Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs)--Naval Postgraduate School, Dec. 2004. / Thesis Advisor(s): Kenneth J. Hagan. Includes bibliographical references (p. 199-204). Also available online.

Thesis (Honors)--College of William and Mary, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-87). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1998. / Bibliography: leaves 239-247.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-180). Also available in electronic version.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

This thesis is about personal assistants, and how they experience their work. The aim of this study is twofold: First to examine the experiences of personal assistants and their work. Second, to examine the assistant’s experiences of feelings at work and how these feelings are managed from an emotionsociological perspective. The empirical base of the research builds upon interviews with personal assistants with a focus on the individual and subjective experiences of the work. The data shows that the assistants concentrate on the emotional aspects of their job. When asked to describe their work situation, the interviewees were preoccupied with the regulation of their own feelings in the relation to the employer. The analysis has an abductive approach, in which empirical sensitivity, interpretation and theory are combined. In terms of results, this study shows that the majority of assistants experience themselves as a friend to the client and they experience the job as meaningful. However, here lies the duplicity of the situation because being a friend to the client, who is also the supervisor, can lead to problems when setting the boundaries for intimacy. The study also shows relatively stable structures in relation to the dimensions of power and subordination, where the assistants’ experience themselves as subordinates and the client as superior. At the same time that the assistants finds purpose in their job there are also challenges connected to being subordinate in a face-to-face situation. It is important to the assistants to have control over feelings and outward expressions. Feelings of subordination seem to be linked to the status and power the assistants have in society at large. Thus, how vulnerable they are in the subordinate position depends on age, gender and education. Another effect described by the assistants is a kind of emotional dissonance, where their own feelings are in conflict with how they wish to act in the social interaction with the clients. In the final chapter the concepts of asymmetric and symmetric interaction are used to understand different types of feelings the assistants’ experience. The asymmetric interaction can trigger feelings of irritation, frustration and anger which are energy draining. Symmetric interaction often seems to lead to feelings of contentment, joy and purpose, which are uplifting and energy renewing. As a concluding remark emotional labour seems to be a significant part of the assistants work. By using an emotionsociological perspective it has been possible to gain knowledge about different aspects of the personal assistants’ emotional labour.

In terms of the specific topics covered in the thesis, my research aims to further understanding of risky asset return and volatility behaviour from a macro-finance perspective. In three of the four chapters, the macro drivers of both risky asset returns (the first moment) and volatility (the second moment) are studied and analyzed in detail across different geographies and various time periods. The use of both long sample sets and relevant sub-sample periods allows for a more in-depth assessment of the nature and form of these drivers as well as their influence on risky asset return and volatility dynamics, whilst weakening the impact of any endogeneity bias which the empirical estimation framework used may be subject to. The earliest data used in this research starts from the 18th century. In the first chapter, entitled “Macro Drivers of Equity Market Volatility”, the focus is on the construction and analysis of macro state variables, which are shown to have a strong influence on the behaviour of equity return volatility, especially during periods of severe market upheaval. Chapter two examines the relative abilities of GARCH and Stochastic Volatility Models (SV) to forecast volatility, in a world where the true model can be depicted by an EGARCH(1,2) formulation. Turning to chapter three, the relationship between equity returns and inflation (specifically, if equities are a hedge against inflation) is explored using long-term historical data for the US, the UK, Germany and Japan. Finally, chapter four analytically tackles the question of how various investors' (institutional and retail) asset allocation decisions are dependent on both the formulation of the wealth maximization function and the differentiated nature of information signals. Specifically, this chapter focusses on how asset allocation behaviour of various categories of investors (facing different objective functions) may lead to “herding”.

A assimetria nas preferências dos Bancos Centrais é um assunto que vem sendo muito discutido no meio acadêmico, mas até o momento essa polêmica tem se restringido a economias desenvolvidas como a canadense e inglesa. O que o texto a seguir se propõe é, em parte, tentar trazer essa discussão para o campo dos países emergentes, tomando como centro da análise a economia brasileira. Preferências assimétricas consistem num comportamento por parte da autoridade monetária que atribui perdas diferentes a desvios da taxa de inflação observada em relação à meta definida, que embora sejam de mesma magnitude apresentam sinais opostos. Replicando os testes já usados em outros estudos, o regime de Metas de Inflação é aqui abordado, iniciando sua análise sob uma ótica mais geral e depois o particularizando para a economia brasileira, desde sua concepção (em 1999 após a crise cambial de janeiro desse ano) até os dias atuais. Este comportamento assimétrico parece, ainda, ocasionar um viés inflacionário diferente daquele proposto pelo modelo KPBG (Kydland-Prescott-Barro-Gordon) que surge da ambição do Banco Central em estabelecer uma taxa de desemprego que esteja abaixo da taxa natural, num ambiente no qual as preferências, ao contrário do proposto, são quadráticas. Infelizmente, os dados brasileiros ainda não apontam na direção da assimetria, talvez por causa do tempo de implantação do regime no Brasil, talvez devido às turbulências que a economia brasileira sofreu decorrentes de crises internacionais e de suas conseqüências sobre o desempenho da política de Metas de Inflação que gerou inúmeros insucessos. No entanto, o histórico de hiperinflações e sua influência sobre as expectativas e os comportamentos dos agentes econômicos nos faz suspeitar de que dentro em breve a assimetria será não só detectada em nossa economia como também será fruto de estudos para o desenho e direcionamento da política monetária. / Central Banks preferences asymmetry is a subject that has been discussed for quite some time in academic publications. However, such controversy has been restricted to developed economies, such as the English and Canadian ones, so far. The following text intends to bring about the discussion to emerging countries, using the brazilian economy as the focus of the analysis. Asymmetric preferences can be defined as a particular behaviour of the monetary authorities that weigh differently their losses concerning inflation deviations from its predetermined target that have the same magnitude but different signs. The main tests used in other studies have been repeated here and the inflation target regime is approached, initially from a broader outlook and then specifically to the brazilian case, ever since its conception in 1999 (after the exchange rate crash in the same year) to the present day. The asymmetric behaviour seems to cause an inflationary bias different from the one proposed by the KPBG model (Kydland-Prescott-Barro-Gordon) which derives from the Central Bank ambition to establish an unemployment rate lower than its natural rate, in an environment in which preferences are quadratic. Unfortunately, brazilian data do not suggest asymmetry yet, maybe because the inflation target regime has been installed for too little time, or because of all the turmoil in the brazilian economy in recent international crisis and their consequences on the regime performance, that has been usually compromised. Nevertheless, the history of hyperinflations and their impacts on expectations and the agents behaviour raises suspicions that soon not only will asymmetry be found in our economy but it will also be studied to design monetary policy directives.

xiv, 81 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Protein-protein interaction networks translate environmental inputs into specific physiological outputs. The signaling proteins in these networks require regulatory mechanisms to ensure proper molecular function. Two common regulatory features of signaling proteins are autoinhibition and ultrasensitivity. Autoinhibition locks the protein in an inactive state through cis interactions with a regulatory module until it is activated by a specific input signal. Ultrasensitivity, defined as steep activation after a threshold, allows cells to convert graded inputs into more switch-like outputs and can lead to complex decision making behaviors such as bistability. Although these mechanisms are common features of signaling proteins, their molecular origins are poorly understood. I used the Drosophila Pins protein, a regulator of spindle positioning in neuroblast cells, as a model to study the molecular origin and function of autoinhibition and ultrasensitivity. Pins and its binding partners. Gαi and Mud, form a signaling pathway required for coordinating spindle positioning with cellular polarity in Drosophila neuroblasts. I found Pins switches from an autoinhibited to an activate state by modular allostery. Gαi binding to the third of three GoLoco (GL) domains allows Pins to interact with the microtubule binding protein Mud. The GL3 region is required for autoinhibitoon, as amino acids upstream and within GL3 constitute this regulatory behavior. This autoinhibitory module is conserved in LGN, the mammalian Pins orthologue. I also demonstrated that Gαi activation of Pins is ultrasensitive. A Pins protein containing inactivating point mutations to GLs l and 2 exhibits non-ultrasensitive (graded) activation. Ultrasensitivity is required for Pins function in vivo as the graded Pins mutant fails to robustly orient the mitotic spindle. I considered two models for the source of ultrasensitivity in this pathway: cooperative or "decoy" Gai binding. I found ultrasensitivity arises from a decoy mechanism in which GLs 1 and 2 compete with the activating GL3 for the input, Gai. These findings suggest that molecular ultrasensitivity can be generated without cooperativity. This decoy mechanism is relatively simple, suggesting ultrasensitive responses can be evolved by the inclusion of domain repeats, a common feature observed in signaling proteins. This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material. / Committee in charge: Tom Stevens, Chairperson, Chemistry; Kenneth Prehoda, Member, Chemistry; Christopher Doe, Member, Biology; Peter von Hippel, Member, Chemistry; Karen Guillemin, Outside Member, Biology