One of the major impediments to developing a larger body of knowledge in travel behavior than we currently have is the lack of sufficient data at very detailed levels. The lack of sufficient data is the result of the inherent complexity of gathering and subsequently analyzing observations of the phenomena of interest. This is particularly true for route choice, a topic on which scant link-by-link data appear to be available, especially at multi-day level. In fact, very little empirical work is based on real world observation. This dissertation studies the factors that influence morning commuters route choice and route switching based on objective real-world observations of travel behavior during multi-day period. This dissertation tests the current route choice model assumption that travel time or travel distance is the only factor influencing drivers route choice decision. Investigation of the objective route choice factors confirms that minimizing travel time, although very important, is not the only factor that impacts route choice. Several other factors have been identified that impact commuters route choice. This dissertation examines the choice between using single or multiple morning commute routes. The results indicate the strong explanatory power of work schedule flexibility and trip-chaining on the choice of single or multiple commute routes compared to the commuters socio-demographic characteristics and commute route related attributes. This dissertation also presents an extensive effort in analyzing GPS-based travel behavior data and develops a methodology to subtract route choice information and trip-level travel information from the GPS-based vehicle activity data.

Nowadays, the swift augmentation of Indonesia¡¦s economy is projected to maintain well into the subsequently decade. Simultaneously, the nation is still experiencing a lack in managerial and professional personnel. The gist of this study was to investigate the purpose of study abroad and to analyze the factors that affect to the career choice of Indonesian students in Taiwan as example. This research was expected to know the directions of the Indonesian students (samples= 115 Indonesian students; population= 615 Indonesian students in Taiwan) in the future. The research was done by using the survey method. Initially the descriptive statistics was used and frequency distributions for questions were established. The result of this research was satisfied the purpose of study when it found out many factors and conditions of working had influenced on career choice of Indonesian students.

Swordtail fishes of the genus Xiphophorus have been studied as a model of sexual selection for many years. Many single-trait manipulation studies have been performed, determining female preferences for individual male traits. I characterized how five traits (standard body length, body depth, dorsal fin width, sword length and vertical bar number) correlate to one another within natural variation of populations of X. birchmanni, X. malinche and three hybrid populations and created synthetic 3- dimensional animations exhibiting these traits within ranges of natural variation. I then performed choice tests on females of the above populations using a computer system that automatically played these stimulus videos and simultaneously tracked a female’s position within a test tank to determine female preference for different male phenotypes. Only X. birchmanni females showed significant preferences. Their preferences were in line with past research of univariate trait manipulation experiments. They showed significant preference for larger bodies and dorsal fins and smaller or no swords. They also showed a non-significant preference for vertical bar numbers. My results also confirmed univariate studies in which X. malinche females showed reduced preference for conspecific males and being rather indifferent to the presence of swords. Hybrid females were also shown to have reduced preferences for any specific trait, suggesting that they express recombinant preferences, which can also be explained by reduced color vision at low levels of light.

This dissertation examines three labor market issues regarding public school administrators in Texas using personnel records from the 1994-95 school year until the 2003-04 school year. The first essay explores promotion rates of men and women to school principal, a position that requires certification. I find ignoring gender differences in desire for promotion yields results similar to the existing literature: men hold an advantage in the promotion process. However, restricting the analysis to only those individuals who have expressed interest in an administrative position, those who became trained and certified as a principal, I find men and women face no statistically significant difference in the probability of promotion. Duration analysis shows that although men are most often promoted four years after they become certified and women are most often promoted six to seven years after becoming certified, women face a much higher hazard of promotion than men. This cannot be explained by a higher exit rate from the education sector by men. The second essay examines the effect of restrictive licensing on the quality of the entrants into a profession. Theory suggests that requiring minimum competency standards truncates the low end of the quality distribution, however, increased costs of entry encourage talented potential entrants to pursue outside opportunities. Using the public school principal profession in Texas and measuring teacher quality by changes in student achievement, I find evidence that lower entry costs increase the quality of entrants. As a robustness check, I categorize observations geographically into control and treatment groups to ensure the estimated effect is a result of reduced entry costs and not unobserved factors. The third essay examines the effect of increased school choice on the earnings and abilities of school administrators. I find an overall positive effect of competition on administrators' earnings suggesting that productivity gains from hiring talented managers outweigh the pressure to reduce costs by cutting salaries. However, the results are sensitive to the level of competition, the type of labor market, and the administrators' position. I control for possible endogeneity both mechanically and with outside instruments and my conclusions are largely unchanged.

Drawing on newspaper, movement correspondence, and interview data, I examine the tactical selection and (in)visibility of a lesbian and gay student group, Gay Student Services (GSS), in a hostile university campus in Texas from the mid-1970s through the 1980s. GSS was formed to create a safe space for sexual minorities at Texas A & M University (TAMU) and asked university officials to recognize the group officially after physical threats of violence became real. After long delays, when TAMU administrators declined GSS's request, GSS filed a lawsuit against TAMU with the goal of achieving formal recognition. In the first chapter, I offer a brief history of GSS and introduce my thesis structure. In the second chapter, I show how early access to legal aid bolstered GSS members' understanding of their rights and encouraged their use of legal tactics. A sense of legal entitlement also encouraged GSS to pursue legal tactics in the face of administrative antagonism. The hostile campus environment also motivated GSS to utilize legal tactics instead of engaging in more traditional forms of contention, such as protest, to pursue their goal of gaining official status on campus.

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Lifestyle, the external demonstration of personal values and preferences, has great influences on individual behavior. In terms of occupational choice, individuals would choose jobs that best fit with their lifestyles according to the values and preferences. The consistency of individual lifestyle and work-style created from the work environments will affect their job satisfaction and willingness to remain in the organizations. This study explores lifestyles of four coffee shop workers and three pub workers, and the results show that those two types of jobs create distinctive lifestyles, which would be caused by the personal characteristics and the different working hours. Based on the results, lifestyles could be used as the indicator of recruitment for employers of coffee shops and pubs, and criteria of occupational choice for individuals who are interested in working in coffee shops or pubs.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 50-51).

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1979.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-104).