Teachers' legitimacy: Effects of justice perception and social comparison processes

Background. Teachers’ legitimacy is central to school functioning. Teachers’ justice, whether distributive or procedural, predicts teachers’ legitimacy. Aims. What is still do be found, and constitutes the goal of this paper, is whether unjust treatment by a teacher affects the legitimacy of the teacher differently when the student knows that the teacher was fair to a peer (comparative judgement) or when the student does not have that information (autonomous judgement). Samples. A total of 79 high school students participated in Study 1; 75 high school students participated in Study 2. Methods. Two experimental studies with a 2 justice valence (just, unjust) 9 2 social comparison processes (autonomous judgements, comparative judgements) betweenparticipants design were conducted. Study 1 addressed distributive justice and Study 2 addressed procedural justice. The dependent variable was teachers’ legitimacy. Results. In both studies, situations perceived as just led to higher teachers’ legitimacy than situations perceived as unjust. For the distributive injustice conditions, teachers’ legitimacy was equally lower for autonomous judgement and comparative judgement conditions. For procedural injustice, teachers’ legitimacy was lower when the peer was treated justly and the participant was treated unfairly, compared with the condition when the participants did not know how the teacher treated the peer. Conclusions. We conclude that teachers’ injustice affects teachers’ legitimacy, but it does it differently according to the social comparisons involved and the type of justice involved. Moreover, these results highlight that social comparisons are an important psychological process and, therefore, they should be taken into account in models of justice.

Hitting a moving target: Perception and action in the timing of rapid interceptions

Different interceptive tasks and modes of interception (hitting or capturing) do not necessarily involve similar control processes. Control based on preprogramming of movement parameters is possible for actions with brief movement times but is now widely rejected; continuous perceptuomotor control models are preferred for all types of interception. The rejection of preprogrammed control and acceptance of continuous control is evaluated for the timing of rapidly executed, manual hitting actions. It is shown that a preprogrammed control model is capable of providing a convincing account of observed behavior patterns that avoids many of the arguments that have been raised against it. Prominent continuous perceptual control models are analyzed within a common framework and are shown to be interpretable as feedback control strategies. Although these models can explain observations of on-line adjustments to movement, they offer only post hoc explanations for observed behavior patterns in hitting tasks and are not directly supported by data. It is proposed that rapid manual hitting tasks make up a class of interceptions for which a preprogrammed strategy is adopted-a strategy that minimizes the role of visual feedback. Such a strategy is effective when the task demands a high degree of temporal accuracy.

Use of multi-sensory marketing techniques and its influence on brand experience in retail and HORECA sector

Double degree. A Work Project presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA- School of Business and Economics and Warsaw School of Economics

Triiodothyronine exerts a trophic action on rat sensory neuron survival and neurite outgrowth through different pathways.

Apart from several growth factors which play a crucial role in the survival and development of the central and peripheral nervous systems, thyroid hormones can affect different processes involved in the differentiation and maturation of neurons. The present study was initiated to determine whether triiodothyronine (T3) affects the survival and neurite outgrowth of primary sensory neurons in vitro. Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) from 19-day-old embryos or newborn rats were plated in explant or dissociated cell cultures. The effect of T3 on neuron survival was tested, either in mixed DRG cell cultures, where neurons grow with non-neuronal cells, or in neuron-enriched cultures where non-neuronal cells were eliminated at the outset. T3, in physiological concentrations, promoted the growth of neurons in mixed DRG cell cultures as well as in neuron-enriched cultures without added nerve growth factor (NGF). Since neuron survival in neuron-enriched cultures cannot be promoted by endogenous neurotrophic factors synthesized by non-neuronal cells, the increased number of surviving neurons was due to a direct trophic action of T3. Another trophic effect was revealed in this study: T3 sustained the neurite outgrowth of sensory neurons in DRG explants. The stimulatory effect of T3 on nerve fibre outgrowth was considerably reduced when non-neuronal cell proliferation was inhibited by the antimitotic agent cytosine arabinoside, and was completely suppressed when the great majority of non-neuronal cells were eliminated in neuron-enriched cultures. These results indicate that the stimulatory effect of T3 on neurite outgrowth is mediated through non-neuronal cells. It is conceivable that T3 up-regulates Schwann cell expression of a neurotrophic factor, which in turn stimulates axon growth of sensory neurons. Together, these results demonstrate that T3 promotes both survival and neurite outgrowth of primary sensory neurons in DRG cell cultures. The trophic actions of T3 on neuron survival and neurite outgrowth operate under two different pathways.

The Network Company in Catalonia : ICT, Productivity, Competitiveness, Salaries and Performance in Catalonia's Companies. Research report (synthesis document)

Resum en anglès del projecte de recerca L'empresa xarxa a Catalunya. TIC, productivitat, competitivitat, salaris i beneficis a l'empresa catalana té com a objectiu principal constatar que la consolidació d'un nou model estratègic, organitzatiu i d'activitat empresarial, vinculat amb la inversió i l'ús de les TIC (o empresa xarxa), modifica substancialment els patrons de comportament dels resultats empresarials, en especial la productivitat, la competitivitat, les retribucions dels treballadors i el benefici. La contrastació empírica de les hipòtesis de treball l'hem feta per mitjà de les dades d'una enquesta a una mostra representativa de 2.038 empreses catalanes. Amb la perspectiva de l'impacte de la inversió i l'ús de les TIC no s'aprecia una relació directa entre els processos d'innovació digital i els resultats de l'activitat de l'empresa catalana. En aquest sentit, hem hagut de segmentar el teixit productiu català per a buscar les organitzacions en què el procés de coinnovació tecnològica digital i organitzativa és més present i en què la intensitat de l'ús del coneixement és un recurs molt freqüent per a poder copsar impactes rellevants en els principals resultats empresarials. Això és així perquè l'economia catalana, avui, presenta una estructura productiva dual.

Heat perception and signalling in plants: a tortuous path to thermotolerance.

An accurate assessment of the rising ambient temperature by plant cells is crucial for the timely activation of various molecular defences before the appearance of heat damage. Recent findings have allowed a better understanding of the early cellular events that take place at the beginning of mild temperature rise, to timely express heat-shock proteins (HSPs), which will, in turn, confer thermotolerance to the plant. Here, we discuss the key components of the heat signalling pathway and suggest a model in which a primary sensory role is carried out by the plasma membrane and various secondary messengers, such as Ca(2+) ions, nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2) O(2) ). We also describe the role of downstream components, such as calmodulins, mitogen-activated protein kinases and Hsp90, in the activation of heat-shock transcription factors (HSFs). The data gathered for land plants suggest that, following temperature elevation, the heat signal is probably transduced by several pathways that will, however, coalesce into the final activation of HSFs, the expression of HSPs and the onset of cellular thermotolerance.

The Network Company in Catalonia : ICT, Productivity, Competitiveness, Salaries and Performance in Catalonia's Companies. Research report (synthesis document)

Resum en anglès del projecte de recerca L'empresa xarxa a Catalunya. TIC, productivitat, competitivitat, salaris i beneficis a l'empresa catalana té com a objectiu principal constatar que la consolidació d'un nou model estratègic, organitzatiu i d'activitat empresarial, vinculat amb la inversió i l'ús de les TIC (o empresa xarxa), modifica substancialment els patrons de comportament dels resultats empresarials, en especial la productivitat, la competitivitat, les retribucions dels treballadors i el benefici. La contrastació empírica de les hipòtesis de treball l'hem feta per mitjà de les dades d'una enquesta a una mostra representativa de 2.038 empreses catalanes. Amb la perspectiva de l'impacte de la inversió i l'ús de les TIC no s'aprecia una relació directa entre els processos d'innovació digital i els resultats de l'activitat de l'empresa catalana. En aquest sentit, hem hagut de segmentar el teixit productiu català per a buscar les organitzacions en què el procés de coinnovació tecnològica digital i organitzativa és més present i en què la intensitat de l'ús del coneixement és un recurs molt freqüent per a poder copsar impactes rellevants en els principals resultats empresarials. Això és així perquè l'economia catalana, avui, presenta una estructura productiva dual.

Guidelines for supplier selection and performance evaluation in the case-company

Tutkielmantavoitteena oli luoda ohjeistus toimittajan valinnasta ja suorituskyvyn arvioinnista case - yrityksen, Exel Oyj:n, käyttöön. Ohjeistuksen tarkoituksena oli ollalähtökohtana toimittajan valinta- ja suoristuskyvyn arviointiprosessien kehittämisessä. Tutkielma keskittyy esittelemään toimittajan valintakriteereitä ja toimittajan suorituskyvyn arviointikriteereitä. Kriteerit valittiin ja analysoitiin teorian ja empirian avulla ja kriteereistä tehtiin selkeät listaukset. Näitä listoja käytettiin avuksi pohdittaessa uusia valintakriteereitä ja suorituskyvyn arviointikriteereitä, joita case -yritys voi jatkossa käyttää. Tutkielmassa käytiin läpi myös toimittajan valintaprosessi jaapuvälineitä ja mittareita toimittajan arviointiin liittyen. Empiirisen aineiston keruu toteutettiin haastattelemalla hankintapäällikköä sekä keräämällä tietoavuosikertomuksesta ja yrityksen internet sivuilta. Tutkielman tuloksena saatiinlistauksia kriteereistä, joita yritys voi hyödyntää jatkossa sekä listaukset kriteereistä, jotka valittiin alustavasti yrityksen käyttöön.

Examining the influence of the coach athlete relationship on motivation and performance in female rugby players

The purpose of the study was two-fold; first, the association between interpersonal coaching styles and self-determined motivation was examined, followed by the investigation of the motivation-performance relationship. Participants included 221 female Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) rugby players, aged sixteen to thirty-three (M= 20.1: SD = 2.26), who reported the number of years they played CIS rugby (M= 2.3: SD = 1.37) and organized rugby (M= 5.9: SD = 2.31). Multiple and bivariate regressions were employed with autonomy-support, structure, and involvement accounting for 17%, 41 % and 22% of the variance of competence, autonomy and relatedness. The three basic needs accounted for 40% of the variance of motivation, and motivation accounted for 2% of the variance of athletes' perceptions of performance. Findings indicated that autonomy-support emerged as a predictor of all three basic needs, involvement predicted relatedness and competence, autonomy predicted motivation, and motivation predicted athletes' perception of performance.

Subjective impressions of child cochlear-implant users: effects of conversational fluency, intelligibility, speech perception, and communication mode

This paper investigates the conversational fluency of young cochlear implant users. The study compares objective measures and subjective impressions of conversation fluency, relates how children’s communication skills influence both objective and subjective measures of conversational fluency, and compares the performance of children who use an oral mode with those who use a total communication mode in everyday conversation.

Perception and cognition in deaf children

This dissertation examines conceptual functioning of hearing impaired persons. Specifically the study addresses perceptual and conceptual functioning in both deaf and hearing children and whether there is a difference in performance as a function of hearing status, as attributable to age differences, or as a function of the school environment.

Modelling risk perception and trust in food safety information within the theory of planned behaviour

This study suggests a statistical strategy for explaining how food purchasing intentions are influenced by different levels of risk perception and trust in food safety information. The modelling process is based on Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behaviour and includes trust and risk perception as additional explanatory factors. Interaction and endogeneity across these determinants is explored through a system of simultaneous equations, while the SPARTA equation is estimated through an ordered probit model. Furthermore, parameters are allowed to vary as a function of socio-demographic variables. The application explores chicken purchasing intentions both in a standard situation and conditional to an hypothetical salmonella scare. Data were collected through a nationally representative UK wide survey of 533 UK respondents in face-to-face, in-home interviews. Empirical findings show that interactions exist among the determinants of planned behaviour and socio-demographic variables improve the model's performance. Attitudes emerge as the key determinant of intention to purchase chicken, while trust in food safety information provided by media reduces the likelihood to purchase. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The European Flood Alert System and the communication, perception, and use of ensemble predictions for operational flood risk management

Although ensemble prediction systems (EPS) are increasingly promoted as the scientific state-of-the-art for operational flood forecasting, the communication, perception, and use of the resulting alerts have received much less attention. Using a variety of qualitative research methods, including direct user feedback at training workshops, participant observation during site visits to 25 forecasting centres across Europe, and in-depth interviews with 69 forecasters, civil protection officials, and policy makers involved in operational flood risk management in 17 European countries, this article discusses the perception, communication, and use of European Flood Alert System (EFAS) alerts in operational flood management. In particular, this article describes how the design of EFAS alerts has evolved in response to user feedback and desires for a hydrographic-like way of visualizing EFAS outputs. It also documents a variety of forecaster perceptions about the value and skill of EFAS forecasts and the best way of using them to inform operational decision making. EFAS flood alerts were generally welcomed by flood forecasters as a sort of ‘pre-alert’ to spur greater internal vigilance. In most cases, however, they did not lead, by themselves, to further preparatory action or to earlier warnings to the public or emergency services. Their hesitancy to act in response to medium-term, probabilistic alerts highlights some wider institutional obstacles to the hopes in the research community that EPS will be readily embraced by operational forecasters and lead to immediate improvements in flood incident management. The EFAS experience offers lessons for other hydrological services seeking to implement EPS operationally for flood forecasting and warning. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge intensive processes characteristics and improvement: a banking best practice example

This paper identifies characteristics of knowledge intensive processes and a method to improve their performance based on analysis of investment banking front office processes. The inability to improve these processes using standard process improvement techniques confirmed that much of the process was not codified and depended on tacit knowledge and skills. This led to the use of a semi-structured analysis of the characteristics of the processes via a questionnaire to identify knowledge intensive processes characteristics that adds to existing theory. Further work identified innovative process analysis and change techniques that could generate improvements based on an analysis of their properties and the issue drivers. An improvement methodology was developed to harness a number of techniques that were found to effective in resolving the issue drivers and improving these knowledge intensive processes.

Developments in the quality of treated greywater supplies for buildings, and associated user perception and acceptance

A manufactured aeration and nanofiltration MBR greywater system was tested during continuous operation at the University of Reading, to demonstrate reliability in delivery of high quality treated greywater. Its treatment performance was evaluated against British Standard criteria [BSI (Greywater Systems—Part 1 Code of Practice: BS8525-1:2010. BS Press, 2010); (Greywater Systems—Part 2 Domestic Greywater Treatment, Requirements and Methods: BS 8525-2:2011. BS Press, 2011)]. The low carbon greywater recycling technology produced excellent analytical results as well as consistency in performance. User acceptance of such reliably treated greywater was then evaluated through user perception studies. The results inform the potential supply of treated greywater to student accommodation. Out of 135 questionnaire replies, 95% demonstrated a lack of aversion in one or more attributes, to using treated, recycled greywater.