Digital Commons Network^™

Inherited Wounds: Generational Trauma In Postcolonial Film And Narrative Fiction Of The Global South, Sabrina Testi Melgarejo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The theorization of trauma in literary studies emerged in the 1990s, evolving from its physiological origins to a multidisciplinary framework encompassing literature, psychology, and history. However, classical trauma theory, rooted in Western scholarship and focused on singular traumatic events, has been criticized for its limitations in addressing collective and ongoing trauma in non-Western contexts. This thesis responds to a call for a more inclusive approach to trauma studies, examining how multi-generational and cultural trauma is represented in non-Western postcolonial films and literature from the Global South, including works from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Angola, Mozambique, Vietnam, and Lebanon.

The …

Taming Biological Complexity Through The Use Of Symmetries, Luis A. Álvarez-García

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study of biological systems is, inherently, the study of very complex systems. This is essentially due to the fact that they are made up of numerous, often very complicated, interactions between an extensive number of components. Often necessitating an abundance of quantitative parameters and details for a precise description. The human brain for ex- ample, consisting of ∼ 80 billion neurons with ∼ 800 to 100 trillion connections between them, each of them depending on a large set of parameters. Even simpler examples such as bacterial organisms, such as E. coli and B. subtilis, which we focus on …

À La Poursuite De Céline À New York, Gabriel Maginier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Louis-Ferdinand Céline n’a cessé de multiplier les allers-retours entre Paris et New York, jusqu’à la veille de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Le voyage commence dès 1925. Sa première expérience avec la Société des Nations (ancêtre de l’ONU), en tant que “responsable des échanges de médecins spécialistes”, prouve également son bon niveau en anglais. C'est sous l'égide de l’organisation internationale que le Docteur Louis Destouches se voit confier la direction d'une délégation de médecins sud-américains, qui l'amène à traverser toute l'Amérique de Nord. Ce périple de quatre mois le conduit de Cuba à la Louisiane, de New York à Montréal, esquissant …

An Erp Study Of Attentional Blink And Inhibition Of Return, Caesar Ekya

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Attention can be allocated over time and space and it has long been speculated whether these are a part of the same or different attentional mechanisms. Attentional Blink (AB) and Inhibition of Return (IOR) are cognitive phenomena that are used in experimental settings to study temporal attention (AB) and spatial attention (IOR) respectively. Though known for being representative of different types of attention, they nevertheless display similar characteristics, making them intriguing choices to study the interplay between temporal and spatial attention. For this study we chose a dual-stream rsvp paradigm that would elicit both AB and IOR within the same …

Woman Naturally Is Ambitious: Sarah Josepha Hale, Gender, And Success In Antebellum America, Jeanne G. Gutierrez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the interplay of ambition and gender in the pages of Godey’s Lady’s Book under the editorship of Sarah Josepha Hale during the antebellum period bracketed by the Panic of 1837 and the start of the Civil War. In it, I argue that contrary to longstanding assumptions about the primacy of ambition during this time, the meaning and value of ambition was hotly contested, frequently by the middle-class, white, native-born women who published in, and were the primary intended readers of, Godey’s Lady’s Book. Against a background of profound political, economic, and social instability, and possessed of …

Modernity And The Promise Of Democracy: A Democratic Reading Of Machiavelli And Hobbes, Gabriel Garber

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A review of the democratic scholarship on Niccolò Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes reveals a tension between institutional and anti-institutional democratic interpretations. This reflects a knot in democracy itself. Miguel Vatter’s labels this knot ‘form and event’ in his democratic interpretation of Machiavelli. Machiavelli’s theory of form and event comes through an exploration of the tensions between structure, agency, rhetoric, and radical openness in the political realm. For Hobbes, the radically egalitarian state of nature produces one first and final event (the social contract) towards a world of strict form. The democratic interpreters have best noticed the tension between form and …

Development Of Soil Survey Methods For Urban Areas, Kohinoor Begum

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Urban soils are the foundation of urban ecosystems and play a vital role in long-term urban sustainability and resiliency. Accurate soil surveys of urban areas should be done at higher resolution since extensive human activities often result in urban soil being highly disturbed and spatially variable. Besides heterogeneity, one of the unique and challenging aspects of urban soil is the nature and properties of its organic carbon with a significant percentage of black carbon (a particulate product of incomplete combustion), which is less biologically active. Thus, in order to determine the ability of a soil to support biological activity and …

Novel Alchemical Methodologies For Modeling Molecular Binding, Solmaz Azimi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Molecular recognition is fundamental to all biological and biochemical processes. Understanding the interactions between molecules is the foundation for drug discovery and development, for understanding biological processes, and for the design of biosensors and nanomaterials. There is tremendous interest in the development of computer models to predict molecular association equilibria. In structure-based drug discovery enterprises, predicting the strength and selectivity of a small molecule to a biological target can advance target identification, aid ligand design, and accelerate high-throughput screening of drug compounds. This work focuses on free energy models, a class of computational methodologies grounded on the fundamental physical and …

Visualizing The Rise Of American Women's Soccer, Hoi Wah Tang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The rise of American women’s soccer is a compelling narrative of determination, talent, and triumph on the global stage. From the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991 to the ongoing dominance of the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT), this journey encapsulates not only athletic excellence but also the broader struggles for equality, representation, and respect in sports.

This project aims to bring this story to life by presenting a rich tapestry of data visualizations, timelines, and multimedia elements that showcase key moments, players, and milestones. Through engaging graphics and interactive features, users will explore how the sport evolved, the …

Quantified Lives: Data, Bias, And The Cost Of Categorization, Colin F. Geraghty

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project critically examines how statistical methods and data visualization have historically been used to categorize, rank, and control human populations. By exploring the works of key figures like Francis Galton, Karl Pearson, and R.A. Fisher, it traces the evolution of categorization frameworks from their eugenic roots to modern applications in artificial intelligence and global metrics like the World Happiness Report. Through interactive visualizations and historical analysis, the project invites users to question the legitimacy of these frameworks and reflect on their impact on society. At its core, this work emphasizes the need to move beyond rigid classification systems, challenging …

Constructing Women Who Do Not Reproduce In Global Neoliberalism: Critical Approach To The Abolition Of Legal Ban On Abortion And The Struggle In South Korea, Yumi Kwon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study historically examines the abolition of the legal ban on abortion and the struggle in South Korea, focusing on the construction of the status of “women who do not reproduce”, and accordingly aims to critically analyze how neoliberal reproductive crisis in South Korea has been reorganized into the new order through the constitutive role of the struggle.

The results of the analysis are as follows: First, by examining Fraser’s theory, I explain that when the “boundary” dividing the realms of production and reproduction is a place of contradiction and struggle, the phenomenon of women not reproducing is centrally located …

Chatgpt Didn’T Write This: Evaluating The Impact Of Llms With A Case Study In Grading Cuny Language Immersion Program Student Essays, Benjamin Inbar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study evaluates the capabilities and limitations of large language models (LLMs), specifically OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o, in grading essays from students in the City University of New York’s Language Immersion Program. The program serves English language learners with diverse linguistic and demographic backgrounds, offering intensive language instruction to prepare students for academic success in college. Using a dataset of 30 pre- and post-program essays scored by program instructors and ChatGPT-4o under three paradigms, this research explores the alignment between human and AI-generated scores across five rubric-based competency areas. Findings reveal that ChatGPT-4o aligns moderately with human grading, with the strongest agreement …

Jamaica In The Olympics: The Rise Of Usain Bolt, Micaiah Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Summer Olympics is a global competition that encourages athletes worldwide to participate in various events. For many countries, especially smaller ones, it allows gaining national recognition for themselves and their country. This project offers insight into how an athlete's Olympic participation can impact their country and the event. Specifically, this project serves as intangible evidence that Jamaica has made an undeniable contribution to the sports world and its legacy by way of prominent athletes such as Usain Bolt. To that end, public Olympic data was analyzed and visualized in Tableau. The resulting visualizations are accessible through a website.

Beauty Comes With A Price: But How Much Is It Worth It, Fabliha Afia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The global skincare market, valued at 104.24 billion dollars in the year 2022, is very heterogeneous, ranging from prestige brands to more drugstore types. Even when the same key ingredients are present, the latter often sells for much higher due to branding and packaging and the aura of prestige created. This capstone project entitled "Beauty comes with a price: but how much is it worth?" investigates if such higher costs are justified due to superior quality or are driven by non-functional factors. It systematically compared the high-end versus drugstore skincare products in categories like sunscreens, serums, and exfoliants with respect …

The Power Of Music To Empower Health And Wellbeing: In Support Of A Music Therapy Discipline At Lehman College, City University Of New York, Felicity A. Howlett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project seeks to encourage the development of a music therapy curriculum at the City University of New York (CUNY) and specifically at Lehman College. The following paper presents the case and highlights the contents of three data collections that support this goal: 1) The Zotero Digital Music Therapy Reference Collection is a custom-designed index of over 1600 items containing references to published material highlighting significant aspects of the profession. Zotero, a free, open-source reference management software for organizing research, houses the collection and functions as a living library; 2) Music Therapy Degree Programs in New England and the Mid-Atlantic …

Characterizing Malaria Infections In Caribbean Lizards: Parasite Niche Expansion & Host Response, Sarah J. Pangburn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Malaria is historically one of the most severe parasitic human diseases and is still responsible for over half a million deaths annually. Plasmodium species, the causative agents of malaria, are often characterized by two hallmark features of their asexual stages: the invasion of vertebrate red blood cells and the presence of hemozoin pigment as a byproduct of host hemoglobin digestion. Despite their evolutionary relatedness to mammalian Plasmodium, wildlife malaria parasites are understudied, leaving their vast genetic diversity to be explored. Lizard-infective malaria parasites, for example, include over 100 species of Plasmodium and present a diverse array of phenotypes, some …

Correlations Between Song Popularity And Their Audio Features Using Machine Learning, Rong Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project is an interactive visual project that explores the relationship between audio features and song popularity on Spotify using machine learning techniques. Through the collection of nearly half a million songs and implementation of seven different machine learning models, including Linear Regression, Random Forest, Decision Trees, and Gradient Boosting, I investigated how audio characteristics correlate with a song's popularity ranking. The project utilized MongoDB for data storage, Spotipy for API integration, and Streamlit with Plotly for visualization. This work provides insights into the practical challenges of large-scale music analysis and the relationship between technical audio characteristics and commercial success, …

Quantifying The Individual Bilingual Experience Through A Lens Of Language Dominance, Leeann Stover

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This article-based dissertation addresses some of the issues regarding the multifaceted nature of bi/multilingualism, focusing on the significance of individual variation in the measurement of language dominance. While age of later-acquired languages has traditionally been used to classify bilingual speakers into early and late bilinguals, the construct of language dominance has emerged as an additional criterion of classification. However, despite its utility in capturing dimensions of language experience beyond age of acquisition, the construct of language dominance has its own challenges of measurement and individual variation.

This dissertation focuses on two open-ended challenges in the quantification of language dominance: how …

Mad At The System: The Mental Health Act Uk: Power And Control Of Racialized Women, Maithreyi Rajeshkumar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Whilst experiences of madness are multiple, fluid and multi-dimensional across spiritual and collective dimensions globally, the categorization and regulation of ‘madness’ have direct foundations in European colonial-capitalist-patriarchal frameworks, policies and systems. This work focuses on the institutions and structures of power, turning UK legislation and those who are trying to reform or change it, into objects of study. A particular piece of United Kingdom legislation is the primary case study for this work – the Mental Health Act 1983 which covers the rights, assessment and treatment of people diagnosed with a ‘mental disorder’. Women, who are detained under this Act …

Silver-Alloyed Cigs Thin-Film Solar Cells On Flexible Stainless-Steel Substrate, Zhi Huang

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our dissertation demonstrates the optimization of ACIGS (Ag-Cu-In-Ga-Se) thin-film solar cells, achieving an efficiency of 20.4% through the combined effects of silver incorporation and alkali metal post-deposition treatment (PDT). The incorporation of 2.8% Ag into the CIGS lattice enhanced crystal quality, reduced disorder, and widened the bandgap by 0.103 eV, as evidenced by a significant reduction in Urbach energy. These improvements resulted in stronger light absorption, increased carrier generation, and enhanced photovoltaic parameters, including a short-circuit current density Jsc of 35.31 mA/cm², an open-circuit voltage Voc of 0.74 V, and a fill factor (FF) of 75.8%. PDT using rubidium fluoride …

Caedmon Records & The Power Of Youth: How Audiobooks Revolutionized Children’S Literature, Faihaa Khan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The first known spoken-word recording was introduced to the world by Thomas Edison through the invention of the phonograph. Originally intended for a visually impaired audience to read without exertion, the first known recording was a recitation of the English nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb" by Edison himself. The inclusion of a children’s nursery rhyme since the genesis of such an invention has become significant in observing the rise and success of the audiobook industry and its direct impact in increasing literacy proficiency in children.

Interactions between children’s literature and the history of the audiobook have been many …

Multi-Document Graph Visualizer: Bridging Computational Text Analysis And Interactive Visualization For Large-Scale Text Corpora, Atilio Barreda Ii

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis introduces the Multi-Document Graph Visualizer (MDGV), a tool designed to analyze and visualize relationships within large-scale text corpora, addressing a critical gap in computational text analysis. By synthesizing state-of-the-art natural language processing (NLP) techniques with advanced interactive data visualization, MDGV empowers researchers across disciplines—including the sciences, social sciences, and humanities—to uncover latent connections, relationships, and patterns in vast and complex document collections. Importantly, MDGV requires limited technical expertise from its users, making it accessible to a broader audience of researchers and practitioners. This approach draws on Haraway's concept of situated knowledges, which emphasizes interpretability and engagement in …

Testing Toxicity: Two Approaches To Toxicity Detection, Nelson E. Jarrin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current online environment is increasingly being polluted by polarization, echo chambers, and a lack of constructive dialogue between individuals with differing viewpoints. Social media algorithms, while intended to personalize user experiences and marketing areas, have been heavily criticized for inadvertently amplifying extremist content and contributing to the spread of toxic commentary. The current state of the internet hinders productive conversations, fuels misinformation, entices disinformation and contributes to online and offline societal division. This is fueled by algorithms that can create echo chambers and by the anonymity given by online platforms. While tools like the Perspective API exist to identify …

Sex-Specific And Regional Analysis Of Heart Disease Prediction Using Machine Learning Algorithms: Insights From The Uc Irvine Public Heart Disease Datasets (Cleveland And Long Beach), Jonathan Asanjarani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For this capstone project, I investigated how well machine learning models can predict heart disease, while also studying how the patient’s gender affects these predictions, as well as determining how well the same model performs across different regions. This project utilizes two clinical datasets from the publicly accessible UCI Machine Learning Repository under the collection "Heart Disease." This repository is composed of data from patients across four distinct locations, capturing varying levels of heart disease severity. These datasets are part of a collection of databases, open to the public, and can be used by anyone looking to conduct empirical analysis. …

Destabilizing The Nuyorican: Rivera’S Women And Nuyorican Cinema, Judith R. Escalona

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rivera’s Women, the Capstone, is a TV segment I produced for the CUNY-TV show Latinas that first aired June 27, 2023 (Pride). It grew out of an hour-long interview I conducted with playwright and screenwriter José Rivera as part of my research on Nuyorican Cinema, the films of the Puerto Rican Diaspora.

An unknown part of U.S. independent cinema, these diasporic films destabilize the way independent films continue to be categorized through gender, race, ethnicity, and language. Using the Capstone as a guide, I examine two of Rivera’s recent screen works that situate him within Nuyorican Cinema because of his …

My Wings Are Not Broken: Black Males, Carcerality, And Education, Crystal M. Welch-Scott

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Historically, educational spaces have been sites of racialized inequality for Black youth, creating disparate educational outcomes. The disproportionate divide between young Black and White men continues throughout the life of their academic journey, and this research seeks to examine its impact on dropping out of school. The experience of Black young men being “othered” – compared to their White counterparts – coupled with the myriad ways Black youth must navigate normalcy creates additional challenges they must carry. This dissertation employs critical race theory and ecological systems theory as theoretical frameworks. It utilizes hierarchical regression modeling of the High School Longitudinal …

Embracing Language Diversity: An Exploration Of Elementary Teachers' Perception Of African American English, Manijeh Hart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Students of African descent often speak in a dialect that differs from the Dominant American English (DAE) dialect, known as African American English (AAE). Since this dialect is not considered mainstream, students who speak and write in this dialect may be at a disadvantage when being assessed on literacy skills and responding to literacy instruction. However, it is possible to address this issue by preparing and supporting teachers in recognizing AAE use in literacy activities and providing them with instructional strategies to support students who use AAE. The goal of this research was to investigate the perceptions that elementary school …

Investigating Dna Damage Caused By Reactive Oxygen And Nitrogen Species Via Guided-Ion-Beam Scattering And Computational Techniques, Jonathan Benny

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Among DNA nucleobases, guanine (G) is the primary target for one-electron ionization and oxidation, generating G●+ through various processes, including photooxidation, electrocatalytic oxidation, DNA-binding transition metals, ionizing radiation, and photolysis. This is due to the low adiabatic ionization potential and oxidation potential of guanine. Electron holes from other nucleobases can move to guanine, proving that G●+ production traps oxidative DNA damage. G●+ formation can exacerbate DNA damages and cause secondary reactions from reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) during pathological processes. The following three projects were conducted using a customized electrospray ionization (ESI) guided-ion-beam tandem mass spectrometer, …

Freedom Dreams Of Young Black Boys: A Qualitative Study Among Black Male Elementary School Learners, Lamar Ok

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The work conducted in this research builds on the work of many who have also worked to provide a platform to illuminate the voices of Black folks, especially Black boys. This research is not the first to make the case that Black boys are as fully human as anyone else, and yet they have internalized the white gaze, even as they are proud of their blackness, their color, their race, their culture. However, there exists limited research with Black boys in elementary school, particularly before the 5th grade (before 10 years of age).

This project was about freedom dreaming—a collective …

Lishmah: An Exploration Of Syntactic Ambiguity And Biblical Exegesis Through The Jewish Calendar Year, Shani Tzoref

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lishmah (Hebrew, meaning “for its own sake”) is a digital resource for exploring syntactic ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible and traditional Jewish biblical interpretation. Hosted on CUNY Manifold, it currently features twelve curated cases of syntactic ambiguity, each linked to a month of the Hebrew calendar, accompanied by annotated medieval Jewish commentaries.

The project employs digital tools for data compilation, presentation, and user interaction. While in its early stages, Lishmah aims to contribute to digital humanities by bridging traditional close reading with computational approaches and highlighting discourse analysis in biblical studies.
Future plans include developing Lishmah into a collaborative research …