The goal of general education is to provide students with an education that is broad and holistic, teaching transferable intellectual skills such as critical thinking, written and oral communication, problem solving and teamwork. General education courses are typically offered through the academic subjects of mathematics, science, English, and social science. Recent studies document concern that college graduates are not capable of demonstrating the intellectual skills expected. Through the use of content analysis, this study examined institutional practice to determine if the goals of general education are being met. A nationally representative sample of general education course syllabi and work products were analyzed for evidence of the intellectual skills expected of students and if those expectations were communicated. Findings indicate that learning expectations were not consistently provided and the goals of general education to deliver complex cognitive skills were not met. Implications provide insight for those responsible for general education reform.

Introduction: Beta-Blocker Evaluation Survival Trial (BEST) sub-analyses indicated a likely interaction between bucindolol and race disadvantaging black heart failure (HF) patients (Domanski J Cardiac Fail 2003); Arg389 homozygotes having adjusted reductions of 38% in mortality and 34% in mortality/hospitalization over other genotypes (Liggett PNAS 2006). Bucindolol is being evaluated in Arg389 genotype patients in the GENETIC-AF trial (NCT01970501). Objective: To conduct parallel (using Domanski et al and Liggett et al) ex ante economic evaluations of Arg389 genetic testing in stage III/IV HF to support bucindolol treatment decisions (if Arg389-positive) and carvedilol (if Arg389-negative) treatment versus no such testing and empirical bucindolol; using Domanski et al and Liggett et al BEST sub-analyses. Methods: In both Domanski et al and Liggett et al analyses, we used a decision tree model with time horizon of 18 months divided into 3 six-month cycles to estimate the cost-effectiveness and cost-utility of Arg389 genetic testing, considering overall survival (OS) from Domanski et al and Liggett et al BEST sub-analyses. Costs and utilities were retrieved from literature except for assumed cost for bucindolol treatment (1.5x cost of carvedilol) and genetic testing ($250). Discount rate was set at 3%/yr. Weibull distributions were fitted to OS data. Life-years (LY) and quality-adjusted life-years (QALY) were used to estimate incremental cost-effectiveness (ICER) and cost-utility ratios (ICUR), and results were validated using probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA). Results: In the Domanski et-based analysis, Arg389 genetic testing versus no testing was associated with incremental gains of 0.29LYs and 0.27QALYs at incremental cost of $726; yielding ICER of US$2,503/LY and ICUR of US$2,688/QALY gained. In the Liggett et al-based analysis, Arg-389 genetic testing versus no testing was associated with incremental gains of 0.35LYs and 0.32QALYs at savings of -$1.081; for ICER of -US$3,089/LY and ICUR of -US$3,378/QALY gained. Both analyses were confirmed in PSAs. Conclusion: Arg389 genetic testing to support bucindolol treatment in stage III/IV HF patients prevails economically over bucindolol treatment without genetic testing due to superior OS. If bucindolol is priced at 1.5x the cost of carvedilol. this economic benefit is likely to disappear if bucindolol and/ or genetic testing are priced higher. The clinical and economic benefits of bucindolol treatment with versus without Arg389 genetic testing versus empiric carvedilol remains to be assessed.

How does localized translation relate to the Arabic language? According to the Localization Industry Standards Association, localization “involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale (country/region and language) where it will be used and sold,” (Esselink 2000a, p. 3). In monoglossic situations, localized translation involves producing translations that reflect regional language variation. Localizing Arabic translations presents a greater challenge because the Arabic language is characterized by both register variation and regional variation (Badawi 1973/2012; Bassiouney 2009; Ferguson 1959/1972). Existing literature addresses both localized translation and Arabic translation, but does not address localized Arabic translation specifically. Within the field of outcomes research, a public health subfield that studies patient populations health and well-being, prior studies that analyze Arabic translations of outcomes research documentation focus solely on the validity of universal, not localized translations. Studies in other specialized fields such as law also fail to include analysis of localized Arabic translation. This study analyzes register and regional variation in one universal and twenty-seven localized Arabic translations of the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment Questionnaire (WPAI), a clinical outcome assessment that is frequently localized for use in internationally sited clinical trials (Margaret Reilly Associates 2013). To determine the degree to which the Arabic WPAIs are localized, twenty-one variables including linguistic lexical items, morphological forms, and syntactic structures were coded as either salient Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or localized. Localized variables include salient Levantine Arabic (LA), Gulf Arabic (GA), and Egyptian Arabic (EA) features, shared MSA/LA/GA/EA variables and simplified variables. Then residual analysis of the expected and observed frequencies of each variable determined the overall degree of localization for each variable. Results indicate that salient MSA variables and localized variables are used in all twenty-eight WPAIs while localized salient LA, GA, and EA variables are completely absent. Although the inconsistent use of localized shared and simplified variables throughout the one universal and twenty-seven L-, G-, and E-WPAIs indicates that localization standards are met inconsistently, all twenty-eight WPAIs are successful within a functionalist framework because the use of salient MSA, shared, and simplified variables ensures that the text is accessible to a lay audience, which is the ultimate function of the target text (TT). This study sheds light on the inherent challenges of localized Arabic translation, which is caught between localization standards and Arabic language norms. Motivations for using salient MSA, shared, and simplified variables are discussed and implications of this study include improving methods for producing localized Arabic translations.

There has been a great deal of discussion about the large volumes of foreign fighters involved in civil conflicts in Syria and Iraq over recent years. Yet, there remains little systematic evidence about the effect, if any, that foreign fighters have upon the conflicts they join. Existing literature distinguishes between the resources fighters bring to rebel groups and the liability they represent in regards to campaign cohesion. We seek to establish preliminary evidence as to whether or not foreign fighters contribute to the success of the campaigns they join. Our multinomial logistic and competing risks regression analyses of civil conflicts between 1946 and 2013 suggest that foreign fighters are associated with a decreased likelihood of government victory. Furthermore, we offer partial evidence to suggest that foreign fighters from non-contiguous countries are more likely to help rebels achieve a negotiated settlement or to continue their struggle against the government, but not to directly help them achieve victory.

Class of 2015 Abstract / Objectives: In 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics released an updated urinary tract infection guideline that addressed diagnosis, antibiotic treatment, and duration of therapy in children ages 2-24 months. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the appropriateness of antibiotic prescribing and compare outcomes between age groups. Methods: This retrospective chart review included patients aged 1 month through 12 years admitted to a regional academic medical center from January through July 2014 and diagnosed with UTI or pyelonephritis. Patients were identified using ICD-9 codes. Demographic information, antibiotic treatment, length of stay, and complications were collected and the chi square statistical test was used to compare results between age groups. Results: There were 104 patients included in this study. The most common bacteria cultured were Escherichia coli (85%). Ceftriaxone (71%) and cephalexin (30%) were the most commonly prescribed empiric and discharge antibiotic, respectively. Based on guideline recommendations and culture results, inappropriate antibiotic selection only occurred with 7% of the orders while inappropriate prescribing occurred 35% of the time. Readmission within 90 days occurred in 15% of patients aged 2-24 months (guideline age group) and in 14% of all other patients (P>0.05). Conclusions: There was no difference between age groups with respect to inappropriate antibiotic prescribing or complications for pediatric UTI treatment and inappropriate antibiotic dosing occurred more frequently than inappropriate selection. More research is necessary to assess the impact of the guidelines on prescribing practices and factors associated with inappropriate prescribing.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Viewing the provision of TB-HIV integrated services from the perspectives of TB/HIV clients can help to identify ways to enhance the provision of these services. The aim of this study was to assess the provision of TB/HIV services including PMTCT from clients perspectives in order to make recommendations on ways to enhance the provision of TB/HIV/PMTCT services at facility and community level. Method: Secondary data analysis was undertaken on a survey that was part of a cross-sectional study conducted in 2008 in Sisonke district, a rural district of KwaZulu Natal province, South Africa. Exit interviews were completed by 274 clients accessing TB, HIV and PMTCT services in 10 selected facilities in Sisonke district. A questionnaire that had both closed and open-ended questions was used for exit interviews. Ethical clearance of the study was originally obtained from the Ethics Committee of the University of the Western Cape. The researcher sought permission from the custodian/owner (primary researcher) of the data. The researcher also adhered to maintaining data integrity including the confidentiality procedures as defined in the primary study. In analysing the data it was checked completeness and internal consistency. The quantitative part of the data was stratified, cleaned and coded. The qualitative part of the data was reviewed repeatedly and clustered. The measures of central tendency like frequency, means, median and standard deviation were used for continuous data while categorical data were analysed with frequency and proportions. The Chi-square test was used to assess the association between depend and independent variables. Results: The results of this study show that the respondents preferred accessing integrated TB-HIV/PMTCT services. Most of the respondents, especially a majority of younger respondents comprising of PMTCT (66.7%), HIV (29.8%) and TB (30.8%) categories reported that they were educated on HIV matters. Also, most of the younger respondents (18 – 30 years) among the PMTCT category (74.3%) and most of the older respondents (older than 30 years) of the pre ART & ART category (71.2%)reported that they were educated about TB matters.In general, the majority ( 90 %) of the respondents preferred TB/HIV/PMTCT services to be provided at the same place but a small majority (42%) of the respondents preferred to be seen the same clinicians. Most (68%) of the PMTCT younger (18-30 years) respondents preferred to receive TB-HIV integrated care at their homes while 70% and 68% of HIV and TB older respondents (>30 years) preferred to receive TB and HIV services at their homes. Viewing the advantages,disadvantages and barriers for accessing TB/HIV/PMTCT integrated services, there is a proportionate distribution in the responses amid the categories though the female respondents comparatively take the lead in reporting about their experiences in accessing TB/HIV/PMTCT integrated services. In this study, majority of the respondents demonstrated that they access good integrated TB-HIV/PMTCT services both at the facilities level and at home. Providing integrated TB-HIV/PMTCT services is widely accepted. Majority of the respondents especially the younger females preferred to continue receiving TB-HIV integrated care at their homes in comparison with older respondents. Conclusion: Most of the respondents comprised of females aged less than 30 years. These respondents like the services provided by the TB-HIV integrated services and want it sustained. They prefer the facilities to be in the same location. However, they prefer to consult different clinicians for the two different health conditions. The respondents also preferred to have HIV test at the same facility and to be visited at home by community health workers in support of the provision of TB/HIV/PMTCT care.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / Food security is a development challenge in South Africa with 52% of the population being food insecure and 33% at risk of hunger. Inequalities and inefficient food distribution networks lead to inadequate access to sufficient and nutritional food. Poor communities experience bad access to good food and good access to bad food. Citizens have to be satisfied with cheap, low nutritious and high calorific food leading to malnutrition, and diseases – the hidden hunger. Being hungry is more than just a lack of food; it provokes despair, humiliation, sadness, low self-esteem – perceive as the genocide of the mind. Urban agriculture has been advocated as a livelihood strategy to improve food security. The Urban Rural Development Capacity Building Project (URDCBP), a non-profit organization (NPO), initiated three urban food garden projects within Langa, Cape Town to improve food security and create employment within that community. Ward 51, Langa is the study area of this thesis. The aim of this research is (1) to assess the contribution of urban food garden projects as a livelihood strategy for food security and the livelihood outcomes thereof; (2) to determine what other livelihood strategies and coping mechanisms poor communities adopt to be more food secure; and (3) to propose recommendations to improve and expand urban food gardens. The mixed-methodology research paradigm was employed. In the quantitative design, 83 randomly selected participants completed the self-administered closed-ended questionnaires. STATA 12.1 was used as a tool for the quantitative analysis. The descriptive statistics present the socio-demographic and economic trends of the households by the scores of each variable and the existence of any relationships between the variables. Conclusions were drawn from the sample data about the populations with inferential statistics. The qualitative data collection included two semi-structured interviews with government officials and two focus group discussions with 17 community members and 13 beneficiaries respectively. Purposive sampling was used in the qualitative research and emerging themes were identified in response to the research objective supporting the quantitative analysis. The results attest that 82% of the respondents indicated that the urban food gardens contribute to their household food security. However, low levels of food security are still experience within the community. With the Sustainable Livelihood Approach as theoretical framework, the study accentuates other livelihood outcomes of urban agriculture such as improving health, improving self-esteem and improving food security. Some of the coping strategies adopted include having willpower and skills, relying on family and friends for food and borrowing and dependency on social grants. The contribution of urban food gardens to food security is minimal in the Western Cape as only 2% of the households cultivate crops as their main source of food. In the study, 63% of the respondents would like to start their own food gardens and 14% would like to extend their urban food gardens. In both instances, land has been identified as the greatest concern. With the correct strategies and support, urban food gardens can be extended to make a larger contribution to the food security levels of the urban poor. Government intervention is much needed to fight hidden hunger, poverty and food security and this requires political commitment.

This investigation focused on educators’ understanding of Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and the impact it has had on their classroom assessment practices. As assessment practices may not be separated from instructional practices, educators’ opinions were probed on their classroom practices in general (i.e. instructional and assessment practices). Educators are the major role players towards successful implementation of OBE; as such their understanding of OBE is important. It has been about nine (9) years since OBE was phased in, in the South African Education system. Educators have undergone in-service training through workshops in order to implement OBE in their classroom practices. In the early stages of implementing OBE, many educators did not understand what was expected of them in an OBE classroom. Most of them continued to follow direct instruction as the only method in their instructional practices. They were resistant to changes. One of the reasons why they resisted changes is that they had little understanding of OBE. This investigation was meant to determine whether there has been development and improvement on educators’ understanding of OBE. The following qualitative research methods were followed in this investigation: semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. A general overview of OBE was given in order to help me to develop criteria on which I could judge educators’ opinions regarding their understanding of OBE during interviews, observations and document analysis. The results in this investigation show that educators still have little understanding of OBE premises and principles. They do not accommodate OBE premises and principles in their classroom practices. Educators’ understanding of OBE must be improved so that they can implement OBE effectively in the classroom. / Dissertation (Magister Educationis (Assessment and Quality Assurance)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

Health reformers, especially in developing countries, have applied decentralisation to enhance the performance of health systems which in turn improve health outcomes. Proponents of decentralisation argue that increasing the authority of local government promotes resource allocation according to local needs. Yet critics point out that decentralisation is harmful as resources are more likely to be redistributed in favour of poorer areas in countries with centralised governments. Shedding light on those endless debates, this study aims to examine the association between decentralisation, performance of health providers and health outcomes in Indonesia. In 2001 Indonesia embarked on decentralisation in the form of devolution and fiscal decentralisation. Devolution transfers the responsibilities of providing health services from central government to local government, while fiscal decentralisation allows local government to manage its local economies. Following those reforms, Indonesia raised the authority of public hospitals’ managers through corporatisation in 2004. Those reforms aim to provide better health services for the population. Evaluating whether all three forms of decentralisation in Indonesia have achieved their aim or not, this study uses both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected in 54 public hospitals in East Java province during summer 2013. The secondary data combined individual and household level data and local government data. The Indonesia socio-economic survey (Susenas) 2004-2013 and Indonesian Family Life Survey (IFLS) 2007 are the sources of individual and household data, while the national village census (Podes) 2003-2010 provides district-level data. I supplement these with local government fiscal data from the Ministry of Finance and the consumer price index 2004-2013. The assembled data possesses a multilevel structure in which individuals or households are nested within districts. The main findings show that health outcomes among Indonesians continue to vary across districts after decentralisation. Passing authority down from central government to lower-level institutions does not automatically bring about better performance of health providers and health outcomes regardless of the type of authority devolved and the characteristics of the delegated institutions. However, further analysis on multiyear data suggests that there is an important learning curve throughout the process of decentralisation implementation. Both local governments and hospital managers need time to learn how to utilise the authority they are given after decentralisation. These findings suggest that improving capacity and accountability of local authorities and an understanding of why some local authorities are better than others at learning during the process of decentralisation are vital to improve performance of health providers and health outcomes in decentralised Indonesia.

The purpose of this investigation is to test the mediational effect of parenting style on the association between child health status and child behavioural outcomes in children. Using cross-sectional data of children 4 and 5 years old from National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) Cycle 4 2000-2001 the paper explores the degree to which child health status is related to child behavioural outcomes. In addition, the present study investigates the extent to which child health status is linked to parenting style. Another aim of this study is to explore the association between parenting style and child behavioural outcomes. Child outcome measures assessed in this study include: hyperactivity-inattention, emotional-disorder anxiety, conduct disorder — physical aggression, and indirect aggression. Child health status is assessed using the Health Utility Index Mark 3. The Health Utility Index gives a description of an individual's overall functional health, founded on eight attributes that include: vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, cognition, emotion, pain and discomfort. Parenting style is measured using several parenting scales that consist of: positive interaction, hostile/ineffective parenting, consistent parenting, and rational (punitive/aversive) parenting. Statistical analysis was conducted using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and logistic regression to test the conceptual model and the significance of relationships between the variables of interest. There was partial support for the mediational model of parenting style on the association between child health status and children behavioural outcomes. Specifically, both ineffective and rational parenting each showed a mediational effect. Child health status and child behavioural outcomes were found to have a strong relationship to each other. However, ineffective parenting was more strongly related to child behavoiural outcomes than child health status. This suggests that children that are exposed to ineffective parenting are at greater risk for developing behavioural difficulties than children receiving other forms of parenting. Moreover, children who receive this type of parenting and have poorer health are at even greater risk for developing these behavioural problems. However, these conclusions are tentative as the directionality of these relationships is uncertain because of the cross-section design of this study. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate