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This study quantified teacher perceptions and their observations of school community interactive attachments. Observed attachments through teacher perceptions classified school communities as caring. Elementary school teachers in the southern United States districts volunteered, in order to determine the significance of school-based taught or learned character education principles in comparison with caring attachments. Data were collected using the Caring Community Profile-II questionnaire, which measures the participants' attitudes by the extent to which they agree or disagree with a statement. The results clarified the significance of character education programs that identify school communities as caring. Additionally, the findings answered the study's research questions and hypotheses. The major findings determined that not only can teacher observations label their school environments but teachers in general connect school stakeholders, and teacher influence has a significant impact on positive community character education growth. Ultimately, the study concludes the significance of character education programs or the lack thereof and the potential ethical impact character education curriculums can have in society. [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 recent years, there has been increased focus on rural and Appalachian health because of disparate chronic health outcomes when compared to the rest of the US. Appalachia, a subsection of the US, has even worse health outcomes related to chronic diseases. Although Appalachia is its own unique region, there is significant overlap with rural areas in terms of shared cultural characteristics (e.g., strong sense of community, distrust in outsiders, lack of trust in traditional medicine, and strong Christian religious affiliations and faith in God), limited access to healthcare services, and disparate health outcomes. The research presented in this dissertation is significant because it provides insight into and compares healthcare utilization rates in women in Appalachia and surrounding areas. Study 1: In addition to racial discrimination, Black Appalachian women often face other obstacles involving other types of negative interpersonal experiences when seeking healthcare. Despite these known disparities, Black women are frequently underrepresented in Appalachian health research. This study investigated healthcare experiences for sixteen Black Appalachian women using semi-structured interviews to identify and subsequently address ways to eliminate barriers to care. Interview questions utilized the theory of intersectionality and the Social Ecological Model to create a framework to describe the complexity of healthcare utilization and barriers to care while providing context into each participant's background and lived experience. Interview questions explored four topics: 1) barriers to medical care; 2) social support; 3) ideal and actual healthcare experiences; and 4) desired changes to improve quality of care. We used an inductive analysis process to create a robust thematic coding schema, organizing responses into 60 total themes and 141 codes, and reported the most frequent. Our results explore the ways in which one's intersectional identity as a Black Appalachian woman affects interpersonal interactions and experiences when engaging with the healthcare system. Participants frequently reported barriers related to scheduling conflicts and delays, experiences with rushed appointments and inhospitable providers and support staff, and desires for accurate collection of medical information. Participant responses often emphasized difficulties with the organization of the medical system, revealing specific areas for future intervention to improve quality of care for Black Appalachian women. Study 2: Use of the emergency department (ED) for low acuity conditions (e.g., back pain, dental pain, sore throat) and primary care places an additional strain on ED staff and resources, while increasing waiting and treatment times for high acuity patients. Factors such as race, gender, and insurance type have a strong association with the likelihood of a patient using the ED for a low acuity concern. Women are more likely to utilize healthcare services, which also holds true in the context of the ED. Using a sample of adult women from Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Kentucky, I investigated which demographic factors, age, race, geographic location (metro, nonmetro, rural), employment, and insurance coverage, affect a patient's likelihood to visit the ED for a low acuity condition within a southwestern Virginia hospital system. Log-binomial regression was used to estimate unadjusted and adjusted prevalence ratios of acuity level by race, age, rurality level, employment, and insurance type with corresponding 95% CIs. Our sample included 28,222 female patients who visited the ED between January 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022. Low acuity visits accounted for 15.9% (n=4,485) of visits during the timeframe. In summary, our results suggest that older age and location in non-metro area are the most salient factors contributing to a higher likelihood of low acuity ED visits among women. Race, a primary variable of interest, did not have the relationship to acuity that was expected based on previous literature; Black women patients were less likely to have a low acuity visit than white women patients. During our study period, overall number of visits remained steady, while there was an increase in proportion of low acuity visits. Further research is needed into the underlying causes to more definitively explain this increase.

This study focuses on dark-skinned, Black women's representation in Black sitcoms. Through a mixed-methods use of a comparative textual analysis and focus group, the content and context of episodes from A Different World and Dear White People are explored to illustrate portrayals of dark-skinned, Black women and how these portrayals affect dark-skinned, Black women's self-esteem. Its findings contribute to colorism research by exploring colorism in Black sitcoms. Because this topic is largely unexplored, this study seeks to begin a conversation about dark skinned, Black women's representation in Black sitcoms. The main objective is to ultimately improve their depictions and roles in Black sitcoms and hold Black creatives responsible for the role they play in promoting colorism and its ultimate effect on Black women's self esteem.

Chlorine terminated silicon nanoparticles are produced from a non equilibrium plasma setup. The reactive chlorinated surface is exploited to functionalize the particles using Grignard chemistry and to stabilize the particles in solvent. By functionalizing the particles using Grignard chemistry, the particles form an optically clear solution in diethyl ether that is stable for four months. Chlorine surface coverage was successfully modulated by changing the precursor flowrate during synthesis. The solubility of as produced particles in methyl ethyl ketone was found to be related to the amount of precursor used during synthesis. A low pressure differential mobility analyzer (LPDMA) was installed downstream of a silicon nanocrystal plasma reactor in order to take in situ measurements of particle size distributions. Roughly equal amounts of positive and negative particles are observed. Size distributions of particles measured by the LPDMA are found to be much broader than those observed in TEM. This broadening is believed to be due to in flight coagulation. Inserting a mesh downstream of the plasma reduced the broadness of the distributions.

Dancing Africa, Making Diaspora concerns the industry of West African dance in the United States. Considering the relationship between dance, diaspora, and belonging, Dancing Africa works to reveal the power of dance in shaping participants' individual and collective identities through the premise of African connectedness. In other words, this dissertation considers West African dance as a meaning-making practice. Through the study of multiple West African dance and drum contexts - a Broadway show, dance classes in one Californian community center, a dance "homecoming" workshop in Guinea - it interrogates the ways everyday people (those typically excluded by the field's privileging of textual archives) conceptualize, embody, and make use of the African diaspora. Ultimately, this dissertation shows how dance links the symbolic and physical dimensions of diaspora: the imaginative work that fosters diasporic connectedness and the physical movement through and across space that has, and continues to, yield variegated African diasporic communities. This dissertation examines U.S. evocations of Africanness through West African dance in an effort to raise and answer questions about the performative capabilities of West African dance and to investigate the processes by which African diasporic communities are shaped because of and through this dance form. Based largely on ethnographic observations and interviews with West African dance participants, Dancing Africa, Making Diaspora shows how West African dance influences how participants understand what the African diaspora is, and how they see their own raced and gendered bodies in relation to it. This project reveals the bearing that West African dance has on participants' lives by asking the following questions: In what ways did diaspora play a role in the career of West African dance as a formal practice in the US? Why do people take part in West African dance and what "work" does it do for them? How does gender and nationality affect one's positioning in these various communities? And finally, how has the commodification of the form impacted meanings of diaspora, blackness, and Africanness? Dancing Africa reveals the operations through which this dance economy both widens the circle of African diasporic "we" and continues to police its ever-shifting boundaries of belonging.

One hundred and twenty randomly selected Black college students were surveyed to determine if a relationship existed between student group involvement and feelings of isolation for Black students on a predominately white campus. A bivariate conelation test was conducted between items measuring isolation and involvement. The results of the study indicated that a significant relationship existed between attending campus events with student groups, and reduced levels of isolation through interactions with student groups. A one-way analysis ofvariance was used to determine if isolation levels differed based on class level (freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior). There was no significant difference found in isolation levels among the four groups. Respondents did report that student group membership provided a support base, and helped to facilitate connections with the campus environment.