62 research outputs found
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Mexican-American learning styles in a socioliterate approach to writing for English learners
The primary goal of this project is to provide a unit of instruction that addresses the critical English skills of oracy, writing, and intercultural proficiency. The curriculum features the social-construction-of-knowledge approach and the socioliterate approach. In addition, it includes an emphasis on Mexican-American values, learning styles, and intercultural communication, showing how they are interrelated and how they affect oral and written language proficiency and intercultural communication competence
Grounding Territory: Geoscience and the Territorial Ordering of Greenland During the Early Cold War
Following recent calls for a more ‘earthly’ geopolitics, this thesis contributes to the ongoing momentum within Political Geography to add depth, volume, and matter to the concept of territory. Merging insights from Science and Technology Studies with geographical studies of territory, this thesis asks how the sciences of the Earth may serve as technologies of territory. How, in other words, might states use science to forge a seemingly stable ordering of space which is extendable through time from a world defined by chaos, instability, and incessant change? To address this question, the thesis mobilises two instances of territory construction in Greenland during the early Cold War, when two differently motivated intruding powers, Denmark and the USA, both used Earth Science as a means of territorialising Greenlandic geographies. Firstly, the high-profile case of Danish uranium prospecting at IlÃmaussaq exemplifies Danish attempts at casting Greenland as a space of extraction – as land upon which the nation might capitalise. Secondly, the practices of two interrelated US military scientific expeditionary outfits are used to show how the US sought to cast Greenlandic landscapes as a military terrain serving as an extra-sovereign extension of American state space.
Despite the apparent differences between these two cases, the empirical findings of this thesis complicate simplistic distinctions between land and terrain, the voluminous and the horizontal, and also between bio- and geo-political orderings of state space. Reading across these two instances of territory formation, the thesis draws attention to the temporal and processual characteristics of territory by showing how territory’s formation in Greenland was informed by a complicated interplay between stability and flow rather than a rigid ‘logic of solids’. Building on Stuart Elden’s work on territory and Elizabeth Grosz’s philosophies of Earth, this thesis thus argues that territory is, in part, a geo-political technology which allows the state to attune to the rhythmic forcefulness of Earth and draw on and over its latent power
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The Myers-Briggs Personality System and its Moderating Effects on the Relationship Between Job Characteristics and Job Satisfaction
In this research, I examined how characteristics of the job, namely task significance and task identity, predicted job satisfaction and how those relationships were moderated by one’s Myers-Briggs type. It was hypothesized that the thinking/feeling dichotomy would moderate the relationship between task significance and job satisfaction and the sensing/intuition dichotomy would moderate the relationship between task identity and job satisfaction. In the study, I sought to understand how these moderated relationships would differ for people with good and poor psychological health. There were 945 people who participated which required them to answer questions about their job, personality, psychological health, life, and demographic information of which 788 participants with usable data were included in the analysis. Results indicated the Myers-Briggs dichotomies did not moderate the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction for both participants with good and poor psychological health. Job characteristics were predictive of job satisfaction over participants’ personalities, suggesting organizations should prioritize structural change, such as increasing task significance, without regard to individual differences. Implications for organizational culture, policy, job design, employee autonomy, well-being, and societal implications are discussed
Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming
This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production
Designing for behavioural change: reducing the social impacts of product use through design
This thesis investigates the feasibility of applying design-led approaches to influence
user behaviour to reduce the negative social impacts of products during use.
A review of the literature revealed a distinct lack of design-led research in this area.
Three promising approaches from other disciplines, however, were found; ecofeedback,
behaviour steering and intelligence. The majority of product examples
identified did not use a singular approach, but combined two or more approaches. Most
of the examples were concepts and focused on the end result. Few commented on the
research and development processes undertaken to generate the final design. These
limitations reinforced the need for case studies detailing these processes.
To this end, two design studies were carried out; a preliminary study using a range of
products and a further, more in-depth study on the use of mobile phones. The results of
these studies led to the development of a framework of attributes for 'behaviour
changing' devices. In response to these findings, two design resources were
developed; a detailed design project to reduce the social impacts of mobile phone use
in public and a short film on texting whilst on the move. Evaluation by design
professionals provided analysis of the effectiveness of these resources and wider
reflections on designer's perceived responsibilities for use and the ethics of designing
for behavioural change.
Collectively, the findings indicated that resources for designing behavioural change
should; be explorative not prescriptive, focus on problem solving, be tailored to meet
the needs of the intended recipient and ideally be applied in the early 'ideation' stages
of the design process. Additionally, the findings indicated that designer's involvement
in, and responsibility for, lifecycle impacts must be extended beyond point-of-purchase.
Designers, however, are reportedly often unable to influence product development at a
strategic level. Prior work, therefore, is needed to engage those at a senior level.
Furthermore, the findings strongly indicate that 'behaviour changing' devices must be
prototyped and subjected to rigorous consumer testing not only to establish their
effectiveness but also to determine their acceptability
An Empirical Investigation Of Information Technology Mediated Customer Services In China
Information technology mediated customer service is a reality of the 21st century. More and more companies have moved their customer services from in store and in person to online through computer or mobile devices. Using 208 respondents collected from two Chinese universities, this paper investigates customer preference over two service delivery model (either in store or online) on five type of purchasing (retail, eating-out, banking, travel and entertainment) and their perception difference in customer service quality between those two delivery model. Results show that a majority of Chinese students prefer in store and in person for eating out. For ordering tickets for travel and entertainment, they prefer computer/mobile device. For retail purchasing and banking, less than half of the students prefer in person services. In general, the results show that ordering through computer/mobile devices has become more popular in China and has received higher rating for most of customer service quality except security compared to ordering in store. In addition, it is found that there exist a gender difference in purchasing preference and perception in service delivery quality in China
A history of the University of Manchester, 1973-90
This is the second volume of a history of the University of Manchester since 1951. It spans seventeen critical years in which public funding was contracting, student grants were diminishing, instructions from the government and the University Grants Commission were multiplying, and universities feared for their reputation in the public eye. It provides a frank account of the University's struggle against these difficulties and its efforts to prove the value of university education to society and the economy. This volume describes and analyses not only academic developments and changes in the structure and finances of the University, but the opinions and social and political lives of the staff and their students as well. It also examines the controversies of the 1970s and 1980s over such issues as feminism, free speech, ethical investment, academic freedom and the quest for efficient management. The author draws on official records, staff and student newspapers, and personal interviews with people who experienced the University in very different ways. With its wide range of academic interests and large student population, the University of Manchester was the biggest unitary university in the country, and its history illustrates the problems faced by almost all British universities. The books will appeal to past and present staff of the University and its alumni, and to anyone interested in the debates surrounding higher education in the late twentieth century. A history of the University of Manchester, 1951-73 by Brian Pullan is also available from Manchester University Press
Precision Agriculture Technology for Crop Farming
This book provides a review of precision agriculture technology development, followed by a presentation of the state-of-the-art and future requirements of precision agriculture technology. It presents different styles of precision agriculture technologies suitable for large scale mechanized farming; highly automated community-based mechanized production; and fully mechanized farming practices commonly seen in emerging economic regions. The book emphasizes the introduction of core technical features of sensing, data processing and interpretation technologies, crop modeling and production control theory, intelligent machinery and field robots for precision agriculture production
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