Digital Commons Network^™

Developing Genotypic And Phenotypic Systems For Early Analysis Of Drug-Resistant Bacteria, Yesman Akuoko

Theses and Dissertations

Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria is a global health challenge with a projected fallout of 10 million deaths annually and cumulative costs of over 1 trillion dollars by 2050. The currently available tools exploited in the detection of bacteria or their DNA can be expensive, time inefficient, or lack multiplex capabilities among others. The research work highlighted in this dissertation advances techniques employed in the phenotypic or genotypic detection of bacteria and their DNA. In this dissertation, I present polymethyl methacrylate-pressure sensitive adhesive microfluidic platforms developed using a time-efficient, inexpensive fabrication technique. Microfluidic devices were then equipped with functionalized monoliths and …

The Major Choice Experience And Motivation Of Women Who Are Nontraditional Students In Male Dominated Majors, Erin Flowers

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe the major choice experience and motivation of nontraditional female students in male dominated majors. A transcendental phenomenological method was used to answer the central research question: how do women who are nontraditional students enrolled in male dominated majors at two-and four-year institutions of higher education perceive and describe their experience and motivation when choosing their major? Semi-structured interviews were conducted with women who are nontraditional students in male dominated majors and, after analysis of that data, six themes emerged. One key finding of this study is the major choice experience for women …

Dad Talk: Father-Child Communication When A Parent Has Cancer, Elizabeth A. Reed

Theses and Dissertations

Most individuals are impacted by a cancer diagnosis, in fact 54% of Americans say they or someone in their immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer at some point (CBS Interactive, 2017). While most Americans have a family member with cancer, most research has been done to understand the mother-daughter relationship during such a time. Unfortunately, there is little research regarding father-child communication during a cancer diagnosis, and father-child communication is understudied. The father-child dyad is an important relationship that impacts a child throughout their lives (Fellers & Schrodt, 2021). To further understand these relationships and how cancer may impact …

Experiences Of Youth In Confinement: Pathways Of Racial-Ethnic Disparities In Juvenile Corrections, Kimbla Newsom

Theses and Dissertations

Of the vast body of research focusing on the racial and ethnic disparities (RED) phenomenon in the juvenile justice system, much of the attention has been at critical points of system contact such as arrest and disposition, while overlooking what happens within critical stages such as confinement facilities. This dissertation investigates the ways in which youth experiences in juvenile confinement facilities differ across racial and ethnic groups. Findings reveal that race and ethnicity is a significant predictor of a youth experiencing more control-oriented interventions, longer lengths of stay in confinement, and fewer connections to reentry services. The dissertation concludes with …

The Role Of Developmental Stage, Compensatory Support, And Coping In The Relationship Among Adverse Childhood Experiences, Mental Health, And Resilience In Emerging Adults, Melanie Abbondola

Theses and Dissertations

Children and adolescents who experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) often must deal with mental and physical effects lasting well into adulthood. However, much research shows ACEs are related to poorer mental and physical health in adulthood. Much less work has focused on the psychological and social resources that can create resilience. This study examined how compensatory social support and coping strategies potentially moderate the relationship between ACEs and mental health outcomes, and if the age/developmental stage at which the ACEs occurred, and the frequency and intensity of the ACEs affected mental health. Self-report data were obtained from 241 emerging adults, …

Self-Employment Industry Selection: An Evaluation Of Wealth And Demographics On Industry Choice In The U.S., Samuel Ramirez

Theses and Dissertations

This paper evaluates the impact of financial resources and demographics on industry choice by self-employed business owners. I use a multinomial logistic regression to estimate the probability of having a business in a particular industry. The results suggest that entry into industries are hampered by financial constraints and social barriers.

Dulce Sueños De Tierra, Sweet Dreams Of Earth, Jordany Genao

Theses and Dissertations

Jordany's paper congregates their archival research into an art practice that examines the decolonial impulse to excavate the self and produce autonomy. Using ceramics to reference and re-animate Taino ritual objects found in museums, resulting in alternative museology, their work seeks to honor Caribbean ancestors by subverting colonial history.

Blueprints, Lauryn E. Welch

Theses and Dissertations

“Blueprints” is an open letter on chronic illness and its shaping of the artist’s partnership and painting practice. Through the framework of a house—foyer, kitchen, library, bedroom, garden—put in relation to the body, this paper examines the vibrant matter inside, as an alliance of parts including people, objects, and spaces.

Or Read The Wikipedia Entry For The Parable Of The Tower Of Babel But Imagine It’S 2023 This Time And We’Re Getting So Close Just Give The Artist A Little More Of Your Money, David Thonis

Theses and Dissertations

Systems and their inherent design underlie everything in contemporary life. Design exists to facilitate interaction, to ease workflow, to keep us producing. As such, it exerts its own control.

Through disassembling recurring conventions in design, I look to break with preconceptions of logic. To deny functionality. In doing so, my intention is to dislocate the user from the usual patterns of applicable systems.

The resulting discomfort may feel strange, disembodied, but it should be embraced. Long have capitalism’s solutions created more problems. In the face of this complexity, and beyond it, there can be freedom.

For What Is A Man?: Towards Languaging Contemporary Dance In A Black, Queer, Male-Presenting Body, Thomas Ford

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines Queering Blackness: Solo on a Theme of Reconciliation, a performance event that invokes movement, spoken text, projections and sound to explore the mechanisms of identity. Engaging performance, Black, queer and dance studies, the paper contextualizes cultural identity markers, towards an understanding of what it means to be Black, queer and male-assigned in Black spaces.

Does Low-Income Housing Change Neighborhoods? Evidence From The Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, Maria Dikler

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines how LIHTC developments affect a census tract's characteristics. The results indicate that tracts with LIHTC developments have increased education, poverty, diversity, renters, and multi-family buildings. These tracts also have decreased household incomes and rents. However, the study reveals no significant effects on labor force participation or employment.

Identifying Socially Sensitive Populations Susceptible To New York City’S Coastal And Pluvial Flooding: A Vulnerability Analysis, Gowri A. Anand

Theses and Dissertations

This paper provides an approach to quantifying coastal and pluvial flooding for New York City using the exposure-sensitivity-adaptive capacity theoretical framework. Vulnerabilities for different flood scenarios are calculated and discussed in order to show nuance in the flooding that could be experienced in NYC.

The Flex Voice In The Soundtracks For The Nintendo Game Boy, Matthew Dineiro

Theses and Dissertations

The Nintendo Game Boy had a sound chip which allowed for only three pitched voices and one unpitched percussive voice. These limitations affected the music that was written for this video game system. Of the three pitched voices, one voice typically performs the melody, and one voice typically is the bass and harmonic foundation. This thesis analyzes the third voice, typically in the middle of the musical texture, and the various functions that it can hold. As is discussed, the middle voice sometimes pairs in harmony with the melody or the bass. In other cases, however, it forms a musical …

Gloria Rehearsal (Excerpt) A Feminist Mechanism For Metabolization, Eleanor Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Weaving embodied trauma studies with feminist theory, non-hierarchical creative structures, and research in dance improvisation, this thesis paper written by Eleanor Smith contextualizes the dance performance gloria rehearsal (excerpt). The performance piece was choreographed and performed by Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith, who have been co-choreographing feminist dances since 2006.

Red: Stories And Novel Opening, Josephine Sloyan

Theses and Dissertations

“Red: Stories and Novel Opening” is a collection of three short stories and the beginning of a novel.

Machines Don't Stop: Stories & Novel Excerpts, Alexander N. Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

Collection of short stories and novel openings. Nancy Reagan consults astrology to prevent nuclear Armageddon. A son is influenced by his sick mother, his video-game-obsessed father, and commercials. A lawyer attempts to convince the governor of Illinois to prevent Six Flags Great America from reopening during the pandemic.

Leonora Carrington’S "Down Below": Transgressive Renderings Of The Grotesque Female Body, Kelsey King

Theses and Dissertations

The classification of the bodily grotesque relies on the transgression of boundaries, marked by an openness to the world. Leonora Carrington’s memoir (1944) and painting (1940) that share the same name, Down Below, illustrate the grotesque body as a revisionist self-configuration, destabilizing traditional representations and eroticization of the female form.

The Effects Of Lower Speed Limits On Fatalities And Serious Injuries, Naufa Nuha

Theses and Dissertations

Responding to concerns about road safety, New York City passed a law called Vision Zero in 2014 that progressively decreased all local road speed limits to 25 miles per hour. This was in an effort to increase road safety from collisions. Starting a year prior to Vision Zero, the city started lowering speed limits in certain high-risk roads. I use data on accidents from New York City Open Data to examine the effect of reducing speed limits in Manhattan. The analysis exploits the implementation of lower speed limits on some roads prior to 2014 that provides a quasi-experimental design. Estimates …

Making And Taking: Evaluating The Ethnographic Gaze In Graciela Iturbide’S Los Que Viven En La Arena, Lauren Gonzales

Theses and Dissertations

Graciela Iturbide’s career-defining engagement with indigenous subjects began with a commission by the Mexican government's Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI) to document the Seri people. This thesis contextualizes the resulting photobook, Los que viven en la arena (1981), within the history of indigenous representation in Mexico and the controversial policies of the INI.

Negotiating Liberty: Fine Ceramics For The U.S. American Market Before 1860, Presley Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues that the rise of the consumer market toward the end of the eighteenth century led to the production of decorated fine ceramics that became powerful modes of popularizing new ideas in the United States regarding independence, national symbols, and abolitionism.

The Relationship Between The National Family Caregiver Support Program (Nfcsp) And Help Received By The Elder Population, Symone Biggerstaff

Theses and Dissertations

The rising elder American population is causing an increased demand for elder support. Elder support often comes from informal caregivers. There are economic implications of elder care, such as increased government funding for elder care facilities and economic strain on caregivers and care recipients. The National Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) was the first federal program, implemented in 2000 under the Older Americans Act re-authorization, designed to unburden caregivers. This paper aims to analyze the connection between NFCSP eligibility and the aid provided to elderly care recipients with ADL and IADL challenges. Using Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data and a …

Tractatus De Herbis, Botanical Guide To The Universe: A Case Study For Morgan Ms M.873, Darya Badikova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the development of the late medieval pharmacopoeial treatise Tractatus de herbis illustrated in M.873, a fourteenth-century manuscript from the collection of the Morgan Library in New York. Particularly, the thesis considers the use and reception of this encyclopedic work by elite contemporary audiences of the Venetian Republic through material and medical history.

124 Notebooks, Andrea Lerner

Theses and Dissertations

124 Notebooks is a documentary about Brazilian architect and urbanist Jaime Lerner.

In 2010, two Brazilians were included in the TIMES Magazine list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, the ex and now re-elected president, Luiz Inacio da Silva, known as Lula, and the Architect and Urbanist Jaime Lerner. Lerner was listed among the 25 most influential thinkers for his 40 years working with urban sustainability, starting in the 1970s with his urban revolution of a once obscure city in Brazil, Curitiba. Curitiba is where I am from; Jaime Lerner is my father.

In 124 Notebooks …

Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative, Jess Shane

Theses and Dissertations

Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative is a 4-part creative non-fiction podcast that problematizes the use of personal stories in the documentary industry and examines the power dynamics between documentary-makers and their subjects. The series features a story within a story: it follows me, documentarian Jess Shane, as I craft short documentaries about four individuals’ lives— individuals who have applied to participate in my project by responding to an online ad. It also dives into the behind-the-scenes decisions required to tailor individuals’ life experiences to conform to industry standards of what makes a “good story.” In tandem, these two narratives— of me producing …

Diy The Process Of Healing From Trauma Through Woodworking, And Living Off Grid, Rachel A. Pollock

Theses and Dissertations

DIY is a website and short hybrid documentary that explores off-grid living, the longing for authenticity and healing from trauma. It is also about clinging to memories, even ones that may be painful, and the desire to move on. The website, Bare Minimums explores healing through the written word, and the short documentary “Home Is Where You Park It” explores the processing of trauma through video. They are two different approaches that evoke completely different emotions and outcomes. Processing memories and trauma through these mediums shows a kind of nostalgia for what once was, mixed with uncomfortable feelings that anticipate …

Lawn Story Short, Sarah Johnsrude

Theses and Dissertations

Lawn Story Short is a short essay film on lawn culture in a subdivision development outside of Louisville, Kentucky. The film is presented from the point of view of a first person narrator who guides the audience through an inquiry: why are lawns a pervasive icon in the US today?

Exploring New Jersey’S Middle And High School Health Educators’ Decision-Making On Sti Content And Instruction: A Qualitative Collective Case Study, Brianne Siderio

Theses and Dissertations

STIs in youth in New Jersey is a growing concern. According to New Jersey’ Public Health Data Resource (2020), the total number of STIs in youth from age 15-24 totals 19,698. The current STIs-related sex education programs vary widely in New Jersey in terms of scope, the accuracy of content, emphasis, and effectiveness (Thrive New Jersey Coalition, 2019). Therefore, students may have quite different levels of awareness on the prevention of STIs. The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to explore the Θ (theta) (Stake, 1995) of the “why” and “how” of health educators’ decisions in designing STI …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Police Decertification, Lacey Roughton

Theses and Dissertations

The decertification of police officers is an important mechanism for law enforcement accountability for those who engage in misconduct, however, we have limited knowledge on the processes and outcomes of this form of police accountability. By using a convergent mixed methods design, the purpose of this study was to understand the process in which police decertification occurs and factors that influence decertification decisions in a Southern state. The data for this study included decertification case evidence packets, observational data from decertification hearings, and in-depth qualitative interviews with commissioners involved in police officer decertification case decisions. The findings from this study …

An Incremental Based Approach For 3d Multi-Angle Point Cloud Stitching Using Icp And Knn, Pankti K. Patel

Theses and Dissertations

The basic principle of stitching is joining or merging any two materials or objects. 3D point cloud stitching is basically stitching two 3D point cloud together. 3D point cloud stitching is an emerging topic and there are multiple ways to achieve it. There are various methods for stitching which all have changes throughout the time. The existing methods do have shortcomings and have ignored the multiangle stitching of a same model or an object. This shortfall leads to many deficiencies in the ability of a stitching algorithm to maintain accuracy over the period. In this work I have introduced a …

Protections And Liabilities: Parental Attributes Of Lynch Victims, Peter Shumway Polhill

Theses and Dissertations

Minimal research has focused on how lynching was not purely an individual-level event but, at times, was a family-level process. Prior research has focused on the economic forces, social factors, and individual level attributes that changed the probability of being lynched. Research studying these topics has identified that marginalization, status, distinctiveness, and the racial threat hypothesis contribute to lynching. However, this research has not studied child victims and how parental level attributes may intersect differently with these theoretical perspectives. Using machine-learning tools, I created census linked data which identifies the families of child lynch victims and other non-victim families in …