This study explored certain leadership methods that eSupervisors were utilizing with eInterns through the theoretical lenses of House’s (1971) path-goal theory of leadership and the effectiveness of these methods on learning outcomes. The overarching research question that guided this study was: How do eSupervisors contribute to the learning growth of eInterns? A qualitative multi-case study was conducted on a population of eSupervisors, current eInterns (students), and past eInterns (graduates) that were associated with the Virtual Student Foreign Service (VSFS) program. VSFS is a program aimed at exposing students to working opportunities in the government. The findings from this study imply that there are a number of ways in which eSupervisors can contribute to the learning growth of eInterns. These contributions will vary depending on the eInterns, the environmental characteristics, the leadership approach taken, and the motivational factors involved. The significance in applying this research today falls in line with the booming growth of distance education programs the trend of incorporating technology in the classrooms.

This three-manuscript formatted dissertation interrogated the effectiveness of high-impact educational practices for marginalized students through the use of critical quantitative inquiry. The first empirical manuscript used data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts education to explore the role of race and class on students’ engagement in and effects from high-impact practices. Findings from this manuscript suggest significant differences in academic motivation change over the first year of college when race and class were examined together, while no differences when just class was examined. The second empirical manuscript used data from the National Study of LGBTQ Student Success to examine the intersections of environment and participation in and effect from high-impact practices for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ+) students. Findings from this manuscript suggested that students’ perceptions of overall support and their relations with instructors mediated the influence that participation in high-impact practices had on students’ academic development. Finally, the third main manuscript considered the utility of critical quantitative inquiry and ways researchers can combine critical theory into quantitative research.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the Western World, although the incidence of myocardial infarction (MI) has declined over the last decades. However, obesity, which is one of the most important risk factors for CVD, is increasingly common. Osteoporosis is also on the rise because of an aging population. Based on considerable overlap in the prevalence of CVD and osteoporosis, a shared etiology has been proposed. Furthermore, the possibility of interplay between the skeleton and adipose tissue has received increasing attention the last few years with the discovery that leptin can influence bone metabolism and that osteocalcin can influence adipose tissue. A main aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of fat mass distribution and bone mineral density on the risk of MI. Using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) we measured 592 men and women for regional fat mass in study I. In study II this was expanded to include 3258 men and women. In study III 6872 men and women had their bone mineral density measured in the total hip and femoral neck using DEXA. We found that a fat mass distribution with a higher proportion of abdominal fat mass was associated with both an adverse risk factor profile and an increased risk of MI. In contrast, a higher gynoid fat mass distribution was associated with a more favorable risk factor profile and a decreased risk of MI, highlighting the different properties of abdominal and gynoid fat depots (study I-II). In study III, we investigated the association of bone mineral density and risk factors shared between CVD and osteoporosis, and risk of MI. We found that lower bone mineral density was associated with hypertension, and also tended to be associated to other CVD risk factors. Low bone mineral density was associated with an increased risk of MI in both men and women, apparently independently of the risk factors studied (study III). In study IV, we investigated 50 healthy, young men to determine if a high-impact loading intervention in the form of a series of jumps would lead to changes in glucose and lipid metabolism. We found that the intervention group had significantly lowered serum glucose levels compared to the control group. Changes in all metabolic parameters favored the intervention group with an increase in lipolysis from baseline and a decrease in cholesterol. In summary, the proportion of abdominal and gynoid fat mass displayed contrasting associations to both CVD risk factors and MI risk. Abdominal fat mass was associated with a higher risk while a high proportion of gynoid fat mass was associated with a lower risk. Bone mineral density displayed an inverse association with MI risk, seemingly independently of CVD risk factors, suggesting other explanations to a shared pathogenesis. Finally, high impact loading on the skeleton in young, healthy men decreased serum glucose levels and tended to improve other metabolic parameters, suggesting that the skeleton can affect energy metabolism.

Resíduos plásticos, descartados de placas de publicidade compostas por poliestireno de alto impacto (HIPS), foram reciclados para obtenção de tubos que servem como base de painel de propaganda. O material foi avaliado nas diferentes etapas de reprocessamento, onde sua estrutura foi caracterizada por espectroscopia na região do infravermelho (FTIR) e ressonância magnética nuclear de núcleo de hidrogênio (1H-RMN). Suas propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e morfológicas, também foram estudadas. Os testes e análises instrumentais, aos quais foram submetidos o material ao longo de todo reprocessamento, demonstraram que não houve modificações significativas na estrutura química, na morfologia e no comportamento térmico e mecânico do material. / Plastics residues from advertising plates were recycled for attainment of pipes that serve as base of advertising panels. These residues were composed by high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and the polymer structures were characterized by spectroscopy in the infrared region (FTIR) and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). Its thermal, mechanical and morphological properties, had been also studied. The instrumental tests and analyses, to which the material had been submitted, had demonstrated that there was not significant modifications in the chemical structure, in the morphology and in the thermal and mechanical behavior of the material after being recycled.

Resíduos plásticos, descartados de placas de publicidade compostas por poliestireno de alto impacto (HIPS), foram reciclados para obtenção de tubos que servem como base de painel de propaganda. O material foi avaliado nas diferentes etapas de reprocessamento, onde sua estrutura foi caracterizada por espectroscopia na região do infravermelho (FTIR) e ressonância magnética nuclear de núcleo de hidrogênio (1H-RMN). Suas propriedades térmicas, mecânicas e morfológicas, também foram estudadas. Os testes e análises instrumentais, aos quais foram submetidos o material ao longo de todo reprocessamento, demonstraram que não houve modificações significativas na estrutura química, na morfologia e no comportamento térmico e mecânico do material. / Plastics residues from advertising plates were recycled for attainment of pipes that serve as base of advertising panels. These residues were composed by high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and the polymer structures were characterized by spectroscopy in the infrared region (FTIR) and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). Its thermal, mechanical and morphological properties, had been also studied. The instrumental tests and analyses, to which the material had been submitted, had demonstrated that there was not significant modifications in the chemical structure, in the morphology and in the thermal and mechanical behavior of the material after being recycled.

In western societies, the persona of the artist has largely been associated with prevailing myths of the creative individual including the artist as genius and outsider. In my inquiry I endeavored to understand what it means to be an artist from the perspective of budding “creatives”. In this study I explored the process of becoming an artist that is how college students construct and navigate an artistic self (selves), and the factors that influenced this process. My purpose in this multiple text narrative inquiry was to discover how undergraduate art majors construct and navigate their artistic identity/identities, particularly while engaged in an artistic undergraduate research (UR) experience. I selected to explore students engaged in an undergraduate research project as a way to understand the process of artistic becoming within a unique educational practice, and to determine the role of creativity within this process. My study involved students who participated in an undergraduate research scholarship program developed by the Office for Undergraduate Research at a large research university in the southeast of the United States. Ten undergraduate art majors participated in this study. Data included in-depth interviews, and participant writings in the form of “artist” reflective journal entries (which included both written and visual text), and a final self-reflection essay. I analyzed the interview data through a holistic- content approach (Lieblich et al., 1998). I identified specific themes in order to understand the complex, “whole” individual, which assisted me in understanding participant “artistic selves”, and how creativity played a role in this process. I analyzed participant art products using methods adapted from Riessman (2008) and Keats (2009). Three key findings emerged from my inquiry. First, for the majority of participants, the construction of artistic identity/identities involved a significant evolution in their meaning making structures. Second, the notion of “doing” for oneself through research was profound for most individuals, which resulted in a stronger sense of artistic identity/identities. The third major finding was how participants weaved their artistic identity/identities through creativity. Implications of my research underscore the need for more robust institutional support and resources to assist emerging artists with developing career skills, creating supportive environments for art majors from a variety of backgrounds to help them succeed and thrive in college, the design and implementation of additional educational practices in the arts that promote self-authorship, and the expansion of UR activities within the arts.

This study examines how one college in a large private university sought to benefit its students by implementing a program of faculty-mentored, co-curricular high impact practices (HIPs). This qualitative single case study uses confirmatory and exploratory document analysis to examine how an educational leader translated institutional purpose via unit leaders and program managers into the educational practice of faculty mentors. The researcher found stronger and weaker areas of alignment of institution purpose to educational practice across a systems theory-based purpose-to-practice continuum. Variety in the concentration of themes across the data may be due to how these themes were emphasized in the administrative directives and could indicate a training gap in HIPs. In addition, the researcher found that certain HIPs were used more frequently, first- and second-year undergraduates rarely participated, and themes emerged from the educational practice narrative that were important to participants that did not appear in institutional purpose documents. The study offers recommendations to leaders in higher education to (a) use institutional purpose language clearly in administrative directives; (b) educate faculty to create high-quality HIP opportunities for underserved students; and (c) acknowledge program impacts that fall outside declared institutional purpose.

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