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People are increasingly exposed to conflicting health information and must navigate this information to make numerous decisions, such as which foods to consume, a process many find difficult. Although some consumers attribute these disagreements to aspects related to uncertainty and complexity of research, many use a narrower set of credibility-based explanations. Experts’ views on disagreements are underinvestigated and lack explicit identification and classification of the differences in causes for disagreement. Consequently, there is a gap in existing literature to understand the range of reasons for these contradictions. Combining the findings from a literature study and expert interviews, a taxonomy of disagreements was developed. It identifies 10 types of disagreement classified under three dimensions: informant-, information- and uncertainty-related causes for disagreement. The taxonomy may assist with adoption of more effective strategies to deal with conflicting information and contributes to research and practice of science communication in the context of disagreement.

This article discusses findings from a recent survey ( n = 297) of teachers’ views of both their own and their students’ experiences during the 2021 enforced emergency remote schooling period occurring in New South Wales Australia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative analysis reported here explores teachers’ views regarding teaching and learning during this challenging period. It identifies three latent constructs, learning, assessment, and interaction, and then uses structural equation modelling to identify the perceived impact of these constructs on student and teacher wellbeing. The remote schooling period had a significant negative impact for teachers and their students across a range of elements of teaching and learning, as well as wellbeing. Student learning experiences and their peer interactions were found to be strong predictors of students’ wellbeing outcomes. Assessment design and teachers’ feedback to students were significant in predicting levels of teacher wellbeing. Future research directions are also provided.

Background Mobile learning studies often focus on teachers' perspectives. This study instead considers students' experiences of learning with mobile devices (i.e., m-learning) in secondary school mathematics and science. Objectives The research aims to describe the m-learning experiences of secondary mathematics and science students, and to determine the extent to which distinctive pedagogical dimensions impact students' perceived learning. Methods A survey instrument using the iPAC mobile pedagogical framework as a theoretical lens is developed and validated. This framework highlights three pedagogical dimensions: personalization, authenticity, and collaboration. Structural equation modelling is used to investigate how each dimension predicts students' perceived improvement in learning, whilst accounting for usage context, among a sample of students in schools where mobile devices are used extensively. Results and Conclusions Students were in agreement that personalization was a characteristic of their m-learning experiences, but authentic and collaborative learning were not as strongly featured. M-learning activities fostering personalization were most important for improving perceived learning; authenticity and collaboration were also significant, but no differences in perceived learning improvement due to location were found. Authentic m-learning and perceived improvement in learning with mobile devices were significantly higher in science than mathematics subjects. Implications When teachers design m-learning tasks that enhance personalization, collaboration, and authenticity, students are predicted to perceive improvements in their learning. The findings suggest that teachers should consider designing technology-enhanced tasks that improve students' experiences of collaborative and authentic learning, particularly in mathematics for greatest gains in students' perceived improvement in learning.

This study examined the preferences for professional development (PD) in primary (elementary) science among pre-service teachers (PSTs) and in-service teachers (ISTs). The contribution of the study is its focus on quantifying the relative importance of factors that were significant for teachers by using best–worst scaling methodology. Rather than considering potential factors in isolation, teachers traded off among content areas of PD, thereby revealing which aspects they most preferred. A comparison of PSTs and ISTs indicated that both sought greater guidance on adapting their science teaching for multi-age classes and on strategies to engage students in activity-based science. Relative to the PSTs, the ISTs reported less need for PD opportunities that emphasized collaboration and networks, and science pedagogy and content. Both groups indicated that they would most benefit from PD that focused on building their knowledge and strategies for teaching guided inquiry and investigation- and activity-based science. The findings offer critical insights into the broader improvement of PD of teachers in the context of science education.

Many countries, states, and territories have set short and long term targets to increase the share of renewable sources for electricity generation as part of their respective energy policies. Increased reliance on renewables can occur from several sources (e.g., biomass, solar, hydro, wind). Similarly, when increasing renewables, a decreased reliance on one or more non-renewable (e.g., coal, gas, oil, nuclear) sources must occur. However, each region is different with respect to its present profile and capabilities to generate electricity. Complicating this is that demand can differ across individuals, states and territories. By using a discrete choice experiment and latent class hybrid choice model (LCHCM), we estimate individual willingness to pay (WTP) values among four renewable and four non-renewable energy sources for residents across Australia’s states and territories. The model identifies two latent segments in relation to WTP, which can be described using differences in pro-environmental attitudes and socio-demographics. The findings reveal that preferences in terms of energy mix composition for electricity generation are heterogeneous across Australia states and individuals. WTP is found to be higher for biomass, whilst those who are younger, males and those holding pro-environmental attitudes are also supportive of hydro and solar over gas and nuclear sources.

The development of COVID-19 vaccines is occurring at unprecedented speeds, but require high coverage rates to be successful. This research examines individuals' psychological beliefs that may act as enablers and barriers to vaccination intentions. Using the health beliefs model as a guide to our conceptual framework, we explore factors influencing vaccine hesitancy and health beliefs regarding risks and severity of the disease, along with individual variables such as income, age, religion, altruism, and collectivism. A questionnaire using newly created measures for various antecedents provided 4303 usable responses from Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, and the United States. A factor analytic and structural equation model indicates that trust in vaccine approval, the perceived effectiveness of the vaccine for protecting others, and conspiracy beliefs are the most significant drivers of intentions to vaccinate. Older people, those seeking employment, and those who have received a recent influenza vaccine are more likely to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The findings have implications for improving communication strategies targeting individuals about the merits of vaccination, particularly focusing on younger individuals and expanded message framing to include altruistic considerations, and to improve government transparency regarding the effectiveness and side effects of vaccines.

Generic medicines have been available to consumers for ∼40 years, with varying degrees of uptake in different countries. Despite offering equivalent therapeutic qualities, generic medicines still struggle to be accepted by consumers. This study examines the role of a consumer’s affective state and framing effects on the purchase of a branded versus a generic pharmaceutical product. These issues are examined in an experiment, with independent manipulations of consumer anxiety levels and the framing of generic alternatives by the pharmacist. The sample comprised 426 men and women within Australia who completed an online survey with a scenario of purchasing a pharmaceutical after visiting a General Practitioner. Results indicate that those consumers experiencing higher levels of anxiety and where the doctor prescribed the branded medicine are more likely to choose branded medicines over cheaper, generic alternatives. The effect of framing the generic alternative as either ‘generic’ or ‘cheaper’ was not significant.

The development of policies promoting smart meter adoption is essential to guide the transition towards sustainable use of resources such as water, electricity and gas, as well as inform smart-city initiatives. This article explores household preferences in terms of different smart meters and identifies the amounts that households are willing to pay for different smart meter configurations to monitor electricity, water and gas based on the features of their home including dwelling type, size and property value. To this aim, we employ a mixed multinomial logit model that accounts for the heterogeneity in customers’ preferences for different smart meters. As a proof of concept, the proposed model is applied to a survey incorporating a discrete choice experiment carried out with 232 respondents in the Florianopolis metropolitan region, located in the south of Brazil. Our approach offers a number of advantages to facilitate the broader implementation of smart grid systems that would otherwise be overlooked using traditional approaches that rely on aggregated estimates for demand and willingness to pay for proposed schemes.

Previous research has demonstrated that consumers evaluate products according to their perceived benefits when making a choice. This article extends prior work by proposing a method that evaluates the degree to which multiple a priori defined benefits mediate product choices. The model is the first to consider process heterogeneity—that is, heterogeneity in how consumers perceive multiple attributes to positively or negatively affect multiple benefits simultaneously and the contribution of each benefit to product utility. The authors propose discrete choice experiments to holistically measure the link between attributes and benefits, as well as between attributes and choice, resulting in data that can be analyzed with a generalized probit model. The approach contributes to mediation research by offering an alternative method of handling multiple multinomial mediators and dichotomous outcome variables. An empirical illustration of bread choices shows how consumer judgments about health and value perceptions of products mediate purchase decisions. The authors demonstrate how the method can help managers (1) confirm and test existing knowledge about latent benefits, including whether they explain all the variation in choice, and (2) consider process heterogeneity to inform market segmentation strategies.

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Chinese investment in Australian infrastructure assets can bring economic benefits for both countries. However, it can also create domestic political challenges. This is because Australian public support for foreign investment in infrastructure is limited. In order to better inform public policy and firm decision-making in both China and Australia, this paper undertakes a choice modelling analysis of original survey data to determine the drivers of local public preferences. The Australian public is found to be more concerned by the share of foreign ownership an investment will bring rather than the fact it is from China. Accounting for these preferences, such as through the recruitment of local partner companies, will facilitate Chinese investment in Australian infrastructure, and potentially, greater bilateral engagement on the Belt and Road Initiative. The Australian case might also offer wider lessons for Chinese investment in infrastructure assets abroad.

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (PWD) has been signed by over 160 nations to achieve greater social participation, with public and private transport clearly identified as an area to improve accessibility. Whilst the majority of scholarly work has focused on public transport needs, less research has examined the barriers or benefits of access to private modified vehicles for PWD. In this exploratory study, a Delphi technique with health experts, researchers, drivers and funding agencies developed an instrument to examine the barriers and benefits of access to private modified vehicles for PWD. An online survey was completed by 287 drivers and carers to report on barriers to private modified vehicles, whilst a sub-set of 190 drivers with access to a private modified vehicle reported on experientially derived benefits. A factor analytic approach identified how financial and informational barriers vary with respect to several characteristics including disability type and level of support needs. Factors relating to independence, social and recreational benefits are perceived as more valued experientially derived benefits relative to benefits relating to employability and ability to enjoy downtime. Benefits in the form of independence are greater among drivers and owners, those with an acquired condition, less complex mobility and everyday support needs, whilst little difference emerged in terms of the social and downtime benefits. The findings inform policy development and funding opportunities to provide insight and evidence into the barriers, but also benefits and variation in private transport needs among PWD.

© 2017, © 2017 Teacher Development. The twenty-first century has seen unprecedented investment from governments around the world in educational technologies in schools. This paper investigates Australian teachers’ adoption and use of a popular technology that has been extensively supported by governments and school systems: the interactive whiteboard (IWB). The study suggests that a number of the barriers identified in the early days of adoption and use of this technology, such as professional support and access, still remain for many teachers, thereby impeding effective practices. The research also found that primary school teachers were using the technology in diverse ways, in contrast to secondary teachers who were using the IWB mainly for instructionist, presentational purposes. We conclude by considering various ways of reducing the effect of the identified barriers to support implementation of educational technologies in the classroom, especially the next generation of technologies promoted by governments and systems.

© 2017 Front-of-pack attributes have the potential to affect parents’ food choices on behalf of their children and form one avenue through which strategies to address the obesogenic environment can be developed. Previous work has focused on the isolated effects of nutrition and health information (e.g. labeling systems, health claims), and how parents trade off this information against co-occurring marketing features (e.g. product imagery, cartoons) is unclear. A Discrete Choice Experiment was utilized to understand how front-of-pack nutrition, health and marketing attributes, as well as pricing, influenced parents’ choices of cereal for their child. Packages varied with respect to the two elements of the Australian Health Star Rating system (stars and nutrient facts panel), along with written claims, product visuals, additional visuals, and price. A total of 520 parents (53% male) with a child aged between five and eleven years were recruited via an online panel company and completed the survey. Product visuals, followed by star ratings, were found to be the most significant attributes in driving choice, while written claims and other visuals were the least significant. Use of the Health Star Rating (HSR) system and other features were related to the child's fussiness level and parents’ concerns about their child's weight with parents of fussy children, in particular, being less influenced by the HSR star information and price. The findings suggest that front-of-pack health labeling systems can affect choice when parents trade this information off against marketing attributes, yet some marketing attributes can be more influential, and not all parents utilize this information in the same way.

© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Student study of science at school has been linked to the need to provide a scientifically capable workforce and a scientifically literate society. Educators, scientists, and policymakers are concerned that too few students are choosing science for study in their final years of school. How and why students choose and reject certain subjects, including science, at this time is unclear. A Best–Worst Scaling (BWS) survey was completed by 333 Year 10 (age 14–17) students to investigate the relative importance of 21 factors thought to impact students’ subject-selection decisions. Students ranked enjoyment, interest and ability in a subject, and its perceived need in their future study or career plans as the most important factors in both choosing and rejecting subjects. They considered advice from teachers, parents or peers as relatively less important. These findings indicate that enhancing students’ enjoyment, interest, and perceptions of their ability in science, as well as increasing student perceptions of its value in a future career, may result in more students studying science at school.

© 2019, The Author(s). This paper develops and examines a scale to capture teachers’ views of the mobile pedagogies they are adopting. Mobile pedagogies refer to the practices and approaches teachers use that involve mobile technologies to support learning. A mobile technology is any portable, handheld technology that potentially supports learning and includes laptops, tablets and smartphones. This study develops a rigorous scale to capture mobile pedagogies adopted in mobile learning tasks designed by teachers. In particular, the scale focuses on measuring pedagogies related to the iPAC framework which comprises three overarching dimensions of m-learning: personalisation, authenticity and collaboration (PAC). Each dimension has a pair of sub-components associated with it (for personalisation: agency and customisation; for authenticity: context and task; for collaboration: conversation and co-creation). The reliability and validity of a 20-item scale is assessed. A measure of overall m-learning experiences was also established and found to be significantly predicted by m-learning pedagogy. We also report on differences between teachers in m-learning practice with respect to subject area and year of schooling.

© 2019, Association for Educational Communications & Technology. This article discusses the results of a survey that measured school teachers’ and mobile learning (m-learning) experts’ perceptions of the relative importance and effectiveness of various pedagogical principles underpinning m-learning designs. A scan of relevant literature produced a set of articles describing effective innovative m-learning. Principles underpinning the learning activities in these articles were identified. These principles were then provided to respondents so that they could identify the most important ones relative to the others for designing effective and innovative m-learning tasks. A rigorous Best/Worst Scaling (BWS) survey was used to collect these data. This is the first time that a BWS has been conducted with regard to mobile pedagogical principles. Findings showed that principles related to authenticity were rated most important relative to other principles by the m-learning experts and principles related to personalisation and customisation were rated most important by practising teachers. Other principles that have been used in innovative m-learning designs, such as gamification and intergenerational learning, were seen as least important by all respondents. The findings will inform design of professional development activities, in particular, those pertaining to an app being developed in an Erasmus + project, Developing and Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies (DEIMP).

© 2018, © 2018 Westburn Publishers Ltd. Previous work suggests that corporate reputation generates a ‘halo effect’ where products from companies with better reputations are more likely to be chosen. We argue that corporate reputation plays a more expansive role, proposing that consumers will be less price-sensitive to offerings endorsed by companies with good reputations and that it moderates the marginal utility of product features with high clarity. We also propose that an individual’s knowledge of a company increases the likelihood its products will be purchased. Using a choice model incorporating an individual SEM-based reputation measure, we find support for these hypothesised effects in the context of television choices. The results suggest that corporate reputation warrants more attention by marketing managers to increase preferences for their products through these mechanisms.

© 2017 Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education. This research examines how the pedagogical orientations of teachers affect technology adoption in the classroom. At the same time, the authors account for the stage of concern that teachers are experiencing regarding the use of the technology, their access to the technology and the level of schooling at which they teach.The authors’ investigation of these factors occurs in the context of a contemporary technology, the interactive whiteboard (IWB), in Australian schools. A structural equation model was estimated using a reflective measure of technology usage with antecedents in the form of pedagogical-oriented beliefs and best–worst scaling derived scores for a teacher’s stage of concern regarding IWBs. Teachers with constructivist-oriented pedagogical beliefs were significantly more likely to use IWBs than transmission-oriented teachers. However, the strongest determinant of usage was whether the technology is immediately accessible or not.

Using a discrete choice experimental approach and associated Scale-Adjusted Latent Class Model (SALCM), we quantify the relative value early career teachers (ECTs) place on various types of support in the form of affirmation, resources, collegial opportunities, mentoring, and professional development. ECTs with intentions to depart the profession, place greater relative value on the sharing of resources, cooperative teaching and planning, offsite discussions about classroom management and programming with mentors, and having a greater professional voice. In contrast, those with intentions to remain, place greater value on observation from and conversations about teaching with more experienced teachers at their school.

© 2017 International Professional Development Association (IPDA). The task of supporting beginning teachers has received considerable attention in recent years, and numerous initiatives have been implemented. In this article we investigate the experiences of early career teachers (ECTs) in New South Wales, Australia, at a time when their employing authority mandated the provision of mentors and a reduction in face-to-face teaching for ECTs. The article draws on ECTs’ responses to survey items asking about their experiences as an ECT. It emerged that many of the issues of the early years that have caused problems for ECTs remain intractable, or at least unresolved for some. The research indicates that despite support that has been mandated by some employers, we cannot be complacent about the transition of ECTs into the profession. There remains a need to address the elements of school environments that impact on ECTs’ experiences.

Purpose – This paper aims to quantify the relative importance of reasons used to explain consumers’ selection and rejection of ethical products, accounting for differences in ethical orientations across consumers. Design/methodology/approach – Reviewing previous literature and drawing on in-depth interviews, a taxonomy of reasons for and against ethical purchasing is developed. An online survey incorporating best–worst scaling (BWS) determines which reasons feature more in shaping ethical consumerism. Cluster analysis and multinomial regression are used to identify and profile segments. Findings – Positively orientated consumers (42 per cent of respondents) purchase ethical products more so because of reasons relating to impact, health, personal relevance, and quality. Negatively orientated consumers (34 per cent of respondents) reject ethical alternatives based on reasons relating to indifference, expense, confusion and scepticism. A third segment is ambivalent in their behaviour and reasoning; they perceive ethical purchasing to be effective and relevant, but are confused and sceptical under what conditions this can occur. Research limitations/implications – Preferences were elicited using an online survey rather than using real market data. Though the task instructions and methods used attempted to minimise social-desirability bias, the experiment might still be subject to its effects. Practical implications – Competitive positioning strategies can be better designed knowing which barriers to ethical purchasing are more relevant. The paper challenges the benefits in altruistic-based positioning and outlines shortcomings in communication about ethical products, including those relating to product labelling. Social implications – Through their purchase behaviours across a number of categories, ethical consumers aim to minimise the harm and exploitation of humans, animals and the natural environment. This research provides insights into the potential reasons why the uptake of ethical products is not being achieved and how it can be addressed to make improvements in making this movement more mainstream. Originality/value – This research examines an extensive list of reasons for and against ethical purchasing used by a general population of consumers. By forcing respondents to make trade-offs, this is the first study quantifying the relative importance of reasons utilised by consumers. It also highlights the value in using cluster analysis on best–worst scores to identify underlying segments.

This article reports on the pioneering use in education of Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) to assess teachers’ decisions regarding deployment of rich tasks. The incorporation of this quantitative method into what is usually considered the domain of qualitative researchers is an innovative feature of this study. The DCEs enabled rigorous, reliable, and efficient investigation of the relationships between attributes of the complex environment in which teachers operate. The findings articulate the choices made by teachers related to rich task pedagogy, technology use, and other resources. Understanding the influences on these choices will inform the adoption and adaptation of productive technologies, improve dissemination of good practices, and enhance the design of digital technologies, resulting in better student learning outcomes.

Models of category acceptance and diffusion, including Davis's technological acceptance model (TAM), have established that ease of use (EOU) is a significant determinant of technological product adoption. This supports user-centered design philosophies, where aspects of cognitive attractiveness (e.g., logical to use) and emotional attractiveness (e.g., lack of frustration in use) are essential, and contrasts traditional design practices where physical attractiveness dominates concern. These studies consider the impact of EOU on category (primary) demand. It is unclear whether firms should incorporate EOU into design and positioning strategies to differentiate their products from others in the same category that perform better on functional features. A random utility theory-based choice model is used to measure the relative value of EOU. In a new product category (DVD recorders; n?=?496) and one that is more established (cell phones; n?=?202), consumers were found to forgo functional features in preference for products better rated on EOU. With implications for segmentation, those seeking simplicity were older, female, educated, and with less product knowledge, while those already owning a complex phone made replacement decisions with less concern for EOU. The findings support EOU-based differentiation strategies as a legitimate alternative to other forms of differentiation.

Many countries report high attrition rates among beginning teachers. The literature cites many factors that influence a teacher's decision to remain in the profession. These include remuneration, workload, support, administration and parents. It is unclear, however, which factors matter most to teachers and, consequently, where best to direct limited resources. This study uses Best-worst Scaling (BWS) and complementary experimental design methods to quantify the relative importance of these factors. The results suggest that improving student engagement, experiencing professional challenges and enjoying collegial support are the most important factors influencing teacher decisions to stay in the profession. Beginning teachers nominate remuneration, recognition, and external factors (e.g., class size; location) as playing a lesser role in their decision to remain teachers. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

We present the discovery, photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations of SN 2010X (PTF 10bhp). This supernova decays exponentially with tau_d=5 days, and rivals the current recordholder in speed, SN 2002bj. SN 2010X peaks at M_r=-17mag and has mean velocities of 10,000 km/s. Our light curve modeling suggests a radioactivity powered event and an ejecta mass of 0.16 Msun. If powered by Nickel, we show that the Nickel mass must be very small (0.02 Msun) and that the supernova quickly becomes optically thin to gamma-rays. Our spectral modeling suggests that SN 2010X and SN 2002bj have similar chemical compositions and that one of Aluminum or Helium is present. If Aluminum is present, we speculate that this may be an accretion induced collapse of an O-Ne-Mg white dwarf. If Helium is present, all observables of SN 2010X are consistent with being a thermonuclear Helium shell detonation on a white dwarf, a ".Ia" explosion. With the 1-day dynamic-cadence experiment on the Palomar Transient Factory, we expect to annually discover a few such events., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures; Minor Changes; Note correction in Fig 4 caption; published by ApJL

The present paper utilizes a random utility theoretic experimental design to provide estimates of the relative value that selected consumers place on the social features of products. Experiments were conducted in Hong Kong and Australia using both university students and supporters of the human rights organization Amnesty International. The paper focuses on two classes of social features, "labor practices" and "animal rights and the environment". The results show that the social features of products can, on average, affect an individuals' likelihood of purchasing a product. Also, this paper finds distinctive segments of ethically orientated consumers. Crown Copyright © 2008.

This paper examines the impact of attribute presence/absence in choice experiments using covariance heterogeneity models and random coefficient models. Results show that attribute presence/absence impacts both mean utility (systematic components) and choice variability (random components). Biased mean effects can occur by not accounting for choice variability. Further, even if one accounts for choice variability, attribute effects can differ because of attribute presence/absence. Managers who use choice experiments to study product changes or new variants should be cautious about excluding potentially essential attributes. Although including more relevant attributes increases choice variability, it also reduces bias. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

We argue that consistent decision making in judging a patent's validity and basing this on its underlying technological quality are important elements of patent office service (“assessment”) quality. To understand which level of assessment quality patent offices (can) provide, particularly in new technological areas, we study the concordance of the European Patent Office's (EPO) granting and opposition decisions for individual patents. Using the biotechnology industry in the 1980s (an emerging patenting area then) as an example, we find no empirical evidence that the EPO provided maximal or optimal assessment quality as far as can be told from bibliographic indicators. We discuss research limitations and consequences of this first empirical analysis, and suggest ideas for refinements in future work.

This paper estimates a model of how the Australian public's preferences over foreign investment in agriculture are determined. The results show that the attributes of foreign investment of greatest concern to the public are not the same as those used by the foreign investment approvals regime to flag proposals for scrutiny.

The importance of ethical consumerism to many companies worldwide has increased dramatically in recent years. Ethical consumerism encompasses the importance of non-traditional and social components of a company's products and business process to strategic success – such as environmental protectionism, child labor practices and so on. The present paper utilizes a random utility theoretic experimental design to provide estimates of the relative value selected consumers place on the social features of products.

The provision and maintenance of quality teachers in the profession is a pressing issue. Concerns have been raised that teacher experience and knowledge may be lost to the profession through attrition and retirement (Ramsey, 2000; Ingersoll, 2001; Williams, 2002; McGaw, 2003; Lonsdale and Ingvarson, 2003; Skilbeck and Connell, 2003, 2004). Teacher attrition comes at a cost to individual teachers and to the community (Korthagen, 2004; Connell, 2007; Rinke, 2007; Buchanan, 2009; 2010; Schuck, Aubusson, Buchanan and Russell, 2012). Hence there is a need to investigate the experiences of early career teachers (ECTs) to consider how these experiences influence ECTs' decisions about staying in or leaving the profession. For teacher educators, knowing about ECTs' experiences provides insights that enable them to enhance teacher education programs and better prepare teachers for their first years of teaching. This paper reports on an aspect of a large-scale longitudinal study on early career teachers' decisions to remain in or leave the profession. The overarching research question was: Why do some early career teachers choose to remain in the profession and why do others choose to leave? This paper describes and analyses the experiences of teachers participating in the study and highlights implications for teacher retention.

This paper examines the role that social attributes-environmental and labour conditions-play in product choice across a range of developed and emerging economies. We use a multi-attribute design to force consumers to not only trade-off social attributes with tangible attributes but also make trade-offs with other intangible attributes, namely brand and country of origin. Our results show that: (1) social attributes are generally more influential in developed than in emerging economies, (2) the importance of social attributes holds across high and low involvement products, and (3) social attributes can influence product choice even when other intangible attributes are included in the design. We believe that our results offer a more accurate picture of the role of social attributes since they are based on a multi-cue, multi-product design that forced consumers to make tradeoffs between tangible and intangible attributes. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

© 2010 Cognizant Comm. Corp. Preferences of tourists and visitors are varied in a number of markets, making it difficult for managers to understand how underlying segments might respond to changes in service offerings. Market segments differ in preferences for specific features, as well as how consistently they make their choices. In this article, we illustrate recent developments in choice modeling that allows for simultaneously modeling feature preferences and consistency of choice. We use the Scale-Adjusted Latent Class Model (SALCM) to better understand choices in the context of a research project conducted in collaboration with six major Australian museums involving a sample of 3,685 museum visitors. We identify three preference classes of museum-goers that explain preferences for levels of 26 museum attributes: Life Force (two thirds of visitors), Educated Thinkers, and Wealthy At-Homes. Our results indicate sensitivity to general entry prices, including preference for free entry or entry "by donation." Tours are preferred if smaller, lengthier, and conducted by paid museum staff. Not unexpectedly, the findings suggest that museums should cater for children, with some classes responding positively to providing supervised child areas. Most visitors prefer museums that are dynamic, offer new experiences, and regularly update permanent displays. However, the three classes identified have different overall experience preferences; for example, Educated Thinkers see museums as an educational opportunity, but Wealthy At-Homes prefer entertaining experiences. Incentives for return visits and cross-museum promotional offers are valued by the Life Force class, but have little effect on Educated Thinkers. The SALCM approach may be attractive to other areas of tourism analysis, especially where offerings contain many attributes and potential market segments are difficult to define and understand.

Government and public services have to not only enforce the requirements of the regulatory policies, but also have to satisfy the needs of preferences of their clients and customers. In this paper, we summarize the results of a multi-year case study conducted to assess the choices of campground users at the Shawnee National Forest (Illinois), which is managed by United States Forest Service. The results show how users' tradeoff between location, capacity-related and pricing attributes when choosing a campground. The case study provides guidance for design and development of new services and more effective management of effective resources within the national forest. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Background Visual hallucinations in Parkinson disease (PD) occur in approximately one third of patients treated long-term with dopaminergic medications. In Alzheimer disease, hallucinations and psychosis have been linked to increased representations of B2/B2 homozyogotes for the dopamine receptor gene DRD1 and 1/1 or 2/2 homozygotes for DRD3 . In addition, a previous study of PD patients with and without hallucinations did not show differences in D2 and D3 polymorphisms, although careful case-control matching was not performed. Another study linked the apolipoprotein E4 ( APOE4 ) allele to hallucinations in PD. Objective To determine whether the frequency of dopamine receptor genetic variants and APOE alleles in patients with PD with and without chronic visual hallucinations resembles the pattern previously documented in patients with Alzheimer disease. Methods We conducted a case-control study of 44 patients with PD and chronic hallucinations and 44 patients with PD who had never hallucinated. Cases and controls were matched for current age and medications. DNA was isolated from blood samples and assayed for DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, and APOE polymorphisms. Receptor polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction. Genotypes in hallucinators and nonhallucinators were compared using Mantel-Haenszel tests stratified by pair, and allele frequencies were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank tests within pairs. Results Neither D1 receptor genotypes ( P = .37) nor allele frequencies ( P = .38) differed, and there was no predominance of B2/B2 homozygotes in the hallucinators. For D3, there was a higher frequency of allele 2 ( P = .047), but there was no significant difference between frequencies of homozygotes vs heterozygotes ( P = .39) as reported in Alzheimer disease. D4 receptor distribution of long and short alleles did not differ between the 2 patient groups, and there were too few C alleles (3 of 86) to compare D2 allele genotypes or frequencies. For APOE , 12 cases and 12 controls carried E4 alleles ( P >.99). Conclusions With careful case-control matching, visual hallucinations in PD are not associated with the pattern seen for patients with Alzheimer disease and visual hallucinations. Furthermore, there was no association between hallucinations and APOE . Similar methods using larger sample sizes might be adapted to test whether specific dopaminergic receptor genetic variants are associated with visual hallucinations in PD. Based on our data, the DRD3 allele 2 may merit further study.