AbstraktBakgrund: DMFT (Decayed, Missing, Filled Tooth) har minskat i många delar av världen under det senaste århundradet. Resultat från flera studier visar att DMFT kan vara beroende av socioekonomiska faktorer. Emellertid har de flesta studierna bara granskat några faktorer och på subnationell nivå medan studier på global nivå saknas.Syfte: Att undersöka om det finns ett samband mellan kariesminskning och socioekonomiska faktorer.Material och metod: Socioekonomiska faktorer har valts och data för varje variabel har erhållits med hjälp av World Bank. DMFT-värdena mellan 1960–2017 för olika stater och provinser har erhållits från Oral Health Country/area Profile Project (CAPP). Endast perioder då kariesminskning har inträffat inkluderades. DMFT har fastställts som en beroende variabel och socioekonomiska faktorer som oberoende variabler där linjär regression användes för att analysera insamlad data. P-värdet sattes till 0,05. Tidigare studier och forskning inom ämnet användes för att formulera hypoteser.Resultat: Totalt 6 st variabler visades ha samband med DMFT under perioder av kariesminskning och följande värden för signifikansen erhölls för dessa variabler: Fattigdom (p=0,027), Gini (6x 10-6), andel av jordbruk i Bruttonationalproduken (BNP) (p=0,017), andel av industri i BNP (p=7x10-7), förväntad livslängd (p=1,35x10-4), sockerkonsumtion (p=0,012). Bland de variabler som inte har visats samband med DMFT under perioder av kariesminskning erhölls följande värden av DMFT: BNP per capita (p=0,440), BNP per capita tillväxt per år (p=0,419), arbetslöshet (p=0,699), läskunnighet (p=0,304).Slutsats: De oberoende variablerna fattigdom, Gini, andel av industrin i BNP, andel av jordbruk i BNP och sockerkonsumtion hade en korrelation med DMFT, där större värde på dessa parametrar innebar ett högre DMFT under perioder då det skedde kariesminskning. Livslängden hade ett omvänt samband dvs ju större värde på livslängden, desto mindre DMFT under motsvarande perioder. BNP per capita, årlig BNP-tillväxt per capita, arbetslöshet och läskunnighet hade ingen korrelation med DMFT-värdena under de perioder det skedde kariesminskning. / AbstractBackground: The index Decayed, Missing, Filled, Tooth (DMFT) has declined in many parts of the world in the last century. Results from several studies indicate that DMFT can be dependent of socioeconomic factors. However, most of the studies have only examined a few factors and on a subnational level while studies on a global scale are lacking.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is a correlation between caries decline and socio-economic factors. Material and method: Socioeconomic factors have been chosen and the data for each variable have been obtained using World Bank. DMFT- value between 1960-2017 for various states and provinces has been obtained using Oral Health Country/area Profile Project (CAPP). Only periods of time when decline of caries has occurred were included. Linear regression was used to analyze data. DMFT has been set as a dependent variable and socioeconomic factors as independent variables. P-value was set to 0.05. Previous studies and research in the subject were used to formulate hypotheses.Results: A total of six variables proved to have a correlation with DMFT during periods of caries decline, and the following statistical significance values were obtained for these variables: Poverty rate (p=0.027), Gini (6x 10-6), share of agriculture in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (p=0.017), share of industry in GDP (p=7x10-7), life expectancy (p=1.35x10-4), sugar consumption (p=0.012). Among variables proved not to have a correlation with DMFT during periods of caries decline, the following significance values were obtained: GDP per capita (p=0.440), annual growth of GDP per capita (p=0.419), unemployment rate (p=0.699), literacy rate (p=0.304).Conclusion: The independent variables poverty rate, Gini, share of industry in GDP, share of agriculture in GDP and sugar consumption had a positive correlation with DMFT. That means the higher value of these variables, the higher DMFT, during the timespans of caries decline. Life expectancy had a conversely correlation during corresponding periods. GDP per capita, annual growth of GDP per capita, unemployment rate and literacy rate had no correlation with the DMFT-value, during periods of caries decline.

No / After more than 3500 years of occupation in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, the many lake-dwellings’ around the Circum-Alpine region ‘suddenly’ came to an end. Throughout that period alternating phases of occupation and abandonment illustrate how resilient lacustrine populations were against change: cultural/environmental factors might have forced them to relocate temporarily, but they always returned to the lakes. So why were the lake-dwellings finally abandoned and what exactly happened towards the end of the Late Bronze Age that made the lake-dwellers change their way of life so drastically? The new research presented here draws upon the results of a four-year-long project dedicated to shedding light on this intriguing conundrum. Placing a particular emphasis upon the Bronze Age, a multidisciplinary team of researchers has studied the lake-dwelling phenomenon inside out, leaving no stones unturned, enabling identification of all possible interactive socio-economic and environmental factors that can be subsequently tested against each other to prove (or disprove) their validity. By re-fitting the various pieces of the jigsaw a plausible, but also rather unexpected, picture emerges.

This thesis aims to provide an approach to real estate residential modeling and forecasting covering property types’ correlation, time series attributes within a region or a city, and socio-economic attributes of preferred real estate locations. The thesis covers residential estate markets and concentrates on property types, while previous studies that have considered country wide house price indices. There is a gap identified in the literature in the need to study correlations between property types within a region or a city and whether they will provide diversification benefits for real estate investors such as risk reduction per unit of returns. The thesis concentrates on property type seasonality in addition to modeling time series attributes within a region or city instead of real estate index seasonality. This thesis the first to combine modern information systems techniques such as geographic information systems (GIS) with socio-economic factors to help understanding causal relationships that can be used to forecast real estate prices. The results show that it is more achievable to forecast real estate prices within a city than for the real estate market of the entire country. The GIS and socio-economic modeling results show that higher property prices are awarded to real estate with more green spaces, residents with higher disposable incomes, lower council tax bands, fewer tax benefits claimants, and better health services. Previous studies have examined real estate price indices at the macro level (the general, all real estate house price indices). There has not been a study that examines real estate price forecasts by property types within a city. The contribution of this thesis is its focus on time series analysis as well as causal modeling within a city with the objective of providing a better understanding of the dynamics of real estate price changes.

The amount of electricity used in individual UK homes varies considerably. Previous UK energy research has identified that high electricity consuming homes not only use more electricity, compared with others, but appear to be consuming even more electricity over time. Furthermore, there is additional evidence which shows that high consuming dwellings also have a greater potential to make energy savings than those who consume less. It has been suggested that future UK energy policy might focus on reducing the demand of high electricity consumers in order to reduce overall CO2 emissions. Therefore, understanding what drives high usage in domestic buildings is essential to support informed decisions. This thesis asserts that to improve knowledge and understanding of the factors affecting high electrical energy consumption in UK domestic buildings, it is necessary to combine an analysis of the occupants socio-economic characteristics, dwelling technical characteristics and appliance related aspects, with detailed monitoring of the ownership, power demand and occupants use of electrical appliances. Using a sample of 315 UK homes, the influence of socio-economic, technical and appliance related characteristics on the probability of a household being a high electrical energy consumer was investigated (Odds ratio analysis). Detailed appliance monitoring data was collected from 27 UK homes to establish the contributions of appliance ownership, power demand and use to high electrical energy demand (Appliance Electricity Use Survey). The current research found similar skewed electricity distributions towards high electricity consumers for both the 315 and 27 home cohorts. Conflicting results were however obtained from the two household samples with regard to whether high electricity consumers are increasing electrical energy demand over time. The results of the odds ratio analysis and Appliance Electricity Use Survey suggest that high electricity consumption in domestic buildings is related to a combination of the socio-economic characteristics of the building occupants, technical characteristics of the dwelling and the ownership, power demand and use of electrical appliances.

Thesis (M.Sc (Agricultural Economics)) --University of Limpopo, 2015 / Agriculture plays an important role in uplifting the economy of South Africa. Small-scale farmers in rural areas are linked with poverty and operate inefficiently due to over or under utilization of some of the factors of production. This study aimed at analysing the technical and allocative efficiency of small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality. The objectives of the study were: (i) To assess the level of technical and allocative efficiency of small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality, (ii) To identify socio-economic factors affecting the efficiency of small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality and (iii) to investigate the areas of improvement with regard to the operational management of the small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality. The study employed the Cobb-Douglas production function and the logistic regression model to analyse data. The Cobb-Douglas production function results revealed that small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality are technically efficient in the production of maize with the highest mean technical efficiency value of 0.71%. The study further revealed that farmers were allocatively inefficient with a mean allocative efficiency value of 0.39%. The logistic regression analysis revealed important variables such as the level of education (1.05), experience in farming (2.74), access to irrigation water (0.59), purchase of hybrid seed (0.74), access to credit (2.13) and extension visits (0.85) were positively significant towards the efficiency of farmers. Variables such as gender of the farmer (-1.79) and off-farm income (-2.72) were found to be negatively significant towards the efficiency of small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen Municipality. The findings obtained in this study could be quite useful to policy makers. This study recommend that there is a need for more visits from the extension officers as well as training on inputs allocation, since variables like Seed (0.41), fertilizer (0.17), capital (0.71) and expenses (-0.204) were found to be inefficiently allocated in the production of maize. The provision of easy, quick and adequate credit deserves to be a top priority on the agenda of policy makers since most small-scale maize farmers in Tzaneen municipality does not receive off-farm income. Small-scale farmers in Tzaneen municipality also need to have access to enough arable land in order to increase production. Small-scale farmers in South Africa and other developing countries contribute to employment creation and food security in the households, therefore, it is important that government fully support such farmers.

Encouraging good nutrition is particularly important in the early years of life for the development of appropriate food habits and healthy adults in later life. These are governed by many contending and conflicting influences. Objective: This research examines the food choice influences for mothers of young children in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire (UK). Participants were recruited from a large community food intervention (clients) and were compared with those not involved in the initiative (non-clients). This enabled the reflection of the broader socio-cultural experiences of food and the influence of 'structure' and 'agency' on food choices. The research adopted a phenomenological approach using ethnographic recording techniques (interview and observation). The research findings are presented as ethnographic fictions. These short fictional stories provide a 'thick' description of the participant's lifeworld. They locate these choices in the person and the place. A hierarchy of food choice influences emerged from the data, with three main findings. Most prominently, the influence of individual capacity on the food choices made. Secondly, the influence of place, town planning and the geography of an area on food choices. Thirdly, the influence of gender, relationships and social networks. Central to the thesis of this research is the use of ethnographic fiction to enable a better understanding of the complexity involved in food choice and community development approaches to nutritional change. The use of ethnographic fiction conveyed a better understanding of people and of the role and impact of an intervention upon the wider processes involved in food choice. Ethnographic fiction was used here for the first time in public health nutrition to explain the complex picture of food choice for mothers of young children in Skelmersdale, and to convey new insight on food choice and the complexity of food choice influence.

Research on smoking has to a great deal been conducted within a public health or a medical context, or focused on policy making. Fewer studies have taken their point of departure in a social sciences context, and still fewer have analysed why individuals start and cease to smoke, and how and why smoking patterns on an aggregate level change over time and vary between different population groups. The aim of this dissertation is to analyse changes in the Swedish tobacco consumption with special emphasis at elucidating the decrease in smoking during the past half-century from different angels. Thus, the first paper explore if and how changes in smoking patterns can be understood and explained with reference to Sweden’s development as a welfare state, and in relation to socio-demographic and socio-economic circumstances. The second paper focuses on the long-term pathways to smoking cessation, by discerning several distinct trajectories from smoker to non-smoker. The third paper analyses gender differences with regard to reasons to smoke, experiences of smoking, and central elements in the cessation process. Finally, in the fourth paper, the issue of to what extent smoking cessation can be described as a process of identity change is explored.   Smoking initiation and cessation vary by socio-demographic and socio-economic factors, and the rapid decrease in smoking has resulted in a rather vulnerable group of smokers in these aspects. The results also indicate that the cessation process is complex, with personal and structural factors interacting in the long-term process, leading to multiple pathways to a smoke-free life. Moreover, they point to gender differences in reasons to smoke and to quit, and in strategies to quit smoking. In addition, identity change seems to be important in remaining smoke-free. The stated inequality in gender and class points in the direction that structural changes and social policies might be of need to decrease smoking even further. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Submitted. Paper 3: Accepted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p> / Women, Health and Substance use

Land adjustment represents an important branch, which mainly deals with the arrangement of land, the separation or unification and also addresses the regulation of property relations. This is a complicated process that is a certain way influenced by socio-economic factors. This diploma thesis mainly deals with the process of chosen landscaping and also socio-economic factors that directly influence this process.

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