As school choice opportunities have become more prevalent and information about schools more readily available, there is still a lack of understanding of how parents use information to evaluate schools. The discussion around school judgment-making predominately focuses on whether parents know about school choice and the constraints parents face which limit choice, but I investigate, using 91 interviews of parents living in a low socio-economic community, how parents make judgments and evaluate schools past the discussion of what schools are available to parents and the constraints those parents face. The results of this study are that parents use heuristics—specifically familiarity, endorsement, and representativeness—to help them make judgments about schools. Knowing that parents use heuristics, policy-makers and educators can better address these parents needs and provide information that is more beneficial to them for making judgments about schools.

The constructivist paradigm was used in the research study to focus on the challenges with affordable housing and concentrations of Housing Choice Voucher recipients in a county in Southern California. Viewed through the lens of Social Stratification posed by Max Weber, ones opportunities in life are based on his/her position of class, status and power, where by those with lower positions are excluded from opportunities. The literature discusses the goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to deconcentrate poverty and provide opportunities to move to higher income areas in order to provide opportunities for social upward mobility. Residential socioeconomic segregation has considerable consequences for public health. Keeping in mind the sensitivity of this controversial topic, the researcher protected and maintained confidentiality through the research process. Thus, the member‑checking meeting in which the joint construction is shared with the study participants was held on a secured internet website. Data was gathered by interviewing a diverse group of participants from various levels of agency, including government agencies. This qualitative data was analyzed by identifying “units” of information that were then grouped into categories of topics relevant to the research focus. The result of the final data analysis was a formulation of sixteen categories which was then interpreted in the form of a social construction which concludes that there is a lack of affordable housing in the county, and concentrations of subsidized housing in lower income cities versus affluent cities is due to the demographics of cities as well as exclusion brought on by NIMBY occurrences. Implications for macro Social Work practice included community organizing and policy advocacy at various governmental levels. The termination of the study did not result in the study participants planning to move forward with the solutions that were formed during the research process. A “Thank you” email was sent to the participants with the final joint construction attached as well as the instructions on where to find the final report. The researcher invited the study participants to contact her in the future regarding any opportunities related to affordable and public housing in the County.

HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic with critical demographic, economic, and social implications. The pandemic is widespread in poor regions of the world, including Southeast Asia where its long-term effects are potentially catastrophic. Despite the major impacts of the epidemic being already felt at the household level in many countries, a lack of recognition of the socioeconomic determinants of HIV infection and the economic and social impacts of HIV/AIDS and their relationship with poverty persists. This is due in part to the lack of systematic studies at the household, community, sectoral, and macro levels. The thesis describes a 'vicious circle' between HIV/AIDS, poverty and high-risk behaviour at the individual level. In the poverty-HIV/AIDS cycle, HIV-infected individuals are especially vulnerable to poverty, the poor are more likely to engage in high-risk behaviour such as commercial sex work, and high-risk behaviour in turn makes people susceptible to HIV infection. The thesis examines whether rural Northeast Thailand exhibits characteristics that support the existence of such a cycle. Four key relationships are considered and tested: (i) the relationship between previous HIV infection and current wealth or poverty; (ii) the relationship betweem wealth or poverty and HIV/AIDS knowledge; (iii) the relationship between previous wealth or poverty and current HIV infection; and (iv) the relationship between previous migration and current HIV infection. All four relationships are shown to hold using survey data from Khon Kaen province in Northeast Thailand. Poverty is shown to increase susceptibility to HIV infection, and HIV/AIDS is shown to reduce wealth and hence increase poverty. Under the circumstances, the hypothesis that rural Northeast Thailand exhibits characteristics that would suggest the existence of a poverty-HIV/AIDS cycle cannot be rejected. This thesis also provides several key contributions to the literature on HIV/AIDS and poverty. First, it provides quantitative and qualitative empirical analysis of the impacts of HIV/AIDS on households in a moderately affected region of Thailand. Second, it provides empirical analysis both on whether wealth and poverty affect the risk of HIV infection, and whether HIV infection affects wealth and poverty. The results from this thesis also provide significant empirical evidence of the importance of rural-urban migration in the spread of HIV in Asia. Finally, the thesis investigates the potential effects on the poverty-HIV/AIDS cycle of an ongoing socio-economic intervention, namely breaking the poverty-HIV/AIDS cycle via intensive rural development.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

This thesis focuses on the role of different psychosocial factors in the course of pain over time in a general population sample of women in Sweden. The main aim was to identify and quantify such factors as predictors of pain, pain-related disability and quality of life within a biopsychosocial framework for the understanding of the pain experience over time.  The studies were based on baseline (BL) and follow-up (FU) measures with 12 months apart among 2,300 women living in Sweden, and included physical and psychological health and socio-economic status. Study I investigated associations between socio-economic status (SES) at baseline and pain and pain-related disability at follow-up, and additionally a possible mediating role of depressive symptoms in such associations. The results indicated that educational level, financial strain and occupational level were associated with pain over time. Symptoms of depression were related to all pain-and SES factors, and might be understood as a mediating factor within this context. The results of Study II showed a link between symptoms of burnout at baseline and several pain-locations. Additionally, among women with pain, the characteristics of the pain experience and pain-related disability were associated with level of burnout over time. Study III focused on the sub sample of women reporting pain at follow-up, and examined possible predictors of their perceptions of quality of life (QOL). Several psychosocial factors were associated with QOL, and seemed to be more important predictors than the characteristics of pain in terms of intensity and frequency. These factors were burnout, emotional distress, and social support. Study IV was an attempt to sum up the results of the previous studies by analysing predictors of the course of pain, i.e. by comparing women that developed pain from BL to FU with those that remained pain-free and to compare women with sustained pain with those who recovered from pain during the assessment period. These analyses showed symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) to be associated with reporting emerging pain, while pain variables, educational level and social support were related to sustained pain. The results of the four studies in this thesis indicate that psychosocial factors and their interplay with the characteristics of pain can be identified and described in a female sample, with a broad definition of pain, and that these factors play a central role in the experience of pain and its impact on the everyday life of these women. There may be several possible paths leading to the development of persistent pain among women and the identification of risk factors is complicated by never-ending interactions between biological, psychological and social processes. At an early stage, prior to pain development, several risk factors may cluster together (e.g. SES, depression), and work as indicators of, e.g. dysfunctional coping in relation to pain. In the first contact with health care and among primary care personnel the identification of such indicators is crucial so as to find women at risk for prolonged pain conditions. General indicators might then be more easily distinguishable than certain individual behaviour characteristics widely accepted as risk factors for pain and disability (e.g. fear-avoidance). To spread the knowledge of general factors in the first line of health care is therefore of great importance in preventive work. Finally, the results demonstrated that many women report pain with characteristics that to a great extent affect their lives and through interactions with psychological and social health might have grave consequences for perceptions of quality of life.

La mayoría de los bosques del planeta, exceptuando, quizá, el cinturón más húmedo del trópico, han sufrido perturbaciones recurrentes por incendios, desde hace miles de años. Sin embargo, en el último siglo, la combinación de factores socio-económicos y ambientales han alterado la frecuencia y distribución de incendios en casi todos los ecosistemas forestales. Esta mala distribución del fuego ha conllevado la acumulación de este elemento perturbador en ecosistemas poco adaptados a su presencia (e.g. bosques tropicales húmedos), mientras que otros ecosistemas han sufrido los efectos de las políticas de supresión de incendios (e.g. bosques templados norteamericanos). Entre las consecuencias de estas alteraciones, algunas se refieren a variaciones en el régimen de incendios, con implicaciones en términos de conservación forestal, impacto ecológico, económico y social. La presente tesis analiza la influencia de factores ambientales y socio-económicos en algunas características del régimen de incendios en ecosistemas tropicales y mediterráneos. En el ámbito tropical, la zona de estudio es el Estado mexicano de Chiapas, y los objetivos son básicamente dos: 1) caracterizar el régimen de incendios en el Estado, en términos de frecuencia de incendios, distribución, áreas y ecosistemas afectados, tipología de incendios, causalidad, y su interacción con algunos factores como el fenómeno de El Niño, la distribución de la tenencia de la tierra o la variación de las precipitaciones. 2) Analizar la influencia relativa de factores ambientales frente a factores socio-económicos, en años de condiciones climáticas normales y años de El Niño. El objetivo último era determinar variaciones en la afectación de los principales ecosistemas y listar los factores más importantes a considerar, a nivel de gestión forestal contra incendios. A nivel de ecosistemas mediterráneos, se seleccionó el incendio del Solsonés 1998, como caso estudio, siendo los principales objetivos: 3) Seleccionar la metodología de clasificación post-incendio más eficiente entre varias técnicas analizadas (teledetección y muestreo de campo). 4) Analizar la influencia de diversos factores ambientales en la formación de islas de vegetación en un gran incendio, empleando las laderas como unidad espacial. 5) Verificar la importancia de la estructura forestal y la continuidad del combustible en la heterogeneidad final de las severidades de afectación de un incendio. En relación a estos objetivos, las principales aportaciones de este estudio han sido, en lo referente a ecosistemas tropicales: La descripción de los incendios en Chiapas como mayoritariamente superficiales, afectando principalmente a estratos no arbóreos, de grandes dimensiones, de origen antrópico y con cierta propensión a afectar zonas protegidas. La aportación clave sin embargo, hace referencia a la demostración de la importancia de El Niño en la afectación de los ecosistemas tropicales húmedos, principalmente influenciado por la presencia de pastos alrededor de bosques fragmentados. El cambio de importancia relativa de los factores ambientales en años de no-ENSO frente a la mayor importancia de los factores socio-económicos en años de ENSO. También se puede remarcar el cambio de ecosistema afectado condicionado por el tipo de año (condiciones climáticas normales o extremas, ENSO o no ENSO: pino-encino versus bosques tropicales húmedos). En relación a los bosques mediterráneos, las técnicas más sencillas de teledetección resultaron las adecuadas para la identificación de islas. La formación de estas islas se ve condicionada por el tamaño y orientación y pendiente de las laderas, así como la cantidad y madurez de los rodales afectados, siendo las laderas más extensas, de orientación noroeste, de mayor pendiente, con mayores extensiones forestales y bosques más maduros (en términos de mayores tamaños), las más propicias a formar islas. Las características estructurales de los rodales fue de gran importancia para predecir la supervivencia forestal en zonas de condiciones climáticas moderadas. / The great majority of the forests of the world, excepting perhaps, the wettest belt of the tropics, have been burned over, at more or less frequent intervals, for many thousands of years. In the last century however, a combination of human and environmental factors have altered the frequency and distribution of fire, almost everywhere. This maldistribution of fire has resulted in an accumulation of this element in ecosystems not adapted to high frequencies of fire (i.e. tropical and sub-tropical areas), while other ecosystems have suffered the effects of fire suppression policies (i.e. north American temperate forests). Among the consequences of these alterations, some of them refer to variations in fire regimes, with implications in terms of forest conservation, ecological, economic and social impact. The present thesis analyses the influence of environmental and socio-economic factors for certain elements of the fire regime in tropical and Mediterranean ecosystems. In tropical areas, the study case relates to the tropical Mexican State of Chiapas, and the objectives are basically two: 1) to characterize the fire regime in the State, in terms of frequency of fires, fire distribution, areas and ecosystems affected, type of fires, causality, and their interaction with some factors like the phenomenon of El Niño, the land distribution, or the variation of rainfall values. 2) To analyse the relative influence of environmental factors versus socio-economic factors, in years of normal climatic conditions and years of El Niño. The final objective is to detect variations in the affectation of the major ecosystems and to list the most important factors to consider for forest fire management. For the Mediterranean ecosystems, the fire of Solsonés 1998 was selected as case study. Main objectives are: 3) To select the most efficient methodology for post-fire classification among several techniques: image classification and field survey. 4) To determine the influence of diverse environmental factors in the formation of vegetation islands inside a large forest fire, using "slope", as the spatial unit. 5) To verify the importance of forest structure and fuel continuity in the final heterogeneity of fire severities in a large fire. In relation to these objectives, the main contributions of this study are, with respect to tropical ecosystems: The characterization of fires in Chiapas, as in other tropical areas, mainly as superficial fires, frequently affecting non-arboreal layers. Major problems focus on large forest fires, which are responsible for the major burned areas. Fires are mainly human related and display certain propensity to affect protected zones. The key contribution nevertheless, refers to the major importance of El Niño in the affectation of humid tropical ecosystems. This is specially enhanced by the presence of cattle pasture surrounding the fragmented forests. The shift on the importance of environmental factors in years of no-ENSO versus the greater importance of socio-economic factors in years of ENSO, is also a major achievement. Moreover, shifts in ecosystem affectation have also been observed depending on the climatic conditions: pine-oak in no-ENSO years versus humid tropical forests in ENSO years. Regarding the Mediterranean forests, the simplest techniques of teledetection were the best performing ones for island identification. The formation of these islands is conditioned by the size and aspect of the slopes, as well as by the amount and maturity of the affected patches. Most extensive slopes, north-western orientations, more abrupt, larger forest extensions per slope, and more mature forests (in terms of greater sizes), are the most suitable combination of factors to form islands. This formation of islands does not have, therefore, a random distribution. Besides, the structural characteristics of the forest patches was confirmed to be of great importance to predict the forest survival in areas were fire burned under moderate climatic conditions. Larger patches and larger trees are the ones that will survive fire the best.

This thesis uses a panel of Swedish counties over the years 1976-2007 to investigate the relationship between suicide and a range of socio-economic determinants. Moreover, the thesis is combining sociology and economics in order to understand the part of suicide that can be considered as rational. In addition, suicide is studied separately for total, male and female suicide rates. Contrary to prior research in the field of suicide, this study formally tests for gender differences. Applying a fixed effect model, we managed to uncover a statistically significant gender difference for female labor force participation relation to suicide. When applying fixed effect models most of our results were in accordance with the socio-economic theory of suicide. We found a significant u-shaped relationship between suicide and the level of alcohol sales (consumption). We also found a statistically significant positive relationship between the total suicide rate and female labor force participation. Moreover, we found that higher population density significantly leads to fewer suicides in the total and male model. Furthermore, we found that unemployment increases the male suicide rate. In some cases, however our results contradicted the theory. Our results give evidence that divorce has a negative and significant effect on total and male suicide rate. These findings are not only violating the theoretical framework but previous research as well. We can thus conclude that the socio-economic theory of suicide, in most cases, assistances us to understand suicide.

The aim and purpose of this report is to describe how the domestic tobacco industry is affectingsustainable development in Malawi. This is done by describing the environmental and socio-economic effects ofthe cultivation and selling of tobacco leaves. Together with an outlook on the future developments of the industry,this information is used to describe how the Malawian tobacco industry corresponds to sustainable developmentand how it can be changed to improve sustainability in the country. The report is based on a literature study andtwo interviews. Theories on sustainable development and developmental concepts form the theoreticalbackground for the report. The conclusion of the report is that the situation regarding the Malawian tobaccoindustry is a complex one, where direct economic benefits are the main motive, but various socio-economic andenvironmental effects combine to make the situation unsustainable in a number of aspects. The suggestion of thisreport is to turn away from the current high dependence on tobacco to a more diversified agriculture, wheredifferent types of food crops substitute tobacco as the main source of income, while at the same time providingmore food in a country where poverty and malnutrition are problematic issues.

During the last few decades Central Asia has experienced widespread changes in land cover and land use following the socio-economic and institutional transformations of the region catalyzed by the USSR collapse in 1991. The decade-long drought events and steadily increasing temperature regimes in the region came on top of these institutional transformations, affecting the long term and landscape scale vegetation responses. This research is based on the need to better understand the potential ecological and policy implications of climate variation and land use practices in the contexts of landscape-scale changes dynamics and variability patterns of land surface phenology responses in Central Asia. The land surface phenology responses - the spatio-temporal dynamics of terrestrial vegetation derived from the remotely sensed data - provide measurements linked to the timing of vegetation growth cycles (e.g., start of growing season) and total vegetation productivity over the growing season, which are used as a proxy for the assessment of effects of variations in environmental settings. Local and regional scale assessment of the before and after the USSR collapse vegetation response patterns in the natural and agricultural systems of the Central Asian drylands was conducted to characterize newly emerging links (since 1991) between coupled human and natural systems, e.g., socio-economic and policy drivers of altered land and water use and distribution patterns. Spatio-temporal patterns of bioclimatic responses were examined to determine how phenology is associated with temperature and precipitation in different land use types, including rainfed and irrigated agricultural types. Phenological models were developed to examine relationship between environmental drivers and effect of their altitudinal and latitudinal gradients on the broad-scale vegetation response patterns in non-cropland ecosystems of the desert, steppe, and mountainous regional landscapes of Central Asia.The study results demonstrated that the satellite derived measurements of temporal cycles of vegetation greenness and productivity data was a valuable bioclimatic integrator of climatic and land use variation in Central Asia. The synthesis of broad-scale phenological changes in Central Asia showed that linkages of natural and human systems vary across space and time comprising complex and tightly integrated patterns and processes that are not evident when studied separately.

The relationship between protected areas and the surrounding communities is important in enhancing the success of both parties. The aim of this study was to examine the socio-economic impacts of tourism on poor rural communities adjacent to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park with specific reference to Mpembeni community. Triangulation (a multi method approach) was used to find out attitudes and perceptions of the communities towards tourists, resources within the park as well as the role of communities in the development and promotion of tourism in the park. The study of the Mpembeni Community adjacent to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park (HUP) shows that this community benefits in various ways. Accessibility to natural resources such as meat, grass, firewood and water was cited as one of the benefits. Participation in the operation and management of the park was yet another benefit that was identified. In addition, the results show that a range of opportunities for positive interactions with park's management/staff include job opportunities, good working relations and joint problem solving. Tourism development as a benefit was revealed through two specified areas namely interaction with the tourists as well as the desire to have more tourists visiting the community and the establishment of other tourist facilities in the community. The respondents also cited opportunities for tourism and related incomes, which involve the sale of handicraft products, job opportunities and cultural activities. Furthermore, education/ training programmes particularly children wildlife camps, capacity building and the training of tour community guides were also cited. In addition, natural resource management including the establishment of the Community Conservation Game Reserve (CCGR) and participation in decision-making were also identified as speci fic benefits. The socio-economic impacts in all the identified specified areas except with participation in the management of the park where local communities are not fully involved were positive. This suggests that there is a need to involve local communities in the operation and management of the park as well as other community-based tourism ventures in order to uplift their standards of living. KEY TERMS: socio-economic. impacts, tourism, poor rural communities / Theses (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2001.