U.S. wildfire governance as social-ecological problem

There are fundamental spatial and temporal disconnects between the specific policies that have been crafted to address our wildfire challenges. The biophysical changes in fuels, wildfire behavior, and climate have created a new set of conditions for which our wildfire governance system is poorly suited to address. To address these challenges, a reorientation of goals is needed to focus on creating an anticipatory wildfire governance system focused on social and ecological resilience. Key characteristics of this system could include the following: (1) not taking historical patterns as givens; (2) identifying future social and ecological thresholds of concern; (3) embracing diversity/heterogeneity as principles in ecological and social responses; and (4) incorporating learning among different scales of actors to create a scaffolded learning system.

Ancient clam gardens, traditional management portfolios, and the resilience of coupled human-ocean systems

Indigenous communities have actively managed their environments for millennia using a diversity of resource use and conservation strategies. Clam gardens, ancient rock-walled intertidal beach terraces, represent one example of an early mariculture technology that may have been used to improve food security and confer resilience to coupled human-ocean systems. We surveyed a coastal landscape for evidence of past resource use and management to gain insight into ancient resource stewardship practices on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We found that clam gardens are embedded within a diverse portfolio of resource use and management strategies and were likely one component of a larger, complex resource management system. We compared clam diversity, density, recruitment, and biomass in three clam gardens and three unmodified nonwalled beaches. Evidence suggests that butter clams (Saxidomus gigantea) had 1.96 times the biomass and 2.44 times the density in clam gardens relative to unmodified beaches. This was due to a reduction in beach slope and thus an increase in the optimal tidal range where clams grow and survive best. The most pronounced differences in butter clam density between nonwalled beaches and clam gardens were found at high tidal elevations at the top of the beach. Finally, clam recruits (0.5-2 mm in length) tended to be greater in clam gardens compared to nonwalled beaches and may be attributed to the addition of shell hash by ancient people, which remains on the landscape today. As part of a broader social-ecological system, clam garden sites were among several modifications made by humans that collectively may have conferred resilience to past communities by providing reliable and diverse access to food resources.

Serviço social do INSS : expressões materiais da implementação de sua competência legal no período de junho de 2009 a junho de 2014

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Ciências Humanas, Departamento de Serviço Social, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Política Social, 2015.

Nivel de sobrecarga y factores asociados de los cuidadores primarios de los/as pacientes del centro de atención ambulatoria 302 del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social, Cuenca Ecuador, 2014

OBJETIVOS: Identificar el nivel de sobrecarga y sus factores asociados en los cuidadores primarios de los /as pacientes del Centro de Atención Ambulatoria 302 del IESS. METODOLOGÍA: Es un estudio cuantitativo analítico-transversal, cuyo universo es 222 cuidadores primarios de adultos mayores, controlados en el Centro de Atención Ambulatoria 302 del Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social, Cuenca Ecuador. Los datos se obtuvieron del formulario que consta de un apartado sociodemográfico, variables de estudio, Índice de Katz y Escala del Nivel de Sobrecarga de Zarit. Se tabuló y analizó la información obtenida exponiéndola en los resultados. RESULTADOS: En promedio los cuidadores tienen 53 años, en su mayoría de sexo femenino, 52% de ellos casados, casi el 60% son hijos y un 11% conyugues del adulto mayor. La mayoría los cuida 12 horas en el día, los 7 días de la semana y llevan cuidándolos al menos 5 años. Se observó que 26% de adultos mayores tiene una dependencia moderada y el 38% dependencia severa. De acuerdo al test de Zarit el 18,7% de cuidadores tienen sobrecarga leve y el 14% sobrecarga intensa. CONCLUSIONES: El 18,7% de los cuidadores primarios presentan una sobrecarga leve y el 14% perciben una sobrecarga intensa.

Organización financiera-contable, con base a la Norma de Información Financiera para Asociaciones Cooperativas de El Salvador (NIFACES), en la Asociación Cooperativa de Producción Agroindustrial y Comercialización Ganadera de Cabañas de Responsabilidad Limitada (COPIGAC, DE R.L.), ubicada en el Municipio de Sensuntepeque, Departamento de Cabañas, a implementarse en el año 2015

Las asociaciones cooperativas han tenido mayor auge en nuestro país en los últimos años, siendo indispensables para el desarrollo de la economía nacional, en tal sentido el cooperativismo moderno ha diversificado las áreas de producción de las cooperativas, pasando de producir para el sector primario de la economía, al secundario y terciario; es decir, de la producción agrícola, al de agroindustria comercial hasta la prestación de servicios, con el fin último de satisfacer las diferentes necesidades de los usuarios del sistema cooperativo, sin perder de vista que desempeñan un papel importante en el ámbito social, convirtiéndose así en entidades de economía solidaria. En El Salvador, el departamento de Cabañas pertenece a una zona geográfica de gran importancia para el sector agroindustrial ya que de acuerdo al 4º Censo Agropecuario realizado por la Dirección General de Estadísticas y Censos (DIGESTYC) 2007-2008, de los 9 municipios del departamento el 27.17% de cabezas de ganado bovino pertenecen al municipio de Sensuntepeque, volviéndose así un mercado propicio para COPIGAC dedicada a la producción agroindustrial y comercialización de concentrado para ganado bovino. El Instituto Salvadoreño de Fomento Cooperativo (INSAFOCOOP) ha generado legislación especial denominada Norma de Información Financiera Para Asociaciones Cooperativas de El Salvador (NIFACES), con la finalidad de normar la constitución, funcionamiento y administración del sector cooperativo y que obtengan certeza de reflejar en su información financiera contable el cumplimiento de los requerimientos que demanda el organismo que las fiscaliza, a la vez que adopta uniformidad en la presentación de los datos contables en relación con los demás sectores. Debido a la importancia de la Asociación Cooperativa de Producción Agroindustrial y Comercialización Ganadera en el municipio de Sensuntepeque, el propósito principal que busca la ejecución del presente trabajo de investigación es diseñar una ORGANIZACIÓN FINANCIERA CONTABLE que sirva como un instrumento para estructurar, ordenar, clasificar y resumir la información que se genere de sus actividades; a fin de establecer resultados confiables, que sirvan a la administración para la toma de decisiones. La Organización Financiera Contable es regida por leyes y reglamentos generales, especiales, mercantiles, tributarios, y de previsión y seguridad social las cuales son fundamentales para su diseño, está compuesta por el Control Interno y el Sistema Contable y de Costos con base a la Norma de Información Financiera Para Asociaciones Cooperativas de El Salvador (NIFACES). El documento final que contiene la Organización Financiera Contable fue elaborado utilizando metodología que permitió la recolección de información bibliográfica de elementos teóricos sobre el cooperativismo, contabilidad general, contabilidad de costos y el control interno, se utilizaron como instrumentos de recolección de datos, la entrevista, la observación directa a las actividades ejecutadas por la cooperativa y listas de cotejo, los cuales permitieron el análisis e interpretación de los resultados. Así mismo al analizar e interpretar los resultados obtenidos en la investigación se lograron determinar las conclusiones y recomendaciones con el propósito de brindar solución a la problemática resultante, posteriormente se diseñó un plan de intervención para elaborar la Organización Financiera Contable. Es necesario mencionar que debido a la importancia de las asociaciones cooperativas ante un mundo globalizado y competitivo, deben mantener la uniformidad en la presentación de la información financiera contable en comparación con otros sectores económicos, por ello es beneficioso para la cooperativa en estudio aplicar los lineamientos que establece la normativa de información financiera especial. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cooperative associations have had the greatest boom in our country in recent years, being indispensable for the development of the national economy, in this sense the modern cooperative has diversified production areas of cooperatives, from producing for the primary sector economy, secondary and tertiary; ie agricultural production, commercial agribusiness to provide services, with the ultimate aim to meet the different needs of users of the cooperative system, without losing sight of that play an important role in the social field, thus becoming in solidarity economy entities. In El Salvador Cabañas department belongs to a geographical area of great importance for the agribusiness sector since according to the 4th Census of Agriculture conducted by the Department of Statistics and Census (DIGESTYC) 2007-2008 of 9 municipalities in the department 27.17% of the heads of cattle belonging to the municipality of Sensuntepeque, thus becoming an enabling market for COPIGAC dedicated to the agroindustrial production and marketing of concentrate for cattle. The Salvadoran Institute for Cooperative Development (INSAFOCOOP) has created special legislation called Financial Reporting Standard for Cooperative Associations of El Salvador (NIFACES), in order to regulate the establishment, operation and administration of the cooperative sector and obtain certainty to reflect on their financial accounting information meeting the requirements demanded by the body that oversees, while adopting uniformity in the presentation of financial data relating to other sectors. Because of the importance of the Cooperative Production Association Agroindustrial and Marketing Livestock in the municipality of Sensuntepeque, the main purpose that seeks the implementation of this research is to design a STOCKHOLDERS financial organization that serves as an instrument to structure, order, classify and summarize the information generated by its activities; to establish reliable results that serve the administration for decision-making. Financial Organization Accounting is governed by laws and general, special, commercial, tax regulations, and welfare and social security which are fundamental to its design, it is made by the Internal Control and Accounting System and Cost based on the Standard Financial Information for Cooperative Associations of El Salvador (NIFACES). The final document containing the Financial Organization Accounting was developed using methodology that allowed the collection of bibliographic information theoretical elements on cooperativism, general accounting, cost accounting and internal control, were used as instruments of data collection, interview, direct observation of the activities carried out by the cooperative and checklists, which allowed the analysis and interpretation of results. Also to analyze and interpret the results of the investigation are able to determine the conclusions and recommendations in order to provide a solution to the resulting problem, then an intervention plan designed to develop the Financial Accounting Organization. It should be mentioned that because of the importance of cooperative associations in a globalized and competitive world, should maintain uniformity in the presentation of accounting and financial information compared with other economic sectors, it is beneficial for the cooperative study apply the guidelines which establishes special rules of financial information.

Integrating Environmental Justice and Social-Ecological Resilience for Successful Adaptation to Climate Change: Lessons from African American Communities on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay

This research concerns the conceptual and empirical relationship between environmental justice and social-ecological resilience as it relates to climate change vulnerability and adaptation. Two primary questions guided this work. First, what is the level of resilience and adaptive capacity for social-ecological systems that are characterized by environmental injustice in the face of climate change? And second, what is the role of an environmental justice approach in developing adaptation policies that will promote social-ecological resilience? These questions were investigated in three African American communities that are particularly vulnerable to flooding from sea-level rise on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I found that in all three communities, religious faith and the church, rootedness in the landscape, and race relations were highly salient to community experience. The degree to which these common aspects of the communities have imparted adaptive capacity has changed over time. Importantly, a given social-ecological factor does not have the same effect on vulnerability in all communities; however, in all communities political isolation decreases adaptive capacity and increases vulnerability. This political isolation is at least partly due to procedural injustice, which occurs for a number of interrelated reasons. This research further revealed that while all stakeholders (policymakers, environmentalists, and African American community members) generally agree that justice needs to be increased on the Eastern Shore, stakeholder groups disagree about what a justice approach to adaptation would look like. When brought together at a workshop, however, these stakeholders were able to identify numerous challenges and opportunities for increasing justice. Resilience was assessed by the presence of four resilience factors: living with uncertainty, nurturing diversity, combining different types of knowledge, and creating opportunities for self-organization. Overall, these communities seem to have low resilience; however, there is potential for resilience to increase. Finally, I argue that the use of resilience theory for environmental justice communities is limited by the great breadth and depth of knowledge required to evaluate the state of the social-ecological system, the complexities of simultaneously promoting resilience at both the regional and local scale, and the lack of attention to issues of justice.

El principio de igualdad y no discriminación en relación con la pensión de viudedad y el «matrimonio gitano»

El punto de partida de nuestro estudio se sitúa en el polémico y discutido asunto resuelto por la sentencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos de 8 de diciembre de 2009, Caso Muñoz Díaz c. España, donde se condena al Estado español por denegar la pensión de viudedad a una ciudadana casada exclusivamente por el rito matrimonial gitano. Al hilo de esta resolución analizaremos, entre otras cuestiones, las diversas formas matrimoniales a las que nuestro legislador otorga efectos civiles, la incidencia de dichas disposiciones en el principio de igualdad y no discriminación consagrado en el artículo 14 de la Constitución y en el artículo 14 del Convenio Europeo de Derechos Humanos, y la posible vulneración de dicho principio en el marco de las prestaciones sociales reguladas en la Ley General de la Seguridad Social, recientemente reformada.

Consideraciones críticas sobre el prestigio y la diginidad personal y profesional de los bibliotecarios

Esta ponencia expone unas reflexiones sobre el prestigio y la dignidad profesional de la bibliotecología en el estado de Nuevo León, México. Analiza y critica: a) la falta de categorías profesionales en Nuevo León en contraste con la UNAM; menciona también como varios bibliotecologos del IMSS Nuevo Leon lucharon porque se tipificara en el contrato colectivo la categoria de Bibliotecologo Profesional y cuya lucha ganaron; b) las actitudes represoras y dictatoriales por parte de las mafias administrativas y academicas de las principales universidades que no permiten la superacion de las amplias mayorias de bibliotecologos y que censuran la libertad de expresion y pensamiento en Nuevo Leon; c) aboga porque los bibliotecologos deban tener mistica de servicio como si se tratara de un "apostolado" en contra del "monetarismo" o "mercenarismo" que en la actualidad mueve a los bibliotecologos nuevoleoneses. En el aspecto gremial critica la charlataneria y oportunimo demagogico de gremios como los de AMBAC de Nuevo Leon, que se aprovechan de las ineptitudes de los gobiernos en todos los niveles en materia bibliotecaria y utilizan las desgracias naturales apelando a sentimentalismos de la gente solo para salir en la foto y en la prensa, pero sin analizar, criticar ni denunciar las fallas estructurales de fondo del Estado mexicano y de los tres niveles de gobierno. ABSTRACT This paper analyses some reflections about the professional prestige and dignity of librarianship in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It analyses and criticises: a) the lack of professional categories for librarians with B.A.s or Masters degrees in Nuevo Leon, in contrast, for example with Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM); it also assesses how several librarians with B.A. undergraduate degrees from the Mexican National Institute of Social Security (IMSS) the national health service system) in the Nuevo Leon state-wide fought to obtain a Professional B.A. Undergraduate Degre Librarian Labor Cagegory status to be signed and included in the labor IMSS union collective contract and how eventually they won; b) it also criticises the repressive and dictatorial attitudes on the side of the top managerial and academic mafias from the major Nuevo Leon universities who do not allow free and equal academic and professional development opportunities of the vast majorities of librarians with or without B.A. degrees and whom also censor their freedom of expression and thought in Nuevo Leon librarianship; c) it advocates for librarians to have an honest service mystique as if they were doing a sort of "apostleship" against the "monetarist" and "mercenarist" practices that currently practice librarians in Nuevo Leon state. As for the library guild activities, it criticises the demogogical charlatanism and opportunism of guilds such as AMBAC (standing from the Mexico-wide Mexican Library Association, Nuevo Leon chapter), where their leaders only take advantage of the ineptitudes of the three levels of the Mexican government (municipal, state, and federal) on library issues, and they use the natural disasters against libraries or librarians by appealing to people’s sentimentalisms just to appear themselves in the picture and in the press, but without analysing, criticising and denouncing the deep structural faults underneath the Mexican State, and from all the three levels of the Mexican governments.

O controle democrático no financiamento e gestão do orçamento da seguridade social no Brasil

A gestão dos recursos da Seguridade Social deveria passar integralmente pelos fundos sociais vinculados às políticas de saúde, previdência e assistência social, sob o comando de conselhos compostos de forma paritária entre os representantes governamentais e não governamentais para acompanhar e fiscalizar essas políticas sociais, o que implicaria redesenho das relações entre Estado e sociedade, instituindo formas de participação e controle democrático. Apesar de avanços e das experiências diferenciadas desses conselhos no âmbito da Seguridade Social, eles esbarram em limites concretos impostos pela política econômica para o controle democrático, destacando-se dois: a existência da Desvinculação de Recursos da União, que retira recursos da Seguridade Social, e o fato de uma parcela importante da execução orçamentária acontecer fora dos fundos públicos da Seguridade Social. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT

Social Services in Times of Economic and Social Crisis: The case of Spain

The financial and economic crisis which originated in 2008 has had a severe impact on the population of the Southern European countries. The economic policies of austerity and public deficit control, as well as the neo-liberal and conservative social policies are redefining the public social protection systems, in particular the Social Services. In order to get to understand the current situation, we shall explain how the Social Services were developed in Spain and analyse the causes and consequences of the economic crisis. The working hypothesis is that the greater the increase on the population’s needs, the more developed the Social Services should be. We carried out a descriptive analysis of the situation as far as the social impacts of the crisis per region are concerned. We tested the hypothesis through a parametric model of analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) triangulating with the non-parametric Kruscal-Wallis test. The working hypothesis failed. The regions with better developed Social Services show a lower level of poverty and social exclusion. The challenges that the public Social Services system faces in times of crisis is three-fold: 1) re-modelling of local administration and transferring of the municipal Social Services responsibilities to the regional administration; 2) an increase of the population at risk of poverty and social exclusion 3) impact on social policies.

Governança de recursos de base comum e capacidade adaptativa de comunidades de fundos de pasto

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 2015.

De cómo se entiende la moral en las instituciones de salud del país

En este ensayo, la autora hace un recuento histórico acerca de cuáles eran las condiciones morales de las instituciones de salud, a partir de sus experiencias personales como médico y administradora en la Caja Costarricense del Seguro Social.

Customer satisfaction survey of the facilities provided by office building “X” in Surabaya

Many high-rise office buildings have been built in Surabaya. The investors have provided complimentary facilities to satisfy their tenants. However, not all given facilities has satisfied the tenants. The purpose of this study is to find out the level of tenant satisfaction in office “X” to the existing facilities and to suggest additional required facilities. Although office “X” is offered the highest rental rate and has known as a prestigious place in Surabaya, only location and public transport have satisfied the Indonesian tenants. Meanwhile, the multi National companies have not satisfied for any existing facilities. Additional ATM facilities and presentable cafeteria, improvement of service and the security system are required by tenants.

Micro-family-owned business : transitory survival mechanism or long term wealth creator?

Principal Topic: Entrepreneurship is key to employment, innovation and growth (Acs & Mueller, 2008), and as such, has been the subject of tremendous research in both the economic and management literatures since Solow (1957), Schumpeter (1934, 1943), and Penrose (1959). The presence of entrepreneurs in the economy is a key factor in the success or failure of countries to grow (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001; Dejardin, 2001). Further studies focus on the conditions of existence of entrepreneurship, influential factors invoked are historical, cultural, social, institutional, or purely economic (North, 1997; Thurik 1996 & 1999). Of particular interest, beyond the reasons behind the existence of entrepreneurship, are entrepreneurial survival and good ''performance'' factors. Using cross-country firm data analysis, La Porta & Schleifer (2008) confirm that informal micro-businesses provide on average half of all economic activity in developing countries. They find that these are utterly unproductive compared to formal firms, and conclude that the informal sector serves as a social security net ''keep[ing] millions of people alive, but disappearing over time'' (abstract). Robison (1986), Hill (1996, 1997) posit that the Indonesian government under Suharto always pointed to the lack of indigenous entrepreneurship , thereby motivating the nationalisation of all industries. Furthermore, the same literature also points to the fact that small businesses were mostly left out of development programmes because they were supposed less productive and having less productivity potential than larger ones. Vial (2008) challenges this view and shows that small firms represent about 70% of firms, 12% of total output, but contribute to 25% of total factor productivity growth on average over the period 1975-94 in the industrial sector (Table 10, p.316). ---------- Methodology/Key Propositions: A review of the empirical literature points at several under-researched questions. Firstly, we assess whether there is, evidence of small family-business entrepreneurship in Indonesia. Secondly, we examine and present the characteristics of these enterprises, along with the size of the sector, and its dynamics. Thirdly, we study whether these enterprises underperform compared to the larger scale industrial sector, as it is suggested in the literature. We reconsider performance measurements for micro-family owned businesses. We suggest that, beside productivity measures, performance could be appraised by both the survival probability of the firm, and by the amount of household assets formation. We compare micro-family-owned and larger industrial firms' survival probabilities after the 1997 crisis, their capital productivity, then compare household assets of families involved in business with those who do not. Finally, we examine human and social capital as moderators of enterprises' performance. In particular, we assess whether a higher level of education and community participation have an effect on the likelihood of running a family business, and whether it has an impact on households' assets level. We use the IFLS database compiled and published by RAND Corporation. The data is a rich community, households, and individuals panel dataset in four waves: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2007. We now focus on the waves 1997 and 2000 in order to investigate entrepreneurship behaviours in turbulent times, i.e. the 1997 Asian crisis. We use aggregate individual data, and focus on households data in order to study micro-family-owned businesses. IFLS data covers roughly 7,600 households in 1997 and over 10,000 households in 2000, with about 95% of 1997 households re-interviewed in 2000. Households were interviewed in 13 of the 27 provinces as defined before 2001. Those 13 provinces were targeted because accounting for 83% of the population. A full description of the data is provided in Frankenberg and Thomas (2000), and Strauss et alii (2004). We deflate all monetary values in Rupiah with the World Development Indicators Consumer Price Index base 100 in 2000. ---------- Results and Implications: We find that in Indonesia, entrepreneurship is widespread and two thirds of households hold one or several family businesses. In rural areas, in 2000, 75% of households run one or several businesses. The proportion of households holding both a farm and a non farm business is higher in rural areas, underlining the reliance of rural households on self-employment, especially after the crisis. Those businesses come in various sizes from very small to larger ones. The median business production value represents less than the annual national minimum wage. Figures show that at least 75% of farm businesses produce less than the annual minimum wage, with non farm businesses being more numerous to produce the minimum wage. However, this is only one part of the story, as production is not the only ''output'' or effect of the business. We show that the survival rate of those businesses ranks between 70 and 82% after the 1997 crisis, which contrasts with the 67% survival rate for the formal industrial sector (Ter Wengel & Rodriguez, 2006). Micro Family Owned Businesses might be relatively small in terms of production, they also provide stability in times of crisis. For those businesses that provide business assets figures, we show that capital productivity is fairly high, with rates that are ten times higher for non farm businesses. Results show that households running a business have larger family assets, and households are better off in urban areas. We run a panel logit model in order to test the effect of human and social capital on the existence of businesses among households. We find that non farm businesses are more likely to appear in households with higher human and social capital situated in urban areas. Farm businesses are more likely to appear in lower human capital and rural contexts, while still being supported by community participation. The estimation of our panel data model confirm that households are more likely to have higher family assets if situated in urban area, the higher the education level, the larger the assets, and running a business increase the likelihood of having larger assets. This is especially true for non farm businesses that have a clearly larger and more significant effect on assets than farm businesses. Finally, social capital in the form of community participation also has a positive effect on assets. Those results confirm the existence of a strong entrepreneurship culture among Indonesian households. Investigating survival rates also shows that those businesses are quite stable, even in the face of a violent crisis such as the 1997 one, and as a result, can provide a safety net. Finally, considering household assets - the returns of business to the household, rather than profit or productivity - the returns of business to itself, shows that households running a business are better off. While we demonstrate that uman and social capital are key to business existence, survival and performance, those results open avenues for further research regarding the factors that could hamper growth of those businesses in terms of output and employment.