Development of a passive MEG stimulus for measurement of the binaural masking level difference

The ability to hear a target signal over background noise is an important aspect of efficient hearing in everyday situations. This mechanism depends on binaural hearing whenever there are differences in the inter-aural timing of inputs from the noise and the signal. Impairments in binaural hearing may underlie some auditory processing disorders, for example temporal-lobe epilepsies. The binaural masking level difference (BMLD) measures the advantage in detecting a tone whose inter-aural phase differs from that of the masking noise. BMLD’s are typically estimated psychophysically, but this is challenging in children or those with cognitive impairments. The aim of this doctorate is to design a passive measure of BMLD using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and test this in adults, children and patients with different types of epilepsy. The stimulus consists of Gaussian background noise with 500-Hz tones presented binaurally either in-phase or 180° out-of-phase between the ears. Source modelling provides the N1m amplitude for the in-phase and out-of-phase tones, representing the extent of signal perception over background noise. The passive BMLD stimulus is successfully used as a measure of binaural hearing capabilities in participants who would otherwise be unable to undertake a psychophysical task.

Sales force social exchange in problem resolution situations

While sales managers spend much of their time resolving sales force-related problems, existing theory offers little insight into the social exchange processes which occur in problem resolution situations. Using a qualitative inquiry method rooted in grounded theory, we uncover three key social exchange contributions used by sales managers when dealing with problem situations in the sales force: sales manager responsiveness, caring, and aggressiveness. We then show that the extent to which managers use these exchange contributions in problem situations is a function of manager characteristics, problem-specific characteristics, and the situational context. We also show that the extent to which managers invest in these three social exchange contributions has implications for the quality for the interpersonal relationships between salespeople and their managers, and for the effectiveness of problem resolution activity.

Capturing strategy as an everyday practice:quantitative methodologies for analysing practice data

Few works address methodological issues of how to conduct strategy-as-practice research and even fewer focus on how to analyse the subsequent data in ways that illuminate strategy as an everyday, social practice. We address this gap by proposing a quantitative method for analysing observational data, which can complement more traditional qualitative methodologies. We propose that rigorous but context-sensitive coding of transcripts can render everyday practice analysable statistically. Such statistical analysis provides a means for analytically representing patterns and shifts within the mundane, repetitive elements through which practice is accomplished. We call this approach the Event Database (EDB) and it consists of five basic coding categories that help us capture the stream of practice. Indexing codes help to index or categorise the data, in order to give context and offer some basic information about the event under discussion. Indexing codes are descriptive codes, which allow us to catalogue and classify events according to their assigned characteristics. Content codes are to do with the qualitative nature of the event; this is the essence of the event. It is a description that helps to inform judgements about the phenomenon. Nature codes help us distinguish between discursive and tangible events. We include this code to acknowledge that some events differ qualitatively from other events. Type events are codes abstracted from the data in order to help us classify events based on their description or nature. This involves significantly more judgement than the index codes but consequently is also more meaningful. Dynamics codes help us capture some of the movement or fluidity of events. This category has been included to let us capture the flow of activity over time.

Assessing risk in dynamic situations:lessons from fire service operations

Fire Service personnel face risk on a daily basis, frequently working in extremely hazardous conditions—and the severity of the danger faced can fluctuate rapidly. The Fire Service has therefore become extremely experienced at managing dynamic risks. The aim of this article is to review techniques used in the UK fire service to attenuate the effects of risk and to discuss these with respect to organisations which experience dynamic risk in other fields—even if in less dramatic conditions.

Everyday use of Spanish among bilingual teachers in New York City and their attitudes toward the language

The attitudes that bilingual teachers have toward the use of foreign languages seem to have an effect on the success of bilingual education programs. In this study, our purpose is to shed light on how often bilingual teachers in New York City use Spanish in their everyday lives, and to examine their attitudes toward the use of Spanish in the U.S. Overall, results indicate only moderate frequencies of use of Spanish in everyday life among bilingual teachers. In addition, the study shows that bilingual teachers have a favorable attitude toward the use of Spanish in the U.S. However, bilingual teachers whose first language is English seem to have a more favorable attitude than those whose first language is Spanish. Among the native Spanish speakers, those born abroad show a more favorable attitude than those born in the U.S. Although no group seems to favor the use of lexical borrowings and code-switching, bilingual native Spanish-speaking teachers born in the U.S. seem to have a less favorable attitude than native Spanish-speaking teachers born abroad. In addition, native Spanish-speaking teachers born abroad seem to have a less favorable attitude toward lexical borrowings and code-switching than U.S.-born teachers whose first language is English. Recommendations for the training of bilingual teachers are discussed in the conclusions of the study.

Everyday tactics and spaces of power: the role of informal economies in post-Soviet Ukraine

Utilising de Certeau's concepts of daily life and his delineation between strategies and tactics as everyday practices this paper examines the role of informal economies in post-Ukraine. Based on 700 household surveys and seventy-five in-depth interviews, conducted in three Ukrainian cities, the paper argues that individuals/households have developed a wide range of tactics in response to the economic marginalisation the country has endured since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Firstly, the paper details the importance of informal economies in contemporary Ukraine while highlighting that many such practices are operated out of necessity due to low wage and pension rates and high levels of corruption. This challenges state-produced statistics on the scale of economic marginalisation currently experienced in the country. By exploring a variety of these tactics the paper then examines how unequal power relations shape the spaces in which these practices operate in and how they can be simultaneously sites of exploitation and resistance to economic marginalisation. The paper concludes pessimistically by suggesting that the way in which these economic spaces are shaped precludes the development of state policies which might benefit the economically marginalised.

The effect of age, gender and driver status on pedestrians' intentions to cross the road in risky situations

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has been used successfully in the past to account for pedestrians' intentions to cross the road in risky situations. However, accident statistics show age and gender differences in the likelihood of adult pedestrian accidents. This study extends earlier work by examining the relative importance of the model components as predictors of intention to cross for four different adult age groups, men, women, drivers and nondrivers. The groups did not differ in the extent to which they differentiated between two situations of varying perceived risk. The model fit was good, but accounted for less of the variance in intention for the youngest group (17-24) than for other age groups. Differences between the age groups in intention to cross seemed to be due to differences in perceived value of crossing rather than differences in perceived risk. Women were less likely to intend to cross than men and perceived more risk, and there were important age, gender and driver status differences in the importance of the TPB variables as predictors of intention. A key implication of these findings is that road safety interventions need to be designed differently for different groups. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mundane heterosexism: understanding incidents of the everyday

In this article, discourse analysis, combined with lesbian feminist politics, are used to explore subtle forms of heterosexism in language, a social phenomenon that I have termed "mundane heterosexism," because of its everyday nature. Drawing on feminist understandings of subtle sexism and discursive psychology I analyse three forms of mundane heterosexism derived from (predominantly) tape-recorded antiheterosexism training session data: (1) prejudice against the heterosexual, (2) nonheterosexuality as a deficit and (3) refusing diversity. Two levels for challenging mundane heterosexism are discussed. interactional counterarguments, and broader societal campaigns. I conclude by advocating the necessity of further detailed analyses of the construction of mundane heterosexism, and stress the importance of heterosexism for feminist research. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

'An understanding of consumers' everyday shopping practices as a form and expression of cultural resistance

CD

Capturing strategy as an everyday practice:quantitative methodologies for analysing practice data

Few works address methodological issues of how to conduct strategy-as-practice research and even fewer focus on how to analyse the subsequent data in ways that illuminate strategy as an everyday, social practice. We address this gap by proposing a quantitative method for analysing observational data, which can complement more traditional qualitative methodologies. We propose that rigorous but context-sensitive coding of transcripts can render everyday practice analysable statistically. Such statistical analysis provides a means for analytically representing patterns and shifts within the mundane, repetitive elements through which practice is accomplished. We call this approach the Event Database (EDB) and it consists of five basic coding categories that help us capture the stream of practice. Indexing codes help to index or categorise the data, in order to give context and offer some basic information about the event under discussion. Indexing codes are descriptive codes, which allow us to catalogue and classify events according to their assigned characteristics. Content codes are to do with the qualitative nature of the event; this is the essence of the event. It is a description that helps to inform judgements about the phenomenon. Nature codes help us distinguish between discursive and tangible events. We include this code to acknowledge that some events differ qualitatively from other events. Type events are codes abstracted from the data in order to help us classify events based on their description or nature. This involves significantly more judgement than the index codes but consequently is also more meaningful. Dynamics codes help us capture some of the movement or fluidity of events. This category has been included to let us capture the flow of activity over time.

Unofficial truths and everyday insights:understanding voice in visual research with the children of accra's urban poor

This article draws upon the use of photography to research the lives of children living in Accra, Ghana. Its aim is to consider method in visual research, and to reflect upon those modes of explanation and understanding that any consideration of method must require. It suggests a role for photography as a 'vector', as something capable of connecting our knowledge and understanding of the everyday with the everyday experiences and reality of others. Drawing upon the photographs and spoken testimonies of children who live and work on the street, and of children who live in a large informal settlement, the article advances an intimate connection between photography and knowledge of the everyday reality of children's lives, most evident in the capacity of children's photographs to surprise and highlight the fallibility of our understandings. © 2010 International Visual Sociology Association.

Cosmopolitans and 'cliques':everyday socialisation amongst Tamil student and young professional migrants to the UK

Among student and young professional migrants to the UK the opportunity for a global or cosmopolitan experience emerges as a motivating factor for migration. This article takes the example of student and young professional migrants to the UK from the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and explores how this cosmopolitan ambition plays out in the formation of UK social networks. Two 'types' of research participant are identified; 'self-conscious cosmopolitans' whose social networks are cross-ethnic, and others whose networks are largely co-ethnic and who are often derided by their self-consciously cosmopolitan counterparts as 'clannish' or 'cliquey'. The article asks how ethnicity emerges as salient (or not) in these migrants' talk and practice around UK social network formations. It then considers whether a co-ethnic social network necessarily limits the cosmopolitan experience, or whether this interpretation reflects a narrow understanding of cosmopolitanism which excludes the multiple inter-cultural encounters these migrants experience in their everyday lives. © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Everyday ethnicity in Sri Lanka:up-country Tamil identity politics

Everyday ethnicity in Sri Lanka: up-country Tamil identity politics, by Daniel Bass, Abingdon, Routledge, 2012, 248 pp., ISBN 978-0-451-52624-1

The blurring boundaries between synchronicity and asynchronicity:new communicative situations in work-related Instant Messaging

Instant messaging is one of the most popular communication technologies in virtual teams, enabling interactions to intertwine whole working days, thus creating the sense of copresence for team members who are geographically dispersed. Through close linguistic analyses of naturally occurring data from a virtual team, this article discusses the implications of two novel communicative situations enabled by instant messaging: presence information and the persistence of transcript. The preliminary findings of this study indicate that these new communicative situations require the flouting or rethinking of previously existing interactional norms and that communicative practices employed by the team members are not yet conventionalized/normalized, the expectations and interpretations of interactional rituals and timing vary highly, even within the same virtual team.