The NEXUS Portal provides an in-depth profile of the research and achievements of NEXUS on a quarterly basis.

The NEXUS Portal provides an in-depth profile of the research and achievements of NEXUS on a quarterly basis.

The NEXUS Portal provides an in-depth profile of the research and achievements of NEXUS on a quarterly basis. This special issue is dedicated to youth health.

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This dissertation develops and empirically tests a theory of political participation that posits that the local economic context moderates the effects of individuals’ socioeconomic status by influencing their prospective financial outlooks. These perceptions, in turn, affect individuals’ likelihood of engaging in various political activities. I examine the theory using indicators of economic vitality and status both for the entire population and for racial and ethnic group-specific economic conditions. This two-pronged approach allows me to assess the extent to which group-specific conditions are more salient for minority group members than are more traditional contextual (full population) measures that reflect the economic status of the entire population. Thus, such questions as whether blacks’ financial outlooks are influenced more by the visibility of black-owned businesses or by the total visibility of business activity are addressed. Hypotheses are tested using the 1992 National Election Study, the 1995 Texas Minority Survey, and economic data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, 1992 Economic Census. Results indicate that the financial perceptions of blacks and Latinos are significantly related to levels of political activity while the financial outlooks of Asians and whites are not significantly related to their political activity.

For the first time ever, there are four (soon to be five) generations of nurses working side‐by‐side in the workplace. Within the generational cohorts there are differences in age as well as dissimilarity in education, ethnicity, and work values. We examined the complex linkages between diversity among nursing workgroups, professional burnout and the mediating effects of conflict (relationship and task). Diversity was defined as the degree of relative difference or dissimilarity between an individual and other workgroup members on demographic attributes (age, education and ethnicity) and work values. Data were collected from a population‐based sample of 600 nurses (80% response rate) employed by two hospitals in British Columbia. Using latent variable modelling, the findings from this study show the importance of differences in work values in creating conflict, which in turn leads to burnout. To a lesser extent, differences in education also predicted nurses’ displaying a negative and distant attitude as well as having a reduced sense of personal accomplishment. Addressing work stressors associated with diversity is an important step in the management of the healthcare workplace, the development of a healthy workforce, and the retention of nurses (organizational and professional). Interventions are needed to effectively manage diverse workplaces and to nurture teamwork; these strategies are crucial to improving the workplace environment, the quality of nurses’ worklife, and possibly patient care.

The NEXUS Portal provides an in-depth profile of the research and achievements of NEXUS on a quarterly basis. This special issue is dedicated to knowledge exchange.

This thesis explores the nature of communication in television documentary, based on an investigation of production, reception and their interrelationship. It assumes that social context is fundamental to an understanding of mass communication. Doise's (1986) levels of analysis (intrapersonal; interpersonal/situational; positional; cultural/ideological) provide the framework for conceptualizing social context. Audience reception research, which appreciates viewers' active role in reception and influence on production, inspires the qualitative approach. Whilst these premises challenge a traditional transmission approach to mass communication, the thesis argues against simultaneously rejecting the concept of information transmission. The thesis is located within a ritual approach to communication (Carey, 1989), exploring the potential for information transmission by extending this approach to situational and positional levels. As a distinctive information genre, the television documentary is perfect for investigating transmission. In this endeavour, the thesis explores the assumptions of both broadcasters and audiences concerning the function, structure and content of documentary communication. The methodological structure comprises three qualitative studies - production context, reception context and a case study. The production study involves twenty one interviews with television documentary broadcasters and establishes two intersecting dimensions embracing their perspectives. The reception study includes eight focus group discussions, and finds documentary expectations differing by socio-economic status and gender. These studies provide the context for analysing the nature of communication in one documentary programme, "Parental Choice", comparing a producer interview with four audience focus group discussions. The results highlight a lack of awareness amongst broadcasters of the varying genre-specific criteria used by documentary audiences in programme interpretation. Information transmission is possible if viewers accept a documentary's credibility. However, perceptions of credibility vary at the situational and positional levels, thus transmission is limited and ritually-based. The emerging nature of documentary communication contributes to academic debate on mass communication, audience research and the television documentary genre.

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<p> The topics of suffering and death appear throughout the Epistle to the Hebrews but have rarely been examined in New Testament scholarship. This study offers a thorough investigation of each reference to these topics in the epistle using semantic domain analysis. Incorporating the work of linguist M.A.K. Halliday, it then attempts to connect these topics to the social situation addressed by the author of Hebrews. It is determined that the author is responding to the reality of suffering in the lives of his audience. This is closely connected to a perceived threat or fear of death on the part of the probable recipients. With this social context in place, this study examines how the author responds to this situation by creating models of endurance in suffering and death. The author establishes these exemplars in order to motivate his audience toward similar endurance within their own social context.</p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)