Digital Commons Network^™

Framework To Implement Authentication, Authorization And Secure Communications In A Multiuser Collaborative Cax Environment, Francis Mensah

Theses and Dissertations

Computer Aided Design (CAD) applications have historically been based on a single user per application architecture. Although this architecture is still popular to date, it does have several drawbacks. First of all the single user CAD architecture inhibits a concurrent engineering design process where several designers can work on the same model simultaneously. This limitation introduces time inefficiency especially when a project involves geographically dispersed designers. A solution to these drawbacks could be a transition from the traditional single user CAD architecture to a multiuser collaborative architecture. Advances in computer networking technologies, especially relating to the Internet, have provided the …

A Molecular Phylogeny Of Lampyridae With Insight Into Visual And Bioluminescent Evolution, Gavin Jon Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Fireflies are some of the most captivating organisms on the planet. Because of this, they have a rich history of study, especially concerning their bioluminescent and visual behavior. Among insects, opsin copy number variation has been shown to be quite diverse. However, within the beetles, very little work on opsins has been conducted. Here we look at the visual system of fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), which offer an elegant system in which to study visual evolution as it relates to their behavior and broader ecology. They are the best-known case of a terrestrial organism that communicates through the use bioluminescence. The …

(Mascot) Nation: Examining University Engagement On College Football Teams’ Facebook Pages, Matthew J. Haught

Theses and Dissertations

In the sport of college football, engagement with fans drives revenue for the sports teams and the athletic department; the more fans buy, the more money the school gets. This study examines the ways college football teams use Facebook to engage their publics, and how that engagement builds a sense of community. Specifically, it explores six teams that represent new college football teams, midmajor teams, and state flagship institution teams. Ultimately, it seeks to explain how social media can be a force in establishing and maintaining an online community.

The Abstraction Of Toys, Dan Ruben Thornhill

Theses and Dissertations

painting style. The toys depicted in the paintings were used at on time by my two grandchildren, Kaylee Smith and Brennan Thornhill, and serve as inspiration for this body of work. These compositions are based on direct observations of the toys used in this series, and relate to abstraction as defined in this thesis as simplification, distortion, exaggeration, invention, and erasure. The works that date later in the series fall under this definition. My work draws heavily upon Pablo Picasso and is influenced by his use of abstraction. The series tries to capture the essence of the toys and evoke …

Assessing Writing On The Job: Toward Development Of A Workplace Writing Curriculum, Betty J. Scull

Theses and Dissertations

In a nine-week online survey, the perceptions of 86 nonacademic workplace salaried employees concerning the kinds and frequencies of documents written, and the writing knowledge and skills needed to effectively perform writing tasks in their jobs, were studied. The primary objective was to determine if employees understood concepts of audience and audience analysis. The results suggest that the majority (64 percent) of participants are not familiar with audience or audience analysis concepts. In addition, most participants stressed the importance of Lower Order Concerns (LOCs) &mdash elements such as sentence structure, punctuation, word choice, and spelling &mdash over Higher Order Concerns …

Green Relationship, Fadel Imad

Theses and Dissertations

Green Relationship is a design solution attempting to raise awareness toward the environment and reduce consumerism. Waste generation and pollution have become major concerns of many governments, municipalities, organizations and individuals around the world since they are affecting human wellbeing and the environment. As an MFA student with VCUQatar, I chose to use design to contribute in protecting the environment hoping to make a difference in life. The thesis includes a research and a design component. The research explores the recycling programs and facilities in Qatar, the governmental and private sector actions toward waste generation and collection, as well as …

Hybrid Gulf — Excavating Future Identities, Robert Canak

Theses and Dissertations

This Project examines the coexistence of two cultures?–?in this case the host Gulf, and the imported Western?–?and addresses certain problems that still need attention. This Project celebrates the creation of the third, hybrid, culture as a result of their intermingling. In this Research, Postcolonial Theory? and Transitional Object Theory? are used as conceptual frameworks, and are combined with Archaeology and Design as a practice. On a personal level, the Project evolved out of my cross-cultural origin and experiences. On an academic level, the Project serves as an experiment, trying to fill the gaps in the Gulf region’s search for identity. …

Anti-Heroics, Modesty, And Bad Taste, Philip Hinge

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis work revolves around investigating painting’s relationship with “bad taste” and heroism. By comparing my paintings to illustrative depictions of “heroism”, artists who turn bad art good, ideas concerning modesty, humor, and invention I will contextualize my stance towards “heroism” and bad taste. By establishing my relationship to the aforementioned examples I will trace the growth of my work over the past few years and discuss how its role within contemporary painting has changed as well as how it interacts with various cultural references.

Fashioning A Rhetoric Of Style: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Urban Street Style Representations In New York City, Amber Pineda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how urban street styles are used rhetorically within local boroughs in New York City as a form of resistance to the dominant fashion industry that dictates what is "in fashion" through media. A total of fifteen video blogs developed by The New York Times were analyzed, each containing a representation of one of the five boroughs of New York City: Staten Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx, and Queens. The analysis identified themes of a rhetoric of style, consisting of primacy of text, imaginary communities, aesthetic rationales, market contexts, and stylistic homologies. These themes were then analyzed by drawing …

Studies Of The Middle Class, Scott S. Stanard

Theses and Dissertations

I create oil paintings and drypoints that bring attention to scenes of American middle class life. I present crowds of people engaged in community activities and festivals. This enables me to depict a cross section of the residents of a given region. I also create a counterpoint to these peopled gatherings by painting and drawing the exteriors of middle class homes. In my work, I attempt to imbue a sense of intrigue and pathos.

I work from candid photos that I take of people and their living spaces. In these photos, I modify and delete elements to optimize narrative and …

The Troublesome Document, Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa

Theses and Dissertations

An essay concerning the development of documentary photography, its relationship to political norms, conventions of realism in visual culture, and the form of the photographic book.

Side A, Side B, Hong Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

I believe that aural and visual language can contribute and inspire one another. Sound evokes the emotions and the senses. It is a catalyst for our imagination. It can be combined with imagery for the purpose of communication, harmoniously or contrastively. Both have corresponding characteristics—color/timbre, brightness/pitch, length/duration, scale/volume, composition/rhythm—and thus provide ways of transforming each other back and forth as input and output. Computer technology has increased the ease of transforming and manipulating the two. In my thesis project, I explore sound visualization, sound/image transformation and combination.

Visualization, Viewer And Emotion: An Empirical Study Of Cognition And Affective Responses To Infographics Used For Crisis Communication, Sean M. Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

A 3 (crisis response strategy) x 3 (medium) factorial design experiment was conducted to determine if information graphics conveyed through online news sources may be more beneficial for organizational reputations during some crisis situations than the use of news videos and text-based news stories. Variables examined include cognitive and affective appraisal, third-person effect, behavioral response and crisis response strategy.

Recent research in organizational crisis communications has pointed to the fact that more information is needed regarding how individuals react cognitively and affectively to crisis communications. Current crisis communications literature is also sparse concerning the behavioral aspects of crisis message reception …

Mannequin Size On Consumers' Perception Of Self And Satisfaction With Fit, Amanda Cohen

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the influencing factors that affect female's perceptions towards mannequins in retail environments. Data was collected using an online survey through the use of a snowball convenience technique. A total of 316 respondents were included. Using Pearson's r, the results indicated that the use of idealized mannequins in retail stores have a significant impact on social comparison, body dissatisfaction, and satisfaction of fit among female consumers. These results suggest that female consumers compare their bodies to those of mannequins and the larger the discrepancy between the size of the mannequin and the woman the more dissatisfied the woman …

Unloosed: Designing Participatory Objects, Laura Schlifer

Theses and Dissertations

The ubiquity of technology has mediated the means of receiving content through digital networks; users have complete control over receiving, shaping, and sharing information. In contrast to the inherent elasticity of these networks, physical pieces of communication often manifest through a closed and highly controlled process. However, the increased prominence of user-interaction with media provides an opportunity to evaluate the design process as it applies to the creation of physical objects. Throughout much of my work, I investigate the potential for unloosening the control of designed objects by inviting others into the design process. By considering the audience as active …

Exploring Environments, Idil Cilingiroglu

Theses and Dissertations

My search for creative inspiration often leads to explorations in natural and built environments. Being physically immersed in an environment offers endless vantage points, as well as points of focus; allowing all senses to function as receptors of surrounding data. Observations stimulate thoughts and ideas, which inspire experiments. Projects are born, sometimes out of the smallest details. In a series of projects I explore the possibilities of using physical environments as primary source of inspiration and input in the creation of tools that function in design contexts.

Designing Connection, Laurie K. Culshaw

Theses and Dissertations

Social connection is an essential human need. Personal connections exist at a variety of depths and within different types of relationships. Small daily choices determine the strength of those connections and their impact on our well-being as individuals and as a community. Modern society and technology have altered the speed and channels of connection, increasing communication but decreasing meaningful connection. It is critical to understand how the methods of communication affect the depth of connections. Through a series of participatory graphic design projects, I analyze the strengths and weaknesses of one-on-one, small group and community connections within an established taxonomy …

Appropriating Juan Rulfo: The Film Score Of Los Confines As Adaptation, Catherine Mary Day

Theses and Dissertations

Mitl Valdez's film Los confines (1987) is an adaptation of several works of fiction by the Mexican author Juan Rulfo. The director chose to adapt two short stories ("Talpa" and "¡Diles que no me maten!") and an episode from the author's first novel, Pedro Páramo. Valdez's intent was to "capturar el sentido" of the Jaliscan author or, in other words, to remain faithful to certain elements of his writing while adjusting them to the filmic medium. The musical score of Los confines is the method of appropriation that this study endeavors to investigate, since it shares common themes, metaphors, and …

An Analysis Of The Marketing Tactics Used To Influence Millennial Generation Students In Their Decision To Attend A Two-Year Or A Four-Year College, Andrea Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

This study will attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of college recruitment marketing tactics used to influence Millennial Generation students, ages 17 to 22 years old, in their decision to attend either a two-year or a four-year college. Changing demographics and projections indicate a decline in the number of high school graduates within the next three to five years. This shift translates into fewer college applications and more competition among institutions of higher learning making it easier for most students to get accepted into college. The researcher will use focus groups and a survey to examine the perception of community colleges …

Conversations With Inanimate Objects: A Mortuary Analysis Of Oakland-Fraternal Cemeteries In Little Rock, Arkansas., Jeff L. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

From 2012-2013 a mortuary analysis of Oakland-Fraternal cemeteries in Little Rock, Arkansas was conducted for this thesis. Evidence that this cemetery serves as a cultural database for the city of Little Rock and that resources like this should be preserved as Cultural Resource Management projects are presented in an interdisciplinary approach to mortuary analysis combining the disciplines of Anthropology and Rhetoric. Analysis of iconography found on grave markers was conducted employing Robert E. Horn's visual rhetoric theories and methodologies. Kenneth Burke's Dramatic Pentad was also employed as a tool for measuring the motivations behind the authorship of grave markers. Issues …

Locative Expressions In Signed Languages: A Cross-Linguistic Comparison, Sarah E. Eberle

Theses and Dissertations

The primary focus of this paper is to examine whether sign languages organize their locative expressions similarly to spoken languages. Paving the way in the study of spatial relations by focusing on the structuring of ON and IN locatives in spoken languages, Bowerman and colleagues (Bowerman 1980; Melissa Bowerman & Eric Pederson 1992a; Bowerman 1993; 1994; 1996a; 1996b; Bowerman & Levinson 2001) found that spoken languages organize the locative phrases representing the relationships of ON and IN in a continuum which is called the ON-IN continuum.

This thesis shows that sign languages do not linguistically pattern similarly to spoken languages …

In Perceiving Monsters: A Costume Design For Caryl Churchill's The Skriker, Joshua Quinn

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to document my process for a costume design of The Skriker by Caryl Churchill. Included is the design account confronted in telling the story, analyzing the script, developing concepts and looks, and final rendering of the characters. The paper finishes with a reflection on how the design served the script and my conclusions on its success.

Educating Staff Nurses On The Early Recognition Of Clostridium Difficile In Cancer Patients, Jennie A. Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Visual Communication On Cajamarca Ceramics From Pre-Hispanic Peru, 1000 - 1460 Ce, Jeanette Nicewinter

Theses and Dissertations

This project analyzes a database of 118 ceramic sherds that were excavated from the Late Intermediate Period site of Yanaorco, located in the Cajamarca region of the north highlands in present-day Peru, for vessel form, style, and imagery. Through the placement of these sherds within the context of inter-community feasting events that took place at Yanaorco, fineware ceramic vessels are interpreted as prestige items that were utilized by the elite to further differentiate themselves from other community citizens. By examining key examples of representational and non-representational imagery depicted on the sherds, an understanding of the social agency of the vessel …

Integrating New Literacies, Namely Visuals And Video, Into A Traditional, Basal-Text Driven Curriculum In A Secondary Classroom, Stephanie Moon

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to create a curriculum for a secondary language arts classroom that took traditional lesson plans from an anthology and integrated visuals/videos into the lesson plans to increase rigor, relevance, and engagement in the classroom. Each unit starts with visuals/video then moves to texts and the anthology. This progression is designed to allow the students to move from a familiar place where they feel comfortable and confident, the visual/video, to a medium they are less comfortable and confident with, the text. Another goal of this curriculum is overwhelming engagement throughout each unit. Also, by building …

An Evaluation Of The Organizational Structure Of Air Force Emergency Operations Centers Using Social Network Analysis And Design Structure Matrices, John W. Marshall

Theses and Dissertations

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 demonstrated that the United States' emergency response capability, while robust, was disorganized in that organizations were not prepared or equipped to coordinate response actions across multiple agencies at a national level. This research investigates whether NIMS and the AFIMS structure is optimal for Air Force emergency managers, or whether, while maintaining NIMS compliance, there is a more effective way for the Air Force to organize its emergency management and response forces. Specifically this research focuses on the organization of the EOC and investigates whether shifting from the current structure of the ESFs to …

Re:Creation, Heather Boone

Theses and Dissertations

This intent of this project is to explore the importance of handmade objects in the age of information.

Experience As An Experiment, James Walker

Theses and Dissertations

My work is an exploration of new media that demonstrates the influence a community has on visual communication. The community reveals content as objects go unnoticed after they become a permanent part of the landscape and assumptions are made from cultural archetypes. Through exploration, immersion, and reflection, I am able to recognize the invisible and expected, establish a familiarity with a community, and design responses that communicate directly to it.

Blue Book, Daniel Cole

Theses and Dissertations

Alain De Botton writes in The Architecture of Happiness, that “any object of design will give off an impression of the psychological and moral attitudes it supports.” Interpreting design then is done by understanding the attitudes of the designer, which either will or will not resonate with the viewer. I may consider the formal and conceptual merits of an object of design, but ultimately my attitudes determine whether the object will have resonance with me. These “attitudes” are, anthropologically speaking, values: what a person finds most good, proper, or desirable in life. Values are the key to the creation of …

Arabic Typography Play, Sarah Alfalah

Theses and Dissertations

I believe that spoken and written languages are verbal and visual expressions of cultures. Language is used to convey and sustain values and the belief system of people. Arabic is a language of complexity and formal beauty that is being disregarded and pushed away by its own native speakers. It is losing its value in the Arab world. In other words it is dying. Both the written and spoken language is being affected. As the world is interchanging, integrating, and becoming closer, there has been a strong impact on many societies, threatening their original culture. Arab cultures are abandoning the …