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Shaddock, Bellamy Lucinda. "Classroom Environment: Content Analysis Examining Characteristics of Classroom Environments That Affect Students' Academic Achievement." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2016. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3133.
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The purpose of this qualitative study was to extend the understanding of the characteristics of a classroom environment that impact students’ engagement in academics and therefore has the potential to positively impact student achievement scores. Data were collected through content analysis to analyze for reoccurring themes to assess how the characteristics of the classroom environment impact student’s achievement. Ten classrooms within the Kingsport City District were observed and analyzed for this study.
Six research questions guided this study, and qualitative data were analyzed for reoccurring themes. Findings from this study suggest that implementing certain characteristics in to the classroom environment can positively impact students’ academic success. The development and construction of classroom environments should include such characteristics as positive discipline, well laid out and organized classrooms, accountable talks, collaborative groups, positive teacher student interaction, and learning targets. As a result of this research a recommendation for practice is that districts support the development of classrooms that would positively impact student’s achievement.
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Fischer, Schilling Ian. "Conception et prototypage sur circuit FPGA d'un récepteur avancé basé sur la propagation d'espérance." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Bordeaux, 2025. http://www.theses.fr/2025BORD0033.
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La Propagation d'Espérance (Expectation Propagation, EP) est une technique puissante utilisée en inférence statistique pour approximer des distributions de probabilités complexes par des distributions plus simples de la famille exponentielle, grâce à un appariement des moments. Des travaux récents ont démontré que son application à la conception de récepteurs numériques offre un compromis intéressant entre complexité et performance. En affinant de manière itérative les estimations de signal via une approche de passage de messages, l'EP fournit un cadre robuste pour relever des défis dans les systèmes de communication numérique, tels que l'interférence inter-symboles (ISI) dans les canaux à large bande. Dans cette thèse, un égaliseur linéaire auto-itératif en domaine fréquentiel basé sur l'EP (Frequency Domain Self-Iterated Linear Equalizer, FD-SILE) est étudié. Il est composé d'un égaliseur, d'un démappeur souple et d'un mappeur souple. Ces composantes exploitent le retour d'information de l'EP dans un processus d'auto-itération. Bien que le FD-SILE basé sur l'EP présente un compromis complexité-performance favorable, sa complexité computationnelle reste prohibitive pour des implémentations matérielles, notamment pour des constellations d'ordre élevé. Afin de réduire cette complexité, des simplifications analytiques sont introduites pour les processus de mappage et de démappage souples. Ces simplifications permettent une réduction significative de la complexité tout en préservant les performances en termes de taux d'erreurs binaires (Bit Error Rate, BER). Dans le cadre de cette thèse, des versions en virgule fixe des mappeurs et démappeurs souples simplifiés sont développées pour permettre la conception d'architectures. Différentes architectures sont conçues pour les schémas de modulation BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK et 16-QAM. Ces architectures sont ensuite optimisées par pipeline, ce qui réduit considérablement le nombre de cycles d'horloge par trame. Une architecture flexible et pipelinée, capable de changer dynamiquement de constellation à chaque trame, est ensuite conçue et implémentée sur un dispositif FPGA. La validation est effectuée à l'aide d'une configuration hardware-in-the-loop (HIL), qui intègre un environnement de simulation sur ordinateur avec l'architecture implémentée sur FPGA, déployée sur une plateforme Zynq MPSoCExpectation Propagation (EP) is a powerful technique used in statistical inference to approximate complex probability distributions with simpler ones from the exponential family through moment matching. Recent works have demonstrated that its application in digital receiver design offers an attractive complexity-performance trade-off. By iteratively refining signal estimates via a message-passing approach, EP provides a robust framework for addressing challenges in digital communication systems, such as inter-symbol interference (ISI) in wideband channels. In this thesis, an EP-based Frequency Domain Self-Iterated Linear Equalizer (FD-SILE) is considered, comprising an equalizer, a soft demapper and a soft mapper. These components take advantage of EP for feedback within a self-iterating process. While the EP-based FD-SILE demonstrates favorable complexity-performance, its computational complexity remains prohibitive for hardware implementations, particularly for high-order constellations. In order to decrease this computational complexity, analytical simplifications are introduced for the soft mapping and demapping processes. These simplifications achieve substantial reductions in computational complexity while preserving bit error rate (BER) performance.As part of this thesis work, fixed-point versions of the simplified soft mapper and demapper are carried out to enable architecture design. Different architectures are designed for the modulation schemes of BPSK, QPSK, 8-PSK, and 16-QAM. These architectures are then optimized through pipelining, significantly reducing the number of clock cycles per frame. A flexible pipelined architecture, capable of dynamically switching constellations on a per-frame basis, is subsequently designed and implemented onto an FPGA device. Validation is conducted using a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) configuration, which integrates a simulation environment on a computer with the FPGA-implemented architecture on a Zynq MPSoC platform
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Dodla, Krishna Chaitanya. "Does environment affect the user experience?" Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Interaktiva och kognitiva system, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-80651.
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Many organizations use the internet to reach out to their customers and also offer many services through their websites. Organizations prefer usability study on their developed systems to compare their product/system with the competitors and also to find the difficulties, while real users work on the system. Usability helps organizations to know whether targeted users are able to use the developed system without any problems. Usability testing normally takes place in a controlled environment and conclusions are drawn based on the obtained results. But today’s world has entirely changed with the introduction of better technologies and the people are using products everywhere with the help of portable devices like smart phones, tablet pc devices, portable laptops etc. Many researches previously experimented to evaluate the noise effects on participant’s performance and then derived conclusions of its effects. This research is aimed to find the chances of the results of usability testing getting effected in noisy environment compared to controlled environment. Task-Based Usability testing technique was used to find the noise effects in terms of task success rate and task completion time and also, SUS (System Usability Scale) is used to calculate changes in user’s assessments. Total 30 participants had participated in this study and all the participants were divided into two groups each consisting of 15 participants. One of the groups has participated in usability testing on selected websites in noisy environment while another group in normal environment. This study produced two different results; first result proves the task success rate and task completion times were affected by the noisy environment and user’s performance was better in calm environment compared to noisy environment. Second result shows user’s assessment IS not affected in any environment. The above situations have been discussed in detail.
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Helmisaari, Minnamari. "Interaction in virtual restorative environments : How do different possibilities to interact affect the perceived restorativeness of a virtual environment?" Thesis, Högskolan i Skövde, Institutionen för informationsteknologi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:his:diva-12607.
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This thesis focuses on virtual restorative environments – specifically, the way that natural environments have been created in a virtual context to elicit beneficial effects on restoration and stress recovery. As the field of restorative environment research is mostly concerned with studying the environment itself, the interaction between participant and environment tends to consist of open exploration, and other ways to interact are often overlooked. The aim of this thesis was therefore to construct a virtual restorative environment with an additional possibility to interact, and to explore how the interaction is connected to a virtual environment’s perceived restorativeness. To gain deeper understanding about how different people perceived the virtual environments, the experiment was conducted using qualitative measures such as questionnaires, open questions and interviews. The results indicate that the perception of a virtual environment’s restorativeness is a very subjective matter, as the individual differences between the participants affected the way that they perceived the environments.
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Warren, Keith Clements. "Family Environment, Affect, Ambivalence and Decisions About Unplanned Adolescent Pregnancy." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1985. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331841/.
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This study investigated the relationships among family environment, demographic measures, the decisions made by unintentionally pregnant adolescents regarding post-delivery plans (stay single, get married, adoption), and the certainty with which these decisions were made. The Information Sheet, Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1981), and Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (Zuckerman & Lubin, 1965a) were administered to 17 5 pregnant adolescents, ages 14 through 22, who intended to carry their pregnancies to term. Pearson product-moment correlations and multiple regression analyses were utilized to assess the relationships between family environment and certainty of decision and between family environment and negative affect. Greater uncertainty was associated with nonwhite racial status and living with both natural parents or mother only. Higher levels of negative affect were related to lower levels of perceived family cohesion, independence, expressiveness, and intellectualcultural orientation. The demographic variables of age, trimester of pregnancy, and family constellation were also found to be useful in predicting levels of negative affect. Subjects who were older, further along in their pregnancies, and living with both natural parents or mother only tended to report greater negative affect. Findings of greater uncertainty and negative affect associated with living with the natural mother are consistent with previous reports of disturbed mother-daughter relationships among this population.
Discriminant analysis revealed that subjects choosing adoption were more likely to be older and to be white than those choosing to keep the child. They also tended to perceive higher levels of expressiveness and independence in their families. Comparisons between the present sample and "normal" families revealed differences which were statistically significant, but quite small in terms of raw score units. Indeed, these groups may be more similar than has often been assumed. The implications of these findings for the delivery of services and for future research efforts in this area were discussed. More intensive assessment of family functioning is needed. Based upon present results, further investigation of the family constellation variable is warranted.
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Wang, Ling. "Retail Environment Features that Affect Smoking Behavior in Changsha, China." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1437651533.
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冼文綱 and Man-kwong Wallace Sin. "How regulatory environment affects China banking development." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1998. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31269217.
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Sin, Man-kwong Wallace. "How regulatory environment affects China banking development /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1998. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B19873645.
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Afzal, Shazia. "Affect inference in learning environments : a functional view of facial affect analysis using naturalistic data." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.609156.
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Gordon, Phoebe E. "Greening Ohio Highways: Factors and Practices that Affect Tree Establishment." The Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417687987.
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Naranjo, Patricia L. (Naranjo Olivares). "How does the information environment affect information asymmetry around earnings announcements?" Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97316.
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Thesis: Ph. D. in Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, 2014.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 37-39).
This paper shows that the information environment is an important determinant of private information acquisition and changes in information asymmetry around earnings announcements. I create a sample of earnings announcements from 39 countries and investigate whether firm and country-level variation in the information environment affects private information acquisition. To do this, I examine the level of information asymmetry before and during earnings announcements. A stronger firm-level information environment is (1) negatively related to changes in pre-event information asymmetry and (2) positively related to changes in event period information asymmetry. Similarly, a stronger country-level information environment is associated with the firm-level information environment having a stronger effect on information asymmetry before the announcement and a weaker effect during the announcement.
by Patricia L. Naranjo.
Ph. D. in Management
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Vasilakis, Kristina M. "What Qualities of Mind, Personality, and Environment affect Creation and Innovation?" University of Toledo / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1289938315.
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Torchio, Erika. "Confined extracellular environment affects pluripotency maintenance and acquisition." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Padova, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11577/3425757.
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Human pluripotent stem cells represents an unlimited source of desired cells and a powerful model for early embryogenesis. In vitro, two stages of pluripotent stem cells (naïve and primed) have been isolated. Moreover, in vitro, pluripotency can be re-acquired by somatic cells thanks to cell reprogramming, which rewrites cell expression program, opening doors for patient-specific personalized medicine. The use of microfluidic platforms for cell reprogramming allows cost-effective and boosts high-efficiency experiments, but the reasons behind this increase in efficiency have not been uncovered yet. Cancer can be considered a pathological alteration of cell expression program where abnormal gene mutations allow the de-differentiation of somatic cells and the re-acquisition of stem-like features such as proliferation and motility. Cell reprogramming could act as a tool to reset cancerous epigenetic state and re-establish the correct expression program.
Current studies focus mainly on gene expression differences between naïve and primed stem cells or between somatic and pluripotent cells, without considering the extracellular environment surrounding those cells, the extracellular matrix contribution and the spatial organization of these cells in the 3D space. Nevertheless, those factors have been proved to be fundamental for embryo development.
Aiming at analyzing confined environment contribution to pluripotency maintenance and acquisition, in vitro cell culture environment has been miniaturized in microfluidic platforms to mimic in vivo conditions. Molecular target-driven approaches have been coupled with multi-omic approaches such as secretome and trascriptome analysis, moreover, single-cell approaches have been applied to dissect cell heterogeneity.
Initially the colony structure and extracellular matrix organization in naïve and primed pluripotent stem cells, as well as in differentiated fibroblasts has been analyzed in conventional cell culture devices, reporting a striking difference in matrix organization among the different stages. Then the influence of confined environment on the above-mentioned stages has been investigated, revealing the role of confined environment in inducing matrix production. Afterward, the link between colony shape, mechanotransduction and matrix deposition has been examined for the first time in naïve pluripotent stem cells, revealing that 3D spatial organization is linked to higher extracellular matrix deposition and naïve pluripotency marker expression. Next, extracellular matrix organization after cell reprogramming has been analyzed in newborn pluripotent colonies, both in conventional devices and in confined environment, showing a different organization of matrix deposition in the two conditions that can contribute to explain the high reprogramming efficiency obtained in microfluidic platforms. Aiming at simulating cancer reprogramming of tumors overexpressing the serine-protease inhibitor SERPINB3 and studying possible SERPINB3 influences on cancer reprogramming, this serpin has been administered during cell reprogramming of a model cell line, resulting in drastic reduction of reprogramming efficiency. The possible reasons for this outcome have been investigated also thanks to transcriptomic database analysis of SERPINB3-related gene network.
In conclusion, this work contributes to pluripotent stem cells knowledge by giving for the first time a portrait of extracellular matrix organization in naïve and primed pluripotent stem cells. Moreover, it shows how extracellular matrix and 3D colony organization is linked to pluripotency gene expression in naïve pluripotent stem cells, and to pluripotency acquisition via cell reprogramming. Finally, it reports how SERPINB3, a protein that is highly expressed in aggressive tumors, inhibits cell reprogramming, suggesting an inhibition of this protein if approaching reprogramming of tumors with high SERPINB3 expression.Le cellule staminali pluripotenti umane sono sia una fonte illimitata di cellule d’interesse, sia un modello di embriogenesi. In vitro sono stati isolati due stadi di cellule staminali pluripotenti: naïve e primed. Inoltre, la pluripotenza può anche essere riacquisita da cellule differenziate, grazie alla riprogrammazione cellulare che riscrive il programma di espressione cellulare aprendo le porte alla medicina personalizzata. L’utilizzo di chip microfluidici per la riprogrammazione cellulare consente esperimenti ad alta efficienza e costi ridotti. Le ragioni per questa alta efficienza di riprogrammazione non sono pienamente noti. Il cancro può essere considerata un’alterazione patologica del programma di espressione cellulare, dove mutazioni geniche promuovono un de-differenziamento delle cellule con riacquisizione di proliferazione illimitata e motilità. La riprogrammazione cellulare può resettare lo stato epigenetico tumorale e ristabilire il corretto programma di espressione. I recenti studi si focalizzano principalmente sulle differenze di espressione genica fra cellule staminali naïve, primed, somatiche o riprogrammate, senza considerare l’ambiente extracellulare che circonda le cellule stesse, il contributo della matrice extracellulare e l’organizzazione spaziale tridimensionale di queste cellule; fattori fondamentali per lo sviluppo embrionale in vivo. Allo scopo di analizzare il contributo dell’ambiente confinato al mantenimento e all’acquisizione di pluripotenza, l’ambiente di coltura è stato miniaturizzato con chip microfluidici per simulare le condizioni in vivo. Bersagli molecolari specifici sono stati affiancati da approcci multi-omici come l’analisi del secretoma e del trascrittoma. Inoltre, l’eterogeneità del sistema è stata analizzata con tecniche single-cell. La struttura della matrice extracellulare di cellule staminali naïve e primed e di fibroblasti differenziati cresciuti in supporti convenzionali di crescita cellulare è stata analizzata, dimostrando una differente organizzazione della matrice extracellulare. In seguito è stata valutata l’influenza dell’ambiente confinato in piattaforme microfluidiche, rivelandone un ruolo nell’indurre produzione di matrice. Successivamente è stato esaminata in colonie naïve, la relazione tra forma 3D della colonia, meccanotrasduzione e deposizione di matrice, rivelando che a una maggior organizzazione 3D della colonia corrisponde a maggior produzione di matrice e di espressione di marcatori di pluripotenza naïve. Inoltre l’organizzazione della matrice extracellulare è stata analizzata alla fine del processo di riprogrammazione cellulare sia in supporti convenzionali sia in piattaforme microfluidiche, mostrando una deposizione molto dissimile nei due ambienti. Questa osservazione può contribuire a spiegare l’alta efficienza di riprogrammazione ottenuta in piattaforme microfluidiche. Per simulare la riprogrammazione di cellule tumorali con elevata espressione di SERPINB3 e studiare la possibile influenza di SERPINB3 su tale processo, la proteina è stata somministrata durante esperimenti di riprogrammazione di cellule modello, portando al crollo dell’efficienza di riprogrammazione. Per spiegare il risultato sono stati analizzati geni collegati a SERPINB3 in database trascrittomici. Questa tesi contribuisce ad accrescere le conoscenze sulle cellule staminali pluripotenti analizzando per la prima volta l’organizzazione della matrice extracellulare in cellule staminali pluripotenti naïve e primed. Inoltre mostra come la matrice extracellulare e l’organizzazione tridimensionale della colonia siano collegati all’espressione di geni di pluripotenza in cellule naïve e all’acquisizione di pluripotenza in caso di riprogrammazione cellulare. Infine riporta come SERPINB3 inibisce la riprogrammazione cellulare, suggerendo la possibilità di inibire questa serpina per affrontare la riprogrammazione di tumori con elevata espressione di SERPINB3.
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Onufer, Tracy L. "Understanding environmental factors that affect violence in Salinas, California." Thesis, Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/4466.
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Approved for public release, distribution unlimitedWhen a community is plagued by violence, the natural tendency is to determine how to change or reduce the violence levels. In the process, an equally important question of why violence occurs is often overlooked. This thesis analyzes the why with respect to violence levels in Salinas, California. In order to determine specific environmental factors that affect violence in Salinas, the authors postulate nine broad independent variables (IVs) for analysis: Economy; Population; Housing; Education; Police Force; Prison Influence; Gang Rivalry; Social Service Programs; and Community Involvement. Components of these independent variables were compared to the violence rate per capita in Salinas to determine which environmental factors influence violence in Salinas. Although data was not available for all of the IVs, the authors determined that the following factors influence violence in Salinas: the unemployment rate, average persons per household, vacant housing units, housing units per capita, the high school dropout rate, the high school graduation rate, the school average daily attendance, and the school budget. To lower overall violence levels, officials in Salinas should focus on: reducing the unemployment rate, the number of vacant housing units, and the high school dropout rate; and increasing the high school graduation rate and average daily attendance.
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Clarke, Jason A. Onufer Tracy L. "Understanding environmental factors that affect violence in Salinas, California." Monterey, California : Naval Postgraduate School, 2009. http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Dec/09Dec%5FClarke_Onufer.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Defense Analysis)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009.Thesis Advisor(s): Freeman, Michael. Second Reader: Rothstein, Hy. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 26, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Salinas, violence, gangs, education, unemployment rate, economy, population, housing, police force, prison, rivalry, social service, community involvement, prevention, intervention. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-87). Also available in print.
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Chan, Kwok-cheung Anson, and 陳國璋. "How the built environment affects physical activity and health." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2010. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B44901781.
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Вержиківська, Аліна Олегівна. "How fur production affects the environment and the climate." Thesis, Київський національний університет технологій та дизайну, 2020. https://er.knutd.edu.ua/handle/123456789/15278.
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Drexler, Julie. "IDENTIFICATION OF SYSTEM DESIGN FEATURES THAT AFFECT SICKNESS IN VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2006. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/3239.
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The terms "simulator" and "VR" are typically used to refer to specific types of virtual environments (VEs) which differ in the technology used to display the simulated environment. While simulators and VR devices may offer advantages such as low cost training, numerous studies on the effects to humans of exposure to different VEs indicate that motion sickness-like symptoms are often produced during or after exposure to the simulated environment. These deleterious side effects have the potential to limit the utilization of VE systems if they jeopardize the health and/or safety of the user and create liability issues for the manufacturer. The most widely used method for assessing the adverse symptoms of VE exposure is the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). The method of scoring the symptoms reported by VE users permits the different sickness symptoms to be clustered into three general types of effects or subscales and the distribution or pattern of the three SSQ subscales provides a profile for a given VE device. In the current research, several different statistical analyses were conducted on the SSQ data obtained from 21 different simulator studies and 16 different VR studies in order to identify an underlying symptom structure (i.e., SSQ profile) or severity difference for various types of VE systems. The results of the research showed statistically significant differences in the SSQ profiles and the overall severity of sickness between simulator and VR systems, which provide evidence that simulator sickness and VR sickness represent distinct forms of motion sickness. Analyses on three types of simulators (i.e., Fixed- and Rotary-Wing flight simulators and Driving simulators) also found significant differences in the sickness profiles as well as the overall severity of sickness within different types of simulator systems. Analyses on three types of VR systems (i.e., HMD, BOOM, and CAVE) revealed that BOOM and CAVE systems have similar sickness profiles, which are different than the HMD system profile. Moreover, the results showed that the overall severity of sickness was greater in HMD systems than in BOOM and CAVE systems. Recommendations for future research included additional psychophysical studies to evaluate the relationship between various engineering characteristics of VE systems and the specific types of sickness symptoms that are produced from exposure to them.Ph.D.
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
Engineering and Computer Science
Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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Camp, Keri Van. "Environmental Variables that Affect the Establishment of Myrica gale Seedlings." Fogler Library, University of Maine, 2005. http://www.library.umaine.edu/theses/pdf/CampKV2005.pdf.
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Ju, Jing. "How does FDI affect the environment in China : evidence from provincial panel data." Thesis, University of Macau, 2010. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2161848.
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Sandoval, Adriana Aja. "Does a coeducational environment affect performance for female students in physical education classes?" CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2008. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/3337.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate how a coed environment affects a female student's performance in physical education classes. The focus of this study is middle school students. Most middle school students are normally going through puberty and many environmental changes at a new school. These changes can influence a student's performance often in P.E., causing a decrease in performance and participation which can lead to physical inactivity.
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Moyer, Michael R. "How Prospective Memory Affects Outcomes in a Simulated Medical Environment." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1384427428.
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Fun, Wai Ee Max. "Features of the central and peripheral nervous environments that affect axonal outgrowth." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.614252.
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Johnson, Elizabeth. "The Relationship of Environmental, Social and Individual Factors and Physical Activity Participation Level in Young Adults." Thesis, Virginia Tech, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31201.
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Objective: To explore the relationship between individual factors (i.e. affect, self-efficacy, and self-regulation), social and environmental factors, and their effects on the level of participation in physical activity (PA). Design: Undergraduate and graduate students (N = 386) completed 11 online measures assessing physical activity level and reactions to physical activity participation at Time 1, 9 online measures at Time 2, and a measure of physical activity participation at Time 3. Measures included those assessing affective reactions to PA, outcome expectancy, self-efficacy, self-regulation, social support, and perceptions of the environment. Results: Affect had a small total effect on METs (Ã =.13, p=.03), which was partially mediated by self-regulation, a strong predictor of METs (Ã =.45, p<.01). The total effect of affect on METs was substantially reduced (Ã =.05, p=.34) when self-efficacy was added as a precursor in the model. Self-efficacy influenced both METs (Ã =.39, p<.01) and affect (Ã =.23, p<.01). Adding environment and social support as predictors of self-efficacy (Ã =.23, p<.01; Ã =.19, p<.01, respectively) further reduced the influence of affect on METs (Ã =.03, p=.63) as environment and social support influenced affect (Ã =.20, p<.01; Ã =.14, p=.02, respectively) and METs (Ã =.15, p=.02; Ã =.21, p<.01, respectively). Conclusion: As in earlier studies of acute affective response to PA, these results provide evidence that anticipatory affect is positively associated with behavioral decision-making related to PA participation. Although increasing an individualâ s self-efficacy for PA should increase their affective association with the behavior, affect may not influence PA decision-making independently of self-efficacy and ecological factors (i.e. environment and social support).Master of Science
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Benazzi, Giulia. "Micropollutants affect the ability of phytoplankton communities to track environmental changes." Master's thesis, Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna, 2015. http://amslaurea.unibo.it/8740/.
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Human activities strongly influence environmental processes, and while human domination increases, biodiversity progressively declines in ecosystems worldwide. High genetic and phenotypic variability ensures functionality and stability of ecosystem processes through time and increases the resilience and the adaptive capacity of populations and communities, while a reduction in functional diversity leads to a decrease in the ability to respond in a changing environment. Pollution is becoming one of the major threats in aquatic ecosystem, and pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in particular are a relatively new group of environmental contaminants suspected to have adverse effects on aquatic organisms. There is still a lake of knowledge on the responses of communities to complex chemical mixtures in the environment. We used an individual-trait-based approach to assess the response of a phytoplankton community in a scenario of combined pollution and environmental change (steady increasing in temperature). We manipulated individual-level trait diversity directly (by filtering out size classes) and indirectly (through exposure to PPCPs mixture), and studied how reduction in trait-diversity affected community structure, production of biomass and the ability of the community to track a changing environment. We found that exposure to PPCPs slows down the ability of the community to respond to an increasing temperature. Our study also highlights how physiological responses (induced by PPCPs exposure) are important for ecosystem processes: although from an ecological point of view experimental communities converged to a similar structure, they were functionally different.
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McDowall, Laurin Sarah. "Anticipatory plasticity : how early life environmental cues affect development and behaviour." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2018. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/21634/.
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In this thesis, I examine how social conditions experienced during early life stages can have effects into adulthood. I use the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model species to explore this; using larval social conditions that produce an anticipatory response to reproductive competition in adult males, namely high density and the presence of adult males. I demonstrate that the type of social conditions experienced by the larvae can have distinct effects on aspects of cognition, stress, immunity and the microbiome. First, I demonstrate that manipulating larval density can influence adult learning ability and relative expression of a synaptic growth gene. I show that adult lifespan is negatively affected by the presence of adult males during larval stages, and that development time is longer for those reared at high larval density, but a number of adult female reproductive traits are not influenced by these conditions. I find type of larval social conditions and sex-specific responses to specific stressors in young adults. In particular, females from adult presence larval conditions show increased cold and desiccation stress tolerance, but decreased post-infection lifespan after bacterial injection with Bacillus thuringiensis, suggesting a trade-off may be occurring. I also examine the effect of these conditions on microbiome composition, finding distinct effects of pupal versus adult stages, and an increased microbial diversity in adult presence pupae. Overall, my results suggest that there are a number of factors in adult fruit flies that can be affected by larval social environments. These responses are often dependent on the type of social conditions experienced, the adult trait examined, and the sex of the fly. This study highlights early life conditions can have important and long-lasting consequences.
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Cheng, Si. "Navigating the institutional environment : how geopolitical and legal changes affect firm assessment and strategy." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Cergy-Pontoise, Ecole supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales, 2024. http://www.theses.fr/2024ESEC0004.
Full textAbstract:
L'institution, « les règles du jeu » (North, 1990 ; Ingram & Clay, 2000 ; Peng, 2002), détermine les flèches dont dispose une entreprise et formule sa stratégie (Ingram & Silverman, 2002). Alors que la recherche a identifié une vision institutionnelle de la stratégie de l'entreprise (Ahuja & Yayavaram, 2011 ; Meyer, Estrin, Bhaumik, & Peng, 2009 ; Peng, Sun, Pinkham, & Chen, 2009) qui met en évidence la façon dont les entreprises s'engagent dans des interactions constantes avec les institutions d'origine et d'accueil (Barber & Diestre, 2019 ; Blake & Moschieri, 2017 ; Choi et al, 2015 ; Henisz, 2000 ; Holburn & Zelner, 2010 ; Rabbiosi & Santangelo, 2019), cette perspective néglige la complexité croissante de l'environnement mondial dans lequel les entreprises opèrent. Les entreprises sont intégrées dans un environnement plus large - l'environnement institutionnel international, où des changements sans précédent sont apportés par les institutions supranationales, son acteur important, et caractérisés par des conflits.Cette thèse vise à explorer comment les changements induits par les institutions supranationales, notamment celles marquées par des conflits et dont l'influence dépasse les frontières nationales, affectent la perception et la stratégie des entreprises. Cette question est cruciale à la lumière des fréquents affrontements idéologiques entre souverainetés et des défis posés à la mondialisation par la tendance croissante à la démondialisation (Teece, 2022). Bien que nous ayons été témoins de phénomènes tels que les guerres commerciales entre les principales économies et les réglementations protectionnistes introduites par les pays, ces phénomènes doivent encore être théorisés. Les institutions supranationales - dont le rôle est de fournir une plateforme permettant aux pays de coopérer sur les questions mondiales, d'intégrer les économies, de résoudre les différends entre les États et entre les États et les investisseurs, et de promouvoir les règles et les normes internationales - sont un acteur important de l'environnement institutionnel international pour faire face à ces affrontements et à ces défis. Bien qu'une littérature croissante ait commencé à examiner l'impact des institutions supranationales (Albino-Pimentel et al., 2018 ; Jandhyala & Weiner, 2014 ; Pinkham & Peng, 2017 ; Vasudeva, Nachum, & Say, 2018), l'effet des changements caractérisés par des conflits sur les entreprises a fait l'objet de moins d'attention. Traduit avec DeepL.com (version gratuite)Institution, ‘the rules of the game’ (North, 1990; Ingram & Clay, 2000; Peng, 2002), determines what arrows a firm has and formulates its strategy (Ingram & Silverman, 2002). While scholarship has identified an institution-based view of firm strategy (Ahuja & Yayavaram, 2011; Meyer, Estrin, Bhaumik, & Peng, 2009; Peng, Sun, Pinkham, & Chen, 2009) that highlights how firms engage in constant interactions with home and host institutions (Barber & Diestre, 2019; Blake & Moschieri, 2017; Choi et al., 2015; Henisz, 2000; Holburn & Zelner, 2010; Rabbiosi & Santangelo, 2019), this perspective overlooks the increasing complexity of the global environment in which firms operate. Firms are embedded in a broader environment – international institutional environment, where unprecedented changes are brought about by supranational institutions, its important actor, and characterized by conflicts. This dissertation seeks to explore how changes brought about by supranational institutions, especially those marked by conflicts and whose influence goes beyond the national border, affect firms perception and strategy. This question is crucial in light of the frequent ideological clashes between sovereignties and the challenges to globalization posed by the rising trend of de-globalization (Teece, 2022). While we have witnessed phenomena like trade wars between major economies and protectionist regulations introduced by countries, they are yet to be theorized. And supranational institutions – their role to provide a platform for countries to cooperate on global issues, integrate economies, resolve disputes between states and between states and investors, and promote international rules and norms – are an important actor in the international institutional environment to deal with such clashes and challenges. Although a growing literature has started looking into the impact of supranational institutions (Albino-Pimentel et al., 2018; Jandhyala & Weiner, 2014; Pinkham & Peng, 2017; Vasudeva, Nachum, & Say, 2018), the effect of changes characterized by conflicts on firms have received less attention
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Vorderbruggen, Joan Marie. "Evaluating How Attributes of Operable Window Design Affect Office-workers' Perception of Personal Control." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/10326.
Full textAbstract:
xvi, 117 p. : ill. (some col.) A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.Energy and environmental concerns warrant reconsideration of operable windows as a means of ventilating and cooling office environments. To design for optimal window use and performance, architects must understand human interaction with operable windows and the factors that influence occupant participation in their thermal environment. This thesis examines workers' personal control of operable windows in their office space through the lens of the following attributes: proximity, orientation, and accessibility to operable windows, office floor height, and the operational methods of windows. Three sites in the Minneapolis metro area were examined through site visits, informalinterviews, collection of physical traces, and a questionnaire. Research data reveal that proximity is the greatest determinant of window use. Other attributes have varying degrees of influence on use of windows. Surprisingly, workers valued operable windows significantly more for fresh air than for cooling.
Committee in Charge: Professor John Rowell, Chair; Professor Brook Muller; Professor G.Z. Brown
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Hayter, P. M. "An Investigation Into Factors That Affect Monoclonal Antibody Production by Hybridomas in Culture." Thesis, University of Surrey, 1989. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/1056/.
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Ricker, Joshua M. "Effects of Striatal Lesions on Reward Choice Using a Multi-Box Environment." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1415963508.
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Bosch, Sheila Jones. "Identifying Relevant Variables for Understanding How School Facilities Affect Educational Outcomes." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/5125.
Full textAbstract:
Many school facilities in the United States are old, out-of-date, poorly maintained, and lack specific design elements that are likely to enhance teaching, learning, behavior, and other desirable outcomes. This study proposed that one reason why previous research regarding the effects of the physical school environment on educational outcomes has had little impact on the quality of schools is because there is a lack of knowledge about these relationships. A multi-method approach was used to solicit information from educators and researchers familiar with school facility effects literature to develop a set of research priorities to guide future research. In Phase I, a literature analysis provided important physical and outcome variables to seed brainstorming lists used in following phases of the research and provided the basis for a gap analysis to identify unavailable information. A concept mapping methodology was utilized in Phase II to solicit feedback from a group of seventeen experienced educators who were asked to brainstorm a list of measures of student, school, or school district success, sort their final list of more than 100 items into categories that made sense to them, and rate each item regarding how important it is to monitor or otherwise track. Using a Delphi method, a series of four questionnaires was given to a group of experienced researchers who developed a list of physical variables plausibly related to educational outcomes, rated the importance of those items, developed hypotheses that included top-rated physical variables and top-rated outcome variables (i.e., measures of success rated by educators), and then selected from those hypotheses several that became the basis of the recommended research priorities for the field. These research priorities propose investigations of the relationships between a set of physical variables (including the provision of team work stations and faculty collaborative spaces, well-designed circulation spaces, spaces for quiet reflection, adaptable seating, daylighting in classrooms, and overall maintenance and building quality) and a variety of educational outcomes (e.g., achievement, behavior, satisfaction, affective performance).
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Tippins, T. A. "Various factors which affect the response of yeast cells to environmental mutagens." Thesis, Swansea University, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.639246.
Full textAbstract:
This project investigates the factors which may affect the response of yeast cells to potential mutagens and thus to optimise their response. The problem was approached from four main angles as follows: i) permeability - rendering the cells more permeable either by pre-treatment with selected chemicals or by selecting clones with cell wall defects; ii) repair capacity - preventing adequate repair of damaged DNA either by post-treatment with repair inhibitors or by using strains with defective repair genes; iii) genetic background - looking at reversion in the same gene but in a different genetic background or different genes in the same background; iv) treatment conditions - treating cells in buffer or broth, with or without exogenous activation, at 28 C or 37 C. The general conclusions which may be drawn from these studies are: a) most chemical mutagens are able to enter the yeast cells in sufficient quantities to cause damage to the DNA without pre-treating the cells to increase their permeability; b) the repair capacity of a cell is a very important factor in its response to a mutagen and if this capacity is greatly impaired, then the chances of survival of the cell after treatment with a mutagen are greatly reduced; c) the genetic background of a cell and the marker under consideration can affect the response of the cell to a mutagen; d) the conditions under which yeast cells are exposed to mutagens affect both the response of the yeast cells and the effectiveness of the mutagen itself. As for optimising the response of the yeast cells to mutagens this can only be done by gathering together all the information already known about the compound under study, and any related compounds, and analysing this data to discover what treatment conditions should be used and possibly what test.
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Martens, Kristina Marie. "Benign Environmental Distractors Modulate the Anxiolytic Effects of Marijuana Administration in Humans." OpenSIUC, 2010. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/281.
Full textAbstract:
One experiment examined the relationship between smoked marijuana and anxiety generated by the anticipation of a stressor paired with a salient, benign distractor. It was hypothesized that smoking one marijuana cigarette with an estimated &delta9-THC content of 26.25 mg, relative to placebo, would reduce anxiety generated by an anticipatory stressor paired with a benign distractor. In the experiment 14 marijuana users with a mean frequency of marijuana use per week of 2.07 (Range = 1-3) were administered one marijuana cigarette (active vs. placebo) per experimental session. A significant Drug × Session interaction was observed such that during the first experimental session, participants administered active marijuana reported non-significant decreases in negative affect, relative to placebo, while those administered active marijuana during the second experimental session reported significant increases in negative affect. This finding indicates that large individual differences in response to drug type (active vs. placebo) occurred within the participant sample. The results are discussed in terms of the influence of individual differences and contextual factors on the observed differential affective responses to &delta9-THC in order to identify which participants experienced the greatest benefit in negative affect reduction from &delta9-THC.
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Barnard, Megan Patricia. "Using biosensors to measure and regulate the negative affect of drivers in simulated environments." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/44561/.
Full textAbstract:
Recent statistics have suggested that a proportion of drivers are killed or seriously injured on UK roads due to feeling nervous, uncertain or panicked whilst driving. The literature into negative emotions has primarily focused on the relationship between anger and driving. Not including the literature on driving phobias and fears after a motor vehicle accident, the literature on the relationship between anxiety and driving is limited and inconclusive. The aim of the thesis was to investigate the effects of both state and trait anxiety on driving behaviours and autonomic reactions using studies with varying methodologies. Chapter 2 describes a questionnaire study, which found that whilst driving anxiety can have a substantial impact on anxiety related thoughts, behaviours and active avoidance, trait anxiety had slightly differential effects regarding social concerns, aggressive reactions and anxiety and avoidance of specific driving situations. Chapter 3 established, in a laboratory study, that whilst trait anxiety predicted various self-reported driving reactions, it did not affect levels of behavioural or autonomic reactions to driving video stimuli. Chapter 4 expands on these findings with a study that demonstrated reductions in high frequency heart rate variability, indicating a potential lack of emotional regulation within this context. The research was then taken into a simulated environment, where state and trait anxiety were investigated. The studies reported in Chapters 6 and 7 found limited impacts of threatening instructional sets on levels of state anxiety, but demonstrated that increases in state anxiety could lead to changes in behaviour and skin conductance levels. Finally, a simulator study reported in Chapter 8 demonstrated that whilst trait anxiety did not affect driving behaviours, it did affect levels of attentional control and processing efficiency. This leads into a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings. Particular focus is given to the benefits of interventions and exposure therapies, and it is argued that different types of intervention would be more beneficial depending on levels of state or trait anxiety.
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Grannis, Margaret S. "The primacy of affect in environmental response : identifying environmental preferences using experimental priming with optimal and suboptimal stimulus exposures /." The Ohio State University, 2000. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1488192960166533.
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White, Alicia Kate. "Cognition in Context: How Learning Environment, Word Grouping, and Proficiency Level Affect Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition." The Ohio State University, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1430754940.
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Hallman, Christine. "Unraveling Environmental Factors that Affect Pinus longaeva Growth in the White Mountains, California." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/195966.
Full textAbstract:
Two of the most pressing questions involving ancient bristlecone pines are how microsite factors lead to differences in tree responses to climate at high-elevation sites, and how global change has impacted growing season events. Disparities in climate response at treeline and subalpine locations have been associated with local environmental characteristics while the increasing growth trend found at treeline has been linked to warming. In this study, environmental conditions were considered in order to identify microsite differences between trees growing at two different elevations on four aspects of a conical-shaped mountain in the White Mountains, California. Dendrochronological, environmental, correlational, and spectral methods were employed to explore differences in ring-width chronologies. Albedo, soil thickness, and percent slope led to ring-width variability. Northwestern upper site was most highly correlated with precipitation, while the Southeastern lower site showed a strong negative correlation with temperature. This work indicates that selection of climate-sensitive trees a priori necessitates the consideration of local environmental factors, and these microsite differences resulted in different climate responses between nearby trees. By monitoring growing season events at the historic phenology site from the 1962-64 (Fritts 1969), natural variations and responses to climate change can be identified. Morphological and physiological phenophases, dendrometer traces, and environmental data were collected throughout the summers of 2007 and 2008. Duration and timing of cambial activity (tracheid lifespan) in the present study were similar to those recorded in the Fritts (1969) investigation, while pollination onset and bud opening occurred earlier in this study. No change was found in duration and timing of cambial activity suggesting that changes in cambial phenology are not an explanation for the increasing growth trend found at upper forest borders. On the other hand, changes in bud opening and pollination onset may be related to recent warming. To monitor diurnal and seasonal stem variability as part of phenologic studies on several trees, a point potentiometer dendrometer was designed. The newly designed point potentiometer dendrometer was tested in multiple environments and found to be versatile, cost-effective, and portable, working well in semi-arid and arid environments.
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Balkhyour, Mansour. "Factors that affect respirator fit-testing programs." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/289239.
Full textAbstract:
Respirators are used to minimize the exposure to air contaminants. A good fit is essential for the effective functioning of a respirator. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires an annual respirator fit testing. Respirator fit can be assessed either qualitatively or quantitatively. Two studies were conducted to assess the fit testing program with specific objectives to: (1) assess leak rates in full and half mask respirators; (2) assess the effectiveness of "feedback"1 on the quality of fit; (3) evaluate the effect of daily beard growth on respirator leak rates. In the first study, it was found that the half mask respirator has a significantly lower leak rate than the full face respirator. A significant reduction in leak rate in both respirator types with "feedback" was also observed. The finding that half mask respirators have lower leak rates directly contradicts American National Standard Institute's (ANSI) guidelines of higher Assigned Protection Factor (APF) for full mask respirator. Further studies are necessary to determine these findings and to amend respirator recommendations in the future. As expected in the second study, beard growth was associated with respirator leak rate. The effect of daily growth on leak rate over a period of twelve days could be defined by a second order regression equation. An attempt was made to describe some characteristics of beard that affect the leak rate. After 12 days of beard growth, it was found that the aspect ratio (length/diameter) of hair was inversely correlated with leak rate (r = 0.64). 1Feedback: A numerical value measuring the minimum leak rate that can be gotten from a respirator fitting with a normal donning.
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Wilson, Robyn S. "What motivates choice? Behavioral decision theory for environmental policy and management." The Ohio State University, 2006. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1164665160.
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Herbert, Diane R. "The Effects Of Negative Affectivity And The Family Environment On Children's Self-Perceptions." Xavier University / OhioLINK, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=xavier1382970955.
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Payne, Hugh Geoffrey. "How does the pre-weaning environment affect gut structure and function, and lifetime performance of the pig? /." Murdoch University Digital Theses Program, 2009. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20100325.153420.
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au, hugh payne@agric wa gov, and Hugh Payne. "How Does the Pre-weaning Environment Affect Gut Structure and Function, and Lifetime Performance of the Pig?" Murdoch University, 2009. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20100325.153420.
Full textAbstract:
The reduction in feed intake and growth rate that occurs following weaning is of major economic consequence to the pig industry. Currently, a range of antimicrobial products can be used to minimise the impact of weaning on piglet health and subsequent performance. However, the use of these products in pig diets is subject to increasing restriction worldwide because of perceived risks to public health and to the environment. Thus, alternative methods are required to mitigate the growth check that almost invariably occurs after weaning in most production systems.
Piglets produced outdoors are claimed to experience less of a growth check at weaning and to be able to thrive in relatively unsophisticated weaner accommodation. However, these claims have not been substantiated under Western Australian conditions, nor a scientific basis for these claims established. Consequently, a series of experiments was designed to test the general hypothesis for this thesis the gut structure and function, and lifetime performance of the weaned pig are affected by its pre- and post-weaning rearing environments.
Experiment 1 was conducted in two parts to quantify differences in the growth performance, health and gut structure of weaner pigs produced indoors or outdoors and reared in conventional or deep-litter pens. The weaner diet in the first part of the experiment contained 100 ppm of olaquindox and 3,000 ppm of zinc oxide (Exp1a). This experiment was repeated without using dietary antimicrobial products (Exp1b). Experiment 2 was conducted in conventional buildings to examine the effect of exposing piglets in lactation to similar substrates to those available to outdoor piglets used in Exp1a and Exp1b in the absence of other differences in the outdoor production milieu.
Pre-weaning environments in Exp1a (indoor production (IP) and outdoor production (OP)) appeared to have little effect on gut structure and overall growth rate but significantly affected carcass composition, whereas post-weaning environments (conventional (C) or deep-litter (DL)) affected both overall growth rate and carcass composition. Although feed disappearance was similar, OP pigs grew faster than IP pigs in the first 47 d after weaning in Exp1a but not in Exp1b. Lifetime growth rate (GR), P2 backfat, feed disappearance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not significantly affected by the production environment in Exp1a whereas OP pigs grew slower with higher P2 backfat and FCR in Exp1b. Interestingly, OP pigs had heavier carcass weights and higher dressing percentages than IP pigs in both parts of the experiment. The effects of post-weaning environment were more consistent as DL pigs grew faster, were fatter, and had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than C pigs.
Villus height and crypt depth of IP and OP pigs were not different at 21 (weaning) or 28 d, but villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning. Pigs reared in C pens had greater faecal concentrations of volatile fatty acids than pigs in DL, indicating that the latter ingested sufficient straw to alter fermentation characteristics.
In Experiment 2, there were no differences in gut structure or pre-weaning and lifetime GR of pigs offered no creep feed (NC), a commercial creep feed (CF) or an outdoor mix (OM) comprising of 1 part straw, 5 parts sow feed and 25 parts of soil taken from paddocks in which OP pigs used in Exp1a and Exp1b were farrowed. However, NC pigs grew slower in the week after weaning than the other two treatments. Backfat and feed disappearance were similar for all treatments but pigs on the OM treatment had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than pigs on the NC and CF treatments. Villus height and crypt depth were not different between treatments and, although the piglets were weaned at 28 d, villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning to an extent similar to that experienced by piglets weaned at 21 d in Experiment 1.
Although all piglets received intramuscular injections of 200 mg iron (Fe) dextran when 1 to 2 days old, piglets offered the OM during lactation had higher serum iron and blood haemoglobin (Hb) levels than those offered NC or CF. Furthermore, half the piglets offered NC or CF had Hb levels indicative of chronic Fe deficiency anaemia. The average parity of sows used in this experiment was 6.3 litters, suggesting that piglets may have been born with low Fe stores, possibly because of low Fe stores in their dams due to sub-optimal mineral nutrition over successive parities.
In summary, the findings from these experiments partly supported the general hypothesis for this thesis. Under the conditions of these experiments, access to outdoor substrates in lactation had little effect on gut structure and lifetime growth rate but increased both carcass weight and dressing percentage, whereas rearing in DL pens increased feed intake, FCR, growth rate, P2 backfat, carcass weight and dressing percentage.
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Payne, Hugh. "How Does the Pre-weaning Environment Affect Gut Structure and Function, and Lifetime Performance of the Pig?" Thesis, Payne, Hugh (2009) How Does the Pre-weaning Environment Affect Gut Structure and Function, and Lifetime Performance of the Pig? Masters by Research thesis, Murdoch University, 2009. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/1682/.
Full textAbstract:
The reduction in feed intake and growth rate that occurs following weaning is of major economic consequence to the pig industry. Currently, a range of antimicrobial products can be used to minimise the impact of weaning on piglet health and subsequent performance. However, the use of these products in pig diets is subject to increasing restriction worldwide because of perceived risks to public health and to the environment. Thus, alternative methods are required to mitigate the growth check that almost invariably occurs after weaning in most production systems.
Piglets produced outdoors are claimed to experience less of a growth check at weaning and to be able to thrive in relatively unsophisticated weaner accommodation. However, these claims have not been substantiated under Western Australian conditions, nor a scientific basis for these claims established. Consequently, a series of experiments was designed to test the general hypothesis for this thesis – ‘the gut structure and function, and lifetime performance of the weaned pig are affected by its pre- and post-weaning rearing environments’.
Experiment 1 was conducted in two parts to quantify differences in the growth performance, health and gut structure of weaner pigs produced indoors or outdoors and reared in conventional or deep-litter pens. The weaner diet in the first part of the experiment contained 100 ppm of olaquindox and 3,000 ppm of zinc oxide (Exp1a). This experiment was repeated without using dietary antimicrobial products (Exp1b). Experiment 2 was conducted in conventional buildings to examine the effect of exposing piglets in lactation to similar substrates to those available to outdoor piglets used in Exp1a and Exp1b in the absence of other differences in the outdoor production milieu.
Pre-weaning environments in Exp1a (indoor production (IP) and outdoor production (OP)) appeared to have little effect on gut structure and overall growth rate but significantly affected carcass composition, whereas post-weaning environments (conventional (C) or deep-litter (DL)) affected both overall growth rate and carcass composition. Although feed disappearance was similar, OP pigs grew faster than IP pigs in the first 47 d after weaning in Exp1a but not in Exp1b. Lifetime growth rate (GR), P2 backfat, feed disappearance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not significantly affected by the production environment in Exp1a whereas OP pigs grew slower with higher P2 backfat and FCR in Exp1b. Interestingly, OP pigs had heavier carcass weights and higher dressing percentages than IP pigs in both parts of the experiment. The effects of post-weaning environment were more consistent as DL pigs grew faster, were fatter, and had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than C pigs.
Villus height and crypt depth of IP and OP pigs were not different at 21 (weaning) or 28 d, but villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning. Pigs reared in C pens had greater faecal concentrations of volatile fatty acids than pigs in DL, indicating that the latter ingested sufficient straw to alter fermentation characteristics.
In Experiment 2, there were no differences in gut structure or pre-weaning and lifetime GR of pigs offered no creep feed (NC), a commercial creep feed (CF) or an ‘outdoor’ mix (OM) comprising of 1 part straw, 5 parts sow feed and 25 parts of soil taken from paddocks in which OP pigs used in Exp1a and Exp1b were farrowed. However, NC pigs grew slower in the week after weaning than the other two treatments. Backfat and feed disappearance were similar for all treatments but pigs on the OM treatment had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than pigs on the NC and CF treatments. Villus height and crypt depth were not different between treatments and, although the piglets were weaned at 28 d, villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning to an extent similar to that experienced by piglets weaned at 21 d in Experiment 1.
Although all piglets received intramuscular injections of 200 mg iron (Fe) dextran when 1 to 2 days old, piglets offered the OM during lactation had higher serum iron and blood haemoglobin (Hb) levels than those offered NC or CF. Furthermore, half the piglets offered NC or CF had Hb levels indicative of chronic Fe deficiency anaemia. The average parity of sows used in this experiment was 6.3 litters, suggesting that piglets may have been born with low Fe stores, possibly because of low Fe stores in their dams due to sub-optimal mineral nutrition over successive parities.
In summary, the findings from these experiments partly supported the general hypothesis for this thesis. Under the conditions of these experiments, access to outdoor substrates in lactation had little effect on gut structure and lifetime growth rate but increased both carcass weight and dressing percentage, whereas rearing in DL pens increased feed intake, FCR, growth rate, P2 backfat, carcass weight and dressing percentage.
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Payne, Hugh. "How Does the Pre-weaning Environment Affect Gut Structure and Function, and Lifetime Performance of the Pig?" Payne, Hugh (2009) How Does the Pre-weaning Environment Affect Gut Structure and Function, and Lifetime Performance of the Pig? Masters by Research thesis, Murdoch University, 2009. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/1682/.
Full textAbstract:
The reduction in feed intake and growth rate that occurs following weaning is of major economic consequence to the pig industry. Currently, a range of antimicrobial products can be used to minimise the impact of weaning on piglet health and subsequent performance. However, the use of these products in pig diets is subject to increasing restriction worldwide because of perceived risks to public health and to the environment. Thus, alternative methods are required to mitigate the growth check that almost invariably occurs after weaning in most production systems.
Piglets produced outdoors are claimed to experience less of a growth check at weaning and to be able to thrive in relatively unsophisticated weaner accommodation. However, these claims have not been substantiated under Western Australian conditions, nor a scientific basis for these claims established. Consequently, a series of experiments was designed to test the general hypothesis for this thesis – ‘the gut structure and function, and lifetime performance of the weaned pig are affected by its pre- and post-weaning rearing environments’.
Experiment 1 was conducted in two parts to quantify differences in the growth performance, health and gut structure of weaner pigs produced indoors or outdoors and reared in conventional or deep-litter pens. The weaner diet in the first part of the experiment contained 100 ppm of olaquindox and 3,000 ppm of zinc oxide (Exp1a). This experiment was repeated without using dietary antimicrobial products (Exp1b). Experiment 2 was conducted in conventional buildings to examine the effect of exposing piglets in lactation to similar substrates to those available to outdoor piglets used in Exp1a and Exp1b in the absence of other differences in the outdoor production milieu.
Pre-weaning environments in Exp1a (indoor production (IP) and outdoor production (OP)) appeared to have little effect on gut structure and overall growth rate but significantly affected carcass composition, whereas post-weaning environments (conventional (C) or deep-litter (DL)) affected both overall growth rate and carcass composition. Although feed disappearance was similar, OP pigs grew faster than IP pigs in the first 47 d after weaning in Exp1a but not in Exp1b. Lifetime growth rate (GR), P2 backfat, feed disappearance and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not significantly affected by the production environment in Exp1a whereas OP pigs grew slower with higher P2 backfat and FCR in Exp1b. Interestingly, OP pigs had heavier carcass weights and higher dressing percentages than IP pigs in both parts of the experiment. The effects of post-weaning environment were more consistent as DL pigs grew faster, were fatter, and had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than C pigs.
Villus height and crypt depth of IP and OP pigs were not different at 21 (weaning) or 28 d, but villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning. Pigs reared in C pens had greater faecal concentrations of volatile fatty acids than pigs in DL, indicating that the latter ingested sufficient straw to alter fermentation characteristics.
In Experiment 2, there were no differences in gut structure or pre-weaning and lifetime GR of pigs offered no creep feed (NC), a commercial creep feed (CF) or an ‘outdoor’ mix (OM) comprising of 1 part straw, 5 parts sow feed and 25 parts of soil taken from paddocks in which OP pigs used in Exp1a and Exp1b were farrowed. However, NC pigs grew slower in the week after weaning than the other two treatments. Backfat and feed disappearance were similar for all treatments but pigs on the OM treatment had higher carcass weights and dressing percentages than pigs on the NC and CF treatments. Villus height and crypt depth were not different between treatments and, although the piglets were weaned at 28 d, villus height decreased and crypt depth increased in the week after weaning to an extent similar to that experienced by piglets weaned at 21 d in Experiment 1.
Although all piglets received intramuscular injections of 200 mg iron (Fe) dextran when 1 to 2 days old, piglets offered the OM during lactation had higher serum iron and blood haemoglobin (Hb) levels than those offered NC or CF. Furthermore, half the piglets offered NC or CF had Hb levels indicative of chronic Fe deficiency anaemia. The average parity of sows used in this experiment was 6.3 litters, suggesting that piglets may have been born with low Fe stores, possibly because of low Fe stores in their dams due to sub-optimal mineral nutrition over successive parities.
In summary, the findings from these experiments partly supported the general hypothesis for this thesis. Under the conditions of these experiments, access to outdoor substrates in lactation had little effect on gut structure and lifetime growth rate but increased both carcass weight and dressing percentage, whereas rearing in DL pens increased feed intake, FCR, growth rate, P2 backfat, carcass weight and dressing percentage.
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Markowitz, Ezra, and Ezra Markowitz. "Affective and Moral Roots of Environmental Stewardship: The Role of Obligation, Gratitude and Compassion." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/12530.
Full textAbstract:
Environmental issues such as climate change and habitat loss pose significant challenges to existing political, legal and financial institutions. As these challenges have become clearer in recent years, interest in understanding the psychological, cultural and moral motivators of environmental stewardship has grown. Recent research within the social sciences--particularly psychology, sociology and communications--has revealed numerous intra- and interpersonal processes and mechanisms that shape whether, how and to what extent individuals and communities engage with the environmental problems they face. In this dissertation, I integrate research from these and other fields to examine the role that affect, identity and morality play in driving individual-level concern about and response to environmental challenges. Across three chapters (which present results from eight empirical studies), I attempt to answer a series of core research questions, including: (1) What is the role of affect in motivating active engagement with environmental issues? (2) What factors shape recognition of problems such as climate change as morally relevant? (3) What can we learn by studying the interaction of affect and morality in the context of environmental conservation? (4) What are the limits of the affective and moral judgment systems in motivating environmental concern and action? In Chapter II (`Is climate change an ethical issue?'), I show that relatively few people identify climate change as a moral issue, that such perceptions are shaped in part by individuals' beliefs about the causes of the problem, and that perceived moral obligation predicts behavioral intentions. In Chapter III (`Who cares about the future?'), I further examine the affective roots of environmental moral beliefs and demonstrate that feelings of gratitude towards past generations enhance individuals' perceptions of responsibility towards future generations. Finally, in Chapter IV (`Are pandas like people?'), I find limits to the role of affect in motivating beneficent action on behalf of non-human others. Together, these three chapters provide novel and actionable insights into some of the factors that shape individual-level environmental stewardship.
This dissertation includes both previously published sole-authored (Chapter II) and unpublished co-authored (Chapter IV) material.
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BLAHNIK, GARY A. "EXPERIMENTALISM: INTEGRATING MIND & BODY, SPIRIT & MATTER, THE ONE & THE MANY." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1185550468.
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Gilbraith, Nathaniel. "Evaluating How Demand Side Resources Affect the Environmental and Economic Performance of Energy Systems." Research Showcase @ CMU, 2015. http://repository.cmu.edu/dissertations/671.
Full textAbstract:
The recent history of energy systems is succinctly summarized as building enough energy extraction, conversion, and delivery infrastructure to meet growing energy demand. Among the benefits of this energy systems framework, we observe that access to modern energy services helps to improve peoples’ standards of living and energy consumption has been positively correlated with gross domestic product. Among the draw backs of focusing solely on the supply side of energy extraction, conversion, delivery, and consumption are concerns regarding inefficient energy consumption (i.e. over-consumption of energy) and the growing evidence of large energy-related human, environmental, and climate impacts. As governments begin to recognize the economic and environmental costs of additional supply side infrastructure, governments, academic institutions, and advocacy groups highlight the “low hanging” nature of demand side interventions. On the surface, demand side interventions offer a win-win situation: use technology or data to identify energy consuming processes that can be optimized (i.e. reduced) or incur very large energy system costs. The energy system becomes more “cost effective” when incentives or regulations can decrease the energy consumption of those processes at a lower cost than actually meeting the baseline energy demand of those processes. This Dissertation goes further and evaluates how these energy saving policies, incentives, and regulations interact with our existing energy systems in ways that are not immediately apparent. In the second chapter, I assess how mandatory commercial building energy codes can reduce air pollutant emissions and provide social benefits. The U.S. government currently does not use estimates of the benefits of codes to determine the appropriate level of policy stringency 5 or set adoption incentives and thus systematic estimates of social benefits are necessary. Quantitative estimates of code benefits at the state level that can inform the size and allocation of these incentives are not available. We estimate the state-level climate, environmental, and health benefits (i.e., social benefits) and reductions in energy bills (private benefits) of a more stringent code (ASHRAE 90.1-2010) relative to a baseline code (ASHRAE 90.1-2007). We find that reductions in site energy use intensity range from 93 MJ/m2 of new construction per year (California) to 270 MJ/m2 of new construction per year (North Dakota). Total annual benefits from more stringent codes total $506 million for all states, where $372 is from reductions in energy bills, and $134 is from social benefits. These total benefits ranges from $0.6 million in Wyoming to $49 million in Texas. Private benefits range from $0.38 per square meter in Washington State to $1.06 per square meter in New Hampshire. Social benefits range from $0.04 per square meter annually in California to $0.50 per meter foot in Ohio. Reductions in human/environmental damages and future climate damages account for nearly equal shares of social benefits. In the third chapter, I explore how improvements in building natural gas energy efficiency can help natural gas utilities avoid capital intensive natural gas system infrastructure investments. Recent periods of pipeline congestion, high natural gas and electricity prices, and controversial infrastructure proposals have increased the public and policymaker scrutiny of the existing natural gas system infrastructure and investment process. In order to help inform the debate of New England’s energy system options, we estimate the benefits of natural gas end-use efficiency programs for utilities in New England. In particular, we model how efficiency programs affect utility firm pipeline capacity purchases and the excess capacity that utilities resell in the short-term capacity markets (i.e. the “capacity value” of the efficiency program). We 6 find that when the utility currently owns sufficient pipeline capacity to meet demand projections, the capacity value of natural gas energy efficiency measures is high because implementing an efficiency program allows the utility to resell additional excess capacity in the high-value, shortterm resale market: $4 to $5 per thousand cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas savings over the life of the space heating efficiency program and $3 per MCF for water heating efficiency programs. When the utility needs to purchase additional firm pipeline capacity to meet projected demand growth, the efficiency program may avoid part of the planned purchase but also resells less excess capacity. For this scenario, the capacity value of space heating efficiency programs is approximately -$2 to -$3 per MCF of natural gas savings, and $1 per MCF for water heating efficiency programs. Given the current capacity situation of utilities across New England, our findings suggest that some existing natural gas efficiency programs in southern New England (CT, MA, RI) may not be cost effective while a greater number of natural gas efficiency programs in northern New England (ME, NH) may be cost effective. The capacity value of natural gas efficiency programs, and thus the cost effectiveness of these programs, is sensitive to the revenue that utilities receive when they sell excess capacity in the short-term market. We recommend that public utility commissions consider including the revenue that utilities receive from reselling excess capacity in the cost effectiveness testing framework for efficiency programs. PUCs could accomplish this by valuing excess pipeline capacity at the basis differential between New England and production areas or by working with utilities and other stakeholders to identify a mutually agreeable value. In the fourth chapter, I quantify how allowing residential consumer to self-provide electric energy using distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays will change overall electricity 7 system costs in Portugal. Further, I quantify the distribution of the benefits of solar PV among solar panel owning and non-solar panel owning ratepayers. In 2008, the European Parliament adopted the European Commission’s (EC) “20-20-20” goals in order to address global climate change concerns and to tap the potential economic and energy security benefits of energy systems based on renewable energy resources. Under the 20-20-20 package, Portugal needs to produce 60% of total electricity using renewable energy sources (or RES) by 2020. However, the total cost of subsidy policies that lead this transition now account for approximately 33% of residential consumers electricity bills. In light of both the 20-20-20 climate goals and the increasing need to achieve these goals in a cost effective manner, we quantifying the benefits and costs of distributed solar PV in Portugal for panel owners, ratepayers as a whole, and the specific group of ratepayers that does not own solar panels. We measure the benefits and costs of distributed solar PV from these perspectives by computing and comparing the present value of the cost of a distributed solar PV array, the present value of grid electricity purchases that solar panel owners avoid, and the present value of grid generation and delivery costs that the grid avoids when panel owners consume less electricity. We find that solar PV is net present value positive for the average Portuguese electricity ratepayer that owns a solar array. The most attractive option for an average consumer is a 500W array, with a net present value of 700-800€ relative to a present cost of about 1500€. On the other hand, distributed solar PV generation has a higher cost than using the grid to produce and deliver a marginal unit of electricity during periods that solar PV arrays generate electricity. Ratepayers as a whole pay 900-2600€ more in total costs for each kilowatt of distributed solar PV capacity that panel owners install; the 500 W solar array increases total system costs by 1600€. Further, panel owners also avoid paying sunk grid costs, such as revenue guarantees to other renewable 8 generators and the costs of grid infrastructure. In order to recover these sunk costs from ratepayers, retail prices will increase for all consumers. As a result, non-panel owners will pay an additional 1600€ in bills (total across all non-panel owners) for each 500W array that panel owners install. This is equivalent to a 140€/MWh subsidy to panel owners, which is larger than the subsidy that many other Portuguese generators receive but smaller than the subsidy for existing solar PV arrays. Portuguese policy-makers could reduce this subsidy by instituting some type of solar PV fee (more straightforward) or changing the rate structure such that retail prices more closely reflect underlying costs (more complex). Alternatively, Portuguese policy makers could maintain the existing policy. The subsidy per unit of installed solar PV will not change; however, the large number of consumers that live in multi-family housing (and may not be able to install solar PV) suggests that the total value of the subsidy from panel owners to non-panel owners will remain limited.
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Dahlqvist-Sjöberg, Philip. "ENVIRONMENTAL TAX ON FOOD IN SWEDEN : How can taxation affect emissions from protein consumption?" Thesis, Umeå universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-162115.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates how policy reform can reduce emissions from the consumption of protein goods in Sweden. The data material used is time-series aggregated sales and price indexes on an annual basis of goods: beef, pork, poultry, fish, and egg, together with respective mean kilograms of emissions. To calculate the tax, elasticities have been estimated using the LA/AIDS model to find the theoretical appropriate excise tax of approximately 1.70 SEK per kilograms of emissions. This tax yields a reduction in emissions of ten percent based on the results from the model. The study also provides the insight that public data within the field of the environmental food industry is limited but would, if available, provide useful analysis to decelerate global warming. The estimations in the study lack significance but is in linear with previous studies and with enough data, the results would give a more accurate course of action to follow.
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Thomas, Gregory Owen. "Exploring alternatives to rational choice in models of behaviour : an investigation using travel mode choice." Thesis, University of Bath, 2014. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.619230.
Full textAbstract:
The car is the most popular travel mode in the UK, but reliance on the car has numerous negative effects on health, the economy, and the environment. Encouraging sustainable travel mode choices (modal choice) can minimise these problems. To promote behaviour change, psychologists have an interest in understanding modal choice. Historically, modal choice has been understood as a reasoned and rational decision that requires a conscious assessment of thoughts and attitudes: but evidence suggests this approach has limitations when promoting behaviour change. Alternatively, processes that are automatically enacted, without conscious effort, can have an influence on thought and behaviour. Two automatic processes in particular have been proposed as useful factors when considering modal choice: habit and affect. Habits are behaviours that are learned over time in stable contexts, have become automatic, and moderate the link between intentions and behaviour. Affect is an automatically positive or negative sensation, which can influence consciously accessed attitudes and perceptions. This thesis explores these two automatic concepts in travel mode choice, with the aim of applying the concepts to promote sustainable travel. Using a mixed-methods approach, initial exploratory work used qualitative and quantitative methods to define how people construct affective responses to modal choice, and whether certain travel modes are more automatic than others. The exploratory work inspired three investigations: modelling the influence of automatic and reasoned decisions to use a travel mode, measuring automatic and implicit environmental preferences, and illustrating how changing the context of routines can increase use of available information. Exploratory and investigative results are then applied in the creation of the UK’s first Walking Network, a series of walking routes designed to deliver targeted information and knowledge to promote walking. This thesis concludes that automatic influences are beneficial factors when considering modal change interventions.
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Wixon, Naomi. "An Inductive Method of Measuring Students’ Cognitive and Affective Processes via Self-Reports in Digital Learning Environments." Digital WPI, 2018. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-dissertations/504.
Full textAbstract:
Student affect can play a profoundly important role in students' post-school lives. Understanding students' affective states within online learning environments in particular has become an important matter of research, as digital tutoring systems have the potential to intervene at the moment that students are struggling and becoming frustrated, bored or disengaged. However, despite the importance of assessing students' affective states, there is no clear consensus about what emotions are most important to assess, nor how these emotions can be best measured.
This dissertation investigates students’ self-reports of their emotions and causal attributions of those emotions collected while they are solving math problems within a mathematics tutoring system. These self-reports are collected in two conditions: through limited choice Likert response and through open response text boxes. The conditions are combined with students’ cognitive attributions to describe epistemic (neither purely affective nor purely cognitive) emotions in order to explain the relationship between observable student behaviors in the MathSpring.org tutoring system and student affect. These factors include beliefs, expectations, motivations, and perceptions of ability and control. A special emphasis of this dissertation is on analyzing the role of causal attributions for the events and appraisals of the learning environment, as possible causes of student behaviors, performance, and affect.