Digital Commons Network^™

Aging Out Of The Spectrum Of Cultural Visibility, Darthea M. Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I argue that the valorization of youth and the subsequent quest for agelessness has caused such an explosion of ageism that the elderly have been relegated to a culturally invisible status. The intersection of age and gender is doubly problematic for women due to sexism and the perennial objectification of the female body. Thinking of visibility as a measure of social acceptability, the consequences of cultural disappearance for the aging woman is an important site for investigation and theorizing. This thesis depicts the erasure of aging women from the cultural landscape as an effect of media representation and self-care work …

Rendering The Unthinkable: (Un)Knowable Animality, Compulsory Recovery, And Heterosexualized Trauma In The Hunger Games, Jennifer Polish

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dystopian fiction is expected to reflect deeply on the interactions between identities, bodies, and state control. Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games Trilogy is no exception. The disturbing trilogy situated animality, disability, and trauma (both of non-humans and of humans) as being firmly controlled by the power of the state (the Capitol). Through its portrayal of hunting and genetic manipulation, the trilogy constructed a state-created animality which refused definitive labeling and insisted upon facing animal subjectivity while simultaneously disregarding the needs and desires of those considered to be non-human. Similarly, the state held sway over both the creation and elimination of …

Hot And Bothered: The Role Of Arousal And Rejection Sensitivity In Dual Process Sexual Decision Making For Gay And Bisexual Men, H Jonathon Rendina

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dual process theories of decision making acknowledge the functioning of two distinct yet simultaneous processes termed System 1 and System 2. While System 1 relies more heavily on automatic and affective processing, System 2 relies more heavily on effortful and cognitive processing. Over the past several decades, many lines of research have shown the importance of System 1 in decision making and several prominent social psychological theories of interpersonal behavior, such as rejection sensitivity, rely on this dual distinction between affective and cognitive processing. Despite the prominence of dual process theories in many areas of psychology, the role of System …

Committing To The Waves: Emerson's Moving Assignments, Karinne Keithley Syers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Committing to the Waves: Emerson's Moving Assignments reads Ralph Waldo Emerson as a writer of assignments for living and working whose senses can be taken up across a wide array of creative and exploratory fields. Shifting between an interdisciplinary array of contexts ranging from philosophy and poetics to dance, performance, and somatic movement experiments, I join the practical sense of creative inquiry embodied in these fields to the abstract images of Emerson's assignments. I argue that Emerson's descriptions of intelligence and power, and so his approaches to navigating skepticism and loss, as well as the non-possessive sense of what "self" …

Efficacy Of N-Acetylcysteine On Prevention And Amelioration Of Cisplatin-Induced Ototoxicity: A Systematic Literature Review, Maryana Peravozchykava

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to perform a systematic review of the existing literature on NAC efficacy in prevention of cisplatin-induced ototoxicity.

Methods: A comprehensive search utilizing databases via the Mina Rees Library of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York was conducted to identify relevant studies for analysis. The levels of evidence were applied to restrict articles reviewed to Level 3 or better.

Results: Eight articles evaluating NAC protective efficacy against cisplatin-induced ototoxicity were identified. The results revealed significant variability in NAC otoprotective efficacy.

Discussion: The significant variability in findings on NAC otoprotective efficacy …

Cortical Modulation Of Spinal Reflexes In Healthy Humans, Caitlin Bedell, Joseph Capogrosso, Kristin Thomas, Charlotte Westmoreland

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Considerable evidence suggests that monosynaptic and polysynaptic spinal reflexes are prone to corticospinal inputs. The goal of this study was to establish the cortical modulation of monosynaptic and polysynaptic spinal reflexes in healthy humans. Cutaneomuscular responses were evoked following stimulation of the medial edge of the right foot with a 30 ms pulse train every 10 s via a bipolar electrode and recorded from the ipsilateral tibialis anterior (TA) muscle. Across subjects, medial edge foot stimulation was delivered at 1.2 to 1.5 times the response threshold. The soleus H-reflex was evoked and recorded via conventional methods. The effects of transcranial …

The Effect Of Tdcs On Cd-1 Mouse Behavior Post Induced Sensorimotor Cortex Injury, Michelle Gardella, Natalia Gozias, Kristina Laktionova, Tricia Roehrig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The functional topography of the motor cortex has been shown to be modifiable by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tDCS works by directing electrical currents into the brain which induces alterations in neuroplastic cortical excitability. This experiment’s aim was to test the effect of tDCS on recovery of skilled locomotion, recovery of balance, and recovery of grip strength after bilateral electrolytic lesions to sensorimotor cortices in mice. Tests employed in this experiment included the ladder test, grip test, and a balance pole test. We were able to show that 4 days of tDCS post brain injury in mice produced improvements …

A Review Of Animal Studies For The Efficacy Of D-Methionine In Reducing Threshold Shifts And Affecting Biochemical Changes After Exposure To Noise, Alexandra Petraru

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a major public health concern in the United States and worldwide. Certain individuals such as factory workers and military personnel are at greatest risk for irreversible sensorineural hearing loss due to the limitations of hearing protection measures and devices. D-Methionine (d-Met) is an antioxidant otoprotective agent that currently is in human clinical trials. The purpose of this systematic literature review was to review d-Met’s efficacy in reducing threshold shifts as well as in producing biochemical and physical changes in animal studies vis-à-vis the administration paradigm (preloading, rescue and a combined approach), d-Met dose quantity …

The Long-Term Effects Of Low Level Laser Therapy (Lllt) Combined With Complex Decongestive Therapy (Cdt) In The Treatment Of Breast Cancer Lymphedema: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study, Olivia Bramlett, Igor Daysudov, Toshi Odaira, Bethany Rodriguez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Complex Decongestive Therapy (CDT), the gold standard for lymphedema treatment, fails to demonstrate long-term efficacy. The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term efficacy of low level laser therapy (LLLT) in reducing post-mastectomy lymphedema when used with CDT. The experimental group received LLLT and CDT (n = 7) while control group received sham laser and CDT (n = 7), twice a week for 4 to 8 weeks. Percent arm circumference difference between affected and unaffected limbs was collected over 18 months. Results revealed no statistical difference between both groups at all time periods: 1 (p = 0.902), 2 …

The Journey Back: Revisiting Childhood Trauma, Ruth Lipman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the adult's endeavor to revisit childhood trauma in four sets of literary texts that are not typically studied together. These works, all published after 1968, address the central problem of revisiting childhood trauma in order to open a potential for mourning and sometimes for healing. I explore connections between individual/family trauma and collective/historical trauma. I argue that the use of objects and/or photographs is integral to the process of touching and representing the buried, embodied wounds of childhood, propelling the journeys and conveying the experience to the reader. Each pairing of literary works concerns a different kind …

Counterfeiting: A Challenge To Forensic Science, The Criminal Justice System, And Its Impact On Pharmaceutical Innovation, Pauline Elizabeth Leary

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Counterfeit drugs threaten public health and present unique and complex challenges to the criminal justice system and the field of forensic science. Theft of intellectual property in the pharmaceutical industry has caused sickness and death, and it is necessary that the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice. In some cases, threats to health and safety are short term; in others they are long term. This research describes these threats in detail.

The problem is complex, and there are many important factors that need to be considered to successfully address the problem. Public-health challenges, drug-development challenges, legal challenges, issues …

Musical Landscapes: Theophile Gautier And The Evolution Of Nineteenth Century French Poetry, Dana Milstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Theophile Gautier's first edition of Emaux et camees (1852) marks the juncture at which Romantic, Neoclassical, and nascent Symbolist poetic theories converged under the umbrella ideology of "Parnassianism." Emaux et camees synthesizes the aesthetics promoted by these diverse groups, primarily by 1) using "musical" and "painterly" language, 2) emphasizing correspondences among arts, and 3) paradoxically demanding an attention to form and the artist's labor while also emphasizing art's inutility during a century characterized by Progress. Gautier's Emaux et camees bridges painterly and musical poetics to create a new model for poetry.

While the vocabulary of painting captivated many nineteenth century …

Households, Landscapes, And Post-Collapse Continuity In Postclassic Jalieza, Valley Of Oaxaca, Mexico, Elise Marie Maragliano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Through the lens of household and landscape archaeology, this dissertation examines an Early Postclassic archaeological site located in Jalieza in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. The analysis reviews data collected during an intensive archaeological field survey consisting of mapping and systematic surface collection. The site of Postclassic Jalieza is compared with other Postclassic sites in the Valley, as well as with the Early Classic and Late Classic settlements at Jalieza. The Postclassic component at Jalieza is a single time-period occupation restricted to the Early Postclassic, thus presenting a rare glimpse into this turbulent and little understood episode in the history …

The Grammar Of Choice: Charles Dickens's Existential Idea Of Religion, Hai Na

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation challenges the received opinion that Charles Dickens's religious thinking is merely sentimental and philanthropic. Instead, I argue that there is in his works a very consistent "existential" sense of religion, especially in his mature novels. To be religious for him does not lie in the adherence to dogma or the study of theological arguments, but in the crucial choices people make every day. In order to illustrate this "existential" sense of religion, I analyze, in the first chapter, relevant works by Kierkegaard, Carlyle, George Eliot, and Dostoevsky, in order to establish the context in which Dickens's religious views …

Metal Nanoparticles Immobilized On Basic Supports As Catalysts For Hydrogenation And Dehydrogenation Reactions Of Relevance To Cleaner Fossil Fuels And Alternative Sources Of Energy, Reena Rahi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We developed a series of catalysts, composed of metal nanoparticles immobilized on basic supports for the hydrogenation of heteroaromatics of relevance to cleaner fossil fuels and biodiesel, and for the dehydrogenation of heteroaromatics of relevance to hydrogen storage in organic liquids. Our catalyst design involves nanostructured catalysts composed of metal particles immobilized on basic supports capable of ionic mechanism that may avoid catalyst poisoning and enhance catalytic activity.

We prepared a new catalyst composed of Pd nanoparticles immobilized on MgO by NaBH4 reduction of Na2PdCl4 in methanol in the presence of the support. TEM measurements revealed well-dispersed 1.7 nm Pd …

Promoting Wellness Through Mindfulness-Based Activities, Malgorzata Powietrzynska

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The central idea of this dissertation is mindfulness framed as a sociocultural, secular, and multidimensional construct involving attention that is purposeful, in the present moment, and non-judgmental. Mindfulness represents a unification of century-old contemplative Eastern traditions (including Buddhism) and the recent developments of modern, Western science. Hence, supported by the emerging scientific evidence, I argue that mindfulness practices have a potential to offer a wide range of benefits related to wellness. In particular, I report on our hermeneutic-phenomenological studies investigating the centrality of emotions in teaching and learning. Our findings confirm that when adopted in education, mindfulness may mediate positive …

Neoliberalism And The "Obesity Epidemic", Dianne Rubinstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Neoliberalism has been described as a political and economic theory that proposes "human well-being can best be advanced by liberating... freedoms...within an institutional framework [of]...strong private property rights [and] free markets.... [I]f markets do not exist (...such as in... health care) then they must be created, by state action if necessary." I would argue that the "Obesity Epidemic" is just such a created Neoliberal market, and in fact does not actually exist as an "epidemic." By changing the computation of BMI (Body Mass Index) in 1998, the federal government created the "Obesity Epidemic" by definitional fiat, despite myriad contradictory evidence

Wearing Your Heart On Your Sleeve: The Effects Of Conspicuous Compassion On Identity Signaling And Charitable Behavior, Zoe Rogers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Conspicuous compassion is one type of prosocial behavior that involves the purchase and wearing of merchandise that supports a cause. This research considers the effects that conspicuous compassion has on signaling to others and signaling to the self and the factors that influence these types of signaling. This research shows that self-signaling is influenced more by whether the merchandise supported (vs. did not support) a cause, while other-signaling is more influenced by the public (vs. private) dimension of the message on the merchandise. This research also examines a two-path model of the effects of conspicuous compassion on subsequent charitable behavior, …

How Silently Sheela-Na-Gig Speaks: Memory, Mythos, And The Female Body, Amber C. Snider

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How and why do we destroy female agency, still today? Focusing on some of the mythical foundations and formations found in ancient Celtic and Greek imaginings, the "bodily" aspects in particular, this thesis traces the ways in which some of the modern women intellectuals receive or reject the typical feminist or female elements found in mythologies; the elided nature of the female trinity and the life giver-destroyer circularity inherent in goddesses and archetypes, for instance, appears to mirror our cultural impulse to destroy the female body. It is then not enough to create a new mythology by and for women--we …

Some Complexities In English Article Use And Acquisition, Victoria Somogyi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Along with preposition use, native-like article use is one of the greatest difficulties for learners of English, particularly for those learners whose first languages do not have articles. And unlike many other areas involved in the mastery of the language, articles continue to present a challenge for advanced learners. A significant number of article usages are complex in that they are neither simple to explain (in that the does not encode definiteness or contextual uniqueness) nor strictly idiomatic. This paper a) provides an overview and critique of the scholarship on articles and their acquisition, b) takes a detailed look at …

The Possibility For Peaceful, Global, Participatory Governance: A Political Evolution Enabled By The Internet And Manifested By Crowds, Frederick Thomas Tucker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper argues that peaceful, global, participatory governance is possible in the 21st century with the aid of the Internet and other forms of abundant, instantaneous, recorded communication (AIRC). Such a polity, however, must replace militarized republics and autocracies to be realized. No historical precedent exists for militarized governments to disband voluntarily. The realization of peaceful, global, participatory governance depends on popular resistance in its most potent, yet least militaristic form--political crowds. On the basis of professional and independent research, analysis of primary and secondary sources, and participant observation, this thesis details the historical development of AIRC, the political systems …

Variation In Habitat Thresholds: An Analysis Of Minimum Habitat Requirements Of North American Breeding Birds, Yntze Van Der Hoek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many species show dramatic changes in population extinction or persistence probability at particular habitat amounts. These `extinction thresholds' could be translated to conservation targets, under the condition that we can derive generalities. I investigated the level of variation in landscape-level habitat thresholds for a suite of North American, forest-associated, breeding birds. Records from Breeding Bird Atlases and the availability of remotely-sensed land cover data allowed me to compare habitat thresholds for 25 species across the states of Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. I show that variation in thresholds is considerable (Chapter II, III), as thresholds range from …

Wild Nyc: Building Biodiversity In Fresh Kills And City Parks, Melissa Zavala

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an anthropological field study of the work of urban ecological maintenance being conducted in New York City through the analysis of the reclamation and biotic restoration of the Fresh Kills landfill, located in the borough of Staten Island. This landfill was once the largest urban dump in the United States. Its 2,200 acres of trash buried in four mounds have polluted an area historically noted for its natural beauty as a collection of marshes and woodlands bordering the Kill Van Kull, a tidal strait that flows into the New York Harbor. The current plan for park and …

Mind, Media, And Techniques Of Remediation In America, 1850-1910, Dominique Zino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation describes the way a renewed interest in picturesque aesthetics engaged the imaginations of writers, visual artists, philosophers, landscape designers, and collectors during the second half of the nineteenth century, reinvigorating a mode of inquiry that sanctioned the act of composing representations--mental, visual, and verbal--as a suitable response to social, political, and philosophical problems. The chapters that follow describe the understanding of the relationship between language, visual representation, and feeling that picturesque aesthetics formalized alongside the surface discourse of picturesqueness that was circulating through everyday genres, such as illustrated viewbooks, by the second half of the century. This dynamic …

The Effect Of Population History On Hominoid Intraspecific Cranial Shape Diversity: Combining Population Genetic And 3d Geometric Morphometric Data, Julia Marie Zichello

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cranial shape diversity within hominoids has been previously studied with the aim of understanding how levels of diversity in extant species compare with extinct hominin specimens. This dissertation addresses the question of why cranial shape diversity differs among extant hominoids. Levels of intraspecific cranial shape diversity are highly varied among hominoids. For example, Sumatran orangutan cranial shape diversity is more than twice that of all living humans. Here, the population history of each species, or sub-species, is considered as a force potentially structuring phenotypic variation. It is already well established that population history has shaped patterns of modern human cranial …

The Degree Of Certainty System In Written Spanish In Mexico, Jaseleen Ruggles

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Practitioners in threat assessment have considered direct threats as being high-level threats of future violence (O'Toole 2000: 9), but empirical studies testing the predictive validity of direct threats have contradicted this intuition (Dietz, Matthews, Martell et al. 1991; Smith 2006). Studies that include analyses of the deployment of English verbal roots (such as kill, hurt, etc.) have failed to show significant correlations between lexical choices and the occurrence of realized outcomes (Dietz, Matthews, Martell et al. 1991; Scalora, Baumgartner, Zimmerman et al. 2002a: 1360; Scalora, Baumgartner, Zimmerman 2002b: 46, Smith 2006). This analysis focused on inflectional affixes, rather …

Computational Analyses Of The Components Of Sinorhizobium Meliloti Exor-Exos/Chvi Pathway: The Exor And Exos Proteins, Eliza M. Wiech

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Sinorhizobium meliloti periplasmic ExoR protein and the ExoS/ChvI two-component system form a regulatory mechanism that directly controls the transformation of free-living to host-invading cells. In the absence of crystal structures, understanding the molecular mechanism of interaction between ExoR and the ExoS sensor, which is thought to drive the key regulatory step in the invasion process, remains a major challenge. In this study, we present theoretical structural models of the active form of ExoR protein, ExoRm, as well as of the sensing domain of ExoS, ExoSp, generated using computational methods. Our model suggests that ExoRm possesses a super-helical fold comprising …

"If She Can Do It, So Can I": An Ethnography Of A Supportive Living Environment For Women In The Criminal Justice System And Their Children, Regina Cardaci

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are now more women in prisons and jails than at any time in United States history. A large number of these women will be returning to the community. Women returning to the community after release from prison or jail face numerous challenges to successful reentry, e.g., securing housing and employment. In addition, following separation and care of their children by others, women with children struggle to resume their roles as mother.

This dissertation is an exploration of a program that assists women transitioning from incarceration to the community. This program helps women by helping to develop job skills and …

¡Escriba! ¡Write! Volume 12, June 2014, Hostos Community College Library

¡Escriba!

Eric Stewart- "Same Love: Examining the Relationship Between David and Jonathan";

Santee Agrispin- "Music in my Life";

Jessica Anchundia- "Where I’m From";

Ahmed Caraballo- "A Life With Meaning";

Dina Esquivel- "How ‘McDonaldization’ Affects Our Society";

Jose Javier Castro- "Anonymously Yours";

Jose Javier Castro- "Homeland Uprootal";

Jose Javier Castro- "Gone but not Forgotten";

Earl Justice- "Dreamality";

Gisselle Belia- "Adios";

Eric Stewart- "After the Arrest: Exploring the Inner Workings of the New York State Criminal Justice System";

Karla Ferrera- "Poetry: The Awakening of a Creative Self";

Mario Leazard- "Sisters are Good Listeners";

Marlenny Toribio- "Finding Ways";

Angelica Rodriguez- "Antes de Morir";

Angelica …

The Bronx: Creating Fashion Identity Through Race, Class, Hip-Hop Culture And J.Lo, Milesska Jordana Contreras-Hernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The following thesis is a three-part look at the way that fashion identity is created, practiced and understood in the Bronx. The majority of the thesis focuses on the area of Fordham Road, which is an area that is regarded as one of the biggest producers of fashion and consumption in the working class borough. This paper provides a look at the history of the borough to understand how an area like Fordham was shaped. Fordham is an area consisting of a variety of small and large businesses that cater to the members of the surrounding communities. These residents are …