In previous research men have been shown to obtain higher mean scores on tests of horizontality CH) and verticality CV) than do women. This study investigated the role of experiential factors in this gender difference. Undergraduate psychology students were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: training, enhanced training, and placebo. The pretest measure of verticality and horizontality CV/ H), training, and posttest were administered via videotape. Major findings were: men obtained higher mean V/H scores than women; V and H scores correlated significantly; and training increased performance relative to a placebo, but enhanced training was not superior to standard training. It was hypothesized that participation in athletics might eliminate the V/ H sex difference. This was supported by initial analyses of the data. However, further analyses revealed that this may have been artifactual. Errors on the V/H test were classified as undercorrections, overcorrections, and miscorrections. It was found that miscorrections corresponded to relatively low scores, inconsistent responding, and resistance to training. Scores on a generalization test substantiated al l findings from the original V/H measure.

The Cache County Study on Memory in Aging (CCSMA) is a longitudinal population-based study which took place in Cache County, Utah. The study followed 5092 older-adult residents (aged 65+) for approximately 12 years to examine risk and protective factors for dementia. Participants completed dementia screening and follow-up assessments across four triennial visits. Additionally, researchers gathered information regarding demographics, reproductive history (e.g. age of menopause; hormone replacement therapy [HRT]) and other health-related factors, such as physical activity. Genotyping of DNA was completed for a genetic variation of genes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein found in the brain associated with neuronal health and survival. Estrogen has been associated with cognitive health and has been shown to interact with BDNF in the brain to promote neuronal survival. The current research investigated the associations between estrogen, BDNF, and cognitive decline in older adult women from the CCSMA. An examination of how reproductive history, including the reproductive window (age of menarche to menopause) and use of HRT, affects the cognitive health of women in older adulthood can provide a clearer understanding of how estrogen exposure across the lifespan contributes to cognition in late life. This research can be helpful in determining the implications of events such as pregnancy, breastfeeding, surgical menopause and use of HRT on cognitive decline. Additionally, an investigation of how these reproductive factors interact with BDNF genetics is important to understand gene-by-environment interactions. The results of the current project demonstrated that increased lifelong estrogen exposure, both in the form of the reproductive window and HRT use, had small cognitive benefits for women in late life. Additionally, it was shown that women who initiated HRT use closer to menopause had increased cognitive status compared to those who initiated later. The specific BDNF gene under investigation was not associated with cognitive status in late life, neither was the interaction between BDNF and lifetime estrogen exposure. This research contributes to the discussion of sex-dependent factors of cognitive health and can help provide a better understanding late life cognitive decline.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis describes a research study that investigated the relationships between school level environment and student outcomes. The study involved 620 teachers and 4645 students from 57 Australian secondary schools in all states and territories. Student outcome measures included mathematics achievement, attitudes and beliefs toward mathematics and were collected as part of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. Teachers perceptions of their school environment were measured using the School Level Environment Questionnaire and included variables such as student support, affiliation, professional interest, mission consensus, empowerment, innovation, resource adequacy and work pressure. Previous research has shown that factors at the school level, like environment, influence education at the classroom level and to further investigate this, data regarding the instructional practices of teachers was included in the analysis. The unique methodology used to investigate influences on student mathematics achievement is also described in this thesis. A two-step approach to modelling consisted of the analysis of two conceptually distinct models. The first was an analysis of the measurement model, which specifies the relationships between the observed variables and the latent variables. The second involved a structural equation model, which specifies the relationships among the latent variables as posited by theory and previous research. In addition, a multilevel analysis was included to further partition the variance in student outcomes between the student level, the classroom level and the school level. The results of these analysis linked particular variables of interest to improved student outcomes. / For example, teachers who felt supported and empowered were more likely to employ student-centred instructional practices and that work pressure and resource adequacy influenced the instructional approaches in the classrooms. The success attribution of students determined which method of instruction promoted positive outcomes. Furthermore, these results indicate relationships between student outcomes, attitudes and achievement, and the relationships between attitude and achievement were recursive with influences from student background variables. The multilevel analysis demonstrated the importance of the influence of factors at the classroom level in influencing student outcomes and highlighted factors at the school level that explained differences in achievement. The significance of this study is in the provision of evidence that demonstrates the effects on student outcomes and not only supports, but significantly adds to previous research. This thesis provides practical implications for teaching and for school policy that can be implemented to promote positive student outcomes. The thesis also provides a rationale for further research that would involve an investigation of the effects of change as suggested from the results of these analysis reported from this study.

Abstract not available

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-163). Concerns the development of high-order finite-difference methods on a uniform rectangular grid for advection and diffuse problems with smooth variable coefficients. This technique has been successfully applied to variable-coefficient advection and diffusion problems. Demonstrates that the new schemes may readily be incorporated into multi-dimensional problems by using locally one-dimensional techniques, or that they may be used in process splitting algorithms to solve complicatef time-dependent partial differential equations.

Information Technology (IT) outsourcing is a serious option available to modern managers. An emerging trend is the focus on relationship management in IT outsourcing, imploring organisations to look past tactical objectives and concentrate on strategic outcomes. In a global economy business sponsors are connecting with overseas vendors in IT outsourcing in an attempt to accelerate realisation of benefits. This complicates outsourcing arrangements, because cross-cultural differences may add to the complexity of fostering relationships. This study examines how to manage IT outsourcing relationships in a cross-cultural context to enhance IT outsourcing success. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, interpretivist case studies were adopted. The researcher investigated three IT outsourcing cases within one Chinese organisation. One case has a vendor with a western cultural background and the other two with a Chinese cultural background. The main data were collected through interviews with key managers in the case organisation, complemented by secondary data (such as published reports, internal documents). Some additional data concerning the cross-cultural differences were also collected from the two Chinese vendors and another western vendor who provided corporate strategy consulting services to the case organisation. Analysis of data showed that a good contract implementation, the established trust and the acknowledgement of vendor's high value were recognised as the three distinguishing characteristics of a satisfactory IT outsourcing relationship. In managing relationships the outsourcing company emphasised not only contract implementation but even more importantly communication with vendors, recognition of mutual interests, establishment of social/personal bonds, and appropriate allocation of project resources. It was shown that the relationship management practices influenced the dynamics of a relationship as well as the outcome of an IT outsourcing project. Furthermore, the relationship management in IT outsourcing was found to be culture-sensitive. By demonstrating that companies with different cultural background held different perceptions of relationship management practices and had different understandings of the nature and dynamics of the relationships, this study contributes to the understanding of relationship management in IT outsourcing, especially when cultural differences among the parties are involved. These findings also have practical implications for IT outsourcing involving global and partner-based alliances.

Bibliography: leaves 264-267.

Research in neuropsychology has found depression to be related to impaired right hemisphere (RH) functioning. How clinical depression affects brain lateralized functioning for each sex, however, is not clear. The main aim of this thesis was to investigate how clinical depression impacts brain lateralized functioning for each sex. Additionally, this thesis investigates brain lateralization for emotional processing in a non-depressed group, as well as sex differences in brain lateralization for spatial, verbal, and emotional processing in a non-depressed group. In order to examine each of these research areas, sixty non-depressed participants, and thirty-nine dilnically depressed patients were recnjited to complete a set of neuropsychological tasks that measure brain lateralized spatial, verbal, and emotional functioning. The neuropsychological tasks that were selected also measure the brain regions known to be involved with depression (frontal lobe and right parietal lobe). The tasks were: the mental rotation task (MRT) to measure RH spatial functioning; the verbal fluency task (phonemic and semantic) to measure left hemisphere (LH) verbal functioning; and the chimeric faces task to measure frontal lobe emotional functioning. The data from these tasks were reported as two separate experiments. Experiment One examined sex differences in brain lateralization for spatial and verbal processing in a non-depressed group. Experiment One also investigates brain lateralization for emotional processing in a non-depressed group, in particular to determine whether there is a sex difference in brain lateralization for emotional processing. The aim of Experiment One was to replicate the male advantage in spatial processing and the female advantage in verbal processing, which have previously been interpreted as reflecting sex differences in brain lateralization for these functions. It was also the aim to differentiate between the competing RH and valence hypotheses of brain lateralization for emotional processing and further investigate sex differences in brain lateralization for emotional processing. Sex differences in brain lateralization for spatial, verbal, and emotional processing were examined by comparing the performance of thirty non-depressed males and thirty non-depressed females on the MRT, verbal fluency task, and chimeric faces task respectively. The hypothesis that males would mentally rotate the stimuli of the MRT faster than the females was not supported, as no significant sex differences in performance were observed on the MRT. Failure to replicate the male advantage in spatial functioning was attributed to a possible sex difference in level of spatial ability, which has been found to mediate hemispheric functioning. The hypothesis that the females would generate significantly more words than the males on the verbal fluency task was supported, thus replicating the female advantage in verbal processing. For the chimeric faces task, the group findings supported the RH hypothesis for brain lateralization for emotional processing, with responses being significanfly faster and more accurate to happy and sad expressions shown in the LVF than in the RVF. No consistent sex differences in performance were observed between the RT and accuracy rate analyses of the chimeric faces task. Reaction times to the chimeric faces showed a LVF advantage in emotional processing for the males, and no hemispheric bias for emotional processing for the females. In contrast, recognition accuracy of the chimeric faces showed a LVF advantage for emotional processing for both the males and the females. The inconsistent sex differences on the chimeric faces task suggests that there is not a strong sex difference in brain lateralization for emotional processing. Expertment Two investigated brain lateralization for spatial, verbal, and emotional functioning in a clinically depressed group. It was the aim of Experiment Two to determine whether clinical depression is associated with impaired RH functioning, as suggested by the literature. It was also the aim of Experiment Two to examine more specifically, how clinical depression affects brain lateralized functioning for each sex separately. To examine the effect of clinical depression on brain lateralized functioning, the performance of thirty-six (fifteen males, twenty-one females) clinically depressed patients (three excluded from the recruited thirty-nine) and thirty-six (eighteen males, eighteen females) non-depressed control participants was compared on the MRT, verbal fluency task, and chimeric faces task. The hypothesis that clinical depression would be associated with impaired RH functioning was partially supported by the results of Experiment Two. The depressed group performed signiflcantiy poorer than the control group on both the RH task (the MRT intercept and overall R and the LH task (semantic verbal fluency). Therefore, impaired RH and LH functioning on the spatial and verbal task was evidenced for the clinically depressed group in Experiment Two. A RH impairment in emotional functioning with clinical depression could not be clearly ascertained from the results of the chimeric faces task. The RT analyses of the chimeric faces task showed a LVF advantage for emotional processing for both the control and depressed groups. In contrast to the RT analyses, the accuracy rate analyses of the chimeric faces task showed a LVF advantage in emotional processing for the control group, and no hemispheric bias for emotional processing for the depressed group, As the depressed group were significantly impaired for both RH and LH functioning in Experiment Two, it is possible that the findings of Experiment Two are reflective of a generalised performance deficit associated with clinical depression, rather than to a disturbance in brain lateralized functioning. The depressed group was also found to respond significantly slower than the control group in overall RT on the MRT and chimeric faces task. The significant group difference on the intercept of the FART implicates impaired information encoding for the clinically depressed group. The slowed Ris of the depressed group may also reflect impaired pre-motor organization with clinical depression, thus resulting in delayed motor responses. In relation to the affect of clinical depression on brain lateralizaflon for each sex, it was hypothesised that the depressed males would perform significantly poorer than the depressed females on tasks measuring functions lateralized to the cerebral hemisphere impaired due to clinical depression. The premise for this hypothesis lies in the evidence from past unilateral brain lesion research, which suggests that the stronger brain ateralization of males restricts assistance from the unimpaired hemisphere to perform the task of the impalred hemisphere. The bilateralization of females however, allows greater assistance of the unimpaired hemisphere to perform the task at hand. In contrast to the hypothesis however, there was no evidence from the results of Experiment Two that clinical depression had a greater impact on the brain lateralized functioning of males than females. No significant sex differences in performance on the FART were observed for either the non-depressed control group or clinical depressed group. For the verbal fluency task, a female advantage in word generation was observed for both phonemic and semantic fluency, regardless of group. Also regardless of group, the RT analyses of the chimeric faces task showed that the males responded significantly faster to emotional expressions shown in the LVF than in the RVF. For the females however, there was no hemispheric bias in RT for emotional processing. The accuracy rate analyses from the chimeric faces task also showed no sex differences for either group. The similar findings of sex differences between the control and depressed groups across each task suggests that clinical depression had a similar impact on both the males and the females, regardless of brain late ralization. The results of Experiment Two could be indicative of impaired LH and RH functioning with clinical depression, or of a generalised performance deficit with clinical depression. A generalised performance deficit for the clinically depressed group in Experiment Two may explain why a sex difference in the effects of clinical depression on brain lateralized functioning was not observed. Future research observing a RH impairment with clinical depression is encouraged to further examine the affect of clinical depression on brain lateralization for each sex separately. Further understanding of the affect of clinical depression on brain lateralization for each sex could provide addiional information on sex difference in the prevalence of clinical depression.