A qualitative case study of the processes of peer education in a young adult tobacco control initiative, Leave the Pack Behind

Peer education involves peers offering credible and reliable information about sensitive life issues through the means of an informal peer group setting (Topping & Ehly, 1998). The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine the processes of peer education through the exploration of two teams within a young adult tobacco control initiative, Leave the Pack Behind (LTPB). This qualitative case study examined two peer education teams over an eight-month period. Interviews, focus groups and observations were conducted with 12 participants across two peer education teams. Findings show the complexities of the processes of peer education including a connection between the stages of change and the changing role of the peer educator across stages of the empowerment process. Peer education teams and factors in the macro environment were also found to impact the process of peer education. This study provides a new definition for the process of peer education: peer education is a fluid process of knowledge exchange in which peer educators adopt different styles of facilitation as people move through stages of empowerment and change. This study contributes to the academic hterature upon the processes of peer education by providing a definition, a model and an overall understanding through an ecological and empowerment framework. The findings from this study suggest peer educators can be further trained to: use specific peer educational approaches that fit with student smoker's stage of change; better understand their position as a peer educator on the LTPB team; understand the reciprocal relationship between the macro environment and the peer education teams having an effect on one another.

Análisis del ciclo económico en una economía con rigideces nominales y un amplio sector informal

En este trabajo se construye un modelo de Equilibrio General Dinámico Estocástico (DSGE) con sector informal y rigideces en precios, usando como marco de análisis la teoría de búsqueda y emparejamiento del mercado de trabajo. El objetivo principal es analizar el efecto de los diferentes tipos de choques económicos sobre las principales variables del mercado laboral, en una economía con presencia importante del sector informal. Igualmente se estudia el efecto de la política monetaria, ya que la presencia de este sector afecta la dinámica del ciclo económico, y por ende los mecanismos de transmisión de la política monetaria. En particular, se analiza la dinámica del modelo bajo diferentes reglas de política monetaria y se compara el bienestar agente representativo generado por cada una de estas reglas.

Informal housing in the XXI century. Characteristics of the informal land and housing supply in Bogota during the first decade of the XXI century

This article characterizes the conditions of the informal land and housing supply during the first decade of the xxi century in Bogota, regarding magnitude and location of the informal urban growth (new occupations in the periphery and informal densification of consolidated areas), housing  conditions in recent occupations and the characteristics of the land market. The situation of the  last decade has been reconstructed based in aerial photography analysis, census data quantification  and data analysis from planning and control public entities. Results suggest that due to the relative  land scarcity in Bogotá, among other aspects, the informal market dynamics have experimented changes compared to previous decades, because the growth in consolidated urban areas becomes  more important than the informal urbanization of the peripheries, but at the same time informality  transcends the municipal perimeter to the neighboring municipalities.

Del control escolar a la incertidumbre educativa : autoorganización y caos en la educación.

Se afirma que el cambio en la manera de afrontar el acto creativo permitiría que el alumno afrontara también de manera distinta el acto creativo de aprender. Se propone, apoyándose en la teoría del caos, que el profesorado sea capaz de soltar la certidumbre, sea capaz de abrirse a todas esas ambigüedades, paradojas e incertidumbres que poseen las relaciones humanas cuando éstas se originan de manera informal y cuando en ellas ninguno de los implicados intenta negar al otro mediante la jerarquización.

El régimen impositivo simplificado una solución para disminuir la evación tributaria en el sector informal

Con el crecimiento del mercado económico informal el Servicio de Rentas Internas, incluye o activa el RISE como un nuevo sistema de recaudación y control tributario con el fin de incrementar los impuestos A demás con este sistema la base de contribuyentes crecerá para cruzar información por lo tanto se incrementara los impuestos al valor agregado e Impuesto a la Renta. Este sistema lo aplican otros países de Latinoamérica, es por eso que el Ecuador toma las experiencias de varios países donde se ha implementado exitosamente este sistema. Para la ejecución del RISE se han implementado cinco ejes de acción los cuales son: Reglamentación, Atención, Recaudación, Control y Difusión, con lo expuesto en este trabajo evidencia que no se han cumplido algunos de las metas que el SRI se impuso con este régimen y q u e están relacionadas con los ejes de acción. Sin la aplicación de estos ejes el objetivo del sistema simplificado no cumplirá las metas propuestas el mismo se debe fortalecer con un diferenciado por la complejidad de su adhesión y su posterior control.

Informal communication networks and the diffusion of innovations in UK construction projects: A research design

The UK industry has been criticised for being slow to adopt construction process innovations. Research shows that the idiosyncrasies of participants, their roles in the system and the contextual differences between sections of the industry make this a highly complex problem. There is considerable evidence that informal social networks play a key role in diffusion of innovations. The aim is to identify informal communication networks of project participants and the role these play in the diffusion of construction innovations. The characteristics of this network will be analysed in order to understand how they can be used to accelerate innovation diffusion within and between projects. Social Network Analysis is used to determine informal communication routes. Control and experiment case study projects are used within two different organizations. This allows informal communication routes concerning innovations to be mapped, whilst testing if the informal routes can facilitate diffusion. Analysis will focus upon understanding the combination of informal strong and weak ties, and how these impede or facilitate the diffusion of the innovation. Initial work suggests the presence of an informal communication network. Actors within this informal network, and the organization's management are unaware of its' existence and their informal roles within it. Thus, the network remains an untapped medium regarding innovation diffusion. It is proposed that successful innovation diffusion is dependent upon understanding informal strong and weak ties, at project, organization and industry level.

Políticas sociais e democratização: o caso da educação informal da criança e do adolescente nas quatro últimas gestões em Curitiba

Este estudo sobre a contribuição das políticas SOClaIS para o processo de democratização do Estado em sua relação com a Sociedade, pretende demonstrar a importância da instituição e evolução de mecanismos institucionais nas políticas da área da educação informal da infância e da adolescência, para que elas possam caracterizar-se como políticas sociais de cunho emancipatório e, assim, contribuir para a construção de um espaço social politizado. Intencionamos a análise dos mecanismos que tenham sido institucionalizados na cidade de Curitiba durante o período de 1983 a 1996, a fim de verificarmos o grau de democratização destas políticas. Para a realização deste estudo, desenvolvemos uma metodologia baseando-nos em nossa prática na área estudada, no objetivo de nossa pesquisa e em bibliografia que fundamenta a diferenciação entre políticas sociais e políticas assistenciais. Examinamos o processo de instituição de mecanismos institucionais durante as quatro diferentes gestões que comportam o período investigado, verificando as continuidades e descontinuidades existentes, os fatores intervenientes e o grau de participação e autonomia dos diversos sujeitos - crianças e adolescentes, seua pais, funcionários responsáveis pelo desenvolvimento das políticas, comunidade e entidades organizadas. A conclusão que esta pesquisa nos permite é a de que as políticas as políticas assistenciais somente conseguem alçar ao patamar de políticas sociais se mecanismos institucionais forem instituídos, tanto ao nível do Estado como também em sua relação com a Sociedade, isto é, se procedimentos políticos de participação e controle por parte da população forem institucionalizados.

Occurrence of mycobacteria in bovine milk samples from both individual and collective bulk tanks at farms and informal markets in the southeast region of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Background: Mycobacterium spp. is one of the most important species of zoonotic pathogens that can be transmitted from cattle to humans. The presence of these opportunistic, pathogenic bacteria in bovine milk has emerged as a public-health concern, especially among individuals who consume raw milk and related dairy products. To address this concern, the Brazilian control and eradication program focusing on bovine tuberculosis, was established in 2001. However, bovine tuberculosis continues to afflict approximately 1,3 percent of the cattle in Brazil. In the present study, 300 samples of milk from bovine herds, obtained from both individual and collective bulk tanks and informal points of sale, were cultured on Löwenstein-Jensen and Stonebrink media. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based tests and restriction-enzyme pattern analysis were then performed on the colonies exhibiting phenotypes suggestive of Mycobacterium spp., which were characterized as acid-fast bacilli.Results: Of the 300 bovine milk samples that were processed, 24 were positively identified as Mycobacterium spp.Molecular identification detected 15 unique mycobacterial species: Mycobacterium bovis, M. gordonae, M. fortuitum, M. intracellulare, M. flavescens, M. duvalii, M. haemophilum, M. immunogenum, M. lentiflavum, M. mucogenicum, M. novocastrense, M. parafortuitum, M. smegmatis, M. terrae and M. vaccae. The isolation of bacteria from the various locations occurred in the following proportions: 9 percent of the individual bulk-tank samples, 7 percent of the collective bulk-tank samples and 8 percent of the informal-trade samples. No statistically significant difference was observed between the presence of Mycobacterium spp. in the three types of samples collected, the milk production profiles, the presence of veterinary assistance and the reported concerns about bovine tuberculosis prevention in the herds.Conclusion: The microbiological cultures associated with PCR-based identification tests are possible tools for the investigation of the presence of Mycobacterium spp. in milk samples. Using these methods, we found that the Brazilian population may be regularly exposed to mycobacteria by consuming raw bovine milk and related dairy products. These evidences reinforces the need to optimize quality programs of dairy products, to intensify the sanitary inspection of these products and the necessity of further studies on the presence of Mycobacterium spp. in milk and milk-based products. © 2013 Franco et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

The informal market of education in Egypt: Private tutoring and its implications /// Arbeitspapiere / Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien ; 88

Education is generally perceived as a public good which should be provided by the state. In Egypt, free and equal access to education has been guaranteed to all citizens since President Nasser’s socialist reforms in the 1950s. However, due to high population growth rates and a lack of financial resources, the public education system has been struggling to accommodate rapidly increasing numbers of students. While enrolment rates have risen steadily, the quality of state-provided services has deteriorated. Teachers and students have to cope with high class densities, insufficient facilities, a rigid syllabus and a centralized examination system. Today, teaching is among the lowest-paying occupations in the public sector. One strategy to cope with this situation is the widespread practice of private tutoring, which usually takes place at students’ homes or in commercial tutoring centers. Based on research carried out in Cairo in 2004/05 and 2006, I use an actor-centered approach to analyze the motivations of Egyptian teachers and students for participating in private tutoring and the impact that this practice has on the relationship between teachers and students. Students of all socio-economic backgrounds resort to tutoring in order to succeed in a highly competitive and exam-oriented education system. However, the form and quality of tutoring that can be accessed depends on the financial means of the family. For teachers, tutoring provides a good opportunity not only to supplement their income, but also, in the case of renowned “star teachers”, to improve their professional status and autonomy. On the informal “market of education” that has developed in Egypt during the last decades, the educational responsibilities of the state are increasingly being taken over by private actors, i.e. the process of teaching and learning is dissociated from the direct control of the state and from school as an institution. At the same time, education is turned into a marketable commodity. Despite the government’s efforts to provide free education to all citizens, the quality of social services that can be accessed in Egypt, thus, depends mainly on the financial means of the individual or the family.

Management control systems : subcomponents, optimal design and the role of time as a contingency

Management Control System (MCS) research is undergoing turbulent times. For a long time related to cybernetic instruments of management accounting only, MCS are increasingly seen as complex systems comprising not only formal accounting-driven instruments, but also informal mechanisms of control based on organizational culture. But not only have the means of MCS changed; researchers increasingly ap-ply MCS to organizational goals other than strategy implementation.rnrnTaking the question of "How do I design a well-performing MCS?" as a starting point, this dissertation aims at providing a comprehensive and integrated overview of the "current-state" of MCS research. Opting for a definition of MCS, broad in terms of means (all formal as well as informal MCS instruments), but focused in terms of objectives (behavioral control only), the dissertation contributes to MCS theory by, a) developing an integrated (contingency) model of MCS, describing its contingencies, as well as its subcomponents, b) refining the equifinality model of Gresov/Drazin (1997), c) synthesizing research findings from contingency and configuration research concerning MCS, taking into account case studies on research topics such as ambi-dexterity, equifinality and time as a contingency.

The formation and impact of hazard control policy:a study of the regulation of white lead paint in Britain

Government regulation of industrial hazards is examined in the context of the economic and technical processes of industrial development. Technical problems and costs of control are considered as factors in both the formation and impact of regulation. This thesis focuses on an historical case-study of the regulation of the hazard to painting workers from the use of lead pigments in paint. A regulatory strategy based on the prohibition of lead paints gained initial acceptance within the British state in 1911, but was subsequently rejected in favour of a strategy that allowed continued use of lead paint subject to hygiene precautions. The development of paint technology and its determinants, including concern about health hazards, are analysed, focusing on the innovation and diffusion into the paint industry of the major white pigments: white lead (PbC03 .PB(OH)2)and its substitutes. The process of regulatory development is examined, and the protracted and polarised regulatory d~bate contrasted to the prevailing 'consensual' methods of workplace regulation. The rejection of prohibition is analysed in terms of the different political and technical resources of those groups in conflict over this policy. This highlights the problems of consensus formation around such a strategy, and demonstrates certain constraints on state regulatory activity, particularly regarding industrial development. Member-states of the International Labour Organisation agreed to introduce partial prohibition of lead paint in 1921. Whether this was implemented is related to the economic importance of lead and non-lead metal and pigment industries to a nation. An analysis is made of the control of lead poisoning. The rate of control is related to the economic and technological trajectory of the regulated industry. Technical and organisational characteristics are considered as well as regulatory factors which range from voluntary compliance and informal pressures to direct legal requirements. The implications of this case-study for the analysis of the development and impacts of regulation are assessed.

Sympathetic control of accommodation:evidence for inter-subject variation

Autonomic innervation of ciliary smooth muscle is mediated principally by the parasympathetic nervous system and is supplemented by the sympathetic nervous system. Previous drug and nerve stimulation experiments on humans and animals have demonstrated that sympathetic innervation is inhibitory (via β-2 adrenoceptors), relatively small, slow and augmented by concurrent levels of background parasympathetic activity. These characteristics are pertinent to the sympathetic system having a specific role in our ability to adapt successfully to sustained near vision tasks and, given the clear association between near vision and the onset and development of myopia, to a putative aetiological role in myopia development in pre-disposed individuals. A fifth characteristic, namely the variation between individuals in access to an inhibitory sympathetic facility is therefore of particular interest. A novel method for continuous recording of accommodation, currently employed in a large sample longitudinal study of myopia in young adults, was used following topical instillation of non-selective (timolol) and selective (betaxolol) sympathetic β-adrenoceptor antagonists. Measures of post-task accommodative hysteresis were taken with reference to the time-course of regression of accommodation when open-loop (Difference of Gaussian) conditions were immediately imposed following short (10 s) and long (3 min) duration far (0D) and near (3D above tonic level) tasks viewed through a Badal system. Data confirm earlier informal experimental observations that only one in three individuals are likely to have access to a sympathetic inhibitory facility during sustained near vision. © 2002 The College of Optometrists.

Predictors of Independent Living Outcomes Among Older Women Receiving Informal Care

This study examined the predictors of independent living outcomes among community–living older women who received informal care. The central hypothesis was that older women’s level of functioning is influenced by their relationship with their informal caregiver. The study attempted to understand the independence of older women through the perspective of both informal caregivers and the older women themselves. The following eight variables were measured: 1) the older women’s independence (dependent variable); 2) the relationship between older women and their informal caregivers (independent variable); 3) roles of both the informal caregiver and older women (independent variable); 4) the older women’s attitudes toward aging (independent variable); 5) the older women’s age identity (independent variable); 6) the older women’s health (control variable); 7) the older women’s level of social support (control variable); and 8) the older women’s level of depression (control variable). The variables were measured from the perspective of the older woman herself and her informal caregiver. This study used an ecological and developmental framework along with role theory to understand the interaction among the aforementioned variables through a cross-sectional design. The recruited older women participants of this study were receiving ongoing care and personal assistance from two large home care agencies located in Miami, FL. An analysis was conducted through a mixed-methods incorporated into the study design. The present study aimed to contribute to the understanding of how the relationship between older women and their informal caregivers influences older women’s ability to maintain independent outcomes. The primary finding of this study was that there were both positive and negative experiences within the relationship dynamic of older women and their informal caregivers and that this relationship was either unidirectional or bi-directional.

A report on the survey of Lakes Opeta and Bisina to further collect data on presence of Hydrilla verticilata and potential biological control agents

Reports of hydrilla (Hydrilla verticilata) infestation lakes Bisina and Opeta were verbally communicated by some members of FIRRI who undertook surveys during the LVEMP 1 phase (1997 to 2004) to assess the diversity and stocks of fishes in the Kyoga basin satellite lakes. This issue was taken up by FIRRI and NAARI staff who work on aquatic weeds management to ascertain and quantify the presence of H. verticilata and other aquatic weeds, with the sole aim of finding ways and means of controlling one of the world's worst aquatic weeds, H. verticilata.The survey on Lake Opeta indicated that this weed was rare since only a few small broken pieces were sited at the lake's outflow through an extensive wetland to Lake Bisina. It was therefore concluded that it was not economically viable to allocate resources for further survey of H. verticilata on Lake Opeta. This finding therefore discredited the previous (informal) reports that H. verticilata was well established on Lake Opeta. It should be noted that the reports came from scientists who were not well versed with systematics of aquatic plants.