Worldwide water distribution infrastructure system is old and deteriorating. A water system with its myriad appurtenances (including pumps and valves and tanks) is susceptible to hydraulic transients resulting in high and low pressure waves alternatively passing through the network. While both low and high pressure events structurally tax the already weak system, there is copious evidence indicating intrusion of contaminants into the drinking water pipes from the pipe's exterior environment due to low pressure events associated with water hammer phenomenon. These contaminants enter into the drinking water as the home plumbing system is a passive recipient from the water main. While the major (municipal) system is readily recognized as a vast infrastructure system of nearly 1,409,800 km of piping within the United States, the minor (plumbing) system that is at least 5 to 10 times larger is generally not well analyzed. In this study, an experimental plumbing rig was designed and implemented that replicates the range of pressures encountered in actual minor water distribution systems. This research addresses how a pressure transient triggered within a house and from municipal systems can impact the service line with a possible suction effect. Experimental results on low pressure events and the accompanying numerical modeling showed good agreement. The experiment also enabled visualization of the various pressure transient phenomena. It is demonstrated that hydraulic transients triggered from water mains result in low pressures events (up to -10 psig) in service lines which can allow possible intrusion of microbial and chemical contaminants at the service line. Structural integrity of service line and hydraulic integrity at water mains should be maintained to minimize any public health risks. In the USA, about 90% of residential drinking water plumbing systems use copper pipes. Pinhole leaks in copper plumbing pipes have become a nationwide concern because these leaks cause property damage, lower property values, and result in possibility of adversely affecting homeowners' insurance coverage. In addition, resulting mold damage may cause health concerns. This research also addresses the concerns of the affected homeowners by enabling them to decide on whether to continue to repair or replace their plumbing system, the factors to be considered in a replacement decision, and the type of material to use for replacement. Plastic pipes such as PEX (cross-linked polyethylene), CPVC (Chlorinated Polyvinyl Chloride), and copper are considered in present analysis. Other alternatives include an epoxy coating technique on the existing piping systems, without the need to tear into walls. Multiple attributes of a plumbing system including cost (material plus labor charges), taste and odor impacts, potential for corrosion, longevity of the pipe system, fire retardance, convenience of installation or replacement, plumber or general contractor's opinions or expertise, and proven record in the market are considered. Attributes and material rankings are formalized within the framework of the preference elicitation tools namely AHP (Analytical Hierarchical Process). Surveys are conducted with selected homeowners in pinhole leak prone area in Southeastern US Community to observe their revealed and stated preferences. Participants' overall preference tradeoffs are reported in addition to comparing their revealed and stated preferences. Health effects, taste and odor of water turned out to be the most important factors from the survey. In real life, however, homeowners were not well aware of these safety issues related with plumbing materials. It is recommended that water professionals should work on bridging the gap between public perception and research results related to major and minor systems. / Ph. D.

Humor is likely to serve as signals of fitness in potential partners. Less is known about how different styles of humor affect partner attractiveness. This study aimed to test the attractiveness of the four different humor styles proposed by Martin et al. (2003) categorized according to being benign (affiliate, self-enhancing) or detrimental (aggressive, self-defeating). Participants were presented with a series of potential partners, much like on a dating site. Each partner was described by a portrait picture and a vignette, which included examples of one of the four humor styles. The participants’ task was to rate a number of items about partner preference (date, intercourse, shortand long-term relationships) and mate value (intelligence, health, social status and parenting skill). A total of 170 women and 81 men between 18-40 years of age completed the experiment. The results showed significant effects on all measurements of partner interest and mate value for women with the aggressive humor style being rated as less attractive and lower in mate value than the other humor styles. For men there was a significant effect on two measurements on mate value (social status, parenting skill), showing that the self-defeating style was rated less attractive. The results support the notion that humor is used as a fitness signal, that this is used to a substantially greater extent by women, and that women find the aggressive humor style to be particularly unattractive in potential partners.

The present study addresses some of the problems in human handedness studies by noting the manual choices of one hundred twenty elementary pupils in the first through fifth grades. It discusses the value of the Van Riper critical angle board, the correlation indices of handedness based upon different types of activities, and the divergence with respect to degree and pattern of hand preference in the children.

The AICPA recently released new authoritative audit guidance related to group audits of nonpublic organizations which requires group engagement teams to be involved in the work of a component auditor, including certain minimum baseline requirements and the option for more extensive involvement at the group auditor's discretion. Accordingly, group audits create a scenario where auditors are under the direct oversight of a component audit supervisor, yet their work product is monitored and used by the group engagement team when expressing an opinion on the group financial statements. To my knowledge, prior accounting research has not explored the complexity of auditor decision making in a group audit scenario. Drawing on theory from motivated reasoning, this study investigates how the level of group engagement team involvement in component audit work may influence auditor decision making when a component audit supervisor has expressed preferences for more or less professional skepticism during the component audit process. Prior research in non-group audit settings finds the preferences of audit supervisors can influence the skepticism exhibited by their subordinates. However, in a group audit setting I find that the effects of component supervisor preferences interact with the level of group engagement team involvement in component auditors' work to influence component auditors' budgeted audit hours and planned substantive audit procedures. Results showed that during an accounts receivable audit planning task, auditors who faced an optimistic component supervisor recommended the use of more audit hours and suggested confirming a greater percentage of the accounts receivable balance when a group engagement team chose to be more actively involved in the component audit process than when the group engagement team chose only to review component audit work. However, there were no differences in budgeted audit hours or planned audit procedures when auditors faced a skeptical component supervisor, regardless of the level of group engagement team involvement. Thus, increased involvement of the group engagement team mitigated the influence of an optimistic component supervisor on auditor decision making, but did not significantly influence component auditor judgments when auditors faced a more conservative component supervisor. Path analyses indicated this phenomenon was caused by auditors' sense of pressure to reach appropriate audit conclusions induced by the increased involvement of the group engagement team. These results suggest that the effects of supervisor preferences are complex within a group audit environment, such that the nature of instructions received from a group engagement team may mitigate the effects of supervisor preferences on component auditor decision making. This research has implications for audit practice as it relates to the implementation of the new group audit standard as well as for regulators who establish future auditing guidance. / Ph. D.

The bean leaf beetle (BLB), Cerotoma trifurcata (Forster) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), is a pest of commercially produced legumes in eastern Virginia. Field cage and manual-defoliation studies were conducted in Virginia to determine an economic impact of BLB. In the manual-defoliation study, snap bean plants had significant yield loss when > 25% of leaf area was removed. In the field cage experiments, I was unable to establish beetle densities per plant to impact yield. Host plant selection by BLB was done in laboratory and field studies with snap bean, lima bean, and soybeans. Laboratory studies showed that BLB preferred snap bean and lima bean over soybean. Field studies did not showed no preference. A survey was conducted on the Eastern Shore of Virginia determine the epicenter of BPMV. Soybean leaves and beetles were collected and assessed for BPMV by ELISA or TBIA. Beetles at the ESAREC were BPMV-positive upon emergence from overwintering sites, but the virus load was low when tested by ELISA. This suggests acquisition of virus from a source other than infected cultivated legumes. To find the potential inoculum sources of BPMV in eastern Virginia, leguminous weeds and perennial weeds were tested for BPMV. Four weed species gave BPMV-positive tissue blots including: Oxalis stricta, Rumex acetosella, Trifolium pretense, and Trifolium repens. Insecticidal seed treatment of thiamethoxam on soybean seeds was evaluated to test the efficacy. Leaf area eaten and beetle mortality was measured. The thiamethoxam seed treatment protected soybean seedlings from beetle feeding through the V2 stage of growth. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

Problembeskrivning: Eftersom det finns så många olika miljömärkningar blir det svårt för konsumenter att skilja de mest pålitliga märkningarna åt. Utan tillräcklig kunskap kan konsumenter inte göra välgrundade miljöval när de handlar, vilket kan ha negativa konsekvenser för framtiden. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats var att undersöka graden av miljövetenhet bland konsumenter vid val av tvättmedel. Studien genomfördes bland Eskilstunas konsumenter. Dessutom var syftet med uppsatsen att undersöka den yngre generationens framtidsutsikter när det gäller deras kunskap om miljömärkningar och hur det påverkar deras val av tvättmedel. Metod: Studien har utgått från en kvalitativ undersökning i form av tidigare forskningar och fortsatte med en kvalitativ undersökning i form av intervjuenkätundersökning följd med jämförelse och deduktiv analys.  Slutsats. Resultaten av studien indikerar att de flesta av respondenter har bristfälliga kunskaper om miljömärkningar. Trots en medvetenhet om miljöfrågor, saknar de kunskap för att kunna fatta informerade beslut. Priset verkar inte ha en betydande roll i deras köpbeslut. Samtidigt visar det sig att kvinnorna inom äldre generation är mer engagerade i miljöfrågor. Slutligen är det min förståelse att Konsumentverket bör göra en konkret lösning, till exempel en tryckt guide med miljömärkningar för produkterna som är grundläggande för vår dagliga försörjning, som mat, tvättmedel och rengöringsmedel. Detta tycker jag kommer höja kunskapen om hållbar konsumtion bland alla generationer. / Problem description: Because there are so many different eco-labels, it becomes difficult for consumers to distinguish the most reliable labels. Without sufficient knowledge, consumers cannot make informed environmental choices when shopping, which can have negative consequences for the future. Purpose: The purpose of this essay was to investigate the environmental awareness among consumers when they are choosing detergents. The study was made among Eskilstuna's consumers. In addition, the purpose of the essay was to investigate the future prospects of the younger generation in terms of their knowledge of environmental labels and how it affects their choice of detergents. Method: The study was based on a qualitative investigation in the form of previous research and continued with a qualitative investigation in the form of an interview questionnaire followed by comparison and deductive analysis. Conclusion. The results of the study indicate that majority respondents have insufficient knowledge about environmental labels. Despite an awareness of environmental issues, they lack the knowledge to make informed decisions. Price does not seem to play a significant role in their purchase decisions. At the same time, it turns out that women in the older generation are more engaged in environmental issues. Finally, it is my understanding that the Swedish Consumer Agency should make a concrete solution, for example a printed guide with environmental labels for the products that are fundamental to our daily livelihood, such as food, detergents and cleaning agents. I think this will raise awareness of sustainable consumption among all generations.

Yes / Which antecedents affect the adoption by users is still often a puzzle for policy-makers. Antecedents examined in this research include technological artefacts from the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), consumer context from UTAUT2 and psychological behaviour concepts such as citizens' channel preference and product selection criteria. This research also investigated cultural domination on citizens' behavioural perception. The data for this study was collected among citizens from three countries: USA, Canada, and Bangladesh. The findings suggest that the UTAUT model could partially shape technology artefact behaviour and the extended UTAUT must consider specific determinants relevant to cognitive, affective, and conative or behavioural aspects of citizens. The model helps policy-makers to develop mobile healthcare service system that will be better accepted. The finding also suggests that this mobile service system should reflect a country's cultural traits. These findings basically extend the theoretical concept of UTAUT model to articulate adoption behaviour of any complex and sensitive ICT related issues like mobile healthcare system.

Yes / Consumer brand preference is an essential step towards understanding consumer choice behaviour, and has therefore always received great attention from marketers. However, the study of brand preference has been limited to traditional marketing focusing on functional attributes to maximise utility. But now the shift to experiential marketing broadens the role of the brand from a bundle of attributes to experiences. Technological advancements have helped to increase the similarities between brand attributes and product commoditisation. Consequently, consumers cannot shape their preferences among brands using rational attributes only. They seek out brands that create experiences; that intrigue them in a sensorial, emotional and creative way. This study seeks to develop a model that provides an understanding of how brand knowledge and brand experience determine brand preference and to investigate its impact on brand repurchase intention. Accordingly, exploratory focus group discussions are employed followed by a survey of mobile phone users in Egypt. The findings provide insights into the relative importance of consumer perceptions on different brand knowledge factors in shaping brand preferences. It also demonstrates the significance of consumers’ experiential responses towards brands in developing their brand preferences that in turn influence brand repurchase intention. The model therefore offers managers a new perspective for building strong brands able to gain consumer preferences.

<p dir="ltr">In high-performance building design, it is important to account for the dynamic influence of daylight on humans, as its non-visual effects significantly contribute to the regulation of various physiological and psychological functions. Furthermore, effective and controlled use of daylighting can lower energy consumption for electric lighting, while also minimizing internal lighting gains, excessive solar heat gains, and cooling energy demand. However, there are challenges in choosing appropriate metrics for modeling individual visual preferences and integrating them into control strategies, especially in smart control systems for high-performance buildings that demand self-tuning and personalized functionalities. Therefore, this Thesis aims to develop reliable features and a learning framework that reflect the occupant's visual preferences and can be incorporated into optimal daylighting control strategies using a low-cost high dynamic range imaging (HDRI) camera and deep learning techniques.</p><p dir="ltr">First, this Thesis presents a new method for classifying daylighting preferences based on deep learning models trained with pixel-wise similarity features extracted from pairs of luminance maps. A new composite luminance similarity index was developed, which utilizes the pixel-wise information from the entire luminance distribution and considers both the direction and magnitude of relative luminance change, instead of instantaneous metrics used in previous studies. The generated luminance and contrast similarity maps were directly used for training convolutional neural network (CNN) models to classify the occupant’s visual preferences. The results proved the superiority of the luminance similarity index map as a preference indicator variable. In contrast, common static lighting parameters could not estimate daylight preferences even when used in powerful computational models; they neglected visual information located in various parts of the visual scene and could not consider the change in perceived luminance distribution.</p><p dir="ltr">Second, this Thesis presents a novel method for inferring the relative degree of personal visual preference from pairs of luminance maps using convolutional autoencoder (CAE) and relative ranking concepts. There are practical challenges to utilizing trained CNN-based visual preference classification models for inferring the most preferable visual condition. Therefore, two-stage training was proposed starting from developing a CAE-based feature extraction module to make the model updatable from unseen luminance map characteristics and implementing the trained feature extractor to the visual preference inference model. To select the most preferable luminance distribution among the observed visual environments, the relative ranking concept was implemented in the CAE-based visual preference inference model in addition to binary classification layers. Then, the L2 norm and Euclidean distance were applied to determine the appropriate adjustment directions by analyzing the degree of difference between the captured luminance distribution and the inferred individual preferred luminance distribution. This analysis focused on the condensed latent pixels representing the window and background areas in each luminance distribution.</p><p dir="ltr">Finally, this Thesis expands the scope of utilizing low-cost HDRI sensors and deep learning techniques by demonstrating real-time monitoring of dynamic internal and solar heat gains in office spaces that are required for demand-driven control. For monitoring changes in occupancy, equipment, lighting, and window status in real-time, a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based multi-head classification model was developed and trained with High Dynamic Range (HDR) images, collected using a low-cost fisheye camera in offices. Then, to evaluate the impact of real-time monitoring of heat gains on energy demand, the open plan office space used for the experimental dataset collection was modeled using EnergyPlus software using (i) commonly assumed fixed schedules for occupancy, equipment, and lighting and (ii) real-time monitored dynamic schedules for internal and solar gain components under the same weather conditions. The results showed that the recommended fixed schedules may lead to significant errors in estimated internal and solar gains. The largest discrepancy was noted for occupancy and equipment usage, but other categories also showed both underestimation and overestimation of thermal load components.</p>

The dissertation consists of three essays in forestry resource management, with focuses on investigating the ecosystem collapse and invasive species control problems. The first two papers consider the shift from primary forests to cleared land and secondary forests in the context of deforestation. This process is known to lead to irreversible tipping points that lead to the loss of ecosystem services. The past literature has discussed forest rotations under stochastic prices, timber volume, and amenity values. I extend this body of work to show how stochastic processes concerning primary forests could lead to ecological collapse. Drift and volatility in these processes explain different types of long-term and short-term shocks in tropical forest systems, such as fire, drought, or climate changes, all mechanisms that can drive ecosystem function to collapse. Common examples of severe ecosystem damage include the irreversible change from tropical forests to grassy savanna, fire events, and other climate problems. However, another case of uncertainty happens when ecosystem service production of primary and secondary forests itself is stochastic, so that there is a more complicated relationship between deforestation and reaching a point where ecosystem functions collapse. I compare and contrast these two cases to determine how drift and volatility determines the timing of a tipping point in a deforestation model where primary and secondary forests, as well as agricultural land, influence ecosystem function. I examine the sensitivity of the timing of collapse in both model variants to critical market and land-use parameters. The third chapter of this dissertation explores the connection between landowners' risk preferences, invasive species spread, and optimal control efforts. This study analyzes the control effort involved in neighboring infested and uninfested municipalities, which may have differing risk preferences. In the context of an application to the spread of Emerald ash borer (EAB) in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, I develop a simulation to explore the level of control and spread in a myopic policy scenario versus that in a first-best problem, where the two municipalities may be either risk neutral or risk averse. The results suggest that heterogeneity in risk aversion across the municipalities leads to lower control efforts and a longer time to drive the probability of spread to zero. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation presents three studies that aim to support policy making for sustainable forest resource management. In the first two chapters, I examine the deforestation of native tropical forests, which damages ecosystems and leads to losses that can be irreversible, even with investments in reforestation. At present, the Amazon, Indonesia, and Africa are all witnessing the catastrophic collapse of forest systems as a result of deforestation. Prior work by economists on this topic has not considered how uncertainty in native forest losses may affect the likelihood of ecosystem collapse. Native forest losses may be uncertain when policymakers cannot fully control deforestation (as is often the case in developing countries) or when complex ecosystems are not well understood. I develop a model that incorporates long-term and short-term shocks in forest systems, such as fire, drought, or climate changes, all mechanisms that can drive the primary forest stock function to ecosystem collapse. Using this model, I examine the sensitivity of the timing of collapse to critical market and land-use parameters. In the final chapter of the dissertation, I present a novel model to study how risk preferences affect the management of invasive species. The model is inspired by the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) infestation in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, which spread from St. Paul into Minneapolis and decimated valuable urban tree cover over the past several decades. I use the model to explore how differences in risk preferences between neighboring municipalities affect the control efforts they undertake, the probability of pest spread, and the consequent economic losses.