In accordance with the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Boards’ Closing the Gaps by 2015, this research study analyzed self-reported perceptions about college-going culture from students (n = 151) who attended four House Bill 400 schools serving Latino and African American communities in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. This study utilized exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a maximum likelihood extraction technique to identify hidden perceptions (latent factors) that account for common variance among student perceptions about college-going culture. The study also tested the validity and inter-item reliability of the 15-item College-Going Culture Survey used in data collection. The parallel analysis, EFA, and Cronbach’s ? identified two latent factors of Verified College Potential (? = .70) and College Capital Awareness (? = .71) that, together, explained 40.1% of students’ perceptions. The two factors were non-significantly negatively correlated (r = -.495, p = .354). By utilizing the two latent constructs, a 10-item revised College-Going Culture Survey is recommended to improve the inter-item reliability coefficient from ? = .46 to ? = .77. Descriptive statistics revealed that Latino and African-American students affirmed aspects of the college-going culture at HB 400 schools. However, latent factors suggest the possibility that students who reportedly feel most encouraged to attend college (Verified College Potential) may tend to be least aware of the actual logistics of college such as admissions processes and financial aid (College Capital Awareness) and that, conversely, those with the most logistical knowledge may tend to feel least encouraged.

Reducing the frequency of Salmonella in broiler flocks is important from both the standpoints of food safety consumer protection and industry viability. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a more complete identification, characterization and assessment of significance of the risk factors potentially associated with broiler flock Salmonella status as the flock progresses through sequential segments of the production continuum. The sequential segments of the continuum are: broiler breeders and hatchery, transportation from hatchery to grow-out farm, grow-out, transportation from farm to processing plant and processing. In this study broiler flocks were sampled through an entire grow-out production cycle, starting from the flock?s arrival from the hatchery to the grow-out farm, then, at the end of grow-out, upon arrival to the processing plant, and at the pre-chill and post-chill points of processing. Litter samples and drag swabs of the litter were collected in the grow-out house prior to placement and after the harvest of the flock. Epidemiological tools, questionnaires and checklists, were developed and utilized together with the company production records, soil, climatologic and other data to characterize potential risk factors of grow-out broiler flock Salmonella status. Regression modeling was used to investigate associations between the described risk factors and the sampled flock?s Salmonella status. Interrelationship of the flock and grow-out environment Salmonella status at the sequential production segments was studied as a risk factor. Models were built to describe the risk factors of Salmonella contamination of the litter and drag swabs collected in the grow-out house prior to placement of the birds. Following, models were built to identify the risk factors associated with broiler flock Salmonella status upon delivery from the hatchery to the farm and at the end of the grow-out.

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