Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work / Robert K. Schaeffer / The United States has resettled unaccompanied minors before. In the 1960s and 1970s, minors from Indochina were resettled in the United States. In the 1970s, the U.S accepted 14,000 unaccompanied minors from Cuba through Operation Peter Pan. Many of these Cuban minors, aged five to eighteen, were sent to the United States by parents fearing their children would be indoctrinated in communist schools. In the case of these minors, they arrived in the United States with the consent of their still-living family members. In contrast, about 3,500 Sudanese Lost Boys were resettled in the United States in 2000, and more recently in 2010, 53 “lost children” from Haiti were brought to the United States following a devastating earthquake. This study investigated the integration and assimilation patterns of the Sudanese Lost Boys in the Kansas City area with the purpose of understanding the sociological impact on these Boys from their own perspective. As opposed to previous studies done on these Boys in Kansas and other areas in the United States, the present study used interview-based research and analyzed data using both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. The study concluded that the Lost Boys were both “Lost” and “Found” in complex ways. The study found that unaccompanied refugees labeled as minors at the time of resettlement integrated more “successfully” than those resettled as adults. Minor Boys received certain advantages over Boys who were labeled legal adults. Over time, those resettled as minors accumulated more social capital relevant in American society, while those resettled as legal adults fell behind. The findings highlighted problems associated with age-based treatment of refugees, especially in the case of the Boys who were arbitrarily classified as adults. Assigned ages significantly impacted their assimilation process into American society. Unlike those Boys resettled as minors, legal adults did not have access to structure and immersion opportunities afforded by foster families, formal education, and social activities. This study concluded that age-based disadvantage was evident in the case of the Lost Boys.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly Waggle Kramer / This document addresses East Africa's need for safe, sustainable, and affordable housing and promotes use of bamboo as a structural material by providing adequate information and resources to evaluate the strength of bamboo. East African housing is a leading issue for the region because of the population growth, specifically in urban areas where housing resources and infrastructure cannot match the population growth. The solution may be bamboo housing as an alternative to urban slums. The bamboo species Oxytenanthera abyssinica is available throughout East Africa region and has been accepted and implemented in traditional housing throughout the region. This document references the resources provided by the International Code Council (ICC), International Organization for Standardizations (ISO), and International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) for the use of bamboo as a structural material in buildings. This paper also discusses the mechanical strength of bamboo, and the structural behavior of bamboo in buildings. In addition, bamboo construction shows the tools, connections, and preservatives used in the field. The design example, using Oxytenanthera abyssinica, provides the traditional layout and materials for an Amhara house, and calculations show the practicality of bamboo in structural design. This document has led to recommendations for engineers and the bamboo industry, including the development of a codebook for bamboo design, promoting bamboo farms and plantations, creating a uniform connection, and increasing bamboo's service life. From research, bamboo is in need of further development before being considered a viable structural material to provide for commercial use but would suffice for the housing shortage in East Africa.

Master of Science / Agricultural Economics / Vincent R. Amanor-Boadu / Ghana is the first Sub-Saharan African country to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of halving extreme poverty by 2015 and has made great improvement in four of the total eight MDG. Supporting by several aid programs, Ghana is right in the middle of an economic boom through agriculture with the stock exchange listing of the Ghanaian Agricultural Development Bank the 3rd of July 2015. However, many Ghanaian producers, specifically in the northern part, cannot take full advantage of this “boom” as they are dealing with poor soil quality and suboptimal levels fertilizer use. By increasing fertilizer use, producers can improve their field’s soil quality and achieve higher crop yields. The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of factors influencing the fertilizer use decision among smallholder producers in northern Ghana. A two-part model is estimated and takes into account number of important demographic, production and marking factors affecting producer’s decision on fertilizer adoption and amount used. Findings from this study have implication for designing private initiatives and public policies on improving smallholder producers’ agricultural productivity through the adoption of fertilizer.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Paul Burden / Teachers’ ability to engage students is in influenced by teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs. Yet, empirical evidence on the relationship between the social persuasion variables of schools and teacher collective efficacy in student engagement is limited. This study was designed to answer the following research question: “To what extent do teachers’ perceptions of professional development opportunities (PPDO), school leadership (PSL), and school use of performance feedback (PPF) relate to teachers’ collective efficacy in student engagement (CESE)?” To explore the relationship between teacher collective efficacy in student engagement and the social persuasion variables of schools, extant data from 262 teachers in a large urban school district in the United States was supplied through the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project. Scaled scores of independent and dependent variables were used to examine the relationship between the independent variables (perception of professional development opportunities, school leadership, and the use of performance feedback), and the dependent variable (collective efficacy in student engagement). A multiple regression of social persuasion variables was conducted to examine the relationship between the variables and to determine which variable, if any, has the most influence on the dependent variable. The multiple regression analysis showed that a combination of the independent variables of PPDO and PSL could explain 37% of the variance in CESE. Analyses also showed that PPDO had the strongest relationship with CESE. The results reinforce information from the literature review regarding the research questions and hypotheses. The social persuasion variables of schools are correlated with collective efficacy in student engagement. Perceptions of the use performance feedback, professional development opportunities, and school leadership are all significantly correlated with collective efficacy in student engagement. Out of the three social persuasion variables analyzed, only perception of professional development opportunities and school leadership explain a significant amount of the variance in collective efficacy in student engagement.