This research aims to understand how black descriptive representation comes about and why black descriptive representation matters, at the state level. What distinguishes this research from previous works is its simultaneous analysis of different forms of descriptive representation at the subnational level, rather than in Congress or at the local level. This research argues black descriptive representation can take four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity and caucus. An important and understudied mechanism for black descriptive representation is the formation of state legislative black caucuses and their potential to influence policy and behavior. Subnational descriptive representation need not have negative tradeoffs for black substantive policy representation, as has been found with minority representation in Congress (Lublin 1997). Black representation is akin to a diamond, and looking at it from only one perspective is similar to judging a diamond only by its color, instead of also judging it by its hardness and fluorescence, as well as its clarity, shape, and size. In short, this work recognizes the multifaceted nature of black representation in the states. This research defines a theory of black descriptive representation as taking four different forms: dyadic, collective, parity, and caucus. Dyadic descriptive representation is the one-to-one relationship between a legislator and a voter, and heretofore it has received the most scholarly attention. This one-to-one relationship may occur between a minority citizen and their elected representation in Congress, in the state legislature, or in local government (Bobo and Gilliam 1990; Barreto, Segura, and Woods 2004), but this work focuses on dyadic descriptive representation in Congress. Although some argue that dyadic descriptive representation leads to better policy outcomes for blacks (Whitby 1997; Hutchings, McClerking, and Charles 2004), and encourages blacks to engage in politics (Gay 2001; Gay 2002; Tate 2003; Banducci, Donovan, and Karp 2004; Griffin and Keane 2006), others argue that dyadic descriptive representation is not only unnecessary to implement policies beneficial to blacks (Swain 1993), but also that it may actually lead to poorer policy outcomes for the group (Lublin 1997). That is, there is a tradeoff between increasing the number of black representatives (descriptive representation) and passing policies beneficial to the group (substantive representation). Collective descriptive representation is the relationship that an individual has with elected officials with whom they share a group identity. For blacks, collective descriptive representation may include the percentage of black lawmakers in the state legislature or Congress. An argument developed in this research is that collective descriptive representation in the state legislature, a topic rarely studied by scholars of race and ethnicity, may maximize both descriptive and substantive representation, and as a result, it may encourage black political behavior and lead to better policy outcomes for the group. Both parity and caucus descriptive representation are extensions of collective descriptive representation in the state legislature. Parity descriptive representation examines the extent to which the percentage of blacks in the state legislature is equal to a state's black population and is a measure of racial equity in electoral representation. Caucus descriptive representation is the formal organization of black lawmakers within a state legislature. Almost no published research has empirically studied legislative black caucuses in the states (for an exception see King-Meadows and Schaller 2006). Since the four forms of descriptive representation are distinct, the expectation is that they be caused by different factors. Moreover, this research builds on previous work by measuring and defining collective descriptive representation in all fifty states and is the first research to argue that state legislative black caucuses shape political behavior.

Creating is the highest level of intellectual functioning in the cognitive domain. As standardized testing has increased, U.S. K-12 education has shown a decline in creativity for students. Mindfulness meditation (MM) increases creativity and could serve as a solution to this dilemma. This study's purpose was to enrich findings regarding MM's role in enhanced creativity by conducting an exploration regarding lived experiences of creating for individuals who practice MM. A gap in the literature exploring the topics of MM and creativity together using qualitative methods was identified; therefore, research understanding lived experiences of creating within the experiential context of MM was necessary. The main research question, followed by 3 closely related questions, examined the subjective meaning of the experience of creating for MM practitioners. To provide lived experiences regarding creating, 3 participants colored in a mandala and were interviewed. Descriptive transcendental phenomenology was used to explore the act of creating from the perspectives of these 3 individuals. Participants' described experiences supported Sternberg's theory that creativity developed as a habit and suggested that MM actuated Csikszentmihályi's creative flow. Positive societal implications of bringing MM into U.S. K-12 schools as a conduit for creativity cannot be overrated. MM offers an integrated modality to increased creativity, communication, collaboration, and critical thinking, or the 4 Cs. Future studies regarding MM and creativity's relationship are recommended to further enrich current literature and address the existing gap.

The population of people experiencing homelessness has decreased less than 15% in the last ten years, but issues like mental illness and substance use are rising. There are many misconceptions about race, gender, location and age of people experiencing homelessness. Music therapy research about the homeless population is minimal and often focused on just one setting or treatment location. The purpose of this study was to better understand the relationship between music therapists and people experiencing homelessness. A survey of 365 music therapists in the United States revealed just under half of working clinicians provide services to people experiencing homelessness. Results from the survey revealed the most common settings where music therapists provided service to people experiencing homelessness were mental health, medical, and school systems. Additionally, the results discussed people experiencing homelessness’ demographic differences in clinician’s experiences versus annual reports. Results are not to be generalized but to be used as a tool to better understand people experiencing homelessness.

[pt] O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar a tradução para o inglês de A vida como ela é…, uma coletânea de contos de Nelson Rodrigues, originalmente publicados como coluna diária no jornal Última Hora de 1951 a 1961. Essa tradução, Life As It Is, foi feita pelo tradutor Alex Ladd e publicada nos Estados Unidos pela editora norte-americana Host Publications em 2009. O estudo foi informado pela teoria dos polissistemas de Itamar Even-Zohar (1990), pela abordagem descritivista da tradução de Gideon Toury (1995), pelas ideias de André Lefevere, em especial o conceito de patronagem (1992), e pela proposta de categorização de estratégias tradutórias de referentes culturais elaborada por Javier Franco Aixelá (1996). A análise de Life As It Is enfocou tanto a sua função no polissistema literário norte-americano como o produto em si, avaliando-se os efeitos das escolhas tradutórias de Alex Ladd a partir da identificação dos itens de especificidade cultural segundo a categorização de Franco Aixelá. / [en] The objective of this thesis is to analyze the English translation of A vida como ela é…, a collection of short stories written by Nelson Rodrigues and originally published as a daily column in the Última Hora newspaper between 1951 and 1961. This translation, Life As It Is, was carried out by the translator Alex Ladd and published in the United States by Host Publications in 2009. This study was informed by Itamar Even- Zohar’s polysystem theory (1990), Gideon Toury’s descriptive approach to translation (1995), the ideas of André Lefevere, particularly the concept of patronage (1992), and the proposal of categorizing translation strategies of cultural references, created by Javier Franco Aixelá (1996). The analysis of Life As It Is focused both on its function within the North American literary polysystem as well as the product itself, by applying Franco Aixelá’s categorization of culture-specific items in order to evaluate the effects of the translating choices made by Alex Ladd.

The majority of organic foods consumed by Americans are sourced internationally, which has global-reaching implications on health, economics, and sustainability. Current research findings show that environmental devastation and negative health outcomes have resulted from unsustainable, nonorganic agricultural practices; including herbicides, pesticides, and overcultivation. However, there is a lack of quantitative research on factors that motivate Americans to consume organic food. Based on the theory of planned behavior, this quantitative study employed an online survey to examine the role of attitudes, subjective norms, descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control on the intention and behavior of American consumers to consume organic foods. Additional descriptors of willingness to pay and perceived product attributes were also measured. Theory of planned behavior and American Organic Consumption questionnaires were completed by 276 adult consumers in the United States. Multiple regression analyses were performed to identify relationships and create predictive models between constructs of a modified theory of planned behavior, sociodemographics, and organic consumption. Key findings revealed that a modified theory of planned behavior, which included descriptive norms, predicted intent to consume organics stronger than the nonmodified theory of planned behavior. Attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and descriptive norms were significant predictors of intention to consume organics. Health was perceived as the major product attribute for organic consumption and low willingness to pay was perceived as the major barrier. This study has implications for positive social change such that it contributes to understanding motivational factors behind American's food choices and consumption, which can be used to modify and target consumer behaviors and market campaigns.

Suicide attempt and completion rates are significantly higher for the transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) population. TGNC adolescents experience many challenges and adversities, which are compounded when they live in rural communities. The lived experiences of rural TGNC adolescents with social media were unknown and created a gap in the research. This study was grounded in transgender, gender minority stress, and resiliency theories, along with the conceptual frameworks of rural communities and grit. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological qualitative research study was to explore the lived experiences of rural TGNC individuals (18-24-year-olds) with social media during adolescence. Data was collected through a brief online survey and face-to-face interviews with 9 participants. Interviews were recorded and transcribed. Data analysis included clustering of themes into textual and structural descriptions, as described by Giorgi. Results explored the lived experience and the essence of social media for rural TGNC adolescents. Rural TGNC adolescents reported emotional awareness and insight with both positive and negative aspects of social media, along with frustration and isolation. These results and implications may inform mental health professionals and providers about the social media experiences of rural TGNC adolescents, including how to incorporate these findings, better serve the rural TGNC population, and increase grit. These findings were also a voice for a hidden population of TGNC individuals living in rural communities during adolescence.

Flavor lexicons are used in sensory evaluation to determine the flavor profile of a food product. The objective of this study was to develop a flavor lexicon for cooked beef, which can then be used in various projects relating to beef quality such as studies investigating animal diet, marinating, ageing, or other enhancements. A descriptive panel of 10 people was used to develop a flavor lexicon of 18 attributes, including astringent, barny, bloody, brothy, browned, gamey, grassy, juicy, fatty, livery, metallic, oxidized, roast beef, and the five basic tastes (bitter, salty, sour, sweet, and umami). In contrast to other studies on beef, this lexicon was developed to include both positive and negative attributes. The lexicon was able to show that rib eye steaks from the Longissimus dorsi muscle in grass-fed animals were significantly (p<0.05) higher in barny, bitter, gamey, and grassy flavors, and lower in juicy and umami flavors. The steaks were also rated by consumers, who showed a preference for grain-fed beef over grass-fed beef. The ratings of the descriptive panel were related to the consumer panel scores to equate the lexicon terms with a positive or negative consumer degree of liking score. Those terms that were considered positive in this study due to their positive correlation with consumer liking include brothy, umami, roast beef, juicy, browned, fatty, and salty. The terms that were inversely associated with consumer liking were barny, bitter, gamey and grassy, among others. A separate descriptive panel was conducted on the Spinalis dorsi (or “cap” muscle) of the rib eye steak, with similar results. Additionally, descriptive and consumer evaluations found no difference between two types of grass diets, namely alfalfa and sainfoin. Different mixtures of beef and chicken were also evaluated to determine flavor differences between the two meats. Chicken was found to be more closely correlated to brothy, juicy, sweet, and umami, among others, while beef was found to be more closely correlated to terms such as gamey, bloody, oxidized, metallic, roast beef, and astringent. Throughout these tests, the newly developed lexicon was shown to be an effective tool for profiling fresh meat samples.

In USA, despite recent efforts to improve work zone safety, the number of crashes and fatalities at work zones has increased continuously over several past years. For addressing the existing safety problems, a clear understanding of the characteristics of work zone crashes is necessary. This thesis summarized a research study focusing on work zone traffic crash analysis to investigate the characteristics of work zone crashes and to identify the factors contributing to injury severity at work zones. These factors included roadway design, environmental conditions, traffic conditions and vehicle/driver features. Especially, special population groups, which divided into older, middle Age, and young, were inspected. This study was based on history crash data from the Florida State, which were extracted from the Florida CAR (Crash Analysis Reporting) system. Descriptive statistics method was used to find the characteristics of crashes at work zones. After then, an injury severity predict model, using the ordered probit regression technology, was developed to investigate the impacts of various factors on different the injury severity at work zones. From the model, it can be concluded that some factors, including the road section with curve, alcohol/drugs involved, a high speed, angle crash and too young or old drivers are more likely to increase the probability of angle crashes. Based on the magnitudes of the variable coefficients, the factor of maximum posted speed have a great impact to injury severity, which shows restriction to driving speed is principle countermeasure for improving work zone safety.

Family centred care is a concept espoused to be fundamental to achieving excellence in paediatric nursing. Although it is recognised that family centred care includes the child's rights to self determination the focus of this study is parental participation in the decision making and care of their hospitalised child at a partnership level. This is based on negotiation and requires frequent, effective communication between parents and nurses and for each to respect the other's knowledge and appreciate the other has something to offer in the relationship which will benefit the child. The purpose of this study was to identify whether family centred care was occurring in paediatric settings in rural Western Australia and explored parents' and nurses' perceptions of the concept. A questionnaire was designed based on the literature and common themes identified from focus groups. Convenience sampling was used and 15 rural hospitals facilitated participation of 243 parents who had a child under ten years of age hospitalised and 108 nurses who cared for children. Exploratory factor analysis identified four subscales from the parents' questionnaire and three subscales from the nurses' questionnaire which measured separate concepts of family centred care. Descriptive statistics were generated for each subscale, and independent t-tests, ANOVA and correlations were examined between independent variables and subscales of family centred care. There was a statistically significant difference in scores for parents' perceptions of `child friendly environment' between regional and district hospitals. Those parents who did not have social support scored a statistically significantly lower mean score for `respect as parent'. Nurses in district hospitals generated statistically significantly higher mean scores for `family focussed hospital' than those who worked in regional hospitals. / Parents and nurses both perceived that parents wanted to continue parenting their hospitalised child, however parents wanted to provide more nursing care than was perceived by nurses. Nurses' perceptions of delivering family centred care were greater than the perceptions of parents receiving it, however they were consistent in items that were scored low. Nurses did ask parents about the amount of participation they wanted in their child's care on admission however, it was not done on a regular basis. Parents perceived that nurses were unaware of other things that parents needed to attend to while their child was hospitalised and therefore did not enable parents to attend to these needs. More frequent negotiation of roles between parents and nurses by communicating each shift, or at least daily, could narrow the gap between differing perceptions in care provision and also enable parents to attend to their other roles thereby reducing their levels of physical and emotional stress.

A qualitative descriptive approach was undertaken to explore the leadership experience of seven first line nurse managers working in the Cook Islands. For the purposes of this study first line nurse managers are those nurses working as a charge nurse in a hospital, nursing supervisors, chief public health nurse, and nurses working autonomously in the outer islands of the Cook Islands. Nurses in these roles are in key positions to influence the practice of others and set the standard of practice and culture of a unit. The participants were recruited if they were currently employed in any of these positions. The seven participants were all Cook Islands women who received their undergraduate nursing education in the Cook Islands. The purpose of the study was to describe their leadership experience, to raise an awareness of their role, and to make recommendations to support and improve the preparation of nurses for leadership roles in the Cook Islands. Through face-to-face interviews, the participants' stories were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. Six of the seven transcripts required translation from Cook Islands Maori to English and this was conducted by the researcher who is fluent in both languages. Content and thematic analysis of the data revealed a spiritual, emotive and intuitive theme in the participants' leadership experience. The findings of the study revealed the self confidence of these nurses to manage in this role despite being challenged by management issues and the lack of preparedness for the role. The supportive network established within their staff, their family and the people around them has provided the impetus to continue to 'serve' their people. The findings also revealed that these nurses recognised the need to continue to learn and develop themselves and their staff. The findings of this study have significance for nurses aspiring to be nurse leaders in the Cook Islands or other Pacific Islands and rural communities. A key stakeholder in this study is the Cook Islands Ministry of Health, as insights and awareness gained can contribute to an appropriate preparation and support programme for nurses working in its organisation.