Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Intentions of the framers'

The thesis examines the speeches and debates in the Australasian Federation Conference of 1890, and the Australasian Federal Conventions of 1891 and 1897-8 for the purpose of establishing what the framers of the Commonwealth Constitution understood to be the meaning and purpose of the individual sections of the Constitution upon which they were called upon either to support or oppose. The particular matters involved in the examination are the manner and form in which the principles of responsible government were incorporated into the constitution, and the relationship of these principles to the powers of the Senate; the crisis in the 1891 Convention in relation to the powers of the Senate over money bills; the significance of the difference in composition of the Convention of 1891 compared with that of 1897-8; the significance of the classification of the Constitution as an indissoluble federation under the Crown; the principles of responsible government and the provisions of s.57 in the context of the deadlock over Supply in 1975; the meaning and purpose of s.41 preserving the rights of voters qualified to vote in State elections for the lower Houses, and the misconceptions in relation thereto the position of aborigines under the Constitution; the meaning and purpose of the special laws power in the light of the 1967 Constitutional referendum, and its interpretation bU the High Court in the Hindmarsh Island Bridge case; the relationship of the intentions of the framers of the Constitution to the interpretation bu the High Court of the Financial Clauses of the Constitution, and the provisions of s.92; and the meaning and purpose of the external affairs power, and the corporations power as understood bu the framers of the Constitution.

The thesis examines the speeches and debates in the Australasian Federation Conference of 1890, and the Australasian Federal Conventions of 1891 and 1897-8 for the purpose of establishing what the framers of the Commonwealth Constitution understood to be the meaning and purpose of the individual sections of the Constitution upon which they were called upon either to support or oppose. The particular matters involved in the examination are the manner and form in which the principles of responsible government were incorporated into the constitution, and the relationship of these principles to the powers of the Senate; the crisis in the 1891 Convention in relation to the powers of the Senate over money bills; the significance of the difference in composition of the Convention of 1891 compared with that of 1897-8; the significance of the classification of the Constitution as an indissoluble federation under the Crown; the principles of responsible government and the provisions of s.57 in the context of the deadlock over Supply in 1975; the meaning and purpose of s.41 preserving the rights of voters qualified to vote in State elections for the lower Houses, and the misconceptions in relation thereto the position of aborigines under the Constitution; the meaning and purpose of the special laws power in the light of the 1967 Constitutional referendum, and its interpretation bU the High Court in the Hindmarsh Island Bridge case; the relationship of the intentions of the framers of the Constitution to the interpretation bu the High Court of the Financial Clauses of the Constitution, and the provisions of s.92; and the meaning and purpose of the external affairs power, and the corporations power as understood bu the framers of the Constitution.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Sydney, 2001.
Title from title screen (viewed Apr. 24, 2008). Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Dept. of History, Faculty of Arts. Degree awarded 2001; thesis submitted 2000. Includes bibliography and of tables of cases. Also available in print form.

Two studies based on one online randomized controlled trial examined the effects of sport gain-framed messages (Rothman & Salovey, 1997) and a sport possible self (Murru & Martin Ginis, 2010) protocol on indices of possible self activation and elaboration, sport intention, and sport activity. 244 non-sporting adults (M = 50.59, 40-59 yrs) completed baseline/screening measures (T1), a gain-framed experimental/control intervention one week later (T2), and follow-up measures (T3) four weeks after T2. Study 1 showed gain-framed participants most frequently attended to a health and fitness message, more frequently described a possible self, and elaborated more on their possible selves (especially about delaying aging and developing friendships through sport). Study 2 indicated that gain-framed individuals requested more sport newsletters and registered for more sport programs. From T1 to T2, gain-framed conditions facilitated increased intentions for those with low approach motivation, whereas control conditions improved intentions for individuals with high approach motivation.

The idea of accounting as a constitutive means, making people think and act in particular ways, is well established in the social strand of accounting literature. In professional organisations, for example, accounting is claimed to be critical to processes of turning people into rational and responsible economic actors. However, this thesis refocuses the empirical attention away from the organisation and into the private sphere of people’s everyday financial lives. As this is a field partly inhabited by people who for various reasons are believed to have difficulty in making sense of financial accounts, a dilemma arises regarding how to influence people’s way of managing their own finances by means of accounting information. How this dilemma is assumed to be resolved in order to make accounting matter is the query of this thesis. Through a study of four cases, the thesis investigates the practices of public authorities, a television makeover show, and a pension insurance company – here referred to as accounting framers – whose task it is to construct accounting in such a way so as to make it come across as important, relevant and useful to various groups of the general public. By examining how people’s accounting interpretations are elaborated in order to make them responsive to financial accounts, the thesis contributes to problematising the constitutive role of accounting and the conditions believed to enable it to turn people into financially responsible actors.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In an effort to reduce its dependency on mining, (since independence at 1966) the successive governments of Botswana (GoB) have continued to foster national development by diversifying the country’s economy, with agribusiness development strategies at the forefront of discussions. Over decades, a significant number of policies on agri-support have been developed towards this mission. Nevertheless, the performance of the sector continues to decline considerably. Despite its potential to promote and develop small-scale farmers, literature on agri-support programmes has indicated that without scrutiny and continuous evaluation of the programmes in place, the strategy can be another way of which governments lose money. This study examines the Botswana Young Farmers Fund programme that finances aspiring young farmers to start up or expand their agri projects. More particularly, the study investigates how this model in the context of young farmers, impacts and contribute to the development of the agricultural sector in Botswana. The study identified challenges and opportunities of the YFF programme. The major challenge which is also applicable to the general sector, identified by the case study suggests that the agricultural environment in Botswana is fragile, therefore seeks relevant agribusiness development strategies that are tailor-made for specific challenges faced by the sector.

"Good resolutions are useless attempts to interfere with scientific laws. Their origin is pure vanity. Their result is absolutely nil". Oscar Wilde, The picture of Dorian Gray Different types of intentions are some of the most often used variables in marketing and consumer research. The reason is that intentions are believed to predict future behavior. Yet, as the above quote from Oscar Wilde implies, resolutions and intentions are not always translated into action. Intentions and intentionality have been at the centre of discussion for well over a thousand years in philosophy and theology. For solicitors, judges and criminals it is potentially a life and death issue, and within the fields of linguistics and psychology intentions has been given considerable interest. However, in marketing and consumer research, intentions are frequently used but very rarely reflected upon. The thesis comprises six scientific articles based on empirical studies. The articles revolve around a wide definition of intention and show that not all intentions are created equal. They contain empirical evidence and theory on such phenomenon as why so called good intentions are less predictive of subsequent behavior compared to other types of intentions, why resolve and intentions deteriorate over time, and why what a consumer wants to do, plans to do and expects herself to do can be very different things. Wanting, planning and expecting are central components in intention formation and the results in this thesis suggests that researchers and practitioners have much to gain by paying attention to what type of intention they use in their research. Niclas Öhman is a researcher at the Center for Consumer Marketing and at the Center for Retailing at the Stockholm School of Economics

  Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2010. Sammanfattning jämte 6 uppsatser. Spikblad saknas

This thesis aims to explore whether lying about intentions can be detected using the same methods that are used to detect other types of lie. Part I, the introduction, contains a literature review of research into future thinking and intentions. In Part II non-verbal cues and thermal imaging are investigated as cues to deception. In Experiment 1 participants of twelve different ethnicities were interviewed at an airport about their forthcoming trip. Half of the participants were instructed to answer truthfully, the other half to answer deceptively. The participants’ veracity affected only three of the 17 non-verbal cues: struggling, thinking hard and controlling behaviour. These cues were reduced to two factors, cognitive load and animation. These two factors could correctly classify 52.3% of truth tellers and 62.6% of liars. The thermal imaging showed that liars tended to get warmer during the interview, while the truth tellers’ temperatures remained constant. This temperature rise was a cue to deception at above chance rates. In Part III two experiments are described, investigating verbal cues to deceit in longer and shorter interviews. In Experiment 2 participants were interviewed, answering truthfully or deceptively, about a forthcoming trip. The interview contained general questions that were expected by the participants and three types of unexpected questions. Half of the participants had been to the travel destination previously, while the other half had not been there. The results showed that truth tellers generated more details on the unexpected questions than liars, while liars provided more details on expected questions than truth tellers. This pattern was more pronounced with participants who had been to their travel destination before than for those who had never been to that destination. A positive predictive value of .69 (truth) and a negative predictive value of .75 (lie) were obtained. Experiment 3 investigated verbal cues to deceit in a short one question interview about a forthcoming trip. The interview question was asked in two forms, one prompting for time detail and one control. The results showed that truth tellers and those answering the time prompting question were more likely to provide temporal information. The results showed that 47.6% of truth tellers and 81% of liars could be classified correctly on the basis of the time prompt question. Part IV investigated reaction times as a cue to deception. In Experiment 4, participants were asked to perform a mission, either immediately or two weeks later. Half of the participants was instructed to answer any questions asked by experimenters en route truthfully, the other half was asked to answer deceptively. Using a computer, participants classified adjectives as positive or negative and were primed by words related to the real intention of truth tellers (to buy a present), which was also the cover story for liars. Contrary to the hypothesis, in the immediate condition liars answered faster on positive than negative adjectives, while the truth tellers responded equally fast to both adjectives. In the delayed condition no difference was found between truth tellers and liars. Part V presents the general discussion. The main findings of the thesis are summarised, practical and theoretical implications are discussed, the methodological and ethical limitations are considered and ideas for future research are given. Overall, the conclusion of the thesis is that false intentions contain cues to deceit that observers should be able to spot.

The focus of this report is directed to the consideration of the problems related to the difference between commitment of International Olympic Committee to better environmental approach and actual environmental performance of Olympic Games which suppose to follow this commitment since the Games of the year 2002. Mostly qualitative research methodology was utilized in this study. It was based on the interviews with representatives of Greenpeace and World Wildlife Fund, the organizations which are involved in environmental assessment of Olympic Games; exploration of the environmental requirements from International Olympic Committee for carrying out Olympic Games and changes in these requirements through years; evaluation of environmental performance of the past Olympic Games which needed to follow environmental commitment. The research showed that despite continuously improvement in the requirements through years the Host Cities are still managing to fail the preparation of environmental side of the Games. The unsolved problem of still vague requirements was revealed; lack of communication between Non-Government Organizations, which actually give environmental assessment of Olympic Games, and International Olympic Committee was discovered and some political issues were discussed. After the carried work it is recommended to enforce the cooperation between Non-Government Organizations and International Olympic Committee and create common system for evaluation of environmental performance, state more clear requirements for the ecological organization of Olympic Games and change focus from environment to sustainability.

Aquesta tesi examina la intenció empresarial (IE) entre estudiants terciaris, que va conduir a la producció de quatre treballs empírics. El primer article investiga la influència del control de comportament percebut (PBC), de la norma subjectiva (SN) i de l’actitud cap a l’emprenedoria (ATE), en la intenció emprenedora mitjançant l’enfocament de Modelització d’equacions estructurals (SEM) - Smart Partial Least Square (PLS). Les troballes suggereixen que la Teoria del Comportament Planificat (TPB) és una eina important per predir les intencions empresarials. Per tant, les troballes donen suport al TPB per a l'IE a Ghana. Dos factors motivacionals (actitud cap a l’emprenedoria i control conductual percebut) relacionats amb l’EI, però SN van mostrar una associació no significativa amb l’EI. Aquest estudi també va trobar que SN afectava positivament l’actitud cap a l’emprenedoria i el control conductual percebut. Tot i això, només una (relació PSE-SN) de les hipòtesis basades en la demografia va ser significativa. El segon article examina l’efecte de l’actitud cap a l’emprenedoria, la norma subjectiva, el lloc de control, l’autoeficàcia empresarial i el suport ambiental sobre la intenció empresarial de 159 estudiants MBA de dues universitats privades de Ghana. L'estudi utilitza el modelatge d'equacions estructurals (SEM) per analitzar les dades obtingudes dels participants. Els resultats mostren que tots els factors, excepte l’autoeficàcia empresarial, afecten significativament les intencions empresarials dels estudiants. El tercer treball examina com els models d’autoocupació parental / models moderen (mitjançant l’anàlisi multigrup) la relació entre els antecedents de la intenció emprenedora i la valoració social (SV), la valoració més propera (CV), les habilitats emprenedores (ES) i el suport ambiental . Les dades de tres-cents dinou enquestats es van analitzar mitjançant modelització d’equacions estructurals (SEM). L'anàlisi multigrup es va utilitzar per provar el paper moderador de l'autoocupació dels pares (PSE) per determinar si hi ha una relació significativa entre els enquestats amb PSE i els enquestats sense PSE. D'acord amb estudis previs, l'actitud cap a l'emprenedoria (ATE) i el control conductual percebut (PBC) tenen un efecte positiu sobre la IE. Els resultats demostren que les habilitats emprenedores influeixen en ATE, PBC i la Norma subjectiva (SN). Pel que fa a la influència del coneixement ambiental percebut (ENSUP) i de l'ATE, la relació va ser insignificant, tot i que l'impacte de l'ENSUP en PBC i SN va ser significatiu. Respecte a les correlacions entre SV i CV i els antecedents de TPB respectivament, es van acceptar totes les hipòtesis excepte les relacions CV → ATE i SV → PBC. Aquest estudi va revelar que els enquestats amb autoocupació dels pares perceben una actitud més elevada respecte a l’emprenedoria, el PBC, les habilitats emprenedores, el suport a l’emprenedoria i la intenció emprenedora que els que no tenen PSE. No obstant això, el MGA va establir que la formació d’intencions empresarials és similar per als enquestats amb autoocupació parental i els enquestats sense PSE. Per tant, no hi va haver una relació significativa entre els enquestats amb PSE i els enquestats sense PSE. Finalment, el quart article investiga la intenció empresarial aplicant la teoria del comportament planificat d’Ajzen (1991). Hem examinat específicament el paper del gènere en l'educació emprenedora i els models a seguir o l'autoocupació dels pares, mitjançant la realització d'una anàlisi multigrup. Hem utilitzat un qüestionari basat en web per recopilar informació de 216 estudiants d’una universitat espanyola. Les dades es van analitzar amb l’ajut de Modelització d’equacions estructurals (SEM) - Parcial mínim quadrat (PLS). Hem realitzat una anàlisi tripartita sobre models complets, masculins i femenins. Pel que fa als models complets i masculins, es van acceptar totes les hipòtesis principals, en comparació amb quatre per al model femení. Tot i que aquest estudi ha confirmat l’aplicabilitat del model TPB a la intenció emprenedora, no hem trobat una relació significativa entre homes i dones sobre les seves intencions emprenedores per a algunes relacions. Però aquest estudi suggereix que la relació entre PSE i PBC és més forta per als homes que per a les dones. En general, la tesi proporciona noves visions sobre el model d’intenció emprenedora, adaptat del TPB. Aquesta tesi ha desenterrat algunes revelacions sobre intencions empresarials entre estudiants espanyols i ghanesos. A més del nou avanç teòric, la tesi ofereix implicacions rellevants per a estudiants, educadors, responsables polítics i grups d'interès en l'àmbit empresarial.
Esta tesis examina la intención emprendedora entre los estudiantes de educación terciaria, lo que llevó a la producción de cuatro artículos empíricos. El primer artículo investiga la influencia del control conductual percibido, la norma subjetiva y la actitud hacia el espíritu empresarial, en la intención empresarial utilizando el modelo de ecuación estructural (SEM) - enfoque de mínimos cuadrados parciales inteligentes (PLS). Los hallazgos sugieren que TPB es una herramienta importante para predecir las intenciones empresariales. Por lo tanto, los hallazgos respaldan el TPB para la IE en Ghana. Dos factores motivacionales (actitud hacia el emprendimiento y control conductual percibido) relacionados con la IE, pero el SN mostró una asociación no significativa con la IE. Este estudio también encontró que la SN afecta positivamente la actitud hacia el espíritu empresarial y el control conductual percibido. Sin embargo, solo una (relación PSE-SN) de las hipótesis demográficas fue significativa. El segundo artículo examina el efecto de la actitud hacia el espíritu empresarial, la norma subjetiva, el locus de control, la autoeficacia empresarial y el apoyo ambiental sobre la intención empresarial de 159 estudiantes de MBA de dos universidades privadas de Ghana. El estudio utiliza modelos de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) para analizar los datos obtenidos de los participantes. Los resultados muestran que todos los factores, excepto la autoeficacia empresarial, afectan significativamente las intenciones empresariales de los estudiantes. El tercer artículo examina cómo el trabajo por cuenta propia de los padres / modelos a seguir modera (utilizando el análisis multigrupo) la relación entre los antecedentes de la intención empresarial y la valoración social, la valoración más cercana, las habilidades emprendedoras y el apoyo ambiental. Los datos de trescientos diecinueve encuestados se analizaron mediante modelos de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM). Se utilizó el análisis multigrupo para probar el papel moderador del trabajo por cuenta propia de los padres (PSE) para determinar si existe una relación significativa entre los encuestados con PSE y los encuestados sin PSE. De acuerdo con estudios anteriores, ATE y PBC tienen un efecto positivo sobre la IE. Los resultados demuestran que las habilidades emprendedoras influyen en ATE, PBC y SN. En cuanto a la influencia del conocimiento ambiental percibido (ENSUP) y ATE, la relación fue insignificante, aunque el impacto de ENSUP en PBC y SN fue significativo. Con respecto a las correlaciones entre SV y CV y los antecedentes de TPB respectivamente, se aceptaron todas las hipótesis excepto CV → ATE y SV → PBC. Este estudio reveló que los encuestados con autoempleo de los padres perciben una mayor actitud hacia el emprendimiento, PBC, habilidades emprendedoras, apoyo emprendedor e intención emprendedora que aquellos sin PSE. Sin embargo, la MGA estableció que la formación de intenciones empresariales es similar para los encuestados con trabajo por cuenta propia de los padres y los encuestados sin PSE. Por lo tanto, no hubo una relación significativa entre los encuestados con PSE y los encuestados sin PSE. Por último, el cuarto artículo investiga la intención empresarial aplicando la Teoría del Comportamiento Planificado de Ajzen (1991). Examinamos específicamente el papel del género en la educación empresarial y los modelos a seguir o el autoempleo de los padres, mediante la realización de un análisis multigrupo. Utilizamos un cuestionario basado en la web para recopilar información de 216 estudiantes de una universidad española. Los datos se analizaron con la ayuda de Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) - Partial Least Square (PLS). Realizamos un análisis tripartito sobre modelos completos, masculinos y femeninos. En cuanto a los modelos completo y masculino, se aceptaron todas las hipótesis principales, frente a cuatro para el modelo femenino. Aunque este estudio ha confirmado la aplicabilidad del modelo TPB a la intención empresarial, no encontramos una relación significativa entre hombres y mujeres sobre sus intenciones empresariales para algunas relaciones. Pero este estudio sugiere que la relación entre PSE y PBC es más fuerte para los hombres que para las mujeres. En general, la tesis proporciona nuevos conocimientos sobre el modelo de intención empresarial, adaptado del TPB. Esta tesis ha desenterrado algunas revelaciones sobre las intenciones emprendedoras entre los estudiantes españoles y ghaneses. Además del novedoso avance teórico, la tesis ofrece implicaciones relevantes para estudiantes, educadores, responsables políticos y partes interesadas en el campo empresarial.
This thesis examines the entrepreneurial intention (EI) among tertiary students, which led to the production of four empirical papers. The first paper investigates the influence of Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC), Subjective Norm (SN) and Attitude towards Entrepreneurship (ATE), on Entrepreneurial Intention using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) – Smart Partial Least Square (PLS) approach. The findings suggest that Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is an important tool for predicting entrepreneurial intentions. Thus, the findings support the TPB for EI in Ghana. Two motivational factors (attitude towards entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control) related to EI, but SN showed a non-significant association with EI. This study also found SN positively affecting attitude toward entrepreneurship and perceived behavioural control. However, only one (PSE-SN relationship) of the demographic-based hypotheses was significant. The second paper examines the effect of attitude towards entrepreneurship, subjective norm, locus of control, entrepreneurial self-efficacy, and environmental support on entrepreneurial intention of 159 MBA students from two private universities in Ghana. The study uses structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyze the data obtained from the participants. The results show that all the factors but entrepreneurial self-efficacy significantly affects students’ entrepreneurial intentions. The third paper examines how parental self-employment/role models moderates (using Multi-Group Analysis) the relationship between the antecedents of entrepreneurial intention and Social Valuation (SV), Closer Valuation (CV), Entrepreneurial Skills (ES), and Environmental Support. The data of three hundred and nineteen respondents were analysed by structural equation modelling (SEM). Multi-Group Analysis was used to test the moderating role of parental self-employment (PSE) to determine whether there is a significant relationship between respondents with PSE and respondents without PSE. Consistent with prior studies, Attitude towards entrepreneurship (ATE) and Perceived Behavioural Control (PBC) have a positive effect on EI. The results prove that entrepreneurial skills influence ATE, PBC, and Subjective Norm (SN). Regarding the influence of perceived environmental knowledge (ENSUP) and ATE, the relationship was insignificant, though the impact of ENSUP on PBC and SN was significant. With respect to the correlations between SV and CV and the antecedents of TPB respectively, all the hypotheses were accepted except CV→ATE and SV→PBC relationships. This study revealed that respondents with parental self-employment perceive a higher attitude towards entrepreneurship, PBC, entrepreneurial skills, entrepreneurial support, and entrepreneurial intention than those without PSE. However, the MGA established that the formation of entrepreneurial intentions is similar for respondents with parental self-employment and respondents without PSE. Thus, there was no significant relationship between respondents with PSE and respondents without PSE. Lastly, the fourth paper investigates entrepreneurial intention by applying the Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen (1991). We specifically examined the role of gender on entrepreneurial education and role models or parental self-employment, by carrying out a Multi-Group Analysis. We used a web-based questionnaire to collect information from 216 students at a Spanish university. Data were analysed with the help of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) – Partial Least Square (PLS). We conducted a tripartite analysis on Complete, Male, and Female Models. Regarding the Complete and Male Models, all the primary hypotheses were accepted, compared with four for the Female Model. Though this study has confirmed the applicability of the TPB model to entrepreneurial intention, we did not find a significant relationship between Males and Females about their entrepreneurial intentions for some relationships. But this study suggests that the relationship between PSE and PBC is stronger for Males than Females. Generally, the thesis provides new insights into the entrepreneurial intention model, adapted from the TPB. This thesis has unearthed some revelations about entrepreneurial intentions among Spanish and Ghanaian students. In addition to the novel theoretical advancement, the thesis offers relevant implications for students, educators, policy-makers and stakeholders in the entrepreneurial field.

La revue intentions, creee par pierre andre-may, alors age de 20 ans, parait regulierement, avec une periodicite mensuelle, de janvier 1922 a decembre 1924. Elle est consacree quasi exclusivement a la litterature et au theatre, meme si l'on y trouve quelques articles de critique musicale ou artistique. Pierre andre-may, admirateur d'andre gide, jules romains, marcel proust et valery larbaud, y defend "certain classicisme", et saura maintenir la ligne de sa revue jusqu'a la fin. Intentions reunit des signatures prestigieuses, parmi lesquelles celles de valery larbaud, paul morand, saint-john perse ou jules supervielle. Elle publiera deux numeros speciaux, le premier consacre a valery larbaud, le second a la jeune litterature espagnole. Pour l'un comme pour l'autre, pierre andre-may recevra le soutien actif et l'aide precieuse de l'auteur de barnabooth. Apres l'arret de la publication, dont la charge financiere tit devenue trop lourde pour son jeune fondateur-directeur, les ecrivains qui y collaboraient se retrouveront dans des revues plus importantes, defendant souvent une ligne litteraire proche d'intentions
Founded as a literary journal by pierre andre-may, at age twenty, intentions appeared regularly on a monthly basis from january 1922 through december 1924. Its focus was mainly literature and theater, although now and then it displayed pages of music and art criticism. Under the aegis of its director, p-andre-may, a staunch admirer of andre gide, jules romains, marcel proust and valery larbaud, it carried the battle of a "certain classicism" and would keep to this aesthetic agenda throughout, collecting such prestigious signatures as those of jules supervielle, paul morand, saint-john perse and valery larbaud. With the precious help of the latter it would bring out two special issues, the first of which was devoted to him, whilst the second to the young spanish writers. As the financial burden of running the journal grew too heavy to bear by the young founder. Intentions ceased to appear, shofing its talents at the steps of other important journals, which often held the same directorial line as did intentions

In this thesis, I answer the gamer's dilemma or the inability to find a moral distinction between virtual pedophilia and virtual murder. I expand virtual pedophilia to virtual rape to address increasing rates of sexual harassment and assault in virtual reality. In this thesis, I 1) explain what occurs when one engages in virtual rape; 2) identify relevant moral differences between physical rape and virtual rape; 3) challenge the existing relationship between committing harm and wrong in the case of rape; and 4) argue that virtual rape is morally reprehensible due to the agent’s intention to utilize a person as a mere tool for pleasure.

Three cases of food safety issue occurred in South Korea were chosen to test whether message frames influence on consumers? purchasing intention. In addition, this study not only investigates the relationships among constructs, but also evaluates the path coefficients of rela-tionships. Empirical Results indicates that consumers? intention to purchasing was negatively affected by message frames including negative headline, negative information and less amount of information. Also, knowledgeable group was more sensitive to prior-knowledge with respect to their attitude than other group when there are food risks around. Group received negative mes-sage reacted more sensitively to trust than group received relatively positive message.

Testing for Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is being incorporated into the cervical screening programme, with the probable future introduction of HPV as a primary test and a possibility of HPV self-sampling. In anticipation of this development, it is imperative to identify potential barriers to HPV self-sampling. The work presented in this thesis identified women’s attitudes and intentions regarding the possible introduction of primary HPV self-sampling, and developed a preliminary intervention designed to address barriers and increase intentions to HPV self-sample. A mixed-methods approach was used to explore women’s attitudes and intentions regarding HPV self-sampling through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey, in-depth qualitative interviews and intervention user testing. A questionnaire based on the extended Health Belief Model was developed and validated using content validity assessment and cognitive interviews. A survey of 194 women recruited through Cervical Screening Wales and in community settings identified that perceiving more barriers than benefits to HPV self-sampling, reporting lower self-efficacy in relation to self-sampling, and lower HPV knowledge were associated with lower hypothetical intention to HPV self-sample. Qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of 19 survey participants revealed further barriers including lack of confidence in ability to self-sample correctly, lack of confidence in self-sampling results, concerns about sample contamination and identity theft, and low confidence in the rationale for the introduction of a new screening programme. Content designed to address these barriers was incorporated into a leaflet designed to increase intentions to HPV self-sample. The leaflet was well received in user testing. Overall, findings suggest that if HPV self-sampling is incorporated into the cervical screening programme, personal and system barriers as well as concerns about operational factors will need to be addressed. The pilot HPV self-sampling intervention may be a mechanism for increasing intention to HPV self-sample by improving women’s HPV knowledge, confidence in their ability to self-sample properly, and confidence in operational factors. It is anticipated that this may alleviate women’s concerns about a new method of cervical screening, ultimately leading to increased uptake.

Since 1884, the courts have embraced and applied the doctrine of employment-at-will which states that employers may terminate their employees, with or without cause or notice, at any time. Recently, the courts have recognized exceptions to this doctrine. In order to avoid these exceptions, lawyers and human resource specialists have suggested that employment materials should explicitly state that all employment is at-will. However, while stating an employment-at-will policy may protect employers' rights to terminate at-will, little is known about the consequences of adopting these measures with respect to applicant and employee attitudes. The concept of employment-at-will is explored and research that investigates the effects of explicitly stating these policies in corporate recruiting brochures is presented. First, the employment-at-will literature is reviewed. Second, variables are discussed that address the possible effects of stating an employment-at-will policy in corporate recruiting materials. Third, variables are presented that may interact with termination policy with regard to potential applicant attitudes. Fourth, a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design was used to assess the influence of self-efficacy (high versus low), termination policy (terminate for "just cause" versus employment-at-will), and compensation policy (leading versus average) on future applicants' 1) favorableness of impression of the organization, 2) interest in pursuing employment opportunities, and 3) intention to join a union. indicated a interaction Results significant termination policy by self-efficacy for intent to pursue employment. Specifically, it was found that individuals with high self-efficacy were more favorable toward pursuing employment with an organization with a due process termination policy than an organization with an employment-at-will termination policy. Results also indicated that whether an individual has a union member in his family was associated with the potential applicant's ratings of corporate image (r = -.15, p < .05) and intent to pursue union membership (r = .23, p < .01). Finally, possible reasons for the current findings and avenues for future research are addressed.

Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Human Ecology-Personal Financial Planning
Maurice M. MacDonald
Crimes are committed for a vast and varying number of reasons. Many of those who commit crime are found guilty and serve their sentences. In most situations, the offenders will complete their sentences and subsequently be released back into society. The question then arises, is the offender prepared to return to society? There are numerous factors associated with successful reentry, but one that has not yet been addressed is financial behavior after release. This dissertation takes a first step toward understanding potential post-release financial behavior. The purpose of this primary data study was to use the theory of planned behavior as a context to examine how aspects of incarceration history—the type of crime committed (financial and non-financial), total years incarcerated, and total number of convictions—may influence financial attitude, financial subjective norms, perceptions of behavioral control, and post-release financial intentions. Use of the theory of planned behavior in this special, vulnerable population is needed to assist educators and professionals to determine what training offenders may need to succeed once back in society. This study focuses on Georgia Transitional Center participants’ post-release financial intentions. There is not much research regarding men and women who have experienced incarceration and their relationships with financial resources. Understanding the nature of Americans’ financial resources is challenging. Adding incarceration to the equation further complicates the investigation, but it is a worthwhile for a more comprehensive understanding of factors that may later affect success in society. This dissertation is the first study to investigate post-release financial intentions of men and women in a work release program.

My thesis comprises twenty-five short stories and a long essay wherein I discuss the stories in the light of Welsh writing in English which has shown considerable engagement with America. Central to my discussion is the view that my creative work has been enriched by American example, most especially as it applies to the writings of Raymond Carver.

Les expositions ont joué un rôle important dans le développement du design et la reconnaissance de cette activité. Qu’en est-il aujourd’hui en France ? Quelles sont les intentions - ou effets communicationnels - susceptibles d’être produites ? À partir de cinq expositions contemporaines de design sélectionnées pour obtenir un échantillon diversifié, nous nous livrons d’abord à une description des formes telles qu’elles se présentent au public à travers les dispositifs d’exposition. Dans un cadre de pensée et une méthode inspirés par la phénoménologie et la muséologie, l’ambition est de comprendre les intentions supportées par ces expositions. La description des situations de visite est rendue possible grâce à un positionnement particulier du chercheur qui cumule en sa personne les rôles de chercheur académique et de visiteur impliqué. Sur le plan éducationnel, l’intention d’exposition de design est ainsi appréhendée comme une leçon de choses muséographique. Elle se manifeste aussi comme un exercice de célébration qui met en valeur les designers et leurs œuvres. Conséquemment, l’intention d’exposition de design contribue à la valorisation économique marchande des biens. Les prises de position militantes qui portent sur les questions sociales et environnementales ne se retrouvent que plus faiblement dans les expositions étudiées. La dimension axiologique de l’intention d’exposition de design se concentre sur la considération accordée à la personne du visiteur
Exhibitions have played an important role in the design development and acknowledgementof this activity. What about today in France? What are the intentions - or communicationaleffects - likely to be produced? Based on a sample of five different contemporary designexhibitions, we first describe the patterns as they are experienced by the public through tothe exhibition displays. With a methodology inspired by phenomenology and museology,we aim to understand the intentions underpinning by these exhibitions. The description ofthe visit situations requires a specific stance of the researcher who must be both an academicresearcher and an involved visitor. From an educational level, the design exhibition intentionis thus considered as a museographic « leçon de choses ». It is also a celebration exerciseaiming at showcasing the designers and their works. Consequently, design exhibitionintention contributes to the economic valorization of goods. Militant positions on social andenvironmental issues are less importantly found in the exhibitions studied. The axiologicaldimension of design exhibition intention focuses on the consideration given to the visitorhimself

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a leading topic in the field of robotics, itsimportance is manifest in those tasks where just teleoperating a robot canbe not effective, due to time delay, or lack of contest provided by the robot’ssensors. On the other hand, a pre-programmed robot can be not efficient aswell, since the environment could be unknown, and the robot could lack theability of decision making.For this reason, the aim of this project is to provide an efficient method forhuman-robot cooperation, in particular through the inference of the user’sintention while teleoperating a robotic arm.The human agent interacts with the robot through a VR-based interface,which enables him/her with a better understanding of the surrounding environment.The interface provides an interaction proxy, allowing the user to drivethe robot in the virtual reality, that reproduces the environment where therobotic arm actually is.The algorithm here implemented is able to infer the intention of the humanagent, through a method named Head-Hand Coordination Based Inference.The positions and orientations of both the head of the user and the interactionproxy are used in order to adjust the aim of the teleoperation, asexplained in detail in Chapter 3.Another result of this thesis is the capacity to detect the lack of attentionof the user, and to evaluate his/her reliability through a real value parametercalled confidence parameter.The system is responsive to the trustworthiness in the user, and is ableto slow down the robot if the human agent is distracted, as well as to movefaster if the confidence is high.In order to test the efficiency of the system, an experiment was conducted,that has shown that this method is safer than basic teleoperation, when thehuman is distracted.The data collected also reported that the operator prefers teleoperation tothe method here implemented. That comes with no surprises, since the aimiiiof the system is to reduce the control of the user when the behavior is notsafe.In the future it would be interesting to develop a similar system fromthe robotic agent side, and test the responsiveness of the human agent in asimilar HRI environment.

This study investigates the consumers' intention towards Internet shopping. The Theory of Planned Behavior is used to predict behavioral intention (BI), which is a function of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). The effects of demographic and personal variables on BI are also examined. Data analysis (n = 303) indicates that attitude, subjective norm, perceptions of behavioral controls, and previous purchases are significant predictors of behavioral intention. Product/Convenience, Customer Service (attitude factors), Purchase and Delivery, Promotional Offers, Product Attribute (factors of PBC), subjective norm, hours spent online, money spent online, and previous purchases discriminate respondents of high BI from low BI. Behavioral intention of shopping online is highest for Specialty Products followed by Personal, Information Intensive, and Household Products.

This is an analysis of how young Latino men and their female dance partners communicate their romantic intentions while dancing, or perhaps through dancing. I find that apparent ethnic and class distinctions and levels of romantic interest affect the way these people dance, especially in three key indices of romantic intentions: eye contact, hand placement, and hip position. Because these intentions are culturally unspeakable in this context, talk is important mostly for its non-referential effects.

Involuntary turnover among field staff at wilderness therapy programs can result in therapeutic and financial difficulties for the program. This study sought to examine what factors field staff attribute their intent to turnover to. The factors of organizational commitment, burnout, age, and length of days spent in the field were examined to identify if factors identified as predictors of turnover in previous literature were also true for field staff employed by wilderness therapy programs. Three programs agreed to participate by forwarding emails to their field staff containing a link to the survey, and were also emailed a program director survey that asked some basic demographic questions about their program. The field staff survey was comprised of the Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey, The TCM Employee Commitment Survey, the intent to leave scale, as well as general demographic questions. A total of 13 field staff participated in the study, and as a result the use of multiple regression models was not possible due to the sample size. Six simple linear regressions were conducted to test the predictive hypotheses, and findings suggest that none of the six factors predicted turnover intentions among field staff. Pearson's correlations were conducted to examine the relationship between factors, and suggested that age is negatively related to intent to turnover and that burnout was identified as a stronger contributing factor of intent to turnover than organizational commitment, and the sub factor of continuance commitment. Findings suggested that wilderness therapy programs may want to consider the costs and advantages associated with a workers age when hiring new staff, and to consider using burnout measurement tools to identify burnout in staff so they may employ preventative measures to reduce the number of voluntary turnover among field staff. Future researcher may want to explore additional predictors of turnover intentions not examined in previous literature to continue developing knowledge about programs and those who are employed by wilderness therapy programs.

Employees who want to leave their companies may exhibit low morale and commitment to organizations, which may affect the way employees interact with customers. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between employees' affective, continuance, and normative commitment to their organizations and their turnover intentions. The target population consisted of individuals with 2 or more years of call center experience who resided in the United States. Meyer, Allen, and Smith's 3-component model of commitment provided the study's theoretical framework. A purposive sampling of participants, which included a targeted audience and individuals who accessed the survey from Facebook and LinkedIn, returned 81 usable surveys. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression analysis. The overall regression model showed a statistically significant relationship between the 3 forms of commitment and turnover intentions, although normative commitment had the strongest relationship with turnover intentions. Study results provide additional evidence showing that employees' affective, continuance, and normative commitment to their organizations relate to their turnover intentions. These results may contribute to positive social change by helping leaders to better understand the relationship between employees' organizational affective, continuance, and normative commitment and turnover intentions. With this knowledge, leaders may be able to decrease turnover and turnover-related costs and increase firm performance. The money saved from turnover costs can be used to develop employees, invest in the company culture, or contribute to community-related programs.

In 2012, more than 25 million U.S. employees voluntarily terminated their employment with their respective organizations. Demographic characteristics of age, education, gender, income, and length of tenure are significant factors in employee turnover intentions. The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between age, education, gender, income, length of tenure, and employee turnover intention among full-time employees in Texas. The population consisted of Survey Monkey-® Audience members who were full-time employees, residents of Texas, over the age of 18, not self-employed, and not limited to a specific employment industry. For this study, a sample of 187 Survey Monkey-® Audience members completed the electronic survey. Through the proximal similarity model, the results of this study are generalizable to the United States. The human capital theory was the theoretical framework. The results of the multiple regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between age, income, and turnover intentions; however, the relationship between education, gender, and length of tenure was not statistically significant. As the Baby Boomer cohort prepares to transition into retirement, organizational leaders must develop retention strategies to retain Millennial employees. To reduce turnover intentions, organizational leaders should use pay-for-performance initiatives to reward top performers with additional pay and incentives. The social implications of these findings may reduce turnover, which may reduce employee stress, encourage family well-being, and increase participation in civic and social events.

This thesis presents three essays on social preferences and the influence of the intentions of another party. All studies investigate reciprocity and its relevance but do so in different strategical settings. In doing so, crucial factors for enhancing social relationships are determined and examined. The first study examines the role of reciprocity during a bargaining process. It turns out that adopting too tough a bargaining stance can lead to worse outcomes. The second essay investigates complex 'revealed intentions' and finds that intention-based benevolence is more than just repaying another person’s generosity. Individuals also react to the other’s willingness to be vulnerable. The third essay emphasizes the role of beliefs on an agent’s evaluation of another’s intention. Our results indicate that individual differences in reactions to the other agent’s payoff expectations may not be driving the often found 'no-effect' of expectations on social behaviour.

The purpose of the study was to determine socialization, situational, and identity factors which distinguish university women based on their parenting intentions. The specific factors examined were: birth order, size of family of origin, ethnicity, knowing a voluntarily childfree woman, religion and religiosity, educational and occupational aspirations, self-esteem, and gender-role identity. Three groups of 34 women, ages 18 to 26, were randomly selected from 381 respondents to surveys sent to 1,000 women in 2 University of British Columbia residences. Respondents were assigned to 1 of the 3 groups based on their parenting intentions. The "childfree" group consisted of women who definitely intended to never have children (N = 10), and women who probably intended to never have children (N = 24). The other two groups consisted of women who were probably intending to have children ("probably yes"), and definitely intending to have children ("definitely yes"). The surveys consisted of a questionnaire to determine demographic information as well as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory, and the Bern Sex Role Inventory to determine gender-role identity. Protected F tests and chi-square analyses were conducted on the data. At the p < .05 level of significance no association was found between respondent's parenting intentions and whether they knew a voluntarily childfree woman, their birth order, or their ethnicity. A statistically significant difference was not found between the three parenting intentions groups in family size, educational aspirations, status of occupational aspirations, or self-esteem. A statistically significant association was found between parenting intentions and whether an occupation was male or female dominated: "childfree" women more frequently aspired to a male dominated occupation, "probably yes" women aspired to male and female occupations at expected frequencies, and "definitely yes" women more often aspired to female dominated occupations. An association was found to exist between gender-role identity and parenting intentions at p < .01. "Childfree" women more frequently had masculine gender-role identities than "definitely yes" women, who more often had feminine and androgynous gender-role identities. An association was found between religion and parenting intentions at p < .05: "childfree" women were less likely to be affiliated with a religion than "probably yes" and "definitely yes" women. A statistically significant difference was found between the three parenting intentions groups at p < .05 on religiosity. The "childfree" group was found to have lower religiosity than both the "probably yes" and "definitely yes" groups. The research findings appear to indicate that university women who intend to remain childfree are in some ways less traditional than women who intend to have children.
Education, Faculty of
Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of
Graduate

Nos travaux de recherche ont porté sur la compréhension, l'étude et la représentation des processus cognitifs qui interviennent lorsqu'un auteur écrit un document. Le but poursuivi par ces études consiste à développer des environnements pour la création, la révision et la recherche de différents types de documents. Deux types de processus ont fait l'objet des recherches menées: les intentions de communication et l'argumentation. La théorie des actes de langage d'Austin et Searle a servi comme cadre théorique aux modèles développés dans le cadre de projets industriels et académiques. Parmi ces modèles on notera : (1) le modèle ACE (Actes de la Communication Écrite) dans lequel on distingue entre l'action sur le document (méta acte) et l'action sur le lecteur (acte de domaine) et ; (2) le modèle des Structures Intentionnelles qui permet de représenter l'arbre des intentions des auteurs. Du point de vue domaine d'application, nous nous sommes intéressés particulièrement aux types de documents suivants: · Documents techniques (comme la documentation opérationnelle de vol dans un avion); · Documents pédagogiques (les supports de cours); · Documents pour garder des traces de décision lors de conception d'un artefact, appelé Design Rationale; et plus récemment aux · Documents juridiques (les contrats). L'explicitation des processus permet ainsi de rendre les documents accessibles en termes de mots qui portent sur la sémantique des intentions de l'auteur. L'accès peut viser des besoins de traitement ou simplement la navigation et la visualisation, d'autre part elle permet d'aider l'auteur à mieux réfléchir sur sa stratégie de communication et améliorer la lisibilité des documents. La représentation des connaissances avec des métadonnées comme méta structures en utilisant un système d'annotation basé sur des langages en Xml permet de parcourir les documents par des arbres dont les nSuds représentent les intentions des auteurs. La représentation des structures argumentative s utilise la notion de force persuasive des arguments. Le modèle MARINE (Modèle d'Argumentation à INtervalles d'Evaluation) permet d'associer des pondérations sur les composants d'un argument afin de tenir compte des différents critères qui dépendent aussi bien de l'auditoire que de la situation de communication. Il est utilisé dans un prototype, de construction argumentative qui permet à l'auteur de choisir de manière interactive la meilleure stratégie de communication. L'algorithme permet de calculer les meilleurs arguments non seulement de ce qu'il est possible de dire mais surtout en fonction des contre arguments possibles que l'interlocuteur peut émettre selon le contexte. Le choix du meilleur argument est en fait un calcul du meilleur chemin dans un arbre dont les nSuds et les arcs sont pondérés. null null

This thesis answers the question: what is Hobbes’s moral theory? Two dominant interpretations have answered this question on previous attempts. First, the orthodox account, which argues that Hobbes’s subjective theory of the good makes for a subjective moral theory; second, the dissent interpretation, which argues that Hobbes’s objective moral theory is underpinned by an objective theory of the good. In both cases, authors believe that one’s moral theory is necessarily linked to one’s theory of the good. I disagree and argue in defence of a Hobbesian subjective theory of the good and an objective moral theory. Hobbes thought morality depends on objective facts instead of objective values, which makes for a moral factualist reading. The moral laws are the laws of nature, which aim for nature’s preservation. The orthodox argue that those laws of nature apply only to those who desire their preservation. I argue that the laws of nature indeed depend on desires, however, they are categorically obligatory still. Morality namely depends on the universal ability to desire and the fact that all people do desire some thing. One does not need to value one’s preservation in itself; rather, because all desire some thing, one’s preservation becomes an analytical necessity: one ought to stay alive to enjoy whatever it is one values. As such, the objects of one’s desires remain subjective, as do one’s judgments of those objects; yet, given all desire, all will need to survive. The laws of nature apply to all.

This research highlights the problem of trade based market manipulation in financial markets, where an individual or party aim to distort the pricing mechanism and gain profit at the expense of law abiding investors. This research evaluates data mining approaches applied to financial market surveillance and addresses a current deficit in literature with regards to modelling traders at an entity level. A system is proposed, named the Evolving Bayesian Network (EBN), to model an individual trader's behaviour using transaction order data generated by the participant. The aim of the model is to infer the individual's intentions as order sequences are generated throughout a trading day, to then detect when manipulation attempts are being made for personal gain.

Running continues to be one of the more popular sports enjoyed by all ages. Regardless of the popularity of the sport, limited research currently exists to quantify the apparel purchase behavior of runners. This research studied variables that influenced purchase intentions of runners at different levels of involvement. The runners were categorized by the dualistic theory of passion, and their purchase intentions toward apparel brands for running were investigated from the self-congruity perspective. Runners completed an online survey that provided comprehensive information on their running behavior and their past and future apparel purchases. Exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate the dualistic theory of passion and self-congruity theory on the running population. Four variables were found to be important predictors of purchase intentions for all runners: Self-Image Congruence, Function, Aesthetic, and Technology Appeal. Further, logistic regression was used to determine which variables significantly influenced purchase intentions of runners in each category. Based on the findings, a theoretical framework was proposed. This study concluded that functional attributes of running apparel influence runnersâ purchase intentions.

This study investigated the quality and quantity of sexual communication between teens and parents in relation to the teens' sexual intentions. Perceptions about communication were examined of parents and adolescents of both genders separately. Both same- and cross-gender effects of parental communication on adolescent sexual intentions were explored. Approximately 290 families (target teen and parent) were measured in pre- and posttests. Parents perceived higher quality communication with teens than teens did, but not necessarily more frequent sexual communication. As teens' perceptions of quality of communication with mother and father went up, teens' sexual intentions went down. The higher sons' intention toward early sexual involvement, the more often sons perceived that their parents talked with them about sexual issues. Daughters who perceived more sexual communication with parents at Time 1 reported higher sexual intentions at Time 2. Fathers perceived that as quality and frequency of communication with daughter went up, the daughter's sexual intentions also went up. Fathers perceived that as frequency of communication with all teens went up, the teen's sexual intentions also went up. Mothers perceived that the higher the quality of communication with sons at Time 1, the higher the sexual intentions among sons at Time 2. The more often mothers perceived that their daughters talked with them about sexual issues at Time 1, the higher the daughters' intention toward early sexual involvement at Time 2. The more the discrepancy between teens and fathers and mothers about c communication quality, the more the adolescents' intention toward early sexual involvement.

Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) is a computing system architecture that integrates central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) with a shared off-chip main memory. On one hand, sharing the memory reduces the communication latency between CPU and GPU but on the other hand, sharing can lead to contention for shared resources. The programs which execute concurrently on the GPU and CPU cores, share the off-chip memory bandwidth. This sharing can result in contention for bandwidth between CPU programs and GPU kernels. The CPU programs can steal bandwidth from GPU kernels which can lead to performance degradation. Since, memory bandwidth is important for the performance of GPU workloads, it is essential to measure the sensitivity of GPU kernels to bandwidth contention from CPU programs. This thesis describes the design and implementation of a program called Bandwidth Bandit which can steal memory bandwidth from co-running programs. The Bandit which was designed to execute on a CPU, can steal the bandwidth from programs co-running on a CPU or GPU core. The Bandit was used to measure the sensitivity of three GPU applications with different values of bandwidth demand. The results showed that all the three GPU kernels experienced substantial slowdown when subjected to off-chip memory contention due to the co-running CPU application.

Mestrado em Marketing
Com a proliferação das redes sociais, temos vindo a assistir a uma migração das relações sociais do mundo real para o mundo virtual, o que tem levado que as empresas comecem a apostar nas redes sociais, em particular o Facebook, como uma ferramenta marketing para comunicar com os clientes e potenciais clientes. O objectivo principal desta pesquisa foi investigar se a interactividade dos membros das comunidades de marcas no Facebook têm um impacto positivo nas intenções de compra por parte desses membros. Este estudo também investiga as similaridades e diferenças entre os utilizadores do Facebook residentes em Portugal e nos Estados Unidos. Seis hipóteses foram desenvolvidos e testadas usando um modelo de pesquisa quantitativa. Para a recolha de dados foi utilizado um questionário on-line, onde foram obtidos 400 respostas. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que conteúdos do Facebook, tais como informações sobre produtos ou serviços, e as promoções, tem um impacto positivo na intenção de compra, tendo a informação um impacto maior. Esses mesmos resultados, também se verificaram quando se estudou em separado os dois grupos. Existe algumas diferenças entre os grupos. A participação nos jogos tem um efeito significativo nas intenções de compra para utilizadores residentes nos EUA, o que não acontece para os utilizadores residentes de Portugal. Por outro lado, a participação em ?sweepstakes? tem uma influência significativa na intenção de compra para os residentes de Portugal, mas não para os residentes dos EUA. Este estudo discute as limitações desta pesquisa e oferece algumas indicações para futuras pesquisas.
With the proliferation of online communities, we have seen a migration from real-world social relationships to virtual-world relationships, prompting companies and brands to view social media?and Facebook in particular?as a potential tool for marketing actions. The main purpose of this research is to investigate if the interactions of Facebook users via different types of Facebook brand community content have a positive impact on purchase intentions. In addition, this study investigates whether there are any similarities and differences between Facebook users residing in Portugal and the United States. For this research, six hypotheses were developed and addressed using a quantitative statistical research model. For data collection, an online questionnaire was used, and 400 responses were obtained from a convenience sample. The findings from this research indicate that Facebook content, such as information on products or services as well as promotions, has a positive impact on purchase intention, with information being the more influential of the two. These findings held true when studying the residents of Portugal and the United States as distinct groups. There are some differences between the two groups. For example, participation in games has a significant effect on purchase intentions for individuals residing in the United States, but not for the residents of Portugal. On the other hand, participation in sweepstakes has a significant influence on purchase intentions for residents of Portugal, but not for residents of the United States. Finally, this study discusses the limitation of this research and offers some directions for future research.

While research focusing on the retirement intentions of individuals within the general population has been undertaken, only two empirical studies have examined the retirement intentions of professional workers. This study expands the small, existing body of literature focusing on this topic by presenting eighteen hypotheses, grouped into five categories of factors, and testing them with the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience.

Psychological research has demonstrated that subjects shown animations consisting of nothing more than simple geometric shapes perceive the shapes as being alive, having goals and intentions, and even engaging in social activities such as chasing and evading one another. While the subjects could not directly perceive affective state, motor commands, or the beliefs and intentions of the actors in the animations, they still used intentional language to describe the moving shapes. The purpose of this dissertation is to design, develop, and evaluate computational representations and learning algorithms that learn to recognize the behaviors of agents as they perform and execute different activities. These activities take place within simulations, both 2D and 3D. Our goal is to add as little hand-crafted knowledge to the representation as possible and to produce algorithms that perform well over a variety of different activity types. Any patterns found in similar activities should be discovered by the learning algorithm and not by us, the designers. In addition, we demonstrate that if an artificial agent learns about activities through participation, where it has access to its own internal affective state, motor commands, etc., it can then infer the unobservable affective state of other agents.