Classical theories of how animals make mate choices have focused on each sex's inherited preferences for the other sex's traits or behaviours. The present thesis was undertaken to investigate how social factors play a role in determining an animal's choice of mate. In the series of experiments reported here, 'focal' female and male Japanese quail were given the opportunity to observe another quail (a 'model') of the same sex mating with a conspecific of the opposite sex (a 'target'). Results of experiments described in chapters 2 and 3 revealed that focal females: (1) displayed an increased tendency to affiliate with male targets that they had observed mating with model females, and (2) found a target male more attractive if he had been observed just standing near another female. In Chapter 4, social influences or male mate choice were investigated. Focal males: (1) exhibited a decrease in their preference for female targets that they had observed mating with model males, and (2) showed a decrease in preference for a female target only if she had been seen mating with or being courted by a model male, not simply standing near him. Finally, in chapter 5, it was determined that for quail of both sexes, affiliation time was a reliable predictor of focal subjects' actual choice of a mate. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that females gain benefits from attending to the mate choices of other females, whereas for males there is a cost associated with mating with a female that had recently muted with another male. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Smoking rates among senior students have been related to smoking initiation in younger students. Opportunities to select smoking friends may be one explanation, however our understanding of this process has been limited by cross-sectional designs. <br ><br /> The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine whether senior student smoking rates a) predict smoking initiation in younger elementary school students, controlling for individual exposure to family and friends who smoke and b) are related to the selection of smoking friends, increasing risk of smoking initiation as a result. <br ><br /> This study involved secondary data analysis of 2798 students from 84 Ontario elementary schools involved with the Third Waterloo Smoking Prevention Project (WSPP3). Grade 8 students completed a questionnaire at baseline to obtain the percentage of senior students who smoke in each school. Students in grade 6 completed a similar questionnaire at baseline, and were surveyed again in grades 7 and 8. Multilevel regression analyses were used to examine school and individual characteristics simultaneously. <br ><br /> Each 5% increase in the senior student smoking rate at a school increased the risk that a non-smoking grade 6 student would try smoking more than once by grade 8 (OR 1. 05) and that a non-smoking grade 6 student with no smoking friends would gain a smoking friend by grade 7 (OR 1. 10). Students who remained non-smokers in grade 7 but gained a smoking friend were more likely to try smoking more than once by grade 8 (OR 4. 31). <br ><br /> In schools where a high proportion of senior students smoked, younger students were more likely to initiate smoking, and gain a smoking friend. Anti-smoking policies and interventions may be more urgently required in these schools to lower senior student smoking rates and reduce initiation among younger students. Tailoring the intensity and content of programs to match the needs of schools is one way to potentially maximize effectiveness.

O objetivo deste trabalho é entender quais fatores influenciam indivíduos da geração Y na escolha pela carreira de Ciências Contábeis. O declínio significativo no número de candidatos que pretendem seguir a carreira em Ciências Contábeis têm sido obervado ao redor do mundo em diversos países como os Estados Unidos, Austrália e Japão, embora em alguns países como a China, Singapura, Brasil e Hong Kong tem-se observado o contrário. Além disso, outra preocupação é a queda na qualidade dos indivíduos que perseguem a carreira contábil, em que estudantes mais talentosos geralmente são levados a optarem por outras carreiras. Este fato ocorre devido a uma visão estereotipada da profissão como uma Ciência Exata, envolvendo muitos cálculos, maçante e sem criatividade, implicando em um descompasso entre as qualidades que o mercado procura no profissional e aquelas percebidas pela sociedade em geral. Para contribuir com a literatura no entendimento dos fatores que influenciam a geração Y a optarem por uma carreira, este tabalho realiza estudo exploratório onde foram elaboradas hipóteses que auxiliaram na discussão, tendo como referencial teórico a Teoria Geracional de Mannheim e a literatura de escolha de carreiras. O instrumento utilizado foi um questionário construído com base em dois outros questionários, a escala PVQ - Portrait Value Questionaire - de Schwartz e o SCTI - Student Choice Task Inventory - de Germeijs e Verschueren. A população escolhida para aeste trabalho foram indivíduos que visitaram a Feira de Profissões da USP em 2012. A coleta dos dados se deu de forma eletrônica por meio de questionário online. A amostra consistiu de 665 respondentes. Para as análises foram utilizados os testes paramétricos de ANOVA e t-Student e não paramétricos de Kruskal-Wallis e Mann-Whitney. Os resultados evidenciaram a influência dos fatores intrínsecos - criatividade, autonomia, desafiadora, ambiente dinâmico -, de prestígio, fatores extrínsecos - segurança no trabalho, ganhar dinheiro, disponibilidade de trabalho - e Outros significativos - amigos e professores - e a não influência dos fatores sociais - trabalhar com pessoas e realizar contribuições para a sociedade - e da família para a escolha pela carreira em Ciêncais Contábeis. / The aim of this research was to understand which factors influence generation Y people to choose Accountancy as their career. The significant decline in the number of candidates willing to follow a career as accountants has been observed abroad, in countries like the USA, Australia and Japan. However, in some other countries, like Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong, the opposite has been observed. Moreover, another problem is the decline in people\'s education quality that pursue a career as an accountant, contributing for many talented students to change their choice of career. This can be explained because people generally tend to believe Accountancy is an exact science, full of calculations, boring numbers and not creative enough, bringing an unbalance between the qualities a person should have according to the job market and the ones perceived by the society as a whole. In order to give a contribution to literature concerning the factors that influence generation Y in their career choice, one of the aims of this research was to carry out an exploratory study, in which some hypothesis were formulated to help in the discussion. For this, we used Mannheim´s generational theory and the literature concerning career choice. It was used a questionnaire based on two other ones, the Portrait Value Questionaire - PVQ, by Schwartz, and the Student Choice Task Inventory - SCTI, by Germeijs and Verschueren. The population involved subjects who visited the USP Careers Fair on 2012. The data collection was completely online, through the application of the questionnaire mentioned before, and the sample involved 665 subjects. For the analysis, it was used parametric tests, the ANOVA and t-Student, and non parametric ones, Kruskall-Wallis and Mann-Whitney. The results showed the influence of intrinsic factors, like creativity, independence, challenging, dynamic environment; extrinsic factors, like job security, making money, job availability; other significant ones, like friends and professors; the non influence of social factors, like working with people and make contributions for society, and the family for people to choose Accountancy as their career.

Thesis (M.Ed. (Mathematics)) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Traditionally, mathematics has been perceived as objective, abstract, absolute and universal subject that is devoid of social and cultural influences. However, the new perspective has led to the perceptions that mathematics is a human endeavour, and therefore it is culture-bound and context-bound. Mathematics is viewed as a human activity and therefore fallible. This research was set out to explore geometrical concepts involved in the traditional circular buildings in Mopani district of Limpopo Province and relate them to the classroom learning in grade 11 classes. The study was conducted in a very remote place and a sample of two traditional circular houses from Xitsonga and Sepedi cultures was chosen for comparison purposes because of their cultural diversity. The questions that guided my exploration were: • Which geometrical concepts are involved in the design of the traditional circular buildings and mural decorations in Mopani district of the Limpopo Province? • How do the geometrical concepts in the traditional circular buildings relate to the learning of circle geometry in grade 11 class? The data were gathered through my observations and the learners’ observations, my interviews with the builders and with the learners, and the grade 11 learners’ interaction with their parents or builders about the construction and decorations of the traditional circular houses. I used narrative configurations to analyse the collected data. Inductive analysis, discovery and interim analysis in the field were employed during data analysis. From my own analysis and interpretations, I found that there are many geometrical concepts such as circle, diameter, semi-circle, radius, centre of the circle etc. that are involved in the design of the traditional circular buildings. In the construction of these houses, these concepts are involved from the foundation of the building to the roof level. All these geometrical concepts can be used by both educators and learners to enhance the teaching and learning of circle geometry. Further evidence emerged that teaching with meaning and by relating abstract world to the real world makes mathematics more relevant and more useful.

Grounded in Bronfenbrenner's (1979) Ecological Systems Theory and through the application of cross-classified random effects models, the goal of this study was to examine simultaneously neighborhood and school influences on adolescent academic achievement and risk of obesity, as well as the moderating effects of schools on these outcomes. By examining concurrently neighborhood and school influences on achievement and risk of obesity, this study aimed to fill gaps in the social determinants literature. For example, it is unclear if where an adolescent lives or where she/he attends school has a stronger influence on academic achievement. We also do not know if schools can moderate neighborhood influences on adolescent achievement, nor do we know much about the relationships among schools, neighborhoods, and adolescent risk for obesity. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement study, four research questions were investigated: (1) To what extent are neighborhood influences on U.S. middle and high school students' academic achievement moderated by school environments? (2) What are the relative influences of neighborhood and school environments on U.S. middle and high school students' academic achievement? (3) To what extent are neighborhood influences on U.S. middle and high school students' risk of obesity moderated by school environments? (4) What are the relative influences of neighborhood and school environments on U.S. middle and high school students' risk of obesity? Findings did not suggest a moderating relationship between neighborhood and school factors examined in this study. In terms of relative relationships with academic achievement, three neighborhood factors (affluence, racial composition, and urbanicity) and two school characteristics (student body racial composition and school socioeconomic status) appeared to have the strongest relationships with adolescent achievement after controlling for individual and other neighborhood and school characteristics. For adolescent risk of obesity, neighborhood affluence and racial composition had statistically significant unique associations, whereas no school factors evidenced statistically significantly relationships with risk of obesity after controlling for other factors. Results of the study were interpreted in terms of contributions to the social determinants literature, as well as recommendations for the improvement of future large-scale surveys.

<p>The purpose of this study was to examine a relationship between perceived health and sport participation with objectives as follows: (a) to examine how athletes perceive their health and understand its importance for sport and life; (b) to examine what strategies athletes use to enhance their health and under what conditions they put their health at risk in sport; (c) to analyse social influences on athletes related to sport and health and (d) to analyse a position of health among athletes’ perceived “benefits” and “costs” of athletic career in its relation to satisfaction with sport participation. The perceived health and sport participation working model (Stambulova, Johnson, Lindwall & Hinic, 2004) was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Thirty six competitive athletes – representatives of different sports - were interviewed using a structured interview guide with both qualitative and quantitative questions. Inductive and deductive analyses were used to treat the qualitative data and to develop category profiles. SPSS was used to treat the quantitative data (descriptive statistics). The results show that the athletes’ attitude to their health is double sided. A majority of the athletes value health as important for life but at the same time 69% of them put their health at risk in their athletic career (e.g, practicing or competing when ill or injured). A majority of the athletes also use self enhancing strategies (e.g., injury and overtraining prevention), but are at the same time draining their health related resources. Health was the second highest perceived benefit of sport participation, but it was also the second highest perceived cost. Social influences are also contradictive as the athletes significant others express positive opinions about the link between sport and health, but they also often “push” athletes to put their health under risk in sport. The results are discussed in relation to the corresponding literature and the perceived health and sport participation working model.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine a relationship between perceived health and sport participation with objectives as follows: (a) to examine how athletes perceive their health and understand its importance for sport and life; (b) to examine what strategies athletes use to enhance their health and under what conditions they put their health at risk in sport; (c) to analyse social influences on athletes related to sport and health and (d) to analyse a position of health among athletes’ perceived “benefits” and “costs” of athletic career in its relation to satisfaction with sport participation. The perceived health and sport participation working model (Stambulova, Johnson, Lindwall & Hinic, 2004) was used as the theoretical framework for this study. Thirty six competitive athletes – representatives of different sports - were interviewed using a structured interview guide with both qualitative and quantitative questions. Inductive and deductive analyses were used to treat the qualitative data and to develop category profiles. SPSS was used to treat the quantitative data (descriptive statistics). The results show that the athletes’ attitude to their health is double sided. A majority of the athletes value health as important for life but at the same time 69% of them put their health at risk in their athletic career (e.g, practicing or competing when ill or injured). A majority of the athletes also use self enhancing strategies (e.g., injury and overtraining prevention), but are at the same time draining their health related resources. Health was the second highest perceived benefit of sport participation, but it was also the second highest perceived cost. Social influences are also contradictive as the athletes significant others express positive opinions about the link between sport and health, but they also often “push” athletes to put their health under risk in sport. The results are discussed in relation to the corresponding literature and the perceived health and sport participation working model.

Smoking rates among senior students have been related to smoking initiation in younger students. Opportunities to select smoking friends may be one explanation, however our understanding of this process has been limited by cross-sectional designs. <br ><br /> The purpose of this longitudinal study was to determine whether senior student smoking rates a) predict smoking initiation in younger elementary school students, controlling for individual exposure to family and friends who smoke and b) are related to the selection of smoking friends, increasing risk of smoking initiation as a result. <br ><br /> This study involved secondary data analysis of 2798 students from 84 Ontario elementary schools involved with the Third Waterloo Smoking Prevention Project (WSPP3). Grade 8 students completed a questionnaire at baseline to obtain the percentage of senior students who smoke in each school. Students in grade 6 completed a similar questionnaire at baseline, and were surveyed again in grades 7 and 8. Multilevel regression analyses were used to examine school and individual characteristics simultaneously. <br ><br /> Each 5% increase in the senior student smoking rate at a school increased the risk that a non-smoking grade 6 student would try smoking more than once by grade 8 (OR 1. 05) and that a non-smoking grade 6 student with no smoking friends would gain a smoking friend by grade 7 (OR 1. 10). Students who remained non-smokers in grade 7 but gained a smoking friend were more likely to try smoking more than once by grade 8 (OR 4. 31). <br ><br /> In schools where a high proportion of senior students smoked, younger students were more likely to initiate smoking, and gain a smoking friend. Anti-smoking policies and interventions may be more urgently required in these schools to lower senior student smoking rates and reduce initiation among younger students. Tailoring the intensity and content of programs to match the needs of schools is one way to potentially maximize effectiveness.

The focus of this thesis is on the behavior of Taiwanese consumers in the organic food market in Taiwan. The theory of planned behavior is used to determine what role attitudes, social influences and perceived control has on Taiwanese consumers¡¦ intention to purchase organic food. Furthermore, a fourth construct testing the role of one¡¦s attitude towards the environment on consumer behavior is tested. The importance of demographics on the organic food market is also tested to determine a target market for the marketers of organic food in Taiwan. The data for this thesis was collected through several interviews which provided detailed information on the beliefs and attitudes of Taiwanese consumers on organic food. The results from the interviews were used as the foundation of the questionnaire which was hosted online. This thesis determined that the main factors influencing consumer behavior of the organic food market in Taiwan are the attitudes of Taiwanese consumers towards organic food and social influences on Taiwanese consumers. Marketing efforts of organic food in Taiwan should therefore focus on attitudes and social influences on Taiwanese consumers. Perceived control is less influential, while the attitude of Taiwanese consumers towards the environment did not prove to have a positive significant relationship with intention to purchase organic food. This thesis proved that there is no significant difference in intention to purchase organic food between Taiwanese consumers¡¦ of different genders, areas of residence and income levels, however those aged over 50 and 30-39 years old are significantly more inclined to purchase organic food than those aged 18-29.

This research examines post-adoption behavior (discontinuance versus continuance) with the context of Intranet use. Multiple theories are used as theoretical frameworks to extend information communication technology research to the case of post-adoption behavior. Three research questions and six sets of hypotheses are formulated to distinguish discontinuers from continuers, to identify factors related to discontinuance in comparison to continuance, and to explore reasons behind their discontinuance. Results indicate that discontinuers can be discriminated from continuers based on technological attributes (compatibility and usefulness), use-related outcomes (satisfaction, behavioral control, and enjoyment), social influences (work group membership, subjective norms, image, and critical communication partners' perception), and organizational mediations (perceived voluntariness, organizational support, top management support, and organization's innovation climate). This research also found that there are different types of discontinuers (replacement, disenchantment, partial, reserved, indifferent, and political discontinuers) and that replacement and partial discontinuers can be discriminated from reserved and indifferent discontinuers with respect to individual characteristics (risk-taking personality, independent judgment capacity, personal innovativeness, and self-efficacy) as well as factors associated with post-adoption system use. Additionally, this research found that discontinuers are more like to be dissatisfied with organizational communication than are continuers. Among discontinuer categories, reserved discontinuers are the most likely to be satisfied, while political discontinuers are the least likely to be satisfied with organizational communication. Overall, these findings help us better understand the complex nature of post-adoption behavior in organizational context. In fact, the findings suggest that people are not passive recipients of an innovation even where the innovation implementation decision is made by an organization. Rather than accepting organizational decision, they experiment with it, evaluate it, develop positive or negative feelings about it, and work around it. Particularly, the diverse list of actions (e.g., replacement, reservation, indifference, partial use, etc.) highlights the complex nature of post-adoption behavior and contrasts with the widely cited adopter categories, where discontinuers are treated as identical with later adopters. This gives much needed attention to post-adoption behavior, which complements the diffusion literature's predominant focus on initial adoption. Theoretical and practical implications as well as future directions are also discussed. / text