Since Dengue fever (DF) and its related forms, Dengue Hemorrhagic fever (DHF) and Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS) have become important health concerns worldwide, it is also imperative to develop methods which will help in the analysis of the incidences. Dengue fever cases are growing in number as it also invades widely, affecting larger number of countries and crossing climatic boundaries. Considering that the disease as of now has neither an effective vaccine nor a cure, monitoring in order to prevent or control is the resorted alternative. GIS and its related technologies offer a wealth of interesting capabilities towards achieving this goal. The intention of this study was to develop methods to describe dengue fever outbreaks taking Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a case study. Careful study of Census data with appropriate attributes was made to find out their potential influence on dengue fever incidence in the various regions or census districts. Dengue incidence data from year 2000 to year 2008 reported by the municipal secretariat of Rio was used to extract the necessary census districts. Base map files in MapInfo format were converted to shape files.  Using ArcGIS it was possible to merge the dengue fever incidence data with the available base map file of the City of Rio according to corresponding census districts. Choropleth maps were then created using different attributes from which patterns and trends could be used to describe the characteristic of the outbreak with respect to the socio-economic conditions. Incidence data were also plotted in Excel to see temporal variations. Cluster analysis were performed with the Moran I technique on critical periods and years of dengue outbreak. Using the square root of dengue incidence from January to April 2002 and 2008, inverse distance was selected as the conceptualised spatial relationship, Euclidean distance as the distance method. More detailed analyses were then done on the selected critical years of dengue outbreak, (years 2002 and 2008), to investigate the influence of socio-economic variables on dengue incidence per census district.   Dengue incidence rate appeared to be higher during the rainy and warmer months between December and May. Outbreaks of dengue occurred in years 2002 and 2008 over the study period of year 2000 to 2008. Some factors included in the census data were influential in the dengue prevalence according to districts. Satisfactory results can be achieved by using this strategy as a quick method for assessing potential dengue attack, spread and possible enabling conditions. The method has the advantage where there is limited access to field work, less financial means for acquisition of data and other vital resources. A number of difficulties were encountered during the study however and leaves areas where further work can be done for improvements. More variables would be required in order to make a complete and comprehensive description of influential conditions and factors.  There is still a gap in the analytical tools required for multi-dimensional investigations as the ones encountered in this study.  It is vital to integrate ‘GPS’ and ‘Remote Sensing’ in order to obtain a variety of up-to-date data with higher resolution.

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Magister Educationis - MEd (Mathematics and Science Education) / This study looks at the effects of a dialogical argumentation instructional model (DAIM) on grade 9 learners understanding of selected meteorological concepts: Cold fronts in the Western Cape of South Africa. Using a quasi-experimental research design model, the study employed both quantitative and qualitative (so-called ‘mixed methods’) to collect data in a public secondary school in Cape Town, in the Western Cape Province. A survey questionnaire on attitudes and perceptions towards high school as well as conceptions of weather was administered before the main study to give the researcher baseline information and to develop pilot instruments to use in the main study. The study employed a dialogical instructional model (DAIM) with an experimental group of learners exposed to the intervention, and recorded differences from a control group which had no intervention. Learners from the two groups were exposed to a meteorological literacy test evaluation before and after the DAIM intervention. The results from the two groups were then compared and analysed according to the two theoretical frameworks that underpin the study namely: Toulmin’s Argumentation Pattern - TAP (Toulmin, 1958) and Contiguity Argumentation Theory - CAT (Ogunniyi, 1997). Further analyses were conducted on learners’ beliefs and indigenous knowledge, according to their conceptual understanding of weather related concepts used in the current NCS (National Curriculum Statement). After completing the study some interesting findings were made and based on these findings certain recommendations were suggested on how to implement a DAIM-model into classroom teaching using Indigenous Knowledge (IK). These recommendations are suggestions to plot the way towards developing a science–IK curriculum for the Natural Sciences subjects in South African schools.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / In developing economies and specifically Sub-Saharan Africa physical inactivity has been identified as a risk factor along with tobacco use / South Africa

<p style="text-align: justify / " class="Default">In developing economies and specifically Sub-Saharan Africa physical inactivity has been identified as a risk factor along with tobacco use, poor nutrition and poor diet as this has increasingly formed part of today&rsquo / s lifestyle. Physical activity declines with age this decline is more marked during the adolescent period. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of physical inactivity and factors associated with it among adolescents in <st1:place><st1:city>Nairobi</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Kenya</st1:country-region></st1:place>. The overall aim of the study is to determine the factors influencing their levels of physical activity in relation to their socio-economic characteristics. <o:p></o:p></p>

Den ojämlika dödligheten är en studie av främst hjärt–kärldödlighet avseende perioden 1950–2010 i tvillingstäderna Linköping och Norrköping och konsekvenserna av ojämlikhet. Skillnaderna mellan städerna i dödlighet är stora. Under 1970-talet, då jämlikheten stod i focus, minskade dessa. Efterhand som ekonomisk politik och samhällsvärderingar mera anpassades till en global monetaristisk politik ökade också den ojämlika dödligheten mellan städerna. Stora förändringar ägde rum inom respektive stad när det gäller hjärtdödligheten. Miljonprogramområdena i de båda städerna blev relativt sett fattigare och präglades allt mer av flyktinginvandring, samtidigt som städernas centra gentrifierades, inte minst i Linköping. Skillnaderna i dödlighet mellan ytterområdena och centrum ökade under 1990- och 2000-talen. Detta gäller i större utsträckning i Linköping än i Norrköping. Avhandlingen består av tre delar. I licentiatuppsatsen analyseras städernas utveckling från 1950-talet till 2006. Studien gör också ett försök att spåra orsaker till ohälsoskillnader och för tidig död. Artikel 1 handlar om vad som hände med folkhälsan på vägen från ett högindustriellt till ett postindustriellt samhälle. Ett särskilt focus har varit att studera skillnader i hjärtsjuklighet mellan olika stadsdelar i de bägge tvillingstäderna. I artikel 2 analyseras skillnader i hjärt–kärldödlighet på stadsdelsnivå under perioden 1976 till 2010. / Unequal Mortality is primarily a study of coronary heart disease mortality and its consequences during the period 1950–2010 in the twin cities Linköping and Norrköping. The difference in mortality between the two cities was great. During the 1970s, when there was a focus on equality, these differences declined. As economic policies and social values were adapted to a global monetary policy, inequality in mortality between the two cities increased. Large changes took place in the respective cities as far as mortality in coronary heart disease was concerned. In both cities the low cost housing projects became poorer and were increasingly influenced by the influx of refugees, at the same time that the city centres became gentrified, not least in Linköping. The differences in mortality between the out-lying areas and the city centres increased during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century. This is true to a greater extent in Linköping than in Norrköping. The dissertation consists of three parts. The licentiate thesis analyses the development of the cities from the 1950s until 2006. The study also attempts to trace the reasons for the differences in health and premature death. Article 1 deals with what happened on the way from a highly industrial to a post-industrial society. It has especially focused on studying the differences in coronary heart disease morbidity among various neighbourhoods in both the twin cities. Article 2 analyses differences in coronary heart disease mortality during the period from 1976 to 2010.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Introdução: A hanseníase, doença infecciosa crônica, causada pelo bacilo Mycobacterium leprae, tem seu mecanismo de transmissão não totalmente esclarecido. A transmissão ativa pode estar associada a movimentos migratórios, condições sociais ou outras fontes de infecção (como a manutenção do bacilo no ambiente). Objetivos: Descrever o padrão espacial do risco relativo da hanseníase em menores de 15 anos no estado da Bahia; identificar possíveis agrupamentos espaciais e investigar a possível associação entre o risco relativo da hanseníase e fatores socioeconômicos e ambientais. Metodologia: Este estudo ecológico utilizou dados do Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação (SINAN) de 2005 a 2011, do Censo Demográfico do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística de 2010, da Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Informações Demográficas e Socioeconômicas do Departamento de Informática do SUS, bases cartográficas digitais de dados ambientais do IBGE e bases cartográficas digitais do estado da Bahia e estados vizinhos. Os riscos relativos por município foram padronizados pela covariável gênero. A análise de varredura espacial com o programa SaTScan permitiu verificar a existência de agrupamentos espaciais do tipo alto e/ou baixo. O segundo estágio da análise consistiu em verificar a possível associação entre risco relativo da hanseníase como variável dependente e variáveis socioeconômicas e ambientais como explicativas, através de análises de regressão hierárquica multivariada não espacial e espacial, de acordo com quadro conceitual definido previamente. Resultados: Durante o período de estudo foram notificados 1.674 casos, que representam 7,87% dos casos totais. As taxas em menores de 15 anos, padronizadas por gênero, diminuiu de 0,89/10.000 em 2005 para 0,57 em 2011. A estatística de varredura espacial identificou 4 agrupamentos de risco alto e 6 de risco baixo. No modelo de regressão hierárquica, o risco relativo foi associado positivamente com porcentagem de corpos dágua, Índice de Gini, porcentagem de população urbana, número médio de moradores em domicílios particulares permanentes, e negativamente com o número de residentes nascidos na Bahia. Conclusão: Este estudo mostrou que a hanseníase ainda está ativa no Nordeste do Brasil, principalmente em ambientes urbanos. Embora o risco relativo da hanseníase tenha diminuído, ele ainda permanece muito alto. Migrações de assentamentos rurais para as cidades, bem como mais pessoas vivendo em domicílios e desigualdades sociais são resultados de um processo histórico no nordeste do Brasil, que dão suporte para a continuidade do processo de transmissão da doença. A associação entre o risco relativo da hanseníase e corpos dágua na escala geográfica proposta, indica que a hipótese que associa a M. leprae e ambientes úmidos ainda não pode ser descartada. / Background: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by the bacillus Mycobacterium leprae. Its mechanism of transmission has not been completely understood. The active transmission may be associated with people migration, social conditions or other sources of infection (such as maintenance of bacilli in the environment). Objectives: To describe the spatial pattern of the relative risk of leprosy in children under 15 years old in the State of Bahia; to identify possible spatial clusters and to investigate the possible association between the relative risk of leprosy with socioeconomic and environmental factors. Methods: This ecological study used data from the Brazilian Disease Notification System (Sistema Nacional de Informação de Agravos de Notificação SINAN) for the studied period of 2005 to 2011; Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatstica (IBGE 2011), Department of Data and Information Technology (Informações Demográficas e Socioeconômicas do Departamento de Informática do SUS DATASUS, 2010) and the Federation of Industries of the State of Rio de Janeiro FIRJAN (2010), Cartographic base of municipalities in Bahia and surrounding States corresponded to the shape files from the Brazilian Demographic Census. Relative risks were calculated accounting for the respective covariate gender. The spatial scan analysis with SaTScan program allowed to verify the existence of high and/or low spatial clusters. The second stage of the analysis consisted of verifying possible associations between the relative risks of leprosy as a dependent variable, and socio-economic and environmental variables as independent. This was performed using a multivariate regression analysis according to a previously defined conceptual framework. Results: During the study period, 1,674 cases were reported, representing 7.87% of the total cases. Overall rates have decreased from 0.88/10 000 in 2005 to 0.52 in 2011. Spatial scan statistics identified 4 high-risk and 6 low-risk clusters. In the regression model, after allowing for spatial dependence, relative risks were associated with higher percentage of water bodies, higher Gini index, higher percentage of urban population, larger average number of dwellers by permanent residence and smaller percentage of residents born in Bahia. Conclusions: This study showed that leprosy is still active in the Northeast of Brazil, especially in urban environments. Although relative risks of leprosy in Bahia have been decreasing, they remain very high. Migration of rural settlements to the cities, more people living in households and social inequalities are the result of a historical process in northeastern Brazil, that support the continuity of the disease transmission process. The association between relative risks of leprosy and water bodies in the proposed geographic scale indicates that hypothesis linking M. leprae and humid environments cannot be discarded.

Introduction : L'arrêt cardiaque (AC) est considéré comme un problème majeur de santé publique. Prévenir les arrêts cardiaques, les décès consécutifs et optimiser leur prise en charge sont les objectifs partagés à la fois par les professionnels de l’urgence et les décideurs des politiques de santé publique. A l’heure de la territorialisation prenant en compte les besoins des populations, très peu d’études ont été consacrées aux variations d’incidence induites par la localisation géographique des arrêts cardiaques et les caractéristiques socio-économiques des patients. L’objectif de cette thèse est d'identifier, à partir des données du registre national des arrêts cardiaques RéAC, dans les trois départements de la petite couronne d’Ile-de-France, des clusters de communes présentant une incidence élevée ou faible en matière d’arrêt cardiaque, puis de les caractériser à partir des facteurs socio-économiques qui peuvent leur être associés. Matériel et Méthodes : Nous avons étudié les données d’arrêt cardiaque des trois départements d’Ile-de-France composant la petite couronne francilienne. Nous avons ainsi travaillé sur un ensemble de 123 communes. Les données relatives aux arrêts cardiaques ont été extraites du registre français des arrêts cardiaques RéAC. Des données socioéconomiques ont été collectées pour chacune de ces communes auprès de l’Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE). En termes de méthodes, nous avons eu recours à une double approche sur le plan statistique, combinant des méthodes bayésiennes afin d’étudier les variations géographiques d'incidence des arrêts cardiaques et des statistiques de scan en vue d’identifier des clusters de communes selon le niveau d’incidence des arrêts cardiaques. Enfin, nous avons caractérisé et comparé ces clusters de communes selon des facteurs socioéconomiques. Résultats : Nous avons inclus 3.414 arrêts cardiaques sur une période de deux ans, entre août 2013 et août 2015. De fortes variations géographiques - significatives - ont été observées parmi 123 municipalités : 34 présentaient un risque d'incidence élevé et 37 présentaient un risque faible. Les statistiques de scan ont permis d’identifier 7 clusters significatifs sur le plan de l’incidence des arrêts cardiaques, dont 3 clusters à faible incidence (le risque relatif variait de 0,23 à 0,54) et 4 clusters à forte incidence (avec un risque relatif de 1,43 à 2). Les clusters de municipalités ayant une incidence élevée d'AC se caractérisent par un statut socioéconomique inférieur à celui des autres (clusters d'incidence d’arrêt cardiaque faible ou normale). L'analyse a montré des relations statistiquement significatives entre les facteurs de défaveur sociale et une incidence élevée. Discussion : L’analyse des taux d’incidence standardisés et lissés dans la zone de la petite couronne parisienne révèle l’existence d’une forte hétérogénéité en termes d’incidence des arrêts cardiaques. L’utilisation des statistiques de scan nous a permis d’identifier 7 clusters significatifs, dont 4 de sur-incidence et 3 de sous-incidence. Ces résultats, les premiers en France sur cette thématique, confirment ceux déjà existants dans la littérature internationale montrant une hétérogénéité spatiale de l'incidence de l'arrêt cardiaque et l’importance de certains facteurs socio-économiques. Enfin, le recours aux statistiques de scan, différente des méthodes généralement utilisées, permet de mettre en évidence l'existence de zones à haut risque d’arrêt cardiaque [...] / Cardiac arrest (CA) is considered a major public health problem. Preventing cardiac arrest and subsequent deaths and optimizing their management are objectives shared by both emergency professionals and public health policy makers. At a time when territorialization is taking into account the needs of populations, very few studies have been devoted to the variations in incidence induced by the geographical location of cardiac arrests and the socio-economic characteristics of patients. The objective of this thesis is to identify, based on data from the national register of cardiac arrests RéAC, in the three departments of the inner suburbs of Ile-de-France, clusters of municipalities with a high or low incidence of cardiac arrest, and then to characterize them based on the socio-economic factors that can be associated with them. Equipment and Methods: We studied cardiac arrest data from the three departments of Ile-de-France that make up the inner suburbs of the Paris region. We have worked on a total of 123 municipalities. Data on cardiac arrests were extracted from the French register of cardiac arrests RéAC. Socio-economic data were collected for each of these municipalities from the Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE). In terms of methods, we used a statistically twofold approach, combining Bayesian methods to study geographical variations in the incidence of cardiac arrest and CT statistics to identify clusters of communes according to the incidence level of cardiac arrest. Finally, we characterized and compared these clusters of municipalities according to socio-economic factors.