A study into user acceptance of new technology: British Airways ground transport department Heathrow Terminal 5

This project was conducted with the help and encouragement of British Airways (BA) management. It was carried out at Heathrow Airport, Terminal 5 (T5) where a new Resource Management System (RMS) that is based upon Internet Protocol (IP) has been implemented. RMS has replaced traditional pen and paper and radio systems for allocating work tasks to 4,000 airport operational staff. This research project studied one application of the RMS system; the allocation of tasks to the coach drivers in the Ground Transport Services (GTS) department. The user acceptance of the RMS system by the drivers was evaluated. In the previous 20 years, user acceptance theories have been developed which have shown that increased user acceptance of new Information Technology (IT) projects significantly reduces costs and improves efficiency (Davis, 1980). The most comprehensive theory is that of Sun and Zhang (2006) who identify critical factors regarding individual user acceptance (gender, age, experience, cultural background and intellectual capability). This research project used a case study methodology: three days were spent airside at T5 observing and interviewing a sample of drivers. The project research question was: 'Can the degree of RMS acceptance by the GTS end-users be determined by factors identified in user acceptance theories?' Essentially, it was not possible to answer this question because of two reasons. First there was little difference in level of user acceptance; it was very high for all users. Second there was also very little difference in the sample and population. The drivers were all male, over 90% between 42 and 65 years of age, with similar levels of experience regarding the RMS technology and computers in general. In addition, it was not possible to measure any difference between the intellectual capabilities of the participants. A difference in the cultural background was identified; there were two ethnic groups, Asian and Caucasian. However, detailed analysis of the responses to the questionnaire demonstrated that there was no evidence of different levels of user acceptance of these groups. Recommendations to improve the testing of user acceptance theories are included in this report

Hilbert series of fiber cones of ideals of almost minimal mixed multiplicity

Let (R, m) be a Cohen-Macaulay local ring and I be an m-primary ideal. We introduce ideals of almost minimal mixed multiplicty which are analogues of ideals studied by J. Sally. The main theorem describes the Hilbert series of fiber cones of these ideals.Comment: 12 page

Thoughts of Leaving: An Exploration of Why New York City Middle School Teachers Consider Leaving Their Classrooms

This report explores the conditions under which middle-school teachers in New York City leave their schools, and the consequences of this turnover. The focus on middle schools stems from the widely-held view that the middle grades are a critical turning point in the lives of children, and that many New York City school children lose academic momentum in these grades, setting them on trajectories of failure as they move towards high school and life beyond it. This report is based on a survey of more than 4,000 full-time middle school teachers working in 125 of the nearly 200 middle schools in New York City serving children in grades six through eight in the 2009-10 school year. The participating teachers reported whether they had considered leaving their current school or leaving teaching during that school year, and the reasons that they considered leaving. The report links their responses to teachers' reports about their own backgrounds and experiences, to the demographic characteristics of the schools in which they teach, and to the collective perceptions of all of the teachers in a school about that school as a workplace. This report is part of a three-year, mixed-methods study of teacher turnover in New York City middle schools

Noise spectra of stochastic pulse sequences: application to large scale magnetization flips in the finite size 2D Ising model

We provide a general scheme to predict and derive the contribution to the noise spectrum of a stochastic sequence of pulses from the distribution of pulse parameters. An example is the magnetization noise spectra of a 2D Ising system near its phase transition. At $T\le T_c$, the low frequency spectra is dominated by magnetization flips of nearly the entire system. We find that both the predicted and the analytically derived spectra fit those produced from simulations. Subtracting this contribution leaves the high frequency spectra which follow a power law set by the critical exponents.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. We improved text and included a predicted noise curve in Figure 4. 2 examples from Figure 3 are remove

Do lemurs know when they could be wrong? An investigation of information seeking in three species of lemur (<i>Lemur catta, Eulemur rubriventer, </i>and<i> Varecia variegata</i>)

Sixteen lemurs, including representatives from three species (Lemur catta, Eulemur rubriventer, Varecia variegata), were presented with a food seeking task where information about the rewards location, in one of two plastic tubes, was either known or not known. We evaluated whether lemurs would first look into the tube prior to making a choice. This information-seeking task aimed to assess whether subjects would display memory awareness, seeking additional information when they became aware they lacked knowledge of the rewards location. We predicted lemurs would be more likely to look into the tube when they had insufficient knowledge about the rewards position. Lemurs successfully gained the reward on most trials. However, they looked on the majority of trials regardless of whether they had all the necessary information to make a correct choice. The minimal cost to looking may have resulted in checking behaviour both to confirm what they already knew and to gain knowledge they did not have. When the cost of looking increased (elevating end of tube requiring additional energy expenditure to look inside - Experiment 2), lemurs still looked into tubes on both seen and unseen trials; however, the frequency of looking increased when opaque tubes were used (where they could not see the rewards location after baiting). This could suggest they checked more when they were less sure of their knowledge state

Access of Farm Households to Health Care

Health Economics and Policy, Labor and Human Capital,