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This multiple case study explored the experiences that business alumni had in competency-based leadership programs during their time as business undergraduate students in two universities, one in Mexico and the other in the United States. Methodological triangulation was addressed by collecting data from several sources and through different methods. Seven participants from Mexico and six from the United States who graduated between 2017-2021 from diverse business bachelor's programs, and have been in leadership positions in the workplace, were interviewed. The strategies of pursuing members' meanings, coding, and analytic memos were employed for analyzing single cases. Also, I used a model of leadership competencies development as an a posteriori theoretical framework. For cross-case analysis, I employed the strategies of coding, similarity, and analytic memos. Five findings from the Mexican data and four from the American data are discussed within their institutional contexts. Implications for research, theory, and practice are included. [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 hermeneutic phenomenological study examined how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a predominantly White work setting within a rural Northern California Community College. There is a lack of research on how Latiné/x classified student services staff experience cultural taxation in a higher education setting. This study used Padilla's (1994) cultural taxation theory as the framework to better understand the Latiné/x classified student services staff experience with cultural taxation; a topic mostly examined from a faculty of color perspective. This study begins to fill the gap in the research and addresses how Latiné/x classified student services staff in higher education, specifically in the realm of student services, experience cultural taxation. This study begins to scratch the surface to unveil how cultural taxation is experienced and how higher education can shift practices to reduce cultural taxation which can promote a less hostile environment that could lead to an increase in Latiné/x classified student services staff representation at California community colleges. [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 enrolled in public education schools in the State of Texas are required to participate in and secure passage of a norm-referenced state assessment in different grade levels and subject areas. The State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) is the norm-referenced assessment used for students in grades third through eighth, and enrolled in high school English I, English II, Algebra I, Biology, or U.S. History. Passage of these assessments are required for graduation of high school, and in some grade levels for promotion. The purpose of this study was to identify the predictability of English I STAAR passage based on an at-risk and special program indicators enrolled in Region 2 school districts in the state of Texas. The socioeconomic status of a student or receiving special education services is one of the special program indicators used to identify a student for academic performance and graduation data tracking. A student is considered to be at-risk for not completing graduation is they are identified as an English Language learner. Additional research is necessary to further support or make change to current education policy to ensure students are assessed in an equitable fashion, versus using a norm-referenced assessment due to students who receive an at-risk or special program indicators that students may be dispositioned to not to perform well on. The study determined that there is a strong correlation between three different special program indicators and the predictability of passage of the English I End of Course (EOC) STAAR assessment. There are other special program indicators that are used to identify the different applicable descriptors for a every student. The result of a predictability value are of great benefit to all education stake holders when employing a STAAR assessment to measure a student's summative success. The study indicated a predictive correlation between an at-risk or special program indicator and passage of an English I End of Course STAAR assessment. With these results, a classroom teacher or campus leader should be able to foresee a student's success and then adjust their instruction and environment. Those with a greater responsibility, such as the Texas Education Agency and the state legislators, are recommended to use this study to restructure their compliance piece of monitoring of student success through a high-stakes assessment. As educators, it is known that there is an unwritten and spoken truth of predicting a student's success based on their at-risk or special programs indicator. A predictive measure is evident if a student economically disadvantaged, special education or an English language learner. District and campus leaders also have a responsibility to ensure content is being taught and mastered, and not just testing strategies. While there is data on predictive measures, there is limited data on predictive measure on the STAAR assessment, and especially limited after COVID. The results should be applied when creating and administering a STAAR assessment. [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.]

Mobility relates to the basic human need of physical movement which declines with advancing age. Strong evidence of successful ageing can be found in mobility performance (walking, muscle strength, and physical functioning) evaluation. Previous evidence indicates that physical activity could prevent progression of mobility limitation and promote successful ageing. As such, the overall aim of this thesis is to determine effects of 24-h movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep) on musculoskeletal health, adiposity, and physical functioning in older adults. Chapter 1 reviews the evidence for these outcomes of interest. Subsequently, chapter 2 reports on changes in walking behaviour with increasing age in high-functioning older adults living in Scotland. However, individual intrinsic capacity is only one of the components of functional mobility and laboratory-based gait analysis can only provide a limited picture. Accordingly, in chapters 3-5, laboratory-based measurements of mobility have been translated into the real world by considering movement within the whole 24-h time period in older adult populations living in Scotland (high-income setting) and South African Townships (low-income setting). Chapter 3 describes compositional time differences in 24-h movement behaviour between Scottish and South African older adults. Chapters 4 and 5 investigates associations between 24-h movement behaviours, musculoskeletal health, adiposity, and physical functioning. Higher volumes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity were associated with better health outcomes in both samples, while sedentary behaviour presented a detrimental effect on other variables. However, differences in health outcomes associations were present between the Scottish and South African settings. The findings reported in this thesis demonstrates the importance of exploring 24-h movement behaviours in older adults from differing settings, to gain greater understanding of context and socioeconomic profiles, and how these link to health outcomes so that there is an understanding of how best to intervene.

One challenge of developing large scale systems is knowing how artefacts are interrelated across tools and languages, especially when traceability is mandated e.g., by certifying authorities. Another challenge is the interoperability of all required tools to allow the software to be built, tested, and deployed efficiently as it evolves. Build systems have grown in popularity as they facilitate these activities. To cope with the complexities of the development process, engineers can adopt model-driven practices that allow them to raise the system abstraction level by modelling its domain, therefore, reducing the accidental complexity that comes from e.g., writing boilerplate code. However, model-driven practices come with challenges such as integrating heterogeneous model management tasks e.g., validation, and modelling technologies e.g., Simulink (a proprietary modelling environment for dynamic systems). While there are tools that support the execution of model-driven workflows, some support only specific modelling technologies, lack the generation of traceability information, or do not offer the cutting-edge features of build systems like conservative executions i.e., where only tasks affected by changes to resources are executed. In this work we propose ModelFlow, a workflow language and interpreter able to specify and execute model management workflows conservatively and produce traceability information as a side product. In addition, ModelFlow reduces the overhead of model loading and disposal operations by allowing model management tasks to share already loaded models during the workflow execution. Our evaluation shows that ModelFlow can perform conservative executions which can improve the performance times in some scenarios. ModelFlow is designed to support the execution of model management tasks targeting various modelling frameworks and can be used in conjunction with models from heterogeneous technologies. In addition to EMF models, ModelFlow can also handle Simulink models through a driver developed in the context of this thesis which was used to support one case study.

This thesis contributes to the experimental literature on decision-making under risk and ambiguity. In chapters 1 and 2, I study how environments of increased uncertainty, which I model as increased uncertainty about the probability of an event occurring (i.e., ambiguity), affect the decision-making process, in two settings: in chapter 1, I focus on how this increased uncertainty influences preferences over the timing of resolution of uncertainty. The results of the experiment show that in a lottery choice problem, as the ex-ante likelihood of the good outcome occurring goes up, participants turn from wanting to receive partial information before the resolution of uncertainty to being averse to it. This result has important theoretical and applied implications. In chapter 2, I analyse how social identity (e.g., political ideas, gender, ethnicity) and the stereotypical decisions made by people in the same social group are used as a reference point by decision-makers when making uncertain decisions. I find that increased uncertainty makes participants in the experiment more likely to choose the same decision as the majority of participants that belong to their social group, especially participants who do not feel a strong identification with the group. In chapter 3, my co-authors and I look at how a global social and economic shock (namely, the COVID-19 pandemic) affects risk preferences in a sample of students and professional traders. We find no significant effect of the crisis on these preferences. This result gives support to standard economic theory, which considers these preferences to be stable. We also study if the crisis affects personality traits that are economically relevant, such as trust or locus of control. We find that some of these traits do change during the pandemic. The effect, however, is heterogeneous across samples of traders and students.

Tropical-forest biodiversity is currently undergoing an unprecedented mass extinction caused by human exploitation of natural resources, and fragmentation and loss of forest habitat in conversion to human uses. Felids (wild cats) are particularly vulnerable because of their requirements for contiguous tracts of forest. This thesis addresses the status and value to human wellbeing of natural capital associated with felids that have biotic boundaries extending beyond the boundaries of areas designated for their protection. The principal aim is to evaluate locally viable conservation options for minimising human-wildlife conflict, in relation to populations of jaguars and pumas and their prey that occupy discontinuous areas of protected forest interspersed with farmland. Chapter 1 introduces the general context and background to this issue. Chapter 2 uses empirical data from systematic surveys by camera-trapping and scat sampling to estimate the availability of prey to jaguars and pumas in and between two small private nature reserves in the Northern Yucatán Peninsula. The chapter delivers the first sex-specific estimate of jaguar abundance in the area. It evaluates presence and abundance of potential prey for jaguars and pumas, and associations between daily activity patterns of jaguars and pumas with their prey. It quantifies jaguar and puma diets, and assesses prey exploitation and niche overlap. Chapter 3 uses questionnaire surveys to evaluate human-wildlife interactions between Maya communities and large felids. It includes a first assessment of perceptions about wildlife, hunting and wild meat consumption in the Northern Yucatán Peninsula. The chapter delivers an evaluation of livestock management practices, wild-meat consumption, hunting habits and experiences of human-wildlife conflict. Chapter 4 addresses the need to monitor cryptic sources of human exploitation of natural forest resources in the Yucatán Peninsula. The chapter describes the development and testing of a probabilistic method for near-optimal placement of acoustic loggers to detect and localise gunshots. Field tests in Mexico and Belize demonstrate for the first time the potential for flooding large areas of forest with small and low-cost acoustic devices to monitor rates of hunting activity. Chapter 5 delivers a synthesis of general conclusions from the study. Within the Northern Yucatán Peninsula, jaguars and pumas were found to have largely overlapping resource niches and activity patterns, consistent with a lack of options for niche separation in this heavily human modified and disturbed habitat. There was little evidence of declines in their populations with respect to earlier studies, despite ongoing habitat fragmentation. The viability of these large felids depends entirely on their ability to sustain access to prey in unprotected forests between nature reserves, as well as effective protection of prey in the reserves. Maya communities report a generally reducing availability of game - which are also prey to large felids - in the unprotected forests. They also report attacks by large felids on their livestock which, although infrequent, have potential to inflict severe economic injury. Hunters attributed a lack of game to overhunting in unprotected forests, and expressed a desire for support on this issue. The recent development of low-cost and power-efficient acoustic loggers opens up new potential for rural communities to monitor rates of hunting and logging, as a first step to policing their own natural resources.

The Islamic veil has become one of the most controversial sartorial items of the contemporary milieu and an ultimate symbol of unwanted British otherness. Fuelled by political and media preoccupation with the subject, the resentment towards Islamic veiling is grounded in partial and often erroneous representations of a ‘veiled woman’ as on the one hand being a passive victim of patriarchal oppression and on the other hand being an active threat to British security and identity. Based upon a two-year multi-sited ethnographic study, this thesis contests such static images of the veil. By deploying ethnographic interviewing, participant observation and an analysis of the British mainstream press, social media, policies and artistic representations, it explores veiling as experienced by British Muslim women from diverse backgrounds. The central focus of this work is to accentuate the various implications that veiling carries for the everyday lives and identities of Muslim women in Britain. This thesis places a special emphasis on exploring intimate sentiments for veiling: the very reasons for adopting the hijab as well as perceptions of spirituality, modesty and beauty. Arising from these different and often contradictory perspectives held by Muslim women, the veil is not perceived as a rigid structure that is imposed on an individual. It is rather viewed as an altering, hybrid and antagonistic concept that is largely dependent on personal negotiations and appropriations. Whilst emphasising the role of female agency in shaping the semiotics of the veil, this thesis simultaneously examines how personal values, meanings and social relations are shaped by broader social, political and religious discourses regarding the veil. This thesis thus critically observes how and when the Islamic veil appears in fashion, pop culture, art, public politics, legal rhetoric and the media and the ways in which such representations influence Muslim women themselves. Subsequently, the ever-transforming meanings of the veil are observed at the intersection of conflicting processes, shaped by representations, British and European political dynamics and the women themselves. Acknowledging such divergent forces, ethnographic accounts are contextualised within the macro perspective of British society and its practical challenges. This thesis, hence, aims to contribute to the field of anthropology of religion, gender, fashion and citizenship with a timely case study. Close-up ethnographic accounts and anthropological contextualisation of the topic moreover offer a profound insight into the public polemics regarding the place of the Islamic veil in British society, with the issue being rethought from an emic perspective of women who continue to be conspicuously absent from public discourses on the subject.

This dissertation focuses on Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS). It aims to understand what these businesses are and to examine variety among them. In seeking to understand their diversity, I focus especially on the ‘knowledge bases’ at the core of their activities. The dissertation is based on three complementary studies. The first is a systematic review of the literature on KIBS. This is based primarily on a review of 130 carefully selected, relevant articles, and focuses on three questions: how are KIBS defined? how do KIBS compete? and how do KIBS innovate? The review shows that: (i) the literature is fragmented; most research does not build substantially on previous methods or findings; and (ii) while evidently heterogeneous, most of the literature has overlooked variety among KIBS. I also highlight what still needs to be known about KIBS.The second and third papers then focus on variety among KIBS, by classifying them according to their ‘knowledge bases’. In the first of these papers, I classify KIBS according to their primary knowledge bases, following the SAS Model, which identifies three: ‘analytical knowledge’, ‘synthetic knowledge’ and ‘symbolic knowledge’. Firms in three KIBS sectors: ‘architecture and engineering consultancy’; ‘specialist design’; and ‘computer and IT services’ are classified by their primary knowledge base according to information drawn from company websites. I then relate this classification to firm behaviour with respect to innovation, finding differences by primary knowledge base in the nature of the investments firms make to innovate, and in their propensities to innovate. In the second of the papers which relates ‘knowledge bases’ to KIBS, I develop the ‘knowledge bases’ approach conceptually, methodologically and empirically. Conceptually, I identify a hitherto unrecognised knowledge base: ‘compliance knowledge’. This relates to the knowledge of, and to interpretations of, laws and regulations. This knowledge base does not fit with any of the existing SAS types. Methodologically, I extract fuller information from company websites, and develop more sophisticated approaches to measurement, which allows multiple knowledge bases to be present in any one firm. Empirically, I successfully identify ‘compliance knowledge’, alongside ‘analytical’ and ‘symbolic knowledge’. I show that these are unevenly distributed across KIBS industries, including ‘advertising and design’, ‘architecture’, ‘engineering consultancy’ and ‘market research’, but importantly there is no one-to-one mapping between knowledge bases and industries. I discuss the implications of this, including for understanding the diversification of KIBS. This dissertation therefore contributes conceptually, methodologically and empirically to both understanding variety among KIBS and to the ‘knowledge bases’ literature.

In this thesis I carry out an encompassing analysis of the problem of measurement error in retrospectively collected work histories using data from the “Longitudinal Study of the Unemployed”. This dataset has the unique feature of linking survey responses to a retrospective question on work status to administrative data from the Swedish Register of Unemployment. Under the assumption that the register data is a gold standard I explore three research questions: i) what is the prevalence of and the reasons for measurement error in retrospective reports of unemployment; ii) what are the consequences of using such survey data subject to measurement error in event history analysis; and iii) what are the most effective statistical methods to adjust for such measurement error. Regarding the first question I find substantial measurement error in retrospective reports of unemployment, e.g. only 54% of the subjects studied managed to report the correct number of spells of unemployment experienced in the year prior to the interview. Some reasons behind this problem are clear, e.g. the longer the recall period the higher the prevalence of measurement error. However, some others depend on how measurement error is defined, e.g. women were associated with a higher probability of misclassifying spells of unemployment but not with misdating them. To answer the second question I compare different event history models using duration data from the survey and the register as their response variable. Here I find that the impact of measurement error is very large, attenuating regression estimates by about 90% of their true value, and this impact is fairly consistent regardless of the type of event history model used. In the third part of the analysis I implement different adjustment methods and compare their effectiveness. Here I note how standard methods based on strong assumptions such as SIMEX or Regression Calibration are incapable of dealing with the complexity of the measurement process under analysis. More positive results are obtained through the implementation of ad hoc Bayesian adjustments capable of accounting for the different patterns of measurement error using a mixture model.

The object of this thesis is the African amphora assemblage from Portus, the maritime port of Imperial Rome. By means of amphorae, this thesis looks at the important relationship between producers and consumers, between what was produced on the land in North Africa in terms of ceramics and agricultural produce, and what was traded at the port of Rome. Amphorae were large-sized vessels used for moving foodstuffs, and one of the main archaeological evidence for topics related to trade studies in the Classical world. This study in particular aims to identify production workshops in commercial partnership with Portus, located in Africa Proconsularis, corresponding to modern Tunisia and western Libya. Building upon an understanding of previous academic work related to principles of fabrics, petrological and typological analysis of amphorae, the products of a number of important production workshops were characterized in the assemblage, including those from Sullecthum, Lepcis Magna, Tripoli, and Nabeul. Sullecthum, Lecpis and Tripoli and their hinterland zones were important commercial partners in the 3rd century AD, while Nabeul, characterized by vessels in a red fabric, in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. This work also proposes a new approach for the study of amphorae: that is, to associate the amphorae with their social context of production, and the people who manufactured them, a dimension often forgotten. This is investigated through consideration of a proposed framework that takes into account forming techniques and their socioeconomic significance, and skill investment in production. This thesis brings a greater breadth regarding our understanding of the development of the port at Portus, its relationship to nearby important commercial locations, and its decline. Being initially in the shadow of the nearby fluvial harbour of Ostia, it is with the early 3rd century AD that the commercial character of the harbour is defined, while a decline is evident in the second half of the 5th century AD. In considering these topics, this study aims to contribute to the wider Portus Project undertaken by the University of Southampton in collaboration with the British School in Rome, the University of Cambridge and the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Roma (Ostia Antica). This is the first time that this very important archaeological site is studied in detail and its ceramic materials analyzed.

This work investigates some aspects of the dynamics of non-invertible quasi-periodic circle maps, from the point of view of rotation numbers and their structure in parameter space.Circle maps and quasi-periodically forced circle maps have been widely used asa model for a broad range of physical phenomena. From the mathematical point of view they have also received considerable attention because of the many interesting features they exhibit.The system used is given by the maps: x_n = [ x_n-1 + a + b/(2pi) sin( 2pi x_n-1) + c sin( 2pi theta_n-1) ] mod 1, and, theta_n = theta_n-1 + omega.Where a, b and c are real constants. In addition, b and omega are restricted, respectively, to values larger than one and irrational.A fundamental part of this thesis consists of numerical approximations of rotation intervals using and adapting of the work of Boyland (1986) to the quasi-periodic case.Particular emphasis was given to the case of large coupling strength in quasi-periodicforcing.Examination of the computed rotation numbers for the large coupling case, together with previous claims suggesting that for large coupling strength the b-term could be neglected (see Ding (1989)), led to the formulation of an ergodic argument which is statistically supported. This argument indicates that, for this case, the qualitative behavior of rotation number depends linearly on a. It is also shown that the length of the rotation interval, when the transition from a trivial rotation interval (invertible case) to a non-trivial rotation interval occurs, it develops locally as a universal unfolding.A different map, piecewise monotone, and structurally similar to the maps defined to calculate the edges of rotation intervals in Boyland (1986), is studied to illustrate how the rotation number grows. The edges of rotation intervals are analytically calculated and matched with numerical observations.

This thesis offers a study of a particular period (1884-1899) in Britain in which Fantastic literature revealed itself as a convergence point of multiple anxieties of late nineteenth-century society. Fantastic literature is a genre often mistaken for Gothic, Fantasy or the like, that in fact has its own particular' rhetoric and literary conventions. In this study I present some of the most important social and literary elements of the context in which Fantastic literature emerged in Britain - the conventions of Gothic literature, a short history of Spiritualism, the scientific organizations devoted to the study of paranormal phenomena, such as the Society for Psychical Research, and a brief summary of the social evolutionist ideas of Thomas Huxley and H.G. Wells. By examining the context and some representative works of Fantastic literature, like R.L. Stevenson's 'Olalla' (1884), Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Parasite' (1895), Henry James's The Turn of the Screw (1898) and H.G. Wells's When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), we get a better idea of essential characteristics of Fantastic literature, that is, of the elements within these stories that reflect some important issues of late Victorian society. One can see that the rhetoric of the Fantastic sheds light on phenomena linked with uncertainty and fear in late nineteenth-century society, such as occultism, supernatural sightings, haunted houses and spiritualism. During the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Fantastic literature has survived alongside Fantasy literature (J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings), magical realism (Salman Rushdie's Midnight Children or Garda Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude) and children's literature (J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter) preserving its own identity and rhetoric. Italo Calvina's The Rampant Baron, J.L. Borges's 'The Aleph' and Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicle indicate that Fantastic literature still has its place in literature because it expresses a particular kind of ideas that cannot find expression in other genres. This is an analysis of those ideas through the study of some of the first Fantastic literary works written in Britain.

Molecular regulators of HSC fate decisions have been identified through involvement in leukaemia or by post-genomic gene discovery approaches. Most candidate regulators have been studied in mouse, but the clinical potential of HSC fate modulation emphasises the need to study regulatory mechanisms in the human context. In order to identify regulators of human haematopoiesis, the global expression profile of cord blood (CB) CD133+Go cells was characterised. Less immature CD133+G1 cells served as comparison. CD133+Go cells had been shown to be highly enriched for LTC-IC, a surrogate in vitro assay of HSC function. Further functional characterisation of CD133+Go cells revealed enhanced mixed-lineage and erythroid progenitor activity. In line with the functional data, CD133+Go-enriched transcripts contained an erythroid expression signature. Moreover, global expression of myelo-Iymphoidaffiliated genes was reduced in CD133+Go cells, suggesting that myelo-Iymphoid programmes may be activated downstream of the HSC compartment. A significant proportion of transcripts enriched in CD133+Go cells were associated with transcription regulation. These included MLLT3, a common fusion partner of MLL in acute myeloid leukaemia. Analysis of MLLT3 expression in prospectively isolated progenitors from human CB revealed higher expression in HSC and megakaryocytic (Meg)/E progenitors (MEP). This suggested a role for MLLT3 in E/Meg fate decisions; it may also underline an association between E/Meg and HSC compartments. Lentiviral vectors were used to modulate MLLT3 expression in primitive human CB cells. Forced MLLT3 expression promoted E/Meg progenitor output and analysis of MLLT3 mutants suggested that MLLT3 functional effects depend on its transcription regulatory activity. Gene expression and cis-regulatory element analyses revealed cross-regulatory interactions between MLLT3 and E/Megaffiliated transcription factor GATA1. MLLT3 expression knockdown indicated a requirement for MLLT3 in the elaboration of E/Meg lineages. Gene expression knockdown also impaired multilineage engraftment of human HSC in immunodeficient NOD/SCID mice, with more significant effects on B-cell than on myelo-monocytic output. The latter observation may have implications for the lineage affiliation of MLUMLLT3 leukaemia. In summary, MLLT3 was identified as a novel regulator of human E/Meg lineage decisions and positioned in a regulatory circuit with GATA1. The data supports the notion that E/Meg commitment occurs hierarchically upstream of myelolymphoid lineage decisions and suggests that recently revised hierarchical models of murine haematopoiesis may also apply to the human system.

Principal leadership is crucial to improving school effectiveness and positively affecting organizational culture in the midst of expectations from education reform mandates. Principals who provide direction and exercise influence can inspire commitment from organizational members to attain shared goals. Rural school principals face unique obstacles and situations as documented in the research and literature. This qualitative research study aimed to provide insight as to the perceived impact of transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics on organizational culture. This study also provided insight as to the transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics perceived to positively affect organizational culture. The protocols, which included interviews, were administered by the researcher to principals and certificated teachers at four rural elementary schools (two elementary schools not in Program Improvement [PI] and two elementary schools in PI) in Fresno County that met specific student demographic criteria. The data from the interviews provided insight regarding increased individual and collective stress in rural elementary schools due to the unprecedented expectations of NCLB. The organizational response to this increased stress was found to be contingent on the behaviors and characteristics by the rural elementary principal. The findings indicated a difference in perceptions between certificated teachers at the rural elementary schools not in PI and in PI. The rural principals in non-PI schools utilized communication to define clear expectation, and a collaborative decision making process to develop a shared vision which cultivated trust among certificated teachers to improve organizational culture and student academic achievement. The rural principals in PI schools were found to have utilized bureaucratic leadership approaches. The bureaucratic leadership approaches led to increased stress and frustration among certificated teachers. Frustration was found to have negatively affected organizational culture and no improvement in student academic achievement. This study validated the need for rural school principals to be aware of effective leadership approaches to positively affect organizational culture. [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.]

Cnidaria (i.e., sea anemones, jellyfish, corals) and Bilateria (i.e., vertebrates, sea stars, fruit flies), are sister groups that diverged around 600 million years ago. Despite the long evolutionary time, many cellular differentiation mechanisms, cell types, tissues and behaviors are conserved. Such as neurons, mechanosensory hair cells, feeding behaviors, peristaltic movements, and sleep. Recent advances in genomics, molecular biology and microscopy have fueled an increased interest in understanding cnidarian nervous and neuroendocrine systems. Understanding the developmental mechanisms and the mode of operation of Cnidarian nervous systems helps to reconstruct the ancestral nervous system of the last common ancestor of Cnidaria and Bilateria. Thus, also shedding light in fundamental aspects of Bilaterian nervous systems. Here, the ‘starlet sea anemone’ Nematostella vectensis, a powerful cnidarian model organism was used to address the gene expression pattern of Pit1, a conserved gene shared between Cnidaria and Bilateria. In Chapter 1, a method to extract DNA and genotype embryos of Nematostella without sacrificing the animal was established, with possible application to other non-sea anemone cnidarians. Early genotyping is fundamental for addressing phenotypes during development, thus opening the door to study the function of any gene of interest during larval pre-metamorphic stages. In Chapter 2, the expression pattern of Pit1 and detailed cellular morphology of Pit1-positive cells was characterized for the first time in Nematostella. Complex neuronal networks and diverse sensory cells were found. Furthermore, the foundation for future functional studies of Pit1 was laid by establishing stable CRISPR-Cas9 knockout and transgenic reporter lines.