Digital Commons Network^™

Scenic Design For Jen Silverman’S Phoebe In Winter, Jess A. Ford

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This document is a narrative of the Scenic Design process for Jen Silverman’s Phoebe in Winter, designed by Jess Ford. The process includes a detailed summary and analysis of the script, the stages in the creation of the design, the final design, build, technical rehearsals, and the final product. This production was produced by West Virginia University’s School of Theatre & Dance during the Fall 2024 semester, presented in the Gladys G. Davis Theater at the Canady Creative Arts Center in Morgantown, WV.

Media Framing Of The Local And National News Coverage Of The East Palestine Train Derailment, Lauren Delo

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This research examined digital news coverage of the East Palestine train derailment to determine the frames and dominant frames used in both local and national coverage of the disaster, and whether these frames differed over time. Specifically, this research used a content analysis of digital newspaper articles from five media outlets—three national level and two local level—and applied the frames identified from Colistra’s (2010) study of print news coverage of the 1972 Buffalo Creek mine disaster. Results revealed significant differences between the most frequently used frames between local and national coverage, shifts in frame usage over time within each media …

Nexus Of Fear, Deterrence, And Prestige: The Role Of Russia's Exotic Nuclear Toolkit, Ryan Christenson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines Russia’s development of “exotic” nuclear weapon systems, specifically the Poseidon nuclear-powered torpedo, the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle, the Kinzhal hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile, and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile, to determine how and why Russia diverged from traditional nuclear platforms. Drawing on open-source data and comparative analysis against the standard nuclear triad, it investigates the doctrinal, technical, and political motivations driving Moscow’s nuclear modernization, including paranoia over U.S. missile defense, aspirations for great-power status, and domestic economic influences. Scenario-based assessments illustrate the potential destabilizing effects of these systems, which compress decision-making time and raise risks of inadvertent …

Cyber Warfare And The Future Of Conflict, Victor A. Mercado

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis examines whether cyber warfare now poses a more immediate threat to U.S. national security than weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Cyber operations have become a dominant instrument of contemporary conflict, with malicious actors operating in a persistent “grey zone” that blurs traditional boundaries between war and peace. These operations target military and civilian entities, both directly and often as collateral damage due to the uncontrollable nature of cyber threats. WMDs, despite their catastrophic destructive potential, remain largely constrained by established deterrence frameworks.

The evolving nature of cyber warfare warrants comparison to WMD effects and impact, as cyber capabilities …

Slaying The Embodiment Of Lust: A Painting Of A Martyr-Monk Vanquishing A Female Demon, Agnieszka E. Szymańska

Art and Art History Faculty Publications

The seventh-century painting of Sisinnios and Alabasdria from the Monastery of Apa Apollo at Bawit, Egypt, depicts an equestrian saint spearing a female demon. Previous scholarship has established connections between the mural’s iconography and the imagery of holy rider amulets. This article expands on those discussions and probes the painting’s function as a talisman that bolstered its monastic beholders’ defenses against demonic assaults. In a departure from earlier scholarly treatments of the mural, I explore how, to male monastic practitioners, the image of Alabasdria did not merely represent a demonic murderer of babies but also embodied lust. According to textual …

Egalitarianism Is Not Equality: Moving From Outcome To Process In The Study Of Human Political Organisation, Duncan Stibbard-Hawkes, Christopher Von Rueden

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Many traditional subsistence groups have been described as ‘egalitarian societies’. Definitions of ‘egalitarianism’, especially beyond anthropology, have often emphasised equality in resource access, prestige or rank, alongside generalised preferences for fairness and equality. However, there are no human societies where equality is genuinely realised in all areas of life. Here we demonstrate, empirically, that nominally egalitarian societies are often unequal across seven important interconnected domains: embodied capital, social capital, leadership, gender, age/knowledge, material capital/land tenure, and reproduction. We also highlight evidence that individuals in nominally egalitarian societies do not unfailingly adhere to strong equality preferences. We propose a new operational …

Assessing The “Plateaus” Vertical Development Model With A New Likert Scale Instrument, Mark Divine

Theses and Dissertations

This research project will focus on the assessment of the Five Plateaus (Plateaus) vertical leadership development model with a newly constructed Likert Scale instrument. Part one of the research project was a pilot study to create a simple, internet-based instrument. The scale, comprised of 100 questions and completed in 30 minutes, assesses participants' self- perceived stage of development as presented in the Plateaus vertical development model. The instrument was designed to capture the experience of participants and to overcome limitations of existing assessments by mitigating the subjectivity of sentence completion instruments, as well as to enhance efficiency and reliability. The …

The Effects Of Exposure To War & Attachment Disruption On Children Of War Leading To Negative Mental Health Outcomes, Chantal Daley

Theses and Dissertations

Children of war tend to endure abuse, witness deaths, killings, and sexual violence, and are also often coerced into committing violent acts. They are subjected to exposure to war-related traumas and as a result often become displaced from their primary caregiver and attachment figure and this relationship is disrupted. The primary aim of this systematic review was to explore the negative mental health outcomes in children of war into adulthood following attachment disruption and exposure to war. It also aimed to examine what protective factors mitigated these negative mental health outcomes and whether outcomes and protective factors varied according to …

Innovative Approaches To A More Sustainable Global Supply Chain: A Phenomenological Study In The Footwear Industry, Nichole Dwyer

Theses and Dissertations

The global footwear industry faces significant challenges as it navigates the complexities of sustainability, technological advancements, and supply chain resilience. This study examines how innovations in developing technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT), can enhance efficiency, reduce carbon footprints, and promote sustainability within global footwear supply chains. Leveraging a phenomenological approach, the research explores the lived experiences of supply chain professionals to identify practical strategies for integrating technology, enhancing resilience, and mitigating environmental impacts. The study highlights the industry's evolution, driven by factors such as consumer demand for sustainability, disruptions caused by geopolitical …

"Caesaropapism" In The Religious And Political Struggle For The Restoration Of The Orthodox Church In The 20th And Early 21st Centuries: Parallels Between The Roc And The Ukrainian Church, Bohdan Synchak, Iryna Vakulova

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article characterizes the phenomenon of caesaropapism as a model of state governance in which the church and its structures are entirely dependent on secular authority. Within the context of the stated issue, the primary periods and contexts of the religious and political struggle for the restoration of the Orthodox Church in the 20th and early 21st centuries are identified. Parallels are drawn between the struggle for the legitimization of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC)'s fight for self-governance and independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. In the church-historical context, the article describes several declassified KGB …

Patriarch Kirill Of Moscow And All Russia: A True Patriarch Or A False One, A Senior Cleric Or A Senior Politician Of The Russian Federation? The Russian Patriarch And The War In Ukraine, Dilyan Nikolchev

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This paper focuses on the behavior of the current Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev) in the context of the Russia’s military aggression against sovereign Ukraine – a religious leader who fully supports the war policy of the Kremlin. The pro-war and pro-Putin views and messages of Patriarch Kirill proved him in the eyes of the Orthodox world more as a false Patriarch and a politician than as the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. To a large extent, the Russian political narratives and ideology of the “Russian Peace” and “Holy Rus” doctrine are a product of the senior leadership of …

The Transformation Of Religious Consciousness And Spiritual Practices Of Ukrainians During The Soviet Anti-Religious Campaign In The Khrushchev Thaw Period, Galyna Starodubets Doctor Of Historical Sciences (Dr. Hab. In History), Professor, Oleksandra Stasiuk Doctor Of Historical Sciences (Dr. Hab. In History)

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the changes in religious consciousness and daily religious practices of Soviet Ukrainians during the so-called Khrushchev Thaw, based on sociological interviews. It is emphasized that despite the intensified atheistic propaganda and the closure of churches, religion remained a significant factor in people's lives. Religious beliefs were deeply embedded in the Ukrainian worldview, shaping their way of thinking and everyday life, which, in turn, influenced the norms and patterns of religious behavior. Risking harassment from their superiors or even losing their jobs, people continued to attend services, baptize their children, and celebrate religious holidays. Family upbringing traditions played …

Digital Orthodoxy And Political Populism In Eastern Europe: How Orthodox Media Facilitate Political Mobilization, Dmytro Garaschuk, Oleh Sokolovskyi

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

This article examines the intersection of Orthodox digital media and political populism in Eastern Europe, focusing on how religious institutions utilize digital platforms to facilitate political mobilization, reinforce nationalistic narratives, and undermine democratic institutions. Drawing on a comparative analysis of six countries–Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Georgia, and Montenegro–the study identifies a shared ideological matrix that fuses populist rhetoric with theological motifs. The research highlights the strategic use of digital media by Orthodox actors to construct moral binaries, sacralize political resistance, and disseminate disinformation framed in religious language. Particular attention is given to the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and …

Kinetic Takedown Methods For Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas), Boston John

Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications

Drone Swarms

• Difficult to detect

• Can overwhelm defense systems

• Low cost makes them ideal for tactical warfare

International Space Law Under The Trump Administration: Commerce And Security, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

Early themes of the second Trump administration's orientation toward international space law include military assertiveness, privatization, and nominal diplomatic engagement. These themes carry significant implications for international space law. They pressure longstanding international legal ambiguities, widen existing geopolitical divisions, and raise questions about how public-private interdependence will shape state responsibility and the development of norms in space. This essay was prepared for a special issue of the American Journal of International Law that offers an introduction and overview of the U.S. government's actions across a wide range of international legal issues in the first six months of President Trump's second …

Meteorology, Weather And War In South East Asia: Malaya C. 1940-1960, Fiona Williamson

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article interrogates the positioning of British colonial meteorology in Malaysia and Singapore from the 1940s to 1960. This period spanned a global conflict and an internecine war, effecting profound sociopolitical changes from which neither Malaysia nor Singapore would emerge the same. The meteorological services were essential to Britain's armed conflicts, providing vital weather information to the army, navy and, especially, the air forces, as well as supporting the aviation and shipping industry often in difficult and dangerous circumstances. This article argues that British military policy in South East Asia and the specific concerns of the colonial government in Malaya …

The Moderating Effects Of Self-Compassion On The Relationship Between Shame And Depression In Military Populations, Sarah Foran

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The U.S. Military has faced a continuous rise in mental health concerns reported by service members and veterans (Currier et al., 2017; Rosenheck & Fontana, 2007). Studies of military personnel have found that up to 15% of service members meet the criteria for experiencing depression (Shen et al., 2012). Often, individuals with military experience face numerous stressors that positively contribute to this experience of depression and feelings of shame (Bradbard et al., 2014; Litz et al., 2009). Military culture (often emphasizing shame related to mental health) has also been found to put military personnel at higher risk of experiencing depression …

Understanding The Mechanisms Of Interpretative Change, Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl

Faculty Publications

Interpretive methodology changes over time, and we appear to be in a period of particular ferment. In federal statutory interpretation, which is the focus of this Article, several important changes in interpretive methods have occurred in recent decades or are underway. There has been a gradual, decades-long shift away from intentionalist tools like legislative history. In addition, as the culmination of a series of smaller steps, the Supreme Court has just reshaped the doctrine governing deference to agency interpretations, a move that will require years of further clarification. And, although this shift is still taking shape, it appears that some …

Crypto Chaos In The Courtroom: Navigating Bankruptcy’S Digital Gold Rush, Grayson Timmins

SMU Law Review

The explosion of cryptocurrency, along with other digital assets, has led to many new transactions and investment opportunities for those interested in broadening their portfolios. While cryptocurrency is new, the failure of a cryptocurrency exchange requires the application of the same bankruptcy procedures in the same way as parties using traditional U.S. currency. In bankruptcy, these intangible assets are designated property of the estate and are deemed subject to the court’s jurisdiction. At this point, an issue arises: Once classified as property of the estate, how should crypto be classified?

The lack of regulatory infrastructure regarding this classification further complicates …

Estonian And Ukrainian Experience Of Getting Out From Under The Influence Of The Moscow Patriarchate, Bohdan Synchak

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The subject of this study is the problem of state interference in church life within the context of the need to counteract threats posed by the Moscow Patriarchate to the national security of Ukraine and Estonia. A comparative analysis of the experiences of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (EOC MP) and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC (MP)) in the process of eliminating Russian influence will contribute to a better understanding of the main issues that arise in this context. In Ukraine, there are two distinct Orthodox churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (UOC MP) …

Forcing Freedom: An Analysis Of Liberal Intervention From 1945-2017, Will Ford

Sigma: Journal of Political and International Studies

The United States has a unique role on the international stage. Over the course of its history, especially since the Cold War, it has shown a proclivity for intervening in other country’s affairs (Peceny 1999, 1–2; Muravchick 1991, 222). This is no surprise, given that the U.S. has long borne the self-assigned role of the “world’s policeman” (Etzioni 2016, 508). One of the driving factors behind U.S. intervention is the United States' commitment to a grand strategy that uses liberal intervention to create a world friendly to the U.S., its allies, and its interests (Pickering and Peceny 2006, 540). The …

What Can Artificial Intelligence Tell Us About The Literary Skills Needed To Dictate A Text Like The Book Of Mormon?, Brian C. Hales

Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship

The first oral draft of the Book of Mormon dictated by Joseph Smith reflected remarkable literary refinement and complexity. Such observations demonstrate that he exhibited highly developed composition and oratory skills. To date, no scholar has attempted to describe the specific skills Joseph manifested while dictating. This essay addresses whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) could generate an accurate list of the skills necessary. It begins by identifying and informally testing eleven chatbots to see if they can accurately predict the skills needed to perform a task. Seeing success, they are next asked a long question about the skills needed to dictate …

A Transformational Agenda For National Security, Maryam Jamshidi

Publications

Past efforts to "reimagine" national security in legal scholarship have largely avoided systematic engagement with the foundational assumptions and presumptions of the field. Challenging and critiquing those assumptions is, however, necessary to producing scholarly work that reimagines, rather than reproduces, status quo approaches to U.S. national security. This Article presents an agenda for reimagining national security through legal scholarship, which is premised on the view that challenging the national security status quo should be part of those efforts. In doing so, this agenda explores seven premises central to how U.S. national security is currently conceived of, practiced, and implemented. Moving …

Securitizing The University, Maryam Jamshidi

Publications

Since October 7, 2023, public and private actors have doubled down on efforts to securitize the American university. In large part, these initiatives aim to quash a vocal pro-Palestine movement that has become highly visible across U.S. campuses since October 7th. In targeting this group, these efforts have variously treated the university as an "object" of national security, namely, as a potential site of national security risk, while simultaneously encouraging or pressuring universities to "participate" in national security, namely, by actively and, in many cases, voluntarily furthering U.S. national security objectives. The university's status as object of and participant in …

Infinite Finite: A View On Human Progression Through Emergent Generative Systems, Fatima Abbas

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary crises reveal an imbalance in human progression, prioritizing material advancement while neglecting ethical, compassionate, and spiritual dimensions. This thesis examines natural progression through the lens of emergence, where simple interactions produce complex outcomes. Analyzing natural patterns across different scales, from cosmic formations to neural interactions, underscores emergence's universal nature.

Within this context, Infinite Finite introduces a generative digital tool simulating emergence through iterative cycles of construction and deconstruction. Depicting a century of human progression informed by historical behaviors via simulated cellular interactions, the tool visually differentiates ethical from unethical progression. This is represented through ten data visualization tiles composed …

Queer-Keying: Performing Video Processes As [Trans]Gressive Resistance, Wren Tiffany

Theses and Dissertations

As part of the 2025 VCUarts MFA Thesis Exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), I transformed the 'Sponge' gallery on the top floor of The Anderson, VCU’s historic thesis exhibition home, into The Green Room, a neon green, immersive video and performance space featuring mirrors, disco lights, a foam tile dance floor, makeup stations, and a functioning green-screen editing suite. This hybrid drag rehearsal and ‘Chroma-key’ green video production room deepened both my understandings of Queer performance art and process-based art making during the Spring of 2025, through two public performance activation …

Visible Modulation Of Epsilon Near Zero Materials, Jonathan M. Weber

Theses and Dissertations

While Epsilon-Near-Zero materials have offered many benefits from their introduction to the field of nonlinear optics, those materials have also narrowed the range of wavelengths often studied. With reliable and proven enhancements to light-matter interaction in the ENZ region, many researchers have had little reason to extend the spectrum measured in experiments. The purpose of this work is to measure the intensity dependent refractive index of Indium Tin Oxide across a broad spectral range, from ultraviolet to near infrared, to improve the understanding of semiconductor nonlinearities far from Lorentz and Drude resonances. Furthermore, the visible region is naturally low-loss in …

Reverse Geometric Dispersion In The Beaufort Sea: Dissecting Sound Propagation At Long Ranges In Ducted Profiles, Jessica Desrochers

Open Access Dissertations

Acoustic propagation in the Arctic is evolving as surface temperatures increase and ice melts, resulting in a changing sound propagation environment. This study investigates the acoustic arrival structure in the Canada Basin and its connection to the underlying sound speed profiles. Two Seagliders were deployed in the summer of 2016 and 2017, diving in a sawtooth pattern collecting conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) data as part of the Canada Basin Acoustic Glider Experiment (CABAGE). These data are used to calculate sound speed profiles used to predict and understand acoustic arrival structures.

The warming of the Pacific Summer Water and surface …

Textual Sediments: Genre And The Planetary Novel, William Bowden

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation investigates how twenty-first-century prose fiction navigates the ecological and temporal dimensions of planetary crisis. In response to accelerating pressures - climate change, ecological collapse, and the intensification of capitalist modernity - literary studies has turned increasingly to the planetary as a conceptual frame. Yet this shift has often outpaced the development of adequate critical vocabularies and narrative methodologies. By drawing on ecocriticism, narrative theory, phenomenology, and related fields, Textual Sediments proposes a new framework for reading what it terms the planetary novel: a sedimentary genre characterized by temporal layering, formal hybridity, and a recursive engagement with scale. Through …

The Vietnam War And The Regional Context, Wen-Qing Ngoei

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This chapter traces Southeast Asia’s overall pro-U.S. trajectory from before and through the American war in Vietnam, a process in which the region’s anticommunist nationalists collaborated with the United States and Britain to gain, and remain in, power. Between the late 1940s through the early 1960s, indigenous anticommunist elites in Thailand and the Philippines rose to political dominance with U.S. assistance; in Malaya and Singapore they did so with British support. The United States and Britain, with their Malayan and Singaporean allies, would influence developments within Indonesia that precipitated the Indonesian Army’s rightwing coup of 1965, a transformative event that …