In recent years, energy efficiency in the built environment has been attracting considerable interest to mitigate energy consumption. A number of scientific studies indicate that rising air pollution, decreasing biodiversity, ocean acidification and other adverse effects on humans and the environment in recent decades are due to greenhouse gas emissions, and a substantial share of the emissions can be attributed to energy usage in residential buildings. Investments in energy-efficient technologies have been made to alleviate such human induced causes contributing to the emissions, but they are still far from widespread, calling for a thorough understanding of individuals' decision-making processes to promote further adoption of energy efficiency investments. Although personality has been widely recognised as an explanatory factor of behaviour, a rigorous discussion of it in the context of energy efficiency investments is missing. As such, to understand the role of personality traits in making high-cost energy efficiency investments in residential buildings, this research applies a multidisciplinary approach to derive theoretical models that are evaluated in subsequent empirical investigations using quantitative methods and data from the UK and Germany. The findings suggest three ways through which personality can influence energy efficiency investments. The first is an indirect impact of personality traits through risk preferences, in which the significance of the personality effects depends on the financial subsidy context. The second is an indirect effect of personality traits through environmental concern. The third way suggests an impact of personality traits through their importance for individuals' capability and willingness to consider peer behaviour.

Food selectivity exhibited by children with autism creates a myriad of barriers for families and children, ranging from social to nutritional. The typical approach to food selectivity is pathological. The pathological approach attempts to eliminate food selectivity through the use of techniques such as escape extinction. While successful in decreasing aspects of food challenges, such as food refusals, the pathological approach does not necessarily establish desired responses to foods or mealtimes (e.g., favorable affect, approach, generalized sampling, etc.). The purpose of the current study was to explore an alternative, constructional approach to food challenges presented by two children diagnosed with autism. This approach focuses on the development of favorable responses to food through the use of shaping. Furthermore, the shaping process involved a conceptual and procedural widening of the stimulus and response classes selected. The results of a non-concurrent multiple baseline experiment, suggest this approach was successful in expanding the number of food the children tasted and ate while maintaining favorable or neutral affect and child assent.

Wong, Yuen Chau. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-83). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Overview --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Motivation --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Objective --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Our contribution --- p.5 / Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of the Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter 2 --- Related Work --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Existing Sentiment Classification Approach --- p.7 / Chapter 2.2 --- Existing Sentiment Analysis Approach --- p.9 / Chapter 2.3 --- Our Approach --- p.11 / Chapter 3 --- Extracting Product Feature Sentences using Supervised Learning Algorithms --- p.12 / Chapter 3.1 --- Overview --- p.12 / Chapter 3.2 --- Association Rules Mining --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Apriori Algorithm --- p.13 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Class Association Rules Mining --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3 --- Naive Bayesian Classifier --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Basic Idea --- p.14 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Feature Selection Techniques --- p.15 / Chapter 3.4 --- Experiment --- p.17 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Data Sets --- p.18 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Experimental Setup and Evaluation Measures --- p.19 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Class Association Rules Mining --- p.20 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- Naive Bayesian Classifier --- p.22 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Effect on Data Size --- p.25 / Chapter 3.5 --- Discussion --- p.27 / Chapter 4 --- Extracting Product Feature Sentences Using Unsupervised Learning Algorithms --- p.28 / Chapter 4.1 --- Overview --- p.28 / Chapter 4.2 --- Unsupervised Learning Algorithms --- p.29 / Chapter 4.2.1 --- K-means Algorithm --- p.29 / Chapter 4.2.2 --- Density-Based Scan --- p.29 / Chapter 4.2.3 --- Hierarchical Clustering --- p.30 / Chapter 4.3 --- Distance Function --- p.32 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- Euclidean Distance --- p.32 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Jaccard Distance --- p.32 / Chapter 4.4 --- Experiment --- p.33 / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Cluster Labeling --- p.33 / Chapter 4.4.2 --- K-means Algorithm --- p.34 / Chapter 4.4.3 --- Density-Based Scan --- p.35 / Chapter 4.4.4 --- Hierarchical Clustering --- p.36 / Chapter 4.5 --- Discussion --- p.37 / Chapter 5 --- Extracting Product Feature Sentences Using Concept Clustering --- p.39 / Chapter 5.1 --- Overview --- p.39 / Chapter 5.2 --- Distance Function --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Association Weight --- p.40 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Chi Square --- p.41 / Chapter 5.2.3 --- Mutual Information --- p.41 / Chapter 5.3 --- Experiment --- p.41 / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Effect on Distance Functions --- p.42 / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Extraction of Product Features Clusters --- p.43 / Chapter 5.3.3 --- Labeling of Sentences --- p.45 / Chapter 5.4 --- Discussion --- p.48 / Chapter 6 --- Extracting Product Feature Sentences Using Concept Clustering and Proposed Unsupervised Learning Algorithm --- p.49 / Chapter 6.1 --- Overview --- p.49 / Chapter 6.2 --- Problem Statement --- p.50 / Chapter 6.3 --- Proposed Algorithm - Scalable Thresholds Clustering --- p.50 / Chapter 6.4 --- Properties of the Proposed Unsupervised Learning Algorithm --- p.54 / Chapter 6.4.1 --- Relationship between threshold functions & shape of clusters --- p.54 / Chapter 6.4.2 --- Expansion process --- p.56 / Chapter 6.4.3 --- Impact of Different Threshold Functions --- p.58 / Chapter 6.5 --- Experiment --- p.61 / Chapter 6.5.1 --- Comparative Studies for Clusters Formation and Sentences Labeling with Digital Camera Dataset --- p.62 / Chapter 6.5.2 --- Experiments with New Datasets --- p.67 / Chapter 6.6 --- Discussion --- p.74 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion and Future Work --- p.76 / Chapter 7.1 --- Compare with Existing Work --- p.76 / Chapter 7.2 --- Contribution & Implication of this Work --- p.78 / Chapter 7.3 --- Future Work & Improvement --- p.79 / REFFERENCE --- p.80 / Chapter A --- Concept Clustering for DC data with DB Scan (Terms in Concept Clusters) --- p.84 / Chapter B --- Concept Clustering for DC data with Single-linkage Hierarchical Clustering (Terms in Concept Clusters) --- p.87 / Chapter C --- Concept Clusters for Digital Camera data (Comparative Studies) --- p.91 / Chapter D --- Concept Clusters for Personal Computer data (Comparative Studies) --- p.98 / Chapter E --- Concept Clusters for Mobile data (Comparative Studies) --- p.103 / Chapter F --- Concept Clusters for MP3 data (Comparative Studies) --- p.109

En raison du grand succès des réseaux sans _l et des appareils portatifs, le paradigme de l'informatique pervasive est devenu une réalité. L'un des plus di_ciles objectifs à atteindre dans de tels environnements est de permettre à l'utilisateur d'exécuter une tâche en composant à la volée, les services et les ressources de l'environnement. Cela implique la correspondance et la sélection automatique de services à travers divers dispositifs de l'environnement pervasif. Les approches existantes considèrent souvent seulement les aspects fonctionnels des services et ne prennent pas en compte diff érents aspects non-fonctionnels tels que les préférences utilisateur, les capacités des dispositifs en termes matériels et logiciels, et l'hétérogénéité du réseau de ces dispositifs. Nous présentons une approche pour la sélection dynamique des composants et des dispositifs dans un environnement pervasif en considérant simultanément tous les aspects précédemment mentionnés. Premièrement, nous proposons une modélisation abstraite et concrète de l'application, des capacités des terminaux et des ressources, des préférences des utilisateurs, ainsi que la modélisation de la plate-forme réseau sous-jacente. Les capacit és des dispositifs sont représentées par notre extension du modèle CC/PP et les préférences des utilisateurs en utilisant notre extension du modèle CP-Net. Nous mod- élisons sous forme d'un graphe la tâche de l'utilisateur et des services réseau sous-jacent, ainsi que les exigences des services, des préférences utilisateur et les capacités des dispositifs. L'hétérogénéité des protocoles de communication est également considérée dans les graphes. Les aspects algorithmiques ont été traités en fournissant des algorithmes pour la correspondance entre les services et les composants, pour la projection des applications sur la plate-forme de composants existants et pour l'évaluation des préférences utilisateurs. Pour la description de la composition de l'application nous proposons un modèle SCA étendu. Partant d'une composition abstraite de services, nous arrivons à réaliser une composition concrète de l'application distribuée à travers les dispositifs existants. Si pendant l'exécution un nouveau meilleur dispositif apparaît, l'application est recomposée en tenant compte des nouveaux composants. Cela permet de réaliser la continuité de la session d'un dispositif vers un autre. Une mise en oeuvre d'un prototype et son évaluation sont également fournis. / Due to the large success of wireless networks and portable devices, the pervasive computing paradigm is becoming a reality. One of the most challenging objectives to be achieved in pervasive computing environments is to allow a user to perform a task by composing on the _y the environment's service and resource components. This involves automatic matching and selection of services across various devices in the pervasive environment. Existing approaches mostly consider only functional aspects for service and component matching and do not consider various non-functional aspects such as user preferences, device capabilities in terms of software and hardware, and network heterogeneity of devices. We present an approach for dynamic selection of components and devices in a pervasive environments considering all the aforementioned aspects simultaneously. First, we provide a modeling of abstract and concrete application, device capabilities and resources, user preferences as well as modeling of the underlying connected platform. Device capabilities are represented by our extended CC/PP model and user preferences using our extended CP-net model. We model both the user task and the underlying network services, along with service requirements, user preferences and device capabilities, as graphs. The heterogeneity of communication protocols is also considered in the graph. The algorithmic aspects have been treated by providing algorithms for service and component matching, application mapping on network platform and user preference evaluation. For description of application composition extended SCA model is used. Departing from an abstract composition, we arrive on achieving a concrete application composition which may be distributed across more than one device. If during the application execution a new, better device appears, the application is recomposed to replace the existing components by the newer ones. This also implies the continuity of session from one device to another. A prototype implementation and its evaluation are also provided.

A study of the spring and summer habitat preferences of blue grouse was conducted on the Bear River Range in northern Utah. The main objective was to determine the important factors associated with habitat selection by blue grouse during the breeding season. One hundred and two sampling areas, delimited by similarities in vegetation and topography, were thoroughly searched with a dog for blue grouse. Fifty-four bio logical and physical variables were measured for each sampling area. Chi-square tests performed on all variables showed 11 of the 54 variables to be significant at an alpha of 0.20. These 11 variables (li sted below) were considered to be the important factors influencing habitat selection by blue grouse. (1) search area type (2) area exposure (3) elevation (4) percent forested (5) understory density (6) primary cover species (7) secondary cover species (8) percent cover maples (Acer grandidentatum) (9) percent cover mixed brush (10) percent cover sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) (11) total acres The chi-square test only determined if a variable significantly effected habitat selection by blue grouse. To determine whether this effect was positive or negative, the percent occurrence of areas on which blue grouse were present, or absent, was determined. Results indicated that the most favorable blue grouse habitat was draws at 5,500 -6.499 feet elevation. This favorable habitat contained 1-10 percent cover by maples, or a higher percent of maple which provided a large amount of edge effect; the presence of mixed brush or sagebrush, a medium understory, and an area incline of 5-19 percent.

The implementation of learning styles models in the classroom remains a heavily debated topic in education. Notable problems with utilization of learning styles in the classroom include a lack of empirical research support and potential maladaptive effects on student learning and motivation. The primary research questions focused on the presence and quantity of learning styles discussion in the text, which definitions, models, and recommendations were presented, and which of the cited references were based on empirical data. The answers to these questions were compared between educational psychology and introduction to education textbooks. A content analysis of introduction to education (n = 10) and educational psychology (n = 10) textbooks was conducted. Eighty percent of the textbooks included a discussion of learning styles. Half of the textbooks defined learning style as a preference or approach and the other half as an individual process or style. One-fourth of the textbooks recommended matching instructional methods to learning styles. One comparison of text types, the number of empirical references cited in the text, was statistically significant. Given that most textbooks do not recommend matching instructional methods to learning styles, future research should examine the source of teachers’ beliefs that student learning is improved with the matching of learning styles to teaching approach.

Rural adolescents suffer from poor nutrition, increasing their risk for obesity and other chronic diseases. The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), an off-shoot of the National School Lunch Program, provides meals to qualifying children, including low-income, rural adolescents, under the age of 18. The purpose of this study was to: 1) examine the impact of the SFSP on the nutrition–related knowledge, self-reported fruit and vegetable (SRFV) consumption, and the constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and behavioral intentions) of rural, low-income adolescents; and 2) examine the relationship between nutrition behaviors (quality food selection and consumption) and participation in the SFSP using digital photography. The participants (N = 78) were recruited from those enrolled in the Upward Bound (UB) Summer Program at a mid-sized university that utilized the SFSP. The UB, a federally funded program, provided the opportunity to reach high school students from low-income, rural areas to study the aforementioned effects of the SFSP. The quasi-experimental pre- post-intervention design used a survey (n = 57) to determine predictors of positive nutrition behaviors and digital photography (n = 43) to determine actual food selection and consumption of those enrolled in the SFSP. A nutrition quality scale (0-6, with 6 indicating higher quality) was developed in order to categorize food items within food groups according to their nutritional value, and aided in determining quality of foods selected and consumed. Paired samples t-test showed a significant increase in knowledge (t(56) = -8.09, p = .000) and SRFV consumption (t(56) = -3.20, p = .002) from pre- to post-intervention. Regression analysis demonstrated that all constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were significant (F(4, 52) = 14.56, p < .001 with an R2of .53) for predicting behavior intentions, with perceived behavioral control (PBC) being the most salient predictor of intentions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. A one-way repeated measures MANOVA was not significant for the comparison of pre- and post- survey scores for knowledge, SRFV consumption, and the constructs of the TPB, F (4, 53) = .604, p = .660. Digital photography showed a significant increase in consumption from week 1 (baseline) to week 5 (program completion) for fruit (t(42) = -2.04, p = .048) and milk (t(42) = -3.13, p = .003) at lunch, for milk (t(42) = -3.01, p = .003) at supper, and for milk overall (all three meals combined), t(42) = -3.08, p = .004. Vegetable consumption decreased significantly from week 1 to week 5 t(42) = 2.47, p = .018 at supper and overall (all three meals combined) t(42) = 2.65, p = .011. Two proportion z tests showed a statistically significant decrease in the selection of food items at quality level 2 from week 1 (.34) to week 5, z = 3.11, p = .002, and statistically significant increases in the selection of quality level 3 (.20), z = -2.15, p = .031, and quality level 5 (.17), z = -3.33, p < .000, item. Two proportion z tests showed a statistically significant decrease in the consumption of food items at quality level 5 from week 1 (.62) to week 5, z = 2.94, p = .003. However, the analysis showed no consistent increase in the quality of foods selected or consumed from week 1 to week 5. Opportunities for shaping adolescent nutrient intake and eating behaviors during and outside of enrollment in the SFSP exist. Reinforcing positive attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control while participants are enrolled in the SFSP may help to increase nutrition behavioral intentions and therefore, nutrition behaviors. Opportunities also exist for offering healthier food options for those participating in the SFSP. SFSP participants are a captive, impressionable group, and providing a supportive social and physical environment, and high nutritional quality choices in the SFSP more often may provide the potential for behavior change that may lead to an increase in healthy nutritious habits for adolescents from rural areas.

The primary goal of this dissertation was to gain a better understanding of individuals’ membership benefits preferences and attitudes toward donation programs in the context of urban zoo settings. The first objective of this dissertation was to provide a background on membership and donation related research in the context of zoos and other relevant organizations. Based on the review of literature, the second objective was to empirically examine, through two independent studies, zoo membership benefit preferences and attitudes toward a donation program. <div><br></div><div>Despite a wealth of knowledge in the literature with respect to zoo visitors, animals, exhibits, and related programs, little research has been conducted on individuals’ preferences for zoo membership benefit packages and attitudes toward donation programs. To fill the gaps in these areas, the first empirical study examined factors that influence current and prospective members’ decision-making when choosing a membership package at an urban zoo. More specifically, the study explored preferences for selected membership program benefits and benefit levels, as well as how these preferences varied among visitors grouped by key segmentation variables. The study findings suggested that price of membership package was the most important factor, followed by the discount on food and beverage and the proportion of membership fees devoted to animal conservation. As expected, the visitors who scored high on place attachment to the zoo were more supportive of the zoo and less sensitive to variations in the specific options included in the zoo’s membership package. <br></div><div><br></div><div>In the second study, attitudes toward a donation program at an urban zoo were examined. In particular, this study investigated subgroups’ differences segmented by their membership status, place attachment levels, and attitudinal positions. A two-dimensional/bivariate attitude approach was employed to explore potential differences among attitudinal position groups. The study findings indicated while most respondents held positive attitudes toward the donation program, zoo members and nonmembers did not differ significantly. The likelihood of joining the donation program was significantly higher for those in the positive dominant attitude group compared to those in the negative dominant and equally ambivalent groups. Additionally, a qualitative analysis revealed that many respondents were concerned about the cost or affordability of the donation program; and perceived the benefits of the program as a poor value.<br></div><div><br></div><div>Collectively, the two empirical studies provide useful insight for managers and professionals charged with developing membership and donation programs in zoological parks and other relevant organizations. The study results also suggest a number of potentially productive directions for future research in these areas.<br></div><div><br></div>

This dissertation aims to address issues related to supply and demand of organic wheat either as a commodity or contained in the final consumer products. Objectives for the first essay are to evaluate organic wheat price and premium risk, how it affects the profitability of organic wheat production, and examine whether hedging and forecasting can be used to manage the organic wheat price risk. A side objective is to apply and evaluate several data imputation methods to recover missing organic wheat price observations. Objectives for the second essay are to identify “very likely,” “likely,” and “unlikely” consumers of organic wheat products, examine the differences across the consumer groups to understand which sociodemographic characteristics and other factors drive demand for organic wheat products, and which product characteristics and labels are important to consumers. Objectives for the third essay are to obtain willingness to pay values for organic label alone, examine whether combining organic label with other labels (non-GMO, gluten-free, sugar-free or low-carb) is beneficial for consumers, and evaluate whether knowledge and familiarity with organic, wheat or gluten intolerance or avoidance, and other sociodemographic characteristics affect how consumers value the organic label alone and in combination with other labels. The analyses in the second and third essay are performed using two wheat product categories (bread and cookies) to examine how findings differ across different product categories. This dissertation provides several societal benefits. The findings provide insights that may play an important role in supporting growth of the organic wheat production through reduction of uncertainty associated with wheat commodity prices and final consumer demand. Understanding the dynamics of organic wheat prices, how they can affect profitability of organic wheat production and what can be done to reduce the uncertainty is critical to organic wheat growers and food manufacturers when they make production decisions. The findings in the second and third essay will assist food manufacturers and marketers as they develop new products and marketing strategies and make labelling decisions. The findings in this dissertation may allow them to match consumers’ needs better, and thus use the limited organic wheat supply more efficiently.

The ability of an organism to disperse to suitable habitats, especially in modified and fragmented systems, determines individual fitness and overall population viability. The bluehead sucker (Catostomus discobolus), flannelmouth sucker (Catostomus latipinnis), and roundtail chub (Gila robusta) are three species native to the upper Colorado River Basin that now occupy only 50% of their historic range. Despite these distributional declines, populations of all three species are present in the San Rafael River, a highly regulated tributary of the Green River, Utah, providing an opportunity for research. Our goal was to determine the timing and extent of movement, habitat preferences, and limiting factors, ultimately to guide effective management and recovery of these three species. In 2007-2008, we sampled fish from 25 systematically selected, 300-m reaches in the lower 64 km of the San Rafael River, spaced to capture the range of species, life-stages, and habitat conditions present. We implanted all target species with a passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag, installed a passive PIT tag antennae, and measured key habitat parameters throughout each reach and at the site of native fish capture. We used random forest modeling to identify and rank the most important abiotic and biotic predictor variables, and reveal potential limiting factors in the San Rafael River. While flannelmouth sucker were relatively evenly distributed within our study area, highest densities of roundtail chub and bluehead sucker occurred in isolated, upstream reaches characterized by complex habitat. In addition, our movement and length-frequency data indicate downstream drift of age-0 roundtail chub, and active upstream movement of adult flannelmouth sucker, both from source populations, providing the lower San Rafael River with colonists. Our random forest analysis highlights the importance of pools, riffles, and distance-to-source populations, suggesting that bluehead sucker and roundtail chub are habitat limited in the lower San Rafael River. These results suggest management efforts should focus on diversifying habitat, maintaining in-stream flow, and removing barriers to movement.