Contextual constraining of student design practices

Background Engineering design is of significant interest to engineering educators. As yet, how the higher education context shapes student outcomes in engineering design courses remains underexplored. Since design courses are the primary way students are taught the critical topic of design, it is important to understand how the institutional and organizational contexts shape student outcomes and how we could improve design projects, given the context. Purpose We sought to answer two questions: What aspects of the design education process are salient, or important, for students? How do these salient aspects affect their design practices? Design/Method We used a qualitative case study approach to address the research questions because of our emphasis on understanding process-related aspects of design work and developing an interpretive understanding from the students’ perspective. Results Using a nested structuration framework, we show that the context of design practices shaped students’ outcomes by constraining their approach to the project and by providing a framework for their design process. We provide recommendations for design educators to help students overcome impediments to achieving learning objectives for design activities. Our research questions the efficacy of teaching engineering design when a design problem lacks a context beyond the classroom. Conclusions The institutional and organizational contexts influence student design practices. Engineering educators should carefully consider the potential effects of the design projects they implement within a higher education context.

Are green project management practices applicable to traditional projects?

As the social environment begins to create more awareness in the area of conserving the natural environment, a new generation of building has emerged. A trend of constructing buildings that minimise impacts on the environment has been established in the construction industry. Therefore, suitable project management practices have been adopted to efficiently manage the construction of these green buildings. This study aims at investigating practices of project management in traditional and accredited green construction projects, with the purpose of discovering if Green Project Management (GPM) practices can be applied to traditional projects to achieve more successful outcomes. The process of GPM contains what applied to traditional projects, could possibly result in benefits in terms of budget control and constructability. Currently the construction industry has been known to suffer difficulties within these areas; therefore GPM practices could possibly hold a solution to these common problems.

Race, the senses, and the materials of writing practices

The paper is a critical argument foregrounding race, the senses, and the materials of literacy practices. The author argues that counter-colonial literacies in the contemporary times require openly acknowledgement of the influences of white imperialism and racism in dominant schooling practices. The first concern is narrow conceptions of literacy and schooling that follow a white racial script, and which function as a form of historical reproduction, control, and privilege. The second is the need to acknowledge the need to rediscover the sensory nature of literacy practices that is intrinsic to many cultures, and which is transformed in human interactions with new digital forms of textual production. The final argument is the need to attend to the materiality of literacy practices, including the meanings connected to the material ecology. This principle is particularly relevant to Indigenous culture and experience, but likewise, to all digital environments where the materials of literacy practices are continually shifting.

Latinos and political advocacy for cancer control in a United States-Mexico border community

Health policy interventions provide powerful tools for addressing health disparities. The Latino community is one of the fastest growing communities in the United States yet is largely underrepresented in government and advocacy efforts. This study includes 42 Latino adults (M age 5 45 years) who participated in focus group discussions and completed a brief questionnaire assessing their experiences with political health advocacy. Qualitative analyses revealed participants considered cancer a concern for the Latino community, but there was a lack of familiarity with political advocacy and its role in cancer control. Participants identified structural, practical, cultural, and contextual barriers to engaging in political health advocacy. This article presents a summary of the findings that suggest alternative ways to engage Latinos in cancer control advocacy.

End-of-life care practices of critical care nurses: A national cross-sectional survey

Background: The critical care context presents important opportunities for nurses to deliver skilled, comprehensive care to patients at the end of life and their families. Limited research has identified the actual end-of-life care practices of critical care nurses. Objective: To identify the end-of-life care practices of critical care nurses. Design: A national cross-sectional online survey. Methods: The survey was distributed to members of an Australian critical care nursing association and 392 critical care nurses (response rate 25%) completed the survey. Exploratory factor analysis using principal axis factoring with oblique rotation was undertaken on survey responses to identify the domains of end-of-life care practice. Descriptive statistics were calculated for individual survey items. Results: Exploratory factor analysis identified six domains of end-of-life care practice: information sharing, environmental modification, emotional support, patient and family centred decision-making, symptom management and spiritual support. Descriptive statistics identified a high level of engagement in information sharing and environmental modification practices and less frequent engagement in items from the emotional support and symptom management practice areas. Conclusions: The findings of this study identified domains of end-of-life care practice, and critical care nurse engagement in these practices. The findings highlight future training and practice development opportunities, including the need for experiential learning targeting the emotional support practice domain. Further research is needed to enhance knowledge of symptom management practices during the provision of end-of-life care to inform and improve practice in this area.

Dietary intake of children aged 12-16 months and associations with maternal feeding beliefs and practices

This thesis provides the first detailed data describing the dietary intake of first-born Australian children aged 12-16 months. Overall, quality of intake could improve, with toddlers being exposed to energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods which may adversely affect the development of long-term healthy food preferences and growth trajectory. The leaner, but healthy weight toddler who exhibited more frequent food refusal was described a fussy eater or prompted higher maternal concern. However these behaviours are consistent with typical child development during the second year of life. Mothers can be supported to understand food refusal as manifestation of children's ability to self-regulate energy intake.

Mentors and modelling primary science teaching practices

Introduction There are concerns about the science performance of Australian primary school students (Good rum, Hackling & Rennie, 2001), which requires a “major set of initiatives that focus on teacher beliefs and practices in the teaching and learning of science” (Sharpley, Tytler & Conley, 2000, p. 1). The science education community is calling for a “new approach” to science education in American schools, with an approach where a “mentor models, then coaches, then scaffolds, and then gradually fades scaffolding” (Barab & Hay, 2001, pp. 74, 90). The mentor, as modeller of practice, appears to be a key factor for enhancing science teaching, which may assist towards implementing science education reform

General motor vehicle drivers' knowledge and practices regarding drink driving in Yinchuan and Guangzhou, China

Objective: Drink driving contributes to significant levels of injury and economic loss in China but is not well researched. This study examined knowledge, drink-driving practices, and alcohol misuse problems among general drivers in Yinchuan. The objectives were to gain a better understanding of drink driving in Yinchuan, identify areas that need to be addressed, and compare the results with a similar study in Guangzhou. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a survey designed to collect information on participants’ demographic characteristics and their knowledge and practices in relation to drinking and driving. The survey was composed of questions on knowledge and practices in relation to drink driving and was administered to a convenience sample of 406 drivers. Alcohol misuse problems were assessed by using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results: Males accounted for the main proportion of drivers sampled from the general population (“general drivers”). A majority of general drivers in both cities knew that drunk driving had become a criminal offense in 2011; however, knowledge of 2 legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limits was quite low. Fewer drivers in Yinchuan (22.6%) than in Guangzhou (27.9) reported having been stopped by police conducting breath alcohol testing at least once in the last 12 months. The mean AUDIT score in Yinchuan (M = 8.2) was higher than that in Guangzhou (M = 7.4), and the proportion of Yinchuan drivers with medium or higher alcohol misuse problems (31.2%) was correspondingly higher than in Guangzhou (23.1%). In Yinchuan, males had a significantly higher AUDIT score than females (t = 3.454, P < .001), similar to Guangzhou. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on potential predictors of the AUDIT score (age, gender, monthly income, education level, years licensed, and age started drinking). There were significant individual contributions of gender (beta = 0.173, P = .09) and age at which drinking started (beta = 0.141, P = .033), but the overall model for Yinchuan was not significant, unlike Guangzhou. Conclusions: The results show that there are shortfalls in knowledge of the legislation and how to comply with it and deficiencies in police enforcement. In addition, there was evidence of drink driving and drink riding at high levels in both cities. Recommendations are made to address these issues.

Using political science to progress public health nutrition: a systematic review

Objective Poor dietary intake is the most important behavioural risk factor affecting health globally. Despite this, there has been little investment in public health nutrition policy actions. Policy process theories from the field of political science can aid understanding why policy decisions have occurred and identify how to influence ongoing or future initiatives. This review aims to examine public health nutrition policy literature and identify whether a policy process theory has been used to analyse the process. Design Electronic databases were searched systematically for studies examining policymaking in public health nutrition in high-income, democratic countries. Setting International, national, state and local government jurisdictions within high-income, democratic countries. Subjects Individuals and organisations involved in the nutrition policymaking process. Results Sixty-three studies met the eligibility criteria, most were conducted in the USA and a majority focused on obesity. The analysis demonstrates an accelerating trend in the number of nutrition policy papers published annually and an increase in the diversity of nutrition topics examined. The use of policy process theory was observed from 2003, however, it was utilised by only 14% of the reviewed papers. Conclusions There is limited research into the nutrition policy process in high-income countries. While there has been a small increase in the use of policy process theory from 2003, an opportunity to expand their use is evident. We suggest that nutrition policymaking would benefit from a pragmatic approach that ensures those trying to influence or understand the policymaking process are equipped with basic knowledge around these theories.

Barriers to good occupational health and safety (OHS) practices by small construction firms

The construction industry has long been considered to have unacceptably high injury and fatality rates. Previous research has shown that small construction companies sustain higher injury rates than large companies. However, despite the industry being dominated by a very large number of such small companies, little is known of their occupational health and safety (OHS) needs, practices and constraints. This paper takes a first step in aiming to identify the principal barriers that affect good OHS performance of small construction companies so that effective OHS practices can be developed to improve this in future. The contents of the literature are first summarised, in which three critical barriers to good OHS practice in small construction firms are proposed. They are : cost, time, lack of safety awareness and concern. The results of a questionnaire survey carried out with South East Queensland construction personnel are presented, which largely confirm what is suggested by the literature research and also succeed in providing an indication of their ranking in terms of importance and suggestions for overcoming these barriers. The research results provide a better understanding of the issues that restrict good OHS practice in small construction companies and potential measures for improvement.

How professional development impacts on experienced teachers' perceptions of their ICT practices

Teachers are at the forefront of Information Communication Technology (ICT) use in schools. Teachers face many challenges and competing priorities such as literacy, numeracy and changing curriculum frameworks and are expected to adopt new ICT practices to improve students¿ outcomes. Effective professional development (PD) methods must be identified and implemented. This research examined two core issues: (1) experienced teachers' perceptions of their ICT practices and (2) how PD courses have affected these practices. This case study and its findings has important implications for the implementation of effective PD in schools.

An embodied everyday peace in the midst of violence

Orthodox notions of peace built on liberal institutionalism have been critiqued for their lack of attention to the local and the people who populate these structures. The concept of an ‘everyday peace’ seeks to take into account the agency and activity of those frequently marginalised or excluded and use these experiences as the basis for a more responsive way of understanding peace. Further, reconceptualising and complicating a notion of ‘everyday peace’ as embodied recognises marginalised people as competent commentators and observers of their world, and capable of engaging with the practices, routines and radical events that shape their everyday resistances and peacebuilding. Peace, in this imagining, is not abstract, but built through everyday practices amidst violence. Young people, in particular, are often marginalised or rendered passive in discussions of the violences that affect them. In recognising this limited engagement, this paper responds through drawing on fieldwork conducted with conflict-affected young people in a peri-urban barrio community near Colombia’s capital Bogota to forward a notion of an embodied everyday peace. This involves exploring the presence and voices of young people as stakeholders in a negotiation of what it means to build peace within daily experience in the context of local and broader violence and marginalisation. By centring young people’s understandings of and contributions within the everyday, this paper responds to the inadequacies of liberal peacebuilding narratives, and forwards a more complex rendering of everyday peace as embodied.

Theorising youth and everyday peace(building)

This essay presents a locally-grounded theoretical framework for studying youth and everyday peace(building). Drawing on examples from fieldwork as well as insights from the articles to follow in the journal, the essay highlights three interrelated and overlapping spheres of inquiry. First, it makes the case for examining the age-specific as well as gender-, and other contextually-specific roles of youth as they relate to everyday peacebuilding. Second, the essay draws attention to how everyday peace is narrated by or through youth. It poses questions about what values, policies, and governmental structures are specifically being resisted and rejected, and how peace is conceptualised and/or hidden in the narratives of youth. Third, along with these concerns, the nexus of global and local (including discursive and institutional) structures that facilitate, curtail, and curtain everyday peace (building) practices are important to identify and evaluate for their impacts on the roles and ideas of youth. In proposing this theoretical framework that recognises the complex and multiple ways youth are engaged in their everyday worlds, this essay asks how we can engage this recognition within knowledges and practices of everyday peace(building).

Encouraging Generosity: The Practice and organization of Fundraising Across Nations

The international collaboration in this book creates a unique opportunity to establish, discuss and draw conclusions about fundraising across nations. Based on the 26-country dataset provided by the authors in this volume, this chapter describes and analyzes for the first time the diverse fundraising environments around the world that are shaped by different historical, cultural, social, religious, political and economic conditions. It begins by noting the lack of research on fundraisers and fundraising in contrast to the extensive studies undertaken of donors, and argues that the demand side of charitable transactions is worthy of greater attention if a complete and dynamic understanding of giving is to be achieved. It then presents and discusses key themes related to fundraising in the countries represented in this book. A typology is suggested to impose order on the huge variety of fundraising approaches and stages of development in the organization of this activity around the world; this typology also strengthens understanding of the connection between asking and giving. After offering suggestions for future research in this area of study, the chapter ends by noting that despite global differences in the evolution of fundraising as a profession and the diversity of current contexts, fundraisers in every country face shared challenges that would benefit from greater exchange of knowledge and best practices.