Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Bachelor-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2004.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1973. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1998. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 3, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Sally B. Pancrazio (chair), Elizabeth Lugg, Larry McNeal, James D. Dixon. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-176) and abstract. Also available in print.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2003--Stuttgart.

Vision provides the primary means by which many animals distinguish foreground objects from their background and coordinate locomotion through complex environments. The present thesis focuses on mechanisms within the visual system that afford figure-ground segregation and self-motion perception. These processes are modeled as emergent outcomes of dynamical interactions among neural populations in several brain areas. This dissertation specifies and simulates how border-ownership signals emerge in cortex, and how the medial superior temporal area (MSTd) represents path of travel and heading, in the presence of independently moving objects (IMOs). Neurons in visual cortex that signal border-ownership, the perception that a border belongs to a figure and not its background, have been identified but the underlying mechanisms have been unclear. A model is presented that demonstrates that inter-areal interactions across model visual areas V1-V2-V4 afford border-ownership signals similar to those reported in electrophysiology for visual displays containing figures defined by luminance contrast. Competition between model neurons with different receptive field sizes is crucial for reconciling the occlusion of one object by another. The model is extended to determine border-ownership when object borders are kinetically-defined, and to detect the location and size of shapes, despite the curvature of their boundary contours. Navigation in the real world requires humans to travel along curved paths. Many perceptual models have been proposed that focus on heading, which specifies the direction of travel along straight paths, but not on path curvature. In primates, MSTd has been implicated in heading perception. A model of V1, medial temporal area (MT), and MSTd is developed herein that demonstrates how MSTd neurons can simultaneously encode path curvature and heading. Human judgments of heading are accurate in rigid environments, but are biased in the presence of IMOs. The model presented here explains the bias through recurrent connectivity in MSTd and avoids the use of differential motion detectors which, although used in existing models to discount the motion of an IMO relative to its background, is not biologically plausible. Reported modulation of the MSTd population due to attention is explained through competitive dynamics between subpopulations responding to bottom-up and top- down signals.

The number of women incarcerated in Canadian federal penitentiaries and segregation units has steadily increased over the last decade. Out of the total admissions to segregation, Indigenous women are over-represented, accounting for 31% of the cases (Office of the Correctional Investigator, 2015). To address issues of inequity and social injustice exemplified through the over-representation of women, especially Indigenous women, in segregation, this thesis provides an Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) which examines the experience of federally sentenced women as documented in reports published by the Office of the Correctional Investigator and statements published by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. I explore the gendered and racialized ways in which the CSC interprets the behaviours, attitudes, and even personalities of the women they place in segregation. Through examining mental health, gender and culturally responsive policy within the context of risk/need management, I conclude that the CSC does not protect marginalized women via policy, but rather converts the needs of marginalized groups into risks to be managed. Through omitting any mention of the intersecting social locations that shape women’s experiences, the CSC perpetuates a ‘one-size-fits-all’ understanding that fails to disrupt the stigmatization and over surveillance of ‘unfeminine’ and racialized women. I identify and examine alternative policy responses and solutions by developing a strategic plan specifically aimed at producing the social and structural changes necessary to reduce inequities and promote social justice. The steps in the strategic plan reflect current priorities of the government, CSC, academics, and legal/medical professionals.

This work is inspired by Lipsitz (1998) and Allport (1954) because both authors connect micro level processes to social macro level patterns. Allport’s Nature of Prejudice sought to understand patterns of anti-Semitism as connected to a larger social context. From this work, Allport developed the contact hypothesis which is premised on the idea that diversity helps alleviate racial tensions. Lipsitz’ Possessive Investment in Whiteness connects White racial privilege to a history of racial social inequality. In conintuum, I develop the nuances on prejudice formation as it leads to the denial of racial privilege or to the conflation of privileges as oppression. While I focus on White racial privilege, the theoretical contribution of my research develops the framework for individual privilege formation. I then draw upon Bonilla-Silva’s (2013) racial colorblind theory to emphasize the connection between privilege and larger patterns of racial attitudes. The macro level contribution of this dissertation focuses on patterns of overt and colorblind attitudes as affected by racial segregation, social inequality, and respondent characteristics. Data was gathered from the 2000 General Social Survey, 2010 GSS, and U.S. Census county data and applied to a hierarchical linear model. Due to sample selection, this research focuses on racial Whites’ attitudes about the racial Black population. I use measures of racial segregation as proxies for racial contact. I find patterns of racial tolerance through a ‘separate but equal’ storyline among White-Black segregation. When using, social demographics with all minorities included, I find that Whites’ attitudes about racial Blacks are attenuated. This finding supports the literature that non-Black racial minorities act as buffers for White-Black racial relations. Racial diversity is one element in helping alleviate negative racial sentiments, but patterns of segregation and social inequality impact the benefits of this racial diversity.

Magister Artium - MA / We Dare Not Say is an anthology of seven interlinked short stories with the general theme of intergenerational trauma among coloured families in Cape Town. The stories are arranged in a montage of internally, variably and externally focalised narratives that span over a century, from 1900 through to 2015, and are fictionalised accounts of real events, categorising them as biographical fiction. Some of the specific topics covered in the stories include incest, molestation, substance abuse, mental illness and humour as a coping mechanism. The body of work is conceived in the context of the twentieth century trauma narrative, the complexities of which run as undercurrents through most of the important English literary works created in South Africa since the 1800s up until John M. Coetzee, but which has often lacked a female perspective, especially women of colour. The stories in this volume aim to depict a group of people, who, through centuries of oppression in the form of serfdom, servitude and segregation, have developed various coping mechanisms to make sense of their own identity in an absurdly cruel social landscape. The stories focus on the inward turning of violence, substance abuse, silence and humour as survival mechanisms after generations of trauma that have been, in a sense, the hallmarks of coloured South Africa. The stories are told using a split narrative method, showing multiple viewpoints of the same story with perspectives ranging from young to old, crossing the gender divide in both time and space. Ultimately, We Dare Not Say, is a depiction of the complexities of lives lived under oppression, and the triumphs and challenges faced in trying to resolve, live through or deny the effects of such oppression on a group and the individuals that make up that group.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Neste trabalho estudamos o problema da segregação de impurezas substitucionais em sistemas nanoestruturados metálicos formados pela justaposição de camadas (multicamadas). Utilizamos o modelo de ligações fortes (tight-binding) com um orbital por sítio para calcular a estrutura eletrônica desses sistemas, considerando a rede cristalina cubica simples em duas direções de crescimento: (001) e (011). Devido à perda de simetria do sistema, escrevemos o hamiltoniano em termos de um vetor de onda k, paralelo ao plano, e um ındice l que denota um plano arbitrario do sistema. Primeiramente, calculamos a estrutura eletrônica do sistema considerando-o formado por átomos do tipo A e, posteriormente, investigamos as modificações nessa estrutura eletrônica ao introduzirmos uma impureza do tipo B em um plano arbitrário do sistema. Calculamos o potencial introduzido por esta impureza levando-se em conta a neutralidade de carga através da regra de soma de Friedel. Calculamos a variação da energia eletrônica total ΔEl como função da posição da impureza. Como substrato, consideramos sistemas com ocupações iguais a 0.94 e 0.54 elétrons por banda, o que dentro do modelo nos permite chamá-los de Nie Cr. As impurezas sao tambem metais de transição - Mn, Fee Co. Em todos os casos investigados, foi verificado que a variação de energia eletrônica total apresenta um comportamento oscilatorio em função da posição da impureza no sistema, desde o plano superficial, até vários planos interiores do sistema. Como resultado, verificamos a ocorrencia de planos mais favoráveis à localização da impureza. Ao considerarmos um número relativamente grande de planos, um caso em particular foi destacado pelo aparecimento de um batimentono comportamento oscilatório de ΔEl. Estudamos também o comportamento da variação da energia total, quando camadas (filmes) são crescidas sobre o substrato e uma impureza do mesmo tipo das camadas é colocada no substrato. Levamos em conta a diferença de tamanho entre os átomos do substrato e os átomos dos filmes. Analisamos ainda a influência da temperatura sobre o comportamento oscilatório da energia total, considerando a expansão de Sommerfeld. / In this work we study the problem of substitutional impurity segregation in metallic nanostructured systems consisting of juxtaposition of layers (multilayer). Using a single band tight-binding model we calculate the electronic structure of these systems, considering a simple cubic lattice in two growth directions: (001) and (011). Due to the loss of symmetry of the system, the Hamiltonian is written as a function of a wave vector k parallel to the plane, and an index l which denotes an arbitrary plane of the system. Firstly, we calculate the electronic structure of the system with atoms of type A and investigate the changes in the electronic structure when an impurity of type B is introduced in an arbitrary plane of the system. We calculate the potential introduced by this impurity taking into account the charge neutrality through the Friedel sum rule. We also calculate the total electronic energy variation ΔEl as a function of the impurity position. As a substrate we consider systems with occupations equal to 0.94 and 0.54 per band, simulating Niand Crsystems in our model. The impurities are also transition metals - Mn, Feand Co. In all investigated cases, it was verified that the variation of the total electronic energy presents an oscillatory behavior that depends on the position in which the impurity is placed, from the surface plane up to several inner planes of the system. As a result, in all cases it has been verified the occurrence of more favorable planes to the location of impurity. When considering a relatively large number of planes, one case in particular drew attention by a remarkable beatingon the oscillatory behavior of ΔEl. We also study the behavior of the total electronic energy variation, when layers (films) are grown up on the substrate and an impurity of the same type of the layers is placed in the substrate. In our model calculation, a difference between the size of the atoms of the substrate and the film is taken into account. We also investigate the influence of temperature on the total electronic energy oscillatory behavior, considering the Sommerfeld expansion.