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This phenomenological study examined the reports of Foster Care Alumni (FCA) regarding their resilience while obtaining a postsecondary degree. According to recent estimates, there are 391,098 children in the U.S. foster care system (AFCARS, 2022, 2019; Child Trends, 2015). Foster youth are among America's most disadvantaged in terms of postsecondary education opportunities (Dworsky, 2018). Of the 10% of foster youth who enroll in college, 3% obtain a college degree (Pecora et al., 2006; Wolanin, 2005). This national study centered on the lived experiences of FCA who obtained a postsecondary degree and identified the strengths and assets that helped them thrive in postsecondary education environments. The research draws attention to postsecondary institutions that historically have not been prepared or self-critical to support students from excluded populations such as FCA. The data revealed what FCA reported regarding their personal, social, familial resiliency, and institutional safety nets while thriving in their postsecondary institutions. Addressing the educational achievement gap of FCA is a social justice issue and a national crisis. Postsecondary institutions play an important role and partnership in ameliorating barriers for FCA. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and semi-structured interviews were employed to examine what FCA reported regarding how they perceive their resilience. The findings identified four major themes: (1) supportive familial relationships, (2) dispositional traits, (3) demonstrated qualities and assets, (4) institutional deficits and norms of White privilege. The themes were rooted in FCA knowledge holders' experiences and narratives, which allowed for an extensive description of the factors related to how FCA perceived their resilience. The findings offer national insights for postsecondary institution practitioners and leaders to best support FCA from a strength-based perspective. This research contributes to a national understanding of the limited body of asset-based literature on FCA and postsecondary education opportunities. The conclusions add to our understanding of the strengths and assets that allow FCA to thrive and achieve their postsecondary aspirations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

In Catholic high schools, the positions of campus minister and theology teacher have shifted from vowed religious and clergy to the laity. The job descriptions and expectations of these positions have not changed to reflect the realities of those who hold them. Based on my own experience and anecdotes of colleagues, I have noticed a consistent theme of long work hours, low salaries, and a lack of awareness of lay ministers' life demands. Using appreciative inquiry through ethnography and reflexivity, I explore the reality of six lay ministers in Catholic high schools. Placing my own experience in conversation with that of the six interviewees, I address the following questions: What are some of the ways that institutional power can be managed to achieve a just and humane treatment of lay ministers? How can clear boundaries and expectations that are appropriate for lay ministers be drawn? And how can the role of lay ministers in Catholic educational institutions be redefined in a sustainable way? I juxtapose the interviewees' experiences with a personal hermeneutical interpretation of different church documents. These documents are at the conciliar, congregational, and local levels of the Catholic church. Through my interpretation of these institutional church documents, I shed light on gaps between expectations and realities faced by some lay ministers in Catholic high schools. I concentrate on issues regarding professional development, unjust wages, unreasonable expectations, among others. This research is meant to inspire dialogue in Catholic institutions where similar issues might be present in the hopes of addressing them and finding solutions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The purpose of this dissertation is to better understand the formative import of the relationships between adults and the young in their corresponding roles as teachers and students between the first year of kindergarten and the last grade of high school (K-12 education). My approach to this issue is twofold: First, I argue that it is imperative that educators effectively recognize the personhood of students within K-12 schools. Second, I define schools as formative communities organized for the purpose of furthering the moral growth of students. These arguments will be supported by a theoretical framework articulated around the concepts of the personhood of students, the interpersonal stance in education, moral growth, and schools as formative communities. I propose a characterization of these four interrelated concepts based on an analysis of Stephen Darwall's philosophical work on respect, dignity, and the second-person standpoint; Aristotelian virtue ethics and character education; and John Dewey's philosophy of education, especially in his conceptions of growth, community, participation, and the moral nature and aims of education. I conclude by theorizing schools as communities organized towards the fundamental purpose of fostering the moral growth of students, and argue that this purpose requires engaging students to fully participate of school life as persons. In studying some of the most basic questions about K-12 schooling from the perspective of philosophy of education, it is my intent to produce a framework that is conceptually well-grounded and clear enough to provide practical guidance for school teachers and leaders. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation observed and analyzed the experiences of five higher education students participating in a modified tabletop role-playing game (TRPG) intentionally modified for teaching adaptive leadership concepts. The study observed participants' capacity to learn the adaptive leadership concepts taught throughout the game and the ways in which participants exhibited such learning. Further, it inquired about the influence of participants' experiences with the game on their ability to identify adaptive leadership concepts outside the game. The study followed a qualitative exploratory single-case study approach. The combination of teaching strategies selected in the study aimed to construct a case that simulates what using a TRPG as a leadership pedagogical tool in a leadership undergraduate course could look like. The participants' campaign and their interactions served as the case being observed. Data collection consisted of the recorded gameplay sessions, post-game debrief sessions, rubrics recording participants meeting the game's learning objectives, analytical memos collected throughout the study, participant interviews, written reflections, and in-game assessments. The findings suggest that TRPGs can serve as adaptive leadership pedagogical tools as long as they are supported by other leadership teaching strategies, essentially acting as a space where learners can engage with the educational content and experience applying it. The study also suggests that the type of learning participants experienced was cognitive rather than embodied and that game elements such as engaging nature, co-constructed narrative, NPC interactions, guided reflection, and in-game assessments were crucial in fostering participant interaction with the game's adaptive leadership concepts. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the potential of role-playing games as instructional tools in a traditional educational setting. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore the perspectives of Mexican American fathers with children diagnosed within the context of the public school's special education system and Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. The study focused on understanding the experiences of ten Mexican American fathers to shed light on their viewpoints and address potential gaps in understanding their roles in their children's education. The research delved into fathers' perceptions of school leadership practices and the importance of their involvement in special education. Using Goffman's theory of stigma and Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study examined how these theories applied to Mexican American fathers' experiences with their autistic children. The research followed Moustakas's process for collecting and analyzing interview data, exploring two main research questions regarding Mexican American fathers' perceptions of their experiences with the special education system and the importance they attributed to their presence in their child's IEP meetings. Data was collected from interviews and analyzed using Nvivo and Microsoft Word tables. The findings emphasized the significant impact of fathers' engagement on educational plans. The emerging themes provided a structure for presenting the results, highlighting the need for increased involvement of Mexican American fathers in the special education process and active participation in IEP meetings to enhance their children's educational experiences. The recommendations underscored the importance of fostering a meaningful understanding of engagement for Mexican American fathers. The implications of limited educational experiences when fathers are not actively involved in creating an educational plan were discussed. The findings and recommendations contributed to the broader understanding of fathers' role and highlighted the significance of their active participation in the special education process. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Prions are infectious agents responsible for deadly brain diseases. They consist of scrapie prion protein (PrPSc), a misfolded variant of the plasma membrane cellular prion protein (PrPC) which self-propagates by inducing misfolding of native PrPC. One of the multiple reasons that hampers the development of effective therapies, is that prions can adopt different pathogenic conformations (strains), which can be resistant to potential drugs, or acquire drug resistance during treatment. PrPC is the precursor and the substrate for the replication of any prion strain, and therefore represents the ideal target to abrogate prion generation and propagation in a strain-independent fashion. There is ample experimental evidence available that lowering PrPC is well tolerated and highly beneficial in prion disease, suggesting that targeting PrPC could be a promising therapeutic strategy. This thesis describes Zn(II)-BnPyP, a tetracationic porphyrin that binds to distinct domains of PrPC in a metal-dependent fashion, promoting PrPC degradation while inhibiting its conversion to PrPSc. Zn(II)-BnPyP binding to a C-terminal pocket destabilises the native PrPC fold, hindering conversion to PrPSc; Zn(II)-BnPyP binding to the flexible N-terminal tail disrupts N- to C-terminal interactions, triggering PrPC endocytosis and lysosomal degradation, thus reducing the substrate for PrPSc generation. With its bimodal action on the prion precursor protein, Zn(II)-BnPyP efficiently inhibits propagation of different prion strains in vitro, in neuronal cells and organotypic brain cultures, curing prion infection. These results identify a PrPC-targeting anti-prion compound with an unprecedented mechanism of action which should evade the problem of drug resistance.

Human sensory abilities are crucial for interaction with the environment. It is known that the way we perceive the world through our senses can be improved following training. Sensory training and motor behaviour have been widely investigated, however, the direct effect of an improved sensory ability on motor behaviour is not clearly understood. In the visual domain, it has been shown that visual perception is affected by the space in which the stimuli are presented, with a better performance when stimuli are near (peripersonal space) compared to far (extrapersonal space) from our body. In the tactile domain, it has been shown that tactile training is an effective procedure to improve spatial acuity, however, there is contrasting evidence regarding whether such improvement is affecting motor behaviour. The role of visual and tactile training and their effects in space and on motor behaviour are investigated through two lines of research. The first line of research investigated the effectiveness of visual training when stimuli are presented near compared to far from the body. Surprisingly, we found that, differently from what happens in visual perception, visual training is more effective in the far compared to the near space. We suggest that such an effect is possibly due to greater deployment of attention in the far space, which could make the learning more impactful and generalisable across spaces. The second line of research explored the effect of passive tactile training (Repetitive Somatosensory Stimulation) applied to a finger, on hand motor behaviour and corticospinal excitability. Results revealed that passive tactile training affects the performance in a tactile task and in turn, modulates motor behaviour. Overall, this research provides new insights regarding the efficacy of visual perceptual learning in space (peripersonal vs extrapersonal) and the potential role of tactile passive training in altering motor behaviour.

The circumstellar regions of young stellar objects (YSOs) are some of the most interesting environments in astronomy. The leftover material from star formation takes the form of enormous discs of dust and gas extending out to a thousand astronomical units. The outer regions of these protoplanetary discs, being cold and relatively large in scale, have been extensively studied by radio telescopes. Usually shrouded in opaque dust, the regions closer to the stars are best studied in the infrared. Here, the central YSO interacts with the disc, accreting and ejecting material, and planets, asteroids and comets are formed. Understanding how stars interact with their discs can therefore tell us how both evolve, and can help us understand the origin of our own solar system. It also can teach us more about systems very di?erent to our own – such as binary systems. The majority of stars are part of multiple systems, and in recent years we have also found increasing numbers of binary YSOs. The dynamical interaction between the stars and the inner disc can lead to complex features such as spirals, warps and disc truncation, a?ecting their rates of accretion and ejection, as well as a?ecting planetary formation. As the population of binary YSOs grows, we are finding a much larger diversity in the inner regions of their discs than previously thought. Observing these processes has historically been dicult because of the extremely small angular scales on which they occur – on the order of milli-arcseconds – which limits their study with traditional telescopes. In spite of this, the study of young stars and their discs has rapidly become one of the most dynamic areas of astronomy in recent decades. Advances in computing power have allowed for more complex simulations of circumstellar environments. Simultaneously, developments in technology and engineering have substantially increased the set of observable protoplanetary discs, allowing us to rapidly develop and advance ideas of star formation and evolution. The focus of my PhD was on one such technique: near-infrared interferometry. By interfering the light from multiple individual telescopes, it is possible to obtain resolutions far in excess of any single-dish telescope, allowing us to probe inner disc regions with a precision never before possible. This is especially important in the context of close binary YSOs, where dynamic interactions between the stars and the disc can cause large changes to the circumstellar environment which cannot be reliably determined from simulations. In these cases, the feedback from observations of individual systems can be used to calibrate and inform further refinements to the theory. The thesis is laid out as follows. Chapter 1 introduces the general star formation paradigm, including star formation and YSO classification, as well as a discussion on circumstellar discs around single stars. In Chapter 2, I extend this to binary objects, which were the focus of my research. Chapter 3 describes the basic theory behind optical and near-infrared interferometry, its history and the challenges which it poses to anyone wishing to interpret its observables. In this chapter I describe the basic operation of the interferometers which I used over the course of my PhD, the VLTI and the CHARA Array. After this theoretical overview, I present the work which was the focus of my PhD: a deep study into two individual young binary systems. Chapter 4 is dedicated to analysis of observations we took of MWC 166 A, a massive YSO with a combined mass of 17 M located at a distance of 1 kpc. This is a mysterious system with very strong K-band line emission, often associated with disc accretion, but little evidence of a substantial disc itself. In this chapter, I define for the first time a full three-dimensional orbit of the system, which has a period of 368 d, and establish stellar parameters and the evolutionary state of both components, finding that the primary component is likely a main-sequence object while the secondary is just in the process of final contraction. I also constrain the geometry and spectral characteristics of the Br and He i emission lines, and find the most likely origin to be a Be decretion disc in Keplerian rotation. Chapter 5 uses similar techniques to analyse a rather di?erent young binary, HD 104237 A. This T Tauri with a combined mass of 4.3 M lies about ten times closer to us and has a much tighter orbit of 20 d. It also has a much denser inner disc region than MWC 166 A, with both components actively accreting from the circumbinary disc, and this is reflected in the strong but variable Br emission arising from the two components. In this chapter, I derive an orbit for the system, constrain its age and determine fundamental stellar parameters for both components. I also model the circumstellar emission both in the dust continuum, which takes the form of a truncated circumbinary disc, and analyse the rapidly-changing Br emission in the inner region on an epoch-by-epoch basis. This emission shows signs of variable accretion onto both stars, as well as components originating from the circumbinary environment. Both these studies use spectro-astrometric and spectro-interferometric techniques to showcase the usefulness of the high angular resolution a?orded by near-infrared interferometry to gain unique insights into binary-disc interaction, dynamical truncation and binary accretion. This process will only accelerate in future, as new designs of interferometers with even greater precision will unlock an ever-larger tranche of systems, expanding our knowledge of these endlessly-fascinating objects further and further.

In pronunciation assessment (PA) of second language (L2) speech, it is known that similarity to a native accent is desired, yet not crucial. There are certain variations in pronunciation which do not interfere with communication. It is up to the listener to decide whether a pronunciation differs from the one of so-called canonical reference. The subjectivity in pronunciation assessment can be referred to as the assessor bias. A computer-assisted pronunciation assessment is subject to the effects of assessor bias. The disagreement between assessors causes inconsistencies in the data used to build models for the assessment task. A model for the bias itself, however, would help build a general reference for a proficient L2 speaker as well as an impartial PA. This thesis proposes a model for the assessor bias to be included as part of a model for a pronunciation assessor. The assessor model consists of an ideal assessor-independent scoring function for PA, modified by an additive term specific to the assessor. The latter term is referred to as bias. The research for the model resulted in four original contributions. All contributions were tested on data from L2 speech from young learners of English in the Netherlands. Each recording was annotated for mispronunciation at the phoneme level by three trained phoneticians. Overlapping annotation made the data the best fit for a consistent model of inter-assessor disagreement. A first contribution is a novel approach for detecting mispronunciations without the need for a precise phoneme alignment, which outperformed a baseline of pronunciation correctness scores based on phoneme alignments. The second contribution is a study of the effect of speaker metadata on learning a pronunciation reference. Models trained on different assessors were proven to be sensitive to different speaker information. The third contribution was the proposal and implementation of the assessor model. Two deep networks combine a bidirectional long short-term memory module with self-attention and a feed-forward classifier to estimate the probabilities of phonemes being pronounced correctly. Both networks were trained jointly to estimate the observed pronunciation labels. Only one network was modelled on the assessor's identity. The fourth contribution consists of methods for increasing the specialisation of the bias networks by reducing its cosine similarity and co-dependence with respect to the assessor-independent network. Using cosine similarity and a contrastive log-ratio upper bound for mutual information, it was possible to both reduce the correlation and dependency between the two networks. The bias network managed to increase its dependence on assessor identity and speaker factors. The mutual information between the assessor and the bias output was useful to illustrate disagreement, as well as which assessors and phonemes were the most prone to the bias.

We consider non-self-adjoint differential operators H in one dimension and study the norm of the resolvent operator, ‖R(H,λ)‖, near or inside the numerical range when the spectral parameter λ is large. More precisely, we derive asymptotic estimates for three classes of operators: generalised Airy operators, Schrödinger operators with complex potential and the generator of the wave equation with unbounded damping. In each case, we determine the leading order term, including explicit constants, and then show that the estimate is optimal. For Schrödinger operators, we develop a methodology to find an upper bound for the norm of the resolvent based on the separate local/non-local analyses of the action of H- λ on functions in the operator domain. We apply this technique to estimate an upper bound for the resolvent norm of the quadratic operator family T(λ) associated with the generator G of the damped wave equation and subsequently leverage that estimate to derive a result for the resolvent of the generator itself. We show that, in both cases, the norm of the resolvent operator depends on the resolvent norm of an appropriate generalised Airy operator which we also investigate using Schur's test and an extension of Laplace's method. We illustrate our results with a range of examples and explore several applications and extensions. In particular, we compute the asymptotic level curves for the norm of the resolvent of Schrödinger operators H and the quadraticfamily T(λ). Furthermore we study consequences for the long-time behaviour of the norm of associated strongly continuous semigroups for each operator class, leading to statements regarding the stability of solutions of the corresponding abstract Cauchy problems.

In a world where numbers and science are often taken as the voice of truth and reason, Quantitative Devices (QDs) represent the epitome of policy driven by facts rather than hunches. Despite the scholarly interest in understanding the role of quantification in policy, the actual production of rankings, forecasts, indexes and other QDs has, to a great extent, been left unattended. While appendixes and technical notebooks offer an explanation of how these devices are produced, they exclude aspects of their making that are arbitrarily considered "mundane." It is in the everyday performances at research centres that the micropolitics of knowledge production, imaginaries, and frustrations merge. These are vital dimensions to understand the potential, limitations and ethical consequences of QDs. Using two participant observations as the starting point, this thesis offers a comprehensive critical analysis of the processes through which university-based research centres create QDs that represent the world. It addresses how researchers conceive quantitative data. It pays attention to the discourses of hope and expectation embedded in the devices. Finally, it considers the ethics of creating devices that cannot be replicated independently of their place of production. Two QDs were analysed: the Violence Early Warning System (ViEWS) and the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). At Uppsala University, researchers created ViEWS to forecast the probability of drought-driven conflicts within the next 100 years. The EPI, produced at the Yale Centre for Environmental Law and Policy, ranks the performance of countries' environmental policies. This thesis challenges existing claims within Science and Technology Studies and the Sociology of Quantification that QDs co-produce knowledge within their realms. I argue that these devices act as vehicles for sociotechnical infrastructures to be consolidated with little debate among policymakers, given their understanding as scientific and objective tools. Moreover, for an indicator to be incorporated within a QD, it needs to be deemed as relevant for those making the devices but also valuable enough to have been previously quantified by data providers. Even more, existing sociotechnical inequalities, power relations and epistemic injustices could impede disadvantaged communities' (e.g., in the Global South) ability to challenge metrics originated in centres in the Global North. This thesis, therefore, demonstrates how the future QDs propose is unilateral and does not acknowledge the myriad possibilities that might arise from a diversity of worldviews. In other words, they cast a future designed to fit under the current status quo. In sum, through two QDs focused on environmental-related, this thesis launches an inquiry into the elements that make up the imaginaries they propose following the everyday life of their producers. To achieve this, I discuss two core elements. First, the role of tacit knowledge and sociotechnical inequalities in reinforcing power relations between those with the means to quantify and those who might only accommodate proposed futures. Second, the dynamics between research centres and data providers in relation to what is quantified. By scrutinising mundanity, this work is a step forward in understanding the construction of sociotechnical imaginaries and infrastructures.

Research demonstrated peer-to-peer mentoring provides advanced or experienced undergraduate students the opportunity to play a significant role in impacting an individual's leadership values, especially values of citizenship, commitment and collaboration (Hirsh et al., 2021). The action research study explored the expansion of peer mentor recruitment across a multi campus institution, UMCI, a 2-year community college, located in New England. At the time of this research study, peer mentor recruitment occurred at the satellite campus of UMCI. The study used a participatory action research approach by engaging campus liaisons from institutions participating in a third-party mentoring program and peer mentors enrolled at UMCI, to expand peer mentor recruitment to its main campus in support of first generation Hispanic student persistence toward completion. Campus liaisons participated in individual, semi structured interviews using a virtual platform. Peer mentors participated in an in-person focus group. An intervention was planned by developing an in-person recruitment event at the main campus to attract potential peer mentors to the program. A questionnaire was administered to peer mentors participating in the intervention to determine what strategies were deemed effective in expanding peer mentor recruitment. Key findings from the study determined administrative support at the main campus, year-round recruitment of peer mentors, and collaboration and inclusion with other student-centered programs support an expanded recruitment strategy. The study concluded with suggested recommendations to support sustainable approaches to peer mentor recruitment efforts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Students who have been identified as having an Intellectual Disability (ID) face challenges regarding their placements in accordance with IDEA. This study investigated general education teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of preparedness to having students with intellectual disabilities in the general education inclusion classroom. This study looked at how general education teachers' attitudes and beliefs impact the success of ID students in the general education inclusion classroom setting. General education teachers often feel unprepared when teaching students with ID. Wolfensberger's Theory of Normalization served as the theoretical framework to develop inclusive practices and build an awareness about students with ID. Data was collected from 15 general education teachers from a survey on attitudes, beliefs, and preparedness. The findings suggest that teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of preparedness are key to the overall delivery of instruction to students with ID. The results may promote social awareness by providing general education teachers resources and training on how to work with students with ID that are placed in the general education inclusion classroom. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Accountability in education was implemented to improve poor learning outcomes by documenting and monitoring learning achievement results. In this process, external standardized achievement tests have played a central role, being the mechanism most frequently used to measure learning outcomes. However, several decades after its initial implementation, most students are still below learning standards, especially in developing countries. Additionally, several issues have been documented when using standardized achievement tests for accountability purposes. This study contributes to the discussion regarding why implementing accountability systems has not been enough to ensure that all students meet learning objectives. Particularly, this research explored technical, ethical, and political issues derived from implementing accountability systems in K12 in Colombia and Chile that incorporate standardized achievement tests to understand how the issues affect the quality of the accountability systems and limit their expected benefits. Specifically, this paper addressed the following questions: how do, if any, technical and political issues related to the use of standardized achievement tests affect the quality of the accountability systems? How do political decisions exacerbate technical issues and affect the quality of accountability systems? Can technical and political issues also be considered ethical? If so, how can all of them be overcome? This study built on theories and contributions about accountability in the education sector through the 2014 edition of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing developed by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), as well as a literature review regarding pros and cons of implementing an accountability system in the three dimensions analyzed: technical, political and ethical. A multiple case study with a theory-guided qualitative content analysis approach were also used; and the documentation of the current accountability systems in Chile and Colombia, and the most recent change due to political decisions were mainly reviewed to answer the research questions. Regarding the first one, seven issues that negatively affect the Colombian and Chilean accountability systems were identified; these limit their potential benefits. Issue 1: There is no clear connection between the intended inferences and how test results are reported. Issue 2: There are test reports with incomplete descriptions. Issue 3: Measurement errors are omitted when reporting some test results. Issue 4: The unit of intended inference for test results is not defined clearly in the regulatory documentation. Issue 5: There are omissions of support when describing the way in which test results should be used given the intended inferences, uses and implications. Issue 6: There is no clear connection between documentation, indicating how each one responds or builds on the others. Issue 7: Current standardized achievement tests measure the national curriculum partially, but it is not stated explicitly. Finally, the way in which these uses affect the quality of the accountability systems analyzed is described. For the second research question, some mixed evidence was found. For Colombia, the most recent political decision generated additional technical pressure, exacerbating technical issues, while Chile could have reduced the technical pressure. For the third research question, the political and technical issues identified can be considered ethical given the evidence analyzed, and they can be overcome by following the international standards in testing, as the accountability systems already declare. However, there is enough information for a better implementation of accountability systems in both Chile and Colombia, so a discussion about the implications for the field and practice is reported. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This phenomenological study research presents an option to use both discourse in the native language and technology as an alternative to improve the understanding of mathematics in secondary education. 13 students whose native language is Spanish attended a high school in a large urban school district in the Southwest of the United States, participated in this study. The study's main objective was to observe the effects of using students' discourse in their language and the support of technology to increase their academic literacy in mathematics. Solution-based pedagogy was central to helping students achieve the Development of Academic Literacy in Mathematics with Technology (DALMaT).Qualitative observations from the after-school tutoring sessions where the study was developed, as well as the analysis of video and audio recordings, students' interactions while solving mathematics problems, and the results of different questionnaires, were used to identify the critical elements in the construction of students' learning. The combination of peer tutoring, the use of students' discourse, and technology allowed students to focus on the demonstration of the solution of problems by knowing the final resolution of problems before solving them. The methodology presented in this study can provide examples to current and pre-service teachers of how technology and discourse could increase academic literacy in mathematics as a critical element to improve the learning, understanding, and connections of mathematics at secondary levels. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This research project aimed to investigate the experiences and roles of school social workers in Arizona and how school and district leaders can support their professional needs. The study's participants included 10 school social workers who met specific criteria, such as having a master's degree in social work, a certification through the Arizona Department of Education, two years of experience in school social work, and two years at their current school. The participants represented four counties in Arizona: Maricopa, Navajo, Pinal, and Yavapai counties. They represent various levels of public schools, including PreK-12th grades, and come from different demographics and socioeconomic backgrounds. The group also comprised individuals with varying years of experience, genders, and ages. Five questions guided the research, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with the participants during February 2023. The interviews consisted of 10 questions to gather the participants' lived experiences and perceptions as school social workers. They were invited to participate through personal email, social media posts, and network opportunities. The interviews took place via Zoom and lasted between 45-90 minutes. All the interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed for common themes and are presented within this research study. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

To ensure the future success of Lower-SES, college-intending, Black students, there is a need to understand the factors that lead to their resilience, which is the heightened likelihood of success in school and other aspects of life, despite environmental adversities, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This study sought to elevate the lived experiences of those who have succeeded against the odds to obtain college enrollment despite challenges related to their access to technology. Upon review of the literature related to the digital divide and the college-going process, it became evident that more research is needed on the challenge of technology maintenance-related disparities. This basic qualitative study explores socioeconomic achievement gaps in college access. The research was designed to provide insights into the experiences of individuals within one urban school district to understand the impact of having limited access to technology. This dissertation was informed by college choice theory to shed light on how students with limited access to technology underwent the college-going process. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, this study found that students' persistence in achieving college attainment did not waver despite their limited access to technology. Data collection included completing questionnaires and interviews with 12 participants. Upon analysis, three themes emerged. The first theme, Unforeseen Ramifications Arising from Initiating the College Planning Journey in the Final Year of High School, discusses the impact of waiting until late to complete the college-going process. The second theme, The Fulfillment of the FAFSA as a Pivotal Determinant in the College Enrollment Journey, explores the role of FAFSA completion on students from this population. The final theme, Unwavering Continuation of College Enrollment Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, Coupled with Challenges Exacerbated by the Crisis, depicts the path the participants traveled towards their first year in college. Some key findings from this study include (1) the importance of college-going programming for students seeking to develop college knowledge and complete the college application process; (2) how critical obtaining financial aid is for Lower-SES, college-intending, Black students; and (3) the pandemic exacerbated or created substantial barriers to college access, with many students reporting a lack of resources. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

The analysis of complex systems at nano- and micro-scales often requires their numerical simulation. Atomistic simulations, that rely on solving Newton's equation for each component of the system, despite being exact, are often too computationally expensive. In this work, firstly we analyse the properties of confined systems by extracting mesoscopic information directly from particles coordinate. Then, taking advantage of Mori-Zwanzig projector operator techniques and advanced data-analysis tools, we present a novel approach to parametrize non-Markovian coarse-graining models of molecular system. We focus on the parametrization of the memory terms in the stochastic Generalized Langevin Equation through a deep-learning approach. Moreover, in the framework of Dynamical Density Functional Theory (DDFT) we derive a continuum non-Markovian formulation, able to describe, given the proper free-energy, the physical properties of an atomistic system. Comparisons between molecular dynamics, fluctuating dynamical density functional theory and fluctuating hydrodynamics simulations validate our approach. Finally, we propose some numerical schemes for the simulation of DDFT with additional complexities, i.e. with stochastic terms and non-homogeneous non-constant diffusion.

The Mesozoic is commonly known as the Age of Dinosaurs, an era when this clade dominated ecosystems on land and explored myriad and unique ecological niches. The diversity and evolution of dinosaurs after their rise to ecological dominance in the Jurassic and Cretaceous centres our current knowledge, but their early evolutionary stages during the Late Triassic remain poorly resolved in comparison. This period was key in the radiation of the clade, when dinosaurs diversified their body plans and certain lineages underwent important evolutionary transitions. In this thesis, I explore the early functional diversity and evolution of dinosaurs using Thecodontosaurus antiquus, an early sauropodomorph from the Rhaetian of Britain, as a study case. First, I describe the osteology of Thecodontosaurus based on new fossil material, updating the diagnosis of the species. Second, I reconstruct the neuroanatomy and appendicular musculature of Thecodontosaurus using Computed Tomography and comparative anatomy. The endocranial morphology and limb muscle arrangement of Thecodontosaurus suggest that it was bipedal and cursorial, and hearing ability estimations indicate some degree of social behaviour. Based on these findings, I discuss important evolutionary modifications in the osteology, neuroanatomy and myology of Sauropodomorpha and their palaeobiological implications. Finally, I investigate the dietary diversity of early dinosaurs based on quantitative analyses of their dentitions, using a combination of geometric morphometrics, finite element analysis and machine learning classification. My results reveal the trophic diversity during early dinosaur evolution, including carnivores, omnivores and herbivores. Early saurischians were carnivores, sauropodomorphs experienced an evolutionary transition from carnivory to herbivory during the Late Triassic, and omnivory was the likely diet of early ornithischians. In conclusion, this thesis highlights the importance of a multifaceted approach to functional palaeobiology, and contributes to the growing understanding of the functional diversity and ecological evolution of dinosaurs during the key stage of their evolutionary radiation.

In recent decades, organisations have been undergoing significant transformations, from a model in which professionals had little opportunity to express themselves. The relationship between leaders and members was of submission to defined roles and the authority of the leader. The new challenges started to demand that leaders develop social skills to interact with the diversity of their teams' diversity. Among these skills, Self-awareness has stood out as a fundamental trait in high-performing leaders, confirmed by several surveys (Gardner et al., 2005; Tekleab et al., 2007). For this reason, Self-awareness has become one of the pillars of this project. The research aimed to investigate a new way of increase Self-awareness in individuals and whether these changes promote improvements in the relationships between leaders and members of their teams. The study addressed an existing research gap using the Hallos method explicitly created to expand Self-awareness and monitor its impact on the improvement of dyadic relationships over time. Two studies were carried out. In the first, 750 professionals from 17 companies in Brazil, Spain and Chile completed a questionnaire as a self-report about their level of Self-awareness, the importance of diversity, and the improvement in their interpersonal relationships before and after learning the Hallos method. In the second study, their team members evaluated the leaders of 5 different companies in the variables Self-awareness, Transformational Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, leader-member Exchange, and Emotional Intelligence before and after the Hallos method intervention. The empirical research's main findings indicated positive results and suggested that the Hallos method promotes the expansion of Self-awareness. The analysis also positively aligned with other existing studies, which raise Self-awareness to improve relationships between leaders and members. Another important finding is that there is a correlation between all the variables studied. It was observed that trust might be a common point in all taxonomies. Besides, it was found that there is a correlation between Self-awareness and leader-member Exchange theory, which is not shown in another research. The results open space for the use of the Hallos method both in academic research and in the corporate world as a way to investigate and improve dyadic and group relationships, in addition to expanding the understanding and acceptance of the diversity of human types in the work environment as a way to enhance organisational effectiveness.

The integration of millions of transistors on a single chip is possible due to rapid scaling of CMOS technology. This is critical to the advancement of several disciplines, including medicine, automotive, aerospace, military and banking, which uses high performance and reliable microelectronics as part of design with up to 20 years of expected operational life. Reliability concerns have been addressed in research studies around the world, proposing testing and monitoring procedures for integrated circuits (ICs) as a way to avert catastrophic events. For example, built-in self-test (BIST) allows implementation of testing methods on-chip, making it feasible for on-site testing. This thesis contributes to this approach by proposing a technique for the test pattern generator. The Berleycamp-Messey (BM) algorithm is employed as a deterministic technique to find the generator of test patterns for hard to detect faults. Using test sets from an automatic test pattern generator (ATPG), a trade-off analysis is provided on re-seeding and concatenated test sets that demonstrate high test coverage at reduced area overhead, while maintaining full test coverage. The issue of remaining useful life (RUL) of electronic devices is a critical challenge for reliability. In practice, the mean time to failure (MTTF) is taken as a measure of electronics' anticipated longevity. Nonetheless, this technique involves broad assumptions that lead to RUL mispredictions. Similar deviations are found when using passive components to monitor lifetime of electronics. This thesis presents a machine learning based method that accurately predicts the RUL of each microelectronic device using minimal area overhead. This considers aging effects of CMOS transistors, as well as temperature and voltage variation. Embedded DRAM (eDRAM) is commonly employed in SoCs, accounting for over half of the total chip area. As a result, the critical effects of aging in eDRAM is also addressed in this thesis, showing a favourable influence on the data retention time (DRT) and therefore benefiting low power design methodology. A comprehensive analysis on DRT and refresh rate (RR) is provided, accounting for aging effects, process variation and temperature variation. A machine learning model is trained to predict RR and contributes to management and optimization over the lifetime of embedded DRAM.

This thesis investigates the transmission and political reception of fourth-century Athenian political oratory in early Hellenistic Athens (henceforth EHA) - viz. the period spanning from the Lamian War (322 BCE) to the end of the Chremonidean War (261 BCE). The thesis traces the earliest phases of the transmission of the Attic Orators' speeches (most notably Demosthenes') and their reception in the political landscape of that period. It argues for the importance of text-dissemination for a more rounded understanding of EHA: the speeches of the Attic Orators held a critical role in the political debates of that period, and often served as actual political weapons to assert and re-define Athenian identity and democracy in an anti-Macedonian perspective. The thesis holds that EHA's documentary evidence (especially honorific decrees) is crucial for a more rounded understanding of how the corpora of the Attic Orators were interpreted - as well as appropriated - by EHA politics. This investigation pioneers the integration of cultural history into the study of EHA, tackling textual dissemination as a fundamental aspect of cultural and political history. The Introduction sets out the methodological perspectives of the research: it discusses the exploitation of the Attic Orators' corpora as memory carriers in the dense and discrete cultural framework of EHA. Chapter 1 examines the idiosyncrasies of EHA's democratic discourse. The study of the contemporary language and the decision-making processes shows that the Athenian democratic framework of EHA should be assessed in close continuity with its late Classical predecessor. The chapter also discusses (and rules out) the opportunity of using the category of 'factions' in the political and cultural arena of the period. Chapter 2 delves into the early Hellenistic origin of the Demosthenic corpus. It argues that the earliest (posthumous) collection of Demosthenes' speeches was arranged not in Ptolemaic Alexandria but in early Hellenistic Athens: specifically, in the period between Demosthenes' death (322 BCE) and Callimachus' Pinakes. This chapter examines the relevant evidence for Demosthenes personally publishing his speeches during his lifetime; manuscript tradition and stichometry; and the presence of spuria (particularly [Dem.] 17). It contends that Demosthenes' Athenian Urexemplar was collected by a close associate of the orator, most likely Demochares of Leuconoe; and that the edition had a crystal-clear political significance, insomuch as it embodied the anti-Macedonian sentiment in a period marked by multiple phases of Macedonian domination. Chapter 3 provides a broad re-assessment of the political and intellectual activity of Demochares of Leuconoe, nephew of Demosthenes and major protagonist on the political scene of EHA. It shows how he consistently pursued policies re-enacting a Demosthenic persona: the anti-Macedonian paradigm of his uncle provided him with a model he looked at for his political and cultural activity. The chapter goes through Demochares' biography and positions in his Histories. It examines in detail the text of the request (aitēsis) for the highest honours which Demochares submitted for Demosthenes in 281/80 (XOr. 850f - 851c). It uncovers the complex memorial strategies with which the text engages and argues that the document's motivation clause reflects and echoes the arguments that Demosthenes employed in his speeches - most notably his self-defence speech On the Crown. Chapter 4 investigates Peripatetic criticism of Demosthenes in the age after Aristotle. It illustrates how Peripatetic rhetorical criticism of Demosthenes and other Attic Orators was imbued with an underlying political judgment in the context of the clashes between opposing views on the politics of memory pervading the cultural arena of EHA. Chapter 5 explores the early Hellenistic reception of Lycurgus of Boutade and his corpus of speeches - focusing on the posthumous honours proposed for him by Stratocles of Diomea (IG II² 457 + 3207 ≈ XOr. 852). The honours for Lycurgus dwell on two dimensions of the orator's activity: financial administration and religious oversight. I illustrate how these two spheres can be profitably read in the extant fragments of Lycurgus. The chapter also inspects Lycurgus' legacy within the genos of the Eteoboutadai; and how politicians like Stratocles and Lycurgus' son Habron sought to foster the coexistence of the patriotic memory of the orator with the new Athenian political landscape after 307. The Conclusion argues for the central role of early Hellenistic debates in the Nachleben of Attic oratory in the centuries to come.

Relational reasoning is central to many cognitive processes, ranging from "lower" processes like object recognition to "higher" processes such as analogy-making and sequential decision-making. The first chapter of this thesis gives an overview of relational reasoning and the computational demands that it imposes on a system that performs relational reasoning. These demands are characterized in terms of the binding problem in neural networks. There has been a longstanding debate in the literature regarding whether neural network models of cognition are, in principle, capable of relation-base processing. In the second chapter I investigated the relational reasoning capabilities of the Story Gestalt model (St. John, 1992), a classic connectionist model of text comprehension, and a Seq-to-Seq model, a deep neural network of text processing (Bahdanau, Cho, & Bengio, 2015). In both cases I found that the purportedly relational behavior of the models was explainable by the statistics of their training datasets. We propose that both models fail at relational processing because of the binding problem in neural networks. In the third chapter of this thesis, I present an updated version of the DORA architecture (Doumas, Hummel, & Sandhofer, 2008), a symbolic-connectionist model of relation learning and inference that uses temporal synchrony to solve the binding problem. We use this model to perform relational policy transfer between two Atari games. Finally, in the fourth chapter I present a model of relational reinforcement that is able to select relevant relations, from a potentially large pool of applicable relations, to characterize a problem and learn simple rules from the reward signal, helping to bridge the gap between reinforcement learning and relational reasoning.

This thesis concerns Integrated Information Theory (IIT), a branch of information theory aimed at providing a fundamental theory of consciousness. At its core, lie two powerful intuitions: • That a system that is somehow more than the sum of its parts has non-zero integrated information, Φ; and • That a system with non-zero integrated information is conscious. The audacity of IIT's claims about consciousness has (understandably) sparked vigorous criticism, and experimental evidence for IIT as a theory of consciousness remains scarce and indirect. Nevertheless, I argue that IIT still has merits as a theory of informational complexity within complexity science, leaving aside all claims about consciousness. In my work I follow this broad line of reasoning: showcasing applications where IIT yields rich analyses of complex systems, while critically examining its merits and limitations as a theory of consciousness. This thesis is divided in three parts. First, I describe three example applications of IIT to complex systems from the computational neuroscience literature (coupled oscillators, spiking neurons, and cellular automata), and develop novel Φ estimators to extend IIT's range of applicability. Second, I show two important limitations of current IIT: that its axiomatic foundation is not specific enough to determine a unique measure of integrated information; and that available measures do not behave as predicted by the theory when applied to neurophysiological data. Finally, I present new theoretical developments aimed at alleviating some of IIT's flaws. These are based on the concepts of partial information decomposition and lead to a unification of both theories, Integrated Information Decomposition, or ΦID. The thesis concludes with two experimental studies on M/EEG data, showing that a much simpler informational theory of consciousness - the entropic brain hypothesis - can yield valuable insight without the mathematical challenges brought by IIT.

The energy demand worldwide is increasing, and such demand should be satisfied with renewable resources to diminish the carbon footprint. There are a few ways to produce clean energy such as wind, solar and marine energy; however, some technologies are more developed than others and more expensive than others. Wave energy is a type of technology that allows the generation of energy from waves' motion; its theoretical potential is enormous, and it is essential to exploit that resource to satisfy the increasing global energy demand. However, wave energy converters (WECs) have not achieved the desired maturity level commercially and on the design. Its high cost and current stage of development require significant analysis to improve the design and reduce costs. Reliability analysis of WECs is vital to compare different types of converters and identify the most critical components with the highest failure rate. Following a WECs classification, generic WECs have been developed, surrogating failure rates from other industry databases (e.g., oil & gas and wind industry) and adapting them into the WECs environment. Then, the overall system failure rate has been calculated. After all the analysis and comparison between the WECs' sub-assemblies, hydraulic PTO has been identified as the type of PTO with the highest failure rate mainly because it has a higher number of components, while direct drive is the sub-assembly with the lowest failure rate. Overall, the structure sub-assembly failure rate is significantly lower when the WEC is installed on the shoreline because materials, such as concrete, are used and are not exposed to extreme conditions as if it was located offshore. Moreover, those converters do not require mooring systems and their structure is less complex, decreasing the overall failure rate. Later, based on the criticality analysis and failure modes, it was identified that the hydraulic systems have components with a higher criticality value - if the component fails, the generation of electricity stops, and urgent maintenance is required. On the other side, a simpler PTO such as a direct drive has a lower number of components with high criticality values, suggesting that such PTO has a lower failure rate and less critical components.

Health technology assessment systems base their decision-making on health-economic evaluations. These require accurate relative treatment effect estimates for specific patient populations. In an ideal scenario, a head-to-head randomized controlled trial, directly comparing the interventions of interest, would be available. Indirect treatment comparisons are necessary to contrast treatments which have not been analyzed in the same trial. Population-adjusted indirect comparisons estimate treatment effects where there are: no head-to-head trials between the interventions of interest, limited access to patient-level data, and cross-trial differences in effect measure modifiers. Health technology assessment agencies are increasingly accepting evaluations that use these methods across a diverse range of therapeutic areas. Popular approaches include matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC), based on propensity score weighting, and simulated treatment comparison (STC), based on outcome regression. There is limited formal evaluation of these methods and whether they can be used to accurately compare treatments. Thus, I undertake a review and a simulation study that compares the standard unadjusted indirect comparisons, MAIC and STC across 162 scenarios. This simulation study assumes that the trials are investigating survival outcomes and measure continuous covariates, with the log hazard ratio as the measure of effect - one of the most widely used setups in health technology assessment applications. MAIC yields unbiased treatment effect estimates under no failures of assumptions. The typical usage of STC produces bias because it targets a conditional treatment effect where the target estimand should be a marginal treatment effect. The incompatibility of estimates in the indirect comparison leads to bias as the measure of effect is non-collapsible. When adjusting for covariates, one must integrate or average the conditional model over the population of interest to recover a compatible marginal treatment effect. I propose a marginalization method based on parametric G-computation that can be easily applied where the outcome regression is a generalized linear model or a Cox model. In addition, I introduce a novel general-purpose method based on the ideas underlying multiple imputation, which is termed multiple imputation marginalization (MIM) and is applicable to a wide range of models, including parametric survival models. The approaches view the covariate adjustment regression as a nuisance model and separate its estimation from the evaluation of the marginal treatment effect of interest. Both methods can accommodate a Bayesian statistical framework, which naturally integrates the analysis into a probabilistic framework, typically required for health technology assessment. Another simulation study provides proof-of-principle for the methods and benchmarks their performance against MAIC and the conventional STC. The simulations are based on scenarios with binary outcomes and continuous covariates, with the log-odds ratio as the measure of effect. The marginalized outcome regression approaches achieve more precise and more accurate estimates than MAIC, particularly when covariate overlap is poor, and yield unbiased marginal treatment effect estimates under no failures of assumptions. Furthermore, regressionadjusted estimates of the marginal effect provide greater precision and accuracy than the conditional estimates produced by the conventional STC, which are systematically biased because the log-odds ratio is a non-collapsible measure of effect. The marginalization methods outlined in this thesis are necessary and important for health technology assessment more generally, because marginal treatment effects should be the preferred inferential target for reimbursement decisions at the population level. Treatment effectiveness inputs in health economic models are often informed by the treatment coefficient of a multivariable regression. An often overlooked issue is that this has a conditional interpretation, and that the coefficients of the regression must be marginalized over the target population of interest to produce a relevant estimate for reimbursement decisions at the population level.

The statistical approach to cyber security has become an active and important area of research due to the growth in number and threat of cyber attacks perpetrated nowadays. In this thesis, we centre our attention on the Bayesian approach to cyber security, which provides several modelling advantages such as the flexibility achieved through the probabilistic quantification of uncertainty. In particular, we have found that Bayesian models have been mainly used to detect volume-traffic anomalies, network anomalies and malicious software. To provide a unifying view of these ideas, we first present a thorough review on Bayesian methods applied to cyber security. Bayesian models applied to detecting malware and classifying them into known malicious classes is one of the cyber security areas discussed in our review. However, and contrary to detecting traffic and network anomalies, this area has not been widely developed from a Bayesian perspective. That is why we have centred our attention on developing novel supervised learning Bayesian nonparametric models to detect and classify malware using binary features built directly from the executables' binary code. For these methods, important theoretical properties and simulation techniques are fully developed and for real malware data, we have compared their performance against well-known machine learning models which have been widely applied in this area. With respect to our methodologies, we first present a new discrete nonparametric prior specifically designed for binary data that builds on an elegant nonparametric hierarchical structure, which allows us to study the importance of each individual feature across the groups found in the data. Moreover, and due to the large, and possibly redundant, number of features, we have developed a generalised version of the model that allows the introduction of a feature selection step within the inferential learning. Finally, for a more complex modelling where there is a need to introduce dependence across the features, we have extended the capabilities of this new class of nonparametric priors by using it as the building block of a latent feature model.

Local and regional economies are highly dependent on the road network. The concurrent closure of multiple sections of the network following a hazardous event is likely to have significant negative consequences for those using the network. In situations such as these, infrastructure managers must decide how best to restore the network to protect users, maximise connectivity and minimise overall disruption. Furthermore, many hazardous events are forecast to become more frequent and extreme in the future as a result of climate change. Extensive research has been undertaken to understand how to improve the resilience of degraded transport networks. Whilst network robustness (that is, the ability of a network to withstand stress) has been considered in numerous studies, the recovery of the network has captured less attention among researchers. Methodologies developed to date are overly simplistic, especially when simulating the dynamics of traffic demand and drivers' decision-making in multi-day situations where there is considerable interplay between actual and perceived network states and behaviour. This thesis presents a decision-support tool that optimises the recovery of road transport networks after major day-to-day disruptions, maximising network connectivity and minimising total travel costs. This work expands upon previous efforts by introducing a new approach that models the damage-capacity-time relationship and improves the existing reinforcement-learning traffic-assignment models to be applicable to disrupted scenarios. An efficient metaheuristic approach (NSGA-II) is proposed to find optimal solutions for the recovery problem. The model is also applied to a real-world scenario based on the Scottish road network. Results from this case study clearly highlight the potential applicability of this model to evaluate different recovery strategies and optimise the recovery of road networks after multi-day major disruptions.

Modern wind turbine blades are equipped with a lightning protection system to intercept the lightning and conduct its current, preventing the direct attachment to internal conductors. In such conditions, resin thermal degradation develops at the equipotential bonding (EB) connections between down conductors (DCs) and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) spars. This problem was investigated in this work by combining experimental studies and finite element method (FEM) simulations. The experimental work focused on the characterisation of the input material properties to be used in the FEM models. An experimental-numerical procedure was established to determine the electrical contact resistivity of EB joints. Besides, the thermal degradation of a commercial epoxy was studied to determine its reaction kinetics. The developed FEM models solve a weakly coupled formulation of the electromagnetic-thermal problem to predict lightning current paths and thermal damage at the bonding interfaces. The validation of the models against conducted current test data showed that they can assist in the design of EB joints. High current densities and temperatures were predicted at the sparking locations found during the test, which allowed a qualitative prediction of potential thermal degradation areas upon the solution of the Arrhenius equation. In addition, such models can be used to assess the potential risk of flashover between the blade conductors due to high electric fields. Finally, typical EB materials were compared using the developed FEM models to provide guidelines and suggestions for the implementation of EB joints. It was seen that materials with high in-plane electrical conductivities, such as ECF and BIAX CFRP, can reduce the electric field below the insulation breakdown strength and prevent flashovers. Besides, hot spots at the bonding interfaces can be controlled by changing the arrangement of the EB layers, or by using a material with low contact resistivity and high thermal diffusivity like ECF.

5G is reshaping the current landscape in mobile networks, opening up new business opportunities. Mobile industry can now address use cases that are not feasible for 4G technology due to the strict requirements demanded in terms of delay, reliability, bandwidth, scalability and high connection density. This will enable to address the requirements of challenging eMBB, URLLC and mMTC use cases in highly dynamic and evolving environments. To meet this ambitious QoS requirements, the evolution from 4G to 5G has imposed the shift to a new paradigm, leaving behind the static architectures based on the "one-size-fits-all" approach commonly used by 4G and its precursors, bringing a SBA with the ability to address the specific requirements of vertical industry to customer segments. ISPs are facing significant financial investments to adapt their networks to this new landscape, devising new business models in a growing and dynamic global telecommunication market. 5G relies on virtualization and softwarization, using technologies such as SDN and NFV as key enablers, leading to a reduction in both CAPEX and OPEX. Softwarization and virtualization facilitate the deployment of multi-tenant networks in which several tenants share the same physical infrastructure. In this context, network slicing has emerged as a cornerstone technology, enabling the deployment of different virtualized logical networks running on top of the same physical network while providing network isolation performance between tenants and guaranteeing QoS requirements. The notion of network slicing is an E2E concept that entails its implementation in all segments throughout the 5G network. This represents a significant challenge due to the complexity of 5G networks. This research work aims to deliver network slicing capabilities in the Edge-Core segment, more precisely in the software datapath, which is responsible for connecting the virtual machines with the common shared physical network. To this end, this research work proposes a novel software datapath able to handle all types of network traffic envisioned in 5G networks, including encapsulated traffic inherent to multi-tenant 5G networks. This solution is based on SDN principles, providing the control and management layers with extended programmability beyond the current state of the art. The proposed solution has been designed, prototyped, validated, and evaluated in the context of the H2020 5G-PPP Phase II SliceNet project. Its suitability has been empirically tested in the edge-core segment of a realistic 5G multi-tenant architecture where promising results in terms of bandwidth, delay, reliability, and scalability have been achieved. The prototype has been successfully applied to cope with different scenarios such as security in 5G NB-IoT networks, network slicing support for SFC in VNF and network slicing for heterogeneous traffic in 5G IoT networks. In the security use case, the solution operates as a firewall for NB-IoT traffic, being able to simultaneously deal with traffic from 1 million devices while achieving a bandwidth of 4 Gbps and 8% of packet loss. In the SFC scenario, the datapath software adopts the role of SFF agent with network slicing capabilities, being able to cope with 16384 SFC hops at 20 Gbps while delivering a maximum delay of 11 microseconds and no packet loss. Finally, in the most stressful scenario, the proposed solution simultaneously copes with heterogeneous traffic from 5 IoT use cases representing all 3 ITU categories or a combination. The gathered results demonstrate that this novel software datapath guarantees performance isolation between slices while meeting the stringent 5G KPIs. It provides high levels of scalability for mMTC traffic (up to 1 million devices), ultra-high reliability and ultra-low latency for delay-sensitive critical-mission traffic (0% packet loss ratios and delay in the order of microseconds) while reaching peaks of 15 Gbps for eMBB use cases. These promising outcomes indicate the feasibility of the proposed solution for the software segment of the 5G DP with the aim of delivering E2E network slicing capabilities in 5G multi-tenant networks and, thus, satisfying the demanding QoS requirements foreseen in 5G use cases.

Adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of genetically modified T cells expressing engineered T cell receptors (TCRs) holds potential in the treatment of cancer. However, concerns about off-tumour toxicities continue to hinder widespread adoption of TCR-T cells. Current mitigation strategies against off-tumour toxicity such as affinity tuning, kill switches, and logic gates, can sometimes compromise the efficacy of ACT. In this work, we postulate that the human CD2 co-receptor can mediate off-tumour toxicities in ACT, and we propose the targeted manipulation of the CD2/CD58 axis to ameliorate these toxicities. We engineered a Chinese hamster ovary line and used it as a surrogate antigen presenting cell (APC), generating a xenogeneic platform to quantitatively study the role of human CD2 in enabling T cell recognition of low density and/or low affinity ligands (weak antigens). Using Jurkat and primary human CD8+ T cells, we found that, when disrupting the CD2/CD58 axis through CD2 ablation, T cell antigen sensitivity was reduced by 4-15 fold. In co-cultures between Jurkats and the T2 archetypal APC line, transducing the Jurkat effectors with elongated CD2 chimeras generated modest reductions in sensitivity (2-8 fold), a phenomenon that might be attributable to disruption of the CD2/CD58 canonical binding. Moreover, we showed in CD8+ T cells that CD2 knockout appeared to ameliorate the previously reported low affinity, self-pMHC cross-reactivity of the affinity enhanced wt/c51 TCR. Taken together, our results suggest that CD2 might contribute to two types of off-tumour toxicity observed in ACT, namely on-target/off-tumour and off-target/off-tumour cross-reactivity. Therefore, routine manipulation of the CD2/CD58 axis could provide a way of enhancing ACT safety when using engineered TCRs. Our findings could be applicable to other synthetic receptors, provided they exploit the CD2 co-receptor as TCRs do.

Active seismic methodologies provide a non-invasive tool to remotely characterise the physical properties of fractures at a wide range of scales, and have a positive impact in helping to solve rock engineering problems in a variety of geo-industrial applications. With current advances in seismic processing tools, such as full waveform inversion (FWI), and accurate models of seismic wave interaction with fractures, seismic characterisation of fractures can be tackled by utilising the entire seismic wavefield recorded at the receiver locations. A two-step strategy, using the genetic algorithm (GA) for global optimisation and the Neighbourhood Algorithm (NA) for evaluating uncertainties, was developed to simultaneously estimate the fracture properties (both fracture specific stiffness and equivalent fracture stiffness) and the background material properties directly from seismic waveforms. The optimisation involves minimising the difference between the observed (measured) and forward-modelled full waveforms through the finite difference code WAVE3D. The development, named Genetic Algorithm Full-Waveform Fracture Inversion (GAFWFI), looks beyond conventional seismic methods which focus on characterising fracture-induced anisotropy, by reducing the need to manually condition the data (e.g. manual picking of seismic phases), and by providing a robust means to explore multiple solutions. The development also allows the gap between different representations of fracturing to be bridged within a comprehensive method which can employ both discrete fracture and effective fracture models. GA-FWFI is tested initially on synthetic ultrasonic experiments with parallel fractures. Results confirm that the method can effectively invert for physical properties such as fracture stiffness, location, background material properties, while the posterior probability density (PPD) show that inversions are very well constrained. GA-FWFI is then applied to waveforms from a laboratory experiment investigating fracture slip and again results show high degree of accuracy. GA-FWFI is then utilised to unveil the coupling between discrete fracture networks (DFNs) and their equivalent fracture zone properties. The results reveal that the transition from a medium with open cracks to one with welded interfaces leads to the equivalent media having the equivalent medium stiffness non-linearly related to the crack specific stiffness. An attribute χ is proposed which helps guide the interpretation of a cracked medium by giving a range of likely values for crack size and crack stiffness. This work paves the way for novel strategies to seismically characterise fractures.

Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play a key role in the tumour microenvironment (TME) of squamous cell carcinoma. Influenced by cues from cancer cells, CAFS remodel the extracellular matrix and secrete cytokines and chemokines. Both processes can modulate the effect of the immune infiltrate on the tumour. Using bioinformatic analysis of available datasets I showed that CAFs are correlated with an immunosuppressive environment in squamous cell carcinoma. To enquire into the mechanisms of this process I studied the interaction of cancer cells and CAFs at the tumour boundary through a co-culture model. Direct cancer cell-CAF interaction leads to production of interferon (IFN) type I and interferon stimulated genes (ISGs). The underlying mechanism is the cytoplasmic transfer of cGAMP from genetically unstable cancer cells to CAFs. Upregulation of ISGs conferred resistance to oncolytic virus therapy both in vitro and in vivo. Other cytokines unrelated to IFN, such as CSF2, IL6 and IL8 are also upregulated by cancer cell-CAF contact. I developed a model to study the influence of CAF-cancer cell interaction in the migration of immune cells at the tumour boundary. The motility and persistence of T-cells and monocytes is influenced by CAFs, especially in the interface between cancer cells and fibroblasts. I utilized a syngeneic murine oral squamous carcinoma model to explore further the interaction between immune cells, cancer cells and CAFs. MOC1 cells were derived from oral pouch of mice from C57/BI6 background by treatment with a carcinogenic and they are subjected to immune-surveillance in immunocompetent mice. Co-injection of CAFs helped overcome immune control. Targeting the immunosuppressive effects of CAFs could help improve the results of immunotherapy in patients with squamous cell carcinoma.

Ewing sarcoma (ES) is a are and aggressive bone tumour affecting children and young adults and that requires better therapeutic options to improve patient outcomes. ES is characterised by chromosomal rearrangements producing a fusion gene, the most predominant occurring between EWSR1 and FLI1 (85%). Recent evidence shows that the chimeric oncoprotein EWS-FLI recruits chromatin remodellers that epigenetically rewire transcription to establish its oncogenic programme. Additionally, transcriptional dysregulation is known to induce replication stress (RS) and genomic instability. To mitigate potential genotoxic damage, ES cells are particularly dependent on the replication stress response (RSR). Based on these EWS-FLI1-specific molecular effects, this thesis investigates two separate therapeutic strategies: (i) inhibition of the epigenetic modifier KDM1A, and (ii) exploiting the dependency on the RSR. Catalytic inhibition of histone demethylase KDM1A is demonstrated to be insufficient as a therapeutic strategy for ES, although roles beyond its demethylase function remain a possibility. To identify therapeutic combinations targeting the dependency on the RSR, clinically available drugs inhibiting the ATR-CHK1-WEE1 axis were tested in 3D spheroids of ES cell lines. Each drug candidate was combined at clinically relevant doses with SN-38, the active metabolite of topoisomerase I inhibitor irinotecan, currently used to treat relapsed ES. Combinations revealed cytotoxicity and decreased growth in ES spheroids following WEE1 and ATR inhibition, both concurrent with SN-38. Based on the strength of responses, further investigations prioritised the effects of the WEE1 inhibitor AZD1775 combined with SN-38 in additional ES cell lines and a model ectopically expressing EWS-FLI1. DNA damage, apoptosis, and cell cycle analysis uncovered two responses in ES cell lines, one characterised by cell death, the other resembling growth arrest. These may be dependent on the cell lines' mutational background and could act as a predictive biomarker. Taken together these findings identify a promising novel therapeutic strategy for ES.

This thesis consists of three chapters investigating some of the interactions between the media and both voters and politicians. In chapter 1, I analyse how the introduction of an open data initiative can affect budget allocations of local administrators in the context of Italian municipalities. I find that mayors react to the disclosure of their own data on expenditure and public good provision by improving the published indicators. We find that they sustain the cost of such improvement by worsening other indicators which are not public. These results contribute to the literature by providing the first causal estimates of the effect on mayors' budget choices of their own data being disclosed. In chapter 2 I exploit mayors' online activity on the same open-data platform, OpenCivitas, to reveal a network between mayors which is relevant for tax and yardstick competition. I find that mayors in this network are different from the average on several dimensions and that they do not engage in tax competition with neighbouring municipalities as all the other mayors do. Mayors in the network compete with each other, despite the physical distance, by interdependently setting their property tax rates. We also show that this network existed before the website opened, but that the behaviour of mayors in the network changed after data disclosure. This chapter contributes to the literature by showing a previously unknown framework in tax competition. Chapter 3 investigates, in the context of US counties, how a decrease in the number of local newspapers, or the complete disappearance of them, affects splitticket voting, a commonly used proxy for voters' knowledge of candidates in local elections (Governors, Senators, Representatives). Surprisingly, I find that more exits of local newspapers are associated with higher share of split tickets in the county. Additionally, I find no evidence that losing the last newspaper affects party-line voting. These results are new in the literature and partially in contrast with previous evidence.

This thesis aims to cover the steps taken for the selection of the input galaxy catalogue for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Bright Galaxy Survey (BGS) using the photometric Legacy Surveys. The BGS is a redshift survey of bright galaxies that will be performed using the DESI 5,000 fibre spectrograph on the 4m Mayall telescope in at Kitt Peak, Arizona. Our galaxy selection implements a new way to perform star galaxy separation using the Gaia photometry. The purity of our sample is assessed with previous galaxy surveys GAMA and the SDSS Main Galaxy Sample, and with the MXXL light-cone mock catalogue through clustering measurements. The robustness of the BGS selection criteria are assessed by quantifying the dependence of the target galaxy density on imaging and other properties. Systematic correlations are found with amplitudes of less than 5 per cent. This work also presents the first results from the Survey Validation (SV) stage of DESI. Using the SV data we were able to assess our BGS selection and tune it to achieve a high redshift success rate. The final catalogue includes nearly 30 Million galaxies for a 14,000 deg2 area that covers the North and South Galactic Caps.

There is a need to replace fossil fuels and fossil fuel-derived products, and pyrolysis can contribute to both production of energy and production of useful bioproducts such as biofertilisers and bioadsorbents. At the same time, there is increasing demand for solutions to polluted air and water, due to population and consumption growth, and more stringent limits on pollutants. Adsorption is one of the main solutions for water decontamination, and activated carbon is the most used adsorbent due to its high performance and stability. However, production of activated carbon is usually time and resource-demanding, using high temperatures, coal or coconut shells as feedstock, and activating agents which can be strong acids and bases that can harm the environment. There is thus a need to develop novel adsorbents, with comparable performance to activated carbon, and be produced through more sustainable processes from greener and abundant feedstocks such as biowastes. To address this, slow pyrolysis was used on a wheat straw feedstock to produce the solid product char and also the liquid and gaseous products. The char was tested as an adsorbent for water contaminants, using a cationic dye as model compound for organic pollutants. The liquid and gaseous products were characterised and useful to use as fuel. Both the feedstock and the slow pyrolysis process conditions were modified in order to evaluate how product properties and adsorption performance were affected. The adsorption performance with the chars was evaluated mainly in terms of maximum removal of the dye, and comparable values to a commercial activated carbon (≈99% removal) were achieved. The adsorption capacity was also determined, and for the tested adsorption conditions a maximum of 98 mg/g was achieved, which was even higher than the commercial activated carbon. The best performing chars were the ones produced at lower pyrolysis temperature (400 °C), and feedstock modifications such as increased moisture content, and impregnation with a diluted KOH solution allowed to improve the adsorption results. The chars were valuable for water decontamination even though the surface area was relatively low (maximum 8.8 m2/g), which signified that adsorption of the cationic dye with the chars occurred mainly due to interactions with the surface chemical functionalities of the chars. For the commercial activated carbon, on the other hand, the relatively high surface area (615 m2/g) was the main cause for its high adsorption performance. The chars as bioadsorbents were produced in a continuous process, requiring relatively low temperature, and with additional treatment not being strictly necessary, although some improvements were verified when mild modifications were implemented on the feedstock or the process conditions. This contributes to the possibility of replacing or improving traditional activated carbon production processes, which are time- and resource-consuming. Furthermore, the feedstock used was wheat straw, which is a relatively abundant agricultural by-product frequently considered low value.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated, inflammatory, neurological disease affecting myelin in the central nervous system, whose driving mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is largely used in the MS diagnostic process, but because of its lack of specificity, it cannot reliably detect microscopic damage. Quantitative MRI provides instead feature maps that can be exploited to improve prognosis and treatment monitoring, at the cost of prolonged acquisition times and specialised MR-protocols. In this study, two converging approaches were followed to investigate how to best use the available MRI data for the diagnosis and prognosis of MS. On one hand, qualitative data commonly used in clinical research for lesion and anatomical purposes were shown to carry quantitative information that could be used to conduct myelin and relaxometry analyses on cohorts devoid of dedicated quantitative acquisitions. In this study arm, named bottom-up, qualitative information was up-converted to quantitative surrogate: traditional model-fitting and deep-learning frameworks were proposed and tested on MS patients to extract relaxometry and indirect-myelin quantitative data from qualitative scans. On the other hand, when using multi-modal MRI data to classify MS patients with different clinical status, different MR-features contribute to specific classification tasks. The top-down study arm consisted in using machine learning to reduce the multi-modal dataset dimensionality only to those MR-features that are more likely to be biophysically meaningful with respect to each MS phenotype pathophysiology. Results show that there is much more potential to qualitative data than lesion and tissue segmentation, and that specific MRI modalities might be better suited for investigating individual MS phenotypes. Efficient multi-modal acquisitions informed by biophysical findings, whilst being able to extract quantitative information from qualitative data, would provide huge statistical power through the use of large, historical datasets, as well as constitute a significant step forward in the direction of sustainable research.

Mycotoxins, secondary metabolites from diverse fungal strains, are relevant compounds whose occurrence affects not only low-income countries, but high-income nations through imported products. Their threatening effects to human health, along with the negative impact on economic, social, and agricultural levels, have established an area of study for the development of better agricultural practices, more sensitive detection techniques and effective detoxification methods. Despite their great sensitivity and selectivity, conventional methods for mycotoxin quantification require long assay times, expensive equipment and instrumentation, specialized operators, and multiple steps of sample pre-treatment. Hence, less complex yet effective techniques are required for such targets. In addition, decontamination is sometimes the last alternative for some agricultural and food products in which the use of waste-based adsorbents results in a cheap, ecological, and affordable solution to this problem, when compared to other utilized materials. In this regard, natural polymers have been explored with promising results over the las years. This thesis was focused on the development and improvement of bulk and paper-based biosensing techniques for the quantification of mycotoxins, and the exploration of natural polymeric materials as potential adsorbents for food decontamination and biosensing platforms. In order to examine the application of paper as a sensing matrix, five model samples (aqueous ink) were applied on 3MM chromatographic paper for the analysis of their flow-related phenomena by mathematical fitting to diffusion and imbibition equations. The characterized paper matrix was then applied on the colorimetric detection of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), by exploiting its inhibitory effect towards acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in Ellman's reaction, where the immobilization of AChE was assessed in two types of chitosan (high and low degree of acetylation (DA)/ molecular weight (MW). The application of a high MW/high DA cross-linked chitosan resulted in the linear quantification of AFB1. In addition, an aptamer (ssDNA)-based detection of fumonisin B1 (FB1) was developed with two aptamers (96 and 40 nt) incubated with FB1, followed by another incubation step with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and the addition of NaCl. From all the tested conditions, only the 96 nt aptamer was specific to FB1, whose biosensing properties were regulated by the formation of an aptamer-FB1-AuNP conjugate in MgCl2. These conjugates were stable to NaCl-induced aggregation at increasing concentrations of FB1 and characterized by Asymmetric Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (AF4), a technique showing low LODs in the fg/mL level. Finally, preliminary results for the mycotoxin adsorption of β-chitin scaffolds and N-isobutyryl chitosan (NIBC) hydrogels were obtained for FB1-spiked beer and milk. In this regard, although more exploration is necessary, the preliminary results indicated a slightly better performance from NIBC gels, specially at lower pH values. Furthermore, the potential application of NIBC gels as support materials in molecular imprinting, were explores through the use of L-phenylalanine as an analogue of ochratoxin A, in which no interference with the gel formation process and a complete template removal were observed in the selected material. Nevertheless, further optimization is required for the successful completion of both applications in the selected polymeric materials. In general, through this thesis more understanding on the diffusive and capillary-driven phenomena in a paper matrix was reported with a subsequent improvement of its performance in mycotoxin biosensing, which led to a space for improving other sensing and biosensing techniques through such immobilization method. Besides, the sole application of an aptamer in the sensitive detection of mycotoxins was achieved by denoting the effect of the incubation conditions and the selected sequence, which outlines another route for tackling aptasensing methods depending on the selected supports and sequences, while leaving an open door for its future implementation as a paper-based detection for mycotoxins. Lastly, the exploratory results on the application of chitin and chitosan-based structured materials, left a promising scope for more research and projects dedicated to the exploitation of these materials in similar and multiple applications.

Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) can differentiate into all blood cell types, making HSC transplantation a promising treatment for many blood-related disorders. Allogenic heathy HSCs can be transplanted into patients, although this approach is limited by availability and compatibility of the donor. Moreover, there are no protocols available to generate transplantable HSCs from pluripotent stem cells (PSC), or expand HSCs ex vivo, as the molecules involved in HSC ontogeny remain poorly understood. Embryonically, HSCs derive from a subset of aortic endothelial cells that undergo endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition to become HSCs. During this dynamic process, Gpr56 is the most upregulated receptor in emerging HSCs. The Gpr56 protein is a cell-surface receptor that is likely involved in the regulation of HSC function. However, its role in mammalian haematopoiesis remains unknown. In this study, we examine the function of Gpr56 during in vivo and in vitro HSC development. To explore the effect of Gpr56 loss-of-function, we characterize the functional role of mouse embryonic stem cell (ESC) derived hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and in vivo mouse HSCs that lack Gpr56. Gpr56-deficient HSPCs have a differentiation bias towards myeloid cells and the upregulation of another GPCR, Gpr97 appeared to compensate for Gpr56 deletion. The simultaneous deletion of Gpr56 and Gpr97 severely impaired the production of HSPCs, suggesting that both GPCRs are required in vitro for HSPC generation. Conversely, Gpr56 overexpression during human in vitro PSC differentiation resulted in an important HSPC expansion. In summary, these data demonstrate that the lack of Gpr56 alters the HSPC differentiation output, while its overexpression enhances human in vitro HSPCs generation. This work represents the most comprehensive and current study of Gpr56 in mammalian haematopoiesis and these findings will improve novel strategies to generate de novo HSC and/or promote their ex vivo expansion.

The intertextual dialogue in a selection of Margaret Atwood's novels is the focus of this thesis. The chapters analyse four novels: The Edible Woman, Surfacing, The Handmaid's Tale and Cat's Eye. Chapter 1 posits the theoretical framework, drawing ideas from Bakhtin, Kristeva, Riffaterre, Hutcheon and Foucault. The intertextual conversation in Atwood's novels questions traditional narratives in a continuous exchange that generates visions that are alternatives to the roles and rules of the androcentric society. The frequent use of intertexts allows a 'dialogic thought' that opens up to multiple diverse visions that deny dichotomous restrictive roles that are implemented through traditional narratives in schools and families in a consumerist and exploitative perspective. The openness to different views gives space to a broader human vision and possible multiple readings in a continuous relationship and conversation with the Other that generates identities in flux; it is a never-ending process that creates new meanings in changing contexts where opposites coexist. The incongruous roles proposed by society are therefore exposed as restrictive and menacing and new approaches are proposed that aim for human survival. From this view, humanity is saved in a process of continuous questioning that is selfreflexive as well as in tension with previous narratives from high and low culture and traditional and contemporary discourses where the angle continuously shifts in a revolutionary mode. This entails the intertextual 'dialogic thought', the disruptive vision of écriture féminine and the position of the reader function in conversation with the writer function within the novels. Various readings are therefore proposed without a definite closure, allowing further developments that go beyond the ending in a world of language where 'reality' is constructed in words. Atwood's literary world is representative of a political and social context and, at the same time, challenges this 'reality' in an attempt to rewrite these narratives from within through the intertextual conversation.

Being a superposition of photons and excitons in the strong coupling regime, exciton-polaritons inherit properties from both the constituents. We are interested in the interaction arising from their matter component, since the enhancement of the interaction strength compared to that in nonlinear optical materials in the weak coupling regime might lead to the development of new technological platforms, where light can be controlled by light thanks to Kerr-like nonlinearity. In Chapter 1, we define exciton-polaritons and introduce the fundamental many-body phenomena in which they are involved, like Bose-Einstein condensation and solitons. In Chapter 2, we describe the active media used in polaritonics, especially the two employed in this thesis, i.e. transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers and GaN. In Chapter 3, we outline the different geometries utilised to confine the light and make it interacts with excitons, specifically microcavities and waveguides. In Chapter 4, we detail the experimental setups we used to study exciton-polaritons in TMDC-microcavities and GaN-waveguides. In Chapter 5, we report on the preliminary results obtained on bare MoSe2 monolayers and when we embedded them in our open-access microcavity. In Chapter 6, we narrate about the interesting results achieved on TMDC-polaritons, focusing on the giant trion-polariton interaction strength, which lays the foundation for a new generation of nonlinear devices in the IR spectral range, foreshadowing highly efficient polariton blockade. In Chapter 7, we observe for the first time nonlinear self-modulation of UV pulses operating up to room temperature, opening the way for potential technological platform for ultrafast nonlinear optics without cryogenics in the UV spectral range. Finally, in Chapter 8, we summarise all the results obtained and trace possible future outcome in polaritonics, ranging from topological studies to superconductivity. Appedices A and B are the theoretical models underneath the two experimental Chapters 6 and 7, respectively.

There has been a move towards integrating educational technology into K-12 mathematics classrooms. This emphasis has been partly driven by policy, increases in technology resources available, and a need to engage students in their mathematical learning. Most studies on technology integration in mathematics education are focused on teachers' perceptions or students' academic achievement. However, we need to learn how students perceive their learning in this type of environment. This dissertation is a basic qualitative study aimed at understanding the experiences of students with 1:1 computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) in an Algebraic Reasoning classroom. The study used the mathematical software, Desmos, as its CSCL system. The school in which this research took place fully implemented a 1:1 student-to-Chromebook program since 2016, and the participants of this study were students in a 1:1 Algebraic Reasoning classroom. The data used in this study were taken from participants' responses to individual semi-structured interviews about their learning experiences with Desmos. Data was analyzed using Kumar et al.'s (2010) framework for effective CSCL systems which encompasses five criterions: (1) Open-ended and guided interactions, (2) interactions that can be stored centrally for meaningful interpretation, (3) predefined collaboration strategies, (4) underlying theories of collaboration represented in the software, and (5) providing active and passive feedback. Results suggest that students' experiences with 1:1 CSCL in Algebraic Reasoning captured all but one them. These elements can inform educational stakeholders as to how to implement an engaging, innovative, and student-centered 1:1 CSCL mathematics environment. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This dissertation presents the first Systemic Functional Linguistics-based analysis of the teaching/learning of computational thinking through computer programming and comprehensive analysis of discourse of a whole computer programming course at any educational level. The current educational research raises questions about the nature of authentic computational thinking teaching/learning environments and how they happen moment-to-moment. In one such environment, I examined the discourse of a facilitator, three students, and their Language Arts teacher in an introductory middle school after-school course (approximately 30 hours) in spring 2017 as students created a video in Python. Methodologically, I show how a Systemic Functional Linguistics-based analytical framework can operationalize the dimensions of an authentic bilingual (English-Spanish) computer programming environment, student positioning and indicators of computational thinking learning. I identify the following dimensions: complexity (abstraction included), pragmatism, procedurality, dependency, and flexibility. The facilitator positioned the students as capable computational thinkers and computer programmers whose prior world experience and linguistic identity mattered. She also positioned them to collaboratively model their prototypes with grade-level mathematics; create the algorithm; communicate algorithm thinking and computational thinking. I identify relevant teaching strategies; indicators of student learning were found. Strategies include: (1) drawing on the students' languages and cultural resources, (2) capitalizing on student-known mathematical concepts, (3) using a soft focus on concepts, and (4) adopting a motivational, pragmatic, mathematics-based heuristic procedure. My findings illuminate the nature of authentic computational thinking environments and suggest teaching practices that prioritize student creation and communication of meaningful, simple algorithms and programs over complex conceptual explanations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

Research has shown that mentoring is a productive way to address multiple needs in education and help children maximize their potential while bridging racial and generational lines (Frels et al., 2013; LaVenia & Burgoon, 2019; Liao & Sanchez, 2019; Spencer et al., 2020; Spencer, Gowdy et al., 2019). This research aimed to identify the factors of effective mentoring relationships between adults and elementary students in urban settings. This study used a basic qualitative approach to interview ten participants in mentoring relationships: five adult mentors and their five child mentees at a community-mentoring organization. Participants answered questions adapted from the effective mentoring factors found in the research. Mentors and mentees were asked which effective mentoring factors were most important and if any factors existed in their mentoring relationships that were not present in the research. Coding was used to analyze participants' responses. All participants specified personal disclosure, length of the mentoring relationship, trust, and safe space as vital factors in their mentoring relationships. In addition, all mentors agreed that paid coordinator support was an essential aspect of their motivations to mentor. Teachers and adults who work with elementary students in urban settings can proactively build a relationship with their students by initiating trust in their students to model a trusting relationship. In addition, by advocating, supporting, and protecting their students, these adults help establish a safe emotional and physical setting for their students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]

This study showcases stories of minority students participating in the Geopaths research program at California State University, Bakersfield. The study examined faculty mentorship and research activity variables to understand their influence on STEM recruitment and retention. Using a narrative analysis approach, the researcher documented the contextual aspects in which these variables affect student judgements and learning advances. Thirteen minority student participants were interviewed. Findings discovered fifteen categories that denote significant developments of influence and six greater themes of associations across participant stories. Findings revealed that faculty mentorship facilitates research learning, generates greater awareness of associated professions, and induces consideration of career trajectories for students. Equally, conducting research practice resulted in skill developments and mastery, the building of social associations among participants, and tangible understanding of oceanography-related research. The study reiterated previous research on the research engagement and student developments, adding explicit data on how these factors influence students. Conclusions include identifying the significant linkage between research activity and faculty mentorship, including an emphasis on using these two factors in tandem for future activities. Implications include prioritizing socialization-centered activities in constructing institutional means to support students. Recommendations include increasing research extracurricular activities alongside coursework and formalizing social events to increase participation, sustain interest, and provide ongoing assistance. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]