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Introduction/Background Unplanned pregnancies among students at higher educational institutions are a major concern worldwide, including South Africa. Apart from various social and psychological problems, unplanned pregnancies affect students’ objectives of achieving academic success. Research indicated that around 80 per cent of female students are sexually active. Higher educational students between the ages of 18 and 24 have one of the highest rates of unplanned pregnancies due to the lack of contraceptive use, knowledge and awareness regarding the use of contraceptives. Purpose of the study The purpose of the study was to assess the use of contraceptives by female undergraduate students in a higher educational institution. Methodology In terms of methodology, a cross-sectional, descriptive quantitative survey was used.The survey included 400 female undergraduate students at a higher educational institution who were required to respond to a self-administrative questionnaire. Categorical data, such as race, religion, ethnic group, place of residence and marital status were compared to each group using Chi square. Multiple logic regression analysis was applied to test the models. In addition, frequency tables, bar charts and pie charts were generated for all variables, which served as an input for descriptive statistics, based on frequencies and percentages. Research findings Of the 74 per cent sexually active females, 79 per cent reported using contraceptives. The most common used methods were the oral contraceptives, 38 per cent, and male condoms, 25 per cent. The most commonly known methods were condoms, 84 per cent, and the oral contraceptive, 68 per cent. The level of knowledge of the condom use to prevent sexually transmitted diseases was very high, 91 per cent. The knowledge of the benefits of contraceptives was also high, 97 per cent. There were some misconceptions, like contraceptives cause cancer and 75 per cent indicated weight gain as a side-effect of contraceptives. The level of knowledge of the emergency contraceptive was high, 90 per cent, but the awareness that it is free of charge at the campus clinic was low, 30 per cent. The level of awareness of the services was good, 72 per cent, and the most common first source of information was the school, 65 per cent. Sixteen per cent of participants indicated that religion was a factor for non-utilisation of contraceptives. Conclusion A lack of knowledge and awareness on some contraceptives methods was found. Thus educational programmes to increase student’s knowledge on all contraceptive methods, including addressing possible side-effects, and its use, are urgently needed to increase the use of contraceptives and assisting in reducing the rate of unplanned pregnancies. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Nursing Science / MSc / Unrestricted

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In recent years much attention has been given to the application of computer technology to psychometric methods, but researchers have concentrated on adapting traditional methods of psychological testing to the new technology instead of utilizing it to develop innovative methods of assessment. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a computerized assessment battery designed to evaluate cognitive functioning and attention could demonstrate reliability and validity. The Computerized Cognitive Assessment Battery (CCAB) was developed according to the PASS Model of Cognitive Functioning and administered via a Macintosh computer and test results included response style variables (mouse movement and response time). Children having attention problems (N = 25) in grades three through five were compared to a random group of children (N = 29). On the newly developed CCAB, the majority of the sectional variables displayed significant intercorrelations (p {dollar}<{dollar}.01) indicating internal consistency of this measure. The reliability of the Sequential component of the CCPT was found to be.90 for Scale 1 and.83 for Scale 2. No relationship was found between the covert measures on the CCAB and Conners' parent and teacher rating scales. Evidence indicated that the covert measures are related to the Planning Factor. The attention measure of the CCPT was able to discriminate between the two groups as well as the Gordon Diagnostic System. The total CCAB was able to predict group membership with one hundred percent accuracy using the classification results of the discriminant function analysis. Consistent with the prediction of the PASS model, the Attention component (CCPT) was the only area in which the scores of the two groups differed. The present study demonstrated the feasibility and practicality of a fully-computerized cognitive assessment battery to aid in the assessment process. The results of this research indicate that the potential exists to evaluate cognitive functioning by a computer-based assessment system. Not only could such a test provide an index of intellectual ability based on a well researched and extensively used IQ test (Raven), it could also yield a great deal of information related to meta-cognitive skills, self-regulatory behavior, processing styles and compensatory mechanisms.

This thesis presents the design and validation of a wireless interface for a vulvar quantitative sensory testing device (v-QueST). The wireless interface works in tandem with an Android application which allows a patient to indicate when their pressure pain threshold has been reached via an on-screen button. Using the fully assembled prototype, the sampling frequency and response time of the wireless interface was validated. The results indicated that the sampling frequency was sufficient to meet the desired specifications, and the time delay between the tap of the on-screen button and the reading of the force measurement was negligible. However, inspection of the force time-series acquired from the v-QueST device through Bluetooth transmission revealed systematic error. Implementation of a new signal conditioner is recommended before using the v-QueST device for research or clinical applications to objectively measure vulvar pain sensitivity.

Research on prostitution has flourished over the last few decades with a new emphasis on the online sex market. To study the online market, researchers have utilized qualitative methods to investigate escort review websites. Coding for violent rhetoric and perceived intimacy are two conventional techniques that have been utilized using qualitative methods. Other areas investigated include the overall characteristics of sex buyers, price variation, and socialization of buyers. What has lacked in current literature has been the use of quantitative methods to study what factors influence the presence of positive reviews. To expand on limited existing literature utilizing quantitative methods, the current study used data from an escort review website titled Punternet.com for the years 2015 through 2017. Punternet is a public website where sex buyers (punters in the UK) can review sex workers and discuss aspects of sex buying culture in community forums. Factors that influence the presence of positive reviews were investigated including various sexual acts (oral, anal, vaginal, manual, group sex), session variables (length, cost, location, climax, condom usage, and intimacy), and a factor related to the type of sex worker (escort). Symbolic interactionism theory was used to explain the presence of intimacy within the reviews. The results from a binary logistic regression indicate that a variety of different factors are significant in regard to influencing the presence of positive reviews. For example, the odds that positive reviews occurred were increased when intimacy, or perceived intimacy, occurred throughout the sessions and whether at least one climax occurred. Future research in this area should continue to use quantitative methods to investigate what factors influence intimacy within the sessions, due to the high significance finding in the present research.

<p> Quantitation by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been frequently done with integrals. The use of peak heights has been thought to be unreliable. The aim of this thesis is to examine the reliability of peak height method in achieving quantitative NMR measurements for small molecules such as water and sucrose.</p> <p> Isotope measurements have been traditionally done by isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. This is no doubt a highly sensitive technique for analyzing pure samples but the analysis of mixtures is not as straight-forward as it would be for the former. Ontario Hydro has encountered problems in measuring deuterium in DMSO/water mixtures. To solve the problem with NMR, an analytical method has been established to measure the deuterium content in waters and in DMSO/water mixtures. This involved testing a linear model for analyzing waters which were enriched or depleted with deuterium as well as applying the model to quantify DMSO/water mixtures. Both 1H and 2H NMR were employed. Satisfactory accuracy and precision of the results were obtained.</p> <p> For quantitative 13C work, the peak height method is often not recommended due to the variations in signal width, which is a result of varied T2 values and nuclear Overhauser enhancement (NOE). Sucrose molecules in cane sugar and beet sugar have different 13C isotopic ratios because they are synthesized by different photosynthetic pathways. To see the usefulness and limitation of the peak height method, 13C spectra of sucrose were acquired and the carbon peaks were quantified. Good precision was achieved but no predictable trend in the isotope difference could be found.</p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This thesis has been partially OCRed. Please contact for further accessibility requests. / Several methods have been proposed and tested for calculating lower bounds on the objective function of facilities problems. These methods contribute to the efficiency of iterative solution methods by allowing the user to terminate the computation process when the objective function comes within a predetermined fraction of the optimal solution. Two of the existing bounding methods have been presented only for single facility location models with Euclidean (straight-line) distances. One of these methods uses the dual of the single facility location model to compute a lower bound. This thesis introduces a method for generating a feasible dual solution from any primal solution by means of a projection matrix. The projection matrix method is applied to single and multi-facility models. The second bounding method, which involves the solution of a rectilinear distance model to obtain a lower bound, is extended in this thesis to include a generalized, distance function and the multi-facility situation. Computation results for the two new bounding methods are compared with several existing bounding methods. These results should aid practitioners in selecting an appropriate bounding method for an iterative solution method to a facilities location problem. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

As quantitative validation measures have become available, so has the controversy regarding the construction of such measures. The complexity of the physical processes involved is compounded by uncertainties introduced due to model inputs, experimental errors, and modeling assumptions just to name a few. Also, how these uncertainties are treated is of major importance. In this dissertation, the issues associated with several state of the art quantitative validation metrics are discussed in detail. Basic Verification and Validation (V&V) framework is introduced outlining areas where some agreement has been reached in the engineering community. In addition, carefully constructed examples are used to shed light on differences among the state of the art validation metrics. The results show that the univariate validation metric fails to account for correlation structure due to common systematic error sources in the comparison error results. Also, the confidence interval metric is an inadequate measure of the noise level of the validation exercise. Therefore, the multivariate validation metric should be utilized whenever possible. In addition, end-to-end examples of the V&V effort are provided using the multivariate and univariate validation metrics. Methodology is introduced using Monte Carlo analysis to construct the covariance matrix used in the multivariate validation metric when non-linear sensitivities exist. Also, the examples show how multiple iterations of the validation exercise can lead to a successful validation effort. Finally, modular uncertainty techniques are introduced for the uncertainty analysis of large systems where many data reduction equations or models are used to examine multiple outputs of interest. In addition, the modular uncertainty methodology was shown to be an equivalent method to the traditional propagation of errors approach with a drastic reduction in computational effort. The modular uncertainty technique also has the advantage in that insight is given into the relationship between the uncertainties of the quantities of interest being examined. An extension of the modular uncertainty methodology to cover full scale V&V exercises is also introduced.