This thesis analyses the violence perpetrated against transgender people. It scrutinizes the concept of transgender and the important role of transitioning. It looks at the essentialist and social constructionist debate and its relation to transgender. In this thesis, I will advocate a theory of violence in which violence is understood as structural. I will advocate bringing the lived experience of transgender people to the foreground in theorizing about embodiment. Hereby, I will especially focus on discursive violence and the violation of human rights. I will relate transgender and the importance of transitioning to DSM’s understanding of Gender Identity Disorder. Consequently, I will uncover DSM’s subtle misogyny and transphobia and argue that it perpetrates discursive violence against transgender people. In addition, I will scrutinize the direct and indirect ways it violates the human rights of transgender people. Finally, the thesis will discuss the suggestions the Hammarberg report has made in order to improve the human rights situation of transgender persons.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / There is general recognition regarding the importance of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses in assisting students acquire academic discourses appropriate to specific disciplines of study. However, undergraduate students in multilingual contexts, where English is a second or foreign language face challenges in managing the transition from secondary school into the university, where they are expected to appropriate as well as acclimate to new discourses of communication deemed to be essential for their survival in the academic world. Although studies show the importance of agency in language learning success, institutional demands have sometimes led to the adoption of teaching and assessment practices that ignore the learners’ English language learning history, background, experiences and needs, which impact on their sense of agency and voice in the EAP classroom and eventually their learning success. The study investigates whether the EAP course at the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) can engender agency and voice among first year undergraduate students transitioning into the University from community day secondary schools (CDSSs). It aspires to generate an understanding of the strong link that exists between institutional orientation to EAP, course design and pedagogical practice on the one hand and learner agency, voice and multiple meaning making in the EAP classroom on the other. Anchored theoretically in critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970), ecological affordances (van Anchored theoretically in critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970), ecological affordances (van Lier, 2000, 2004) and positioning (Davies & Harré, 1999), the study argues for EAP pedagogy that provides affordances, empowers and positions transitioning students for critical learning by deliberately making multiple meaning making, agency and voice the mainstays of course design and instruction. The investigation uses a qualitative case study methodology centred on understanding affordances for agency and voice in EAP learning, manifestations of and the factors influencing voice and agency from the perspectives of first-year undergraduate students transitioning from community day secondary schools (CDSSs) and EAP course lecturers. Collection of data involved semester-long observation of 44 EAP lecture sessions of roughly 2 hours each duration, as well as interviews with participant students and course lecturers, and analysis of documents. The findings indicate that design and pedagogical practice in the current EAP course at MUST fail to adequately engender agency and voice among students and to promote learner empowerment or encourage multiple meaning making in and outside the classroom. The entire study has generated some insights for advancement of critical EAP learning that can engender voice and agency, including the need for EAP to deliberately build in and promote learner empowerment, multiple meaning making and negotiation in order to move towards pedagogy that is appropriate for critical learning, voice and agency, the need for EAP to move away from closure-focused teaching, learning and assessment, the need for enhancement of EAP course lecturers’ critical awareness of the world views and inherent assumptions surrounding various approaches to EAP pedagogy, the need for enrichment of EAP learning environments with semiotic resources for learner engagement for agency, voice and multiple meaning making, the need for learning spaces that are enabling for students to identify and utilize affordances for EAP learning beyond the classroom, and the need for exploration of PowerPoint and related technologies for EAP instruction beyond current use as tools for transmission of content to students.

Amidst the rising tides of inequality and climate change, movements are developing which aim to unify social justice and environmental agendas. Proponents of energy democracy recognize that renewable energy transitions have the potential to foster more equitable social relations. However, literature indicates that renewable energy can also worsen social relations, and may fail to hinder, or could actively contribute to, ecological degradation. Therefore, research is needed that examines how the contexts in which renewables are implemented lead to divergent socio-ecological outcomes. This project compares strategies of renewable energy implementation in Canada, as embedded within socio-environmental projects ranging from fossil capitalism to eco-socialism. The framing of renewable energy, climate change, and political-economic issues in the strategies of actors within these projects are analyzed. Canadian governments, fossil fuel and renewable energy corporations were found to undertake renewables implementation within a clean growth framework, which maintains capitalist hegemony while responding to pressure to take action on climate change. Renewables are also used by governments and fossil capital firms to justify the continued growth of fossil fuel industries. The renewables industry is more ambitious in its transition strategy but does not contest fossil fuel production and exports. Renewable energy co-operatives offer a form of energy transitioning that challenges the undemocratic nature of corporate power but appears limited in its ability to influence multi-scalar change. Meanwhile, Leap, the Pact for a Green New Deal, and Iron and Earth exhibit an emergent push for just, democratic, and sustainable alternatives to fossil capitalism and clean growth. Energy democracy is central to Leap’s strategy, which suggests paths toward addressing the limitations of renewable energy co-operatives while supporting other forms of democratic renewable energy systems. / Graduate

Abstract Unfortunately, little or no time is spent on transitioning inmates back into society, especially those with physical and mental disabilities. One support service that is being taken into consideration is the Day Reporting Center. Day Reporting Centers are highly structured nonresidential programs. Parolees report to the center on a daily basis, submit to drug tests, and are enrolled in various counseling, education, or vocational classes. Whereas most centers have strict monitoring and surveillance of parolees, one center that stands out in its alternative approach of self-governance is the San Bernardino Day Reporting Center in San Bernardino, California. There, the parolees are allowed to contribute to the running and governance of the Center. The hypothesis asserts that the positive culture that surrounds the Center provides parolees the opportunity to reconsider, revise, challenge, and change their negative criminal identities, by viewing themselves in a constructive manner to successfully transition back into society. Eight assumptions were used to either support or nullify the hypothesis: spheres of civility; performative spaces; personal social space; weaving theory; opportunity theory; transformation theory; Freirian pedagogical approach; and pelindaba. The data was gathered using multiple sources, such as several interviews with staff and ex-parolees, and observations of daily procedures and classroom instruction and interaction. NVivo 8, a Qualitative Data Analysis software program (QDA), was used to transcribe, code, and organize the interviews into various themes. The comments by staff and parolees demonstrated that the implementation of these assumptions has resulted in a family like environment. This environment has allowed parolees to focus on their identity in a positive, transformative, and rehabilitative manner that is supported by everyone at the Center.

Abstract The disquiet around parent-school relationships is the focus of this study. During transitioning to high school, the boundaries around this relationship changes. Few studies have addressed these changes, particularly from parents’ perspectives. It is parents’ voices which are central to this study. This dissertation uses the standpoint of parents, which is often absent or silent in educational literature and research. Within a critical and constructivist paradigm, and influenced by Institutional Ethnography, two elementary schools (divergent in race, social class, ethnicity and immigrant status) and one high school are the sites for interviews with 14 parents and 13 educators. 11 parents were re-interviewed after their children entered high school. Four questions were addresses: How has parent involvement come to be understood? How is the parent-school relationship experienced by parents and educators? How and why are decisions made around the transition and school choice process? Do parents’ perceptions align/vary from those of educators? Based on historically constructed notions and assumptions, parent involvement is usually understood as a visible and public demonstration of appropriate and caring parenting ignoring interactions outside of the public’s gaze. Illustrated through Parent Council membership, parent involvement is gendered, classed, culturally related and race, ethnic and immigrant status specific. Some parents had more social, cultural, economic and emotional capital to bring to the transition process, while others were marginalized and had to rely on/trust the education system. School and Board policies and procedures were examined and their varied affects on parents’ experiences and choices analysed. Educators assisted in disseminating assumptions around parent-school relationships and contributed to inequitable parent knowledge, partially as a result of too little training. By examining social, economic and cultural positioning of parents within local school communities, positive parent-school relationships can be nurtured, which political pundits and educationalists have failed to accomplish. During transitioning, organization and social discontinuities contributed to parent and school disconnects and constructed borderlands in the parent-child-school relationship. This study evidenced the fragility of the parent-school relationship, especially during this vulnerable time for parents and thus, reflective questions are presented in hope of initiating a crucial conversation in local school communities.

Abstract The disquiet around parent-school relationships is the focus of this study. During transitioning to high school, the boundaries around this relationship changes. Few studies have addressed these changes, particularly from parents’ perspectives. It is parents’ voices which are central to this study. This dissertation uses the standpoint of parents, which is often absent or silent in educational literature and research. Within a critical and constructivist paradigm, and influenced by Institutional Ethnography, two elementary schools (divergent in race, social class, ethnicity and immigrant status) and one high school are the sites for interviews with 14 parents and 13 educators. 11 parents were re-interviewed after their children entered high school. Four questions were addresses: How has parent involvement come to be understood? How is the parent-school relationship experienced by parents and educators? How and why are decisions made around the transition and school choice process? Do parents’ perceptions align/vary from those of educators? Based on historically constructed notions and assumptions, parent involvement is usually understood as a visible and public demonstration of appropriate and caring parenting ignoring interactions outside of the public’s gaze. Illustrated through Parent Council membership, parent involvement is gendered, classed, culturally related and race, ethnic and immigrant status specific. Some parents had more social, cultural, economic and emotional capital to bring to the transition process, while others were marginalized and had to rely on/trust the education system. School and Board policies and procedures were examined and their varied affects on parents’ experiences and choices analysed. Educators assisted in disseminating assumptions around parent-school relationships and contributed to inequitable parent knowledge, partially as a result of too little training. By examining social, economic and cultural positioning of parents within local school communities, positive parent-school relationships can be nurtured, which political pundits and educationalists have failed to accomplish. During transitioning, organization and social discontinuities contributed to parent and school disconnects and constructed borderlands in the parent-child-school relationship. This study evidenced the fragility of the parent-school relationship, especially during this vulnerable time for parents and thus, reflective questions are presented in hope of initiating a crucial conversation in local school communities.

Frequent absences resulting from a chronic illness can disrupt adolescent school involvement, impacting academic achievement and psychosocial development as a result. This study explores whether certified child life specialists (CCLSs) could be a resource for parents as they address their adolescents' academic disruptions. Specifically, this study assesses an online training program designed to increase CCLSs' knowledge and self-efficacy as related to adolescents' academic adjustment following frequent absences. This knowledge and skill based training was designed as a three part module with sections including: academic considerations, psychosocial considerations, and availability of school resources in promoting successful adolescent academic adjustment. 62 CCLSs were recruited to participate and complete measures evaluating knowledge, in relation to content included in each module, and self-efficacy, involving communication with parents in regards to adolescent academic adjustment. T-tests were conducted to determine whether there were differences in reports of self-efficacy and knowledge following participation in the intervention between and within the treatment and control groups. Results indicate statistical significance for enhanced knowledge and self-efficacy for the treatment group at post-test. Therefore, the outcomes from this study support the effectiveness of brief online training in fostering knowledge and feelings of efficacy for CCLSs in a context not typically included in child life education or certification. As a result, findings from this study may be used to expand intervention programs in the clinical setting to provide more comprehensive psychosocial care to adolescents diagnosed with a chronic illness.

<p>Air intakes are a fundamental part of all high speed airbreathing propulsion concepts. The main purpose of an intake is to capture and compress freestream air for the engine. At hypersonic speeds, the intake’s surface and shock structure effectively slow the airflow through ram-air compression. In supersonic-combustion ramjets, the captured airflow remains supersonic and generates complicated shock structures. The design of these systems require careful evaluation of proposed operating conditions and relevant aerodynamic phenomena. The physics of these systems, such as the intake’s operability range, mass capture efficiency, back-pressure resiliency, and intake unstart margins are all open areas of research. </p> <p><br></p> <p>A high speed intake, dubbed the Indiana Intake Testbed, was developed for experimentation within the Boeing-AFOSR Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel at Purdue University. This inward-turning, mixed compression intake was developed from osculating axisymmetric theory and uses a streamtracing routine to create a shape-transitioned geometry. To account for boundary layer growth, a viscous correction was implemented on the intake’s compression surfaces. This comprehensive independent design code was pursued to generate an unrestricted geometry that satisfies academic inquiry into fluid dynamic interactions relevant to intakes. Additionally, the design code contains built-in analysis tools that are compared against CFD calculations and experimental data. </p> <p><br></p> <p>Two blockage models were constructed and outfitted with Kulite pressure transducers to detect possible intake start and unstart effects. Due to an error in the design code, the preliminary blockage models’ lower surfaces were oversized. The two intake models were tested over a freestream Reynolds number sweep, under noisy and quiet flow, at one non-zero angle of attack, and at a singular back-pressure condition. Back-pressure effects acted to unstart the intake and provide a comparison between forced-unstart and started states. The experimental campaign cataloged both tunnel starting and inlet starting conditions, which informed the design of the finalized model. The finalized model is presented herein. Future experiments to study isolator shock-trains, shock-wave boundary layer interactions, and possible instances of boundary layer transition on the intake’s compression surface are planned. </p>

Past research has shown that there are many factors that affect the elderly when moving from their own home to an elderly home. The main aim of this study was therefore to (i) describe the reasons and feelings of the elders associated before transiting into the elderly home (ii) experience and support during the transition and adapting to the life in the elderly home for the first few months after the transition and (iii) whether there lies any difference in sex amongst the elderly men and women in adjusting to the elderly home. Due to ethical issues, the study was conducted through interviewing the professionals who worked with elderly around the clock. Therefore, questions have been answered by the professionals in regard to their view on the subject. A total of six (6) semi structured interviews were conducted by two social work students who interviewed 9 professionals i.e. five (5) individual interviews and one group interview with four (4) professional participants. Of these nine (9) interview participants, eight (8) professionals were either working as domestic workers (hemtjänst) or as professional caregivers at the elderly home or as both and one (1) participant was the chief of department in the elderly home. The results showed that functional impairment or disability was the first and foremost reason as to why elderly must move from their own home to elderly home. However, for many elders this decision feels like a “force” upon them and their experience following is vastly differed. While other elders may feel a loss of identity in the elderly home, lonely and disappointed, many feel a sense of security to be around people who can look after them 24/7 and be able to create a meaningful relationship with both, other residents and the professional staff. It was as well noted that factors like activities and personality played a major role in the adjustment of the elderly in the elderly home. Lastly, the study did not show any differences between the sexes i.e. there was no difference between elderly men and elderly women when adjusting in the elderly home. However elderly women were shown as a sex who were more lenient to adapt to the changes.

The aim of this study is to get a better understanding of the transition out of an aberrantclosed group. This thematic literature study is based on 16 articles of people leaving criminalgangs, closed religious groups, and white supremacy groups. The different articles focus onprocesses that lead people to leaving their groups or the different changes and experiencespeople went through as they left. Three themes highlight the common experiences oftransitioning out of these groups are: disillusion, the experience of loss, and the struggle withcreating a new identity. Some people experienced disillusionment with their groups whilethey were still inside the group while others' experience of disillusionment with their formergroup came after they had left it. People who left their groups often began to shift their pointof reference, whereby they started to compare themself with norms and values that existed intheir new setting, although this could take time. Their previous group's narratives sometimesweighed heavily on their minds. Some people felt as if they had gone astray after they hadleft their former groups. The disillusionment and the different losses people went throughlead some of the people into what can be described as an identity crisis. A place where somefelt not only alienated from their former group or the society that they entered but sometimesalso felt alienated from themself, a mental state of disorientation. Some people struggled withwhat can be referred to as a hangover identity. Although they tried to get rid of their previousideas and thought patterns they were still haunted by them. For some people their newidentities both helped them distance themselves from thoughts and feelings connected to theirformer identity but also helped them see themself as something else then a former member oftheir group. Others struggled to access desired roles and identity. They instead experiencedthe pains of goal failure where they were held back because of societal views of their formerroles.