Digital Commons Network^™

Narrating Intensity: History And Emotions In Elsa Morante, Goliarda Sapienza And Elena Ferrante, Stefania Porcelli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the representation of emotions in My Brilliant Friend and in two Italian novels written between the 1960s and the 1970s – La Storia (1974, History: A Novel) by Elsa Morante (1912-1985) and L’arte della gioia (The Art of Joy, 1998/2008) by Goliarda Sapienza (1924-1996). However, rather than remaining centered on these works’ emotive landscapes alone, I seek instead to trace the continuities that link these two “historical” novels of the past to Ferrante’s successful and more recent tetralogy. I look at the representation of emotions and at what I call “moments of intensity” – …

Characterizing Surface Water From Space With Microwave Remote Sensing: Advancing Conventional And Emerging Approaches, Katherine Jensen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The extent and dynamics of land surface inundation vary tremendously across the globe. Accurate spatial representation of terrestrial surface water is of critical importance for management and conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services associated with freshwater. Furthermore, surface water maps representing dynamic characteristics of inundated areas are also valuable for the development of wetland inventories and to assess the role of wetlands as major natural sources of methane to the atmosphere. Despite the importance of these environments in global processes and to current and future climate, the extent and dynamics of global wetlands remain poorly characterized and modeled.

The …

Structural Studies Of Peptide Toxins And Their Binding Properties Towards The Voltage Sensing Domain Of Nav1.7, Ryan Schroder

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Voltage gated sodium channels (VGSCs) are essential to the propagation of nerve cell impulses and thus communication in the nervous system. VGSCs are comprised of four repeating units of six transmembrane helices. Of the six transmembrane helices, the first four (called S1-S4) comprise the voltage sensing domain (VSD) and the last two (S5-S6) comprise the pore domain (PD)¹. The Human voltage-gated sodium channel Na_V1.7 has been shown to play a vital role in the nerve pathways that induce pain response². Many of the currently available pain therapeutic drugs are opiates, derivative molecules of opium. …

Un Trust Funds As Agent To Fulfill The Norm Adapting And Diffusing Functions, Mikiko Sawanishi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis focuses on existing large-scale general trust funds at the United Nations (UN) Secretariat, as one example of the important transformations of the UN. They were created around the 1990s amid a paradigm shift in international relations after the end of the Cold War. They function as autonomous entities to carry out specific mandates to tackle emerging global issues in responding to the requests of a limited number of UN member states that provide voluntary contributions of significant sum. The thesis explores answers to the questions of why such general trust funds were created within the UN Secretariat, and …

Nature-Inspired Electrode Materials For Next Generation Sustainable Energy Storage, Mikhail Miroshnikov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite revolutionizing the world of portable electronics, the contemporary lithium-ion battery (LIB) suffers from challenges associated with the cost, safety, and environmental impact of transition metal oxide-based intercalation cathodes. To alleviate these issues, naturally occurring organic molecules may serve as sustainable alternatives to traditional inorganic cathode materials. The electrochemical properties of organic compounds are derived from redox-active functional groups containing oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. Additionally, these functional groups are capable of coordinating metal ions beyond lithium, allowing for compatibility with sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) and other earth abundant metal-based energy storage systems. However, despite competitive performance against commercialized cathode materials, much …

Truth Telling: Exploring Sexuality In Widowed And Single Older Black Women, Margaret A. Salisu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Interest in older adults’ sexuality is reflected in the significant growth of literature on sexuality and aging, especially in the last few decades, and in growing media interest in this topic. Clinicians, researchers, educators, journalists, policymakers, and other stakeholders continue to highlight the importance of sexuality and sexual health in the older population. However, available studies in this area pertain to older married people almost exclusively and the few available studies on widows focus exclusively on White women. To address this gap in knowledge, this study focused on older widowed and single Black women aged 65 to 75 years. Feminist …

Modeling Where It Matters: Redesigning Mathematics Education With Adolescent Girls Of Color, Kara L. Imm

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mathematical modeling is not a new idea for mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. But until recently it remained largely outside of the purview of most K-12 math educators. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2010) modeling gained a more prominent place within math curriculum and instruction. An iterative form of problem solving, which supports students to make generalizable models instead of single-use solutions, modeling is now poised to be taken up as a practice in classrooms across the country. The purpose of this research—a design study—is to understand how a carefully …

Structural And Dynamic Features Of A Transiently Assembled Complex Between A Bacterial Tyrosine Kinase And Its Cognate Phosphatase, Imane Djemil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bacterial tyrosine kinases (BY-kinases) and their cognate Low Molecular Weight Tyrosine Phosphatases (LMW-PTP) work synergistically to regulate diverse physiological processes in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Of these processes, the most widely recognized role of the kinase/phosphatase pair is the biosynthesis and transport of surface polysaccharides. A process that is key in protecting bacterial cell from a variety of environmental stresses through biofilm formation, and the generation of virulence-determining capsules in pathogenic strains. BY-kinases contain a C-terminal tyrosine rich cluster (Y-cluster) located on the catalytic domain that undergoes auto-phosphorylation and is subsequently dephosphorylated by the cognate LMW-PTPs. This phosphorylation/dephosphorylation cycle …

Black Skin, White Gaze: The Presence And Function Of The Linchpin Character In Biopics About Black American Protagonists, Nicole N. Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Throughout its existence the American film industry has--through the stories it has chosen to tell as well as discriminatory practices such as whitewashing and the erasure of non-White people--enshrined whiteness as the default American racial identity. In multiracial films, Hollywood productions have historically employed racialized character tropes to further emphasize hegemonic American whiteness. This practice continues to the present day with the introduction of the linchpin, a White character who appears in films with majority non-White casts. Although billed and presented as a supporting character, the linchpin’s centrality to a film’s narrative or emotional arc elevates them to main character …

Aesthetic Redemption: Psychedelia, Film, And Walter Benjamin’S Sensory Revolution, Alexander C. Redlins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This inquiry examines the ways in which the psychedelic nature of film, as posited by Walter Benjamin, has the potential to precipitate class consciousness and lead to humanity’s emancipation from anaesthetizing capitalist forces. We first explore Benjamin’s relationship to, and understanding of, Marxist thought with a particular focus on György Lukács’ theory of reification and Marx’s fetish character of the commodity which Benjamin ultimately believes lead to an erosion of the human sensorium and the destruction of human nature. As such, we explore Benjamin’s revolutionary aesthetic theory which seeks the reversal of these erosive capitalist forces and the redemption of …

Teaching Children To Decode Words: Connected Versus Segmented Phonation, Selenid M. Gonzalez-Frey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two methods of decoding instruction were compared. Kindergartners who could not decode nonwords participated in the study, N = 38, M = 5.6 years. Segmented phonation, frequently used in synthetic phonics programs, taught students to convert graphemes to phonemes by breaking the speech stream (“sss – aaa – nnn”) before blending. Connected phonation taught students to pronounce phonemes without breaking the speech stream (“sssaaannn”) before blending. Kindergartners were matched and randomly assigned to the two conditions. Both groups were taught to decode the same set of CVC nonwords consisting of continuant consonants and vowels that could be stretched and connected …

Queer Baroque: Sarduy, Perlongher, Lemebel, Huber David Jaramillo Gil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the ways in which queer and trans people have been understood through verbal and visual baroque forms of representation in the social and cultural imaginary of Latin America, despite the various structural forces that have attempted to make them invisible and exclude them from the national narrative. My dissertation analyzes the differences between Severo Sarduy’s Neobaroque, Néstor Perlongher’s Neobarroso, and Pedro Lemebel’s Neobarrocho, while exploring their individual limitations and potentialities for voicing the joys and pains of being queer and trans in an exclusionary society. As I analyze the literary works of each artist, …

Dictyostelium Discoideum Protein Kinase C-Orthologue Pkca Regulates The Actin Cytoskeleton Through Interaction With Phospholipase D And P21-Activated Kinase, Sean Singh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Proper regulation of the actin cytoskeleton is crucial to many cellular processes. Many of these processes are regulated by extracellular signaling cues, which direct changes in the actin cytoskeleton, resulting in changes to cellular morphology, and directed motility. The social amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, is used as a simple model system to study the translation of extracellular signals to the actin cytoskeleton. When starved, these unicellular amoebae undergo a multicellular developmental process characterized by a tightly regulated sequence of signaling events. This results in chemotaxis and formation of a multicellular aggregate, and ultimately cell differentiation and the formation of a fruiting …

Examining The Contextual Effects Of Racial Profiling, And The Long-Term Consequences Of Punitive Interventions: Testing Labeling Theory With The National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent To Adult Health Data, Margrét Valdimarsdóttir

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The overrepresentation of minority youth in the juvenile justice system has been well documented. More research has, however, been needed on levels of discrimination, particularly on potential biases in the earliest point of contact, such as police decisions to stop and arrest young people. Further, few studies have examined individual and neighborhood characteristics simultaneously, which has limited the understanding of citizens’ experiences with the police. Focusing on potential biases in the juvenile justice system is essential as recent studies indicate that most types of interventions have different negative consequences for the lives of young people, such as increasing the probability …

Shock And Awe, Sectarianism, And Violence In Iraq Post-2003, Sarim Al-Rawi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The violence systematically deployed upon the prosperous nation of Iraq in 2003 was directly influenced by the Shock and Awe doctrine set forth by Harlan K. Ullman and James P. Wade in their 1996 book Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance. The experimental methods of warfare and violence outlined in the text describe methods for the systematic destruction of every major aspect of a nation and society, militarily, economically, and socially. In the wake of the US Invasion of Iraq, we saw the direct implementation of these methods by the occupation forces, setting off a brutal cycle of violence that …

Dear Black Child: A Discussion On The Formation Of Identity For African Diasporic Adolescents In The U.S., Sokhnagade B. Ndiaye

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this capstone project, I am using art, photography, and music to depict the experiences of African diasporic youth in the United States. I will explore the white supremacist systems that contribute to the anxiety that comes with being a black child in America. In this project, I plan to discuss the ways in which African diasporic adolescents develop their identity and consciousness and the ways in which living in American society helps and/or hinders the development of this identity and consciousness. I argue that living in the United States forces black youth to form double and triple consciousnesses, which …

Did The Muslim Ban Cause Islamophobia? Institutional Versus Individual Prejudice, Emma Handte

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Muslim ban is part of a storied American history of Islamophobia, and as such acts as more of a reflection of members of the population’s individually held beliefs about Muslims rather than a catalyst for such beliefs. Surveys of Americans on their opinions of Muslims seem to support this view: a “thermometer” reading of respondents’ views towards Muslims shows that from 2014 to 2017 to 2019, “cold” or negative opinions of Muslims actually decreased. This corresponds to a theory of individually directed Islamophobia that is not significantly impacted by institutional policy changes, such as the Muslim ban. But at …

The Life And Death Of Mambo: Culture And Consumption In New York's Salsa Dance Scene, Carmela Muzio Dormani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent decades salsa dancing has become a global phenomenon, spawning a variety of styles and levels. Although formerly passed from person to person through Latinx family and community networks, salsa dance has long been practiced in a more codified way. Today, salsa is largely reproduced in dance studio classes, congresses, and competitions collectively referred to as “the salsa scene”. In New York City, the salsa scene retains vestiges of Nuyorican and Afro-Caribbean identity, though it is practiced by people of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and marketed to a global base. Building on long term participation observation and nearly …

Young Children's Play In High-Rise Housing: A Window Into The Changing Lives Of Urban Middle-Class Families In Pune Metropolitan Area, Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to identify the combinations of spatial arrangements and physical features that influence young children’s access to play and the quality of their play opportunities in a heterogeneous sample of high-rise housing in India. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development as a framework, the study examines two large umbrellas that contribute to young children’s play opportunities in high-rise housing developments: (1) The play environment that is made available for children by developers and design professionals; and (2) Parents’ and caregivers’ ways of using the designated and undesignated spaces based on their own play values and beliefs. A …

Can Gentrification Improve Education For Low-Income Minority Students?, Edir Coronado

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gentrification is the process of investment into disinvested neighborhoods. The development of gentrification brings a reduction in crime, new job opportunities, and better government services, but these new neighborhood amenities are not available to all residents within the gentrified location. Newark, NJ one of the poorest municipalities in the northeast has long been one of the faces for urban blight and is one of the most troubled cities in the state of New Jersey in terms of crime, poverty, and academic performance.

Out of gentrification expensive chain stores, high priced rental units, and charter schools are born. Structurally the neighborhood …

A Modelist Proposal, Jian Shen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many philosophers of mind regard "What is representation?" as a question of paramount importance. In ask this question they overlook the possibility—what I argue is in fact the correct answer—that there is simply nothing specifically representational about representational systems. "Representation" is a label we somehow feel compelled to stick to some systems but not to others, but it fails to pick out an explanatorily relevant kind. This is most clearly seen when we look at representational systems through the lens of formal models—in particular, the sender-receiver model as developed by David Lewis, Brian Skyrms, and others. I offer a cosmetically …

Protein Phosphatase 2a Suppresses Spindle Elongation In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Shoily P. Khondker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Eukaryotic cell division is an essential process that is carried out by the cell cycle, a tightly controlled process that has been extensively studied in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The cell cycle is driven by Cyclin Dependent Kinase (Cdk1) activity. Protein phosphatase 2A-Cdc55 (PP2A^Cdc55) reverses Cdk1 phosphorylation events during late stages of the cell cycle to ensure the correct order of events. This thesis presents evidence that the anaphase inhibitor Pds1 is a PP2A^Cdc55 target. Pds1 binds to and inhibits separase (Esp1). Esp1 triggers sister chromatid segregation by cleaving the cohesin complex that holds the …

'Odd Secrets Of The Line': Emily Dickinson And The Uses Of Folk, Wendy Tronrud

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Emily Dickinson and her poetry have famously been used as a defining example of American lyric poetry. The traditional scholarly perspective maintains that the lyric poem and its speaker exist in isolation and at a remove from social and political contexts. Recent scholarship on American poetry of the long nineteenth century, however, has taken a more historical and cultural turn, reconsidering how poetic and vernacular forms and genres circulated both privately and publicly. “Odd Secrets of the Line”: Emily Dickinson and the Uses of Folk joins this conversation by theorizing how Dickinson’s poetry, written during the 1859-1865 period, registers the …

Raising Haiti: The Transmission Of Ethnic Culture Across Generations, Vadricka Y. Etienne

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“Raising Haiti” analyzes how ethnicity structures the romantic and familial lives of second-generation Haitian Americans living in Miami, FL to explore the continuance of ethnic culture into the third generation. Drawing on forty-one interviews and ten months of ethnographic fieldwork, I investigate the (re)construction and inculcation of Haitian cultural heritage via childrearing practices. I argue that Haitian American families negotiate the transmission of ethnic heritage, within a context of global anti-black racism, poor relationship with their proximal hosts, and the social value of ethnicity in multicultural Miami, through an understanding of the precarity of Haitian ethnicity. Without concerted effort through …

Creating Content For A Healthy New Life, Valeria C. Borja Lopez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Creating Content for a Healthy New Life is a project consisting of the development of a web page to connect holistic practitioners to people. This page will also allow for the promotion and sale of Ayurvedic Skincare products and services. For the capstone project, I developed a business model for the enterprise. This model offers an educational component by educating our customers to understand the importance of using holistic approaches rather than traditional ones. For this, two videos were developed to educate customers about Ayurveda and the science behind the proposed products and services. I am an experienced Holistic Practitioner, …

Maryland’S Historically Black Institutions: In Pursuit Of Equity In Higher Education, Maureen Samedy-Cooke

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2013, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Maryland ruled in The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education et al. v. Maryland Higher Education Commission et al., that through the practice of offering duplicative academic programs at Maryland’s Historically Black Institutions (HBIs) and their Traditionally White Institutions (TWIs), Maryland has practices in place that perpetuate a segregated higher education system, a violation of the United States Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This dissertation examines the effect of duplicative academic programs on racial enrollment in Maryland’s Historically Black Institutions. The study draws …

In Search Of Trojan Horses: The United Nations Culture War, Patricia Ackerman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the expanding influence of the religious Right at the UN, building on extant scholarship on the role of the culture war at the UN. This scholarship has tracked the increasing presence of the religious Right following the Beijing World Conference on Women and the Cairo Conference of Population and Development. Since that time, there has been a systematic and strategic movement against LGBT human rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights. The religious Right influence UN discourse, documents, and global policy in favor of their agenda. This conflict manifests in a frenzied media and policy battle …

Genderlects In Social Media, Alina Korovatskaya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Many studies have found significant differences in ways men and women use language; some argue that these differences occur as a result of culture differences, and others suggest that they are influenced by differences in social status and power between the genders. However, some of the major studies were concluded decades ago and do not reflect changes in gender relations in recent years. In this study, we analyze modern conversations using two social media platforms, Twitter and Reddit, to determine whether substantial differences between men and women’s use of language were preserved between the genders.

Evaluating Satellite-Based Sea Surface Temperatures, In Situ Observations, And Coral Symbioses In Southwestern Puerto Rico, Andrea Michelle Gomez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

I examined the effects of in situ and satellite-based sea surface temperatures (SST) on the seasonal coral-algae symbiotic relationship in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Climate change-driven rising sea temperatures are endangering most of the world’s reefs, which are currently in decline. Satellite remote sensing datasets support global-scale characterization and monitoring of risks to reefs associated with increasing temperatures. Corals’ unique symbiotic relationship with unicellular algae in the family Symbiodiniaceae is largely responsible for helping corals cope with increasing ocean temperatures, and some corals are able to adjust their symbiont species in response to temperature disturbances. My research had two components …

The Problem Of Literary Development In Russian Formalism And Digital Humanities, Basil Lvoff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The interest of this dissertation is how our understanding of literary development—as gradual or revolutionary; self-governed or socio-politically determined; like or unlike biological evolution—informs the status, meaning, and value of literature and literary studies. The dissertation shows how this problem—most pressing in our post-logocentric age—was addressed at the dawn of contemporary literary theory by the Russian Formalists. The latter are compared with Distant Readers, i.e., the Digital Humanists from, or conducting research in dialogue with, the Stanford Literary Lab: Franco Moretti, Matthew Jockers, Ted Underwood, William Benzon, and others.

This dissertation argues that both Russian Formalism and Distant Reading were …