Analysing the Sri Lankan conflict using Michael Mann's four-dimensional model of social power

This thesis provides an overview of the Sri Lankan civil war with a view to identifying some of the factors that contributed to the dispute between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It adopts a multi-causal explanation of the conflict by reference to the theories of social power developed by Michael Mann. The conflict has been variously described as an ethnic or political conflict, or has been characterised as a determined by a number of interacting factors (including colonialism, ethnicity, religion, economy, politics and globalisation). Mann’s four-dimensional model of social power is deployed to analyse the causal relationships, together with their inter-connections, which clarify the origins of the dispute. It argues that Mann’s theoretical framework helps to highlight some of the interconnected elements that contributed to the conflict.

Mothers' perceptions of introducing solids to their infant at six months of age : identifying critical belief-based targets to promote adherence to current infant feeding guidelines

We investigated critical belief-based targets for promoting the introduction of solid foods to infants at six months. First-time mothers (N = 375) completed a Theory of Planned Behaviour belief-based questionnaire and follow-up questionnaire assessing the age the infant was first introduced to solids. Normative beliefs about partner/spouse (β = 0.16) and doctor (β = 0.22), and control beliefs about commercial baby foods available for infants before six months (β = −0.20), predicted introduction of solids at six months. Intervention programs should target these critical beliefs to promote mothers’ adherence to current infant feeding guidelines to introduce solids at around six months.

Impact of a school-based food garden on attitudes and identification skills regarding vegetables and fruit : a 12-month intervention trial

Objective To determine changes in ability to identify specific vegetables and fruits, and attitudes towards vegetables and fruit, associated with the introduction of a school-based food garden. Design A 12-month intervention trial using a historical control (control n 132, intervention n 120), class-based, self-administered questionnaires requiring one-word answers and 3-point Likert scale responses. Setting A state primary school (grades 4 to 7) in a low socio-economic area of Brisbane, Australia. Intervention The introduction of a school-based food garden, including the funding of a teacher coordinator for 11 h/week to facilitate integration of garden activities into the curriculum. Main outcome measures Ability to identify a series of vegetables and fruits, attitudes towards vegetables and fruit. Analysis Frequency distributions for each item were generated and χ2 analyses were used to determine statistical significance. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to detect major trends in data. Results The intervention led to enhanced ability to identify individual vegetables and fruits, greater attention to origins of produce (garden-grown and fresh), changes to perceived consumption of vegetables and fruits, and enhanced confidence in preparing fruit and vegetable snacks, but decreased interest in trying new fruits. Conclusions The introduction of this school-based food garden was associated with skill and attitudinal changes conducive to enhancing vegetable and fruit consumption. The ways in which such changes might impact on dietary behaviours and intake require further analysis.

The importance of individual difference : examining anthropomorphic tendency and responses to spokes-characters

Anthropomorphism is a cognitive bias, which occurs when individuals see human characteristics in a non-human agent, object or animal. Anthropomorphism is especially interesting to marketers, because once anthropomorphic bias has been triggered, it can lead to a greater feeling of connectedness to a non-human agent (Tam, Lee and Chao, 2013), the emulation of behaviours (Aggarwal and McGill, 2012) or greater attribution of brand personality and brand liking (Delbaere, McQuarrie and Phillips, 2011). Importantly, research now shows that levels of this tendency vary between individuals (Waytz, Cacioppo and Epley, 2010), but research to date has failed to focus on how anthropomorphic tendency influences individual responses to marketing communications messages. Spokes-characters present an ideal context through which to examine this gap, given that they function as personified brands, designed to trigger consumer anthropomorphic tendency. Further, little is understood about how spokes-characters operate and which consumers will prefer them to their human counterparts. Like anthropomorphic research, much empirical work to date has focused on design and outcomes, examining the sender’s encoding process and the feedback generated, but ignoring the individual decoding process that is so important to understanding individual differences and message effectiveness. The current research employs three experiments using an online survey with stimulus exposure to show that anthropomorphic tendency, personality similarity and spokes-character type all have relevance to the understanding of this complex relationship. Study one and two indicate that while a human spokesperson is still preferred by many, higher levels of anthropomorphic tendency increase likeability of cartoon spokes characters. Study three highlights the importance of personality similarity, which further increases likability. Additional analyses provide key findings concerning the nature of anthropomorphic tendency as an individual difference and trait. This research contributes to a greater understanding of anthropomorphism theory and fills existing gaps in the consumer psychology and marketing communications literature.

Using projects instead of pracs for hands on learning

In 1999, power electronics laboratory practicals were isolated two-hour sessions with only nominal assessment. Students were unmotivated, and didn’t prepare for or subsequently review these sessions. The pracs were rushed, and students’ actions task oriented. Learning was shallow at best. In 2000, the practical component was changed to two projects, each spanning four weeks. The projects were larger, linked, real world problems, tackled by groups of three students. Assessment was via individual workbooks kept during the project, a group demonstration of the working project by all members, and a subsequent written report. These projects were highly successful in motivating the students, and achieved the transfer of the theory presented in lectures into personal practical understanding of that material. These outcomes were judged by observations of the class, project and exam marks, and responses to a questionnaire given at the conclusion of the semester.

Principles of investments

"Emphasises asset allocation while presenting the practical applications of investment theory. The authors concentrate on the intuition and insights that will be useful to students throughout their careers as new ideas and challenges emerge from the financial marketplace. It provides a good foundation to understand the basic types of securities and financial markets as well as how trading in those markets is conducted. The Portfolio Management section is discussed towards the end of the course and supported by a web-based portfolio simulation with a hypothetical $100,000 brokerage account to buy and sell stocks and mutual funds. Students get a chance to use real data found in the Wall Street Survivor simulation in conjunction with the chapters on investments. This site is powered by StockTrak, the leading provider of investment simulation services to the academic community. Principles of Investments includes increased attention to changes in market structure and trading technology. The theory is supported by a wide range of exercises, worksheets and problems."--publisher website Contents: Investments: background and issues -- Asset classes and financial markets -- Securities markets -- Managed funds and investment management -- Risk and return: past and prologue -- Efficient diversification -- Capital asset pricing and arbitrage pricing theory -- The efficient market hypothesis -- Bond prices and yields -- Managing bond portfolios -- Equity valuation -- Macroeconomic and industry analysis -- Financial statement analysis -- Investors and the investment process -- Hedge funds -- Portfolio performance evaluation.

The legitimacy disconnect: Exploring the why and how of CSR communication

Whilst there is a growing body of research considering corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication, calls have been made to consider the ‘how’ of CSR communication (Maon, Lindgreen, & Swaen, 2010). The challenge with exploring this however, is that communication research has largely been criticised for failing to consider the macro-phenomena impacting communication (Jones, Watson, Gardner, & Gallois, 2004; Lammers & Barbour, 2006). As such, limited attention has been given to who organisations need to indicate their responsiveness to in relation to CSR, and in turn, why they communicate about certain activities in their CSR reports. Without exploring these ideas, and hence, gaining an understanding of the macro-phenomena impacting CSR communication, we limit our understanding of the ‘how’ of CSR communication. As such, this study sought to explore both the why of CSR communication, and in turn, the implications this may have for the how of CSR communication. To do this, this study drew on the notions of institutional theory, legitimacy, and rhetoric, and explored propositions drawn from these concepts to consider the why and how of CSR communication. Extended abstract attached

Enhancing enterprise social network use : a control theory study

Organizations employ Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs) (e.g., Yammer) expecting better intra-organizational communication, effective knowledge sharing and, in general, greater collaboration. Despite their similarities with Public Social Networks (PSNs) (e.g., Twitter), ESNs are struggling to gain credence with employees. This paper is part of a larger research project that investigates mechanisms to enhance employees’ engagement in the ESNs. Through the lens of Control Theory, this paper reports preliminary findings of a pilot case study aimed to propose formal and informal mechanisms that impact employees’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations to encourage their use of ESNs. The study results highlight (i) the need to better understand employees’ extrinsic and intrinsic motivations to use Social Networks, and (ii) that unlike a PSN which acts as a hedonic system, an ESN acts as a utilitarian system, highlighting the importance of supporting intrinsic motivations in its implementation.

Chinese fashion designers in Shanghai : identifying a fresh perspective about their role in the world order of fashion

Shanghai possesses an apt legacy, once referred to as “Paris of the East”. Municipal aspirations for Shanghai to assume a position among the great fashion cities of the world have been integrated in the recent re-shaping of this modern city into a role model for Chinese creative enterprise yet China is still known primarily as centre of clothing production. Increasingly however, “Made in China” is being replaced by “Created in China” drawing attention to two distinct consumer markets for Chinese designers. Fashion designers who have entered the global fashion system for education or by showing their collections have generally adopted a design aesthetic that aligns with Western markets, allowing little competitive advantage. In contrast, Chinese designers who rest their attention on the domestic Chinese market find a disparate, highly competitive marketplace. The pillars of authenticity that for foreign fashion brands extend far into their cultural and creative histories, often for many decades in the case of Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Christian Dior do not yet exist in China in this era of rapid globalisation. Here, the cultural bedrock allows these same pillars to extend only thirty years or so into the past reaching the moments when Deng Xiaoping granted China’s creative entrepreneurs passage. To this end, interviews with fashion designers in Shanghai have been undertaken during the last twelve months for a PhD dissertation. Production of culture theory has been used to identify working methods, practices of production and the social and cultural milieu necessary for designers to achieve viability.

Informal kinship care in rural China : the influence of Confucianism and attachment

This article examines the role of informal kinship care in addressing the emotional needs and mental health, along with relationships, of school-age children left behind in rural China. Rural–urban migration in China has caused many rural children to be left behind in their local communities. Based on semi-structured interview data, this article explores Confucianism’s impact on Chinese kin caregivers’ understandings of children’s needs and their childrearing practices to address these needs. Through the lens of attachment theory, this study identified a close affective bond between children left behind and their kin caregivers. This relationship is underpinned by kin caregivers’ high commitment and love for children, and the Confucian concept of ‘benevolence’. It not only provides children left behind with a sense of belonging, it also alleviates their trauma/grief due to separation from their parents

Second-order inelastic analysis of composite framed structures based on the refined plastic hinge method

Composite steel-concrete structures experience non-linear effects which arise from both instability-related geometric non-linearity and from material non-linearity in all of their component members. Because of this, conventional design procedures cannot capture the true behaviour of a composite frame throughout its full loading range, and so a procedure to account for those non-linearities is much needed. This paper therefore presents a numerical procedure capable of addressing geometric and material non-linearities at the strength limit state based on the refined plastic hinge method. Different material non-linearity for different composite structural components such as T-beams, concrete-filled tubular (CFT) and steel-encased reinforced concrete (SRC) sections can be treated using a routine numerical procedure for their section properties in this plastic hinge approach. Simple and conservative initial and full yield surfaces for general composite sections are proposed in this paper. The refined plastic hinge approach models springs at the ends of the element which are activated when the surface defining the interaction of bending and axial force at first yield is reached; a transition from the first yield interaction surface to the fully plastic interaction surface is postulated based on a proposed refined spring stiffness, which formulates the load-displacement relation for material non-linearity under the interaction of bending and axial actions. This produces a benign method for a beam-column composite element under general loading cases. Another main feature of this paper is that, for members containing a point of contraflexure, its location is determined with a simple application of the method herein and a node is then located at this position to reproduce the real flexural behaviour and associated material non-linearity of the member. Recourse is made to an updated Lagrangian formulation to consider geometric non-linear behaviour and to develop a non-linear solution strategy. The formulation with the refined plastic hinge approach is efficacious and robust, and so a full frame analysis incorporating geometric and material non-linearity is tractable. By way of contrast, the plastic zone approach possesses the drawback of strain-based procedures which rely on determining plastic zones within a cross-section and which require lengthwise integration. Following development of the theory, its application is illustrated with a number of varied examples.

Typing early Australian healthcare-associated MRSA : confirmation of major clones and emergence of ST1-MRSA-IV and novel ST2249-MRSA-III

AIMS: To investigate the evolutionary origins of Australian healthcare-associated (HCA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains from a panel of historical isolates typed using current genotyping techniques. METHODS: Nineteen MRSA isolates from 1965 to 1981 were examined and antibiotic susceptibility profiles determined. Genetic characterisation included real-time (RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays to identify single nucleotide polymorhpism (SNP) clonal complexes (SNP CC) and sequence type (SNP ST), multi locus sequence typing (MLST) and staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec typing. RESULTS: All SNP CC30 isolates belonged to a novel sequence type, ST2249. All SNP CC239 isolates were confirmed as ST239-MRSA-III, except for a new single locus variant of ST239, ST2275. A further new type, ST2276, was identified. CONCLUSIONS: The earliest MRSA examined from 1965 was confirmed as ST250-MRSA-I, consistent with archaic European types. Identification of ST1-MRSA-IV in 1981 is the earliest appearance of this clinically important lineage which manifested in Australia and the United States in the 1990s. A previously unknown multi-resistant clone, ST2249-MRSA-III, was identified from 1973. Gentamicin resistance first appeared in this novel strain from 1976 and not ST239 as previously suspected. Thus, ST2249 was present in the earliest phase of the HCA MRSA epidemic in eastern Australia and was perhaps related to the emergence of the globally epidemic strain ST239.

The association of early life supplemental nutrition with lean body mass and grip strength in adulthood : evidence from APCAPS

In the present study, we examined the associations of early nutrition with adult lean body mass (LBM) and muscle strength in a birth cohort that was established to assess the long-term impact of a nutrition program. Participants (n = 1,446, 32% female) were born near Hyderabad, India, in 29 villages from 1987 to 1990, during which time only intervention villages (n = 15) had a government program that offered balanced protein-calorie supplementation to pregnant women and children. Participants’ LBM and appendicular skeletal muscle mass were measured using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry; grip strength and information on lifestyle indicators, including diet and physical activity level, were also obtained. Ages (mean = 20.3 years) and body mass indexes (weight (kg)/height (m)2; mean = 19.5) of participants in 2 groups were similar. Current dietary energy intake was higher in the intervention group. Unadjusted LBM and grip strength were similar in 2 groups. After adjustment for potential confounders, the intervention group had lower LBM (β = −0.75; P = 0.03), appendicular skeletal muscle mass, and grip strength than did controls, but these differences were small in magnitude (<0.1 standard deviation). Multivariable regression analyses showed that current socioeconomic position, energy intake, and physical activity level had a positive association with adult LBM and muscle strength. This study could not detect a “programming” effect of early nutrition supplementation on adult LBM and muscle strength.

E-motion diaries : blogging emotional responses to online learning in higher education

Emotions are inherently social, and are central to learning, online interaction and literacy practices (Shen, Wang, & Shen, 2009). Demonstrating the dynamic sociality of literacy practice, we used e-motion diaries or web logs to explore the emotional states of pre-service high school teachers’ experiences of online learning activities. This is because the methods of communication used by university educators in online learning and writing environments play an important role in fulfilling students’ need for social interaction and inclusion (McInnerney & Roberts, 2004). Feelings of isolation and frustration are common emotions experienced by students in many online learning environments, and are associated with the success or failure of online interactions and learning (Su, et al., 2005). The purpose of the study was to answer the research question: What are the trajectories of pre-service teachers’ emotional states during online learning experiences? This is important because emotions are central to learning, and the current trend toward Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) needs research about students’ emotional connections in online learning environments (Kop, 2011). The project was conducted with a graduate class of 64 high school science pre-service teachers in Science Education Curriculum Studies in a large Australian university, including males and females from a variety of cultural backgrounds, aged 22-55 years. Online activities involved the students watching a series of streamed live lectures for the first 5 weeks providing a varied set of learning experiences, such as viewing science demonstrations (e.g., modeling the use of discrepant events). Each week, students provided feedback on learning by writing and posting an e-motion diary or web log about their emotional response. Students answered the question: What emotions did you experience during this learning experience? The descriptive data set included 284 online posts, with students contributing multiple entries. Linguistic appraisal theory, following Martin and White (2005), was used to regroup the 22 different discrete emotions reported by students into the six main affect groups – three positive and three negative: unhappiness/happiness, insecurity/security, and dissatisfaction/satisfaction. The findings demonstrated that the pre-service teachers’ emotional responses to the streamed lectures tended towards happiness, security, and satisfaction within the typology of affect groups – un/happiness, in/security, and dis/satisfaction. Fewer students reported that the streamed lectures triggered negative feelings of frustration, powerlessness, and inadequacy, and when this occurred, it often pertained to expectations of themselves in the forthcoming field experience in classrooms. Exceptions to this pattern of responses occurred in relation to the fifth streamed lecture presented in a non-interactive slideshow format that compressed a large amount of content. Many students responded to the content of the lecture rather than providing their emotional responses to this lecture, and one student felt “completely disengaged”. The social practice of online writing as blogs enabled the students to articulate their emotions. The findings primarily contribute new understanding about students' wide range of differing emotional states, both positive and negative, experienced in response to streamed live lectures and other learning activities in higher education external coursework. The is important because the majority of previous studies have focused on particular negative emotions, such as anxiety in test taking. The research also highlights the potentials of appraisal theory for studying human emotions in online learning and writing.

Not as it seems : using Deleuzian concepts of the imaginary to rethink children’s drawings

Deleuze (1990) states in Negotiations that signs are realized in ideas. Although Deleuze referred to cinema, his thinking about signs and ideas can apply to drawings. Cinema is moving imagery and drawing is static, however both are informed and constructed from realized ideas that continue to shift beyond the artifact. Theories about children’s drawings have historically pertained to establishing schematic universalities rather than acknowledging the agglomerative connections they make to the multiple things occurring around a drawing as it is created. Universal schemas however persist within early childhood art discourses despite the growth of critical theory research into other aspects of childhood. Deleuze’s assertions about the signs and classifications of cinema help to contest notions of schematic development, i.e. children should progress through particular iconic drawing stages at particular ages. Deleuze’s quotes and thoughts on the imaginary and imagination are referenced to interrogate ‘scientific’ knowledges and the gathering of evidential truths about children’s intellectual growth and development. Four examples from a dataset of drawings from a pilot study, undertaken by the author that tested the methodological potential of intergenerational collaborative drawing in early childhood settings, facilitate focused discussion on the above contestations.