This study aims to investigate Saudi female academics' information behaviour (IB) within their work and everyday life contexts. A qualitative research approach was adopted to investigate the range of information behaviour that the research participants engaged in. The data for this study were collected via in-depth semi-structured interviews and diaries. Participants' accounts were then subject to a rigorous thematic data analysis process. The research findings indicated that female academics who participated in this study engaged in three main categories of information behaviour: information acquisition, information avoidance, and information sharing. The motivations and the strategies associated with each category have been depicted in a taxonomy of information behaviour. In addition, a detailed analysis of participants' IB as an action-oriented process has been presented visually, leading to the development of a model that depicts IB as a contextual process.

O objetivo da tese é mostrar, através da análise dos textos da obra Contra Academicos de Agostinho, o estamento da verdade: a sua situação e o seu valor. Para isso começamos por contextualizar a obra, fazendo uma divisão em três momentos importantes que a retórica usa na construção do discurso e que encontrariam uma certa correspondência com o percurso da vida de Agostinho. Deste modo, chegamos a compreender a importância de sua análise da verdade e o porquê da argumentação usada contra os acadêmicos, destacando a tríade Filosofia e Sabedoria, Razão e Autoridade, Platão e Cristo. / On the basis of a textual analysis of Contra Academicos, this thesis seeks to show the role of truth: its status and its value for Augustine. To accomplish that goal, I will, first of all, present the work in its context, dividing it into the three most important components which rhetoric utilizes in the construction of a discourse - components which to some degree correspond to the stages of Augustine\'s life. In that way, this thesis will seek to understand the importance of his analysis of truth and the reason for the kind of argumentation he follows, highlighting, as he does, the triad of Philosophy and Wisdom, Reason and Authority, Plato and Christ.

Classroom-based physical activity is a newly explored avenue for providing physical activity opportunities to children within the school, but it is one that is showing academic gains in areas such as on-task behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of pedal desks placed in high school classrooms. Three main objectives were examined: 1) The possible increase in physical activity self-efficacy among high school students in the classroom, 2) the effectiveness of pedal desks on increased physical activity among high school students, and 3) the impact of pedal desks on increasing classroom on-task behavior. Participants included 114 high school students in a traditional high school setting. All of the students were enrolled in two Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) teachers’ classrooms. The design was quasi-experimental. Two teachers and their respective classes were randomly assigned to a treatment or wait list control group. The study included a baseline and 2 waves. Researchers gathered demographic information of students, as well as pre- and post-data on self-efficacy and physical activity participation. On-task behavior of students was also collected daily by researchers via momentary time sampling. Results indicated lower self-efficacy confidence for the treatment group compared to the control group at the end of the study after controlling for initial scores. Significance was also found for heart rate. Limitations and implications are discussed.

Considerable research has been conducted over time on possible gender differences, with varying results regarding the existence and/or degree of differences. In particular, research on differences in leadership practices of men and women have abounded since the 1970s as women began to make their way into management and supervisory positions. In todays work force, several generations can be found working together within a single work setting. Possibly, differences in leadership may be more generational than gender related; however, little research has considered both gender and generation as variables. This study adds to literature relating to the existence of gender and/or generational differences in leadership through a quantitative study enhanced with follow-up interviews conducted within four Florida counties. Quantitative results revealed no statistically significant gender or generational differences in perceived leadership practices of elementary school administrators. However, interviews revealed that perception of both gender and generational differences exists among practicing school administrators. The results suggest that school districts have succeeded in "teaching old dogs new tricks." This implication is supported in the interview responses whereby all of the participants indicated that in-service training and professional development were key factors that influenced their leadership practices, possibly minimizing gender and/or generational differences in leadership practices. The differing results from the interview responses imply that school districts may need to provide more opportunities for school leaders to engage in dialogue about their practices, thus providing peer administrators with a more accurate picture of their colleagues practices. Further research on the opportunities school leaders are afforded to engage dialogue with their peers about their practices may provide further insight into the interview responses in this study. The size of the school district should be a variable of interest in further research on this topic. Continued research on gender and generational leadership differences may include a larger sample population, secondary school leaders, peer perceptions, and subordinate perceptions.

Many psychologists have studied the effects of sports on children because it is an issue that is important for children and parents alike. Athletic participation is a popular activity in the United States for children and many begin sports at young ages. Theokas (2009) claimed that the importance of athletics is that sports are more than physical activity—sports have an influence in many other areas of a child’s life. The goal of the current review was to examine how sports affect children in domains such as: friendships, self-esteem, family, and academics. Athletic involvement helps a child in more ways that physical development and it is essential to understand the opportunity for life-long lessons athletics provides. The studies under review generally support child involvement in athletics for multiple reasons and implication of this review is that parents and school administrators should encourage sports in young children.

The name ‘Humboldt’ is associated with various ideals such as the unity of teaching and research, the freedom to teach and to learn and the community of teachers and students and used to stand for a unified idea of the university. Recent developments and changes like widening participation in and the marketisation of higher education related to the emergence of neoliberalism have challenged those old ideals. Through creating a Humboldt University model based on Humboldtian ideals and a Neoliberal University model reflecting neoliberal ideas the study seeks to illustrate the main changes that have happened. It then evaluates the developments by putting them against the German (the origin of Humboldt’s ideas) and English university (the first to marketise higher education). The ones to sense the developments and changes the most are the university academics. Therefore, it was chosen to review the former through the eyes of the latter. Thus, the study offers a glimpse of how university academics at the German and English institution/institute perceive the changes deriving from comparing the above-mentioned model. How do they relate to the Humboldtian ideals? How do they evaluate recent developments and related discourses in higher education? Are there connections between the countries’ university traditions and their perception? The main findings suggest that academics at the English institute believe more in the old ideals than the German academics who blame mainly massification for its infeasibility. It also shows that recent discourses and their termination are understood differently by the academics. For a new unifying idea of the university, opposing perceptions like the ones examined would need to be brought in line. Can there be one identity of the university?

Past research has shown us that males have higher self-efficacy and motivation in the subjects of mathematics/science, and females have higher self-efficacy and motivation in the subject of English (reading/writing). This paper explores the constructs of self-efficacy, domain-specific self-efficacy, differences in gender related to academic self-efficacy, and research that has been done on interventions related to academic self-efficacy in the past. The aim of this paper is to develop intervention designs that help improve academic self-efficacy and motivation for females in the field of mathematics/ science, and improve academic self-efficacy and motivation for males in the field of English (reading/writing).

In 1988, the Australian Federal Government released the document Higher Education: A Policy Statement which was intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the higher education sector. This paved the way for the application of performance indicators (Pls) across higher education, most notably the creation of a link between Pls (called the Composite Index) and the research component of the annual government funding to universities. Although PIS for teaching became popular, funding for the teaching component was not directly attached to PIS and remained largely based on student enrolments. The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of university academics in Australia on the effects of research and teaching as a result of the introduction of funding based on research Pls. The academic literature suggests that Pls can bring about desirable effects but it also warns that their imposition, particularly by the government on universities, may lead to unintended and undesirable effects, such as goal displacement and strategic manipulation, which may be designed to enhance apparent research performance. To guide the investigation, it was hypothesised that the government's Pls which focus on research will be integrated into the universities' internal policies; will encourage universities to place a high priority on the research activities funded by the Pls; will lead to significantly more paperwork; will contribute to a significant change in the approach to research but not to teaching; and will result in academics adopting negative attitudes towards Pls. Two basic sources of information were obtained to evaluate these hypotheses. First, the administrations of selected universities were consulted, and staff interviewed, to gauge the degree of change that had been implemented by the universities. Second, a questionnaire was constructed in order to assess academics' attitude towards Pls, and their perceptions of an association between Pls and their institutional reward system. The questionnaire also assessed changes in research, teaching and paperwork activities. The universities selected characterised the different kinds of universities found in the Unified National System of the Australian higher education system. One hundred and fifty-two academics from these universities were surveyed by the questionnaire. Thirty percent of these academics participated in a structured interview. The disciplines from which the academics were selected for participation included arts/humanities, science, and professional studies which included a natural science based profession and a social science based profession. In addition, a case study of one of these universities was carried out. The institutions were found to have reorganised their internal policies to incorporate and focus on the Pls in the government's Composite Index. The academics surveyed were generally found to have negative attitude towards their institutional Pls, although staff of higher rank had relatively more positive views. Reasons for their dissatisfaction included the inability of Pls to capture the various dimensions of academic work and privileging research over teaching. For a majority of the academics, the introduction of Pls was associated with a rise in paperwork load and a change in the approach to research in terms of focusing on publications and external research grant applications, particularly those counted in their institutional PI-based funding schemes. The time devoted to these activities, as well as the number of publications and grants for which they were expected to apply, have significantly increased. It was found that staff did use various strategies to maximise their PI scores, such as writing shorter papers in order to increase the quantity of publications. The proportion who changed their approach to teaching was also sizeable; most of them were concerned about getting students through their courses with minimum fuss by having lower ambitions for students and pandering to their superficial needs. However, the proportion who changed their teaching was significantly less than those who changed their research. One possible reason could be the lack of special incentives to increase their emphasis on teaching.

abstract: The present study tested 1) whether children’s bedtimes, wake times, and sleep durations change as they transition into kindergarten (TtoK), 2) if changes to children’s sleep schedules were contingent on their pre-kindergarten (T1) napping status and if T1 bedtimes were related to fall (T2) and spring (T3) bedtimes and durations, and 3) whether T1 sleep, changes to sleep from T1 to T2, and concurrent sleep quality were related to academic achievement and participation in 51 kindergarteners. It was hypothesized that 1) wake times would be earlier and sleep duration would be shorter during kindergarten (T2 and T3) than at T1, 2) children who napped at T1 would go to bed later and have shorter sleep duration than their non-napping peers and T1 bedtimes would be positively associated with T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively associated with T2 and T3 durations, and 3) more optimal sleep (e.g., consolidated, consistent, and high quality) would be positively related to academic achievement and participation. Parents reported on children’s bedtimes, wake times, and nap lengths during T1, T2, and T3. During T3 children wore actigraphs for five consecutive school nights and completed the Woodcock Johnson tests of achievement (WJ-III). Teachers also reported on children’s participation in the classroom during T3. Results demonstrated that bedtimes and wake times were earlier at T2 and T3 than T1. Duration was shorter at T2 and T3 than T1. Additionally, napping was unrelated to bedtimes and durations, but T1 bedtime was positively related to T2 and T3 bedtimes and negatively related to T2 and T3 durations. Finally, T1 nap length, change in bedtimes, and Actigraphy duration were negatively related to participation. Actigraphy onset variability was positively related to participation. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Family and Human Development 2015

O objetivo da tese é mostrar, através da análise dos textos da obra Contra Academicos de Agostinho, o estamento da verdade: a sua situação e o seu valor. Para isso começamos por contextualizar a obra, fazendo uma divisão em três momentos importantes que a retórica usa na construção do discurso e que encontrariam uma certa correspondência com o percurso da vida de Agostinho. Deste modo, chegamos a compreender a importância de sua análise da verdade e o porquê da argumentação usada contra os acadêmicos, destacando a tríade Filosofia e Sabedoria, Razão e Autoridade, Platão e Cristo. / On the basis of a textual analysis of Contra Academicos, this thesis seeks to show the role of truth: its status and its value for Augustine. To accomplish that goal, I will, first of all, present the work in its context, dividing it into the three most important components which rhetoric utilizes in the construction of a discourse - components which to some degree correspond to the stages of Augustine\'s life. In that way, this thesis will seek to understand the importance of his analysis of truth and the reason for the kind of argumentation he follows, highlighting, as he does, the triad of Philosophy and Wisdom, Reason and Authority, Plato and Christ.