Sex work is one of the rare elements of our society that is both accepted and stigmatized. Ironically enough, it is stigmatized without being studied in depth. The truth is we know very little about sex work and even less about pornography—the most legal of genres. While researchers have spent a great deal of time determining the effects that pornography has on viewers, particularly juvenile viewers, little research has been done on the men and women who make pornography. A 43 question survey was created and disseminated to those in the pornographic film industry, both amateur and professional, resulting in 210 respondents from all walks of life. The results of the inquiry show that social scientists know relatively little about working in pornography, having a profound impact on the current discussion and future research. Additionally, this investigation presents a new and creative method for surveying hard to reach, hidden, or sensitive subject populations that will aid in aspects of future research on sex work and other stigmatized behaviors.

One very common axiom amongst Strength and Conditioning Professionals and Athletic Performance Coaches is that the least flexible athletes usually produce the fastest 40-yard dash times. Flexibility, in this case specifically refers to posterior chain flexibility (PCF). This is usually measured by athletes ability to perform a sit-and-reach test. This train of thought has been widely accepted within the human performance professions, even though it is void of any scientific investigation or measured validity. The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a relationship between posterior chain flexibility using the sit-and-reach test and speed in the 40-yard dash. All test subjects were male between the ages of 18-22, and members of a Division I university football team. All 95 test subjects had participated in at least one semester of a strength and conditioning program designed by Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialists. Similar of the study done by Johnson (2001), each athlete was placed in a group based on position, line of scrimmage groups (LOS), Skill group (receivers, cornerbacks, rover linebackers, whip linebackers, and safeties), Combo group (inside linebackers, tight ends, quarterbacks, tailbacks, fullbacks, and defensive ends), Specialist group (place- kickers, kick-off specialists, holders, and punters). Each test subject was tested in the 40-yard dash, the sit-and-reach flexibility test, as well as other tests for strength and power such as the bench press, front squat, push jerk, power clean, vertical jump, and agility tests. Body weight and height was also measured. This study used a simple linear regression on the data where the Sit-and-Reach test results were the dependent variable and the subjects timed results in a 40 yard dash was the independent variable. There appears to be no significant relationship between a low flexibility score and the sprint speed of an athlete for the entire group population. The results also show that there is no significant relationship between flexibility of the posterior chain and linear speed as measured in the 40-yard dash when looking at football players that fall under the Combo, Skill, or LOS position groups. There was however a significant relationship for the specialist group. The theory that the least flexible athletes usually produce the fastest 40-yard dash times is not true for those specific groups. / Ph. D.

No / Quality assessment (QA) requires high levels of domain-specific experience and knowledge. QA tasks for toxicological data are usually performed by human experts manually, although a number of quality evaluation schemes have been proposed in the literature. For instance, the most widely utilised Klimisch scheme1 defines four data quality categories in order to tag data instances with respect to their qualities; ToxRTool2 is an extension of the Klimisch approach aiming to increase the transparency and harmonisation of the approach. Note that the processes of QA in many other areas have been automatised by employing expert systems. Briefly, an expert system is a computer program that uses a knowledge base built upon human expertise, and an inference engine that mimics the reasoning processes of human experts to infer new statements from incoming data. In particular, expert systems have been extended to deal with the uncertainty of information by representing uncertain information (such as linguistic terms) as fuzzy sets under the framework of fuzzy set theory and performing inferences upon fuzzy sets according to fuzzy arithmetic. This paper presents an experimental fuzzy expert system for toxicological data QA which is developed on the basis of the Klimisch approach and the ToxRTool in an effort to illustrate the power of expert systems to toxicologists, and to examine if fuzzy expert systems are a viable solution for QA of toxicological data. Such direction still faces great difficulties due to the well-known common challenge of toxicological data QA that "five toxicologists may have six opinions". In the meantime, this challenge may offer an opportunity for expert systems because the construction and refinement of the knowledge base could be a converging process of different opinions which is of significant importance for regulatory policy making under the regulation of REACH, though a consensus may never be reached. Also, in order to facilitate the implementation of Weight of Evidence approaches and in silico modelling proposed by REACH, there is a higher appeal of numerical quality values than nominal (categorical) ones, where the proposed fuzzy expert system could help. Most importantly, the deriving processes of quality values generated in this way are fully transparent, and thus comprehensible, for final users, which is another vital point for policy making specified in REACH. Case studies have been conducted and this report not only shows the promise of the approach, but also demonstrates the difficulties of the approach and thus indicates areas for future development. / U 7th Framework Programme Integrated Project “Integrated In Silico Models for Prediction of Human Repeated Dose Toxicity of Cosmetics to Optimise Safety” (COSMOS). Grant Number: 266835. Cosmetics Europe.

No description available.

For the majority of the estimated 70,000 industrial chemical substances available on the European market today there is not enough information to enable a reasonably complete assessment of the risks that they might pose to man and the environment. Any strategy for the generation of additional data for these substances should aim at making testing as efficient as possible taking into account environmental and health protection, time, monetary cost and animal welfare. To achieve this, appropriate priority setting rules are needed. The main criterion currently used for regulatory priority setting for testing of industrial chemicals is production volume; the higher the production volume, the more information is required. This was also the main criterion in the former legislation, preceding REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). The aim of this thesis is to evaluate other priority setting criteria and their implications for risk management, in particular classification and labelling. The first paper in this thesis includes a study of the efficiency ratio for some of the tests required for the notification of new substances, i.e. the ratio between the likelihood that the test will lead to a classification, and the monetary cost of performing the test. The efficiency ratio was determined for the standard tests for acute oral toxicity, irritation, sensitisation and subacute toxicity using data from 1409 new chemicals notified in Europe between 1994 and 2004. The results of this investigation suggest that, given limited resources for testing, it is more efficient to perform acute toxicity tests on a larger number of substances rather than to perform additional subacute toxicity studies on the substances already tested for acute toxicity. The second paper included in this thesis, reports the results from a comparative study of the bioaccumulating properties of substances being (a) classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and/or toxic to reproduction (CMR-substances), or (b) classified as acutely toxic or (c) unclassified. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate potential consequences of prioritising bioaccumulating chemicals for evaluation and testing, as this is one of the strategies prescribed in REACH. The results of this study suggest that bioaccumulating substances are neither over- nor underrepresented among the CMR-substances. This result lends support to the use of the bioconcentration factor for priority setting. The studies reported in this thesis utilize existing data on classification of substances as an indicator of the outcome of the risk assessment process, relating priority setting methods to the risk management measures that they give rise to. To the best of my knowledge there are still only very few studies published that address the issue of priority setting in chemicals control using this approach, and in my view there is need for more studies of priority setting methods and a further development of priority setting strategies that are science-based. / QC 20101115

<p>In many occupational tasks, environmental constraints limit how close a worker can place their body to a desired element of the task. Although this provides an obstacle when performing the task, workplace obstructions can often be used by a worker to externally support their body by means of bracing. The purpose of this thesis was to identify how a worker’s posture would differ when the task must be performed with a constrained reach, compared to having the option to externally support against the thighs. At 4 different task hand Locations, subjects performed 6 exertions, comprised of 2 Loads (27.5 N and 55 N) and 3 Directions (Up, Down, and Pull). Subjects were able to choose if bracing would be used when performing the first 24 trial exertions. After the choice conditions had been collected, trials were performed again with a forced brace or unbraced. The most important finding of this study was that participants were twice as likely to brace when performing a task with a far reach. In addition, average brace forces were approximately 117 N for Up and Pull exertions, and were nearly half that (67 N) for Down exertions. Participants would brace at a lower height at low versus high locations. Flexing the trunk forward and twisting the right shoulder forward, combined with a more flexed task arm and reduced shoulder rotation, allowed participants to adopt a posture where their shoulder was closer to the point of exertion during braced exertions, thereby increasing their functional arm length.</p> / Master of Science in Kinesiology

Parent engagement in children’s developmental rehabilitation services is thought to be a fundamental component that is needed for children to reach their potential. This is especially true in the approach known as family-centre services – an approach that positions parents as partners in their child’s services. However, service providers and organizations can have difficulty engaging those parents who often miss their child’s appointments. These families are typically referred to as ‘hard-to-reach’, however this label may ascribe ‘blame’ to parents and lead service providers, researchers and policy makers to overlook the social, organizational, and economic barriers that can limit families’ use of services. Chapters 2-4, explore multiple avenues to contextualize parents’ attendance and engagement in children’s therapy services by applying family centred service tenants, Family Stress Theory, and ethical principles. These chapters lay the foundation for the grounded theory study presented in Chapter 5. This study, conducted with parents of children who use developmental rehabilitation services, describes the conditions that affect parent engagement and presents The Phoenix Theory of Parent Engagement to illustrate how parents attend, participate and engage in their child’s therapy service. These results are presented as a metaphorical journey through children’s developmental rehabilitation services in pursuit of child health and happiness. The implications of this theory are presented as they might be relevant to service providers, organizational leadership, and policy makers. These ideas are offered in an effort to inspire a coordinated effort to improve access and excellence in the provision of developmental rehabilitation services for children and families. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Children’s developmental rehabilitation services are thought to be most effective when parents consistently attend, participate and engage in the service. When families do not consistently attend, participate or engage in services they can be labelled as ‘hard-to- reach’. Little is known about why families are hard-to-reach, if there are organizational barriers to service use, and how to promote engagement. This thesis provides a foundation for understanding parent engagement by exploring the clinical application of family-centred service, Family Stress Theory, and ethical principles. A grounded theory study is presented to contextualize parent engagement and explain how parents engage in their child’s developmental rehabilitation services. Service providers, organizational leadership, and policy makers can apply this theory to promote access and engagement in children’s developmental rehabilitation services.

The purpose of this thesis was to determine the proportion of participants enrolled in a community-based weight loss program that would accept and use a wearable device (Fitbit) if included as part of the program. A sample of 526 newly enrolled, adult, female weight loss program participants (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 ) were recruited. Participants were randomized to either a Fitbit experimental condition or no-Fitbit control condition, and received emailed information on program features. The experimental condition email also included a free Fitbit offer. The full sample (n=526) was 44±12.6 years old with a BMI of 37±6.2 kg/m2. The proportion of experimental sample (n=266) that accepted and synced was 50% and 23%, respectively. Twenty-two participants in the control condition (8%) also independently obtained and synced a Fitbit. Ninety-nine percent passively declined (did not respond to request for Fitbit color and size information). Those that declined were older (46±13.4 vs. 42±11.3 years of age, p=.001) and weighed less (214±38.9lbs. vs. 231±41.3lbs., p=.01) than those who accepted. Those in the experimental sample who synced were younger (42±10.0 vs. 45±13.2 years of age, p=.012), and weighed more (237±45.2lbs. vs. 217±38.1lbs., p=.002) than those who accepted but did not sync. This thesis provides preliminary support that 23% of participants will accept and sync a free wearable device. These data can be used for decision making, combined with effectiveness and cost data, and research on wearable activity trackers and community, incentive, and web-based weight loss. / Master of Science

Yes / This chapter is based on detailed qualitative research into the working lives of low-paid workers in multiple employment. We discuss the research design and practicalities of researching a ‘hard to reach group’ of workers. The emotive and sensitive issues that emerged for both the researchers and participants are also assessed.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka vilka problem och möjligheter Kemikalieinspektionens anställda upplever i arbetet medmiljömålet Giftfri miljö och dess delmål. Detta för att bättre förstå komplexiteten i miljömålsarbetet och vilka drivkrafter och barriärer som finns iarbetet. För att göra detta har fem respondenter från Kemikalieinspektionen genom ett strategiskt urval valts ut till kvalitativa semistruktureradeintervjuer som varade mellan ca 30-60 min i omfattning. Som komplement till dessa intervjuer har även fyra rapporter från Naturvårdsverketanalyserats. Dessa är: uppföljningsrapporterna från 2005, 2010, 2015 och den fördjupade utvärderingsrapporten för 2015. Detta med avgränsningtill de kapitel som behandlande Giftfri miljö och etappmålen. Materialet har sedan analyserats och tematiserats med inriktning på de problem ochmöjligheter som vi kunnat se. Resultatet av denna analys gav tillslut 9 teman som är: Giftfri miljö, Etappmålen för farliga ämnen, Samordning,Företagsansvar, Produktionsökning och diffusa produktinnehåll, Det komplexa Reach, Styrmedel, Skadliga ämnen i miljön, EU och EUkommissionen.Det största hindret för miljökvalitétsmålet Giftfri miljö, är att det egentligen inte alls är ett definierat mål utan snarare en vision,vilket alla våra respondenter förtydligade under intervjuerna. 2020 har aldrig vart en realistisk tidsram för att miljömålet ska kunna bli uppnått.Problematiken som vi ser det med att nå Giftfri miljö ligger i målets struktur. Efter denna studie ser vi i stället hur etappmålen kan fungera som ettsteg på vägen men att miljökvalitetsmålet är allt för orealistiskt och kanske istället borde formuleras om till en vision. / This paper aims to examine the problems and opportunities that the employees at The Swedish Chemicals Agency experience in theirwork with the environmental objective A Non- Toxic Environment. We want to get a better understanding of the complexity of the environmentalobjectives and the driving forces and barriers that exist in the workfield. To do this, five respondents from The Swedish Chemicals Agency wasselected through strategic selection and later interviewed through qualitative semi-structured interviews, which lasted between 30-60 minutes. As acomplement to these interviews four reports by the Environmental Protection Agency has also been analyzed. These are: annual monitoring reportsfrom 2005, 2010, 2015, and one the in-depth evaluation report from 2015. We have limited ourselves to the chapters about toxic environment andits environmental objective milestones. The material has then been analyzed and thematized with a focus on the problems and opportunities thatwe have seen through analyze. The result of this analysis eventually gave 9 themes: The environmental objective Non-toxic environment, Theenvironmental objective milestones for harmful substances, Coordination, Company responsibility, Production increase and diffuse productcontent, The complex REACH, Policy instruments, Harmful substances in the environment, and EU and the European Commission. The biggestobstacle to the objective of non-toxic environment is that it is not really a defined goal but rather a vision, which all of our respondents expressedduring the interviews. 2020 has never been a realistic time frame for this quality objective Non-toxic environment. The problem as we see it has todo with the structure of the environmental quality objective in question. By this we mean that none of the respondents actually see theenvironmental objective as anything that can be achieved. After this study we can see how the environmental objective milestones can serve as astepping stone, but that the environmental quality objective is unrealistic and should instead be made into a vision.