No description available.

No description available.

Intelligent transportation systems data collected on drivers who presumably participated in a study of cognitive mapping and way-finding were evaluated with two basic procedures for data coding, including analysis of video data based on the occurrence or non-occurrence of a) critical behaviors during consecutive 15 second intervals of a driving trial, and b) the safe alternative when a safe behavior opportunity was available. Methods of data coding were assessed for practical use, reliability, and sensitivity to variation in driving style. A factor analysis of at-risk driving behaviors identified a cluster of correlated driving behaviors that appeared to share a common characteristic identified as aggressive/impatient driving. The relationship between personality and driving style was also assessed. That is, analysis of the demographics and personality variables associated with the occurrence of at-risk driving behaviors revealed that driver Age and Type A personality characteristics were significant predictors of vehicle speed and following distance to the preceding vehicle. Results are discussed with regard to implications for safe driving interventions and problem behavior theory. / Ph. D.

The Cooperative Alleghany Bear Study (CABS) was a 10-year study conducted on 2 areas and designed to investigate the ecology of a hunted population of American black bears (Ursus americanus) in the Alleghany Mountains of western Virginia. Over the course of our research, we handled 1,041 individual bears >18 months old and gathered reproductive data from females during 424 bear-winters. My analyses of 183 litters indicate that reproductive rates were high with relatively large litters (mean = 2.49 cubs / litter) and younger (3–4-year-old) females having smaller litters than older (> 5 years old) females. Overall cub sex ratios did not differ from 1M:1F; however, female cubs were over-represented in 4-cub litters. Most cubs were born in January (mean = January 17) and younger females had later parturition dates than older females. Bears on our study areas had relatively early ages at primiparity (mean = 3.8 years old) and few missed reproductive opportunities. Hard mast failure apparently resulted in periodic reproductive failures and subsequent reproductive synchrony, which I tracked using 5 indices. The amplitude of oscillations in reproductive synchrony dampened through time after each synchronizing event. The population contained substantially more females than males; however, males were more vulnerable to trapping than were females. Population size was determined using genetic and photographic capture-recapture estimators. Density estimates were relatively high and approached 1 bear / km2. Annual survival rates were high for cubs (0.87) and females (0.91). For males, annual survival rates were lower, particularly for 1–3-year-olds (0.57). Excluding hunting mortality, natural survival rates were high (0.98) for all >1-year-old bears on our study areas. The results of Leslie Matrix and Program RISKMAN models indicated a growing population. A Leslie Matrix model incorporating the effects of a 5-year-cyle of mast-failure-induced reproductive failure yielded a lambda = 1.13. To reach the objective of 0 population growth prescribed for some areas of Virginia, increased levels of hunting mortality on adult (>3-year-old) females would likely be necessary. / Ph. D.

The purposes of this study were threefold. The first was to describe the policies and procedures currently in place in the Commonwealth of Virginia for evaluating the superintendent in Virginia's school divisions. The second purpose was to examine and compare the evaluation practices reported by the superintendent with those considered "best practices" nationally as developed from a review of the literature. The last purpose of the study was to determine whether Virginia school superintendent evaluation policies and procedures vary according to the selected variables of size and expenditures per pupil of the school division. This descriptive study was designed to describe the policies and procedures currently used in the Commonwealth of Virginia to evaluate public school superintendents. A questionnaire was used to survey the public school superintendents to get their perspective on the evaluation policies and procedures utilized by school boards to evaluate their performance. Data were reported in frequencies and percentages. / Ed. D.

Understanding how species respond to anthropogenic changes and why species respond in the way that they do can help focus conservation planning. Hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis) are a freshwater species of increasing conservation concern that are suspected to have declined due to loss of forest cover. However, quantitative evidence of land use effects on hellbenders is lacking. I used a multilevel approach to understanding whether hellbenders respond to land use by examining physiological indices, demographics and patterns of species occurrence as endpoints. My study area included two major river drainages in Virginia which mark a largely understudied portion of the species' range. In Chapter I, I described hellbender distribution and tested the hypothesis that hellbenders would be more likely to occur in heavily forested landscapes. Surprisingly, hellbenders occupied a relatively wide land use gradient (range = 50-90% forest in an upstream catchment) and current land use was an unreliable predictor of occurrence. In Chapter II I examined hellbender abundance and demographics at a subset of study sites stratified across a land use gradient. Abundance of sub-adult/adult hellbenders increased as forest cover increased in collective upstream riparian areas, primarily as the result of increased recruitment of new adults to local populations (rather than increased apparent survival of adults). Populations in lesser forested areas were declining and composed largely of relatively old adults, indicating that land use can lead to changes in hellbender distribution given sufficient time. In Chapter III, I examined three indices of physiological condition (body condition, hematocrit and leukocyte profiles) in hellbenders captured across a land use gradient. I found evidence suggesting low reproductive success may explain reduced recruitment in areas of low forest cover and evidence suggesting hellbender endocrinology during the breeding season may vary with land use. In Chapter IV I examine efficacy of artificial shelters as a monitoring tool and demonstrate their potential as tool to further our understanding of mechanisms underlying demographic responses of hellbenders to land use. I synthesize my findings in Chapter V and conclude that loss of forest cover in riparian areas poses a formidable threat to hellbender population viability in Virginia. / Ph. D.

No description available.

No description available.

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the subjective and objective food label knowledge of consumers from Potchefstroom (South Africa) and Fayetteville (Arkansas, USA), therefore in a developing and developed country context. The question was asked whether the knowledge of consumers in such contexts differed and whether consumers’ demographics are associated with their food label knowledge. No specific research on food label knowledge has been done in a comparative context between a developing and developed country previously. A quantitative study using purposive sampling was conducted among respondents in these contexts by means of interviewer-administered questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. The total study sample (N = 713) included respondents from South Africa (a developing country) and the United States of America (a developed country) with specific reference to respondents from Potchefstroom (n = 400) and Fayetteville (n = 313). The researcher strived to include respondents from each ethnic, demographic, gender and age group. No differences were found regarding respondents’ subjective knowledge (SK) of food labels. With respect to respondents from Potchefstroom and Fayetteville, practically significant differences regarding objective knowledge (OK) were found only within the factors of locating information (OK-L) and manipulating information (OK-M) with a similar pattern for symbol information (OK-S), although respondents from Fayetteville had higher mean scores for OK-L, OK-M and OK-S, which indicates that respondents from Fayetteville were more knowledgeable on these factors than respondents from Potchefstroom. Within the study populations, better OK was only observed among respondents from Potchefstroom who were young and well educated, whereas respondents from Fayetteville had high levels of knowledge regardless of demographic variables. It was observed that respondents from Potchefstroom were not as knowledgeable (OK-L, OK-M and OK-S) as respondents from Fayetteville. The results from this study serve as evidence for a need to improve food label knowledge in the Potchefstroom context, and raise the question about similar needs in other developing countries. It can be concluded that educational efforts should be developed and implemented to increase objective food label knowledge among consumers from developing country contexts, as OK may have an impact on health. Development of consumer education programmes should focus on the vulnerabilities identified with regard to age and education groups as well as the problems identified regarding label and symbol information provided, whereby consumers might acquire optimal food label knowledge to use these labels for improved decision-making and health. This research about food label knowledge in South Africa and the United States of America, may serve as a foundation for future studies to be conducted in developing and developed country contexts. This might result in a better understanding about factors that contribute to consumers’ confusion, distrust and lack of understanding of food label information, which may hinder food label knowledge in developing country contexts. Demographic, label-reading and health-related factors that may contribute to increased knowledge could also be further explored in addressing specific needs among particular groups in developing country contexts regarding their food label knowledge. / M Consumer Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The aim of this study was to determine and compare the subjective and objective food label knowledge of consumers from Potchefstroom (South Africa) and Fayetteville (Arkansas, USA), therefore in a developing and developed country context. The question was asked whether the knowledge of consumers in such contexts differed and whether consumers’ demographics are associated with their food label knowledge. No specific research on food label knowledge has been done in a comparative context between a developing and developed country previously. A quantitative study using purposive sampling was conducted among respondents in these contexts by means of interviewer-administered questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. The total study sample (N = 713) included respondents from South Africa (a developing country) and the United States of America (a developed country) with specific reference to respondents from Potchefstroom (n = 400) and Fayetteville (n = 313). The researcher strived to include respondents from each ethnic, demographic, gender and age group. No differences were found regarding respondents’ subjective knowledge (SK) of food labels. With respect to respondents from Potchefstroom and Fayetteville, practically significant differences regarding objective knowledge (OK) were found only within the factors of locating information (OK-L) and manipulating information (OK-M) with a similar pattern for symbol information (OK-S), although respondents from Fayetteville had higher mean scores for OK-L, OK-M and OK-S, which indicates that respondents from Fayetteville were more knowledgeable on these factors than respondents from Potchefstroom. Within the study populations, better OK was only observed among respondents from Potchefstroom who were young and well educated, whereas respondents from Fayetteville had high levels of knowledge regardless of demographic variables. It was observed that respondents from Potchefstroom were not as knowledgeable (OK-L, OK-M and OK-S) as respondents from Fayetteville. The results from this study serve as evidence for a need to improve food label knowledge in the Potchefstroom context, and raise the question about similar needs in other developing countries. It can be concluded that educational efforts should be developed and implemented to increase objective food label knowledge among consumers from developing country contexts, as OK may have an impact on health. Development of consumer education programmes should focus on the vulnerabilities identified with regard to age and education groups as well as the problems identified regarding label and symbol information provided, whereby consumers might acquire optimal food label knowledge to use these labels for improved decision-making and health. This research about food label knowledge in South Africa and the United States of America, may serve as a foundation for future studies to be conducted in developing and developed country contexts. This might result in a better understanding about factors that contribute to consumers’ confusion, distrust and lack of understanding of food label information, which may hinder food label knowledge in developing country contexts. Demographic, label-reading and health-related factors that may contribute to increased knowledge could also be further explored in addressing specific needs among particular groups in developing country contexts regarding their food label knowledge. / M Consumer Sciences, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015