The purpose of this thesis is to identify common themes presented in several illness narratives with specific attention paid to the relationship between patients and their physicians and patients and their families. Only illness narratives written in America and Western Europe were used for this thesis so the topic could be narrowed to the experience within the western biomedical field. While most research on illness narratives focuses on defining illness and illustrating the importance of introspective work, this thesis identifies patterns in a way that can shape the future treatment of chronically ill patients. This thesis also allows me to creatively explore a personal illness narrative, reinforcing these themes and contributing to the discussion of what physicians and families can do to make the illness experience more bearable for the patient.

River sediment is one of the most pervasive pollutants in the world. Excess amounts of fine sediment can reduce water quality, damage stream ecosystems, and harm aquatic life. Both natural and human-caused processes can add sediment to a river, such as tectonic uplift, landslides, and timber harvesting. Therefore, it is important to understand how fine sediment enters and moves through a rive system to inform policymakers and land-managers on effective ecosystem management. In this study, we determined how the relationship between river flow and suspended sediment changed among watersheds along the North Coast of California. We found a rise in suspended sediment concentration at median flows following extreme timber harvesting. Additionally, our results indicate that river flow and suspended sediment relationships are influenced by timber harvest activity, tectonic uplift, rainfall patterns, and near-channel environments. These results support previous findings that extreme land disturbance in a watershed, be it natural or human-caused, can change river flow and suspended sediment relationships. Our results suggest that policymakers and land-managers should take into account tectonic uplift when making regulation and should prioritize protecting near-channel environments.

In today's professional arena, organized sports have grown to become institutionalized and highly organized through corporations in a multi-billion dollar industry. Through the use of in depth interviews completed online, this study investigated the role franchise communication plays in the development of nineteen minor league players' relationships within the Major League Baseball (MLB) sports industry. Results found that players feel their organizations disproportionately help some players achieve success over others and withhold information. As players, they felt they have a limited voice regarding the direction of their careers. Despite a difficult working environment, the players' desire to achieve success and perform at their best on a consistent basis remains strong. A majority of the players experience job satisfaction and feel motivated, but these factors were not related to their employer's organization.

This study examines how Taiwanese college students understand the traditional, culturally Chinese concept of Yuan and its role in their use of a new and distinctive Taiwanese social networking site—Dcard. Particular attention is paid to the Dcard’s unique friending mechanism, which provides users the opportunity to connect (or not) with one, seemingly random new friend each day at midnight. Through thematic analysis of 15 semi-structured long interviews, the study finds that Dcard users understand Yuan as a multi-faceted concept pertaining primarily to interpersonal relationships (relationalism). Users perceive Yuan to influence relationships in a predetermined, causal fashion (fatalism), but they still assert some agency in their relationships (controllability), including their ability to believe deeply in Yuan. Users perceive Yuan to play an important role Dcard use, and the concept’s different facets each influence key moments in the friending process—from receiving a friend recommendation, to the choice of whether to accept or reject that request, to the initiation and maintenance of relationships through Dcard. Dcard’s architecture, including elements of randomness and partial anonymity intensify the experience of Yuan. This study underscores the importance of studying how cultural concepts like Yuan are socially constructed and used in online contexts. More, it illustrates how social networking sites can use design and architecture to tap into culture to attract and retain users.

Since 2004, the economic relevance of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United States has steadily declined while large-scale enterprises' contributions have increased. Large-scale enterprises have maximized opportunities to engage consumers through social media and have created competitive advantages compared to SMEs. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the social media consumer brand engagement strategies leaders of SMEs used to positively affect their brands' equity. Relationship marketing and customer relationship management provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through interviews with 8 craft brewery business owners in the Southeastern United States and content collected from the social media pages of each business. Data were analyzed using within-case and cross-case techniques. Themes that emerged from data analysis included the cost-benefit of social media over traditional marketing platforms, the significance of establishing and maintaining relationships, and the importance of constant and continuous contact with customers. SME leaders may benefit from the results of this study by furthering their knowledge and understanding of social media consumer engagement strategies that positively impact brand equity. Findings may provide owners of small businesses with strategies that may result in social and economic benefits including new employment opportunities, increased revenue, and economic stability in local communities.

The current study examines the construct of relationship social comparison orientation, which deals with an individual's propensity to compare his or her romantic relationship to that of others' romantic relationships on various dimensions, in both dating and married samples. The study also examines the role of relationship uncertainty and self uncertainty as an inducement or precondition to relationship comparison tendencies in both groups. 204 married individuals were recruited through The University of Iowa employee pool and 270 dating individuals were recruited to participate using the Elementary Psychology research pool. Dating and married individuals completed questionnaires related to relationship social comparison orientation, general social comparison orientation, and personality traits. A subset of married individuals' spouses also completed questionnaires to report as informants on their partners' relationship comparison tendencies, general social comparison orientation and personality. Findings show that married individuals report higher levels of relationship and self certainty and satisfaction than dating individuals. Factor analyses of the Relationship Social Comparison Measure (RSCM; Smith LeBeau & Buckingham, 2008) and relationship comparison tendencies items produced an interpretable and replicable three factor structure, in both samples, of: 1) general relational comparisons, 2) relational comparisons with positive affect and 3) relational comparisons with negative affect. Dating individuals reported more frequent engagement in general relational comparisons and relational comparisons with negative affect. General relational comparisons and negative affect relational comparisons factor scales were significantly, negatively associated with satisfaction in both dating and married samples; in contrast, however, general social comparison orientation was unrelated to satisfaction. Findings, additionally, show significant convergence on self-reported and spouse ratings of personality, in the married sample, for Big 5 traits as well as for relational comparison tendencies and general social comparison orientation. Positive affect relational comparisons were found to have a small positive association with satisfaction, suggesting that some comparison processes are not maladaptive and may serve to bolster relationship functioning.

Adult attachment theory offers a promising conceptual framework for understanding the psychological and contextual factors that contribute to marital satisfaction. A consistent association has been found between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. The current study examined several mediating mechanisms that may explain the relationship between adult attachment dimensions and marital satisfaction. Specifically, relationship expectations, four types of responses to accommodative dilemmas (exit, neglect, voice, and loyalty), and three forms of empathy (empathic concern, perspective taking, empathic personal distress) were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between adult attachment and marital satisfaction. Self-report data were collected from both partners of 193 heterosexual, married couples. The attachment dimension of avoidance for husbands and wives was consistently associated with each couple member's respective marital satisfaction. Attachment anxiety was never directly associated with either husbands' or wives' marital satisfaction. Wives' marital satisfaction was explained by their own relationship expectations and exit responses. Additionally, wives' marital satisfaction was explained by their husband's relationship expectations, exit responses, empathic perspective taking, and loyalty responses. Husbands' marital satisfaction was explained by their own relationship expectations, exit responses, neglect responses, voice responses, loyalty responses, and empathic perspective taking. Results are discussed in light of current theories of adult attachment and marital satisfaction.

This study focuses on relationships. Specifically, it measures the relationship between the administration of a large public university in the southeastern United States, USF, and its primary internal public the faculty. The purpose of this study is to measure the quality and type of relationship between an organization and it public, as perceived by the public. This study seeks to replicate and extend previous relational research by examining how the variables of trust, commitment, control mutuality, and satisfaction are related to the quality of relationships in organizations. In addition, the type of relationshipcommunal or exchangethat the faculty has with the university, is examined. This thesis also posits an additional indicator of relationship quality goal compatibility. Therefore the following hypotheses are proposed: H1: Trust, commitment, satisfaction and control mutuality are indicators of relationship quality between and organization and its publics. H2: Goal compatibility is an indicator of relationship quality between an organization and its publics. Explicitly, this study seeks to explore the following: RQ1: How do faculty employees at a large, Research I university perceive their relationship with the administration in terms of trust, commitment, satisfaction, control mutuality, and goal compatibility, with regards to the issue of salary, and what type of relationship—communal or exchange—does the organization and its public have? The significance of this study lies in its ability to contribute to public relations theory and practice. This research will enrich our understanding of the importance of building strong relationships between organizations and their publics. This study will also build on previous public relations studies of relationship measurement in order to further public relations theory development. From an applied perspective, this research may serve to inform the organization about the quality of its relationship with one of its most important strategic publics. According to the data analyses, in terms of trust, commitment, satisfaction, control mutuality, and goal compatibility, the faculty perceives their relationship to be low quality. In addition, the faculty perceives to have an exchange relationship with the administration.

Relationship marketing has become a fundamental concept within modern marketing thought. Some authors even suggest it is the fundamental concept. Its rise to prominence has seen it become a unifying force within the marketing discipline given its application to a whole range of areas. It promises benefits to organisations that can be distilled down to greater profits over the longer term, with less cost. The focus of relationship marketing is relatively simple. Rather than acquiring customers, the retention and development of customers is emphasised. Regrettably, the implementation of relationship marketing is not as straightforward as its definition. It requires at the very least a long-term outlook, an embracing of technology and a commitment to a customer focus. If relationship marketing is such a critical element in modern marketing, it follows that its application across industry sectors be examined. Sport is one such industry and has coincidentally emerged as a major business sector in the same time-frame as relationship marketing's maturity. As the markets for sport have grown, so too has the sophistication of the sport marketer. From amateur, myopic beginnings, sport continues to claim a strong grip on the cultural identity of countries such as Australia. Buoyed by strong media interest, attendance at sporting events continues to grow, albeit across a much larger choice-set. The road ahead is not necessarily bountiful however. Information presented in Chapter 1 of this thesis suggests that the frequency of individual attendance at major sports in Australia is declining, despite some positive overall attendance figures. In essence, it appears that loyal customers are being replaced by newer, less committed ones. While this might not be instantly damaging, it does require sport marketers to ensure that strong levels of identification with their products are developed. All of this is supported by the existing literature that has recognised that sport can likely benefit greatly from the implementation and application of relationship marketing, but is in urgent need of further study. These scenarios suggest a need to understand where relationship marketing in sport currently rests and this thesis answers the call and asks the following research questions: RQ1) To what extent do professional sporting organisations in Australia undertake relationship marketing; RQ2) what strategies do they employ and RQ3) what are the issues faced in implementing a relationship marketing approach? This thesis takes an organisational perspective, across multiple-cases in major professional sport and considers the sport-consumer relationship exclusively. It is the first study of its kind in this area and adds significantly to the body of knowledge, both within sport marketing and the broader concept of relationship marketing. It indicates that while relationship marketing is acknowledged and indeed welcomed as a concept by practitioners, their efforts at implementation have been primitive, largely unplanned and generally sporadic. More than often they reflect a reactive rather than proactive strategic approach. A range of barriers are presented and discussed as are some examples of organisations that have incorporated some parts of a relationship marketing philosophy into their structure. A conceptual model in the final chapter of this thesis synthesises the issues extracted from the various cases and existing literature. It depicts a challenging road ahead for professional sport organisations.

In recent years, a number of researchers have questioned the traditional notion of the producer as the sole generator of innovation in buyer seller relationships. Increasingly, innovation generation has been recognized as an outcome of interaction between a firm and various outside entities. According to this view, supplier involvement and alliances are a route to innovation generation. Clearly, business market relationships provide an important opportunity for interaction between buyer and seller. Despite this realization, only very limited research has focused on innovation generation in business-to-business relationships. To alleviate this important gap in literature, this thesis develops a conceptual model and hypotheses of innovation generation in business-to-buyer seller relationships. The research uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques to examine the proposed theoretical model of innovation generation. A pilot case study is followed by development of and purification of measures using the IMP database on supplier customer interfirm relations in Europe and China. The hypotheses and model are tested using correlation and regression analysis. Results suggest that innovation generation is indeed facilitated by buyer seller interactions. Interaction also moderates the effect of other relationship and technology factors and type of innovation generated / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (Marketing)