No description available.

Personal robots can help people live safer, more efficient and comfortable lives. However, such benefits cannot be achieved if people do not use, or accept, personal robots. The use of a technology is predominantly influenced by an individual's intention to use it, which is influenced by his or her attitudes toward it (Davis, 1989). Presently, the key factors that impact the use of personal robots are not fully understood. Two studies were conducted as first step assessments of the Smarr, Fisk, and Rogers (2013) theoretically-based framework of acceptance of personal robots. In study 1, 14 participants used a personal robot (a robot lawn mower) at their homes for about six weeks. Their acceptance and factors important for acceptance identified in the framework were measured using pre-use and post-use interviews and questionnaires, and weekly diaries. The framework was conceptually validated; participants mentioned 16 of the 20 factors in the Smarr et al. (2013) framework. However, the framework did not fully account for the breadth of factors discussed by participants, thereby suggesting variables may need to be added to or removed from the framework. In study 2, 280 participants reported their initial acceptance of a personal robot (a robot mower) with different levels of reliability and communication of feedback in an online survey. Level of robot reliability did significantly affect attitudinal and intentional acceptance. Follow up analyses indicated a trend that participants who received no information on reliability had numerically higher acceptance than participants who were informed that the robot had 70% reliability or 90% reliability. Neither communication of feedback nor its interaction with reliability affected acceptance. The Smarr et al. (2013) framework explained about 60% of the variance in intentional acceptance and 57% in attitudinal acceptance of a personal robot. Eight of the 15 relationships tested were supported via path analysis. Findings largely supported the Smarr et al. (2013) framework in explaining what impacts intentional and attitudinal acceptance of a personal robot. Results from these studies can inform the Smarr et al. (2013) framework of robot acceptance and other models of acceptance, and can guide designers in developing acceptable personal robots.

The McCulloch Manuscripts are an important primary source of eighteenth-century historical documentation that to date have never been put into print in their original form.  This thesis is a critical edition and analysis of the 1,269-page, two-volume text originally entitled <i>Examinations of Persons Under Spiritual Concern at Cambuslang, during the Revival, in 17-41-42</i>, along with its accompanying documents and marginal annotations.  Compiled by the Reverend William McCulloch during the period of 1742-1749, and considered to be Scotland’s first oral history project, this collection of personal conversion narratives from subjects of the revival provides a unique perspective from which to understand the spiritually of both laity and clergy in eighteenth-century Scotland. Chapter One sets the Cambuslang Revival within its historical and local context, and chronicles the treatment given to the revival in prominent scholarly literature over the past two centuries. Chapter Two provides a description and analysis of the physical properties of the manuscripts, and of their distinctive nature and arrangement. Chapter Three details the editorial process utilized by William McCulloch in soliciting and interviewing narrative respondents, and in editing and compiling their narrative accounts in preparation for publication.  This chapter also proposes an interview framework utilized by McCulloch with the narrative respondents, and the distinctive role he played in framing and reporting the respondents’ experiences. Chapter Four definitively establishes the identity, role, and succession of each of the four clerical redactors who assisted McCulloch in preparing the Volume One for publication, analyzing their distinctive theological concerns - both individually and collectively - and their subsequent marginal annotations and revisions of the text.

No description available.

Thesis (M Ed (Human Resources Studies)) --University of South Australia, 1994

Benzene is a volatile organic air pollutant that is ubiquitous in the environment. It is frequently reported in urban airsheds, principally as a result of evaporative emissions from motor vehicles. Increasingly stringent fuel quality standards have resulted in lower mean benzene concentrations in many urban airsheds, however the concentrations reported indoors can be higher than those in urban airsheds. Mean indoor benzene concentrations can reach one order of magnitude higher than those reported in urban airsheds. Long term exposure to very high benzene concentrations can result in leukemia, however the health risks of long term non-industrial exposure in the general public are currently uncertain. An important part of determining the risks of non-industrial benzene exposure is to first determine the influence of various activities on 24-hour personal benzene exposure. Previous research has identified commuting in a private motor vehicle and refuelling with low benzene fuel as statistically significant contributors to nonindustrial benzene exposure in the Northern Hemisphere, however none has quantified the increase in benzene exposure as a result of these activities over a 24-hour period in the Mediterranean climate. The results of the 1987 TEAM study in the South Bay section of California reported that automobile exhaust was a significant contributor to non-industrial benzene exposure based on exhaled breath concentrations (p<0.05) and commuting in a private vehicle (p=0.0003) and refuelling (0.05) were important contributors based on personal benzene exposure concentrations (Wallace et al., 1988). The aims of this thesis were to identify the roles and importance of selected activities in personal exposure to benzene, to determine the increase in 24-hour personal benzene exposure attributable to these activities and quantify the risk posed by these activities in a Mediterranean climate. In particular, the aim of this thesis was to investigate whether commuting in a private motor vehicle and refuelling are significant contributors to non-industrial personal benzene exposure in a Mediterranean climate, or whether lifestyle and climate interact. This research was composed of a personal exposure study, a source monitoring study and a risk assessment. A cross-sectional personal exposure study was conducted for two reasons. Firstly, to quantify the mean personal benzene concentrations to which a representative sample of the general public of Perth was exposed as a result of their daily activities and behaviours. Secondly, to quantify the frequency of commuting by private motor vehicle and refuelling with low benzene fuel in Perth. Fifty participants were recruited for the personal exposure study, and asked to wear a monitor for 24-hour period(including weekends) in summer and winter and record their activities and locations in a diary. Prior to the monitoring they were asked to complete a questionnaire seeking background information on their home, lifestyle and behaviours. The results of the research revealed that there was not a statistically significant difference between the personal benzene exposure concentrations in summer and winter. An analysis of the questionnaire and time activity diary data using a generalised linear mixed model revealed that the time spent commuting in a private motor vehicle (â= 0.281, p<0.0001) and refuelling with low benzene fuel (â = 0.194, p=0.033) were statistically significant contributors to non-industrial benzene exposure. Each hour spent commuting resulted in a mean increase in 24-hour personal exposure of 0.74 ìgm-3 (â= 0.729 ìg m-3, p< 0.0001). The mean increase in exposure per hour of commuting in a private motor vehicle was larger in winter (â= 0.8 ìg m-3, p=0.008) than summer (â= 0.67 ìg m-3, p=0.004). Refuelling increased personal exposure by 1.50 ìg m-3 (1.49, p<0.0001) in each 24-period when refuelling was reported. Benzene source monitoring was conducted at selected locations in Perth for two reasons. Firstly, data quantifying non-industrial personal benzene exposure during refuelling and commuting in a private vehicle in Perth was needed, and secondly, to make an assessment of risk attributable to these activities. Benzene source measurements were conducted in two carparks in the Central Business District (CBD), in the vicinity of the northbound and southbound lanes of the Kwinana Freeway, and at a petrol station. The 7- day arithmetic mean benzene concentrations in the carparks were 4.49 ìg m-3 and 1.23 ìg m-3. The 7-day mean benzene concentrations northbound on the Kwinana Freeway was 2.78 ìg m-3, and the mean benzene concentration southbound was 2.57 ìg m-3. Benzene emissions in the carpark and on the Kwinana Freeway were measured during vehicle idling, which is representative of vehicle speed during heavy vehicle traffic. Benzene emissions at the petrol station were monitored in the vicinity of the petrol bowser, which is representative of emissions during refuelling. The 24-hour mean benzene concentration at the petrol station bowser was 38.15 ìg m-3. The results of this research revealed that refuelling and commuting in a private vehicle are the most significant contributors to non-industrial benzene exposure in Perth, and that the contribution of these two activities in Perth is far greater than in previous published research, on the basis of the results obtained from the generalised linear model. The results of this research quantified the increase in non-industrial benzene exposure from refuelling and commuting in a private motor vehicle in a Mediterranean climate for the first time, and quantified the lifetime excess cancer risk attributable to these activities in a Mediterranean climate for the first time. The lifetime excess cancer unit risks of these two activities in a Mediterranean climate were 7.4x10-5 or 7.4 per 100000 population for commuting and 15.03 x 10-4 or 15 per 10000 for refuelling.

Zugl.: Bremen, Univ., Diss., 2006

Thesis (B.A.Hons.) from the Department of History, University of Adelaide, 1980.

Thesis (Ph.D)--University of Wollongong, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 366-409.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-129). Also available via the Internet.