Digital Commons Network^™

Crescendo, Jeffery A. Pabotoy

Theses and Dissertations

Artist Statement

I have always found comfort and warmth in my family. When I am not with them, I find myself clinging to the objects they leave behind as a substitute in their absence. As I began to re-create these objects through paintings and ceramics, I realized that I was creating symbolic portraits of my family. These portraits are tangible family moments preserved in pigment and clay.

In recent years, my siblings were deployed to war and I began to represent them as various instruments. These instruments, both musical and tools of war, chronicle who they were and who they …

Expansion And Exclusion: A Case Study Of Gentrification In Church Hill, Kathryn S. Parkhurst

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the gentrification process in Church Hill, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Richmond, Virginia. After World War II, Richmond residents knew Church Hill mostly for its crime rate and dilapidated housing. The white, middle-class flight to the suburbs left the remaining residents, mostly African American, to experience decades of disinvestment. Church Hill was considered a neighborhood to avoid for much of the late twentieth century. Yet, Church Hill is currently one of the most desired neighborhoods in Richmond, particularly for young professionals. This thesis seeks to explain the reasons why there has been such a dramatic change …

American Splendor, Christina Ehmann

Theses and Dissertations

Artist Statement

My photographs and paintings are reflective of a simpler and slower paced, rural life. This focus is in high contrast to what contemporary urban life often requires. I depict scenes of tranquil landscapes, farm animals, old barns, fields of grasses, and growing crops.

I alter my digital photographic images with computer software. I use various filters that transform color, clarity, and value to give the photographs of nature an intentionally peaceful mood. These photographs are a basis for my paintings where I soften nature’s contours and emphasize tranquility. My desire is that viewers will look at my work …

Understanding The Impact Of A Global Universal Design For Learning (Udl) Virtual Classroom On Jamaican Educators Through The Lens Of How People Learn (Hpl), Kathryn W. Best

Theses and Dissertations

This case study examined learning components and outcomes of the UDL Virtual Classroom project, a web-based professional development program that was a collaboration between educators in the United States and Jamaica. The study applied the HPL lens (NRC, 2000) in order to understand the ways that Jamaican educator-participants perceived the integration of learner-centered learning, knowledge-centered learning, assessment-centered learning, and community-centered learning in the program itself, and also examined the impact of these components, despite numerous hurdles, on teachers’ mindsets and practices and the engagement and performance of students in their schools and classrooms. The researcher’s intent was to address the …

Identifying Profiles Of Resilience Among A High-Risk Adolescent Population, Anna W. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether distinct patterns of adolescent adjustment existed when four domains of functioning were considered. The study included a sample of 299 high-risk urban adolescents, predominantly African American, ages 9-16 and their maternal caregivers. Cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of adjustment. Logistic regression analyses were used to explore whether variations in levels of five theoretically and empirically supported protective factors predicted cluster membership. A four-cluster model was determined to best fit the data. Higher rates of goal directedness and anger regulation coping predicted membership within the highest functioning cluster over …

Allegories Of The Modern: The Female Nude In Art Nouveau, Emily Winthrop

Theses and Dissertations

Modernism is a plurality, not a singular concept. This project explores examples of Art Nouveau nudes to describe the particular expressions of the modern through varied and complicated allegorical bodies. The female nude as a nexus for ideals of gender, art, and beauty, is informed by and constructs the understanding of these ideals within society. Art Nouveau thus employed the nude to represent complex manifestations of modernity. Three diverse cases provide the subjects of each chapter. All explore modernism through objects and interiors, in public and private environments, and each connects the decorative arts with accounts of European modernism in …

The Entertainment Is Terrorism: The Subversive Politics Of Doing Anything At All, Joe Woods

Theses and Dissertations

When the body is observed through a certain combination of technologies, there can be subversive politics to doing anything at all. The nature of media and biopolitics has permitted for a set of systems aimed at total control of the human body; a power which can permeate all facets of life. This thesis is a collection of essays which argues that speculative fiction contains multitudes of approaches to biopolitical discourse, permitting the reader of the text to approach politics from their own set of experiences, but not allowing the political to be ignored. These chapters contain three separate but interrelated …

Sweaty Mother Slow Groove, Devin Kylie Harclerode

Theses and Dissertations

Sweaty Mother Slow Groove is an engagement in magical thinking that proposes a displacement of swamp methodologies into the virtual realm, existing during the fourth wave. In doing so the cyborg and goddess are united in a re-routing of essentialism and the neo-liberal domination of technology. The metaphorical swamp is the possibility of a mushy danger zone that harnesses the absorption of an unwanted space: a disintegration of the binary and the soft-coded awareness of the body as a process, not a site.

The Exchange: Curating Authenticity + Interaction, Sarah Webb

Theses and Dissertations

For a physical space to have an emotional impact on those who experience it, we must consider the connection and relationship between objects and experience, and how people make individual connections to insentient places. It is this symbiotic relationship that allows a building or space to attain a “soul”.

Through the adaptive re-use of a Richmond, Virginia building, this thesis project explores strategies of staging physical interaction and organic experiences through art and culture in the context of a mixed-use niche hotel.

Virtual / Reality: Designing Permeable Spaces For Social Well-Being In The Digital Age, Thomas R. Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

The digital age has pushed people closer together than ever before. A device that fits in the palm of your hand allows instantaneous communication with billions of other human beings. People share everyday experiences, passing thoughts, personal photos, sometimes privately, often publicly. Distances between people and places feel reduced. Never has it been so easy to be so emotionally close to so many people.

But as digital experiences become routine, our collective perceptions of closeness and distance shift. As virtual communities become larger, so does our awareness of the actual distance between things. Even though humans can be genuinely close …

The Curiosity Of Con, Petrified Breath, And An Accident Known As Blue., Steven Randall

Theses and Dissertations

My thesis installation emerged from an interest in visualizing breath. The resulting work came to exist at the intersection between art, biology, and performance.

The unicorn tapestries were used as a generative point of departure to explore the preservation and transformation of images through time, by time, and with time. Reproductions of the six tapestries were each etched into paper and then submerged into solutions of Phenol Red dye, Ferric Ferrocyanide (also known as Prussian Blue), and various forms of sodium chloride. Exhaled breath was used to encrust these images of the tapestries into physical objects which gradually crystallized and …

Fundamental Units, Ryan M. Flores

Theses and Dissertations

Surface, Skin, Facade, Countenance, Resistance, Chinchorro Mummies,Touch, Mark Making, Residue, Intuition, Repression, Indigestion, Disassemble, Blighted,Components, Body as Containers, Levels of Hierarchy, Absorption, Plastination, Modernism and Containment, Vanitas, Disembodied, Embodiment, Fragmentation, Arches, Gothic, Typology, Stacking of Cultures, Slippage.

Death Vegas Valley, Eric M. Diehl

Theses and Dissertations

My work explores hallucinatory landscapes of the US American West by using a combination of painting styles outside of the Western painting canon. I cross-reference painting and cinema, interweaving video, acrylic paint and the panorama to create a satirical homage to the history and present state of the USA. However, through an earnest devotion to the medium - both painting and cinema - I find my criticisms also yearn to hold onto a belief in a myth I know to be false.

This is an American History conversation about artifice and consumerism through advertising. I use Las Vegas and the …

Telomere Length In Women With Breast Cancer: A Longitudinal Study Of Their Relationship To Chemotherapy And Acquired Psychoneurological Symptoms, Areej Alhareeri

Theses and Dissertations

Breast Cancer (BC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed malignancies in females. The 5-year survival rate for women with early stage BC is about 90%. However, the quality of life (QOL) for many of these women may be adversely affected due to treatment/cancer–related side effects, including a constellation of symptoms (anxiety, depression, pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and depression), that are collectively termed psychoneurological symptoms (PNS). To gain insight into the contributory role of telomere length (TL) in the development and persistence of PNS, we have longitudinally studied 72 women (ages 23-71) with early stage BC (I-IIIA) at 5 time …

Human Neural Progenitor Cells Are Productively Infected By R5-Tropic Hiv-1: Opiate Interactions On Infection And Function Involve Cdk5 Signaling, Joyce Magat Balinang

Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is known to cause a spectrum of neurological, behavioral and motor deficits collectively termed as HIV-1 associated neurocognitive impairments (HAND). Opiates augment HIV-related CNS complications through both direct and indirect mechanisms that disrupt glial and neuronal function. All CNS macroglia and neurons derive from neural progenitor cells (NPCs) during development, and NPCs in the adult brain contribute to repair processes. Since disruptions in NPC function are known to impact CNS populations and brain function in a number of disease/injury conditions, we determined whether HIV ± opiate exposure affected the maturation and fate of human …

Information Needs And Information Sources Of Patients Diagnosed With Rare Cancers, Dana L. Ladd

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

INFORMATION NEEDS AND INFORMATION SOURCES OF PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH RARE CANCERS

By Dana L. Ladd, Ph.D., MS, SLIS

BACKGROUND: Approximately 25% of all cancers diagnosed are considered rare. Patients may face many significant challenges including difficulty obtaining information about their rare conditions. Patients often have high information needs and may seek desired information from a variety of informational sources including healthcare providers, media, print, government and non-profit organizations in order to meet their needs. Accessing reliable consumer-level information can be challenging and often information needs are unmet. Dissatisfaction with health information provision can result in negative health-related outcomes and …

Behaviorally Induced Insufficient Sleep Syndrome And Insomnia: Prevalence And Relationship To Depression In College Students, Allison Baylor

Theses and Dissertations

Background: College students are at increased risk for general sleep issues as well as specific disorders, including Behaviorally Induced Insufficient Sleep Syndrome (BISS) and insomnia. These disorders can have deleterious daytime consequences, which can be compounded by exacerbating depression. The present study aims to establish college prevalence of BISS/insomnia, to characterize sleep characteristics in this sample, and to compare depression across BISS/insomnia.

Methods: Data from a college risk behaviors and health study (n=989) was used. Insomnia and BISS were defined as mutually exclusive disorders, using ICD-10/DSM-5 criteria, and Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index items.

Results: Overall, the results of this study …

Black Feminist Discourse Analysis Of Portrayals Of Gender Violence Against Black Women: A Social Work Dissertation, Avina Ross

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored media discourse of gender violence against Black women in Black contemporary films. Four Tyler Perry films were examined using a novel, qualitative and analytical framework: Black Feminist Discourse Analysis. Discourses that were studied include, but were not limited to: portrayals of gender violence and victims, character dispositions and interactions, stereotypes, relationship dynamics as well as portrayals of race, gender, sexuality and religion. The use of new and existing controlling images based on systems of race, gender, sexuality and religion were revealed in a transitional and systemic model. Common themes across the films are provided. This research closes …

Adopting Sustainability Innovations In Restaurants: An Evaluation Of The Factors Influencing Owner-Managers’ Decisions In Richmond, Virginia, Anna Salzberg

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing restaurant Owner-Managers’ decisions to adopt sustainability innovations in restaurants. A cross-sectional survey research design is used for this study, which entails distributing a survey to restaurants in the City of Richmond, Virginia, to gain an understanding of the factors influencing sustainability innovation adoption. Drawing from both the innovation adoption theory and the theory of planned behavior, the researcher contributes a baseline of the restaurants’ sustainability and the Owner-Managers’ intrinsic motivations. By integrating innovation adoption theory’s perceived innovation characteristics and measuring restaurants’ past sustainability behavior, this study increases the overall …

Curcumin/Melatonin Hybrids As Neuroprotective Agents For Alzheimer's Disease, John Saathoff

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of dementia, affecting ~5.2 million Americans. Current FDA approved medications provide mainly symptomatic relief and there are no agents available to delay or cure this disease. Multiple factors such as amyloid-β aggregates, dyshomeostasis of biometals, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation have been implicated in the development of AD. Even though significant advances have been made in understanding the mechanisms leading to AD, the exact etiology still remains elusive. Given AD’s multifactorial nature, a multifunctional strategy of small molecule design would help to identify novel chemical templates. Recently our lab …

A Qualitative Study Of Woodland County Public Schools’ Social Media Policy For Employees: Its Development, Interpretation, And Significance, Greenlee B. Naughton

Theses and Dissertations

The popularity of social networking sites on the World Wide Web has exploded during the past two decades. As more and more K-12 public school teachers choose to actively participate on social networking sites, school leaders and school boards face the increasingly difficult decision about whether or not to enact policies which will enable them to discipline teachers for their online behavior. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the development, interpretation, and significance of one such policy.

Women At The Crossroads, Women At The Forefront, American Women In Letterpress Printing In The Nineteenth Century, Dianne L. Roman Ms

Theses and Dissertations

The significant role of the female printer in the American home-based print shops during the colonial and early republic periods has been documented in print history, socioeconomic, labor, and women studies, yet with the industrialization of the printing trade, women’s presence is thought to have disappeared. Contrary to the belief that industrialization of the print shop eradicated women’s involvement in skilled employments such as typesetting, the creation of the Women’s Cooperative Printing Union in California and the creation and chartering of the Women’s Typographical Union in New York, both in the late 1860s, clearly indicate that women continued to work …

Write To Work: The Use And Importance Of Writing As Perceived By Business Leaders, Clay Aschliman

Theses and Dissertations

The relation of English Language Arts (ELA) to the economy has played a historic role in educational policy, persisting to today’s corporate reform movement. It is, however, an area that remains under-researched. This study builds upon the limited existing literature base with a systematic replication of the College Board’s National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges’ (NCW) 2004 report, “Writing: A Ticket to Work…Or a Ticket Out.” The guiding research questions for this study are 1) How important is writing in the workplace? 2) Is writing an important hiring consideration? 3) What kind of writing is expected …

The Role Of Procedural Justice Within Police-Citizen Contacts In Explaining Citizen Behaviors And Other Outcomes, Shana M. Mell

Theses and Dissertations

American policing is shaped by an array of challenges. Police are expected to address crime and engage the community, yet police are held to higher expectations of accountability, effectiveness, and efficiency than ever before. Police legitimacy is the ability of the police to exercise their authority in the course of maintaining order, resolving conflicts, and solving problems (PERF, 2014). The procedural justice and police legitimacy literature suggest that by exhibiting procedurally just behaviors within police-citizen encounters, officers are considered legitimate by the public (PERF, 2014; Tyler, 2004, Tyler & Jackson, 2012).

This study examines procedural justice through systematic observations of …

Rethinking Counterterrorism In The Age Of Isis: Lessons From Sinai, Sahar F. Aziz

Nebraska Law Review

I. Introduction

II. Economic Deprivation and Political Marginalization in the Sinai … A. The Sinai’s Strategic Significance ... B. Neglect and Criminalization of the Bedouin

III. Bringing the Sinai into the National Fold ... A. Long-Term Investment in Development ... B. De-Securitizing Development in Sinai ... C. Political Inclusion and Integrating Bedouin into Security Services

IV. Contextualizing Sinai’s Transition into a Failing Sub-State ... A. Festering Grievances and Militants in Sinai before the 2011 Uprising ... B. 2011 Uprisings Create a Security and Political Vacuum ... C. Violence in Sinai Reaches New Heights after Morsi Is Deposed

V. Conclusion

Saltine Box Full Of Dreams: One Mexican Immigrant Woman's Journey To Academic Success, Adriana C. Sanchez

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

"This auto-ethnography/literacy narrative examines the journey of a first-generation Mexican immigrant woman from birth through completion of the master's degree at Eastern Washington University. The purpose of this single case study is to examine how one first-generation Mexican immigrant college student was able to succeed in higher education despite being part of the least academically successful minority group. It is also important for teachers from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds to tell their stories about overcoming hardships and barriers to academic success-such as discrimination, low socioeconomic levels (Reeves, 1997; 2012), low levels of education. The author includes photos and written …

Differences In Physical Activity Participation, Screen Time, And Body Mass Index For Children With Learning Disabilities And Typically Developing Children, Andrew Q. Pawlick

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

TOPIC: There is a vast body of research revealing low levels of physical activity, excessive use of electronic media, and increasing obesity rates for children in the United States and Europe. This study measures differences in physical activity, screen time, and Body Mass Index (BMI) between typically developing (TD) children and children with learning disabilities (LD). METHODS: The study included 404, thirteen year old Irish children with an LD diagnosis and 440 randomly selected 13 year olds that are typically developing. Children self-reported on how many days in the past two weeks they participated in moderate to vigorous …

Imprisonment Inertia And Public Attitudes Toward "Truth In Sentencing", Michael M. O'Hear, Darren Wheelock

Social and Cultural Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

In the space of a few short years in the 1990s, forty-two states adopted truth in sentencing (“TIS”) laws, which eliminated or greatly curtailed opportunities for criminal defendants to obtain parole release from prison. In the following decade, the pendulum seemingly swung in the opposite direction, with thirty-six states adopting new early release opportunities for prisoners. However, few of these initiatives had much impact, and prison populations continued to rise. The TIS ideal remained strong. In the hope of developing a better understanding of these trends and of the prospects for more robust early release reforms in the future, the …

Annual Report 2016, Tennessee. Department Of General Services

Annual Reports

This annual report briefly describes the business units in General Services and financial transactions made during the fiscal year.

Annual Report 2015-2016, Tennessee. Board Of Paroles

Annual Reports

This document is the annual report for the Tennessee Board of Parole during the fiscal year.