Digital Commons Network^™

The Aesthetics Of Violation: Visual Rhetoric And The Ethics Of Spectatorship In Venetian Ovidian Painting, Khira Rudolph

Theses

In this thesis, we will consider how 16th-century Venetian painters used sophisticated visual methods, colorito, glowing atmospheric glazes, serpentine lines and spatial buffering to camouflage the physical violence of Ovidian abduction stories. Most historical art literature in the past has hailed high Renaissance masters Titian and Paolo Veronese as technical bravura, lyrical colorism and visual appeal in the face of social and emotional tragedy in their work on canvas. In comparing Titian’s The Rape of Europa, Paolo Veronese’s The Rape of Europa, Paolo Veronese’s circle Scene from the Metamorphoses of Ovid: The Rape of Proserpine and Rembrandt …

The St. Louis Zine Project: A Study And Documentation Of Live Music, Dawnye Appel

Theses

This practice-based project examines how documentary photography and zine-making can document and interpret an independent live-music venue as a site of atmosphere, cultural memory, and community. Focusing on The Sinkhole in St. Louis, Missouri, the inquiry considers what becomes visible when the venue, rather than only the performer, becomes the subject of photographic documentation. Project materials include photographs taken during a single visit on July 11, 2026, observations of the venue, and an interview with owner Matt Stutler, documented through written notes. Scholarship on live-music spaces, cultural memory, photography, and self publishing informs the interpretation of these materials. Analysis occurs …

Greennet: Ai-Driven Routing Simulator For Sustainable Internet Energy Optimization, Olta Zagraxha

Theses

Reducing the energy consumption of communication networks while maintaining reliable service is an important challenge in sustainable computing. This capstone presents GreenNet, a simulation and evaluation framework designed to investigate whether energy-aware network control can reduce estimated energy consumption without unacceptable degradation in Quality of Service (QoS). GreenNet combines a graph-based network simulator, configurable traffic scenarios, and a web-based interface for examining network behavior and comparing control strategies. Three approaches are evaluated: an All-On baseline that keeps all links active, a rule-based heuristic that selectively deactivates links, and a hybrid controller based on Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), whose proposed actions …

Predictive Modeling For Traffic Accident Severity Using Machine Learning, Ahmad Bin Eid

Theses

Road traffic accidents remain a persistent public safety challenge, responsible for over 1.3 million deaths annually according to the World Health Organization. While considerable effort has gone into understanding accident patterns, predicting the severity of an accident before or immediately after it occurs remains a difficult problem — particularly when the underlying data is messy, imbalanced, and largely categorical in nature. This study applies three supervised machine learning classification algorithms — Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting — to predict the severity of road traffic accidents using a dataset of 12,316 records collected by the Addis Ababa Sub-city Police …

Bayesian Network: An Explainable Artificial Intelligence (Xai) Approach To Human Performance Modelling For Control Room Operations, Houda Briwa

Theses

Alarm systems in process industry control rooms routinely exceed the performance targets set by standards such as EEMUA 191, placing operators under conditions where reliable performance is most difficult to achieve. Predicting how operators respond under such conditions is central to risk management, yet current Human Reliability Assessment (HRA) methods depend on expert judgement that is rarely tested against operational evidence, assume independence among factors known to interact, and do not explicitly represent the cognitive processes through which performance emerges. In Resilience Engineering terms, these methods encode Work-as-Imagined with limited means to assess how far expectations hold when work is …

Assessing The Impact Of Quantum Technology On Smart City Cyber Resilience, Afra Almansoori

Theses

Smart Cities rely on high-density digital infrastructures that include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing, digital identity systems, and operational technology. Although these systems improve efficiency and sustainability, they also provide a large cyber-physical attack surface. The problem is exacerbated by the advent of quantum computing, as popular public-key ciphers like RSA and elliptic-curve cryptography can be broken using quantum algorithms such as Shor's algorithm (Shor, 1994; Mosca, 2018). Smart cities rely on long-term data confidentiality, certificate-based trust, and remote management of critical infrastructure. This presents a strategic cyber resilience challenge. This thesis examines the impact …

Machine Learning Based Detection Of Unaccounted For Water Using Smart Water Meter Data, Uhoud Aljarman

Theses

The increasing deployment of smart water meters has transformed water distribution systems by enabling high-resolution, near real-time monitoring of customer level water consumption. In water scarce regions such as the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and particularly in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where potable water production relies predominantly on energy intensive desalination, these data streams present a critical opportunity to reduce Unaccounted-for Water (UFW), also referred to as Non-Revenue Water (NRW). UFW arising from physical leaks, meter malfunctions, unauthorized connections, and abnormal consumption patterns imposes significant economic, operational, and environmental burdens on water utilities (World Bank, 2016; World …

Beyond The Binary: Strengthening Nursing Students’ Proficiency Of Equitable Health Promotion, Martha K. Findley

Theses

Background: Sexual and gender diverse (SGD) populations continue to experience significant health inequities, yet prelicensure nursing curricula often lack structured, evidence‑based training to prepare students for equitable care.

Purpose: This study evaluated whether a targeted, transgender‑focused simulation could improve nursing students’ clinical knowledge and preparedness for providing equitable health promotion to SGD populations.

Methods: A pre‑/post‑intervention design was used with senior‑level nursing students who completed a transgender patient simulation emphasizing communication, assessment, and equitable health promotion. Students completed a validated survey measuring knowledge and preparedness in caring for SGD patients.

Results: Significant improvements across most survey items demonstrated that the …

Electromagnetic Signatures Of Massive Binary Black Hole Systems, Kaitlyn Porter

Theses

(EM) radiation, with their observable signatures shaped by the complex interplay between orbital dynamics, gas dynamics, and radiative processes. The evolution of the surrounding accretion flow is governed by general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) within a strongly curved, timedependent spacetime, making the prediction of observable EM signals a challenging computational problem. This dissertation presents the development of a general relativistic ray-tracing framework that post-processes numerical relativity GRMHD simulations of accreting SMBHB systems. The framework enables the calculation of predicted images, spectra, and light curves throughout the inspiral, merger, and early post-merger phases. In parallel, improvements are made to an analytical model …

Zineth, Colin Wilcox

Theses

This thesis asks whether a brand can generate real engagement without surrendering to an algorithm, and whether web design can recover the color, mystery, and sense of discovery it traded away as the internet corporatized. Daily internet use has risen every year on record, yet the spaces users inhabit have flattened into grey buttons and endless feeds. This question is answered through Zineth, a hybrid brand universe told across three coordinated forms: a Risograph-printed zine, a dense and layered website, and limited clothing drops. The zine operates as a key. Codes printed in its pages unlock gated areas of the …

The Fate Of Microplastics In The Littoral Zone Of A Whole-Lake Microplastic Addition Experiment, Ren Staggs

Theses

Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous across all ecosystems, but the physical fate of MPs within specific littoral compartments in lakes is poorly understood. Here, we describe the fate of MPs across five littoral compartments: water, macrophytes, periphyton, rocks, and sediment, to contribute to a whole-lake MP particle budget as part of the pELAstic project, which has been adding polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MPs to an entire lake over three years in a whole-ecosystem experiment at the IISD-ELA. We quantified MP abundance across three particle size fractions (>212, 106–212, and 106–53 µm) by sampling each compartment at …

Understanding The Long-Term Patterns Of Change Of A Tidal Marsh In Mission Bay, San Diego, California, Carrie A. Shuster, Theresa Sinicrope Talley Ph.D., Drew Talley Ph.D., Zhi-Yong Yin Ph.D., Kellie Uyeda Ph.D.

Theses

Coastal marshes are among California’s most productive ecosystems and the most impacted, having been extensively modified by dredging, filling, and urban development. This thesis investigates over a century of change for a marsh in Northern Mission Bay, San Diego, California using ecological and spatial analyses.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of the environmental history and current land use of the Northern Mission Bay marsh, tracing changes from pre-contact Indigenous stewardship through colonial and modern urban development. It also introduces a restoration plant palette derived from historical and contemporary species occurrences, ecological functions, and documented cultural uses. By integrating ethnobotanical knowledge …

Anxious Or Avoidant? The Moderating Effects Of Attachment Styles On Later Development Of Ptsd And Bpd In Individuals With Child Maltreatment History, Jeannette L. Burkle

Theses

Child maltreatment (CM) has been associated with the later development of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among emerging adults. Numerous attachment studies have documented the association of insecure attachments with CM. There is little research on the independent effects of anxious and avoidant maternal attachment on later psychopathology and even less on the effects of peer attachment. Secure peer attachments can improve emotional regulation strategies as well as create healthy social support systems which may buffer against the development of later psychopathology. This study examined the independent effects of maternal and peer attachment in the relationship …

Navigating Errors: Voice Assistants And Aging Users, Bea Marithe V. Pulido

Theses

This study examined how age relates to usability, cognitive load, and affect when using voice-user interfaces (VUIs). VUIs such as Siri, Alexa, and Google Home are increasingly common and allow users to complete tasks through voice commands. While these systems can be convenient and accessible, especially for older adults, they often provide brief or unclear feedback when errors occur, making it difficult for users to understand what went wrong and how to continue the interaction. The current study compared older and younger adults (n = 40) to examine group differences in perceived usability, cognitive load, and affective change during VUI …

Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching For Heterogeneous Integration And Advanced Processing, Sami Znati

Theses

Emerging and existing technologies will require novel approaches to continue advances in development. Heterogeneous integration of next generation materials, such as 2-D materials and III-V semiconductors, onto existing platforms is a critical step to enabling new, better performing devices. Microtransfer printing (µTP) is a promising technique for integrating device coupons onto supportive platforms. InP coupons are integrated into mixed-dimensional structures by printing onto 2-D materials as part of an electronic device. Etching of next generation materials to define device structures is an integral part of any process. Catalytic wet etching is an alternative to dry etching that may offer improvements …

Accelerometer-Based Longitudinal Center Of Gravity Estimation With Lateral Acceleration Compensation, John Wynne

Theses

Spatially separated accelerometers and measured rotational motion can enable estimation of an aircraft’s longitudinal center-of-gravity (CG) location. Because the unrestricted rigid-body governing equations form an underdetermined system, the problem is reduced by assuming known lateral and vertical CG coordinates. The resulting estimator uses the lateral acceleration equation, where sensitivity to longitudinal CG is governed by the rotational excitation term 𝑀_21 = 𝑝𝑞 + 𝑟̇. Three representations of lateral acceleration at the CG are evaluated: a zero- acceleration assumption, a linear sideslip angle model, and a model based on sideslip angle and true airspeed squared. Each model is calibrated using known …

All The Pretty Ponies, David Rose

Theses

Adopting a nonconventional, narrative approach, this thesis explores a world of ponies where memories become distorted and rewritten through the author’s self-insert of a 'little pink pony' persona to illustrate the psychological states investigated in the exhibit. This paper serves as an artistic companion piece to the thesis exhibition by David Rose that featured these concepts through visual media. David utilizes painting, screenprinting, and animation as mediums for this body of work. This thesis is written like a story because David’s work is founded on the principle of creating and displaying an experience rather than simply stating the facts. Through …

Evaluation Of Mechanical Properties And Seal Strength Of Medical Packaging Materials Before And After Supercritical Co₂ Sterilization, Camila Madriz Pizarro

Theses

The sterilization of medical devices is critical in the prevention of infections in healthcare settings. Ethylene oxide (EtO), gamma irradiation, and steam sterilization have been the standard sterilization processes in healthcare settings, where the packaging system remains the most important barrier between the sterilized instrument/device. Safety concerns and regulatory pushback on conventional sterilization methods have pushed for further research on new sterilization techniques. Among the emerging sterilization technologies, one candidate that has garnered considerable attention is Supercritical CO2 sterilization. However, there is a lack of literature to support the compatibility between scCO2 and common medical packaging materials. The present study …

Retroverse: Enhancing Fashion Shopping Experience Through Augmented Reality, Fanghao Wang

Theses

RetroVerse is a conceptual augmented reality (AR) application that reimagines the vintage fashion shopping experience by addressing the information gaps that often make secondhand purchasing uncertain and inefficient. As the resale market continues to grow, consumers frequently struggle to identify garments, verify authenticity, evaluate condition, compare prices, and determine fit, requiring them to rely on multiple platforms and personal knowledge before making a purchase. To address these challenges, RetroVerse integrates augmented reality, image recognition, and contextual product information into a unified shopping experience. Through video and live garment scanning, users can access brand history, manufacturing information, condition assessments, marketplace price …

Stochastic Inverse Problems In Stochastic Elliptic And Parabolic Pdes, Zi-Jia Gong

Theses

This dissertation presents a computational framework for solving stochastic inverse problems in partial differential equations (PDEs) with random data. The objective is to recover unknown random coefficients in parabolic and elliptic diffusion equations, as well as nearly incompressible linear elasticity models. To achieve this, optimization-based approaches are used to minimize regularized Energy Least Squares (ELS) and Output Least Squares (OLS) objective functionals. Both direct and adjoint methods are used to estimate the gradient and Hessian of the objective functionals with respect to the coefficients. To avoid the expensive computation of the full Hessian matrix, the Newton-CG-like method is also adopted, …

Impact Of Chiral Chain Conformations On The Self-Assembly Of Helical Polymers, Michael J. Grant

Theses

Polymers are a soft material with diverse applications across a spectrum of technologies including, but not limited to, packaging, drug-delivery, optics, lithography and templating. This ubiquity stems from over a century of in-depth theoretical and experimental investigations relating polymer size, stiffness and architecture to their emergent material properties. Interestingly, unlike small organic molecules where solution behavior is predominantly a function of hydrophobicity, in polymers, adjusting the aforementioned features can have a dramatic impact on their interactions with neighboring molecules. In turn, this allows for a tunable parameter space enabling the ability to achieve specific engineering goals. Yet, while the impact …

Investigations Into The Structure-Property Relationships Of Magnetic Fe2mnsn And Gradient Copt Thin Films For Next-Generation Magnetic Technologies, Lance Griswold

Theses

e study of spin-based electronic phenomena, or spintronics, has become increasingly important in materials science and condensed matter physics due to its potentialto enable next-generation magnetic technologies, including advanced memory devices and quantum computing. Central to this field is the relationship between a material’s atomic structure and its physical properties, which requires precise control over synthesis conditions to achieve desired magnetic and electronic behavior. In this work, I investigate the structure–property relationships of several magnetic thin-film systems, each designed to address a specific technological challenge. All films were synthesized using magnetron co-sputtering from elemental magnetic and non-magnetic targets, either at …

Measurement Of Kerr Rotation Using A Variable-Angle Polarizer Method, Shusmita Podder Pooza

Theses

The magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) occurs when polarized light is reflected from a magnetized surface, causing changes in polarization angle (called Kerr rotation) and its state (linear vs elliptical, for example). In a simple version, MOKE measurement involves measuring the intensity of the reflected beam off the surface of a sample as an external magnetic field is swept through it. We record a change in the reflected intensity when the magnetization of the material changes. While easily measurable using modern electronics methods, the Kerr rotation is minimal, only of the order of milliradians (~0.1 deg), and is a characteristic of …

A Scalable And Physically Interpretable Machine Learning Approach To Analyzing Agn Spectra, Liza Maria Matrecito Salcedo

Theses

The broad-line region (BLR) is a sub-parsec region in an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN) where dense, optically thick gas clouds produce broad emission lines (BELs). BELs are important probes of physical processes near the central supermassive black hole (SMBH); however, a complete understanding of the BLR’s structure and dynamics remains lacking. The observed diversity in BEL profile shapes suggests substantial differences in BLR properties across AGN. The availability of large-scale spectroscopic databases provides a valuable opportunity to systematically study these properties in large samples of AGN. They also offer the opportunity to identify rare but important systems, such as SMBH …

Design And Verification Of A Reconfigurable Cryptographic Hardware Accelerator, Nicholas Merante

Theses

Cryptographic operations are used throughout computing systems to protect data confidentiality and integrity. Although software implementations provide flexibility, dedicated hardware can offer more predictable execution time and reduce the processing burden placed on a general-purpose processor. This thesis presents the design and verification of a Reconfigurable Cryptographic Hardware Accelerator (RCHA) that integrates AES-128, ChaCha20, SHA-256, and BLAKE2s within a single Verilog/SystemVerilog design. A top-level interface shared by the four cores manages algorithm selection, inputs, outputs, status, protocol errors, cycle measurement, and known-answer self-tests. Verification combined primitive-level tests, integrated UVM regressions, randomized stimulus, directed coverage tests, and OpenSSL-based C++ reference models …

Design Of A Continuum Robot Test Bed Utilizing Model-Free Sliding Mode Control, Joseph Paul Streib

Theses

Continuum robots are a class of continually deformable robots inspired by snakes and tentacles that are commonly used in medical, search and rescue, and exploration applications. The robots are highly nonlinear and difficult to accurately model and control. Precise control of the pose of a continuum robot is typically reliant upon a system model. This work introduces a novel model free control algorithm for continuum robots that only relies upon the robot’s position in task space. The derived controller is built upon the foundation of a preexisting model free sliding mode controller and the q-state parameterized piecewise constant curvature kinematic …

Cross-Layer Security And Responsive Evaluation Architectures For Quantum Resistance In Connected Vehicles, Geoff Twardokus

Theses

Connected vehicle (CV) technologies are emerging as a crucial technology for improving safety on future roadways. Wireless vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication allows CVs to exchange information that provides enhanced awareness and supports better driving decisions, especially in high-risk or non-line-of-sight scenarios. However, V2X also exposes new surfaces to physical layer attacks and increasingly sophisticated, potentially quantum-capable threat actors. As human or autonomous CV drivers will make split-second safety-critical decisions based on the contents of V2X messages, ensuring their authenticity, as well as their reliable and timely delivery, is crucial. Otherwise, malicious attackers may interfere with safety services or spoof messages to …

Poppies In Bloom: Gathering Galaxies From Jwst Parallel Fields, Anika Kumar

Theses

A major goal of extragalactic astrophysics is connecting the Big Bang to the present by under- standing the evolution of star formation (SF) across cosmic time. The correlation between SF and the stellar mass buildup in galaxies, or the star forming main sequence relation (SFMS), highlights the various mechanisms that drive galaxy evolution. Deviations like quiescent galaxies, which have ceased forming stars, and starburst galaxies, which undergo an exceptionally high rate of SF compared to their normal star formation histories (SFH), offer key clues to the catalysts of galaxy evolution (e.g., mergers, gas accretion, supernovae feedback). Our understanding of early …

Asynchronous Methods For Reducing Dynamic Power In Sparse Systems, Braley Lachner

Theses

While a strong history of computer development has maximized architecture performance, modern computing is fundamentally constrained by thermal limits and power consumption. This is especially true in power sensitive edge applications, which often have low activity. Asynchronous architectures offer a pathway to take advantage of sparsity within hardware to drastically reduce dynamic power through fine-grain selective activation of only necessary hardware. Despite these advantages, the semiconductor industry relies heavily on Electronic Design Automation (EDA) toolchains, which have been developed with many synchronous assumptions. The traditional overhead and strict incompatibility with standard EDA toolchains have limited adoption of asynchronous technologies in …

Characterizing Heavy Water Displacement In Molecular Sieve Drying Beds For Practical Trace Tritium Capture Methods, Brandon M. Massett

Theses

Tritium plays a crucial role in nuclear fusion power plant designs, and adsorption beds are essential tools for managing tritiated water vapor. A series of tests was performed to investigate whether a saturated adsorption bed preferentially adsorbs heavy water vapor. The design of passive tritium control systems could potentially rely on adsorption beds preferentially trapping heavier isotopologues of water. This work investigates the displacement phenomenon and the effects of carrier gas superficial velocity on bed performance. Significant displacement was observed when a humid stream containing heavy water was diverted through a bed pre-saturated with light water, as indicated by changes …