Background: Irresponsible self-medication is a problem for health systems in developing countries. We aimed to estimate the frequency of self-medication and associated factors in users of drugstores and pharmacies in Peru. Methods: We performed a secondary data analysis of the 2015 National Survey on User Satisfaction of Health Services (ENSUSALUD), a two-stage probabilistic sample of all regions of Peru. Non self-medication (NSM), responsible self-medication (RSM) and irresponsible self-medication (ISM) were defined as the outcome categories. Demographic, social, cultural and health system variables were included as covariates. We calculated relative prevalence ratios (RPR) with their 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) using crude and adjusted multinomial logistic regression models for complex samples with NSM as the referent category. Results: 2582 participants were included. The average age was 41.4 years and the frequencies of NSM, RSM and ISM were 25.2%, 23.8% and 51.0%; respectively. The factors associated with RSM were male gender (RPR: 1.35; 95%CI: 1.06-1.72), being between 40 and 59 years old (RPR: 0.53; 95%IC: 0.39-0.72), being 60 or older (RPR: 0.39; 95%IC: 0.25-0.59), not having health insurance (RPR: 1.89; 95%CI: 1.31-2.71) and living in the Highlands region (RPR: 2.27; 95%CI: 1.23-4.21). The factors associated with ISM were male gender (RPR: 1.41; 95%CI: 1.16-1.72), being between 40 and 59 years old (RPR: 0.68; 95%IC: 0.53-0.88), being 60 or older (RPR: 0.65; 95%IC: 0.48-0.88) and not having health insurance (RPR: 2.03; 95%CI: 1.46-2.83). Conclusion: Around half of the population practiced ISM, which was associated with demographic and health system factors. These outcomes are the preliminary evidence that could contribute to the development of health policies in Peru. / Revisión por pares

There is an oil boom occurring in the United States reminiscent of the production booms of the early 20th century. As the use of unconventional gas and oil extraction practices explode across the US, understanding how the affected public perceives this development is vital. As a major influence on public opinion, understanding the way this development is being framed by interest groups and the news media is an important step in understanding public perceptions. This study utilizes framing theory as a method for investigating how online and print media coverage of this development utilizes the frames promoted by actors on either side of this issue. Content analysis is used to examine national level industry and opposition websites to inductively uncover the thematic frames used by these actors in the public debate surrounding unconventional development. These frames are subsequently used to analyze newspaper articles published in metropolitan cities of Eagle Ford Shale region to discover how these or other frames are utilized in their coverage of the unconventional development occurring in the Eagle Ford Shale. I found that the pro-development frames used by proponent interest groups matched very closely with the pro-development frames used in the news media. Conversely, the way opposition frames are used by the opponent interest groups and in the news media display much more variance. These findings have implications for several theories seeking to explain the influence of interest groups on news coverage. And are important for fully understanding how the perceptions of residents regarding oil and gas activity are formed. While this research did not take the step to compare the news media frames used to the individual frames residents use to understand this activity, it does address a lacuna in the research on unconventional development by examining the way interest groups and the media frame their communications pertaining to the issue.

Seagrass habitats are critical habitat for many fish species and are currently threatened by anthropogenic and natural factors, such as coastal development, pollution, global climate change, and sea level rise. There are few studies that have tracked long- term changes in seagrass habitat and their associated fish communities. This project addressed this need using data collected by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from two South Florida sites, North Biscayne Bay, FL (NBB) and Port of Miami, FL (POM). The USGS sampling was part of ongoing monitoring projects designed to assist future management decisions that would enhance the protection of these valuable habitats. Data were collected biannually at the conclusion of the dry (April) and wet (September) seasons from 30 cells at each site. In each cell, the data collected included: six replicates for seagrass species and cover, five sweep net collections for fish species and abundance, as well as abiotic variables (water temperature, salinity, turbidity, water depth, and sediment depth). A distinct loss in fish and seagrass species were observed, particularly between the years of 2011-2014. These years coincided with several events including: the Port Miami Deep Dredge (PMDD) project during the years 2013-2015; periods of drought; and major storm events. Changes in fish community structure over this time period were largely driven by loss of species and increased homogenization of fish communities at both locations. More specifically, the NBB community shifted to resemble that of POM by 2014. These changes mirrored the loss of seagrass cover at both locations. Further studies are required to assess the extent to which ongoing dredging activities and other factors might be affecting seagrass cover, which ultimately affect fish communities.

Previous research on framing has proved its strong effects on the social perception and political preferences of individuals. Therefore, the aim of this research is to explore how Saudi women's issues have been framed in a sample of United States and Saudi newspapers. Saudi Vision 2030 is the post-oil plan for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that was announced on April 25, 2016. The sample of this thesis was 300 news stories from eight newspapers. The U.S. newspapers were the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. The Saudi newspapers were Al Riyadh, Okaz, Al Jazirah, and Al Watan. This thesis explores how these issues have been covered before and after Saudi Vision 2030 by answering five basic questions. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the news stories. For the quantitative analysis, five pre-defined generic frames from Semetko and Valkenburg were adopted: conflict frame, human interest frame, morality frame, economic consequences frame, and responsibility frame. An inductive approach to find the new frames was used for the qualitative analysis. Moreover, this thesis looked at how U.S. and Saudi newspapers have visually framed Saudi women through an analysis of the types of images used in the news stories related to Saudi women's issues. The main finding suggests that within the used frames in the newspapers, the U.S. newspapers focused more on the human-interest frame, while the Saudi newspapers mostly used the economic frame. Furthermore, the types of issues covered are discussed.

For the last two decades displaced homeless people living in public places have doted the American landscape, despite increasing national wealth. Two factors which may contribute to this phenomenon are: 1) how the issue of homelessness is perceived through media coverage, and 2) what attributions of causality and responsibility are extricated from the vast multitude of media messages. An integration of theoretical frameworks within social-psychology (attribution and priming theory) and communication (agenda setting and framing effects) was consummated in a hypothesized mediated inference process: conceptualized as a cognitive continuum where the issue of homelessness first enters the cognition of the social observer (inaugural prime); is then given salience by the frequency of media coverage (agenda setting); thereupon shaped by media portrayals (framed); and attributions of causality and responsibility are formed. To examine the proposed mediated inference process a survey questionaire (n=283) was administered to college students revealing a significant correlation between the importance placed on the issue of homelessness (agenda setting) and resultant attributions of causality. As respondents' perceptions of the importance of homelessness increased, their societal attributions of causality increased. Conversely, as perceptions of importance decreased personal, internal attributions of causality increased. Additionally, high television use was found, through regression analysis, to be a significant predictor of situational attributions of causality. An experiment (n=96) was also administered to examine how different newspaper and television framing conditions effect attributions of causality. The results indicate that newspaper portrayals presented as isolated events lead subjects to attribute causality to personal dispositions; whereas portrayals presented as overall accounts lead subjects to societal attributions. Although the evidence for a mediated inference process was inconclusive, the results suggest that the frequency and framing of media coverage significantly affect the process of attributing causality for social issues such as homelessness.

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To meet the latest requirements of the 6G standards, several techniques have been proposed in the open literature, such as millimeter waves, terahertz communication, and massive MIMO. In addition to these recent technologies, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is strongly advocated for 6G networks, as the 6G standard will not be dedicated to broadband services, but will rather be oriented towards reduced geographical cellular coverage. In this context, the deployment of UAVs is considered a key solution for seamless connectivity and reliable coverage. Although UAVs are characterized by their high mobility and their ability to establish line-of-sight links, their use is still impeded by several factors such as weather conditions, their limited computing power, and, most importantly, their limited energy. In this work, we are aiming for the novel technology that enables indefinite wireless power transfer for UAVs using laser beams. We propose a novel UAV deployment strategy, based on which we analyze the overall performance of the system in terms of wireless coverage and provide some useful insights. To this end, we use tractable tools from stochastic geometry to model the complex communication system.