Digital Commons Network^™

Chaplaincy Upholds The West’S Value Of Tolerance Not Acceptance, Monique Decandido

Masters Theses

Throughout history, the differences between humanity led mankind to experience many hardships, even wars. These differences include religion or beliefs, tribal differences, racial differences, and geographical differences. Over time, and after much bloodshed and despondency of life, critical thinking men began to develop a strategy for humanity to get along together despite their differences. The question and the challenge of how mankind can get along together without engaging in conflicts about their differences became the chief thinking cap throughout the West. Humanity realized that the answer to their question and challenge was tolerance. Now forwarding into the 21st century, the …

Potential Impacts Of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Infestation On Forest Overstory And Avian Assemblages In West Michigan, Usa, Nathaniel Sq Wagner

Masters Theses

Invasive species threaten the health and resiliency of native ecosystems wherever they are found. The damage caused by invasive species often leads to a cascade that degrades the ecosystem as a whole. In eastern North America, the invasive insect, hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae; HWA), threatens the continued existence of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and the species that are associated with it. Often considered a foundation species, eastern hemlock influences the structure and composition of eastern forests by lowering soil temperature, subsequently raising soil moisture content. In the absence of hemlock, many forests become dominated by …

Using Plot Photographs To Estimate Tundra Vegetation Cover In Northern Alaska, Hana Christoffersen

Masters Theses

Plot photography can provide a quick, robust method to measure vegetation, especially in polar environments where logistics can be expensive and challenging. The success and widespread adoption of plot photography in the Arctic hinges on the accuracy of image analysis and data product interpretation. The relative cover of eight vegetation classes was estimated using a point frame and digital camera across thirty, 1-m² plots at Utqiaġvik, Alaska from 2012 to 2021. Geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) was applied to generate objects and classify the three band (red, green, blue) images. Machine learning classifiers (random forest, gradient boosted model, classification …

New Models For Worship: Music Education Philosophy In The Multiculturally Fragmented Sanctuary, Sandra Diana Constanze Hendricks

Masters Theses

Worship seems to have been approached from theological and sociological perspectives but not through the lens of ideas and frameworks in music education philosophy. This study uses a survey of scholarly works to examine the influence these ideas and frameworks could have on the event of worship leading regarding changes to the agency of fragmented and multicultural worship identities. The study is based on a model of transformative historical research. It analyses ideas and frameworks of music education theory in the context of Christianity in the post-structuralist era. The results and interpretation confirmed that the application of tendential rhizomatic models …

Study Of Urethane Double-Coated Nylon Membranes For Fluid-Storage Applications, Micah Austin Howell

Masters Theses

Polymer-coated fabrics are used for many fuel and water storage applications, such as in U.S. military field operations. Urethane-double-coated nylon (UDCN) is one such material used in collapsible fluid storage tanks. Research into the mechanical properties of UDCN membranes under different environmental conditions is necessary for substantiating its current operations as well as developing new technologies. Novel modular, closed-loop and scalable pumped-storage hydropower (PSH) systems are one technology that could use UDCN membrane tanks in order to mitigate large costs, risks, environmental impacts, and time-for deployment associated with PSH system construction due to their modular, closed-loop technology. This study focuses …

Then Sings The Church A New Song, Ian D. Bula

Masters Theses

The collective life of the Ancient Israelites was defined by a tumultuous journey through the desert as the primary setting where God continuously sought a relationship with them. Their liberation from Egyptian bondage was the central element that resulted from God’s self- revelation and action toward His people. Their response to Him in worship reflects the nature instilled in all humankind to respond in many ways to divine action. One of these ways is through the use of music. Music has accompanied the worship of God’s people since the time of the Patriarchs. The Exodus was the experience that sprung …

Do The National Core Arts Standards (Ncas) Make A Difference In Music Education?, Jordan Mikaela Dues

Masters Theses

Fine arts advocates have pushed for arts to remain a foundation of education for decades Arguments have been made and published that participating in music courses increased scores in other subjects. A change occurred in the realm of music education when assessment-based learning and standardized curricula were introduced. The National Coalition for Core Arts Standards (NCCAS) was assembled to revise standards for the arts and create a way to assess them. The NCCAS presented the National Core Arts Standards (NCAS) in 2014 which led to its adoption in most states. There are many schools, however, that do not adhere to …

Ell Cultural Inclusion Initiative, Julia L. Gidley

Masters Theses

This project draws on Maslow’s theory of motivation using his hierarchy as a framework, as well as Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory. This project aims to engage and involve English Language Learners (ELL) in the classroom by informing educators of strategies that help to find commonalities among students and cultivate communication between Native English Speakers and ELLs thus developing a culturally inclusive classroom. By building the relationships between the two student subgroups (ELLs and NESs) teachers will gain a class of students who have a well-developed world view, increase language acquisition, and develop a deep appreciation and respect for other cultures. Through …

Addressing Disengagement In Text Through An Increase In Autonomy, Access, And Relevant Text Selection, Amanda L. Saffian

Masters Theses

This project proposal employs a broad range of research to design a plan of implementation that would address the effectiveness of increased permanent exposure to more diverse text sets. The essential components of this design are to investigate the efficacy of increasing access to multimodal, high-interest, and responsive texts in closing educational equity gaps as a substantive conceptual model of educational effectiveness and theory-based approaches to increase engagement in literacy and learning. This work would include developing a comprehensive catalog of texts which would allow for the most significant impact on student engagement. The literature used to justify design includes …

Financial Literacy: A Case Study On Current Practices, Briana Lee Hammontree

Masters Theses

In the last few years, the concern for financial illiteracy among teenagers has only grown as the economy has shifted. Many teenagers feel unprepared and unsecured moving forward with their finances as adults. This issue is intensified further among low-income and marginalized youths who deal with additional hardship in their lives. Accessibility is a huge issue among teenagers and the role of financial literacy of their lives in education is often predetermined by government officials and policies they can only really advocate for change for but cannot vote on. In this research I explore the concept of utilizing social innovation …

Physical Implementation And Testing Of A Transmission Line Fault Location Algorithm, Shadi Mohammad Alshagarin

Masters Theses

Fault detection and location is crucial in any power system. In order to improve system reliability, reduce outage time and speed-up system restoration from a fault, fault detection and location must be prompt and accurate. Traditional methods of pinpointing faults can be complex, costly, unreliable, and can even result in unacceptably large fault.

This thesis aims to develop and evaluate a physical proof-of-concept for transmission line fault location technology based on a novel methodology with high accuracy and unique visualization capabilities. The proposed prototype utilizes the open-source tools Raspberry Pi 4 and Python computer language. This prototype model is intended …

Design, Manufacture, And Characterization Of A Novel Miniature Coaxial Ion Trap Mass Analyzer, Kyle Davis Lyman

Masters Theses

In the ever-evolving field of mass spectrometry, a void exists in the availability of field-portable devices that can provide in situ analysis with suitable performance characteristics. In this work, a miniaturized coaxial ion trap mass analyzer is developed, simulated, and characterized. This work, funded by the National Science Foundation, is carried out in conjunction with Brigham Young University. The device in discussion is novel in that it utilizes a rectilinear ion guide (RIG), a simplified toroidal ion trap (STorIT), and a cylindrical ion trap (CIT) in the device’s center. The inclusion of the STorIT provides a high trapping capacity, and …

Kinetic And Structural Characterization Of Pseudooxynicotine Amine Oxidase From Pseudomonas Putida S16, Vishakha Choudhary

Masters Theses

Our laboratory has previously shown that nicotine oxidoreductase (NicA2), a member of the flavin-containing amine oxidase family, uses a cytochrome c protein (CycN) as its electron acceptor rather than characteristically accepted molecular oxygen. Within the Pseudomonas putida S16 genome, the nicA2 gene forms an operon with cycN and pseudooxynicotine amine oxidase (pnao), another flavin containing amine oxidase enzyme. The first two steps in the nicotine catabolism pathway are catabolized by NicA2 and Pnao. Through redox chemistry, NicA2 converts nicotine to pseudooxynicotine and Pnao converts pseudooxynicotine to 3-succinoylsemialdehyde-pyridine. In this thesis, we characterize the kinetic and structural properties of …

Maximising Social Welfare In Selfish Multi-Modal Routing Using Strategic Information Design For Quantal Response Travelers, Sainath Sanga

Masters Theses

"Traditional selfish routing literature quantifies inefficiency in transportation systems with single-attribute costs using price-of-anarchy (PoA), and provides various technical approaches (e.g. marginal cost pricing) to improve PoA of the overall network. Unfortunately, practical transportation systems have dynamic, multi-attribute costs and the state-of-the-art technical approaches proposed in the literature are infeasible for practical deployment. In this paper, we offer a paradigm shift to selfish routing via characterizing idiosyncratic, multiattribute costs at boundedly-rational travelers, as well as improving network efficiency using strategic information design. Specifically, we model the interaction between the system and travelers as a Stackelberg game, where travelers adopt multi-attribute …

Artful Healing: Exploring Creative Expression And Play In Children's Hospitals, Phoebe Strobino

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the role and accessibility of creative expression and play in children’s hospitals, and the impact these ideas have on patients. I explored these ideas through teaching four lessons at Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. Two of these lessons were taught in group sessions, and two were taught in one-on-one sessions, with participants ranging in age. Following an introduction to each lesson, I provide the plan itself along with general observations and reflections on teaching. Due to the nature of the setting, information is kept purposefully broad throughout my observations in order to respect the anonymity …

The Importance Of Interdisciplinary Art Teaching: Reflections On Chinese K-12 Art Education, Shixin Zhou

Masters Theses

Central to this thesis investigation is the premise that interdisciplinary art is important for children and youth, especially in the context of Chinese art education. Designed to investigate a movement in art education beyond traditional boundaries, this investigation manifests in four stages of research and concludes with a teaching philosophy for the Chinese school system.

First, the author explores the current state of traditional art classes in China, along with the issues and challenges faced by current art educators. Second, with the objective of creating a positive model built on clear conceptual and practical tools, art integration and interdisciplinary art …

Toona Sinensis 桃花心木, Li Yang

Masters Theses

This thesis is my journey as an artist and art educator in search of creativity through the lens of sustainability, which may reveal the existence of questions one wonders about but does not provide a specific answer or solution to this within a limited time frame. Through this inquiry, questions are repeatedly asked: What is the definition of art? If art and education have a tremendous impact on human thought and perception, do they point people in the right direction when confronted with global issues such as cultural and natural sustainability? If so, what is the essential difference between art …

Contemporary Eco Theory In Art Education: Field Notes And Desire Paths, Margaret K. Mccullough

Masters Theses

This thesis is an investigation into patterns and overlaps of three critical elements in our world, art, nature, and education. Integral to this investigation and the contributions to humanity of these three are the accurate depiction of specific realities, upon which Science and the majority of global citizens agree, aesthetic sensibility, as well as beneficent solutions (i.e. those which do no harm.) Together we will examine the intersection of subjects, what they combine to achieve. We will consider how, taught and learned in unison, they may take on a position of greater prominence in efforts to solve real world problems. …

Revolution Of Steam Education: The Importance Of Interdisciplinary Art Education (Steam) In Elementary Education, Suyu Chen

Masters Theses

This thesis discusses how interdisciplinary art education benefits young children from different aspects, including gender bias in disciplines, developing creativity and imagination, motivating children to engage the class and improving their efficiency of studying. Through an interview with a STEAM educator and my own curriculum development, I show some examples of what STEAM can look like in the elementary class. I demonstrate that there is evidence showing that STEAM education can create an engaging learning environment for young children. When STEAM projects are introduced, children are more focused and interested in classroom activities when compared to STEM projects alone.

Vulva Gazing: Power And The Gendered Body, Aaliya Jamal Zaidi

Masters Theses

How does a gendered gaze determine what we feel shame about?

In patriarchal society, the male gaze is normal. Within its sights, the vulva, the external female sexual and reproductive organs, is viewed negatively — censored and ignored, or labeled with euphemisms and slurs across cultures. The modern western medical canon upholds and reinforces this view of the vulva, through a combination of disinterest and omission. This cultural aversion leads to a personal aversion. For people with vulvas this manifests in a lack of information about their own bodies which leads to shame, pain and even death.

Vulva Gazing is …

Regenerative Residences: Shrinking Stress Levels In The Sky, Peter De Lande Long

Masters Theses

Issues of overcrowding and overstimulation plague urban environments, which exacerbate social isolation and, in turn, heighten city dwellers’ levels of stress and anxiety. How can architecture mediate stimuli to be positively conducive to mood, behavior, and overall health? Given that social isolation is an intrinsically spatial issue that design can address, this thesis proposes a small-scale community living model with the intent of improving mental health and clarity for a user group of young, mentally vulnerable professionals in New York City.

16 E 16th Street becomes the architectural framework for addressing these issues. Moving away from the capitalistic endeavor of …

Beyond Spectacle : Parametric Design To Life In Space, Ding Xu

Masters Theses

In recent years, with the help of rapid computational developments, Parametric Design has become common in architectural practice. Parametric architecture, due to its unique appearance, has rapidly been associated with certain aesthetic trends. This is mostly because architects initially adopted it to make radical forms, not because parametric techniques demand any specific geometry.

For the Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion by Zaha Hadid Architects, the team built a dynamic and fluid structure using parametric techniques. The form evolved from the spiraling shapes found in nature, and the fluid geometry provides a continuum of space and a system of logic. As a …

Unfolding Embodied Experience: A Process-Driven Immersive Exhibition Design Model, Mooa Seongah Kang

Masters Theses

The collections of most museums are comprised of two-dimensional artworks—paintings, drawings, prints, and photography—and are generally presented within a white cube gallery platform. Within this restricted static view, displays rarely consider multisensory engagement and immersion that reveals the accumulated time and effort of creation. Yet for many artists, the process is as important as the finished product.

My impetus for this design initiative began by questioning traditional methods of display. Is it possible to reveal the hidden depth embodied in two-dimensional artworks, allowing audiences to participate with all their senses in the journey of an artist’s experience? In other words, …

Disinheritance As Critique: The Paintings Of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Sabo Kpade

Masters Theses

Artistic influence can either be overbearing or liberating for the impressionable artist who is determined to arrive at an individualized artistic identity. One key strategy deployed by the artist is disinheritance as a means by which identity and meaning are created. In her paintings and etchings, British-Ghanaian painter Lynette Yiadom-Boakye has demonstrated several modalities of disinheritance by which she has arrived at a distinct approach to portraiture. Broadly, they come under two categories of major and minor disinheritance, each of which is conditioned by a variety of factors that range from aesthetic to philosophical, personal to political. They signify points …

X-Era: Adaptation To The Future Uncertainty With Sustainable Indigenous Wisdom, Ruoyuan Chen

Masters Theses

Due to human impacts on earth’s geology and ecosystem, the future of this planet and our society is uncertain. To navigate this uncertainty, it is urgent that we understand and explore new strategies to adapt to this unknown future. Over the millennia, indigenous communities around the world have developed advanced and nuanced ways to adapt to living in harsh environments. X is commonly used in science to refer to a variable that can change or be changed. Therefore, the thesis project – X-Era, aims to learn from the sustainability of traditional ecological knowledge to help inform how we may adapt …

Sensory Resilience In Urban Walkingscapes: Space Making Strategies For Streetside Public Systems In Neuro- Inclusive City Visions, Yingying Wang

Masters Theses

The thesis asks spatial designers of the public realm to pay attention to sensory profiles and related issues in contemporary urban contexts: sensory overstimulation, lack of safety, security, accessibility in public, absence of clarity, and legibility in the navigating system. These features have characterized rigid and homogeneous representations of and solutions for existing public spaces, mostly developed with a lack of knowledge of humans’ diverse sensory needs in different environments. They fail to offer users – especially neuro-minority groups – alternative ways to interact with the public sphere.

The study researches the reasons for such approaches while investigating the relationships …

World Settings, Elizabeth Meiklejohn

Masters Theses

Acoustical building materials, with their ability to absorb and diffuse sound, can reshape the character of interior spaces in profound ways. Woven textiles often perform as acoustical materials, whether by coincidence or by design; strategic use of textile structure and dimensionality can yield specific experiential qualities in homes, offices and shared spaces. The way certain materials manipulate sound can feel otherworldly, as if they break the laws of physics or the familiar parameters of one’s surroundings. The same properties can be found in emergent visual patterns and illusory lighting conditions, which provoke an investigative, deliberate way of looking.

In this …

!, Nick Larson

Masters Theses

This thesis uses the exclamation point to represent a way of thinking and working methodology. The exclamation point in mathematics represents a factorial function, an operation for determining all possible orders of a set. Colloquially, the meaning of the exclamation point relies entirely on context. Within a yellow triangle, it means caution or danger, but at the end of a sentence delivering good news, it means excitement. In the context of this thesis, the exclamation point represents enthusiastically and exhaustively reordering objects, words, and processes to highlight shifting meaning.

Fertilizer Waste Mistreatment Facilities: Investigating The Barrier That Keep Waste In And Attention Out At Central Florida's Phosphogypsum Stacks., Harsha Devaraj

Masters Theses

This project investigates the physical and narrative barriers constructed by the phosphate mining and processing industry to dissuade public engagement with its phosphogypsum sites in Central Florida, USA. The barriers around PG utilize decades of misinformation, racial geographies, and misrepresentations of scale, origin, and risk to create powerful narratives about how we should imagine and relate to these materials. These barriers hinder sustained public attention to their sites, enabling extractive industries to expand while avoiding oversight and responsibility. Attention to how these barriers around phosphogypsum are constructed allows us to recognize these strategies at work in how we see and …

Other Realms, Louis Rakovich

Masters Theses

Can a system existing in rigid order be taken back to a state of malleability, a space of potential not yet actualized?

If creation reduces the infinite to produce the finite, then in the simplest sense, creation is the process of bringing something tangible, real, out of the ether—out of the primordial chaos of possibility. The technique of defamiliarization can be viewed as an agent of de-creation, the active reversal of creation, in order to make creation possible once again. As such it holds spiritual power in its own right.

In pursuit of this state of renewed potentiality, I use …