The changing manufacturing environment is putting pressure on shop floor operators. To help them cope with the pressures and support them in their tasks an industrial hypermedia application, a computerised information system (IS), has been proposed. However, resistance to IS by target users is a widespread problem. Therefore, companies need guidance on how to augment user acceptance, hence success, of these applications. A literature review on industrial hypermedia applications revealed that five research issues needed to be investigated. Among those issues were the lack of recommendations to hypermedia application developers and managers of manufacturing companies intending to invest in industrial hypermedia applications. This research makes a major contribution by providing a set of recommendations that when adopted may produce successful applications benefiting both the operators and the manufacturing company. This research started by reviewing management of information systems (MIS), human computer interaction (HCI) and hypermedia disciplines to deduce a set of hypothesised factors or constructs that might influence success, measured through intention to use and subjective use. The factors, individual, organisational, task and system, were employed to develop two predictive and explanatory theoretical models, a pre-implementation and a post-implementation model. Empirical data for the constructs in the models were collected in the work place and statistically analysed. Based on the analysis, the ecologically valid findings suggest that shop floor operators can use industrial hypermedia applications and are rational when deciding whether or not to use the applications. The factor having a significant positive influence on user acceptance was an attribute of the application, namely perceived usefulness. The latter is influenced by other factors that can be controlled by developers and facilitated or mitigated by managers. With the proposed recommendations developers and managers may make informed decisions and meet the challenge of developing applications that are successful. Page i Abstract Abstract The changing manufacturing environment is putting pressure on shop floor operators. To help them cope with the pressures and support them in their tasks an industrial hypermedia application, a computerised information system (IS), has been proposed. However, resistance to IS by target users is a widespread problem. Therefore, companies need guidance on how to augment user acceptance, hence success, of these applications. A literature review on industrial hypermedia applications revealed that five research issues needed to be investigated. Among those issues were the lack of recommendations to hypermedia application developers and managers of manufacturing companies intending to invest in industrial hypermedia applications. This research makes a major contribution by providing a set of recommendations that when adopted may produce successful applications benefiting both the operators and the manufacturing company. This research started by reviewing management of information systems (MIS), human computer interaction (HeI) and hypermedia disciplines to deduce a set of hypothesised factors or constructs that might influence success, measured through intention to use and subjective use. The factors, individual, organisational, task and system, were employed to develop two predictive and explanatory theoretical models, a pre-implementation and a post-implementation model. Empirical data for the constructs in the models were collected in the work place and statistically analysed. Based on the analysis, the ecologically valid findings suggest that shop floor operators can use industrial hypermedia applications and are rational when deciding whether or not to use the applications. The factor having a significant positive influence on user acceptance was an attribute of the application, namely perceived usefulness. The latter is influenced by other factors that can be controlled by developers and facilitated or mitigated by managers. With the proposed recommendations developers and managers may make informed decisions and meet the challenge of developing applications that are successful.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to develop a program based upon a combination of previously tested techniques, (2) to adapt these techniques for use by school personnel within the classroom situation, (3) to test this program upon an all-black, multi-age kindergarten and a first-grade classroom in an inner-city school, and (4) to evaluate the effectiveness of this program.

Values and valuing behavior have many conceptualizations. Despite how they are defined, values have a significant impact on behavior and are idiosyncratic in nature. The present study reviewed values research and sought to explore values identification and successful valued living among an archived sample of university students. Specifically, in a convenience sample of 282 undergraduate students, variables that affect values identification and behavior such as ethnicity, gender, psychological distress, and psychological flexibility were identified. Results indicated that university students identified with more than one valued living domain (as measured by the PVQ) and that contextual factors such as ethnicity, gender, age, and religiosity/spirituality were associated with specific values endorsed. Furthermore, psychological distress, including depression and anxiety (as measured by the DASS) was negatively correlated with values purity – the extent to which values are freely chosen. Finally, psychological flexibility (low experiential avoidance as measured by the AAQ-2), predicted values purity and successful living in accordance with identified values, and the relationship between these two variables was mediated by psychological flexibility.

The issue of urban road pricing is currently receiving a great deal of attention. The subject matter has a long history, stretching back to the economic literature of the mid-19th century with a significant renewal of academic interest during the 1960's. Whilst the theoretical basis for urban road pricing has been cogently put forward, an apparent sound economic rationale does not, of itself, ensure political and public acceptanceH. ow then should decision-makingp roceed if the aim is ultimately one of implementing an urban road pricing scheme in the UK? As such, the aim of this thesis is to analyse the process of decision-making with respect to urban road pricing, to develop a theoretical framework for the subsequent empirical research undertaken on road pricing, and to suggest policy options, thus informing the development of policy and furthering the debate among policy-makers. In effect, an incremental approach to urban road pricing decision-making is proposed, which stresses that decisions are generally taken in small adjustments from the existing state of affairs and invariably necessitatet he attainment of agreementb etweent he various stakeholders. Two empirical methods are used in order to analyse this framework. First, a national survey of key stakeholder groups (most notably decision-makers), who have an interest in urban road pricing; and, second, a local case study based on face-to-face interviews with decision-makers who had first-hand experience of the first ever trial of an urban road pricing scheme in the UK - namely congestion metering in the city of Cambridge. This research finds that an incremental approach to urban road pricing decisionmaking is the most appropriate. In order to increase the acceptance of urban road pricing, schemes should be designed so that the various interest groups can gradually adjust to the changes in an incremental way by starting with policies that are currently in force and then considering only step-by-step change. It is still possible however, for change to take place beyond that envisaged by the incremental approach. For this to occur, it would require factors such as the existence of a policy entrepreneur, in situ, who is able to drive the process forward.

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This investigation of teachers computer use prompted by a 1999 Provincial Assessment finding that students were performing below Provincial expectations in use of the World Wide Web / Internet and identification of teachers as students greatest source of computer knowledge. It was found that the majority of teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to use computers in the classroom, but teachers predominantly used computers for personal and general purposes. It was also found that teachers represent a large source of influence on their colleagues computer knowledge and skills. This influence, defined through the construct of collective efficacy, was found to differ between schools with higher and lower levels of collective efficacy in their perceptions of the image portrayed by using the World Wide Web / Internet in the classroom. Teachers in schools with high and median levels of collective efficacy were found to differ significantly from teachers in schools with lower levels of collective efficacy in the potential status a teacher may obtain within their school from using the World Wide Web / Internet. <p>Additionally this study offers support for Venkatesh and Davis (2000) theoretical proposition that the image construct is less susceptible to the influence of experience an individual may have with a particular computer application. However due to small sample size of this study these results must be interpreted cautiously.

This investigation of teachers computer use prompted by a 1999 Provincial Assessment finding that students were performing below Provincial expectations in use of the World Wide Web / Internet and identification of teachers as students greatest source of computer knowledge. It was found that the majority of teachers have the necessary knowledge and skills to use computers in the classroom, but teachers predominantly used computers for personal and general purposes. It was also found that teachers represent a large source of influence on their colleagues computer knowledge and skills. This influence, defined through the construct of collective efficacy, was found to differ between schools with higher and lower levels of collective efficacy in their perceptions of the image portrayed by using the World Wide Web / Internet in the classroom. Teachers in schools with high and median levels of collective efficacy were found to differ significantly from teachers in schools with lower levels of collective efficacy in the potential status a teacher may obtain within their school from using the World Wide Web / Internet. <p>Additionally this study offers support for Venkatesh and Davis (2000) theoretical proposition that the image construct is less susceptible to the influence of experience an individual may have with a particular computer application. However due to small sample size of this study these results must be interpreted cautiously.

Industry faces a highly competitive environment, companies how to improve productivity,reduce operating costs,in response to this these challenges,promote business owners think automation is the direction of how information technology combined with technical and production management to do to become an important issue. Radio frequency identification has a strong identification function,radio frequency identification and production processes and applications to be integrated,to improve control of production of goods will be radio frequency identification systems used in manufacturing industries,to enhance management efficiency,the manufacturing industry in the future thinking direction. This study had information technology RFID integration and production management to conduct business on the radio frequency identification systems used in production management accepted mode of research,this study documented the findings,to provide enterprises of this type of project the future course of import assessment criteria as a reference. Study concluded that relative interests,competitive pressure, complexity,system integration level, Compatibility, cost, competent support,technical support will affect the system users acceptance.

The development of information technology (IT) has made a very different prospect in business administration. Today, more and more companies introduce intranet system to establish internal network. Since the intranet system is really costly, companies should make assessment prudently before and after the investment, but the approaches are extremely limited. This study is to assess system success through employee¡¦s acceptance by exploring the components influence his attitude and behavior. This study uses ¡¦the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology¡¦ (known as UTAUT) with some measures modified from the viewpoint of large size manufacturing company and concerning models (TAM and TAM2). 436 samples were taken from more than 8600 employees by stratified random sampling. The major findings are (1) there are 5 key components extracted: Usefulness, Ease of Use, Enjoyment, Social Influence, and Facilitating Condition, (2) the Usefulness and Facilitating Condition influence employee¡¦s behavior intention significantly while Ease of Use enhances the Usage directly, (3) Usefulness is the most important factor of all for employee¡¦s acceptance.

Rocketing development of Web and information technology makes e-Learning a new training tool of companies to reduce time and cost. The e-Learning shows the same as the most adoptions of new technologies and information systems, the users¡¦ acceptance becomes one of the key success factors. As e-Learning a service provided by companies, the employees¡¦ perceived service quality played an important role on adoption. The well-known Technology Acceptance Model ( TAM ) was good at evaluating acceptance in many studies. This paper applied the TAM as a framework to find out the acceptance of employees on e-Learning, and integrated perceived service quality as the antecedents of perceived usefulness ( PU ), perceived ease of use ( PEOU ),and the behavioral intention ( BI ). This empirical study not only explored the factors of service quality which employees perceived, but also find the relationship between the service quality and the acceptance. In order to prove the fitness of the construct model to e-Learning, this research adopts statistical software SPSS to verify the reliability of the measure and make the factor analysis. This study also uses software AMOS as a tool to build and analyze the linear structure model for the latent constructs of the integrated TAM. The objects of this study are employees of e-Learning users in firms. A total amount of 441 valided samples were collected by stratified random sampling from two large corporations of traditional manufacture and utility. Path analyses verified the original path in TAM, and the perceived service quality causes significantly large influence to acceptance in both directly and indirectly positive path. The analyzed results also shows that perceived service quality of e-Learning could be measured by three major dimensions. This empirically integrated TAM will be useful to researchers in developing and testing e-Learning systems, as well as to organizations in implementing successful e-Learning systems.