Osteoporosis is a serious disease which often brings pain, disability, hospitalization, and even death. An increasing number of studies have been conducted on the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in White women, yet a paucity of research exists to explain disparities in screening and treatment of osteoporosis in Black women. This narrative study describes the perspectives of Black women regarding individual barriers to osteoporosis screening. The purpose of this study was to better understand the perspectives of Black women regarding prevention of and screening for osteoporosis. Selections included purposive, criterion sampling of 10 Black women who were 50 years and older, could speak and write English, and lived in Southeastern Virginia. Recruitment flyers were distributed to Black women who were members of 3 local churches. The conceptual framework for this study was the behavioral model of health services, which holds that individual's acceptance to use health service is partly controlled by that individual's predisposing, enablement, and need. Data were collected by in-depth face-to-face interviews and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. Four major themes emerged in this study including awareness of osteoporosis, knowledge of the screening, health beliefs, and sharing of information. While the narratives indicated positive effects from engaging in osteoporosis screening, there was a discrepancy in understanding the disease and explanations of screening results. This study addresses social change by identifying how awareness and knowledge may help Black women become more effective when they engage in osteoporosis screening, which can help to ensure health and a better quality of life.

Student test scores related to mathematical word problems have been declining in a rural school district in western Louisiana. Word problems constitute a major component of the Algebra 1 End of Course examination, which students must be able to pass to graduate. Mathematics teachers have struggled to find appropriate strategies to teach students to answer constructed response questions (CRQs) effectively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of math teachers about effective teaching strategies for improving student performance on CRQs. Guided by Piaget's constructivist theory, which is characterized by an emphasis on learner control of the learning process through active engagement and activation of prior knowledge, this study investigated teachers' perceptions and practices in relation to teaching the skills needed for CRQs. The research questions focused on math teachers' perceptions of current teaching practices, instructional effectiveness, and professional development needs. A case study design was used to capture the insights of 8 participants through semistructured interviews and observations. Emergent themes were identified from the data through a code-recode approach, and findings were developed and validated through triangulation and member checking. The key results were that math teachers expressed a need to collaborate with their colleagues to develop effective strategies that would incorporate literacy and hands-on learning. A project was designed to engage teachers in collaboration and planning to prepare students to think critically and problem solve. This study may promote positive social change by providing teachers with the tools necessary to improve students' thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and learning strategies.

The use of community service to promote learning and civic responsibility in higher education has blossomed since the 1980s. The problem addressed in this study was that although the X University initiated the required community service program in 2004, it had not assessed the effectiveness of the program from students' perspectives. Using Kolb and Kolb's conceptual framework on experiential learning, a qualitative case study was used to evaluate the perceptions of 13 4th-year students who had participated in the required community service program during their 1st-year of study. The research questions were focused on students' perceptions on how community service influenced their attitudes towards philanthropy. Data were coded and themes developed using key words from the interviews. Findings from 1-on-1 interviews revealed 4 themes: support for effective community service programs, students' personal growth and development, giving back to society with gratitude, and students' self-awareness in attitude towards the needy. The study results indicated that, the required community service program made a change in participants' lives and influenced their attitudes towards being sensitive to people with need. It is also likely to make them more philanthropic and affect positive social change. The resulting project consisted of an evaluation report recommending the reassessment of how the program is introduced to 1st-year students. Potential social change impacts include improved student experiences, as well as helping other universities in Kenya to learn from X University's experience to introduce similar community service programs.

Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is considered innovative in foreign language teaching. However, the body of research on TBLT employment in vocabulary instruction is still modest. This study explored teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary instruction using TBLT. This study examined such application among Vietnamese high-school EFL teachers (N = 60) using a mixed methods research design. Data were collected using online questionnaires. Data analysis showed that 53.6% of the participating teachers associated vocabulary instruction with TBLT. However, regardless of their years as instructors, they still found it challenging to implement TBLT vocabulary instruction due to numerous factors. In fact, 66.2% of the participating teachers acknowledged a variety of constraints in applying TBLT, among which, exam-oriented curricula were reported as the biggest impediment.

La question des implications sociales et environnementales des activités économiques et de leur gestion ou gouvernance traverse aujourd’hui largement le champ académique des sciences de gestion. Pour autant, le potentiel transformateur de cette RSE continue largement de poser question. Les auteurs nourrissant une analyse critique de cette dernière arguent que, plus qu’une transformation ou qu’une démocratisation des espaces de régulation de problématiques sociales et environnementales devenues transnationales, la RSE serait à resituer dans une analyse des rapports de force à l’œuvre. A défaut d’inclure les différents intérêts en présence, la RSE prendrait finalement la forme d’un pouvoir discursif offrant au contraire le maintien et la perpétuation de pratiques et asymétries de pouvoir inchangées, et marginalisant les opposants ou témoins susceptibles de contrevenir à cette continuité. Inscrit dans le courant des perspectives critiques en management, ce travail doctoral s’est donné pour projet de venir comprendre et mettre au jour les rouages et procédés permettant l'édification d’une puissance industrielle à même de fermer les issues en sa défaveur et d’assurer les conditions de sa propre perpétuation. Ce travail accorde en particulier une place centrale aux implications et aux marges de l’histoire, offrant de considérer les moyens dévolus à la mise en impuissance des contestations et tentatives de remise en cause de cet ordre dominant, et dans le conteste de politiques de RSE. Quelles modalités, mécanismes ou boîtes noires viennent sous-tendre le processus de légitimation des entreprises vis-à-vis des externalités sociales et environnementales qu’elles produisent ? Quelles techniques ou technologies du pouvoir viennent-elles mobiliser pour se constituer en macro-acteurs légitimes ? Comment permettent-elles leur maintien et leur renouvellement en dépit des conflits, des contestations et des dénonciations venant les remettre en cause ? Pour permettre l’analyse de ces différents points, une étude exploratoire fut réalisée et prolongée de l’étude du cas Weda Bay Nickel, projet minier développé par la multinationale française Eramet dans une lointaine Indonésie. Inscrite dans une posture constructiviste pragmatique, la démarche qualitative adoptée cherchait à comprendre et à déconstruire ce projet minier, présenté comme exemplaire en matière de RSE et pourtant largement contesté, par la recension systématique des documents produits et publiés à son sujet, la réalisation d’interviews auprès de diverses parties prenantes (N=41), ainsi qu’une ethnographie de trois semaines principalement effectuée dans la baie de Weda, et plus largement dans la province indonésienne des Moluques du Nord, constituant le théâtre de son implantation.Inscrit dans la tradition des postures analytiques descriptives et narratives, ce travail doctoral propose une mise en récit processuelle du cas offrant de caractériser le contexte de fabrication d’une puissance WBN et de mettre au jour sa transformation d’hypothèse spéculative en projet de développement ne pouvant plus qu’advenir, produit des contingences de l’histoire, de la nécessité de retour sur investissement auto-générée et d’un réseau d’intérêts bien compris. Par ailleurs, la mise en impuissance des contestations, révoltes et mobilisations s’étant faites jour à son encontre sera également étudiée, de sorte qu’elle se voit reconnaître sa place de produit des échecs successifs subis par une contestation bien réelle et active. Aussi, plus qu’un pendant inéluctable de la puissance, l’impuissance collective des acteurs s’étant opposés au projet minier WBN se présentera comme un construit, le produit d’une fabrique où les pouvoirs de cadrage et de contrainte des partisans de la mine apparaissent finalement moins empreints d’une quête de légitimation, qu’apparentés à un processus d’écrasement vécu comme indiscutable et irréversible par les parties prenantes sans pouvoir. / The academic field of organization studies has paid, in the past several years, a growing attention to the social and environmental impacts of economic activities, to their management as well as their governance. The idea of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) came to materialize and embody the commitment of corporations against unsustainable activities, even if the voluntary or constrained character of this phenomenon remains a matter of debate. Additionally, the prospects of CSR in terms of concrete transformations leading to more sustainable and democratic practices are still questioned. Critical scholars of CSR have, more recently, tackled these issues by pointing to the need for bringing power struggles back in the study of CSR. Although CSR principles aim at managing a multiplicity of stakeholders, critical scholars have highlighted that CSR practices took shape as a discursive power designed for maintaining and enforcing existing practices and power asymmetries, thanks to a marginalization of protestors and those trying to threaten their continuity.This doctoral project is precisely drawing upon such critical perspectives on CSR in order to understand comprehensively the political mechanisms according to which a corporate power manages to rise so as to counter potential protests and secure its own perpetuation. More particularly, this project devotes a significant attention to the implications of such corporate power on powerless stakeholders, highlighting the specific means implemented to manufacture powerlessness, starting from the following research questions: what are the modalities, mechanisms and black boxes upon which the legitimation process of corporations’ social and environmental impacts relies? What are the techniques and technologies of power designed and implemented by corporations in order to do so? How do they manage to maintain and renew their power in the face of struggles, contests and denunciations trying to challenge it?The design of this doctoral project relied on two different stages: an exploratory study of a multiplicity of CSR discourses articulated within and around a political CSR arena of the mining industry ; an in-depth case study of Weda Bay Nickel, i.e. a mining project undertaken by a French multinational corporation, Eramet, in far-off Indonesia. The methodological background of the doctoral project draws upon pragmatic constructivism and qualitative methods in order to comprehend and deconstruct the paradox according to which the Weda Bay Nickel case is at the same time praised for its exemplariness and fiercely contested. Data collection consisted in a systematic inventory of published data, interviews with a multiplicity of stakeholders (N = 41), as well as a period of three weeks ethnography in the Indonesia North Maluku region, where the mining deposit is located. Data analysis was conducted following a descriptive narrative approach, allowing for the production of a narrative which starts from the context of manufacture of corporate powerfulness, from a mere object of geological then financial speculation to a project of development that must be achieved, thanks to historical contingencies, return-on-investment self-fulfilling imperatives, as well as the forging of a coalition of interests. The narrative continues to portray the manufacture of powerlessness of protesters, rebellions and social movements, highlighting that the failure to contest corporate power cannot be associated to a powerlessness per se. Accordingly, the manufacture of powerlessness is shown to be of a socially constructed nature, relying on the implementation of framing and coercive forms of power by the corporation and its allies. Framing and coercion being the cornerstones of a policy that seems to go far beyond a search for legitimation. Instead, they can be subsumed into the idea of a domination process, experienced as non-disputable and non-reversible by the powerless stakeholders.

This thesis seeks to gain insight into environmental management implemented by micro and small tourism enterprises and explore levels of awareness and interest among owner-managers of micro and small tourism enterprises toward schemes aiming for the environmental improvement of business. The research uncovers findings that elevate possibilities for reducing misinterpretation of terminology relative to sustainable tourism business. This research seeks to understand why the suggested lack of sustainable tourism implementation remains evident in tourism. Discussion from findings intends to draw attention to central themes relative to achieving research objectives and seeks to yield important information in the pursuit of sustainable tourism business. A qualitative, semi-structured interview approach was used to gain in-depth and detailed perspectives from owner-managers of micro and small tourism enterprises. Owner-managers interviewed were purposively chosen using non-probability sampling. Selection was based on providing a variety of tourism businesses and physical business locations across the case study region. Overall, findings suggest that owner-managers are implementing low levels of environmental management and have limited knowledge of what implementation of environmental management specifically involves, such as, how long it takes and how much it costs. The underlying values of owner-managers demonstrate potential opportunities for further implementation of sustainable business practice. In addition, owner-managers seemed to place importance in conducting business responsibly and having minimal impact on the environment so that quality of life remains for future generations. Essentially, research findings aid in the understanding of why the suggested lack of sustainable tourism implementation remains evident in tourism and pose future avenues for research in the pursuit of sustainable tourism business.

In this study l investigate the Singaporean characteristics of broadcast media internationalisation. I ask the question &quote Does Internationalisation lead to homogenisation and commercialisation of the television culture in Singapore or does it give way to more diversity, thus stimulating cultural differentiation?&quote . I articulate the constraints and/or tensions of supranational regulation, foreign policy, regional and intraregional alliances upon communication and the cultural and social effects as they impact on and respond to production, programming, scheduling and output in Singapore. I explain how Singaporean Television media culture takes part in the processes of globalisation, and how it challenges existing cultures and creates new and alternative symbolic and cultural communities, within the context of regional communication. In this thesis 1 conclude that whilst Singapore definitely does not have equity in information, wealth or resource flows it is attempting to liberalise. To do so, the government recognises that serious inadequacies and imbalances must be addressed and that the path to greater political and economic growth is through an actively informed public. Despite regulatory restrictions on data flow and technical and service ownership, Singapore is encouraging regional alliances, depoliticising cultural differences and concentrating on economic imperatives to build mutual knowledge and understanding, multilateral agreements, collective ownership, mutual exchange and cooperative dissemination.

This research thesis is focused on the question:

<p>Den här uppsatsen handlar om vilket synsätt pedagoger, skolledning och den politiska nivån har på elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter. För att ta reda på rådande synsätt på dessa elever har vi valt att göra en kvalitativ respondentintervju med sex pedagoger, två skolledare samt två personer från stadsdelsförvaltning. För att ta reda på vilket synsätt man har på elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Vår studie syftar till att göra en empirisk undersökning för att skapa oss en bild om vilka rådande synsätt på elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter som finns inom våra skolområden. Vi har studerat tidigare forskning och historik som kan ligga till bakgrund för rådande synsätt på elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Genom att intervjua pedagoger, skolledare och personal på stadsdelsnivå har vi fått svar på vår problemformulering. Vårt resultat, med stöd från tidigare forskning, visar på att synsätt på elever med läs- och skrivsvårigheter är under ständig förändring, påverkas av kompetens och kunskap i ämnet, samt att synsättet kan delas in två huvudgrupper.</p><p>This research examines within which way pedagogues, school management and people on political level look upon children with reading and writing difficulties. To find out we have chosen to conduct a qualitative interview with six pedagogues, two headmasters and two employees at the City administration. In order to create a picture of how children with reading and writing difficulties are looked upon, our study aims to do an empirical study. We have gone through existing research and history that underlie the existing perspective on children with reading and writing difficulties. By interviewing pedagogues, headmasters and employees on political level, our questions have been answered. Our result, with support from existing research, clearly shows that the view on children with reading and writing difficulties is constantly changing depending on the competence and knowledge within the area. Also, we have found that the view is divided in to two main groups.</p>

<p>As in society in general, exclusion of individuals takes place in the school system. Even though schools – according to the curriculum – are supposed to cherish diversity, many children are left outside of the community formed during school activities. In order to gain knowledge of how schools can prevent and inhibit exclusion, this work aims to study how the problem is interpreted and managed. The study included six pedagogues: three pre-school teachers and three 1–7th grade teachers. Using a qualitative method with interviews, I have examined whether there is a difference between the two groups’ of interpretation and management of exclusion.In the analysis, the relational and categorical perspectives are used. The study shows, among other things, that the pre-school teachers are more categorical in their interpretation of exclusion than the 1–7th grade teachers. In spite of this, the pre-school teachers emphasize – to a greater extent than the 1–7th grade teachers – that the school’s social dimensions have a strong impact on their work. The study also shows that the 1–7th grade teachers have a more individualized approach to their work against exclusion. Further, the study shows that the work against exclusion of school children is mostly practised on individual- and group level, and that the particular school in this study lacks an official and joint approach for inclusion.</p>