In this educational study, Caucasian and minority learners’ grade point averages and overall academic success were examined at learning institutions. Several minorities experienced problems with completing college courses at universities and community colleges. Individuals from various racial backgrounds had school enrollment issues compared to Caucasian students without these same issues. This analysis revealed factors that contributed to these learners’ decreased academic attainment. For this study, racial groups were the focus along with their need to improve their impoverished conditions. Minority students needed more educational services such as peer tutoring and academic counseling. These services offered learners the opportunity to expand their educational knowledge and support system (Cohen & Brawer, 2003; Engstrom & Tinto, 2008; Lotkowski, Robbins, & Noeth, 2004). Also, rural and non-rural community colleges and universities were emphasized in this research analysis. In rural areas, minorities had a difficult way of life compared to non-rural regions. For example, Hispanics in a rural community in Ellis, Iowa experienced lower wages. Within Ellis, Iowa, Hispanics had limited employment growth and college degrees (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Also, this research focused on Caucasian and minority learners’ who attended a junior college. Mississippi’s community colleges were assessed for students’ academic performances. In this examination, the one-way analysis of variance was selected to analyze the minority and Caucasian groups’ statistical data. In addition, the Welch, Post Hoc, and Tukey HSD tests were used to examine the racial groups in this educational study. For this study, only data from Mississippi State University was used for academic purposes. These learners were from 15 different Mississippi community colleges and the students transferred to Mississippi State University. In this study, the minorities and Caucasians transferred to Mississippi State University in the fall semester of 2011. Learners’ first semester cumulative grade point averages were analyzed. Comparing Caucasians with African Americans and Caucasians with Hispanics showed significant differences between their statistical scores. This study ended with suggestions to further evaluate minorities’ grade point averages and social economic status. Recommendations included: college incentives for low income students and single parents. These students needed to attend educational programs such as learning workshops.

Being prepared for different situations can be decisive for how tangible a crisis becomes. With the security policy transformation that the world is facing, crisis preparedness is becoming an increasingly popular topic. This essay is about young adults' attitudes towards crisis preparedness.The goal of the essay is to understand the individual's reasoning regarding crisis preparedness and how it is affected by different spatial perceptions. This enables new knowledge about how young adults reason and what characteristics spatial perceptions can imply. Spatial perceptions in this study are mainly linked to rural and urban areas. The study is based on previous research and the empirical material has been collected through semi-structured interviews. The results of the study showed that there is some connection between strong crisis preparedness and rural areas. Also, the result showed that young adults' attitude to crisis preparedness is something that they dissociate fromconsidering they don’t believe that anything will affect them, even though they think crisis preparedness is an important subject. According to the analysis, it’s the perspective of responsibility and different spatial perceptions that influenced their reasoning regarding crisis preparedness measures. The conclusion of this study is that rural areas are involuntarily more resilient than an urban area, and that preparedness measures would be more normalized if the topic were raised more often. This may be relevant for responsible authorities, communicative websites or media to enable better communication and knowledge information to individuals. The essay also shows that there is a need for further studies.

The rural inland municipalities of northern Sweden have undergone a massive social,economic, and demographic restructuring over the past few decades which has resulted in a diverse settlement pattern. While little attention is paid to those municipalities, it is interesting to find out how these changes affected the housing stock in this rural area.Therefore, the purpose of this study has been to show what the housing stock looks like in Dorotea, Vilhelmina, Storuman and Sorsele municipalities, in the western inland of Västerbotten County and how those municipalities work with this question in their planning strategy. The study was conducted by using both univariate analysis and documentary content analysis in a mixed methods research. The housing stock in these municipalities of northern inland Sweden has a similar structure, characterised by a high degree of single-detached houses and a very low degree of tenancy and small dwellings. Nonetheless there are a few attributes which differ between the housing stock of the four municipalities. The municipalities show awareness about the problems in theirs housing stock, but the resources for dealing with those problems are limited.

Rural areas across Europe have suffered severe socio- economic consequences of the financial crisis. Community-led development is a promising way of organizing for social innovation in these areas, in collaboration and independently of public actors. In order to further the understanding of Community-led development organizations, this research studied the sensemaking process and motivations of individuals who decided to engage with Community-led organizations on the community-, municipal-, and European-level. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with ten individuals related to the case of a community-led organization in a village in the south of Sweden, we were able to conduct a narrative analysis. By investigating the narratives of these actors through the lens of the sensemaking properties, we were able to understand the motivations. Sensemaking theory and motivation were chosen in order to thoroughly understand the reasoning behind individuals' engagement. The main findings of this study include the cruciality and interconnectedness of the sensemaking properties ‘identity construction’ and ‘driven by plausibility rather than accuracy’. Furthermore, also the investigation of the motivations showed a strong reference to personal identities and perceptions thereof, based on strong ideological and value motivations among community members and instrumental motivations among representatives of the public sector.

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This study examines the consequences that the establishment of wind power hasrelated to recreation and quality of life for those who live in close proximity to windpower turbines in rural areas. This paper has focused on studying a small village in arural landscape close to mountain nature in Bergs municipality, Sweden. Wind turbines changes the landscape considerably and are difficult not to notice asthey are visible at both long and close distances. These are becoming an increasinglycommon phenomenon in rural areas and places where high winds are common. They are a good source of renewable energy in many aspects and are considered animportant part of the goal that Sweden's total electricity production shall consist of 100 percent renewable energy by the year 2040. It is important to know how people are affected by nearby wind turbines in aspects ofrecreation and quality of life to contribute to a deeper understanding of which maybe, can lead to better planning. This study is conducted using a qualitative study method where empirical data werecollected based on interviews. Additional data in the form of opinions have beencollected through statements sent to Bergs municipality regarding a plan proposal forwind power establishment in an area close to the village of Skålan. It is presented through the results and the discussion sections of this study that windpower establishment in close connection with inhabited environments in rural areascan have negative effects on recreational opportunities and quality of life.

<p>Traditional methods for flood estimation can be categorized as (1) simplified methods, e.g., regression analysis, (2) frequency analysis of streamflow data, (3) design storm-based precipitation-runoff modeling, and ( 4) continuous precipitation-runoff simulation modeling. The new approach - the Analytical Probabilistic Stormwater Model - was developed as an alternative to provide an efficient way of getting realistic estimation of peak discharges of desired frequencies for use in stormwater management of urban areas. To extend APSWM's application to rural areas, a series of comparisons were made between the calibrated design storm-based OTTHYMO model results, frequency analysis results and APSWM results for the Ganaraska River watershed. Special considerations were given to the transformation of the input parameter values of OTTHYMO model to those of APSWM. Comparable results were obtained for large floods, while APSWM may underestimate peak discharges of low return periods. Upon further testing and development, APSWM may be used for large rural areas.</p> / Thesis / Master of Engineering (MEngr)