Buying power? Some outcomes of income for women

Proponents of income generation as a development strategy for women assume it will foster independence and economic power. However, household relationships affect women's ability to control their income. Prevailing codes of gender relationships may place the husband in control of all income. Women's participation in income generating projects may be inhibited if they do not expect to control the proceeds of their effort. Case histories from eastern Kenya of the Giriama and Mijikenda demonstrate how husbands control not only income but even group membership and participation. While household heads control the labor and income of other household members, how they choose to exercise these rights may vary. The wife's participation is viewed as withdrawing labor and cash from the household, so the husband has a claim on her income. The arrangement usually functions to benefit the household and ensure its success. Conflicts arise when the wife perceives that the arrangement is not beneficial to the household. Cultural differences between different ethnic groups may result in very different patterns of expenditures of women's income. Women are invariably in a subordinate position, dependent on their husbands to fulfill their share of the household responsibilities. Income generation enthusiasts are often ill informed about the context in which their programs operate.     

Doing research on mobile devices: An undergraduate case study

To investigate how undergraduates use library and scholarly resources through their mobile devices, the authors surveyed 138 undergraduate students at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) in the spring 2014 semester. The results confirmed that they want to search databases and journals on their mobile devices. By examining the functionalities of mobile-friendly databases, we identified the challenges and barriers to using mobile devices to search electronic databases and find articles. The results of this study were used in generating recommendations for the design, capabilities, and resources of future mobile websites.     

Effects of autonomous motivational priming on motivation and affective responses towards high-intensity interval training

This study examined the effect of autonomous motivational priming on motivation, attitudes and intentions towards high-intensity interval training (HIT). Participants (N = 42) performed a graded exercise test to determine their peak aerobic power (W_PEAK). At a subsequent testing session, participants were randomised to complete either an autonomous or neutral motivational priming task followed by a 10 × 1 HIT exercise protocol, alternating 1-min bouts of hard (70% W_PEAK) and light (12.5% W_PEAK) exercises for 20 min. Participants primed with autonomous motivation reported greater enjoyment, P = .009, η_p² = .16, and perceived competence, P = .005, η_p² = .18, post-exercise compared to those in the neutral priming condition. Participants in the autonomous motivational priming condition also reported more positive attitudes, P = .014, η_p² = .14, towards HIT; however, there was no difference between the conditions for task motivation during HIT or intentions, P = .53, η_p² = .01, to engage in HIT. These findings highlight autonomous motivational priming as a method of enhancing affective and motivational experiences regarding HIT.     

Conservation from conception: Commissioning an installation by Cai Guo-Qiang

Over a period of six years, the Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art and Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang developed and realized the major art installation Heritage (2013). The artwork comprises 99 life-sized imitation animals congregating at a waterhole and covers 1104 m² of floor space. This paper reviews aspects of the commission, construction, and completion of Heritage – a very large-scale, technically complex contemporary installation. From commission to acquisition, the project was a highly collaborative undertaking and is an interesting example of unconventional conservation. This paper, written from curatorial and conservation perspectives, describes this cooperative endeavour.     

Self‐efficacy in undergraduate students with dyslexia: a mixed methods investigation

It may be thought that gaining a place at university confers self‐belief on students with dyslexia; after all, they have succeeded in their academic studies. Our research explored self‐efficacy beliefs in university students with and without dyslexia. An Academic Self‐Efficacy Scale and a Sources of Academic Self‐Efficacy Scale were completed by 44 university students. These scores were compared between dyslexic and non‐dyslexic students. Interviews were conducted with eight participants to gain a fuller understanding of how their self‐efficacy beliefs develop. Undergraduate students with dyslexia scored lower than students without dyslexia on four out of the five measures of academic self‐efficacy. The dyslexic students reported role models, teachers and school performance as factors influencing their motivation toward academic work. The research suggests that university students with dyslexia still need interventions to help boost their self‐efficacy profiles, despite the level of success they have achieved in gaining a place at university.     

Evaluating a Multidimensional Reading Comprehension Program and Reconsidering the Lowly Reputation of Tests of Near‐Transfer

We conducted a 14‐week experimental study of 2 versions of a relatively comprehensive RC intervention that involved 50 classroom teachers, 15 tutors, and 116 children drawn in equal proportions from grades 3 and 5 in 13 schools in a large urban school district. Students were randomly assigned in equal numbers to the two tutoring conditions and a control group. Results indicated that students in the two tutored groups tended to perform comparably on all tests and to outperform controls (more so in grade 5 than grade 3) on near‐transfer but not far‐transfer measures of RC. This differential pattern of program effects for near‐ versus far‐transfer measures raises questions about how tests of near‐transfer and far‐transfer are conventionally understood.     

Prompting teachers’ constructive reflection: pupils’ questions as critical incidents

Constructive reflection is seen as an important ingredient in the professional development of teachers, in order to stimulate significant change in approaches to classroom practice and the general provision of science education in schools. This paper explores the use of pupils’ questions in provoking ‘critical incidents’ in the professional lives of teachers. It is suggested that pupils’ questions can be both indicative of their own conceptual change as well as being sophisticated prompts for teachers to examine their own thinking. Case studies of two teachers ‐‐ one primary and one secondary ‐‐ are used to illuminate how such critical incidents can lead to changes in teacher thinking, resulting then in changes in classroom practice in science. Suggestions are made for the use of pupils’ questions as critical incidents in the professional development of teachers.     

Performing desires: The dilemma of aspirations and educational attainment

The authors critique the mechanistic notion of aspirations running through much research and policy‐making on educational and vocational outcomes. They present a performative model, with individuals drawing on limited social resources to express aspirations within constrained contexts. This argument is illustrated by discussion of the findings of large‐scale empirical investigation of the aspirations of 490 young people in three UK schools. Five themes from this analysis are presented and it is argued that these need to be explored in order to enrich and expand our understanding of young people's expression of aspirations.