Digital Commons Network^™

Internet Access And Freedom: Constructing And Reacting To Transnational Norms About Internet Diffusion And Use, Heather L. Katz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores how demands for Internet access have taken shape in the international system and to what degree a right to access or the Freedom to Connect (F2C) can be said to exist. It also studies how states have responded to demands rel­ated to access and Internet penetration. A review of the literature reveals that most work concentrates on violations of users’ rights on the Web and bypasses questions about whether and how users can access this vital piece of technology. Utilizing discourse analysis, the study shows that the F2C is being framed by a diverse range of actors …

Genres Of Feminist Lives: Autobiography, Archives, And Community, 1970-1983, Meredith A. Benjamin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The desire to record lives and the conviction that such recordings would serve an important purpose for other women were the motivations behind much of the autobiographical writing in U.S. feminist writing of the 1970s and 80s. In Genres of Feminist Lives: Autobiography, Archives, and Community, 1970-1983, I argue that feminist writers in this period used autobiographical writing to create a sense of community among their readers: a new feminist public. Realizing the inadequacy of a sense of identification, these writers encouraged their audiences, in the words of Audre Lorde, to transform silence into language and action. While scholars …

Declining City, Born-Again Citadel: Faith-Based Organizations And The Reconstitution Of Inequality In Postindustrial America, Michael J. Boyle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the context of the hegemonic neoliberalism of recent decades, faith-based organizations (FBOs) have flourished as mechanisms for addressing poverty and other varieties of social need. For all of the contributions of contemporary anthropological research to the study of FBOs, however, most analyses have stressed the potency of FBOs and elided the agency of recipients. The present dissertation aims, through a multisited study of Evangelical FBOs in the postindustrial American city of Plainfield, to focus on the latter theme. Owing to the traditional behaviorism of American culture and also its Evangelical reproduction in FBO settings, the pursuit of charity thrusts …

Photodynamic Killing Of Human Cancer Cells With Smart Photosensitizer Materials And An Endoscopic Implement For Singlet Oxygen Delivery, Mihaela N. Minnis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The thesis describes progress on probe tips for a microoptic device for the precise delivery of the components necessary for photodynamic therapy (PDT) in a highly localized and controllable fashion. The thesis also summarizes results of a photosensitized oxidation study. The work focused on i) developing a photoactive fluoropolymer surface that will release sensitizer drug molecule for use in PDT, ii) designing new probe tips surfaces for use as sensitizer support for a microoptic PDT device, iii) exploring strategies for covalent attachment of sensitizers and model compounds to Teflon/PVA surfaces with the aim of being coupled with our microoptic device, …

Understanding The Glass Cliff Effect: Why Are Female Leaders Being Pushed Toward The Edge?, Yael S. Oelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The glass cliff effect describes a real-world phenomenon in which women are more likely to be appointed to precarious leadership positions in poorly performing organizations, while men are more likely to be appointed to stable leadership positions in successful organizations (Ryan & Haslam, 2005). This effect represents a subtle, yet dangerous, form of gender discrimination that may limit workplace diversity as well as women’s ability to become successful leaders. Importantly, research exploring why women are preferred for more perilous leadership positions is lacking. The main focus of this dissertation is to systematically organize previous theory and empirically examine processes underlying …

Fundamental Parameters Of The Lowest Mass Stars To The Highest Mass Planets, Joseph C. Filippazzo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The physical and atmospheric properties of ultracool dwarfs are deeply entangled due to the degenerate effects of mass, age, metallicity, clouds and dust, activity, rotation, and possibly formation mechanism on their observed properties. Accurate fundamental parameters for a wide range of substellar objects are crucial to testing stellar and planetary formation theories. To determine these quantities, we construct flux-calibrated spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for 234 M, L, T, and Y dwarfs and calculate bolometric luminosity (L_bol), effective temperature (T_eff), mass, surface gravity, radius, spectral indexes, synthetic photometry, and bolometric corrections (BCs) for each object. We use …

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Ceo Compensation And Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Type And Quality, Nicole M. Heron

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The construct of corporate social responsibility (CSR) itself is comprised of three underlying components: environmental, social, and corporate governance. However, it is unclear from the extant literature whether and how these underlying components of CSR are related to CEO compensation. In the absence of a theoretical model of CSR that specifically considers its underlying components, I present in this paper an exploratory analysis of the relationships between CEO compensation and CSR disclosure type and quality. My CSR proxies are based on a firm’s environmental, social and corporate governance-related disclosure, as reported by Bloomberg. I calculate total CEO compensation as the …

Relative Clause Sentence Comprehension By Japanese-Speaking Children With Specific Language Impairment And Children With Typical Language Development, Miho Sasaki

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Comprehension of sentences with relative clauses was examined in Japanese-speaking children with SLI and children with TLD. The children with SLI showed comparable comprehension with the TLD peers, when the language and memory tests’ scores were controlled. The children with TLD consistently had difficulties in OR sentences than SR sentences, in spite of that Japanese relative clauses are different from English ones. The children with SLI showed the opposite pattern. Working memory rather than language knowledge predicted better the comprehension performance for all the children.

Examining Relationships Between Basic Emotion Perception And Musical Training In The Prosodic, Facial, And Lexical Channels Of Communication And In Music, Jamie Twaite

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research has suggested that intensive musical training may result in transfer effects from musical to non-musical domains. There is considerable research on perceptual and cognitive transfer effects associated with music, but, comparatively, fewer studies examined relationships between musical training and emotion processing. Preliminary findings, though equivocal, suggested that musical training is associated with enhanced perception of emotional prosody, consistent with a growing body of research demonstrating relationships between music and speech. In addition, few studies directly examined the relationship between musical training and the perception of emotions expressed in music, and no studies directly evaluated this relationship in the facial …

Dual-Aspect Meter: A Theory Of Metrical Consonance, Dissonance, Weight, And Variety, Andrew Wilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The core argument of the dissertation emerges as a synthesis of ideas introduced in the first four chapters. Resonances with recent metrical theories are explored in chapter 1. Chapter 2 problematizes modern and historical theories through a phenomenological examination of meter and phenomenal accent in a few baroque sarabandes. Meter in these pieces is shown to involve entrainment to both a beat hierarchy and a recurrent weight profile, clarifying that metrical dissonance is fundamentally an expressive category, not a phenomenal category. Chapters 3 and 4 articulate a theory of weight, reviewing and refining phenomenal-accent theory, developing a notion of …

An Escape From Language Into Language: The Internal Exile Of Louis Wolfson, Antoine N. Rideau

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper aims to show how the life and work of American francophone author Louis Wolfson - who suffered from schizophrenia and underwent a self-imposed exile from his own mother tongue - might serve to illuminate European émigré writers' relationships to multilingualism.

Power And Proximity: The Politics Of State Secession, Elizabeth A. Nelson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

State secession is a rare occurrence in the international system. While a number of movements seek secession, the majority fail to achieve statehood. Of the exceptional successes, many have not had the strongest claims to statehood; some of these new states look far less like states than some that have failed. So what accounts for these secessions? I argue that the politics of regional actors drive the process. If a secessionist movement does not have the support of actors in the region, it will not achieve statehood. There are three mechanisms through which regional actors can determine outcomes: (1) they …

My Mother Needs Me! Is It Possible To Stay Connected While Being My Own Person? The Object Relations Of The Latina “Dutiful Daughter”, Juliana Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Latinas are culturally expected to be “dutiful daughters” establishing strong attachments and adhering to the traditional values characterized by loyalty, cooperation, respect and interdependence within family members. Conventional Latina mother-daughter bonds, therefore, are expected to be exceptionally close. Healthy mother-daughter closeness can be a valuable source of support while closeness without differentiation from the mother may result in a lack of independence and poor interpersonal and personal growth. Mutuality of autonomy, a dimension of object relations (OR) theory, focuses on the progression of separation – individuation from developmentally normative fused representations in infancy to highly differentiated self-other representations as …

Evolving The Genre Of Empire: Gender And Place In Women's Natural Histories Of The Americas, 1688-1808, Diana Epelbaum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the eighteenth century, “natural history” was a capacious genre designation that alluded to conventions as diverse in their cultural and political resonances as they were in their applications within the New Science. My project is a genre study of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century natural history text and art produced by women scientists, explorers, colonists, and early Americans writing the New World; it destabilizes rigid notions of genre that exclude women, suggesting that genre is by nature fluid, inclusionary as well as exclusionary. To this end, I return into conversation understudied naturalists Maria Sybilla Merian, Jane Colden, and Eliza Pinckney, who …

A Convenient Myopia: Seek, Shaughnessy, And The Rise Of High-Stakes Testing At Cuny, Sean Molloy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A great struggle for racial justice was fought at City College and CUNY from 1964 to 1978. In this archival history, supplemented with thirteen oral histories of students and teachers, and grounded in the larger context of racial segregation and exclusion within American public education and American higher education through 1970, I argue that this larger struggle for justice should be seen as two distinct but intertwined struggles that had very different results. Throughout this history, I focus on individual teachers and students who either played key roles or whose experiences illustrate aspects of the larger issues. Some of their …

Perception And Production Of /V/ And /W/ In Hindi Speakers, Vikas Grover

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the ability of Hindi speakers to identify, discriminate and produce two English phonemes /v/ and /w/ which are difficult for Hindi speakers to distinguish. In Hindi, /v/ and /w/ are used interchangeably. This pattern of use has transferred to Indian English, resulting in English /v/ and /w/ words showing variable pronunciations (e.g., “whale” or “vale” for the word “whale”). Hindi speakers were asked to identify, discriminate and produce tokens of /v/ and /w/. This study also examined whether experience with American English, related to the length of residence (LOR) in the US affects Hindi listeners’ perception and …

Radical Interiorities, Aesthetic Selves: Charlotte Brontë, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Miciah Hussey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In her essay “On Being Ill” (1926), Virginia Woolf writes “We do not know our own souls, let alone the souls of others…There is a virgin forest in each; a snowfield where even the print of birds' feet is unknown.” My dissertation explores how the novel’s attempts to represent this inherently intimate and estranging “virgin forest” also test its formal limitations. From free indirect discourse to stream of consciousness, the development of the novel is marked by different modes of reproducing inner life that push beyond the boundaries of historical, social, and physiognomic indices. I argue that these narrative and …

Vocal Rhythm Coordination And Preterm Infants: Rhythms Of Dialogue In A High-Risk Nicu Sample, Adrianne E. Lange

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The contemporary bio-psycho-social view of mother-infant relationships holds that early interactions form the foundation of the growing infant’s sense of himself and the world. Prior to the development of linguistically-based communication, nonverbal communication patterns foster the infant’s socio-emotional growth, cognitive capacity and the development of optimal regulatory patterns. Preterm birth significantly alters the typical developmental trajectory on multiple levels and disrupts normal neurobiological and socio-emotional maturational processes, including those that build on early interpersonal experiences with caregivers. The current study of vocal rhythm coordination in preterm mother-infant dyads is the first of its kind. Aspects of infant prematurity (degree of …

Post-Apartheid Citizenship And The Politics Of Evictions In Inner City Johannesburg, Anthony Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, this ethnographic study examines the phenomenon of eviction within the context of the post-apartheid constitutional right to housing and legal protections against evictions. Rather than view evictions as a singular event, evictions are treated as a lived experience intrinsically linked to the historical, political, and economic life of inner city Johannesburg and more broadly South Africa. I address how South Africa’s constitution creates both a platform for housing advocates to contest evictions and also allows property owners to evict tenants. To analyze evictions, I collected data through participant observation, media sources, archives, interviews, and legal …

Falling Forward: Continuity And Change In The Poetics Of Eden, Julie L. Gafney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation suggests that late fourteenth century vernacular poetry in Middle English takes up the idea of a secular Eden by which various non-normative theorizations of time and self are made possible. The invocation of a rich and multifarious Eden may be effectively understood through its relationship to the psychoanalytic theorization of origins by which Eden’s powerful potentiality for therapeutic or at least revelatory growth is inherent in its availability for processes of cyclical return. The present study will attempt to redress the tendency to treat Eden only as a fall and thereby gain a better understanding of the modes …

Curing Violence: Prescriptions For Justice And Peace In Colombia, Marissa Crawford

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos sits across the negotiating table from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), justice as a conduit for peace has dominated discourse on remediating the legacy of more than 50 years of internal conflict. Justice, however, like the conflict itself, is contested in both meaning and substance. This thesis will approach the topic of justice from both a human rights and transitional justice perspective, arguing the need for systematically disentangling the concept in its international, domestic, and grassroots iterations. It will contend that transitional justice policy will more effectively be designed if …

Emotion Regulation In Relation To Cognitive Functioning In The Preclinical Stages Of Dementia, Erica P. Meltzer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emotion regulation (ER) is essential for effective functioning in daily life. Research suggests that ER improves in older adulthood despite concomitant declines in cognition and the presumed neural substrates of ER. The current understanding of ER in older adulthood, and particularly of the relationship between ER and cognition in older adulthood, is limited. This is likely because the construct of ER is challenging to operationalize and, therefore, difficult to study.

The current study investigates ER in relation to cognitive functioning, specifically executive functioning and memory, in individuals with varying degrees of cognitive difficulties (i.e., in the preclinical stages of dementia). …

Investigating Personal Intelligent Agents In Everyday Life Through A Behavioral Lens, Sara Moussawi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Personal intelligent agents (PIA), such as Apple’s Siri, Google Now, Facebook’s M, and Microsoft’s Cortana, are pervading our lives. These systems are taking the shape of a companion, and acting on our behalf to help us manage our everyday activities. The proliferation of these PIAs is largely due to their wide availability on mobile devices which themselves have become commonly available for billions of people. Our continuous interaction with these PIAs is impacting our sense of self, sense of being human, perception of technology, and relationships with others. The Information Systems (IS) literature on PIAs has been scarce. In this …

Some 2-Categorical Aspects In Physics, Arthur Parzygnat

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

2-categories provide a useful transition point between ordinary category theory and infinity-category theory where one can perform concrete computations for applications in physics and at the same time provide rigorous formalism for mathematical structures appearing in physics. We survey three such broad instances. First, we describe two-dimensional algebra as a means of constructing non-abelian parallel transport along surfaces which can be used to describe strings charged under non-abelian gauge groups in string theory. Second, we formalize the notion of convex and cone categories, provide a preliminary categorical definition of entropy, and exhibit several examples. Thirdly, we provide a universal description …

Possible Underlying Mechanisms Of Hyperactivity In Children With Adhd, Nicole Feirsen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Conceptualizations of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have evolved significantly over the years. Historically, early conceptualizations of ADHD described hyperactivity as the core symptom of the disorder. However, when the third version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was published (1980), hyperactivity became a specific qualifier of the disorder and was no longer necessary for a diagnosis. Despite this shift in conceptualization of the disorder, there is an abundance of empirical evidence, both recent and historical, supporting the fact that hyperactivity is an enduring and clinically impairing symptom domain in ADHD. Despite having numerous validated instruments available to …

Sex Differences In Stress, Burnout And Coping In Emergency Medical Service Providers, Celia R. Sporer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The physical and psychological wellbeing of emergency medical service (EMS) providers is important for sustaining the overall model of emergency responding as well as providing consistent quality patient care. Despite the importance of the role, very little research has been undertaken for this occupational group. In particular, very little research on stress, burnout and coping have been undertaken. The failure to examine these areas fully has resulted not only in gaps in the literature but also practical failure for providers and the populations they serve. The assumption that EMS providers work under stressful circumstances which can result in burnout and …

Assessing Higher- And Lower-Order Processing In Children With And Without Adhd: A Prospective Longitudinal Study, Adina T. Bitton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder marked by developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. ADHD typically emerges during the preschool years, though the developmental course is highly variable across individuals (American Psychological Association, 2013; Faraone et al., 2006). Individuals with ADHD have been shown to have a number of structural and functional brain differences (Bush, Valera, & Seidman, 2005; Castellanos et al., 1996; Durston et al., 2004; Krain & Castellanos, 2006) as well as an array of neurocognitive deficits (Pennington and Ozonoff, 1996; Wilcutt et al., 2005) relative to typically developing peers. Considerable attention has …

Role Of Hnrnp A1 In The Regulation Of Hdm2 Gene Expression, Heriberto Moran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

hnRNP A1 is one of the most abundant and ubiquitously expressed member of hnRNPs (Heterogenous Nuclear Ribonucleoproteins) family of proteins that play multiple roles in gene expression by participating in major steps in the processing of nascent RNA transcripts 1. It is involved in mRNA biogenesis mechanisms such as the transcription, splicing, stability, export and translation of cellular and viral transcripts. The functions of hnRNP A1 extend to the processing of microRNAs, telomere maintenance and DNA repair 1. Our previous studies have shown that hnRNPA1 had reduced protein level and increased cytoplasmic accumulation in senescent human diploid fibroblasts 2,10. Our …

Identity In Sociocultural Context: Life Stories Of Korean Youth In New York City, Hannah Hyunkyung Kim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite the increasing number of Korean immigrants and children of Korean parents in the United States, there has been a dearth of research on these youth. The identity of Korean American youth has gained even less attention despite of its developmental importance. This research started from a recognition that the identity of Korean American youth has never been studied through their life stories. Thus, the goal of this research was to understand the identity of Korean youth in New York City through their life stories. I investigated how their life stories developed and what influences affected their identities while growing …

Real Gender: Identity, Loss, And The Capacity To Feel Real, Hannah Wallerstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project concerns gender and feeling real. It begins with a seeming paradox: on the one hand, since Judith Butler (1999; 2011) we can no longer think gender as ontological in any simple sense; on the other, clinical experience and the voices of transgender and gender-queer individuals shows gender to function on the order of reality, and one exceeding the social. In other words, if feeling real depended entirely on being read as such, how would we account for the many who pass easily as “real” men or women and yet feel unreal, or come to feel more real by …