In this study the stressors of Grade 1 learners in their learning environment were explored and described. Data was collected through interviews with 32 Grade 1 learners, observation, field notes, as well as member checking with the Grade 1 learners in the end. The data analysis process included familiarisation and immersion, coding, interpretation and checking, as well as elaboration. Positive and negative stressors were seperated as stressors that Grade 1 learners experience in their learning environment. The positive stressors were the educator’s disposition, the learners’ need to learn and to get educated, as well as the importance of friends on the playground. The negative stressors that emerged were a fear for physical pain on the playground, teasing and conflict among the Grade 1 learners, noise and chaos in the classroom, as well as a fear for the older children in the school. Even though the findings from this study cannot be generalised to other groups it can contribute towards a deeper understanding of factors that may cause stress for Grade 1 learners. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Educational Psychology / MEd / unrestricted

Background: Stress is a common problem for nurses around the world. In Uganda, the enormous pressure on the healthcare in the country makes it no different. Aim: To describe stressors in nurses’ working-environment in one hospital, one clinic and one refugee-camp in central and western Uganda. Methods: A qualitative observational study with observations from three different health facilities. The data was analyzed using content analysis by Graneheim and Lundman. Results: The results showed that factors like lack of equipment, improper handling of needles, exposure to contagion, environmental factors and information were all contributing to stress. Discussions: The result was discussed from two themes: Lack of safety and Knowledge related to lack of equipment. The first theme described the environmental hazards the nurses were exposed to in their proffession. The second described the relationship between knowledge, lack of equipment and stress.

No description available.

No description available.

Background: As a result of heightened occupational stress throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,nurses in hospitals are experiencing high rates of depression, anxiety, and burnout. However,nurses in obstetrical departments have had unique challenges and have experienced specificsources of stress that remain unclear.Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty obstetrical nurses that workedat an Ontario tertiary care centre during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants shared theirexperiences of working during the pandemic, focusing on job stressors, personal resources, anddesires for job resources. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded usingNVivo. Data was analyzed using a theoretical thematic approach based on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model.Results: Key job stressors identified included having an increased workload, fear of COVID-19transmission, providing proper patient care, and overwhelming physical demands. Moreover,participants expressed they felt undervalued, inadequately supported, and burned-out during thepandemic. The most common personal resources used to cope with additional stress were relyingon family members, friends, and colleagues for support, in addition to utilizing personal hobbiesto decompress. Lastly, participants were able to provide suggestions on how to improve jobresources, focusing on improving mental and physical support, communication, and retention.Conclusion: This study provides an in-depth understanding of the COVID-19 workingconditions of Ontarian obstetrical nurses, while highlighting that they were provided withinadequate levels of job resources to manage increased job demands. Findings from this studycan help inform hospital management on how they can better support and meet the needs ofthose working in maternal care during major disease outbreaks. À la demande de l'auteur, le résumé a été retiré en raison de la nature confidentielle de la thèse. Il sera ajouté une fois la période d'embargo terminée.

No description available.

In July of 1993 an underground coal mine owned and operated by Southern Ohio coal company (SOCCO) underwent emergency recovery operations due to flash flooding of the mine from an adjacent abandoned mine. During mine dewatering operations, approximately 132,650 liters per minute of acid mine water was released into the Parker Run tributary draining into Leading Creek. The 24.2-km section of Leading Creek was heavily impacted eradicating most aquatic organisms. An acutely toxic impact resulted from the discharge of high conductivity (~6000µmhos), low pH (2.5-3.1 pH units), high metal concentrations (iron and iron floc, manganese, copper, nickel, zinc and aluminum, mg/L) and high total suspended solids (TSS). Through the process of a Consent Decree, a proactive plan was developed for monitoring the recovery in Leading Creek and to develop an enhancement plan for the watershed. SOCCO set aside $1.9 million that has grown to $2.5 million to cover the costs of implementing specific enhancement measures in the watershed. The primary goal of the enhancement plan was to describe actions that could reasonably be taken to affect measurable ecological rehabilitation or enhancement of the Leading Creek stream system so it attains the highest Ohio EPA aquatic life use designation possible. The objectives of this research project were to identify specific ecosystem stressors affecting the habitat quality within the watershed preventing Leading Creek from attaining either the Warmwater Habitat (WWH) or the Excellent Warmwater Habitat (EWH) designation and to provide potential remediation techniques to address the identified stressors. Although natural processes have lead to partial recovery in Leading Creek from the impact of dewatering, reconnaissance has shown significant problems relating to toxicity and habitat degradation in the watershed. Seventeen tributaries and ten mainstem stations were chosen to receive monthly monitoring as point source discharges, including biological, chemical, toxicological, and hydrological sampling. Specific ecotoxicological parameters studied included water and sediment quality, algal colonization upon artificial substrates, benthic macroinvertebrate sampling (qualitatively and quantitatively), acute water column toxicity, sediment chronic toxicity and </i>in situ</i> clam toxicity. Evaluation of habitat impairment included habitat assessments, in-stream riparian surveys and land use analysis. Through the analysis of laboratory and field data, agriculture and Abandoned Mined Land (AML) were identified as the two main stressors in the watershed. Agricultural practices contributed chronic toxicity through habitat degradation identified from benthic macroinvertebrate data and sediment depth measurements. AML impacted several tributaries and the Leading Creek mainstem by degrading water quality through the introduction of acidic waters, high in conductivity and heavy metals. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) from the AML areas was pinpointed through acute testing with <i>Ceriodaphnia dubia</i> and </i>in situ</i> testing with the Asian clam, </i>Corbicula fluminea</i>. Active mining effluents from the Meigs #2 and Meigs #31 mines influenced the Ogden Run and Parker Run tributaries with conductivity values ranging from 2000 to 6000 μmhos/cm, respectively. The influence of the active mine effluents was observed down the mainstem from LCS6 to LCS10 in the form of high conductivity (~1200 μmhos/cm) and increased pH values (~8.0). Development of the enhancement plan began with the ranking of the ten mainstem stations and 17 tributary stations based on prioritization of impact parameters using an Ecotoxicological Rating (ETR) developed specifically for the Leading Creek watershed. The ETR included biological, toxicological, chemical and physical data to integrate a complete description of the impacts affecting the Leading Creek watershed. The 23 parameters in the ETR for the mainstem stations were; sediment depth, acidic pH, quantitative Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) scores, conductivity, clam <i>in situ</i> survival and growth, </i>Daphnia magna</i> and <i>Chironomus tentans</i> sediment toxicity, stormwater acute toxicity, qualitative invertebrate richness and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) abundance, percent AML area, concentrations of sodium, copper, zinc, iron, manganese, chloride, nitrate/nitrite, ammonia, TSS, plus Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) habitat scores. For the mainstem stations, low flow in the summer was substituted for quantitative ICI scores. The ETR provided a single numerical score of 200 points that allowed comparisons to be made between sites within Leading Creek and tributaries within the watershed. Stressors identified within the watershed and used in the ranking of sites included agricultural sedimentation, sedimentation from AML, poor water quality from AMD and multiple toxic inputs such as acute stormwater runoff. Remediation techniques and costs were described to address poor agricultural practices and designed to alleviate sedimentation within the mainstem. Remediation techniques for AMD were described but due to the enormous amount of AML within the Leading Creek watershed, costs and specific projects were deemed beyond the scope of this research project. / Ph. D.

Recent evidence showing graduate students to be at an elevated risk of developing mental health problems has attracted the attention of both researchers and non-researchers (Evans, Bira, Gastelum, Weiss, and Vanderford, 2018; Flatherty, 2018). This increased risk could be attributed to the stressors graduate students routinely experience. However, few studies have examined the negative effects of work stressors among graduate students and ways to protect graduate students from the negative impact of stressors. This research explored the association between work stressors and the mental health of graduate students, while considering the potential protective role of physical activity. Also studied was the potential predictors of physical activity, such as social support for physical activity. Graduate students completed three surveys over a semester. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to analyze within- and between-person variation. Increased levels of work stressors were associated with increased levels of mental health problems. Physical activity was not associated with improved mental health at both levels of analysis. However, higher levels of physical activity protected graduate students from the negative effects of role conflict and role ambiguity, but not work overload. Social support for physical activity and a mindset that stress is enhancing were both associated with increased physical activity. This is one of the first studies to not only consider the negative effects of work stressors on graduate students' mental health, but also the protective benefits of physical activity. / Doctor of Philosophy / Graduate school is a stressful time for many individuals. Graduate students are expected to do well in their classes while juggling other responsibilities, such as teaching, conducting research and/or working full-time to pay for school and living expenses. Although not everyone would consider graduate students to be full-time employees, it is not uncommon for graduate students to have long workdays and weekends that include completing work. Even if a graduate student does not clock into work every day, most are probably working more than the typical hourly employee. Not surprisingly, research has shown that graduate students are at increased risk of developing mental health problems when compared to the general population (Evans, Bira, Gastelum, Weiss, and Vanderford, 2018). These findings have even caught the attention of the national media, with some calling the mental health problem a crisis (Flatherty, 2018). Work stressors (i.e., parts of a person's job that lead to feelings of distress) may influence graduate students' mental health. However, few studies have examined the negative effects of work stressors among graduate students and factors that could protect graduate students from these negative effects. This study assessed the benefits of physical activity among graduate students, given the plethora of studies showing the positive benefits of physical activity. It is possible physical activity can reduce the negative effects of the work stressors experienced by graduate students, such as being overworked with teaching responsibilities or having to conduct multiple research studies at the same time. This study explored factors that might influence graduate students to be more physically active, such as social support for physical activity. Graduate students completed three surveys over a semester. Increased levels of work stressors were associated with increased levels of mental health problems. Graduate students who exercised more were "protected" from the negative effects of work stressors. In other words, even if graduate students were exposed to high levels of work stressors, they did not experience elevated mental health problems if they regularly exercised. Additionally, being around friends who promoted physical activity and having a mindset that stress is not bad but rather enhancing helped graduate students engage in more physical activity. Overall, the findings indicated that graduate students experience increased mental health problems due to negative work stressors, but by exercising they could reduce the negative effect of these work stressors.

Agriculture, urbanization, and human activities, if not managed carefully, can expose a water body to environmental degradation, decreased water quality, and ultimately impaired benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions. In streams where the benthic macroinvertebrates are impaired, the stream itself will not be meeting the water quality standards set forth in the Clean Water Act. As a result, the goal of this study was to establish relationships between benthic macroinvertebrates and their stressors so that stressor levels that would not adversely impact the benthic macroinvertebrates could be determined. Stressors such as sediment, habitat, water quality, landuse, watershed characteristics, and livestock numbers impact the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions. Since sediment is recognized as the Nation's leading pollutant and since the benthic macroinvertebrates live in the sediment on a stream bottom, this study placed emphasis upon the investigation of sediment as a primary stressor to the benthic macroinvertebrates. The specific objectives of this study were to develop relationships between the benthic macroinvertebrates and sediment and other stressors for Virginia streams, to evaluate the accuracy of the stressor/benthos relationships, and to discuss the implications of the study results for development of benthic TMDLs. A procedure to determine the relationships between stressors and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions was developed. Existing data on sediment, habitat, water quality, landuse, watershed characteristics, livestock numbers, and benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions were compiled for 34 stations with 105 samples collected from the fall of 1996 to the fall of 1998. The 34 stations were located within 13 counties in Virginia (Rockbridge, Rockingham, Augusta, Frederick, Shenandoah, Page, Loudoun, Fairfax, Prince William, Fauquier, Culpeper, Rappahannock, and Madison) and in watersheds dominated by agricultural, urban, and forested landuses. Virginia currently uses the Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP) method in its Biological Assessment Program. The RBP compares habitat and biological measures of the benthic macroinvertebrates to reference conditions using individual metrics. VADEQ's Biomonitoring Database, together with Ambient Water Quality Monitoring reports, GIS data layers, and VADCR's Hydrologic Unit Animal Census Database provided all of the necessary information for the stressor variables and benthic macroinvertebrate conditions. Accordingly, the stressor/benthos relationships were evaluated using statistical analyses procedures such as forward, backward, and stepwise multiple regression techniques; correlation analysis; principal component analysis; and r-square analysis. The statistical results indicated that sediment alone cannot be used to assess the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions. Other stressors such as dissolved oxygen, flow, % urban land, total suspended solids, temperature, stream velocity, substrate, hardness and alkalinity greatly impact the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions. The study results also indicate that the individual metrics within the RBP procedure are just as critical as the final RBP values in describing the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions. Upon completing the steps needed to develop stressor/benthos relationships, the validity of the relationships were verified for their application to other streams in Virginia. Validation was completed using 10 stations with 29 samples from the fall of 1996 to the fall of 1998. The 10 stations were located within 8 counties in Virginia (Bedford, Montgomery, Pulaski, Giles, Botetourt, Albemarle, Orange, and Culpeper) and in watersheds dominated by agricultural, urban, and forested landuses to correspond with the stations used to develop the stressor/benthos relationships. The implications of the relationships with regard to TMDLs were also studied using total suspended solids (TSS) loadings, turbidity levels, and embeddedness levels as the stressors of concern. The results for all benthic stations within Virginia showed that moderately impaired streams generally need to reduce the amount of embeddedness by 11, reduce turbidity levels by 5 FTU (57%), and reduce TSS values by 7 mg/L (68%) to meet a threshold value that would no longer adversely impact the benthic macroinvertebrates. Similarly, for the severely impaired stations throughout Virginia to meet threshold values, embeddedness amounts need to be reduced by 22, turbidity reduced by 57 FTU (93%), and TSS reduced by 74 mg/L (96%). This study was important since the proposed stressor/benthos relationships can provide policymakers with a useful tool to determine stressor thresholds that will not adversely impact the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblage conditions for use in developing benthic TMDLs in Virginia. The stressor/benthos relationships could also be used to determine the impact of certain activities or stressors on the benthic macroinvertebrates assemblage conditions in a given stream. / Master of Science

Background: The prevalence of immunological disorders such as type 1 diabetes (T1D) is increasingly common amongst children, adolescents and young adults. There is also an increase in psychosomatic symptoms (depression, insomnia, anxiety, headaches and fatigue etc.) as well as a decrease in physical activity amongst young people, affecting the well-being and overall health of our younger population. It is therefore important to study the effects of psychological and physical stressors on the immune system, to evaluate their impact on juvenile health. Aim: This thesis explores the impact of psychological and physical stressors on the cellular immune system with special focus on diabetes-related immunity in a young population, using an interdisciplinary approach. Method: When exploring the impact of psychological and physical stressors such as psychological stress due to exposure to psychological stressful experiences or degree of physical activity/training on the cellular immune system in children, adolescents and young women, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were stimulated with antigens (tetanus toxoid (TT) and β-lactoglobulin (βLG)) as well as diabetes-related autoantigens (insulin, heat shock protein 60 (HSP60), tyrosine phosphatase-2 (IA-2) and glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD65)) and secreted cytokines and chemokines were measured by multiplex fluorochrome technique (Luminex). Populations of Thelper (Th) cells (CD4+), T-cytotoxic (Tc) cells (CD8+), B cells (CD19+), Natural Killer (NK) cells (CD56+CD16+) as well as regulatory T (Treg) cells (CD4+CD25+FoxP3+CD127-), and their expression of CD39 and CD45RA were studied by flow cytometry. Diabetes-related parameters (glucose, C-peptide,proinsulin, pancreatic polypeptide and peptide YY) were measured to studyβ-cell activity and appetite regulation and cortisol was used as a biological marker for psychological and physical stress. Results: Children in families exposed to psychological stress showed an imbalanced cellular immune response as well as an increased immune response towards diabetes-related autoantigens. Also, previous exposure to psychological stress as well as current exposure to psychological stress in young women showed an increased immune response towards diabetes-related autoantigens. Further, previous exposure to psychological stress in young women showed increased numbers of circulating CD56+CD16+ NK cells as wellas decreased numbers of circulating CD4+CD25+FoxP3+CD127- Treg cells. High physical activity in children showed decreased spontaneous immune response as well as a decreased immune response towards diabetes-related autoantigens, while low physical activity in children showed an increased immune response towards diabetes-related autoantigens. Further, endurance training in adolescents, especially in adolescent males and young adolescents, showed an increased immune response towards the diabetes-related autoantigen IA-2. Conclusion: It is evident that psychological and physical stressors such as exposure to psychological stress and degree of physical activity/training impact the cellular immune system. Experiences associated with psychological stress seem to have a negative effect on the cellular immune system in a young population, causing an imbalance in the immune system that could possibly induce diabetes-related immunity. High physical activity in children seems to have a protective effect against diabetes-related immunity. In contrast, low physical activity in children and endurance training in adolescents seems to induce diabetes-related immunity. It is very likely that psychological stressful experiences, low physical activity and intense training such as endurance training all play important roles in the immunological process leading to the development of type 1 diabetes.