Student leadership development programs are an emerging topic of conversation within the field of student affairs. This paper uses the personal narratives of five recent graduates of the LeaderShape program to consider student perceptions of the effects of this program. A literature review discusses recent publications in the field of student leadership development. The interview data collected in this study confirm the findings of this recent research, including generally positive leadership experiences, improved racial relations, and the importance of small group interactions. Additionally, this thesis includes a cross-case analysis and discussion section that present several themes that emerged from participants' narratives. Recommendations for future research and practice associated with student leadership development are presented.

Taking into consideration some gaps observed in SLA research noticing, recasts, input enhancement (IE), and in CALL/CMC research, a study was conducted among 12 advanced FL Spanish learners to assess whether and how, by communicating with a Spanish native speaker in 5 chat-room sessions, their language competence would develop in the following areas: 1) communication strategies; 2) communicative acts; and 3) grammatical knowledge of verb tense-aspect-mood (TAM) assignation. Subjects were assigned to a specific feedback condition/group (A: +recast, -enhancement; B: +recast, +enhancement; and C: no feedback) under which their TAM errors were treated in the sessions. Few research studies have concentrated on the effectiveness of recasts for grammatical acquisition; rather, they tend to focus on conversational aspects (e.g. Lyster & Ranta, 1997; Ohta, 2000) while the scarce grammar-based recast research has yielded positive results (e.g. Doughty & Varela, 1998; Ishida, 2004; Mackey & Philp, 1998). On the other hand, IE, typically an enhancement of the perceptual salience of input in applying the input flooding technique (Francis, 2003), has yielded mixed results, but some studies have found a facilitative effect for IE (Doughty, 1991; Francis, 2003; Jourdenais et al., 1995; Shook, 1994). Because of their relatively ineffective, rather implicit nature when used in isolation, in this study recasts were combined with IE assuming that IE a tool not traditionally used in SLA as an additional measure of feedback might strengthen the recast and render it more effective for uptake of the linguistic forms. Based on the properties of the resulting combined feedback (group B: enhanced recast), it was anticipated that enhanced recasts would be a more powerful tool, and, as a result, the following sequence of gain in grammatical knowledge would be found: group B (enhanced) > group A (non-enhanced) > group C (no feedback). The findings reveal that groups B and C had the highest overall gains in verb TMA assignation, and group B was superior in most grammatical contexts. As for communication strategy and communicative act use, the sequence of gain was: A > B > group C.

UV lithography of thick photoresist is widely used in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and micro-optoelectromechanical systems (MOEMS). SU-8 is a typical negative tone thick photoresist for micro systems, and can be used for both structural material and pattern transfer. This dissertation presents an effort to comprehensively study these important subjects. The first part, and the most fundamental part of this dissertation concentrated on the numerical analysis and experimental study of the wavelength dependent absorbance of SU-8 and the diffraction effects on the sidewall profiles of the microstructures made using UV lithography of SU-8. This study has laid the foundation for all the designs and analysis for the BioMEMS and Micro-optic components and systems using UV lithography of SU-8 in the following chapters of the dissertation. After a full discussion of UV lithography of SU-8, the applications of SU-8 in BioMEMS and micro optics were presented in the following areas: 1) design, analysis, and molding fabrication of biodegradable PLGA microstructures for implanted drug delivery application; 2) design, fabrication, and test of a novel three-dimensional micro mixer/reactor based on arrays of spatially impinging micro-jets; 3) design, analysis, fabrication, and test of a novel new type of truly three-dimensional hydro-focusing unit for flow cytometry applications based on SU-8; 4) Study on a new technology to fabricate out-of-plane pre-aligned microlens and microlens array, and the application of the microlens in a fiber bundle coupler. Finally, a new negative tone thick photoresist based on the composition of EPON resins 165 and 154 were introduced. The synthesis, physical properties, and UV-lithography properties of this new photoresist have been completed. The experimental results have proved it can be a better alternative to SU-8 and can be used in various MEMS and MOEMS applications. Most of the contents have been published or accepted for publications in technical journals or international conferences. Two US patent applications are pending and two more disclosures have been filed for the new technologies presented in this dissertation. There are obviously more work to be done in this promising area and these are presented in the section for future work.

Linguistic classification is a scientific methodology for categorizing the languages of the world. However, the tools and methods of linguistic classification have been used to various degrees by political entities to further nationalistic agendas. This thesis assesses the role of linguistic classification in nationality and politics, and addresses the disjunct between true linguistic classification, based on genealogical, areal, and typological features, and language designation, based on political and nationalistic motives. This thesis uses the Romanian language as a vehicle for illustrating both linguistic classification methods as well as how these methods have been manipulated for non-linguistic reasons both internally by Romanian nationalists and externally by the Soviet Union in Moldova. The Romanian language is analyzed in terms of three major classification methods: genealogical, areal, and typological. The thesis supports the idea that linguistic classification, a scientific practice, cannot be fully reconciled with language designation, a practice which essentially serves non-scientific purposes, namely to confirm or deny political and cultural relationships between different demographic groups. While some of the methods of linguistic classification are used in language designation, it must remain independent of real-world affairs in order to maintain its own principles.

Asphalt mixtures are particulate composite materials consisting of uniformly distributed mineral aggregates, asphalt binder and air voids. Mixtures of asphalt binder and filler, also called mastics, are often assumed to behave as simple viscoelastic materials, where the binders are stiffened by the filler. Because the workability and performance of bituminous mixes are known to be affected by the filler-asphalt mixture (or mastic) properties, this study is intended for performing rheological tests on asphalt binder and mastics and use the results in order to estimate performance parameters of asphalt mixture. The present work uses the PG64-22 asphalt binder test data initially to predict mastics' performance parameters - shear modulus (G*) and accumulated permanent shear strain (γ_acc) and then same properties for asphalt mixtures, in order to find a correlation between the three materials. Mastics were obtained by mixing the PG64-22 asphalt with three types of filler - donna fill, limestone, and granite - in five different percentages by volume - 5, 10, 15, 20, and 30%. The asphalt mixtures contained granite aggregate, 6% air voids content and five asphalt contents - 3% through 7%. Binder and mastics were tested at three temperatures (46°, 55°, and 64°C) using a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR), while the mixtures were tested at two temperatures (55° and 64°C) using the Superpave shear tester. Newly developed Hirsch model was used for estimating the shear moduli of asphalt mastics and mixtures, while for estimating the accumulated permanent shear strain a semi-empirical equation developed by Shenoy was used. Both estimations have been performed by using the shear modulus of the binder obtained from the DSR. The binder, mastics, and mixtures rheological data were generated using the appropriate equipment for each material, under identical conditions of measurement, thus making it possible to identify a correlation between the materials. There was a good agreement between the measured and estimated values using the two methods (Hirsch and Shenoy), with Pearson correlation parameters (R²) being over 0.90 or better.

Some personal or collective histories can never be completely integrated into the continuum of one's emotional life. Such stories produced in traumatic times or in disastrous events are likely to remain only partially understood or accepted. Examining the human consequence of traumatic events such as the enslavement of Africans in the United States or the attempted extermination of the Jewish people in Europe is one challenging focus of this work. It is comparatively productive, however, if these events are approached from the perspective of the trauma they have produced-an approach that suspends chronological and geographical barriers of time and space. The trilogy by postmodern French artist Charlotte Delbo, an Auschwitz survivor who narrated her story in testimonial form, offers that insight into trauma, as does the postcolonial work of Toni Morrison. The first volumes of both trilogies, "Aucun de nous ne reviendra" and "Beloved" expose the damage done to individuals and collectivities in terms of trauma by revealing the extent to which living at the edge of life and witnessing horrific acts of massive death and destruction shape and impact not only victims but the societies to which they return. Attempting to work through those strikingly traumatic experiences further highlights attitudes commonly found in narratives of survival. "Une connaissance inutile" and "Jazz," the second volumes of the trilogies, enhance that kind of understanding, while both point at the necessary impossibility of forgetting the traumatic experiences that remain clearly undigested. Events such as senseless extermination of an entire people and the brutal exploitation of an entire race were not only not avoided, but systematically promoted by the communities in question. "Mesure de nos jours" and "Paradise," the last volumes of the trilogies, clearly document the lack of attentiveness to the pleas of survivors and emancipated slaves by their respective communities after liberation and emancipation. Even though support was not shown by these communities in the aftermath of the traumatic occurrences, this should not disengage us from our gravest responsibility: to bear witness to the sufferings of an excluded other whose processes of recovery and working through remain elusive.

Polymer based micro-transducers have many advantages over the traditional silicon based micro-transducers, such as easy integration with metal structures, design flexibility, and low fabrication costs. The characteristics of micro-transducers include converting electrical signals to/from mechanical response, the ability to sustain loading, sensitivity to external excitation, and etc. Some of the difficulties in realizing these characteristics include: characterizing material mechanical properties, techniques for producing electrically conductive polymer structures, and reliable fabrication procedures. In this dissertation, research addressing these difficulties is presented. The developed techniques are demonstrated in the design and fabrication of a SU-8 polymer based comb-drive micro-actuator. The micro-actuator used SU-8 polymer as the main structural material and gold coating film for realizing electrical conduction. It was fabricated with multi-layer, multi-step UV-lithography technology and metallized with titled E-beam deposition and selectively electroless plating techniques. The adhesion properties between metallic surface and SU-8 polymer were measured firstly. After comparing different metals, Au was chosen as the base material for electroplating for its good adhesion to SU-8. Customized micro-fracture toughness measurement procedure was then designed based on ASTM standards to measure the fracture toughness of Ni micro-structures. The difficulties in micro-fabrication were then addressed. Two different approaches were evaluated for fabricating the SU-8 micro-structure: (1) multilayer processing using modified SU-8 with reduced PAG; (2) multilayer processing using normal SU-8 with copper as sacrificial layer. The second method was shown more reliable. The polymer structures were surface metallized using two methods: (1) titled E-beam deposition; (2) selectively electroless plating. The latter was proven to be more suitable for high aspect ratio sidewalls. The proper UV exposure dosage, duration, and other parameters were also established. A novel structural design of comb drive micro-actuator was studied using analytical and finite element analysis. The design was realized with the developed fabrication technologies. Finally, the resulted micro-actuators were tested to prove the feasibility of the design and fabrication.

This research deals with a supply chain system where the production or manufacturing facility operates under a just-in-time (JIT) environment, and the facility consists of raw material suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers where inventory of raw materials, work-in-process, and finished goods are involved, respectively. This work considers that the production of finished goods in one cycle starts just after the production or uptime in preceding cycle to minimize the idle time of the facility. Considering this scenario, inventory models are developed for different delivery situations: (a) perfect matching condition where no finished good remains after the shipments and (b) imperfect matching condition where some finished goods remain after the shipments. In this research, the problems are categorized as integer and mixed integer non-linear programming problems which are solved to find optimum number of orders and shipments, optimum production quantity, and minimum system cost. Moreover, multi-supplier and multi-buyer operations, where raw materials are ordered from different suppliers and finished goods are delivered to different customers, are considered. In addition to these problems, a single facility lot-sizing model is applied in perfect and imperfect matching cases, and, multi-supplier and multi-buyer case, to concentrate on more practical supply chain environments. All the problems described in this research are non-convex functions for which the closed form solutions are cumbersome. Therefore, the heuristic solutions are developed to find the optimal lot-sizing techniques. Additionally, the multi-supplier and multi-buyer problem is solved with the help of integer approximation and the divide and conquer rule. The solutions are tested through numerical examples. Furthermore, the sensitivity analyses are performed to observe the variations of the different cost functions. Also, this research proposes an alternate delivery schedule of finished product supply, for which both manufacturers and buyers will be benefited economically. The production and supply chain management play a significant role for the necessary amounts of materials and parts arrive at the proper time and place. With the models obtained in this research, managers can quickly respond to consumers' demand by determining the right policies to order raw materials, to manage their production schedule efficiently and to deliver finished goods just-in-time.

Sendero Luminoso first appeared in Peru in May 1980 by burning several ballot boxes and hanging dogs from streetlights. This unusual event signaled the beginning of one of the most violent insurgencies in the Western hemisphere. Abimael Guzmán, the founder of Sendero Luminoso, set out to utterly destroy Peruvian society in order to replace it with his vision of a utopian communist society by creating a peasant uprising starting in the Andean highlands and spreading throughout Peru, eventually surrounding the capital, Lima. The government of Peru virtually ignored Sendero Luminoso for two years, which allowed the group to establish strong base areas in and around the department of Ayacucho. When the government finally reacted, it was forced to declare a state of emergency in the south central highlands and send in the military to regain control. Through successive administrations over the next decade, Peru was engulfed in violence and destruction, human rights abuses, corruption, and economic catastrophe. Sendero Luminoso demonstrated an uncanny ability to avoid the militarys concentrated efforts while expanding into new regions of Peru. The group also benefited from the drug trade to finance the insurgency by providing protection to coca farmers and narcotraffickers in the Upper Huallaga Valley. Only after Guzmáns capture in 1992 did the government witness visible progress in the fight against the insurgents. Sendero Luminoso rapidly declined without Guzmáns leadership and the remnants withdrew to the Upper Huallaga Valley. Yet many of the conditions that led to the creation of Sendero Luminoso still plague the country, including corruption in the government, poverty, and a weak economy. The missing catalyst is another leader like Abimael Guzmán.

This dissertation can be divided into four parts. In part I (Chapter 2), the diffusion controlled growth of multiple compound phases is studied with the nonlinear Kirkendall effect included. This part analyzes the growth of N compound phases. The method of finding intrinsic diffusion coefficients from only the positions of interfaces is found for two layers. In addition, the asymptotic analysis valid for small concentration gradients is applied to the multi-foil method of measuring intrinsic diffusion coefficients and yields an analytic solution for the displacement curve. A bounded solid film on a substrate can breakup from the edge into islands to reduce the surface energy. Part II (Chapter 3) studies the three-dimensional linear stability of a retracting film profile. An unstable mode of perturbation is found. The perturbed film profile is wavy along the film edge which can initiate the formation of fingers seen in experiments. The wavelength of the fastest growing perturbation agrees with the distance between two adjacent islands observed in experiments. Part III (Chapter 4) studies the linear stability of square or triangular wires with azimuthal surface energy anisotropy. The growth rate of a normal mode is governed by an eigenvalue problem, which is solved numerically by a pseudospectral method. The fundamental and first modes, which correspond to varicose(sausage) and helical modes, are unstable for long wavelengths. The varicose mode has the highest growth rate for the range of parameters investigated. The maximum growth rate increases with anisotropy, implying that the anisotropy is destabilizing. An asymptotic solution is derived in the limit of zero anisotropy, and it agrees with the numerical solutions. The results obtained here for wires also apply to channels. Part IV (Chapter 5) investigates Rayleighs instability of nano wires by classic molecular dynamic simulations. The melting point of nanowires with different radii is found by calculating the caloric curve and mean square displacement curve. Liquid and solid nano-wires with different radii are simulated. It shows that liquid wires breakup following Rayleighs instability criterion, whereas solid wires dont.