Thesis (MBA.) -- University of Limpopo, 2015 / The health profiles and outcomes in South Africa are unsatisfactory, not seeming to improve appreciably, amid the robust reform efforts, policies and strategies. These health challenges comprise largely of preventable conditions, as demonstrated by the quadruple burden of disease. Community participation, including the use of community governance structures in improving community health profiles and outcomes, are alluded to be beneficial in improving these communities` health profiles and outcomes. The main aim of this study was to understand the current and the potential future role and the factors at play, of the community governance structures in managing their communities` health profiles and outcomes, in the Zebediela sub-district, Limpopo, South Africa. A qualitative study was conducted, using the Zebediela sub-district as a case study, where from six out of the potential nine governance structures were interviewed and recorded in focus groups, using a pre-determined discussion guide. The recordings were analysed in-depth for themes, using the consistency matrix and the N-vivo data analysis. The results indicate that, the community governance structures are aware of the unsatisfactory health profiles and outcomes in their communities, but are not doing anything specific towards intervening to improve the situation. However, they are keen and willing to participate in improving the situation and are able to identify the potential role they can play, the skills and resources in themselves and in the communities, including the factors that facilitate and those that impede, their participation together with the recommendations of what can facilitate their participation and efficiency in improving their communities` health profiles and outcomes. The community governance structures represent a good opportunity to improve community health profiles and outcomes, through a specific strategic focus that would empower, support, motivate, strengthen and reinforce their current level of skills, functioning and participation.

Les champignons endophytes sont des organismes qui vivent à l’intérieur de plantes sans causer de symptômes de maladie apparents. Ils sont trouvés dans virtuellement toutes plante, et la nature des interactions peut aller de mutualiste à pathogène dépendant des conditions. La diversité et la structure des communautés des champignons endophytes dans les plantes poussant en milieu extrêmement pollué, ainsi que leur rôle potentiel pour améliorer la phytorémédiation, demeurent peu compris. Dans cette étude, nous nous sommes intéressés aux communautés de champignons endophytes de racines de deux espèces de plantes (Eleocharis erythropoda et Populus sp.). Ces espèces poussaient de manière spontanée dans trois bassins de sédimentation d’un ancienne usine pétro-chimique ayant des niveaux de contaminations différents, en utilisant à la fois une approche d’isolation d’organisme ainsi que des analyses de pyroséquençage de l’ITS d’ADN ribosomal. Nos résultats indiquent que les niveaux de contamination ont un effet significatif sur la composition taxonomique des champignons endophytes des racines de E. erythropoda. Une majorité des données de séquences appartiennent à la classe des Dothideomycetes dans les échantillons de forte concentration en hydrocarbures pétroliers, dont une majorité appartient au genre Alternaria. La comparaison des données d’isolation et de pyroséquençage suggère que l’isolation de souches ne permet pas l’obtention des souches les plus représentées dans les données de pyroséquençage. Ces résultats pourront potentiellement aider à l’élaboration de stratégies pour améliorer la phytorémédiation en utilisant les champignons endophytes. / Endophytic fungi are organisms that live inside plant tissues without any apparent disease symptoms. They are found in virtually all plant species and their interactions can vary widely from mutualism to parasitism depending chiefly on environmental conditions and stresses. The diversity and community structure of fungal endophytes in extremely polluted sites and their role in phytoremediation remain largely unexplored. In this study we investigated the community structure of endophytic fungi in roots of two plant species (Eleocharis eryhtropoda and Populus sp.) growing spontaneously in three petroleum-contaminated sedimentation basins of a former petro-chemical plant with different contamination levels. We used both a culture-dependent method of strain isolation as well as a culture-independent method of pyrosequencing of ITS ribosomal DNA. Our results indicate that levels of contamination shape the taxonomic composition of endophytic fungi in E. erythropoda roots. A majority of the reads belonged to the Dothydeomycetes class in smaples from high petroleum-hydrocarbon levels, with the Alternaria genus accounting for the majority of these reads. In addition comparison between culture-dependent and -independent methods showed that strain isolation does not promote the most abundant species found in pyrosequencing. This could help to develop strategies for improving phytoremediation using fungal endophytes.

Démarche d’ingénierie écologique en santé des plantes : gestion des couvre-sol des vergers pour lutter contre les bactérioses des arbres fruitiers provoquées par Pseudomonas syringaeIdentifier les réservoirs et sources d’inoculum des agents phytopathogènes est un enjeu majeur en pathologie végétale. Les systèmes agricoles pérennes, tels que les vergers, sont soumis aux attaques de nombreux ravageurs et agents microbiens pathogènes. P. syringae, agent phytopathogène responsable de l’émergence de maladies des arbres fruitiers, dont la récente épidémie du chancre bactérien du kiwi causée P. syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), représente un enjeu économique important au niveau mondial. En France, les moyens de lutte sont constitués de traitements cupriques et de gestes préventifs visant à réduire la propagation de la bactérie au sein et entre les vergers. Avec la prise de conscience de la nécessité de la conservation de l’environnement par les consommateurs et producteurs, les méthodes de cultures actuelles ont tendances à s’orienter vers celles de l’agroécologie et l’usage de l’ingénierie écologique au service de la santé des plantes. En verger, la gestion des communautés de plantes des couvre-sols donne de bons résultats dans la lutte conte certaines espèces de ravageurs, tels que les arthropodes herbivores, mais les effets sur les communautés de microorganismes pathogènes restent inexplorés. Les plantes couvre-sol et adventices des vergers hébergent d’abondantes communautés de P. syringae, cependant le rôle de ces couverts végétaux dans l’émergence des maladies des arbres fruitiers reste incompris. Par conséquent, les travaux de recherche presentés ici focalisent sur l’étude simultanée des communautés de P. syringae associées aux plantes couvre-sol et aux arbres fruitiers de trois vergers d’abricotiers et de quatre vergers de kiwis du département de la Drôme, sud-est de la France, choisis pour leur état sanitaire (sain, malade ou émergence de la maladie), ainsi que des pratiques de gestion du couvre-sol différentes (sol nu, enherbement des inter-rangs, enherbement des inter rangs et rangs des arbres). En l’absence d’outils permettant une identification rapide et une affiliation à l’un des 13 phylogroupes actuellement décris pour l’espèce P. syringae, l’étude du génome complet d’une cinquantaine de souches de P. syringae a permis la mise au point de marqueurs moléculaires capables d’identifier 9 des 13 phylogroupes. L’étude des communautés de P. syringae hébergées par les couvre-sols végétaux montre un effet de la composition des communautés des plantes couvre-sol sur l’abondance et la structure des communautés de P. syringae. La présence de Prunella vulgaris, une plante de la famille des Lamiaceae, est corrélée avec une diminution de l’abondance des P. syringae. La reproductibilité de ce résultat est actuellement en cours d’investigation dans une parcelle expérimentale. Cependant, les résultats préliminaires montrent une absence d’effet de P. vulgaris sur l’abondance de P. syringae. L’étude simultanée des communautés de P. syringae des couvre-sols végétaux et des arbres fruitiers montre que des échanges se font entre les deux compartiments en raison de la présence de souches génétiquement proches. Chez le kiwi, lorsque Psa est présent il coexiste toujours avec d’autres P. syringae, soulevant la question des interactions entre ces souches et leur rôle dans l’émergence de la maladie. Enfin, les résultats mettent en avant un potentiel antagonisme entre les phylogroupes 1 et 2. / Process of ecological engineering in plant health: study of the role of orchard ground cover plants in the emergence of fruit tree diseases caused by Pseudomonas syringaeIdentification of reservoirs and inoculum sources of plant pathogenic microorganisms is a major issue in plant pathology. Perennial agricultural systems, such as orchards, are exposed to many pests and pathogenic microorganisms. P. syringae, a phytopathogenic bacterium responsible for the emergence of diseases of fruit trees, including the recent outbreak of bacterial canker of kiwifruit caused P. syringae pv. actinidiae (Psa), represent an important economic issue worldwide. In France, means of control of bacterial canker consist of copper treatments and preventive measures in order to reduce the spread of bacteria within and between orchards. With the awareness for environmental conservation by consumers and producers, current cultivation methods tend to be progressively replaced by more agroecological ones and the use of ecological engineering to improve plant health. Ecological engineering of orchard ground cover plant communities provides good results for the control of orchard pests, such as herbivorous arthropods, but the effects on pathogenic microbial communities remains unexplored. The ground cover plants and orchard weeds host abundant P. syringae communities, however the role of ground covers in the emergence of fruit tree diseases remains ignored. Therefore, the research presented here is focused on the simultaneous study of P. syringae communities associated with ground covers and fruit trees from three apricot and four kiwifruit orchards of Drôme county, southeastern France, chosen for their health status (healthy, diseased, or disease emergence), as well as different ground cover management practices (bare soil, ground cover in inter-rows, ground cover in inter-rows and tree rows). In the absence of tools for rapid identification and affiliation to one of 13 currently described phylogroups for the P. syringae species, the screening of whole genomes of more than fifty P. syringae strains has allowed the development of specific molecular markers able to identify 9 of the 13 phylogroups. Results show that ground cover P. syringae community abundances and structures are correlated to plant community composition. The presence of Prunella vulgaris, a plant of the Lamiaceae family, is correlated to a decrease in the P. syringae abundances. Reproducibility of this result is currently under investigation in an experimental field. However, preliminary results from the experimental field show that the presence of P. vulgaris in 1-year-old ground covers is not correlated to a decrease in P. syringae abundances. Simultaneous study of ground cover and fruit tree P. syringae communities highlight bacterial exchanges between these two compartments because of the presence of genetically correlated strains in both of them. When present, Psa coexist with other P. syringae, raising the question of the interaction between these strains and their role in the emergence of the disease. Finally, the results highlight a potential antagonism between phylogroups 1 and 2.

The study is about how to work with and create community structures for effective and sustainable social reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAAFAG), also called child soldiers in Liberia. It analyses the community structures which were engaged in the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration processes and questions whether these were premised on community values and norms. The study challenges some of the existing practices of working with community structures in reintegration programmes. The Structural-functionalist perspective is used as theoretical framework of the study based on the notion that social events, like DDRR programmes can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform or the contributions they make towards stability and continuity of societies where child soldiers are to be reintegrated. The study adopts a qualitative methodology to investigate community structures to reintegrate child soldiers in an effective, sustainable way. Different related research techniques, or triangulation, are used referring to a combination of mainly qualitative methods of data collection and analyses. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and documentary sources have different complementary strengths which are more comprehensive when used together. The findings indicated that children of all ages were “recruited” by armed groups and forces for diverse reasons. The findings confirmed children going through difficult experiences as they participated and supervised over violence. The war disoriented children‟s socialization processes. In some situations they returned to dysfunctional communities, without adequate support systems. The humanitarian led community approaches delivered results, however, these were short-lived. The engagement of the community structures was not based on clear community analysis. The intended manifest functions of the DDRR programmes and reintegration objectives for sustainability were eventually dysfunctional in most cases. The study‟s major recommendation is that a careful analysis of existing community structures, identification and engagement of positive community networks be made and that comprehensive capacity building programmes, built on societal values and norms nested within a National Planning Policy framework, will deliver durable and sustainable social reintegration of child soldiers in Liberia. / Sociology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)

The growth in the interdependence and complexity of socio-technical systems requires the development of tools and techniques to aid in the formulation of better policies. The efforts of this research focus towards developing methodologies and support tools for better policy design and formulation. In this thesis, a new framework and a systematic approach for the formulation of policies are proposed. Focus has been directed to the interactions between policy measures, inspired by concepts in process design and network analysis. Furthermore, we have developed an agent-based approach to create a virtual environment for the exploration and analysis of different configurations of policy measures in order to build policy packages and test the effects of changes and uncertainties while formulating policies. By developing systematic approaches for the formulation and analysis of policies it is possible to analyse different configuration alternatives in greater depth, examine more alternatives and decrease the time required for the overall analysis. Moreover, it is possible to provide real-time assessment and feedback to the domain experts on the effect of changes in the configurations. These efforts ultimately help in forming more effective policies with synergistic and reinforcing attributes while avoiding internal contradictions. This research constitutes the first step towards the development of a general family of computer-based systems that support the design of policies. The results from this research also demonstrate the usefulness of computational approaches in addressing the complexity inherent in the formulation of policies. As a proof of concept, the proposed framework and methodologies have been applied to the formulation of policies that deal with transportation issues and emission reduction, but can be extended to other domains.

The study is about how to work with and create community structures for effective and sustainable social reintegration of Children Associated with Armed Forces and Armed Groups (CAAFAG), also called child soldiers in Liberia. It analyses the community structures which were engaged in the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Rehabilitation and Reintegration processes and questions whether these were premised on community values and norms. The study challenges some of the existing practices of working with community structures in reintegration programmes. The Structural-functionalist perspective is used as theoretical framework of the study based on the notion that social events, like DDRR programmes can best be explained in terms of the functions they perform or the contributions they make towards stability and continuity of societies where child soldiers are to be reintegrated. The study adopts a qualitative methodology to investigate community structures to reintegrate child soldiers in an effective, sustainable way. Different related research techniques, or triangulation, are used referring to a combination of mainly qualitative methods of data collection and analyses. Focus group discussions, in-depth interviews and documentary sources have different complementary strengths which are more comprehensive when used together. The findings indicated that children of all ages were “recruited” by armed groups and forces for diverse reasons. The findings confirmed children going through difficult experiences as they participated and supervised over violence. The war disoriented children‟s socialization processes. In some situations they returned to dysfunctional communities, without adequate support systems. The humanitarian led community approaches delivered results, however, these were short-lived. The engagement of the community structures was not based on clear community analysis. The intended manifest functions of the DDRR programmes and reintegration objectives for sustainability were eventually dysfunctional in most cases. The study‟s major recommendation is that a careful analysis of existing community structures, identification and engagement of positive community networks be made and that comprehensive capacity building programmes, built on societal values and norms nested within a National Planning Policy framework, will deliver durable and sustainable social reintegration of child soldiers in Liberia. / Sociology / D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)