Architectural experience in the everyday context

Informed by phenomenology and grounded theory this research identifies the general community's contextual sense-making in relation to their everyday experience of buildings producing a comprehensive theoretical framework that acknowledges a person's relationship with a building as dynamic and unfolding, as opposed to static and constant; and as emotive and existential as well as conceptual and perceptual. In this regard, the research makes an original contribution to environmental psychology, architecture and design and through this discipline knowledge to the design of more habitable buildings, and interior and urban environments.

Factors influencing sustainability of health service innovation: Emergency nurse practitioner services

Introduction: Emergency department nurse practitioner services are one of the most frequently implemented service delivery models in Australian hospitals. This research examined factors influencing sustainability of this innovative service delivery model and offers some recommendations for future service integration. Background Many health service innovations have been implemented in an attempt to meet the growing demand for efficient, cost effective health care however, sustainability of many of these innovations has not been evaluated and is poorly understood. Aim The aim of the research was to identify factors that influence sustainability of emergency department nurse practitioner services and to operationalise a theoretical framework for evaluating innovation sustainability. Methodology The research used case study methodology. The case was emergency nurse practitioner services, and units of analysis were emergency department staff, emergency nurse practitioners and documents relating to nurse practitioner services. The data collection methods included, survey, one-on-one interviews, document analysis and telephone survey. Results This research shows that emergency nurse practitioner services partially comply with the factors of sustainability as described in the Sustainability of Innovation theoretical framework: Political, Organisational, Workforce, Financial and Innovation specific factors. Where services do not entirely meet the factors the existing benefits of the service may outweigh the barriers and other means of working around shortfalls are also implemented by staff to ensure patient safety. Conclusion The rapidly expanding emergency nurse practitioner service has been examined using case study methodology to find that certain factors may be threatening the sustainability of this health service innovation. Potentially an innovation may be sustained when only some factors are met in the short term, however, long term sustainability may be challenged if factors are not addressed and supported.

Why the Constraints-Led Approach is not teaching games for understanding: A clarification

Background There is some apparent confusion regarding similarities and differences between two popular physical education (PE) pedagogical frameworks, that is, the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) and Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU). Purpose Our aim in this commentary is to detail important theoretical and pedagogical concepts that distinguish these approaches, as well as to recognise where commonalities exist. Findings In particular, we note that TGfU had its roots in the 1960s in the absence of a substantial theoretical framework, although several attempts to retrospectively scaffold theories around TGfU have subsequently emerged in the literature. TGfU is a learner-centred approach to PE in which teachers are encouraged to design modified games to develop the learner's understanding of tactical concepts. In contrast, the CLA has arisen more recently from the umbrella of Nonlinear Pedagogy (NLP), emerging from the empirically rich theoretical framework of ecological dynamics. The CLA adopts a ‘learner–environment’ scale of analysis in which practitioners are encouraged to identify and modify interacting constraints (of task, environment and learner) to facilitate the coupling of each learner's perceptual and action systems during learning. The CLA is a broader framework which has been adapted for the design of (re)learning environments in PE, sport and movement therapy. Other key distinctions between the approaches include: the overall goals; the way in which the learner and the learning process are modelled; the use of questioning as a pedagogical tool; the focus on individual differences vs. generic concepts; and how progressions and skill interjections are planned and implemented. Conclusions Despite such distinctions, the two approaches are somewhat harmonious and key similarities include: their holistic perspective of the learner; the proposed role of the teacher and the design characteristics of learning tasks in each. Both TGfU and the CLA have a powerful central focus on the nature of learning activities undertaken by each individual learner. This clarification of TGFU and the CLA is intended to act as a catalyst for more empirical work into the complementarity of these juxtaposed pedagogical approaches to learning design.

Helping doctoral students teach: Transitioning to early career academia through cognitive apprenticeship

Doctoral training is strongly focused on honing research skills at the expense of developing teaching competency. As a result, emerging academics are unprepared for the pedagogical requirements of their early-career academic roles. Employing an action research approach, this study investigates the effectiveness of a competency-based teaching development intervention that aims to improve the teaching self-efficacy of doctoral candidates. To conduct this research, we apply the theoretical framework of Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory, a theory of social learning that requires learners to participate in a community of inquiry. Participants report significantly higher levels of teaching self-efficacy and a stronger sense of connectedness to the wider academic community.

The importance of a precise definition, comprehensive model, and critical discussion of successful aging at work

It is crucial to advance understanding of the concept of successful aging at work to guide rigorous future research and effective practice. Drawing on the gerontology and life-span developmental literatures, I recently proposed a definition and theoretical framework of successful aging at work that revolve around employees increasingly deviating from average developmental trajectories across the working life span. Based on sustainability, person–job fit, and proactivity theories, Kooij suggested an alternative perspective that emphasizes the active role of employees for successful aging at work. In this article, I compare the 2 approaches and attempt a partial integration. I highlight the importance of a precise definition, comprehensive model, and critical discussion of successful aging at work. Furthermore, I suggest that person–environment fit variables other than person–job fit (e.g., person–organization fit) and adapting to person–environment misfit may also contribute to successful aging at work. Finally, I argue that proactive behaviors must have age-differential effects on work outcomes to be considered personal resources for successful aging at work.

Successful aging at work

The expression successful aging at work and related terms such as active, healthy, and productive aging at work are frequently used by organizational researchers and practitioners. However, there are no concrete definitions or theoretical frameworks that explain their meaning, assumptions, and underlying processes. In this paper, I first review conceptualizations of successful aging in the fields of gerontology and life span psychology. Second, I propose a working definition of successful aging at work based on four key elements: criteria, explanatory mechanisms, facilitating and constraining factors, and temporal patterns. I distinguish successful aging at work from usual and unsuccessful aging and from other age-related developments in the work context. Third, I introduce a theoretical framework organized around 5 principles on intraindividual age-related change over time, person and contextual mediators and moderators, and work outcomes. Fourth, I review theoretical and empirical research on age in the workplace published in the past decade through the lens of the proposed theoretical framework. Finally, I conclude this paper by outlining suggestions for future research on successful aging at work, including methodological considerations.

Factors influencing sustainability of health service innovation, emergency nurse practitioner service

Escalating health care delivery costs and consumer expectations have led to a range of health service and workforce innovations in the provision of high quality cost effective patient care. This research has operationalised a theoretical framework to examine factors that influence sustainability of health service innovations, in particular, emergency nurse practitioner service. The results of this research will inform health service policy and practice for future implementation of innovative workforce models and add to the understanding of factors that influence sustainability.

Media accounts of school performance: Reinforcing dominant practices of accountability

Media reportage often act as interpretations of accountability policies thereby making the news media a part of the policy enactment process. Within such a process, their role is that of policy reinforcement rather than policy construction or contestation. This paper draws on the experiences of school leaders in regional Queensland, Australia, and their perceptions of the media frames that are used to report on accountability using school performance. The notion of accountability is theorised in terms of media understandings of ‘holding power to account’, and forms the theoretical framework for this study. The methodological considerations both contextualise aspects of the schools involved in the study, and outline how ‘framing theory’ was used to analyse the data. The paper draws on a number of participant experiences and newspaper accounts of schools to identify the frames that are used by the press when reporting on school performance. Three frames referring to school performance are discussed in this paper: those that rank performance such as league tables; frames that decontextualise performance isolating it from school circumstances and levels of funding; and frames that residualise government schools.

Expecting too much? Can Indigenous sport programs in Australia deliver development and social outcomes?

Sport holds a special place in the national psyche of many nations with claims for sport being far reaching. More recently sport has been identified as a development and an educational tool in the areas of health and behaviour modification. Against the backdrop of the Close the Gap blueprint for Indigenous Australians and within the context of competing claims for sport, this paper discusses whether sport can genuinely contribute to community development in Indigenous Australian communities. Drawing on cases from sports-based programmes that spanned a 5-year research programme and informed by a theoretical framework inspired by Sen’s notion of ‘Development as Freedom’, this paper makes the case that sport can be a robust developmental tool capable of delivering social outcomes to marginalized communities.

Dressing up Tinderella: Interrogating authenticity claims on the mobile dating app Tinder

Mobile dating applications (‘apps’) have increased in popularity over recent years, with Tinder among the first to break into the mainstream heterosexual market. Since mobile dating intensifies the need to confirm that potential dates are not misrepresenting themselves and are safe to meet in person, Tinder’s success indicates that it has allayed these concerns regarding the authenticity of its users. This article combines Giddens’ conceptualization of authenticity, as the ability to reference a coherent biographical narrative, with Callon’s sociology of translation to investigate Tinder’s framing of authenticity within mobile dating. Applying a walkthrough method that interrogates Tinder’s technological architecture, promotional materials, and related media, this hybrid theoretical framework is used to identify how Tinder configures an actor-network that establishes its app as the solution to users’ concerns, enrols individuals in using its features in authenticity claims, and popularizes Tinder’s framing across public discourse. This network of human and non-human actors frames authenticity as being established through one’s Facebook profile and adherence to normative standards relating to age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. However, user discourses on other social media identify and challenge negative outcomes of this framing, with normativity fostering discrimination and Facebook verification failing to prevent abusive behavior. This case study of Tinder paves the way for future investigation into user responses to its framing. Further, it demonstrates the efficacy and broader applicability of this theoretical approach for identifying both human and technological influences on the construction of authenticity with digital media.

Toward principles of construct clarity: Exploring the usefulness of facet theory in guiding conceptualization

Conceptualization in theory development has received limited consideration despite its frequently stressed importance in Information Systems research. This paper focuses on the role of construct clarity in conceptualization, arguing that construct clarity should be considered an essential criterion for evaluating conceptualization and that a focus on construct clarity can advance conceptualization methodology. Drawing from Facet Theory literature, we formulate a set of principles for assessing construct clarity, particularly regarding a construct’s relationships to its extant related constructs. Conscious and targeted attention to this criterion can promote a research ecosystem more supportive of knowledge accumulation.

Diffusing research into routine midwifery practice

This research applied Greenhalgh et al's (2005) organisational change theoretical framework and a case study method approach to explore the process of implementing a smoking cessation intervention for pregnant women. The study was carried out according to the principles laid down in the National statement on ethical conduct in human research, produced by the National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia. Ethical approval for the research was sought and received from Queensland University of Technology human research ethics committee, prior to the start of the study. The sample constituted four participants who had been involved in the process of disseminating a training programme for midwives to implement a smoking cessation intervention. Eight semi-structured interviews were undertaken with these participants and the interviews and background programme data were subjected to theoretical analysis. The data were analysed through the lens of the Greenhalgh et al (2005) framework. The result was a disaggregation and (re)aggregation of data in the formation of an analytical outcome (Charmaz, 2006).

Citizens breaking out of filter bubbles: Urban screens as civic media

Social media platforms risk polarising public opinions by employing proprietary algorithms that produce filter bubbles and echo chambers. As a result, the ability of citizens and communities to engage in robust debate in the public sphere is diminished. In response, this paper highlights the capacity of urban interfaces, such as pervasive displays, to counteract this trend by exposing citizens to the socio-cultural diversity of the city. Engagement with different ideas, networks and communities is crucial to both innovation and the functioning of democracy. We discuss examples of urban interfaces designed to play a key role in fostering this engagement. Based on an analysis of works empirically-grounded in field observations and design research, we call for a theoretical framework that positions pervasive displays and other urban interfaces as civic media. We argue that when designed for more than wayfinding, advertisement or television broadcasts, urban screens as civic media can rectify some of the pitfalls of social media by allowing the polarised user to break out of their filter bubble and embrace the cultural diversity and richness of the city.

A reverse Stroop task with mouse tracking

In a reverse Stroop task, observers respond to the meaning of a color word irrespective of the color in which the word is printed—for example, the word red may be printed in the congruent color (red), an incongruent color (e.g., blue), or a neutral color (e.g., white). Although reading of color words in this task is often thought to be neither facilitated by congruent print colors nor interfered with incongruent print colors, this interference has been detected by using a response method that does not give any bias in favor of processing of word meanings or processing of print colors. On the other hand, evidence for the presence of facilitation in this task has been scarce, even though this facilitation is theoretically possible. By modifying the task such that participants respond to a stimulus color word by pointing to a corresponding response word on a computer screen with a mouse, the present study investigated the possibility that not only interference but also facilitation would take place in a reverse Stroop task. Importantly, in this study, participants’ responses were dynamically tracked by recording the entire trajectories of the mouse. Arguably, this method provided richer information about participants’ performance than traditional measures such as reaction time and accuracy, allowing for more detailed (and thus potentially more sensitive) investigation of facilitation and interference in the reverse Stroop task. These trajectories showed that the mouse’s approach toward correct response words was significantly delayed by incongruent print colors but not affected by congruent print colors, demonstrating that only interference, not facilitation, was present in the current task. Implications of these findings are discussed within a theoretical framework in which the strength of association between a task and its response method plays a critical role in determining how word meanings and print colors interact in reverse Stroop tasks.

Urban growth dilemmas and solutions in China: Looking forward to 2030

China’s urbanization and industrialization are occupying farmland in large amounts, which is strongly driven by land finance regime. This is due to the intensified regional/local competition for manufacturing investment opportunities that push local governments to expropriate farmland at low prices while lease land at high market value to property developers. The additional revenue obtained in this way, termed financial increment in land values, can drive local economic growth, and provide associated infrastructure and other public services. At the same time, however, a floating population of large numbers of inadequately compensated land-lost farmers, although unable to become citizens, have to migrate into the urban areas for work, causing overheated employment and housing markets, with rocketing unaffordable housing prices. This, together with various micro factors relating to the party/state’s promotion/evaluation system play an essential role leading to some serious economic, environment and social consequences, e.g., on migrant welfare, the displacement of peasants and the loss of land resources that requires immediate attention. Our question is: whether such type of urbanization is sustainable? What are the mechanisms behind such a phenomenal urbanization process? From the perspective of institutionalism, this paper aims to investigate the institutional background of the urban growth dilemma and solutions in urban China and to introduce further an inter-regional game theoretical framework to indicate why the present urbanization pattern is unsustainable. Looking forward to 2030, paradigm policy changes are made from the triple consideration of floating population, social security and urban environmental pressures. This involves: (1) changing land increment based finance regime into land stock finance system; (2) the citizenization of migrant workers with affordable housing, and; (3) creating a more enlightened local government officer appraisal system to better take into account societal issues such as welfare and beyond.