Doctorate motivation: an (auto)ethnography

Intrinsic motivation has been considered as the dominant motivation of adult students in continuing postgraduate education. However, the strength of an intrinsic motivation to learn does not explain the phenomenon of dropout where the student withdraws and does not return or dropping out where the student withdraws and then recommences their postgraduate research studies. This paper draws on qualitative data collected as part of a doctoral thesis to examine this phenomenon ethnographically. The study explores motivations which have been lessened or abandoned by the influence of external factors and the effect that these external factors have on the motivation to learn with respect to their influence on student withdrawal

European Banking After the Euro: Progress and Problems

The introduction of the euro has presented the European banking industry with an opportunity to examine its structure and address its fragmentation. The leaders in European banking will evolve as the efficiencies in a single currency are realized. This article discusses the changes in European banking since the introduction of the euro, providing statistics on mergers and acquisitions and their effects on assets both inside and outside the eurozone. It considers the factors which make cross-border mergers less attractive, the effect of consolidation on costs, and the impact of the euro on foreign exchange earnings, debt markets and cash management systems. It concludes that although banks are becoming more competitive with each other and with other financial services companies, national barriers to further integration of the financial services market remain

An Investigation of Adjustable-rate Mortgage Pricing Features

Investigates costs and risks associated with the choice of terms for adjustable rate mortgages. Impact of mortgage-rate changes on the size of payments for adjustable-rate mortgages; Examination of the choice of length of the fixed period before the occurrence of the first interest rate; Assessment of the choice of annual and lifetime caps for a standard one year adjustable rate mortgages

Off-Fault Plasticity and Earthquake Rupture Dynamics: 2. Effects of Fluid Saturation

We present an analysis of inelastic off-fault response in fluid-saturated material during earthquake shear rupture. The analysis is conducted for 2-D plane strain deformation using an explicit dynamic finite element formulation. Along the fault, linear slip-weakening behavior is specified, and the off-fault material is described using an elastic-plastic description of the Drucker-Prager form, which characterizes the brittle behavior of rocks under compressive stress when the primary mode of inelastic deformation is frictional sliding of fissure surfaces, microcracking and granular flow. In this part (part 1), pore pressure changes were neglected in materials bordering the fault. In part 2, we more fully address the effects of fluid saturation. During the rapid stressing by a propagating rupture, the associated undrained response of the surrounding fluid-saturated material may be either strengthened or weakened against inelastic deformation. We consider poroelastoplastic materials with and without plastic dilation. During nondilatant undrained response near a propagating rupture, large increases in pore pressure on the compressional side of the fault decrease the effective normal stress and weaken the material, and decreases in pore pressure on the extensional side strengthen the material. Positive plastic dilatancy reduces pore pressure, universally strengthening the material. Dilatantly strengthened undrained deformation has a diffusive instability on a long enough timescale when the underlying drained deformation is unstable. Neglecting this instability on the short timescale of plastic straining, we show that undrained deformation is notably more resistant to shear localization than predicted by neglect of pore pressure changes.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science

Trust and Trustworthiness: A Framework for Successful Design of Telemedicine

Trust and its antecedents have been demonstrated as a barrier to the successful adoption of numerous fields of technology, most notably e-commerce, and may be a key factor in the lack of adoption or adaptation in the field of telemedicine. In the medical arena, trust is often formed through the relationships cultivated over time via clinician and patient. Trust and interpersonal relationships may also play a significant role in the adoption of telemedicine. The idea of telemedicine has been explored for nearly 30 years in one form or another. Yet, despite grandiose promises of how it will someday significantly improve the healthcare system, the field continues to lag behind other areas of technology by 10 to 15 years. The reasons for the lack of adoption may be many given the barriers that have been observed by other researchers with regards to trust and trustworthiness. This study examined the role of trust from various aspects within telemedicine, with particular emphasis on the role that trust plays in the adoption and adaptation of a telemedicine system. Simulators examined the role of trust in the treatment and management of diabetes mellitus (common illness) in order to assess the impact and role of trust components. Surveys of the subjects were conducted to capture the trust dynamics, as well as the development of a framework for successful implementation of telemedicine using trust and trustworthiness as a foundation. Results indicated that certain attributes do influence the level of trust in the system. The framework developed demonstrated that medical content, disease state management, perceived patient outcomes, and design all had significant impact on trust of the system

Pierre Bourdieu and non-habitual decisions

Bourdieu’s theory of decision making is based on habitual and immediate decisions which are reflexive and reactive and which rely on dispositions and various forms of capital relative to a particular field. However, there are a number of decisions that are not reactive and immediate but are developed over time because of the enduring nature of the decision to the decision maker. Using empirical research data collected for a doctoral thesis, the factors of this habitual and immediate style of decision-making are explored relative to non-habitual decision-making. This poses the research question of whether the same factors as postulated by Bourdieu can be applied in decisions made over a period of time, specifically postgraduate student withdrawal from doctoral programs. The research is methodologically qualitative with empirical ethnographic data from a conversational style interview, in addition to autoethnographic data

Internships and the Assessment of Student Learning

The use of internships is a powerful learning tool that allow business students to make connections between their classroom experience and the world of work. If designed appropriately and positioned correctly in the curriculum, they can also be an ideal opportunity to conduct assurance of learning activities related to business school accreditation. This study reports on survey results relating to business schools’ use of internships in their assurance of learning efforts and describes one school’s successful attempt to use internships as the key platform for its well-developed assurance of learning program

An auto/ethnographic study of the influences on a student’s dispositions to drop out of doctoral study: a Bourdieusian perspective

This research study explores the influence of dispositions as sociological features of doctoral student dropout as experienced by a group of participants from different Australian universities. To elucidate these influences the research poses the two questions of what are the influences on students’ decisions to drop out and how is this experienced by the student? Using an analysis of these personal experiences the study suggests a range of outcomes which illuminate the experience of dropout (and dropping out) through a Bourdieusian decision-making lens. These outcomes are the basis of the research conclusions regarding possible approaches to reducing the incidence of doctoral student non-completion. In addition, suggestions for further research into specific aspects of the dropout and dropping out phenomenon are developed. Dropout research has historically been focussed on various ‘risk factors’ attributed to students and tertiary institutions. These factors focus on the effects of student income, race or ethnicity, academic achievement, and behaviours and attitudes on student progression and success (Brown & Roderiguez, 2009). The research project sought to contribute to the understanding of student attrition expressed via dropout and dropping out. This is undertaken by drawing on an application of Tinto’s (1975) theories on student dropout and applied to disposition as an influence on attrition. The focus of the research is doctoral level student dispositions, habitus and the cultural and social capital of a group of participants and that of the author/researcher in professional and academic doctoral research programs. A methodology involving the recollections of the research participants to provide ethnographic (recollections by others) and autoethnographic (selfrecollections) data was selected to collect personal experience of doctoral program dropout. An interpretative analytical method framed (Chang, 2008) the concept of dispositions, habitus and capital (Bourdieu, 1977b) to ‘make sense’ of the collected data. With dispositions understood as inherited and oriented around personal and collective beliefs as borne-out in the cultural capital of the student, this research supposes that student dropout can be ameliorated by influencing students’ beliefs and understandings - their disposition - towards further study. This supposition is examined with an exploration of the durability of dispositions with respect to student dropout. The exploration analyses the influence of such factors as the student supervisor relationship, student inadequacy, student life changes and a lack of student cultural capital relative to doctoral research study. Within the framework of the sociological model of Bourdieu (1984a, p. 101) dropout decisions are not habitual but developed over time. Dispositions are durable with the influence on the habitus arising from the person’s capital which may result in a deterministic decision to withdraw from doctoral study contrary to one’s disposition. A student’s experiences of doctoral supervision, especially inadequate supervision does have an adverse effect on the student’s cultural capital, which results in dropout. The endurance of the intrinsic disposition to learn of the student is a factor in the student’s recommencement of their doctoral program

Leading and Sustaining Curricular Change: Workshop Proceedings from the 2018 Sex and Gender Health Education Summit

The education of health science professionals must balance the incorporation of new and essential content against the current curriculum density. Scientific evidence documenting the impact of sex and gender on health outcomes establishes the need for incorporation of these topics into the health science curriculum. An interprofessional workshop was designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to effectively champion curricular change. Surveys before and after the workshop assessed the participants' perception of curriculum change. Introductory presentations addressed topics of organizational readiness and characteristics of change agents. This was followed by role-play activities in groups of 8 to 10, utilizing two scenarios. The first scenario involved a faculty champion advocating for change to the school curriculum leadership, and the second scenario involved the curriculum leadership advocating for change to the teaching faculty. After the role-play, participants shared the important points discovered by their groups, and the same information was collected by survey. After the workshop, 95% participants reported an increased ability to advocate for the inclusion of sex and gender topics in the curriculum. The most important aspect of the workshop was the providing of resources related to the teaching of sex and gender topics. We conclude that a workshop format balancing didactic information and role-playing scenarios is an effective tool for empowering faculty to introduce changes in health sciences curricula in areas that may be new to faculty or health science school leadership, such as the impact and role of sex and gender on health outcomes