¿Es su casa mi casa? Latinos, Socialization, and the Catholic Church

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Economic issues and lessons arising from the community rainforest reforestation program

A large number of socio-economic research projects have been conducted in north Queensland which have drawn on observations from, or been otherwise inspired by, the Community Rainforest Reforestation Program (CRRP). The research may be considered under the headings of financial performance of farm-grown timber, externalities (or environmental values), impediments to tree planting on farms, analysis of the timber supply chain including timber marketing, and facilitation of forest industry development. This paper summarises a variety of insights generated by the research, on small-scale forestry based on native tree species and on policy measures which may be adopted to promote tree growing on farms in tropical north Queensland.

Personal uses and perceived social and economic effects of advertising in Bulgaria and Romania

Purpose - The objective of this paper is to uncover the underlying dimensions of, and examine the similarities and differences in, personal uses of advertising, perceived socio-economic effects of advertising, and consumer beliefs and attitudes toward advertising in Bulgaria and Romania. Moreover, it aims to identify the relative importance of the predictors of attitudes toward advertising in the two countries. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws upon findings of previous research and theoretical developments by Bauer and Greyser, Sandage and Leckenby, and Pollay and Mittal. The study uses a stratified random sample of 947 face-to-face interviews with adult respondents from major urban areas in Bulgaria (507) and Romania (440). Variables are measured on multi-item scales as a typical application of the reflective indicator model. Findings - Results show that there are significant differences between Romanian and Bulgarian respondents in terms of their attitudes toward advertising. Romanians are more positive about advertising as an institution than the instruments of advertising. Romanians seem to accept the role of advertising in a free market economy, but have less confidence in advertising claims and techniques. Bulgarian respondents seem more sceptical toward advertising in general and are less enthusiastic about embracing the role of advertising as an institution. Moreover, Bulgarians are highly negative towards the instruments advertising uses to convey its messages to consumers. Research limitations/implications - The research findings reflect the views of urban dwellers and may not be generalisable to the wider population of the two countries. Interviewer bias was reduced by eliminating verbal or non-verbal cues to the respondents, and by the use of stratified random sampling. Practical implications - The paper suggests that the regulatory role of codes of advertising practice and industry regulating bodies should be enhanced, and their ability to protect consumers enforced. Marketing campaigns should be more inclusive to involve diverse social groups and reflect generally-accepted social norms. Originality/value - This study reveals that, while general attitudes toward advertising may be similar, attitudes toward the institution and instruments of advertising may differ even in countries with geographic proximity and low cultural distance. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Using DEA to estimate potential savings at GP units at medical specialty level

The aim of this paper is to identify benchmark cost-efficient General Practitioner (GP) units at delivering health care in the Geriatric and General Medicine (GMG) specialty and estimate potential cost savings. The use of a single medical specialty makes it possible to reflect more accurately the medical condition of the List population of the Practice so as to contextualize its expenditure on care for patients. We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the potential for cost savings at GP units and to decompose these savings into those attributable to the reduction of resource use, to altering the mix of resources used and to those attributable to securing better resource 'prices'. The results reveal a considerable potential for savings of varying composition across GP units. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Modelling sustainability performance to achieve absolute reductions in socio-ecological systems

As the world’s natural resources dwindle and critical levels of environmental pollution are approached, sustainability becomes a key issue for governments, organisations and individuals. With the consequences of such an issue in mind, this paper introduces a unifying approach to measure the sustainability performance of socio-economic systems based on the interplay between two key variables: essentiality of consumption and environmental impact. This measure attributes to every system a ‘fitness’ value i.e. a quantity that reflects its ability to remain resilient/healthy by avoiding ecological, social and economic collapse as it consumes the available resources. This new measure is tested on a system where there is a limited supply of resources and four basic consumption types. The analysis has theoretical implications as well as practical importance as it can help countries, organisations or even individuals, in finding better ways to measure sustainability performance.

O envelhecimento no espaço midiático: a produção de sentidos pelos meios jornalísticos

Aging as a social phenomenon is guided in the ways of production and reproduction, that is linked to the peculiarities and compliances of the social structure influence the values and erected senses. The search for the understanding of the reality will be given by the appropriation of knowledge/information that in contemporary times are increasingly tied to the media means, so that they go beyond the mere condition media, reaching the condition of instruments of direct, attitudes and opinions production. Among the media instruments, there are news medias, that are important means of information dissemination and consequently production of senses, including over aging. Thus, the objective is to: apprehend the social representations and meanings associated with aging in the media space about aging; browse the social representations about aging in media space and their influence on the relations that are established in the cultural socio-economic context. To do it The Theory of Social Representation will be used. To collect the data, 57 online news from the three main state newspapers were studied: Tribuna do Norte, Gazeta do Povo and Jornal de Hoje, which were captured through a search tol of these newspaper sites, using the words: “aging””elderly”. These materials were analyzed making use of Bardin’s Qualitative Analysis, which allowed the establishment of five categories, namely: Aging and violence; Aging in contemporary times; Aging and health; Aging and citizenship; and Aging, work and action. In the first category news reporting violent situations are framed the regardless of the victim’s condition or the one charged by the violence, the fragility of elderly persists. In Aging in contemporary times the attempts of the news media to explain the demographic changes of the quantitative increases in the elderly, the burden it may lead to the full development of the country are noticed. In Aging and health is noticed the imminent end of the condition brought on age, as a synonym for diseases and conditions. In the fourth category, Aging and citizenship situations are shown where peculiarities and needs or the elderly need to turn into obligation to be fulfilled, denouncing the condition of low expression and social power of the class. Finally, in Aging, work and action situations that indicate the non-expectation of elderly interaction with new technologies and participation in decision-making directions of society are brought. In a general and specific form this analysis allowed learning the ways of production of meanings about aging in the papers, as these ones tend to represent aging through intentioned situations as hegemonic needs, building the social representation of the elderly as fragile person, submissive, inactive, subject to violence and susceptible to becoming ill.

Accounting for residential and non-residential environments to measure contextual effects on health behavior : the case of recreational walking behavior

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle entre l'Université de Montréal et l'Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 06, Sorbonne Universités.

Financial media, globalisation, and China’s economic integration: comparing narrative construction of the Economist and Caijing

In June 2015, legal frameworks of the Asian Infrastructural Investment Bank were signed by its 57 founding members. Proposed and initiated by China, this multilateral development bank is considered to be an Asian counterpart to break the monopoly of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In October 2015, China’s Central Bank announced a benchmark interest rate cut to combat the economic slowdown. The easing policy coincides with the European Central Bank’s announcement of doubts over US Fed’s commitment to raise interest rates. Global stock markets responded positively to China’s move, with the exception of the indexes from Wall Street (Bland, 2015; Elliott, 2015). In the meantime, China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (or New Silk Road Economic Belt) became atopic of discourse in relation to its growing global economy, as China pledged $40 billion to trade and infrastructure projects (Bermingham, 2015). The foreign policy aims to reinforce the economic belt from western China through Central Asia towards Europe, as well as to construct maritime trading routes from coastal China through the South China Sea (Summers, 2015). In 2012, The Economist launched a new China section, to reveal the complexity of the‘meteoric rise’ of China. John Micklethwait, who was then the chief editor of the magazine, said that China’s emergence as a global power justified giving it a section of its own(Roush, 2012). In July 2015, Hu Shuli, the former chief editor of Caijing, announced the launch of a think tank and financial data service division called Caixin Insight Group, which encompasses the new Caixin China Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). Incooperation with with Markit Group, a principal global provider of PMI, the index soon became a widely cited economic indicator. One anecdote from November’s Caixin shows how much has changed: in a high-profile dialogue between Hu Shuli and Kevin Rudd, Hu insisted on asking questions in English; interestingly, the former Prime Minister of Australia insisted on replying in Chinese. These recent developments point to one thing: the economic ascent of China and its increasing influence on the power play between economics and politics in world markets. China has begun to take a more active role in rule making and enforcement under neoliberal frameworks. However, due to the country’s size and the scale of its economy in comparison to other countries, China’s version of globalisation has unique characteristics. The ‘Capitalist-socialist’ paradox is vital to China’s market-oriented transformation. In order to comprehend how such unique features are articulated and understood, there are several questions worth investigating in the realms of media and communication studies,such as how China’s neoliberal restructuring is portrayed and perceived by different types of interested parties, and how these portrayals are de-contextualised and re-contextualised in global or Anglo-American narratives. Therefore, based on a combination of the themes of globalisation, financial media and China’s economic integration, this thesis attempts to explore how financial media construct the narratives of China’s economic globalisation through the deployment of comparative and multi-disciplinary approaches. Two outstanding elite financial magazines, Britain’s The Economist, which has a global readership and influence, and Caijing, China’s leading financial magazine, are chosen as case studies to exemplify differing media discourses, representing, respectively, Anglo-American and Chinese socio-economic and political backgrounds, as well as their own journalistic cultures. This thesis tries to answer the questions of how and why China’s neoliberal restructuring is constructed from a globally-oriented perspective. The construction primarily involves people who are influential in business and policymaking. Hence, the analysis falls into the paradigm of elite-elite communication, which is an important but relatively less developed perspective in studying China and its globalisation. The comparing of characteristics of narrative construction are the result of the textual analysis of articles published over a ten-year period (mid-1998 to mid-2008). The corpus of samples come from the two media outlets’ coverage of three selected events:China becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, its outward direct investment, and the listing of stocks of Chinese companies in overseas exchanges, which are mutually exclusive in sample collection and collectively exhaustive in the inclusion of articles regarding China’s economic globalisation. The findings help to understand that, despite language, socio-economic and political differences, elite financial media with globally-oriented readerships share similar methods of and approaches to agenda setting, the evaluation of news prominence, the selection of frame, and the advocacy of deeply rooted neoliberal ideas. The comparison of their distinctive features reflects the different phases of building up the sense of identity in their readers as global elites, as well as the different economic interests that are aligned with the corresponding readerships. However, textual analysis is only relevant in terms of exploring how the narratives are constructed and the elements they include; textual analysis alone prevents us from seeing the obstacles and the constrains of the journalistic practices of construction. Therefore, this thesis provides a brief discussion of interviews with practitioners from the two media, in order to understand how similar or different narratives are manifested and perceived, how the concept of neoliberalism deviates from and is justified in the Chinese context, and how and for what purpose deviations arise from Western to Chinese contexts. The thesis also contributes to defining financial media in the domain of elite communication. The relevant and closely interlocking concepts of globalisation, elitism and neoliberalism are discussed, and are used as a theoretical bedrock in the analysis of texts and contexts. It is important to address the agenda-setting and ideological role of elite financial media, because of its narrative formula of infusing business facts with opinions,which is important in constructing the global elite identity as well as influencing neoliberal policy-making. On the other hand, ‘journalistic professionalism’ has been redefined, in that the elite identity is shared by the content producer, reader and the actors in the news stories emerging from the much-compressed news cycle. The professionalism of elite financial media requires a dual definition, that of being professional in the understanding of business facts and statistics, and that of being professional in the making sense of stories by deploying economic logic.

Economic Development and Mass Poverty in Africa: Assessment of the Nigerian Experience

The forces surrounding the emerging economies of underdeveloped world, especially Africa has practically stifled its economic progress, growth, development and sustainability. This economic condition brings to the fore the massive onslaught of rural/urban poverty which the African continent grapples with since the post-world war II era to date. The economic misfortunes and incidence of mass poverty in Africa, vis-à-vis Nigeria is used as a point of departure in this study. The paper underscores the ideological and philosophical undertone of international capital manifesting in form of colonialism and imperialism as a major character in the historical process of underdevelopment and mass poverty in peripheral states of Africa, Asia and Latin America, respectively. Of particular interest in this study is the activities of domestic bourgeoisie elite class who have vigorously displayed some degree of lack of much needed vision and abject lack of desires to draw up workable plans to redeem the battered image of African/ Nigerian economic misfortunes. This state of affairs has practically engendered economic underdevelopment, misery and disturbing levels of poverty in the nation-state system. The paper concludes with the forward towards realizing the vision 20-20-20 objectives in the 21t century and beyond.

The role of socio-economics in the sustainable development and management of the fisheries

The fisheries resources of Kyoga basin lakes are of greater socio-Economic significance for the poor rural communities of this area. The lake's fisheries provide the much needed animal protein as well as source of income for the fishers and the rural poor communities. Nationally, Kyoga basin lakes fisheries are economically important in that they contribute 27% of the total national fish production. In addition, more than 15 riparian districts depend on it for food and income. Moreover, fish from lakes Kyoga and Kwania playa major role in the regional export commodity trade earning the country foreign exchange. The perception that heavy exploitation of inland fishery resources threatens a loss of socio-economic benefits to local communities and their governments has prompted the new ways of management.

Why is Asari (= Manila) clam Ruditapes philippinarum fitness poor in Arcachon Bay: a meta-analysis to answer?

Asari (= Manila) clam, Ruditapes philippinarum, is the second bivalve mollusc in terms of production in the world and, in many coastal areas, can beget important socio-economic issues. In Europe, this species was introduced after 1973. In Arcachon Bay, after a decade of aquaculture attempt, Asari clam rapidly constituted neo-naturalized population which is now fished. However, recent studies emphasized the decline of population and individual performances. In the framework of a national project (REPAMEP), some elements of fitness, stressors and responses in Arcachon bay were measured and compared to international data (41 publications, 9 countries). The condition index (CI=flesh weight/shell weight) was the lowest among all compared sites. Variation in average Chla concentration explained 30% of variation of CI among different areas. Among potential diseases, perkinsosis was particularly prevalent in Arcachon Bay, with high abundance, and Asari clams underwent Brown Muscle Disease, a pathology strictly restricted to this lagoon. Overall element contamination was relatively low, although arsenic, cobalt, nickel and chromium displayed higher values than in other ecosystems where Asari clam is exploited. Finally, total hemocyte count (THC) of Asari clam in Arcachon Bay, related to the immune system activity, exhibited values that were also under what is generally observed elsewhere. In conclusion, this study, with all reserves due to heterogeneity of available data, suggest that the particularly low fitness of Asari clam in Arcachon Bay is due to poor trophic condition, high prevalence and intensity of a disease (perkinsosis), moderate inorganic contamination, and poor efficiency of the immune system.

Objectives for management of socio-ecological systems in the Great Barrier Reef region, Australia

A wide range of goals and objectives have to be taken into account in natural resources management. Defining these objectives in operational terms, including dimensions such as sustainability, productivity, and equity, is by no means easy, especially if they must capture the diversity of community and stakeholder values. This is especially true in the coastal zone where land activities affect regional marine ecosystems. In this study, the aim was firstly to identify and hierarchically organise the goals and objectives for coastal systems, as defined by local stakeholders. Two case study areas are used within the Great Barrier Reef region being Mackay and Bowen–Burdekin. Secondly, the aim was to identify similarities between the case study results and thus develop a generic set of goals to be used as a starting point in other coastal communities. Results show that overarching high-level goals have nested sub-goals that contain a set of more detailed regional objectives. The similarities in high-level environmental, governance, and socio-economic goals suggest that regionally specific objectives can be developed based on a generic set of goals. The prominence of governance objectives reflects local stakeholder perceptions that current coastal zone management is not achieving the outcomes they feel important and that there is a need for increased community engagement and co-management. More importantly, it raises the question of how to make issues relevant for the local community and entice participation in the local management of public resources to achieve sustainable environmental, social, and economic management outcomes. © 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Psychosocial Risk Factors, Interventions, and Comorbidity in Patients with Non-Specific Low Back Pain in Primary Care: Need for Comprehensive and Patient-Centered Care

International audience

Proces prekaryzacji pracy - nowe kierunki zmian społeczno-gospodarczych w świecie

Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Dziennikarstwa

The evolution of the occupational status in Spain: An intergenerational approach

The relationship between the socio-economic status of parents and children is referred by the literature as intergenerational social mobility. The scope of this mobility encompasses different aspects such as educational attainment, income, wealth, prestige and occupational status. In particular, intergenerational occupational mobility is an interesting topic in the economic literature because it is positively associated with the economic achievement and the professional success. Low mobility implies that human capital, skills and talent can be misallocated. As a consequence, the workers’ efforts, their motivation and productivity could be negatively affected, which would have adverse effects on the economy growth and its competitiveness. This paper attempts to carry out the study of the evolution of intergenerational social mobility in Spain during the 21st century. The methodology applied involves to associate the National Classification of Occupations (CNO-94) with the New International Socio-economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI-08), in order to establish a socio-economic hierarchy. Afterwards, once the occupational ranking is defined, we use statistic and econometric methods to assess the occupational transitions between fathers and children and to analyse the covariates’ effects on these transitions, including as explanatory variable the children’s educational attainment. Data used corresponds to the 2005 and 2011 Living Condition Survey (INE, 2005, 2011). The results of the study are displayed by distinguishing children according to their birth cohort.