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"Beyond those gates" : how the process of earning a college degree in prison shapes a person's hoped-for self.
No full textThe purpose of this narrative inquiry was to explore how the process of earning a college degree in the prison context shaped the hoped-for selves of 23 formerly incarcerated individuals. My research focus was twofold: First, I wanted to understand how the content of participants' hoped-for selves changed as a result of earning a college degree in prison; then, I wanted to understand what aspects of the higher education in prison (HEP) context contributed to those changes. Using a conceptual framework that combined symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969) with possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986; SI-PSs), I was able to explore how certain contextual factors–namely, learning interactions and the physical environment–influenced what participants understood to be desirable, yet plausible, for themselves in the future. Findings revealed that participants tended to envision their future selves in increasingly community service-oriented terms while attending college in prison. Additionally, participants often saw themselves pursuing further education in the future. These community-oriented, academic future selves remained consistent even after one's release from prison. Further, findings highlighted how interactions where participants felt validated by their faculty, connected to their peers, and/or were able to develop increased self-awareness significantly influenced how they viewed themselves in the future. Participants' hoped-for selves were, in other words, largely shaped by three overlapping processes which I refer to as confirmation, connection, and contextualization. These processes each necessitated and facilitated a capacity to be vulnerable and expose oneself emotionally in an environment where vulnerability was typically discouraged. This study thus underscores the importance of vulnerability in the prison college classroom, as well as the unique ways in which the prison environment may, paradoxically, enhance a person's learning experience. Implications for research, theory, and practice are outlined and discussed
Nietzsche on Greatness : Internal and External Characteristics in Three Late Works.
No full textIn this thesis, I identify and examine the internal and external traits of the Nietzschean great man as seen in the late works Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science, and On the Genealogy of Morals. I find that we may identify many key characteristics of the great man that Nietzsche discusses throughout these three works. Further, I argue that the creation and acting of one's singular ideal is the necessary element of Nietzschean greatness. The internal traits I discuss are high feelings, singular ideal and amor fati, suffering, solitude, and pity, multiplicity and unity, perception of oneself, and asceticism. The external traits I discuss are the eternal recurrence viewpoint, action, relation to others, the great man's suffering, conditions and rarity, recognizability, and the difference between true and false greatness
A qualitative case study exploring the motivation of generation Z Doctor of Physical Therapy students toward career readiness.
No full textPhysical therapy practice and education continue to change rapidly in the post COVID-19 era. Physical therapy educators need to understand what factors drive motivation and engagement for learning to prepare students for a career in the medical field, where rates of burnout and emotional exhaustion are high. Generation Z students are entering graduate education, and while characteristics of this generation have been studied since 2016, few studies explore the motivation for learning from the Generation Z student perspective. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore the motivation of Generation Z physical therapy students within the educational environment. Self determination theory served as the theoretical framework for this study by exploring how the innate needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are fulfilled for Generation Z doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Through individual interviews and a focus group, this study investigated the factors that motivated seven Generation Z students from an in-person DPT program inside and outside the classroom as they prepared for their careers in physical therapy. Each interview and the focus group was semi-structured and conducted over the Zoom platform. Qualitative data analysis using inductive and deductive methods produced findings that emerged around four themes. The case analysis revealed how Generation Z DPT students describe autonomy, competence, and relatedness to support or thwart motivation in and outside the classroom. Four themes emerged through the analysis of participant descriptions. The themes were (a) cohort dynamics impact motivation, (b) students desire relationships with faculty, (c) non-cognitive factors require support, and (d) students have strong learning preferences. The components of autonomy, relatedness, and competence positively influenced learning when students felt they could make choices inside and outside the classroom, felt belonging with peers and faculty, and could recognize and prioritize their wellbeing. Students preferred incorporating technology with hands-on and simulated learning over lecture-based learning. This study highlights the importance of faculty-student relationships, which DPT faculty should recognize and foster. The implications of this study can help DPT key decision makers, including DPT program directors and faculty, to create learning environments that support the motivation of Generation Z DPT students
Infiltrating Satan's ranks : tax collectors and soldiers in Luke and Acts.
No full textThis dissertation argues that Luke understood God to be infiltrating Satan's imperial/colonial project through tax collectors and soldiers and inciting civil war within Satan's Empire through the Messiah and his Spirit. Lukan literature, I suggest, participates in Jewish and Christian apocalyptic traditions that cast Satan as the patron spirit of the Roman Empire. Combining Roman imperial discourses with early Christian apocalyptic theology, Luke envisioned God's reign as something that entered Satan's domain and began to perniciously dismantle it by dividing the inhabitants of Satan's Empire against one another and by turning Satan's imperial pawns against him—that is, Luke believed that Jesus had initiated a cosmic civil war in Satan's Empire. The linchpins of power in Luke's God's conflict with Satan were tax collectors and soldiers—the figures who maintained Satan's imperial/colonial project on the ground. Through the Messiah and the Spirit, Luke's God turns these figures into pawns of his own Empire. No longer servants of the rich and powerful of Satan's domain but of the poor and criminalized, Luke's tax collectors and soldiers become mediums through which "theopolitical" power transfers from Satan/Caesar to God and his Messiah
Spacetime invariants and invariant spacetimes.
No full textIn this dissertation, the General Theory of Relativity has been studied with both the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms to invariantly describe gravitation with Scalar Polynomial Invariants. First, the algebraic structure of the Levi-Civita spacetimes were investigated and characterized by the use of Scalar Polynomial Coordinate Invariants. Initially the motivation was to enable intuitive graphical interpretations of the curvature of the respective embedded diagrams. However, the subtleties of General Relativity led to investigating gauge invariance and its connection to the successes and failures of the current understanding of the theory. One example is how quantizing the classical theory in the canonical approach will generate the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the projectable (trivial) case. However in the nonprojectable (extended) case, we require secondary Hamiltonian constraints. This is a failure of conserving our dynamical system by not ensuring the four-dimensional diffeomorphism symmetry. For this reason, I turn to the alternative approach to quantize gravity by investigating the Hamilton-Jacobi equations. In the last part of the dissertation I investigate "intrinsic coordinates" based on the intrinsic geometry of curved spaces. With these coordinates and the Rosenfeld-Bergmann-Dirac algorithm we can describe "invariant spacetimes" through the use of scalar polynomial gauge invariants. This dissertation differs from the norm in which it attempts to be more of a pedagogical generalization in the main body with extensive notes and details of the mathematical theories in the appendices. It is my hopes that the material here works as heuristic material for students interested in a more analytical side of a unified theory. This was done because the literature has become convoluted and must be carefully re-investigated if we are to clarify the issues concerning the foundational interpretations of General Relativity and Quantum Gravity
Liberty and Limits : Revisiting Employment Division v. Smith through the Founding Fathers
No full textThis thesis investigates the Founders' intentions for the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and argues that the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Employment Division v. Smith (1990) runs counter to this intention and should be overturned because it denies exemptions when religious practice conflicts with neutral and generally applicable law. To support this contention, the thesis explores differing scholarly approaches to interpreting the Free Exercise Clause, offered by Vincent Phillip Munoz and Michael McConnell, focusing on their arguments about the Framer's intent and the belief-action distinction. These scholarly interpretations, the Munoz-Jeffersonian and McConnell-Madisonian approaches, are mapped onto key Supreme Court cases leading up to and following Employment Division v. Smith. This examination calls for the Smith decision to be overturned according to Justice Kavanaugh's criteria for upending precedent and replaced with the Sherbert standard to be in better alignment with the Framer's intent for the Free Exercise Clause
Woman.
No full textWoman is a collection of short stories and a poem that highlight the nature of labels used in biblical womanhood. It investigates how each woman is both defined by and interacts with a particular label often associated with her name. Through the labels, it explores concepts surrounding biblical womanhood including death, fallenness, blessedness, gender and sexuality, and the immediacy of scripture and its ability to impact current generations. The six stories are in two (anti)parallel arcs spanning the entirety of scriptural time in chronological order. Eve details the fall. Rahab and the concubine stories examine the first covenant—when it goes well and when it goes awry. Mary charts the beginning of the New Testament; in Redeemed, we see how reconciliation with God can be painful in a fallen world. Finally, there is modernity. Woman, Woman examines the future and legacy of women across the ages
Exploring the experiences of working mothers navigating the kaleidoscope career post COVID-19 pandemic : a case study.
No full textThe attrition of working mothers in technology workplaces is a pressing issue that demands attention from IT, HR, and D&I leaders who strive to forge inclusive environments within predominantly male industries. Through this study, I illuminated the multifaceted challenges these working mothers faced within the technology sector, exploring their experiences and pinpointing reasons for their departure. I offer evidence-backed recommendations for organizations to retain and better support these invaluable employees struggling to stay employed as IT professionals. Through this holistic single case study, I grasped the nuances of working mothers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a comprehensive, rich perspective on female attrition and providing detailed insights into these four working mothers' experiences after leaving their careers. Using a holistic single case study design, I facilitated a deep dive into the specific experiences of working mothers in IT during the global pandemic crisis. NVivo version 14 further streamlined the organization, coding, and analysis process for data analysis. I efficiently unpacked a large volume of qualitative data to unveil common themes and patterns encapsulating these participants' experiences. I distilled the findings from the preliminary questionnaires and interviews into three primary themes: balancing work and family, career challenge sacrifice, and lack of career authenticity, aligning with the Kaleidoscope career model parameters of balance, challenge, and authenticity. This study revealed that over 50% of women under 35 left IT during the pandemic (Lynkova, 2023). These findings underscore the urgent need for creating inclusive workplaces that nurture innovation and drive business success, as Microsoft did during the pandemic (Boyd, 2023). Microsoft is an excellent example of an employer that supports diverse employee needs. During the pandemic, Microsoft leaders prioritized digitizing remote and hybrid workplaces to ensure employees could work efficiently from their location (Boyd, 2023). IT leaders should follow Microsoft's lead and prioritize building more inclusive workplaces that foster innovation and drive business success instead of forcing in-person work mandates that exclude marginalized employees
The Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic : A Case Study of Six Countries.
No full textThe purpose of this thesis project is to examine the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic in six countries, in order to determine the best approach for the next pandemic. The first chapter reviews several key communicable diseases of the last century and summarizes the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The second chapter consists of six national case studies, one from each continent, that showcase a variety of approaches to managing the pandemic. The third chapter analyzes the lessons to be learned from the COVID-19 pandemic and synthesizes the case studies in order to determine key factors crucial to a successful pandemic response in the future
Assessment of The Toxic Effects of Parabens Commonly Used Preservatives in Cosmetics, and their Halogenated By-Products on Human Skin and Endothelial Cells.
No full textParabens, commonly used preservatives in cosmetics, raise concerns for estrogen-like traits linked to health issues like breast cancer. Their chlorinated and brominated by-products, found in water, pose additional toxicity risks. To assess the impact of parabens, their primary metabolite, and three halogenated by-products, cytotoxicity and wound healing assays were performed. Human keratinocytes (HEK001) and dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1) were used to evaluate their impact. Butylparaben (BuP) and benzylparaben (BeP) exhibited the highest toxicity to keratinocytes (EC50: 1.52 ± 0.51 µM and 3.34 ± 0.97 µM). Halogenated parabens showed notable cytotoxicity as well. Methylparaben (MeP), ethylparaben (EtP), and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) displayed lower toxicity (EC50: 536 ± 178 µM to 1,313 ± 464 µM). In endothelial cells, MeP, EtP, and HBA were less toxic (EC50: 171 ± 78 µM to >10 mM). Halogenated by-products showed lower toxicity, too (EC50: 788 ± 140 µM to >10 mM). High concentrations (100 µM) of BuP, BeP, and halogenated by-products inhibited wound healing in both cell types, though these levels are not environmentally relevant. Halogenated parabens hindered keratinocyte proliferation significantly (p<0.05) at concentrations as low as 1 µM, unlike endothelial cells. This study showcased parabens' impact on wound healing, aiding in assessing their safety and potential risks