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This thesis investigates the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility in Sweden and Latvia, to examine if the implementation has enhanced EU´s legitimacy. Applying a case study methodology, the study conducts a process-tracing approach and collects data from primary sources of national and EU documents. This methodology explores the practical implementation of the instrument towards a green transition, which thenceforth is analysed through the theory of legitimacy.   The thesis is based upon the questions: How has the Recovery and Resilience Facility been implemented by Sweden respective Latvia to support the development towards a green transition?   Has the RRF and its implementation enhanced EU´s legitimacy?   The findings conclude that the instrument has enhanced EU´s legitimacy. Despite ambiguous outcomes in the implementations, the member states interests are adopted. As a result, an advancement of constitutional settlements has led to a further interconnected relationship between the EU and member states. In times of crisis, a coordination of solidary responsibilities is significant, which the EU manages well according to the results.

This qualitative case study examines the impact of a character education program, Rachel's Challenge, in a high school to determine if the implementation of the program promotes resiliency, improves school culture, and supports an increased sense of community within the school. I examine, in rich detail, a suburban high school which implemented Rachel's Challenge and the research thoroughly formulates a description of the school prior to the implementation of the program and following the implementation of the program to determine the impact of the character education initiative on the school's culture, the resilience development of the school community members, and the sense of community within the institution. I collected the data in a suburban high school located in a Mid-Atlantic state. Limiting my study to one school provided me the necessary and advantageous opportunity to gain a rich description of the possible impacts of the program while also allowing me to deeply immerse myself into the realities of the participants. In-depth interviews were carried out with students, parents, counselors, administrators, and teachers to gain a rich understanding of any need for and value of the program and of any impacts of the program on the school's culture, the development of resilience, and a sense of connection and community. Constructs of Turbulence Theory are used to dissect the value of the character education program; I examined what need induced the implementation of the program in the school community and any positive impacts of the program on the school culture, resilience development, and sense of connection and community. Constructs of Resilience Theory are used, as it has been applied to individuals and organizations, to analyze the possible impact of the character education program on the resilience levels within the school community. Interviews were carried out with the various key-players within the high school who offered a wide interpretation of the effects of the character education program on the overall school culture and the level of resilience within the school community. A thorough document review was also carried out to further explore any impacts of the program on school culture, resilience development, and sense of community to clarify and further add to the interviews. The data provide educational leaders with a practical understanding of the impact of character education, namely the Rachel's Challenge program, on school culture and the development of resilience within a school community to help leaders formulate a value of its implementation in their schools. The research provides evidence that the Rachel's Challenge program did improve school culture in this particular school by encouraging a community built on acceptance, inclusion, kindness, respect, and compassion. The program encouraged pro-social behavioral changes within the school as well as promoted an anti-bullying message to the members of the school community. The research also provides evidence that the Rachel's Challenge program did promote the development of individual and community resilience at this particular school as demonstrated by an enhanced ability to stand up against peer pressure as well as the promotion of strength in the face of adversity and a sense of connection and unity within the school community. / Educational Leadership

This research focuses on developing novel approaches in load balancing and restoration problems in electrical power distribution systems. The first approach introduces an inter-connected network topology, referred to as (n, k)-star topology. While power distribution systems can be constructed in different communication network topologies, the performance and fault assessment of the networked systems can be challenging to analyze. The (n, k)-star topologies have well defined performance and stability analysis metrics. Typically, these metrics are defined based on: i) degree, ii) diameter, and iii) conditional diagnosability of a faulty node. These parameters could be evaluated and assessed before a physical (n, k)-star topology power distribution system is constructed. Moreover, in the second approach, we evaluate load balancing problems by using a decentralized algorithm, i.e., the Multi-Agent System (MAS) based consensus algorithm on an (n, k)-star power topology. With aforementioned research approaches, an (n, k)-star power distribution system can be assessed with proposed metrics and assessed with encouraging results compared to other topology networked systems. Other encouraging results are found in efficiency and performance enhancement during information exchange using the decentralized algorithm. It has been proven that a load balance solution is convergent and asymptotically stable with a simple gain controller. The analysis can be achieved without constructing a physical network to help evaluate the design. Using the (n, k)-star topology and MAS, the load balancing/restoration problems can be solved much more quickly and accurately compared to other approaches shown in the literature. / Electrical and Computer Engineering

In 1959, as a reaction to the 1954 Supreme Court's Brown vs Board of Education desegregation decision all public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia were closed. This dissertation explores one group's response to the schools closings by examining the patterns of resilience that emerged among a group of African American women in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Using a multi-disciplinary synthesis of research in education, history, geography, sociology, social movements, personal interviews and questionnaires this dissertation investigated the development of resilience at the grassroots level. African American women are taught early in their socialization process the value of independence, mutual aid, religiosity, community stability, and respect for elders. The school closings didn't just affect the children of Farmville, it changed families and communities, but most particularly it changed the lives of Farmville's women. Much of the research demonstrates that resilience and activism in oppressed communities has a dual nature that surfaces when those communities are under stress. Resilience among this group of African American women emerged both organically and as a result of their religious and community involvements. ii African American women experienced the cultural, educational, contextual, social, behavioral, and political worlds in Farmville, Virginia, from an "outsider within" perspective. When they stepped outside their socially and psychologically constricted lives they developed resilience fortified with both historic and personal commitment. In examining broadly the history of education in Virginia, the historic allegiances of African American women to community, religion, identity, education, and place a fuller understanding of the processes of the development of resilience emerges. This examination moved Black women from the margins to the center of the debate on resilience. The development of personal agency in Farmville was courageous and could have been physically dangerous. However, as the civil rights movement captured the American consciousness, the women of Farmville engaged in a unique social movement that would sustain a campaign for education parity. / Urban Education

The demography of the United States is changing rapidly creating challenges in the classrooms and ultimately changing the educational system in the United States due to this increase in diversity. With this change there is a need for educators and educational researchers to know more about the most rapidly growing ethnic group: Latinos. The purpose of the present study was to investigate why some Latino students struggle to achieve in school while other Latino students excel in their educational pursuit. This study differs from other studies since it compares academic performance differences between Mexican (n=56) and Mexican American students (n=30) in a small suburban school district in an agricultural area in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The present study investigated barriers to academic achievement such as discrimination, acculturation, language acquisition and socioeconomic status, and looked at variables related to academic success. The study focused on two psychological constructs as possible predictors of academic achievement for this group of students: resilience and acculturation. In addition, a variety of variables were used in the study as demographic predictor variables. These included: birthplace (whether the student was born in the United States or Mexico), the student's level of acculturation, the length of time in the United States, the student's level of family socio-economic status, the student's level of resilience, gender, home language, and educational placements (ESL, Special Education, technical education enrollment). The outcome variables included a variety of measures of academic achievement including grade point average and SAT scores. All of the predictor variables were analyzed against all of the outcome variables using Pearson correlations and multiple regression. The findings of this study have addressed multiple issues surrounding resilience, acculturation and academic achievement within the new demography of the United States. While there were statistically significant findings, they are not necessarily meaningful due to the small effect size. Nonetheless, it is imperative that researchers continue to explore what factors may contribute to the success of some Latinos while others do not succeed. For example, one somewhat unexpected finding was the strength of the relationship between acculturation and academic achievement, since a student's cultural competence was a strong predictor of academic success. In addition to these findings and a subsequent discussion, this study highlights the need for more culturally sensitive resilience measures or acculturation measures and ways to support Latino students in order to bridge the academic achievement gap that exists. This study did bring attention to what may be societal struggles that impede the success of Latinos in the United States education system. / Educational Psychology

Most disaster management studies only assess community resilience immediately following the event with no further follow-up. Accordingly, there is a lack of research being conducted to determine whether communities truly recover over time after a disaster strikes. Thus, the purpose of this research was to examine the different factors and dimensions that facilitate or hinder community resilience more than a decade post-disaster using present day Walkerton, Ontario (16 years after the effects of the 2000 water contamination outbreak). This exploratory study utilized an interpretive description qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with a purposeful sample of 29 Walkerton community members. The data were transcribed verbatim and coded using conventional content analysis to identify themes inductively. Several barriers and enabling factors were identified in maintaining community resilience under non-crisis conditions in the community. A conceptual model was developed based on the study’s findings to demonstrate the application of the life course approach within an existing community resilience framework. This model contributes to the field of disaster management in demonstrating the various ways that a disaster affects the subsequent life course of individuals post-disaster. It highlights the need to integrate a community-centred approach in disaster management to yield more effective and efficient mitigation, preparation, response, and recovery strategies. / Thesis / Master of Public Health (MPH)

Background: Since the 1980s, there has been a growing interest in research to focus on positive mental health instead of narrowing attention toward risk factors and to foster resilience instead of treating trauma. There is substantial empirical evidence that despite being exposed to the same risk; individuals react differently to the same stimuli. The ability of some people to successfully cope and adapt despite adversity is what constitutes resilience. In the context of forced migration, resilience research examines the elements that ameliorate wellbeing and positive adjustment rather than focusing on the pathological consequences of trauma. However, little is known about how the construct of resilience is conceptualized within the field of forced migration research. This research aims to critically appraise and map the existing literature on resilience in the forced migration population, and to analyze how the concept of resilience is defined, operationalized, and applied in refugee research. Methods: Arksey and O’Malley scoping review framework was followed to search 5 online databases. Numerical and thematic analysis were both conducted to examine the breadth of the literature and to chart the relevant data. Results: A total of 20 studies were selected for the scoping review. The findings included a description of the literature regarding geographic distribution, recruited methods, and targeted populations. In addition, the results investigated definitions of resilience, measures used to operationalize resilience, the relationship between resilience and mental health illnesses, internal and external protective factors contributing to fostering resilience processes, and resilience across cultures and languages. Conclusion: There is an increase in interest to understand the concept of resilience through synthesizing both qualitative and quantitative data. However, longitude and evaluation studies remain the exception. Further research is needed to validate resilience instruments across cultures and languages. The interactions between mental health illnesses and resilience should be better understood in the context of forced migration as well. / Thesis / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)