7440 research outputs found
Sort by
Unpacking the role of consumer bricolage in consumer identity construction: a restrictive consumer society
No full textThesis by publication.Includes bibliographical references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Methodology and research design -- Chapter 3. Consumer bricolage in identity construction process : a perspective of restrictive social environment -- Chapter 4. Consumer bricolage : conceptualisation and measurement -- Chapter 5. Consumer bricolage in fashion clothing : an empirical perspective exposing the fashion clothing bricoleur -- Chapter 6. Discussion and conclusion.With the advent of increasing connectivity and social interaction, consumers are becoming more concerned about their self and social identities. They want to create identities that help them to establish their unique position in society. Consumer identity reflects the consumption patterns through which individuals describe and express themselves in their social environment. Consumers construct their identities through different products categories such as fashion clothing. Young consumers (hereafter referred to as consumers), particularly in closed or restrictive societies (i.e., South Asia), are fixated with creating unique identities through the latest or Western fashion styles. They consider that identity construction using Western styles signifies that they belong to liberal and elite families. However, identity construction through Western fashion is problematic in restrictive societies since the majority of the social values of these societies contradict with Western fashion styles. Because of differences in social values, consumers face serious social ramifications, including physical assault, when they adopt Western styles. Although consumers in socially restrictive environments are obsessed to create their unique identities through Western fashion, they need to adhere to their cultural and religious values to cope with social pressures. In such a situation, consumers combine and integrate their current social clothing with Western fashions to ensure adherence to their social values and decrease the risk of adopting Western fashion norms and values. For this purpose, the concept of 'consumer bricolage' is introduced in this thesis.Here, consumer bricolage is conceptualised as a consumer's capability to creatively mix, match, combine, and customise different fashion elements (e.g., clothes, footwear, watch, handbag, purse, belt, glasses, and jewellery) to construct the desired identity. Apart from consumers engage in bricolage to align Western styles with their social values, they also use their bricolage skills to form their unique identity through personalised fashion styles. Despite the prevalent adoption of bricolage in consumer behaviours, prior literature remains silent as regards unpacking the role of consumer bricolage in consumer identity construction. Also, the literature which examines how and why consumers engage in bricolage to construct their desired impressions is scarce. The purpose of this research is to unpack the consumer identity construction process and examine the role of consumer bricolage practices in this process, as well as to identify the factors that encourage consumers to engage in consumer bricolage.This thesis follows the thesis by publication approach and develops three distinct but inter-related studies. The first study explores the role of consumer bricolage in consumer identity construction and examines the ways through which bricolage help consumers to cope with their social pressures in their restrictive social environments. This study further identifies the underlying reasons that stimulate consumers to engage in consumer bricolage. Data were sourced from South Asian consumers through 40 face-to-face in-depth semi-structured interviews and 138 open-ended online surveys. The findings shed light on seven stages in the consumer identity construction process and five bricolage practices that consumers use in the identity construction process. Further, the results identify specific factors that motivate consumers to engage in bricolage. This study advances the literature of bricolage and consumer identity by unpacking the role of consumer bricolage practices in the consumer identity construction process.The second study focuses on the conceptualisation, operationalisation, and measurement of bricolage in the context of fashion clothing. To conceptualise and measure consumer bricolage, a series of studies were conducted. First, a qualitative study was conducted, study 1, which interviewed 25 fashion designer and fashion conscious consumers to conceptualise and work toward operationalising consumer bricolage and to generate a pool of items. The item development process was followed by conducting three quantitative studies: study 2, scale purification (N = 327); study 3, scale validation (N = 407); and study 4, nomological validity (N = 325). Findings demonstrate that consumer bricolage is a second-order multidimensional construct with four first-order dimensions. The results indicate that consumer bricolage occupies a unique position in the nomological network of its related constructs such as fashion consciousness and identity distinctiveness. This study contributes to the bricolage literature by measuring it in a consumer behaviour context.The third study draws on impression management theory to investigate how environmental stimuli (i.e., social media influence and susceptibility to interpersonal influence) encourage fashion conscious consumers to engage in consumer bricolage. This study also empirically investigates the role of consumer bricolage in creating consumers' desired impressions. To address the purpose of this study, data were sourced from a survey of 626 consumers in Pakistan. The results indicate that the impact of consumer fashion consciousness on consumer bricolage is contingent on social media influence and susceptibility to interpersonal influence. Further, findings demonstrate that consumer bricolage significantly contributes to creating consumers' impressions of fashion innovativeness, identity distinctiveness, and fashion opinion leadership. This study contributes to the debate of bricolage in consumer behaviour from an interpretive discussion to an empirical investigation.These three integrated studies, that are the foundation of this thesis, will advance the consumer behaviour literature by identifying the consumer identity construction process, revealing consumer bricolage practices, proposing a multidimensional consumer bricolage scale, and empirically examining the consumer bricolage model in socially restrictive societies such as South Asian countries.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (vi, 284 pages) colour illustration
The sweet and sour in sugar baby relationships: social expectations, emotion work and stigma management
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 64-68.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Methodology -- Chapter 3. Discussion -- Chapter 4. Conclusion -- References.This thesis is a qualitative research project exploring ‘sugar relationships’ involving university students. In recent years, rates of sugaring have increased dramatically among young female university students. Although sugaring—a form of commoditised intimate relationship, often mediated through technology—is becoming an increasingly popular part of university life (for some students), it remains largely invisible and underresearched. Key points addressed in this thesis are the comparisons of sugar relationships to sex work, how sugaring affects financially struggling students and their agency in such arrangements, to what extent do participants need to engage in forms of ‘emotion work’ to present themselves as idealised partners, and how might the ‘hidden’ nature of these relationships further stigmatise and isolate participants from other kinds of mutually beneficial relationships. This research will fill a gap in literature by investigating how stigma is experienced, managed and reinterpreted by those within the community, and how sugar members rationalise their dating behaviours. It will shed further light on the effects of stigmatisation on how both sugar babies and daddies embody their roles in transactional relationships, while also segregating themselves from conventional modes of courtship and the sex industry.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (v, 68 pages
Mechanistic complexity economics: a methodological framework for economic science
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 448-523.Part 1. Philosophy of science. Chapter 1. Scientific explanation & the structure of scientific theories ; Chapter 2. The mechanistic model of scientific explanation & theory structure -- Part 2. Philosophy of economics. Chapter 3. Methodology of economics ; Chapter 4. Positivist economics -- Part 3. Complexity economics. Chapter 5. Central themes of complexity economics ; Chapter 6. Does complexity economics incorporate a mechanistic methodology? -- Part 4. Case study. Chapter 7. Asset pricing models -- Conclusion -- Endnotes -- Bibliography.The central argument of this thesis is that economic science requires a methodological reorientation in order to realign with contemporary philosophy of science. This is argued with reference to both the the history of general philosophy of science - in particular the literatures on scientific explanation and the structure of scientific theories - and the history of the methodology of economics. It is also argued that the heterodox school of economic thought, known as complexity economics, offers a valid basis for achieving such a reorientation.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (523 pages
Characterisation of the host immune response to biofilm-related infections
No full textThesis by publication.Bibliography: pages 333-382.Chapter I. Literature review -- Chapter II. Materials and methods -- Chapter III. The functional influence of breast implant outer shell morphology on bacterial attachment and growth -- Chapter IV. The influence of implant surface on biofilm formation in an in vivo porcine model -- Chapter V. Analysis of bacterial biofilm and host response in new cases of breast Implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma -- Chapter VI. Differential mitogenic response of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma to gram-negative lipopolysaccharide -- Chapter VII. Differential mitogenic response of breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma to staphylococcal superantigens -- Chapter VIII. The development of a co-culture system of mammalian cells and biofilm composed of different bacterial species -- Chapter IX. Effect of TLR4 on LPS stimulation of BIA-ALCL tumour cells --Chapter X. General discussion -- Appendices -- References.Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a recently diagnosed, rare non-Hodgkin T-cell lymphoma in tissue around a breast implant. Since 2000, its detection and incidence has risen worldwide due to the increase use of breast implants in breast surgery. Although the aetiopathogenesis is unclear, it is postulated that the cancer results from chronic bacterial antigen stimulation and sustained T-cell proliferation that potentially leads to malignant transformation. This is in conjunction with implant properties, implant exposure time and host predisposition or genetic factors. The experiments described in this thesis explore the influence of implant surface texture, bacterial load and host response in patient specimens, and initiating and potentiating factors to malignancy.The majority of BIA-ALCL cases have occurred in patients with textured implants, which have been shown to support a higher bacterial load. The work described in Chapter III of this thesis describes the development of an in vitro bacterial attachment assay to further characterise the surface texture of implants and their capacity to support bacterial growth in vitro. We describe a significant relationship between the measurement of available surface area, surface roughness and potentiation of bacterial growth for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. In Chapter IV, we examine the influence of implant texture in vivo using a well-established porcine model. We describe the association between textured implant surfaces with bacterial attachment, biofilm formation, development of capsular contracture and host response following artificial bacterial contamination of breast implants in pigs.The role of bacteria in BIA-ALCL has recently been supported by the discovery of high levels of bacterial contamination within BIA-ALCL specimens. In Chapter V, we compare the bacterial load and host response in fresh implants and capsules from new cases of BIA-ALCL to non-tumour specimens.In Chapter VI, we utilise previous findings of a significantly higher proportion of Gram-negative pathogens present in the microbiome of BIA-ALCL specimens when compared to the microbiome surrounding non-tumour implant capsules. We interrogate BIA-ALCL cell lines derived from fresh tumour with antigens including lipopolysaccharide from Gram-negative bacterial cell wall. We demonstrate a unique response to lipopolysaccharide in BIA-ALCL cells compared to other tumour and non-tumour cell lines. In Chapter VII, we also interrogate these cell lines with staphylococcal superantigens since their potential to restrict T-cell receptor expression has recently been reported. We describe a differential response to Gram-positive bacterially derived antigens, providing support to the hypothesis of a Gram-negative antigenic trigger to malignancy.We further investigated the potentiation of BIA-ALCL tumour cell growth this time to bacterial biofilm infection composed of different pathogen species. In Chapter VIII, we develop a co-culture system of biofilm and mammalian cells and describe the differential responses of BIA-ALCL cells when challenged with biofilm consisting of Gram-negative or Gram-positive bacteria.The work described in Chapter IX, examines whether the stimulation by lipopolysaccharide is through Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which positively impacts T-cell priming. We demonstrate a dampening of responses to lipopolysaccharide in BIA-ALCL cells following inhibition of TLR4 signalling.The data from this thesis provides important new insights into the aetiopathogensis of this newly characterised neoplasm.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xl, 383 pages) colour illustration
"No one wants to be that mother": an ethnography of difference and emotion in Sydney
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 71-80.Introduction -- Chapter One. The anthropology of parenting -- Chapter Two. On parental emotions -- Chapter Three. Childhood deviance and explanatory models -- Chapter Four. "He is a bit ADHD" : suffering and the psy-dispositif -- Conclusion -- Bibliography.This research explores Australian middle-class ideals of the “good child” as the source of parental emotional fulfilment and identity. Here, moral constructs of what a child should be and do, are indexed to parental values and definitions of what constitutes the good life. In an intensive and competitive parenting culture, where children’s achievements and good behaviour bring social capital to their parents, how do parents of “difficult” children negotiate the disappointments, shame and often marginalisation that come with being the parent of a difficult child?Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Sydney, Australia, this thesis examines the role of children in the construction of the good life. Placed at the intersection of the anthropology of parenting and psychological anthropology, my work explores the overlap of intensive parenting and the pathologization of childhood, and seeks to understand how the parental ethnotheories of middle-class Sydneysiders, produce a particular socio-moral model of the good child. Through an engagement with the lived experience of parents of difficult children and by attending to parental discourses and the emotions, I shed light on parental experiences of marginalisation. In so doing, I map a path from the macro structures of neoliberalism to the micro structures of everyday experience.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (v, 80 pages) 1 colour illustratio
Auditory and cognitive skills in adults with reported listening in noise difficulties
No full textThesis by publication."Department of Linguistics (Audiology section), The HEARing CRC, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia" -- title pageIncludes bibliographical references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Auditory processing, attention, memory and statistical learning in adults with listening in noise concerns in presence of normal audiogram -- Chapter 3. Objective measure of speech understanding in noise : an N400 study -- Chapter 4. Auditory and cognitive processing skills in individuals with and without hearing loss who report speech understanding in noise difficulty -- Chapter 5. Overall discussion and conclusion -- References -- Appendices.Some adults with and without hearing loss struggle to understand speech in adverse listening situations. In a US and UK based prevalence study, speech understanding in noise difficulty in adults with clinically normal audiograms was reported to be 2.9% and 4% respectively. Similarly, there are a several survey studies that have shown dissatisfaction with hearing aids particularly in the presence of noise. What causes adults with and without hearing loss to experience listening difficulties in noise? The motivation of the current research comes from the auditory-cognitive interactions framework and its subsequent model Framework for Understanding Effortful Listening (FUEL). The models have proposed that both auditory and cognitive skills are pre-requisites for understanding speech particularly in the presence of noise. The objective of the first study (study 1) was to investigate the auditory and cognitive skills in adults with clinically normal hearing sensitivity and reported listening in noise difficulties. The second objective was to assess the auditory and cognitive skills in individuals with bilateral mild-moderate to moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss with reported speech understanding in noise difficulty (study 2). The Speech Spatial and Qualities Hearing Scale 12 (SSQ12) was used to evaluate the listening difficulties in 12 different listening scenarios.Study 1 included twenty adults with normal hearing and reported listening in noise difficulties and study 2 included 10 adults with hearing loss. In addition, there was a control group of twenty-two adults with normal hearing with no reported listening in noise concerns. Both studies assessed auditory skills using behavioural and electrophysiological measures (Cortical evoked potentials; CAEPs). Behavioural measures of auditory processing and cognitive measures showed no differences between adults with and without listening difficulties in noise, irrespective of hearing loss. Electrophysiological responses, however, showed distinct differences in both studies. Study 1 investigated N400 to semantically congruent-incongruent sentences and adults with listening difficulties showed small or absent N400 in quiet compared to the control group based on area under the curve. Cluster permutation analysis conducted within the groups across congruent-incongruent sentences using dependent samples t-test confirmed the presence of clusters in the centro-frontal electrodes only for the control group. Presence of N400 response indicates one’s ability to accurately predict key words based on the context. There was no difference for the onset responses (P1-N1-P2) to the sentences across the two groups, indicating similar percept across the two groups to the start of the sentence. In-addition, time frequency analysis carried out showed stronger synchronised alpha oscillations in the control group when compared to the group having individuals with listening in noise concerns. These strong alpha oscillations for the control group may indicate that the control group have a better ability to maintain their attention throughout the task.In study 2 the group with hearing loss showed similar results to study 1, there were differences in the time-frequency analysis of the electrophysiological data (/da/ in quiet and 8dB SNR). Within group analysis showed significant synchronised alpha oscillations only in the control group, indicating that the control group provided more attention and displayed more inhibition during the passive listening task.The current research cannot fully explain the listening difficulties. For instance, one of the aspects that we have not considered is assessment of listening difficulties in realistic situations. One factor recommended in the FUEL model is motivation, which we have not explored in the current research. Listening effort is another aspect that has not been considered in the current research on why some adults struggle to understand speech in everyday listening situations. Nevertheless, the current project has provided some insight. The significant differences on the electrophysiological measures that implicate cognitive skills, are promising.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (250 pages) table
Associations, expectations and meaning: decoding the neural processes underlying conceptual representations
No full textThesis by publication."Department of Cognitive Science, ARC Centre of Excellence of Cognition and its Disorders, Perception in Action Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia" -- title page.Includes bibliographic references.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Decoding digits and dice with magnetoencephalography : evidence for a shared representation of magnitude -- Chapter 3. Seeing versus knowing : the temporal dynamics of real and implied colour processing in the human brain -- Chapter 4. Yellow strawberries and red bananas : the influence of object-colour knowledge on emerging object representations in the brain -- Chapter 5. Predicting the temporal dynamics of synaesthetic associations with real colour classification models -- Chapter 6. Discussion -- Appendix.Integrating incoming visual information with prior knowledge is vital when interacting with the world around us. But how do internal concepts and expectations about the environment shape perception? The research presented in this thesis focuses on disentangling neural activity associated with conceptual representations from the visual information that activate them. Using time-resolved multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA), I present four Magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies that aim to increase our understanding of how the neural activity associated with conceptual representations unfolds over time.In the first study, I examine whether there is a shared magnitude representation that can be activated independently of numerical format. The results showed that a shared representation of magnitude can be accessed via different numerical symbols (i.e., digits and dice) but that this representation is accessed slightly earlier via digits than dice. These findings highlight that there is an internally generated magnitude representation that can be separated from incoming visual information.In the second study, I explore whether accessing representations of objects with a strong canonical colour results in typical object colour being activated. When participants viewed greyscale objects that are associated with a specific colour (e.g., a greyscalestrawberry), the typical colour of the object (e.g., red) was decodable suggestingactivation of the object representation includes colour information. Further, I showed thatcolour information accessed via object-colour activation resembles later stages of real colour perception. These findings provide novel insights into the time course of object feature representations that are based on prior knowledge.In the third study, I describe the use of a congruency paradigm to investigate what happens when our prior expectations about object features are violated. The results show that the typicality of feature binding (colour and form) influences the neural response over time and can be differentiated. Whether the conjunction of object and colour was typical had an effect on colour representations but not on object representations. By focusing on the temporal aspect of object processing, this study highlights the effect of typicality of feature binding on object and colour processing.In the fourth study, I discuss data of a special population, grapheme-colour synaesthetes, who experience colours when perceiving achromatic letters and digits. For grapheme-colour synaesthetes, colour information could be decoded from brain activation patterns associated with viewing achromatic symbols in a very brief time window. Colour representations accessed via synaesthetic inducers resembled later stages of colour representations activated via real colour perception. Focusing on the timecourse of the neural signal associated with synaesthetic colours suggests that synaesthesia might be similar to object-colour knowledge.Together, the findings of this show that MVPA applied to MEG data is a suitable method to measure conceptual representations independent from the visual information that activates them. These results give novel insights into the complexities of visual perception and its dependency on prior knowledge.Mode of access: World wide web1 online resource (xi, 256 pages) diagrams, table
Exploration of the key characteristics of mobile learning in a Chinese business setting
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 209-230.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Literature review -- Chapter 3. Methodology -- Chapter 4. Quantitative results and analysis -- Chapter 5. Qualitative results and analysis -- Chapter 6. Conclusion, summary and discussionIn the last decade, there has been a dramatic increase globally in the use of mobile devices and mobile technologies. While mobile technologies have played a significant role in communications generally within business settings, the increasing use of mobile devices for employee's learning and development in workplace has caused much attention for researchers and human resource development (HRD) practitioners. This study aims to gain a greater understanding of the key characteristics of m-learning in a Chinese business setting, which is the world's largest market for mobile devices and mobile technologies. A mixed methods research approach of quantitative and qualitative methods was employed, which involved an online survey of 665 responses and semi - structured interviews with 40 employees from four business organisations in China. A number of findings were discovered from both the quantitative and qualitative analyses. First, the conditions appear favourable for m-learning to flourish in Chinese business settings, in terms of the high mobile device penetration, heavy mobile usage, and the increasing adoption of m-learning at workplace. Second, this study find s that employees in the Chinese business setting have generally positive perceptions of using mobile devices for learning. Third, this study identifies 19 themes of personal benefits and 17 organisational benefits of m-learning perceived by the respondents, which can be classified into three central themes: "Autonomy", "Real-world Relevance" and "Collaboration and Networking". Fourth, this study highlight s four concerns and three improvement areas of adopting m-learning in a Chinese business context. Fifth, while there are similarities between the characteristics of Chinese m - learning and the m - learning in the Western context, this study indicates a number of important differences; for example, the perceived importance levels of the affordances of m-learning, the ranking of the central themes regarding m-learning, and the perceived organisational benefits of m-learning. Based on the finding s of this study, the key characteristics of m-learning in a Chinese business setting are identified and the relationship between Chinese m-learning and Western m-learning is discussed.1 online resource (xv, 271 pages) illustration
Exposing David's Ziklag: a case for Khirbet al-Ra'i
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 71-82.1. Introduction, context, aim and methodology -- 2. Proposed sites from previous studies -- 3. Analysis of biblical texts -- 4. Ziklag, David and the Bible -- 5. Geographic analysis -- 6. Criteria for a site to be identified as Ziklag -- 7. Analysis of proposed ancient sites for Ziklag -- 8. Comparison grid -- 9. Summary and conclusions.According to the Bible, Ziklag was David's base of operations prior to his rise to power before moving to Hebron, where he became the Judahite monarch (1 Sam 27, 2 Sam 2:1-3). David served as a vassal to the Philistines during his one year and four months stay at Ziklag in Philistine territory (1 Sam 27:6-7). Identifying Ziklag's modern correlate is of great importance because it will supplement the biblical portrayal of this time period, and especially the nature and location of Ziklag. Twelve sites have been proposed as Ziklag, including the latest, Khirbet al-Ra'i, an identication that was proposed by the directors of the ongoing archeological project at the site...1 online resource (vii, 85 pages) colour map
Aristotle on vice and misery
No full textTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 206-216.Chapter 1: Introduction - a robust theory of vice -- Chapter 2: Varieties of deficiency -- Chapter 3: Solving the puzzle - deficient characters --Chapter 4: The vicious agent - a road map -- Chapter 5: The vicious agent - part one -- Chapter 6. The vicious agent - part two -- Chapter 7. Final thoughts.A huge body of work is devoted to understanding Aristotelian virtue. By comparison Aristotle's views on the nature of vice have been somewhat neglected. This thesis aims to develop a new approach to Aristotelian vice, outlining its peculiarities in comparison with modern conceptions of vice, delineating the boundaries between vice and other deficient character states, and discovering why it is that Aristotle believes vice to be problematic. To give some shape to the investigation, I ask a guiding question: why is Aristotle's vicious person miserable? In Book IX of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle describes the vicious agent as one who hates their own life because of their vice. The vicious agent is full of regret, utterly miserable, and is even suicidal according to some translators. But Aristotle does not give a detailed explanation as to why this might be the case. It is the task of this thesis to comb through Aristotle's statements about vice, piecing together an account that makes sense of this misery. First, I survey the character states who share a deficient soul in various ways and to various degrees. Here I turn to the enkratic, akratic and brutish agent to show how they fail to be virtuous and how their failure is different to that of the vicious.Second, I posit a character state in-between akrasia and vice which I will call the 'in- between state' and suggest that Aristotle himself might make room for such a person. In looking at the in-between state we see a character who behaves with remarkable surface similarities to the vicious agent and give an account of why such a person is not properly vicious. Third, I will turn more closely to Aristotle's specific discussions of the vicious agent, here outlining the badness of vice and explaining why vice is bad for the agent. The second half of this task turns to study vicious misery. Here I will offer a novel account of vicious misery, arguing that the ends of the vicious agent cannot be met for teleological reasons and moreover that the ends of the vicious person fail to satisfy an innate desire for the true human good. Finally, I look at some potential counterexamples to this thesis and attempt to defend it against them.1 online resource (viii, 216 pages