Digital Commons Network^™

A Third Thing : An Exploration Of Black Hair In Architectural Design, Christina B. Schaller

Masters Theses

“African-American architects have been unable to articulate our own truth or vision of the future except as a reflection of the very culture that marginalizes us. We are so spent by trying to get into the system that there is little time remaining to critique the historical condition that make our climb so difficult. Rather than develop a self-defined praxis of architecture that would make a real difference in the lives of our people, we mimic the values and goals that have created our oppression.” - Sharon Sutton

By looking at traditions, art and architecture in the African American community, …

Pretend Power, Rosemary Engstrom

Masters Theses

This is an anti-thesis about being a tender and tuff queer femme bitch with mental illness trying to exist in this shitty world by creating worlds of their own. With bright colors, video performance, dress up, collage, and a lot of feelings, I turn power structures on their upside. They become a game of pretend where queers run the show. It’s ok to be sick. It’s ok to be vulnerable. It’s ok to be queer. You’re not alone.

Matriarchy, M. Camila Escobar Vélez

Masters Theses

This book collects my personal and artistic process since I got to the United States two years ago. My cultural and religious background is the foundation for my artistic explorations. This book collects theoretical references and personal stories that explore the impact of Catholicism on my personal life especially as a woman.

Field Guide : Collected Studies Of A Symbiont, Jennifer Livermore

Masters Theses

Field Guide is a collection of studies that explore how symbiosis relates to graphic design. These studies investigate how visual language constructs — and is constructed by — ideas about nature.

As a manipulator of language and imagery, I borrow the ecologist’s methods in order to make sense of our relationship with the natural world. My techniques include observation, collection, mutation, framing and recombination. I use these methods not to celebrate them, but to expose their subjective nature.

I approach visual language, technology, and our ecological home as an entangled set of ideas rather than estranged categories. My work investigates …

Curious Things, Allison Davis

Masters Theses

Curiosity fuels progress. It is what pushes us forward individually, as well as collectively. It allows us to make sense of the world and those that are in it. The problem is, we are in the midst of a curiosity crisis whereby our sensitivity to the physical has drastically diminished. Curious Things sheds light on our detachment from our surroundings and explores how ‘embodied curiosity’ can foster our need to know, experience, and explore. Through curious observations and unexpected encounters captured by others, this thesis argues that the use of distinct object forms and visual aesthetics can be viable solutions …

Letsqube, Biniam Assegid Kebede

Masters Theses

Letsqube is a platform that enables groups of friends to easily collect and pool money towards communal events, gatherings, and purchases.

Individuals find their friends on Letsqube and then agree on a budget for an event, gathering, or group purchase. Letsqube handles the finances by automatically debiting a set amount from a user’s bank account on a predetermined schedule.

Letsqube encourages people to get together, provides accountability and a schedule for contributions, and handles the finances in the background so that groups of friends can focus on enjoying their time together.

Making time to get together with friends regularly is …

Biovice: A Survival Tool Company, Chubai Liu

Masters Theses

This fictional dystopian society is the background of my work: In the year 2057, Earth’s environment has been deeply polluted, humanity has come to rely on external survival tools to live. BioVice as one of the largest bioengineering company in the world, committing themselves to the production of the most advanced survival tools.

There are two production lines in the BioVice Company. One is the economy line which targets the majority, especially the middle class; while the luxury line targets the wealthy and the elite. The designs of both production lines have futuristic appearances, combining forms from clinical devices and …

Effects Of Instability On Core Muscle Activation In A Side Bridge, Erin E. Kishman

Masters Theses

Training the musculature of the core continues to be perceived as an essential component of conditioning and rehabilitation settings (11). A popular way to train the core is with the use of instability devices, such as Swiss ball or suspension trainer. However, there is limited research on the effects of these devices on core muscle activity. The purpose of this study was to examine core muscle activity during side bridge variations with and without instability devices (Floor, Swiss Ball, and TRX) through electromyography (EMG) of the rectus abdominis, external oblique, erector spinae, and latissimus dorsi. 39 participants performed three variations …

A Content Analysis Of Sports Illustrated’S Portrayal Of Female Athletes And Its Impact On Society, Britney Murray

Masters Theses

This study utilizes a content analysis of Sports Illustrated covers from 1954-2016 to evaluate the amount and type of coverage permitted to female athletes through this source of print media. The covers were critiqued for both quantity and quality as it relates to the coverage afforded to female athletes and how it differs from the coverage of male athletes. The results from this study provide a foundation for those who wish to further explore and raise awareness on the issue of underrepresentation and misrepresentation of female athletes in sports media.

Being Vicariously Criminal: Sherlock Holmes' Dualistic Nature As A Placebo For Degeneracy, Elizabeth Fisher

Masters Theses

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a fear of degeneracy, or breakdown of social, cultural and moral understandings, was spreading through late-Victorian England. With the rise of a growing middle class in late-Victorian England, and the increased opportunities for self-improvement, the distinct class lines that separated the upper class from the middle and lower classes in society started to break down. As the class boundaries that had been in place for so long were dissolving, the criminal activities that had previously been relegated to the lower classes were spreading across those increasingly blurred class lines. The concept of …

Comparing Cultural Context Through New Historicism: The Impact Of Form Upon Content In The Serialized And Novelized Versions Of F. Scott Fitzgerald’S The Beautiful And Damned, Anna Sweeney

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I analyzed the differences between the serialized portions and subsequent novelization of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Beautiful and Damned. To conduct this research, I studied the seven issues of Metropolitan magazine from September 1921 to March 1922 in which the serialized portions of The Beautiful and Damned were published, and read them against the novel. I found that the omissions and additions between the two modes of text, including the advertisements and illustrations present within the serialized portions, greatly altered the nuances and meanings of the finished novelized product. This project revealed that there is currently a …

George C. Marshall, A Dynamic Leader Of Transition & Adaptation, John Robert Isaiah Emmert

Masters Theses

George Catlett Marshall was the Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the tumultuous years of the Second World War. Prior to the war, Marshall headed various officers’ schools and professional development centers, mentoring an entire generation of young officers who would become field commanders and general officers during the World War II. Eventually, he oversaw the monumental task of modernizing and enlarging the United States Army as World War II began and escalated. Together with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his opposites in the British military, he helped formulate the grand strategy that the Allied powers implemented …

Arvo Pärt's "Berliner Messe": An Approach To Understanding And Instructing Serial Techniques In A Minimalist Framework, Jesse Miller

Masters Theses

The music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is something of a phenomenon. Pärt’s music has made a profound connection with audiences, granting Pärt immense popularity and making him the most performed living composer in the world.1 Equally a phenomenon is his own unique tintinnabuli technique that lies at the heart of Pärt’s music and draws as much upon serialism as it does Gregorian chant. While much has been written on Pärt and his original tintinnabuli technique, this qualitative case study focuses on a major work ostensibly overlooked in scholarship, Arvo Pärt’s “Berliner Messe.” The study focuses on the serial aspects …

The Effect Of Team Sports In Classical, Christian Education, Hannah Grey

Masters Theses

Antoine de Saint-Exupery once noted if you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea (“A quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery,” n.d.). This quote embodies the goal of classical education, but it also parallels the values taught in sport. There has been a resurgence of classical education in recent years, and these new schools are focusing on instilling in students a love for learning, a passion for truth and beauty, and a simultaneous prudent understanding of and appreciation …

Visualizing Grief: An Exploration Of The Stages Of Grief Through Image And Design, Audra L. Rygh

Masters Theses

Grief is an emotion that people have felt since the beginning of time, but in modern culture, there is a lack of visual representation of the five stages of grief. Because grief is a highly personal and unique experience, it can be difficult to visualize what those stages may look like for the mass population. However, if one could develop an understanding of what each stage includes, as well as a study of the thoughts and feelings of those who have experienced grief, this research could aid in the creation of an accurate representation of the stages of grief. The …

Unequal Democracies: Economic Sanctions' Impact On Human Rights In Democratic Systems, Daniel Partin

Masters Theses

In the past, research into the field of human rights has treated regime as a dichotomous variable and divided the type of governmental structure into either autocracies or democracies. By lumping all democracies into one category, all variation between different categories of governmental composition is discarded and it is difficult to examine the differences between types of democratic governments and their human rights capacities. Due to their tendency to accrete power centrally, presidential democracies are thought to repress the rights of citizens more often and severely than parliamentary systems. Further, an exogenous shock to the political system, such as the …

Validation Of A Water Quality Index For Lake Erie, Vaclava Hazukova

Masters Theses

This study validates a water quality index based on a diatom total phosphorus transfer function for monitoring of the Lake Erie’s pelagic zone. Lake Erie is again under the threat of cultural eutrophication, mostly due to the runoff of nutrients from the surrounding farmlands. Therefore, it is an issue of high importance to continue monitoring efforts in Lake Erie to assess further deterioration or progressive changes due to the restoration management practices. Diatom-biomonitoring represents one of the efficient and well-crafted tools to assess the actual conditions. However, indices of water quality based on diatom transfer functions are often used without …

Prolepsis Through Poe's Narrators: The Prophetic Demise Of The Obsessive Protagonist, Bailey Jarnagin

Masters Theses

Edgar Allan Poe was a pioneer of psychological fiction. His stories center around characters whose reliability is questionable and who are mentally troubled in some way. Poe crafted stories that invoke terror because their subject is the horror of the mind. While readers of other types of horror fiction can finish a story and step away from the monsters with little to no fear of being followed by them, readers of Poe cannot forget the tales they read so readily because the horror of the mind is ever present. Poe crafted such horrific stories because of the haunted palace of …

Organocatalyzed Synthesis Of Epoxides From Chalcones Utilizing Amino Acids, Sabrina N. Kegeler

Masters Theses

The epoxide functional group is important throughout the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, as well as in nature. In the chemical industry, epoxides are present in resins and fragrances. In the pharmaceutical industry, epoxide-containing compounds are used as intermediates in the manufacturing of drugs. In nature, many natural products contain epoxide groups and are used for medicinal purposes, and for models to create synthetic molecules.

One approach to epoxide synthesis involves the use of an alkene precursor, a base, and an oxidizing agent. This is where my investigations began. The first step was to optimize the epoxidation reaction, examining substrate scope, …

A Comparison Of Alternative Route Alignments For The North Country Trail Through Calhoun County, Mi, Whitney K. Lambert

Masters Theses

Recreational hiking trails are a popular destination for local residents and tourists, offering health, educational, and social benefits. The North Country Trail (NCT) provides a unique hiking experience because of the many landscapes through which it travels. Because it spans across seven states in the Midwest, a hiker can travel through the mountains of New York, the hardwood forests of upper Michigan, and the plains of South Dakota along one route. When completed, the NCT will be about 4,600 miles; however, there are currently 1,900 miles of undeveloped connector routes during which the route is often located along the road. …

Characterization Of Pinitol Catabolism In Sinorhizobium Meliloti And Its Role In Nodule Occupancy, Angela Irene Kennedy-Mendez

Masters Theses

Sinorhizobium meliloti, which is the nitrogen fixing symbiont of Medicago sativa (alfalfa), was used to test the hypothesis that D-chiro-inositol is an intermediate of pinitol catabolism and that pinitol catabolism plays a role in S. melilot s ability to compete for nodule occupancy. An analytical method, involving gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GCMS), was developed to detect and separate pinitol and D-chiro-inositol. The S. meliloti wild type, and three isogenic mutant strains (idhA, mocD, and mocE) were grown in minimal medium with pinitol and pinitol plus glycerol. The S. meliloti wild type can utilize pinitol as a sole carbon source, …

Spatial And Temporal Changes In Halal Food Sales And Consumption A Case Study Of The City Of Dearborn, Michigan, Sam Roodbar

Masters Theses

With a population of 3.2 million and growing in the US, Arab Americans are an integral part of the economy and culture of the United States and the world. The southeast portion of the state of Michigan is home to more than 300,000 Arab Americans. One of the main agents of cultural maintenance and support for the Arab American community are their ethnic food traditions, specifically Halal food. Since the introduction of Halal food in the United States, the sales and consumption of Halal products has increased immensely. This research seeks to answer four related questions focused on the entrance …

Language Profiles Of Children Who Have Experienced Complex Trauma And Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Christel G. Ciolino

Masters Theses

Children who experience maltreatment and children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) have similar neurological differences and are at risk for language impairments. However, limited research has been conducted to analyze their specific skill sets. To address this limitation, retrospective data from the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center of Southwest Michigan were analyzed. The linguistic profiles of 79 children with histories of varying numbers of traumatic experiences and comorbid FASD statues are compared in the areas of semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and social communication. Individuals had high pass rates on the CELF-5 Screening Test and high overall scores on the Pragmatic Protocol-Revised …

An Evaluation Of Domestic Violence Shelter Programs And Research Best Practices, Katherine Brown

Masters Theses

Domestic violence is a prevalent social problem occurring all over the world. The numerous ways society addresses domestic violence programs varies causing further complications. This study aims to better understand some of the domestic violence research best practices, programs, and policies available through a national study examining innovative residential shelter programs. A content analysis of interviews, tour photos, shelter pamphlets/websites, and training materials suggested four themes. The main finding, however, suggested trauma-informed care should be implemented within safe housing for survivors of domestic violence.

Teaching The Soft Skills Through The Arts: A Supplementary Art Curriculum, Brittany Boverhof

Masters Theses

Soft skills are the ability to work with, for, and among other people, yet we can no longer expect students to develop these skills organically. This research builds on the knowledge that if we want the students we are educating to be successful in employing their own soft skills, then they must be taught. This paper defines soft skills, shows their importance, and introduces practices that are proven to build soft skill ability. I have constructed twelve lesson plans that teach the soft skills through experientialism, working in groups, art, critique, classroom management, and problem solving. This supplementary curriculum provides …

Spatial Effects Of Foreign Direct Investment (Fdi) On Poverty Reduction In Colombia: A Mixed Methods Approach, Mayra Alejandra Yat Aguilar

Masters Theses

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been identified as an important factor in stimulating economic growth and decreasing poverty. In particular, the relationship between FDI and economic growth has been extensively debated in the academic literature but with mixed results. Meanwhile, considerably less work has been done towards investigating the effects of FDI on poverty reduction. Evidence from the limited research linking on FDI and poverty levels is also mixed. Through a more comprehensive survey-based multi-scale method of assessing poverty, this empirical study investigates the contribution of FDI with respect to concurrent quantitative and qualitative assessment of changes in living standards …

Use Of The Montreal Cognitive Assessment As An Early Indicator Of Tumor Progression In Patient With Stage Iii And Iv Gliomas, Eric David Laney

Masters Theses

Patients diagnosed with high grade glioma have a short life expectancy due to rapid progression of disease following and/or during treatment. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the primary method of surveying tumor progression, but is costly, lengthy in duration and often uncomfortable for the patient. An alternative to MRI that is cost efficient and patient friendly is of great interest to the medical community. If this alternative could also provide advanced notification of disease progression, then this patient population would have the opportunity for earlier treatment and the potential for greater efficacy. To pursue this concept, we assessed whether the …

Effects Of Chronic Atrazine Exposure On Male Reproductive Function In Sprague Dawley Rats, Josh Quinn

Masters Theses

Estrogens, in addition to testosterone, are much more physiologically relevant to normal sperm production in the testis and overall male fertility than previously thought. Current use herbicides, such as atrazine, are known endocrine disruptors and have been suggested to disrupt male reproductive health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of chronic atrazine exposure on male reproductive function in Sprague Dawley rats. Three groups of rats were treated until 7 months of age. The first group was the control vehicle and given only water. The second group was given a low dose of atrazine (0.1 mg/kg) and …

Home-Range Dynamics And Resource Selection Of American Marten (Martes Americana) In Michigan’S Northern Lower Peninsula, Angela Kujawa

Masters Theses

American marten (Martes americana) are typically associated with mature coniferous forests. Marten were extirpated from Michigan’s Lower Peninsula due to human impacts, such as fire, logging, and over-harvest. Little is known about the resource selection and distribution of marten in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula since their reintroduction in 1985-86. Resource selection functions are valuable tools to estimate the relative probability an animal will utilize an area and predict where they may occur. When creating a resource selection function, potential sources of variation in data collection methods and wildlife populations should be considered to ensure accurate results. We sought …

Further Exploration Into The Coma Recovery Scale - Revised And The Music Therapy Assessment Tool For Awareness In Disorders Of Consciousness, Alika D. Seu

Masters Theses

Due to the high rate of misdiagnosis of individuals with disorders of consciousness (DOC) it has been a priority to develop clinical tools to accurately diagnose and assess these individuals (Seel et al., 2010). The Coma Recovery Scale – Revised has been regarded as the gold standard assessment for this population, however, a recent pilot study has shown that the Music Therapy Assessment Tool for Awareness in Disorders of Consciousness (MATADOC) may have increased sensitivity in several assessment domains (auditory, visual, arousal, and verbal commands) in relation to the overall diagnostic outcome. The data sets from this pilot study were …