Students\u27 use of personal technology in the classroom: analyzing the perceptions of the digital generation

Faculty frequently express concerns about students’ personal use of information and communication technologies in today’s university classrooms. As a requirement of a graduate research methodology course in a university in Ontario, Canada, the authors conducted qualitative research to gain an in-depth understanding of students’ perceptions of this issue. Their findings reveal students’ complex considerations about the acceptability of technology use. Their analysis of the broader contexts of students’ use reveals that despite a technological revolution, university teaching practices have remained largely the same, resulting in ‘cultural lag’ within the classroom. While faculty are technically ‘in charge’, students wield power through course evaluations, surveillance technologies and Internet postings. Neoliberalism and the corporatisation of the university have engendered an ‘entrepreneurial student’ customer who sees education as a means to a career. Understanding students’ perceptions and their technological, social and political contexts offers insights into the tensions within today’s classrooms

Banking on Housing; Spending the Home

British mortgagors hold more wealth in their homes than ever before. They are spending more freely from these assets now than they are likely to again. \u27Banking on housing\u27 is concerned with when, where, why and how people choose and use their mortgages to roll equity out of housing and into other things. It is a study of the consumption of housing, the consumption of mortgages, and the use of housing wealth in consumption more broadly

A Taxonomy of Software Delivery Performance Profiles: Investigating the Effects of DevOps Practices

This research develops a taxonomy of Software Delivery Performance Profiles for DevOps development settings. We base the underlying Software Delivery Performance measure on the application of the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model to software development. Consistent with the objectives of both, development and operations departments, the measure includes attributes for throughput (release frequency and lead-time to delivery) and for stability (mean time to restore). Using a sample of 7,522 DevOps professionals globally, we conduct a hierarchical cluster analysis and find that the throughput and stability measures move in tandem and form three distinct Software Delivery Performance Profiles. Further analysis will show how the use of individual DevOps practices impacts Performance Profiles of development settings. When completed, the study will support the utility of DevOps and the effectiveness of individual DevOps practices

Clinical research nursing pathways: The development and evaluation of a nursing research internship program using the RE-AIM framework.

In 2018 a Nursing Research Internship program was started within a major referral and tertiary teaching centre in Australia. We aimed to evaluate the first 12 months of the program using an implementation science framework. This was a qualitative study. Following ethical approval n = 20 semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Participants included nurses with clinical, research and management roles who had engaged in or supported a Nursing Research Internship program. The Framework Method was conducted to analyse the findings. Key themes identified included 'What is the impact of a Nursing Research Internship program?'; 'Why do a Nursing Research Internship program?'; 'How do we do a Nursing Research Internship program?'; 'How do we sustain a Nursing Research Internship program?'. Positive impacts were identified for clinical nurses and their teams, for the hospital and health service, and for patients and families. Identified key components included protected research time, specialist support (including library, statistics, health economist, implementation scientist), regulatory support (ethics and governance procedures) and access to a computer and IT resources. The Nursing Research Internship program required support from nurse clinicians, nurse managers and nurse academics. A structured Nursing Research Internship program supports clinical nurses to answer research questions identified directly from clinical practice

Is Reticular Macular Disease a Choriocapillaris Perfusion Problem?

The etiology of reticular macular disease (RMD), a sub-phenotype of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is controversial and has not been clarified. RMD is suspected to be a multifactorial, complex disease with genetic, environmental, and systemic factors playing an important role in its origin. Findings from combinations of different imaging modalities suggest that the pattern that characterizes this condition is associated with an alteration of the choriocapillaris blood flow. If the choroid is indeed affected in RMD, the possible linkage with inflammatory or other systemic diseases could be better supported

Payments for Carbon Sequestration to Alleviate Development Pressure in a Rapidly Urbanizing Region

The purpose of this study was to determine individuals’ willingness to enroll in voluntary payments for carbon sequestration programs through the use of a discrete choice experiment delivered to forest owners living in the rapidly urbanizing region surrounding Charlotte, North Carolina. We examined forest owners’ willingness to enroll in payments for carbon sequestration policies under different levels of financial incentives (annual revenue), different contract lengths and different program administrators (e.g., private companies versus a state or federal agency). We also examined the influence forest owners’ sense of place had on their willingness to enroll in hypothetical programs. Our results showed a high level of ambivalence towards participating in payments for carbon sequestration programs. However, both financial incentives and contract lengths significantly influenced forest owners’ intent to enroll. Neither program administration nor forest owners’ sense of place influenced intent to enroll. While our analyses indicated payments from carbon sequestration programs are not currently competitive with the monetary returns expected from timber harvest or property sales, certain forest owners might see payments for carbon sequestration programs as a viable option for offsetting increasing tax costs as development encroaches and property values rise

A Qualitative Study of the Motivations and Affiliation Dynamics Involved with a Firefighting Career

We explored the experiences of full-time firefighters in the present phenomenological qualitative study, having conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 male full-time firefighters. Their personal constructs of motivation and affiliation were explored and, within the constructs of motivation, three themes emerged. First, firefighters were motivated by a love of the excitement firefighting provides. Second, firefighters reported that the work schedule, which allows them more time at home, was a motivation. Third (and most emphasized by the firefighters) was an altruistic motivation to help others. Under the construct of affiliation, the firefighters reported a strong sense of brotherhood with their shift-partners, and they extended this brotherhood to all firefighters and even other emergency workers. We relate these findings to the existing body of research regarding the relationship between motivation, affiliation and satisfaction of firefighters