bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nurses’ Weight Bias in Caring for Obese Patients: Do Weight Controllability Beliefs Influence the Provision of Care to Obese Patients?
Authors: Tanneberger Anne , Ciupitu-Plath Cristina
Published: January 2017

Given the pervasive stigma faced by obese individuals in family, work, and health care settings, the present study aimed to explore whether nurses’ weight controllability beliefs influence their perception of how care is provided to obese patients. To this end, 73 nurses from an acute care hospital completed the Weight Control/Blame Subscale of the Antifat Attitudes Test and reported on their perception of discrimination in, and available resources for, the provision of care to obese patients. Nurses endorsing stronger beliefs that weight lies under individual control were more likely to report discrimination of obese patients in clinical practice. Weight bias, higher care intensity, and lack of necessary resources were the main reasons reported for perceived weight discrimination. Our results support theories placing internal attribution of overweight and conflict over resources at the origin of weight stigma and call for appropriate interventions to improve nurses’ work environment and reduce their weight bias.
Natural Selection and Cultural Selection in the Evolution of Communication
Authors: Smith Kenny
Published: January 2017

It has been postulated that aspects of human language are both genetically and culturally transmitted. How might these processes interact to determine the structure of language? An agent-based model designed to study gene culture interactions in the evolution of communication is introduced. This model shows that cultural selection resulting from learner biases can be crucial in determining the structure of communication systems transmitted through both genetic and cultural processes. Furthermore, the learning bias that leads to the emergence of optimal communication in the model resembles the learning bias brought to the task of language acquisition by human infants. This suggests that the iterated application of such human learning biases may explain much of the structure of human language.
Learning to Communicate: The Emergence of Signaling in Spatialized Arrays of Neural Nets
Authors: Grim Patrick , St. Denis Paul , Kokalis Trina
Published: January 2017

We work with a large spatialized array of individuals in an environment of drifting food sources and predators. The behavior of each individual is generated by its simple neural net; individuals arecapable of making one of two sounds and are capable of responding to sounds from their immediate neighbors by opening their mouths or hiding. An individual whose mouth is open in the presence of food is 'fed' and gains points; an individual who fails to hide when a predator is present is 'hurt' by losing points. Opening mouths, hiding, and making sounds each exact an energy cost. There is no direct evolutionary gain for acts of cooperation or 'successful communication' per se.

In such an environment we start with a spatialized array of neural nets with randomized weights. Using standard learning algorithms, our individuals 'train up' on the behavior of successful neighbors at regular intervals. Given that simple setup, will a community of neural nets evolve a simple language for signaling the presence of food and predators? With important qualifications, the answer is yes.'In a simple spatial environment, pursuing individualistic gains and using partial training on successful neighbors, randomized neural nets can learn to communicate.
Cellular Nonlinear Network-Based Bio-Inspired Decentralized Control of Locomotion for Hexapod Robots
Authors: Arena Paolo , Cruse Holk , Frasca Mattia
Published: January 2017

This article introduces a new approach to locomotion control in six-legged robots. The approach is inspired by the model of decentralized locomotion control in the stick insect introduced by one of the authors and makes use of second-order nonlinear systems to realize the neuron-like dynamics of the sub-units of the whole control system. Each of these sub-units controls the behavior of a leg and is coordinated with the others by means of local influences based on the leg status, revealed by contact sensors. The suitability of the approach has been shown by using cellular nonlinear networks (CNNs) to implement the leg controllers. Simulations of the CNN-based locomotion control demonstrate its robustness with respect to different initial conditions and the property of pattern recovery after the external blocking of a leg.
Psychometric Properties of 7- and 30-Day Versions of the PROMIS Emotional Distress Item Banks in an Australian Adult Sample
Authors: Batterham Philip J. , Sunderland Matthew , Carragher Natacha , Calear Alison L.
Published: January 2017

This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the PROMIS depression, anxiety, and anger item banks in a large Australian population-based sample. The study tested for unidimensionality; evaluated invariance across age, gender, and education; assessed local independence; and tested item bank scores as an indicator for clinical criteria. In addition, equivalence of the 7-day time frame against an alternative 30-day time frame was assessed. A sample of 3,175 Australian adults were recruited into the study through online advertising. All three item banks showed strong evidence of unidimensionality and parsimony, with no items showing local dependence. All items were invariant across age, gender, and education. The item banks were accurate in detecting clinical criteria for major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, although legacy measures designed for this purpose sometimes performed marginally better. Responses to the 30-day time frame were highly consistent with the original 7-day time frame. The study provided support for the validity of the PROMIS emotional distress item banks as measures of depression, anxiety, and anger in the Australian population, supporting the generalizability of the measures. The time frame chosen for assessing mental health outcomes using these item banks should be based on pragmatic considerations.
Is There a Relationship Between the Intensity of Heparin Treatment and Recurrent Thomboembolism?
Authors: Anand Sonia , Ginsberg Jeffrey S. , Hirsh Jack
Published: January 2017

Continuous intravenous heparin is widely used in the initial treatment of patients with venous thromboembolism. However, because it has a narrow therapeutic window and because the anticoagulant response to it varies among patients, it is standard practice to adjust the dose of heparin to achieve a predefined anticoagulant effect (therapeutic range) using the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT). There is evidence to suggest that the efficacy of heparin is critically dependent on the starting dose used and that failure to maintain APTT results above the lower limit of the therapeutic range leads to increased rates of recurrence. We review the evidence for a rel~tic~nship between the intensity of heparin treatment and recurrence and provide recommendations for optimal dosing regimens.
Research Brief: The Teen ADHD Workshop to Improve Adolescent ADHD Treatment Engagement
Authors: Schoenfelder Erin , McCabe Connor , Fife Aurora , Herzig Lisa , Ahrens Kym
Published: January 2017

Objective: Adolescents with ADHD are at risk of functional problems that may be mitigated by consistent ADHD treatment. This study pilots a brief intervention for adolescents with ADHD and their parents to increase treatment knowledge and family motivation to seek treatment. Method: The 3-hr curriculum was developed by a multidisciplinary team and included psychoeducation, goal setting, and motivational interviewing. Fifteen adolescents and 20 caregivers participated in the workshop, completed pre- and post-test assessments, and reported on acceptability. Results: Acceptability and satisfaction with the intervention were high. Perceived knowledge of ADHD increased post intervention; stigma was unchanged. Parents reported more acceptability of stimulant medications and less willingness to use special diets or cognitive games. Family feedback informed modifications to the curriculum. Conclusion: The Teen ADHD Workshop is a feasible and acceptable intervention to increase knowledge of ADHD and evidence-based treatments. Further research will evaluate effects on treatment participation.
Optimal Taxes on Foreign Investment in an Overlapping Generation Model
Authors: Dutton John
Published: January 2017

This article uses an overlapping generations model to define the opportunity cost of capital to an economy when the capital stock is determined by individual optimizing behavior. The opportunity cost concepts developed are used to specify optimal tax or subsidy policies toward both foreign and domestic capital income. Policies are noted for situations both with and without optimal intergenerational transfer policies. Principal results are that, contrary to many previous findings, foreign and domestic source capital income should be taxed or subsidized at substantially different rates. However, if optimal intergenerational transfers are in use, both taxes (subsidies) should be zero.
Public Good Benefit Attribution
Authors: Philpotts Geoffrey
Published: January 2017

This article reexamines the issue of how the benefits from public goods can be attributed to individual citizens, with emphasis on the McGuire and Aaron procedure and the critical responses that have arisen to this technique, and with the various alternatives being illustrated within a simple diagrammatic framework. The article indicates that, although several approaches can have something to offer within appropriate contexts, the nature of public provision tends to preclude the possibility of generating a universally applicable and appealing measure.
Outside Information and the Monopoly Power of a Public Bureau: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Mehay Stephen L. , Gonzalez Rodolfo A.
Published: January 2017

A central proposition of the Niskanen model of bureaucracy is the assumption that bureau sponsors possess little or no information on the bureau's true production and cost functions. While this assumption has been challenged by several authors, no empirical test of its importance has been offered. This article explores the way the institutional setting can affect the cost information available to sponsors and, in turn, how this information flow affects the efficiency of bureau production. The empirical analysis finds that when a local bureau sells a portion of its output to nontrustees at a per unit price (via the Lakewood Plan), cost information is then provided to its own trustees. This information appears to alter the bargaining power of the bureau.
Intercohort and Intracohort Redistribution under Old Age Insurance: The 1962–1972 Retirement Cohorts
Authors: Meyer Charles W. , Wolff Nancy L.
Published: January 2017

Although Social Security Old Age Insurance (OAI) is similar in some respects to a private annuity, benefits typically contain large intercohort and intra-cohort redistribution components. The former are declining over time but the latter are a permanent feature of the program. This study disentangles the actuarially fair and redistributive elements in OAI benefit payments to a sample of individuals from the 1962–1972 retirement cohorts. Incidence of benefits, actuarially fair annuity payments, and redistributive components across income groups are presented in tabular form. Regression analysis is used to estimate the relationship between redistribution components, as a percentage of benefits, and various characteristics of the retirement population.
An Alternative Measure of the Degree of Inequity in Assessed Values for Individual Properties: A Theoretical Perspective
Authors: Borland Melvin V.
Published: January 2017

The Coefficient of Intra-Area Dispersion of assessed value/sale price ratios (COD) is frequently used as a measure of the degree of inequity in assessed values for individual properties. However, to the extent that property tax liabilities are capitalized in the sale prices of individual properties, the COD can be shown to be inconsistent as a measure of the degree of inequity with respect to (1) alternative but a priori reasonable choices for the definition of equity and (2) changes in the nominal property tax rate on assessed value. This second conclusion is valid under each choice for the definition of equity. The Measure of Intra-Area Dispersion of assessed value/market value ratios (MOD) is presented in this article as an alternative measure of the degree of inequity in assessed values. The MOD compares assessed values to hedonic market values based on attributes rather than sale prices. Depending on the choice for the definition of equity, the MOD is preferable. Unlike a distribution of assessed values consistent with the existence of equity with respect to sale price after assessment, the distribution of assessed values consistent with the existence of equity with respect to market value is unique. As such, unlike the COD, the MOD is shown to be insensitive to changes in the nominal property tax rate on assessed value. Therefore, the MOD is reliable.
A Comparative Analysis of Tax Progressivity in the United States
Authors: Greene Kenneth V. , Balkan Erol M.
Published: January 2017

The proliferating array of measures of tax progressivity is applied to the state-local tax structures in the United States in 1977. An attempt is made to classify state structures into most or least progressive and it is shown that there is a great deal of inconsistency among recently proposed alternative measures.
Revenue Potential of State Lotteries
Authors: Stover Mark Edward
Published: January 2017

The debate concerning whether to institute a lottery is hampered in many states by a lack of objective current estimates of potential revenue. The purpose of this study is to provide estimates by type of game based on the experiences of those states that already have lotteries. In particular, the importance of demographic characteristics and the presence of great initial enthusiasm for an instant game are recognized.
An Overview of the Contractarian Public Finance of James Buchanan
Authors: Congleton Roger D.
Published: January 2017

Although it is only in the last ten or fifteen years that James Buchanan has emphasized a contractarian approach to public policy analysis, most of his nearly 40 years of work in the area of public finance exhibits contractarian themes. This paper outlines Professor Buchanan's contractarian approach to policy analysis, and applies it to various topics in public finance in order to demonstrate the underlying unity of his work. Many of Buchanan's most original contributions to public finance can be best understood as a consequence of his contractarian perspective.
Tax Effort as an Indicator of Fiscal Stress
Authors: Benson Earl D. , Marks Barry R. , Raman K. K.
Published: January 2017

The most visible credit market measure of the fiscal health of a municipality is the credit rating. In this article we ask whether the credit rating fully incorporates the fiscal stresses faced by municipal governments. We utilize state “tax effort” as a measure of the fiscal stress faced by a municipality. The findings suggest that municipalities located in states characterized by poor fiscal health pay higher than average interest costs on their bond issues (holding credit rating constant). State “tax effort” seems to reflect elements of fiscal stress that are not adequately taken into account through the rating process.
Aggregate Business Failures and Federal Credit Activity
Authors: Archibald Robert B. , Baker Samuel H.
Published: January 2017

We build and test a model of aggregate business failures that explicitly accounts for the role of federal credit programs, as well as private lending decisions. The model focuses on federal credit activities directed at potentially failing firms as well as forecasting errors by lenders, business balance sheet fragility, and business starts. We construct an adjusted business failure rate with two multiplicative components—the unadjusted business failure rate and the average size of failing firms. Our results suggest that federal credit activities have two unintended effects: Direct loan programs allocate funds to firms that are more viable than those crowded out, and loan guarantee programs increase the average size of failing firms by permitting small firms to grow and become larger failures. In addition, we find that balance sheet fragility interacted separately with both firm-specific errors and errors concerning aggregate profitability and that credit availability explains the adjusted business failure rate.
How the Camel Got in the Tent: The Canadian Assault on Australia's Foreign Media Ownership Limits
Authors: Edge Marc
Published: January 2017

Before 1991, Australia enforced strict limits on foreign ownership of licensed broadcasters and also limited foreign ownership of newspaper publishers. In the early 1990s, however, a pair of Canadian entrepreneurs succeeded in first raising and then circumventing those limits. Conrad Black bought 15 per cent of the Fairfax newspaper chain in 1992, and shortly before the ensuing national election lobbied to increase his stake to 25 per cent. In his 1993 autobiography, Black described backroom political dealings that resulted in a Senate inquiry. The Australian Broadcasting Authority soon began an investigation into another Canadian challenging the country's foreign media ownership limits. Israel ‘Izzy’ Asper, a former tax lawyer, found a way to legally purchase 57.5 per cent of Network Ten in 1992 by holding 42.5 per cent in the form of non-voting debentures. The ABA absolved his CanWest Global Communications of controlling Network Ten in 1995. Non-voting shares were outlawed in 1997, but CanWest was allowed to retain its debentures. The inquiries into Canadian purchases contributed to a decade-long process of re-evaluating media ownership limits that resulted in restrictions on foreign ownership being eliminated in 2006.
Getting Creative in Health Care
Authors: Pagan Janet , Cunningham Stuart , Higgs Peter
Published: January 2017

Health care accounts for a substantial and growing share of national expenditures, and Australia's health-care system faces some unprecedented pressures. This paper examines the contribution of creative expertise and services to Australian health care. They are found to be making a range of contributions to the development and delivery of health-care goods and services, the initial training and ongoing professionalism of doctors and nurses, and the effective functioning of health-care buildings. Creative activities within health-care services are also undertaken by medical professionals and patients. Key functions that creative activities address are innovation and service delivery in information management and analysis, and making complex information comprehensible or more useful, assisting communication and reducing psycho-social and distance-mediated barriers, and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of services.
The Special Broadcasting Service after 30 Years: Public Service Media and New Ways of Thinking about Media and Citizenship
Authors: Flew Terry
Published: January 2017

This article considers the distinctive ways in which the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) has evolved over its history since 1980, and how it has managed competing claims to being a multicultural yet broad-appeal broadcaster, and a comprehensive yet low-cost media service. It draws attention to the challenges presented by a global rethinking of the nature of citizenship and its relationship to media, for which SBS is well placed as a leader, and the challenges of online media for traditional public service media models, where SBS has arguably been a laggard, particularly when compared with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It notes recent work that has been undertaken by the author with others into user-created content strategies at SBS and how its online news and current affairs services have been evolving in recent years.
SBS: Engaging with News Audiences in the New Media Age
Authors: Veo Valerio
Published: January 2017

This paper explores the shifts promoted by the internet from one-to-many media communication to user-created content, a multiplicity of niche online media sites, and collaborative or crowd-sourced journalism. It considers how established media organisations can respond to such disruptive innovations, referring to recent developments on the Special Broadcasting Service online site.
Advertising and Media in Asia: Setting Some Context
Authors: Sinclair John
Published: January 2017

From the point of view of the critical study of the advertising industry, Asia has never been more interesting. Until the 1980s and 1990s respectively, Western-based advertising agencies were very much excluded from the largest markets, China and India. Now these countries are both undergoing rapid economic growth, and seeing the emergence of new categories of consumers — not only the much-vaunted ‘middle class’. Yet, for all the exceptional rates of growth in advertising expenditure being recorded, and the breathless rhetoric of the trade press, the impact the global advertisers and their agencies have upon Asia needs to be put into perspective. For instance, although the use of the internet and other new media is rapidly gaining ground, television still dominates, because that is the medium favoured by the biggest-spending advertisers in these countries. Ultimately, Asia is defined more by its geographical unity than anything else, for in most relevant aspects its diversity is arguably greater than that of any other world region, and this is reflected in the collection of articles presented here.
New Media Technology and New Business Models: Speculations on ‘Post-Advertising’ Paradigms
Authors: Wang Jing
Published: January 2017

This article offers some speculations on the challenge that new media technology poses to the concept and practice of advertising, particularly the impact of open-content technology. It canvasses a number of globalising trends, notably Web 2.0 technology and culture, user-generated content, and the industry buzz about emerging business models enabled by 2.0. As digital marketing has taken shape and become more technologically driven than ever, advertising is no longer the only, nor even the primary, source of revenue for new media. Apart from mapping the new terrain, the paper examines some 2.0 revenue models for the purpose of inviting researchers to think beyond the parameters set by plain old advertising. On the methodological front, the paper argues that keeping ourselves abreast of new revenue strategies brings to the fore a number of key areas of investigation hitherto understudied by academic advertising researchers, in particular media technology and digital copyright protocols.
On Television Comedy as an Invented Tradition
Authors: Mills Brett
Published: January 2017

Existing analysis of the relationships between comedy and nation commonly work from an assumption that nations have a sense of humour that in some way defines them, while comedy texts — such as those broadcast on television and radio — merely draw on these pre-existing phenomena (Richards, 1997). This article instead demonstrates a more complex relationship between the two, suggesting that broadcast comedy is an ‘invented tradition’ (Hobsbawm and Ranger, 1983), which has been one of the most powerful ways for nations to define themselves — often at the expense of the complexities and contradictions within any one nation-state. Drawing on the idea that nations are ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson, 1983), this article takes the BBC as a case study, exploring the ways in which an understanding of the ‘British sense of humour’ has evolved in response to the needs of the nation. In doing so, it explores historically significant moments such as World War II, as well as a range of regional comedy that doesn't make it into national broadcasting circuits. In addition, the notion of ‘Britishness’ that is sold abroad via such programming is examined. In doing so, this article outlines the ways in which ideas of comedy and the nation intertwine, as well as exploring the problems this relationship might cause for alternative or oppositional ideas of the nation.
Wagon Train to the Stars: The Past, Present and Future of Communication Research in Australia
Authors: Turnbull Sue
Published: January 2017

The history of communication research in Australia reveals that, like the history Australian television, it has involved a process of adaptation and innovation to suit a particular national context. In this article, I pursue the analogy between the two in order to illustrate how the peculiar history of Australian communication research (and Australian television) have created a pedagogical environment in which those who teach in the field of media, communication and cultural studies are already well equipped to deal with the invitation posed by Cunningham (2010) to ‘refine critical stances’, to rethink ‘core pedagogical ethics' and to take account of ‘vocational aspirations, workplace trends and the broader structure of the economy’.
Rethinking the Rhetoric of Remix
Authors: Borschke Margie
Published: January 2017

How did ‘remix’, a post-production technique and compositional form in dance music, come to describe digital culture? Is it an apt metaphor? This article considers the rhetorical use of remix in Lawrence Lessig's case for copyright reform in Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (2008). I argue that Lessig's understanding of remix is problematic, as it seems unable to accommodate its musical namesake and obscures the particular history of media use in recent music culture. Drawing on qualitative analysis of popular music cultures, I argue that the conceptualisation of remix as any media made from pre-existing media is problematic. The origins of remix, I argue, provides a lens for thinking critically about the rhetorical uses of the term in current discourse and forces us to ponder materialities. My aim is not to dispute the word's contemporary meaning or attempt to establish a correct usage of the term – clearly a wide variety of creators call their work remix; instead, this article considers the rhetorical work that remix is asked to perform as a way of probing the assumptions and aspirations that lurk behind Lessig's argument.
In Search of the Korean Digital Wave
Authors: Goldsmith Ben , Lee Kwang-Suk , Yecies Brian
Published: January 2017

This article sets the context for this special themed issue on the ‘Korean digital wave’ by considering the symbiotic relationship between digital technologies, their techniques and practices, their uses and the affordances they provide, and Korea's ‘compressed modernity’ and swift industrialisation. It underscores the importance of interrogating a range of groundbreaking developments and innovations within Korea's digital mediascapes, and its creative and cultural industries, in order to gain a complex understanding of one of Australia's most significant export markets and trading partners. Given the financial and political commitment in Australia to a high-speed broadband network that aims to stimulate economic and cultural activity, recent technological developments in Korea, and the double-edged role played by government policy in shaping the ‘Korean digital wave’, merit close attention from media and communications scholars.
Looking Back at MIA
Authors: Goot Murray , Tiffen Rodney
Published: January 2017

Murray Goot and Rodney Tiffen were among the six editors appointed to manage MIA after Henry Mayer's death in 1991. In this entry from A Companion to the Australian Media, they provide an overview of the journal's 38-year history.
The First 30 Years of MIA: A Commemorative Editorial
Authors: Wilson Helen
Published: January 2017

Former editor Helen Wilson wrote this editorial in 2006 to commemorate 30 years of MIA. It examines the history of the journal, the people who brought it into being and kept it going, and its unique role in Australia's media and academic environment. An edited version is reproduced here because of the comprehensive and definitive overview it provides of the journal's history and vision.
MIA: A Recollection
Authors: White Peter B.
Published: January 2017

Peter B. White was a guest editor of MIA in 1985 and 1990 and one of the six editors who guided MIA from 1991 until 1997. He is now happily retired.
Chasing the Pictures: Press and Magazine Photography
Authors: Anderson Fay
Published: January 2017

For over a century, press and magazine photography has influenced how Australians have viewed society, and played a critical role in Australia's evolving national identity. Despite its importance and longevity, the historiography of Australian news photography is surprising limited. This article examines the history of press and magazine photography and considers its genesis, the transformative technological innovations, debates about images of violence, the industrial attitudes towards photographers and their treatment, the use of photographs and the seismic recent changes. The article argues that while the United States and United Kingdom influenced the trajectory of press and news photography in Australia, there are significant and illuminating differences.
Australian Special-Interest Magazines: A Case Study in Community Formation and Survival
Authors: Williamson Rosemary
Published: January 2017

Special-interest titles represent a dynamic sector of the Australian magazine industry, yet few studies have been undertaken on them or their histories. Quilt-making titles serve as a case study of one of the most successful special-interest categories – craft – and special-interest magazines more generally. By tracing the evolution of magazines for quilters and by taking as its premise the rhetorical function of magazines in forming communities, this article illustrates the symbiotic interaction between publishing histories, including the exploitation of new technologies, and the sense of self engendered by magazines. In quilters' magazines, this sense of self is most recently pronounced in content describing the ‘modern quilter’, for whom digital media literacy is characteristic. The article's findings are used to advocate further research into the rhetorical and practical responses made by special-interest titles to a competitive publishing environment that is no longer dependent on paper-based delivery of content.
Constructing the Meaning of Nanotechnology in the United States: A Socio-Linguistic Analysis of the New York Times Coverage, 1985–2004
Authors: Weber Ian
Published: January 2017

This study employed a content analysis approach to consider the coverage of nanotechnology reports in the New York Times from 1985 to 2004. Patterns and trends of discourse within the national newspaper in terms of political, economic, social, cultural and technological factors were examined using a socio-linguistic approach. Results from the analysis of 243 news articles show a significant rise in the number of reports in general, with a specific focus on political, economic and technological factors. Analysis revealed that the three categories not only increased in relation to the rise in the number of articles, but also tended to positively reinforce each other over time. The implications of these findings are significant in relation to how the media reports on nanotechnology and the social and cultural dimensions of technology during the critical start-up phases of the innovation. Furthermore, this study brings into focus the issues of transparency of risk and sustainability of future nanotechnology applications.
New Views on a ‘Stuck’ Issue: Communicating about Childhood Immunisation in Aotearoa New Zealand
Authors: Tilley Elspeth , Murray Niki , Watson Bronwyn , Comrie Margie
Published: January 2017

This article explores attitudes towards immunisation and immunisation communication materials among parents and caregivers currently facing immunisation decisions in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research aimed to discover, from an open-ended qualitative investigation, new ways to conceptualise and explain immunisation decision-making, and identify participants' own views on approaches worth trialling as ways to increase immunisation rates. The research used communication artefacts as talking points, and an action research process to modify these to reflect participants' design suggestions, but was primarily exploratory. It started a broad conversation with participants about their decision-making influences rather than being designed to test any particular attributes of the immunisation communication process. From a qualitative analysis of transcripts of focus-group and in-depth interviews with 107 immunisation decision-makers, themes were drawn. Applying an emic process enabled identification of participants' own ideas that have now broadened the range of possible approaches currently being considered for immunisation communication in Aotearoa New Zealand. Given that immunisation decline is a problem internationally, these participant-driven ideas may also be worth testing in other contexts.
Contesting Interpretational Authority: Democracy and Fascism in the Indian ‘Empowered Public’
Authors: Ohm Britta
Published: January 2017

Drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in India's television landscape, this article works with two terms – ‘interpretational authority’ and ‘star-anchor’ – so as to elucidate the ambivalence of empowerment in what Arvind Rajagopal has called her postcolonial ‘split public’. I understand interpretational authority, in the ambiguous context of the ‘democratic nation-state’, as professional journalism's filtering function of both direct democracy and popular majoritarianism. Along four genealogical variants of empowerment, I relate democratisation and anti-elitism in and through evolving Indian news television to Walter Benjamin's deliberations on the aesthetics of fascist communication, and argue that, in a swiftly ‘entertainmentised’ TV journalism, interpretational authority was rendered somewhat dysfunctional before it could actually establish itself both in vernacular and English-language channels. The ‘star-anchor’, in order to still reach a public, becomes the embodiment of ultimately compromised interpretational authority and a reified, socio-economic hierarchisation in a TV journalism that competes with the immediacy of popular power.
Public Hearings and Public Spheres in India: The Case of the Right to Information (RTI) Movement
Authors: Thomas Pradip Ninan
Published: January 2017

This article explores issues related to the Right to Information movement in India specifically in relation to the public sphere, a concept that is habitually invoked to describe spaces for deliberation and communication. It explores the role played by the jan sunwai (public hearings) in the creation of a counter public sphere based on the local idiom, local means of communication and performative traditions that enabled a balance between speaking, listening and actioning. The article focuses on the Right to Information movement and the jan sunwai as an important indigenous means and pedagogical device used by this movement to mobilise, radicalise and give voice to marginalised people who have traditionally been expected to remain silent, even in the face of the most atrocious atrocities committed by the forward castes and wealthy.
Media, Mediation and the Vernacular Public Arena in India
Authors: Neyazi Taberez Ahmed
Published: January 2017

This article analyses the rise of the vernacular public arena in India and the ways in which various media have contributed to the mediation of the multiplicity of the vernacular and the universality of the public. With increasing access by different social groups to various media, space opens up for the participation of the wider public in the activities of the mediated public arena. The participation of a multitude of publics in market-driven media networks has led to a change in the nature and function of the media, which not only have ensure that they survive in a capitalist marketplace, but need to cater to a requirement to serve wider audiences. There is thus a simultaneous presence in the public arena of viewpoints and interests of the urban middle classes, along with the poor and the marginalised. This hybrid character of the public arena is often overlooked in the discussion on democratic transformation in India. The vernacular public arena is thus the expanding space of socio-political negotiation, interaction and contestation, in which a diversity of voices get mediated and remediated to reassemble and redefine the publics. The mediation has led to the subjectification of the diversity of people, but is far from consensual politics, as it often involves severe debate, criticism, oppression and resistance. This article focuses particularly on the role of the media in the rise of the vernacular public arena, and how it has helped to connect diverse social groups in a network of dialogues and negotiations, which has contributed to the democratisation of the public arena.
Youth work in a changing society: A case study of Hong Kong youth service providers
Authors: Tang Denise T-S
Published: January 2017

Hong Kong has recently witnessed heightened public awareness of the issues of rights, civil society and citizenship. Contested relations with the Beijing government and slower economic growth in mainland China have seen more Hong Kong citizens become involved in civic engagement and identity politics. Youth service providers thus find themselves forced to respond to a rapidly changing society and changing youth needs while being situated in institutions with their own structural constraints and work culture. The result is that occupational stress is increasingly common amongst Hong Kong secondary school teachers and social workers. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative ethnographic study involving 16 in-depth interviews with community leaders, teachers and school-based social workers. How does a changing society affect youth work in general? How does greater discussion of democracy and human rights in the public sphere affect the way that youth service providers perform youth work? What are the changing roles and responsibilities of these providers in offering support to Hong Kong youth? The research themes that emerged include changing demographics and youth scene, a democratising public sphere in relation to Chinese youth and professionalism as a youth service provider.
The yin and yang of Tuning History
Authors: Nováky György
Published: January 2017

History as a subject area is facing increasing demands from the society to be more profitable and, sometimes, more conformist. The Tuning methodology, developed in cooperation with a large number of Universities worldwide, could offer a viable and sustainable way to take societal needs into account without compromising academic soundness.
Mapping the future of non-formal education and the scientific dissemination of astronomy in Brazil: A Delphi study
Authors: Marques Joana Brás Varanda , de Freitas Denise
Published: January 2017

Non-formal education and the dissemination of science are increasingly gaining importance around the world. Whilst astronomy in Brazil is no exception, its growth has however been slow and dispersed, institutions and activities across the country are uncoordinated, and no source exists that integrates relevant information and knowledge. To address these issues, this study uses a broad Delphi study, which includes a heterogeneous group of experts from all of the main regions of Brazil, to provide a first step toward integrating the field by mapping its current and future states. The topics that emerged during the study include, for example, working conditions, training and access to financing. A diverse set of problems and possible solutions were also identified, and these offer guidance for practice and educational policy. Opportunities for future research are also outlined.
How does private tutoring mediate the effects of socio-economic status on mathematics performance? Evidence from Turkey
Authors: Atalmis Erkan Hasan , Yilmaz Mustafa , Saatcioglu Argun
Published: January 2017

Private tutoring refers to additional instruction out of school. With its determinants and effects, private tutoring has received increasing attention from scholars over the past decades. Because of the increasing role of school and high-stakes exams, the demand for private tutoring has increased tremendously in Turkey. The purpose of this study is to examine whether private tutoring mediates the effects of socio-economic status (SES) on students’ mathematics performance in the country. This study also addresses how this dynamic varies across types of tutoring: one-on-one tutoring versus tutoring in groups. The findings show that private tutoring partially mediates the effect of SES on students’ mathematics performance, and that this dynamic varies across different private tutoring services.
The Short-Term Impact of a Health Promotion Program For Low-Income African American Women
Authors: Auslander Wendy , Haire-Joshu Debra , Houston Cheryl , Williams James Herbert , Krebill Hope
Published: January 2017

Objective: The purpose of this study is to describe the results of a process and outcome evaluation of a culturally specific, peer-led, dietary change program designed to reduce the risk of noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) among low-income African American women. Method: Using an experimental, control-group design, 239 African American women completed pretest and posttest interviews that included measures of nutrition-related knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, fat intake, and weight. Results: Significant reductions in fat intake were found among women in the treatment condition. Participants significantly increased low-fat dietary patterns and showed higher levels of nutrition-related knowledge. Examination of physical data indicates that no significant weight differences were found between the treatment and control groups. Conclusions: This model of health promotion, which individually tailors the intervention content through staging and used community organization strategies, has potential for reducing the risk of diet-related diseases among African American women.
Comparative, Feminist, and Qualitative: An Uncommon Perspective on Cross-National Social Policy Research
Authors: Harris Nonie
Published: January 2017

In this article, the author reflects on the comparative, feminist, qualitative research process based on cross-national doctoral research recently undertaken on child care policy in California and Australia. This type of comparative social policy research is still in its infancy and poses methodological and conceptual problems not present in other types of social research. Examining these implications and problems, as well as the outcomes and benefits of feminist, cross-national social policy research, contributes to a methodological framework that promotes qualitative welfare state theorizing in complex international contexts.
Using Videorecording to Enhance the Development of Novice Researchers' Interviewing Skills
Authors: Uhrenfeldt Lisbeth , Paterson Barbara , Hall Elisabeth O. C.
Published: January 2017

Little has been written about how to teach novice researchers about qualitative research interviewing. In this article, the authors recognize qualitative research interviewing as a practice that one develops through reflexivity. They propose that novices can develop a reflexive interviewing practice by using a guided framework to review videorecords of the interviews they conduct. The authors discuss the framework and illustrate its use with an exemplar derived from the experience of a novice researcher. They conclude with a discussion of the need for further research about how best to enhance the development of novice researchers as qualitative research interviewers.
Questions Arising about Emergence, Data Collection, and Its Interaction with Analysis in a Grounded Theory Study
Authors: Bruce Catherine
Published: January 2017

There has been a strong call for increased clarity and transparency of method in qualitative research. Although qualitative data analysis has been detailed, data management has not been made as transparent in the literature. How do data collection and analysis interact in practical terms? What constitutes sufficient data? And can research be both planful and emergent? In this paper, the author highlights several methodological strategies for addressing data management challenges in a grounded theory study of preservice mathematics teachers.
The Leaps of Faith in Social Science: Study of the Imagined in the Discourse of the Real
Authors: Korth Barbara Dennis
Published: January 2017

In this paper, the author introduces a post-Meadian concept useful for contemporary ethnography. Emergent ideal types capture the imaginary (that which is not bound to space and time coordinates) in the doing ethnography and making empirical claims (the empirical is considered that which is limited to space and time coordinates). She uses a heuristic device, grounded narrative fictions, as one way of depicting the imaginary for ethnographic audiences. The exploration draws on the ethnography of a kindergarten/Grade 1 class. The author does not use many scholarly references. Instead, she tries to develop two innovations to ethnographic analysis (emergent ideal types and grounded narrative fictions) from within an ethnographic example. She tries in this thought piece to explicate the linguistic mechanisms through which ethnographers draw on the imaginary to link empirical patterns with interpretive analyses.
Phenomenological Reduction and Emergent Design: Complementary Methods for Leadership Narrative Interpretation and Metanarrative Development
Authors: Gilstrap Donald L.
Published: January 2017

The author's intent in this paper is to discuss new methods for conducting research on and connecting the works of chaos and complexity theorists with interpretive, hermeneutical, and phenomenological theorists as a multiple-method mode of inquiry. He proposes a methodological design that incorporates a recursive process of phenomenological reduction to find connectedness and generate shared meanings among the research performed by leadership theorists. He also provides an emergent metanarrative method for presenting research results, using a complexity-based, interpretive framework.
Focus Groups as Transformative Spiritual Encounters
Authors: Moloney Sharon
Published: January 2017

Focus groups are a valuable method for exploring the construction and negotiation of meanings. In her doctoral research the author explored how Australian women's experiences of menstruation, birth, and spirituality are invested with meaning and how that meaning influences and shapes those experiences. The focus group has been described as a potentially liminal space, which enables the discussion of taboo subjects by breaking the ice and giving people permission to comment. In addition, she discovered that the groups could be occasions of empowerment and transformation for both participants and researcher. In a way that far exceeded her expectations, the group format was ideally suited to feminist research and the organic inquiry methodology she used. Some groups became deeply spiritual encounters that were nourishing and transformative for all. This article explores how focus groups can be vehicles of spiritual transformation, examining one group in particular to highlight the points raised.