Book review

Obra ressenyada: Julia SNELL, Sara SHAW and Fiona COPLAND (eds.), Linguistic Ethnography: Interdisciplinary Explorations. Palgrave MacMillan, 2015. 298 pages. ISBN: 978-1-137-03502-8 (hardcover), 978-1-137-52906-0 (softcover), 978-1-137-03503-5 (eBook

ANTECEDENTS AND OUTCOMES OF WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION AS PERCEIVED BY EMPLOYEES WITH DISABILITIES

Even since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, employment is still a challenge for the millions of Americans living with disabilities. The unemployment rate for those with disabilities (13.7%) is much higher than that for adults without disabilities (8.9%; Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2009). In addition to the challenge of obtaining a job, individuals with disabilities can face discrimination and poor treatment once on the job. The current study is the first to empirically examine those factors that may influence perceptions of discrimination in the workplace for individuals with disabilities and predicts how organizational outcomes may be impacted. Specifically, a model is presented and tested that depicts how different characteristics associated with disabilities, individual experiences of those with disabilities, and organizational factors relating to disabilities impact the organizational commitment, job satisfaction, turnover intentions and intentions to file a discrimination claim for those individuals with a disability. The model also specifies that these effects are mediated by the individuals\u27 perceptions of workplace discrimination. One hundred and forty employed adults with disabilities completed an online survey measuring the variables introduced above. These individuals were contacted primarily through their membership in organizations for persons with disabilities. The results of a structural equation model indicate that several characteristics of disabilities (e.g., onset controllability, visibility and predictability of a disability) are related to perceptions of workplace discrimination. Additionally, self perceptions regarding the familiarity of one\u27s disability was found to directly impact job satisfaction, and self-perceptions of the predictability of one\u27s disability had a significant direct relationship with ratings of organizational commitment. Only one individual experience variable (knowledge of the ADA) was a significant predictor of perceptions of workplace discrimination. Two of the organizational factors (supervisor knowledge of the ADA and disability-friendly climate perceptions) hypothesized to impact discrimination perceptions, were significant. Also, perceptions of climate were negatively related to intentions to file a discrimination claim. These findings provide important information for organizations wanting to reduce perceptions of discrimination and impact other critical outcomes (e.g., intentions to file a discrimination claim). A second model was presented and analyzed in this paper focusing on one\u27s likelihood to request an accommodation. Several variables were found to significantly predict one\u27s likelihood to request an accommodation (disclosing one\u27s disability, the usefulness of the accommodation and the perceptions of the organization\u27s compliance with the request). This provides novel information to researchers in this field as this is the first empirical study to examine accommodation request likelihood

GINA, Big Data, and the Future of Employee Privacy

Threats to privacy abound in modern society, but individuals currently enjoy little meaningful legal protection for their privacy interests. We argue that the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) offers a blueprint for preventing employers from breaching employee privacy. GINA has faced significant criticism since its enactment in 2008: commentators have dismissed the law as ill-conceived, unnecessary, and ineffective. While we concede that GINA may have failed to alleviate anxieties about medical genetic testing, we assert that it has unappreciated value as an employee-privacy statute. In the era of big data, protections for employee privacy are more pressing than protections against genetic discrimination. Instead of failed legislation, GINA could represent the future of employment law

Dimensional Changes of Upper Airway after Rapid Maxillary Expansion: A Prospective Cone-beam Computed Tomography Study

Introduction: The aim of this prospective study was to use cone-beam computed tomography to assess the dimensional changes of the upper airway in orthodontic patients with maxillary constriction treated by rapid maxillary expansion. Methods: Fourteen orthodontic patients (mean age, 12.9 years; range, 9.7-16 years) were recruited. The patients with posterior crossbite and constricted maxilla were treated with rapid maxillary expansion as the initial part of their comprehensive orthodontic treatments. Before and after rapid maxillary expansion conebeam computed tomography scans were taken to measure the retropalatal and retroglossal airway changes in terms of volume, and sagittal and cross-sectional areas. The transverse expansions by rapid maxillary expansion were assessed between the midlingual alveolar bone plates at the maxillary first molar and first premolar levels. The measurements of the before and after rapid maxillary expansion scans were compared by using paired t tests with the Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results: After rapid maxillary expansion, significant and equal amounts of 4.8 mm of expansion were observed at the first molar (P 5 0.0000) and the first premolar (P 5 0.0000) levels. The width increase at the first premolar level (20.0%) was significantly greater than that at the first molar level (15.0%) (P 5 0.035). As the primary outcome variable, the cross-sectional airway measured from the posterior nasal spine to basion level was the only parameter showing a significant increase of 99.4 mm2 (59.6%) after rapid maxillary expansion (P 5 0.0004). Conclusions: These results confirm the findings of previous studies of the effect of rapid maxillary expansion on the maxilla. Additionally, we found that only the cross-sectional area of the upper airway at the posterior nasal spine to basion level significantly gains a moderate increase after rapid maxillary expansion

Crafting Up a Narrative: An Ethnographic Study of Fair Trade Marketing Practices and the Representation of Female Handicraft Producers

Unlike the exploitative supply chains that exist under neoliberal globalization, where the social conditions of their supply chain are largely hidden; fair trade attempts to reveal the conditions of their supply chains through transparent marketing practices. Transparency is often presented in the form of storytelling wherein fair trade organizations (FTOs) reveal intimate details of the artisans they partner with to educate consumers on the interrelations of their product supply chains. I wanted to explore the implications of sharing artisan stories to further sales of the handicrafts they produced. How does sharing intimate stories of artisans formulate the perceptions Western consumers have upon artisan communities and the regions or countries in which they live? Further, how does storytelling play a role in Western consumers’ decisions to purchase handicrafts? I analyzed the marketing materials and interviewed participants from four FTOs: Ti-a Woven Goods, Fair Anita, Zeal living, and Ten Thousand Villages. My goal was to gain insight into how they incorporated storytelling, primarily through digital marketing, as a means of educating consumers

A Qualitative Phenomenological Exploration of the Experiences of Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease Engaged in a Boxing Program

Boxing has emerged as a beneficial form of physical activity (PA) for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Research typically emphasizes the physical benefits of boxing for individuals with PD but neglects other aspects that could promote long-term engagement in such programs. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of individuals with PD who are engaged in a boxing program. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was utilized. Twelve participants took part in a semi-structured interview. Data were thematically analyzed. Analysis revealed that participants experienced a variety of physical, social, and psychological aspects. Findings suggest that participants perceived increases in physical abilities and concentration through prolonged engagement in the program and social support upon recently joining the program. Other themes were also uncovered such as coming out of isolation, relatedness, escapism, and sense of accomplishment. The knowledge generated from this study can be valuable for health professionals seeking to design and implement specialized PA programs to improve the health of individuals with PD

Rape Culture

https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/feminist_zines/1047/thumbnail.jp

Translation and Translanguaging in Production and Performance in Community Arts

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation of the processes involved in producing a collaborative piece of street arts theatre. It addresses a current shift in theories of dynamic multilingualism, specifically translanguaging, towards the multimodal and the embodied. It asks how people make meaning across languages, cultures and practices. It also asks how people make meaning and perform meaning across spaces and places, about the resources they have and use, and how these resources are drawn on in multiple ways to make and perform meaning. By taking the theatre of the street as its central concern, this research informs current understandings of multilingual and multimodal communication in arts-based settings. The findings extend theoretical understandings of translanguaging and further develop empirically grounded knowledge about how people communicate when developing a shared project. A range of research approaches was adopted for this study, including linguistic ethnography, visual ethnography and sensory ethnography. The research focuses on the trans-semiotisation of a story – a thread - as it undergoes a series of transformations during the production process to become, in its final incarnation, a performance in the street. In focusing on collaborative street arts, it raises theoretical questions around the extent to which the concept of translanguaging can encompass the multimodal and the embodied. It also addresses a need for innovative approaches to understanding communication in transdisciplinary projects. Its findings are relevant across disciplines and sectors, including for cross-sector arts-based project settings, for street arts practitioners, and for arts-informed pedagogy and community arts. Methodologically, this study illustrates and evidences the centrality of ethnography as an approach to understanding communication across spaces and places. In particular, it highlights the role of short, intensive periods of ethnographic study within the context of a wider commitment to collaborative working and the insights made possible through this way of working

Improving Medical Research in the United Kingdom

Peer reviewedPublisher PD