The Van Staden’s Bridge has claimed 67 lives since its construction on 11 November 1971. A team of police officials, trained as negotiators who deal with suicide and hostage negotiation, are involved with the task of convincing suicidal persons who turn to the bridge to take their own lives, not to resort to suicide. They are responsible for persuading at least three people per week to reconisider suicide at this notorious bridge. The goal of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and coping resources of the SAPS suicide negotiation staff at the Van Staden’s Bridge, Thornhill, Port Elizabeth. A mixed methods study combining both the quantitative and qualitative approaches was implemented. An exploratory-descriptive design was used, because the topic is still a relatively under-researched area in South Africa. Two data collection measures, that is, the Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) and semi-structured interviewing were employed. The researcher conducted a pilot study to enhance the trustworthiness of the study. Non-probability, purposive sampling was employed to obtain research participants from the research population (suicide negotiation team), consisting of 12 members. Eight members participated voluntary in the quantitative data collection and of these a total of five participated in the qualitative research interviews. Six themes emerged from the results of the in-depth, semi-structured interviews: (1) experiences of SAPS suicide negotiators, (2) aspects that hinder the negotiation process, (3) characteristics of a negotiator, (4) important aspects of the negotiation process, (5) coping mechanisms of SAPS negotiators and (6) recommendations for rendering support to SAPS negotiators. The results from the CRI suggested that the participants have average coping resources with the cognitive domain being the lowest and both the social and physical domains being the highest. The limitations and the value of the study were outlined and finally, recommendations for future research were made.

In this study, the researcher investigated the effectiveness of the strategies put in place by both the school and the community to control drug abuse by secondary school learners. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the strategies and identify whether there were any successes in controlling drug abuse by learners. This study was conducted during school time when learners were expected to be fully engaged with school work in the Libode-Mega district of education. The researcher had decided on the study with the feeling that there are strategies put in place by the relevant stakeholders but it might happen that the abusers were not cautioned on the seriousness of such measures. The researcher involved the schools, the community representatives and the health representatives in the study so that the information obtained would give a clear picture of what is happening in the area. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative research designs whereby the questionnaires were distributed to learner respondents to answer while there were interview schedules drawn up for the teachers, the ward representative and health officials to respond to. The findings showed that there were strategies put in place at school and by the community and also the learner respondents who were the focal point in the study seemed to understand the bad behavior by abusers but it was noticed by the researcher that there was not unity in implementation of the strategies which might lead to little achievement. The researcher also noted that drug was prevalent in a number of communities especially in social gatherings. It is through that drug prevalence that both old and young people carelessly misused drugs while enjoying themselves in public places. A further research was suggested in order to improve relationships between the school and the communities in an attempt to control substance abuse.

There are two main objectives of this thesis. First, to review the social science evidence on the extent to which different police practices have been proven to reduce crime, or not reduce crime, as well as those cases where the evidence is not clear. This thesis synthesizes crime reduction strategies to short-list those practices that are proven to reduce crime. Second, it uses the evidence collected to facilitate an exploratory case study with three key informants from the Ottawa Police Service (OPS). The case study examines the current use and perceived future role of the police in evidence-based crime prevention efforts. Overall, the research study seeks to answer the following four research questions: 1. What sources of literature provide well-researched and reliable data on effectiveness of policing in crime reduction? 2. In this literature, what policing strategies/practices are shown to reduce crime, not reduce crime or are promising in reducing crime? 3. To what extent is the OPS using evidence-based knowledge to guide their policing strategy/practices? 4. To what extent is the OPS open to using evidence-based knowledge to guide their policing strategy/practices in the future?

The purpose of this study was to describe and evaluate a health education program provided primarily for older women who have or suspect they have osteoporosis. The health education program evaluated is provided by the Ostop Society of British Columbia (Ostop). One of the goals of the study was to provide Ostop with descriptive information about the organization's members, their participation in the organization's education program and their evaluation of the value of the information sources provided by the organization. A second goal was to evaluate the relationships between variables which may explain how Ostop functions as a provider of osteoporosis health education. Bandura's social learning theory was used to provide a theoretical explanation of the Ostop education program, to identify study variables and to generate the research questions. The variables that were expected to be related to the members' level of knowledge about osteoporosis were selected personal characteristics, the amount of participation in Ostop, and members' perceptions about the value of the different sources of information provided by Ostop. The same variables plus members' level of knowledge about osteoporosis were expected to be related to the level of participation in health behaviors believed to help prevent or slow the progression of osteoporosis. The study sample consisted of 120 women members of Ostop, randomly selected from a membership list which contained the names of 261 women members of Ostop. All of the members included on the list lived close enough to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the lecture series offered by Ostop. The study group is a random sample of Ostop members but may not accurately represent all women with or at risk of developing osteoporosis. Ostop is a special interest group which tends to attract as members well educated women with at least some prior awareness of and concern about the condition. The data were collected by means of a mailed questionnaire which was developed for this study. The content of the questionnaire was based on the recent osteoporosis research literature, and the advice of a variety of content experts. Prior to conducting the study, the researcher pilot tested the questionnaire using nine Ostop members. The descriptive information demonstrated that members are typically post-menopausal women in their sixties and seventies who have osteoporosis and who have an educational attainment of at least graduation from high school. The respondents were well-informed about osteoporosis and were more likely to practice health behaviors related to calcium intake than to perform the recommended amount of exercise. One important finding was that 66% of the respondents reported daily intakes of calcium which exceeded the highest recommended daily intake. This is of concern in light of research findings that excessive calcium intake is associated with the development of kidney stones in some women. Regression analysis of the study variables demonstrated that: 1. the number of Ostop-provided information sources identified by respondents as being useful was positively and significantly (p≦.05) correlated with knowledge level. 2. Both age and menopause status were negatively and significantly (p≦.05) correlated with knowledge level. 3. The only variable which was correlated significantly (p≦.05) with the performance of osteoporosis-related health behavior was knowledge level. This was a weak positive correlation of .234. These results suggest that Ostop’s present educational program may be helping women gain knowledge about osteoporosis and that having knowledge about osteoporosis is one factor which is associated with the practice of recommended health behavior. Social learning theory was used to explain the results and to suggest ways in which Ostop may be able to increase the effectiveness of its educational efforts. Suggestions were also made about other ways to provide osteoporosis health education and about directions for further research. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The efficacy of an aerobic conditioning program (jogging) in modifying self-reported chronic intermittent stress is compared to stress-innoculation training (self-statement modification) and a waiting list control group. Guiding this research is a transactional model of stress. The participants were community residents; 48 were females and 25 were males. Therapy sessions were conducted over a 10-week period with subjects meeting in groups for 1 1/2 hours per week and also completing homework assignments and activities. The State and Trait Anxiety Inventories, the Tension Thermometer, a Thought-listing Technique and a Self-efficacy Scale were administered at pre, post, and three-month follow-up. In addition, a submaximal bicycle ergometer test was utilized to predict maximum oxygen uptake (a measure of cardiovascular fitness). Multivariate analyses of variance indicate that both the aerobic conditioning program and the stress-innoculation training were effective in reducing self-reported anxiety and increasing self-efficacy. These changes were maintained three months after completing the program. Subjects who experienced stress more cognltlvely than somatically reduced their level of stress from pre- to post-testlng significantly more than those who experienced stress more somatically, regardless of treatment condition. However, from post to follow-up the somatic subjects continued to improve while the cognitive subjects stayed approximately the same. Compared to the waiting list control group, subjects' positive self-statement ratings increased significantly from pre- to post-testing for the stress-inoculation group. Subjects' self-statement ratings and judges self-statement ratings changed differentially between groups and over time. Subjects in the aerobic conditioning program improved their cardiovascular fitness compared to the stress-inoculation and waiting list groups. Participation in an aerobic conditioning program was found to be a viable alternative to stress-innoculation training as a stress-management treatment. Although the pattern of changes differed between treatment groups and among types of individuals from pre- to post-testing on some measures, at three-months follow-up few differences were found between treatment groups. / Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies / Graduate

M.Tech. (Biotechnology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

This dissertation is concerned with an analysis of the dynamic of West European terrorism and European Community/Union (EC/EU) counter-terrorism as it has evolved since the late 1960s. The first half of the study is devoted to an investigation of the nature of the terrorist phenomenon itself; the factors that were primarily responsible for its escalation from the late 1960s onwards; the new and continuing trends that are likely to affect the future course of terrorism within Western Europe into the 1990s. The main focus of the second half of the project centers on an examination of the effectiveness and appropriateness of the latest EU provision to counter terrorism (and other major threats to internal security) - the Maastricht third "pillar." This assessment is made from a perspective that takes into account questions of both operational anti-terrorist proficiency and liberal democratic acceptability. Police and security forces throughout the EU have strongly endorsed the third pillar as providing an efficient response to serious criminality. However, from a liberal democratic point of view, the Maastricht provisions raise critical questions concerning the underlying ideological rationale that appears to be guiding the Twelve's evolving internal security cooperation, the lack of public debate surrounding this coordination and the absence of any effective means to control closer EU judicial and law enforcement action. All this poses a serious problem for the future of EU counterterrorism cooperation. Close coordination between the EU member states is absolutely necessary if the continuing threat of terrorism in Western Europe is to be effectively quashed in the 1990s. However, one cannot realistically expect this to happen if fundamental fears exist over the desirability and legitimacy of establishing ever closer internal security cooperation. It is therefore vital that in the headlong rush to provide for an enhanced international operational capacity to deal with terrorism critical considerations of democratic control and acceptability (both of which the EU as well as individual member states are sworn to uphold by virtue of their "status" as a liberal democratic entities) are not lost by the Union Twelve. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The thesis is concerned with what should be done to decrease the incidence of human salmonellosis in Canada. The present high incidence of Salmonella contaminated poultry is reviewed and evidence is given that links Salmonella contaminated poultry carcasses at the retail level to human salmonellosis. The question is raised as to whether control or eradication should be the goal in Canada, and present regulations involving various levels of Governments are examined. The incidence of Salmonella contaminated poultry in some other countries is reviewed, together with some of the Salmonella control programmes that have been instituted by these countries. Finally, certain recommendations are made, as to what could be done in Canada to decrease the incidence of human salmonellosis. These recommendations stress the need for further research to develop ways of decreasing the incidence of Salmonella contaminated poultry at the retail level. The colonization of the gut of day-old chickens with the intestinal flora of adult chickens is a method that shows promise. The use of radiation and chlorination of the poultry carcasses would also help to reduce the incidence of carcass contamination. If Canada is determined to reduce human salmonellosis, then steps must be taken to coordinate the many different branches of both the Federal and Provincial Governments, and regulations, when promulgated, must be enforced. Caterers and those cooking in their own homes must be educated on correct food handling practices and cooking techniques. Human salmonellosis will probably never be eradicated, but its present incidence could certainly be reduced. / Medicine, Faculty of / Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of / Graduate

The aim of this thesis is to critically examine drug prevention as a field of problematizations  – how drug prevention becomes established as a political technology within this field, how it connects to certain modes of governance, how and under which conditions it constitutes it’s problematic, the questions it asks,  it´s implications in terms of political participation and representation, the various bodies of knowledge through which it constitutes the reality upon which it acts, the limits it places on ways of being, questioning, and talking  in the world. The main analyses have been conducted in four separate but interrelated articles. Each article addresses a specific dimension of drug prevention in order to get a grasp of how this field is organized. Article 1 examines the shift that has occurred in the Swedish context during the period 1981–2011 in how drugs have been problematized, what knowledge has grounded the specific modes of problematization and which modes of governance this has enabled. In article 2, the currently dominant scientific discipline in the field of drug prevention – prevention science – is critically examined in terms of how it constructs the “drug problem” and the underlying assumptions it carries in regard to reality and political governance. Article 3 addresses the issue of communities’ democratic participation in drug prevention efforts by analyzing the theoretical foundations of the Communities That Care prevention program. The article seeks to uncover how notions of community empowerment and democratic participation are constructed, and how the “community” is established as a political entity in the program. The fourth and final article critically examines the Swedish Social and Emotional Training (SET) program and the political implications of the relationship the program establishes between the subject and emotions. The argument is made that, within the field of drug prevention, questions of political values and priorities in a problematic way are decoupled from the political field and pose a significant problem in terms of the possibilities to engage in democratic deliberation. Within this field of problematizations it becomes impossible to mobilize a politics against social injustice, poverty and inequality. At the same time, the scientific grounding of this mode of governing the drug “problem” acts to naturalize a specific – highly political – way of engaging with drugs.

This research is a descriptive analysis answering the question, what measures are currently taken by the leadership―boards of trustees and superintendents of schools―of Texas school districts to prevent embezzlement? The research perspective utilized was quantitative with a descriptive, cross-sectional design. Data collection was accomplished through a survey with questions constructed from the most commonly recommended strategies discovered through the review of literature. The survey was distributed to the 1031 superintendents of school districts in Texas via email. The response rate was 33% or 339 returned surveys. The data set created concentrates on the four most common preventive measures: policy and procedure, management, auditing, and ethics. These measures are considered as they function to interrupt the principles of the fraud triangle. Comparisons were completed regarding region, district size, superintendent tenure and superintendent experience. Policy adoption was found to be extremely widespread. Procedures written to fully implement policy were less prevalent. Review of management practices found problems concerning credit cards, personnel evaluations, and password access to multiple computer finance recordkeeping systems concentrated in one employee. External auditing programs were universal due to statutory mandate but internal auditors and internal audit committees were few. Ethics training for business office personnel existed but with little consistent application across districts. The adoption of a code of ethics for business office personnel was rare. Recommendations made were that school leaders should be educated concerning appropriate actions in the common prevention areas. They need an to understand the importance of internal auditing, know the language in local policy, and they need to write procedures.