Digital Commons Network^™

Nonlinear Finite Element Model For Functionally Graded Porous Circular/Annular Micro-Plates Under Thermal And Mechanical Load, Enrique Nava Munoz

Masters Theses

A nonlinear finite element model for micro circular/annular plates under thermal and mechanical loading is developed using a third order shear deformation theory. In the kinematic assumptions, the change of plate thickness is allowed and no transverse shear strains are considered on the top and bottom surfaces. A power-law distribution is utilized to account for variations of two constituents through the thickness of the plate. Three different types of porosity distributions are considered. The strain gradient effect in micro scale structures is considered using the modified couple stress theory. The dynamic version of the principle of virtual displacements is used …

Wake Up America: Conceptualizing The Social Determinants Of Sleep, Nicole Eve Bray

Masters Theses

This paper is an attempt to understand racial, ethnic and gender disparities in sleep as a sociological problem. Public health and sociological researchers have looked at the connection between sleep disparities among minorities and the impact it has on health. However, they haven’t explained and applied the social structural factors that cause these disparities, as well as address how stress can serve as a moderator. In my investigation, I found that sleep troubles differ across race, ethnicity and gender. These differences relate to the distinguishable life situations of women and minorities in American society, such as stressful life circumstances that …

The Waiting Period Of Death Row Inmates, Ashlee Patino

Masters Theses

The death penalty is the highest form of capital sentencing and punishment in the United States. Since 1973, a little less than half of U.S. states are responsible for passing death sentences and executions. Nevertheless, the growing number of death row inmates is at an all-time high since the late 70s (DPIC, 2022). Although academia and scholarly research has advanced the general understanding of death penalty sentencing, racial disparities resulting in a death sentence and execution has not been studied as comprehensively. Despite the strides in progress made by academia and scholarly research on the death penalty, there are areas …

The Healing Power Of Creative Storytelling: Utilizing Fiction As A Means Of Therapy In The Writer/Reader Relationship, Alicia Rose Klepper

Masters Theses

What if we wrote the challenging portions of our lives as comedies or the boring parts as grand adventures? What if we recast painful experiences into creative stories that allow us to live in proximity to our circumstances and not be overwhelmed? Storytelling is how we bridge our lives with creativity as a way to heal from the past, process the present, and hope for the future. This thesis explores how the tradition of creative storytelling has evolved to enable writers and readers to uncover and connect elements of life that would otherwise be too painful to process. By bridging …

Empires Rise: An Approach To Worldbuilding In Modern Fantasy Fiction, Anthony John Rudd

Masters Theses

Worldbuilding is a critical element to storytelling and involves much more than creating a setting for a narrative – it serves to establish a credible foundation on which authors give life to their creation. There are many great authors who have mastered the art of worldbuilding and their creations can serve as a primer for aspiring authors. This thesis explores critical elements of worldbuilding, provides examples from notable fantasy and science fiction authors such as Tolkien, Jordan, King, and others and explores my approach to incorporating those elements into my own writing.

“A More Perfect World”: Posthumanism And Technological Integration In A Memory Called Empire, Garrett R. Johnson

Masters Theses

This thesis considers the relationship of technology to the human through a posthumanist lens, questioning what will become of the human an increasingly more-than-human world through an examination of the novel A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. Through an examination of the imago device from the novel, the thesis evaluates the human experience of memory and the influence of empire. The thesis advances four key concepts: 1. The collapsed divide between the human and the technic through memory and imagination; 2. Technology’s development and use; 3. The user that is integrated with the technic; and 4. The poisonous influence …

Effects Of Dietary Phytoestrogens On Spermatogenesis And Male Reproductive Tract In Mice, Trenton A. Dalm

Masters Theses

Increases in infertility over the past 50 years are linked to environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). One type of EDC is phytoestrogens, commonly found in soy-based diets and foods such as cauliflower, tofu, and broccoli. Phytoestrogens may bind estrogen receptors and have positive or negative effects on receptor signaling. The developing male reproductive tract is potentially susceptible to endocrine disruptors leading to changes in adult reproductive function and possibly infertility. We hypothesized that dietary phytoestrogen exposure would have a dose dependent effect with the high diet yielding the lowest sperm count and worst performance compared to the medium …

A Comparison Of Pm-Nato3’S Influence On Neural Progenitors And Mature Dopamine Neurons, Mary E. West

Masters Theses

This thesis presents significant findings regarding the role of PM-Nato3 in its interaction with developing neurons in the context of Parkinson's disease (PD) and regenerative medicine. We investigated the effects of PM-Nato3 on dopamine (DA) neurogenesis under different culture conditions, both in vitro and in vivo. In the standard dopaminergic culture condition, PM-Nato3 potentially increased the speed of DA neuron production but did not significantly increase the yield of DA neurons. In a minimal culture condition, there was no notable difference between the control and PM-Nato3 conditions, suggesting minimal impact on DA neurogenesis. In vivo studies using a mouse model …

Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) In Treated Sewage Sludge From Michigan Wastewater Treatment Plants, Garrett Wesley Link

Masters Theses

Concentrations, compositions, and variability of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in sewage sludge are characterized using an extensive dataset of 350 samples from 190 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) across Michigan. All samples are comprised of final treated sewage sludge generated at the end of the wastewater treatment process. Concentrations of Σ₂₄ PFAS are log normally distributed with a range of 1 to 3200 ng/g dry wt. and of average 108 ± 277 ng/g dry wt. Compounds with carboxyl and sulfonic functional groups comprised 29% and 71% of Σ₂₄ PFAS concentrations, respectively, on average. Primary sample variability is associated …

Apologetics And Popular Culture Phenomena: A Critique Of Ted Turnau's Method Concerning Anime, Matthew Hunter Hamilton

Masters Theses

Limited work has been performed in the field of Christian apologetics and popular culture, much less the intersection between anime and Christian apologetics. One scholar who has attempted to broach this gap has been Ted Turnau, who has developed a five-step diagnostic method for apologetically engaging popular culture phenomena. However, his method contains key flaws. Using the work of Thomas Lamarre, a scholar in the field of anime studies, a central contention will be made: that the material and technology of anime have processes that affect how viewers inhabit and orient themselves in the world, which in turn influences their …

The Evolution Of The Artesh: 1980 To Present, Ryan Charles Touchstone

Masters Theses

Despite the large media coverage around Iran’s military actions, the role of the Artesh in Iran’s national security structure is often unmentioned. Looking at the evolution of the Artesh since the fall of the Shah of Iran, this study uses firsthand accounts, recent research, and governmental statements and reports to trace the Artesh’s journey to present day. It examines several battlefield successes and failures during the Iran-Iraq War to gauge the ability of the Artesh to adjust in a wartime environment. These adjustments are mixed with some valuable lessons being implemented to later battles while other important lessons remained unapplied. …

New Chapter, Gunju Kim

Masters Theses

This thesis addresses the challenges posed by rapid aging in Korean society, particularly in depopulated rural areas, where the aging population ratio is significantly higher compared to urban areas. With the predicted elderly population reaching 40% by 2050, it is crucial to develop effective strategies to cope with this demographic shift.

The increasing closure and abandonment of schools in depopulated rural areas further exacerbate the challenges faced by these communities. While efforts have been made to repurpose closed schools, many of them still remain unused. This thesis proposes the reuse of abandoned schools as community centers to tackle both the …

Change Through Learning: Observing The Need And Benefits Of A Multicultural Music Education Through Applying Coursework About The Korean And Korean American Musical Diaspora, Austin Eamnarangkool

Masters Theses

Music education is often synonymous with Western Music education, or more specifically, Classical music education. Music theory and analysis surrounding the styles of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven have been central to the pedagogy of a collegiate musical background, while expertise in Carnatic, Gamelan, or African drumming—to name a few—is seen as nonessential. This research project aims to uncover the reasons why (higher) music education is so narrowly focused and provides the skeletal framework for a practical method to begin constructing diverse, holistic curricula. While the overarching goal is to diversify music education in all cultures, the project focuses on the …

Ordination And Licensing Of Ministers Within The Assemblies Of God: Doctrinal Conflict, Railroads, And Relationships, Kent Landon Butler

Masters Theses

Since the Protestant Reformation, ordination within Protestant and evangelical movements has been a largely underemphasized field of study. Some historians have overlooked it entirely, while others have failed to grasp its overall significance to Christian belief, practice, and history. Studies on revivalism are prolific, but in-depth analyses of ordination practices within revivalism and specific revivalist denominations have been lacking. This study defends Robert Mapes Anderson’s thesis that cooperation, consolidation, and controversies in the Assemblies of God between 1914 and 1916 were due to the political struggle between two rival leadership groups. By comparing ministerial lists, mapping ministers’ location information, and …

Student Expectations From Faculty Based On Their Enneagram, Kate Clinton Ndikumagenge

Masters Theses

In this study, the researcher uses the Enneagram to examine whether students’ expectations of faculty change during a crisis. This mixed methods study used surveys to collect data from full-time students from higher education institutions. The data was collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic was used to predict students’ expectations of faculty during any crisis. The overall goal of this study is to understand whether students’ personality types affect how they expect faculty to act during a crisis and whether their expectations were met during a crisis. The results indicate that students’ Enneagram types affect their perception …

Metal/Emo Music And Their Effect On Millennials In The United States, Kevin Mcpherson

Masters Theses

The goal of this paper is to understand the relationship between two related genres and a generation. Both genres have different interpretations, some catharsis, and others self-destruction. Finding modern and historical evidence of a need for sad music revealed a need for music that empathizes with a person’s current state. These genres did have the potential to engage in self-destruction, however, it was found this was due to external factors far more than the cause itself. When music is involved in destructive behavior it gives the individual permission to do so, rather than be the motivator towards it. As art …

Liberdade Para Quem? - Layered Histories, Vanessa Shimada

Masters Theses

Uncovering the spaces of Indigenous and Black stories, and creating spaces for dialogue in the Japanese neighborhood of Liberdade, São Paulo

In A Condition Of No Light, Alana Perino

Masters Theses

In a Condition of No Light is an autofictional investigation into lineages of familial domesticity. The performances therein circumnavigate one family in one domestic environment, yet are in dialogue with repertoires learned and rehearsed within legacies of myth, literature, theater, film, music, and image; as well as through the otherwise untraceability of embodied memory and inherited trauma. The methodologies used are primarily photographic but also encompass practices reaching towards sculpture, installation, and performance. The line of questioning reserved for this inquiry is how a home, its objects, and inhabitants generate, spacialize, and embody the conditions of wealth, whiteness, and gender. …

Instances Of The Spirit (Glossary), Kamari A. Smalls

Masters Theses

This thesis offers a performative methodology to engaging with the worlds and ideas that these words have generated in the form of a glossary. The list of words include: Ancestor, Anointing, Attune, Breath, Conjure, Conversion, Dance, Erotic, Ephemera, Ethervism, God, Girlhood, Hallelujah, Imagination, Improvisation, Jazz, Knowledge, Love, Liturgical, Magic, Memory, Performance, Prayer, Remnant, Repetition, Ritual, Root, Sacred/Secular, Silence/Stillness, Sound, Spell, Spirit, Testimony, Water, and Witness. Personal reflections, contemplations and expansions from other writing, and passages that come out of Black feminist thought, Black girlhood studies, and Black performance theory exist here simultaneously. This glossary demonstrates the theory, theology and lineages …

Finding The Balance, Danyang Song

Masters Theses

Translating different invisible emotions, feelings and symbiotic relationships. Explore the Traditional Chinese Humanistic Philosophy of 'Tian Ren He Yi'.

The interwoven relationship between human, nature and machine is complicated yet beautiful. I explores how visceral emotion, feeling, language and communication all play an important part of how our bodies react, to visualize this invisible feeling. I attempts to visualize the mystery of the human body and society through various ceramic and glass techniques, such as hand-building, blowing and ceramic 3D printing. Using different methods of combining and stressing the material, capturing that resistance and embracing the outcome through a series …

Cyberflesh: The Me I'Ve Made For You, Jordan Metz

Masters Theses

This thesis deals with the impact of digital life on individuals by examining how real things become virtual bodies of information. Throughout this text, I weave key theoretical and literary references between my own thoughts and experiences which led to the work that appears in this book. I find it useful to attend to the spaces in between entities, theories, and technolo- gies. In these undefined spaces lies the spiritual dimension of media, the everyday magic that makes digital life possible. These ‘in-betweens’ are the site of transcendence granted by technology. In my practice, I’ve learned that things have a …

Describe The City You Live In, Jingfei Hu

Masters Theses

I dive into the fields: frequency (sound), wavelengths (light), shapes (conversation): they build connections. What is action without reflection? Now I’m a city drifter. Through art making and dialogue I try to drop the anchor into the futuristic turbulent ocean (of society, speed, and the status quo ). Did I drop it? Not sure. I grew up in the most fast- paced city in China, Shenzhen. I feel pressured there. Do I feel that pressure here? of a precarious, unpredictable future? These questions push me out of the turbulent ocean to grab the present.

There are three stages of time: …

To Melt, Huanzhe Hu

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the need for a reevaluation of the relationship between humans and nature in the face of the current ecological crisis. The author argues that the dominant anthropocentric orientation, which sees nature as a resource to be exploited for human benefit, has led to over extraction and resource abuse, disrupting the balance of ecosystems. Instead, the author suggests adopting an ethical framework based on mutual understanding and appreciation, breaking the "hunter's gaze" and fostering empathy for non-human life forms. This thesis also explores the potential for new forms of communication and engagement with nature, such as through …

New Commandments, Jacob Sussman

Masters Theses

I reach into the earth, pull out mud-encrusted objects, and recombine them to define new meanings. With every object transposed, the past breaks down; new potentials form. “New Commandments” recombines historical symbolism through an intuitive building, destroying, and merging to reimagine or re-establish meaning.

The work critiques rites of passage, masculinity, and stereotypes by deconstructing how histories, ideologies, and preconceptions form.

As a queer person raised in-between Judaism and Christianity, social preconceptions and religious expectations festered my formation. Our choice is taken away at this moment of conception. To take back autonomy, I reimagine historical, and religious symbolism and transmute …

I, Others, World - A Glass Circuit, Ariel Aravot

Masters Theses

In the summer of 2022, I had an epiphany about what an art-work is in its most expansive form: a circuit, activated by art creation, between self and others, and between them to wider worlds, and back to the self. ‘A GLASS CIRCUIT’ is the tale of my ongoing exploration of myself as a glass artist, the conscious discovery of my path, which is both consistent and incessantly changing. My works are the stepping stones that sustain my creative process as a glass blower and at the same time introduce experimentality, new questions, and new research topics.

The circuit is …

A Body Finding Freedom Within Itself, Malda Smadi

Masters Theses

When a dislocation of any type occurs, whether geographical, emotional, or spiritual, the disorder pushes the self to retreat to safety. For me, that safety is in my body. It is in this place of retreat where I locate my original home.

In this space of translocation, I forage for materials from my surroundings and places that I belong to. Moving between Dubai, Damascus, Beirut, and Providence, I shape a reality dependent on what is available. I then transform these materials, searching for the forms and relationships that emerge while meditating on home and the body as a moving vessel …

Interstice, Shravan Rao

Masters Theses

When I was about three years old, I distinctly remember being too small to see what was on top of the table. A couple of years later, when I could see those objects, I thought the world around me had grown smaller. In a way, it did, as I experienced, lived, captured, remembered, and shared the space repeatedly. This sense of the world shrinking was exaggerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing new behaviours and modes of interaction to emerge. Continually shaping our modern lives, virtual technologies redefine how we access and share information and stories or even explore new places. …

Imaginatorium For Children With Visual Impairment, Xueyun Tang

Masters Theses

Although accessible city planning and architecture codes, such as the ADA standards, have significantly improved the lives of people with disabilities by providing physical access to infrastructure, individuals with visual impairments, particularly blind children, still face significant obstacles to fully engage in social activities. Blind children are a vulnerable group that encounters various challenges in developing their cognitive and motor skills, as well as accessing education and social opportunities. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the factors in spatial design that impact blind people’s spatial perception, this thesis conducted a review of existing architectural approaches and proposes a …

Nature As Material, Time As Tool, Chuchu Chen

Masters Theses

No building stands forever. Over time, the natural environment acts upon the outer surface of the building, leading to the failure of materials and the final dissolution of the structure itself, leading to ruin. In order to prevent this or retard its occurrence, we constantly maintain and renew the things we build. Nature seems to stand in opposition to architecture. The passage of time is constantly subtracting from the building. However, what differentiates nature from architecture? This thesis questions whether these two are not opposed, but on a continuous spectrum. Approaching the building as part of the overall environment that …

Watering The Soul: Reintroduction Of Water To The Urban Space, Danfei Zhang

Masters Theses

Water and humans have a primordial connection which is more than fundamental survival requirement. Throughout human history, water has been a spiritual archetype by which people perceive and imagine the world. As a reflection of this, water is broadly featured in human material culture and plays a primary role in all religions and cultures.

Well-composed water features are capable for human’s spiritual and physical happiness and wellness. However, water that can benefit human well-being is absent from the vulnerable communities and populations that need it most, which is further exacerbated by the global water crisis.

This thesis proposes the reintroduction …