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Black men, underrepresented in engineering, constitute a missing segment of the population who could contribute to the global knowledge economy. To address this national concern, stakeholders need additional research on strategies that aid in Black men's persistence. This study explores the experiences of 30 Black men in engineering graduate programs. Three factors are identified as helping them persist from year to year, and in many cases through completion of the doctorate: the role of family, spirituality and faith-based community, and undergraduate mentors. The article concludes with implications for future research and professional practice that may improve the experiences of Black men in engineering graduate programs, which may also increase the chances that they will remain in the engineering workforce.

Social science research offers a particular, narrow view of the lived experiences of Black urban-residing people. When the religious and spiritual lives of Black urban residents are viewed through this narrow lens, the diversity of religious and spiritual experiences and the connections between everyday life and positive outcomes, such as compassion, hope, liberation, joy, etc., become flattened, doing a disservice to the very people whose experiences we aim to understand. We contend that understanding the link between religiosity, spirituality, and positive development among Black urban-residing people requires us to pay attention to the ways that faith helps Black people to navigate the sequelae of five distinct sociopolitical features of urban life. We propose a conceptual framework that links these sociopolitical factors to religiosity, spirituality, and positive development among Black youth and adults residing in urban spaces. We conclude with recommendations applicable to the study of Black urban religiosity and spirituality.

Emerging adulthood (ages 18-29) is a developmental period in which individuals explore their identities, achieve status markers (e.g., marriage), and become able to participate more fully in democracy (Arnett, 2000). There has been substantial exploration of emerging adulthood broadly, but relatively little attention has been paid to emerging adult aged Black women and the ways they navigate the world, their identities, and their sociopolitical development. This dissertation investigated the role of social identities (e.g., race and gender), cultural ideologies (i.e., religiosity/spirituality), and spatial context (i.e., cities and urban higher education institutions) in the SPD of Black emerging adult women (BEAW). Across three studies, I used conceptual frames linking SPD, urban place, religiosity/spirituality (SET- RS Urban; Mattis et al., 2019), Black placemaking, and Black feminist geography (Hunter et al., 2016; McKittrick, 2006) to address three intersecting questions. Study 1 used survey data to address the question: To what extent are religiosity/spirituality and urban place associated with SPD (measured by critical reflection, critical agency, and critical action) among BEAW? In Study 2, I used a qualitative approach and asked: How, if at all, does the religiosity/spirituality of BEAW influence their sociopolitical development? In Study 3, I used a qualitative approach informed by Black feminist epistemology to address the question: How do the ways that BEAW “make place” (i.e., experience, perceive, and imagine urban places—especially urban universities) inform their sociopolitical development? Taken as a whole, these three studies produced new understandings of the ways that urban places and identity engender sociopolitical reflection, efficacy, and action among BEAW. First, Study 1 demonstrated that the various manifestations of religiosity and spirituality are associated with different domains of SPD among BEAW. These findings offered a call to researchers to 1) more thoroughly investigate the dimensions of religiosity and spirituality through communally based measures, and 2) investigate broader denominational, ideological, and regional differences in the socialization of BEAW and how these relate to SPD. Study 2 highlighted that BEAW used religiosity/spirituality as a source of efficacy and motivation as they pursued social justice. Participants placed their actions in a larger and narrative of Divinely-guided justice. This enabled them to undertake the work of justice as a moral good and a as an effort tied to divine purpose. Finally, participants saw themselves as a part of a spiritual sisterhood which allowed them to collectively reflect and engage in critical actions. In Study 3, participant narratives highlight that BEAW critically reflect on and navigate spatial manifestations of oppression in their cities and campuses while at the same time endeavoring to ameliorate these ills through Black placemaking. Further, BEAW not only resist oppressions in these places. They actively cultivate joy and celebrate their everyday existence as Black women.

Bladder cancer is among the most common cancers in the UK, responsible for significant patient morbidity. Current techniques for detection suffer from low sensitivity, particularly for early stage disease, therefore new techniques are urgently sought. Among the suggested techniques to augment bladder cancer detection is the use of autofluorescence spectroscopy. Autofluorescence arises from a number of molecules in human tissue, giving a wealth of structural and metabolic information. Autofluorescence spectroscopy has previously been applied to the detection of a wide range of cancers, however clinical implementation of the technique to bladder cancer diagnosis is inhibited by a poor understanding of the contributions of individual fluorophores to autofluorescence. I sought primarily to use the multi-functional laser based diagnostic system “LAKK-M” to study the autofluorescence profiles of bladder cancer at the cell and tissue level, with the aim of developing a better understanding of bladder autofluorescence characteristics in health and disease. The significant findings of this research are threefold: 1. Autofluorescence flow cytometry of cell optical redox ratio reveals metabolic abnormalities in bladder cancer cells, specifically a glycolytic switch in bladder cancer cells culminating in an increased optical redox (NADH/flavin, ex360em425-475/ex488em515/545) ratio relative to healthy bladder cells. 2. Lab grown bladder cancer organoids show progressive changes in autofluorescence ratios relative to control samples – specifically reductions in the NADH/flavin (ex365em490/ex365em550), elastin/NADH (ex365em450/ex365em490) and elastin/flavin ratio (ex365em450/ex365em550), suggestive of structural and metabolic changes in developing cancer. 3. Analysis of human bladder tissue reveals significant differences in key fluorophores and diagnostic ratios between healthy and cancer tissue, amounting to increased porphyrin fluorescence and a decreased optical redox ratio (ex365em490/ex365em550) in cancer tissue compared to healthy control. These findings better inform our understanding of the autofluorescence properties of the bladder in health and disease at both the cell and tissue level, contributing to future development of diagnostic techniques. Additionally, in this thesis, I discuss the diagnostic worth of collagen analysis in bladder cancer using second harmonic generation imaging, the application of bladder tissue computer simulation to better elucidate fluorophore properties, and progress in novel laser therapy techniques for bladder cancer. The ultimate goal of this research is the development of a combined laser-based system for bladder cancer diagnosis and therapy.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a theory of phenomenal consciousness which accords with both the science-friendly spirit of physicalism and the acknowledgement of panpsychism that phenomenal properties may be inextricably linked to entities, but with none of the problems associated with either type of model. Initially, physicalism and panpsychism are evaluated by the lights of their most serious problems, and solutions are offered to these problems from the point of view of a third kind of model: intrinsic naturalism, presented in the final chapter. This model holds consciousness to be among the battery of a functional system’s intrinsic (i.e. non-dispositional) properties. A definition is given, and defence made for the existence of these properties, and their compatibility with an otherwise physicalist ontology.

Secondly, the prime minister had promised, during the same-sex marriage discussion, to protect the clergy from having to perform same-sex marriages against their beliefs. To do this, he promised, if necessary, to use the notwithstanding clause. By removing the ability to use this clause, he could not protect the clergy in the event that the courts ruled that they must perform marriages against their faith. A promise made -- a promise broken.

This Thanksgiving Day's cartoon though, with the \"whiners never win, winners never whine, except Gretzky\" plaque on the wall really upset me.