Church of Bone is a manuscript of original poetry exploring themes of family, class, religion, and voice.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze the criteria of the school class climate quality, to deal with the role of the primary school teacher as a co-creator of the climate, with the requirements that are laid on the teacher and the required proffesional competences. The thesis also deals with analysis of the conditions that create the school climate from the pupils' point of view - especially the development compliance that originates from the dependence on the class composition. Another aim of the thesis is to describe issue of newly-made casses on the grounds of created relationships between the pupils both during and outside the lessons. The methods of educational survey and educational-psychological diagnosis were used.

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agricultural Economics / Jason S. Bergtold / Timothy J. Dalton / Adoption of technological improvements are crucial to increase agricultural productiviy to help reduce poverty by obtaining higher farm incomes due to higher productivity and lower production costs. However, the introduction of new agricultural technologies has not always been successful or had diffuse adoption. Factors that determine farmers’ adoption decisions are: 1) farm and farmers' characteristics; 2) technology attributes, and 3) the farming objective. Understanding these factors and how they affect adoption of new technologies on the farm is crucial to assure higher levels of adoption. The over all purpose of this thesis is to explore the adoption process of new technologies and practices by farmers. This is accomplished through three essays to meet the objectives of the thesis. The purpose of the first essay was to evaluate whether or not farmers in the western U.S. are willing to grow specialized oilseed crops that could be used for certified hydrotreated renewable jet (HRJ) fuel production and incorporate them into existing wheat-based production systems under contract. Results indicate that providing oilseeds crops and contracts with desired attributes and features would positively affect farmers' decisions to incorporate oilseed crops into their rotation system. Preferred seed and contract attributes that may affect a farmer’ adoption decision differ across different geographic regions of the U.S. The second essay focused on identifying factors that impact participation and farmers' decision to adopt soil conservation and fertilization management practices for cassava producers in Thailand and Vietnam. Results indicate that asset ownership and cassava yield positively influence participation. Adoption of new practices was positively linked to farmers’ participation in training activities, use of fish ponds (as a measure of alternative agricultural practices), presence of a nearby starch factory, and slope of the land. Finally, the purpose of the third essay was to examine extension educators' characteristics that affect educators' selection decision of outreach methods in the U.S. This essay examines the diffusion process that impacts adoption of best management practices by farmers. The decision extension educators make for selecting a teaching method is affected by the relationship between the objectives of the learning process and the characteristics of the teaching method.

M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology / Amplitude modulation is not commonly associated with effective amplifying. This work focuses on implementing amplitude modulation into a high efficiency Class E amplifier. Different types of amplifiers are compared with each other, to show the advantages of using a Class E amplifier. The theory of the Class E amplifier is dealt with in detail. A harmonic filter is designed for the amplifier to make it radio spectrum friendly. The modulation process is implemented with the aid of a transformer into the Class E amplifier. The advantage of this is that the transformer serves both as a radio frequency choke for the Class E circuit as well as a modulator. The implementation of the amplitude modulation into the high efficient Class E circuit was successful. The final Class E circuit had superb efficiency, the harmonic filter showed good harmonic attenuation and the modulation process had low distortion. All this resulted in a fine low power AM transmitter.

Faculty of Health Sciences Degree of Master of Science in Physiotherapy 9601486g / A study was conducted to determine the optimum position of the handlebar on the Johnny G. Spinning® bicycle to reduce low back pain in cyclists participating in a Spinning® class. A three period open label cross over design, involving thirty six subjects was conducted. Each subject participated in three Spinning® classes with a different handlebar height at each session. The saddle angle, saddle post height and fore/aft position of the saddle remained fixed to eliminate variability. The cyclists’ pain perception was measured via the Visual Analogue Scale, Lickert Scale and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The results were analysed with respect to the change in the mean and standard deviation of the Visual Analogue Scale, the Lickert scale and the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The significance of the study was set at the 0.05 level. A zero value was recorded with respect to pain experienced by the cyclists during a Spinning® class on the VAS, Lickert scale and on the McGill Pain scale, when the handlebars were placed in the high handlebar height position on the Spinning® bicycle; this is the most important outcome of the study conducted. In conclusion, there is a statistically meaningful difference (p<0.001) between the mean values of pain recorded by participants of the low handlebar height compared to the normal handlebar height, with the normal handlebar height being the better position. The standard deviation remains relatively constant. No pain was recorded on the VAS, Lickert scale and on the McGill Pain scale when the handlebars were placed in the high handlebar height position on the Spinning® bicycle. The results of the study indicate that the high handlebar height position is the best position for participants in a Spinning® class.

Thesis advisor: Carlo Rotella / Thesis advisor: Christopher Wilson / This dissertation studies representations of class, labor, and space in Western American literature from 1885-1992. I argue that class is a function of labor in space and that, by zooming in on literary accounts of individuals living out this equation, we can gain a more diverse, more pluralistic vision of a developing Western and more broadly American identity. Moreover, I argue that examining the effects of working practices, class limits and mobility, and spatial shifts on characters in Western literature unveils the crucial roles loss and uncertainty played in shaping the tone, metaphors, and episodes of Western American literature. With a foothold in the political and socioeconomic concerns of this project, I catalogue and close read the less tangible or measurable components of this literature to render individual lives legible against backgrounds of shared histories. Reading those common literary tropes alongside one another suggests that, ultimately, this shared history is an American one that draws from a number of historical moments and has deep roots and routes in the West itself. Chapter One argues that Frank Norris’ McTeague depicts class and socioeconomic identity as products of the kinds of labor that evolve in the ecological and social spaces of San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. Chapter Two explores class dispossession, masked as ethnic dispossession, in Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton’s The Squatter and the Don and argues that national affiliations that grant capital security hold more sway in late 19th century Chicano-Californio ranching society than do claims of cultural belonging. Chapter Three focuses on literature that grew out of the twinned national crises of the 1930s, the Depression and the Dust Bowl, and argues that Sanora Babb’s Whose Names Are Unknown, John Fante’s Wait Until Spring, Bandini and Ask the Dust, and Frank Waters’ Below Grass Roots each document the instability, vulnerability, frustration, and constriction that these watershed historical moments brought to individuals and families. Chapter Four close reads historical accounts of cowboy work alongside depictions of ranching work in Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses, Elmer Kelton’s The Time it Never Rained, and Larry McMurtry’s Horseman, Pass By. Finally, Chapter Five looks at a handful of American Indian novels that interrogate the role of labor, class, and space in post-indigenous reservation life in the American West. Linda Hogan’s Mean Spirit is the central novel of this chapter, while Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, and Stephen Graham Jones’ The Bird is Gone provide supplementary texts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: English.

Thesis advisor: Juliet B. Schor / Since the 1970's, social scientists have argued that general pro-environmental attitudes have diffused throughout American society, rendering socio-demographics largely irrelevant in predicting support for such issues. The public reaction to the issue of climate change, however, evades this narrative. While media bias, ideological framing, and business influence, among others, are partial explanations, I argue that ignoring the potential implications of structure and culture--specifically social class--in determining why the issue is so demonstrably divisive is a crucial mistake. Building upon the postmaterialism thesis of Inglehart with the cultural theory of Bourdieu, I examine how the conception of and reaction to the issue varies with economic and cultural capital using data from 42 interviews of Boston-area respondents. The results suggest that climate change may indeed be a `classed' issue--both in how the respondents conceive of it in the first place, and how they speak of social class in the context of it. The political implications are various, but suggest that coalition formation will need to take account of these differences, both real and perceived, in both engendering public support for mitigation efforts and subsequently combating the problem. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Levantamento e análise de uma Vila Operária de 1924 da cidade de Salto, Estado de São Paulo. Demonstração dos elementos de composição da implantação identificando os modelos de urbanização vinculados a correntes ideológicas e da arquitetura da época de construção da Vila Operária Brasital. Análise de modelos de urbanização da cidade industrial através do desenho identificando os elementos de urbanização, semelhanças e dessemelhanças. A unidade de vizinhança como elemento estruturador da cidade e a necessidade de seu dimensionamento. O Direito de Parcelar. / Survey and analysis of a vila (group of similar houses) built for industrial workers in the city of Salto, State of São Paulo. Demonstration of the composition elements of implementation related to ideological and architectural trends at the time of construction of the Vila Operária Brasital. Analysis of industrial citys urbanization models through drawings, identifying the urbanization elements, similarities and dissimilarities. The neighborhood unit as the citys structural element and the need to size it up. The Right of Land Split.

Thesis advisor: Dennis Shirley / Trends in the racial make-up of students attending American schools in large districts showed significant growth in the number of Black and Latino students as far back as 1987. Further, more than half of the students who attend school in these districts were eligible for free or reduced lunch (Planty, 2008). In sum, urban schools are increasingly populated by low-income students of color. Shifts in the urban student population necessitate changes in the way in which teaching and learning are conceptualized. As the population of the nation's urban schools becomes increasingly Black and Hispanic, the need for a teaching force whose racial background matches the student body also increases (B. E. Cross, 2003; Dee, 2005; K. Howey, 1999; Ladson-Billings, 2000a). The suggestion is that teachers who teach children who are like themselves linguistically, culturally, and racially are the most ideal to facilitate learning (Martinez, 1994). Nonetheless, there is little scholarly discourse on the role or impact that socioeconomic class plays in scenarios where teachers and students share the same racial background. Using Ray Rist's (1970) seminal work as an anchor, this study employed a qualitative approach to examine the perceptions of five African American male teachers who identify as middle class and who teach in schools or programs that serve predominantly low-income African American students. Analysis of the interviews led to the following conclusions: the differences in socioeconomic class influenced the teachers' general perception of their students and their capability as learners. Notwithstanding these perceptions, the teachers expressed a profound sense of love and care for their students and believed themselves to be uniquely qualified to provide them with what they need beyond the traditional curriculum. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.