Digital Commons Network^™

Renaissance Humanism And The Ottoman 'Other' - Discourse Construction, Position And Power, Aramis Miranda-Reyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 had an overwhelming geopolitical impact on Western Europe which included a discursive shift that depended greatly on the ideological construction of this event by its contemporaries for its consequences. In other words, the nature of Western European discourse subsequent to the Fall of Constantinople was rooted in the psychological impact this loss of territory had in contemporary secular and church leaders as well as their functionaries, many of which were key humanist figures. Consequently, Renaissance writers who constructed the Ottomans as 'others', were also writing within a context of power relations. In this …

'Hope For Every Addicted American' An Opioid Epidemic In The Age Of Ethopolitics: Implications For U.S. Drug Policy And Governing Problematic Subjects, Elizabeth Newcomer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United States is in the midst of an unprecedented drug epidemic instigated by overprescribed pain relievers and cheap, accessible heroin. Beyond its immense scope, what makes this opioid epidemic distinctive is a widespread awareness of its effects among privileged populations and a political consensus that it cannot be effectively addressed with existing, punitive drug policies. Building upon analyses of the drug addict identity and policy change as well as critical addiction studies, I critically examine the discourses of the opioid epidemic, considering their impact on U.S. drug policy since 2000 and analyzing the implications of these changes for governing …

Investigating The Effects Of Intervention Intensity On Skill Acquisition And Task Persistence In Children With Down Syndrome, Nicole Marie Neil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Maximizing outcomes for learners with Down syndrome requires an approach which is both effective and efficient. Modifying the intensity of intervention has the potential to affect the rate of skill acquisition as well as other learner behavior, such as task persistence, which alters the efficiency of intervention. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of varying intensity levels of a behavior-analytic on acquisition and task persistence for young children with Down syndrome. Three children with Down syndrome were taught expressive language targets using three manipulations of intervention intensity (dose): the number of opportunities, the spacing of opportunities, …

Creation, Resistance, And Refacement: Postfuturist Storytelling, Cultural Flows, And The Remix, Nikolina Nedeljkov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Constitutive of my dissertation is an exploration of contemporary literature and culture. Vital to my research is the notion and practice of the remix. Originating in music, it is perceived and deployed as a hybrid expressive mode combining textual, audio, and visual components. The text of the dissertation, accompanying photographs, and supplementary video files demonstrate this principal aspect. Focusing on the fusion of quest narratives and social activism, the dissertation looks at critical and creative vernaculars as forms of peaceful/peaceable resistance against multiple oppression. Reflecting some of the permeating modernist and postmodernist concerns, it emphasizes an understanding of postfuturist storytelling …

Knowing Children/Children Knowing: Nineteenth-Century British Child Law And Literature, Donna Paparella

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Why are nineteenth-century literary narratives filled with children's accounts of bad parents, dead parents, absent parents, and surrogate parents? What are the origins of our current preoccupation with children as evidenced, for example, in Ian McEwan's new novel, The Children Act; New York State's recent amendments to the name and role of "Attorney for the Child"; and today's vehement debates over parenting styles? The mid-nineteenth century was a period of intense preoccupation with "the child": it engendered family law; it generated an explosion of representations of children in art and literature; and it witnessed the beginnings of the scientific …

Roles Of Shifting Attention, Alternating Attention And Inhibition On Temporary Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution And Use Of Context In Younger And Older Adults, Youngmi Park

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Twenty-four younger adults (20-35 years, mean: 25.88) and thirty-four older adults (65-79 years, mean: 71.82) read sentences via a word-by-word self-paced reading paradigm. Study 1 examined how older and young adults resolve sentences containing Noun Phrase (NP) and Verb Phrase (VP)-attached Prepositional Phrases (PPs) yielding temporary syntactic ambiguity, and which cognitive factors (working memory capacity, inhibition, shifting attention, alternating attention, and cognitive processing speed) contribute to temporary syntactic ambiguity resolution.

Study 2 was designed to investigate how both age groups utilize contextual information while resolving PP-attachment, and which cognitive functions play a role in the use of referential context during …

Singing Motherhood: First Time Mothers' Experiences Singing To Their Infants, Margaret Mia Pixley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mothers have sung to their children for centuries. Because singing provides an opportunity for self-expression and connection with others, understanding how first time mothers experience this age old practice might help us understand how singing facilitates a woman's developing relationship with herself as a mother and with her new infant. To date, little research exists on this particular function and experience of first time maternal singing. In this qualitative phenomenological study, 16 first time mothers with infants one year and under were interviewed about their experiences singing to their babies and were also asked to write a one-time diary entry …

Social Epistemology And The Project Of Mapping Science, Kamili Posey

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

One area of debate in naturalized epistemology is how to best interpret the relationship between naturalism and traditional analytic epistemology. This is particularly the case for epistemologists who commit to methodological forms of naturalism:

First, I contend that methodological naturalists must commit, at minimum, to the idea that the best methods of knowledge-production in science ought to determine the best methods of knowledge-production full stop. I also contend that the best methods of knowledge-production in science are determined by and performed within scientific communities. Thus a methodological naturalist, to minimally call herself such, ought to consider knowledge-production within 'communities of …

Traumatic Brain Injuries Among Adolescent Inmates In Rikers Island, Nyc Jail: A Mixed Methods Study, Cassandra Ramdath

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a higher prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among incarcerated population than in the general population. It is possible that head injuries can lead to behavioral difficulties, increasing the risk of criminal justice involvement and custodial difficulties. Principles of bio-social criminology put forth that the interaction between people's environment and their biological makeup that can lead to maladaptive behaviors. One of the main domains within the bio-social criminology approach is neurocriminology; neurocriminology uses principles of neuroscience to better understand delinquent and antisocial behaviours and suggests that brain injury can interact with environmental factors to produce seemingly aggressive and …

Interleukin-1 (Il-1) As A Potential Contributor To The Pathophysiology Of Alzheimer's Disease, Sara Nicole Resch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Elevations of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1) have been reported as part of the inflammatory response to injury and neurodegenerative disorders. The observation of increased IL-1 levels in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) triggered over two decades of research implicating IL-1 in the disease pathogenesis. IL-1 has been suggested to modulate a variety of actions related to AD pathology, including the processing of the Aβ precursor protein and deposition of amyloid plaques. IL-1 also activates glial cells and induces recruitment of leukocytes and peripheral macrophages to the CNS across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). When exposed to IL-1, …

The Moduli Space Of Rational Maps, Lloyd William West

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

We construct the moduli space, M_d, of degree d rational maps on ℙ¹ in terms of invariants of binary forms. We apply this construction to give explicit invariants and equations for M₃.

Using this construction, we give a method for solving the following problems: (1) explicitly construct, from a moduli point P ∈ M_d(k), a rational map ∅ with the given moduli; (2) find the field of definition of a rational map ∅. We work out the method in detail for the case d = 3.

Tales Of Language Loss And Language Maintenance: Elicited Ancestral Language Use In Lazuri-Turkish And Turkish-German Caregiver-Child Dyads During Structured Play, Peri Ozlem Yuksel-Sokmen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In language contact situations parents who grew up acquiring their ancestral language (AL) often have to make choices about the fate of AL transmission by negotiating resources and beliefs about what is best for their children's future. Their language practices contribute to AL loss or maintenance, affecting developmental pathways for bilingualism. The situation faced by speakers of Lazuri -- a Grade 2, severely endangered South Caucasian language that is no longer used in child-directed speech illustrates a global phenomenon of rapid language loss within indigenous communities due to linguistic assimilation to a dominant language (DL). AL loss is associated with …

Sex-Dependent Role Of Interleukin-1 Signaling In Emotional And Cognitive Behaviors In Mice: Phenotyping Male And Female Il1-R1 Null Mutant Mice, Jennifer Anne Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

IL1-R1 null mutant mice (IL1-R1 KO) have reduced signaling in the interleukin-1 (IL-1) pathway, making them a convenient model for testing the importance of IL-1 in either the development or maintenance of mouse behaviors. Prior research has revealed impaired cognitive and emotional processes in adult male IL1-R1 KO mice, including impaired spatial learning and memory and decreased anxiety with associated impairments in hippocampal cell proliferation and signal transmission. The current studies explored the neuroanatomy and behavioral phenotype of both male and female IL1-R1 KO mice. An array of behavioral tests was administered, including retesting at an older age for cognitive …

The Role Of The Vta Nmda Receptors, Vta Da Cells And Vta Terminal Regions In Reward-Related Learning, Karen Kest

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Reward-related learning occurs when an initially neutral stimulus acquires the capacity to elicit responses similar to an unconditioned stimulus (US) with which it is associated, in which case the stimulus now functions as a conditioned stimulus (CS). The mechanisms whereby stimuli come to function as CSs are not fully understood and comprise the theme of this dissertation. We have previously proposed that coincident signals from an unconditioned and the eventual conditioned stimulus (US and CS) signals on dopamine (DA) cells of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) leads to strengthening of CS synapses, allowing the CS to acquire the ability to …

Supporting Collaborative Learning In Computer-Enhanced Environments, Shalva S. Landy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As computers have expanded into almost every aspect of our lives, the ever-present graphical user interface (GUI) has begun facing its limitations. Demanding its own share of attention, GUIs move some of the users' focus away from the task, particularly when the task is 3D in nature or requires collaboration. Researchers are therefore exploring other means of human-computer interaction. Individually, some of these new techniques show promise, but it is the combination of multiple approaches into larger systems that will allow us to more fully replicate our natural behavior within a computing environment. As computers become more capable of understanding …

Deception As Forgery: The Role Of Reference Information In Honesty And Deceit, Timothy John Luke

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using concepts derived from cybernetics, self-presentation theory, and research on human self-regulation, I develop a cybernetic perspective of deception and self-presentation. In this perspective, human communication, both honest and deceptive, is controlled by feedback mechanisms. I report two studies designed to test the basic prediction derived from the cybernetic framework that deceivers are able to better emulate truth-tellers when they have access to relevant reference information about the way truth-tellers behave. Each study manipulated liars' and truth-tellers' access to reference information in a different manner. In Study 1, some participants viewed video recordings of people being interviewed in a manner …

The Influence Of A Child's Learning Disability On A Parent's Psychological Experience: A Comparison Of Parents With And Without Learning Disabilities, Alice Varley Mangan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examined the psychological experience of parents whose children have been diagnosed with moderate to severe learning disabilities (LD) and compared the impact of a child's learning disability across two groups of parents: one with LD and one without LD. In-depth semi-structured interviews were administered to eleven parents of children with LD, four of whom had LD themselves, and seven of whom did not have LD. Three levels of qualitative data analysis were employed to code the interviews resulting in four theoretical constructs: (1) Diagnosis as a Threat to Parental Narcissism; (2) Parents Engage Containing and Stabilizing Strategies; (3) …

The Immigration Experience Among Elderly Egyptian Immigrants In The United States, Ihab Girgis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

An increasing mosaic of immigrants comes to the United States' shores every year for different reasons. An invisible part of those immigrants are the elderly who join their families in the United States. The story of the Egyptian elderly immigrants among them, as one representative group of Arabs, is significant and its investigation is timely. This study explores the context of exit from Egypt, the risk factors for health and mental health distress induced by this transition and how they impede the adjustment process, and the protective factors and processes that buffer the risk factors, foster resilience, and facilitate the …

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 …

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 …

Sexual Victimization, Disclosure, And Accountability: Organizational Responses Of The Boy Scouts Of America To Child Sexual Abuse, Michelle Anne Cubellis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Child sexual abuse has always been a highly publicized and controversial topic due to the vulnerability of children. However, there have been several recent child sexual abuse (CSA) scandals garnering even more attention and concern. With the exposure of the Catholic Church abuse scandal in 2002, public attention became focused on the Archdiocese's poor and prolonged response. However, this crisis was not the sole case of widespread sexual violence and institutional failure. In October of 2012, Boy Scouts of America files from 1959 to 1991 containing reports of child sexual abuse were released. These reports feature detailed information about the …

The Heterotopia Of Flight: Resisting The Domestic, Sarah Elizabeth Davis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The familiar image of a woman fleeing danger is a well-worn convention of heroine-centered fiction, a plot device inevitably resolved when the heroine returns safely to her home and family. This dissertation proposes a new reading of that narrative by asserting that rather than serving as a space of protection, the home poses the greatest threat to an individual's autonomy. If we understand the domestic as a space in which bodies are ordered and, more specifically, gendered, classed, and raced, the trope of flight from the domestic can be read as an act of resistance to subjugation. This act is …

Improving Investigative Interviews: Facilitating Disclosure Of Information Through Implicit Means, Evan Crawford Dawson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Investigative interviews are essential to intelligence collection. However, eliciting information from subjects is challenging when they are not motivated to cooperate. Psychological research has examined social influence tactics that may influence an interviewee's forthcomingness, however, there has been no focus on implicit methods despite their prominence in the basic social cognitive literature. Research on implicit cognition has found that activating mental concepts can lead people to behave in ways that are semantically related to or metaphorically consistent with the activated concept. In the present research, I sought to examine the concept of disclosure and test the effects of its activation …

Art As Communication: Employing Gricean Principles Of Communication As A Model For Art Appreciation, Melissa June Dolese

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Abstract

How and why artworks elicit varied preferences and judgments among different individuals remains a topic with many unresolved issues. For instance, individuals with little artistic experience tend to show little appreciation for abstract art, even though such works often show a highly skilled organization of visual elements. A key aspect of a positive aesthetic experience concerns the ability of viewers to construct meaning. I propose that viewers attempt to make meaning of artworks due to a sense that art is a communicative process. Here I attempt an application of one intentionalist model of communication, the Gricean framework, to visual …

The Inconstancy Of Bodies: Yvonne Meier's Works, 1985 ' 2012, Lindsey Ann Drury

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What is ability? And conversely, what is disability? This research on the dancer and choreographer Yvonne Meier theorizes that her more than 30-year career has challenged the oft perceived polarities between function and dysfunction, utility and futility through the physical actions of dance performances. As she developed as a dancer and choreographer, Meier engaged in forms of movement training that pledged to expand her ability by unearthing the hidden causes and effects of actions. And yet, she created works which foregrounded the very gaps in knowledge between acts, their intentions, and effects. The fundamental disability expressed through Meier's works is …

Cuckolds And Codpieces: Early Modern Anxieties In Male Potency, Doris Barkin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation is an exploration of male potency through a close examination of the tropes of the cuckold and the codpiece as presented in English dramatic works of the early modern period: I examine codpiece and cuckoldry discourses side by side, to see how one informs the other, and to perceive to what extent masculinity is affected and communicated by these discourses. My purpose here is to explore early modern views of masculinity, marriage, and sexuality through various theoretical frameworks, from Freud to Foucault.

My study argues that while the codpiece may emphasize or articulate sexual power and virility, that …

Eyewitness Identification Jury Instructions: Do They Enhance Evidence Evaluation?, Marlee Kind Berman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mistaken eyewitness identifications are a leading cause of wrongful convictions. Even with procedural safeguards (e.g., cross-examination) in place, jurors still have difficulty evaluating the reliability of eyewitness identifications. The purpose of the present line of research is to examine whether the issue-specific judicial instructions, set forth by the New Jersey Supreme Court (New Jersey v. Henderson, 2011), effectively sensitize jurors to eyewitness identification accuracy. Results of the first study indicate that the current Henderson instructions delivered on issues specific to a case are not as effective as intended. Results of the second study indicate a sensitivity effect, such that mock …

The Relationship Between A Norm Referenced Measure Of Theory Of Mind And Preschoolers' Social Skills In The Classroom, Sarah Ellen Birch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study sought to examine the effect of Theory of Mind (ToM) performance as measured by a norm-referenced assessment on the social skills of a multicultural group of preschool students. This study extends the current research in this area. Most previous studies examined the relationship among ToM, other social cognitive skills and social skills using participants from predominately Caucasian middle class families (Slaughter et al., 2015). Additionally, earlier research relied primarily on homemade measures of such skills (Cassidy et al., 2003; Disendruck & Ben-Eliyahu, 2006; McAlister & Peterson, 2013; Watson et al., 1999; Walker, 2005).

Participants included 67 children between …

The Development Of The Eu's Counter Terrorism Policies In The Post 9/11 Era, Sinem Cevik

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

European security is shaped by major events. In this perspective, the attacks of 9/11 and the bombings which took place in Madrid and London are marked as turning points in the EU's counter terrorism history. It was only after 9/11 that counter terrorism became a strategic priority for the EU and the Union started to develop extensive policies to tackle the threat of terrorism. Responding to terrorism threats is crucial for the EU's existence as an area of security and prosperity. Thus, the EU has been creating a complex and multidimensional counter terrorism approach through the implementation of wide-ranging instruments …

The Role Of Perineuronal Nets In Regulating Barrel Cortex Physiology, Philip Chu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The ability of the brain to adapt to changing environmental conditions is regulated by genetic and environmental factors. One component of the brain extracellular matrix, a scaffold of proteins and proteoglycans, tightly ensheaths the soma and proximal processes of neurons. These Perineuronal nets (PNNs) play protective and structural roles in the brain, but also regulate plasticity and behavior. Their developmental expression is highly attenuated following sensory deprivation, or pharmacological silencing of neuronal activity. Thus, PNNs contribute to the activity dependent regulation of plasticity in the brain. Although PNNs are relatively ubiquitous in the neocortex, little is known about the degree …