Scientific communities have established social mechanisms for proposing explanations, questioning evidence, and validating claims. Opportunities like these are often not a given in science classrooms (Vellom, Anderson, & Palincsar, 1993) even though the National Science Education Standards (NSES, 1996) state that a scientifically literate person should be able to “engage intelligently in public discourse and debate about important issues in science and technology” (National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Research further documents that students’ science conceptions undergo little modification with the traditional teaching experienced in many high school science classrooms (Duit, 2003, Dykstra, 2005). This case study is an examination of the discourse that occurred as four high school physics students collaborated on solutions to three physics lab problems during which the students made predictions and experimentally generated data to support their predictions. The discourse patterns were initially examined for instances of concept negotiations. Selected instances were further examined using Toulmin’s (2003) pattern for characterizing argumentation in order to understand the students’ scientific reasoning strategies and to document the role of collaboration in facilitating conceptual modifications and changes. Audio recordings of the students’ conversations during the labs, written problems turned in to the teacher, interviews of the students, and observations and field notes taken during student collaboration were used to document and describe the students’ challenges and successes encountered during their collaborative work. The findings of the study indicate that collaboration engaged the students and generated two types of productive science discourse: concept negotiations and procedure negotiations. Further analysis of the conceptual and procedure negotiations revealed that the students viewed science as sensible and plausible but not as a tool they could employ to answer their questions. The students’ conceptual growth was inhibited by their allegiance to the authority of the science laws as learned in their school classroom. Thus, collaboration did not insure conceptual change. Describing student discourse in situ contributes to science education research about teaching practices that facilitate conceptual understandings in the science classroom.

Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti tarpkultūrines derybas teoriniu aspektu, suvokti, kokia sėkmingų derybų esmė ir kaip derėtis su skirtingų kultūrų atstovais, atlikti tyrimą ir pateikti siūlymus. Darbą sudaro trys pagrindinės dalys. Pirmoje dalyje apžvelgiama mokslinė literatūra tarpkultūrinių derybų sampratos aspektais. Analizuojama, kokią įtaką tarptautiniam verslui turi įvairių kultūrų skirtumai. Antroje darbo dalyje pristatoma tiriamos įmonės, AB „Audimas“ charakteristika, pateikiami tyrimo, kuriuo buvo siekiama įvertinti darbuotojų kompetenciją tarpkultūrinėse derybose, duomenys, jų analizė ir vertinimas. Trečioje dalyje pateikiama AB „Audimas“ darbuotojų tarpkultūrinių derybinių įgūdžių tobulinimo programa . Programą sudaro keturių krypčių modeliai. / The aim of this paper is to analyze the theoretical aspects of intercultural negotiations, to understand what the essence of successful negotiations are and how to negotiate with different cultures, to investigate and make proposals This paper consists of three different parts. The first part reviews the scientific literature on the concept of cross-cultural negotiation aspects. It analyzes the impact of international business varieties in different cultures. The second part presents the companies JSC Audimas characteristic, studies which was designed to assess staff competence in intercultural negotiations, data analysis and evaluation. The third section presents JSC Audimas employees intercultural negotiation skills development program. The program consists of a four-way models.

SUMMARY of Inesa Jaskutytė final work for the Master’s degree “The Mechanism of Negotiation Process in the Sports Organizations” Key words: negotiation, organisation, process. The object of this work – negotiation process and its components. The problematic question of this work: why negotiation process is the important component of business communication? The aim of this work is to analyse the mechanism of negotiation in the sports organisations. In order to achieve this aim it is necessary to attain such goals: 1. To give the definition of negotiation as the main component of business communication. 2. To explain the main components of preparing and beginning of negotiation process in sports organisations. 3. To explain the peculiarity of negotiation course and ending in sports organisations. Conclusions Literature analysis showed, that communication usually perceived as the means of changing information in different ways – using words, letters, symbols, gestures, etc. People communicate with each other on different topics every day. They argue or peacefully agree upon the decisions, suitable for all parties. We can call such processes negotiation. Business communication is a variety of social communication – it gives an opportunity for the managers to control the organisation. Negotiation helps to coordinate suitable decisions for all parties involved in this process. The results of research showed that the beginning of negotiation is very important for the further... [to full text]

This thesis is an investigation of rules which are historically conceptualized as static and unidirectional constructs strictly enforced by parents. This behavioural perspective is focused on parents as active agents and children immediately obey parental requests (Patterson, 1982). In contrast, a developmental perspective was used in this study in which rules are flexible and coconstructed by parents and children (Parkin & Kuczynski, 2012). Forty families participated in open-ended interviews; each family had one child between the ages of eight and thirteen. A thematic analysis was conducted and results suggested that rules were constructed by a bidirectional process in which parents and children were active agents. Parents most commonly perceived the rules to be flexible, coregulated and inherent - few parents described firm and explicit rules. Rules were developed by negotiation, based on the child’s development and by accommodating external influences. Leeway was an inherent, expected component of parent-child interactions

Dans le domaine des relations industrielles, on a vu apparaître, ces dernières années, différents changements au niveau des relations du travail, notamment en matière de négociation collective. En effet, de nouvelles formes de négociation ont vu le jour en réponse aux changements qui se sont produits sur le marché du travail. De façon plus précise, les théoriciens se sont penchés, d’une part, sur des méthodes de négociation moins conflictuelles et les acteurs concernés par la négociation collective ont su les mettre en pratique, d’autre part. Cependant, bien que certains aient tenté de substituer ces méthodes plus coopératives à la négociation traditionnelle de façon intégrale, les théoriciens et praticiens se sont aperçus qu’il était plutôt difficile de les adopter à l’état pur et ce, de façon alternative à la négociation traditionnelle. Afin d’optimiser les gains mutuels lors de la négociation d’une entente, les négociateurs vont plutôt opter pour un usage combiné des méthodes plus traditionnelles et des nouvelles formes dites plus coopératives; on parle alors de négociation mixte. Toutefois, peu d’études portant sur la négociation mixte ont été conduites. Nous croyons néanmoins que cette forme de négociation est plus appropriée, notamment en raison de la nature des enjeux traités à l’occasion d’une négociation collective. S’insérant dans ce contexte, l’objet de notre recherche est donc l’étude, par l’entremise d’un cas particulier, de la négociation mixte. De façon plus précise, nous cherchons à évaluer la méthode de négociation adoptée lors de la négociation collective ayant eu lieu entre le Centre de la petite enfance Pomme Soleil (CPE) et le Syndicat des intervenantes en petite enfance de Montréal (SIPEM) – CSQ en 2005. Afin d’y parvenir, nous avons vérifié les propositions et hypothèses suivantes : (1) la nature du climat des négociations précédentes a une influence sur la méthode de négociation de type mixte adoptée par les parties au cours de la négociation de la convention collective, (2) la nature du climat des relations industrielles a une influence sur la méthode de négociation de type mixte adoptée par les parties au cours de la négociation de la convention collective, (3) le passage du temps a un effet de transition sur la méthode de négociation de type mixte qui manifeste une dominante intégrative dans les étapes initiales de la négociation et une dominante distributive dans les étapes finales, (4) les négociateurs ayant reçu une formation à la négociation basée sur la résolution de problèmes ou basée sur les intérêts adoptent une méthode de négociation de type mixte à dominante intégrative, (5) l’expérience des négociateurs patronal et syndical a une influence sur la méthode de négociation de type mixte adoptée par les parties au cours de la négociation de la convention collective, (6) la stratégie de négociation initiale adoptée par les parties a une influence sur la méthode de négociation de type mixte au cours de la négociation de la convention collective et (7) la négociation des clauses à incidence pécuniaire donne lieu à une méthode de négociation de type mixte à dominante distributive. Grâce aux résultats que nous avons recueillis par l’entremise de l’observation de la négociation collective entre le CPE Pomme Soleil et le SIPEM, mais principalement par le biais des entrevues, nous sommes en mesure d’affirmer que, conformément à notre question de recherche, la négociation fut mixte, à dominante intégrative. Cependant, la question salariale, bien qu’elle ne fut pas abordée à la table de négociation mais avec le gouvernement provincial, prit une tangente distributive. En ce sens, nous pouvons dire que la négociation fut mixte et ce, de façon séquentielle. / In the field of industrial relations, we saw appearing, these last years, various changes in work relations, particularly in collective bargaining. Indeed, new forms of negotiation were born in answer to the changes which occurred in the labor market. In a more precise way, the theorists bent, on one hand, over less conflicting methods of negotiation and the actors concerned by the collective bargaining knew how to put them into practice, on the other hand. However, although some tried to substitute these more cooperative methods for the traditional negotiation, the theorists and the practitioners noticed that it was rather difficult to adopt them in a pure state, in an alternative way to the traditional negotiation. To optimize the mutual earnings during the negotiation of an agreement, the negotiators will rather opt for a combined use of the more traditional methods and the new cooperative forms; we speak then about mixed negotiation. However, few studies concerning the mixed negotiation were driven. We believe nevertheless that this kind of negotiation is more suited, in particular because of the nature of the stakes handled on the occasion of a collective bargaining. Fitting into this context, the object of our research is thus the study, by the observation of a particular case, of mixed negotiation. In a more precise way, we try to evaluate the method of negotiation adopted during the collective bargaining that took place between the Centre de la petite enfance Pomme Soleil (CPE) and the Syndicat des intervenantes en petite enfance de Montréal (SIPEM) – CSQ in 2005. To reach there, we verified the propositions and the following hypotheses: (1) the nature of the climate of the previous negotiations has an influence on the method of mixed negotiation adopted by the parties during the negotiation of the collective agreement, (2) the nature of the climate of the industrial relations has an influence on the method of negotiation of mixed type adopted by the parties during the negotiation of the collective agreement, (3) the passage of time has an effect of transition on the method of mixed negotiation which shows an integrative dominant in the initial stages of the negotiation and a distributive dominant in the final stages, (4) the negotiators who have received a training in interest-based negotiation adopt a method of mixed negotiation with an integrative dominant, (5) the experience of the employer’s and labor-union’s negotiators has an influence on the method of mixed negotiation adopted by the parties during the negotiation of the collective agreement, (6) the initial strategy of negotiation adopted by the parties has an influence on the method of mixed negotiation during the negotiation of the collective agreement and (7) the negotiation of clauses with pecuniary incidence give place to a method of mixed negotiation with distributive dominant. Thanks to the results which we collected by the intervention of the observation of the collective bargaining between the CPE Pomme Soleil and the SIPEM, but mainly by means of the interviews, we are capable of asserting that, according to our research question, the negotiation was mixed, with an integrative dominant. However, the wage question, although it was not approached at the table of negotiation but with the provincial government, took a distributive tangent. In this way, we can say that the negotiation was mixed in a sequential way.

This thesis examines the complex interplay between violence and concepts of masculinity using the case study examples of former members of pro-Indonesian militia groups and current members of gangs, martial arts and ritual arts groups in Timor-Leste. Thirty-eight former and current members of these groups were interviewed in both Timor-Leste and Indonesian West Timor. While the members of these groups and their violent acts are often cast in relatively simplistic terms as being the work of misguided, socio-economically marginalised, violent young men, the thesis argues that the phenomena of these groups are far more complex and are intricately intertwined with local East Timorese and imported concepts of what it means to be a man. In addition to being political and economic projects, membership in these groups gives the men new, albeit often violent, ways of defining their masculine identity and defining their place in post-colonial, post-conflict East Timorese society. The violent enactments of masculinity displayed by the young men involved in the various groups examined in this thesis have been formed by the violent history of Timor-Leste but simultaneously the young men have also been personally involved in forming this history of violence. Both on the personal and on the level of the East Timorese state, these histories of violence are dealt with strategies of denial when it comes to taking personal responsibility for violence, leading to impunity and denial of justice to the victims. For the perpetrators, though, denial of responsibility and justifications of violence are used in an attempt to regain masculine honour and respectability in the eyes of broader society. Violence continues to be one of the tools they are willing to resort to for addressing real and perceived grievances, both on the personal and public level. Given the disruptive and deadly ways in which the activities of these young men have affected Timor-Leste, a central challenge for building a peaceful, just and equitable society will be to overcome the ways in which masculinities are defined through violence – a task which requires the involvement of East Timorese boys and men, but also their mothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, wives and lovers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2010.

Chinese international students are the largest group among international students in Canada. They play an important role in Canadian universities as well as in leisure research. The current study aims to reveal Chinese international students’ leisure experience, and to explore their leisure constraints and negotiation strategies in their everyday lives. The framework of leisure constraints negotiation (Jackson, 1993) was employed. Eight interviews with Chinese international students from the University of Manitoba were conducted to hear the stories about their leisure experiences. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. Chinese international students were found to be constrained intrapersonally, interpersonally, structurally, and culturally in their leisure. However, they were trying to be active by applying some negotiation strategies. The results of this study can not only benefit this group but also other international student groups by identifying their leisure preferences and constraints, and help leisure service providers to facilitate leisure activities on campus.

There is currently much UK government and industry interest towards the integration of complex computer-based systems, including those in the military domain. These systems can include both mission critical and safety critical applications, and therefore require the dependable communication of data. Current modular military systems requiring such performance guarantees are mostly based on parameters and system states fixed during design time, thus allowing a predictable estimate of performance. These systems can exhibit a limited degree of reconfiguration, but this is typically within the constraints of a predefined set of configurations. The ability to reconfigure systems more dynamically, could lead to further increased flexibility and adaptability, resulting in the better use of existing assets. Current software architecture models that are capable of providing this flexibility, however, tend to lack support for dependable performance. This thesis explores the benefits for the dependability of future dynamic systems, built on a publish/subscribe model, from using Quality of Service (QoS) methods to map application level data communication requirements to available network resources. Through this, original contributions to knowledge are created, including; the proposal of a QoS framework that specifies a way of defining flexible levels of QoS characteristics and their use in the negotiation of network resources, a simulation based evaluation of the QoS framework and specifically the choice of negotiation algorithm used, and a test-bed based feasibility study. Simulation experimentation conducted comparing different methods of QoS negotiation gives a clear indication that the use of the proposed QoS framework and flexible negotiation algorithm can provide a benefit in terms of system utility, resource utilisation, and system stability. The choice of negotiation algorithm has a particularly strong impact on these system properties. The cost of these benefits comes in terms of the processing power and execution time required to reach a decision on the acceptance of a subscriber. It is suggested, given this cost, that when computational resources are limited, a simpler priority based negotiation algorithm should be used. Where system resources are more abundant, however, the flexible negotiation algorithm proposed within the QoS framework can offer further benefits. Through the implementation of the QoS framework within an existing military avionics software architecture based emulator on a test-bed, both the technical challenges that will need to be overcome and, more importantly, the potential viability for the inclusion of the QoS framework have been demonstrated.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

Chinese international students are the largest group among international students in Canada. They play an important role in Canadian universities as well as in leisure research. The current study aims to reveal Chinese international students’ leisure experience, and to explore their leisure constraints and negotiation strategies in their everyday lives. The framework of leisure constraints negotiation (Jackson, 1993) was employed. Eight interviews with Chinese international students from the University of Manitoba were conducted to hear the stories about their leisure experiences. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data. Chinese international students were found to be constrained intrapersonally, interpersonally, structurally, and culturally in their leisure. However, they were trying to be active by applying some negotiation strategies. The results of this study can not only benefit this group but also other international student groups by identifying their leisure preferences and constraints, and help leisure service providers to facilitate leisure activities on campus.