Symbolism and Ritual as used by the National Socialists

Utilizing symbolism and ritual, the most important factors leading to the rise of National Socialism in Germany are examined. The thesis delineates the general history of Germany up to the rise of Hitler and reviews several major historical works on the Nazi’s rise. It also examines the theoretical literature on symbolism and ritual before analyzing the Nazi’s use of symbolism and ritual in their ascension to and maintenance of power

An Exploration of Formal Faculty Mentorship in the Academy

This banded dissertation comprises three products that focus on formal faculty mentorship within the academy. This banded dissertation identifies benefits of formal mentorship and explores the underutilization of such practices. Implications for implementing and sustaining mentorship practices in higher education are presented. The first scholarly work is a conceptual paper that explores the benefits of formal faculty mentorship with a focus on faculty groups that have been historically marginalized. A conceptual framework integrating components of Relational Cultural Theory (RCT), the National Association of Social Work (NASW) Code of Ethics core values, and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) is presented as a mechanism for providing inclusive formal faculty mentorship practices. This framework provides a model to use in implementing formal mentorship practices and argues for the inclusion of these practices within the EPAS. The second scholarly work is a research product is an exploratory survey of leaders within accredited social work programs. This survey assessed their attitudes towards formal faculty mentorship. Findings showed that overall, participants endorse formal faculty mentorship practices and recognize the benefits to the faculty and institutional success when formal mentorship is present. Barriers to implementing and sustaining these practices are also explored. The third scholarship product is an overview of a peer-reviewed conference presentation workshop titled, “Mentorship in the Academy: Supporting Faculty Development” at the Lilly Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning in Austin, Texas. The overview includes the benefits of formal mentorship for faculty and institutions. An integrated conceptual framework An integrated conceptual framework is presented for consideration in implementing and sustaining formal faculty mentorship practices. The workshop encourages those within leadership positions to commit to intentional, formal faculty mentorship

Observations and Light Curve Analysis of Transiting Extra-Solar Planets

The purpose of this research was to perform the procedures to study transiting exoplanets in their entirety, from the data collection process to determining physical characteristics and orbital properties. The research was conducted with two telescopes of different sizes (16” and 12”) at multiple sites in order to refine the detection process. Both Maxim DL and Mira Pro x64 software were used to process the resulting images. The PHOEBE program was used to model the data to determine the properties of the exoplanets, which were then compared to the results obtained by other astronomers. The data collection process as well as the modeling successfully yielded results that were in agreement with the comparison values

Pulling the Strings: The Influential Power of Women in Viking Age Iceland

Icelandic women during the Viking Age managed households, raised their children, tended to the animals, and wove the cloth, along with a host of other duties overlooked by their male counterparts. These women were the unacknowledged strength within their societies. Through an examination of the culture that surrounded female Vikings in pre-Christian Iceland, historians present a more thorough understanding of the roles that these women played. This is especially evident in the study of female influences employed within pre-Christian Icelandic society. The women of Viking Age Iceland exercised power through their management of household and familial interactions, maintaining influence within a publicly male-dominated society

EXPLAINING BENEFIT UTILIZATION VARIABILITY IN FMNP IN KENTUCKY: AN APPLICATION OF PIERRE BOURDIEU’S THEORY

Research has demonstrated the crucial role fresh fruit and vegetable consumption plays in maintaining good health. However, most Americans do not consume adequate amounts, and low-income Americans consume the lowest quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables. The Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) and Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) attempts to rectify this situation by providing vouchers to low-income women, children, and elders that can be used only at farmers’ markets for the purchase of locally grown, fresh fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, FMNP and SFMNP exhibit variable and often low benefit utilization. This variable and often low benefit utilization is unique among all other federal food assistance programs. Given the importance of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption to health and the incomplete understanding of low-income food-related behaviors, this research endeavored to understand the unique benefit utilization patterns exhibited by FMNP. Utilizing the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu, benefit utilization was conceptualized as an inherently social activity occurring within the field of food acquisition. Through the use of extensive interviews with FMNP and SFMNP officials, field observations, and secondary data analysis, data was collected to determine the relevant capitals and features of the field contributing to benefit utilization. Cultural capital was deemed to be particularly important to benefit utilization vis-à-vis the requirement to enter the subfield of the farmers’ market to redeem their vouchers. Compared to SFMNP participants, FMNP participants exhibited lower and often multiple deficits of the types of cultural capital needed to successfully use the vouchers at farmers’ markets. However, the local fields in which the farmers’ markets operated also had a significant impact on benefit utilization. For example, Appalachian counties exhibited higher rates of benefit utilization that were statistically significant compared to non-Appalachian counties. This resulted in several policy recommendations including the distribution of recipes, interagency collaboration, and repeated opportunities to enter the subfield of the farmers’ market to encourage higher benefit utilization in FMNP and SFMNP

Economically Feasible Crop Production Alternatives to Peanuts in Southwestern Oklahoma

Changes in the U.S. peanut program have resulted in drastically decreased planted acres and forced many peanut producers in the Southwest to consider alternative crops. This study examined the economic risk associated with producing peanuts and common alternatives to peanuts. Seedless watermelon is an alternative for risk preferring farmers whereas, irrigated peanut is the best choice for risk averse farmers.Crop Production/Industries,

PLS-Based Robust Inferential Control for a Packed-Bed Reactor

This paper compares the performance of two different inferential schemes when applied to an experimental packed-bed reactor. The first scheme, proposed initially by Brosilow, is designed based on Kalman filter estimation. The second less traditional design uses an estimator computed from the Partial Least Squares regression method (PLS). The second approach was found to give superior performance when the nonlinear system under study is operated is a wide range of operating points. Due to the nonlinearity of the system it is essential to address the issue of robustness of the proposed schemes. This is formally done in this work using Structured Singular Value Theory. For the robustness analysis it is crucial to develop a realistic but not overly conservative uncertainty description. Since the PLS estimator uses a large number of measurements, a robust design based on the uncertainty associated with each one of the measurements would be very conservative. To overcome this problem a lumped uncertainty description is proposed which is identified directly from experiments

Increasing responsiveness through the firm-LSP relationship structure: A behavioral perspective

This study investigates the behavioral aspects of the firm-logistics service provider (LSP) relationship in order to better understand the avenues through which LSP responsiveness to changing customer needs can be enhanced. Because the research examining the behavioral aspects of the firm- LSP relationship is sparse, a dyadic qualitative research approach was taken to explore the development of a relationship structure that will facilitate the level of responsiveness that the firm desires. This study revealed that the key to enhancing LSP responsiveness lays in the structure of the firm-LSP relationship. Specifically, it was found that the level of cooperation, coordination, communication, and bonding between the focal firm and the LSP have a direct effect on the LSP’s level of responsiveness to the firm’s needs