Pictorial Primates: A Search for Iconic Abilities in Great Apes

Pictures and other iconic media are used extensively in psychological experiments on nonhuman primate perception, categorisation, etc. They are also used in everyday interaction with primates, and as pure entertainment. But in what ways do primates understand iconic artefacts? What implications do these different ways have for the conclusions we can draw from those studies on perception and categorisation? What can pictures tell us about primate cognition, and what can primates tell us about pictures? The bulk of the thesis is a critical review of the primatological literature concerned with iconic artefacts. Drawing on work in developmental psychology, cross-cultural research, and semiotics, distinctions between different kinds of pictorial competence are made. The alternatives to viewing pictures as depictions, are to view them as the real world is viewed, in which case only realistic pictures evoke recognition, or to view them as a set of disjoint properties, in which case recognition of categorisable motifs fails. It is argued that approaching a picture as a depiction entails a set of expectations on the picture, which affects attention to e.g. part - whole relationships, "filling in," and integration into context. This in turn allows recognition also of non-realistic similarity. The question, then, is whether such expectations can be formed in other brains than an exclusively human one. The different forms of pictorial competence are discussed in relation to research on similarity judgements, abstraction, and categorisation, as well as applied to other iconic media than the picture, such as scale-models, mirrors, toy replicas, and video. Two lines of original empirical investigation are presented: A study of photographic recognition in picture-naïve gorillas, and recognition of line drawings in picture-experienced and language-competent bonobos. Only the latter study yielded evidence for recognition. The failures in the former study are discussed in terms of experimental shortcomings, and suggestions for future improvements are made

Mobile digital library acceptance

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Mobile digital library service could make students’ lives easier and may help academic libraries to enhance their image by offering their services through smartphones, which are very popular among students nowadays. However, the literature lacks a comprehensive theoretical framework to understand factors affecting the adoption of such a service. This research focused on factors affecting the intention to use a mobile digital library within the context of the UAE and explored features and services that would encourage students to adopt such technology. The research design considered users’ perspectives, comprised a number of phases and employed mixed methods. The first phase involved designing a preliminary prototype and framework based on the literature and the technology acceptance model (TAM). This prototype was used in the second (exploratory) phase as a stimulus material when students and librarians were interviewed in 10 focus groups. Based on their comments and views, factors that affect their intention were explored and hypotheses were generated. This exploratory phase allowed the development of a theoretical framework for mobile digital library adoption. Focus group results, card sorting methodology and usability testing produced a final prototype that was sent to all students at Zayed University within UAE with an experiential online questionnaire through e-mail. This testing phase was conducted to test the hypotheses and confirm the importance of the same factors extracted in the second phase. The results obtained from the 211 respondents supported a number of paths in the proposed theoretical framework. First, Perceived usefulness, Perceived ease of use, Mobile and web experience, Distinctiveness/prestige, and Trust were found significantly affecting the Behaviour intention directly. Second, Mobility, Library assistance, Interface design, and Social influence were found to affect the intention to use indirectly through Perceived ease of use. Finally, the relationship between Perceived ease of use and Perceived usefulness was found significant. The results lead for producing a final framework for mobile digital library acceptance consisting of seven external factors falling in the three general categories: interface characteristics, personal characteristics and system characteristics. It consists of Interface design, Social influence, Mobility, Library assistance, Distinctiveness/prestige, Mobile and web search experience and Perceived trust. This research contributed in understanding factors affecting mobile digital library adoption within the developing world

Investigation of the relationship between aesthetics and perceived usability in web pages

The main hypothesis of the thesis is that between two systems identical in functionality and usability, di erences in aesthetics may positively in uence users perceived usability. To date, a narrow focus on the engineering aspects of aesthetics has adversely a ected the scope and success of experiments, therefore previous work in the eld needed to be revisited. The thesis reviews literature and theory in usability and aesthetics, the latter from the point of the view of philosophy, theory, and application. It also explores the relationship between aesthetics, usability and user engagement; discusses a distinct new trend research that identi es a link between beauty and perceived usability of website interaction; and develops a pilot for an experimental methodology. Based on conclusions from the review of the eld of usability, two experiments where designed and carried out, an independent measures and repeated measures. The ndings of these experiments con rmed the hypothesis that perceived usability was positively in uenced by higher aesthetics

Happiness and impulse buying: An exploration into the perceptions of female consumers aged between 18 and 35 in Germany

Impulse behaviour in general and impulse buying in particular have a long history of negative associations in research. Consumers are advised by the popular press to refrain from impulse buying. Marketing practitioners, on the other hand, strive to further increase consumer impulse buying expenditures, which have already been on the increase for decades. This may be an indication that impulse buying makes consumers feel happy. Although the topic happiness has received considerable attention in various fields of research, there is little evidence of an in-depth empirical exploration of the role of happiness in impulse buying, which was addressed by this study. This thesis was based on the phenomenological paradigm and adopted a subjective stance, exploring happiness in female consumers' impulse buying experiences. In this inductive exploratory study, qualitative data were collected from focus groups and individual interviews with female consumers aged between 18 and 35 years in Germany. This research sought to investigate how happiness evolves over the impulse buying experience, which was addressed by the longitudinal nature of collecting data over a period of three months in weekly individual interviews. The empirical evidence showed that the pursuit of happiness is one of the major motivations for impulse buying and the subsequent evaluation of the purchase. For instance, the presentation of a newly acquired item to other people with the intention of receiving positive feedback is one of the eight themes which emerged from the iterative process of data analysis. The findings indicate that impulse buying is often appreciated by consumers as an enjoyable experience which may yield positive emotions even after careful reflection some time after the purchase. Impulse buying should not generally be devalued as the dark side of consumption. This research underlines the complexity of impulse buying and indicates overlaps and interdependencies with planned buying. Suggestions for marketing practitioners and retail managers on how to increase impulse buying activities are implicit in these findings

FRAMEWORK FOR ANONYMIZED COVERT COMMUNICATIONS: A BLOCKCHAIN-BASED PROOF-OF-CONCEPT

In this dissertation, we present an information hiding approach incorporating anonymity that builds on existing classical steganographic models. Current security definitions are not sufficient to analyze the proposed information hiding approach as steganography offers data privacy by hiding the existence of data, a property that is distinct from confidentiality (data existence is known but access is restricted) and authenticity (data existence is known but manipulation is restricted). Combinations of the latter two properties are common in analyses, such as Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD), yet there is a lack of research on combinations with steganography. This dissertation also introduces the security definition of Authenticated Stegotext with Associated Data (ASAD), which captures steganographic properties even when there is contextual information provided alongside the hidden data. We develop a hierarchical framework of ASAD variants, corresponding to different channel demands. We present a real-world steganographic embedding scheme, Authenticated SteGotex with Associated tRansaction Data (ASGARD), that leverages a blockchain-based application as a medium for sending hidden data. We analyze ASGARD in our framework and show that it meets Level-4 ASAD security. Finally, we implement ASGARD on the Ethereum platform as a proof-of-concept and analyze some of the ways an adversary might detect our embedding activity by analyzing historical Ethereum data.Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

2018 FSDG Combined Abstracts

https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg_abstracts/1000/thumbnail.jp

The application of the planetarium as an education tool

"Planetariums are considered to be educationally valuable Teaching Tools and there seems to exist a Demand for them; but for a Variety of Reasons Planetariums are underused in Education." The study was stimulated by the fact that the planetarium as a theme has been completely neglected by educational research in the very country of its origin, Germany. Limited research done elsewhere is focussed on themes concerned with the selected application of the planetarium but no survey has been undertaken on its wider acceptance and its apparent underuse. A broad spectrum investigation has therefore been conducted, guided by the general hypothesis printed at the head of this abstract. The thesis is presented in 3 chapters: I Introduction with one essay on the "Science of Astronomy" and one essay on the "History , Purpose and Design of the Planetarium"; II The Educational Value and the Educational Potential of the Planetarium and Demand for School Planetariums; III The Underuse of the Planetarium. Actual work was preceded by initial exploratory and pilot surveys which established the relevance of the research problem, the validity of the hypothesis and the feasibility of the project. 6 opinion polls including tests with 535 planetarium visitors were conducted both internationally and nationally and also literature was evaluated in order to determine opinions and attitudes about the educational value and the educational potential of the planetarium and the demand for planetariums. All those concerned with the planetarium in one capacity or other were involved. The planetarium's intrinsic value was assessed from a study of the scope and quality of its functions as a teaching tool. Experiments performed in the planetarium confirmed the planetarium's effectiveness in both the cognitive and affective domains. Demand was also established on the level of the Ministries of Education but could not be confirmed as being known to the manufacturers. The underuse of the planetarium and many reasons responsible for it were confirmed by 9 further surveys. 20 surveys and 5 experiments involving the participation of N = 1187 subjects were conducted, and an advertising campaign with 2420 schools for school planetariums has been evaluated. The hypothesis was essentially supported by the results of the surveys conducted

Corruption and Crisis Control: The Nature of the Game – New South Wales Police Reform 1996–2004

Using the Wood Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service in 1994 as its major case study, this thesis hypothesises that, although this inquiry had a far reaching impact on both the personal and working lives of police officers in the organisation itself, it proved ineffectual in its attempt to control corruption. It argues that corruption, and the subsequent inquiries into this corruption, can be seen to have a cyclic nature and the failure of such inquiries has a long and international history. It contends that the nature of the public inquiry itself can be seen to contribute to the continuation of the cycle of corruption. Clearly, putting an end to corruption requires more than the investigation, public exposure and punishment of a few corrupt police, followed by a generalised tightening of the chain of command. Instead, this thesis demonstrates that the problem is primarily an organisational one and it is important to look at management reforms. This thesis contends that the cycle of corruption involves the nature of police work; the catalyst that triggers the inquiry; the inquiry itself and the issue of the report; and the police and community responses. An examination of all these factors is crucial to understanding the cycle’s dynamics. The final report of the Wood Royal Commission was in 1996 and this thesis specifically analyses the cycle of corruption in relation to the response of the police executive to this inquiry. It shows how the police response focused on the tactical crisis response central to operational policing — in this case appeasing official censure and community fears. As little more than a public relations exercise, senior management strategically addressed the specific recommendations of the report rather than creatively considering the implications exposed during the inquiry. The idea that corruption is a symptom of an ineffective system and not simply a slackening of effective control by senior management was never considered. In the aftermath of the Wood Royal Commission there was much discussion about ‘police culture’ being ‘a culture of corruption’. The forgotten casualties of the inquiry has been individual police officers, many of whom see policing as a vocation. This thesis has allowed many voices to be heard and used both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse a wide range of information and data, which included personal interviews with serving police officers and members of external organisations, as well as printed material from Royal Commission Reports, Hansard and other government documents, internal Police Service documents and media reports.It has used Bourdieu’s theoretical approach which allows an analysis of the complex relationships involved between police officers as individuals who operate within the wider networks of a specific organisation and the way the personal is important as an explanatory tool of what happens within a policing culture and how this culture is perceived differently from within and without. Bourdieu’s theory also facilitates analysis of the interactions of this network with the wider community, putting in context the responses of both the police service and the community. The connection with the personal is important as an explanatory tool of what happens within a policing culture and how this culture is perceived differently from within and without. Bourdieu constructs an understanding of the ‘nature of the game’ of policing and the shaping of the individual within police culture, giving insight into the source of moral dilemmas, personal beliefs and personal behaviour. As the current management system of command and control is at the heart of this response, this thesis has also analysed the assumptions inherent in this management philosophy, considering both necessary operational strengths as well as organisational weaknesses. A central theme of the thesis is that open dialogue will reduce the incidence of corruption and risk within policing institutions. This thesis argues that there must be an integrative approach to reform — accountable, active leadership combined with critically constructed practical approaches that tackle the complexity of the dynamics embedded in the ‘nature of the game’ of policing itself