Background: Previously research shows that people treated conservatively can have reduced foot function after Achilles tendon rupture. However, there are few qualitative studies in the subject, so this essay is written to provide a deeper understanding of how these people feel about their foot function one to two years after the injury. Purpose: Investigate how people perceive their foot function after conservative treatment one to two year after Achilles tendon rupture and if they have an avoidance behavior in their everyday lives. Method: Four people who suffered from Achilles tendon rupture participated in this qualitative study. The study was conducted with semi-structured interviews, which in turn were processed using qualitative content analysis. Results: The perceived foot function is today varied in terms of mobility, strength and pain according to the participants. They feel difference in their everyday life in comparison with before the injury. It appears that participants have avoidance behavior when it comes to the situation of injury. They expressed that the time course of development of foot function from the time of injury until today has been long-lasting but most of the participants mentions that there is still development of the foot function. Conclusion: The participants experience reduced foot function in varying degrees, who affect them in their everyday life, in situations including walking and staircase- walking. For this reason is it difficult to draw a collective conclusion of the participants experienced foot function. However, the situations where the injury occurred are avoided by the participants because of fear of getting a new rupture. Development of foot function is continuing, but is perceived as slow by many participants and they are not satisfied with this. / Bakgrund: Forskning visar att konservativ behandling kan ge nedsatt fotfunktion efter hälseneruptur. Få kvalitativa studier finns inom ämnet, därmed bör denna studie skrivas för att ge djupare förståelse för hur dessa personer upplever sin fotfunktion. Syfte: Undersöka hur personer som behandlats konservativt upplever sin fotfunktion ett till två år efter en hälseneruptur samt om de upplever sig ha ett undvikande beteende i vardagen.   Metod: Fyra personer som ådragit sig hälseneruptur medverkade i denna kvalitativa studie. Semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes och bearbetades med hjälp av kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Upplevd fotfunktion är varierande gällande rörlighet, styrka och smärta. Deltagarna upplever skillnad i vardagen jämfört med innan skadan. Deltagarna har undvikande beteende gällande skadesituationen. Tidsförloppet gällande förändringen av fotfunktion från skadetillfället tills i dag har varit långdraget men de flesta upplever att utveckling fortfarande sker. Slutsats: Nedsatt fotfunktion upplevs i varierande grad, vilket påverkar i vardagen vid exempelvis gång och trappgång. Detta gör det svårt att dra någon gemensam slutsats gällande deltagarnas fotfunktion. Samtliga har dock någon form av undvikande beteende gällande aktiviteten som utfördes vid skadetillfället, på grund av oro och rädsla för ny skada. Fotfunktionens förändring upplevs som långsam vilket gör flera deltagare missnöjda.

Since bicycles travel at high speeds and are frequently involved in traffic accidents, reducing bicycle fatalities and injuries is one of the most important issues in traffic safety. In car-to-cyclist collisions, the perpendicular configuration occupies the largest proportion of these collisions. Driver responses in lateral intrusions of cyclists at intersections have been examined [1,2], focusing on the drivers' braking reaction time and the time-to-collisions (TTC). Cyclist behavior can also have a significant intluence on car-to-cyclist collision occurrence. Cyclist bebavior has been investigated in naturalistic conditions and using in-depth accident data. In addition, the videos of drive recorders provide useful information on the cyclist behaviors [3]. This study investigated cyclist behavior with the drive recorder of cars in near-miss incidents and collisions. [From: Introduction]

Background: Today’s marketers are focusing on creating more than just a transaction place for consumers seeking to purchase products in physical stores, such as a pleasant in store experience. The reason for this is due to the increased competition that present retailers are experiencing. The implementation of sensory marketing in stores has been proven to be useful in order to influence the behaviors of consumers. To do so, sensory cues have been applied as a mean to trigger the emotions of the people visiting the stores. Scholars have stressed the importance of identifying in what manner different sensory cues affect the behavior of consumers. Moreover, there is a need to further research how a visual sensory cue could influence the approach behavior of consumers and enhance their desire to touch products.   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to expand the knowledge of how a certain visual sensory cue in a retail atmosphere influences the consumers’ approach behavior and the desire to touch. Additionally, in order to attain valuable insights, two research questions have been designed.   Method: A mixed research methodology has been applied for this study, where the triangulation of using observations, follow-up interviews and in-depth interviews has acted as the source to fulfill the objective of this thesis. The conducted observations account for the quantitative data that have been collected, whereas the follow-up and in-depth interviews generated rich qualitative data. The main methodological focus of this study is to ensure the ability to interpret the findings. Therefore, in order to identify how visual cues influence consumers’ approach behavior and the desire to touch, an inductive approach has been used together with open questions to generate fruitful conversations and theory development. In order to obtain the required data a convenience sampling procedure was employed.   Conclusion: The empirical findings suggest that visual stimuli in the store environment can influence approach behavior of consumers. However, to what extent the visual sensory cue affected the approach behavior and the desire to touch among the participants of this study could not be accounted for. The empirical findings demonstrate that color and smell in the store environment had a positive effect on the emotions of the participants. This further influenced the approach behavior, as well as the desire to touch products.

Dans cette thèse, nous traitons de l’apport des théories du courant de pensée de Palo Alto pour aborder la transformation des situations de doubles contraintes au sein des organisations de travail, afin de faciliter le développement de l’apprentissage organisationnel. Après une présentation des concepts d’apprentissage organisationnel et de double contrainte, notre démarche de recherche prend place dans une épistémologie interprétativiste procédant par recherche-action. Nous nous appuyons sur trois études de cas d’accompagnement, individuel et collectif, de responsables confrontés à des difficultés de management. Nous mettons en évidence de quelle manière la théorie de la double contrainte constitue une grille d’intelligibilité des conduites d’évitement. Les envisageant comme seules possibilités de se comporter dans une situation où toutes les autres possibilités d’agir sont bloquées, nous expliquons l’intérêt d’un changement de paradigme de compréhension de leur formation pour renouveler les perspectives d’intervention. L’acceptation des conduites d’évitement comme émergeant d’une situation de double contrainte permet de les aborder en tant que dysfonctionnement organisationnel plutôt que comme la conséquence d’une carence individuelle. Les perceptions de doubles contraintes apparaissent lorsqu’une impossibilité de métacommuniquer est ressentie, au sujet d’un paradoxe exigeant un choix impossible, dans un contexte professionnel dont il n’est pas envisageable de s’échapper.Notre principal apport est de montrer, au travers d’une revue de littérature et des trois études de cas, les forces et les limites de l’approche interactionnelle issue du courant de Palo Alto, qui, même si elle est connue dans le monde de la gestion, reste largement inappliquée dans les organisations. Nous positionnons le processus de métacommunication par un tiers intervenant en le mettant au service de changements. Nous précisons le rôle qu’il peut avoir pour aider à passer d’un cercle vicieux à un cercle vertueux, dans une situation managériale, et l’effet de levier qu’il joue dans la transformation d’une dynamique d’apprentissage organisationnel défensif en une dynamique menant au progrès. / In this thesis, we discuss the contribution of current theories of thought in Palo Alto to tackle the transformation of situations of double bind within working organizations in order to improve the organizational learning development. After a presentation of the concepts of organizational learning and double bind our research process takes place in an interpretivist epistemology conducting by action research. We rely on three case studies accompanying individual and group leaders facing with difficulties in management.We underline how the theory of the double bind is a grid of intelligibility avoidance behavior. Considering them only as possibilities to behave in a situation where all other possibilities to act are blocked, we explain the interest of a paradigm shift in understanding of their training opportunities in order to renew intervention prospect.Acceptance of avoidance behavior as emerging from a double bind situation can address them as organizational dysfunction rather than as a consequence of individual failure. Perceptions of double bind appear when unable metacommunication is felt, about a paradox requiring an impossible choice, in a professional context inconceivable to escape from.Our main contribution is to show, through a literature review and three case studies, the strengths and limitations of the interactional approach of Palo Alto, which, although it is known in the world management remains largely unimplemented in organizations. We position the metacommunication process by a third party involved in the service changes. We point out the role he may have to help them move from a vicious to a virtuous circle, in a managerial situation, and leverage in the transformation of a dynamic organizational learning defensive into a dynamic leading to progress.

En dépit des efforts déployés pour diminuer la prévalence de la maltraitance à l’enfance, celle-ci serait associée à des difficultés non négligeables, dont la manifestation d’agression. La réactivité émotionnelle et comportementale, incluant la colère, la peur et l’évitement, est proposée comme mécanisme expliquant la relation unissant la maltraitance à l’agression. Quatre objectifs sont poursuivis à cette fin, soit d’examiner la relation notée entre: (1) la maltraitance et l’agression, (2) la maltraitance et la colère, la peur, ainsi que l’évitement, (3) la colère, la peur, ainsi que l’évitement et l’agression et (4) tester formellement le rôle médiateur et modérateur de la colère, la peur et l’évitement à cette relation. Les données de 160 hommes âgés de 18 à 35 ans ayant été exposés ou non à de la maltraitance ont été colligées par le biais de questionnaires et d’une tâche de provocation sociale permettant de mesurer les expressions faciales de colère et de peur, ainsi que les comportements d’évitement. Les résultats suggèrent que la maltraitance et les comportements d’évitement sont associés à l’agression. La maltraitance ne serait toutefois pas liée à la colère, à la peur et à l’évitement. Alors que les résultats suggèrent que ces indices n’aient pas de rôles médiateurs dans la relation entre la maltraitance et l’agression, la réactivité aux plans de la colère et de l’évitement magnifierait cette relation. Ainsi, les résultats invitent à prendre en compte les expériences de maltraitance et l’intensité de la réactivité émotionnelle et comportementale dans les interventions afin de cibler les individus plus à risque d’avoir recours à l’agression. / Despite efforts to reduce the prevalence of childhood maltreatment, it is known to be associated with a variety of physical and mental health difficulties, including the manifestation of aggression. Emotional and behavioral reactivity, including anger, fear and avoidance, is proposed as a mechanism to explain the relationship uniting maltreatment and aggression. Four objectives are pursued to this end: to examine the relationship found between (1) maltreatment and aggression, (2) maltreatment and anger, fear and avoidance, (3) anger, fear and avoidance and aggression and (4) to formally test the mediator and moderator role of anger, fear and avoidance in this relationship. Data from 160 men aged between 18 and 35 and who were exposed or unexposed to maltreatment were compiled through questionnaires and a social provocation task measuring the facial expressions of anger and fear as well as avoidance behaviors. Results suggest that maltreatment experiences and avoidance behaviors are associated with aggression. Maltreatment experiences are however not linked to anger, fear and avoidance. While the results suggest that these indicators have no mediator roles in the relationship between maltreatment and aggression, responsiveness to anger and avoidance would magnify this relationship. Thus, results suggest that maltreatment experiences and the intensity of emotional and behavioral reactivity should be taken into account in interventions in order to target those most at risk of using aggression.

Predators can have large effects on prey populations and on the structure and function of communities. In addition to direct consumption of prey, predators often cause prey to alter their foraging behavior, habitat selection, and morphology. These non-lethal effects of predators can propagate to multiple trophic levels and often exert equal or larger effects upon communities than those of direct consumption. For non-lethal predatory effects to occur, prey must detect and respond to predation risk. While the importance of information transfer in this process has been realized, few studies explore how prey responses are influenced by predator characteristics and environmental conditions that influence the transmission of cues indicative of predation risk. In this dissertation I investigate factors that influence how a single prey species evaluates and responds to predation risk. Here, I examined: 1) the type and nature of cues prey use to evaluate predator risk; 2) how predator identity, predator diet, and the relative risk of predators influence prey response to predation risk; 3) how hydrodynamic conditions influence the delivery of predator cues; 4) how biogeographic trends in predator distribution influence prey response to predation risk; and 5) how genetic structure might vary according to prey geographic location and habitat. To address these questions, I used a common intertidal model system consisting of the rocky intertidal whelk Nucella lapillus (Linnaeus, 1758) and a suite of its predators, the native rock crab Cancer irroratus (Say, 1817), Jonah crab Cancer borealis (Stimpson, 1859), and the invasive green crab Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758). Nucella use chemical cues emanating from their most common predator (Carcinus maenas) and crushed conspecifics to evaluate predation risk. Nucella from different habitats experience different levels of predation risk, and Nucella from habitats with high levels of predation had larger antipredatory responses to predator risk cues than Nucella that experienced less predation. These chemical cues indicative of predation risk are influenced by hydrodynamic conditions, and Nucella have the strongest anti-predatory response in flow velocities of u= ~4- 8 cm s^-1. Furthermore, Nucella from geographic regions where green crabs are historically absent did not elicit anti-predatory responses, while Nucella from regions where green crabs are common frequently responded. Findings from my dissertation research demonstrate that prey detection and response to predation risk is highly dependent upon predator identity, predator diet, environmental forces, and biogeographic patterns in predator and prey distributions.

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