Digital technologies are impacting news cultures across the globe in various ways. In this thesis, I explore specifically how the digital platform is influencing hard news reporting practices at the online news websites of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). I investigate how the formats of the news reports, as well as the techniques and practices adopted for producing them are changing within these institutions. I also investigate the extents to which the role and identity of newsmakers are seen to be shifting in response to specific influences of digital technologies. These analyses are grounded on the theory that media convergence is a significant influencer in this changing space. This thesis finds that the context within which a news organisation operates is a strong influence on how it adapts digital techniques into the existing newsmaking practice. Consequently, the BBC as a PSB (Public Service Broadcaster) from a developed world is seen as having experiences that differ significantly from its counterpart, the SABC which is from the global South. Together, they are both being impacted in ways that are significantly different from private-sector mainstream or alternative news organisations across the two contexts. It also finds that the norms that govern the production of hard online news are deeply rooted in the old media platforms of print, radio and television such that significant continuities can be seen with respect to specific techniques and practices. Further, it finds that some of the hypothesised affordances of the space with regards to the combined use of multimedia, hypertextuality and interactivity to engage the audience are not fully experienced. This thesis therefore concludes that though the digital platform is evolving and hard to predict, its impact on hard news reporting practices is not particularly revolutionary at this present time within these two contexts. However, it is acknowledged that the web does have the immense capacity to support highly innovative interactive forms of storytelling demonstrated through news platforms, formats, and genres such as mobile, live blogs, and multimedia magazine-style soft news projects. Hence, this thesis’ deficiency is that it does not explore the significance of these newest and growing forms. However, in addition to drawing out specific nuances of the British and the South African digital media space, it contributes to providing a non-Western standard for measuring how the online news space is evolving, and fills the perceived gap about how under-researched contexts are appropriating specific digital techniques.

This thesis documents the design, manufacture and testing of a passive and non-invasive micro-scale planar particle-from-fluid filter for segregating cell types from a homogeneous suspension. The microfluidics system can be used to separate spermatogenic cells from testis biopsy samples, providing a mechanism for filtrate retrieval for assisted reproduction therapy. The system can also be used for point-of-service diagnostics applications for hospitals, lab-on-a-chip pre-processing and field applications such as clinical testing in the third world. Various design concepts are developed and manufactured, and are assessed based on etched structure morphology, robustness to variations in the manufacturing process, and design impacts on fluid flow and particle separation characteristics. Segregation was measured using image processing algorithms that demonstrate efficiency is more than 55% for 1 µl volumes at populations exceeding 1 x 107. the technique supports a significant reduction in time over conventional processing, in the separation and identification of particle groups, offering a potential reduction in the associated cost of the targeted procedure. The thesis has developed a model of quasi-steady wetting flow within the micro channel and identifies the forces across the system during post-wetting equalisation. The model and its underlying assumptions are validated empirically in microfabricated test structures through a novel Micro-Particle Image Velocimetry technique. The prototype devices do not require ancillary equipment nor additional filtration media, and therefore offer fewer opportunities for sample contamination over conventional processing methods. The devices are disposable with minimal reagent volumes and process waste. Optimal processing parameters and production methods are identified with any improvements that could be made to enhance their performance in a number of identified potential applications.

For the past three decades, research on the topic of synaesthesia has been largely dominated by the field of psychology and neuroscience, and has focused on scientifically investigating its experience and causes to define the phenomenon of synaesthesia. However, the scientific research on this subject is now enquiring into potential future implementations and asking how this subject may be useful to wider audiences, and is attempting to expand its research spectrum beyond the mere scientific analysis. This PhD research in design by practice attempts to contribute and expand this scope: it shares a creative interpretation of synaesthesia research and questions its existing boundary. The past synaesthesia research in design has been largely focused on the possibility and potentials of sensory optimisation and cross-modal sensory interaction between users and artefacts. However, this research investigates the provocative properties and characteristics of synaesthesia and shares different approaches to its application for generating creative ideas in design. This PhD research presents nine projects, and they consist of approaches to synaesthesia application, toolkits and validations. Synaesthesia is one of those rare subjects where both science and creative context intersect and nurture each other. By looking into this PhD research, readers may gain insights of how a designer tries to discover a new value within this interdisciplinary context. This research contributes three types of new knowledge and new perspectives. Firstly, it provides a new interpretation and awareness in and of synaesthesia research, and expands its research boundaries, moving from analysis based research to application based research. Secondly, it outlines three approaches, a range of themes and toolkits for using synaesthesia as a provocation in generating creative ideas in the design process. Thirdly, it identifies the differences between previous synaesthesia application research and current application research within the context of design. Research on the topic of synaesthesia has been boosted significantly since the technological innovations (e.g. fMRI brain scanning and neuroimaging) in the early 1990s. However, this research was somewhat limited to scientific analysis analysis in order to understand the nature of the phenomenon. This research paradigm and the scientific focus have now shifted, and they are attempting to discover the potentials of synaesthesia's usefulness through different disciplines and channels. How can we apply the provocative qualities of synaesthesia within the context of design? This research journey begins by investigating this foundational question from a designer's point of view.

My original contribution to knowledge is a framework constructed via the writings of Antonio Gramsci and Walter Benjamin for understanding what distinguishes art as a political object from art as a socially engaged, politicising force. The dominant understanding of art's reformative social agency raises two ethical problems that the thesis addresses. The first involves the artist's right to assume the authority to represent people and social conditions. The second involves an ethical aesthetic of tastefulness that engages with viewing as opposed to action. The framework I develop argues that art's functionalisms, for good or for ill, do not work with categories of art but are embedded in the politics of all cultural production. By disentangling art from the elitist paradigms enmeshed in concepts of artistic skill and art's own internal history of development, the thesis clarifies what separates art as political object from art as a socially engaged, politicising force. In the thesis, I argue for the advantages of the framework I develop via critical engagements with influential approaches such as those advocated by Clement Greenberg and Roland Barthes, artworks such as those produced by Judy Chicago and Art & Language, and theorists of art's social and political role such as those offered by Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière. A key point made across the thesis is that political art is not necessarily politicising art, with the former being more interested in modifying the forms taken by art - what art is - and the latter asking how art can contribute to social and political change - what art does. Subsequently, the thesis outlines in detail the aforementioned framework inspired by Gramsci and Benjamin. This sets the scene for the second half of the thesis, which discusses the installations and interventions of Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar, whose practices are an exemplary case for illustrating the potential of the framework outlined above. As a self-professed Gramscian, Jaar works to actively participate in practical life as a constructor, organiser and 'permanent persuader' (Gramsci, 1971, p.10), through creating models for 'learning to think, for solving a problem' (Jaar, 2006, p.76). Moreover, as someone who is explicitly political in his practices, and who has been lauded worldwide for his works since the late 1970s, Jaar is a highly appropriate artist through which to highlight the challenges inherent to attempts to make the most of art's social and political potential. The chapters on Jaar consider, in turn, his Chilean works in the late 1970s and early 1980s, his photographic installations, and his explicitly political interventions. I argue that, while at times the work has embodied a politicising dynamic, more often than not the work has remained political and thus within more traditional understandings of art and of the artist. As such, the thesis offers a richer, more holistic approach to theorising art and discussing artistic practices compared to existing scholarship and criticism, and it also enables us to develop more nuanced analyses of artworks which are presented as political and potentially transformative than has hitherto been the case.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was often labelled a country “in-between”. Following the split with Stalin in 1948, socialist Yugoslavia established its “third way”, one that was based on workers’ self-management as an alternative to both capitalism, as well as to Soviet-style communism. Yugoslavia’s “in-betweenness” was emphasised in public rhetoric and propaganda during its existence, and has since been carefully examined by economic, political, social and cultural historians. This thesis explores this narrative about Yugoslav exceptionalism through the lens of design practice, asking to what extent has the experience of its unique system of self-management been “designed”. It positions design practice as an active agent in the processes of construction of Yugoslav socialism, through an in-depth analysis of important public projects, mass produced objects, design institutions, exhibitions and publications. Designing Self-Management offers a new understanding of post-war modernity in Yugoslavia by contextualising the analysis of design practice within the structures of self-management and, vice versa, by situating the study of self-management within the framework of design. To understand the impact design had on the experinece of self-management, this thesis positions the study of Yugoslav socialism within wider discussions about post-war modernity and seeks to reassess its claim to exceptionalism. On the one hand, the Yugoslav economic and social system that was based on workers’ councils proposed a more authentic and democratic form of socialism, in contrast to the dictatorial regimes of Eastern Europe. However, the success of self-management was indexed to the materialisation of the “good life” that was characterised by Western-style consumerism. Between 1955 and 1975, the Yugoslav experience of everyday life was shaped by modern mass-produced goods, mass housing, increased mobility, and the proliferation of pop-culture, all provided through the system of self-management. This lived experience of post-war modernity was not unique to Yugoslavia. Instead, it was part of broader social, cultural, political and economic processes that shaped everyday life on both sides of the Cold War divide. Within this context, Designing Self-Management examines the role of design in shaping Yugoslav post-war modernity, focusing on the spaces and places of everyday life, and the objects that defined them: from kiosks to washing machines; from telephones to public seating systems; from mass housing blocks to TVs and radios. Each chapter examines a specific space through a case-study approach. Chapter 1 focuses on design practice within the workplace through the work of designers in Iskra and Rade Končar companies. The second analyses spaces of consumption through printed pages of Svijet magazine and physical spaces of department stores, supply centres and the Zagreb Fair. In the third chapter, the home is examined through normative discussions about kultura stanovanja (domestic culture), as well as DIY practices shaped by Naš dom and Sam svoj majstor magazines. The final chapter looks at public space through K67 kiosk designed by Saša Mächtig as well as UNI87 seating system produced by Jadran company. All four chapters explore the relationship between design discourse and practice, government policies and propaganda, and consumers-self-managers, and argue that the material culture of everyday life shaped Yugoslav citizens’ understanding of and compliance with self-management. This builds on research undertaken across public and private archives, such as the Archive of Yugoslavia in Belgrade, Rade Končar Archive in Zagreb, Croatian State Archive in Zagreb, Ljubljana Historical Archive in Kranj, Archive of the Technical Museum and Museum of Architecture and Design in Ljubljana.

This thesis examines the intersection of authorship and fiction in artistic practices from the 1980s until the present. Based on a series of examples of imaginary or partially fictional artists who are, nevertheless, able to function as authors in the contemporary art world, the thesis proposes the term “parafictional artists.” The concept of the parafictional, coined by the art historian Carrie Lambert-Beatty, is here revised to emphasize the capacity of these artists to interact with the art world in a plausible manner despite the disclosure of their imaginary nature. Such interactions include exhibiting and selling works, giving interviews, publishing books, or performing under their own name. Rather than focusing on why numerous artists from a broad geographic background have decided to employ fictional authorial strategies, this thesis explores a different set of questions: How does the extended practice of developing and exhibiting parafictional artists reflect as well as modify the ways in which contemporary authorship functions in todays’ highly institutionalized, mostly global, art world? And, what are the consequences of the introduction of these fictional explorations into artistic identity for the interpretation, presentation, and encounter with artworks? In order to answer the above questions, the thesis is divided in two parts. Part I utilises an art historical framework to propose interpretative models to analyse parafictional artists. Starting from the critique of authorship and its articulation by new art history in the 1980s, the thesis applies revised ideas on the importance of biography and intentionality to a number of selected case studies, including Reena Spaulings, Barbara Cleveland, Robbie Williams, The Atlas Group, and the three Janez Janšas, amongst others. Part II brings these debates up to date and questions the working logic of the critique of authorship from the 1990s onwards. This second part draws a parallel between the emergence of parafictional strategies and of curating as a professional activity and discourse, as a consequence of changes in the organization of the art world. The thesis concludes by examining a series of exhibitions and argues for a curatorial understanding of parafictional artists that, beyond critique, contributes to the production of knowledge through fiction.

<p>Endophytes are a unique group of microorganisms that spend at least part of their life cycle within plant tissues. These microbes are increasingly being recognized for their potential to improve the health and productivity of their host plants. Recent studies indicate that endophytes could also influence human health by altering the composition of chemical compounds within plants, thereby affecting their nutritional quality and flavor. In addition, the presence of endophytes in edible plant tissues could directly affect human health by introducing microbes that can stimulate the immune system or act as opportunistic pathogens in people with compromised immune systems. However, despite their potential importance for plant and human health, these plant-associated microbes have been understudied due to a lack of visible symptoms associated with their presence and difficulty in isolating them from plant tissues. In the present studies, we hypothesized that endophytes play an important role in carrot, one of the most important vegetable crops in the world.</p> <p> Carrot is well known as an important source of vitamins, antioxidants and other nutrients in the human diet, and carrot taproots are often consumed raw. Carrot crops are slow to establish and are subject to assault by a wide range of pests that negatively affect the health and productivity of this crop, as well as the storage potential of its taproots. Consequently, the aim of these studies was to examine endophyte dynamics in carrot. Studies were carried out in field, greenhouse and laboratory trials using a diverse set of carrot genotypes with broad genetic backgrounds and physiological characteristics. Endophyte communities were studied using traditional culture-based techniques, along with low and high throughput sequencing technologies.</p> <p>Results of these studies demonstrate that carrot seeds and taproots are colonized by an abundant and diverse set of endophytic microbial taxa. Many of these endophytes could solubilize phosphorous, fix atmospheric nitrogen, produce siderophores and auxin and suppress infection by a key carrot pathogen, <i>Alternaria dauci</i>, demonstrating their potential importance for maintaining carrot health and productivity. Some of the endophytes identified in these trials were vertically transmitted to progeny inside carrot seeds, indicating that they could be part of a core microbiome that evolved alongside carrot plants, and are likely to be critical in early seedling establishment. We also determined that carrot endophytes could be acquired via horizontal transmission from soil with greater soil health in an organic relative to a conventionally managed system resulting in greater populations of endophytes with antagonistic activity against <i>A. dauci</i>. Finally, endophyte communities varied among the genotypes evaluated in this study, with some being more responsive to the presence of greater populations of beneficial endophytes in their environments. This indicates that it could someday be possible to begin selecting for these beneficial plant microbial relationships in breeding programs.</p> <p> Based on the results of these studies, we conclude that endophytes do indeed play an important role in carrot. Additional research aimed at determining how these microbes functionally interact with carrot plants and identifying practical approaches to manipulate these communities to enhance the productivity and quality of carrot taproots, are recommended. A new isolation technique identified in these trials will aid in these efforts.</p>

<p>Numerous studies have shown multiple benefits gained through professional development for teachers, which address increasing pedagogical content knowledge, increasing student achievement and increasing teacher job satisfaction (Banks, 2008; Colbert, Brown, Choi &Thomas, 2008; Dash, de Kramer, O’Dwyer, Masters & Russell, 2012). However, barriers to professional development, including cost, time and access, make face-to-face professional development sessions difficult to meet teacher needs (Carr, 2016). Online professional development can help to address these barriers, while meeting the needs of teachers. Employing best practices established through both online learning pedagogy and professional development techniques, teachers can increase their pedagogical content knowledge and opportunities for collaboration using online platforms. This study demonstrated, using a blend of qualitative and quantitative assessments that online professional development was comparable in effectiveness to face-to-face professional development in preparation for teaching an introductory logistics course and the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council Certified Logistics Associate certification exam. </p>

This research study explores the gamification of SandBoxModel's Project Team Builder, a project management simulation software. Scope, time and cost are the three constraints of project management with quality being the fourth dimension. The software provides a simulated environment where the students are responsible for handling the aforementioned constraints with the objective of executing a complete project. The software is used to teach project management concepts to students who take the CNIT 480 - Managing Information Technology Projects course at Purdue University. The perception survey was used to analyze whether gamification had a significant effect on student understanding of project execution concepts. The triple constraint survey was used to analyze students' level of comprehension regarding the triple constraints after using the simulation software. Gamification was not a success in enhancing project execution concepts since no significant differences were found in student perceptions on comparing the data of the three semesters. However, simulation independent of gamification was successful in improving students' understanding of triple constraint. <br>

<div>The present study evaluated the feasibility and social validity of using a wearable technology to detect anxiety for educational purposes. Twenty college student who planned to take a Graduate Study Exam (GRE) for attending graduate school were recruited to participate in the study. Each participant completed a practice GRE with quantitative and verbal reasoning sections. The participants were asked to complete a demographic questionnaire and State and Trait Anxiety Inventory before the practice exam. An acceptability questionnaire was administered after the practice exam to collect data on the social validity of the wearable technology. During the practice exam, the participants were asked to tap a button on the wearable device to report stressful incidents (SI) when they felt the exam questions were causing them to feel stressed. The participants’ heart rate and skin conductance data were collected and analyzed with the timing of their self-reported SI. The data indicated that significant heart rate changes were detected in 66% and 70% of the self-reported SI in the quantitative and verbal reasoning sections, respectively. The results indicated heart rate data could be used for short-term anxiety monitoring for educational purposes in the real classrooms. The social validity data indicated polarized results for the acceptance of an anxiety monitoring technology for educational purposes. Participants with higher familiarity with wearable devices in general reported the wearable device used in the study less distracting during the practice exams. Participants with higher levels of anxiety reported being less comfortable with their physiological signals monitored during the practice exams. Implications and suggestions for future research studies are discussed.</div>