The aim was to elucidate the social construction of chronic pain as a cause of work absence in the UK, focusing on negotiation of sickness certification and return to work, in the context of recent policies to tackle rising sick-listing rates, including a national educational programme about the health benefits of work, and introduction of the ‘fit note’. Following a literature review, two qualitative studies were conducted from a symbolic interactionist perspective. The first comprised semi-structured interviews with doctors and chronic pain patients, leading to a second study in which employers and employees with chronic pain were interviewed. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed according to constructivist grounded theory principles. The first study revealed tensions in the doctor-patient relationship as the process of sickness certification was negotiated. The indeterminacy of chronic pain rendered the biomedical approach to diagnosis and assessment of capability for work problematic, while a shift to the psychosocial model could generate feelings of invalidation in patients. A wide range of moral and socio-cultural factors was invoked by doctors and patients to contest sick-listing decisions. The second study identified difficulties that can emerge when chronic pain patients return to work. Employees discussed how managers failed to understand their problems or make sustained adaptations; employers reported difficulty reconciling the needs of employees with organisational imperatives and argued that employees and doctors colluded in sanctioning low resilience. All stakeholder groups supported the fit note’s focus on capacity not incapacity, but were skeptical about whether it would surmount the tensions and difficulties that arise in sickness certification and return to work for chronic pain patients. Struggles for meaning and construction of identities are difficult for policy to address, but deeper understanding of the processes behind them and rich accounts of stakeholders’ views, may nudge the system towards more appropriate responses.

Over the past few decades various models of different formats have been developed to correctly evaluate and predict the strength of materials. However, these models are limited in certain environmental conditions in implementing the effect of material's thickness into their models. As such an there was a need to consider the basics of mechanical engineering and to try and define the trend, thickness has upon the behaviour of materials with respect to environmental conditions. The work consisted of a representation of tensile testing testing of common engineering alloys across a wide range of temperature, strain rate and thickness. Acquisition of high strain rate data and extended strain data (split-hopkinson, bulge forming and plane strain compression). A review of existing graphical techniques and limited applications using strength reduction factors, as well as applying the accepted empirical formulae, Johnson-Cook, Armstrong-Zerrili, Ramberg-Osgood and Hollomon. Later, recognising a need for a new approach as with a universal (quartic) polynomial fit to all plastic flow curves in which coefficients are T, ε̇ and t̄ dependant. Adoptation of a common numerical procedure for strain intercept ε0 and cut-off instability co-ordinates (σi, εi)- each as the solution to the roots of a quartic. Therefore, a proposal of the flow curve tables allowing interpolation and extrapolation, a numerical representation of any previous "Atlas of Curves". Subsequently, leading to reconstruction of the full stress-strain curve with the addition of elastic strain calculated from the modulus applicable to the specific test condition by further testing of these data from literature; both improving the existing and producing new empirical and simulation based models to analyse the materials, which will be subjected to dynamic loading as well as temperature and strain rates variations. The main objective of the work, was involved in creating a polynomial fit to describe the three physical conditions in terms of coefficients and to verify the findings in a FEA package, ABAQUS. A new process in reading the stress-strain data. By means of such development an instability study of strain limits based on Considére criteria was developed which illustrated the ways to prolong the instability limit. A secondary study of this work relates to creating a bridge between the micro-structure and macro-structure of the tested materials. A series of correlations and trends were developed to further signify the shift in micro-structural restructuring, whilst the material is under load. Another important aspect of the work consists, of carrying out an analytical study on Ramberg-Osgood equation. Ramberg-Osgood equation has been at the forefront of many engineering advancement. However it can yet be improved and reformatted by means of defining a set value for its variable constants. As such a fix ƞt value based on a best-fit approach was developed which was analytically tested.

This study was designed to investigate the moderating effect of embeddedness on the commitment and turnover intentions relationship. Embeddedness was examined as a key variable that links the commitment and turnover literatures together. Job embeddedness was expected to moderate the relationship between job commitment and job turnover intentions, while organizational embeddedness was expected to moderate the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational turnover intentions. Responses from 154 employed individuals were collect for this study. Data was collected using a web-based survey format. Psychometric data was collected with the use of a demographics questionnaire, as well as embeddedness (job and organizational), organizational commitment, and turnover intentions scales. A moderated regression analysis found that both job and organizational embeddedness moderated the commitment-turnover relationship, but in the opposite way as proposed. These relationships can help us better understand why employees remain within their organizations and jobs.

A test for independence and identical distribution of functional observations is proposed in this thesis. To reduce dimension, curves are projected on the most important functional principal components. Then a test statistic based on lagged cross--covariances of the resulting vectors is constructed. We show that this dimension reduction step introduces asymptotically negligible terms, i.e. the projections behave asymptotically as iid vector--valued observations. A complete asymptotic theory based on correlations of random matrices, functional principal component expansions, and Hilbert space techniques is developed. The test statistic has chi-square asymptotic null distribution. Two inferential tests for error correlation in the functional linear model are put forward. To construct them, finite dimensional residuals are computed in two different ways, and then their autocorrelations are suitably defined. From these autocorrelation matrices, two quadratic forms are constructed whose limiting distributions are chi--squared with known numbers of degrees of freedom (different for the two forms). A test for detecting a change point in the mean of functional observations is developed. The null distribution of the test statistic is asymptotically pivotal with a well-known asymptotic distribution. A comprehensive asymptotic theory for the estimation of a change--point in the mean function of functional observations is developed. The procedures developed in this thesis can be readily computed using the R package fda. All theoretical insights obtained in this thesis are confirmed by simulations and illustrated by real life-data examples.

Since Higgins presented regulatory fit theory in 2000, over 200 studies have demonstrated that regulatory fit processes moderate both information processing and outcome responses substantially. However, scholars characterize regulatory fit diversely and manipulate the definition. Researchers have highlighted this issue and recommended further investigations to clarify regulatory fit heterogeneity, which is derived from two sources: conceptual viewpoints of regulatory fit and methods for regulatory fit induction (Aaker, 2006; Avnet, 2006; Cesario, 2008; Pham, 2009). This study decomposes manipulation heterogeneity for researching regulatory fit from the experimental methodology viewpoint. Rather than providing a summary of existing methods, this study proposes a critical moderator embedded in these techniques, which objectifies the regulatory fit concept using a calculable index. The proposed index can be used to predict the strength of the regulatory fit effect, and explain manipulation heterogeneity when researching regulatory fit.

Exponential Random Graph Models (ERGMs) have been developed for fitting social network data on both static and dynamic levels. However, the lack of large sample asymptotic properties makes it inadequate in assessing the goodness-of-fit of these ERGMs. Simulation-based goodness-of-fit plots were proposed by Hunter et al (2006), comparing the structured statistics of observed network with those of corresponding simulated networks. In this research, we propose an improved approach to assess the goodness of fit of ERGMs. Our method is shown to improve the existing graphical techniques. We also propose a simulation based test statistic with which the model comparison can be easily achieved. / Biostatistics

The ability to regulate emotions is thought to influence the development of positive peer relations in early childhood. By effectively regulating fear and anger in peer settings, social interactions tend to unfold in a smooth and successful manner, leading children to become socially competent over time. Fear regulation, however, is especially difficult for children who were highly reactive and frequently expressed negative affect as infants. These children, often referred to as having an inhibited temperament, are likely to become distressed by novel stimuli and show a high degree of vigilance and anxious behaviors as toddlers. After toddlerhood, research has shown that some of these children handle novel, social situations in a competent manner, whereas others continue along the pathway of inhibition and become socially reticent. Socially reticent children often engage in hovering behavior and stay on the outskirts of the peer group, which can have negative consequences for the development of positive peer relations. One factor that influences inhibited toddlers to follow one pathway versus another seems to be whether they have learned to effectively regulate emotions. The acquisition of emotion regulation strategies is a complex process, but parents usually have the most proximal influence during early childhood. Therefore, in order to learn more about promoting socially competent behavior, it is important to understand how parents are socializing emotion regulation in toddlerhood. Using data from a larger longitudinal study, the current study examined how the socialization of emotion regulation at age three influenced social engagement at age four among behaviorally inhibited toddlers. It was hypothesized that sensitive maternal socialization of emotion regulation strategies would predict higher levels of engagement in future peer social interactions.

Seniors are a growing segment of the population of the United States. By 2030 they will make up nearly 20% of the general population. Senior citizens face many health challenges as they age. Injury due to falling is a major concern for many in this age group. Research shows that approximately one third of seniors will fall each year. Injuries that result from falls have been identified as the number one cause of accidental death in this age group each year. While falls have been studied by researchers for a number of years, and some progress has been made in finding ways to improve balance in seniors, the high incidence of falls continues to plague this demographic. Many of the current treatments to improve balance are too expensive, not accessible, or not motivating for seniors. This research project explored the effect of using a readily available video-game system to address these barriers. The Wii Fit gaming system was used with participants three times each week for 30 minutes and the resulting changes were documented. The Berg Balance Scale and Timed Up and Go test, both frequently used by professionals to assess balance in seniors, were used to document balance change. Every participant showed improvement. The Activities-specific Balance Confidence scale, which is used to measure a person's fear of falling, was also used to assess the participant's confidence in their balance as well as the level of fear associated with falling. The results of this test were positive but not to the extent of the balance tests. Finally, each participant was interviewed to assess how easy to use the participants felt the Wii Fit was as well as the motivational qualities of the Wii Fit as a balance tool. Answers given by the participants in the interview were generally positive. These results indicate that the Wii Fit gaming system may be beneficial for improving balance in seniors.

Background: Sponsoring is a marketing and communication tool that has had a major growth over the last two decades. Sponsoring is one of the fastest expanding ways for companies to communicate with their target audience. Despite this, there has been a lack of awareness considering the sponsorship relationships and how they evolved. Most of the research conducted up to now within the area of sponsorship has just been focusing on the sponsoring part as a separated unit, without considering the connection with the sponsee. Purpose: The purpose for this research is to investigate the relationship between a sponsee and its sponsors to identify success factors and how the parties act in order to ensure these success factors. Method: This qualitative research has been conducted by a deductive approach where interviews were held as data collection method. The research has been based on a descriptive design. Conclusions: This research shows that strong commitment and good frequent communication are key factors in order to have a successful sponsorship relationship. The research also shows the importance of having mutual goals in sponsorship relationships, since mutual goals have a tendency to increase the commitment from both parties in a sponsorship relationship.

Charity advertising has become diversified for more than twenty years. Previous research focused on charity advertising in non-profit organization (NPO) contexts. However not only NPOs but also corporations sponsor charity ads. As one of popular emotional appeals, guilt appeals are used to promote charitable giving. This study compares three types of advertising sponsor including NPO, corporation, and mixed type with sponsor-charity fit on the effects of guilt appeal in charity advertising. The present study employs an experimental design to investigate the effects of the guilt appeals (guilt appeals vs. non-guilt appeals), type of advertising sponsor (NPO vs. corporation vs. mixed) and sponsor-charity fit (high fit vs. low fit) in charity advertising effectiveness. Mixed type is defined as brand-cause alliance or cause-related marketing. A 2x3x2 factorial design is conducted. Twelve different scenarios are established and the ad effects are measured by attitudes toward the ad, purchase intentions, and attitudes toward the ad sponsor. Does guilt work with all types of sponsors? Results of the experiment indicate an interaction between type of advertising sponsor and guilt appeals. The guilt appeals are more effective when the NPO is the advertising sponsor or when the company frames the charity ad as CRM. However, the non-guilt appeals are more effective than the guilt appeals when a corporation is the ad sponsor. Guilt appeals are found to backfire under the two following circumstances: (1) when a corporation is the ad sponsor with a high fit between sponsor and charity, or (2) when mixed type with low sponsor-charity fit is framed in the ad. According to these findings, this study suggests that marketers should choose appropriate advertising appeals while considering their role as advertising sponsor and the sponsor-charity fit.