Digital Commons Network^™

Heteronormativity And Fair Housing: Comparing Housing Opportunities Among Cisgender And Transgender Women, Joseph E. Lara

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the American housing market, gender norms regulate access to safe and stable dwellings. When looking for a home, transgender communities, plagued by multiple vulnerabilities and politicized by conservative politicians, endure vastly different experiences than their cisgender counterparts. Despite an ongoing housing crisis, civil rights laws have widened homeownership opportunities for cisgender women, but transgender women face multiple obstacles to owning a home. How have gender norms influenced the housing market, and how have socially embedded heterosexism and cisgenderism benefited cisgender women over transgender women? This manuscript explores the cultural norms regulating the creation and access to housing, the history …

Performing Ero Guro: Erotic-Grotesque Bodies And Normativity In Post-Wwii Japanese And Korean Theatre, Dohyun Shin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates how portrayals of erotic and grotesque bodies in post-WWII Japanese and Korean theatre responded to each nation’s image of the ideal body. Those ideal bodily images were the product of haunting modernity as well as of the following historical circumstances after Japan’s loss in WWII—the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the U.S. and Japan and the attendant protests (Japan) as well as the aftermath of Japanese colonial rule, the Korean war, and Korea’s military dictatorships. Instead of uncovering the historical legacy of the early 20^th-century cultural trend Ero Guro Nansensu (Erotic, Grotesque, Nonsense) …

Time Ripens On The Counter: A Literary History Of The Americas, Judah Rubin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The tumultuous years of the 1970s and 1980s are generally seen as marking the ends of the New Left in the United States and the Americas at large. With shifts afoot in US policy that would see the drawdown and close of the Vietnam War, increased subversion and infiltration of Left-wing movements, these decades are often remembered as a holding pattern and, later, nadir in progressive, not to mention revolutionary, gains. The same was true, if not amplified, across the Americas where, tens of thousands were murdered, imprisoned and disappeared across the Southern Cone and into the Andes, and where …

Recognizing Elder Abuse In Mongolia: Experiences Of Family Physicians, Ariunsanaa Bagaajav

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Elder abuse is a globally recognized social problem with serious consequences. The most recent meta-analysis estimates the prevalence of elder abuse at 17%. Studies conducted in Asian countries suggest prevalence rates higher than the global average. Social stressors including alcoholism, unemployment, and poverty related to economic transitions, many of which apply in Mongolia, are associated with elder abuse. International studies have found that health care providers play critical roles in detecting cases of elder abuse. Due to universal access to primary care in Mongolia, family physicians are uniquely positioned to interact with potential victims of elder abuse. However, the extent …

A Comparison Of Temporary Threshold Shifts In Dentists, Hygienists, And Dental Assistants, Sabina E. Ciaccio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this study is to compare the temporary threshold shifts (TTS) in dentists, hygienists, and dental assistants. The specific aim of this study is to compare the differences in temporary shifts caused by the different dental equipment and the proximity to the equipment. The current literature does not compare the change in hearing thresholds of dental personnel.

Methods: Dentists, dental assistants, and hygienists from Hermann Dental Associates will be given a case history form to determine inclusion status for this study. Exclusion criteria will include known hearing loss and significant noise exposure the day prior. …

Reconciling Macro- And Micro-Levels In The First Movement Of Brahms’S Piano Concerto In D Minor, Op. 15: A Schenkerian Reading, Alexandra Joan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the first movement of Johannes Brahms’s Piano Concerto no. 1, op. 15, through a Schenkerian lens. Concertos are relatively unexplored in Heinrich Schenker’s theoretical work. Surprisingly, although Schenker put Brahms on a pedestal throughout his life, he left only a few published analyses of the composer’s music.

Chapter 1 explores the kinship between Schenker and Brahms. Both conceived of the musical work as an organic entity. They also shared an approach to the tonal language based on an eighteenth-century tradition of figured bass and counterpoint. Op. 15 also exhibits an approach to musical form grounded in the …

Integrating In Vitro And In Silico Approaches To Gain Insight Into The Mechanism Of Amyloid Fibrillogenesis, Marvin M. Bilog

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Amyloid fibril formation, the hallmark of numerous amyloid-related diseases, has been the subject of a vast number of scientific studies due to its pathological implications. Since the fibrillization process exhibits a certain level of intricacy, its investigation requires a multidisciplinary approach that integrates both experimental and computational methods. In vitro techniques involve biophysical assays and imaging tools for characterizing the structural and kinetic aspects of amyloid fibril formation. In parallel, in silico techniques offer programs for predicting atomistic details and behaviors of amyloidogenic proteins and peptides at the nanoscale level. Serum amyloid A (SAA), human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), and …

The Effect Of Personal Listening Devices On Subjective Hearing Status, Esther Feldman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Long term or brief exposure to loud noise can trigger the onset of noise-induced hearing loss which can lead to a temporary (TTS) or permanent (PTS) shift in hearing threshold. Occupational noise, or recreational noise such as music can contribute to shifts in hearing levels. Listening to music in person at a concert or when listening on earphones/earbuds and streaming from a smartphone can produce sound pressure levels (SPL) high enough to lead to PTS, TTS, and associated symptoms. A survey of adults was conducted to gain insight into onset of self-perceived temporary hearing loss and tinnitus after short term …

Vestibular Correlates Of Cochlear Implantation, Danielle Lewis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Previous research has illustrated that vestibular dysfunction is the most prevalent complication of cochlear implant (CI) surgery. There is substantial evidence of both short- and long-term vestibular dysfunction following CI surgery. The objective of this survey was to determine CI recipients’ expectation and satisfaction with their audiologists’ counseling regarding the possible vestibular effects of cochlear implantation. Survey participants included unilateral and bilateral adult CI recipients recruited through the NYC chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), audiology-related Facebook groups, and Linked-In. The first 25 participants were offered a $20 Amazon gift card upon completion of the survey. The …

Audiological Evaluation Of Persons With Dementia: A Systematic Review, Yehudis Hoch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Dementia and hearing loss are both prevalent, age-related conditions and recent research has established a correlation between the two. Audiological evaluations of persons with dementia are important due to a likely comorbidity of dementia and hearing loss, the detrimental effect that hearing loss has on cognition and cognitive tests, and because the similar presentation of the two conditions can cause hearing loss to be overlooked. Hearing loss intervention is critical for this population due to the positive effects that amplification has on cognition, social engagement, and listening effort. Despite the importance of hearing assessment and intervention, audiological evaluation of …

A Comparison Of The Islamophobic Experiences Of The Female Convert And Immigrant Muslims In America, Aliaa Dawoud

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study compares the Islamophobic experiences of female converts and immigrants in America. It is based on interviews with a total of thirteen women, six Muslim born ones and seven converts. Both groups included hijabis and non-hijabis. Unlike most other studies, in which the converts are mostly or exclusively converts from Christianity, two of the interviewees were converts from Judaism while another one was a convert from a Christian/Buddhist/atheist background.

This study argues that Islamophobia is primarily manifested in the form of pervasive everyday racism that is levied at both female converts and immigrants alike, largely in the form of …

Queer Impersonality: Compulsory Visibility And The Politics Of Form In Modernist Women's Life Writing, Margot Kotler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Modernist impersonality is an aesthetic practice typically associated with Anglo-European formalism and the doctrine of artistic autonomy. Although central to the modernist canon, impersonality has not been taken up by queer and feminist studies because critics have considered its implied evacuation of emotion and personal identity to be apolitical, and even dangerous. At its worst, impersonality reproduces an unmarked, white, and masculine subjectivity, yet it also questions the parameters of selfhood, posing a radical challenge to liberal-humanist conceptions of identity. Queer Impersonality moves beyond this critical impasse by tracing impersonality’s queer and feminist histories among modernist women writers whose engagement …

Development Of Platinum(Iv)-Gold(I)-Based Anticancer Agents, Javier E. Lopez-Hernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Heterometallic compounds have emerged as prospective multitarget anticancer drugs. These species may display improved efficacy and physicochemical properties compared to the individual metallic fragments, while helping combat drug resistance by exerting effects on multiple pathways. In this thesis we describe the synthesis of new bi- and tri-metallic compounds based on platinum(IV) compounds containing FDA-approved platinum agents, and gold(I) derivatives with known anticancer properties. We demonstrate their toxicity and selectivity against a small panel of renal, bladder, ovarian, and breast cancer cell lines, as well as their synergistic effects. We have selected a trinuclear PtAu₂compound containing the Pt(IV) core …

Who’S Afraid Of Employer Sanctions?: Political And Institutional Dynamics Of Workplace Enforcement, Michael C. Macher

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the breakdown of comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, a growing number of states have enacted work verification laws aiming to accomplish what the federal government could not: halt unwanted immigration by building a "wall" around the labor market. However, the empirical record on these laws remains mixed. While scholarly and journalistic reports observe that states appear to lack both the institutional capacity and political will to enforce their own work authorization policies, economic impact studies show that these same “poorly enforced” laws nonetheless produce substantive effects on the strategies of employers and migrants alike. This thesis asks the question: …

Essays On Monopoly Power In Housing Rental Markets, Goncalo Filipe Pessa Figueiredo Costa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters on market power in housing rental markets. It introduces the concept of dynamic monopoly power in housing rental markets, develops methods to estimate that form of market power, and uses its analytical lense over the New York City (NYC) housing rental market.

In the first chapter, I formulate a search model in which market frictions give landlords rent-setting (dynamic monopoly) power. This model incorporates search frictions in the spirit of Manning’s (2003) monopsonistic labor market framework. In this setting, the demand faced by individual landlords (i.e., residual demand) results from an equilibrium between tenants’ …

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/

The Mystic Chords Of Memory: The Civil War Musical As Historiography, Christine Snyder

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The U.S. American Civil War is arguably the defining event in the nation’s history; it was the bloodiest war in that history, but also the means by which the United States ended slavery within its borders. Musical theatre, the major U.S. American contribution to popular and commercial theater, might seem a natural partner for chronicling these vital and epic events, but unlike the founding of the nation, which spawned two popular musicals, 1776 (1968) and Hamilton (2015), Civil War musicals have struggled to find audiences or become a part of the musical theatre canon. In this dissertation, I examine how …

Heterogenous Household Expectations, Consumption Choices And Trust, Justine Guillochon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation consists of three chapters that study household consumption choices over the business cycle, the formation of household expectations and the trust of households in the monetary policy institutions.

Chapter 1: Using scanner data and product-level information, this chapter documents the trend and the cyclicality of the processing level of market-purchased household food consumption over the period 2007 to 2020 in the United States. I unveil a strategy, the processing effort, that households exploit to reduce the price of their basket. This strategy consists in altering their basket composition at business cycle frequencies to purchase less processed foods for …

Online Communities And Offline Criminal Justice: The Digital Fallout Of Major Criminal Incidents, Jacqueline M. Scott

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

User-generated online data has, in recent years, become an important basis for sociological research, and the ubiquity of social media presages the importance of an increased understanding of its inner workings in the spheres of criminology and sociology. This dissertation examines the dynamics of user-generated information on social media and social news in the wake of 53 criminal incidents which generated higher-than-average interest online. Using multiple platforms and analytical techniques, I investigate the dynamics of within- and between-platform information uptake, examine potential avenues and drawbacks of the actionable information available online during a crisis, and describe patterns and focal topics …

Housing Displacement In Corlears Hook: From Naghtongh To One Manhattan Square, Don Macleod

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The displacement of residents from their homes in New York City began with the European settlement of New Amsterdam and continues to this day. This paper focuses on displacement in Corlears Hook, part of Manhattan’s Lower East Side from the violent extirpation of a Lenape settlement in 1643 New Amsterdam to the gentrification of a traditional working-class neighborhood along the East River propelled by the influx of luxury housing development. Throughout Corlears Hook’s long history, displacement has been caused by violence, well-meaning efforts to improve slum conditions, ham-fisted “urban renewal” projects that favored the wealthy and civic improvements that used …

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 …

Framing Teacher Migration: An Analysis Of Jamaican Media Coverage From 2016–2023, Denise Wiley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The emigration of teachers from Jamaica has attracted significant media coverage highlighting an increase in resignations and vacancies in many classrooms. This paper analyzes media framing on the topic, and how such framing might preclude the exploration of policy alternatives to address the issue. Methods A qualitative content analysis was conducted on articles published between August 1, 2016, and September 30, 2023. Relevant articles were retrieved from the Gleaner digital archive. Using a survey instrument of 13 questions, a total of 78 articles were analyzed for coding. Results Four frames emerged from the analysis: crisis – urgent attention is required …

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 …

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 …

Understanding Tax Progressivity As A Mechanism Of Gender Difference In Tax Payment Patterns And Post-Tax Income, Morgan A. Richards-Melamdir

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gender difference in taxation is generally understudied. However, existing scholarship, largely country case studies, suggests men pay higher tax rates where income tax progressivity is higher, due to their higher average income. Men’s higher rates should then increase gender equality in income post-tax. However, many rich countries reduced income tax progressivity starting in the 1980s-90s during “taxing for economic growth” reforms, including over half of the high income countries included in this study. These changes have previously unexplored implications for the extent to which the current (versus past) tax systems of rich countries reduce, leave unaffected, or compound gender disparities …

Worldbuilding: A Theory Of Resilience In Transgender And Gender Expansive Young People, Jennifer Debower

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Transgender and gender expansive (TGE) young people have long histories of surviving, resisting, and even thriving despite hostility. However, dominant narratives rarely explore their stories of agency and resilience. This research aims to address that gap by asking: Where are the stories of TGE youth's strength, creativity, and resistance? What lessons lie within them? Using a critical, constructivist grounded theory approach, this study examines how 16 TGE young people navigate and challenge transphobia’s precarious conditions. Results suggest that because the current realities do not make space for their existence, TGE young people find strength in creative practices (fashion, hair, body …

A Dream No Longer Deferred: The Power And Limits Of Conditional Integration On The Social Mobility Of Undocumented Young Adults, Hyein Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Who are undocumented college graduates and how do they transition into the workforce upon graduation? This dissertation examines the diverse trajectories and social mobility patterns of 1.5 generation, undocumented Latinos, Asians and blacks with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), or the “truly undocumented” across the country. Although millions of undocumented young adults, closely resembling their 1.5 generation, documented peers are coming of age firmly rooted in American society, little is known about this population due to the lack of credible data. This project employs a mixed methods approach to analyze both qualitative and quantitative data …

The Application Of Bayesian Meta-Analytic Models In Cognitive Research On Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Nic Zapparrata

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Meta-analysis is the systematic review and quantitative synthesis of specific areas in literature and is an important quantitative tool for researchers interested in synthesizing a particular body of research. The current research used meta-analysis to investigate processing speed in two neurodevelopmental disorders. This dissertation consisted of four meta-analytic papers. The first paper was a meta-analysis that synthesized a large body of research on processing speed, measured via reaction time (RT) measures, in groups of individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) versus age-matched neurotypical comparison groups. This research was motivated by two previous meta-analyses in the literature on processing speed …

The Role Of Language Ideologies In Curriculum Design: Possibilities In Computational And Digital Literacies Integration In Teacher Education, Jessica Velez Tello

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Literacy and language are linked in its usage, perception, and practice. As new forms of engaging with literacy are explored, digital practices and tools are being employed as useful supports for students and their language practices (García et al., 2017). As emerging technologies are further introduced in educational spaces, education programs have a role in shaping how computational and digital literacies (CDLs) are integrated and how teacher candidates and teachers learn about them, especially those who are being trained to become bilingual teachers or will inevitably work with emergent bilinguals and linguistically diverse learners^[1], as the intersections between …

Diaspora Documentation Of West Albay Bikol, Nhia Borja

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper presents a comprehensive linguistic analysis and cultural documentation of West Albay Bikol, a dialect spoken in Bikol, Philippines. Drawing upon narratives spoken by a native speaker, this study aims to expand the literature on Bikolano language and add the dialects of Balugo and Polangui to the conversation. The motivation for the project stems from a personal aspiration to learn West Albay Bikolano and provide authentic language examples.

The paper comprises six chapters. The first chapter briefly overviews Bikol dialects and Central Philippine languages and reviews existing literature on the overall Bikol language. The second chapter is an examination …