14,473 research outputs found
How Does Reciprocity Affect Undergraduate Student Orientation towards Stakeholders?
5987Nowadays, students are more aware of the impact of companies on their stakeholders and
the need for properly handling their expectations to operationalize corporate social responsibility.
Nevertheless, little is known about how certain individual traits may relate to their stance on
the issue. This exploratory research contributes to stakeholder theory by analysing the e ect of
the individual’s decision-making process, including the consideration of their social preferences,
on their orientation toward stakeholder management. Here, we draw upon a theoretical model
for resource-allocation decision-making consisting of reciprocal and non-reciprocal components.
Our data, from undergraduate students enrolled in di erent degrees, were collected through a
questionnaire and two social within-subject experiments (ultimatum and dictator games). Thus, our
results show that the presence of a reciprocal component when decisions are made is positively linked
to an instrumental orientation toward stakeholders. In addition, a greater non-reciprocal component
in the decision-making process corresponds to a more normative orientation.S
Identification of Hindbrain Neural Substrates for Motor Initiation in the hatchling Xenopus laevis Tadpole
Animal survival profoundly depends on the ability to detect stimuli in the environment, process them and respond accordingly. In this respect, motor responses to a sensory stimulation evolved into a variety of coordinated movements, which involve the control of brain centres over spinal locomotor circuits. The hatchling Xenopus tadpole, even in its embryonic stage, is able to detect external sensory information and to swim away if the stimulus is considered noxious. To do so, the tadpole relies on well-known ascending sensory pathway, which carries the sensory information to the brain. When the stimulus is strong enough, descending interneurons are activated, leading to the excitation of spinal CPG neurons, which causes the undulatory movement of swimming. However, the activation of descending interneurons that marks the initiation of motor response appears after a long delay from the sensory stimulation. Furthermore, the long-latency response is variable in time, as observed in the slow-summating excitation measured in descending interneurons. These two features, i.e. long-latency and variability, cannot be explained by the firing time and pattern of the ascending sensory pathway of the Xenopus tadpole. Therefore, a novel neuronal population has been proposed to lie in the hindbrain of the tadpole, and being able to 'hold' the sensory information, thus accounting for the long and variable delay of swim initiation. In this work, the role of the hindbrain in the maintenance of the long and variable response to trunk skin stimulation is investigated in the Xenopustadpole at developmental stage 37/38. A multifaceted approach has been used to unravel the neuronal mechanisms underlying the delayed motor response, including behavioural experiments, electrophysiology analysis of fictive swimming, hindbrain extracellular recordings and imaging experiments. Two novel neuronal populations have been identified in the tadpole's hindbrain, which exhibit activation patterns compatible with the role of delaying the excitation of the spinal locomotor circuit. Future work on cellular properties and synaptic connections of these newly discovered populations might shed light on the mechanism of descending control active at embryonic stage. Identifying supraspinal neuronal populations in an embryonic organism could aid in understanding mechanisms of descending motor control in more complex vertebrates
Balancing the urban stomach: public health, food selling and consumption in London, c. 1558-1640
Until recently, public health histories have been predominantly shaped by medical and scientific perspectives, to the neglect of their wider social, economic and political contexts. These medically-minded studies have tended to present broad, sweeping narratives of health policy's explicit successes or failures, often focusing on extraordinary periods of epidemic disease viewed from a national context. This approach is problematic, particularly in studies of public health practice prior to 1800. Before the rise of modern scientific medicine, public health policies were more often influenced by shared social, cultural, economic and religious values which favoured maintaining hierarchy, stability and concern for 'the common good'. These values have frequently been overlooked by modern researchers. This has yielded pessimistic assessments of contemporary sanitation, implying that local authorities did not care about or prioritise the health of populations. Overly medicalised perspectives have further restricted historians' investigation and use of source material, their interpretation of multifaceted and sometimes contested cultural practices such as fasting, and their examination of habitual - and not just extraordinary - health actions. These perspectives have encouraged a focus on reactive - rather than preventative - measures.
This thesis contributes to a growing body of research that expands our restrictive understandings of pre-modern public health. It focuses on how public health practices were regulated, monitored and expanded in later Tudor and early Stuart London, with a particular focus on consumption and food-selling. Acknowledging the fundamental public health value of maintaining urban foodways, it investigates how contemporaries sought to manage consumption, food production waste, and vending practices in the early modern City's wards and parishes. It delineates the practical and political distinctions between food and medicine, broadly investigates the activities, reputations of and correlations between London's guild and itinerant food vendors and licensed and irregular medical practitioners, traces the directions in which different kinds of public health policy filtered up or down, and explores how policies were enacted at a national and local level. Finally, it compares and contrasts habitual and extraordinary public health regulations, with a particular focus on how perceptions of and actual food shortages, paired with the omnipresent threat of disease, impacted broader aspects of civic life
Structural and Attitudinal Barriers to Bicycle Ownership and Cycle-Based Transport in Gauteng, South Africa
Policies that aim to facilitate and promote non-motorised transport (NMT), and in particular cycling, have been developed by many high-income countries facing increasingly congested roads and saturated public transport systems. Such policies are also emerging in many low- and middle-income settings where high rates of urbanisation have led to similar problems with motorised transport. The aim of the present study was to better understand the potential structural and attitudinal barriers to cycle-based transport in one such context: South Africa’s Gauteng Province, the industrial powerhouse of sub-Saharan Africa that has recently made a firm commitment to NMT. The study focussed on demographic and socioeconomic variation in bicycle and car ownership, and related this to: (1) the reported use of motorised and non-motorised transport (both private and public); and (2) perceived ‘problems’ with cycling. The analyses drew on interviews with key respondents from n = 27,490 households conducted in 2013 as part of the third Quality of Life survey undertaken by the Gauteng City Regional Observatory. The survey contained items on three outcomes of interest: household vehicle ownership (bicycles and cars); modes of transport used for the “trips” most often made; and respondents’ “single biggest problem with… cycling”. Respondent- and household-level demographic and socioeconomic determinants of these outcomes were examined using descriptive and multivariable statistical analyses, the latter after adjustment for measured potential confounders identified using a theoretical causal path diagram (in the form of a directed acyclic graph). Of the n = 26,469 households providing complete data on all of the variables examined in the present study, only n = 8722 (32.9%) owned a car and fewer still (n = 2244; 8.4%) owned a bicycle. The ownership of these assets was commonest amongst wealthier, economically active households; and those that owned a car had over five times the odds of also owning a bicycle, even after adjustment for potential confounding (OR 5.17; 95% CI 4.58, 5.85). Moreover, of household respondents who reported making ‘trips’ during the preceding month (n = 18,209), over two-thirds of those whose households owned a car (70.1%) reported private car-based transport for such trips, while only 3.2% of those owning a bicycle reported cycling. Amongst the specific responses given to the item requesting the “single biggest problem with… cycling” by far the commonest was “Don’t know how to cycle” (32.2%), less than half as many citing “Vehicle accident risk” (15.9%), and fewer still: “Destination is too far” (13.9%); “Crime” (10.3%); “Too much effort” (9.2%); or “Lack of good paths” (4.6%). While the first of these reasons was commonest amongst poorer households, concerns about risk and effort were both most common amongst better educated, economically active and wealthier/better serviced households. In contrast, concerns over (cycle) paths were only common amongst those owning bicycles. The low prevalence of household bicycle ownership, and the disproportionate number of households owning bicycles that also owned cars, might explain the very small proportion of the ‘the trips most often made’ that involved cycle-based transport (0.3%), and the preferential use of cars amongst households owning both bicycles and cars. Low levels of bicycle ownership might also explain why so many respondents cited “Don’t know how” as the “single biggest problem with… cycling”; although risk and effort were also substantial concerns (presumably for many who did, and some who did not, know how to cycle); the lack of suitable cycle lanes being only primarily a concern for those who actually owned bicycles. Structural and attitudinal barriers to cycle-based transport limit the use of cycle-based transport in Gauteng, not only amongst the vast majority of household respondents who lack the means to cycle (and the means to learn how), but also amongst those dissuaded from learning to cycle, purchasing a bicycle and/or using a bicycle they own by: the risks and effort involved; the lack of suitable cycle paths; and/or because they also own a car and prefer to drive than cycle
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Using Digital Storytelling in Science: Meaning Making with Students aged 10-12 years old
Meaning making is an essential aspect of learning as a process of interpreting and negotiating information while sharing it with others. One way of meaning making is through (digital) storytelling. The process of creating and telling a story depends on how one can see their understanding of something come together and make sense and it is considered a (socio) constructivist strategy of learning. The purpose and contribution of this research are to explore how digital storytelling may support engagement in meaning-making as students externalise their understanding of the science topic of matter. To this aim, two digital storytelling activities were constructed – SEeDS (Sequencing of Events enabling Digital Storytelling) and Narration. The two activities included the same content but differed in structure. SEeDS presented the story scenes in an order that was not predefined and Narration in a predefined order. Both activities derived elements from the theoretical concept of Tricky Topics and Stumbling Blocks (SBs). This research was informed by the theory of Problem-based learning.
Participants were sixty-one Greek primary students aged 10-12 years old and twenty-two English secondary students aged 11-12 years old. Half students worked through the SEeDS activity and the rest through the Narration activity. Students worked cooperatively in small teams to implement the two activities. A systematic analysis of the collected data was conducted using qualitative methods. Findings revealed that the two activities had supported the Greek and English students in externalising their understanding of many scientific concepts included in the topic of matter, while it identified gaps in their prior knowledge. The two activities have also facilitated the instinctive use of exploratory talk over the other two types (cumulative and disputational talk) that can often be found in peer talk in science learning. Finally, the two activities appeared to have engaged students in the two contexts, as they allowed them to own the story creation whilst working independently. Finally, the Greek and English students viewed the SEeDS activity as challenging, making it hard to complete and at times tiring and confusing, and the Narration activity as easy to implement, giving students the opportunity to mainly focus on inventing the story plot.
This research makes a valuable contribution to the literature on making meaning in science, offering new insights about the use of problem-based stories supported by mobile technology. The findings provide opportunities to further explore the practical application of problem-based digital storytelling activities, which are hard thinking and challenging, across different age groups and cultural contexts. There is a need for teaching practices to be based on socio-constructivist learning approaches that focus on students’ thinking, not performance. Therefore, the implications of this research are relevant to a number of educational contexts and levels
Don’t be a Waster! Student Perceptions of Recycling Strategies at an English University’s Halls of Residence
Purpose: This paper explores student perceptions of recycling, and explores whether one university’s strategy helped or hindered student recycling in their university's halls of residence. There is near-universal acknowledgement of the urgency of the climate crisis, yet household recycling rates remain low at 45.2%. Student-recycling rates have been suggested to be even lower. After a brief consideration of the recent history of sustainability and recycling, this paper identifies the actions required to increase student recycling, including peer influence, education and information, physical structures, and attitudes and motivations. Design/methodology/approach: Twelve in-depth, semi-structured interviews were undertaken at one Southern English university. The rich, qualitative data obtained were then analysed thematically. The theory of environmentally significant behaviour provided a framework for understanding perceptions and behaviours in that site. Findings: Confirming aspects of existing literature, students’ recycling behaviours were found to be limited through lack of perceived ability, lack of facilities and unconfident knowledge. Students were also found to be limiting their own actions. A holistic approach including peer influence, education and information, physical structures, and attitudes and motivations was recommended. Originality: There is little research into student recycling behaviours and limited literature concerning halls of residence, especially in the UK. This paper draws on one case to add to nascent understandings. Whilst limited to one site and by sample size, a number of recommendations are made, covering university facilities, student empowerment, and individual responsibility to increase future recycling
Spattered with Words: a stylistic toolkit accounting for the 'theatricality' behind the playwright/screenwriter's use of real and improvised language in creating drama texts.
This thesis documents investigations into the success (or not) of real, spontaneous dialogue when applied to the creation of a script for dramatic performance. The accounting for such success delves into different theoretical frameworks: conversation theory, stylistics, Cognitive Poetics, narratology, and extended cognition. This is therefore an interdisciplinary perspective, with ideas emerging from the fields of psychology, philosophy, literary stylistics and linguistics; yet all applied within the context of drama and performance. As such, this thesis may be seen as a playwright's 'toolbox' where the different views, as they necessarily overlap, can be seen as elements, which, when taken together, account for (and help in) the decisions an author may make in creating a text out of improvised speech. The investigation is also a search for the notion of 'theatricality' in the context of authentic speech and uses various forms of theatrical performance as examples, ranging from amateur improvisation to TV and film productions, Commedia dell'Arte to modern, immersive theatre. Finally, application of the theoretical frameworks is made to a current theatre project, The Plant
Mandatory detention and treatment of drug users in Malaysia : The implications for the principles of human rights
The research framework is founded upon a critical analysis of the extent to which the legal process involved in the mandatory treatment and rehabilitation of drug users in Malaysia is consistent with the principles of human rights according to the national and international human rights instruments; the Malaysian Constitution and the UDHR respectively. The mandatory treatment is based upon the principles of punishment rather than rehabilitation. The arrest and detention of these drug users, which are salient features of the legal process raises the issue of serious violations of the human rights principles. To fulfill the true objective of the government's Drug Intervention Programme (DIP) through treatment and rehabilitation at Puspen centres, by reducing drug dependency and preventing relapse, treatment must be consistent with the principles of human rights for it to be effective. Data and information were gathered from empirical research through the application of various qualitative methods: these include a case study, direct observation, semistructured and unstructured interviews with key stakeholders, focus group with former drug users and an analysis of case files. Findings revealed that the legal process of funneling 'suspected drug dependants' into treatment involved a series of breaches of the fundamental human rights principles that could not be justified. The scope of police powers with regard to the arrest and detention of 'suspected drug dependants' has been widely abused and such exercise of power has been without proper statutory safeguards to protect the rights of these individuals from such arbitrary arrest. Unnecessary prolonged period of detention have led to grave infringement of individual liberty whilst conditions of confinement and failure to provide medical assistance and medication-assisted treatment particularly during withdrawal symptoms have amounted to inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment. Lack of due process including denying the right to legal representation has caused severe legal implications upon the drug users. As a consequence, the flaw in the legal system has deprived them of their constitutional rights and in contravention of
the international human rights principles. Recommendations are proposed for an immediate reform to the drug policies and procedures with paramount consideration towards a more humane and effective treatment
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