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The Higher Education Family Unity Act: A Pathway to Citizenship Rooted in Family Unity and Educational Achievement
No full textMillions of undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to the U.S. economy and social systems, yet they live in constant fear due to the lack of protections under current immigration policies. Despite support for more humane immigration reform, Congress remains indecisive, leaving mixed-status families vulnerable to separation. This thesis argues that meaningful reform must prioritize family unity while rewarding contributions to the country. After examining the historical roots of restrictive immigration policies and their ongoing emotional impact on mixed-status families, the paper proposes the Higher Education Family Unity Act, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented parents of U.S. citizens who have earned or are pursuing a bachelor’s degree. By focusing on family preservation and acknowledging immigrants\u27 contributions, this proposal offers a step toward broader immigration reform
The Madonna - Whore Complex
No full textIn this work, I wanted to explore the literature/media trope of the Madonna/Whore complex, specifically when it comes to Black women in media. The Madonna Whore complexes illustrate how women are often written into one of two extremes - they are either extremely pure, innocent, and childlike (The Madonna), or they are sexual, rebellious, and seductive (The Whore). The piece is full of symbolism, including the materials used to make it. I wanted to illustrate these extreme yet two dimensional ways these women were portrayed by creating them in flat paper, with no faces, to show how they are still caricatures of real people. Symbolism in the work includes roses, doves, and flowers (covered in blood) to symbolize innocence and docility. Along with it includes the bitten apple of Eve, a middle finger, and the exposing of a breast to symbolize rebellion. As a reference for Black Women specifically, the “Madonna \u27\u27 wears her natural hair back, almost hidden, while the “Whore” wear her natural hair loud and proud, and is demonized for it. The playing as a medium symbolizes how women are often presented with these two options in how they want to be portrayed, and perceived, and how it is two sides of the same harmful coin
Temporal Changes in Racial Disparities of HIV Linkage to Care from 2013 to 2020: A Statewide Cohort Analysis
No full textBackground: Racial disparities have historically existed regarding HIV care outcomes, including linkage to care. This study aims to explore the contribution of contextual features (e.g., socioeconomic and structural environmental factors) to the temporal change of county-level racial disparities in linkage to care.
Methods: This is a statewide population-based retrospective cohort study. The patient-level variables in the South Carolina HIV registry system were used to calculate the aggregated county-level linkage to care percentage. Then, we used four indices to measure racial disparities in the county-level percentage of timely linkage to care, i.e., the Black-White ratio, index of disparity (ID), weighted ID, and Gini coefficient. Linear mixed-effect models were used to estimate the relationship between a variety of contextual features and disparity indexes. The analysis included data from 2013 to 2020, with 2013 as the start year due to the availability of key contextual features and 2020 as the end year based on the most recent HIV registry data available at the time of this study.
Results: Across 46 counties in South Carolina, racial disparity in linkage to care persisted between 2013 and 2020, as indicated by all four indices. When using ID, weighted ID, and Gini as outcomes, counties with lower degrees of racial residential segregation and stronger family structure were at higher risk of racial disparities in linkage to care. For weighted ID only, counties with fewer primary care providers (β = − 4.22; 95% CI, − 7.23 ~ 1.23) had larger racial disparities in linkage to care. Furthermore, for Gini only, counties with higher income inequalities (β = 0.01; 95% CI, 0.00 ~ 0.02) had larger racial disparities in linkage to care.
Conclusion: Efforts to address racial disparities should continue, and innovative approaches, specifically those that focus on social and structural factors, should be developed and implemented for populations that have poor HIV outcomes in the USA
Mental Health Courts: an Assessment of Eligibility Criteria, Service Characteristics, and Public Opinion
Get PDFMental health courts, a type of specialty court targeting justice-involved persons with mental illness, have become prominent across the United States. Using a therapeutic jurisprudence approach, these courts largely operate independently with no guiding framework, leading to varied practices. Additionally, public opinion on mental health courts is unknown, causing potential problems as these courts are rapidly expanding and funded, at least partially, through taxpayer dollars. Chapter One of this dissertation provides a framework for the remainder of the dissertation. Chapter Two is a detailed literature review of relevant theories and past research regarding mental health courts. Chapters Three and Four of this dissertation aim to assess practices across mental health courts through a nationally administered mental health court census. Chapter Five assesses public opinion through a nationally representative vignette survey administered through YouGov. Chapter Six concludes this dissertation
Keep Your Head Up: An Examination of Out-Of-School Literacy Practices in an Intergenerational Family System
Get PDFThe asset-based qualitative study used a phenomenological approach within a Community Cultural Wealth framework to question the practices of an intergenerational family system in the Southeastern United States. The study investigated the family system’s out-of-school literacy practices and the exposure to culturally relevant literature. The study revealed that an elder who actively participated in rearing school-aged children intentionally introduced culturally relevant literature. Similarly, the study revealed that the primary caregivers did engage their school-aged children in conversations related to social justice and introduced them to culturally relevant texts. However, a child\u27s inquiry into the topic initiated primary caregivers’ introduction to culturally relevant literature. Lastly, the study revealed that discussions and demonstrated advocacy were the preferred methods of transmitting CCW capitals, but literature was not
Who Am I as a Learner? The Effects of a Self-Regulated Learning Intervention on Ninth Graders’ Academic Self-Concepts and Intrinsic Motivation
Get PDFThe transition from middle school to high school is a notoriously difficult one, and a student’s success in ninth grade is typically a predictor of future success in high school. Unfortunately, many ninth graders struggle to engage in school. Despite their capability to complete the work, these students appear unmotivated and simply disengaged from school. In this action research case study, three students had the opportunity to share their education stories and the experiences that have shaped their academic self-concepts. These students also participated in a self-regulated learning intervention to determine if students’ feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness could be changed in a way that had a positive impact on their levels of motivation and their academic self-concepts. It was revealed that these students had had negative experiences in school that had a lasting impact on their identity as learners. Their participation in the intervention also revealed that when students have the opportunity to engage in self-reflection around their use of self-regulation practices, they can begin to reflect on how their actions may have an impact on their learning. This dissertation includes a discussion of the methodology used to conduct this research as well as the findings and implications that this study could have on future instructional practices
Symmetries of Del Pezzo Surfaces
Get PDFFor each del Pezzo surface X of degree d, the action of the automorphism group Aut(X) on the exceptional curves of X induces a map ρ : Aut(X) → W(Rd), where W(Rd) is the Weyl group of a root system Rd dependent on the degree of X. The image of ρ is well defined up to conjugacy in W(Rd), so we say that a group G acts by automorphisms on a del Pezzo surface X of degree d if a representative of the conjugacy class of G in W(Rd) is contained in ρ(Aut(X)).
The purpose of this thesis is to determine, for each field k of characteristic zero, and for each degree d ≥ 3, the subgroups of W(Rd) that act by automorphisms on a del Pezzo surface of degree d over k. We also provide explicit equations for del Pezzo surfaces of degrees 3 and 4 that admit these group actions, and we determine which of these surfaces are k-rational, stably k-rational, or k-unirational. If a group G acts on a k-rational del Pezzo surface, there is an associated embedding ι : G → Cr2(k) into the plane Cremona group over k. In this way, we make progress toward a classification of the finite subgroups of Cr2(k) over any field of characteristic zero
Targeting the Country: Exploring the Technology Integration Practices of World Language Teachers in Rural Georgia
Get PDFTechnology integration affords World Language teachers opportunities to engage with the target language and cultures in a way previously unknown, yet world language teachers in Georgia’s rural high schools have inconsistent integration of technology into their teaching practices. The study was guided by two research questions regarding (1) the current technology integration practices of world language teachers in rural Georgia high schools for communicative language teaching, and (2) the influences the decisions of world language teachers in rural Georgia high schools to integrate technology in their communicative language teaching. The purpose of this action research was to describe how high school world language teachers in rural Georgia schools integrate technology into communicative language teaching and come to understand what influences their decisions about technology integration.
This descriptive qualitative study began with a survey emailed to rural world language teachers in Georgia. Respondents (n = 25) were then invited to participate in individual interviews (n = 4) and submit documents that reflected their technology integration practices. Survey data were reported using descriptive statistics of the demographic data along with composite mean scores for survey items. Interview data were inductively analyzed via transcription, coding, and identification of themes. Document analysis was complete using the Technology Integration Assessment tool to develop an analytic memo before a further round of coding and identification of themes. Survey data revealed high frequency of technology use for efficient delivery and enrichment of curriculum. These findings were supported by interview and documents data, which further uncovered technology use for assessment as a frequent technology integration practice. Interviews identified themes that influenced world language teachers’ technology integration decisions, such first- and second-order barriers and pedagogical beliefs. Limitations of the study include small sample size, survey item interpretations, and researcher bias. The study called for further research into technology integration for communicative language teaching and language teaching in rural America
Deference or Preference: Analyzing the Treatment of Chevron U.S.A., INC. v. NRDC as a Precedent at the Supreme Court
Get PDFChevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. is one of the most cited Supreme Court cases in history, with over 18,000 citations in federal courts alone (Merrill, 2012). It has reached doctrinal status and was widely considered a vital precedent, one that guided the fields of environmental and administrative law. However, in June of 2024, the Supreme Court released their opinion in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, which overturned Chevron. With the ubiquity of Chevron in US Courts, this decision caused widespread confusion and worry over what would replace the precedent. In an era where environmental policy is run by executive agencies, the answer to this question is vital to the future of conservation efforts in the US. In this paper, I examine the treatment of Chevron as a precedent in environmental Supreme Court opinions over time to determine what led to its overturn. In doing so, I discovered that Chevron has been plagued by controversy since its inception, and that it may not have ever constrained justice behavior. Further, the attitudes that led to Chevron’s overturn closely follow the ideological realignment of the court in the past twenty years