Do investments in advertising and the industry concentration lead to a higher stock return or shareholder value? This paper investigates if the relationship between advertising and the stock return or shareholder value is moderated by the industry concentration. We further propose the hierarchical linear model which could strength the effect on the stock return and shareholder value by establishing the link between firm-level characteristic (advertising intensitya and market share) and industry-level characteristic (industry concentration); thus, we obtain the interaction between advertising intensity and the industry concentration from this model. The results suggest that the relationship between advertising and the stock return or shareholder value is contingent on the moderating effects of the industry concentration. This paper also reinforces the importance of the conceptual framework and empirical findings that advertising intensity has a positive and significant effect on the stock return. Most importantly, this paper indicates as the degree of concentration in an industry increases, the impact of advertising on the stock return is less positive.

The prediction of the moderator temperature distribution in a CANDU reactor is important in establishing its ability to act as an emergency heat sink for certain beyond design basis accidents. This analysis typically relies on computational models which are benchmarked against experimental data from small-scale test facilities. These small-scale models prioritize the matching of the Archimedes number (Ar) of the full-scale reactor, which represents the ratio of buoyancy forces to inertial forces. Concerns regarding similarity between the reactor and small-scale facilities may exist due to a large difference in scale, as well as geometric simplifications made due to practical limitations. This study examined the behaviour within an approximately 1/16 scale facility representative of the Bruce A calandria vessel, which features a unique inlet and outlet configuration. Experimental measurements were obtained for a range of power and flow conditions. Unsteady RANS simulations of the small-scale facility were also performed using the realizable k-epsilon model. Goals of the study included the assessment of the unique moderator inlet on the flow patterns inside the calandria vessel and how well existing CFD modelling approaches replicated these features. The observed flow and temperature distributions in the scale facility did not appear highly sensitive to changes in Ar. For all tested conditions, a large front-to-back recirculation pattern resulted from the asymmetric inlet arrangement. Peak temperatures consistently occurred toward the front of the vessel where inertial flows were assisted by buoyancy induced flows. Under steady-state conditions, unsteady and three-dimensional behaviour was observed within the vessel. Temperature fluctuations near the upper rear end of the vessel arose from the unstable interaction between cool downward flow from the inlets and upward buoyant flow from the tube bank. In the peak temperature regions, flow direction was relatively consistent in the upward direction. The simulations tended to overpredict the peak temperatures within the vessel by approximately 0.5 – 3.8 ºC. This behaviour was attributed to the model tending to underpredict the upward velocities entering the base of the tube bank in the peak temperature regions. As Ar increased and buoyancy effects became more significant in determining the local velocities, agreement between the predicted and measured velocities was improved. The similarity between the small-scale model and the full-size reactor was also assessed through comparisons to existing simulations of the full-size calandria. There was qualitative similarity between the two geometries, albeit at lower Ar for the small-scale facility. This suggested that buoyancy effects were more significant in the small-scale facility compared to the full-size calandria. This was attributed to the use of surface heating (as opposed to volumetric heating in the reactor), and relatively high surface heat fluxes caused by a reduced number of tube bank elements. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), peripheral vascular disease, diabetes, and stroke. In addition to traditional risk factors of CVD, some studies have shown that depression and anger independently predict CRP, but other studies have found null results, and few, if any, studies have considered possible roles of physical activity and diet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of certain psychosocial variables to predict CRP controlling for traditional CVD risk factors. Cross-sectional data for 300 healthy women who participated in the Stockholm Female Coronary Risk Study were analyzed. Regression analyses were performed to determine whether anger, depression, social support, marital stress, and self-esteem were associated with CRP levels while controlling for relevant covariates. Analyses investigated possible mediating effects of certain aspects of diet and physical activity and whether body composition (measured by waist circumference) and fasting glucose moderates the relationship between psychosocial variables and CRP. We found that anger symptoms were negatively associated with CRP and anger discussion was positively associated with CRP controlling for several biological variables. Diet and physical activity did not explain the relationship between these anger variables and CRP. Social support in the forms of social attachment and social integration were positively associated with CRP among women with a larger waist circumference and higher fasting glucose, respectively. Marital stress was positively related to CRP among women with a larger waist circumference. Among women with a smaller waist circumference, marital stress was negatively related to CRP and social integration was positively related to CRP. These findings suggest that having a large waist in addition to less social support and more marital stress is disadvantageous with regard to CRP. Furthermore, it is possible that being quite thin may not necessarily be advantageous with regard to inflammation.

No description available.

The prediction of the flows and temperatures in the moderator system of CANDU reactors is important in the safety evaluation during some potential transients. An experimental program to collect data for CFD validation, including integrated moderator circulation tests has been funded by the CANDU Owners Group. This thesis constitutes a separate effect test within this larger moderator flow study, investigating the behaviour of a jet impinging onto a single heated cylinder. A number of experiments were conducted to investigate the behaviour of the jet flow under a variety of scenarios. The inlet Reynolds number and the heater power level were the primary variables considered to assess the impact of the buoyant forces generated by the heated cylinder on the flow. Alongside the experiments, simulations were performed using the experimental geometry to evaluate the performance of some of the most commonly-used turbulence modelling approaches – namely the standard k-ε, realizable k-ε, and standard k-ω RANS models. The agreement between the turbulence models and experimental results was determined to be reasonable in the free jet regions, however nearer the cylinder, the simulated results exhibited a wider core region and steeper gradient in the shear layer than the experimental data. At lower Reynolds numbers, over-prediction of velocities both in the axial and lateral direction was also seen. The impact of heating proved minimal in the jet core, however differences were observed in the shear layer at lower Reynolds numbers, and the heated case exhibiting decreased lateral velocities as compared to the isothermal case. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Given past findings that have linked trauma and lack of personal control to greater suicidal risk in adults, the present study examined how trauma presence and personal control are uniquely involved in predicting suicidal risk in a sample of 469 college students. Regression analyses indicated that both trauma presence and personal control were significant predictors of suicidal risk, as was their interaction. The present findings suggest a need to consider both trauma presence and low personal control in assessing for suicidal risk in college students.

This study had two purposes: 1) to compare the difference between home health care only and home health care plus telemonitoring on heart failure patients' symptom burden, self-care of heart failure and re-hospitalization; and 2) to explore which patient characteristics might moderate telemonitoring's impact.Heart failure has emerged as a major public health burden. Like other chronic conditions, heart failure patients have an important role to play in the day-to-day management of their condition. One of the principal reasons for introducing telemonitoring in home health care was to increase heart failure patients' capacity to self-manage their conditions at home.This study used a prospective, non-experimental, comparative, descriptive design. A total of 68 participants were recruited with 34 in each group. Symptom burden and self-care of heart failure were measured on enrollment and 40 days later. Hospitalization was measured as an event that either occurred or did not occur.Although no between-group differences in symptom burden were found, both groups showed significant decreased symptom burden over the 40-day period. Of the three self-care measures, only self-care maintenance differed significantly between the two groups at the 40-day follow-up (p<.05). Only the participant's functional status had significant moderator effect on the relation between type of service received and self-care maintenance (p<.05).The addition of telemonitoring produced similar outcomes to regular home health care, except for self-care maintenance. Like most prior study, this study focused on evaluating the overall relationship between telemonitoring and outcomes without concern for the transformation process. Although these evaluation were able to provide an overall assessment of whether or not the telemonitoring program worked, they cannnot identify the underlying mechanisms that generate the effects. Without knowing what make the program work or not work, it is difficult to pinpoint what needs to be done for future improvement. A theory-oriented evaluation will be needed in future research. Theory-oriented evaluation not only allow reseachers to clarify the connection between a program's operation and its effect, but also to specify intermediate effects of a program that might become evident and measurable.

There is a clear call to use evidence-based practice (EBP) in schools, and a growing knowledge base of practices that have proven to be effective in helping students achieve in educational settings. In addition, the current trends of Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) and Response to Intervention (RtI) advocate for preventative and proactive strategies. Token economies (TE) are one intervention that is proactive and can be flexible to use with students across a wide range of behaviors and settings. According to Higgins, Williams, and McLaughlin, token economy (TE) is an effective way to improve classroom behavior. Unfortunately, limited recent research is available that evaluated the effects and moderators of token economies in classroom settings. The purpose of this investigation was to Meta-analyze the single case research on TE implemented in school and is the first to offer effect size analysis and identify moderators. The use of TE's has been widely established as an evidence-based intervention for use in prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and school settings. However, very few articles discuss size of effects to expect, the essential elements required, or the practical implementation issues within a classroom. Many myths surround the use of a TE, i.e., many assume a token system is effective only for individuals and this is not so, as TE is effective for groups as well as individuals. In an age of accountability and emphasis on preventative evidence based practice evidence for using a TE and how to implement a TE is needed in our literature. Empirical evidence for the use of a token economy in a classroom is presented along with suggested implementation ideas. Twenty four studies were included in this Meta-analysis with an overall combined Tau-U ES of .78 of data showing improvement between phase A and B with CI90 [.72, .83]. Tau-U effect sizes ranged from .35 to 1.0. TE is effective with all ages evaluated (ages 3 - 15); however, statistically significant results indicated it was more effective with ages 6 - 15. Active ingredients (i.e. procedural steps) were evaluated, combined, and reported. Results indicate that TE is an evidence-based intervention to increase academic readiness behaviors and to decrease inappropriate behaviors.

No description available.

Flow in the Moderator of a CANDU reactor can be very complex due to the interplay of convective and buoyant effects. Experiments have been performed to measure temperature and velocity fields for these kind of flows, although concerns still exist. As a result a Moderator test facility has been built in order to validate CFD models for future predictions and safety analysis. To properly validate this experiment an accurate set of inlet flow conditions must be established in order to ensure a fair comparison. A series of flow conditions indicative of the header assemblies which feed flow into the moderator test facility have been investigated through experimentation, empirical evaluation and numerical simulation. They include flow through curved tubes, turbulent free jets and flow through dividing manifolds. The goal of the present study is to establish the modelling approach to predict the flow distribution inside the manifold and velocity field out of the J-nozzles. A variety of RANS based turbulence models and computational meshes were employed in the numerical study. The turbulence model that was found to perform best was the realizable k- model. It was also found that the velocity field of the J-nozzles is constant between Reynolds numbers of 6800-9300. These Reynolds numbers are indicative of those expected out of the header assemblies. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)