The Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa act: Patent law and humanitarian aid

This article evaluates the implementation of the WTO General Council Decision in 2003, which resolved that developed nations could export patented pharmaceutical drugs to member states in order to address public health issues - such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics. The Jean Chretien Pledge to Africa Act 2004 (Canada) provides authorisation for the export of pharmaceutical drugs from Canada to developing countries to address public health epidemics. The European Union has issued draft regulations governing the export of pharmaceutical drugs. A number of European countries - including Norway, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland - are seeking to pass domestic legislation to give force to the WTO General Council Decision. Australia has shown little initiative in seeking to implement such international agreements dealing with access to essential medicines. It is argued that Australia should implement humanitarian legislation to embody the WTO General Council Decision, emulating models in Canada, Norway, and the European Union. Ideally, there should be no right of first refusal; the list of pharmaceutical drugs should be open-ended; and the eligible importing countries should not be limited to members of the WTO.

Identifying mentors’ observations for providing feedback

Mentors’ feedback can assist preservice teachers’ development; yet feedback tends to be variable from one mentor to the next. What do mentors observe for providing feedback? In this study, 24 mentors observed a final-year preservice teacher through a professionally video-recorded lesson and provided written notes for feedback. They observed the lesson for a second time and focused their feedback on the preservice teacher’s questioning only. Findings showed that the mentors’ written feedback varied considerably when open-ended observations occurred. However, there were fewer items when they focused on one teaching practice (i.e., questioning), which also provided a deeper analysis of this specific practice. Research is required around the dimensions of observations (i.e., visual, auditory, and conceptual), observations of specific practices, and methodological approaches for observing and collecting data about a preservice teacher’s practice.

Time, place and space – student group collaboration using Google Drive

Virtual working environments are intrinsic to the contemporary workplace and collaborative skills are a vital graduate capability. To develop students’ collaborative skills, first year medical laboratory science students undertake a group poster project, based on a blended learning model. Learning is scaffolded in lectures, workshops in collaborative learning spaces, practitioner mentoring sessions, and online resources. Google Drive provides an online collaborative space for students to realise tangible outcomes from this learning. A Google Drive document is created for each group and shared with members. In this space, students assign tasks and plan workflow, share research, progressively develop poster content, reflect and comment on peer contributions and use the messaging functions to ‘talk’ to group members. This provides a readily accessible, transparent record of group work, crucial in peer assessment, and a communication channel for group members and the lecturer, who can support groups if required. This knowledge creation space also augments productivity and effectiveness of face-to-face collaboration. As members are randomly allocated to groups and are often of diverse backgrounds and unknown to each other, resilience is built as students navigate the uncertainties and complexities of group dynamics, learning to focus on the goal of the team task as they constructively and professionally engage in team dialogue. Students are responsible and accountable for individual and group work. The use of Google Drive was evaluated in a survey including Likert scale and open ended qualitative questions. Statistical analysis was carried out. Results show students (79%) valued the inclusion of online space in collaborative work and highly appreciated (78%) the flexibility provided by Google Drive, while recognising the need for improved notification functionality. Teaching staff recognised the advantages in monitoring and moderating collaborative group work, and the transformational progression in student collaborative as well as technological skill acquisition, including professional dialogue.

The thrill of victory: Women and sport shopping

This study explores a new shopper type, ‘Sport Shoppers’, who are unique in their actions, attitudes and behaviors. We present evidence that these shoppers exhibit behavior similar to that of competitive athletes in that they view bargain shopping as an achievement domain. Data were collected through open-ended surveys, in-depth interviews and closet inventories. Thematic analysis of transcripts was undertaken based on three achievement goal categories; task-oriented, ego-oriented and social approval-oriented. Achievement goal theory is employed to offer an explanation of the Sport Shoppers’ behaviors and motivations. We argue the Sport Shopper is an economically viable and important shopper for fashion retailers to target.

Indonesian library and information science professionals’ understanding of Library 2.0: A pilot study

The literature around Library 2.0 remains largely theoretical with few empirical studies and is particularly limited in developing countries such as Indonesia. This study addresses this gap and aims to provide information about the current state of knowledge on Indonesian LIS professionals’ understanding of Library 2.0. The researchers used qualitative and quantitative approaches for this study, asking thirteen closed- and open-ended questions in an online survey. The researchers used descriptive and in vivo coding to analyze the responses. Through their analysis, they identified three themes: technology, interactivity, and awareness of Library 2.0. Respondents demonstrated awareness of Library 2.0 and a basic understanding of the roles of interactivity and technology in libraries. However, overreliance on technology used in libraries to conceptualize Library 2.0 without an emphasis on its core characteristics and principles could lead to the misalignment of limited resources. The study results will potentially strengthen the research base for Library 2.0 practice as well as inform LIS curriculum in Indonesia so as to develop practitioners who are able to adapt to users’ changing needs and expectations. It is expected that the preliminary data from this study could be used to design a much larger and more complex future research project in this area.

A qualitative study of the spouse's experience following coronary artery bypass surgery: Implications for Nursing Practice

Findings from numerous quantitative studies suggest that spouses of patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass (CAB) surgery experience both physical and emotional stress before and after their partner's surgery. Such studies have contributed to our understanding of the spouses' experiences, however they have largely failed to capture the qualitative experience of what it is like to be a spouse of a partner who has undergone CAB surgery. The objective of this study was to describe the experience of spouses of patients who had recently undergone CAB surgery. This study was guided by Husserl's phenomenological approach to qualitative research. In accordance with the nature of phenomenological research the number of participants necessarily needs to be small because phenomenology values the unique experience of individuals. Therefore this study gathered data from four participants utilising open ended indepth interviews. The method of analysis was adapted from Amedeo Giorgi's five step empirical phenomenological process which brackets preconceived notions, reducing participants' accounts to the essential essence or meanings. Numerous themes common to each of the spouses emerged. These included: seeking information; the necessity for rapid decision making; playing guardian; a desire to debrief with their partner and lastly, uncertainty of their future role. This study has attempted to understand the phenomena of the spouse's experience and in doing so, believe that we now have a better understanding and insight into the needs of spouses of CAB surgery patients. This has added another dimension to our existing body of knowledge and further facilitates holistic patient care.

Acute myocardial infarction: The spouse's experience

Given the marked changes in length of hospital stay and the number of CAB procedures being performed, it is essential that health professionals are aware of the potential impact these changes could have on the spouses of patients who have undergone CAB surgery. Results from numerous quantitative studies suggest that spouses of patients undergoing CAB surgery experience both physical and emotional stress before and after their partners surgery. While such studies have contributed to our understanding, they fail to capture the qualitative experience of what it is like to be a spouse of a partner who has undergone CAB surgery, specifically in the context of changes in the length of hospital stay. The objective of this study was to describe the experience of spouses of patients who had recently undergone CAB surgery. This study utilised a qualitative methodology and was guided by Husserl's phenomenological approach. Data was obtained from four participants by in depth open ended interviews. This study has implications for all health professionals involved in the care of patients and their families undergoing CAB surgery. If health professionals are to provide holistic care, they need to understand more fully the qualitative experience of spouses of critically ill patients. The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of spouses whose partner's had suffered an acute myocardial infarction (MI). The study was guided by a phenomenological approach. This qualitative type of study is new to nursing inquiry, therefore this investigation creates links with understanding the notion of psychosocial nursing processes with the leading cause of death in Australia. Literature concerning the spouses of myocardial infarction patients has predominantly employed quantitative methods, as such results have centred on structured data collection, and categorised outcomes. Such methods have failed to capture the insight of what it is like to be a spouse of a patient who has had an MI. In-depth interviews were conducted with three participants (2 females and 1 male) about their experiences. The major findings of the study were categorised under the headings of uncertainty, emotional turmoil, support information and lifestyle change. Conclusions suggest that spouses are neglected by health professionals and they require as much psychosocial support as their partner in terms of cardiac discharge planning. Spouses need to be granted special consideration, as they progress through a grieving and readjustment process in coming to terms with: (1) the need to support and care for their partner, (2) changes in their roles and (3) adjustments to their current lifestyles.

What parents want: Parent preference regarding sleep for their preschool child when attending Early Care and Education

Background While most children cease napping between the ages of 2 and 5 years, across a range of international settings the allocation of a mandatory naptime is a common feature of the daily routine in Early Care and Education (ECE) programs for children of this age. Evidence regarding the developmental effects of napping is limited but, beyond age 2, is consistently associated with delayed night sleep onset and increased number of awakenings. Objectives The present study examined parent preferences towards napping in ECE. Methods Participants were 750 parents of preschool-aged children attending a representative sample of Australian ECE programs across metropolitan, regional and rural sites in 2011. We analysed quantitative and open-ended questionnaire data from a large, longitudinal study of the effectiveness of Australian early education programs (E4Kids). Statistical analyses examined prevalence of parent preference for sleep and demographic correlates. Thematic analyses were employed to identify parents' rationale for this preference. Results The majority of parents (78.7%) preferred that their children did not regularly sleep while attending ECE. The dominant explanation provided by parents was that regular naps were no longer appropriate and adversely impacted their children's health and development. Parents of younger children were more likely to support regular naps. Conclusions The results highlight a disjuncture between parent preferences and current sleep policy and practices in ECE. Further research is needed to establish evidence-based guidelines to support healthy sleep-rest practices in ECE. Such evidence will guide appropriate practice and support parent-educator communication regarding sleep and rest.

Shooting from the Wild Zone : A Study of the Chicana Art Photographers Laura Aguilar, Celia Álvarez Muñoz, Delilah Montoya, and Kathy Vargas

The dissertation analyzes and elaborates upon the changing map of U.S. ethno-racial formation from the vantage point of North American Studies, multi-disciplinary cultural studies, and the criticism of visual culture. The focus is on four contemporary Mexican American (Chicana) women photographers, whose art production is discussed, on the one hand, in the context of the Euro-American history of photographic genres and, on the other hand, in the context of so-called decolonizing cultural and academic discourses produced by Mexican Americans themselves. The manuscript consists of two parts. Part I outlines the theoretical and methodological domain of the study, positioning it in the interstices of American studies, European postmodern criticism, postcolonial feminist theory, and the theories of visual culture, particularly of art photography. In addition, the main issues and paradigms of Chicano Studies (Mexican American ethnic studies) are introduced. Part II consists of seven essays, each of which discusses rather independently a particular photographic work or a series of photographs, formulating and defending arguments about their meaning, position in the history of photographic genres, and their cultural and socio-political significance. The study closes with a discussion about ethno-racial identity formation and the role of Chicana photography therein - in embodying and reproducing new subjectivities, alternative categories of knowledge, and open ended historical narratives. It is argued that, symbolically, the "Wild Zone" of gendered and race-specific knowledge becomes associated with the body of the mother, a recurrent image in Chicana art works under discussion. Embedded in this image, the construction of an alternative notion of a family thus articulates the parameters of a matrifocal ethno-racial community unified by the proliferation of differences rather than by conformities typical of nationalistic ideologies. While focusing on art photography, the study as a whole simultaneously constructs, from a European vantage point, a "thick" description of Mexican American history, identities, communities, cultural practices, and self-representations about which very little is known in Finland.

Turning the Kaleidoscope - (E)FL Educational Experience and Inquiry as Auto/biography

This book is a study on learning, teaching/counselling, and research on the two. My quest has been to find a pedagogically-motivated way of researching learning and teaching interaction, and in particular counselling, in an autonomous language-learning environment. I have tried to develop a method that would make room for lived experience, meaning-making and narrating, because in my view these all characterise learning encounters between language learners and counsellors, and learners and their peers. Lived experience as a source of meaning, telling and co-telling becomes especially significant when we try to listen to the diverse personal and academic voices of the past as expressed in autobiographical narratives. I have aimed at researching various ALMS dialogues (Autonomous Learning Modules, University of Helsinki Language Centre English course and programme), and autobiographical narratives within them, in a way that shows respect for the participants, and that is relevant, reflective and, most importantly, self-reflexive. My interest has been in autobiographical telling in (E)FL [(English as a) foreign language], both in students first-person written texts on their language- learning histories and in the sharing of stories between learners and a counsellor. I have turned to narrative inquiry in my quest and have written the thesis as an experiential narrative. In particular, I have studied learners and counsellors in one and the same story, as characters in one narrative, in an attempt to avoid the impression that I am telling yet another separate, anecdotal story, retrospectively. Through narrative, I have shed light on the subjective dimensions of language learning and experience, and have come closer to understanding the emotional aspects of learning encounters. I have questioned and rejected a distanced and objective approach to describing learning and teaching/counselling. I have argued for a holistic and experiential approach to (E)FL encounters in which there is a need to see emotion and cognition as intertwined, and thus to appreciate learners and counsellors emotionally-charged experiences as integral to their identities. I have also argued for a way of describing such encounters as they are situated in history, time, autobiography, and the learning context. I have turned my gaze on various constellations of lived experience: the data was collected on various occasions and in various settings during one course and consists of videotaped group sessions, individual counselling sessions between students and their group counsellor, biographic narrative interviews with myself, open-ended personally-inspired reflection texts written by the students about their language-learning histories, and student logs and diaries. I do not consider data collection an unproblematic occasion, or innocent practice, and I defend the integrity of the research process. Research writing cannot be separated from narrative field work and analysing and interpreting the data. The foci in my work have turned to be the following: 1) describing ALMS encounters and specifying their narrative aspects; 2) reconceptualising learner and teacher autonomy in ALMS and in (E)FL; 2) developing (E)FL methodologically through a teacher-researcher s identity work; 4) research writing as a dialogical narrative process, and the thesis as an experiential narrative. Identity and writing as inquiry, and the deeply narrative and autobiographical nature of the (E)FL teaching/counselling/researching have come to the fore in this research. Research writing as a relational activity and its implications for situated ways of knowing and knowledge turned out to be important foci. I have also focussed on the context-bound and local teacher knowledge and ways of knowing about being a teacher, and I have argued for personal ways of knowing about, and learning and studying foreign languages. I discuss research as auto/biography: as a practising counsellor I use my own life and (E)FL experience to understand and interpret the stories of the research participants even though I was not involved in their course work. The supposedly static binaries of learner/teacher, and also learner autonomy/teacher autonomy, are thus brought into the discussion. I have highlighted the infinite variability and ever-changing nature of learning and teaching English, but the book is also of relevance to foreign language education in general.

Counter-figures : An Essay on Antimetaphoric Resistance: Paul Celan's Poetry and Poetics at the Limits of Figurality

Titled "An Essay on Antimetaphoric Resistance", the dissertation investigates what is here being called "Counter-figures": a term which has in this context a certain variety of applications. Any other-than-image or other-than-figure, anything that cannot be exhausted by figuration (and that is, more or less, anything at all, except perhaps the reproducible images and figures themselves) can be considered "counter-figurative" with regard to the formation of images and figures, ideas and schemas, "any graven image, or any likeness of any thing". Singularity and radical alterity, as well as temporality and its peculiar mode of uniqueness are key issues here, and an ethical dimension is implied by, or intertwined with, the aesthetic. In terms borrowed from Paul Celan's "Meridian" speech, poetry may "allow the most idiosyncratic quality of the Other, its time, to participate in the dialogue". This connection between singularity, alterity and temporality is one of the reasons why Celan so strongly objects to the application of the traditional concept of metaphor to poetry. As Celan says, "carrying over [übertragen]" by metaphor may imply an unwillingness to "bear with [mittragen]" and to "endure [ertragen]" the poem. The thesis is divided into two main parts. The first consists of five distinct prolegomena which all address the mentioned variety of applications of the term "counter-figures", and especially the rejection or critique of either metaphor (by Aristotle, for instance) or the concept of metaphor (defined by Aristotle, and sometimes deemed "anti-poetic" by both theorists and poets). Even if we restrict ourselves to the traditional rhetorico-poetical terms, we may see how, for instance, metonymy can be a counter-figure for metaphor, allegory for symbol, and irony for any single trope or for any piece of discourse at all. The limits of figurality may indeed be located at these points of intersection between different types of tropes or figures, and even between figures or tropes and the "non-figurative trope" or "pseudo-figure" called catachresis. The second part, following on from the open-ended prolegomena, concentrates on Paul Celan's poetry and poetics. According to Celan, true poetry is "essentially anti-metaphoric". I argue that inasmuch as we are willing to pay attention to the "will" of the poetic images themselves (the tropes and metaphors in a poem) to be "carried ad absurdum", as Celan invites us to do, we may find alternative ways of reading poetry and approaching its "secret of the encounter", precisely when the traditional rhetorical instruments, and especially the notion of metaphor, become inapplicable or suspicious — and even where they still seem to impose themselves.

Exploring the experiences and conceptions of good teaching in higher education : Development of a questionnaire for assessing students' approaches to learning and experiences of the teaching-learning environment

The aim of this dissertation was to adapt a questionnaire for assessing students’ approaches to learning and their experiences of the teaching-learning environment. The aim was to explore the validity of the modified Experiences of Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ) by examining how the instruments measure the underlying dimensions of student experiences and their learning. The focus was on the relation between students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment and their approaches to learning. Moreover, the relation between students’ experiences and students’ and teachers’ conceptions of good teaching was examined. In Study I the focus was on the use of the ETLQ in two different contexts: Finnish and British. The study aimed to explore the similarities and differences between the factor structures that emerged from both data sets. The results showed that the factor structures concerning students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment and their approaches to learning were highly similar in the two contexts. Study I also examined how students’ experiences of the teaching-learning environment are related to their approaches to learning in the two contexts. The results showed that students’ positive experiences of their teaching-learning environment were positively related to their deep approach to learning and negatively to the surface approach to learning in both the Finnish and British data sets. This result was replicated in Study II, which examined the relation between approaches to learning and experiences of the teaching-learning environment on a group level. Furthermore, Study II aimed to explore students’ approaches to learning and their experiences of the teaching-learning environment in different disciplines. The results showed that the deep approach to learning was more common in the soft sciences than in the hard sciences. In Study III, students’ conceptions of good teaching were explored by using qualitative methods, more precisely, by open-ended questions. The aim was to examine students’ conceptions, disciplinary differences and their relation to students’ approaches to learning. The focus was on three disciplines, which differed in terms of students’ experiences of their teaching-learning environment. The results showed that students’ conceptions of good teaching were in line with the theory of good teaching and there were disciplinary differences in their conceptions. Study IV examined university teachers’ conceptions of good teaching, which corresponded to the learning-focused approach to teaching. Furthermore, another aim in this doctoral dissertation was to compare the students’ and teachers’ conceptions of good teaching, the results of which showed that these conceptions appear to have similarities. The four studies indicated that the ETLQ appears to be a sufficiently robust measurement instrument in different contexts. Moreover, its strength is its ability to be at the same time a valid research instrument and a practical tool for enhancing the quality of students’ learning. In addition, the four studies emphasise that in order to enhance teaching and learning in higher education, various perspectives have to be taken into account. This study sheds light on the interaction between students’ approaches to learning, their conceptions of good teaching, their experiences of the teaching-learning environment, and finally, the disciplinary culture.

Lionhearts of the Playworld : An ethnographic case study of the development of agency in play pedagogy

This is an ethnographic case study of the creation and emergence of a playworld – a pedagogical approach aimed at promoting children’s development and learning in early education settings through the use of play and drama. The data was collected in a Finnish experimental mixed-age elementary school classroom in the school year 2003-2004. In the playworld students and teachers explore different social and cultural phenomena through taking on the roles of characters from a story or a piece of literature and acting inside the frames of an improvised plot. The thesis takes under scrutiny the notion of agency in education. It produces theoretically grounded empirical knowledge of the ways in which children struggle to become recognized and agentive actors in early education settings and how their agency develops in their interaction with adults. The study builds on the activity theoretical and sociocultural tradition and develops a methodological framework called video-based narrative interaction analysis for studying student agency as developing over time but manifesting through the situational material and discursive local interactions. The research questions are: 1. What are the children’s ways of enacting their agency in the playworld? 2. How do the children’s agentive actions change and develop over the spring? 3. What are the potentials and challenges of the playworld for promoting student agency? 4. How do the teachers and the children deal with the contradiction between control and agency in the playworld? The study consists of a summary part and four empirical articles which each have a particular viewpoint. Articles I and II deal with individual students’ paths to agency. In Article I the focus is on the role of resistance and questioning in enabling important spaces for agency. Article II takes a critical gender perspective and analyzes how two girls struggled towards recognition in the playworld. It also illuminates the role of imagination in developing a sense of agency. Article III examines how the open-ended and improvisational nature of the playworld interaction provided experiences and a sense of ‘shared agency’ for the students and teachers in the class. Article IV turns the focus on the teachers and analyzes how their role actions in the playworld helped the children to enact agency. It also discusses the challenges that the teachers faced in this work and asks what makes the playworld activity sustainable in the class. The summary part provides a critical literature review on the concept of agency and argues that the inherently contradictory nature of the phenomenon of agency has not been sufficiently theorized. The summary part also locates the playworld intervention in a historical frame by discussing the changing conceptions of adulthood and childhood in the West. By focusing on the changing role of play and art in both adults’ and children’s contemporary lives, the thesis opens up an important but often neglected perspective on the problem of promoting student agency in education. The results illustrate how engaging in a collectively imagined and dramatized pretend play space together with the children enabled the teachers to momentarily put aside their “knower” positions in the classroom. The fictive roles and the narrative plot helped them to create a necessary incompleteness and open-endedness in the activity that stimulated the children’s initiatives. This meant that the children too could momentarily step out of their traditional classroom positions as pupils and initiate action to further the collective play. Engaging in this kind of unconventional activity and taking up and enacting agency was, however, very challenging for the participating children and teachers. It often contradicted the need to sustain control and order in the classroom. The study concludes that play- and drama-based pedagogies offer a unique but undeveloped potential for developing educational spaces that help teachers and children deal with the often contradictory requirements of schooling.

Finnish seniors’ move to a senior house: Examining the push and pull factors

The purpose of this article is to explore the factors influencing residential decisions of Finnish seniors. Analysis draws on qualitative data gathered from in-depth interviews and open-ended survey questions completed by 37 seniors living in three independent living facilities in Finland. Content analysis was used to identify key factors pushing residents out of their former living situations and pulling them into their respective independent living facility. Analysis indicates that different senior houses attract different types of residents. Nevertheless, as a group, they reported similar motivational factors relating to community, physical, and social environments and to their personal circumstances.

Mikä jatko-opiskelijaa motivoi? Tavoitteet ja tiedeyhteisö väitöskirjaprosessissa.

Motivation has an important role in academic learning for learning is regulated by motivation. Further motivation is centrally manifested by goals. Goals reflect values and regulate individual s orientation and what they strive for. In spite of the central role of motivation in academic learning, discussions on post-graduate education has somewhat overlooked motivational processes and concentrated on the excellence of performance. The aim of this study was to investigate what kind of goals PhD students have and how they experience their role in their own scientific community. It was also purpose to study how these goals and experienced roles are in relation with study each other, context, possible intentions of quitting studies and prolongation of studies. Furthermore, the aim was to investigate how different postgraduates differ in terms of how they experience their learning environment. The data was collected with the From PhD students to academic experts survey (Pyhältö & Lonka, 2006) from four complementary domains: medicine, arts, psychology and education. The survey consisted of both likert-scaled items and open ended questions. The participants were 601 postgraduate students. The goals and the experienced role in scientific community were analysed in terms of qualitative content analysis. The relation between goals and experienced role and background variables were tested using ?² and the differences between different postgraduate groups using one way analysis of variances (ANOVA). The results indicated that postgraduates goals varied based on whether they brought up goals related to the product (outcome of the thesis process), the process (thesis process as whole) or both the product and the process. Product goals consisted of for example career qualification and better status as process goals consisted for example of learning and influencing ones own discipline. The experienced role of the postgraduates differed in terms of whether the conception was organised, unorganised or controversial. Both the goals and the experienced roles were in relation with study context and commitment to the studies. The different postgraduate groups also differed in terms of how they experienced their own learning environment.