This ethnography draws upon fieldwork experiences in South Manchester, England. The central theme is an exploration of the everyday relatedness of mothering practices, class, space and belonging. I examine mothering as practiced in both the politics of state intervention and through the mundane experiences of women living in a specific social space: the Wythenshawe Council Estate.This research explores how support programs for raising children and a specific home-visiting volunteer project to support mothers promote the production and reproduction of a particular kind of moral citizen (individualised, autonomous, and disciplined selves). I argue that volunteering schemes come to play a key role as government technology. Women volunteers who live in the community in which they volunteer (indigenous experts) come to act as a model for other local women, who are usually defined by the authorities (professional experts), as lacking the right kind of knowledge The volunteers are thus challenged to enhance and empower their neighbors and friends. However, this transmission does not occur in a linear fashion, but in quite subversive ways. While local women are actively involved in the use and appropriation of the resources provided by these programs, at the same time, they resist and transform them according to their own needs and desires.I also argue that mothering functions as metaphor and metonym for the imagined nation-state. The experience of living on the Estate is not just a physical act, but a permanent negotiation of who you are as a person in the defined social space of the Estate. I learned what it means to belong to Wythenshawe through its spatiality, but I also learnt a particular mode of belonging through my own racial and class background. My experiences of being a Latin-American ethnographer living on the Estate, whose population is mostly white and living on low income, significantly shaped my fieldwork experiences

In recent years, the interest in work-life balance within organizations has increased to a great extent due to the high technology development such as smartphones, laptops, tablets etc. The existing high technology work equipment has generated a possibility for employees to be more available and work more if needed and expected by the employer. The extended availability has caused a lot of employees to increase their working time, which in turn has induced increased stress and pressure (Yarnall, 2008, 121). The consequences have led to that the dichotomy work-life and private life adopts more blurred borders and often develops into a situation like the ”role-overload” (Allvin et al., 2013, 107) and a conflict between these two life spheres becomes a fact. Nowadays, several Swedish organizations have work-life balance practices for their employees. Some of these practices are regulated under Swedish legislation, for instance parental leave and the possibility for parents with small children to work part-time. This study investigates the employees’ actual experiences of work-life balance practices and how these practices affect the employees and indirectly the employer. There is a general assumption that organizations that offer different work-life balance practices do so to attract and keep employees, which is the reason why such practices are being viewed as a positive measure (Doherty, 2004, 447). This study investigates if and in what way there are positive and/or negative experiences or consequences of work-life balance practices for the employees, which in turn also could be affecting the employers. The study is qualitative and empirical. Eight Swedish officials employed in different Swedish organizations (one informant works for an American organization) have been interviewed. The theoretical models that have been used to specify and define the research method are “The Career Active System Triad, CAST” (Baruch, 2004, 100) and “The pros and cons of alternative work arrangements” (B.H. Gottlieb, E.K. Kelloway and E. Barham 1998) and to explain the result “The role expansion theory” (Nordenmark, 2004, 47). This study reveals the informants’ reality and experiences, which shows how society through companies and organizations (mezzo level) forms and guides the individuals (micro level) to act in certain ways. This phenomenon illustrates how society generates a “collective conscience” (Durkheim in Andersen & Kaspersen, 2007, 64). This study shows that organizations and societies implicitly through legislation, rules, practices and policies generate “value rational social action” (Weber in Andersen & Kaspersen, 2007, 74-75) among the individuals, which make them act in a certain way in accordance with the value rational social action, whether or not it fits in their individual life at the moment. Nevertheless, the result also demonstrates the positive attitudes towards the work-life balance practices offered by organizations and society through legislation. These practices allow employees regardless of gender to make choices that enables them to have several roles in life, which has been verified in previous research to be beneficial for well-being and health in general.

There is a common thread of leadership research that theorizes the dynamic between a leader's behavior and their followers is essential in encouraging employees to exceed expectations, thereby increasing organizational performance (Bass, 1985; Bennis & Thomas, 2002; Kouzes & Posner, 1987). Research indicates transformational leadership correlates well with organizational culture, but the number of empirical studies is few. Kouzes and Posner (2002) maintain that organizations create culture; therefore a leader's behavior can and does affect organizational performance. Schein (2004) maintains it is leadership's duty to step outside the organizational culture to initiate changes (by their behavior) when warranted. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between employee perceived leadership practices and organizational culture within the aerospace industry. The U.S. space shuttle operations prime contractor, United Space Alliance, was selected as the population for this research. This research addresses the current dilemma in NASA's manned spaceflight program and their contractors with regard to their future: Organizational and cultural change must occur or routine access to space for the United States will become obsolete (Bergin, 2007; Guthrie & Shayo, 2005; Mason, 2004). United Space Alliance provides a unique population within which to sample, as it is a joint venture LLC with employees of varying heritage companies and job occupations. Use of Kouzes and Posner's Leadership Practices Inventory-Other (LPI-O) and the Denison Organizational Culture Survey (DOCS) have not been performed in such an environment. Web-based surveys collected data from the Manufacturing and Operations directorate (N = 1793). A total of 367 surveys were completed for an initial response rate of 20.47%. Both the LPI-O and DOCS raw mean scores were compared against published databases; only the Enabling Others to Act practice scored as a moderate impact. Customer focus scored the highest amongst cultural indices, with all three Mission indices ranking in the lowest percentiles. Regression analyses indicated neither leadership practices nor cultural traits explained any differences within respondents. Hierarchical regression revealed the five leadership practices accounted for 24% of the Total Culture variance. Pearson's Product-Moment correlation examined the strength of linear association between the variables. This study provided statistically significant (ñ < .05), weak to moderate positive correlation coefficients for all hypothesized relationships.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Cape Town includes two vegetable farming areas within the city limits, the Joostenbergvlakte/Kraaifontein area and the Philippi area. Both areas supply produce to local markets and further afield. Sporadically, high levels of cadmium, copper, lead and zinc have been found to occur in some of the soils, irrigation water resources and crops. To find the sources of specifically Cd, Pb and Zn to these agricultural systems, extensive analysis of several heavy metals in inputs such as fertilizers, agrochemicals and supplementary water resources to these farming areas was undertaken. Heavy metal concentrations in soils, irrigation water resources and crops were also determined. Two mitigation techniques that could be used to remediate Cd, Pb and Zn contamination were investigated. The first mitigation method included immobilization of heavy metals as phosphate complexes by using a triple super phosphate fertilizer, while the second method involved mobilisation and thus leaching of heavy metals away from plant roots using EDTA. These mitigation methods were tested in a pot experiment using cabbage as the experimental crop and soil from these areas as growth medium. A survey of common farming practices in these two areas and farmers‟ willingness to use remediation methods was conducted. The results in general indicated that crops from these two areas were fit for human consumption and that raw (unprocessed) cattle manure and chicken manure were the greatest sources of heavy metals in both farming areas. It was found that the use of EDTA led to elevated levels of Cd, Pb and Zn in cabbage, while the use of triple super phosphate at a low concentration contributed to limiting the uptake of Cd, Pb and Zn, but only minimally. Most farmers are willing to apply remediation methods but only when they have been proven necessary. In general, the same farming practices occurred in both areas. Farmers from the Philippi area tended to rely more heavily on subterranean water resources. It became clear that unprocessed manures should be used with caution and that more appropriate heavy metal remediation methods should be sought.

Submitted by Rafael Santana (rafael.silvasantana@ufpe.br) on 2017-08-03T19:05:41Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DissertaçãoFelipeDeBritoLima[Psicologia-Cognitiva2015].pdf: 3661452 bytes, checksum: 92b4b594975779c5840e9f76802cf341 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-03T19:05:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) DissertaçãoFelipeDeBritoLima[Psicologia-Cognitiva2015].pdf: 3661452 bytes, checksum: 92b4b594975779c5840e9f76802cf341 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-25 / CAPES / Esta pesquisa visa avaliar níveis de engajamento estudantil na execução de uma sequência de atividades de aprendizagem mediadas pelo uso de aplicativos educacionais inseridos numa prática de ensino multimodal. O experimento foi conduzido em uma escola estadual do Recife e teve como participantes 1 professor de matemática e 92 estudantes de 4 turmas de 1º ano do Ensino Médio. Os estudantes foram sistematicamente expostos a sequências de atividades envolvendo o uso de aplicativos educacionais, implementadas a partir de duas concepções distintas: a primeira associada a aulas tradicionais, expositivas e lineares, e a segunda tendo como fundamento (a) a literatura acerca do engajamento estudantil e das práticas de ensino multimodais e (b) a aplicação de um instrumento de aferição de familiaridade com ferramentas tecnológicas, utilizado para traçar um perfil dos respondentes. A ação dos estudantes sobre os aplicativos utilizados foi registrada em todas as aulas por meio de dispositivos de captura de telas e o material resultante foi analisado de acordo com categorias de comportamentos quantificáveis, desenvolvidas com base na metodologia da pesquisa em ciências do comportamento. Os resultados indicam que os níveis de engajamento variaram entre 84,78 e 82,61% na abordagem multimodal enquanto os índices obtidos através da prática tradicional foram de 26,09 a 19,57%. O H de Kruskal-Wallis (sig. ≥ 0,829) indica que as 4 turmas responderam de modo similar à cada tipo de sequência de atividades e o Wilcoxon pareado indica diferenças significativas intragrupo em todos as turmas (sig.≦0,014) quando contrastadas as performances associadas a cada abordagem. Características do ensino multimodal, como suporte a autonomia e interação via diferentes mídias, foram associadas à promoção do engajamento estudantil, e a partir das sequências de atividades conduzidas para o experimento, delineou-se um exemplo detalhado de implementação destas práticas que poderá ser usado pra fins de formação docente. / This study aims at assessing levels of student engagement in a sequence of learning activities mediated by the use of educational applets in a Blended Learning scenario. The experiment was carried out at a state public school in Recife and had as its participants a math teacher and 92 freshmen High School students from 4 different classes. Students were systematically exposed to sequences of learning activities featuring the use of educational applets and implemented based on two distinct approaches: the first, associated with traditional, linear and lecture-based lessons, and the second being informed by (a) current literature on student engagement and blended learning systems and approaches as well as (b) data collected through a measure of digital literacy intended to provide a profile of the learners. Students’ actions using the applets were recorded by screen capture devices and the resulting output was analyzed according to categories of quantifiable behavior developed within the scope of scientific methodology in behavioral research. Results shows that levels of student engagement range from 84,78 to 82,61% in blended learning scenarios and from 26,09 to 19,57% when under the traditional approach. Kruskal-Wallis’ H (sig. ≥ 0,829) indicates the four groups responded similarly to each type of sequence of activities and the Wilcoxon signed rank test points to significant intra-group differences (sig.≦0,014) in all four groups when contrasting the performances associated with each approach. Features of Blended Learning, such as autonomy support and interaction via different media were associated with the promotion of student engagement and based on the activities conducted for the experiment, a detailed sample of implementation, which may be used for teacher development purposed, was effective designed.

abstract: Implementation of large-scale initiatives within educational systems can present many challenges, particularly when the initiative is non-linear and relies on deep understanding rooted in a restorative mindset. This study examined implementation of restorative justice within one large, primarily urban school district in the United States. Through a mixed methods approach, data was collected from three personnel levels of the organization: district leadership, school leadership, and school staff members and applied a sensemaking framework to examine the flow of information and understanding within and among organizational levels. To accomplish this investigation, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. First, interview data was collected from district and school level leaders to inform supportive leadership actions and organizational structures and also to understand challenges that leaders faced when working to implement restorative justice within a district and across a school campus. Next, school staff members participated in a survey to provide deeper understanding regarding their confidence in implementing restorative justice practices, their perceptions of school and district level administrative support, and the alignment of their beliefs and actions with tenets of restorative justice. Finally, results were analyzed and compared across levels of the organization to provide a summary of findings and recommendations for ongoing and expanded implementation at the school at the focus of the study and across other schools within the district. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2020

In 2008 flooding occurred over a majority of Iowa, damaging homes, displacing residents, and taking lives. In the wake of this event, the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) was charged with the investigation of distributed flood mitigation strategies to reduce the frequency and magnitude of peak flows in Iowa. This dissertation is part of the several studies developed by the IFC and focused on the application of a coupled physics based modeling platform, to quantify the coupled benefits of distributed flood mitigation strategies on the reduction of peak flows in an agricultural watershed. Additional investigation into tile drainage and terraces, illustrated the hydrologic impact of each commonly applied agricultural practice. The effect of each practice was represented in numerical simulations through a parameter adjustment. Systems were analyzed at the field scale, to estimate representative parameters, and applied at the watershed scale. The impact of distributed flood mitigation wetlands reduced peak flows by 4 % to 17 % at the outlet of a 45 km2 watershed. Variability in reduction was a product of antecedent soil moisture, 24-hour design storm total depth, and initial structural storage capacity. The highest peak flow reductions occurred in scenarios with dry soil, empty project storage, and low rainfall depths. Peak flow reductions were estimated to dissipate beyond a total drainage area of 200 km2, approximately 2 km downstream of the small watershed outlet. A numerical tracer analysis identified the contribution of tile drainage to stream flow (QT/Q) which varied between 6 % and 71 % through an annual cycle. QT/Q responded directly to meteorological forcing. Precipitation driven events produced a strong positive logarithmic correlation between QT/Q and drainage area. The addition of precipitation into the system saturated near surface soils, increased lateral soil water movement, and reduced the contribution of instream tile flow. A negative logarithmic trend in QT/Q to drainage area persisted in non-event durations. Simulated gradient terraces reduced and delayed peak flows in subcatchments of less than 3 km2 of drainage area. The hydrographs were shifted responding to rainfall later than non-terraced scenarios, while retaining the total volumetric outflow over longer time periods. The effects of dense terrace systems quickly dissipated, and found to be inconsequential at a drainage area of 45 km2. Beyond the analysis of individual agricultural features, this work assembled a framework to analyze the feature at the field scale for implementation at the watershed scale. It showed large scale simulations reproduce field scale results well. The product of this work was, a systematic hydrologic characterization of distributed flood mitigation structures, pattern tile drainage, and terrace systems facilitating the simulation of each practices in a physically-based coupled surface-subsurface model.

Thesis advisor: Karen Arnold / U.S. Jesuit Catholic universities are called not only to be excellent academic institutions but also to carry out a mission to educate and form “students in such a way and in order that they may become men and women of faith and of service to their communities” (Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, 2012, p. 3). This formative goal calls Jesuit institutions to engage in practices that provide students with experiences that support the continued growth of a strong and engaged religious faith. Based on the American Association of Colleges & Universities’ nine high impact practices and seven additional Jesuit Catholic high impact practices, this study investigated the relationship between individuals’ engagement in these specific high impact practices and their middle adult religiosity or strength of religious faith. In this research, 483 alumni from 16 Jesuit colleges and universities reported high levels of religiosity in middle adulthood, as measured by the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire (Plante & Boccaccini, 1997b). Descriptive statistics and OLS multiple regression analysis showed a statistically significant, positive relationship between adult religiosity and participants’ engagement in Jesuit Catholic high impact practices as undergraduates, both across practices and specifically associated with participation in the Jesuit practice of the Examen of Conscience. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / For students who have experienced trauma, to succeed academically and feel that their social/emotional needs are being met, district and school leaders must create inclusive environments where students feel welcome, taken care of, and safe. This qualitative case study, part of a larger group study of inclusive leadership practices, examined how district and school leaders in a Massachusetts public school district provided an inclusive environment for students who have experienced trauma. The study utilized a qualitative case study design which included 24 semi-structured interviews of district and school leaders and a focus group with six teachers. Findings indicated that district and school leaders help foster a shared vision for inclusive practices by creating structures that can support the needs of students and by providing teachers with the support and training they need to support all students. Inclusive leaders created culture, provided resources, and allowed opportunities for professional development and training that aligned with the framework and cornerstones of social justice leadership (Theoharis, 2009). Implications indicate that district and school leaders have an opportunity to provide equal access, equity, and social justice for all students by assessing current practices in place, identifying areas for growth, and believing in a vision and mission where all students have the right to be educated in an inclusive environment. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / Demographic shifts in American society and public schools have increased the urgency among educators and other stakeholders to ensure educational equity and excellence are a reality for all students (Brown, 2007; Dean, 2002; Gay, 2000; Johnson, 2007). One very notable shift in the United States has been the dramatic enrollment increase of English Learner (EL) students. Supporting ELs’ achievement on standardized testing and increasing their graduation rates have been particular challenges, the meeting of which has required school districts to think differently. Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) has been one solution, through the application of which districts can focus on teacher preparation, culturally responsive curricula, school inclusiveness and the engagement of students and parents in community contexts. This study is part of a larger study that examined leadership practices that foster equity, included twenty semi-structured interviews of district leaders, school leaders, and teachers. Findings from this study indicate that school leaders have enacted and supported culturally responsive behaviors to educate ELs and suggest how leaders might employ CRSL behaviors for the dual purpose of supporting ELs’ achievement on standardized testing and increasing their graduation rates. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.