Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This study assesses the present level of household water access and the willingness to pay in South Africa. Although the general literature informs that progress has been made in positing South Africa above the levels found in most African countries, there are some marked inequalities among the population groups and across the provinces, with some performing well and others poorly in this regard. The study looks at the extent to which households differ in terms of water access and willingness to pay according to the province of residence. The study focuses on household heads; male and female, through different social and demographic attributes, by taking account of variables such as age, education attainment, geographic areas, and population group to name but a few. The data used in this study comes from the 2007 General Household Survey (GHS) conducted by Statistics South Africa. The scope is national and employs cross tabulation and logistic regression to establish relationships and the likelihood of living in a household with access to safe drinking water in South Africa. Results presented in this study suggest that the difference is determined by socio- demographic characteristics of each household such as age, gender, population group, level of education, employment status income, dwelling unit, dwelling ownership, living quarters, household size and income. It throws more light as to what needs to be taken into account when considering demand and supply of and priorities for water intervention from the household perspective. / South Africa

Masters of Science / South Africa’s female labour supply increased substantially over almost the past two decades. Female labour force participation is an imperative indication of the extent to which females participate in the economic activities of any country. Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rates have gained interest among researchers and development specialists worldwide due to their significant contribution in measuring progress related to gender disparities across various economic settings. Amsden (1980) further posits that there has been an increase in women contribution to modern sector activities. Despite the advances in female educational attainment and the expansion of the market economy, FLFP rates are still low in comparison with the rates of their male counterparts. This study employs the Human Capital Theory (HCT), which postulates that the education of women is positively related to the likelihood of their labour force participation, in order to investigate quarterly dynamics in the labour force. This approach is an advancement of knowledge gained from previous studies such as Serumanga-Zake and Kotze (2004) and Ntuli (2004) who investigated the annual dynamics in FLFP. Investigating quarterly dynamics in FLFP is prudent as the market economy is very dynamic particularly at a point when the world economy is experiencing recession. Data for the study are extracted from the 2008 Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis modeling was employed with the dependent variable, FLFP, as a binary outcome. Other variables controlled in the analysis are gender, population group, age, marital status, education status, sector, main industry, main occupation and province. The results show that there is association between education status and FLFP status. Findings from this research are expected to contribute to the knowledge about trends in FLFP in South Africa and aid in planning of interventions aimed at improving the status of women as one of the critical steps in achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

This master thesis deals with research of Subjective Quality of Life for population fifty years old or more, depending on the selected demographic, social and economic indicators. More and more people live to the older ages, and thus important question of living conditions and well being of this ageing population comes forward. General concept of Quality of Life of older people is described on wide theoretical scale with focus on the cause of the phenomenon, Demographic Ageing of populations. The Demographic Ageing is described not only on the theoretical level, but also in a quantitative way. There are specific fertility rates introduced according to an age of a mother while birth giving, or still increasing Life Expectancy at Birth for both males and females. To explore the dependencies of Subjective Quality of Life on selected indicators, there is a statistical model introduced. The input indicators come from the European panel data research Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. Techniques used for analyzing the data are Analysis of variance for one single wave (held around year 2013) and Panel data analysis for all available waves (from 2004 to 2013). The results from both analyses for the Czech Republic are compared with results for selected countries, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Italy and Greece. From the SHARE data set can be read the following results. The variable Age significantly influences all included models for all selected countries, the similar influence can be observed for the Education. For almost all countries and models is proving of the significant influence of Gender to Subjective Quality of Life indefinite (we are not able to observe significant influence). Also the influence of the variable Living alone/with other people is not perfectly convincing. On the other hand, significantly observable categories are Unemployed and Permanently sick or disabled. The question of Quality of Life is related to all parts of population. While the number of older people in population increases, this question of the quality of their lives becomes more and more important. The way how to secure those needed, powerless and often vulnerable people in a decent way and with dignity is not easy.

Der demografische Wandel in Deutschland geht mit einer Vielzahl von Herausforderung in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft einher. In einer besonders starken Ausprägung ist Sachsen-Anhalt von diesen Entwicklungen betroffen. Damit bildet dieses Bundesland bei der Betrachtung demografischer Daten das Schlusslicht in Deutschland und gehört zudem im europäischen Vergleich zu den Regionen mit der schlechtesten Bevölkerungsentwicklung (MLV 2013). Die entscheidende Ursache für diesen negativen Trend liegt in der Wirtschaftssubstanz der Region. Sachsen-Anhalts ökonomische Struktur ist von Klein- und Mikrounternehmen mit lokalen und regionalen Aktionsradien geprägt. In der Folge finden nur unzureichende F&E-Aktivitäten in den Unternehmen statt, da die notwendigen Ressourcen nicht vorhanden sind. So stagnieren die F&E-Investitionen des Landes seit 2003 1-1,5 % des BIP (BMBF 2012). Der überwiegende Anteil dieser Mittel stammt aus öffentlichen Finanzierungsquellen. Weiterhin deutet die geringste Exportquote aller Bundesländer (26,6 %) auf eine unzureichende Internationalisierung hin. Ähnliche Sachverhalte zeigen sich bei Ländervergleichen mit Bezug auf die Erfindungstätigkeit und bei den internen F&E-Aufwendungen. Folglich ist das Innovationspotenzial der regionalen Wirtschaft sehr begrenzt und dies geht einher mit dem mangelhaften Entstehen von lukrativen Arbeitsplätzen. Deshalb verlassen derzeit etwa 65 % der Hochschulabsolventen Sachsen-Anhalt (Hartmann et al. 2013), wodurch der demografische Wandel beschleunigt wird. Dieser Beitrag soll aufzeigen, in welcher Weise Universitäten als Partner für Innovationen der regionalen mittelständischen Wirtschaft agieren können. Hierzu soll mit der interdisziplinären Projektarbeit mit Unternehmen im Rahmen des Integrated Design Engineering (IDE) an der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg ein vielfach sehr erfolgreich verwendeter Unterstützungsansatz für die Produktentwicklung vorgestellt werden, der durch eine synergetische Verbindung aus technisch, betriebswirtschaftlich und gestalterisch getriebener Produktentwicklung eine F&E-Kompetenz für Unternehmen ermöglicht, welche durch die Nutzung universitärer und studentischer Ressourcen Mehrfachnutzen für Unternehmen generieren kann.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / Title: A profile of patients presenting with spinal pain at Mahalapye and Shoshong World Spine Care clinics in Botswana Background: Spinal pain such as low back and neck pain, are common and can cause severe long term pain which results in a major burden on individuals and health care systems (Woolf and Pfledger, 2003; Hondras et al., 2015a). Low-income countries often have few resources for adequately addressing musculoskeletal (MSK) pain (Louw et al., 2007). Thus, World Spine Care (WSC), a non-governmental organization, opened two clinics in Botswana to help improve spinal health care by providing access to MSK specialists (Haldeman et al., 2015). These clinics have been functional since 2012, and to date the profile of patients attending these clinics has not been investigated. Studies on patients attending chiropractic clinics have been carried out internationally (Hartvigsen et al., 2002; Giles et al., 2002; Coulter and Shekelle, 2005; Holt and Beck, 2005; Mootz et al., 2005; Sorensen et al., 2006; Garner et al., 2007; Stevens, 2007; Rubinstein et al., 2008; Martinez et al., 2009; Ailliet et al., 2010; Lischyna and Mior, 2012) and locally (Benjamin, 2007; Jaman, 2007; Mohamed, 2007; Venketsamy, 2007; Higgs, 2009; McDonald, 2012; Hitge, 2014), and yet very little information exists on the patients presenting to clinics in the public sector of Botswana. Demographic and disease profiles of patients vary by clinical setting, from country to country, and within regions of the same country (Hoy et al., 2010a). Thus, this study aimed to determine the demographic and disease profile of spinal pain patients attending the WSC clinics in Mahalapye and Shoshong in Botswana. Method: A retrospective, descriptive study design was used to extract data from the WSC patient files at the Mahalapye and Shoshong WSC clinics from 1 November 2012 to 31 March 2016. The research proposal was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committee (IREC); REC 53/16 (Appendix A), WSC (Appendix B) and Botswana MoH (Appendix C). Patient files included had provided consent for their files to be used for research purposes (Appendix F). Data recorded included demographic characteristics, factors related to spinal pain, the presenting complaint and the presence of co-morbid conditions. The data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 24.0. Descriptive statistics in the form of graphs and cross tabulations were used to describe the demographic and disease profile of the spinal pain patients. Inferential statistics like chi-square, Fischer’s exact test for categorical variables and Independent student’s t tests for numerical variables were used to determine differences between the two clinics. A p-value of less than 0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance (Singh, 2016). Results: The sample size was 65% (n=714). There was a female preponderance (75.2%, n=537), a mean age of 50.6 years (±SD 16.13). Most patients were married (38%) and the most common occupations were either farmers (18.2%, n=129) or unemployed (16.3%, n=115). The majority of patients suffered from chronic (88%), idiopathic (59.5%), low back pain (69.9%), followed by upper/mid back (19.1%), with the least visits occurring for neck pain (8%). The most frequent diagnosis was joint dysfunction with associated soft tissue disorders. The patients reported mild disability with moderate pain intensity and most patients had not experienced previous spinal pain (60%). The patients did not report a secondary area of MSK pain (28.6%) and 73.9% of patients presented with at least one comorbid condition. Patients attending the rural clinic were older on average (52.7 years, ±SD 16.92) than those at the urban clinic (48.9 years, ±15.29) (p = 0.002). There were more women attending the urban clinic when compared to the rural clinic (p = 0.009), with those attending the rural clinic most often reporting a primary school level of education in contrast to those in the urban clinic having most likely obtained a more than secondary school education (p < 0.001). More patients in the urban clinic had “other mechanical” e.g. joint dysfunction as an aetiology for their spinal pain when compared to the rural clinic (p = 0.039). In terms of pain duration, the rural clinic patients were more likely to present with acute and subacute pain than at the urban clinic (p = 0.001). The rural clinic patients also reported more previous episodes of spinal pain in contrast to those from the urban clinic (p <0.001). Conclusion: The spinal pain patients attending the WSC clinics had many similarities to spinal pain patients internationally and in SA, however unique differences were found specifically when the urban and rural clinic patients were compared. The findings of this study can assist WSC to provide more targeted healthcare at each clinic and within this region. / National Research Fund / M

A number of mostly informal areas in Nelson Mandela Bay have experienced rapid expansion over the past decade or so. Census data available for these areas is outdated and does not provide enough information for local authorities to accurately plan for tasks such as service delivery management and resource allocation. In this dissertation, a GIS based demographic and Quality of Life study of informal settlements and previously disadvantaged areas within Nelson Mandela Bay is undertaken to address this issue. The study aims to integrate GIS technology into a demographic and Quality of Life survey to significantly improve the collection, analysis, interpretation, display and management of survey data and to provide the accurate and necessary updates required between census collections. Data relating to informal settlements were captured from aerial photographs and satellite imagery and demographic and Quality of Life data were collected from field surveys. The results demonstrated that the use of GIS technology provided more accurate information for demographic variables, including the number of dwellings, dwelling type, size of the population and population dynamics. A specific demographic trend observed through spatial analysis included the identification of backyard shacks predating formal structures in settlements. The analysis and representation of the Quality of Life field survey data in GIS demonstrated how residents' perceptions of problems and issues in their neighbourhoods are better interpreted, understood and managed when analyzed within a spatial context. This research concluded that GIS based demographic and QOL studies are vital for providing accurate social and spatial information for municipalities, particularly in urban environments of developing countries, and for providing the necessary updates to censuses occurring every ten years.

Canada’s aging population is expected to have an impact on all public institutions; for public libraries, the emergence of a large, multi-generational user group of older adults challenges the current paradigm of services to seniors. This thesis examines a subset of this user group: baby boomer library patrons who are in a caring relationship with elders. It investigates how these patrons interact with the public library both for themselves, and as carers, in order to reveal library-related issues particular to this growing segment of the population. The study takes place within a conceptual framework derived from the ethic of care, and from emerging theories of library-as-place rooted in the fields of human geography and sociology. Using a qualitative instrumental case study method, long form interviews were conducted with respondents recruited through theoretical sampling extended by snowball sampling. While not generalizable, findings suggest that while these baby boomer respondents value their libraries deeply, there is potential to create services and practices more attuned to the needs of older adults who are in relationships with elders.

Chapter 1: A Population Aging Analysis for Canada Using the National Transfer Accounts Approach: This analysis develops a new data set for Canada using an accounting methodology called National Transfer Accounts (NTA). NTA permits building an accounting system that introduces age into national accounts. NTA is consistent with the conventional national accounts and allows the estimation of lifecycle patterns for labour income and consumption from private and public sources. It also allows the calculation of per capita and aggregate lifecycle deficits (LCD) or surpluses (LCS) in an economy. In this chapter we calculate Canada’s per capita and aggregate LCD for 2006. Using demographic projections for the next five decades, we present the aggregate LCD in Canada for the period 2006 to 2056 assuming a constant per capital LCD during this time horizon. The projection results show that labour income needs to increase rapidly or consumption needs to be cut significantly to compensate for the pressure on the aggregate lifecycle deficit as a result of population aging. Chapter 2: An Overlapping Generations Computable General Equilibrium (OLG-CGE) Model with Age-dependent Rates of Time Preference: This analysis develops a methodology to introduce an age-dependent rate of time preference to calibrate an OLG-CGE model with per capita age profile consumption path derived from the NTA framework of Chapter 1. The results show that the economic impact from an aging population will be significant. The living standard will decline by 15% from the present to 2050 and decline by 20% by the year 2105. To reduce such a decline, the Canadian government may introduce policies that could encourage labour force participation. We analyze the impact of: a) an increase in the general labour force participation rate for age 20 to 64; b) an increase in the labour force participation rate for workers aged 50 to 64; c) late retirement. Our results suggest that maintaining the current standard of living will be extremely difficult after 2026. Nevertheless, this would help reduce the economic pressure from population aging. Chapter 3: 9/11 Security Measures and North American Security Perimeter: A Computable General Equilibrium Analysis: The objective of this analysis is to assess the impact of the North American Security Perimeter (NASP) on both the Canadian and the U.S. economies. The NASP is a change in Canada-U.S. security paradigm that would allow the liberalization of the post 9/11 security measures at the Canada-U.S. border. This study applies a multi-sector and multi-region general equilibrium model together with econometric analysis. After simulating the NASP, Canada’s capital market was found to become more attractive. Under the NASP, the welfare of Canada is estimated to increase by $19 billion or 1.8% of GDP, and that of the U.S. is estimated to increase by $32 billion or 0.3% of GDP.

This dissertation studies the impact and consequences of possible retirement plan reforms on subjects in the Czech Republic. The first part focuses on classification of pension systems and fundamentals of the Czech pension system. Second part summarizes major aspects of the retirement plan reform. Changes in the pension system in the process of ageing of the population are highlighted in this section. Following is the fundamental part of the dissertation that will point out possible consequences of the retirement plan reform for the Czech Republic. The conclusion of the dissertation aims to discuss needs of all parties participating on the retirement plan reform and outline an optimal reform plan. This is the conflict point of the interest of the public and those of the government. However, it is a government's responsibily to act on behalf of the citizens and that is the paramount factor of the reform.

During the last years “Accounting for Diversity” has become a trendy concept, around which the research interest of scholars and the reports published by of the top rated accounting firms have been increasingly evolving. In this paper, the term “Accounting for Diversity” has been addressed within the societal context of the stakeholder concept, in attempt to explore how the Swedish listed companies account for and communicate the demographic diversity of their society constituents in their disclosure means. In order to achieve this purpose, a quantitative approach has been conducted using a content analysis of the disclosed pictures, drawings and symbols in the annual reports and websites of the companies listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange (Nasdaq Stockholm). The data collected was then statistically analysed through a two-step cluster analysis. The empirical results show a preference for companies to use pictures in disclosing demographic attributes and diversity rather than symbols and drawings. Moreover, companies were found to prefer using their annual reports in disclosing the demographic diversity than their websites. Furthermore and regarding the companies’ behaviour in disclosing demographic diversity; large companies, belonging to high sensitive industries, were found to disclose higher levels of demographic diversity in their disclosure means, than the other small ones belonging to less sensitive industries. The results also show that companies belonging to different industries tend to mostly follow a convergent behaviour in accounting for diversity. Thus, it has been concluded that; the companies’ size seems to play a significant role in diverging and converging the companies’ behaviour in accounting for the demographic diversity in their disclosure means, while industry was not found to play a significantly salient role in that.