This dissertation is a study of non-standard economic behavior. The first chapter concerns two widely observed violations of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives, the Compromise and Attraction effects. I construct a novel method of representing them by reducing the context of a menu to a frame, encompassing the worst option along each attribute in the menu, and observing a collection of preferences indexed by frames. The agent behaves as though a good’s attractiveness along each attribute is judged relative to the frame with declining marginal utility. This allows me to give a novel interpretation of the compromise and attraction effects: they are consistent with indifference curves rotating clockwise as the frame moves down, and counter- clockwise as it goes left. It also allows me to give a representation theorem showing the behavioral axioms associated with a utility representation taking a good and the frame as arguments. The second chapter applies the representation from Chapter One to electoral politics. It shows that incorporating these preferences generates equilibria where extremist candidates enter plurality elections in order to attractively frame their preferred moderate candidate, even if the extremists have probability zero of obtaining office themselves. While such candidates are frequently observed in elections, and there are papers generating equilibria with centrist sure losers (including Solow (2015)), this is the first paper generating equilibria with these extremist candidates without unusual assumptions on election rules, or non single-peaked preferences. This paper creates a four candidate equilibrium with two extremist sure loser candidates, each on the fringes of opinion. The third chapter concerns the effect of guilt on preferences in the circumstance of gift giving. A decision maker who experiences guilt may receive an increase in surplus from a gift card allowing guilt-free indulgence, potentially beyond even the surplus she’d receive from an equivalent cash gift. This paper isolates the behavior of guilt avoidance by exploiting a multi-period setting which incorporates a distinction between the decision maker’s preferences over what she’d receive, and what she would choose. A representation inspired by Kopylov (2009) is adapted to this setting, providing a representation theorem for these preferences.

As the lending practices of the alternative financial services (AFS) industry harm many consumers and consumers' access and use of traditional credit are restricted, the use of AFS is a growing concern. The financial education of consumers determines their financial behavior, which may be inadequate to make effective financial decisions regarding high-cost borrowings. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine if and to what extent the sources of financial education is related to the use and frequency of use of AFSs among U.S. consumers. The theory of planned behavior and the transtheoretical model of change shaped the theoretical framework for this study. An explanatory correlational design was used to analyze archival data collected by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation for their 2015 National Financial Capability Study. Binary logistic and negative binomial regression analyses indicated that exposure to formal financial education did not contribute to reduced use and lower frequency of use of AFSs but, instead, contributed to the exact opposite. Only parental financial education was found to contribute to reduced use and lower frequency of use of AFSs. One-way ANOVA analyses indicated that all forms of financial education contributed to increased perceived financial knowledge. This study may lead to positive social change by informing policymakers about the necessary steps to remedy the problem of continuous AFS usage and serving as a foundation for future studies that should consider other factors beyond formal financial education that could influence the use and frequency of use of AFSs.

Thesis (MDev. ) -- University of Limpopo, 2011 / The provision of Employee Assistance Programme in a working environment such as a municipality is very crucial. In order to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the programme to justify its existence to the outside world and to assess the impact of its fulfilment to its objectives, evaluation is therefore necessary. The aim of this research study was to ascertain the implementation of the EAP at the Makhado Municipality in Vhembe District with special focus on the employees’ awareness of the programme, its utilization and also the programme adequacy. A qualitative approach was used in this study. Forty two (42) employees of various ranks or level’s in the municipality were randomly selected to participate in the study, and they were from all the four main centres of the municipality i.e. Makhado, Waterval, Dzanani and Vuwani. Summary of the Main Findings A high percentage (81%) of the employees knew of the existence of an EAP within the municipality, and meetings appeared to be the main awareness strategy. − The attitudes of employees towards the EAP were positive, this state of affairs points to the usefulness of the EAP service. − The EAP provided by the Municipality was viewed as accessible by the majority of employees. − The utilization rate of the EAP in the Municipality was very low as only 17% of respondents indicated that they had utilized the service before. − The majority of referrals were conducted by supervisors while only 9.1% were self referral. The majority of respondents did not answer the question implying various reason/s and could also mean lack or poor knowledge and information about referrals within the programme. (iv Implementation of the EAP at Makhado Municipality in Limpopo Province − The majority of employees did not respond to the question on whether they were satisfied with the EAP within the municipality, and that could translate into low knowledge and information about the programme. − The majority of employees were generally happy with the current location of EAP in the municipality. − The majority of employees viewed EAP as confidential and the level of trust in the EAP staff was high. − The majority of employees were not aware of the EAP policy and never participated in its formulation. − The majority of employees felt that EAP services were useful, and this means that provision of proper information might encourage employees to use the service. − Most employees suggested that frequent dissemination of information to employees through meetings, workshops and other regular contact sessions could enhance the EAP in the municipality. Recommendations The following recommendations with regard to the employees’ familiarity with the EAP are important: o That more awareness sessions be conducted with all employees, especially those at regions unit so that adequate information is cascaded to all employees of the municipality. o The awareness sessions should be conducted at least quarterly involving all regions, and the EAP Advisory Committee should meet at least bi-monthly to discuss aspects to improve and enhance EAP services in the municipality. o It is also recommended that additional qualified EAP personnel, with at least minimum qualifications in Social Work and, or Social Psychology, or any relevant (v Implementation of the EAP at Makhado Municipality in Limpopo Province qualifications and experience in EAP be appointed to run the programme on full-time basis. o That evaluation of the programme implementation should be conducted using the participatory strategies such as suggestion boxes, arranging focus groups and bench-marking with other institutions. The recommendation to allow employees opportunities to submit suggestions, in-puts and give feedback regarding the programme will no doubt assist in the improvement and promotion of the programme. o The Makhado Municipality should utilize different marketing strategies as recommended by EAP literature, such as the following: i. The use of promotional material such as brochures, leaflets, and posters that are user-friendly and in languages understandable by all employees of the municipality. ii. Outreach programmes: The EAP unit needs to regularly visit all the regional offices of the municipality in order to intensify information sharing to employees about the EAP. These can also include decentralising EAP workshops to the periphery offices in order to reach the employees who are far away from the head office in Louis Trichardt. The above-mentioned could serve as effective strategies in promoting and maximising the visibility of the EAP, and may close the gap on information not reaching all employees in the municipality thereby increasing its penetration rate.

Thesis ( M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / The provision of Employee Assistance Programme in a working environment such as a municipality is very crucial. In order to determine the effectiveness of the implementation of the programme to justify its existence to the outside world and to assess the impact of its fulfilment to its objectives, evaluation is therefore necessary. The aim of this research study was to ascertain the implementation of the EAP at the Makhado Municipality in Vhembe District with special focus on the employees’ awareness of the programme, its utilization and also the programme adequacy. A qualitative approach was used in this study. Forty two (42) employees of various ranks or level’s in the municipality were randomly selected to participate in the study, and they were from all the four main centres of the municipality i.e. Makhado, Waterval, Dzanani and Vuwani. Summary of the Main Findings A high percentage (81%) of the employees knew of the existence of an EAP within the municipality, and meetings appeared to be the main awareness strategy. − The attitudes of employees towards the EAP were positive, this state of affairs points to the usefulness of the EAP service. − The EAP provided by the Municipality was viewed as accessible by the majority of employees. − The utilization rate of the EAP in the Municipality was very low as only 17% of respondents indicated that they had utilized the service before. − The majority of referrals were conducted by supervisors while only 9.1% were self referral. The majority of respondents did not answer the question implying various reason/s and could also mean lack or poor knowledge and information about referrals within the programme. (iv Implementation of the EAP at Makhado Municipality in Limpopo Province − The majority of employees did not respond to the question on whether they were satisfied with the EAP within the municipality, and that could translate into low knowledge and information about the programme. − The majority of employees were generally happy with the current location of EAP in the municipality. − The majority of employees viewed EAP as confidential and the level of trust in the EAP staff was high. − The majority of employees were not aware of the EAP policy and never participated in its formulation. − The majority of employees felt that EAP services were useful, and this means that provision of proper information might encourage employees to use the service. − Most employees suggested that frequent dissemination of information to employees through meetings, workshops and other regular contact sessions could enhance the EAP in the municipality. Recommendations The following recommendations with regard to the employees’ familiarity with the EAP are important: o That more awareness sessions be conducted with all employees, especially those at regions unit so that adequate information is cascaded to all employees of the municipality. o The awareness sessions should be conducted at least quarterly involving all regions, and the EAP Advisory Committee should meet at least bi-monthly to discuss aspects to improve and enhance EAP services in the municipality. o It is also recommended that additional qualified EAP personnel, with at least minimum qualifications in Social Work and, or Social Psychology, or any relevant (v Implementation of the EAP at Makhado Municipality in Limpopo Province qualifications and experience in EAP be appointed to run the programme on full-time basis. o That evaluation of the programme implementation should be conducted using the participatory strategies such as suggestion boxes, arranging focus groups and bench-marking with other institutions. The recommendation to allow employees opportunities to submit suggestions, in-puts and give feedback regarding the programme will no doubt assist in the improvement and promotion of the programme. o The Makhado Municipality should utilize different marketing strategies as recommended by EAP literature, such as the following: i. The use of promotional material such as brochures, leaflets, and posters that are user-friendly and in languages understandable by all employees of the municipality. ii. Outreach programmes: The EAP unit needs to regularly visit all the regional offices of the municipality in order to intensify information sharing to employees about the EAP. These can also include decentralising EAP workshops to the periphery offices in order to reach the employees who are far away from the head office in Louis Trichardt. The above-mentioned could serve as effective strategies in promoting and maximising the visibility of the EAP, and may close the gap on information not reaching all employees in the municipality thereby increasing its penetration rate.

<p>Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, is a diagnostic tool in progress which has been available at major hospitals since the mid eighties. Today almost all hospitals world wide may depict the human body with their own MRI scanner. MRI is dependent on a uniform magnetic field inside the scanner tunnel and Radio frequent (RF) waves used for excitation of the magnetic dipole moments in the body. These properties along with the magnetic field surrounding the scanner are associated with dangerous effects - when interacting with medical implants made of metals. These dangerous effects are twisting forces or torques, heating and translational forces respectively. A database containing information about known implants behaviour regarding these effects among with earlier documentation and information concerning MRI patient safety at Karolinska hospital, Huddinge was constructed.</p><p>Also a phantom used for heating effect measurements was constructed and heating effect measurements were performed at a SPC4129 locking titanium Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) catheter adapter and a Deep Brain Stimulator (DBS) in order to test the phantom and confirm the theory about RF induced heating on medical implants. Evidence for heating effects caused by the implants was found.</p><p>A torque measurement apparatus was constructed and measurements were performed. All measurements where performed in order to investigate the functionality of the apparatus and also the theory behind dangerous magnetically induced torques (twisting movements). Substantial torque were measured on the ferromagnetic device used for the test.</p><p>The heating phantom and torque measurement apparatus is slightly modified models of those proposed by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials).</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Real time image guided radiotherapy has been proposed by integrating an in-line 6 MV linear accelerator (linac) to a magnetic resonance (MR) imager in either a parallel or transverse configuration. In either configuration, magnetic interference in the linac is caused by its immersion in the magnetic fringe fields of the MR imager. Thus in order to minimize the effect of the magnetic interference, investigations on linac performance in external magnetic fields was completed through various simulations. Finite difference and finite element methods as well as particle simulations were performed in order to design an electron gun and an in-line 6 MV linac waveguide. Monte Carlo simulations provided calculations of dose distributions in a water tank from the derived electron phase space at the linac target. The entire simulation was validated against measurements taken from a commercial medical in-line 6 MV linac, other simulation programs, and theory. The validated linac simulation was used to investigate linac performance in external magnetic fields. The results of this investigation showed that the linac had a much lower tolerance to transverse magnetic fields compared to longitudinal fields. While transverse magnetic fields caused a global deflection of the electron beam away from the central axis of the waveguide, longitudinal fields changed the optics of the electron gun in a suboptimal way. Both transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields caused excessive beam loss if the field strength was large enough. Heating caused by excessive beam loss in external magnetic fields was shown to have little effect on the resonant frequency of the waveguide, and any change in dosimetry, if it existed, was shown to be easily corrected using the jaws or multileaf collimators (MLCs). It was determined that the low-field parallel configuration linac-MR system investigated did not require any magnetic shielding, so the focus was on shielding the transverse configuration. Using beam loss, MLC motor tolerance to magnetic fields, and MR imager homogeneity as constraints, passive and active magnetic shielding was designed and optimized. Thus through the parallel configuration, or using magnetic shielding, magnetic interference has been reduced to within the linac operational tolerance. / Medical Physics

Magnetic Resonance Imaging, MRI, is a diagnostic tool in progress which has been available at major hospitals since the mid eighties. Today almost all hospitals world wide may depict the human body with their own MRI scanner. MRI is dependent on a uniform magnetic field inside the scanner tunnel and Radio frequent (RF) waves used for excitation of the magnetic dipole moments in the body. These properties along with the magnetic field surrounding the scanner are associated with dangerous effects - when interacting with medical implants made of metals. These dangerous effects are twisting forces or torques, heating and translational forces respectively. A database containing information about known implants behaviour regarding these effects among with earlier documentation and information concerning MRI patient safety at Karolinska hospital, Huddinge was constructed. Also a phantom used for heating effect measurements was constructed and heating effect measurements were performed at a SPC4129 locking titanium Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) catheter adapter and a Deep Brain Stimulator (DBS) in order to test the phantom and confirm the theory about RF induced heating on medical implants. Evidence for heating effects caused by the implants was found. A torque measurement apparatus was constructed and measurements were performed. All measurements where performed in order to investigate the functionality of the apparatus and also the theory behind dangerous magnetically induced torques (twisting movements). Substantial torque were measured on the ferromagnetic device used for the test. The heating phantom and torque measurement apparatus is slightly modified models of those proposed by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials).

The self-calibration method, a new interferometric technique using measurements in the K′-band (2.1 μm) at the CHARA Array, has been used to derive orbits for several spectroscopic binaries. This method uses the wide component of a hierarchical triple system to calibrate visibility measurements of the triple’s close binary system through quasi-simultaneous observations of the separated fringe packets of both. Prior to the onset of this project, the reduction of separated fringe packet data had never included the goal of deriving visibilities for both fringe packets, so new data reduction software has been written. Visibilities obtained with separated fringe packet data for the target close binary are run through both Monte Carlo simulations and grid search programs in order to determine the best-fit orbital elements of the close binary. Several targets, with spectral types ranging from O to G and luminosity classesfrom III to V, have been observed in this fashion, and orbits have been derived for the close binaries of eight targets (V819 Her B, Kappa Peg B, Eta Vir A, Eta Ori Aab, 55 UMa A, 13 Ceti A, CHARA 96 Ab, HD 129132 Aa). The derivation of an orbit has allowed for the calculation of the masses of the components in these systems. The magnitude differences between the components can also be derived, provided that the components of the close binary have a magnitude difference of Delta K < 2.5 (CHARA’s limit). Derivation of the orbit also allows for the calculation of the mutual inclination (Phi), which is the angle between the planes of the wide and close orbits. According to data from the Multiple Star Catalog, there are 34 triple systems other than the 8 studied here for which the wide and close systems both have visual orbits. Early formation scenarios for multiple systems predict coplanarity (Phi < 15 degrees), but only 6 of these 42 systems are possibly coplanar. This tendency against coplanarity may suggest that the capture method of multiple system formation is more important than previously believed.

Phase-extraction from fringe patterns is an inevitable procedure in the field of optical metrology and interferometry. However, speckle noise will introduce and influence the precision of wrapped phase map when a coherent light is used. In this thesis, we use the bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) to perform the speckle-reduction. Moreover, different interpolation method in BEMD will be used to compare their performance in speckle-reduction. Finally, the database will be developed to make the BEMD a robotic tool to reduce noises. And the database also points out that the performance of BEMD is highly related to the fringe period, the fringe visibility, and the SNR of speckle noise.