Digital Commons Network^™

God’S Favorite: Hollywood Archivists And Peddlers, Daniela Farfan

Comm-entary

In his exhibition, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Photographer David LaChapelle features well-known celebrities that are sometimes revered as God’s favorites. The mirage of Hollywood is glamorous and beautiful. Hollywood is a place of dreams congruent with limitless imagination and youth. LaChapelle’s photographs feature celebrities who sacrifice themselves to achieve and exemplify the ideals of show business and celebrity. LaChapelle’s portraits offer insight into the fantasy and truth behind celebrity.

The Role Of Epistemics In Storytelling, Ashley Kayla White

Comm-entary

Epistemics play a vital role in storytelling sequences. In fact, laying the necessary epistemic groundwork before engaging in a storytelling sequence may make the difference between successful and unsuccessful story receptions. Taking a conversation analytic approach and drawing from one story-rich recording, this paper aims to explore the role of epistemics in storytelling sequences captured in day-to-day interaction. To achieve this, several critical conversation analytical concepts are employed. These include repair, expansion, physical gesturing, preference organization, reference, delicate formulations, assessments, and more. This paper adds to a framework of conversation analysis scholarship by drawing explicit connections between two distinct concepts …

Framing Radical Care And Radical Empathy In The #Blacklivesmatter Movement, Ashley White

Comm-entary

This thesis looks at the ongoing media framing of the #BlackLivesMatter movement (primarily in the realm of journalism) to argue that incorporating elements of radical care and radical empathy in how we communicate stories can lead to transformative change. The paper looks at the history of the movement, with attention paid to the major cases that have sparked outrage, protests, and policy changes in the United States in the last decade. Attention is also paid to the #SayHerName movement and the role of intersectionality in whether some stories reach prominence or not. Following this, a comprehensive explanation of the concepts …

Comm-Entary 43rd Edition, 2022-2023 - Full Issue

Comm-entary

No abstract provided.

Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Modeling Of Magnesium Alloys And Experimental Characterization Of A Trip High Entropy Alloy, Jacob Weiss

Master's Theses and Capstones

This work presents two crystal plasticity finite element studies on magnesium alloys and an experimental characterization of a high entropy alloy. The first of two crystal plasticity studies presents a high strain rate deformation characterization via a split Hopkinson bar Taylor impact of a WE43 magnesium alloy. This study showed that crystal plasticity finite element modeling (CPFE) was able to model WE43 texture evolution, twin volume fraction along the length of the cylinder, and anisotropy with four different material orientations at high strain rates when compared to experimental data. The second study investigated the Taylor-type model homogenization response of the …

An Integrative Approach To Assess The Behavioral Impacts Of Noise Stimuli On The Australian Black Field Cricket, Teleogryllus Commodus, Jessica Briggs

Doctoral Dissertations

For acoustically oriented species, elevated levels of ambient sound can interfere with an organism’s ability to detect and assess acoustic signals and cues needed for making important decisions. Ambient noise, defined as any unwanted or non-focal acoustic signal, can impact behavior and decision-making by disrupting auditory sensory perception. As a result, noise in the context of this dissertation can be further delineated as excess sound that hinders a receiver's ability to detect and distinguish acoustic signals. Noise consists of either airborne or substrate-borne modalities or both. While many studies focus on the impact of airborne noise, many species have evolved …

Numerical Modeling Of Flexible Structures In Open Ocean Environment, Alexander Knysh

Doctoral Dissertations

The dissertation presents advancements in numerical modeling of offshore aquaculture and harbor protection structures in the open ocean environment. The advancements were implemented in the finite element software Hydro-FE that expands the Morison equation approach previously incorporated in Aqua-FE software developed at the University of New Hampshire.

The concept of equivalent dropper was introduced and validated on the example of a typical mussel longline design. Parametric studies for mussel dropper drag coefficients and bending stiffness contributions were performed for different environmental conditions.

To model kelp aggregates in macroalgae aquaculture, a corresponding numerical technique was developed. The technique proposes a modified …

The Impact Of Ocean Acidification On The Physiology Of The Blue Mussel Mytilus Edulis, Bryson Yerik Torgovitsky

Master's Theses and Capstones

Bivalve aquaculture garners global ecological and economic benefits, which makes the continued health of bivalve populations paramount. Ocean acidification presents a novel pressure on bivalves. Decreased pH due to acidification limits the carbonate available for bivalves to take-up, thus inhibiting the formation and growth of their calcium carbonate-based shells. The aragonite saturation (Ω) of seawater serves a useful biologic contextualization for pH in studies of acidification and bivalves, as an Ω of 1 indicates that calcium and carbonate ions can bond to form calcium carbonate. Shell health is a central aspect of bivalve fitness as it is the main defense …

Tracking Green Crabs: Quantifying Meter-Scale Movements Of An Invasive Species With Acoustic Telemetry In A Gulf Of Maine Estuary, Emily Alana Burke

Master's Theses and Capstones

The green crab (Carcinus maenas) is a long-term invader of the Northwest Atlantic that negatively impacts coastal ecosystems and is a growing concern for management. However, spatial metrics of use have not been robustly quantified, and the general movement ecology is still generally lacking for this invasive species. We tracked the meter-scale movements of 43 green crabs using acoustic telemetry via a Vemco Positioning System (VPS) within the Webhannet estuary (Maine, USA). From the 163,307 crab positions yielded from the VPS array from May 27 – December 16, we described a suite of movement ecology metrics including individual crab position …

Investigation Into Itadori Knotweed As A Control Of Bank Erosion In New Hampshire Rivers, Lauren Kaehler

Master's Theses and Capstones

As floods increase in frequency and magnitude throughout New England, research on controls of erosion is necessary to help manage riverbank erosion and its implications on river system health and safety of infrastructure situated along the bank. Reynoutria japonica (Itadori knotweed) is an invasive species spreading throughout New Hampshire rivers which is suspected to cause riverbank erosion due to its unique root structure and winter die-back. To examine the impact of knotweed on riverbank erosion, paired knotweed and native species vegetation patches were selected as study sites along the Sugar and Lamprey Rivers, New Hampshire. Study sites were monitored over …

Towards Automation Of Volunteered And Authoritative Bathymetric Data Comparisons, Patrick Debroisse

Master's Theses and Capstones

Towards Automation of Volunteered and AuthoritativeBathymetric Data Comparisons By LT Patrick J. Debroisse, NOAA University of New Hampshire, May 2023 Hydrographic data, including sonar, positioning, and oceanographic data used for sea floor mapping, are used all over the world for many purposes. Large volumes of high-quality hydrographic data are required to create high-accuracy nautical charts and bathymetric models required by national defense, resource management, shipping, and scientific interest groups, among others. However, across the world, the amount of highquality data available is limited. Volunteered Bathymetric Information (VBI) is a relatively untapped data source that could be used in many ways …

Wigner's Theorem For Semi-Finite Von Neumann Algebras, Devin Daley Gent

Doctoral Dissertations

Wigner’s theorem, an important result in quantum mechanics, shows that a transitionprobability preserving bijection on the set of rank-one projections on a Hilbert space H extends to a Jordan ∗-isomorphism ρ on the algebra of all bounded linear operators on H. In this work we consider generalizations of Wigner’s theorem within the context of von Neumann algebras. Let M and N be two semi-finite von Neumann algebras with faithful normal semi-finite tracial weights τM and τN, respectively. Suppose that M has no direct summand of type I2 and is either diffuse or atomic such that every minimal projection in M …

Legality Is Not Morality: The Legal Socialization Of Prosocial Rule-Breakers, Paul Hennigan

Doctoral Dissertations

Legal socialization research is the backbone of many educational, forensic, and intervention programs aiming to prevent criminal behavior, yet researchers in this field and other disciplines define rule-breaking exclusively as harmful/antisocial behavior. This classification fails to explain rule-breaking motivated by prosocial intentions (e.g., clashing with police over racial injustice, hiding Jewish families during Nazi Germany, and violating racial segregation laws during the civil rights movement). The studies described here intend to adapt two legal socialization models so they clearly distinguish prosocial rule-breaking from antisocial rule-breaking. Across three studies, I present findings that validate the distinction between morality and legality, identify …

The Clumsy Leviathan: The Subtreasury And American Federal Power In The Nineteenth Century, Aaron Lee Chin

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation traces the history of the Subtreasury System, which preceded the Federal Reserve as the United States’ fiscal management system. Rather than relying on private banks, the government opted to store its money in federally owned and managed vaults called “subtreasuries.” By tracing the history of this overlooked institution, this project shows how the government used the Subtreasury to consolidate and display its economic power throughout the nineteenth century. My dissertation is the first to center monetary storage and control over financial spaces in the story of American state building during this crucial period. When the government chose to …

Studies Of Epigenetics And Properties Of B Cell Receptor In Waldenström Macroglobulinemia (Wm), Mona Karbalivand

Doctoral Dissertations

Waldenström macroglobulinemia (WM) is an indolent lymphoproliferative disorder with aberrant monoclonal immunoglobulin M (IgM) production that is associated with disease symptoms. Despite significant advances in our understanding of disease biology, the cell of origin remains largely unknown. Although WM therapy options have improved over the last decade, WM is still an incurable disease. Many studies have identified epigenetic dysregulation as a regulatory factor in WM malignancy. Here, we investigated the role of Mixed-lineage leukemia 1 (MLL1) histone methyltransferase in WM. We showed that MLL1 and its partner Menin are upregulated in WM patients. We also found that MLL1 knockdown and …

Evaluating The Chenopodium Microbiome: How Do Rhizosphere Microbial Interactions Affect Plant Growth And Stress Tolerance?, Haley Nolen

Doctoral Dissertations

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) has potential for cultivation in North America; however, abiotic stresses like high humidity and a short growing season are obstacles for production in the Northeast. Wild relatives of quinoa such as C. berlandieri and C. ficifolium thrive in New England and have the potential to serve as both genetic resources for breeding research and as sources of novel beneficial microbes for application to quinoa. Previous studies have shown that certain bacteria and fungi within the soil-root zone (or rhizosphere) microbiome can increase plant growth, aid in stress tolerance, and increase water and nutrient acquisition. It is …

Iron Chelator And Fluorophore Peptide Bioconjugates For The Study Of Cellular Iron Metabolism, Leonid I. Povolotskiy

Doctoral Dissertations

Bifunctional Szeto-Schiller (SS) peptides provide new tools for the study of cellular processes and drug delivery at the organelle level. SS-peptides have been shown to localize to the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM), which holds a large fraction of intracellular labile iron. Dysregulation of iron has been linked to a variety of disorders ranging from neurodegeneration to cancer. Previous studies have employed the hydroxypyridinone and catechol chelating families which fail to inhibit Fenton-style redox cycling of iron. It has been shown independently, that tripodal 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) structures can prevent Fenton chemistry. SS-peptide variants containing 8HQ as the iron-chelating group along with …

Gelatin-Based Microporous Injectable Hydrogels For In Situ Stem Cell Encapsulation, Seth David Edwards

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, I developed and investigated gelatin-based microporous injectable hydrogels for the encapsulation of stem cells for multiple applications in cell delivery. Utilizing microgels composed from a mixture of gelatin and modified gelatin, I demonstrated the utility of a dual crosslinking mechanism, which enabled rapid gelation and tissue adhesion with improved cytocompatibility. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) encapsulated in this hydrogel proliferated at a more rapid rate than in a nonporous counterpart, and showed increased immunomodulatory potential. Then, I investigated gelatin microporous hydrogel for the encapsulation of MSCs for bone tissue regeneration. Encapsulated cells more readily differentiated into osteoblasts (i.e. …

The Warriors' Views: Mid-Level Officers On American Interventions, Foreign Policy, And The Road To 9/11, 1993-2001, Michael Anthony Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations

When President William Jefferson Clinton took office, the United States had entered into a new era, though it was heavily influenced by almost a half-century of Cold War. Foreign policy staples had been embedded into United States foreign policy habits, influencing American decisions even as it tried to transition to a new global environment. The Cold War had left America, but America had a hard time leaving the Cold War. The nation had difficulty transitioning away from applying containment, relying on mutually assured destruction in preventing weapons of mass destruction attacks, and focusing on major conventional warfare when small-scale contingencies …

"A Wild Home For Wild Things": Forest Workers' Co-Creation Of Knowledge, Identity, And Place, Adrienne R. Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

This study addresses the relationship between environmental knowledge and place-based and occupational identities. I conducted fifty-five in-depth interviews with people involved in forest management in northern California. Participants belonged to one of three groups: logger- industrial, governmental-institutional, or organizational. In addition, I completed twenty-seven hours of observational fieldwork at logging sites in the region. From these transcripts, several themes emerge. Participants adopt a variety of ways of knowing and conceptions of care, and these correspond to different forest priorities, as well as attitudes toward global environmental issues. These groups also each construct distinct occupational identities, which sometimes form in response …

Highly Dispersed Metal Sites On Semiconductor Surface For Small Molecule Activation, Ehab Shaaban

Doctoral Dissertations

Heterogeneous catalysts have been extensively used in various chemical transformations that have important ecological and economical relevance. The rational design of such catalysts, however, is still not effectively implemented due to the ambiguity that encircles their structure-activity correlations. The origin of synergetic effects which make the binary system (metal/metal oxide) distinct from the individual components continues to elude researchers. In this work, binding and structural properties that emerge from metal/metal oxide interaction were investigated using in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Different catalytic structures, including highly dispersed Cu sites on TiO2, were …

Domestic Shakespeares In The Antebellum United States, Daniel G. Lauby

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines how early nineteenth-century female novelists developed a new mode of adapting Shakespeare, what I am calling “domestic Shakespeares,” that cite, reference, and rearrange plays based on women’s experiences in and of the home. I focus on popular women authors whose novels appeared between 1827 and 1862, a time when identity was especially apparent in the geographical formation of the United States. These women novelists used allusions to and adaptations of Shakespeare in their works to express their frustrations with conventional paradigms of womanhood and related disciplinary systems, such as coverture, that limited women’s citizenship. “Domestic Shakespeares,” I …

Designing For The Dissonance: Community-Engaged Field Experiences For Challenging Curricular Misconceptions Of Place Toward Localizing And Indigenizing Curricula Within Elementary Teacher Education., Elaine Marhefka

Doctoral Dissertations

Harmful oversights remain in elementary social studies curricula which overlook or misrepresent minoritized communities. This dissertation explores designs for teacher education which address these oversights through community collaborations. This multi-manuscript dissertation is an empirical-conceptual inquiry design (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), as it is not purely empirical or conceptual research. This design allows for an independent discussion of each study, while interpreting phenomena across the three chapters. Acknowledging my positionality as a white female, in a predominantly white, female profession, I look to Indigenous and Black scholars, both locally and broadly, to inform my perspective and project design. Using a phenomenological …

Low Current Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry For Environmental Contaminants And Proteins, Taoqing Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

The introduction of electrospray ionization (ESI) in the 1980s has had a significant impact on the field of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), enabling the qualitative and quantitative analysis of small molecules in complex biological and environmental samples. NanoESI, developed in 1993, further improved sensitivity and reduced sample consumption. However, the detection limits for some environmental contaminants, such as perfluorooctanoate sulfonate (PFOS), require ppt-level detection, which necessitates preconcentration. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a commonly used technique, and liquid-liquid extraction has shown promising results for water samples. Recently, the Li group has discovered femtoampere and picoampere ionization modes of ESI, which have …

Scanning Probe Microscopy Studies Of Petroleum Chemistry: Substrate-Dependent Catalytic Properties Of Mos2 And Automating Scanning Probe Microscopy With Machine Learning, Steven Arias

Doctoral Dissertations

With the growth of the population, society’s energy demands are mostly reliant on petroleum products that come from the refining of crude oil. Most of these refining reactions have been developed through averaging spectroscopic techniques, but scientists do not know exactly what is happening in these processes at the nano and atomic levels. This information is crucial when designing an efficient refining process that produces petroleum products that emit fewer harmful gases when combusting. Scanning probe microscopy techniques have become a powerful tool to look into the chemical structures found in petroleum products, to understand catalytic reactions in refining processes, …

Paying Attention To Prior Reinforcement: How Acetylcholine, Norepinephrine, And Adolescence Influence Anterior Cingulate Cortex Function, Madison K. Clement

Doctoral Dissertations

Converging evidence supports the need to understand the unique contributions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in attention. The ACC has been implicated in filtering distractors, determining the relevance of stimuli, generating prediction errors, conflict monitoring, and goal-oriented behavioral changes. Unfortunately, much of this work has used broad definitions of ACC, which have often captured activity or deficits in regions outside of the ACC. Specific attention to the ACC, without concomitant damage to other regions of the prefrontal cortex is necessary to illuminate the specific role of the ACC in attention. Dysfunction of the ACC in humans is implicated in …

On Spectral Density-Based Goodness-Of-Fit Tests For Time Series Models, Biao Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

The goodness-of-fit tests for time series models have been discussed for years. Most of the current goodness-of-fit tests require the calculation of residuals from the fitted model. Such calculations can be tedious, and in some cases, the tests are even unreliable. Furthermore, most of their results require assumptions that rule out long memory processes, whose autocorrelation decays at a hyperbolic rate as the lag increases and has become popular in time series modeling. In this thesis, a new goodness-of-fit test for time series data is proposed. The test statistic is based on the ratio between the periodogram and the parametric …

Ultralight Axion Dark Matter With Self-Interactions, Noah James Glennon

Doctoral Dissertations

Our Universe is filled with an invisible substance, called dark matter, which dominates the ways in which structures like galaxies form. Ultralight axion (ULA) dark matter is a possible alternative to more common cold dark matter models. Self-interactions in ULA models are often discarded because they are constrained to be very small. However, in my research, I have found that including self-interactions in these models can have a significant impact on what we observe, even when the self-interaction is small. I simulate ULA dark matter with self-interactions and quantify how different phenomena, including isolated soliton oscillations, binary soliton collisions, tidal …

Embedding Explicit Metacognitive Instruction Into The General Chemistry Curriculum: Equipping Community College Students With 21st Century Stem Competencies, Sonja Gamby

Doctoral Dissertations

This work describes the development, implementation, and assessment of a curriculum- embedded metacognition instruction model. The Talking About Learning is Key (TALK) module, a 10-week, discussion-based instruction module was initially integrated into a general chemistry course at a community college in Spring 2020. This case study was assessed qualitatively using a thematic analysis to characterize student posts and replies to the Learning Management System discussion board. Course outcomes between Spring 2020 – Fall 2021 were analyzed to determine what effect participation had on course completion and final grade.Finally, the generalizability of the module was investigated using a focused case comparison …

Synthesis, Modification, And Characterization Of Semiconductor Photocatalysts For Environmental Remediation, Norbert Okechukwu Okolie

Doctoral Dissertations

Semiconductor photocatalysis is a viable solution to tackle the increasing global demand for energy and the need for the recovery of wastewater in situ, without the need for fossil fuel dependence. Semiconductor materials active in the visible or near visible regions of light have been explored as suitable candidates for photocatalytic environmental remediation. Magnesium tantalates (MgTa2O6-xNx) were initially explored as promising candidates because their bandgaps can be brought well into the visible region by the introduction of nitrogen atoms as dopants. The synthesis of a highly ordered mesoporous nitrogen doped magnesium tantalate was achieved and the bandgap of magnesium tantalate …