Thesis advisor: Michael G. Pratt / Evidence is mounting that recognition from others may play a critical role in shaping an individual’s experience of meaningful work; so how do workers find meaningfulness when their work is “invisible”? I examine this tension through a qualitative, inductive study of the occupation of linemen—the women and men who construct and repair power lines. By examining this invisible occupation, my research explains the conditions that foster the “recognition gap”—a disparity between the recognition linemen believe they deserve and the recognition they actually receive. This recognition gap ultimately produces meaningfulness insecurity—feelings of uncertainty or doubt about the meaningfulness of their work. Moreover, this research also explains how linemen overcome this meaningfulness insecurity through intuitive feelings of pride in beautiful completed work. Through a process motivated by a desire to avoid criticism for ugly work, linemen develop “expert schemas” that allow for intuitive—rapid, nonconscious, and affectively charged—reactions to the appearance of a completed job. When positive, these intuitive judgements foster experiences of meaningfulness. By explaining these processes, this dissertation re-casts meaningfulness from an individual accomplishment to one that is deeply dependent on social cues; and from a process requiring thoughtful reflection to one driven by intuitive judgements. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

Identical twins John and Edward Grimes (artist name "Jedward") have been active for six years and have a heterogeneous following of fans. This thesis aims to investigate how and in which situations fans think about Jedward as part of their everyday life. Each of the three informants, plus the author, kept diaries recording the above for the course of one week. The diaries were subsequently coded into the groups Traditional Fandom, Social Media, Music, Places, Family & Friends, Interests & Hobbies, Studies, Film & TV and Food & Drink respectively. Auto-ethnographic method was implemented and combined with work within the spheres of fandom and music. At a later date informants were asked if there are any products or causes that they associate with John and Edward; in lieu of comprehensive answers, the author compiled such a list. For the fours fans taking part, John and Edward are experienced as being close to them in many different situations during their day-to-day lives, in much the same way as a close friend or loved one. The conclusion is that through aiming to portray my own interpretation of fandom, it has been possible to see just how creative and imaginative fans are, an enlightening reflection contrary to those which in many cases have been none too positive.

This research was a triangulated study of student attitudes towards instructors' rapport-building traits and their preferences amongst instructors' rapport-building practices in online learning environments. Participants were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in courses within an educational technology program at a central Texas university. The study employed a mixed-methods approach involving the Likert-item assessment of learners' attitudes, the identification and prioritization of learner preferences through pairwise comparisons, and semi-structured interviews that provided richer, more detailed information. Findings indicated a strong preference for instructor-based traits and practices over pedagogically-based ones. These traits and practices loaded into the components of social presence, enjoyable interaction, and personal connection.

This thesis assesses the evolution of historic maps of Ireland using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and quantitative approaches. Each of nineteen early modern maps dating to the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (c.1530 – 1610), a formative period of Irish cartographic history, was analysed to statistically assess the relative positional accuracy of places included on the cartography. Building upon previous studies of analysing cartographic veracity using quantitative approaches, notably Tobler's (1994) bidimensional regression technique, it is the first of its kind to apply these techniques to a series of historic maps. The aim is to test these approaches systematically and critically, compare the statistical techniques, and offer insights into their analytical potential in the history of cartography and historical geography. The thesis also aims to enhance our understanding of the evolution and development of maps and map-making during an age often regarded as revolutionary in scientific cartography in Europe. The study highlighted two main historical and cartographic groups; (I) earlier maps of Ireland created prior to Lythe’s survey cartography in which mapmakers appeared to take a more artistic rather than a ‘measured’ approach to mapping and; (II) maps created subsequent to Lythe’s and of generally higher cartographic precision in illustrating the island's geography. Enduring map ‘errors’ that survived through to the seventeenth century are discussed, and illustrate that the development of maps of Ireland did not progress in a linear fashion. Map lineage was complex, and plagiarism between mapmakers was rife with one map, by Robert Lythe (PHA 9581, c.1571), shown to form the basis for many subsequent maps. The methodology developed in this thesis is a fundamental addition to early map research, by adding to key debates in the history of cartography concerned with how early maps developed and evolved, and providing new insights on Ireland’s early cartography.

No description available.

<p>PROBLEM DISCUSSION: Vaggeryd is a small municipality Småland. In addition to its</p><p>strategic position along the main traffic route E4, Vaggeryd is very interesting also because</p><p>of its advanced view on growing of the business sector, in both short and long-term per-</p><p>spective.</p><p>To meet that goal the municipality of Vaggeryd started to invest in “Egenföretagareutbildningen”</p><p>EFU in cooperation with Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). The</p><p>main idea is that students attend the courses that are held by JIBS and during their studies start their own business in a local business incubator called Fenix.</p><p>PURPOSE: To host such education requires a huge amount of energy and resources from</p><p>the municipality, which consequently would like to get answers to questions like “Is it worth investing in the education?” or “What are the results of such education?”</p><p>The aim of this paper is to give the answers to those crucial questions though I believe that</p><p>the time that has passed from the beginning of the education is too short and that the</p><p>number of the students was not large enough to get definitive answers.</p><p>This paper concentrates on a narrow part of the qualitative research methods – an inter-</p><p>view. It is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and the empirical findings.</p><p>FINDINGS: The research showed that six students out of a total of ten from generation 2005 started a new venture, three will take over a family business, and one has not decided</p><p>to start a business yet. Of six students in generation 2003 four have started a business and one of them finished in bankruptcy, one plans to start a business in the future and one does not have a good business idea.</p><p>RECOMMENDATIONS: Answers that the interviews returned gave interesting sugges-</p><p>tions to both the municipality of Vaggeryd and JIBS about how to improve EFU. I would</p><p>emphasise two, I believe, the most important recommendations. First municipality has to</p><p>attract neighbouring municipalities in the EFU project. In addition, a greater effort should be made to help students build a spider’s web of business contacts.</p>

The prevalence of neurodegenerative disease in India is rising. Regenerative medicine (RM) is being developed to treat these conditions. However, despite advances in RM application for neurological disorders (NeuroRM), there is a lack of research on clinical translation of NeuroRM technologies in developing countries. Given that India is one of the first nations to translate in this field, much can be learned on challenges and solutions arising during translation. This study identifies stakeholders involved in such translation and outlines roles of each; it describes India’s regulatory environment concerning NeuroRM translation; and discusses the impact of collaboration in clinical translation. Twenty-three face-to-face interviews with clinicians, researchers and policy-makers within India were undertaken and transcripts subjected to thematic analysis. The study demonstrates that clinical translation of NeuroRM within India is taking place robustly, it identifies barriers and good practices being adopted, and provides recommendations based on participants’ experiences.

This dissertation addresses two problems with advanced academic writing pedagogy. First, doctoral students must participate in academic discourse communities, yet they report being underprepared to do so (Boquet et al., 2015; Caplan & Cox, 2016). Second, studies (e.g., Curry & Lillis, 2004; Matsuda & Tardy, 2007; Tardy & Matsuda, 2009) suggest that L1 and L2 voices are not well integrated in the institution and that this lack of integration systemically privileges the dominant culture. The purpose of this research is to investigate the role relationships play in helping culturally and linguistically diverse doctoral students negotiate and acquire advanced academic discourse. I pose the overarching research question: Given a discipline-specific writing center for graduate students in a College of Education, what role does interaction play in helping students to participate in academic conversations? The two papers in this collection employ qualitative classification and discourse analysis to investigate writing-related interactions among peers. Data include audio-recorded writing consultations and interviews, post-session reports, field notes, and artifacts. Taken together, findings from this research highlight the role interaction can play in writing support, development, and research. This research has implications for developing writing pedagogy and support programs to facilitate productive academic socialization. In response, the researcher calls for more robust academic writing support in order to improve access and resources for diverse student populations and decrease attrition and time to degree for all students.

PROBLEM DISCUSSION: Vaggeryd is a small municipality Småland. In addition to its strategic position along the main traffic route E4, Vaggeryd is very interesting also because of its advanced view on growing of the business sector, in both short and long-term per- spective. To meet that goal the municipality of Vaggeryd started to invest in “Egenföretagareutbildningen” EFU in cooperation with Jönköping International Business School (JIBS). The main idea is that students attend the courses that are held by JIBS and during their studies start their own business in a local business incubator called Fenix. PURPOSE: To host such education requires a huge amount of energy and resources from the municipality, which consequently would like to get answers to questions like “Is it worth investing in the education?” or “What are the results of such education?” The aim of this paper is to give the answers to those crucial questions though I believe that the time that has passed from the beginning of the education is too short and that the number of the students was not large enough to get definitive answers. This paper concentrates on a narrow part of the qualitative research methods – an inter- view. It is divided into two parts, a theoretical part and the empirical findings. FINDINGS: The research showed that six students out of a total of ten from generation 2005 started a new venture, three will take over a family business, and one has not decided to start a business yet. Of six students in generation 2003 four have started a business and one of them finished in bankruptcy, one plans to start a business in the future and one does not have a good business idea. RECOMMENDATIONS: Answers that the interviews returned gave interesting sugges- tions to both the municipality of Vaggeryd and JIBS about how to improve EFU. I would emphasise two, I believe, the most important recommendations. First municipality has to attract neighbouring municipalities in the EFU project. In addition, a greater effort should be made to help students build a spider’s web of business contacts.

Although medical advances have improved prognosis for children with cystic fibrosis (CF) and congenital heart disease (CHD), these youth experience poor psycho - social health. Embedded within the Medical Research Council’s framework, the purpose of this Dissertation was to a) examine how CF and CHD children experience physical activity, b) explore parents’ perceptions toward their child’s activity, c) develop a theory of physical activity in childhood chronic diseases, d) develop a physical activity counselling program for youth with CF and their parents, and e) evaluate the program impact on quality of life and physical activity. Study One explored how 14 CF youth experience physical activity. Active and inactive youth were characterized by different experiences, such as a sense of hope or despair. Given the burden of treatment and the fatal nature of the disease, youth negotiated temporal barriers to activity. Study Two explored perceptions toward activity among 29 CF and CHD parents. Parents discussed the benefits and barriers associated with physical activity for both child and self, and underscored the importance of role modeling. By adopting a Grounded Theory approach, the theoretical constructs from Study One and Two were crystallized to develop a theory of physical activity in youth with CF and CHD. This theory was used to develop “CF Chatters:” A Six Week Physical Activity Counselling Program for Youth with CF and their Parents, and the intervention employed behavioural self regulation ii skills. In Study Three, four case families in the CF clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children participated in CF Chatters. Improvements were noted in quality of life and physical activity, and participants described the program as convenient and relevant to their activity concerns. CF Chatters afforded therapeutic benefits to participants. By employing an eclectic qualitative approach, this Doctoral Program has made theoretical and practical contributions toward our understanding of how physical activity is experienced among children living with CF/CHD. The findings support the use of behavioural counselling as an effective and feasible modality for enhancing quality of life and physical activity. This Dissertation calls on clinicians to attend to the activity needs of chronically ill Canadian youth.