African American women represent 19% of the 2.1 million living female veterans. They are the largest minority group among veteran women; however, little is known about the challenges that they face when they transition to a postsecondary learning environment. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand better how this cohort of veterans who served in the U.S. Army during military campaigns in the Middle East overcame transitional challenges to higher education. This study utilized Schlossberg's adult transition theory and identity formation as described in Josselson's theory of identity development in women. The focus of this study was on how female veterans constructed meaning as they overcame transitional challenges and coped with change. The research questions focused on understanding the perceived social, emotional, and financial needs and discerning to what extent faculty and staff helped or hindered their academic success. Purposeful sampling strategies were used to select 12 veteran African American females who attend higher education to participate in semistructured interviews. Thematic analysis of the data indicated that being a better role model and provider; facing financial difficulties; and balancing home, school, and career were among the key findings. These findings on challenges of African American female veterans' experiences can be used to inform university administrators, state employment agencies, the Army's Soldier for Life Transition Program, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This study contributes to positive social change by providing understanding to institutions of higher education regarding the transitional experiences of African American female veterans and the need to implement programs to assist them better.

本文由新安全觀角度研究石油能源安全，由安全分析發現，任何影響石油供給的課題，都會成為安全議題的指涉對象；二戰結束後，因戰爭需求的石油使用動機轉變成為經濟發展的目的，因此經濟互動對能源安全的影響，加上自70年代末期後核能使用對環境破壞帶來的不確定性，更加重石油在能源市場的重要性，另一方面，環境議題的重視在90年代以來成為影響石油能源安全的重要「功能性行為者」，所以國際能源安全大致受到能源生產消費自身的限制、經濟發展與能源產業的互動，及環境管制的三面向的領域作用影響。 由區域安全分析的層次來看，資源蘊藏與地域分配有密切關係，在60年代後石油躍升成主要的能源來源，加上石油輸出國家組織的成立，使石油生產集中的情況更加明顯，面對政治夾雜經濟的複雜供需情況，使區域安全分析成為研究能源安全的重要途徑。本文以美國涉足中亞之石油能源安全為例發現，因為能源生產分配集中，使油氣產地對更具戰略意義，然政治因素仍是目前影響美國石油安全的重要變因，但經濟及環境發展在能源安全政策整體制定上仍是不可或缺的內涵。 / The thesis is aimed to make the study of oil energy security in the viewpoint of new security concept. In the framework of security analysis, what may affect the oil security of supply will be possible to be the reference object of security agenda. And after the WW II, the purpose of oil using form the war fighting to economic development emphasize the importance between the energy security and economic interaction. With the environmental destruction uncertainties resulting from the nuclear using, the environmental issue became the main factor— the functional behavior within the framework of energy security analysis. Thus, international energy security is concerned by the aspects of the self-limitation of energy supplier, the interaction between the economic development and energy industries, and the environmental regulation. We can reach the conclusion that there is the close relation between the energy resource and regional distribution with the regional level of security analysis. In 60s, oil raise to be the main global energy source, and phenomenon of oil production centralization became more obvious after the foundation of OPEC. Facing the situation mixed with the energy supply and demand because of the political and economic reasons, it is the best method to take the way of regional security analysis to make the study of energy security. Besides, it concludes that the oil production place become more strategic as making the study of “American oil energy security policy set foot in Central Asia”. At the present time, political factor still ruling guides the American oil energy security; however, the environment development is indispensable in making the whole energy security policy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 327-342). / Also available by subscription via World Wide Web / xxi, 342 leaves, bound 29 cm

This retrospective, nonexperimental, quantitative study was designed to explore nontraditional students’ perceptions of satisfaction with their graduate education experience in a customized transnational educational context. This study was undergirded by theories and concepts gleaned from multiple disciplines. Disconfirmed expectations theory of consumer satisfaction derived from expectancy theory, which describes the motivations and behaviors of consumers who purchase a service but cannot fully evaluate the service until it has been consumed, provided the overarching conceptual framework for the research. This research analyzed data from 62 graduates of a customized, transnational Master of Education program in educational leadership. Participants responded to a quantitative instrument that contained 18 questions related to various aspects of the respondents’ educational experience. The qualitative component involved responding to six open-ended questions. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted on the quantitative data. The analyses performed include frequency distributions, means and standard deviations, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, and a correlation matrix for the dependent and independent variables and for the six subcategories. To examine whether differences in satisfaction with specified aspects of the program were reflected in differences in subscale satisfaction, t tests were also conducted. Conventional content analysis was employed to analyze qualitative data. Statistical analyses indicated that participants were satisfied with every aspect of their educational experience. This empirical study contributes to the knowledge bank of student satisfaction in a transnational context. When the particular and peculiar needs of nontraditional learners are considered when designing graduate level programs, institutional accommodations are provided, courses that are relevant to students’ needs are taught by instructors with relevant andragogical skills, the appropriate support systems are in place, and the overall goal is to provide education that is relevant to the personal and career goals of the students, students will be satisfied with their educational experience.

Women still rarely choose to seek employment in advanced manufacturing. Lack of familiarity with manufacturing jobs and education programs, lack of role models, and too few experiential opportunities contribute to women not choosing manufacturing jobs as well as other jobs traditionally held by men (Reha, Lufkin, & Harrison, 2009; St. Rose & Hill, 2013; Starobin & Laanan, 2008). Nontraditional jobs for women often provide higher wages and more opportunity for advancement than traditional jobs for women. This study is a qualitative thematic narrative analysis of factors that influenced women who chose an advanced manufacturing program at a community college to enter employment in a male-dominated career sector. Intersectionality and agency were the overarching concepts used to examine how working-class women navigated the unfamiliar spaces of higher education and manufacturing. Data were collected through interviews that spanned across several years as the women in the study advanced through the community college and into the manufacturing workplace. The primary research questions included: 1) What motivated the women to begin the program and what were their doubts? 2) How did the women’s experiences in the community college and participation in an advanced manufacturing program influence their education and career choices? And, 3) What might be learned through their stories, particularly their perspectives related to identity and agency? Women reported their top reason for initially pursuing education and employment in manufacturing was the potential income and employee benefits; however, as the women progressed, they reported additional benefits that included increased confidence at work and at home. The women cited earning a college credential as the most transformative aspect of their journey and attributed unexpected personal growth and self-discovery to their college experience. Additional findings pertained to the value of the college support program, the challenges of exercising agency in a patriarchal environment, and the advantages of women’s ways of working for both the employee and the employer. The results of this study have financial implications for women, programmatic implications for colleges, workforce development implications for communities, and employee recruitment and retention implications for manufacturers.

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This applied dissertation is an instrumental case study based on diffusion of innovations theory designed to gather student opinions regarding videoconference (VC) technology use in facilitating courses to undergraduate degree-seeking nursing students. The author of diffusion of innovations theory, Rogers (2003), recommended that more qualitative studies be conducted in education. Rogers and Jain (1968) recommended these studies should be conducted from the aspect of “receivers of innovation diffusion” (p.1) to provide feedback instrumental to implementation of technological innovations in academe. Further, Rogers stated that multiple data points should be used during the process of trialing an innovation. Therefore, a current VC course was selected from the nursing curriculum of a public state college hosting one of the largest nursing programs in the southeastern United States in which to conduct the study. A total of 32 students participated divided equally between two sites: Main campus and Regional campus. Further divided, 22 personal interviews were conducted and two focus groups; one for each campus consisting 5 students each. Additionally, included in the data corpus were 40 hours of classroom observation plus, college provided end of course (EOC) summary statements. These data were triangulated to determine whether students would accept VC technology unchanged, accept with modifications, or reject VC technology based on first time exposure to the innovation during the 16-week semester. Student innovation decisions were: 6 students accepted unchanged, 14 students accepted with modifications, and 12 students rejected the innovation. Students who rejected the innovation were exclusively from the regional campus, which was the receiving site the majority of the semester. First and second-cycle analyses yielded 67 codes resulting in 5 categories, which further developed into 3 emerging themes: (a) Interaction with instructors, materials, and distant students are key elements affecting adoption decisions of students regarding VC technology; (b) Student adoption decisions are influenced by faculty members in their use of VC technology; and (c) Student opinions indicate that reinvention is necessary for VC technology to be fully adopted into the present nursing program. The five categories: Interaction, equipment, teaching methodology, instructor technology training, and student orientation provided ample detail from which to inform practice regarding recommendations for reinvention (modification) of VC technology during the implementation stage of Rogers’ five stages of the innovation-decision model. These modifications could assist the college in gaining parity between the two nursing sites, which reported an 18.53 percentage point difference in first time pass rates on the NCLEX-RN exam reported by the Florida Department of Health (Florida Health, 2015).

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This dissertation explores middleground functionality of six-four chords by combining a voice-leading approach with hypermetrical analysis. By acknowledging the functional ambiguity of certain six-four chords that do not fit into traditional classifications (Aldwell and Schachter's cadential, consonant, passing, and neighboring six-four), or that can be seen as fitting in more than one category, I show that our interpretation of deeper-level structures is contingent upon how we choose to hear the functionality of these harmonies. Three types of six-four chords are introduced: cadential/consonant, passing/cadential, and neighboring/consonant six-four, illustrated by works by Robert Schumann, Brahms, and Saint-Säens. Each pair refers to an ambiguity—the same chord invites two alternative harmonic interpretations. I call these chords nontraditional in the sense that they shed more light on the musical structure with their ambiguity, rather than when being wedged into a single type of a six-four chord. This approach renews the ways of hearing the malleability of nonconventional Romantic structures and permits us to trace the path of each work as a unique tonal trajectory from a listener's perspective.