The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Self-Efficacy (PANSE) scale. If proven a valid and reliable measure of self-efficacy for weight-loss behaviors, the PANSE scale may be useful in future research involving activity and nutrition for weight loss. This is particularly important given today’s high prevalence of overweight and obesity, which may be curtailed with increased levels of activity and/or improved food-related behaviors. Initial reliability and validity testing was performed using a sample of 71 women low-income in central Texas. The average age of the participants was 24.5 ± 4.75 years; 35.2% were African American, 32.4% were Hispanic, and 32.4% were White. The women completed the 11-item PANSE questionnaire at baseline and at a 7-week follow-up data collection. Test-retest results provided reliability evidence, and there was sufficient evidence of internal consistency (Cronbach alpha = 0.89). Construct validity was established with significant correlations in expected directions with the Self Care Inventory, Perceived Stress Scale, and Decisional Balance Inventory. The predictive validity of the PANSE scale for weight-loss at 7-week follow-up and program drop out was not established. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a 2-factor model for the 11 items. Initial examination provided evidence for the reliability and construct validity of the PANSE scale. Future testing of the scale should to be conducted with other populations to assess the generalizability of the PANSE scale outside of the population studied in the current report. / text

After the Cold War, international state-building has taken place in several countries as a response to ethnic conflicts. The dissolution of Yugoslavia was also characterized with ethnic conflicts, which ended after international interventions. The inter-ethnic violence destabilized the nexus between eponymous states, nationalizing states, and the minorities living in the latter. The international actors - primarily the EU and the US - involved in state-building saw consociational power-sharing arrangements as a key feature in multi-ethnic state-building processes, notably in post-war Bosnia, Kosovo, and Macedonia. Using Smith’s quadratic nexus and Germane’s “fifth element” as a theoretical framework, this thesis examines one segment of the nexus - the correlation of international relational field and national minorities relational field – in a ‘top down’ approach. Two central questions are asked: how have international actors influenced power-sharing arrangements in reaction to separatism; and how has the interplay between different ethnic groups from the same ethnic minority living in the same state affected power-sharing arrangements? These questions are addressed by engaging in a comparative case analysis of two ethnically divided states, namely Kosovo and Macedonia, having adopted consociational power-sharing arrangements under the international influence. The work in this thesis examines the international influence on power-sharing arrangements in reaction to separatism through three processes: international mediations, implementation of power-sharing arrangements into the constitutions and the functionality of power-sharing systems in practice. The thesis revolves around these central arguments: the role of international actors in reaction to separatism and the degree of local ownership in the drafting and constitutionalisation of power-sharing arrangements is reflected in asymmetric power-sharing arrangements between the two compared cases and on the functionality of the power-sharing systems; and, relationship between different groups of minorities from the same ethnicity living in the same state - “the sixth element” - has an impact on the functionality of power-sharing systems, giving rise to “the sixth element” as a new relational field within the quadratic nexus, proposed in this thesis.

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In response to competing group claims and the challenge to achieve pre-set triple national goals - recognising and accommodating ethnic diversity, achieving national unity and political stability, successive Nigerian governments from the colonial era to the present, have at various periods negotiated, constitutionalised and/or decreed state building strategies. This thesis offers detailed discussion and evaluation of some of these competing group claims and strategies using principles derived from the theoretical arguments of Michal Walzer, Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, and prescriptions based on the empirical arguments of Crawford Young, Eric Nordlinger, Donald Horowitz and Donald Rothchild. The thesis argues that some of the strategies adopted in response to the competing group claims were defensible in the very circumstances in which they were introduced, but were either not deep enough to offer an adequate political inclusion, or lacked the appropriate instruments that would have minimised recurrence of ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities. There were some strategies that either generated tension among groups, or were purely driven by strategic considerations for national unity, but were defensible. There were other strategies that were pragmatic at the very period they were adopted, but not defensible. The core theoretical finding of the thesis is that, the normative and empirical prescriptions validate the country’s various strategies for coping with diversity. However, application of some elements of the prescriptions in the Nigerian multicultural society has the potential to generate tensions leading to ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities. The important empirical finding of the thesis is regarding the role the inherent tensions between the triple national goals and the state building strategies play in the generation and recurrence of ethno-political conflict and institutional instabilities. The thesis argues that the underlying factors responsible for the prevalence of ethno-political conflict and institutional instabilities in the country include among others, the ascension of the military to power and its costly dominance of the political scene for about thirty five years, the immediate post-civil war period which coincided with the era of petroleum boom that created a deepening crisis of corruption, the perpetuation of large scale electoral and financial corruption, and manipulation of ethnic loyalties. Given the above underlying factors, this work observes that state building and Constitutional politics in Nigeria’s multi-ethnic society is a difficult task, especially taking into account the ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities associated with the Armed Forces over the years. On the basis of a detailed and interdisciplinary analysis, the thesis recommends constitutional and institutional safeguards for mitigating ethno-political conflicts and institutional instabilities in the course of future political development of Nigeria.

The Freedom Quilt is a play that I have written and adapted from Deborah Hokinson’s book, Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt. This story explores the historic and dramatic implications in the idea of coded quilts as a form of communication among African American slaves; specifically as coded maps to freedom. There is an ongoing scholarly debate challenging the existence of these quilts, let alone that they could have been used in such a complex manner. The Freedom Quilt however, is one girl’s unique and individual story, and does not in any way suggest that maps, encoded in quilts were used by a large number of escaping slaves. I don’t know if the actuality of these quilts can ever be proven or disproven, but history has revealed that there were many paths to freedom, and following a map of this kind could very well have been one of them. This document was created in Microsoft Word 2000

The purpose of this study is to explore the differences and similarities regarding the causes of and approaches to bullying among a number of girls and boys in third grade in two schools. One of the schools is in a mono-ethnic area and the other in a multi-ethnic. The purpose isto compare the results between the schools and the questions proposed are: What is the reason for the bullying? What are the differences and similarities in existing opinions on the practice of bullying? What are the differences and similarities of students' opinions on bullying in a mono-ethnic and in a multi-ethnic school? I have chosen to use gender and ethnicity theories and the study was conducted through qualitative group interviews. The results have shown that boys' explanations for bullying are more aggressive than girls, although approaches to bullying were more related with violence among boys. The multi-ethnic school uses more direct bullying compared to the mono-ethnic school where indirect bullying occurred more often. My conclusions are that general knowledge about the subject is not enough to be able to counter bullying. It’s necessary to be familiar with how bullying occurs in that individual school because there can be large differences in the approaches when dealing with bullying from school to school.

Yes / Purpose: To determine presenting visual acuity levels and explore the factors associated with failing vision screening in a multi-ethnic population of UK children aged 4–5 years. Methods: Visual acuity (VA) using the logMAR Crowded Test was measured in 16,541 children in a population-based vision screening programme. Referral for cycloplegic examination was based on national recommendations (>0.20logMAR in one or both eyes). Presenting visual impairment (PVI) was defined as VA >0.3logMAR in the better eye. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association of ethnicity, maternal, and early-life factors with failing vision screening and PVI in participants of the Born in Bradford birth cohort. Results: In total, 2467/16,541 (15%) failed vision screening, 732 (4.4%) had PVI. Children of Pakistani (OR: 2.49; 95% CI: 1.74–3.60) and other ethnicities (OR: 2.00; 95% CI: 1.28–3.12) showed increased odds of PVI compared to white children. Children born to older mothers (OR: 1.63; 95% CI: 1.19–2.24) and of low birth weight (OR: 1.52; 95% CI: 1.00–2.34) also showed increased odds. Follow-up results were available for 1068 (43.3%) children, 993 (93%) were true positives; 932 (94%) of these had significant refractive error. Astigmatism (>1DC) (44%) was more common in children of Pakistani ethnicity and hypermetropia (>3.0DS) (27%) in white children (Fisher’s exact, p < 0.001). Conclusions: A high prevalence of PVI is reported. Failing vision screening and PVI were highly associated with ethnicity. The positive predictive value of the vision screening programme was good, with only 7% of children followed up confirmed as false positives. / National Institute for Health Research Post-Doctoral Fellowship Award (PDF-2013-06-050); The Born in Bradford study presents independent research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) and the Programme Grants for Applied Research funding scheme (RP-PG-0407-10044).

This study highlights the salience of race, cultural match between student and teacher, students' cultural conformity and perceptions of opportunity, and teachers' pedagogical perspectives in students' academic achievement, with particular attention to the perpetual achievement gap between African American and European American students. This analysis of a multi-ethnic group of 308 high school students and 23 teachers examines the inter-relatedness of students' and teachers' cultural values, view, and practices and school-based environmental factors that are often absent or dichotomized in explorations of academic achievement across racial/cultural groups. Mann-Whitney U Test and Kruskal-Wallis Test results revealed statistically significantly higher achievement scores among (1) students who shared the same race/ethnicity or shared the same race/ethnicity and culture with their teachers; (2) students who reported cultural perspectives consistent with mainstream cultural views and experiences regarding race, social issues, school-related coping strategies, and school opportunity; and (3) students whose teachers reported pluralistic and multicultural/pluralistic pedagogical styles when compared to their peers. Exploratory analyses of variance supported multiple regression analyses which found each variable to explain from 15% to 23% of the variance in students' academic achievement. This African-centered investigation places the interests of African Americans central to its exploration. It posits the cultural heritage and social-political experiences of its subjects as the driving force of inquiry into the continual lack of "equal" opportunity for and "equal" legitimacy of African American people and culture in public education in America. Therefore, this study is informed by a comprehensive review of the history, culture, and social politics within which America's academic achievement levels and gaps are inextricably rooted. Given the pervasiveness of socially-reconstructed inequality through institutions in America, the roles of race, culture, and cultural conformity are analyzed in a "successful," multi-ethnic high school in the southwest. This analysis helps determine whether dynamics that involve culture and cultural conformity are active in America's classrooms and how they impact students' achievement. It is hoped that this clarification of racial and cultural dynamics within educational institutions will spur stakeholders' motivations and inform policies and strategies to provide equitable educational opportunities for African American students and to improve all students' academic achievement. / African American Studies

A travers une étude interculturelle détaillée et comparée de la production théâtrale minoritaire canadienne et américaine, ma thèse cherche à mettre en lumière les les apports thématiques et esthétiques du théâtre multi-ethnicque nord-américain contemporain à la tradition anglo-américaine du 20ème siècle. Les communautés asiatiques, africaines et aborigènes sont retenues comme poste d'observation privilégié de l'expression esthétique de la condition multiculturelle postcoloniale dans le théâtre nord-américain de la période allant de 1972 à nos jours. Sur base d'un corpus de pièces de théâtre, ma recherche m'a permis de redéfinir les grandes articulations des notions d'hybridité, d'identité et de communauté/nation postcoloniale. Through a detailed cross-cultural approach of the English Canadian and American minority theatrical production, my thesis aims to identify the thematic and aesthetic contributions of multi-ethnic North American drama to the Anglo-American tradition of the 20th century. My study examines North American drama from the vantage points of African, Asian, and Native communities from 1972 until today. Relying on a number of case studies, my research opened up new avenues for rethinking the notions of hybridity and identity in relation to the postcolonial community/nation.