Children\u27s Neighbourhood Geographies: Examining Children\u27s Perception and Use of Their Neighbourhood Environments for Healthy Activity

This dissertation examines children’s everyday neighbourhood activities, and the role of the local environment in supporting or limiting their healthy behaviours. Research from the last two decades has documented a dramatic decline in the time children spend playing in their neighbourhood settings, and engaging in local active and independent travel. Traditionally, neighbourhood-based activities have fostered key developmental and health outcomes, including higher levels of physical fitness, the negotiation of new social relationships, and increased cognitive and environmental competence. The processes of carving out neighbourhood ‘domains’ for independent activity and establishing community relationships are also linked to the development of a healthy self-identity and attachment to place. The loss of neighbourhood experiences may therefore have adverse consequences for children’s health and well-being. This study identifies and investigates patterns in children’s (aged 7 to 13 years) environmental perception, activity and mobility in various neighbourhoods within the mid-sized Canadian city of London, Ontario. Children’s local activities are examined through three complementary case studies utilizing a broad range of experiential, visual and qualitative tools, coupled with objective activity monitoring via portable GPS. Patterns in perception and behaviour were evident, but findings reinforce that children’s neighbourhood activities are highly individual and complex. Children were attuned to locally available activity opportunities, but neighbourhood engagements were generally limited and largely passive in nature. Recreational and commercial sites were identified as highly prized local destinations, but study neighbourhoods did not fully support the children’s diverse preferences. Many of the criteria of ‘child-friendly’ environments were lacking in study neighbourhoods. Findings also confirm that neighbourhood activity and mobility is influenced not only by individual characteristics such as a child’s age, but by neighbourhood social and physical conditions, as well as parent perceptions of this environment. Permission from parents for active, independent travel strongly predicted neighbourhood activity, generally expanding the size of a child’s domain and the time spent in local settings. On the whole, however, children spent little of their free time in neighbourhood environments; pedestrian-based domains were generally very small, comprised primarily of the area immediately surrounding their home. This research provides additional evidence that the local domains of children are shrinking, and that the neighbourhood is no longer a primary setting for childhood activities. These findings suggest that the primary landscapes of play are changing in ways that may be detrimental to children’s healthy development

The Rise of Algorithmic Work: Implications for Organizational Control and Worker Autonomy

In less than a decade the on-demand economy, a labor market characterized by short-term contracts where work is coordinated through algorithms, has radically reshaped organizations, employment relationships, workers’ lives, and consumer behaviors. Despite optimistic and pessimistic predictions, few studies have examined how algorithms affect work and workers in practice. This dissertation focuses on understanding the impact of algorithms on workers in an environment where the entire human resource cycle is coordinated by algorithms. Existing organizational theories suggest that algorithmic systems will tighten the iron cage by providing more comprehensive and invasive methods of control. This dissertation, however, reveals the myriad ways that workers find autonomy in an algorithmic work environment. To theorize this central finding, I draw upon field work collected from the ride hailing industry, the largest sector in the on-demand economy. I begin with an overview of some of the changes in the contemporary workplace highlighting how they may challenge and extend mainstream organizational theories. I follow with a review of the on-demand economy, including its predecessors of production and service work, and how it affects workers, consumers, and communities. Next, I describe how algorithm-based control systems differ from prior systems and conceptualize algorithmic work—a set of job-related activities that are structured by algorithms—drawing on a synthesis of literature across six social science disciplines. I conclude this chapter with unexplored questions at the nexus of work, workers, and algorithms. In the two empirical papers, I draw on participant observation (including three years as a driver and a rider), longitudinal interviews, online archival data and focus groups. In the first study, I examine how workers interpret the insecure work conditions inherent in the on-demand economy. Focusing on the practices and perspectives of the two most salient features of their work environment—customers and technology—I explore how these interactions lead drivers to understand their work. Seeing their relationship with work as either an alliance or as adversarial, workers tend to view features of the work environment as either working on their behalf or against them. Over time these practices and perspectives culminate in different outcomes. In the second study, I begin by describing how algorithm-based control systems differ from prior systems and conceptualize algorithmic work. Algorithms manage by structuring choice at each human-algorithm interaction, to which drivers respond with a set of tactics: compliance, engagement, or deviance. While these tactics appear to be at odds, drivers describe their responses as evidence of their personal autonomy, in that the system allows them to maximize earnings and create a continuous stream of work from a discontinuous set of tasks. This autonomy demonstrates that although the algorithmic-manager may be an unforgiving taskmaster, workers perceive otherwise, thus suggesting that workers feel they have more autonomy in algorithmic rather than traditional work. This dissertation provides several theoretical and empirical contributions. First, I summarize perspectives of algorithms across the social sciences laying out several unanswered questions at the intersection of work, organizations, and algorithms. Further, I propose a definition of how algorithms operate in the workplace which I expand on. In contrast to iron cage metaphors, this dissertation suggests that workers do indeed experience a great deal of autonomy in the algorithmic workplace. This study thus has implications for our understanding of algorithms, organizational control, autonomy and the meaning of work.PHDBusiness AdministrationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155277/1/ldcamer_1.pd

An Analysis of Governance Policies and Practices in one School District Regarding English Learners

In a large, urban, high school district, secondary English-learning students are not achieving at the same rates as other identified subgroups on state and local standardized tests. This gap compounds economic and social inequities in the region. A solution to the problem is important to educators and policy makers in providing an equitable education for all students. Using the conceptual framework of organizational culture, this qualitative project study explored the district\u27s policies and practices on the academic program for English learners and whether policies result in meeting academic needs of English-learning students at the secondary level. One-on-one interviews with district personnel, observations in classrooms, and documents were analyzed using interpretive policy analysis. Three goals drove the data collection: (a) identify inconsistent or conflicting district policies; (b) identify the impact of district policies on diverse groups; and (c) determine a foundation for district administration to write policy. While no inconsistent or conflicting policies were identified, the evidence suggested the need for clear, frequent communication between the different policy actors and professional development for administrators and teachers in schools to create successful academic systems for English learners. Implications for positive social change are that these students will achieve greater academic success and be less likely to drop out of school

Developing Standard EMD Cost Factors For Major Defense Acquisition Program (MDAP) Platforms

This research involves the creation of standard factors that more accurately reflect observed outcomes in the development stages of major programs. Traditionally, estimation techniques such as analogy, parametric, engineering build-up, and factors are utilized to develop budgets and serve as the baseline for measuring project progress. This effort accomplishes the development and creation of 443 new standard cost factors that are delineated by five categories: commodity type, contract type, contractor type, development type, and service. The factors are developed for those elements that are common in a wide array of projects such as program management, systems engineering, data, training or site activation. This research conducts statistical analysis of factor values at the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) element level, as well as the subcategories of the five identified categories. Statistical differences between subcategories were identified only 34.38% of the time, likely due to the high Coefficient of Variation (CV) values across the dataset. In refined subsets of the dataset, the CV generally decreased, indicating that the average percent estimating error improved when more detailed information was available. Thus, the outcome of this research is that cost estimators must employ both statistical and practical analysis in the creation of cost estimates. Furthermore, analysts will have a reference tool made up of 443 unique factors from which to begin analysis for creating estimates and conducting the iterative process of refining cost estimates

But seriously, folks... : understanding the political effects of late night television comedy

The potential political effects of late night comedy programs have been a subject of much debate and concern, particularly since the 2000 Presidential election. Research into this area has been characterized by inconsistency in operationalizations of audiences and an almost exclusive focus on quantitative research. This project was designed to address key concerns that are central to this burgeoning literature by examining “heavy†viewers of late night talk shows (including audiences of Leno, Letterman, and Conan O’Brien) and “heavy†viewers of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.†A combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to understand the relationships between late night comedy viewership and how citizens engage with the political world and news media. In addition, I sought to understand the perceived benefits of viewership (entertainment versus information), including how audiences construct meaning around political information and integrate said information into their views of the world. Findings indicate viewers of late night talk shows tend to be politically unsophisticated and low news media consumers, relying on incidental exposure to news about current events that are introduced throughout the day in the course of other activities (i.e., news headlines on email servers, jokes in late night monologues). Viewers of “The Daily Show,†however, are on the other end of the political spectrum, reflecting high levels of political sophistication and high news media consumption. They tune into “The Daily Show†for a “twist†on news stories with which they are already familiar, expecting Stewart and his team to provide a humorous slant on current events. The differences between these two audiences can be attributed to their political evolutions. A function of independence of thought and political sophistication, engaging in a political evolution process allows citizens to thoughtfully and deliberately consider (and re-consider) their political beliefs and perspectives. This conscious and effortful engagement with political information means those who are highly politically evolved have flexible and well-functioning mental schema in place to understand and contextualize new information, draw connections between seemingly disparate issues, and recognize and challenge media conventions in political coverage

Depictions of Mental Disorder in Mainstream American Film 1988-2010

The following qualitative research study examined visual and thematic depictions of mental disorder in mainstream American film from 1988 to 2010. The research was an extension of an earlier investigation on portrayals of psychological disability in Hollywood movies (Levers, 1988, 2001). The theoretical and historical grounding for the project included Sander Gilman\u27s (1982) scholarship on madness in the pictorial arts, the history and treatment of mental disorder over the course of time, social constructionism and the media, and research on media depictions of mental illness. The author employed two content analysis instruments (Levers, 1988, 2001) to record the appearance of icons, stereotypes, and positive portrayals of mental illness in 14 feature-length American films, which contain scenes of psychiatric hospitalization. Each film became a case study, and for each case, the author included content analysis findings, plot and character summaries, and discussion on mental disorder representation through images, speech, and themes. The multiple cases culminated in a filmography, which can be a resource for individuals interested in, and concerned about, the nature in which mental disorder is portrayed in popular, contemporary movies. The results from this study indicate that iconic and stereotypical representations of mental disorder have remained consistent since Levers\u27 (1988, 2001) inquiries. The author identified 60 of 61 icons listed on the Icons of Madness viewing rubric (Levers, 1988, 2001) and all stereotypes and positive portrayals on the Thematic Portrayals of Mental Disorder viewing rubric (Levers, 1988, 2001). More specifically, the four most commonly depicted icons and the top five stereotypes were the same in both the present and Levers\u27 (1988, 2001) studies. The one notable difference between these and Levers\u27 (1988, 2001) results was the increased frequency of positive portrayals of mental illness; more positive portrayals occurred in this investigation as compared to Levers\u27 earlier research. New icons, stereotypes, and positive portrayals of mental disorder not originally listed on the viewing rubrics were identified, too. The author discusses the present findings in light of future research possibilities, counselor education, and client advocacy

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Live Coding

Open Access peer reviewed papers on live coding published at the 1st International Conference on Live Coding (ICLC) in Leeds

The 3rd International Conference on the Challenges, Opportunities, Innovations and Applications in Electronic Textiles

This reprint is a collection of papers from the E-Textiles 2021 Conference and represents the state-of-the-art from both academia and industry in the development of smart fabrics that incorporate electronic and sensing functionality. The reprint presents a wide range of applications of the technology including wearable textile devices for healthcare applications such as respiratory monitoring and functional electrical stimulation. Manufacturing approaches include printed smart materials, knitted e-textiles and flexible electronic circuit assembly within fabrics and garments. E-textile sustainability, a key future requirement for the technology, is also considered. Supplying power is a constant challenge for all wireless wearable technologies and the collection includes papers on triboelectric energy harvesting and textile-based water-activated batteries. Finally, the application of textiles antennas in both sensing and 5G wireless communications is demonstrated, where different antenna designs and their response to stimuli are presented