In the last few decades there has been an expansion of institutions of direct democracy in most developed countries. The Czech Republic has been no exception and over the past 25 years, there has been a rise of direct democracy in the Czech Republic. The aim of the dissertation is an analysis of the use of direct democracy in the Czech Republic. Although the analyses are based mainly on data from the Czech Republic, the aim is also to contribute to scholarly debates in the field of direct democracy research. I focus on the following questions: Who supports the use of direct democracy and who participates in it in the Czech Republic? How do voters form opinions and what are the characteristics of direct democracy campaigns? What is the effect of direct democracy on other forms of political participation? I view direct democracy as an institutional innovation and evaluate it based on three criterions: inclusiveness, competence and efficiency. First, I focus on who supports the expansion of direct democracy. I also study the patterns of turnout of various social groups in direct democracy (inclusiveness). Second, I analyse the processes of opinion formation in direct democracy campaigns to find out, whether it can be regarded as competent or not. Last, I analyse whether direct democracy leads to increased or...

This dissertation research explores the factors that influence direct selling agents' sales performance and job satisfaction. In the direct selling channels, the agents not only sell the products to customers. They may concurrently perform a "distributor" role as a stand-alone entity composed of their own sales network. This dissertation research features two essays. The first essay investigates how direct selling agents' perceptions of control and sense of belonging relate to PO. This essay further explores how PO influences job performance and job satisfaction. Results suggest that perception of control and sense of belonging fuel PO. Furthermore, leader-member exchange mediates the relationship between PO and sales performance, as well as PO and job satisfaction in direct selling networks. The second essay introduces a new construct (relational incongruity) and discusses how complex sales environments and direct selling agents' organizational structures influence the relational incongruity in their organization and its ensuring effect on sales performance and job satisfaction. The results indicate that organizational complexity is positively related to relational incongruity. However, customer complexity has a negative impact on relational incongruity. Relational incongruity in direct selling agents' organizations has negative effects on job satisfaction but has no effects on sales performance. Epistemic curiosity undermines the negative effect of relational incongruity on job satisfaction but negatively influences independent distributors' sales performance.

Recently, Direct Behavior Ratings have been shown to be a promising new tool for observing students and classrooms in an education setting for a variety of behaviors. The traditional method of observing students and classroom behavior was through tools called Systemic Direct Observations. Currently, there are only a few studies looking at the use of a Direct Behavior Rating as a device to collect peer comparison data to estimate classwide behavior problems. This study examined the estimated percentages of on-task and disruptive behavior between a Systemic Direct Observation with momentary time sampling and three random peers, a Systemic Direct Observation with momentary time sampling using the entire class, and a Direct Behavior Rating. Multiple undergraduate classrooms were taped and divided up into twenty-five 7-minute segments. The videos were then coded on all three of the observation forms with 100% reliability ratings. Results indicated that there was a strong relationship between the Direct Behavior Rating and the SDO classwide on-task estimates with 37% of the variance in the Systemic Direct Observation classwide data consistent with the Direct Behavior Rating data. There was a moderate relationship between the on-task Direct Behavior Rating and three-peer on-task with 13% of the variance in the Systemic Direct Observation data as a portion of the Direct Behavior Rating data. Results also showed that there was a significant correlation between Direct Behavior Rating both of the Systemic Direct Observation methods with 43% for the classwide Systemic Direct Observation and 39% of the three-peers Systemic Direct Observation variance consistent with the Direct Behavior Rating data. Implications and future directions were considered. The research yielded results that indicated that Direct Behavior Ratings might be a useful tool when evaluating classwide behavior, and that further research is warranted.

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As an additional opportunistic component to the Southern African Mag- netotelluric Experiment (SAMTEX), audio-magnetotelluric (AMT) data were acquired during the most recent phase of the experiment (Phase IV) to inves- tigate the local-scale conductivity substructure in the Otjiwarongo and Ka- tima Mulilo regions (Namibia), as to aid in the installation of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) earth electrodes that has since taken place. Both of the AMT surveys are situated close to the edge of the orogenic Neo- Proterozoic Damara Mobile Belt (DMB). Previous studies all point to the existence of a highly conductive mid-crustal zone which correlates well with the spatial location of the DMB. Two-dimensional (2D) inverse modelling of the Otjiwarongo AMT data con rms the existence of the high conductive zone at mid-crustal depths (10-15 km). The high conductivity of the DMB is explained by the presence of interconnected graphite in the marble units present. The Katima Mulilo inversion results are characterized by a con- ductive upper crustal layer that does not form part of the DMB conductive belt. It is deduced that at the uppermost subsurface Kalahari sediments are responsible for the high conductivity observed while at greater depth it is due to ironstone within the Ghanzi Group. In contrast to the conductive DMB, the lithospheric structure of the neighbouring Archaean cratons, the Congo and Kalahari, are generally found to be electrically resistive. There- fore, it is hypothesized that ground return current, if present, will ow along a path between the Otjiwarongo and Katima Mulilo regions that lies either exclusively, or almost entirely within the DMB. The hypothesis is tested by inputting a three dimensional (3D) conductivity model (calculated using available magnetotelluric (MT) data and geological information) of the re- gion into a DC resistivity forward modelling code. Forward modelling shows that the return current is only con ned to, and follows regional trends char- acteristic of, the conductive DMB for approximately 200-300 km away from the injection point, after which there is no preferential flow.

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The research examines the target market for a meat product produced by the local university. Further, desirable attributes of meat and how consumers definition of “locally produced and/or raised” are identified. A total of 290 personal interviews were completed in San Luis Obispo County, California on the consumers’ willingness to purchase Cal Poly meat. Likely purchasers are found to be 31 percent of the San Luis Obispo population. The target buyer of Cal poly meat products are both male and females, who tend to be older, and make more than $60,000 a year. Local is defined by 31 percent of likely Cal Poly Meats buyers as being grown and/or raised within the county they reside in, and also shared by residents of San Luis Obispo County. Additionally, it was found local vegetables are a more highly valued product than local meats, fruits, and wines product grown within the San Luis Obispo County.

Direct factor Xa inhibitors (FXaI) account for most oral anticoagulant use. FXaI-associated bleeding events are common and are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Nonspecific hemostatic therapies such as prothrombin complex concentrates (PCC) are often administered for FXaI-associated bleeding. The mechanism by which these agents improve hemostasis in the setting of direct oral anticoagulation is unclear. Thrombin generation assays may effectively measure the effect of anticoagulation reversal among FXaI-treated patients when bleeding cessation would otherwise be challenging to measure. To build a research program on the utility of thrombin generation assays to measure both the impact of direct oral anticoagulation and anticoagulation reversal, we completed a review of the literature with narrative synthesis and carried out a pilot study to determine the feasibility of a full scale prospective observational study of TGA responses among patients receiving PCC for FXaI-associated major bleeding or needing urgent surgery.

Research has shown that in Human-Human Interactions kinematic information reveals that competitive and cooperative intentions are perceivable and suggests the existence of a cooperation bias. The present study invokes the same question in a Human-Robot Interaction by investigating the relationship between the acceleration of a virtual robot within a virtual reality environment and the participants perception of the situation being cooperative or competitive by attempting to identify the social cues used for those perceptions. Five trials, which are mirrored, faster acceleration, slower acceleration, varied acceleration with a loss, and varied acceleration with a win, were experienced by the participant; randomized within two groups of five totaling in ten events. Results suggest that when the virtual robot's acceleration pattern were faster than the participant's acceleration the situation was perceived as more competitive. Additionally, results suggest that while the slower acceleration was perceived as more cooperative, the condition was not significantly different from mirrored acceleration. These results may indicate that there may be some kinematic information found in the faster accelerations that invoke stronger competitive perceptions whereas slower accelerations and mirrored acceleration may blend together during perception; furthermore, the models used in the slower acceleration conditions and the mirrored acceleration provide no single identifiable contributor towards perceived cooperativeness possibly due to a similar cooperative bias. These findings are used as a baseline for understanding movements that can be utilized in the design of better social robotic movements. These movements would improve the interactions between humans and these robots, ultimately improving the robot's ability to help during situations.