This thesis explores career trajectories and experiences of Czech Roma professionals in order to understand the relation between their ethnic affiliation and career development in terms of obstacles, strategies and relationships that enabled them to succeed in becoming professionals. The study produces knowledge that fills the empirical research gap about Roma professionals in the Czech Republic. Thematic analysis was used to analyze seven semi-structured interviews. The analysis concludes that the Roma professionals face obstacles that include the lack of cultural capital in families, gender-related obstacles, ‘Roma bubble’ and finally the racial prejudices and workplace incivility. However, the projects supporting Roma and a range of supportive relationships have the exceptionally important role in overcoming those obstacles. The study also contributes to the theoretical discussion about the link between social mobility of minorities and their identification. It shows that the processes of selective and consonant assimilation take place at the same time.

As the main component of terrestrial energy and water balance, evapotranspiration (ET) moves a large amount of water and energy in the form of latent heat flux from bare soil and vegetated surfaces into the atmosphere. Despite the development of many methods and equations through past decades, accurate ET estimation is still a challenging task, especially for the Red River Valley of the North (RRV) that has limited updated information on ET either for landscape or agricultural water management. The overall objective of first study was to evaluate the ASCE-EWRI reference ET (ETo) method by developing an accurate crop coefficient (Kc) using an eddy covariance (EC) system over an unirrigated turfgrass site. The results showed that with mean ETgrass/ETo ratio as 0.96 for the entire growing seasons of turfgrass, the ASCE-EWRI ETo method is valid for guiding the turfgrass irrigation management in cold climate conditions. In a Controlled drainage with subirrigation (CD+SI) field, an EC system was used to measure and quantify energy flux components along with soil water content (SWC) and water table depth (WTD) measurements during four corn growing. This study showed that the subsurface drainage along with the CD + SI system can be used for optimal water management with an improvement of 26.7% and 6.6% of corn yield during wet and dry year, respectively. For the final task, ET was measured using EC, Bowen ratio system (BREB), and soil water balance (SWB) method during the corn growing season. The comparison of the EC and the BREB system illustrated the advantages of using the residual method to close the energy balance closure of EC. Among the different time approaches for SWB method, ET by the SWB method using the average soil water contents between 24:00 to 2:00 time period showed non-significant differences (alpha = 0.05) compared to the BREB system during the observation periods. / USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture project / USDA NCR SARE project / ND Soybean Council / ND Water Resources Research Institute / ND Agricultural Experimental Station / USDA Hatch project / NASA ROSES Project

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第18590号 / 工博第3951号 / 新制||工||1607(附属図書館) / 31490 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科原子核工学専攻 / (主査)教授 功刀 資彰, 教授 中部 主敬, 准教授 横峯 健彦 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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Thesis advisor: Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon / Rural undergraduates lag behind urban and suburban undergraduates across many measures of college success, even though they graduate from high school at a higher rate. While a small but growing body of research literature addresses the challenges and barriers rural students face during the college process, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on the experience of rural undergraduates who withdraw from college before completing a degree.This qualitative phenomenological study examines the experiences of rural, low-income, first-in-family undergraduates who stop out of college. Study participants (n=13) attended high school in different rural communities and geographic regions across the United States. After participating in an Upward Bound program during high school, they each enrolled in a two- or four-year, undergraduate degree program at an accredited, non-profit college or university and then withdrew prior to completing a degree. Following in the tradition of Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and using the framework provided by Clark Moustakas (1994), I engaged study participants in open ended, semi-structured interviews. After those conversations, participants submitted independently recorded voice memos about their experience stopping out of college. The rural backgrounds of study participants manifested in many aspects of how and what they experienced when they withdrew from college. The phenomenon was described as an intense and devastating period of time, characterized by feelings of failure, shame, confusion, and disappointment. The distinct influence of rural families, communities, and schools shaped participants’ decisions before, during, and after their time at college. While the reasons students withdrew varied widely and may be similar to those of non-rural students, all participants perceived their rural background as deeply implicated in the stop-out experience. This study offers a new orientation on the topic of college stop-out among rural undergraduates and presents a working persistence model for this underserved student group. The three theoretical perspectives presented in this study – transcendental phenomenology, ecological systems theory, and community cultural wealth – expose broader meaning about both the objective and subjective qualities of the stop-out experience, adding a depth to findings that has broad implications for scholars and practitioners. This study concludes with practical insights for educators, policymakers, and institutions that serve rural undergraduates. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2021. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Historically, urban high school students encounter socioeconomic, educational, and systematic barriers in pursuit of college acceptance and admissions (VanTassel-Baska and Willis, 1987; Freedle, 2003; Dixon-Roman, Everson, and McArdle, 2013). These same hurdles are ever present for these students in their enrollment in SAT test then the SAT scores. Furthermore, urban students with learning and/or language differences are further disadvantaged by compounding variables of socioeconomics, disability, and access to resources. Given the significance of SAT scores in college admission, it is imperative that disadvantaged students from urban communities are provided proper support, guidance and instruction thought non-profit community organization that serve as college access conduits. This research study examine SAT Verbal prep offered through the Upward Bound program. SAT Verbal was offered through two instructional modes: teacher-led lecture or student-authored multimedia instruction. SAT Verbal instruction type was compared with a small sampling of students enrolled in Dual Enrollment to determine which SAT instruction increased scores beyond exposure to college level coursework. Three different groups were used in this pre-posttest design that utilized a combination of unique randomization and non-randomized group placements (n=101). Pre and posttest were analyzed with ANCOVAs to evaluate mean changes across the groups. Results indicate that students participating in high frequency academic vocabulary CAPs experienced a highly statistically signification casual effect of increasing scores on SAT Composite(p<.00) and SAT Verbal scores (p<.00). These results are even more pronounced in student groups with learning or language differences. Diverse students enrolled in multimedia instruction saw their SAT Composite scores increases (ELL=5.34%, IEP=18.12%) and SAT Verbal scores (ELL-3.67%, IEP 12.88%). These results support use of CAPS to address language, learning, access, and socio-economic issues that hinder urban students from high achievement on SAT, and ultimately college admission. / Special Education

Information Technology (IT) jobs are in demand in the United States and rural Appalachian communities are attracting IT businesses. The need to fill IT jobs creates a workforce opportunity for these communities where students have limited access to academic and career resources. The Upward Bound and Talent Search programs respond to the academic and career needs of disadvantaged students and aim to educate students about high skills jobs but little is known about interest in IT careers among middle and high school students in rural Appalachia. This study validates models of IT career interest and parental support of IT careers in girls and boys enrolled in Upward Bound or Talent Search in rural communities in Virginia using the theoretical framework of self-authorship. The theory of self-authorship explores the development of meaning-making in individuals and offers a context-specific way to study interest in IT careers. Results indicate interest in IT careers but the path to IT career interest is different among girls and boys. Girls are relying on others for career advice more often than boys and there is direct association between the information sources and interest in IT careers. Parental support is important in IT career interest for both girls and boys. Other important variables indicating an interest in IT careers are computer use and positive attitudes toward IT workers. Receiving information from sources such as parents, teachers, counselors, and friends is especially important to girls. Findings from this study can be used to inform practices and policies for Upward Bound and Talent Search. / Ph. D.

Forskning om feedback har länge haft ett stort fokus på traditionell feedback inom organisationer, som sker från chef till medarbetare, och det har inte funnits ett lika starkt intresse för att studera feedback från medarbetare till chef, så kallad “upward feedback”, vilket gör det relevant att öka förståelsen inom detta område. Syftet med studien var att öka förståelsen för hur chefer använder feedback från medarbetare för att leda och utveckla verksamheten och sitt eget ledarskap. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats, vilket ligger till grund för insamling av data genom tio semistrukturerade intervjuer med chefer från sex olika organisationer för att studera deras perspektiv på upward feedback och hur de skapar organisatoriska förutsättningar för att ta tillvara medarbetares feedback för att leda verksamheten. Resultatet visade att efterfrågan av och mottaglighet för feedback (både negativ och positiv) är en utmanande uppgift och behöver därför tränas upp. Därtill identifieras tillitsfulla relationer, trygghet i ledarskap och öppna dialoger som förutsättningar för cheferna att öka sin mottaglighet och förmåga att ta tillvara feedback. Slutsatsen dras att trygga chefer med tillitsfulla relationer till sina medarbetare använder upward feedback för att utveckla sig själva som chefer, utveckla en hälsosam arbetsmiljö och lärandeinriktad arbetsplats. / Research about feedback has mainly focused on traditional feedback within organizations, that is, feedback from managers to their employees, and little research has been made to study upward feedback, from employees to their managers. This makes it relevant to increase our understanding within this area. The aim of this study was therefore to contribute to the understanding of how managers utilize upward feedback to lead and develop organizations and their leadership. The study has a qualitative approach, which impacted the decision to gather data through ten semi-structured interviews with managers from six different organizations, with the aim to raise awareness about their perspective on upward feedback and how they use it as part of their leadership. The findings showed that receptivity towards feedback (both positive and negative) is a challenging task and therefore needs practice. Moreover, trustworthy relationships, confidence in leadership and open dialogues are essential conditions for managers to increase their receptivity for upward feedback and are therefore central aspects in utilizing feedback in a more favorable way. A conclusion is made that confident managers with trusting relationships with their employees utilize upward feedback to develop as leaders, develop a healthy working environment and work towards a workplace that fosters learning.