<p>Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), (giving breast milk only without any solids or liquids), has proved to be very challenging in the South African context, although this infant feeding practice has been found to protect babies against diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections and to carry a lower risk of HIV infection than mixed feeding (breastfeeding combined with formula or solids). Study design: The PROMISE-EBF study is a multi-country cluster randomised trial to examine peer support to promote exclusive breastfeeding in Africa. For the South African site in the PROMISE-EBF study, three sites, Paarl, Rietvlei and Umlazi, were selected because of their different geographic settings and each site operated as a separate stratum for cluster selection and randomisation purposes. The clusters were then randomised into intervention and control arms making a total of 17 clusters in each arm. HIV positive and negative women in the intervention arm received support on their choice of infant feeding from the peer supporters who visited them at their homes while the women in the control group only received the standard infant feeding counselling and support provided by health care&nbsp / workers at health facilities. Data collection: Mothers were interviewed at recruitment during the antepartum period to establish eligibility, obtain informed consent and data on socio-economic status. Home visits were scheduled for data collection by trained data collectors at 3, 6, 12 and 24 weeks after birth. Analysis of results: This mini-thesis was a secondary analysis of the PROMISE-EBF data focusing on the South African data only. The data was adjusted for clustering and analysed using SAS. Comparison of variables between the intervention and control groups within sites was done. Results: A significant difference, regarding counselling and infant feeding practices, was observed among all women who received peer support compared to those who received the standard antenatal counselling, with more women in the intervention group (20.5%) practising EBF than those in the control group (12.8%) by Week 3. When the women‟s HIV status was considered, more than 65% of HIV positive and 40% of HIV negative women practised MF and EFF (giving formula milk only with no breast milk) throughout the study, respectively, regardless of the group they were in. For women who hadintended to practise EBF at recruitment, 33% in the control group and 20% in the intervention group actually practised EBF by Week 3. Regarding disclosure and feeding choice, 77.4% of women who had disclosed their HIV status actually practised MF versus 8.6% who practised EBF by Week 3.Conclusion: Community peer counselling should be strengthened as the results from this study showed that a high percentage of women who practised EBF were those who had received counselling, irrespective of their HIV status. The high percentage of HIV positive women who practised high risk feeding, despite receiving infant counselling, is of concern. Disclosure of the women‟s HIV status did not translate to them practising low risk infant feeding methods, which may suggest that there are other issues that determine the women‟s choice of infant feeding.</p>

Magister Public Health - MPH / Promotion of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), (giving breast milk only without any solids or liquids), has proved to be very challenging in the South African context, although this infant feeding practice has been found to protect babies against diarrhoea and respiratory tract infections and to carry a lower risk of HIV infection than mixed feeding (breastfeeding combined with formula or solids). Study design: The PROMISE-EBF study is a multi-country cluster randomised trial to examine peer support to promote exclusive breastfeeding in Africa. For the South African site in the PROMISE-EBF study, three sites, Paarl, Rietvlei and Umlazi, were selected because of their different geographic settings and each site operated as a separate stratum for cluster selection and randomisation purposes. The clusters were then randomised into intervention and control arms making a total of 17 clusters in each arm. HIV positive and negative women in the intervention arm received support on their choice of infant feeding from the peer supporters who visited them at their homes while the women in the control group only received the standard infant feeding counselling and support provided by health care workers at health facilities. Data collection: Mothers were interviewed at recruitment during the antepartum period to establish eligibility, obtain informed consent and data on socio-economic status. Home visits were scheduled for data collection by trained data collectors at 3, 6, 12 and 24 weeks after birth. Analysis of results: This mini-thesis was a secondary analysis of the PROMISE-EBF data focusing on the South African data only. The data was adjusted for clustering and analysed using SAS. Comparison of variables between the intervention and control groups within sites was done. Results: A significant difference, regarding counselling and infant feeding practices, was observed among all women who received peer support compared to those who received the standard antenatal counselling, with more women in the intervention group (20.5%) practising EBF than those in the control group (12.8%) by Week 3. When the women's HIV status was considered, more than 65% of HIV positive and 40% of HIV negative women practised MF and EFF (giving formula milk only with no breast milk) throughout the study, respectively, regardless of the group they were in. For women who hadintended to practise EBF at recruitment, 33% in the control group and 20% in the intervention group actually practised EBF by Week 3. Regarding disclosure and feeding choice, 77.4% of women who had disclosed their HIV status actually practised MF versus 8.6% who practised EBF by Week 3.Conclusion: Community peer counselling should be strengthened as the results from this study showed that a high percentage of women who practised EBF were those who had received counselling, irrespective of their HIV status. The high percentage of HIV positive women who practised high risk feeding, despite receiving infant counselling, is of concern. Disclosure of the women's HIV status did not translate to them practising low risk infant feeding methods, which may suggest that there are other issues that determine the women's choice of infant feeding. / South Africa

Commercial Agency Contract The subject of this thesis is the commercial agency contract, as regulated by Sections 2483 to 2520 of Act No 89/2012, the Civil Code, as amended, giving businesses the opportunity not only to net new customers, but also to raise general awareness of their merchandise or services. Under a commercial agency contract, a commercial agent - as an independent business entity - undertakes to engage long term in activities for the other party (the principal) aimed at the sealing of a certain type of deal by the principal or at negotiating deals in the name and on behalf of the principal. Under a commercial agency contract, the principal, for its part, agrees to pay the commercial agent commission for the activities carried out. Against this background, a commercial agency contract gives a business the opportunity to make use of a third party who, unlike an employee, is autonomous yet works with the business and acts in its interests. This thesis intends to deliver a lucid analysis and description of a commercial agency contract from the perspective of current legislation set out in the Civil Code, the enactment of which endowed the concept of commercial agency (compared to the previous provisions on commercial agency set out in Sections 652 to 672a of Act No 513/1991, the...

Breastfeeding is the gold standard of infant feeding and its benefits extend beyond the mother and child. Multiple organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of an infant’s life. Exclusive breastfeeding rates nationally and in the state of Kentucky fall below the Healthy People 2020 goals. A mother’s intention to breastfeed has been shown to impact actual breastfeeding behavior. The current state of the measurement of intention was explored through a literature review. A majority of the measures were single item scales. The reliability and validity of the scales should be further tested in diverse populations. The purposes of this dissertation were to: a) explore the role of breastfeeding intention on duration of exclusive breastfeeding, and b) determine the common modifiable factors among women who breastfeed exclusively for at least four months. English speaking mothers 18 years of age and older were asked to participate if they had delivered a healthy infant in the last 72 hours and if they intended to feed their baby some amount of breast milk (n = 84). Mothers were followed for 16 weeks or until they weaned their infant, whichever came first. Social support, breastfeeding self-efficacy and breastfeeding intention were measured at baseline. Breastfeeding support and breastfeeding self-efficacy were measured at four and 16 weeks. Results indicated that mothers with stronger intention to breastfeed were more likely to breastfeed exclusively for a longer period of time. Mothers who breastfed their infant exclusively for 16 weeks were asked to participate in one of two focus group meetings (n = 15). The following five themes emerged from the data: 1) knowledge, 2) peer experience, 3) support, 4) perseverance, and 5) the public.

<p>In recent time the pressure on companies from groups like governments, regular citizens and media on taking its social responsibility has increased in rapid pace. This has led to increased interest from companies all over the world about social issues and the companies’ responsibility for these issues.</p><p>In the more competitive environment were companies act today the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to differentiate itself against other company’s increases in importance. Together with increasing interest from stakeholders about social issues has made it central for companies not only to be social responsible but also to be good at finding future social trends that will give them competitive advantage against other actors.</p><p>The purpose of this paper is to examine how the three largest fashion chains in Sweden, Hennes & Mauritz, Lindex and KappAhl, are managing its CSR work now and how good their organisation is prepared to manage the CSR work in the future. The examination will focus on the factors that make the management of CSR successful or not, and to get an overview of if the conditions for current and future successful CSR is present at the companies. By doing a qualitative document analysis of the selected companies the conclusion is made that there is much work to be done at the three largest Swedish fashion chains to more effectively use CSR and the positive effects that a well developed CSR plan can bring to the companies. The conclusion is based on the lack of long-term remuneration incentives for the management that rewards a short-term decisions and the extensive use of collective commitments instead of exclusive CSR work.</p>

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Breastfeeding is an important and relatively affordable health promotion and disease prevention activity with positive health outcomes for both the women who breastfeed and the infants who receive human milk as their first source of nutrition. As these benefits are dose dependent, the duration of breastfeeding and exclusivity of breastfeeding are important in the development of these protective effects. The purpose of this study is to understand the process younger mothers, ages 18 to 24 years, undergo to be able to sustain breastfeeding for longer than most women their age breastfeed. Ten women, ages 21 to 24 years, participated in individual, in-depth interviews in this grounded theory study. Following the iterative process of data collection and analysis, focus of the interviews changed as the data analysis guided the data collection process. Data underwent open, focused, axial, and theoretical/selective coding. The analysis process resulted in the development of a middle-range, descriptive theory grounded in the data. Prolonged Breastfeeding Through Fierce Determination succinctly explains the central phenomenon, fierce determination, and the relationship it shares with the other concepts identified as important contributing factors as the women moved through their breastfeeding journeys. Facing and Deciding to Overcome Obstacles, influenced most heavily by fierce determination, exerted its influence upon the outcome of the theory, "Trucking Along", an in vivo code provided by Participant 10, which captured her ongoing breastfeeding even in the face of obstacles. Normalized Infant Feeding Method contributed to the participants' fierce determination. Availability of Support positively impacted the participants' ability to face and overcome their breastfeeding obstacles. Personal Agency had a reciprocal relationship with fierce determination and, like availability of support, also positively impacted their ability to face and overcome obstacles. The concepts within the theory were found to be congruent with a focused review of the literature around long-term goal achievement, healthful behavior adaptation, and breastfeeding. This study contributed to the breastfeeding literature, providing insight into how young mothers engage in prolonged breastfeeding.

Resumé The thesis deals with the exclusive powers of the European Union with a focus on legislative competencies. It is composed of four chapters; while deriving from Czech and foreign literature it contains theoretical view enriched by decisions of The European Court of Justice/The Court of Justice of The European Union. The first chapter focuses on the powers of the EU generally; it explains the term power and includes also the origin of the powers from historical and constitutional point of view. Corresponding with the principle of conferral explained in the chapter 1.3, the will of the member states could be considered as the basis for the powers of the EU. The thesis deals also with the theory of implied powers and the flexibility clause. These are the ways to avoid the rigidity which might be represented by strict obeying the principle of conferral. The following chapter offers an overview of other types of powers and hints to their particularities in comparison to the group of exclusive powers. We are finding out that in case of shared competencies the member states can take action unless the blocking effect of the European regulations is applied while in other cases the EU has only a supporting function. The last two chapters which could be considered as the most important ones focus specifically on...

Thesis advisor: Frank Gollop / My doctoral dissertation consists of three essays in the field of Industrial Organization. The first two consider exclusive dealing contracts between upstream and downstream firms theoretically, while the third measures consumer substitution among geographically differentiated air travel products empirically. In the first chapter I study the ability of an incumbent seller to use exclusive dealing contracts to foreclose efficient entry when there are n downstream buyers, where n can be viewed as a measure of the degree of downstream competition. The effect of downstream competition on the ability of the upstream incumbent to use exclusive contracts anticompetitively depends on whether upstream firms compete over linear or two-part prices. The model also highlights an interesting effect of the sunk cost of upstream entry that is ignored in models with exactly two buyers. In the second chapter I investigate the ability of an incumbent monopolist to exclude a potential entrant via exclusive dealing contracts when these contracts include an agreement over price. I find that a simple entry game yields both exclusionary and entry equilibria. The exclusionary equilibrium is unique, however, under most reasonable assumptions; for example if buyers are downstream competitors, if entry or the marginal cost of the potential entrant are uncertain, or if the incumbent can commit not to compete for unsigned buyers. When buyers compete with one another downstream, the optimal guaranteed price is above (below) the marginal cost of the incumbent when downstream buyers compete over strategic complements (substitutes). In the third and final chapter (co-authored with Kyle Buika) I study the question of geographic market definition in the US airline industry. Though an accurate definition of an economic market is important for any study of industry, there is no rule governing what exactly constitutes a market. To define a market we must ask the question "between which products do consumers substitute,'' knowing that the answer to this question will depend on how "close'' products are to one another in product space, as well as how close they are to one another, and to consumers, in geographic space. We estimate a discrete choice model of air travel demand that uses known information about the locations of products and consumers, which allows us to study substitution patterns among air travel products at different airports. We evaluate the commonly used city-pair and airport-pair definitions of a market for air travel, and conclude that a city-pair is the appropriate definition. We also employ the Hypothetical Monopolist test for antitrust market definition, as defined by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and conclude that the relevant geographic market for antitrust analysis is, according to this test, frequently more narrowly defined as an airport-pair. Finally we conduct merger simulations under different market definitions and compare the results to those obtained using our own results, and conclude that accounting for geography is important when studying mergers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

O aleitamento materno é um dos principais instrumentos para a promoção da saúde infantil. O leite materno é o alimento completo para o crescimento e desenvolvimento das crianças até os 6 meses. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar as práticas do aleitamento materno entre as crianças de 0 a 6 meses cadastradas em Núcleos de Saúde da Família da cidade de Ribeirão Preto (SP) e caracterizar as mães quanto a variáveis socioeconômicas e demográficas, assistência pré–natal e natal, às características dos recém-nascidos; verificar a associação do aleitamento materno exclusivo com as variáveis e analisar a duração do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Foi realizado inquérito domiciliar com uma amostra de 53 crianças, através de questionários, para caracterizá-las de acordo com as variáveis e verificar a duração do aleitamento materno exclusivo. Na análise da duração do aleitamento materno exclusivo e suas variáveis foi utilizada a curva de Kaplan-Meier. A duração mediana do aleitamento materno exclusivo foi de 70 dias. Encontramos associação positiva entre duração do aleitamento materno exclusivo e as seguintes variáveis: crianças nascidas em Hospital Amigo da Criança, não uso de chupeta, não uso de mamadeira, realização de puericultura em unidade de saúde da família. / Breastfeeding is one of the most important tools to promote children’s health. Breast milk is a complete food for children’s growth and development until the sixth month. The objective of this study is to evaluate the breastfeeding practices in Ribeirão Preto city, state of São Paulo (SP), Brazil and to characterize the mothers regarding social, economical and demographic variables, prenatal and natal assistance and newborn characteristics, verify the relation between variables and exclusive breastfeeding and also, verify the exclusive breastfeeding duration. A domiciliary inquire, through questionnaire, was fulfilled with a sample of 53 children, to characterize them according to the variables and to verify the duration of breastfeeding. In the analysis of the breastfeeding duration and its variables, the Kaplan-Meier curve was used. The median duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 70 days. We found positive association between exclusive breastfeeding duration and the following variables: born in Baby Friendly Hospital, no use of pacifiers, no use of bottle and children accomplishment in Family Health Units.