MAAS / Department of African Studies / Medicinal plants are now used as a livelihood activity by the marginalized urban poor communities in various places around the world. Indigenous knowledge in medicinal plants is owned and practiced by the knowledge holders for different purposes. It entails the passing of skills and knowledge from one generation to the other within a specific geographical area. Vhembe district is well known to be rich in plants and the people own the rich knowledge in medicinal plants. However, much debate has emerged around the effectiveness of indigenous knowledge in alleviating poverty levels amongst the communities. Despite the wealth and abundance of indigenous knowledge in medicinal plants, Limpopo Province is still rated as one of the poorest provinces in South Africa. Consequently, this study sought to investigate the utilization of indigenous knowledge by medicinal plant vendors in Thohoyandou, Vhembe District. The study has used the qualitative research approach by means of an interview schedule and semi-structured interviews to collect data from a sample of 10 respondents, who were selected using the purposive and snowballing non-probability sampling techniques. The data collected was analyzed thematically. The findings in this study revealed that the sale of medicinal plants by vendors is a source of employment done mostly by men than women who have been engaged in this form of street trading for more than 23 years. The CBD in Thohoyandou is deemed preferably by the medicinal plant vendors as it is busy and attracts more customers. Although the medicinal plant vendors make a living out of selling their practice, they are not fully supported by key stakeholders. The research therefore concluded that the use of indigenous knowledge by medicinal plant vendors has an important role to play in creating employment for indigenous knowledge holders and as such should be invested in. The study recommends that key stakeholders such as the municipality, private companies, business support groups and the government should take the initiative to upgrade, develop and invest in indigenous knowledge v holders of medicinal plants to reduce unemployment in the province and avoid the risk of extinction of the knowledge. Lastly, more research should be conducted on a much bigger scale / NRF

La gouvernance du Bassin du Nil est un vrai défi, puisqu’il s’agit de concilier les intérêts de onze Etats riverains. Son caractère instable est dû à l’existence d’une pluralité de régimes juridiques sur les eaux du Nil. Le processus d’élaboration des accords sur les eaux du Nil, explique leur disparité. Les Etats riverains ont créé un cadre coopératif, appelé Initiative du Bassin du Nil, pour tenter de faire converger leurs intérêts et promouvoir le développement régional. Or, l’étude du droit positif sur les eaux du Nil, démontre une grande instabilité politique et juridique. C’est pourquoi, nous avons tenté de chercher un moyen pour dépasser ces divergences dans une perspective de gouvernance durable du Bassin du Nil. L’harmonisation des régimes juridiques sur les eaux du Nil pourrait être une solution viable. Celle-ci repose sur la qualification des eaux du Nil de Bien Public Régional qui nécessite la réadaptation du concept de souveraineté, ce qui a conduit à proposer l’instauration d’une « souveraineté commune sur l’eau ». / The governance of the Nile Basin is a challenge as it is to reconcile the interests of the eleven riparian States. Its instability is due to the existence of a plurality of legal regimes on the Nile. The development process of the agreements on the Nile, explains their differences. The riparian States have established a cooperative framework called the Nile Basin Initiative, to try to converge their interests and promote regional development. Nevertheless, the study of the positive law on the Nile, demonstrates a great legal and political instability. Therefore, we have tried to find out a way to overcome these differences in a sustainable governance of the Nile Basin. The harmonization of legal regimes on the Nile could be a viable solution. This is based on the qualification of the Nile waters of Regional Public Good, which requires the rehabilitation of the concept of sovereignty, which led to suggest the establishing of a "common sovereignty on the water."

Analysis of utilisation and spontaneous adverse events reports related to human papillomavirus vaccines Author: Tereza Schrommová Supervisor: PharmDr. Eva Zimčíková, Ph.D. Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University INTRODUCTION: HPV vaccination is one of the most effective types of prevention against the human papillomavirus infection that can lower the probability of its incidence up to 80-90 %. Besides the benefits of vaccination, there can also occur among many individuals certain risks and adverse effects. Spontaneous adverse events reports are used to identify these serious and unexpected adverse effects, their monitoring leads to increasing safety of therapy. Drug consumption is monitored to uncover the ratio of population exposure to certain drug during specific time in specific socioeconomic group. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this diploma was analysis of spontaneous adverse events reports of vaccines against the human papillomavirus that are registered in database of State Institute for Drug Control in the period from May 2007 to October 2017. Another aim of this work was to evaluate consumption of HPV vaccines in the Czech Republic in the period from 2006 to 2019 using data from State Institute for Drug Control again. METHODS:...

The world today has successively been shrinking in terms of distance between us as individuals, globalisation and the increased digitalisation of our society have made information accessible and connectivity simpler and more profound. In conjunction with digitalising our lives, a new medium within the digital world has risen to such prominence that it is now a factor of constant influence upon us and our environment, social media. As a consequence, people have to a large extent become digital natives. This has led to firms and brands sensing opportunities within the medium and the utilisation of its different unique vehicles. In combination with practitioners increased interest and utilisation of social media from a business standpoint, business and marketing researchers have conducted increasing amounts of research on the area. Subsequently, the researchers of this paper identified the need for an increased understanding of social media marketing strategies, as further highlighted by other researchers in previous studies on the field of social media marketing. Thus, the purpose to contribute to an increased understanding of social media marketing and how this international medium, with its unique features and possibilities, could be used as a marketing tool by companies in their respective industry and market was formulated.  To provide the profound understanding stated, due to the complex nature of the matter at hand, an abductive approach was used and motivated for. The theories and concepts used for formulation of the questions in the operationalisation, for the semi-structured interviews, was presented from a broad to narrow structure under the literature review. Furthermore, the theories were summarised in the conceptual framework. The following analysis categorised and positioned the informants and their respective firms under four sub-concepts of the main concept of social media marketing strategies. These categorisations laid the foundation for the conclusion of the paper and the answering of the posed research question. The final chapter then concludes by stating the researcher’s recommendations and the presentation of an example of a possible model for the stages of utilising social media to its fullest extent. Finally, limitations and avenues for future research topics are presented and concludes the paper. The paper provides an increased and profound understanding of how four Swedish firms, in different sectors, utilise the same tool for digital marketing. We suggest that all firms active on social media for marketing purposes, should aim to adapt their marketing towards the full utilisation of all its features and possibilities. Furthermore, a process of adapting traditional marketing to the new form of social media marketing, utilising the mediums unique features and possibilities are subsequently discussed. A possible future model to describe this adaptation process are presented and further elaborated upon as one avenue for future research.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / The purpose of this study was to determine the provision and utilisation of personal protective equipment amongst contractors in a mine in Phalaborwa Limpopo Province. A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional research approach and design were used to conduct the study. Information was gathered through self-administered questionnaires that were analysed statistically. A cross-sectional study was used to investigate the provision and utilisation of PPE amongst contractors in a phosphate mine. A quantitative research study was conducted using a questionnaire to gather data from contractors working at Foskor mine. Two hundred sixty-one employees responded to the questionnaire. The findings revealed that contractors were not being provided with PPE hence there is little utilisation of it. They have to buy PPE from their own pockets. Respondents also reported that they were not trained on the use of PPE. The use of PPE among contractors is very low as compared to permanent employees. Conclusions The contracted companies were not providing PPE to their employees. As result, PPE was not utilised as required in the mine. The response also indicated that they were not trained in the use of PPE.

Multi-drug resistance is increasingly becoming a challenge to tuberculosis control programmes globally. Treatment of multi-drug resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB) includes aminoglycoside antibiotics which are known to cause hearing loss. Ototoxicity monitoring services are often provided to patients undergoing treatment for MDR-TB for early detection of ototoxic hearing loss to facilitate alerting the patients and relevant medical staff about the presence and progression of any hearing loss. Previously, models of managing patients with MDR-TB required mandatory hospitalization for at least 6 months. This made it relatively easy to monitor the hearing status of patients during their stay in the hospital. However, with recent introduction of policy guidelines that support management of patients with MDR-TB on an outpatients basis, ototoxicity monitoring for these patients will need to be reorganized to align with the new policy guidelines. The extent of the uptake of these services when patients are accessing them as outpatients is however, unknown. This study therefore aimed to describe the patterns of utilisation and explore the barriers and factors that facilitate the use of ototoxicity monitoring services when provided on an outpatient basis in the Cape Town Metropolitan area, Western Cape, South Africa.

Au titre de ses engagements, la France doit comptabiliser annuellement les changements d'occupation du sol et les flux de carbone associés. Cet inventaire, réalisé par le Citepa, est délicat à évaluer, car les données sources sont complexes et contradictoires. En outre, ce secteur présente des enjeux stratégiques dans la lutte contre le changement climatique. Les limites de cet inventaire sont de plusieurs ordres : données sources imparfaites ; manque de connaissance sur les autres données existantes pouvant être utilisées; incertitude mal évaluée ; nécessité de validation de la pertinence des dynamiques estimées.L'objectif de cette thèse est d'analyser et d'évaluer les données sources (actuelles et potentielles) des matrices de changements d'occupation du sol afin d'améliorer la robustesse de l'inventaire. Il s'agit d'expertiser par une démarche scientifique la pertinence de l'inventaire. En particulier, il s'agit de comprendre les causes des incertitudes des données sources ; compiler les données disponibles et leurs métadonnées ; étudier qualitativement les dynamiques paysagères; et redéfinir un cadre méthodologique permettant d'estimer des taux de changements plus pertinents. Les résultats de ces travaux montrent que les niveaux de résolutions spatiales, thématiques et temporelles les plus précis entraînent la détection de faux positifs : la pertinence est à préférer à la précision, et les effets de dépendance d'échelle doivent être pris en compte. La thèse propose enfin un cadre d'interopérabilité afin d'intégrer des données hétérogènes au sein d'un nouveau protocole de modélisation alliant rééstimation des changements et allocation spatiale. / France is required to account for annual land-cover changes and induced carbon fluxes). This inventory is difficult to calcula te, for data source are complex and contradictory. Moreover, this sector is important as its role in combating climate change is emphasized. This thesis proposes improvements to several identified methodological issues: imperfect data sources, Jack of knowledge about other potential sources„ poorly evaluated uncertainties, validation of landscape dynamics consistency..Thus, the objective of this thesis is to analyse and assess current and potential data sources for computing land-cover change area matrixes, in order to enhance the robustness of the inventory. A scientific approach is conducted to assess the inventory, to understand what causes uncertainties in land cover products, to compile datasets and their metadata, to study the landscape dynamics, and to define a new methodological framework allowing better and more consistent estimates of land cover change rates at national scale.This work suggests that the finest spatial, thematical and temporal resolution levels lead to overestimation of false positives. Accuracy and consistency are preferable to precision and scale dependency must be considered. Finally, we propose an interoperability framework for data integration, via a modeling protocol linking land cover change estimation and spatial allocation.

Background: Different social, environmental and economical aspects indicate the current need for sustainability and build the imperative for a change in the fashion industry from the prevailing “take-make-dispose” consumption habit to more circular practices, which minimise the input of resources. According to research, the most direct way to capture value and design out waste and pollution in the textile system lays therewith in increasing the number of times a garment is worn. Therefore, the key challenge is to subvert the habit that garments are perceived as disposable and to increase their utilisation. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how sharing events influence the use phase of garments through the perspective of organisers and participants of such events. Method: The study implemented a qualitative research nature and followed thereby an exploratory research design and strategy. Through semi-structured interviews, event organisers of different organisations with a well-founded experience in sharing events - staged in a Circular Fashion environment - provided their insights on the influence sharing events obtain regarding the use phase of garments. The research strategy supplemented the theories and empirical data with the insights of participants of a sharing event through self-completion questionnaires. Conclusion: Besides their practical ability to pass on garments to various users, sharing events are indicated to prolong the garment usage by promoting a possible change in the consumer’s mindset. Doing so, different aspects connected to Event Management, -Strategy as well as additional offers and activities, besides swapping, are facilitating. As the research outcome hints, the sharing event model, as one of the simplest forms of collaborative garment consumption, is indicated to influence the usage by enabling a change from garment consumer to user.

Landscapes are inherently heterogeneous. However, some portions of a landscape are more heterogeneous than others and are therefore not equally suitable for resource extraction by elephants. Elephants have large energy demands to meet and should spend the majority of their time in areas where they are able to forage optimally. Identifying the determinants of home range location and area may therefore provide insight into aspects of landscape utilization by elephants. Using vegetation structure as a surrogate, I investigated whether landscape heterogeneity explains the variability home range size and location of elephants occurring in the mesic savannas of Zambia and Malawi. I developed a landscape map for each of five study areas. Using these maps, I applied four FRAGSTATS metrics to quantify different aspects of landscape heterogeneity within the study areas, as well as elephant home ranges and randomly located ranges delineated using a 95% Kernel estimation. I placed similar study areas into comparable groups for each of the landscape heterogeneity metrics. Elephant home range size was not a function of landscape heterogeneity metrics and may therefore be explained by other factors. Landscape complexity and diversity of elephant home ranges varied within groups of similar study areas, suggesting that these metrics were important descriptors of home range location. Within study areas, with the exception of patch density, landscape heterogeneity metrics supported the expectation that wet season ranges would be more heterogeneous than those of the dry season. In addition, female ranges were more heterogeneous than those of males during the wet seasons with respect to both patch density and landscape diversity. In most cases, greater landscape heterogeneity within home ranges was only shown during the wet season and this suggests that water requirements preclude selection for more heterogeneous landscapes during the dry season. However, elephants of the Zambian study areas, besides Kafue, selected for metrics indicative of landscape complexity and diversity during both dry and wet seasons. I therefore concluded that elephants favoured complex landscapes with more vegetation types in irregularly arranged patches and landscape heterogeneity therefore determines the location of elephant home ranges. At a regional scale, a landscape comprises habitats of varying suitability to elephants. In a metapopulation framework, such areas may form sources or sinks and therefore contribute to driving elephant movements. The ability to identify areas of importance to elephant range utilization is therefore an essential tool to apply within the megaparks for metapopulations conservation framework. / Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

Background and Objectives: Economic evaluation and decision analysis provide a framework to evaluate incremental costs and effects associated with alternative health interventions. These methods can also be used as a tool to evaluate alternative clinical behaviours or practice patterns. The objective of this thesis was to investigate the impact of current Canadian practices in human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) testing to target trastuzumab in early-stage breast cancer (BC). Methods: Project 1: A systematic review of previous trastuzumab and HER2 testing economic analyses was conducted to identify methodological gaps and key lessons. Project 2: A population-level, retrospective cohort was studied to determine HER2 testing and trastuzumab treatment patterns in Ontario early-stage BC patients. Project 3: A cost-utility analysis of alternative test-treat strategies was conducted using a Markov model of BC calibrated to the Canadian setting, and incorporating Project 2 findings. Results: Project 1: Previous economic evaluations demonstrated that HER2 test accuracy and sequencing were key considerations when modelling the cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab treatment. Consideration of local testing and treatment practices was lacking. Project 2: HER2 testing and treatment practice differed from guidelines, where documentation was available. Only 88% of equivocal results were confirmed, while 57% of HER2 positive patients received trastuzumab. Project 3: Calibration of the BC model minimised gaps between trial-based survival and expected Canadian survival patterns. Deviations from guidelines in practice suggest that primary testing with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) would produce greater health gains at a reduced cost vs. primary immunohistochemistry with FISH confirmation. This finding was more apparent as the prevalence of HER2 positive disease increased. Introduction of newer in situ hybridisation tests may be cost-effective as well. Conclusions: Practice deviations from guidelines are an important consideration when modelling the cost-effectiveness of trastuzumab therapy. Underlying local disease progression and prevalence can also significantly impact outcomes. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)