Generational Differences in Consumer Decision-Making Constructs

Reference groups supply the individual with a sense of group membership, and thereby social identity. In the consumer behavior literature, reference groups have been shown to impact not only individual purchases, the decision-making process, and attitude formation towards brands and products. Generational cohort theory argues that people who experience major life events during a similar point in time possess synonymous values, characteristics, and preferences that are manifested through individual behaviors. The goal of this study is to extend prior research by examining generational differences in various consumer decision-making constructs. The results were mixed as are discussed

An Exploration of Partnerships Between Disability Service Units and Academic Libraries

The University of Saskatchewan’s University Library has been partnering with its institution’s Disability Services unit for almost twenty-five years to provide space and equipment for students with disabilities in some of its library locations. This partnership has grown from piloting a Kurzweil reader, to the development of multiple assistive technology and exam writing rooms, to the recent creation of a multi-purpose room. These library spaces complement spaces Disability Services has within its own office suite and reflect the growth in the number of students registered with them, a widening spectrum of disabilities, and a collaborative desire to make disability services and resources more accessible. A literature scan revealed a small number of articles about partnerships, many of which were in response to legislation. A survey directed at North American post-secondary institutions’ Disability Services employees surfaced further information about partnerships, but did not reveal any common best practices. With the increase in the number of students with disabilities attending academic institutions and a changing landscape of what is defined as a disability, how and how well academic libraries and Disability Services units are partnering to respond to these changes appears to require further exploration and assessment

Statistical Methods in Brave Enterprises

Brave Enterprises, founded by Crista Samaras, uses a series of surveys to gage people’s self-interpretation of bravery from multiple demographics. Through statistical analysis and programs coordination, the company accomplishes their mission goal of helping people “get more brave”. For this project, multiple datasets were provided by Brave Enterprises with the purpose of exploring how bravery impacts people and why. Advance statistical methods were applied to determine what characteristics have a larger impact on a participant’s bravery. Based on these impacts, a new model of bravery scores can be created. For further analysis, regression techniques can be used to predict a participant’s demographic based on their preferences in the surveys

“The People Who Leave Here Are Not the People Who Arrived.”: A Qualitative Analysis of the Therapeutic Process and Identity Transition in the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway

Individuals with personality disorder are often construed as difficult to treat, and sometimes even “untreatable.” In this study, 24 men who had completed treatment on the offender personality disorder treatment pathway participated in focus groups at a high-security prison in the United Kingdom. The results of the data analysis revealed three superordinate themes that captured the impact and experience of the therapeutic process. The three themes were “A self-reconstructed,” which focused on the reconstruing and reconstructions of participants’ identity and how intervention assisted with a coherent narrative of self. The second superordinate theme, “Relational resilience and dealing with abandonment,” relates to the attachment to therapists and the negotiation of relational boundaries and resilience. The third theme, “Reimagining and re-experiencing trauma,” focuses on participants’ exploration and reliving of trauma, and how group processes allowed for shared understanding and a reconstruing of their trauma. Implications for policy and practice are discussed

Methods of measuring disease activity in paediatric IgA vasculitis

Introduction: IgA vasculitis (IgAV, Henoch-Schönlein purpura, HSP) is the most common vasculitis of childhood and currently contributes to 1-2% of all chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5. New methods of measuring disease activity are required to improve the standard of care given. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate methods of measuring disease activity in IgAV using urine biomarkers and a disease-specific scoring tool. Methods: Firstly, a systematic literature review was performed using 4 search engines and a search term strategy with predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Promising biomarkers were divided in terms of traditional or novel and described using statistical significance and area under the curve (AUC) values. Secondly, a specific disease activity scoring tool (the IgA-VAS) was developed and preliminarily validated in a cohort of paediatric patients with IgAV. Test validity, concurrent validity and inter-rater agreement were assessed retrospectively. A randomly selected subgroup were also scored using a visual analogue scale. Results: The systematic review identified 13 eligible studies. A total of 2,446 paediatric patients were included: healthy controls (n=761), children with IgAV-N (n=1,236) and children with IgAV without nephritis (IgAV-noN, n=449). 51% were male, median age 7.9 years. The traditional markers, 24-hour protein quantity and urine protein:creatinine ratio were deemed acceptable for assessing severity of nephritis (AUC 0.5, p<0.001). Inter-rater reliability overall was low for both tools (0.131 and 0.225, p<0.001). For the IgA-VAS, interrater reliability was low for the cutaneous, renal, and other domains (0.332, 0.237, 0.288 p<0.001) and high for the gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal domains (0.543 and 0.667, p<0.001). The general, cutaneous, and renal subsystems in the PVAS had a low inter-rater reliability (0.347, 0.213, 0.304, p<0.001) and was better for the abdominal domain (0.579, p<0.001). The IgA-VAS moderately 7 correlated with the visual analogue scale for both raters (r=0.482, r=0.362, p<0.05), however the PVAS strongly correlated with rater 1 (r=0.504, p=0.004) and moderately correlated with rater 2 (r=0.372, p=0.043). Conclusion: Future studies should focus on multicentre prospective studies for biomarker discovery and validation of the IgA-VAS in a large cohort of paediatric patients

Synthesis and reactivity of alpha-sulfenyl-beta-chloroenones, including oxidation and Stille cross-coupling to form chalcone derivatives

The synthesis of a range of novel α-sulfenyl-β-chloroenones from the corresponding α-sulfenylketones, via a NCS mediated chlorination cascade, is described. The scope of the reaction has been investigated and compounds bearing alkyl- and arylthio substituents have been synthesised. In most instances, the Z α-sulfenyl-β-chloroenones were formed as the major products, while variation of the substituent at the β-carbon position led to an alteration in stereoselectivity. Stille cross-coupling with the Z α-sulfenyl-β-chloroenones led to selective formation of Z sulfenyl chalcones, while the E α-sulfenyl-β-chloroenones did not react under the same conditions. Oxidation of the Z α-sulfenyl-β-chloroenones was followed by isomerisation, leading to the E α-sulfinyl-β-chloroenones. Stille cross-coupling with the E α-sulfinyl-β-chloroenones produced the E sulfinyl chalcones. Either the E or Z sulfinyl chalcones can be obtained by altering the sequence of oxidation and Stille cross-coupling

A novel dynamic passive sampling approach for the marine monitoring of emerging contaminants

Anthropogenic contaminants enter the marine environment directly from land-based sources, however they can also be emitted or re-mobilised in the marine environment. The EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) is responsible for providing provisions against the pollution of marine waters by chemical substances. These contaminants are of great concern due to their known toxicological effects (i.e., endocrine disruption, immunotoxicity), with some known to accumulative in organisms and food webs. However, it is impossible to capture all contaminants that may be present in this dynamic marine environment. As a result, many of these chemicals and chemical mixtures have been characterised as ‘contaminants of emerging concern’ (CECs). Passive samplers can accumulate pollutants and concentrate sufficient amounts of pollutants from water for chemical analysis where spot sampling methods often fail. This study evaluates the use of a novel dynamic passive sampling approach for the determination of CECs in seawater