Using Burris et al.’s model of law as a social determinant of health, this thesis postulates that the law and its application contribute to abortion-related morbidity and mortality among those women who qualify for a legal and safe abortion according to the justifications stipulated in the Criminal Code. This thesis proposes a circular model in order to show how the application of the law, through courts rulings, contributes to unsafe abortion. On the one hand, Argentine law acts as a pathway along which inequity in socioeconomic status exposes certain women to pathogenic practices, such as self-induced abortions. On the other hand, the law acts as a shaper of socioeconomic status as it perpetuates gender stereotypes, constructing a normative world where sex-role stereotypes are naturalized, and having an impact in women’s lack of access to legal and safe abortions.

Background Information: There is substantial evidence demonstrating the significant benefits of regular physical activity (PA) and the burden of morbidity and mortality associated with inactivity. In Australia however, approximately 40% of the adult population is not meeting recommended levels of PA, the rates of inactivity may be increasing, and improving population levels of PA has been identified as a public health priority. Research is needed therefore, to develop a better understanding of the variables that limit and facilitate PA levels within the population, so as to guide the development of population-based PA promotion. Although a range of psychological, social and environmental variables have been associated with PA, few studies have integrated correlates across these domains and compared their relative contribution. The current evidence base is also limited by too few population-based studies, insufficient assessment of the measurement properties of correlate scales, minimal information on PA item non-response, and a lack of specificity among PA domains. Aims: This research program aimed to develop measures and examine the relative contributions of self-reported psychological, social, and environmental variables to explain variation in leisure-time PA (LTPA) among adults in the general population. Methods: This research program comprised three studies that utilised a crosssectional design and a mail survey methodology with a population-based random sample drawn from Brisbane, Australia (N=5000). Study one involved development and assessment of the measurement properties of a battery of scales to measure correlates of LTPA, using principal components and internal reliability analyses. Study two assessed the magnitude of and sociodemographic variables associated with LTPA item non-response on the mail survey, using logistic regression. Study three examined the independent contributions of self-reported psychological, social, and environmental variables to variation in walking, moderate- and vigorousintensity LTPA, using logistic regression adjusted for sociodemographic covariates. Results: Study one produced a battery of 28 scales to assess self-reported psychological, social and environmental correlates of LTPA. The scales used a total of 123 items to measure activity history (habit, mastery, exposure), health (physical, psychological), activity-related cognitions (self schemata, activity schemata, demand, need, knowledge), self-efficacy, anticipated benefits (psychological, health, challenge, improved appearance, social, weight management), perceived barriers (expense/low access, poor skill, poor personal functioning, time organization, disinterest, family obligations), social support (encouragement, discouragement) and neighborhood environment (available facilities, physical characteristics, aesthetic features, traffic). Of the 28 scales that were factorially derived, 25 had acceptable or marginal levels of internal consistency with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.65 to 0.89. Study two indicated that 28% of the mail survey respondents had incomplete LTPA data with 8% of respondents missing the walking item, and 18% and 23% missing the vigorous-intensity and moderate-intensity LTPA items respectively. Respondents who missed all three LTPA items were more likely than those with complete LTPA data to be female, less educated, from low-income households, in poor health, and a current smoker. Respondents who missed the walking item were significantly more likely to be a current smoker, and to have limited education and low household income. Incomplete moderate-intensity LTPA data was associated with single parenthood and vocational education. Those who missed the vigorousintensity LTPA item were more likely to be 35-54 years old, in fair or poor health, and obese. Respondents with incomplete LTPA data were also more likely to miss sociodemographic items assessing education, household composition, and household income. In study three, the sociodemographic and correlate variables collectively accounted for 43% of the variation in total LTPA, 45% of vigorous-intensity LTPA, 26%of walking, and 22% of moderate-intensity LTPA (Nagelkerke R square). The individual correlates accounted for 0.0 - 4.0% of unique variation across the different domains of LTPA. Habit, self-efficacy, and social encouragement tended to contribute more unique variation for each LTPA domain. Physical health, discouragement, competition, and time management barriers contributed more unique variation to vigorous-intensity LTPA. Anticipated benefits of social interactions and weight management contributed more unique variation to moderate-intensity LTPA. Neighbourhood aesthetics contributed more unique variation to walking variation. Conclusions. This research program demonstrates the importance of integrating psychological, social, and environmental variables to explain PA, and that the relative importance of these correlates is likely to differ among PA domains. More research is needed to enhance the conceptualisation and measurement of correlate variables, in particular PA opportunities across the lifecourse, the anticipated benefit of a balanced lifestyle, the barriers of an unpredictable lifestyle and family obligations, social discouragement, and environmental variables. Population-based mail surveys of LTPA may under-represent population subgroups that are insufficiently active for health, and proactive strategies are needed to maximise their full participation in research and obtain complete survey data, in particular among individuals of low socioeconomic position and for the assessment of moderateintensity LTPA. Generic promotion to increase overall levels of LTPA in the population could focus on promoting self-efficacy for PA and habitual LTPA, as well as enhancing social encouragement. Tailored promotion for vigorous-intensity LTPA could reduce barriers associated with physical health, discouragement, competitiveness, and time management. Tailored promotion for moderate-intensity LTPA and walking should focus on supportive local neighbourhoods and promote the benefits of weight management and social interactions. In time, the successful implementation of such policy and promotion may arrest the decline of PA levels in the population, reduce preventable morbidity and mortality and economic burden associated with inactivity, and facilitate improved health for all Australians.

This thesis evaluates the utility of �social capital� for public health in four dimensions (communication, explanation, practice and measurement) and at two levels (macro and micro), using interviews with public health workers and a theoretical analysis of social capital. It concludes that the concept is potentially useful for public health but that there are limitations to its utility, arising from the presence of two competing discourses or world views identified in the social capital literature: the rational choice discourse and the political economy discourse. This thesis argues that although social capital is widely perceived to have rhetorical leverage in macro-level policy debates, its contested meaning draws into question the value of any consensus built on the glossing over of different world views. The concept has no value for communication at the micro level. The rational choice theory of social capital appears useful for explaining the social determinants of health although it does not adequately account for the power structures which shape and constrain access to social capital, and it undervalues many aspects of social relationships. The political economy approach is more useful in these respects but is far more complex and difficult to quantify. It is unclear whether either of these theories adds much value to the existing literature which social capital tends to eclipse. The concept has limited value for public health practice, as the dual world views embedded in it can be used to support widely varying policy directions. It is also limited by its inability to describe the dynamics of change or to identify levers for initiating change. The meaningfulness of social capital indicators is compromised by the reductionism of the rational choice paradigm. The political economy discourse renders the development of quantitative indicators far more problematic but may be useful for informing qualitative research.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 136 p.; also includes graphics (some col.) Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-136). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2006. / On t.p. "+" is superscript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-131). Also available in electronic version.

No description available.

Islamic banking system is one of the fastest growing segments of the international financial industry. This system has been receiving a growing attention nowadays especially after the global financial crisis which gave Islamic banks an opportunity to prove their resilience and contribution to financial and economic stability. The beginning of the Islamic banking in its contemporary mode was in the sixties of the past century by the first modern Islamic banking experiment which was undertaken in Egypt in 1963 by Ahmad Al-Najjar. Islamic financial institutions are established to operate commercial banking activities within an Islamic teaching perspective which depends on the elimination of any prohibited element in Islamic Shariah jurisprudence such as interest, gambling, speculation, dealing in pork or alcohol. The very distinct nature of Islamic banking led to a growing interest in determining the success factors of such type of banks especially that in most of the cases they operate with conventional banks vis a vis within the same market and sometimes under the same regulatory framework. The aim of this research is to make a comparative study between the performance of Islamic banks and conventional banks in the Egyptian financial market. The study is an attempt to determine the internal and external contingent factors that affect the profitability of Islamic banks in Egypt in comparison to conventional banks while taking into consideration the fact that both types of banks operate under the same rules and regulations. The goal is to discover whether the different nature of operations between the two types of banks is likely to affect their determinants of performance. The main motivation for undertaking this research is to fill the gap in literature and provide some information that might benefit both academics and practitioners in this field. A thorough revision of the literature suggested contingency perspective as the most suitable and appropriate theoretical framework for this type of research (Thomas, 1991; Schweikart, 1985; Otley, 1980). Data were gathered in this research through the collection of annual financial reports for the two Islamic banks working in Egypt and a sample of eleven conventional banks registered in the stock market. The study covered the period from 2002 to 2010. The findings indicate that in general, the performance of conventional banks in Egypt outweighed that of their Islamic counterparts. Moreover, it can be concluded from the results of the study that there are differences between the profitability determinants of Islamic banks and conventional banks. And eventually, it can be inferred that the nature of operations has an effect on the determination of profitability in Islamic banks and conventional banks.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: Low motivation, defined as an individual's lack of willingness to maintain and exerteffort to attain organizational goals, is a problem in Ethiopia. Its consequences are poor quality of health care or performance, lack of retention and inequity. This study explored influences on nurse motivation in Butajira Zonal Hospital (BZH), and specifically investigated the influences of financial and non-financial incentives on nurses' motivation at work. Methods: A qualitative methodology, consisting of both in-depth interview and focus group discussion (FGDs) data collection methods was adopted. The study population was all nurses working at BZH with more than two years of experience, from which a sample of fifteen nurses(representing a balance of age, gender and category) was purposefully selected. Following informed consent, these fifteen nurses were interviewed by the investigator, and were followed in a second stage by three focus group discussions; with six participants each (total eighteen). Both the interviews and the discussions were conducted mostly in Amharic and tape recorded, transcribed and translated by the researcher. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. After reading, transcriptions were coded in informants' own words and phrases. These were examined, categorised and consistent themes identified and then coded with keywords to represent the content,which were considered to constitute the 'emerging themes'. Findings: In both the FGDs and interviews, a number of key themes were identified relating to both nurses' self-reported motivation and the factors influencing this at BZH. Altruism and professional pride ('love of the profession') as a source of intrinsic motivation emerged as a key theme, counterbalanced by a perception of nursing as having significant job risks (e.g. contracting infections from patients). With respect to financial incentives, salaries too low to meet living costs, unfair taxation on overtime payments, and the absence of a salary grading system for nurses was all raised as negative influences on motivation. While team spirit and solidarity amongst nurses was a positive feature of the work environment, relationships between doctors and nurses were described as poor, aggravated by large salary differentials, and perceived indifference of management to nurses. Other non-financial incentives– training, recognition systems, supervision and workplace conditions– had mixed influences on motivation at BZH. Finally, personal factors, such as age, gender and origin or married in the region,influenced reported motivation. Conclusions and Recommendations: The Ethiopian health system has paid great attention to increasing numbers, expanding training of, and creating specializations for, nurses. However, less attention has been given to their working conditions and the appropriate package of financial and non-financial incentives that will sustain performance and retention. These need to be addressed at the hospital itself, at higher levels of the system and at a broader policy level. Managing motivation requires keeping a broad perspective and innovative approaches that address the range of influences identified in the study. Solutions should be context based and sensitive to influences beyond the commonly understood sources of motivation.

Contexte:La croissance dans les premières années de vie est associée à la santé et au risque de maladies à court et long terme. Elle est influencée par de nombreux facteurs dont certains, tels que le tabagisme maternel pendant la grossesse, sont susceptibles de l’altérer à la fois durant les périodes pré- et post-natale précoce. L’étude de la croissance postnatale nécessite une modélisation précise. Aucun consensus sur la méthode optimale n’existe à ce jour.Objectifs:Etudier des approches de modélisation de la croissance du poids, de la taille et de l’indice de masse corporelle (IMC) de la naissance à 5 ans pour l’étude de ses déterminants précoces.Méthodes:Les données de la cohorte mère-enfant EDEN, qui a inclus 2002 femmes enceintes dans les maternités de Nancy et Poitiers entre 2003 et 2006, ont été utilisées. Au total, 39177 mesures de poids (nombre de mesures médian par enfant : 22) et 30026 mesures de taille (nombre de mesures médian par enfant : 17) ont été collectées lors d’examens cliniques (à 1, 2 et 3 ans) et dans le carnet de santé. Le statut pondéral à 5 ans a été défini selon les seuils IOTF à partir de l’ IMC. Les croissances du poids et de la taille ont été modélisées par des modèles non-linéaires à effets mixtes utilisant l'équation de Jenss-Bayley. Les associations entre exposition et croissance ont été étudiées par deux approches, en prenant l’exemple de l’exposition au tabagisme maternel pendant la grossesse. La première approche, fréquentiste, se décomposait en deux méthodes : i) méthode en 2 étapes : le poids et la taille ont été modélisés séparément sans covariables ; les associations entre les prédictions individuelles à différents âges issues de cette modélisation et le tabagisme maternel ont été analysées dans un second temps par régressions linéaires multiples ; ii) méthode en 1 étape : le tabagisme maternel et les covariables ont été inclus d’emblée dans la modélisation du poids et de la taille et les trajectoires d’IMC déduites. Une seconde approche, bayésienne, a permis de modéliser conjointement le poids et la taille, de prédire les différences de trajectoires d’IMC en fonction du statut tabagique maternel et d’obtenir le degré d’incertitude sur celles-ci. Afin d’étudier l’amélioration de la qualité des estimateurs, les précisions des prédictions obtenues ont été comparées à celles obtenues à partir de modélisations séparées. Une analyse bayésienne exploratoire a permis l’étude de différences de co-évolution du poids et de la taille selon le statut pondéral à 5 ans, en modélisant la matrice de variances-covariances des effets aléatoires.Résultats : Les approches fréquentiste et bayésienne donnaient des résultats concordants. Les enfants de femmes fumeuses tout au long de la grossesse tendaient à conserver, au cours des premières années, leur déficit de taille acquise à la naissance. Leur déficit de poids de naissance ne persistait pas au-delà des premiers mois. Ainsi, leur IMC surpassait, dès les premiers mois, l’IMC des enfants de femmes non-fumeuses. La méthode en 2 étapes était pertinente car la variance intra-sujet des prédictions était faible par rapport à la variance inter-sujets. En ce qui concerne la méthode bayesienne, l’incertitude sur les prédictions de poids et de taille était légèrement plus faible quand les profils de croissance étaient modélisés conjointement plutôt que séparément. L’analyse exploratoire montrait que, dans les tous premiers mois de vie, pour une même variation de la vitesse de croissance staturale, la variation de la vitesse de croissance pondérale était plus forte chez les enfants en surpoids ou obèses comparés à ceux de poids normal.Conclusion : Les outils utilisés ont permis de caractériser finement les trajectoires de croissance postnatale. En permettant d’identifier les facteurs associés à des modifications de ces trajectoires très tôt dans l’enfance et de façon longitudinale, ils sont un moyen d’étudier précisément les déterminants de la croissance. / Background: Growth in the first years of life is associated with both the short and long-term risk of diseases. Growth is influenced by many factors, among which some can affect both the early pre- and post-natal periods. This is the case of maternal smoking during pregnancy. The study of post-natal growth needs an accurate modeling. At present, there is no consensus on the optimal method.Objectives: Modeling postnatal growth of weight, height and body mass index (BMI), from birth to 5 years, using different approaches to study its early determinants.Methods: The work relies on data from the mother-child EDEN cohort, in which 2002 pregnant women were recruited between 2003 and 2006 in the maternities of Nancy and Poitiers. A total of 39,177 weight measurements (median by children: 22) and 30,026 height measurements (median by children: 17) has been collected during clinical visits (at 1, 2 and 3 years) and in the health booklet. The child’s overweight status at 5 years was defined according to the IOTF classification based on their BMI. Weight and height growths have been modeled with non-linear mixed effects models using the Jenss-Bayley equation. Associations between exposure and growth have been studied with two approaches, considering maternal smoking during pregnancy as an example. The first approach, frequentist, included two methods: i) a two-steps method: the weight and height were modeled separately without covariates; associations between individual predictions at different ages and maternal smoking were assessed in a second step with multiple linear regressions; ii) one-step method: maternal smoking and other covariates were directly included in the weight and height modeling and BMI trajectories deduced. This second Bayesian approach allowed to jointly model the weight and height, to predict the differences between BMI trajectories according to the maternal smoking status and to get uncertainty degrees. In order to study any improvement in the quality of the estimators, the precisions of predictions obtained were compared to those obtained with separate models of height and weight. An exploratory Bayesian analysis, allowed studying the differences in the co-evolution of weight and height according to the 5-years overweight status, by modeling the random effects variance-covariance matrix.Results: Both the frequentist and the Bayesian approaches showed consistent results. The children from smoking mothers during the whole pregnancy tended to maintain their birth length deficit along their first years of life. The birth weight deficit did not persist after the first months. Thus, their BMI overpassed the BMI of children from non-smoking mothers as soon as the first months of life. The two-steps method was relevant because the within-subject variance of predictions was low compared to the between-subject variance. For the Bayesian method, the uncertainty on the predictions of weight and height was slightly lower when growth patterns were modeled jointly rather than separately. The exploratory analysis showed than, in the first months, for a similar variation of the statural growth velocity, the variation of the weight growth velocity was stronger in overweight or obese children compared to children with a normal weight.Conclusion: We used tools that allowed the accurate characterization of the postnatal growth trajectories. They permit identification of factors associated with variations of these trajectories very early during childhood. Consequently, they proved helpful to study precisely the determinants of growth in early life.