Representations of Nonhuman Nature by Environmental Activists: Fostering Less Anthropocentric Planning in the More-than-human City

This research investigated the role of environmental activists in controversial development proposals, and whether their other-than-scientific representations of species and natures can produce less-anthropocentric, more ecologically considered planning outcomes. The research illustrates the more-than-human relations within planning practice and the agency of nonhumans, in particular charismatic ‘flagship’ species. The research found increased representation of nonhumans using local knowledge can reduce the impact of human chauvinism and develop more ecologically considered more-than-human cities

Teacher identity construction in a TESOL Graduate Certificate of Education in Western Australia

This research project explored the potential of a second language teacher education course for fostering teacher identity negotiation. It was found that classroom conversations provided a rich space for teacher identity negotiation; however, no substantial changes were observed in most aspects of their identities during the course, except for a growth in a few teachers’ selfconfidence. The implications are that conducting teacher education in an interactive manner is highly beneficial, but deeper engagement with practice of teaching is recommended. These insights should facilitate positive outcomes for teacher education programs

A Post-ANT Study of the Translation of a Performance Management System

This dissertation consists of three individual research papers that push the boundaries on the ontology, epistemology, and methodology of the actor-network-theory (ANT) pertaining to its mobilization in sociological and organizational accounting research. All three papers anchor on an ethnographic field study wherein a team of two consultants developed a new performance management system (PMS) in a subsidiary of a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in China. Chapter 1 introduces the overarching theses in this dissertation, which are characterized by the ontological boundaries of ANT that the three papers push and the new dimensions of accounting research it opens by pushing such boundaries. Paper 1 (Chapter 2) explores the ways in which accounting enacts multiple reality in the organization by mobilizing the notion of multiple reality contributed by Actor-Network Theorists Annemarie Mol (1999, 2002) and others (Dugdale, 1999; Law, 2002; Law & Singleton, 2005), and seek to extend our understanding of the roles of accounting by explicating how accounting practices enact, circulate, sustain, and erode multiple reality; how the multiple reality coexisted, relied on, opposed to, and were outside and inside one another; as well as how accounting translation is executed when the reality is multiple. Paper 2 (Chapter 3) probes the theoretical and methodological dilemma posed by ANTs flat ontology: how to approach institutionalized contexts with the vocabulary of ANT. Through examining the roles that SOE context plays in the translation processes of accounting technology, I identify context roles in the actor-network as black boxes, discursive resources, devices of interessement, and performative actants. Drawing on the Bakhtinian notions of genre and intertextuality, the third paper (Chapter 4) examines the role that linguistic gaps can play during the introduction and formation of management accounting practices. These linguistic gaps involve the cross-language gap between different languages, the generic gap between speech genres suitable for particular purposes or communicative situations, and the performative gap between text and verbal performance. These gaps, on the one hand, contribute to the incompleteness of performance measures by enabling interpretive and performative spaces; and on the other hand, can be mustered as a rhetorical strategy by actors to persuade and recruit others during the formation of accounting objects. Chapter 5 concludes the dissertation by bringing a critical spirit into ANT-inspired accounting research

Widening participation in medicine in the UK and Australia: An international comparison of policy, process and experience

This thesis contains the photochemical investigation and synthesis of ten Manganese(I) Tricarbonyl complexes bound to variably functionalised 5-aryl-tetrazolato ligands. When irradiated with light, all 10 of the complexes simultaneously released three CO ligands, degrading into their original components and MnO2. The thesis also consists of the study of three Re(I) tricarbonyl complexes, with the general formulation Re(N^L)(CO)3X, with the aim of exploring their photophysical and photochemical properties. The two complexes bound to the thione ligand were found to undergo reversible ligand exchange with solvent when dissolved in acetonitrile

An analysis of english academic writing in a Libyan university

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis study explores English academic writing in a Libyan university. The results show a number of challenges and issues that Libyan university students experience in using English for academic writing. The study suggests intervention procedures that may correct students’ linguistic academic deficiencies. Using Gee (1999)’s D/discourse theory and Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and field, which view writing as a social practice embedded in social activities, the study takes a purely qualitative approach, presenting data descriptions by both students and lecturers. The sample size of the investigation is eight – four lecturers and four students. The data was collected mainly through classroom observation, open-ended interviews and an analysis of students’ assignment essays. The results indicate several areas of challenge for Libyan students with regard to academic writing; a lack of adequate ‘scaffolding’, a lack of ample time spent on authentic practice, and inappropriate immediate feedback. Findings also show a lack of teaching methods and strategies that correct syntactical and morphological errors, and a lack of skills – research skills. Further to this, results revealed a lack of synthesis and summary skills, referencing skills – and a lack of confidence in tackling academic writing tasks. In addition, the lack of appropriate materials to consult was a contributing factor, as was students’ social and economic status. The study calls for various interventions that may assist students to acquire academic writing skills and hence develop a sense of confidence in taking on academic tasks

The French-Anglophone divide in lithic research: A plea for pluralism in Palaeolithic Archaeology

In this provocative study, Shumon T. Hussain engages with the long-standing issue of French-Anglophone research conflicts in Palaeolithic archaeology. By examining a range of well-selected case studies and discursive contexts, the author shows that French and Anglophone approaches in lithic analysis are anchored in opposing cognitive frameworks. He argues that the mainstays of this division can be elucidated by calling upon the marginalised work of American philosopher Stephen C. Pepper, who captured the totality of credible Western thought in terms of four equitable world hypotheses. Based upon his insights, the dissertation demonstrates that French lithic research gravitates towards ‘contextualistic’ and ‘organicistic’ modes of inquiry, while Anglophone approaches tend to rely on ‘formistic’ and ‘mechanistic’ styles of reasoning. Hussain carefully lays out the implications of this condition for mutual understanding and critical practice. He contends that the French-Anglophone divide can only be overcome if scholars endorse scientific pluralism and begin to seriously take into consideration both the strengths and shortcomings of different cognitive frameworks, including their own. Human Origin