Digital Commons Network^™

Phylogeography, Speciation, And Cryptic Diversity In The Cave Springtail Pseudosinella Spinosa (Entomobryomorpha: Entomobryidae) From The Interior Low Plateau And Appalachian Valley & Ridge Karst Regions, Brendan Cramphorn

Theses

Caves offer a unique opportunity to study the ecology and evolution of life in extreme environments, particularly with respect to understanding patterns of diversity. Most cave-obligate species are dispersal limited and have restricted ranges, often endemic to a single or a few cave systems. However, a few species have particularly broad distributions suggesting that they either are not dispersal limited or perhaps represent a species complex of morphological similar but genetically distinct species. In this thesis, I explore morphological variation, phylogeography, and possibly cryptic diversity in Pseudosinella spinosa, a cave collembolan (springtail) that inhabits the Interior Low Plateau and Appalachian …

Interlacing Unstructured Data With Deep Neural Nets For Predicting Pervious And Impervious Land Cover Types, Srivani Athmakur

Theses

This research delves into the intricate task of delineating land cover types in Tallahassee-Leon County and emphasizes the need for detailed granularity beyond existing classification systems. Utilizing cutting-edge GIS data, the study harnesses the power of deep learning algorithms, including U-net, UNetPlusPlus, FPNnet, and DeepLabV3Plus. A unique approach, ”Interlacing Unstructured Data with Deep Neural Nets,” integrates shapefiles and Tiff images to enhance classification metrics such as mean intersection over union, pixel accuracy, and loss functions. The research aspires to significantly improve the precision of land cover classification, holding implications for urban planning and environmental management. By innovatively integrating unstructured data, …

A Multi-Decadal Analysis Of Urban Heat And Pollution Islands In New Delhi, India, Saumya Omala Yamineni

Theses

New Delhi, India's capital, is a mega-city with complex urban environments and significant Urban Heat Island (UHI) and Urban Pollution Island (UPI) footprints. Over the past two decades, the city has experienced steady urban growth, increased land cover and green spaces, and rising pollution from local and interstate sources. Currently, a comprehensive multi-decadal analysis of the co-evolution of UHI and UPI in New Delhi is lacking. Such an analysis was conducted using a fusion of in situ data, NASA satellite products, and MERRA-2 reanalysis, reveals: 1) Significant trends of daytime cooling (decreasing by ~ 0.16 ∘C), nighttime warming (increasing by …

Factors That Lead To The Adoption Of Alternative Energy Options In Developing Nations, Anna Bukina

Theses

Environmental degradation and climate change are pressing issues nowadays. While developed nations have been improving their current energy trends by implementing alternative energy options, developing nations are falling behind and still significantly contributing to the degradation of the planet by emitting a significant amount of carbon emissions. The present study investigated the driving forces behind the deployment of renewable energy sources in developing nations. The methods of this study included utilizing data from multiple datasets on energy use worldwide for the year 2017 to create an original data set with randomly selected thirty developing countries. Regression analysis was conducted to …

A Comparative Analysis Of The American Revolution And The Jacobite Rebellions As “Civil Conflicts” Against Great Britain, Mandi Nash

Theses

British history consists of a large number of armed conflicts engaged against almost every country and continent in the world. While British history has a history rich with conflicts, two particular conflicts feature front and center when one is thinking in terms of a civil conflict– the American Revolution and the Jacobite Rebellions. A civil conflict is any conflict that takes place between citizens of the same country. Both the Jacobite Rebellions and the American Revolution were conflicts against Great Britain when Scotland and America were under British rule. Despite being two separate civil conflicts that differed in many ways, …

Beginnings: Nsw Teachers' Views On The Early Stages Of Implementing A New National Curriculum, Julie-Anne Seach

Theses

This PhD study researched NSW teachers’ conceptions of curriculum change after the introduction of a new Australian national curriculum. One key rationale for the development of a national curriculum in Australia was to raise the standard of education by providing excellent curriculum to students in all Australian states and territories. However, educational standards improve through a combination of many factors, including quality teaching.

A curriculum’s success is dependent on the teachers who implement it. While the curriculum itself garnered considerable attention, how classroom teachers responded to it was likely to be a contributing factor to its overall success. Yet, there …

Closing The Culture Gaps: Policies And Codesign In Remote Western Australia. A Long-Time Story Of A Community-Based Kimberley Aboriginal Organisation, Arjati Schipf

Theses

This research is the result of a collaboration with the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cultural Centre (KALACC), a remote community-based Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) located in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia. The research investigates the organisation’s strategies to overcome systemic barriers to support remote Aboriginal communities to achieve Closing the Gap (CTG) socioeconomic targets in improving education, employment, and health. KALACC believes that without culture at the centre of CTG strategies, the targets will not be achieved. The key question is how will diverse understandings of culture be achieved through codesign and engagement with Aboriginal people and their community-based organisations …

The Light Of Hope: Representations Of Salvation In The Great North Window Of St Mary’S Cathedral, Sydney, Carolyn Amy Lewis Flynn

Theses

St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney is considered to be the Mother Church of Australia. Yet, the rich architectural and artistic heritage contained therein has been little studied. This is an interdisciplinary study of John Hardman Powell’s Great North Window in that cathedral. It draws on theological and art historical research methods to interrogate the window’s underlying meanings, and the aims of its patrons. An examination of the doctrinal, devotional, and theological writings of the nineteenth century shows that this stained-glass window reflects the period’s understanding of salvation history. The window, firstly, tells the story of salvation through the stories about …

The Impact Of The 2018 Camp Fire On Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Andrew C. Blackford

Theses

Research on the effects of wildfire-induced changes in land use and land cover (LULC) on atmospheric processes is limited. This thesis presents a thorough analysis using satellite remote sensing and numerical modeling to examine how land-atmosphere interactions have been altered by the burn scar from the 2018 Camp Fire event in California. Satellite data reveals significant changes in surface characteristics affecting land-atmosphere interactions, such as land cover type, vegetation fraction (-0.12), albedo (+0.01), daytime temperature (+2.5 K), and roughness length (>-90%). Numerical modeling, based on satellite-derived LULC change scenarios, indicates notable shifts in net radiation (-0.2 MJ m-2), sensible …

A Comparative Study Of Methods For Modeling Python Source Code Semantic Similarity, Binita Gyawali

Theses

In this thesis, we did comparative study of various methods for generating Python source code embeddings and evaluated their effectiveness using semantic labels. We used both word embedding models, such as Word2Vec and GloVe, and document embedding models to capture the semantic meaning of Python source code. In terms of word embedding evaluation, Word2Vec, combined with cosine distance, achieved the highest nearest neighbor precision of 0.5790. For evaluation of Python source code (or document) embeddings, our analysis across two datasets showed that Doc2Vec, paired with cosine distance, outperformed other methods in semantic code similarity detection, achieving an AUROC between 0.80 …

Integration Of Blockchain And Cryptographic Techniques For Location Based Services, Rashed Al Shamali

Theses

As digital systems continue to evolve in complexity, protecting user identities and ensuring the secure transmission of data has become paramount. Conventional techniques such as passwords and digital signatures are often insufficient to address modern security threats unless paired with more sophisticated technologies. This thesis proposes a framework that integrates Blockchain Technology with Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) to fortify identity verification protocols and enhance location-obscuring methods. Blockchain’s inherent features of decentralization, immutability, and non-repudiation makes it an ideal platform for secure data exchange. When combined with ECC, which provides robust encryption with smaller key sizes, the system achieves a heightened …

Unveiling Identity: Exploring Afrofuturism In Ekow Nimako’S Contemporary African Diasporic Sculptural Art, Kandra James

Theses

Identity expressed within African diasporic arts has historically been connected to traditional genres such as portraiture. Over time, contemporary artists have explored identity through genres beyond portraiture and through the use of non-traditional materials. The sculptural practice of Ghanaian Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, a fine arts sculptor based in Toronto, Canada, employs the unconventional material of LEGO® to offer a multi-generational perspective into deep diasporic memory. Examining Nimako’s sculptures through the perspective of colonialism and de-colonialism, materiality, and Afrofuturism, this thesis investigates the artist’s exploration of Black historical pasts to shape identities and construct narratives of Black futures. The monumental …

Post-War Restitution In The Republic Of Croatia: Awareness Of The Komza And Reconciliation Of Moveable Property Through Public Sculpture, Anita Govic

Theses

This project is a public sculpture prototype focused on the need for post-war art restitution in the Republic of Croatia: it will have an impact by enhancing public knowledge of the KOMZA list, which offers legal proof for families to retrieve heirlooms taken during WWII and the wars of secession from Yugoslavia.

The sculpture design includes three pillars, two etched with the 1529 names from the KOMZA list and a third that will be progressively built, brick-by-brick, as artworks are restituted. The nature of viewers’ interaction includes access to QR codes that offer links to the KOMZA list, information about …

The Modern Artist's Psyche: Making Meaning In Art Through History, Jenna Banks

Theses

The Modern Artist’s Psyche: Making Meaning in Art Through History provides a way for students to study and analyze works by Modern artists that explore themes like loneliness, isolation, anxiety, and despair. By studying these artists and their works, students learn about topics like art appreciation and psychoanalysis; specifically, how each artist used their mental state to create their visual products. Students learn about art appreciation through the process of discussing and answering questions about specific art works. Students also study the concept of psychoanalysis, relating to theories and techniques that have been used by Modern artists. This connects to …

A Socio-Hydrological Assessment Of Illinois Levee Systems, Nicholas Keller

Theses

Recent inspections conducted on levee safety in the U.S. that participate in the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Levee Safety Program under Public-Law 84-99 have shown that the overwhelming majority (>95%) of these levees have at least some deficiency associated with them, and many being identified as having an unacceptable safety rating (≈30%). In the U.S., many levees were constructed using funding from the federal government, but the responsibility of operation and maintenance of the levees were turned over to local government bodies. Given the local funding of levee maintenance, the socioeconomic characteristics of these levee-protected communities …

Hydrometeorological Analysis Of A Flooding Event In Fujairah Emirate, Ahmad Abed Rabu Albreiki

Theses

This thesis conducts an extensive hydrological examination of a flooding event in Fujairah emirate, a partially dry landscape distinguished by its exceptional land utilization and soil composition. This research reveals crucial knowledge about how Fujairah Emirate basins behave hydrologically by fusing land use, land cover classification, hydrological soil groups, weighted Curve Number (CN), maximum discharge computations, and return period evaluations. One fundamental discovery is the significant differences in CN values across the region's basins. These differences highlight the powerful influence of land use and soil composition on the likelihood of water runoff. Basins with urbanization and impermeable surfaces tend to …

Coastal Bathymetry Of The United Arab Emirates Using Satellite-Based Remote Sensing Data, Naser Salem Aldahmani

Theses

Bathymetry is the study of the bed under the water's surface, giving us the water's depth. The Thesis will be about studying the coastal area of the UAE by using satellite images that can help access large regions of the UAE Coast. Also, by using a history of 5 years of satellite visible bands and NIR images, we can see the change of depth near the coastal. The benefit of that study will help to build ship baths through shallow water and to go in and out of ports of UAE. Early warnings of the sea level increasing near the …

Graph-Based Learning Networks For Automatic Pigment Mapping Of Historical Artifacts, Bei Cao

Theses

Hyperspectral image classification can be a difficult task due to a lack of ground-truth labels and spectral variability. For hyperspectral images (HSIs) of historical artifacts, which are generally man-made objects, this is generally a significant challenge. Aiming to differentiate subtle spectral differences between varied pigments, we introduce graph- based learning networks and a powerful learning pipeline for realizing automatic pigment mapping on the maps. First, we develop a Graph Modularity clustering method for pro- ducing trustworthy ground-truth map for pigment classification task. We analyze the influence of graph structure on the Graph Neural Networks and propose Spatial-Spectral Graph Convolutional Network …

The Future Of Deep Fakes: Analyzing The Potential Future Consequences Of The Widespread Use Of Deepfakes On The Policing Sector, Maryam Salem Alshamsi

Theses

In today’s world there is a growing uncertainty in terms of the truthfulness of what we see and hear. People digest a great amount of information throughout the day using their devices, yet the quality and credibility of content is in question. People question if we are experiencing and perceiving the same reality at this point. This issue is not novel, however, it has progressed and developed to a level of realism that deceives people and affect their comprehension of information. Rapid technological advancement has raised the concern of what is referred to as “Deepfakes”, a machine learning technique that …

Standardizing Sustainable Aquaponic Production Of Leafy Greens And Fish: A Comparison With Conventional Systems In The United Arab Emirates, Drishya Nishanth

Theses

The production of leafy green vegetables through aquaponics is established worldwide, but the production of herbs which are used in day-to-day life in the United Arab Emirates is not yet explored in this system in terms of production efficiency, water usage and the nutrient parameters. In the current study, basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), the two commonly used herbs, were grown in a traditional aquaponics system using tilapia fish and catfish effluent water (soil-less agriculture) and an irrigation-based greenhouse cultivation system (soil cultivation). The study's major goal is to evaluate several growth techniques for …

Shipment Containers Tracking Optimization Using Machine Learning, Omran Al-Ali

Theses

The container tracking data is crucial for the effective management of supply chains. In

this report, we analyze container tracking data to identify areas for improvement in supply chain operations. Our study aims to provide insights into the factors affecting container movements,

identify areas where delays and bottlenecks occur, and suggest ways to optimize operations. The supply chain is a complex system involving multiple parties, including shippers,

freight forwarders, carriers, ports, and customs agencies. The timely delivery of goods is critical for maintaining customer satisfaction and reducing costs. Therefore, it is essential to have a robust tracking system that enables …

What The Wildflowers Tell Us, Madelyn Lohman

Theses

When good pictures come to us, we hope they tell a truth we can relate to. Truths about love, beauty, and death. What The Wildflowers Tell Us is a photographic series that conjures up intimate memories of my life during the past twenty years. Photography is an endless source of memory. These exhibition images open doors to the past and into the future. We catch a glimpse of the beauty and the dark side of things; the forest, the wilted peony, and the ashes. Beauty somehow tinges itself with sadness. Why do we need to hold what we love close …

Darshan, Vibhav Kapoor

Theses

The thesis project examines the phenomenon and concept of darshan in the context of photography. Interpolating and extrapolating ideas from tenets of Indian philosophy, it presents a perspective on image-making and its relationship to me as an artist. With the artwork mainly situated in the cultural geographies of India and the United States, the text discusses the role of spirituality, light, colour (blue), and walking in my practice. It also references themes of painting and music – raga and rasa that are constructs of Indian musicology – and how they influence the photographic work.

Renewable Energy In Water Desalination: Route Of Technology, Vulnerabilities And Solutions Towards Cyber Intrusion, Aya Elshinawy

Theses

The diminishing of fossil fuels is inclining day by day which poses a huge dilemma that possesses a challenge for researchers to try and unlock the key for advanced technologies where energy is sustainable. Mankind was created in a self-sustaining planet where the Sun is the peak of the energy chain which branches out many renewable and sustainable energy sources. Scientists have been exploring the possibilities of exploiting the energy of the sun in many different ways including, photovoltaics for electricity generation, solar thermal applications for heating as well as electricity generation, energy storage applications and Desalination. Water scarcity is …

Using Metal-Organic Frameworks (Mofs) In Producing Self-Curing Concrete, Lama Fathi Allan

Theses

Curing of concrete is the presence of adequate moisture content in concrete throughout its early stages to produce the desired properties, as it is significant in improving the concrete microstructure and pore structure and hence in developing its performance and durability. However, good curing is not always practical in several cases, such as in hot weather regions and areas of water inadequacy. For that reason, the need to develop self-curing concrete attracted several researchers. The use of self-curing agents minimizes the water evaporation from concrete and consequently increases its water retention capacity compared to conventional concrete. This thesis is concerned …

New Intimacies, Louis Chavez

Theses

“New Intimacies” is a photographic study situated in environments known for gay cruising and public sex. Taking influence from Peter Hujar and the photographs he created in the cruising areas around Manhattan’s meatpacking district, I made experimental images that sought to envision the intangible and fleeting qualities of these geographic spaces. The inclusion of various photographic strategies (such as landscapes, portraits, and abstraction) implores the audience to consider the social and cultural elements that contributed to the formation of these sites as spaces of community and public intimacy. The work is also influenced by queer zines, experimental cinema, and other …

Tourism, Mapping, Retail And Recreational Trails: A Case Study Of Connectivity Between Trails And Adjacent Downtowns In Anniston, Alabama, Usa, Jennifer Green

Theses

This study examines the estimated increase in economic impact on a geography’s local economy by creating cross-marketing efforts between expanding an established outdoor recreation trail to a closely located city downtown commerce district. This research will analyze the resulting potential rise in sales/lodging tax revenues for that city by mapping the trail and downtown district, and cross-marketing the other to users of both or either venue. Potential increase in economic impact will be estimated utilizing IMPLAN methodology by assessing the economic impact on the local economy that a percentage range of increased spending resulting from this cross-marketing effort could generate.

The Psychogeographic Relationship With Memories, Popular Music, And Identity: A Case Study From 1995-2022 Of The Grateful Dead, Margaret Lane Walton

Theses

This paper will explore sonic geography and its impact on human and cultural geography through popular music, specifically the Grateful Dead, from 1995 to 2022. This research focuses on the eventization of the band and popular music post-Jerry Garcia’s death, whereas previous research has focused primarily on the band from 1965 to 1995. The infamous psychedelic rock and roll band was widely known for the created and imagined communities that it forged over their 30-year run. Recent research on soundscapes and music’s role in the study of geography precipitated the need for more attention to music geography. This paper explores …

Teacher’View About Dual Enrolment Of Student With Disabilities In Special And Inclusive Private School, Mahra Saeed Ismaeil

Theses

The education of children with disabilities is challenging. Special and inclusive schools cannot offer meaningful access to education to children with disabilities. Currently, schools strive to provide access to education in a dual context: a certain number of days at inclusive schools and others at special schools. However, information on how teachers are contending with such practices is limited. This study explored teachers’ views on the education of students with disabilities in the dual enrolment education system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The social education model was conceptualised to understand teachers’ perceptions, collaborative efforts, resources and challenges to dual …

Assessing The Impact Of Alfalfa (Medicago Sativa) Crop On Groundwater Resources In The Emirate Of Abu Dhabi Using Geospatial Techniques, Abdulaziz Abdulla Aljaberi

Theses

Groundwater is a major source of fresh water in the world, especially in arid and semi-arid countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where rainfall is not evenly distributed through the four seasons of the year. Therefore, it is necessary to pay serious attention to the importance of preserving groundwater resources. The agriculture sector poses a real threat to groundwater. Irrigated crop cultivation practices change groundwater levels as a result of cultivating crops or farming plants that consume large amounts of water. Alfalfa is an example of a high-water consuming crop, being a widely cultivated crop in the UAE. This …