Updated: Current version includes the name of Supervisor, and Co-supervisor. Error corrected in preliminary pages. / Background: Emerging evidence suggests that there is both within-disorder heterogeneity and across-disorder overlap in the clinical presentation of children with ASD, ADHD, and OCD. Two prevalent dimensional phenotypes in children with these NDDs that warrant close attention, and are suitable for cross-disorder investigation, are internalizing and externalizing problems. Objectives: The current study uses a data-driven, diagnosis-agnostic approach to identify homogenous clusters that describe behavioural profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems within and across ASD, ADHD, and OCD. Methods: Data on 1565 children (M = 10.76 years) were drawn from the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorder (POND) Network. Non-hierarchical clustering approaches were used to empirically derive, distinct behavioural profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems indexed by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Empirically derived groups were characterized using measures of adaptive functioning indexed by the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment (ABAS-II), and interpreted in relation to original diagnoses. Results: Cluster analyses identified four distinct behavioural profiles that cut across all diagnostic groups: High Internalizing Externalizing (HIE; 15%), High Externalizing (HE; 21%), Low Internalizing Externalizing (LIE; 38%), and Low Externalizing (LE; 26%). Derived clusters had variable levels of adaptive behaviours and reflected different behavioural profiles than the ones defined by the original diagnostic category groups of ASD, ADHD, and OCD. Conclusion: Data-driven, diagnosis-agnostic approaches can inform our understanding of the between and within phenotypic heterogeneity seen in ASD, ADHD, and OCD. Empirical ways of classifying children with homogeneous behavioural profiles may complement existing diagnostic models in our efforts to develop cross-disorder, more personalized interventions for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / ASD, ADHD, and OCD are heterogenous neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) with some overlapping clinical characteristics and etiological factors. Internalizing and externalizing behavioural problems persist across these three NDDs, and in this study, are used to identify unique behavioural profiles. Study findings reveal four groups with distinct behavioural profiles of internalizing and externalizing problems that are not identified by the original diagnostic groups. This empirical way of classifying children with similar behavioural profiles can be used in combination with diagnostic labels to enhance transdiagnostic interventions that can be tailored to each child’s needs.

Currently there is limited research addressing the eating behaviours of preadolescent children, despite evidence suggesting that friends and peers may contribute to the developing eating attitudes and behaviours of children of this age. Eating behaviours in terms of this thesis include both under- and over- eating behaviours, with a specific focus on the under-eating behaviour, dietary restraint, and the over-eating behaviours emotional eating and external eating. The fundamental aim of this thesis was to examine friend and peer influences on children s eating behaviours, with a specific focus on a community sample of preadolescent children. Based on links established in the literature between childhood eating behaviours (dietary restraint, emotional eating and external eating) and parental controlling feeding practices (pressure to eat and restriction) and childhood symptoms of anxiety and depression, these factors were also considered alongside the contribution of friends and peers, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The longitudinal stability and continuity of self-reported eating behaviours and perceived parental feeding practices in preadolescent children were also examined in this thesis. A pilot study and experimental study provided an objective measure of children s snack food intake following a school lunchtime, when offered a selection (healthy and unhealthy) of snack foods in the presence of friends and peers. Links between food intake in the presence of friends and peers, and self-reported eating behaviours, parental controlling feeding practices, child symptoms of anxiety and depression and BMI were further explored. The research in this thesis suggests that friends dieting behaviours predict individual children s dieting behaviours, and also highlights links between problematic eating and anxiety in preadolescent children. Parental controlling feeding practices were found to have a negative impact on preadolescents eating behaviours and were also found to be potentially linked to the development or maintenance of anxiety and depression symptoms in children of this age. Preadolescents reports of eating behaviours and perceptions of the controlling feeding practices their parents utilised with them were stable over time, but, with the exception of restriction, lacked continuity. Dietary restraint, emotional eating and external eating decreased over a 12 month period. While some of the research in this thesis requires replication, the results present many novel and interesting findings. Using longitudinal and experimental data, the research reported on in this thesis highlights the important contributions of friends, peers, parents and individual anxiety and low mood to the eating attitudes and behaviours of preadolescent aged children.

From pharmaceutical powders to agricultural grains, a great proportion of the materials handled in industrial situations are granular or particulate in nature. The variety of stesses that the matierals may experience and the resulting bulk behaviours may be complex. In agricultural engineering, a better understanding into agricultural processes such as seeding, harvesting, transporting and storing will help to improve the handling of agricultural grains with optimised solutions. A detailed understanding of a granular system is crucial when attempting to model a system, whether it is on a micro (particle) or macro (bulk) scale. As numerical capabilities are ever increasing, the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is becoming an increasingly popular numerical technique for computing the behaviour of discrete particels for both industrial and scientific applications. A look into the literature shows a lack of validation of what DEM can predict, specifically with respect to bulk behaviour. In addition, when validation studies are conducted, discrepancies between bulk responses in physical tests and numerical predictions using measured particles properties may arise. The aire of this research is to develop a methodology to calibrate DEM models for agricultural grains using data meaured in bulk physical tests. The methodology will have a wider application to granular solids in general and will advance understanding in the area of DEM model calibration. A contrasting set of granular materials were used to develop the methodology including 3 inorganic solids (single and paired glass beads, and polyethylene terephthalate pellets) and two organic materials (black eyes beans and black kidney beans). The developed methodology consists of three steps: 1. The development of bulk physical tests to measure the bulk responses that will be used to calibrate the DEM models, 2. The creation of the numerical dataset that will describe how the DEM input parameters influence the bulk responses , and 3. The optimisation of the DEM parameters using a searching algorithm and the results from Step 1 and 2. Two laboratory devices were developed to provide calibration data for the proposed methodology: a rotating drum and an confined compression test. These devices were chosen as they can produce bulk responses that are repeatable and easy to quantify, as well as generate discriminating results in numerical simulations when DEM parameters are varied. The bulk response determined from the rotating drum device was the dynamic angle of repose Ør formed when the granular material in a 40% filled drum is rotating at a speed of 7 rpm. the confined compression apparatus was used to determine the bulk stiffness of a system by monitoring the change in void ratio from the stress applied during a loading and unloading cycle. The gradient of the loading and unloadng curves termed λ and κ respectively were chosen as the bulk responses to calibrate the DEM models. The experimental results revealed that the dynamic Ør was significantly influences by the particle aspect ration and boundary conditions. The stiffness parameters were found to be predominantly influences by the initial packing arrangement. The numerical dataset describing how the DEM input parameters influence the numerical bulk responses was created by simulating the bulk physical tests, varying selected DEM parameters and monitoring the effects on bulk parameters. To limit the number of simulations required, design of experiment (DOE) methods were used to determine a reduced factorial matrix of simulations. In additions, an extensive parametric investigation on the non-optimised parameters as well as a scaling sensitivity study was carried out. The final step in determining the optimised parameters is to use a searching algorithm to infer the DEM parameters based on the numerical dataset and used the experimental results as calibration data. To perform a comparative study, tow searching algorithms were explored: the first was a simple method based on Microsoft Excel's Solver algorithm coupled with a weighted inverse distance method. The second made used of the statistical analysis program Statistica. It was shown that the Excel Solver algorithm is simpler and quicker to use but for the present first implementation, could only perform an optimisation based on two bulk responses. Statistica required the creation of a staistical model based on the numerical dataset before using the profiling and desirability searching technique, but was able to optimise the parameter using all three bulk responses. A verification and validation of the optimisation methodology was conducted using the optimised parameters for the black eyed beans. A verification was cnducted by simulating the two calibration experiments using the optimsed parameters and comparing these with the experiments. In addition, a validation was peformed by predicting the response of ta shallow footing penetration on a bed of black eyed beans. It was found that DEM simulations using optimised parameters predicted vertical stress on the footing during penetration to an acceptable degree of accuracy for industrial applications (<10%) at penetration depths up to 30mm.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region in the world most severely affected by HIV, and Tanzania is among the most severely affected countries in the region. The introduction of antiretroviral treatment has offered hope to people living with HIV/AIDS, improving their quality of life significantly. Still, there are individuals living with HIV who either lack access to ART, or choose not to make use of the available treatments. The purpose of this thesis is to identify underlying factors perceived as barriers for HIV- positive individuals to initiate and maintain Antiretroviral treatment in Babati District, Tanzania. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out between the 15th of February and 6th of March 2016. The interviews were conducted with ART-patients, health workers and members of the community. An analysis was made within a theoretical framework based upon Goffman's notion of stigma and the Initial Behavioral Model by Andersen. The following obstacles to access to ART were indicated by the findings: HIV/AIDS related stigma issues, discrimination, economic barriers, ignorance due to lack of education, counseling on HIV treatment, and beliefs that HIV can be cured by traditional healers.

This research identifies and classifies incoming learning behaviours found amongst a sample of English second language first year engineering students. During the research process, it was discovered that students entering university for an engineering/science based degree tend to struggle with the English lecture style and the pace of work at a first year level due to their having been taught in their mother tongue or through the use of code switching in their school years. It was further identified that the students who took part in the sample were highly reliant on notes and lecturers for ‘obtaining knowledge’ that could be utilized in the answering of problems. The findings indicate that English second language students who had been taught in Black schools had a limited view of knowledge that was dependant on received knowledge. It was further found that with the exception of students who had been taught in English only schools, there appeared little correlation between the matriculation aggregates of the students and their first year engineering marks. Where English second language first year engineering students exhibited some learning behaviours that suggest an aptitude for success in higher education, the findings suggest that the students who took part in the study do not feel supported at university. The findings, while complicated in nature, also suggest that university structures and procedures are not responsive to the specific needs of the sample group. It is the recommendation of this study that further research be undertaken amongst a larger sample group if curricular changes amongst first year engineering courses are to be considered.

Background: With life expectancies continuing to rise and more people living beyond the age of 65, health services are under increasing pressure to provide effective care for an ageing population. Increased life expectancy increases the risk of long-term conditions like Type 2 Diabetes and cardiovascular disease that require self-management – something that poses a challenge for many people, and for older adults there may be additional barriers. Identifying modifiable factors that impede self-management is an ongoing focus in the literature; and in recent years increasing attention has been paid to the impact of individuals’ attitudes to their own ageing. Aims: The first part of this thesis portfolio is a systematic review of the literature that aims to answer the question “Are lower expectations regarding ageing associated with lower levels of physical activity in older adults?” The second is an empirical study that aims to explore the relationships between attitudes to ageing, executive function, glycaemic control and selfmanagement adherence in older adults with Type 2 Diabetes. Method: A systematic literature search was undertaken to identify studies reporting quantitative analyses of the relationship between expectations regarding ageing and physical activity. Methodological quality of the studies was appraised and synthesized, and clinical and research implications discussed. In the empirical study; 77 older adults completed self-report measures of attitudes to ageing and self-management adherence, and two brief measures of executive function. HbA1c; a biological measure of glycaemic control was also recorded for each participant. Correlations and multiple linear regressions tested the relationships between attitudes to ageing, EF, self-management and glycaemic control. Results: 8 studies (derived from 9 papers) were eligible for the systematic review, and were in consensus in their support of lower expectations regarding ageing being associated with lower levels of physical activity. The findings of the empirical study indicated that more negative attitudes to ageing in relation to physical changes predicted poorer self-management; and more negative attitudes to ageing in relation to psychosocial loss predicted poorer glycaemic control. Conclusion: The current findings are in line with an emerging evidence base supporting a relationship between attitudes to ageing, and physical health outcomes and behaviours; with more negative attitudes and perceptions of old age acting as a barrier to health promoting behaviours. Therefore, interventions targeting those cognitions could help to promote better health outcomes for older populations, as well as promoting healthy ageing and valuing older people – a current focus in policy and strategy.

This research identifies the experiences, behaviours, attitudes, values and beliefs of Australia's most successful franchise owners in order to understand the reasons for their outstanding success in a business environment designed to encourage replication and uniformity. In this study, twelve of Australia's best franchisees have been interviewed to find out their personal qualities that have enabled them to succeed in the franchise business environment. A qualitative methodology within a constructivist ontology and interpretivist epistemology has been used. Interviews were conducted, coded, analysed and models developed using NVivo software. The coding and analysis led to the development of six key characteristics or behaviours of successful franchisees. Australia's best franchisees are successful because they are highly motivated, have outstanding business skills, are committed to franchising, demonstrate remarkable personal qualities reflected in highly ethical leadership with exceptional communication skills and create a business environment that has real customer focus. Human qualities are difficult to isolate and quantify. This research highlights those necessary to succeed in franchising and business generally. The findings from this research have been presented as a framework for franchisee success. The framework provides the basis of human characteristics and elements to consider in franchisee selection and business skill development. The title of this research is in many ways its conclusion. The contribution of franchising to Australia's entrepreneurial spirit is the growth and development of the business skills of franchisees, many of whom are entrepreneurs in the making.

This phenomenological study describes the lived experience of ten registered nurses who provided a standard of nursing care that they perceived to be impeded because of their negative reactions to their patient's condition. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants via an advertisement in a local nursing organisation's newsletter. In-depth interviews generated data about the nurses' personal and professional experiences. Data analysis incorporated the qualitative methods of Huserrlian (descriptive) phenomenology and Colaizzi's method of data analysis. Findings revealed that during some stage of the nurses' careers they had reacted negatively to a patient's condition. These negative reactions included frustration, annoyance, nurses fearing for their own safety, revulsion, sadness and feelings of guilt that impeded care had been provided. These reactions translated into behaviours that were associated with providing nursing care to the patient that the nurses themselves perceived to be of impeded quality. Behaviours included not being there or spending less time with the patient, not communicating well and having less rapport with the patient, not meeting the patient's psychological and social needs and not meeting the patient's spiritual needs. The nurses found their awareness that this had occurred disturbing and they devised strategies to cope personally and also to ensure that a better quality of care was provided in subsequent situations. Strategies included discussions with colleagues, arranging for colleagues to provide care for the patient, mental preparation, and using individual coping strategies. / There was a pattern of contextual factors impeding the provision of good care. These factors included an existing poor rapport with the patient, a bad experience with a patient with similar characteristics, time pressures and a lack of autonomy, chronic work stress, low staffing levels, a lack of clinical experience, negative reactions to the patient's condition by other staff members, a lack of visits by the patient's significant others and disagreement with the patient's medical treatment.

This thesis contributes to a growing body of research examining the relationship between sociocultural influences and disordered eating behaviour. The aim of the current research was to extend on previously developed theoretical models to more closely examine agerelated differences in an integrated sociocultural model of disordered eating behaviour. The proposed model was informed by components of the dual-pathway model and the tripartite influence model. Nine-hundred and ninety-five women, from four different age groups (i.e., preadolescent, early adolescent, late adolescent and young adult), completed self-report measures of perceived pressure to be thin, modelling of disordered eating behaviour, media exposure, internalisation of the thin-ideal, social comparison, body dissatisfaction, body mass index, and disordered eating behaviour. Using structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques, a sociocultural model of disordered eating was tested and found to have good fit to the data. A number of age-related differences in the strength of the relationship between variables were found. Interestingly, modelling of disordered eating behaviour was a direct predictor of disordered eating behaviour regardless of age group. As expected internalisation of the thin-ideal mediated between perceived pressure to be thin and body dissatisfaction for all age groups. Surprisingly, media exposure had few effects on internalisation, but was more strongly related to social comparison for the late adolescent and young adult age groups. Social comparison played a less significant role in predicting body dissatisfaction in preadolescent girls. However, for all other participants, social comparison predicted internalisation of the thin-ideal, body dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviour. As expected, BMI predicted body dissatisfaction, and body dissatisfaction predicted disordered eating behaviour. The models accounted for between 60-64% of the variance in disordered eating behaviour. Implications for prevention programs are discussed in light of these findings.

<p>Personalnedskärningar är ett resultat av det pågående oroliga arbetsmarknadsläget. Flera aktörer jobbar idag med servicetjänsten omställning vilket är en hjälp för arbetsgivare att hantera nedskärningar och övertalighet genom att få uppsagda medarbetare att komma vidare i ny sysselsättning. Trots en lågkonjunktur har omställningsarbetet visat på uppnådda lyckade resultat. Studien undersöker och sammanställer individers upplevelse av att genomgå ett omställningsprogram samt undersöker vilka faktorer som har betydelse för individers hantering av stressen i denna påfrestande arbetslivsrelaterad förändring. Tillämpningen av problemfokuserad coping undersöktes bland 71 deltagare som genomgått omställning i antingen kommunal eller privat sektor. Resultatet visade att deltagarna tillämpade problemfokuserad coping i relativt lika stor utsträckning oavsett yrkessektor. För den privata sektorn framstod slutligen ålder som mest betydelsefull copingprediktor, medan utbildningsnivå och selfefficacy hade störst betydelse för copingen bland deltagarna från kommunal sektor. Studien ger upphov till tankar om copingens roll i omställningsprocessen samt motiverar fortsatt forskning inom detta spännande arbetslivsområde</p>