An Analysis of Participation and Leadership in a College Seminar

The task of this research was to describe the rates and patterns of verbal behavior emitted in a college seminar, under two leadership conditions, teacher leadership and student leadership. The subjects were 12 college students and the course\u27s associate professor. The data were gathered by using R. F. Bale\u27s interaction process analysis. Results indicate that rates of verbal behavior and numbers and rates of paired student-to-student interaction were higher under student leadership than under teacher leadership. In addition, there was a more equitable distribution of responses under student leadership than under teacher leadership

Randomised controlled trial of exercise for low back pain : clinical outcomes, costs and preferences

Objective: To evaluate effectiveness of an exercise programme in a community setting for patients with low back pain to encourage a return to normal activities. Design: Randomised controlled trial of progressive exercise programme compared with usual primary care management. Patients' preferences for type of management were elicited independently of randomisation. Participants: 187 patients aged 18-60 years with mechanical low back pain of 4 weeks to 6 months' duration. Interventions: Exercise classes led by a physiotherapist that included strengthening exercises for all main muscle groups, stretching exercises, relaxation session, and brief education on back care. A cognitive-behavioural approach was used. Main outcome measures: Assessments of debilitating effects of back pain before and after intervention and at 6 months and 1 year later. Measures included Roland disability questionnaire, Aberdeen back pain scale, pain diaries, and use of healthcare services. Results: At 6 weeks after randomisation, the intervention group improved marginally more than the control group on the disability questionnaire and reported less distressing pain. At 6 months and 1 year, the intervention group showed significantly greater improvement in the disability questionnaire score (mean difference in changes 1.35, 95% confidence interval 0.13 to 2.57). At 1 year, the intervention group also showed significantly greater improvement in the Aberdeen back pain scale (4.44, 1.01 to 7.87) and reported only 378 days off work compared with 607 in the control group. The intervention group used fewer healthcare resources. Outcome was not influenced by patients' preferences. Conclusions: The exercise class was more clinically effective than traditional general practitioner management, regardless of patient preference, and was cost effective

Remodeling TV Talent: Participation and Performance in MTV's Real World Franchise

This dissertation performs a historical analysis of MTV's Real World programming and an ethnographic study of two of its most prominent participants. In it I examine reality TV's role in television's ongoing transformation as a technology and cultural form from the perspective of those who work in the industry as reality-talent. By adopting this perspective, I indicate some of the ways reality TV's construction of celebrity has altered the economic and performative regimes that have traditionally structured television stardom. One of the central issues this dissertation works to address is the way in which many participants are limited by the singular nature of their fame. To do this, I explore how the participant's status as on-camera talent is rooted in an ability to perform as if always off-camera. The participant's amateur image is argued to serve two critical functions. Because the participant's image appears more real than the show itself, it exists as an element within the text that lets the viewer know that what they are watching is staged. This in turn requires that the participant's performance always be restricted to the reality that his or her image represents. Recently, this has meant that participants who transition into reality-talent often rely on their status within the media industry as the basis for their performances. In the case of MTV's stable of Real World participants, continued participation in one of the longest running reality franchises indicates the repurposing potential offered by a form of talent that is typically understood to be disposable. Ultimately, this project calls attention to the new manner in which reality TV's representational logic and industrial deployment uniquely situates viewer and participant in a shared space of labor

To choose or not to choose: how to deal with China's growing power and influence

This paper collects 10 items published on the ASPI blog The Strategist by eight authors on one of the most important public policy issues of this decade and beyond: how to deal with China’s growing power and influence. The hope is that this debate will start to identify points of shared thinking and expose the areas where further work is needed to improve the quality of policy outcomes. ASPI will continue to publish on the topic. There is no more important subject for the future of Australia and for a stable Asia–Pacific

A more representative chamber: representation and the House of Lords

Since 1997 there has been substantive reform of the House of Lords in an effort to make the chamber ‘more democratic and more representative’. Whilst the Labour government failed to press ahead with any of the proposed plans for further reform following the removal of the bulk of the hereditary peers in 1999, it remained committed to the notion that such reform must make the second chamber ‘more representative’. The coalition government's programme advocates a long-term aspiration for a House wholly or mainly elected on the basis of proportional representation, and a short-term approach based on additional appointments to ensure a balance of the parties. What is clear in all of these proposals for reform is a desire for the House of Lords to become more representative than it is at present. However, what is less clear is what is meant by ‘representative’ – who the House of Lords is supposed to represent, and what form representation will take. Moreover, in proposing to make the chamber more representative, either through appointment or election, little attention has been paid to how the current House of Lords provides representation. This article examines these questions in the context of Pitkin's classic conceptions of representation and peers' attitudes towards their own representative rol

Spinneret orifices and filament cross-sections with stabilizing legs therefrom

This invention relates to spinnerets having orifices of unique cross-sections, the spinnerets being useful for extruding therethrough filaments having U and E shaped cross-sections with stabilizing legs. The use of strategically placed stabilizing legs allow the filaments to maintain the desired shape. The U shaped filament cross-section provides improved drainage over previous filament cross-sections