The Cross-National Determinants of Legislative Party Switching

Why do legislators switch parties? What accounts for variation in party switching across different countries? How do electoral rules impact legislative party switching behavior and how is this behavior impacted by changes to these rules? The first chapter of this study builds on the existing body of research on the determinants of legislative party switching. More specifically, I build on the extant theories which have identified vote-, office-, and policy-seeking as motivations of legislator behavior. I examine the strategic decision making of legislators in various institutional contexts and argue that such contexts create or modify incentives and constraints that condition the decision to switch parties. Moving beyond the single country and cross-national party level analyses prevalent in the literature, this study attempts to approach party switching with a cross-national battery of variables from an original individual-level dataset. This dataset includes observations from Canada, Italy, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom from 1990-2001. I find support for vote- and policy-seeking hypotheses as well as district and system level institutional variables. In order to investigate how electoral rules impact party switching behavior, the second section of this study focuses on New Zealand and the evolution of its electoral system. These changes include a transition from a pure single-member district (SMD) electoral system to a mixed-member (MM), compensatory proportional representation system in 1996. Preliminary evidence suggests that the change to a MM electoral system is associated with a rise in the frequency of legislative party switching in New Zealand\u27s House of Representatives. Additionally, there is evidence that party switching legislators are motivated by vote-seeking concerns over reelection

Twining : Critical and Creative Approaches to Hypertext Narratives

Twining is both a critical consideration of Twine and works made with it during the first decade of the software; and an exploration of concepts and techniques for making things with Twine.https://dc.uwm.edu/english_facbooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Twining

Hypertext is now commonplace: links and linking structure nearly all of our experiences online. Yet the literary, as opposed to commercial, potential of hypertext has receded. One of the few tools still focused on hypertext as a means for digital storytelling is Twine, a platform for building choice-driven stories without relying heavily on code. In Twining, Anastasia Salter and Stuart Moulthrop lead readers on a journey at once technical, critical, contextual, and personal. The book’s chapters alternate careful, stepwise discussion of adaptable Twine projects, offer commentary on exemplary Twine works, and discuss Twine’s technological and cultural background. Beyond telling the story of Twine and how to make Twine stories, Twining reflects on the ongoing process of making

Exploring 21st Century Learning in Virginia Secondary School Technology and Engineering Classrooms: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how integrative STEM teachers utilize the Standards for Technological and Engineering Literacy (STEL) to foster and assess 21st-century learning in technology and engineering classes at multiple Virginia public secondary schools. The theory guiding this study was Kolb’s experiential learning theory, which integrates nine learning theories into an innovative cyclical learning process that is like the engineering design loop. This hermeneutic phenomenology included 15 Virginia technology and engineering schoolteachers (Grades 6-12) who purposefully taught multiple academic disciplines and utilized the eight practices of the STEL in the context of their curriculum to foster 21st-century learning. Data collection included individual interviews, journal prompts, and physical artifacts (lesson plans, assessment tools, etc.). Data were entered into the Delve data analysis software and were analyzed using Van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological theory for common themes regarding the fostering and assessment of 21st-century literacy. The themes extracted from the data included measuring 21st-century learning, developing 21st-century curriculum, and the eight practices of technology and engineering educators: creativity, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, optimism, attention to ethics, systems thinking, and making and doing. The findings indicated that integrative STEM methodology, multidisciplinary instruction, and the eight practices of the STEL fostered 21st-century learning. This study’s significance was to add to the available literature on integrative STEM education and the STEL fostering 21st-century learning

Dynamic competition with customer recognition and switching costs: theory and application

This dissertation aims to contribute to our understanding of dynamic interaction in duopoly markets. Chapter 1 motivates the study and offers a brief overview of the results. In Chapter 2 I study the dynamic equilibrium of a market characterized by repeat purchases. Such markets exhibit two common features: customer recognition, which allows firms to price discriminate on the basis of purchase history, and consumer switching costs. Both features have implications for the competitiveness of the market and consumer welfare but are rarely studied together. I employ a dynamic framework to model a market with customer recognition and switching costs. In contrast to earlier studies of dynamic competition with switching costs, these costs are explicitly incorporated in the demand functions. Two sets of market equilibria are characterized depending on the size of the switching cost. For all values of the switching cost, customer recognition gives rise to a bargain-then-ripoff pattern in prices and switching costs amplify the loyalty price premium. When switching costs are low, there is incomplete customer lock-in in steady state, firm profits increase in the magnitude of the switching cost and introductory offers do not fall below cost. When switching costs are high, there is complete customer lock-in in steady state, firm profits are independent of switching costs and introductory prices may fall below cost. Under incomplete lock-in and bilateral poaching, switching costs do not affect the speed of convergence to steady state; under complete customer lock-in and no poaching from either firm, convergence to steady state occurs in just one period. The model also suggests that imperfect customer recognition leads to lower profits relative to both uniform pricing and perfect customer recognition. In Chapter 3 I use the market framework developed in Chapter 2 to examine the perception that imperfect competition hinders information sharing among rivals in games of random matching. In contrast to previous studies of information sharing, I propose a new channel through which competition may deter information sharing. This approach reveals a key role for firm liquidity by showing that information sharing among rivals is more likely to arise in markets populated by more liquid firms. Employing a dynamic duopoly framework, in which competition intensity varies with the degree of product differentiation, consumer switching costs and consumer patience, I show that more intense market competition can weaken the disincentives associated with disclosing information to a rival. I test the model's predictions using firm-level data on the information-sharing practices of agricultural traders in Madagascar. As predicted by the model, traders operating in liquid markets are shown to be more likely to share information about delinquent customers. This result is robust to the use of two alternative measures of liquidity, of which one is credibly exogenous, and two alternative ways of defining market liquidity. Furthermore, traders who report more intense competition in their market are found to be significantly more likely to share information

Code-switching among music educators: an exploratory study

The purpose of this comparative phenomenological study was to investigate whether code-switching happened among music educators and if so, whether they used code-switching in their teaching. The secondary purpose of the study was to learn how music educators with varied musical experiences differentiated and / or code-switched between settings, if at all. As there was little existent literature in the area of code-switching and musicians, it was hoped this study would fill a gap in the literature about music educators and code-switching. This dissertation employed qualitative methodology including comparative phenomenology. The goal was to understand the lived experiences of the five participants as they reflected on their experiences code-switching. The data consisted primarily of in-depth interviews and analysis using NVIVO™ coding software to develop in vivo data, sub-themes and themes. Thick description, identifying research bias, and member checks were used to establish trustworthiness. Five themes emerged: Teacher identity as code-switching, early exposure to oral learning and notation affects code-switching, professional “gigging” as code-switching, musical instruments as code-switching and finally, code-switching and 21st century learning and teaching. Recommendations were provided for educators and future research

Computer-Aided Business Model Design

There is a lack of dedicated tools for business model design at a strategic level. However, in today's economic world the need to be able to quickly reinvent a company's business model is essential to stay competitive. This research focused on identifying the functionalities that are necessary in a computer-aided design (CAD) tool for the design of business models in a strategic context. Using design science research methodology a series of techniques and prototypes have been designed and evaluated to offer solutions to the problem. The work is a collection of articles which can be grouped into three parts: First establishing the context of how the Business Model Canvas (BMC) is used to design business models and explore the way in which CAD can contribute to the design activity. The second part extends on this by proposing new technics and tools which support elicitation, evaluation (assessment) and evolution of business models design with CAD. This includes features such as multi-color tagging to easily connect elements, rules to validate coherence of business models and features that are adapted to the correct business model proficiency level of its users. A new way to describe and visualize multiple versions of a business model and thereby help in addressing the business model as a dynamic object was also researched. The third part explores extensions to the business model canvas such as an intermediary model which helps IT alignment by connecting business model and enterprise architecture. And a business model pattern for privacy in a mobile environment, using privacy as a key value proposition. The prototyped techniques and proposition for using CAD tools in business model modeling will allow commercial CAD developers to create tools that are better suited to the needs of practitioners

Consuming online communities : computer operating systems, identity and resistance

A defining feature of the modern era of computer technologies has been a massive reliance upon the mass consumption of personal operating system software. Currently three products dominate how the world experiences computer operating system – Microsoft‘s Windows, Apple‘s Mac, and Linux. The near monopoly held by Windows has been a crucial enabler of the ICT revolution, while the small but significant markets held by Mac and Linux provide alternatives to Windows monoculture. Aside from their technical differences each offers distinct examples of modern-day branding, with individuals forming communities in which members signify their allegiance with these products. This thesis presents these individuals as User-Fans – those who develop an affinity with the mundane products of modern culture. Adapted from the fan models forwarded by Thorne and Bruner (2006), and Hunt, Bristol and Bashaw (1999), it is proposed that User-Fans are an acknowledgement of the extremes of devotion displayed by modern consumerism while also conveying an acceptance that consumerism is a form of discourse where strong allegiances can exist. Central to this thesis is the idea that brand communities exist as a consumer response to the emerging influence of the consumer society. Muñiz and O‘Guinn‘s (2001) brand community theory provides an apt description of the behaviour and bonds exhibited by the consumers central to this study. In outlining the convergence of individual and communal worship‘ of brands the brand community concept is adopted as both a form of communal interaction and the outcome of consumer devotion. The emergence of brand communities and User-Fandom reflects wider shifts in a society enveloped within the rhetoric of consumerism and the influence of the consumer society. Central to this is the manner in which the relationship between producers and consumers has evolved. In noting this relationship it becomes important to determine whether individuals are active agents within this system or if they are passive to the hegemonic forces that surround them. For the purpose of this research the consumer perspective was focused upon. It is the description of these converging forces that stands as the major theoretical contribution of this study. In performing netnographic research on the postings of operating systems users on online forums, the research identifies distinct forms of social interaction and consumer-product relationships. The broad concepts of community, identity, the consumer society and resistance have been brought together to establish a framework in an attempt to explain the socielity within this context. The analysis of the forums through the theoretical grounding allow for the concepts of brand communities, User-Fandom and resistance through consumerism to be explored