This study is an exploratory study, descriptive in nature and investigates the familiarity and practices of midwives and women with regard to complementary therapies during pregnancy and labour. The study was conducted in four major hospitals in Western Sydney, namely Nepean, Jamieson, Blue Mountains Anzac Memorial and Hawkesbury hospitals. The findings showed that in the main the midwives and women were familiar and made use of four therapies, ie. aromatherapy, massage, music and hydrotherapy. The midwives practiced without any significant training in these therapies. Hospital policies were almost non existant in relation to the practice of complementary therapies and nurses often felt frustrated at not being able to implement complementary therapies. The main issues that emerged from the study were the need for education for the midwives related to specific complementary therapies, hospital policies conducive to the practice of complementary therapies and research into the efficacy of the different complementary therapies. The women need further exposure to complementary therapies and education in the respective therapies if they are to feel empowered in dealing with the stress of their daily lives / Master of Nursing (Hons)

This study was based on the premise that watershed management on mountainous forested land generally, and in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia more specifically, will be benefitted by further knowledge of soil water drainage from the root zone of forested soils and by such development of methods of measuring soil water drainage as will make increased sampling more feasible. The study was concerned with (1) the development and application of two methods for evaluating soil water drainage; a tension lysimeter system and a method based on Darcy's equation, (2) the exploration of the relationship between rainfall, soil water drainage and streamflow. It was carried out at a forest site of Jamieson Creek Experimental Watershed in the upper Seymour River basin, southwestern B.C. near Vancouver. The tension lysimeter system incorporated a simple capability for manually regulating suction on the lysimeter plate in close conformity with the tension in surrounding soil and also a lysimeter plate that ensured satisfactory hydraulic contact between it and the soil. The application of Darcy's equation for calculating soil water drainage was based on field determinations of both soil hydraulic conductivity and hydraulic gradient at the study site. Soil water drainage rates measured by the tension lysimeter system and those calculated by Darcy's equation showed good agreement, although the former were consistently and slightly higher. It was concluded that each method can provide reasonable estimates of soil water drainage and may be particularly useful in developing countries where a cheap labor source permits extensive and frequent soil water drainage sampling within a watershed. Soil water drainage amounts obtained by these two methods during each of two drying periods were in good agreement with those estimated from a water balance equation. Possible sources of error associated with soil water drainage measurements by tension lysimeter and by the method of Darcy's equation are discussed and possible improvements suggested. This study also indicated that, in the humid coastal region of southwestern British Columbia, soil water drainage is a major component of water balance for the root zone of forested soil and deserves further study. The time trends of soil water drainage were found to be similar to that of streamflow from the small watershed containing the study site. This suggests that the geologic, edaphic, topographical, climatological conditions favor a large and direct contribution of root zone soil water drainage to streamflow. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to contrast the academic discussion on whether the affluent countries have a responsibility or not to provide food aid for the LDCs, to the views of food aid recipients. In addition to the issue of responsibility I also discuss the responsibilities of individuals contra governments, and what type of aid (if any) that is best to ensure food security. In order to gather information on the recipients’ points of views I have conducted a minor field study in The Gambia and interviewed former food aid recipients. In the academic discussion Thomas Pogge, Peter Singer, Dale Jamieson and David Miller are represented. The results of the field study shows that most of the recipients argue that the affluent countries in the world have a moral responsibility to assist the LDCs since they have the ability to assist.In contrast to the academic discussion, it becomes clear that the interviewees base their arguments on a different moral foundation than some of the theorists, and that they have different perspective on how to eradicate poverty and ensure food security.

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