Digital Commons Network^™

Babel, Daniel Horowitz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis is a series of three memoiristic essays around the vortex of identity. The first is an exploration of how childhood overmedication split the continuity of the author’s self-conception. The second traces the slipperiness of Jewish and Queer identifications detailing their synthesis in the klezmer revival in New York City in late 1980s and early 90s. The third is a polyphonic narration of the recovery of a lost klezmer’s life story in the face of the silence of time and slaughter.

Older Adults In The Great Recession: Labor Force Transitions, Perceived Workplace Ageism And Life Satisfaction, Duygu Başaran Şahin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Until the global economic crisis caused by the Covid19 pandemic, the Great Recession (GR) of 2007-2009 was the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression in the U.S. History. Previous research argues that older adults were relatively protected from the GR’s harshest impact because their unemployment rates were relatively lower compared to younger adults. However, the focus on unemployment rate as the ultimate indicator of a recession’s impact might have downplayed older adults’ experiences. Indeed, some studies showed that despite relatively lower unemployment rates, once unemployed, older adults took significantly longer to be reemployed compared to adults in younger …

Evidence-Based Practice In The Management Of Tinnitus In Children And Adolescents: A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Rivka Deutsch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: The purpose of this investigation is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to compile and evaluate the known research on the management of tinnitus in children/ The specific aims of this paper are to determine what approaches can be considered best practice for the management of tinnitus in this population, what aspects of adult management (if any) can be adapted for children, and whether the literature supports one management approach over another.

Methods and Results: A comprehensive search utilizing the Medline and Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Google Scholar databases, accessible via …

An Offer You Cannot Refuse: Understanding The Elusive Construct Of "Voluntary" Plea Decisions, Melanie B. Fessinger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Defendants often plead guilty in exchange for reduced punishments. Some argue that these reduced punishments are necessary for the functioning of the criminal justice system, whereas others argue that they are inherently coercive because they place a burden on the exercise of constitutional rights. This potential coercion is of concern because the constitution requires valid guilty pleas to be made by defendants voluntarily. However, “voluntary” is an elusive construct of which courts, scholars, and laypeople have differing definitions. Although limited research has focused specifically on perceptions of voluntary pleas, decades of research have shown that individuals generally perceive decisions more …

Examining The Role Of Evidence-Based Suspicion In Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions, Jacqueline Katzman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are clear racial disparities in the rates of wrongful convictions, with Black exonerees disproportionately represented among the population of those exonerated, in DNA and non-DNA exonerations alike (National Registry of Exonerations, 2022; Innocence Project, 2022). This racial disparity also exists for those exonerees who were wrongfully convicted, at least in part, because an eyewitness mistakenly identified them. For decades, when eyewitness scholars explored racial bias, they focused on the cross-race effect or own-race bias among eyewitnesses, a bias positing that witness performance suffers when a witness is asked to make an identification of a cross-race face (Lee & Penrod, …

Numbered, Weighed, Divided: Revolution And/As Apocalypse In The Modern Liberal Tradition, Asher J. Wycoff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A long-standing political-theological critique contends that liberalism lacks the capacity to address theological challenges, and qualitative political challenges more generally. This charge is prevalent in our current age of crises, when the capacity to address such challenges is essential to any political tradition’s self-legitimation. I argue that the liberal tradition, broadly conceived, has long contended with theological challenges, particularly during modern revolutionary periods. Theological discourses, especially eschatological ones, circulate widely in these moments. Modern political actors impute cosmic significance to the events of their present, with a central analogy crystallizing between revolution and apocalypse. Reading major theorists of three modern …

Understanding The Relationship Between Working Memory And Long-Term Memory, Kelly Cotton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How lasting memories are created is a question that has driven much research into human cognition. An area of renewed research interest concerns the relationship between working memory and long-term memory. Recent research has investigated how the processing that occurs while information is held in working memory influences successful long-term memory creation. Both working memory consolidation and maintenance have been identified as critical in long-term retention, but the mechanisms underlying the working memory/long-term memory relationship remain unclear. The present dissertation examined different working memory mechanisms and their impact on long-term memory in a broader context by addressing two questions: 1) …

Into The Unknown: Exploring The Role Of Uncertainty In Threat-Safety Discrimination, Maia Kinney-Petrucha

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learning to predict the arrival of threat is crucial to survival. Key to this learning process is the ability to discriminate between which stimuli signify safety and which signify threat. The extent to which a threat is uncertain impacts this ability, but which factors of uncertainty are primarily responsible remains unresolved. Uncertainty at the level of the stimulus can be examined in threat learning paradigms by adjusting threat reinforcement rate, referring to the frequency at which a cue is reinforced with an aversive stimulus. Previous research has shown that a continuous (more certain) threat reinforcement is associated with enhanced threat …

Pairings In A Ring Spectrum-Based Bousfield-Kan Spectral Sequence, Jonathan Toledo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bousfield and Kan traditionally formulated their homotopy spectral sequence over a simplicial set X resolved with respect to a ring R. By considering an adequate category of ring spectra, one can take a ring spectrum E, create from it a functor of a triple on the category of simplicial sets, and build a cosimplicial simplicial set EX. The homotopy spectral sequence can then be formed over such cosimplicial spaces by a similar construction to the original. Pairings can be established on these spectral sequences, and, for nice enough spaces, these pairings on the E₂-terms coincide with certain …

Metabolic Reprogramming In Kras-Driven Cancer Cells, Ahmet Hatipoglu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cancer cells require nutrient uptake for anabolic reactions needed for cellular growth and proliferation. The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a key regulator of cellular growth that links nutrient availability and growth factor signals. mTOR mediated signaling pathways are often dysregulated in a wide range of cancers. We previously reported that KRas-driven cancer cells sense exogenous lipids via de novo production of phosphatidic acid, which ultimately activates both mTOR complexes – mTORC1 and mTORC2. Activated mTORC2 phosphorylates the survival kinase Akt at Ser 473 which is required for full Akt activation. A direct substrate of Akt and a major …

The Gilded Tropics: Winslow Homer And John Singer Sargent In Florida, 1886-1917, Theodore W. Barrow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the Floridian works of Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent in the context of tourism, race, and the environment as perceptions of the tropics in an Anglo-American context. Both artists sojourned in Florida and produced a number of watercolors and related oils that not only testify to a rapidly-expanding tourist industry to the Sunshine State, but also update the Romantic myths of the tropics with a more sober, ironic Realist take. While Homer and Sargent continue to be popular subjects for studies and exhibitions on their own, this dissertation is the first to consider how their shared …

When Feeling Like A Fake Take A Toll On Your Work: Examining The Moderating Effect Of Task Characteristics On The Relationship Between Impostorism And The Use Of Dysfunctional Work Strategies, Alexandra Tumminia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Impostor phenomenon refers to an experience of hidden feelings of intellectual fraudulence held in achievement domains. While research on the subject is limited, impostors are reasoned to use dysfunctional performance strategies marked by overworking and withdrawing (Clance & Imes, 1988). In the present studies, the relationship between impostorism and the use of overworking strategies (i.e., overpreparation, unnecessary rework) and withdrawing strategies (i.e., procrastination, self-handicapping) were explored among a sample of college students with work experience. These studies were designed to test whether task characteristics including autonomy (Study 1; N = 128) and the anticipation of feedback (Study 2; N = …

Algorithmic Sovereignty: Machine Learning, Ground Truth, And The State Of Exception, Matthew Martin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines the influence of algorithmic security technology on political theories of sovereignty and the state of exception. In computer science, an exception is a special circumstance that prevents a program from terminating normally. In political theory, the state of exception, as theorized by Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben, cannot be encoded within the normal liberal legal order. With states’ increasing turn toward algorithmic answers to questions of ‘security,’ which, per Agamben, is the long-term form of the political state of exception, the relationship between the concept of the exception in these two disciplines comes to the fore. In …

Gender Role Conflict, Campus Climate, And Satisfaction Among Male Undergraduate Nursing Students, Randelle Sasa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background. Gender role conflict (GRC) has been identified in the literature as a contributing factor to male undergraduate students’ dissatisfaction with the nursing program. Utilizing Bandura’s social cognitive theory as guiding framework, this study examined the relationships between GRC, campus climate (CC), satisfaction with the nursing program (SS), and demographic factors among male undergraduate nursing students. Understanding the associations between these variables may inform success initiatives for these at-risk students.

Methods. A cross-sectional survey was developed from valid and reliable instruments. The Gender Role Conflict Scale – Short Form measured GRC; the adapted Inventory of Male Friendliness in Nursing Programs …

Who Are Our Teachers? The Impact Of The Composition Teaching Practicum On Writing Studies, Maxine Krenzel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For first year writing instructors, the teaching practicum is vital for navigating both the writing classroom and the institutions in which the classroom is embedded. The composition teaching practicum, or the often-required training course for new writing instructors, is where new instructors are typically first introduced to their institutional and departmental policies as well as to the field of Writing Studies. While the practicum is a course that is immensely important for new instructors, I have found that this course is nevertheless understudied, under- historicized, and—in institutional and disciplinary rhetoric—too often aligned with an abstract set of “best practices” that …

Disclosure Harmonization And R&D Investment Efficiency, Lu Tong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study examines the effect of harmonized patent disclosure on the efficiency of firms’ research and development (R&D) investment. Patent disclosure harmonization reduces uncertainty about patent validity and the costs of processing patent information, resulting in better R&D investment decisions than before. Leveraging the introduction of the Global Dossier portal, an initiative to harmonize patent disclosure across multiple jurisdictions, as a natural experiment, this study finds consistent evidence. Results also show that firms reporting in non-English languages benefit more than those reporting in English due to reduced processing costs. Further analysis reveals that the Global Dossier leads to an increased …

Stokes Vector Modulation Of Optical Signals; Coherence, Noise, And Digital Signal Processing, Mario Bnyamin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Stokes vector modulation (SVM) is a method of encoding information onto an optical wave by controlling its amplitude and its state of polarization (SOP). SVM offers the potential to achieve the high spectral efficiency of multi-dimensional symbols using a power-efficient, direct-detection receiver. Combining the two independent degrees of freedom representing polarization with one representing amplitude, SVM symbols are defined in a 3-D space of Stokes vectors, where vector length represents the amplitude and altitude/azimuth angles represent the SOP. The recoverable information content is fundamentally limited by the noise on the received signal, which may include shot noise due to photon-counting, …

Transformation And Abstraction To Aid Comparison Of Binary Executables Across Compilation Environments, Jeremy D. Seideman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Binary analysis allows researchers to examine how programs are constructed and how they will impact an underlying system. The various analysis techniques allow the determination of code authorship, reuse, and similarity. Detecting code reuse is significant because code reuse can be a method for vulnerabilities and security issues to spread among software projects. In this work, we examine techniques that can aid in binary analysis, especially those that abstract and transform binaries, so that they can be compared across compilation environments, including possible changes in compiler version, hardware architecture, and compilation options. Historically, this has been difficult to accomplish since …

Play Makes Perfect: An Exploration Of Game And Play Elements In Composition And Performance, Gabrielle Chou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to explore the intersection of play and games in Western classical music and define a new category of pieces, “ludic pieces,” which contain play structures and game mechanics within their composition. Starting with surveying perspectives in ludology and ludomusicology, including those by Roger Caillois, Johan Huizinga, Jesper Juul, Katie Salen, and Eric Zimmerman, I will examine various definitions of a “game” and what its qualifying aspects are. I will then turn to music and consider pieces that interact with play and games without containing game structures, including examples of musical humor and pieces which evoke the imagery …

Transnational Ritual Poetics Of Blackness In Performance, Nina A. Mercer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I investigate transnational ritual poetics of Blackness through a historical, cultural, and spatial lens, centering my exploration on the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and waterways. I show how these formal poetics activate Africana cosmologies, cosmogonies, and mythologies dramaturgically by centering contemporary New York City performance works that bring together dance, theatre, and music. I contextualize NYC performance case studies in relation to performance practices in contemporary Salvador da Bahia. I am particularly interested in how the recurrence of circles, the crossroads, and water as formal poetics catalyze interventions along contested water-ways and landscapes marked by Black …

The Politics Of Expertise And The Articulation Of Authority In Democracy: Cognitive Style And Intelligibility In The Education Of Problem-Solving And Professional Decision-Making In The Domain Of Law, Michael W. Raphael

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Computational complexity refers to the representational aspect of problem-solving. This representational aspect is commonly understood to describe the regularities that organize the definition of the problem-situation, the qualities that designate its difficulty, either in terms of the process of arriving at a definition of the problem or in the process of arriving at a solution. It is for this reason, that it is commonly said that “representational design precedes computational efficacy.” The point of this maxim is to serve as a reminder that an efficient use of resources begins with the design of near decomposability, the specification of the properties …

Navigating Through World’S Military Spending Data With Scroll-Event Driven Visualization, Hong Beom Hur

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Catching up with the current geopolitical event is more important than ever these days. Anti-western nations like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea constantly challenge the world order set by the United States and its close allies. As a result, the world has seen a rise in military spending consecutively for the last several years. This data visualization project aims to provide an easy-to-read summary of military spending data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute for hotly conflicted regions: East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Scroll-event-driven visualization implemented using Scrollama.js and D3.js combines text, map, and data …

Voiding The Unwanted Self: An Examination Of Racialized Violence In The United States, Benjamin Stark

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is concerned with the role of the psychic defenses projection and projective identification in the processes which lead to racialized violence in the United States. The dissertation posits that projection has been less considered as a primary driver of racialized violence than other psychic processes and should be better integrated into psychological research and literature on racialized violence. The thesis begins with a detailed examination of two instances of racialized violence, the first a macro example of nation vs. nation: the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003, before which the United States fantasized Iraq was developing weapons …

Modulatory Effects Of Schreckstoff On The Startle Escape Response Of Goldfish (Carassius Auratus), Denis Shor

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fish face a variety of stressors in nature, a prominent one being a predatory threat to which they respond with an adaptive behavioral response thus maximizing their chances of survival. A primary anti-predatory behavior is a startle response or C-start. This behavior is controlled by two large reticulospinal neurons, the Mauthner cells (M-cells) which integrate multimodal sensory inputs. Detecting a predator involves various sensory information such as visual and mechanosensory cues but also olfaction. Indeed, following an attack, an injured fish will release an alarm pheromone (Schreckstoff) and thus acutely alert close by conspecifics. However, whether the alarm pheromone in …

Ethnic Tensions In The Western Balkans And The Experience Of Ethnic Minorities, Nadina Resulani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Western Balkan has experienced a past of ethnic turmoil. From the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo to ethnic tensions in Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. Understanding that ethnicity itself continues to be a salient factor in Western Balkan, the question remains how Western Balkan states were able to remove themselves from the front light of ethnic tensions considering today these countries are known as being tourist destinations, cultural and academic meccas, and democratic candidates in line to join the European Union. In reviewing and comparing the geopolitical and social environment of three Western Balkan states: Montenegro, …

Slow Speed Rail: The Social, Psychological And Environmental Benefits Of Long-Distance Train Travel, Vincent Gragnani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Long-distance train travel in the United States is slow, inefficient and woefully underfunded. Trains are routinely delayed for freight traffic. Many major cities are served in the middle of the night, or not at all. And the cost of a sleeping compartment is far out of reach for most Americans. This is all in stark contrast to the reliable services offered across Europe and parts of Asia. But for the 3.5 million people who ride Amtrak’s long-distance trains every year, the experience can be a fulfilling one. This web-based project, slowspeedrail.com, explores these benefits, namely, an intimacy with the landscape …

Audiological Management Of Children With Down Syndrome: A Toolkit For Caregivers, Natalie Lisiewicz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Children with Down syndrome may have multiple medical co-morbidities. This can result in an overwhelming number of medical appointments and information for caregivers to keep track of. Middle ear dysfunction, among other otologic abnormalities, is common in the Down syndrome population, and the presence of these conditions will result in referrals to an audiologist to monitor hearing sensitivity. While hearing may not be the most pressing concern as compared to a possible life-threatening condition such as a heart defect, it is still a crucial factor in a child’s overall development.

This toolkit is designed with the intention of educating caregivers …

Policing The Borders Of An Empire: A Political History Of Tagging (1960–2008), Maria Heyaca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Of the nearly 6 million people monitored by the prison and immigration enforcement complex in the US, a little over 4 million, or 70%, are under community supervision. If we narrow in on the nearly 350,000 people being monitored by the immigration system, the figure goes up to 93%. Yet, most studies on criminalization conducted in the US, prioritize confined individuals, neglecting community supervision. In this dissertation, I present the first theoretically driven, historical and sociological analysis that comprehensively targets fundamental questions about the political history of electronic monitoring in the US -- a practice also known as tagging. I …

Haunting At Troy: Troy Narratives, Trauma, And Desire For The Past In Late Medieval English Literature, Woo Ree Heor

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The mythical city of Troy functioned as an imagined point of origin for many medieval nations, providing a tangible connection to the legendary past and nation-building tools useful for the ruling class. Troy provided a convenient foundation narrative upon which ideas of collective identity could be built for these nations, and England, where construction of a homogeneous past was difficult due to frequent ruptures in its development of communal identity, was an eager producer and consumer of such a legitimizing device. However, the trauma of war and destruction intrinsic in Troy narratives also generates potent political anxiety about the reanimated …

Social Identities And Campus Belonging As Predictors Of Flourishing Among College Students, Christine Gilchrist

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Annual data since 2012 shows college students’ flourishing (a measure of psychological well-being) in continuous decline, with 2022 showing the largest decrease. Since the knowledge base of the predictors of flourishing is limited, how college executives can best address this issue is unclear. Variations in flourishing have been observed in studies that examined the relationship between food insecurity (DeBate et al., 2021), race/ethnicity (Lipson et al., 2018, 2022; Nyunt et al., 2022; Parr, 2022), immigration status (Cadenas & Nienhusser, 2021), as well as gender identity and sexual orientation (Parr, 2022). The intersectional impact of demographic and social identities has not …