Digital Commons Network^™

From Margins To Museums: Tracing The Evolution Of Representation For Contemporary African Artists In The United States, Victoria Mouraux Durand-Ruel

Master's Theses

This thesis examines the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on the art community in the United States and the evolution of representation for Contemporary African artists. By analyzing the careers and artistic contributions of Omar Ba, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, the study explores the concept of artistic agency according to which African artists have more control over the production and distribution of their works.

The research begins with a comprehensive literature review, investigating the historical contexts that have shaped the art landscape, including the impact of colonization, decolonization, and globalization. The study reveals how these …

Assessing University Dance Programs: Evaluating The Dance Education Vs Performance Majors For Teacher Preparedness, Kionna N. Burgess

Master's Theses

The primary purpose of this study was to analyze how universities are preparing all dancers for the option of becoming a dance educator outside of training in dance technique. The researcher evaluated current dance educators in K-12 public education schools on their level of preparation from their chosen undergraduate and graduate programs for dance education. There were two research instruments used in this study: online surveys and online interviews completed by the dance educators. The data suggested that there is a need for more undergraduate and graduate dance programs to provide adequate teacher preparation training for those who may enter …

How A Study Abroad Program Supports Its Students Of Color: A Case Study, Hannah E. L. Bloom

Master's Theses

Students of Color study abroad at rates lower than their white peers, thus missing out on the academic, personal, and intercultural benefits one can gain from studying abroad. The purpose of this thesis was to conduct a qualitative case study to examine how a study abroad program supports its Students of Color during the pre-departure phase of study abroad. This case study uses Critical Race Theory as its theoretical lens. Research for this case study included interviews with four study abroad practitioners from one study abroad program, and a review of the study abroad program’s online spaces. This thesis endeavored …

Evaluation Of Polyvinyl Alcohol (Pva) For Electrospinning Utility In The Blood Vessel Mimic (Bvm) Lab, Logan Vandenbroucke

Master's Theses

Electrospinning has provided the opportunity to create extracellular matrix (ECM) mimicking scaffolds for the development of tissue-engineered constructs. Within Professor Kristen Cardinal’s Blood Vessel Mimic (BVM) Lab, at Cal Poly, there exists a constant demand for innovation and the expansion of polymer types and electrospinning capabilities for its BVM model. Along these lines, the BVM Lab has recently acquired two new electrospinning systems: the Spinbox, a commercially graded electrospinning system, and the Learn-By-Doing system, which was part of a recently completed thesis conducted by Jason Provol. Additionally, recently published literature has demonstrated polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a viable option for …

Nanoparticles And The Environment: Biopolymer Grafted Cellulose And Screen-Printed Carbon Nanotube Composites, Dominique Henry Porcincula

Master's Theses

A host of environmental issues will define the state of the environment in the 21^st century, with plastic pollution and water shortages among them. While solutions to these problems require large-scale, multipronged solutions, one way we can address them is through material innovation and the use of nanoparticles.

In the first project, we address the issue of plastic pollution by creating nanocomposites of biodegradable polymers (PLA and PCL) with cellulose nanofibrils. Here, PLA and PCL are grafted from the surface of cellulose nanofibrils via ring-opening polymerization of cyclic ester monomers. Polymer-grafted cellulose (PGC) is characterized with structural analysis, solubility …

Dance And Emotional Intelligence: Mitigating Anxiety In The Modern Teen, Bridget Morris

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis study was to find if emotional intelligence could be increased through participation in dance classes, and if that increase of emotional intelligence could mitigate anxiety in teens today. The researcher held four dance classes with a total of five 15–16- year-old volunteer participants, all with dance experience. Two research instruments were used and data were analyzed quantitatively. The research questions explored were: Q1 What immediate effects do participating in a dance class have on emotional intelligence? Q2 Which components of emotional intelligence develop the most from participating in dance? The data demonstrated that participation in …

Factors Shaping The Choreographic Process Of Studio Dance Teachers, Anna Duvall

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors inform or shape the choreographic process of studio dance teachers. The research evaluates the role that teacher factors, student factors, social media, and non-person elements have in influencing studio dance instructors’ creation of choreography. A total of 54 people participated in this study and completed an in-depth survey. These teachers currently teach at various dance studios in Salt Lake County and Utah County, which are the two highest-populated counties in the State of Utah, comprising a significant majority of Utah’s population. Of this group of teachers, a total of nine …

Investigating The Therapeutic Potential Of Cannabigerol (Cbg) In Female Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (Nash) Mouse Model, Raznin A. Joly

Master's Theses

Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) characterized by inflammation, fibrosis, steatosis, and oxidative stress, in addition to excessive fat accumulation in the liver. Cannabigerol (CBG), a precursor molecule of Cannabidiol (CBD), has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects in various studies. Our previous data showed that a low dosage of CBG reduced inflammation and fibrosis in male NASH mice. However, the impact of CBG on female mice remains unknown. Recent studies have identified changes in immune cell populations in NAFLD patients. The goal of this project was to test the impact of CBG treatment …

The Creation And Application Of A Fundamental Hip-Hop Curriculum: What Are The Benefits And Drawbacks Of Codifying Classic Hip-Hop Technique?, Julie Wolfrum

Master's Theses

In this study, the researcher proposed using knowledge collected of hip-hop dance experts and pioneers to create a curriculum applicable for the youth. Using interviews with various experts and research on hip-hop pioneers, the researcher tested the proposed curriculum on third, fourth, and fifth grade participants in a Colorado private school. The curriculum was tested over a span of five weeks with seventy-four participants. Within the study, the participants were given historical knowledge, various vocabulary, creative prompts, and were introduced to different hip-hop musical artists. The participants were required to participate in cyphers, Battles, various hip-hop dance exercises, and create …

How Sewage Pollution Affects Distribution And Life History Traits Of The Southern House Mosquito, Culex Quinquefasciatus, Catherine Dean Bermond

Master's Theses

Eutrophication from wastewater can cause fluxes of nutrients like and carbon and nitrogen in urban waters. One source of nitrogen in freshwater is from untreated sewage discharging from septic tanks. This causes a variety of environmental issues including harmful algal blooms, harming natural predators, and increased production of mosquitoes. Culex quinquefasciatus is the vector of West Nile Virus in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. St. Tammany Parish has over 600 miles of septic ditches, which receive effluent directly from aerated treatment units. Culex quinquefasciatus oviposit in polluted waters, and larvae perform well in water with high levels of decomposing organic matter. …

College Athletes As Endorsers: A Study Of Nil Advertising, Zach Johnson

Master's Theses

The objective of this study is to determine how effective the newly enforced NIL deals among college athletes are in terms of social media advertising. With the rise of social media and the amount of people using social media daily, it is imperative for advertisers to understand various ways of promoting brands on social media. A 2x2x2 mixed experimental design was used to investigate the effects of college athletes-sponsored Instagram posts among college students, specifically source relevance, product relevance, and message authenticity. Findings suggested positive effects of using college athletes as sponsors. Source relevance, product relevance, and message authenticity played …

An Analysis On Wildfire Mitigations Employed By Utilities In California, Evan Luu

Master's Theses

As climate change continues to worsen, environmental effects are felt by many people around the world. In California, some of its most damaging wildfires have been found to be started by utilities. As the state continues to suffer from worsening wildfire conditions, the utilities need to implement a variety of wildfire mitigations to help reduce the risk of wildfires that can affect the state and its residents. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of four mitigations employed across three California utilities and suggests potential ways for the mitigations to be used together. The technologies evaluated are covered conductor, rapid earth fault …

Exploring The Interactions Of Copper High Aspect Ratio Structures (Cuhars), A Novel Metal-Organic Biohybrid Nanocomposite, With Chondrocytes, Tasneem Khasru

Master's Theses

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent degenerative joint disorder characterized by cartilage lesions and subchondral bone destruction (1). Addressing OA is challenging due to cartilage's avascular and aneural nature, unique cellular arrangement, and dense extracellular matrix (ECM). Current pharmacological treatments are mainly symptomatic and are unable to halt disease progression or reverse cartilage damage . Surgical interventions also come with complications. Tissue-engineered grafts using biomaterials and molecular manipulation have emerged as potential treatments for cartilage regeneration. Copper-containing scaffolds have shown promise in bone and cartilage regeneration. Nanotechnology offers new avenues, with nanoparticles and nanofibers being used in tissue engineering research. However, …

Investigating The Role Of The Metabolite Je As An Inflammatory Modulator, Rim Ahmed Noufal

Master's Theses

Innate immunity represents the first line of defense against pathogens that invade our bodies. It greatly relies on a family of abundant receptors called pathogen recognition receptors (PRRs). These are germ-line encoded proteins abundant in immune cells like macrophages, dendritic cells, and natural killer cells. PRRs encompass five categories, one of which includes toll-like receptors (TLRs). TLRs could either be located on the surface of the cells or intracellularly. The mechanism by which TLRs act is through recognizing a myriad of foreign structures derived from microbes, such as proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates as well as their genetic material. Generally, these …

Novel Method Of The Quantification Of Turbulent Fluid Flow In Silicone Artery Phantoms Using Acoustic Analysis, Julia Wong

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally and is responsible for taking 17.9 million lives per year. Despite the use of clinical treatments and detection methods, there remains a large population of individuals that suffer from CVD whose symptoms are left undetected and untreated prior to a life-threatening cardiac event. This highlights a need for an early detection method that can prevent the manifestation and worsening of the disease as well as address limitations of current early detection methods. An area of interest for early detection of CVD is subclinical atherosclerosis, which is the long, early, asymptomatic stage …

Development Of An Angiogenic Tissue-On-A-Chip Microenvironment, Eric Stuehr

Master's Theses

Preclinical testing is necessary to investigate the safety and efficacy of novel therapeutics before moving to clinical trials, yet approximately 90% of these therapies fail once tested in humans. This has led to increased interest in developing robust preclinical models that accurately mimic the complex human in vivo physiology. Microfluidic devices that can introduce dynamic conditions to 3D cell/organoid cultures, also known as tissue-on-a-chip, have emerged as physiologically relevant in vitro preclinical models that can achieve high throughput screening of therapeutics. The research presented here aimed to develop an angiogenic environment within a novel microfluidic device to stimulate formation of …

"It's Good To Doubt Saints, Vladim.": Medieval Constructions Of Sainthood, Their Histories, And Their Cults In Leigh Bardugo's Shadow And Bone, Kacie Barrett

Master's Theses

The Grishaverse is the fictional world created by author Leigh Bardugo that encompasses three separate series and ten different books. First published in 2012, the Shadow and Bone trilogy introduces readers to the world of Ravka, its Grisha, and its saints. The story follows Alina as she moves from orphan and soldier to saint and martyr. Sankta Alina becomes a character of its own – a version of Alina communicated to the people of Ravka as a banner to rally behind. She is made into living saint. The questions raised by Leigh Bardugo are echoed in church history. Sainthood is …

Characterizing The Utility Of A Near Infrared Click Beetle Luciferase For Bli Applications, Giovanni Duca

Master's Theses

Bioluminescent imaging systems (BLI) have become a valuable tool for doing real-time in vivo studies. BLI systems typically allow for the imaging of surface and subsurface level tissues but as depth increases, the resolution decreases while the signal to noise ratio increases. Deep tissue imaging is therefore a major limitation for BLI. To address this limitation there has been a consistent movement in luciferase research to create long wavelength emitting luciferases that still have a high photon emission rate. Longer wavelengths of light are able to penetrate deeper tissues due to having a lower amount of absorbance and scattering from …

A Study On Api Security Pentesting, Hadi Asemi

Master's Theses

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are essential in the digital realm as the bridge enabling seamless communication and collaboration between diverse software applications. Their significance lies in simplifying the integration of different systems, allowing them to work together effortlessly and share data. APIs are used in various applications, for example, healthcare, banks, authentication, etc. Ensuring the security of APIs is critical to ensure data security, privacy, and more. Therefore, the security of APIs is not only urgent but mandatory for pentesting APIs at every stage of development and to catch vulnerabilities early. The primary purpose of this research is to provide …

Design And Synthesis Of N-Succinyl-L,L-2.6-Diaminopimelic Acid Desuccinylase Inhibitors As Potential Novel Antibiotics, Thomas Dipuma

Master's Theses

N-Succinyl-L,L-2,6-Diaminopimelic Acid Desuccinylase (DapE) is a bacterial enzyme located in the lysine biosynthetic pathway of all Gram-negative and most Gram-positive species of bacteria including the notorious ESKAPE pathogens, or pathogenic strains of bacteria that have developed significant levels of resistance to currently available antibiotics. As a means to combat this challenge of growing antimicrobial resistance, we have identified the bacterial enzyme DapE as a conserved, novel enzymate target within these resistant bacterial strains,as DapE is responsible for the production of m-DAP and lysine which are ultimately employed in bacterial cell wall synthesis. The overall aim of this research is to …

Nanodiscs: A Novel Approach To The Study Of The Methionine Abc Transporter System, Michael T. Winslow

Master's Theses

Membrane transporter proteins play the vital role of moving compounds in and out of the cell and are essential for all living organisms. ATP Binding Cassette (ABC) family transporters function both as importers and exporters in prokaryotes. MetNI is an E. coli Type I ABC transporter responsible for the uptake of methionine into the cytosol from the cell periplasmic space through the cell membrane to maintain intracellular methionine pools. ABC transporters, like other membrane proteins, are most often mechanistically and structurally studied in vitro, solubilized by detergents. However, detergent micelles may affect the conformational changes of membrane proteins relative to …

Investigating Putative Toxin-Immunity Pairs From A New Class Of Rhs Proteins In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Syed Faieq Imam

Master's Theses

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative, opportunistic pathogen that is ubiquitous in nature, especially in human/animal impacted environments. One of the reasons for this is the arsenal of protein systems and toxins that P. aeruginosa utilizes to mold its environment to suit its needs. Recently, we discovered a novel locus in the P. aeruginosa genome, which resembles other loci that are known to mediate interbacterial competition. Our bioinformatic analysis found this locus to be enriched in a rearrangement hotspot (rhs) motif which led us to ad-interim term the three ORFs of the loci as rhsB, rhsC, and rhsI. Furthermore, we have …

Biomarkers In Borrelia Burgdorferi Infected Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells, Sambuddha Paul

Master's Theses

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with limited treatment options and a poor prognosis. Although some studies have attempted to identify new biomarkers and therapies, only a few have shown promise in clinical trials. In the context of cancer development, infectious agents rank as the third major risk factor, contributing to approximately 15-20% of cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society. Hence, the identification of biomarkers associated with infection-originated cancer is crucial for enhancing cancer prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and treatment. Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, has been linked to TNBC …

An Examination Of School Resource Officers' Self-Perception Of Role, Student Encounters And Duties, Alexandra Swanty

Master's Theses

As the rates of school shootings and school violence rise, the effectiveness of school resource officers (SROs) has come into question. As of now, there is no nationwide standard for the role and duties of school resource officers. Therefore, these differ from state to state and even school district to school district. One variable that had yet to be examined was the impact that location has on the roles of school resource officers. From this, three different school resource officer roles were identified: teaching-based role, community-based role, and law enforcement-based role. To determine the relationship between these variables, an online …

Gendered Experiences In Learning, Interpreting, And Using Sexual Consent, Emma Ryan

Master's Theses

Previous research has sought to understand how individuals use or prefer to use sexual consent, what children learn about consent, and if parents teach sexual consent to their children (Cavazos-Rehg et al., 2009; Jozkowski et al., 2013; Padilla-Walker et al., 2020). While research aims to comprehend how people involved in sexual intimacy use sexual consent, literature excludes non-heterosexual couples and non-binary folks’ consent experiences (Beres et al., 2004; Sternin et al., 2021). This exclusion hinders society’s knowledge about sexual consent education, consent use, and interpretation. Therefore, although the understanding of sexual consent has grown, we do not have ample knowledge …

Animal Abuse And Psychopathy: Examining Psychopathic Personality Traits In Both Animal Abusers And Non-Abusers, Allison Renegar

Master's Theses

Despite the soaring popularity of household pets in America, very little thought is given about the rights of our domesticated animals to exist free from harm and abuse. Little research has been done concerning animal abuse as most studies measured animal abuse dichotomously, providing essentially no contextual information. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between psychopathy and animal abuse using the Psychopathic Personality Traits Scale (PPTS; Boduszek et al., 2016) and the Boat Inventory on Animal-Related Experiences (Boat Inventory; Boat, 1994) while accounting for other factors including what types of animals are abused and the methods …

The Mental Health Of Lgbtq+ Graduate Students: Examining The Role Of Lifestyle Factors, Lindsey Ostermiller

Master's Theses

The are many well-documented disparities among LGBTQ+ individuals and a rising concern about mental health in higher education, as LGBTQ+ graduate students may face unique and specific vulnerabilities in relation to their overall health compared to their peers. Part of what might be driving the mental health crisis among LGBTQ+ graduate students are poorer lifestyle factors. There is limited research that examines the impact of health-related lifestyle factors on mental health among LGBTQ+ graduate students, exacerbating our lack of insight into specific problems that may affect LGBTQ+ individuals’ mental health. As such, the present study examined mental health in LGBTQ+ …

Mountain Lion Resource Selection In The California Central Coast: Modeling Habitat Suitability For A Large Carnivore In A Rapidly Changing Environment, Megan Elizabeth O'Connor

Master's Theses

Land use conversion toward agriculture such as orchards and vineyards can have severe negative impacts on habitat and wildlife, particularly large carnivores, globally through habitat fragmentation and loss. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) population in the California Central Coast is thought to provide “stepping-stone” connectivity between several severely genetically compromised coastal populations throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and several mountain ranges in Southern California; however, the California Central Coast is one of the fastest-developing regions of California with little protection against future land use conversion. Conserving areas of and corridors between high-quality mountain lion habitat through conservation easements …

Three-Point Takedown: How Wrestling Literature Fails To Address The Sport’S Biggest Problem, Jacob Smith

Master's Theses

In very recent times, one of these sports-related issues that I found myself interacting with in meaningful ways was the issue of weight cutting in wrestling, with a particular focus at times on the issue of weight cutting in high school wrestling. Weight cutting is essentially the losing of a notable amount of weight in a short amount of time, typically for a short-time purpose. Weight cutting’s prevalence in wrestling can probably in part be traced to its inclusion of a weight class structure -- since wrestling splits its athletes up into weight classes for safety and fairness purposes, wrestlers …

Static Vascular Modeling Of Diabetes Progression, Andrea Skattenborg

Master's Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in diabetic patients, and diabetes is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. Risk factors for cardiovascular disease result in structural and functional changes in the vascular wall. Arterial stiffness is a prominent structural change observed in the arterial wall that can be measured in clinical settings. The purpose of this thesis was to create a static model of the changes in arterial stiffness seen in diabetes. Elastic tubes with varying wall thicknesses were used to create artificial arteries for this purpose. Compliance (inverse of stiffness) of the arteries was determined …