Chronotype describes the daily rhythm of an individual’s performance capability as it changes through the day. It is defined using the Horne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) which assesses time-of-day preference; or the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) which indicates sleep timing parameters. My hypothesis was that chronotype predominantly reflects an individual’s perceived daily rhythm in executive function. We tested this by comparing MEQ and MCTQ with the University of Toronto Inventory of Morningness and Eveningness (UTIME) Questionnaire which examines performance on scenarios requiring cognitive, physical, and/or emotional responses. Highest correlations were found between MEQ and UTIME tasks with high executive demand. The same UTIME tasks were also correlated with MCTQ (mid-sleep, free days), although the correlations were consistently lower than UTIME versus MEQ. Correlations among UTIME tasks and MCTQ (mid-sleep, workdays) were not linked to executive demand. Chronotype appears to reflect the perception of peak executive ability independently of sleep pattern.

Private Environmental Preference (PEP), measured by the willingness to spend on pollution reduction and its casual factors. A PEP model is constructed for Canada, China, India, and USA using data from the World Value Survey and Structural Equation Models. The results revealed that the most important factors are: environmental organization membership, acknowledgement of global environmental problems, Machiavellian attitudes towards money, and confidence in governing bodies. Other significant factors include: the acknowledgement of local environmental problems, income level, occupational characteristics, and work ethic. The acknowledgement of global problems and confidence in governing bodies increase PEP, while Machiavellian attitudes towards money reduce PEP across all four countries. Environmental organizational membership on PEP increase PEP in Canada and USA, but decrease PEP in India. White-collar occupational characteristics have a positive effect on PEP in Canada, but negative in China and India. Policy recommendations are provided given these observations.

Chronotype describes the daily rhythm of an individual’s performance capability as it changes through the day. It is defined using the Horne-Östberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) which assesses time-of-day preference; or the Munich ChronoType Questionnaire (MCTQ) which indicates sleep timing parameters. My hypothesis was that chronotype predominantly reflects an individual’s perceived daily rhythm in executive function. We tested this by comparing MEQ and MCTQ with the University of Toronto Inventory of Morningness and Eveningness (UTIME) Questionnaire which examines performance on scenarios requiring cognitive, physical, and/or emotional responses. Highest correlations were found between MEQ and UTIME tasks with high executive demand. The same UTIME tasks were also correlated with MCTQ (mid-sleep, free days), although the correlations were consistently lower than UTIME versus MEQ. Correlations among UTIME tasks and MCTQ (mid-sleep, workdays) were not linked to executive demand. Chronotype appears to reflect the perception of peak executive ability independently of sleep pattern.

Private Environmental Preference (PEP), measured by the willingness to spend on pollution reduction and its casual factors. A PEP model is constructed for Canada, China, India, and USA using data from the World Value Survey and Structural Equation Models. The results revealed that the most important factors are: environmental organization membership, acknowledgement of global environmental problems, Machiavellian attitudes towards money, and confidence in governing bodies. Other significant factors include: the acknowledgement of local environmental problems, income level, occupational characteristics, and work ethic. The acknowledgement of global problems and confidence in governing bodies increase PEP, while Machiavellian attitudes towards money reduce PEP across all four countries. Environmental organizational membership on PEP increase PEP in Canada and USA, but decrease PEP in India. White-collar occupational characteristics have a positive effect on PEP in Canada, but negative in China and India. Policy recommendations are provided given these observations.

In this dissertation, we first develop a simple two-period model to examine the parent's optimal choice of children's time. We identify factors such as wage rate, school fees, education returns, degree of children's altruism toward their parents and the parents' discounting rate that influence the parents' optimal choice, and discuss their impacts on the optimal choice. Children's time is an important resource for rural households in developing economies, and it is typically allocated by the parents. Two basic uses for this resource are: working in the labor market and attending schools. Schooling today may make children more productive in the future. The opportunity cost of schooling is the forgone wage rate in the labor market. Allocation of children's time is therefore mainly determined by education return, wage rate in labor market and school fees. Many existing models in the literature cannot explain the coexistence of schooling, poverty and the coexistence of child labor and affluence. We extend our basic model to explain the above two paradoxes. We show that, when education return is high and the household is willing to endure extra hardship caused by the child attending school, the coexistence of schooling and poverty can emerge. On the other hand, when the wage rate for child labor and schooling fees are higher than education return, affluence and child labor can co-exist. Governments have adopted various policy tools to fight against child labor, among which the compulsory education law and free education programs stand out. Our basic model is then extended to examine how these two types of government policies may impact child labor. We show the relative performance of the two policies depend crucially on several factors, including the enforcement and the costs to the household of the compulsory education law. We use the recent Chinese experience in changing the compulsory education law to free education plan to illustrate and verify our theoretical prediction.

Background: Teeth affected by apical periodontitis (AP) that could be retained by root canal therapy (RCT) are increasingly being extracted and replaced with implant-supported crowns (ISC). Objectives: 1) To investigate preferences of dentists and patients towards retaining a tooth with AP using RCT versus its extraction followed by, no replacement, replacement with an ISC, or with a partial fixed or removable denture. 2) To investigate patients’ preferred role and dentists’ ethical responsibilities in decision-making. Methods: A mail-out survey (sent to: dental specialists, n=195, response rate=39%; patients, n=434, response rate=43%) and a web-based survey (general dentist sample, n=304, response rate =15%) were used to collect data. Statistical bivariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken with P set at < 0.05 with Bonferroni adjustment as necessary. Results: RCT or ISC were the most selected treatment choices for dentists, while the preference for RCT was reduced for teeth treated previously with RCT. Dentists’ preferences were associated with their specialty as well as clinical experience in endodontics and/or implant dentistry. Patients’ stated general preference for saving teeth was associated with higher self-rated oral health, frequent dental check-ups, and higher socio-demographic factors. Those with higher education, regular dental visits and previous experience of RCT preferred to undergo RCT for future treatment in comparison to those who never experienced RCT. Patients preferred a collaborative role with their dentists in making treatment decisions and valued the retention of natural teeth very highly. They also felt that communication with and trust in their dentist was paramount. Conclusion: Dentists should establish rapport with patients in a milieu that values and respects the patients’ autonomy. By following the highest standards of evidence-based care, and transferring unbiased information on treatment options and associated risks/benefits, it is highly probable that dental care will be delivered in a more ethical manner than would otherwise be possible.

The growing interest among consumers in the link between diet and health makes functional food one of the fastest growing sectors in the global food industry, especially functional dairy products. Understanding consumer choices with respect to functional food is an important and relatively new research area. Given the credence nature of functional food attributes, labelling plays a key role in allowing consumers to make informed choices about foods with enhanced health attributes. In 2007, Canada launched a review of the regulatory system for health claims on functional foods, which included rules concerning the approval, labelling and verification of health claims. In 2010 two new health claims related to oat products and plant sterols were approved by Health Canada. An analysis of how consumers respond to health claim information is therefore timely. This thesis focuses on examining the effects of different types of labelling and verification of health claims on consumers stated preferences for a specific functional food product, Omega-3 milk. The analysis incorporates reference-dependent effects. This study improves the knowledge of Canadian consumer understanding of health claims and the impact of health claims on consumer choice. This research is one of the first studies to simultaneously examine the effects of different types of health claims (e.g. function claims, risk reduction claims and disease prevention claims) and other ways of signalling or implying health benefits (e.g. symbols) on Canadian consumers' functional food choices. This study contributes to the knowledge in this domain by providing a comparative analysis of different types of labelling strategies. The extant knowledge of labelling effects in the formats of risk reduction claims, disease prevention claims and symbols or imagery on functional foods is limited. One of the primary contributions of this study is addressing this gap in the literature. The theoretical framework of this thesis is based on random utility theory. A stated preference choice experiment is designed to examine consumers' response to Omega-3 milk under different labelling scenarios. Using data from an online survey of 740 Canadians conducted in summer 2009, discrete choice models, including Conditional Logit, Random Parameter Logit and Latent Class models, and Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) values are estimated. The results suggest that full labelling (function claims, risk reduction claims and disease prevention claims) is preferred over partial labelling (e.g. the use of a heart symbol to imply a health claim), but primarily for risk reduction claims. There is no significant difference between a function claim, such as "good for your heart" and partial labelling in the form of a red heart symbol. The results also suggest that consumers on average respond positively to verification of health claims by government and the third party agencies, however, the Latent Class models reveal considerable heterogeneity in consumer attitudes toward the source of verification. The influences of key-socio-demographic (e.g. income, education and health status) and attitudinal factors (e.g. attitude, trust and knowledge) provide further insights into consumer responses in the choice experiment to identify different consumer segments. Moreover, the results reveal reference-dependent effects where perceived losses of ingredient or price attributes have a greater influence on consumer choice than perceived gains. In terms of industry and public policy implications, this study suggests that food manufacturers in Canada would benefit from the ability to make more precise health claims. The implications derived from the Latent Class Models could help the Canadian functional food industry to identify target consumer segments with different characteristics for the purpose of developing marketing strategies. Furthermore, the results of this study suggest that Canadian consumers are receptive to both full labelling and partial labelling. It indicates that public policy makers need to pay attention to effectively regulating health claims for functional foods so as to balance the need for credible health claims to facilitate the development of the functional food sector with the imperative of protecting consumers from misleading health claims. Public policy makers should also be aware that the verification of health claims plays an important role in reducing consumers' uncertainty and making health claims more credible.

In previous research, aggregation of returns has been found as a way to counteract the risk averse behavior that is the result of investors' myopia. This paper expands the study of aggregation by analyzing its effect on forward looking probabilities. Namely, through the disaggregation of future information, subjects become myopic and trade with varying risk preferences. In an experimental market, subjects trading securities with disaggregated forward looking information are found to 'buy high and sell low', while subjects trading the same securities, but with aggregated information, trade with more consistent risk preferences.

Popular music plays a significant role in the lives of most adolescents. The central question explored is whether three groups of adolescents (psychiatrically ill, depressed, and non-clinical adolescents) differed on self-reported data on: (a) the role of popular music in their lives, and (b) in their emotional reactions to music. The next question is whether the developmental issues of gender and personality consolidation, age, and school commitment simultaneously influence how the three groups of adolescents use music in their lives and in their emotional reactions to music. The last question is whether the three groups have significantly different music preferences in the five genres of popular (rap, pop/dance, heavy metal/hard rock, classic rock, and alternative). There were 126 subjects employed in this research. I created the Walker Music Questionnaire (WMQ) to explore the role and importance that music plays in the lives of the adolescents. A factor analysis found five factors (Introspection, Identity-Music, Discerning Music Identity, Fantasy-Rebellion, and Identity-Self). The Adolescent Semantic Differential Scales (ASDS) measured the adolescents’ emotional responses to 10 pieces of popular music representing the five genres described above. These scales are well known measures of emotional response and I added eight adjectives that represented adolescent issues. This measure was also factor analyzed and the three factors of Evaluation, Romance, and Potency emerged. Preference for the five genres was determined from the Adolescent Semantic Differential Scales. MANOVAS were done with both sets of factors derived from the WMQ and ASDS simultaneously using the developmental variables of age group, gender, personality, and school commitment. Psychological health was found to be a significant variable. Specifically, the role of music for the depressed group was significantly different from the other two groups of adolescents. The developmental issues that remained significant were personality and school commitment. Furthermore, the psychiatrically ill group reacted more emotionally to the music than the other two groups and this remained significant even when the developmental variable of personality was considered. The three groups were not differentiated by their preference ratings on the ASDS.

Background: Teeth affected by apical periodontitis (AP) that could be retained by root canal therapy (RCT) are increasingly being extracted and replaced with implant-supported crowns (ISC). Objectives: 1) To investigate preferences of dentists and patients towards retaining a tooth with AP using RCT versus its extraction followed by, no replacement, replacement with an ISC, or with a partial fixed or removable denture. 2) To investigate patients’ preferred role and dentists’ ethical responsibilities in decision-making. Methods: A mail-out survey (sent to: dental specialists, n=195, response rate=39%; patients, n=434, response rate=43%) and a web-based survey (general dentist sample, n=304, response rate =15%) were used to collect data. Statistical bivariate and multivariate analyses were undertaken with P set at < 0.05 with Bonferroni adjustment as necessary. Results: RCT or ISC were the most selected treatment choices for dentists, while the preference for RCT was reduced for teeth treated previously with RCT. Dentists’ preferences were associated with their specialty as well as clinical experience in endodontics and/or implant dentistry. Patients’ stated general preference for saving teeth was associated with higher self-rated oral health, frequent dental check-ups, and higher socio-demographic factors. Those with higher education, regular dental visits and previous experience of RCT preferred to undergo RCT for future treatment in comparison to those who never experienced RCT. Patients preferred a collaborative role with their dentists in making treatment decisions and valued the retention of natural teeth very highly. They also felt that communication with and trust in their dentist was paramount. Conclusion: Dentists should establish rapport with patients in a milieu that values and respects the patients’ autonomy. By following the highest standards of evidence-based care, and transferring unbiased information on treatment options and associated risks/benefits, it is highly probable that dental care will be delivered in a more ethical manner than would otherwise be possible.