Knowledge transfer by sharing task templates: two approaches and their psychological requirements

This paper considers two paradigms of process-aware information systems (PAIS) that are used to share knowledge about planning and executing tasks. The case-based task management (CBTM) system is based on the transduction of execution protocols, so-called cases; and the pattern-based task management (PBTM) system is based on task patterns that are derived from cases but yield more abstract information. As user motivation to contribute to a collaborative task management system is a crucial factor for its success, we consider the different motivational requirements of CBTM and PBTM from a psychological point of view. Based on experimental findings about different factors that have been shown to enhance people's motivation to contribute their knowledge to a shared pool, we compare the two approaches and assess which one is more appropriate with respect to motivation.     

Stress in Families of Young Children with Down Syndrome, Williams Syndrome, and Smith-Magenis Syndrome

This study examined whether stress levels differ in families of young children with three different genetic etiologies of mental retardation, and whether child characteristics associated with those genetic etiologies may help explain these differences. Participants were sixty families of young children with Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Smith-Magenis syndrome. All children were between the ages of 3 and 10 years. Parents completed Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist, the Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Friedrich edition, and a demographic questionnaire. Families of children with Down syndrome experienced significantly less Pessimism than the other two etiology groups and significantly less Parent and Family Problems than families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome. The strongest predictor of Parent and Family Problems was maladaptive behavior in Smith-Magenis syndrome, younger age in Down syndrome, and both maladaptive behavior and younger age in Williams syndrome. Maladaptive behavior predicted Pessimism in families of children with Smith-Magenis syndrome, but none of the variables examined significantly predicted Pessimism in the other two syndromes. The importance of behavioral phenotype research is discussed for practitioners working with young children with mental retardation and their families.     

Making a Difference: Women in management in Australian and Canadian faculties of education

This article reports a study of Australian and Canadian women in management positions in university faculties of education. It provides a perspective on the contradictory and multilayered experiences of the first cohort of academic women to reach management positions in any significant numbers in education. The article explores the way in which women are positioned as different but at the same time negotiate their place by using marginality and difference as strengths. Many of the women continue to hold to feminist agendas that were forged in relation to the university of a quarter of a century ago. They have strong commitments to 'making a difference'. The authors raise the question of how these agendas will operate in the years to come and whether we can anticipate a new feminist politics of leadership.     

Efficacy and authority of the message sender during emergency evacuations: a mixed methods study

To understand why coastal residents do not always evacuate before storms, a pair of studies analyzed evacuation decision-making among residents of Long Beach, NY and surrounding municipalities on Long Island, NY via a mixed methodology approach. First, residents who lived in Long Beach, NY during ‘Superstorm’ (hurricane turned post-tropical cyclone) Sandy in October 2012 were interviewed about their evacuation decision. Second, 34 pre-storm messages were developed and administered to residents of the same area: faced with a hypothetical oncoming hurricane, respondents indicated after each message whether they would evacuate. In the interviews, residents spoke more about friends and family than traditional authority figures; survey results, however, imply that residents are more likely to evacuate given messages from traditional authority figures. This can be resolved with the Elaboration Likelihood Model of persuasion, which suggests that motivation and emotional state influence information processing. Implications for actual emergency message formation are discussed.     

Undergraduate Biotechnology Students’ Views of Science Communication

Despite rapid growth of the biotechnology industry worldwide, a number of public concerns about the application of biotechnology and its regulation remain. In response to these concerns, greater emphasis has been placed on promoting biotechnologists’ public engagement. As tertiary science degree programmes form the foundation of the biotechnology sector by providing a pipeline of university graduates entering into the profession, it has been proposed that formal science communication training be introduced at this early stage of career development. The aim of the present study was to examine the views of biotechnology students towards science communication and science communication training. Using an Australian biotechnology degree programme as a case study, 69 undergraduates from all three years of the programme were administered a questionnaire that asked them to rank the importance of 12 components of a biotechnology curriculum, including two science communication items. The results were compared to the responses of 274 students enrolled in other science programmes. Additional questions were provided to the second year biotechnology undergraduates and semi‐structured interviews were undertaken with 13 of these students to further examine their views of this area. The results of this study suggest that the biotechnology students surveyed do not value communication with non‐scientists nor science communication training. The implications of these findings for the reform of undergraduate biotechnology courses yet to integrate science communication training into their science curriculum are discussed.     

Who likes to engage in writing? – The role of children’s beliefs and intrinsic value regarding leisure writing

Abstract

While leisure writing may help children to acquire writing skills, it can also be considered as an inherently valuable cultural activity. This study explores how children’s beliefs may explain to what extent children are inclined to leisure writing and if there are any gender differences. Building on preliminary scale development work, we analysed data from 963 third-graders. Variables included (a) the intrinsic value attached to leisure writing (b) preceding behavioural, normative, and control beliefs related to these activities, and (c) the level of leisure writing. In a structural equation model, the preceding beliefs were applied as explanatory variables for the intrinsic value. Intrinsic value, in turn, explained a large proportion of variance in children’s leisure-writing activities. Gender differences in leisure writing were mediated by intrinsic value. Significance of intrinsic value and preceding beliefs regarding leisure-writing activities are discussed.