This study sought to identify the key determinants that lead individuals to participate in the transportation planning process. Two models of participation, one for the short-term and another for the long-term, were developed to test whether the key internal and external determinants are responsible for influencing a person's willingness to participate. The data for this study came from a mail-back survey that was administered to a random sample of 570 individuals throughout the State of Florida for a response rate of 37.37 percent. The results indicate that the internal motivational determinants exert more influence on a person's short-term willingness to participate as compared to a person's long-term willingness to participate. In addition, the external social capital determinants exert more influence on a person's long-term willingness to participate as compared to a person's short-term willingness to participate. However, only one of the three external citizenship orientation variables, participatory citizenship orientation, was found to be influential in determining a person's short-term willingness to participate. Recommendations were made for public managers to work collaboratively with the public as a participative facilitator, thereby opening up the decision-making process to the general public. One suggested course of action is for public managers to use existing civic organizations as a base for widening an agency's long-term planning outreach programs. In addition, suggestions for future research propose that qualitative studies delve in-depth into the positive/negative feelings related to participation, as well as look at how different public participation techniques may affect a person's willingness to participate, especially as it relates to different time frames.

在台灣，成年婦女不(低)識字率較男性高出許多，根據心理學家的研究發現，男女兩性在智力、學習能力上均無顯著差異，因此，女性不識字率高於男性的事實，顯示女性為教育的不利人口。她們的受教機會受到哪些阻礙，而在成功參與識字教育後，她們生活中各個面向的生命經驗產生了什麼樣的轉變。因此，本研究的研究目的在於： 一、探討婦女參與識字方案的障礙與問題。 二、探討成年婦女參與識字教育歷程中生活適應上的轉變及對於其自我看法上的改變。 本研究質性研究法為基礎，以一般性訪談導引法訪問十五位學齡期失學，現已自國小補校畢業或參與三年以上成人基本教育研習班並已結業的成年婦女。根據訪談結果整理參與識字教育之成年婦女參與識字教育的阻礙、如何因應與處理之前不(低)識字的生活、參與識字教育的意義為何以及參與識字教育經驗中她們對自我看法的轉變。研究結果摘要如下： 一、女性參與識字教育的障礙：性別、貧窮、戰爭及抗拒。 二、成年婦女參與識字教育的原因及動機：彌補缺憾、排除不(低)識字對生活的不便；家庭責任告一段落則是她們得以無心理負擔的參與識字教育的原因。 三、參與識字教育對成年婦女的意義在於：她們要證明自己也可以樂於學習；希望在為家庭及子女著想外也能為自己著想；參與識字教育對她們而言是種生活上的寄託。 四、成年婦女參與識字教育後自我概念的轉變： (一)自信心的提升。 (二)較喜愛自我。 (三)對生活與成就感到滿意。 (四)被他人欣賞的感覺。 (五)積極扮演社會角色。

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2006. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 352 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether altering an informed consent document (ICD), in ways that either promote or inhibit accessibility, would affect potential participants’ willingness to participate in a child development laboratory-based study. Specifically, I was interested in assessing the willingness to participate of historically underrepresented groups, especially Appalachian caregiver-child dyads. I altered three parameters of a previously approved and employed ICD to explore whether these parameters impacted Appalachian caregivers’ comprehension of the study, willingness to participate, and trust in the researchers. The manipulated parameters included reading level, utilization of illustrative pictures, and inclusion of text-to-speech audio conversions. I utilized a 2x2x2 fully between-subjects factorial design to assess the main and interaction effects of manipulating the ICD reading level, the presence or absence of pictures on the ICD, and the incorporation or non-incorporation of text-to-speech on participants’ comprehension, willingness to participate, and trust in the researcher. One-hundred and twenty-two participants responded to the online survey. After filtering the responses for participants that met inclusion criteria, the sample included 18 primarily White Appalachian caregivers. I conducted a series of independent samples t-tests to evaluate the main effects of the three parameters of accessibility on participant comprehension, willingness to participate, and trust in researchers. The present study revealed one significant effect of reading level on trust in researchers. All other effects were nonsignificant. An investigation of this kind provides new information concerning informed consent design. Future research should further investigate the influence of accessibility in informed consent, namely with larger sample sizes.

A triathlon can be described as the combination of the three athletic competencies swimming, cycling and running where each of the items is performed in a specific order and vary in distance. A triathlon is a very select sport that only attracts specific participants, seeing that constant training is necessary in order to improve fitness and skill in the three different disciplines. Being a triathlete involves a substantial amount of physical and psychological stress over several hours of continuous activity. Therefore the key aspects that drive this study are the following: * The uniqueness of triathlons and triathletes makes it important to research certain aspects such as: Who these participants are? Why they participate in triathlons? And why do they return to the event each year? * Currently most triathlon research is done in countries such as United States of America, Australia, Germany and Japan. There are also numerous studies done on triathletes, although most of these studies focus on physiological and medical aspects of these athletes. * To the best of the author’s knowledge no other study in South Africa has focused on profiling triathletes and gaining knowledge on what differentiates these participants from other endurance sport athletes. * As there is currently a deficiency of information regarding triathletes in South Africa it becomes imperative to research this market through market segmentation. With the latter in mind, the main purpose of this study was to apply market segmentation on triathletes that participate in Ironman South Africa, the only full-length Ironman held on the African continent. In order to achieve this goal a destination-based survey took place during the registration process of participants at The Boardwalk Convention Centre and Spa in Port Elizabeth. A total of 425 completed questionnaires were used in the study. An in-depth literature study was also done to review different aspects of triathlons and triathletes, including the unique nature of the sport and participants as well as analysing previous literature concerning the characteristics of triathletes. Literature also explored market segmentation and the different variables used to segment triathletes and other endurance sport athletes. From literature it became clear that motives to participate and frequency of participation could be useful in segmenting sport participants. These two variables were applied to Ironman South Africa in two separate articles. In Article 1 motives to participate was applied as a market segmentation variable. It was found that triathletes were motivated by seven motivational factors including: Challenge, Inner vie, Health and fitness, Intrinsic achievement and control, Event novelty, Group affiliation and socialisation and lastly, Respect and risk. Based on these motives three distinct clusters of triathlon participants were identified: Devotees, Enthusiasts and Aspirationals. The participants in each cluster showed statistical significant differences with regard to their motives, while age was the only variable with significant socio-demographic differences between the clusters. In Article 2, frequency of participation was used to segment Ironman South Africa participants. Significant differences were found between first time and repeat participants based on the variables: demographic, behaviour and motives to participate. Four segments were identified at Ironman South Africa based on the number of times they have previously participated in the event. The frequent flyer concept was applied which resulted in the dividing of the four participant segments into different loyalty segments. The segments were the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum segment. Three marketing strategies were developed, firstly for the Bronze and Silver segments (these two segments shared similar characteristics), secondly for the Gold and Platinum segments also sharing corresponding characteristics and lastly, a marketing strategy to expand triathlons in South Africa. The information obtained from the two market segmentation variables led to an array of recommendations to attract and retain participants to Ironman South Africa events. Also recommendations focus on how to expand triathlon events in South Africa. Significant contributions were made to literature regarding the profile of the Ironman South Africa participants and how these triathletes compare to other endurance sport athlete. / MCom (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

A triathlon can be described as the combination of the three athletic competencies swimming, cycling and running where each of the items is performed in a specific order and vary in distance. A triathlon is a very select sport that only attracts specific participants, seeing that constant training is necessary in order to improve fitness and skill in the three different disciplines. Being a triathlete involves a substantial amount of physical and psychological stress over several hours of continuous activity. Therefore the key aspects that drive this study are the following: * The uniqueness of triathlons and triathletes makes it important to research certain aspects such as: Who these participants are? Why they participate in triathlons? And why do they return to the event each year? * Currently most triathlon research is done in countries such as United States of America, Australia, Germany and Japan. There are also numerous studies done on triathletes, although most of these studies focus on physiological and medical aspects of these athletes. * To the best of the author’s knowledge no other study in South Africa has focused on profiling triathletes and gaining knowledge on what differentiates these participants from other endurance sport athletes. * As there is currently a deficiency of information regarding triathletes in South Africa it becomes imperative to research this market through market segmentation. With the latter in mind, the main purpose of this study was to apply market segmentation on triathletes that participate in Ironman South Africa, the only full-length Ironman held on the African continent. In order to achieve this goal a destination-based survey took place during the registration process of participants at The Boardwalk Convention Centre and Spa in Port Elizabeth. A total of 425 completed questionnaires were used in the study. An in-depth literature study was also done to review different aspects of triathlons and triathletes, including the unique nature of the sport and participants as well as analysing previous literature concerning the characteristics of triathletes. Literature also explored market segmentation and the different variables used to segment triathletes and other endurance sport athletes. From literature it became clear that motives to participate and frequency of participation could be useful in segmenting sport participants. These two variables were applied to Ironman South Africa in two separate articles. In Article 1 motives to participate was applied as a market segmentation variable. It was found that triathletes were motivated by seven motivational factors including: Challenge, Inner vie, Health and fitness, Intrinsic achievement and control, Event novelty, Group affiliation and socialisation and lastly, Respect and risk. Based on these motives three distinct clusters of triathlon participants were identified: Devotees, Enthusiasts and Aspirationals. The participants in each cluster showed statistical significant differences with regard to their motives, while age was the only variable with significant socio-demographic differences between the clusters. In Article 2, frequency of participation was used to segment Ironman South Africa participants. Significant differences were found between first time and repeat participants based on the variables: demographic, behaviour and motives to participate. Four segments were identified at Ironman South Africa based on the number of times they have previously participated in the event. The frequent flyer concept was applied which resulted in the dividing of the four participant segments into different loyalty segments. The segments were the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum segment. Three marketing strategies were developed, firstly for the Bronze and Silver segments (these two segments shared similar characteristics), secondly for the Gold and Platinum segments also sharing corresponding characteristics and lastly, a marketing strategy to expand triathlons in South Africa. The information obtained from the two market segmentation variables led to an array of recommendations to attract and retain participants to Ironman South Africa events. Also recommendations focus on how to expand triathlon events in South Africa. Significant contributions were made to literature regarding the profile of the Ironman South Africa participants and how these triathletes compare to other endurance sport athlete. / MCom (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This thesis describes the addition of novel Geometric Guides to a generative Computer-Aided Design (CAD) application that supports early-stage concept generation. The application generates and evolves abstract 3D shapes, used to inspire the form of new product concepts. It was previously a conventional Interactive Evolutionary system where users selected shapes from evolving populations. However, design industry users wanted more control over the shapes, for example by allowing the system to influence the proportions of evolving forms. The solution researched, developed, integrated and tested is a more cooperative human-machine system combining classic user interaction with innovative geometric analysis. In the literature review, different types of Interactive Evolutionary Computation (IEC), Pose Normalisation (PN), Shape Comparison, and Minimum-Volume Bounding Box approaches are compared, with some of these technologies identified as applicable for this research. Using its Application Programming Interface, add-ins for the Siemens NX CAD system have been developed and integrated with an existing Interactive Evolutionary CAD system. These add-ins allow users to create a Geometric Guide (GG) at the start of a shape exploration session. Before evolving shapes can be compared with the GG, they must be aligned and scaled (known as Pose Normalisation in the literature). Computationally-efficient PN has been achieved using geometric functions such as Bounding Box for translation and scaling, and Principle Axes for the orientation. A shape comparison algorithm has been developed that is based on the principle of non-intersecting volumes. This algorithm is also implemented with standard, readily available geometric functions, is conceptually simple, accessible to other researchers and also offers appropriate efficacy. Objective geometric testing showed that the PN and Shape Comparison methods developed are suitable for this guiding application and can be efficiently adapted to enhance an Interactive Evolutionary Design system. System performance with different population sizes was examined to indicate how best to use the new guiding capabilities to assist users in evolutionary shape searching. This was backed up by participant testing research into two user interaction strategies. A Large Background Population (LBP) approach where the GG is used to select a sub-set of shapes to show to the user was shown to be the most effective. The inclusion of Geometric Guides has taken the research from the existing aesthetic focused tool to a system capable of application to a wider range of engineering design problems. This system supports earlier design processes and ideation in conceptual design and allows a designer to experiment with ideas freely to interactively explore populations of evolving solutions. The design approach has been further improved, and expanded beyond the previous quite limited scope of form exploration.

The dissertation consists of three studies that seek to identify school caterer and women farmer constraints that have hindered the buy-local policy mandate of the Ghana School Lunch program, and to explore gendered agricultural technology adoption and contract participation strategies that could facilitate the policy mandate. The first study documents the constraints that have minimized caterer purchases of school food items from local farmers. The study presents an overview of the Ghana School Lunch Program and the buy-local policy mandate issued to school caterers. Survey data and descriptive analysis are employed to document and discuss the constraints that prevent school caters from purchasing from local farmers as well as the constraints faced by smallholder women farmers in supplying to school caters. The study subsequently discusses school caterers’ compensating variation of a hypothetical policy that requires them to firstly provide recommended portions of vegetables and protein, and secondly include fruits in the lunch of the schoolchildren. The second study analyses the factors underlying the probability that women smallholder farmers - compared to male farmers - adopt less a) improved seeds, b) fertilizer, c) herbicides and d) pesticides. The study further examines the sensitivity of gender differences in technology adoption to crop choice, particularly maize and legume, as well as the possible heterogeneity of technology adoption differences within rural and peri-urban communities. The adoption of these improved technologies is modeled using multivariate probit regressions. A gender gap is observed among legume farmers for improved seed and pesticide adoption. Moreover, the findings indicate that female maize farmers who have input into all cash crop production decisions are more likely to adopt improved seeds and pesticides. Among legume farmers, the results indicate that female farmers who are educated and have access to credit are more likely to adopt fertilizer, while female legume farmers who have a say in what the use of income generated from cash crop farming are more likely to adopt pesticides. These results imply that policy-makers and development practitioners in sub-Saharan Africa should consider strategies to target and increase educational, financial and productive assets of female farmers in order to close the gender technology gap and increase multiple technology adoption. The third study examines the use of farm-to-school contracts as a means to provide access to credit for women farmers in rural and peri-urban areas and facilitate the buy-local policy mandate. In particular, the study examines the factors influencing male and female smallholder farmers’ minimum willingness to accept (WTA) farm-to-school-lunch contracts for maize and cowpea beans. The minimum WTA simultaneously measures the decision to participate as well as the minimum price at which the smallholder farmer accepts the contract. Using sex-disaggregated data from a field experiment, a Tobit model is applied to explain the underlying factors influencing male and female smallholder farmer’s minimum WTA for a set of hypothetical maize and cowpea beans contracts. The results for the pooled sample indicate that the delivery at harvest option increases farmers’ minimum willingness to accept both the maize and beans contracts. The study further examines heterogeneity in the minimum WTA among smallholder farmers. The results in the female specification indicate that, the advance pay option lowers the minimum WTA for maize contracts. Additionally, women farmers who own non-farm business, compared to a male with a non-farm business, have a lower minimum WTA for the maize and beans contracts. The results suggest that if the government considers contractual arrangements between school caterers and local farmers to facilitate the buy-local policy mandate, an advance pay option to women farmers may yield lower premiums for contracted food items.

Abstract The aim of this qualitative case study was to examine social service workers and managers approach towards the implementation of the Signs-of-Safety (SoS) model and their comprehension of working with the model. This study took place at a children and youth unit at a social service office in Stockholm. The empiric is based on three qualitative semistructured interviews and participant observations. The result was analyzed by definitions from Hasenfeld’s Human service organizations (HSO), Lipsky’s and Johansson’s definitions of "street-level bureaucrats", and room for manoeuvre. Lundquist’s definitions of "understand", "want" and "can" was also used, as well as the core-components that Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman och Wallace draw together of a successful implementation. The main result of the study indicates that the SoS-model contributes to the participation of children and parents and that it is complicated to implement the SoS-model in such a specialized organization. The study’s result also shows that the implementation is promoted by the support and the resources of every level in the organization and the fact that the initiative came from the street-level bureaucrats. The documentary system that comes with the BBIC is complicated to combinate with the SoS-model and therefore this might become a restricting effect.