Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2005, Computer and Information Science

At a cocktail party, we can selectively attend to a single voice and filter out other interferences. This perceptual ability has motivated a new field of study known as computational auditory scene analysis (CASA) which aims to build speech separation systems that incorporate auditory principles. The psychological process of figure-ground segregation suggests that the target signal should be segregated as foreground while the remaining stimuli are treated as background. Accordingly, the computational goal of CASA should be to estimate an ideal time-frequency (T-F) binary mask, which selects the target if it is stronger than the interference in a local T-F unit. This dissertation investigates four aspects of CASA processing: location-based speech segregation, binaural tracking of multiple moving sources, binaural sound segregation in reverberation, and monaural segregation of reverberant speech. For localization, the auditory system utilizes the interaural time difference (ITD) and interaural intensity difference (IID) between the ears. We observe that within a narrow frequency band, modifications to the relative strength of the target source with respect to the interference trigger systematic changes for ITD and IID resulting in a characteristic clustering. Consequently, we propose a supervised learning approach to estimate the ideal binary mask. A systematic evaluation shows that the resulting system produces masks very close to the ideal binary ones and large speech intelligibility improvements. In realistic environments, source motion requires consideration. Binaural cues are strongly correlated with locations in T-F units dominated by one source resulting in channel-dependent conditional probabilities. Consequently, we propose a multi-channel integration method of these probabilities in order to compute the likelihood function in a target space. Finally, a hidden Markov model is employed for forming continuous tracks and automatically detecting the number of act (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2023, Spatially Integrated Social Science

The increase in rate of international migration to the United States since the late 1960s, coupled with a generally high rate among minority populations, altered the racial and ethnic composition of America's urban neighborhoods. The changing demography and increase in shares of minority subpopulations underscore the salience of conducting multigroup studies of residential and socioeconomic segregation beyond the traditional white versus black dichotomy. Segregation based on subgroup characteristics (de facto or de jure) is problematic, particularly for racial minorities and low-income residents who are limited in moving to areas they can afford. These minority neighborhoods are associated with physical and socioeconomic disadvantage due to public and private de-investment. The undercurrents of segregation were explored in the racial tipping point and white flight literature where non-Hispanic white majority residents exit old inner and central city neighborhoods when the share of minority populations increase beyond a critical threshold. Due to strong correlations between race and income, white flight also tends to concentrate poverty in the abandoned neighborhoods. Beyond this relationship between personal choice and segregation however, local and federal public policies have also been historically linked with segregating urban America. Federal highway programs, mortgage loan underwriting processes, suburban housing developments, and restrictive local zoning laws have created race and income-based segregated spaces. Also, reinvestment programs aimed revitalizing physical and socially distressed neighborhoods tend to yield minimal outcomes. This is often due to either limited funding compared to the magnitude of the problem or lack of sustained political commitment, overemphasis on market-based ideas which alienate minorities and low-income residents, and emphasis on new urbanism housing designs associated net losses in the public housing stock. In this dissertatio (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2021, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

School choice is a contentious issue in the United States. Based on a free market system where competition drives performance, supporters believe that underperforming schools should be forced to close if they are unable to keep up with the higher performing districts. However, schools are founded on the institutional theory, which inhibits their responsiveness to innovation and competition. Proponents of school choice argue that families have the right to decide where their children are educated, and many school districts benefit financially when they gain student enrollment. Supporters believe that choice provides families with opportunities to seek schools that provide a higher quality of education than their residential districts. Those who oppose school choice believe that choice is a divisive tool separating rich and poor, Black, and White. Opponents believe that the fiscal implications that result from students exiting their residential districts leave the neediest students without access to the education they're entitled to. Opponents believe that additional implications, such as social and transient repercussions, add to the negative impact of school choice on our most at-risk population: impoverished and minority students. Based on research, there is little evidence to support a causal relationship between school choice and a leveled playing field for needy students; however, benefits are noted for some students who consistently open enroll. Positive effect size estimates were noted in math only, reading only, and math and reading combined; school choice across time after the first year a student participated in open enrollment; the 5-8 grade band; and for achievement by race. Because this study utilized a meta-analysis, there are limitations to consider. Specifically, data are limited to what is available in existing research. Publication bias and heterogeneity may also impact results as they skew data. In this study, test scores were utilized (open full item for complete abstract)

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1976, Graduate School

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Public Policy and Management

How government delivers public services can have broad societal effects, beyond the impact on programmatic outcomes. Such societal effects are particularly likely in the delivery of public education, as educational concerns drive residential and school choices, and public schools are the second largest public employer in the United States. My dissertation explores how innovations in the way we administer public education may affect societal inequities by race, gender, academic ability, and socioeconomic status. The first essay examines how the emergence of online “virtual” public schooling, which families within a state can access regardless of where they live, has affected school-based segregation by race and poverty. The second essay examines the impact of the sudden closure of a large virtual charter school on district segregation by race and academic ability. Finally, the third essay estimates the impact of introducing teacher collective bargaining—which empowers teachers in the management of public schools—on the diversity of staff and employment and pay of women. Overall, this dissertation explores how education administration affects with whom students interact in school and who has access to quality public sector jobs—all of which, in turn, have well documented long-term impacts on children.

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2024, History (Arts and Sciences)

Despite serving as the capital of a prototypical Rustbelt state during a period of economic hardship and decline of other once prosperous neighboring Rustbelt cities, Columbus's history is rather separate from those of its peers. The strife experienced by the city during the 1960s and 1970s arose not from the collapse of its industrial districts, a dwindling white ethnic population, or the dilapidation of its infrastructure, but quite the opposite. Columbus's history is one of a city and an education system unable and unwilling to adapt with the changing racial and economic make-up of a rapidly developing urban center. In turn, the city of Columbus and its Board of Education engineered and perpetuated the isolation and impoverishment of black residents to various ghettos across the city to contain and constrict the ever-growing black population that threatened to disrupt the status quo. Deprived by decades of neglect and injustice, Columbus's black community sought to tear down the racial barriers constructed through neighborhood gerrymandering and attendance zones, economic, social, and political isolation, and unequal access to educational resources and facilities that had denied their children a quality education. This responsibility ultimately fell to civil rights activists, parents, students, and educators who struggled for decades against indecisive administrators, intransigent board members and trustees, recalcitrant white parents, and over one hundred years of purposeful separation of the city's black and white communities through a system of de-facto racial segregation. Despite their struggle and the aid of local and national civil rights organizations, social scientists, and the Supreme Court of the United States, the progress achieved during the 1960s and 1970s was largely overshadowed by the betrayal of their efforts in 1996.

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2023, History

Education remains one of the most polarized areas in American society. However, this is not a new phenomenon. From the 1950s to 1980, Congress, the executive branch, and judicial branch significantly increased their funding and oversight in public education. 1965 marked the year Congress passed legislation with the hopes of creating a more equitable system for all socioeconomic classes. However, conservatives also began to coalesce in the 1970s over segregation, helping spur the 1980 Reagan Revolution. 1981 marked the first year in over two decades where Congress cut the education budget for integrative services and changed how the federal government funded programs for low-income students. These changes were integral to the Reagan administration and conservative Congress's goals to reduce social services in an effort to reduce the budget and expand the economy while simultaneously preserving tax loopholes and cuts for the wealthy. Federal funding for social services like education saw cuts that hurt many of the gains that low-income school districts had seen over the previous two decades. One often overlooked piece of legislation–the 1981 Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (ECIA)–caused many of these changes. This act removed the protective language and funding that had helped lower income, bilingual, and segregated communities receive federal aid for the previous fifteen years. While creator John Ashbrook's initial intent for the ECIA was to give more power to local and state governments over education– something that conservatives thought was an important goal–the ECIA also ended integration programs and removed barriers to ensure funding went to high needs schools. These changes have affected education to this day.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Civil Engineering (Engineering and Technology)

The asphalt concrete (AC) base course contributes largely to the structural capacity of a layered asphalt pavement system. Due to its location in the cross-section, a failure of the AC base would require costly repairs. Therefore, it is important to use AC base courses that are durable. However, durability of AC bases courses seems often overlooked in flexible pavement research. This dissertation demonstrates the potential of a very practical approach to evaluate the durability of asphalt concrete base courses. Additionally, it presents the most reliable of the latest fracture parameters to be used for cracking characterization of AC base courses. Furthermore, provides an approach to evaluate the segregation potential of AC base courses. This dissertation addresses the lack of research on AC base course evaluation and provides the state agencies and construction companies with guidelines of more practical, inexpensive and time-efficient approaches to assess the design and quality of AC base mixtures. To achieve this, a four phases research was developed: 1) more than 50 projects, with different mixture composition and age range, were selected from all over the State of Ohio in order to collect pavement cores for laboratory testing; 2) an evaluation of the AC base mixtures fundamental material properties such as in-place density, moisture-induced damage and disintegration susceptibility (estimated from tensile strength ratio (TSR) and Cantabro mass loss (ML) test), and flexibility index (FI) and cracking resistance (obtained from Illinois semi-circular bending test, IL-SCB) was conducted; 3) a more time-efficient and sensitive procedure to characterize coarser AC base mixtures based on their cracking tolerance (estimating CTindex, using TSR data) was evaluated; 4) an approach to assess the segregation potential of AC base courses was explored. Cantabro mass loss was found to have potential as an approach to characterize the durability of AC base courses. Ne (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2022, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

The retail food environment has a significant impact on the availability and affordability of food options for consumers within a given neighborhood. However, approaches for accounting for the complicated spatial clustering of diverse food outlets in a study location are mostly frequentist models, and there is an absence of Bayesian models. Furthermore, the majority of food environment studies combine socioeconomic characteristics and neighborhood segregation into a single model to study the food environment. This approach, often confound the subtle relationship that any of these factors have on policy. This research investigates the food environment using a Bayesian hierarchical spatial model, a method that has seldomly been employed in food environment studies. This research examines both the community and consumer food environments. This study is made up of three manuscripts. The first manuscript (Chapter 4) examined the effects of neighborhood socioeconomic factors and racial segregation on the distribution of supermarkets and grocery stores in Cleveland. The purpose of this chapter was to determine which of the two complimentary factors provides a more robust explanation for the geographical distribution of the stores in Cleveland. Using the Deviance Information Criterion (DIC) as a basis for model robustness, the results of comparing four models show that racial segregation predicts the store distribution far better than socioeconomic characteristics. This finding demonstrated how structural issues such as neighborhood segregation may have played a part in Cleveland's limited availability of supermarkets and grocery stores. The second paper (Chapter 5) investigated in-store and neighborhood healthy food availability as well as their relationships with neighborhood racial segregation and socioeconomic characteristics. Eleven healthy food items were rated in order to obtain a composite score for healthy food availability. According to the study's findings, su (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Communication Sciences

Purpose: Speech recognition in the presence of competing speech can be challenging, and individuals vary considerably in their ability to accomplish this complex auditory-cognitive task. Speech-in-speech recognition can vary due to factors that are intrinsic to the listener, such as hearing status and cognitive abilities, or due to differences in the short-term audibility of the target speech. The primary goal of the current experiments was to characterize the effects of glimpsed target audibility and intrinsic listener variables on speech-in-speech recognition. Methods: Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of glimpsed target audibility, intrinsic listener variables, and acoustic-perceptual difference cues on speech-in-speech and speech-in-noise recognition. Listeners were young adults (18 to 28 years) with normal hearing. Speech recognition was measured in two stages in each experiment. In Stage 1, speech reception thresholds were measured adaptively to estimate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) associated with 50% correct keyword recognition for each listener in each stimulus condition. In Stage 2, keyword recognition was measured at a fixed-SNR in each stimulus condition. All participants completed a battery of cognitive measures that assessed central abilities related to masked-speech recognition. The proportion of audible target glimpses for each target+masker keyword stimulus presented in the fixed-SNR testing was measured using a computational glimpsing model of speech recognition. Results: Results demonstrated that variability in both speech-in-speech and speech-in-noise recognition depends critically on the proportion of audible target glimpses available in the target+masker mixture, even across stimuli presented at the same global SNR. Glimpsed target audibility requirements for successful speech recognition varied systematically as a function of informational masking. Young adult listeners required a greater proportion of audibl (open full item for complete abstract)

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Engineering and Applied Science: Electrical Engineering

Bulk PxSe100-x glasses have been synthesized over the 0% < x < 57% compositional range, with care taken to ensure sample purity and dryness. The network structure of the resulting homogenized samples has been probed via spectroscopic, calorimetric, and volumetric characterization methods. Raman scattering experiments reveal the existence of modes tied to 3-membered PYR (P(Se1/2)3) and QT (Se=P(Se1/2)3) rings, at 208 cm-1 and 219 cm-1, respectively. The conduction of polarized Raman measurements shows these two modes to be highly polarized. Raman scattering also shows the formation of two distinct network backbones: a 3-D backbone consisting of polymeric Sen chains crosslinked by P-centered PYR and QT local structures and a quasi-1-D backbone composed of ethylene-like (ETY, P2Se2+x (x= 2,1,0)) chains. The first 3-D backbone (BB1) is found in the region 0% < x < 40%, while the quasi-1-D BB2 dominates the region 40% < x < 54%. The decoupling of these two backbones from one another finds Tg to be fixed by BB1 and BB2 within their respective compositional domains. MDSC experiments reveal a square-well-like variation in the enthalpy of relaxation at Tg for the Intermediate Phase compositions (28% < x < 40%) in their fresh state; however, the decoupling of the two network backbones causes the ΔHnr to age at room temperature in the 0w < tw < 4w time frame. Raman scattering shows the constituents of the 3-D BB1 (PYR at 338 cm-1 and QT at 502 cm-1) to stiffen across the IP, whereas the normal ETY modes (353 cm-1, 440 cm-1) show no sign of stiffening as a result of their decoupling from the 3-D backbone. The melt fragility index (m(x)) shows a local minimum of m = 13.1 at x = 15% and a global minimum of m = 7.7 at x = 33% due to the formation of 3-membered [PYR]3 and [QT]3 rings, as well as the decoupling of the two backbones. Compositional variation of the molar volume (Vm) shows an additional compaction of the network within the IP, along with artifacts r (open full item for complete abstract)

PHD, Kent State University, 2021, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Geography

We are now in an information age. The ubiquitous smartphones and location-aware technologies generate vast amounts of geotagged big data on peoples' spatial activities and movement trajectories. With these geotagged big data, researchers can include population movement into socio-spatial segregation assessment in finer spatial and temporal scales. However, further study is still needed to apply the patterns and structural characteristics of population mobility to research on socio-spatial segregation assessment. Therefore, this research aims to understand and quantify the socio-spatial segregation from activity spaces and human mobility perspective using Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI). I designed a comprehensive analytical framework to evaluate and analyze socio-spatial segregation using human mobility information obtained from VGI. It includes collecting VGI data, classifying VGI users, extracting mobility information from VGI, constructing and analyzing interaction networks, evaluating dynamic socio-spatial segregation, representativeness analysis of VGI, and results' visualization and mapping. This dissertation focuses on analyzing mobility patterns for different VGI user groups, evaluating dynamic socio-spatial segregation, and representativeness analysis of VGI.

MARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

Socioeconomic segregation in residential neighborhoods is an occurrence that according to the Pew Research Institute, is plaguing 27 of the nation's 30 largest major metropolitan areas. Adjacent neighborhoods which differ radically in socioeconomic status (SES) are at odds with each other; and this is best understood through a set of observable institutional and social disparities. Upon reviewing the origin, context, effects, and previously deployed solutions to these institutional and social disparities, this thesis will propose guidelines for a project that seeks to address all of the most crucial of these issues; a mixed-class co-living housing experiment as an architectural response to the enduring effects of socioeconomically disparate residential conditions. This response involves a unification of a modified community planning strategy as a response to the institutional woes, and a set of architectural design and programming principles that respond to social disparities. The institutional disparities that have allowed residential neighborhoods to be socioeconomically segregated are rooted in racial segregation, as well as income segregation or “concentration of poverty.” Mixed-income housing projects of the past may have been effective at times of achieving its primary goal of deconcentrating poverty but have not proven to be effective in addressing social issues. Instead of deconcentrating poverty with mixed-income housing, the community planning strategy for this thesis seeks to mend socioeconomically differing neighborhoods through “mixed-class” housing; this involves a mixture of residents based on not only income, but also education and occupation. This strategy will allow for a much more diverse mixture of people based on the socioeconomics of a given site, while providing a more opportunistic condition for the involved social disparities to be addressed through architecture, programming, and spatial design. The social disparities that arise from (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

In this project I investigate the spatial assimilation of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) immigrants in the United States. I examine whether the residential incorporation of MENA immigrants has decreased over time due to a changing social and political context following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I analyze data from the 2000 U.S. decennial census and 2012-2016 American Community Survey, to which I append data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, to test the effects of group-level characteristics and metropolitan area-level factors on spatial assimilation. I compare the experiences of the MENA population with those of South Asian and East Asian immigrants, who on average are both phenotypically different from non-Hispanic whites and score high on measures of socioeconomic status (SES), but may not have suffered the same degree of stigma and discrimination in the post-9/11 period. Thus, I provide an indirect test of the “context of reception” explanation for spatial assimilation in the United States by comparing the segregation and suburbanization patterns of the three groups. My findings suggest that the MENA population's residential segregation increased over time more than did the equivalent measures for South and East Asians, providing some support for the context of reception framework. The MENA population had the highest spatial concentration of the three groups, but the lowest level and lowest increase in their clustering patterns. Finally, on average the MENA group had the highest level of suburban residence in 2016, but the smallest increase in their suburbanization rate from 2000 to 2016, compared to South and East Asians. Multivariate analyses reveal that the relationships between segregation, acculturation, and SES characteristics vary by immigrant group and across measures, both aligning with and contradicting the predictions of spatial assimilation theory. These findings suggest that multiple frameworks should be used to account for (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

In this dissertation I investigate three potential sources of this lack of consensus—disagreements between quantitative measurements of gentrification about which neighborhoods have gentrified, the impacts of city-level factors on gentrification propensities in Black and Latino neighborhoods and change over time in neighborhood- and city-level effects on these propensities. I analyze data from the 1980-2010 decennial censuses and the 2010 and 2017 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. I first employ a measure of inter-rater reliability to assess the extent that eleven measures of gentrification agree or disagree on which neighborhoods gentrified between 2000 and 2017. My findings suggest that not only do these measures disagree on which neighborhoods gentrify, they also disagree on which neighborhoods are eligible to gentrify in the first place. Second, I assess the extent that urban contexts shape the probability that Black and Latino neighborhoods gentrify, and whether racial transition accompanies gentrification. My findings largely reflect White homeseekers' aversion to residing in neighborhoods with high shares of Black and Latino residents, as these neighborhoods have low probabilities of gentrifying to a majority of White residents. However, these patterns are shaped significantly by racial segregation and housing market pressures and have changed over time. Indeed, gentrification occurs in more diverse neighborhoods over time, especially in cities with tighter housing markets and less segregation. Based on the results of my research, I conclude that spatial and temporal contexts are essential to understanding disparate findings on the racial geography of gentrification.

M.A. (Master of Arts in English), Ohio Dominican University, 2020, English

This work compares and contrasts the Atticus of Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, with the Atticus of Lee's later novel, Go Set a Watchman. Although Atticus appears to be a defender of equal rights and justice in one and a staunch segregationist in the other, this work argues that Atticus is essentially the same man in both novels, and supports this perspective with an examination of Atticus' positions on racism, the law and justice. This work also examines Atticus and racism in the South from a regional point of view during the time period of both novels, and asks relevant questions as to the universal moral obligations the characters may have to one another.

MA, Kent State University, 2020, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of English

This thesis explores the ways in which Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Lorraine Hansberry represent Black autonomous living in their texts. I begin by breaking down the theoretical leanings behind the assertions made in this thesis, starting with Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Booker T. Washington. I move on to a discussion of Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collin, wherein I use her tenets to qualify Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Bluest Eye, and A Raisin In The Sun as being works that fit solidly into the Black feminist thought tradition. After identifying scholars who have done cornerstone work in this field and establishing the theory behind the thesis, I dive into a discussion of the texts. In the first chapter, I focus on Hurston's piece, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). In it I use the text as well as pieces of non-fiction also written by Hurston to breakdown her thinking on integration and Black autonomy. The subsequent chapter centers Morrison's The Bluest Eye (1970). Here, I pay attention to the way Morrison concentrates on the interiority of Black women and girls by allowing their voices to stand as the focal point of her piece. Morrison's piece allows readers to understand the “American Dream” as something that was meant, primarily for white folks and I use the scholarship of Ta-Nehisi Coates to undergird these assertions. Finally, the Hansberry chapter examines A Raisin In The Sun (1958). This chapter directly deals with the issue of segregation and autonomous living. By using the text as well as secondary and outside scholarly resources, I show the ways and reasons behind Hansberry offering viewpoints that seem to be contrary to the crux and conclusion of the play.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2020, Chemistry and Biochemistry (Arts and Sciences)

Metal halide perovskites (MHPs) have rapidly become a very promising semiconductor material for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications, owing to their excellent optoelectronic properties and facile fabrication methods. However, the commercial viability of devices based on MHPs is hindered by the material's tendency to undergo undesired degradation processes that undermine the material's chemical, structural, and optical integrity. These deteriorating effects have been associated with MHPs sensitivity towards its ambient atmosphere, especially under constant photoexcitation. Photoluminescence (PL) of MHPs is sensitive to the materials' surface condition and chemical nature. The work presented in this dissertation exploits this behavior to investigate surface-specific interactions of MHPs, as well as photo-induced processes that result in changes in the chemical makeup of the material. Using different techniques based on PL microscopy, we first investigated the interactions of molecular O2 with the surface of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite (OHPs). With this approach, we were able to come up with a detailed kinetic model that could explain the interaction of the molecular O2 to the surface of OHPs down to the single-molecule/particle level. Our findings in this work could help in designing suitable interfaces that are optimized for applications in photovoltaics and optoelectronics. We then extended our approach to interrogate the recently observed photo-induced phase segregation behavior of CH3NH3Pb(BrxI1-x)3 mixed-halide lead perovskites (MHLPs) at the micro/nanoscopic scale with a temporal resolution that is intermediate between slow (>1 s) and fast (<1 µs) techniques. We unraveled a surprising behavior that was observed for the first time. At this timescale, it appears that the phase segregated domains appear to remix into a new mixed-halide phase. We suggest that this effect is due to the local heating effect of the domains with a lower bandgap. The proposed interplay (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Welding Engineering

During solidification of multi-component systems, composition partition between the liquid and solid phases is inevitable in most practical applications. This partition induces a segregation profile in the solid phase, which may affect solid-state transformation behavior. Several models exist both to address the formation of this segregation profile and solid-state phase transformations. The ability to model the full history of the material allows for digital testing of manufacturing process parameters, new alloy compositions and post solidification heat treatments. In this work, we investigate a modelling approach which uses several CalPhaD based models to follow the materials history and the phase transformations taking place during it. The basis and outline are presented and the modelling approach is applied to follow two cases, Cu phase formation in a Grade 91 Creep Strength Enhanced Ferritic Steel and solidification and phase transformations in a non-homogenized alloy 718 material produced through Laser powder bed additive manufacturing. The results of the model application are presented in article form. The first article correlates creep damage to second phase particles coming from solidification. The second article establishes a mechanism for the formation of a Cu phase layer around the second phase particles. The third article compares results of the Scheil model to segregation maps in as-built additively manufactured alloy 718. The fourth article uses a modelled segregation profile in alloy 718 to model δ phase formation in a heat treatment of the non-homogenized sample, and compares results with in-situ x-ray diffraction quantification of the δ phase. The document concludes with an analyses of the accuracy of the modelling approach and a discussion of the sensibility of the model to its inputs.

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2019, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

The acculturation of refugee-immigrant students is a complex process. The acculturation strategies of refugee-immigrant students are dependent upon the dominant society's acculturation expectations. There is ample research to support that refugee-immigrants prefer integration as an acculturation strategy (Berry, 2015). However, integration cannot be truly successful unless the dominant society promotes multiculturalism. The present study used a framework of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) and the Theories of Prejudice Scale to investigate the dominant society's (teachers) attitudes about the acculturation of refugee-immigrant students (non-dominant group). The constructs investigated were acculturation expectations (multiculturalism, melting pot, segregation, exclusion), multicultural ideology, and the mindset (fixed or growth) towards the malleability of prejudice. The present study also investigated the relationships between these constructs. Online surveys were sent to the teachers of refugee-immigrant students from a midwestern public school district resulting in 50 participants. The findings revealed that participants in the study preferred the acculturation strategy of multiculturalism, had a positive multicultural ideology, and had a growth mindset towards the malleability of prejudice. Despite the high scores in these constructs, a Pearson's Correlation Coefficient test found no statistical significance findings. This was due to the lack of variability in the responses, as all respondents had high scores in multiculturalism, multicultural ideology, and growth mindset. However, findings also revealed a strong relationship between multicultural ideology and the acculturation strategies of melting pot and segregation. The findings have implications to teacher professional development in multicultural education and future research. School districts with refugee-immigrant students can replicate this study to assess if teacher acti (open full item for complete abstract)