Engineering Commons^™

Model Development To Evaluate Consumers’ Intention To Adopt Electric Vehicles, Apurva Pamidimukkala

Civil Engineering Dissertations

ABSTRACT: The ever-increasing concern over climate change is compelling global economies to employ alternative fuel technology to combat the vehicular emissions of greenhouse gases. Electric vehicles (EVs) offer a viable environmentally friendly alternative that has the potential to facilitate an effective shift towards a sustainable transportation system with low emissions while preserving the environment. However, well-intentioned policies and other incentives have not been able to transcend the factors that prevent their adoption. Therefore, this research aims to develop three models to determine the factors affecting consumers’ willingness to adopt EVs. A questionnaire survey was designed based on an extensive literature …

Quality Function Deployment Method And Its Application On Wearable Technology Product Development, Mir Salahuddin

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate consumers and product developer’s expectations of wearable technology products in the context of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) framework. The specific objectives were to: 1) Explore the quality features that consumers consider most important when purchasing wearable technology product. 2) Explore the technical features product developers consider most important in the development of wearable technology. 3) Identify the technical features that wearable technology product developers need to focus on to meet the customer requirements.

The Qualtrix online survey system was used to collect demographic, quantitative and essay length written responses from participants. …

Evaluating The California Contractors Licensing Exam And Its Relevance To The Construction Industry, Austin O'Mara

Construction Management

The California contractors licensing exam tests aspiring contractors on their knowledge of the construction industry on other legal and trade topics. This paper is a case study that evaluates the contractors licensing exam and its ability to evaluate contractors. It concludes that the test itself is not responsible for increasing quality due to it being a simple process of memorization, but that California’s strict licensing requirements correlate to lower percentages of negative reviews. Various contractors from California were interviewed to understand their opinions of the licensing exam and how the knowledge from the exam related to their time in the …

Persuasive Systems Design Features In Promoting Medication Management For Consumers, Khin Than Win, Judy Mullan, Sarah Katherine Howard, Harri Oinas-Kukkonen

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part B

Medication safety continues to be a growing concern in the healthcare industry. Providing medication information to consumers and supporting self- management would help to reduce medication errors and to increase medication adherence. This paper reviews the persuasive systems design features used in current medication management applications for consumers. A database search was conducted to identify relevant articles, which were then reviewed using the Persuasive Systems Design model as a framework for analysis. The results highlighted the applicability of these features for the medication management information systems available to consumers. Primary task support and Dialogue support categories were highly cited in …

A Digital Game Maturity Model, Saiqa Aleem

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Game development is an interdisciplinary concept that embraces artistic, software engineering, management, and business disciplines. Game development is considered as one of the most complex tasks in software engineering. Hence, for successful development of good-quality games, the game developers must consider and explore all related dimensions as well as discussing them with the stakeholders involved.

This research facilitates a better understanding of important dimensions of digital game development methodology. The increased popularity of digital games, the challenges faced by game development organizations in developing quality games, and severe competition in the digital game industry demand a game development process maturity …

Analytical Report On Consumer Gasoline Choices, Michael Stanley

Michael A Stanley

Most gas in the United States comes from the same few refineries, where different brands of gasoline are created as they are pumped into the fuel tankers, as opposed to individual retail facilities. Dr. Edward Murphy of the American Petroleum Institute explains that “base gas is a freely traded commodity that must meet certain government specifications. It flows through common pipelines into commingled storage tanks” (Blumberg). Although brands of gasoline have major differences, those differences are not due to origin or refining process, since they are processed from crude oil into gasoline together. The difference in the brands comes late …

Analytical Report On Consumer Gasoline Choices, Michael Stanley

The Downtown Review

Most gas in the United States comes from the same few refineries, where different brands of gasoline are created as they are pumped into the fuel tankers, as opposed to individual retail facilities. Dr. Edward Murphy of the American Petroleum Institute explains that “base gas is a freely traded commodity that must meet certain government specifications. It flows through common pipelines into commingled storage tanks” (Blumberg). Although brands of gasoline have major differences, those differences are not due to origin or refining process, since they are processed from crude oil into gasoline together. The difference in the brands comes late …

Summary Of The Economic Impacts Of Power Quality On Consumers, Sean T. Elphick, Philip Ciufo, Victor W. Smith, Sarath Perera

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

The quality of the electrical supply has a direct impact on the correct function and operation of equipment connected to the public electricity supply network. There is an expectation that devices will operate as designed and that equipment lifetime should, statistically, be close to the designed value. The reliability of the network is generally assumed to be high enough so as to not cause unacceptable issues with regard to loss of production or loss of functionality. Quantifying the cost to the consumer when the supply power quality or reliability are not as expected is an important metric and can be …

The Impact Of Technology, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Consumer electronics have revolutionized the way we live and work. Most students that I know would rather forgo expensive clothing labels than do without their branded smartphone. In fact, some of them would forgo food altogether if it meant their phone could be “always on” and “always with them”, clipped onto the belt buckle, strapped into a pants or jacket sleeve or increasingly into the open palm of their hand. Something happens when our basic needs as humans are overtaken by some other need that was once a distant want at best- plainly confusion in our ability to rightly determine …

Involvement Of Consumers In Health Technology Assessment Activities By Inahta Agencies, David Hailey, Sophie Werko, Rugayah Bakri, Alun Cameron, Britta Gohlen, Susan Myles, Jasmine Pwu, Jomkwan Yothasamut

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Objectives: To obtain further information from members of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA) on the involvement of consumers in their programs. Methods: A questionnaire for a survey was developed and sent to member agencies in November 2010. Survey responses were compared with those from an earlier survey conducted in 2005. Results: Of the thirty-three agencies that provided responses, 67 percent involve consumers in some aspects of their health technology assessment (HTA) programs, compared with 57 percent in 2005. As in the earlier survey, most agencies reporting involvement have contact with consumer or patient organizations and …

Helpfulness Of Online Product Reviews As Seen By Consumers: Source And Content Features, Mengxiang Li, Liqiang Huang, Chuan-Hoo Tan, Kwok-Kee Wei

Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences - Papers: Part A

Online product reviews are important determinants of consumers' purchase decision. Although prior research has articulated various benefits of online product reviews, there are few investigations into whether or not they are perceived as helpful by consumers. Product review helpfulness is conceptualized as a second-order formative construct, which is manifested by perceived source credibility, perceived content diagnosticity, and perceived vicarious expression of the product review. In this study, we conduct a laboratory experiment to investigate product review helpfulness as well as its corresponding antecedents from the product review feature perspective (i.e., source- and content-based review features). Findings from the study are …

Location And Tracking Of Mobile Devices: Überveillance Stalks The Streets, Katina Michael, Roger Clarke

Professor Katina Michael

During the last decade, location-tracking and monitoring applications have proliferated, in mobile cellular and wireless data networks, and through self-reporting by applications running in smartphones that are equipped with onboard global positioning system (GPS) chipsets. It is now possible to locate a smartphone-user's location not merely to a cell, but to a small area within it. Innovators have been quick to capitalise on these location-based technologies for commercial purposes, and have gained access to a great deal of sensitive personal data in the process. In addition, law enforcement utilise these technologies, can do so inexpensively and hence can track many …

Slides: Envirofit: Making The World Fit For Humanity, Jessica Alderman

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Jessica Alderman, Director, ENVIROFIT

15 slides

Slides: Meeting The Needs Of Women Through Clean Cooking Solutions, Corinne Hart

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Corinne Hart, Program Manager, Gender and Markets, Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

20 slides

Agenda: Natural Gas Symposium: Contract Solutions For The Future Of Regulatory Environment, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center, University Of Houston. Law Center

Natural Gas Symposium: Contract Solutions for the Future of Regulatory Environment (March 24-25)

Contents:

The natural gas industry in transition / Ruth A. Maurer -- Legislative prospects for wellhead pricing of natural gas / Richard G. Morgan -- Off-system sales : will they ever return? : the interstate side / Robert C. McHugh -- Off-system sales : will they ever return? / Paul F. O'Konski -- Contractual and other considerations affecting producers, pipelines and distributors during current period of market demand constraints / Michael J. Manning -- Section 311 and 312 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 and Hinshaw pipelines / Lauren Eaton -- Drafting and interpreting sensitive gas purchase contract …

Off-System Sales – Will They Ever Return? (The Interstate Side), Robert C. Mchugh

Natural Gas Symposium: Contract Solutions for the Future of Regulatory Environment (March 24-25)

27 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains 2 pages of references.

Contains 1 attachment.