This thesis investigated the impact of sodium acetate infusion on muscle fuel metabolism during low and high intensity exercise and demonstrated a decrease in fat oxidation during the former and a decrease in muscle lactate production during the latter. We propose that the rate of fat oxidation decreased during low intensity exercise due to acetate being preferentially metabolised over fat and possibly reduced muscle free carnitine availability. During high intensity exercise, muscle lactate accumulation decreased due to higher acetyl-CoA supply to the TCA cycle. This thesis also investigated the impact of chronic carnitine supplementation on overall glucose disposal and demonstrated a decrease in blood glucose and serum insulin concentrations following an OGTT in the carnitine group post-supplementation compared to baseline, coupled with a decrease in muscle 2-deoxyglucose accumulation in the carnitine group post-supplementation compared to control. We propose that carnitine-induced increased fat oxidation caused a decrease in hepatic fat deposition which in turn resulted in increasing glucose disposal by the liver. We also propose that increased hepatic glucose disposal resulted in reduced hepatic glucose release and hence diminished serum insulin concentrations. The impact of a chronic lifestyle intervention protocol involving either oral supplementation with carnitine (carnitine group) or placebo (control group) combined with carbohydrate and protein, together with regular exercise and a prescribed diet on muscle fuel metabolism and body composition in overweight volunteers was investigated in this thesis. This study demonstrated that increased muscle carnitine content caused an increase in fasting fat oxidation and a decrease in carbohydrate oxidation at rest. The carnitine group did not show any significant difference in body mass and body fat mass losses compared to the control group. Whether increased carnitine content, in combination with caloric restriction and exercise, has any impact on body composition seems likely but needs further investigations.

Catastrophic disaster represents a vital issue in emergency management for many countries in the European Union (EU) and around the world. Given the damage to human lives that different hazards represent, evacuation operations can be the only option available to emergency managers to mitigate the loss of life from catastrophic disaster. However, due to the amount of time needed to effectively evacuate a large area, the decision to evacuate must occur when there is a relatively low probability of the event. An explicit understanding of the evacuation decision can lead to better organisational preparedness in advance of catastrophic disaster events. This research represents work performed with 159 emergency experts and professionals across ten countries. The goal of this research was to create decision-making aids for evacuations in advance of a variety of catastrophic disaster scenarios. Traditional Decision Theory (DT) provides a rational approach to decision-making that emphasizes the optimization of subjective preferences combined with uncertainty. Within evacuation decision-making, DT and its respective outputs are appealing; however the analytical process can be difficult due to the lack of observed data to support quantitative assessments from catastrophic events and relative infrequency of evacuation operations. This research explored the traditional use of DT applied to catastrophic evacuation scenarios. Theoretical contributions to DT and emergency management include: 1) identification of evacuation decision criteria, 2) inter-model analysis between decision structures called Influence Diagrams (IDs), 3) complete application of quantitative decision analysis to support evacuation decision-making and 4) multi-criteria analysis for evacuation vulnerability using spatial data. Important contributions from this work include:1) An analysis of evacuation criteria for a variety of catastrophic disaster scenarios2) Inter-model analysis of evacuation scenarios (flooding, nuclear dispersion and terrorist attack) to identify common probabilistic structures to support multi-hazard strategy planning3) Quantitative decision models to support evacuation strategies, identify key uncertainties and policy analysis 4) Process to use spatial data to support multi-criteria evacuation vulnerability analysis 5) Organisational self-assessment for evacuation decision-making and spatial data use based on findings across all participating countries.

Abstract Student influence and participation are phenomena that have been debated for a long time throughout school educations’ history; yet, they still do not meet the intentions of school curriculums. At the same time, recent research has shown these aspects to be meaningful for students’ learning abilities, all the while highlighting the teacher’s important role in their implementation. This study emanates from a global life perspective and examines the assumption that teacher’s experiences are important for how influence and participation are shaped, especially targeting student counseling. The aim with this study is to contribute with more understanding of these aspects, the significance they imply and their importance for learning. This study is formed like a case study and is conducted at a F-9 school with a sample of teachers who are currently involved in the development of student-led counseling. The teachers are being interviewed through qualitative focus group interviews and observed during student-led counseling. The results of the interviews are evaluated through a phenomenologically based method of analysis and a hermeneutically based interpretation. The results of the observations are evaluated on the grounds of the concept of global life perspective, intersubjectivity and intentionality. The result shows that teacher’s experiences on students’ influence and participation incorporate three subjects: preparatory work, execution and subsequent work, which emerge as an outcome of the fact that counseling was led by students. The result points out teacher’s experiences of factors that influence their work, where time, expectations and the student category ’teenagers’ are dominating. These factors obtrude on different levels in a fluctuation between each other, mutually affecting each other and manifesting themselves as both possibilities and obstacles. The result of the significance of student influence and participation is focused on in three main subjects: form of teaching, creating relations and creating identity. Each main subject contains sub-categories. The main subject ‘form of teaching’ involves the enabling of reflections, form of judgment, comprehensibility, raising awareness, increasing motivation and clarification. The main subject ‘creating relations’ consists of increasing quality and creating security. The main subject ‘creating identity’ incorporates the increase of taking responsibility. Responsibility entails growth in close relation to the student’s confidence and faith in his own capabilities. The result demonstrates that these subjects stand in mutual relation to each other, that they depend on each other and can become each other’s factors of influence.   Key words: Pedagogics, Student influence, Participation, Counseling, Global life perspective

The purpose of the project has been to investigate how synoptic scale climate systems control the frequency of air pollution episodes in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. The work has been done at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and data from the region has been analysed. Air pollution is, during winter time, a growing problem in Christchurch and the project was initiated by the regional environmental legislative body. The first part of the report is on finding relationships on a local-scale between particulate matter concentrations, ground temperature, temperature at 10 meters and wind speed. The data set used in the analysis comes from a monitoring station in St. Albans, situated in the north-east of Christchurch. In the second part, a connection is made thought correlation calculations between the results from the local-scale analysis and the synoptic situation observed over New Zealand during the same period. Two different data sets have been used in the analysis. One data set includes different weather patterns observed over New Zealand and the other data set includes different zonal and meridional circulation indices. A pressure index is also used, the Southern Oscillation Index. On the local-scale, a relationship has been found between the particulate matter concentration and the number of night hours with an inversion present. A correlation also exists between the wind speed and the number of night hours with an inversion present. The connection to the synoptic scale through cluster frequencies and circulation indices was found to be divergent. The cluster frequency analysis indicates on a direct correlation between the Southern Oscillation Index and the air pollution concentration in Christchurch, while the circulation indices analysis indicates on an inverse relationship between the Southern Oscillation Index and the air pollution concentration in Christchurch. / Sammanfattning av ”Kopplingen mellan ENSO och aerosoler mindre än 10 μm i Christchurch” Avsikten med projektet har varit att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan storskaliga vädersystem (synoptisk skala) och antalet lokalt inträffade händelser med höga halter av luftföroreningar. Arbetet har utförts vid University of Canterbury i Christchurch på Nya Zeeland och mätdata för denna region har analyserats. Luftföroreningar är här ett växande problem, speciellt vintertid, vilket de regionala lagstiftande myndigheterna har identifierat och önskat få utrett. I första delen av rapporten analyseras samband mellan lokala parametrar, så som temperatur vid marknivå och på 10 meters höjd, vindhastighet och koncentrationen av olika luftföroreningar. Data som använts i dessa analyser har uppmätts vid en mätstation placerad i St. Albans, vilken ligger i nordöstra delen av centrala Christchurch. I den andra delen av rapporten beräknas korrelationen mellan resultaten från den lokala analysen och olika synoptiska vädersituationer observerade över Nya Zeeland under motsvarande tidsperioder. Två databaser har använts vid analysen, dels en databas innehållande olika vädersituationer över Nya Zeeland och dels en innehållande olika cirkulationsindex. Dessutom användes också ett lufttrycksindex, ”The Southern Oscillation Index”. Två korrelationer har beräknats i den lokala analysdelen. Dels har ett samband mellan luftföroreningskoncentrationen och antalet timmar med en inversion närvarande nattetid beräknats samt en korrelation mellan vindhastighet och antalet timmar med en inversion närvarande nattetid. Kopplingen till den synoptiska skalan visar på två divergerande resultat. Analys genomförd med olika ”clusters” visar på ett direkt samband mellan ”The Southern Oscillaion Index” och luftföroreningskoncentrationen i Christchurch medan en analys genomförd för circulationsindex visar på ett omvänt samband mellan ”The Southern Oscillation Index” och luftföroreningskoncentrationen i Christchurch.

Magister Artium - MA / Hookah-pipe smoking escalated from being a cultural phenomenon to being a social phenomenon. Studies suggest that the hookah-pipe is a high-risk phenomenon which has become a highly acceptable social practice influenced by social factors such as smoking initiations among peers. What is unknown is whether peer pressure and social acceptance have an influence on the use of the hookah-pipe. The aim of this study is therefore to compare the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptance among adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users. The objectives of the study are to determine the prevalence of peer pressure, social acceptability and smoking tobacco using the hookah-pipe among adolescents; establish the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptability of adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users and to compare the relationship between peer pressure and social acceptability among adolescent hookah-pipe users and non-users. A cross-sectional comparative correlation study was conducted with a sample of Grade 9 adolescents attending secondary schools in the Metro East Education District in Cape Town. Structured questionnaires constructed from the NationalASH 10 Year Snapshot Survey, the 10-year in-depth survey, the health and lifestyle survey and peer pressure, as well as an NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development questionnaire were completed by the participants. The Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) software was used to analyse the data. The results show that no relationship was found between peer pressure and social acceptance, but a relationship was found between parental rules and monitoring around tobacco use for hookah-pipe users. A significant difference was also found in the attitudes towards hookah use between users and non-users. The ethics for this study included voluntary participation, informed consent and anonymity.

Power and influence in the democratic process is a controversial area. In an effort to contribute to this is the purpose of this study is to investigate the influence that public officials have in the political process and if theories connected to influence can be observed in officials’ statements. We also examined if it differs between two political areas (environment and school). The choice of these two areas is based on the fact that these differ in nature when it comes to technical complexity. The study examines four public administrative officials, two administrators that work in the environmental area and two from the school area. We used semi-structured interviews in which the public officials subjective experience of influence were discussed. The study showed that the public officials in general have the opportunity to influence the political process through key factors such as their expertise, participating in networks and trough certain personal characteristics. We also saw that the public officials differ between the two areas concerning some of these key factors.

The purpose of the thesis is to exam how preschools inspired of Reggio Emilia philosophy is practicing the involvement of children’s interest in project work. The aim of this study is to contribute with new knowledge in which way children’s interest is made use of and how children can get involved within the boundaries of project work. The study has its starting point by following issues: - Which methods are used by the teacher to enable children’s interest in project work?- To what extend are children given influence and participation in project work?- Which of the children’s communicative resources and expressions such as gestures, looks and speech are the ones who get the most space to influence a project work? This is a case study where the information has been produced, processed and analyzed by a qualitative method. To collect data, semi-structured interviews with teachers have been combined with observations. The study links with Basil Bernstein's (2000) theory of power and control as well as Fanny Davidsson (2018) and Harry Shier's (2001) perspective on influence and participation. The results of the study show a complex picture in which different factors interact and give children more or less influence. The study shows that the most prominent methods the teachers use to be able to work based on children's interest are through observing, listening and reflection. Furthermore, the result shows that the structure of the activity, the teachers attitude and their child perspective are important for the grade of children's influence and participation in the project work. The children's ability to express themselves verbally and stay within the framework of the project work also proves to be of importance for the grade of children's influence and participation.

The main objective of our essay is to analyze the influence of the spouse on the partner’s retirement decision. Drawing on a large sample of older citizens and a combination of a postal survey and register data, we use standard econometric techniques to identify the impact of the spouse’s characteristics on the partner’s decision to retire. The results of our estimations show that cohabiting/married males’ decision to retire was negatively affected by their partners’ health condition. On the other hand, cohabiting/married women were more likely to retire if their partner had already retired.

This dissertation presents an historical analysis of teachers’ participation in policy making with specific reference to the South African Schools’ Act (SASA) of 1996. The central aim of the study was to explore the opportunities, extent and outcomes of teachers’ participation in the development of SASA and the various factors that attest to its complexity. Main argument and claims While acknowledging the broader political, ideological and economic context of teacherstate relations in policy making, this study contends that macro-forces in themselves are insufficient in explaining the dynamics of policy making and teachers’ role in it. Teachers’ participation in policy making is shaped, as powerfully, by factors such as partisan alliances and policy capacity, and by specific school contexts. Fundamental to this argument is the importance attached to the notion of ‘historical specificity’, which provides the overall thread that binds the diverse forces and factors that shaped the nature of teachers’ participation in policy making. In making the above argument, this thesis posits the following main claims: • Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA was historically-determined and shaped by the ambiguous and political nature of teacher-state relations, underpinned by ideological allegiance and flexibility. Key factors that shaped this relationship were government and teacher unions’ harnessing of the ideologies of unionism and professionalism, the ability of teacher unions’ to resist state cooptation and teacher unions’ agency in the cultivation of policy networks, especially partisan and non-partisan alliances; • Teachers’ participation was influenced by the specificity of South Africa’s transition to democracy, particularly the developmental tendency of the postapartheid education state and the politics of compromise that underpinned the Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act vi political transition. Thus, in spite of ‘global’ forces, ‘local’ dynamics were ultimately more instrumental in determining the nature and impact of teachers’ participation in the policy making process; • The ‘stakeholder’ or ‘representative’ form of participation which characterized SASA’s development has underlined the limits of participation founded on a western, liberal model of democracy and stressed the value of direct (participatory) and deliberative models of democracy. Teachers as individuals, therefore, experience ‘dual marginalization’ in the policy arena, firstly, because state policy makers do not consult or engage them, and secondly because teacher unions themselves are often unable to adequately involve grassroots’ members in policy formulation activities within their organisations; • Teachers’ participation in the development of SASA has been dominated by the adoption of a rational and expert-driven model of policy making, wherein the views and contributions of experts are more highly valued than those of ordinary citizens, including teachers. At the same time, the study underlines the importance of a strong organisational basis for teachers’ participation in policy making, particularly the need for well-functioning organizational structures and policy expertise within the ranks of teacher unions themselves; and • Teachers’ participation in policy making is not confined to hopes of influencing policy outcomes. It is about social and policy learning and its implications for teachers’ daily practice and for the organizational development of teacher unions. Main theoretical and methodological contributions The study offers an eclectic conceptual framework for research into teachers’ participation in policy making, drawing on the disciplines of history, political science and education policy, which can be considered by researchers undertaking similar studies especially in transitional contexts. In so doing, the study makes the following contributions: Teachers’ participation in policy making: The case of the South African Schools Act vii It presents teacher unions and policy makers with a more comprehensive perspective to consider when formulating policy; It contributes a novel perspective for examining the relationship between education, civil society and the state in South Africa and countries undergoing transition worldwide; and It provides substance for comparative discussions on teachers’ participation in policy formulation globally. Finally, the study reclaims history as a method of social enquiry in policy analysis and in contrast to existing studies with its largely a-historical policy implementation bias, refocuses the empirical analysis on the policy development process and dynamics.

While studies have indicated the onset of fertility transition in Nigeria as in most Sub- Saharan countries, no systematic attempt has been made to identify the factors responsible for this trend. Existing explanation tends to draw from the demographic transition theory without exploring the value of other key variables. One of these variables is the degree of preference implementation. This study explores the role of fertility preference implementation on the onset of fertility transition in Nigeria. The study estimated the extent to which couples have been able to implement their fertility preferences with a view to better understand the factors that are responsible for the fertility changes in the country. This study was based on the socio-economic and microeconomic frameworks of fertility namely: the Bongaarts et al (1984) version and its Stover’s reformulation (1998) of the proximate determinants of fertility and the Bongaarts (1993) supply-demand framework for the analysis of the determinants of fertility, respectively. The proximate determinant of fertility frameworks holds that all demographic, socioeconomic, cultural, institutional, psychological, health and environmental factors (background variables) operate through the proximate or intermediate variables to affect fertility. The Bongaarts (1993) supply-demand framework posits that fertility (F) as measured by total fertility rate is an outcome of the interaction of supply of births (natural fertility), demand for births (wanted fertility) and degree of fertility preference implementation (an index, which measures the extent to which people have been able to implement their fertility preferences). The degree of preference implementation is in turn dependent on cost of fertility regulation and that of unwanted childbearing. The husbands’ family planning attitude and desired number of children were incorporated into the latter framework to recognize and bring out the crucial roles of the males in eventual fertility outcomes. The 1990, 1999 and 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) data sets for men, women and couples were used. The methodology of the three NDHS is not too different from each other. They are nationally representative cross-sectional survey of women between the ages of 15 and 49 in 1990, 1999 and 2003 and men between 15 and 64 in 1999 and 15-59 in the 2003 survey. Twenty-four focus group discussions were also conducted among the sexes across the country to gain better insight and understanding into the issues examined. Focus group research is based on facilitating an organized discussion with a group of individuals selected because they were believed to be representative of some class. The discussion is used to bring out insights and understandings in ways, which cannot be captured by questionnaire. The focus group discussions (FGD) are also national in scope. Participants were drawn from the Northern, South Eastern and South Western regions of the country. The study population consisted of 8,781; 8,199 and 7,620 women aged 15-49 interviewed during the 1990, 1999 and 2003 NDHS, respectively. In addition, 2,584 men aged 15-64 and 2,346 men aged 15-59 interviewed during the 1999 and 2003 NDHS, respectively were used. One thousand, one hundred and sixty-eight (1,168) couples’ records derived from the 2003 NDHS and 1,280 (constructed) couples’ records for 1999 were also used. A total of eighty-nine (89) men and eighty-five (85) women participated in the twenty-four (24) focus group discussion sessions. To achieve the research objectives, a wide range of analysis was carried out in the study. In the estimation of all means and medians, the Kaplan Meier survival analysis is used. Some other estimations were done using specific formulations developed for the purpose. Thirty-six binary logistic regression models were also fitted to bring out spousal influences on each other’s attitude to family planning and desired number of children. Lastly, the focus group discussion sessions were analysed by themes to give better understanding into the issues examined. Five hypotheses were tested in the study. There was a general decline in the age specific fertility rates (ASFR) between 1990 and 2003 in all the age groups. This is reflected in the total fertility rate (TFR) for the country as a whole, which declined from 6.32 in 1990 to 5.82 in 2003. The national average masks large variations in the fertility levels between subgroups in the country. The women in the North generally have higher number of children than their Southern counterparts. This is particularly marked in the early childbearing years. Fertility levels are also higher among rural residents compared to those in the urban area. Substantial differences equally exist in the fertility levels of women by their level of education with fertility being negatively associated with level of education. A comparison of the past and current fertility also confirms that fertility has been on the decline in the country. Age at first and last births have been declining and the differentials between the two show that the number of years spent in childbearing is decreasing. Non-marital birth was also found to be increasing over time but at a level below six percent and with no identifiable educational or regional pattern. Teenage motherhood is equally declining both nationally and regionally and is relatively high among teenagers from the rural area and those with less than secondary level of education. The proportion of women that progress from one parity to another decreases as parity increases and no socially imposed optimum number of children is observed (although there is a political four-child policy in existence) among the Nigerian women. Apart from age of mother at the birth of child, which has a positive association with median length of birth interval and the surviving status of preceding child (which is understandably shorter if the preceding child is dead), length of birth interval by other characteristics shows no significant variation across sub groups. Age at first marriage remained between 16 and 17 over the years. This is lower for respondents from the rural, the North and for those with less than secondary level of education. For age at first sexual intercourse, it increased over time in the age groups. Respondents from the North and rural area however initiated sexual intercourse earlier and age at first sexual intercourse increases with level of education. Among the proximate determinant indices, the index of postpartum insusceptibility has the greatest inhibiting effect, followed by that of marriage/sexually active, contraception and then sterility. In the Bongaarts model, the indices reduced total fecundity by 12.46 births in the total sample of married women in 1990; 8.90 births in 1999 and 9.45 births in 2003 while the indices jointly reduced potential fertility by 17.69 births in the total sample of sexually active women in 1990; 16.06 births in 1999 and 16.50 births in 2003 in the Stover’s reformulation. The number of children desired marginally increased over time. This could have been affected by the high proportion of non-response especially in the 1990 survey. The desired number of children is positively related to age and number of surviving children while it is negatively related to education. Number of children desired is found to be lower among urban residents and respondents from the Southern part of the country and highest among currently married women. The focus group discussion sessions also show that people have been revising the number of children they are having downward due to ‘supposed’ economic hardship in the country and the need to give quality education, training and care to the children. However, their desire remain high. The extent, to which fertility preference is achieved, is generally high and increasing over the years in the total sample of married women with some variations in the sub groups. It is higher in the urban compared to the rural; increases with level of education, lowest in the North East and highest in the South West. Surprisingly, the extent to which concordant couples achieve their fertility preferences was lower than that of discordant couples. The fitted logistic models showed no evidence of the husbands having an upper hand in the number of children desired by the wives or on their attitude to family planning and vice versa. While the husbands play greater role in fertility decision-making in households, who has the upper hand between the husbands and the wives in actual fertility outcome was not conclusive in this study. Knowledge about family planning methods and their availability is high. The costs of fertility regulation in terms of its social, economic and in particular health components as well as obstacles to the use of fertility regulation methods were highlighted. The psychological, health, social and more frequently the economic costs of unwanted childbearing were also brought out. The responses to questions on pregnancy wantedness was also validated in this study as people generally acknowledged the circumstance of the birth of additional child(ren) as accidental. Two of the five hypotheses proposed were confirmed. One, the hypothesis that ‘the degree of fertility preference implementation is higher in the south than in the North, higher among urban residents compared to the rural residents and increases as the level of education increases’ is supported by the results of the study. Two, that ‘the degree of fertility preference implementation is increasing and playing an increasing (a more positive) role in fertility changes in Nigeria’ is also supported. The study could not confirm that ‘the indices of marriage/sexual activity, postpartum insusceptibility and contraception (in that order) have the most inhibiting effect on fertility in Nigeria.’ The other two hypotheses could not be proven conclusively either. These were that ‘degree of fertility preference implementation is higher among couples with similar desired number of children than among discordant couples’ and ‘the Husbands have more influence on their wives’ family planning attitude and desired number of children than the wives have over their husbands’. These findings have programme and policy implications. For instance, although the reduction in the number of years spent in child bearing is welcome as a result of decline in the number of older women in active childbearing, the increasing entrance of women under the age of eighteen years is worrisome. This could impact negatively on school enrolment and retention as well as on the health of the women since it is recognised that women under the age of eighteen years is one of the four groups of women with higher risk of morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and childbirth. Despite the pertinent findings of this study, a number of study limitations can be identified. This include not identifying people who have achieved their desired fertility and those who have not and conducting in-depth interview with them to gain greater insight into their fertility decision-making, desire and behaviour. This aspect requires further detailed investigation. A number of programme, policy and research recommendations are made based on the findings of this study.