Student Number: 9804661E Master of Arts: Social Work Faculty of Humanities / Given the high incidences of child abuse not only in informal settlements, but in South Africa as a whole. The present study looks at the social factors that contribute to child abuse in informal settlements. To identify specific social factors in an informal settlement i.e. Ivory Park, which make children in this community to be vulnerable to child abuse. The study aims to identify different forms of child abuse, which occur in Ivory Park, to develop an understanding of the family structure and the functioning of the families. The study further explored the perception of community members on child abuse, and their knowledge and awareness on children’s rights. The study also attempts to bring to our attention that concern about the problem of child abuse is not new. It acknowledges the historical context of this problem, that throughout history children world-wide have been subjected to domination, murder, abandonment, mutilations and forced labour. Practices that seem brutal and senseless today like infanticide and ritual sacrifices of children are actually recorded in the Bible. These were considered normal and acceptable practices at the time. The systematic study of child abuse is fairly a recent phenomenon, it’s only in the sixties that this issue has been discussed and debated in certain parts of the world. The study also points out that the problem of child abuse is not unique to South Africa, but it is a problem in many parts of the world. Also that the understanding of child abuse has shifted over time. The central force behind these changes has been the establishment of various organisations in North America and Europe. These organisations opposed violence against children and advocated for the rights of the children. In South Africa this change came about when the present South African government ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Children in 1996 and also when the Rights of the Child were enshrined in Section 28 of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The study poses a question as to why child abuse cases and statistics seem to be on the rise and understanding why children are being abused when there are so many pieces of legislation and human rights documents, that aims to safeguard the interest and the protection of children particularly in South Africa. The study also looks at different theoretical perspective on child abuse to help us in terms of explaining and understanding as to why children are abuse. Finally, the study looks at different social factors specific to South Africa that might contribute to child abuse, and the history and location of Ivory Park. On the basis of the findings of this study, the researcher makes some recommendations through which professionals in the helping professions together with community members can address the problem of child abuse in informal settlement.

This research project focused on understanding the narratives of women informal street traders in Warwick Junction, Durban. This is a diverse and vibrant trading community and the five women interviewed have been working in the area for many years. This means that these research participants offer a unique window in on the intersections between individual (psychological) realities and historical, sociopolitical and economic life. The project adopted a narrative approach, analyzing the ways in which 1) particular incident narratives (PINs) within each life narrative reflect key aspects of the life story and draw on narrative principles to convey this; 2) the ways in which narratives are interactively constructed between the researcher and participants in the interview situation; and 3) the relational construction of individual lives in networks of communities. The results highlighted the inherently interwoven nature of identity construction between individuals and the communities with which they associate. The overarching factors of poverty, gender and trauma were shown, in all three levels of analysis, as key elements that tied the women together through relationships of shared experiences. The stories that the women chose to share were strongly influenced by the presence and responses of the interviewer and the researcher and thus, the ways in which power, entrenched in history and culture, influenced the narratives became most evident. The ways in which the women connect and disconnect with relational others was shown to influence their sense of belonging within various communities, both real and imagined. This contributed to the women’s development of resilience and salient identities as cohesive communities were shown to be buffers against adversity and influencers in the construction of identity.

Les échanges de connaissances réalisés par voie informelle entre acteurs de l’innovation sont pratique courante. L’objectif de cette recherche vise à mettre en évidence, d’une part, les facteurs qui déterminent l’engagement d’un individu dans un processus d’échange de connaissances par voie informelle avec un tiers extérieur à son entreprise et, d’autre part, dans quelle mesure la connaissance acquise par voie informelle est susceptible d’impacter la performance des projets d’innovation. Pour ce faire, une démarche méthodologique en deux temps a été utilisée. Une étude exploratoire a tout d’abord été menée auprès de 10 responsables de l’innovation qui, de manière complémentaire à l’analyse de la littérature, a permis de construire notre modèle causal. Ce modèle a, par la suite, été validé par un échantillon de 360 acteurs de l’innovation. Outre la confirmation de la qualité du modèle, il ressort de cette étude trois enseignements majeurs. Tout d’abord, que ce sont les facteurs individuels qui influencent le plus la décision d’un individu d’échanger de la connaissance par voie informelle ; ensuite, que la connaissance acquise par voie informelle influence positivement la performance des projets d’innovation ; et, enfin, que les intermédiaires de l’innovation influencent positivement le lien entre les types d’échanges et la performance des projets d’innovation. Ces résultats apportent des contributions majeures d’un point de vue académique et managérial, et ouvrent de nombreuses voies de recherche dans un contexte d’innovation ouverte / Informal knowledge exchanges between innovation actors are common. The aim of this research is to highlight, first, the factors that determine the commitment of an individual in an informal knowledge exchange with a third party outside his company and, second, to what extent the knowledge gained by informal route is likely to positively impact the performance of innovation projects. To do this, a methodological approach in two stages was used. An exploratory study was first conducted with 10 leaders of innovation, which complementarily to the analysis of the literature allowed us to build our causal model. This model has subsequently been validated by a sample of 360 innovation actors. Besides confirming the quality of the model, it follows from this study three major lessons. First, it is the personal factors that influence the most the decision of an individual to share knowledge through informal channels; secondly, the knowledge acquired by informal channels positively influences the performance of innovation projects; and, finally, the innovation intermediaries positively influence the relationship between the different types of exchange and the performance of innovation projects. These results provide major contributions of an academic and managerial point of view, and have opened up vistas for research in an open innovation context

Esta dissertação tem por objetivos revisar alguns estudos quantitativos de transbordamentos de conhecimento e testar suas ferramentas num aglomerado brasileiro. Estes métodos são amplamente utilizados na literatura internacional e, após esta revisão, foi executada uma pesquisa no Sistema Local de Produção (SLP) de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação (TIC) de Campinas. A discussão sobre as características, qualidades e limitações destes cinco tipos de estudos (função produção de conhecimento, citação de patentes, mobilidade de trabalhadores qualificados, comércio de novos produtos e contatos informais) levou a opção de aplicar uma pesquisa baseada principalmente no método dos contatos informais e, de modo exploratório, numa variante da citação de patentes que usa as citações de artigos científicos como indicador primordial. O questionário foi respondido por profissionais da região que atuam em atividades de TIC. Entre os resultados da pesquisa alguns se sobressaem. Primeiro, há uma expressiva presença de transbordamentos de conhecimento na região de Campinas e esta é uma importante forma de obtenção de conhecimento por parte dos funcionários das empresas do ramo de TIC. Segundo, os funcionários com maiores capacitações e com maior experiência no setor tendem a obter conhecimento mais valioso de seus colegas. Terceiro, os funcionários de empresas multinacionais obtém menos conhecimento de seus contatos informais, pois têm acesso a outros meios para resolução de problemas dentro da própria firma, enquanto isso, os funcionários de empresas brasileiras tendem a recorrer a seus colegas para a resolução de problemas. Por fim, pela análise das citações de artigos científicos, foi possível evidenciar que o conhecimento está realmente concentrado uma vez que a grande maioria das citações são para trabalhos de autores vinculados a instituições de Campinas. / This dissertation goals are review some quantitative studies of knowledge spillovers and test its tools in a brazilian case. These methods are largely adopted in international literature and, after the review, two of theses methods have been applied to the Campinas Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Local System. The discussion about characteristics, qualities and limitations of five types of studies (knowledge production function, patent citation, mobility of skilled worker, commerce of new products and informal contacts) induced to adopt the informal contact method as the main tool of analysis and a variant of patent citation that uses scientific articles citations as the primordial indicator. The questionnaire was responded by professionals engaged in ICT activities in several Campinass firms. Among the results, some are more expressive. First, there is a great presence of knowledge spillovers at Campinas region and it is an important way that ICT firms workers gain access to knowledge. Second, more skilled employees and that with more experience tend to obtain more valorous knowledge from theirs colleagues. Third, the multinationals workers gain less knowledge from theirs informal contacts because they has access to other forms inside the firm to solve problems, otherwise, the brazilian firms employees tend to use their colleagues to solve problems. Finally, with the analysis of scientific articles citations, it is possible to see some evidence that the knowledge is really locally concentrated because the great majority of citations are to works with authors linked to Campinas institutions.

Thesis advisor: Andrew Beauchamp / Thesis advisor: Peter Gottschalk / This dissertation examines how caregiving for an elderly parent affects an adult child's labor supply and wages. In the first chapter (co-authored with Courtney H. Van Houtven and Norma B. Coe) we identify the relationship between informal care and labor force participation in the United States, both on the intensive and extensive margins, and examine wage effects. We control for time-invariant individual heterogeneity; rule out or control for endogeneity; examine effects for men and women separately; and analyze heterogeneous effects by task and intensity. We find modest decreases--1.4-2.4 percentage points--in the likelihood of working for caregivers providing personal care. Male and female chore caregivers, meanwhile, are more likely to retire. For female care providers who remain working, we find evidence that they decrease work by 3-10 hours per week and face a 2.3-2.6 percent wage penalty. We find little effect of caregiving on working men's hours or wages except for a wage premium for male intensive caregivers. In the second chapter I formulate and estimate a dynamic discrete choice model of elder parent care and work to analyze how caregiving affects a woman's current and future labor force participation and wages. Intertemporal tradeoffs, such as decreased future earning capacity due to a current reduction in labor market work, are central to the decision to provide care. The existing literature, however, overlooks such long-term considerations. I depart from the previous literature by modeling caregiving and work decisions in an explicitly intertemporal framework. The model incorporates dynamic elements such as the health of the elderly parent, human capital accumulation and job offer availability. I estimate the model on a sample of women from the Health and Retirement Study by efficient method of moments. The estimates indicate that intertemporal tradeoffs matter considerably. In particular, women face low probabilities of returning to work or increasing work hours after a caregiving spell. Using the estimates, I simulate several government sponsored elder care policy experiments: a longer unpaid leave than currently available under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993; a paid work leave; and a caregiver allowance. The leaves encourage more work among intensive care providers since they guarantee a woman can return to her job, while the caregiver allowance discourages work. A comparison of the welfare gains generated by the policies shows that half the value of the paid leave can be achieved with the unpaid leave, and the caregiver allowance generates gains comparable to the unpaid leave. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Thesis advisor: Michael Barnett / Scientific proficiency is important, not only for a solid, interdisciplinary educational foundation, but also for entry into and mobility within today's increasingly technological and globalized workplace, as well as for informed, democratic participation in society (National Academies Press, 2007b). Within the United States, low-income, ethnic minority students are disproportionately underperforming and underrepresented in science, as well as mathematics, engineering and other technology fields (Business-Higher Education Forum, 2011; National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2009). This is due, in part, to a lack of educational structures and strategies that can support low-income, ethnic minority students to become competent in science in equitable and empowering ways. In order to investigate such structures and strategies that may be beneficial for these students, a longitudinal, qualitative study was conducted. The 15 month study was an investigation of science identity negotiation informed by the theoretical perspectives of Brown's (2004) discursive science identities and Tan and Barton's (2008) identities-in-practice amongst ten high school students in an informal science program and employed an amalgam of research designs, including ethnography (Geertz, 1973), case study (Stake, 2000) and grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Findings indicated that the students made use of two strategies, discursive identity development and language use in science, in order to negotiate student science identities in satisfying ways within the limits of the TESJ practice. Additionally, 3 factors were identified as being supportive of successful student science identity negotiation in the informal practice, as well. These were (i) peer dynamics, (ii) significant social interactions, and (iii) student ownership in science. The students were also uncovered to be particularly open-minded to the field of STEM. Finally, with respect to STEM career development, specific behaviors were indicative of students' serious consideration of STEM careers and two major patterns in STEM career interests were uncovered. The findings are discussed in relation to existing research in science education, as are implications for future research and practice. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Qui prendra ma terre ? L’Office du Niger, des investissements internationaux aux arrangements fonciers locaux.La crise alimentaire mondiale de 2008 a provoqué un mouvement d’investissements fonciers à grande échelle. En Afrique de l’Ouest, l’Office du Niger (ON) est un cas emblématique des aux investissements fonciers dans l’irrigation. 45 000 exploitations familiales y exploitent 100 000 ha de rizières sur lesquelles ils n’ont jamais obtenu de droits fonciers. Faute de capitaux, l’Etat malien a fait appel aux investisseurs, privés et publics, nationaux et étrangers, pour atteindre l’objectif d’un million d’ha irrigués visé depuis 1932. De nouvelles règles facilitent leur accès à la terre. L’arrivée des investisseurs et les risques d’accaparements ont donné le signal d’une course à la terre où les différents acteurs, investisseurs, paysans, petits et hauts responsables de l’Etat, mettent en oeuvre des arrangements fonciers informels.La thèse montre que ces arrangements ont leurs racines dans l’évolution historique du foncier. Elle analyse le développement des arrangements fonciers en tant que processus d’adaptation à des règles contraignantes ne permettant pas aux acteurs d’atteindre leurs objectifs. Trois types d’arrangements ont pu être identifiés : des arrangements coopératifs, des arrangements néo-coutumiers et des arrangements spéculatifs. A travers l’analyse des jeux d’acteurs, la thèse souligne l’importance du rôle des acteurs, mais aussi du contexte socio-politico-spatial dans la construction des arrangements fonciers. / Who will take my land? The Office du Niger, international investments to local tenure arrangements.The 2008 global food crisis led to a wide dynamic of large scale investments in agriculture. In West Africa, the Office du Niger (ON) irrigation scheme is a significant example of such a dynamic of investment in agriculture. 45,000 family farmers grow rice on 100,000 hectares where they have never obtained property rights. Facing low national investment capacity and a significant decrease in the international development assistance, the Malian State launched an appeal to investors to reach the objective defined in the early 1930’s of one million hectares developed for irrigation. Investors were national or foreign investors from the private or public sectors. The State defined new rules to make their access to land easier. The risk of land grabbing linked to the arrival of new investors gave the signal for a rush to access to land in which different actors: investors, farmers, national or local officers, used informal arrangements.This research shows that these arrangements are historically rooted in the evolution of land management in the ON area. The main methodological contribution of this research is that arrangements are analyzed as a process that enables the different actors to adapt to binding rules, and finally to achieve their objectives. Three types of arrangements are described: cooperative arrangements, neo-customary arrangements, and speculative arrangements. By analyzing stakeholders’ games, this research highlights the importance of the actors’ positions and the socio-political context as key factors in the creation of new land arrangements.

The focus of the thesis is on the informal caregiver and family, who cares for a family member who has had a stroke. This topic is very relevant because CMP is one of the most common causes of disability and death, both in the Czech Republic and worldwide. The thesis consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is focused on the study of literature and is divided into 4 basic areas. The first area characterizes the concept of brain and stroke, describes the causes, distribution, symptoms, treatment and consequences of this health and life-threatening event. The second area is the division of coordinated rehabilitation, which is necessary after a stroke, whether it be medical, social, pedagogical, work rehabilitation or spa care. The third area focuses on poststroke therapies such as physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and psychology. The next area focuses on forms of social assistance, without which home care for a close person would not be possible, and includes a care subsidy, a special aid subsidy, a mobility subsidy, a disability card and pension. Last but not least, terms such as formal and informal care are explained. The method of qualitative research using semi-structured interview technique was chosen for the elaboration of the practical part. The research group consisted of seven members of the South Bohemian Region who take care of a close member of their family for a long time at home. The interviews were recorded and then literally rewritten. In my research, I tried to answer the question: "What are the family's difficulties in caring for family members after having suffered from CMP and what are their most common problems?" In the discussion, I summarized the findings and hypothesised, based on research. The results of the diploma thesis can serve as a source of information for persons after the stroke and thein families and help to educate the public.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:12:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 434134.pdf: 597704 bytes, checksum: 6323e67f524d13644cb28816867c435d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-31 / Este estudo objetiva compreender a rela??o existente entre educa??o ambiental e organiza??o em cooperativa, numa sociedade sustent?vel. Adotou-se como metodologia a observa??o participante e entrevistas n?o estruturadas, realizadas de maneira n?o formal. A an?lise textual discursiva deu origem a tr?s categorias: descri??o do ambiente, h?bitos e costumes da comunidade; observa??o se h? ou n?o conflito entre educa??o ambiental, educa??o formal e educa??o n?o formal; trajet?ria da comunidade at? a sustentabilidade atrav?s da produ??o org?nica de alimentos. Concluiu-se que a comunidade estudada evoluiu para a sustentabilidade devido ? mudan?a de paradigma, ao passar da forma convencional de produ??o para a org?nica. Verificou-se tamb?m que a educa??o ambiental n?o formal concretiza-se na pr?tica do cotidiano, como complementa??o ? educa??o formal, do curr?culo escolar

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-14T14:22:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 385720.pdf: 2161445 bytes, checksum: 375a9f8b4e46957dd9dae9715c4e3d1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-11-23 / No presente estudo, buscou-se compreender e aprofundar o entendimento sobre a teoria da auto-regula??o conceituada como o processo em que os sujeitos estabelecem metas que interagem com suas expectativas, desenvolvem estrat?gias para alcan??-las, criando condi??es para que a aprendizagem se efetive. O estudo, realizado atrav?s da metodologia qualitativa e de um estudo de caso m?ltiplo, justifica-se porque ? preciso saber aprender ao longo da vida, mantendo ativa a capacidade de aprender que somada a outros conhecimentos ser? aplicada ?s pr?ticas e fun??es profissionais. ? um tema pouco estudado e pesquisado no Brasil, mas pode representar avan?os no entendimento dos processos auto-regulat?rios que acontecem nos espa?os n?o-escolares e na atua??o do pedagogo auto-regulado. O problema de pesquisa foi assim formulado: quais as caracter?sticas, fases e princ?pios da auto-regula??o da aprendizagem presentes na atua??o do pedagogo em espa?os educativos n?o-escolares? Defende-se a tese de que a auto-regula??o da aprendizagem ? fator com potencial determinante para atua??o dos pedagogos na forma??o dos sujeitos trabalhadores em espa?os educativos n?o-escolares. Partindo da an?lise te?rica e emp?rica das compet?ncias necess?rias ao pedagogo para a atua??o nos espa?os citados, os objetivos da pesquisa foram: conceituar aprendizagem e auto-regula??o da aprendizagem; identificar e compreender as a??es relacionadas ? constru??o da aprendizagem auto-regulada desenvolvidas pelos pedagogos em espa?os n?o-escolares para sugerir pontos de refer?ncia para a atua??o do pedagogo auto-regulador (tamb?m ele auto-regulado) em espa?os n?o-escolares. Entende-se por espa?os n?o-escolares a atividade educacional organizada e sistem?tica, realizada fora do sistema de ensino formal, visando proporcionar aprendizagem sistem?tica e continuada a educandos-trabalhadores que foram assim denominados porque al?m de executarem tarefas do trabalho est?o em constante processo de forma??o e aprendizagem no local de trabalho. A pesquisa teve como corpus a experi?ncia de treze pedagogos que atuam em diferentes espa?os n?o-escolares, entre eles: organiza??es empresariais p?blicas e privadas; organiza??es governamentais, n?o-governamentais e funda??es. A pesquisa tamb?m apresenta contribui??es decorrentes de um estudo piloto realizado em Portugal com tr?s profissionais licenciados pela Faculdade de Ci?ncias da Educa??o, da Universidade de Lisboa. A an?lise dos dados encaminha para o entendimento da aplica??o da teoria da auto-regula??o da aprendizagem na atua??o do pedagogo auto-regulador (e auto-regulado) das aprendizagens dos educandos-trabalhadores em espa?os educativos n?o-escolares.As categorias de an?lise utilizadas foram: arqu?tipo das a??es dos pedagogos nas dimens?es pedag?gica, t?cnica e humana; compet?ncias relacionadas ao construto da auto-regula??o da aprendizagem e princ?pios da auto-regula??o da aprendizagem percebidos na pr?tica desses educadores. Na atua??o profissional, o educando-trabalhador ? percebido como protagonista de sua aprendizagem e o pedagogo desvela-se como algu?m que interv?m mobilizando e estimulando processos espec?ficos que visam criar, implementar e ajustar estrat?gias de ensino ?s aprendizagens dos trabalhadores. A an?lise dos dados emp?ricos levou ? conclus?o de que para ter uma atua??o auto-regulat?ria o pedagogo deve ser, ele pr?prio, auto-regulado. Essa constata??o pode ser desencadeadora de um novo estudo. Como resultado final da pesquisa apresenta-se uma proposta de atua??o que o pedagogo auto-regulado pode utilizar para auto-regular as aprendizagens dos educandos-trabalhadores.