Digital Commons Network^™

Staging Collapse: Anita Berber’S Cocaine And Morphium As Disability Aesthetic Performance, Blair Summers

Theses

This thesis examines Anita Berber’s performances Cocaine and Morphium within the cultural climate of Weimar Germany, where the body became closely tied to ideals of health, productivity, and national renewal. Through the framework of disability aesthetics as defined by Tobin Siebers, this study argues that Berber transforms addiction, collapse, and bodily decay into a visual and affective language of artistic and political critique. Rather than present the body as disciplined or morally ideal, Berber stages instability, excess, and death through gesture, costume, set design, and music. In doing so, she reimagines the stigmatized female body as a site of agency …

An Introduction To World Art History: Course Curriculum, Skyler M. Bancroft

Theses

Art history as a field has inherent biases that are primarily rooted in Western traditions. A majority of the content which students are exposed to focuses on regions such as Europe and the Americas, with less focus on Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. The purpose of this thesis project is to develop a secondary school curriculum that approaches art history from a world perspective to foster students’ sense of cultural awareness and empathy, as well as the development of skills such as critical thinking and visual literacy. Students will leave this course with a greater understanding of art from various …

Unveiled Voices: An Ode To Black Brides A Digital Resource Guide For Black Brides And Inclusive Bridal Design, Jaslyn A. Banks

Theses

This project examines the lack of inclusivity within the bridal industry, with a specific focus on the absence of skin-tone appropriate illusion mesh and diverse representation for Black brides. Through a combination of scholarly research and visual analysis, this study identifies how Eurocentric design standards continue to influence fabric development, marketing practices, and overall bridal aesthetics.

In response to these findings, this project introduces a digital lookbook titled Unveiled Voices: An Ode to Black Brides A Digital Resource Guide for Black Brides and Inclusive Bridal Design, which serves as a curated resource highlighting Black bridal designers who prioritize inclusivity, cultural …

Leveraging Generative Artificial Intelligence To Launch An Independent Game Studio, Douglas Evans

Theses

This project report examines how Generative Artificial Intelligence (Generative AI) can be integrated into the early formation and operations of an independent/indie game studio. Using a qualitative, practice-based single-case study approach, the project focused on Boar’s Head Studio, LLC. A human-in-the-loop approach was maintained with Generative AI used to support company formation, ideation, planning, documentation, analysis, coding assistance, marketing preparation, and community-building preparation

The report concludes that Generative AI can serve as a meaningful system integrated into the studio pipeline when used with structured, repeatable, human-in-the-loop processes. The project contributes a practical, case-based framework that may be useful to other …

Integrating Artificial Intelligence Into Academic Writing: Development Of A Student-Centered Ethical Toolkit, Matteo Landais

Theses

The rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence in higher education has introduced new challenges surrounding authorship, academic integrity, and the role of writing in student learning. While institutional responses have often focused on restriction, surveillance, and AI detection, students continue to incorporate AI tools into their writing practices in increasingly normalized ways. This project argues that the issue is not simply whether students use AI, but how they use it and whether that use supports meaningful engagement with the writing process.

This applied project proposes a process-oriented and student-centered framework for the ethical integration of AI into academic writing. Learning …

Edvard Munch And The Feminine Sublime, Saralyn Goodspeed

Theses

This paper explores the theory of the sublime in relation to Edvard Munch’s depictions of women. Departing from the common view that Munch was simply anxious about the “New Woman” that emerged in the late nineteenth-century, I argue that Munch’s conflicting emotions regarding women were sublime in nature, rooted in his childhood relationship with his mother. A formal analysis is conducted on three of Munch’s works: Inheritance (1897), Three Stages of Woman or Sphinx (1894), and Madonna (1895). These analyses link Munch’s representations of women to a maternal sublime.

Integrating Embodied Expertise Into Dress History Academia Through Practice-Led Actualistic Recreations: A New Methodology And Test Thereof, Rowan Paramour

Theses

This thesis examines the usage of practice-led methodology for historic dress recreation projects and how to implement and objectively analyze the findings from such research in an academically rigorous fashion. In section one, I examine the distinction between different types of recreation practices, the establishment of embodied practice within historic dress research, address concerns centering practice-led methodology, and develop a methodology for practice-led historic dress recreation projects and rubric for assessment of that methodology. In section two, I fully test the methodology and rubric by utilizing it in my own recreation and present this process using the methodology’s proposed deliverables …

Artificial Intelligence In Video Production, Jonathan Ringor

Theses

This project examines the role of artificial intelligence in video advertisement production and explores whether AI can help bridge the gap between everyday users and professional advertising. The project combined both creative production and audience research. To do this, three original AI-generated advertisements were created in distinct commercial formats: a pharmaceutical advertisement, a petcentered narrative commercial, and a lifestyle montage advertisement. After the advertisements were completed, audience response was measured through a survey of U.S.-based participants. Participants evaluated each advertisement on realism, emotional engagement, trustworthiness, polish, and authenticity. The results showed that the advertisements were not perceived equally. The pet …

The Road To Effective Leadership: The Role Of Practical Training In Shaping Leadership Skills Of Students For Success In Educational Leadership, Fatima Ali Saeed Salem Alnuaimi

Theses

Educational leadership programs play an important role in preparing future leaders to deal with the challenges of educational settings. However, relying only on theoretical knowledge may not be enough to develop the skills and mindset required for an effective leadership role. In addition, this study aimed to explore the role of practical training and experiential learning in shaping leadership skills and leadership identity among students enrolled in educational leadership programs. This study utilized a mixed-methods design. First, quantitative data were collected via a questionnaire distributed to 24 participants, including master’s and PhD students and educators in leadership roles in schools. …

Political Legacies Of Malcolm X, Sumair Ahluwalia

Theses

This study explores the ways in which Malcolm X’s legacy has been co-opted by various institutions and actors, including, but not limited to, politicians, historians, the general public, the federal government, and other commentators. As a result of this co-optation, Malcolm’s revolutionary ideals have been diluted or sanitized in the years since his assassination in 1965. Different approaches have been utilized to reframe Malcolm’s legacy, which include associating him with American liberalism, framing his arguments at the end of his life as markedly less radical, and external interference with popular works about Malcolm, including The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Additionally, …

At The Crossing, Timothy Mulhall

Theses

At the Crossing is a body of photographic work that stemmed from daily walks through the Genesee Valley Park. Having moved to a new and unfamiliar place, these walks were a way of drawing closer to the city of Rochester and the people who call it home. In the process, I discovered the vitality and democratic function of the park and its relationship to the larger city. In this space, people gather, celebrate, rest, and dream. It exists as a wild refuge, a pressure valve within the overall function of the city. In this way, it is one of the …

A Reconfigurable Architecture For Dense And Sparse Matrix Multiplication In Processing-In-Memory, Timothy Avila

Theses

Traditional Von-Neumann computing architectures suffer from a fundamental limitation known as the memory wall, where performance is constrained by the cost of data movement between memory and processing units rather than by computational capability. This limitation is particularly pronounced in data-intensive workloads such as machine learning (ML) and hyperdimensional computing (HDC), where matrix-vector operations dominate execution and are often memory-bound. Processing-in-Memory (PIM) architectures have emerged as a promising approach to mitigate this bottleneck by enabling computation to occur within or near memory, thereby reducing data movement overhead. However, due to these processors' specialized nature and the limited integration of general-purpose …

Loosie: A Nesting Furniture Collection, Maurice Bryan

Theses

A persistent challenge in housing design is the efficient use of limited space, particularly in densely populated urban environments, where residents balance comfort with the need to minimize clutter and spatial constraints. This study investigates strategies for optimizing interior space through space-saving methods, using multifunctional furniture design. The primary objective is to develop multipurpose design solutions that enable users to express personal style while maximizing spatial efficiency, with a focus on approaches that emphasize multifunctionality and transformability. These strategies enable residents to use living spaces more efficiently, accommodate a broader range of activities, overcome clutter and spatial constraints, express individual …

Deaf Space 2.0 - Adapted And Scaled To Large Urban Infrastructures, Youngjin Yi

Theses

This thesis investigates how DeafSpace principles can be adapted and scaled beyond interior environments to operate effectively within large urban infrastructures. While DeafSpace has been successfully applied in controlled, building-scale contexts, its potential at the scale of sidewalks, transit hubs, and public circulation systems remains underexplored. Contemporary urban environments rely heavily on auditory cues to communicate movement, safety, and orientation, creating barriers for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals and limiting clarity for the public at large. Through architectural observation, spatial analysis, and scenario-based evaluation conducted at the Rochester Institute of Technology campus and downtown Rochester, this research examines how architectural form, …

Traumatic Stress Recruits An Excitatory Orbitofrontal-Amygdala Pathway To Drive Maladaptive Aggression, Mikaela Aholt

Theses

Traumatic stress is a reliable predictor of heightened aggression, yet the mechanisms linking stress exposure to aggression remain poorly understood. The Nordman lab previously found that traumatic stress activates the posterior ventral segment of the medial amygdala (MeApv) to drive persistent increases in aggressive behavior. However, why traumatic stress would engage an aggression-promoting pathway is unclear. To address this, the inputs to the MeApv were mapped and a population of excitatory, but not inhibitory, neurons in layer 5 of the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) were identified. The OFC is classically viewed as an inhibitory brake on amygdala-driven impulses, yet emerging …

The Making Of Shi'a Resistance In Afghanistan: Historical Roots, Communist Rule, And Soviet Occupation, 1978–1989, Sayed Sajjad Hojet

Theses

This thesis examines Shi'a political mobilization in Afghanistan from the 1978 Saur Revolution through the Soviet occupation, ending in 1989. It argues that Shi'a resistance was not simply a religious reaction to Marxist rule but a complex movement shaped by long-term marginalization, influenced by rival political ideas, and connected to cross-border networks in Iran. It traces how persecution under Amir Abdurrahman Khan created a system of political exclusion that shaped Shi'a collective identity before the communist takeover, and how ideologies such Marxism and Political Islam further politicized Shi'a youth in the mid-twentieth century. The PDPA's coercive policies after 1978 helped …

Tala: A Physicalized Syntax For Early Language Acquisition And Family Connection, Aaron Powell

Theses

Families and clinicians face a persistent challenge: translating speech therapy from the clinical environment into meaningful, playful learning at home. While research confirms that parental involvement is the primary driver of successful intervention, a significant “implementation gap” exists between clinical benchmarks and everyday domestic life. This is not a failure of caregiver engagement or clinical expertise, but rather a failure of design; existing tools are often either commercial toys that lack therapeutic scaffolding or clinical ones that feel too sterile for the home environment. This thesis proposes a design framework for supporting flexible, family-centered participation in Early Intervention through Tala, …

Reconfigurable Dataflow For Efficient Matrix-Matrix Multiplication For Dnn Acceleration, Daniel Laudico

Theses

General matrix-matrix multiplication (GeMM) is a principal computational bottleneck in modern deep learning workloads where performance can be heavily impeded by frequent memory accesses. This thesis introduces a multi-dataflow aware processing element (PE) designed to perform the multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations fundamental to GeMMs while utilizing a data flow that best fits the data provided. A salient feature of this architecture is its programmable flexibility, which enables the implementation and execution of different data flow strategies, including Output Stationary, Weight Stationary, Input Stationary, and Row Stationary. The flexible design supports both dense and sparse GeMM and General matrix-vector multiplication (GeMV). To …

The Houston Eclipse, Korey Hans

Theses

The Houston Eclipse is a sports branding project for a fictional WNBA team, built on the idea that design can shape the fan experience. In a market where consumer attention is constantly being fought over, the brands that stand out are the ones that make people feel something. Sports already carries that emotional weight, but most fan-facing products don't take full advantage of it, often reducing team identity to a logo placed on top of a product without regard for the form it's applied to. This project approaches branding as a full system rather than a single mark. Drawing on …

The Future Of Airport Operating Models And Seamless Passenger Journeys: Strategic Readiness Implications For Dubai World Central (2035–2045), Mohammad Abdulla Alsuwaidi

Theses

Dubai World Central is being developed to support a major expansion of Dubai’s aviation capacity. Its planned scale raises questions beyond terminal construction and technology pro- curement because airlines, airport operators and government authorities must coordinate passenger processing while maintaining security, public confidence and operational continu- ity. This thesis examines how airport operating models and end-to-end passenger processing may evolve during 2035–2045 and assesses the strategic readiness implications for DWC. A qualitative, desk-based design was adopted using peer-reviewed research, official aviation publications, government documents, airport implementation evidence and selected industry reports. The analysis combined PEST horizon scanning, a technology-readiness assessment, …

Energy Loss Hotspot Mapping In Power Distribution Networks, Abdulla Alhammadi

Theses

The electricity systems used in power distribution in the United States also consume a lot of electricity to warm up until it gets to homes, business or industries. These are technical losses which are caused by the physical resistance of the aging electrical equipment like transformers, conductors and distribution lines. With the aging of infrastructure, the resistance rises, and the amount of wasted energy increases. Although this is a large problem, most utility companies continue to use rough age estimations or customer complaints instead of using more direct and objective data-driven techniques to determine the concentration of the worst losses. …

A Study Of Post -Quantum Cryptography Migration In An Emulated Enterprise Environment, Saquib Farooq Malik

Theses

The imminent maturation of Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) represents a fundamental threat to the digital security infrastructure, specifically targeting modern cryptographic standards such as AES, RSA and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). While Post -Quantum Cryptography (PQC) offers a mathematical defense, the transition is complicated by the “Harvest Now, Decrypt Later ” (HNDL) strategy, where encrypted data is intercepted today for future decryption. This thesis explores the critical necessity of an organized migration strategy to protect long-term data sensitivity against the rapid advancement of quantum capabilities and addresses the gaps in the current migration landscape: the absence of a standardized, …

Designing A Uae-Centric Integrated Mobility System: Linking Transport,Traffic, And Urban Data For Smarter Travel, Alreem Jabir Alshamsi

Theses

Urban mobility systems are central to smart city performance; however, in many rapidly developing cities, mobility services remain fragmented across agencies, platforms, and datasets. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), cities such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have made significant investments in digital infrastructure and intelligent transport solutions. Despite this progress, existing mobility applications continue to operate in functional silos, limiting real-time adaptability and cross-domain integration. Current platforms primarily focus on transport coordination and congestion avoidance, with limited integration of broader urban datasets such as building access schedules, environmental conditions, and localized service availability. This research addresses the absence of …

Evaluating Smart Mobility Performance In Dubai Using Airport Flight Operations Data: A Data-Driven Approach, Hamda Alshamsi

Theses

Airports are more than aviation facilities; they function as critical nodes within modern urban mobility systems. In globally connected cities such as Dubai, airport performance directly influences tourism, trade, economic activity, and the overall efficiency of the transport network. At the same time, airports generate large volumes of detailed operational data on a daily basis. However, this information is often summarized into high-level statistics that do not fully capture temporal variations, congestion patterns, or operational reliability. This thesis investigates how flight-level operational data can be used to evaluate airport mobility performance in Dubai within a smart city context. The study …

Mathamr+: A Unified Graph Neural Network Framework For Multimodal Mathematical Information Retrieval, Jacob Yoon

Theses

Mathematical Information Retrieval (MIR) focuses on developing systems that enable users to search for and retrieve documents containing mathematical content. A key challenge in building effective math-aware retrieval systems lies in jointly modeling the symbolic and operational structure of mathematical expressions together with their surrounding linguistic context. Existing approaches often use linear token sequences, losing structural information, or rely on separate models for text and math, limiting their ability to capture cross-modal patterns and learn contextualized representations. This thesis proposes MathAMR+, a graph neural network-based retrieval framework that jointly models Abstract Meaning Representation (AMR) graphs, Operator Trees (OPTs), and Symbol …

Assessing Programmatic Gaps In The Community Engagement To Reduce Victimization (Cerv) Program, Sam Marino

Theses

This capstone project examines and analyzes data for the Community Engagement to Reduce Victimization (CERV) program in Rochester, New York. By developing a logic model, gap analysis, and utilizing statistical models, the project not only better understands the program design, but also assesses gaps and their patterns in the data to provide structured recommendations to strengthen the data infrastructure, improving data completeness and reliability. These improvements will strengthen the program overall, helping to reduce community violence throughout Rochester. Across three working papers, the project begins by examining the current data and analyses on the program and develops a detailed logic …

Ai In Action: Redefining Loan Default Prediction For The Digital Lending Era, Joe Vinson Ukken

Theses

Credit risk assessment remains a very important part of financial institutions, particularly within the rapidly evolving digital lending environment. The research explores the effectiveness of five machine learning models—Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, and Support Vector Machine—in predicting loan default using both financial indicators and categorical borrower attributes. The study is motivated by the growing availability of structured borrower data and the need to evaluate whether advanced machine learning algorithms can be implemented over conventional credit scoring methods. A publicly available L&T Vehicle Loan Default Prediction dataset comprising 233,154 borrower records and 41 structured attributes, the CRISP-DM …

Subject. Object. Thing., Cristin Hand

Theses

Subject. Object. Thing. is part of an accumulating record of self-construction and self-reflection. The work considers the complications of visibility through self-portraiture, how the desire to be seen exists alongside the impulse to withhold, obscure, and substitute. Working across photography, performance, collage, and sculptural constructions made for the camera, I fragment, disassemble, and reconfigure my body as photographic subject and material. This exploration is structured around a series of oppositions; concealment/exposure, anonymity/specificity, subject/object, naked/nude, and destruction/reconstruction. I do not attempt to resolve these oppositions. Instead, I consider where these categories blur, contradict themselves, and become unstable. Central to this inquiry …

An Evidence-Based Ethical Risk Classification Framework (Ercf) For Ai Policies, Ahmad Almarri

Theses

This thesis develops and evaluates an evidence-based Ethical Risk Classification Framework (ERCF) for analyzing substantive ethical engagement in AI policy documents. The study addresses the gap between high-level AI ethics principles and reproducible computational methods for comparative governance analysis. A secondary dataset of AI ethics policy recordswas used as the starting point. After retrieval, text extraction, and validation, a corpus of 44 policy documents was constructed from an initial 112 records (110 link-bearing entries). Supervised classification was implemented for four core dimensions: Accountability, Bias & Fairness, Privacy, and Transparency. A TF-IDF + Logistic Regression baseline was evaluated using stratified 5-fold …

Tom: Toward A Design Language For Object Personality, Mike Minerva

Theses

Design has been chasing seamless efficiency for decades, creating smoother interactions, more compliant objects, and experiences that disappear entirely. When an object is frictionless, it does not lack personality. It has a personality. One that is obedient, meaningless, and remarkably boring. An object that pushes back has boundaries, and that resistance comes from a position of caring. Objects have always been able to refuse. What is new is that the refusal can now come from inside the object, from memory, adaptive thinking and a disposition toward the person using it. Expressed consistently over time, that agency is perceived as personality. …