The production of cereals, especially maize, which is a staple food in sub-Saharan Africa, is challenged by pests and diseases. In addition, climate change will exacerbate the magnitude of these challenges and agriculture in general. Lepidopteran stemborers are major pests of cereal crops in sub-Saharan Africa. Two indigenous noctuids, Busseola fusca and Sesamia calamistis and one exotic crambid, Chilo partellus, occur as single and mixed-species communities infesting cereal crops in East and southern Africa. The composition of these communities however varies with altitude and over seasons. Interactions between the species especially when in combination, can affect the level of damage to cereal crops. The objective of this study was to describe the intraspecific and interspecific interactions between the three stemborer species when they make use of the same resources. This study involved field surveys in maize fields in major agro-ecological zones and also different experiments under greenhouse and laboratory conditions to describe the interactions between the species as well as the effect of temperature, species density and duration of the period of competition on outcomes of these interactions. Results showed that stemborer communities are composed of single and mixed species of B. fusca, S. calamistis and C. partellus, which varied with the different agro-ecological zones and also along altitudinal gradients. Temperature was the most important abiotic factor that influenced the composition of stemborer communities. However, infestation patterns varied with season. This study also showed that female moths of the three species did not avoid oviposition on plants that were previously infested by stemborers. Busseola fusca showed a high preference for heterospecific-infested plants, while C. partellus preferred conspecific-infested plants. Sesamia calamistis did not show a significant preference for one plant over the other. This study further showed that both intra- and interspecific competition characterise communities of these stemborer species which ultilise the same resources. Interspecific competition was stronger between the noctuids and the crambid than between the two noctuid species. Temperature had a significant influence on the competitive outcomes between the three species. Finally the study showed that densitydependent effects and the duration of the interactions are also important factors which influence the level of competitive outcomes between the species. Climate change is likely to influence the interactions and composition of stemborer communities. / PhD (Environmental Sciences), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Background : The sources and the epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni (CJ) in environmental water are not well understood. We developed a spatial analysis methodology able to identify the main environmental factors predicting the presence and quantity of Campylobacter in river water. Methods : For two years, water samples were collected weekly and scanned for CJ and fecal coliforms at 32 sampling sites of Estrie hydrographic network, Québec. The quantity of CJ in water was estimated using the Most Probable Number method (MPN). The 32 sampling sites were linked to their catchment area; 10 of them were excluded from the analysis, because their hydrographic basin was not independent from the other sites. For each site, the following environmental variables were included: Water flow, slope, land-cover, land-use including type of farming, animal density, total precipitation in the 3 days prior to water sampling. A stepwise multivariate regression was realized across the different analysis windows to define the size of the area upstream from the sampling sites (from 1.5 to 24 km) which was the most closely associated with the mean quantity of CJ, and which environmental factors were associated with a higher mean quantity of CJ in water. Results : Preliminary results show that an area defined by a radius of 14 km upstream of the sample site was the most contributing zone for the bacteria (r2=0.38, p=0.002). Within this 14 km area, the only significant variable associated with a higher mean quantity of CJ was bovine density (p=0.002). When analyzing the data within a 120 m buffer zone across 14 km upstream of the sampling sites (r2=0.40, p=0.001), the only significant variable associated with a higher mean quantity of CJ was the percentage of agricultural surface (p=0.001). Conclusions : These results suggest a strong implication of bovine density in conjunction with crops and associated manure spreading on the quantity of CJ in environmental water.

Les personnes incarcérées ainsi que les personnes présentant une problématique de santé mentale sont deux groupes parmi lesquels le taux de suicide est plus élevé comparativement à la population générale. Considérant que ces caractéristiques se retrouvent parmi la clientèle du Centre Régional de Santé Mentale (CRSM), qui est l'un des cinq centres psychiatriques du Service Correctionnel du Canada (SCC), des mesures de dépistage du risque suicidaire avaient été mises en place. Le Suicide Probability Scale (SPS ), test conçu par Cull et Gill (1988), était administré de façon répétitive, soit à un intervalle de trois mois à tous les détenus-patients et après un mois à ceux qui ont obtenu un résultat indiquant un risque sévère . Cette thèse visait à évaluer la valeur prédictive du SPS auprès d'une population à la fois carcérale et psychiatrique et aussi à vérifier si le fait de passer un même test de façon répétitive n'influence pas sa prédictivité.Les dossiers de soixante sujets ont été examinés, dont la moitié ont posé un geste suicidaire lors de leur séjour au CRSM. Ces sujets sont des hommes adultes condamnés à une peine d'incarcération au niveau fédéral, c'est-à-dire une sentence supérieure à deux ans et qui ont présenté des besoins au niveau de la santé mentale justifiant un transfert au centre psychiatrique. Les résultats des analyses ROC confirment la validité prédictive du SPS dans une perspective à court et moyen terme, mais pas à long terme puisque pour les tests administrés à l'admission, les analyses statistiques ne se sont pas révélées significatives. D'autres analyses ROC ainsi que des régressions logistiques n'ont pas permis de confirmer l'hypothèse initiale à savoir que l'utilisation répétitive d'un même instrument nuisait à sa validité prédictive. Toutefois, une prudence est recommandée quant aux interprétations tirées de ces analyses, compte tenu du nombre restreint de participants lorsqu'ils ont été répartis selon le nombre de passations du test.

Bien qu'il s'agisse d'un traitement efficace pour les troubles anxieux, les benzodiazépines (BZDs) sont largement prescrites et représentent une des principales causes d'ordonnances potentiellement non appropriées (OPNA) dans la population âgée. Une étude a été menée auprès de la cohorte de l'étude ESA (Enquête sur la santé des aînés, 2006), un échantillon représentatif (n=2811) de la population âgée ([plus grand ou égal à] 65 ans) vivant à domicile au Québec, ayant pour but de décrire l'utilisation des services de santé et les coûts associés aux ordonnances potentiellement non appropriées (OPNAs) de BZDs. Cette analyse secondaire des données de l'Enquête ESA a été effectuée auprès des participants qui étaient couverts par l'assurance médicaments de la RAMQ (n=2302). Les OPNAs et les interactions pharmacologiques ont été définies par les critères de Beers (Fick, 2003) et de Ben Amar (Ben Amar, 2007), respectivement. Des régressions logistiques ont été utilisées pour évaluer la présence d'une association entre les OPNAs de BZDs et l'utilisation des services de santé, tout en ajustant pour plusieurs facteurs individuels et cliniques. Selon une perspective du système public de soins de santé, l'analyse des coûts a été effectuée à l'aide d'un modèle linéaire généralisé avec distribution gamma (Log Link). Les résultats indiquent que 32 % (n=744) des participants de l'étude ESA ont utilisé des BZDs et 44 % (n=331) des utilisateurs ont reçu au moins une OPNA dans l'année précédente. Seuls les patients susceptibles d'interactions médicamenteuses impliquant une BZD étaient plus à risque d'hospitalisations, de visites à l'urgence et de multiples visites ambulatoires en comparaison avec les consommateurs appropriés. De plus, ces interactions étaient associées à des coûts annuels per capita supérieurs de 3076$ (CAN$ 2009), ce qui représente potentiellement un fardeau économique important pour le système de soins de santé québécois. Ce projet de recherche souligne l'importance de s'intéresser aux OPNAs de BZDs, plus particulièrement aux interactions médicamenteuses impliquant une BZD, touchant jusqu'à 7 % de la population âgée, ainsi que de développer des stratégies ayant pour but de les prévenir.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technology itself does not currently offer a competitive advantage in this era of technological development. Innovative utilisation and application of technology does, however offer temporary competitive advantages. This innovative utilisation and application of technology is dependant on the creativity and innovation of the entrepreneur. CaliWatch™ makes use of existing technology namely cellular technology, watch technology and medical monitoring technology. The unique application of these technologies gives CaliWatch™competitive advantage in the market. The innovation does not only apply to the technology, but also to strategy and marketing to keep this competitive advantage in the market. This study analyses the different technologies and industries, identifying potential target markets and give projected financial information. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tegnologie op sigself bied tans nie meer mededingende voordele in die era van tegnologiese ontwikkeling nie. Innoverende gebruik en toepassing van tegnologie bied wel tydelike mededingende voordele. Hierdie innoverende toepassing en gebruik berus op die kreatiwiteit en innovasie van die entrepreneur. CaliWatch TM maak gebruik van bestaande tegnologieë, naamlik sellulêre tegnologie, horlosie tegnologie, en mediese monitering tegnologie. Die unieke toepassing van hierdie tegnologieë bied CaliWatchTM mededingende voordeel in die mark. Die innovasie berus nie slegs by die toepassing van tegnologie nie, maar, om die mededinginde voordeel te behou, ook by die strategiese beplanning en bemarking. Hierdie studie ontleed die verskillende tegnologieë en industrieë, identifiseer potentiele teikenmarkte, en maak geprojekteerde finansiële vooruitskouinge.

Background: Research is essential for the development of a unique body of knowledge, a hall mark of any profession. It should be utilised to provide the basis for professional theory and practice. Aim: The purpose of the study was to develop guidelines that will assist professional nurses in the utilisation of research findings. Design and setting: Quantitative, descriptive research was used to determine professional nurses’ (N=284) perception of utilization of research findings in practice. The structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 since this is a quantitative study. The study focused on professional nurses at the two selected hospitals that were providing the comprehensive programme in the uMgungundlovu district. Results: 284 respondents answered the questionnaire. Of the respondents, 73.3% agreed that they lacked knowledge of research. The frequency of respondents that lacked research knowledge was 208. Of the respondents, 211 (74.3%) recommended use of research findings in practice versus 24 (8.5%) who were unsure and 9 (3%) respectively who did not know whether research should be used or not. Conclusions: The findings revealed that there is a need for changes to be made in the nursing education system to try and improve research utilisation by professional nurses in practice since the professional nurses working in the clinical area are produced by nursing education institutions / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies)

<p>A severe burn is a trauma fraught with stress and pain and may change the entire course of life. This thesis focuses on care utilisation, care experiences and patient satisfaction after a severe burn.</p><p>The patients studied were treated at the Burn Unit at Uppsala University Hospital between 1980 and 2006. Burn-related health was examined using the Burn Specific Health Scale-Brief (BSHS-B), personality traits with the Swedish universities Scales of Personality (SSP), psychological symptoms using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS), symptoms of posttraumatic stress with the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and satisfaction with care using the Patient Satisfaction-Results and Quality (PS-RESKVA) questionnaire.</p><p>Those utilising care years after injury reported poorer functioning on three of the BSHS-B subscales. Personality traits had a greater impact on care utilisation than injury severity.</p><p>Social desirability was lower among care utilisers and was associated with burn-related health aspects.</p><p>The participants reported a low level of negative care experiences, the most common of which was Powerlessness.</p><p>Most patients were satisfied with care, more with quality of contact with the nursing staff, and less with treatment information. Multiple regressions showed that the BSHS-B Interpersonal relationships subscale was an independent variable related to all measured aspects of patient satisfaction. The highest adjusted R² was 0.25.</p><p>In a prospective assessment with multiple regression analyses, Age and Education, the personality traits of Stress susceptibility, Trait irritability, Detachment and Social desirability, in addition to the post-traumatic stress symptoms Intrusion and Hyperarousal, were predictors of satisfaction with care. The highest adjusted R² was 0.19.</p><p>The thesis has pointed out that interpersonal factors are related to care utilisation as well as satisfaction with care. However, satisfaction with care was only moderately associated with health and individual characteristics, which may imply that the care itself is of major importance.</p>

Eco-labels impact consumers‟ likelihood to buy eco-labelled products and serve as a tool during the decision-making process that helps consumers make informed purchase choices. The textile industry is responsible for a large amount of pollution, but has started to follow a more holistic, eco-friendly approach. Information about their eco-friendliness is communicated to consumers via eco-labels. Consumers can influence the textile industry to include more eco-labelled textile products in their desired range of products, by buying and demanding eco-labelled textile products. However, international studies indicate that consumers do not understand textile eco-labels and the information that is found on these labels. A lack of understanding prevents consumers from including such products in their pre-purchase decision-making process. Yet some consumers, from developed and developing countries, are willing to buy eco-labelled products and pay more for such products. Limited research in this regard, within a South African context, is available hence, more research was required in this study field. Therefore, this study aimed to explore consumers‟ understanding and utilisation of textile eco-labels during pre-purchase decision-making. The research for the study was done using a convenience and purposive sampling method with a quantitative structured online questionnaire for data collection purposes. Findings suggest that respondents were environmentally conscious, but only to some extent. Most respondents objectively understood textile eco-labelled products, but not textile eco-labels or organic label information regarding cotton production processes. Respondents indicated that they do not use textile eco-labels when making a pre-purchase decision, yet they somewhat recognised the need to buy eco-friendly textile products, because they are aware of environmental implications. Regarding the information on eco-labels, respondents searched for information surrounding the quality of eco-labelled textile products, followed by the care instructions and the credibility of the eco-label on the product. Finally, there was a segment of respondents who buy and utilise textile eco-labelled products, and are willing to pay a higher price for these products. The higher price was the main factor that prevented other respondents from buying eco-labelled textile products. Consumers can benefit from education regarding environmental issues and how their purchasing choices can make a difference in protecting the environment. Furthermore, educating consumers about eco-labelled textile products might increase their awareness and utilisation of these products. In turn, this awareness about eco-labels might encourage consumers to include these kinds of products in their pre-purchase decision-making process. Additionally the industry can strive towards keeping eco-labelled products‟ prices relatively equal to regular product‟s prices to make it easier for consumers to choose between the different products, based on their environmental attributes and not price. Finally, the textile industry and manufacturers can focus on making textile eco-labels more attractive and attention-grabbing in order to focus consumers‟ attention on these labels. Furthermore, on these labels, symbols and words should be used together and all elements should correspond to enhance consumers‟ understanding. If all of these elements of an eco-label convey the same message, consumers might be able to understand the intended message by manufacturers and the industry better. / M Consumer Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The present doctoral thesis focuses mainly on the experiences of 20 women and men of becoming and being parents of a prematurely born child and on their perceptions of their contacts with health and medical care services. An additional aim was to investigate the utilisation of health care during the first year of life and its relation to high-risk diagnoses in the neonatal period. Data were obtained by interviews of the 20 sets of parents to infants born at a gestational age of &lt;34 weeks with no serious congenital defects. These parents were interviewed 1-2 weeks after the infant’s birth and at 2, 6 and 18 months of age. The interview texts were subjected to phenomenological and content analysis. Data was also obtained from the records of 36 infants born at a gestational age of &lt;31 weeks and with a birth weight of &lt;1500 g and 36 full-term infants. The records included information regarding contact with health care services including the child health centres (CHCs) and the outpatient clinics of the paediatric and ophthalmic clinics. Finally data from the other two quantitative studies were obtained from three questionnaires: Quality of Care from The Patient’s Perspective, The Swedish Parenthood Stress Questionnaire and The Toddler Behaviour Questionnaire. The result of the studies showed that the utilisation of health care by the very low birth weight infants was higher than that by the fullterm infants in paediatric and ophthalmic outpatient clinics. High-risk diagnoses in the neonatal period did not correlate with utilisation of care except for visits to the paediatric outpatient clinic, especially planned visits. The internalisation of parenthood was described by the parents as a time-dependent process, with four syntheses of experiences – alienation, responsibility, confidence and familiarity. The development and construction of the mothers’ and fathers’ parental identity followed a pattern that could be summarised into three themes: Unexpected start of parenthood, integration of parenthood into the sense of identity and recognition of parental identity. Important turning points in experiences of parenthood often occurred when the infant could be removed from the incubator, when it was discharged from the ward, and when the infant appeared normal compared to full-term infants. The quality of care was judged, from the parents’ and nurses’ perspective. In general the subjective importance of the given care was rated higher than the care actual given in both neonatal care and care at the CHCs. Higher ratings were given to neonatal care compared with the care at CHSs for medico-technical competence. It was also of importance, of both parents, to receive an optimal identity-oriented approach and socio-cultural atmosphere in the neonatal care and the care at the CHSs. High-risk diagnoses in the newborn did not affect the answers. Parental stress of very preterm children, at 18 months of age, did not differ notably from those parents of children born somewhat less premature, but they assessed their children as being rather later in the development of social behaviours. Parents of children who had had a difficult neonatal period were not more stressed when the child was 18 months old than those who had no problems in the neonatal period. In sum, this research project showed that the parents’ expectations and experiences of becoming mothers and fathers in preterm birth was a process of integrating the unexpected start of parenthood into the parents’ sense of identity and their way of being. When the parents developed a relationship with the infant, actively participated in its care on the basis of their own preferences, and received recognition as parents, this process was strengthened. It is therefore important that the professional caring of the staff should meet and involve the natural caring of the parents.

Nature of the inquiry: My research inquiry investigated how qualities of personal interaction shape and affect the promotion of research utilisation for quality improvement in the US healthcare sector. The research investigated my own professional practice of consulting, teaching, and research regarding the improvement of healthcare practices and outcomes. Efforts to improve the quality of healthcare services are often difficult to realise and sustain. The quality improvement movement in the USA and elsewhere has not conducted much self-examination of its own processes for sources of these perennially problematic results. Relevance: The quality of healthcare services can be readily understood as having consequences of life or death, wellness or suffering. Healthcare expenditures in the USA are estimated at 16% of GDP and over 9% in the UK. Improving healthcare quality improvement efforts is a matter of profound human and social significance. Approach: The DMan research methodology is a reflexively aware process conducted as a cohort and as small learning groups of researchers during the three-year programme. The research inquiry used the complex responsive process of relating theory of learning as emergent changes of meaning or, equivalently, knowledge. As a social science of qualities, it uses the qualities of human interaction as the unit of analysis. The research utilised an interdisciplinary approach drawing upon: healthcare quality improvement literature; organizational discourse studies; research on strategy as practice; performance management; communications theories; the theory of mindful learning; interpersonal neurobiology; figurational sociology; and American pragmatist philosophy. The methodology employs a mindful reflexivity research strategy related to concepts from mindful learning and social neuroscience literature. Central methods included iterative peer and supervisor debriefing and iterative reflexive narrative practice. Findings: A contribution is made to the healthcare literature by describing how ordinary qualities of social coordination dynamics affect the promoters of healthcare research, not just potential users of research. A contribution is made to professional practice by providing a new perspective from which to analyse the sources of performance challenges prevalent in healthcare quality improvement efforts. The research findings indicate how applications of substantial organisational and social resources to promote research utilisation in the US health sector can be co-opted and dissipated away from ostensive substantive objectives. This occurs by research promoters‟ organizational discourse efforts to favourably shape power relating and other qualities of interaction of improvement initiatives. These efforts restrict the emergence of learning about the promoted changes.