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The grief experienced by the bereaved next of kin after a sudden death can result in both physiological and psychological outcomes. The nurse is often faced with the acute crisis that may arise. The meeting with dying patients is emotionally stressful for the nurse, who may experience a disbelief in their own capacity. The aim of the study was to highlight the nurse’s experiences of meeting with the next of kin after a sudden death. A literature review based on five studies with qualitative design and four with quantitative design. Searches were made in the databases CINAHL Complete, PubMed and Nursing & Allied Health Source. Coping strategies and the concept of health were used as theoretical frameworks. The results consist of five themes. The nurse’s experienced role in the meeting with next of kin which showed that the majority of the nurses experienced the meeting with the bereaved next of kin as their responsibility. Emotional stress of the meeting was for example helplessness, stress, failure and guilt. Fear of the next of kin’s possible reactions meant the nurses fear for the reaction from the next of kin. The experience of education and lack of knowledge were considered as an important foundation in the meeting with the next of kin, and The experience of lack of resources that showed a lack of resources and guidelines. Stress and other external factors may affect nurses’ health negatively; the use of different coping strategies can assist the nurse in affectively handling such stress. The nurse is required to be in good health to adequately meet the next of kin and their needs. Training in and knowledge of the meeting with the next of kin can contribute positively towards the nurse’s well-being. / Närstående som drabbas av en smärtsam förlust till följd av ett plötsligt dödsfall upplever sorg, vilket kan resultera i både fysiologiska och psykologiska besvär. Sjuksköterskan är ofta den som möter närstående i den akuta krisen som kan uppstå. Sjuksköterskan upplever mötet med döende patienter som emotionellt påfrestande och kan uppleva en misstro på sin kapacitet. Syftet var att belysa sjuksköterskans upplevelser av mötet med närstående vid plötsligt dödsfall. En litteraturöversikt baserad på nio vetenskapliga studier, fem av kvalitativ design och fyra av kvantitativ design. Sökningar gjordes i databaserna CINAHL Complete, PubMed och Nursing & Allied Health Source. Copingstrategier och begreppet hälsa användes som teoretisk utgångspunkt. Resultatet består av fem teman. Sjuksköterskans upplevda roll i mötet med närstående där det framkom att sjuksköterskorna upplevde mötet med de plötsligt sörjande närstående som deras ansvarsområde. Emotionella påfrestningar i mötet som exempelvis var hjälplöshet, stress och skuld. Rädslan för närståendes eventuella reaktioner som innebar en rädsla för reaktionen från de närstående. Upplevelsen av bristande utbildning och kunskap som ansågs vara en viktig grund i mötet med närstående och Upplevelsen av bristande resurser som visade på bristande resurser och riktlinjer. Stress och yttre påfrestningar kan påverka sjuksköterskans hälsa negativt och för att hantera detta kan olika copingstrategier användas. För att sjuksköterskan ska kunna möta de närstående på ett adekvat sätt krävs det att hen upplever hälsa. Utbildning och kunskap om mötet med närstående kan bidra positivt till sjuksköterskans välbefinnande och hälsa.

Bakgrund: Stroke är en sjukdom som drabbar många människor. Strokeanfall medför inte bara bestående förändringar för den strokedrabbade utan påverkar även de närståendes situation. Det är inte ovanligt att närstående hamnar i en krissituation i det tidiga skedet av en stroke. Syftet: Syftet med studien är att beskriva upplevelsen av att vara närstående till en person med stroke. Metod: Detta är en litteraturstudie baserad på 10 vetenskapliga artiklar med kvalitativ ansats. Data insamlades genom litteratursökning i databaserna Cinahl och Pubmed. Artiklarna granskades och analyserades utifrån Fribergs (2012)  analysmodell litteraturstudier. Resultat: Resultatet visar att många närstående inte erhåller tillräckligt med information, stöd och vägledning i sjukvården. Situationen förändras för många närstående och detta påverkar olika aspekter så som närståendes sociala liv, relationer samt syn på tillvaron. Den nya situationen medför en känsla av oro, osäkerhet och ensamhet. Diskussion/slutsats: I resultatet framträder närståendes upplevelser anknutna till vårdpersonalen, den strokedrabbade samt andra närstående. Närståendes livsvärld påverkas när någon nära drabbas av stroke. Närstående vill ha mer uppmärksamhet från vårdpersonalen och framförallt delaktiggöras i patientens vård under sjukhusvistelsen. Denna litteraturstudie visar på att närståendes upplevelser kan se olika ut och att det därför är viktigt att sjuksköterskan uppmärksammar dessa som unika individer. Således bör den information samt stöd som de erhåller vara individuellt anpassat. Om närståendes behov och upplevelser bemöts på ett professionellt sätt kan sjuksköterskan bidra med att den nya situationen blir mer hanterbar för dessa. / Background: Stroke is a common disease that affects many people. Stroke causes permanent changes in the life of the stroke survivors and consequently affects the lives of next of kin. It is not uncommon for next of kin to end up in a crisis in the early stage of a stroke. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe next of kin’s experience of life after a close person suffered a stroke. Methods: A literature review based on 10 scientific articles with qualitative approach. Data were collected through literature search in the databases Cinahl and Pubmed. Articles were reviewed and analyzed using Friberg (2012)  analytical model. Result: The results show that most next of kin do not receive adequate support and guidance in health care. Situation changed for most next of kin and this in turn affect their social life, relationships and view toward life. This new situation leads them to feel sense of anxiety, insecurity and loneliness. Discussion/Conclusion: The results show next of kin’s experiences in relation to nursing staff, the stroke victims and other related next of kin.  Life situation and the life-world of next of kin is affected when someone close suffer a stroke. Next of kin’s wanted more attention from healthcare professionals and above all to be involved in the patient's care during hospitalization. This literature study shows that next of kin experiences can be different from person to person and it is therefore important that the nurse recognizes them as unique individuals. Thus, the information and support they receive should be individually adapted. If the next of kin’s needs and experiences are encountered in a professional manner, the nurse can assist in making the new situation more manageable for them.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Metagenomic studies that make use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) generate large amounts of sequence data, representing the genomes of multiple organisms of which no prior knowledge is necessarily available. In this study, a metagenomic NGS approach was used to detect multiple novel mycoviral sequences in grapevine phloem tissue. Individual sequencing libraries of doublestranded RNA (dsRNA) from two grapevine leafroll diseased (GLD) and three shiraz diseased (SD) vines were sequenced using an Illumina HiScanSQ instrument. Over 3.2 million reads were generated from each of the samples and these reads were trimmed and filtered for quality before being de novo assembled into longer contigs. The assembled contigs were subjected to BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool) analyses against the NCBI (National Centre for Biotechnology Information) database and classified according to database sequences with which they had the highest identity. Twenty-six putative mycovirus species were identified, belonging to the families Chrysoviridae, Endornaviridae, Narnaviridae, Partitiviridae and Totiviridae. Two of the identified mycoviruses, namely grapevine-associated chrysovirus (GaCV) and grapevine-associated mycovirus 1 (GaMV-1) have previously been identified in grapevine while the rest appeared to be novel mycoviruses not present in the NCBI database. Primers were designed from the de novo assembled mycoviral sequences and used to screen the grapevine dsRNA used for sequencing as well as endophytic fungi isolated from the five sample vines. Only two mycoviruses, related to sclerotinia sclerotiorum partitivirus S and chalara elegans endornavirus 1 (CeEV-1), could be detected in grapevine dsRNA and in fungus isolates. In order to validate the presence of mycoviruses in grapevine phloem tissue, two additional sequencing runs, using an Illumina HiScanSQ and an Applied Biosystems (ABI) SOLiD 5500xl instrument respectively, were performed. These runs generated more and higher quality sequence data than the first sequencing run. Twenty-two of the putative mycoviral sequences initially detected were detected in the subsequent sequence datasets, as well as an additional 29 species not identified in the first HiScanSQ sequence datasets. The samples harboured diverse mycovirus populations, with as many as 19 putative species identified in a single vine. This indicates that the complete virome of diseased grapevines will include a high number of mycoviruses. Additionally, the complete genome of a novel endornavirus, for which we propose the name grapevine endophyte endornavirus (GEEV), was assembled from one of the second HiScanSQ sequence datasets. This is the first complete genome of a mycovirus detected in grapevine. Grapevine endophyte endornavirus has the highest sequence similarity to CeEV-1 and is the same virus that was previously detected in fungus isolates using the mycovirus primers. The virus was detected in two fungus isolates, namely Stemphylium sp. and Aureobasidium pullulans, which is of interest since mycoviruses are not known to be naturally associated with two distinctly different fungus genera. Mycoviral sequence data generated in this study can be used to further investigate the diversity and the effect of mycoviruses in grapevine. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Metagenomiese studies, wat gebruik maak van volgende-generasie volgordebepalingstegnologie, het die vermoë om die genetiese samestelling van veelvoudige onbekende organismes te bepaal deurdat dit groot hoeveelhede data genereer. Die bogenoemde tegniek was in hierdie studie aangewend om aantal nuwe mikovirusse in die floëem weefsel van wingerd te identifiseer. Dubbelstring-RNS was gesuiwer vanuit twee druiwestokke met rolbladsiekte en drie met shirazsiekte en Illumina HiScanSQ instrument is gebruik om meer as 3.2 miljoen volgorde fragmente te genereer van elk van die monsters. Lae-kwaliteit volgordes was verwyder en die oorblywende kort volgorde fragmente was saamgestel om langer konstrukte te vorm wat met behulp van BLAST soektogte teen die NCBI databasis geïdentifiseer kon word. Ses-en-twintig mikovirus spesies, wat aan die families Chrysoviridae, Endornaviridae, Narnaviridae, Partitiviridae en Totiviridae behoort, was geïdentifiseer. Twee van die geïdentifiseerde mikovirusse, naamlik grapevine-associated chrysovirus (GaCV) en grapevine-associated mycovirus 1 (GaMV-1), was voorheen al in wingerd gekry terwyl die res nuwe mikovirusse is wat tans nie in die NCBI databasis voorkom nie. Inleiers was ontwerp vanaf die saamgestelde mikovirus basisvolgordes en gebruik om wingerd dubbelstring-RNS sowel as swamme wat vanuit die wingerd geïsoleer is te toets vir die teenwoordigheid van hierdie mikovirusse. Slegs twee mikovirusse, wat onderskeidelik verwant is aan sclerotinia sclerotiorum partitivirus S en chalara elegans endornavirus 1 (CeEV-1), kon deur middel van die inleiers in wingerd en swam isolate geïdentifiseer word. Twee addisionele volgordebepalingsreaksies, wat gebruik gemaak het van die Illumina HiScanSQ en ABI SOLiD 5500xl volgordebepalingsplatforms, was gebruik om die teenwoordigheid van mikovirusse in wingerd te bevestig. Groter hoeveelheid volgorde fragmente was geprodusser wat ook van hoër gehalte was as dié van die eerste volgordebepalingsreaksie. Twee-en-twintig mikovirus spesies kon weer geïdentifiseer word, sowel as 29 spesies wat nie in die eerste HiScanSQ basisvolgorde datastelle gevind was nie. Die wingerdstokke wat in hierdie studie ondersoek was, het hoë diversiteit van mikovirusse bevat aangesien daar tot 19 mikovirus spesies in enkele wingerdstok geïdentifiseer was. Dit is aanduiding dat volledige virus profiele van siek wingerdstokke aantal mikovirusse sal insluit. Die vollengte genoomvolgorde van voorheen onbekende endornavirus was saamgestel vanuit een van die tweede HiScanSQ volgorde datastelle. Dit is die eerste mikovirus wat in wingerd gevind word waarvan die volledige genoomvolgorde bepaal is en ons stel die naam grapevine endophyte endornavirus (GEEV) voor vir hierdie virus. Grapevine endophyte endornavirus is die naaste verwant aan CeEV-1 en is dieselfde virus wat voorheen in wingerd dubbelstring-RNS en swam isolate gevind was deur middel van die mikovirus inleiers. Swam isolate waarin GEEV gevind is, was geïdentifiseer as Stemphylium sp. en Aureobasidium pullulans. Dit is van belang dat GEEV in twee swam isolate gevind is wat aan verskillende genusse behoort aangesien hierdie verskynsel nog nie voorheen in die natuur gevind is nie. Mikovirus nukleiensuurvolgordes wat in hierdie studie bepaal was kan gebruik word in toekomstige studies om die verskeidenheid en impak van mikovirusse in wingerd verder te ondersoek. / National Research Foundation (NRF) / Stellenbosch University

Bakgrund: Alzheimers sjukdom är en demenssjukdom som främst drabbar äldre men kan även förekomma bland yngre individer. Sjukdomen medför begränsningar så att patienten bland annat får svårigheter att hitta i sin omgivning eller känna igen tidigare bekanta saker. Närstående är därför betydelsefulla i vårdande av den drabbade. Ju mer vårdbehovet ökar, desto mer påverkas närstående socialt, fysiskt och psykiskt då de har ett stort ansvar i vårdande och det påverkar deras hälsa negativt. Det är därför viktig att vårdpersonal erbjuder dem det stöd de behöver i vårdandet. Syfte: Att beskriva närståendes upplevelser av att vårda en familjemedlem som drabbats av Alzheimers sjukdom. Metod: En litteraturöversikt grundad på nio kvalitativa studier som hittades i databaserna: CINAHL, PubMed och Ageline. Studierna söktes fram samt analyserades och gemensamma teman identifierades.  Resultat: Fem huvudteman identifierades: att få diagnos, varierande känslor behov av kunskap och stöd, rollförändringar, och redskap i vårdande. Diskussion: Närståendes upplevelser var både positiva och negativa. Resultatet diskuteras utifrån Roys adaptionsteori med ”individen” i fokus. En bättre förståelse av närståendes upplevelser i vårdande av personer med Alzheimers sjukdom både i samhället och hos vårdpersonal kan underlätta vårdande för familjemedlem och främja hälsa hos närstående. För att förebygga ohälsa och främjar livsvillkor krävs det stöd till både närstående och patienter. Mer forskning samt kontinuerliga utbildningar om närståendes upplevelser i vårdande av en person med Alzheimers sjukdom behövs. / Background: Alzheimer's disease is a dementia that primarily affects elderly but may occur among younger people too. The disease causes severe memory loss so that the patient, among other things, has difficulty finding out in his surroundings or recognizing previously familiar things. The next of kin are therefore important in caring for the sick person. As the need for care increases, the more it affects the next of kin socially, physically and mentally, because they have a major responsibility/role in caring and it can negatively affect their health. It is therefore important that healthcare professionals provide them with the support they need in caregiving. Aim: To describe next of kin’s experiences of caring for a family member affected by Alzheimer's disease. Method: A literature review based on nine qualitative studies found in the databases: CINAHL, PubMed and Ageline. The studies were searched, analyzed, and the common themes identified. Results: Five main themes were identified: to get a diagnosis, the varying feelings, need of knowledge and support, role changes, and tools in caregiving. Discussion: Next of kin’s experiences were both positive and negative. The results are discussed based on Roys adaptation theory with the “individual” in focus. A better understanding of the next of kin’s experience in caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease both in society and healthcare professionals can facilitate care for a family member and promote the health of their next of kin. To prevent ill health and promote good living conditions, support is required for both next of kin and his/her family member. More research as well as good and continuous education about the next of kin’s experiences in caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease is needed.

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is an essential molecule, which carries out a wide variety of functions within the cell, from its crucial involvement in protein synthesis to catalysing biochemical reactions and regulating gene expression. Such diverse functional repertoire is indebted to complex structures that RNA can adopt and its flexibility as an interacting molecule. It has become possible to experimentally measure these two crucial aspects of RNA regulatory role with such technological advancements as next-generation sequencing (NGS). NGS methods can rapidly obtain the nucleotide sequence of many molecules in parallel. Designing experiments, where only the desired parts of the molecule (or specific parts of the transcriptome) are sequenced, allows to study various aspects of RNA biology. Analysis of NGS data is insurmountable without computational methods. One such experimental method is RNA structure probing, which aims to infer RNA structure from sequencing chemically altered transcripts. RNA structure probing data is inherently noisy, affected both by technological biases and the stochasticity of the underlying process. Most existing methods do not adequately address the issue of noise, resorting to heuristics and limiting the informativeness of their output. In this thesis, a statistical pipeline was developed for modelling RNA structure probing data, which explicitly captures biological variability, provides automated bias-correcting strategies, and generates a probabilistic output based on experimental measurements. The output of our method agrees with known RNA structures, can be used to constrain structure prediction algorithms, and remains robust to reduced sequence coverage, thereby increasing sensitivity of the technology. Another recent experimental innovation maps RNA-protein interactions at very high temporal resolution, making it possible to study rapid binding events happening on a minute time scale. In this thesis, a non-parametric algorithm was developed for identifying significant changes in RNA-protein binding time-series between different conditions. The method was applied to novel yeast RNA-protein binding time-course data to study the role of RNA degradation in stress response. It revealed pervasive changes in the binding to the transcriptome of the yeast transcription termination factor Nab3 and the cytoplasmic exoribonuclease Xrn1 under nutrient stress. This challenged the common assumption of viewing transcriptional changes as the major driver of changes in RNA expression during stress and highlighted the importance of degradation. These findings inspired a dynamical model for RNA expression, where transcription and degradation rates are modelled using RNA-protein binding time-series data.

Over the last decades the crustacean aquaculture sector has been steadily growing, in order to meet global demands for its products. A major hurdle for further growth of the industry is the prevalence of viral disease epidemics that are facilitated by the intense culture conditions. A devastating virus impacting on the sector is the White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV), responsible for over US $10 billion in losses in shrimp production and trade. The Pathogenicity of WSSV is high, reaching 100 % mortality within 3-10 days in penaeid shrimps. In contrast, the European shore crab Carcinus maenas has been shown to be relatively resistant to WSSV. Uncovering the basis of this resistance could help inform on the development of strategies to mitigate the WSSV threat. C. maenas has been used widely in studies on ecotoxicology and host-pathogen interactions. However, like most aquatic crustaceans, the genomic resources available for this species are limited, impairing experimentation. Therefore, to facilitate interpretations of the exposure studies, we first produced a C. maenas transcriptome and genome scaffold assembly. We also produced a transcriptome for the European lobster (Homarus gammarus), an ecologically and commercially important crustacean species in United Kingdom waters, for use in comparing WSSV responses in this, a susceptible species, and C. maenas. For the C. maenas transcriptome assembly we isolated and pooled RNA from twelve different tissues and sequenced RNA on an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. After de novo assembly a transcriptome encompassing 212,427 transcripts was produced. Similar, the H. gammarus transcriptome was based on RNA from nine tissues and contained 106,498 transcripts. The transcripts were filtered and annotated using a variety of tools (including BLAST, MEGAN and RSEM) and databases (including GenBank, Gene Ontology and KEGG). The annotation rate for transcripts in both transcriptomes was around 20-25 % which appears to be common for aquatic crustacean species, as a result of the lack of well annotated gene sequences for this clade. Since it is likely that the host immune system would play an important role in WSSV infection we characterized the IMD, JAK/STAT, Toll-like receptor and other innate immune system pathways. We found a strong overlap between the immune system pathways in C. maenas and H. gammarus. In addition we investigated the sequence diversity of known WSSV interacting proteins amongst susceptible penaeid shrimp/lobster and the more resistant C. maenas. There were differences in viral receptor sequences, like Rab7, that correlate with a less efficient infection by WSSV. To produce the genome scaffold assembly for C. maenas we isolated DNA from muscle tissue and produced both paired-end and mate pair libraries for processing on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform. A de novo draft genome assembly consisting of 338,980 scaffolds and covering 362 Mb (36 % of estimated genome size) was produced, using SOAP-denovo2 coupled with the BESST scaffolding system. The generated assembly was highly fragmented due to the presence of repetitive areas in the C. maenas genome. Using a combination of ab initio predictors, RNA-sequencing data from the transcriptome datasets and curated C. maenas sequences we produced a model encompassing 10,355 genes. The gene model for C. maenas Dscam, a gene potentially involved in (pan)crustacean immune memory, was investigated in greater detail as manual curation can improve on the results of ab initio predictors. The scaffold containing C. maenas Dscam was fragmented, thus only contained the latter exons of the gene. The assembled draft genome and transcriptomes for C. maenas and H. gammarus are valuable molecular resources for studies involving these and other aquatic crustacean species. To uncover the basis of their resistance to WSSV, we infected C. maenas with WSSV and measured mRNA and miRNA expression for 7 time points spread over a period of 28 days, using RNA-Seq and miRNA-Seq. The resistance of C. maenas to WSSV infection was confirmed by the fact that no mortalities occurred. In these animals replicating WSSV was latent and detected only after 7 days, and this occurred in five of out 28 infected crabs only. Differential expression of transcripts and miRNAs were identified for each time point. In the first 12 hours post exposure we observed decreased expression of important regulators in endocytosis. Since it is established that WSSV enters the host cells through endocytosis and that interactions between the viral protein VP28 and Rab7 are important in successful infection, it is likely that changes in this process could impact WSSV infection success. Additionally we observed an increased expression of transcripts involved in RNA interference pathways across many time points, indicating a longer term response to initial viral exposure. miRNA sequencing showed several miRNAs that were differentially expressed. The most striking finding was a novel C. maenas miRNA that we found to be significantly downregulated in every WSSV infected individual, suggesting that it may play an important role in mediating the response of the host to the virus. In silico target prediction pointed to the involvement of this miRNA in endocytosis regulation. Taken together we hypothesize that C. maenas resistance to WSSV involves obstruction of viral entry by endocytosis, a process probably regulated through miRNAs, resulting in inefficient uptake of virions.

Microsporidia are a unique phylum of ubiquitous fungal pathogens that are able to infect a wide variety of hosts, including economically and ecologically important organisms. Recently, global declines of the Western honeybee (Apis mellifera) have been associated with infections of the microsporidian pathogen Nosema ceranae. This species was originally described in the Asiatic honeybee (A. cerana), and its identification in global A. mellifera hives could result from a recent host transfer. Recent genome studies have found that global populations of this parasite from A. mellifera hives are polyploid and that humans may have fueled their global expansion. In this thesis, I investigate the genetic diversity of N. ceranae populations from within their native range (Thailand) and among different hosts (A. mellifera, A. cerana), putting them in context with other previously sequenced global populations. Using both PCR and genome-based methods, my findings reveal that Thai populations of N. ceranae exhibit interesting genetic differences from other global pathogen populations but also have some similarities. Thai N. ceranae populations share many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with other global populations and appear to be clonal. However, in stark contrast with previous studies, these populations carry many SNPs not found in other global populations of this parasite, indicating that these populations have evolved in their current geographic location for some time. This genome analysis also indicates the potential presence of diploidy within Thai populations of N. ceranae and possible host-specific loss of heterozygosity. Overall, my findings begin to reveal interesting patterns of genetic diversity in N. ceranae populations that bring us one step closer to understanding the biology and genetics of this important honeybee pathogen.

Summary: Breast cancer (BC) is the most frequent cancer type in female population of Europe. Approximately 5 - 10 % accounts for its hereditary form which is characterized by high penetrance, early onset, risen recurrence risk and development of other cancers. Mutational analyses of high risk patients identify a predisposing mutation in one of the most studied genes (BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, ATM, CHEK2, NBS1, PALB2) only in less than one third of tested breast cancer patients. Lately, with the use of new methods of next-generation sequencing, a number of other susceptibility or candidate genes were characterized, but the incidence of their pathogenic alteration is often geographically different. A notable proportion of high risk patients from families with hereditary BC can represent carriers of population-specific, or private mutations. Most of the to date identified BC susceptibility genes codes for proteins involved in DNA repair, especially repair of double strand break DNA repair. Nevertheless the mutation analysis was conducted only on a small fraction of these DNA repair genes. We can expect that in the group of yet nontested genes coding for DNA repair proteins a rare, but clinically important genetic alterations predisposing to BC in affected families can be discovered. This work describes a...

This thesis provides analytical and forensic tools for data cabling, with particular focus on Ethernet cabling to assist designers and those involved in deployments in analyzing cable performance and the reasons behind the actual performance obtained. The need for higher bandwidth to accommodate increasing demand for multimedia services and data centers network infrastructure led to the formation of IEEE P802.3bq to create standards for 40GBASE-T over twisted pair cables. The 40GBASE-T is expected to offer bandwidth of up to 2000MHz over a maximum channel length of 30m. The research investigated means of predicting key performance parameters in Ethernet cabling standardization using the 40GBASE-T as an example. The performance parameters prediction method provided is equally applicable to ongoing and future high data rate Ethernet cabling standardization such as the 2.5/5GBASE-T and 50/100GBASE-T. Another problem in the Ethernet networking world is the availability of counterfeit and non-standards compliant twisted pair cables in the market. The significant amount of communications cables in the market containing copper clad aluminum cable or other non-standards compliant conductors disguised as Category 6 cables can pose serious problems to companies’ networks, the contractors or the installers. This is in view of the growing demand for internet of things (IOT) services that makes it imperative to have a reliable Ethernet driven communication network to support the required infrastructure. This thesis therefore, provides techniques that can be used to evaluate cables key performance parameters using the Feature Selective Validation method and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test. The technique can help engineers avoid subjective judgement and make objective decisions in the selection of cables. The research provided a technique that can be used to reverse engineer impedance profile from the return loss measurement of Ethernet cables using genetic algorithms. The method can be applied in situations where time domain tests are inaccessible or only simple (magnitude) tests in the frequency domain are available and there is the need for impedance profiles of cables to evaluate their performance or physical integrity before or after installation. The method can also be useful where only simple (magnitude) tests are the only historical data available for the cables and facilities for time domain reflectometry measurements are inaccessible. This research also presented a method of evaluating and predicting NEXT in unshielded twisted pair (UTP) using Category 6 cables as an example. The results obtained from the evaluation were used to provide crosstalk parameters for fast NEXT prediction in Category 6 (UTP) cables. The research used the measured NEXT of three Category 6 (UTP) cables from different manufacturers for evaluation and validation. The evaluation and modeling method can thus be useful to engineers investigating NEXT in the design of data communication systems.