Digital Commons Network^™

The Future Navy, The U.S. Naval War College

Current Strategy Forums

Over the past year there have been numerous studies, conducted by the Navy and several other organizations, that have explored what the future fleet should look like. Two consistent conclusions emerge from this body of work:

• First, the nation needs a more powerful Navy, on the order of 350 ships, that includes a combination of manned and unmanned systems.
• Second, more platforms are necessary but not sufficient. The Navy must also incorporate new technologies and new operational concepts.

Finally, as we increase our naval power, our focus cannot be on some distant goal decades in the future. The Navy must …

Veterans Banished: The Fight To Bring Them Home, Alejandra Martinez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

"A Shot In The Dark": Post-9/11 One-Off Speculative Fiction, Michael Lynn Brittain

English Dissertations - Archive

The cultural, political, and historical impact of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, as an event, continues to be questioned. For this project, I will examine six “one-off” or “one-time” works of speculative fiction from highly-acclaimed and award-winning writers— Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (2004), Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006), Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (2007), Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005), Chang-Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea (2014), and Ben Marcus’s The Flame Alphabet (2012) —who, prior to the terrorist attacks on 9/11, all worked predominantly in creating works in the genre of realist …

Of First Principles & Organic Laws, Pietro Poggi

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The First Principles and Organic Laws of the United States ought to be part of a daily discussion at every water cooler and every dinner table in the country. Instead, it is entirely possible there have been days, weeks, months—or even years—when neither term has been spoken anywhere in America. Yet, during the first several decades of the country’s existence, the concepts of First Principles and Organic Laws were commonly discussed; in fact these notions were crucial to the founding of the country and its political organization. Works concerning the foundation of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, the …

The Architecture Of Safety: Bunker Mentalities And The Construction Of Safe Space In America, Gregory Clinton

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

How does “safety†get constructed in American culture after World War II? This dissertation focuses on the ways that architectural spaces—particularly domestic and laboratory space—are configured as “safe†spaces. Through case studies of high-rises, suburban houses, underground bunkers, and industrial cleanrooms, it seeks to uncover how the built environment produces and is produced by the concept of “safety.†This case study model incorporates critical and sociological theory, historical documents, popular literature, and film to investigate “safety†as the basis for projects that sustain racialized and gendered forms of power, as well as participating in a peculiarly American “bunker mentality,†or …

The Social Progression Of Post -Traumatic Stress Disorder: Post Vietnam And September 11th Attacks, Ellie Mcdonald

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Social Progression of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-Vietnam and September 11^th Attacks is an examination on the infrastructure of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’and of the Department of Defense’s lack of clarity and misinformation of the challenges and effects of mental illness within military ranks. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) made the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) after Vietnam. Since then, PTSD has been reevaluate numerous times, to properly define it. This research is a comparative analysis of the misconceptions of PTSD as experienced by Vietnam veterans and the first responders of the September 11^th tragedy. My research charts …

Adam Smith, Settler Colonialism, And Cosmopolitan Overstretch, Onur Ulas Ince

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Adam Smith has recently been celebrated as a precocious theorist of commercialcosmopolitanism who decried the injustice of imperial conquest and extraction. This paperfocuses on Smith’s endorsement of settler colonialism in North America and argues thatSmith’s newfound cosmopolitanism is overstretched. Smith welcomed settler colonies as theembodiment of the “natural progress of opulence” and spared them from his invective againstother imperial practices like chattel slavery and trade monopolies. Smith’s embrace of settlercolonies, however, involved him in an ideological conundrum insofar as the prosperity ofoverseas settlements rested on imperial expansion and seizure of land from Native Americans.I contend that Smith muffled this disturbing …

A Tapestry Of Eyes In The Literacy/Literature Class, Gregory Shafer

Language Arts Journal of Michigan

It is essential that language arts classes make room for different voices, different cultures, and new settings for writing. This paper examines ideas and methods for expanding the discourse and refers to Morrison's Bluest Eye as a way to appreciate the dilemma our students face.

The Uses And Abuses Of Hellenism By The Diadochi And Their Successors, Andrew Kennedy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the means by which the Successors to Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, fostered and encouraged the growth of Hellenism within their empires. Using this foundation, it goes on to argue that the Diadochi consciously encouraged this growth to help consolidate their unstable regimes and expand their power. The basis for this analysis is largely in academic texts regarding the Hellenistic world and Ancient sources such as Herodotus, Josephus, and Polybius. The investigation itself looks at four elements of the Hellenistic world that best exemplify the Successors’ relationship with Hellenism: Religion, Politics, War, and Cities. Each …

Unconventional Lawfare: Operational Law In The War On Terror, L. P. Miller

Political Science Student Scholarship

This thesis examines the legal work required to establish a sufficient lawfare defense by focusing on the Department of Defense Judge Advocate Generals’ Corps (JAG Corps). The work will describe the JAG Corps as a well-trenched bureaucracy with a moral mission to uphold the military’s honor through laws, and how this was interpreted by the Bush and Obama administrations.

Experiences Of Soviet Women Combatants During World War Ii, Michelle De Jesus Reyes

History Theses

World War II was arguably the most heroic event in the history of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), so much that it was known as the “Great Patriotic War.” Tens of millions of Russians were killed during the large scale conflict against their “fascist foes.” Still, the large population of the USSR were moved to action primarily by mass propaganda distributed by the Communist Party leaders. Women played a large role during the war, not just in the factories on the home front or as partisans, but as combat nurses and snipers as well. Since the losses …

Social Media Transformation Of Human Resource Management, Lavita A. Williams

Honors Theses

Social media is rapidly transforming the way individuals interact in the real world day by day in the workforce. This research focuses on how social media effects human resource management (HRM) in areas of recruitment, selection, retention, and termination. Through a SurveyMonkey information was gathered from human resource professionals primarily in the southeastern region and throughout the United States. Human resource managers where asked about the advantages and disadvantages of using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter in areas of recruitment, selection, and termination. The results, illustrated that there were many advantages when using social media sites in …

“Patriotism Is Not Enough”: Edith Cavell’S Life And Death In Anglo-American Context, Erin B. Blackledge

Honors Theses

In October 1915, British nurse Edith Cavell was killed by the Germans for aiding in the illegal liberation of Allied soldiers. In the wake of her death, the British government created a propaganda firestorm to garner both domestic and foreign support for the war. In particular, the propaganda featuring Cavell was highly gendered and over the course of multiple generations has generated a diverse, and often polarized series of social and political responses in both Britain and the United States. Through the examination of government documents, newspapers, and popular culture, such as film and children’s novels, this thesis examines the …

Public Ritual Sacrifice As A Controlling Mechanism For The Aztec, Madeline Nicholson

Honors Scholar Theses

For decades, archaeologists have researched the fascinating finds of Aztec sacrifice. Evidence of their sacrifices are seen on temple walls, stone carvings, bones, and in Spanish chronicler drawings. Although public ritual sacrifice was practiced before the Aztecs, with evidence from the Olmec civilization (1200-1300 BCE) and Maya (200-900 BCE), Aztec sacrifices are among the most extensively documented. How does such a practice survive in different civilizations through different rulers? This thesis will analyze the phases of Aztec public ritual sacrifice (specifically the location, length, and number of sacrifices) and the close relationship to their origin myths, or founding stories. It …

Electronic Nose For Analysis Of Volatile Organic Compounds In Air And Exhaled Breath., Zhenzhen Xie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exhaled breath is a complex mixture containing numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at trace levels (ppb to ppt) including hydrocarbons, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, esters and other non-volatile compounds. Different patterns of VOCs have been correlated with various diseases. The concentration levels of VOCs in exhaled breath depend on an individual subject’s health status. Therefore, breath analysis has great potential for clinical diagnostics, monitoring therapeutic progress and drug metabolic products. Even though up to 3000 compounds may be detected in breath, the matrix of exhaled breath is less complex than that of blood or other body fluids. Breath analysis can be …

Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Appalachian Spouses Of Combat Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Janice E. Greene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted to identify gaps in existing knowledge regarding impacts of combat-related PTSD on the spouse and to gain an understanding of the lived experience of Appalachian Spouses of combat veterans with PTSD. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify research and findings on the impacts of combat-related PTSD on spouses of veterans and a qualitative study was conducted to gain an understanding of the lives of Appalachian spouses of combat veterans with PTSD.

The systematic review identified 16 qualitative studies conducted between 1988 and 2016 in five countries spanning five wars. Regardless of the country of …

To Destroy A People: Sexual Violence As Genocide During Conflict, Rachel Sitkin

Senior Honors Theses

Sexuality is one of the most central elements of human existence. Throughout history, attacks on women have been common during armed conflict. Frequently military forces have viewed sexual violence as a spoil of war, a punishment to defeated populations, or as the deviance of rogue soldiers. However, there are conflicts in which sexual violence is used as a weapon. In these conflicts, sexual violence evolves from a facet of conflict to genocide. When a military force’s command utilizes systematic and widespread sexual violence as a weapon of war, in both intent and effect, it fulfills every condition of the Geneva …

Hemingway And The Soča Front, Rebecca Johnston

English Department Theses

In 1918 Ernest M. Hemingway served along the Soča Front during the last months of the Great War. Better known as the Isonzo Front, the Soča Front was the battle lines between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy. The history of this front is connected to the First World War from the very beginning. Hemingway’s novel, A Farewell to Arms (FTA), several of his poems, and the Nick Adams’ stories are all based on the First World War. For this reason, the study of the history behind the war is important in order to better understand Hemingway’s works connected …

The Terror Of The Political: Community, Identity, And Apocalypse In Don Delillo's Falling Man, Dillon Rockrohr

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Falling Man by Don DeLillo casts the event of 9/11 and its aftermath in such a way that the novel itself enacts an aesthetic terror aimed at explicating the ubiquitous social-atmospheric elements of community- and identity-formation out of which terror precipitates. As DeLillo figures terrorism in the novel as apocalyptic in that it is a violence that reveals the violence constitutive of political community, including the political community of liberal democracy, which ostensibly relegates violence to domains not considered legitimately political. DeLillo’s novel, as an act of aesthetic terrorism, not only thematizes the instantiation of terror that precipitates out of …

Protests In The Post-Cold War Era: World Systems Dynamics And Hardship Effects In Post-Colonial Countries, Shawn M. Ratcliff

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, I explore the determinants of protests across 15 post-colonial countries from 1990 to 2010. Specifically, I investigate the direct and mediating impact of global economic dynamics and hardships experienced by populations in these countries. To that end, I employ world systems theory as well as relative deprivation and political opportunity theories. Analyses employ pooled-time series analysis based on national-level data from the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT), as well as data from the World Bank and the Polity IV project, which provide insight into the role of world systems dynamics on social unrest. Analyses …

What Does Human Rights Look Like? The Visual Culture Of Aid, Advocacy, And Activism, Joel R. Pruce

Political Science Faculty Publications

We live in a highly complex and evolving world that requires a fuller and deeper understanding of how modern technological tools, ideas, practices, and institutions interact, and how different societies adjust themselves to emerging realities of the digital age. This book conveys such issues with a fresh perspective and in a systematic and coherent way. While many studies have explained in depth the change in the aftermath of the unrests and uprisings throughout the world, they rarely mentioned the need for constructing new human rights norms and standards. This edited collection provides a balanced conceptual framework to demonstrate not only …

A Radical Idea: Applying Psychological Strategy To Combat Foreign Fighters Defending The Islamic State, David Michael Smaney

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the necessity of psychological strategies to combat the Islamic State’s recruitment of foreign fighters. This thesis argues that psychological strategies are a primary weapon due to the psychological nature of the war against the Islamic State, which is a part of the overall war of ideas. This thesis does not consider psychological strategies for other aspects of U.S. counterterrorism strategy, nor does it reflect the difficulties involved with developing U.S. strategies in the U.S. federal government. Furthermore, this thesis only focuses on foreign fighter defending and supporting the Islamic State, which is the successor of Al …

Constrained Cognition: Information Management And The Practical Limits Of Nuclear Escalation Control, Luke James O'Brien

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Nuclear escalation control theory rests on the idea that decision makers, in a limited nuclear war scenario, will choose their actions based on a rational assessment of the available information. That information essentially consists of intelligence reports about one's adversary and information reporting the status of one's own forces' ability to execute offensive actions and the damage level of vital national targets. Yet the practical limits of managing the flow and quality of this information, coupled with the fog and friction inherent in human analyses, significantly affect the decision-making process vis-à-vis nuclear escalation. Hence, these limitations cast a pall over …

Cli-Fi Cinema: An Epideictic Rhetoric Of Blame, Chloe Louise Powell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis analyzes the symbolic mechanisms of guilt-redemption as developed by Kenneth Burke within two climate fiction (cli-fi) films: The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), and Interstellar (2014). In doing so, this thesis offers an account of: (1) each film’s role in providing their audience temporary assuagement of climate change related guilt, and (2) each film’s role in transmitting values and “attitudes” to build and strengthen communities. Because cli-fi films begin from a dystopic vision of a possible future, it fulfills the "blame" function of epideictic discourse to provoke and inspire the "ecological imagination." Through this provocation, the audience …

Healthcare Accessibility For Syrian Refugees: Understanding Trends, Host Countries’ Responses And Impacts On Refugees’ Health, Gertrude Morgan Dadzie

Public Administration & Policy

The Syrian civil war, now in its 6th year is the biggest refugee and humanitarian crisis in present times. Since March 2011, over 11 million Syrians have fled out of their country to neighboring countries, Europe and other parts of the world. Associated with refugee movement is the movement and spread of communicable and non-communicable diseases among Syrian refugees and beyond. The war also continues to affect the psychosocial and emotional states of Syrian refugees, especially young people and children. This paper seeks to identify trends in health conditions among Syrian refugees and those who are internally displaced within the …

Humanization Of The Enemy: The Pacifist Soldier And France In World War One, Daniel E. Stockman

Senior Theses

Not all French citizens were enthused by the prospect of war in 1914, nor were they all so willing to embrace a dehumanized view of the enemy. Some French citizens believed the “Great War” to be a patriotic endeavor. Propaganda encouraged this nationalism and the dehumanization of the enemy. “Political” pacifism existed within the French Third Republic psyche following France’s defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. However, these pacifistic undertones were systematically undermined as France began to militarize itself. Drawing from a series of notebooks, and established academic sources, this paper shows that some French soldiers endured a world at …

Ipulse: May 2017, Lynn University

Student Newspapers

Issues:

• May 1, 2017
• May 3, 2017
• May 5, 2017
• May 10, 2017: Special Edition
• May 24, 2017: Special Summer Edition

Environmental Contaminant Exposure And Effects On Bats: Studies In Sichuan Province, China And Colorado, U.S.A., Laura Heiker

Dissertations

As the world’s only flying mammals, bats fill an important ecological role in most ecosystems, acting as agents of seed dispersal, pollination, fertilization, and insect control. The human-mediated release of environmental contaminants has been implicated in the decline of many bat populations over the past few decades. Given bats’ ecological significance, I studied how bat presence and activity related to contaminated food and water sources in two global regions: 1) in and around the growing urban city of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, China, and 2) along the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, U.S.A., which has …

The Eurosystem Collateral Framework Explained, Ulrich Bindseil, Marco Corsi, Benjamin Sahel, Ad Visser

Documents

No abstract provided.

American Emergency : Catastrophe And Culture In The U.S.A., From The Civil War To Hurricane Katrina., Lynda Kristian Mercer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines socio-cultural experiences of national disasters in the United States as they intersect with political rhetorics of democracy, to understand the forms and functions of state power as it is mediated through famous historical figures. Tracing the manifold possibilities from within and around the disruptive spacetimes of disaster, which sociologist Harvey Molotch describes in their ultimate function as societal “rationalizers” (371), I analyze catastrophes as contested spaces and histories that often get situated as variations on the “man vs. nature/god/man” binaries in public discourse. By analyzing the deployment of, and response to, such explanatory frameworks in the United …