Long-Term Consequences of Abstinence Education

Non-predictive but significant associations between the strength of the abstinence message and marital status, poverty, fertility, and educational attainment were indicated. Students receiving a strong abstinence message are slightly more likely to divorce, less like to be married or never married, have reduced educational attainment and lower incomes. They are, also less likely to participate in government aid programs and work more weeks. Although findings were significant, the model explained only a small portion of variance, indicating 1) the need for more robust models of abstinence education and 2) the ineffectual nature of both abstinence and comprehensive sexuality education in light of other social influences. The need for research incorporating a wider array of social forces is discussed as is the social adoption of a vocabulary of rationalization in which educational programs that serve to perpetuate value sets are framed as means to address social problems.Department of Sociolog

The design of a ritual precinct for the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) in the Swartkops Nature Reserve, Gqeberha:

Man and nature have become disconnected over the years, as man relies more on the advances of the technical age and less on connections to the natural world. Through this disconnect, nature is bearing the consequences and is in a state of decay. As part of the cosmos, the natural envi-ronment is inherently imbued with sacredness; this sacred nature often manifesting itself within the very structure of the earth. Importance is then placed on how we po-sition ourselves and our holy places within their natural environment in order to set a precedent for the rest of our built environments. This treatise positions itself within ecology and the sacred. It focuses on the particulars of sacredscapes and pilgrimages within a context of Afri-can landscapes and African religions. This encompasses both the built and unbuilt elements of sacred architecture as well as sacredscapes through the reflection of cosmic rhythms, manifest order and harmony in order to create a holistic living organism aware of both the “real” and the sacred. Through its roots in holistic design, is sacredscapes align very closely to that of the ecological paradigm and the creation of integrated ecosystems. Sacred place often realised through the continuation of ritual practice. These rituals are a crucial part of African religions and most often find themselves in or associated with their natural environment. Thus, this is where the focus of the treatise lies - in the ritual cleansing ceremonies of the Zion Christian Church carried out in the Swartkops River. Ritual precincts and the creation of sacredscapes as a tool to reintegrate nature into the sacred will be explored. The intervention presents itself as an emergent ecosystemic architecture creating a sacred space, at the water’s edge, imbued with the Afro-Christian narrative of the Zion Christian Church.Thesis (MArch)-- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology, School of Architecture, 202

Corporate asset restructuring through mergers and acquisitions and divestitures

This thesis examines three separate topics related to corporate asset restructurings involving mergers and acquisitions and divestitures. Chapter 2 studies whether the explosive rise of boutique investment banks is justified by their M&A buyside success. Using the U.S. domestic deals during the period 2000 to 2016, short- and long-term event study analyses are performed to estimate shareholder wealth effects on boutique-led M&As. The results show that acquiring firms represented by boutique advisors generate significantly higher abnormal returns than those advised by full-service banks in difficult-to-value transactions with greater information asymmetry. These deals include private target deals, cross-industry acquisitions, and deals involving inexperienced bidders in the target sector. In these deals, boutique advisors reduce information asymmetry on the target firm and accrue more value creation to acquirers than do full-service banks using their distinctive knowledge and expertise in the target industry. This study provides important implications for conventional wisdom on the role of financial advisors in M&As. Chapter 3 investigates various motives of bank divestiture that are previously undocumented based on the neoclassical theory and the resource-based view. Contrasting to previous findings, I find that bank divestitures are not motivated by regulatory capital requirement but are driven by mergers and bank-specific characteristics such as operating inefficiency, size, performance, and financial constraints. I also study how banks choose between focusing and diversifying strategies using both mergers and divestitures in the perspective of organizational search and select. These two strategies are sequentially implemented depending on banks’ performance and productivity. Banks use focusing strategy when they experience increasing performance and loan growth while diversifying strategy is pursued when they face financial distress and operating inefficiency. These findings have an important implication on short-term equity valuation: diversifying strategy induces negative announcement returns due to this endogenous selection by banks with declining productivity while firms with focusing strategy receive premium valuation due to their ex-ante outperformance. However, in the long-run, the abnormal effects dissipate and banks with both strategies perform comparably to their benchmarks. These findings provide considerable insights as to the role of bank divestiture in dynamic asset restructuring and subsequent performance. Chapter 4 examines the role of divestiture as a turnaround strategy for a sample of U.S. firms faced with financial distress during the 2008 global financial crisis. Despite a widespread belief that divestments in an illiquid market destroy firm value with potential fire sale discounts, the evidence shows that divestiture has a positive impact on resolution of financial distress and long-term performance recovery. Over the 3-year period subsequent to divestiture, firms significantly improve their long-term operating performance compared to their non-divesting benchmarks. This outperformance appears to be attributed to financing benefits linked to an asset liquidation that can be used to relax financial constraints and subsidize continued investment in the remaining divisions. On the contrary, retrenchment strategies focusing on short-term cash flows and cost-cutting tactics through operational and financial restructurings exacerbate financial distress and trigger performance decline. This research sheds light on the long-term implications of corporate turnaround strategies employed by distressed firms in periods of economic downturn

The design of a ritual precinct for the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) in the Swartkops Nature Reserve, Gqeberha:

Man and nature have become disconnected over the years, as man relies more on the advances of the technical age and less on connections to the natural world. Through this disconnect, nature is bearing the consequences and is in a state of decay. As part of the cosmos, the natural envi-ronment is inherently imbued with sacredness; this sacred nature often manifesting itself within the very structure of the earth. Importance is then placed on how we po-sition ourselves and our holy places within their natural environment in order to set a precedent for the rest of our built environments. This treatise positions itself within ecology and the sacred. It focuses on the particulars of sacredscapes and pilgrimages within a context of Afri-can landscapes and African religions. This encompasses both the built and unbuilt elements of sacred architecture as well as sacredscapes through the reflection of cosmic rhythms, manifest order and harmony in order to create a holistic living organism aware of both the “real” and the sacred. Through its roots in holistic design, is sacredscapes align very closely to that of the ecological paradigm and the creation of integrated ecosystems. Sacred place often realised through the continuation of ritual practice. These rituals are a crucial part of African religions and most often find themselves in or associated with their natural environment. Thus, this is where the focus of the treatise lies - in the ritual cleansing ceremonies of the Zion Christian Church carried out in the Swartkops River. Ritual precincts and the creation of sacredscapes as a tool to reintegrate nature into the sacred will be explored. The intervention presents itself as an emergent ecosystemic architecture creating a sacred space, at the water’s edge, imbued with the Afro-Christian narrative of the Zion Christian Church.Thesis (MArch)-- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment and Technology, School of Architecture, 202

Developing Small Scale Chemistry Practicum Module to Identify Students’ Ability in Predict-Observe- Explain (POE) Implementation

Chemistry practicum does not have to be complicated and requires expensive apparatus and chemicals, and is considered not environmentally friendly. The concept of small scale chemistry practicum is one of appropriate technology that is packaged elegantly to introduce and embed the principles of green chemistry in every chemistry experiments, and also to enhance the concepts of chemistry through verification and scientific discovery. This study aims to create the newest product, the small scale chemistry practicum module to identify the ability of the students of chemistry education study program, Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta in formulating predictions on phenomenon based on the insights they have, making direct observations through small scale chemistry practicum, and explaining the results of observations and emphasis on concepts in detail and depth. This research is the development research with the model of Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate (ADDIE). Data were analyzed by descriptive analysis and Rasch Model. The results of the study show that the product developed has a perfect and feasible level of readability to be tested. From the content aspect, it presented in perfect criteria, as well as the construction aspect and aspect of language, also shows good value. The students already have quite an excellent ability to predict (average score= 76), observe (average score= 88.5), and explain (average score 87.5). Also, it was noted that students enthusiastically applied POE, and the results of POE students show good person reliability value (0.88) in small scale chemistry experiments. The product developed has been valid, effective, and practical for use in experiments according to experts and teachers, and good student responses (Cronbach's alpha value= 0.92) to the product

Experiences and barriers to Health-Related Quality of Life following liver transplantation: a qualitative analysis of the perspectives of pediatric patients and their parents

This paper examines health-related quality of life (HRQOL) experiences and barriers facing young people who have received a liver transplant (LT). Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with children and adolescents who have undergone LT and their parents. Findings indicate that LT fosters substantially improved child and adolescent HRQOL; however, young people also experience challenges such as difficulties with medication compliance, self-management of care routines, physical activity restrictions, and undesirable medical procedures. Implications and recommendations for clinical practice and research are discussed

Perspective: does laboratory-based maximal incremental exercise testing elicit maximum physiological responses in highly-trained athletes with cervical spinal cord injury?

The physiological assessment of highly-trained athletes is a cornerstone of many scientific support programs. In the present article, we provide original data followed by our perspective on the topic of laboratory-based incremental exercise testing in elite athletes with cervical spinal cord injury. We retrospectively reviewed our data on Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby athletes collected during the last two Paralympic cycles. We extracted and compared peak cardiometabolic (heart rate and blood lactate) responses between a standard laboratory-based incremental exercise test on a treadmill and two different maximal field tests (4 min and 40 min maximal push). In the nine athletes studied, both field tests elicited higher peak responses than the laboratory-based test. The present data imply that laboratory-based incremental protocols preclude the attainment of true peak cardiometabolic responses. This may be due to the different locomotor patterns required to sustain wheelchair propulsion during treadmill exercise or that maximal incremental treadmill protocols only require individuals to exercise at or near maximal exhaustion for a relatively short period of time. We acknowledge that both field- and laboratory-based testing have respective merits and pitfalls and suggest that the choice of test be dictated by the question at hand: if true peak responses are required then field-based testing is warranted, whereas laboratory-based testing may be more appropriate for obtaining cardiometabolic responses across a range of standardised exercise intensities