Discursive Struggles Reflected in the Communication of Conservative Christian Parents and Their Adult Children With Differing Religious Beliefs and Values

Nearly half of American adults no longer believe in their childhood faiths (Pew Research Center, 2015). The steady decline of Christianity could have considerable impacts on family life (Pew Research Center, 2022). From a postmodern critical perspective and guided by Relational Dialectics Theory 2.0, the researcher sought to discern how conservative Christian parents and their adult children with differing religious beliefs and values communicated when they discussed these differences, as well as to identify the discourses that informed and were reflected in their talk and illustrate how these discourses interplayed and animated the meaning of participants’ Christian family identities. The researcher undertook turning points interviews; 30 adult children with differing religious beliefs and values from their conservative Christian parent(s) identified relational change sites. The researcher then used contrapuntal data analysis to analyze the data. Based in relational dialectics theory, the researcher discovered two primary discourses that informed and were reflected in participants’ talk concerning their communication with their conservative Christian parents: (a) righteousness and exclusion; and (b) openness and inclusion. Most participants countered the dominant discourse of righteousness and exclusion with the discourse of openness and inclusion. Others negated righteousness and exclusion altogether and/or entertained it along with openness and inclusion. Some participants brought the two discourses together, creating discursive hybrids. The findings of the present study facilitated the researcher’s argument that when adult children with differing religious beliefs and values from those of their conservative Christian parents assert their own religious identities to these parents, both the conservative Christian parents and the adult children experience difficulty making meaning of their Christian family identity. Understanding the interplay of the discourse of righteousness and exclusion and the discourse of openness and inclusion in participants’ talk provides insight into the processes of individual and collective identity construction and meaning making. The researcher discusses these insights and applications for these family members. Advisors: Dawn O. Braithwaite and Jordan Soli

The role of advection and dispersion in the rock matrix on the transport of leaking CO2-saturated brine along a fractured zone

CO2 that is injected into a geological storage reservoir can leak in dissolved form because of brine displacement from the reservoir, which is caused by large-scale groundwater motion. Simulations of the reactive transport of leaking CO2aq along a conducting fracture in a clay-rich caprock are conducted to analyze the effect of various physical and geochemical processes. Whilst several modeling transport studies along rock fractures have considered diffusion as the only transport process in the surrounding rock matrix (diffusive transport), this study analyzes the combined role of advection and dispersion in the rock matrix in addition to diffusion (advection-dominated transport) on the migration of CO2aq along a leakage pathway and its conversion in geochemical reactions. A sensitivity analysis is performed to quantify the effect of fluid velocity and dispersivity. Variations in the porosity and permeability of the medium are found in response to calcite dissolution and precipitation along the leakage pathway. We observe that advection and dispersion in the rock matrix play a significant role in the overall transport process. For the parameters that were used in this study, advection-dominated transport increased the leakage of CO2aq from the reservoir by nearly 305%, caused faster transport and increased the mass conversion of CO2aq in geochemical reactions along the transport pathway by approximately 12.20% compared to diffusive transport.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Saskatchewan Secondary Band Teachers' Rationales For Assessment and Evaluation Strategies

Upon hearing a beautiful piece of music, one can find it difficult to express in words the most appropriate assessment of it. More challenging would be to quantify the performance with a numerical value. Assessment assists learning, while evaluation judges and assigns a grade to it. Secondary school band teachers are faced with this dilemma of quantifying musical achievement and knowledge in schools. It was from an interest in how music teachers can use assessment (as opposed to evaluation) to guide their teaching, and to learn more about how they do assign a number to students’ music, that I posed the following questions: (a) What are the participants’ rationales for the assessment strategies they choose and the evaluative measures they make for students? (b) What influences have led teachers to have these particular rationales? This study used interviews within a grounded theory method to conduct qualitative research. The research sample was limited to a selection of secondary band teachers in Saskatchewan. Eight teachers volunteered to participate in interviews which inquired into their current assessment and evaluation practices. Research revealed several themes impacting teachers’ rationales. Themes emerging through analysis were: the impact of the set-up of the band, performance versus best practice, issues around subject legitimacy, impact of school division policy, and held values specific to instrumental music education. The theory arising from data analysis is that when a band teacher is reluctant to fully adopt best practice methods, this is based on fears of producing less than adequate group performances which is a response to a fear of losing the band program all together. The significance of these findings lies in the implication that existing underlying issues need to be addressed that best practice expectations and/or policy cannot fully encompass

Kansas Country Elevator Wheat Storage Practices, 1991

Crop Production/Industries,