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Although the Mexican population is experiencing tremendous growth, they continue to lag behind the national average in, and have amongst the lowest, educational attainment levels of all Latinos/as (Perez Huber et al., 2015). Some studies have looked at the experience of Mexicans along the K-12, undergraduate, and doctoral educational pipelines. However, the experience of master's students has gone under-examined and resulted in a gap in higher education research. In an attempt to continue filling the gap on master's education research, this dissertation focuses on the factors that influence Chicanas decision to pursue a Master of Arts in Education and the sources of support that Chicanas draw from in their pursuit and attainment of the master's. Using Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE) and Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) as the theoretical foundations for this research, the method of Pláticas was instrumental to studying the experiences of 12 Chicana Master of Arts in Education students. CFE was included to strengthen the gender lens of this research and to unapologetically center Chicana identities. CCW was included to shift the research lens away from a deficit view of Chicanas and instead focus on the cultural knowledge, skills, and abilities they bring to higher education. My analysis revealed two general findings. First, the decision to pursue a master's is not a single choice, but rather a collective of the personal, familial, and logistical. Chicanas' identity, familial relationships, graduate school exposure, values alignment, passion for area of study, mentors, and representation are factors that influence Chicanas decisions to pursue a master's. Second, Chicanas draw from unique sources of support, personal motivation, ambition, and coping skills, and engage in their own strategies of resistance to create more empowering master's experiences. With the Latino/a population on the rise and continuing shift in master's enrollment demographics, it is crucial that we understand how to intentionally support Chicano/a recruitment, enrollment, retention, and graduation. [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 Thesis describes the synthesis and reactivity of Group 5 imido and hydrazido complexes with tridentate, trianionic ligands. Various synthetic routes towards these hydrazido compounds were explored and in which several intermediates were synthesised and their chemistry was explored. The reactivity of the imido and hydrazido complexes with unsaturated and other small molecules was also studied. Chapter One provides a general introduction to tridentate pincer and tripodal ligands. The structure, synthesis and reactivity of Group 4 and 5 imido and hydrazido complexes is also reviewed. Chapter Two describes three different synthetic routes towards tantalum hydrazido complexes with tridentate, trianionic ligands. Synthesis, characterization and bonding analysis of the precursor dichloride species Ta(NN2SiMe3)Cl2, which is used as starting material for two of the synthetic routes, is also described. The synthesis, characterization and bonding analysis of the tantalum dialkyl and alkyl-amido precursors prepared in the multistep route is also explored. Chapter Three describes the synthesis and characterisation of Group 5 imido complexes with tridentate, trianionic ligands of the type Li3(NN2R) and Li3(NNNSiMe3). Reactivity studies of the imido complex Nb(NN2iPr)(NtBu)(py)2 with unsaturated and other small molecules are also explored. Chapter Four describes the synthesis and characterisation of Group 5 hydrazido complexes with tridentate, trianionic ligands by two different synthetic routes, alongside a bonding analysis of the imido compounds M(NN2R)(NtBu)(py)2 and their hydrazido analogues M(NN2R)(NNPh2)(L)x. Reactivity studies of the hydrazido complex Nb(NN2iPr)(NNPh2)(py)2 with unsaturated and other small substrates are also described. Chapter Five presents full experimental procedures and characterising data for the new methodologies and complexes reported in this Thesis.

Although the Mexican population is experiencing tremendous growth, they continue to lag behind the national average in, and have amongst the lowest, educational attainment levels of all Latinos/as (P�rez Huber et al., 2015). Some studies have looked at the experience of Mexicans along the K-12, undergraduate, and doctoral educational pipelines. However, the experience of master’s students has gone under-examined and resulted in a gap in higher education research. In an attempt to continue filling the gap on master’s education research, this dissertation focuses on the factors that influence Chicanas decision to pursue a Master of Arts in Education and the sources of support that Chicanas draw from in their pursuit and attainment of the master’s. Using Chicana Feminist Epistemology (CFE) and Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) as the theoretical foundations for this research, the method of Pl�ticas was instrumental to studying the experiences of 12 Chicana Master of Arts in Education students. CFE was included to strengthen the gender lens of this research and to unapologetically center Chicana identities. CCW was included to shift the research lens away from a deficit view of Chicanas and instead focus on the cultural knowledge, skills, and abilities they bring to higher education. My analysis revealed two general findings. First, the decision to pursue a master’s is not a single choice, but rather a collective of the personal, familial, and logistical. Chicanas’ identity, familial relationships, graduate school exposure, values alignment, passion for area of study, mentors, and representation are factors that influence Chicanas decisions to pursue a master’s. Second, Chicanas draw from unique sources of support, personal motivation, ambition, and coping skills, and engage in their own strategies of resistance to create more empowering master’s experiences. With the Latino/a population on the rise and continuing shift in master’s enrollment demographics, it is crucial that we understand how to intentionally support Chicano/a recruitment, enrollment, retention, and graduation.

The lack of green open spaces undermines the environmental and social quality of tropical highly-dense cities (i.e. raises urban temperatures, limits social interaction). The goal of this study, which focused on environmental aspects, was to identify underlying factors (i.e. hypothetical constructs) in semi-outdoor spaces within building forms that explain their microclimatic behaviour, thermal comfort levels, and clustering. Sixty-three semi-outdoor spaces in four high/mid-rise building forms of Singapore were studied using microclimatic data collected from field measurements and analysed via inferential statistical methods (e.g., exploratory factor analysis, multivariate regression analysis, and hierarchical clustering analysis). Findings demonstrate: (1) that spatial attributes (i.e. height, depth, void, solid, total frontage, open frontage, area, volume, perimeter, sky view factor, green plot ratio) are manifestations of three underlying factors: volume porosity (VP), perimeter openness (PO) and exposure to sky (ES); (2) that VP and PO are significantly associated with air velocity and predicted thermal comfort; and (3) that vertical breezeways appear to be the most thermally comfortable cluster due to high VP and low PO. This study sheds new light on the spatial nature of semi-outdoor spaces, which designers can consider in order to enhance wind movement for promoting thermally comfortable semi-outdoor environments in highly-dense Singapore

Computer networks play a central role in the transmission of information across theworld. Autonomous systems (administrative domains or “ASes”) are the building blocks of such wide-area networks and are responsible for delivering traffic to their individual subscribers as well as to other networks to which they are connected. So-called transit ASes—who sell access to the rest of the Internet to customer ASes for a fee—are mostly invisible to end users but may be able to operate on their traffic, for instance by observing unencrypted traffic or metadata, or by tampering with specific network flows serving popular applications. In many countries, transit ASes serve as the principal intermediaries between domestic access ASes and the global Internet.In this dissertation, we introduce the concept of transit influence, which quantifies theexposure of an AS or groups thereof, such as in an industrial sector, or nation, to observation and tampering by a specific transit network. We hypothesize that there are countries where transit agreements are the dominant form of international connectivity, and where specific ASes have significant degrees of transit influence (TI) over the country as a whole as well as over individual organizations within them. We quantify TI by developing three metrics at distinct granularities: at the country level (CTI), at the AS level (ATI), and at the sectoral level (W-ATI). In order to apply these methods, we first identify 75 countries—with approximately 1 billion Internet users, on aggregate—where transit providers are the dominant mode of inbound connectivity, using analyses of existing interconnection data and our own large-scale measurement campaign. Applying CTI, we find 32 nations that have transit ecosystems with concerning topological features: traffic destined to over 40% of their IP addresses is exposed to a single network. We further study the AS topologies of three nations in South America and find a small number of transit ASes that exert out-sized influence in several sectors, including finance, utilities, and education. We validate our findings with in-country network operators at 123 ASes in 19 countries, who confirm that our results are consistent with their understanding of their countries’ networks.

In highly dense tropical cities, a semi-outdoor space (SOS) is frequently used as a social space within tall building forms where people can interact and connect. Thermal comfort in SOSs within tall buildings, however, may vary depending on the type and form attributes that define it. This study classifies 63 SOSs in four tall buildings of Singapore into five types based on literature review: perimeter buffers, sky terraces, horizontal breezeways, breezeway atria and vertical breezeways. Findings suggest that the five SOS types perform differently in terms of thermal comfort (based on PMV*), environmental parameters (air temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity), and building form attributes (height-to-depth ratio, open space ratio, and green plot ratio). Of these five, vertical breezeways and horizontal breezeways are the most thermally comfortable for all activities during a typically warm hour. It is postulated that higher thermal comfort levels in these SOS types are linked to form attributes that enhance air velocity. This study examines the pros and cons of each SOS type in terms of thermal comfort in their role as communal spaces in tall buildings situated within a highly dense tropical city.

Year-round high temperatures and humidity in the Tropics, coupled with poor design decisions and climate change, can cause indoor environments to overheat, affecting health and increasing energy demand and carbon emissions. Passive cooling could help lower the indoor overheating risk. Given the gap in the relative influence of passive cooling design strategies on lowering the indoor overheating risk in tropical locations, this study investigated their impact in two warm tropical cities (i.e., Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula), considering both current and future climate scenarios, with a total of 3840 thermal simulations performed. Indoor overheating risk in apartment-type dwellings was assessed using two metrics (i.e., hours of exceedance and the indoor overheating degree), and considering fixed and adaptive thermal comfort limits. Simulation results show that the overheating risk can be significantly lowered in these tropical contexts using solely passive cooling strategies as heat adaptation measures. Multivariate regression models demonstrate that natural ventilation, wall absorptance, the solar heat gain coefficient, and semi-outdoor spaces have the greatest impact in lowering the risk in vertical social housing projects. This study emphasizes the importance of passive cooling and overheating protection design strategies in tropical building codes and building design while considering current and future risk.

Considerado como uno de los departamentos privados de soberano, la Capilla de Fernando ii muestra una importante conexión con la esfera cortesana y la vida política durante el reinado. En el presente estudio se mostrarán algunos de los rasgos que definieron el servicio religioso a lo largo del reinado así como algunos de sus principales artífices y colaboradores. La dimensión institucional, la religiosidad, la conexión con las elites regnícolas así como su diferencial participación en la vida política (y religiosa) de los reinos serán nuestros hilos rectores.