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Dipl 6130 International Security, Brandon Valeriano Ph.D.

Diplomacy Syllabi

International security is a broad focus in the international relations field on conflict, war, and instability as states and non-state actors alike struggle in an insecure world. This course will survey the major topics and themes in security including war, technology, and modern strategy, providing a gateway for those who wish to undertake advanced research in the field. The student will also be required to think and develop ideas like a policymaker confronted with an international crisis, seeking to provide solutions to the pressing questions of the time in geopolitics.

Civil War In Ancient Egypt? A Case Study Of The First Intermediate Period (Ca. 2120-1970 Bc), Marco Pinfari

Theses and Dissertations

The First Intermediate Period (FIP – ca. 2120-1970 BCE) is often described by Egyptologists as a period of “civil war.” In the Egyptological literature, however, little attention is paid to defining this notion (which was first introduced only in the Late Roman Republic, almost 2,000 years later) and to explaining how it could be applicable to ancient Egyptian history.

This thesis contributes to this debate by analyzing the FIP through the lenses of contemporary approaches to civil war, drawn from political science and other cognate disciplines. It first discusses how if the events of the FIP comply with contemporary definitions …

Philadelphia’S Urban Community Gardens: Decolonization, Green Space, And Food Security, Freddie Lin , '24

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Cybersecurity Awareness In The United Arab Emirates: An Assessment Of Current Practices And The Development Of An Ai-Enhanced Mobile Application, Meera Humaid Alalawi

Theses

In today's interconnected world, individuals, private corporations, public institutions, and governments face increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and attacks, highlighting the critical need for individuals and organizations to understand cybersecurity comprehensively. Cyberattacks have affected many countries and infrastructures in different sectors worldwide, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has become a main target for cybercrime due to its booming economy and tourism. The UAE considers cybersecurity an increasingly critical issue in our digital world, and increasing cybersecurity awareness among residents is essential to protect themselves and their organizations from cyberattacks. The primary objectives of this study are to identify key …

Performing Information Extraction For Mission Engineering Applications, Samuel R. Koski

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The process of extracting structured data from unstructured and semi-structured text is manual, time consuming and error prone. Current natural language processing approaches for automating this process are difficult to verify for non-trivial and context-sensitive corpora. Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT have become a subject of considerable interest, opening a promising avenue of exploration. However, there is limited evidence on the performance of LLMs for information extraction.

In this dissertation, an approach is proposed to evaluate the accuracy of Stanford OpenIE and OpenAI's ChatGPT for this purpose. This includes comparing Resource Description Framework (RDF) triples extracted by each of …

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

The Smallpox Revolution, Sierra Marchand

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Samllpx was one of the most feared diseases in colonial North America during the eighteenth century. This fear was caused by "the suddenness and unpredictability of its attack, the grotesque torture of its victims, the brutality of its lethal or disfiguring outcome, and the terror that it inspired, which [made] Smallpox unique among human diseases." People who contracted the disease had a thirty to fifty percent chance of survival, and if they survived the painful illness, many victims lost their eyelashes, had permanent facial scaring and pitting, or even sometimes went blind. This made smallpox survivors the subjects of social …

Defending Megalopolis, Joshua Mackay

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

The Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE was a seminal moment in Greek history. The battle marked the end of the Spartan domination of Greece begun in 404 BCE at the end of the Peloponnesian War. At Leuctra, Sparta and her allies confronted Thebes and the Boeotian League and were decisively defeated. In the wake of this battle, Thebes enforced a synoikismos of the surrounding villages and small poleis and founded a unique polis, Megalopolis, whose purpose is heavily debated today. Because the lhebans constructed Megalopolis soon after the Battle of Leuctra in an attempt to contain Sparta within the …

Mind The Gap: Social Divisions In History And Memory Of The Great War, Erin Schill

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

History and memory are both constuctions of the past. They are formed in distinct ways, however; thus the respective "pasts" created are also distinct. On one hand, a "history" is a representation of a past time, interpreted from documents and materials surviving from that era. A "memory," on the other hand, is a perception of a past event with relation to present circumstances. While history attempts to depict the past objectively and with accuracy, memory evaluates the past's significance to the lives of modern individuals.

Reinterpreting Article 9 Of Japanese Constitutional Law From The International Law Perspective, Hiroshi Saito

Japanese Society and Culture

This essay aims to demonstrate that the right of collective self-defense complements that of individual self-defense. Moreover, by exercising both rights of self-defense together, the ideals of the United Nations (UN) Charter and Japanese constitutional law can be implemented as stipulated.

However, this essay focuses on ensuring better consistency with the present time (synchronicity) rather than historical facts (historicity). Additionally, I have cited cases wherein the ideas and theories presented are controversial in academic circles. I cannot discuss them individually in this essay owing to space limitations, but I will consider them in a future opportunity. Finally, I would like …

Interview With Vince Burghart, Patty Mcavoy

Kansas Oral History Collection

An interview with Vince Burghart about his experiences in in Vietnam. Audio is on tape MS016_14-3_73-051

A War On Resistance: Police Repression And Criminalization Of Land Defense Movements, Lydia Macy

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Statement of Purpose:

In this paper, I examine the roles and functions of policing in the United States in relation to environmental justice movements and protest. Building upon analyses of the history of policing and their role in enforcing and maintaining racial capitalism, I explore how the police enable and protect the destruction of land and environments. To demonstrate the intersections of policing, racial capitalism, and environmental crises I use three case studies: the protests at Standing Rock to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, the movement to Stop Line 3, and the movement to Stop Cop City. I found my …

Challenging The American Empire: A History Of Hypocrisy And Double Standards In Human Rights, Ikran J. Noor

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Despite having played a significant role in the development and continuation of an international standard of human rights, the United States has a history of hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to protecting human rights both at home and abroad. This essay examines the connection between the United States and human rights in three key parts. Part I examines the concepts of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism that is prevalent in American society and how those concepts influence the United States engagement with foreign countries on human rights. Part II then, through the case studies of Israel and Afghanistan, …

Sensor Analytics For Subsea Pipeline And Cable Inspection: A Review, Connor R. Vincent

LSU Master's Theses

Submarine pipelines and cables are vital for transmitting physical and digital resources across bodies of water, necessitating regular inspection to assess maintenance needs. The safety of subsea pipelines and cables is paramount for sustaining industries such as telecommunications, power transmission, water supply, waste management, and oil and gas. Incidents like those involving the Nord Stream subsea pipeline and the SEA-ME-WE 4 subsea communications cable exemplify the severe economic and environmental consequences of damage to these critical infrastructures. Existing inspection methods often fail to meet accuracy requirements, emphasizing the need for advancements in inspection technologies. This comprehensive survey covers the sensors …

Rfi Mitigation And Discrete Digital Signal Processing Rfsoc Algorithm Implementations For Radio Astronomy And Wideband Communication Systems, Devon Christopher Ward

Theses and Dissertations

Due to the massive increase of active transmitters broadcasting over wideband frequencies, such as 5G wireless systems, LEO/MEO satellites, satellite constellations, and the increase of IoT devices in the average home, the radio frequency spectrum is becoming more and more congested by interference. Passive receivers face additional challenges due to the growing use of wideband frequency transmissions aimed at boosting communication system throughput. As a result, passive receivers must adopt more robust and intricate techniques to mitigate radio frequency interference. A proposed RFI removal system, known as the true time delay Hadamard projection algorithm, has been introduced in previous work …

Review: Hybrid Warriors: Proxies, Freelancers And Moscow’S Struggle For Ukraine, Sarah Lohmann

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Author: Anna Arutunyan

Reviewed by Dr. Sarah Lohmann, teaching faculty, University of Washington

Dr. Sarah Lohmann, editor of What Ukraine Taught NATO about Hybrid Warfare (US Army War College Press, 2022), calls Anna Arutunyan's latest book, Hybrid Warriors, a "must-read for senior members of the US defense community" that "encourages strategists to think beyond segmented operations to ensure Russia's broad defeat." Lohmann highlights the book's value in that it provides "perspectives that have not yet been heard in the West," as Arutunyan "relies on Russian sources from media and academia, as well as hundreds of interviews." Lohmann also notes …

Cybersecurity Leadership In Safeguarding Election Voter Data (Case Study: Implementation Of The Sidalih Information System By The Indonesian General Election Commission), Muhammad Iqbal Khatami, Rahayu Rahayu

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This research aims to determine the cybersecurity leadership of Indonesia's General Election Commission (KPU RI) in protecting voter data within the Voter Registration Information System (SIDALIH). With the increasing use of information technology in elections, including SIDALIH, these systems have become vulnerable to cyber threats. Previous cyberattacks during Indonesian elections highlight the critical importance of cybersecurity, especially in protecting voters' personal information. Given the growing complexity of cyber threats, organizations need responsive leadership and effective communication governance, with a focus on cybersecurity leadership. The primary research question examines how KPU's cybersecurity leadership ensures voter data security during SIDALIH's deployment in …

Book Review: Conflict: The Evolution Of Warfare From 1945 To Ukraine, John A. Nagl

Parameters Bookshelf – Online Book Reviews

Authors: David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts

Reviewed by Dr. John A. Nagl, professor of warfighting studies, US Army War College

Teaser: Dr. John A. Nagl provides readers a roadmap to navigate—and a lens with which to interpret—General David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts's best-selling book, Conflict, which Nagl considers "'[t]he closest thing to a memoir" of Petraeus and "likely . . . the best first-person account in history of [Petraeus's] efforts and results in Iraq and Afghanistan that made him the most important Army officer of his generation." Nagl focuses on what he believes are Petraeus's main contributions to the …

Hashtag Activism And Football Tragedy Commemoration: Social Network Analysis In The #100harikanjuruhan Hashtag On Twitter, Andi Pajolloi Bate, Haekal Fajri Amrullah

JURNAL KOMUNIKASI INDONESIA

This research explores the role of hashtag activism and the 100-day commemoration of the Kanjuruhan tragedy in shaping the structure and dynamics of social relationships on Twitter. The study utilizes social network analysis (SNA) to analyze the social network around the #100harikanjuruhan (100 Days of Kanjuruhan) hashtag and visualize the network model formed through centrality measurements to identify influential accounts in conversations related to the hashtag. The study found that the formed network structure indicates relatively distant actor distances with low connectivity and one-way ties, as well as centralized power with an insignificant distribution. Furthermore, In the social network formed, …

Iran's Nuclear Program: A Struggle For Security And Modernity, Sina Azodi

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the historical evolution of Iran's nuclear program from its inception in the 1950s to the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. It examines how threat perceptions have, over the decades, influenced Iran's nuclear posture, leading the Iranian political leadership to adopt a hedging strategy that extends beyond changes in ruling regimes. This study employs the Proliferation Strategy Theory (PST) as its theoretical foundation. This framework helps in dissecting the dynamics between threat perceptions and the candidate state's adopted nuclear posture. The principal findings of this dissertation highlight the direct impact of regional …

China Maritime Report No. 36: China's T-Agos: The Dongjian Class Ocean Surveillance Ship, Devin Thorne

CMSI China Maritime Reports

Since 2017, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has commissioned a new class of ocean surveillance vessel into its order of battle: the Type 927. Similar in design and function to the U.S. Navy’s Victorious and Impeccable class T-AGOS ships, the Type 927 was introduced to help remedy the PLAN’s longstanding weakness in anti-submarine warfare. The PLAN has likely built six Type 927 ships to date, most based for easy access to the South China Sea. In peacetime, these ships use their towed array sonar to collect acoustic data on foreign submarines and track their movements within and beyond the …

Moral Injury From A Non-Combat Perspective: The Lived Experience Of Army Veteran Chaplains, Sarah Vanderzanden

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

S ( M ) Othering: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Republican Motherhood, Caroline King

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines seven Republican rhetors who utilize motherhood as a rhetorical strategy in speeches between the years of 1972 and 2020. Specifically, speeches, newsletters, and debate transcripts are analyzed using four theoretical lenses to curate an archetype of the “Republican Mother” – a concept constructed of an amalgamation of the historic “mother of the republic” from the nation’s conception and the ideological values assigned to women within the Republican party, such as traditional gender and spousal roles. I argue that it is the unique combination of womanhood, motherhood, and Republicanism that creates a unique rhetorical strategy seen in these …

U'Wa Indigenous People Vs. Columbia: Potential Applications Of The Escazu Agreement, Ariana Lippi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Though the case is ongoing, and results are still to be seen, it in many ways sets a precedent for indigenous communities in Latin America seeking redress for environmental and cultural injustices. With Colombia’s recent ratification of The Escazú Regional Agreement (the Agreement herein) in 2022, this case presents a unique opportunity for implementation of the Agreement and greater accountability within existing domestic legislation.

For Black Women - When The Rainbow Was Not Enough (Shange, 1976, New York City): An Autoethnographic Collection About Spirit Assassination, Teresa Quarles, Tamika Galvin, Sherrie Mcclellan

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

We live in an America where the higher you elevate in your career as a Black woman, the greater your chances of being subjected to racism, discrimination, isolation, and bullying. We are underrepresented in various elevated roles, but we will not let that stop us. As Black women, we can attest to the experiences that we are subjected to with no question about our mental health. The Black community in America has been subjected to a considerable presence of systemic racism, oppression, and violence - with the objectives of exercising authority and oppressing the Black community, as well as …

Cultural Property: “Progressive Property In Action”, J. Peter Byrne

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Cultural property law fulfills many of the normative and jurisprudential goals of progressive property theory. Cultural property limits the normal prerogatives of owners in order to give legal substance to the interests of the public or of specially protected non-owners. It recognizes that preservation of and access to heritage resources advance public values such as cultural enrichment and community identity. The proliferation of cultural property laws and their acceptance by courts has occurred despite a resurgent property fundamentalism embraced by the Supreme Court. Thus, this Article seeks to explicate the category of cultural property, its fulfillment of progressive theory, and …

The Weight Of Gratitude And The Burden Of Truth, Joshua Macer

Masters Theses

The roots of this thesis lie in a daily journal written in a tattered notebook while deployed to the war-torn city of Baghdad, Iraq. The artist's statement tells the story of how the tragic events of 9/11 led to a decade of service in the military and how a simple daily journal kept during combat became the foundation for a memoir. Times passing, memory issues from injuries sustained overseas, and conflicting stories led the author to question the accuracy of military memoirs. The critical theory paper evaluates authenticity in memoirs, the challenges to truth and memories, and the consequences of …

Pretty Girls Don't Eat Pizza: How An Eating Disorder Taught Me I Am Enough, Hannah Kuhn

Masters Theses

Eating disorders have become one of the most fatal mental disorders, and yet many people still don’t know anything about them. This allows society to misinform people on what this disorder is, and for those suffering from it to feel misunderstood and alone. Patients and their families don’t need more medical advice on the topic. They need to hear a raw, honest and messy story from someone who is not cured, but overtime has found the resources, hope and strength to continue living with it everyday until healing is granted. This is a story that both informs and shows the …

Cyber Defense Planning In Tabletop Exercises And Consideration Of A Fractured Flaw Theory For Security Applications, Patrick K. Kilroy Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Cybersecurity threats endanger every part of American life. Security and emergency preparedness professionals plan and prevent cyber-attacks using tabletop exercises. The tabletop exercises establish the risks and protection strategies for multiagency threats, thus, various agencies and industrial partners must work together in these training events. The purpose of this grounded study will be to develop criteria for selecting tabletop participants and explore the risks of participation. An additional consideration is the impact of the sponsoring agencies' agenda on the value of the outcome for the participants. There is sufficient evidence to justify the investigation of these issues. Failing to include …

Conventional Commanders In An Unconventional War: The U.S. Army In Vietnam 1965-1973, Patrick Richard Eaton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study examines the U.S. Army maneuver battalion and brigade commanders who led their formations in combat in the Vietnam War between 1965 and 1973. This study highlights how the maneuver commanders shaped tactics and operations and by their success, influenced the MACV strategy. It also delineates how battalion- and brigade-level commanders interpreted the MACV strategy and formulated tasks, operations, and missions for subordinate units. This study establishes a direct link between maneuver battalion and brigade commanders and the strategy, doctrine, and tasks they executed during the Vietnam War. The study further assesses the distinct and profound leadership challenges that …