Architectural salvage can be incorporated into historic preservation projects and new construction by following The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Historic Buildings and the US Green Building Council’s LEED standards. Through an inventory of salvageable materials found within 20 abandoned and dilapidated homes throughout Muncie, Indiana and a survey of Midwestern salvage, deconstruction and demolition companies, it is determined that the supply and demand for architectural salvage is growing. Through an analysis of the cultural, economic and material value architectural salvage holds, it was also determined that cities throughout the United States should encourage landfill evasion through the use of deconstruction and architectural salvaging for all demolition projects. Overall, this thesis details where architectural salvage is found, how it is removed from buildings, and what materials are available for use within the preservation and construction fields. / Muncie, Indiana -- Historic preservation -- Salvage market -- Deconstruction -- Salvaged materials -- Sustainable design. / Department of Architecture

In the twenty-first century, new cutting-edge osseointegration technology is improving quality of life. Osseointegration is a new technique to suspend an implant prosthetic device for individuals with a limb-loss. The science of osseointegration is not clearly understood although there appears to be a special relationship between pure titanium that promotes activation of our bone building cells and bone remodeling. Direct bone-anchored osseointegration to integrate a foreign device into the body without the body rejecting the prosthesis is the new technology lacking knowledge and research clinical cases for human translation. The objective of the case study was to review the science of bone-anchored osseointegration as a limb-salvaging technique and potential translation to humans using a canine model in a well-defined control study. Aims were to enhance knowledge technology, improve mobility, decrease pain to improve quality of life and influence health care practices. By the year 2050, the projected number of American amputees is expected to reach 3.6 million. Many people depend on artificial limbs to perform their activities of daily living. Often these limbs start developing complications associated with stump-socket designs such as separation from the human tissue, poor fit with repeated fittings, recurrent skin infections, ulcers and pressure sores due to non-uniform pressure distribution over the socket contact area and pain which decreases their mobility. Since 2001, close to 28,500 American troops have been wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Greater than 24,600 of them have survived their injury, the highest survival rate of any war in the history of the United States. Sadly, 700 of these services members have lost at least one limb from amputations. Lower limb amputations are still performed above the knee as not enough bone can be preserved below the knee for prosthesis. Osseointegration with limb-salvaging techniques could enhance mobility and quality of life for those individuals who sacrifice their limbs defending our freedoms.

Previous research on grandparents as kinship care providers demonstrated that grandparents are confronted with both challenges and rewards. Using qualitative research methods, I examined the lives of 35 black aunts who served as kinship care providers for nieces and nephews. I found that grandparents and aunts experienced increased time demands, financial burdens, and family stress. However, this study demonstrated that aunts’ experiences differ from grandparents’, due to the younger age of aunts and the fact that aunts are of the same generation as the biological parents. Moreover, I found that aunting, or the care and nurture of children by aunts and great-aunts, is gendered and invisible work that, at the most basic level, salvages children’s lives. Salvaging children’s lives involved three non-linear stages: making the decision to become a kinship care provider, transitioning from aunting to parenting, and parenting nieces and nephews. I utilized a synthesis of symbolic interactionism and black feminist thought as a theoretical framework that examines how the meanings that black women attach to family influence their definitions of self and affect their decisions to act on behalf of family members. These findings extend the research on black women’s lives and on kinship care within black families. I used a narrative style that allows the respondents’ voices to be heard, as these are their stories. I offer suggestions for future research, as well as outline a number of policy and theoretical implications. This research is important because black children are disproportionately represented within the child welfare system. If interventions and policies are to influence other black women or black men to accept responsibility for many of the most at-risk children in their families and neighborhoods, research must explore and report the challenges, sacrifices, costs, and rewards of becoming kinship care providers within black families.