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Consider The Culture: The Role Of Local Engagement In Global Conservation, Nicole Bailey May 2025

Consider The Culture: The Role Of Local Engagement In Global Conservation, Nicole Bailey

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper discusses global conservation efforts, making a case for community-led conservation on the bases of efficacy and long-term sustainability. As environmental conservation grows ever-important, it’s imperative that the people local to these efforts are holistically integrated into the conservation work and considered as the stakeholders they are. Local human interests are a key condition to assess when aiming for lasting, practical conservation. This paper opens with a look at the reforestation of Gunung Palung National Park as a case study of successful community-led conservation. Chapter 1 outlines the harm of environmental degradation and habitat loss through quantitative data. Here, …

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Managing Happiness In The Mexican Maquiladora Industry: A Turnover Management Challenge, Claudia M. Burgos Cruz, Reyna Virginia Barragan Quintero, Angel Contreras Cruz May 2025

Managing Happiness In The Mexican Maquiladora Industry: A Turnover Management Challenge, Claudia M. Burgos Cruz, Reyna Virginia Barragan Quintero, Angel Contreras Cruz

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study explores a turnover management case by implementing exploratory Human-Centered Design (HCD) strategies, combining a collaborative tool in a Mexican maquiladora in Tecate, Baja California. To reduce turnover, the tool was designed, prototyped, and tested to foster the emotional well-being of employees, enhance employee engagement, and promote a sense of belonging in the workplace. The company leaders and managers were trained to use the HCD prototypes, such as the Happiness Dashboard, a visual feedback system using emojis to collect data during regular shifts, and the Gemba Walks, a method for collecting information through observing and interacting with workers. Organizational …

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Ecologies Of Urban Encroachment: How La’S Built Environment Shapes Urban Ecosystems And Wildlife, Ainsley Ramin May 2025

Ecologies Of Urban Encroachment: How La’S Built Environment Shapes Urban Ecosystems And Wildlife, Ainsley Ramin

Student Theses 2015-Present

This paper examines the impact of Los Angeles’ built environment on its ecosystems and biodiversity through the destruction of wildlife corridors and habitats and the threats urbanization poses to its native species. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, Chapter 1 describes the current threats that wildlife faces and ecosystem services that are at stake in Los Angeles due to suburban sprawl and the impacts of urbanization on its ecosystems. This chapter introduces data on the decrease in population of important species and statistics on how urbanization has been encroaching on and breaking apart habitats. Chapter 2 explores the history of …

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Development Of New Oxidative Methods And Synthesis Of Small Molecules For Modulation Of Biological Systems, Robert Eric Anderson May 2025

Development Of New Oxidative Methods And Synthesis Of Small Molecules For Modulation Of Biological Systems, Robert Eric Anderson

Dissertations - ALL

Oxoammonium salts have commonly been used to oxidize alcohols to aldehydes and ketones. More recently these reagents have been employed in several different oxidative transformations. Utilizing these reagents a new tandem elimination-oxidation process of tertiary alcohols has been developed. The new process yields an allylic ether which can be transformed to the alcohol easily through a reduction with zinc metal, removing the tetramethylpipyridyl protecting group derived form the oxoammonium salt. Mechanistically the reaction likely proceeds through oxoammonium salt mediated elimination followed by allylic oxidation through an ene-type mechanism. Due to the alcohol being protected by the easily removed oxoammonium salt, …

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Computational Imaging And The Shifting Ground Of Digital Journalism Ethics, Wasim Ahmad May 2025

Computational Imaging And The Shifting Ground Of Digital Journalism Ethics, Wasim Ahmad

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates how United States-based professional photojournalists are using computational imaging technologies in their smartphones from a diffusion of innovations perspective. Computational imaging can be considered “on-the-fly” photo manipulation, performing tasks such as blurring out the background the way a larger Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) or Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera can, or simulating lighting that didn’t exist on the scene. As image manipulation was previously viewed as taboo in photojournalism (Reaves, 1992), the increased usage of smartphones with computational imaging embedded in software could have wide-reaching implication for ethics research regarding the industry. In-depth interviews with newspaper and …

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Automated Flaw Discovery In Decentralized Systems Via Semantic Fuzzing Tools, Yibo Wang May 2025

Automated Flaw Discovery In Decentralized Systems Via Semantic Fuzzing Tools, Yibo Wang

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation studies the security challenges of blockchain transaction processing before consensus. While prior work has focused on consensus protocols and smart contract bugs, the pre-consensus infrastructure, such as the mempool and off-chain batching, remain underexplored. This dissertation aims to bridge that gap by systematically analyzing both transaction processing in the mempool and off-chain transaction batching for cost-optimization. This dissertation focuses on two core contributions. First, it presents MPFUZZ, an automated software fuzzing tool designed to uncover denial-of-service vulnerabilities in Ethereum mempools. This work is the first to formally define the mempool fuzzing problem and introduce bug oracles that detect …

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What Is The Impact Of An Education Program Designed To Remove The Healthcare Professional As A Barrier To Care For The Transgender And Gender Diverse Community?, Richard D. Dansereau May 2025

What Is The Impact Of An Education Program Designed To Remove The Healthcare Professional As A Barrier To Care For The Transgender And Gender Diverse Community?, Richard D. Dansereau

Doctoral Projects

Healthcare disparities disproportionately affect transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals, often due to implicit biases among healthcare providers. This study examines the impact of an educational intervention designed to address these biases and improve care for TGD patients. Using the Biased Care Model as a guiding framework, the intervention targeted three critical phases of bias: pre-visit assumptions, in-visit interactions, and post-visit decisions. Conducted in the intensive care unit of a mid-sized hospital in Northern California, the study employed a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design involving multidisciplinary healthcare workers. Participants completed a modified Jefferson Scale of Empathy survey to assess changes in cognitive and …

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Hacking Adhd: Activating Adaptations Through Technological Affordances, Victoria Masi May 2025

Hacking Adhd: Activating Adaptations Through Technological Affordances, Victoria Masi

Dissertations - ALL

The last two decades have brought about the actualization of powerful new affordances in online information environments. Online networking platforms such as YouTube, Reddit, Instagram, and TikTok have enabled individuals across the globe and in various marginalized groups to access information, take action, and form communities in ways that were never before possible. In the last decade, hacker culture has taken root in communities bound not by their passion for technology but empowered by the affordances of technology and bound by a shared need, motivation, and ethic. The accessibility of online affordances for marginalized populations combined with the re-emergence of …

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What Modren Dental Dna Sequencing And Tooth Analysis Combined With Historical Context Can Tell Us About The Human Experience, Brynn Butko May 2025

What Modren Dental Dna Sequencing And Tooth Analysis Combined With Historical Context Can Tell Us About The Human Experience, Brynn Butko

D.U.Quark

Dental DNA extraction and visual analysis of teeth are subjects that aid many different research fields. Odontal analysis, specifically combined with forensic science and anthropology, allows for age and sex estimations, the identification of remains, and an in-depth historical account of human history. Because tooth analysis is utilized in various fields, a lack of uniform protocol for handling, analyzing, and extracting teeth persists. This review will explore the methods of dental analysis, the individual dental characteristics that identify age and sex in remains, and a depiction of the past through tooth evaluation. Creating a standardized protocol for the process of …

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Electrochemical Performance Analysis Of A Urfc In Fuel Cell Operation Under Variable Flow And Backpressure Conditions, Kai Cho May 2025

Electrochemical Performance Analysis Of A Urfc In Fuel Cell Operation Under Variable Flow And Backpressure Conditions, Kai Cho

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Unitized regenerative fuel cells (URFCs) offer a compelling energy storage solution by integrating both fuel cell and electrolyzer functionalities into a single device. This study evaluates the electrochemical performance of a URFC system running in fuel cell mode utilizing bifunctional Pt-RTO and Pt/C catalysts and Nafion membranes, tested under varying flowrates and backpressures. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) measurements were performed using a Scribner URFC test station to extract maximum current density and characterize operational trends. Across the full range of experiments, increasing oxygen flowrate and applying moderate to high backpressure improved maximum current densities, while low or zero backpressure significantly …

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Identifying Strategies In Moral Decision Making, Ilaria Siriner May 2025

Identifying Strategies In Moral Decision Making, Ilaria Siriner

Theses - ALL

This study explored the strategies used in moral decision-making, within the context of selfdriving car scenarios. Our goal was to uncover the strategies people use when faced with moral dilemmas, using methodological approaches previously applied to the study of decision-making. The strategies that we were interested in were those that align with the ethical frameworks of utilitarianism, deontology or a blend of the two. In this study, participants were confronted with a series of moral dilemmas involving self-driving cars. Their choices and decision-making processes were analyzed using Machine Learning Strategy Identification (MLSI), which incorporated features related to the information participants …

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Exploring Higher-Order Networks, Hao Tian May 2025

Exploring Higher-Order Networks, Hao Tian

Dissertations - ALL

Networks are natural representations of interactions in the real world (social networks, bio-networks, road networks, and the like) and are utilized across various disciplines. By default, network interactions are pairwise; in recent years, the demand for model ing higher-order interactions has kept increasing. For example, in collaboration networks, we aim to distinguish between one publication coauthored by three or three publications coauthored by two in a triangle. In this work, we perform higher-order network analysis in the following two directions. First, we explore the influence of higher-order structures on dyadic (pairwise) graphs; second, we model higher-order interactions by ordered hy …

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The Impacts Of Social Context For Women In Cybersecurity Degree Programs, James Joseph Enwright May 2025

The Impacts Of Social Context For Women In Cybersecurity Degree Programs, James Joseph Enwright

Dissertations - ALL

The cybersecurity workforce has a major problem in that it is comprised of only approximately 25% women. This shortage of women is a contributing factor to the growing field’s considerable overall lack of qualified candidates and has also resulted in a critical gender diversity deficiency. Our adversaries tend to come from more various backgrounds. As such, it is essential that those of us in the cybersecurity field embrace diverse perspectives so we can defend and protect our organizations more effectively. This study was influenced by the researcher’s area of practice, Cybersecurity Education, and the desire to help broaden women’s participation …

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Disabling Structures: Disability And Graduate Student Professionalization, Gabriella Wilson-Kopko May 2025

Disabling Structures: Disability And Graduate Student Professionalization, Gabriella Wilson-Kopko

Dissertations - ALL

While scholarship on graduate education and graduate teacher assistant training has emerged as a growing trend in the field of rhetoric and composition, perspectives from disabled graduate students about their navigation of academic spaces remain understudied and undervalued (Lutkewitte, Kitchens, Scanlon; Macaulay; Badenhorst, Amell, Burford; Brown). An often neglected and precarious student population, disabled graduate students’ experiences are critical to graduate education scholarship because their lived experiences offer insight into critiques of normative and disabling academic structures. This IRB-approved study contributes to scholarship on graduate education by carefully analyzing the cultural expectations of normativity, ability, and productivity that are implicitly …

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Exploring The Longitudinal Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) On Later Psychological Outcomes, Linghua Jiang May 2025

Exploring The Longitudinal Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces) On Later Psychological Outcomes, Linghua Jiang

Dissertations - ALL

Abstract Experiencing adversity in childhood (ACEs) can significantly affect an individual’s health across the lifespan. However, most prior research has relied on a cumulative risk approach, focusing on the association between the total number of ACEs and psychological outcomes. Additionally, limited studies have explored how ACEs influence depression across different developmental stages. Meanwhile, most research focuses on individuals’ health outcomes without considering the profound impact of ACEs on parenting, which can affect the developmental outcomes of future generations. Furthermore, few studies have examined how protective factors at multiple levels (e.g., family, school, and neighborhood) buffer the effects of various ACE …

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Geometry And Mechanical Response Of Twisted Thin Tubes, Pan Dong May 2025

Geometry And Mechanical Response Of Twisted Thin Tubes, Pan Dong

Dissertations - ALL

Nature provides many examples of thin sheets and shells, from flower petals to graphene sheets. Such materials can exhibit complex deformations such as creases, folds and wrinkles, particularly in thin, flexible structures like cylindrical shells and ribbons. Here we investigate the geometric transformation and mechanical response of a twisted thin tube, which is made from a thin polymer sheet. In Chapter 2, an interesting "locking behavior" was found in a thin cylindrical shell. After an initial compression, the shell can be twisted with little resistance until it reaches a “locking angle”, which coincides with the appearance of an ordered wrinkle …

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Exploring The Interplay Of Restorative Justice, Mental Health, And Support Structures In Shaping Student Outcomes, Harneet Kaur May 2025

Exploring The Interplay Of Restorative Justice, Mental Health, And Support Structures In Shaping Student Outcomes, Harneet Kaur

Dissertations - ALL

In recent years, educational policymakers and researchers have increasingly recognized the complex interplay between school discipline, mental health, and the availability of support personnel, and their cumulative impact on student outcomes. My dissertation aims to investigate these interrelated factors through the lens of three distinct but complementary studies. Each study examines different aspects of this multifaceted issue: the effectiveness of Restorative Justice (RJ) reforms in school discipline, the influence of access to mental health resources on student disability diagnosis, and the long-term economic impact of mental health issues on young adults. The first study of my dissertation, titled "Moving Away …

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Exploring The Therapeutic Potential Of Art Materials Through Direct Engagement In The Art Process: A Heuristic Art-Based Research Study, Emily Christine Bulthuis May 2025

Exploring The Therapeutic Potential Of Art Materials Through Direct Engagement In The Art Process: A Heuristic Art-Based Research Study, Emily Christine Bulthuis

Theses - ALL

This study explored the therapeutic potential of various art materials to enhance future client sessions. Utilizing a heuristic art-based approach, I explored seven materials, including: acrylic paint, watercolor, paper, colored pencils, air-dry clay, charcoal, and oil pastels; each approached in five distinct ways. The materials were selected for their affordability, accessibility, and versatility in creative expression. After each session, I completed a self-designed four-question questionnaire to reflect on my emotional and physical interactions with the materials. I then wrote a thick description of each material, drawing from my personal experience and evaluating how it could be used with clients in …

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Exploring Rupture Through Documentary And Narrative Filmmaking, Luca David Higonnet - Faithfull May 2025

Exploring Rupture Through Documentary And Narrative Filmmaking, Luca David Higonnet - Faithfull

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines the theme of rupture—familial, cultural, and personal—across three films by the author: the documentaries 8 Years and 90 Miles (2023) and La Atrevida (2025), and the narrative short Family Practice (2026). I explore how my personal/family life and cross-cultural background shape my cinematic investigations of identity, resilience, and belonging. 8 Years and 90 Miles traces Cuban athlete Bruno Rendon’s defection, revealing how the experience of exile fractures a person emotionally and physically. La Atrevida redefines Reggaeton’s history by telling the story of Excenia Knights, the first woman on the Reggaeton scene. It highlights the cultural shifts and …

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What Makes Me Feel Cold Is Not Winter Or Night, Yushan Liu May 2025

What Makes Me Feel Cold Is Not Winter Or Night, Yushan Liu

Theses - ALL

This thesis examines how cinematic form can render visible the lived experiences of displacement, temporal disjunction, and marginalization among transnational subjects, particularly international students navigating between legal regimes, emotional landscapes, and cultural systems. Through a practice-led methodology anchored in film theory, phenomenology, and spatial analysis, the project explores how space and time function not as narrative backdrops but as agents of affective rupture. The film WHAT MAKES ME FEEL COLD IS NOT WINTER OR NIGHT employs disjunctive spaces—such as parking garages, mini-golf courses, and restaurant interiors—as sites of perceptual tension, drawing from Deleuze’s concept of the “any-space-whatever.” These locations, stripped …

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Chinese Women’S Perspectives In Metaphorical Narratives: Exploring Identity, Growth, And Societal Expectations Through Illustration, Cancan Jin May 2025

Chinese Women’S Perspectives In Metaphorical Narratives: Exploring Identity, Growth, And Societal Expectations Through Illustration, Cancan Jin

Theses - ALL

This thesis explores the struggles and growth of Chinese women through metaphorical narratives, focusing on how they navigate societal expectations, gender inequality, and personal identity. First, it examines the importance of metaphor and anthropomorphism in storytelling. It analyzes how these techniques are used to address women's issues. Second, it explores the social background of Chinese women, from the May Fourth Movement, which challenged traditional gender roles, to the socialist era’s push for labor equality, and the modern struggles of workplace discrimination and the "double burden." Third, it introduces Tortoise on the Way, a visual thesis written and illustrated by the …

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Flexible Rate: A Motor-Learning Based Treatment For Childhood Stuttering, Jenna Renee Sherry May 2025

Flexible Rate: A Motor-Learning Based Treatment For Childhood Stuttering, Jenna Renee Sherry

Theses - ALL

Abstract Purpose: This study examined the efficacy of a novel teletherapy speech restructuring treatment, Flexible Rate, grounded in motor learning principles and delivered within the Challenge Point Framework. The following variables were evaluated: stuttering frequency (percentage of stuttered words), perceived stuttering severity (rated by participants, parents, and the researcher), perceived speaking control, and communicative attitudes. Methods: A series of single-case studies utilizing an ABA design was used to examine the effects of Flexible Rate treatment in two children who stutter, ages 10 and 13. During treatment (B), participants completed two 30-minute virtual sessions per week for eight weeks. Participants were …

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Factors Affecting Dissolved Organic Matter Concentrations And Its Long-Term Change In Adirondack, Ny, Lakes., Amos Kiplimo Bungei May 2025

Factors Affecting Dissolved Organic Matter Concentrations And Its Long-Term Change In Adirondack, Ny, Lakes., Amos Kiplimo Bungei

Theses - ALL

Lakes in Europe and North America have experienced increases in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations over the past few decades, a phenomenon called “browning”. Dissolved organic matter is a mixture of reduced organic compounds, such as humic and fulvic acids, derived from allochthonous organic matter from the watershed and autochthonous organic matter sources produced within surface waters. The long-term browning of lakes has far-reaching ecological consequences. First, changes in the attenuation of light and heat penetration affect thermal stratification, oxygen concentration gradient, biogeochemical cycling, and primary production in lake systems. Increases in colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) can shift the …

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An Analysis Of Female Hero Imagery In Tang Chuanqi, Jingya Zhang May 2025

An Analysis Of Female Hero Imagery In Tang Chuanqi, Jingya Zhang

Theses - ALL

This paper aims to analyze the characteristics and narrative structures of female hero characters in Tang Dynasty chuanqi stories, using renowned works from Chinese literature, such as Nie Yinniang, Hongxian, and The Biography of Xie Xiaoe as examples. It also explores the literary development and historical context that contributed to the formation of these figures. Furthermore, this study examines the connections between the female heroes in Tang chuanqi and the contemporary social environment. It investigates how the political landscape and women's status during the Tang Dynasty influenced the actions of these female heroes and how these stories, in turn, reflect …

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Love Against The Machine, Jalal Ghias Beygi May 2025

Love Against The Machine, Jalal Ghias Beygi

Theses - ALL

The ties that bind existence to meaning offer powerful forms through which we can examine the nature of Being. I examine technology through opposing concepts of death, time, and space. My work is a mirror reflecting how the technology of this century has evolved into an individualistic desire machine. While confronting these forces, it ultimately finds salvation through the exercise of inner freedom. Here, art becomes a form of resistance and reclamation, the last stand for humanity against commodifying systems.

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The Idiot's Asylum: What Better Place To Do It Than From My Own Grave?, Kara Stallings May 2025

The Idiot's Asylum: What Better Place To Do It Than From My Own Grave?, Kara Stallings

Theses - ALL

The Idiot's Asylum: “What better place to do it than from my own grave?” is an essay that examines how vulnerability and collaboration operate as the throughlines of collective creativity. By utilizing live performance, large-scale installation, video, food, and humor, I explore how immersing my audience in a unique experience encourages them to bear witness to or physically engage in a social and vulnerable act of trust – especially within a state of uncertainty. I consider historical and cultural movements centered around radical play, humor, and participation such as Dada, Surrealism, Fluxus, Situationism, and feminist performance art to be foundational …

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The March Towards A Totalitarian Ecology: Making Sense Of 'Ecofascism' Through The Political Ecology Of German Nazism, Cassidy Glen Thomas May 2025

The March Towards A Totalitarian Ecology: Making Sense Of 'Ecofascism' Through The Political Ecology Of German Nazism, Cassidy Glen Thomas

Theses - ALL

In recent years, the topic of ‘ecofascism’ has been increasingly engaged in both scholarly and popular contexts, but often with little clarity or consistency in how the term is defined—sometimes detaching the concept from historically-based understandings of ‘fascism’ altogether. This thesis intervenes on this front, thoroughly grounding the concept of ecofascism in fascism through an explication of the political ecology and economy of interwar and Nazi Germany. As this thesis shows, while it is inaccurate to speak of a cohesive ‘green-wing’ within the Nazi Party, the nascent German conservation movement played a key role in cultivating a range of ecologically-themed …

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What We Carry Carries Us: Narratives Of African Immigrants Through Cultural Artifacts In The United States, Faizat Oladunni Asifat May 2025

What We Carry Carries Us: Narratives Of African Immigrants Through Cultural Artifacts In The United States, Faizat Oladunni Asifat

Theses - ALL

In this thesis, I explore how African immigrants in Syracuse, New York, use cultural objects to navigate identity, memory, and belonging in a new environment. Through interviews, story circles, and personal narratives, it examines how everyday items transform into meaningful symbols of home, acting as emotional anchors and ways to preserve culture. The study reveals that these objects, though initially practical, gain significance through migration, helping individuals cope with the experience, maintain ties to their heritage, and negotiate hybrid identities. However, their meanings are fluid: some objects retain emotional and cultural weight, while others fade as immigrants adapt. Beyond personal …

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Allegories In Fiction: Shaping Our Thoughts And Outcome Of Technological Advancements, Rick Li May 2025

Allegories In Fiction: Shaping Our Thoughts And Outcome Of Technological Advancements, Rick Li

Theses - ALL

This thesis investigates how fictional storytelling, particularly in science fiction films, games, and literature, influences real-world technological advancements and public perception of innovation. By examining recurring themes such as automation, technological overdependence, ethical dilemmas in AI, this study highlights how media functions as a cultural reflection to reality, and as a speculative tool. While drawing on popular examples like The Terminator (1984), Fahrenheit 451 (1953), I, Robot (2004), and The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021), this research also considers the importance of contemporary and minority voices like artist Kapwani Kiwanga in reimagining futures beyond dominant Western narratives. These stories reflect …

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Assessing Changes In Emissions And Atmospheric Deposition Of Sulfur Dioxide And Nitrogen Oxides Under Policies To Decarbonize The Electricity Sector In The Us, Qasim Mehdi May 2025

Assessing Changes In Emissions And Atmospheric Deposition Of Sulfur Dioxide And Nitrogen Oxides Under Policies To Decarbonize The Electricity Sector In The Us, Qasim Mehdi

Theses - ALL

In the United States, power generation significantly contributes to emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, two precursors to atmospheric reactive nitrogen and sulfur deposition. In this thesis, I explore the prospective changes associated with the decarbonization of the electricity sector in atmospheric emissions and deposition of nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and ammonia (NH3), and the implications of these alterations for shifts in patterns of interstate air pollutant transport and exceedances of critical loads of nitrogen and sulfur deposition impacting the growth and mortality of tree species in the coterminous U.S. While existing research provides some understanding of …

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