The two glides w and j exist in both English and Korean. In English, these two glides form syllable-initial glide-vowel (GV) sequences with any of the following twelve vowels (i, ɪ, eɪ, ɛ, ʌ, ə, œ, u, ʊ, oʊ, ɔ, a). In Korean, assuming seven monophthongs (i, e, ə, ɨ, u, o, a), fourteen GV sequences are logically possible, but only nine occur; the following five GV sequences are absent: *ji, *jɨ, *wu, *wɨ, *wo. Researchers who have proposed phonological explanations for this gap unanimously point to the homorganicity between the two segments in these absent sequences. In English, however, homorganicity seems to be disregarded; five GV sequences--GV[HO] sequences--consist of homorganic segments: wu, ji, wʊ, jɪ, wo. This difference in phonotactics between the two languages constitutes the source of difficulty for Korean ESL learners in mastering the L2 glides and GV[HO] sequences. In this study, I first provide detailed phonological and phonetic characterizations of glides. I review phonological representations of glides, as well as corresponding high vowels. Then, I perform a series of acoustic analyses of a set of production data collected from Korean and English monolingual speakers. The acoustic parameters under analysis include the first three formants (F1-F3) and the duration of the glide steady state and the glide-to-vowel transition. These analyses reveal that the F2 of English [w] is consistently lower than that of any of the twelve vowels, while the F2 of Korean [w] depends significantly on the quality of the following vowel. Also, English glides exhibit considerably longer steady state durations compared to Korean glides. Next, I analyze the learners' production data, collected from twenty-two Korean ESL learners. The L2 data reveal that the learners resorted to a few major repair strategies for target GV[HO] sequences, while the vast majority of the non-homorganic GV sequences (GV[N-HO]) are produced target-appropriately. Among these repair strategies, 79% were glide deletion (wound → [und]/[ʔund]), 20% vowel shift (wound → [wənd]), and 1% glide shift (yip → [wɪp]). Interestingly, however, in their L2 glides, many of the learners showed a departure from monolingual Korean glides in the F2 of [w] and the duration of the steady state. Lastly, an Optimality Theoretic account is proposed for the learners' L2 data. Under the assumption that GV[HO] sequences are marked relative to GV[N-HO] sequences (Kawasaki 1982), I argue that learning English GV[HO] sequences by Korean ESL learners involves constraint reranking, crucially, demotion of a set of markedness constraints below a set of competing faithfulness constraints.

Culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) has been a topic in education since 1995. Since Gloria Ladson-Billings presented her grounded theory, some teachers have adopted this approach in general education. According to limited data-based resources specifically about music education and CRP, it seems that music educators might have limited knowledge of what CRP is and how to implement its tenets effectively in their classrooms. This thesis is a critical analysis of CRP through a discussion of each of its three components: academic success, building cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness. After a brief history of multicultural education and some background on Gloria Ladson-Billings and her research projects that suggest effective ways to educate African Americans, the ideas of CRP are applied to a sixth grade general music setting. Recognition of teachers’ own biases, as well as their cultural values, is presented as an important part of building cultural competence for themselves and their students. Sociopolitical consciousness has the potential to empower students to address inequities and when music educators use CRP in their classrooms they help affirm and celebrate student culture. Applying the tenets of CRP, music standards and benchmarks are used to develop a unit on hip-hop music and culture. This model can be adapted to other contexts for music educators to use in their classrooms. Background information is provided of the art form to help guide understanding and explore its application to music education to suggest further research on this topic.

The dissolution behavior of a drug substance is an important part of its bioavailability. Three solid dissolution mechanisms are recognized: transport control, interface control and mixed-kinetic control. The mixed-kinetic control mechanism is not well studied as the majority of dissolution phenomena in pharmaceutical research are assumed to be transport-controlled. A phenomenological model for mixed-kinetic control was developed in which the interfacial step comprises molecular detachment and re-deposition and is described by chemical kinetic theory. This model encompasses interface control and transport control as limiting cases. Experimental studies on three organic compounds showed that they dissolved by transport control at 37°C, but exhibited certain degrees of interface control at lower temperatures (10°C and 3°C), which, according to the model, indicates that reducing the dissolution temperature slowed down re-deposition more than transport. Using mathematical approaches derived from the model, up to 27% interface control was calculated from the experimental results. The second experimental investigation showed significant degrees of interface control in benzoic acid dissolution in sodium dodecyl sulfate (NaDS) solutions at 25°C. The dissolution behavior was well described by the mixed-kinetic control model and up to 73% interface control was calculated. An extension of the model was proposed to describe a potential micelle-interface interaction mechanism indicated by the model-fitted parameters. The third investigation showed that FD&C Blue #1, a water-soluble dye, inhibited sulfathiazole dissolution in acidic media but not in water. The inhibition was attributed to the blocking of dissolution sites by dye adsorption. A potential pH-dependent adsorption mechanism was proposed in which protonation at sulfathiazole solid surface gives rise to preferential dye adsorption on detachment rates and thus reduced dissolution rates.

The salinization of groundwater resources is a widespread problem in arid agricultural environments. In Mewat, the amount of solutes dissolved in the water has become too high to use for drinking or agriculture. The only fresh water recharge to this bowl-shaped region is through precipitation, which is focused at the foothills of the mountain. The freshest water is found closest to the mountains and the salinity of the groundwater increases as the distance from the mountains increase. The pumps that supply the region with fresh water are located in the shrinking freshwater zone. Locally-monitored wells show the movement of salinity in the region, as the saline water encroaches upon the freshwater. This study aims to answer the following questions: How long until the region runs out of fresh water? What would it take to have sustainable fresh water supplies? Is it even possible to have sustainable fresh water supplies in this environment? In order to answer these questions, we will quantify potential futures for an arid, groundwater-dependent location in rural India, using numerical groundwater modeling to quantify interactions between human water use, infrastructure, and climate. Outcomes of this modeling study will inform sustainable management of groundwater resources

There are no previous studies validating the accuracy and repeatability of ClearMatch photographic shade analysis system. The purpose of this study was to compare the shade matches performed by a photographic shade analysis system (ClearMatch) with conventional visual shade matching method under simulated clinical conditions. Three shade matching methods were used to match twelve shade tabs under simulated clinical conditions using a Vita Classical shade guide: conventional visual shade matching using 3 human raters (VM – Visual method), photographic shade analysis system (CM - ClearMatch) using two different ways of normalizing the image (CM-A2 and CM-ref respectively). Shade matching for all methods was completed at two separate sessions. The Kappa statistic was used to determine the intra-rater and inter-rater agreement. CIELAB values of the shade results were used to produce scatter plots as well as to calculate the color difference (delta E) between VM and CM groups. There was no inter-rater agreement between VM and CM-A2 (k=0.000 and k=0.015 for the first and second sessions respectively) while VM and CM-ref showed weak agreement (k=0.244 and k=0.091 respectively). Intra-rater agreement was strong in all groups VM, CM-A2 and CM-ref (0.705, 0.803 and 0.681 respectively). CM-A2 had 2 (8.3%) shade matches with a delta E of less than 2.6 (clinically imperceptible), while CM-ref had 12 (50.0%) imperceptible matches. CM-A2 had an additional 16 (66.6%) shade matches with delta E of less than 5.5 (clinically acceptable), while CM-ref had 23 (95.8%) additional acceptable matches. There was poor agreement in exact shade matches between conventional visual shade matching method and the photographic shade analysis system. The repeatability of the photographic shade analysis system was shown to be comparable to conventional visual shade matching. Using conventional shade matching as the gold standard, the capability of this photographic shade analysis system to accurately shade match has not been achieved.

This research assesses cultural meanings attributed to Asian American sport celebrities, focusing specifically on former professional tennis player Michael Chang and professional golfer Michelle Wie. This work will examine how they are represented in mainstream American media and how their images have been used in various advertising campaigns. A key assumption of this research is that cultural stakeholders are involved in their particular media representations. Given that Asian American athletes have occupied peripheral positions in American sport, media and their invisibility in advertising campaigns, the recent commodification of Asian American athletic bodies is worth examining in greater detail. Drawing on Susan Birrell and Mary McDonald's (1999, 2000) “reading sport” methodology, I critically read their representations in mainstream media and television commercials to explore the complexity and particularity of the articulation of power lines surrounding these Asian American sport celebrities. The “reading sport” methodology emphasizes the particularity of power relations and interdependence of lines of power. Accordingly, I situate his or her representations in the different contexts that each athlete had to encounter. Chang's representation is situated within the conservative climate of post-Reagan America, and Wie's representation is situated within the context neoliberal racism and postfeminism. This study provides a broad understanding of the media representations of Asian American athletes and their different ideological functions in different contexts. Given that there have been a serious lack of studies regarding Asian American athletes, this study seeks to extend the existing body of knowledge about Asian American athletes and their multiple representations.

Our nation is experiencing a demographic shift. The proportion of racial minorities will significantly increase during the next several decades. Institutions of higher education will have to navigate issues of multiculturalism on campus. Issues of diversity, equity and inclusion are, and continue to be, significant matters for colleges and universities. A significant for the higher education community is who will be responsible for the oversight of diversity and furthering diversity goals at institutions of higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the emergence of the chief diversity office, present day conceptions of diversity and the association of organizational structure and efficacy of the office. This study utilized a multisite case study design and narrative analysis to illuminate our understanding of chief diversity offices at research-intensive universities. The findings illuminated the distinct histories of diversity pertaining to campus climate at each institution that prompted the initiation of the chief diversity office. Key institutional players and the state and local context were influential in the formation of the offices at these schools. The study highlighted the present-day broad and all-encompassing conceptions of diversity at the institutions in the study. Findings also revealed the notion that organizational structure and positioning were significant matters for chief diversity offices. The findings of this study advance our understanding of how CDO offices emerge. Higher education professionals, leaders and administrators can utilize the results to make better-informed decisions about the formation and structure of diversity offices.

Approximately 7.5 million people in the U.S. subscribe to a vegan diet and thus don't consume any animal products such as meat, fish, dairy, or eggs. Despite the considerable growth of veganism in the last decade, little is known about how people communicate about such a seemingly restrictive diet and what implications this might have for communication theory and the growing field of food studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore how vegans communicatively negotiate their identity through the lens of Hecht's (1993) communication theory of identity (CTI). I conducted phone interviews with forty vegans residing across the U.S. and completed thematic analysis to qualitatively analyze interviews. Four themes emerged to describe the ways vegans enact their identity (Facilitating Smooth Interactions, Wearing Symbols of Veganism, Vegan Food Preparation and Consumption, Education and Community Engagement), and three themes emerged to illustrate the relational identities that vegans co-construct with members of their social network (Accepted and Supported, Inconvenience to the Family, Happiest with a Vegan (Friendly) Partner). Vegans explained that they engage in a variety of communication strategies (e.g., focusing on the positive) to thoughtfully craft an identity that will be well-received by others. Additionally, participants explained that they are not only supported by members of their social network, but that this support is an integral part of their relational identity. Lastly, I analyzed participant accounts to see if any discrepancies (i.e., identity gaps; Jung & Hecht, 2004) emerged between the ways vegans negotiate their identity. Results indicate that some vegans experience or create up to four different identity gaps between different layers of identity (Personal-Enacted Gap, Relational-Enacted Gap, Enacted-Enacted Gap, Community-Personal Gap). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Cell signaling pathways are frequently used in multiple tissue and stage-specific contexts during multicellular development. The integration of these signaling pathways by transcriptional enhancers controls the tissue specific gene expression necessary for proper development. Enhancers are segments of DNA that interpret developmental signals to produce patterns of gene expression. A set of operational rules defines how different enhancers targeted by the same signals interpret and act on these signals. Using the Drosophila model system, my thesis work focuses on determining the operational rules used by developmental enhancers that integrate the Notch signaling pathway with other pathways. During development, the Notch signaling pathway in used to pattern cell territories involved in cell fate determination, and plays a role in differentiation. I first used a computational approach to identify a set of candidate Notch-target enhancers. From this set I carefully studied one specific enhancer from the nab gene that integrates the Notch and Bone Morphogenetic Protein (BMP) signaling pathways in the developing wing. This nab enhancer is a part of a cluster of enhancers that work together to drive the global nab expression pattern during development. Each of these enhancers drives the expected expression patterns as well as atypical expression patterns, which are silenced by adjacent enhancers. These results suggest that Notch targeted enhancers are involved in both tissue specific gene activation and gene silencing.

Research casts interracial romantic partners (IRPs) as deficient in their relational functioning compared to same-race partners due to the potential for increased relational conflict and stress. More relational stressors are likely to result in a higher need for social support from network members. Yet, interracial partners can maintain satisfying, thriving relationships and experience few racially motivated stressors, rendering support unnecessary at times. The dissertation explores the social resources IRPs use to maintain their interracial romantic relationships (IRRs) by examining processes of social support and strain among Black-White IRPs and their family members. In these processes, the researcher focuses specifically on support expectations, which are anticipations of the support individuals are likely to receive from particular others. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 32 IRPs and 30 parents of IRPs to understand support as a cohesive, long-term process involving participants’ support expectations and their violations, which could result in experiences of support and/or strain. A grounded theory analysis of the interview data resulted in an inductive model of expectations for social support and strain. Three constructs influenced expectations for IRR involvement and support, including exposure to racial diversity, assessments of racial identifications, and cultural comparisons. Based on these expectations, participants came across three support paths after initiating support-seeking disclosure strategies. Their expectations for familial support were met, they received more support than they anticipated, and/or they received less support than expected. Encounters with these support paths resulted in support and strain for IRPs and their parents, however interracial partnerships largely experienced resilience whereas hardships befell familial ties. Taken together, the results contribute to theorizing about processes of support and their functionality in underrepresented romantic relationship forms.