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This thesis argues that while there are various contending notions of how a government can improve its chances of success in a small war, few strategies will be effective without the application of a comprehensive program of population control measures. For this study, small wars are conflicts in which a government uses limited means to secure national objectives against an adversary who uses primarily the tactics of guerrilla warfare. Population control measures are defined as those restrictions imposed on movement, on choice of residence, and on the availability of food that protect the population from the insurgents while simultaneously denying the insurgents access to critical resources. This work examines the vital importance of population control measures in overcoming guerrilla forces lacking external sponsors in small wars during the period 1870 to 1960. Five examples are used to determine their importance: the treatment of prairie Amerindians in the Canadian West (1870 – 1890); the guerrilla phase of the Philippine-American War (1898 – 1902); the guerrilla phase of the South African War (1899 – 1902); the Malayan Emergency (1948 – 1960); and the Kenyan Emergency (1952 – 1960). Within the broad strategies used to prosecute these campaigns, population control measures were a consistent feature and were instrumental in contributing to the termination of the conflicts. Despite their importance, these measures are typically overlooked or only treated superficially when discussed by historians. Therefore, to understand more fully the outcome of small wars, greater attention needs to be applied to the study of these measures. In small wars the primary contest between the belligerents is for control of the people. For the government, the strategic value of population control measures is in how they separate the population from the guerrillas. This denies a wide range of critical resources to the guerrillas and additionally allows the government to both prosecute its campaign more effectively and protect the population better. Population control measures need to be a key component of a government’s strategy in a small war as their proper application may be the tipping-point between success and failure. / Thesis (Ph.D, History) -- Queen's University, 2013-11-29 16:13:52.31

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A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2015 / The southern African hedgehog (Atelerix frontalis) is the only native hedgehog species in South Africa. The published distribution of Atelerix frontalis is based on old occurrence records and few studies have investigated the species' current range or fundamental niche. In addition, Atelerix frontalis commonly exist in many urban areas but it is unclear what resources the species requires to survive and reproduce in these environments. Knowledge of the species' climatic envelope and resource requirements will enable us to assess the risk of population decline, protect the geographic areas expected to sustain future populations and estimate the innate ability of the species to respond to environmental change. My research focused on establishing the fundamental niche of Atelerix frontalis, as well as assessing their ability to cope with climatic and anthropogenic change. I assessed these ideas by obtaining Atelerix frontalis occurrence records (via museums, FreeMe Rehabilitation Centre and public reported sightings) and conducting species distribution modelling, resource selection analysis and assessment of demographic patterns in urban environments. The species distribution models indicated that Atelerix frontalis occurred predominately in climatic regions with dry, cold winters and wet summers, climatic conditions that correspond with the savanna and grassland biomes of South Africa. The range of suitable habitats for Atelerix frontalis can be expected to decline in the future, although high lying areas, such as the Drakensberg mountain range, may offer suitable refugia to sustain populations. Atelerix frontalis were common in urban environments, and within the Greater Johannesburg area, they favoured Egoli granite grassland vegetation and albic plinthosol soils. My research suggests that Atelerix frontalis often occurred in close proximity to roads and human settlements, resources that are likely to be selected for feeding and dispersal opportunities. Urban Atelerix frontalis sightings were closer to all the environmental features selected than the general population, indicating behavioural plasticity through niche differentiation. Atelerix frontalis demographic data indicated post-torpor breeding in spring and summer, as well as juvenile dispersal in late summer and autumn. Urban dwelling Atelerix frontalis populations appeared to be sustainable, with the majority of Atelerix frontalis recovered by FreeMe Rehabilitation Centre in good body condition. Atelerix frontalis survival and persistence in South Africa seems precarious given the species fundamental niche requirements and the extensive anthropogenic transformation of savanna and grassland biomes. However the species’ ability to survive and reproduce in urban environments may greatly benefit future populations, through exploitation of refugia in transformed urban habitats.

One of the major goals of family planning programs worldwide has been to reduce the level of fertility in hopes of slowing the rate of natural increase and promoting social and economic development. Such programs have officially been in existence in Nigeria since 1988. The major goal of the programs is to increase knowledge and use of contraception. This study examined the attitudes of the citizens with special reference to the southeastern and southwestern regions of Nigeria towards family planning programs, to determine the extent of the programs' success. In conducting this research, 406 households were surveyed, in which either spouse (male or female) was interviewed. The survey was conducted in seven states in Nigeria. Using inferential statistics, the finding of this study indicated that although knowledge of contraception has increased for both rural and urban areas, current use of contraception has not followed in the same direction, mainly due to "want for another child" and preference for male children. This study showed that the family planning program Nigeria needs to be pursued more vigorously to ensure compliance with rules and regulations. Continuous amendment and periodic evaluation may be necessary to ensure effectiveness and success. This study would provide additional information to the body of literature already in the field.

In this dissertation, I deconstruct the commonly held assumption that the intrauterine device (IUD) is an unsafe and/or obsolete contraceptive method that has been used mostly to impose population control on women in developing countries. Simultaneously, I explore the changing meaning of the device over the last 40 years in varying socio-historical contexts. Capitalizing on the analytical tradition of science and technology studies that regards technology as socially constructed, I analyze the IUD as a technology that transformed through a series of material and discursive negotiations. Negotiations over the IUD took place in multiple layers, most notably in the social and political domains that defined the meaning of the contraceptive technology, but also in the domain of science, in which claims about the device's technical features and its relationship with the biological body were made. This work is divided into the examination of four major domains – global population politics, American contraceptive market, American antiabortion politics, and scientific research – within which the IUD took shape both materially and discursively. The historical development of the scientific research and discourse of IUDs are juxtaposed with the prevailing socio-political background to illustrate the intricate relationship between scientific research of contraceptive technology and the politics of fertility control. The final chapter addresses the agency of IUD users, introducing the ways in which women in developing countries have manipulated the IUD to achieve reproductive self-determination. / Ph. D.

The disease vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are serious and growing threats to global health. As vectors of the arboviruses dengue fever and chikungunya, these mosquitoes are responsible for hundreds of millions of cases and thousands of deaths each year. Absent specific treatments or vaccines, effective control of mosquito populations remains the only option for tackling a growing public health challenge. More effective control tools are urgently needed. Recently, a novel approach to pest population control has been developed based on the release of insects carrying a repressible, dominant lethal allele. This approach has achieved dramatic reductions in Ae. aegypti populations in regulated open field experiments. Despite this success, there remains scope to improve upon the current technology. It is proposed that an 'ideal' strain would combine the following features: (i) repressible lethality in late juvenile phases; (ii) a mechanism for removing females at an early developmental stage in the release generation; and (iii) orthogonal expression control mechanisms allowing both these systems to be combined in a single strain. This thesis describes research undertaken in pursuit of a 'next generation' strain. Two novel promoters from putative Osiris genes have been identified which confer a 10²-10³ – fold up-regulation in transgene expression specific to late pupal stages. One of these 'Osiris' promoters has been used to develop transgenic Aedes aegypti strains. 5 lines showed pupal-specific lethality of 98-100% penetrance, which was repressed in the presence of tetracycline. An Ae. albopictus orthologue of the sex-determining gene doublesex (dsx) has been isolated and characterised and a female-specific expression system developed. Transgenic lines show female-specific expression of a transgene; however, there remains some 'leaky' expression in male insects. Finally, a potential expression control tool based on an auxin-inducible expression system has been investigated. 11 different transgenic lines were developed based on three different construct designs. None showed auxin-inducible expression of a transgene.