The impact of a mandatory Part 48 training program on the health and safety knowledge level of newly employed inexperienced miners in Texas was studied. Part 48 training was defined by compliance with Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) mandatory health and safety training requirements. A two-group pretest, posttest research design was utilized. Group one individuals were newly employed inexperienced persons who received mandatory Part 48 training in accordance with MSHA guidelines. Group two subjects were newly employed inexperienced persons who worked for companies that were exempt from conducting a Part 48 training program. MSHA's health and safety knowledge inventory was utilized. A significant difference was found in the health and safety training program when compared with individuals who did not receive the training . A significant difference was also found in the posttest scores for eight of the ten subject areas of the MSHA health and safety knowledge inventory for persons who completed a Part 48 training program when compared to persons who did not receive the training . Analysis of gain scores resulted in significant differences in the same subject areas indicated by posttest scores. It was concluded that MSHA Part 48 did have a significant impact on the health and safety knowledge level of newly employed inexperienced miners. Additional implications noted relate to the impact of a Part 48 training program on accidents, productivity, absenteeism, turnover, job satisfaction and management styles; role of MSHA in miner training; development of new training materials; methods of training; and the evaluation of health and safety training programs.

Introduction: Video game is an emerging technology with potential to overcome many of the current barriers to behavior change. Video game playing is now woven into the fabric of children’s life and has been developed to educate individuals in health-related areas. Story immersion refers to the experience of being fully absorbed within a story in the game and is a key factor that contributes to the mechanism of behavior change. “Escape from Diab (Diab)is a health videogame designed to lower the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes through behavior change components that were integrated into activities within the game storyline. This thesis was designed to investigate the effect of Diab for childhood obesity prevention among Hong Kong Chinese children. Methods: A literature review was conducted. Subsequently, study one conducted the validation of the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children (PAQ-C) with 469 Hong Kong Chinese children. Study two was a cross-sectional study to explore the associations of self-efficacy, motivation, preference with both self-reported and objective physical activity (PA) in 301 children. Study three consisted of two phases. Phase one conducted individual interviews with 34 Hong Kong Chinese children to gather their perceptions of Diab and to assess Diab’s acceptability and applicability. Phase two examined the effect of playing nine episodes of Diab on children’s health outcomes (i.e., motivation, self-efficacy, preference for diet and PA, and PA behavior) through a non-randomized intervention. Results: The review demonstrated the effects of interventions by using health videogames on the psychological correlates. However, limited evidence is available to draw conclusions on the games’ behavioral modification efficacy. In study one, good internal consistency and test-retest reliability suggest that the PAQ-C is an adequately reliable instrument for use among Chinese children. The significant moderate correlation between the PAQ-C score and accelerometer measured moderate-to-vigorous PA support the PAQ-C’s acceptable validity. Study two revealed the important effects of self-efficacy and autonomous motivation in predicting PA. Differences were found between the prediction of self-reported PA and objective PA, which is likely due to self-reported error variance common to the PAQ-C and psychological correlates but not common to acclerometry. Study three indicated that Diab was perceived to be an immersive game by most of participating Hong Kong Chinese children. Four themes emerged from the interviews indicated that story immersion was a perceptible component and that Diab, developed for American children, was acceptable to the Hong Kong Chinese children. The pilot intervention study found short-term benefits after completing the game. However, the effects were not sustained at follow-up testing 8-10 weeks later. Conclusion: The current thesis demonstrated the validity of PAQ-C and the important effects of self-efficacy and autonomous motivation in predicting PA, which could inform the development of efficacious interventions. Diab, a Health videogames with appealing characters and immersive stories, partially motivated children to improve their motivation, self-efficacy, and preference for diet and PA behaviors immediately after completing nine episodes of the game, however, the lasting effectiveness and mechanisms of change require more thorough investigation.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in ful lment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg, 2015 / This research investigates the e ects of the frequency components of the lightning First Short Stroke (FSS) on the current pathway through human tissues using frequency domain analysis. A Double Exponential Function (DEF) is developed to model the FSS with frequency components in the range 10 Hz 100 kHz. Human tissues are simulated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) in COMSOL and comprises of two types of models: Single Layer Cylindrical Model (SLCM) and Multi-layered Cylindrical Model (MLCM). The SLCM models 54 human tissues independently and the MLCM models the human leg with ve tissue layers: bone marrow, cortical bone, muscle, blood and fat. Three aspects are analysed: current density, complex impedance and power dissipation. From the SLCM results, aqueous tissues have the lowest impedances and tissue heat dissipation is proportional to tissue impedance. Results from the MLCM show that 85% of the FSS current ows through muscle, 11% ows through blood, 3:5% through fat and the rest through cortical bone and bone marrow. From the results, frequency dependent equivalent circuit models consisting of resistors and capacitors connected in series are proposed. The simulation results are correlated with three main clinical symptoms of lightning injuries: neurological, cardiovascular and external burns. The results of this work are applicable to the analysis of High Voltage (HV) injuries at power frequencies. / MT2017

As the economic hub of South Africa, Johannesburg attracts cross-border migrants in search of improved livelihoods; over half the population of some of its inner-city suburbs are made up of cross border migrants. Globally as well as locally, foreigners have been blamed for the spread of diseases such as HIV. As a result, they have suffered challenges in accessing public healthcare, particularly antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV. Studies have shown that despite these challenges - foreigners experienced better ART outcomes than nationals. There is a need to explore the ways in which cross border migrants use to access and to stay on treatment, given the wide-range of challenges that they face during their stay in Johannesburg. Semi-structured interviews with five nurses and ten cross-border migrants currently receiving ART, along with non-participant observations, were used to collect data from two public clinics in inner-city Johannesburg. Analysis suggests that the family network in the country of origin remains critical, as cross border migrants are not disclosing their status in the city in which they live, but do so to their families in their countries of origin. Data shows that when it comes to accessing and staying on treatment, cross-border migrants go to the clinic every month as do nationals; ask for more treatment from nurses when going home temporarily; eat healthily; but hide when taking medication, and negotiate confidentiality and trust within their families in countries of origin. Some are found to access treatment in their countries of origin while staying in Johannesburg. Despite the lack of social networks in the inner city, this data suggests that cross-border migrants are successful in accessing and continuing with ART. There is need for future research to look at social networks for internal migrants, so as to compare results.

Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / The aim of the facility being designed is to focus on the resident by utilizing healing architecture, the notion that architectural elements and design effect ones well being. The disease Tuberculosis will be used as a platform for this exploration. After much research, it is evident that the Tuberculosis (TB) problem is worse today due to inadequate health care facilities and ineffective treatment methods, which do not handle the issue with the urgency it deserves. Currently, TB is treated for a very limited period of time in hospitals. Once this time is up, most patients are able to return home where they have to be self medicated. This is a dangerous, expensive and unreliable practice, as neglecting to take ones medication regularly can result in other strains of TB being developed. This is clearly a weak and irresponsible method of treatment, and therefore this report proposes that the health sector returns to the traditional methods of treating the disease, which is through isolation and a long period of confinement in a recovery setting. This investigation will be performed through analysing forms of health architecture and how to achieve a humane space for long term patients. Plants featured strongly in this investigation, and therefore research into the role planting has in healing architecture has been emphasised. / XL2018

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa in fulfilment of the requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the field of Demography and Population Studies. / Background: In exploring the relationship between migration and HIV/AIDS, a focus of earlier studies was on the role of the mobile population in the geographical spread of the disease. There has been a shift in this perception and the focus now is on the implications of being a migrant. A body of literature has developed on the risk of migrants contracting HIV, but only a few studies have examined the AIDS/TB mortality risk as a consequence of migration, with the results showing that migrants have higher chance of dying of AIDS/TB compared to their non-migrant counterparts. However, these studies mainly looked at the impact of migration on mortality due to AIDS/TB and did not make provision for the presence of other causes of death. Therefore, this study is geared towards investigating migration as it relates to death caused by AIDS/TB, longitudinally, and in the presence of other causes such as non communicable diseases, other infectious diseases, and external causes of death, in rural South Africa. Specifically, the study addressed the following questions: (i) What is the risk of dying from AIDS/TB among migrants in rural South Africa in the presence of other causes of death? (ii) How does this relationship compare with the relationship between migration and other causes of death? (3) What are possible predictors of the relationship between migration and AIDS/TB in the presence of other causes of death? Method: This research project is part of a longitudinal study of the inhabitants of the Agincourt sub-district, situated in the rural north-eastern part of South Africa. The study utilises the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System data spanning 12 years, starting from 1st January, 2000 to 31st December, 2011. The main target group for the study is individuals aged 20 to 69 years at the date of analysis. The selected individuals are divided into the following categories: (i) the return migrants who returned after spending a period of time outside the study area; (ii) the in-migrants who moved into the study location for the first time, and (iii) the permanent residents (non migrants). A six month residence threshold period is used to distinguish participants from ordinary visitors. The migration status categorical variable was further expanded from three to five categories with in-migrant and return migrant categories being split to accommodate short and long-term durations of exposure. In the year 2000, the baseline year, a total of 25,621 individuals who met the entry criteria were recruited into the study. For data analysis, a Fine and Gray model is used, which is a variant of a Cox proportional hazard model, to estimate the competing risk of dying among the selected participants by sex. The causes of death (CoD) variable was categorised into the following broad categories: “AIDS/TB”, “Non Communicable Disease”, “External cause” and “Other infectious disease”, with indeterminate causes coded as missing. The five categories of migration serve as the independent variable, with permanent residence acting as the reference group, while the broad Cause of Death categories are the main dependent variables. Other dependent variables are: period, nationality, education and socio-economic status. Results: This first set of results aims to address the question on the risk of AIDS/TB mortality among migrants in rural South Africa in the presence of other causes of death. The findings are that male and female short-term return migrants have significantly higher relative risk of dying of AIDS/TB death when compared to their non-migrants counterparts with sub-hazard ratio (SHR) of 4.87 (95% CI 4.17-5.72; P<0.001) and 5.44 (95% CI 4.64-6.38; P<0.001)) reported for both gender group respectively. For male and female long-term return migrants, their SHR was 1.80 (95% CI 1.43-2.26; P<0.001) and 2.06 (95% CI 1.57-2.70; P<0.001) respectively. The results did not reveal significant results for the in-migrants. The second set of results aims to address the second research question, which is, how does the relationship between migration and mortality caused by AIDS/TB in rural South Africa in the context of other causes of death compare with the relationship between migration and causes different from AIDS/TB. The results show that Short-term return migrants have higher mortality than non-migrants, whatever the four causes of mortality. For instance, the competing risk of death due to AIDS/TB for short-term return migrants compared to non-migrants showed a lower SHR for external cause of death, namely 8.78 (95% CI 5.86-13.16; P<0.05) vis-à-vis non-migrants. This implies that the difference in the relative risk of mortality between migrants and non migrants is even higher for external causes than for AIDS/TB. The same is applicable to the risk of death from other infectious diseases for females, which has a SHR of 4.97 (95% CI 2.50-9.89; P<0.05) in the competing risk model. The relative risk of death due to AIDS/TB for male is 4.87 (95% CI 4.14-5.72 P<0.001) while that of female is 5.44 (95% CI 4.64-6.38; P<0.001); respectively. With regards to the question on the possible predictors of the relationship between migration and AIDS/TB in the presence of other causes of death, it is shown that period is one of the predictors of the relationship between migration and AIDS/TB mortality. And, it is relevant to the study participants who died as a result of AIDS/TB, NCDs and other infectious diseases. In general, the risk dwindles in the latter period when the antiretroviral drugs become available for AIDS/TB. Nationality is also a determinant of the relationship and it is applicable to those who lost their lives due AIDS/TB (female only), NCDs and other infections (female). In all, the Mozambican nationals are less likely to die in comparison with the South Africans. Educational status is a predictor and it relevance cuts across virtually all the causes of death. The dominant pattern that is revealed in this context is that the higher the level of education, the lower the risk of death due to any of the causes. The predictive impact of SES can only be felt among the respondents whose death was due to AIDS/TB and NCDs (female only). Conclusion: With circular labour migration in South Africa showing no evidence of declining and with the attendant mortality risks due to AIDS/TB and other causes, and needs to be carefully considered - in policies aiming to control mortality in South Africa. Disease-induced migration creates burdens not only for the left-behind families in terms of their means of livelihood through loss of remittances, but also for the burden on health care facilities in the rural area. With short-term labour migrants being a high risk group, the success of intervention programmes addressing the problem of HIV infection and the resultant mortality implication, such as ‘treatment as prevention’ programmes, can only be guaranteed by recognising the risks incumbent on this group of people and the influence of the larger communities. / XL2018

Thesis (M. Com. (Economics))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic & Business Sciences, 2017 / This study establishes the causal impact of piped water access on child health in rural South Africa (2008 – 2015) through the use of a panel dataset and a quasi-experimental sample space. By employing an ordinal measure of child health as the dependent variable within ordinal probit, fixed and random effects, propensity-score matched difference-in-difference and system-GMM estimators, it is demonstrated that positive health benefits for children with access to piped water are observed if and only if the minimum level of educational attainment of the primary-caregiver is equal to or greater than 7 years. This finding of complementarity is demonstrated to be a function of an individual’s (in)capacity to evaluate water quality: people below this threshold suffer from a piped water bias, place insufficient weight on the observable characteristics of water when determining water quality and are subsequently less likely to treat piped water preceding consumption. The interactional effect estimates are statistically significant at the 5% level with the impact ranging from 1.617 to 2.008 levels. / GR2018

Salmonella sp. é um dos principais microrganismos causadores de surtos de enfermidades transmitidas por alimentos associados ao consumo de ovos e de alimentos formulados com este ingrediente. Ovos desidratados são largamente utilizados pelas indústrias de alimentos, por oferecer maior praticidade e maior padronização em relação ao produto \"in natura\". Apesar do processo tecnológico de desidratação do ovo incluir uma etapa de pasteurização, existe um risco de haver microrganismos sobreviventes, já que a pasteurização é feita em temperatura branda. Além disso, a pasteurização pode destruir os fatores intrínsecos antimicrobianos presentes na clara, possibilitando a multiplicação de microrganismos que sobreviveram ao processo de pasteurização ou que contaminaram o produto após a pasteurização. O controle da Aa do produto desidratado e o tempo de armazenamento são, portanto, fatores fundamentais para o controle da multiplicação de microrganismos indesejáveis. Nesse estudo, avaliou-se a cinética de multiplicação de Salmonella experimentalmente adicionada a ovo em pó Aa ajustada para 0,4, 0,6, 0,8 e 0,9, durante o armazenamento em quatro temperaturas: 8°C, 15°C, 25°C e 35°C. Os resultados indicaram que S. Enteritidis é capaz de sobreviver por longo tempo (pelo menos 56 dias) em ovo em pó com Aa próximo de 0,4 quando armazenado a 8°C, 15° e a 25°C. Essa sobrevivência é menor (até 28 dias) quando o armazenamento é feito a 35°C. No ovo em pó com Aa em tomo de 0,6 ou 0,8, S. Enteritidis sobrevive por menos tempo do que no produto com Aa de cerca de 0,4, independentemente da temperatura de armazenamento. No produto com Aa de cerca de 0,9, há grande multiplicação de S. Enteritidis quando o armazenamento é feito a 15°C, 25°C ou 35°C. Nesse produto, o armazenamento a 8°C impede a multiplicação do patógeno. Verificou-se também que Salmonella Radar, resistente a diversos antibióticos, apresentou o mesmo comportamento que S. Enteritidis nas amostras de ovo estudadas. / Salmonella is one of the major foodborne pathogens associated to the consumption of eggs and foods containing eggs. Powdered eggs are widely used in the food industry because they are more convenient and uniform than the in natura product. Despite the existence of a pasteurization step in the drying process, Salmonella can survive because the pasteurization of eggs should be done under mild temperature. Moreover, pasteurization can destroy the intrinsic antimicrobial components of the albumen, making the multiplication of Salmonella possible when the time and temperature of storage are not appropriate. Thus, the water activity (Aw) of the product and the storage time and temperature are essential factors in the control of Salmonella. In this work, we evaluated the growth kinetics of Salmonella in experimentally inoculated powdered egg, adjusted to different Aw values (0.4, 0.6, O.S and 0.9) during storage at 8°C, 15°C, 25°C and 35°C, up to 8 weeks. The results indicated that Salmonella Enteritidis is able to survive for long time in powdered eggs (at least 56 days) when the Aw is dose to 0.4 and the temperature is 8°C, or 15°C or 25°C. The survival is lower when the temperature is 35°C. When the Aw is dose to 0.6 or to 0.8, the pathogen survives for less time than in the product with Aw 0.4, regardless the storage temperature. When the Aw is dose to 0.9, there is an intensive growth of the pathogen when the storage is done at 15°C, 25°C or 35°C. However, storage at 8°C inhibits the growth of Salmonella at this Aw. Salmonella Radar, resistant to several antibiotics, presented the same growth partem as S. Enteritidis.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between children's enjoyment and perceived competence in physical education (PE) and the effects these factors may have on physical activity participation outside of school. Fifth through eighth grade (n = 100) school children completed questionnaires pertaining to their enjoyment in PE, perceived competence in PE, and physical activity participation outside of school. Results indicated a positive significant relationship between enjoyment in PE, and perceived competence in PE (p<0.01). Children with higher perceptions of competence in school PE, reported greater physical activity participation outside of the school environment (p<0.002). Enjoyment in PE had no statistical significance in determining physical activity participation outside of school (p>0.05). Understanding the factors which influence physical activity participation can help inform future policies and strategies aimed at providing developmentally appropriate experiences, ultimately providing intrinsic motivation to seek out, and sustain, regular physical activity strategies aimed at providing developmentally appropriate experiences, ultimately providing intrinsic motivation to seek out, and sustain, regular physical activity participation. / by Keith Brazendale. / Vita. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2013. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

The effect of parasitism on the individual, and on a population, is one of the least understood and poorly studied areas of fish ecology. Parasites compete for maternal energetic reserves required for the production of viable eggs and offspring; thus parasites can directly influence population dynamics by lowering the number of offspring that survive to produce. The goal of this work was to explore the effect of parasitism on the reproductive potential of fish. Traditional measures of somatic energy reserves and body condition were examined along with newer measures of fatty acids present in eggs to approximate reproductive potential. Eighty female common snook, Centropomus undecimalis, were collected during spawning season (mid April to mid October) from four spawning aggregations along the southeastern coast of Florida and examined for a suite of biological, reproductive, and parasite infection measures. General linear models were used to model somatic indices, body condition, fatty acid composition and the ratios of fatty acids in eggs as a function of parasite infection parameters, host age, capture location, capture month and year. All fish were included in the somatic indices and body condition analysis while a subset of 40 fish were used in the analysis on fatty acid composition and the ratios of fatty acids in eggs. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection