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Contraceptive social marketing towards an optimum performance modelSamad, Nayyer January 2011 (has links)
Against the backdrop of impending population explosion and the need to adopt reliable control measures, this thesis investigates the effectiveness of contraceptive social marketing (CSM) interventions for population control in a given socioeconomic context. The main purpose is to identify lacunae in principles and practice of CSM with the view to generate evidence-based strategic guides to inform. future programmes. A case study method was adopted to assess the impact of various social marketing approaches in Pakistan. With a population of 174 million, Pakistan is the sixth most populated country and the third largest contributor to the world population after China and India, and known to have had serious setbacks in population control. The main research questions were: (i) What are the concepts and principles that guide CSM intervention methods? (ii) How effective are the various intervention methods in achieving the CSM programme objectives? (iii) What factors facilitate or restrict the sustainability of a programme and whether they can be influenced? The research used primary and secondary data from various sources collected through interviews, archival records and documents of relevant institutions. It used a combination of pattern matching and explanation building for embedded case analysis. The results were then combined at national level for making general conclusion. The study finds that CSM programmes when significantly designed and implemented with end users in mind have robust explanatory powers in relation to usage of health products as part of behaviour change. The interventions in Pakistan reflected two distinctive theoretical orientations: the non-governmental organisational model focussed on equity while manufacturer's model aimed to build sustainable delivery of contraceptive methods. Generally both approaches were effective in creating health impact but failed to contribute towards equity or sustainability objectives. The research also indicates excessive reliance by practitioners on impacts of the transactional oriented marketing mix as opposed to culturally sensitive behavioural. antecedentsB. ased on the results of this researcht he thesis provides a framework for an integrated evidence based approach for future interventions.
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The peoples of Britain : population genetics, archaeology and linguisticsRoyrvik, E. C. January 2012 (has links)
The history of peoples has always evoked a great deal of both academic and popular interest, and the peoples of Britain, with its island position and semi-mythic serial invasions, have evoked as much as any. As most of the period during which Britain has been inhabited by modern humans lies in prehistory, archaeology has long been the best method for elucidating the past. In recent years, however, genetics has come to complement the reconstruction of peoples' pasts, with its ability to trace lineal human biology instead of transferable human culture. The purpose of this thesis is to assess population genetics systems of Britain against the backdrop of archaeologically determined history, informed for later periods by linguistics, and attempt to ascertain any marked congruities or incongruities between this history and modern genetic data. The genetic datasets included in this work are the People of the British Isles Project collection, and some ancillary cohorts from surrounding countries. The genetic systems assessed include mitochondrial DNA, classical marker genes, lactase, pigmentation genes and some phenotypes, and finally a suite of candidate genes for determining normal facial variation. In a self-contained section, the principle of relating population genetic data to population histories is illustrated by a study focusing on Central Asia (a larger area), but using fewer genetic markers. The chosen markers systems overall reveal modest amounts of genetic differentiation among different groups in Britain, but consistently highlight Wales and Orkney especially as relatively distanced from the rest of Britain. This is in keeping with the historically quite isolated state of the former, and the comparatively recent heavy influx of Norse Vikings in the latter. Further details are observable from subsets of this study: all are discussed in the context of archaeological and linguistic evidence. These findings provide support and foundation for a forthcoming study from the People of the British Isles Project, using a genome-wide SNP approach rather than selected markers, which will likely increase the nuance of this initial picture and contribute further to answering specific questions regarding Britain's past.
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