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Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay
Known 'Bugs' In Cultural Historical Activity Theory, John G. Findlay
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
When Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) was first propounded by the Vygotskian school of Russian psychologists in the 1920s it offered a robust explanation of how human development is mediated by cultural as well as biological influences. Along the way, CHAT has acquired some "bugs" or usability difficulties by remaining isolated from other theories that have a common heritage. This paper explores how the theory may have evolved if Vygotsky was alive today. Revisions to CHAT are proposed that borrow from complexity theory, innovation theory, group dynamics and Flow theory to explain the evolution of minds, tools and cultures as a …
Government Business Process Analysis With Activity Theory, Peter A. J Larkin
Government Business Process Analysis With Activity Theory, Peter A. J Larkin
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
Activity Theory tells us that a motivated person or group performs an activity directed at an object in order to transform the object into desired outcomes to fulfil a need. It also tells us that instruments and the community mediate human activity. The New South Wales state parliament in Australia performs the activity of creating Acts and those Acts prescribe within them the objects of the Act and the desired outcomes. To achieve the desired outcomes, the Act will establish or constitute the necessary instruments. This paper describes an application of Yrjo Engestrom's Activity Theory model, or structure of human …
Activity As A Unit Of Analysis For Knowledge Management Frameworks, Leoni Warne, Irena Ali, Helen Hasan
Activity As A Unit Of Analysis For Knowledge Management Frameworks, Leoni Warne, Irena Ali, Helen Hasan
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
The authors of this paper take the view that knowledge management is a set of practices for systematically adding value to the knowlege of individuals, which is generated and shaped through interaction with others. It is therefore appropriate that knowledge management research be conducted in the context of particular organisations, focusing on local activities. To that end two of the authors have conducted a four-year research program investigating the factors in organizations that enhance and enable the assimilation, generation, sharing and building of knowledge that transfonns an organization into a learning organization. Human activities in organisational contexts have been analysed …
Endogenous Redox Activity In Mouse Spermatozoa And Its Role In Regulating The Tyrosine Phosphorylation Events Associated With Sperm Capacitation, Heath W. Ecroyd, Russell C. Jones, Robert J. Aitken
Endogenous Redox Activity In Mouse Spermatozoa And Its Role In Regulating The Tyrosine Phosphorylation Events Associated With Sperm Capacitation, Heath W. Ecroyd, Russell C. Jones, Robert J. Aitken
Faculty of Science - Papers (Archive)
We investigated the role of endogenous redox activity in regulating the signal transduction pathway leading to tyrosine phosphorylation in mouse spermatozoa. Endogenous redox activity was monitored using a luminol-peroxidase chemiluminescent probe. Chemiluminescence increased in spermatozoa that were actively undergoing cAMP-mediated tyrosine phosphorylation events associated with capacitation and was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by addition of catalase or diphenylene iodonium, both of which also inhibited tyrosine phosphorylation within the cell at points downstream of cAMP. Excluding bicarbonate from the incubation medium reduced the redox activity of sperm by 80-90% and dramatically reduced tyrosine phosphorylation. This study provides the first evidence …
Website Usability In Context: An Activity Theory Based Usability Testing Method, Lejla Vrazalic
Website Usability In Context: An Activity Theory Based Usability Testing Method, Lejla Vrazalic
Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)
Traditional laboratory based usability testing methodologies are plagued with shortcomings which affect the results of the testing process and their validity. The results of a preliminary study of this type of usability testing with 34 users indicate two categories of key shortcomings. A new summative website usability testing methodology based on the notion of distributed usability and Activity Theory is presented as a means of overcoming these problems. This paper describes the theoretical foundations and development of the methodology which is currently being evaluated and refined.