The purpose of this study was to help explore the assumptions in job analysis literature involving whether holistic or decomposed job analysis items lead to a higher level of cognitive load for raters. The main study, involving 303 undergraduate university students, was a 2 (Type of measure: holistic or decomposed) X 2 (Level of extraneous cognitive load: additional load or no additional load) within-subjects design. The 160 decomposed items analyzed in this study were pilot tested to ensure that they would correlate with the 17 holistic items. Under the additional cognitive load condition, participants memorized an 8-digit number, and then were asked to recall and recognize this number upon the completion of the rating task (this manipulation was performed for both the holistic and decomposed measures). Stability of ratings across conditions and interrater agreement were used as dependent measures. Results indicated that the holistic items (r=.74) had higher levels of stability across cognitive load conditions than did the decomposed items (r=.66). The levels of interrater agreement were not significantly different between three of the four conditions. In partial support of Butler and Harvey (1988), the level of interrater agreement for the Holistic additional cognitive load condition (r*wg=.33) was significantly lower than the interrater agreement for the remaining three conditions. The pattern of results supported prior research (Cornelius & Lyness, 1980; Lyness & Cornelius, 1982) indicating that, depending on the criteria being used, holistic items do not necessarily cause a higher level of cognitive load for raters than do decomposed items. / Master of Science

Abstract Communication technology is emerging while researches on the observations of farmers are very few, especially the research on supply and demand of farmers. It is an issue needed to be stressed for the industry of agriculture. If the farmer's reading behavior which is very important to the agricultural development during the process of cultivating the young freshman of agriculture, the farmers facing minority situation have no longer kept abreast with the pace of change in the informational age and cannot respond to these challenges. Therefore, there is the necessity of enhancing the farmers¡¦ reading behavior. After a comprehensive review of the reading behavior theories, it is found that most studies are centered on the compulsory education. Studies concerning for the farmers¡¦ reading behavior are rare. However, the New Agriculture Movement pushed forward by the Taiwanese government aims to stress that first of all underlying con-cepts shall be reformed since the farmers¡¦ reading habit dominates the development of the agricultural science journals. As a result, it is essential for this study to regard new farmers¡¦ reading behavior as the subject of the study. The major purpose of this study is to explore the intention of new farmers¡¦ reading behavior as the mode of this study from the perspective of decomposed the-ory of planned behavior in terms of the media consumption theory. How to gain the relevant information of the agriculture from the farmers¡¦ reading behavior and how to improve the farmers¡¦ reading habit from the viewpoint of agricultural knowledge communications management are analyzed. The major contribution of this research is that I try new angles to reexamine atti-tude, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control for the academy situation, es-pecially the findings on the media consumption. A complete verification and predic-tion of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is proposed that differs from the past studies from the comprehensive perspective. In the past, it is less likely to deeply ex-plore the above issue. In the meantime, for the practices, the questionnaire is conducted among new farmers and the collection obtained material is carried on the SEM statistical analysis. This study which combines ¡§Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior¡¨ with ¡§Media Consumption Theory¡¨ expect that practice is directing by academy so as to a better development for the agricultural publications. The research results provide some useful suggestions to agricultural science publishers and those who want to engage in the publication work.

Magister Artium - MA / The aim of the study was focused on investigating how Web 2.0 technologies are being utilised by students and lecturers to accomplish their learning and teaching activities in the Faculty of Information Science and Communications (ISC) at Mzuzu University in Malawi. The study answers the following specific research questions: • What is the current awareness of and familiarity with Web 2.0 technologies amongst students and lecturers in the Faculty of ISC? • For what educational purpose do students and lecturers in the Faculty of ISC use Web 2.0 technologies and which Web 2.0 technologies do they use most? • What do lecturers in the Faculty of ISC perceive as benefits of integrating Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning? • What are the factors that influence students and lecturers in the Faculty of ISC to adopt Web 2.0 technologies? The study adopted the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB) by Taylor and Todd (1995) which explains the rejection and acceptance of technological innovations such as Web 2.0. The researcher adopted a case study design in which both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to answer the research problem. The study was conducted in three phases; in phase one, a questionnaire was sent to 186 students and 19 lecturers, phase two involved analysing the curricula and phase three involved conducting follow-up interviews with seven lecturers to seek clarification on some concepts and elaboration on themes identified in phases one and two. The findings show that between 69 (50.7%) and 128 (94.1%) students use these Web 2.0 technologies to search for information, to communicate with lecturers, to submit assignments, to communicate with friends on academic work and to share content with fellow students. Most lecturers use these technologies in handing out assignments to students, receiving feedback from students, uploading lecture notes, searching for content, storing lecture notes and carrying out collaborative educational activities. Between 66 (45.8%) and 95 (69.9%) students use Wikipedia, WhatsApp, Google Apps and YouTube and similarly, between 10 (58.8%) and 13 (76.5%) lecturers use Wikipedia, YouTube, Blog, Google Apps and Twitter to accomplish various academic activities. The findings show further that attitude (perceived usefulness, ease of use and compatibility) and perceived behaviour control (self-efficacy, resource facilitating condition and technology facilitating condition) are strong DTPB factors that determine students’ and lecturers’ intention to integrate Web 2.0 technologies in their academic activities. On the other hand, lack of Internet access remains the recurrent key stumbling blocks towards a successful adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in learning and teaching at Mzuzu University (MZUNI). Generally, the study reveals that Web 2.0 and a compendium of Internet technologies have proliferated at Mzuzu University in the Faculty of ISC. Both students and lecturers are aware, to some extent, of the benefits of integrating Web 2.0 in teaching and learning. The researcher has made three main recommendations which include the need for the Faculty of ISC to introduce awareness and training programmes on the new technologies so that students and lecturers are kept up-to-date about the new developments about these technologies, the need for the newly established Directorate of ICT at MZUNI to promote the use of Web 2.0 technologies by conducting work workshops and sourcing funds for students and lecturers to participate in local and international conferences on Web 2.0 and finally, the need for Mzuzu University to install campus–wide Wi-Fi so that students and lecturers can seamlessly access the Internet on every point of the campus using mobile phones or laptops.

x, 81 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / We give an exposition of Deligne's tensor category Rep(St) where t is not necessarily an integer. Thereafter, we give a complete description of the blocks in Rep(St) for arbitrary t. Finally, we use our result on blocks to decompose tensor products and classify tensor ideals in Rep(St). / Committee in charge: Victor Ostrik, Chairperson, Mathematics; Daniel Dugger, Member, Mathematics; Jonathan Brundan, Member, Mathematics; Alexander Kleshchev, Member, Mathematics; Michael Kellman, Outside Member, Chemistry

Understanding complex population dynamics is critical for both basic and applied ecology. Analysis of genetic data has been promoted as a way to reconstruct recent non-equilibrium processes that influence the apportioning of genetic diversity among populations of organisms. In a structured-deme context, where individual populations exist as geographically distinct units, island biogeography theory and metapopulation genetics predict that the demographic processes of extinction, colonization, and migration will affect the magnitude and rate of genetic divergence between demes. New methods have been developed to attempt to detect the influence of non-equilibrium dynamics in structured populations. I challenged two of these methods: decomposed pairwise regression and allele frequency analyses, using simulations of genetic data from structured demes. I found that these methods suffer from a high type II error rate, or failure to reject the null hypothesis of mutation-migration-drift equilibrium for demes experiencing historical demographic events. In addition, island biogeography and metapopulation ecology predict that at equilibrium, some species in a patch will be recent colonists, as equilibrium indicates a balance between colonization of the patch and extinction from the patch. Recent colonists are unlikely to have reached population mutation-migration-drift equilibrium; hence a paradox exists between population and community level equilibrium. I used nuclear and mitochondrial genetic data from populations of two species of reptiles from the Turks and Caicos Islands, British West Indies to test for patterns of equilibrium vs. non-equilibrium. I found unexpected shallow genetic divergence in the Turks Island boa (Epicrates chrysogaster), indicating that this species likely existed as a panmictic population prior to the inundation of the Turks and Caicos Banks during the last glaciation. As the initial methods I tested using simulations proved unreliable, I used methods from phylogeography, landscape genetics, and island biogeography to detect significant non-equilibrium dynamics in the Turks and Caicos curly-tailed lizard (Leiocephalus psammodromus), finding evidence for high levels of biased gene flow. I propose that studies of genetic diversity on island archipelagos use tools from all three of these methods to evaluate empirical data in the context of equilibrium and the null hypotheses offered by island biogeography and population genetics theory. I frame the results both in the context of conservation and an understanding of equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics.

Well-designed demand response is expected to play a vital role in operatingpower systems by reducing economic and environmental costs. However,the current system is operated without much information on the benefits ofend-users, especially the small ones, who use electricity. This thesis proposes aframework of operating power systems with demand models including the diversityof end-users’ benefits, namely adaptive load management (ALM). Sincethere are a large number of end-users having different preferences and conditionsin energy consumption, the information on the end-users’ benefits needsto be aggregated at the system level. This leads us to model the system ina multi-layered way, including end-users, load serving entities, and a systemoperator. On the other hand, the information of the end-users’ benefits can beuncertain even to the end-users themselves ahead of time. This information isdiscovered incrementally as the actual consumption approaches and occurs. Forthis reason ALM requires a multi-temporal model of a system operation andend-users’ benefits within. Due to the different levels of uncertainty along thedecision-making time horizons, the risks from the uncertainty of informationon both the system and the end-users need to be managed. The methodologyof ALM is based on Lagrange dual decomposition that utilizes interactive communicationbetween the system, load serving entities, and end-users. We showthat under certain conditions, a power system with a large number of end-userscan balance at its optimum efficiently over the horizon of a day ahead of operationto near real time. Numerical examples include designing ALM for theright types of loads over different time horizons, and balancing a system with a large number of different loads on a congested network. We conclude thatwith the right information exchange by each entity in the system over differenttime horizons, a power system can reach its optimum including a variety ofend-users’ preferences and their values of consuming electricity.

In this thesis, the problem of partitioning a network into interconnected sub-networks is addressed. The goal is to achieve a partitioning which satisfies a set of specific engineering constraints, imposed in this case, by the requirements of the decomposed state-estimation (DSE) in electrical power systems. The network-partitioning problem is classified as NP-hard problem. Although many heuristic algorithms have been proposed for its solution, these often lack directness and computational simplicity. In this thesis, three new partitioning techniques are described which (i) satisfy the DSE constraints, and (ii) simplify the NP-hard problem by using the natural graph properties of a network. The first technique is based on partitioning a spanning tree optimally using the natural property of the spanning tree branches. As with existing heuristic techniques, information on the partitioning is obtained only at the end of the partitioning process. The study of the DSE constraints leads to define conditions of an ideal balanced partitioning. This enables data on the balanced partitioning to be obtained, including the numbers of boundary nodes and cut-edges. The second partitioning technique is designed to obtain these data for a given network, by finding the minimum covering set of nodes with maximum nodal degree. Further simplification is then possible if additional graph-theoretical properties are used. A new natural property entitled the 'edge state phenomenon' is defined. The edge state phenomenon may be exploited to generate new network properties. In the third partitioning technique, two of these, the 'network external closed path' and the 'open internal paths', are used to identify the balanced partitioning, and hence to partition the network. Examples of the application of all three methods to network partitioning are provided.

The parallel between e-government and e-Inclusion research are critically important. It helps to understand how policies, society, organizations, and information technologies come together and it also helps to understand how the e-Inclusion factors impact e-government use and vice versa. This study attempts to explore the theoretical and practical intersections of e-Inclusion and e-adoption (Particularly e-government) and to show how they complement and possibly enrich the potential of e-Inclusion research. The rationale for this approach is that combining research on e-Inclusion and e-government has the potential to better understand the factors influencing e-Inclusion since they both share a common theme of Inclusive e-government. The aim of this research is to examine the factors that influence e-Inclusion in the context of e-government in the UK, through combining the decomposed theory of planned behaviour with Use and Gratification Theory (U&G). These two theories are used to develop a conceptual model for studying the multi-facetted dimensions of e-Inclusion. The two theories are chosen because of their appropriateness for e-Inclusion research; the critical factors that influence e-inclusion can be covered by (DTPB) constructs while the individual’s gratifications that determine using specific Internet activities is covered by (U&G) To fulfil the research aim and objectives, a quantitative research method was employed. The research subjects were citizens who are Internet users. Their views were sought through a survey that included 510 self-administered and group-administrated questionnaires. The conceptualisations of e-Inclusion and e-government have important implications for both researchers and policymakers. For researchers, this study delineates the complex and recursive relationships between e-Inclusion and e-government contributing towards the exiting limited body of knowledge in the field. For practice, it offers directions to help create a more comprehensive strategy that takes into consideration the alignment of e-government initiatives and e-inclusion policies.

Master of Science - Agricultural Education and Communication / Department of Communications and Agricultural Education / Lauri M. Baker / The equine industry is an established part of Maryland Agriculture; the most recent equine census placed 79,100 equines valued at approximately $714 million in the state, with approximately ten percent of those animals housed in Montgomery County. But, equine operators are a unique demographic in the agricultural realm. They are not managing their lands to produce food or fiber and often are employed in other professions unrelated to agriculture. Unlike other agricultural operators, they are often unaware of conservation terms or practices and programs available to help implement these practices on their land. The basic objective of this study was to explore the level of understanding equine operators in Montgomery County, Maryland have of conservation best management practices (BMPs), associated cost-share programs, industry regulations and the aspects and methods of communication that influence them in gaining awareness of and the adoption of these practices on their properties. The study applied the tenets of the decomposed theory of planned behavior (DTPB), which combines the theory of planned behavior (TPB), diffusion of innovation theory (DOI) and economic constraint theory gathered through semi-structured qualitative interviews with participants, selected using purposive and snowball sampling. Utilizing the grounded theory method to discover emerging patterns in the data resulting from these interviews aided in identifying the most effective means of educating equine operators regarding BMPs and increasing the adoption of these practices on equine properties within the County. Equine operators in the study were found to use a variety of informational sources, had a high level of adaptation of the BMPs they used and overall saw their role as land stewards as an important aspect of their environmental actions.

The rapid development of sharing economy in the past decade has spawned a number of excellent products such as Airbnb and Uber. As one of the representative products of the sharing economy, the emergence and development of shared bikes are of great significance to the country, the government and citizens. In this context, this study aims to use Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior (DTPB) to investigate the factors influencing consumers’ intentions to use shared bikes. We collected primary data from 268 respondents from different districts as input, finally using SPSS 25.0 to conduct a regression analysis to test 9 antecedent variables and 3 intermediate variables to verify 12 hypotheses. The empirical results indicate that perceived usefulness, perceived joviality and perceived environmental protection have a positive influence on users' attitude towards using while perceived risk has a negative influence; peer influence and superior influence have a positive influence on subjective norm; self-efficacy and resource facilitating condition have a positive influence on perceived behavior control; attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavior control are positively related to the intentions to use shared bikes. This study provides important and new insights into shared bikes adoption and intentions about consumer behavior.