Abstract This thesis discusses the age and sex distribution of previously hospitalised asthmatics and the number of new asthma-induced treatment periods as a proportion of all asthma-related hospital admissions. Seasonal fluctuations in treatment periods were analysed with respect to age, and seasonal fluctuations in mortality among previously hospitalised asthmatics by combining the hospital discharge register with the mortality statistics on the basis of the patients social security numbers. A total of 364,871 asthma-induced treatment periods were reported to the hospital discharge register in 1972-1992, of which 192,195 occurred in 1.1.1983-31.12.1992, and 28.6% of these were new cases. Treatment periods relative to population amounted to 2.76/1000 in 1972 and 3.43/1000 in 1992. The number of treatment periods among children was greatest at the age of 1 year, 11.2/1000 for boys and 5.5/1000 for girls, and lowest at 17 years among the boys, and 13 years among the girls. The numbers rose slowly in early adulthood (with the exception of men aged 18-22 years), reaching a new peak at 73 years of age for men, 10.3/1000, and 75 years for women, 9.5/1000, and decreasing gradually thereafter. A half of the treatment periods recorded for patients aged under 1 year or for men aged 20 years represented new cases, whereas otherwise the vast majority of the treatment periods were being readmissions. The seasonal peaks among the total of 59,624 hospital periods involving persons aged under 15 years reported to the discharge register in 1972-1992 occurred in May and October, and the lowest figures in January and July. Conscripts aged 18-22 years experienced 4894 asthma-induced treatment periods in 1982-1992, representing incidence rates of 8.5/1000 in 1982 and 27.7/1000 in 1992. The figure was highest in the month in which the conscripts entered service and the month following that. A total of 81,243 asthma-induced treatment periods were recorded for persons aged over 24 years in 1987-1992, the figures being highest in January-May, 18.2% above the monthly trend in January, and lowest in July, 26.1% below the monthly trend. 7622 of the asthmatics first admitted in 1977-1992 died at an age of over 24 years in 1987-1993, mortality being highest in December and January and lowest in August. Obstructive pulmonary diseases were the primary cause of death for 1283 persons, including 489 who died of asthma itself. Apart from children and men aged 18-22 years, asthma gives rise to a large number of treatment periods among the middle-aged and the elderly. Measures should be taken to diagnose it at an early stage in these groups and to intensify the treatment provided. In addition, the factors provoking asthma during military service should be minimised and preventive measures enhanced in the case of children in May and September. As far as adults are concerned, asthma-related hospitalisation may involve a greater fatality risk in winter, so that aggravations occurring in winter should be treated with particular care.

Zhang, Jiayu. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-147). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.iiii / Table of Contents --- p.viii / List of Abbreviations --- p.ix / List of Figures --- p.x / List of Tables --- p.x / Chapter Chapter I: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1. 1 --- What happened to China´ةs SRB? --- p.1 / Chapter 1. 2 --- Women´ةs Human Rights as important Human Rights --- p.3 / Chapter 1. 3 --- SRB and Women´ةs Rights --- p.6 / Chapter 1. 4 --- Research Purpose and Methods --- p.7 / Chapter 1. 5 --- Research Outline --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter II. --- The Particular Features in China´ةs SRB --- p.20 / Chapter 2. 1 --- The Regional Features in SRB --- p.20 / Chapter 2. 2 --- The Ethnic Features in SRB --- p.23 / Chapter 2. 3 --- The Features by Birth Order --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter III. --- The Causes of Imbalanced SRB --- p.26 / Chapter 3. 1 --- The Proximal Causes --- p.26 / Chapter 3. 2 --- The Fundamental Cause --- p.31 / What Encourage son preference in China? --- p.32 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Cultural and Historical Factors --- p.33 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Economic Factors --- p.38 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Law and policy as a Structural Factor --- p.40 / Political Silence --- p.42 / Economic Subordination --- p.43 / Sexual Subordination --- p.48 / Birth Control --- p.50 / Chapter Chapter IV. --- The Consequences of Imbalanced SRB from a Human Rights Perspective --- p.58 / Human Rights Violation against Women in the SRB Issues --- p.59 / Chapter 4.1 --- Rights Violations Which Cause the Distorted SRB --- p.59 / Chapter 4.2 --- Rights Violations for Which the Abnormal SRB is a Cause --- p.66 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- Trafficking in Women --- p.70 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Sexual Crimes --- p.72 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Women´ةs Civil and Political Rights --- p.73 / Chapter Chapter V. --- Women´ةs Human Rights Mechanism and Domestic Measures Adopted to Control Abnormal SRB --- p.76 / Chapter 5.1 --- The International Human Rights Fundamental for Protecting Women's Human Rights --- p.77 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- International Human Rights Treaties --- p.77 / Charter of the United Nations --- p.77 / The ICCPR and the ICESCR --- p.79 / CEDAW --- p.80 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Monitoring Treaty Bodies and Monitoring Mechanism --- p.85 / Chapter 5.2 --- Domestic Laws and Policies Adopted by Chinese Government to Control the Abnormal SRB --- p.88 / What are the Chinese Government´ةs Responses to SRB issue? --- p.89 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Laws and Policies that Aim to Control Prenatal Sex Selection and Infanticide --- p.90 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Measures that Aim to Dilute Son Preference --- p.96 / Political Participation --- p.98 / Economic Situation --- p.100 / Provide Some Resolution to Women's Sexual Subordination --- p.107 / Extra-Legal Measures Government Used to Change Son Preference Culture --- p.109 / Chapter 5. 3 --- Implications and Suggestions --- p.113 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Forbidding Prenatal Sex Selection Can not Pull up the Roots --- p.115 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Gender-Equal Laws are Still Problematic --- p.115 / States Parties´ة Responsibilities and Legal Remedies --- p.116 / Equal Treatment vs. Special Protection --- p.118 / Other Problems in Domestic Law --- p.123 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Extra-legal Actions Failed to Touch Patriarchal Culture --- p.124 / Chapter 5.3.4 --- Loose the Birth Control Policy --- p.127 / Chapter Chapter VI. --- Conclusion --- p.130 / Bibliography --- p.136 / List of Abbreviations / SRB: Sex Ratio at Birth / NPFPCC : National Population and Family Planning Commission of China / PFPCC: Population and Family Planning Commission of China / NPC: National People´ةs Congress / TAR: Tibet Autonomous Region / UDHR: Universal Declaration of Human Rights / ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights / "ICESCR: International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" / CEDAW: The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women / List of Figures / "Figure 1-1: Sex Ratio at Birth in China, 1982-2005" / Figure 2-1: Overall SRB Tendency and Regional Differences in Chin / "Figure 2-2: SRB by Province in 1982, 1990, 2000, 2005" / "Figure 2-3: SRB by Birth Order, 1982-2005" / "Figure 3-1: SRB by Birth Order: South Korea, 1980-2001" / "Figure 3-2: SRB by Birth Order: China, 1982-2000" / List of Tables / Table 3-1: Investigation to parents' gender expectation to first birth child / "Table 4-1: Surplus Males, Aged 15-34, China" / "Table 5-1: Female Participation in Political Decision-making, 1995-2000" / "Table 5-2: Number of Female Student by Level of Regular School, 1998-2001"

Yi, Junjian. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-98). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- The Effect of the One-Child Policy on the Sex Ratios Imbalance in China --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.2 / Chapter 1.2 --- Background --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- The One-Child Policy in China --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- The Increase of the Sex Ratio in China --- p.13 / Chapter 1.3 --- Empirical Strategy and Data Description --- p.16 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Empirical Strategy --- p.16 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Data Description --- p.21 / Chapter 1.4 --- Empirical Results --- p.25 / Chapter 1.4.1 --- Basic Results --- p.25 / Chapter 1.4.2 --- The Effect of the One-Child Policy by Registration Type --- p.29 / Chapter 1.4.3 --- The Effect of the One-Child Policy by Birth Order --- p.32 / Chapter 1.5 --- Sensitivity Analysis --- p.36 / Chapter 1.5.1 --- The Dynamic Pattern of the DD estimates by Birth Year --- p.37 / Chapter 1.5.2 --- The Geographic Pattern of the DD Estimates by Provinces and Autonomous Regions --- p.41 / Chapter 1.6 --- Conclusion --- p.43 / Chapter 2 --- The Effect of Sex Ratios Imbalance on Criminal Behavior --- p.45 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.46 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Mechanism by which High Sex Ratios Increase Crime Rates --- p.53 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Demographic Composition Effect --- p.54 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Marriage Threshold Effect --- p.58 / Chapter 2.3 --- Empirical Strategy and Data Description --- p.64 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Empirical strategy --- p.64 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Data Description --- p.67 / Chapter 2.4 --- Empirical Results --- p.72 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Fixed Effects Estimation --- p.72 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Fixed Effects Instrumental Variables Estimation --- p.75 / Chapter 2.5 --- Robust Tests --- p.82 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Measurement Error of Sex Ratios --- p.82 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Measurement Error of Crime Rates --- p.84 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Omitted Variables --- p.85 / Chapter 2.6 --- Conclusion --- p.86

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Kathline M. Erndl, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Religion. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 16, 2004). Includes bibliographical references.

At the end of the 10th century the first Swedish town Sigtuna was founded, which can be recognized as the beginning of urbanization in the Mälaren valley. Christianity was growing strong and the administrative power was probably concentrated to a few magnates gathered around a king. Though, Sigtuna played an important religious and political role, the time of prosperity was short and at the end of the 13th-early 14th century the importance of the town declined. The ambition with the present thesis has been to investigate the demography of the human skeletal material excavated in Sigtuna during the period 1983-1999. The skeletons from 528 individuals from six cemeteries dated to the end of 10th century to the early 16th century have been analysed. The material was subdivided into three chronological development phases synonymous with the establishment, the peak of prosperity and the decline of the town. Well-recognized anthropological techniques were applied together with a health index and chemical tests such as stable isotopes and trace elements. The main aims were to investigate: 1) differences in the material between contemporary inhabitants in Sigtuna, 2) differences in the material between the different chronological phases, 3) differences between the osteological results achieved from Sigtuna and results from other skeletal materials and 4) if the results can be connected to the indications of urbanization. The results showed that: - Some differences between contemporary cemeteries are discernable. Variations in stable isotopes suggest dietary differences between the women at different cemeteries. Furthermore, differences in age- and sex distribution, and mean stature are discernable between some of the contemporary samples and even within a cemetery. The discrepancies may be related to prevailing social structures in Sigtuna. - A decline in health through time is demonstrated. The negative trend is particularly marked for women. In addition demographic changes suggest an increased migration of adults to Sigtuna. The health deterioration may be connected to e.g. increased population density and an increased risk of infections. - In comparison with other materials the anthropological results, including the health index, suggests that the inhabitants in Sigtuna showed an urban pattern and that the quality of life, at least in the initial phase, was relatively good. - The sex distribution shows a generally male dominance possibly caused by selective excavations except at the oldest site without an adherent church. The uneven sex distribution may, alternatively, be a result of the urban character of Sigtuna i.e. a Christian and political administrative centre. The osteological results are in line with the archaeological and historical data. It is suggested that the consequences of urbanization such as immigration, deterioration of health and social ranking, implied by several osteological parameters and the chemical analysis, acted differently through the gender lines. / <p>Revised 2014.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-342).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Feb. 12, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-43).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Feb. 13, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Sept. 15, 2009). Includes bibliographical references.

O objetivo geral do estudo foi descrever o percurso da aquisição dos encontros consonantais, fonemas e estruturas silábicas em crianças de 2:1 a 3:0 anos de idade. Foram sujeitos da pesquisa 88 crianças divididas de acordo com a idade e o sexo: GI composto de dois grupos de crianças de 2:1 a 2:6 anos de idade, GI F 23 meninas e GI M 18 meninos e, GII composto de dois grupos de 2:7 a 3:0 anos de idade, GII F 24 meninas e GII M - 24 meninos. Todas as crianças freqüentavam creches conveniadas à Prefeitura do Município de São Paulo e não apresentavam queixa de problema de linguagem, mais de três ocorrências de otite média e não eram bilíngües. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de três provas de fonologia: nomeação, imitação e fala espontânea. Todas as provas foram registradas em vídeo e audio. Os resultados mostraram que não havia diferença entre as posições de sílabas para encontros consonantais, mas em relação aos fonemas e estruturas silábicas foi encontrada diferença estatística em algumas situações. A comparação entre meninos e meninas da mesma faixa etária não mostrou diferença; assim, foram criados dois grupos: GI (2:1 a 2:6 anos) e GII (2:7 a 3:0 anos). Os resultados mostraram que com o aumento da idade, houve melhora no desempenho de acertos totais em encontros consonantais, fonemas e estruturas silábicas em algumas posições de sílabas. Tal fato também foi observado ao analisar cada um dos encontros consonantais, fonemas e estruturas silábicas. As diferenças foram encontradas para: /f/, /k/, /d/, /b/, /m/, /z/, /s/, /f/, //, //, /n/, /l/, //, /X/, arquifonema /S/ e /R/, estrutura CV em trissílabos, CCV em dissílabos e CVC em dissílabos e trissílabos em determinadas posições de sílabas e provas. Alguns alvos foram mais omitidos, como o fonema /X/ e arquifonemas /S/ e /R/. Os demais tiveram mais substituições. Já as fricativas /s/ e /z/, as plosivas linguodentais e as líquidas também apresentaram distorções acústicas e articulatórias. A estrutura silábica CCV apresentou com maior freqüência a omissão da segunda líquida, a CV omissão de fonema e de sílaba e a CVC, omissão do arquifonema. Não houve diferença entre o /s/ em onset e coda de sílaba, com exceção do GII na sílaba final da imitação. Porém, as crianças apresentaram melhor desempenho do // em onset que em coda. Quanto ao critério de aquisição, os encontros consonantais, fonemas e estruturas silábicas foram classificados como: não adquirido, em aquisição, produção habitual e adquirido. Até os 3:0 anos os fonemas /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /n/, //, /l/, /g/, /X/ e arquifonema /S/ estão adquiridos em pelo menos uma posição de sílaba. A estrutura CV também está adquirida nesta faixa etária. A comparação entre as provas indicou que as crianças não mostraram desempenho diferente nas provas quanto aos encontros consonantais e estruturas CCV. Nas demais análises, os fonemas e estruturas silábicas apresentaram, em muitos momentos, diferenças entre as provas ao se verificar as posições das sílabas. / The general purpose of this study was to describe the course of acquisition of consonantal clusters, phonemes and syllabic structure in children from 2:1 to 3:0 years old. The subjects of the research were 88 children divided according to age and gender: GI was composed of two groups of children from 2:1 to 2:6 years old, GIF: 23 girls and GI-M: 18 boys and, GII composed of 2 groups from 2:7 to 3:0 years old, GII-F: 24 girls and GII-M: 24 boys. All children attended public day care centers linked to the São Paulo town hall and they did not have any language problems, more than three otitis media episodes, nor they were bilingual. Data collection was done through three phonology tests: picture naming, imitation and spontaneous speech. All the tests were recorded with a camera and a tape recorder. Results showed no differences between syllables in relation to consonantal clusters, although some differences were found regarding phonemes and syllabic structures. The comparison between girls and boys of the same age range did not show differences, thus, two groups were formed: GI (2:1 to 2:6 years) e GII (2:7 to 3:0 years). The results indicated that with the age growth, there was a better performance related to the correct production of consonantal clusters, phonemes and syllabic structures, in some syllables. This was also detected when analyzing each consonantal cluster, phoneme and syllabic structure separately. Differences were found for: /f/, /k/, /d/, /b/, /m/, /z/, /s/, /f/, //, //, /n/, /l/, //, /X/, archiphonemes /S/ and /R/, CV structure in trisyllabic words, CCV structure in dissylabic words and CVC structure in trisyllabic and dissylabic words, in some syllables and tests. Some targets were more omitted like the /X/ phoneme and the archiphonemes /S/ and /R/; the others were more substituted. The fricatives /s/ and /z/, the dental plosives and the liquids also showed acoustical and articulatory distortions. The CCV syllable presented more omission of the liquid, the CV syllable more phoneme omission and the CVC syllable more omission of the archiphoneme. There was no difference between the /s/ in the onset and coda position of the syllable, with the exception of the final syllable of the imitation test in the GII. However, children presented a better performance of the /R/ in the onset than in the coda of the syllable. The consonantal clusters, phonemes and syllabic structures were classified as the following criteria of acquisition: not acquired, in acquisition, customary production and acquired. Until the age of 3:0, the phonemes /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /f/, /m/, /n/, //, /l/, /g/, /X/ and the archiphoneme /S/ were acquired in at least one syllable within the word. Also, the CV syllable was already acquired at that time. Comparison between tests indicated that children did not show different performance related to consonantal clusters and CCV syllable between them. On the other hand, phonemes and other syllabic structures showed differences within the tests according to some syllables of the word.