Digital Commons Network^™

Creatively Addressing The Employment Gap: Using Creativity And The Arts To Help Autistic Adolescents And Young Adults Build Skills For Employment, Eliana Rachel Grossman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Neurodiversity-affirmative autism frameworks present a shift from deficit-based models of autism to the recognition that autism is but one of many facets of biodiversity that should be affirmed and embraced. However, there is little research examining links between creativity and autism that has adopted a neurodiversity-affirming approach. The dissertation aimed to expand upon the nascent interdisciplinary link between neurodiversity-affirmative autism research and creativity to 1) understand the creative experiences of autistic adolescents and young adults and 2) address the critical issue of chronic unemployment faced by autistic people.

The first study examined the perspectives of autistic adolescents and young adults …

Unconventional Computing With Photonic Oscillator Networks, Mostafa Honari Latifpour

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ever-increasing demand for data processing and the challenges in scaling traditional computing architectures are driving intensive research into alternative computing paradigms. Optical computing has garnered renewed attention since the 2010s, driven by its potential to accelerate specialized computational tasks such as combinatorial optimization and neural networks.

Coherent light sources including lasers and parametric oscillators have been around for decades and become indispensable tools in modern technology, but these photonic oscillators are also nonlinear dynamical systems that can exhibit emergent, complex phenomena, especially when coupled in arrays. These nonlinear optical systems have recently been shown to be capable of doing …

In My Softest & Most Liberatory Dreams: Reflections On Holding Complexity & Decentering Whiteness, Richard C. Clark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the world contends with a global pandemic, climate catastrophes, white supremacy, coloniality, and concurrent genocides my attention splinters. In an act of futurity, or future making, I ask myself: What is needed to move from this place toward softer, more liberatory futures? This body of work finds its answer in exploring two interrelated concepts: Decentering Whiteness and Holding Complexity. Decentering Whiteness is the process of working toward a future where all the personal, spiritual, educational, epistemological, social, structural, psychological, financial, and systemic ties to white supremacy are unraveled. Holding Complexity weaves together knowledges of care, accountability, intersectionality, and …

The Cultural Complexity Of Immigrants And The Implications For Personality Assessment: Exploring The Role Of Frame Switching, Patrick Jay Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A significant body of personality research has focused on cross-national comparison, but less attention has been devoted to within-country subcultural complexity – especially with regards to the growing population of bicultural immigrants who subscribe to multiple cultural-value systems. Bicultural individuals have been found to view situations under distinct frames of reference corresponding to their heritage and host cultures, and their attitudes and behavior can vary depending on which frame is activated at a given moment. This dissertation investigates whether such frame switching effects can be caused by elements within a formal personality assessment setting, and in turn affect bicultural respondents’ …

Knowledge And Attitudes Towards Usage Of Hearing Protection In Volunteer Firefighters, Rachel S. Combs

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) represents a substantial global public health concern. Regulatory agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the National Institute for Occupation Safety and Health (NIOSH) aim to establish noise exposure limits in occupational settings, yet certain professions, such as firefighting, remain at a heightened risk. Although research has been conducted on noise exposure and hearing protection in career firefighters, a lack of research exists on volunteer firefighters. The purpose of this study was to 1) establish the extent that volunteer firefighters are currently educated on hearing conservation and hearing protection 2) …

A Journey To A Black Woman’S (Read Black Girl’S) Joy And Her Story Of Coming Home, Brittany Lauren Brock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This is an auto/ethnography about the self-actualizing journey of reclaiming storytelling as my native tongue and my journey to joy. Throughout, using my story and the stories of so many others, I not only lay out the wounds (the pain, the loss, then the hope that comes) within the academy and outside in the world but I also use storytelling as a tool of healing—my tool of healing—to show how I wrote myself free.

When Black women (read Black girls) go through The Reckoning (the moment we realize something isn’t right with how we are perceived by others) …

The Migration Of South Asians From India To Guyana: The Journey, Struggles In A New Land, Reasons For Changes Over Time And Their Cultivation Of A New Culture., Cynthia C. Harry

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Indians from different regions of India arrived in Guyana through indentureship in 1838. They were under a five-year contract and had to work on the sugar plantations for the duration of their indentureship. While they tried to persist their Indian culture, assimilation in their new environments and interaction with people of different cultures, allowed them to develop a culture unique to Indo Guyanese heritage.

This thesis focuses on the history of Indian diaspora in Guyana. It evokes the struggles they faced on the ships, and during and after indentureship. It also touches on the political and racial issues they had …

Me And Mathematics: “Doing What You’Re Talking About”: In Dialogue With My Family, Eden Morris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper is a philosophically oriented accompaniment to my audio project (accessible through the following link: https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/me-and-mathematics). Working together, the paper and audio collages form a call to action and a resource. My primary finding is the importance of doing what you’re talking about or exploring and implementing your ideas experientially. Doing what you’re talking about is important for effective teaching/learning and feeling in line with oneself. This working concept came to my attention during my research conversation with my oldest living relative, and then, again, with my youngest (non-baby) relative. This doing what you’re talking about is a way …

Cross-Linguistic Differences In Neural Encoding And Processing Of Stop Consonants: The Impact Of Language Experience On Attention Allocation, Aline Dos Santos Oliveira

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aims to examine the intricate relationship between language experience and the neural processing of stop consonant speech sounds. Previous research has shown minimal differences in amplitudes and latencies of cortical Auditory Evoked Potentials (AEPs) to speech sounds across listeners from various language backgrounds. It is only towards the later latencies (around the P2 peak at 200 ms), that there have been suggestions of cross-linguistic differences. In addition, a recent study, observed an AEP difference between monolinguals and bilinguals when processing speech, specifically an "Nd effect”. The Nd effect, which is an increased negativity of the AEP is proposed …

“Back From Cuba With Machetes And Cameras” Feminist Contour Lines Through The Venceremos Brigade: 1969-1971 And Today, Nicolette Bull

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis explores the relationship between two political organizations formed in 1969: the Venceremos Brigade to Cuba and the U.S. feminist periodical Off Our Backs. The Venceremos Brigade was founded ten years after the Cuban Revolution, bringing groups from around the world to Cuba to cut sugarcane alongside local workers in an effort to bolster Cuban economic independence in the face of sanctions, then to travel the island for political education. Over half a century later, despite decades of counterrevolutionary opposition to the program, the Venceremos Brigade is still active and currently preparing for the departure of its 53rd …

Crime Prediction Using Agent-Based Modeling, Yifei Gong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Crime risk evaluation and crime prediction using agent-based modeling (ABM) have gained popularity in the field of computational criminology in recent years. Traditionally, researchers rely on statistical methods and machine learning models to predict crimes using historical data. ABM generates macro-level crime patterns in a bottom-up fashion by simulating the daily behaviors of autonomous entities, such as citizens and offenders. ABM takes into consideration the non-linear interactions between agents under complex social contexts. Currently, the comprehensive usage of ABM for criminological theory testing and urban policy evaluations calls for a unified software framework. In this research, we introduce CARESim, an …

Communication Challenges In Underwater Wireless Networks: Mac Protocols And Software Solutions, Dmitrii Dugaev

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Underwater wireless networks (UWNs) represent a diverse and intriguing research domain, encompassing a wide array of scientific and industrial applications. This dissertation delves into the communication challenges at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within UWNs, stemming from the distinctive signal propagation conditions and the harshness of the deployment environment. The manuscript provides comprehensive coverage of key aspects of UWNs, including potential applications, communication protocols, methodologies employed in such networks, and existing software solutions that facilitate simulation, emulation, and real testbed scenarios for underwater research endeavors. Furthermore, this research introduces innovative software and communication solutions designed to facilitate the seamless …

Uncovering The Mimicry Of Online Review Breadth And Depth And Its Subsequent Effect On Consumer Responses, Andrea Pelaez Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Word-of-mouth (WOM) in marketing occurs when consumers discuss a company's product or service or any consumption experience with their friends, family, and others with whom they have any relationship. With the advent of social media, this phenomenon has expanded rapidly into virtual environments where consumer conversation is enabled through chats, forums, social media posts, and online reviews. In response to this rapid growth of online WOM, academics and practitioners have focused their interest on this phenomenon and its implications on consumers, firms, and society. So far, the evidence of the critical role that online WOM plays in helping consumers make …

Best Practices For Healthcare Providers When Communicating With Individuals With Hearing Loss: A Systematic Review, Ashley Mccaig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to gather information about strategies to use when communicating with people with hearing loss, specifically in healthcare settings or environments where face masks are frequently used. The compiled literature was used to establish the best practices for healthcare providers to use when communicating with their patients with hearing loss, especially when utilizing face masks.

Methods: A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted using the Google Scholar, PubMed, and MEDLINE Complete databases. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was used to …

Bridge The Gap: Using Advocacy To Bridge The Gender Wage Gap In Sports - A Comparative Analysis Of Venus Williams And The Us Women’S National Team, William E. Mitchell

Student Theses and Dissertations

For decades sports and activism have been synonymous. Many remember Jesse Owens and Tommie Smith’s Olympic protests, Mohammed Ali’s anti-war protest and Collin Kaepernick kneeling to bring attention to racial injustices. More recently many joined in celebration and applauded when the US Women’s National Team secured equal pay. However, many women in sports remain invisible. Activism is a viable form of seeking change, but can the route taken by Venus Williams work in team sports? This project will seek to examine if activism is a viable change agent in sports especially in closing the gender pay gap. While several female …

Application Of Methods To Population-Based Surveys To Reduce Bias In Estimates Of Sars-Cov-2 Infection Burden In The Population, Saba Qasmieh

Dissertations and Theses

BACKGROUND: Population-based surveys designed to randomly sample the population can be a critical and complementary tool to traditional surveillance approaches. Probability-based surveys enable the measurement of SARS-CoV-2 testing and outcomes that avoid issues around self-selection into testing, making them an effective approach to address ascertainment bias in passive surveillance. For surveys to be a useful and reliable surveillance tool for understanding the burden and distribution of SARS-CoV-2 infection, they need to capture prevalence estimates that are both valid and reliable to be optimally informative for public health measures. The dissertation was undertaken to address three main gaps that have implications …

Strengthening U.S. Jail Systems’ Response To Infectious Diseases: An Evaluation Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Erinn Bacchus

Dissertations and Theses

Jails across the United States were struck with increased infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown the structural make up of jails, lack of preparedness plans, and overcrowding contributed to health risks and poor health outcomes both inside jails and local communities. Yet little research has been dedicated to strengthening jail responses to infectious disease outbreaks spanning prevention measures, data collection, and reentry planning. Gaps include information on the (1) myriad infectious disease mitigation strategies used in jails and adherence to CDC prevention guidelines, (2) development of a standardized epidemiologic surveillance system, and (3) experiences working at …

The Relationship Between Healthcare Access And Change In Health-Related Quality-Of-Life Among The General Population Of Five Countries During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nadja Alexandrov, Emily Stella Scott, Mathieu F. Janssen, Erica I. Lubetkin, John N. Yfantopoulos, Gouke J. Bonsel, Juanita A. Haagsma

Publications and Research

Purpose To determine whether (1) healthcare access at onset of the pandemic and (2) age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and pre-existing health status were associated with change in health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study includes a general population sample of five countries.

Methods An online questionnaire was administered to respondents from Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic between April 22nd and May 5th of 2020, and 1 year later between May 23rd and June 29th of 2021. The questionnaire included questions on demographic background, health status, and …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2024 Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet

Publications and Research

We are delighted to present the latest edition of ”Advances in Bone and Orthopedics,” a comprehensive compilation of pioneering research and innovative developments in the field. This volume brings together a selection of peer-reviewed abstracts from BONITOS 2024, the Fourth Season of the Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium, held on May 31st, 2024, at the College of Staten Island in New York. This symposium, a hallmark event in the calendar of professionals dedicated to bone health and orthopedic excellence. The contributions within this volume reflect the breadth and depth of research presented at BONITOS 2024. These abstracts represent cutting-edge studies …

Bystander Intervention In The Workplace Sexual Harassment, Yunjung Lee

Student Theses

Despite increased global attention since the #MeToo movement of 2017, workplace sexual harassment remains a pervasive issue. This is because victims of workplace sexual harassment often react passively, meaning that approaches primarily reliant on victim reporting are less likely to succeed. Given this, bystander intervention has emerged as a promising way to prevent sexual harassment and protect victims. Adopting the previous theoretical framework (Bowes-Sperry & O’Leary‐Kelly, 2005), this study aimed to investigate the decision-making process of bystanders responding to workplace sexual harassment, and to identify the relative frequencies of intervention types and influencing factors. 170 participants from various occupations in …

Toolkit For Users Of Over-The-Counter Hearing Aids, Sabrina Malasarte

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Untreated hearing loss oftentimes has significant adverse effects on the quality of life of older adults. The associations include, but are not limited to loneliness, isolation, anxiety, and a decrease in cognitive function. Hearing aids significantly improve audibility, social interactions, and decrease feelings of loneliness or isolation. However, despite technological advances, and evidence of positive outcomes associated with hearing aid use, uptake and continued use of hearing aids remain low. Accessibility and affordability are considered barriers to uptake. Purchasing a prescription hearing aid from an audiologist is the traditional approach to receiving an amplification device, but the advent of over …

Past * An Introduction To The Problem, Zelimir Zilnik, Boris Buden, New Media Center Kuda.Org, Olivera Jokic

Publications and Research

Who can know what is in the past? Is it what historians can tell us? Should we also trust what we can remember? Past • An Introduction to the Problem proposes that the problem of the past now concerns everyone. Visions of a different, brighter future defeated in the Cold War and its heated afterlives, we are being offered the past as the only horizon of possibility. And what are we supposed to find in that past? Philosopher Boris Buden considers these questions in a series of essays and conversations with filmmaker Želimir Žilnik, one of the most prominent filmmakers …

K-12 School Shootings: A Visualization Throughout History, Elizabeth T. Garrison

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

School shootings have been a persistent problem in America for many years, causing enormous grief and loss. This project represents this critical issue through the use of data visualizations to provide a better understanding of the occurrence and spread of school shootings from 1966 to 2023. With the overarching goal of improving awareness and responses to K-12 school shootings, this project is aimed at educators, policymakers, and researchers involved in school safety and violence prevention.

This project can be viewed at https://schoolshooting.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

Faunal Use And Distribution At The Site Of Nixtun-Ch'ich', Petén, Guatemala, Jemima Georges

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation delves into the pre-Columbian Preclassic Maya civilization, examining the societal dynamics, subsistence strategies, and cultural practices at Nixtun-Ch’ich’, Guatemala through the analysis of animal bones. Animal bones are used as indicators of dietary habits, social structures, and ideological beliefs. The findings highlight a diet that evolved from favoring a complex array of strategies in the Middle Preclassic period to one that concentrated on a few mammals and freshwater resources. These decisions were influenced by sociopolitical changes from the Middle to Late Preclassic periods. Excavations of three residences (J1, C2/1, R2/1, and R1/2) and four public spaces (Mound ZZ1, …

Factors That Impact New York City Public High School Graduation: Finding Barriers To Education Through Data Analysis And Visualization, Kyoung Kang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project is to provide visual evidence about the factors related to high school graduation rates of New York City public high school students. By analyzing the NYC public high school data, including graduation rates, school survey results, and school funding allocations, this project explores the graduation gaps among different student bodies, such as ethnic groups and school locations. The graduation disparities across the five boroughs are further examined for students with disabilities, economic difficulties, and language barriers. School-level data is used to visualize the gaps in school performances and funding allocations across the five boroughs. Lastly, the visualization …

Computational Approaches To Linguistic Challenges In Arabic Speech Recognition, Enas Albasiri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to document the linguistic features of Arabic that pose challenges to speech and language technologies and advance these technologies by developing state-of-the-art computational tools focusing on automatic speech recognition (ASR), text normalization (TN), and corpus development. TN converts expressions such as numbers, dates, and times—named semiotic classes—from their written to their spoken domain, such as converting ‘$84.00’ to ‘eighty-four dollars’, while inverse text normalization (ITN) converts verbalized text to its written form. This conversion is an essential preprocessing step for text-to-speech (TTS), and post-processing step for ASR. Arabic presents a challenge for TN and ITN because one …

Extractivism And The Defense Of Life And Territories: An Account Of Latin American Environmental Thought, Pedro Monque

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We are living today through an environmental crisis of planetary proportions. Recent decades have seen the proliferation of distinct environmentalisms around the world. In Latin America, a unique environmental vocabulary is being born out of resistance to northern framings of the environmental crisis whose proposed solutions often deepen environmental injustice vis-à-vis the global south.In this dissertation, I provide an account of the key themes in this lively but undertheorized tradition that I call Latin American environmental thought.

The conceptual core of Latin American environmental thought, I argue, are the concepts of extractivism, the defense of life and territories, and alternatives. …

Applying An Intersectional And Multi-Systemic Level Approach To Adei Institutional Assessments In Social Work Higher Education, Diana A. Melendez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Institutional Anti-racism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ADEI) tools and assessment models are needed to support schools of social work in demonstrating compliance with the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). This study develops a new tool and model for ADEI institutional assessment in social work higher education using a collaborative, intersectional and multi-systemic level approach. The primary aim of the project was to develop and test a new tool to gather and document experience(s) of coloniality within a social work higher education institution, from multiple stakeholders’ perspectives, as a usable model of ADEI …

Discourse Analysis Of Ethnonyms For Black Italians On Youtube, Kaithlyn Massiah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There have been various studies on the intersection of race and national identity for the African diaspora, but there has not been many on how language is used to evoke a stance on identity. This project focuses on the how ethnonyms, or names given to an ethnic group, are assigned to Black Italians in online discourse on YouTube. In this research, comments were analyzed from two YouTube videos that comprise of Black Italians who discuss their identity and the ethnonyms they prefer. ZERO is the first Netflix Italian series that centers the Black Italian experience. In the videos “Black [Italian] …

Resilience, Resistance, And Nation-Building Among Internally Displaced Persons: Kites As A Means Of Transcending Displacement, Michelle Black

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Once a simple plaything, the kite has evolved into a symbol of hope and defiance. This study explores kite flying in Gaza, specifically among internally displaced people (IDPs), as an act of resilience and resistance. It investigates how kites, amidst conflict and displacement, rise as symbols of solidarity and identity, and contribute to nation-building efforts. The research process begins with an extensive investigation into IDPs, followed by an exploration of key concepts such as resilience, resistance, and nation-building. The study then delves into how these concepts manifest within the IDP population. Additionally, research was conducted on the history and uses …