PUBLIC POLICY EDUCATION FOR WETLANDS ISSUES

Environmental Economics and Policy,

Modelling the demographic impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the likely impact of interventions

This paper describes an approach to incorporating the impact of HIV/AIDS and the effects of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes into a cohort component projection model of the South African population. The modelled HIV-positive population is divided into clinical and treatment stages, and it is demonstrated that the age profile and morbidity profile of the HIV-positive population is changing significantly over time. HIV/AIDS is projected to have a substantial demographic impact in South Africa. Prevention programmes - social marketing, voluntary counselling and testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission and improved treatment for sexually transmitted diseases - are unlikely to reduce AIDS mortality significantly in the short term. However, more immediate reductions in mortality can be achieved when antiretroviral treatment is introduced.antiretroviral treatment, demographic impact, HIV/AIDS prevention, simulation model, South Africa

Domestic Violence and Empire: Legacies of Conquest in Mexican American Writing

This dissertation posits that writers can symbolically represent domestic violence to critique unjust gender relations as well as iniquitous US policy toward Mexican Americans. I use the term domestic violence because it most closely describes the double voiced discourse women engage to critique communities that condone violence against women as well as a country that perpetrates violence against Mexican Americans within its borders. Put broadly, domestic violence refers to threats of sexual, emotional, or psychological abuse within the home. Furthermore, patriarchal control over womens agency, sexuality, and mobility in turn-of-the-century texts also indicates domestic violence through social and historical conditions. Violence is especially evident throughout this project as women\u27s rights challenge patriarchal structures and civil rights challenge racist policies. Revealing the perilous gains of women and Mexican Americans, social backlash encourages explosions of domestic violence. For this reason, each chapter explores the historical and social contexts surrounding scenes of domestic violence. Mexican American women remain tenuously between the spaces of home and nation as they experience domestic violence from state and familial institutions. Because these women are not safe within their homes, they have to participate in a broader societal push to define, describe, and defend themselves against domestic violence. Their resistance comes with a price—women, especially women of color, who resist patriarchal violence may be seen as cultural traitors, exposing their men to criticism from dominant society. The first chapter shows how women\u27s speech both uncovers and masks narratives of domestic violence through allegory using the testimonios taken for the Bancroft project on California history. The second chapter examines how the historical romance genre incorporates scenes of domestic violence against women\u27s protected space in the home and nation. The third chapter reveals how representations of domestic violence within Mexico reflect colonial anxieties about conquest and domestic policy. American travel writers\u27 encounters with domestic violence in Mexico reflect the anxieties surrounding American entitlement to Mexico and the bodies of the people living there. The fourth chapter observes limitations on women\u27s ability to leave violent situations within the home or the nation. This chapter utilizes scenes by Mexican American men, as they write about (and blame women for) domestic violence. The fifth chapter celebrates women writers\u27 activism through literary motherwork. Though these texts, with the exception of the last chapter, precede the Chicano Movement, they are politically engaged in a struggle to define and defend la raza through their intellectual agendas.\u2

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The Effect of Hot Fill and Hold Processing on the Performance of Multilayer Packaging Films

Heat transfer in thermal processing is crucial to ensure all parts of a product are sufficiently treated to achieve commercial sterility without unacceptable loss of quality. Optimizing pasteurization methods is recommended to preserve quality attributes such as color, texture, and flavor while maintaining food safety integrity. This research evaluated the temperature variability in pouches during a hot fill and hold process and the effect of those identified differences on color quality of a tomato based food simulant. The performance of multilayer films for pasteurized products in accelerated storage conditions were also studied. The research project was separated into two phases. The objective of the first phase was to understand the profiles of heating and cooling in pouches processed in a simulated hot fill and hold process. The corners of the pouch were found to be the fastest cooling spot within the pouch (p\u3c0.05). The center of the pouch was found to have the highest mean temperature during the hold step of the process and had the slowest cooling rate in the pouch (p\u3c0.05). The trends of heating and cooling were also evaluated using a low viscosity food simulant. This study compared the time and temperature profiles for a static hot fill process versus a process that incorporated rotating the pouch 180° every 10 seconds. For the static hot fill and hold process, mean temperatures of the center and corners of a pouch showed non-uniform heat transfer during the holding period and cooling process. More uniform heating and cooling within pouches was achieved by implementing 180° rotation during processing

Traces: Modeling the teaching consultant in a problem-solving domain

A model of a teaching consultant is presented. The teaching consultant, an extension of the concept of a computer coach, is concerned with filling gaps in a student\u27s knowledge base relative to a specific application. The student model used by the consultant is stored in the form of a prerequisite network, which maintains nodes of information that are connected so that prerequisite information may be readily accessed. The Teaching Consultant Model is being used as the basis for an intelligent tutoring system serving as a programming consultant for novice programmers

The interaction between HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in South Africa: a model-based evaluation

Includes bibliographical references.Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been shown to increase the probability of HIV transmission, but there remains much uncertainty regarding the role of STI treatment in HIV prevention. This thesis aims to develop a mathematical model to estimate the prevalence of STIs in South Africa, the contribution of STIs to the spread of HIV, and the effects of changes in sexual behaviour and changes in STI treatment. A deterministic model is developed to simulate the transmission of HIV and six other STIs (syphilis, genital herpes, chancroid, gonorrhoea, chlamydial infection and trichomoniasis), as well as the incidence of bacterial vaginosis and vaginal candidiasis in women. The model is fitted to national HIV prevalence survey data, STI prevalence data from sentinel surveys and data from sexual behaviour surveys, using Bayesian techniques. Model results suggest that South Africa has some of the highest STI prevalence levels in the world, but that certain STIs – notably syphilis, chancroid, gonorrhoea and trichomoniasis – have declined in prevalence since the mid-1990s, following the introduction of syndromic management programmes and increases in condom use. STIs account for more than half of new HIV infections, and genital herpes is the most significant STI promoting the transmission of HIV. Syndromic management programmes reduced HIV incidence in South Africa by 3-10% over the decade following their introduction (1994-2004). Further reductions in HIV incidence could be achieved by promoting patient-initiated treatment of genital herpes, by addressing rising levels of drug resistance in gonococcal isolates, and by encouraging prompt health seeking for STIs. Concurrent partnerships are a major factor driving HIV transmission, accounting for 74-87% of new HIV infections over the 1990-2000 period. Halving unprotected sex in non-spousal relationships would reduce HIV incidence over the 2010 -2020 period by 32-43%. This thesis contributes to the understanding of HIV/AIDS epidemiology in South Africa by quantifying the contribution of various behavioural and biological factors to HIV transmission. This thesis also high lights several opportunities for reducing the future incidence of HIV. In addition, this thesis advances the assessment of uncertainty in STI models by proposing a Bayesian approach to incorporating sexual behaviour data and STI prevalence data into the parameter estimation proces

CREATING THE ENTREPRENEURIAL MINDSET IN POST-MILLENIAL STUDENTS USING INTERACTIVE TECHNIQUES TO SUPPLEMENT PRACTICAL METHODS

A discussion of the benefits of a curriculum that prepares business students for successful transition to entrepreneurial activities using technology-based interactive learning techniques

Levelling the Playing Field: A Genre Analysis of Online Search Language and Behaviour in UK Higher Education

This study examines the impact of non-native language speakers on their academic search queries, strategies and performance. Screen recordings and retrospective think aloud interviews were conducted with both native and non-native speakers. Based on a combined application of genre analysis and mapping of the participants’ query formulations and interactions, this research derives 4 distinct strands to an established model of the information search process. Key differences in the searches are highlighted and the use of search genre for accommodating all university students are discussed

A Phylogenetic Classification of Polemoniaceae

Three hundred seventy nine species of Polemoniaceae are arranged in a phylogenetic classification composed of three subfamilies, eight tribes, and 26 genera. Nomenclature of one tribe is clarified and the circumscription of several tribes differs greatly from previous classifications. Five new genera, Bryantiella, Dayia, Lathrocasis, Microgilia, and Saltugilia, are proposed. In addition, four new species are described from the genera Allophyllum, Dayia, Giliastrum, and lpomopsis. This treatment represents a major reclassification with 59 new combinations, and the application of several additional combinations not used in recent years