Digital Commons Network^™

Net Zero Water Air Force Installations, Kenneth R. Mcknight

Theses and Dissertations

The United States continues to face problems of a reduction in quality and quantity of groundwater sources because water extraction exceeds natural source recharge. The Air Force has recognized the importance of these groundwater sources but has put minimal effort into determining their contribution to the depletion of these sources. The purpose of this study is to determine this contribution by determining whether Air Force installations are net zero water. This is done using a geospatial information system to determine the volume of water recharging groundwater sources associated with an Air Force installation. This volume is then compared to the …

Sea Level Rise Impacts On Wastewater Treatment Plants And Their Social Vulnerability Differences, David S. P. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Many of the United States’ major cities that have a high population are located along the coast. The number of people residing in low elevation coastal areas, be-low 10 meters, is increasing. Coastal areas may be affected by various short- and long-term climate hazards, such as sea level rise (SLR). Climate change induced SLR will threaten residents and infrastructure in low-lying coastal areas. A household’s capacity to respond to hazards is highly dependent on its socio-demographic situation which determines its social vulnerability. Wastewater treatment facilities area particularly critical piece of infrastructure often located in low-lying areas due to gravity fed …

Arctic Construction Under Climatological Constraints: A Decision Support System For Expeditionary Construction Site Selection In The Arctic Environment, Zachary S. Wontrop

Theses and Dissertations

The natural physical barriers present in the Arctic are being eroded by climate change, increasing near peer adversaries' abilities to exploit this region for strategic and economic gain. To maintain the Arctic as a region of strategic and economic international cooperation, increased infrastructure investment by the United States and its allies are required. No methodology currently exists to quantify construction-limiting climatological factors over time and space. Decision support systems can provide actionable information to guide decision makers during site selection. This research employs geographic, and time-coded historical climatology applied to a project case study, to develop a site selection decision …

Shared Reflection On The Perceived Effect Of Culturally Responsive School Leadership On Student Suspension Data In K-8th Grade Chicago Public Schools, Christopher Alan Donald Graves

Theses and Dissertations

Racial discrimination in schools in the U.S. has resulted in a disproportionate number of Black students receiving exclusionary and punitive consequences, in which they are more likely to end up part of the School to Prison Pipeline and less likely to graduate. The researcher completed interviews with eight elementary school principals in Chicago Public Schools whom were identified using publicly available data. All participants were selected for their prior success in reducing the number of Black student suspensions by at least 20% during the years of 2016-2019. The focus of this study was to determine (1) What school leadership practices …

The Impact Of Egypt's Mega Events On Egyptians' Public Mood, Nouran Abass

Theses and Dissertations

The study aims to study the Impact of Egypt's Mega Events on Egyptians‟ Public Mood. Egypt organized two Mega Events in 2021: The Pharaohs‟ Golden Parade and Luxor Sphinx Avenue. The study also examines the impact of the two Mega Events on the Egyptian Identity. While the two Mega Events targeted Egypt's external publics to attract tourists to Egypt, the study attempts to assess the impact of the two Mega Events on one of Egypt's internal publics; the Egyptians. Depending on the concept of “Social Listening” as a theoretical framework, the study examines the possible ways the Egyptian government can …

Life At The Margins: Regional Inequality In Tunisia And International Migration, Hiba Belhadj

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing on De Haas’s (2021) argument on migration as a function of people’s aspirations and capabilities, this research examines how regional inequality in Tunisia – affecting both aspirations and capabilities – impacts and shapes the opportunities and outcomes of migration. Building on De Haas’s migration typology, this research will argue that people from marginalized regions undertake “precarious migration.” For this group of migrants, precarity is employed to explain not only their migration but also their employment and livelihood conditions at home. Those from developed regions undertake “free” or “improvement” migration. In a further step, the research examines how these different …

Modest Aspirations: Day Dreams, Frivolity, And Digital Lives Of Public College Girls In Lahore, Pakistan, Anam Khan

Theses and Dissertations

This project was conceived out of a policy announcement in 2016 where the Higher Education Commission Pakistan announced that the two-year colleges were to be phased out and eventually eliminated. In doing so, the notice suggested that they will be replaced by programs modeled around the United States community college and called Associate Degrees. This ongoing development formed the basis of my research as for many gender and class minorities, these programs are the only option for post-secondary education in a country where many do not have the privilege to go to college. I aimed to analyze the kind of …

Abū ʿAmr Ibn Al-ʿAlāʾ (D. 154/770) And Qur’Anic Philology In The Second/Eighth Century, Ali Abdel Latif

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ (d. 154/770), an important scholar whose life coincided with the rise of the various disciplines of Qur’anic philology. I examine his contribution to the field Qur’anic philology, focusing on three distinct yet overlapping genres: Qur’anic chronology, Qur’anic counting, and variant readings. Because these genres were still in development during his time, the material examined in this thesis allows us to examine their state before they reached full development. As we do not have a written corpus by Abū ʿAmr, we will analyse material that was transmitted by his students and preserved in …

Estimating Solar Energy Production In Urban Areas For Electric Vehicles, Shaimaa Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Cities have a high potential for solar energy from PVs installed on buildings' rooftops. There is an increased demand for solar energy in cities to reduce the negative effect of climate change. The thesis investigates solar energy potential in urban areas. It tries to determine how to detect and identify available rooftop areas, how to calculate suitable ones after excluding the effects of the shade, and the estimated energy generated from PVs. Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) are used in solar city planning. The goal of this research is to assess available and suitable rooftops areas using …

Revolution In Cuba And Iran: Toward A Unified Theory Of Analysis, Mason Sims

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to fill a small gap in the study of revolution through unifying approaches and theories utilized to explain the complex social phenomenon. To facilitate this, a large portion of the work focuses on revolution literature which has been chosen to represent authors from the earliest generations covering the subject to the more recent. In compiling and reviewing these works, it can be seen that there exist common lines of not just explanation, but also a continuous series of critiques resurfacing within each generation. Within this compilation lies the roots of the theory presented in this thesis, that …

The Organization Of Islamic Cooperation (Oic): Opportunities And Challenges For Practicing Culturally-Sensitive Mediation In Intra-Muslim Conflicts, Nirvana Ahmad

Theses and Dissertations

Established in 1969, the OIC sat a unique paradigm in the international order as an intergovernmental organization that claims a religious identity and mandate: working for Muslim unity and interests. In that pursuit, it has assumed the function of the peaceful settlement of disputes as one of its primary roles. Over half a century of its existence, not only did the OIC drift away from its founding principles and commitments; it is now condemned for turning into an arena for polarization among Muslims, where unchecked geopolitical competition has aroused rampant violence of all sorts.
The literature on the OIC extensively …

A Captive’S Subjectivity, Rebeca J. Blemur

Theses and Dissertations

The project discusses the effects of Haiti’s colonization as the space transitions from Hispaniola to Saint-Domingue and later to the free state of Haiti. This is done by studying the concept of the right to conquest and the absurdities that exist around the first appearances of international law. The project focuses on the pre-revolutionary period starting around the 1750s, the revolutionary period that began in the 1790s, the French oligarchical class’s attempt for social equality, and the war for ultimate colonial conquest between the French, Spanish, and British. The project will display how legally objectifying a human being manifests subjects …

The Fight For Freedmen's Minds In Arkansas, Ellis Eugene Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

Arkansas was one of the last states to develop a public primary and secondary school system for African American students. While education was for the most part privatized, an important philosophy for educating African Americans was developed early by the Free African Society and AME Church that influenced Arkansas public and private Freedman education. This thesis looks into that and competing philosophies and examines how obstacles were presented to impede African American education and thereby obstruct their entry socially, economically and politically into American society. Moreover, how elites knowingly and repeatedly attempted to install a defective educational system that would …

Metamorphis, Luca Lee Sobarzo Faust

Theses and Dissertations

Web3D interactive experience that explores time, communication, and transformation, from a personal storytelling perspective. Hosted on a web platform, the experience displays three environments: Metamorphis, Cuir AI, and Hain. These spaces propose a fragmented narrative that seeks to interrogate both the characters and the viewer’s perception on the linearity of time

“This Little Patch Of Earth Is Inexhaustible”: Ernst Ludwig Kirchner And The Outdoors Movements, Erica Evans

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the influence of reform movements and hiking and mountaineering organizations on the life and work of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. I explore how principles of these outdoors movements, including a healthy mind/body connection and rustic lifestyle, inform Kirchner’s works created while living in Davos, Switzerland.

New Music For A New World: Robert Ashley’S Television Operas, Nicole Kaack

Theses and Dissertations

Robert Ashley defined the majority of his works as “television operas”—spoken narrative music for television broadcast. Analyzing Ashley’s works through their cross-disciplinarity, this thesis addresses the development of Ashley’s chosen medium; assesses his use of visual, linguistic, and musical structures; and interprets their basis in American cultural identity.

Elementary School Teachers’ Attitudes And Criteria For Special Education Services, Geraldine Maurice

Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory study examines the correlations between teachers’ attitudes and the disproportionate representation of African American males in special educational services in the United States education system. Using a sample of teachers from two elementary schools with special education student representation proportional to the student body population, the purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes of teachers with regard to student placement in special education programs. Specifically, this study will focus on African American male student placements in special education and their achievement on the Grade 3 English Language Arts (ELA) proficiency test. This study employed a purposive …

Exploring Teachers’ And Administrators’ Perceptions Of Steam Education In K-12 Schools And Its Implications On The Development Of Steam: An Explanatory Sequential Mixed Method Design, Royce J. Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed method design was to investigate, identify and document the similarities and differences in perceptions when implementing a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education between teachers and administrators at the K-12 level. Throughout this process, teachers’ and administrators’ beliefs and perceptions towards STEAM instruction were analyzed to determine how they perceived, interpreted, implemented and sustained this new initiative. The problem, however, is that studies have demonstrated that educators have a limited understanding of STEAM content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), as well as low self-efficacy in teaching STEAM concepts, which results …

Determining Correlations Between Global History Teacher’S Metacognitive Awareness And Teaching Demographics, Philip D. Farrelly

Theses and Dissertations

Partnership for 21st Century Skills has continuously identified critical and metacognitive thinking skills to be essential for life and career in post-secondary education and workforce settings. As a response to the Race to the Top (2010) initiative and Common Core State Standards (2009), New York State Board of Regents began an overhaul for all the curriculum standards and anchored assessments. These changes require comprehensive preparation for teachers to effectively transfer thinking practices and skills to their students. Educators and constituents have been consistently apprehensive of its implementation due to the needed preparedness and implications of high-stakes evaluative measures. The purpose …

Nadezhda Krupskaya And The Reinvention Of Culture In Revolutionary Russia: Populism, Women, And Education In The New Socialist Society, Michael Anthony Iasilli

Theses and Dissertations

Most historiography of the Russian Revolution underestimates the impact of the populists of the nineteenth century in shaping political decision-making that led to early Soviet national development as well as the women brought up within the movement. Populism and the legacy of the narodniki is often a separate body of research, or explained within a distinct political category of its own. Likewise, most scholars see the socialist movement at the turn of the century as a divergence away from the populists. However, through the writings and legacy of Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin's wife, she demonstrates a political and cultural transcendence of …

The Idea Of Unconscionability In Equitable Adjudication And Its Variegated Manifestations In The Louisiana Territory, Pre-1900, Edad Mercier

Theses and Dissertations

The history of American law in the nineteenth century reveals how antislavery activism, Westward expansionism, labor, and women’s rights activism tested the boundaries, strength, and authority of the federal government over states and individuals. At the turn of the nineteenth century, as people resisted against their social position during one of the most turbulent periods in American history prior to the Civil War, American law simultaneously evolved to recognize and delineate the private and public rights of individuals and communities. My dissertation explains how informal and formal socio-legal customs were used to resolve major ethical, social, and contractual disputes arising …

Totem Impulse, Tendai T. Mupita

Theses and Dissertations

In this reading, I explore the performative and complexities of indigenous mythologies, cosmologies, and epistemologies, through totems, folklore, architecture, and games. This paper extracts references from indigenous philosophies in thinking about form and image. These forms and images are my sculptures, my installations, and my lines.

Discovery: A Visual Arts Elementary School, Cindy J. Perdomo

Theses and Dissertations

On average, school-age children spend more time in the classroom environment than they do at home. Why not provide environments that stimulate children’s curiosity to learn through visual arts? Including visual arts in educational programs can enhance students’ cognitive development, problem-solving abilities, cultural awareness, and critical thinking skills.

As someone who has attended various public schools in Florida, I’ve found that incorporating arts education into the curriculum can enhance students’ overall engagement with learning. Unfortunately, many students lack access to arts education due to a lack of funding and resources. Traditionally, the arts have been viewed as an opportunity for …

Death In The Lowcountry: The Material Culture Of Burial In Hampton County, South Carolina, Quinn T. Terry

Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the markers of five burial grounds situated in Hampton County, South Carolina from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These surveys, in tandem with the history of the region, contribute to the burial scholarship of the Southern United States. Hampton County’s burial landscape offers extended understandings of the culture of death in the South Carolina Lowcountry and the markers of the region offer a rich and varied burial landscape that further understandings of rural peoples in the South.

Nannies And Public Space: Reproductive Labor In Richmond, Va, Hannah D. Woehrle

Theses and Dissertations

In the realm of urban planning, the gendered and spatial dynamics of childcare as a field of labor have been historically overlooked. This thesis addresses this gap by examining the geographies shaped by nannies in Richmond, VA, and their implications for urban planning in the context of the evolving neoliberal "new" economy. Existing research focuses on the geographies of children and burgeoning sectors of gig work in the neoliberal city. This study positions itself at the intersection of these areas, focusing on nannies as long standing gig workers within the childcare network, uniquely positioned to be affected by economic transitions. …

Laying Out A Space: Spectral Geographies, Fictions Of The Soul, Erin D. Yerby

Theses and Dissertations

Laying out a Space: Spectral Geographies, Fictions of the Soul, arises out of my artistic practice, and thoughts behind my current project and MFA exhibition, Spectral Geographies.

Linking the problem of the world ‘out there’ or external space, to inner experience through painting as both medium and practice, my work expresses what I call inner geographies, spaces where intimate immensities, folding inside and outside, find expression. I think of my paintings as beginning with this gesture of laying out a between-space where the intimacies of waking dreams and visions are opened by, and grow into, actual places, …

I'M Not Sure It Was A Hoopoe Or A Decanter, Ali Kaeini

Theses and Dissertations

“I’m not sure it was a Hoopoe or a Decanter” explores the experience of cultural displacement through the lens of an Iranian artist and immigrant. Drawing on ancient Iranian stories, Persian poetry, and cultural artifacts, my paintings and drawings reflect the uncertainty of the contemporary political and religious conditions in Iran, as well as the challenges faced by individuals forced to flee their homeland due to war, political instability, and social conditions. My work weaves references to ancient Iranian objects, Persian miniatures' structural forms and patterns, and Islamic architecture, using traditional and contemporary materials to create large, unconventional paintings. Through …

Climate, Physiology, And Distributions: The Role Of Thermal Physiology In Biological Invasions, Sean D. Powers

Theses and Dissertations

Climate is a primary factor influencing species range dynamics, particularly for ectotherms whose body temperature is closely tied to the surrounding conditions. While range shifts of ectotherms are attributed to climate warming, the mechanism driving these shifts are not well understood. Studies in macrophysiology demonstrate that the interaction of climate with thermal physiology plays a key role in determining large-scale spatial and temporal patterns for many temperature-sensitive physiological traits. This work has revealed a clear relationship between thermal tolerance breadth and range size. However, more recent analyses of this relationship demonstrate that thermal tolerance breadth only provides a partial explanation …

3d Geologic Modeling Of Rare Earth Element Concentrations In Lignite Coal, Ian Kelly Feole

Theses and Dissertations

Rare-earth elements (REE) are a set of elements with unique consumer applications that consist of the lanthanide series of elements which have the atomic numbers from 57 to 71 plus yttrium (Y) and scandium (Sc). Because of their unique properties, REEs are used in a wide array of consumer goods, energy system components, and military defense applications, but currently the United States is 100% import-reliant on these critical materials, and the REE supply chain is considered an issue of national security. Coal and coal by-products have been identified as a promising alternative resource and a focus of much recent research …

Carbon Capture Storage Implemented On Flexible Power Plants And Their Grid Impacts, Michael Kenneth Misch

Theses and Dissertations

The energy grid is under a constant state of evolution from outside factors such as the rise ofrenewable energy in the form of solar and wind generation as well as competing with the changes in weather patterns from climate change leading to significant storms like the arctic event of 2022. Thermal power plants are greatly impacted by these changes. As a significant contributor of CO2 emissions, thermal power plants play an important role in emerging green technology policies to help the efforts of climate change. There is a significant cost associated with this change, however, as thermal plants are some …