Digital Commons Network^™

"Black History Is Black Horror": Hauntology And Cultural Trauma In 20th And 21st Century Black Women's Gothic Horror, Destini S. Beckwith

Theses

Octavia Butler’s Afrofuturistic, gothic horror, neo-slave narrative Kindred (1979) vividly illustrates the story of a woman, Dana, involuntarily time-traveling from her home in 1976 Los Angeles, California, to a plantation in 19th-century Maryland. The interactions that she has with her ancestors, such as Alice, a free Black woman, and Rufus, a white man who enslaves Alice, leave Dana mentally and physically scarred. The 20th-century novel is meant to graphically reflect on the horrors of enslavement and the mental and physical effects that Black people endured/still endure because of it (i.e., grief, racial violence, and post-traumatic stress disorder). Furthermore, the novel’s …

Intermediates Or Intermedius? An Examination Of Lotic Sternotherus In Baldwin And Mobile Counties, Al, Peyton A. Wilson

Theses

The Southeastern United States is a biodiversity hotspot, and turtles are no exception to the rule. This is particularly true for the genus Sternotherus. Alabama is the only state home to all six species of Sternotherus, including the recently described Intermediate Musk Turtle (Sternotherus intermedius). It was thought that the Perdido River was the western boundary of Sternotherus intermedius; however, surveys in recent years produced questionable individuals in several small watersheds feeding into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, bringing the species true range into question, as well as the question of if this species has hybridized with its congener, …

Fish Community Composition Across Marine Habitats Around St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Assessed Using Underwater Video, Maya L. Seesholtz

Theses

Coral reef ecosystems support highly diverse fish assemblages that are strongly influenced by habitat structure and environmental conditions. Understanding how fish communities vary across habitat types is critical for effective monitoring and management. This study evaluated habitat-associated patterns in reef fish assemblages around St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, using stationary underwater video data collected through the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP) Caribbean.

A total of 37 video deployments were analyzed across coral (n=20), macroalgae (n= 9), and sand habitats (n=7), with seagrass (n=1) included for descriptive purposes only. Fish abundance was quantified using the MinCount metric, and taxon …

Evaluating The Effects Of Behavioral Skills Training On Defensive Back Skills In High School Football Players: A Focus On Man Coverage, Malachi James Jackson-Talmadge

Theses

Behavioral Skills Training (BST) is an intervention package that involves instructions, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback. BST has been used to enhance athletic performance in several sports (e.g., soccer, field hockey, bowling). In football, two prior studies have shown improved football-specific skills following BST. Although effective, both studies implemented BST individually with each player, which can be time-consuming during football practices. Providing BST to groups of players may be an efficient alternative. Currently, no study has evaluated the effects of group BST in sports. The current research used a multiple baseline design to evaluate the effects of group BST on man …

The Indian River Lagoon Through The Lens Of An Artist: Examining The Impact Of Growth And Development On The Lagoon's Water Quality, Lisa K. Skelly

Theses

This project investigates the ecological degradation of the Indian River Lagoon, a vital estuary on central Florida’s east coast. The research focuses on the intersection of habitat loss and water quality degradation, specifically as they relate to anthropogenic factors such as land development and nutrient pollution. Furthermore, the study evaluates the effectiveness of environmental art in fostering environmentally conscious behavior. I translated these findings into a cohesive body of work, including ceramics, fiber arts, and oil painting, utilizing site-specific materials sourced from the lagoon. By integrating these organic elements, the work aims to showcase the estuary’s natural beauty while highlighting …

Alternative Color Mode Design: Supporting Mobile App Creators With Evidence-Based Guidelines, Sarah Andrew

Theses

Alternative color modes, such as light, dark, dim, and high contrast modes, in mobile apps can improve accessibility for people with vision impairments and usability for people without vision impairments across situational contexts. However, current mobile apps exhibit inconsistent color implementations for UI elements (e.g., background, text, buttons, images, and non-selectable icons), leaving users with limited accessible options. My dissertation addresses a central question in human-computer interaction and accessibility: How can mobile app designers be supported to implement alternative color modes that meet the accessibility and usability needs of people with and without vision impairments? Through an eight-study mixed-methods investigation, …

Branding Through Semiotics, Minimalism, & Branding Psychology: The Eurekafit Brand, Torri Salem

Theses

This paper examines how the combination of minimalism, semiotics, and branding psychology work seamlessly together to create an inclusive brand with an emotionally resonate visual identity system-- a brand that is cohesive and bridges the sub-brands of EurekaFit and Eureka CrossFit. What initially started as a logo redesign of Eureka CrossFit has now expanded into this dual-branding visual system, that communicates approachability, a sense of belonging and fitness, without being intimated, to its audience. This study investigates visual signifiers like color, typography and imagery, through a semiotic analysis and approach. I reduced clutter and visual noise and was able to …

Petals Of The Mind: A Digital Floral Interpretation Of Mental States, Corine D. Arrington

Theses

Petals of the Mind is an applied studio art project that explores the use of symbolic floral imagery to visually represent internal emotional states, specifically depression, anxiety, and ADHD. This project consists of six large format digital posters created in Procreate. Each emotional category is represented by a pair of flowers selected for their symbolic and structural characteristics: Blue Poppy and Black Rose for depression, Tulip and Aster for anxiety, and Honeysuckle and Wildflower Mix for ADHD. These flowers are intentionally deconstructed through layering, fragmentation, and motion cues to mirror common internal experiences such as emotional heaviness, vigilance, cognitive scattering, …

Beyond The Nude: Reimagining Feminist Agency In The Art Of Suzanne Valadon, Sofia Harris

Theses

This thesis examines the work of Suzanne Valadon (1865–1938) through a feminist art historical lens, challenging long-standing interpretations of her female nudes as inherently resistant to the conventions of Western art. Structured as a three-part lecture series, the project situates Valadon within a visual tradition in which women have been overwhelmingly represented by men, arguing that her engagement with the nude remains embedded in the same systems of objectification it is often said to subvert. Lecture One establishes the historical framework by tracing enduring archetypes of femininity, demonstrating how representations of women have functioned as projections of gendered power. Lecture …

Llm-Driven Mission Control And Autonomous Planning For Search-And-Rescue Uavs: A Simulation-Based Evaluation, Naser Bader Alsaedi

Theses

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly used in search‑and‑rescue (SAR) missions, yet many systems still rely on fragmented software where mission design, perception, and flight control are configured separately. This thesis examines whether a unified AI‑driven framework can reduce configuration effort and operator workload in UAV‑based SAR operations. The proposed system integrates natural‑language mission specification using a large language model (LLM) (LLaMA 3.1), autonomous coverage planning, YOLOv8‑based victim detection, and PX4/MAVSDK control within a single architecture. Operators describe missions through free‑form text or a graphical interface; the model converts these descriptions into structured mission parameters that are automatically planned and …

Comparative Evaluation Of Five Bacterial Strains For The Fermentation Of Camel Milk, Sifatun Nesa Ali

Theses

In this study, the comparative fermentation performance of lactic acid bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, Lb. helveticus, Lb. casei, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum in Camel Milk (CM) and Bovine Milk (BM) was investigated. Fermentations were carried out at 42°C for 48 hours, and was monitored through bacterial growth, titratable acidity, pH evolution, proteolytic activity, microstructural properties, and rheological characteristics. Although comparable bacterial viability was observed in CM and BM, acidification kinetics varied significantly between CM and BM (p < 0.05). Proteolysis was significantly higher in fermented CM than in BM (p < 0.001), with consistently greater o-Phthalaldehyde Assay (OPA) values in CM across all strains during fermentation (p < 0.001). Scanning electron microscopy revealed more porous, loose protein matrices in fermented CM than in BM, which supports the rheological results showing weaker gel networks and lower rheological strength in fermented CM. Among the tested bacteria, Lb. casei demonstrated superior adaptability, enhanced viability, balanced acidification, and favorable rheological properties in both milks. Overall, the results of this thesis demonstrate strain-specific fermentation responses and support the possible suitability of different starter cultures for improving the technological performance of fermented camel milk products.

Analysis Of A Coaxial Transmission Line Filled With An Orthorhombic Dielectric-Magnetic Medium, Fathima Manikunnath Abdul Akbar

Theses

Coaxial transmission lines are fundamental means for Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) wave propagation in RF, microwave and high-speed electronic systems. The study of transmission lines is often familiar when they are filled with isotropic materials; however modern engineered direction dependent materials reshape field distributions. In this thesis, we consider a coaxial transmission line of an inner radius and outer radius b filled with an orthorhombic dielectric-magnetic material, which is described by two anisotropy parameters αx and αy. The potential and field distributions are studied in relation to the ratio b/a as well as the anisotropy parameters αx and αy. Due to …

Optimizing Duckweeds Harvesting Strategies To Maximize Nutrient Recovery And Its Role As A Phytosensor In Different Water Sources While Maintaining Sustainable Biomass Growth, Basma Ghannam

Theses

This thesis is concerned with determining the optimal water treatment and harvesting strategy for Lemna minor duckweed plants. The main objective of this thesis is to examine how duckweed plants grow in terms of biomass, photosynthetic activity, leaf morphology, chlorophyll and carotenoid content, and their efficiency in nutrient removal from different water sources. The methodology of the study included assessing duckweed in three water samples including tap water, saline water, and greywater and three harvesting strategies, including low, medium, and high harvesting intensities to assess their growth and nutrient removal efficiency. The results of the study showed that L. minor …

Efficient Fpga Implementation Of A 1 Million-Point Fft, Jwaher Abdulqader Al Tamimi

Theses

The one-million-point Fast Fourier Transform is implemented using a radix-2 single-path delay feedback pipeline architecture. To minimize the computational overhead, twiddle factors were pre-computed and stored in memory. The design uses a fixed-point representation with two integer bits and seven fractional bits, achieving a measured signal-to-noise ratio of 37.98. Given the substantial memory requirements, a memory partitioning approach was used. It mapped the delay buffers in each stage lookup table memory, block random-access memory, or ultra random-access memory, based on word width and memory depth.

The implementation operates successfully at 100 megahertz on a mid-scale field-programmable gate array. Post-implementation reported …

Study Of The Effect Of Biodiesel Derived From Jojoba Oil With Alcohols Blends On Diesel Engine Performance, Exhaust Emissions, Vibration, And Noise, Yassir Abdelrahman Elbashier

Theses

This study presents a mutual investigation on the properties of the fuels and the performance of an engine using biofuels from mixtures of jojoba oil biodiesel with alcohols. The work consists of mainly two phases, examining the properties of the jojoba biodiesel-alcohols mixtures and the performance and emission behavior in a single piston diesel engine. A base mixture of 50% jojoba biodiesel and 50% diesel produced, and this was fractionally mixed with 5, 10, and 20% methanol and with 5, 10, and 20% diethyl ether (DEE). The rheological properties namely viscosity and shear stresses of all biodiesel blend mixtures were …

An Artist’S Playground: Building Bridges Between Children’S Education And Their Knowledge Of Art Through Multi-Modal Learning, Alice J. Cauchi

Theses

Not all museums welcome children as part of their main audience with open arms. Research suggests that experiencing museums as a child supports classroom learning and development, but only when the museums engage young children properly. This paper explores how incorporating multi-modal interactives into art museums can effectively engage children, ages 4 to 8, and build a foundation that supports lifelong learning. Drawing on ideas from early-childhood education, museum visitor-engagement studies, and interactivity sciences, this project results in a framework that guides art museums on how they can overlap play, interactives, and content to incorporate this age group effectively to …

Modeling And Autonomous Control Systems For A Delivery Drone Application, Dana Helal Alnuaimi

Theses

This thesis focuses on the development of a multi-drone navigation and control system, aiming to enhance payload capacities beyond the limits of single-drone systems. By integrating multiple drones to work collaboratively as a unit, this study addresses the challenges associated with lifting and transporting heavier payloads.

The primary objective is to design and evaluate a multi-drone system capable of working in tandem to transport larger payloads efficiently. The research aims to develop robust control algorithms, supported by system identification for dynamic modeling, and navigation strategies to enable effective coordination between drones.

The study employs a combination of simulation and real-world …

Development Of A Novel Cfd Approach For Predicting Multiphase Flow Enhanced By Machine Learning, Abdulrahman Elazazi Salem

Theses

Accurate estimation of interface orientation is crucial for ensuring both the accuracy and robustness of Volume of Fluid (VOF) schemes in multiphase flow simulations, especially when using non-uniform Cartesian meshes. Conventional gradient reconstruction approaches, such as least-squares (LSQ) methods, often suffer from significant errors and strong oscillations on highly stretched grids. This work proposes a grid-transferable, learning-based methodology that predicts interface unit normal vectors directly from the local volume-fraction field on nonuniform structured Cartesian grids using a feedforward neural network. The methodology extends earlier work originally developed for uniform grids, which is first reproduced to assess how performance deteriorates in …

Transport Of Quantum Walks In Electric Fields, Yousef Mohammad Yousef Salah

Theses

This thesis presents an analysis of transport in one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks (DTQWs) on the Hilbert space ℓ²(ℤ) ⊗ ℂ². Quantum walks serve as fundamental models of coherent quantum transport and exhibit ballistic spreading driven by superposition and interference. The primary focus of this work is the review and derivation of sharp maximal velocity bounds for several classes of quantum walk step operators, including the shift-coin walk, the split-step walk, and models with constant as well as position-dependent coin operators. We establish general a priori bounds that remain valid beyond the translation-invariant regime. For homogeneous models, Fourier and spectral analysis …

A Comparative Study On Performance Of Iot-Driven Ml-Enabled Forecasting Models For Efficient Air Quality Monitoring, Bara Ksiksi

Theses

Air pollution is one of the most critical environmental challenges affecting public health globally, responsible for approximately 4.2 million premature deaths annually according to the World Health Organisation. This thesis presents a comparative study of IoT-driven machine learning forecasting models for air quality monitoring in Abu Dhabi, UAE, introducing a zonal approach combined with satellite-based spatial validation. The primary objective is to evaluate forecasting performance across three distinct activity zones using ground station data from the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), and to incorporate a spatial validation component using satellite imagery to assess the consistency of ground-based predictions at a …

Breath-Based Detection Of Liver Cancer Biomarkers Using An Swcnt-Fet Nano-Biosensor: Quantumatk, Mohamed Mohieb Rashdan

Theses

Early detection of liver cancer remains limited by the slow pace and invasiveness of current testing methods. This study proposes a single-walled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor (SWCNT-FET) designed to detect hexanal—a volatile organic compound (VOC) elevated in liver cancer—directly from exhaled breath. The device is modeled in QuantumATK using a semi-empirical Extended Hückel Hamiltonian within the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) framework, emphasizing realistic contact physics by employing metallic SWCNT electrodes instead of conventional metal films. Zigzag channels with (11,0) and (12,0) chiralities are examined to analyze how geometry and contact matching influence charge transport. Simulations include current–voltage (I–V) characteristics and …

Defining Her2 Associated Proteogenomic Features In Breast Cancer And Extending To Gynecologic Cancers, Maya Anand

Theses

HER2 amplification is a well-established driver of breast cancer and serves as the primary basis for clinical classification and treatment selection. However, this framework assumes that HER2-driven tumor biology is defined solely by ERBB2 amplification or overexpression. The goal of this study was to evaluate whether HER2-associated signaling is represented as a pathway-level activation state and whether this framework could help identify tumors with clinically relevant HER2 activity beyond current routine classification methods. HER2-associated transcriptional programs were identified across three independent breast cancer cohorts, resulting in conserved gene sets (P76 and P25). Amplification-independent HER2 activation was assessed using the HER2 …

Nlp Crowdsourcing For Predominantly Oral Languages: The Case Of Bambara, Allahsera Auguste Tapo

Theses

Predominantly oral languages (POLs) face a significant "digital divide," as they are often excluded from the benefits of modern natural language processing (NLP) technologies, due to a lack of extensive, readily available machine learning (ML) datasets. We investigate methods to overcome this data scarcity for Bambara, a Manding language, spoken primarily in Mali, with a rich oral tradition but limited digital presence.     The research leverages crowdsourcing and community engagement to build high-quality ML ready dataset resources. Key contributions include methods for automatic speech recognition (ASR) and machine translation (MT) dataset collection and curation and for educational resource creation.      Our findings …

Dissent By Design: Graphic Communication And The Continuity Of Resistance As A Civic Practice In The United States, Ryan "Rain" Milligan

Theses

Graphic communication has played a role in shaping civic life in the United States throughout much of its history, influencing how individuals recognize injustice, understand systems of power, and participate in collective action. Typically associated with moments of protest or political upheaval, printed materials such as pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, and posters have also functioned as everyday tools that structure public engagement. This project examines these materials through the framework of agitation, education, and organization, considering how graphic communication operates across different historical contexts to provoke recognition, make complex ideas accessible, and coordinate collective effort. Drawing from a range of historical …

Beyond Anomaly Detection: Classifying Attacker Automation Level From Ssh Honeypot Behavioral Signatures, Ashley Alt

Theses

The proliferation of AI-assisted offensive tools has introduced a new category of cyber attacker that combines the speed of automation with the adaptive reasoning previously associated only with skilled human operators. Despite the richness of behavioral data captured by SSH honeypots, existing analyses treat interaction logs primarily as evidence of malicious activity rather than as a dataset capable of distinguishing between attacker types. This thesis investigates whether human-driven, traditionally automated, and AI-assisted attackers produce distinguishable behavioral signatures within SSH honeypot interactions, and whether machine learning techniques can reliably classify attacker behavior from session-level features. A controlled experimental architecture was developed …

Ideals And Lattices In Number Fields, Sarah Ali Alyammahi

Theses

This thesis investigates algebraic number fields and their rings of integers, which

generalize the ring of integers ℤ in ℚ. The study focuses on ideals, units, and ideal class

groups, which describe the arithmetic structure of number fields and the failure of unique factorization. Key invariants such as the norm, trace, and discriminant are developed and applied, with particular emphasis on quadratic number fields and classical examples such as the Gaussian and Eisenstein integers. Some explicit computations of ideal class groups are carried out. The thesis also explores connections with lattice theory by interpreting rings of integers as lattices and …

Traditional And Machine-Learning Equalization Techniques For Bandwidth-Limited Short-Reach Optical Communication Channels, Abdullah Khawatmi

Theses

This thesis investigates equalization techniques for bandwidth-limited short-reach optical communication systems, with a focus on Visible Light Communication (VLC) and Step-Index Plastic Optical Fiber (SI-POF) links. Commercial light-emitting diodes and photodiode receivers impose severe bandwidth constraints, inter-symbol interference, and noise sensitivity, which fundamentally limit achievable data rates. The work addresses these impairments through systematic evaluation of traditional digital signal processing–based equalizers and modern machine-learning-based post-equalization methods. The primary aim of this thesis is to enhance the achievable data rate and reliability of commercial short-reach optical links while maintaining practical computational complexity. Specifically, the objectives are to (i) design and experimentally …

A Computational Assessment Of Halobacterium Salinarum Glutamate Dehydrogenase Enzymes, Maaz Abdalla

Theses

Glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) is a hexameric enzyme. GDH is involved in several pathways and cellular processes such as oxidation-reduction homeostasis, ammonia metabolism, lipid biosynthesis, insulin and lactate production, and acid-base equilibrium. The main objective of this thesis is to understand the structural and biochemical properties of this enzyme and why some organisms, for e.g., Halobacterium salinarum, have more than one GDH with different coenzyme specificities. The catabolism of glutamate is linked to NAD+ specific GDHs, meanwhile, NADP+ specific GDHs play an anabolic role in ammonia assimilation. Molecular docking and binding free energy calculations were employed followed by long-scale (500 nanoseconds) …

جريمة تزوير المستند الالكتروني طبقا للمرسوم بقانون اتحادي رقم (46) لسنة 2021 بشأن المعاملات الإلكترونية وخدمات الثقة, كلثم راشد المزروعي

Theses

The Crime of Electronic Document Forgery under UAE Legislation: A Legal and Judicial Analysis in Light of Digital Transformation

This study examines the crime of electronic document forgery in light of rapid digital transformation and the challenges it poses to legal systems, particularly in the United Arab Emirates. The research problem lies in the absence of a comprehensive legal framework, the difficulty of classifying technologically evolving forms of forgery, and the challenges associated with proving such crimes using digital evidence.

The study aims to analyze the legal nature of electronic document forgery, distinguish it from traditional forgery, identify its elements …

الوساطة الجزائية ودورها في إنهاء الدعوى الجزائية (دراسة مقارنة), فاطمة راشد السبوسي

Theses

Criminal mediation, criminal proceedings, restorative justice, UAE Criminal Procedure Law, alternatives to criminal litigation

This thesis addresses the topic of criminal mediation as one of the modern mechanisms adopted by contemporary criminal legislation as an alternative to traditional criminal proceedings. The study focuses on the United Arab Emirates, where the Federal Decree-Law No. (38) of 2022 on Criminal Procedure codified criminal mediation, particularly in Articles 352 and following. This raises questions regarding the adequacy and appropriateness of the legal framework regulating this system.

The research problem lies in assessing the extent to which the UAE legal system effectively organizes criminal …