Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Behaviours'
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1
Wilding, Sarah Elizabeth. "The question-behaviour effect in risk behaviours." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17829/.
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The question-behaviour effect (QBE) refers to the finding that asking individuals questions about their cognitions and/or behaviour or to predict future behaviour, can influence subsequent behaviour performance. Health risk behaviours are those behaviours that should be discouraged to produce favourable health outcomes such as smoking, excessive alcohol use and unhealthy eating. The current thesis aimed to investigate the influence of the QBE over health risk behaviours. It provides an original contribution to the literature in its focus on the QBE in these types of health behaviour. A comprehensive systematic review of the QBE literature demonstrated a small, significant effect of the QBE in general, however only 16 previous studies had been conducted investigating health risk behaviours and the majority of these focused on assessing behaviour at baseline. These previous studies produced a non-significant reduction in health risk behaviours as a result of the QBE. The systematic review identified a number of moderators of the QBE including setting. Seven empirical studies are presented here, conducted in a range of settings (field, online, and lab). The data presented show mixed evidence of the QBE for risk behaviours. A mini meta-analysis of the studies presented demonstrated an overall small and non-significant effect of the QBE on risk behaviours. The individual studies demonstrated that the QBE has the potential to increase and reduce these behaviours. Three lab studies demonstrated an increase in unhealthy snacking as a result of questioning intentions relating to behaviour. This was also supported in one of the online studies, where smoking tended to be greater in individuals questioned on this behaviour compared to control, although the difference in conditions was not significant in all measures of behaviour. However one online study demonstrated a significant reduction in multiple health behaviours (risk and protection), when the QBE was combined with a dissonance manipulation. The QBE has the potential to have a small influence over health risk behaviours and the studies presented here demonstrate that asking about these behaviours has the potential to increase them. The QBE may need to be combined with further manipulation focusing on motivation or dissonance to reduce these behaviours consistently.
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Dahl, Torbjørn Semb. "Behaviour based learning : evolution inspired development of adaptive robot behaviours." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.251543.
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Kilpatrick, Dylan Anthony. "Using ethologically relevant behavioural paradigms to investigate visually guided behaviours." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2022. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/29576.
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In mice (Mus musculus), vision helps identify potential environmental threats. Selective pressures adapt visual circuits to ecological niches and facilitate largely innate defensive behaviours. Overlapping monocular fields above and in front of mice enable binocular vision, the adaptive value of which remains unclear in mice but may be relevant for visually guided defensive behaviour. This thesis applied machine learning tools (DeepLabCut) and ethologically relevant behavioural tests to investigate the possible importance of intact binocular vision in freely moving mice responding to visual stimuli. These approaches were then applied to a dystrophic mouse model lacking photoreceptors to assess potential restoration of vision after treatment with an optogenetic therapy. Visual stimuli resembling potential aerial and terrestrial threats were displayed in the binocular region of the mouse visual field. Looming objects and other stimuli resembling predator motion were found to drive defensive movements in mice. Binocular vision was disrupted by transient inactivation of one eye and revealed impaired flight dynamics following presentation with a looming stimulus. The relevance of binocular vision was further assessed in mice lacking Ten-m3 and Ten-m4, genes required for normal binocular circuit formation. Ten-m3 deletion was associated with severely impaired responses to looming stimuli presented overhead. Looming stimuli presented lower in the binocular visual field were not associated with clear defensive responses in wild-type or Ten-m3 knockout mice but both genotypes were found to direct head movements favouring a binocular view of these stimuli. Wild-types were generally avoidant of looming terrestrial objects whereas Ten-m3 knockouts engaged in approach behaviour. Deletion of Ten-m4 was associated with a pronounced tendency to freeze following presentation with dorsal and frontal looming stimuli. Post-stimulus movements indicated Ten-m4 knockouts adjusted their head to favour a monocular view of frontal looming presentations. Evidence of partial vision restoration in dystrophic mice was found after treatment with the red-shifted type I opsin, bReaChES, but complicated by observations that expression of this opsin impaired pupillary reflexes and decreased light avoidance.
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Arroyo-Urquijo, Mercedes. "Behavioural and cellular mechanisms of cocaine-seeking and cocaine-taking behaviours." Thesis, Open University, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.270091.
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Hooper, Megan. "Shame and compulsive behaviours." Thesis, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10539/21123.
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95 leaves.The area of shame, in psychology, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Despite a great richness of theoretical literature, there is, unfortunately, a dearth of actual research on shame. This study has sought to empirically investigate the relationship between shame and three compulsive behaviours, namely, alcohol dependence, drug dependence and disordered eating. Relations between shame and alcohol dependence, and shame and drug dependence have already been established in the research literature. This study sought to validate these relationships and to extend the research in the area to establish a link between shame and disordered eating. Cook's Internalised Shame Scale was used to assimilate shame, whilst Millon's Clinical Multiaxial Inventory was used to assess drug and alcohol dependence. Disordered eating was assessed by using the Eating Attitudes Test. Pearson's Product Moment Correlations were computed, and regression analyses were conducted, it was found that shame was significantly correlated with alcohol dependence, drug dependence and disordered eating, and that shame predicted 33% of the variation in alcohol dependent behaviour, 36% of the variation in drug dependent behaviour, and 30% of the variation in disordered eating. Within the methodology used it was not possible to establish causality. However, it was possible to contextualise these results within the literature, and suggest possible explanations. From within the literature on shame it was suggested that shame is linked to alcohol abuse and drug abuse as well as to disordered eating, and that the relationship is one of circular causality. Shame is consequent on these behaviours but these behaviours also attempt to reduce shame and are intended to be self soothing, and containing of the uncomfortable feelings attached to an inadequate sense of self. Limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research were examined.
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Hill, Claire. "Anxiogenic behaviours and cognitions in parents of anxious children : effects of a guided parent-delivered treatment programme." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2014. http://digirep.rhul.ac.uk/items/15cd03e6-b9d5-35b7-15a5-a3699cc7241e/1/.
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Parent involvement in treatment programmes for child anxiety disorders aims to change the parental behaviours and cognitions implicated in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety disorders. However, very few studies have included parental behaviours and cognitions as outcomes, and the methodological shortcomings of those that have, preclude clear conclusions. This study aimed to provide the first comprehensive examination of change in parental behaviours and cognitions after a guided parent-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) programme compared to a waitlist control. The association between change in parental behaviours and cognitions with child treatment outcome was also considered. Eighty-eight children aged 7 to 12 years old with a diagnosed anxiety disorder were randomised to either an 8-week guided parent-delivered CBT programme (n=41) or waitlist control group (n=47). None of the parents met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder. Observational measures of parental behaviours whilst their child completed an anxiety-provoking task were taken before and after the intervention. Parent expectations were also measured of their child's and own response in the laboratory task, as well as for hypothetical situations that were ambiguous for whether or not they presented a threat. The treatment programme was not associated with greater change in parental behaviours compared to the waitlist control. After the treatment programme there was a change in specific parental cognitions, in that parents perceived themselves and their child to have more control in hypothetical threat ambiguous situations. Change in parental behaviour and cognition was not significantly associated with child treatment outcomes. The results suggest that guided parent-delivered CBT can increase parental self-efficacy in the management of child anxiety. However, the absence of any association of treatment with other parental cognitions or behaviours questions the salience of parental change in the treatment of childhood anxiety disorders.
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Tantam, Grace. "Directly observed parenting behaviours and their effect on child literacy and behaviour." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.521764.
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Sandilands, Victoria. "Preening behaviour in laying hens : its control and association with other behaviours." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.368600.
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Doran, Kate S. "Translational approaches to studying reward-based purposive behaviours." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2016. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/65774/.
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Within classical economics, an agent is deemed “rational” if their preferences are both consistent and maximize utility of positive, subjective experience. Violations from this norm may occur as a result of utility devaluation (proceeding from risk or delay) or when an imbalance occurs between ‘liking' and ‘wanting'. The current studies investigate how changes in reward-contingencies, delay before reward receipt, and reinforcer devaluation contribute to such utility-based decision-making in human and rodent models. I examined the effects of devaluation through pre-exposure and outcome-contingency on the development and maintenance of sign- and goal-tracking responses in rats (chapter three) and humans (chapter four). Chapter four presents a novel, translational, eye-tracking procedure and correlates of such behaviour, including trait-impulsivity and discounting performance. In chapter five I presented probability- and temporal discounting using a mouse model, exploring the consequences of satiety-based devaluation, and changes in outcome-contingencies- and delays. In Chapter six I presented the same factors in a human sample using a novel laboratory-based procedure and sought to explore the impact of trait and state impulsivity and correlates of rapid discounting. Finally, in chapter seven I considered the relationship between trait impulsivity, alcohol use, smoking and discounting behaviour using a more conventional online questionnaire. The results represent some of the first to present probability discounting using a mouse model and characterisation of reliable sign- and goal-tracking performance in humans. The results of the latter studies broadly support previous findings in rats showing that lowered reward contingency diminishes goal-oriented, but enhances sign-oriented, responding. Chapter six establishes a human equivalent to rodent discounting paradigms through implicit learning that will allow future controlled studies in humans. Finally, chapter seven presents evidence for an association between delay discounting and trait impulsivity. The results of these studies support the assertion that irrational decision-making arises, in part, from changes in reward utility as a function of delay, probability, devaluation and individual differences. Furthermore the translational-homologous models presented allow for future biopsychological research into mechanisms underlying such behaviours.
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Witwaranukool, Porawan. "The effects of an educational intervention on exercise advice behaviours of Thai oncology nurses." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2022. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/228685/8/Porawan_Witwaranukool_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis evaluated the impact of an educational intervention based on the Theory of Planned Behavior that was designed to encourage oncology nurses in Thailand to provide exercise advice to cancer survivors. Following the intervention, a significant improvement was identified in the extent to which oncology nurses engaged in exercise advice behaviours. The study adds to knowledge about the importance of addressing attitudes and perceived behavioural control in relation to exercise advice behaviours when designing educational interventions to improve health promotion activities for cancer survivorship.
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Wolfe, Phillips Emily. "Promoting Self-Care Behaviours Among Cancer Caregivers." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/41847.
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Caregivers play an integral role in the cancer care system in Canada as they provide unpaid care and support for millions of adults living with and beyond cancer. Although caregiving can be a positive experience for some, assuming a caregiving role can be detrimental to caregivers’ own physical and mental health. Research over the past decade has highlighted the negative impacts of caregiving and called for more efforts focused on improving caregivers’ wellbeing. Most interventions targeting caregivers are largely designed to support them in providing care, with little emphasis placed on specifically promoting self-care behaviours. To address this gap, we designed a brief 4-week self-determination theory-based intervention to improve two self-care behaviours (i.e., physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption) among cancer caregivers. The primary objective of the mixed-methods research presented in this thesis was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention. Exploratory objectives included understanding participants’ experiences within the intervention. The single-arm intervention was delivered via four weekly video calls to 13 caregivers (mean age=57.6 [15.4 years]) across Canada. The enrollment rate was 62% and the retention, adherence, and fidelity rates ranged from 90 to 99%. The intervention was generally deemed acceptable by participants; however, modifications such as adding psychological support were suggested. Participants’ experiences participating in the intervention were captured within three themes: (1) (Re)prioritizing self-care behaviours; (2) Finding support for self-care behaviours within the caregiving context; and, (3) Becoming a better caregiver through self-care behaviours. Although promising, modifications to the intervention methods are needed to improve enrolment and better meet caregivers’ needs. This study highlights the importance of self-care behaviours for caregivers and provides valuable information on how to foster these behaviours among this population.
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Moumne, Samira. "Cognitive and behavioural emotion regulation and risky behaviours in adolescence: gender differences." Thesis, McGill University, 2014. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=121310.
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The present study examines gender differences in adolescent self-reported use of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive and behavioural emotion regulation strategies, as well as gender differences in the relationship between adolescent emotion regulation and engagement in broad-based risky behaviours. Fifty male and fifty female adolescents from eight Montreal high schools completed the Risky Behavior Questionnaire for Adolescents (RBQ-A; Auerbach, & Abela, 2008), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski, Kraaij, & Spinhoven, 2002), and the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire (REQ; Phillips & Power, 2007). Gender differences were found in adolescent use of emotion regulation strategies, whereby females reported significantly greater use of the cognitive emotion regulation strategies of rumination, acceptance, and putting into perspective, and males reported significantly greater use of maladaptive behavioural strategies. Furthermore, gender differences were found in the relationship between adolescent use of cognitive and behavioural emotion regulation strategies, and engagement in risky behaviours. Specifically, onlymaladaptive behavioural emotion regulation significantly predicted risky behaviour engagement for males, and only maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation significantly predicted risky behaviour engagement for females. Future directions for research and clinical implications for the gender differences found in the relationship between emotion regulation and risky behaviours in adolescence are discussed.Cette étude examine les différences entre les stratégies cognitives et comportementales fonctionnelles et dysfonctionnelles des adolescents en fonction de leur sexe. De plus, les différences entre les garçons et les filles au niveau de la relation entre la régularisation d'émotions et l'adoption de comportements à risque sont explorées. Cinquante adolescents et 50 adolescentes provenant de huit écoles secondaires de la région de Montréal ont rempli le Risky Behavior Questionnaire (RBQ-A; Auerbach, & Abela, 2008), le Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ; Garnefski, Kraaij, & Spinhoven, 2002) et le Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire (REQ-2; Phillips & Power, 2007). Des différences entre les sexes ont été notées au niveau des stratégies de régularisation d'émotions, indiquant que les adolescentes sont plus portées à utiliser des stratégies cognitives, telles que ruminer, accepter et mettre en perspective, alors que les adolescents utilisent davantage des stratégies comportementales. De plus, la relation entre la régularisation d'émotions et l'adoption de comportements à risque diffère entre les garçons et les filles. Plus précisément, seules les stratégies comportementales dysfonctionnelles de régularisation d'émotions ont prédit les comportements à risque chez les adolescents, alors que seules les stratégies cognitives dysfonctionnelles de régularisation d'émotions ont prédit les comportements à risque chez les adolescentes. Les implications cliniques en ce qui a trait à la différente relation entre la régularisation d'émotions et les comportements à risque chez les garçons et les filles sont abordées.
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McEachan, Rosemary Robin Charlotte. "Classifying health behaviours : towards a greater understanding of the psychological determinants of health behaviours." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.438491.
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Rennie, Laura J. "The role of perspective in visualising health behaviours : effects on motivation and behaviour." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.555107.
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Recent research has shown that using a third-person (observer's) perspective to visualise a behaviour (voting, studying) results in stronger motivation to engage in the visualised behaviour than when the first-person (own) perspective is used (Libby, Shaeffer, Eibach, & Slemmer, 2007; Vasquez & Buehler, 2007). This thesis was concerned with whether this effect could be replicated in a health context- whether the perspective used when visualising a health behaviour affected motivation and subsequent behaviour. Experiments 1 and 2 found, in contrast to previous research, that participants who used the first-person perspective to visualise a behaviour (blood donation, smoking cessation) were more motivated to engage in the visualised behaviour than those who used the third-person perspective. Drawing on action identification theory (Vallcher & Wegner, 1987), it was predicted that the effect of perspective on motivation was moderated by the difficulty of the visualised behaviour. Supporting this, in Experiments 3 and 4 (in which difficulty was manipulated in addition to perspective), the effect of perspective on motivation was found to be moderated by difficulty, and this effect carried over into behaviour one week later in Experiment 4. It was hypothesised that the effect of perspective on motivation was mediated by the level of abstraction at which the visualised behaviour was mentally represented (in accordance with construalleve1 theory, Trope & Liberman, 2003). Although this mediation effect was not obtained in Experiment 5 when abstraction was assessed using the behavioural identification form (Vallacher & Wegner, 1987), Experiment 6 assessed the linguistic abstraction of participants' written accounts of their visualisation, and here it was found that the beneficial effect of the first-person perspective on motivation when visualising a difficult health behaviour (drinking restraint) was mediated by a more concrete representation of the behaviour, as predicted. A meta-analytical synthesis of the findings from Experiments 1 to 6 supported predictions regarding the moderating role of behaviour difficulty, and the mediating role of level of abstraction. Implications for theory and health behaviour change interventions are discussed.
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Goncalves, J. (Jorge). "Situated crowdsourcing:feasibility, performance and behaviours." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2015. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526208503.
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Abstract This thesis focuses on a systematic assessment of the feasibility and performance of situated crowdsourcing, as well as a basic understanding of the behaviours of its workers. While these aspects have been extensively studied for online and mobile crowdsourcing, this is not the case for situated crowdsourcing mainly due to its relative novelty. Such an assessment is crucial for the development of the crowdsourcing research agenda, so that task requesters and researchers alike can leverage, whenever appropriate, situated technologies for crowdsourcing efforts with more confidence. The key findings of this thesis illustrate how appropriately designed crowdsourcing tasks can perform well even in a complex deployment setting: situated technologies in public spaces. In the articles presented in this thesis, we empirically demonstrate that situated crowdsourcing performance can compete with other means of collecting crowd contributions. While situated technologies have been reported in the past to suffer from credibility and misappropriation issues, one should not forego the use of these technologies for crowdsourcing purposes assuming that the tasks are not haphazardly designed. The thesis also explores the behaviours of situated crowdsourcing workers through in-situ observations, video analysis and longitudinal individual tracking. Towards the end of the thesis, we revisit the research questions put forth in the thesis, and highlight how they were answered. We then discuss the benefits and drawbacks of situated crowdsourcing, and the differences between using non-personal and personal devices for this purpose. In both cases, the decisions made by the task requesters or researchers will ultimately depend on their goals and the task itself. We conclude the thesis by restating the thesis’ research agenda, reflecting on the challenges and opportunities of situated crowdsourcing, and our future work within this areaTiivistelmä Tämä väitöskirja keskittyy paikkasidonnaisen joukkoälyn käyttökelpoisuuden sekä tehokkuuden järjestelmälliseen arviointiin. Väitöskirja pyrkii myös ymmärtämään joukkoälyjärjestelmien työntekijöiden käyttäytymistä ohjaavia tekijöitä alustavalla tasolla. Paikkasidonnaisuus on tekijä, jota useimmiten verkossa tai mobiililaitteissa tehtävässä joukkotyötutkimuksessa ei ole mahdollista ymmärtää perusteellisesti. Paikkasidonnaisuus muodostaa kuitenkin elintärkeän osan joukkoälytutkimuksessa, ja sitä hyväksikäyttämällä sekä joukkotyön teettäjät että joukkoälytutkijat voivat soveltuvissa tilanteissa hyödyntää paikkasidonnaisia teknologioita luotettavamman joukkoälytiedon tuottamiseen. Väitöskirjan keskeisimmät löydökset osoittavat kuinka tarkoituksenmukaisesti toteutetut joukkoälytehtävät tuottavat luotettavaa tietoa, jopa monimutkaisissa käyttöympäristöissä kuten paikkasidonnaisia teknologioita hyödyntävissä julkisissa tiloissa. Väitöskirjan artikkelit osoittavat empiirisesti paikkasidoinnaisen joukkoälyn olevan kilpailukykyinen muiden joukkoälyteknologioiden kanssa, vaikka paikkasidonnaisten teknologioiden on aiemmin osoitettu kärsivän uskottavuuden puutteesta sekä väärinkäytöstä. Tämän väitöskirjan löydökset osoittavat, että oikein suunnitellut joukkoälytehtävät sopivat hyvin käytättäväksi kyseisten teknologioiden kautta. Suorituskyvyn sekä tehokkuuden lisäksi väitöskirjassa esitellään empiirisiin havaintoihin, videoanalyysiin, sekä yksilöiden pitkäkestoiseen tutkimukseen pohjautuvia löydöksiä joukkoälytyöntekijöiden käyttäytymismalleista. Väitöskirjan loppuosa käsittelee henkilökohtaisten ja julkisten laitteiden hyötyjä sekä haittapuolia suhteessa paikkasidonnaisten joukkoälyjärjestelmien käyttöön. Löydökset osoittavat, että kummassakin tapauksessa laitetyypin valintaa ohjaavat joukkoälytyön teettäjien tai tutkijoiden asettamat tavoitteet, sekä kyseessä olevat joukkoälytehtävät. Väitöskirjan päätteeksi palataan asetettuihin tutkimuskysymyksiin sekä vastaaviin löydöksiin, ja pohditaan paikkasidonnaisen joukkoälyn tuomia haasteita, mahdollisuuksia sekä tulevaisuuden visioita
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Jolliffe, Kim. "Safety behaviours in persecutory delusions." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.405491.
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Gallouzi, M. Souheil. "Trace analysis of LOTOS behaviours." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/5831.
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Trumble-Waddell, Jan Elizabeth. "Mapping determinants of health behaviours." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0023/NQ32892.pdf.
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Karasouli, Eleni. "Suicidal behaviours and physical illness." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.522952.
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Dale, Andrew James Roger. "Defensive behaviours toward knowledge sharing." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1999. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4491/.
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Direct patient care requires knowledge sharing between clinical professionals. However, clinicians have often been suspicious of managers' motives, this lack of trust often resulting in reluctance to share knowledge for managerial purposes. Trust is one component of the psychological contract - an unwritten set of expectations between employees and employer. There are strong links between components of the psychological contract and defensive behaviours. There is much theory to support these links but little research evidence to support and explain these links. To overcome defensive behaviours requires an understanding of how they have developed, and particularly the role played by the psychological contract. This research builds on research first undertaken by Argyris in the 1960s, enhanced and made relevant to the current business environment and organisational arrangements currently prevailing in the NHS. A model and an analytical framework were developed for this research to assess organisational, professional and employee health in two health authorities. This research concludes that organisational ill-health, and failure to ensure the psychological contract is intact, result in employees displaying defensive behaviours and keeping knowledge to themselves. Components of the psychological contract were found to have strong links with organisational arrangements. Subtle variances were found between clinical and non-clinical employees, and between Chief Executives/Directors and those below this level. This research adds to our knowledge by identifying the different ways in which these groups develop paradigms that are often in conflict, sometimes intangible, and usually difficult to change. This added knowledge will allow organisational, team and personal development to have a sharper focus, particularly with reference to development of the psychological contract in the NHS, overcoming defensive behaviours, and breaking down barriers to knowledge sharing. This will support the development of infrastructures, teams and individuals to take NHS organisations into the 21st century with added confidence.
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Grimmett, C. M. "Health behaviours in cancer survivors." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1147315/.
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As cancer outcomes improve there is growing interest in the role of health behaviours in enhancing health and wellbeing in cancer survivors. However, there have been few studies of health behaviours in cancer survivors in the UK. Study 1 used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing to conduct the first investigation of health behaviours in an English sample of cancer survivors compared with the general population of older adults. Rates of current smoking and alcohol consumption were comparable, however cancer survivors were more likely to be ex-smokers and less likely to be physically active than adults without cancer. Study 2 examined health behaviours in a large sample of colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors. The results broadly confirmed suboptimal health behaviours in this population. Study 3 also demonstrated that better health behaviours were associated with better quality of life. In this same sample, believing that lifestyle factors may have contributed to cancer occurrence was associated with improvement in health behaviours following diagnosis (study 4). Receiving advice on secondary prevention from a clinician was also associated with an increased chance of health behaviour change (study 5). In addition the perceived barriers of age and mobility were associated with participating in less physical activity (study 6). Evidence that healthful behaviours improve quality of life, coupled with their preventive effect on second primary cancers and other diseases for which cancer survivors are at an increased risk, suggest cancer survivors are an important population for health promotion. However, evidence for effective lifestyle interventions among CRC survivors is scarce. Study 7 therefore examined the feasibility and acceptability of a lifestyle change intervention in a small pilot sample of CRC survivors (n = 11). The intervention was feasible and acceptable and associated with positive health behaviour change. This research has contributed to the understanding of health behaviours among cancer survivors in the UK, and provides insight into how to encourage health behaviour change in this vulnerable population.
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Costa, Rui Miguel. "Sexual behaviours, health, and relatedness." Thesis, University of the West of Scotland, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.544493.
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Previous research showed that greater frequency and/or orgasmic consistency of penilevaginal intercourse (PVI) are the only sexual behaviours that are consistently associated with indices of better physical and psychological health, and relationship quality. Other sexual activities (notably masturbation and anal sex) tend to be unrelated or even inversely related to indices of health and relatedness. Study 1 showed that, in a sample of largely Scottish women, more use of immature psychological defence mechanisms (associated with psychopathology and relationship difficulties) was associated with lesser orgasmic consistency through PVI, but unrelated or directly related to other sexual behaviours. Study 2 replicated many findings of Study 1 in a sample of persons of diverse countries (47.6% Scottish and 4.8% from other parts of UK), and also showed that men’s immature defences are associated with greater frequency of sexual behaviours other than PVI. Study 2 also demonstrated that greater orgasmic frequency of PVI and/or lesser frequency of other sexual activities are associated with indices of better health and relatedness, namely greater heart rate variability, greater conscientiousness, and less avoidant attachment, in both sexes, and with less anxious attachment and greater handgrip strength, in women. Study 3 showed the same pattern of findings regarding conscientiousness, in a sample of mostly Scottish University students, after controlling for potentially confounding personality traits, but the behaviour of some students raises concerns regarding the validity of the findings. Study 4 confirmed the pattern of findings regarding immature defence mechanisms and relationship quality, in a sample of cohabiting British, after controlling for a variety of socio-cultural factors related to traditional ideology and negative attitudes to noncoital sex. The results provide support for the hypothesis that evolution selected biopsychological phenotypes linking capacity to seek and appreciate PVI with health and relatedness, as one strategy for promoting gene propagation
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Palfreyman, Zoe. "Parental modelling of eating behaviours." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2013. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/12573.
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At present, the process of parental modelling of eating behaviours and attitudes has received limited research interest. While often mentioned as a possible factor in relation to child feeding and the development of eating behaviours, only a few studies have explicitly researched parental modelling. The main aims of this thesis were to develop a new measure to assess modelling multidimensionally and to explore the relationships between parental modelling of eating behaviours with a variety of parent and child factors. Initially, a parental self-report measure (the Parental Modelling of Eating Behaviours Scale; PARM) was developed, validated and piloted as part of a series of studies exploring the associations between modelling and a range of self-reported parental and child factors. To provide further validation for the PARM, an observational coding scheme was developed, based on the newly developed modelling measure, and this was utilised in two further studies which looked at self-reported and observed parent and child factors. The key findings from this thesis suggest a number of beneficial relationships. For example, maternal modelling was positively correlated with healthy food intake in both mothers and their children. In addition, both maternal and paternal modelling were associated with children s increased enjoyment of food and lower levels of food fussiness. Observations of maternal modelling were also found to be positively related to other observed adaptive, non-directive feeding practices, such as encouragement to eat. However, less positive relationships were also identified, with modelling being related to parents mental health symptoms and to unhealthy food intake in both mothers and their children. In conclusion, this thesis has identified three distinct facets of modelling and highlighted factors which might be linked to parental role modelling around eating behaviours. While much of the research within this thesis is exploratory, and the findings require replication, they would suggest that parental modelling has the potential to positively influence children s eating behaviours. However, parents should also be made aware of the potential detrimental effect that modelling less adaptive eating behaviours may have on their children s food intake, particularly those eating behaviours that parents may be unaware of modelling.
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Mendonça, José Lucas Lemos. "Behaviours for simulated humanoid robots." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/14699.
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Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaThis thesis in inserted in the FC Portugal 3D team, which competes in the humanoid simulation league 3D from RoboCup. The objectives of this thesis are to improve the behaviours already created and to develop tools to support the development and debugging of the robotic agent. With this in mind, the process of optimization was improved to make it more efficient and adapted to include the new heterogeneous models. Executing the optimization process, using the state of the art algorithm CMA-ES, the time of the getup was reduced by half. Afterwards, the agent was put running in sync mode, which allows the simulations to run as fast as the computer in use can process, and not the simulation speed of the competion with cycles of 20ms. In the agent posture, it is now used the information from the gyroscope and the euler angles are calculated to get a better estimative of the robot orientation. On the other hand, the agent architecture was updated and new behaviours were created and optimized to support the new heterogeneous models. In relation to the standard model, some behaviours execute faster because of their physical difference. In the slot behaviours, it is now possible to defined preconditions in each step, so the agent can abort the behaviour when any condition does not comply. This change reduces the time wasted executing all the behaviour in situations in which the success is improbable. In terms of tools, a Agent Monitor Window was created for each agent which can: present in runtime variables from the agent code; interact with the code trough widgets; and if the simulation is in sync mode, defined the simulation cycle time, with the possibility to pause it and execute step by step, which gives a great advantage in terms of analysing the agent execution. The second tool was a behaviour testes for behaviours defined in XML, which allows, in runtime, to change the behaviour to test, edit its content, aggregate different files in sequence and finally the tolls can execute various agents in parallel. The last tools is Log Analyser of the logs generated by the agents and the server, which allows: exporting in different formats, see in form of plots the variables parsed, filtrate the simulation information; and create a server simulation which can be used to analyse, in parallel, the plots of chosen variables and the simulation in a monitor.
Esta tese está inserida na equipa FC Portugal 3D, que compete na liga de futebol robótico simulado 3D. Os objetivos da tese são melhorar os comportamentos já existentes e desenvolver ferramentas de suporte ao desenvolvimento e depuração para o agente robótico. Nesse sentido, foi melhorado o processo de optimização de comportamentos de forma a torná-lo mais eficiente e adaptado para incluir os novos modelos heterogéneos disponibilizados. Ao executar o processo de optimização, usando o algoritmo de estado de arte CMA-ES, foi obtido reduções para metade do tempo nos comportamentos de levantar-se. Seguidamente o agente foi colocado a correr em modo síncrono, o que permite que as simulações corram à velocidade de processamento do computador em uso, e não à velocidade da simulação da competição em que cada ciclo demora 20ms. Assim é possível executar simulações e consequentemente inferir conclusões muito mais rapidamente. Passou-se a usar a informação de giroscópio e o cálculo dos ângulos de euler para obter uma melhor estimativa da rotação do robô. Por outro lado, devido ao lançamento de novos tipos de robôs, a arquitectura do agente teve de ser atualizada e novos comportamentos foram criados e optimizados para estes novos modelos. Em relação ao modelo original, alguns comportamentos são executados mais rapidamente e melhor pelos modelos novos, devido às suas alterações físicas. Por fim, nos comportamentos foi dada a possibilidade de definir pré condições em etapa do mesmo, para que possa ser abortado caso as condições não se verifiquem. Esta alteração veio reduzir o tempo desperdiçado a executar a totalidade do comportamento em situações em que não é provável o seu sucesso . Em termos de ferramentas, foi colocada uma Janela de Monitor de Agente para cada agente que, apresenta em tempo de simulação variáveis que o código do agente disponibiliza, interage com código através de widgets de seleção ou preenchimento, e se a simulação estiver a correr em modo síncrono, permite definir o tempo de ciclo da simulação, pausá-la e executar ciclo a ciclo, o que permite vantagens óbvias em termos de análise de execução dos agentes. Seguidamente, foi criada uma ferramenta de teste para comportamentos definidos em XML, que permite, em tempo de execução, alterar o ficheiro a testar, alterar o seu conteúdo, agrupar vários ficheiros em sequências e executar vários agentes em paralelo. Por fim, a última ferramenta é um Analizador de Logs gerados pelos agentes e pelo simulador que permite, entre outras funcionalidades, ver em forma de gráficos variáveis da simulação, exportar para diferentes formatos, filtrar a simulação usando informação da mesma e correr um servidor de forma a ser possível analizar em paralelo, gráficos de variáveis escolhidas e a simulação num visualizador.
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Zhang, Jin. "Mechanical behaviours of piezoelectric nanostructures." Thesis, Swansea University, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.678635.
Full textAbstract:
The objective of this thesis is to present a modelling and simulation study for the mechanics of PNs with an emphasis placed on the unique features of PNs due to the piezoelectric and small scale effects.
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Li, Changdong. "Dissolution behaviours of structured particles." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2014. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/7954/.
Full textAbstract:
The work presented in this thesis aims at the fundamental understanding and investigation of dissolution behaviors of structured particles. This topic is relevant to numerous industrial applications including detergent, pharmaceutical, agrochemical and energy products. Both experimental works and theoretical analyses were carried out in this work. The particles of several different materials including sodium carbonate and polymers with specific characteristic and structure were used into the experimental works in this thesis. Polymers used in this thesis included carboxymethyl celluslose, croscarmellose sodium and crospovidone. The studies on characteristics of these particles included the determination of particle size, shape and structure with several measurement techniques. The dissolution process was measured with experimental methods under different solution conditions including temperature, stirring speed and pH. Based on these measured data, the dissolution kinetics such as dissolution rate constant were quantified with mathematical models and analyzed with theoretical studies. In this way, the dissolution behaviors of different structured particles could be finally identified and analyzed with the quantified data of dissolution process and dissolution kinetics. Additionally according to the quantification process, the effects of these solution conditions on dissolution kinetics could also be determined and identified that how these conditions impact dissolution kinetics. Main conclusions of my work on dissolution experiments in this thesis were simply summarized as the following that: • An increasing in the temperature and stirring speed leads to the increases of dissolution rate and dissolution rate constant of sodium carbonate particles in all cases. • The dissolution rate and the rate constant decreases with the increasing of pH value of solution. • Carboxymethyl cellulose and crospovidone show a clear effect to enhance the dissolution rate and the rate constant of sodium carbonate-polymer composite tablets. • Cropovidone also has a stronger effect to enhance the dissolution process and kinetics than carboxymethyl cellulose • Croscarmellose sodium shows a clear effect to weaken the dissolution rate and the rate constant of sodium carbonate-polymer composite tablet.
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Oueghlissi, Rim. "Essays on socially responsible behaviours." Thesis, Université Paris-Saclay (ComUE), 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016SACLE004.
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Cette thèse tente d’éclairer les liens éventuels entre l'engagement en faveur du développement durable des entreprises et des pays et les performances. Elle s’articule autour de deux parties.La première partie traite de l’aspect micro-économique en se centrant sur le lien entre la responsabilité sociale des entreprises (RSE), transposé du développement durable au monde des entreprises, et la performance de l’entreprise. Les déterminants des décisions en matière de RSE jouent un rôle central pour mieux comprendre le lien RSE/performances. En particulier, le chapitre 1 montre que la taille de l’entreprise détermine le niveau de prise en compte des enjeux sociaux et environnementaux, en soulignant notamment que les PMEs, moins concernées par la RSE que les grands groupes, investissent davantage dans les enjeux liés à leurs parties prenantes. Le chapitre 2 explore comment la gouvernance d’entreprise, et en particulier la structure de propriété, affectent l’engagement RSE des entreprises. Il montre que le développement des démarches de RSE est négativement relié à la présence d’actionnaires majoritaires. Après avoir mis en exergue la taille de l'entreprise et la structure de propriété comme des facteurs clés des décisions RSE et des déterminants potentiellement importants de la relation RSE-performance, le chapitre 3 prend un exemple de pratiques de RSE: « la bonne ambiance au travail » et examine son impact sur le niveau d’effort des salariés. Les résultats concluent à une corrélation négative entre la bonne ambiance au travail et l'effort productif et à l'absence de lien avec l'effort cognitif. Ces résultats fournissent une meilleure compréhension des processus et des mécanismes sous-jacents qui pourraient intervenir entre la RSE et la performance de l'entreprise.La seconde partie, macro-économique, porte sur la relation entre l’engagement environnemental, social et de gouvernance (ESG) des gouvernements et la performance économique. Plus précisément, l’analyse pose un double questionnement. Le premier concerne le lien entre les performances extra-financières et le risque souverain. La réflexion se situe dans une logique financière et la notion de développement durable et/ou engagement ESG est ramenée à une information extra-financière, que les investisseurs institutionnels utilisent pour évaluer les risques souverains. En particulier, le chapitre 4 mesure l’impact de cette notation extra-financière sur le rendement des fonds obligataires. Il montre que les facteurs macro-économiques ne sont pas les seuls déterminants du prix d’une obligation souveraine. Les marchés financiers intègrent également les performances extra-financières des Etats, en ce sens que de bonnes notations extra-financière diminuent le coût de la dette souveraine. Le chapitre 5 construit un indice composite, sensible au niveau de l’engagement ESG des Etats et montre que l’effet des facteurs ESG sur le rendement des obligations souveraines varie selon les maturités, les dimensions, les régions et les périodes sélectionnées. Le second questionnement porte sur l’effet des pratiques ESG sur la croissance économique. Le chapitre 6 étudie les liens de causalité, à court et à long terme, entre les performances ESG des Etats et la croissance économique. Les résultats montrent que ces deux dernières sont co-intégrées. Ils suggèrent que si les performances ESG affectent positivement le taux de croissance du PIB à court terme, son impact, en revanche est non positif sur le long termeThis thesis attempts to clarify the possible links between sustainable development commitment of firms and governments and performance. It revolves around two parties.The first part, dealing with the microeconomic aspects, focuses on the link between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), sustainable development transposed to the world of business, and firm performance. The determinants of CSR decisions are central to better understand the CSR-performance link. In particular, chapter 1 shows that firm size determines the level of integration of social and environmental issues by stressing that SMFs, less concerned with CSR compared to larger groups, invest more in issues related to their stakeholders. Chapter 2 explores how corporate governance, in particular the ownership structure affects firm CSR commitment. It shows that the development of CSR initiatives is negatively related to the presence of controlling shareholders. After highlighting that firm size and ownership concentration are key determinants of CSR decisions and potential crucial determinants of the CSR-performance relationship, chapter 3 takes a specific CSR practice: ``the good atmosphere at work", and examines its impact on employees' effort. The results show a negative correlation between the good atmosphere at work and productive effort and the lack of connection with the cognitive effort. These results provide a better understanding of the processes and underlying mechanisms that might intervene between CSR and firm performance.The second part, related to the macroeconomic aspects, examines the relationship between environmental, social and governance (ESG) government's engagement and economic performance. More specifically, the analysis raises two questions. The first concerns the link between non-financial performance and sovereign risk. The argument here is that the concept of sustainable development and/or ESG engagement is reduced to an extra-financial information, that institutional investors use to assess the sovereign risk of the countries. In particular, chapter 4 measures the impact of extra-financial ratings on the performance of bond funds. It shows that macroeconomic factors are not the only determinants of the price of a sovereign bond. Financial markets also include the non-financial performance of States in the sense that good extra-financial ratings reduce the cost of sovereign debt. Chapter 5 constructs a composite index, sensitive to the ESG commitment of States and shows that the impact of ESG factors on the performance of sovereign bond maturities varies according to the dimensions, the regions and selected periods. The second inquiry concerns the effect of ESG practices on economic growth. Chapter 6 explores the causality in the short and long term, between ESG performance of States and economic growth. The results show that these two letters are co-integrated. They suggest that if the ESG performance positively affects the GDP growth rate in the short term, its impact, however is not positive in the long term
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Ng, Judy K. "University students' leisure exercise behaviours." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2005. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16376/1/Judy_Ng_Thesis.pdf.
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This research study was divided into three phases. Phase I included 157 university undergraduate students. It was designed to assess the content (face) validity of the Leisure Exercise Efficacy Scale (LEES). Phase II consisted of 240 university undergraduates. This phase investigated the internal consistency, factorial structure, and construct validity of the LEES. Phase III was the main study, a total of 331 university undergraduate students were involved. It has three objectives: 1) to examine the theoretical relationships among the variables of "leisure exercise efficacy", "leisure exercise motives", "leisure exercise barriers", and "leisure exercise behaviours" of university students using Social Cognitive Theory as the framework; 2) to assess the effect of a required physical education program, with interventions based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, on the leisure exercise behaviours of university students; and 3) to examine the role that the Hong Kong environment plays and identify possible ways to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise. Path analysis results showed that leisure exercise efficacy was a significant and direct predictor of leisure exercise behaviours 3 months after the commencement of the semester. The re-specified Model of University Students' Leisure Exercise Behaviours was found to be tenable. However, repeated measures analysis of variance results showed that there were no significant 3-way interaction effects (Group x Gender x Assessment Time) or 2-way interaction effects (Gender x Assessment Time) (Group x Assessment Time) for all variables. Qualitative results showed three perceived leisure exercise barriers: 1) time; 2) attitudes towards exercise; and 3) structural. Three general dimensions emerged from the qualitative data to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise: 1) reinforcement of leisure exercise efficacy; 2) enhancement of leisure exercise motives; and 3) encouragement of a university sports culture. Practical implications of the research findings and recommendations for future research are given in this study.
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Ng, Judy K. "University students' leisure exercise behaviours." Queensland University of Technology, 2005. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16376/.
Full textAbstract:
This research study was divided into three phases. Phase I included 157 university undergraduate students. It was designed to assess the content (face) validity of the Leisure Exercise Efficacy Scale (LEES). Phase II consisted of 240 university undergraduates. This phase investigated the internal consistency, factorial structure, and construct validity of the LEES. Phase III was the main study, a total of 331 university undergraduate students were involved. It has three objectives: 1) to examine the theoretical relationships among the variables of "leisure exercise efficacy", "leisure exercise motives", "leisure exercise barriers", and "leisure exercise behaviours" of university students using Social Cognitive Theory as the framework; 2) to assess the effect of a required physical education program, with interventions based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory, on the leisure exercise behaviours of university students; and 3) to examine the role that the Hong Kong environment plays and identify possible ways to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise. Path analysis results showed that leisure exercise efficacy was a significant and direct predictor of leisure exercise behaviours 3 months after the commencement of the semester. The re-specified Model of University Students' Leisure Exercise Behaviours was found to be tenable. However, repeated measures analysis of variance results showed that there were no significant 3-way interaction effects (Group x Gender x Assessment Time) or 2-way interaction effects (Gender x Assessment Time) (Group x Assessment Time) for all variables. Qualitative results showed three perceived leisure exercise barriers: 1) time; 2) attitudes towards exercise; and 3) structural. Three general dimensions emerged from the qualitative data to increase university students' participation in leisure exercise: 1) reinforcement of leisure exercise efficacy; 2) enhancement of leisure exercise motives; and 3) encouragement of a university sports culture. Practical implications of the research findings and recommendations for future research are given in this study.
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Lock, L. C. "Nesting and nighttime behaviours of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/3559.
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Studies of nesting behaviours of free-ranging apes typically focus on ecological variables such as preferred tree species and areas within the home range, heights of nests, and nest group sizes. However, nesting in captive apes is rarely studied, despite the ubiquity of this sleep-related behaviour. The paucity of field data is often attributed to the inherent difficulty in observing what is essentially a nighttime behaviour. Captive settings can provide researchers with an ideal opportunity to record nesting and sleep-related behaviours, yet such research on captive apes is also scant. Topics addressed include current practices in zoos regarding conditions for sleep in great apes, the potential effects of social and environmental factors on sleep site selection, the motor patterns involved in nest construction, preferred nesting structures and substrates, and nocturnal behaviours. This thesis documented and empirically tested hypotheses concerning nest-related activities in captive chimpanzees, with an aim to generate practical recommendations for enclosure design, sleeping areas, sleeping structures, and nesting substrates that have implications for the welfare of captive apes. As with the few reports that already exist, most chimpanzees in this research frequently constructed night nests. When building a nest, some techniques appeared to be universal across individuals and groups, where others were group-specific or occasionally characteristic of only certain individuals. An experiment showed that specific materials are preferred over others for nest building. Many chimpanzees appeared to express persistent preferences for particular sleeping sites, and for some this was to maintain proximity to kin or other closely bonded individuals. In one group, individual sleeping site preferences changed across seasons, although again this was subject to individual differences. Video analyses of nighttime behaviours demonstrated that, although nests/sleep sites are primarily used for rest subsequent to retirement, a number of social and non-social activities were performed throughout the night. In conjunction with analysis of postural and orientation shifts, these data are unique in describing the nocturnal behaviours of chimpanzees out with a laboratory setting. Several aspects of nest-related behaviours showed a high degree of inter-and intra-group variation. Although this cautions against generalising findings across captive populations, research of this type has applied implications for the management of captive ape species, and can add to our as-yet meagre understanding of their nest and sleep-related behaviours.
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Lam, Quan. "Language, cultural norms, and behaviours- how the language bilingual chinese speak may affect their behaviours." Kingston, Ont. : [s.n.], 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1974/5527.
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Griffin, Deborah, and N/A. "Social Issue Exchange: An Exploration of Determinants and Outcomes." Griffith University. Department of Marketing, 2007. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20070910.111229.
Full textAbstract:
It has been argued that marketing contributes to society by finding solutions to a diverse range of social issues. Importantly, research within the (social) marketing domain recognises that the concept of exchange is a fundamental aspect of influencing people to take on positive social issue behaviours (Andreasen, 1995; Rothschild, 1999). However, regardless of the influence of social marketing, ultimately the behavioural exchange resides with the individual. This infers that exchange can be considered from the individuals (i.e., consumers) point of view, of intrapersonal or self-exchange (Gould, 1994). Furthermore, the conditions that facilitate or constrain this form of exchange are found within the individual and relate to for example, individual differences. However, in recent years there has been limited interest in exchange theory within the marketing domain and, in particular, exchange as a fundamental consumer behaviour phenomenon (Anderson et al, 1999; Gould, 1994). This study seeks to extend current consumer behaviour and social marketing knowledge in the areas of exchange theory and personality. Based on an examination of the extant literature, a model of determinants and outcomes of Social Issue Exchange was developed and empirically tested. The Social Issue Exchange Model proposed in this study accounts for a number of associations which includes a representation of personality termed pro-social orientation along with social issue involvement, attitude toward social issues, subjective assessment of negative consequences and feelings. The determinants of social issue exchange included the multi-component variable pro-social orientation comprising the traits risk aversion, locus of control, consideration of future consequences, susceptibility to normative influence and social responsibility along with the variables social issue involvement and attitude towards social issues. The outcomes of social issue exchange include the variables of subjective assessment of negative consequences and feelings. The study adopted a quantitative methodology using an Internet administered questionnaire that allowed for the measurement of the determinants and outcomes of social issue exchange. The construction of the questionnaire followed a sequential process which involved developing new measures, utilising and adapting existing measures and then pre-testing these measures to ensure the development of a psychometrically sound and respondent-friendly survey instrument. The final survey used Excess Alcohol Consumption and Speeding social issues as stimuli for the study. Data collection resulted in 1146 (comprising 559 for Speeding social issue, and 587 for Excess Alcohol Consumption social issue) useable surveys for subsequent analysis. Analysis included a number of statistical procedures including correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and tests of the model via Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis. Overall, the findings provided support for the proposed Social Issue Exchange Model. In terms of the measurement model, the findings show that pro-social orientation accounted for different amounts of variance in the five traits, with consideration for further consequences accounting for the most variance and susceptibility to normative influence accounting for the least. In terms of the inner model, all the hypothesised paths were supported with the exception of attitude towards social issues and social issue exchange. A comparison of the smaller models (i.e., Speeding and Excess Alcohol Consumption) with the overall model indicated that largely the relationships were consistent, with the exception of social issue involvement and attitude towards social issues which was not supported in the Excess Alcohol Consumption model. The findings provide a number of theoretical and practical implications for research. From a theoretical perspective, broadening the concept of exchange to account for self-exchange in the context of social issue behaviours contributes to the body of knowledge on exchange. Moreover, aggregating traits to form the multi-component construct pro-social orientation takes a holistic approach to personality and thereby, provides greater clarification of the psychological processes that drive individuals to respond positively or negatively to social issues and associated behaviours. From a practical perspective, this study may lead to a better understanding of how personal characteristics can shape an individuals response to social issues as well as their behaviours. In summary, the importance of understanding the processes that influence individuals social issue behaviours provides a justification for this study. Accordingly, this study offers valuable insights into how exchange is an integral feature of individual behaviour change, as well as positive social change for society.
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Griffin, Deborah. "Social Issue Exchange: An Exploration of Determinants and Outcomes." Thesis, Griffith University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367920.
Full textAbstract:
It has been argued that marketing contributes to society by finding solutions to a diverse range of social issues. Importantly, research within the (social) marketing domain recognises that the concept of exchange is a fundamental aspect of influencing people to take on positive social issue behaviours (Andreasen, 1995; Rothschild, 1999). However, regardless of the influence of social marketing, ultimately the behavioural exchange resides with the individual. This infers that exchange can be considered from the individual’s (i.e., consumer’s) point of view, of intrapersonal or self-exchange (Gould, 1994). Furthermore, the conditions that facilitate or constrain this form of exchange are found within the individual – and relate to for example, individual differences. However, in recent years there has been limited interest in exchange theory within the marketing domain and, in particular, exchange as a fundamental consumer behaviour phenomenon (Anderson et al, 1999; Gould, 1994). This study seeks to extend current consumer behaviour and social marketing knowledge in the areas of exchange theory and personality. Based on an examination of the extant literature, a model of determinants and outcomes of Social Issue Exchange was developed and empirically tested. The Social Issue Exchange Model proposed in this study accounts for a number of associations which includes a representation of personality termed pro-social orientation along with social issue involvement, attitude toward social issues, subjective assessment of negative consequences and feelings. The determinants of social issue exchange included the multi-component variable pro-social orientation comprising the traits risk aversion, locus of control, consideration of future consequences, susceptibility to normative influence and social responsibility along with the variables social issue involvement and attitude towards social issues. The outcomes of social issue exchange include the variables of subjective assessment of negative consequences and feelings. The study adopted a quantitative methodology using an Internet administered questionnaire that allowed for the measurement of the determinants and outcomes of social issue exchange. The construction of the questionnaire followed a sequential process which involved developing new measures, utilising and adapting existing measures and then pre-testing these measures to ensure the development of a psychometrically sound and respondent-friendly survey instrument. The final survey used Excess Alcohol Consumption and Speeding social issues as stimuli for the study. Data collection resulted in 1146 (comprising 559 for Speeding social issue, and 587 for Excess Alcohol Consumption social issue) useable surveys for subsequent analysis. Analysis included a number of statistical procedures including correlation analysis, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and tests of the model via Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis. Overall, the findings provided support for the proposed Social Issue Exchange Model. In terms of the measurement model, the findings show that pro-social orientation accounted for different amounts of variance in the five traits, with consideration for further consequences accounting for the most variance and susceptibility to normative influence accounting for the least. In terms of the inner model, all the hypothesised paths were supported with the exception of attitude towards social issues and social issue exchange. A comparison of the smaller models (i.e., Speeding and Excess Alcohol Consumption) with the overall model indicated that largely the relationships were consistent, with the exception of social issue involvement and attitude towards social issues which was not supported in the Excess Alcohol Consumption model. The findings provide a number of theoretical and practical implications for research. From a theoretical perspective, broadening the concept of exchange to account for self-exchange in the context of social issue behaviours contributes to the body of knowledge on exchange. Moreover, aggregating traits to form the multi-component construct pro-social orientation takes a holistic approach to personality and thereby, provides greater clarification of the psychological processes that drive individuals to respond positively or negatively to social issues and associated behaviours. From a practical perspective, this study may lead to a better understanding of how personal characteristics can shape an individual’s response to social issues as well as their behaviours. In summary, the importance of understanding the processes that influence individuals’ social issue behaviours provides a justification for this study. Accordingly, this study offers valuable insights into how ‘exchange’ is an integral feature of individual behaviour change, as well as positive social change for society.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department of Marketing
Griffith Business School
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Kam, Chi-ming. "A study on teacher's attributions and helping behaviours for students with behavioural problems." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1992. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B29788948.
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Smart, Paul Richard. "Anatomical and behavioural studies investigating the role of serotonin in feeding-related behaviours." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.264633.
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Rodrigues, Angela Margarete Martins. "Systematic development of a behavioural intervention to promote sun-protection behaviours amongst holidaymakers." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/2569.
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Intermittent UV-exposure is a risk factor for melanoma. Recreational sun-exposure (e.g. holiday) is associated with melanoma incidence. Effective and affordable interventions to promote sun-protection behaviours (SPB) are needed. This PhD thesis describes the development of a behavioural change intervention to promote SPB amongst holidaymakers and a pilot of acceptability, feasibility, and fidelity of the intervention. A systematic review was conducted to appraise efficacy of behavioural interventions to change SPB and experience of sunburn. Twenty-three randomised-controlled trials (RCT) were included and no evidence was found for the efficacy of interventions in reducing tanning, promoting protective clothing and seeking shade. Larger effects were observed for self-reported sun-exposure and number of sunburn experienced. Moderator analyses showed that effective interventions were more likely to stimulate social norms and provide appearance-based information about photoaging. A qualitative study based on the theory domain framework was conducted to investigate perceptions of sun-related experiences and determinants of SPB. In a semi-structured interview, 17 holidaymakers showed a desire to tan attributing a high value to it during holidays. Most respondents knew how to perform SPB and identified key barriers to SPB. Findings from systematic review and qualitative work informed the development and design of an evidence-based intervention. The prototype of the mobile phone based (app) intervention was initially tested using a user-centred design: 17 participants were satisfied with the prototype and expressed willingness to use it, with minor changes being introduced to optimise acceptability. Novel outcome measures to assess sun protection behaviours were also explored. The two newly developed methods of outcome assessment (sunscreen use events classifier and mDNA damage caused by UV exposure) show robust evidence for the assessment of sun protection behaviours and skin damage during holidays. This work contributed to the development of a full protocol for the outcome assessment in a definitive trial. Another systematic review was conducted to synthesize evidence on the question-behaviour effect (QBE) for health-related behaviours. Forty-one studies were included assessing a range of health behaviours. Findings showed a small QBE. Studies showed moderate heterogeneity, variable methodological quality and evidence for publication bias. No dose-response relationship was found. Risk of bias within studies and publication bias indicate that the observed small effect size may be an over-estimate. Based on these findings, no changes would be introduced to the protocol of the definitive trial to tackle QBE. A pilot study assessing the acceptability, feasibility and fidelity of the app use showed that the intervention was feasible and highly acceptable. Findings from the pilot study will inform a definitive RCT.
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Freeman, Nancy L. "Behaviour is communication, an empirical exploration of communicative behaviours in autism and adult responsivity." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq22889.pdf.
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Avila-Palencia, Ione 1985. "Urban environment, transport behaviours, and health." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/665298.
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Urban environments are very complex systems with a myriad of factors intricately related. Built environment, transport, physical activity and sedentary behaviours, air pollution, and social contacts and feelings of loneliness can have effects on urban population’s health and well-being. Also, some of these determinants can be associated and can interact between them modifying their effects on health. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Taking into account this comprehensive health definition, this thesis covered different layers of health: general, mental, and physical. With four different studies, the results of the present thesis suggest that it is possible to design urban environments that can increase physical activity levels, mainly through active transport, and that the crime-safety perceptions can have an important role in terms of reinforcing the effects of the built environment on physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Furthermore, active transport, mainly bicycle use, seems to be a source of good mental health and well-being, and a tool to boost social capital production. Increasing physical activity levels also seems to be a good way to improve cardiovascular health through blood pressure levels reduction.
The present thesis suggests that urban and transport planning have a great potential to promote healthy behaviours and ensure mental and physical health of city dwellers, mainly through active transport promotion. In order to improve the health promotion through urban environment, more research about aesthetics urban attributes, urban social capital production, effects on mental health and well-being, and effectiveness of urban interventions is needed.Los entornos urbanos son sistemas muy complejos con una miríada de factores intrincadamente relacionados. El entorno construido, el transporte, la actividad física y los comportamientos sedentarios, la contaminación del aire y los contactos sociales y los sentimientos de soledad pueden tener efectos en la salud y el bienestar de la población urbana. Además, algunos de estos determinantes se pueden asociar y pueden interactuar entre ellos modificando sus efectos sobre la salud. Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), la salud es "un estado de completo bienestar físico, mental y social y no simplemente la ausencia de enfermedades o dolencias". Teniendo en cuenta esta definición integral de salud, esta tesis cubre diferentes niveles de salud: general, mental y física. Con cuatro estudios diferentes, los resultados de la presente tesis sugieren que es posible diseñar entornos urbanos que puedan aumentar los niveles de actividad física, principalmente a través del transporte activo, y que las percepciones de seguridad con respecto al crimen pueden tener un papel importante en términos de reforzar los efectos del entorno construido sobre la actividad física y los comportamientos sedentarios. Además, el transporte activo, principalmente el uso de bicicletas, parece ser una fuente de buena salud mental y bienestar, y una herramienta para impulsar la producción de capital social. El aumento de los niveles de actividad física también parece ser una buena forma de mejorar la salud cardiovascular a través de la reducción de los niveles de presión arterial. La presente tesis sugiere que la planificación urbana y de transporte tienen un gran potencial para promover comportamientos saludables y garantizar la salud mental y física de los habitantes de las ciudades, principalmente a través de la promoción del transporte activo. Para ir mejorando la promoción de la salud a través del entorno urbano, se necesita más investigación sobre los atributos urbanos estéticos, la producción de capital social urbano, los efectos sobre la salud mental y el bienestar, y la efectividad de las intervenciones urbanas
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Erskine, Adam. "Analysis of behaviours in swarm systems." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/20413.
Full textAbstract:
In nature animal species often exist in groups. We talk of insect swarms, flocks of birds, packs of lions, herds of wildebeest etc. These are characterised by individuals interacting by following their own rules, privy only to local information. Robotic swarms or simulations can be used explore such interactions. Mathematical formulations can be constructed that encode similar ideas and allow us to explore the emergent group behaviours. Some behaviours show characteristics reminiscent of the phenomena of criticality. A bird flock may show near instantaneous collective shifts in direction: velocity changes that appear to correlated over distances much larger individual separations. Here we examine swarm systems inspired by flocks of birds and the role played by criticality. The first system, Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO), is shown to behave optimally when operating close to criticality. The presence of a critical point in the algorithm’s operation is shown to derive from the swarm’s properties as a random dynamical system. Empirical results demonstrate that the optimality lies on or near this point. A modified PSO algorithm is presented which uses measures of the swarm’s diversity as a feedback signal to adjust the behaviour of the swarm. This achieves a statistically balanced mixture of exploration and exploitation behaviours in the resultant swarm. The problems of stagnation and parameter tuning often encountered in PSO are automatically avoided. The second system, Swarm Chemistry, consists of heterogeneous particles combined with kinetic update rules. It is known that, depending upon the parametric configuration, numerous structures visually reminiscent of biological forms are found in this system. The parameter set discovered here results in a cell-division-like behaviour (in the sense of prokaryotic fission). Extensions to the swarm system produces a swarm that shows repeated cell division. As such, this model demonstrates a behaviour of interest to theories regarding the origin of life.
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Sayers, Nicola Louise. "Stereotyped behaviours in children with autism." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.408832.
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Lin, Conny Hsin-Cheng. "Plasticity of behaviours modulated by alcohol." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/62478.
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Blackburn, James Robert. "Involvement of dopamine in feeding behaviours." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25347.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigated the involvement of the neurotransmitter dopamine in feeding behaviours. A conditioned feeding paradigm was used to study incentive responses. After conditioning rats responded to a conditional stimulus (CS+) by approaching a feeding site. Approach responses were attenuated by 0.4 or 0.6mg/kg of the dopamine antagonist pimozide. Neurochemical investigation revealed that exposure to the CS+ increased dopamine turnover in the forebrain. Thus, dopamine appears to be actively involved in the initiation of appetitive responses. In contrast, another experiment indicated that consumption of a liquid diet was not altered by up to 0.6mg/kg pimozide. These data were interpreted as supporting an "incentive-response hypothesis" of dopamine function, which states that "When an animal observes an incentive stimulus, the release of dopamine in the forebrain is increased, resulting in approach to the stimulus by the animal. Once the animal is in contact with a goal object, consummatory reactions occur which are not mediated by dopamine systems". A final experiment investigated the activity of dopamine systems following ingestion. After one hour during which food pellets or liquid diet were available to rats, dopamine turnover was increased in the n. accumbens and the striatum, relative to non-fed animals. No increase was observed in the brains of rats which had consumed similar quantities of saccharin solution. Thus, the increase observed following consumption of pellets or liquid diet could not be attributed to motor or "reward" effects. It was concluded that in addition to their involvement in incentive-responding, dopamine systems are also affected by the ingestion of nutrients.Arts, Faculty of
Psychology, Department of
Graduate
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Dawson, Lynn Gail. "Coping behaviours in myocardial infarction rehabilitation." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/25722.
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This study was designed to discover the coping behaviours used by patients six to twelve months following a myocardial infarction (MI).
The conceptualization of coping behaviours was based on the UBC Model for Nursing which directed the researcher to examine coping behaviours used to meet the patients' basic human needs.
The specific research question was, "What new or already established coping behaviours have patients utilized after an MI in an attempt to satisfy their basic human needs?"
Seven participants who had experienced an MI six to twelve months previously, were recruited from cardiologists. Data were collected from the participants during interviews using semi-structured open-ended questioning technique. Data were coded and analyzed using the constant comparative method developed by Glaser and Strauss.
Three themes that emerged from the data were:
1) coping behaviours related to risk reduction,
2) coping behaviours related to returning to normal,
3) coping behaviours related to reaching a new normal. The findings supported the need for lifestyle changes involving the use of existing coping behaviours and/or the development of new coping behaviours to meet subjects' basic human needs. Certain unmet basic human needs were identified following an MI which required the development of new coping behaviours to meet them.
Nurses are in a unique position to assist MI patients in developing coping behaviours to meet their basic human needs. The descriptions and explanations of coping behaviours identified in this study may serve as a useful guide for nurses to help patients deal with changes in their lives and develop necessary coping behaviours to meet their basic human needs.Applied Science, Faculty of
Nursing, School of
Graduate
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Aitken, Nicole. "Differentiating Habits for Pro-Environmental Behaviours." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/32104.
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To help protect the environment people need to change current non-environmental behaviours into more sustainable behaviours. By understanding habits for pro-environmental behaviours, people can strive toward building a more sustainable future. The goal of this thesis was to identify different types of repeated pro-environmental behaviours and how to best foster strong habits for pro-environmental behaviours. To achieve this purpose we combined the theoretical framework of habits (Bargh, 1994; Verplanken, 2006) with the theoretical framework of self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; 2000) to address current gaps in the habit literature.
The present thesis is comprised of two articles. The first article determined if the proposed indicators of habits (i.e., behaviour frequency, habit strength, and behaviour interference) could identify different patterns of repeated pro-environmental behaviours predicted by habit and self-determination theory using cluster analysis. The three studies provided support for the three proposed types of repeated behaviours: weak habits, repeated behaviours with interference, and strong habits. These results were very robust since the same pattern was found across three studies, three samples, and three different target behaviours.
The second article used the groups (i.e., weak habit, repeated behaviour with interference, and strong habit) in exploratory multinomial logistic regression analyses to identify factors related to pro-environmental behaviours which distinguished between the different types of repeated behaviours. Once again, the same three types of repeated behaviours were found across these three studies, with three new samples and two different target behaviours. Three predictors fairly consistently identified differences between the groups: autonomous motivation toward the environment, perceived importance of the environment, and the frequency of other pro-environmental behaviours. The implications of the thesis findings are discussed in relation to self-determination theory and the study of habits.
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Cheung, Yee-tak. "Suicidal behaviours among illicit drug users." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2008. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/HKUTO/record/B39556992.
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Plasencia, Melissa Leili. "Safety behaviours and social anxiety disorder." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24201.
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Two studies examine the validity of a modified version of the Social Behaviour Questionnaire (SBQ; Clark, et al. 1995), an unpublished measure of safety behaviours used by people with social anxiety. Study 1 investigated the underlying structure and psychometric properties of the SBQ in a sample of 269 undergraduate students. Results indicate the SBQ subdivides into two categories of safety behaviours: avoidance and self-monitoring. Study 2 replicated these results in a sample of 62 socially anxious individuals from the community.
Differential effects of these categories of behaviours on the interpersonal relationship were
examined in the community sample using a controlled laboratory social interaction task.
Standard multiple regression procedures indicate that avoidant behaviours are negatively
associated with likability of participants, whereas self-monitoring behaviours were not
significantly associated with likability.
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張懿德 and Yee-tak Cheung. "Suicidal behaviours among illicit drug users." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2008. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B39556992.
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Mwaba, Sidney Office Chiluba. "Paternal behaviours and children's school performance." Thesis, University of Strathclyde, 1989. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.362089.
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Harpur, Ruth Ann. "ADHD medication related attitudes and behaviours." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.439375.
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Katevas, Kleomenis. "Analysing crowd behaviours using mobile sensing." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2018. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/54059.
Full textAbstract:
Researchers have examined crowd behaviour in the past by employing a variety of methods including ethnographic studies, computer vision techniques and manual annotation-based data analysis. However, because of the resources to collect, process and analyse data, it remains difficult to obtain large data sets for study. Mobile phones offer easier means for data collection that is easy to analyse and can preserve the user's privacy. The aim of this thesis is to identify and model different qualities of social interactions inside crowds using mobile sensing technology. This Ph.D. research makes three main contributions centred around the mobile sensing and crowd sensing area. Firstly, an open-source licensed mobile sensing framework is developed, named SensingKit, that is capable of collecting mobile sensor data from iOS and Android devices, supporting most sensors available in modern smartphones. The framework has been evaluated in a case study that investigates the pedestrian gait synchronisation phenomenon. Secondly, a novel algorithm based on graph theory is proposed capable of detecting stationary social interactions within crowds. It uses sensor data available in a modern smartphone device, such as the Bluetooth Smart (BLE) sensor, as an indication of user proximity, and accelerometer sensor, as an indication of each user's motion state. Finally, a machine learning model is introduced that uses multi-modal mobile sensor data extracted from Bluetooth Smart, accelerometer and gyroscope sensors. The validation was performed using a relatively large dataset with 24 participants, where they were asked to socialise with each other for 45 minutes. By using supervised machine learning based on gradient-boosted trees, a performance increase of 26.7% was achieved over a proximity-based approach. Such model can be beneficial to the design and implementation of in-the-wild crowd behavioural analysis, design of influence strategies, and algorithms for crowd reconfiguration.