Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Candyce S. Russell / There has been a rapid growth of heterosexual Black and White interracial couples in the United States in recent decades and numbers continue to increase. In addition, the concept of racial identity within Southern heterosexual Black and White interracial couples has not been explored. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand how racial identity affects the dynamics of Black and White interracial relationships within the context of their extended family and community and the effect of interracial relationships on racial identity development. The focus of the study was to explore how partners in heterosexual Black and White interracial couples living in the South constructed and/or defined their individual racial identity, how the couple addressed cultural difference within the relationship, and how the couple handled opposition toward their relationship. Three theoretical/philosophical frameworks were used in this study. Phenomenology and social constructionism were utilized to provide a framework for the methodology of the study; Black racial identity theory (Cross, 1971, 1991) and White racial identity theory (Helms, 1990) were utilized to provide a framework for thinking about racial identity development. The sample consisted of four couples, each with children. Each couple was interviewed conjointly in a neutral setting and then allowed the researcher to accompany them on an outing in a public setting. This experience allowed the researcher to observe how the couple was received in public and how the couple managed public response. Interviews provided rich descriptions of how the research participants experienced themselves as individuals and as a couple in their marriage with respect to racial identity. Through case study analysis, six main themes and 22 sub-themes were identified. The main themes included: marital dynamics, racial identity, influences, reactions, advice, and counseling. Cross-case analysis revealed a small number of subthemes shared across cases. Differences between cases were considerable and were presented via the identification of new subthemes and unique cases. Three new subthemes were identified: normal couple, gaining acceptance, and religious affiliation. Recommendations are offered for future research and, tentatively, for marriage and family therapists who may work with couples similar to those in this study. Most notably, couples in this study saw themselves as “normal couples” brought together by love, and did not necessarily think of themselves as “interracial.” They did, however, talk as a couple about how to racially identify their children and how to help them respond to questions about their racial heritage.

Racial identity can be defined as the personal understanding, both explicitly and implicitly, that one is similar to some people and different from others, according to concepts based around the idea of race. In the US, there has been a lot of research, including on the identity of persons having parents from different races. However, in the UK, there is the view that race is a taboo topic, and this is particularly true in psychology; hence strikingly little such research has been conducted. This situation seems most evident particularly regarding how mixed-race persons develop their racial identity. This thesis begins to redress the imbalance. A literature review on "race (Chapter 1)", is followed by a literature review on "mixed-race (Chapter 2)", with many ideas forwarded in these two chapters then tested in five further qualitative and/or quantitative research chapters. In order, these investigate the salience of race at the explicit level (Chapter 3), then at the implicit level (Chapter 4, regarding black and white persons). Chapters then investigate the mixed-race identity qualitatively first in adults (Chapter 5), and then qualitatively/quantitatively alongside self-esteem measures in adolescents (Chapter 6); before a fifth empirical chapter considers the implicit level again but this time specifically regarding attitudes by and towards mixed-race persons (Chapter 7). Taken together, the five empirical chapters find that the parental races tend to see "race" differently to each other. Regarding specifically mixed-race, we find that mixed-race persons shift in identity first from childhood (a more black identity) to adolescence (white identity), and then back again from adolescence to young adulthood (black identity). We additionally find that mixed-race persons tend to have a less definite sense of identity than their parental races, and that this view of mixed-race is also held by one of the parental groups (the white group). It is hoped that further research will now begin to build on these findings. The final chapter (Chapter 8) offers a start at this, outlining a new theoretical account of the development of a mixed-race identity.

The artist's process in which she examines the built environment through the medium of black and white photography. By tracing the trajectory of her awareness of architecture from her early career as a dancer, to the making of photographic images, the artist illuminates the process of deconstructing architectural and pictorial space into fragmented yet illusionistically convincing photographic montages. Influenced by the urban localities in which she dwells, she tells the story of being captivated by the post-industrial landscape of Williamsburg, Brookyn, NY, followed by landing in New Orleans and her fascination with post-Katrina architecture. Grounded in the analog techniques of traditional black and white photography, Levitsky describes the various means by which she alters her images to create visionary reconstructions of buildings in transitional states.

In the last decades camera systems have continuously evolved and have found wide range of applications. One of the main applications of a modern camera system is surveillance in outdoor areas. The camera system, based on local computations, can detect and classify objects autonomously. However, the distance of the objects from the camera plays a vital role on the classification results. This could be specially challenging when lighting conditions are varying. Therefore, in this thesis, we are examining the effect of changing dis-tances on object in terms of number of pixels. In addition, the effect of distance on classification is studied by preparing four different sets. For consideration of high signal to noise ratio, we are integrating thermal and visual image sensors for the same test in order to achieve better spectral resolution. In this study, four different data sets, thermal, visu-al, binary from visual and binary from thermal have been prepared to train the classifier. The categorized objects include bicycle, human and vehicle. Comparative studies have been performed in order to identify the data sets accuracy. It has been demonstrated that for fixed distances bi-level data sets, obtained from visual images, have better accuracy. By using our setup, the object (human) with a length of 179 and width of 30 has been classified correctly with minor error up to 150 meters for thermal, visual as well as binary from visual. Moreover, for bi-level images from thermal, the human object has been correctly classified as far away as 250 meters.

The majority of smokers - regardless of race - wish to quit. Quitting tobacco use is a top national priority to improve the quality of life for all people. There is a wide range of effective tobacco addiction treatment strategies. Telephone counseling services or Tobacco Quit Lines (TQL) is one of the effective smoking cessation aids available to all people in the U.S. free of charge. This is a cross sectional analysis of data from Georgia Tobacco Quit Line (TQL). The study examined the differences in the utilization rates of the Georgia TQL by different smoking population. Analysis revealed that 2.9 per 1000 male smokers in Georgia called the TQL compared to 5.0 per 1000 females. Also, the rate of calling among black was significantly higher than that among white smokers. Television commercials promoting the use of the TQL were successful in reaching the Black smokers.

Darbo tikslas ir uždaviniai: 1. Ištirti laktozės kiekio kintamumą LVA Praktinio mokymo centro karvių piene. 2. Įvertinti tvartinio ir ganyklinio laikotarpio įtaką laktozės kiekiui. 3. Įvertinti sezono įtak�� laktozės kiekiui. 4. Nustatyti ir įvertinti mėnesio įtaką laktozės kiekiui karvių piene. 5. Nustatyti ir įvertinti laktacijos įtaką laktozės kiekiui. 6. Nustatyti ir įvertinti laktacijos mėnesio įtaką laktozės kiekiui Buvo skaičiuojami statistiniai rodikliai Vidurkis (mean), vid. paklaida (std. Error of Mean), median (mediana), minimum, maximum. Darbe naudojama programinė įranga: Exsel, Word. Susisteminta, sugrupuota bei analizuota Excel pagalba. Tam panaudoti pirminės informacijos sisteminimo, apibendrinimo ir matematiniai duomenų apdorojimo metodai. Karvės buvo sugrupuotos pagal laktacijas, laktacijos mėnesius, pagal sezonus, metų mėnesius. Teorinės šio darbo medžiagos kaupimui ir jos analizei panaudoti loginio mąstymo, sisteminimo, monografinis ir apibendrinimų metodai. Praktinės tyrimų medžiagos analizavimui panaudoti analitiniai, statistiniai metodai. Rezultatai ir išvados: 1.Tvartiniu ir ganykliniu laikotarpiais laktozės kiekiai karvių piene skyrėsi 0,07 % 2. Didžiausias laktozės kiekis karvių piene buvo pavasarį, o mažiausias – rudenį ir žiemą. 3. Kovo ir gegužės mėnesiais buvo didžiausi laktozės ir riebalų kiekiai piene. 4. Pirmos laktacijos karvių piene yra daugiau (0,21%) laktozės, nei III ir vyresnių laktacijų karvių piene. 5. Laktacijos mėnesio atžvilgiu... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Object and tasks of work: 1. To evaluate the variability of lactose quantity in milk from cows from Centre for Practical Instruction of LVA. 2. To evaluate the influence of periods, when cows are in cowshed and when in pasture, to lactose quantity. 3. To evaluate the season‘s influence to lactose quantity. 4. To institute and evaluate month‘s influence to lactose quantity of cows milk. 5. To institute and evaluate lactation influence to lactose quantity. 6. To institute and evaluate influence of lactation months to lactose quantity. There were being calculated the following statistical indexes: mean, error of mean, median, minimum, and maximum. There were used the following software: Excel, Word. Data was systemised, grouped and analysed using Excel. There were used processing methods of primal information filing, generalization and mathematics data. Cows were grouped according to lactations, months of lactation, seasons, and according months of the year. For accumulation and analysis of this theoretical material, there were used the following methods: logical thinking, filing, monographic and generalization. For analysis of practical research material there were used analytical and statistical methods. Results and conclusions:1. Lactose quantity during the periods, when cows were in cowshed and when in pasture, in cow milk differed in 0,07 %; 2. The biggest lactose quantity in cows’ milk was in spring and the smallest in autumn and winter; 3. In months of March and May... [to full text]

Thesis (M.A.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (June 27, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: The number of interracial marriages and multiracial individuals continues to increase rapidly in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Black Female (BF) /White Male (WM) marriages are increasing, but not as quickly as other interracial marriages (Wang, 2012) leaving this population void in social science literature available to social workers. Consequently, there is a lack of information available to understand factors that contribute to these couple identities and how they navigate in the monoracialized systems they encounter. This qualitative study explored how BF/WM partners married in different generational cohorts experience and navigate race and identity as a couple through video recorded interviews where couples shared their narrative as a dyad. The secondary data analyzed was originally collected through snowball and convenient sampling to find BF/WM married couples that were married different generational cohorts living in the Phoenix area. Couples were asked to respond to starter questions (Linhorst, 2002) that encouraged them to share experiences as a couple interacting with community, social, and family systems. Ecological systems framework and social construction were used to guide analysis. Results from the multimodal transcript analysis and detailed review of the video data found themes of invisibility of the couples' relationships from community and family. Differences between cohorts were identified with movement from separation of racial identities within the couple identity to an infusion of both identities represented within the couple. Additionally, insights into the benefits of videography as a data collection method and its usefulness in to connecting social work research to practice were identified and align with the NASW Cultural Competence standards (NASW, 2001). / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Social Work 2014

abstract: Background and purpose: Regular physical activity (PA) provides benefits for cognitive health and helps to improve or maintain quality of life among older adults. Objective PA measures have been increasingly used to overcome limitations of self-report measures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of objectively measured PA and sedentary time with cognitive function among older adults. Methods: Participants were recruited from the parent REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) Study. ActicalTM accelerometers provided estimates of PA variables, including moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), high light PA (HLPA), low light PA (LLPA) and sedentary time, for 4-7 consecutive days. Prevalence and incidence of cognitive impairment were defined by the Six-Item Screener. Letter fluency, animal fluency, word list learning and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (orientation and recall) were conducted to assess executive function and memory. Results: Of the 7,339 participants who provided accelerometer wear data > 4 days (70.1 ± 8.6 yr, 54.2% women, 31.7% African American), 320 participants exhibited impaired cognition. In cross-sectional analysis, participants in the highest MVPA% quartile had 39% lower odds of cognitive impairment than those in the lowest quartile (OR: 0.61, 95% C.I.: 0.39-0.95) after full adjustment. Further analysis shows most quartiles of MVPA% and HLPA% were significantly associated with executive function and memory (P<0.01). During 2.7 ± 0.5 years of follow-up, 3,385 participants were included in the longitudinal analysis, with 157 incident cases of cognitive impairment. After adjustments, participants in the highest MVPA% quartile had 51% lower hazards of cognitive impairment (HR: 0.49, 95% C.I.: 0.28-0.86). Additionally, MVPA% was inversely associated with change in memory z-scores (P<0.01), while the highest quartile of HLPA% was inversely associated with change in executive function and memory z-scores (P<0.01). Conclusion: Higher levels of objectively measured MVPA% were independently associated with lower prevalence and incidence of cognitive impairment, and better memory and executive function in older adults. Higher levels of HLPA% were also independently associated with better memory and executive function. The amount of MVPA associated with lower risk of cognitive impairment (259 min/week) is >70% higher than the minimal amount of MVPA recommended by PA guidelines. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Physical Activity, Nutrition and Wellness 2015

The photographer discusses the work in Boundaries, her Master of Fine Arts exhibition on display at Slocumb Galleries, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee from October 31 to November 4, 2011. The exhibition consists of 20 black and white photographs, the main subject of which is the photographer's son. The photographs and supporting thesis explore the idea of boundaries real and implied, and how confinement can prompt a variety of behaviors. Topics include the process and evolution of the work and the artists who have influenced it, the importance of light and the challenge of photographing family. Included is a catalogue of the exhibition.