Digital Commons Network^™

Energy Process Enabled By Cryogenic Carbon Capture, Mark Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Global climate change concerns help shape current environmental regulations, which increasingly seek to reduce or capture CO2 emissions. Methods for capturing CO2 emissions from energy processes have been the focus of numerous studies to provide support for those seeking to reduce the environmental impact of their processes. This research has (1) simulated a baseline case of energy-storing cryogenic carbon capture for implementation on a 550 MWe coal fired power plant, (2) presented a novel cryogenic carbon capture process for removing CO2 from natural gas down to arbitrary levels, (3) presented a natural gas liquefaction process that has the ability to …

The Ultras In Egypt: Political Role Before And After January 25th, 2011, Amira Ahmed Mahmoud Taha

Theses and Dissertations

Since the formal inception of the “Ultras” groups in Egypt in 2007, there has been a rise in the conflict between the Egyptian security apparatus and the soccer fans. And despite their anti-political stance in the early days, the Ultras began to participate in dissent and engage in a confrontational relationship with the state authorities ever since their inception. This was culminated in the critical role they played during the eighteen days in January and February 2011 and in more events to follow since. However, despite this important role and the support they have among Egyptian youth, the Egyptian Ultras …

A Morettian Literary Atlas Of Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo In Three Early Realist Novels: Cairo Modern, Khan Al-Khalili, And Midaq Alley, Paul A. Sundberg

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis includes a variey of “literary map experiements” on a dataset of mappable, non-generic, places found in three early realist “Cairo novels” by Naguib Mahfouz: Cairo Modern (1945), Khan al-Khalili (1946) and Midaq Alley (1947) and analyses of the mapped results. Experiments in the “atlas” are conducted on each novel separately and – in a more ‘distant” reading – on combinations of the three novels. The methodology is one originated by Stanford literary historian Franco Moretti in his Atlas of the European Novel 1800-1900 and Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for a Lierary History. To the researcher’s knowledge, this …

A Question Of Trans-Boudary Rivers: Legal Rules, A Coherent System Or A Vacant Canyon: Towards A Constructivist Approach, Wesam Ali

Theses and Dissertations

Trans-boundary Rivers form an important context for relations between multiple sovereign states. The paper tackles the dynamics of a state’s behaviour, regarding trans-boundary Rivers, through time so that state relations are not a constant competition or cooperation. The paper responds to the behavioural changes amongst states by adopting a constructivist approach. By using constructivist approach, this paper argues that legal norms are generated through interactions and communications between states. Multiple criteria include political, geographic, economic, and legal contexts determine state relations. The Indus and Euphrates basins demonstrate how legal norms are determined by each state subject to their geographic, economic …

Language Attitudes Towards Dialects Of Arabic In Egypt, Ibrahim Eltouhamy

Theses and Dissertations

It has been widely believed that a negative attitude is consistently to be found with the rural dialects of Egyptian Arabic, and that their speakers, especially those who emigrate to urban areas, ultimately tend to change their dialects to adapt, at least partially, to the prestige variety of vernacular Arabic, in this case the urban Cairene dialect (Bassiouney, 2009; Haeri, 1991; Miller, 2005; Woidich, 1994). In this regard, language attitudes towards rural dialects of Arabic in Egypt have been only slightly investigated sociolinguistically, as the majority of studies of Arabic language attitudes have been limited to investigating speakers’ attitudes toward …

Individualism And Sensitivity Of Investment To Stock Prices: Evidence From Emerging Markets, Ayatallah Mohamed Amin

Theses and Dissertations

Chui et al. (2010) argue that cultures with high levels of individualism are defined by overconfidence and self-attribution bias. Markus and Kitayama (1991) and Heine et al. (1999) note that these biases lead to less efficient stock prices with excess volatility. Foucault and Frésard (2012) show that sensitivity of investment to stock prices is an increasing function of informativeness of stock prices. They argue that sensitivity of investment to stock prices increase because value-maximizing managers are forced to use all available information to forecast the cash flows of their capital allocation decisions. They argue that information revealed via informative stock …

The Discourse Of Drug Use In Egypt: An Interdisciplinary Exploratory Study, Alejandro Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis sets out to better understand how Egyptian society constructs and labels the ‘deviant’ behavior of drug use. However, it is not about drugs per se, it is about scrutinizing the complex process through which Egyptian society encounters, experiences, and regulates behavior. Through an interdisciplinary approach, it builds an alternative and critical understanding of a stigmatized group of individuals by describing how they shape or are shaped by the dynamic system in which they exist. Thus, it creates a conversation between the structures of power that regulate the moral economy of society on the one hand and individuals practicing …

Traversing The Urban As A Woman In Cairo And Aswan, Mennat-Allah Yehia Mourad

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the hierarchical dynamics that govern the everydayness of women’s relationship to spaces. I argue that our conceptual understanding of space, especially through terms such as modern, cosmopolitan, tribal, village...etc, are all part of a lexicon that makes our everyday, but that also how we traverse the city, and the choices that we make of where to go and how to get there is an integral contributor of how a city is not only imagined but lived, and thus how the social imaginations that we believe govern our everyday is actually re-iterated. I argue that our choices as …

Use Of Social Media By Governments To Enhance Online Civic Engagement: The Case Of Egypt, Ayman H. Elsherbiny

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the extent to which the use of social media by the Egyptian government in its communication with the public enhances online civic engagement. Its importance lies in the fact that several studies highlighted the benefits of the utilization of social media by governments in engaging with the public. This thesis defines civic engagement as the involvement of citizens in online activities that seek to address public issues through the social media platforms of the Egyptian government. It focuses on the five types of online civic engagement behavior as described by Denning (2001), i.e. collection of information, publication …

Evaluation Of Green Building Rating Systems For Egypt, Hebaalla Mostafa Karmany

Theses and Dissertations

The average life of most structural types of buildings is fifty years. This projected lifespan will accordingly have an impact not only on the current inhabitants but also on the future generations. Therefore, nowadays, the subject of environmental conditions, and how our actions affect it, is of considerable consideration. The Egyptian economy was previously dependent on the agricultural, industrial, and transportation sector. Today, the construction industry plays an important role in the economic growth of the country, which is the key to developing our quality of life. Despite the difficult conditions and political instability facing Egypt in the last four …

Finding Your Place In This World: A Quantitative Study Exploring The Geo-Literacy Skills And Content Knowledge Taught To Students With Disabilities Educated In Segregated Special Education Classrooms., Pamela Brillante

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate if there was (a) a statistically significant relationship between the different classroom placements special education students were educated in, and instruction in the core subject area of geography and (b) gather the reported beliefs of special education teachers who are teaching in segregated classrooms, about the importance of geographic skills and content knowledge in order for students with disabilities to be able to self-advocate in the future. The results of this study identified that there were statistically significant relationships found across all of the standards highlighting the difference of where a student was educated …

Comparing Three Methods For Estimating Ozone Depleting Substance Substitute Greenhouse Gases: Case Study Of The New York City Region, Wallace A. Murray Iii

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis evaluates the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) method for estimating emissions from one source, Ozone Depleting Substances Substitutes (ODS substitutes) by comparing results for the New York City Metropolitan Statistical Area (NYC-MSA) with results from two other methodologies. The EPA’s method utilizes population data and GDP data to estimate and geographically allocate emissions, with little regard for the geographies of industrial activity. The two alternative methods use data for industrial employment and activity to provide results for comparison and perhaps a more accurate accounting and allocation of emissions throughout the NYC-MSA.

Picking Up Where Thoreau Left Off: John Muir And Theodore Roosevelt, An Unlikely Partnership Bringing Thoreau's Vision To Life, Annette Maldonado

Theses and Dissertations

In American history, views of nature have changed over time to fit the needs of the society interacting with the wilderness. The literature of each period reflects the shift in attitudes towards wilderness as it progresses from fear of evil lurking in nature to a need to dominate and exploit it for its useful resources. Over the course of time, the need to conquer and exploit nature was rivaled by an urge to protect it. Ideas of wilderness protection were scarce early in the country’s history, but they were not unheard of; however, by the time of Transcendentalism a definite …

The Liberal Commercial Peace, Regional Considerations: International Relations Of Southeast Asia, Latin America, And The European Union Countries, Chienwu Hsueh

Theses and Dissertations

Most of the large-N empirical studies on the liberal commercial peace theory demonstrate that, in general, trade has a robust pacifying effect in reducing the probability of dyadical militarized interstate disputes. However, why trade’s pacifying effect varies across time and space remains a puzzle that previous research has not yet solved. The liberal commercial peace literature suggests the following questions are in need of answers: Why does trade promote peace mainly in inter-region dyads but not in intra-region dyads? What are the preconditions that make trade’s pacifying effect work or not work? In this research, I argue that there are …

The Sensory Environments Of Civil War Prisons, Evan A. Kutzler

Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation explores the experiences of four hundred thousand Union and Confederate prisoners during the American Civil War. While much has been written on the overlapping experiences of soldiers, civilians, and slaves, less attention has been paid to those behind masonry walls or wooden stockades. The premise of the dissertation, borrowed from the theory and methodology of sensory history, is that while human sensory physiology changes slowly over time, perception is fluid and varies by time, place, and culture. Drawing from nearly two hundred unpublished manuscripts as well as newspapers, government records, and postwar narratives, this dissertation explores the experiences …

Tree-Sway Frequency And The Turbulent Co-Spectral Gap In A Dense Canopy Environment, Katherine L. Ertell

Theses and Dissertations

Today, knowledge of canopy turbulence comes solely from field observations. However, measurements or field observations that are taken at a specific location within the canopy cannot accurately capture the interaction of the wind and the canopy it crosses. Without this complete picture of the atmosphere, the temporal fluctuations that exist in turbulent flows cannot be understood. From an atmospheric perspective, the complex structure of forests significantly influences turbulence in the atmospheric boundary layers (ABL) by consistently imposing both mechanical and thermal forces. This study explores the temporal and spatial characteristics of tree-sway motions and their aerodynamic interactions with coherent turbulence …

"This Is A Little Beauty": Preserving The Legacy Of The Columbia Cottage, Kayla Boyer Halberg

Theses and Dissertations

In 1965 the built environment of the city of Columbia, South Carolina, was in a state of flux. An active urban renewal campaign existed in the city for nearly a decade prompting a reactionary historic preservation movement. Upon a collaborative recommendation from the Historic and Cultural Buildings Commission and the Historic Columbia Foundation, City Council hired architectural historian Dr. Harold N. Cooledge to conduct an architectural and feasibility survey. In his report, Cooledge identified the Columbia Cottage, a vernacular form widespread throughout the historic neighborhoods of South Carolina’s capital city. His use of the term “Columbia Cottage” to label the …

Soil Arsenic And Lead Concentrations And Preterm Birth: Investigating Racial Disparities, Sources, Neighborhood Effects, And Spatial Patterns, Pamela Harley Thornton Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Preterm birth, generally defined as birth at <37 weeks of gestation, is an important public health issue that has multiple risk factors related to characteristics of both the mother and her environment. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine potential sources of spatially interpolated (kriged) environmental concentrations of arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in residential soils and preterm birth in a Medicaid population of mothers giving birth in South Carolina (SC) from 1996-2001. The first objective was to investigate if a racial disparity existed for estimated soil As and Pb concentrations, after adjusting for proximal and distal sources of these metals (including distance and direction to industrial facilities) in a subset of SC Medicaid mothers living in areas of SC where soil samples were collected and analyzed for these metals. The second objective was to test the hypothesis that estimated soil As and Pb concentrations were associated with increased odds of early (<34 weeks) and late (34-36 weeks) preterm births in the same subset of SC Medicaid mothers, after adjusting for individual and neighborhood level risk factors, and examine if measure of neighborhood deprivation and racial residential segregation modified these associations. The third objective was to examine if early and all preterm births, aggregated at the county level, varied spatially and/or temporally in SC for all Medicaid mothers giving birth from 1996-2001 in Bayesian models.

For the first objective, black mothers had significantly higher estimated As and Pb soil concentrations than white mothers in the study population (adjusted betas were 0.12 and 0.22 for As and Pb, respectively; all p<0.006), and proximal sources of metals (e.g., percent of Census block group are covered by roads) were more strongly associated with estimated soil As and Pb concentrations than composite As and Pb releases from industrial facilities categorized by distance from and direction to Census block groups in which maternal residences were located.

For the second objective, estimated soil concentration of neither As nor Pb were associated with increased odds of early or late preterm birth after adjusting for maternal and neighborhood level risk factors. Only individual level covariates were associated with these birth outcomes, and associations were stronger for early as compared to late preterm births. Neighborhood deprivation and racial …

Crabgrass Piety: The Rise Of Megachurches And The Suburban Social Religion, 1960-2000, Nathan Joseph Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

Although there were less than twenty megachurches (churches averaging over two thousand in weekly attendance) in the United States before 1960, by 2010 there were approximately fifteen hundred. Megachurches are not a homogenous group, but they exist in all parts of the country and they have enough in common to warrant their identification as part of a coherent trend in American evangelical culture. Specifically, most megachurches appeal to an ethos that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s known as the suburban social religion. The suburban social religion combined to differing degrees the American civil religion described by Robert Bellah, meritocratic …

Authentic Relationship Management To Heighten Control Mutuality In Social Media, Diana Catherine Sisson

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on literature from public relations, marketing, interpersonal communication, and organizational communication, this dissertation focused on the effects of authenticity on relationship management outcomes in nonprofit organizations’ social media efforts. There is significant need for relationship management rooted in authenticity with the rise in inauthentic communication online. This dissertation aims to contribute to relationship management theory by highlighting the role of control mutuality in analyses of authenticity in organization-public relationships in social media for nonprofit organizations like local animal welfare organizations. This dissertation proposes that control mutuality is an ethical outcome of authentic relationship management. This dissertation also proposes that …

Mobile Home Resident Perspectives On Preparedness, Protective Action, And Evacuation For Tornado Hazards, Kevin D. Ash

Theses and Dissertations

More than 1,000 tornadoes strike the United States each year, and no population segment has been impacted to a greater degree than those who live in mobile homes. Despite being only about 7% of the total population, mobile home residents have comprised 40% to 50% of all tornado deaths over the past fifty years. Inhabitants of mobile homes must therefore act quickly to protect themselves when they are threatened by tornadoes. Warning messages instruct mobile home occupants to move to a sturdier building until the storm passes, but what are the residents’ perspectives on this recommended behavior? It is unknown …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Graphene Based Biocompatible Ion-Sensitive Field Effect Transistor (Isfet), Rina Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Graphene, a two-dimensional material with a high surface to volume ratio, has drawn extensive research enthusiasm for applications in the field of electronic sensors. The special material properties that make graphene a highly promising material include its biocompatibility, very high mobility, low 1/f and thermal noise, modulation of carrier concentration and fermi level by electrical, optical, and chemical means. To exploit these properties for practical applications a large area high quality graphene, transferred on appropriate substrates, is required. In this work, high quality single monolayer graphene (determined from Raman spectroscopy) has been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique for …

Boundary Stones: Morbid Concretions And The Chemistry Of Early Nineteenth Century Medicine, Edward Allen Driggers Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is the story of communities of physicians seeking to understand the morbid concretion of the body using the new chemistry from the late eighteenth century. Morbid concretions, or calculi, were occurred in the urinary passages, lungs, joints, pancreas, uterus, and other areas of the body. At the turn of the nineteenth century, some physicians saw analytical chemistry, emerging out of the so-called chemical revolution, as applicable in understanding and treating stone-based diseases. However, some physicians and surgeons saw the treatment of stones with chemistry as evidence of the need to return to older practices of medicine, like humoral …

Knowing In America: The Enlightenment, Science, And The Early Republic, Timothy K. Minella

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes practices of science and technology in the early United States as windows onto the American Enlightenment. Although scholars have emphasized the important impact of Enlightenment thought on the American founding, the historiography tends to argue for the decreasing influence of the Enlightenment on American culture as the nineteenth century progressed. In addition, scholars tend to see a decline in American science after Benjamin Franklin as nineteenth-century Americans began to focus primarily on the practical problems of everyday life. I question these interpretations by connecting scientific practice in the Early Republic with transatlantic Enlightenment thought and analyzing American …

Economic Losses And Extreme Tornado Events, Rachel Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

Research on tornado impacts has previously focused mainly on analyzing the deaths and injuries associated with tornadoes. While economic loss from multiple hazards is a well-researched field, little has been done to assess the economic losses sustained during tornado events. Additionally, the literature regarding the Enhanced Fujita scale’s comparability to the Fujita scale is limited. This research aims to add to the literature by statistically analyzing the two tornado scales, determining the movement of tornadoes over time using a cluster analysis, comparing the location of extreme tornadoes to those which produce extreme loss, and looking at the statistical relationship between …

Negotiating The Interconnections Of Sociality, Identity, Fan Activism And Connectivity Within The Twilight Community, Amy A. O’Brien

Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, “Negotiating the Interconnections of Sociality, Identity, Fan Activism and Connectivity within the Twilight Community”, I examine the ways in which women employed a shared interest in a cultural text to establish meaningful social relationships with other fans. Rather than focusing solely on consumptive pleasure, these fans of the Twilight series utilized the intense popularity of the franchise to engage in charitable activities. Through these common threads of identity, community, virtual technologies, and charity, I contend that the Twilight fandom represents a new form of fan community, which is trending upward and creating an impact beyond the traditional …

The Meaning Of Place Recovery On The Mississippi Gulf Coast, Ronald L. Schumann, Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Recovery is a post-disaster period of adjustment when individuals, households, neighborhoods, and communities work to overcome the effects of a disaster and regain functionality. Recovery is a multi-scalar process whose outcomes are manifested in the physical landscape; however, assessments of the meaning, progress, and outcomes of recovery are specific to individuals who view the landscape from an embodied perspective within the local social hierarchy. Common recovery measurement techniques used by emergency managers, planners, local leaders, and hazards scholars approximate recovery with reconstruction of physical infrastructure or repopulation of residences. These longitudinal quantitative proxies may claim to represent the status of …

Institutional Resilience Along The Mississippi Gulf Coast In The Context Of Pre- And Post-Hurricane Katrina, Khai Hoan Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Building resilience to disasters helps reduce loss of life and property, allowing communities to recover more quickly from shocks and disruptions. Governing institutions are tasked with tremendous responsibility in terms of mitigating risks and enhancing resilience of local communities through proactive planning and policies. It is important to examine how institutional policies have changed pre- and post-disaster to determine their contribution to community resilience. Metrics and indicators can be used to quantitatively assess, establish baseline, track, and monitor resilience at the community level. Few studies have attempted to measure institutional resilience using a set of indicators and metrics, and even …

Examination Of The Association Of Receipt Of Opioid Therapy And Lung Cancer Patient Survival Rates Among South Carolina Medicaid Recipients, Jametta Sade Magwood

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Lung cancer is a high pain cancer that can require the attention of clinical specialists. Already vulnerable populations, like those that inhabit rural areas, when dealing with chronic diseases, like lung cancer, need and deserve adequate medical attention. However, rural communities often lack clinical specialists and are left without the needed care. It is necessary to investigate the current availability of treatment options (medications) available to cancer patients in rural communities. Gaining this knowledge can result in economic savings and improvement of the quality of life for rural populations.

Methods: Medicaid data from 1996-2010 was used to …

The Turkish Foreign Policy Under The Justice And Development Party (Akp): A Paradigm Shift?, Ali Demirdas

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the Turkish foreign policy has become even more important in recent years given the developments surrounding the country. Furthermore, the last decade witnessed a radical change in the Turkish foreign policy making under the Justice and Development Party (AKP).

This dissertation aims to explain the nature of this change based on the application of the Policy Paradigms Theory, comparing the components of the AKP foreign policy understanding with those of the Kemalist, the status que paradigm that defined the foreign policy making in Turkey well into the early 21st century. The application of the theory provides evidence, based on …