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The study reported in this paper is concerned with a comparison of acceptable and non-acceptable first-grade children selected by means of a sociometric procedure and teacher judgment. It is an attempt to discover behavior characteristics emanating from those two distinct groups in order to determine patterns of behavior which may be attributed to each separately.

The major problem of this study is an investigation, by means of a time-sampling technique, the relationship between social behavior and social acceptance as determined by a sociometric technique.

The emerging techniques of mobile GIS applications, its abilities and its implied limitations ofinternet connections is the main subject in this study. Many of the operations that mobile devicesuse are dependent on mobile internet connectivity. Therefore the potential for it in well connectedareas is great but how would they function in less connected areas? Mobile GIS, which is todaymostly used in devices as smart phones and tablets, has internet connectivity for uploading anddownloading files and other data. Mobile GIS is also dependent on location-based services thatenable the device to get information or take action from the current location of the device. Thisresearch examines the potential usage of mobile GIS in conjunction with the bandwidth of wirelesstechnologies. It is important to study this issue to see if mobile applications can perform upload anddownload tasks within reasonable time in poor mobile coverage. To test the possibilities of mobileGIS in rural areas a test environment is set up in a mobile GIS application for septic tanks. Thetesting is performed by uploading and downloading data with real GIS actions from pre-selectedlocations that have low mobile coverage. The study is comparing the measurements with a scale ofacceptable time for download and upload. The result for registering (uploading) a new point inmobile GIS with three small images is that it requires at least 330 Kbit/s connection to transfer thedata within acceptable time. The results for uploading data without images and downloading giveseven better results and are not as dependent on a good connection for transferring within acceptabletime. The conclusion is that mobile gis applications are able to run within acceptable time measuresin rural areas. The results and other sources were used to make general guidelines for mobile GISapplications for use in rural areas.

In Australia, the developments of hazard-specific legislation, policy and guidelines aims to minimise community exposure to the adverse effects of natural hazards. This occurs under policies of ecologically sustainable development land-use planning processes, which must also now involve the assessment of hazard-risk. However the development occurring in potentially hazardous environments, for example urban floodplains susceptible to flooding, continues to occur as a result of contemporary land-use planning and risk management processes. Why is this an outcome of past and present risk management and land-use planning processes? This thesis finds that a significant factor contributing to this outcome is the discrepancy between the perception and management of risk, particularly acceptable risk, by stakeholders (Local Government, the development industry, risk managers and floodplain occupants). The research is based on an Australian example of an urban floodplain currently under considerable development pressure, but at risk from flooding – Guragunbah (Carrara Merrimac Floodplain) and surrounding suburbs within the Nerang River catchment on the Gold Coast. A case study methodology was adopted, involving a combination of survey data and secondary documents. A basis for the thesis was the modelling of the actual risk decision-making processes operating within the case study Local Government, and the comparison between actual observed process and the theoretical framework outlined by the existing hazard risk management and land-use planning policy, guidelines and legislation. This enabled the identification of key stakeholders and their roles within the risk management and land-use planning processes operating within the case study area. The scope of the results of this thesis indicate that a large proportion of stakeholders external to the Local Government (such as residents and some members of the development industry) do not understand the risks of flooding represented by the standards formally adopted by local government (1-in-100 year flood, for example) and as a result, misinterpret their levels of flood risk exposure. Importantly, the results also indicate that contrasts exist in the flood risks considered to be ‘acceptable’ by the stakeholders, particularly when the potential consequences associated with events are described or illustrated in ‘non-technical’ terms. The extent to which the formal standards are misinterpreted suggests that many stakeholders may potentially be exposed to risks greater than they consider to be ‘acceptable’, but they are assuming that the Local Government (in particular) is setting risk standards that are acceptable to them. The thesis questions the true ‘acceptability’ of the formal standards being adopted through floodplain management policy at the Local, State and Federal levels of Government and identifies management opportunities and constraints in addressing the issue. Obstacles to management change include resource availability, lack of political will and stakeholder consultation. Opportunities for management change include modifying: the approach adopted by Local Governments when constructing planning schemes; the existing planning standards and decisions associated with permissible individual land-use; the mitigation of existing flood risks and exposure; and the communication of flood risk information. In the ‘real-world’ Local Government context, as illustrated by this case study, the issue may be practically addressed by modifying the standards and processes followed to establish acceptable risk.

The Acceptable Ads Standard is a set of guidelines developed by the biggest ad-blocker company AdBlock Plus as an attempt to alleviate the largest need for ad-blocking programs; ads being annoying, irrelevant, and too intrusive. The guidelines inflict rules regarding how ads can be presented in order to be acceptable, thereby not disturbing the consumer. If a website follows these guidelines, their ads will not get blocked. The terms ad-avoidance and ad-irritation has been established by Cho et al. and Baek et al. [4]. The term ad-noticeability was added to these in order to express the behavior of seeing an ad, but not necessarily understanding what it’s trying to mediate. This study aims to examine the Acceptable Ads guidelines’ effect on user experience and ad-noticeability through a quantitative and qualitative study. The two studies were conducted with the help of two specially made test suites in the form of two websites, one with acceptable and one with non-acceptable ads. All participants went through the same set of tasks on the websites. In the quantitative study, data regarding what ads the participants’ had seen and what their experiences’ had been like was collected. Through the qualitative study, it was possible to get more elaborate answers to why certain ads were seen or missed and to get more in-depth answers regarding the participants’ experiences. Through the study, it was found that there is a difference in ad-noticeability and the user experience of ads between websites that contain either acceptable or non-acceptable ads. The results suggest that the Acceptable Ads guidelines affect user experience positively, i.e. leading to less ad-irritation or annoyance, but also affect ad-noticeability negatively. It was also found that cognitive ad-avoidance was greatly affected by task-oriented focus, both in cases with and without ads following acceptable / The Acceptable Ads Standard är en samling med riktlinjer utvecklade av det största företaget inom ad-blockers, AdBlock Plus. Dessa riktlinjer utvecklades som ett försök att motverka de största anledningarna till att konsumenter installerar ad-blockers: att reklam är irriterande, irrelevant, eller för påträngande. Dessa riktlinjer skapar regler för hur onlinereklam ska presenteras för att vara acceptabelt, och därmed inte störa konsumenterna. Om en hemsida följer dessa regler är tanken att deras reklam inte ska bli blockerad av installerade ad-blockers. Termerna ad-avoidance (“reklamundvikelse”) och ad-irritation (“reklamirritation”) har blivit etablerade av Cho et al. och Baek et al [4]. Termen ad-noticeability (att notera reklam) har blivit tillagt till dessa för att uttrycka beteendet att se reklam, utan att nödvändigtvis förstå den. Denna studie riktar sig till att undersöka Acceptable Ads påverkan på användarupplevelse och hur mycket reklam som noteras genom en kvantitativ och en kvalitativ studie. Dessa två studier genomfördes med hjälp av två specialtillverkade testsviter i formen av två hemsidor: en hemsida med acceptabel reklam och en med oacceptabel reklam. Alla testdeltagare gick igenom samma uppgifter på dessa hemsidor. I den kvalitativa studien fanns ett fokus på att samla in data gällande vad testdeltagare sett och upplevt. Genom den kvalitativa studien var det möjligt att få mer djupgående svar på varför viss reklam hade missats och hur deltagarna hade upplevt reklamen. Genom studien hittade man att det var skillnad på hur mycket reklam som noteras och på hur testdeltagare upplever reklam på hemsidor med acceptabel kontra oacceptabel reklam. Resultaten föreslår att riktlinjerna från Acceptable Ads påverkar användarupplevelsen positivt genom att minska irritation men också att de har en negativ påverkan på hur mycket reklam som noteras. Det visade sig också att kognitiv reklamundvikelse var mycket påverkat av ett uppgiftsorienterat fokus, både i fall med och utan acceptabel reklam.

The study examines the acceptable computer system use policies of each of the public school districts in the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as the Virginia School Boards Association and the National School Boards Association policies as they relate to cyberbullying. Public middle school and public secondary school administrators across the Commonwealth were surveyed to determine to what extent cyberbullying is an issue in their schools, and to determine their views of their districts' current policies and procedures as they relate to cyberbullying. The study addresses the legal framework, based upon case law and statutory law that school districts must work within to balance students' free speech rights without abandoning the need to provide a safe and controlled learning environment. The study examines five arenas of students' First Amendment rights as they relate to cyberbullying with particular attention paid to Internet Service Provider liability, including: 1) form of the speech, political or obscene, 2) school-sponsored speech, 3) severity of the disruption caused by the incident, 4) site(s) of the incident, and 5) if the incident rises to the level of a true threat. The study evaluates existing school district policies in addition to public school administrators' perceptions relative to related statutory and case law in order to formulate a model policy that is legally defensible and would be appropriate for adoption by Virginia public school districts. / Ed. D.

This study is an investigation into methods of developing ergonomic guidelines for automotive assembly tasks involving insertion of small parts. The study was conducted in four major parts: 1) a method of determining and evaluating subjective exertion limits was modified and tested, 2) a large dataset was collected from an industrial population in 10 simulated assembly line tasks, 3) a smaller dataset was collected from a student population to assess hand dominance effects, and 4) strength data obtained was compared with a strength prediction model to determine if the model could predict manual insertion forces. The traditional method of psychophysical data collection requires participants to extrapolate sensations from a relativity short session to judge if the task could be done for a much longer period. Maximum acceptable limits (MALs) are typically derived from having participants adjust a weight, resistance, or frequency to an acceptable level. The present study evaluated a relatively new method of collecting MAL data for simple, single-digit exertions where participants were asked to determine an MAL by self-adjusting and then regulating to maintain the exertion level. Results showed that MAL values obtained from a series of self-regulated exertions were independent of both analysis method and duration (5 minutes vs. 25 minutes) used for evaluation, and that the method was repeatable both within and between sessions. Ergonomic guidelines are often obtained from the strength capacity for a certain task, as it is important to ensure that workers possess sufficient strength to accomplish a task. As task demands increase, however, a larger percentage of a worker's strength capability in required, and other factors, such as performance and worker comfort, tend to be compromised. In this work, both strength capacity and subjective limits were obtained for a variety of simulated tasks to facilitate development of guidelines for the specific tasks. The relationship between these two measures (maximum force, acceptable force) was determined, and acceptable limits were found to be approximately 55% of population strength capacity, with correlations (R2) ranging from 0.40 to 0.60 depending on the task, suggesting the subjective limits and strength capacity are related in these tasks. Hand dominance was found to have a small (5%), but significant (p = 0.006) effect on strength capability, and no significant effect on subjective limit. Biomechanical strength prediction models can be used to assess loads placed on the human performing various tasks. One of the more popular models, Three-Dimensional Static Strength Prediction Program, is often used for heavy material handling tasks, such as lifting or pushing. The tasks studied presently, however, are manual insertions, requiring localized force application rather than whole body exertion. The prediction capabilities of this strength prediction model were compared with strength values obtained from the simulated assembly tasks. Results indicated that the model was not successful when predicting localized force, accounting for only 40% of the observed variance in strength (R2 = 0.4) / Master of Science

Part one of the thesis studies differential diagnosticity towards substantive extrinsic information available in the environment. This research tests the interaction between regulatory focus and availability of extrinsic-substantive information such as consensus information, on the range of acceptable price. Prior research on regulatory focus led us to two divergent predictions. Our findings lend support to the asymmetric-elaboration account. Under this account, only prevention-oriented consumers are likely to change their acceptable price range if combinations of favorable-and-unfavorable consensus information are available in the environment, while promotion-oriented consumers disregard such information. We find that this difference is due to the differences in the level of difficulty experienced in specifying acceptable price range across the two regulatory foci. Further, we also undertake random-parameters regression models that provide unique general findings. For example, we find that for promotion-oriented consumers it is their high-level product construal, while for prevention-oriented consumers it is their low-level product construal that influences their respective acceptable price ranges, irrespective of level of external information available. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The Walk for a Day trail will pass over land, the Water Quality Protection Lands, established to protect the sensitive karst aquifer. The trail requires specific management due to the sensitive nature of the karst landscape. This paper explores access management techniques and case studies to develop recommendations for management of the Walk for a Day trail. This paper concludes that by utilizing techniques such as Limits of Acceptable Change and spatial management strategies, and encouraging strong stakeholder participation it is possible to develop a recreational trail on sensitive public land. / text