Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66).

The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers in grades 1-3 work with reading comprehension in the classroom. This essey will further analyze how they describe the concept poor comprehenders and how they discover if a pupil have bad reading comprehension. I have used the following questions:  How do teachers describe the concept poor comprehenders? How do the teachers work with reading comprehension in the classroom? How do the teachers describe how they find out if a pupil have bad reading comprehension?  The study is based on a qualitative method with three interviews and three observations. The theories and central concepts that I used is poor comprehenders, reading comprehension, reading comprehension strategies and pedagogical methods. The result shows that the teachers have difficulities of explaining the concept poor comprehenders When comparing which reading comprehension method they use in the teaching, the result shows that they have used similar methods but in different ways. The result also shows that all the teachers in this study believes that it´s hard to find out if a pupil have problems with reading comprehension.

Methods of increasing the number, diversity and evenness of plant species establishing in species-rich meadows created or enhanced with green hay from a semi-natural source meadow were studied. Three experiments were conducted on grasslands in Birmingham and Herefordshire: (i) Comparisons of species and community transfer resulting from green hay being strewn in consecutive years onto a glyphosated receiver meadow. (ii) The effect on species-richness of introducing green hay into a species-rich created meadow. (iii) The effect of different levels of disturbance in combination with grazing on the introduction of species into an existing created species-rich meadow. Strewing hay twice resulted in vegetation containing more species and species with higher frequencies compared with haying once. Hay strewing increased the number of species in an existing species-rich sward and also increased the frequency and abundance of existing species. Source species frequency, flowering/seed set date and established life strategy had an important influence on species transfer. In general, species that did not transfer were those found at low frequencies in MG5 Cynosurus cristatus – Centaurea nigra community meadows and with stress-tolerance as part of their life strategy. There was a statistically significant three-way interaction between haying, grazing and disturbance. As several terrestrial orchid species are associated with this habitat type, techniques and media for axenic seed germination and propagation of a selected local MG5 meadow orchid species (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) were assessed. Comparisons were made of two media types in combination with mycorrhizae and a source of complex carbohydrates. Of these, oats medium with fungi produced significantly higher germination rates than other tested media. Oats medium also proved the most suitable medium for protocorms when replated, producing the greatest increase in protocorm length compared with Western medium after 15 weeks of growth.

PROBLEM: As part of Indonesia’s strategy to achieve the goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), large investments have been made to increase health access for the poor. These have resulted in the implementation of various public health insurance (PHI) schemes, including Jamkesmas, the largest health insurance program in Indonesia in 2012, targeted towards the poor and near-poor. In the backdrop of Indonesia’s aspiration to reach UHC is the high rate of maternal mortality that disproportionally affects poor women. With the implementation of various pro-poor PHI programs in Indonesia, there is limited understanding of how these programs impact maternal health services among poor women. METHODS: This study used a mixed-methods design. The quantitative component entailed secondary analysis of the Indonesian Demographic and Health Survey (IDHS) from 2007 and 2012 on key outcomes of interest: health facility delivery (HFD) and skilled birth delivery (SBD). Qualitative interviews (n=55) were conducted from May-Aug 2015 in the province of Jakarta and Banten among community representatives and key stakeholders to describe the successes and challenges of health insurance membership and maternal health services among the poor. RESULTS: Controlling for all independent variables, poor women with Jamkesmas were 21% (OR=1.21 [1.05–1.39]) more likely to have HFD and 20% (OR=1.20 [1.03–1.39]) more likely to have SBD compared to poor women without health insurance. Qualitative interviews provide some explanation to the modest effect of Jamkesmas health insurance on HFD and SBD seen in the quantitative analysis, including: the preference for pregnant women to deliver in their parents’ village; the use of traditional birth attendants; lack of proper documentation for health insurance registration, distance to health facilities; shortage of qualified health providers; overcrowded health facilities; and lack of health facility accreditation. CONCLUSION: Poor women with Jamkesmas membership had a modest increase in HFD and SBD. These findings indicate that pro-poor PHI schemes may be able to reduce financial barriers to care. However, factors such as socio-cultural beliefs, accessibility, and quality of care are important elements that need to be addressed as part of the national UHC agenda to improve maternal health services in Indonesia.

The aim of this study is to examine what effects the pension reforms of 1935 and 1946 had on the poor relief rates of old age pensioners, in Sweden between the years 1930 and 1950. Unlike earlierstudies the focus is on how different groups of pensioners were affected. Salonens theoreticalframework on subsistence is used, which states that an individuals subsistence is based on incomesand expenditures in relation to the market, the family and the state. Both quantitative and qualitativemethods are used. By studying governmental investigations, the study finds that the purpose of thereform of 1935 was to favor women and the urban elders, while the favored groups by the reform of1946 were the urban elders as well as elders in one person households. The 1935 reform did notaffect the favored groups notably since the pensions were too small. The larger pensions of 1946however did substantially even out the poor relief rates between different elders. After theimplementation in 1948 the difference in poor relief rates between different elders was almost nonexistent. This was due to a substantially larger drop in the poor relief rates of the urban elders aswell as amongst elders in one person households. By studying different incomes of old agepensioners, the study finds that the pensioners with the greatest need of the 1946 years largerpensions were the urban men, the rural women, as well as the one person households in both ruraland urban areas. In conclusion this study finds that the reform of 1935 was unsuccessful insupporting the more vulnerable elders, while the reform of 1946 was successful in that matter.

The media, specifically tabloids, have the potential to portray poverty-related issues in a manner that informs the public and government about the experiences of people living in poverty so that it can be tackled with urgency. Poverty has blighted the lives of many, especially women, children and widows in Cameroon. The role of the media in reporting the plight and suffering of the ‘masses’ potentially shapes the way in which these issues are handled by those in authority. The study notes that the tabloid press has the potential to expose certain experiences of ordinary people thereby constituting that alternative sphere for the disadvantaged. The study investigates the manner women are represented in The Post which is an English tabloid published in Cameroon. The representation of women in this study looks at the institutional policies which drive the representation of women in news constructs, analyses the news values which shape news production, and uses Thompson’s modes of ideology to unravel the underlying meanings in the reported stories. The study is inspired by the claims that since women make up the majority of the world's poor, so too would media representations depict them as such. It utilises thematic analysis to understand the manner in which women are represented in The Post. It also uses interviews with the regional bureau editor of the North West region to probe what news values and institutional policies drive the stories on women’s poverty. Document analysis is used to better comprehend the institutional guidelines which govern the representation of women during the month of March 2009.

Many countries have reduced the generosity of disability benefits while making them more activating - yet few studies have examined how employment rates have subsequently changed. We present estimates of how the employment rates of older workers with poor health in 13 high-income countries changed between 2004-7 and 2012-15 using HRS/SHARE/ELSA data. We find that those in poor health in the USA have experienced a unique deterioration: they have not only seen a widening gap to the employment rates of those with good health, but their employment rates fell per se. We find only for Sweden (and possibly England) signs that the health employment gap shrank. We then examine possible explanations for the development in the USA: we find no evidence it links to labour market trends, but possible links to the USA's lack of disability benefit reform - which should be considered alongside the wider challenges of our findings for policymakers. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

O formoterol é um fármaco beta-agonista de ação prolongada com rápido início de ação e eficácia broncodilatadora que podem determinar melhora significativa e imediata da função pulmonar. Pacientes com DPOC apresentam pouca ou nenhuma resposta ao broncodilatador (BD) no volume expiratório forçado no primeiro segundo (VEF1), podendo apresentar reversibilidade em outras variáveis se avaliados por pletismografia. O objetivo do estudo é avaliar por pletismografia a eficácia broncodilatadora do formoterol após 30 minutos de sua aplicação em portadores de DPOC. Foram estudados 40 pacientes portadores de DPOC com pobre resposta ao BD de curta ação. Encontravam-se no estágio II ou III da DPOC (SBPT/GOLD) e apresentavam VEF1 menor que 70% do valor previsto. Foram randomizados em dois grupos de 20 pacientes, com características clínicas semelhantes, recebendo cada um formoterol ou placebo, através de inalador de pó seco (aerolizer) com repetição das provas funcionais após 30 minutos. Foram observados aumentos significativos do VEF1 (12,4%) grupo formoterol (F) em relação ao grupo placebo (P) que foi de 0,1% (p=0,00065), da capacidade inspiratória (7,4% X 2,7%;p=0,05) e capacidade vital forçada (12,8% X 5,1%; p=0,017), redução importante da resistência das vias aéreas (-14% X 2,6% ; p=0,010). Foram ainda detectadas no grupo F modificações não expressivas do volume residual, da condutância das vias aéreas e da capacidade vital. Concluindo, em portadores de DPOC com pobre reversibilidade ao BD no teste espirométrico simples, o formoterol levou a uma melhora significativa da função pulmonar por pletismografia após 30 minutos de sua administração. / Formoterol is a long-acting ß2 agonist drug with rapid onset of action and the bronchodilator efficacy determine a prompt improvement in lung function. Patients with COPD may show minimal improvement after bronchodilator (BD) on volume in first second (FEV1), but they can show reversibility in other parameters if plethysmography was realized. The objective of this study was to evaluate, by plethysmography, the effectiveness of formoterol as a bronchodilator after 30 minutes of administration to patients with COPD. Forty COPD patients with poorly reversible obstruction confirmed by shortacting bronchodilator use at the spirometric test were prospectively evaluated. All patients were classified as having stage II or III SBPT/GOLD, presenting FEV1 lower than 70% of predict. The patients were randomized in two groups of 20, both with similar clinical characteristics, each group receiving either formoterol or placebo by dry powder device (aerolizer) and the lung function tests were repeated in 30 minutes after the drug administration. Significant increases in FEV1 (12,4%) in formoterol group (F) and 0,1% in placebo group (P) (P=0,00065), in inspiratory capacity (7,4% X 2,7% ; p=0,05) and in forced vital capacity (12,8% X 5,1%; p=0,017) and decrease in airway resistence (p=0,010) were observed in the F= -14% when compared with P= 2,6%. Residual volume decreased while specific airways condutance and vital capacity increased less important. In conclusion COPD patients with poor reversibility, formoterol promoted significant improvement in lung function by plethysmography after 30 minutes of its administration.

Esta Dissertação tem como objetivo visibilizar as práticas propostas pelo Programa Escola Aberta, em uma escola estadual no município de Alvorada/RS, para atender a comunidade e, preferencialmente, os jovens daquela periferia, visando a detectar como tais práticas vêm operando sobre a conduta dos mesmos e, como tais práticas são vividas por eles. Esta investigação se sucedeu em uma trajetória de cunho etnográfico. Para tanto utilizei, sob uma perspectiva pós-estruturalista, como aporte teórico os Estudos Culturais em Educação, utilizando-me também de algumas ferramentas foucaultianas. O presente estudo analisou práticas desenvolvidas dentro do Programa Escola Aberta na referida instituição com o propósito de visualizar como as mesmas estariam atendendo aos interesses de jovens de periferia e através de tal proposição, contribuindo para a inclusão social dos mesmos, constituindo-os assim como indivíduosmais produtivos para a sociedade.Por meio de observações do desenvolvimento do programa em tal escola, bem como das análises das entrevistas feitas com os dirigentes do mesmo e com os jovens participantes da investigação, foi possível perceber que o programa, naquela localidade, mostrou-se produtivo para aqueles aos quais se destina ao proporcionar um espaço de lazer, socialização e aprendizagens; possibilidade essa que contribui para a constituição de sujeitos mais comprometidos com aquele espaço público, gerando assim a redução da violência escolar. Também foi possível inferir que o programa, naquela escola, investe em mecanismos disciplinares para controlar e regular a conduta daqueles jovens, visando aaumentar a produtividade desses sujeitos nos processos sociais, possibilitando assim sua inserção nos mesmos. / This dissertation aims to make visible the practices proposed by the Open School Program, in a state school in Alvorada/RS (a city in Brazil), to attend community and, preferably, that the young periphery in order to detect such practices that have been operating on the same conduct and, as such practices are experienced by them. This research has succeeded in a trajectory of ethnographic. Used for both, from a poststructuralist perspective, as the theoretical Cultural Studies in Education I am also using some tools foucaudian. This study examined practices developed within the Open School Program at that institution, in order to visualize how they would be given to the interests of young people from poor neighborhoods and how they are a possibility of inclusion in the same, making them as individuals more productive to society.Through observations of program development in such a school as well as analysis of interviews with the leaders and even the young participants the investigation was possible to perceive that the program at that location, was productive for those whom it is intended to provide a space for leisure, socialization and learning; possibility that contributes to the formation of subjects more committed to that public space, thereby triggering the reduction school violence. It was also possible to infer that the program at that school, invests in disciplinary mechanisms to control and regulate the conduct of those young aimed at increasing the productivity of these individuals in social processes, thus enabling its therein.

What role can the commercialisation of natural resource products play in the efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability and how can this be enhanced? With poverty alleviation at the top of the global development agenda, this is a question posed by many scholars, practitioners, donor agencies and government departments operating at the environment-development interface. However, recent commentary on this issue is mixed and ambiguous, with some observers being quite optimistic regarding the potential of these products, while others hold a counter view. This thesis explores the livelihood contributions and poverty alleviation potential of four products traded locally in the Bushbuckridge municipality, South Africa; namely traditional brooms, reed mats, woodcraft and a beer made from the fruits of Sclerocarya birrea. A common approach, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods, was used to investigate the harvesting, processing and marketing arrangements, sustainability and livelihood contributions of each product. The results illustrate that any inference regarding the potential of the trade to alleviate poverty depends on how poverty is defined and interpreted, and on whether the role of these products is assessed from a holistic livelihood perspective that includes notions of vulnerability, alternatives and choice, diversification and the needs of rural producers themselves. Overall, the products studied were key in enhancing the livelihood security of the poorest members of society, forming an important safety net and assisting in raising household incomes to levels equivalent to the wider population, but generally were unlikely, on their own, to provide a route out of poverty. However, there were notable exceptions, with marked variation evident both within and across products. Incomes often surpassed local wage rates, and a minority of producers were obtaining returns equivalent to or greater than the official minimum wage. Other benefits, such as the opportunity to work from home or to diversify the livelihood portfolio, were also crucial, with the trade representing different livelihood strategies for different households. When viewed within the context of rising unemployment and HIV/AIDS these findings assume greater significance. While the trades were complex and growth limited, livelihood benefits could be improved on a sustainable basis if the sector was given the attention and support it deserves.