Gender inequality is the root cause of the differences in mental disorders prevalence between men and women. The aim of this thesis was to examine social inequalities in mental health, focusing on gender as a critical determinant of mental health and mental illness. In the first chapter, the ways mental health is shaped by gender and other social determinants are discussed. Gender-based discrimination, traditional gender roles, unequal distribution of power and lack of control over life events are the most common risk factors for higher prevalence of mental disorders in women. In the empirical part of this thesis the European countries were grouped based on indicators related to women's mental health. The typology was developed using factor and cluster analyses. Subsequently, logistic regression analysis investigated associations between prevalence of depression and various social determinants of mental health in respondents of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). The results suggest that risk factors for common mental disorders are gender specific.

Obesity during childhood and adolescence is a serious public health concern in Canada and globally. Obesity is a complex disease with genetic, environmental, social, and behavioural determinants. However, our understanding of obesity and its development is limited by a reliance on proxy measurements of adiposity such as body mass index (BMI) and cross-sectional study designs that limit our ability to assess temporality. In this dissertation, I present the first set of body fat percent (BF%) accrual and velocity percentile curves for Canadian children and youth, investigate the relationship between BMI- and BF%-based definitions of obesity, and examine the longitudinal influence of sedentary time, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and caloric intake on the development of BF%. My analyses are based on the UBC Healthy Bones III Study (HBSIII), a mixed longitudinal study of boys and girls aged 8-12 years at baseline, measured between 1999 and 2012. In HBSIII, adiposity was measured directly as BF% from total body dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans and MVPA and sedentary time were measured objectively using accelerometers. For the first study in my dissertation, I used generalized additive models for location scale and shape (GAMLSS) to develop sex- and ethnic-specific BF% accrual and velocity percentile curves. I present separate curves for Asian and Caucasian boys and girls aged 9-19 years at the 3rd, 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 95th, and 97th centiles. In this descriptive study, I found materially different shaped BF% percentile curves for Asian and Caucasian girls but not for boys. Second, I examined the relationship between BMI- and BF%-based definitions of obesity for Asian and Caucasian boys and girls aged 9-19 years. I used multivariable regression models, sensitivity and specificity analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and Youden’s Index to explore this relationship. I found that BMI identified <50% of those classified with obesity based on BF%, and that classification performance of BMI differed significantly by age and sex subgroups for Asian and Caucasians. In my third analysis, I explored the longitudinal relationship between BF% and sedentary time, MVPA, and caloric intake as boys and girls mature. I fit polynomial multilevel models using MO (years from age at peak height velocity, APHV) as the time variable. Rate of change in BF% across maturity differed between boys and girls and differences in MVPA, sedentary time, and caloric intake between individuals influenced BF% at APHV (MO=0) and rate of change in BF% across maturity. Together, these studies advance our understanding of how body fat accrues as children and youth mature, and highlight the heterogeneity in predictors of adiposity and adiposity measurement accuracy across age, sex, and ethnic groups. / Graduate

The aim of this thesis was to analyse detailed data on the development of infant mortality for different countries and their comparison. The countries were selected from several parts of Europe to provide high quality data for analysis. Different components of infant mortality with respect to data availability were examined as well as infant mortality by gender. Comparisons among selected countries were made based on different variability measures. Largely, the thesis deals with infant mortality depending on the level of development of the countries. Using regression and correlation analysis, infant mortality dependence was determined on various determinants with prerequisites to explain part of the infant mortality variability. The selected determinants include, for example, GDP per capita, unemployment rate or life expectancy.

Foreign direct investment in South Africa is expected to increase economic growth thereby alleviating poverty. With technology offering a global trade arena it has become increasingly important for countries to compete for the attention of international investors. Through studies conducted to identify the matters international investors take into consideration in deciding where to invest, tax policies were identified as an area considered by foreign investors. Although research has been performed on the tax policies applied by countries and the effect thereof on foreign direct investment, limited attention has been afforded to the tax policies of South Africa. With its recent inclusion in BRICS, South Africa will be competing with these expected future economic giants. Determining whether South Africa’s tax policies are competitive with these countries would provide useful insight for the marketing of the country. The study discusses and compares the foreign direct investment determinants identified as having an impact on investors’ decisions in investing outside local borders before focusing on taxation in particular. Based on the literature reviewed and the comparison performed, the study concludes that South Africa’s tax policies are competitive with those offered by BRICS countries AFRIKAANS : Die verwagting is dat buitelandse direkte belegging in Suid-Afrika na ekonomiese groei sal lei en sodoende armoede verlig. Met tegnologie wat 'n globale handel arena aanbied, word dit al hoe belangriker vir lande om te kompeteer vir die aandag van internasionale beleggers. Deur middel van studies wat gedoen is om die aangeleenthede wat internasionale beleggers in ag neem en die besluit waar om te belê, te identifiseer, is die belastingbeleid geïdentifiseer as 'n gebied wat oorweeg word deur buitelandse beleggers. Hoewel navorsing uitgevoer is op die belastingbeleid wat toegepas word deur die lande en die uitwerking daarvan op buitelandse direkte belegging, is daar beperkte aandag verleen aan die belastingbeleid van Suid-Afrika. Met Suid-Afrika se onlangse opname in BRICS sal die land meeding met hierdie verwagte toekomstige ekonomiese reuse. Om vas te stel of Suid-Afrika se belastingbeleid mededingend is met hierdie lande, sal nuttige insig verskaf word vir die bemarking van die land. Die studie bespreek en vergelyk die buitelandse direkte belegging determinante wat verwag word om 'n uitwerking te hê op beleggers se besluite om te belê buite hul plaaslike grense voor daar gefokus word op belasting in die besonder. Op grond van die literatuur en die vergelyking uitgevoer, het die studie tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Suid-Afrika se belastingbeleid mededingend is met dié wat deur BRICS lande beskikbaar gemaak word. Copyright 2011, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Terhoeven, J 2011, The role of taxation in attracting foreign direct investments to South Africa : a BRICS comparison, MCom dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03092012-122234 / > F12/4/168/gm / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Taxation / unrestricted

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the leading cause of disability in North American and has major economic consequences for society. People with knee OA experience the worst quality of life, among musculoskeletal conditions, with function and mobility being influenced by symptoms such as pain and stiffness. However, the impact of OA symptoms varies due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors, leading many researchers to employ biopsychosocial and other population health frameworks to study the disease. These population health approaches have not been adopted when studying knee OA outcomes in bioarchaeology, where a limited biological lens prevails due to the sole reliance on skeletal remains. The purpose of this research was to explore methods for identifying the impairment potential of knee OA in archaeological populations using a clinical sample and population health approaches. Clinical studies have the advantage of assessing not only the biological implications of knee OA but also the functional outcomes. By creating a knee OA grading system applicable for both MRI and dry bone femora samples (Clinical Archaeological Osteoarthritis Score) a link between clinical and archaeological populations was proposed. Using this link to infer functional deficits onto archaeological populations using population health frameworks, a theoretical analysis was performed with two populations; the 17th century Huron and the 19th century Inuit from the Igloolik region of Nunavut. The results demonstrated the increased impairment potential of knee OA in the Inuit population versus the Huron population, produced by contrasting factors captured by the determinants of health, including social and physical environments.

The thesis analyses the essential determinants of the global importance which are currently causing the turbulent changes in the immediate and wider context of leisure and travel. The tourism industry is an important part of the national economy and the lifestyle. The global factors and their impact on the field of tourism were identified through the academic resources and a survey realized in Autumn and Winter 2009/10. A questionnaire was used for data collecting and a sample of 104 respondents was created. The following determinants were described: the level of political stability in tourism destination including the risk of terrorist attacks and other violence risks, the global financial crisis, the natural disasters and the occurrence of infectious diseases. The development of tourism is also affected by the world-wide globalization, the changing climate, the ageing of population, the greater mobility and the mass leisure including the process of changing values. The results of the empirical survey confirmed the validity of the given hypothesis. Finally the recommendations for the tourism businesses resulting from the analysis were introduced.

The dissertation thesis describes the methods of calculation of the VAT gap. VAT gap is the difference between the theoretical VAT liability in the whole economy and the accrued VAT receipts. It is expressed in relative terms to the theoretical VAT liability and it approximates the amount of the VAT evasion. The VAT gap in the Czech Republic in the years 2002 to 2010 ranges in average from 16 to 17 %. It is steadily increasing from 11 % to 26 % during the last 5 years of the relevant period. Furthermore, the thesis also analyses the determinants of the VAT gap in the EU member states in the years 2000 to 2006. The share of VAT on total tax revenues and the Tax quota were identified as main tax factors that reduce the VAT gap. On the other hand, the complexity of the VAT system, expressed by the number of VAT rates, the difference between them and the number of preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice, increases the VAT gap. Further significant factor influencing the VAT gap in the negative direction is the Corruption perception Index.

The thesis Valuation Methods of Athletes in Czech Republic and Slovakia in its theoretical part deals with gathering and reviewing published approaches to the valuation of athletes in various sports. Practical part is based on the Czech and Slovak football clubs questionnaire survey. The main goal was to find out if there are any identifiable determinants of players transfer value. If so, objective was to find out the differences between influences of these determinants. For it was found out that these determinants exist, it was investigated if they are similarly perceived by various groups of clubs. Other research questions were focused on some statements published in the Czech Republic - namely that the most used approach to value the football player are market-based methods (using comparison) and/or income based methods. Further verificated statement was that valuation servers are an important tool of valuation of athletes. Clubs were also asked how significant they perceive the element of cost-based method.

The objective of this thesis was to defend an alternative approach by health policy makers for improving health outcomes through investing on social factors of peoples' lives, rather than by increasing health expenditures. In order to defend this theory, this master thesis addresses two research questions: Which are the social determinants of health with largest impact on health status of individuals? And what is the statistical correlation between those social determinants of health and self-reported health status, and psychological health, for Germany, Denmark, Spain and Ireland? The first question was answered by developing a comprehensive research among the mostrelevant literature in the field of social determinants of health and the second through the construction of a statistical multiple regression model. According this study the social determinants with largest impact on the health status of individuals are: physical activity, education level, the welfare state, emotional support, socio-economic status, living conditions, working conditions, and life balance. Regarding the results of multiple regression models all variables followed the expected trend and it was possible to proof significant statistical correlation in 7 of the 8 determinants chosen, especially in the cases of working conditions and life balance, where those having problems managing these aspects of life experienced 50% or in some cases 30% of the health status of individuals with positive experiences in these life dimensions.

This Master's thesis focuses on Czech household savings. It describes the most important traditional and alternative financial products used by Czech households. Next it reveals the reasons why Czech households are so conservative in their attitude to their financial means in comparison with other European countries. In the last part of this thesis the most important determinants of household savings are identified and with the help of correlation coefficient the intensity of correlation between gross household savings and their determinants is explored.