Rural

Aim(s): To explore and describe the needs of new graduate registered nurses in a rural and remote (R&R) setting within Australia.
Background: Rural practice has distinctive challenges for nurses. Nurses make up the largest and most widely distributed health workforce in Australia, outnumbering doctors 8:1 in R&R areas.
Evaluation: Literature was used to evaluate the graduate registered nurses’ needs in R&R communities.
Key Issues: Three main themes emerged: expectations, support and workloads. Themes reflected enablers and disablers of retention of nurses as they transition from student role to new graduate practice.
Conclusion: New graduates are aware of their limitations as new practitioners. There is an expectation that their employers will provide a supportive learning environment for them to gain the skills necessary to become proficient and valuable employees.
Implications for nursing management: this commentary paper identifies the need for a structured, supported new graduate program that recognises and meets the needs, both clinical and social, of new graduate registered nurses in the R&R context.

Keywords:  Graduate nurse, rural/remote, learning environments, transition to practice, Australia.

Background: Attitude about mental illness determines health seeking of the people. Success of National Mental Health Programme (NMHP) is dependent on attitude about mental illness of various stakeholders in the programme. Material & Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in Ballabgarh block of Faridabad district in Haryana. We aimed to study attitude about mental illness of various stakeholders of health care providers (HCP), community leaders in rural area of Haryana, north India. Study area consisting of five Primary Health Centers (PHCs) serving 2,12,000 rural population. All HCP working at PHCs, Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and community leaders in study area were approached for participation. Hindi version of Opinion about Mental illness Scale for Chinese Community (OMICC) was used to study attitude. Results: In total, 467 participants were participated in the study. Of which, HCP, ASHAs and community leaders were 81 (17.4%), 145 (31.0%) an...

A utilização de lavoura e pastagens tem sido uma importante senão a principal alternativa de descarte do dejeto líquido de suínos. Porém, seu uso, muitas vezes, tem sido feito em quantidades superiores às exigências das culturas e com aplicações sequenciais que podem potencializar o efeito poluidor desse resíduo, já que o solo tem uma capacidade limitada de suporte. O presente estudo teve por objetivo determinar os teores totais de zinco (Zn), cobre (Cu), cromo (Cr), níquel (Ni), manganês (Mn) e cádmio (Cd) em áreas que são usadas como local de descarte de dejeto líquido de suínos. Para isso, foram coletadas amostras de solo em 13 propriedades rurais da região Oeste de Santa Catarina, usadas anualmente como local de descarte, e que possuíam um histórico de aplicação desse resíduo de 4 a 22 anos. Além disso, foi também realizada amostragem de solo em um experimento no município de Paraíso do Sul, RS, sob pastagem natural, que, durante um período de cinco anos, recebeu 28 aplicações d...

This study focuses on the various factors that encourage the practice of family planning for rural communities in Malaysia. Family planning program is a modern alternative for married couples in determining the desired number of children in a family in addition to helping women obtain optimal health with birth intervals exist. It is associated in the field of demography which saw control of the birth rate of a family. Key reference data for this study are based on various population and housing census report Malaysia since the 1980s to 2010. This Followed by a field study based on the questionnaire on targeted population. Multivariate Analysis is used to cluster variables to key factors and then evaluated based on the significance of regression analysis as appropriate. The study found that the level of education, understanding husband, and type of work is the most significant factor influencing the practice of family planning. The study found that rural communities have begun to realize its importance but still not be able to receive a variety of modern methods of family planning practice to practice except oral contraceptives. Thus the results of the study provide some suggestions for improving the knowledge society towards good health and fertility potential trend towards the policy proposed by Malaysia's 70 million populations.

This paper aims to capture the importance of demographic dimension in thesustainable development process of the rural space. From a series ofstatistics data we realized an analysis of demographic indicators, which ithelped us to trace the development trends characteristic for our area ofstudy. To understand the evolution in time and the implications of humanresource in the process of development it was necessary referencing themwith national or local historical events. Demographic dimension analysishighlights the development stage of rural space and help the formulation ofthe future local policies that regard the sustainable development.

Nurses and midwives represent the largest group of health professionals in the Australian health care system. In rural environments nurses and midwives make up a greater proportion of the health workforce than in urban settings, which makes their role in service provision even more significant. The role and scope of these nurses and midwives' practice is by necessity more generalist than specialist, which results in disciplinary strengths and weaknesses. As generalist health professionals they work in diverse settings such as public hospitals, multi-purpose services, community health, aged care and in non-government and private for profit and no-profit organisations including general practices. Their scope of practice covers prevention, intervention and rehabilitation and is lifespan inclusive. Rural nurses and midwives are older than their metropolitan based counterparts, work part-time and traditionally have limited access to professional development often due to ineffective locum relief programs.

Asthma is responsible for the highest proportion of emergency department attendance in Australia, and previous studies have identified that people with asthma delay seeking medical help during acute asthma episodes, which are associated with increased morbidity and mortality. A survey of rural and remote asthma patients and their families was conducted, which revealed that half of all respondents would call family, friends, neighbors, or local doctors first in an asthma emergency, rather than hospital emergency departments or ambulance services. This response to emergency asthma is distinctly different than a recent clinical audit of suburban asthma patients, who access ambulance services ten times more frequently than they call a local doctor. Community-based focus groups in four rural areas of southwest Victoria were conducted to explore perceptions on the role of health services and the community in acute asthma management and asthma health promotion. The community-based focus groups identified rural perceptions of asthma that acted as barriers to accessing effective emergency management, as well as the concept of what "country people" do in a health-related emergency. The focus groups also proposed innovative strategies for getting the health promotion and prevention message out into the rural community. The health promotion suggestions of both rural asthma patients and medical health professionals were from a rural perspective, cost-effective, and community-based. These were passed on to the National Asthma Council of Australia as possible improvements to existing asthma health promotion and prevention strategies. This study identified a unique rural identity, which must be acknowledged as distinct, rather than as a barrier to health promotion and management, and can be directed toward creating modern, rural, community-based strategies for better health promotion and prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the experiences from four major recipients of food aid (India, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Zambia) in normal time and after a natural disaster and draw implications for the design of effective food aid and food security policies in Africa. The study summarizes the food and agricultural policies and medium-term outcomes regarding food production, trade, markets, consumption and safety nets, as well as the policy responses to food emergencies. The experiences of the study countries suggest that food aid that supports building of production and market enhancing infrastructure, is timed to avoid adverse price effects on producers, and is targeted to food insecure households can play a positive role in enhancing food security. However, food aid is not the only, or in many cases, the most efficient means of addressing food insecurity. In many cases private markets can more effectively address shortfalls in food availability and cash transf...

Michaël Spanu est sociologue, docteur de l'Université de Lorraine et membre du comité éditorial de la revue Volume!. Pour Gonzaï, il revient sur un épisode marquant de son enfance, dans le monde d'avant, quand fêtes de village et festivals populaires permettaient à la France de se réunir autour de Michel Leeb, Pierre Bachelet, La Compagnie Créole et autres artistes gérés par des bénévoles. Bienvenue à Lichemialle dans l'histoire des musiques populaires en France.

This article discusses gender relations and the sexual division of labor in the countryside, in dialogue with the social action "Marcha das Margaridas". Having as research subjects countryside women from the north of Minas Gerais State, participants of the "Marcha", by means of participant observation, interviews and informal conversations, sought to unveil the sexism present in labor relations in the countryside and the changes that occurred in the social practice and the worldview of these women. The findings reveal that, despite the situations of inequalities and invisibility of women in the countryside labor -with the persistence of "multiple tasks", participation and engagement in feminist and countryside social actions such as The "Marcha das Margaridas", have contributed to the breakdown of paradigms rooted in society. There are changes in the way of thinking and seeing the world, as well as in social practice, which brings substantial achievements to the countryside women.

A general criticism of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act is that it is primarily the result of an urban political agenda, and it may hurt rather than help the rural poor. Under the new welfare system, the rural poor that are most likely to be affected are those who live in socially, economically, and spatially disadvantaged communities. More residents in these communities are likely to need TANF, clients in these communities are least likely to leave TANF by finding employment, and community organizations are likely to have more limited resources to help TANF recipients. The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which variations in community conditions account for differences in TANF participation rates. Using 1997 TANF data from the Mississippi Department of Human Services, we estimated OLS regression models of local TANF participation rates across 100 communities in nonmetro counties. The results indicate that TANF participation rates tend to be higher in communities with high concentrations of African Americans, less faith-based activeness, more employment in retail trade, spatial concentration of the poor, and located in the Delta.

The relationship between the financial structure of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) and their innovativeness remains unexplored in the microfinance literature. This paper represents an attempt to fill this void using a random sample of microfinance institutions in the three northern regions of Ghana -Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions. The impact of financial characteristics on innovation was ascertained using a combination of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA ) mult iple regression, and binary logistic regression . The findings revealed that the loan repayment rate, and interest rate affect the introduction of new savings products (product innovation), and number of branches (location innovation). Sources of funding involving banking funding, and equity of owner were found to encourage the development of new loan products. The findings call for the need for MFIs to diversify their funding sources as a means of enhancing innovativeness and mitigating risk.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability for women in Australia. Women living in rural areas are at greater risk of heart disease, because of limited access and availability of healthcare in rural areas. Lifestyle is a major determinant to the risk of heart disease. Risk factors such as smoking, hypertension, diet, physical activity and alcohol intake can be controlled or modified by lifestyle changes. As heart disease develops over many years, women need to be following healthy lifestyle practices and reduce their chance of a first or recurrent heart attack. To determine the effectiveness of primary health education or intervention programs for cardiac risk reduction in healthy women living in rural areas. Types of participants. Women aged 16-65 years, living in rural areas, who participated in primary healthcare education programs. Types of interventions. Primary health education or intervention programs aimed at improving rural women's knowledge of ...

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the property value impacts of a change in environmental quality by using the hedonic price model. In particular, we focus on the impact of the presence of land…lls on nearby residential real estate prices. We combine elements of an urban location choice and hedonic pricing model to estimate the e¤ects of the presence of multiple environmental disamenities on residential real estate prices.

Fatores prognósticos e preditivos dos tumores caninos definidos com auxílio da imuno-histoquímica Prognostic and predictive factors of caninetumours defined with immunohistochemistry's assistance Recebido para publicação 13.09.11 Aprovado em 07.02.12 Devolvido pelo autor 25.04.12 CR-6028 Palavras-chave: patologia, oncologia, cão, neoplasias, prognóstico.

Objective:  The absence of an agreed definition of ‘rural’ limits the utility of existing research into a possible relationship between rurality of residence and mental health. The present study investigates the bipolar dimension accessibility/remoteness as a possible correlate of mental health.Method:  A continuous area of non-metropolitan Australia was selected to provide a range of scores on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA). A questionnaire measuring demographics, the five-factor model of personality and three aspects of mental health (distress, disability and wellbeing) was mailed to 20 000 adults selected randomly from electoral rolls.Results:  Responses were received from 7615 individuals (response rate = 40.5%; 57.1% female). ARIA was not associated with either distress or disability measures, but a small negative association was found between accessibility and two measures of wellbeing. Individuals residing in locales with better access to services and opportunities for interaction reported higher levels of satisfaction with life (SWL) and positive affect (PA). Adjusting statistically for a range of demographic and personality correlates did not alter the effect of ARIA on SWL. The effect on PA remained significant after adjusting for demographics, but not once personality correlates entered the model.Conclusions:  By sampling across a single proposed parameter of rurality, a novel profile of correlations was identified. In accord with existing data, accessibility was not associated with distress or disability. In contrast, accessibility was positively associated with the wellbeing aspect of mental health. Further attention to the measurement of rural place and the exploration of accessibility as a parameter with mental health relevance, is warranted.

Men's groups are increasingly being accepted as an important strategy in improving health and wellbeing, especially in Indigenous communities. However, it is hard to find systematic documentation and evaluation of such initiatives in the literature. This paper analyses the formative stages of a participatory action research (PAR) process which aims to engage and support the members of the Yarrabah Men's Health Group plan, implement and evaluate their activities. Data for the paper are based on a combination of a review of relevant literature, analysis of project documentation, participant observation and discussion and reflection with the participants of the men's group. The paper highlights the importance of (a) using a reflective approach, such as PAR, to engage men's support groups to clearly define the principles and values which both define them and to which they aspire and (b) personal development, education and employment, as a prerequisite for Indigenous men taking greater control and responsibility for their lives. These types of micro-level studies have important implications for the way community development is perceived and approached in Indigenous settings. There are also implications for the roles that academic researchers can play in supporting and adding value to community-driven initiatives to the mutual benefit of both parties.

Small businesses are critical to improving economic development in rural areas of South Africa. However, rural entrepreneurs are still faced with challenges and problems which make the success of small businesses, especially in rural areas, uncertain. This paper investigates business environmental, financial and infrastructural factors that influence the success or otherwise of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas. Primary data was collected in five rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) from a sample of 374 business owners/ managers, with respondents completing a questionnaire. Access to finance and skills shortages were the factors that most significantly differentiated between more successful and less successful rural businesses in KZN. The majority of respondents indicated that poor roads/transport and access to electricity were major problems.

Active Landscape-Passive Building: A Design-Build Case Study is a design-research project sited in a vast agricultural landscape in Huron County, Ontario Canada. Early site investigations and fieldwork measured the wind patterns, crop growth, and landfall on the site in order to merge a quantitative and qualitative understanding of environmental exchanges operating on the twenty five acre site. This understanding facilitated a siting and design strategy that maximises opportunities for passive heating and cooling within the extreme annual climatic conditions of rural Ontario. As a design-build project, research also investigated techniques for community engagement during construction. By working with local farmers in the capacity as builders/sub-contractors, the design developed around a series of construction and material practices that both adopted from and challenged its cultural context.

Aceasta lucrare își propune să analizeze opțiunile comunităților rurale din Regiunea Nord-Est privind tranziția către o bioeconomie circulară în acord cu politicile de mediu ale UE. Sistemul liniar bazat pe colectarea în amestec a biodeșeurilor municipale și gestionarea deficitară a deșeurilor agricole (gunoiul de grajd, deșeuri lemnoase), prin depozitare sau ardere deschisă, predomină încă în România rurală. Valorificarea biodeșeurilor municipale și a fluxului de materii prime secundare din sectorul agricol prin compostare, digestia anaerobă (producere de biogaz) sau utilizarea deșeurilor agricole drept combustibil în producerea de energie termică/electrică constituie soluții de tranziție pentru o dezvoltare rurală durabilă la nivelul regiunii de Nord-Est. Prin urmare, această lucrare identifică deficiențele actuale privind managementul biodeșeurilor municipale și agricole din Regiunea Nord-Est și propune noi oportunități de dezvoltare sustenabilă, prin adoptarea soluțiilor de bioeconomie circulară la nivel local și regional

Um carcinoma de células escamosas foi removido do olho de uma vaca de 7 anos de idade que apresentava ptose da orelha esquerda, salivação e perda de peso progressiva. Devido ao mau prognóstico, a vaca foi submetida à eutanásia 9 meses após a cirurgia. Na necropsia e no exame histopatológico, foi observado que o tumor havia invadido o tronco encefálico através dos nervos cranianos. Outros achados de necropsia significativos incluíam pneumonia de aspiração e atrofia por desnervação do músculo temporal esquerdo.

Maintaining a healthy balance between human prosperity and environmental integrity is at the core of the principles of Ecological Sustainable Development. Resource-protection policies are frequently implemented so as to regulate the balance between resource access and use, however, they can inadvertently compromise the ability of resource users to adapt and be resilient. Resource users who are especially dependent on a resource are more seriously compromised. But how do we define and measure resource dependency? And how do we assess its ability to influence social resilience? In this study, a conceptual model of resource dependency is developed in terms of: (i) occupational attachment, (ii) attachment to place, (iii) employability, (iv) family attitude to change, (v) business size, (vi) business approach, (vii) financial situation, (viii) level of specialisation, (ix) time spent harvesting, and (x) interest in and knowledge of the environment. The model of resource dependency and its effect on social resilience are (quantitatively and qualitatively) tested and explored using the commercial fishing industry in North Queensland, Australia. Results show that occupational attachment and employability were important influences as were business size and approach. Results can be used to identify vulnerability to institutional change and guide policy development processes.

Purpose: Medicare Cost Reports (MCR), Internal Revenue Service Form 990s (IRS 990), and Audited Financial Statements (AFS) vary in their content, detail, purpose, timeliness, and certification. The purpose of this study was to compare selected financial data elements and characterize the extent of differences in financial data and ratios across the MCR, IRS 990, and AFS for a sample of nonprofit Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs). Methods: Line items from AFS of 47 CAHs were compared to data reported in the hospitals' MCR and IRS 990s. Line items were based on 9 financial indicators commonly used to assess hospital financial performance. Findings: Of the indicators examined, the equity financing ratio most frequently matched between the 3 reports, while salaries and benefits to total expenses and debt service coverage were often different. Variances were driven by differences in individual account balances used to construct the ratios. Relative to AFS, cash was frequently lower on the IRS 990 while marketable securities and unrestricted investments were often higher. Other revenue and net income were consistently lower on the MCR and IRS 990, and depreciation was often higher on the MCR. The majority of total assets and fund balance (equity) values matched across the 3 reports, suggesting differences in classification among detailed accounts were more common than variances between the component totals (total assets, total liabilities, and fund balance).

Rural and urban households in developing countries face substantial idiosyncratic and common risk, resulting in high income variability. Households in risky environments have developed sophisticated (ex-ante) risk-management and (ex-post) risk-coping strategies, including self-insurance via savings and informal insurance mechanisms to do so while formal credit and insurance markets appear to contribute only little to reducing income risk and its consequences. Informal credit and insurance, however incomplete, helps to cope with risky incomes. Despite these strategies, vulnerability remains high, and is reflected in fluctuations in consumption. It is clear therefore, that further development of safety nets will be necessary. In this paper, we focus on the opportunities available to households to use risk-management and risk-coping strategies, and on the constraints on their effectiveness.

This paper provides estimates of poverty and inequality across states as also for different subgroups of population for 2004-05 by using the old and new methods of the Planning Commission. The new method is critically evaluated with the help of some existing literature and its limitations discussed with regard to doing away with calorie norm, use of median expenditure as a norm for education when the distribution is positively skewed, difficulty in reproducing results for earlier rounds acting as a constraint on comparisons, and using urban poverty ration of the old method as a starting point to decide a consumption basket. More importantly, it discusses the implications on financial transfers across states if the share of poor is only taken into account without accounting for an increase in the total number of poor. Despite these limitations, on grounds of parsimony and prudence the state-specific poverty lines suggested in the new method, as also in the old method, are used to calculate incidence, depth (intensity) and severity (inequality among poor) estimates of poverty for different subgroups of population, viz., NSS regions, social groups and occupation groups.

The objective of this case study is to present the design and implementation of a commitment savings product for groups of tobacco farmers in Malawi. The product was successful in encouraging savings, increasing input purchases and yields for the next year's harvest, and increasing consumption after the harvest.

Fr :Selon les données de l'ONU (1996), c'est juste après le passage au troisième millénaire que la ville impose sa suprématie démographique sur la planète : 47, 4% de personnes au monde étaient en effet des urbains en 2000 et ce pourcentage doit passer à 57,6 en 2015. L'urbain généralisé est une tendance qui s'observe à l'échelle planétaire, même si la ruralisation des villes par le flot des émigrés des campagnes peut marquer temporairement certains quartiers, anciens et nouveaux. L'urbanisation ne peut donc plus seulement être pensée par le seul concept d'« agglomération », apparu au XIX e siècle et mesuré avant tout par la densité du bâti. Cette urbanisation du monde, par ce franchissement associé d'une moyenne et d'un nouveau millénaire, attire notre attention non seulement sur les profonds changements des modes de vie et des paysages, mais aussi sur les effets que de telles concentrations d'humains vont nécessairement entraîner dans les modifications environnementales à l'échelle planétaire.
En : According to UN data (1996), it's just after the passage to the third millennium that urban population imposes its supremacy on the planet: 47, 4% of people in the world were indeed urban in 2000 and must pass percentage to 57.6 in 2015. The city is a general trend that is observed on a global scale, although ruralisation cities by the flood of rural migrants may temporarily mark some neighborhoods, old and new. Urbanization can no longer be thought by the mere concept of "agglomeration", appeared in the nineteenth century and measured primarily by building density. This urbanization of the world, crossing the partner of a medium and a new millennium draws our attention not only to the profound changes in lifestyles and landscapes, but also on the effects that such human concentrations range necessarily result in environmental changes on a global scale.

Women farmers are underserved in agricultural education and technical assistance. Long held social constructions of farming women as 'farmwives' and in some cases 'the bookkeepers' rather than farmers or decision-makers influence the direction of most educational programming delivered through extension programs in land-grant universities in the United States. Consequently, many women farmers generally view these spaces as hostile, rather than helpful environments. This paper uses the agricultural training framework developed by to analyze our research on developing educational programming for women farmers. We conducted five focus groups with members of the Pennsylvania Women's Agricultural Network (PA-WAgN) to better understand women farmers' needs for education. Women farmers reported the kinds of knowledge and information they want, in what kinds of contexts, and through what means of communication. We adapt and extend the original theoretical framework developed by Liepins and Schick to incorporate the seriality of women's identities, their discourses of embodiment and the agency granted to them through social networks. Through a presentation of the results of these focus groups, we discuss both the relevance of gender to agricultural education and the importance of the network model in providing education to women farmers.

A E Housman’s 1896 assembly of sixty-three poems, A Shropshire Lad, over time, has delighted many readers and listeners. The enigmatic poem, "Into my heart an air that kills", has proved especially captivating; its theme of the poet’s nostalgic recollection of a happy childhood, coincides with many people’s own memories of their youth. An unusually short, two-stanza work, this stunning poem comprises just eight lines, and forty-six words. This paper analyses the poem – its meaning, its structure, its vocabulary, its perplexities – and some critical reactions. It also determines what the purpose of the poem isn’t as well as establishing its rationale and intent.

This paper examines the "experiential tourism" concept as reported in the academic and practitioner literature. Examples of experiential tourism around the world are examined. Standards for the experiential tourism concept suggested by the literature are developed and presented. Using the standards framework developed, a specific rural regional planning process is used to describe a sample of activities based on the standards. The implications for both research and practitioners are discussed.

Ventajas y desventajas del desarrollo rural sostenible en ambientes de montaña Hildegardo Córdova Aguilar* Resumen El mundo rural y el urbano son los dos pilares que sostienen a una sociedad dentro de un territorio dado. Se viene dedicando considerable atención al sector urbano porque allí se concentra cerca del 60% de la población mundial y porque allí se generan y dinamizan las economías contemporáneas. Del sector rural se habla mucho y se hace poco, especialmente para mejorar la calidad de vida del subgrupo de los más pobres, que en términos globales se encuentran en los territorios montañosos del mundo. En esta ponencia se analizarán las ventajas y desventajas que presentan estos territorios para el desarrollo humano sostenible, que permita mejorar las condiciones de vida de sus poblaciones. Se insistirá en la calidad y control de los recursos y en las demandas urbanas. Asimismo se hará notar las dificultades de infraestructura y sus efectos en la circulación de bienes y servicios. Como ejemplo se tomará el sector de la sierra del departamento de Piura, en el noroeste peruano en donde existe una población rural dedicada mayormente a actividades de subsistencia en tanto que en las tierras bajas de la costa domina la actividad comercial.

RESUMO. Este artigo tem como objetivo compreender a relevância do livro didático do campo no cotidiano da Escola Municipal Santa Luzia. Foram propostos dois objetivos específicos: a) caracterizar o movimento de educação do campo; b) caracterizar e analisar a política pública do livro didático do campo, que foram contemplados pela análise bibliográfica e pelo Estudo de Caso. Buscou-se, nesse sentido, contextualizar a educação do campo, a partir das lutas dos movimentos sociais do campo em favor de uma escola que favoreça a identidade e conquista de direitos do homem do campo; buscou-se, também, contextualizar o Programa Nacional do Livro Didático do Campo (PNLD Campo) de modo a entender à realidade do campo brasileiro. Por fim, o levantamento de dados sobre as experiências de alunos e professores, comparando-os com as considerações formuladas a partir de algumas referências teóricas. Esse trabalho permitiu perceber que apesar do PNLD Campo ter como objetivo distribuir obras que atendam a especificidade do campo, a partir do contexto pesquisado, algumas obras não consideram a organização multisseriada, nem se relacionam de forma pertinente ao contexto camponês nas suas lutas, formas de reprodução da existência, identidade e cultura.

ABSTRACT. This article aims at understanding the relevance of the rural course book in the daily life of Santa Luzia Municipal School. Two specific purposes were settled: a) to characterize the dynamics of rural education; b) to characterize and analyze the public policy for course books in the countryside, which profited from bibliographical analysis and case study. It was intended, therefore, to contextualize rural education in social movements’ fights for a school that contributes to the countrymen’s identity and rights’ conquest; this article was also intended to contextualize the Countryside National Course Book Program (PNLD Rural, in Portuguese) in order to better understand the reality of the Brazilian countryside; lastly, there was a data survey about students’ and teachers’ experiences, comparing them to the reflexions on some theoretic references. This research showed that, despite the fact that PNLD Rural aims at handing out books that suit the countryside’s specificity, some works do not take into account the multigrade organization in place or do not relate, in a relevant way, to the countrymen in their struggles with perpetuation of identity and culture.

Desde mediados del siglo XX, paulatinamente, se han ido introduciendo novedades en el proceso de valoración, reconocimiento y ampliación del concepto de patrimonio cultural. En este proceso han intervenido decisivamente las disposiciones jurídico-administrativas y las políticas culturales, la incorporación de nuevas disciplinas y profesionales, y la sensibilización y demandas sociales en la protección y gestión del patrimonio cultural.

En este contexto, la aprobación de la Convención de la UNESCO para la Salvaguardia del Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial (2003) ha impulsado las iniciativas estatales encaminadas a reconocer conocimientos, técnicas, representaciones, ritos festivos y expresiones culturales. Y ha logrado impulsar desde los colectivos sociales una autoestima y un deseo por mostrar las peculiaridades de sus prácticas culturales. Además, este marco normativo-jurídico y sociocultural favorece la realización de inventarios, estudios, programas y proyectos de promoción, que están favoreciendo una visión más real de la pluralidad y la diversidad cultural.

En el caso del presente trabajo, su autor, por propia iniciativa, ha emprendido acciones de documentación y estudio del patrimonio cultural inmaterial local, como primera medida para, a partir de su conocimiento, poder establecer otras intervenciones que favorezcan el reconocimiento interno y externo, y posibiliten su transmisión y continuidad, de acuerdo con los intereses de los colectivos sociales que lo detentan.

Ahora bien, si a este tipo de inestimables manifestaciones socioculturales / socioambientales / ecosociales / ecoculturales no se le facilitan las vías para su salvaguarda y para su respeto, desaparecerán en breve, ya que muchas de las prácticas sociales como los conocimientos y vivencias son más vulnerables, al no cumplir ya las funciones tradicionales que justificaban su perpetuación.

Así, esta investigación ha constatado que en el caso del valioso patrimonio etnológico que constituyen los Ramos Cantados, en los pequeños pueblos de la Tierra de Valdebecedas, en la comarca abulense de El Barco (Castilla y León, España), se encuentra actualmente en trance de extinción ante la virulencia del proceso de despoblación rural, el cual ha dejado a este envejecido territorio rural y montañoso castellano y leonés al borde del despoblamiento y el agotamiento demográfico definitivo.

Palabras Clave: Salvaguardia del Patrimonio cultural inmaterial - Políticas culturales - Valdebecedas - Ramos Cantados - Despoblación rural.

That talk is never disinterested complicates the relationship between the environment and the claims people make about it. Talk about place, and one's self in it, is particularly complex when the environment poses risk or is otherwise problematized. This study, a secondary analysis of interview data, seeks to extend discursive work on place-identity by examining the ways in which 14 residents of a small English village talk about themselves and their locale. The locale accommodates an active quarry, and many residents had lodged complaints to the quarry about dust, noise and vibrations from blasting. Attention to the interactional context of the interviews illustrates the ways in which (simply) interviewing people about their locale can threaten self- and place-identity. When asked about life in the village, interviewees oriented to two main dilemmas in protecting self- and place-identity: (1) how to justify continued residence in a challenging environment and (2) how to complain about the locale whilst maintaining positive place-identity. Discursive responses to these dilemmas drew upon typical identity processes, such as self- and place distinctiveness and the formulation of out-groups, as well as upon constructions of localized power-sharing and morally obligated tolerance of risk. We suggest that research on problematical places, and of environmental risk, needs to be sensitized to how it may constitute a threat to self- and place-identity, and how this may mediate formulations self and place, as well as of environmental risk.

On April 14, 1993 the Minister of Health of the Province of Saskatchewan announced the closure of 52 of the 112 small hospitals using the criteria of: size, utilization for two consecutive years and distance to the nearest-neighbouring hospital. Amazingly, that government was re-elected. This study compared two models of reasons for hospital closure: the government criteria; and historical population, resource, and utilization factors, gathered for the year prior to closure and a decade earlier. Of the 112 small hospitals in Saskatchewan, the 10 hospitals in the frontier area were not included. Hospitals in the settled part of the province were divided into two distinct zones. The Northern zone, with 53 hospitals is characterized by rich dark soil and prosperous trade centres and the Southern zone, with 49 hospitals is characterized by light brown sandy soil and oil and gas exploration centres. Two discriminant models were developed. The government model consisted of size, two years of utilization and distance. The historical model consisted of population, resource, and utilization factors for the years 1981/1982 and 1991/1992. The dependent variable for both models was hospital status (open=1 and closed =0). The government model accurately predicted 91.18% of the closure decisions. The historical model had a classification accuracy of 95.10% for the whole of settled Saskatchewan, 96.23% for the Northern zone, and 95.92% for the Southern zone. The historical model was more accurate than the government model. Closing a hospital is a sad event. The manner in which the government closed nearly half of the small hospitals in Saskatchewan and gained re-election is an important account of responsible public policy. The historical model developed to examine this story takes public policy one step further in that it is possible for governments to recognize signals that indicate when communities should undertake orderly transitions in the operation of their health services facilities. #