1,720,985 research outputs found
Toothbrushing as a dyadic process : insights from novice caregivers and firstborn infants
Get PDFAIMS: The thesis explored influences on emergence of toothbrushing as a dyadic process through infancy with influences conceptualised throughout using Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. Influences were used to develop methods to support novice mothers to establish and maintain toothbrushing routines with infants. METHODS: Study One: Qualitative interview study with novice mothers of infants exploring influences on emergence of dyadic toothbrushing routines (n=16). Study Two: Using collected qualitative data to develop and standardise a psychometric scale measuring parental self-efficacy (PSE) for enforcing toothbrushing routines with infants (n=91). Study Three: Cross-sectional observational study of dyadic interactions during toothbrushing episodes, using three age groups of infant, 12-months, 18-months and 24-months (each n=12). Study Four: Development and evaluation of an intervention to increase maternal control of the brush dyadic toothbrushing using three study groups (each n=11). RESULTS: Study One: A total of 25 influences on emergence of dyadic toothbrushing were identified. Many of these influences were identified as lying within the mother-infant dyad. Study Two: Scale items were generated from the 25 sub-themes identified from the qualitative study. Overall reliability of the scale was α= .934 and it was found to contain five components. Study Three: Significant differences (p < .001) were found between the three groups in frequency and duration of maternal and infant control of holding and using the toothbrush during observed episodes. Study Four: The picture book intervention did not significantly affect frequency and duration of either maternal or infant control of holding and using the toothbrush during observed episodes. Conclusion: Many influences on emergence of dyadic toothbrushing come from the mother-infant dyad. Some may pose challenges, such as infant drive for self-toothbrushing. However, some influences such as PSE may facilitate the routine. Further work should focus on supporting caregivers to maintain control of holding and using the toothbrush during dyadic toothbrushing
Individual differences and learning : learning style, academic control beliefs and student self-evaluation as aspects of self-regulated learning
No full textThe thesis comprises a collection of ten published works in the field ofindividual differences and student learning in a, mainly, higher education contextinvolving undergraduate student participants. The works revolve primarily aroundthree principal conceptual areas, identified within the field on the grounds of beingrecognized mediators of learning and achievement - namely, learning style, academiccontrol beliefs and student self-evaluation.Students' perceptions of themselves as learners, and their use of variousprocesses to regulate their learning, have been identified as critical factors in theanalyses of academic development and achievement. On the basis of this, the thesispresents a programme of work concerned with establishing a clearer understanding ofthe conceptualisation, measurement and pedagogical utility of learning style,academic control beliefs, student peer assessment and student self-assessment. It isargued that each of these constructs plays a major role in the development andpractice of student self-regulated learning (SRL).SRL theory therefore provides the theoretical context which unifies andintegrates the principal research areas addressed in the thesis. Accordingly, learningstyle, academic control beliefs and student self-evaluation are suggested as keycomponent processes of SRL. The study of SRL is increasingly being identified ashighly relevant to both research and practice-based pedagogy (e.g. Baumert et al.,2000; Zimmerman & Schunk, 2001). It is therefore further suggested that the existingconceptual bases of SRL may represent the foundations for the development of acomposite theory capable of characterising, and facilitating, translational modelling ofmuch of the work involving individual differences in learning
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Conceptual and lexical functioning in blind, severely visually impaired and sighted infants
No full textThis thesis examines the role of vision in language development by focusing on: first, the understanding blind infants have of objects, actions/events and the way they start to talk about these aspects of their environment; and, second, the ways visual information contributes to conceptual and lexical development in sighted infants. Until recently, research has predominantly focused on infants' understanding of objects and their understanding of actions/events has been neglected. Since individuals who are blind predominantly have access to temporal, rather than spatial infomation and so are better able to process information about actions and events rather than objects, this bias seems to have led to the conclusion that an absence of visual information results in a cognitive deficit. Six blind/severely visually impaired infants and their sighted controls were studied for around a year using a range of quasi-experimental, parental report and observational techniques. The studies found little difference between the blind and sighted infants in the age of onset or rate at which first words are produced. However, blind infants were found to be delayed in the age at which they were able to comprehend and produce labels for objects and they produced few words for concrete, discrete objects. The finding that the blind infants were able to categorize objects/actions as well as generalise and extend their words calls into question Dunlea's (1989) claim that an absence of visual information leads to a cognitive deficit. It is argued that blind infants can make their way into language using a route which is merely one end of a spectrum of routes used by sighted infants. Implications are discussed for theories of lexical development (multiroute model, developmental lexical principles framework and the social-pragmatic framework) as well as for possible strategies facilitate conceptual and lexical development in blind/SVI and sighted infants
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Accessibility of urban spaces for visually impaired pedestrians
Get PDFAn ageing demographic together with the predicted increase in visual impairment of older people calls for a renewedconsideration of the accessibility and social inclusivity of urban spaces. This paper synthesises the evidence on thistopic and highlights areas for future development relating to the accessibility of urban areas for older, blind andpartially sighted pedestrians in the light of recommendations and statements by the World Health Organisation’s‘Age friendly’ cities initiative, Guide Dogs UK and the Department of Transport’s shared spaces local transport note
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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