Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on June 4, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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El índice de rotación laboral en Perú es uno de los más altos en Latinoamérica. Contar con una estrategia de retención de personal es clave pues incide en los resultados de las organizaciones. La industria pesquera tiene un gran impacto económico en el Perú, es dinámica y aporta gran oferta de puestos de trabajo. El presente trabajo de investigación tuvo como objetivo principal determinar la relación existente entre los factores intrínsecos y extrínsecos de la motivación con la intención de permanencia de un empleado en grandes empresas de producción de ingredientes marinos que pertenecen a la Sociedad Nacional de Pesquería en Lima Metropolitana y Callao en el periodo 2019. La investigación es de tipo mixta, con diseño no experimental. Transaccional pues la recolección de datos se dio en un tiempo único; además, descriptivo y correlacional. Se revisaron documentos de investigación, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a especialistas del sector y se utilizaron encuestas para identificar los factores que influyen en la intención de permanencia laboral dirigidas a una muestra representativa de 293 personas. La hipótesis general fue aceptada al obtener una correlación positiva. El factor extrínseco más valorado son las relaciones interpersonales con un 72.4% de valoración entre todos los encuestados y el factor intrínseco más valorado fue la realización personal con un 72.5%. Además, los empleados con mayor tiempo de permanencia valoran más los factores intrínsecos y los de menor tiempo los factores extrínsecos. Se deja como aporte una serie de recomendaciones y un cuestionario validado por expertos del sector. / The labor turnover rate in Peru is one of the highest in Latin America. Having a staff retention strategy is key because it has consequences that affect the results of organizations. The fishing industry has a great economic impact in Peru, is dynamic and it generates great demand for jobs. The main objective of the research was to determine the relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic factors of the motivation with the intention of permanence of an employee in large production companies of marine ingredients that belong to the National Fisheries Society in Metropolitan Lima and Callao in the 2019 period. The present research work is of a mixed type, with a non-experimental design; in addition, descriptive and correlational. Transactional because the data collection occurred in a single time; It was also descriptive and correlational. For data collection, research documents, interviews and questionnaires were reviewed. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with specialists and surveys were used to identify the factors that influence the intention to stay in the job, aimed at a representative sample of 293 people. The general hypothesis was accepted upon obtaining a positive correlation. The extrinsic factor most valued by the employees are the interpersonal relationships in a 72.4% and the highest rated intrinsic factor was personal realization with a 72.5%. In addition, employees with more time of permanence value more intrinsic factors and those with shorter time of stay extrinsic. A series of recommendations and a questionnaire validated by industry experts are left as input. / Tesis

The aim of this study is to describe breast cancer survivors' experiences and the associated meanings participating in their important activities during and after breast cancer treatment and the relationship among the survivor, environment, occupation, and performance, using a concurrent mixed method design. Ten survivors between the ages of 45 and 64 with Stage I, II, or III breast cancer who had been treated consecutively with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy were recruited for the study. Each survivor completed the Activity Card Sort-modified scoring system (ACSm) during the first and last week of radiation therapy and 3 and 6 months post radiation therapy. Additionally, each survivor participated in a semi-structured interview at the end of radiation therapy and 6 months afterwards. Qualitative data was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to understand the survivors' experiences participating in their most important activities. The means and standard deviations of the proportion of activities resumed for the participants' global and category activities were calculated at each time point. A desire to resume participation in meaningful activities emerged from the data and demonstrated the interrelationship between environment, person, and occupation. Themes from the last week of radiation were (a) individual outlook influences how activities are approached, (b) social support reduces the stress of life, (c) side effects influence how activities are completed, and (d) personal and treatment stresses and struggles influenced their perspectives on life. At 6 months post radiation therapy, the themes were (a) emotional effect on activities, (b) life after cancer has changed due to cancer diagnosis and treatment, and (c) side effects continue to influence daily activities. Using the seven stages of analyzing mixed method data developed by Onwuegbuzie and Teddlie (2003), the qualitative and quantitative data were integrated. The results illustrated that the participants resumed a greater proportion of instrumental activities, which were reported consistently as one of their five most important activities. Additionally, supportive extrinsic factors appeared to be more influential in resuming participation important activities than intrinsic factors. Findings from this study support using the Person-Environment-Occupational-Performance (PEOP) model to develop treatment plans for women undergoing or recovering from breast cancer treatment.

A field study investigated the relevancy of certain theories in applied psychology for increasing vehicle safety belt use by children. Five different intervention activities applied either extrinsic rewards, or focused on the development of intrinsic motivation (e.g., personal commitment, awareness, active participation). The subjects were 138 children, aged five to eleven years, who attended five 30-min safety belt intervention activities as part of a summer recreation program conducted at three elementary schools. Safety belt use by children and their parents was directly observed and coded by vehicle license number both before and after the interventions. Coupons for free food at a fast food restaurant were distributed to participants by the school personnel, and safety belt use was observed at the restaurant's drive-thru window to assess generalization. The results revealed that participants from all three reward contingency conditions (i.e., rewards for safety belt use, participation, and noncontingent rewards) significantly increased their frequency of safety belt use from the baseline to intervention phase. The parents, although not direct participants in the program, showed similar increases in safety belt use. The increase in safety belt use also generalized to the fast food restaurant for both children and parents; however this effect was transient. Data collected during a three-week withdrawal period indicated that safety belt use decreased slightly among participants rewarded for belt use during the intervention, whereas safety belt use increased slightly for those who received noncontingent rewards or rewards for participation. This finding is consistent with "minimal justification" and "intrinsic motivation" theories and suggests that long-term maintenance and generalization of changes in safety belt use are inversely related to the degree of external control exerted to motivate safety belt use. From an application perspective, this research developed practical community-based interventions for increasing the use of safety belts among children, and demonstrated that behavior change among children may influence the safety belt use of other members in their family. / Ph. D.

This dissertation research synthesizes knowledge from consumer behavior, psychology and applied economics to address a fundamental issue in marketing regarding how buyers evaluate products. Classical economic theory has assumed that buyers have perfect information about products and prices and that buyers are capable of processing this information. However, in reality, buyers face an increasingly complex marketplace with numerous products, incomplete and imperfect information, and a limited capability of processing this information. Hence, this complex market place creates an uncertain environment in which buyers have to make purchase decisions. To reduce uncertainty, buyers tend to use available information cues to make inferences about the products being evaluated. Among these cues are the product’s price, reference price (e.g., price last paid, advertised reference price), and certain attributes intrinsic to the product. The research question addressed in this dissertation is, “how do information cues affect buyers’ product evaluations, behavioral intentions and price estimates?” Conceptually, this research develops a model incorporating the research objectives by describing how buyers select specific information cues, evaluate them, and arrive at an overall assessment of the value or worth of the product to them. Specifically, the model proposes that the price cue is used both as an indicator of product quality as well as an indicator of monetary sacrifice. It is proposed that buyers initially trade-off these opposite indicators to make an assessment of the value of acquiring the product. However, complicating this model is the notion that some product attributes produce benefits quite apart from quality, and that some price offers represent a short-term deal or bargain. Since buyers are assumed to have an internal reference price that may be used to evaluate a price offer, additional value, called transaction value, may be perceived if the offer price is below this reference price. Further, additional value may occur because, intrinsic attributes of the product may provide additional benefits. Furthermore, the model conceptualizes that the perceived value of the offer has a positive effect on buyers purchase intentions and the greater the transaction value, the less their search intention for a lower price. The model proposes specific linkages between these variables and suggests a process of how buyers evaluate product alternatives. To test this model and its propositions, an experiment was conducted. Respondents evaluated a 35mm compact camera given variations in the amount and type of information available for this evaluation. To enhance the reliability of the measures and manipulations, multiple items were used to measure the theoretical constructs. Because of the laboratory setting for the research, emphasis was placed on the precision and control of the procedures and on maximizing the internal validity of the study. A confirmatory factor analytical computer program was used to assess the measurement properties of the scales. Certain relationships were tested utilizing analysis of variance procedures and contrast analysis. The structural model specifying the causal relationships among the variables was analyzed using LISREL VI (a linear structural equation computer analytic program). The LISREL output statistics provided parameter coefficients for the individual relationships, as well as goodness-of-fit of the structural/causal model. The results of this research contribute to our understanding of the way imperfect information affects the efficiency of market operations. Understanding how buyers utilize imperfect information to make economic evaluations provides important information on how they make actual purchase decisions. Additionally, it provides information of how price offers affect buyers’ buyers’ product evaluation and purchase intention. Such knowledge will be useful to managers. / Ph. D.

-- Thèse fournie sans page de titre --Afin de mieux comprendre la physiopathologie des causes gastriques de malabsorption de la vitamine B12, nous nous sommes intéressés au déficit congénital en facteur intrinsèque, une maladie rare caractérisée par une diminution de la sécrétion de facteur intrinsèque (FI) fonctionnel dans le suc gastrique. Dans cette étude, nous rapportons cinq cas porteurs hétérozygotes du variant GIF c.290T>C (p.M97T) et deux cas porteurs hétérozygotes du variant GIF c.435_437delGAA (p.K145_N146delinsN). L'étude fonctionnelle des FI recombinants mutés produits par mutagenèse dirigée a mis en évidence une diminution de l'affinité du FI p.K145_N146delinsN pour la vitamine B12 n'expliquant toutefois pas totalement le phénotype observé chez les sujets. Par ailleurs, une association a été récemment décrite entre le polymorphisme rs601338, c.461 G>A du gène FUT2, codant pour une [alpha]1,2-fucosyltransférase, et les taux plasmatiques de vitamine B12. Afin de compléter notre étude, nous avons évalué l'influence du polymorphisme FUT2 c.461 G>A sur les taux de vitamine B12, de folates et d'homocystéine dans les populations Européennes et Africaines chez 1466 sujets. Notre étude démontre un effet du polymorphisme FUT2 c.461 G>A sur les taux plasmatiques de vitamine B12 et de folates indépendamment de l'âge, du sexe et de l'origine géographique. En conclusion, nos résultats démontrent que le gène du FI (GIF) n'est pas le seul gène impliqué dans la physiopathologie du déficit congénital en facteur intrinsèque. L'étude des malabsorptions d'origine gastrique de la vitamine B12 passe par une approche polygénique dans laquelle le gène FUT2 occupe une place importante / There are multiple causes of gastric vitamin B12 malabsorption. To get a better understanding of their physiopathology, we are interested in inherited gastric intrinsic factor (GIF) deficiency, a vitamin B12 absorption defect characterized by GIF impaired activity. In this study, we report five cases heterozygous carriers of the variant GIF c.290T>C (p.M97T) and two cases heterozygous carriers of the variant GIF c.435_437delGAA (p.K145_N146delinsN). The study of recombinant mutated GIF produced by site-directed mutagenesis evidenced a reduced affinity for vitamin B12 in the case of GIF p.K145_N146delinsN which does not explain fully the phenotypes observed in our subjects. Recently, an association was described between the FUT2 polymorphism rs601338, c.461 G>A, coding for a fucosyltransferase, and plasma levels of vitamin B12. To complete our study, we assessed the influence of FUT2 c.461 G>A polymorphism on vitamin B12, folate and homocysteine in European and African populations in 1466 subjects. Our study demonstrate a clear effect of FUT2 c.461 G>A polymorphism on both plasma levels of vitamin B12 and folate, regardless of age, gender, and geographic origin. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the GIF gene is not the only gene involved in the physiopathology of inherited GIF deficiency. It is necessary to study the gastric causes of vitamin B12 malabsorption through a polygenic approach, in which the FUT2 gene is an important element

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Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Tendinopathy is a common degenerative pathology that is characterized by activity related pain, focal tendon tenderness, intratendinous imaging changes, and typically results in changes in the histological, mechanical, and molecular properties of the tendon. Tendinopathy is difficult to study in humans, which has contributed to limited knowledge of the pathology, and thus a lack of appropriate treatment options. However, most believe that the pathology is degenerative as a result of a combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In order to gain understanding of this pathology, animal models are required. Because each tendon is naturally exposed to different conditions, a universal model is not feasible; therefore, an appropriate animal model must be established for each tendon susceptible to degenerative changes. While acceptable models have been developed for several tendons, a reliable model for the Achilles tendon remains elusive. The purpose of this dissertation was to develop an animal model of Achilles tendinopathy by investigating the individual and combined effects of an intrinsic and extrinsic factor on the rodent Achilles tendon. Rats selectively bred for high capacity running and Sprague Dawley rats underwent uphill treadmill running (an extrinsic factor) to mechanically overload the Achilles tendon or served as cage controls. Collagenase (intrinsic factor) was injected into one Achilles tendon in each animal to intrinsically break down the tendon. There were no interactions between uphill running and collagenase injection, indicating that the influence of the two factors was independent. Uphill treadmill running alone failed to produce any pathological changes in the histological or mechanical characteristics of the Achilles tendon, but did modify molecular activity. Intratendinous collagenase injection had negative effects on the histological, mechanical, and molecular properties of the tendon. The results of this dissertation demonstrated that the combined introduction of uphill treadmill running and collagenase injection did not lead to degenerative changes consistent with human Achilles tendinopathy. Intratendiouns collagenase injection negatively influenced the tendon; however, these changes were generally transient and not influenced by mechanical overload. Future studies should consider combinations of other intrinsic and extrinsic factors in an effort to develop an animal model that replicates human Achilles tendinopathy.