The utilization of application-to-application (A2A) credentials within interpretive language scripts and application code has long been a security risk. The quandaries being how to protect and secure the credentials handled in the main body of code and avoid exploitation from rogue programmers, system administrators and other users with authorized high levels of privilege. Researchers report that A2A credentials cannot be protected and that there is no way to reduce the risk of the inevitable successful attack and subsequent exploit. Therefore, research efforts to date have primarily been focused on mitigating the impact of the attack rather than finding ways to reduce the attack surface. The work contained herein successfully addresses this serious cross-cutting concern and proves that it is in fact possible to significantly reduce the risk of attack. This reduction of risk was accomplished through implementing a method of credential obfuscation which applied advice with concerns utilizing a composition filter. The filter modified messages containing the credentials as they were sent from the interpretive language script to the remote data store. The modification extracted credentials from a secure password vault and inserted them into the message being sent to the remote data store. This modification moved the handling of the credentials from the main body of code to a secure library and out of the reach of attackers with authorized high levels of privilege. The relocation of the credential handling code lines significantly reduced the attack surface and the overall risk of attack.

證人以不自證己罪為由主張拒絕證言權之相關問題，在刑事審判過程中主要牽涉四大層面：一為此項拒絕證言權之適用範圍為何，亦即證人所得主張權利之射程範圍是否僅止於供述證據，抑或涵蓋其他刑事訴訟中的強制處分、提出命令；二為審判程序中證人應如何主張、行使此項權利，而一旦證人主張此權利，司法機關應如何審查以為准駁；三為證人行使拒絕證言權之舉，對於本案被告案件中，乃至於證人日後改列被告時，可否評價（是否具有證據能力）、抑或應如何評價之（證明力問題）；四為若檢察官或法院未盡告知義務告知證人有此項權利致使證人為自陷己罪之陳述時，該陳述對於本案被告案件中，乃至於證人日後改列被告時，可否評價（是否具有證據能力）、抑或應如何評價（證明力問題）。上開層面即為本文探討之主軸。

This thesis takes an unconventional approach to environmental racism. Through the lens of white privilege and racial capitalism, I analyze hazardous waste procedures, work site dynamics, and governmental enforcement. Southeast Los Angeles encompasses 26 neighborhoods and the communities racial demographic is 85.8% people of color. The region is home to an abundance of hazardous waste generators, and the area is disproportionately burdened by pollution compared to the rest of LA County. I chose white privilege as a framework because more often than not, discrimination in the workplace is unintentional and covert. White privilege manifests through hazardous waste management in four forms: devaluation of worker training, lack of language accommodations, disenfranchisement of employees of color, and enforcement-heavy regulation. The four factors listed impact facility operations and risk health and safety of personnel, especially employees of color working in closest proximity to toxic chemicals. To prioritize the needs of workers of color, I recommend creating a free hazardous waste consultation service modeled after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s service. Ineffective online instruction must be eliminated and replaced with learner-centered empowerment training. Finally, generator management must facilitate a more supportive culture that empowers employees of color as agents of change in the workplace.

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Many of America's schools are populated with diverse student populations, while the teaching population remains largely White. This creates dissonance for White teachers and students of color. Possibly mentoring can assist novice White teachers as they enculturate into the profession and their culturally diverse campuses. This qualitative research, conducted from an Interpretivism paradigm, used a case study of a White female novice teacher at a culturally diverse campus to understand the role mentoring played in a White female novice teacher's perceptions of her enculturation into a culturally diverse campus. Several methods of data collection were used, including 9 semi-structured interviews with the novice teacher, email dialogues, 3 days of shadowing, as well as two semi-structured interviews with the subject's principal and mentor. The data was analyzed using the constant comparative method. This White female novice teacher taught at a campus with a large Hispanic student population. She struggled to feel confident in her work and in her relationships with her mentor, her fellow teachers, her administrators, her students and their parents. She relied heavily on her faith and her fellow novice teacher and teammate. Her mentor visited her once a week. She liked her mentor, but never felt she received the assistance desired. She recognized she knew little about the Hispanic culture of her students; she was willing to learn more, but failed to see her own privileged membership in the dominant White culture and its effect on interactions with her students. The discussion of this study looks at the structuring of an effective mentoring program for novice teachers, and the new teacher?s frustrations with the mentoring received; her relationship struggles with her principal and other staff, but also some successes in forming friendly relationships; her desire to understand her Hispanic students and their culture, yet her inability to see her membership in the dominant culture, as well has her school and district's "color-blind" approach to race; and her perceptions of her enculturation into the profession of teaching. The conclusions of this study discuss mentoring new teachers, the role of principals in the induction of new teachers, cultural differences between teachers and students, and the influence of faith and character with a teacher and his/her teaching.

This thesis explores how government and society are invariably against the racial sharing of spaces. It examines how impoverished Black communities are created, sustained and perpetuated. The thesis is concerned with two main theories about race repression, race castes and racialization of space, both of which posit race as the main factor shaping the existing power relations. The work first draws upon the era of de jure segregation to highlight features of castes and racialized space. The first chapter looks at how housing discrimination caused Harlem to develop into a ghetto space. In the post-de jure era, the second chapter examines how the economics of racialized space access continued to inform a national framework defined by race-neutrality. It examines how, against the wake of Civil Rights era and community rioting, politicians discursively campaigned by demonizing and criminalizing Black rioters and Black culture. The War on Drugs, which emerged against the backdrop of Rights activism, called for crime control in Black communities. By targeting Blacks already isolated in “ghetto” spaces, politicians ensure that they over-compensate White communities with the public benefits and economic resources that are taken away from Blacks spaces. In media as well as in politics, our nation continuously fails to contextualize the costs of the War on Drugs on Black communities. The final chapter examines a film to show how popular depictions of Black ghettos and misconceptions about the War on Drugs, continue to feed our ideological and actual understandings of racialized space and privileged access.

The purpose of this study is to explore tensions and themes that have influenced my activist identity. Drawing on theories of reflective practice, self study and autoethnography I use a narrative inquiry approach to trace significant experiences in my life, from student to high school teacher, to teacher educator. Themes that arise include a shift from a political to a “student voice”-focused approach to educational activism, the ongoing influence of my privileged identities, the importance of mentorship, the recognition that social change is possible, and the awareness and embracing of my “unfinishedness”. This study attempts to add to literature on educational or teacher activism and speak to the value of narrative inquiry approaches in teacher education and professional development programs.

The purpose of this study is to explore tensions and themes that have influenced my activist identity. Drawing on theories of reflective practice, self study and autoethnography I use a narrative inquiry approach to trace significant experiences in my life, from student to high school teacher, to teacher educator. Themes that arise include a shift from a political to a “student voice”-focused approach to educational activism, the ongoing influence of my privileged identities, the importance of mentorship, the recognition that social change is possible, and the awareness and embracing of my “unfinishedness”. This study attempts to add to literature on educational or teacher activism and speak to the value of narrative inquiry approaches in teacher education and professional development programs.

My thesis project is an argument for and an investigation into the complex dynamics of what I term a critical, feminist, anti-racist pedagogy. Drawing from scholarly work in the fields of feminist theory, cultural studies, whiteness studies, and rhetoric and composition, in what follows I argue for a blurring of the traditional reason-emotion split that, I believe, continues to stifle learners in todays U.S. educational system. I then offer a pedagogical theory that rejects or blurs this split, acknowledges and examines the affective realm, and is fueled by the more holistic notion and theory of love as a hermeneutic put forth by self-identified U.S. third-world feminist ChlÌ?a Sandoval. Next, I make connections between Sandovals theory and the work of several contemporary feminist scholars who theorize love and the formation of powerful coalitions that can work toward fostering democratizing social change in U.S. society today.

The mammalian pregnancy comprises a challenge to the maternal immune system since the fetus is semi-allogeneic and could thus be rejected. Pregnancy success is associated with the placenta that is not only essential for oxygen supply, nourishment and pregnancy hormones but also plays a role in the protection of the fetus against maternal immunologic attack. The aim of the current studies was to elucidate the role of human placenta as an immunomodulatory organ with a special focus on placental exosomes as vehicles for establishment of maternal tolerance to the fetus. We discovered that the syncytiotrophoblast in human normal pregnancy constitutively produces and secretes exosomes. Exosomes are 30-100 nanometer-sized membrane vesicles of endosomal origin that convey intercellular communication. Exosomes are produced and released through the endosomal compartment and reflect the type and the activation state of the cells that produce and secrete them. They carry cytosolic and membrane-bound proteins and nucleic acids and can influence and re-program recipient cells. Depending on their interactions with cells of the immune system they can be divided into immunostimulatory or immunosuppressive. We developed methods for isolation and culture of trophoblast and placental explants from human normal first trimester pregnancy and isolated exosomes from the culture supernatants.  These exosomes were characterized biochemically and functionally regarding mechanisms with potential importance in the establishment of maternal tolerance towards the fetus. The following aspects were studied: 1) exosomal modulation of the NKG2D receptor-ligand system, a major cytotoxic pathway for NK- and cytotoxic T cells and thus potentially dangerous to the fetus; 2) placental exosome-mediated apoptosis of activated immune effector cells; and 3) Foxp3-expressing T regulatory cells in human pregnant uterine mucosa, the decidua. Using immuno electron microscopy we show that human early syncytiotrophoblast constitutively expresses the stress-inducible NKG2D ligands MICA/B and ULBP1-5, and the apoptosis inducing molecules FasL and TRAIL. While MICA/B were expressed both on the cell surface and intracellularly on the limiting membrane of multivesicular bodies (MVB) and on exosomes, the ULBP1-5, FasL and TRAIL  were solely  processed through the MVB of the endosomal compartment and secreted on exosomes. The NKG2D ligand-expressing placental exosomes were able to internalize the cognate receptor from the cell surface of activated NK- and T cells thus down regulating their cytotoxic function. In our studies of apoptosis we found that placental exosomes carry the proapoptotic ligands FasL and TRAIL in their active form as a hexameric complex of two homotrimeric molecules, required for triggering of the apoptotic signaling pathways. This finding was supported by the ability of isolated placental FasL/TRAIL expressing exosomes to induce apoptosis in activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and Jurkat T cells. Additionally, we studied Foxp3-expressing T regulatory (Treg) cells in paired human decidual and blood samples from pregnant women compared to non-pregnant controls. The CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells were 10 fold enriched in the decidual mucosa compared to peripheral blood of pregnant women and non-pregnant controls. We discovered a pool of Foxp3-expressing, CD4+CD25- cells in human decidua, a phenotype consistent with naïve/precursor Foxp3+ Treg cells. These results suggest local enrichment of Treg cells in decidua of normal pregnancy. Furthermore, we have results indicating that the exosomes, isolated from placental explant cultures, carry PD-L1 and TGFβ on their surface, molecules known to promote induction of Treg cells. Taken together, our results provide evidence that placental exosomes are immunosuppressive and underline their role in the maternal immune modulation during pregnancy. The constitutive production and secretion of immunosuppressive placental exosomes create a protective exosomal gradient in the blood surrounding the feto-placental unit. This “cloud of immunosuppressive exosomes” conveys immunologic privilege to the developing fetus and thus contributes to the solution of the immunological challenge of mammalian pregnancy.