TAKING THE PERSPECTIVE OF A SELLER AND A BUYER: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRICE ELICITATION AND PRICE FRAMING

This dissertation consists of two essays which investigate how assuming the role of a seller or a buyer affects valuations in a price elicitation task (essay I) and how different presentations of an equivalent price affect evaluations when a consumer plays the dual roles of a buyer and a seller in transactions involving trade-ins (essay II). Sellers’ willingness to accept (WTA) to give up a good is typically higher than buyers' willingness to pay (WTP) to obtain the good. Essay I proposes that valuation processes of sellers and buyers are guided by a motivational orientation of “getting the best.” For a seller (buyer) indicating WTA (WTP), getting the best implies receiving as much as possible to give up a specific good (giving up as little as possible to get the specific good). Results of six studies suggest that the WTA-WTP elicitation task activates different directional goals, leading to the WTA-WTP disparity. The different directional goals lead sellers and buyers to focus on different aspects and bias their cognitive reasoning and interpretation of information. By connecting the valuation process to the general motivation of getting the best, this research provides a unifying framework to explain the disparate interpretations of the WTA-WTP disparity. Many new purchases and replacement decisions involve consumers’ trading in their old products. In such transactions, the overall exchange may be priced either as separate transactions (partitioned) with price tags for the payment and the receipt or as a single net price (consolidated) which takes into account the value of the trade-in. Essay II examines whether consumers prefer a partitioned price versus a consolidated price presentation. The findings suggest that when consumers are trading in a product which has a low value relative to the price of a new product, they prefer a consolidated price. In contrast, when trading in a product which has high value, they prefer a partitioned price. The results suggest that consumers use the price of the new product as an anchor to evaluate the trade-in value, and the perception of the trade-in value influences the overall evaluation especially when the transaction is partitioned.

Microfluidics-based single-cell functional proteomics microchip for portraying protein signal transduction networks within the framework of physicochemical principles, with applications in fundamental and translational cancer research

Single-cell functional proteomics assays can connect genomic information to biological function through quantitative and multiplex protein measurements. Tools for single-cell proteomics have developed rapidly over the past 5 years and are providing unique opportunities. This thesis describes an emerging microfluidics-based toolkit for single cell functional proteomics, focusing on the development of the single cell barcode chips (SCBCs) with applications in fundamental and translational cancer research.

The microchip designed to simultaneously quantify a panel of secreted, cytoplasmic and membrane proteins from single cells will be discussed at the beginning, which is the prototype for subsequent proteomic microchips with more sophisticated design in preclinical cancer research or clinical applications. The SCBCs are a highly versatile and information rich tool for single-cell functional proteomics. They are based upon isolating individual cells, or defined number of cells, within microchambers, each of which is equipped with a large antibody microarray (the barcode), with between a few hundred to ten thousand microchambers included within a single microchip. Functional proteomics assays at single-cell resolution yield unique pieces of information that significantly shape the way of thinking on cancer research. An in-depth discussion about analysis and interpretation of the unique information such as functional protein fluctuations and protein-protein correlative interactions will follow.

The SCBC is a powerful tool to resolve the functional heterogeneity of cancer cells. It has the capacity to extract a comprehensive picture of the signal transduction network from single tumor cells and thus provides insight into the effect of targeted therapies on protein signaling networks. We will demonstrate this point through applying the SCBCs to investigate three isogenic cell lines of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

The cancer cell population is highly heterogeneous with high-amplitude fluctuation at the single cell level, which in turn grants the robustness of the entire population. The concept that a stable population existing in the presence of random fluctuations is reminiscent of many physical systems that are successfully understood using statistical physics. Thus, tools derived from that field can probably be applied to using fluctuations to determine the nature of signaling networks. In the second part of the thesis, we will focus on such a case to use thermodynamics-motivated principles to understand cancer cell hypoxia, where single cell proteomics assays coupled with a quantitative version of Le Chatelier's principle derived from statistical mechanics yield detailed and surprising predictions, which were found to be correct in both cell line and primary tumor model.

The third part of the thesis demonstrates the application of this technology in the preclinical cancer research to study the GBM cancer cell resistance to molecular targeted therapy. Physical approaches to anticipate therapy resistance and to identify effective therapy combinations will be discussed in detail. Our approach is based upon elucidating the signaling coordination within the phosphoprotein signaling pathways that are hyperactivated in human GBMs, and interrogating how that coordination responds to the perturbation of targeted inhibitor. Strongly coupled protein-protein interactions constitute most signaling cascades. A physical analogy of such a system is the strongly coupled atom-atom interactions in a crystal lattice. Similar to decomposing the atomic interactions into a series of independent normal vibrational modes, a simplified picture of signaling network coordination can also be achieved by diagonalizing protein-protein correlation or covariance matrices to decompose the pairwise correlative interactions into a set of distinct linear combinations of signaling proteins (i.e. independent signaling modes). By doing so, two independent signaling modes – one associated with mTOR signaling and a second associated with ERK/Src signaling have been resolved, which in turn allow us to anticipate resistance, and to design combination therapies that are effective, as well as identify those therapies and therapy combinations that will be ineffective. We validated our predictions in mouse tumor models and all predictions were borne out.

In the last part, some preliminary results about the clinical translation of single-cell proteomics chips will be presented. The successful demonstration of our work on human-derived xenografts provides the rationale to extend our current work into the clinic. It will enable us to interrogate GBM tumor samples in a way that could potentially yield a straightforward, rapid interpretation so that we can give therapeutic guidance to the attending physicians within a clinical relevant time scale. The technical challenges of the clinical translation will be presented and our solutions to address the challenges will be discussed as well. A clinical case study will then follow, where some preliminary data collected from a pediatric GBM patient bearing an EGFR amplified tumor will be presented to demonstrate the general protocol and the workflow of the proposed clinical studies.

Thematic patterning in English and Spanish: contrastive annotation of a bilingual newspaper corpus for liguistic and computational applications

Thematization is recognized as a fundamental phenomenon in the construction of messages and texts by di erent linguistic schools. This location within a text privileges the elements that guide the reader in the orientation and interpretation of discourse at di erent levels. Thematizing a linguistic unit by locating it in the rst-initial position of a clause, paragraph, or text, confers upon it a special status: a signal of the organizational strategy which characterizes di erent text types playing a role as a variable in the distinction of registers, text types and genres. However, in spite of the importance of the study of thematization for message and textual structuring, to date there are no linguistic studies that have undertook the task of validating its aspects in a comparative manner, either for linguistic or computational purposes. This study, therefore, lls a research gap by implementing a methodology based on contrastive corpus annotation, which allows to empirically validate aspects of the phenomenon of Thematization in English and Spanish, it also seeks to develop a bilingual English-Spanish comparable corpus of newspaper texts automatically annotated with thematic features at clausal and discourse levels. The empirically validated categories (Thematic Field and its elements: Textual Theme, Interpersonal Theme, PreHead and Head) are used to annotate a larger corpus of three newspaper genres news reports, editorials and letters to the editor in terms of thematic choices. This characterization, reveals interesting results, such as the use of genre-speci c strategies in thematic position. In addition, the thesis investigates the possibility to automate the annotation of thematic features in the bilingual corpus through the development of a set of JAVA rules implemented in GATE. It also shows the e cacy of this method in comparison with the manual annotation results...

The Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association

Annually, the association publishes a journal, The Proceedings, which consists of papers presented at the annual meeting. The Chinese Labor Issue in British Politics, 1904-1907 by E. B. Hannum – University of South Alabama A Statistical and Historical Analysis and Interpretation of British By-Elections, 1906-1909 by Michael C. Griffin Slavery and the Presence of Free Will by William F. Steirer Reconsideration: The University of South Carolina during Reconstruction by John Herbert Roper – University of North Carolina

Eco-touristic snorkelling routes at Marinha beach (Algarve): Environmental education and human impacts

The use of natural areas for underwater coastal marine activities such as snorkelling is growing, but the amount of ecological and socioeconomic data on these activities is scarce and relates mainly to coral reef areas. Three underwater self-guided routes were designed at Marinha Beach (Algarve, Portugal), based on scientific information, with in situ interpretation and guidance, as a way to enhance biodiversity awareness and, hence, reduce the probability of human impacts. The routes were implemented in two consecutive summer seasons and after each season, visual census techniques were used to describe flora composition and cover area (seaweeds and seagrasses) in order to understand patterns and evaluate human impacts. Snorkelers' opinions and perceptions about several issues related to the routes' environmental education role (e.g. role in enhancing biocliversity awareness) were investigated by questionnaire after the snorkelling activity. An inter-annual difference inflora assemblages was found, probably associated to natural variability, rather than snorkelers' impacts. Results indicate that, in fact, in situ education and interpretation can raise environmental awareness if properly addressed, resulting in a satisfactory way of engaging snorkelers in the protection and in the conservation of the visited environments, thereby preventing negative ecological impacts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease. A new challenge for parents, professionals and community

The Quality of life is currently a major topic discussed in our society. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been developing a unifying and transcultural definition of QOL. They considered it as 'the individual's perception of his or her position in life, within the cultural context and value system he or she lives in, and in relation to his or her goals, expectations, parameters and social relations. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person's physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment (WHOQOL, 1997, p. 1). Congenital heart disease is the most prevalent congenital disease in Portugal. Despite the advances in cardiac treatment and an early correct diagnosis that could increase the survival of children with congenital heart disease, this condition influences the quality of life of children, adolescents and their parents. Knowing the perception of quality of life could help healthcare professionals, nurses in particular, providing suited care to the needs of these families, establishing priorities in their interventions, sensing predictors of a poor quality of life, promoting adherence to treatment and boosting compliance with treatment, and fostering greater satisfaction for these children, adolescents and their parents. Purpose As part of broader research and with the awareness that the chronic conditions could impact the quality of life and considering that all advances on treating congenital cardiac diseases we have defined this main objective: To determine the quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) and the perception of their parents, as well as factors that influence it. Methods It is a quantitative, descriptive and correlational research. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, which consisted of four parts: socio-demographic and educational characteristics, clinical characteristics, and quality of life, obtained using the Pediatric Cardiac Quality of Life Inventory - PCQLI - (Marino, Tomlinson, Wernovsky, Drotar , Newburger, Mahony et al., 2010) translated into Portuguese. Data collection took place between February and July 2014, in compliance with ethical research guidelines. The sample comprised 59 children, 59 parents of children, 80 adolescents and 80 parents of adolescents. Results The results indicated that children, adolescents, and their parents have high level of perceived health. The results are similar in all groups: children and parents and adolescents and parents. In the group of children, we observed the classification of "Good" in 66.10%, followed by the "Very Good" at 18.65% and "fair" in 15.25% of cases. The parents of the children responded in about half the cases that the health of their children was "good" (50.85%), "very good" in 30.51% "fair" in 11.86% and "Excellent "in 6.78%. In turn, the group of adolescents can be seen that 46.25% rate their health as "good", 32.50% as "very good", 16.25% as "Average" and 5% as "Excellent". Parents of teenagers classify the health of their children mostly as "good" in 42.50%, 31.25% as "very good", 20% as "fair" and 6.25% as "excellent". To point out that none of the respondents pointed out the option of a health status "Bad". About the quality of life, in general the results indicated that children, adolescents and their parents have high levels of quality of life, and that perceptions of parents and children are similar. Only in the children's group (8 to 12 years old), was no influence of socio-demographic, school or clinical variables on quality of life observed. For adolescents (13 to 18 years old), school, special education, school retention, the age of diagnosis of congenital heart disease, cardiac catheterization and surgical intervention influenced their quality of life. Perception of quality of life of parents of children and of adolescents was influenced by socio-demographic and clinical variables. The results partly agree with the literature in this field. About the influence of some variables: - The perception of quality of life expressed by children and adolescents with congenital heart disease and parents are related, with statistical significance. - There were no statistically significant relationships between the quality of life of children and adolescents and their age, gender or socioeconomic status. - Adolescents differ statistically significant between their quality of life and their education, the frequency of special education and the existence of grade retention. The severity of heart disease, the number of cardiac catheterizations or surgery and the presence of other health disorders are unrelated to the quality of life of children and adolescents. - Adolescents revealed that the level of quality of life is influenced by the age of diagnosis of CHD by cardiac catheterization and surgery. - For parents of children and adolescents gender and their education don´t influence their perception of quality of life. Only the socioeconomic status of parents of teens has statistically significant difference to quality of life. - Parents of children and adolescents do not show statistically significant relationship between the perceived level of quality of life and severity of disease, age at diagnosis, the number of surgical interventions and the existence of other health disorders. - There is a relationship of statistical significance between cardiac catheterization and the perceived quality of life by parents of adolescents; between the number of cardiac catheterizations and the perception of quality of life of parents of children; and between performing surgery and the perception of parents of children and adolescents. Conclusion To analyze the quality of life of children and adolescents with CHD must be a key focus of attention in caring for this population, allowing the identification of individual differences, interests, preferences, and prevent potential problems. The knowledge acquired along with clinical experience contributes to improve the quality of life of children and families, facilitating their growth, psycho-emotional development and social integration. Nevertheless, the reading and interpretation of these results must be prudent and cautious, there are limitations to this research, including: the use of a range of specific quality of life for the Congenital heart disease in children, adolescents, and parents but whose validation process could not be completed in this study; the low prevalence of severe conditions in our sample; the absence of national studies to enable comparison with the results obtained. We intend to continue the process of validation of instrument and enlarge the research to Lisbon and Oporto, other major centers where the cardiac conditions can be treated

Quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease

Purpose: The Quality of life is currently a major topic discussed in our society. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been developing a unifying and transcultural definition of QOL. They considered it as 'the individual's perception of his or her position in life, within the cultural context and value system he or she lives in, and in relation to his or her goals, expectations, parameters and social relations. It is a broad ranging concept affected in a complex way by the person's physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships and their relationship to salient features of their environment (WHOQOL, 1997, p. 1). Congenital heart disease is the most prevalent congenital disease in Portugal. Despite the advances in cardiac treatment and an early correct diagnosis that could increase the survival of children with congenital heart disease, this condition influences the quality of life of children, adolescents and their parents. Knowing the perception of quality of life could help healthcare professionals, nurses in particular, providing suited care to the needs of these families, establishing priorities in their interventions, sensing predictors of a poor quality of life, promoting adherence to treatment and boosting compliance with treatment, and fostering greater satisfaction for these children, adolescents and their parents. 'As part of broader research and with the awareness that the chronic conditions could impact the quality of life and considering that all advances on treating congenital cardiac diseases we have defined this main objective: To determine the quality of life in children and adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) and the perception of their parents, as well as factors that influence it. Methods: It is a quantitative, descriptive and correlational research. The data collection tool was a questionnaire, which consisted of four parts: socio-demographic and educational characteristics, clinical characteristics, and quality of life, obtained using the Pediatric Cardiac Quality of Life Inventory ? PCQLI - (Marino, Tomlinson, Wernovsky, Drotar , Newburger, Mahony et al., 2010) translated into Portuguese. Data collection took place between February and July 2014, in compliance with ethical research guidelines. The sample comprised 59 children, 59 parents of children, 80 adolescents and 80 parents of adolescents. Results: The results indicated that children, adolescents, and their parents have high level of perceived health. The results are similar in all groups: children and parents and adolescents and parents. In the group of children, we observed the classification of "Good" in 66.10%, followed by the "Very Good" at 18.65% and "fair" in 15.25% of cases. The parents of the children responded in about half the cases that the health of their children was "good" (50.85%), "very good" in 30.51% "fair" in 11.86% and "Excellent "in 6.78%. In turn, the group of adolescents can be seen that 46.25% rate their health as "good", 32.50% as "very good", 16.25% as "Average" and 5% as "Excellent". Parents of teenagers classify the health of their children mostly as "good" in 42.50%, 31.25% as "very good", 20% as "fair" and 6.25% as "excellent". To point out that none of the respondents pointed out the option of a health status "Bad". About the quality of life, in general the results indicated that children, adolescents and their parents have high levels of quality of life, and that perceptions of parents and children are similar. Only in the children?s group (8 to 12 years old), was no influence of socio-demographic, school or clinical variables on quality of life observed. For adolescents (13 to 18 years old), school, special education, school retention, the age of diagnosis of congenital heart disease, cardiac catheterization and surgical intervention influenced their quality of life. Perception of quality of life of parents of children and of adolescents was influenced by socio-demographic and clinical variables. The results partly agree with the literature in this field. About the influence of some variables: The perception of quality of life expressed by children and adolescents with congenital heart disease and parents are related, with statistical significance. There were no statistically significant relationships between the quality of life of children and adolescents and their age, gender or socioeconomic status. Adolescents differ statistically significant between their quality of life and their education, the frequency of special education and the existence of grade retention. The severity of heart disease, the number of cardiac catheterizations or surgery and the presence of other health disorders are unrelated to the quality of life of children and adolescents. Adolescents revealed that the level of quality of life is influenced by the age of diagnosis of CHD by cardiac catheterization and surgery. For parents of children and adolescents gender and their education don?t influence their perception of quality of life. Only the socioeconomic status of parents of teens has statistically significant difference to quality of life. Parents of children and adolescents do not show statistically significant relationship between the perceived level of quality of life and severity of disease, age at diagnosis, the number of surgical interventions and the existence of other health disorders. There is a relationship of statistical significance between cardiac catheterization and the perceived quality of life by parents of adolescents; between the number of cardiac catheterizations and the perception of quality of life of parents of children; and between performing surgery and the perception of parents of children and adolescents. Conclusion: To analyze the quality of life of children and adolescents with CHD must be a key focus of attention in caring for this population, allowing the identification of individual differences, interests, preferences, and prevent potential problems. The knowledge acquired along with clinical experience contributes to improve the quality of life of children and families, facilitating their growth, psycho-emotional development and social integration. Nevertheless, the reading and interpretation of these results must be prudent and cautious, there are limitations to this research, including: the use of a range of specific quality of life for the Congenital heart disease in children, adolescents, and parents but whose validation process could not be completed in this study; the low prevalence of severe conditions in our sample; the absence of national studies to enable comparison with the results obtained. We intend to continue the process of validation of instrument and enlarge the research to Lisbon and Oporto, other major centers where the cardiac conditions can be treated.

Parental Rejection, Personality, and Depression in the Prediction of Suicidality in a Sample of Nonclinical Young Adults

This study tested a prediction model of suicidality in a sample of young adults. Predictor variables included perceived parental rejection, self-criticism, neediness, and depression. Participants (N 5 165) responded to the Depressive Experiences Questionnaire,theInventoryforAssessingMemoriesofParentalRearingBehavior, theCenterforEpidemiologicalStudiesDepressionScale,andtheSuicideBehaviors Questionnaire—Revised. Perceived parental rejection, personality, and depression wereassessedinitiallyatTime1,anddepressionagainandsuicidalitywereassessed 5 months later at Time 2. The proposed structural equation model fit the observed data well in a sample of young adults. Parental rejection demonstrated direct and indirect relationships with suicidality, and self-criticism and neediness each had indirect associations with suicidality. Depression was directly related to suicidality. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.

The passionate critic

It's hard to be dispassionate about Reyner Banham. For me, and for the plethora of other people with strong opinions about Banham, his writing is compelling, and one’s connection to him as a figure quite personal. For me, frankly, he rocks. As a landscape architect, I gleaned most of my knowledge about Modern architecture from Banham. His Theory and Design in the First Machine Age, along with Rowe and Koetter’s Collage City and Venturi’s Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture were the most influential books in my library, by far. Later, as a budding “real scholar”, I was disappointed to find that, while these authors had serious credibility, the writings themselves were regarded as “polemical” – when in fact what I admired about them most was their ability and willingness to make rough groupings and gross generalizations, and to offer fickle opinions. It spoke to me of a real personal engagement and an active, participatory reading of the architectural culture they discussed. They were at their best in their witty, cutting, but generally pithy, creative prose, such as in Rowe’s extrapolation of the modern citizen as the latest “noble savage”, or Banham railing against conservative social advocates and their response to high density housing: “those who had just re-discovered ‘community’ in the slums would fear megastructure as much as any other kind of large-scale renewal program, and would see to it that the people were never ready.” Any reader of Banham will be able to find a gem that will relate, somehow, personally, to what they are doing right now. For Banham, it was all personal, and the gaps in his scholarship, rather, were the dispassionate places: “Such bias is essential – an unbiased historian is a pointless historian – because history is an essentially critical activity, a constant re-scrutiny and rearrangement of the profession.” Reyner Banham: Historian of the Immediate Future, Nigel Whiteley’s recent “intellectual biography” (the MIT Press, 2002), allowed me to revisit Banham’s passionate mode of criticism and to consider what his legacy might be. The book examines Banham’s body of work, grouped according to his various primary fascinations, as well as his relationship to contemporaneous theoretical movements, such as postmodernism. His mode of practice, as a kind of creative critic, is also considered in some depth. While there are points where the book delves into Banham’s personal life, on the whole Whiteley is very rigorous in considering and theorizing the work itself: more than 750 articles and twelve books. In academic terms, this is good practice. However, considering the entirely personal nature of Banham’s writing itself, this separation seems artificial. Banham, as he himself noted, “didn’t mind a gossip”, and often when reading the book I was curious about what was happening to him at the time. Banham’s was an amazing type of intellectual practice, and one that academics (a term he hated) could do well to learn from. While Whiteley spends a lot of time arguing for his practice to be regarded as such, and makes strong points about both the role of the critic, and the importance of journalism, rather than scholarly publishing, I found myself wondering what his study looked like. What books he had in his library. Did he smoke when he wrote? What sort of teaching load did he have? He is an inspiration to design writers and thinkers, and I, personally, wanted to know how he did it.

Art for architecture's sake?

The Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts symposium was organised by the Architecture. Theory, Criticism and History (ATCH) research group at the University of Queensland, run by John Macarthur and Antony Moulis, together with Andrew Leach who joined them last year and organised much of the symposium. The symposium ran for three days in a small room at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane (generously donated by director Robert Leonard), with about 40 people in attendance. Together with a long question time of an hour after every three speakers, the size of the room and the small number of people made it very different from most architecture or design conferences. The intellectual level of the symposium was high, without the speed dating aspect that one often sees at the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) meetings, where endless parallel sessions of short papers create an occasionally disorientating cacophony of words. The symposium was deliberately, unapologetically academic and the intimate nature of the forum made the discussion rich and collaborative, with an active audience. The title of the symposium, 'Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts', reflects the connection that already exists between the art history and the architectural history community in Brisbane, with both groups regularly attending each other's functions.

Towards a cognitive-behavioural intervention for adult grief reactions

Published accounts of behavioural interventions for grief have relied on exposure and habituation to grief cues as the primary strategy. Such an approach is excessively narrow, since it does not adequately confront the challenges that are posed by a bereavement. Many people cope with a bereavement by themselves, and for those, intervention may well be counterproductive. A cognitive-behavioural intervention, following models for depression/anxiety, can assist vulnerable individuals obtain a more rapid or complete adjustment. The proposed approach differs from dynamic treatments by placing less emphasis on defensive behavior, insight, and interpretation and more emphasis on training of coping skills.

International students using online information resources to learn

This qualitative study views international students as information-using learners, through an information literacy lens. Focusing on the experiences of 25 international students at two Australian universities, the study investigates how international students use online information resources to learn, and identifies associated information literacy learning needs. An expanded critical incident approach provided the methodological framework for the study. Building on critical incident technique, this approach integrated a variety of concepts and research strategies. The investigation centred on real-life critical incidents experienced by the international students whilst using online resources for assignment purposes. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and an observed online resource-using task. Inductive data analysis and interpretation enabled the creation of a multifaceted word picture of international students using online resources and a set of critical findings about their information literacy learning needs. The study’s key findings reveal: • the complexity of the international students’ experience of using online information resources to learn, which involves an interplay of their interactions with online resources, their affective and reflective responses to using them, and the cultural and linguistic dimensions of their information use. • the array of strengths as well as challenges that the international students experience in their information use and learning. • an apparent information literacy imbalance between the international students’ more developed information skills and less developed critical and strategic approaches to using information • the need for enhanced information literacy education that responds to international students’ identified information literacy needs. Responding to the findings, the study proposes an inclusive informed learning approach to support reflective information use and inclusive information literacy learning in culturally diverse higher education environments.

Learning in the third space : a sociocultural perspective on learning with analogies

Research on analogies in science education has focussed on student interpretation of teacher and textbook analogies, psychological aspects of learning with analogies and structured approaches for teaching with analogies. Few studies have investigated how analogies might be pivotal in students’ growing participation in chemical discourse. To study analogies in this way requires a sociocultural perspective on learning that focuses on ways in which language, signs, symbols and practices mediate participation in chemical discourse. This study reports research findings from a teacher-research study of two analogy-writing activities in a chemistry class. The study began with a theoretical model, Third Space, which informed analyses and interpretation of data. Third Space was operationalized into two sub-constructs called Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourses. The aims of this study were to investigate sociocultural aspects of learning chemistry with analogies in order to identify classroom activities where students generate Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourses, and to refine the operationalization of Third Space. These aims were addressed through three research questions. The research questions were studied through an instrumental case study design. The study was conducted in my Year 11 chemistry class at City State High School for the duration of one Semester. Data were generated through a range of data collection methods and analysed through discourse analysis using the Dialogical Interactions and Hybrid Discourse sub-constructs as coding categories. Results indicated that student interactions differed between analogical activities and mathematical problem-solving activities. Specifically, students drew on discourses other than school chemical discourse to construct analogies and their growing participation in chemical discourse was tracked using the Third Space model as an interpretive lens. Results of this study led to modification of the theoretical model adopted at the beginning of the study to a new model called Merged Discourse. Merged Discourse represents the mutual relationship that formed during analogical activities between the Analog Discourse and the Target Discourse. This model can be used for interpreting and analysing classroom discourse centred on analogical activities from sociocultural perspectives. That is, it can be used to code classroom discourse to reveal students’ growing participation with chemical (or scientific) discourse consistent with sociocultural perspectives on learning.

Reading stories

What expectations do readers have of stories? Where do readers’ expectations come from? Do certain kinds of readings serve to support particular beliefs and assumptions? These and other questions are raised in Reading Stories, a collection of eleven short stories that have been very popular with Year 10 classes and above, accompanied by activities for talk and writing that encourage students to reflect on stories and their reading of them. Reading Stories aims to make recent literary theory accessible to students through a range of practical activities that work well in the classroom. Each story’s accompanying activities are designed to give students not only the opportunity but also the support they might need to construct and analyse possible readings of the text. There are five chapters - offering a cumulative learning experience - that consider such areas as readers’ expectations, how and why readings change, what is at stake in the disagreements between readings, and reading for gender, race and class. The approaches used begin with students’ familiarity with stories and then work to make available for analysis aspects of reading and ‘interpretation’ that are often taken for granted. While the concepts addressed are complex, the book aims to encourage participation from all students.

The management of transport construction projects : a survey of public sector organisations in Queensland Australia

Construction procurement organisations in the Australian framework provide broad guidelines on project management in setting benchmark performance measurements and processes for evaluating their projects. Despite this, little has been known in the project management practise in transport construction projects in Australia, in particular Queensland. Questionnaire data from 53 project management practitioners employed in State and City public sector organisations in Queensland,suggested that many practitioners in the public sector have little or a lack of understanding of government regulatory policies, which are used as economic evaluation tools for project options. Public sector project managers perceive socio-economic evaluation tools as inappropriate for public sector projects. The survey results also found conducting risk management analysis, developing a risk register and mitigation of risks were most effective way of managing risk. This study provides an opportunity for the public sector to review and provide training on project management practices and government regulatory policies governing public projects. This will improve project management practitioners’ understanding and interpretation of government regulatory policies.