The application of Bowen’s family system theory (BFST) to the Malay population in Malaysia

The rapid economic development and social changes in Malaysia recently have led to many psychosocial problems in young people, such as drug addiction, child sexual abuse and mental illness. The Malaysian government is beginning to focus more attention on its social welfare and human service needs in order to alleviate these psychosocial problems. Although counselling is accepted and widespread in Malaysia, the practice of family therapy is not as accepted as it is still a widely held belief that family problems need to be kept within the family. However, changes are imminent and thus the theoretical basis of family therapy needs to be culturally relevant. Bowen‟s Family Systems Theory (BFST) is already one of the major theories taught to tertiary counselling students in Malaysian universities. The main tenet of Bowen‟s theory is that the family as a system may be unstable unless each member of the family is well differentiated. High differentiation levels in the family allow a person to both leave the family‟s boundaries in search of uniqueness and to continually return to the family fold in order to establish a more mature sense of belonging. The difficulty, however, is that while Bowen has claimed that his theory is universal nearly all of the research confirming the theory has been conducted in the United States of America. The only known study outside America, however, did show that Bowen‟s theory applied to a Filipino population but, one of the theory‟s propositions that differentiation is intergenerational was not supported in this non-American sample. The American sample that was compared to the Malay sample was taken from Skowron and Friedlander‟s (1998) study. One hundred and twenty-seven faculty staff in an American university completed the Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI) to measure level of differentiation of self. This thesis therefore, set out to determine whether Bowen‟s theory applied to another non-American sample, the Malaysian community. The research also investigated if the intergenerational effect was present in the Malaysian sample as well as explored the role of socio-economic status on Bowen‟s theory of differentiation and gender effect. Three hundred and seventy-four families completed four measures to examine these research questions: the Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI), the Family Inventory of Life Event (FILE), the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). The results of the study showed that differentiation of self is a valid construct for the Malay population. However, all four subscales of the Differentiation of Self Inventory (DSI); emotional reactivity (ER), emotional cut-off (EC), fusion with other (FO) and I position (IP), showed significant differences compared to the American sample from Skowron and Friedlander‟s (1998) study. The Malay sample scored higher in emotional reaction (ER), fusion with other (FO), but lower on emotional cut-off (EC) and I position (IP) than the American sample. The intergenerational effect was found in the Malay population as the parent‟s level of differentiation correlated with their children‟s level of differentiation. It was found that stress as measured by the Family Inventory of Life Event (FILE) and as measured by the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) were not correlated with the level of differentiation of self in parents. However, gender had a significant effect in predicting the level of differentiation among parents in Malay population with females scores higher on emotional reactivity (ER) and fusion with other (FO) than males. An additional finding was that resilience can be predicted from the level of differentiation of self in children in the Malay sample. There was also a positive correlation between the level of differentiation of self in parents and resilience in their children. Findings from this study indicate that the concept of differentiation of self is applicable to a Malay sample; however, the implementation of the theory should be applied with cultural sensitivity.

Community protest groups' perceptions of environmental risks using social contagion theory

Local communities are vulnerable to the potential environmental risks associated with construction activity. Currently, little is understood about how perceptions of environmental risks are shaped and spread within a community. A better understanding of this process can help bridge the gap between developers and communities and bring about more sustainable development practices. This paper reports a research methodology which uses social contagion theory to investigate this process. The research adopts a single case study approach of a highly controversial housing project in the greater Sydney metropolitan area. The case study is particularly significant as it investigates an extensive and on-going community-based protest campaign (dating back almost 20 years) that has generated the longest standing 24 hour community picket in the New South Wales.

Data modelling with first-grade students

This paper argues for a renewed focus on statistical reasoning in the beginning school years, with opportunities for children to engage in data modelling. Results are reported from the first year of a 3-year longitudinal study in which three classes of first-grade children (6-year-olds) and their teachers engaged in data modelling activities. The theme of Looking after our Environment, part of the children’s science curriculum, provided the task context. The goals for the two activities addressed here included engaging children in core components of data modelling, namely, selecting attributes, structuring and representing data, identifying variation in data, and making predictions from given data. Results include the various ways in which children represented and re represented collected data, including attribute selection, and the metarepresentational competence they displayed in doing so. The “data lenses” through which the children dealt with informal inference (variation and prediction) are also reported.

Associations between young children's emotion attributions and prediction of outcome in differing social situations

Associations between young children's attributions of emotion at different points in a story, and with regard to their own prediction about the story's outcome, were investigated using two hypothetical scenarios of social and emotional challenge (social entry and negative event). First grade children (N = 250) showed an understanding that emotions are tied to situational cues by varying the emotions they attributed both between and within scenarios. Furthermore, emotions attributed to the main protagonist at the beginning of the scenarios were differentially associated with children's prediction of a positive or negative outcome and with the valence of the emotion attributed at the end of the scenario. Gender differences in responses to some items were also found. © 2010 The British Psychological Society.

A strategy for delayed research method selection : deciding between grounded theory and phenomenology

This paper presents a strategy for delayed research method selection in a qualitative interpretivist research. An exemplary case details how explorative interviews were designed and conducted in accordance with a paradigm prior to deciding whether to adopt grounded theory or phenomenology for data analysis. The focus here is to determine the most appropriate research strategy in this case the methodological framing to conduct research and represent findings, both of which are detailed. Research addressing current management issues requires both a flexible framework and the capability to consider the research problem from various angles, to derive tangible results for academia with immediate application to business demands. Researchers, and in particular novices, often struggle to decide on an appropriate research method suitable to address their research problem. This often applies to interpretative qualitative research where it is not always immediately clear which is the most appropriate method to use, as the research objectives shift and crystallize over time. This paper uses an exemplary case to reveal how the strategy for delayed research method selection contributes to deciding whether to adopt grounded theory or phenomenology in the initial phase of a PhD research project. In this case, semi-structured interviews were used for data generation framed in an interpretivist approach, situated in a business context. Research questions for this study were thoroughly defined and carefully framed in accordance with the research paradigm‟s principles, while at the same time ensuring that the requirements of both potential research methods were met. The grounded theory and phenomenology methods were compared and contrasted to determine their suitability and whether they meet the research objectives based on a pilot study. The strategy proposed in this paper is an alternative to the more „traditional‟ approach, which initially selects the methodological formulation, followed by data generation. In conclusion, the suggested strategy for delayed research method selection intends to help researchers identify and apply the most appropriate method to their research. This strategy is based on explorations of data generation and analysis in order to derive faithful results from the data generated.

From cultural to creative industries : theory, industry, and policy implications

Across post-industrial societies worldwide, the creative industries are increasingly seen as a key economic driver. These industries - including fields as diverse as advertising, art, computer games, crafts, design, fashion, film, museums, music, performing arts, publishing, radio, theatre and TV - are built upon individual creativity and innovation and have the potential to create wealth and employment through the mechanism of intellectual property. Creative Industries: Critical Readings brings together the key writings - drawing on both journals and books - to present an authoritative and wide-ranging survey of this emerging field of study. The set is presented with an introduction and the writings are divided into four volumes, organized thematically: Volume 1: Concepts - focuses on the concept of creativity and the development of government and industry interest in creative industries; Volume 2: Economy - maps the role and function of creative industries in the economy at large; Volume 3: Organization - examines the ways in which creative institutions organize themselves; and Volume 4: Work - addresses issues of creative work, labour and careers This major reference work will be invaluable to scholars in economics, cultural studies, sociology, media studies and organization studies.

Third-order theory of spectacle lenses applied to correction of peripheral refractive errors

Purpose: To demonstrate that relatively simple third-order theory can provide a framework which shows how peripheral refraction can be manipulated by altering the forms of spectacle lenses. Method: Third-order equations were used to yield lens forms that correct peripheral power errors, either for the lenses alone or in combination with typical peripheral refractions of myopic eyes. These results were compared with those of finite ray-tracing. Results: The approximate forms of spherical and conicoidal lenses provided by third-order theory were flatter over a moderate myopic range than the forms obtained by rigorous raytracing. Lenses designed to correct peripheral refractive errors produced large errors when used with foveal vision and a rotating eye. Correcting astigmatism tended to give large errors in mean oblique error and vice versa. When only spherical lens forms are used, correction of the relative hypermetropic peripheral refractions of myopic eyes which are observed experimentally, or the provision of relative myopic peripheral refractions in such eyes, seems impossible in the majority of cases. Conclusion: The third-order spectacle lens design approach can readily be used to show trends in peripheral refraction.

Speeding by young novice drivers : what can personal characteristics and psychosocial theory add to our understanding?

Purpose: Young novice drivers continue to be overrepresented in fatalities and injuries arising from crashes even with the introduction of countermeasures such as graduated driver licensing (GDL). Enhancing countermeasures requires a better understanding of the variables influencing risky driving. One of the most common risky behaviours performed by drivers of all ages is speeding, which is particularly risky for young novice drivers who, due to their driving inexperience, have difficulty in identifying and responding appropriately to road hazards. Psychosocial theory can improve our understanding of contributors to speeding, thereby informing countermeasure development and evaluation. This paper reports an application of Akers’ social learning theory (SLT), augmented by Gerrard and Gibbons’ prototype/willingness model (PWM), in addition to personal characteristics of age, gender, car ownership, and psychological traits/states of anxiety, depression, sensation seeking propensity and reward sensitivity, to examine the influences on self-reported speeding of young novice drivers with a Provisional (intermediate) licence in Queensland, Australia. Method: Young drivers (n = 378) recruited in 2010 for longitudinal research completed two surveys containing the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale, and reported their attitudes and behaviours as pre-Licence/Learner (Survey 1) and Provisional (Survey 2) drivers and their sociodemographic characteristics. Results: An Akers’ measurement model was created. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that (1) personal characteristics (PC) explained 20.3%; (2) the combination of PC and SLT explained 41.1%; and (3) the combination of PC, SLT and PWM explained 53.7% of variance in self-reported speeding. Whilst there appeared to be considerable shared variance, the significant predictors in the final model included gender, car ownership, reward sensitivity, depression, personal attitudes, and Learner speeding. Conclusions: These results highlight the capacity for psychosocial theory to improve our understanding of speeding by young novice drivers, revealing relationships between previous behaviour, attitudes, psychosocial characteristics and speeding. The findings suggest multi-faceted countermeasures should target the risky behaviour of Learners, and Learner supervisors should be encouraged to monitor their Learners’ driving speed. Novice drivers should be discouraged from developing risky attitudes towards speeding.

Collaborative academic/practitioner research in project management : theory and models

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide of a review of the theory and models underlying project management (PM) research degrees that encourage reflective learning. Design/methodology/approach – Review of the literature and reflection on the practice of being actively involved in conducting and supervising academic research and disseminating academic output. The paper argues the case for the potential usefulness of reflective academic research to PM practitioners. It also highlights theoretical drivers of and barriers to reflective academic research by PM practitioners. Findings – A reflective learning approach to research can drive practical results though it requires a great deal of commitment and support by both academic and industry partners. Practical implications – This paper suggests how PM practitioners can engage in academic research that has practical outcomes and how to be more effective at disseminating these research outcomes. Originality/value – Advanced academic degrees, in particular those completed by PM practitioners, can validate a valuable source of innovative ideas and approaches that should be more quickly absorbed into the PM profession’s sources of knowledge. The value of this paper is to critically review and facilitate a reduced adaptation time for implementation of useful reflective academic research to industry.

A sequential Monte Carlo algorithm to incorporate model uncertainty in Bayesian sequential design

Here we present a sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) algorithm that can be used for any one-at-a-time Bayesian sequential design problem in the presence of model uncertainty where discrete data are encountered. Our focus is on adaptive design for model discrimination but the methodology is applicable if one has a different design objective such as parameter estimation or prediction. An SMC algorithm is run in parallel for each model and the algorithm relies on a convenient estimator of the evidence of each model which is essentially a function of importance sampling weights. Other methods for this task such as quadrature, often used in design, suffer from the curse of dimensionality. Approximating posterior model probabilities in this way allows us to use model discrimination utility functions derived from information theory that were previously difficult to compute except for conjugate models. A major benefit of the algorithm is that it requires very little problem specific tuning. We demonstrate the methodology on three applications, including discriminating between models for decline in motor neuron numbers in patients suffering from neurological diseases such as Motor Neuron disease.

Prediction of the wash-off of traffic related semi- and non-volatile organic compounds from urban roads under climate change influenced rainfall characteristics

Traffic generated semi and non volatile organic compounds (SVOCs and NVOCs) pose a serious threat to human and ecosystem health when washed off into receiving water bodies by stormwater. Climate change influenced rainfall characteristics makes the estimation of these pollutants in stormwater quite complex. The research study discussed in the paper developed a prediction framework for such pollutants under the dynamic influence of climate change on rainfall characteristics. It was established through principal component analysis (PCA) that the intensity and durations of low to moderate rain events induced by climate change mainly affect the wash-off of SVOCs and NVOCs from urban roads. The study outcomes were able to overcome the limitations of stringent laboratory preparation of calibration matrices by extracting uncorrelated underlying factors in the data matrices through systematic application of PCA and factor analysis (FA). Based on the initial findings from PCA and FA, the framework incorporated orthogonal rotatable central composite experimental design to set up calibration matrices and partial least square regression to identify significant variables in predicting the target SVOCs and NVOCs in four particulate fractions ranging from >300-1 μm and one dissolved fraction of <1 μm. For the particulate fractions range >300-1 μm, similar distributions of predicted and observed concentrations of the target compounds from minimum to 75th percentile were achieved. The inter-event coefficient of variations for particulate fractions of >300-1 μm were 5% to 25%. The limited solubility of the target compounds in stormwater restricted the predictive capacity of the proposed method for the dissolved fraction of <1 μm.

Transition to day care for older people in Taiwan : a grounded theory study

Adult day care centres provide a means whereby frail or disabled older people can remain living at home particularly when their family care-givers engage in waged work. In Taiwan, adult day care services appear to meet the cultural needs of both older people and their families for whom filial care is vital. Little research attention has been paid to the use of day care services in Taiwan, the uptake rate of which is low. This grounded theory study explored the ways in which older people and family care-givers construct meanings around the use of day care services in Taiwan. Forty-four semi-structured interviews were undertaken with older people, care-givers and day care centre managers. The findings from grounded theory data analysis bring focus to the assumptions and structures that underpin the process of transition to day care services. A key feature of this process is the reconstruction of personal identity as both the older people and family care-givers work to make sense of the relationship between the self and a changing social structure. Reconstructing identity in a shifting world is the core category of the study and reflects a process of reframing whereby older people came to new definitions of social responsibility and independence within the context of the day care centre. Similarly, the family care-givers actively reformulated the concept of filial piety as they interacted with and interpreted the changes in economic and social conditions in Taiwan.

Benefits and issues of urban network travel time prediction

This paper presents the benefits and issues related to travel time prediction on urban network. Travel time information quantifies congestion and is perhaps the most important network performance measure. Travel time prediction has been an active area of research for the last five decades. The activities related to ITS have increased the attention of researchers for better and accurate real-time prediction of travel time. Majority of the literature on travel time prediction is applicable to freeways where, under non-incident conditions, traffic flow is not affected by external factors such as traffic control signals and opposing traffic flows. On urban environment the problem is more complicated due to conflicting areas (intersections), mid-link sources and sinks etc. and needs to be addressed.

Study on road traffic noise prediction model taking into account the citywide network

For the further noise reduction in the future, the traffic management which controls traffic flow and physical distribution is important. To conduct the measure by the traffic management effectively, it is necessary to apply the model for predicting the traffic flow in the citywide road network. For this purpose, the existing model named AVENUE was used as a macro-traffic flow prediction model. The traffic flow model was integrated with the road vehicles' sound power model, and the new road traffic noise prediction model was established. By using this prediction model, the noise map of entire city can be made. In this study, first, the change of traffic flow on the road network after the establishment of new roads was estimated, and the change of the road traffic noise caused by the new roads was predicted. As a result, it has been found that this prediction model has the ability to estimate the change of noise map by the traffic management. In addition, the macro-traffic flow model and our conventional micro-traffic flow model were combined, and the coverage of the noise prediction model was expanded.

An investigation of market segmentation theory and its impact on effective fundraising

This paper presents the findings of an indepth study into the effects and success of marketing segmentation, target marketing and fundraising. Organisations are constantly seeking new ways and more efficient means to raise funds so that they can fulfill their objectives. These organisations review and evaluate their resources to gain competitive advantage and increased fundraising success...