No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

In this study, conceptual models of young adult citizenship participation eight years post high school using Putnam's (1993) theory of social capital are tested. This study uses a longitudinal database. Specifically, the models posit that accumulation of more social capital resources during adolescence will be associated with more positive future life expectations related to educational, occupational, and family life outcomes. Subsequently, these more positive future life expectations and social capital resources will be associated with a higher degree of citizenship participation (as measured by voting behavior, community integration and volunteerism) as young adults. Measures from the 1990, 1992 and 2000 waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) dataset were used. The models were examined using structural equation modeling procedures. Findings indicate that school and community social capital had mixed results regarding their effects on the final outcome variables. Teacher interactions were not found to have a statistically significant direct effect on any of the three citizenship participation outcome variables. But this result should be viewed with caution due to possible measurement problems with the construct of teacher interactions. Peer interactions did have a statistically significant, direct, effect on community integration and volunteerism, but it did not have a direct effect on voting behavior. Participation in extracurricular school activities did have a small, direct, effect on all three outcome variables. Participation in community sports activities had a positive direct effect on community integration, a small negative effect on voting behavior, and no statistically significant effect on volunteerism. Finally, participation in other types of community activities had the largest direct effects on all three citizenship participation outcome variables. The adolescent social capital variables of teacher interactions, peer interactions, and participation in other types of community activities for tenth graders did have positive, direct effects on future life expectations for twelfth graders. Extracurricular activities participation and community sports participation were not found to have an effect on future life expectations. Future life expectations were found to have a very small, but statistically significant, positive, direct effect on all three citizenship participation variables. These findings indicate that some adolescent social capital resources can have positive direct effects on the long term, young adult, educational outcome of citizenship participation. But it varies by type of social capital resource and by the particular aspect of citizenship behavior being measured. / Ph. D.

The Career and Technical Center in Coalfield County School Division (pseudonym) has maintained a history of student enrollment in career and technical education (CTE) courses and programs that are traditional by gender. That history has changed very little over the years, and students, both male and female, continue to enroll in CTE courses at the career center that are traditional for their gender. This trend persists despite Virginia Department of Education support for non-traditional enrollment and Carl D. Perkins Act legislation which encourages non-traditional enrollment in CTE. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of students, parents, teachers, administrators and counselors about student enrollment at the career center in CTE courses that are non-traditional. Through the use of individual interviews, the researcher gathered information from participants regarding their perceptions about barriers to non-traditional enrollment in CTE and also obtained participants' ideas about strategies for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses, courses that have the potential to positively impact students' career opportunities along with successful entrance into the work force. The results of this research will be shared with the school division as a potential resource for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses and programs at the career center. / Doctor of Philosophy / The Career and Technical Center in Coalfield County School Division (pseudonym) has maintained a history of student enrollment in career and technical education (CTE) courses and programs that are traditional by gender. That history has changed very little over the years, and students, both male and female, continue to enroll in CTE courses at the career center that are traditional for their gender. This trend persists despite Virginia Department of Education support for non-traditional enrollment and Carl D. Perkins Acts legislation which encourages nontraditional enrollment in CTE. The purpose of this qualitative research was to explore the perceptions of students, parents, teachers, administrators and counselors about student enrollment at the career center in CTE courses that are non-traditional. Through the use of individual interviews, the researcher gathered information from participants regarding their perceptions about barriers to nontraditional enrollment in CTE and also obtained participants’ ideas about strategies for increasing non-traditional enrollment in CTE courses, courses that have the potential to positively impact students’ career opportunities along with successful entrance into the work force. The results of this research will be shared with the school division as a potential resource for increasing nontraditional enrollment in CTE courses and programs at the career center.

Smart home appliances have been argued to have a transformative impact on our daily lives in the future. Through the technology Internet of Things, smart home appliances are able to collect data from our surroundings and offer customs services. They have the possibility to automate daily tasks and contribute to energy saving, security, and more. Though smart home appliances can offer several benefits, concerns exist about data collection and research gaps as previous research has mainly been applied from a technical standpoint and less on a societal one. Research on different target groups and contexts is needed as it is important when creating digital services. One of these target groups that needs further research is students and their perspective on smart home appliances. As such, this study has focused on students' expectations of smart home appliances in future student housing, thereby shifting focus from a technical perspective to a societal one by using group- and follow-up interviews. The outcome contributes to an increased understanding of students’ aspects and expectations when creating smart home appliances in student homes. These insights can assist developers, researchers and designers in creating future smart home services, custom for students.

We consider the problem of uniting dynamic game theory and the rational expectations hypothesis. In doing so we examine the current trend in macroeconomic literature towards the use of dominant player games and offer an alternative game solution that seems more compatible with the rational expectations hypothesis. Our analysis is undertaken in the context of a simple deterministic macroeconomy. Wage setters are the agents in the economy and are playing a non-cooperative game with the Fed. The game is played with the wage setters selecting a nominal wage based on their expectation of the money supply, and the Fed selecta the money supply based on its expectation of the nominal wage. We find it is incorrect to use the rational expectations hypothesis in conjunction with the assumption that wage setters take the Fed's choices as an exogenous uncontrollable forcing process. We then postulate the use of a Nash equilibrium in which players have rational expectations. This results in an equilibrium that has Stackleberg properties. The nature of the solution is driven by the fact that the wage setter's reaction function is a level maximal set that covers all possible choices of the Fed. One of the largest problems we encountered in applying rational expectations to a dynamic game is the interdependence of the players' expectations. This problem raises two interesting but as yet unresolved questions regarding the expectations structures of agents: whether an endogenous expectations structure will yield rational expectations; and can endogenous expectations be completely modelled. In addition to the questions mentioned above we also show that the time inconsistency problem comes from either misspecifying the constraints on the policy maker or an inconsistency in interpreting those constraints. We also show that the Lucas critique holds in a game setting and how the critique relates to the reaction functions of players. / Ph. D.

Sammanfattning Kurs/Nivå:                   2EB01E, Kandidatuppsats Författare:                   Musliu, Rinor Handledare:                 Devine, Åsa Examinator:                Bill, Frederic Titel:                              Otydligt, tydligt eller underförstått? – En kvalitativ undersökning om kundförväntningar av reklam och direktreklam på sociala medier Nyckelord:                   Kundförväntningar, typer av kundförväntningar, marknadsföring, reklam, direktreklam och sociala medier Bakgrund:                   Kunder utsätts främst utav reklam och direkt reklam på sociala medier. Förutom den ”vanliga reklamen” på sociala medier finns även en ny form av direkt reklam. Eftersom företag har större tillgänglighet till information, kan de lättare rikta reklamen mot målgrupperna och på så sätt uppnå tillfredställelse. Det är dock viktigt för företag att ha kunskap om kundförväntningarna för att kunna möta dem. Det finns tre olika typer utav förväntningar och att ha kunskap om vilken kunder förväntar sig är viktigt för företag för att skapa långvariga relationer med sina kunder. Frågeställning:            Vilka typer av förväntningar har kunder på reklam och direkt reklam via sociala medier? Syfte:                            Syftet med rapporten är att beskriva vilka typer av förväntningar kunder har på reklam och direktreklam i sociala medier. Metod:                          En kvalitativ undersökning (deduktiv ansats) med hjälp utav fokusgrupper. Rapportens insamlade data har analyserats med hjälp utav en innehållsanalys. Slutsats:                       Analysen resulterade i att kundförväntningarna är olika beroende på vad för reklam som visades på sociala medier. Kunder hade tydliga förväntningar på reklam för högengagemangsprodukter, okända högengagemangsprodukter och på direktreklam. Förväntningarna var otydliga på reklam för lågengagemangsprodukter, reklam för kända och okända lågengagemangsprodukter. Förväntningarna var underförstådda på reklam för kända högengagemangsprodukter. / Abstract Course/Level:            2EB01E, Bachelor Thesis Author:                        Musliu, Rinor Tutor:                           Devine, Åsa Examiner:                   Bill, Frederic Title:                             Unclear, clear or implied? – A qualitative research about   customer expectations of advertising and direct advertising on social media Keywords:                  Customer expectations, types of customer expectations, marketing, advertising, direct advertising and social media. Background:              Customers are mainly exposed to advertising and direct    advertising on social media. Except the “normal advertising” on social media, there is a new form of direct advertising. Because companies have a greater access to customer information, they can easier aim their advertising and by doing so reach customer satisfaction. It is important for companies to have knowledge about the customers’ expectations to reach customer satisfaction. There are three types of customer expectations and knowing which type of expectations the customers have is important for companies to build long lasting relationships with their customers. Research question:    What type of expectations do customers have on advertising and direct advertising on social media? Purpose:                       The purpose is to describe what type of expectations customers have on advertising and direct advertising on social media Methodology:              A qualitative research (deductive approach) using focus groups. The empirics of the report have been analyzed with a content analysis. Conclusion:                  The analysis resulted that the customer expectations were different depending on what type of advertising was shown on social media. The customers had clear expectations on advertising of high involvement products, unknown high involvement products and on direct advertising. The expectations were unclear on advertising of low involvement products, advertising for known and unknown low involvement products. The expectations were implied on advertising for known high involvement products.