Thesis advisor: Karen D. Arnold / No-excuses charter schools are arguably the most successful and controversial school-choice model of the last quarter century (Cheng et al., 2017). Typically following a college-for-all ethos, they demonstrate sizable gains in test scores and college acceptance rates for marginalized student populations (Davis & Heller, 2019). However, concerns regarding how these schools achieve these short-term outcomes using strict practices warrants further qualitative investigation (Golann, 2015). A paucity of research explores the influence of no-excuses practices on long-term college success outcomes extending beyond graduation and persistence rates to include well-being, career preparation, academic growth, and satisfaction (Mehta, 2020). This three-article dissertation investigates the perceived influence of a no-excuses charter high school on four-year college success from multiple perspectives. Following a qualitative case study approach (Merriam, 1998) grounded in a conceptual model of college success (Perna & Thomas, 2006), the study utilizes observations, document review, and semi-structured interviews––some including photo-elicitation (Harper, 2002). Article One explores the four-year college experiences of no-excuses charter high school alumni. Article Two examines institutional agents’ roles in implementing college-for-all practices within a no-excuses charter high school. Article Three draws on this case study to propose a process for merging qualitative research and program theory development for school improvement (Funnell & Rogers, 2011; Joyce & Cartwright, 2021). These articles identify and expound upon certain no-excuses components that positively and negatively contribute to students’ college success. Aspirational college talk, comprehensive college and financial aid application support, and a caring environment contributed to four-year college matriculation. However, pressure institutional agents experienced to meet short-term outcomes associated with normative definitions of college success resulted in one-size-fits-all approaches to teaching, behavior management, and college preparation that minimized opportunities for students’ identity formation, noncognitive skill development, social-emotional learning, and discovery of intrinsic college-going motivation. This study offers recommendations for (re)envisioning college-for-all policies and school-based practices to be more flexible, student-centered, and culturally responsive in ways that honor a student’s personhood while helping them go to college, thrive, and graduate. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Dagens samhälle har utvecklats till ett stort globalt system där människan fått en signifikant påverkan på klimatet och miljön. För att nå målet i Parisavtalet är det många sektorer som behöver ställa om sina verksamheter till att bli hållbara. Det gäller i allra högsta grad flygsektorn som har stora utmaningar framför sig när det gäller att minska sitt klimatavtryck. En av möjligheterna för att väsentligt minska flygets klimatpåverkan är att övergå till flygplan som drivs med hjälp av batterier istället för fossila bränslen.I det här projektet undersöks om de tekniska och infrastrukturmässiga förutsättningarna finns för att elflyg ska kunna ersätta den befintliga flygtrafiken mellan Stockholm och Visby och när i tiden en sådan förändring kan ske. Litteraturstudier och intervjuer har använts för att utforska det nuvarande kunskapsläget som är relevant för elflyg inom batteriteknik, elmotorer, aerodynamik samt infrastruktur på de relevanta flygplatserna. Med den utgångspunkten har en matematisk modell använts för att studera om de rådande tekniska förutsättningarna är tillräckliga eller om förbättringar kommer krävas. Det som framkom var att det i teorin är möjligt att tillverka ett elflygplan som kan flyga hela sträckan med befintlig teknik men att utveckling av både batteriteknik och aerodynamik sannolikt kommer krävas när andra aspekter vägs in. Infrastrukturen på flygplatserna är dessutom inte anpassade för elflyg i dagsläget, vilket leder till att det i ett optimistiskt scenario kommer gå att elektrifiera flygtrafiken mellan Stockholm och Visby inom 10 år. / Today's society has evolved into a large global system where people have a significant impact on the climate and the environment. To achieve the goal of the Paris Agreement, many sectors need to change their business to become sustainable. This is very much the case for the aviation sector, which has major challenges ahead when it comes to reducing its climate footprint. One of the opportunities to significantly reduce the climate impact of aviation is to switch to aircraft powered by batteries instead of fossil fuels. This project examines whether the technical and infrastructure conditions are in place for electric aircraft to replace the existing air traffic between Stockholm and Visby and when such a change can occur in time. Literature studies and interviews have been used to explore the current state of knowledge relevant to electric aviation within battery technology, electric motors, aerodynamics and infrastructure at the relevant airports. Based on this, a mathematical model has been used to study whether the current technical conditions are sufficient or if improvements will be required. What emerged was that, in theory, it is possible to produce an electric aircraft that can fly the entire distance with existing technology, but that development of both battery technology and aerodynamics is likely to be required when other aspects are taken into account. The infrastructure at the airports is also not adapted for electric flights yet, which means that in an optimistic scenario it will take up to 10 years before air traffic can be fully electrified between Stockholm and Visby.

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The purpose of this study is that the stories provide insight into and understanding of institutionalized girls experiences and views on their schooling, and from their stories also explore how schools can create opportunities for students who challenge. An overriding purpose is also that the girls’ life stories in the long run lead to a school developing work. To provide a better understanding of the girls, qualitative methods with a narrative approach have been used. In the theory chapter I have used, inter alia, George H. Mead and Aaron Antonovsky's theories; Mead's theories to illuminate and understand the interactions between people and their understanding of each other, while Antonovsky's theory highlights the importance of creating meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility to people in vulnerable situations. The results show that by taking in the girls' valuable experiences and wise thoughts, we can affect their schooling positively instead of continuing as we do today, which obviously is not working but rather contributes to that the girls get low self esteem, do not feel accepted and are forced out of society. One conclusion is that if we and today's politicians listen to the girls' stories, we can together through our professionalism create a meaningful existence in school, a school where girls do not have to be expelled and end up with antisocial friends, leading to abuse or criminal behavior as a result.

The growing use of the internet and the wide variety of applications which run on it puts a considerable demand for high bandwidth networks. All optical core networks are one such possible networks which cater to the demand of high bandwidths.Since the all optical routers use the fiber delay lines as optical buffers, it is impossible to build optical buffers of such high capacity.The present day solutions for optical buffers are fiber delay lines(FDL) which are nothing but long optical fiber lines which are convoluted and folded in order to provide the necessary delay in transmission resulting in a small buffer which can store packets and thus can be used as a buffer.If we consider the example of a single TCP source sending an infinite amount of data with packets of constant size with the flow passing through a single router. If we make an assumption that the sender's access link is much faster than the receiver's bottleneck link of capacity, it will cause packets to be queued at the router.We propose a mechanism to pace traffic in the network based on the queue length of the buffer in the output port. The underlying principle delays the transmission of the packet depending on the instantaneous queue length of the buffer.A prototype of such a model was simulated in network simulator and the performance metrics were measured.

Performance tests are used to gauge swimmer fitness and guide training prescription. While some traditional protocols, such as, best average swimming (Bavg) lack scientific support, the three-minute all-out test (3MT) is validated to measure critical speed (CS) and distance capacity above CS (D’) from a single maximal swimming bout. In collegiate swimming, a 3MT could be convenient and time efficient. Yet, issues arise with calculating 3MT parameters. Moreover, anthropometry, resistance training, and stroke technique may influence swimming performance and physiological thresholds including 3MT parameters. Hence, this dissertation focused on evaluating the 3MT parameter calculation methods using the interval and lap split methods. Then, we assessed the influence of body anthropometrics, resistance training, and stroke techniques on 3MT parameters throughout a season. Bland-Altman plots showed that CS did not present remarkable behavior while D’ had systematic bias. Furthermore, there were no statistical differences between CS calculation methods (p = 0.83). However, D’ had moderate effect differences (p = 0.01, d = -0.70). Bavg showed very large correlations with maximum sprint speed (MSS) (r = 0.78) and CS (r = 0.81), but improvements after 6-weeks of concurrent training (p < 0.001, d = -0.85) seemed mainly driven by CS (p < 0.001, d = -1.68). Significant moderate to near perfect correlations were found between anthropometrics, 3MT parameters, and medicine ball pulldown throw (MBT) performance during pre- and post-season. Body composition changes may have influenced MBT performance changes (r = 0.46 – 0.55). CS increased at the expense of D’ while both reached stabilization point with no changes in MSS. There were moderate to large differences in 3MT parameters for the backstroke, but only MSS and CS differed in breaststroke, with no D’ differences in either group. Large to near perfect correlations were found between freestyle and secondary stroke 3MT parameter counterparts (r = 0.62 – 0.93), except for D’ in backstroke. Actual and predicted CS in both backstroke (p = 0.27) and breaststroke (p = 0.97) did not significantly differ. The lap split method during a 3MT seems like a practical and useful protocol to monitor CS and D’ in collegiate swimmers.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第24626号 / 工博第5132号 / 新制||工||1981(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科材料化学専攻 / (主査)教授 田中 勝久, 教授 三浦 清貴, 教授 藤田 晃司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DGAM

Background: Patients with left ventricular ejection fractions between 40% and 49% either discovered de novo, having declined from ≥50%, or improved from <40% have been described as heart failure (HF) with mid-range ejection fraction (HFmrEF). Though clinical signs and symptoms are similar to other phenotypes, possible prognostic differences and therapeutic responses reinforce the need for further understanding of patients’ characteristics especially in a rural community based population. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical characteristics, comorbidities and prognosis of a rural patient population with HFmrEF. Materials and Methods: We queried the electronic medical record from a community based university practice for all patients with a HF diagnosis. We included only those patients with >3 months follow-up and interpretable Doppler echocardiograms. We recorded demographic, Doppler-echo, and outcome variables (up to 2,083 days). Results: There were 633 HF patients: 42.4% with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF, EF ≥50%), 36.4% with HFmrEF, and 21.0% with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF, EF <40%). HFmrEF patients were older, had greater coronary disease prevalence, lower systolic blood pressure, elevated brain natriuretic peptide, lower hemoglobin, and higher creatinine than HFpEF. All-cause mortality was intermediate between HFrEF and HFpEF but was not significantly different. Landmark analysis revealed a trend toward greater second readmission in HFmrEF as compared to HFpEF (hazard ratio: 1.43 [0.96-2.14],P = 0.0767). Conclusions: Rural patients with HFmrEF without an ambulatory HF clinic represent a higher percentage of HF patients than previously reported with greater coronary disease prevalence with comparable readmission rates and nonsignificantly different all-cause mortality.

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