For healthy individuals, wound healing mainly occurs without medical intervention, yet for the growing elderly, diabetic, or obese populations, as well as for those recovering from surgery, disregulated wound healing poses a serious health risk. Therefore, understanding the cellular processes regulating wound healing and correcting them when they go awry is essential for meeting these population’s healthcare needs. Wound healing is a complex process consisting of a suite of injury repair programs executed by cells in the injured tissue. While several of these programs have been previously described, there are many possible cellular signalling pathways that can mediate a given repair program, and its unclear which pathway mediates a specific process. In this work, we aimed to identify the key cellular signaling pathway that regulates the injury contraction process in a dermal microtissue on a chip model. We found that a balance of tissue forces generated via RhoA activation is critical for injury contraction, and that spatially localized RhoA activation can recruit new cells to participate in injury contraction. During our experiments, we also discovered and characterized a novel actin cytoskeleton-plasma membrane topology present in human dermal fibroblasts at the extreme end of cellular contractility. We also developed several technical advances: the real-time imaging and manipulation of calcium in 3D microtissues, the development of a reporter for smooth muscle actin and a labeled cellular fibronectin fusion protein, and the optimization of Forster Resonance Energy Transfer sensors. Taken together, our experimental results demonstrate the importance of RhoA-mediated force balance during injury contraction, which also has implications for scarring wound pathologies, while the tools we developed provide support for future investigations into the cellular signaling mediating injury repair programs.

Most Canadian adults do not meet recommended levels of physical activity; this phenomenon has persisted for many years and is associated with health concerns and chronic disease. These trends appear to affect Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel who have heightened mandates around physical activity. CAF operational mandates combined with these trends highlight the importance of addressing divides between expectation and reality. Traditionally the CAF has used approaches targeted to individuals to manage activity levels; however, there have been no studies exploring the relationship between the environment and activity levels among CAF personnel which has the potential to affect far more people. This dissertation examined built environments where CAF personnel live and explored the relationship between the built environment and active living among CAF personnel. There are two studies in this work. The first study developed a scale with and for the CAF and used this to examine the built environments where CAF personnel live. The results indicated a factor solution and demonstrated good-to-strong psychometric properties. Among the environments, it highlighted areas of strength and potential areas of improvement. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the built environments where CAF personnel live. The second study used data from several sources at individual and neighbourhood levels to conduct a hierarchical linear model analysis to explore the relationship between the built environment and physical activity among CAF personnel. The findings revealed information about the different relationships between active living (measured by physical activity level) of CAF personnel and individual and neighbourhood characteristics. The findings in this dissertation provide novel evidence about the relationship of the built environment and active living among CAF personnel. The aim of this research was to provide evidence and information to decisionmakers that serves to meaningfully contribute to the pursuit of the overall health and wellbeing of CAF members. The findings provided meaningful information to help guide and inform Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services (CFMWS) policy, programming, and resource decisions that affect CAF personnel.

Western countries are regarded as open democracies where free speech is viewed assomething that people have fought and died for throughout history; several westernmilitary forces label themselves as defenders of (liberal) democratic values, wherethe citizens’ right to speak is held as utmost importance. Swedish military officershave a unique, compared with other countries, right to participate in public debatesand voice their opinions in news media and on the internet. However, throughouthistory, there have been events that indicate that soldiers do not enjoy the samerights as other citizens. This thesis explores how the Swedish Armed Forces handlefreedom of expression within its ranks and define the perceived existence of a“sphere of unsuitability”. All reviewed cases refer to a situation where the individualpublicly contradicts the organisations’ own expressed views and interests. Thisthesis has identified the existence of a “sphere of unsuitability” that, together withambiguous messages from the Swedish Armed Forces, has led to military personnelwithdrawing from public debates, even under anonymity. The conflict between theindividual’s freedom of expression and military interests occurs on several levelswhen criticism lies outside what the Armed Forces perceive as acceptable.In summary, the tentative conclusion is that although loyalty and reliabilitymay be called into question by the military, it is when the Armed Forces’ labels anexpression or opinion as unsuitable that the individual may lose any furtheropportunities of a career. The study makes two main research contributions. First,addressing how the Swedish Armed Forces deal with freedom of expression withinits organisation provides an empirical investigation of a critical democratic issue.Second, by identifying a perceived “sphere of unsuitability”, including how such asphere is constructed, the thesis adds theoretical substance to a developing researchfield.

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A research report submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Security, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2017 / In 2013, the South African delegation to the African Union (AU) vigorously lobbied other AU Member States to urgently establish the African Capacity for Immediate Response to Conflict (ACIRC) Brigade. South Africa argued that the continent needed a rapid deployment force to respond quickly to conflicts. Amongst others, the ACIRC will intervene in stabilisation, peace enforcement and intervention missions, the neutralisation of terrorist groups, and attacks on legitimate governments. The decision to establish the ACIRC was a response to the M23 occupation of Goma and French intervention to assist the Malian government, which was under attack from Tuareg separatists and other Islamic fundamentalist groups. Critics of the ACIRC mechanism argue that it goes against the principles of peacekeeping and is an indication that South Africa is advocating for a departure from pacifist to robust military intervention. From South Africa’s perspective, the ACIRC Brigade is intended to fill the security gap left by the African Standby Force. This research study argues that the ACIRC is not an indicator that South Africa is advocating for a departure from pacifist to robust military intervention when resolving conflict in Africa. Instead, the ACIRC mechanism, like the Force Intervention Brigade and the French army intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali respectively, will provide the AU with a quick response mechanism for conflict. The robustness of response will be determined by the threat at the tactical level of military operation. As such, the deployment of the ACIRC Brigade will still be guided by the principles of peacekeeping as laid out in the UN Charter and Article 4(h) of the AU Constitutive Act. In this respect, post-apartheid South Africa has played a leading role in resolving conflicts in Africa. Those who subscribe to realism argue that South Africa participates in peace missions for its own self-benefit. They argue that its participation in peace missions will increase its global stature and improve its credibility in its quest to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. On the other hand, idealists argue that South Africa’s participation in peace missions is inspired by the principles of ubuntu and altruism. This research study argues that both the realist and the idealist arguments are credible when assessing South Africa’s participation in peace missions in Africa. However, Precious Pakamile Hlungwani 775032 iii notwithstanding the credibility of both arguments, there is more evidence to support the realist view on South Africa’s participation in peace missions. / GR2019

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management) 2016 / The purpose of this research study was to obtain the views and perceptions of Namibia veterans of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the armed wingof SWAPO, on compensation as a part of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) process. This process compensates former freedom fighters as a reward for having contributed to the liberation struggle. DDR is one of the most important peace stabilising tools that is internationally recognised and the UN has adopted it as a pre-requisite for any peace agreement process in countrieswhich had experienced violent conflict. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the war veterans’ perception regarding ‘compensation’ being paid as a reward to former fighters of the Namibia liberation struggle by the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs.Structured interviews were conducted to collect data, and data analysis was done by identifying themes.Microsoft Excel statistics functions were used to calculate the totals, produce tables, graphs and pie charts. The main finding of the study was that the former freedom fighters were facing many challenges and the government was far from addressing these challenges in their totality. The study found that the government was committed to address the plight of the former freedom fighters; however, the implementation of such a programme was fraught with challenges, such as the lack of resources and good governance. Moreover, the study established that the reintegration process was not addressing the issues of both groups of ex-combatants in Namibia. / GR2018

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This diploma thesis is puzzled with influence of NATO on Army of Czech Republic (ACR)'s armaments and if this influence is key factor in decision making regarding new acquisition projects or if other factors have bigger impact on decision making in question. NATO with the USA as its main sponsor is more benevolent than Warsaw Pact of which The Czech Republic was part during Cold War. Even though we can observe attempts to force member states into increasing their defense budgets from position of power, the main principle in new armament acquisition is standardization, which is based on semi-voluntary bases. However, in case of The Czech Republic standardization is not starting factor for new acquisition project. Change in security environment after Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 forced states to into increasing their defense budgets, which was manifested itself in summit in Wales in 2014, where NATO member states promised to allocate 2% of GDP by 2024. However, it was observed that not all states will meet this deadline and that size of state do not play significant role. Increasing of defense budget allowed ACR to start long awaited modernization projects. This diploma thesis found that not NATO but outdated equipment with fear from being dependent on Russian provisioning plays a key role.

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To measure the differences in ground reaction forces between running shoes, racing flats, and distance spikes, twenty intercollegiate distance runners ran across a force plate at 6.7m/s (for males) and 5.74m/s (for females) in each of the three types of shoes. In order to control for differences in foot strike, only subjects who had a heel strike were included in the data analysis (N=16). Repeated-measures ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test (p<0.05) revealed loading rate and impact peak to be significantly increased in the flats and spikes compared to running shoes. Stiffness in spikes was significantly higher than in running shoes. Stance time in spikes and flats was decreased. These results can be used to better inform competitive runners, coaches, and trainers of the risks and performance benefits when determining the frequency and duration of the use of competitive footwear in training.