Defaulter tracing policies for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services are vital for achieving the global goal of zero new HIV infections. However, little is known about their implementation. This qualitative study explores the role of tracers—community volunteers, retention workers, and mentor mothers—in implementing such policy across six facilities in Western Kenya. It uses Defaulter tracing policies for Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) services are vital for achieving the global goal of zero new HIV infections. However, little is known about their implementation. This qualitative study explores the role of tracers—community volunteers, retention workers, and mentor mothers—in implementing such policy across six facilities in Western Kenya. It uses

Older people make up an increasing proportion of the homeless population and their homelessness is often combined with problems such as substance use, mental illness and physical problems. While much research has focused on short-term shelters, food and clothing, less is known about arrangement providing permanent supportive housing where older homeless adults can stay the rest of their lives. Thi

BACKGROUND: Recent advances now allow detection of brain-specific proteins in blood, including neurofilament light chain (NfL), a marker of axonal pathology, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), indicative of astrocytic activation. Given the evidence of astroglial pathology and neuronal dysfunction in bipolar disorder, and ongoing debates on neuroprogression, we investigated plasma NfL and

To receive support from social services in one’s own home is a major life course transition for the client in need of help. But this is also a life changing transition for cohabitating partners, whose home is transformed to a workplace where staff come and go. Partners' perspectives have received a lot of attention in social work, but almost exclusively based on their relationship with the primary

Introduction: Age is a commonly used criterion in social work, ranging from entry to methadone programs to exit from disability benefits and is used to determining appropriate treatment and support for clients. While it may be relevant to treat people differently based on age, seemingly “natural” age differences make age stereotyping difficult to challenge as ageism. The aim of this presentation i

This paper analyses the effects of new public management governance on academics’ job choices. Based on a choice experiment carried out with faculty from a sample of Germany’s leading technical universities, we find that working environments characterized by varying levels of administrative burdens and high expectations concerning third-party funding acquisition are detrimental to self-actualizati

Persons who move into dementia care homes may experience a range of threats to their identity and sense of self. To counteract this depersonalisation, dementia care homes in many parts of the world have incorporated the use of life stories.In Nordic eldercare policy, the bare existence of life stories has been used as quality indicators when rating dementia care homes. However, in contrast to othe

Speckle metrology is a powerful optical sensing tool for non-destructive testing (NDT) and advanced surface characterization, enabling ultra-precise measurements of surface deformations and displacements. These capabilities are critical for material analysis and surface assessment in sensing-driven applications. However, traditional correlation methods often struggle to balance resolution and robu

Die Teilhabe am Arbeitsmarkt spielt in modernen Gesellschaften eine zentrale Rolle. Die Sicherung des Lebensunterhalts und die soziale Sicherung sind in starkem Maße von der Positionierung auf dem Arbeitsmarkt abhängig. Auch in der Migrationsforschung wird daher die Arbeitsmarktplatzierung von Migranten als zentraler Aspekt der Integration in die Aufnahmegesellschaft betrachtet. Für die Migranten

Patterns of lead and other trace metals were examined in 122 Eurasian eagle owls Bubo bubo found dead in Sweden in the period 1978–2013. Environmental lead (Pb) has decreased over recent decades from reduced anthropogenic emissions but mortality by Pb poisoning is still frequently reported for avian raptors and scavengers exposed to Pb ammunition. One objective here was to determine if Pb concentr

ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate whether health-promoting text messages sent to patients with hypertension in primary care could affect lifestyle habits, and if the Theory of Planned Behavior could be used to identify moderators of intervention effects.MethodsFrom September 2020 to December 2022, patients with hypertension were randomly selected from the patient register at 10 Swedish primary heal

This dissertation proposes a theory concerning China’s “Fragmented Power” in its foreign policy pursuits by analyzing the reception of the “Belt and Road” Initiative in Sri Lanka. The initiative has sparked intense debates and counteractions on the global stage and has become synonymous with Xi Jinping’s assertive approach to foreign policy. However, many aspects of the initiative’s goals, impleme

This thesis investigates scalable control design for networked dynamical systems, which are of great importance due to their wide range of practical applications, including large-scale formation control. A central challenge in such systems is enabling agents to coordinate effectively based only on local and relative information, particularly as the system size increases. To address this, the thesi