Digital Commons Network^™

American Dreams And Dystopias: Examining Dystopian Parallels In The Great Gatsby And To Kill A Mockingbird, Samuel Nathan Harris

Masters Theses

In this study I consider the recent trend of dystopian fiction in literature—both the broader genre of dystopias of the past century or so, and the contemporarily popular subgenre of young adult dystopian fiction—and examine whether certain American novels, while not typically considered dystopias, can fit into this genre or at least be established as having some parallels with works of this genre. Based on certain shared archetypes of the genre, such as “speculative myth,” a governing “ritual habit,” and a dissatisfied narrator or protagonist, I here propose that other American classics, specifically F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and …

The Many Paths Of Cyberspace: William Gibson's The Sprawl As Prototype For Structural, Thematic, And Narrative Multilinearity In New Media, Erik Marsh

Masters Theses

William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy helped set a new direction for science fiction, but his work is also a valuable tool for examining changes in the approach both readers and writers began to take to approaching literature as the text medium began its rapid evolution with the introduction of electronic hypertext. In this examination of Gibson’s fiction, a pattern of multilinear truth emerges, showing how Western culture began to fully embrace Postmodern approaches to truth claims as a default, how even a pre-electronic text can exhibit hypertext-like aspects, and how this shift in interpretive response to literature is important for Christians …

A Dramatistic Look At Motive And Egypt’S 2011 Revolution, Blair J. Cook

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the primary motivating factors in the protestors whose demonstrations resulted in the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt’s 2011 revolution. The methodology is rooted in Kenneth Burke’s Dramatic Pentad. The elements of the pentad were observed in 29 articles from Daily News Egypt which were published between January 18 and February 18, 2011. Then the most prominent ratios were examined. Finally, the Guilt-Redemption Cycle was observed in the actions of the protesters. This methodology yielded the motivation of the protesters in Egypt’s 2011 revolution. It was discovered that the protesters had determined …

Microbial Community Analysis From Petroleum-Contaminated Sediments With High Magnetic Susceptibility, Anja E. Williams

Masters Theses

Microbial biodegradation is an increasingly incorporated method of hydrocarbon mineralization during oil spill cleanup. To monitor biodegradation, magnetic susceptibility (MS) is a geophysical tool that detects changes in sediments’ magnetism, possibly caused by microbial activity, for example by anaerobic iron reduction that can induce magnetite formation. Furthermore, the high input of carbon from an oil spill makes other required nutrients, like nitrogen, limiting. The first study goal was to characterize the microbial communities present at high levels of MS with 16S rRNA gene clone libraries at the petroleum-contaminated site in Bemidji, Minnesota. Sequences with high similarity to known iron-reducers were …

Neoplastic Therapy : On Violence And Aesthetics, Mengyu Chen

Masters Theses

The goal of this thesis is to create a new theoretical framework to examine and understand the meaning of an art object and its relational social existence. This thesis serves as a critique on contemporary media culture and hierarchical social oppression. At the same time, it adopts a pseudoscientific way to introduce notions of art’s autonomy and its opposition to social functionality. By merging political theories on individualism, capitalism, and metaphysics with foundational structures of art creation, I am attempting to construct a new system of thinking that challenges traditional ways of understanding mediums, functions and the viewer’s relationship with …

In Light Of Light, Chen Sun

Masters Theses

The pursuit of architectural discourse is indeed a search for a better material existence of space serving the immaterial. Meaningful space should outreach beyond its actuality, satisfying more than the basic pragmatist. It should generate an experience evoking appropriate sequence of emotions, expressing the current life and culture.

Light should surely be the subject of the discourse then, because that space conveys most of its intentionality through altering the behavior of light, while we also contributes to the alteration with our inhabitation. Like a silent speech, Light doesn’t merely conduct the spatial actuality; it also conveys the emotions attached through …

Community In A Post-Diest World, Kirby Benjamin

Masters Theses

We are in need of a new sense of community, that doesn’t rely upon religion. There exists a demand to adapt the church typology to meet the needs of current society rather than allowing these important buildings to be demolished or preserved indefinitely in an unneeded state.

With the decline of Christian religious practice in America, thousands of churches become underutilized or vacant every year, leaving these icons with strong religious associations empty. This abandonment simultaneously impacts the communities these churches once held together. Today’s generations’ sense of community has transitioned from physical to virtual connections, leading to less meaningful …

Multiple Influences: From Witnessing Language To Performing It, Viviane Jalil

Masters Theses

5The relationship between language and tools has always been one of influence. Our devices—pens, keyboards, smartphones—make language visible and affect its form and structure. But this exchange goes both ways: all acts of reading and writing are mediated by our expectations of content, and the instruments used to access it.

As modes of communication evolve, so too do the ways in which we think through language, creating a dynamic of perpetual adaptation. With the growing impact of technology upon our behaviors, this dialogue is becoming imbalanced, affecting how we engage with others, how we approach our machines, and how we …

Speculative Politics -Fictionalized Spectacle, Prin Limphongpand

Masters Theses

Speculative Politics—Fictionalized Spectacle posits an alternate model for design practice. Borrowing from the genre of science fiction, this design approach activates consideration of possible realities and cultural forms. It raises questions and invents problems instead of solving them. By imagining technologies, policies, laws, and conditions that do not yet exist, design becomes an agent of investigation to highlight current and future social, cultural, and political conditions.

The projects within this thesis reconsider our present situations through methods of speculative documentation. The act of documentation becomes a process of manipulating notions of truth to render fictions from reality. Using subversion, instigation, …

The Complexity Of Plainness, Michael Clouse

Masters Theses

The works that I am drawn to consistently have a simplicity to them, why is this so? Plainness must be a positive quality: it bears a clarity that helps reveal why a work is made the way it is. Restraint and necessity are agents for the process of making simple works. The necessary elements are positioned deliberately, in such a way that reveals the way a space is meant to be experienced. The recognition of multiple readings and calibrated alignments weigh more profoundly when plainness is achieved because it is through simplicity that our senses are attuned.

A great work …

The Void, The Mystery, The Vast Array, The Infinity Of Unities, The Otherworld, The Absolute, The Hidden Order, The Randomness, The Infraworld, The Nothing, The Zone Of Immaterial Sensibility, The Silence, The Hollow Of Space, The Ineffable, The Emptiness, The Wild, Drew Ludwig

Masters Theses

This thesis presents the culmination of two years of excursions into and longing for the void: the sense of absolute presence and connectivity that I have always found in the desert of the Colorado Plateau. Away from the desert, I use my artistic practice as a means of approaching this kinship with the wild, the void.

My work may be understood as a series of experiments, striving to locate and access the void through different language, logic and media. My process speaks to a deep respect for the external wild of landscape (the desert), and a growing recognition of the …

Mealspace : Beyond The Table, Lauren Tedeschi

Masters Theses

This is a chronicle of a tableware enthusiast who set out to share her ideas by designing for the everyday eater. The quest began with questioning what an ideal meal experience is and why it revolves around a static, flat table. What are the aspects of present-day eating scenarios that could be improved upon? I considered the conventions of dining, studying traditional forms, materials and spaces related to this practice, and proposed new ways of eating. I designed props for establishing a new kind of mealspace, the objects and events paired together as performances. Each project or act is documented …

Make Every Day Count: Longing, Vision, & Painting, Sarah R. Pater

Masters Theses

Images are non-verbal holders of narrative and meaning in Western culture. Historically, painting served this function—a job that we now generally give to digital photography and cinema. One task for contemporary painting, then, might simply be as a self-reflective metaphor for the experience of vision that is mostly lost in photographic technologies: seeing as looking plus touching. Paintings are simultaneously objects and images—corporeal material constructions and visceral illusionary fields. Given the current state of rapid image production, consumption, and instrumentalization, painting’s insistence on singularity and a more ‘composed gaze’—one that asks the viewer to re-read—stands out as significant and potentially …

State Of Memory: National History And Exclusive Identity In Contemporary Denmark, John Terrell Foor

Masters Theses

Increased rates of immigration to Western European states over the past three decades have yielded a wealth of literature in the social sciences, much of which has focused on cases of individuals from so-called ―non-Western‖ countries of origin. Immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia often bring with them cultural and religious traditions that are unfamiliar to the citizens of states which receive them. Tensions between majority populations and growing minorities in Western Europe have resulted in skepticism—and, increasingly, hostility—toward immigrants, particularly those regarded as ―"Islamic."

But is this type of tension inevitable? Are difference and …

Taking Art To The Next Level: Integration Of Advanced Placement Studio Art, 2-D Design, Krystal Kingsley

Masters Theses

Teaching High School art has brought me great joy. Along the way I have been challenged with many difficult questions. One that beckoned me to direct and intentional action is “how do I help students take their art work to the next level?” This project is the result of my personal discovery and development of an Advanced Placement Studio Art 2-D Design course. My research of multiple sources led to the development of an Advanced Placement (AP) approved course which includes: a syllabus, multiple breadth lessons, project rubrics, critiques, sketchbook assignments, summer homework, and a guide for helping students develop …

Loss On Ignition Using Infrared Heating, Benjamin J. Binoniemi

Masters Theses

The focus of this study is a proof of concept that infrared heating can be used to produce a reliable and rapid method of performing the loss on ignition test. The loss on ignition test is a foundry industry standard test that requires all moisture and volatile organic compounds be vaporized from a sample of foundry sand. The standard test as recommended by the American Foundry Society uses a muffle oven and requires nearly four hours to perform. This new concept performs the same test in approximately ten minutes. The biggest issues with the loss on ignition test are time …

Zinc Oxide Based Inks For Semiconductor Applications, Shreyas Pathak

Masters Theses

Conventional printing methods are gaining popularity in the manufacturing of electronic components hence being termed as Printed Electronics (PE). IDTechEx has predicted that the total market size of flexible electronics by 2024 would be $70.4 billion. Their report predicts that majority of applications would consume conductive inks. (1)

The main challenge in PE is developing suitable inks for the different printing processes being used to manufacture these electronic components. The experiments in this work mainly involved selecting suitable components for formulating solvent based, semiconductive ZnO inks and then sintering using the NovaCentrix® PulseForge® 1200. ZnO inks were also doped with …

Using An Interactive Mobile Application To Crowdsource Data Collection For Management Issues In Asylum Lake Preserve, Kalamazoo, Mi, Alexander Ebenstein

Masters Theses

As technology continues to improve, personal and mobile technologies are becoming ubiquitous, being used for everything from social media to data collection. Crowdsourcing is a form of mobile data collection that calls upon a group of people to help solve a complex problem. In recent years, crowdsourcing has become an important component in data collection for managing natural disasters, allowing disaster relief systems to improve response time and coordination protocols. Natural resource and land managers are also starting to use these new technology-based and location-aware systems to improve management. By calling upon users of the recreation areas to help identify …

Environmental Impact Of Conference Realignment, Bradley Farley

Masters Theses

Sports have a large impact on the environment. While leagues and teams are looking at improving their sustainability at stadiums, they also have increased their travel distances. NCAA Division I athletic conferences have recently endured conference realignments. This expanding geographic footprint of these conferences has led to teams having an increased travel distances for all sports. This research investigates the environmental impact of travel distances that conference realignment has had in NCAA Division I athletics, particularly regarding the Power 5 conferences carbon footprint. The research question examined is, based on travel distances, has the carbon footprint of the conferences changed …

Choice--‐Based Art: Students Who Create, Not Replicate, Hillary K. Moczerad

Masters Theses

The problem that I researched in today’s art education world is how to teach our art students to be problem solving, confident, independent thinkers. It seems that in a classroom that is supposed to be full of innovation and creativity, it is currently falling flat. Through research, I discovered a teaching methodology called Choice-­‐Based Art that claims to eliminate these problems in the art room through student-­‐directed learning and choice while still delivering art curriculum. In order to test these theories, I aligned my classroom with the demands of the methodology and planned a field test with two groups of …

Creative Concentrations: A Secondary Design Curriculum, Linnea Roberta Gustafson

Masters Theses

Design education, as distinct from art education, has been overlooked as an area of student learning, creative expression, and career potential. This thesis explores the benefits of design education for students at the secondary level, when identities are being formed and areas of future study and work are considered. Guided by the newly published National Core Arts Standards, this paper provides a model design curriculum that introduces secondary students to a design-oriented view of the world, explores design principles through real-world applications, and calls attention to professional career options.

All lessons in the curriculum encourage creative approaches to solving design …

Fighting For Inclusion: The Origin Of Gay Liberation At The University Of Michigan, Eric Denby

Masters Theses

The 1960s and 1970s were decades of turbulence, militancy, and unrest in America. The post-World War II boom in consumerism and consumption made way for a new post-materialist societal ethos, one that looked past the American dream of home ownership and material wealth. Many citizens were now concerned with social and economic equality, justice for all people of the world, and a restructuring of the capitalist system itself. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan was a hotbed of student activism. As an early headquarters for the Students for a Democratic Society, a …

The Effects Of Electronic Response Systems On Student Learning, James D. Morrison

Masters Theses

One of the most technologically advanced methods of implementing active student responding is the electronic response system (Judson & Sawada, 2002). This technology is known under several names including audience response system, classroom response system, and colloquially as clickers (Smith, Shon, & Santiago, 2011). To accurately assess the impact of clickers on learning performance and classroom achievement, more quantitative analysis and systematic replication of studies was needed (Kay & LeSage, 2009). This study examined the effects of ASR questions on exam performance in two sections of an organizational psychology class for majors and non-majors. A social validity questionnaire was also …

Naturally-Occurring Metals Concentrations In Michigan Soils: A 2015 Survey, Zachary Lowell Spotts

Masters Theses

Closure of hazardous waste sites can be aided through the use of a soil background survey for metals. Data for these studies come from either field sampling or publicly available environmental files. Previous studies were conducted in Michigan, known as the Michigan Background Soil Survey (MBSS). The current update is a refinement and improvement of the 2005 update. New data was collected from publicly available environmental files and other sources. Both the current update and the 2005 update differentiated data by soil type and glacial lobe. GIS analysis was used to observe spatial distribution of the data and to determine …

Zambians’ Perception Of The Press: The Case Of Online News Media – Zambian Watchdog And Zambia Daily Mail (2014-15), Francis Chishala

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

Nerds: A Reclamation Of An Identity, Angiola L. Gabriel

Masters Theses

The term nerd has seen an alteration in usage since it was first used in the 1950s. Originally, nerd carried a negative connotation and people labeled as such were given or had traits such as being overly studious, socially inept, or physically unattractive. However, the term nerd has seen a change in usage since the 1980s; now, the term nerd is seen as a more positive identifier that denotes passion, as well as individuality and intellectualism. There a number of different studies that address nerd identities and cultures in the K-12 educational setting and a broader societal contexts. Yet, there …

An Exploration Of Negative Family Factors And Substance Use Amongst Adolescents: The Lasting Effects Of Family Substance Use, Parental Criminality, And Parental Corporal Punishment, Melissa Ann Murray

Masters Theses

Studies have shown that there is a connection between negative family influences and adolescent deviance. The purpose of this study was to investigate how negative family factors may lead to adolescent substance use. The study examines literature that suggests that negative family factors may trigger adolescent substance use. This study utilized secondary data from the 1995 National Survey of Adolescents in the United States (Kilpatrick and Saunders, 1995). A representative sample of adolescents (ages 12-17) and adult parents from the United States was analyzed (n = 4,023). This study examined the direct effects negative family factors have on adolescent alcohol …

The Depiction Of The Holocaust Within The Theme Of Escape In Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay, Deirdre Toeller-Novak

Masters Theses

Escape sounds like a ram’s horn throughout Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, looming large in the lives of his mostly Jewish characters. Only one, Josef Kavalier, is intimately tied to and escapes the Holocaust which destroys his entire family. The horrors of the Holocaust, however, cast a shadow that hovers over nearly every chapter of Chabon’s 636-page novel. For most of the novel’s other characters, intent on plotting their own escapes, the events of the Holocaust remain 4,000 miles away. Americans, Jew and gentile, politically astute and clueless, laborer and capitalist, prefer to maintain a …

Addressing Demand For Sex Trafficking In Sweden And The United Kingdom: An Interpretive Policy Analysis Of Demand Reduction Policies, In Consideration Of The Principles Of Deterrence Theory, Katee Stahl

Masters Theses

In recent years, the problem of sex trafficking has migrated to the forefront of prostitution policy discussions, shifting the focus away from arguments surrounding the morality of prostitution, and instead, to consideration of the most effective prostitution policy approach to combat sex trafficking. One popular solution focuses on reducing the demand for sex trafficking by reducing the overall demand for prostitution. In order to reduce demand for prostitution, people must be deterred from purchasing sexual services, in any form, which may be accomplished by criminalizing the purchase of prostitution. The present inquiry will compare the demand reduction approaches of Sweden …

Undocumented Latino College Students And Identity Development: A Qualitative Analysis Of Undocumented Latino College Students’ Movement Towards Developing Purpose, Theresa Danielle Lyon

Masters Theses

Undocumented Latino college students face numerous legal, social, and financial barriers as they attempt to pursue a postsecondary degree. The psychosocial stressors that accompany being labeled as an undocumented immigrant put these students at risk of disengaging from their postsecondary education as they face limited career options and social rejection. Researchers have noted the psychosocial development that occur as students transition to an adult identity, yet little research has been done on how undocumented Latino college students navigate barriers to their identity develop and attempt to define their purpose as not only college students, but members of U.S. Society. This …