A Critical Dialectical Pluralistic Examination of the Lived Experience of Select Women Doctoral Students

The purpose of this study was to explore and to understand the daily life experiences of 8 women doctoral students who were in pursuit of their doctorates. A partially mixed concurrent dominant status design was utilized in this study embedded within a mixed methods phenomenological research lens and driven by a critical dialectical pluralistic philosophical stance. Specifically, these 8 students were interviewed individually to examine their lived experiences as doctoral students. The interview responses then were subjected to a sequential mixed analysis that was characterized by 2 qualitative analyses (i.e., constant comparison analysis, classical content analysis) and 1 quantitative analysis (i.e., correspondence analysis). The 2 qualitative analyses revealed the following 3 metathemes: adjustment (how these doctoral students made necessary accommodations with regard to all aspects of their lives), which comprised the themes of time management, interaction, belief, and lifestyle; encouragement (circumstances that motivated them to pursue their doctoral degrees), which comprised the themes of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation; and discouragement (circumstances that demotivated them from pursuing their doctoral degrees), which comprised the themes of internal discouragement and external discouragement. The correspondence analysis revealed a fourth metatheme, namely, marital status (separating the single students from the married/divorced students), which comprised the themes of locus of motivation and locus of discouragement. Seven of these women doctoral students struggled to balance either dual roles (i.e., as doctoral students and wives/mothers, or as doctoral students and professionals) or triple roles (i.e., as doctoral students, wives/mothers, and professionals). Implications of the findings are discussed

Autonomous Navigation and Mapping using LiDAR

The goal of this project was to make a fully autonomous robot, capable of mapping its surroundings and navigating through obstacles. This was done through the use of a chassis fitted with tracks and two motors, a lidar, a compass, and a Raspberry Pi. The robot also contains two batteries and is self powered. Encoders are used on the motors in order to track the distance traveled for more precise mapping and movements

: General Electric's Research Approach and Findings

Accepted in California Management Review. Soon available in JSTORInternational audienceIn 2010, General Electric launched an investigation into how multi-national corporations (MNCs) were adapting to rural emerging markets. A team of 33 executives and three academics examined models ranging from Toyota's vehicle servicing program in East Africa to Nokia's localized mobile handset financing in India to Egis Pharmaceuticals' worker retention incentives in Eastern Europe. The project included 15 case studies from India, China, Africa and Eastern Europe. This article presents common tactics that these MNCs have used to successfully adapt to rural markets in emerging regions across five key organizational functions: product development, distribution, service, financing, and human resources