What's in a Name? Exploring the Impact of Naming Assignments

Past research has examined how various elements and style of a syllabus influence students’ perceptions of the class. Furthermore, students’ learning and grade orientations have been shown to impact academic performance and effort. We sought to add to this literature by exploring how an assignment’s name might impact estimates of time to be spent on and the importance of the assignment. We also explored the separate interaction effect of the attitudes and behaviors subscales of these orientations on students’ perceptions separately. In total, 159 undergraduate students completed a survey with a written assignment called “Quiz,” “Exam,” or “Journal.” Participants answered questions from the LOGO-II scale, and regarding their anticipated effort, time to be spent on, and the importance of the assignment. We found that the quiz and exam were perceived as more important than the journal even though participants reported spending the least amount of time on the quiz. Significant interactions between name and learning/grade orientation suggest that for students with high motivation to learn (attitudes and behaviors), all assignments are perceived as an opportunity to learn. However, for students focused on grades (grade orientation behaviors), all graded assignments are opportunities for grades and hence equally important. These results support analyzing attitudes and behaviors separately. Results are discussed in light of previous research and directions for future research.Dans le passé, la recherche a porté sur la mesure dans laquelle le style d’un plan de cours et des divers éléments qui le composent influencent la perception qu’ont les étudiants du cours. La recherche a effectivement démontré que l’orientation des étudiants relative à l’apprentissage et aux notes a un impact sur les efforts qu’ils investissent et sur leur performance. Nous avons voulu contribuer à cette recherche en nous penchant sur l’impact que pourrait avoir le nom d’une évaluation sur le temps que les étudiants pensaient y consacrer et sur leur impression de son importance. Nous avons également étudié, séparément, l’effet de l’interaction des sous-échelles des attitudes et des comportements sur ces orientations. Au total, 159 étudiants du premier cycle ont complété un sondage portant sur une évaluation nommée ou bien «quiz », « examen » ou « journal ». Ils ont répondu à des questions de l’échelle LOGO-II, ainsi qu’à des questions au sujet de l’effort et du temps qu’ils prévoyaient consacrer aux évaluations et de l’importance qu’ils attribuaient à chacune. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants perçoivent le quiz et l’examen comme étant plus importants que le journal, même s’ils indiquent avoir passé le moins de temps sur le quiz. Les interactions significatives entre le nom et l’orientation relative à l’apprentissage et aux notes portent à croire que les étudiants qui sont hautement motivés à apprendre (de par leurs attitudes et leur comportement) perçoivent toutes les évaluations comme des occasions d’apprentissage. Toutefois, pour les étudiants qui se concentrent surtout sur les notes, toutes les évaluations notées représentent des occasions d’avoir de bonnes notes et elles ont donc la même importance. Les résultats appuient l’analyse séparée des attitudes et des comportements. Ceux-ci font l’objet d’une discussion dans le contexte de la recherche antérieure d’une part, et en fonction de l’orientation de la recherche à l’avenir d’autre part

Ethics and the Primacy of the Other: A Levinasian Foundation for Phenomenological Research

This paper compares Heidegger’s “dasein-centric” existential hermeneutic to Levinas’s primacy of the Other and the importance the latter places on the ethical relationship. Invoking the concepts of totality and infinity, the paper discusses the ways in which one encounters the Other and how signification arises from the ethical relationship. This is followed by a discussion of how Levinas’s ethics might influence existential phenomenological research methodology, pointing to the ethical demands described by Levinas as seeming to have priority over the praxis of research insofar as the Other calls us beyond the methodological framework. Finally, the paper considers the extent to which the ethical demands of Levinas’s phenomenology are met by the special place of the research participant and the attitude of empathic presence prescribed within the Heideggerian framework. Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 10, Edition 2, October 2010: 11-2

Until the shaken snowglobe settles: Feeling unsettled when using social media during COVID-19

Previous research establishing the connection between social media and well-being is particularly relevant in light of findings of increased social media use during the COVID-19 pandemic. While research has fairly consistently established a relationship between media use, anxiety, depression and other indices of well-being, it has been less consistent in tying these variations to technology and user related factors. Researchers advocating for the interdependence of these factors suggest that the way users attune to the medium is decisive regarding its meaning for the user. Taking up the call for research to explore the dynamic interplay between users and technology and its relationship to well-being, we adopted a phenomenological approach using a reflexive thematic analysis method to highlight our participants’ concerns when using and engaging with social media during COVID-19. Specifically, we illuminate how participants are attuning to social media such that they experience it unsettlingly. Results revealed being unsettled during COVID-19 in the face of social media comprises three distinct movements: rupture, recollection, and resolution. Being unsettled emerges when an individual is experientially efficaciously detached from the past and its future instead engulfed in an encompassing and expanding now that is unclear and ambiguous. These results shed light on the inconsistencies found in previous literature and the importance of an experiential dimension in psychological research

¿Por qué Enseñar? Un Proyect-ivo del Mundo de la vida para Entender qué Significa la Enseñanza para los Maestros

Previous literature has examined teachers’ motivations to teach in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic motives, personality dimensions, and teacher burnout. These findings have been cast in the rubric of differences between teachers and non-teachers and the linear relations between these measures among teachers. Utilizing a phenomenological approach (Giorgi, 1970) to analyze data generated in structured interviews with four tenured professors from small, liberal arts universities whose central mission is teaching, this paper presents the telic or project-ive horizons of teaching – those motives aimed at what is ‘not yet’ (Heidegger, 1927/1962). Results revealed that teaching is understood by teachers to be a dialogical enterprise between a teacher and learners across dimensions of transformation, knowledge, and personhood. This dialogue entailed an abiding tension between self and other, activity and passivity, giving and receiving, preparation and spontaneity, instructing and learning, leading and following, asserting and withdrawing. It comprised an orientation to a teachers’ vision for the possible future personhood of the teacher and their students and to the character of the world which teachers and learners inhabit together. These findings are discussed in terms of the reviewed literature and as a case in point for a vital complementarity of research approaches.La literatura ha examinado las motivaciones de los docentes para enseñar en términos de motivos intrínsecos y extrínsecos, las dimensiones de la personalidad, y el desgaste. Estos hallazgos han sido expuestos mediante diferencias entre maestros y no-maestros y las relaciones lineales de este indicativo entre los maestros. Utilizando un enfoque fenomenológico (Giorgi, 1970) para analizar los datos generados en entrevistas estructuradas con cuatro profesores titulares de una pequeña universidad de humanidades cuya misión central es la docencia, este trabajo presenta los horizontes telic o proyect-ivos de la enseñanza - esos motivos que apuntan a lo que "no es todavía" (Heidegger, 1927/1962). Los resultados revelaron que la enseñanza es entendida por los maestros como una relación dialógica entre un maestro y sus estudiantes a través de dimensiones de transformación, conocimiento y personalidad. Este diálogo implicaba una tensión constante entre el yo y el otro, la actividad y la pasividad, el dar y recibir, la preparación y la espontaneidad, instruir y aprender, dirigir y seguir, afirmar y retirar. Esto comprendía una orientación de los maestros hacia su posible futura personalidad y la de sus estudiantes y sobre el carácter del mundo en el que profesores y estudiantes cohabitan. Estos hallazgos se discuten en términos de la literatura revisada y como ejemplo de una complementariedad vital de los enfoques de investigació

Politeness and compassion differentially predict adherence to fairness norms and interventions to norm violations in economic games

Adherence to norms and interventions to norm violations are two important forms of social behaviour modelled in economic games. While both appear to serve a prosocial function, they may represent separate mechanisms corresponding with distinct emotional and psychological antecedents, and thus may be predicted by different personality traits. In this study, we compared adherence to fairness norms in the dictator game with responses to violations of the same norms in third-party punishment and recompensation games with respect to prosocial traits from the Big Five and HEXACO models of personality. The results revealed a pattern of differential relations between prosocial traits and game behaviours. While norm adherence in the dictator game was driven by traits reflecting good manners and non-aggression (i.e., the politeness aspect of Big Five agreeableness and HEXACO honesty-humility), third-party recompensation of victims—and to a lesser extent, punishment of offenders—was uniquely driven by traits reflecting emotional concern for others (the compassion aspect of Big Five agreeableness). These findings demonstrate the discriminant validity between similar prosocial constructs and highlight the different prosocial motivations underlying economic game behaviours

National culture and tourist destination choice in the UK and Venezuela: an exploratory and preliminary study

National culture determines consumer attitudes and behaviour. While this holds true for tourism consumption, little research has sought to better understand the effect of culture on tourist destination choice. The geographical scope of analysis has also been restricted. This study employs the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework to conduct an exploratory, qualitative evaluation of the influence of the tourist cultural background on destination choice. It focuses on the UK and Venezuela, the two countries with significant cultural differences and forecast growth in outbound tourism. The study shows the distinct role of culture in tourist preferences for destination choice and structure of travel groups. The effect of culture is also recorded in how tourists research destinations prior to visit and perceive travel risks, thus ultimately influencing their motivation to travel. Recommendations are developed on how to integrate knowledge on the cultural background of tourists into tourism management and policy-making practices

Strategic incentives for complementary producers to innovate for efficiency and support sustainability

Process innovation that increases operational efficiency through a step change improvement in resource utilisation and waste reduction can help boost manufacturing profitability but also offer broader social and environmental benefits. Business owners, though, might be reluctant to make investments in process innovation unless they serve a pure profit motive. While not guided by altruistic intentions, the owners might nonetheless see a strategic benefit in providing their managers with remuneration incentives supported by public commitments to increase innovation effort for more efficient, lean and sustainable operations. We model such a possibility amongst producers controlling the supply of essential complementary components that go into the assembly of competitively produced composite finished goods. We demonstrate the ruinous effect of independent strategic delegation to managers of powerful complementary producers. Instead, collaboration amongst the owners of the complementary producers to establish common managerial incentives can increase innovative effort to raise efficiency that benefits the whole industry supply chain, end consumers, and social welfare. Government-backed voluntary agreements with sector-wide commitments may be helpful in encouraging process innovation to support lean supply chains and sustainability

Mitochondrial Genome Sequences Effectively Reveal the Phylogeny of Hylobates Gibbons

BACKGROUND: Uniquely among hominoids, gibbons exist as multiple geographically contiguous taxa exhibiting distinctive behavioral, morphological, and karyotypic characteristics. However, our understanding of the evolutionary relationships of the various gibbons, especially among Hylobates species, is still limited because previous studies used limited taxon sampling or short mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences. Here we use mtDNA genome sequences to reconstruct gibbon phylogenetic relationships and reveal the pattern and timing of divergence events in gibbon evolutionary history. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sequenced the mitochondrial genomes of 51 individuals representing 11 species belonging to three genera (Hylobates, Nomascus and Symphalangus) using the high-throughput 454 sequencing system with the parallel tagged sequencing approach. Three phylogenetic analyses (maximum likelihood, Bayesian analysis and neighbor-joining) depicted the gibbon phylogenetic relationships congruently and with strong support values. Most notably, we recover a well-supported phylogeny of the Hylobates gibbons. The estimation of divergence times using Bayesian analysis with relaxed clock model suggests a much more rapid speciation process in Hylobates than in Nomascus. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Use of more than 15 kb sequences of the mitochondrial genome provided more informative and robust data than previous studies of short mitochondrial segments (e.g., control region or cytochrome b) as shown by the reliable reconstruction of divergence patterns among Hylobates gibbons. Moreover, molecular dating of the mitogenomic divergence times implied that biogeographic change during the last five million years may be a factor promoting the speciation of Sundaland animals, including Hylobates species

Durvalumab Plus Carboplatin/Paclitaxel Followed by Maintenance Durvalumab With or Without Olaparib as First-Line Treatment for Advanced Endometrial Cancer: The Phase III DUO-E Trial

PURPOSE Immunotherapy and chemotherapy combinations have shown activity in endometrial cancer, with greater benefit in mismatch repair (MMR)-deficient (dMMR) than MMR-proficient (pMMR) disease. Adding a poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor may improve outcomes, especially in pMMR disease. METHODS This phase III, global, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial randomly assigned eligible patients with newly diagnosed advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer 1:1:1 to: carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab placebo followed by placebo maintenance (control arm); carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib placebo (durvalumab arm); or carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab plus olaparib (durvalumab + olaparib arm). The primary end points were progression-free survival (PFS) in the durvalumab arm versus control and the durvalumab + olaparib arm versus control. RESULTS Seven hundred eighteen patients were randomly assigned. In the intention-to-treat population, statistically significant PFS benefit was observed in the durvalumab (hazard ratio [HR], 0.71 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.89]; P = .003) and durvalumab + olaparib arms (HR, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.43 to 0.69]; P < .0001) versus control. Prespecified, exploratory subgroup analyses showed PFS benefit in dMMR (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.22 to 0.80]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.41 [95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75]) and pMMR subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.77 [95% CI, 0.60 to 0.97]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control] 0.57; [95% CI, 0.44 to 0.73]); and in PD-L1-positive subgroups (HR [durvalumab v control], 0.63 [95% CI, 0.48 to 0.83]; HR [durvalumab + olaparib v control], 0.42 [95% CI, 0.31 to 0.57]). Interim overall survival results (maturity approximately 28%) were supportive of the primary outcomes (durvalumab v control: HR, 0.77 [95% CI, 0.56 to 1.07]; P = .120; durvalumab + olaparib v control: HR, 0.59 [95% CI, 0.42 to 0.83]; P = .003). The safety profiles of the experimental arms were generally consistent with individual agents. CONCLUSION Carboplatin/paclitaxel plus durvalumab followed by maintenance durvalumab with or without olaparib demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful PFS benefit in patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer