(Study-Specific definition of 'Culture') For the purpose of this study, cultures will be defined by broad rather than specific categorization. The cultures of race and biological sex are material and thus more frequently observed and studied by educational researchers. However, the obvious debate about the concrete identity of one individual as belonging to only one race and one sex make the borders of these terms fluid and mutable. Unless the terms 'race' and 'sex' signify a self-identified choice by the individuals, they are just as limiting and possibly offense as the outside identification of 'gender' and 'ethnicity'. Assumption is therefore a cautious ground for educators, and a broader idea of personal identity is necessary. This study will thus refer to 'cultures' in terms of typically practiced beliefs. Since some of the beliefs discussed may overlap and apply to multiple cultures, the term will apply to the group in discussion. Teachers and educators may then avoid inappropriate judgments as they see students individually demonstrate the beliefs described and act accordingly. (Study-Specific definition of 'Reading Motivational Methodologies') Reading motivational methodologies will be defined as the actions and ideas presented by teachers, reading coaches, and tutors meant to stimulate and encourage the practice and mastery of reading. These methods may be tangible, observable, and repeatable. They may also be ideological or perceptual. (Study-Specific Areas of Exploration and Discussion) Communication is a tool. Whether verbal or written, it is created and carried out with purpose. Reading is a form of communication performed in almost every major global culture, yet utilized in different ways according to a number of factors. The values of a culture entirely define the usage of verbal and written messages. If reading is performed for different reasons by different groups of people, wouldn't it naturally follow that our purposes for becoming literate vary as well? What motivational tools will then help all students to develop a desire a read? This is a multi-dimensional question which includes many factors. One of the more complicated, qualitative factors of the answer is that of cultural perception and thought. As previously stated, communication is a tool. Tools are utilized for different purposes, and consequently different ways of thinking, of knowing, and of questioning arise within the classroom. According to Vacca and Vacca, "different cultures may place different emphasis and value on various cognitive activities"1 This implies that certain activities may intellectually stimulate familiar cognitive processes, building on student schema activation, while other activities require students to build newer processing skills. For example, "some societies ... emphasize memorization and analytical thinking over the ability to experiment or make predictions"2 Students from such societies might be able to do extremely well at language arts activities like spelling or literary essays, but have a harder time making a mind-map of the themes a story represents. In my study, I plan to explore different perceptions of important cognitive practices among groups through use of the Schwartz Model of classroom group interaction. This entails: 1) Emphasis on individual and group performance 2) Emphasis on assertiveness and a desire for group accord 3) Emphasis on reasons for acting in the interest of others 4) Emphasis on individual thought and success These differences in the reception of information create a need for different literal classroom practices. One of the most practical areas to explore and measure is that of literal classroom practices. Some areas investigated in relation to the Schwartz Model are: 1) Group setting preferences. Does the student prefer to work alone, in small groups, or as a class? 2) Auditory preferences. Does the student prefer to read aloud to the class, be read to by the teacher, be read to by a peer, be read to be an audio device, or read alone silently? 3) Visual preferences. Does the student like being provided with relevant pictures, charts and graphs, or will this make the student feel overwhelmed and inundated with information? 4) Literary analyzation group setting preferences. Does the student prefer to read and analyze literature alone, in small groups, or as a class? 5) Personal choice preferences. Does the student prefer to choose their own literature, or have literature selected for them? 6) Extrinsic reward preferences. Does the student prefer tangible rewards, or some form of teacher/peer praise? 7) Goal setting preferences. Does the student prefer specific, small goals or general, larger goals? 8) Creative options preferences. Does the student prefer to be given specific directions, or creative freedom? Other factors include technology available and content covered. The last factor which I plan to explore is that of cognitive dissonance as an affective and moral factor. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), African American high school seniors scored lower on the NAEP reading exam in 2002 than any other ethnic group. One factor clearly influenced test performance among the group: the amount of time spent reading for enjoyment outside of school. The NEAP test is graded on a scale of 1-3. 10% of African American seniors who read for pleasure scored a 3 on the test; only 6% of students with the same demographic who did not read for pleasure scored a 3. According to these statistics, the impact of the ability to find joy in reading is obvious. These statistics on are not atypical and not limited to one ethnic group, and many similar studies are also often transcendental of race. Affective topics such as this tend to be ignored, namely in later grades and at higher levels of achievement due to the fact that "research funding for adolescent literacy ... is minuscule in relation to the big bucks federal and state agencies spend on early literacy and early intervention research"3 Yet it is this aspect of literacy development which entirely influences the ability to move onto cognitive factors. 6) Extrinsic reward preferences. Does the student prefer tangible rewards, or some form of teacher/peer praise? 7) Goal setting preferences. Does the student prefer specific, small goals or general, larger goals? 8) Creative options preferences. Does the student prefer to be given specific directions, or creative freedom? Other factors include technology available and content covered. The last factor which I plan to explore is that of cognitive dissonance as an affective • and moral factor. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), African American high school seniors scored lower on the NAEP reading exam in 2002 than any other ethnic group. One factor clearly influenced test performance among the group: the amount of time spent reading for enjoyment outside of school. The NEAP test is graded on a scale of 1-3. 10% of African American seniors who read for pleasure scored a 3 on the test; only 6% of students with the same demographic who did not read for pleasure scored a 3. According to these statistics, the impact of the ability to find joy in reading is obvious. These statistics on are not atypical and not limited to one ethnic group, and many similar studies are also often transcendental of race. Affective topics such as this tend to be ignored, namely in later grades and at higher levels of achievement due to the fact that "research funding for adolescent literacy ... is minuscule in relation to the big bucks federal and state agencies spend on early literacy and early intervention research"3 Yet it is this aspect of literacy development which entirely influences the ability to move onto cognitive factors. All three factors are intrinsically linked: affective factors inspire students to read, cognitive factors grant students the ability to read, and classroom practices allow for the effective and appropriate growth of readers. The final section aims to express the extreme complexity of cross-cultural communication and the factors which can influence the positive or negative outcome of such contact while covering the multitude of options available to different forms of educators who are faced with a multicultural classroom.

The purpose of the present study was to study differences between cancer patients and noncancer patients in taste acuity and in salivation to food and stimuli associated with food. Subjects were twenty male cancer patients and eighteen patients hospitalized for noncancer-related illnesses. All cancer patients were tested prior to chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The study was conducted on two consecutive days. On Day 1 taste acuity was measured to bitter, sweet, sour and salty flavors using the forced choice three-stimulus drop technique on concentration from 6-2000 mm/l. Subjects completed a questionnaire on appetite difficulties, the Multiple Adjective Affect Check List (MAACL), and rated a list of snacks on a 5-point scale. On Day 2 salivary responding (using the Strongin-Hinsie Peck Test) was measured after subjects were told to expect food, after the presentation of food and after ingestion. For each subject, testing occurred in the morning and in the afternoon to high and low preferred foods. Cancer patients were significantly more likely than noncancer patients to report appetite difficulties which included premature satiety, decreased appetite, and changes in food preference. Cancer and noncancer patients did not differ reliably on the MAACL or in taste acuity. In salivation testing, the presentation of food increased salivation in noncancer patients but decreased salivation in cancer patients. However, the differences between cancer and noncancer patients was not reliable. The interaction between illness condition and test trials during the presentation of food did approach significance. The lack of reliable effects for illness condition may have occurred because the interval of food deprivation was too short to elicit reliable increases in salivation and external and social cues which normally accompany mealtime were not present during testing. / Ph. D.

Yes / Our paper examines the distress anomaly on the Chinese stock markets. We show that the anomaly disappears after controlling for institutional ownership. We propose two hypotheses. The growing scale of institutional investors and changes in institutional preferences can generate greater demand shocks for stocks with low distress risk than those with high distress risk, causing the former to outperform the latter. Consistent with our hypotheses, the growth of institutions explains the anomaly when the institutional market share increases rapidly. We also show that institutional preferences for stocks with low distress risk have significantly increased over time and changes in preferences also explain the anomaly. Finally, momentum trading and gradual incorporation of distress information cannot account for the anomaly.

Yes / Social media has emerged as a significant and effective means of assisting and endorsing activities and communications among peers, consumers and organizations that outdo the restrictions of time and space. While the previous studies acknowledge the role of agents of culture change, it largely remains silent on the role of social media in influencing acculturation outcomes and consumption choices. This study uses self-administered questionnaire to collect data from 514 Turkish-Dutch respondents and examines how their use of social media affects their acculturation and consumption choices. This research makes a significant contribution to consumer acculturation research by showing that social media is a vital means of culture change and a driver of acculturation strategies and consumption choices. This study is the first to investigate the role of social media as an agent of culture change in terms of how it impacts acculturation and consumption. The paper discusses implications for theory development and for practice.

Using data from the 1982, 1985, 1992, and 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), this thesis tests the effects of class, age, gender and race on the breadth of musical preferences that respondents report to liking. Specifically, the omnivore/univore framework developed by Peterson (1992) is examined. It is hypothesized that age and social class are positively related to musical omnivorousness (liking a wide variety of music). That is, older people and people higher in social economic standing will be more omnivorousness in musical preferences. The underlying theory here is that in today's society, being omnivorous is a form of cultural capital. Cultural exclusivity is no longer valued as it may have been in the past and is more often a sign of ignorance rather than status. Hence, the hypothesis is that people today will use a wide knowledge of musical forms to help them network and "get ahead." This should be more important for people as they age because the need to network as a way of moving higher in the social economic hierarchy should be more important. Additionally, it is hypothesized that women and whites will be more omnivorousness because they may feel less alienated in general from mainstream society, especially at younger ages. Hence, blacks and men will gravitate towards fewer genres of musical as a symbolic rejection of the values of mainstream society. This should also be more salient when people are younger. Overall, the findings presented support the contention the omnivorousness is replacing exclusiveness as a sign of status. Indeed, the findings show that class is positively related to omnivorousness, age is positively related to omnivorousness, being female is positively related to omnivorousness, and that whites are more omnivorous than blacks. Perhaps most interesting, however, is that the relationship between age and omnivorousness was determined to be a curvilinear relationship. No other analysts have reported this. Moreover, the findings present evidence that age may indeed be a more important determinant of musical omnivorousness than social class. Hence, it is concluded that no longer should musical preferences be examined simply as varying by social class but also as changing across the life cycle. / Master of Science

No / Little is known about the career decisions qualified nurses make, although it is clear that some areas of practice are more popular than others. This qualitative descriptive study considers one common area, surgery, and explores the motivation for decisions made by Registered Nurses (RNs) to work in this area. A sample of 16 RNs working within surgical areas participated in semi-structured interviews, using a thematic interview schedule. Findings were analysed using the framework suggested by Morse and Field. Analysis of findings indicates that all participants actively chose to work within surgery and that this was because of the pace and turnover of surgical work, personal satisfaction at the recovery of patients; the close links between this type of work; and participants' original aims when first entering nursing and participants' preference of surgery to other areas of nursing work. Participants actively rejected working in areas where patients were likely to suffer from chronic long-term conditions where recovery was unlikely and felt that these areas were likely to be depressing and unrewarding. These findings suggest that participants actively chose to work with 'healthy' patients in preference to those who may be considered 'ill', and this is closely linked to the identified need of participants to be able to 'make patients better'. Participants were reluctant to work in areas where they would be unlikely to achieve this aim.

Theoretical models of sexual selection assume that female mating preferences are fixed and variation found between individuals resulting solely from allelic variation at specific loci coding for sexual preferences. For the last decade, an increasing number of studies have demonstrated that individual phenotypic variation in preferences was common across a wide range of taxa and induced by the environmental context and the females’ condition. Further, developmental stages of life are crucial in the formation of behaviours in general and have proven to be determinant to learn sexual preferences in some species that dispense care for their young. However, very little studies have analysed how the early social and physical environments shape female mate choice in species that lack parental care. In this thesis, I used guppies (Poecilia reticulata), firstly, to investigate the influence of various aspects of the social environment provided by males during two ontogenetic phases. Secondly, I explored whether learned preferences in a foraging context during development could be transferred into a mating context. Considering the early social environment, I explored three distinctive features potentially displayed by males and that females might experience while growing. Females were reared with different values of a sexual trait not genetically preferred in the population (orange colour) and different values of a trait for which they had innate predisposition (total colour area). In both cases, females were exposed to the different treatments for the whole developmental period or for its later phase. My results indicated that females changed their sexual behaviours in response to both type of traits experienced, reversing sometimes their genetic preferences. Moreover, the timing of exposure seemed to be a key factor in the acquisition of preferences as females exposed only to the later part of development with different values of total colour didn’t rely anymore on colour patterns to discriminate among males. In a third body of experiment, I examined whether the overall phenotypic variance exhibited by males during whole development, independently of the values of a specific sexual cue, mediated female’s behaviours. In a context of high variance, female became choosier relatively to those experiencing less variance. As a response, males switched mating tactics and attempted more forced copulations. In its final part, my thesis searched for a link that might have arisen, owing to developmental conditions, between preferences using the same sensory modality in two behavioural contexts. Maturing females were given food that was associated to a certain colour and subsequently tested for both their coloured preference in a foraging and a sexual context. Although no foraging preference for the corresponding colour was detected, females that experienced a yellow stimulus preferred yellower males compared to females with other experiences. Taken together these results suggest that developmental conditions and especially the social environment play a pivotal role in the process of mate choice. Under some circumstances, learned mate preferences override genetically-based preferences highlighting the importance of non-genetic mechanisms. Accordingly, it is urgent to integrate in the study of sexual selection and reproductive isolation this dimension. In guppies, for instance, the effect of early social life might contribute to the maintenance of colour pattern polymorphism found in males.

Complex projects often fail even when formal project management systems are in place. Project management processes and methodologies are well defined and described in academic and business literature. There is however less published research on the socio-cultural factors that are critical for project success. This study investigated whether project stakeholders view communication as one of the critical success factors for project success. Critical project success factors were identified from a literature study and ranked by 34 project stakeholders. The data was analysed using the Instant Priorities method and Analytical Hierarchical Process. A workshop on the use of communication within projects was observed. The results were translated into a project success factor model that explains the importance of communication in project success. Furthermore, a serious games based training tool is proposed. The aim of the training will be for participants to understand the communication preferences of themselves and the people they interact with in large projects. The proposed tool will require the participant to map typical stakeholder behavioural preferences. The well-known Marston DISC behavioural model is used as basis for understanding the behavioural preferences of different stakeholder groups. This research project supports the view that communication training across stakeholder groups should be used as a project risk mitigation tool. An increased understanding of the communication preferences of project stakeholders has the potential to shape a project culture that will stimulate teamwork combined with high levels of personal motivation as well as have the capacity to quickly identify and address project risks. / MSc (Computer Science), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

Previous research has shown time and risk preferences to be important factors when explaining a variety of behavioural patterns, such as smoking, obesity and savings behaviour, while we focus on the effect on financial behaviour and financial well-being. Financial behaviour is measured using a twelve-item scale with individuals’ self-stated reports of for example savings behaviour and credit card usage. To measure financial well-being, we construct a measure consisting of individual’s self-perceived current and future financial condition. Time preferences are revealed by matching questions and we use different ways of measuring risk, both self-stated risk attitudes and risky choices revealed by gambles. Our results show that increased short term patience, leads to better financial behaviour. Also, individuals with higher financial risk attitudes, exhibit better financial behaviour. Contradictory, regarding actual decisions, the impact is different and being loss averse, has a positive impact on financial behaviour. Financial well-being is on the other hand influenced positively by both more short and long term patience. It also increases with general and financial risk attitudes. Risky choices do not have an impact on financial well-being. We show that risk preferences are affected by time preferences. Having a high short term discount rate leads to higher financial risk attitudes and increases the likelihood of being loss averse, while it decreases the likelihood of being risk averse. Our results are important for understanding heterogeneity in financial decision making and the financial well-being it fathers. This quantitative study is based on a large, representative sample of the Swedish population (N=2063). / Tidigare forskning har visat att tids- och riskpreferenser är viktiga faktorer när man försöker förklara olika beteendemönster, såsom rökning, övervikt och sparande. Vi fokuserar på tids- och riskpreferensers effekt på finansiellt beteende och finansiellt välmående. Finansiellt beteende mäts genom tolv frågor, där individer exempelvis anger hur ofta man sparar eller använder kreditkort. För att mäta finansiellt välmående, konstruerar vi ett mått baserat på individens självupplevda nuvarande och framtida ekonomiska tillstånd. Tidspreferenser mäts genom “matching questions” och vi använder flera riskmått, både individers angedda riskattityder och riskfyllda val som visas genom riskfyllda spel. Våra resultat visar att ökat tålamod på kort sikt leder till bättre finansiellt beteende. Dessutom uppvisar individer med högre finansiella riskattityder bättre finansiellt beteende. I motsats till detta uppvisar dock, vid faktiska beslut, förlustaversiva individer bättre finansiellt beteende. Finansiellt välmående påverkas, å andra sidan, positivt av både kort- och långsiktigt tålamod. Det förbättras också av både högre generella och finansiella riskattityder. De riskfyllda valen påverkar inte finansiellt välmående. Vi visar att tidspreferenser påverkar riskpreferenser. Att ha högre tålamod på kort sikt leder till högre finansiell riskattityd och ökar sannolikheten för att vara förlustaversiv, medan det minskar sannolikheten att vara riskaversiv. Våra resultat är viktiga för att förstå heterogen finansiell beslutsfattning och det finansiella välmående det leder till. Denna kvantitativa studie baseras på ett stort, representativt sampel av den svenska befolkningen (N=2063).

by Lim Tun-Hung & Lo Wai Man. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 56-58.