The following article considers the relations between literature and criminology based on the criminological tradition of Roberto Lyra and other interpreters of Brazilian structural violence in Machado de Assis. Based on an analysis of the novel Via Ápia by Geovani Martins, we reveal the context surrounding the implementation of Police Pacifying Units (UPPs) in the Rocinha neighborhood. The daily lives of Martins' five young protagonists demonstrate the various consequences of such a project on the lives of the residents of the favelas in which the units were installed: the effects on the trade of illicit substances, the brutality and lethality of the police, and the militarized occupation of such places. Literature as a witness to history reveals itself as an important key to criminological interpretation.
Agriculture is a very important sector for Romania, providing food and products of vegetable and animal origin, jobs for people in villages and business opportunities for enterprises and investors. Romania's agricultural area is in permanent change, influenced by European money that was attracted through support measures and community policies, and environmental protection and the need to ensure a sustainable development of agriculture in Romania made the activity of the Agency for Payments and Intervention for Agriculture (APIA) stands out as an important factor in aligning modern agriculture with the environment. Through this study, we aim to analyze the way in which APIA promotes sustainable agricultural practices and provides support to farmers to protect the environment and whether the agency's activity has brought benefits to the economic development of Romania and Neamț County. We thus demonstrate the important role that the agency has for the economy, for supporting farmers and agricultural producers in Romania, but also for the country's agricultural policy, the institution participating in the development and implementation of national agricultural policies and strategies, as well as in the process of negotiating subsidies and projects within the European Union (EU) agricultural financing system.
La presente investigación parte de la discusión que entraña el concepto de innovaciónasociado al tema ambiental. A partir de este punto se evalúa la capacidad innovadora dela organización ASOAPIA, definiendo criterios para analizar la incidencia de la apropiaciónsocial del conocimiento ambiental. La importancia de este abordaje radica en laposibilidad que brinda para entender un territorio, y proponer a partir de este un relanzamientode la capacidad creativa de las cooperativas.
Rodent management in agriculture remains a major challenge in developing countries where resource-poor farmers are ill equipped to deal with pest species. It is compounded by unpredictable outbreaks, late control actions, lack of/or inadequate expert interventions, expensive rodenticides and other factors. Ecologically based rodent management (EBRM) is recommended as the way forward for rodent management in Africa. EBRM relies on understanding the ecology of pest species and formulating this knowledge into management programs. The present paper evaluates the potential for establishing EBRM in Africa and the challenges that have to be overcome to implement it. The major constraints for establishing EBRM in Africa include the absence of key studies on the taxonomy and ecology of rodents, inadequate research on EBRM, lack of knowledge by farmers on available technologies and agricultural policies that are unfavourable. The development of EBRM and its success in Asia is a strong encouragement to African scientists to develop similar management strategies for the most important pest species such as the multimammate rats, Mastomys natalensis. EBRM initiatives such as the Development of Ecologically Based Rodent Management for the Southern Africa Region (ECORAT) project undertook studies on e.g. rodent ecology, taxonomy, knowledge, attitude and practices and rodent–human interactions in rural agricultural communities. Through this project, EBRM interventions were introduced in Tanzania, Swaziland and Namibia to provide solutions to local rodent-pest problems. Intervention actions including community-based intensive trapping of rodents, habitat manipulation and sanitary measures demonstrated that the impacts of rodents on communities could be drastically reduced. EBRM programs in Africa must address how to change attitudes of target communities, building scientific capacity, implanting rodent-management skills by translating the developed technologies and strategies into simple understandable and easy-to-implement actions and influencing policy makers to accept the concepts and practices to be introduced. Further, we need to demonstrate that EBRM is economically feasible and sustainable and that through community participation, EBRM will become deeply rooted in those communities.
Bibliography: leaves 85-87. ; The primary aim of this study is to identify the major determinants of health status in Nigeria. This is done with a view to inform policy making in the health sector. Because of time and financial constraints, the study was limited to a particular geographic area Nsukka L.G.A. The study makes use of regression-based analysis to determine those factors that affect health status of individuals. Health status was measured as a categorical variable with a finite number of outcomes; this necessitated the use of the logit and multinomial logit models for estimation of the models used in the study. The selection of potential health determining factors included in the study is based on international literature on the subject. The literature supporting the study cut across different disciplines, such as: Epidemiology, Social Sciences, Economics and Health economics. The study is unique in the sense that it not only takes into account the effect of individual and household choices on health status, but also the effects of government intervention. In this light, some of the variables used for the study measure the effect of individual choices, some household, and the rest, government policies. The study is organised in seven chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the subject, an overview of Nigeria and the specific objectives of the study. Chapter 2 reviews international literature on 'determinants of health' and related subjects. The third chapter provides a detailed discussion on the development of the models used in the study and the problems associated with the measurement of health status. In addition to developing models to estimate health status, a model is developed to attempt to identify the factors that influence the incidence of water-borne diseases. Chapter 4 describes the data collection process, and the methods employed to achieve this. The fifth chapter provides descriptive statistics of the data collected from the sample site. The results of the models used for the study are presented in chapter 6. The results suggest that age, place of residence (urban or rural) and education for the younger members of the population have the most effect on health status of any individual within the sample location. Interestingly, the results show that increases in age and years of education for children aged 0 -18 years has a positive effect on their health, while an increase in age for those over 18 years of age has a negative effect on their health. Secondly, those who live in the rural areas are healthier than those who live in the urban areas. Also, the results show that people who get their drinking water from natural sources are more likely to suffer from a water-borne disease than those provided with potable drinking water. The results of the general models - to explain health status - also show that the government intervention had little or no impact on the health status of the people in the area. Chapter 7 reviews the past and current health policy thrust of the Nigerian health sector. The current health policy in Nigeria is very broad, and covers just about all the major health issues. The areas of priority in health are the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and the immunisation of infants/children. The results of this research suggest that the encouragement of enrolment of younger members of the population into schools, improvement of the living conditions in the urban areas and the provision of safe water to those people who depend on natural sources of water should be included as priority areas in policy-making in order to effect the efficient and effective improvement of the health status of the Nigerian population.
"November 7, 1997." ; Shipping list no.: 98-0071-P. ; Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche. ; "Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations." ; At head of title: 105th Congress, 1st session. Senate. ; Mode of access: Internet.
Includes bibliographical references. ; This thesis investigates the implications of fiscal federalism on the equitable distribution of primary health care resources in South Africa. The study evaluates the processes and criteria for intergovernmental and sector budgeting, the influence of key stakeholders, community involvement in PHC budgeting, and policy objectives of the health sector to assess how they impact on the realisation of an equitable distribution of PHC resources. A combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses was employed in the study. Quantitative analysis of health expenditure and health need data was used to assess whether the distribution of PHC resources has become more or less equitable. Health districts were the units of analysis. Deprivation indices were generated using principal components analysis for each district from demographic and socio-economic variables. The deprivation index was used as a proxy for relative need at the level of districts, and was compared with non-hospital PHC per capita expenditure using regression analysis. This analysis was carried out for per capita PHC from 2001 to 2007. Data on the process for intergovernmental fiscal arrangements and budgeting for health was collected through review of government publications and interviews with government officials. These were analysed thematically. Literature on the subject predicts that if lower levels of government have considerable autonomy in determining primary health care allocations, there is a greater scope for inequities in the distribution of primary health care resources. However, the results of the study are contrary to expectations. Although, the introduction of fiscal federalism in South Africa created an additional constraint to achieving a more equitable distribution of PHC resources, recent trends in primary health care allocations are more equitable than in previous years. A growing public sector budget, consistent increases in health sector allocations, and overwhelming political support for equity in South Africa have been the key reasons for the shifts towards a more equitable distribution of primary health care resources. These findings form the main contribution to the literature on the subject.
Context Plague is a serious health problem in northern Tanzania, with outbreaks since 2008 in two districts located in Rift Valley. There is dearth of knowledge on diversity of small mammal and flea fauna occurring in this plague focus. Knowledge on interactions between fleas and rodent species that harbour the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, is important for developing strategies for control and prevention of plague. Aims This study aims to show how rodents and fleas are associated with each other in the plague focus. Methods Animals were trapped bimonthly from 2009 to 2012 in different habitats. The fur of animals was brushed to collect fleas, which were identified and quantified. Network analysis methods, randomisation and rarefaction curves were used to show how hosts and fleas are associated. Key results Thirteen species of rodents were associated with 26 species of fleas of which Dinopsyllus lypusus, Xenopsylla brasiliensis and X. cheopis are confirmed efficient vectors of Y. pestis. Randomisation and rarefaction curves established that Lophuromys flavopunctatus had significantly higher flea species richness (n = 9) than did all other hosts, whereas Xenopsylla cheopis and Dinopsyllus spp. showed greater host species richness than did other species of fleas. There was no significant correlation between host sex and flea abundance (χ2 = 0.8, d.f. = 6, P = 0.371), but significant differences between reproductive states (adults had more fleas than did subadults) were observed, which probably reflected typical positive correlation between size and flea abundance (χ2 = 4.1955, d.f. = 1, P = 0.040). Conclusions The plague outbreak focus in northern Tanzania has a diverse fauna of rodents and fleas with multiple patterns of association and connectivity. Implications Existence of diverse populations of rodents associated with a large number of flea species, some of which are efficient plague vectors, increases the potential for persistence and transmission of plague to humans in northern Tanzania.
AbstractPolicy design is influenced by stakeholders' attitudes and contextual constraints. While the latter factor is highly variable, attitudes toward policy instruments are deemed more stable across both policy domains and time. This article uses evidence from a cross‐sectional survey of Czech university students to examine the autonomy of policy instrument attitudes (APIA) in five policy domains. Only 16% of students endorse a small set of universal instruments for a wide range of applications (so‐called instrumentalists) which indicates rather low cross‐domain consistency of attitudes (strong APIA hypothesis). Attitudes toward information instruments are correlated within policy domains, thus providing some support for the weak version of APIA. However, this association does not apply to other instruments. The results suggest that the majority of students can be seen as contingentists whose evaluation of the merits of instruments is based on instruments' suitability for a particular problem.
