Dissertations / Theses: 'Computers and women'

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Sterenberg, Gladys Yvonne, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. "Women and computers : the feminine mystaque." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2000, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/142.

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Recent Canadian statistics have shown a dramatic decrease in women enrolling in computer science courses at the university level. This study presents quantitative and qualitative research that forms a profile of the family background, schooling experiences and personal characteristics of women who are successful computer science students at this level. Forty-five male and female technology students were surveyed to determine emerging gender differences and 4 females were interviewed. Contrary to previous studies, the lack of early and extensive computer experience did not limit these women. Recommendations for increasing female participation in computer culture include providing parents, teachers, and students with career information and improving critical problem solving skills in math instruction.
ix, 172 leaves ; 28 cm.

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Hazzard, Catherine. "Women and information technology /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2001. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe16195.pdf.

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Geigner, Charles L. Hines Edward R. "Women and occupational choice a comparison of women in computing to women in a traditional female occupation /." Normal, Ill. Illinois State University, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ilstu/fullcit?p3064481.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2001.
Title from title page screen, viewed April 6, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Edward R. Hines (chair), Galen B. Crow, Mohamed Nurawaleh, David A. Strand, William L. Tolone. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-144) and abstract. Also available in print.

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MacGregor, Fiona M. "Agents of change : women creating web pages /." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape10/PQDD_0019/MQ54934.pdf.

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Kilpin, Carrie. "Beyond the digital diva: women on the World Wide Web." Thesis, Kilpin, Carrie (2004) Beyond the digital diva: women on the World Wide Web. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2004. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/130/.

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In the year 2000, American researchers reported that women constituted 51 percent of Internet users. This was a significant discovery, as throughout the medium's history, women were outnumbered by men as both users and builders of sites. This thesis probes not only this historical moment of change, but how women are mobilising the World Wide Web in their work, leisure and lives. Not considered in the '51% of American women now online' headline is the lack of women engaged in Web building rather than Web shopping. In technical fields relating to the Web, women are outnumbered and marginalized, being poorly represented in computer-related college and university courses, in careers in computer science and computer programming, and also in digital policy. This thesis identifies the causes for the low number of women in these spheres. I consider the social and cultural reasons for their exclusion and explore the discourses which operate to discourage women's participation. My original contribution to knowledge is forged as much through how this thesis is written as by the words and footnotes that graze these pages. With strong attention to methodology in Web-based research, I gather a plurality of women's voices and experiences of under-confidence, humiliation and fear. Continuing the initiatives of Dale Spender's Nattering on the Net, I research women's use of the Web in placing a voice behind the statistics. I also offer strategies for digital intervention, without easy platitudes to the 'potential' for women in the knowledge economy or through Creative Industries strategies. The chapters of this thesis examine the contexts in which exclusionary attitudes are created and perpetuated. No technology is self-standing: we gain information about 'new' technologies from the old. I investigate representations and mediations of women's relationship to the Web in fields including the media, the workplace, fiction, the Creative Industries and educational institutions. For example, the media is complicit in causing women to doubt their technological capabilities. The images and ideologies of women in film, newspapers and magazines that present computer and Web usage are often discriminatory and derogatory. I also found in educational institutions that patriarchal attitudes privilege men, and discourage female students' interest in digital technologies. I interviewed high school and university students and found that the cultural values embedded within curricula discriminate against women. Limitations in Web-based learning were also discovered. In discussing the cultural and social foundations for women's absence or under-confidence in technological fields, I engage with many theories from a prominent digital academic: Dale Spender. In her book Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace, Spender's outlook is admonitory. She believes that unless women acquire a level of technological capital equal to their male counterparts, women will continue to be marginalised as new political and social ideologies develop. She believes women's digital education must occur as soon as possible. While I welcome her arguments, I also found that Spender did not address the confluence between the analogue and the digital. She did not explore how the old media is shaping the new. While Spender's research focused on the Internet, I ponder her theses in the context of the World Wide Web. In order to intervene in the patriarchal paradigm, to move women beyond digital shoppers and into builders of the digital world, I have created a website (included on CD-ROM) to accompany this thesis's arguments. It presents links to many sites on the Web to demonstrate how women are challenging the masculine inscriptions of digital technology. Although the website is created to interact directly with Chapter Three, its content is applicable to all parts of the thesis. This thesis is situated between cultural studies and internet studies. This interdisciplinary dialogue has proved beneficial, allowing socio-technical research to resonate with wider political applications. The importance of intervention - and the need for change - has guided my words. Throughout the research and writing process of this thesis, organisations have released reports claiming gender equity on the Web. My task is to capture the voice, views and fears of the women behind these statistics.

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Kilpin, Carrie. "Beyond the digital diva women on the World Wide Web /." Kilpin, Carrie (2004) Beyond the digital diva: women on the World Wide Web. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2004. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/130/.

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In the year 2000, American researchers reported that women constituted 51 percent of Internet users. This was a significant discovery, as throughout the medium's history, women were outnumbered by men as both users and builders of sites. This thesis probes not only this historical moment of change, but how women are mobilising the World Wide Web in their work, leisure and lives. Not considered in the '51% of American women now online' headline is the lack of women engaged in Web building rather than Web shopping. In technical fields relating to the Web, women are outnumbered and marginalized, being poorly represented in computer-related college and university courses, in careers in computer science and computer programming, and also in digital policy. This thesis identifies the causes for the low number of women in these spheres. I consider the social and cultural reasons for their exclusion and explore the discourses which operate to discourage women's participation. My original contribution to knowledge is forged as much through how this thesis is written as by the words and footnotes that graze these pages. With strong attention to methodology in Web-based research, I gather a plurality of women's voices and experiences of under-confidence, humiliation and fear. Continuing the initiatives of Dale Spender's Nattering on the Net, I research women's use of the Web in placing a voice behind the statistics. I also offer strategies for digital intervention, without easy platitudes to the 'potential' for women in the knowledge economy or through Creative Industries strategies. The chapters of this thesis examine the contexts in which exclusionary attitudes are created and perpetuated. No technology is self-standing: we gain information about 'new' technologies from the old. I investigate representations and mediations of women's relationship to the Web in fields including the media, the workplace, fiction, the Creative Industries and educational institutions. For example, the media is complicit in causing women to doubt their technological capabilities. The images and ideologies of women in film, newspapers and magazines that present computer and Web usage are often discriminatory and derogatory. I also found in educational institutions that patriarchal attitudes privilege men, and discourage female students' interest in digital technologies. I interviewed high school and university students and found that the cultural values embedded within curricula discriminate against women. Limitations in Web-based learning were also discovered. In discussing the cultural and social foundations for women's absence or under-confidence in technological fields, I engage with many theories from a prominent digital academic: Dale Spender. In her book Nattering on the Net: Women, Power and Cyberspace, Spender's outlook is admonitory. She believes that unless women acquire a level of technological capital equal to their male counterparts, women will continue to be marginalised as new political and social ideologies develop. She believes women's digital education must occur as soon as possible. While I welcome her arguments, I also found that Spender did not address the confluence between the analogue and the digital. She did not explore how the old media is shaping the new. While Spender's research focused on the Internet, I ponder her theses in the context of the World Wide Web. In order to intervene in the patriarchal paradigm, to move women beyond digital shoppers and into builders of the digital world, I have created a website (included on CD-ROM) to accompany this thesis's arguments. It presents links to many sites on the Web to demonstrate how women are challenging the masculine inscriptions of digital technology. Although the website is created to interact directly with Chapter Three, its content is applicable to all parts of the thesis. This thesis is situated between cultural studies and internet studies. This interdisciplinary dialogue has proved beneficial, allowing socio-technical research to resonate with wider political applications. The importance of intervention - and the need for change - has guided my words. Throughout the research and writing process of this thesis, organisations have released reports claiming gender equity on the Web. My task is to capture the voice, views and fears of the women behind these statistics.

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Carr, Marian. "Looking at the video/computer games industry : what implications does gender socialisation have for women in counter-stereotypical careers?" Thesis, University of Huddersfield, 2015. http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/28330/.

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Figures show that the games industry remains a male dominated occupation. Anecdotally a link has been proposed between higher male consumption of platform-based games and career choices, though figures also show a higher female to male ratio in social networking games. This suggests that perhaps the type of gameplay may influence career choice. This study therefore interviews women who have chosen a counter-stereotypical gendered career pathway and who are students in Further Education and Higher Education who are in the process of making career choices, to understand better a potential link between gameplay and career choice. The key findings relate to the positive emotive language utilised by the participants, a suggested link between gameplay, the concept of a 'gamer' and the choice of the games industry as a career, and serious concerns of abusive online gaming behaviour experienced by females. By adopting a subtle realist approach this study found a strong emotive view of games and the games development courses created a quantifiable link to a career. A high level of identifiable traits, traditionally considered both masculine and feminine, suggested that an outmoded view of gender stereotypes also appeared to negatively affect career choice. From the findings further research is suggested in relation to experiences of females both within the industry and at secondary school. At a wider level this study suggests both games courses and the industry would benefit from incorporating both traditionally masculine and feminine traits as part of developing more effective and inclusive recruitment strategies. Finally further research is proposed regarding how games and the gaming community relate to females both as characters and as players.

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Sader, Jennifer Lynn. "Beyond the First “Click:” Women Graduate Students in Computer Science." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1194040578.

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Andrew, Monica, and n/a. "The internet experiences of women living in rural and regional Australia." University of Canberra. Professional Communication, 2004. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060410.122445.

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This study explores the internet experiences of women living in rural and regional Australia, their motives for internet uptake and use, the benefits they gain from using the internet, the difficulties they encounter in using the internet and whether the benefits are affected by technical factors, such as computer equipment and telecommunication infrastructure, availability of opportunities for developing online skills, and perceptions of the internet. Data was collected via an email snowball technique to contact women living in rural and regional Australia, resulting in participation by 40 women from throughout rural and regional areas. The research drew on the literature of internet research and media uses-and-gratifications. Although the internet is a relatively new communication technology, it has attracted a large amount of scholarly interest. However, there has been little research into internet use by individual populations. Women living in rural and regional areas of Australia experience geographical and social isolation, with limited access to goods, services and information, and could be expected, therefore, to gain significant benefits from use of the internet. However, the potential benefits of the internet could be offset by difficulties with internet use in rural and regional areas. A narrative approach was used to determine the motives for internet use by women living in rural and regional Australia, the benefits they gain from using the internet, the difficulties they encounter in using it and whether the difficulties affect the benefits they gain from internet use. The research findings show that, more than anything else, women living in rural and regional Australia use the internet to build and maintain relationships, including keeping in touch with family and friends, re-connecting with friends for the past and making new friends online. They also use the internet to facilitate involvement in community organisations, to contribute to social issues at the national, state and local level and to participate in community projects and events. In addition, women living in rural and regional Australia use the internet to undertake business and education related activities, pursue personal interests, seek emotional support and undertake practical tasks, such as finding and disseminating information, banking and shopping. However, the many benefits of the internet are offset to some extent by the many frustrations encountered in using it, particularly in regard to technical factors and developing online skills. Spam mail and viruses also cause considerable inconvenience.

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Brown, Sarah. "Providing Informational Support to HIV+ Women in a Virtual Environment: A Case Study Comparing the Effects of Virtual Reality and Paper Media for Content Delivery." Thesis, University of Cape Town, 2008. http://pubs.cs.uct.ac.za/archive/00000608/.

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South Africa has one of the highest HIV+ prevalence rates in the world [1]. Furthermore, social support is beneficial to HIV+ people. Informational support is a type of social support which is used to increase one’s knowledge base [2]. Hayes et al. state that informational support is especially beneficial for those in the early stages of HIV infection [3]. Computer technologies have been used successfully in providing informational support to their users. However, virtual reality (VR) is a relatively unexplored technology in South Africa, and we feel it is a highly appropriate medium for a context where users have little or no prior computing experience. Traditionally, computer interfaces require users to have a learned skillset, but a VR interface does not necessarily require this as it maps more directly to users’ natural interaction techniques with the real world. A key benefit of a virtual environment (VE) is the interactivity and user involvement that it offers through a high degree of navigation and interaction with objects [4]. VR may, initially, seem to be an expensive technology to use in a developing country but it is possible to make use of desktop VR on a consumer-grade PC relatively affordably. This dissertation presents a comparison of the effects of two media, VR and paper (i.e. pamphlets) in communicating supportive information to an HIV+ sample group. We created a VE to provide social and informational support for HIV+ people in the South African context. The design of the VE placed emphasis on creating a typically South African space which users could recognize and find familiar. Our research focused on two rooms containing virtual agents and points of possible interaction: the lounge and the kitchen. In the lounge, a HIV/Aids support group was simulated while the kitchen contained two areas which presented nutritional informational support: Diet and Cleanliness & Hygiene. We conducted a pre- post-test study with 22 HIV+ women at two clinics in Cape Town. Participants were randomly assigned into one of three groups. One group experienced the informational VE (VE), one group received information pamphlets (Text), the control group who received no information until the end of the study (Ctrl). Participants attended three experiment meetings over a five week period. Participants completed two 3-day food diaries and completed questionnaires that provided measurement for two sets of variables: Food Safety Behaviours (a measure of knowledge of correct food and water safety practices to prevent food-borne illnesses) and Dietary Quality (measure of the diet quality – in terms of quantity, variety, water intake and vitamin supplements, as well as specific food items for the prevention of stomach ailments, a common complaint of HIV infection). While we found no differences between the Text and Ctrl groups, the VE group showed a significant improvement in consuming two (of three) specific food items recommended for the prevention of stomach complaints. This is a particularly striking result given that more than half the participants stated that they routinely did not have enough money to buy food let alone specific healthy foods. The area that contained the information related to stomach complaints was the last imagery experienced by all VE participants. That it was the only area that showed improvement highlights how careful VE authors should be in choosing the actual content for the environment, as well as how that content is delivered. Despite very minimal computing experience and only short training sessions, all participants mentioned that they found the VE easy to use and enjoyed their experience of it. Our results show that VR can indeed be used to deliver informational content to HIV+ women in South Africa.

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Thorstensson, Beata, and Tina Eriksson. "The Use of Communication Tools for Small-Scale Businesswomen in Tuticorin Region South East India - Barriers and Enabling Factors." Thesis, Uppsala University, Department of Business Studies, 2009. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-121787.

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India is often considered to be a high tech country; however there are substantial differences in both adaptation and use of new technology between urban and rural areas. Many times women are excluded from the technological development due to social norms and traditions. The use of cell phones in India has increased profoundly in recent years; meanwhile the use of computers spreads at a much lower rate. Still the women are not making full use of these new communication technologies.

In order to investigate this, a field study in Tuticorin area in South East India was conducted, where interviews with small-scale businesswomen were carried out. The purpose of this degree project is to investigate the current use of Information and Communication Technologies, ICT, among women in the area in order to assess the value of cell phones and identify barriers for the use of computers as communication tools.

The empirical findings show that the four women mainly studied, all used cell phones within their businesses, but to different extents. Using the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group’s network theory and the resource based 4R-model, we have analysed the current use cell phones as well as barriers and enabling factors for the use of communication technologies. The main barrier for the cell phone use is the ownership issue, limiting the women’s access. For cell phones, low prices and accessible knowledge enable the spread and use, whereas the same factors can create barriers for the use of computers.

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Almjeld, Jennifer Marie. "The Girls of MySpace: New Media as Gendered Literacy Practice and Identity Construction." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1212610595.

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Anderson, Kathleen J. "Women and computer mediated conferencing." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0004/MQ34446.pdf.

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Prottsman, Christie Lee Lili. "Computational Thinking and Women in Computer Science." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/11485.

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x, 40 p. : col. ill.
Though the first computer programmers were female, women currently make up only a quarter of the computing industry. This lack of diversity jeopardizes technical innovation, creativity and profitability. As demand for talented computing professionals grows, both academia and industry are seeking ways to reach out to groups of individuals who are underrepresented in computer science, the largest of which is women. Women are most likely to succeed in computer science when they are introduced to computing concepts as children and are exposed over a long period of time. In this paper I show that computational thinking (the art of abstraction and automation) can be introduced earlier than has been demonstrated before. Building on ideas being developed for the state of California, I have created an entertaining and engaging educational software prototype that makes primary concepts accessible down to the third grade level.
Committee in charge: Michal Young, Chairperson; Joanna Goode, Member

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Sader, Jennifer L. "Beyond the first "click" women graduate students in computer science /." Bowling Green, Ohio : Bowling Green State University, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=bgsu1194040578.

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Knickerbocker, Abby (Abby Anne) 1975. "Women in computer science : problems and solutions through technology." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1998. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/80086.

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Thesis (M.Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, February 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-109).
by Abby Knickerbocker.
M.Eng.

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Condron, Linda S. "Tales of women in science and technology : how women computer scientists in engineering environments experience their professions /." The Ohio State University, 1997. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu148794815862573.

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Ochwa-Echel, James R. "Gender gap in computer science education : experiences of women in Uganda /." View abstract, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3191711.

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Hrabe, David Paul. "Relationship development among chronically ill women in a computer-mediated environment." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/280117.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the stages and processes of relationship development in a computer-mediated support group. Using grounded theory methodology, a secondary data analysis was conducted of 22 weeks of textual message exchanges among 15 chronically ill women. The study's outcome is a new middle range theory, Connecting in Cyberspace. This theoretical framework is the first attempt to describe the processes and phases of a computer-mediated support group and is intended as a beginning guide for nursing practice in an electronic environment. Orienting is defined as the start-up period in which members experience techno-uncertainty and unsettled impressions of fellow group members. The next stage, Intensifying, evolves from orienting and represents overcoming the uncertainty of phase one. It is heralded by high messaging activity fueled by the novelty of communicating in a new environment and the ability to connect with others in similar situations. As Intensifying's excitement fades, the group enters a settling and blending period termed Integrating. Integration's focus is the group's work to support one another, share life events and suggest coping alternatives. In the Concluding phase, the group's task is to transition away from the official group experience and to determine what contact they will have with one another afterward. Six relationship processes were identified in the data. Maintaining is the process by which participants sustained functioning of the group. Committing, an affiliative process, involves giving back to the group, entrusting the group with significant personal information, providing explanations or updates about one's participation or situation and extending oneself to group members. Maintaining and Committing followed similar trajectories as they peaked in weeks three through six, then gradually declined until the group's termination. The secondary processes support functioning of the primary processes and remained constant throughout the operation of the group. Initiating is the process by which participants commence messages to each other while Responding processes are communication that reply to previous messages. Grouping is the participants' identification with the group. Terminating comments are expressions of appreciation and saying goodbye that function to transition members away from the group.

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Strong, Cynthia D. "Addressing the gender gap : teaching preadolescent girls computer networking concepts /." Online version of thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/12239.

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Keinan, Eliana. "A New Frontier: But for Whom? An Analysis of the Micro-Computer and Women’s Declining Participation in Computer Science." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2017. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1466.

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Though women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields has greatly increased over the past 60 years, women’s participation in computer science peaked in the 1980s. The paper searches for key motivators for women entering computer science at the peak in order to isolate factors for the subsequent steep decline. A major finding of the paper is that having a computer at home is (weakly) statistically significant as a determinant for female students choosing to pursue computer science. This relationship is insignificant for students in other STEM and non-STEM fields. A final section of the paper examines employment in computing. There is some support to suggest that early exposure to computing is correlated with individuals, both male and female, subsequently using a computer at work.

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Salminen-Karlsson, Minna. "Bringing women into computer engineering : curriculum reform processes at two institutes of technology /." Linköping : Univ, 1999. http://www.bibl.liu.se/liupubl/disp/disp99/ipp60s.htm.

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Liu, Helen. "Women in Computer Science: A Pseudo-Cohort Analysis of the Technology Industry's Gender Gap." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/781.

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Labor economists have persistently observed a gender gap in both wages and employment within the STEM fields. The prevalence of sexism and the lack of female representation within the technology industry, in particular, has recently been the subject of much media attention. This study seeks to determine the extent of the wage and employment gender gap in this field by examining the labor market outcomes of people who graduated college with a degree in computer science. Using data from the American Community Survey (2009-2011), I compare the aforementioned gender gaps among people with a computer science degree to those among people with a male-dominated, female-dominated, or gender-mixed degree. I also attempt to ascertain if there is an age cohort effect on these gender gaps. I find that, for almost all labor market outcomes, the gender gap among those with a computer science degree is smaller than the gender gap among those with another degree. Furthermore, I find that the gender disparity for those with a computer science degree improves across age cohorts. I thus conclude that women who choose to pursue a degree in computer science actually experience greater equality in terms of wages and employment relative to women who choose to pursue a degree in another area of study. This may be attributed to the high workplace flexibility offered to those working in computer science occupations.

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Naughton, Felix Mark Edward. "Development and feasibility evaluation of a computer-tailored smoking cessation intervention for pregnant women." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.608856.

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Moorcroft, Karen. "Equity among male and female engineers." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26695.

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The following research used data from the SSE to determine whether socialization or discrimination can explain the lower status of female engineers, compared to men. It was learned that female engineers with children are as committed to their careers as childless female engineers. Moreover, there is no difference in income or job status between these two groups. There is also no significant difference in income between male and female engineers when controlling for employment status, degree, job status and experience. However, female engineers are not found in management positions as often as their male colleagues, even after controlling for experience. This lower job status, in turn, affects the women's incomes. A reason for the lower status of female engineers is likely due to engineering being very male-dominated. No such difference in job status exists in the field of computer science, where the proportion of women is much higher.

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Böhm, Cornelia. "What Women Want : Designing an education material about the female genitals for young women." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-149825.

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Many women have negative feelings towards their genitals, and studies show that this may be due to misconceptions about how normal vaginas look and work. This study aimed to create a prototype for an education material about the female genitals, focusing on the information needs of women between the ages of 18-30. To do this, user research was conducted in the form of two semi-structured interviews and a survey of 112 participants. The result showed that young women wanted more information about various things, such as the menstrual cycle, hormones, diseases and hygiene. The survey also revealed that several of the participants had low faith in the female health care, and that many of them had avoided going to the gynaecologist at least once when they had experienced genital problems. Most women had at least one worry about their genitals, which could be anything from pain, fear of not being able to have children or not looking according to the norm. This was incorporated in a paper prototype of a suggested education website about the female genitals. As many women experienced negative feelings towards their genitals, this is an important area to keep investigating, to further increase genital health and wellbeing.
Är jag normal?

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Betar, Nagat Ali. "Computer use as a social activity : a study involving Libyan women living away from their home country." Thesis, Manchester Metropolitan University, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.555827.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate displacement and the migrant experience, particularly in relation to the under-researched area of middle class migration, and the role of the computer in sustaining relationships at a distance. The participants were a group of elite Libyan women who lived with their husbands and children in North Manchester were the focus of the study. The focus of the study was centred on showing how these Libyan women used home computing and the internet as a social tool. A qualitative research methodology was utilised in this study. The data consisted of exploratory semi-structured interviews with a Libyan mother and her daughter, and a series of group discussions collected from Al Lamma gatherings (women's social gatherings) which were attended by Libyan women of different backgrounds. The use of Al Lamma gatherings provided a culturally appropriate setting in which the women were able to express their views more freely than might have been the case in more traditional research settings such as group interviews or focus groups. The women's group discussion transcripts were translated from spoken Libyan Arabic into English. Participant- observation field notes, reflective extracts and diary notes were also part of the research data. The analysis of the interviews and the women's group discussions revealed important issues as a result of using home computing and the internet as a social activity. Home computing was used as a vehicle for informal learning and self-development. However the women found it necessary to overcome various barriers and obstacles to their access to home computing. For instance, conflict and power relations in Libyan families in North Manchester were reflected in members' access to and use of home computers, prompting strategies such as passive resistance by the women in order to secure access to home computing and the social and leisure goods that it offers. As a result, it is suggested, home computing contributed to the empowerment of the Libyan women participants. Culture and religion also had influences on family structures, and therefore upon practices around home computing and intemet use. Further issues discussed in the study included the role of home computing in sustaining real and 'imagined' community, and the significance of engaging with virtual realities for children's development. The thesis also addressed issues related to the role of the English language in creating hierarchies of knowledge and power among researchers. The thesis identifies a need for educators and policy makers to recognize the existence of middle class migrants who have diversity of needs and identities. It is suggested that the engagement with home computing by such migrant groups could have implications for classroom teaching or designing effective courses online. The thesis identifies a need for further research on education, employment and empowerment in relation to middle class immigrant women from under-represented groups in the United Kingdom. The experience of children of immigrant families or transnational families is also identified as a topic for future research. Finally, the thesis recommends enhancing an appreciation of differences by teaching about different social arrangements and cultures in the English education system.

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Ayala, Guadalupe Xochitl. "Project SHAPE : an experimental evaluation of a group versus computer-based intervention to improve food portion size estimation skills /." Diss., Connect to a 24 p. preview or request complete full text in PDF format. Access restricted to UC campuses, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/ucsd/fullcit?p3049674.

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Georgiadou, Keratso [Verfasser]. "The Role of Computer Education in the Social Empowerment of Muslim Minority Women in Greek Thrace / Keratso Georgiadou." Frankfurt a.M. : Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2017. http://d-nb.info/1129544702/34.

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McCurdy, Eric R. "Discrimination as a Barrier to Diversity: Sexism and Microaggressions against African American Women in Computer Science and Engineering." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron158696994423105.

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Jemmali, Chaima. "May's Journey: A serious game to teach middle and high school girls programming." Digital WPI, 2016. https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-theses/455.

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Mayâ€™s Journey is a game where you help a video game character, May, finding her friend and repairing the broken game world. This is a 3D puzzle game in which players solve an environmental maze by using the gameâ€™s pseudo code to manipulate the environment. The game is aimed at 12 to 18-year-old girls and the purpose is to attract them into Computer Science fields by teaching them basics of programming by focusing on logics and concepts while still asking them to type simple instructions in our programming language. Players do this in a compelling environment, with characters they can identify with,embedded in a relevant story. Our design process was based on our research on young female preferences in games and current teaching techniques for programming.Each decision we made whether for the teaching content, the art style, or the game mechanics and the techniques used to develop this game are motivated by the goal of making programming more appealing and interesting for girls. For this, we developed our own pseudo-code language in order to provide an interface that bridges the gap between drag and drop approach and real programming and introduce typing as part of the experience. We tested our game with 10 teenagers aged from 14 to 17 years old for educational content. We were pleased to see how engaged with the game they were. Overall, the testing results were mostly as expected. The players liked the game (rated 4.8 out of 6) and all of them wanted to play more of it. They all felt that they learned something and 8 of them expressed the will to learn more about programming. Unfortunately, the sample of players is too small to generalize our results so we plan to take the feedback into account, iterate and test it again with a larger study group and get conclusive results. Working on this project has allowed us to understand the importance of iterative design and early playtest feedback. We have also learned the importance of tutorials in games and how that might completely change the usersâ€™ experience. Finally, a crucial point was the importance of the UI helpers and targeted feedback in serious games.

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Matthys, Joel W. "Physica, a Composition for Women ´s Choir and Live Electronics." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1367938890.

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Johnson, Michelle. "Recruiting and retaining women into the Management Information Systems and Computer Science majors at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire." Menomonie, WI : University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. http://www.uwstout.edu/lib/thesis/2004/2004johnsonm.pdf.

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Frieson, Krystal. "Saving Our Sisters: Effects of a Computer-Based Version of SISTA on the HIV-Related Behaviors of African American Women." UKnowledge, 2015. http://uknowledge.uky.edu/edp_etds/29.

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are infectious diseases wreaking irreparable havoc on the lives of millions all around the world. Of those infected and affected by HIV in the United States, African Americans disproportionately bear the burden of this disease, which has resulted in a major crisis within the African American community. In 2010, African Americans accounted for approximately 44% of all new HIV infections among adolescents, 13 years of age and older, and adults [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012). These statistics become even more dismal when both race and gender enter the equation. In regards to global HIV/AIDS, the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age is AIDS-related illnesses (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], 2012). According to the CDC (2012), 64% of estimated new HIV infections in women in the United States in 2010 were in African Americans. This study examined the effectiveness of increasing protective HIV behaviors through the use of the SAHARA program, a computer-based, gender-specific and culturally appropriate HIV behavioral intervention program. More specifically, the SAHARA intervention was created to encourage consistent condom use during penetrative vaginal sex through mediating components of the intervention such as HIV knowledge, condom use self-efficacy, barriers to condom use, and frequency of partner communication for a population of African American women living in areas of Kentucky and Georgia. Convenience sampling was used to recruit participants from college campuses and community areas. Fifty-two African American female study participants completed surveys through the use of a quasi-experimental non-randomized pretest-posttest design. Significant group differences were observed for scores on STD/HIV Risk Behavior Knowledge and Condom Barrier Scale. Results suggest that the SAHARA prevention intervention produced clinically significant changes in STD/HIV knowledge and perception of condom barriers in the SAHARA group compared to the control group.

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Maddrey, Elizabeth. "The Effect of Problem-Solving Instruction on the Programming Self-Efficacy and Achievement of Introductory Computer Science Students." NSUWorks, 2011. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/224.

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Research in academia and industry continues to identify a decline in enrollment in computer science. One major component of this decline in enrollment is a shortage of female students. The primary reasons for the gender gap presented in the research include lack of computer experience prior to their first year in college, misconceptions about the field, negative cultural stereotypes, lack of female mentors and role models, subtle discriminations in the classroom, and lack of self-confidence (Pollock, McCoy, Carberry, Hundigopal, & You, 2004). Male students are also leaving the field due to misconceptions about the field, negative cultural stereotypes, and a lack of self-confidence. Analysis of first year attrition revealed that one of the major challenges faced by students of both genders is a lack of problem-solving skills (Beaubouef, Lucas & Howatt, 2001; Olsen, 2005; Paxton & Mumey, 2001). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether specific, non-mathematical problem-solving instruction as part of introductory programming courses significantly increased computer programming self-efficacy and achievement of students. The results of this study showed that students in the experimental group had significantly higher achievement than students in the control group. While this shows statistical significance, due to the effect size and disordinal nature of the data between groups, care has to be taken in its interpretation. The study did not show significantly higher programming self-efficacy among the experimental students. There was not enough data collected to statistically analyze the effect of the treatment on self-efficacy and achievement by gender. However, differences in means were observed between the gender groups, with females in the experimental group demonstrating a higher than average degree of self-efficacy when compared with males in the experimental group and both genders in the control group. These results suggest that the treatment from this study may provide a gender-based increase in self-efficacy and future research should focus on exploring this possibility.

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Wirman, Hanna Elina. "Playing the Sims 2 : constructing and negotiating woman computer game player identities through the practice of skinning." Thesis, University of the West of England, Bristol, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.557152.

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Despite some remarkable shifts in gender demographics of game players during the last decade, computer games remain male-gendered media. Engagement in such a culture, this work suggests, is characterised by confusion and incoherence for women players who are simultaneously taking part in male dominated leisure which marginalises them and a society which assumes gender equality as an acquired right. Small-scale ethnography tied together with an analysis of concurrent cultural discourses and the game system's characteristics allows a deep analysis of the construction of identities that conflict with the naturalised idea of a player. The Sims 2 (2004) computer game sets out a unique case for a study of women's player identities because it is both exceptionally popular among women and individuated by a theme and a structure that are understood as 'feminine'. Furthermore, a group of women players whose engagement with the game is characterised by creation and sharing of new and altered game content, the skinning of it, appears interesting since the women skinners resist traditional gender roles by taking active, productive positions towards the game. This work's original contribution to knowledge is in offering a nuanced view of female game playing which resists easy assimilation to some of the dominant concepts recently in play within the field of study, such as political resistance in the form of game content appropriation and female empowerment through video game play. While skinners seem to have a possibility to change a game that results from a male-dominated game development culture, their skinning is fundamentally facilitated and invited by the game they play. Such practice therefore appears different from the 'high' forms of subversive user-participation that are typically cherished in the studies of media use. Consecutively, the approach in this thesis questions the straightforwardly embracing undertone of the current Web 2.0 'buzz' that claims democratisation of media production. The Sims 2 skinning offers an example of a productive practice that does not go beyond what we understand as gameplay, but demands revisiting the very notion of gameplay itself.

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Shade, Leslie Regan 1957. "Gender and community in the social constitution of the internet." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34451.

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This thesis has a three-fold goal: (1) it aims to contribute to studies which analyze the gender dimension in social shaping studies of technology; (2) in its emphasis on the Internet and the new information infrastructure it is a complement to the literature in communication studies on the gendering of communication technologies; and (3) it adds to emergent theories of virtual communities by positing how gendered practices and gender-related activities have influenced the emergence of social policy mores in the evolving information infrastructure.
In emphasizing the social factors that shape technological change the thesis departs from dominant approaches towards technology that typically study the "affects" or "impact" of technology on society. This thesis similarly responds to the gender-perspective gap that exists in sociotechnical studies, and enlarges the scope of gender studies through its consideration of emergent information and communication technologies, notably the Internet. How the social mores of virtual communities have been influenced and affected by and through a consideration of gender and gendered practices on the Internet forms a core component of the thesis, based upon case studies.
As this thesis argues, new information and communication technologies must be considered in relation to other communication technologies, as well as in relation to the social context in which they are designed, developed and used, including the often unarticulated social assumptions of various groups, and the unanticipated consequences of the new information infrastructure. In this sense, social scientists are now at a key turning point in their explorations of new information and communication technologies.
This thesis should be of significance to communication scholars interested in the history and theory of gender and communication technologies; social historians of technology, and feminist scholars, with an interest in a gendered perspective on new communication technologies; and public policy officials interested in how different groups of individuals will interact with, influence, and be affected by new communication and information technologies.

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Pau, Reena. "Experiential factors which influence how female students perceive computing and computing careers at different stages in their education." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2009. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/159613/.

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The declining numbers of women in computing is a cause for concern for those in education and the IT industry alike. The need for a diverse workforce is necessary in order to have a creative balance in the IT Industry. The reasons for this decline are varied and can be attributed to factors such as the media, schooling or parental influences. This thesis specifically investigates how young people experience computers both in school and out of school, and how this influences the way in which they perceive the IT industry as well as its impact on career decisions. Questionnaires were used to provide statistical outcomes, and interviews were conducted to probe deeper into the thoughts and feelings of GCSE level, A-level and degree-level male and female participants. It was clear from the results of the study that both male and female students have very different experiences of computing, which inform their perceptions of the IT industry, whilst role models, such as parents, influence career decisions. It was clear that where female students had a positive and exploratory experience of computers and positive role models, they were more likely to consider computing as a career. It was also significant that out of school experiences, which differed between the genders, proved to be the most influential.

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Navarro, Sainz Adriana G. "An Exploratory Study: Personal Digital Technologies For Stress Care in Women." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1543579225538012.

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Lev, Eimi. "Googling While Expecting: Internet Use by Israeli Women during Pregnancy." View abstract, 2009. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3371586.

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deNoyelles, Aimee M. "Learning between worlds: Experiences of women college students in a virtual world." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1307323208.

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Barrett, Ashley K. Schlueter David W. "Gender, computer-mediated leadership, and the utilization of disciplinary measures breaking the unequal distribution of power and social stereotypes that invade face-to-face communication /." Waco, Tex. : Baylor University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2104/5316.

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Yu, Bo. "Damage characterisation of 3D woven glass-fibre reinforced composites under fatigue loading using X-ray computed tomography." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/damage-characterisation-of-3d-woven-glassfibrereinforced-composites-under-fatigue-loading-using-xraycomputed-tomography(e4d6ee91-e3f5-4b33-b9e7-4367cbbfcf0c).html.

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In the advanced polymer composites reinforced by 3D woven fibre architectures, tows areinterlaced into through-thickness direction to overcome the problems encountered in theapplications of traditional 2D laminates, such as poor interlaminar toughness anddelamination resistance. The understanding of the influence of fibre architectures on thefatigue performance of 3D woven composites is essential in providing guide for the designof fibre architecture. This PhD project is an in-depth study into the fatigue damagemechanisms of 3D woven composites reinforced by two kinds of fibre architectures,namely, 3D modified layer-to-layer (MLL) and 3D angle-interlocked (AI). 3D X-raycomputed tomography (CT) has been used as the main tool to non-destructively evaluateand quantify the evolution of fatigue damage, with an attempt to link macro behaviour withlocal micro (damage) microstructure. Part I is focused on a post-failure study on both typesof materials to identify their respective failure mechanism, using the combination of 2D(optical surface and SEM cross-sectional) imaging and 3D (X-ray CT) imaging. Somecharacteristic features are found in both materials: firstly, fatigue damage progresses by theinitiation of transverse cracks within weft yarns and subsequent propagation as interfacialdebonding crack until the catastrophic failure occurs in a localised area; secondly, bothmaterials display a high resistance to ultimate failure. However, a distinctive damage modeobserved in MLL composites is the extensive development of debonding cracks, whichresult in larger scale of damage (~10μm) than those in AI composites (1-2 μm). Part IIpresents an investigation of evolution of fatigue damage in 3D woven MLL compositesfollowed by an X-ray time-lapse experiment. An innovative algorithm was developed toenable automatic classification of damage, providing insight into the competition andinteraction of different damage modes. Fatigue damage is regularly distributed throughoutfatigue life, with a geometrical dependency on the repeating unit cells. Damageinteractions have been identified, indicating a high level of damage tolerance. Aquantitative analysis has been carried out to examine and compare the growth of differenttypes of damage as a function of fatigue cycles. Transverse cracks initiate at almost thebeginning the fatigue life (0.1%) and govern the growth of weft/binder debonds, but don’tcompromise fatigue life, whereas interply debonds have a large growth towards the end offatigue life and facilitate the ultimate failure. Other types of damage occurring in the resinhave a trivial effect on the fatigue life. Part III carries out a systematic study to find out thebest approach to detect the fatigue damage in the 3D AI composites. Different strategieshave been employed in each scan, including imaging the cracks with the load applied, withcontrast enhanced by phases contrast and staining. The image contrast was not effectivelyenhanced by applying phase contrast imaging, but significantly improved by staining. Withthe application of in-situ loading, the visibility of transverse cracks is highly improved,while longitudinal debonding cracks still cannot be resolved. Overall, the best approachwas found to be high resolution ROI (region of interest) scanning in combination withstaining, in terms of practical feasibility, scan time and image quality.

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Kraft, Steven M. "Characterization of the mechanical behavior of a twill dutch woven wire mesh." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2010. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/1438.

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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.
Bachelors
Engineering and Computer Science
Mechanical Engineering

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Pack, Alicia. "New Media Photographic Representations of Women`s Collegiate Volleyball: Game Faces, Action Shots, and Equipment." Scholar Commons, 2011. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/3278.

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Researchers consistently find that mainstream media often represent women athletes in stereotypical ways including trivialization, sexualization, infantilization, passivity, and utilization of camera down-angles. However, research on new media's visual representation of women athletes is still in its infancy. This study adds to the growing literature on new media's representation of women athletes and concurs with previous findings suggesting that new media might be an outlet that can counter old media gender stereotypes. This thesis used mixed methods of qualitative content analysis and photovoice in order to better understand how Big East volleyball players are represented in photographs on websites: Instances of stereotypes were few, action shots were numerous, and "extreme game faces" emerged as a new category for the visual representation of women athletes. These results might suggest that new media, specifically collegiate athletics' websites and volleyball fans, might defy traditional media's stereotypical gender representations. This thesis found that Big East women volleyball players were, overall, visually represented positively by NCAA.com, BigEast.org, Big East member schools' collegiate athletics websites, and fans of the University of South Florida's volleyball team during, and shortly after, the 2010 season.

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Mantooth, Jennifer R. "Muse as artist : selected artists past and present /." Online version of thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11227.

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Öigaard, Sandra. "Programming language & Gender." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för datavetenskap (DV), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-45707.

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Once women were the pioneers within the tech industry, but during the last decades the amount of women who choose a career within computer science has decreased rapidly. Programming languages have evolved during the last decades and because of the growing gender gap in the industry, they have done so involuntarily in the absence of women. The imbalance raises the question if the tech industry and the programming languages have been adapted for a more masculine way of developing software. A quantitative study and a literature review evaluates if there is a need for a computerlanguage developed towards women. The study comes to the conclusion that there is no need for a female inspired computer language, but the way computer languages are taught suits the male way of thinking better than the female way.

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Baek, Mi-Kyung. "Insider at border interactions of technology, language, culture, and gender in computer-mediated communication by Korean female learners of English /." Connect to this title online, 2005. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1110301321.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005.
Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 275 p. Includes bibliographical references. Abstract available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2006 Mar. 8.

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Merkes, Monika, and monika@melbpc org au. "A longer working life for Australian women of the baby boom generation? � Women�s voices and the social policy implications of an ageing female workforce." La Trobe University. School of Public Health, 2003. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au./thesis/public/adt-LTU20051103.104704.

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With an increasing proportion of older people in the Australian population and increasing health and longevity, paid work after the age of 65 years may become an option or a necessity in the future. The focus of this research is on Australian women of the baby boom generation, their working futures, and the work-retirement decision. This is explored both from the viewpoint of women and from a social policy perspective. The research draws on Considine�s model of public policy, futures studies, and Beck�s concept of risk society. The research comprises three studies. Using focus group research, Study 1 explored the views of Australian women of the baby boom generation on work after the age of 65 years. Study 2 aimed to explore current thinking on the research topic in Australia and overseas. Computer-mediated communication involving an Internet website and four scenarios for the year 2020 were used for this study. Study 3 consists of the analysis of quantitative data from the Healthy Retirement Project, focusing on attitudes towards retirement, retirement plans, and the preferred and expected age of retirement. The importance of choice and a work � life balance emerged throughout the research. Women in high-status occupations were found to be more likely to be open to the option of continuing paid work beyond age 65 than women in low-status jobs. However, the women were equally likely to embrace future volunteering. The research findings suggest that policies for an ageing female workforce should be based on the values of inclusiveness, fairness, self-determination, and social justice, and address issues of workplace flexibility, equality in the workplace, recognition for unpaid community and caring work, opportunities for life-long learning, complexity and inequities of the superannuation system, and planning for retirement. Further, providing a guaranteed minimum income for all Australians should be explored as a viable alternative to the current social security system.

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Saleh, Mohamed. "Electromechanical behaviour of three-dimensional (3D) woven composite plates." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2016. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/electromechanical-behaviour-of-threedimensional-3d-woven-composite-plates(cd06f8ef-88e0-45dd-be65-3911345212ba).html.

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Three dimensional (3D) woven composites have attracted the interest of academia and industry thanks to their damage tolerance characteristics and automated fabric manufacturing. Although much research has been conducted to investigate their out-of-plane "through thickness" properties, still their in-plane properties are not fully understood and rely on extensive experimentation. The aim of this work is to study the electromechanical behaviour of three different fibre architectures of 3D woven composites "orthogonal (ORT), layer-to-layer (LTL) and angle interlock (AI)" loaded, in three different orientations "warp (0º), weft (90º) and off-axis (45º)", in quasi-static tension. Stress/strain response is captured as well as damage initiation and evolution up to final failure. The ORT architecture demonstrated a superior behaviour, in the off-axis direction, demonstrated by high strain to failure (~23%) and high translaminar energy absorption (~40 MJ/m3). The z-binder yarns in ORT suppress delamination and allow larger fibre rotation during the fibre "scissoring motion" that enables further strain to be sustained. In-situ electrical resistance variation is monitored using a four-probe technique to correlate the resistance variation with the level of damage induced while loading. Monotonic and cyclic "load/unload" tests are performed to investigate the effect of piezo-resistivity and residual plasticity on resistance variation while damage is captured by X-ray scanning during interrupted tests at predefined load levels. In addition, this study investigates the potential of using 3D woven composites in joint assemblies through open-hole tension and "single fastener double-lap joint" bearing strength tests. 3D woven composites in the off-axis orientation, especially ORT, demonstrate a potential for overcoming some of the major challenges for composite joints' applications which are the pseudo-ductility, stress redistribution away from the notch and notch insensitivity. Finally, the study proposes a micro-mechanics based damage model to simulate the response of 3D orthogonal woven composites loaded in tension. The proposed model differs from classical damage mechanics approaches in which the evolution law is obtained by retrofitting global experimental observations.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Computers and women'

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