The long-term climatic and environmental history of Southeast Asia is still fragmentary. This thesis therefore aims at studying lake sediment/peat sequences using a multi-proxy approach to reconstruct the environmental history and the impact of past changes in monsoon variability and intensity on lake ecosystems in Thailand. The study focuses on two lakes located in northeast Thailand: the larger Lake Kumphawapi and the smaller Lake Pa Kho. The comparison of multiple sediment sequences and their proxies from Kumphawapi suggests a strengthening of the summer monsoon between c. 10,000 and 7000 cal yr BP. Parts of the lake had been transformed into a wetland/peatland by c. 7000 cal yr BP, while the deeper part of the basin still contained areas of shallow water until c. 6600 cal yr BP. This gradual lowering of the lake level can point to a weakening of the summer monsoon. Paleoenvironmental information for the time interval between 6200 and 1800 cal yr BP is limited due to a several thousand-year long hiatus. This new investigation demonstrates that arguments using the phytolith and pollen record of Lake Kumphawapi to support claims of early rice agriculture in the region or an early start of the Bronze Age are not valid, because these were based upon the assumption of continuous deposition. The lithostratigraphy and multi-proxy reconstructions for Pa Kho support a strengthened summer monsoon between 2120-1580 cal yr BP, 1150-980 cal yr BP, and after 500 cal yr BP; and a weakening of the summer monsoon between 1580-1150 cal yr BP and between 650-500 cal yr BP. The increase in run-off and higher nutrient supply after AD 1700 can be linked to agricultural intensification in the region. Conclusively, the Holocene records from northeast Thailand add important paleoclimatic information for Southeast Asia and allow discussing past monsoon variability and movements of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in greater detail. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Accepted. Paper 5: Manuscript.</p>

Although there have been many studies examining the factors involved in children’s risk of injury, there has been a dearth of research that examines specific individual parental factors in children’s risk of injury. This thesis examined how the attitudes, values, and beliefs of 119 Canadian minor hockey parents of children (aged 9 to 12 years) with respect to their decision-making regarding their children’s safe participation in hockey. Two studies are reported. The first study describes: (a) the development of a questionnaire that quantifies the constructs of perceived control, probabilities, values, risk propensity, competitiveness, and assertiveness expectancies; and (b) a sample of hockey parents in terms of their demographic characteristics and their attitudes, values, and beliefs regarding their children’s participation in minor hockey. The second study examined the relationships between these attitudes, values, and beliefs and a measure of their risk decision-making. Overall, results showed that (a) this sample of hockey parents tended to be well educated, and did not see themselves as being generally over-competitive or aggressive; (b) hockey parents’ attitudes, values, and beliefs regarding their children’s risk of concussion had very little predictive value or reliable connection with respect to their risk decision-making on behalf of their children; and (c) the most significant factors in parents’ risk decision-making were the opinions of their children, and the opinions of the doctors. The implications of these findings for future research and practice are discussed. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2012-12-21 16:12:00.221

Social Cognitive Theory (SCT: Bandura, 1997) has been used successfully in understanding exercise adherence. To date, the majority of the exercise research has focused on situations of personal agency (i. e. , self as agent: e. g. , McAuley & Blissmer, 2000). However, there are a number of exercise situations in which people look to others to help them manage their exercise participation by enlisting a <i>proxy-agent</i> (Bandura, 1997). While using assistance from a proxy can promote the development of self-regulatory skills, Bandura (1997) cautions that reliance on a proxy actually reduces mastery experiences which can result in an inability to self-regulate one?s behaviour. Although research examined proxy-agency in exercise (e. g. , Bray et al. , 2001), the issue of reliance on the proxy at the expense of the participant?s ability to adjust to exercise without that agent has not been investigated. This potential dilemma of proxy-agency in exercise was at the core of this dissertation and was investigated in a series of three studies. Study 1 investigated whether those who differed in preferred level of proxy-contact also differed in their social-cognitions both within and outside a proxy-led exercise context. In addition, the relationships between proxy-efficacy, reliance and self-efficacy were examined. Results indicated that participants who preferred regular contact with an exercise proxy had lower self-regulatory efficacy, lower task efficacy, and weaker intentions in a proxy-led exercise context. Further, high-contact participants were shown to be less efficacious in dealing with the behavioural challenge of sudden class elimination. It was also demonstrated that higher reliance on the instructor was associated with lower self-efficacy and higher proxy-efficacy. Study 2 served to extend the findings of Study 1 through the examination of behavioural differences characteristic of differential levels of preferred proxy contact and the reasons for use of proxy-agency. It was found that exercise class participants preferring high contact with a proxy found exercising independently more difficult than did their low contact counterparts. It was also found that when faced with class elimination, those preferring high contact chose a self-managed activity alternative less frequently than did those preferring low contact. High contact participants also reported feeling less confident, less satisfied and perceived their alternative activity as more difficult than did those preferring low contact. In examining the reasons for preferring high proxy-contact, results indicated that a preference for high contact was associated with having had less experience exercising independently and allotting more responsibility for in-class participation to the class instructor as compared to preferring low proxy-contact. Study 3 used Lent and Lopez?s (2002) tripartite model of efficacy beliefs to examine the associations between relational efficacies (i. e. , other-efficacy and relation inferred self-efficacy (RISE) beliefs, proxy-efficacy) and various social cognitions relevant to proxy-agency. Results revealed that relational efficacies were distinct yet related constructs which additively predicted self-regulatory efficacy, satisfaction, intended intensity and reliance. Relational efficacies were also shown to make unique contributions to the predictions of the relevant social-cognitions. It was also demonstrated that RISE beliefs were associated with the attributions participants made. Specifically, higher RISE beliefs was associated with making more internal, personally controllable and stable attributions. These results represent the initial examination of relational efficacy beliefs in the exercise literature and provide additional evidence of the proxy-agency dilemma in exercise. Taken together, the present series of studies both support theorizing by Bandura on the dilemma of proxy-agency and represent an extension of the existing literature of proxy-agency in exercise. Results suggest that seemingly healthy, regularly exercising adults who choose to employ proxy-agency may be at risk for nonadherence in situations of behavioural challenge. The current findings have important implications for exercise leaders and interventionists as they must be aware of the balance between helping and hindering.

Thesis advisor: Philp E. Strahan / This dissertation is comprised of three essays which examine the interactions among credit market innovation, corporate finance, and information intermediaries. In the first essay, I study the role of credit default swaps (CDS) in reducing credit supply frictions for corporate borrowers. I find that firms whose CDS is included in a major CDS index--the CDX North American Investment Grade index--have significantly lower cost of debt, and in response rely more heavily on debt for external financing. To address the potential endogeneity of index addition, I use a regression discontinuity design by exploiting the index inclusion rule, which allows me to compare firms that are just above and below the index inclusion cutoff. I show that index inclusion improves the liquidity of underlying single-name CDSs, which enables constituent firms' debtholders to better hedge their credit risk exposure. My findings suggest that CDS market benefits investment-grade borrowers by alleviating the supply-side frictions in credit markets. In the second essay, we investigate the role of proxy advisory firms in shareholder voting. Proxy advisory firms have become important players in corporate governance, but the extent of their influence over shareholder votes is debated. We estimate the effect of Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommendations on voting outcomes by exploiting exogenous variation in ISS recommendations generated by a cutoff rule in its voting guidelines. Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that in 2010-2011, a negative ISS recommendation on a say-on-pay proposal leads to a 25 percentage point reduction in say-on-pay voting support, suggesting strong influence over shareholder votes. We also use our setting to examine the informational role of ISS recommendations. In the third essay, I examine how Moody's ratings have responded to the introduction of Credit Default Swap (CDS) market--an important innovation in credit markets in the past decade. I find that ratings quality of CDS firms, measured as default predictive power, improved significantly after the onset of CDS trading, consistent with a disciplining role of the CDS market. I show that ratings become more accurate in terms of less failure to warn (i.e. rating a defaulter too high) which is not accompanied by a rise of false alarms. In addition, rating downgrades are significantly more likely to be preceded by negative outlook or a watch for downgrade. The results are robust to controlling for the endogeneity of CDS trading. Overall, the evidence suggests that, in response to the CDS market developments, Moody's ratings become better at differentiating bad issuers from good ones as opposed to a "cookie-cutter'' approach to more conservative ratings. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Finance.

This thesis examines the evidence for iron production and use during the Scottish Iron Age, circa 800 BC to AD 800, and is the first attempt at synthesising this evidence for Scotland. The broad aim is to gain a better understanding of the development, organisation and scale of iron production throughout this period. Four regional case studies focussing on Orkney, Skye, the Lothians and the Moray Firth provide the opportunity to examine different aspects of this aim through analysing excavated ironworking debris, iron artefacts and their context. Proxy evidence is also examined, namely whetstones and toolmarks on bone/ antler assemblages, in order to fill in some of the gaps in the iron artefact record due to poor preservation or ancient recycling. Some 500kg of ironworking debris, over 1500 iron artefacts, around 200 whetstones and over 2000 worked bone/ antler artefacts from the four regions were examined. The regional case studies are followed by a Scotland-wide discussion will also place the Scottish evidence within its wider context. The research shows rare, sporadic early evidence for iron production and use from around 800BC in Scotland, with production sites and iron artefact assemblages noticeably increasing from around 400BC. The Moray Firth area provides evidence of several intensive ironworking sites, while the Lothians have produced scant evidence, demonstrating regional variation in iron production across Scotland. The long settlement sequences of Orkney allow chronological variations to be examined, revealing changes in iron production organisation from the Middle to Late Iron Ages. Some of the earliest iron artefacts in Scotland, from a ritual cave site on Skye, provide the opportunity to examine structured deposition of iron, with similar depositional patterns identified across Scotland. The use of proxy evidence fleshes out the picture, revealing common use of tools such as iron saws, which rarely survive archaeologically.

The hydrology of southwestern British Columbia is influenced by the region’s mountainous topography and climate oscillations generated from the Pacific Ocean. While much of the region is characterized as a temperate rainforest, recent summers are defined by record-breaking droughts that focus attention on the threat to regional water supply security likely to accompany future climate changes. The limited length and distribution of hydrological records in southwestern British Columbia provide poor context for resource managers tasked with developing policy and water management strategies. The purpose of the dissertation was to describe long-term variability in several key hydroclimatic variables and hydroecological interactions that may be used in updated water resource policy and management strategies. Specifically, the research focused on developing long-term proxy records of April 1 snow water equivalent (SWE), summer streamflow, spring lake levels, and salmon abundance from tree ring records. A secondary goal of the dissertation was to identify the role and influence of several key climate oscillations on regional long-term hydroclimatic and ecological variability. Freshet contributions from melting snow are critical for sustained summer streamflow in southwestern British Columbia. Even so, few manual snow survey stations exist within the region are of sufficient length to understand the full range of natural SWE variability. Long-term April 1 SWE records were constructed by establishing statistical relationships with the radial growth of high-elevation trees and April 1 SWE records. Explaining 51% and 73% of the total variance in the instrumental SWE records in coastal and continental settings, the reconstructions provide high-resolution descriptions of April 1 SWE over the past three centuries and help position the remainder of the dissertation. Negative phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) were shown to strongly influence April 1 SWE totals. Both reconstructions illustrate repeated step-changes in April 1 SWE during the last 300 years and show that coastal areas may be more sensitive to annual variability than snowpack that accumulates in more continental locations. Water shortages in the Metro Vancouver area in recent summers are linked to low total winter snowpack and early spring melt. Dendrohydrological analysis of dry-season streamflow was conducted to determine if the instrumental range has been underestimated over the past several centuries. A regionalized record of July-August streamflow for the Capilano and Seymour watersheds, which supply the Metro Vancouver area, was modelled from present to 1711using tree-rings. Explaining 54% of total variance over the instrumental period, the models show that below-average streamflow events are becoming more frequent. When compared to those characterizing the past 300 years, streamflow totals from 1977 to present have consistently fallen well-below the average long-term discharge. Further analyses indicated that negative ENSO and PDO conditions strongly influenced July-August runoff trends since 1711, as have climate regimes related to the Pacific North American pattern (PNA). The increased frequency in recent years of reduced summer runoff in southwestern British Columbia has led many communities to rely on natural and dammed reservoirs to supplement their water needs. Where communities rely on natural lakes, this dependence may have socioeconomic consequences if lake levels fall below those necessary to supply built infrastructure. Unfortunately, there are few lake level records in southwestern British Columbia and none of sufficient duration to understand the full range of variability in natural lake systems. Harrison Lake is the only natural lake with a lake level record exceeding 50 years. Using the average April water level dataset, a dendrohydrological model was constructed that explained 49.5% of total variance. The model was used to reconstruct a proxy record of April water levels spanning the interval from 1711 to 1980. Averaging 9.37 m in depth, lake levels in Harrison Lake ranged from 8.9 to 10.0 m over the past 300 years. These variations were shown to be statistically associated with negative and positive phases of ENSO and positive phases of PDO. April water levels in Harrison Lake have been, on average, 0.13 m lower since the mid-1930s compared to the previous 200 years. This reduction in storage capacity amounts to a loss of almost 300-million litres of stored water since the start of instrumental records. Salmon play a vital economic, cultural, and social role in many southwestern British Columbia communities. There is concern that salmon populations in the region are under threat, as changing climates alter and impact their spawning habitat. While various lines of research have sought to determine the response of salmon to these changing conditions, population records that extend only to 1951 hinder a complete understanding of the impacts. Two dendroecological models were constructed to provide a longer-term perspective of regional salmon-climate relationships. Explaining 48.2% and 48.9% of variance in observed Chinook and Coho salmon abundance since 1951, the models were used to construct proxy escapement records extending to the 1700s. Spectral analysis revealed that the reconstructions account for generational life histories and that low-frequency climate variability was associated with fluctuations in abundance. Both the Chinook and the Coho reconstructions show phase dependent relationships to climate oscillations generated from the Pacific Ocean. The Coho record is strongly linked to negative winter and spring ENSO, while the Chinook record was shown to be associated with negative PDO conditions. The identified relationships to teleconnections generated in the Pacific Ocean to our record indicates that both species are sensitive to oceanic interactions prior to entering natal habitats. Taken together, the reconstructions illustrate that the observational record encompasses a period of lower-than-average abundance and that neither accounts for the full range of variability in annual abundance when considered over the past three centuries. The proxy tree-ring records presented in this dissertation provide new information about climate-water resource relationships in southwestern British Columbia. Significant phase-dependent associations, especially to negative phases of the PDO and ENSO, were shown to exert long-term influences on the state of several critical hydroclimatic variables over the last 300 years. Additionally, the research illustrates that over the instrumental period, both streamflow and lake volumes in the region have consistently remained below those characterizing the previous two to three centuries. These findings are of direct use to resource managers tasked with developing new policy and strategies under present and future climate change, in that they offer singular insights into the full range of natural hydroclimatic variability in southwestern British Columbia. / Graduate

This thesis discusses how local forces, despite being the weaker actor in a proxy relationship, manipulate external powers’ support to pursue their own objectives. Three factors – practical advantage, relative will, and diverging objectives – explain this counterintuitive power dynamic. First, local forces have better local knowledge, more extensive networks, and greater legitimacy, which give them leverage and make them desirable partners. Second, local forces' involvement is often existential rather than selective; unlike external powers, local forces are thus unconstrained by domestic political vulnerabilities. This enables them to close the significant power gap with external powers. Third, local forces' objectives may diverge from their sponsors', creating incentives for exploitation and manipulation of external support to pursue their own agenda, regardless of the external powers’ interests. These three factors effectively explain the dynamic between the Soviet Union and Cuba during the Angolan civil war and the relationship between the U.S. and the Kurds in the fight against ISIS. Cuba mostly operated within the Soviet strategic parameters, while at the same time manipulating Soviet support to forward its own interests in Africa. The Kurds manipulated U.S. support while fighting ISIS to acquire territories and to pursue autonomy and independence, goals inconsistent with US interests. Further research is still needed to identify under what conditions local partners will wield this counterintuitive power, since there also are cases in which this does not take place.

It is well understood that substantial health inequality exists for adults with an intellectual disability (AWID). In comparison to the general population AWID experience higher rates of morbidity and mortality associated with sedentary lifestyles, yet little is known about the role physical activity plays in preventing or mediating this outcome for this segment of society. Without appropriate instrumentation, it is not possible to address the inadequacies that currently exist in the area of physical activity and AWID. The primary aim of the series of studies in this thesis was to develop a psychometrically sound proxy-respondent measurement tool that could be used by researchers, epidemiologists and public health personnel to gather information on the physical activity behaviours of AWID. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is an internationally published tool with good psychometric properties when used as a self-report tool with adults without a disability (AWOID), but no evidence exists as to the validity or reliability of this tool when used by proxy respondents to report on the physical activity behaviour of AWID. Given little is known about the energy expenditure characteristics of AWID, nor the accuracy of tools developed for AWOID when applied to AWID, two secondary aims of this thesis were to measure the energy expended by AWID and AWOID during seven common activities of daily living (ADL) and to assess the accuracy of an objective physical activity measurement tool (Caltrac® accelerometer) for use with AWID. Evidence gathered through the studies in this thesis found that as the energy demand of ADL increased there was an increase in the difference between energy expended by AWID and AWOID. Results indicated that AWID achieved moderate-intensity physical activity when walking at a pace of 3.0 km/hr or more. The proxy-respondent telephone questionnaire (IPAQ-ID) described in this thesis allows for universal assessment of the physical activity behaviours of AWID. The IPAQ-ID was found to have measurement properties equivalent to measurement tools used among AWOID. The IPAQ-ID was found to be suitable for use as a surveillance tool by researchers to collect comparable data on health-enhancing physical activity behaviours of AWID.

<p>Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur litteraturen samt personer som arbetar med barn beskriver ärenden som innehåller en problembild som anknyter till Munchausen by proxy (MBP). MBP är en form av barnmisshandel där förövaren hittar på, framkallar eller överdriver symtom hos barnet. Materialet består av data från en litteraturstudie samt intervjuer med två personer. Metoden som använts för analys av materialet är meningskategorisering. Resultaten kopplades till de teoretiska begreppen anknytning och projektion. Studien visade att vissa beteenden hos föräldern är karaktäristiska då MBP förekommer. Det vanligast förekommande verkar vara förälderns benägenhet att söka vård för barnet samt den ihärdighet med vilken vården krävs. Vidare visar resultatet att samspelet mellan förälder och barn påverkas av att MBP förekommer. Förövaren kan agera som hon gör pga. bristande empati eller ilska. Barnets självuppfattning påverkas av samspelet mellan förälder och barn. Vissa orsaker till MBP kan relateras till föräldrarollen. Resultatet visar att framgångsrik behandling av förövare kräver ett erkännande av misshandeln. Resultatet visar på de starka känslor MBP väcker hos personer som arbetar med det. Det kan bero på föreställningar om förövarna som personalen har. Förövarna framställer sig som engagerade föräldrar och personalen känner sig lurad när MBP upptäcks.</p>

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur litteraturen samt personer som arbetar med barn beskriver ärenden som innehåller en problembild som anknyter till Munchausen by proxy (MBP). MBP är en form av barnmisshandel där förövaren hittar på, framkallar eller överdriver symtom hos barnet. Materialet består av data från en litteraturstudie samt intervjuer med två personer. Metoden som använts för analys av materialet är meningskategorisering. Resultaten kopplades till de teoretiska begreppen anknytning och projektion. Studien visade att vissa beteenden hos föräldern är karaktäristiska då MBP förekommer. Det vanligast förekommande verkar vara förälderns benägenhet att söka vård för barnet samt den ihärdighet med vilken vården krävs. Vidare visar resultatet att samspelet mellan förälder och barn påverkas av att MBP förekommer. Förövaren kan agera som hon gör pga. bristande empati eller ilska. Barnets självuppfattning påverkas av samspelet mellan förälder och barn. Vissa orsaker till MBP kan relateras till föräldrarollen. Resultatet visar att framgångsrik behandling av förövare kräver ett erkännande av misshandeln. Resultatet visar på de starka känslor MBP väcker hos personer som arbetar med det. Det kan bero på föreställningar om förövarna som personalen har. Förövarna framställer sig som engagerade föräldrar och personalen känner sig lurad när MBP upptäcks.