Social mobility has been extensively documented based on two-generational associations. Whereas a few studies suggest that the approach related to social inequalities should be open to multigenerational associations, the topic of social mobility over multiple generations is still at its blooming stage. Very little is known about multigenerational effects on education in Britain and about empirical evidence of the mechanisms that underlie multigenerational effects. Drawing on the British Household Panel Survey and the UK Longitudinal Household Study, this thesis examines social mobility over three generations in Britain. The central aims of the thesis are to explore direct grandparental effects on grandchildren's educational and class attainments independent of parental influences. In particular, it focuses on mechanisms through which grandparental effects operate. The thesis finds that grandparental class is significantly associated with grandchildren's educational achievement, despite parental class, parental education, and parental wealth being taken into account. Regarding the mechanisms, the evidence suggests first that the impacts of grandparental class on education remain even though grandparents have passed away at the time of the survey, and second that the impacts disappear only when grandparents have only infrequent contact with the family. Furthermore, I find that grandparental effects are significantly stronger on grandchildren originating from advantaged parents than on those from disadvantaged parents, indicating the strong persistence of inequalities at the top of social stratification. The research also highlights significant, albeit modest, effects of grandparental class on grandchildren's class attainment over and above parental influences. For grandsons, maternal grandparental class still matters even after grandsons' education has been controlled for. In particular, self-employed grandparents have a strong impact on grandsons' likelihood of engagement in self-employment, a pattern that holds true even when parents are not self-employed. For granddaughters, neither paternal nor maternal grandparental class is found to have a direct substantial impact on granddaughters' class after granddaughters' education has been controlled for. The thesis suggests that the conventional social mobility approach based on parentchild associations may overestimate the effects of parental characteristics and underestimate the effects of family origins. Family advantages run deep; they are maintained over generations in Britain.

Pour enrichir les connaissances scientifiques sur les effets biologiques des radionucléides et risques des contaminations chroniques sur la descendance, une étude multigénérationnelle in vivo d’exposition a été réalisée à doses non toxiques d'uranium. Ce modèle, a permis de suivre les effets biologiques de l’uranium sur trois générations de rats (F0, F1 et F2) par des analyses cliniques et le suivi de marqueurs biologiques. Dans cette étude, des analyses métabolomiques, transcriptomiques et épigénomiques ont été réalisées à partir d’échantillons de sang, d’urine et de rein.Pour la première génération des rats contaminés (F0), des différences dépendant du sexe des animaux sont observables par l’analyse des niveaux d’expression géniques (ARNm et micro-ARN) dans les reins, des profils métabolomiques et biochimiques dans les reins, l’urine et le sang. Aucune modification épigénétique des profils de méthylation de l’ADN rénal n’est à noter. Pour les deux générations suivantes (F1 et F2), un effet multigénérationnel dépendant aussi du sexe des rats est observable au niveau des profils métabolomiques urinaires et rénaux ainsi qu’au niveau des profils épigénétiques de méthylation de l'ADN des reins. Une baisse de poids corporel et des reins a aussi été observée pour la troisième génération de rats chez les mâles (F2).En conclusion, les travaux de cette thèse montrent qu’une contamination chronique à faible dose d'uranium entraine des effets biologiques sur plusieurs générations de rats. Ils sont observables à différents niveaux moléculaires des systèmes de régulation cellulaires et dépendent du sexe des rats. Ces effets, étroitement liés à des systèmes biologiques intégrés, sont utiles à la compréhension des mécanismes biologiques des expositions à l'uranium et à l’évaluation des risques de nocivités à long termes. Dans le domaine de la radioprotection, ces résultats justifient la nécessité de considérer les dimorphismes sexuels des individus et les conséquences des expositions sur les générations à venir. / In order to deepen scientific knowledge regarding biological effects of radionuclides and associated risk to offspring, an in vivo multigenerational study of chronic exposure to a non-toxic dose of uranium was performed by monitoring three generation of rats (F0, F1 and F2). Clinical parameters and biological markers, including metabolomics, transcriptomics and epigenomics high throughput analysis were conducted in blood, urine and kidney samples.For the first generation of contaminated rats (F0) sex-differences to uranium effects were observed in kidney for gene expression (mRNA, miRNA) and in kidney, urine and blood for biochemical parameters and metabolomics profiles. No epigenetic modification of DNA methylation profiles was shown in kidney. For the next two generations (F1, F2), a multigenerational sex-specific effect is observed for both metabolomics and renal DNA methylation profiles of contaminated rats. Moreover, for the last generation of male rats (F2), a decrease of both total body and kidney weight was shown.In conclusion, low-dose chronic contamination of rats to uranium leads to multigenerational effects. Including sex-differences, they can be shown at different molecular levels of the cellular system. Depending of integrated system biology, data of this thesis are useful in the understanding of biological mechanisms of uranium effect and risk of delayed harmful effect. In the field of radiation protection, these results prove the requirement of considering sexual dimorphisms and consequences of such exposures to offspring.

For the first time in history, 5 generations are working side by side, creating a challenge concerning training, developing, and managing a multigenerational workforce. More people are working into their later years, and the U.S. labor force participation rate of individuals age 55 and older is projected to increase from 22.4% to 24.8% by 2026. The purpose of this single case study was to explore training strategies managers used to improve multigenerational employee productivity. The sample population included 6 managers of an automotive company in the Great Lakes area of the United States who had knowledge and experience supervising multigenerational workers. Human capital theory was the conceptual framework used to ground the study. Data were collected from semistructured face-to-face interviews, company documents, and website pages. Data analysis included coding to identify themes and member checking to ensure validity. The 2 main themes were collaborative training methods and mentoring programs; the 2 subthemes were advancement and promotion, and retention of employees. Findings of this study may be used to support older employees working longer than traditional retirement age, which might benefit society with increased economic productivity through decreased costs of retirement benefits, healthier living, and greater longevity.

In light of the current opioid epidemic, the past 20 years have made it clear that parental life experiences can significantly impact the behavior and neurobiology of their offspring. Preclinical studies indicate that addiction reflects the interaction of an individual’s environment, genetics, and epigenetic modifications they inherit from their parents. Epigenetic mechanisms - including DNA methylation, histone modification, and small non-coding RNAs – refer to the complex interaction between genes and the environment, which produce heritable changes in germ cells that are transmitted to offspring to ultimately influence the brain development and subsequent vulnerability to develop a substance use disorder. The overarching goal of this dissertation was to characterize the behavioral and neurobiological effects of paternal morphine exposure on addiction-related endpoints in offspring. A highly translational rodent model of paternal morphine self-administration was used to produce first-generation (F1) male and female adolescent and adult offspring. As a reference, offspring derived from morphine-exposed fathers were called morphine-sired offspring, and offspring from saline-exposed fathers were called saline-sired offspring. In chapter 2, we revealed that male morphine-sired progeny are more sensitive over time to the pain-relieving effects of morphine. In the periaqueductal grey, an important pain-related brain region, we identified gene expression changes in regulators of G-protein signaling proteins that could partly account for this phenotype. In chapter 3, we demonstrated that adult morphine-sired male offspring self-administered more morphine; were more motived to earn morphine infusions compared to controls; and had more baseline mu-opioid receptor binding in the ventral tegmental area. Next, in chapter 4, we found that a drug-abstinence period of 90 consecutive days following 60 days of morphine exposure in sires was sufficient to prevent morphine-sired males from self-administering more morphine than controls. In chapter 5, we showed that this addiction-like phenotype did not extend to adolescent male or female offspring. Lastly, in chapter 6, using the incubation of craving paradigm, we found that paternal morphine exposure significantly reduced cue-induced active lever pressing for heroin in morphine-sired males. Taken together, these results add to the growing body of literature that show paternal preconception experiences can impact behavioral and neurobiological endpoints in offspring, perhaps via a(n) epigenetically inherited mechanism(s) in the germline. / Psychology

This project is a romantic exploration of a site and a way of life. It is a proposition for blended boundaries between inside and out, between hill and house, as well as a study of mobility concerning a steep slope. Set in Lebanon overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, the house is carved from the hill yet respects its topography. The hill becomes the communal spaces and rooms of the house. These uncovered spaces and stairways lead to small private spaces, separated by elevation as well as distance due to the accommodating hill. The Mediterranean climate is ideal, with its low rainfall, for outdoor living. The hill provides enough separation and privacy between each private room to function well for extended, multigenerational families. Each family has a similar viewing angle to the sea. / Master of Architecture

My interest in the study and practice of architecture is as a creative tool or solution to many of the challenges in our daily lives and communities.To not just create beautiful space that brings joy to be and exist in, but also space that, through design, addresses problems and helps make life easier and more livable. When exploring an idea for a thesis, I wanted to find design solutions for many of the problems associated with housing and the changing space needs or requirements throughout one's family life-cycle. For over a century the single family home with the nuclear family has been the quintessential American cultural housing ideal. (Think of all the suburban developments and houses with perfectly manicured lawns and identical rows of winding streets stretching for miles and miles out into the countryside). However, in my opinion, this form of housing is quite wasteful in terms of space, material, family, and community resources. It segregates and separates us from our extended family reserves, costing us money, time and most importantly the daily support we might otherwise have from those closest to us: family. I recognize that I am proposing rethinking longstanding cultural understandings about our most basic everyday functions: where and how we live. Part of my architectural exploration includes a question that I know I can never fully answer in these pages: can design lead culture? More specifically, can I or "we" as architects create a desire for something new in our culture through design? Not a new toy or gadget, but a new way of thinking about our future and how we want to live? / Master of Architecture / While studying for my degree and completing my thesis, my family life has undergone many changes (a baby boy...and another on the way), which has added innumerable complications and paradoxically joy to my studies, professional career, and everyday life. When looking around for whatever help I could find I felt hamstrung, limited, by my living situation and the cultural biases that created many of the structures that guide and shape our lives. When I looked around me, I saw others in similar situations: college graduates moving back home because they can’t find jobs that pay enough to support living on their own, families taking in elderly and sick members because they can’t afford or don’t wish to put them in facilities, young families moving in with grandparents to help cover childcare, and on and on and on. People, everywhere trying to make do, survive, in challenging circumstances. These challenges turned my attention to a search for design solutions. What could help make this process easier and more tenable? How can I marshal the resources I already have to fulfill my commitment to being an architect and a mother? And how can architecture and design help with these everyday challenges? My desire was to design housing that will allow for the ebb and flow of family life, to create flexible living conditions that can grow and adapt to one’s changing circumstances, and enable varying living conditions (especially multigenerational families) without sacrificing the privacy and independence that we have grown to enjoy and expect. As an additional challenge, I wanted to explore doing this in an urban situation, partially because I believe this problem is more easily resolved in a suburban or rural condition by building another separate unit or addition on the same lot or compound to accommodate these changes and partially because I believe urban living allows us easier access to resources/amenities (natural, community, and others), is less wasteful, and the current progression of our species. The following pages are an imperfect and incomplete first step to answer to these questions and challenges, something I’m sure I will continue to explore throughout my career and life. I look forward to you joining me on this journey.

Thesis advisor: Christopher R. Glass / This executive dissertation assumes a sensemaking lens to investigate how Assistant and Associate Vice President (AVP)-level administrators in student affairs approach their supervisory roles within the current climate of higher education and employment. The study’s primary goal is to identify how leaders can prepare for changing employment trends and transitions to facilitate and support positive outcomes and satisfaction within their departments and for their staff. The COVID-19 pandemic cast an unforgiving spotlight on longstanding issues within employment in the student affairs profession, which ruptured under the pressures of the outbreak, socio-political upheaval, and massive demographic shifts. Though turnover trends have plagued the student affairs profession for years, COVID-19 demonstrated the inability of traditional human resource practices to meet the changing needs of employees and institutions. This study addresses the following research questions: 1) how do AVP-level student affairs administrators make sense of employment data and trends to inform their supervisory practice? and 2) how do AVP-level student affairs administrators make sense of their role (relationship + actions) in supporting staff members beyond university-wide HR efforts? To answer these questions, this dissertation employed a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. The main results of the study identified five themes, including issues of recruitment, retention, and resignation; shifts in worker norms; considerations of the identity of a supervisor; changing workforce trends; and institutional priorities. These themes notably revolved around the need for AVPs to navigate various forms of tension. These findings have substantial implications for enhancing supervisory approaches to support positive outcomes for student affairs professionals, supporting recommendations for new pathways to the profession, and creating space for proactive versus reactive approaches to employment trends. Ultimately, the goal is to support increased satisfaction and retention in the field of student affairs. The findings contribute to research by addressing trends in an increasingly multigenerational workforce, supervisory approaches in student affairs, and strategies for navigating societal and demographic shifts. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

There has been an increase in the incorporation of silver nanomaterials into consumer products due to their antimicrobial properties. Therefore there is potential for silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) to leach out into the environment during different life-cycle stages of these nanomaterial-containing products. Concern about the toxicity of Ag-NPs has led to investigations into their toxic effects on a variety of organisms mainly using acute and sub-chronic, single-generation exposures. The focus of this project was to understand the effects of long-term continuous multigenerational exposure to AgNO3 and Ag-NPs in both pristine and environmentally transformed forms, on the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans, a soil nematode. A previous multigenerational C. elegans study, showed increased sensitivity in terms of reproductive toxicity, in response to AgNO3 and Ag-NPs, but not sulfidized Ag-NPs (sAg-NPs), with increasing generations of exposure. The reproductive toxicity persisted in subsequently unexposed generations even after rescue from the exposure. We hypothesized that genomic mutations and/or epigenetic changes were possible mechanisms by which the reproductive toxicity was inherited. We investigated the potential for induction of germline mutations in C. elegans after exposures for ten generations to AgNO3, Ag-NPs, and sAg-NPs using whole genome DNA sequencing. Epigenetic changes at histone methylation markers, (H3K4me2 and H3K9me3), and DNA methylation at adenosine (N6-methyl-2’-deoxyadenosine) were investigated after multigenerational exposure as well as after rescue from the exposure using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), respectively. Expression levels of the genes of methyltransferases and demethylases, associated with the histone methylation markers and DNA methylation, were also examined. Our results for germline mutations reveal no significant differences between the nematodes exposed to AgNO3 or pristine Ag-NPs when compared to controls. The significant increase in the number of transversion was observed only for sAg-NPs. However, a trend toward an increase in the total number of mutations was observed in all Ag treatments with some of those mutations having a predicted moderate or high impact. This potentially contributed towards reproductive as well as growth toxicity shown previously after ten generations of exposure in every treatment.. These results did not entirely support the multigenerational reproductive toxicity observed previously. Epigenetic responses at histone methylation markers revealed opposite patterns between pristine and transformed Ag-NPs with Ag-NPs causing a significant increase while exposure to sAg-NPs resulted in significant decrease in methylation at H3K4me2 mark. The increase in H3K4me2 levels was also inherited by subsequent unexposed generations rescued from Ag-NP exposure. Only sAg-NPs caused a significant decrease in methylation at H3K9me3 mark. Changes in mRNA levels for histone methyltransferases and demethylase corresponded with the histone methylation levels affected by Ag-NPs and sAg-NPs. For DNA methylation, a significant increase was observed only for AgNO3, which was not inherited after the rescue. In conclusion, while germline mutations with a high or moderate impact may affect reproduction, our results do not support this as a mechanism for the heritable increase in C. elegans sensitivity to reproductive toxicity from AgNO3 and pristine Ag-NPs. The epigenetic changes, however, do show partial correlation with the observed reproductive toxicity. The reproductive multigenerational effects of AgNO3 can be attributed to changes in DNA methylation whereas that of Ag-NPs can be attributed to changes in histone methylation. Further studies, focused on the investigation of changes in histone and DNA methylation levels at specific loci using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) and methylated DNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeDIP-Seq), respectively, are warranted for a better understanding of the impact of such changes.

Company leaders in the workplace represent all generations with diverse values, and those values influence their financial decisions in the workplace. The problem is that multigenerational company leaders and their employees possess different values from one another, which in turn creates different financial priorities for the company. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain a better understanding of how the financial values of company leaders from different generations are developed, and how those values influence their financial decisions in the workplace. The key research question for this qualitative study examined how the financial values and decisions of company leaders in the workplace differ from their fellow company leaders from a different generation. This study assessed the different motivations for financial decision making by the multigenerational managers in the workplace. Semi-structured interviews and notes from direct observation of 10 multigenerational managers coupled with the analysis compiled from qualitative research software showed that most managers possessed similar financial values and made similar financial decisions, regardless of their generation. The findings also showed that the financial values of the participants were developed at an early age, which influenced their financial decision-making in the workplace. These results could lead to positive social change by gaining a better understanding of the motivations for financial values and financial decisions made in the workplace.

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