This interdisciplinary, qualitative study is an in-depth look at Orthodox Christian lay ministry experience and resilience in the United States. Thirteen Orthodox Christian women and men—all who identify with a vocation in lay ministry and have Orthodox theological education—were interviewed for this exploration. Their insights into the struggles and supports in ministry reveal a climate in the Orthodox Church in the United States that can be ambivalent, at times even hostile, to lay ministry. The research findings suggest that despite the stark environment for lay ministry in the Orthodox Church, emerging themes of resilience can help explain how people continue to dedicate their lives to lay ministry, persevere through hardship, and still produce “good fruit.” This investigation is important for both lay ministry in the Orthodox Church as well as the study of resilience. Common themes of support and struggle point to an emerging charism of “lay vocational ecclesiastical ministry” as well as distinct features of Orthodox Christian Resilience. Building on Michael Ungar’s theoretical framework known as the “social ecology of resilience,” the author introduces a “social-spiritual ecology of resilience” conceptual model. This can explicitly account for spiritual and religious components of people’s environments that might constitute significant factors of resilience. Study findings, then, lead to suggestions on how to better support Orthodox Christian lay ministry resilience in the United States while encouraging the dignity of the laity as a whole.

The relationship expected to occur between a therapist and his or her clients is a fiduciary relationship, a relationship of special trust. Professional boundaries ensure that the needs of clients remain primary. However, boundary transgressions are inevitable. Unfortunately, boundary transgressions have the potential of exploiting clients. Most of what is known about boundary transgressions comes from the perspective of professionals. The literature reiterates the importance of educating the lay public about the dangers of boundary transgressions. This study experimentally examined what effect education specific to boundary transgressions has on the lay public's level of acceptance of boundary transgressions, as opposed to what effect general information about personal/family therapy has on the lay public'­s level of acceptance of boundary transgressions. Two hundred students from a southeastern university participated and read either general information pertaining to personal/family therapy, or specific information pertaining to boundary transgressions, prior to rating their level of acceptance of therapists transgressing boundaries with their clients. Independent sample t-tests determined there were statistical differences in mean ratings of acceptance of boundary transgressions between the groups. However, because the mean scores between the two groups were not much different, the results suggest that the lay public could benefit from a more comprehensive explanation of boundary transgressions. / Master of Science

Manufacturing methods for aerospace composite parts are various. Vacuum assisted resin transfer moulding (VARTM) is one of the common methods. It requires manual draping of fabrics to produce preforms. The cost and quality of this method depend on the draping strategy, which is the sequence of draping operations performed by staff as they lay fabrics on moulds. These sequences can be very numerous with many possible starting points, yarn orientations, and fabrics used. In this group project, a predictive software tool is designed ultimately to identify the best draping strategy to reduce cost and improve quality in producing preforms. Generation of preform flat patterns for the CNC cutting tables, and of plybooks for providing instructions to shop floor staff, are developed and integrated into the predictive tool so that the manual draping process can potentially be conducted under the best draping strategy. The work presented in this thesis details the solutions for finding flat patterns for the best draping strategy for the CNC cutting tables, and the generation of plybooks for providing instructions to shop floor staff. The work is organized into four main parts: developing flattening algorithms for three types of base surfaces (BaS) defined in this project, developing a subsequent stitching algorithm aimed at stitching individual flattened BaS into a unified flat pattern for a given mould, lab validations to assess the proposed flattening and stitching algorithms, and establishing the capability to generate instruction .DXF files and plybooks for any received draping strategy. These algorithms are integrated into the predictive tool to facilitate manual draping processes under the optimal draping strategy.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting approximately 12% of men and 25% of women nationally in the nonclinical population. The aim of this research was to determine if lay individuals could differentiate between MDD and normal sadness. To evaluate the lay understanding of MDD and normal sadness, students at a large Southeastern university read four vignettes describing varying severity levels of MDD and normal sadness and then answered a variety of questions relating to the vignettes. Additionally, the lay conceptualizations of MDD were compared and contrasted to the professional conceptualizations of MDD. The principal hypothesis was that lay individuals could not differentiate between clinical depression and normal sadness because the two concepts have become synonymous in today’s society. In fact, results showed that lay individuals could not differentiate between threshold MDD and subthreshold MDD.

No description available.

No description available.

The development, design, and modeling of a rapid continuous processing scheme is developed to economically manufacture conductive polymer composite bipolar plates for fuel cells. Bipolar plates are required to possess several important properties for fuel cell operation, with the most sought after being electrical conductivity and mechanical strength. The polymer composite material generated at Virginia Tech is based on material generated by a wet-lay process and uses polyethylene terepthalate (PET) or polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) as the binder, although PPS is mainly used. In order to reach sufficient conductivity for use in generating bipolar plates, the polymer is doped with high levels of conductive graphite particles in the range of 70-80 wt%. The polymer system is reinforced with 6-9 wt% glass or carbon fibers. When compression molded into a solid, flat preform, the wet-lay material exhibits excellent bulk (in-plane) conductivity (> 250 S/cm). The material also exhibits tensile and flexural strengths of 57.5 and 95.8 MPa, respectively, higher than other polymer composite material being considered for bipolar plate production. However, formability and through-plane conductivity needs improvement. The laminate bipolar plates developed at Virginia Tech are made using wet-lay material in the core and a thermoplastic/graphite mixture on the surfaces. The wet-lay material provides mechanical integrity, while a powder form of PVDF or PPS and graphite mixture added to the surfaces to improve through-plane conductivity and formability. The manufacturing scheme for the production of laminate bipolar plates is based on the pre-consolidation of the wet-lay material, which establishes a solid, flat surface for the continuous addition of laminate powder. Because the laminate powder only requires heating, radiation heating is used in the process design to pre-heat the preform prior to compression molding. The heated preform passes underneath a press, where forming of channels takes place along with cooling of the bipolar plate. It is estimated that the entire process can take one minute to produce a bipolar plate. The cost of manufacturing a bipolar plate is estimated to be $8/kW, below the goal of $10/kW. The annual production is determined to be 250,000, with over 500,000 possible depending on certain design factors. / Ph. D.

This thesis develops a strategic leadership plan for lay transitions in the church. While most changeovers occur within a healthy process, this project addresses those occasions when there are systemic problems such as unhealthy power dynamics and parish tension. In this thesis I develop a four-step mentorship program with an accompanying handbook, a conflict management paradigm with effective strategies for four levels of conflict, and four liturgies that celebrate and validate healthy transitions and future work. These rituals are: Reconciliation following parish conflict and the terms for leaders. The plan is incorporated into a three-step structure adapted from the Centre for Creative Leadership. The durability of the model is examined with a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis.

This study will demonstrate that the lay or "popular" medical practitioner played a major role in the provision of health care in seventeenth-century England. The medical "professionals" have generally been accepted as providing the most expert and "scientific" medical care (within the limits of contemporary knowledge), and, as such, have been the focus of attention for the majority of studies by medical historians. This study challenges traditional studies on the basis of geography, economic factors, religious influences and contemporary medical practices. The amorphous nature of seventeenth-century medical knowledge will be demonstrated to show the similarity between lay and professional medical treatment. To this end, female lay medical practitioners have been presented as a case study to illustrate the widespread nature and diversity of popular medicine and to assist in defining the role of the popular practitioner, a vital element within seventeenth-century health care. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Text in Afrikaans / Die penologiese perspektief rakende die ontwikkeling/ doel en funksionering van leke-assessore is die onderwerp van hierdie verhandeling. Leke-deelname in die regsplegingstelsel kan terug­ gevoer word na 1657. Deur die latere oorname van Engelse regsbeginsels1 word die juriestelsel in die Suid-Afrikaanse reg geinkorporeer. Na die afskaffing van die juriestelsel in 1969 berus die beantwoording van sowel feite- as regsvrae slegs by die voorsittende beampte. Hierdie situasie is as onaan­ vaarbaar beskou en grater leke-deelname word bepleit. Dit is egter eers in 1991 dat die aanwending van leke-assessore in die Suid-Afrikaanse regstelsel 'n realiteit word. Een van die voorvereistes vir die aanstel van assessore is dat die aanstelling dienstig vir die regspleging moet wees. Die vraag waarmee penoloe en juriste worstel, is of die aanwending van assessore tans wel bevorderlik vir gesonde regspleging is. Uit empiriese navorsing het dit geblyk nie die geval te wees nie. Derhalwe word 'n opleidingsprogram vir assessore voorgestel / The subject of perspective on tioning of lay justice. this dissertation is a penological the development/ purpose and tunc­ assessors in the administration of The use of lay assessors can be traced back as far as 1657. As a result of the adoption of the British law principles/ the jury system was incorporated in South African law. After the abolition of the jury in 1969/ the answering of factual and judicial questions resides in the presiding officer. This situation was unacceptable and lay participation was advocated. The use of lay assessors became a reality in 1991. The prerequisite for the appointment of an assessor is that it should be expedient for the administration of justice. But are the use of lay assessors beneficial at this stage? From the empirical research it is evident that it is not beneficial at all and therefore the researcher recommends a training programme for lay assessors. / Penology / M.A. (Penologie)