Drug use and misuse by young people is a problem and concern in the Australian and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) communities. There are concerns regarding illicit and licit drugs but licit drug use has been identified as the major area of concern. Young people in the ACT reflect the drug use/misuse patterns and trends of other states. Commonly used drugs by young people are alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and analgesics. Strategies to address the problem of drug use/misuse by young people include intervention and community drug education programs. Peer drug education (as an example of community drug education), trains young people as peer educators to implement drug education programs with younger age groups. A case study analysis based on qualitative, naturalistic and new paradigm research is the research method used in this thesis. An eclectic model of drug education including key components from a variety of drug education models provides a comprehensive overview of peer drug education. The literature review showed the complexity of influences on drug use/misuse. These influences relate to individual, peer, parental and family, community and societal factors. Peer drug education is generally recognised as an effective drug education strategy. Peer drug education programs (Triple T: Teenagers Teaching Teenagers) were conducted in the ACT from 1988-1990. Reports documenting these programs (including evaluation data) and a literative review are the main data analysed for the case study. The case study analysis of five ACT peer drug education programs and one interstate program showed the key planning issues for effective peer drug education were: collaborative decision making as a central concept; detailed planning and liaison with target groups; established structures within schools and communities to support the trained peer educators; team work and small group work as intrinsic and extrinsic factors within the program; clarification of responsibilities and roles of all personnel involved in the program; and facilitators/leaders with attributes and qualities that encourage peer drug educators as social change agents. Analysis of data from the case study reports showed young people can be effective peer drug educators. Residential programs are preferred over non-residential programs. Peer drug education programs are effective in both school and community agencies. The literature review and analysis of reports also indicated that peer drug education needs to focus on establishing positive norms in groups of young people. Collaborative decision making and positive role modelling assist in the establishment of these norms. Peer drug education links to the wider changes occurring in education and health settings. Peer drug education is about collaborative decision making, social justice, development of key competencies and social change. This thesis confirmed the complexity and dynamic nature of peer drug education and there were many questions raised for further research from the literature review and analysis of program reports.

La lutte contre la pauvreté constitue depuis longtemps la principale préoccupation aussi bien des populations que des autorités gouvernementales du Sénégal. Des efforts substantiels ont été déployés lors des dix dernières années et plusieurs projets de développement ont vu jour à cet effet. Parmi ces projets, le Programme National d'Infrastructures rurales (PNIR) est apparu comme l'un des plus pertinents. Son objectif était de construire des infrastructures sociales de base pour améliorer les conditions de vie des populations rurales. L'objectif de cette thèse est d'apprécier l'impact du PNIR sur le bien-être des populations. Pour cela, nous avons utilisé des mesures de bien-être très peu développées au Sénégal. Le bien-être des ménages a été analysé à partir des données anthropométriques des enfants et à partir de la perception des populations de leur propre niveau de vie. Toujours dans cette optique, cette thèse comporte aussi une analyse de la situation nutritionnelle des enfants selon le genre et une analyse de l'abandon scolaire qui nous permettent néanmoins de mieux apprécier l'état de la pauvreté ou de l'absence de bien-être dans les ménages ruraux. Les données utilisées proviennent essentiellement des enquêtes que nous avons menées en zone rurale pour étudier l'impact du PNIR sur la réduction de la pauvreté rurale. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que le taux de pauvreté anthropométrique est plus faible que celui avancé avec l'utilisation des méthodes classiques d'analyse (approche monétaire en général) et le PNIR a eu un impact positif sur ce type de bien-être . Quant à la perception sur le bien-être, un taux un peu plus élevé a été obtenu. Cependant, les déclarations sur ce bien-être subjectif sont fondamentalement conditionnées par des facteurs comme l'éducation du chef de ménage, l'accessibilité aux infrastructures sociales de base, la possession de biens durables, la présence de tissus associatifs dans les villages et l'existence des problèmes nutritionnels dans la famille. Aussi, c'est dans les communautés rurales bénéficiaires du programme qu'on enregistre les taux de pauvreté subjectifs les plus élevés. L'analyse du traitement des enfants a révélé que le programme PNIR a eu un effet global positif sur leur niveau de bien-être. Cependant, cet impact est obtenu avec l'amélioration particulière du bien-être des garçons dans les zones du programme. Par ailleurs, le taux d'abandon à l'école primaire et secondaire est estimé à 9% et 8% respectivement et l'impact du programme dans ce domaine est positif mais non significatif.

<p>Cape Town includes two vegetable farming areas within the city limits, the Joostenbergvlakte/Kraaifontein area and the Philippi area. Both areas supply produce to local markets and further afield. Sporadically, high levels of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc have been found to occur in some of the soils, irrigation water resources and crops. To find the sources of specifically Cd, Pb and Zn to these agricultural systems, extensive analysis of several heavy metals in inputs such as fertilizers, agrochemicals and supplementary water resources to these farming areas was undertaken. Heavy metal concentrations in soils, irrigation water resources and crops were also determined. Two mitigation techniques that could be used to remediate Cd, Pb and Zn contamination were investigated. The first mitigation method included immobilization of heavy metals as phosphate complexes by using a triple super phosphate fertilizer, while the second method involved mobilisation and thus leaching of heavy metals away from plant roots using EDTA. These mitigation methods were tested in a pot experiment using cabbage as the experimental crop and soil from these areas as growth medium. A survey of common farming practices in these two areas and farmers willingness to use remediation methods was conducted.</p>

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to interview four legal jurists in order to explore how they conduct CSR activities within their service corpora-tion, with primary focus on SME law firms. Background: A current issue to address concerning the conduct of business these days is CSR activities. Although, the previous research concerning CSR activities and the service sector is limited. Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is divided into four parts; a general part concerning the concept of CSR activities, a review of earlier studies of CSR activities, the stakeholder theory and finally the theory about the triple bottom line. Method: A qualitative case study was employed in order to answer the purpose. The most suitable research approach was a combination of a deductive and partially an inductive approach. The primary data consisted of semi-structured interviews. The secondary data were used in order make a comparison in relation to manufacturing corporations. Empirical findings &amp; Analysis: As for all corporations an integration of voluntary social and environmental concerns in their business operations are considered as CSR activities. A significant concern is CSR activities that the inter-viewed service corporations experienced was the lack of human and economic resources to deal with CSR activities. Furthermore, the lack of stakeholder pressure does not facilitate the matter of implementing more CSR strategies into the corporations‟ business conduct. As a result of the lack of stakeholder pressure the interviewed corporations tend to only take part in CSR activities that create goodwill value for the corporation. According to the interviewed service corporations CSR activities is a new phenomenon that is likely to become a bigger part of their business conduct in the future. Conclusion: The interviewed corporations tend to focus their CSR activities to-wards the social activities since this is the kind of activities that is closely connected to the core business.

Different methods have been proposed for history matching production of shale gas/oil wells which are drilled horizontally and usually hydraulically fractured with multiple stages. These methods are simulation, analytical models, and empirical equations. It has been well known that among the methods listed above, analytical models are more favorable in application to field data for two reasons. First, analytical solutions are faster than simulation, and second, they are more rigorous than empirical equations. Production behavior of horizontally drilled shale gas/oil wells has never been completely matched with the models which are described in this thesis. For shale gas wells, correction due to adsorption is explained with derived equations. The algorithm which is used for history matching and forecasting is explained in detail with a computer program as an implementation of it that is written in Excel's VBA. As an objective of this research, robust method is presented with a computer program which is applied to field data. The method presented in this thesis is applied to analyze the production performance of gas wells from Barnett, Woodford, and Fayetteville shales. It is shown that the method works well to understand reservoir description and predict future performance of shale gas wells. Moreover, synthetic shale oil well also was used to validate application of the method to oil wells. Given the huge unconventional resource potential and increasing energy demand in the world, the method described in this thesis will be the "game changing" technology to understand the reservoir properties and make future predictions in short period of time.

Replicating the multi-hierarchical self-assembly of collagen (peptide chain to triple helix to nanofiber and, finally, to a hydrogel) has long attracted scientists, both from the fundamental science perspective of supramolecular chemistry and for the potential biomedical applications perceived in tissue engineering. In terms of triple helical formation, collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body with at least 28 types, yet research involving collagen mimetic systems has only recently began to consider the innate ability of collagen to control helix composition and register. Collagen triple helices can be homotrimeric or heterotrimeric and while some types of natural collagen form only one specific composition of helix, others can form multiple. It is critical to fully understand and, if possible, reproduce the control that native collagen has on helix composition and register. In terms of nanofiber formation, many approaches to drive the self-assembly of synthetic systems through the same steps as natural collagen have been partially successful, but none have simultaneously demonstrated all levels of structural assembly. In this work, advancements in the ability to control helix composition and replicate the multi-hierarchical assembly of collagen are described. Both positive and negative design for the assembly of AAB type collagen heterotrimers were utilized by promoting heterotrimer formation though the use of charged amino acids to form intra-helix electrostatic interactions, while simultaneously discouraging homotrimers, resulting in the identification of multiple peptide systems with full control over the composition of the resulting triple helix. Similar salt-bridged hydrogen bonds between charged residues were incorporated into nanofiber forming peptides, one of which successfully assembled into sticky-ended triple helices, nanofibers with characteristic triple helical packing visible in the solution state, and strong hydrogels that are degraded by collagenase at a similar rate to natural collagen. Together, these results provide a better understanding of the self-assembly of collagenous sequences as well as a novel design scheme for synthetic extracellular matrix mimetics with potential applications in regenerative medicine and drug delivery.

Service science is an emerging multidisciplinary field concerned with the study of service systems and value co-creation. In recent years, the field has expanded considerably, growing to encompass a community of researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds and knowledge domains. However, very little research has focused on the study of service systems within the context of social-purpose organizations (SPOs), such as a nonprofit charitable organization or academic institution. We contend that SPOs represent a class of service systems that are understudied in service science, and the goal of this thesis was to contribute to the ongoing development of the disciplines theoretical foundations through an empirical study of a special type of SPO, the social enterprise. Through case-study research we surveyed five social enterprise organizations across Canada. Our findings point to a number of areas that suggest a conceptual bias towards service systems that are economically motivated and profit driven.

Service science is an emerging multidisciplinary field concerned with the study of service systems and value co-creation. In recent years, the field has expanded considerably, growing to encompass a community of researchers and practitioners from a range of backgrounds and knowledge domains. However, very little research has focused on the study of service systems within the context of social-purpose organizations (SPOs), such as a nonprofit charitable organization or academic institution. We contend that SPOs represent a class of service systems that are understudied in service science, and the goal of this thesis was to contribute to the ongoing development of the disciplines theoretical foundations through an empirical study of a special type of SPO, the social enterprise. Through case-study research we surveyed five social enterprise organizations across Canada. Our findings point to a number of areas that suggest a conceptual bias towards service systems that are economically motivated and profit driven.

Företag som upprättar så kallade hållbarhetsredovisningar har blivit allt vanligare. Dock råder det inom forskningen på området en oenighet om vad hållbarhetsredovisning egentligen är. En mängd olika begrepp används om vartannat och några klara definitioner finns inte fastlagda. Syftet med denna studie är därför att göra en kartläggning av de olika begrepp som används inom den globala, akademiska hållbarhetsredovisningslitteraturen för att utreda innebörden av dessa begrepp samt för att utreda hur dessa begrepp förhåller sig till varandra. Studien genomförs med hjälp av en litteraturstudie där 12 artiklar väljs ut genom ett intensitetsurval och sedan analyseras och jämförs med varandra. Resultatet av detta blir en kartläggning där de olika begreppens betydelse och inbördes relationer utrönas. Studien mynnar ut i fastläggandet av fem stycken huvudbegrepp inom området; sustainability reporting/accounting, TBL reporting/accounting, CSR reporting, FCA och environmental accounting som tillsammans kan anses representera huvuddragen för vad hållbarhetsredovisning egentligen är. / Companies claiming to be accounting for sustainability are becoming more and more common. However, within the research on the area there are some disagreements regarding what accounting for sustainability really is. A large quantity of terms and concepts are being used interchangeably and there are no clearly established definitions. The purpose with this study is therefore to constitute an investigative screening on the different terms and concepts used within the global, academic, sustainability accounting literature to investigate the meaning of these terms and concepts and also investigate how these terms and concepts are relating to each other. The study is conducted by performing a study of literature where 12 articles are chosen with the help of an intensity sample. Thereafter the articles are analyzed and compared. This results in a clarification of the meaning of the terms and concepts, and of the internal relations in between them.  The study leads to the establishment of five main terms and concepts within the area; sustainability reporting/accounting, TBL reporting/accounting, CSR reporting, FCA and environmental accounting that together can be seen to form a foundation of what accounting for sustainability really is.

<p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to interview four legal jurists in order to explore how they conduct CSR activities within their service corpora-tion, with primary focus on SME law firms.</p><p>Background: A current issue to address concerning the conduct of business these days is CSR activities. Although, the previous research concerning CSR activities and the service sector is limited.</p><p>Theoretical Framework: The theoretical framework is divided into four parts; a general part concerning the concept of CSR activities, a review of earlier studies of CSR activities, the stakeholder theory and finally the theory about the triple bottom line.</p><p>Method: A qualitative case study was employed in order to answer the purpose. The most suitable research approach was a combination of a deductive and partially an inductive approach. The primary data consisted of semi-structured interviews. The secondary data were used in order make a comparison in relation to manufacturing corporations.</p><p>Empirical findings & Analysis: As for all corporations an integration of voluntary social and environmental concerns in their business operations are considered as CSR activities. A significant concern is CSR activities that the inter-viewed service corporations experienced was the lack of human and economic resources to deal with CSR activities. Furthermore, the lack of stakeholder pressure does not facilitate the matter of implementing more CSR strategies into the corporations‟ business conduct. As a result of the lack of stakeholder pressure the interviewed corporations tend to only take part in CSR activities that create goodwill value for the corporation. According to the interviewed service corporations CSR activities is a new phenomenon that is likely to become a bigger part of their business conduct in the future.</p><p>Conclusion: The interviewed corporations tend to focus their CSR activities to-wards the social activities since this is the kind of activities that is closely connected to the core business.</p>