Digital Commons Network^™

“Rise Up!”: Literacies, Lived Experiences, And Identities Within An In-School “Other Space”, Kelly Wissman

Literacy Teaching & Learning Faculty Scholarship

In this article, I consider the literacy practices that emerged in an in-school elective course centered in the literacy tradition of African American women. Drawing from spatial perspectives (Leander& Sheehy, 2004), I explore what it means to consider this course an “Other space” (Foucault,1986), as a space created without the constraints of a mandated curriculum or standardized test pressures and as a space informed by an understanding of the connections among literacies,lived experiences, and identities. Through the presentation and analysis of five vignettes, I consider how the students shaped the course to their own ends and pursued agentive literacy work …

Rule Britannia: Britain, Breadfruit, And The Birth Of Transoceanic Plant Transportation, Annabel Tudor

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

This paper examines the events that precipitated transoceanic plant transportation and British imperial expansion during the second half of the eighteenth century. Combined circumstances forced the British to explore transoceanic plant transportation to make colonies, especially those in the British West Indies, more self-sufficient. Hurricanes in the Caribbean destroyed ground crops vital for slaves and plantation operations, and fallout from a volcanic eruption in Iceland poisoned soil in Britain and northern Europe for years. Wars with France and America inhibited oceanic trade and trade routes. These circumstances fostered the British desire to control its own food supply and resulted in …

Inform Form Perform, Nathaniel Holland

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Architecture as a profession has always concerned itself with finding beauty in built forms. In the digital age beauty is changing; information controls our lives and true beauty is found in the way we interpret it. Architects have developed and employed parametric design strategies to both interpret this information and increase their production. Though these strategies have improved architectural design, they are not being used to their full extent in the design process. I propose taking the use of computers in aiding architectural design one step further; site information and program data should INFORM the project, driving the creation of …

Realizing The International Human Right To Health For Non-Citizens In The United States, Eleanor D. Kinney

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

If You Don’T Build It... Mexican Mobility Following The U.S. Housing Bust, Brian C. Cadena, Brian K. Kovak

University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research Discussion Paper Series

This paper demonstrates the importance of earnings-sensitive migration in response to local variation in labor demand. We use geographic variation in the depth of the housing bust to examine its effects on the migration of natives and Mexican-born individuals in the U.S. We find a strong effect of the housing bust on the location choices of Mexicans, with movement of Mexican population away from U.S. states facing the largest declines in construction and movement toward U.S. states facing smaller declines. This effect operated primarily through interstate migration of Mexicans previously residing in the U.S. and, to a lesser extent, through …

Wireless Indoor Localization Using Expectation-Maximization On Gaussian Mixture Models, Abhishek Goswami

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

We consider the problem of localizing a wireless client in an indoor environment based on the signal strength of its transmitted packets as received on stationary sniffers or access points. Current state-of-the art indoor localization techniques have the drawback that they rely extensively on a 'training phase'. This 'training' is a labor intensive process and must be done for each target-area under consideration for various device types. This clearly does not scale for large target areas. The introduction of unmodeled hardware with heterogeneous power-levels etc further reduces the accuracy of these techniques. We propose a solution in which we model …

Localization And Motion Coordination Among Multiple Collaborating Mobile Robots, Xionghui Lu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation mainly addresses the problem of multi-robot motion coordination, including deployment algorithm and some other important issues in the deployment process, for example, localization and collision avoidance. The first part of this dissertation is mainly about calibration and motion tests on the pioneer 3 DX mobile robot platform we are going to use. A pioneer 3 DX mobile robot has two driving wheels and one passive castor, and is a typical nonholonomic system. Due to nonholonomic constraint, the mobile robot has no nonzero side speed. In order to nicely control the robot and obtain its accurate running state, a …

Culture As The Foundation Of Communicative Italian Instruction: Pedagogical Strategies Aimed At Proficiency In Italian, Angelo Giulio Musto

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Abstract of the Dissertation Culture as the Foundation of Communicative Italian Instruction: Pedagogical Strategies Aimed at Proficiency in Italian by Angelo Giulio Musto Doctor of Arts in Foreign Language Instruction Italian Stony Brook University 2011 The purpose of this dissertation is to offer strategies for the integration of culture in the secondary Italian curriculum, while maintaining the assertion that all competent language instruction is rooted in sound cultural objectives. As illustrated in the subsequent review of pedagogical literature, there are two essential components to the philosophy behind this study: the efficacy of employing cultural concepts in the classroom in order …

De-Territorializing Cartographies: Examining Situationist Tactics In Contemporary Art, Helena Shaskevich

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Over the course of the last several years an increasing number of artists, critics and scholars have begun to (re)examine the relationship between artistic and geographic practices. This has brought about a proliferation of hybridized artistic projects, exhibitions and texts. While a number of the works raise important issues and engender dialogue, the saturation of the art market has also resulted in the production less cohesive and thought-out projects This project focuses on a very specific subset of the intermingling between artistic and geographic practices: artistic experimentations with cartography. In an effort to examine the political efficacy of such experimentations, …

The Clown Paintings Of Jack Butler Yeats, Cliona Mccolgan Stack

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This thesis explores the clown paintings of Jack Butler Yeats with particular emphasis on those painted between 1920 and 1950. Yeats was interested in circus performances from a very young age. In general, his clown paintings seem to capture traditionally showy and exuberant images of both clown and circus. However, they also reveal Yeats' personal sense of the painter as clown. Laughter (who laughs, the permanent grimace) and the symbolism of the rose are significant in establishing the artist as a clown figure. Moreover, the idea of the clown also spoke to the arrival of the modern era. The balancing …

The Mosque As A Political, Economic, And Social Institution 622 – Present, Hope Collins

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 the Communist “threat” that plagued the West throughout the latter half of the 20^th century all but disappeared and was replaced with the “threat” of Islam. Prior to 9/11 Islam was a largely misunderstood religion and, despite its emergence as a media sensation in the past decade or so, very little headway has been made to better understand it.

Often times this misunderstanding has led to latent, and at times manifest, anti-Islamic sentiment and in many cases this anti-Islamic sentiment has been directed at the mosque as the physical embodiment of …

Computationally Generated Music Using Reinforcement Learning., Kristopher W. Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computers and music have shared a rich history since the 1950s. Many languages and standards have been built around music. Yet even before the advent of the computer, music shared algorithmic ideas with mathematics which brought about many new styles over the centuries. Today's computers provide even more power, and with Intelligence algorithms, are able to create complex systems for generating art. Music is no exception, but very little has been done in generating music using such algorithms. Reinforcement Learning provides a means of learning good motions of chord progressions in music theory. Dmitri Tymoczko's Latent model for the underlying …

Knowledge-Sharing Networks Of Hospital-Based Infection Preventionists In Kentucky., Timothy Lee Wiemken 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Infection preventionists (IPs) have a multitude of tasks aimed at the prevention and control of infections in the healthcare setting. These tasks require a great deal of knowledge that has been more challenging to gain over the past decade due to the rapidly changing healthcare environment, the IPs' increasing numbers of duties, limited staffing, and a number of other issues. Because of these challenges, other mechanisms of rapid and efficient knowledge acquisition are needed for optimal job performance. One possible mechanism is knowledge sharing through social or professional networks. Objective: To examine the knowledge-sharing network structure of hospital-based IPs …

The Texas 10% Law And Its Impact On Admitted Students., C. J. Woods

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the experiences of 10 Top 10% African American and Hispanic students at Texas A&M University. The purpose of the study was to examine how the Texas Top 10% Law influenced underrepresented students' perceptions of the law, application to universities under the law's provisions, and feelings of acceptance at a Texas flagship institution. Critical race theory (CRT) served as the theoretical framework for the study. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The study confirmed linkages with CRT research on underrepresented students' experiences with Affirmative Action policy through exploration of social construction, differential …

Cycling And Women's Rights In The Suffrage Press., Christine Neejer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Responding to research gaps in both cycling and women's rights history, the purpose of my thesis is to investigate conceptualizations of cycling in the 1890's suffrage press. I analyze six aspects of cycling in suffrage periodicals: advice and tips to women cyclists; dress reform and women's cycling; women's cycling clubs; health, medicine and exercise; travel and touring; and cycling among anti-suffrage women reformers. I argue cycling and women's rights activism should not be framed as separate aspects of women's lives in the 1890's, but joint practices that influenced and informed the other. Suffrage press authors did not view cycling as …

They Are In Silence : Refugee Women's Narratives., Erin Elizabeth Herbert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work explores the personal narratives of a group refugee women recently resettled in Louisville, Kentucky, participating in the Family Center program at Kentucky Refugee Ministries. This research shows that both local and national refugee resettlement policies are complicit in the marginalization of refugee women. These policies falsely construct refugee women as a universalized "other," silencing the diverse experiences and needs of women resettled in the United States. In turn scholarship and an aid discourse that positions refugee women's employment as "supplementary" to male income is based on assumed social constructions of gender inconsistent with many refugee women's experiences both …

Away To Freedom : African American Soldiers And The War Of 1812, Omar Shareef Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research will address several key historical realities overlooked in reference to African Americans during the War of 1812. One, that African Americans played a significant role in the successes of United States military conflicts during the war. Two, an acknowledgement that African Americans used military service as a way to demonstrate their legitimacy as American citizens. Finally, military service proved to be a viable method of resistance to the institution of slavery during both the American Revolution and the War of 1812. I will pay particular attention to African Americans who escaped slavery to enlist in Six Companies of …

The Great Commissioning: An Exegesis Of Matthew 28:16-20, Ryan Kendall Phelps

Masters Theses

Throughout the history of Christianity, evangelism has been an often-discussed topic. At certain times the discussion has revolved around the question of whether or not there is a command to actively seek out unbelievers for the purpose of evangelism in the Bible that applies to Christians in the world they live in. One of the most common verses cited as a command for evangelism is Matthew 28:18-20, commonly called the "Great Commission." However, some Christians argue that this is a command for discipleship and not evangelism. While it is hard to make a distinction based on this verse alone, Matthew …

An Inquiry Into Contextualized Christian Expression In North India, M. J. Gracin

Masters Theses

The riches of India's ancient and diverse culture are proclaimed from the music that communicates the heart of Bharat Mata - Mother India. This sentiment resounds across the vast geographical area of India in songs from Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians and Bollywood composers. The question of how Christians might express their faith in light of societal, historical and religious amalgamations is the topic of discussion for this project. The inquiry will focus on the music culture of North India, specifically as it is expressed in the city of B_____, Uttar Pradesh. A six week field study was conducted in …

With Us Or Against Us: Using Religiosity And Sociodemographic Variables To Predict Homophobic Beliefs, Erin Coale Schwartz

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Affiliation with religious organizations is prevalent in the United States and within some of these organizations negative messages about lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals are regularly espoused. Exposure to such homophobic sentiment has been found to have a detrimental impact on the mental health of sexual minorities and thereby, makes the exploration of religiosity and homophobia an imperative. This study examined differences in homophobia among the sociodemographic variables of gender, age, education level, religious affiliation, frequency of attendance at religious services, and amount of contact with lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. Additionally, a stepwise multiple regression was conducted to determine …

Indigenous Identity On The Poospatuck Reservation: Implications For Culturally Grounded Social Work Practice And Policy, Catherine A. Carballeira

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation is an exploratory, qualitative study of Indigenous perspectives on cultural identity. There is sparse empirical evidence of working effectively with Indigenous People, especially as an outsider. The study uses mostly in-depth structured interviews and purposive sampling techniques with blood right members of the Unkechaug Nation at the Poospatuck Reservation. The purpose of the study is to develop important guidance to provide a culturally grounded, relevant and sensitive practice model for educators, social workers and other health professionals who work with members of the Unkechaug Nation. This study is proactive, seeking to understand the ways culturally identified Indigenous People …

Reconsidering Racial And Partisan Gerrymandering, Richard T. Holden, Adam B. Cox

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

In recent years, scholars have come to a general agreement about the relationship between partisan gerrymandering and racial redistricting. Drawing districts that contain a majority of minority voters, as is often required by the Voting Rights Act, is said to help minority voters in those districts but hurt the Democratic Party more broadly. This Article argues that this familiar claim is based on a mistaken assumption about how redistricters can best manipulate districts for partisan gain—an assumption grounded in the idea that all voters can be thought of as either Democrats or Republicans. Relaxing this assumption, and acknowledging that voters …

Holocaust Diaries Bearing Witness To Experience In Poland, The Netherlands, And France, Jessica Leah Oldham

HIM 1990-2015

Most of the Holocaust's victims were never able to tell their stories, and of the millions of victims, only a few hundred were able to write about their experiences. This makes surviving personal testimonies precious in many ways. They provide a rich resource for understanding both individual experience, as well as the ways in which the socio-historical context (i.e. region, gender, and class) greatly influenced each distinctive experience. This study examines six Holocaust diaries, of Jewish victims, taken from three different parts of occupied Europe: from Poland, Janusz Korczak's Ghetto Diary and Chaim Kaplan's The Scroll of Agony; from Holland, …

The Aputu: An Examination And Analysis Of A War Club-Form Distinctive To The Guianas, Donald Arp Jr.

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

This work examines a type of war club unique to South America and to the area of the three Guianas. The so-called block war club of the Guianas, often noted in the memoirs of explorers and soldiers in the New World, has received little academic attention. Mining firsthand accounts and what little academic attention has been focused on the clubs, this paper examines a set of clubs from the Heye Foundation Collection now housed in the National Museum of the American Indian. This thesis seeks to classify the block type club as the flared quadrilateral club, which is a more …

An Assessment Of Stable Hydrogen-Isotope Analysis Methods To Assign Geographic Origin To Migratory Red-Tailed Hawks (Buteo Jamaicensis), Carla Marie Ahlschwede

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Stable-hydrogen isotopes are becoming an increasingly popular method of studying migratory birds, though sample preparation methods may affect results.  In this study I examined feathers from red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) to determine the relationship between measure of δD due to inter-feather variation or drying methods, assessed the accuracy of results by using two birds of known-origin and estimated possible natal origins of migratory red-tailed hawks.  Two feathers per individual were taken from 81 wild hawks caught at Hitchcock Nature Center near Crescent IA and from 2 rescued red-tailed hawks, Raptor Recovery Nebraska near Eagle, NE. 119 of the …

Analysis And Interpretation Of Factors Leading To Increased Aids Prevalence In Sub-Saharan Africa, William Kalhorn

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

My thesis research project focuses on the major factors that are contributing to the worst disease epidemic on the planet today. I have aimed to determine what may be some of the most important factors contributing to highly variable difference in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates are among the regions of East, West, and South Africa.  The HIV/AIDS epidemic has been growing and expanding to new areas of the world since the first case arose in 1959 in what is now called Kinshasa, Congo (Avert, 2011). The AIDS/HIV epidemic is believed to have originated on the African continent, and this is where …

Educating Young Adults About Sustainable Development, Meghan Lewis

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This qualitative study on the types of environmental education on different age groups was conducted in Lincoln, Nebraska. The purpose of this thesis is to identify what age group and educational methods would be most effective to educate Lincoln citizens on the importance and benefits of sustainable development. Environmental education is an important aspect in implementation of new, environmentally friendly ideas.

Lincoln environmentalists are working to improve the city’s sustainability. Finding a way to consistently educate Lincoln residents on the importance and benefits of sustainable development will increase the public’s awareness of their efforts, leading to a greater interest in …

Parks And Obesity In Rural And Urban Nebraska, Michaela S. Wolf

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

In order to better understand the role community design plays in obesity rates, this project studies a potential relationship between distance of parks from homes and obesity rates in four Nebraska counties. Park use may contribute to important health benefits, such as reducing risk of obesity by increasing physical activity levels. There are limitations to park use, such as crime rates and facility upkeep that are important to understand so that they might be managed and communities can reap greater benefits from their parks, including better fitness. This study examines park distance from homes as a potential limiting factor to …

The Application Of Creative Leadership Skills In The Education And Mentoring Of Social Entrepreneurs: A Graduate Level Course, Maria J. Rivera

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The purpose of this project is to fully comprehend the state of social entrepreneurship education through research, and consequently, to design a course on how to apply creative leadership skills to educate and mentor social entrepreneurs and to enhance their problem solving skills. The outcome of the project is a course proposal to build inter-disciplinary knowledge and skills.

Cooperatives As A Possible Answer For Women Living With Violence And Poverty On The Us/Mexico Border, Nubia Restrepo Collaros

Latin American Studies ETDs

This thesis examines the challenges presented to planning practitioners working with Latin American communities in economically disadvantaged regions where external influences creates a fragile environment for sustainability and empowerment. Specifically, the thesis examines the complex inter-relation of a non-profit and the members of a cooperative and how can economic, human and social capital development can be planned for alongside significant changes.