Sex Trafficking Prevention Training for Higher Education Students

Higher education students are vulnerable to being sex trafficked (Campus Law Enforcement-DHS, n.d.). As a means of prevention, an online training was developed for higher education students. The purpose of this training was to provide awareness and education about sex trafficking and promote safety in terms of relationships, jobs, and the internet. The intention of this study was to research the effectiveness of this training in building an understanding of sex trafficking. A convergent mixed methods study was conducted using pre and post surveys to assess awareness around sex trafficking in higher education. The training was found to be effective in educating participants about “discerning legitimate and safe websites and apps.” In addition, participants’ questions and concerns about sex trafficking are included for future course development and awareness training. Ideas for future steps to help prevent sex trafficking are also included. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https:// etd.ohiolink.edu)

On urban fear: privilege, symbolic violence, topophobia: the everyday experiences of middle-class women in Secunda, South Africa

I consider how the nature and meaning of space shape middle-class women's topophobia in the new town of Secunda (with a particular focus on symbolic violence). In Lefebvre's 'terrorist societies' fear becomes latent as citizens seek to maintain status quos which maintain systems of privilege. I demonstrate that one such system is white privilege. Secunda assists in maintaining these systems as its design draws heavily on Eurocentric values and new town 'best practices'. As a company town developed in reaction to international sanctions during apartheid, its design also resulted in the preservation of certain privileged groups. I argue that white privilege is a white problem and thus base my study on the (white) middle-class as a dominant group. I show that the identities of women (although traditionally viewed as passive and fearful) are diverse, falling both victim to and inflicting symbolic violence and topophobia. I focus on topophobia, or spatial fear, as fear affects us all and influences our shaping of urban space. The mutually reinforcing nature (abstract representations of the ideologies of planners) and meaning (infused through emotions, identities and power relations) of space are explored. I dispute the bias against emotion-based research that exists within planning, arguing that this has debilitating consequences for transformation. I suggest the use of intersecting emotion-spectra rather than the dichotomous approach conventionally taken by emotion research. A feminist ethnography is used with an iterative inductive research process engaging a variety of techniques, including digital/social media. My own multiple insider identities (of middle-class, white, English-Afrikaans woman, and planner) are used to critique systems of dominance. Findings highlight various forms of symbolic violence (in addition to white privilege) including codes of 'respectability' and 'purity', consumerism, fat talk, and persistent gender roles. Further, possible influences of dominant systems on space (particularly in reinforcing persistent social segregation in Secunda) are demonstrated. Symbolic violence can be used to deflect accountability, but this research shows that topophobia is a planning problem, worthy of consideration

Blowing Snow at McMurdo Station, Antarctica During the AWARE Field Campaign: Surface and Ceilometer Observations

Blowing snow (BLSN) is an impactful process in cold climates, affecting regional thermodynamics, radiation properties, and the surface mass balance of snow. Though it has significant climatic impacts, the process is still poorly understood and not widely included in weather and climate models. In 2016, the AWARE Field Campaign saw the deployment of a large suite of in situ and remote sensing instruments to McMurdo Station, Antarctica allowing for investigation of BLSN. A ceilometer-based BLSN detection algorithm used elsewhere in Antarctica is applied to data from AWARE, yielding a BLSN frequency of 14.1% compared to 8.2% as detected by human observers. To increase confidence in detections, the algorithm is updated to have shorter temporal averaging and to include a variety of meteorological thresholds to limit false detections due to fog. Efforts to incorporate a laser disdrometer into the algorithm were unsuccessful. An unphysical dependence of particle size distributions on wind speed is found suggesting observations are problematic at wind speeds greater than 10 m s−1. The revised algorithm detected a BLSN frequency of 7.4%, increasing agreement with human observations and confidence that the process is actively occurring at the observation site. These observations are put into context of a climatology of human observations of BLSN at McMurdo station from 2002–2018. An annual average of 8.0%–14.0% is estimated, with a total annual range of 3.4%–21.3%. Regardless of whether BLSN is observed by humans or instrument, the majority of cases at this location are associated with ongoing precipitation

Does Gender Raise the Ethical Bar? Exploring the Punishment of Ethical Violations at Work

We investigate whether women are targets of more severe punishment than men following ethical violations at work. Using a large sample of working adults, Study 1 finds that ethical behavior is more strongly prescribed for women than for men. Women face intensified ethical prescriptions, relative to a gender-neutral person. Study 2 experimentally tests whether women are punished more severely than men. Study 2 also tests the scope of our theory by asking whether women are punished more for errors in general, or only for ethical violations. Study 3 examines our effect in the field by examining how severely attorneys are punished for violating the American Bar Association’s ethical rules. Female attorneys are punished more severely than male attorneys, after accounting for a variety of factors. Study 3 also provides evidence that the gender make-up of the decision-making group that allots punishment serves to moderate the extent of discriminatory punishments. When a larger percentage of women sat on the judges’ panels overseeing attorney disciplinary hearings, disparities in allotted punishment between men and women were smaller. Our research documents a new prescriptive stereotype faced by women and helps to explain gender disparities in organizations. It highlights punishment severity as a novel mechanism by which institutions derail women’s careers more than men’s

Part 1. New Mechanistic Insights and Procedures for the Preparation of Organolithium Compounds by Reductive Lithiation. Part 2. The Stereoselective Reduction of Ketones to the Most Thermodynamically Stable Alcohols Using Lithium and Hydrated Salts of Common Transition Metals.

Part 1: A widely used method of preparing organolithium compounds is by the reductive lithiation of alkyl phenyl thioethers or usually less conveniently, alkyl halides, with either aromatic radical-anions of lithium or lithium metal in the presence of a catalytic amount of an aromatic electron transfer reagent. The work presented here shows, in two parts, that (i) a catalytic amount of N,N-dimethylaniline (DMA) and lithium ribbon can achieve reductive lithiation and (ii) lithium dispersion can achieve reductive lithiation in the absence of the electron transfer agent. These procedures are more efficient and surprisingly, in both methods of reductive lithiation, the order of relative reactivity of the substrates differs from that of the method using preformed aromatic radical-anion. Moreover, DMA is significantly cheaper than alternative reductive lithiation catalysts, therefore, can be recycled during work-up, which makes this process more cost-effective. The methodology was expanded to, but may not be limited to, (i) the DMA catalyzed reductive lithiation of phenyl thioethers and alkyl chlorides and (ii) the lithium dispersion reductive lithiation of phenyl thioethers, alkyl chlorides, acrolein diethyl acetal, and isochroman. Part 2: An operationally simple method is presented for the highly stereoselective reductions of a variety of ketones to the most thermodynamically stable alcohols. In this procedure, the ketone is treated with lithium dispersion and either FeCl24H2O or CuCl22H2O in THF at room temperature. This protocol is both more convenient and efficient than those commonly used for the diastereoselective reduction of five- and six- membered cyclic ketones

Teacher Perspectives of Professional Development and the Implementation of Instructional Practice for English Language Learners

An increasing number of U.S. teachers of English Language Learners (ELL) across the nation are not receiving adequate in-service training to provide instruction within students’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Vygotsky’s ZPD is the difference between what a person can achieve when acting alone and what the same person can achieve when acting with support from someone else. ELL instructional practices should be implemented in ELL students’ ZPD to ensure adequate academic performance. A lack of training is a local problem for a school district in the state of Florida. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perspectives of ELL teachers regarding the professional development trainings they received to teach ELL students within their ZPD. The two research questions focused on: (a) how elementary teachers implement instructional practices and resources to teach ELL students within their ZPD and (b) what their perspectives are of the professional development they were provided to teach ELL students. A purposeful sample of eight teachers of ELL students in the first through fifth grades participated in individual interview sessions. Using thematic analysis, data were analyzed using open coding and axial coding. The findings revealed participants’ concerns regarding their knowledge and preparation, as well as the professional development they were offered for teaching the ELL students. An in-service training project was created to provide teachers of ELL students with more information regarding strategies, accommodations, and instructional implementation. This study may contribute to positive social change by highlighting areas of concern for further research. Providing in-service training may equip teachers with the skills and knowledge that they need to teach ELL students within their ZPD, which may result in better educational outcomes

Fluid inclusion systematics of the polymetallic (Co-Ni-As-Au ± Bi, Ag) veins of the Nictaux Falls Dam occurrence, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia

1 online resource (74 p.) : illustrations (chiefly colour), colour mapsIncludes abstract.Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-53).This thesis is a fluid inclusion study on poorly understood cobalt-nickel-rich sulfarsenide (+Au,Ag,Bi) quartz veins hosted in the Silurian Kentville Formation metasediments, which outcrop at the Nictaux Falls Spillway, Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. Mineralization is constrained to i) early, laminated, quartz-sulfarsenide veins, and ii) sulfarsenide mineralized wall rock clasts in quartz breccia veins. Late quartz veins barren of mineralization crosscut mineralized veins. Similar barren veins are exposed in the other areas of the spillway, crosscutting the metasediments and the nearby outcropping Cloud Lake Pluton monzogranite of the South Mountain Batholith (SMB). Quartz-hosted fluid inclusions in all vein types (barren and mineralized, metasediment and granite hosted) are similar and classified into three types. Type-1 inclusions contain two-phases (L+V) and homogenize via vapour dissolution from 111.9 to 250°C (n=34). Type-2 inclusions contain three-phases (L+V+S) and homogenize at temperatures of 121.4°C to 250°C (n=18) via halite dissolution. Niether inclusions froze upon cooling to -180°C, suggesting high salinity and divalent cations (Ca2+). Although many of these inclusions did not homogenize by the set limit of 250°C, some appeared to be close to homogenization suggesting minimum entrapment temperature of 250°C. The type-2 microthermometry data indicates salinities of 29 to 35 wt% NaCl equivalent and minimum entrapment pressures of up to 3.0kbar. Despite cathodoluminescence imaging, type-1 and -2 inclusions are of indeterminate origin. Type-3 inclusions are monophase (L), and of secondary origin, and exhibit post entrapment modification. Raman spectroscopy indicate inclusions are water-dominated, with trace amounts of CH4 in the mineralized zones. Ti-in-quartz thermometry provided an upper T constraint of 614°C. Decrepitate mound analysis determined that the solute composition of the fluids range from Na-rich to Ca-rich. The highly saline fluids are likely Na-rich marine brines from the Maritimes Basin that became Ca-rich through interaction with plagioclase of the metasedimentary rocks of the Meguma Terrane

Burn wound classification model using spatial frequency-domain imaging and machine learning.

Accurate assessment of burn severity is critical for wound care and the course of treatment. Delays in classification translate to delays in burn management, increasing the risk of scarring and infection. To this end, numerous imaging techniques have been used to examine tissue properties to infer burn severity. Spatial frequency-domain imaging (SFDI) has also been used to characterize burns based on the relationships between histologic observations and changes in tissue properties. Recently, machine learning has been used to classify burns by combining optical features from multispectral or hyperspectral imaging. Rather than employ models of light propagation to deduce tissue optical properties, we investigated the feasibility of using SFDI reflectance data at multiple spatial frequencies, with a support vector machine (SVM) classifier, to predict severity in a porcine model of graded burns. Calibrated reflectance images were collected using SFDI at eight wavelengths (471 to 851 nm) and five spatial frequencies (0 to 0.2  mm  -  1). Three models were built from subsets of this initial dataset. The first subset included data taken at all wavelengths with the planar (0  mm  -  1) spatial frequency, the second comprised data at all wavelengths and spatial frequencies, and the third used all collected data at values relative to unburned tissue. These data subsets were used to train and test cubic SVM models, and compared against burn status 28 days after injury. Model accuracy was established through leave-one-out cross-validation testing. The model based on images obtained at all wavelengths and spatial frequencies predicted burn severity at 24 h with 92.5% accuracy. The model composed of all values relative to unburned skin was 94.4% accurate. By comparison, the model that employed only planar illumination was 88.8% accurate. This investigation suggests that the combination of SFDI with machine learning has potential for accurately predicting burn severity