorious vice district, Storyville. During excavation a cache of 765 turquoise glass seed beads was uncovered along the east wall of Test Unit #1. The cache, found at a depth of around 83 cm below the ground surface, suggests, in conjunction with other artifacts found at this level, that the beads were deposited at the site between 1810 and 1830. This cache of seed beads is unique at the site both in its context and in the quantity of beads that were found. The presence of the bead cache suggests that there may have been an active trading economy at the site, as beads similar to those found at the Iberville site are important elements in informal economies of the eighteenth century. This paper discusses the possibility that an alternative or informal reciprocal, non-cash based economy was in operation on the periphery of New Orleans in the early nineteenth century.

Magíster en Análisis Sistémico aplicado a la Sociedad / Esta investigación analiza la informalidad laboral presente en el trabajo de los recuperadores de residuos domiciliarios o recuperadores de base, a través de la observación de sus observaciones, para determinar la informalidad laboral como una exclusión del trabajador como persona social, aunque también emergen espacios de inclusión social en el aporte económico, social y medioambiental de su trabajo. Los principales resultados de la investigación concluyen que el recuperador base, según sus observaciones, posee un oficio complejo que se aprende solo en la práctica, multidimensional, riesgoso, familiar, inserto en un flujo económico imperfecto, con imposibilidad de ser reconocido legalmente, imposibilidad de construir un equipamiento bajo todas las normas sanitarias, prejuicios sociales negativos por parte de la comunidad, uso de imagen verde para beneficio de organizaciones e instituciones relacionadas con el medioambiente, exclusión de las comunicaciones legales que afectan a su trabajo pero con inclusión informal en mesas de conversación (Gremio de Recicladores), y no reconocimiento económico de las externalidades positivas que genera a la sociedad; además de las características propias y más generales del trabajo informal o independiente de autosustento, como lo son la falta de seguros laborales (cesantía o incapacidad temporal de trabajar por una enfermedad), e imposibilidad de acceder a créditos y seguros en general por ser considerado un trabajo riesgoso, como créditos para inversión, seguros de vida, catastróficos o de invalidez. Los recuperadores también observan las ventajas de su trabajo, como la independencia de horarios laborales y de jerarquías organizacionales, e ingresos sobre el sueldo mínimo y mejor que trabajos anteriores. Se valora el conocer mucha gente y trabajar en la calle, así como ir renovando el vestuario y artículos domésticos gracias a lo recolectado. La posibilidad de proyectar un ingreso les otorga estabilidad económica, y solo la práctica va mostrando nuevas formas de ejercer bien el oficio de manera de maximizar en calidad y cantidad lo recolectado, minimizando el esfuerzo y evitando los riesgos asociados. Desde la Teoría de Sistemas Sociales de Luhmann (Corsi, Esposito y Baraldi, 1995) la informalidad laboral residiría en espacios de exclusiones sociales, según Keith Hart (1973) fuera del mercado laboral regulado y como trabajo de autosustento independiente (Portes y Haller, 2004), con una organización mínima o inexistente (OIT, 2002), y de baja especialización (Bertranou y Gasparini, 2004). Se enmarca teóricamente desde un enfoque metodológico sistémico-constructivista, bajo la premisa epistemológica de Observación de Segundo Orden (Arnold, 1998), utilizando la entrevista en profundidad como técnica de recolección de datos (Hammersley y Atkinson, 1994; Valles, 2003; Velasco y Díaz de la Rada, 1999). El análisis se sustenta en la metodología de sistemas fundamentada (Flores, 2009) que permite acoplar la teoría de sistemas sociales con una metodología de análisis fundamentada

M.A. (Development Studies) / With the ever-increasing rate of urbanisation, developing countries are faced with a new problem - that is, the decline in the urban environment and living conditions. This scenario is likely to further deteriorate due to unprecedented levels of population growth and rural-urban and international migration. The employment-carrying capacity of urban areas is eroded by these trends, resulting in an influx of labour, which cannot be absorbed by the formal sector. As a way of circumventing poverty, the urban unemployed population resort to informal activities for survival, regardless of the legal consequences. The literature on the informal sector is very controversial. This is partly because the nature of the sector itself is contradictory and defies precise definition. More importantly, various analysts and policy-makers approach the informal sector with different expectations. These different expectations of the informal sector are, in turn, related to the preconceived points of view of the analysts as to what constitutes the proper dynamics of the informal sector and what the role of the sector is in alleviating urban poverty. Central to the views on the role of the informal sector in urban poverty alleviation have been the concerns of governments of developing countries on whether to support it or control its activities. The realisation by governments of the need for expansion of the informal sector has resulted in their intervention in this sector by means of regulations, programmes and frameworks to define how the business activities should be carried out. Interventions in the informal sector have resulted in a distortion of the production structure in favour of the formal sector. On the other hand, the very nature of informality and its inherent characteristics stimulate profitability for the hawkers (peddlers) or the small business entrepreneurs. The formalisation of the informal sector eradicates the economic dynamics, which necessitate the viability of the activities being undertaken. The consequences have been the further impoverishment of the small-scale entrepreneurs...

The main actor of lifelong learning (LLL) is a learner. It is important to assess and support their entire learning -- i.e. to value learning -- not only that occurring within formal education system but non-formal and informal learning as well. However, non-formal and informal learning outcomes have been not certified by certificates recognized by society as a whole yet. Moreover, informal learning occurs without curricula and teaching. These are the reasons why it is technically necessary to develop suitable instruments and schemes for recognizing learning outcomes which enable implementation of the LLL system. With regard to implementation of the LLL system in the Czech Republic, there are realized various projects and initiatives, national and sector equivalents of European instruments are created or European instruments for implementation of the European LLL concept are introduced (the National occupations system, the National qualifications framework, a system of recognition non-formal and informal learning outcomes, the Law no. 179/2006, Coll. on recognition of further education outcomes, the European Credit transfer system for Vocational Education and Training). The paper is concerned with opportunities and obstacles in the way of implementation of all the instruments mentioned above into LLL concept of the Czech Republic.

Due to the general unawareness of the existence and significance of the informal recycling sector in the global north, leading to a great deal of exclusion and stigmatization, this thesis seeks to investigate waste governance in Vancouver and the level of participation of the informal recycling sector in municipal waste management. It also documents the critical role of grassroots innovations in promoting participatory governance and the challenges faced in the process. Results show that the informal recycling sector (binners) play a significant role in municipal waste management, and that there exists some level of participation in decision-making on waste management issues. Results also indicate that exclusion of binners in certain decision-making processes such as the City’s recycling bylaw led to challenges such as reduced access to recyclable materials, which threatens binners’ day-to-day activity and survival. Furthermore, the current level of participation of binners can be linked to the influence of a grassroots innovation called the Binners’ Project, which has at its core, empowerment and capacity building of its members. Challenges faced by this organization as well as binners, in general, are also documented. This thesis concludes with recommendations to promote transformative participatory waste governance and highlights strategies to ensure the sustenance of binners’ livelihoods. / Graduate

Student Number : 0215978H - MPh research report - School of Public Health - Faculty of Health Sciences / The study was conducted in the City of Mbabane and assessed Occupational Health and Safety in the informal car maintenance, welding and spray-painting industry. The objective of the study was to assess the risks workers are exposed to in the informal car maintenance, welding and spray-painting industry in Mbabane city in Swaziland. Data was collected by administration of a questionnaire to managers of the establishments and by personal observations of workers while on the job from walk through surveys that were conducted in the city. Seventy (70) workplaces were identified and sixty five (65) of them participated in the study, representing a response rate of 92.86%. There were twenty (20) workplaces doing car maintenance, twenty five (25) doing welding and twenty (20) doing spray painting. Fifty-three (53) The data was analysed using the EPI INFO software and results revealed that most workers in this sector were indeed at high risk of exposure to occupational health and safety problems. They worked under unfavourable conditions such as working in the open and subjected to adverse weather conditions, exposed to solvents, welding fumes and gases, strenuous work, improper postures, lifting heavy loads, exposed to spray painting aerosols and fumes and exposed to dust. The workers’ occupational health and safety was made worse by the fact that most of them did not have or use personal protective equipment. 90% of the workers were exposed to emissions while carrying out their jobs of spray painting and 10% of them were exposed to paint. All the workers that were doing spray painting were exposed to paint (95%) and solvents 5%). Although 75% of the workers, doing spray painting had some kind of personal protection provided however the usage rate was very low. In all the workplaces that were doing spray painting, there were no other existing control measures for protecting the workers from paint emissions 76% did not have any respiratory protection. However, only 33.3% of them were using the PPE provided and 66.7% were not using them. Therefore most of the workers were at risk of breathing in welding fumes and other welding related gases. This means 92 % of workers were at risk to welding fumes and gases. 68% of the workers did not have protection for the hands, only 32% had. Those workers that had hand protection (32%) had gloves with shorter cuffs and separate sleeves (12%). Others had leather gauntlet gloves with canvas or cuffs (20%). 75% of these workers who had PPE were not using them, only 25% did. Since most of the workers did not use hand protection, this means that their hands were not protected against heat, spatter, and radiation. Most of the workers (72%) did not wear eye protection when removing slag and that put them at risk of eye injuries. All welding operations were not done in a booth. This means that the workers and co-workers were at risk of exposure to welding gases and fumes. 48% of the workplaces had their surroundings with materials that could catch fire. 52% had their surroundings free from burnable material. Therefore almost half of the workplaces were at risk of catching fire. 76% of the working places had no fire extinguishers. Only 24% had fire extinguishers, but only two had been serviced accordingly. The workplaces were less prepared for outbreaks of fire. 68% of the workers took no precautions against burns; they had their sleeves rolled up and forearms without gloves or sleeves when carrying out their work. Only 32% of the workers took precautions against burns. 72% of the workers said that they did not know how to treat burns. Only 28% said they knew how to treat them. 72% of the workplaces did not have first aid kits. The means that they were not prepared for accident, only 28% had first aid kits. 71.4% of the work places had first aid kits without the necessary medicines, bandages, and equipment, only 28.6% had. This indicated a lack of preparedness for accidents on their part. A long-term strategy should be developed aimed at improving the occupational health and safety of the workers. Workers need to be empowered to perform their tasks safely. Workers and owners of informal industries should participate in the formulation of interventions aimed at improving occupational health and safety. The City Council should provide health and safety education and training to the Informal Sector.

Thesis (M.Com. (Development Theory and Policy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 201 / Drawing on data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) from 2008-2012, this paper investigates informal-formal earnings gaps in South Africa in order to assess the validity of labour market segmentation theories and to shed light on the motivations behind informal labour. In addition to controlling for observed individual characteristics using pooled OLS regression, fixed effects and quantile regressions are also estimated to control for time-invariant individual heterogeneity and to assess variations in earnings gap along the income distribution. Results are indicative of segmentation both within informal employment and in the labour market as a whole. Overall, informal employment in South Africa can be characterised as highly diverse and heterogeneous, with earnings differentials varying by employment type (whether salaried or self-employed), gender, and level of income. This earnings analysis is complemented by a brief exploration into the non-pecuniary characteristics of informal employment, with a consideration of the relationship between subjective wellbeing and informality.