Doctor of Philosophy / Research has shown that the school-based experiences of same-sex attracted (SSA) young people are frequently less than ideal, often fraught with verbal and physical harassment and social isolation from peers. School-based victimisation of SSA students has been correlated with their negative mental health outcomes, drug and alcohol use, decreased academic outcomes and lowered tertiary aspirations. These outcomes raise issues related to duty of care for educators, including the general responsibility of schools to create safe, equitable learning environments for all of their students. In order to better meet the needs of SSA students in Australia’s secondary schools, this nationwide study examined the current school climate toward same-sex attraction as described by SSA young people aged 14-19 through their reported experiences and perceptions of environmental stresses and supports, using Margaret Spencer’s PVEST model as the theoretical framework. A web-based survey instrument, advertised through both mainstream and lesbian/gay/bisexual-orientated youth sources, was used to sample Australian SSA students (N = 282). The relationships between SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate (including the treatment of SSA students and topics), their sense of connection to their school community, and their reported academic self-concept and motivation toward learning were investigated using bivariate and multivariate techniques, including structural equation modelling. In-depth interview sessions were conducted with six SSA young people in order to further examine these findings. Results indicated that SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate were directly related to their sense of safety within the school environment, their social connection to their peers and teachers, and their feelings of connectedness to the school environment in general. SSA students’ connection to their teachers and their school environment had the strongest total impact on their academic self-concept and motivation to learn. Of key import was the clear indirect impact of SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate on both of these important academic outcomes, through their connection to both their school community and general school environment. These findings allow for the generation of informed recommendations for school policy and practice with the academic outcomes of Australia’s SSA students in mind.

The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology by extending the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) in order to contribute the acceptance of Hospital Management Systems in hospitals. The study also aims to extend the TAM by adding external variables. Thereby the relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and external TAM factors and how these relationships will affect the behavioral intention to use the technology will be determined. In this study quantitative research methods are used. Quantitative research comprises from a questionnaire which is tested in Turkish government hospitals by hospital personnel, physicians, nurses, technicians and administrative personnel. After collection of data from quantitative research the analysis of the data was conducted. The findings of the analysis gave the significant relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, behavioral intention and external variables. In conclusion this study points out the effects and the compatibility of the critical factors of TAM on the user acceptance of Hospital Management Systems in Turkish hospitals.

Geographically distributed and multidisciplinary collaborations have proven invaluable in answering a range of important scientific questions, such as understanding and controlling disease threats like SARS and AIDS or exploring the nature of matter in particle physics. Despite this, however, collaboration can often be problematic. There are institutional obstacles, collaboration tools may be poorly designed, and group coordination is difficult. To better design technologies to support research activities, we need an improved understanding of why scientists collaborate and how their collaborations work. To achieve this improved understanding, this study compares two theoretical approaches to collaboration propensityâ that is, the extent to which collaboration is perceived as useful by individual researchers. On one hand, cultural comparisons of disciplines suggest that collaboration propensity will be higher in disciplinary cultures that have a more collectivist orientation, as indicated by low levels of competition for individual recognition and few concerns about secrecy related to commercialization and intellectual property. In contrast, an approach based on social and organizational psychology suggests that collaboration propensity will vary as a function of resource concentration, fieldwide focus on a well-defined set of problems, and the need for and availability of help when difficult problems are encountered in day-to-day work. To explore this question, a mail survey of 900 academic researchers in three fields was conducted, along with 100 interviews with practicing researchers at 17 sites in the field. Results support a focus on work attributes in interpreting collaboration propensity. That is, cultural factors such as competition for individual recognition and concerns about intellectual property were not perceived as significant impediments to collaboration. Instead, characteristics like resource concentration and the need for coordination were more important in determining collaboration propensity. Implications of these findings include a call for more careful examination of the day-to-day work of scientists and engineers, and a suggestion that concerns about scientific competition impeding collaboration may be unwarranted.

自1990年代開始，因應眾多新崛起的開發中國家以低廉人力成本優勢切入代工業務及產業中更激烈的價格競爭，台灣產業開始思考如何從過去在代工業務的製造優勢轉投入更高附加價值的活動以維持競爭力，而擁有高利潤率的自有品牌模式成為最受注目的方式，使「代工轉品牌」成為熱門議題。然而自有品牌與製造代工業務是截然不同的商業模式，如何從代工成功轉型經營品牌的關鍵因素持續被關注。本研究即欲透過實證研究，了解從代工轉營品牌績效較佳的廠商當時在外部產業環境、內部組織能力和供應商-買主關係等三方面的獨到之處。 為了透過分析大量的台灣代工轉品牌案例獲得實證結果，本研究採取量化方法，並以判斷抽樣的方式進行全國性問卷調查。透過回收74份有效的台灣案例廠商樣本，分析案例廠商當時在產業及組織的內外部情形對日後發展自有品牌績效的影響。在外部環境上，探討市場異質性、產品生命週期、產業集中度與技術動態性；內部組織能力上，了解代工廠商的行銷能力與動態能力程度；供應商-買主關係方面，則討論品牌業務的差異性及在代工業務上對客戶的依賴性。 研究結果顯示，代工廠商能長期經營自有品牌績效較佳者，當初品牌選擇的產業及市場具備有低度市場異質性與高度技術動態性的特徵；然而對於科技業來說，高度的技術動態性並不利於品牌的初期發展；而代工時期組織內部的行銷能力、動態能力對於轉營品牌的績效皆沒有顯著的影響性；在供應商-買者關係方面，代工廠商的自有品牌若能與客戶的品牌創造業務差異性，以避免利益衝突，的確可能讓轉營自有品牌初期的績效較佳。本研究結果對於台灣欲從代工轉品牌的廠商具有實務參考性，也在缺乏量化研究的此學術領域提供重要的研究成果。 / Since 1990, facing the increasingly intensive price competition from newly developing countries with lower labor and land costs, Taiwan’s firms have begun to consider using advantage of manufacturing from OEM/ODM to other value-added activities in order to be more competitive. Building a brand, which is a high-margin business, becomes the most noticeable fashion, making “from contract manufacturing to own branding” a hot issue. However, brand-building and contract-manufacturing are two totally different business models. The key success factors of transformation are continually studied. This research attempts to understand the key external and internal conditions of the companies who did such the transformation successfully. To meet empirical investigation by analyzing numerous sample firms from of OEM/ODM to OBM, this research applies quantitative research by using questionnaire survey, with the judging sampling method. After gathering 74 effective samples of qualified companies in Taiwan, this research analyzed the effect of external environment, organizational capabilities and supplier-buyer relationship on own-brand performance. In external environment, “market heterogeneity”, “product life cycle”, “industrial concentration rate” and “technological turbulence” are explored in this research, while “marketing capability” and “dynamic capability” are included as organizational capabilities. I also include the “differentiation degree of own-brand compared to OEM/ODM buyers’ brands” and” the dependence degree on OEM/ODM buyers” as supplier-buyer relationship. According to the empirical results, the company who chose the target market with lower market heterogeneity and higher technological turbulence can get better performance in OBM in a long run. However, in the high-tech industry, the higher degree of technological turbulence is not beneficial for doing OBM business. In the suppler-buyer relationship, companies are more possible to get better performance in OBM business if they can make higher differentiation of their own-brand compared to their OEM/ODM buyers’ brands. The results of this research could be the reference for future business practice as well as provide significant insight to the academic research.

Doctor of Philosophy / Research has shown that the school-based experiences of same-sex attracted (SSA) young people are frequently less than ideal, often fraught with verbal and physical harassment and social isolation from peers. School-based victimisation of SSA students has been correlated with their negative mental health outcomes, drug and alcohol use, decreased academic outcomes and lowered tertiary aspirations. These outcomes raise issues related to duty of care for educators, including the general responsibility of schools to create safe, equitable learning environments for all of their students. In order to better meet the needs of SSA students in Australia’s secondary schools, this nationwide study examined the current school climate toward same-sex attraction as described by SSA young people aged 14-19 through their reported experiences and perceptions of environmental stresses and supports, using Margaret Spencer’s PVEST model as the theoretical framework. A web-based survey instrument, advertised through both mainstream and lesbian/gay/bisexual-orientated youth sources, was used to sample Australian SSA students (N = 282). The relationships between SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate (including the treatment of SSA students and topics), their sense of connection to their school community, and their reported academic self-concept and motivation toward learning were investigated using bivariate and multivariate techniques, including structural equation modelling. In-depth interview sessions were conducted with six SSA young people in order to further examine these findings. Results indicated that SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate were directly related to their sense of safety within the school environment, their social connection to their peers and teachers, and their feelings of connectedness to the school environment in general. SSA students’ connection to their teachers and their school environment had the strongest total impact on their academic self-concept and motivation to learn. Of key import was the clear indirect impact of SSA students’ perceptions of their school climate on both of these important academic outcomes, through their connection to both their school community and general school environment. These findings allow for the generation of informed recommendations for school policy and practice with the academic outcomes of Australia’s SSA students in mind.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-12T20:32:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Jose Vicente Martins.pdf: 276381 bytes, checksum: 9e0d2ec1f15d0a7ab920acdfeda7d95e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work presents results from a study and quantitative research over how the multifunctional printer systems maintenance technicians qualification process may contribute for the increment of the user satisfaction in its respective sector. A questionnaire containing 24 questions was applied to 16 company representatives. Users, who were previously selected, were also interviewed. The results are compared to the theoretical recital concerning the technical team attendance into the sales process and after that, as well as the way as it may influence better equipment functioning; and the potential this attendance has to become a marketing instrument. As it may be noticed, the good quality technical service may assume an essential part, in the present context, considering technologies, which represents a more and more constant challenge. / Este trabalho apresenta resultados de um estudo e pesquisa quantitativa sobre como o processo de capacitação dos técnicos de manutenção de equipamentos multifuncionais de reprografia pode contribuir para o incremento da satisfação do usuário do setor. Um questionário contendo 24 perguntas foi aplicado a 16 representantes de empresas bem como, entrevistas com usuários previamente selecionados. Os resultados são comparados à fundamentação teórica referente ao atendimento do corpo técnico durante e pós-venda, a influência que tem para o bom funcionamento dos equipamentos, a capacidade de se transformar em um potencial de marketing de vendas. Percebe-se que o atendimento técnico de boa qualidade pode ser de importância fundamental para o presente momento, considerando-se o rápido desenvolvimento e o surgimento de novas e avançadas tecnologias, o que se torna um desafio cada vez mais constante.

This thesis presents a new approach to the long-standing question of how electoral rules influence the behaviour of legislators. It begins with the argument that fresh empirical advances can be made by moving beyond the pervasive but rigid assumption that all legislators want to be re-elected and, by extension, that every incumbent values this goal to the same degree. Rather, I propose that individual Members of Parliament (MPs) vary in the extent to which they personally desire or depend upon re-election. Following the principles of a difference-in-differences design, this observation allows me to devise a theoretical framework capable of testing whether MPs' vote-seeking behaviour differs within parliaments in a way that varies predictably across countries. Specifically, I propose that in electoral systems where party-centric behaviour increases re-election chances, MPs particularly invested in the goal of re-election should cater to the party to an even greater extent than their colleagues. Conversely, in systems where a personal vote can generate electoral gains, MPs most ambitious for re-election should engage in this type of vote-winning strategy to the greatest extent. I test this prediction across the UK House of Commons and the German Bundestag, and within Germany's mixed-member system. Newly-collected biographical data on over 1700 MPs is used to conduct the first systematic MP-level operationalisation of re-election ambition based on legislators' career backgrounds. Career politicians are thereby identified as those most ambitious for re-election. Using voting behaviour from 1.8 million vote choices in legislative roll-calls as a proxy for the degree to which an MP caters to the party or to his or her personal reputation, the quantitative multilevel analysis reveals strong evidence for the proposed behavioural pattern. The contribution made by this study is two-fold. First, it uncovers the interaction between electoral rules and individual re-election ambition as a new explanation for MP-level variation in legislative behaviour. Second, its research design overcomes shortcomings in previous empirical tests for the existing theory on how electoral rules impact MP behaviour (e.g. Carey and Shugart 1995), producing more robust evidence in support of this influential framework.

1 Annotation This master's thesis focuses on a specific area of mass media functioning, with reference to a particular social problem - homelessness. Descriptive analysis is used to investigate media content by original research, and to identify frames, which typically accompany the topic of homelessness in the Czech nationwide media. Therefore, the main theoretical framework is outlined by the paradigm of social constructivism and the theory of media framing. The major part of the presented text is the research itself, initially inspired by the foreign media studies of T. G Shields (2001) and C. Zufferey (2014). The method of quantitative content analysis is used to explore the contents of six selected nationwide media, covering three various media types. To be exact, the contents considered are media news issued by daily Právo and Blesk, by television channels ČT 1 and Nova, and radio channels Radiožurnál and Impuls, within the decade of January 1st 2007 to December 31st 2016. Primary attention is drawn to the media space dedicated to reporting on the topic of homelessness, to the manner in which homeless people are represented in the media, to framing of causes and treatment of homelessness, and to the speakers, who are given the chance to explicitly speak in the media. Last but not least, the scope and...

abstract: The present thesis explores how statistical methods are conceptualized, used, and interpreted in quantitative Hispanic sociolinguistics in light of the group of statistical methods espoused by Kline (2013) and named by Cumming (2012) as the “new statistics.” The new statistics, as a conceptual framework, repudiates null hypothesis statistical testing (NHST) and replaces it with the ESCI method, or Effect Sizes and Confidence Intervals, as well as meta-analytic thinking. In this thesis, a descriptive review of 44 studies found in three academic journals over the last decade (2005 – 2015), NHST was found to have a tight grip on most researchers. NHST, much discredited outside of linguistics, confused authors who conflated the theories of Fisher and Neyman-Pearson, who themselves battled acrimoniously until the end of their publishing lives. Within the studies reviewed, with exceptions, dichotomous thinking ruled the quantitative approach, and binary reporting ruled the results and discussions. In addition, this thesis revealed that sociolinguistics, at least within the studies reviewed, is not exactly a “statistical monoculture” as suspected by Gorman and Johnson (2013), rather ANOVAs have joined Goldvarb’s logistic regression in its dominance. As described insightfully by Plonsky (2015), these two methods are exposed as extensions of the dichotomous thinking that attaches itself to NHST. Further, little evidence was found that the methods of the new statistics were being implemented in a coordinated fashion, including far too few meta-analyses. As such, quantitative Hispanic sociolinguistics, and linguistics in general, were shown to be vulnerable to problems with reliable quantitative theory building. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Spanish 2015

Syftet med studien är att undersöka vilka faktorer som var viktigast i valet av instrument för musiklärarstudenter. Studien letar också efter samband mellan faktorer och olika instrumentval. Tidigare forskning lyfter fram en mängd olika faktorer som spelar roll vid valet av musikinstrument. Instrumentets klang och föräldrars stöd utmärker sig som viktigast. Forskningen visar också att det finns tydliga könsskillnader i valet av instrument. Studiens syfte undersöks genom en enkät. Enkäten kartlägger bakgrundsfaktorer som kön, ålder, föräldrars uppmuntran, musicerande i omgivningen, musiklyssning och socioekonomisk status i samband med instrumentvalet. Resultatet bekräftar delvis tidigare forskning kring viktiga faktorer i instrumentvalet. Testerna av sambanden mellan faktorerna var i många fall inte signifikativa, vilket gör att flera samband inte kan säkerställas. Familj, ålder vid instrumentvalet och kön var bakgrundsfaktorer som visade sig vara påverkande i valet. Avslutningsvis diskuteras tidigare forskning i förhållande till resultatet. Här förs en diskussion kring de mönster som resultatet visat och komplexiteten av att kartlägga vilka faktorer som är påverkande i valet av instrument. / The purpose of this study is to investigate which factors are the most important in the choice of instrument for future music teachers. The study also investigates the interconnections between different factors and their influence on choice of instrument. Previous research highlights a wide range of factors that play a role in the selection of musical instruments, among which the sound of the instrument and parental support are considered to be the most significant. The research also shows that there are clear gender differences as regards the choice of instrument. The research questions considered is examined through a survey. Background factors such as gender, age, parental encouragement, exposure to music making, music listening and socioeconomic status are considered in relation to the instrument selection. The results partly confirm previous research on which are the key factors in the choice of instrument. The interconnection between the factors and choices were in many cases not statistically significant, which means that such conclusions cannot be drawn. The background factors found to be most significant were family, age at which the choice was made and gender. In the discussion section, previous research is compared and contrasted in relation to these results. A discussion on trends in the results and the difficulty in establishing which factors influence the choice of instruments concludes the study.