Placebo treatments have long been used to study the psychological effects of expectancy and conditioning on an inert intervention. Interestingly, open-label placebo treatments (i.e., directly telling subjects they are receiving an inactive intervention) have recently shown promise in minimizing pain in clinical patient populations. We utilized a repeated measures design to examine the acute effects of placebo, open-label placebo, and control treatments on muscle strength and voluntary activation (Experiment #1), as well as neuromuscular fatigue (Experiment #2). Twenty-one untrained males (n=11) and females (n=10) visited the laboratory on three occasions to receive each treatment in a randomized, counter-balanced manner. All visits involved a pretest, 15-minute intervention period, and posttest. In Experiment #1, knee extensor maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) peak torque and percent voluntary activation were evaluated. In Experiment #2, subjects performed 20, six-second MVICs while surface electromyographic signals were detected from the vastus lateralis. Subjective assessments of energy and perceived exertion were also examined. In Experiment #1, no differences among interventions were demonstrated for peak torque or voluntary activation, but a main effect revealed that energy levels increased following each treatment (p = .016, η2 = .257). Experiment #2 demonstrated that placebo and open-label placebo treatments had no influence on neuromuscular fatigue, but there were main effects for declines in absolute (p = .001, η2 = .675) and normalized peak torque (p = .001, η2 = .765), electromyographic mean frequency (p = .001, η2 = .565), neuromuscular efficiency (p = .001, η2 = .585), and energy levels (p = .006, η2 = .317). Collectively, placebo and open-label placebo treatments had minimal influence on strength, voluntary activation, and fatigue resistance in untrained subjects. We speculate that our subject population and study design intricacies that are unique to placebo trials may explain our findings.

American parents have a myriad of choices when it comes to educating their children, and these choices begin in the very beginning stages of children’s educational journey. Where parents decide to have their child spend their early formative years can have far-reaching implications for that child’s future. The focus of this research was to examine if a difference exists in kindergarten readiness preparation offered by Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) providers in the state of Florida. The VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rates of public schools were compared to the VPK Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rates of private learning centers and, more specifically, of Seventh-day Adventist private learning centers. Furthermore, this study was conducted to examine whether a difference exists in the kindergarten readiness between VPK providers in urban and rural counties. This quantitative, non-experimental, causal comparative study explored the Kindergarten Readiness Rates of each of the 5,636 public and private VPK providers in the state of Florida. The Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener was used to assess the kindergarten readiness level of each student. Individual student scores were tracked to the VPK provider that the students attended in order to assign a Readiness Rate for each provider. This screener consisted of the Early Childhood Observation SystemTM (ECHOSTM) and the Florida Assessments for Instruction in Reading (FAIR). A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to examine significant differences between public school, private, and Seventh-day Adventist providers. The ANOVA was followed by a Scheffe post-hoc test to determine where differences iv occurred. The findings revealed that there existed a statistically significant difference in the means of public school and private VPK providers. Public school providers were found to have achieved higher Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rates than private providers. It was also found that though Seventh-day Adventist providers had a slightly lower average Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate than public school providers and a slightly higher average than other private providers, this difference was not statistically significant. A two-way factorial ANOVA was performed to examine if significant differences existed in the average Provider Kindergarten Readiness Rate when considering both the type of community (urban or rural) where the provider was located and the type of provider (public or private). The findings indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in Provider Readiness Rate when examining the interaction between the provider type and community type.

Media coverage of Post-World War II military conflicts resulted in a reorganization of war coverage procedures. The predominant reason for the reorganization is the tension created within the organizational program that constantly sets one subgroup against another. This study is interested in the tension that caused the transformation of the war coverage effort as it evolved from one war to another. This dissertation addresses how the different war coverage policies and programs were formed to manage media involvement during war. It is a descriptive account, identifying characteristics from past wars that caused the military and the media to revamp the war coverage procedures in the hope of addressing the tension inherent in their relationship. The study focuses on the organizational dimension of the war coverage program within the particular environment that influences the tension. By exploring the war coverage practices this study determines how the military and media address their relationship during times of war drawing inferences from organizational elements to account for the contentious relationship. Specifically, this study examines the military-media relational characteristics within Richard Hall's organizational elements. It juxtaposes the war coverage programs against the elements of organizational structure (power, authority, and conflict), and environment (munificence, complexity and dynamism). The research focuses on specific techniques and processes that the war coverage programs use to initiate these practices. In doing so, it examines how certain characteristics influence the military-media relationship. The research uses a multiple-case study approach to explore war coverage during WW II, the Vietnam War, The Gulf War, and the Iraq War. The multiple-case study approach compares and contrasts these different war coverage procedures from both military and media perspective. Media reports, scholarly writings, and other analytical studies for each period provide the data for the research. The findings of the research are substantiated through interviews, personal journals of war correspondents, and other reports. The findings identify significant trends and patterns within and across the wars. / Ph. D.

The problem investigated in this study was how individuals participate in the local units of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and particularly how their participation relates to the program and policy initiatives of the national association. The purpose was to understand and describe how individuals experience branch membership, how they respond to the current program and policy initiatives of the association, and to examine some of the differences between members with regard to the salience of the initiatives. The research issues concerned why women join and retain their membership in local units, how they participate, and how they promote the program and policies of the national association. The grounded theory method was used to perform this qualitative study. Ten participants, in two branches, were interviewed. The interviews were transcribed, using The Ethnograph tool, and then open, axial, and selective coding was carried out to discern patterns and themes from the data. The findings, which emerged from the data, resulted in a model of four stages of increasing social activism and responsiveness to the national agenda. Attending to the mission of the association--to promote equity, lifelong education, and positive societal change--became increasingly important to some members as they moved through the stages. During the first stage, Participates, members simply attended meetings, took part in activities and fund-raisers, and some performed a branch role. During the second stage, Supports, they promoted education opportunities for specific women and girls, by setting up study groups, providing for local scholarships, or other educational activities. During the third stage, Facilitates, members actually promoted equity by disseminating information in the community concerning the association's issues. During the fourth stage, Advocates, members worked in the community to make changes based on issues from the national agenda. The conclusions addressed member motivation, the importance of the social capital built through participation, and the internal consequences of membership. While most women joined and retained their membership in the local units for social contact, some joined because of the organization's mission. Their motivation to join and retain their membership made a difference in their level and kind of branch involvement. The importance of the social capital built during participation in branch activities, often diminished, is of utmost importance to the usually, conservative members as some of them became more engaged in the activist, national agenda. The internal consequences of membership in the local units of the voluntary association were more important to members than the external consequences, which led to incongruence between the national office and the branches. This study adds to the body of knowledge regarding voluntary associations, particularly with respect to understanding how individuals experience membership at the local level, their goal orientation, and their motivation to participate over time. / Ed. D.

Nivå: Examensarbete på kandidatnivå i företagsekonomi Författare: Maria Andersson och Aryanaz Farhadi Handledare: Jan Svanberg Datum: 2024 januari Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka huruvida små aktiebolag i branscher där företagen typiskt är mer benägna att begå ekonomisk brottslighet, är mindre benägna att ha revision än företag i andra branscher. Metod: Kvantitativ regressionsanalys med hjälp av data som hämtats från Retriever Business. Analys har utförts både manuellt och med hjälp av regression, för att en jämförelse skulle kunna genomföras. Populationen bestod av små aktiebolag som omfattas av reformen för frivillig revision, med urval gjort av företag i 4 specifika branscher. Resultat och slutsats: Resultatet av denna studie visar att företag i de branscher som anses mer benägna att begå ekonomisk brottslighet i större utsträckning använder sig av revision än företag i andra branscher. Detta kan komma sig av att företag i branscher förknippade med ekonomisk brottslighet känner ett större behov av att visa sig legitima, detta på grund av ryktet som branschen har. Examensarbetets bidrag: Studiens resultat är ett starkt avsteg från både de rapporter som svenska myndigheter släppt, likväl som tidigare forskning, och indikerar att branschtillhörighet inte har den negativa påverkan som myndigheterna påstår. Studien visar även på att Sveriges låga tröskelvärde kan vara av stor vikt vid valet av revision eller ej, något som bör beaktas i diskussioner om regeländringar. Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Om en mer omfattande studie med samtliga aktiebolag som omfattas av reformen genomförs kunde generaliseringen bli bättre och därmed ge än mer pålitliga resultat. Dessutom kunde en liknande studie genomförd i EU ge mer information kring hur tröskelvärdena påverkar valen kring revision.

Background and problem: Since the abolition of the audit obligation for small limited companies in 2010, non obligated companies can decide for themselves whether they want to hire an auditor or not. The majority of these companies opt out of audit due to high audit costs, auditbut approximately 3040 percent of these companies still want to be audited even though they are not covered by the audit obligation. The government's ongoing investigation into the possible reintroduction of the law from 2010 makes it even more interestin g and contributes to our wanting to investigate the motives behind the voluntary audit of these companies. Aim: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze whether and why a selection of companies in the study with loyalty systems that are not sub ject to audit duty choose to hire an auditor. Questions: 1. 2. Are there companies among the sample in this study that choose to engage the auditor without being subject to audit duty? Why do small limited companies with loyalty systems that are not subject to choose to engage the auditor? Method: audit duty The study is based on a quantitative method with a deductive approach. The method is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire survey in which 68 nonsmall limited companies par auditobligated ticipated. The collected data was then analyzed using various statistical models. Results and conclusion: The study's results show that 73 procent of respondents choose voluntary audit. The motives that, according to the study's empirical analysis, may lie behind this decision are the company's development, the company's profitability, the auditor's advice and the auditor's insurance. This result cannot be generalized.

Background and problem: Since the abolition of the audit obligation for small limited companies in 2010, non obligated companies can decide for themselves whether they want to hire an auditor or not. The majority of these companies opt out of audit due to high audit costs, auditbut approximately 3040 percent of these companies still want to be audited even though they are not covered by the audit obligation. The government's ongoing investigation into the possible reintroduction of the law from 2010 makes it even more interestin g and contributes to our wanting to investigate the motives behind the voluntary audit of these companies. Aim: The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze whether and why a selection of companies in the study with loyalty systems that are not sub ject to audit duty choose to hire an auditor. Questions: 1. 2. Are there companies among the sample in this study that choose to engage the auditor without being subject to audit duty? Why do small limited companies with loyalty systems that are not subject to choose to engage the auditor? Method: audit duty The study is based on a quantitative method with a deductive approach. The method is based on primary data collected through a questionnaire survey in which 68 nonsmall limited companies par auditobligated ticipated. The collected data was then analyzed using various statistical models. Results and conclusion: The study's results show that 73 procent of respondents choose voluntary audit. The motives that, according to the study's empirical analysis, may lie behind this decision are the company's development, the company's profitability, the auditor's advice and the auditor's insurance. This result cannot be generalized.

The study is based on a hypothetical deductive approach. The study applies a quantitative method. The material covers 3926 firm years between 2007–2019. The data studied is obtained from the ASSET4 database. Analysis of data has taken place in the statistics program IBM SPSS. The study is based in corporate governance where the balance between shareholders and stakeholders forms the basis together with the countries' legal origins, i.e. how the legal traditions of different countries affect firms' reporting. To analyze this, two parts are used, a period of voluntary reporting of ESG(2007-2016) and a period covering the regulatory framework implemented in the European Union where mandatory reporting (2017-2019) of non-financial information such as environment and social aspects were introduced for larger firms in 2017. Based on this, a comparison is made whether higher ESG reporting is achieved in the voluntary or mandatory environment.  The study finds evidence that higher ESG reporting is achieved in the mandatory reporting and that the countries' legal differences decrease during the mandatory reporting period. The results show that firms of Scandinavian legal origin have lower ESG reporting and that a concentrated ownership structure leads to a lower ESG reporting.

This doctrinal thesis centers around the topic of voluntary human shields as a complex phenomenon requiring further scholarly attention. Specifically, this paper acknowledges that the actions of certain voluntary shields renders their classification as civilians strenuous, in which it is explored if the notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities might apply. As such, the research question contemplates: To what extent, if at all, can voluntary human shields be considered as taking a direct part in hostilities when shielding lawful targets?  The analyses have concentrated on both a theoretical examination of the ICRC’s Interpretive Guidance, and on an empirical investigation into two cases of voluntary human shields: the Serbian citizens in 1999 and the Palestinian women in 2006. Evidently, the findings indicate that voluntary human shields can to some extent take a direct part in hostilities, while the generalizability of our results are appreciated. Ultimately, this thesis provides additional insights into the topic, as increasingly relevant and required within the contradictory and existing research field, while also anticipating avenues for future research.

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