Digital Commons Network^™

Model Minorities: Asian Americans And The White-Black Racial Paradigm, Jason Tom

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the racial wedge driven by Whites between Blacks and Asian Americans during the Cold War on to the present. Model minorities is a term coined by whites in the 1960s to suppress Civil Rights protests and Black demands. By elevating a minority group through success stories, whites constructed a means to suppress Black people’s organizing for change against systemic racism and oppression.

Legalization Of Marijuana And Its Effect On Alcohol Related Accident Fatalities, Azamat Sadikov

Theses and Dissertations

This Masters’ Thesis examines the effect of legalization of recreational marijuana on alcohol related car accident fatalities in the state of Colorado. I used the Synthetic Control Method to analyze this effect. Results of my findings indicate that after legalization of marijuana there was no significant increase in the number of drunk driving accident fatalities.

In Search Of A Stimulating Visual Dance Art Medium: Overlapping Realities In Live And Screen Dance, Yael Levitin Saban

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper captures research into historical examples of artistic performance pioneers who integrated multiple layers of imagery into complex dialogue and describes how this research inspired and influenced the creation of an original 17-minute video work, “Overlay.”. My interest throughout my MFA Thesis Project has been to understand the effect of fusing or layering multiple movement-based art forms, the application and integration of modern technology to established traditional stage performance, and the creation of engaging new art form.

Exploring Behavioral Flexibility, Problem-Solving, And Innovation In Captive Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus), Amanda Puitiza

Theses and Dissertations

Asian elephants encounter and adapt to changing environments by problem-solving and innovating. In this study, we assessed behavioral measures, such as persistence and motivation, to determine potential predictors of problem-solving success. This is the first examination of problem-solving in elephants with a multi-solution puzzle box.

Are Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda Melanoleuca) Averse To Inequity?, Miranda R. Trapani

Theses and Dissertations

Inequity aversion, a negative response to situations of unequal reward distribution, is a cognitive trait usually seen in social species. This capacity is thought to regulate cooperative relationships in intelligent, cognitively flexible animals. Giant pandas are a unique case in that wild populations are characterized as nonsocial, however captive populations are socially housed until sexual maturity. This allows for the study of a nonsocial species in a social context and thus the assessment of socio-cognitive flexibility across evolutionarily distant taxa. Here, we assessed whether the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) displays inequity aversion by testing ten juveniles living at …

Using Day And Night Camera Trap Videos To Identify Wild Asian Elephants (Elephas Maximus) In The Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Sasha Montero

Theses and Dissertations

Observation and regular monitoring of wild populations is critical for the conservation of endangered species like the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). This study used 24 morphological characteristics to identify Asian elephants from camera trap videos collected in the Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary in Thailand between February 2019 and January 2020.

Variation In Personality Among Semi-Wild Myanmar Timber Elephants, Sateesh Venkatesh

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines two personality traits: exploration and neophobia, which could influence human-elephant conflicts. Thirty-one semi-wild elephants were tested over two trials using a custom novel puzzle tube containing three tasks and three rewards. Our studies show that elephants do vary significantly between individuals in both exploration and neophobia.

Behavioral Differences Among Varyingly-Disturbed Populations Of Eastern Grey Kangaroos (Macropus Giganteus) In New South Wales, Australia, Francesca A. Iacobucci

Theses and Dissertations

Despite their iconic status, kangaroo spp. are often treated as pests in Australia due to perceived abundance and extensive grazing behaviors. With growing suburbanization, animals such as kangaroo spp., are forced to inhabit human-dominated areas. Little research has been done examining how different aspects of human-induced disturbance can varyingly affect the behavior of wild animals. Specifically, this study examined how varyingly-disturbed areas affect behaviors such as vigilance, foraging, joey emergence during the in/out stage of pouch emergence, and play in three eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) populations. Results suggest that acute environmental disturbances (e.g., dogs barking or …

Evidence Of Incipient Song Divergence In A Hawaiian Population Of Warbling White-Eyes, Jesse D. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Natural or human-mediated founder events can lead to changes in avian communication signals, potentially impacting the trajectory of evolution. Warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) was introduced from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands between 1929 – ca. 1937. I recorded primary songs in Hawai‘i (O‘ahu, Big Island) and collected archival recordings, then conducted a comparative analysis between introduced and native song types which revealed significant differences in the O‘ahu and Big Island populations. To test for behavioral responses that corresponded to these differences, I presented conspecific playback stimuli (intra-island, inter-island, native) to individuals in Hawai‘i (O‘ahu, Big Island). Big Island individuals increased …

Penetrating Dissonance, Miguel A. Payano Jr

Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to provide insight into the cultural and linguistic influences that form and inform my artistic practice. Inspired by my tri-cultural life journey, my research focuses on the effects of socialization and linguistics on the thought processes at the center of my creative pursuits.

Tomtom Oracle, Grant B. Wells

Theses and Dissertations

TomTom Oracle explores the conceptual and material processes throughout my body of work as an expression of a psychological tethering to a digital visual experience that removes us from the physical world.

L, M, N, O, P, Matt Jones

Theses and Dissertations

A meditation on my painting and drawing practice in relation to the work of Philip Guston, Nancy Spero, and Frank Moore, among others, just before and during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several Houses, Anthony L. Cudahy

Theses and Dissertations

Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the thinking that informed my painting practice fixated on the purgatorial temporal space of waiting, a questioning of utopian and apocalyptic impulses, and the preservation of deceased artists' archives.

For The Love Of Existence, Paul Joseph Vogeler

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, artist Paul Joseph Vogeler discusses his influences and current art practice. He covers topics like Catholicism and mortality, BDSM and erotic art, Tarot, spirits and the afterlife, photography and painting, and bones and relics.

Bawdy Tales, Emily R. Collins

Theses and Dissertations

Hansu Siirala is a Finnish-Canadian craftsperson currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Twelve years ago at the age of fifty-five, she suffered two strokes, which paralyzed her left side and required her relocation to a long-term residential care facility. Via writings to her family, Hansu shares hilarious, bitingly sharp observations about life in the assisted care facility in Vancouver. Her stories chip away at social stigmas, make us laugh at ourselves, and celebrate life in unexpected ways. “Bawdy Tales” is a project that utilizes her writing as the foundation of a series of pieces hosted via a website, providing …

The Mirrored Road, Mary E. Hanlon

Theses and Dissertations

The Mirrored Road is a feature film that explores the relationship between trauma and memory, and questions the function of home movies as a vehicle for truth. The film weaves together family footage shot over the past 70 years, films from Hollywood’s silent era, and new footage shot between 2017–2020.

Under The Skin, Silvana Silveira

Theses and Dissertations

Under the Skin is an animation depicting the struggles of Laila, a fictional ten-year-old Salvadoran girl child who risks her life crossing the desert to realize her dream of finding a better life in America.

Through Laila's experiences inside the American Immigration system, Under the Skin focuses on the vicissitudes and emotions that unaccompanied migrant children (UMC) arriving in the US across the US-Mexico border encounter.

By combining 2D animation and soundscapes with hand-made textures and paintings, this art film puts a human face to the ongoing immigration crisis. The organic, almost tactile universes created by these textures enhance the …

We All Feel Feelings, Ben Ohene

Theses and Dissertations

Consisting of three illustrated books, We All Feel Feelings is designed as a vehicle for the discussion of emotional and mental health with young boys. These books will help foster a mindset of openness and acceptance through different methods of displaying and understanding emotions.

Tracing The Human-Avian Relationship In Iceland, Melanie Sua

Theses and Dissertations

An in-depth investigation explores the history of birds in Iceland and the interaction between birds and humans from the 9th through the 19th century, with the help of archaeological evidence, traditional and historical materials.

Resistimos, Diana Quiñones Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Resistimos (We Resist) is a documentary about the current socio-economic and political issues in Puerto Rico, as seen through the lives of people practicing Bomba music. Bomba is an Afro Puerto Rican music and dance tradition that was born out of the struggle and survival of enslaved people all over the island. Resistimos documents the resurgence of this music as a tool to fight corruption, gender inequality and the austerity measures imposed in Puerto Rico by the US Fiscal Control Board in 2016.

The Harlem Book Of The Dead: Pan-Africanism, Funerary Portraiture, And The African-American Way Of Death, Jessica D. Feldman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the text and images contained in James Van Der Zee and Camille Billops’s seminal photobook The Harlem Book of the Dead (1978). The title, frontispiece, and introduction, combined with Van Der Zee’s funerary portraits, illuminate the connection between African-American rituals of death and Pan-Africanism. While these two concepts appear to be distinct, they are both predicated upon and intrinsically linked to key values in African American culture, including liberation and the meaning of community. Each chapter focuses on a different contextual framework for situating The Harlem Book of the Dead within the historical and political moment …

To Click Or Not To Click: Does Clicker Use Influence The Efficacy Of Different Teaching Methods In Dog Training?, Sarah Fraser

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the efficacy of clicker training when teaching dogs a cone targeting behavior via two positive reinforcement training methods: shaping and luring. Training method, but not clicker use, significantly impacted rate of behavior acquisition. Clicker use improved learning efficacy in luring conditions but did not impact cue fluency.

A Woman’S Portion: 5000 Years A Slave, Ann R. Glickman

Theses and Dissertations

Slavery has existed for all of recorded history. The evidence is conclusive that slave systems have almost always been majority female. I suggest that slavery originated as an attempt to control female reproductive capacity, and that this attempt to control was not limited to enslaved women.

Miamian Meets Mariel Boatlift Refugees: A Reevaluation Of The Effect Of The Mariel Boatlift, Derrick Lee

Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980s, a boatlift brought 125,000 Cuban refugees to Miami, known as the Mariel Boatlift. Using data from David Roodman’s blog and from National Bureau Economic Research and the synthetic control method, I examine the effect of the Mariel Boatlift on low-educated female non-Hispanic ages 18-65’s wages. The results suggest there is little to no effect of the Mariel Boatlift on the wages of low-educated female non-Hispanic aged 18-65.

The Effect Of Naloxone Access Laws On The Type Of Referrals And Admin Treatment Settings Of Drug Treatment Centers For Opioid Abuse, Samanta Kolenovic

Theses and Dissertations

Since 1999, deaths from drug overdose have more than doubled in the U.S. making it one of the leading health problems. This paper examines the impact of passing a naloxone access law on the type of referrals and admin treatment settings of drug treatment centers for opioid abuse.

Ncaa And Title Ix Compliance, Doris Alvarez

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the impact of Title IX on 4-year, public, NCAA athletic programs from 2003 to 2018. This study employs a panel data probit model to analyze how enrollment, athletic participation, revenues, expenses, and the presence of football effect institutions probability of compliance with specific requirements of Title IX.

The Effects Of Air Pollution On School Attendance In The United States, Debanhi G. Alrich

Theses and Dissertations

This study employs pooled OLS and fixed effect regressions to examine the effects of ambient air pollution on self-reported school attendance in the 423 most populous counties in the United States. Information from the U.S. Census’ American Community Survey’s annual estimate is compared against county-level data for 14 common air pollutant variables. When making this comparison for the general population, we find statistically significant results for only one pollutant: ozone. We find further significant effects for the presence of ozone when respondents are grouped by race/ethnicity and by poverty ratio, indicating that effects of pollution, like many other social ills, …

“They Do Us The Honour Of Treating Us Like Gods, And We Respond By Treating Them Like Things”: The Problem With Fathers In William Shakespeare’S Titus Andronicus And J.M. Coetzee’S Disgrace, Colleen Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Titus Andronicus’s obsession with honor eclipses his daughter's agency whereas David Lurie’s acceptance of his daughter's choices ultimately creates conditions of possibility. Coetzee represents Lurie as ultimately shedding patriarchal preoccupation with “dignity” and “honor.”

Assessment Of Wild Ring-Tailed Lemur (Lemur Catta) Populations In Southwestern Madagascar With Implications For The Illegal Pet Trade, Samantha D. Calkins

Theses and Dissertations

Accurate population estimates are critical to inform conservation management of species. Incomplete sampling can lead to population underestimates and lacking conservation efforts. Population surveys are important for assessing human and animal welfare to allow for targeted conservation action. Recent ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta) surveys have led researchers to conclude that L. catta populations are crashing. This has generated much attention and alarm, but may also be based on incomplete information. To better understand population dynamics, more thorough sampling is needed. Here, we survey five such sites to reassess the presence and abundance of L. catta in these locations. …

Analysis Of Olfactory Mrna Cap Modifications Using Rnaseh And Lc-Ms, Ilinca M. Giosan

Theses and Dissertations

In the olfactory system, olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) express odorant receptors (ORs) in a singular fashion through unknown mechanisms. Published data supports the notion that singularity is achieved, in part, through a modification the mRNA strand, perhaps in its 5’cap region. This theoretical study aims to test this 5’cap hypothesis.