Digital Commons Network^™

Diversity And Phylogeography Of Anurans Of The Highlands Of Ethiopia, Xenia Freilich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Located in Eastern Africa, Ethiopia is a country of unique geological features, among them the largest continuous Afro-alpine zone in Africa and the Great Rift Valley (GRV). The GRV formation began ~20 mya; it is a fault system that splits the central Ethiopian dome in two separate highland systems (Baker et al., 1972, Chorowicz, 2005). In spite of the general assumption that the GRV has played a major role in shaping the biodiversity of the country, its influence has not been fully investigated, as only a handful of studies have addressed its impact on the phylogeographic and evolutionary history of …

Iminophosphoranes As Useful Precursors To Potential Transition Metal-Based Cancer Chemotherapeutics, Malgorzata Ilona Frik

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the past two decades, gold(III), platinum(II), palladium(II) and ruthenium(II) compounds have been investigated as potential anticancer drugs. Our group at Brooklyn College reported on the cytotoxic properties of neutral and cationic gold(III), palladium(II) and platinum(II) complexes with iminophosphoranes (IM) or iminophosphine ligands of the general formula R₃P=NR'. These IM ligands have been very useful to synthesize and stabilize compounds of d⁸ transition metals which displayed higher toxicity against leukemia, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer cells when compared to normal T-lymphocytes. They also seemed to have a mode of action different from that of cisplatin.

This thesis …

Three Potential Mediators Of The Effects Of Child Abuse And Neglect On Smoking In Middle Adulthood, Miriam Ghirmay

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of the current study was fourfold: (1) to determine whether individuals with histories of child abuse and neglect have higher rates of current cigarette smoking in middle adulthood compared with matched controls; (2) to examine whether individuals with histories of abuse and/or neglect are at increased risk for higher rates of current psychopathology (anxiety or depression), negative coping, and past year traumas and victimization experiences in adulthood compared with matched controls; (3) to determine whether current psychopathology, negative coping, and past year traumas and victimization experiences mediate the relationship between child maltreatment and current smoking; and (4) to …

A Man To Preserve Or Reform The Nation: Masculinity As Political Rhetoric In English Novels During The Revolution Controversy, Janne Burger Gillespie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The English literary responses to the French Revolution have been given thorough critical attention as has the Revolution's impact on women writers and femininity. However, the Revolution's impact on and engagement with standards of manliness have been left relatively unexplored. This dissertation examines how a critique of masculinity is positioned in the space of contemporary political considerations in the quarter-century following the French Revolution. Thus, this dissertation argues that there is a dialectical engagement between masculinity and political views in late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century English novels such as Maria Edgeworth's Belinda and Leonora, Charlotte Smith's Emmeline and Desmond …

The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Expanding International Regimes, Thomas R. Goggin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is on track to become the largest free trade agreement in history. The multilateral negotiations comprising twelve nations across the Pacific Rim seeks to create a robust, comprehensive trade accord for the 21st century. The regional trade deal was born in the midst of an international climate of rapidly expanding free trade agreements. The TPP is not merely the latest free trade agreement. Due to the size, scope, and focus on unconventional trade issues, the TPP, led by the United States, will expand particular international regimes beyond existing norms in two key areas: intellectual property and …

Aerosol And Urban Heat Island Effects On Warm Cloud-Top Shortwave Infrared Reflectance And Visible Albedo, Heather Glickman-Eliezer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study uses ten years of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) data (1999-2009) to assess urban effects of anthropogenic aerosols and Urban Heat Island (UHI) on cloud-top radiative properties of optically thick clouds. GOES images at noon local time of channels 1, 2, and 4 are used to calculate visible albedo, and shortwave infrared reflectance at 3.9-µm. Cloud-top particle radius is inversely related with SWIRR. Albedo and cloud fraction are measured for cold and warm clouds, and SWIRR is used as a particle-radius proxy for warm clouds only. AERONET fine-mode particle retrievals (fAOD) from the CCNY station are used for …

Understanding Failure: Social Workers Reflect On Their Licensing Examination Experience, Scott Graybow

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Passing the social work licensing examination is a critical part of the professional development of contemporary social workers. However, the literature has consisted largely of debates over the ethical and theoretical merits of professional licensing that fail to shed light on the lived experiences of social workers sitting for the examination. This dissertation study sought to gather and analyze data about the manner in which social workers experience licensing examination failure. A series of semi-structured, narrative interviews captured the nuance, complexity and uniqueness of this experience. The study had three major objectives that gave it direction. First, the study sought …

Incipient Speciation In Freshwater Fish Species From Two Isolated Watersheds, Paula Gore Miller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The process of speciation occurs as a result of restricted gene flow between segments of an interbreeding population occupying different geographic areas. This separation may result in isolated populations which undergo genetic and phenotypic changes. The Wisconsin glacial period, which ended approximately 17,500 years ago, dramatically altered the geography of North America. The glacier covered almost the entire North America as it advanced. Areas that were not covered with ice provided suitable habitats (refugia) for relict species that were previously widespread in the northern section of the continent. As the ice sheet retreated, animals and plants were able to return …

Expanding The Structural Biologist's Tool Chest By Chemical And Biocompatible Modification Of Peptides: From Characterizing Marine Snail Toxins To Outphoxing Tryptophan, Alexander Grigoryan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on expanding chemical derivatization methodologies of peptides with the ultimate goal of studying proteins that are not amenable to traditional high-resolution structural techniques. The first project, conducted in the laboratory of Dr. Mandë Holford, uses improved synthetic and chemical derivatization methods to access and characterize peptidic natural products from venomous marine snails belonging to the family Terebridae. Closely related to Conus snails, the Terebridae also produce disulfide-rich peptide toxins (teretoxins) that are potent and specific agonists of ion channels and receptors of the central nervous system. Teretoxins are underexplored relative to Conus toxins, and represent a …

Studies On Bell's Theorem, Veli Ugur Guney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this work we look for novel classes of Bell's inequalities and methods to produce them. We also find their quantum violations including, if possible, the maximum one.

The Jordan bases method that we explain in Chapter 2 is about using a pair of certain type of orthonormal bases whose spans are subspaces related to measurement outcomes of incompatible quantities on the same physical system. Jordan vectors are the briefest way of expressing the relative orientation of any two subspaces. This feature helps us to reduce the dimensionality of the parameter space on which we do searches for optimization. The …

Testing Peplau's Theory Of Interpersonal Relations In Nursing Using Data From Patient Experience Surveys, Thomas Arthur Hagerty

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Patients' experiences in hospitals are important indicators of quality. Patients' opinions about their experiences in hospitals are significantly associated with their opinions of those hospitals' nursing services. Nurses in the US have traditionally focused on patients' experiences, and Peplau's (1952/1991) theory of interpersonal relations is early evidence of that focus. This study tested Peplau's (1952/1991) theory of interpersonal relations in nursing using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on data from 12,436 patient experience surveys. Two hypotheses were supported: (a) patient experience data (i.e. responses on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems - Hospital [HCAHPS] survey) collected from patients in …

View From The Front Gate: A Comparative Study Of Nyc Schools From A College Admissions Perspective, Sharon Hardy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study evaluated patterns of college applications from NYC Schools to CUNY. Specifically, a cohort of former large high schools that were reorganized into small schools of choice (SSCs) under the City's Children First education plan were studied. Coupled with the assessments of college admissions directors, the study concluded that despite an increase in applications, the outcomes of student academic quality and college preparation from a college admissions perspective were mixed.

Eye Tracking And Performance Evaluation: Automatic Detection Of User Outcomes, Allen V.R. Harper

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While evaluating user task performance with eye tracking has been examined within the field of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), previous research has generally utilized eye tracking to understand how users perform a task. This dissertation defines a new paradigm by which eye-tracking research can be used in HCI: to predict whether users will be successful at a task, using a pattern classification model trained on their eye-tracking data.

This dissertation describes the experimental framework and it demonstrates (through laboratory experiments and machine-learning modeling) the feasibility and limits of predicting user outcomes based solely on eye movement patterns. Utilizing an online learning …

Population Genomics Of White-Footed Mice (Peromyscus Leucopus) In New York City, Stephen Edward Harris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Urbanization significantly alters natural ecosystems. New York City (NYC) is one of the oldest and most urbanized cities in North America, but still maintains substantial populations of some native wildlife. The white-footed mouse, Peromyscus leucopus, is a common resident of NYC's forest fragments, and isolated populations may adapt in response to novel urban ecosystems. Using pooled transcriptome-wide RNAseq data, individually barcoded transcriptome-wide RNAseq data, and genome-wide RADseq data, I found genetic differentiation between urban and rural P. leucopus populations and evidence suggestive of local adaptation. I compared genome and transcriptome-wide SNP data in P. leucopus from relatively large urban …

Women Are Like Silk And Men Are Like Gold: A Cross-Country Comparison Of Institutional Responses To Honor Violence, Alana Michele Henninger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past decade, a specific form of interpersonal violence known as honor violence has drawn international attention because it has been increasingly reported in immigrant communities in western countries. There are currently no specific institutional responses to honor violence in the United States, but the growing media coverage of honor-related crimes has led interest groups to call for new legislation and institutional responses specific to honor violence. The global debate on the codification of honor violence hinges on the discussion of whether honor violence is a cultural crime that deserves special consideration, or whether such codification encourages discriminatory responses …

Floral Interactions In Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, New York, Jack Henning

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Van Cortlandt Park is New York City's third-largest park at 464 hectares. Despite 300 years of land-use history, this heavily impacted ecosystem shows surprising resiliency, and can act as a proxy for understanding global issues based on climate change, fragmentation, and anthropogenic impact. A park-wide inventory conducted over six years returned three times the amount of taxa observed in any prior survey suggesting the park has been historically undersampled. At 1102 species, the richness of the park supports the hypothesis that urban regions harbor greater species-richness than historically presumed. Approximately 70.6% of park listings comprise herbaceous plants. Non-natives make up …

Dangerous Spaces: The Structural Context Of Violence Against Foreign Nationals In South Africa, Alexandra Hiropoulos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since South Africa's heralded democratic transition in the mid-1990s, ongoing patterns of violence specifically targeting people on the basis of their race and nationality have been observed throughout the country. This dissertation study examines the spatial nature of violent incidents against foreign nationals in the Republic of South Africa and the effect of structural conditions on the occurrence of anti-foreigner violence.

While international migration has been historically accompanied by resentment and ill-treatment of migrants worldwide, this phenomenon is inadequately studied in developing countries such as South Africa. Since nationwide riots targeting foreign nationals in townships in 2008, there has been …

Friction, Avalanches And Phase Transitions In Granular Media., Aline Hubard

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We explore the microscopic interactions and properties of dry granular materials in the plane using experiments and simulations. We use statistics of this microscopic information to better understand and predict the bulk behavior and evolution of granular materials.

In the first part, we study the geometric structure of mechanically stable packings of frictional disks in configuration space. Our experimental setup contains frictional disks confined in a vertical plane and subject to a series of small amplitude vibrations that compact the system by reducing the friction between contacts during each vibration step. We find that the evolution of the packings forms …

On The Threshold: Breadwinning, Capitalism And The Absent/Present Father In The Works Of Three Late 20th-Century U.S. Novelists, Nancy J. Hoch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As society industrialized in the nineteenth century and jobs moved outside the home, a figure which I call the absent/present father began to make his appearance in American literature. This figure, hovering physically or emotionally on the threshold of family life, never completely present but never completely absent either, has filled the pages of fiction from that time until recently when, as the U.S. becomes postindustrial, depictions of the absent/present father decline.

Bringing a socio-economic as opposed to the usual psychological perspective to my close readings of the fictional family, I explore the cultural work the absent/present father does in …

The Ecology Of Winter Flounder From An Otolith Perspective, George William Jackman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, sagittal otoliths were used as a lens to examine latent life history patterns in winter flounder (Pseudopleuronectes americanus) and also as a means of interpreting the species' relationship to their abiotic and biotic environment. Otoliths provide a unique and powerful perspective into the lives of the telost fishes, because they permanently record the spatial and temporal histories through sequential growth patterns from conception to capture. The patterns of growth and dormancy in the otolith are regulated by endogenous and exogenous rhythms, and as the otolith grows, trace elements are absorbed from the ambient environment and …

Musical Regularity And Rhythmic Patterns: A Quantitative Analysis Of Birdsong Structure, Eathan Ezra Janney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Birdsong is a complex, learned behavior that, like music, has meaningful units at multiple timescales. Birds perform by constructing extended presentations of their phrase repertoire. Each bird's repertoire is built from small units, such as syllables, or groups of syllables with characteristic pitch, rhythm, and timbre. Like a musician each bird has its unique structure of performance that communicates its individual identity. Also contained within a bird's performance, is information about its group identity and species identity. Like a musician's performance, a bird's singing affects the behavioral state of listeners'birds perform to attract mates and defend territory.

Subjectively, many can …

The Impact Of French Opera In Nineteenth-Century New York: The New Orleans French Opera Company, 1827–1845, Jennifer C. H. Jones Wilson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the influence of French opera through the touring New Orleans French Opera Company’s summer seasons in early nineteenth-century New York City. In that burgeoning operatic environment, I provide an account of the company’s interaction with both resident and traveling opera companies, beginning with the visit of Manuel García’s company in 1825–26. The French Opera Company, which performed in 1827–33, 1843, and 1845, brought new approaches in performance practice and current opera repertoire to the New World. While Italian opera companies were sought after, I demonstrate that the works coming from Paris—either in French or in English translation—were …

Cultural Evolution In Natural Populations: A Quantitative Bioacoustic Analysis, Chenghui Ju

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bird song is a powerful model system in behavioral biology, especially for learning and cultural evolution. Understanding the origins and maintenance of vocal diversity in nature is fundamentally important to acoustic biology. Here, we propose a large-scale, integrative population analysis of nearly 2000 songs of the house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) (190 individuals) collected in western Long Island of New York during an interval of 37 years (between 1975 and 2012) to explore cultural change of bird songs. Generally, I have three aims in this study. In the chapter 1, to facilitate acoustic analysis for field recordings with ambient noise, of …

Learning Functional Prepositions, John Stewart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In first language acquisition, what does it mean for a grammatical category to have been acquired, and what are the mechanisms by which children learn functional categories in general? In the context of prepositions (Ps), if the lexical/functional divide cuts through the P category, as has been suggested in the theoretical literature, then constructivist accounts of language acquisition would predict that children develop adult-like competence with the more abstract units, functional Ps, at a slower rate compared to their acquisition of lexical Ps. Nativists instead assume that the features of functional P are made available by Universal Grammar (UG), and …

Effects Of Aerosol On Cloud Water Path: Statistical Method A Potential Source For Divergence In Observation-Based Correlative Studies, Ousmane Sy Savane

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Divergence between correlative studies involving aerosol and cloud proxies has been thought of in the past as the results of varying physical mechanisms. Although models have supported the existence of variable correlations, from an observational standpoint it is difficult to attribute with confidence the correlations to specific physical mechanisms. We explore a methodology to assess the correlation between cloud water path (CWP) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) using MODIS Aqua retrieved aerosol and cloud properties for regions dominated by different types of aerosol: Non Absorbing Aerosol Dominated Region over land (NAADR_Land), Non Absorbing Aerosol Dominated Region over Ocean (NAADR_Marine), Absorbing …

The Importance Of Bioacoustics For Dolphin Welfare: Soundscape Characterization With Implications For Management, Heather Ruth Spence

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sound is the primary sensory modality for dolphins, yet policies mitigating anthropogenic sound exposure are limited in wild populations and even fewer noise policies or guidelines have been developed for governing dolphin welfare under human care. Concerns have been raised that dolphins under human care live in facilities that are too noisy, or are too acoustically sterile. However, these claims have not been evaluated to characterize facility soundscapes, and further, how they compare to wild soundscapes. The soundscape of a wild dolphin habitat off the coast of Quintana, Roo, Mexico was characterized based on Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) recordings over …

A Light In The Darkness: Argentinian Photography During The Military Dictatorship (1976-1983), Ana Tallone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 2006, on the thirtieth anniversary of the military coup that brought Argentinian democracy to a halt, a group of photojournalists put together an outstanding exhibition of images from the dictatorship. This dissertation critically engages with the most enduring photojournalistic works produced during this period and featured in the landmark retrospective. By researching the historical context of these photographs, I aim to underscore the important contributions photojournalists made not only during the dictatorship, but also in its immediate aftermath, when the most iconic images were republished in printed publications including newspapers, magazines and books. As a starting point, I review …

Arab-American Lives In New York City: The Value Of Creative Non-Fiction Journalism To The Social Sciences, Sofie F. Tholl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Through three journalistic portraits of Arab Americans living in New York City today, this thesis adds to the academic work of documenting the post-9/11 Arab-American experience via creative non-fiction storytelling. The three portraits of different generation Arab Americans each touch upon major themes covered in the post-9/11 social science research on this population, themes that are discussed in the literature review of this thesis. Furthermore, the thesis argues that the choice of creative non-fiction storytelling contributes to the already existing research in the area by making otherwise specialized material readable and accessible for a non-academic audience. Additionally, this thesis addresses …

Organizing Against Discrimination: The Chinese Hand Laundrymen Historical Niche And Ethnic Solidarity In America, Johnny Thach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the late 1800s to early 1900s, hand laundries developed into the first Chinese historical niche in America in conjunction with Chinese laundrymen's activism, community organization, and ethnic solidarity in response to the proliferation of anti-Chinese discriminatory ordinances and laws instigated by White laundries and government officials. Using primary sources and secondary historical examples, this thesis explores the formation of the niche through the collective actions of two Chinese laundrymen organizations: the Tung Hing Tong “("同心堂")” in California, and the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance in New York. This thesis demonstrates that not only were both organizations founded differently and for …

The Insulin/Igf Signaling Regulator Cytohesin/Grp-1 Modulates Sensitivity To Excitotoxicity In C. Elegans, Nazila Tehrani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Excitotoxicity is a form of neurodegeneration that serves as the main underlying cause of brain damage in stroke/brain ischemia, and a contributing factor in a range of neurological diseases such as Epilepsy, ALS, Alzheimer, and Huntington's disease. In excitotoxicity, over-activation of glutamate receptors causes necrotic neuronal cell death. In spite of intense study of excitotoxicity, the molecular mechanisms that lead from glutamate receptor activation to necrotic death remain a mystery. Aging neurons are known to be more vulnerable to excitotoxicity and less likely to recover, but the underlying reasons for the increased cellular vulnerability are unknown. To gain insight into …