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This thesis uses a range of recent television and film texts to interrogate postfeminist media formations of masculinity. In particular, this work focuses on increasingly prevalent media narratives that are about producing men as suitable romantic partners for postfeminist women. Arguing that existing literature on postfeminism ignores or trivialises the issue of masculinity, this thesis addresses new cultural formations of masculinity that are linked not only to postfeminist discourse, but also related cultural and economic shifts such as post-industrialisation and the rise of neo-liberal cultural politics. Analysing texts from the mid-1990s to 2012, the work argues that such representations are rife with tensions and contradictions. They represent in part an ungendering of previously feminine arenas (such as the makeover, and the home) yet are also marked by a discourse that requires the reassertion of sexual difference and the maintenance of heteronormativity. As such, the urge towards coupling becomes central to these formations, across the range of texts discussed within this thesis. The thesis argues that postfeminist media representations of masculinity are often characterised by an interplay between dominant, residual and emergent formations. In the makeover show, the mission is to improve a man to satisfy his existing partner (perhaps as preparation for a proposal) or to ready him for entry into the dating market. In the lifestyle show, the advice given on how to manage domestic labour is committed to encouraging harmony between the heterosexual couple. The homebuilding sitcom focuses on the challenges of the transition between youth and the establishment of a family unit: finding the right partner, settling down, building a home, having children. The Hollywood romantic comedy, even in its recent, male-centred incarnations, still presents successful coupling as integral, essential, and inevitable, even if its attitude to the union is sometimes ambivalent. In all of these television and film genres, there is a considerable focus on how men must change in order to become, and stay, "marriageable". This emphasis on coupling is paired with images of singledom as failure, a pathologisation which, this thesis argues, is rapidly becoming ungendered. The example texts' reinforcement of compulsory heterosexuality, their focus on a particular 'life-stage' (the early stages of independent living) and the increased focus on men's private lives means that domestic space and the home become key sites in which these tensions and battles are played out. This thesis examines the central role of the home, its decor, arrangement and labour, as both one of the major negotiations of coupling and as an aesthetic strategy for representing different formations of masculinity and postfeminist dilemmas of masculinity within this group of texts.

Volume I includes the research volume of the thesis and includes three papers that focus upon the relationship between staff, client and organisational variables with burnout in staff who work with people with intellectual disabilities. The literature review critically examines the literature related to organisational climate and burnout in staff who work within services for people with intellectual disabilities. The empirical paper examines the relationship between client (challenging behaviour), staff cognitive (fear of assault) and organisational variables (social climate) with staff burnout, and aimed to investigate which of these variables contribute most to staff burnout. These papers have been prepared for submission to the Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. The public domain briefing paper (Appendix 1) briefly outlines the findings from the literature review and the empirical paper. Volume II includes five clinical practice reports that were produced as part of the assessment of clinical component of the Clin.Psy.D and are entitled: 1. Clinical Practice Report 1 (Psychological Models): Kayleigh – Formulating the case of a 3 year old with behaviour and sleeping difficulties from a psychodynamic and behavioural perspective. 2. Clinical Practice Report 2 (Service Evaluation): Parents’ Experience of the Community Learning Disabilities Team – Children and Adolescents (CLDT – CA). 3. Clinical Practice Report 3 (Case Study): Using Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) with a 33 year old man presenting with low mood, self harm and PTSD symptoms. 4. Clinical Practice Report 4 (Single Case Experimental Design): Connor, a 10 year old boy with a dog phobia who was treated with systematic desensitisation. 5. Clinical Practice Report 5 (Oral Presentation): Case study of a 70 year old woman experiencing low mood.

Abstract: Ongoing permafrost thaw in northern peatland catchments may increase the production and downstream delivery of neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg) across the terrestrial-aquatic continuum. Peatlands in boreal-Arctic regions have large stocks of mercury (Hg) in frozen soils, accumulated through atmospheric deposition of natural and human-emitted Hg over thousands of years. Permafrost thaw in peatlands often leads to land surface collapse (thermokarst), which may shift environmental conditions to facilitate microbial production of MeHg (methylation). However, the degree to which Hg is methylated post-thaw and exported downstream remains uncertain in northwestern Canada and poses a potential hazard for uptake by aquatic food webs. I initiated three field studies examining MeHg cycling throughout the peatland-rich Interior Plains of boreal western Canada – 1) examining how peatland and permafrost extent influenced MeHg concentrations through a synoptic sampling of lakes and streams, 2) determining how discharge and land cover controlled the export and concentrations of MeHg in two stream catchments with differing peatland extent, and 3) exploring the microbial production of MeHg in thermokarst wetlands compared to intact permafrost peatlands. By sampling total Hg (THg) and MeHg concentrations from 25 lakes and 47 streams spanning 1700 km across the Interior Plains (Chapter 2), I found that peatlands were primary sources of MeHg to surface waters regardless of permafrost extent, as MeHg concentrations increased with indicators of peatland-derived water chemistry. Lakes were potential MeHg sinks, likely through solar MeHg degradation (photodemethylation), while resident microbial communities in lake sediments were most capable of gaseous Hg emission to the atmosphere rather than methylation. To consider seasonal variation in MeHg concentrations and export, I initiated a study involving higher-frequency sampling of streams in the discontinuous permafrost region. Alongside Dehcho-Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Ocean Management, I monitored one peatland-dominated catchment and one mixed catchment of mountains, forests, and peatlands over three years (Chapter 3). Compared to the mixed catchment, the peatland catchment had higher MeHg and lower THg concentrations and greater inter-annual variability in solute yields driven by storage thresholds in peatlands that control runoff generation. Transport limitation primarily controlled solute concentrations in the mixed catchment, with terrestrial flushing during high flows and lower inter-annual variability of solute yields due to consistent streamflow from groundwater sources and runoff generation from steeper slopes. I then studied biogeochemical controls on Hg methylation in peatlands due to their significance as downstream MeHg sources (Chapters 2, 3). From methylation assays and peat and porewater chemistry of twelve peatland sites in the Interior Plains (Chapter 4), I found thermokarst wetlands to have greater methylation potential than intact permafrost peatlands. The highest MeHg concentrations and potential methylation rates were observed in fens and associated with a higher water table, labile organic matter, pH, and concentrations of sulfur and iron. The continued thawing of permafrost peatlands and expansion of thermokarst wetlands will likely result in favorable conditions for MeHg production. My findings suggest that permafrost thaw in northern peatlands will enhance Hg methylation across the landscape, although wetland trophic status and groundwater connectivity will control MeHg production, and catchment hydrological functioning will determine downstream export. This knowledge is important for public health planning and land use intervention in the face of climate change, given the high risks of MeHg in aquatic ecosystems to northern communities.

This dissertation examines the relationship between law, medicine, and the arguments for legal birth control in the United States in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. The project demonstrates that birth control activism, often considered a fringe aspect of the larger women’s movement, was deeply ingrained in the larger agenda of women’s liberation before the turn of the twentieth century. Feminist reformers’ responses to medical and legal conceptions of women’s disabilities also shaped arguments for female sexual freedom and reproductive rights. As physicians and lawyers alike argued over women’s capacity for reason, women’s rights activists responded with the latest scientific thinking on gynecology, anatomy, and eugenics to prove that women should not only be able to vote or work outside the home, but also control marriage and sex. They helped to redefine the idea of women as legal persons not only deserving of full citizenship, but of possessing the right to their own bodies. Many of these assertions grew out of these reformers’ belief in the most radical philosophies of the day such as Spiritualism, New Thought, Free Love, and Free Thought, the doctrines of which revered science and rejected conventional social constraints on gender. Yet the association between social radicalism and birth control also hurt the cause. By contrast, scientific and legal justifications for women’s privacy in matters of sex made the legalization of contraception far more appealing to a suspicious public. Tracking the evolution of this conversation illustrates why Margaret Sanger and her contemporary Mary Ware Dennett inherited these discourses in the beginning of the twentieth century. Dennett’s influence on the early birth control movement equaled Sanger’s, and their ideological battle over the significance of legal birth control for society symbolized the diverse tensions of the feminist movement in this era. Their differing tactics represent conflicting strains of thought within the women’s movement about the achievements and limits of legal reform and social radicalism. Dennett’s commitment to arguments of sex equality, coupled with her distrust of eugenics and medical authority, contributed to the growing public support for birth control by the 1930s.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of student employment in Rowan After Hours (RAH) on student engagement at Rowan University. All respondents were employed by RAH during the spring 2013 semester. A survey was used to gather information on various aspects of subject engagement on campus, including how often students contributed to academic classes, utilized information learned in class in their academics or daily life, interacted with faculty or staff, time spent completing various tasks, number of pages written throughout the semester, and work and co-curricular experiences. Established research indicates that engaging students in a variety of educationally productive activities is associated with self-reported gains in general abilities, critical thinking skills, learning, and persistence. The findings of this study suggest that RAH student employees are more highly engaged at their institution than students at similar large, master's granting institutions. Moreover, evidence suggests that the OSA student development model, focusing on promoting student engagement, is meeting its goals and objectives.

Between December 1862 and April 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and Union Army of the Potomac remained stalemated across from one another on the Rappahannock River. Following the victory at the Battle of Fredericksburg, the Confederate Army held the city while the Union forces remained across the river in Falmouth, Virginia. Soldiers on both sides had several reasons for discontent at this point in the war. The larger causes that drove these men to enlist and fight faded as larger political issues, incompetent commanders, and the difficulties of camp life intensified. Union and Confederate soldiers felt infringement on their independence and looked for other ways to regain their manhood. While soldiers on both sides took their turn on picket duty, they were only a stone's throw away from their enemy. The permeability of the river and a truce against firing allowed for quite possibly the largest instance of fraternization throughout the Civil War.;While soldiers sat on picket duty across from their enemy, they sang songs, shared jokes, and shouted to one another. As this behavior became accepted, soldiers sent sailboats across with coffee in exchange for tobacco and vice versa. Newspapers were also a hot commodity for exchange. Despite ordinances by both General Lee and General Hooker, soldiers continued to trade items and even began to cross the river. Why would soldiers risk their lives for an enemy that weeks earlier they fought against at the Battle of Fredericksburg? The answer to this question lies in the analysis of the deeper meaning of fraternization, which is at the center of this study. Fraternization was not just an exchange of coffee and tobacco, but served as a larger purpose and had a very complex meaning. When soldiers met one another across enemy lines, they shared stories of home and combat, and talked of peace. These interactions were possible through a common soldier culture of alienation. Confederates were able to relate to disheartened Union soldiers through a common bond of sacrifice and honor. As seasoned veteran soldiers, Federals and Confederates felt that they had more in common with one another than the generals who led them and the politicians at home. This culture of alienation created a bond that was strong enough for these men to travel behind enemy lines, exchange commodities, and share emotions. Fraternization was a subtle form of dissent and did not deter men from staying and they continued to fight at Chancellorsville. The same unity and empathy that brought these men together on the Rappahannock, kept them in their ranks. Therefore, the unique culture developed through fraternization serves as a tool in the development of the synthesis of the Civil War soldier experience.