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This research gives a multidimensional investigation into community policies that are becoming more prevalent in American society. In Chapter 1, I apply multiple Value-Added Models (VAM) of achievement to data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center (NCERDC) to determine the academic impacts of repeating a year (or more) with the same teacher on student achievement in math and reading. Given the growing trend in schools and teaching practices, like looping, that pair teachers and students for multiple years, this research finds contrasting results about the gains in academic achievement associated with repeating with a teacher. Specifically, while there is evidence that students on average have higher scores when repeating with a teacher, this effect is mitigated when one controls for teacher quality. Using limited probability models, I find students are 29\%-34\% and 42\%-46\% more likely to repeat with a teacher whose Value-Added estimate is in the top 20\% of teacher-quality compared to a teacher in the bottom 20\% in math and reading, respectively. This nonrandom assignment of students to teachers, creates upward bias in the estimated achievement effects of repeating with a teacher that have previously been unaccounted for. In chapters 1 and 2, I account for nonrandom assignment finding non-significant gains in achievement associated with repeating with a teacher. While Chapter 1 finds non-significant gains to student achievement, Chapter 2 investigates if there are any non-cognitive gains students experience when they repeat with a teacher for another year. Using the same longitudinal data from the NCERDC, Chapter 2’s results indicate increases in character-trait measures associated with teacher and student perceptions of academic success and effort. Using multiple partial persistence VAMs that include controls for student heterogeneity and for teacher quality, the estimated effects on a teacher's subjective scoring of a student's academic success, student's anticipated grade for the year, and student attendance are all significantly greater than zero. Taken together, the positive effects from students repeating with the same teacher reveal themselves prevalently on character-trait improvements rather than on contemporaneous achievement scores. In Chapter 3, I investigate the causal direction of a popular policing policy. Although there are a large number of studies testing Broken Windows Theory (BWT) (Wilson & Kelling, 1982), the reverse theoretical pathway has never been assessed (risk perceptions predicting incivilities perceptions). It is estimated in Chapter 3 using panel data from Baltimore. Results show lagged, multilevel impacts of risk perceptions on changes in incivilities perceptions. Further, results show the impact of risk perceptions on seeing later changes in neighborhood problems varies significantly across street blocks. Findings support Harcourt’s (2001) assertion that “disorder” is not a fixed and unambiguous label; rather, it is dependent upon a person defining his or her surroundings. People who feel a high degree of crime risk are “biased” (Hipp, 2010; Wallace, 2011) toward defining neighborhood features as more problematic than those who do not. / Economics

The concerns society has expressed regarding the education of children have prompted educators to relentlessly search for instructional methodologies and organizational designs to maximize student achievement. One instructional organizational design that has surfaced is looping. Looping is the process wherein the teacher remains with the same group of children for a period of two or more years. Looping has been tried at all grade levels with a single teacher or with a team of teachers and with the same students over a period of years. The purpose of this study is to investigate the implementation of looping in four schools and to provide a descriptive account. A case study approach was used. Teachers and principals at four elementary schools using looping were interviewed regarding their experience. Data were analyzed using a qualitative approach for emerging themes. These findings indicated that schools implement the looping concept to build relationships, for instructional advantages, extended time and to lessen anxieties. Also, schools implemented the looping concept by doing an indepth study of the concept and by allowing teachers and parents to participate voluntarily. Finally, specific outcomes as a result of the implementation of looping were as follows: parents were knowledgeable about school functions and the overall program of studies; students had a safe haven; and teachers felt that looping gave them more time with their students. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study was to determine if academic achievement and academic self-esteem can be linked to the non-traditional organizational pattern of looping in kindergarten and first grade classes. Looping is defined as one teacher remaining with the same students for two or more years. Using a control group-experimental group design where the experimental group participated in the looping program and the control group did not, and applying the statistical procedure of multivariate analysis of variance (MANAVO), it was found that there was no significant difference between the subjects in the two groups on the criterion variable of academic achievement as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and the criterion variable of academic self-esteem as measured by the Culture-Free Self-Esteem Inventory, Second Edition. It was concluded that further study would need to be done to determine if there are advantages to an organizational pattern of looping for students in public elementary schools.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo do estudo foi compreender como as demandas em saúde mental na atenção básica estão sendo identificadas e encaminhadas pelos profissionais envolvidos nas equipes de saúde da família no município do Rio de Janeiro. Especificamente, buscamos compreender como estes profissionais, em uma equipe multidisciplinar, agem no cotidiano da atenção considerando a fluidez nos conceitos de bem-estar / mal-estar mental e como eles lidam com sinais e sintomas que não se resumem a quadros fisiológicos, mas estão estreitamente relacionados às questões sociais e territoriais. Em entrevistas em grupo com cinco equipes, identificou-se mecanismos de diagnóstico operados por estes profissionais para negociar o enquadramento da demanda como mental e, então, escolher e oferecer encaminhamento a esta. Foram tomados como referenciais de análise e discussão os conceitos de nominalismo dinâmico e looping effect, de Ian Hacking, e os conceitos de enactment e lógica do cuidado, de Annemarie Mol. Diante das considerações, percebeu-se que as noções sobre saúde mental nesta esfera de atenção vão sendo negociadas a partir da mobilização de conhecimentos não oficiais, porém já circulantes, entre os profissionais da equipe. Os profissionais operam manobras de conhecimento de acordo com o acervo teórico/prático e de experiência pessoal, sempre de alguma forma referendado ou muitas vezes "traduzido" pelo escopo da biomedicina. Consequentemente, as ações engendradas tem como base um padrão classificatório e biomédico, ainda que adaptado às singularidades locais e às formas de cuidado possíveis para cada equipe. Tais dados sinalizam que, mesmo supostamente humanizada, interdisciplinar, territorializada e menos medicalizada, as ações na atenção básica, no que se referem à saúde mental, se balizam pelo paradigma do conhecimento científico biomédico. Este é visto ainda como referência para os profissionais e é necessário para explicar e atuar sobre os diversos tipos de demanda. / The aim of the study was to understand how the mental health demands in primary care attention are being identified and managed by family health team professionals in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Specifically, we were wanted to understand how these professionals, in a multidisciplinary team, act in daily attention considering the fluidity in concepts of mental welfare / mental malaise and how they deal with signs and symptoms that are not limited to physiological frameworks and are also closely related to social and territorial issues. In group interviews with five teams, we identified some diagnostic mechanisms operated by these professionals to negotiate the framework of a demand as mental and, then, choose and offer referral to this. Ian Hackings concepts of dynamic nominalism and looping effect and Annemarie Mols concepts of enactment and logic of care were taken as benchmarks for analysis and discussion. Given the considerations, we found out that the notions about mental health in this sphere attention are traded by the mobilization of knowledge that are unofficial but already circulate among the professional team. Professionals operate manoeuvres of knowledge in accordance with the theoretical/practical and personal experience acquired, always in some way endorsed by or often "translated" to the scope of biomedicine. Consequently, the actions engendered are based on a classification and biomedical standard, albeit adapted to local peculiarities and forms of care that are possible for each team. These data indicate that even supposedly humane, interdisciplinary, territorialized and less medicalized actions for mental health in primary care are delineated by the biomedical paradigm of scientific knowledge. This is still seen as a reference for professionals and is necessary to explain and act on the various types of demand.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo do estudo foi compreender como as demandas em saúde mental na atenção básica estão sendo identificadas e encaminhadas pelos profissionais envolvidos nas equipes de saúde da família no município do Rio de Janeiro. Especificamente, buscamos compreender como estes profissionais, em uma equipe multidisciplinar, agem no cotidiano da atenção considerando a fluidez nos conceitos de bem-estar / mal-estar mental e como eles lidam com sinais e sintomas que não se resumem a quadros fisiológicos, mas estão estreitamente relacionados às questões sociais e territoriais. Em entrevistas em grupo com cinco equipes, identificou-se mecanismos de diagnóstico operados por estes profissionais para negociar o enquadramento da demanda como mental e, então, escolher e oferecer encaminhamento a esta. Foram tomados como referenciais de análise e discussão os conceitos de nominalismo dinâmico e looping effect, de Ian Hacking, e os conceitos de enactment e lógica do cuidado, de Annemarie Mol. Diante das considerações, percebeu-se que as noções sobre saúde mental nesta esfera de atenção vão sendo negociadas a partir da mobilização de conhecimentos não oficiais, porém já circulantes, entre os profissionais da equipe. Os profissionais operam manobras de conhecimento de acordo com o acervo teórico/prático e de experiência pessoal, sempre de alguma forma referendado ou muitas vezes "traduzido" pelo escopo da biomedicina. Consequentemente, as ações engendradas tem como base um padrão classificatório e biomédico, ainda que adaptado às singularidades locais e às formas de cuidado possíveis para cada equipe. Tais dados sinalizam que, mesmo supostamente humanizada, interdisciplinar, territorializada e menos medicalizada, as ações na atenção básica, no que se referem à saúde mental, se balizam pelo paradigma do conhecimento científico biomédico. Este é visto ainda como referência para os profissionais e é necessário para explicar e atuar sobre os diversos tipos de demanda. / The aim of the study was to understand how the mental health demands in primary care attention are being identified and managed by family health team professionals in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Specifically, we were wanted to understand how these professionals, in a multidisciplinary team, act in daily attention considering the fluidity in concepts of mental welfare / mental malaise and how they deal with signs and symptoms that are not limited to physiological frameworks and are also closely related to social and territorial issues. In group interviews with five teams, we identified some diagnostic mechanisms operated by these professionals to negotiate the framework of a demand as mental and, then, choose and offer referral to this. Ian Hackings concepts of dynamic nominalism and looping effect and Annemarie Mols concepts of enactment and logic of care were taken as benchmarks for analysis and discussion. Given the considerations, we found out that the notions about mental health in this sphere attention are traded by the mobilization of knowledge that are unofficial but already circulate among the professional team. Professionals operate manoeuvres of knowledge in accordance with the theoretical/practical and personal experience acquired, always in some way endorsed by or often "translated" to the scope of biomedicine. Consequently, the actions engendered are based on a classification and biomedical standard, albeit adapted to local peculiarities and forms of care that are possible for each team. These data indicate that even supposedly humane, interdisciplinary, territorialized and less medicalized actions for mental health in primary care are delineated by the biomedical paradigm of scientific knowledge. This is still seen as a reference for professionals and is necessary to explain and act on the various types of demand.

In chemical-looping, a fuel is oxidised by a solid metal oxide, MeO, in one reactor: (2$n+m$)MeO+C$_{n}$H$_{2m}\rightarrow$(2$n+m$)Me+$m$H$_{2}$O+$n$CO$_{2}$. The exit gas yields pure CO$_{2}$ after the steam has been condensed. The reduced metal oxide, Me, is transferred to an oxidation reactor and regenerated: Me+air$\rightarrow$MeO. Adding these reactions, the fuel has been combusted, but the CO$_{2}$ has been separated from the nitrogen in air. In fact, it is in a suitable form for sequestration in the Earth where prevention of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere is desired. Generally, Me is a transition metal and, to withstand many such redox cycles, it has to be supported on a suitable refractory oxide, with particles of the resulting construct being termed the "oxygen carrier". This Dissertation is concerned with the release and uptake of gaseous oxygen when Me is copper. In particular, the interest is in the following reaction at temperatures exceeding ~900°C undertaken in a fluidised bed reactor:$\\$ 4CuO$_{(s)}\Leftrightarrow$2Cu$_{2}$O$_{(s)}$+O$_{2(g)}$. (1)$\\$ The value of this reaction is that the oxygen released as part of a chemical looping scheme is important in combusting unreactive solid fuels, e.g. coal chars, whilst the Cu$_{2}$O could, in principle, be further reduced to Cu by the more reactive components of the fuel. This Dissertation investigates the development and characterisation of suitable, Cu-based oxygen carriers, which must (i) be inexpensive and easy to produce at a large scale and (ii) remain stable in prolonged operation in terms of mechanical integrity and chemical reactivity when fluidised. Here, a suitable oxygen carrier was developed, satisfying the above criteria, using a wet-mixing method and containing nominally 60 wt% CuO, 23 wt% Al$_{2}$O$_{3}$ and 17 wt% CaO. In particular, it was found that this oxygen carrier could operate between CuO and Cu$_{2}$O without problem in a circulating fluidised bed but agglomeration and de-fluidisation was observed when the carrier was re-oxidised from the Cu form. For design, it is important to understand the thermodynamics and kinetics of the release of gaseous O$_{2}$ from the oxygen carrier, because the combustion of the solid fuel depends critically on this reaction. A novel method was developed to measure experimentally the thermodynamics of reaction (1) for the supported copper oxide. It was found that the thermodynamic equilibrium deviated slightly from that of the pure CuO/Cu$_{2}$O system reported in the literature and that the enthalpy of reaction was lower by ~ 15%; the reasons for this are discussed. The rate of release of O$_{2}$ from the oxygen carrier was investigated using a thermogravimetric analyser and the activation energy for the forward reaction of (1) was found to be 59.7$\pm$5.6 kJ/mol, obtained after appropriate modelling of the external mass transfer resistances present in the experimental apparatus. A critical analysis of the seemingly disparate activation energies reported in the literature revealed that the activation energy of the forward step in reaction (1) was, in fact, similar for many CuO-based oxygen carriers supported on different materials. The associated pre-exponential factor for the forward rate constant was also determined in the present research, and the kinetic parameters were used in a numerical model to predict the behaviour of the oxygen carriers in a fluidised bed reactor. Excellent agreement between theory and experiment was found, confirming that the kinetic parameters obtained in this work reflect the intrinsic chemical kinetics of the oxygen carrier, rather than being totally dominated by transport effects.

The new Canadian laws on CO2 emissions aim to lower the emissions of coal-fired power plants down to those of natural gas combined cycle units: 420 kg CO2/MWeh. In order to meet these requirements, calcium looping and two process variants are investigated through process simulations using Aspen Plus V8.2. The combination of calcium looping and chemical looping combustion, replacing the required air separation unit, is a way to reduce the energy penalty of the capture process. The addition of copper as an oxygen carrier in two different process configurations is compared to calcium looping and shown to reduce the efficiency penalty from 7.8% to 4.5% points but at the price of circulations rates up to about 3800 kg/s. The other improvement path studied is the implementation of calcium looping to a pressurized fluidized bed combustion unit. The pressurized carbonator acts as a reheater for the gas turbine and operating the carbonator at temperatures up to 798°C results in a reduction of the energy penalty from 5.1% to 3.1% points.