Through the use of interview and observation data, collected over two years, this qualitative study describes the perceptions, attitudes, and experiences of two Cooperating Teachers (CTs) and their assigned Pre Service Teachers (PST; n = 12) who were mentored over the course of two Special Education practicum experiences and five CT professional development trainings. Special attention was focused on the ways that CTs and PSTs describe modeling and how CTs’ modeling seemed to affect the CT/PST relationship. Participant responses were analyzed using a qualitative narrative method and indicated that CT’s use of modeling served primarily as a socializing process in which PSTs learn the role of a professional teacher through their interactions with the CT. Also, different types of modeling (e.g., simple vs. cognitive) seemed to affect this socialization process. The outcomes of simple and cognitive modeling were highly varied and affected the CT/PST relationship development differently. Additional findings indicated that professional development that focused on cognitive modeling may be related to CTs’ mentoring role development and the way they implement mentoring processes. It is hoped that the findings in this study will help to initiate conversations between CTs and PSTs and teacher educators concerning the use of modeling and the potential effects modeling may have on the mentoring relationship.

The crime of cultural genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction or erasure of the cultural heritage, traditions, practices, and institutions of a group. It involves actions or policies aimed at undermining, suppressing, or eradicating the unique elements that define a culture, such as its language, customs, beliefs and way of life. In China, the Uyghurs minority in Xingang have been subjected to oppression due to their differences from the majority Han Chinese. Many academics have classified thistreatment of the Uyghurs as cultural genocide. The term "cultural genocide" has been discussed for years about its historical implication. In the current international legal framework, the concept of cultural genocide lacks any binding legal authority as genocide is primarily associated with physical and biological destruction. Consequently, this has led to inconsistency regarding the role of international law in addressing cultural genocide. Thus, this thesis will assess and examine the legal position of cultural genocide within international law. The examination of the legal components will be conducted through anormative legal analysis. The second objective will investigate the power structures thatshaped the recognition and prevention of cultural genocide within the international legal framework Alongside, a poststructuralism theory will be implemented to identify thesignificant emphasis on the authority of entities to decide what we count as valid knowledge and that this power is achieved through the manipulation of discourse.

The public sector, particularly healthcare organisations are under ever increasing pressure to do more with less. This coupled with the need to keep up to the constant technological changes and ever increasing abundance of information has led to many public sector organisations adopting Business Intelligence (BI) in order to leverage business value and improve decision-making. However, many organisations such as the National Health Service (NHS) continue to fail in their Information Technology (IT) related initiatives. While the rise of BI and its growing influence in organisations has attracted much academic attention, this has largely been from architectural, design and technological perspectives, whilst little is known about how BI is used by various organisational actors to reach decisions, nor much is understood regarding its resulting impact on organisational power dynamics. Thus, there remains an under researched area of discussion in the literature from the perspective of BI users. While studies report how BI can impact organisational effectiveness, facilitate data driven decision making and supposedly overcome intuitive decision making, the extent to which BI impacts and alters power dynamics between organisational actors across the organisation has received little attention. Accordingly, this research adopts a qualitative case study approach to explore power resulting from BI use within a large NHS trust by conducting 30 semi-structured interviews consisting of operational managers and BI analysts. Through taking a human-centric approach, this research uncovers how BI is altering power dynamics between organisational actors, whereby BI analysts are becoming increasingly influential as a result of their analytical skills. It was found that operational managers are becoming more reliant upon data analysts, resulting in the analysts having more and more influence. However, this research finds it is only when the analysts supplement their technical skill-set with their institutional knowledge, that they have the ability to influence and enact power within the organisational settings. The research also offers insights into the contestations and conflicts which arise from the use of BI, between operational managers and analysts as well as between in-house analysts, based in the operation setting and the centralised analysts, operating across the entire trust. Accordingly, this research empirically validates a BI Power Enactment Framework and proposes the BI Power Matrix, which may assist policy makers in identifying determining key factors which are contributory to the success or failure of technological initiatives.

This thesis uses discourse analysis to examine how female characters are portrayed in the Star Wars franchise. It compares the representation of women in three eras aiming to analyze the changes, in views on gender roles. The focus is on Princess Leia, Padme Amidala and Rey and how they reflect these changes. The study explores whether there has been an evolution in the representation of characters over the 40 years. It will delve into their agency, empowerment and identity looking at whether they challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes and how their interactions with characters impact their development and gender dynamics, within the series.

No / This case highlights the complexities involved in the management of a group of professionally qualified specialists housed in a business unit 200 miles away from the corporate headquarters. Providing a unique set of niche products and services this specialist group functioned as a semi-autonomous business unit. Without adequate regular supervision from Head Office (HQ), internal competition and rivalry resulted in conflict, acrimony and tension which unsettled the staff, caused staff illness and created a toxic working environment.

abstract: In a contemporary socioeconomic context that pushes universities toward a more neoliberal agenda, some are answering a call to reinvest in the public purpose of higher education. Their strategies increasingly integrate teaching, research, and service through university-community partnerships. Within this movement, several initiatives aim to support a qualitative transformational shift toward a more egalitarian paradigm of collaboration. However, the literature and knowledge-building around these aims is largely insular to higher education and may be insufficient for the task. Thus, this study situates these aspirations in the community development literature and theories of power to better conceptualize and operationalize what is meant by reciprocal, mutually-beneficial approaches to university-community partnerships. First, a theoretically grounded analytical framework was developed using both higher education and community development literatures to build two ideal-typical approaches to community practice characterized by power-over versus power-with. Within power-over, the institution exclusively holds authority, control, and legitimacy. Power-with is built through partnerships that share these elements with communities. Second, the resulting theoretical framework was developed further through a multi-stage deductive-inductive content analysis of written data readily available from university websites about their community partnerships. This process operationalized the framework by identifying and clarifying specific indicators within the power-over and power-with ideal-types. The analytical framework was then compared to the aspirational community empowerment goals found in materials about the Carnegie elective classification for Community Engagement and materials from both the Anchor Initiatives Task Force and Anchor Initiatives Dashboard Learning Cohort. This comparative analysis found that while these initiatives aspire to transform power dynamics between universities and communities, they are vague on the meaning of these practices and their antitheses. This gap in clarity hinders these initiatives from distinguishing transformative work from the status quo, potentially inadvertently allowing the perpetuation of power-over dynamics in university-community partnerships. The more robust analytical framework developed herein will enable these initiatives to better assess the quality of university-community partnerships against the aspirations of equity, social justice, democratic practice, mutual respect, shared authority, and co-creation. Such assessment will enable more effective knowledge-building toward transformational practice. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Community Resources and Development 2018

Bike to the Future is an Active Transportation advocacy organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Since its incorporation in 2007, active transportation attitudes, policies, funding, and infrastructure have improved substantially in the city. Many successes have been attributed to this organization, representatives of which are now considered to be the Winnipeg experts in cycling infrastructure and policy creation. This thesis explores how people who use (or want to use) a comparatively marginalized traffic form empowered themselves and spurred on positive changes to cycling policy and infrastructure. The literature review offers a larger context for the importance of power analysis, collaborative planning and the work of Bike to the Future. This provides a framework overview of power discussions in planning discourse, and connects heterarchical power structures to collaborative planning theory and strategic networking. Research for this project involved a case study of the work of Bike to the Future. Four different research methods were employed during different stages of research, including media and literature searches (of news sources, blogs, and planning literature), a case study, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The work of Bike to the Future has also shown that influence can be strengthened when different power resources—powers of knowledge, speech, place, and political and market powers – are used. The value of using different power structures, hierarchical and heterarchical, is highlighted. In order to be most effective, this study suggests all structures and resources must be used cooperatively and collaboratively. Because of its ability to engage wide audiences, recognize interdependence, and connect the different types of knowledge and expertise, Bike to the Future can be understood as a collaborative success. Although at the time of this study, this organization was susceptible to volunteer schedules and burnout, its networking potential and networking power was strong. These will continue to be major assets in the evolution of this organization evolution. Lessons learned from this research process may be useful for many other groups seeking to expand their influence in decision-making realms and on multiple fronts.

Bike to the Future is an Active Transportation advocacy organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Since its incorporation in 2007, active transportation attitudes, policies, funding, and infrastructure have improved substantially in the city. Many successes have been attributed to this organization, representatives of which are now considered to be the Winnipeg experts in cycling infrastructure and policy creation. This thesis explores how people who use (or want to use) a comparatively marginalized traffic form empowered themselves and spurred on positive changes to cycling policy and infrastructure. The literature review offers a larger context for the importance of power analysis, collaborative planning and the work of Bike to the Future. This provides a framework overview of power discussions in planning discourse, and connects heterarchical power structures to collaborative planning theory and strategic networking. Research for this project involved a case study of the work of Bike to the Future. Four different research methods were employed during different stages of research, including media and literature searches (of news sources, blogs, and planning literature), a case study, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation. The work of Bike to the Future has also shown that influence can be strengthened when different power resources—powers of knowledge, speech, place, and political and market powers – are used. The value of using different power structures, hierarchical and heterarchical, is highlighted. In order to be most effective, this study suggests all structures and resources must be used cooperatively and collaboratively. Because of its ability to engage wide audiences, recognize interdependence, and connect the different types of knowledge and expertise, Bike to the Future can be understood as a collaborative success. Although at the time of this study, this organization was susceptible to volunteer schedules and burnout, its networking potential and networking power was strong. These will continue to be major assets in the evolution of this organization evolution. Lessons learned from this research process may be useful for many other groups seeking to expand their influence in decision-making realms and on multiple fronts.

Despite promising prospects to transition towards a democracy after attaining its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe somehow fell into authoritarian rule and became increasingly undemocratic compared to other countries in southern Africa. Therefore, this thesis seeks to understand why a “most likely” case of democratization in the region failed and instead slipped into authoritarianism between 1980 and 2000. The single case study investigates a set of elite level dynamics, using components of process tracing and case study techniques. The analysis is built upon a theoretical framework focusing on dimensions of power dynamics in terms of Bratton’s power capture, power division and power sharing along with Svolik’s politics of authoritarian rule and the dominant party system. The research indicates that the political party Zanu-Pf, under the leadership of Mugabe, has dominated the political arena since the first democratic elections of 1980. With the help of the party’s majority, the ruling elites captured, divided, shared and controlled power; to serve authoritarian ends that ensured regime survival at the expense of democracy.

This thesis explores how racialized and gendered power dynamics are reflected in public discourse on digital replicas and the personal narratives of models. Using the lenses of digital capital and objectification theory, it examines how these power relations impact models' agency and ownership over their images and digital bodies. Employing a combination of critical discourse analysis and autoethnography, the research provides macro and micro perspectives on power relations in the fashion industry. The findings highlight how digital capital impacts who gets to shape the narrative on digital replicas and who reaps the benefits of these technologies. It sheds light on how racialized and gendered power relations intersect with objectification and digital capital, impacting who can benefit from digital replicas. The study highlights models' significant challenges in maintaining autonomy and control over their careers and public image. It suggests that new technologies, such as digital replicas, can further exacerbate existing inequalities. The findings also highlight how power dynamics on both a societal and interpersonal level shape the potential for digital replicas to enhance agents' control over models and intensify their experiences of commodification. By aligning with previous research on models' marginalization and research on how new technologies can intensify existing inequalities, this thesis contributes to the broader conversation on how existing power relations, labor, and technological developments shape one another.