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Devon's relative increase in prosperity during the fifteenth century has been recognised by several historians of the period including Hoskins, Hatcher, Fox and Kowaleski amongst others. Explanations for this phenomenon have included the county's late economic development and the effect of the introduction of new technologies. By contrast, this thesis argues that the great diversity of economic activities is a more likely explanation. After an introduction, Devon's economic performance in the long fifteenth century and the likely causes behind it are examined, taking two main approaches. Firstly, the existing literature on towns, industry, and agriculture in late medieval Devon as described by earlier historians is reviewed. Then three main indicators of economic prosperity are examined: wealth, population and maritime trade. Evidence for Devon's prosperity in the fifteenth century includes taxation records, records of debt and credit, and the building and extension of parish churches. Taxation records are also used to estimate population change, another important indicator of late medieval social and economic performance. Finally, evidence of international trade is considered, as a key indicator of Devon's new-found importance in the economy of western Europe in this period. From the data presented, it is argued in conclusion that Devon's late medieval prosperity rested not on a single economic activity, but on the diversity of its industries and trade.

The present research investigated the impact of properties of cognitions as moderators of cognition-behaviour consistency within the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB: Ajzen, 1991). Study I compared accessibility, direct experience and temporal stability as moderators of cognition-behaviour relations for donation behaviour. Temporal stability was the only significant moderator of cognition-behaviour consistency. Study 2 used meta-analysis to quantify the impact of seven properties of cognitions-accessibility, affective-cognitive consistency, ambivalence, certainty, direct experience, involvement and temporal stability--on cognition-behaviour and cognition intention relations. All variables moderated cognition-behaviour and/or cognitionintention relations. Temporal stability emerged as the most effective moderator of attitude-behaviour and intention-behaviour relations. Study 3 examined the factor structure of properties of intentions and provided a second test of properties of intentions as moderators of intention-behaviour relations. Principal components analysis found a four factor solution for five properties of intentions with accessibility and temporal stability loading on independent factors and the other factors consisting of the other three properties. Temporal stability was the only variable to moderate intention behaviour relations. Two further studies showed that temporal stability had a direct effect on participants' information processing. In Study 4, participants with more stable intentions had better recognition memory for intention-relevant information whereas Study 5 found that temporal stability moderated the effect of a rating scale manipulation on participants' ratings such that participants with more stable intentions were unaffected by the manipulation, whereas participants with less stable intentions were affected by the manipulation. Overall, the findings demonstrate that temporal stability (a) is a conceptually distinct property of participants' cognitions, (b) is the most effective moderator of cognition-behaviour relations in previous research, and (c) affects participants' information processing and social judgment. These findings have important implications both for the TPB and health-promotion interventions.

This study is a report on an archaeological survey and excavations undertaken in the Coclé province of Panama, between the Santa Maria and Coclé rivers, from October, 1969 to April, 1970. Five sites were excavated and forty-three collected from the surface. A four-phased sequence of polychrome pottery is established according to the stratified position of sherds in the excavated units and statistical analyses of the surface samples. Transitional forms between the four major Polychrome Groups are suggested and other polychrome types whose relative age is less clear are described. Non-polychrome pottery is analysed and the categories assigned an approximate relative age. Meal refuse excavated at three sites is described and a list included of all the animal bones, shells and plant remains identified to date. Artifacts in bone and stone are described. The archaeological chronologies of all the sites excavated in western Coclé by the author and other investigators is assessed and an approximation made of the relative ages of some of the surface-collected sites. The ideas of S.K.Lethrop concerning the chronology of the Sitie Conte and "Coclé" culture in general are reconsidered. A reconstruction is attempted of the pattern of life from 5000 B.C. to the Conquest according to available archaeological and ethnohistorical evidence. A survey is made of the relationships between the surveyed area and regions outside the frontiers of Coclé, incorporating much data that is unpublished. The emphasis in the descriptions and analyses is on the horizontal development of culture throughout the Pacific littoral of Panama east of Chiriqui and not on isolated regional developments. A gazeteer of all known archaeological sites is included, with precise topographical locations where possible.

A “combi-cured” fluoroelastomer (FKM) rubber formulation was designed to yield 100% cohesive rubber failure when cured to cold-rolled steel with derivatives of polymeric silane adhesives. Three different categories of adhesives were tested: Unsaturated Polymeric Silane with Phosphonium Salt (UPSP-D), Unsaturated Polymeric Silane (UPS-L), and Saturated Polymeric Silane (SPS-L). Adhesion Inserts molded using ASTM Method D429 Method C all consistently yielded 100% cohesive rubber failure and showed adhesion strength in the range of 700 to 800 psi after being pulled at 2” per minute until break. After obtaining consistent 100% rubber failure, a design of experiment (DOE) was implemented to determine optimum metal pretreatment conditions as well as optimal rubber ingredients to yield maximum rubber retention and adhesion strength. A method was also developed to determine the locus of failure when the failure occurred at an interface using Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR).

In the literature, two distinct flow phenomena, namely, flow through the main body of the soil, and flow through preferential flow paths, have been identified. Models which try to incorporate the effects of these two phenomena require either an explicit or an implicit knowledge of the probability distribution functions associated with the soil properties affecting flow. In keeping with the fact that these properties are influenced by two distinct phenomena, it is postulated that they should be represented by heterogeneous distribution functions. These distribution functions are, by design, suitable for representing mixed population data. Procedures were developed for fitting heterogeneous distribution functions to data. These procedures are encoded in Microsoft QUICKBASIC with some additional FORTRAN routines. The fitting procedures do not utilize any moment above the second order, and are markedly different from the use of regression methods for fitting multiple parameter distributions. Procedures were developed for two types of mixtures. One type is suitable for instances where a measured quantity is the sum of values from two populations, while the other is applicable when a measured quantity may be from one population or from another, but not from both at the same time or location. The procedures were applied to several data sets, including flow data, infiltrability data, and pH data. In many instances, the use of heterogeneous distributions resulted in an improvement in fit quality as compared to the fit quality for homogeneous distributions. The most dramatic improvement are observed in the fit to extreme data values. Procedures were also developed to incorporate heterogeneous distribution functions into three common processes in Soil and Water Engineering, namely, Monte Carlo simulation, stochastic field generation, and interpolation. In these procedures, data which are best represented by heterogeneous distributions are transformed to Gaussian space and existing Gaussian-based procedures are applied. In several validation efforts the modified processes were found to as good as, or better than, conventional procedures. In the process of developing the modified spatial processes mentioned above, a robust trend surface procedure and a new matrix decomposition procedure were developed. These ancillary procedures were shown to be useful in other engineering applications.