<p> In the United States the growing Latino population is often referred to as the "sleeping giant" of electoral politics due to the group's significant size. After the 2012 Presidential elections some argued that the 'sleeping giant' had finally awakened. This work analyzed the validity of this claim by looking at national Latino electoral participation from the 1990's to the present, concentrating on measures of electoral participation and influence of Latino voters. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the ANES Survey at the national level, this work then focused on two states, Arizona and Nevada, to assess the changing influence of Latinos and Latino voters on state elections. The findings of this work establish that the electoral power of Hispanics in presidential elections has been overstated and overestimated. It additionally shows that in the future the influence and political power of this ethnic group will register a significant growth, which might cause substantial electoral and political shifts favoring the Democratic Party if current trends continue. Although, at the same time this projected political growth is greatly dependant on an increase of Hispanic voter registration in the future.</p>

<p> This study posits a new research model for Armenian American leadership. The study aims to fill the void in Armenian American leadership literature, while adding to the leadership studies of other ethnic and racial groups in the United States of America. Furthermore, this study aims at discovering the unique characteristics of Armenian American Leadership in relation to cultural acculturation and more specifically how Anglo-cultural influences in leadership may or may not enable a better understanding of diversity within the Armenian American community, along with the role of trend development. </p><p> This study examines similarities and differences of leadership styles by analyzing the data both from elected officials and none elected leaders of major Armenian organization in Glendale (who are not elected by registered voters of City of Glendale, but by members of their organization). Furthermore, the study examines the relationship between leadership style, and acculturation in Glendale among Armenian American elected leaders, and non-elected leaders. Specifically, the study aims to determine specific and unique leadership behaviors among respondents reflecting perceived leadership styles, and their commitment to a cause. Additionally, this study seeks leader identification of individual acculturation level as means of examining associations between acculturation, and leadership styles. </p><p> Correlational analyses were performed to compare the study's findings based on samples drawn from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Acculturation Rating Scale for Armenian Americans (ARSAA) developed by using the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans (ARSMA-II), whereas, past similar scales have never used literature and data to justify the revision and adaptation of the scale from "Mexican" to "Armenian" but this study does. </p><p> The study aims to increase understanding of Glendale's Armenian American residents, and community leaders in terms of leadership perception, style, and relationship to the future and growth of the community. Additional exploration of the relationship between acculturation, and self-perceived leadership style, of Glendale's Armenian American elected leaders will add to the body of leadership literature pertaining to acculturation, as well as to Armenian American ethnic culture, self-identity, and overall influence within the culture. Lastly, the study will enable deeper understanding of history, dynamics, and characteristics of Armenian Americans in Glendale by penetrating the history of the community and leaders, all with an eye on present dynamics. It is anticipated that this study will lead to future studies of ethnic-specific leadership styles, especially those of the under-researched Armenian American community.</p>

<p> The United States' Public Education system shared concerns regarding declining achievement results across the nation. Numerous research studies suggested significant correlations to various variables, such as, SES (Socio-Economic Status), LEP (Limited English Proficiency), IEP (Individualized Educational Programs), ethnicity, and student mobility. The literature suggested these areas of concern need continued research to address specific issues, such as, how to close the educational gaps between students in these categories and students without these characteristics. </p><p> The Primary Investigator completed a case study to assist decision makers with transient students at a Midwest near-urban elementary school by specifically focusing on fifth grade students from the class of 2019. The methodology created by the Primary Investigator differentiated among Persistent, Transitional, and Transient mobility populations who entered a supplemental reading model program called, Blitz. The Primary Investigator divided mobility groups into specific categories to determine if needs were met for transient student populations, as compared to non-transient students. Few studies had addressed programs that specifically focused on methods of measurement tool that allowed for comparisons among mobile students in settings where non-mobile students reside. </p><p> The Primary Investigator's methods used in this case study allowed decision makers to continue to develop their program to fit the needs of all students at the case study school and to make decisions as to the effectiveness of their efforts to assist their Persistent, Transitional, and Transient students in their large near urban elementary school. </p><p> Results indicated there were improvements in each mobility group that participated in the Blitz supplemental reading model. Students in the most transient group significantly increased achievement and decreased variance in scores when compared to the Persistent population. The Primary Investigator's collected data suggested that students in the Persistent population averaged the highest achievement scores for all data sets. Achievement scores of students in the most Persistent populations who were of Caucasian and African American ethnicity and of low SES-socio-economic status did not have negative impacts on scores. Overall, this case study supported a positive effect of additional reading assistance on a student's independent reading ability and Communications Arts achievement in this large near-urban Midwest elementary school.</p>

<p> <b>BACKGROUND:</b> Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) increasingly live into adulthood, and every year approximately 500,000 American youth transition from pediatric to adult health care system. Health Care Transition (HCT) for Youth with Special Health Care Needs (YSHCN) has emerged as a significant event in the life course of this population. The overarching goal for HCT is to provide high quality, coordinated, uninterrupted health care which is responsive to the needs and desires of the patient. Although improvements have been seen in health care quality of the general population, differences still persist in health care quality among CSHCN in racial and ethnic minority groups. Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID-DD) are an important subpopulation of CSHCN because of their increasing prevalence due to autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, high service needs, cost, and societal impact. A few researchers have focused on transition preparation for all YSHCN, but not on racial and ethnic (e.g., African American, Latino) disparities in health care transition and quality for youth ages 12-17 with ID-DD. <b>OBJECTIVE:</b> The purpose of this study was to explore the racial and ethnic disparities in transition to adult health care and quality of care for youth ages 12-17 with ID-DD. <b>METHODS:</b> The 2009&ndash;2010 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs is a nationally representative sample with 17, 114 respondents (parents of CSHCN) ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old. They were asked about transitioning to an adult provider, changing health care needs, maintaining insurance needs, and increasing responsibility for self-care. They were also asked about having a personal doctor or nurse, doctors spending enough time with them, doctors listening carefully to the parent, providers showing sensitivity about family values; the parent receiving enough information from the doctor, and the doctor making the parent feel like a partner. The researcher analyzed the association of selected characteristics with successful transition and quality of health care for White, Black, and Latino children ages 12-17 with ID-DD. The study was guided by Andersen&rsquo;s (1995) <i>Behavioral Model of Health Care Use.</i> Bivariate analyses were conducted and consisted of seven chi-square analyses. For each chi-square analysis, the data split to include only children with ID-DD. <b>RESULTS:</b> The study was comprised of youth with ID-DD ranging in age from 12 to 17 years old, with an average mean age of 14.55 years old (M=14.55, SD=1.74). Results of the chi-square analysis indicated the proportions of children transitioning to adult health care for each ethnic group were not significantly different than expected (&chi;²(3) = 5.41, <i>p</i> = 0.144). Results also indicated that only four percent of children with ID-DD successfully transitioned to adult health care. Four of the six chi-square analyses related to the quality of health care were indicative of significant deviations from expected responses (doctors and other health care providers spending enough time with the child &chi;²(12) = 79.74, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001; listening carefully (&chi;²(15) = 63.42, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001); showing sensitivity to family values (&chi;²(15) = 34.44, <i> p</i> = 0.003); and making the family feel like a partner in care (&chi;²(12) = 33.89, <i>p</i> &lt;0 .001). A multiple linear regression was conducted to determine the relationship between the occurrence of an intellectual or developmental disability and the transition to adult health care, while controlling for predisposing (e.g., race and ethnicity, gender, parents education, and family structure), enabling factors (e.g., family income, health insurance status, and patient-centered medical home). A preliminary <i>F</i> test on the regression indicated a significant model fit (<i>F</i>(12, 10,387) = 67.76, <i>p</i> &lt; 0.001). Furthermore, a multiple linear regression was conducted to determine the relationship between the occurrence of a disability and the quality of health care, while controlling for predisposing and enabling factors. The preliminary <i>F</i> test indicated a significant model (<i>F</i>(12, 17,101) = 328.62, <i>p</i> &lt; .001). <b>CONCLUSIONS:</b> Youth with ID-DD, particularly those who are Latino and Black, face greater challenges in transitioning to adult health care and receiving a quality of care compared to other children with special health care needs in the United States. Addressing specific medical home components might reduce racial and ethnic disparities. Future research that examines the association between the HCT and family/professional partnerships in family-to-family health information centers (ACA 5507(b)) will be needed to ensure quality outcomes for youth with ID-DD.</p>

<p> The interplay between governmentality, biopolitics and the state manifests itself discursively and materially within the realm of sovereignty over territory and at the level of the population. This thesis is specifically concerned with the relational contexts of the People's Republic of China during the 'War on Terror.' Hence, this thesis engages how the state discursively produces what and how 'Uyghur' is relationally dependent on transforming notions of state sovereignty during the 'War on Terror.' Accordingly, the discursivity of 'Uyghur' allows for dialectic production by the state and the ontological rationalization of governmental practice that produces difference.</p>

<p> INTRODUCTION: Hypoxia is a potent stimulus that induces neuropsychological and physical impairments in humans. It is documented that ethnic differences exists across various physiological parameters. There appears to be a varying metabolic response across ethnicities, specifically African-Americans and Caucasians. Purpose: To further elucidate physiological and cognitive performance differences between African-American (AA) and Caucasian individuals (CAU) before, during or after hypoxic and normoxic exercise. Methods: Twelve college aged (18-25) apparently healthy African-American (six volunteers) and Caucasian (six subjects) males took part in two trials consisting of normobaric normoxia and normobaric hypoxia (12% oxygen). Each subject cycled at 50% of their altitude adjusted VO2max (-26% of normoxia VO2max) for one hour after a two-hour baseline. Subjects were monitored for cerebral and arterial O2 saturation, as well as the Trail Making Test A and B (TMT) psychomotor performance. Results: Arterial saturation proved to be significantly higher in AA (86.0&plusmn;4.7) compared to CAU (79.5&plusmn;4.8) during the first 60 minutes of exposure to hypoxia at rest (p=0.039), but not during exercise. Cerebral oxygenation to the left frontal lobe was decreased near the conclusion and 30 minutes after normoxic exercise. TMT B data revealed that CAU (79&plusmn;12.7) had faster scores than the AA subjects (98&plusmn;25.1) at all time points and was significantly different at the 115 minute time point of the hypoxic trial (p=0.024). Conclusion: Data suggests that before, during and after normobaric normoxia and hypoxia trial there is a differential response between AA and CAU in regards to arterial and cerebral oxygenation and psychomotor tests.</p>

<p> This dissertation explores the concerns and discussions about lessons of Irish identity for the children of Irish immigrants in mid to late nineteenth-century New York and New England. The author argues that there were recurrent efforts to maintain Irish identity by ensuring the young would understand their Irish and Catholic heritage and that adults often based this identity on the themes of Irish nationalism. Yet Irish-Americans understood that they had to demonstrate Irish loyalty to the United States, so they attempted to blend Irish and American identities in their progeny, articulating an early vision of cultural pluralism for American society. This research contributes to understandings of the invention of ethnicity and ethnic endurance in the United States and how immigrants use conceptions of the meaning of "American" with their national backgrounds as they create identities for their descendants. This dissertation also illuminates the importance of children and ideas about childhood to the development of ethnicity in the United States. But it also has broader meanings for the ways in which religion, ethnicity, and nationality affect the transition of immigrant progeny from the world of their parents to that of the United States and how the children of immigrants eventually become American ethnic groups.</p>

<p> This study sought to uncover the attributes of successful bicultural leaders. Findings suggested that any one of four acculturation strategies chosen by bicultural leaders depended on the intensity of the dominant spouse's alliance to their Country of Origin, their identity self-construal and opportunities to create supportive in-groups that made the bicultural individual the center of in-group connectivity. Integrated biculturals exhibit a tendency to create networks, where over time they become "central connectors" affording them unique positions of influence, knowledge transfer and power. This study posits that Network Centrality is a Bicultural Competence, recognized by its users as a pivotal antecedent to their success strategies. Educators may benefit from study findings that include participant suggested content specifically targeting new foreign born immigrants to help advance their achievements based on the study's findings of best practices and attributes of successful bicultural leaders.</p>

<p> This thesis addresses the connection between Black women's hair care preferences and formal and informal Afrocentric pedagogy. This issue is framed by the use of Afrocentric theory in compilation with Black Women's Standpoint theory and Symbolic Interactionism. Through the use of qualitative interviews this project seeks to highlight the many factors that go into the choices Black women make about how to wear their hair, including education, familial influence, media, and personal preference.</p>

<p> Despite increased numbers of intercultural couples in the United States, data shows that the pairing of non-Hispanic Black-White interracial couples falls short on all scales (Pew Research Center, 2012). The number of cohabitating interracial couples is almost double the number of married interracial couples; however, they have the lowest rates of marriage and are more likely to divorce when compared to all other intercultural couples. To determine what non-Hispanic Black-White interracial couples must do to strengthen and maintain their relationships, this study interviewed seven cohabitating couples. The qualitative analysis revealed five themes: Culture, Secure Attachment, Communication, Authenticity, and Humor. The themes and implications for couple therapy and future research are also discussed.</p>