In the last few years, many schools and universities have incorporated personal digital assistants (PDAs) into their teaching curricula, in an attempt to enhance students' learning experience and reduce instructors' workload. One of the most common uses of PDAs in the classroom is as a test administrator. This study compared the usability effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction of a PDA-based quiz application to that of standard paper-and-pencil quizzes in a university course in order to determine whether it was advisable to invest time and money in PDA-based testing. The effects of computer anxiety, age, gender, and ethnicity on usability were also evaluated, to ascertain that these factors do not discriminate against individuals taking PDA-based tests. Five quizzes were administered to students participating in an engineering introductory course. Of these, students took two PDA-based quizzes and three paper-and-pencil quizzes. One PDA-based quiz and one paper-and-pencil quiz were compared in terms of their effectiveness, measured as students' quiz scores and through a mental workload questionnaire; their efficiency, which was the time it took students to complete each quiz; and their satisfaction, evaluated using a subjective user satisfaction questionnaire. Computer anxiety was also measured, using an additional questionnaire. It was hypothesized that the PDA-based quiz would be more effective and efficient than the paper-and-pencil quiz and that students' satisfaction with the PDA-based quiz would be greater. The study showed the PDA-based quiz to be more efficient, that is, students completed it in less time than they needed to complete the paper-and-pencil quiz. No differences in effectiveness and satisfaction were found between the two quiz types. It was also hypothesized that for PDA-based quizzes, as computer anxiety increased, effectiveness and satisfaction would decrease; for paper-and-pencil quizzes there would be no relationship between computer anxiety and effectiveness and no relationship between computer anxiety and satisfaction. Findings showed an increase in quiz score (increase in effectiveness) and an increase in mental workload (decrease in effectiveness) as computer anxiety increased for both quiz types. No relationship was found between computer anxiety and satisfaction for either paper-and-pencil or PDA-based quizzes. The final hypothesis suggested that user satisfaction would be positively correlated with effectiveness (quiz score and mental workload) for both PDA-based and paper-and-pencil quizzes. No relationship was found between quiz score and satisfaction for either quiz type. User satisfaction was positively correlated with mental workload, regardless of quiz type. The usability comparison of paper-and-pencil and PDA-based quizzes found the latter to be equal, if not superior, to the former. The effort students put into taking the quiz was the same, regardless of administration method, and scores were not affected. In addition, different demographic groups performed almost equally well in both quiz types (white students' PDA-based quiz scores were slightly lower than those of the other ethnic groups). Computer anxiety was not affected by the quiz type. For these reasons, as well as other advantages to both students (e.g. real-time scoring) and teachers (e.g. spending less time on grading), PDAs are an attractive test administration option for schools and universities. / Graduation date: 2004

Best international health practice requires that all people benefit equally from health care services regardless of their socio-economic status and that healthcare payments be based on ability to pay. Although recent household surveys in Malawi show progress in a number of health indicators population averages, many inequalities in health outcomes still exist or are widening among households stratified by socioeconomic and geographical location variables. Inequalities in out-of-pocket expenditures (OOPEs) for healthcare and how they influence utilization of healthcare services are of particular interest to policy makers as they ultimately affect overall health of households. The rationale for this study is that analysis of inequities in healthcare between socioeconomic groups can help to unmask intra-group and between groups' inequities hidden in national population averages. The study's three main papers examined equity in households' out-of-pocket healthcare payments and utilization of medical care. The study adopted the widely used economic frameworks and techniques developed by O'Donnell et al (2008) for analyzing health equity using household data. These economic frameworks focus on the notion of equal treatment for equal need and that payment for healthcare should be according to ability to pay. The Malawi Integrated Household Survey 2(2005) (MIHS2) was the main dataset used in the analysis. The MIHS2 is currently the only dataset that presents inequalities in healthcare expenditures at the household level in Malawi. However, the MIHS2 report does not examine the extent to which these inequalities are inequities. It is in this context that the first study focused on assessing, first, the progressivity of OOPEs for healthcare and second, the redistributive effect of OOPEs for healthcare as a source of finance in the Malawi health system. The progressivity results indicate that OOPEs for healthcare are relatively regressive in Malawi with the poor shouldering the highest financial burden relative to their ability to pay. The study found no evidence of redistributive effect of OOPEs on income inequalities in Malawi. The second study focused on linking OOPEs to use of healthcare using the recommended two-part model (Probit and OLS). The concentration indices were decomposed into contributing factors after standardizing for health need factors, which include age, sex, self-assessed health, chronic illness and disabilities. Probability of use of healthcare and OOPEs were both found to be concentrated among the non-poor while the poor who have higher health need have less use of healthcare. The last study assessed the socioeconomic factors associated with horizontal equity in use of medical facilities and predicted use using logistic regression. General medical facilities use was found to be more concentrated among the non-poor despite the poor having a higher health need. The results showed no significant inequalities in use of public medical facilities and self-treatment between the poor and the non-poor. Overall, inequalities in healthcare utilization and out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures in Malawi are mainly influenced by socioeconomic factors, which are non-need factors than health need factors. Inequalities due to non-need factors suggest presence of inequities, which are avoidable and unjust. This study can help policy makers have a better understanding of the possible effects of OOPEs and help in explaining the factors contributing to inequities in medical care utilization in Malawi. Such information is necessary so that highest priority should be given to the health problems or challenges disproportionately affecting households with varying levels of socioeconomic privilege. / Graduation date: 2012

This thesis was designed and written with advertising stakeholders in mind. The aim of my thesis is to illustrate how listening to and understanding the behavior and voices of consumers from the perspective of a trained anthropologist can improve advertising strategies. My instruments for conducting this research include an in-depth investigation of 28 consumers who use organizing devices (e.g. personal digital assistants and paper-based organizers) and a qualitative analysis of two print ads from Palm, Inc. In the first phase of my research, I employed ethnographic techniques and analyses to shed light on the usage-based benefits consumers realize by using organizers. In the second part of my research, I reveal my analysis and interpretations of print ads from Palm, one of the world's largest producers of organizers. My research culminates with the placement of the Palm advertisers' decisions in a critical framework. I do this by illuminating the consonance and contradiction between the ways in which I found consumers using organizers and the ways in which they are promoted in the advertising. Among other things, my research found informants using their organizers as a means to escape the tedium of commuting to and from work; I also found informants using their organizers to extend their memory capacity and create solutions to problems. In the end, my interpretations lead to pragmatic conclusions that potentially make advertising strategy more efficacious: Palm advertising should create scenes in which people are actively using their organizers to achieve benefits (e.g. memory, entertainment, etc.) they seek. / Graduation date: 2003

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-146). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2003. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-53). Also available on the Internet.

No description available.

The Baird’s pocket gopher (Geomys breviceps) is a solitary, fossorial rodent found throughout areas of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Research focusing on the population genetics of pocket gophers and other species with limited vagility and isolated populations is lacking. Through the use of mitochondrial and microsatellite data, a series of population genetic analyses were completed to better understand the population structure and gene flow among a series of G. breviceps localities. Pocket gophers were captured from five localities in the Brazos Valley and used in this study. Due to the lack of microsatellite loci available for G. breviceps, 10 loci were created for use in this study. Overall estimates from the population genetic analyses showed high levels of gene flow amongst nearby localities with decreasing levels as distance between localities increased. Findings suggest that 2-3 localities located within 2 km of each other function as one genetic cluster thus showing 3-4 total genetic clusters total in this study. Results also suggest that the Baird’s pocket gopher is capable of moving at least 2 km, but further analyses should be completed to better understand dispersal distance.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1983.