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There is a well-established and positive association between religiosity and marital satisfaction. What is less clear is the effect of religiosity on marital sexual outcomes, with research findings that have run the gamut from negative to positive. Given that most religions teach that marriage is the divinely appointed context for a sexual relationship, religious persons who are married and in sexual relationships could have a different experience with sex than those who are not in a marital sexual relationship. Although the majority of the population in the United States is religious, sex in religious marriages has received scant research attention. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine in three manuscripts the association between religiosity, sexuality, and marital connection. In manuscript one, I look at how doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dovetails with principles of social science in ways that could potentially improve the sexual connection in these religious marriages. Specifically, I examine how Latter-day Saints can better sanctify their sexuality through autonomy and relatedness. As member couples dovetail healthy religious principles with social science principles, such as focusing on avoiding selfishness and developing a self in a larger moral context, they can experience improved marital connection. In study two, I research the spontaneous mentions of sexuality in interviews with highly religious families in the American Families of Faith dataset. These 198 highly religious families come from a rich variety of socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and religious backgrounds. Couples and families mention four major themes that matter to them at the intersection of religion and sexuality--boundaries and rules of sex, purposes of sex, navigating culture and media, and concerns around children and sex, such as imparting values. I also offer clinicians who work with religious couples and families ways to help their clients better navigate the intersection between religion and sex. In study three, I use a nationally representative (CREATE) survey dataset to examine the effect of religion on marital connection (emotional and sexual), and whether commitment and empathy mediate that relationship. Commitment and empathy are both elements of Martin Buber's dialogic philosophy that should help individuals enjoy better connection. The association between religion and marital connection is analyzed over time (Waves II, III, and IV, which are approximately one year apart) and with dyadic data (1,818 households completed all three waves). Commitment and empathy do concurrently mediate the relationship between religion and marital connection, but the effects do not last over time, suggesting that these connective attributes need to be renewed often to have a positive effect on marital outcomes. Religion appears to have a positive impact on marital sexuality and marital connection. Popular thought might indicate that marriage often settles into comfortable complacency, but it is not doomed to. Like dynamic individuals, religious married individuals might find their relationship gets better with time and effort. Married religious individuals might also benefit from future research that examines specific religious doctrines or teachings that help married couples enjoy sanctified sex and increase marital connection.

Let G be a nontrivial connected, edge-colored graph. An edge-cut R of G is called a rainbow cut if no two edges in R are colored the same. An edge-coloring of G is a rainbow disconnection coloring if for every two distinct vertices u and v of G, there exists a rainbow cut in G, where u and v belong to different components of G − R. We introduce and study the rainbow disconnection number rd(G) of G, which is defined as the minimum number of colors required of a rainbow disconnection coloring of G. It is shown that the rainbow disconnection number of a nontrivial connected graph G equals the maximum rainbow disconnection number among the blocks of G. It is also shown that for a nontrivial connected graph G of order n, rd(G) = n−1 if and only if G contains at least two vertices of degree n − 1. The rainbow disconnection numbers of all grids Pm Pn are determined. Furthermore, it is shown for integers k and n with 1 ≤ k ≤ n − 1 that the minimum size of a connected graph of order n having rainbow disconnection number k is n + k − 2. Other results and a conjecture are also presented.

Suicide is a public health problem that requires wide-scale intervention. Universal approaches may not adequately address the cultural differences creating further inequities. The present study integrated a developmental and multicultural lens to tailor the suicide ideation to action framework for adolescents from diverse cultural backgrounds. We tested the mediating role of problematic alcohol use on the relationship between adult disconnection and suicide attempts in a national sample of 11,577 adolescents (ages 12-17 years; Mage = 15.4; 52% female) and a subsample of 1422 at-risk adolescents (ages 12-17 years; Mage = 15.5; 66.5% female) who endorsed suicidal ideation at the first timepoint. After examining the complex data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health using structural equation modeling, results indicated that problematic alcohol use mediated the relationship between disconnection to mothers and teachers and suicide attempts one year later. Moderated mediation findings revealed that the pathway from mother and teacher disconnection to problematic alcohol use did not significantly change depending on sex or socioeconomic status. The indexes of moderated mediation revealed that the indirect effect for the students of color was significantly lower than White students indicating that the mediation is stronger for White students compared to students of color for both predictors mother and teacher disconnection. A subsample analysis of Black vs. White students also revealed a stronger effect for White students compared to Black students. For all adolescents, problematic alcohol use may be an important mechanism by which feelings of disconnection from mothers and teachers increase suicide risk. Understanding what drives adolescents from different cultural backgrounds to engage in problematic alcohol use is important in the prevention and treatment of suicidality in adolescents. Treatments targeted to improve communication with mothers and teachers may help to not only increase feelings of connectedness, but help foster healthy behaviors.

The preservation and reuse of existing buildings has become more and more prevalent as costs rise, sustainability popularizes, and urban areas continue to grow. These are all important issues in the contemporary design world, but what can the building provide after solving these problems that will make it just as long-lasting and useful as the previous program? Historic buildings are filled with the evidence of old building techniques, materiality and textures, and stories of the past, so why not allow the building to serve as not only a container of learning, but as a learning tool itself. The program of this thesis, a middle school for creative writing and literature, allows the decaying Old Engine Company 26 in Washington, DC's Langdon neighborhood to be adaptively reused as part of a comtemporary, imaginative education campus. The project explores the connection and balance between new and old and the combination of stories this creates. Old Engine Company 26 began its story in 1908, but the imposed design has been given a story--the story from the childrens' book, The Phantom Tollbooth. The past and present stories will intertwine with the story the future students create by interacting with, learning from, and influencing the school building. The thesis serves as an example of how an adaptive reuse project can provide unique cultural, educational, and sensory facilities while still fulfilling the sustainability, economic, and planning needs of design. / Master of Architecture

Reflecting on my own experience as an Indigenous social worker, and a thorough literature review of mostly other Indigenous researchers, I addressed the following questions: What can wellness look like for Indigenous social workers? Does connection to culture contribute to wellness for Indigenous social workers practicing from an Indigenous way of being? And does this connection to culture impact my approach to practice and how? By exploring the literature, current policy and legislation, and social work practice in this province, I will discuss how I navigate my work and how I ensure that my practice continues to be grounded in traditional ways of being. In addition, recent shifts in policy, legislation and practice, urge us to practice in a way that honours traditional systems of decision-making, planning and caring for children within child welfare in BC. Given this, this research is timely. I will explore cultural and permanency planning for children and youth in care and how my own experience plays a vital role in how I approach this area of practice. I will discuss the integral role of culture in my life and how it keeps me grounded to continue walking alongside the Indigenous community in a good way. Ultimately, though, the foundation of this research is centered around wellness. Wellness for Indigenous social workers directly impacts the work we do, how we approach children and families, and our ability to continue doing the work in a good way. / Graduate / 2020-12-13

Women faculty members have been reported rating their level of knowledge and experience in using technologies lower than male faculty members. A closer examination revealed that women faculty members were likely to use technologies that fit into their pedagogy, met students' learning styles and needs, and facilitated their interactions with colleagues and students. So women faculty's choices of particular technologies can be assumed to reflect their particular instructional beliefs and perspectives, represented as a connected approach to learning and teaching. Gender alone is inadequate to explain women faculty's use of technology. The purpose of this study was to explore women faculty's understanding of teacher-student, student-student, and student learning-life connections and how technology affects these connections. A theoretical framework called positionality is used, which approaches women not solely from their biological or psychological attributes but also from the contexts in which they are situated. The results of the study suggested that women faculty members exhibited a positional understanding of the teacher-student, student-student, and student learning-life connections. A positional consciousness was reflected in their use of strategies to promote these connections. Technology played a positional role in women faculty's effort to create connections. Women faculty's views and practices of "connection" and "technology" are better understood by the contexts in which they are situated rather than by their gender. Women faculty often assume multiple identities expressed from different positions within different contexts, which is reflected by the variations in their relationships with students, their different perceptions of their student relationship with each other, their different ways of promoting connections, and their different views and use of technology. Limitations of the current study, recommendations for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

The purpose of this study was to examine the types of connection rituals and negotiation patterns that newlywed couples use in their marriage. Past research has shown that rituals can have a positive effect on marital satisfaction . Five research questions guided the study: (1) Who initiates rituals and the frequency in which the rituals are performed? What process does the couple go through to negotiate them? (2) What percentage of rituals do newlywed couples take from their family of origin? (3) Are women the "kin keepers" in their fami ly/relationship? (4) Are there certain factors newlyweds take into consideration when negotiating? and (5) Are there some rituals more important to marital satisfaction? The research questions were tested with data from twenty newlywed couples who completed a survey designed specifically for this study. Results found that women initiate rituals more frequently in newlywed couples, verbal communication was the highest reported process couples go through to negotiate, family of origin practices are more often taken from the wife's family, and there are connection rituals both for husbands and wives that aid to their marital sati satisfaction. Implications and suggestions for future research are also presented.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlational and casual connection between identity and intimacy development in later adolescents using lagged data and multiple measures of each construct. Developmental paths were hypothesized from four theoretically based models and designed to investigate gender and sex role orientation differences in the relationship of identity and intimacy formation. Identity was measured by the Revised Version of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status. Both identity and intimacy were assessed by the Erikson Psychosocial Stage Inventory and the Inventory of Psychosocial Development. The Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy were used to assess sex role orientation. Using a two-wave cross-lag panel design, the pattern of correlational dominance between identity and intimacy was examined and directionality inferred. The results indicate that when examining gender differences, with sex role identification removed from the assessment of identity and intimacy, identity appears to be a dominant precursor to intimacy for both sexes. However, sex role orientation does appear to mediate the identity/intimacy relationship, where for males femininity enhances the identity/intimacy association but does not change the general male pattern of identity predicting intimacy. For females, a masculine sex role orientation results in a pattern similar to either masculine or feminine males, while femininity is associated with a more fused connection between identity and intimacy

This diploma thesis is focused on the concept of threaded connection of the turbine wheel and shaft. At the beginning are described current welding methods of the turbine wheel and shaft connections as well as methods of the compressor wheel and shaft connections. Four possible concepts were designed and evaluated, and the best concept was chosen. For this concept was calculated tightening torque and concept was evaluated in terms of turbocharger operating conditions.