The purpose of this study was to determine levels of agreement and implementation of the American College Personnel Association’s Tomorrow’s Higher Education (T.H.E.) student development model among chief student personnel administrators employed in public, small, and rural community colleges in the continental United .States. Based on the T.H.E. Model, an inventory, the Student Development Process Inventory (SDPI)-Community College Form, was developed to answer four major research questions. The Inventory was administered through a survey of 204 chief student personnel administrators employed in public, small, and rural community colleges. One hundred and forty-seven usable responses (72%) were analyzed. The Inventory was constructed in four parts. The first three parts were designed to answer the first three research questions. Parts II and lll included corresponding items. To answer the fourth research question, relationships between responses to Parts II and III were analyzed. The four research questions were: 1. To what extent do practitioners agree with the basic constructs and underlying assumptions of the T.H. E. Model? 2. To what extent do practitioners agree with the process steps of the T.H.E. Model? 3. To what extent is there evidence that the process steps of the T.H.E. Model are being implemented currently on college campuses? 4. What relationships exist between practitioners' agreement wi.th the process steps of the T.H.E. Model and the presence of evidence that the process steps of the T. H. E. Model are being implemented on college campuses? The fourth part of the SDPI was designed to secure information about the characteristics of the population which were treated as independent variables. Population characteristics which were controlled as independent variables were: total years of experience of the chief student personnel administrator, discipline of educational training of the chief student personnel administrator, professional instructional responsibilities of the chief student personnel administrator, and the ratio of student personnel staff to student headcount enrollment. Other population characteristics were reported but were not controlled in the analysis. From an analysis of the responses to the items in Part I, the population appeared to agree with most of the basic constructs and underlying assumptions of the T.H.E. Model (some to a greater degree than others). With the exception of professional instructional responsibilities, the independent variables did not have an association with the observed levels of agreement. From an analysis of Part II of the SDPI it appeared that the population agreed with the process steps of the T.H.E. Model; however, agreement was observed at varying levels. Again, with the exception of professional instructional responsibilities, agreement with the process steps was not related to the independent variables. An analysis of Part III of the Inventory supported the conclusion that the population seemed to implement the process steps of the T.H.E. Model; however, the level of implementation of each process step varied. Professional instructional responsibilities was the only independent variable which was associated with certain aspects ·Of implementation. An analysis of the relationships between reported agreement with the Model and implementation of the Model revealed highly significant differences between levels of agreement and implementation among all process steps. The population implemented the Model to a lesser degree than their reported levels of agreement. This difference was not attributable to the independent variables. / Ed. D.

Section A provides a literature review of transgender people and their friendships. The first part of the literature review explores the historical context of transgenderism and its relation to medical and psychiatric diagnosis. The following part concentrates on biopsychsocial issues of transgender identity formation highlighting the need for support in light of interpersonal losses and societal discrimination. The final part reviews the friendship literature more generally, then specifically in relation to transgender persons. The review concludes by identifying an absence of friendship research with transgender individuals and suggesting directions for future research. Section B describes a study carried out with seven trans men, which investigates discourses they use to construct friendships and negotiate intimacy within friendships. While research focusing on friendships of sexual minority individuals has increased over the last two decades, studies of transgender persons’ friendships have been largely absent. Given that trans individuals are vulnerable to a range of psychological stressors in the context of societal lack of understanding and discrimination, friendships may be particularly important. This study explored the gap in the friendship literature and drew on creative methodologies (drawing of systems maps) that offered empowering strategies to facilitate trans men’s stories of friendships. Foucauldian Discourse Analysis was applied to analyse discourses of friendship and gender identity. Dominant discourses identified included ‘friends as family’, ‘romantic love’, ‘equality and reciprocity’, ‘change in lesbian friendships’ and ‘disowning male privilege’. The results indicate that trans men elevate the status of friends to those of other culturally dominant relationships (e.g. biological family or sexual partner). Furthermore, their friendships, in particular lesbian friendships, can become complex platforms from which to contest privilege and power associated with their (trans) masculinities. Implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed. Section C provides a critical appraisal of the study and offers the researcher’s reflections on research skills developed, what she would do differently if she could do the project again, how the research may impact her clinically and what further research she would like to carry out.

The objective of this study was to formulate a theoretical model and to develop an efficient and accurate solution method to predict the distribution of frictional heat and resulting temperature rise for simple systems with sliding contact. The solution method developed is a variation of the boundary integral equation method (BIEM) in which a moving, full-space Green's function is used as the fundamental solution. The numerical characteristics and limitations for the solution method are presented, as well as the physical parameters that affect the surface temperature rise. The analysis includes an arbitrary sliding velocity, with special focus on oscillating and unidirectional motion. Since the real contact area is extremely important, the theoretical analysis has the flexibility to handle any arbitrary contact area. Results are presented which display the effect of velocity or Peclet number, the frequency and amplitude of oscillation, and thermal properties. Also, results showing the effect of the number, spacing and orientation of the contact patches are presented. Finally, theoretical calculations corresponding to experiments involving a ball on an oscillating sapphire disk are presented and are found to correlate well with experimental data. / Master of Science

Three decades of research have shown that family involvement improves children's learning. Schools that help families feel welcome and show them how to improve learning both at school and at home are likely to have more support from parents and the community. It was the intent of this study to examine how exemplary family involvement programs and initiatives were put into place in an elementary school in Virginia. The sources of evidence collected in the course of the 20 visits in this study were interviews, direct observations, and documentation. The research was conducted within components describing: (1) ways to get families from all social and ethnic backgrounds in the local community to participate in the school and at home, (2) the impact of policies on family involvement practices, (3) the effects of family involvement, (4) resources needed to promote and enhance family involvement initiatives, and (5) leadership in promoting family involvement in the school. People representing different segments of the population were identified and interviewed. Administrators, teachers, parents, and community members who were knowledgeable about family involvement were interviewed. Separate sets of framing questions were formulated for central office administrative staff and the principal, teachers, parents and community members. All interviews were audio taped and transcribed. The investigator also attended and observed family involvement events in the school and reviewed documents related to family involvement during the data collection period. Interview transcripts and observational notes were corroborated with evidence from document reviews. The investigator used a text management program, ASKSAM, to facilitate the identification and generation of themes in this study. The investigator integrated the computer-based and manual data analyses so that the advantages of each method were used. The results of this study indicated that when the principal, with the cooperation of teachers, provided the type of school culture that made parents feel welcome in the school, the parents could provide the essential leadership that would lead to improvements in educational opportunities for their children. Resources, in terms of funding and staffing, were a prerequisite to getting "hard-to-reach" parents to participate in their children's education. The findings of this study also indicated that family involvement at the governance and decision-making level is relatively low. / Ph. D.

X-ray diffraction studies of 29 Virginia Blue Ridge and Piedmont soil profiles and petrographic examinations of the parent rocks reveal that even after prolonged chemical weathering, physical and mineralogical differences exist between soil types which are due largely to changes in the parent rock, and to a lesser extent changes in the topography. Soils developed from different source rocks can be distinguished on the basis of color, texture, degree of contrast between horizons, and depth to fresh rock. The clay minerals of such soils differ in their distribution, amount and kind. The role of parent material in soil and clay mineral formation is a complex function of several variables: (1) chemical composition (2) mineralogical composition (3) rock texture and (4) rock structure. Soils developed from calcium-aluminum rich rocks or from basic rocks which have structures or textures not conducive to good drainage are characterized by kaolin and montmorillonite clay minerals and by dense plastic, poorly drained, clayey subsoils. In all other soils and in the surface horizon of these soils, the major clay minerals are kaolin and vermiculite. Topography affects the degree of profile development, color, and soil texture and controls the rate of clay mineral accumulation and weathering. The climates of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont are most favorable to the formation of kaolin minerals. However, greater amounts of kaolinite appear to be formed in the warmer Piedmont climate and more vermiculite in the cooler Blue Ridge climate. The most important mechanism for clay mineral formation is probably by direct alteration of the primarily silicate minerals. The distribution of these clays in the profile is determined by the weathering stability of the primary silicate. All ferromagnesium silicates weather to 14 A clay minerals. An intermediate 14 A chlorite phase was not observed. The most common product is vermiculite. The formation of montmorillonite is controlled by the four parent material factors listed above. Hornblende and augite are the chief source materials of montmorillonite. Biotite possibly weathers to montmorillonite if the internal drainage is strongly retarded. Montmorillonite weathers to vermiculite in the surface horizons. Kaolinite forms early in the profile during the weathering of feldspar. Medium- to coarse-grained muscovite is also a source of kaolinite. There was no evidence found to indicate that kaolinite is a weathering product of the 12 A clay minerals. Illite occurs in minor amounts in a few micaceous profiles but appears to be the result of mechanical break-down of larger mica particles. / Master of Science

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Joint Program in Physical Oceanography (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-172). / A freshwater plume often forms when a river or an estuary discharges water onto the continental shelf. Freshwater plumes are ubiquitous features of the coastal ocean and usually leave a striking signature in the coastal hydrography. The present study combines both hydrographic data and idealized numerical simulations to examine how ambient currents and winds influence the transport and mixing of plume waters. The first portion of the thesis considers the alongshore transport of freshwater using idealized numerical simulations. In the absence of any ambient current, the downstream coastal current only carries a fraction of the discharged fresh water; the remaining fraction recirculates in a continually growing "bulge" of fresh water in the vicinity of the river mouth. The fraction of fresh water transported in the coastal current is dependent on the source conditions at the river mouth. The presence of an ambient current augments the transport in the plume so that its freshwater transport matches the freshwater source. For any ambient current in the same direction as the geostrophic coastal current, the plume will evolve to a steady-state width. A key result is that an external forcing agent is required in order for the entire freshwater volume discharged by a river to be transported as a coastal current. The next section of the thesis addresses the wind-induced advection of a river plume, using hydrographic data collected in the western Gulf of Maine. The observations suggest that the plume's cross-shore structure varies markedly as a function of fluctuations in alongshore wind forcing. Consistent with Ekman dynamics, upwelling favorable winds spread the plume offshore, at times widening it to over 50 km in offshore extent, while downwelling favorable winds narrow the plume width to a few Rossby radii. Near-surface current meters show significant correlations between cross-shore currents and alongshore wind stress, consistent with Ekman theory. Estimates of the terms in the alongshore momentum equation calculated from moored current meter arrays also indicate an approximate Ekman balance within the plume. A significant correlation between alongshore currents and alongshore wind stress suggests that interfacial drag may be important. The final section of the thesis is an investigation of the advection and mixing of a surface-trapped river plume in the presence of an upwelling favorable wind stress, using a three-dimensional model in a simple, rectangular domain. Model simulations demonstrate that the plume thins and is advected offshore by the cross shore Ekman transport. The thinned plume is susceptible to significant mixing due to the vertically sheared horizontal currents. The first order plume response is explained by Ekman dynamics and a Richardson number mixing criterion. / by Derek Allen Fong. / Ph.D.