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Considering the significance of integrating students with disabilities into general education classes in Mississippi, it is critical to identify the methods by which co-teachers report working together, whether they have obtained the needed professional development, and which teaching model they employ in the inclusion classroom. This data can facilitate the assessment and efficacy of inclusive practices and offer valuable insights into potential areas requiring enhancement. Furthermore, by gaining insight into the experiences of co-teachers, future training initiatives and assistance for educators in advocating for the effective integration of students with disabilities can be enhanced. The purpose of this research was to determine the manner in which inclusion general and special education teachers in Mississippi public schools collaborate, whether they have participated in professional development, and which instructional approach they employ in the inclusion classroom. A mixed methodologies research study was conducted utilizing a SurveyMonkey survey. The frequencies and percentages of the responses to the multiple-choice questions were determined via quantitative analysis. To ascertain codes and themes, open-ended responses were subjected to qualitative analysis. The study's findings offered valuable insights into how inclusion instructors in Mississippi recount their experiences in an 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.]

This qualitative research study examined the role of student services practitioners in the success of minoritized graduate students at a 4-year private, Christian university. This study aimed to examine the practices of student services practitioners--including their experiential, philosophical, and practical approaches to student success--through a training series for professionals who actively engage with minoritized graduate students. This study sought to help practitioners identify the inherent cultural wealth of students and examine their role in developing a culturally responsive environment in which minoritized graduate students gain a sense of belonging in the campus community. Using Yosso's (2005) model of community cultural wealth (CCW) and grounded in ecological systems theory (EST) and critical race theory (CRT), this study sought to shift practitioners away from a deficit mindset toward an inclusive and equity-minded approach via enhanced understanding of culturally responsive practices and their impact on the campus community. Findings showed student services practitioners can significantly impact the success of minoritized graduate students by eliminating the environmental engagement students face in the campus 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.]

Phase modulation has been a tool used for many years to describe system behaviour about periodic wavetrain solutions. The method has been shown to lead to well known partial differential equations (PDEs) in many contexts, describing how slowly varying perturbations to the phase of the solution behave. Typically these calculations can become involved and analyses are generally only valid for the one system consider and results cannot be transferred. This thesis discusses a format in which phase modulation leads to PDEs that emerge in a universal format, that is with coefficients determined by the wavetrain itself and the geometric properties of the system. The transition from simpler models emerging from the phase dynamics to more complex models is marked through the criticality of derivatives of the conservation laws associated with the system evaluated along the wavetrain considered. The analysis is also very general, so that the asymptotics need only be done once to apply to a large family of physical problems. We begin by discussing this method for single phase wavetrains, or more generally relative equilibrium, in the context of systems generated by a Lagrangian. By considering the modulation of single phased relative equilibrium for suitable scales, the Whitham equations are shown to emerge with a form explicitly related to the system's conservation laws. Furthermore, when the linearisation of the Whitham system develops zero characteristics (referred to as criticality), it can be shown that the modulation leads to the universal emergence of the Kadomtsev- Petviashvili (KP) and Boussinesq models. These models have coefficients which take the form of derivatives of the conservation law components evaluated on the relative equilibrium solution, as well as those that arise from a Jordan chain analysis. Additional degeneracies are shown to lead to fifth order KP and modified KP models of a similar universal form. The discussion is then shifted to the case of relative equilibria generated by multiple symmetries in 1 + 1 dimensions. It will be demonstrated how the results of the single phase case generalise naturally to additional phases, with criticality moving from scalar conditions to those of tensors. By undertaking similar analyses to the single phase, one obtains the multiphase Whitham equations, and depending on the number of zero characteristics its linearisation possesses the scalar Korteweg-de Vries (KdV), two-way Boussinesq and a new equation emerge instead. These analyses are supplemented with examples in stratified hydrodynamics and a coupled Nonlinear Schrodinger model. The final part of this thesis focusses on criticality conditions in multiphase modulations outside of the zero characteristic conditions. In particular, the aim is complete the derivation of all possible codimension 2 (equations requiring two conditions to be met simultaneously) and codimension 3 equations from the modulation approach. This recovers several well known equations, such as the modified KdV, fifth order KdV and higher order KdV equations, but also results in some novel equations such as the modified two-way Boussinesq and sixth order two-way Boussinesq equations. Examples of how these equations emerge are then given, revisiting the stratified shallow water and coupled Nonlinear Schrodinger equations to do so, demonstrating how the conditions for each reduction may be met and how the coefficients may be obtained.

Non-traditional college students benefit from unconventional teaching methods. Hispanic students now attend colleges and universities in growing numbers, and still this demographic is the least likely to earn a postsecondary credential. Due to the projected growth of the nation's Hispanic population, efforts to support the success of first-generation Hispanic students, particularly during their transition to college, are at the forefront of educational initiatives. One method, garnering attention for its success with non-traditional students, employs affirmation academically, interpersonally, and socially to bolster student self-efficacy. The problem addressed in this study is the need to confer degrees to first-generation Hispanic students. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the transitional experiences that affirm first-generation Hispanics students' abilities as learners in college through academic, interpersonal, and social relationships, highlighting those that propel them toward earning a postsecondary credential. The participants of the study were six first-generation Hispanic college students who were previously enrolled in the Advancement Via Individual Determination College Readiness Program for at least their junior and senior years in high school before graduating from the North Texas school district and transitioning to colleges and universities. Results reveal six main themes: determination, role-modeling, support, engagement, application of knowledge, and appreciation for the AVID College Readiness program. Recommendations for secondary college readiness program implementers and stakeholders and postsecondary institution faculty and staff are proposed to facilitate the retention of first-generation Hispanic college students. Recommendations for future research include further study in the North Texas area with larger numbers of participants from multiple school districts and studying the impact of AVID schoolwide on first-generation Hispanic students who are unable to make room for the AVID elective in their schedules. [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 practicum was designed to improve screening procedures for identifying students with high potential, to develop and field test screening instruments, and to increase the number of students with high potential from minority populations referred for further testing. Three screening instruments were developed for use in searching for students with high potential; a faculty workshop and grade-level team meetings were offered; and teachers were given a choice as to which screening instrument they wished to use. Using this approach in 2 schools, 140 additional students from minority populations were identified as students with possible high potential. Teachers participating in the workshop on student screening rated it very positively, and teachers (N=49) and parents (N=38) expressed satisfaction with the selected screening instrument. The practicum results indicate that it is important to allow flexibility for schools to personalize the process of screening for students with high potential, and that empowering individuals who are close to the students is the most effective way of implementing change. The practicum also found that when students in grades 3 and 5 completed the screening checklist themselves, clusters of traits were identified which were specific to White, Hispanic, and Black cultures. Appendixes contain survey forms, survey results, and practicum administration materials. (Contains approximately 70 references.) (JDD)

The education attainment level of residents in rural Appalachia has consistently ranked below the remaining populous of the United States. Although distance education initiatives have attempted to bridge the disparities between rural Appalachia and the rest of the nation, online community college students in this region are likely to drop out or fail their classes. To understand the phenomenon of online attrition in rural Appalachia, a phenomenological study was conducted to determine what students experienced from the time they chose to enroll in online classes through the point of failure or withdrawal from their courses. This triangulated study utilized surveys, focus group sessions, and individual interviews to determine how the participants' perceptions and emotional responses developed, changed and lead to their dropping out or failing an online course, as well as how the students' social or cultural values influenced their online class experiences. An analysis of this study's data indicated that factors contributing to the participants' lack of success or attrition in online classes related to the social integration model crafted by Tinto and external factors indicated by Bean and Metzner. This study provided an opportunity to advance these models by considering the unique cultural aspects of an institution and its service region. As indicated by this study, the online experiences of students in rural Appalachia were directed impacted by their familial connections, their sense of self-reliance or personal independence, and a general distrust of "outsiders." [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 study was to determine the marketing strategies South Carolina One-Stop Career Centers Area Directors felt provided the best opportunity for dislocated workers to learn about their services. Two theories emerged: the Service Marketing Theory and the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Theory. Of the 36 area directors cited for this study, 20 (56%) participated by returning completed surveys. Two different type surveys were constructed to for this study; a questionnaire survey instrument and an interview survey instrument. The questionnaire survey instrument contained 33 closed-ended Likert-Type items. This instrument referenced the 21 marketing strategies and services that were provided through the one-stop career centers and was administered to 20 area directors. The interview survey instrument was constructed with four open-ended interview questions. This instrument detailed a more in-depth analysis of the marketing strategies used and was administered to only 3 of the 20 area directors, each from different geographical regions of the state. The generic research design was a mixed methods approach with a dominate-less-dominate structure. The dominate structure is the 33-item questionnaire-survey instrument (quantitative design) and the less-dominate structure is the 4-item interview-survey instrument (qualitative design). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the non-parametric statistical model of chi square. A cross tabulation using Pearson's Chi Square and the Cramer's V also were employed. The questionnaire survey findings revealed that most directors preferred brochures, radio, net working, referrals, seminar/workshop, and social organizations market strategies for their workforce center(s). The least preferred methods were telemarketing, sponsored courses, and magazines. The interview survey results revealed findings that were consistent with the questionnaire survey results. The outcome of this study can be used in a variety of ways. The most important however, is to inform area directors, local workforce investment area (LWIA) board members, and other state policy makers on best practices in marketing to dislocated workers and others who find themselves unemployed. [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 study was to determine (1) strategies students use when solving composition problems and the difficulties they encounter; (2) conceptions and/or misconceptions students have with respect to composition of functions; and (3) the effect of using dynamic visualization during instruction on students' understanding of composition of functions. This study employed a mixed-methods design. The qualitative phase of the study included one-on-one interviews with seventeen of the pre-calculus students. These interviews lasted between fifteen minutes and one hour and sought to uncover student's understanding about function composition and function inverse by investigating their approaches taken when solving the pre-, post- and second post-test items. From these interviews, common themes emerged and assertions related to student understanding were developed. The quantitative phase of the study included pre-, post- and second post-tests designed to determine the effect of the dynamically enhanced instruction on student's performance. There were six test items, including four function composition items and two function inverse items. The centerpiece of this instruction included a flash applet designed to illustrate function composition in three different representations. The study began with 183 pre-calculus students divided into two groups--control and treatment. Using the test results, statistical analyses were conducted and conclusions were made regarding differences in student performance by group. The major findings included: (1) Students mistook the small composition symbol for multiplication. (2) When composing functions numerically, students read the table in the wrong direction. (3) Students with an understanding of function input and output performed better on composition items than those who did not. (4) Students with an understanding of the association between the y-axis and points on a graph performed better than those who did not. (a) During interviews, treatment students exhibited a better understanding of this y-axis awareness than control students and performed better on the graphical composition items. (5) Students performed worse on function inverse items than composition items and understanding function composition did not seem to be a support for understanding function inverse. (6) Generally speaking, students did not have a conceptual understanding of function inverse; for example, the undoing aspect of inverse functions was not understood. (7) Treatment students performed better on a composition task involving the graphical representation using unlabeled graphs. [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 study was to investigate and explore the differences, if any, between North Carolina high school principals' and counselors' perceptions of the implementation strategies of their freshmen academies. The results of this study provide additional knowledge to educational administrators, policymakers, and district leaders, as they develop effective educational initiatives for freshman academies to ease the transition of ninth-grade students. This study used both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in a mixed-methods approach. A web-based survey, The "Freshman Academy Principal/Counselor Survey" was distributed through e-mails to 103 high school principals and 103 high school counselors in North Carolina whose school had a freshman or ninth-grade academy during the 2008-2009 school year. The response rate was 53.3%. The Statistical Package of the Social Services (SPSS-17) was used to analyze data. Data was analyzed using Independent Samples t-tests to determine freshman academy principals' and counselors' perceptions of the implementation strategies. The t-test was also the statistical measurement used to determine if the years the academy had been in existence made a difference in the participants' perceptions of the strategies. Results from the study found no significant differences between the mean perceptions of the participants for the strategies; both freshman academy principals and counselors had positive perceptions of the implementation strategies. Also, no significant differences were found between the perceptions of principals or counselors and the number of years the academy had been in existence. Academy principals and counselors felt that the implementation strategies positively impacted student achievement. Responses to the open-ended question were interpreted and coded for patterns and recurring themes. It is recommended that future studies be conducted to include all stakeholders in the school system, such as, students, teachers, and parents to determine whether they have the same viewpoints about ninth grade transitions programs as the participants in this study. Also, it is recommended that this study be replicated with larger populations to see if the results will be similar to this study's findings. [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 size, shape and physical attractiveness of a woman's body are linked to her sexuality. As women age, changes occur to their bodies that may cause them anxiety over the socially constructed body image norms that are promoted within this society. Researchers posit that the standard of our culture seems to create more problems for women as they move through their middle and later years. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of perceived body image satisfaction on romantic relationships of African American adult females. Additionally, this study examined the influence of age, educational level, employment status, income, marital status, religious preference, and number of children on the sexual attitudes of African American adult females. The sample consisted of two hundred fifteen African American adult females. The Body Image States Scale (BISS), Body Image Self-Consciousness Scale (BISC), Body Image Ideals Questionnaire (BIQ), Body Image Disturbance Questionnaire (BIDQ), and Ratliff Female Demographic Data Form were used to collect data. The Chi Square ([chi][superscript 2]) test was utilized to determine whether or not there were significant differences between selected variables and African American adult females' sexual attitudes. All hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level or better. From this study it was concluded that perceived body image satisfaction impacts romantic relationship of African American adult females. It is recommended that therapists are responsive to the needs of African American adult females pertaining to perceptions of body images as it relates to sexual attitudes. [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.]

Under the threat of climate change with continued fossil fuel use, investment in developing renewable energies is increasingly important. One category of renewable energy sources, biofuels, is well suited to industries that require a liquid fuel source. However, producing biofuel feedstocks is challenging from a sustainability perspective, as they require extensive land area and resource input to grow on marginal lands. The identification of strategies that feedstock species use to maintain productivity with limited to no resource inputs could aid in the selection of optimal genotypes or targets of breeding or engineering efforts to maximize productivity in feedstock plantations. Some of these targets may be belowground traits, which have not been extensively studied. Therefore, this research sought to uncover and compare the aboveground and belowground strategies used by two Populus trichocarpa genotypes differing in their tolerance to water deficit stress in response to drying. Trees were subjected to gradual drying to wilt point followed by three weeks of consistent stress. Aboveand belowground morphology and physiology were measured at wilt point and at the end of the experiment, and the leaf and root transcriptomes were sequenced to provide insight into the metabolic mechanisms underlying responses to water deficit stress. The tolerant genotype kept its stomata partially open under stress, allowing more water loss via transpiration but also enabling carbon uptake. It compensated for continued water loss by devoting resources to root growth for soil exploration for water, particularly using finer roots. The balance of resource use and acquisition likely allowed for better maintenance of productivity during stress. At the transcriptional level, jasmonate signaling pathways, which cause similar morphological and physiological changes in other species, were upregulated in the tolerant genotype. Results of this study suggest that root characteristics that promote water uptake from a limited pool of resources can allow for continued gas exchange under stress, which has been previously identified as a sign of sensitivity, to promote drought tolerance. Additionally, a need to investigate the role of jasmonate signaling in drought tolerance in poplar as a potential target of feedstock improvement is revealed.

The present study used a linear mixed model analytic approach to assess the association between a combined respondent and spousal exercise score and cognitive outcomes of older adult respondents drawn from a nationally representative dataset, The Health and Retirement Study. Informed by the Scaffolding Theory of Aging and Cognition (STAC), the present study sought to understand the role of both an individual and their spouse's aerobic physical activity in an individual's cognitive outcomes and trajectories. Utilizing longitudinal survey data collected across twelve years (N=3,189), the combined exercise status of a married couple was found to be a significant predictor of cognitive outcomes; when an interaction between time and couple exercise status was included in the model, this was also found to be a significant predictor of four specific cognitive outcomes. The highest cognitive benefit was identified among individuals where both they and their partner participated in the recommended amount of aerobic physical activity, suggesting an additive effect. These findings and their implications are discussed further.

During the Spring 2020 semester, the COVID19 pandemic forced colleges and universities to adopt remote learning for an emergency remote learning period (ELP) from March to May 2020. The current work utilized a phenomenological approach to understanding the perceptions and experiences reported by students who were studying as undergraduates at a mid-sized university in the Midwest. 3 participants in a focus group were asked questions pertaining to their perceptions of engagement and satisfaction with learning during that time. Results provide four themes that emerged during the focus group: loss, shifting formats, professor issues, and overload of learning material. The current work includes a literature review, detailing the COVID19 epidemic, engagement in learning, and satisfaction in learning. It describes the methodology used, including a delineation of phenomenology. It reports the results from the focus group and provides a discussion and outline of limitations and implications for future research.

This study utilized an online survey administered to South Carolina (SC) consumers in conjunction with a discrete choice modeling approach to examine: i) the knowledge and degree of familiarity with both the USDA Certified Organic and the Certified Naturally Grown labels, ii) the impact of several factors including demographic characteristics, purchasing behaviors, and frequency of organic consumption on consumer’s preferences and Willingness to Pay (WTP) for organic products in South Carolina. This study also includes a Meta-Analysis of WTP for organic products. The first chapter analyzes familiarity of two different labels; USDA Certified Organic and the Certified Naturally Grown. This is achieved by utilizing a Bivariate Ordered Probit model in combination with a Tukey Kramer test. The results indicate that demographic characteristics, and lifestyle preferences have a statistically significant effect on consumer’s familiarity of the USDA Certified Organic and the Certified Naturally Grown labels. However, divergences remain. For example, findings indicate that older consumers are less likely to be familiar with the USDA Certified Organic label as well as the Certified Naturally Grown label but those who spend more time cooking are more likely to be familiar with the USDA Certified Organic label. Similarly, respondents who live in the Lowcountry region of SC are less likely to be familiar with the USDA Certified Organic Label. Respondents who have graduate degrees or higher are less likely to be familiar with the Certified Naturally Grown Label but those respondents who shop for produce at health food stores or farmers markets are more likely to be familiar with the Certified Naturally Grown label. The second chapter investigates the impact of different attributes of tomatoes on consumer WTP. This is attained using a choice experiment coupled with the analysis tool of the mixed logit model. The findings indicate consumers have a significant and positive WTP for tomatoes purchased at a grocery store and at farmers markets compared to purchasing tomatoes online. Respondents also have a significant and positive WTP for tomatoes grown in South Carolina vs. Canada. The price premium for organic tomatoes grown in South Carolina is $0.25 compared to the WTP for organic tomatoes grown in the U.S. is only $0.15. These findings have important marketing implications as competition in the organic produce industry increases. It can assist the industry to better target their marketing endeavors and better understand the factors influencing consumer preferences. The third chapter is a meta-analysis which looks at different international WTP studies focusing on different products from 2005 to 2020 and compares the different WTP estimates to derive a common WTP estimate. The results indicate that the WTP estimate that was derived is $3.75/lb. to $3.80/lb. across the different products and countries.

Transgender and nonbinary young people experience some of the highest rates of violence of any group of young people. Violence is associated with a host of health concerns, including depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Gender minority stress theory describes increased risks for mental health concerns when experiencing violence targeting a person’s gender identity. Transgender and nonbinary young people experience high rates of child maltreatment, bullying, physical violence, sexual violence, and polyvictimization. Subsequently, transgender and nonbinary young people experience high rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, homelessness, lack of access to healthcare, and lack of social support. While the research literature is clear that transgender and nonbinary young people experience these high rates of violence and poor health outcomes, there are little data on when these disparities emerge in the lives of transgender young people. Research shows that by the time transgender and nonbinary people reach adulthood they have experienced disparities and will likely continue to experience disparities in violence and health as transgender and nonbinary adults, but violence prevention efforts are stymied without a clearer understanding of the developmental timing of violence experienced by trans and nonbinary young people.Further, the extant literature on childhood and adolescent gender development suggests there are gendered differences in experiences of violence and health, but ongoing and historical approaches to child and adolescent development have perpetuated and reinforced scientific paradigms that explicitly frame transgender identity as pathological and non-normative, fundamentally excluding transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents from a scientific understanding of their development. This disregard has led to a dearth of data on the lived experiences of transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, limiting any efforts toward improving their health and wellbeing. In order to address these gaps, this study asks the following questions: 1) How do transgender and nonbinary young people experience gender development during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood? 2) What types of violence and sources of violence target transgender and nonbinary young people during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood? 3) How does the social ecology, including social institutions and the agents of those institutions, interact with gender development or violence for transgender and nonbinary young people during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood; and how do these social-ecological interactions contribute to risk or protective factors for violence, health, and safety?This qualitative study used a life history timeline (LHT) approach to collect lifecourse data on the experiences of violence and gender development during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood with a geographically diverse sample of transgender and nonbinary young adults (N = 22; ages = 18-29 y/o). Qualitative, life history interviews were conducted on Zoom, using Zoom’s whiteboard function to construct the life history timeline. The transcripts were coded using an abductive constructivist grounded theory method to identify codes that emerged during the grounded theory coding process and a priori codes based on study aims and existing literature on gender identity and violence (Timmermans & Tavory, 2012). The domains included in the lifecourse interview were: landmarks (e.g., birthdays, academic milestones, prominent life transitions), gender development (e.g., gender awareness, gender identity, coming out, gender performance), violence (e.g., general polyvictimization domains), and social ecological features (e.g., cultural and political climate, family, peers, community features). A total of 22 transgender and nonbinary young people ages 18-29 were interviewed for the study. Abductive constructivist grounded theory analysis revealed key themes to answer the research questions.Participants described gender development occurring in three stages: childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The gender development that took place during these stages was different for trans binary participants compared with nonbinary participants. For the most part, trans binary participants understood and expressed their authentic gender during childhood, sometimes coming out explicitly to their families. Nonbinary participants did not feel a strong alignment with gender during childhood. During adolescence, trans binary participants took steps to more fully live in their authentic gender, even when those steps were to prepare for independence and adulthood. Nonbinary participants explored their gender during this time, which often coincided with exploring their sexual identity. During young adulthood, trans binary participants enacted steps to fully live in their authentic gender. Nonbinary participants identified with their authentic gender, usually after connecting with trans community and discovering the language of a nonbinary gender.Violence described by participants was primarily perpetrated by parents and other adult authority figures. Violence was predominantly motivated by gender role enforcement, in which perpetrators acted violently in order to correct, control, or punish gender performance that did not align with binary gender expectations. Anticipatory violence was described as violence that acted in anticipation, usually paired with gender role enforcement, of future forms of violence; such as enacting gender role enforcement in order to prevent future violence from bullies or other perpetrators who would act violently against gender role violations. A transmorphology of violence was revealed by participants, articulating a process by which the violence targeting transgender and nonbinary people changes over time in response to transitions on the part of young people (e.g., trans women experiencing increasing rates of misogynistic environmental sexual harassment as they transitioned more visibly into performing feminine gender). Social connections and affirmation were highlighted as the primary sources of information and safety for transgender and nonbinary youth during adolescence and young adulthood.This study articulates the gender development processes, experiences of violence, and social-environmental interactions for transgender and nonbinary young people during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The refinement of the developmental timing of gender and violence along with the understanding of how gender role enforcement operates across their development provides further background for violence prevention efforts. Binary gender assumptions that are socialized onto young people from birth hold valence in how children are expected to behave, and enforcing sex-deterministic binary gender onto children, especially transgender children, can have enormous implications for their experiences of violence and mental, physical, and social health. By providing gender-affirming care and social support, we can improve safety and prevent future violence against transgender and nonbinary young people.

Emotion regulation is influential in adolescent mental health outcomes. Specifically, poor emotion regulation skills and strategies have been shown to be related to increased rates of depression and anxiety. Parenting plays a large role in children's development of effective emotion regulation skills and strategies. Daily interactions between parents and adolescents influence the development of emotion regulation; however, little is known regarding the neural mechanisms that underlie these interactions. Using fMRI hyperscanning, the current study examined the role of cross-brain connectivity in emotion processing regions of parents' and adolescents' brains. Results indicate increased cross-brain connectivity in emotion processing regions is associated with more positive parent-adolescent interactions, greater adolescent-perceived supportive parenting, and fewer adolescent emotion regulation difficulties and depressive symptoms.

Current discussions of the priesthood have favored examining the priest in light of the functions he performs, e.g. administrative duties, spiritual counsel, and liturgical leadership. This is a shift from an ontological perspective of priestly identity, which identifies the priest by ontological change that happens in the action of ordination. This new character placed on the priest changes him into an icon of Christ. Icons, as suggested in the tradition of iconography, make Christ present and bring us into deeper union with Him by this presence. The priest, then, not only represents Christ but makes Him present through his priestly identity.This conclusion is made sense by the reality and function of prophetic drama in the Old Testament. Like through their spoken oracles, prophets also communicate God’s message through their dramatic actions. These actions, as well as the accompanying oracles and the events that are foretold by them, are interpreted as powerful expressions of God’s eternal will. Likewise, the eternal person of Jesus Christ is powerfully expressed by the priest’s ontological character.

Recently published NASA simulations emulating an enclosed spacecraft exposed to galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) have shown that an optimal shielding wall thickness beyond which astronaut dose equivalent rises is present when using aluminum walls, though not with polyethylene walls [1]. Neutrons produced in the back wall of the spacecraft were shown to be primarily responsible for the rise in dose for thicknesses beyond the optimal thickness. The NASA research also demonstrated a large variance in dose predictions between the various standard particle transport codes which appeared to be predominately attributable to discrepancies in how the codes handle neutron and complex light ion production in these GCR primary and secondary interactions in the shielding materials.To test these predictions and provide data against which the particle transport codes can be benchmarked, particle beams characteristic of GCRs were accelerated into two thick targets of aluminum and/or polyethylene (materials common to space radiation shielding), emulating the walls of a spacecraft, across three experiments conducted at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory. In these experiments, double-differential neutron yields from the upstream target were measured at six different angles and characterized using time-of-flight techniques. Additionally, neutrons from background, room scattering, and the downstream target were characterized using a technique developed in this work involving deconvolution of collected pulse height spectra with a response function. Monte Carlo simulations emulating the experiment using MCNP and PHITS were conducted to provide a comparison to the collected data and to bring any discrepancies in the models to light.This work seeks to both provide a detailed look at where the particle transport codes poorly predict the experimental results as well as provide insight to spacecraft shielding design as it pertains to minimizing neutron dose.

This study utilized an online survey administered to Kentucky and South Carolina in conjunction with discrete choice modeling to examine: i) the impact of several factors including demographic characteristics, purchasing behaviors, and frequency of seafood consumption on consumer's preferences for specific seafood attributes (e.g. fresh over frozen, wild-caught over farm-raised), ii) the impact of the aforementioned consumer characteristics, on the probability that an individual will be interested in joining a CSF arrangement in the future. The results indicate that demographic characteristics, and lifestyle preferences have a statistically significant effect on consumer's preferences for both tangible and intangible seafood characteristics. However, divergences remain. For example, findings indicate that female consumers are more likely to have their purchasing decisions entirely influenced by sustainability but it is not a statistically significant parameter for fresh vs. frozen preferences. Similarly, respondents who attended graduate school are more likely to let seafood characteristics other than price affect their purchasing decisions but education has no statistically significant effect on fresh vs frozen preferences. Furthermore, respondents who grew up within 50 miles from the coast, or are reside in South Carolina are more likely to prefer fresh seafood products. These findings have important marketing implications as competition in the seafood industry increases. It can assist the industry to better target their marketing endeavors and better understand the factors influencing consumer preferences. Regarding CSF membership, the findings indicate consumers who have children under 18 in the household are more likely to join a CSF. Likewise, consumers who shop at farmer's markets for groceries are more likely to join a CSF. However, most of the other factors examined did not have a statistically significant effect on the probability that a consumer will join a CSF. These results may indicate that despite the recent growth in the CSF industry, attracting new members is a very challenging endeavor. Thus, fishermen should not focus all their marketing attention on CSFs.

Do the social environments in which individuals live and work influence their attitudes and beliefs about politics? Isolating the effect of the social environment on individual political beliefs is constrained by the reality that individuals construct their own social worlds. This dissertation conceptualizes this reality, not as a problem, but as a fundamental theoretical postulate that drives if and how individuals are influenced by their social environments. Specifically, individuals choose to be changed, and this choice conditions where, if, and how they are influenced by their social environments. Utilizing two novel empirical studies, it demonstrates that individuals’ previously established beliefs about politics both directly and indirectly inform their selection into social networks and contexts where individuals with strong political beliefs and interest in politics are more likely to select into environments that support those beliefs than individuals with weak beliefs and low interest. Furthermore, once the reasons for environment selection are held constant, influence within those settings is illuminated. Individuals who select into politically homogenous groups are more likely to be politically influenced by that group than individuals who select into politically heterogeneous groups, though the campaign can activate even politically heterogeneous groups to act on individuals’ attitudes about politics. The political composition of a social group also alters how influence works in those settings where aspects of the network itself are more likely to impact individuals’ political beliefs in politically homogenous groups; where as, information sharing, cognitive dissonance, and normative pressure operates on attitudes in politically heterogeneous groups. Taken together, this dissertation demonstrates that individuals deliberately control where, if, and how they are influenced by their social environments. Specifically, individuals are most likely to be influenced by individuals like themselves.

Integrated healthcare is recommended to deliver care to individuals with co-occurring medical and mental health conditions. Identifying the knowledge necessary for behavioral health providers to practice in integrated settings, and determining whether a computer application is an effective strategy to disseminate this knowledge, are essential steps to transitioning these individuals to integrated healthcare delivery systems. A literature review of U.S. based publications from 1999 to 2015 identified 68 articles that met inclusion criteria and identified specific knowledge for integrated healthcare settings. A survey completed by 154 behavioral health providers working in integrated healthcare settings examined the extent to which respondents agreed the specific domains of knowledge identified in the systematic review were necessary for practice in integrated healthcare settings. An internet based computer application was developed and tested through a rapid prototyping method with two focus groups and 5 individual interviews. Nielson’s usability heurstics were used to evaluate data from focus groups and interviews and changes were incorporated in development of the computer application. The computer application was evaluated through an experimental pre-test/post-test design in which the knowledge of screening measures of 15 masters level social work students was tested. The results of the literature review provided evidence that behavioral health providers require specific knowledge of medical diagnoses, psychiatric diagnoses, screening instruments and intervention skills. A first-order, four-subscale model of this knowledge was confirmed by a CFA model in the survey sample. The computer application developed through the focus groups and interviews is an introduction to integrated healthcare concepts, reinforces the integrated nature of physical and behavioral health, and puts evidence-based knowledge at the point of care. When compared to an asynchronous training session in the experimental investigation, ANCOVA results revealed no significant differences on post-test knowledge of screening measures between the two groups. Outcomes of training on an integrated healthcare topic using a computer application are comparable to those using an asynchronous instructional method. Further research is needed to evaluate the impact of computer application use in real-world practice settings.

Some acid sensing areas in the brain control the expression of breathing and anxiety/fear including the locus coeruleus (LC) (Redmond & Huang, 1979) and the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS). It has been found that knocking out T-cell death-associated gene 8 (TDAG8), a chemosensor, attenuates CO2 induced fear phenotypes in mice. However their hypercapnic ventilatory response (HCVR) has not yet been looked at. Also, BK channels are large-conductance, calcium-activated potassium channels that are activated by increases in concentration of intracellular calcium ions. It has been found that BK KO rats have an increase in their HCVR (Patrone et al., 2014) however their CO2 induced anxiety/fear has not been looked at yet. In this thesis, we found that the BK channel is involved in the HCVR in mice and that the CO2 induced anxiety/fear pathway and the HCVR pathway are separate pathways in the BK and the TDAG8 mice.

Today's Christian communities find themselves situated within a dynamic framework of "otherness" in relationship to society in general, as well as in ecumenical and interreligious contexts. In addition to this complex ad-extra environment, there are also intra-ecclesial tensions within the Catholic community that arise from its own pluralistic reality, hindering the church from being the kind of community it is called to be. Chapter One acknowledges these concerns, and suggests that against such a pluralistic backdrop, the human need for connection and relationality cannot be overvalued. Toward this end, conversation as a means toward building mutuality cannot be overlooked. Indeed, "dialogue" has become a buzzword in religious, business, social and political circles, as people recognize the value of having spaces of meaningful relationship with those "other" than themselves. Yet, a sense of true connection--one that might be more adequately expressed by "conversation" and that supports a mutual movement toward understandings of difference in a spirit of reverence--continues to elude. The impoverished condition of conversation within the church raises questions: why isn't life-giving, intra-ecclesial conversation happening? Why aren't we having meaningful interactions that lead to an expanded sense of honoring the other, and a desire to come together in understanding, reciprocity and mutual support, in view of the church's ministry? Chapter Two suggests that one way to begin addressing the issue of creating space for more effective conversation within a pluralistic church broadly considered, is to look to small faith communities within the church as "communities of practice" in which adult learning can occur. These small faith communities of practice, such as parish councils, faith-sharing groups, ministerial teams, etc., are not merely task-oriented groups, focused on management strategies, business tactics or the mere exercise of democracy in their ways of being together. In an ecclesial context, they are communities intent on being and becoming groups that learn together and create conditions that support a lived adult faith. Because conversation factors largely in adult learning, attending to and valuing conversation in these small faith communities can lead to a "habitus of conversation" that might serve the wider ecclesial community as a whole. To realize such a "habitus of conversation", small faith communities must be supported by inner convictions and shored up by a theological perspective that points toward this stance, a perspective that is capable of upholding a life of koinonia/communio and sustaining it over the long haul required by the hard work of meaningful conversation. The theological lens that grounds such a "habitus of conversation" is a living Trinitarian faith. Exploring the dialogic dynamism of Godself reveals the consequent relationality of the human person made in Imago Dei. The dialogic nature of Godself thus provides a rich theological warrant for the anthropological stance that can support conversation as a theological posture and an educational project. This is the topic of Chapter Three. Chapter Four looks to established dialogical teaching methods as a resource for religious education. Within small faith communities, fostering such a "habitus of conversation" toward the teleos of koinonia/communio is a unique contribution that adult faith formation can offer, providing a concrete locus for enacting a conversational pedagogy that might suggest a model for venues beyond religious education itself, at the service of the broader Catholic Christian community as a whole. With this in mind, Chapter Five concludes the dissertation by addressing pedagogical practices that religious educators can resource as a framework for placing conversation at the center of educating in faith.

This study examined the difference between students’ sense of community in the traditional classroom setting versus the virtual classroom setting with middle school–age students. McMillan and Chavis’s sense of community theory served as the theoretical foundation of the study. A quantitative, causal-comparative design was utilized to determine the effects of the variables. Students at a public middle school in Virginia and a virtual middle school in Tennessee participated in this study. Seventy-eight students participated from the public middle school that constituted the traditional setting, and 60 students participated from the virtual middle school that constituted the virtual setting. The students completed the Sense of Community Index 2 (SCI-2) to generate the data for the study. Results of this survey were analyzed using a MANOVA, obtaining results for the students’ overall sense of community and the four subscales that made up this survey: reinforcement of needs, membership, influence, and shared emotional connection. Statistical significance was present, rejecting the null hypothesis or sub null hypothesis (post hoc) for the overall sense of community, reinforcement of needs, membership, and a shared emotional connection. The area of influence did not yield statistical significance; therefore, the sub null hypothesis (post hoc) failed to be rejected. Suggestions for future research were provided.

This study examined how the use of read-alouds impacted first grade students vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension. Specifically, the research questions were “How do read-alouds using picture books containing additional teacher-selected vocabulary impact struggling first grade students’ understanding of the stories in the basal reader?” and “How do read-alouds using picture books containing additional teacher-selected vocabulary from the basal reader impact vocabulary development of struggling first grade students?” Twenty, first grade students from a high poverty, urban elementary school in the Midwest received the read-aloud intervention. Only Six first grade students were selected for data collection purposes. The researcher examined the Journeys (Baumann et al., 2011) basal reading stories and selected four vocabulary words from the story, along with two picture books to read aloud for each Journeys story. The researcher collected data on how many vocabulary words the students had learned and how well the students comprehended the main Journeys story. The results indicated that the use of read-alouds enhanced recognition of vocabulary words and their oral retelling of the main story. The study provided methods for how to incorporate read-alouds in a basal reading series that enhances student’s vocabulary, background knowledge and comprehension.

In the modernization of infrastructure systems such as energy, transportation, and healthcare systems we are seeing the convergence of three research domains: Cyber–Physical Systems (CPS), Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Indeed, new CPS technologies are are being deployed to create large sensor-actuator networks which produce massive quantities of data often in real-time which is, in turn, being used to inform everyday decision-making of the entities that engage with these large-scale infrastructure systems. As a consequence, such systems are quickly evolving into societal-scale cyber-physical systems.The result of this increasing connectivity and interdependence is two–fold: more and more data is being collected, transmitted, and stored, and more and more actuation modalities are available, allowing new ways to influence the behavior of infrastructure systems. These new and pervasive sensing/actuation modalities present new opportunities for improving efficiency, yet they expose novel vulnerabilities. In energy CPS, for instance, smart metering technologies increase the availability of streaming data thereby enabling monetization of energy savings. Such savings can be realized by employing novel machine learning algorithms to customize offerings to consumers. On the other hand, the availability of this fine-grained consumer/system data and the increased number of access points to the broader system expose new privacy and security risks. Hence, there is a inherent efficiency-vulnerability tradeoff. This tradeoff is becoming more pronounced due to greater dependence on CPS technologies and the push towards more human-centric operations, i.e. integration of human decision-making and preferences into the closed-loop behavior of the system. Beginning with the problem of modeling the non-cooperative agents that interact with these large-scale sociotechnical systems and thus, compete over scarce resources, we analyze the of the outcome of their strategic interactions. In particular, we create a characterization of Nash equilibria—termed differential Nash equilibria—in games on non-convex strategy spaces that is amenable to computation. We show that such non-degenerate differential Nash equilibria are structurally stable and generic thereby robust to small modeling errors and measurement noise. Introducing a planner tasked with coordinating these decision-makers, we leverage this characterization in the construction of a utility learning and incentive design algorithm. We provide convergence results in both the case where agents play according to Nash and where they play using a myopic update rule.Narrowing our focus to the demand-side of the smart grid, we consider that the planner will capitalize on new sensing/actuation modalities in the design incentives thereby exposing the efficiency-vulnerability tradeoff. We consider privacy risks introduced by smart metering technologies that produce streaming energy consumption data. On one hand the data has utility in the sense that it can help improve operations, yet on the other it exposes the consumer and the power company to greater privacy risk. We propose a solution that combines economic and statistics tools, i.e. privacy-aware service contracts in which service is differentiated according to privacy and consumers select based on their needs and wallet. We argue that the power company has an incentive to invest in security or purchase insurance because of inefficiencies that arise due to information asymmetries and we design insurance contracts accordingly. We provide a number of qualitative insights that have the potential to be useful for informing policy and regulations in the energy ecosystem. Finally, we conclude with an overview of the contributions and a discussion of futureresearch directions for the near and far terms.The contributions are the first steps towards an emerging systems theory of societal-scale cyber-physical systems in which there are many tightlycoupled human-CPS decision-making loops and socioeconomic factors intricately woven into the fabric.

PROBLEM: Oncology nursing is an emotionally demanding profession where nurses witness repeated patient suffering and death placing them at risk for adverse emotional effects such as compassion fatigue (CF) and burnout (BO). Despite this risk, many oncology nurses describe an intense satisfaction with their work, known as compassion satisfaction (CS). Self-transcendence (ST) has been found to have protective abilities. This study purpose was to assess the prevalence of CF, BO, and CS among oncology nurses in theUnited States, and the relationships among ST and CF, BO, CS, and demographic factors. METHODS: This descriptive correlational study consisted of a random sample of 405 nurse members of an oncology professional organization who provide direct patient care. Figley’s Compassion Fatigue and Reed’s Self-Transcendence theoretical frameworks guided the study. Instruments administered online via the Survey Monkey platform included: Professional Quality of Life Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue, and Burnout Subscales-Revision V; Self-transcendence Scale; and a demographic survey. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlational analyses, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Level of significance was p RESULTS: Study hypotheses were supported. There was a statistically significant negative correlation between ST and CF; a significant positive correlation between CF and BO; a significant negative correlation between ST and BO; and a significant positive correlation between ST and CS. Low levels of CF and BO with high levels of ST and CS suggest ST and CS are protective factors for CF and BO. Statistically significant relationships were found among CF, BO, CS, ST, and age, nursing experience, life stress, health rating, and religion/spirituality. CONCLUSIONS: ST and CS may have protective abilities for oncology nurses at risk for CF and BO. Implications for nursing include the need for education, assessment, prevention, and health promotion interventions addressing CF and BO among oncology nurses. This study raises awareness of CF and BO in oncology nursing. Further research of ST and CS on CF and BO needs to be done. Future research should focus on development and evaluation of interventions which prevent and manage CF and BO and promote CS and ST in oncology nurses.

The education attainment level of residents in rural Appalachia has consistently ranked below the remaining populous of the United States. Although distance education initiatives have attempted to bridge the disparities between rural Appalachia and the rest of the nation, online community college students in this region are likely to drop out or fail their classes. To understand the phenomenon of online attrition in rural Appalachia, a phenomenological study was conducted to determine what students experienced from the time they chose to enroll in online classes through the point of failure or withdrawal from their courses. This triangulated study utilized surveys, focus group sessions, and individual interviews to determine how the participants' perceptions and emotional responses developed, changed and lead to their dropping out or failing an online course, as well as how the students' social or cultural values influenced their online class experiences. An analysis of this study's data indicated that factors contributing to the participants' lack of success or attrition in online classes related to the social integration model crafted by Tinto and external factors indicated by Bean and Metzner. This study provided an opportunity to advance these models by considering the unique cultural aspects of an institution and its service region. As indicated by this study, the online experiences of students in rural Appalachia were directed impacted by their familial connections, their sense of self-reliance or personal independence, and a general distrust of "outsiders."

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of university administrators on stakeholder involvement in internationalization planning and implementation of internationalization at Mid-Western University (MWU) a public four-year university located in a Midwest state in the United States of America. It has been argued that there is a gap between the study of internationalization planning and implementation of those plans on college campuses (Childress, 2009). This study sought to fill this gap in the literature. A mixed methods study was utilized as a comprehensive way of studying the perceptions (Quantitative variable) and experiences (Qualitative variable) of participants at the subject university.The researcher surveyed 80 university administrators to examine their perceptions of internationalization planning and implementation at MWU. The researcher then utilized nested and extreme case sampling to interview six administrators (three with low perceptions and three with high perceptions) to explore their experiences at MWU with internationalization.A correlational study was performed to measure the relationship between internationalization planning and implementation practices at MWU. A strong positive correlation was found between internationalization planning and implementation practices (r =.69). Also, many administrators on campus did not have knowledge or experience with internationalization planning practices on campus. A view that human and financial resources for internationalization efforts were limited was prevalent among administrators.The researcher provided steps toward the development of comprehensive stakeholder involvement in planning and implementation processes to bring about the internationalization of MWU.

Human-induced changes such as nitrogen deposition and forest harvest can alter biogeochemical cycling in temperate forests. However, it is still unclear what impacts increased N availability and successional stage have on productivity. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) availability were examined along an age gradient in northern hardwoods in the Bartlett Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, USA. Net N mineralization decreased with age, but no patterns were discovered for available P. However, there was strong evidence for N and P coupling in these sites with results suggesting that N availability influenced P availability through the production of phosphatase enzymes. The apparent interaction of N and P, via phosphatase, is good evidence that resource optimization processes balance nutrient availability across a wide gradient in fertility. This could be viewed as contributing to colimitation, but it could also be that N is the primary limiting nutrient because of its underlying effects on P availability.

This dissertation outlines a theoretical model for contextualizing contemporary women's art practice in Mexico within the profound socioeconomic and political events that have taken place since 1968, characterized by the steady breakdown and eventual turnover of the Mexican state. Following the spatial theories outlined by Henry Lefebvre in The Production of Space, this study adopts the logic that social spaces are a direct production of the societies that inhabit them, as well as the social relations, ideologies, and notions of power that are espoused therein. Focusing on the artists Paula Santiago, the collective Polvo de Gallina Negra, Daniela Rossell, Minerva Cuevas, and Teresa Margolles, I identify within their works the visualization of three critical spaces of intervention: the female body, the familial home, and the streets as a site of protest. Organized according to a framework that emphasizes spatial politics, I argue that such works constitute a feminist production of space that challenges the social relations, hierarchies of power, and gender roles that have been embodied by traditional "spaces of femininity." The artists' respective performances, photography, installations, and sculptures are analyzed according to how they confront traditional definitions of femininity and gender norms that limit and confine women's accessibility to and social mobility within the spaces of everyday life in Mexico. Strategically engaging with the concepts and effects of the traditional private/public dichotomy as it has been deployed in Mexican national rhetoric, the artists reveal such binary thinking to be false, socially-contrived, and politically motivated. In doing so, they critique the very processes through which gender is constructed and offer new ways to think about womanhood outside of traditional archetypal frameworks. Underscoring the role that bodily action plays in the production of space and transformation of society, these artists are identified as producers of the spaces of feminism, a designation that foregrounds contemporary women's social and political interventions, which continue to formulate the new realities of Mexican life, post-1968. These contemporary women artists speak to a feminist presence in the visual arts that has helped contribute to the growth of a critical civil society, a contribution that has been largely absent from the discourse on contemporary art history in Mexico. What is ultimately revealed is a new understanding of the Mexican nation, borne out through the works of contemporary feminist art and viewed through the lens of female agency. The artists included in this dissertation take advantage of the interactive framework of the production of space as they actively engage contemporary concepts of womanhood and national identity, wherein women are admitted into the national fabric as social agents negotiating new spaces for what it means to be a Mexican feminist.

Much research has been conducted in the past 25 years related to the teaching and learning of proof in Euclidean geometry. However, very little research has been done focused on preservice secondary school mathematics teachers’ notions of proof in Euclidean geometry. Thus, this qualitative study was exploratory in nature, consisting of four case studies focused on identifying preservice secondary school mathematics teachers’ current notions of proof in Euclidean geometry, a starting point for improving the teaching and learning of proof in Euclidean geometry. The unit of analysis (i.e., participant) in each case study was a preservice mathematics teacher. The case studies were parallel as each participant was presented with the same Euclidean geometry content in independent interview sessions. The content consisted of six Euclidean geometry statements and a Euclidean geometry problem appropriate for a secondary school Euclidean geometry course. For five of the six Euclidean geometry statements, three justifications for each statement were presented for discussion. For the sixth Euclidean geometry statement and the Euclidean geometry problem, participants constructed justifications for discussion. A case record for each case study was constructed from an analysis of data generated from interview sessions, including anecdotal notes from the playback of the recorded interviews, the review of the interview transcripts, document analyses of both previous geometry course documents and any documents generated by participants via assigned Euclidean geometry tasks, and participant emails. After the four case records were completed, a cross-case analysis was conducted to identify themes that traverse the individual cases.  From the analyses, participants’ current notions of proof in Euclidean geometry were somewhat diverse, yet suggested that an integration of justifications consisting of empirical and deductive evidence for Euclidean geometry statements could improve both the teaching and learning of Euclidean geometry.

Social movement scholars have contended that considerable research on protest policing has been done, but research testing multiple theories in recent decades is lacking. To resolve this gap in the literature, this study integrates major paradigms in repression research and theories of policing styles around a dramaturgical approach to collective action, identifying factors influencing violence at social protests in the United States from 2006-2009. Conceiving of social protest as a form of political and symbolic action, I maintain that social actors and the qualities of their actions and immediate environment importantly influence a protest event's characteristics and outcomes. Specifically, I code for three violent outcomes—arrests, police violence, and any violence—and one measure of threat—police presence. I identify four components of the protest event which influence these outcomes—actors (e.g., authorities, protesters, and counterprotesters), enemies (e.g., the target of protesters' claims), the stage (e.g., qualities of place and space where a protest occurs), and protest performance (e.g., protest size and specific tactics employed by actors). Thus, this research focuses on how qualities of police, protester, and counterprotester performances intersect to influence violence at protest events. Data for this project were collected from multiple sources from 2006-2009. Information on protest events was collected by content coding of newspaper articles in the Los Angeles Times and New York Times. Information on community policing styles was derived from lists of funding for agencies participating in the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. In some instances the results of this study show that certain characteristics leading to police presence and violence at social protests in the U.S. persist from research conducted on earlier decades—presence of African Americans or counterprotesters, protester use of "more confrontational" tactics and/or multiple tactics, and the damaging of property by protesters or counterprotesters. However, my findings also contradict previous studies, because I find that: (1) larger protests are less likely to be policed or result in violence; (2) social and cultural targets are more likely predictors of policing and violence rather than government or economic ones; and, (3) specific social movement families and tactical types influence protest event outcomes differently. I also found that community policing styles had no effect on protest event policing. These findings are important because they show how a protest event's symbolic nature influences policing and violent outcomes.

The objective of our study was to investigate the effects of blueberry flavonoids on inflammation and antioxidant status in subjects identified with Metabolic Syndrome. Nineteen subjects identified with metabolic syndrome were assigned to consume a 50 gram dose of freeze-dried whole blueberry drink daily for 8 weeks while 12 subjects were assigned as controls and consumed equivalent fluid amounts daily for 8 weeks. Subjects in both groups kept a 3-day food record dietary flavonoid intake for analysis. Blood draws and anthropometrics were performed at baseline and at 8 weeks. Blueberry supplementation did not significantly alter CRP, IL-6, and adiponectin. At week 8, Quercetin and EGCG were significantly higher in the blueberry group compared to the control (Blueberry: 22198.48 mg, Control: 5768.14 mg p=0.047; Blueberry: 284.99 mg, Control: 9.33 mg, p=0.035, respectively). Thus, blueberry supplementation did not alter markers of inflammation, and the antioxidant effects may be attributed to the decrease in serum carotenoids, specifically lycopene in the blueberry group compared to the control at week 8 (6.874.66 g/mL to 4.832.70 g/mL). In conclusion, the results of the study presented indicated that blueberry supplementation in subjects with metabolic syndrome does lower blood pressure and has some positive effect on serum carotenoid levels and reinforces the need to further understand this condition. Evidence is emerging that suggests antioxidants may provide nutritional benefits to reducing the risk of chronic disease such as cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and thus, metabolic syndrome. The results from this study suggest that blueberry supplementation is responsible for lowering blood pressure but it has yet to be determined as to how much the blueberry antioxidants affect biomarkers of inflammation and the other parameters of the metabolic syndrome.

Controversy and debate have raged over the nature of election, and perhaps the weightiest passage on the subject is found in Ephesians 1. This thesis will provide an extensive exegesis of Ephesians 1:3-4 in particular while looking at its broader context within the epistle in general. With Ephesians 1:3-4 as its central focus, this thesis will demonstrate the following: Election is unconditional and it is corporate in Christ. Although an individual’s salvation was certainly known by God in eternity past, individuals were not chosen by God to this salvation. The unconditionally elect One is Jesus Christ, and individuals are elected to salvation upon belief in Christ as they become a part of the corporate body of Christ.

Color is an important part of art and life, which can be utilized by the museum educator to engage visitors with the art. For the museum educator, development of appropriate programs and activities to meet the needs of their audience is a central component of their responsibilities; therefore employment of important characteristics of art, such as color, to accomplish these goals is important. To demonstrate how an educator can utilize color, I have developed a tour using the Speed Art Museum's collection. Although it is written specifically for one collection, the ideas can be translated to other institutions. Since school groups are among the most frequent and consistent visitors for many institutions, I designed this particular tour for the fourth and fifth grade level. To make this tour able to engage students as much as possible, and have a lasting affect, I have designed a variety of activities and discussion questions, to accompany the artwork, all of which present color as a fascinating and approachable path for connecting the students to art. Before presenting my tour, I approach color from a variety of different angles: historically, theoretically, cultures, scientifically, psychologically, physiologically and logistically. Each of these sections shows the importance of color, through a different sector of life. They show that color isn't just artistic, but important to every aspect of life. Within the theories section, I review the varying philosophies. I cite the thoughts of many important thinkers, including Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, Gustave Moreau, Wassily Kandinsky, Helen Keller, Josef Albers, Johannes Itten, Carlos Cruz-Diez and David Batchelor. They discuss the importance and influence of color, to both themselves personally and society at large. After explaining the role of color thoroughly, I then am ready to do a walkthrough of my tour. I discuss primary colors, warm and cool colors, complementary colors, analogous colors, black and white and grayscale colors, neutral colors and the individual affects of red, white, yellow, gold, green, black and blue. Here I present info on each of the chosen artworks. I give some tips on how to give the tour most successfully, including suggesting activities for docents to use on the tour. The activities are important to engage the children and make a lasting impression for art and color. Finally, I explain the practical application of the tour as I explain how I gave it to a 4 th grade class myself. I discuss how things went, what worked and what didn't. I prove that the tour is both applicable but successful in teaching a group more about color theory.

The studies presented herein examine the role of cholesterol-7[alpha]-hydroxylase, paraoxonase-1, and thioredoxin-interacting protein in various aspects of lipid metabolism. Cholesterol-7[alpha]-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) is responsible for the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids. Hepatic over-expression of CYP7A1 maintained cholesterol homeostasis in low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR)-deficient mice that were fed a cholesterol-enriched diet. The presence of the CYP7A1 transgene altered the expression of many genes in the liver and the ileum. In particular, the expansion of the bile acid pool reduced ileal expression of Niemann-Pick C1 -like 1 (NPC1L1), in an farsenoid X receptor (FXR)- independent manner, which was associated with diminished cholesterol absorption. The expression of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) correlates inversely with the formation of atherosclerotic lesions. Through the activation of FXR, bile acids increase the ileal expression of fibroblast growth factor 15 (FGF15) which binds to fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) leading to diminished hepatic expression of PON1 and CYP7A1. In contrast to hepatic PON1 mRNA expression, a strong correlation exists between plasma PON1 activity levels and plasma HDL cholesterol levels. Indeed, mice that have virtually undetectable levels of plasma HDL cholesterol, such as ATP Binding Cassette Protein A1 (ABCA1)-deficient mice, have only minute plasma PON1 protein levels. However, the administration of reconstituted HDL to ABCA1-deficient mice is sufficient to generate a transient increase in mature HDL particles containing PON1. Disruption of thioredoxin-interacting protein (Txnip) in mice leads to metabolic abnormalities, especially in the fasted state. Fasting Txnip knockout mice display high plasma triglyceride and ketone levels, as well as decreased plasma glucose levels. The hypertriglyceridemia observed in Txnip knockout mice is due to an impaired clearance of triglycerides, which correlated with decreased LPL mRNA expression and decreased LPL activity in the skeletal muscle and heart. Additional metabolic alterations in fasting Txnip knockout mice include impaired AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation and diminished oxidative capacity of glucose, 3-hydroxybutyrate, and fatty acids

A new method was developed for the determination of uranium in groundwater above 30µg/L (30ppb). This concentration is the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for uranium in drinking water, which was set in December 2003 by the US EPA under the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The method is rapid and requires little technical training to conduct, allowing it to be used by consumers, in the laboratory, or in the field. The two-step technique involves preconcentrating uranium using a U/TEVA-2 extraction chromatographic resin followed by complexation with a pyridylazo indicator dye, Br-PADAP. At neutral pH, a counter ion is needed to stabilize the organometallic complex, which has an absorbance at 578nm. Although spectrophotometry can be used to quantify the uranium in a sample, the color change is visible to the eye. Preconcentration using U/TEVA-2 also serves to eliminate metals that may interfere with the quantification of uranium.

Leg injuries are the most prevalent type of injury associated with vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions. Further, leg injuries can result in long term debilitation of the injured party. The potential for pedestrian leg injury with respect to the front-end design of an automotive vehicle is currently evaluated using a component impactor consisting only of a thigh, knee, and lower leg. The simplicity of this test allows for relatively inexpensive testing and repeatable results. However, the lack of upper body mass (UBM) is known to reduce the biofidelity of the legform's response.This study investigated the effects of the UBM on the measured impact response of the lower extremity. Three-dimensional Madymo simulations were performed using full body pedestrian and leg models, which consisted only of a single leg with the pelvis, torso, head, and other extremities removed. Initially, five output measures were recorded for these models during simulated impacts. These measures, which include femur shear and moment, tibia shear and moment, and proximal tibia acceleration, have been shown to correlate to injury and are therefore important quantities in assessment of injury risk. The full body impact simulations were used to generate a target response. The properties of the UBM, or UBM design, include the mass, moment of inertia, and center of gravity (CG) height. By determining the UBM design which produced a leg model response most similar to the full body response, the optimum UBM design would be obtained. An optimization was performed using Madymizer, one of the programs within the Madymo suite, which determined the optimum design to be a 10.93 kg mass, with a moment of inertia of 0.0698 kg-m2, attached 0.462 m above the knee.The optimum design would present many difficulties if fabricated and used in practice. As a result, a new design was sought which would still produce marked improvement in the legform's ability to assess vehicle aggressiveness while also being experimentally viable. Interaction plots were used to determine the correlations between the UBM design parameters and the output measures of the leg. A practical design space was obtained from these correlations. A series of simulations were then performed using combinations of these parameters. Evaluating the performance of each combination, as well as the geometric size and shape that it would require, a practical UBM design was selected. The practical UBM design consisted of a 4 kg mass, a moment of inertia of 0.03 kg-m2, with an attachment locating the CG at 0.40 m above the knee.Finally, the robustness of the practical design was studied using vehicle-to-pedestrian simulations. The vehicle geometry was varied parametrically in order to assess whether the leg with the attached UBM more accurately assessed vehicle aggressiveness than the leg model alone could. The results showed that by including the practical UBM design, the leg model was more capable of vehicle assessment for all vehicle designs. Further, the leg with UBM model was capable of assessing bumper heights above the knee and accurately measuring femur shear and moment, whereas the leg model could not.

Each week on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, one family is selected to receive a surprise home makeover, including a new or entirely renovated home and the latest appliances and furnishings. However, these families, whose application videos are often dramatic accounts of great personal hardship, also seem to be hoping a new house and all of the trimmings will somehow make all of their problems simply disappear so they can once again be content. This thesis examines how, through its narrative of personal transformation, the show is promoting an ideology of materialism in which people feel driven to purchase material things in order to achieve personal happiness and fulfillment. It also examines how the show functions as an advertisement by way of product placement, further promoting materialism.

As disk drives become more of a commodity based product, quality and cost control have become top industry priorities. Disk drive manufacturers are now heavily focused on efforts to reduce costs while maintaining quality and improving performance. Shock damage of the head/disk interface is one area that causes many quality issues and cost constraints. The most damaging shocks, which can be both linear and rotational in nature, occur during the non-operational state. Several methods are used to combat shocks, many of which preserve servo control performance at the expense of cost increases and reliability issues. The research investigates the combination of improved mechanical designs and advanced control methods to improve servo controller performance while maintaining shock resistance, improving product quality, and providing cost reduction.

The emergence of a global, (post)modern ‘consumer culture’ has resulted in an increasing commodification of people and their relationships, destabilizing many ‘traditional’ ideas and practices concerning sexual intimacy. This is especially evident in those encounters between foreign men and local women that arise in Philippine go-go bars, where an assortment of sexual arrangements – from prostitution to marriage – are negotiated according to the variable desires of the participants. Analyzing the activities within this space from a dramaturgical standpoint, I show how women and men adopt particular social / sexual identities and ‘scripts’ to achieve their personal aspirations through the manipulation of others, creating myriad gendered discourses and performances to express their diverse sexual, socioeconomic and political longings. Through the production and consumption of individual narratives and (re)presentations, actors in this liminal setting can satisfy their desires for personal autonomy and ‘success’ insofar as they embody desired ‘lifestyles’ through the active incorporation of goods, images and services. Moreover, in the enactment of these alternative biographies and practices, people also challenge the prevailing socioerotic discourses by modifying the symbolic meanings of sexual relations in line with notions of consumer sovereignty and personal agency within a liberal, late-capitalist framework.

In this study, my overarching principle is that readers’ ideologies are likely to influence the way they read texts, and that texts, in turn, often influence readers’ preconceived ideologies. This thesis is an attempt to understand how to use the theories of Kenneth Burke, Donna Haraway, and rhetoric of technology scholars toward the goal of social change in favor of Haraway’s cyborg political model, which stresses the need for unity within feminism, socialism, and other politically left groups. Burke argues that form in texts is the creation and fulfillment of desires in the audience. I examine several of Burke’s texts to construct a genealogy of Burkean form. Burke states that desire is connected to the psychology of the audience, in which ideology plays a key role. Burke concludes that readers’ ideologies are rooted in economic class. I then look to Haraway, who gives a more accurate theory of factors that influence ideology in her notion of the informatics of domination, which include racism, patriarchy, capitalism, heterosexism, and colonialism, and rhetoric scholars who have responded to Haraway’s cyborg theory. I review rhetoric scholarship that is concerned with the idea of cyborg writing, and point out ways the rhetoric community has implemented Haraway’s theory well and ways they have misunderstood it. I conclude that cyborg writing has been associated too closely with hypertext, and that more focus should be given to the political content of texts. I argue that postcolonial literature, which is most often written from the perspective of marginalized groups, is a stronger and more thought-provoking example of cyborg writing, even if it is not hypertext. I also call for a renewed emphasis on Haraway’s argument that academics need to be more involved in the activist community if social change in favor of the cyborg is to occur.