The achievement gap between White youth and youth of color is a pervasive problem in the United States. Many cultural explanations have been provided within the academic literature to explain the differences in achievement between Black and White youth. However, present theories lack empirical evidence and continuously use a deficit model to explain Black adolescent achievement. It is of utmost importance to explore other theories about Black youth achievement and to identify protective factors to support Black adolescent academic success. Study I of this dissertation examines the effect of behavioral engagement and achievement values on the academic achievement of Black late elementary school students longitudinally through the use of Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that whereas behavioral engagement is a significant predictor of academic achievement, abstract achievement values do not influence behavioral engagement or academic achievement. In a follow-up to the study, Study II examines a more complete construct of achievement values, along with behavioral engagement and the impact of these constructs on Black adolescents' academic achievement. Additionally, this study assessed who, peers or parents, has influence on the academic attainment of Black adolescents through the use of Structural Equation Modeling. Results indicate that the achievement values of Black adolescents affect behavioral engagement and subsequent achievement. Furthermore, results suggest that both peer and parent influences have a significant effect on students' achievement values and behavioral engagement. Intervention strategies including fostering the development of positive and academically supportive peer relationships, creating opportunities for youth to interact with pro-social peers, and providing explicit strategies to encourage the continued involvement of parents and parental academic socialization are discussed.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-156). Also available on the Internet.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on January 25, 2010). Thesis advisor: Dr. Maria Len-Rios. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--California Institute of Technology, 1971. UM #72-00,482. / Advisor names found in the Acknowledgments pages of the thesis. Title from home page. Viewed 02/11/2010. Includes bibliographical references.

These: Faculté des lettres de Paris. / Book-plate of Charles Henri Auguste Schefer.

Ill., Univ., Diss--Chicago. / Description based on print version record.

Academisch proefschrift--Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2008. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. [131]-144).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 291-307).

This report looks closer on the physics of black holes and their related phenomena. Particularly, this report studies a certain black hole called Gargantua that is portrayed in the movie Interstellar. By using this as a source of inspiration we look at Gargantua’s effect on time, planetary orbits and tidalforces. The following report showed that the physics studied here corresponded fully to the physics represented in Interstellar, making the movie very credible from a physics point of view. I show that the black hole portrayed in Interstellar needed to spin at a rate of 1.33*10^-14 percent less than its maximum possible to achieve a timedilation of 61320 at the distance where stable planetary orbits are found. At a spin this high, planets can have stable orbits as close as half the Schwarzschild radius which means they are located just outside the event horizon of a maximally rotating black hole. The enormous timedilation at planets orbiting near the event horizon is a result of the planets close proximity to the black hole, its orbital velocity and frame dragging. Frame dragging describes the effects on spacetime on account of the rotation of the black hole. Looking at the tidal forces on objects surrounding the black hole it was found that an increasing mass would actually decrease the tidal forces on objects outside the event horizon. For a sufficiently large mass on the black hole, a planet could avoid being ripped apart but this restricted its size to a radial extension of about 5500 km which corresponds to 0.86 earth radiuses.