Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2005. / Includes annotated bibliographical references (leaves 223-237)

This thesis focuses on Canadian consumers concerns and attitudes towards healthy eating. The analysis is based on two years (2007 and 2008) of the Nielsen Health and Wellness survey data (Nielsen, 2008) and Nielsen Homescan household food purchase data. These datasets are used to investigate, first participating Canadian consumers stated food and health behaviour, and second the actual revealed meat purchase patterns of the same households. The results from logistical regression models show how differences in social-demographic factors and food behaviours affect consumers’ health and dietary concerns. Significant variables are gender, age, family lifestyle, changing eating habits towards a healthier lifestyle, and information from products’ Nutrition Facts Tables. These variables are key factors that increase the probability of Canadians being more concerned about their future health, healthy eating, as well as obesity in their household. In the second analysis, meat purchase patterns across survey participants with varying stated levels of health and dietary concerns are investigated using descriptive data analysis. Although the first part of analysis suggested that consumers are getting more knowledgeable about making healthier food choices and diet-health related problems resulting from an unbalanced diet, no differences in meat purchase patterns related to households’ stated diet and health concerns were found. The discrepancies between stated and revealed food, diet, and health preferences among Canadians suggest that more emphasis needs to be placed on consumer information and education to improve healthy food choices in meat and other products. Also, the relationship between consumer socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and their impact on consumer health behavior requires further attention. Improved knowledge and information regarding Canadian consumers’ diet and health behavior can support more efficient marketing programs for healthier products and assist policy makers in designing more effective policies aimed at changing Canadians’ diets to promote healthier lifestyles. / Agricultural and Resources Economics

Objective: To determine the dental treatment needs of Canadians and how they are distributed. Methods: A secondary analysis of data from the Canadian Health Measures Survey was undertaken. Weights were applied to make the data nationally representative. Bivariate and multivariate regressions were used to identify predictors of need. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were calculated to compare self-reported and clinically determined needs. Results: Of the 34.2% who required dental treatment, most needed restorative (20.4%) and preventive (13.7%) care. The strongest predictors of need were having poor oral health, reporting a self-perceived need for treatment and visiting the dentist infrequently. A discrepancy was found between clinical and self-reported needs. Conclusions: Roughly 12 million Canadians have unmet dental needs. A number of factors are predictive of having unmet dental conditions. Program and policymakers now have information by which to assess if their programs match the dental needs of Canadians.

A number of practitioner surveys across a range of industries have cited the lack of senior female role models as a barrier to career progression. There is very little academic literature to explain this at a senior organizational level. An initial review of the extant role model literature led to the inclusion of two further related areas – organizational demographics, as a contextual factor affecting the availability of role models, and work identity development as a link between the lack of senior female role models and the lack of career progression. In seeking to answer the question of why and then how female role models are important for senior women, this study fills an identified gap in the comprehension of the concept of role models and their importance in the workplace. It addresses a need to understand both the key elements of the concept and the mechanism by which they come into play. The research uses qualitative methods, specifically in-depth semi-structured interviews. These were conducted with a senior group of 33 female directors from six global investment banks, in order to elicit their experiences of role models in demographically imbalanced work contexts. Analysis of interview data considered all three areas of role models, demographic context and work identity development. As the women forged their identities in the male-dominated context of global investment banks, what became clear was that who they are and have become was informed by the critical relationships they have had. Whilst clearly some of the women had found male role models with whom to develop these critical relationships, there were some identity issues, particular salient to women, which could not be addressed by men. Thus the findings demonstrated the utility of female role models. This thesis has a number of contributions to make on varying levels: On a conceptual level, this study adds to our understanding of the value of role models, particularly detailing the affective or symbolic value. It has added to the conceptualization of role models, detailing what were the core attributes of individuals chosen to be role models, who they were in relation to the women, how the women used them and why they were important. It has combined the three literature areas of role models, organizational demographics and work identity development in a way not previously done, and has shown empirically that they are related and explain each other. Organizational demographics affect the availability of role models. And it is suggested that the relatively new theory of relational identification is the mechanism that explicates how the presence of positive female role models is a key influence on women’s work identity development. It has clarified the value of role models in extreme gender demographic contexts, and how and why they are important to senior women’s professional development, thereby adding to the theory of role modelling. Practically, the study explains why women in surveys may have been citing the lack of female role models as such a prominent issue, and suggests what some of the issues are that organizations should pay heed to in trying to address this.

Research suggests there may be race, sex, and ability differences in score improvement on different selection tests and methods when retested (Schleicher, Van Iddekinge, Morgeson, & Campion, 2010). However, it is uncertain what individual differences moderate retest performance on GMA assessments, and why. In this study, 243 participants were retested on the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT). There was no evidence that race, sex, emotional stability, or conscientiousness moderate retest performance on the WPT, although SAT scores did positively predict retest performance. Individuals within the interquartile range of the initial WPT scores gained more when retested than those with more extreme scores. Establishing artificial cut-off levels demonstrated that those below the cut-off gained more when retested than those above the cut-off. Therefore, average-scorers and in some cases lower-scorers who may have failed to meet a predetermined cut-off are encouraged to re-test as they have little to lose and much to gain.

We analyzed how land-use patterns and changes in urbanization influence positive raccoon rabies cases in an established enzootic area. County resolution was used and the study area included all 159 counties in Georgia. We obtained data on raccoons submitted from 2006 through 2010 for testing at the state public health labs due to exposure incidents with people or domesticated animals. The land-use patterns were extracted from the US Geological Survey’s National Land Cover Database from both 2001 and 2006. Odds ratios were calculated on 16 land-use variables that included natural topography, agricultural development, and urbanization. An additional variable, Submissions/Population density, was used to normalize counties and to account for population bias associated with rabies surveillance. The use of this demographic variable was substantiated by GIS clustering analysis. The outcome variable was heavily right skewed and over dispersed and therefore a negative binomial regression was used in this count statistics technique. The final analysis showed that low intensity residential development is associated with raccoon rabies cases while evergreen forest offers protection. This study supports the hypothesis that the raccoon rabies enzootic is maintained in those edge ecosystems of urbanization. It is advocated here that the public health animal rabies database to include GPS coordinates when reporting wildlife rabies submissions for testing to improve the resolution when studying the disease ecology of enzootic rabies.

This study focuses on the difference between northern and southern Italy concering the correlation between total fertility rate (TFR) and female employment rate (FER) using pronvicial-level data. Theories demonstrate that the correlation can either be negative or positive, although it has been showed in the past decades that this correlation between nations is positive throughout the developed countries. This phenomenon has been descripted by van de Kaa (2002) and Lesthaeghe (2010) as the second demographic transition. With regards of Italy, previous studies focusing on the country’s 20 regions have also found a positive correlation (Rondinelli and Zizza 2010). Furthermore, the Italian context is explained with special regards towards the deep cultural and socio-economical differences between northern and southern Italy. The divide is confirmed by statistical data. Furthermore, a regression analysis controls the correlation between TFR and FER against relevant variables and finds surprisingly a positive correlation in the north and a negative correlation in the south, where a fertility postponement mechanism is present. Conservative gender roles and economic underdevelopment can be seen as the cause of this divide, although there are signs of change.

Criminal justice researchers and crime geographers have long recognized the importance of understanding where crimes happen as well as to whom and by whom. Although past research often focused on violent crimes, calls for research into non-lethal white-collar crimes emerged in the 1970s. Today, identity theft is among the fastest growing white-collar crimes in the United States, although official recognition of it as a criminal act is a relatively recent development. Remaining largely unmet, the need for white-collar crime research has greatly intensified considering the escalating identity theft problem. Furthermore, many studies conclude that identity theft will continue to rise due to increasing technology-driven offenses via the Internet and widespread use of digital consumer databases. Utilizing theoretical framework established in crime geography, GIS mapping and spatial statistics are employed to produce a spatial analysis of identity theft in the U.S. from 2002-2006. Distinct regional variations, such as high rates in the western and southwestern states, and low rates in New England and the central plains states, are identified for identity theft as reported by the FTC. Significant spatial patterns of identity theft victims alongside social demographic variables are also revealed in order to better understand the regional patterns that may indicate underlying social indicators contributing to identity theft. Potential social variables, such as race/ethnicity and urban-rural populations, are shown to have similar patterns that may be directly associated with U.S. identity theft victims. To date, no in-depth geographic studies exist on the geographic patterns of identity theft, although numerous existing studies attempt basic spatial pattern recognition and propose the need for better spatial interpretation. This thesis is the first empirical study on the geographies of identity theft. It fills in a void in the literature by revealing significant geographical patterns of identity theft in the digital age, attempts at understanding the social factors driving the patterns, and examines some of the social implications of identity theft.

Abstract Through various marketing activities to building brand image is the key to exist for auto firms. The goal of this study is to analyze the influences of demographic variables both on the consumer condition of brand marketing activities and consumers¡¦ buying behaviors. The influence of brand marketing activities on consumers¡¦ buying behaviors is also discussed. It has been found that different demographic variables indeed produce cognitive attitude for the ¡§advertisement notice¡¨, ¡¨brand meaning¡¨, and ¡§brand repute¡¨. Two factors, i.e., ¡§present design¡¨ and ¡§brand meaning¡¨ have positive and significant influences on autos¡¦ core value and economic value. However, ¡§advertisement notice¡¨ has negative influences on autos¡¦ core value and economic value. Finally, some suggestions for auto firms are proposed to future developments. Keywords: Brand marketing, Consumer behavior, EKB Model, Demographic variables

Over the past forty years a tremendous number of women have entered the labor market, removing stay-home motherhood as the most dominant female occupation. The linkage between the change in the labor market and change in family structure has drawn a lot of attention from social scientists, and it is on this linkage that this analysis is focused. An essential dimension of this changing behavior is the sharp rise in out-ofwedlock childbearing. The central issue of non-married motherhood is more related to the diminishing willingness to marry than a changing attitude toward fertility. In a setting where individuals choose marriage because of the gains from joint production of child quality as well as the division of labor, the declining gains from specialization for men influence potential spouse selection. Men and women with fewer labor market prospects become less desirable, and consequently a marriage market with more positive assortative mating will be observed. The increase in female labor market participation is larger for highly-educated women but the decrease in marriage rates is more characteristic of less-educated women over this period. What drives these changes can be explained by using a simple economic theory, the fundamental concept of which is that couples with lower labor market prospects also face lower gains from marriage because of the increases in femalemale relative wages in the less-educated and black groups. A narrowing of the gap between male and female wages would reduce the gains from division of labor and lower the incentive to marry. In addition, when the marriage market becomes more positively assorted, low educated men and women are less likely to marry each other. Our empirical results indicate an increase in the homogeneity of wages between spouses over this period regardless of whether we control for education. In particular, black couples are more positively assorted than white couples although the trend converges by the end of the century. We also show that the marriage market is tilted towards better-educated men and women over the period. These findings are consistent with the theory which explains why single motherhood is more concentrated among lesseducated women.