Purpose: The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute new knowledge by examining psychosocial factors and return-to-work profiles of occupational low back pain patients in a rehabilitation clinic. Outcome measures for injured workers with subacute low back pain included: change in measures, program utilization, pain profiles and return-to-work. Methods: A total of 147 patients who met the eligibility criteria and consented, participated in a clinic-based, individualized, exercise-based treatment that included patient education and reassurance. A before-and-after design was used, with data collection on admission to and discharge from the program. Results: Pre-to-post analyses revealed that statistically significant improvements had occurred. However, subgroup analyses revealed differences in responses to treatment among the subgroups. Specifically, two sets of cluster analyses were conducted; each yielded two distinct subgroups of patients, one set with different lengths of time in the program, and another showing two pain intensity profiles. Furthermore, return-to-work rates varied between the groups although the overall return-to-work rate appeared high. Conclusion: Significant improvement was achieved following participation in the return-to-work rehabilitation program. However, participants with subacute nonspecific low back pain do not form a homogenous group in terms of their clinical presentation and responses to rehabilitation. Therefore, special attention might be warranted for subgroups within the sample, whom are at an increased risk for prolonged disability. / Thesis (Ph.D, Kinesiology & Health Studies) -- Queen's University, 2007-09-28 15:40:39.13

The current study investigates the relationship between analyst coverage and the moments of the return distribution. Results are presented to support a time-varying pattern in the premiums associated with the higher moments of returns, particularly for the fourth moment of the distribution. In addition, evidence is presented to suggest that there exists some ex-post and ex-ante forecasting ability based on the use of the higher moments of the return distribution as stock selection criteria. In the second half of the study, results show that as the number of analysts following a firm increases, the third and fourth moments of the return distribution are impacted, with the former being reduced and the latter increased. In addition, the initiation and discontinuation of analyst coverage are both found to be related to the higher moments of the return distribution. The initiation of analyst coverage is associated with a reduction in skewness and an increase in excess kurtosis, while the discontinuation of coverage results in an increase in both of the higher moments of the distribution. Taken together, the results of the two main questions in the current research study suggest that investors seeking higher distributional moments of returns may favor neglected firms over their followed counterparts, particularly in periods of heightened market volatility. In addition, the results show that the two main competing hypotheses concerning the causes of non-normal security returns, namely firm information structure and security liquidity, both impact the higher moments of the return distribution. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-26 12:18:47.528

The purpose of this dissertation is to resolve an apparent conflict between the services that tax preparers provide and the tax preparation services taxpayers seek. Some literature demonstrates that tax professionals equate client advocacy with taking aggressive tax positions and minimizing taxes. Other literature suggests taxpayers seek to increase accuracy and reduce the probability of tax audit when they hire a tax professional. This difference is an "expectation gap."The methodology employed to examine this issue is a survey of tax professionals at various levels of expertise. This survey asks tax preparers what they believe motivates their clients to seek professional tax preparation services. It also asks how aggressive a tax professional should be in minimizing clients' taxes. A similar survey sent to taxpayers who use the services of a tax preparer asked the same questions about taxpayers' primary motivation in seeking professional tax preparation services and then about how they believe their tax preparer would answer the questions about aggressive tax reporting.This dissertation extends the research in several ways. In previous studies, taxpayer motivation has been determined by using a simple checklist or an open-ended question. Instead of using these approaches, I developed a scale using methods that rigorously test for validity. In measuring client advocacy, I use a scale that has been recently developed and used in the literature. While previous research has shown the disparity between what tax professionals provide and what taxpayers want, no study has asked each group how they believe the other group will respond. This will provide a measure of the degree of understanding each group has of the other.This research show that there is an expectation gap between taxpayers and their tax preparers at all levels, and that this gap is statistically significant. However, the actual size of the gap is small; accuracy and client advocacy have the largest gaps. Additional findings are that timesavings is more important to taxpayers with children, that contact with the IRS is correlated with a lower desire to avoid it, and that lower tax knowledge is correlated with stronger desire for an accurate return.

The objective of this thesis is to explain the behaviour of stock returns around the disclosure of different types of information release by UK companies. Previous literature has documented the existence of both market anticipation and the lagged impounding of value relevant information. The main objective of this research is, therefore, to identify the conditions under which investors choose to be informed in anticipation of and in response to, a corporate disclosure. More specifically, we explain the behaviour of stock returns in terms of the costs and benefits which investors must consider when deciding whether to acquire and interpret information. The results indicate that market anticipation is an increasing function of firm size, the number of years a firm has been trading and the volatility of prior stock returns. However, increased voluntary disclosure by firms would appear to reduce the ability of investors to and anticipate and interpret information. The volatility of stock returns, prior to the disclosure, is nevertheless the main driving force behind the explanation of post-announcement drift. There are also indications that investors' initial reactions to both earnings and non-earnings news are not based on informed judgements, and that bad news is generally associated with greater uncertainty than good news. Bad news would appear to be more difficult to anticipate and interpret, relative to good news. On further examination, however, investor anticipation is shown to be largely based on information as opposed to uninformed trading.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the stock return volatility surrounding management earnings forecasts. Disclosure by managers of expected earnings are particularly important communications, and as such, it is important to understand the capital market implications surrounding them. In doing so, the research questions are essentially aimed at examining the stock return volatility, first, at the release of a management earnings forecast, and second, at the eventual announcement of the realised earnings for that period. The first test investigates whether there is an increase in volatility surrounding a management earnings forecast for those firms who release them compared to a matched-firm sample of firms without a management earnings forecast at that date, and then further examines that result based on different forecast antecedents and forecast characteristics. Next, this study tests, for firms who do release a management earnings forecast during the year, whether stock volatility is lower than firms who do not release a management earnings forecast at the eventual earnings announcement date. In brief, the evidence using the Garman and Klass [1980] ???best analytic scale-invariant estimator??? of volatility in an Australian context, between 1993 and 2003, finds that stock return volatility is greater for bad news forecasts, forecasts of low specificity, and forecasts issued by firms perceived ex ante as being of lower credibility using both permutation analysis and modelling daily volatility. At the earnings announcement date, however, there is no evidence that stock return volatility is lower for firms that issue management earnings forecasts during the year. Overall, this result challenges the information asymmetry argument in the literature that disclosure will reduce volatility in the long-run.

The ecology of human development has been shown to be different for different cultures and sub-cultures within a particular culture, and to play a significant part in shaping the outcome traits or character profile exhibited by individuals who experience a given ecology. This is the case for members of that sub-culture of children who spend childhood years abroad; who expect to eventually repatriate to their passport country. Those who experience the phenomenon have been called Third Culture Kids or TCKs, and the outcome profile for those with a North American background has been identified. However, no literature on children in the Australasian context exists. A progressive naturalistic study, using both qualitative and quantitative methodology, was undertaken providing foundational data on the experience of adult Australasians (Australians and New Zealanders) who had experienced such a childhood ecology. The Australasian self-reported reflections were compared with descriptions of the North American and international experience presented in existing literature. Further, accepted models of human development were merged and adapted to produce a TCK-specific model of human development. This model was a significant product of this research project. Components of particular importance to development that nurtured the outcome profile traits were identified and represented in the model. The study incorporated three phases: phase 1 involved the in-depth interview of 3 respondents who had experienced the TCK ecology on three different continents, phase 2 involved data collection on the demographics of the broader Australasian TCK population asking questions about family choices, education, and career trajectories (N=50), and phase 3 collected in-depth descriptions of the childhood TCK ecology through voluntary response to an extensive written survey and asked for comparison with the imagined alternative ecology had respondents remained in their passport country (N=45). In both phases 1 and 3 respondents were asked to describe character traits they believed they manifested as a direct result of immersion in the TCK ecology and then suggest traits they might otherwise have manifested had the imagined alternative ecology been the nurturing environment. Tabulation of the emerging data allowed comparison and contrast with the North American outcome profile traits that have been described in literature. In both tabulations many outcome profile traits were identified as being in polar contrast with each other; the TCK could manifest either or both of the apparently opposing traits. Manifestation was dependent upon the immediate context within which the TCK was functioning. There was shown to be a significant overlap in the outcome profile for Australasians and North Americans. However, in this study Australasians presented stronger in their self-report of altered relational patterns and traits related to resourcefulness and practical abilities than was described in the North American literature. In comparing outcome profile traits of the real TCK ecology and those that were associated with the imagined alternative ecology respondents reported that they would have been more confident and more socially competent, but less tolerant and less globally aware had they been raised in the passport country. The self-reported outcome traits or profile were linked to the developmental ecology by exploring the processes and tensions that were at work. It was shown that dynamic tensions emerged and increased in valence as the individual gradually developed polarised traits that manifested according to engagement in the multiple contexts the TCK was required to manage. The results of this study have implications for those who deploy families abroad, as well as those who educate, and nurture the social potential of TCKs. This study has served to extend understanding of the phenomenon at the international level and laid a foundation for specific understanding of the Australasian context.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / 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 April 29, 2009) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Auburn University, 2009. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 37-39).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [163]-168).

Thesis (Master of Arts)--Koryŏ Taehakkyo, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-94).