Critical reading of a text through its electronic supplement

A by-product of new social media platforms is an abundant textual record of engagements – billions of words across the world-wide-web in, for example, discussion forums, blogs and wiki discussion tabs. Many of these engagements consist of commentary on a particular text and can thus be regarded as supplements to these texts. The larger purpose of this article is to flag the utility value of this electronic supplementarity for critical reading by highlighting how it can reveal particular meanings that the text being responded to can reasonably be said to marginalise and / or repress. Given the potentially very large size of social media textual product, knowing how to explore these supplements with electronic text analysis software is essential. To illustrate the above, I focus on how the content of online discussion forums, explored through electronic text analysis software, can be used to assist critical reading of the texts which initiate them. The paper takes its theoretical orientations from the textual intervention work of Rob Pope together with themes in the work of the philosopher, Jacques Derrida

Implicit dialogical premises, explanation as argument: a corpus-based reconstruction

This paper focuses on an explanation in a newspaper article: why new European Union citizens will come to the UK from Eastern Europe (e.g., because of available jobs). Using a corpus-based method of analysis, I show how regular target readers have been positioned to generate premises in dialogue with the explanation propositions, and thus into an understanding of the explanation as an argument, one which contains a biased conclusion not apparent in the text. Employing this method, and in particular ‘corpus comparative statistical keywords’, I show how two issues can be freshly looked at: implicit premise recovery; the argument/explanation distinction

Self-direction as a dimension of nursing education for nursing practice

This thesis is about self-direction in nursing education and practice. The study, located in the Republic of Ireland, took place against the background of profound professional and educational reform culminating in the transfer of pre-registration nursing to the higher education sector in 2002. It adopts the position that learning how to nurse is dependent upon many issues including an individual’s perception of what nursing is together with the educational experiences to which that individual is exposed. The investigation endorses the need for continuous engagement in learning expressed in much contemporary literature and policy (An Bord Altranais 1994, An Bord Altranais 1997, Report of the Commission on Nursing 1998, Report of the Nursing Education Forum 2000 and Department of Health and Children 2002). One method of facilitating life-long learning is through a process of self-direction. The aims of the study are detailed below. 1. To explore the concept of self-direction from the perspective of: student nurses; nurse educators; nurse practitioners; and nurse managers. 2. To develop a framework for the introduction and development of self-direction within nursing education and practice. Given the contextual nature of the study it was also envisaged that the methods employed could contribute to an analysis of action research as a research methodology capable of contributing to policy development. 3. To explore the stability of qualitative methods of data analysis. Qualitative studies have been criticized for the lack of mechanisms or processes to acknowledge the possibility that the evidence presented does not reflect that embedded in the data. This study therefore employs a variety of data analytical methods in an attempt to address this deficit and contribute to the development of robust findings. The literature review is divided into three main sections: self-direction; curriculum; and policy development. The review concludes by making the case for an exploration of self-direction as one means of facilitating the development of nursing education programmes in a manner informed by the thinking of Foucault, Dewey, Durkenheim, Hiemstra, Brockett, and Confessore and Confessore amongst others. The methodological section debates the merits and limitations of adopting a worldview based on subjective experience as the basis for inquiry. This emanates from the premise that qualitative methods allow exploration of humans in ways that acknowledge the value of all evidence, the inevitability and worth of subjectivity and the value of a holistic view described by Chinn (1985). An action research design, specifically participatory action research, was considered most appropriate for this study. The model of action research selected is that proposed by Elliot (1991) and based on the original thinking of Lewin (1946). The study comprises two discrete but inter-related cycles of action research. Cycle one focused on an exploration of self-direction from the perspective of student nurses; nurse educators; nurse practitioners; and nurse managers engaged in pre-registration nursing education. The sample consisted of seventy-two participants. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using the constant comparative method as described by Glaser and Strauss (1967) and computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). The findings from both methods of data analysis were compared and contrasted with a view to contributing to the general methodological debate surrounding data analysis. The findings from action research cycle one emerged as four core categories, which were linked together in a practice framework of self-direction within a model of social reality as described by Burrell and Morgan (1979). Cycle one concludes by proposing to utilize the framework of self-direction developed to explore the meaning of specialist and advanced roles in nursing together with how the knowledge and education required to support these roles could be organized in a self-directed manner. In essence the four categories, which emerged from cycle one, were used to structure and guide the exploration in cycle two. Cycle two is located within the arena of mental handicap nursing because of the researcher’s expertise within this area. The sample for action research cycle two consisted of four hundred and forty two registered nurses working in the area of intellectual disability. Data was collected using focused group interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings were clustered into seventeen themes, which gave rise to two core categories, describing the roles and knowledge required to support specialist and advanced practice in mental handicap nursing respectively. A third core category describing the organisation of specialist and advanced practice in mental handicap nursing completes the findings from action research cycle two. The findings of the study gave rise to a proposed framework for the development of clinical specialisms and advanced practice in mental handicap nursing. Following negotiation with relevant bodies the findings were developed into a policy document entitled Proposed Framework for the Development of Clinical Specialism and Advanced Practice in Mental Handicap Nursing. In terms of subject matter the finding from this phase of the study are unique within the context of both national and international nursing. The relationship between the findings and policy development in both phases of the study illustrates the potential of action research as both a stable and responsive methodology and a policy-making mechanism

Synthesis of dendritic gadolinium complexes with enhanced relaxivities

This thesis deals with the synthesis of dendritic gadolinium complexes based on DOTA, with a view to obtaining enhanced relaxivities. Li addition to the inherently long electronic relaxation time and high paramagnetic moment of the gadolinium (III) ion, the speed of rotation of its complexes in solution is a decisive parameter in the determination of the relaxivity. This parameter is dependent on the molecular mass of the complex. Initially, the enantioselective synthesis of novel a-substituted analogues of DOTA was attempted but was not successful due to difficulties encountered in attaining the tetraalkylation of cyclen and the purification of the products obtained. Therefore, further studies were carried out based on the known [Gd(gDOTA)]" system. The synthesis of three medium M(_W) dendrons, each with a focal primary amino group was carried out. Their structures may be described as dendrimeric analogues of poly(ethylene glycol). Two of these structures were successfully coupled to the gadolinium (III) chelate, [Gd.gDOTA]. The acid-catalysed epimerisation of the statistical distribution of stereoisomers yielded solely the (RRRR)/(SSSS) isomeric pair. This system had previously been shown to undergo fast water exchange. The coupling and deprotection procedure yielded paramagnetic dendritic complexes with molecular weights of 2013 and 3535.Relaxivity measurements were carried out on these systems and the results showed significantly higher relaxivities of 18 and 21 mM(^-1) s(^-1) respectively, compared with a value of 7.8 mM(^-1) s(^-1) for the parent compound. Examination of NMRD profiles for the larger system showed a decrease in the rotational correlation time to 310 ps at 298 K, as expected. However, this was accompanied by an increase in the inner-sphere water exchange lifetime to 570 ns at 298 K. Therefore, although an improvement in relaxivity was obtained through a coupling to the slower rotation of the system in solution, this enhancement was limited by the accompanying decrease in the rate of water exchange. The best fitting procedure of the NMRD profiling procedure revealed the presence of 8 second-sphere water molecules at an average distance of 4Å. The second sphere contribution was shown to be the dominant contributor to the overall relaxivity. This accounted for >50% of the increased relaxivity

Posthumanism and Deconstructing Arguments

Posthumanism and Deconstructing Arguments: Corpora and Digitally-driven Critical Analysis presents a new and practical approach in Critical Discourse Studies. Providing a data-driven and ethically-based method for the examination of arguments in the public sphere, this ground-breaking book: Highlights how the reader can evaluate arguments from points of view other than their own; Demonstrates how digital tools can be used to generate ‘ethical subjectivities’ from large numbers of dissenting voices on the world-wide-web; Draws on ideas from posthumanist philosophy as well as from Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari for theorising these subjectivities; Showcases a critical deconstructive approach, using different corpus linguistic programs such as AntConc, WMatrix and Sketchengine. Posthumanism and Deconstructing Arguments is essential reading for lecturers and researchers with an interest in critical discourse studies, critical thinking, corpus linguistics and digital humanities

An investigation into Implicit and Explicit Attitudes Toward Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) versus Typically Developing Children

Research regarding attitudes toward individuals with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), particularly the attitudes of adults and adolescents is notably lacking within the research literature. Previous research would suggest that adults with ASD have very poor outcomes in later life, particularly in areas of employment and relationships. Research surrounding attitudes suggests that attitudes have an impact on behaviour, highlighting the need to establish the attitudes that society currently hold toward ASD. However, there are inconsistencies within the literature regarding implicit and explicit attitudes toward ASD. Therefore, Study 1 aimed to examine adults’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward ASD and sought to investigate the impact of gender on participants’ attitudes. Participants (N = 41) completed several explicit measures; The Openness to Autism Scale (OAS), The Attitudes to autism scale (AAS) and The Knowledge of Autism Questionnaire (KAQ), participants also completed an implicit measure, the implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). Results revealed that adults had significantly positive attitudes toward ASD. It was also revealed that attitudes did not significantly differ across gender nor were there significant differences across explicit and implicit measures. While the results of Study 1 were notably positive previous research suggests that as a result of their advancing development adolescents may be better able to determine differences between themselves and their peers with ASD and therefore may be less inclined to initiate social interactions with these peers. Study 2 therefore sought to determine adolescents’ attitudes toward their peers with ASD and investigate the effectiveness of an educational intervention to positively alter attitudes. Study 2 also employed a gender analysis. Participants (N = 31) completed the IRPA, the OAS and the AAS pre-and post the educational intervention. As a result of high attrition rates within the participant sample (N = 15), resulting from failure to reach pre-intervention IRAP criteria, an intention to treat (ITT) analysis was employed. Overall, the intervention had no significant impact on students’ attitudes regarding ASD. However, students reported significantly positive attitudes toward ASD prior to and following the implementation of the intervention. As with Study 1, no differences were found across gender within students’ implicit attitudes. Finally, the use of ITT analysis was an exploratory but beneficial element to the current study and a number of differences were reported across the methods of ITT. Future IRAP studies should continue to examine alternative methods of data analysis for instances of high attrition rates