A human-centric issue that has not been considered in the design of end-user programming environments is whether gender differences exist that are important to the design of these environments. Ignoring this issue would miss the opportunity of enhancing the effectiveness of end-user programmers by incorporating appropriate mechanisms to support gender-associated differences in decision making, learning, and problem solving. This paper takes a first step toward building a foundation for investigating this issue by surveying gender difference literature from five domains with an eye toward possible implications for end-user programming. We present a taxonomy of this literature, and derive a number of specific issues for each element of the taxonomy (stated as hypotheses). This foundation provides a starting point for organized investigations into issues that may be important for making breakthroughs in the effectiveness of end-user programmers.

Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals—but the possibility of gender issues within software has received almost no attention. If gender issues exist with some types of software features, it is possible that accommodating them by changing these features can increase effectiveness, but only if we know what these issues are. In this paper, we empirically investigate gender differences for end users in the context of debugging spreadsheets. Our results uncover significant gender differences in self-efficacy and feature acceptance, with females exhibiting lower self-efficacy and lower feature acceptance. The results also show that these differences can significantly reduce females ’ effectiveness.

One major aim of research in affective natural language generation is to be able to use language intelligently to induce effects on the emotions of the reader / hearer. Although varying the content of generated language (“strategic ” choices) might be expected to change the effect on emotions, it is not obvious that varying the form of the language (“tactical ” choices) can do this. Indeed, previous experiments have been unable to show emotional effects of tactical variations. Building on what has been discovered in previous experiments, we present a new experiment which does demonstrate such effects. This represents an important step towards the empirical evaluation of affective NLG systems. 1

Hybrid poplar plantations (Populus trichocarpa x Populus deltoides) are a relatively new feature on the landscape in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and these plantations may soon include genetically engineered trees. Meanwhile, many wild poplar populations (Populus spp.) are highly degraded due in part to logging, dams, grazing, and agriculture. This raises the possibility that gene flow from plantation trees could have negative impacts on native tree populations. I analyzed gene flow from poplar plantations using a combination of large-scale field studies, genetic analyses, and simulation modeling. I describe development of a spatially explicit simulation model that depicts the processes of pollination, dispersal, establishment, competition, disturbance, and management activities on a landscape in western Oregon where hybrid poplar plantations are a prominent feature. Using sensitivity analyses, I demonstrate that competitiveness and fertility of transgenic trees were important factors determining the extent of modeled gene flow, and that these factors interacted such that the effects of enhanced competitiveness appeared to be obviated by cultivation of low-fertility transgenic trees. Disturbance regime, plantation silviculture, and the characteristics of

The purpose of the study is to investigate the factors affecting the user acceptance of emergency alert systems. By studying the adoption of a SMS-based alert system at a large public university in the United States, this paper explores the research question: How are different motivational factors related to the intention and behavior of using emergency alert technology? Through a mixed-methods approach, the study demonstrates a “deepening ” effort in applying the technology acceptance model (TAM) to emergency response system, drawing attention to the holistic nature of motivation-behavior in technology acceptance. Results of this research show that: the concept of usefulness has multiple levels of meanings to its intended users; the ease of use is more about the users ’ ability to control the system behavior; and subjective norm need to be examined with relation to its originating source.

The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My most profound thanks are given to Dr. E. Newton Jackson Jr., my adviser. He has provided invaluable encouragement and guidance; I will never forget his efforts. I am also grateful to my committee members, Dr. Jerome Quarterman, Dr. Tonya Toole and Dr. Mondello, all of whom provided assistance and support throughout my doctoral studies. Without the encouragement, guidance, and patience of my parents, this dissertation would have never been completed. I simply can’t adequately express the thanks that are due to my mother and father, who hold a very special place in my heart. Thanks are also due to my children, Eric(Younghyun) and Justin (Youngmin), who realized what is most important, and to my wife, Sora Cha, who gave me her heart to complete this work. I will always thank her for her endless efforts; I love you, forever, Sora. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS