Firms have since long given their regular customers special treatment. With the help of IT, many firms have established formal ways to do this. An example is a so-called customer rewards program (CRP), by which the firm rewards the customer for repeated purchase. Firms allocate large resources in these programs with millions of customers enrolled. Hence, it seems important that the CRP works effectively. By effective we mean that it increases sales. Whether it is effective or not is a matter of how it is designed. A CRP typically comes with membership levels. We study how many membership levels the firm should offer in an effective program. We also study if customers prefer individual or group rewards and whether a CRP can break and create habitual purchasing behavior. In the study, we also analyze under what conditions the customer prefers a CRP over a sales promotion. In general, the study adds to the understanding of Customer Rewards Programs as an incentive structure. There are many different ways to design these incentives and especially the continuing development of IT is expected to influence the future design and role of these types of programs. This study is part of the Swedish Research School of Management and Information Technology (MIT) which is one of 16 national research schools supported by the Swedish Government. MIT is jointly operated by the following institutions: Blekinge Institute of Technology, Gotland University College, Jönköping International Business School, Karlstad University, Linköping University, Lund University, Mälardalen University College, Stockholm University, Växjö University, Örebro University, IT University of Göteborg, and Uppsala University, host to the research school. At the Swedish Research School of Management and Information Technology (MIT), research is conducted, and doctoral education provided, in three fields: management information systems, business administration, and informatics.

10 pp. / This publication describes gorwth habit and charactersitics of mequite and palo verde trees for the urban landscape. Culture and problems are discussed.

Revised; Originally Published: 2003 / 10 pp.

The aim of this thesis is to determine the changes in BOLD signal of the human brain during various stages of reinforcement learning. In order to accomplish that goal two probabilistic reinforcement-learning tasks were developed and assessed with healthy participants by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). For both experiments the brain imaging data of the participants were analysed by using a combination of univariate and model–based techniques. In Experiment 1 there were three types of stimulus-response pairs where they predict either a reward, a neutral or a monetary loss outcome with a certain probability. The Experiment 1 tested the following research questions: Where does the activity occur in the brain for expecting and receiving a monetary reward and a punishment ? Does avoiding a loss outcome activate similar brain regions as gain outcomes and vice a verse does avoiding a reward outcome activate similar brain regions as loss outcomes? Where in the brain prediction errors, and predictions for rewards and losses are calculated? What are the neural correlates of reward and loss predictions for reward and loss during early and late phases in learning? The results of the Experiment 1 have shown that expectation for reward and losses activate overlapping brain areas mainly in the anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia but outcomes of rewards and losses activate separate brain regions, outcomes of losses mainly activate insula and amygdala whereas reward activate bilateral medial frontal gyrus. The model-based analysis also revealed early versus late learning related changes. It was found that predicted-value in early trials is coded in the ventro-medial orbito frontal cortex but later in learning the activation for the predicted value was found in the putamen. The second experiment was designed to find out the differences in processing novel versus familiar reward-predictive stimuli. The results revealed that dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex and several regions in the parietal cortex showed greater activation for novel stimuli than for familiar stimuli. As an extension to the fourth research question of Experiment 1, reward predictedvalues of the conditional stimuli and prediction errors of unconditional stimuli were also assessed in Experiment 2. The results revealed that during learning there is a significant activation of the prediction error mainly in the ventral striatum with extension to various cortical regions but for familiar stimuli no prediction error activity was observed. Moreover, predicted values for novel stimuli activate mainly ventro-medial orbito frontal cortex and precuneus whereas the predicted value of familiar stimuli activates putamen. The results of Experiment 2 for the predictedvalues reviewed together with the early versus later predicted values in Experiment 1 suggest that during learning of CS-US pairs activation in the brain shifts from ventro-medial orbito frontal structures to sensori-motor parts of the striatum.

Background: Exercise behaviour has largely been studied via reflective social cognitive approaches over the last thirty years. Emerging findings have shown habit to demonstrate predictive validity with physical activity. Habit represents an automatic behaviour that becomes developed from repeated stimulus-response bonds (cued and repetitive action) overtime. Despite the correlation with PA, the literature lacks research in understanding habit formation in new exercisers and experimental evidence of this construct. Hence, the purpose of this dissertation was to: i) understand the behavioural and psychological requirements of habit formation in new gym members, ii) investigate how regular gym members maintain their exercise habit, and iii) incorporate these findings to design a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) to test the effectiveness of an exercise habit building workshop in new gym members. In particular, the RCT sought to test if the habit group would develop greater exercise improvement over a control condition and another intervention group that employed a variety-based approach. Methods: Participants for all three studies were healthy adults (18-65) who were recruited from local gym and recreation centres in Victoria, BC. Studies I and III included only new gym members who were not meeting the Canadian Physical Activity guidelines upon recruitment while study II were a sample of gym members who have been exercising for at least one year. The first two studies were prospective, observational designs (twelve and six weeks respectively) while the third was a CONSORT based experimental study. Results: The first study found that exercising for at least four bouts per week for six weeks was the minimum requirement to establish an exercise habit. Trajectory change analysis revealed habit and intention to be parallel predictors of exercise in the trajectory analysis while consistency of practice revealed to be the best predictor. The second study highlighted the distinction between the preparatory and performance phases of exercise and further found intention and preparatory habit to be responsible for behaviour change across time. This study also found consistency to be the strongest predictor for habit formation. The intervention found the habit group to increase in exercise time compared to the control (p<.05, d=.40) and variety (p<.05, d=.36) groups. Mediation analysis found habit to partially mediate between group and behaviour. Contextual predictors revealed cues and consistency to mediate habit formation and group type. Conclusions: This dissertation provided significant novel contributions to the literature which included: i) calculating the behavioural and psychological requirements for establishing an exercise habit, ii) distinguishing two behavioural phases of exercise and iii) conducting the first exercise habit-based RCT. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed habit-based worksheet which could be helpful for trainers and new gym members in facilitating an exercise habit. / Graduate / kaushal@uvic.ca

Lung cancer is one of the most important causes of 'avoidable deaths' globally and is responsible for approximately 900,000 deaths per year. However, lung cancer rates tend to be higher for males than for females and the disease also varies geographically, as rates are far higher in developed countries compared to developing countries. Scotland has the highest rate of lung cancer of any country where lung cancer data is available. However, explaining the spatial distribution of this disease is difficult because lung cancer has a number of known causes that operate at a range of different spatial scales. This is further complicated by the lag time between the period of exposure to a risk factor and the date of diagnosis. This thesis examines the causes of lung cancer across Scotland, using lung cancer registrations for the period 1988 to 1991. Exploratory methods are presented for examining the geographical distribution of the disease in small areas using methods of age-standardisation and cluster detection to identify areas with unusual rates. Estimates of the key risk factors potentially associated with lung cancer are calculated for the same small areas. These include estimates of smoking behaviour, air pollution levels in 1971 and 1991, radon gas potential, coal mining activity, quarrying activity and area deprivation. The risk factors are incorporated into a set of regression models to examine which factors are significant in explaining lung cancer incidence. Finally, the residual values derived from the optimum model of lung cancer incidence in Scotland are examined to identify areas where lung cancer incidence is particularly high and low. This study revealed that there were marked geographical differences in lung cancer rates, with higher rates in the large urban areas, especially Glasgow, and also the more deprived areas of Scotland. Smoking was consistently significant in explaining lung cancer incidence for all cohorts, types of lung cancer and urban-rural areas. The estimated air pollution levels in 1971 were also found to be significant, but the 1991 estimates were not. Exposure to radon was only significant in explaining lung cancer in the younger age groups. However, the coal mining and quarrying variables did not independently influence the incidence of the disease. Area deprivation and measure of urbanness both had a significant effect on lung cancer incidence in Scotland that was independent of the key risk factors. The analysis of the residual values showed that, having controlled for the key risk factors, lung cancer incidence is higher than expected in rural rather than urban areas.

This programme of research was focused on developing a better understanding of pro-environmental behaviours and pro-environmental behaviour change, with consideration of the powerful effect of habits in thinking, affect and behaviour. Habit networks are discussed with reference to HOT topics (Habits, Opportunities and Thoughts), and explored empirically within the context of the FIT Framework (Fletcher & Stead, 2000). This programme of research started with a literature review on established models of pro-environmental behaviour. It found a large degree of similarity in the approaches used to conceptualise pro-environmental behaviour, and suggested the need to explore pro-environmental activity from different perspectives. The FIT Framework was then presented as an alternative approach. FIT variables measure the strength of an individual's cognitive characteristics and their degree of behavioural flexibility using the FIT Profiler (Fletcher, 1999). The empirical studies presented in this programme of research suggest that levels of personal FITness are related to engagement with pro-environmental activity and the extent to which lifestyles are environmentally sustainable. Study 1 (N = 325) explored the relationships between FITness and measures of pro-environmental activity, and Study 2 (N = 134) sought to confirm these relationships in a different sample. Both studies found positive relationships between levels of personal FITness and pro-environmental activity. Based on these results, it was suggested that FIT offers a useful alternative framework to study pro-environmental activity. Studies 3 (N = 75) and 4 (N = 100) considered the performance of pro-environmental behaviours in different sites of practice, as follow-up to the differences that emerged in Studies 1 and 2. They also explored the perceived influence of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on energy saving in home and work settings. The results suggested that the pro-environmental behaviours that are performed at home are often not transferred to the workplace and this might be because extrinsic factors in an organisational setting constrain action. Higher levels of personal FITness helped to align behaviours with intrinsic beliefs; individuals with higher levels of FITness behaved as they felt they ought to, whereas individuals with lower levels of FITness behaved as they were told to. It was suggested, therefore, that higher levels of FITness might support behavioural consistency across contexts. Study 5 (N = 95) explored the extent to which pro-environmental behaviours are characterised by habit and how the strength of habit changes according to level of personal FITness. The results suggested that people act pro-environmentally within distinct behaviour categories and this has little or no bearing on their propensity to behave in an environmentally friendly way in other areas. Habits can have a positive influence on the performance of pro-environmental behaviour but a negative influence on behaviour change. The empirical results suggest that a higher level of FITness might help people to engage more readily with pro-environmental behaviours that are performed less frequently. It was, therefore, suggested that developing levels of personal FITness might help individuals to extend their behavioural repertoire and be sufficiently flexible to include more pro-environmental behaviours, including those that are, at present, characterised less by habit. A second literature review on interventions for pro-environmental behaviour change found that many techniques have been developed from the perspective of bounded rationality and have assumed that the provision of information will initiate behaviour change. These approaches are often ineffective because of the resistive effects of habit. In light of this and the findings of the empirical studies, a FIT-based behaviour change intervention, named here as Do Something Greener, was developed as an alternative approach to address directly the problem of habit. Overall, this programme of research suggests that the influence of habits, opportunities, and thoughts should be considered in the study of pro-environmental activity. Further research exploring the effectiveness of Do Something Greener for pro-environmental behaviour change is necessary and planned as the next step in this programme of research. By exploring pro-environmental behaviour from a different perspective, it is hoped that this programme of research has also challenged some of the habitual tendencies that researchers are themselves starting to develop in relation to the study of pro-environmental behaviour, and that it has added a degree of eclecticism and pragmatism to psychological approaches to pro-environmental behaviour change. It is hoped that this will help to set a more practically oriented agenda for future research.

(in English): The aim of this thesis is to clarify the normative character of language, that is, how we are bound by a certain set of rules in every speech. We will look into this normative character of language by articulating two essential questions: in what is this normativity grounded and which aspects constitute language as an institution. In the first part of the paper we interpret the work of three authors, Ferdinand de Saussure, Charles S. Peirce and Pierre Bourdieu, in order to answer the question on what the normative character of language is founded. In this part we mainly look into the relationship between language and social consensus, habit/acting and institutions. In the second part of the paper we give a definition of language institution which is inspired by the work of Peirce and Bourdieu. Further on we clarify in systematic way those aspects of language which can be considered as normative. Firstly, we point out those which are clearly part of language, such as lexicon, pronunciation and intonation, official language and institution symbolized by language. The last aspects that we will analyse are speech genres, belief, habit/acting and power.

Thesis advisor: Ourida Mostefai / This thesis addresses the role of dress in the blurring of social class lines in pre-revolutionary France. The Ancien Régime had a set code for costume, in accordance with rank and birth. I outline this particular order, and the resulting disorder from this social structure through factual evidence and literary examples. The second part will discuss the creation and practice of fashion in the 18th century, leading up to the Estates General of 1789. This building significance of appearance in France made dress both a political and social tool that became incredibly useful during the French Revolution. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literature. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

[pt] A IS intertemporal, que representa a dinâmica da Demanda Agregada em modelos estruturais que visem avaliar a política monetária, pode ter diferentes formatos dependendo das hipóteses que são feitas a respeito da estrutura da economia. Neste trabalho buscou-se modelar as diferentes hipóteses, tais como formação de hábito de um e dois períodos, de maneira independente da política monetária e testar seu ajuste aos dados. Os resultados indicam que não só é importante introduzir defasagens do hiato do produto na regressão (tanto para aumentar seu poder de explicação quanto para retirar a autocorrelação dos resíduos), como que a taxa de juros só consegue ter coeficiente significantemente diferente de zero se for incluída na regressão a curva de juros nominais futuros. Entretanto, tais resultados são viesados pela amostra escolhida, um período que apresentou uma série de taxa de juros com indícios de não-estacionariedade. / [en] The intertemporal IS equation, which replicate de dynamics of Agregate Demand in structural models that aim to evaluate monetary policy, might take different shapes depending on the assumptions made on the structure of the economy underlying it. In the present work were modeled different hypothesis about the economy, such as habit formation of one and two periods, independent of monetary policy and tested the fit of such equations to the observed data. The results indicate that not only it is important to introduce lags of the output gap in the regression (in order to both elevate its explaining power and to retrieve any autocorrelation of the residuals), and that interest rates can only have a coefficient significantly different from zero if an nominal yield curve is also included. But these results are biased by the time sample used, in which the interest rate were repeatedly raised, and therefore the series suggest some signs of non-stationarity, which may have had some effect in the results.