Technology changes often force teachers, trainers, instructional designers, and administrators to make instructional design and delivery decisions that ideally should be based upon pedagogy research. In many circumstances, however, a foundational pedagogy question is only recognized when a technology decision reveals it. Such is the case when deciding what mode (video or audio) to use for learner interaction in a synchronous online learning event. While some research has focused on the learning and the satisfaction of learners when they were interacting, almost no research has addressed the learning value of observing the interactions of other learners. The purpose of this research study was to investigate whether the mode in which direct learner interactions were made affected non-interacting learners' recall of content in a synchronous virtual learning environment. The participants in this study viewed one of three versions of a webinar on Multimedia Games for Learning: a) all learners interacted in video mode; b) all learners interacted in audio mode; or all learners interacted in both video and audio in a mixed mode. No statistically significant difference was found between the video, audio, and mixed treatment conditions in terms of the recall of content from the questions or comments made by directly interacting learners. However, a statically significant difference was found in non-interacting learners' recall of the contributions of direct interactors based on the mode of interaction within the mixed-mode group. Study participants recalled more of the contributions made in the audio mode of interaction than in the video mode when the modes were mixed. These findings suggest that designers of synchronous online learning may choose either video or audio mode without affecting those learners who are not directly interacting but should take care in mixing interaction modes within a single synchronous online learning event. The contributions of the study reach beyond the findings. The study supports vicarious interaction as a process worthy of research and e-Learning design consideration. It provides a model for experimental manipulation of "simulated" synchronous sessions, and it introduces recall of others' verbal contributions as an approach to measurement of the attention granted vicarious interactions by those not interacting directly with others.

L'interaction tactile multi-points co-localisée procure un fort sentiment de contrôle direct mais introduit des problèmes d'occultation, de précision et de fatigue. Ces problèmes sont exacerbés sur les écrans de grandes dimensions, qui supportent la manipulation de grandes quantités de données, souvent en collaboration avec d'autres utilisateurs. Pour résoudre ces problèmes, cette thèse s'intéresse à l'introduction d'indirections dans l'interaction multi-points sur grands écrans. Nos travaux portent sur l'étude des facteurs qui influencent la précision dans les tâches de sélection sans prévisualisation du contact. Les résultats de deux expériences contrôlées ont ainsi permis d'estimer la précision attendue selon les caractéristiques des périphériques d'entrée et de sortie et des conditions d'utilisation. Sur la base de ces connaissances, nos travaux portent également sur le développement de nouvelles techniques d'interaction pour écrans de grandes dimensions. Nous avons d'abord proposé une technique permettant d'interagir indirectement avec une tablette tactile, en introduisant la gestion de plusieurs curseurs contrôlés relativement. Nous avons ensuite conçu une interaction reposant sur la création de plusieurs périphériques virtuels qui supportent une interaction à la fois directe et indirecte tout en permettant de réorganiser les éléments d'une interface. Parallèlement à cela, nous avons transformé un écran mural de 6*2,4m en une surface tactile multi-points afin de pouvoir tester les techniques et scénarios discutés dans ces travaux. / Co-localized multi-touch interaction affords a high feeling of directness but introduces problems of occlusion, precision and fatigue. These problems are even more acute with large displays, supporting the interaction with large data sets, often in collaboration with other users. To solve these problems this thesis focuses on the introduction of indirections in multi-touch interaction on large displays. We first study factors impacting accuracy in selection tasks without contact preview. Results of two controlled experiments allowed to estimate the expected accuracy depending on input and output device characteristics and input conditions. Based on this knowledge, we developed new interaction techniques for large displays. We first introduced a technique to interact indirectly using a tactile tablet by introducing the control of several cursors using a relative mapping. Then we proposed an interaction technique based on the creation of multiple soft-devices that supports both direct and indirect interaction and allows to re-arrange the interface of legacy applications. In order to design, test and evaluate these techniques, we turned a back projected wall display (6*2,4m) into an interactive multi-touch surface.

When testing nine different sunflower cultivars in 32 South African environments (location x year), an Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction analysis (AMMI) identified sizeable genotype by environment (GxE) interaction. The first two Interaction Principal Components Axes (IPCA1 and IPCA2) were highly significant (p<0.001), but all the factors responsible for the GxE interaction could not be identified, as the causes of interaction seems to be of complex nature. IPCA1 captured 34% of the interaction SS with only 15.3% of the degrees of freedom, while IPCA2 captured 22.5% of the interaction SS with 14.5% of the degrees of freedom. This indicates that the AMMI2 model fits the data well and is parsimonious. Both cultivars and environments grouped together in quadrants according to their length of season when their respective IPCA1 and IPCA2 scores were plotted against each other. Environments from the warmer dry Western and Northern regions, including the Dry Highveld Grassland, Northern Arid and Central Bushveld, grouped in opposite quadrants, 1 and 3, while environments from the cooler moist Eastern regions, including the Moist Highveld Grassland grouped in opposite quadrants, 2 and 4. The factors responsible for the division between quadrants 1 and 3, as well as those responsible for the division between quadrants 2 and 4 could not be identified. The long-season cultivars were better adapted to the Northern and Western environments, while the medium-season cultivars were better adapted to the Eastern environments. Each quadrant was dominated by a different cultivar. Because the environments and cultivars could not be sufficiently described according to the factors responsible for the observed GxE interaction, cultivars can not be advised for specific environments. It is therefore presently recommended that cultivars which are more widely adapted to South African conditions, be selected. / Dissertation (MSc (Genetics))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Genetics / unrestricted

<p>Five Investigations were conducted to examine the antecedents of participation in voluntary organizations. The objective of these studies were to identify factors which influence the decision to become a volunteer. While much prior research has been devoted to this subject, his series is distinctive insofar as it examines a broader range of potential determinants, employs longitudinal panel designs and directs particular attention to individual differences in the circumstance, the events and the psychological stares which precede voluntary action. In the first study, the reasons advanced by individuals to account for their decision to volunteer were examined employing open-ended interview questions and rating scale measures. Consistent with prior research, it was observed that most persons had more than one reason for volunteering. However, application of two statistical reduction techniques revealed that these reasons tended to be given in clusters and that there were three main purposes for joining: (1) Advancements of Career and Personal Goals (2) Social and Situational Compensation (3) Altruism The second study was designed to explore the relationship between social background factors and the reasons for undertaking voluntary action. This investigation demonstrated that persons with similar social backgrounds often pursue voluntary action for similar purposes. The analysis revealed that students often participate to obtain career experience while unemployed persons and those recently experiencing major life events (e.g. retirement, loss of spouse, change in parental responsibilities), were more likely to volunteer in order to meet people, relieve boredom, and find purpose in life. In addition, while most persons mentioned a desire to help others among their reasons for volunteering, only retired or full-time employed respondents with situational stability (i.e., no recent life events) accentuated the altruistic purpose of their actions in their explanations. These results suggest that social background factors may influence the perceived utility of such pursuits and influence the reasons why people volunteer. Study three examined the amount of social encouragement to volunteer received by various types of initiators. This investigation revealed that young individuals, persons with less formal education and first time joiners were especially likely to have been persuaded to join. Conversely, elderly persons, those experiencing recent major life events and individuals with previous volunteer experience were considerably less likely to have been persuaded. While prior research has shown that social encouragement is frequently associated with the initiation of voluntary action, this study is the first to assess which types of joiners were most likely to receive encouragement to volunteer. The fourth and fifth study of this thesis examined the relationship between attitudes toward voluntary action and participation in instrumental voluntary organizations. Study four assessed whether attitudes were predictive of joins which took place after various temporal delays. Attitudes were found to be excellent predictors of participation initiated within one to eight months of an attitude measure, but progressively less predictive of joins occurring after longer delays. Moreover, it was also discovered that attitudes tend to be better long-range predictors when the join was not preceded by a life event and when the individual undertook participation to promote organizational goals rather than personal objectives. Finally, a three part investigation was conducted to examine the extent to which attitudes change when individuals become volunteers. Part one was a two-year longitudinal study which demonstrated that attitudes toward voluntary action became significantly more favourable when individuals joined voluntary organizations and significantly less favourable when such activities were terminated. In part two, it was observed that this attitude change occurred before the individuals had joined the organization and changed little once participation had begun. Finally, part three of this investigation indicated that attitudes toward voluntary action generally became more favourable only after the individual had decided to become a volunteer. The implications of these findings with respect to the role of attitudes in the decision to volunteer are discussed. Throughout these studies, individual differences in the determinants of these activities were repeatedly noted. It is crucial that investigators direct increased attention to these differences in the development of their models of volunteer motivation. To assist in this regard, a model is presented which accommodates individual variation in the antecedents of participation and provides a conceptual framework in which to consider the significance of various antecedents of this phenomenon.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Few researchers have addressed the important issue of three-dimensional multiple object selection (MOS) in immersive Virtual Environments (VEs). We have developed a taxonomy of the MOS task as a framework for exploring the design space of these techniques. In this thesis, we describe four techniques for selecting multiple objects in immersive VEs. Of the four techniques, two are serial (where only one object can be indicated per operation), and two are parallel (where one or more objects may be indicated per operation). Within each of the two categories we also investigated two metaphors of interaction: a 3D spatial metaphor and the pen and tablet metaphor. Two usability studies were used to evaluate the four techniques, iterate their designs, and gain a deeper understanding of the design space of MOS techniques. The results from our studies show that parallel MOS techniques can select objects faster than serial techniques as the number of target objects increase. We also show that effective techniques for MOS in immersive VEs can be created using both pen and tablet and 3D metaphors. / Master of Science

Various results have suggested that in Escherichia coli murein assembly may involve a protein complex(es) which could include low molecular mass penicillin-binding prpteins (PBPs). These proteins include PBP4, PBP5 and PBP6 which are penicillin sensitive enzymes associated with the periplasmic face of the inter membrane. The levels of these associations have been linked to enzymic activity and elucidation of the mechanism(s) involved in these associations may help identify and understand the regulation of this putative protein complex. It is currently accepted that the membrane associations of PBP5 and PBPÔ involve C-terminal amphiphilic cz-helices and such helices are ubiquitously employed in the lipid associations of membrane interactive protein molecules. Whether such helical structure features in the membrane associations of PBP4 or indeed if this protein is membrane bound or soluble, are, as yet, open questions. The focus of this research has been to investigate the lipid and membrane interactions of PBP4, PBP5 and PBP6 and in particular, to investigate the role played by these interactions of the C-terminal region of these proteins. Haemolytic analysis has shown that peptide homologues of the PBP5 and PBP6 C-terminal regions, P5 and P6, are active at the membrane interface and CD analysis has shown that these peptides possess a capacity for a-helix formation. CD and pressure - area isotherm analysis of monolayers formed from PS and P6 have shown that these peptides are able to adopt a-helical structure at an air - water interface. Monolayer studies have shown that P5 and P6 are able to interact with lipids and that these interactions are characterised by minor requirements for anionic lipid and the involvement of predominantly hydrophobic forces which are enhanced by low pH. Similar characteristics were revealed when perturbant washes and Western blotting were used to investigate the interactions of PBP5 with membranes derived from a mutant E. coli strain, HDL 11, in which the level of anionic lipid can be controlled. Overall, these results strongly support the hypothesis that C-terminal amphiphilic a-helices feature in PBP5 and PBP6 membrane anchoring. Molecular area determinations have implied that a peptide homologue of the PBP4 C-terminal region, P4 is able to adopt a-helical structure and this was confirmed by CD analysis. P4 showed no haemolytic activity but the peptide was found to interact generally with lipid monolayers. These monolayer interactions were characterised by a requirement for anionic lipid and involved predominantly electrostatic forces, which were enhanced by low pH. Similar characteristics but with no detectable requirement for anionic lipid were revealed when perturbant washes and chemiluminesence were used to investigate the interactions of PBP4 with membranes of the overproducing strain HB 10 I/pBK4 and those of HDL1 1. It is suggested that the PBP4 C-terminal region may play a role in PBP4 - membrane anchoring. Using chemiluminesence, no soluble form of PBP4 could be detected in the wild type E. coli, MRE600, suggesting that in wild type strains, PBP4 is exclusively membrane bound. It is suggested that PBP4 - membrane anchoring occurs at a specific binding site and overall, may differ fundamentally from that of PBP5 and PBP6.

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ABSTRACT Hotels and the hotel sector is one of the most uprising sector on the market and individuals travels more and in Sweden the capacity of logy and hotels continue to grow. The development of the industry increases the need to more capacity of hotel room in Sweden and in the destination in this study area Örnsköldsvik. The effects of higher competition along actors is an important subject to study because it is one industry that seams to grow with time. The results lead to guidance for similar destinations to see the effect of a changed market. Hotels is important for a destination to offer the potential tourist somewhere to stay and that leads to higher finance for the local area. Recent studies have shown that hotels can be a sign for a destinations welfare and economic stability and is one way for municipality to increase the interested for This thesis aims to describe and analyze the effect of a change market and what this means for the existing actors. Also what+ higher capacity of rooms make for a destination to reach some types of events and conference. To get the results for this study statistic from different database has been collected and is supplemented with interview with the municipality of Örnsköldsvik. It is proven in this study that hotel is important for the development of tourism and is one key factor to attract different events. Keywords: Interactions, Competition, Changed market

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