Digital Commons Network^™

Climate-Smart Agriculture: Farmer's Bane Or Boon?, Jeeva Mary Jacob

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one of the solutions that simultaneously address the issues of food security, climate change and agricultural productivity. It has been gaining momentum in the last five years among policy circles and development organizations have prioritized CSA interventions in developing countries around the world. In this paper, CSA interventions are examined from the small farmer's perspective and the purpose of this paper is to find out whether Climate-Smart Agriculture truly empowers the farmer in the face of climate change. Such a study emerged from the fact that in the past, agricultural interventions like the Green Revolution promised …

Bad Apple: Complexities Of New York City Food Aid Programs, Rose Meagan Jimenez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The only universal thing about food is that everyone needs to eat. In the United States, there are more instances of food insecurity than impoverishment. Governmental and local food aid programs are complex but are essentially motivated by socioeconomic issues. Food aid programs, from community gardening to Food Stamps, initially stem from a depression-era need to stimulate the economy. However, as socioeconomic issues change, food aid programs also evolve to meet those needs. By excavating different pieces of literature that discuss issues in food aid, the forms of structural violence that cause hunger come to life. This piece discusses community …

Sensitizing Jurors To Factors Influencing The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Identification: Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Henderson Instructions, Angela M. Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that jurors may not be able to effectively evaluate eyewitness evidence (New Jersey v. Henderson, 2011). Research generally supports this contention, finding that jurors do not take into account factors surrounding the commission of the crime and identification when determining the reliability of an identification (Devenport et al., 1997). Courts have implemented various safeguards to assist jurors in evaluating eyewitness evidence, including judicial instructions and expert testimony. The New Jersey Supreme Court proposed the use of judicial instructions and suggested their use would reduce the need for expert testimony. The current …

The Voting Rights Act Under Siege: The Development Of The Influence Of Colorblind Conservatism On The Federal Government And The Voting Rights Act, Melanie Adrienne Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recent activity by state governments to change voting rights law to limit access to the polls by minority voters, and directly challenge the legislation that protects voters from discrimination based on race, reveals an unsettling trend: states are increasingly comfortable challenging the federal mandate promulgated by the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. The Voting Rights Act was once hailed as a crown jewel in the constellation of legislation born of the Civil Rights movement. Its implementation had a significant positive impact, expanding the integration of polls and elected offices. Reauthorized four times since 1965, the VRA appeared to have …

Mental Discipline And Musical Meaning, Alice Harriet Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Musical meaning, or what a musical experience communicates to a listener, is predicated on a shared habitus of listening between the musical creator (i.e., composer, performer, or improviser) and the listener. The meaning a listener takes away from a musical experience is partly dependent on the vessel transmitting it (i.e., who is performing, the quality of performance, or the visual aspects of performance), and a musical creator's actions are the result of his or her training, past experiences, enculturation, attentional focus, and bodily control in the heightened mental state in which creativity occurs. Even in traditions that consider the musician …

Black Like Me? A Narrative Study Of Non-Anglophone Black U.S. Immigrant Selves In The Making, Yvanne Joseph

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act abolished discriminatory national origin quotas that favored European immigrants. The U.S. has since experienced steady flows of immigrants of color. These diverse groups have brought their racial, social, cultural and historical experiences, which adds greater complexity to the existing Black/White and ingroup/outgroup models that shape group relations, and psychological theorizing about identity. This dissertation focuses specifically on the smaller, less visible, yet growing segments of these immigrant populations. It presents a study of the lives of ten individual immigrants of African descent originating from a non-Anglophone country within Africa, Latin America …

The Ecology Of School Readiness, Miriam Beth Tager

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative study applies a critical and constructivist grounded theory approach (Charmez, 2014) to a narrative inquiry of how White middle-class early childhood educators perceive or make assumptions when identifying school readiness in low-income Black children. The data collection included an online districtwide survey of kindergarten and first-grade teachers (n=24), interviews of five teacher participants, observations of five identified non-school ready low-income Black children and two focus groups (participating and interpretative). The findings revealed an ecology of school readiness, in which teachers felt that the increase in standards impacted their quick identifications of non-school ready children. These participants claim …

Representation Without Thought: Confusion, Reference, And Communication, Elmar Geir Unnsteinsson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Philosophy of mind has been dominated, since Frege, by a puzzle-driven methodology. This tradition aims to provide a coherent system for describing specific semantic features of all conceivable cases where the speaker is confused about the identity of an object. The first chapter develops a theory on which confused identity is a mental state of an agent who either believes falsely that a = b or believes falsely that a ≠ b. Many influential arguments in philosophy are puzzle-driven; Kripke on semantic and speaker reference, Reimer and Kaplan on demonstratives. I show in detail how these and other arguments …

Geometric Separation And Packing Problems, Ivo Vigan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The first part of this thesis investigates combinatorial and algorithmic aspects of geometric separation problems in the plane. In such a setting one is given a set of points and a set of separators such as lines, line segments or disks. The goal is to select a small subset of those separators such that every path between any two points is intersected by at least one separator. We first look at several problems which arise when one is given a set of points and a set of unit disks embedded in the plane and the goal is to separate the …

Dramatic Form And Embodiment: Robert Browning And The Epistemology Of Romantic Drama, Laura Helen Wallace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Browning's famous distinction between the subjective and the objective poet, Shelley and Shakespeare, as well as his own abandonment of the lyric in favour of dramatic poetry, has been commonly interpreted as an epistemological demarcation that separates Browning, as a Victorian poet, from his Romantic predecessors. Defining Shelley as the subjective poet who looks through the individual soul toward "not what man sees, but what God sees--the Ideas of Plato" (283), and Shakespeare as the objective poet who looks, not to his own soul, but upon the material world, choosing "to produce things external" and to "deal with the doings …

Object Categorization In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (Asd), Jaime Vitrano

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to investigate hierarchical object categorization in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), examining three levels of category inclusiveness (superordinate, basic, subordinate) across three tasks (sequential touching task, generalized imitation task, sorting task) in three domains (animals, tools, kitchen utensils) in the same group of children with ASD. Previous research on the categorization abilities of children with ASD has shown mixed results. This study was designed to clarify past discrepancies in the literature.

Ten children with ASD participated in this study (mean CA = 4 years, 10 months; range 3 to 6 years; mean VMA …

The Measure Of A Man: The Role Of Measurement In Shaping Our Understanding Of College Graduation Along Ethnic Lines, Andrew Middleton Wallace

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The way in which college graduation is modeled matters with regard to the conclusions that a researcher is able to draw from the data. This dissertation explores different approaches to modeling degree pursuit and graduation that have implications for how researchers should model graduation. These implications include measuring degree pursued at entry to and exit from college to account for changes in level. Associate students who transfer to the baccalaureate level in particular are important to measure because of how different their outcomes are compared to associate students who stay at the associate level. Further, a variety of ways of …

An Exploratory Study Of The Role Of Cooperating Teachers In Preparing Teacher Candidates For Academic Success With Students Of Color In High-Need Schools, Audra Michelle Watson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the teaching practices, attitudes, beliefs, and expectations, cooperating teachers hold and model for teacher candidates preparing to work in high-need schools with significant populations of students of color. Using a culturally relevant and critical race theory lens, I argue that the clinical placements in which many teacher candidates are placed provide limited opportunities for them to see and engage in the full spectrum of culturally relevant pedagogical practices.

The data for this study were captured from participants in a nationally-administered, state-based teacher preparation program through surveys, interviews, and observations over a period of four months. Using a …

Civil War Incentives, Identities, And Group Allegiances In Syria's Contested Provinces: A Case Study On Civil War, Hilary Weitze

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project seeks to answer the following questions: Why did the 2011 Syrian Revolution transition into a civil war? What contributed to the popularity of rebel efforts in the countryside? This case study on the Syrian Civil War begins by characterizing key events in the current civil war setting in order to characterize the nature of participation on the insurgent side of the conflict. Further, this project sets out to identify key events and actors in their respective geographic and demographic frameworks in order to identify the nature of participants and their respective characteristics. I will ultimately draw a connecting …

Collisions Of The Personal And The Public In Post-Realignment California: How Women And Front-Line Workers Manage Post-Incarceration Work, Megan Welsh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines a largely taken-for-granted aspect of post-incarceration life: the various forms of work associated with rebuilding one's life, and how this work is organized by the institutions that typically process individuals who are reentering society from prison or jail. This project also considers how post-incarceration work has changed in one California county under the Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 and the subsequent changes made to the state's penal policies as implemented through Assembly Bill 109 (AB 109).

Rooted in the principles of institutional ethnography, a mode of inquiry that examines work processes and how they are coordinated, …

New Results On Randomized Matrix Computations, Jesse Lowell Wolf

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis is to present new results in randomized matrix computations. Specifically, and ultimately, we show how to modify, or preprocess an ill conditioned matrix having small numerical nullity (co-rank) into a nonsingular well conditioned matrix. This has intrinsic theoretical interest and we show a sample application to accurate solutions of nonsingular and ill conditioned linear systems. We discuss both multiplicative and additive preprocessing; in fact the multiplicative case assists in the derivation of the additive case. In the additive case, we approximate a nonsingular ill conditioned matrix by a singular well conditioned matrix which is then …

Why Do Victims Not Report?: The Influence Of Police And Criminal Justice Cynicism On The Dark Figure Of Crime, Seokhee Yoon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Criminologists have considered reporting as an important aspect in the criminal justice process and most studies focus on micro characteristics that influence reporting, such as victim, offender and crime characteristics. The few studies that have explored macro social characteristics dealt mostly with social ties, socioeconomic status and perception of police competency. Scholars have suggested legal cynicism, a cultural frame that views the law and law enforcement agents as illegitimate, unresponsive and ill equipped to ensure public safety (Kirk & Papachristos, 2011), as an important and necessary in victim reporting research (Baumer, 2002; Xie & Lauritsen, 2011). To expand our understanding …

Disorder Effects In Charge Transport And Spin Response Of Topological Insulators, Lukas Zhonghua Zhao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Topological insulators are a class of solids in which the non-trivial inverted bulk band structure gives rise to metallic surface states that are robust against impurity backscattering. First principle calculations predicted Bi₂Te₃, Sb₂Te₃ and Bi₂Se₃ to be three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators with a single Dirac cone on the surface. The topological surface states were subsequently observed by angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The investigations of charge transport through topological surfaces of 3D topological insulators, however, have faced a major challenge due to large charge carrier densities in …

Adonis' Poetics Of Vision And Modernity, Rasha Arabi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Syrian poet and cultural critic Ali Ahmad Said (1930 - ) (Adonis) is one of the most influential Arab poets of the 20th century. His poetry represents a radical rupture with what was established before. Adonis’ poetry is associated with innovation and revolution, and his language is characterized by mysticism and hermeticism. While living in Beirut, he co-founded the influential literary journal Shi'r (1956-63) with the Lebanese poet Yusuf al-Khal (1917-1987), and a few years later he founded his own journal, Mawaqif (1968-1998). Both journals served as a prominent literary platform for cultural modernity and radical criticism of the …

Participatory Action Research As Professional Development In Multicultural Education: What Are The Effects On A Staff In A New York City Public School?, Jimmy Ivan Kalamaras

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation studies the impact of Participatory Action Research (PAR) as the format for professional development of teachers in the domain of multicultural education. The study was conducted in a public elementary school, hereby known as Queens Multicultural, within the New York City Department of Education. Using PAR as a guiding framework, eleven teachers at Queens Multicultural created the Multicultural Education Participatory Action Research (MEPAR) group to develop an approach to address multicultural education at the school level. PAR was found to be an effective form of professional development that allowed staff members to engage in deep and rich discussions …

Low-Rank Based Algorithms For Rectification, Repetition Detection And De-Noising In Urban Images, Juan Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this thesis, we aim to solve the problem of automatic image rectification and repeated patterns detection on 2D urban images, using novel low-rank based techniques. Repeated patterns (such as windows, tiles, balconies and doors) are prominent and significant features in urban scenes.

Detection of the periodic structures is useful in many applications such as photorealistic 3D reconstruction, 2D-to-3D alignment, facade parsing, city modeling, classification, navigation, visualization in 3D map environments, shape completion, cinematography and 3D games. However both of the image rectification and repeated patterns detection problems are challenging due to scene occlusions, varying illumination, pose variation and sensor …

Dynamics And Kinetics Of Singlet Oxygen Mediated Oxidation Of Methionine In The Gas Phase, Hydrated Clusters And Solution, Fangwei Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The reaction between methionine (Met) and electronically excited singlet molecular oxygen (O₂[a¹Δ_g]) has been investigated in a systematic fashion, using a home-built electrospray ionization (ESI) guided-ion-beam tandem mass spectrometer (MS). The study started from probing the reaction dynamics between the isolated protonated/deprotonated methionine ions with ¹O₂ in the gas phase, transited through the same systems micro-solvated with explicit water molecules in gaseous hydrated clusters, and concluded with real-time methionine oxidation kinetics determination in aqueous solution. The reaction products, cross sections, and collision energy dependence were measured by ESI-MS. Density functional theory (DFT) …

The Lived Experience Of Family Nurse Practitioners Performing Sexual Health Assessments, Madeleine Mary Lloyd

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexuality incorporates a multitude of feelings including beliefs, fantasies, and aspects of pleasure, intimacy, and reproduction. In addition, sexuality involves rights to gender identity and role, sexual acts and orientation. Sexual and reproductive health and rights is a global health, development, and human rights priority. Universal access to sexual and reproductive health is essential. Negative sexual health outcomes are increasing in the United States and sexuality is often a neglected area for health providers including nurses. With an increasing share of the primary care services nationally, family nurse practitioners (FNPs) have the means to provide quality sexual health care across …

Exploring Non-Equilibrium Dynamics In Time Dependent Density Functional Theory, Kai Luo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is a method of choice for calculations of excitation spectra and response properties in materials science and quantum chemistry. The many-body problem is mapped into a set of one-body Schrödinger equations, called the Kohn-Sham (KS) equations. In principle, the one-body potential can be chosen such that the density of the interacting system is exactly reproduced by the KS system. However, one component of the one-body potential has to be approximated and is typically "adiabatic". Though in linear response regime adiabatic approximations give quite good spectra, it is important to explore their performances in non-equilibrium dynamics. …

Proton Pumping In Cytochrome C Oxidase, Jianxun Lu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) is a large trans-membrane protein, which is the final enzyme in the respiratory electron transport chain in mitochondria or aerobic bacteria. It implements proton pumping through the mitochondrial membrane against the electrochemical gradient, by utilizing the chemical energy released by reducing O₂ to water. The active site of the chemical reaction is called the Binuclear Center (BNC) that is made up of heme a₃, Cu_B, a Tyrosine residue and their ligands. The protein is reduced four times by electron from cytochromes c to reduce O₂ and to generate four different …

Some Common Sense For The Common Core, Katherine M. Maciaszek

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The arrival of the Common Core Curriculum has brought many changes into the educational world. These changes have been subtle in some cases and controversial in others. Much of the controversy lies in the testing policies put forward by the proponents of this new era in educational policy. In this thesis, I examine the causes, effects and value of one new test in particular: the new Common Core English Regents. Created by the New York State Board of Regents, this exam now functions as one of the benchmarks that students need to reach in order to obtain a high school …

Effectiveness Of Psychological Techniques In Increasing Deviant Sexual Fantasy Self-Disclosures, Christian Maile

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The assessment of deviant sexual fantasy and interests is an important component in sex offender risk assessment and subsequent treatment planning. However, clinicians and researchers have long acknowledged that sex offenders often distort or underreport details related to their sex offenses, particularly details relating to offense-related deviant sexual fantasy and interests. Some of the common methods used to minimize underreporting of deviant sexual fantasy and interests include the use of phallometry (or plethysmography) and polygraphy; however, not all assessment/treatment facilities or private practitioners providing services to sex offenders have access to such resources. Thus, the development of more efficient, cost-effective …

The Effects Of Mood And Perceived Cost On Self-Disclosure Of Deviant Sexual Fantasies And Behavior, Jordan S. Maile

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study examined the effects of mood state (happy vs. neutral vs. sad) and perceptions of cost (anonymous vs. 'non-anonymous') on self-disclosure of deviant sexual fantasies and behavior (e.g. pedophilic, coercive). Research suggests that mood may affect decision making in 'risky' situations, such that a positive mood state may increase risky decision making. It could be argued that disclosure of deviant sexual fantasies and behavior can be conceptualized as a 'risky' situation; therefore, it is hypothesized that a positive mood state would increase disclosure of deviant sexual fantasies and behavior, but only when doing so is perceived to be …

Privilege In Haiti: Travails In Color Of The First Bourgeois Nation-State In The Americas, Philippe-Richard Marius

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Who are the elites in the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere? Do Haiti's elites constitute themselves in a Blackness vs. Whiteness/Mulattoness opposition? Through the investigation of these questions, the central thesis of this ethnography emerges as the material unity in privilege of Haiti's colorist fragments. Noirisme, a fundamentalist strain of Haitian black nationalism that reached hegemony in the dictatorship of François Duvalier in the 1960s, is in marked retreat in contemporary Haiti. Its lingering influence nonetheless continues to foster a black qua black sociality among privileged black nationalists. Mulatto nationalism as political project and public discourse lapsed into …

Ragtime Then And Now: Composers And Audiences From The Ragtime Era To The Ragtime Revival, William Martin Mcnally

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The works from ragtime's revival era, including those by William Albright, William Bolcom, Eugene Kurtz, George Rochberg, and more recently Carter Pann, stand as some of the finest examples of ragtime composition. Yet these works were not generative of the ragtime age, but followed a lengthy drought of compositional interest in the ragtime style. Instead, they were the result of the amalgamation of formal and idiomatic gestures common to the ragtime style and of serious and extensive training in classical styles. In an effort to determine what distinguishes these works by the classical composers of the ragtime revival from the …