Being Grateful : Does it Bring Us Closer? Gratitude, Attachment and Intimacy in Romantic Relationships

To date, little is known about the function of gratitude in romantic relationships. Being grateful has been demonstrated to provide a number of positive benefits for individuals; however, few studies have explored how grateful experiences may be beneficial in enhancing romantic relationships. This study explored the extent to which adult attachment moderates the relationship between dispositional gratitude and the experience of intimacy within romantic relationships. A greater disposition toward gratitude was expected to result in more frequent experiences of gratitude. It was also anticipated that experiences of gratitude would be associated with feelings of closeness. Participants (n = 156) were required to be currently in a relationship of at least six months duration and completed a series of questionnaires assessing dispositional gratitude, attachment and emotional intimacy. Moderation analysis revealed that although a positive, weak correlation existed between dispositional gratitude and intimacy, attachment did not moderate this association. It was concluded that further investigation of the experience of gratitude is necessary to understand the function of gratitude in romantic relationships. Methods focusing on specific experiences of gratitude in romantic relationships, and the associated feelings of closeness experienced by each partner, may yield more conclusive findings and may provide support for therapeutic approaches focused on enhancing closeness between couples by increasing experiences of gratitude.

Being grateful : does it bring us closer? Gratitude, attachment and intimacy in romantic relationships

This study proposed that levels of dispositional gratitude influence experiences of intimacy within romantic relationships and that this influence is moderated by relationship attachment. Gratitude, in this study, was described as feelings of appreciation associated with the perception that one had been the focus of another’s intentionally beneficial actions. A greater disposition toward gratitude was expected to result in more frequent experiences of gratitude. It was also anticipated that experiences of gratitude would be associated with feelings of closeness toward the one responsible for the beneficial act. Participants (n=156) ranged in age from 18 – 70 and, although required to be currently in a relationship of at least six months’ duration, each was studied as an individual. Participants included both males and females, in same-sex or other-sex relationships, and completed a series of questionnaires assessing dispositional gratitude, attachment and emotional intimacy. Moderation analysis was conducted using hierarchical regression and revealed that although a positive, weak correlation exists between gratitude and intimacy, attachment did not moderate that association. However, the measures used did not elicit sufficiently divergent responses. Thus neither complete exploration of the proposed association between gratitude and intimacy, nor of the moderation of that association by attachment were possible. In conclusion, further investigation of experiences of gratitude, particularly in relation to enhancing feelings of closeness, is necessary to understand the function of gratitude in romantic relationships. Methods focusing on specific experiences of gratitude in romantic relationships and the associated feelings of closeness experienced by each partner may yield more conclusive findings. In addition, such findings may provide support for therapeutic approaches focused on enhancing closeness between couples by increasing experiences of gratitude.

Joinder to a later unsigned document?

It is well known that a statutory requirement of formality is associated with contracts concerning land. In this regard, s 59 of the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) provides: No action may be brought upon any contract for the sale or other disposition of land or any interest in land unless the contract upon which such action is brought, or some memorandum or note of the contract, is in writing, and signed by the party to be charged, or by some person by the party lawfully authorised. In addition to the possibility of a formal contract, the statutory wording clearly contemplates reliance on an informal note or memorandum. To constitute a sufficient note or memorandum for the purposes of the statute, the signed note or memorandum must contain details of the parties to the contract, an adequate description of the property, the price and any other essential terms. It is also accepted that the doctrine of joinder may be invoked in circumstances where the document signed by the party to be charged contains an express or implied reference to any other document. In this way, a sufficient note or memorandum may be constituted by the joinder of a number of documents.

Older Australians and the Internet

In late 2009, Sandra Haukka secured funding from the auDA Foundation to explore what older Australians who never or rarely use the Internet (referred to as ‘non-users’) know about the types of online products and services available to them, and how they might use these products and services to improve their daily life. This project aims to support current and future strategies and initiatives by: 1) exploring the extent to which non-users are aware of the types and benefits of online products and services, (such as e-shopping, e-banking, e-health, social networking, and general browsing and research) as well as their interest in them b) identifying how the Internet can improve the daily life of older Australians c) reviewing the effectiveness of support and services designed to educate and encourage older people to engage with the Internet d) recommending strategies that aim to raise non-user awareness of current and emerging online products and services, and provide non-users with the skills and knowledge needed to use those products and services that they believe can improve their daily life. The Productive Ageing Centre at National Seniors Australia, and Professor Trevor Barr from Swinburne University provided the project with in-kind support.

Decision support to green technology implementation on Australian university campuses

As the societal awareness on sustainability is gaining momentum worldwide, the higher education sector is expected to take the lead in education, research and the promotion of sustainable development. Universities have the diversity of skills and knowledge to explore new concepts and issues, the academic freedom to offer unbiased observations, and the capacity to engage in experimentation for solutions. There is a global trend that universities have realized and responded to sustainability challenge. By adopting green technologies, buildings on university campuses have the potential to offer highly productive and green environments for a quality learning experience for students, while minimising environmental impacts. Despite the potential benefits and metaphorical link to sustainability, few universities have moved towards implementing Green Roof and Living Wall on campuses widely, which have had more successful applications in commercial and residential buildings. Few past research efforts have examined the fundamental barriers to the implementation of sustainable projects on campuses from organizational level. To address this deficiency, an on-going research project is undertaken by Queensland University of Technology in Australia. The research is aimed at developing a comprehensive framework to facilitate better decision making for the promotion of Green Roof and Living Wall application on campuses. It will explore and highlight organizational factors as well as investigate and emphasize project delivery issues. Also, the critical technical indicators for Green Roof and Living Wall implementation will be identified. The expected outcome of this research has the potential to enhance Green Roof and Living Wall delivery in Australian universities, as a vital step towards realizing sustainability in higher education sectors.

Right to the city, desire for the suburb?

The 2000s have been a lively decade for cities. The Worldwatch Institute estimated that 2007 was the first year in human history that more people worldwide lived in cities than the countryside. Globalisation and new digital media technologies have generated the seemingly paradoxical outcome that spatial location came to be more rather than less important, as combinations of firms, industries, cultural activities and creative talents have increasingly clustered around a select node of what have been termed “creative cities,” that are in turn highly networked into global circuits of economic capital, political power and entertainment media. Intellectually, the period has seen what the UCLA geographer Ed Soja refers to as the spatial turn in social theory, where “whatever your interests may be, they can be significantly advanced by adopting a critical spatial perspective”. This is related to the dynamic properties of socially constructed space itself, or what Soja terms “the powerful forces that arise from socially produced spaces such as urban agglomerations and cohesive regional economies,” with the result that “what can be called the stimulus of socio-spatial agglomeration is today being assertively described as the primary cause of economic development, technological innovation, and cultural creativity”

Elements pour adapter les systemes de recherche d'information aux dyslexiques [Elements to adapt information retrieval systems to dyslexic users]

RÉSUMÉ. La prise en compte des troubles de la communication dans l’utilisation des systèmes de recherche d’information tels qu’on peut en trouver sur le Web est généralement réalisée par des interfaces utilisant des modalités n’impliquant pas la lecture et l’écriture. Peu d’applications existent pour aider l’utilisateur en difficulté dans la modalité textuelle. Nous proposons la prise en compte de la conscience phonologique pour assister l’utilisateur en difficulté d’écriture de requêtes (dysorthographie) ou de lecture de documents (dyslexie). En premier lieu un système de réécriture et d’interprétation des requêtes entrées au clavier par l’utilisateur est proposé : en s’appuyant sur les causes de la dysorthographie et sur les exemples à notre disposition, il est apparu qu’un système combinant une approche éditoriale (type correcteur orthographique) et une approche orale (système de transcription automatique) était plus approprié. En second lieu une méthode d’apprentissage automatique utilise des critères spécifiques , tels que la cohésion grapho-phonémique, pour estimer la lisibilité d’une phrase, puis d’un texte. ABSTRACT. Most applications intend to help disabled users in the information retrieval process by proposing non-textual modalities. This paper introduces specific parameters linked to phonological awareness in the textual modality. This will enhance the ability of systems to deal with orthographic issues and with the adaptation of results to the reader when for example the reader is dyslexic. We propose a phonology based sentence level rewriting system that combines spelling correction, speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition. This has been evaluated on a corpus of questions we get from dyslexic children. We propose a specific sentence readability measure that involves phonetic parameters such as grapho-phonemic cohesion. This has been learned on a corpus of reading time of sentences read by dyslexic children.

Street-level drug law enforcement : a meta-analytical review

Our paper presents the results of a meta-analytical review of street level drug law enforcement. We conducted a series of meta-analyses to compare and contrast the effectiveness of four types of drug law enforcement approaches, including community-wide policing, problem-oriented/ partnership approaches that were geographically focused, hotspots policing and standard, unfocused law enforcement efforts. We examined the relative impact of these different crime control tactics on streetlevel drug problems as well as associated problems such as property crime, disorder and violent crime. The results of the meta-analyses, together with examination of forest plots, reveal that problem-oriented policing and geographically-focused interventions involving cooperative partnerships between police and third parties tend to be more effective at controlling drug problems than community-wide policing efforts that are unfocused and spread out across a community. But geographically focused and community-wide drug law enforcement interventions that leverage partnerships are more effective at dealing with drug problems than traditional, law enforcement-only interventions. Our results suggest that the key to successful drug law enforcement lies in the capacity of the police to forge productive partnerships with third parties rather than simply increasing police presence or intervention (e.g., arrests) at drug hotspots.

Identity fraud and land registration systems : an Australian perspective

There is no doubt that fraud in relation to land transactions is a problem that resonates amongst land academics, practitioners, and stakeholders involved in conveyancing. As each land registration and conveyancing process increasingly moves towards a fully electronic environment, we need to make sure that we understand and guard against the frauds that can occur. What this paper does is examine the types of fraud that have occurred in paper-based conveyancing systems in Australia and considers how they might be undertaken in the National Electronic Conveyancing System (NECS) that is currently under development. Whilst no system can ever be infallible, it is suggested that by correctly imposing the responsibility for identity verification on the appropriate individual, the conveyancing system adopted can achieve the optimum level of fairness in terms of allocation of responsibility and loss. As we sit on the cusp of a new era of electronic conveyancing, the framework suggested here provides a model for minimising the risks of forged mortgages and appropriately allocating the loss. Importantly it also recognises that the electronic environment will see new opportunities for those with criminal intent to undermine the integrity of land transactions. An appreciation of this now, can see the appropriate measures put in place to minimise the risk.

Redesigning school spaces : creating possibilities for learning

This chapter reports on a project in which university researchers’ expertise in architecture, literacy and communications enabled two teachers in one school to expand the forms of literacy that primary school children engaged in. Starting from the school community’s concerns about an urban renewal project in their neighbourhood, participants collaborated to develop a curriculum of spatial literacies with real-world goals and outcomes. We describe how the creative re-design of curriculum and pedagogy by classroom teachers, in collaboration with university academics and students, allowed students aged 8 to 12 years to appropriate semiotic resources from their local neighbourhood, home communities, and popular culture to make a difference to their material surrounds. We argue that there are productive possibilities for educators who integrate critical and place-based approaches to the design and teaching of the literacy curriculum with work in other learning areas such as society and environment, technology and design and the arts. The student production of expansive and socially significant texts enabled by such approaches may be especially necessary in contemporary neoconservative policy contexts that tend to limit and constrain what is possible in schools.

Multiculturalism, education for sustainable development (ESD) and the shifting discursive landscape of social inclusion

Australia has a long and sometimes turbulent relationship with the migrant Other. This paper examines a component of this relationship via the window of contemporary multicultural policy. The paper begins with an analysis of the political and social conditions that enabled a national and bipartisan policy of multiculturalism to emerge as formalised federal policy during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The paper re-problematises the influences that helped shape Australia's articulation of race and ethnicity and argues that multiculturalism, within a post-September 11 environment, can no longer be framed solely within its traditional framework of social justice. The paper positions education for sustainable development (ESD) as an emerging discursive field that provides educators with an alternative road map for critiquing Australia's fluid relationship with the migrant Other. By linking the tenets of multiculturalism with ESD, this paper suggests pre-service teacher educators are presented with a productive, and at the same time politically palatable, means for regaining pedagogical traction for a semi-dormant agenda of social inclusion.

Psychoanalytic perspectives on substance use and antisocial personality disorder

Psychoanalysis and related psychodynamic psychotherapies have historically had a limited engagement with substance use and antisocial personality disorders. This in part reflects an early preoccupation with ‘transference neuroses’ and in part reflects later de-emphasis of diagnosis and focus on therapeutic process. Nonetheless, psychoanalytic perspectives can usefully inform thinking about approaches to treatment of such disorders and there are psychoanalytic constructs that have specific relevance to their treatment. This paper reviews some prominent strands of psychoanalytic thinking as they pertain to the treatment of substance abuse and antisocial personality disorders. It is argued that, while Freudian formulations lead to a primarily pessimistic view of the prospect of treatment of such disorders, both the British object relations and the North American self psychology traditions suggest potentially productive approaches. Finally the limited empirical evidence from brief psychodynamically informed treatments of substance use disorders is reviewed. It is concluded that such treatments are not demonstrably effective but that, since no form of psychotherapy has established high efficacy with substance use disorders, brief psychdynamic therapies are not necessarily of lesser value than other treatments and may have specific value for particular individuals and in particular treatment contexts.

The global division of labour and the division in global labour

Since the 1980s the locus of manufacturing and some services have moved to countries of the Global South. Liberalization of trade and investment has added two billion people to world labour supply and brought workers everywhere into intense competition with each other. Under orthodox neoliberal and neoclassical approaches free trade and open investment should benefit all countries and lead to convergence. However considerable differences in wages and working hours exist between workers of the Global North and those of the Global South. The organising question for the thesis is why workers in different countries but the same industries get different wages. Empirical evidence reviewed in the thesis shows that productivity does not explain these wage differences and that workers in some parts of the South are more productive than workers in the North. Part of the thesis examines the usefulness of explanations drawn from Marxist, institutionalist and global commodity chain approaches. There is a long established argument in Marxist and neo-Marxist writings that differences between North and South result from imperialism and the exercise of power. This is the starting point to review ways of understanding divisions between workers as the outcome of a global class structure. In turn, a fault line is postulated between productive and unproductive labour that largely replicates the division between the Global North and the Global South. Workers and their organizations need shared actions if they are to resist global competition and wage disparities. Solidarity has been the clarion of progressive movements from the Internationals of the early C19th through to the current Global Unions and International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICTU). The thesis examines how nationalism and particular interests have undermined solidarity and reviews the major implications for current efforts to establish and advance a global labour position.

Designing relational pedagogies with jam2jamXO

This paper examines the affordances of the philosophy and practice of open source and the application of it in developing music education software. In particular I will examine the parallels inherent in the ‘openness’ of pragmatist philosophy in education (Dewey 1916, 1989) such as group or collaborative learning, discovery learning (Bruner 1966) and learning through creative activity with computers (Papert 1980, 1994). Primarily I am interested in ‘relational pedagogies’ (Ruthmann and Dillon In Press) which is in a real sense about the ethics of the transaction between student and teacher in an ecology where technology plays a more significant role. In these contexts relational pedagogies refers to how the music teacher manages their relationships with students and evaluates the affordances of open source technology in that process. It is concerned directly with how the relationship between student and teacher is affected by the technological tools, as is the capacity for music making and learning. In particular technologies that have agency present the opportunity for a partnership between user and technology that enhances the capacity for expressive music making, productive social interaction and learning. In this instance technologies with agency are defined as ones that enhance the capacity to be expressive and perform tasks with virtuosity and complexity where the technology translates simple commands and gestures into complex outcomes. The technology enacts a partnership with the user that becomes both a cognitive and performative amplifier. Specifically we have used this term to describe interactions with generative technologies that use procedural invention as a creative technique to produce music and visual media.

The child, the text and the teacher : reading primers and reading instruction

From the late sixteenth century, in response to the problem of how best to teach children to read, a variety of texts such as primers, spellers and readers were produced in England for vernacular instruction. This paper describes how these materials were used by teachers to develop first, a specific religious understanding according to the stricture of the time and second, a moral reading practice that provided the child with a guide to secular conduct. The analysis focuses on the use of these texts as a productive means for shaping the child-reader in the context of newly emerging educational spaces which fostered a particular, morally formative relation among teacher, child and text.