Within the ephemeral world of fad products and activities (such as teenage fashion and the hula-hoop) things come and go quickly. In such a competitive market many new products become obsolete from the moment they reach the market. It is therefore essential to launch new products on the market as soon as possible in order to sustain business and profits. / With activities that can easily become passing fads and fashions, such as going to a Karaoke box, it is important to sustain the novelty value of the leisure-time pursuit by keeping customers motivated and interested in coming back for more. A failure to operate successfully in a fad business seriously threatens profit margins, return on investments and ultimately the lifespan of the product. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

This study looked at the level of stress experienced by parents (N = 280) of children with an autism spectrum disorder (Autism, n = 134; Asperger's disorder, n = 36; & PDD-NOS, n = 42) or with Down syndrome (n = 68) as it related to child's impairment and to the process of choosing and providing treatments. Using the new Family Access to Disability Services (FADS) measure, it was discovered that parents of children with an autism spectrum diagnosis had more difficulty in accessing and providing the treatments they wanted for their children. Higher FADS scores predicted parenting stress, even when first controlling for family income, child's impairment level, and diagnosis. Child's impairment was the strongest predictor of parent stress, with social and behavioral impairments being especially salient. Children (mean age = 8.6) were currently enrolled in an average of 5.4 treatments and parents had tried nearly 10 interventions. The total number of treatments tried did not relate to measures of parenting stress.

A manipulação da atenção pode influenciar a formação de memórias, e sua posterior recuperação (Linch e Srull, 1982). Abordando conceitos de atenção, memória, pré-ativação e percepção visual, este trabalho propõe uma investigação sobre influência da modulação da atenção na memória de curta duração em um cenário pouco estudado: 1) quando a atenção não é diretamente dirigida pelo experimentador; 2) quando a situação experimental é parecida com a encontrada no contexto do dia-a-dia, envolvendo recuperação de memória para marca de vestimenta. Os dois experimentos realizados neste trabalho se contextualizam na revisão de diversos estudos nas áreas de comunicação, psicologia cognitiva e neurociência (ou neurociência cognitiva Gazzaniga, 2006). Em um dos experimentos (Exp.1), os sujeitos são expostos a uma imagem projetada em tela. No primeiro plano dessa imagem, há um grupo de pessoas abraçadas, e, no segundo plano, um outdoor com um anúncio de marca de roupa, onde o nome da marca anunciada pode ser claramente vista. Antes de serem expostos à imagem, o que ocorre por 500ms, passa-se uma tarefa para eles. Um grupo experimental deve dizer qual cor predomina na roupa das pessoas da foto, e outro, qual cor predomina na paisagem. Esse é o direcionamento indireto da atenção para plano de frente ou de fundo (não se pede que o sujeito atenda para frente ou fundo, mas dá-se a ele uma tarefa que, para ser cumprida, necessita desse direcionamento). Após a exposição à imagem, sujeitos preenchem um questionário, contendo duas perguntas de recuperação de memória para a marca de roupa: a primeira de recordação livre ou recall (ex.: cite uma marca de roupa), e a segunda de reconhecimento (ex.: das marcas abaixo, qual delas aparece na foto?). No outro experimento (Exp.2), sujeitos são expostos a uma imagem (um símbolo de marca de roupa ou um símbolo fictício, dependendo da situação experimental) e a uma palavra (um logotipo de marca de roupa existente ou de marca fictícia, também dependendo da situação experimental). O símbolo é primeiramente exposto em tela, seguido de tela branca, seguida do logotipo, sendo todas as exposições de 250ms. A tarefa dos sujeitos é ler o logotipo exposto, o mais rápido possível. Este experimento tem caráter secundário no trabalho, e seu objetivo é verificar se a exposição prévia ao símbolo de uma marca pode favorecer o reconhecimento do logotipo de marca apresentada posteriormente, em exposições muito curtas. O objetivo geral do trabalho foi verificar como o direcionamento da atenção para plano de frente ou de fundo da imagem pode influenciar a recuperação de memória (recall e reconhecimento) da marca contida na imagem. Esperava-se que o direcionamento para o fundo, onde a marca se situa na imagem, facilitasse tanto recall quanto reconhecimento (o que foi verificado através de perguntas de recuperação de memória). Os resultados do Exp.1 mostraram que não houve efeito do direcionamento da atenção na recuperação da marca presente na imagem, sugerindo que marcas desconhecidas demandam exposições mais longas do que 500ms, e devem fazer parte da área espacial onde está o foco atencional do indivíduo. Além disso, tanto memória para a marca contida no segundo plano da cena quanto aspectos gerais dessa cena não tiveram relação com a posição (direita ou esquerda) do grupo de pesoas da imagem (ou seja, o primeiro plano). Em relação ao Exp.2, os resultados mostraram que a situação em que o indivíduo observa um símbolo de marca bastante conhecida antes de ver um logotipo desconhecido é a situação na qual pessoas levam mais tempo para identificar o logotipo visto. Isto sugere que é mais difícil ler corretamente um nome que não faz parte da memória declarativa depois de se ver um desenho ligado a outro nome do mesmo campo semântico do que ler corretamente este nome desconhecido depois de ver um desenho que não mantém relação com o campo semântico em questão (no caso, marcas de roupa). / The manipulation of attention may influence the formation of memories, and their later retrieval (Linch and Srull, 1982). Considering concepts of attention, memory, priming and visual perception, the present study proposes an investigation about the influence of attention modulation on short term memory in a context not commonly considered: 1) when attention is not directly manipulated by the experimenter; 2) when the experimental situation is similar to what is found in a day-to-day context, involving memory retrieval of clothing brand names. Both experiments carried out in this study are contextualized in the review of several studies in the areas of communication, cognitive psychology and neuroscience (or cognitive neuroscience --- Gazzaniga, 2006). In one of the experiments (Exp.1), the subjects are exposed to an image projected on a screen. In the foreground of this image, there is a group of people embraced, and, in the background, a billboard which contains an advertisement of a brand of clothing, where the brand name can be clearly seen. Before being exposed to the image, which occurs for 500ms, the subjects are given a task. One experimental group must say what color is predominant in the peoples clothes in the picture, and the other group must say what color is predominant in the landscape. This is the indirect manipulation of attention to foreground or background (the subject is not asked to pay attention to one or the other, but he or she receives a task that, to be carried out, requires this manipulation). After the exposure to the image, the subjects fill out a questionnaire containing two questions of memory retrieval of the clothing brand: one of free recall (e.g.: name a clothing brand) and the second one of recognition (e.g.: which brand mentioned below appears in the image?). In the other experiment (Exp. 2), subjects are exposed to an image (a symbol of clothing brand or a fictitious symbol, depending on the experimental situation) and to one word (a logo of an existing clothing brand or a fictitious brand, also depending on the experimental situation). The symbol is firstly displayed on screen followed by a white screen, then the logo; all the exposures last 250ms. The task of the subjects is to read the displayed logo as quickly as possible. This experiment is secondary in this study, and its aims is to verify if prior exposure to a symbol of a brand can favor the recognition of the brand logo presented afterwards, in very short exposures. The general objective of the study was to verify how the directing of attention to the foreground or the background of the image can influence memory retrieval (recall and recognition) of the brand contained in the image. It was expected that directing attention to the background, where the brand was located in the image, would facilitate both recall and recognition (which was verified through questions of memory retrieval). The results obtained in Exp.1 have shown that there was no effect from attention directing in the retrieval of the brand present in the image, suggesting that unknown brands require exposures longer than 500ms, and must be part of the area where the subjects attention is focused. Moreover, both memory of the brand contained in the background of the image and general aspects of the scene had no relation to the position (right or left) of the group of people in the image (that is, the foreground). Regarding Exp. 2, the results have shown that the situation in which the subject observes a very well-known brand symbol before seeing an unknown logo is the one in which people take more time to identify the logo seen. This suggests that it is more difficult to correctly read a name that is not part of the declarative memory after seeing a drawing linked to another name of the same semantic field, than to correctly read this unknown name after seeing a drawing that does not have any relation to the semantic field in question (in this case, clothing brands).

A manipulação da atenção pode influenciar a formação de memórias, e sua posterior recuperação (Linch e Srull, 1982). Abordando conceitos de atenção, memória, pré-ativação e percepção visual, este trabalho propõe uma investigação sobre influência da modulação da atenção na memória de curta duração em um cenário pouco estudado: 1) quando a atenção não é diretamente dirigida pelo experimentador; 2) quando a situação experimental é parecida com a encontrada no contexto do dia-a-dia, envolvendo recuperação de memória para marca de vestimenta. Os dois experimentos realizados neste trabalho se contextualizam na revisão de diversos estudos nas áreas de comunicação, psicologia cognitiva e neurociência (ou neurociência cognitiva Gazzaniga, 2006). Em um dos experimentos (Exp.1), os sujeitos são expostos a uma imagem projetada em tela. No primeiro plano dessa imagem, há um grupo de pessoas abraçadas, e, no segundo plano, um outdoor com um anúncio de marca de roupa, onde o nome da marca anunciada pode ser claramente vista. Antes de serem expostos à imagem, o que ocorre por 500ms, passa-se uma tarefa para eles. Um grupo experimental deve dizer qual cor predomina na roupa das pessoas da foto, e outro, qual cor predomina na paisagem. Esse é o direcionamento indireto da atenção para plano de frente ou de fundo (não se pede que o sujeito atenda para frente ou fundo, mas dá-se a ele uma tarefa que, para ser cumprida, necessita desse direcionamento). Após a exposição à imagem, sujeitos preenchem um questionário, contendo duas perguntas de recuperação de memória para a marca de roupa: a primeira de recordação livre ou recall (ex.: cite uma marca de roupa), e a segunda de reconhecimento (ex.: das marcas abaixo, qual delas aparece na foto?). No outro experimento (Exp.2), sujeitos são expostos a uma imagem (um símbolo de marca de roupa ou um símbolo fictício, dependendo da situação experimental) e a uma palavra (um logotipo de marca de roupa existente ou de marca fictícia, também dependendo da situação experimental). O símbolo é primeiramente exposto em tela, seguido de tela branca, seguida do logotipo, sendo todas as exposições de 250ms. A tarefa dos sujeitos é ler o logotipo exposto, o mais rápido possível. Este experimento tem caráter secundário no trabalho, e seu objetivo é verificar se a exposição prévia ao símbolo de uma marca pode favorecer o reconhecimento do logotipo de marca apresentada posteriormente, em exposições muito curtas. O objetivo geral do trabalho foi verificar como o direcionamento da atenção para plano de frente ou de fundo da imagem pode influenciar a recuperação de memória (recall e reconhecimento) da marca contida na imagem. Esperava-se que o direcionamento para o fundo, onde a marca se situa na imagem, facilitasse tanto recall quanto reconhecimento (o que foi verificado através de perguntas de recuperação de memória). Os resultados do Exp.1 mostraram que não houve efeito do direcionamento da atenção na recuperação da marca presente na imagem, sugerindo que marcas desconhecidas demandam exposições mais longas do que 500ms, e devem fazer parte da área espacial onde está o foco atencional do indivíduo. Além disso, tanto memória para a marca contida no segundo plano da cena quanto aspectos gerais dessa cena não tiveram relação com a posição (direita ou esquerda) do grupo de pesoas da imagem (ou seja, o primeiro plano). Em relação ao Exp.2, os resultados mostraram que a situação em que o indivíduo observa um símbolo de marca bastante conhecida antes de ver um logotipo desconhecido é a situação na qual pessoas levam mais tempo para identificar o logotipo visto. Isto sugere que é mais difícil ler corretamente um nome que não faz parte da memória declarativa depois de se ver um desenho ligado a outro nome do mesmo campo semântico do que ler corretamente este nome desconhecido depois de ver um desenho que não mantém relação com o campo semântico em questão (no caso, marcas de roupa). / The manipulation of attention may influence the formation of memories, and their later retrieval (Linch and Srull, 1982). Considering concepts of attention, memory, priming and visual perception, the present study proposes an investigation about the influence of attention modulation on short term memory in a context not commonly considered: 1) when attention is not directly manipulated by the experimenter; 2) when the experimental situation is similar to what is found in a day-to-day context, involving memory retrieval of clothing brand names. Both experiments carried out in this study are contextualized in the review of several studies in the areas of communication, cognitive psychology and neuroscience (or cognitive neuroscience --- Gazzaniga, 2006). In one of the experiments (Exp.1), the subjects are exposed to an image projected on a screen. In the foreground of this image, there is a group of people embraced, and, in the background, a billboard which contains an advertisement of a brand of clothing, where the brand name can be clearly seen. Before being exposed to the image, which occurs for 500ms, the subjects are given a task. One experimental group must say what color is predominant in the peoples clothes in the picture, and the other group must say what color is predominant in the landscape. This is the indirect manipulation of attention to foreground or background (the subject is not asked to pay attention to one or the other, but he or she receives a task that, to be carried out, requires this manipulation). After the exposure to the image, the subjects fill out a questionnaire containing two questions of memory retrieval of the clothing brand: one of free recall (e.g.: name a clothing brand) and the second one of recognition (e.g.: which brand mentioned below appears in the image?). In the other experiment (Exp. 2), subjects are exposed to an image (a symbol of clothing brand or a fictitious symbol, depending on the experimental situation) and to one word (a logo of an existing clothing brand or a fictitious brand, also depending on the experimental situation). The symbol is firstly displayed on screen followed by a white screen, then the logo; all the exposures last 250ms. The task of the subjects is to read the displayed logo as quickly as possible. This experiment is secondary in this study, and its aims is to verify if prior exposure to a symbol of a brand can favor the recognition of the brand logo presented afterwards, in very short exposures. The general objective of the study was to verify how the directing of attention to the foreground or the background of the image can influence memory retrieval (recall and recognition) of the brand contained in the image. It was expected that directing attention to the background, where the brand was located in the image, would facilitate both recall and recognition (which was verified through questions of memory retrieval). The results obtained in Exp.1 have shown that there was no effect from attention directing in the retrieval of the brand present in the image, suggesting that unknown brands require exposures longer than 500ms, and must be part of the area where the subjects attention is focused. Moreover, both memory of the brand contained in the background of the image and general aspects of the scene had no relation to the position (right or left) of the group of people in the image (that is, the foreground). Regarding Exp. 2, the results have shown that the situation in which the subject observes a very well-known brand symbol before seeing an unknown logo is the one in which people take more time to identify the logo seen. This suggests that it is more difficult to correctly read a name that is not part of the declarative memory after seeing a drawing linked to another name of the same semantic field, than to correctly read this unknown name after seeing a drawing that does not have any relation to the semantic field in question (in this case, clothing brands).

The thesis is an attempt to apply complex systems thinking to the problem of meaning. It is in two parts. Part 1, Chapter 1 introduces the research agenda and overviews the thesis. Chapter 2 establishes the value of adopting a systems approach to the problem of meaning. The next chapter introduces key concepts of complex systems theory as they apply to sociocultural phenomena, and the last chapter in Part 1 reviews three theories of complex meaning systems (Donald Campbell, Jay Lemke, and Paul Cilliers) from which a preliminary model and agenda for theorising complex meaning systems is proposed. Part 2 of the thesis investigates the phenomena of management fads, applying the models of complex meaning systems formulated in Part 1. No primary empirical work is attempted; rather an analytical engagement is conducted using secondary literature on what we know about such fads. The literature, both primary and secondary, is reviewed and critiqued. The final chapters exemplify the problem of meaning using the theory building and agenda setting from Part 1. The concluding chapter reflects on the adequacy of a complex systems approach to meaning, critiques the process of the thesis and comments upon its contribution.

SyfteStudiens övergripande syfte är att öka förståelsen för hur millenialer som en managementidé inverkar på organisationers rekrytering. MetodStudien tillämpar en kvalitativ forskningsansats med ett abduktivt tillvägagångssätt där totalt åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer genomfördes med ledare inom organisationer.   Diskussion & slutsatsOrganisationer tror att en anpassning till dagens unga människor, millenialer, anses vara en lösning. Organisationer framstår som legitima och nytänkande när de är först med att följa idéen om millenialerna, men i slutändan följer inte organisationerna sina egna satta bestämmelser - det som sägs och det som görs stämmer inte överens vilket är följden av en särkoppling mellan prat och agerande. Slutsatsen av denna studie är att millenialer fungerar som en managementidé och att detta kan leda till organisatoriskt hyckleri genom särkoppling i strävan att uppnå legitimitet.   Förslag på fortsatt forskningDet denna studie lämnar till vidare forskning är hur de positiva effekterna av millenialer som managementidé överförs till praktiken.   Uppsatsens bidragUppsatsens teoretiska bidrag är att millenialer uppfattas som en managementidé och att detta genom särkoppling leder till organisatoriskt hyckleri. Uppsatsens praktiska bidrag är att millenialerna inte är lösningen på alla organisatoriska problem och därmed kan organisationer lägga tid och resurser på att uppnå organisatoriska mål. Nyckelord: Millenialer, managementidéer, organisatoriskt hyckleri, särkoppling, legitimitet / AimThe overall aim of the study is to increase understanding of how millennials as a management idea affect organizational recruitment.   MethodThe study applies a qualitative research effort with an abductive approach where a total of eight semi structured interviews were conducted with leaders in organizations.   Discussion & conclusionsOrganizations believe that adaptation to today's young people, millennials, is considered a solution. Organizations appear to be legitimate and innovative when they are first to follow the idea of the millennials, but ultimately, the organizations do not follow their own set-up rules - what is said and what is being done is not in agreement. The conclusion of this study is that millennials serve as a management fad and that this lead to organizational hypocrisy through de-coupling in the quest for legitimacy.   Suggestions for future researchFor further research this study leaves how the positive effects of millennials as a management fad are transferred to practice.   Contribution of the thesisThe theoretical contribution of this essay is that millennials are perceived as a management fad and that this leads to organizational hypocrisy through de-coupling. The practical contribution of the essay is that the millennials are not the solution to all organizational problems, and organizations should therefore put time and resources in achieving organizational goals. Key words: Millennials, management fads, organizational hypocrisy, de-coupling, legitimacy.

The process of froth flotation relies on using air bubbles to collect desired mineral particles dispersed in aqueous media on the surface, while leaving undesirous mineral particles behind. For a particle to be collected on the surface of a bubble, the thin liquid films (or wetting films) of water formed in between must rupture. According to the Frumkin-Derjaguin isotherm, it is necessary that wetting films can rupture when the disjoining pressures are negative. However, the negative disjoining pressures are difficult to measure due to the instability and short lifetimes of the films. In the present work, two new methods of determining negative disjoining pressures have been developed. One is to use the modified thin film pressure balance (TFPB) technique, and the other is to directly determine the interaction forces using the force apparatus for deformable surfaces (FADS) developed in the present work. The former is designed to obtain spatiotemporal profiles of unstable wetting films by recording the optical interference patterns. The kinetic information derived from the spatiotemporal profiles were then used to determine the disjoining pressures using an analytical expression derived in the present work on the basis of the Reynolds lubrication theory. The technique has been used to study the effects of surface hydrophobicity, electrolyte (Al3+ ions) concentration, and bubble size on the stability of wetting films. Further, the geometric mean combining rule has been tested to see if the disjoining pressures of the wetting films can be predicted from the disjoining pressures of the colloid films formed between two hydrophobic surfaces and the disjoining pressures of the foam films formed between two air bubbles. The FADS is capable of directly measuring the interaction forces between air bubble and solid surface, and simultaneously monitoring the bubble deformation. The results were analyzed using the Reynolds lubrication theory and the extended DLVO theory to determine both the hydrodynamic and disjoining pressures. The FADS was used to study the effects of surface hydrophobicity and approach speeds. The results show that hydrophobic force is the major driving force for the bubble-particle interactions occurring in flotation. / Ph. D.

A central area of research in linguistics is the study of changes in vocabulary over time, be it over historical time periods or faster changes within generations. One contributing factor driving such fast changes could be “fashion cycles”, as this is a very general cultural phenomenon. Here, results are reported from a corpus study investigating trends over time in the use of cyber as the first part of compound nouns, and of alternatives which carry a similar meaning, such as e- as short for electronic. It is found that cyber was commonly used in the time period 1995-2004. Usage then strongly declined, but there was a new peak in popularity in the last year of available data (2012). Interestingly, cyber was initially used in positively charged or neutral contexts (e.g. cyberspace), but in recent years mostly in negatively charged words such as cyberbullying or cyber warfare. The hypothesis that cyber has been replaced with e- was partially supported (in particular in the case of e-mail, but e-books is another prominent example of a recent rising trend in vocabulary). However, in most other contexts usage of e- actually peaked a few years before the last years of the available corpus data. In general, results were consistent with “fashion cycles” in that the popularity of using cyber or e-, and in particular of specific words including these compound noun parts, seems to come and go rapidly over time. Interestingly use of cyber was seen mostly in negative contexts during later time periods. No such change was apparent in the use of e-. An emerging hypothesis partially supported by the data is that words in commercial contexts (e.g. cyber-business, e-business) rapidly lose their positive charge as they become common and are replaced by other, more novel and more fashionable words. Corpus linguistics is a very powerful tool for investigating such patterns of change in the popularity of words, and the processes behind them.

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The thesis examines two interrelated topics; the perception of management theory in general, and the efficacy of the learning organisation in particular. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to compare the rhetoric espoused in the learning organisation literature with a survey of senior managers in large, commercial organisations. The results revealed a positive disposition towards business and management theory in general. The survey also demonstrated that leadership is considered the most important variable in the success of a company. This is facilitated through the attraction and retention of the appropriate staff and creating sufficient space for them to operate. Learning is embedded by anticipating the future, learning from the past and enabling good communication. However, the latter is balanced through change management. This is derived through legitimate authority and a reliance on planning. Finally, a strategy of experimentation is balanced by challenging industry rules. Themes involving politics, corporate alignment and corporate longevity were found to have relatively little convergent validity. The third section of the questionnaire reveals a positive disposition towards the learning organisation. The contribution of this thesis is in three areas. First, it is the only work to evaluate the anti-guru school. Second is the development of a syncretic model of learning organisation concept using structural equation modelling. Finally, it explains and examines the largely misunderstood concept of management fashions.