Industries with conservative mindsets are known for being reluctant toward adoption of new technologies and resistant to change. The diamond business is one of those examples that encounter challenges in implementing disruptive innovations like blockchain technology despite its potential benefits. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the antecedents influencing adoption of disruptive innovations in conservative industries, with a particular emphasis on benefits and challenges of embracing blockchain technology in the diamond industry. Employing a qualitative research approach, this thesis utilizes semi-structured interviews with the four industry experts from different companies. The empirical data is analyzed using the Technology Acceptance Model, the Innovation Diffusion Theory frameworks, and contextual data.Findings reveal that most of the antecedents are not favorable to the adoption of disruptive innovations in traditional sectors. Competition was found to enhance the adoption process, while resistance to change, industry heritage, uncertainty, and dependency on industry leaders have unfavorable effects. Transparency, customer trust/pressure were found to have both positive and negative impacts. Findings show that benefits of blockchain technology implementation outweigh its challenges for the diamond industry, however, its observability, and complexity, hinder the adoption due to the fact blockchain is a relatively new technology that is still hard to grasp for most industry professionals. This thesis contributes to the body of knowledge by linking findings to the Technology Acceptance Model and Innovation Diffusion Theory frameworks, exploring deeply conservatism within industries, and identifying antecedents as obstacles and opportunities to widespread blockchain acceptance. Additionally, the researchers provide a solution for observability in the form of an in-depth marketing strategy, which aims at creating a differentiation between ‘blockchain diamonds’ and naturally mined diamonds.

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Background:Rising greenhouse gas levels through the use of traditional ICE technology in the transport industry have created a worldwide environmental crisis. Battery Electric Bus adoption is a prominent alternative currently being discussed in the public transport industry and represents an inevitable change towards a sustainable future. Purpose:The establishment of a theoretical framework that analyzes primary and secondary data todefine the factors promoting BEB implementation. Method:The study follows a qualitative research approach gathering data in the form of semi-structured interviews which are analyzed to develop an objective theory. Conclusion:The results show that the primary factors influencing diffusion of BEBs are technology factors, macro-economic factors, and socio-political factors. The research defines the relationships between them to further understand their effects on BEB diffusion. The findings develop a theoretical framework around these factors and their effects on one another and the diffusion of BEBs in the industry.

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Behavioral disruptions are highly prevalent, affecting almost all persons with dementia at some point during the course of their illness (McConnell, 2014). These behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia are commonly associated with decreased quality of life in the person exhibiting the symptoms as well as their caregivers (Fauth, Zarit, Hofer & Stephens, 2006). The purpose of this doctoral project was to design an intervention to promote socialization and engagement among people with dementia. A review of evidence-based interventions was conducted to identify effective non-pharmacological interventions to decrease behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia. The most promising interventions for reducing symptoms of behavioral disruptions in persons with dementia identified in the literature include music therapy, animal-assisted therapy, massage, activities-based interventions, behavioral management and combination therapies incorporating two or more of these interventions. Incorporating these effective interventions, a new program, Connections, was developed. The program includes a series of different daily interventions to be provided in a skilled nursing facility over the course of six weeks for residents with mild to moderate dementia. The Connections program is guided by a person-centered care philosophy and utilizes an evidence-based approach. Connections is designed to address the unmet psychological needs in people with dementia, such as fear or a sense of loss of control, lack of meaningful activities, loneliness and a lack of social interaction and decrease the behavioral disruptions.

This project deals with the potential interaction design that can create ways for fast-fashion consumers toward using second-hand clothing. Through contextual inquiries, main insights were used to guide the prototyping. This led to creating Vintage Block, an app and in-store experience consisting of three different ideas. The first one is a raffle that inspires more people to give quality items to the store for a chance to win the monthly premium item. This is in hopes of receiving a wider variety of sizes and styles from the customers. Secondly, the use of upcycling to customize through the app as well as through QR codes on items at the store. That aims to incentivize customers to download the app and potentially fulfill their shopping needs. Thirdly, an online shopping experience through the app where there is no shipping option to promote sustainable behavior and lower transportation emissions.

No / Media content is becoming ubiquitous and globally accessible, and can be held and accessed just as easily on a global network as on local devices which are increasingly intelligent and network ready. Digital intelligence is becoming seamless and invisible, enabling more attention to be paid to the content and the user’s interaction with it. The effects of convergence on the media landscape are substantial. Traditional media distribution channels are increasingly in the hands of the consumer rather than the distributor. News information can be generated by the general public by means of mobile devices and have a dynamic global impact via social networking sites. Political elections are being influenced in real time by information circulating on social networks in addition to the more formal statements of policy. This paper explores some of these transformative effects, the disruptive effects on traditional business models, and their implications for the future.

Secondary students with specific learning disabilities often have challenges with academic engagement and performance within the general education setting. Opportunity to respond strategies, such as student response systems, have shown promise in supporting academic engagement for students without disabilities. However, there are few studies examining the relationship between student response systems and academic engagement for older students with specific learning disabilities. The purpose of this study was to pilot the use of Google classroom as a student response system on academic participation and disruptive behavior for high school students with specific learning disability. While the study began as a multiple baseline across participants single-subject research design, the design was changed due to school closures as a result of COVID-19. A high-school student with specific learning disability participated in a study using an AB non-experimental design. The student response system resulted in an abrupt change in academic participation for the participant. The student and teacher perceived the intervention to be effective and appropriate for increasing participation and decreasing disruptive behavior. This study contributes to a limited body of research on student response systems for secondary students with specific learning disabilities.

This research study explicates the underrepresentation of Black students in public school instrumental music programs through a critical race perspective, focusing on socioeconomic and epistemological barriers perpetuated by public policy and school music curricula. Such barriers have encouraged some Black musicians to seek agency and satisfy their musical interests in spaces outside of the classroom, particularly in the church and community. Considering that the theory of disruptive innovation purports the potential to increase access and disrupt both socioeconomic and epistemological barriers through the use of technology, this exploratory research study sought to investigate whether Black instrumental musicians use technology in order to disrupt the socioeconomic and epistemological barriers unveiled by a critical race perspective. By employing qualitative research methods, participants’ personal experiences were synthesized into a thematic analysis which ultimately support the potential of technology to increase access, revealing that participants successfully disrupted socioeconomic and epistemological barriers through the use of asynchronous online lessons.

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