Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Boron In Cast Iron, Suyash Durendra Pawaskar

Masters Theses

"Boron, mostly considered a residual element, has started to cause issues in the cast iron foundries by causing a decrease in the strength of pearlitic gray and ductile iron castings. Because of the increase in the use of boron-added steel scrap from automotive steel and a lack of agreement on the critical levels of boron in cast iron, foundries are facing difficulties in controlling the microstructure of gray iron castings when boron is present. The current investigation was designed to analyze the effects of boron in cast irons and predict a mechanism to understand its effects with a vision 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 …

Replacing Combustion Engines With Hydrogen Fuel Cells To Power Mining Haul Trucks: Challenges And Opportunities, Ayorinde Akinrinlola

Masters Theses

"With the proven advantage of higher energy density in hydrogen fuel cells over batteries, there is potential to apply fuel cells to power mining haul trucks. This study aims to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of hydrogen fuel cell electric mine trucks as an alternative to current mine haul trucks. Specifically, the project: (1) developed an economic framework for evaluating the integration of renewable energy powered haul trucks into mining; and (2) applied vehicle drivetrain and energy simulation in Matlab/Simulink to elucidate the challenges and opportunities of incorporating hydrogen fuel cell technology into the current form factors of mine …

Modeling The Reactor Time-Dependent Delayed Particle Tail With Monte Carlo N-Particle (Mcnp) Version 6.2, Eli James Boland

Masters Theses

"Energy is deposited into experiment packages due to post-shutdown decay heat created from delayed particles. Modeling these delayed particles in a reactor assists researchers in quantifying the expected energy deposition sources to an experiment package before irradiation. This paper focuses on modeling the delayed particles in a reactor in MCNP6.2 by capturing a reactor as a source, converting this source capture to a source definition, applying appropriate physics such as activation and photonuclear interactions, and finally using proper tallies to create the expected delayed particle tail of a reactor.

To capture the source distribution, the FMESH capability within MCNP was …

Mini Memoirs: Poetry As A Medium For Memories, Liesl Anna Counterman

Masters Theses

For the critical paper, I explore the use of poetry as a form of memoir. Over the years, I have journaled by writing poetry, and for the purpose of this paper, I have studied the marriage of poetry and memoir. My critical paper research has directed me towards how memoirists (including autobiographers and biographers of the past) have used poetry in their writings and how the truth about the past is verified and enhanced by poetic works. Poetry seems to be a vehicle of preserving truth, thus proving the veracity of the emotions and experiences within a historical context. Since …

An Exploration Of The Axiom “Show, Don’T Tell” In Fiction Writing, Tina Matras

Masters Theses

This thesis is about one person’s journey from the stringent, fact-based world of technical writing to a creative place known as fiction writing. The Artist Statement explores the author’s journey into the world of creative writing and choice of genre. The critical paper is a sample of the process the author undertook to learn how to “show” a story. Instructional technical writers provide readers with a set of instructions or steps from information that already exists. Nothing is made up, and any visual provided is accompanied by pictures. The reader doesn’t have to imagine anything. Fiction writers must help a …

American Religion: A Study Of Religious Change From The 1920s Through 1970s, Alexander R. Marks-Katz

Masters Theses

Religion in America persisted along traditional Christian lines until the 1870s. It was then that theological liberalism gained significant headway. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era were still infused with revivals and preachers but there was a growing contingent that challenged the fundamentals of Christian belief. Sometimes this contingent supported revivals but promoted social causes and brought unorthodox biblical interpretations. At other times, they challenged traditional Christianity altogether. By the Great Depression, American culture had undergone such a tremendous amount of change that, faced with adversity, the bottom of religion fell out. Fewer people attended services and contributed funds. More …

The Differing Of Worldviews Between Soviet And Post-Soviet Russians, Jodie David Vesely

Masters Theses

The early 1990s’ foreign missionary flood into St. Petersburg, Russia led to a seemingly large spiritual harvest. However, over the years as the reported spiritual fruit substantially decreased, it was soon discovered that this harvest was actually an illusion. Research has shown that overall worldview was not implemented into missionary efforts like it should have been. Statistics reveal a declining trend in true believers in Russia, and as a new generation of Russians are rising up, so are the number of atheists in St. Petersburg. In searching for a solution to reverse this trend and more effectively reach Russians by …

Pediatric Mtbi: Perceptions Of Michigan General Education Teachers, Kayleigh Smith, Delaney Eckstein, Alyson Peters, Tanveer Mangat

Masters Theses

Background: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI), also known as concussion, is the most common head injury in the pediatric population. The purpose of this study was to develop evidence about teachers’ knowledge of mTBI, their experiences with mTBI, and return-to-learn protocols.

Methods: A mixed-methods survey was emailed to 567 Michigan Public School superintendents. Employing snowball sampling, superintendents were requested to distribute the electronic survey within their school districts.

Results: Fifty-three participants responded to the survey and met the inclusion criteria (N=53). Respondents were not confident with recognizing signs and symptoms of mTBI, but knowledgeable, particularly with recognizing physical symptoms more …

The Use Of Occupational Therapy Services In Outpatient Mental Health, Kelsey A. Wasik, Matt T. Valois, Kaylee M. Essenberg, Kelcie P. Beck

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is aimed to explore the structure and utilization details of occupational therapy in outpatient behavioral health settings. Two occupational therapists participated in qualitative phenomenological interviews which were transcribed and analyzed using the thematic approach. A total of two themes emerged: billing and coverage, and education and advocacy. Participants identified there are necessary factors for reimbursement of services, in addition to the need for education and advocacy for occupational therapists to practice in outpatient behavioral health settings. Future research should be aimed at recruiting more participants, occupational therapists, and from other roles in these clinics such …

Notes In Improvisation : Spatializing Black Identity Through Music, Esther Akintoye

Masters Theses

The self-creation of Black spaces in America has been a form of resistance and reclamation, as well as a way to forge an identity and make room for community. This thesis argues for a use of improvisational African American music as a tool to create space. Additionally, through research and a design intervention, this thesis seeks to demonstrate how spatial creation within the framework of music and musical improvisation work as ways to expand, solidify and celebrate identity within Black and African- identifying people in America.

Fluid and improvisational techniques found in Black musical styles and genres such as jazz …

Creative Changemaking : Designing Is Teaching, Kaitlyn Cirielli

Masters Theses

What this is is a candid and current interpretation of thoughts and findings from the collection of resources I was fortunate enough to have encountered throughout my time here. Some of these writings are written specifically for artists, some for arts educators, some for designers and activists, and even some on psychotherapy.

All these topics bouncing off each other, as I read them with the same questions, generated their own unique sentiment. I feel like I’m just beginning to understand what this is, and will share as best I can what I do understand so far.

There is still so …

That Mirror Again, Kyros Barton

Masters Theses

That Mirror Again is a summary of experiences, used to pose questions about self-hood through technological metaphor and theory. Its memories are disjointed, separate, and removed from time, and are an honest attempt to recenter an identity before the end of formal education. The themes of each section, Aground, Tilt, and Threshold, are presented as isolated definitions that set the mood for the writing before it is introduced. Referencing information age technology, invoking ancient deities in prose, and brushing against the fur of monster-hood, the text holds the memory it carries softly and offers it to the reader.

Everything Comes Full Circle, Lilan Yang

Masters Theses

Following Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas (1984) filming locations from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California, I use a 16mm Bolex camera to capture the vastness of the American West. The footage draws me to reminisce about snippets of my everyday life. I contemplate how we perceive the world through analog optical apparatuses and how memories are multidimensional yet fragile. Our recollections of people and places can be distorted, unrecognizable, and fictitious. These memories would eventually diminish with the passing of time. By converting the filmmaking back and forth between analog and digital filmmaking, with the loss of information during the …

Generative Image Systems And Emergent Play, Travess Smalley

Masters Theses

Generative Image Systems and Emergent Play is a collection of writings around generative creative processes and the emergent outcomes that can develop from simple systems. The generative systems I utilize in my practice are explored in this writing through the lenses of Instructional Art, Generative Art, Chance and Randomness, the Xerox, Computer Programming, and Emergent Play in games. These texts are a statement about my computational art practice and research, and they explore what it means to create with generative systems inside of other designer’s programs.

Abyss Without Vertigo, Jack Madden

Masters Theses

Science has difficulty changing the way we think because it takes us beyond our natural perception. To scales and phenomena that we are unaccustomed to, that are instinctively inhuman.

To fundamentally change the philosophy of our species there needs to be a bridge or, more presciently, an emergency ladder for the human mind to science.

As we are inclined to logic yet inherently emotional, the importance of the scientific cannot be understood using science alone.

Significance must be felt, feelings are the foundation of art, and validation the consequence of the artifact.

Designing Ecotones : Implementing Regenerative Patches In Urban Environments For Transdisciplinary And Transcultural Creativity-Based Education, Cristiane Marie Caro

Masters Theses

This thesis has been written to emphasize the educational, social, political and environmental potentials of collectively designed regenerative ecosystems. It aims to encourage students and educators to transform disturbed null patches in urban environments to amplify the scope of the students’ education by simultaneously developing a social ecosystem and cultivating environmental sensibility. I outline the formation of the Regenerative Earth Collective, a student-run group aiming to address topics of sustainability at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and their work to design, implement and maintain groundwork for hands-on, experiential learning. I illustrate the Plot (manifested as a student-run community …

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 …

Deconstruct The Center: Making Space For The Voices In The Margins, Taylor Varnado

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the implementation of culturally relevant/responsive teaching within the art classroom. The question that guided the research was: How can art teachers incorporate culturally relevant teaching into their curriculum to support equity and inclusion within the educational setting? In order to answer this question, I examined the current state of implementation through interviews, surveys, a literature review, work-based experiences, and classroom observations. The researcher determined a need for additional resources and a pathway for implementation through this examination.

Practice Makes Perfect : Finding Inspiration In Art Education, Mercedes Rose Crespo

Masters Theses

Divergences in art are symbolic of the complexities of life. When the trajectory of our lives change so does our work. This thesis project is a reflection of the art making process and how it is affected by the influence the arts has on our lives. Seeking artistic inspirations led me to Rhode Island where there is creativity in everything from the coffee shop atmosphere to the museums. This is a showcasing of my experience during my course of study at the Rhode Island School of Design’s Master of Arts in Art + Design Education program. Through photographic inquiry and …

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. …

I Don't Quite Remember It That Way, Margaret Lindon

Masters Theses

In the fall of 2020, during the first week of graduate school, I crashed on my road bike and suffered a big-time concussion. Like, lost-consciousness-and-forgot-the-whole-day kinda big. I became obsessed with this permanent memory deletion. Trying to remember the event was like trying to remember the first time I saw the color blue. Impossible without supplementary data or second-person observation.

Memory recall can operate like a game of telephone. When we remember something, we’re really just remembering the last time we remembered it. We accrue subtle adjustments to our memories that result in gradual omissions and distillations.

This process lost …

The Subconscious As Politics: An Inquiry Of Collaborative Design Education Through Radical Speculation, Nina Jun Yuchi

Masters Theses

For two years, I’ve been keeping a dream journal in which I record anything I can remember as soon as I wake up. The pages have slowly filled up with scrawls and doodles and fragmented memoirs of a life that doesn’t even seem like mine and yet, every dream I can vividly remember feels like a portal into an alternate dimension in which my subconscious reality is as tangible as my conscious one.

Eventually, dreaming became a key method in my research to seek out and materialize alternative worlds. It became the object of my obsessive interest in visualizing speculative …

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.

Making Space : Creative Learners, Digital Spaces, And The Relationships Between Them, Natalia Spritzer

Masters Theses

This thesis is an inquiry into the growing prevalence of digital learning environments or digital spaces in order to assess the impact of leveraging these spaces on learners' creative identities. What is being examined in particular are web-folios or personal websites (digital spaces), the interactions that learners have with these environments, and how it infers to the potential of digital space as a medium for a variety of advancements. Through qualitative analysis in the form of observations, interviews, and surveys done throughout a collaborative research workshop, this thesis speculates that digital space can be utilized as a means for providing …

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 …