Helping and aggressing behaviors are important to study in adolescence because they relate to adaptive and maladaptive developmental outcomes. These behaviors take place within the social context and their impact may be determined by the nature of the dyadic relationship between the agent and the recipient of the behavior. Relative power may be a critical aspect of dyadic relationships as evidenced by the research on bullying and related outcomes. However, a review of the helping and aggression literatures shows that relative power between agents and recipients of behavior has largely been neglected, perhaps because measurement approaches focus on individual tendencies over time rather than single behaviors at one point in time. I propose a theory that includes relative power as a critical dimension in the conceptualization of aggression and helping in dyadic interactions. I define dyadic interpersonal behavior based on two bipolar continua: impact (extremely beneficial impact [helping] through no impact to extremely harmful impact [aggressing]) and relative power imbalance between dyad members (lower-power through balanced-power to higher-power). In this dissertation, I tested whether my theory fits with adolescents' conceptualizations of helping and aggressing behavior in dyads using a mixed-methods approach. Focus group data collection occurred from two sessions with 13 and 11 adolescents in order to create gender-relevant and school-relevant vignettes of helping and aggressing behavior. Vignettes varied in intensity of impact (extremely beneficial, moderately beneficial, neutral, moderately harmful and extremely harmful), relative power between agent and recipient (i.e., high to high, low to low, high to low, and low to high power dyads), and power type (i.e., academic power and social power). The quantitative phase involved the rating of paired vignettes based on similarity by 203 students from the same high school as the focus group participants. Similarity scores were aggregated within gender and the type of power (academic or social). Multidimensional scaling (MDS) was used to test whether the proposed theory of power-relevant helping and aggressing is supported by adolescents' similarity ratings. The models of boys' interpersonal behaviors show three-dimensional solutions whereas those for girls reflect four-dimensional solutions. The first dimension of benefit and harm, which was proposed in my theory, emerged in all four sets of analyses (academic-boys; academic-girls; social-boys; social-girls). The secondary dimension proposed in the theory, relative power, only emerged for girls in regard to social power, as the fourth dimension in that solution. Qualitative analyses of focus group transcripts suggest that school atmosphere, power in the school, and bullying were primary themes salient in adolescents' thinking about helping and aggressing behavior. Relative power did not emerge as a theme or a concept in these qualitative analyses, suggesting that relative power is not a salient concept in adolescent thinking for helping and aggressing. Thus, neither quantitative nor qualitative analyses support the secondary dimension proposed in my theory. This mixed-methods study advances theory and research by: 1) demonstrating that adolescents conceptualize helping and aggressing as opposite ends of a single dimension at the behavioral level, 2) demonstrating that power at the individual level with a group referent and collective dyadic power are more salient than relative power in adolescents' perceptions of helping and aggressing behavior, and 3) situating the conceptualization and measurement of interpersonal behavior within the relational context. / Ph. D.

The transition from partnership to parenthood can be a time of excitement and rapid change for couples. After the birth of a first child, many couples also experience declines in relationship satisfaction leading to increased risk of relationship dissolution, postpartum depression, and negative child outcomes. Considering the frequency of this transition and the connection between parent relationship quality and health, it is surprising that relatively few intervention programs have focused on preparing couples for this life transition. Hence, I have developed a four week relationship enhancement intervention entitled the Mindful Transition to Parenting Program. This program is based on interpersonal neurobiology, which states that mindfulness training can change brain structures that can lead to increased attunement abilities and sustained improvements in relationship quality. The program focuses on improving mindfulness, empathy, emotionality, and relationship satisfaction for couples expecting their first child. In this research study, I determined the outcomes for couples who participate in this program through mixed methods research with a randomized experimental design. Thirty-three couples were randomly assigned by a coin-toss to either a waitlist control group, or the Mindful Transition to Parenting Program treatment group. Results demonstrated that men in the treatment group significantly improved in relationship satisfaction, negative affect, and mindfulness when compared to the control group. Women had no significant treatment effects, though treatment group women had small effect size improvement in three measures of empathy. The emergent qualitative themes for participants in the program included: (1) positive changes for self, (2) improvements in couple relationship, (3) feeling more prepared for baby, and (4) male involvement. Mixed methods analyses revealed that men in particular benefited from the social support, increased connection with their babies, and more identification with the role of father that the program provided. These are promising results, showing that a brief intervention including mindfulness and skill-based learning can have positive effects on couples in the transition to parenthood. I conclude by discussing clinical implications and future research directions. / Ph. D.

Suburban sprawl fuels the need for automobiles and is preventing cities in the United States from providing adequate places for pedestrians. Tysons Corner, Virginia is one of these sprawling cities that is a metropolitan suburb of Washington D.C. The way these cities have sprawled prevents them from being as accessible to pedestrians as they should be. Building dense housing near access to multiple modes of transportation can start to reduce the dependance on personal vehicles. By living near a bike route, bus route, or metro station, a pedestrian can break their reliance on cars and utilize more sustainable modes of transportation. Tysons Corner began as a business hub full of commuters and continues to be today. The city has no place for pedestrians because of all the high rises and parking garages. By designing a place for people to live and pedestrians to interact, a new place can emerge for Tysons that will give access to multiple modes of transportation that combat the car. / Master of Architecture

Tema della presente ricerca è la presenza ineludibile (Cerbara e Tintori, 2017) e strutturale (Carbonara & Scibetta, 2020) di adolescenti con background migratorio nella scuola italiana, dei confini labili che si vengono a creare tra le statistiche, le definizioni teoriche del fenomeno e infine nelle prassi di Inclusione all’interno dei singoli contesti scolastici. La ricerca si è focalizzata sugli effetti generati sugli alunni stessi dall’intersecarsi a livello normativo di due paradigmi: quello dell’integrazione interculturale e quello dell’Inclusione di tipo bio-psico-sociale: ciò che definisce il campo di indagine è l’uso dell’etichetta di Bisogno Educativo Speciale/Specifico applicato anche per disegnare i percorsi di apprendimento di alunni/e con bm. La portata della loro presenza e l’importanza del momento storico attuale porta a ripensare l’impatto del passaggio tra un “prima” in cui è prevalso un approccio di tipo emergenziale e regolativo e lo scenario attuale che richiama l’attenzione sugli aspetti salienti di un processo in divenire, di continua trasformazione: in questo frangente è essenziale capire come il mondo Scuola stia (o non stia) prendendo coscienza di questo fenomeno. Ci si è si chiesti fino a che punto il paradigma dell’Inclusione, così come si esplica nelle pratiche educativo-didattiche, sia ancora in grado di rispondere davvero alle esigenze di questi alunni/e; scopo dell’indagine è stato quello di individuare le modalità attraverso cui i contesti stessi possano generare prassi nuove e trasformative. L’indagine si è concretizzata in una dimensione narrativa corale dell’ anno scolastico 2021/2022 in cui sono confluite le voci di alunni, genitori e insegnanti. É costituita da un unico studio Mixed-Methods, empirico e multidimensionale, basato sulla narrazione etnografica di un’unità di analisi costituita da quattro classi dell’ultimo anno della scuola secondaria di primo grado appartenenti a diversi contesti educativi del Trentino e della Lombardia. Lo studio riporta l’integrazione dei dati raccolti nelle loro componenti sia qualitative (osservazione etnografica e interviste semistrutturate) che quantitative (valutazioni finali, questionari sulla percezione dell’inclusione, sulla resilienza e sul benessere in classe). Attraverso il dispiegarsi quotidiano delle dinamiche di contesto si è potuto operare un confronto tra le classi che ha reso espliciti gli atteggiamenti, i principi e le prassi educative-didattiche che, nate nei diversi contesti, sono risultate portatrici di maggiore inclusione e potenzialmente trasferibili e replicabili perché in grado di promuovere non solo l’apprendimento, ma anche una maggiore percezione di appartenenza e benessere a scuola.

The purpose of this study was to explore the aspects of therapy as proposed by "common factors" literature (e.g., extratherapeutic change, hope and expectancy, therapy technique, and therapeutic relationship) by surveying the clients of a university based family therapy clinic. Data were used to provide information about what factors are therapeutically helpful according to the client's perspective. Surveys provided a quantitative and qualitative description of the client's therapeutic experience and were compared with those aspects of therapy found in the research. Quantitative results indicate that therapeutic relationship, client motivation, factors outside of therapy, and hope and expectancy accounted for around 49% of the variance of clients' perception of change and about 73% of the variance of clients' perceptions of therapy helpfulness. Findings further suggest that the clients' level of hopefulness and expectancy for positive change is the most significant predictor for both client change and therapy helpfulness. Qualitative results indicate that the therapeutic relationship is considered by clients to be the most helpful aspect of their therapeutic experience. / Master of Science

By conducting both qualitative and quantitative analysis of data from interviews and game content, I examine representations of race, gender, and sexuality in contemporary video-game narratives. I use data from interviews to show how they view their representations in this medium and to set categorical criteria for an interpretive content analysis. I analyze a sample of top-selling narrative-driven video games in the United States released from 2016-2019. My content coding incorporates aforementioned interview data as well as theoretical-based and intersectional concepts on video game characters and their narratives. The content analysis includes measures of narrative importance, narrative role, positivity of representation, and demographic categories of characters, though the scale of this study may not allow for a full test of intersectional theory of links between demographics and roles. Interview and content analysis results suggest an overrepresentation of white characters and extreme under-representation of non-white women. / I examine representations of race, gender, and sexuality in contemporary video-game narratives. I use data from interviews to show how people view their representations in video games and to set a guide for analyzing the games themselves. I analyze a sample of top-selling narrativedriven video games in the United States released from 2016-2019. My content coding incorporates aforementioned interview data as well as theoretical-based and intersectional concepts on video game characters and their narratives. The content analysis includes measures of narrative importance, narrative role, positivity of representation, and demographic categories of characters, though the scale of this study may not allow for a full test of intersectional theory of links between demographics and roles. Interview and content analysis results suggest an overrepresentation of white characters and extreme under-representation of non-white women.

In this work, we present two open literature databases, the VT-2005 Sigma Profile Database and the VT-2006 Solute Sigma Profile Database, that contain sigma profiles for 1,645 unique compounds. A sigma profile is a molecular-specific distribution of the surface-charge density, which enables the application of solvation-thermodynamic models to predict vapor-liquid and solid-liquid equilibria, and other properties. The VT-2005 Sigma Profile Database generally focuses on solvents and small molecules, while the VT-2006 Solute Sigma Profile Database primarily consists of larger, pharmaceutical-related solutes. We design both of these databases for use with the conductor-like screening model−segment activity coefficient (COSMO-SAC), a liquid-phase activity-coefficient model. The databases contain the necessary information to perform binary and multicomponent VLE and SLE predictions. We offer detailed tutorials and procedures for use with our programs so the reader may also use their own research on our research group website (www.design.che.vt.edu). We validate the VT-2005 Sigma Profile Database by pure component vapor pressure predictions and validate the VT-2006 Solute Sigma Profile Database by solid solubility predictions in pure solvents compared with literature data from multiple sources. Using both databases, we also explore the application of COSMO-SAC to solubility predictions in mixed solvents. This work also studies the effects of conformational isomerism on VLE and SLE property prediction. Finally, we compare COSMO-SAC solubility predictions to solubility predictions by the Non-Random Two-Liquid, Segment Activity Coefficient (NRTL-SAC) model. We find UNIFAC is a more accurate method for predicting VLE behavior than the COSMO-SAC model for many of the systems studied, and that COSMO-SAC predicts solute mole fraction in pure solvents with an average root-mean-squared error (log10(xsol)) of 0.74, excluding outliers, which is greater than the RMS error value of 0.43 using the NRTL-SAC model. / Master of Science

Looking at Washington D.C.`s Downtown and observing its domination by office blocks, which contribute little to street life on weekends, my thesis is dealing with the broad topic of cultural sustainability. I began my thesis thinking about a project dealing with ecological sustainability, but not long after starting to research, I gained the knowledge that the cultural aspect is often forgotten or minor. Thus the design got inspired through the idea of reviving a site in D.C. and to give the different occupants of the building the chance to sense, hear, see and eventually interact with each other. The project is giving an opportunity for architecture to get involved in people's life, not just as a room to live, work and study but to lead their interaction with each other and with the city itself. To create such a mixed used building I decided to connect three main characters of a city in one building: Work Space, which includes retail and office space, Living Space for students and professors and Education, which is a literature department library. A labour intensive model making process helped me to develop the design for a mixed used building where the different programs penetrate into each other`s realm and where the city is not excluded from the building but takes part in it. / Master of Architecture

Undertaking a work of architecture utilizing modular construction is, in most cases, a design project dominated, or at least driven by, the most technical aspects of architecture. Technical aspects which haven't been completely figured out yet. Rather than making the decision to use a pre-determined structural system in the project before going through the design process, my thesis offers an example of how a more traditional and balanced approach can improve resulting buildings. In addition, rather than allowing the technology of the module to create the form of the building, show how a thorough study of program and form can influence the structure, even in an endeavor which usually requires such hard-nosed engineering. / Master of Architecture

The project is a mixed-use building based on three main Situationist themes: 1. The creations of situations - creating a foundation for the spontaneous interaction between users of a building and people randomly passing by. 2. The Labyrinth - a playful structure that is not necessarily rational and leaves scope for new discoveries that are not evident when you enter the building. 3. Unitary Urbanism - avoiding the sharp distinctions between workplace, residential housing and leisure, the building aims to integrate all aspects of human endeavor. The building should reflect all aspects of the city, hence being a condensed image of the city. The building contains shops, cafes, restaurants, apartments and movie theatres. The building is open and invites the users to explore. / Master of Architecture