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While previous work has investigated aspects of the robot, the human, and the environment as influential factors in the human-robot relationship, little work has examined the role of social conformity in this relationship. As social conformity has been shown to affect human-human choice, relationships, and trust, there are a-priori reasons to believe that it will play an influential role in human-robot interaction (HRI) scenarios as well. Early research into the influence of social conformity in human-robot interaction (HRI) did not find the effect to be present with robots, however more recent work has adapted the methodological paradigm to find more consistent evidence of conformity in HRI settings. Here two studies investigated the impact of response methods (e.g., the ability to change your response), task types (i.e., arithmetic or line discriminations) and task importance on conformity with robots. Previous research has demonstrated conformity effects with the change response technique but not with the ordered response technique in HRI research. The first experiment aimed to specifically quantify the distinction in methodological change that has resulted in the conformity effect. This was done by examining both the task and response methods used. The second experiment aimed to add to the body of literature on the impact of task importance on conformity in HRI. While task importance has been shown to increase conformity in human-human research settings, this has yet to be specifically examined in HRI conformity research. Results from Experiment 1 show that a conformity effect is present with humans but not robots in the change response condition under certain task settings. Results from Experiment 2 indicate a pattern of conformity with robots but not humans during high importance tasks. These findings are discussed in relation to the body of literature on conformity and HRI settings as a whole.

Responses to alarms are assumed important. Yet failure to respond to alarms is recognized, although is not well understood or quantified. Conditions that might induce a failure to respond include alarm unreliability (i.e., numerous false alarms, the "cry-wolf" effect), high primary task demand, or low criticality of the alarm itself. The goals of this research were to substantiate the existence of the cry-wolf effect, quantifying its effect on operator performance, and to examine the relation between the cry-wolf effect and alarm criticality. One hundred thirty-eight UCF students alternatively performed two primary tasks, chosen from the Automated Performance Test System. Subjects were presented alarms of varying reliabilities (25%, 50%, and 75 % true alarms) and urgencies (low, medium, and high) in three experimental blocks. A series of repeated-measures MANOVAs assessed the effects of increasing alarm reliability, criticality, and performance block on alarm response and primary task performance. A post-experimental questionnaire also provided correlational data to determine relationships between demographic and opinion items and alarm response performance. The results indicate that most subjects (about 90%) do not respond to all alarms but match their response rates to the expected probability of true alarms (probability matching). Further, alarm criticality and primary task difficulty modestly but significantly alter response rates, and the speed and accuracy of responding. About 10% of the subjects responded in the extreme, utilizing an all-or-none strategy. Implications of these results for alarm design instruction and further research are discussed.

This study was designed to examine administrators’ attitudes toward the significant factors for facilitating the implementation of online courses at select community colleges in Mississippi. The population for this study included all presidents, vice presidents, deans, business managers, directors of campus technology, and distance learning coordinators at the select community colleges in Mississippi. The total population was 79 administrators. For this study, 79 questionnaires were electronically distributed to the participants, 70 (89%) were returned. 1 (2%) was excluded due to incomplete answers. 69 questionnaires (87%) were analyzed and used for this study. The findings show that in terms of relationships between select variables (position, college, age, gender, ethnicity, and experience) and administrators’ attitudes toward implementing online courses three variables had a positive relationship with administrators’ attitudes (i.e., age, ethnicity, and experience). Also, 3 variables had a negative relationship with administrators’ attitudes (i.e., position, college, gender). Furthermore administrators rated their attitudes toward online courses as “strongly agree”. In terms of the most important factors that facilitate implementing online courses at the select community colleges in Mississippi, administrators rated their responses as “strongly agree.” Those factors were resources, infrastructure, willingness of administrators to implement online courses and faculty to participate in implementing online courses. In this study, administrators rated their responses on barriers that limit implementation of online courses as “agree.” Those barriers that limit implementing online courses are lack of technical support, lack of faculty participation and lack of student access to the resources. Finally, in accordance with the finding, this study offered several major recommendations to administrators and community colleges that should be considered before implementing and delivering online courses. Some of those recommendations related to knowledge and skills of using technology by administrators, establishing good infrastructures to offer excellent online courses, and qualifying and recruiting the human resources needed to administer online courses successfully

Pathological cardiac hypertrophy (PCH) occurs in response to pathological stimuli affecting the heart such as coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, or hypertension. PCH is also be independent risk factor for cardiac events and/or sudden death. Despite therapeutic advancements in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and heart failure, deaths due to CVD remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Furthermore, treatment of these cardiovascular diseases slows their progression, but individuals eventually progress to heart failure, which has a 5-year survival rate of approximately 50 percent. There is a clear need for development of new therapies that can reverse PCH and the associated damage to the heart. As healthcare improves, populations are living longer, and illness due to age increases. One issue that occurs with aging is loss of normal cardiac function leading to heart failure. This functional decline is accompanied by morphological changes in the heart, including hypertrophy. Although it is well documented that myocardial remodeling occurs with aging, the mechanisms underlying these changes are poorly understood. Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is a member of the transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) superfamily of proteins, which regulate a number of cellular processes. Shared circulation of a young mouse with an old mouse or a single daily intraperitoneal (IP) injection of GDF11 for 30 days was shown to reverse aging-induced pathological cardiac hypertrophy. This molecule is highly homologous with another TGF-β family member, myostatin, which is a known negative growth regulator of skeletal muscle. We began by attempting to validate published data claiming that a single daily intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 0.1 mg/kg/day of GDF11 could reverse aging induced cardiac hypertrophy. We performed a blinded study during which treated 24-month-old C57BL/6 male mice with a single IP injection of 0.1 mg/kg/day of GDF11for 28 days and monitored changes in cardiac function and structure using echocardiography (ECHO). We also looked for differences in fibrosis, myocyte size, markers of pathological hypertrophy and heart weight. We were unable to find any differences between vehicle treated age mice and GDF11 treated aged mice in any of the measured parameters. While we did find an increase in heart weight between 8-week-old mice and the 24-month-old mice, there was no difference in the heart weight to body weight ratios of these groups of animals. From these data we concluded that our aged- mice did not have pathological hypertrophy and the dose of GDF11 used in this study did not have any effect on cardiac structure or function. Hypertensive heart disease results in changes in cardiac structure and function including left ventricular hypertrophy, systolic and/or diastolic dysfunction. It is also a leading cause of heart failure. Members of the TGF-β superfamily of proteins have been shown to be involved in many of the processes that occur in the heart in response to hypertension, such as the fibrotic response. Although it was previously shown that treatment with 0.1 mg/kg of GDF11 did not prevent pressure overload induced cardiac hypertrophy, we found this dose was too low to alter cardiac structure in our aging study. In addition, a single GDF11 dose is insufficient to fully address this issue. We therefore performed a blinded dose-ranging study to investigate the effects of GDF11 on pressure overload induced cardiac hypertrophy using transverse aortic constriction (TAC) which mimics the effects of chronic hypertension on the heart. In this study, animals received TAC surgery and were assigned to treatment groups so that there were no differences in wall thickness, cardiac function, or pressure gradients across the aortic constriction at the start of the treatments 1 week after TAC. Mice were given 0.5 mg/kg/day of GDF11, 1.0 mg/kg/day GDF11, 5.0 mg/kg/day of GDF11, or vehicle via a single daily IP injection for 14 days. Using these higher doses, we found that GDF11 had dose dependent effects on both cardiac structure and function following TAC. Myocyte cross sectional area was dose-dependently decreased compared to vehicle treated mice in both sham and TAC conditions. Cardiac function was preserved in the 1.0 and 5.0 mg/kg groups treatment groups after TAC. Left ventricular internal chamber dimensions were preserved with the 1.0 mg/kg treatment group. Treatment with GDF11 caused a dose dependent decrease on both body weight and heart weight in both normal and TAC mice, but with an effect on heart weight in the TAC mice that was independent of body weight. However, the 5.0 mg/kg dose caused large reductions in body weight (cachexia) and death. Our results show that GDF11 can reduce pathological hypertrophy and cardiac remodeling after pressure overload, but there is a narrow therapeutic range. / Biomedical Sciences

South Africa is endowed with hot springs, some operating as resorts. Some hot springs are either totally undeveloped or were developed in the past but now collapsed now in disuse. The main objective of this study was to identity competitive factors that contributed to the success or failure of the resorts as tourism destination. A multifaceted approach was used to gather data from three thermal springs located in Vhembe District Municipality in Limpopo, namely, Tshipise, Mphephu and Sagole, through personal observation, field trips, informal discussion, interviews with specific individuals, group interviews, published and unpublished literature. The data generated was analysed using Likert type scale as well as scoring the presence and absence of competitive elements to compare the success factors of the three resorts. Tourism Destination Competitiveness was used as a proxy indicator of successful development of the resorts. The results indicate that Tshipise was very successful, Mphephu less so and Sagole was declining. Elements that require improvement identified and recommendations were made to rejuvenate Sagole. / (M.Sc. Environmental Management)

Migracijos reiškinys yra analizuojamas jau seniai. Iki Lietuvos narystės ES (ir po Lietuvos įstojimo į ES) paskelbta daug darbų migracijos tema. Ypač skaudi valstybei bei aktuali yra aukštąjį išsilavinimą turinčių žmonių emigracija, nes tokiu būdu yra ne tik prarandamos lėšos įdėtos į kvalifikuotos darbo jėgos paruošimą, bet ir prastėja valstybės teikiamų paslaugų kokybė, smunka vidutinis šalies kvalifikacijos lygis, o kartu ir šalies konkurencingumas tarptautinėje rinkoje. Darbo objektas – darbo rinkos politikos įtaka aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų emigracijai. Pagrindiniai uždaviniai - išryškinti emigracijos esmę bei pasekmes; išskirti teorinius aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistams pritaikytus bei su darbo rinka susijusius emigracijos veiksnius; atskleisti Lietuvoje taikomą migracijos politiką; įvertinti aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų emigracijos veiksnius Lietuvoje, didelį dėmesį skiriant darbo rinkos politikai; atlikti ketinimų emigruoti dėl darbo rinkos situacijos kiekybinį tyrimą bei sukurti jo rezultatus apibendrinantį modelį. Darbas susideda iš trijų pagrindinių dalių. Pirmojoje darbo dalyje išryškinama teoriniai aukštos kvalifikacijos specialistų migracijos aspektai, antrojoje darbo dalyje nagrinėjama statistiniai su emigracija susiję Lietuvos ir emigracijos tikslo šalių duomenys, trečiojoje darbo dalyje atliekamas empirinis tyrimas, siekiant įvertinti ketinimų emigruoti sąryšį su darbo rinkos situaciją. Pagal tyrimų rezultatus, pateikiamos išvados bei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The subject of the Master work is emigration of highly qualified specialists. Emigration of highly qualified specialists is known for a long period of time, just now the scales of emigration is higher than ever. Economic recession is playing a big part in this, as all the countries are affected by recession at the different level. Due to migration of highly qualified specialists government looses money, which was spend in gaining the qualification, as well country looses tax payers and overall country looses competitiveness in international arena. The object of the study is the influence of labor market policy to the emigration of highly qualified specialists. The main tasks are to highlight the nature and consequences of emigration; to reveal theoretical immigration–related factors; to evaluate Lithuania’s migration policy; focusing on labor market policy to distinguish to high–qualified specialists orientated emigration factors; to perform a quantitative survey and create a model summarizing the results. Work structure: work consists of three main parts: in the first part is made an analysis of theoretical high qualified specialists emigration aspects, in the second part is made a statistical analysis of Lithuania’s and other countries migration related data and in third – an empirical research made to evaluate the influence of labor market factors to the emigration decision. Working volume: 73 pages, 23 tables, 26 figures and 83 references used: 55 Lithuanian and 28... [to full text]

This empirical research study focuses on the qualities of resilient adolescents in a technical school. The study indicates why some adolescents in a technical school are resilient, while other adolescents in this technical school are not resilient. Thirty resilient and thirty non-resilient adolescents in a technical school were chosen to participate in the empirical study. The empirical study consisted of quantitative research (a questionaire that was completed by the sixty adolescents), and qualitative research (three chosen resilient adolescents took part in an interview). This study is therefore a mixed methods study. The conclusions of the study were supported by the literature. The qualities of the resilient adolescent in a technical school are similar to the qualities of resilient adolescents in other contexts. Resilient adolescents in this technical school were characterized by protective factors and processes that had their roots in the individual, the community, culture and relationships. This study is an explorative study. More rigorous research is needed before this study's findings can be generalised. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2008.

This study examined the trend of ten dropout indicators between various grade levels and focused on those indicators that can be changed, such as attendance or grades, versus those factors that cannot be changed by the student (i.e., their socioeconomic status). The study consisted of 111 Race-to-the-Top Schools from 22 districts in the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC) and the Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) in Kentucky. A total of 18,072 students in fourth, sixth, eighth, ninth, and eleventh grades completed the 10-item dropout indicator survey. Results of the Chi-square analysis indicate that percentages of agreement on most of the ten dropout indicators increase by grade with some exceptions (e.g., repeated a grade and referrals). Overall, academic and non-academic factors were of equal importance for most of the grades surveyed. However, ninth grade students were twice as likely to report non-academic factors over academic.

Resilience characteristics typically have been studied among children and adolescents. A new line of research on resilience is focused on exploring the resilience characteristics of adults exposed to short and long-term adversity. In the present study, 585 master's-level counseling students responded to the Resilience Scale (Wagnild & Young, 1993). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between counseling students' level of resilience and specific background variables (age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, education, income, employment, living situation, sexual orientation, and country of origin), counselor-education program variables (primary field of study, number of credits taken, academic status, professional affiliations, supervision status, counseling courses, role identification, and accreditation), and risk (poverty, natural disasters, and terrorism) and protective variables (perceived support, school expectations, and community involvement). The results of this study indicated that resilience characteristics and the overall resilience score were associated with background variables, risk and protective variables, and counselingtraining- program variables. The counseling-training-program variables examined were minimally correlated with participants' resilience characteristics or their resilience score. The results of this study offer support for the adoption of wellness-based assessments of counseling trainees, as opposed to measures of impairment. Suggestions are offered for counselor educators and supervisors regarding possibilities for fostering the resilience of counseling trainees as well as counseling practitioners.