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Experiment Station Road is an original work of fiction serving as a collection of short stories set in Hayford, Oregon and Las Vegas in 1962-1972. Each story presents the point of view of a resident in Hayford. The stories are written to function independently, but when read as a collection present insight to cultural diversity, intricate relationships and the ignorance of prejudice.

ABSTRACT Since independence in 1966, centralized development planning has ensured the availability of basic facilities and services in rural areas of Botswana but has also contributed to over-reliance on the government for the majority of rural people. The consequence of this centralized and accelerated approach to rural development has been the exclusion of rural communities from planning and implementation of facilities meant to benefit them. The international debate on sustainable rural development led the Botswana government to re-think its rural development policy with a view to establishing more effective strategies for rural development. The Community Based Strategy for Rural Development, introduced in 1997 emphasizes the important role of communities in their own development, by promoting Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). This study sought to discover insights into the implementation of PRA in Botswana by questioning extension workers and community members in four villages about the application and impact of PRA on their communities. The research uses the frameworks of qualitative research and critical adult education theory to enquire into the basis for participatory rural development in Botswana and the implementation of Community Action Plans (CAPs). Case studies of the four villages were conducted to illuminate problematic areas of programme design and implementation. Interviews with thirty-two people and observations were the main methods of collecting data. Documents, reports and records on PRA training and application in the four villages and from outside were consulted. The research results show that the application of PRA in the participating villages has had negligible impact in reversing the state-dominated approach to development. PRA facilitators seem disinterested in its application and sustenance. However, the findings also suggest that PRA application in Botswana is not hopeless, but needs a different kind of investment, for example, introducing measures of accountability, addressing paternalistic attitudes among development workers, and exploiting key principles of adult education.

Canine cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture is a common veterinary orthopaedic problem, and has been associated with problems at the ipsilateral hip joint. However, the relationship between stifle and hip dysfunction has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study was to establish whether CCL pathology is associated with a limitation in hip extension range large enough to affect gait. In a prospective, crosssectional study, passive and active hip extension range was determined in normal dogs as well as CCL deficient dogs. There was a significant reduction in ipsilateral passive hip extension range in the CCL deficient dogs (18.63º+/-7.57).There was a significant increase in hip extension range of the unaffected leg during gait compared to the normal group (7.03º+/-8.41). It was therefore concluded that canine CCL pathology directly affects hip extension range to a degree sufficient to affect normal gait.

Thesis advisor: John B. Williamson / The desire to defy the aging process and to prolong the lifespan has long captured the human imagination. Recognized as one of the most ancient known pieces of literature, the Epic of Gilgamesh documents a King’s quest to find immortality. More recent examples include the story of Ponce de Leon’s 16th century search to discover the Fountain of Youth, Sir Francis Bacon’s (1659) assertion that humans are naturally immortal “potens non mori,” and Benjamin Franklin’s desire to be preserved in a vat of madeira until science is capable of life extension. Developments in science and technology, including telomere manipulation, genetic engineering, cloning, nanotechnology, the potential to create new organs from stem cells, and the creation of therapeutic pharmaceuticals that could significantly postpone disease, have served to inspire; aging in the 21st century is no longer regarded by scientists as an inevitable process programmed by evolution (Olshansky et al. 2006). Situated within a detailed historical overview, this qualitative research project explores the experiences of individuals engaged in practices currently implicated in potentially delaying aging and even extending life. Based on information from 44 in-depth interviews, this research explores issues such as lay understandings of the biology of aging, conceptualizations of the inner body, the use of and experience with optimization technologies, and the embodied effects of participation in anti-aging and life-extension body regimens. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Individuals with upper limb motor deficits due to neurological conditions, such as stroke and traumatic brain injury, may exhibit hypertonia and spasticity, which makes it difficult for these individuals to open their hand. The Hand Orthosis with Powered Extension (HOPE) Hand was created in 2018. The performance of the HOPE Hand was evaluated by conducting a Box and Blocks test with an impaired subject. Improvements were identified and the HOPE Hand was mechanically redesigned to increase the functionality in performing grasps. The original motor configuration was reorganized to include active thumb flexion and extension, as well as thumb abduction/adduction. An Electromyography (EMG) study was conducted on 19 individuals (10 healthy, 9 impaired) to evaluate the viability of EMG device control for the specified user group. EMG control, voice control, and manual control were implemented with the HOPE Hand 2.0 and the exoskeleton system was tested for usability during a second Box and Blocks test.

The dissertation is organized into two main parts. The first part considers fractal extension operators. Although extension operators are available for general subsets of Euclidean domains or metric spaces, our extension operator is unique in that it utilizes both the iterative nature of the fractal and finite element approximations to construct the operator. The resulting operator is especially well suited for future numerical work on domains with prefractal boundaries. In the dissertation we prove the existence of a linear extension operator, Π from the space of Hölder continuous functions on a fractal set S to the space of Hölder continuous functions on a larger domain Ω. Moreover this same extension operator maps functions of finite energy on the fractal to H1 functions on the larger domain Ω. In the second part, we consider boundary value problems in domains with fractal boundaries. First we consider the Sierpinski prefractal and how we might apply the technique of singular homogenization to thin layers constructed on the prefractal. We will also discuss numerical approximation in domains with fractal boundaries and introduce a finite element mesh developed for studying problems in domains with prefractal Koch boundaries. This mesh exploits the self-similarity of the Koch curve for arbitrary rational values of α and its construction is crucial for future numerical study of problems in domains with prefractal Koch curve boundaries. We also show a technique for mesh refinement so that singularities in the domain can be handled and present sample numerical results for the transmission problem.

Lifelong learning requires motivation to complete learning projects across the lifespan. Understanding an individual’s commitment to extended periods of learning is not well understood. There are particular gaps in longitudinal and biographical accounts of learners grounded in frameworks of lifespan theories. Equally missing are accounts that consider the dynamical nature of learning across time. Three learner biographies are examined to develop a dynamical control perspective of motivation for extended learning. Drawing on a regulatory framework the Lifespan Theory of Control and concepts from complexity perspectives particularly Non Linear Dynamical Systems Theory, including feedback, attractors and bifurcation, A model is offered which synthesises processes of control, motivation and dynamics leading to competence and accounting for extended periods of learning.

This thesis reports on barriers and enablers to participation within Further Education from the perspective of the student voice. It is based on the work of Veronica McGivney (1993) who reported on research undertaken by Cross (1981) which divided deterrents to participation into three categories, namely, Situational, Institutional and Dispositional. McGivney reports these categories to be “oversimplified”. Student participation/non-participation is explored via the opinions/perspectives of learners on the Access to Higher Education Programme within a traditional mining community which is in the process of redefining its identity following the closure of local coal mines within the last few decades. To accommodate the complexity that arose from this research, the discourses of both ‘individual needs’ and ‘student voice’ have been problematised. Quantitative and qualitative survey methods are drawn upon including data from questionnaires, focus group and college Management Information Systems. Nine emergent themes that may act as sub-layers to the themes of Situational, Institutional and Dispositional categories reported by McGivney and one meta-theme (Opportunity) are discussed. High levels of interrelatedness between emergent themes point to a fluid dynamic within the decision-making process of prospective participants. The research concludes with a practical ‘framework for participation’ that attempts to reflect this fluidity.

This thesis explores experiences of college-based higher education (CBHE) in England, positioning this type of provision within the national and local geographies of English higher education. Focusing on institutions located in higher education 'cold spots', the thesis situates these institutions within local and policy narratives of both lack of and need for educational opportunity. The case study research design examines two case institutions, and involves documentary analysis and interviews with higher education directors, tutors and final year students on two degree courses in each college, as well as interviews with key figures in national Further Education policy. Data analysis deploys the concept of possible selves in an original, sociologically-oriented dialogue with de Certeau's 'spatial story' to produce accounts of placed possible selves. The key contributions of the thesis are, firstly, that shared and homogenous societal narratives of university higher education dominate even in places and for educational subjects without university education. Secondly, the thesis challenges reductive binary understandings of student mobilities, in which mobility and privilege are diametrically opposed to immobility and disadvantage. Finally, the concept of local capital offers a way of understanding social, cultural and economic commitments to place that moves beyond a language of deficit.