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This study aims to investigate patterns of information use among undergraduate engineers as they progress through their academic programs. The primary objective was to discern how second and fourth-year students differ in their use of different types of information while performing specific tasks, namely, conducting labs, composing reports and undertaking projects.

The research used an online questionnaire to collect data, focusing on the comparative analysis of second and fourth-year engineering students’ information use. The analytical framework comprised a chi-square test, residual analysis and exploratory data analysis, for evaluating statistical significance and identifying trends over time.

The results demonstrated a statistically significant difference in information use between second and fourth year undergraduates. Notably, fourth year students exhibited a preference for disciplinary genres, such as journal articles, patents and technical reports. This coincided with a decline in fourth year students’ use of educational genres, including textbooks and instructors’ handouts, notes and slides. These shifts in information use were observed consistently across all three tasks.

The uniqueness of the study resides in its innovative approach to exploring information use by investigating the relationship between genres and tasks over the course of students’ academic programs. The research introduces a novel approach for visualizing changes in information use. By describing the evolving preferences of undergraduate students from novice to emerging professional, this study contributes valuable insights into the nuanced ways in which information is used throughout the levels of engineering education.

Several studies have examined the impact of market fundamentals on house prices. However, the effect of economic sectors on housing prices is limited despite the existence of two-speed economies in some countries, such as South Africa. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of mining activities on house prices. This intends to understand the direction of house price spreads and their duration so policymakers can provide remediation to the housing market disturbance swiftly.

This study investigated the effect of mining activities on house prices in South Africa, using quarterly data from 2000Q1 to 2019Q1 and deploying an auto-regressive distributed lag model.

In the short run, we found that changes in mining activities, as measured by the contribution of this sector to gross domestic product, impact the housing price of mining towns directly after the first quarter and after the second quarter in the non-mining cities. Second, we found that inflationary pressure is instantaneous and impacts house prices in mining towns only in the short run but not in the long run, while increasing housing supply will help cushion house prices in both submarkets. This study extended the analysis by examining a possible spillover in house prices between mining and non-mining towns. This study found evidence of spillover in housing prices from mining towns to non-mining towns without any reciprocity. In the long run, a mortgage lending rate and housing supply are significant, while all the explanatory variables in the non-mining towns are insignificant.

These results reveal that enhanced mining activities will increase housing prices in mining towns after the first quarter, which is expected to spill over to non-mining towns in the next quarter. These findings will inform housing policymakers about stabilising the housing market in mining and non-mining towns. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to measure the contribution of mining to house price spillover.

The purpose of this quantitative research was to determine if there are differences in scores on the Connor- Davidson Resilience Scale among undergraduate students involved in honors leadership programs at a four- year university. The study was an analysis of students’ reported resilience scores in relation to the number of leadership activities in which they participated to examine the potential impact of leadership practices on resilience levels of the students. Results of the dependent variables were the total resilience score, and the five factors of resilience: persistence and tenacity; emotional and cognitive control; adaptability and ability to bounce back; control; and spiritual influences. Independent variables were the number of leadership programs completed, age, gender, and class status. The level of significance used for the statistical test was .05. There was no significant difference in the total resilience scores among the three activity groups. However, a majority of students scored well above the national average score, and male students scored slightly higher than females. Additionally, females scored higher than the national average.

Healthcare systems are under pressure to improve their performance, while at the same time facing severe resource constraints, particularly workforce shortages. By applying resource-dependency-theory (RDT), we explore how healthcare organizations in different settings perceive pressure arising from uncertain access to resources and examine organizational strategies they deploy to secure resources.

A cross-sectional survey of key decision-makers in different healthcare settings in the metropolitan area of Cologne, Germany, on perceptions of pressure arising from the environment and respective strategies was conducted. For comparisons between settings radar charts, Kruskal–Wallis test and Fisher–Yates test were applied. Additionally, correlation analyses were conducted.

A sample of n = 237(13%) key informants participated and reported high pressure caused by bureaucracy, time constraints and recruiting qualified staff. Hospitals, inpatient and outpatient nursing care organizations felt most pressurized. As suggested by RDT, organizations in highly pressurized settings deployed the most vociferous strategies to secure resources, particularly in relation to personnel development.

This study is one of the few studies that focuses on the environment's impact on healthcare organizations across a variety of settings. RDT is a helpful theoretical foundation for understanding the environment's impact on organizational strategies. The substantial variations found between healthcare settings indicate that those settings potentially require specific strategies when seeking to address scarce resources and high demands. The results draw attention to the high level of pressure on healthcare organizations which presumably is passed down to managers, healthcare professionals, patients and relatives.