Academic research in 360-degree feedback continues to be dominated by a positivist approach with analyses of the feedback ratings. In contrast, this qualitative study explores how people make sense of 360, across the chain of meaning making involving not only raters and feedback recipients but also HR managers, facilitators and external consultants. Two corporate case studies in the pharmaceutical sector show how 360 evolves as a social process and carries a variety of meanings in different organisations and management contexts. Quasi-scientific rituals are revealed, demonstrating the existence of pseudo-anonymity and of complex use of numerical ratings and narrative comments. Woven alongside these corporate case studies is an autoethnography, which examines emotional and cognitive responses to two rounds of 360 asking for feedback on coaching performance. The autoethnographic thread allows insights into the dynamic relationship between academic and practitioner perspectives, as the researcher moves between both worlds. This PhD makes three contributions: the conceptualisation of 360 as a social process; the questioning of taken-for-granted customs within 360; and a methodological contribution to the development of autoethnographic practice.

Sammanfattning Bakgrund: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) i nucleus ventralis intermedius i thalamus (VIM) eller caudala zona incerta (cZi) ger goda effekter på tremorsymptomen för patienter med essentiell tremor. Patienterna som behandlats med DBS kan få bieffekter som i vissa fall leder till talpåverkan, så kallad stimuleringsinducerad dysartri. Huruvida det finns risk för bieffekter som drabbar röstens funktion hos patienter med essentiell tremor saknas studier kring men man vet att grundsjukdomen kan påverka rösten akustiskt samt att vissa patienter utvecklar rösttremor. Att drabbas av en bieffekt efter DBS kan ha en inverkan på hur patienten subjektivt upplever resultatet av behandlingen.     Mål: Att undersöka om patienter med essentiell tremor som genomgått DBS subjektivt upplever någon form av röst- eller talbesvär jämfört med en frisk, ålders- och könsmatchad kontrollgrupp.   Metod: I studien deltog sammanlagt 42 deltagare varav 21 tillhörde en patientgrupp med essentiell tremor som genomgått DBS i cZi och de övriga 21 tillhörde en frisk, ålders- och könsmatchad kontrollgrupp. Deltagarna i de båda grupperna fick fylla i två formulär, RHI som berör röstens funktion och SOFT som berör talets funktion. Deltagarna som tillhörde patientgruppen fick också svara på fem fördjupande frågor om deras subjektiva upplevelse. Den statistiska signifikanstestningen genomfördes med avseende på om det fanns en skillnad i självskattningen mellan de båda grupperna.   Resultat: Resultaten i denna studie visade att patienterna med essentiell tremor s0m är behandlade med DBS skattar en signifikant större del subjektiva svårigheter av sin egen röst- och talfunktion jämfört med den friska kontrollgruppen.   Slutsats: Resultaten visade att det på gruppnivå finns signifikant större andel upplevda svårigheter relaterade till tal- och röstfunktionen hos patienter med essentiell tremor behandlade med DBS jämfört med en frisk kontrollgrupp. Resultaten visar även en stor individuell variation av den subjektiva upplevelsen av tal och röstpåverkan vilket är viktig information att delge patienter som ska genomgå DBS. Ett preoperativt samtal med logoped för information om möjliga bieffekter vid DBS och hur detta kan påverka patienten subjektivt är nödvändigt. De patienter som subjektivt upplever besvär med talet eller rösten bör erbjudas kontakt med logoped. / Abstract Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of ventralis intermedius nucleus of thalamus (VIM) or caudala zona incerta (cZi) have been shown to be efficient in supressing tremor symptoms in patients with essential tremor. Patients who has been treated with DBS may acquire certain side effects of which in some cases results in an impact on the patients speech, known as stimulation- induced dysarthria. There is a lack of studies that investigate if there is a risk of side effects that is affecting voice functioning in patients with essential tremor. Previous studies have claimed that the disease itself may have an effect on the voice acoustics and that some patients develop voice tremor. The occurrence of a side effect caused by DBS may have an impact on the patients subjective experience of the treatment result.   Aim: To investigate whether patients with essential tremor treated with DBS are subjectively experiencing any form of voice or speech disability compared to a healthy, age and sex matched control group.   Method: The study included 42 participants all together whereof 21 was part of a patient group with essential tremor treated with DBS in cZi and the other 21 participants was part of a healthy, age and sex matched control group. The participants of both groups filled out two different forms, VHI (RHI) which affects voice function and SOFT which affects speech function. The participants in the patient group also answered five profound questions about their subjective experience. The test of statistical significance was performed with regard of if a difference was to be found in the self-ratings between the two groups.   Results: The results of the study show that patients with essential tremor whom have been treated with DBS rates a significantly greater amount of subjective difficulties related to the voice and speech functioning compared to the healthy control group.   Conclusion: The results show that the DBS-treated patients with essential tremor experience a significantly greater amount of subjective difficulties related to voice and speech functioning compared to a healthy control group. The results also show a great individual variety in the subjective experience of speech and voice function which is important information to notify patients who are due to undergo DBS-treatment. A preoperative meeting with a speech and language pathologist to be informed of possible side effects caused by the DBS and in what ways this can effect the patient subjectively is required. Patients who postoperatively experience a negative effect on speech or voice functioning should be offered contact with a speech and language pathologist. / Tal- och rösteffekter av djup hjärnstimulering hos patienter med ärftlig tremor

This paper looks at whether firms’ credit ratings are negatively affected by litigation risk after controlling for known factors that affect credit ratings. The conventional wisdom is that litigation risk and credit ratings have an inverse relationship. However, my hypothesis is that the inverse relationship will not be stable if the model of credit ratings has taken other factors into account. The methodology first constructs a model of litigation risk, and then regress the credit ratings on the measurement of litigation risk. Previous empirical research on litigation risk measurement uses industry proxies as indicators for litigation risk. In this paper, I include firm characteristics and the Beneish M-score (a determinant for earnings manipulation) in addition to the industry proxy to construct an alternative model measuring litigation risk. I find that supplementing the Francis, Philbrick and Schipper (1994a, b; hereafter FPS) industry proxy with measures of firm characteristics improves predictive ability. In the model of credit ratings, I find that the change of litigation risk has a negative correlation with the credit ratings. However, the negative coefficient on the change of litigation risk changes to a positive one after controlling for other variables such as firm size, return on asset, and interest coverage ratio. This finding provides support for the hypothesis that the negative correlation between the credit ratings and litigation risk is not stable. This suggests that credit ratings may not incorporate litigation risk specifically although litigation can lead to firms’ financial damage and reputation crisis. However, the negative coefficient on the change of litigation risk remains unchanged when I control for the year fixed effects. I also find a negative correlation between the year 2007 and credit ratings due to financial crisis. The results are not conclusive given the likely simultaneous determination of litigation risk and credit ratings.

Objective: Past research indicates that comorbid anxiety and depression in youth is associated with greater functional impairment than anxiety alone. To elucidate those factors which may increase vulnerability to depressive disorders, the current study examined several clinical correlates (i.e., feelings ratings, parental psychopathology symptoms, and family functioning) of comorbid depressive symptoms in young anxious children. Method: Sixty-eight children, aged 6 to 10 years (M = 9.06, SD = 1.10), and caregivers completed measures assessing child depressive symptoms. Furthermore, children completed self reports of anxiety symptoms, feelings ratings, and family functioning, while caregivers completed self reports of psychopathology symptoms and family functioning. Predictors of child depressive symptoms were examined separately for girls and boys. Results: In females, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for anxiety, higher sadness and lower positive feelings accounted for 30% of variance in child-reported depressive symptoms. Further analyses indicated that child-reported overall family dysfunction moderated the relationship between positive feelings and depressive symptoms, such that high family dysfunction increased the risk of depressive symptoms in females with low positive emotions. In males, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that, after controlling for anxiety, higher negative/hostile feelings and child-reported overall family dysfunction accounted for 19% of variance in child-reported depressive symptoms. Further analyses of family functioning in males revealed that child-reported family cohesion and conflict were negatively and positively correlated, respectively, with depressive symptoms. Family dysfunction did not moderate the relationship between feelings ratings and depressive symptoms. The only significant predictor of caregiver-reported child depressive symptoms, for males only, was caregiver self-reported overall psychopathology symptoms. Further analyses indicated that, for males, caregiver depression and hostility symptoms correlated positively with caregiver-reported child depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Different patterns of emotion and family functioning predicted self-reported depressive symptoms in males and females. Self and caregiver reports of child depressive symptoms were not related, with only caregivers’ psychopathology symptoms predicting their reports of child depressive symptoms. Results suggest the importance of assessing child-reported feelings and family dysfunction, and parental symptomatology, of clinically anxious children. To prevent future depressive disorders in these children, different targets of intervention for males and females may be warranted.

The three big credit rating agencies released their unsolicited ratings since 1996 and all of these unsolicited ratings are given to banks in Asia, especially in the emerging markets. This study aims to test whether there are differences between solicited and unsolicited bank ratings. We compare the financial profiles of solicited and unsolicited banks and investigate the factors that influence banks’ credit ratings. The empirical results show that unsolicited bank ratings are significantly lower than solicited ratings. It is seen that the financial variables of banks with solicited ratings are also better than those with unsolicited ratings. However, the profitability of banks with solicited ratings is significantly lower than those with unsolicited ratings. We see that listed and commercial banks tend to have lower credit ratings and it could be due to the fact that listed banks may face the volatility of their short-term stock prices, so their operating strategies are influenced by market noise, which leads to inferior performance. The reason why commercial banks tend to have lower credit ratings is that commercial banks face so fierce competition that their profitability is compressed. In the last section, we use an ordered probit model to examine the determinants of Fitch’s rating. We find that sovereign credit risk, solicited status, listed status, bank specialization, profitability and asset quality are the major factors influencing Fitch’s bank credit ratings.

A key feature of best practice prudential supervision of financial institutions is the use of a risk rating system to formalise the outcome of supervisory reviews and ongoing monitoring processes. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) implemented the Probability and Impact Rating System (PAIRS) in 2002. Given the favourable economic conditions in which PAIRS was developed and has so far operated, any form of validation using backtesting methods is prevented. Consequently, this thesis seeks to develop a framework with which to evaluate and better understand the PAIRS risk rating system for authorised deposit-taking institutions. Specifically, we specify and estimate models in which the risk ratings are related to the statistical data that supervisors have access to when forming their expert judgement assessments of the PAIRS risk components. Whereas prior studies have generally focused on the overall supervisory rating, we model the primary components of the PAIRS rating (inherent risk, management and control risk, and capital support risk) as well as the aggregate risk of failure rating. Using a sample of ratings from 2002 to 2006, we find that the statistical data is able to explain much of the variability in ratings for credit unions and building societies (CUBS) and Australian and foreign subsidiary banks but not foreign bank branches. As expected, the regressions are stronger for inherent risk and capital support risk ratings than management and control risk ratings. However, supervisors?? consideration of adverse qualitative factors adds considerable explanatory power to a model based solely on statistical data, particularly for management and control risk ratings. We also model the determinants of supervisory exceptions and capital adequacy breaches over 1992 to 2006 and find that the risk indicators associated with a higher likelihood of an exception and/or breach are generally consistent with the risk indicators associated with supervisory risk ratings. The outcomes of the thesis have a number of policy implications and practical applications. For example, the estimated models have the potential to be used as a quality and consistency tool to detect rating outliers within PAIRS. We also propose some improvements to APRA??s exception reporting system for CUBS.

The technique of �open throat� is a pedagogical concept transmitted through the oral tradition of singing. This thesis explored the pedagogical perceptions and practices of �open throat� using empirical methodologies to assess technical skill and associated vocal quality. In the first study (Mitchell, Kenny, Ryan, & Davis, 2003), we assessed the degree of consensus amongst singing pedagogues regarding the definition of, and use in the singing studio of the technique called �open throat.� Results indicated that all fifteen pedagogues described �open throat� technique as fundamental to singing training and were positive about the sound quality it achieved, especially in classical singing. It was described as a way of maximising pharyngeal space or abducting the false vocal folds. Hypotheses generated from pedagogical beliefs expressed in this first study were then tested acoustically (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a, 2004b). Six advanced singing students sang in two conditions: �optimal� (O), using maximal open throat, �sub-optimal� (SO), using reduced open throat and loud sub-optimal (LSO) to control for the effect of loudness. From these recordings, acoustic characteristics of vibrato (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004b) and energy distribution (Mitchell & Kenny, 2004a) were examined. Subsequent investigations of the vibrato parameters of rate, extent and onset, revealed that extent was significantly reduced and onset increased when singers did not use the technique. As inconsistent vibrato is considered indicative of poor singing, it was hypothesized that testing the energy distribution in these singers� voices in each condition would identify the timbral changes associated with open throat. Visual inspection of long term average spectra (LTAS) confirmed differences between O and SO, but conventional measures applied to long term average spectra (LTAS), comparing energy peak height [singing power ratio (SPR)] and peak area [energy ratio (ER)] were not sensitive to the changes identified through visual inspection of the LTAS. These results were not consistent with the vibrato findings and suggest that conventional measures of SPR and ER are not sufficiently sensitive to evaluate LTAS. In the fourth study, fifteen expert listeners consistently and reliably identified the presence of open throat technique with 87% accuracy (Mitchell & Kenny, in press). In the fifth study, LTAS measurements were examined with respect to the perceptual ratings of singers. There was no relationship between perceptual rankings of vocal beauty and acoustic rankings of vocal quality (Kenny & Mitchell, 2004, in press). There is a vast literature of spectral energy definitions of good voice but the studies in this thesis have indicated that current acoustic methods are limited in defining vocal quality. They also suggest that current work in singing has not sufficiently incorporated perceptual ratings and descriptions of sound quality or the relationship between acoustic and perceptual factors with pedagogical practices.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-128). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis contains three empirical studies on the US corporate bond market; each chapter is self-contained and can be read independently. Chapter 1 studies the impact of credit rating changes on corporate bond returns. This study uses a large dataset of corporate bond transactions from the TRACE database for the US corporate bond market, combined with credit rating changes from Fitch, Moody's and Standard and Poor's (S&P), to analyse over 22,000 bonds, coupled with approximately 28,400 rating events over nearly six years. The results show that the bond market responds to news on credit quality asymmetrically: credit rating downgrades, representing bad news for bond holders, produce the strongest response in returns, whilst upgrades do not generate a statistically significant increase in returns. Chapter 2 analyses how order flow (investor "buy" and "sell" trades), impacts corporate bond prices. Order flow plays an important informational role, acting as a conduit through which private information about fundamental value is aggregated into prices. Using intraday transaction data from the TRACE database, I analyse over 1,000 of the most liquid corporate bonds, a total of 9.5 million trades. Drawing on similar studies of other markets, the relationship between returns and order flow is modelled using a vector autoregression, and the information content of a trade is measured as the long-run price impact of a shock to order flow. Price impacts are particularly strong and significant for order flow from institutional investors and for bonds with higher default risk, higher volatility and lower liquidity. Chapter 3 provides novel evidence on the importance of high frequency measures of volatility and correlation for the corporate bond market. Realized measures of volatility have been shown to be important in modelling and forecasting equity, exchange rate, and Treasury bill return volatility. We merge the NYSE's TAQ database of high frequency equity prices with the TRACE database, and show that the information contained in high frequency data is valuable in modelling the dynamics of the firm-level covariance matrix of bond and stock returns, for over 100 individual U.S. firms.