Sojourn is a Leitwort (leading word) in the ancestral narratives of Genesis, appearing 17 times in its various forms: verbal, √דונ gûr; and nominal, rGE gēr and rAgm' māgôr. Sojourn is an indicator of alienation and estrangement from land and community, yet it is repeatedly accentuated as an important descriptor of the patriarchs’ identity and experience. What accounts for this counter-intuitive emphasis? This thesis makes the case that the narrative development of sojourn in Genesis contributes to a strong communal identity for biblical Israel. Detailed exegetical analysis of the texts shows sojourn to strengthen biblical Israel’s ethnic identity in ways that are varied and at times paradoxical. Its very complexity, however, makes it particularly useful as a resource for group identity at times when straightforward categories of territorial and social affiliation fail. This study draws upon the sociological theory of Anthony D. Smith to structure its investigation of sojourn as a contributor to ethnic identity. Smith’s understanding of ethnic myth emphasizes the central functions of an ethnoscape (a symbolically significant geography) and a myth of election (an account of chosenness) in constructing communal identity. Ethnic myth uses the history of a communal past, constructed around these dual elements, to create a vision with directive capacity for the future of the ethnie; that is, to shape the ethics of the community. Smith’s categories of ethnoscape, election, and ethics provide analytical tools that reveal a distinctive role for sojourn in strengthening Israel’s ethnic myth. The Genesis sojourn texts are divided into three groups according to literary form: itinerary notices, promise speeches, and narrative dialogues. The tri-part division corresponds with a focus upon each of Smith’s three categories above, respectively. Close readings of each text in its narrative context result in an overall portrait of sojourn as a significant contributor to the strength and durability of Israel’s ethnic identity.

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Conversations concerning the missional posture of 1 Peter have been dictated largely by the now (in)famous debate between David Balch’s assimilationist position over and against John Elliott’s more sectarian position. More recent work has sought to bridge the gap between Balch and Elliott with a variety of more nuanced positions such as Miroslav Volf’s “Soft Difference”. Most of the discussion revolves around the practicalities of cultural engagement and what it might mean for church members to interact with the world as “Christians” in an increasingly hostile environment. The present thesis takes a step back from the coal face of missional engagement to focus on how that mission is shaped. More particularly, I am concerned with how 1 Peter utilises the language of divine calling (καλέω) that appears in five specific instances (1:13–21; 2:4–10; 2:18–25; 3:8–17; 5:6–14), alongside central events and motifs from the Old Testament, to cultivate a narrative that forges a distinct Christian identity and mission, that has its basis in Israel’s history and the life of Christ. Our concern with narrative and cultural interaction leads us to consider the relevant Petrine texts, through the dual lenses of Social Identity and Narrative Transportation theories which reveal how various groups interact, and how narratives shape actions and beliefs respectively. I argue that through the language of calling, and with the assistance of key OT motifs, 1 Peter seeks to develop a Christian identity that might be best described as “elect sojourners”; that believers are those who are elect of God and yet rejected by the world. This identity manifests itself in a life of “resident-alien-ness”—in the world, yet no longer of the world—that consequently leads to various forms of suffering. Amid such suffering, 1 Peter calls the church to a priestly ministry—representing God to the people, and the people to God—through a life geared towards blessing, even when such a life leads to suffering. This is the life to which the Anatolian believers have been called: a life of holiness as a priestly community, committed to the gracious endurance of suffering, and of blessing those who would oppose them.

Fluid dynamics models provide a powerful deterministic technique to approximate stochasticity in a variety of application areas. In this paper, we study two classes of fluid models, investigate their relationship as well as some of their applications. This analysis allows us to provide analytical models of travel times as they arise in dynamically evolving environments, such as transportation networks as well as supply chains. In particular, using the laws of hydrodynamic theory, we first propose and examine a general second order fluid model. We consider a first-order approximation of this model and show how it is helpful in analyzing the dynamic traffic equilibrium problem. Furthermore, we present an alternate class of fluid models that are traditionally used in the context of dynamic traffic assignment. By interpreting travel times as price/inventory-sojourn-time relationships, we are also able to connect this approach with a tractable fluid model in the context of dynamic pricing and inventory management. Finally, we investigate the relationship between these two classes of fluid models. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The study abroad field has progressed into an innovative and exciting stage given the high- rise of interest throughout the last twenty years. Study abroad is not showing signs of losing momentum concerning student interest or academic research. Numerous variables affect the direction the field is heading. This study intends to illuminate some of those variables through classifying study abroad results. This research study is part of the 21st century phenomena regarding increased travel through study abroad programs. It investigates the results of U.S. students’ study abroad experiences in Spain and Australia, through identifying aspects of the knowledge outcomes, changes in perspective, and the social, professional, and personal implications on a U.S. student after returning home from such an endeavor. It is critical to recognize and comprehend student results from the study abroad perspective to provide higher education institutions, study abroad companies, educators, students, and researchers with a contextual, first-hand encounter through the eyes of the student. This student analysis provides a greater framework for various stakeholders to continue the promotion of studying abroad, while enriching study abroad programs, and to continue the provision of breadth of opportunity for upcoming students interested.

Dans cette thèse, on étudie diverses propriétés dimensionnelles de la régularité de processus de difusions à sauts, solution d’une classe d’équations différentielles stochastiques à sauts. En particulier, on décrit la fluctuation de la régularité höldérienne de ces processus et celle de la dimension locale pour la mesure d’occupation qui leur est associée en calculant leur spectre multifractal. La dimension de Hausdorff de l’image et du graphe de ces processus ont aussi étudiées.Dans le dernier chapitre, on applique une nouvelle notion de dimension de grande échelle pour décrire l’asymptote à l’infini du temps de séjour d’un mouvement brownien en dimension 1 sous des frontières glissantes / In this dissertation, we study various dimension properties of the regularity of jump di usion processes, solution of a class of stochastic di erential equations with jumps. In particular, we de- scribe the uctuation of the Hölder regularity of these processes and that of the local dimensions of the associated occupation measure by computing their multifractal spepctra. e Hausdor dimension of the range and the graph of these processes are also calculated.In the last chapter, we use a new notion of “large scale” dimension in order to describe the asymptotics of the sojourn set of a Brownian motion under moving boundaries

The focus of this case study was a study abroad program for student-athletes at a high academically achieving, small liberal arts college in the mid-west region of the United States. The program is designed to maintain a culture of internationalism and multiculturalism by exposing as many student-athletes as possible to study abroad. I reviewed literature to extract an appropriate theoretical framework along with variables that aligned with the purpose of the study; structural and organizational characteristics of the institution, student's background and pre-college traits, interaction with agents of socialization and institutional environment, and quality of effort. I used the semi-structured interview process to interview 9 senior student-athletes (3 female, 6 male; 7 White, 1 African American/White, 1 Chilean/White) who participated in study abroad during the 2015-2016 academic school year at the researched institution and to interview 5 administrators who facilitate the athletic department at the institution. I found that certain critical elements emerged as necessary to create and maintain a study abroad program geared specifically to the needs of the student-athlete population. I also found strong implications for adaptable elements that could generate opportunities for student-athletes to study abroad at a higher rate. These elements serve as a recommended framework and set of initial guidelines for student-athletes and athletic departments nationwide.

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In recent years, the increase in the population of mobile users and the advances in computational capabilities of mobile devices have led to an exponentially increasing traffic load on the wireless networks. This trend is foreseen to continue in the future due to the emerging applications such as cellular Internet of things (IoT) and machine type communications (MTC). Since the spectrum resources are limited, the only promising way to keep pace with the future demand is through aggressive spatial reuse of the available spectrum which can be realized in the networks through dense deployment of small cells. There are many challenges associated with such densely deployed heterogeneous networks (HetNets). The main challenges which are considered in this research work are capacity enhancement, velocity estimation of mobile users, and energy efficiency enhancement. We consider different approaches for capacity enhancement of the network. In the first approach, using stochastic geometry we theoretically analyze time domain inter-cell interference coordination techniques in a two-tier HetNet and optimize the parameters to maximize the capacity of the network. In the second approach, we consider optimization of the locations of aerial bases stations carried by the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to enhance the capacity of the network for public safety and emergency communications, in case of damaged network infrastructure. In the third approach, we introduce a subsidization scheme for the service providers through which the network capacity can be improved by using regulatory power of the government. Finally, we consider the approach of device-to-device communications and multi-hop transmissions for enhancing the capacity of a network. Velocity estimation of high speed mobile users is important for effective mobility management in densely deployed small cell networks. In this research, we introduce two novel methods for the velocity estimation of mobile users: handover-count based velocity estimation, and sojourn time based velocity estimation. Using the tools from stochastic geometry and estimation theory, we theoretically analyze the accuracy of the two velocity estimation methods through Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs). With the dense deployment of small cells, energy efficiency becomes crucial for the sustained operation of wireless networks. In this research, we jointly study the energy efficiency and the spectral efficiency in a two-tier HetNet. We optimize the parameters of inter-cell interference coordination technique and study the trade-offs between the energy efficiency and spectral efficiency of the HetNet.

This study examined how in-service teachers transformed professionally and personally as a result of participation in the International Teacher to Teacher Exchange Program (ITTTE). Six teachers, 3 from the U.S. and 3 from Guatemala, were paired. Each pair spent a total of 8 weeks together, in each other's countries, over the course of 2 years. The pairs reciprocated home stays, school engagement, and cultural learning in three cohorts; 2012-2014, 2014-2016, 2016-2018. In 2018, each participant engaged in a structured interview tailored to the ten meaning phases of Mezirow's transformative learning theory (TLT). The data were analyzed deductively, through the application of the ten meaning phases of transformation. The data were also analyzed inductively to determine additional themes of transformation. The deductive findings revealed 5 out of 6 participants experienced full transformative learning. All 3 Guatemalan teachers transformed professionally with new understandings of mathematics pedagogy. Two U.S. teachers transformed personally, one by learning how to be a more caring teacher and the other by overcoming shyness to engage as a relational teacher. The third U.S. teacher adopted the point of view that speaking a second language had value. The inductive analysis revealed emerged themes of learning, language, relationships, and program affecting others as evident in transformed frames of reference, habits of mind and points of view. Due to the range of participation years, latent effects were noted. The ITTTE was shown to influence transformation in teachers' personal and professional development. TLT was effective in revealing participant transformation within the ITTTE.