In this thesis, the author examines the last 131 days of the 2016 election cycle. This analysis focuses on how sentiment is present on Twitter when people engage in political communication on social media. With the increasing online political discussions created on social media such as Twitter, an analysis of sentiment is critical. The data could be obtainable for candidates to estimate the electorate’s opinion of each candidate. A shift of sentiment offers a deeper insight into tracking changing attitudes toward candidates. Because Twitter only allows each tweet to be 140 characters there is a simplicity that offers statements to be concise. Trends for each candidate throughout the final days of the election cycle are correlated with national polls to assess if there is a relationship present. This study applies sentiment to recognize trends that may estimate a candidate’s chance of winning the election and offers indications as to how the intended electorate may vote when a relationship is established between sentiment and national polls.

Highways play a vivacious role in a country's economic growth, by facilitating movement of both goods and people from one place to another. Over a short period of time, innovation in automobile and information technology has seen an unprecedented growth and this exploratory research highlights the impact of advent of innovative technologies like Autonomous and Connected Vehicles, Internet of Things applications and Big Data analytics on highway operators, as reflected in the opinions of organizations around the world (highway operators, toll agencies, suppliers, consultants and associations). The opinions were collected on a Likert scale type online survey, which was later tested for its empirical significance with non-parametric Binomial and Wilcoxon signed rank tests, supported by descriptive analysis. The research results clearly indicate that these technologies and products are not far from realization and while on one hand they would facilitate highway operations on the other hand they may pose some serious challenges for operators.

Biological invasions by new species can potentially cause widespread changes in the ecological structure of a reef community including competition with indigenous species. Although their native ranges occur in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans, the red lionfish (Pterois volitans) and the devil firefish (Pterois miles) currently comprise an invasive lionfish species complex ranging from the Greater Caribbean seasonally to Maine. We focused on dietary description of Pterois sp. in Broward County, Florida due to limited information on the current invasion in the southeastern Florida reef system. Stomach contents were collected from individuals collected within a 6 km area off the coast. Dietary preference was determined using percent number, percent occurrence and percent weight, as well as the composite index of relative abundance. A shift in depth preference of lionfish was also recorded. Seasonal variance was studied and a shift in prey preference was discovered throughout the four quarterly sampling periods. A high percent teleost diet was documented during the third quarter (July-September) and a high crustacean diet in the fourth quarter (October-December). There was a 38% change in the amount of teleost prey present between the sampling events. We observed an ontogenetic shift from a mainly crustacean diet to one consisting of mainly teleost fishes: the smallest size group (5-10 cm) had a 100% crustacean diet, whereas the largest size group (35-40 cm) had a 77% teleost and 23% crustacean diet. This trend was also found to be independent of depth. This change in trophic preference in relation to size was the first documentation of this trend in Broward County, Florida.

Understanding how climatic variation affects animal populations and communities is essential for addressing threats posed by climate change, especially in systems where impacts are projected to be high. We evaluated abundance dynamics of five common species of diurnal lizards over 25 years in a Sonoran Desert transition zone where precipitation decreased and temperature increased across time, and assessed hypotheses for the influence of climatic flux on spatiotemporal variation in abundances. We repeatedly surveyed lizards in spring and summer of each year at up to 32 sites, and used hierarchical mixture models to estimate detection probabilities, abundances, and population growth rates. Among terrestrial species, abundances of a short-lived, winter-spring breeder increased markedly by an estimated 2375285% across time, while two larger spring-summer breeders with higher thermal preferences declined by up to 64%. Abundances of two arboreal species that occupy shaded and thus sheltered microhabitats fluctuated but did not decline systematically. Abundances of all species increased with precipitation at short lag times (151.5 yrs) likely due to enhanced food availability, but often declined after periods of high precipitation at longer lag times (254 yrs) likely due to predation and other biotic pressures. Although rising maximum daily temperatures (Tmax) are expected to drive global declines of lizards, associations with Tmax were variable and weak for most species. Instead, abundances of all species declined with rising daily minimum temperatures, suggesting degradation of cool refugia imposed widespread metabolic or other costs. Our results suggest climate warming and drying are having major impacts on lizard communities by driving declines of species with traits that augment exposure to abiotic extremes and by modifying species interactions. The complexity of patterns we report indicate that evaluating and responding to the influence of climate change on biodiversity must consider a broad array of ecological processes.

LONG-TERM CHANGES IN CLOUDINESS AND SUNSHINE DURATION IN EUROPE Abstract The aim of this paper is to study long-term changes of two climatological parameters known as sunshine duration (SD) and cloudiness (CC) using several stations data located in Europe in the period 1965 - 2016. This paper is devided into two main parts. First part is paying attention to the literary research, which firstly introduce the chosen climatical variables (SD and CC) and then introduce the issue of the already known long term changes of this variables. Second part of this work is based on practical research. This paper uses a statistical linear regression to find out the seasonal and annual trends in sunshine duration and cloudiness. Data series were obtained from database ECA&D in total from 48 european climatic stations. Klíčová slova: cloud cover, sunshine duration, climate change, trends, Europe

Syftet med studien var att undersöka vad som motiverar olika åldersgrupper till att utföra gymträning. De valda åldersgrupperna var 16–21, 22–26 och 27–35. För att besvara syftet använde sig studien av två frågeställningar som handlade om hur deltagarna motiveras av samhällets kroppsideal och aktuella hälsotrender. Metoden som användes för undersökningen var en webbenkät med totalt 20 frågor varav 4 var öppna frågor. I undersökningen deltog totalt 56 personer med en jämn fördelning mellan alla grupper. Resultatet från denna studie visade att samtliga åldersgrupper blev motiverade till att gymträna för att de tycker att det är roligt och för att förbättra sin fysik. Åldersgruppen 16–21 var den grupp som var minst nöjda med sina kroppar och påverkades mest negativt av sociala medier även om alla åldersgrupper påverkades. Sociala medier visade sig även vara den största kanalen för hälsotrendernas spridning. Förslag på Vidare forskning är att se i hur stor utsträckning individers träning och hälsa påverkas av media och sociala medier. Ett annat förslag på vidare forskning skulle även kunna vara att undersöka om individers motiv till träning påverkas av hur länge individen varit fysisk aktiv.

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / Aim: The aim of this study was to report on the frequency of and radiographic features of non-odontogenic malignancies of the jaws as seen on panoramic images, stored in the radiological achieves over an eleven year period.

Masters of Science / The present study is an understanding of the relationship that exists between landholding and the reproductive behaviour of rural women in Kenya. Traditional women have rights to cultivate land as well as control income from the resulting crop production but rarely have rights to allocate or alienate land. Men are the rightful owners of the land. When the rightful owner person passes away, the eldest son of the family automatically takes ownership of the land and subsequent care of the family. This period of land ownership supported high fertility rates. However, in current spaces this practice has changed. Land is scarce and people are opting for other alternatives of limiting their family sizes. The aim of the study is to address the dissimilar changes of fertility behaviour among women in rural Kenya. Particularly, landholdings and low fertility behaviour, focusing on how this change happened. Data used is from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2008/2009. We acquire a representative sample size of 6761 women age 15-49 from the data. A multiplicity of statistical parameters like chi-square test, p-value, logistic regression, and multivariate analysis are adopted. In this regard, the relationship that exists between fertility and landholdings leads to large family sizes. In addition, land decrease has lead to the search of alternatives such as education, employment, and increase in age at marriage. The introduction of these factors has promoted smaller family sizes. This study is immensely useful for the policy makers, planners and other interested stakeholders in population and development spheres in this juncture.

Magister Public Health - MPH / Background: The factors that underlie teenage pregnancies are complex and multifactorial. The prevailing perception is that teenage pregnancies are increasing in South Africa. However, the empirical extent and trends in teenage births in the Western Cape Province are not well understood. A systematic analysis of routine health information for the data element.Delivery in facility to women under 18 years for the period 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2012 is presented in order to contribute to documenting and understanding how this problem manifests in the Western Cape Province.Objectives:The objectives of the study were to describe the trends in the number of deliveries for women under the age of 18 years in the Western Cape Province for the period 1 April 2000 until 31 March 2012, and to compare the trends within and between districts. A secondary aim was to explore the quality and usefulness of Routine Health Information in the Western Cape Province focusing on the dataset for deliveries for women under the age of 18 years.Methods:The data for the Province extracted from the Sinjani system (the data repository for health information management in the Western Cape Department of Health) was subjected to a trend analysis at the Provincial, District and Sub-District level. The absolute numbers of all deliveries, and deliveries for women under the age of 18 years as well as proportions of deliveries for women under the age of 18 years were compared across districts, years and seasons. Results were discussed with senior managers in the Department of Health as compared to performance indicators presented in workshop settings to triangulate and help interpret findings.Findings The key finding is that both the absolute number of deliveries for women under the age of 18 years and the deliveries for women under the age of 18 years relative to all deliveries have declined steadily since 2007, while 8 absolute numbers of deliveries in 2012 were only slightly higher than in 2000-2001, despite an increase of 19.4% in the total population of the Province between 2002 and 2011. Despite the decline in the number of deliveries for women under the age of 18 years, the number of deliveries remains high. Seasonal increases in numbers of deliveries coincide with school holidays in most districts. The data analysis also revealed challenges with the quality of the data, and that it is not possible to determine the age distribution of deliveries across women under 18 years from the provincial data set. Routinely collected data do not permit analysis or comparison of births at the ward level where significant socio-economic variations are likely to influence fertility.Conclusions and Recommendations:The data did not support widespread perceptions of rapidly increasing teen births. The declining birth rates and relatively stable proportion of under 18 births relative to all births suggest that adding new indicators throughout the entire routine information system is not justified on public health or economic grounds. However, more detailed and disaggregated evidence is needed to inform locally tailored interventions and could be obtained from alternate sources of information such as point prevalence surveys, annual surveys, or data collection at sentinel sites. While teenage birth rates are not increasing, they remain high. It is recommended that additional service delivery models be explored to ensure that sexual reproductive health services are strengthened and delivered in a manner that would be acceptable to young people. Further, it is recommended that programmatic interventions that target the sexual reproductive health choices made by young people be scaled up in partnership with intersectoral partners and communities in order to mitigate against seasonal increases in the number of deliveries for women under 18 years of age.

Records of the La Rochelle S.A. Mutton Merino stud were analysed to determine the importance of possible contributing non-genetic sources of variation on growth and reproductive traits. Growth traits analysed were pre-weaning weight (42dW), weaning weight (100dW), 205d weight, ADG's and Kleiber Ratio's (KR) for both 42d and 100d. All the included effects, i.e. year, sex, birth status, season, age of dam and the year x sire interaction, were highly significant (P<0.001) for the growth traits. Reproduction traits measured were mean number of lambs born per ewe per year, mean Kg lamb weaned per ewe per year, percentage twins and fecundity. Year was the only significant effect (P<0.001) for all four reproduction traits. Data of records between 1974 and 1995 were used to estimate additive direct and additive maternal heritabilities for seven growth traits. The estimates of the direct heritabilities varied between 0.166 for 42dW and 0.513 for 205dW. The estimates of the maternal heritabilities were within the 0.042 (42dW) to 0.370 (100dADG) range. Estimates of the covariance between the direct additive and maternal additive components were generally negative and of a substantial size (-0.215 to -0.674). Additive direct and additive maternal heritabilities for four reproductive traits were also estimated. The estimates for direct additive heritabilities varied between 0.039 for fecundity and 0.177 for Kg lamb weaned per ewe per year. Estimates for the maternal additive heritabilities were correspondingly low, varying from 0.007 for lambs born per ewe per year to 0.197 for percentage twins. Estimates of covariance between the additive direct and additive maternal components were negative. Genetic trends of the flock were studied. The main objective of the breeder was to improve the reproductive efficiency of the flock, whilst decreasing the incidence of very large lambs. Selection pressure on reproductive performance hasn't yet attained the desired effect as three of the four reproductive traits measured, showed very little or no improvement. Lambs do however have lower body weights, while the 100dADG and 100dKR have improved. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted