Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Discipline
Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 180271 - 180300 of 5154391

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

Breaking Boundaries: Memory And Female Identity, Hui Qi May 2025

Breaking Boundaries: Memory And Female Identity, Hui Qi

Theses - ALL

My artistic practice revolves around material exploration and transformation. Initially, I focused on wearable metal jewelry, as its precision and independent craftsmanship allowed me to express the strength of female identity. Inspired by Mindy Herrin-Lewis’s use of micro-sculpting and her integration of ceramics and metal enameling, I began incorporating color, texture, and layered surfaces to express emotion and personal narrative. By merging metal, enamel, ceramics, and found objects, I create contemporary jewelry and sculptural pieces that bridge traditional craftsmanship with modern storytelling. This thesis explores how art serves as a tool for reshaping identity and reclaiming autonomy. In navigating the …


In-Silico Investigation Of Claudin-16 Self Assembly In Tight Junctions, Baqi Ozomata Atimah May 2025

In-Silico Investigation Of Claudin-16 Self Assembly In Tight Junctions, Baqi Ozomata Atimah

Theses - ALL

Claudin-16 is a member of the Claudin family of proteins, which play a critical role in establishing paracellular permeability within tight junctions between cells. Claudin-16 exhibits diverse properties related to ion selectivity, tissue development, and barrier function. Depending on the context, claudins create channels that permit the passage of specific ions through the paracellular space or form barriers that restrict ion movement. This study focuses on the self-assembly of the human claudin-16 protein, which is essential for ion reabsorption and the proper functioning of the kidney. Molecular simulations were employed to investigate the interactions within dimerized claudin-16 and to elucidate …


Reds Risk In Physically Active Females And Inflammation: Is There A Correlation?, Julia Galindo Sebe May 2025

Reds Risk In Physically Active Females And Inflammation: Is There A Correlation?, Julia Galindo Sebe

Theses - ALL

Background: Low Energy Availability (LEA) is a key factor in the Female Athlete Triad and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs), affecting performance, metabolism, and inflammation. Uric acid (UA), a byproduct of purine metabolism, has been proposed as a potential inflammatory marker. We hypothesize that EA will be inversely correlated with inflammation and that collegiate athletes will exhibit lower EA compared to recreational athletes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 51 physically active female college students (18–24 years), including 28 collegiate athletes. LEA risk was assessed using the Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire (LEAF-Q), while energy availability (EA) …


Understanding The Spatial Characteristics Of Urban Morphology And Its Application, Md Sohel Rana May 2025

Understanding The Spatial Characteristics Of Urban Morphology And Its Application, Md Sohel Rana

Theses - ALL

Rapid urbanization due to the population boom in urban areas changes the physical layout and structures of cities including buildings, streets, open spaces, and amenities, which are collectively defined as urban morphology. Microclimate dynamics of urban environments, such as airflow, heat retention, and pollution dispersion, are profoundly affected by urban morphology. Although the roles of urban morphology at small spatial scales (e.g., single buildings, building complexes, or buildings within a block) in microclimate dynamics have been extensively studied, the scale-up effect of buildings at the city scale on microclimate dynamics is still not fully understood. In this thesis, I examined …


Existing Now In Space And Time: In A Body With Limits On Both, Kirstin Dunlap May 2025

Existing Now In Space And Time: In A Body With Limits On Both, Kirstin Dunlap

Theses - ALL

Kirstin Dunlap’s work is deeply rooted in her understanding of the personal connection between the body and the Earth. Every individual’s life experience is shaped by their relationship with these two bodies—both of which undergo growth, erosion, and decay processes. For Dunlap, there is a striking similarity between these two realms: both are places of tension, where struggles for survival unfold. She sees herself in the fringes of the Earth, in areas where natural forces collide. This conflict mirrors a personal battle within her own body, where her immune system mistakenly attacks itself, resulting in a body that is progressively …


Reproductive Justice In Motion: Community Doula Work In Central New York, Mariel Rivera-Piluso May 2025

Reproductive Justice In Motion: Community Doula Work In Central New York, Mariel Rivera-Piluso

Dissertations - ALL

My research is focuses on the role of Black Community-Based Doulas (CBDs) and CBDs of color and the ways in which their work shifted reproductive and maternal health experiences for Black birthing people and birthing people of color in Central New York. Through ethnographic research, I concentrated on two CBD organizations in Syracuse, NY, Village Birth International (VBI) and Doula 4 a Queen (D4Q). Methodologically, I implement participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and digital ethnography to foster consideration and support the continuing efforts of community-based solutions to maternal and reproductive inequities communities of color face in the United States. I focus …


Parent Engagement And Preschooler Development In Suriname: Unveiling Patterns, Predictors, And Outcomes Through Latent Class Analysis, Corinne Blake May 2025

Parent Engagement And Preschooler Development In Suriname: Unveiling Patterns, Predictors, And Outcomes Through Latent Class Analysis, Corinne Blake

Dissertations - ALL

Despite the fact that different aspects of parent engagement with preschool aged children have a significant impact on children’s social and cognitive development, this area of research is still emerging in global majority contexts, such as the Caribbean. This study identified parenting engagement patterns in a Surinamese sample and examined the relationship between parent engagement patterns and child social and cognitive development. Propositions within sociocultural theory, parenting and literacy models, and the developmental niche model guided the formulation of research questions and hypotheses. A sample of 1765 mothers/caregivers of 3- and 4-year-olds interviewed in the UNICEF Multiple Indicators Cluster Surveys …


Institutional Effectiveness In Practice At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Taneika S. Thompson May 2025

Institutional Effectiveness In Practice At Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Taneika S. Thompson

Dissertations - ALL

Initially perceived as a compliance-driven, accreditation mandate, institutional effectiveness (IE) evolved into a comprehensive framework often encompassing institutional research, evaluation and assessment, and strategic planning. This study investigated the expanding role of IE at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) by examining how individuals in IE positions approached their work and whether those efforts contributed to knowledge creation at their institutions. Considering the alarming rate of closures among institutions of higher education (IHEs) and the finite number of HBCUs, this research is timely as it explored IE as a mechanism to drive institutional innovation and support financial sustainability. By interviewing …


Plio-Pleistocene Hydroclimate In Southern Africa: Insights From Proxy Records And Climate Models, Claire B. Rubbelke May 2025

Plio-Pleistocene Hydroclimate In Southern Africa: Insights From Proxy Records And Climate Models, Claire B. Rubbelke

Dissertations - ALL

In the recent decade, a number of extreme weather events have highlighted the vulnerability and unpreparedness of communities in Southern Africa (SA) to anthropogenic climate-change related weather events. Such occurrences are only expected to increase in frequency, however projections of the future mean state of hydroclimate in SA are uncertain; there is broad agreement of earth system models that Africa as a whole will become hotter and drier by 2100, however, projected changes to regional hydroclimate are ambiguous. Insights from past intervals of warm climates, like the Pliocene, or intervals of rapid climate change, like the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, can reveal …


The Monumental Challenges Of Pastmaking, Tyler Davis Youngman May 2025

The Monumental Challenges Of Pastmaking, Tyler Davis Youngman

Dissertations - ALL

Pastmaking is a process in which agents exercise power to make or use documents depicting a past that can be given or taken as historical truth. Such documents often possess narrative elements perceived for use in heritage formation, collective remembering, and identity maintenance practices such as storytelling. Pastmaking encompasses the performative creation of historical knowledge. The implications of pastmaking prompt considerable pause about: (1) who gets spoken for in (re-)tellings of prior events, (2) how agents arrive at consensus to determine what is historically known, and (3) how knowledge is lost or gained when historical narratives get (re-)written, a particularly …


Curricular Reconciliation: Equitable, Inclusive, And Accessible Approaches To Professional Writing Through Coalition-Led Technical Communication, Lerie M. Gabriel May 2025

Curricular Reconciliation: Equitable, Inclusive, And Accessible Approaches To Professional Writing Through Coalition-Led Technical Communication, Lerie M. Gabriel

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the process of revising a core professional writing course to integrate anti-ableist and anti-racist pedagogies throughout its design. Focusing on the pragmatic and theoretical aspects of this collaborative curriculum redesign, this dissertation examines how an intersectional, Black feminist approach to professional and technical communication curricula disrupts neoliberal legacies. In addition to limiting students’ critical thinking skills, interdependence, and imagination of workplace ethos, these legacies affect instructors' experience of teaching professional and technical writing (PTW), particularly those individuals who hold (multiply) marginalized identities. Through archival research and interviews, this dissertation contextualizes these revisions by exploring the rhetorical history …


In Favor Of The Mother-Artist: The Case For Self-Actualization In Motherhood, Lottie Elizabeth Caiella May 2025

In Favor Of The Mother-Artist: The Case For Self-Actualization In Motherhood, Lottie Elizabeth Caiella

Theses - ALL

This thesis paper discusses the symbiotic relationship between the roles of mothering and being an artist and makes the case for why art made by mothers can have a lasting impact on both society as well as within the family dynamics of the artists’ lives. The obstacles that stand in the way of mothers pursuing art, or even pursuing becoming her full self, are many. This paper reimagines what the role of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs might look like from the lens of a caretaker, and how it can be an overall triumph for society from a wider perspective. This …


The Politics Of Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining (Asgm) In Tanzania In The 21st Century., Eliud Atugonza Kabamanya May 2025

The Politics Of Artisanal And Small-Scale Gold Mining (Asgm) In Tanzania In The 21st Century., Eliud Atugonza Kabamanya

Theses - ALL

This study investigates the politics of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in 21st-century Tanzania, focusing on the organization of miners towards access to key resources, namely land, capital, markets, geological information, technology, and examining environmental degradation, health, and safety concerns affecting miners and surrounding communities. Grounded in historical and dialectical materialism, the research traces ASGM’s evolution from the pre-colonial period through colonial exclusions, post-independence reforms, and neoliberal restructuring. The study employs qualitative methods, including interviews, field observations, and document analysis, conducted over two months across key mining sites in Tanzania. Findings reveal that ASGM is shaped by systemic exclusion, …


Mannose: The Hands Of Fate – Overexpressing A Pinus Taeda Hemicellulose Biosynthesis Gene In Populus Tremula × Alba Leads To Increased Height And A Modified Cell Wall Sugar Profile, Joseph Baxter Colbert May 2025

Mannose: The Hands Of Fate – Overexpressing A Pinus Taeda Hemicellulose Biosynthesis Gene In Populus Tremula × Alba Leads To Increased Height And A Modified Cell Wall Sugar Profile, Joseph Baxter Colbert

Dissertations - ALL

Lignocellulosic biomass as an input for biofuel generation has gained popularity in recent decades due to attainable feedstock ubiquity and an anatomical propensity to fix and sequester carbon. A major challenge facing the integration of such feedstocks is the presence of recalcitrant polymers that are extant in their cell walls, namely lignin and various hemicellulose species. Many studies have illustrated methods in which cell wall modification through genetic means has produced phenotypic improvements with regard to biomaterial generation, though to this point, none have overexpressed exogenous hemicellulose genes to shift the composition of the Populus tremula × alba cell walls. …


Chemical Reversal Of Beta-Lactam Resistance And Induction Of Hyper-Susceptibility In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa By Limiting Horizontal Gene Transfer Under Beta-Lactam Stress, Aimee Iradukunda May 2025

Chemical Reversal Of Beta-Lactam Resistance And Induction Of Hyper-Susceptibility In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa By Limiting Horizontal Gene Transfer Under Beta-Lactam Stress, Aimee Iradukunda

Dissertations - ALL

The emergence of antibiotic resistance poses a significant threat to global health, with certain bacterial strains evolving to resist multiple drugs. Urgent action is necessary to develop new antibacterial agents that effectively target these resistant strains; however, no new classes of antibiotics have been approved in recent decades. This research employs innovative biological tools to identify and highlight factors influencing resistance dynamics. Additionally, this study refines the novel approach by utilizing adjuvants to chemically repurpose existing antibiotics and improve their effectiveness against antibiotic-resistant strains. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, recognized for its adaptability, persistent infections—especially in cystic fibrosis patients—and widespread antibiotic resistance, serves …


Measurements And Modeling Of Phonon-Mediated Quasiparticle Poisoning In Superconducting Qubit Arrays, Eric Yelton May 2025

Measurements And Modeling Of Phonon-Mediated Quasiparticle Poisoning In Superconducting Qubit Arrays, Eric Yelton

Dissertations - ALL

The realization of a quantum computer that can correct for random errors on its constituent quantum bits, or qubits, is one of the primary goals in the quantum information science community. One of the leading protocols to correct these errors on a quantum processor relies on nearest-neighbor coupling of an array of physical qubits that act collectively as a single logical qubit. Superconducting circuits are a leading implementation of a physical qubit and have been used in some of the first demonstrations of this error correction scheme. A key assumption of this protocol is that errors on the physical qubits …


Evaluating Subduction Zone Processes In Early Paleozoic Rocks Of The Northern Appalachian Orogen, John Mark Brigham May 2025

Evaluating Subduction Zone Processes In Early Paleozoic Rocks Of The Northern Appalachian Orogen, John Mark Brigham

Dissertations - ALL

The study of rocks presently exposed at the surface in mountain ranges such as the Appalachian Mountains can offer insight into the evolution of orogenic and subduction zone processes over geologic time. To better understand the timing, conditions (i.e., pressure and temperature), and tectonic setting of mineral formation in former subduction settings, geologists conduct geochronology, geochemistry, and thermobarometry analyses on rocks and minerals in paleo-subduction zones. This dissertation contains three chapters that focus on serpentinization, hydrothermal alteration of mafic rocks during serpentinization (rodingitization), and high-pressure metamorphism that occurred in a subduction setting during the first phase of the Appalachian Orogeny. …


Multifunctional Hydrogel Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering And Wound Healing Applications, Nghia Le Ba Thai May 2025

Multifunctional Hydrogel Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering And Wound Healing Applications, Nghia Le Ba Thai

Dissertations - ALL

Wound healing is a complex physiological process in reaction to tissue injury. Our bodies are generally capable of healing wounds on their own, unless the wound volume is too large and/or the normal physiological functions are interrupted due to disease. In these cases, the principles of wound healing can be applied in tissue engineering to develop new tissues that replace damaged tissue. Despite significant advances in research, key challenges in wound healing and tissue engineering remain unsolved, including chronic wound non-healing and complex, but scalable scaffold construction. Hydrogels are crosslinked polymers with three-dimensional networks that can hold excess amounts of …


Scrolling Through Chaos: Examining Tiktok For Sensemaking And Resiliency Information Behaviors During Lebanese Crises, Christy Khoury May 2025

Scrolling Through Chaos: Examining Tiktok For Sensemaking And Resiliency Information Behaviors During Lebanese Crises, Christy Khoury

Dissertations - ALL

The rise of the video-sharing application TikTok was rapid during the COVID-19 pandemic, as government-mandated isolation drove many to find comfort and fun indoors. Originally, the application was known for its entertaining content but has grown to be a space where conversations about critical, international events occur. With its unique application structure and behavior norms comes the opportunity to examine the application as a source of crisis discourse. This dissertation leverages a sociotechnical perspective and mixed methods analysis to investigate multimodal crisis discourse and information behaviors on the application concerning two recent Lebanese crises: the August 4, 2020, Port of …


On The Embeddability Of Small Cubic Graphs Into The Torus, Marie Kramer May 2025

On The Embeddability Of Small Cubic Graphs Into The Torus, Marie Kramer

Dissertations - ALL

The embeddability of graphs into different surfaces has been studied for nearly a century. In 1930, Kuratowski famously proved that a graph is planar if and only if it does not contain the complete graph K5 or the complete bipartite graph K3,3 as a topological minor. In particular, K3,3 is the only cubic obstructions for the plane. This sparked interest in two different directions: What are analogous results for other surfaces, and what can be said about embeddings of K5 and K3,3 into other surfaces? Regarding the first question, it was shown in the 1970s and 80s by Glover, Huneke, …


The Formation And Control Of Wrinkling Topographies On 4d Printed Substrates, Johnson Nana Agyapong May 2025

The Formation And Control Of Wrinkling Topographies On 4d Printed Substrates, Johnson Nana Agyapong

Dissertations - ALL

Mechanical instability-driven wrinkling atop shape memory polymer (SMP) substrates is a cost-effective surface patterning alternative to soft lithography that offers spatiotemporal control of surface topography for applications in thin film metrology, biomimicry, microfluidics, and cell studies. The wrinkle morphologies demonstrated to date have been predominantly simple aligned wrinkles on the surface of 2D geometries, so there remains a need for a straightforward SMP strain programming strategy that can achieve simple and complex wrinkle morphologies on 2D and 3D geometries. To address this need, we integrated a single-step SMP fabrication approach, programming via printing (PvP), with mechanical-instability-driven wrinkling to fabricate 2D …


Stranded In Transit: Migrants' Borderland Experiences En Route To Europe, Ibrahim Emre Yanik May 2025

Stranded In Transit: Migrants' Borderland Experiences En Route To Europe, Ibrahim Emre Yanik

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explores the lived experiences of migrants stranded in prolonged transit amid the intensifying securitization of the European border regime. While contemporary policy frameworks aim to deter unauthorized migration through externalized controls, digital surveillance, and restricted legal pathways, these measures have instead produced new forms of precarity, immobilization, and liminal existence. Focusing on Istanbul as a key site of transit and containment, the research examines how migrants navigate conditions of legal uncertainty, economic marginalization, and social isolation while resisting the structural constraints imposed upon them. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Istanbul—including semi-structured interviews and participant observation—this study adopts …


Body Size Trends Of Late Devonian Dacryoconarid Tentaculitoids And Protocol Development For I/Ca Analysis In Corals By La-Icp-Ms, Ashley Prow-Fleischer May 2025

Body Size Trends Of Late Devonian Dacryoconarid Tentaculitoids And Protocol Development For I/Ca Analysis In Corals By La-Icp-Ms, Ashley Prow-Fleischer

Dissertations - ALL

Paleoclimatology provides context for understanding the timescales and animal responses to environmental change under modern climate change scenarios. The key drivers of climate variability are identified using proxies for environmental conditions. Biological archives are especially useful for linking changing conditions to ecosystem responses. This dissertation establishes the foundation for utilizing dacryoconarid microfossils as biostratigraphic indicators of environmental change in the Paleozoic. It also presents a protocol for measuring iodine-to-calcium (I/Ca) ratios—an established proxy for localized hypoxia—in coral skeletons using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Studying Paleozoic microfossils presents challenges due to the high degree of induration of …


Frustration And Functionality : Geometry And Topology In Mechanical Metamaterials, Sourav Roy May 2025

Frustration And Functionality : Geometry And Topology In Mechanical Metamaterials, Sourav Roy

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation is concerned with a study of the effect of geometry in complex few body mechanical systems. The problems that we set out to solve lie on the interface of soft condensed matter physics, geometry and topology. In the first problem, I developed an effective elasticity theory of thin mechanical metamaterial sheets. This work explored the elastic response of thin metamaterial sheets draped on a uniformly and weakly curved substrate. The model spells out an elegant screening law that shows that a metamaterial alleviates elastic stresses by actuating the soft modes accessible to it. In the second problem, we …


Anticipating The Adoption Of Quantum Computing Technology By Organizations, Kenneth Shui May 2025

Anticipating The Adoption Of Quantum Computing Technology By Organizations, Kenneth Shui

Dissertations - ALL

This study investigated the challenges that may influence the successful adoption of adiabatic quantum computers based on an analysis of three case studies of organizations that adopted technologies adjacent to adiabatic quantum computers. Through the lens of the affordance framework, a mixed methods approach identified common challenges and themes when adopting different forms of classical computing. The qualitative method involved analyzing pre-existing documentation on classical computing technologies through a reflexive narrative review of the case studies. For the quantitative aspect, an A/B testing approach was used to compare the performance of D-Wave adiabatic quantum computers in solving a well-established computer …


Pluricomplex Green Functions And Transform Methods For The Laplacian, Jesse Joel Hulse May 2025

Pluricomplex Green Functions And Transform Methods For The Laplacian, Jesse Joel Hulse

Dissertations - ALL

There are two research themes within complex analysis presented. The first is developing generalizations of the Unified Transform Method as a novel way to compute fluid flows and numerically solve boundary value problems for holomorphic functions and solutions to the Laplacian and complex Helmholtz equation. The second is finding a formula for the pluricomplex Green function with two poles of equal weights for the bidisk. The Unified Transform Method (also sometimes known as the Fokas Method) is a technique for numerically solving boundary value problems for linear and integrable nonlinear PDEs. Crowdy reformulated the Unified Transform Method in the complex …


Understanding Shell Adhesion Mechanics For Soft Gripper Design, Chenxu Zhao May 2025

Understanding Shell Adhesion Mechanics For Soft Gripper Design, Chenxu Zhao

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation investigates the adhesion mechanics of hyperelastic hemispherical shells with finite thicknesses undergoing large deformation against rigid planar substrates. By integrating theoretical modeling, numerical simulations, and experimental validation, a comprehensive understanding of the adherence-detachment behavior of soft elastomeric shell structures is established. The study also applies these insights to the design of soft robotic grippers based on tunable adhesion. To understand the dry adhesion of a free soft shell against a rigid substrate, first, a graphical-numerical modeling framework based on the energy approach is developed and used to predict shell adhesion with a wide range of surface energy, thickness, …


Elucidating Climate Dynamics From Holocene Reconstructions In Alaska, Greenland, And The North Atlantic, Briana Edgerton May 2025

Elucidating Climate Dynamics From Holocene Reconstructions In Alaska, Greenland, And The North Atlantic, Briana Edgerton

Dissertations - ALL

Arctic amplification is a combination of ice-ocean-atmospheric feedbacks that causes the northern high latitudes to be extremely sensitive to climate change. These processes combined with anthropogenic warming are currently driving Arctic temperatures to increase at a rate almost four times faster than global average. However, it is unclear how current and future climate change in the Arctic compares to the natural variability of the climate system over longer timescales. The Holocene (11,700 years ago to present) provides abundant well-preserved, sub-millennial to centennial-scale records of climate, and encompasses periods of relatively rapid warming and cooling which can be compared to anthropogenic …


Biodegradable And Bioactive Polyurethane Foams To Improve Traumatic Wound Healing, Natalie Petryk May 2025

Biodegradable And Bioactive Polyurethane Foams To Improve Traumatic Wound Healing, Natalie Petryk

Dissertations - ALL

Every year, 1.5 million people die from uncontrolled bleeding in traumatic wounds, such as gunshot wounds. Gauze dressings have remained the gold standard of treatment for traumatic wounds, but gauze must be removed, resulting in wound rebleeding. Furthermore, gauze removal within an approved time frame is not always possible in remote settings, like on a battlefield, presenting a critical need for a safe and effective dressing that can control bleeding over prolonged periods. To overcome these limitations, this work focuses on a novel biomaterial to be used as a permanent dressing to stop bleeding and facilitate healing. In previous work, …


Deformations Of Thin Membranes In Incompatible Geometries And Interactions In Mechanical Hysteron Systems, Zachariah Schrecengost May 2025

Deformations Of Thin Membranes In Incompatible Geometries And Interactions In Mechanical Hysteron Systems, Zachariah Schrecengost

Dissertations - ALL

Soft reconfigurable systems exhibit behaviors which are highly dependent on their geometries. Thin membranes can deform in a myriad of ways as they navigate geometries different from their own in an energy efficient manner. Behaviors in mechanical hysteron systems are influenced by the geometry of the interactions and global driving. This dissertation focuses on two different types of systems which are governed in part by their geometries: thin membranes in geometrically incompatible configurations and interacting mechanical hysterons. A thin membrane forced into a conflicting geometry with an incompatible metric will deform in highly non-trivial ways. These deformations are an attempt …