Thesis (doctoral)--Harvard University, 2002. / Adviser: Peter G. Rowe. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2006. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-100)

Tanning bed use, especially among young, white females, has become a serious health problem in the United States. Those who use tanning beds value a tanned appearance; thus, one possible way to get individuals to stop using tanning beds is to persuade them to begin using an alternative method: a sunless tanner. This study sought to use persuasive messages to encourage individuals to both stop using tanning beds and start using a sunless tanner. Deviance Regulation Theory (DRT) was used to design three messages, and source expertise was manipulated (high and low). In addition, attitudes, perceived norms, benefits and threats about tanning were examined. Results indicate that the combination of DRT message design and source expertise produced several message conditions that were effective at decreasing tanning bed use intent. No combined message condition was effective at changing sunless tanner use intent. DRT message design alone did not produce results, nor did source expertise. Tanning attitudes were influenced by reference groups, and perceived norms about tanning predicted individual‘s tanning bed use for several reference groups. In addition, there was an interaction between benefits and threats of tanning.

Benzodiazepines are drugs used to treat insomnia and anxiety. This group of drugs should be prescribed with the duty of care to the elderly because of it´s negative effects. Life expectancy is increasing because of the progress of drug development. Aging brings physical and psychological changes leading to changes in pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic features. Drug treatment is becoming increasingly widespread and contributes to the increasing number of interactions and complications for the elderly. The aim of the study was to illuminate the consequences of long-term use of benzodiazepines in the elderly. The study was conducted as a literature review based on 14 scientific articles that were analyzed. The result showed that the theme benzodiazepine use among the elderly could be divided into three categories; consequences out of long-term use, benzodiazepine users experiences and the nursing perspective. The category of impact out of long-term use of benzodiazepines revealed three sub-categories: physical consequences, psychological consequences and social consequences. Information and education to the elderly patients is important to make the elderly aware of the negative effects that may arise out of a long-term use of benzodiazepines. It is essential that nurses already in their basic education acquire more knowledge about benzodiazepine use among elderly in order to address these problems in the nursing care.

Contemporary networking in Canada, like most of the developed world, involves significant use of media to maintain relationships. This is not the use of media for faraway alters where in person contact is difficult, but media use within the very fabric of everyday life alongside in person contact. Past debates about the effects of new media have frequently focused on a medium's potential for social isolation. These debates have resulted in ambiguous, muted or contradictory findings. So instead of suggesting another response to the issue of social isolation, this thesis reorients the focus towards a different question: under what conditions are alters accessible and how does multiple media use affect this accessibility? Rather than suggest that new media simply offer "more" social accessibility, I contend that they complicate social accessibility by offering individuals increasingly differentiated ways to habitually maintain contact with each other. The result of this differentiation is that while individuals might be able to maintain contact with more alters (or at least just as many) in the abstract sense, they end up maintaining contact with the most accessible alters rather than alters with whom one has the strongest ties. This is the conundrum of multiple media use: how is it that each individual medium offers increased convenience but the sum total of media use makes life less convenient, more planned and more complicated? I suggest it is because media use cuts across longstanding social norms of public and private spaces (or public and private time) without offering a coherent normative framework as a substitute. Instead, individuals are differentially accessible via each medium. Moreover, this accessibility is related more to emergent personal habits than to tie strength. Data for this study comes from 350 random-sample surveys and 86 follow-up social network-oriented interviews in East York, a former borough on the east side of downtown Toronto, Canada. The data were collected in 2005, before the widespread adoption of social networking software, but after the widespread adoption of cellular telephones, instant messaging services and email.

Within Canada, young adults have been identified as being at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI). One major contributing factor is inconsistent condom use, particularly within monogamous relationships (Civic, 2000; Critelli & Suire, 1998; Misovich, Fisher & Fisher, 1997; Winfield & Whaley, 2005). This research used qualitative methods to investigate the process by which young women rationalize inconsistent condom use and the relational influences that aid in this transition. A sample of fifteen women (between 18-24 years of age) were surveyed and interviewed. Using grounded theory analysis, the results indicated that the process of discontinuing condoms is multifaceted. Within relationships, unprotected sex comes to signify developmental milestones for the couple. It is associated with desirable relationship characteristics of commitment, trust, intimacy and fidelity. The results suggest that health promotion interventions should emphasize the high risk for STI posed by using condoms inconsistently within the monogamous relationships of young adults.

This cross-sectional study described antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in healthy pigs in 20 Alberta and Saskatchewan herds. All herds used antimicrobials; the daily probability of antimicrobial exposure was 0.8 for nursery pigs and 0.3 for grow-finish pigs. Salmonella spp. (n = 468) were isolated from nursery, grow-finish pigs and sows while <i>Escherichia coli</i> (n = 1439) and <i>Campylobacter</i> spp. (n = 405) were isolated from grow-finish pigs. <p>Fifty-nine percent of the Salmonella were pansusceptible. Isolates from sows were more likely to be pansusceptible than those from other production phases, while Salmonella from nursery pigs were more likely to be multiresistant. All Salmonella and E. coli were susceptible to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin, drugs critically important to human medicine, while one E. coli was resistant to ceftiofur. Resistance was most common to tetracycline and sulfamethoxazole (Salmonella, 35% and 27%; E. coli, 68% and 46%). Although often considered an indicator organism, <i>E. coli</i> AMR was a poor sentinel for Salmonella AMR at the herd-level. <p>Antimicrobial resistance genes, described in 151 <i>E. coli</i>, were associated in two sets: aadA1 / sul1 / tetA and blaTEM / strA strB / sul2 / tetB. Associations between genes consistently matched associations between phenotypes suggesting phenotype data may be useful for predicting co-selection. Demonstrating dose-response relationships between various antimicrobial exposures and resistance phenotypes in E. coli reiterated the importance of co-selection. Significant predictors included exposures in other production phases and to unrelated drugs. Four <i>E. coli </i> resistance-phenotypes were associated with macrolide exposure; the most commonly used antimicrobial class in study herds. Additionally, 70% of the Campylobacter were resistant to a macrolide and this resistance was associated with macrolide exposure in nursery pigs. Study herds did not use quinolones. Despite this, 15% of Campylobacter were resistant to a quinolone. Both Campylobacter and <i>E. coli</i> AMR clustered within herds, indicating on-farm interventions could mitigate AMR in pigs.<p>This study described AMR in enteric bacteria from healthy pigs. Identifying dose-response relationships between antimicrobial resistances and exposures to unrelated drugs, and exposures of pigs in different production phases, emphasize the importance of judicious antimicrobial use in pig production.

Graduation date: 1993

Within Canada, young adults have been identified as being at high risk for sexually transmitted infections (STI). One major contributing factor is inconsistent condom use, particularly within monogamous relationships (Civic, 2000; Critelli & Suire, 1998; Misovich, Fisher & Fisher, 1997; Winfield & Whaley, 2005). This research used qualitative methods to investigate the process by which young women rationalize inconsistent condom use and the relational influences that aid in this transition. A sample of fifteen women (between 18-24 years of age) were surveyed and interviewed. Using grounded theory analysis, the results indicated that the process of discontinuing condoms is multifaceted. Within relationships, unprotected sex comes to signify developmental milestones for the couple. It is associated with desirable relationship characteristics of commitment, trust, intimacy and fidelity. The results suggest that health promotion interventions should emphasize the high risk for STI posed by using condoms inconsistently within the monogamous relationships of young adults.

A significant global industry, the provision of market research is a business to business service where market research organizations provide market research information to customers, who in turn, need to make informed decisions about marketing strategy alternatives. This study involves a systematic literature review of the influences impacting on the use of market research information. It expounds the conditions, factors and mechanisms that induce or hinder the process of use among client organization users. In so doing, this investigation provides a descriptive assessment of the body of knowledge from which this study draws. This study proposes a theoretical framework of the reported conditions, factors and mechanisms that enhance or hinder the process at different stages of usage of market research. Influences like (user) organization’s strategy, structure, market philosophy, stance in the market and access to market research suppliers have a direct effect on how user organizations seek and apply market research information. The process of usage features seven phases, contrasting against the four or five phases that are typically reported in literature. Application of market research information in marketing decisions may follow one of three possible types of application: instrumental, conceptual and symbolic. This study also explores the various limitations in our understanding of this phenomenon. Relying on a number of published positivist contributions, our understanding of this process is composed of narrow views of specific causalities, each investigated independently from the rest. These result in an incomplete, inconsistent picture about a phenomenon. For instance, influences impacting on transformation and dissemination steps remain largely unknown, as are the factors impacting on application of market research information like symbolic use. Equally, published positivist researchoften relies on a single informant approach that is assumed to represent the reality of an entire organization. The study concludes with considerations about future work that may form part of my PhD research, intended to address a selection of gaps in the existing body of knowledge about this phenomenon.