The United States of America is globally known as the land of opportunity, freedom, independence, equality, and above all, the American Dream. American writer and historian, James Truslow Adams, coined the phrase “American Dream” in his 1931 book The Epic of America. The American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, they can attain their own version of success in society through hard work, sacrifice, and taking risks. Post-World War II, the demand for home ownership rapidly increased. The development of Levittown provided single-family homes for white nuclear families, which was highly idealized by society and became a part of the American Dream. Against this backdrop, this thesis project addresses the role of architecture in adapting existing communities to serve the more comprehensive view of today’s family structures. This development concept results in a supportive and flexible environment where families of all configurations and backgrounds are accepted. In doing so, its surrounding environment will be exposed to a multi-generational and multi-cultural community, resulting in a richer and more interactive environment. Numerous co-benefits emerge from this model, including flexibility within existing and new homes, a supportive community, and synergies between different family structures.

With the progress of the intense medicine, over the past ten years there has been documented more and more patients/clients who have survived a critical illness. Intensive care unit admission is a great source of somatopsychological burden to the patient/client. One of the main aspects of the negative experience is a quality of sleep which is subjectively perceived as low. This master thesis summarizes the knowledge of a current research which is dealing with the causes of poor sleep quality on the intensive care department. It offers a detailed overview of environmental and physiological factors which are related to the poor quality of sleep. It contains summary information of the description and recalling dreams. The research of the master thesis is handling searching for factors which predict the poor quality of sleep, and also the factors which predict if a patient/client will recall the dream which they were having. Within our research we executed an exploratory pilot study. In conclusion of the analysis there was a discovery of a deteriorative sleep quality by perceiving heat discomfort. We were also observing the trend of a deteriorative sleep quality by the connection to the mechanical ventilation, but only when not provided sedation. The result of the research are follow-up research...

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Undocumented migrants are a part of our daily lives, yet we rarely hear their stories or know who they really are; the word "undocumented" can have a negative connotation both within and outside the Latinx community and is often associated with criminals and various other negative stereotypes. This study aims to understand how identity is affected by documentation status and how that affects the undocumented and documented Latinx community, the experiences of Latinx people of different documentation status with connections to illegal immigration, and how they navigate through those experiences in the United States of America knowing that they are putting themselves at risk. There is not enough representation of undocumented Latinx people and their role in society; it is important to understand the undocumented Latinx community and give them a voice because undocumented people are one of the U.S.' backbones in cultural and socio-economic terms. This investigation will provide more insight into their experiences and the identity struggle within the Latinx context through a series of interviews and an in-depth literature review of other publications sharing undocumented Latinx individuals' oral histories. It aims to shine a positive light on the community and contribute to future research on similar topics.

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The existence of large, relatively comfortable, middle and working classes is what has set the advanced capitalist societies apart from most societies throughout history. These classes, while not quite "privileged," offer the hope of opportunity and upward social mobility for those who work hard. Yet in the last 30 years a growing class of "working poor" has emerged who invest many hours working but at wages that keep upward social mobility beyond their grasp. The existence of the working poor, it seems, dispels a key element in the ideology of individualism; they work hard yet do not "get ahead." This study addresses the contradiction presented by the working poor; specifically, do the working poor support the ideology of individualism? Prior research finds that the disadvantaged justify the system that inhibits them from having a better quality of life (Jost, et al. 2003). This study, however, suggests that the working poor are more conscious of the ideology's failure to explain their lack of mobility in a system that promises opportunity to those who work hard. Research data were generated through the use of telephone surveys in five counties in Central Florida with approximately 1571 respondents. Several measures of "working poor" were created; moreover, respondents within these categories tended to disagree with the "work hard, get ahead" ideology. Respondents who viewed their financial situation as getting worse, unable to grasp the "upward mobility" promise of the American Dream, also significantly disagreed with the ideology.

The American Dream has been the inspiration of many political speeches, political writings, and works of literature throughout American history. Most recently, it has inspired political groups like the Center for the New American Dream and academic groups like the Xavier University Center for the Study of the American Dream. As of late, the notion of the American Dream has begun to crop up more often than not in main stream political discourse, especially surrounding the topic of immigration with the aptly named Dream Act. Why has the American Dream drawn this new attention and inquiry? Why and how is it important to American Political thought? What does it mean? Why does it endure? As a complex issue of American culture, this thesis will use disparate methods of analysis to form answers to these questions. The American Dream is often referred to as our national myth. It is comprised of the many ideals and narratives which undergird American politics and culture. Through examination of literary works of fiction and of political texts, this research will examine the meaning and the history of the American Dream. Then, using secondary survey data, this research will examine the implications and state of the American Dream. Finally, to answer the question of why the American Dream endures, this research will employ elements of psychoanalytic and Marxist theory to argue that the Dream works as a cycle of American political thought.

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