The problem: For protected areas to remain relevant, we need to understand their impact on a wide set of conservation objectives and environmental outcomes. We also need to evaluate how this influence relates to the socio-ecological environment within which they occur. This is a complex endeavour requiring a pluralistic approach, which draws on a wide range of interdisciplinary fields. Research question: This thesis addresses the following question: What effects do mountain protected areas have on ecosystem services over time and how does this influence relate to broader socio-economic and ecological drivers of landscape change? Aim and objectives: I use a pluralistic, socio-ecological framing to assess the impact of ~40 years of mountain protection, drawing on comparisons of ~30 and ~40 years before and after protection respectively, with an adjacent area of similar terrain informing scenarios of counterfactual conditions. I also investigate what types of values (economic and intrinsic) are important when determining the impact of mountain protected areas. Thesis approach and methods: I operationalise the concepts of socio-ecological systems, ecosystem services, land use transitions and counterfactuals to investigate socio-ecological change and how it relates to protected area impact in the Groot Winterhoek, a mountain catchment in the south-western Cape of South Africa. This mountain catchment is important for regional water supplies for agricultural and domestic uses and falls in the Cape Floristic Region, a global biodiversity hotspot. It is comprised of privately owned mountain wildlands and a wilderness-protected area, known as the Groot Winterhoek Wilderness Area, established in 1978 (gazetted in 1985) which forms part of the Cape Floristic Region World Heritage Site. I combine methods from social science, ecology, environmental geography, geomatics and hydrology to understand the history of land use and cover (land use/cover) and associated ecosystem service trade-offs, how they are perceived by landowners as well as their wider impact on the region. Specifically, I assess the impact of protection on land use/cover, vegetation, fire and water flows over the last ~50 years, by comparing and contextualising results of change within the protected area to alternative scenarios of “no protection” (the counterfactual conditions). Vegetation and land use/cover change inside the protected area were determined respectively using 72 repeat terrestrial photographs and vegetation surveys, and an analysis of orthorectified aerial imagery. Methods used to construct the counterfactual scenarios of mechanisms (e.g. changes in land use/cover) that would likely drive vegetation changes inside the protected area included: i) 60 repeat surveys and in-depth interviews with landowners adjacent or proximal to the protected area owning unprotected land of similar terrain to the protected area; and ii) land use/cover change analysis of orthorectified aerial imagery of adjacent unprotected land of similar terrain before and after protected area establishment. 4 This latter information was used to understand the role of the protected area in driving vegetation changes inside the protected area. Social, biophysical and remote sensing results were directly used to parameterise land use/cover components of a hydrological model to determine the influence of protection on water flows. Specifically, water flows were simulated for the current state of the environment inside the protected area as well as for several counterfactual scenarios i.e. the alternative land use/cover scenarios of “no protection”. These counterfactual scenarios included land use/cover at two-time steps of ~30 and ~8 years before protection and one-time step ~40 years after protection both inside and outside the protected area. Results: Long-term change in ecosystem service use outside the protected area on privately owned land of similar terrain to inside the protected area (Section 3): Over the last ~50 years, outside the protected area, there was a shift from livestock-based, subsistence agriculture and small-scale farming to a diversified set of ecosystem service uses. The combined area of grazing and wildflower harvesting declined by 39%, while the number of landowners using the mountains for personal nature-based recreation and ecotourism increased by 61% and 23% respectively. Agriculture intensified in suitable areas of mountain land with the number of landowners cultivating land increasing by 20%. Exogenous socioeconomic drivers associated with globalisation and economic growth were important causal mechanisms of land use change. Landowners valued mountain protection for intrinsic and non-use reasons (73-80% of landowners), including existence, bequest and option values, as well as for the indirect use of water supply (72% of landowners) in comparison with direct use reasons such as spiritual/cultural experiences and nature-based recreation inside the protected area (18 and 50% of landowners respectively). Personal, nature-based recreation outside the wilderness-protected area was associated with valuing the protection of mountain land for intrinsic and non-use reasons. Long-term vegetation change inside the protected area and plausible mechanisms driving vegetation change (Section 4): Inside the mountain protected area, fynbos vegetation cover increased on average between 11 and 30% and there were significant declines in bare ground and rock cover. In 5 accumulation and fire intensities. However, these latter changes in land use/cover also occurred outside the protected area (see results summarised for Section 3 above and Section 4 below) and therefore cannot be attributed to protected area establishment. Land use/cover and the influence on water flows inside the protected area compared to counterfactual scenarios of no protection (Section 5): Declines in grazing and changes to the fire regimes occurred regardless of the protected area boundaries. In the past, there was a high frequency of small, low intensity fires across the landscape, both inside and outside the protected area. More recently, fires have been actively suppressed and this resultsin the build-up of biomass and the development of extensive, high intensity fires which, under suitable conditions, burn large expanses of the mountain catchment. Hydrological modelling showed that a high intensity burning regime negatively affected streamflow regardless of protected area boundaries. Streamflow increased by more than 80% under high flow conditions and decreased by more than 40% under low flow conditions relative to an unburnt ‘natural’ scenario. Over the last 50 years there has also been a substantial increase in dams, buildings and roads and minor increases in cultivation outside the protected area. This has been avoided inside the protected area where these land use/cover classes declined. If the increase in these land use/cover types observed outside the protected area occurred inside the protected area this would have resulted in reductions in daily streamflow leaving the protected portion of the catchment. For example, outside the protected area reductions of 8% to 25% of streamflow were observed during mid and low flow conditions respectively, particularly during dry years, in comparison to a ‘natural’ scenario. In contrast, inside the protected area streamflow recovered from past conditions to more closely resemble the natural flow conditions of the catchment. Therefore, had the protected area not been established there would have been losses in streamflow from the catchment as well as an increase in the degree of fragmentation within this mountain area. However, with increased water storage and fragmentation outside the protected area has also come increased socio-economic opportunities such as employment and local opportunities for ecotourism and sustainable agriculture e.g. indigenous cut flows. This highlights the importance of maintaining various forms of land management systems (multifunctional landscapes) within mountain ecosystems but also the need to understand the sustainability of different land management system types. Determining appropriate land management systems for mountain areas should be based on a full understanding of the impacts on ecosystem service benefits and costs at local and regional levels between social groups both spatially and temporally. Broader significance: This thesis contributes to the conservation literature on two main fronts. Firstly, it contributes conceptually and theoretically to understanding the dynamics of ecosystem services in relation to mountain protection. Secondly, it contributes methodologically by using an inclusive, trans- and interdisciplinary research approach for evidence-based conservation at a place-based and landscape level. The study provides a case 6 study example of the positive impact that mountain protection has on water-related ecosystem services, notably by maintaining streamflow throughout high to low flow periods and during dry years. It also provides clear evidence that ecosystem service trade-offs do not remain constant over time and shows that intrinsic and non-use values are required when describing the importance of mountain protected areas. In terms of understanding the impact that protected areas have in mountain regions, the research shows that complex processes are at play that extend beyond the boundaries of a specific protected area in both time and space. Interactions between global and local drivers were found to be prominent causal mechanisms of socio-ecological change and ultimately determined the influence of mountain-protection on land use/cover, fire, vegetation and water-related ecosystem services. The thesis emphasises that counterfactual framings are necessary to understand and attribute the impacts of protected areas on environmental outcomes, however pluralism and socio-ecological approaches are critical to determine plausible counterfactual conditions. This thesis focused only on landowners adjacent and proximal to the protected area owning the majority of mountain catchment land of similar terrain. It is likely that multiple socioeconomic trade-offs have occurred between different social groups and generations at both local and regional levels. Understanding how the disadvantages and benefits of the impacts of protected areas are apportioned across the landscape and temporally is an aspect that requires future research. Central to this would be to fully consider how human well-being is influenced both upstream and downstream, including at regional levels, and between social groups and across generations. Considering the impact of protected areas on the full range of ecosystem services and linking this to societal preferences and perceptions should be incorporated into the overall goal of developing an evidence base for conservation. This is because it is both scientific evidence and societal change that can determine protected area persistence and thus long-term protected area impact.

The overall aim of this research was to explore why some hospitals are more successful than others at reducing the acquisition rates of multidrug-resistant organisms. Using a socio-ecological perspective on health systems adapted from works in ecological restoration, ecosystems management, and healthcare, a participatory comparative case study design was employed. The study was collaboratively conducted on a surgical unit at a Netherlands hospital with very low rates of multidrug-resistant organisms and a surgical unit in a Canadian hospital with higher rates of these pathogens. The cases were selected on the basis that they were both academic health sciences centres of similar size in publicly funded systems; yet, they reported differing rates of MDRO infections. Research methods included a total of six unit observations, nine practitioner-led photo walkabouts of the units (n=13), six photo elicitation focus groups with practitioners (n=26), and the review of relevant policies and procedures and related infection prevention and control data. Common findings across both cases include the perceived importance of engaged leadership, the presence of environmental design issues, a lack of antibiotic prescribing restrictions, and the frequent use of workarounds that may be problematic for infection prevention and control. Disparate findings between cases include differences in ratios of hospital beds per capita, bed occupancy rates, staffing practices, equipment cleaning processes, bed cleaning systems (centralized versus manual) and the presence, in one hospital, of an active grass roots Hygiene in Practice group engaging practitioners in several ongoing activities to promote infection prevention and control. There is a lack of comparable findings between the two cases on hand hygiene audit protocols, surveillance strategies, reporting of acquisition rates, and the nature and extent of high risk populations for community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the two hospitals catchment areas. The findings and methodological challenges identified in this study suggest that case selection in future comparative infection prevention and control case studies should be based on an expanded list of criteria. These criteria should include comparable audits, surveillance, and reporting practices and comparable demographic and other relevant data, such as data on the agricultural practices within and demographic attributes of vulnerable populations within the hospital catchment areas.

No description available.

This qualitative study addressed an intersection in which the application of the medical model to educational disabilities and its implications for educational labeling of students interacted with the professional enculturation of clinical social workers. Employed as clinicians in programs administered in a large south eastern school district in the United States, five social workers served elementary students labeled Emotionally/Behaviorally Disabled (EBD) through federally authorized provisions for special education related services. This study used grounded theory methods to discover and analyze the social workers' underlying assumptions, values, and patterns of practice with regard to ethical and guild issues, roles and responsibilities, and bases of knowledge. The study found that participants interpreted and applied a knowledge base grounded in the normative aspects of social work. Their preparation made it possible to compete for licensure (LCSW) and assume roles as professional helpers but did not provide all the tools they needed to carry out their work as clinicians with students in EBD programs. Secondly, it found that ambiguities regarding ethics, guild issues, and roles emerged with regard to acting as helping professionals in an integrated professional setting. Each practitioner exercised certain latitude to respond as needed to challenges which varied from site to site. Finally, the findings reflected how the clinicians have situated themselves in the face of the demands of documentation procedures and of participation in meetings endemic to special education.

The study’s purpose was to describe a handball ATDE (Athletic Talent Development Environment) in the south of Sweden and to examine and derive the success factors of the ATDE, and within this context explore the motivational climate and autonomy support as perceived by members of the ATDE. The study is based on three theories: the Holistic ecological approach, Self Determination theory and Achievement Goal theory. The study’s participants all represented a club in the south of Sweden and consisted of players in the age of 15-19, the club manager, coaches and parents. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of documents surrounding the club's vision and training/match policies. A total of seven interviews with four players, two coaches and the manager were conducted. Five observations at a minimum of 90 minutes gave the authors a broader view of the ATDE. An analysis of content and a triangulation with the supervisor were conducted in order to interpret the empirical data. The study revealed that the club is under re-organization, and its enthusiasm to evolve and become even better. The study found the ATDE to have a mastery oriented and autonomy supportive climate which in many ways contributed to the successful features of the ATDE. The study confirms earlier research regarding ATDE success factors as well as connections between SDT and AGT. The results also provide a deeper understanding of how successful factors, relationships, motivational climate and the autonomy support in an ATDE, affects young handball player’s motivation to evolve and reach their full potential. Implications with a basis in the theories used are presented.

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important health concern in prison populations as they have an increased risk of the disease compared to the general population. However, there is a lack of interventions to reduce prisoners’ cardiovascular risk, and little is known about the knowledge and risk perceptions of the disease in prison. This study aims to explore the knowledge and risk perceptions of CVD from the perspectives of prisoners and staff to guide the development of a cardiovascular risk reduction intervention for prisoners. Methods: This was a qualitative, exploratory study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 prisoners and 11 staff, who were purposively recruited from a private prison in Scotland. Framework analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings: The prisoners and staff had limited, non-expert knowledge of CVD. Common behavioural risk factors and cardiovascular events were identified, but gaps in knowledge were evidenced. There were similarities and differences in perceptions of prisoners’ risk of the disease; risk was primarily assessed by judgements about the prisoners’ current health status rather than their risk factor status. Prisoners’ risk of CVD was attributed to negative health behaviours such as smoking and physical inactivity, and these were influenced by multiple factors that interacted across three levels of influence. Individual factors included self-efficacy and mental health problems, social factors included the prison culture and social interactions, and institutional factors included the prison regime and healthcare barriers. An ecological framework was designed to guide a cardiovascular risk reduction intervention that focuses on the multi-level influences of prisoners’ cardiovascular risk. Conclusion: Prisoners have limited knowledge and misconceptions of CVD, and engage in several risky behaviours. There are multi-level influences on prisoners’ CVD risk and cardiovascular health. An ecological approach is recommended to address these influences to reduce the prisoners’ risk of CVD.

Masters of Science / Substance abuse among the youth is one of the main social challenges in South Africa and around the world. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons of substance abuse among the youth in Grabouw, Western Cape Province of South Africa. The reason why this research was conducted was because the Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning Unit (ITLU) of the University of the Western Cape approached the Department of Social Work with research topics that emerged from the Faculty of Community and Health sciences involvement in the Theewaterkloof communities. One of the concerns expressed by the community of Grabouw is the high prevalence of substance abuse in this community. This study therefore explored the reasons for substance abuse amongst the youth of Grabouw. The research was conducted using the ecological approach as a theoretical framework. A qualitative research methodology was used to explore the phenomenon under study. The research project followed an explorative, descriptive and contextual research design and with this the researcher sought to understand the reasons for substance abuse. The data was gathered through semi-structured one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions and was later analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis. The findings showed that the reasons for substance abuse among the youth in the rural area of Grabouw are contextual reasons in which the family plays a major role in influencing substance use and also peer pressure, lack of recreational facilities, low religious involvement, experimenting and negative role models within the family and community, the ‘dop’ system, unemployment, availability and affordability were identified as the major reasons for substance abuse. The second major theme that emerged from the study was the psychological reasons for substance abuse. This includes low self-esteem, relieving stress, sexual stimulation, motivation to do unlawful things and boosting performances in sporting activities. The researcher has put forward various recommendations that will contribute towards solving substance abuse.

Ce travail de recherche vise à étudier la transmission d’informations vibrotactiles pour l’aide à la navigation et plus particulièrement pour améliorer la régulation des phases d’approche et la gestion des contacts avec l’environnement. L’un des défis majeurs de ce domaine de recherche est de comprendre comment rendre compte d’informations, parfois complexes, avec une modalité sensorielle n’étant pas naturellement utilisée pour les traiter. Ainsi, ce travail doctoral avait pour but de montrer la possibilité de suppléer la vision et à spécifier les caractéristiques de la stimulation vibrotactile qui influencent l’accès aux informations d’approche. Les différentes études qui étayent cette thèse ont été réalisées à partir d’un dispositif expérimental couplant un environnement virtuel et un dispositif tactile comprenant différents vibrateurs placés à la surface de la peau. Les deux premiers chapitres expérimentaux se sont appuyés sur des tâches d’estimation de temps de pré-contact (time-to-contact, TTC) classiquement utilisées pour étudier les processus visuels mis en jeu dans la régulation des situations d’approche. Le premier chapitre expérimental (expériences 1, 2 et 3) constituait une étude préliminaire qui a notamment montré que le jugement était plus précis lorsque le dispositif tactile renvoyait des informations concernant la distance d’approche (par rapport à des informations sur la taille angulaire). Les résultats du second chapitre expérimental (expériences 4 et 5) ont montré que la modalité tactile permettait d’estimer le TTC mais de manière moins précise que la modalité visuelle. Toutefois, lorsque la modalité visuelle est occultée, transmettre des informations tactiles durant la période d’occultation permet d’améliorer la précision du jugement. Le dernier chapitre expérimental (expériences 6 et 7) s’est intéressé plus précisément à l’influence des informations vibrotactiles sur la régulation d’une approche au sol dans une situation simulée d’atterrissage en hélicoptère. Les deux expérimentations ont montré que l’utilisation d’informations tactiles permettait une diminution significative de la vitesse de contact au sol lorsque l’environnement visuel était dégradé et que cette diminution dépendait de la variable informationnelle transmise par le dispositif. Au final, les résultats de ce travail de recherche sont discutés au regard des théories fondamentales sur la perception et l’action. Ils permettent de montrer comment des informations d’approche peuvent être perçues à travers la modalité tactile et ainsi suppléer la vision lorsqu’elle est dégradée. / The purpose of this doctoral research was to study vibrotactile information in navigation tasks, especially for approach regulation. One of the main issues in this research area is to find out how to specify complex information though a sensory modality that is usually unused. Thus, this work aimed at demonstrating the possibility to supply vision with tactile information and at specifying the characteristics of the vibrotactile stimulation that allow access to the information. The different studies have been carried out with an experimental display coupling a virtual environment and a tactile display consisting of several actuators placed on the skin. The first two empirical chapters were based on time-to-contact (TTC) judgment tasks, a paradigm generally used to study visual processes involved in approach situations. The first experimental chapter (experiments 1, 2 and 3) was a preliminary study, which showed that TTC estimation were more precise when the tactile display conveyed information about the distance to the target (compared to information about its angular size). The results of the second chapter (experiments 4 and 5) showed that TTC estimation was less accurate with tactile information compared to vision. Nevertheless, conveying tactile information when visual information was occluded significantly improved time-to-contact estimation. In the last chapter of this thesis, we focused on the influence of vibrotactile information on the regulation of a ground approach with a virtual situation of landing with a helicopter. We showed that tactile information reduced significantly the impact velocity when the visual environment was degraded (experiment 6 and 7). Moreover, the results showed that this decrease of velocity depended on the variable conveyed by the tactile display. Finally, the results of this work are discussed regarding fundamental theories about perception and action. Overall, it shows that approach information can be perceive through the tactile modality and thus supply vision in degraded environment.

Full implementation of special schools converted into special school resource centres in South Africa need to be finalised by 2021, as specified in the Education White Paper 6. The purpose of special school resource centres is firstly to provide necessary resources for the education and training of learners experiencing serious barriers to learning, and secondly to provide, together with the district-based support teams, guidance and support to full-service schools and main stream schools. Despite these expectations and goals, many special schools are not fully strengthened and functional yet. Role-players involved at special school resource centres often feel unequipped to successfully manage their centres in the absence of human resources, knowledge and infrastructure. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding on how the asset-based approach could be utilised in supporting (or not) the more efficient functioning of a rural resource-constrained special school resource centre in the North West province, South Africa. The asset-based approach and bio-ecological model was used as conceptual framework for the study. Qualitative research was elected as methodological paradigm and an instrumental case study as research design. Interpretivism was selected as meta-theory. One rural resource-constrained special school resource centre was selected through convenience sampling, and eight participants were purposefully selected. Data was collected with individual semi-structured interviews, a focus group discussion, and observation; and documented in audio recorded verbatim transcripts, photographs, field notes and a research journal. Following thematic data analysis, three main themes emerged: identified assets and resources at the resource-constrained special school resource centre (natural assets and resources, human resources, physical resources, and resources for gardening); challenges at the resource-constrained special school resource centre (limited physical space, challenges related to the use of technology, additional responsibilities and related time constraints, and participants? location in relation to the special school resource centre); ways in which mobilised assets and resources supported the functioning of the resource-constrained special school resource centre (financial support for the special school resource centre, supporting the National School Nutrition Programme, strengthening partnerships that could support the functioning of the special school resource centre, skills development as outcome of the two asset-based projects, and intra and interpersonal qualities as a result of implementing the asset-based approach). It was therefore found that the implementation of the asset-based approach is one way to support the functioning of a resource-constrained special school resource centre. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted

The holistic ecological approach (HEA) suggests that athlete’s talent development is influenced by the environment in which the athlete is embedded, and that some environments are more successful in facilitating athlete’s junior to senior transition. This study uses the HEA and the two working models to examine one effective talent development environment in Swedish table tennis. HEA promotes a case study design where the two working models are subsequently transformed into empirical models acting as a summary of the case. The focal environment was centred around a training group with supportive relationships, especially between the prospective and senior elite athletes. Furthermore, the environment supported the athletes in their dual careers (i.e., combination of sport and education), which helped the athletes to maintain a balanced lifestyle and to develop in both sport and life. The environment was characterized by a strong and coherent organizational culture centred around a basic assumption “we are community of committed members” contributing to the environment’s effectiveness, that is, to producing senior elite athletes, club growth, recognition, youth results and committed athletes in all ages. This study examines the pathway to sporting excellence in Swedish table tennis using the HEA and provides important insights to sport organizations working with talent development in a complex racket-sport, such as table tennis.