Digital Commons Network^™

An Epic (Fail): Humor, Play, And Politics In Chilean Contemporary Art From The Early 1980s, Paula Solimano

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis foregrounds the methodology of humor and play employed by Chilean artists during the late 1970s and early 1980s. I argue that, through comic relief, collaborative practice, and melodrama, artists from different fields worked together in Santiago to reimagine the relationship between intellectuals and the public sphere and criticize the Pinochet regime.

How Well Do Students Perform On A Five-Paragraph Analysis Essay When Writing Digitally Versus Handwritten?, Brittany Coryell

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Technology use in the secondary education setting has been increasing since the early 2000s, but with the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when students learned remotely, technology use exponentially increased. Many districts provided devices for their students to continue their schoolwork. As we return to the classroom, should assignments remain technology-based or return to handwritten assignments? In this study, the researcher focused on identifying whether handwritten work or typing is more effective when developing a five-paragraph analysis essay in a ninth-grade classroom. Students were given the same curriculum throughout the study, but one group was given the curriculum through worksheets to …

The Planets, Reimagined: Translating Science Into Music, Kaitlyn Wincup

Honors Projects

Inspired by Gustav Holst’s The Planets, this project analyzed the qualitative properties of the planets in our Solar System and translated them into a composition, created by Connor Gibbs, to represent an overall aural depiction of each planet. Where Holst created an astrological depiction of each of the planets, this piece is an astronomical depiction that broadens the perspectives of its listeners.

Franchising: A Microfoundational View Of Personality Relationships Towards Franchisee Financial Performance, Christopher Heath Rehkop

Theses and Dissertations

The franchisor-franchisee relationship is unique; it provides a blend of entrepreneurial spirit with the structure of an established corporation. Franchisees operate with a degree of independence, taking certain risks and managing the details of day-to-day business, yet are also obligated to follow prescribed systems and processes of the franchisor. Both parties have a vested interest in the success of this relationship. While many macro-level factors (economy, technology, and demographics) come into play for a franchise’s success, one micro-level variable that may be identified early during recruitment is the personality characteristic of the franchisee candidate. A micro-level or “microfoundations” approach addresses …

An Evaluation Of Bovine Reproductive Function From The Microrna Expression In The Female To Performance Testing In The Male, Erin Amiss

All Theses

Reproductive function is crucial to the success of a beef or dairy herd. Both the female and male play significant roles in the outcome of bovine reproduction. The bull contributes to reproductive success in many ways, such as genetics. The initial role that the bull has in reproductive success is fertilization, whether natural or by artificial insemination. One method of assessing bull performance are central bull test stations, which are traditionally administered by a university, extension center, or are privately owned. Central bull tests assess the performance of bulls from various management systems, breeds, and ages. Some measurements taken during …

The Effects Of Whole-Body Hot Water Immersion After Exercise Induced Muscle Damage On Exercise Performance And Inflammatory Markers, Rogelio A. Realzola

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

This study examined the effects of hot water immersion (HWI) on exercise performance and inflammatory markers after a resistance exercise-induced muscle damage protocol. Strength trained males (n = 5) and females (n = 5) completed two experimental trials separated by at least 2 weeks in a randomized crossover design; one trial involved HWI, the other temperate water immersion (TWI). For each trial, subjects performed a muscle damaging protocol followed by HWI or TWI for up to 50 minutes. The protocol consisted of 10 sets of 8 repetitions at 70% of 1-repetition maximum with 4s eccentric, 1s concentric lifting …

Experimental Music And Collaboration: Developing Artistry Through Performance Practice, John Lambert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project locates collaboration and collaborative performance as a potential site for artistic growth. This study analyzes six collaborative projects: composed pieces for electric guitar accompanying a staged performance of collaged texts, an audio-visual installation, the preparation of several short pieces to accompany choreographed dances, a 90-minute soundtrack to a performance mixed live, an ongoing improvisational duo, and a live visuals performance to accompany Sunburned Hand of the Man at Duke University. It traces the growth of my artistry while also providing a method for both doing and writing about collaboration. In addition, it offers a model for understanding collaborative …

The Correlation Between The Covid-19 Pandemic And Nursing Students’ Academic And Professional Engagement And Performance., Jolie Mathilde Komlan

Honors College Theses

Even without the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic, nursing schools are recognized as a stressful environment "that often exert a negative effect on the academic performances and psychological well-being of the students" (Gomathi et al., 2017). Exploring the changes this ongoing pandemic has on nursing students' views and perspectives, along with their perceived threats, failures, and successes brought on by this pandemic will provide good insight into further changes that need to be implemented to better prepare nursing students through their programs. To accomplish this, participants within the nursing program were surveyed via a 21-question survey on Qualtrics. A retrospective analysis …

The Cognitive, Behavioral, Affective, And Physiological Components Of Social Cognition In Esports And Education, Daisy Reyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Prior research has shown that collaborative learning, or groups of two or more individuals working together towards a shared outcome, and Computer-Supported Collaborative learning has the potential to positively impact learning outcomes. This study aims to add to existing literature on collaborative learning by looking at how novices and experts learn and perform in esports (electronic sports) teams, or highly coordinated digital teams that often compete in stressful environments. Based on Carron’s Model of Cohesion in Sports Teams and Hanin’s Model of Individualized Zones of Optimal Functioning (IZOF), the current study looks at the relationship between cohesion (i.e., task and …

Performance Of Actively Managed Exchange Traded Funds, Xuan None Li

Olin Business School Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Investors who want access to active asset management can choose to invest in actively managed exchange traded funds (AMETFs), actively managed non-transparent ETFs (ANETFs) or mutual funds. Three major differences of AMETFs, ANETFs and mutual funds are the venues funds are traded on, tax liabilities, and disclosure requirements. This paper exploits the 2019 SEC rulings on ETFs to study empirically which fund structure for active asset management delivers the best return performance and explores what are the driving forces behind the superior performance. I find that for equity funds, AMETFs is associated with 0.158% lower monthly returns than mutual fund, …

Rendering Documentary Portraiture: An Interrogation Of Archival Discourse Through A Critical Exploration Of Nineteenth Century Stage Actress Charlotte Cushman’S Material Memory, Skyler Sunday

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visual depictions of nineteenth century stage actress Charlotte Cushman, such as photographs, engravings, and painted portraits assist researchers in re-envisioning her both as an actress and as a person, but what do her remaining archival possessions further reveal to researchers about her memory? How do different objects operate as portraits that allow the researcher to tap into and remember specific moments and memory? How does the effort to preserve memory take different forms? This project argues that, when viewing the archive through its stored objects, our collective notion of portraiture can be expanded and used to interrogate existing methods of …

Effects Of The In Ovo Administration Of The Poulvac E. Coli Vaccine In Layer Hatching Eggs On Hatchability, Hatchling Characteristics, And Early Posthatch Chick Performance, Lauren L. Lindsey

Theses and Dissertations

Avian Pathogenic E. coli can lead to infections in laying hens and wide-spread economic problems in the table egg industry. A vaccine widely used to combat APEC is the Poulvac E. coli vaccine, which is normally applied via spray vaccination. Application of this vaccine via in ovo injection has not been examined. The purpose of this series of studies was to determine the effects of injecting 50 μL of different dosages of the PECV into Hy-Line W-36 layer hatching eggs on the hatchability and characteristics of the hatchlings, and on the livability and characteristics of the chicks through 21 d …

Re-Visioning The Modern/Ist Body: Literature, Women, And Modern Dance, Marisa Higgins

Doctoral Dissertations

This project explores the connections between modern dance and modernism Though initially, these connections might seem inchoate, modern dance provides a way to consider how expressive movement in modernism and gender restrictions prompts a physical response. Dance is inherently stylistic movement, and it is vital to explore how movement offers women a way to engage or respond to modernity. By investigating the role of movement in modernist literature and the particular tension between constraint and freedom that characterized female movement during this period, I argue that expressive movement and embodied performance offers a means of self-exploration and self-actualization. Specifically, it …

The Eye’S Construction Of Power In Richard Ii, Julius Caesar And Macbeth, John O’Brien

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study seeks to analyze the optical performance of power in three of Shakespeare’s plays: Richard II, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. Using a political framework via Kantorowicz’s King’s Two Bodies and Maus’s Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance, this paper explores the interior and exterior personas as they pertain and interact with public and private spaces. This paper will track Shakespeare’s contribution to this developing “modern” shift in the understanding of appearance and its role in the presentations of power in these three plays. In each of these plays, I argue, Shakespeare provides us with a series of presentational …

Holistic Performance Analysis And Optimization Of Unified Virtual Memory, Tyler Allen

All Dissertations

The programming difficulty of creating GPU-accelerated high performance computing (HPC) codes has been greatly reduced by the advent of Unified Memory technologies that abstract the management of physical memory away from the developer. However, these systems incur substantial overhead that paradoxically grows for codes where these technologies are most useful. While these technologies are increasingly adopted for use in modern HPC frameworks and applications, the performance cost reduces the efficiency of these systems and turns away some developers from adoption entirely. These systems are naturally difficult to optimize due to the large number of interconnected hardware and software components that …

Data Fusion For Non-Motorized Volume Estimation: A Machine Learning Approach, Md. Mintu Miah

Civil Engineering Dissertations

ABSTRACT: Despite increased awareness at the state and federal levels of the design and policy concerns associated with nonmotorized infrastructure, communities typically develop strategies to estimate network-wide nonmotorized traffic. However, past research fails to provide the same level of estimation sophistication as motor vehicles due to a lack of investment, which limits increased understanding and capability among communities in network-wide nonmotorized traffic volume estimation. Although previous studies introduce machine learning, Neural Networks, and feature engineering to motorized traffic volume estimation, nonmotorized traffic estimation experiences limited attempts to use these advanced techniques. This dissertation addresses this deficiency in bicycle volume estimation …

Effect Of Spray Rails On Takeoff Performance Of Amphibian Aircraft, Soham Bahulekar

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Amphibian aircraft have seen a rise in popularity in the recreational and utility sectors due to their ability to take off and land on both land and water, thus serving a myriad of purposes such as aerobatics, surveillance, and firefighting. The design of such seaplanes requires to be both aerodynamically and hydrodynamically efficient, especially during the takeoff phase. In the past, naval architects have implemented ways to make boats, yachts, and large ships more efficient; one of them being the addition of chine strips and spray rails on the hull. This thesis study explores the possibility of implementing spray rails …

Novel Test Fixture For Characterizing Mems Switch Microcontact Reliability And Performance, Protap Kumar Mahanta

Dissertations (1934 -)

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) switch is considered as a better alternative than the conventional solid-state DC and RF switches due to their low contact resistance approximately 1 Ω, near-zero power consumption approximately 0 W, low insertion loss approximately 0.2 dB, and high isolation approximately -30 dB. However, reliability is a great concern for them to be ubiquitously used by the industry for specific applications. Switching dynamics and microcontact surface physics play the critical role in determining their reliability. A simple, quick, and efficient test fixture is required to study the contact surface physics as well as to optimize the switching dynamics.In …

Numerical Study Of The Effects Of Injector Geometry On The Performance Of Rotating Detonation Engines, Xavier Roy

Theses and Dissertations

A study of the impact of injector geometry on the performance of rotating detonation engines is performed. A numerical scheme is developed to represent the rotating detonation engine physics. In order to simulate the interaction between the chamber and the injectors, a multizone capability is implemented inside the numerical tool. The model is calibrated to represent a hydrogen-air detonation. The rotating detonation engine annular chamber is unwrapped and studied as a two-dimensional planar domain with a periodic boundary condition. Several numerical experiments are conducted. In particular, injection parameters are examined, such as the injector inflow to channel area ratio, injection …

Unseen Body, Unheard Voice, Chunxin Yu

Masters Theses

If there is only one place that I know well of, it would be my own body. A living site that has endured all the changing inhabiting environment and all the unwanted judgment, manipulation, even violence - my identity will collapse without its physical entity.

The conscious and unconscious focus on the body makes me highly alert and responsive to the immediate surroundings, from the bathroom at home to an open street in the public. My knowledge of spaces and their relationships is formed by the repetitive experience of them in everyday life.

As an active user of the Bayard …

The Great Delusion, Beth Johnston

Masters Theses

The climate crisis is a wicked problem that poses many obstacles for action and understanding. This thesis is a non-linear accumulation of academic essays, interpolated with lists, anecdotal observations, data, and artwork that together explore the entanglements and complications of the climate crisis and my journey in making artwork as a response to those complications. The thesis surveys six bodies of artwork created over the course of graduate school, which use photography, sculptural installation, performance, and video to illustrate various topics and methodologies. Grounded in research on environmental justice, this essay explores temporal disjunctures, climate data encounters, the decolonization of …

Pace/Place/Space/Tempo—The Choreography Of Equity And Expressions Of Black Living, Vessna Scheff

Masters Theses

My skin is natural. My skin is political. My hair is natural. My hair is political. My speech is natural. My speech is political. There’s no such thing as apolitical.

My current interdisciplinary practice in painting and performance focuses on how Black diasporic identities hold, create, and process subsistence narratives. For this research, I am asking the questions: What role does pace play in resistance strategies and how can it be communicated through tempo? How are unspoken histories conveyed through movement, silence, the glance of an eye, fat crackling in a cast iron, pushing play on a walkman, and seeds …

España Rarita: Performances Festivas En Tiempos Queer (2008–2020), Daniel Valtueña Martínez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies performing arts practices that reimagine Spanishness after the 2008 financial crisis from a theoretical framework based in queer temporalities. I argue how the recession not only allowed Spanish citizens to claim their rights through the organization of social movements such as the 15M or through cultural objects mimetically representing the crisis through a variety of artistic expressions, but that the 2008 financial crisis also enabled a wide range of creators to reimagine how the Spanish State has been traditionally represented. The contemporary performers I study in my dissertation originally propose new visions of the commons by calling …

Clowning With Identity: Embodied Selves And Others In Comedy's Gendered Character Performances, Allison Douglass

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clowning with Identity examines the comedic performance of characters. The enjoyment of a character feels easy to accept uncritically, but these performances work because they deploy stereotypes and the cultural meanings surrounding them, often through acts of appropriation, as the performer makes the choice to embody an identity separate from their own. This project connects theory on drag and gender performance and its ideas about identity-remixing to rhetorical theory on comedy and clowning practices, sketching the ways American practices of drag, clown, and comedic character work are all deeply linked through their historical development. I theorize the productive ways that …

Staging Retro-Perspectives: Performing Age, Memory/Loss, And Queer Desire In The Later Works Of Split Britches (2009–2020), Benjamin Gillespie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project investigates the later works of the celebrated New York–based lesbian-feminist performance troupe Split Britches made up of founding members Peggy Shaw (b. 1944) and Lois Weaver (b. 1949). Revealing how the duo consciously interlaces aspects of aging and age-based identity into the very fabric of their later performances in both form and content, this project analyzes how Shaw and Weaver integrate an explicitly anti-ageist and overtly queer representation of aging on the experimental stage. Their later performances serve to challenge narratives of decline and debilitation that come with (hetero)normative representations of old age and the life course in …

Using Metal-Organic Frameworks (Mof) To Reduce The Carbon Footprint Of Concrete, Mona Ibrahim El-Hallak

Theses

The production of concrete by the construction industry has a massive impact on the environment. The process of manufacturing its main component, cement, releases a considerable amount of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. This thesis is concerned with the production of sustainable and eco-friendly concrete that integrates metal-organic frameworks (MOF) to capture and offset the CO₂ emissions emitted during the production of cement. The main objective is to synthesize a MOF capable of capturing CO₂ in concrete through accelerated carbonation curing and to assess its impact on concrete performance. Different parameters were examined, including the MOF content, initial curing duration, …

Visibility, Jamie Valdez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

I am a woman, activist, artist, mother, and wife. My art practice questions the role of

institutions in disseminating outdated traditions and unfair rituals in relation to women. Bringing

visibility to what is ignored, I create works that are critical to the unfair expectations that society

fosters, expectations which ultimately oppress women vis- -vis the (art) institution. Through

different conceptual strategies, my work questions what society has taught us about gender

roles and explores the pedagogies that our institutionalized education has systematically

perpetuated for women and girls from early educational experiences.

Entities: A Field Of Imaginary Games, Thrasyvoulos Ioannis Kalaitzidis

LSU Master's Theses

With this body of work, I am looking for visual symbols that help communicate unuttered meanings through storytelling and stimulate an affectual response to the viewer. This exploration is presented in two different forms: a surreal sculptural installation and a board game. The installation consists of large-scale sculptures made from light and soft materials (polyurethane foam, plastic waste, paper) that are available to move inside the gallery, while the board game is presented as a set of 3D prints with instructions on how the participants can play it. The materials used in the installation suggest a way to transform waste …

Forming And Performing Online Playback Theatre For Drama Therapy Students And Faculty, Frances Dumar

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

As a growing number of university students complete school online, either by choice, or due to the unpredictability and severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, new issues have arisen regarding the structures in place to assist students in developing peer support. Within the drama therapy graduate field, students studying online may lack creative ways to express and connect with others in the virtual classroom. Thus, this community engagement project was designed to offer drama therapy students studying at Lesley University opportunities to learn, perform, and watch playback theatre, with the goal of increasing peer engagement, community connection, and clinical insight. Based …

The Hidden Power Of Images: An Allegory Of Chaos And Performance In The Digital Age, Livia Xandersmith

MFA in Visual Art

Within this text, I explore the hidden power of images in American visual culture through painting-based installations. I investigate images of the past and present juxtaposed in a surrealist landscape. Through the use of images in the news, entertainment, advertising, and images within the home, I depict how the problems of the past bleed into our perceptions of the present. I find that this cycle of problem inheritance connects us as humans regardless of time, generation, and place. In my work, I explore the complexity of image culture and its shifting presence within the digital age. Using surrealist collage, I …