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1 – 10 of over 1000Karen Dodd, Katie Austin, Laura Baxter, Jo Jennison, Mark Kenny, Tessa Lippold, Alexandra Livesey, Julie Lloyd, Julie Anne Nixon, Zillah Webb and Esther Wilcox
There is little research addressing the delivery of training for health professionals who are interested in using cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) techniques as an adjunct to…
Abstract
Purpose
There is little research addressing the delivery of training for health professionals who are interested in using cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) techniques as an adjunct to their current role. This paper describes the establishment and evaluation of a CBT training course to develop CBT skills in staff working with people with intellectual disabilities in Trust healthcare settings. The course would enable staff to learn how they could incorporate these skills into their daily practice to help them understand and work more effectively with people with intellectual disabilities.
Design/methodology/approach
A CBT training course was designed to teach staff the use of a number of basic and specific CBT techniques and principles that staff could use within their current roles. Specific issues in relation to people with intellectual disabilities were included, e.g. understanding cognitive deficits as well as cognitive distortions. The course ran for six sessions on a fortnightly basis, followed by a two-month follow-up session. Participants completed a pre- and post-assessment questionnaire and kept a reflective diary.
Findings
The training clearly focused on teaching skills that were feasible for staff to use in their own work settings. The evaluations, especially from the reflective diaries and the post-course questionnaires clearly demonstrated that this aim was achieved.
Originality/value
This was a pilot study as there has been no previously published evidence of using this approach within intellectual disabilities services. A further training course has been planned to continue evaluating the effectiveness of this approach.
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Neuroscientists act as proxies for implied anthropomorphic signal-processing beings within the brain, Homunculi. The latter examine the arriving neuronal spike-trains to infer…
Abstract
Purpose
Neuroscientists act as proxies for implied anthropomorphic signal-processing beings within the brain, Homunculi. The latter examine the arriving neuronal spike-trains to infer internal and external states. But a Homunculus needs a brain of its own, to coordinate its capabilities – a brain that necessarily contains a Homunculus and so on indefinitely. Such infinity is impossible – and in well-cited papers, Attneave and later Dennett claim to eliminate it. How do their approaches differ and do they (in fact) obviate the Homunculi?
Design/methodology/approach
The Attneave and Dennett approaches are carefully scrutinized. To Attneave, Homunculi are effectively “decision-making” neurons that control behaviors. Attneave presumes that Homunculi, when successively nested, become successively “stupider”, limiting their numbers by diminishing their responsibilities. Dennett likewise postulates neuronal Homunculi that become “stupider” – but brain-wards, where greater sophistication might have been expected.
Findings
Attneave’s argument is Reductionist and it simply assumes-away the Homuncular infinity. Dennett’s scheme, which evidently derives from Attneave’s, ultimately involves the same mistakes. Attneave and Dennett fail, because they attempt to reduce intentionality to non-intentionality.
Research limitations/implications
Homunculus has been successively recognized over the centuries by philosophers, psychologists and (some) neuroscientists as a crucial conundrum of cognitive science. It still is.
Practical implications
Cognitive-science researchers need to recognize that Reductionist explanations of cognition may actually devolve to Homunculi, rather than eliminating them.
Originality/value
Two notable Reductionist arguments against the infinity of Homunculi are proven wrong. In their place, a non-Reductionist treatment of the mind, “Emergence”, is discussed as a means of rendering Homunculi irrelevant.
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Ritanjali Panigrahi, Praveen Ranjan Srivastava and Prabin Kumar Panigrahi
This study extends the literature on the effectiveness of e-learning by investigating the role of student engagement on perceived learning effectiveness (PLE) in the context of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study extends the literature on the effectiveness of e-learning by investigating the role of student engagement on perceived learning effectiveness (PLE) in the context of Indian higher education. Further, the impact of personal factors (Internet self-efficacy (ISE)) and environmental factors (information, system and service quality parameters) on various dimensions of student engagement (behavioral, emotional and cognitive) is studied through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT).
Design/methodology/approach
An online management information systems (MIS) course is delivered to a batch of 412 postgraduate students. An online survey was conducted to measure the factors affecting their PLE. In addition to the survey, a summative assessment is conducted to evaluate the students in terms of their marks to assess their achievements (actual learning). Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) is used to validate the developed research model.
Findings
It is discovered that the IS (information system) quality parameters (environmental factors) positively impact PLE. The ISE affects the PLE through the mediating effect of all the dimensions of student engagement. Furthermore, there exists a positive relationship between PLE and student marks.
Originality/value
This study develops a research model using personal and environmental factors to understand PLE through the lens of SCT and then empirically validates it. The psychological process from the students' ISE to the PLE is explained through the mediating effects of various dimensions of engagement. Further, it is found that the PLE is positively related to student marks.
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The introduction of roller‐milling rendered it possible to utilise any variety of wheat, since the grain in this process is not subjected to severe attrition, and pulverisation of…
Abstract
The introduction of roller‐milling rendered it possible to utilise any variety of wheat, since the grain in this process is not subjected to severe attrition, and pulverisation of the bran is avoided as far as possible. In roller‐milling the wheat grain is reduced to flour in gradual stages (gradual reduction process), during which the offal is continually removed by sifting and by the use of air currents. In this way a more complete removal of branny and other undesired particles can be effected, and a greater yield of highly refined flour can be obtained than in stone‐milling.
Outlines various positive achievements by the British Libraryduring 1994. Suggests that for the British Library, 1994 was marked bycontinuing controversies over the new St Pancras…
Abstract
Outlines various positive achievements by the British Library during 1994. Suggests that for the British Library, 1994 was marked by continuing controversies over the new St Pancras building. Discusses the arguments surrounding the St Pancras development in relation to three documents issued during 1994. The hostility of the British Library Regular Readers Group to losing the Round Reading Room in Bloomsbury was reexpressed in a new edition of its pamphlet. The whole project was examined by the National Heritage Committee; discusses its conclusions. Finally, the chairman of the British Library Board, Sir Anthony Kenny, produced a pamphlet outlining the background to the development of the new British Library building, its present state and future prospects. Discusses this in relation to the other documents and development of British Library policy.
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Daniel Graff and Mark A. Clark
This study reviews the construct of analogy as an individual communication mode, examining its relationship with cross-understanding in knowledge-diverse teams. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This study reviews the construct of analogy as an individual communication mode, examining its relationship with cross-understanding in knowledge-diverse teams. The authors theorize that analogy use enhances team information processing beyond mere communication frequency through bridging knowledge differences across team members. The authors propose that analogies will have a direct relationship to knowledge application, and an indirect effect via cross-understanding. However, communication frequency will have only an indirect effect on knowledge application through cross-understanding.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors sampled a 49-member team with 14 subteams, yielding 146 usable dyadic relationships. Two mediation models were estimated while using linear mixed-effect models in SPSS.
Findings
The results confirm the importance of analogies and cross-understanding in teams, generally supporting the hypotheses. Mere communication frequency was not related to knowledge application, indicating that “how you say it” may be more important than how often a team member speaks.
Research limitations/implications
This research explored these constructs through a three-week project in a sample of graduate students working with a real-world client. Future research could explore the validity of this model in other organizational settings and test the analogy construct on the team level.
Practical implications
The effectiveness of team member communication should be measured not only as frequency but also in terms of analogies to transmit meaning.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to an understanding of teams as information processors by building empirical support for the utility of analogical communication in design teams, establishing the relationship of analogies to cross-understanding and knowledge application.
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Carsten Fink and Charles J. Kenny
The “widening digital divide” has the status of fact in most discussions of the global distribution of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and that this divide is…
Abstract
The “widening digital divide” has the status of fact in most discussions of the global distribution of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and that this divide is a problem is widely accepted. This paper challenges both assumptions. First, looking at various measures of the digital divide, there is a divide in per‐capita access to ICTs but developing countries show faster rates of growth in network development than developed countries. Moreover, when employing a per‐income measure of access, developing countries already “digitally leapfrog” the developed world. Second, the paper examines the prediction that disparities in absolute access to ICTs between countries will lead to reduced development prospects in poor countries. Past experience has shown that it is very difficult to make predictions of this type. The paper concludes that we may be posing the wrong policy questions when focusing on a “digital divide” as it is commonly understood.
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Nurul Hidayana Mohd Noor, Siti Hajar Abu Bakar Ah and Mohd Awang Idris
This study aims to examine how the relationship between customer accountability and voluntary organizations’ effectiveness is mediated by knowledge sharing.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how the relationship between customer accountability and voluntary organizations’ effectiveness is mediated by knowledge sharing.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a cross-sectional survey and a structured questionnaire, data were collected from 349 employees of Malaysian voluntary organizations (VOs). Baron and Kenny’s (1986) procedures for mediation testing were adopted for the main analysis.
Findings
Results of structural equation modelling indicated that knowledge sharing partially mediates the relationship between and voluntary organizations’ effectiveness.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the authors’ contribution on the current academia, this study only investigated 349 employees representing VOs located in a single area, which is the Klang Valley area, Malaysia. Further research could identify a larger sample that would strengthen the inferences and conclusions.
Practical implications
The main practical implication is that Malaysian VOs need to be aware of the impact of customer accountability upon their voluntary organizations’ effectiveness, and they need to inculcate their employees’ knowledge sharing behaviour to foster the impact of customer accountability on voluntary organizations’ effectiveness.
Originality/value
This paper is unique in that it is the first attempt to combine the previous direct effect relationship into a new model that shows the effect of customer accountability on voluntary organizations’ effectiveness and the role of knowledge sharing as a mediator in the context of Malaysian voluntary sector.
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Anas Iftikhar, Imran Ali and Mark Stevenson
This study aims to analyse whether the presence of supply chain complexity (SCC) influences firms to improve their supply chain (SC) resilience and SC robustness capability. This…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse whether the presence of supply chain complexity (SCC) influences firms to improve their supply chain (SC) resilience and SC robustness capability. This study also examines an important paradox: whether investing in both exploitation and exploration practices is conflicting or complementary to enabling SC resilience and robustness in the presence of SCC.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors used a survey-based approach to collect 242 useful responses from SC professionals of Pakistani firms, an important emerging economy context. The data were analysed with covariance-based structural equation modelling to statistically validate the model.
Findings
The analysis reveals several key findings: the presence of SCC has a direct, positive influence on SC resilience and SC robustness; while exploitation practices only partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they fully mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness; while exploration practices partially mediate the nexus between SCC and SC resilience, they do not mediate the relationship between SCC and SC robustness and SCC has a significant influence on SC resilience and SC robustness sequentially through exploitation and exploration (i.e. one after the other).
Practical implications
These findings help to reconcile the exploitation versus exploration paradox in cultivating SC resilience and SC robustness in the presence of SCC. The findings assist SC managers in determining how to deploy their limited resources most effectively to enhance SC resilience and SC robustness while facing SCC.
Originality/value
The authors devise and empirically validate a unique framework that demonstrates how the presence of SCC works as a stimulus to build SC resilience and SC robustness.
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The decision of the Council of the Library Association not to hold a Conference this year will surprise only those who are not satisfied with the present progress of the library…
Abstract
The decision of the Council of the Library Association not to hold a Conference this year will surprise only those who are not satisfied with the present progress of the library movement in this country. If we ventured to judge by the absence of complaints at this decision our conclusion would necessarily be that by far the greater number of librarians are thus satisfied. It is only when a comprehensive glance at the whole movement is taken that doubts arise in our mind that we should like to see resolved. We are to rest in acquiescent contentment with the present silence and apparent inactivity. Other bodies, probably possessed of less wisdom—professional associations, trades unions, and similar organizations—are meeting with a certain eagerness and enthusiasm which, in the circumstances, must be rather bewildering to our placid Council.