- About
-
The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers
to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is
provided by the
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
Search results
Showing 211 to 220 of 221 (0.011 seconds)| 211 |
Discourse Itineraries in an EAP Classroom: A Collaborative Critical Literacy PraxisChun, Christian Wai 28 February 2011 (has links)
This classroom ethnography documents the developing critical literacy pedagogy of an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) instructor over the course of several terms. My research, which involved extensive collaboration with the EAP instructor, explores how specific classroom practices and discourses are enacted and mediated through dialogic intertextualities, material objects, and social actions that frame representations about language, literacy, and what Lefebvre (1988) called “le quotidien” – the everyday, and how these affect the students’ meaning-making potential in specific ways. It also traces the contours (and detours) of the instructor’s classroom practices after the researcher’s mediation in the form of collaborative inquiries on functional grammar and critical literacy, and the effects of these classroom practices on making meaning in her EAP classes.
I consider several issues from an integrated theory and practice perspective. Because of an urgent need to understand the students’ practices and epistemologies as they engage in ever newer forms of multimodal text productions, I contend that EAP classroom practices must be reshaped to facilitate more (inter)active engagements of the multimodal texts that saturate students’ lives, both inside the class and outside. Related to this, I highlight in my classroom data what actually counts as the ‘critical’ or the ‘uncritical’ in this EAP classroom and argue why these distinctions matter. Lastly, I suggest ways in which the role of a critical multiliteracies education in EAP can meet the pragmatic needs of both students and teachers. My research contributes to a much-needed dialogue between critically oriented researchers and practitioners in the field of TESOL/Applied Linguistics by bridging the gap between theory and practice. The lessons learned from this collaborative classroom praxis point to concrete ways to help EAP teachers and students utilize their meaning-making potential. This involves equipping them with an expanded social semiotic tool-kit that can enable them to not only meet their immediate academic needs, but also help create a more active and possibly transformative role in the social constructions of discourse, language, and society. This doctoral dissertation has implications for those who are involved in EAP teaching and research, curriculum planning, teacher training, and student needs assessment.
|
| 212 |
Coding For Multi-Antenna Wireless Systems And Wireless Relay NetworksKiran, T 11 1900 (has links)
Communication over a wireless channel is a challenging task because of the inherent fading effects. Any wireless communication system employs some form of diversity improving techniques in order to improve the reliability of the channel. This thesis deals with efficient code design for two different spatial diversity techniques, viz, diversity by employing multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or the receiver, and diversity through cooperative commu-
nication between users. In other words, this thesis deals with efficient code design for (1) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, and (2) wireless relay channels. Codes for the MIMO channel are termed space-time (ST) codes and those for the relay channels are called distributed ST codes.
The first part of the thesis focuses on ST code construction for MIMO fading channel with perfect channel state information (CSI) at the receiver, and no CSI at the transmitter. As a measure of performance we use the rate-diversity tradeoff and the Diversity-Multiplexing Gain (D-MG) Tradeoff,
which are two different tradeoffs characterizing the tradeoff between the rate
and the reliability achievable by any ST code. We provide two types of code
constructions that are optimal with respect to the rate-diversity tradeoff; one is based on the rank-distance codes which are traditionally applied as codes for storage devices, and the second construction is based on a matrix representation of a cayley algebra. The second contribution in ST code constructions is related to codes with
a certain nonvanishing determinant (NVD) property. Motivation for these constructions is a recent result on the necessary and sufficient conditions for an ST code to achieve the D-MG tradeoff. Explicit code constructions satisfying these conditions are provided for certain number of transmit antennas.
The second part of the thesis focuses on distributed ST code construction for wireless relay channel. The transmission protocol follows a two-hop model wherein the source broadcasts a vector in the first hop and in the second hop the relays transmit a vector that is a transformation of the received vector by a relay-specific unitary transformation. While the source and relays do not have CSI, at the destination we assume two different scenarios (a) destina-
tion with complete CSI (b) destination with only the relay-destination CSI. For both these scenarios, we derive a Chernoff bound on the pair-wise error probability and propose code design criteria. For the first case, we provide explicit construction of distributed ST codes with lower decoding complexity compared to codes based on some earlier system models. For the latter case,
we propose a novel differential encoding and differential decoding technique and also provide explicit code constructions.
At the heart of all these constructions is the cyclic division algebra (CDA) and its matrix representations. We translate the problem of code construction in each of the above scenarios to the problem of constructing CDAs satisfying certain properties. Explicit examples are provided to illustrate each of these constructions.
|
| 213 |
The Russian religious-governmental relation through media representation : A critical discourse analysisMartínez, Kerstin Cielito Nathalie January 2014 (has links)
The thesis is a contribution to the analysis of media representation through the use of critical discourse analysis of twelve English written articles by Russian and international media sources. The articles were chosen in relation to the unauthorised Pussy Riot protest in the Cathedral in Moscow back in February 2012, and the societal changes that have taken place thereafter. The analysed articles have been written and published between February 2012 and January 2014. The aim with the study is to see how media sources from different geographical backgrounds described the same events and news.
|
| 214 |
Berättelsen om polisen : En kritisk diskursanalys av svenska polisens rekryteringskampanj ”En större uppgift” / The story of the police : A critical discourse analysis of the Swedish police’s recruitment campaign “A major task”Parment Schwarz, Maya January 2021 (has links)
I denna kritiska studie ämnar jag undersöka hur den svenska polisen konstruerar bilden av sig själv diskursivt i rekryteringskampanjen ”En större uppgift”. Sex texter publicerade på en av polisens officiella Facebooksidor har fått stå som studieobjekt och de är framtagna genom strategisk storytelling där en enskild polisanställd beskriver något eller några betydelsefulla skeenden ur sitt yrkesliv som polis. För att besvara hur polisen konstruerar bilden av sig själv har jag genom en transitivitetsanalys och en tematisering undersökt hur de centrala sociala aktörerna konstrueras, på vilka sätt identiteter och identifikationserbjudanden kommer till uttryck samt på vilka sätt värden realiseras i och genom texterna. Studiens resultat visar att polisen konstrueras med språkliga resurser som återses i registret för strategisk storytelling, sprunget ur en marknadsdiskurs och de politiska direktiv som präglar polismyndigheten. Berättaren som organisationsrepresentant för polisen är den centrala sociala aktör som texterna handlar om och vars perspektiv läsaren får ta del av. Berättaren konstrueras som en handlingskraftig, flexibel och strategisk person som även är empatisk med ett respektfullt bemötande gentemot sin omgivning. Hen värdesätter mångfald och jämställdhet. Polisorganisationen görs inte så explicit eller synlig i materialet, utan förekommer i låg frekvens och konstrueras snarast som något berättaren tycker eller tänker om. Ändå framkommer det i analysen att polisen som organisation står för organisatoriska värden såsom karriärmöjligheter, god arbetsmiljö och gemenskap. Kort sagt visar analysen att polisen som organisation representeras genom berättaren och måste förstås genom denna, då de språkliga konstruktionerna annars i stor utsträckning döljer organisationen, dess identitet och värden. Vidare visar analysen att värden även realiseras genom exempelvis berättelsernas poäng och värderande språkhandlingar. Allmänheten, brottsoffer och gärningsmän utgör också centrala sociala aktörer i materialet, men realiseras i förhållandevis låg utsträckning jämfört med polisen. De ges snarast en funktion som hjälpmedel för att förmedla de värden och identifikationserbjudanden som polisen står för.
|
| 215 |
Covid-19 & Swedish exceptionalism : A critical qualitative content analysis on the international print media discourses of Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy / Covid-19 & Svensk exceptionalism : En kritisk kvalitativ innehållsanalys av den internationella tryckmedia diskursen om Sveriges Covid-19-strategiKippersluis, Rianne January 2022 (has links)
In 2020, the year the Covid-19 pandemic struck, the Swedish Covid-19 response differed radically from the general policy of total lockdown and strict enforcement of Covid-measures and regulations recommended by the WHO. Instead, Sweden strove early on to achieve herd immunity, with no mandatory measures to limit numbers in shopping malls, buses, and other public events, nor mask requirements. Hence, during the height of the pandemic, Swedish Covid-19 policy was a highly debated issue in the international media, within academia and the World Health Organization. The aim of this study is to examine the international media discourse on the Swedish Covid-19 strategy in the international print media. The focus has been on newspapers from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The research has been done by investigating how Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy is discursively constructed, through major themes and sub-themes that have emerged. Additionally, the differences in discourse between Dutch, English and American media have been explored. As well as the use of language, ideologies, and linguistic devices within the international discourse have been investigated. A total of 178 articles, published between the period of 1 January 2020 until 6 February 2022, have been collected and analyzed. This study uses Qualitative Content Analysis (QCA) as main method and has been inspired by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). A coding frame has inductively been created, by having used a sample of 20 newspaper articles in a pilot study. The software of NVivo has been used for the coding process. The major themes that emerged from my analyses of media discourses are: Anders Tegnell, Strategy, Trust and Image of Sweden and Swedes. My study found that media discourses on the Swedish Covid-19 policy are not positive. Rather these tend to be negative or at best neutral. Images of Sweden tend to vary in tandem with increase or decreases of Covid-19 infections and/or deaths. As the Swedish strategy became more or less aligned with the ‘norm’ of the WHO, the coverage of Sweden in media declined and lost its newsworthiness.
|
| 216 |
Discourses of multicultural teams : implications for policy practice in open and distance learningNyoni, Jabulani 12 December 2012 (has links)
Although a number of researchers have attempted to identify measures to account for the core elements of effective intercultural/multicultural teams of community of practice (CoP) in open and distance learning (ODL) formal institutions, there is no consensus on those measures. Previous studies also suggest important differences in teamwork across cultures but they do not adequately address the complexity of issues affecting culturally diverse teams and do not identify the specific factors that contribute to these differences (Earley & Gibson 2002). The purpose of the study was to collect views and experiences of multicultural lecturers from the six Unisa colleges and the Directorate for Curriculum and Learning Development (DCLD) personnel on the operationalization of Unisa Framework for the implementation of a team approach to curriculum and learning development. Soon after South Africa’s independence in 1994, Unisa had to respond to a new paradigm shift by re-aligning their curricula to meet the new national and global economic demands and social justice. The process relates to major revisions of programmes and modules, as well as new programmes and modules.
The study adopts a qualitative research approach and uses Van Dijk (2009) critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodology and data analysis strategy. Sociocognitive Approach (SCA) theory as espoused by Van Dijk (2009) is underpinned by a narrative research design. A purposive sampling method was employed to collect data and critically analysed views and experiences of interracial/multicultural academic lecturers, a Director and DCLD education consultants engaged in collective partnerships in the craft of ODL curriculum and learning development at Unisa in South Africa. I used the Unisa Framework for a team approach to curriculum and learning development at Unisa as a model. Previous discourse studies in this area suggest that differences in communication practices may be attributed to power differentials or language competence. In particular it surfaces key tensions within subject expertise autonomy, such as those between commitments to reform and efficiency that may have a significant impact on the outcomes of subsequent policy compliance. In my analysis of the research participants’ discourses, it emerged that a culture of dichotomy; “us and them” inhibits the operationalization of the Unisa Framework for the implementation of team approach to curriculum and learning development which may be attributed to the failure to manage multicultural identity issues. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)
|
| 217 |
Spatially Correlated Data Accuracy Estimation Models in Wireless Sensor NetworksKarjee, Jyotirmoy January 2013 (has links) (PDF)
One of the major applications of wireless sensor networks is to sense accurate and reliable data from the physical environment with or without a priori knowledge of data statistics. To extract accurate data from the physical environment, we investigate spatial data correlation among sensor nodes to develop data accuracy models. We propose three data accuracy models namely Estimated Data Accuracy (EDA) model, Cluster based Data Accuracy (CDA) model and Distributed Cluster based Data Accuracy (DCDA) model with a priori knowledge of data statistics.
Due to the deployment of high density of sensor nodes, observed data are highly correlated among sensor nodes which form distributed clusters in space. We describe two clustering algorithms called Deterministic Distributed Clustering (DDC) algorithm and Spatial Data Correlation based Distributed Clustering (SDCDC) algorithm implemented under CDA model and DCDA model respectively. Moreover, due to data correlation in the network, it has redundancy in data collected by sensor nodes. Hence, it is not necessary for all sensor nodes to transmit their highly correlated data to the central node (sink node or cluster head node). Even an optimal set of sensor nodes are capable of measuring accurate data and transmitting the accurate, precise data to the central node. This reduces data redundancy, energy consumption and data transmission cost to increase the lifetime of sensor networks.
Finally, we propose a fourth accuracy model called Adaptive Data Accuracy (ADA) model that doesn't require any a priori knowledge of data statistics. ADA model can sense continuous data stream at regular time intervals to estimate accurate data from the environment and select an optimal set of sensor nodes for data transmission to the network. Data transmission can be further reduced for these optimal sensor nodes by transmitting a subset of sensor data using a methodology called Spatio-Temporal Data Prediction (STDP) model under data reduction strategies. Furthermore, we implement data accuracy model when the network is under a threat of malicious attack.
|
| 218 |
Discourses of multicultural teams : implications for policy practice in open and distance learningNyoni, Jabulani 12 December 2012 (has links)
Although a number of researchers have attempted to identify measures to account for the core elements of effective intercultural/multicultural teams of community of practice (CoP) in open and distance learning (ODL) formal institutions, there is no consensus on those measures. Previous studies also suggest important differences in teamwork across cultures but they do not adequately address the complexity of issues affecting culturally diverse teams and do not identify the specific factors that contribute to these differences (Earley & Gibson 2002). The purpose of the study was to collect views and experiences of multicultural lecturers from the six Unisa colleges and the Directorate for Curriculum and Learning Development (DCLD) personnel on the operationalization of Unisa Framework for the implementation of a team approach to curriculum and learning development. Soon after South Africa’s independence in 1994, Unisa had to respond to a new paradigm shift by re-aligning their curricula to meet the new national and global economic demands and social justice. The process relates to major revisions of programmes and modules, as well as new programmes and modules.
The study adopts a qualitative research approach and uses Van Dijk (2009) critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodology and data analysis strategy. Sociocognitive Approach (SCA) theory as espoused by Van Dijk (2009) is underpinned by a narrative research design. A purposive sampling method was employed to collect data and critically analysed views and experiences of interracial/multicultural academic lecturers, a Director and DCLD education consultants engaged in collective partnerships in the craft of ODL curriculum and learning development at Unisa in South Africa. I used the Unisa Framework for a team approach to curriculum and learning development at Unisa as a model. Previous discourse studies in this area suggest that differences in communication practices may be attributed to power differentials or language competence. In particular it surfaces key tensions within subject expertise autonomy, such as those between commitments to reform and efficiency that may have a significant impact on the outcomes of subsequent policy compliance. In my analysis of the research participants’ discourses, it emerged that a culture of dichotomy; “us and them” inhibits the operationalization of the Unisa Framework for the implementation of team approach to curriculum and learning development which may be attributed to the failure to manage multicultural identity issues. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)
|
| 219 |
Imagineered Imperial Tourism: Disney & US Empire in Hawai'iRachel E Bonini (8364543) 19 April 2022 (has links)
<p> </p>
<p>Many viewers—especially those from the continental United States—have praised Disney for such recent actions as casting Pacific Islanders in the animated feature film <em>Moana</em> (2016) and assembling a group of cultural advisors (named the Oceanic Story Trust) to guide the filmmakers’ creative decisions. However, my project contends that Disney continues to play a significant role in the maintenance of settler colonialism in Hawai‘i, despite these seemingly progressive attempts at challenging Hollywood’s whitewashing. In this project, I argue that Disney creates and replicates the structures of settler colonialism in Hawai‘i through a mechanism that I term <em>imagineered imperial tourism</em>. In my formulation, imagineered imperial tourism involves commodifying historical narratives of colonization to serve the Disney brand by “innocently” repackaging them for the purpose of settler tourist consumption. To signal a Disney-specific branding and reproduction of settler colonial tropes and ideologies, I use the term “imagineered”—a play on Disney’s trademarked term <em>Imagineering</em>, which names the work of the creative team tasked with engineering the company’s most innovative devices, built environments, and technologies.</p>
<p>Through a sustained study of Disney’s relevant productions—from the feature films <em>Lilo & Stitch</em> (2002) and <em>Moana</em> to its built environments at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL, and Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawai‘i—I suggest that over time, Disney has normalized a version of Native Hawaiian people and history in US popular culture that reproduces common settler colonial discourses which have structured popular perceptions of Hawai‘i. The company’s almost century-long history of media production has cemented these discourses into a set of public pedagogies that have been reproduced across generations. Disney’s Pacific Island-themed productions and attractions are rife with tropes of native primitivism and imperialist nostalgia. They also reveal the primacy of the discursive framework of hegemonic multiculturalism vis-à-vis the commodified “spirit of aloha,” a sentiment which is superficially rooted in Native Hawaiian epistemologies and branded as a key selling point by the tourism industry. Furthermore, Disney has actively colonized Hawaiian lands since 2007, capitalizing on the Islands’ exploitative tourist industry while also obscuring longstanding battles over land ownership and denying Native Hawaiians sovereignty over their stolen lands. Ultimately, I suggest that Disney’s ostensibly “innocent” repackaging contributes to the violent erasure of Native Hawaiian history in popular culture. </p>
|
| 220 |
...And Reconcile Us With Evil : A Critical Investigation of the Imagery of Good and Evil in Western Religion, Film and PoliticsGellrich, Arne L January 2016 (has links)
With an eye on the current social and political situation in Europe, and with regards to the so-termed refugee crisis, this study aims to map the discourse on assumed good and evil shared among Western cultures, as represented by Sweden, Germany and the United States. The thesis takes its point of departure from essayistic reflections of the philosophical tradition and theological and religious analytical positions respectively. These are then followed by two investigative main chapters, designed along the lines of Norman Fairclough’s approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA). The first of these chapters studies the narratives of good and evil employed in the mainstream cinema of the past ten years in the mentioned countries. The second analysis is made up of three case studies, in turn looking at similar narratives in the campaigns of the two main competitors in the 2016 presidential race, a German protest movement against free trade agreements, and the everyday political communication of Swedish Facebook users. In a final chapter, findings from all four preceding chapters are brought together in an attempt to sketch an image of the congruences and discrepancies of narratives on good and evil in the overall discursive field. The thesis finds that the discursive field shared by the three investigated societies is largely homogenous, with certain imagery permeating all analysed orders of discourse. Many of the reoccurring images are however likely rooted in the human psyche and therefore less dependent on discourse practice. Furthermore, certain principles are agreed upon in theory while not reproduced in social practice. Themes assigned to either good or evil often seem to take on secondary functions next to assumed fixed identities of in- and out-groups. Being a qualitative study, this thesis aims at giving an overview and delivering a base for further investigations rather than providing definitive answers.
|
Page generated in 0.0253 seconds