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The majority of Swedish boys and girls have good psychosomatic health. Despite that the risk of mental health problems such as nervousness, feeling low and sleeping difficulties has increased steadily in recent decades. Moreover, previous surveys on health and well-being indicate that boys and girls of foreign extraction in Sweden are at increased risk of ill health compared to boys and girls of Swedish background.   The main aim of this thesis was to analyse health and social determinants among boys and girls of foreign extraction in Sweden. The factors explored in papers I–IV include parental background, family affluence and gender and their associations with subjective health complaints, psychosomatic problems or health risk behaviours. Other included risk factors for ill health were involvement in bullying, low participation and discrimination at school. This thesis takes an intersectional perspective, with ambitions to be able to emphasize the interplay between different power relations (i.e. gender, social class and parental background).   Two sets of cross-sectional data were used. Three papers were based on the Swedish part of the World Health Organization’s Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. The sample consisted of 11,972 children (boys n = 6054; girls n = 5918) in grades five, seven and nine from the measurement years 1997/98, 2001/02 and 2005/06. The response rate varied between 85 and 90%. About one fifth of the included children were of foreign extraction. For the fourth paper regional data from Northern Sweden were used. Boys (n = 729) and girls (n = 798) in grades six to nine answered a questionnaire in 2011 and the response rate was 80%. About 14% of the included children were of foreign extraction. Statistical methods used were chi-square test, correlation analyses, logistic regression analyses, cluster analyses and test of mediating factor.   The results showed that girls of foreign background were at increased risk of subjective health complaints (SHC) and boys of mixed background were at increased risk of psychosomatic problems (PSP). Increased risk of allocation to the cluster profile of multiple risk behaviour was shown in boys and girls of mixed background, in girls of foreign background and in girls of low family affluence. Increased risk of allocation to the cluster profile of inadequate tooth brushing was shown in boys and girls of foreign background and in girls of low family affluence. General risk factors for increased risk of ill health for boys and girls in Sweden were: any form of bullying involvement, low family affluence, low participation and discrimination at school, of which the latter also was a mediating factor for ill health. Living with a single parent was a risk factor for ill health among girls.   The results can function as a basis for developing health promotion programmes at schools that focus on social consequences of foreign extraction, family affluence, participation as well as health risk behaviours and gender. / Majoriteten av flickorna och pojkarna i Sverige har en god psykosomatisk hälsa. Trots det har risken för psykiska hälsosymptom såsom nervositet, att känna sig nere och sömnsvårigheter ökat successivt de senaste årtiondena. Dessutom indikerar tidigare forskning angående hälsa och välmående att flickor och pojkar med utländsk härkomst har ökad risk för ohälsa jämfört med flickor och pojkar med svensk härkomst.   Denna avhandlings huvudsyfte var att analysera hälsa och sociala bestämningsfaktorer bland flickor och pojkar i Sverige, med fokus på föräldrabakgrund. Artiklarnas (I–IV) syften inkluderar föräldrahärkomst, familjens materiella tillgångar och genus samt dess samband med subjektiva hälsobesvär, psykosomatiska problem eller hälsoriskbeteenden. Andra riskfaktorer för ohälsa som inkluderades var inblandning i mobbning, lågt deltagande och förekomst av diskriminering på skolan. Denna avhandling beaktar ett intersektionellt perspektiv med ambitionen att kunna tydliggöra samspelet mellan olika maktordningar (dvs. genus, social klass och föräldrabakgrund).   Två dataset från tvärsnittsstudier har använts. I de tre första artiklarna användes World Health Organization – Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children, som i Sverige heter Svenska skolbarns hälsovanor. Studiepopulationen bestod av 11 972 barn (flickor n = 5918; pojkar n = 6054) i årskurserna fem, sju och nio undersöknings år 1997/98, 2001/02 och 2005/06. Svarsfrekvensen var mellan 85 och 90 %. Ungefär en femtedel av barnen som deltog hade utländsk härkomst. I den fjärde artikeln användes regional data från norra Sverige. Flickor (n = 798) och pojkar (n = 729) i årskurserna sex till nio deltog i studien år 2011, svarsfrekvensen var 80 %. Omkring 14 % av barnen hade utländsk härkomst. De statistiska metoder som användes var sambandstest (chi-två), test av linjära samband så kallade korrelationsanalyser, logistisk regressionsanalys, klusteranalys och test av medierande faktor.   Resultaten visade att flickor med utländsk bakgrund hade ökad risk för subjektiva hälsobesvär (SHC) och pojkar av mixbakgrund hade ökad risk för psykosomatiska problem (PSP). Ökad risk för att hamna i klusterprofilen multipelt hälsoriskbeteende hade flickor och pojkar med mixbakgrund, flickor med utländsk bakgrund samt flickor i familjer med låg nivå av materiella tillgångar. Ökad risk för att hamna i klusterprofilen bristande tandborstning hade flickor och pojkar med utländsk bakgrund och flickor i familjer med låg nivå av materiella tillgångar. Generella riskfaktorer för ohälsa bland flickor och pojkar i Sverige var: alla former av inblandning i mobbning, låg nivå av materiella tillgångar i familjen, lågt deltagande och förekomst av diskriminering på skolan, vilken den senare även var en medierande faktor för ohälsa. Att leva med en ensamstående förälder var en riskfaktor för ohälsa bland flickor.   Avhandlingens resultat kan ligga till grund för utformande av hälsofrämjande interventioner inom elevhälsan, till exempel interventioner som fokuserar på sociala konsekvenser av utländsk härkomst, familjens materiella tillgångar, deltagande och diskriminering samt hälsoriskbeteenden och genus.

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In South Africa, communal and/or emerging farmers’ rangeland condition and grazing capacities deteriorate, because grazing capacity is usually over-estimated due to lack of knowledge on veld and livestock production system by the farmers. Woody plants has encroached in the arid and semi-arid savannas and grasslands biomes many parts of world, including in southern Africa. This causes challenges to farm owners due to its negative effects on the herbaceous plant material, which offers a substantial part of forage for livestock production. Although the consequences of deteriorating rangeland condition on livestock production is understood, there is limited research on the impact of land ownership on rangeland condition. Furthermore, knowledge on how farmers manages their livestock and rangelands. The objectives were to document the knowledge of emerging livestock farmers on livestock-rangeland management practices, and to determine the effects of land ownership and practices on rangeland condition. Firstly, we hypothesize that, emerging livestock farmers unknowingly manages livestock in isolation from their rangelands, and secondly, rangeland in private owned lands are relatively in good conditions compared to communal and leased lands. Fifty (50) emerging livestock farmers (i.e. ruminants) in different vegetation types and district municipalities of the Gauteng province were selected using a snowball procedure. To investigate the knowledge of emerging farmers on livestock - rangeland management practices, the farmers were asked questions about their 1) demographic information, 2) livestock management practices and 3) rangeland management practices. To test the differences in farmers’ demographic profiles, Chi-square statistics was employed. To determine the effects of land ownership on rangeland condition of the selected farms, rangeland condition among three land ownership types was compared using ANOVA, and the relations between veld condition score (%) and herbaceous biomass production (kg DM/ha) was tested using Pearson’s correlation analysis The results revealed that, the emerging livestock farmer are dominated by males (68 %) compared to female (32%). Majority (66%) of the farmers are old aged (> 50 years) compared to middle aged (30% (31 – 50 years)) and young (< 30 years) farmers (4%). Farmers who did not receive any agricultural training were higher (74%) than farmers who had prior training (26%). Sixty-three percent of the farmers had knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their livestock, with only 27% having no knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their animals. Eighty-three percent of the farmers keep mixed livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) species and 17% only keep cattle. The mean cattle herd sizes were significantly lower 8.2 ± 7.16 compared to goats and sheep (15.5 ±11.2). Feed shortage was the major constrain to livestock production (46%) compared to diseases (26%), marketing (14%), stock theft (8%) and other (6%) constrains. Sixty-three percent of the farmers had knowledge and understanding of breeding and calving seasons of their livestock, with only 27% having no knowledge and understanding. Eighty-three percent of the farmers keep mixed livestock (cattle, sheep and goats) species and 17% only keep cattle. All of the farmers indicated that they did not conduct rangeland condition assessment (mainly due to lack of knowledge). All farmers did not have fodder conservation plan for their farms and highlighted that during dry season, forage is scarce for their animals. Majority (58%) of the farmers relay on government-drought relief programme compared to those who were supplementing (20%), selling their animals (14%) and those with no drought coping strategy (8%). v Vegetation was assessed using nearest plant technique. In total, 28 grass species were identified during field survey, of which n=23, n=4 and n=2 were perennials, annuals and short-lived perennial, respectively. The most commonly observed and very palatable grass species, Digitaria eriantha had the highest frequency on private lands (n=92 and the lowest on communal lands (n=51). There were no significance difference in grass species richness and basal cover among land ownership types (P > 0.05). There were significant differences in veld condition score, large stock units, grazing capacity and herbaceous biomass production among land ownership types (P < 0.05). Private lands had a significantly higher veld condition score (69.63%) than leased (56.07%) and communal lands (52.55%). The herbaceous biomass production was positively correlated to the veld condition score (r = 0.159; P<0.005). The outcomes of this study show that emerging livestock farmers in Gauteng province have little understanding of rangeland-livestock management practices. The current results further indicated that poor grazing practices such as overgrazing might be common on leased and communal lands due to farmers’ lack of knowledge on rangeland management practices. This may lead to rangeland degradation thus negatively affecting livestock production and the livelihood of farmers who rely on farming as a source of income. / Agriculture, Animal Health and Human Ecology / M. Sc. (Agriculture)

Eine große Herausforderung für Verkehrsmodelle stellt die korrekte Abbildung der Entscheidungsmuster bei der Zielwahl dar. Diese bestimmt die räumlichen Strukturen der Nachfrage und steht in engem Zusammenhang mit zentralen Ergebnissen der Nachfragemodellierung. Rund ein Drittel der Alltagswege in Deutschland sind Einkaufs- und Erledigungwege. Zahlreiche Arbeiten zeigen die Bedeutung von habitualisierten Verhaltensmustern bei der Wahl eines Einkaufsortes. Die Motive der Geschäftswahl gelten als sehr vielfältig. Besondere Bedeutung wird zudem den Primäraktivitätenorten zugeschrieben. Gleichwohl erfolgt die Abbildung der Zielwahl in der Nachfragemodellierung zumeist sehr vereinfachend. Gewöhnlich wird von einem Versorgungseinkauf mit der Geschäftsgröße und der Anreisezeit ausgegangen. Diese Arbeit zeigt anhand empirischer Auswertungen Möglichkeiten einer verhaltensorientierten Abbildung der Einkaufszielwahl in mikroskopischen Personenverkehrsmodellen auf. Im Fokus stehen die Variabilität der Geschäftswahl, die ausschlaggebenden Motive sowie die räumlichen Bezugspunkte der Suche. Am Beispiel des Erwerbs von Nahrungs- und Genussmitteln, von Textilien sowie von Unterhaltungselektronik werden Unterschiede zwischen Einkaufswaren verschiedener Fristigkeit, aber auch zwischen verschiedenen Personengruppen herausgearbeitet. Simulationsrechnungen mit dem Nachfragemodell TAPAS zeigen, dass eine Differenzierung der Einkaufsart sowie die Nutzung eines motivgestützen Erreichbarkeitsmaßes die Modellierungsergebnisse stark verbessern. Die Arbeit stellt erweiterte Indikatoren für eine Berücksichtigung der räumlichen Bezugspunkte bei der Beurteilung der Modellierungsergebnisse bereit. Auch stehen mit den Analysen der Aktivitätenräume, der Umwegfaktoren, der Lage der Einkaufsorte sowie der kumulierten Reiseweiten Informationen zur Verfügung, die generell für die Definition adäquater Suchräume und Bezugspunkte für die Modellierung städtischer Untersuchungsgebiete genutzt werden können. / A major challenge in travel demand modelling is the correct representation of decision patterns underlying the choice of destinations. This choice determines the spatial structures of demand and is closely related to central modelling results. Around one third of everyday trips in Germany are for shopping and errands. Numerous studies show the importance of habitualised behavioral patterns when choosing a shopping location. The motives for choosing a shop are considered to be very diverse. Particular importance is attributed to primary activity locations. Nevertheless, the representation of the target choice in demand modelling is usually very simplified. Usually, a supply purchase is implicitly assumed, with the size of the shop and travel time from the previous location being the most important choice criteria. Using empirical analyses, this dissertation shows possibilities for a behavior-oriented depiction of shopping location choice in microscopic passenger transport models. These are discussed in terms of their usability for modeling. The analyses focus on the variability of destinations, the decisive motives and the spatial reference points of the location search. Using the example of the purchase of food and beverages, textiles and consumer electronics, differences between shopping goods of different periodicity and also different groups of people are presented. Simulation calculations with the demand model TAPAS show that a differentiation of the type of purchase and the use of a motive-based accessibility measure greatly improves the modelling results. The dissertation provides extended indicators for a consideration of spatial reference points in the evaluation of the modelling results. Furthermore, the analyses of activity areas, diversion factors, the location of shopping locations and cumulative travel distances provide information that can be generally used to define adequate search areas and reference points for the modelling of urban study areas.Einkaufsverhalten