Strategies for the use of PIMEX and other video exposure monitoring methods. : Final report from sub-project “implementation strategies” within the HERIVIS project

Video exposure monitoring (VEM) is a group of methods used for occupational hygiene studies. The method is based on a combined use of video recordings with measurements taken with real-time monitoring instruments. A commonly used name for VEM is PIMEX. Since PIMEX initially was invented in the mid 1980’s have the method been implemented and developed in a number of countries. With the aim to give an updated picture of how VEM methods are used and to investigate needs for further development have a number of workshops been organised in Finland, UK, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Field studies have also been made with the aim to study to what extent the PIMEX method can improve workers motivation to actively take part in actions aimed at workplace improvements.The results from the workshops illustrates clearly that there is an impressive amount of experiences and ideas for the use of VEM within the network of the groups participating in the workshops. The sharing of these experiences between the groups, as well as dissemination of it to wider groups is, however, limited. The field studies made together with a number of welders indicate that their motivation to take part in workplace improvements is improved after the PIMEX intervention. The results are however not totally conclusive and further studies focusing on motivation are called for.It is recommended that strategies for VEM, for interventions in single workplaces, as well as for exposure categorisation and production of training material are further developed. It is also recommended to conduct a research project with the intention of evaluating the effects of the use of VEM as well as to disseminate knowledge about the potential of VEM to occupational hygiene experts and others who may benefit from its use.

Skriftpraktiker i gymnasieskolan : Bygg- och omvårdnadselever skriver

Literacy Practices in Upper Secondary School. The Writing of Construction and Health CarePupilsThe aim of the dissertation is to demonstrate and explain the place and function writing has in allsubjects in two vocational classes in a Swedish upper secondary school. The material has beencollected through ethnographic field studies in construction and health care classes over one schoolyear. The material consists of literacy events, where pupils write, and the context of situation andtext are noted.In theoretical terms the study takes a discourse analysis perspective, where writing is seen fromwithin different frames. Writing is analysed based on an ideological view of literacy inspired byNew Literacy Studies using the context of situation and text with the aim of describing differentliteracy practices in both classes.The material was classified into three different situation types, two school-initiated and one nonschool-initiated. The first school-initiated situation type is orally-governed, the second writinggoverned,while it is less clear how the non-school-initiated type is inspired.In the writing situations we investigate the writing activities that are used, while texts areanalysed based on text acitivites. Writing and text activities are used together to explain the writingcompetences that are used in the writing situations.The conclusions are that writing gets little space and attention in both classes. The healthcare class writes in more situations and also writes longer texts than the construction class.Literacy practices differ between the classes. The health care class demonstrates one schoolgovernedwriting practice, while the construction class moves between two different schoolgovernedpractices. The literacy practices in the construction class are similar to the writing usagethat can be found at a building site. Writing is used in both classes mainly to structure and storeknowledge.The non-school-governed material also shows differences between the classes. Here too morewriting takes place in the health care class. The function of the non-school-governed writing is tocommunicate and inform through writing.

Small-Scale Farmers Land Use and Socioeconomic Situation in the Mount Elgon District in Northwestern Kenya : A Minor Field Study - Combined Field Mapping and Interview

This Minor Field Study was carried out during November and December in 2011 in the Mount Elgon District in Western Kenya. The objective was to examine nine small-scale farming household´s land use and socioeconomic situation when they have joined a non-governmental organization (NGO) project, which specifically targets small-scale farming households to improve land use system and socioeconomic situation by the extension of soil and water conservation measures. The survey has worked along three integral examinations methods which are mapping and processing data using GIS, semi structured interviews and literature studies.   This study has adopted a theoretical approach referred to as political ecology, in which landesque capital is a central concept. The result shows that all farmers, except one, have issues with land degradation. However, the extent of the problem and also implemented sustainable soil and water conservation measures were diverse among the farmers. The main causes of this can both be linked to how the farmers themselves utilized their farmland and how impacts from the climate change have modified the terms of the farmers working conditions. These factors have consequently resulted in impacts on the informants’ socioeconomic conditions. Furthermore it was also registered that social and economic elements, in some cases, were the causes of how the farmers manage their farmland. The farmer who had no significant problem with soil erosion had invested in trees and opportunities to irrigate the farmland. In addition, it was also recorded that certain farmers had invested in particular soil and water conservation measures without any significant result. This was probably due to the time span these land measures cover before they start to generate revenue.  The outcome of this study has traced how global, national and local elements exist in a context when it comes to the conditions of the farmers´ land use and their socioeconomic situation. The farmers atMt.Elgon are thereby a component of a wider context when they are both contributory to their socioeconomic situation, mainly due to their land management, and also exposed to core-periphery relationships on which the farmers themselves have no influence.

The priority of temporal aspects in L2-Swedish prosody : Studies in perception and production

Foreign accent can be everything from hardly detectable to rendering the second language speech unintelligible. It is assumed that certain aspects of a specific target language contribute more to making the foreign accented speech intelligible and listener friendly, than others. The present thesis examines a teaching strategy for Swedish pronunciation in second language education. The teaching strategy “Basic prosody” or BP, gives priority to temporal aspects of Swedish prosody, which means the temporal phonological contrasts word stress and quantity, as well as the durational realizations of these contrasts. BP does not prescribe any specific tonal realizations. This standpoint is based on the great regional variety in realization and distribution of Swedish word accents. The teaching strategy consists virtually of three directives: · Stress the proper word in the sentence. · Stress proper syllables in stressed words and make them longer. · Lengthen the proper segment – vowel or subsequent consonant – in the stressed syllable. These directives reflect the view that all phonological length is stress-induced, and that vowel length and consonant length are equally important as learning goals. BP is examined in the light of existing findings in the field of second language pronunciation and with respect to the phonetic correlates of Swedish stress and quantity. Five studies examine the relation between segment durations and the categorization made by native Swedish listeners. The results indicate that the postvocalic consonant duration contributes to quantity categorization as well as giving the proper duration to stressed syllables. Furthermore, native Swedish speakers are shown to apply the complementary /V: C/ - /VC:/ pattern also when speaking English and German, by lengthening postvocalic consonants. The correctness of the priority is not directly addressed but important aspects of BP are supported by earlier findings as well as the results from the present studies.