Digital Commons Network^™

¡Despertemos, Humanidad! Leyendo, Escuchando Y Mirando La Resistencia Ambiental Indígena En Honduras, Abby Barahona

Scripps Senior Theses

Esta tesis explora la violencia colonial, la resistencia indígena y el futuro de la lucha medioambiental en Honduras a través de una invitación de despertar que hiciera Berta Cáceres cuando recibió el premio Goldman en 2015. Analiza cómo las comunidades indígenas, especialmente el pueblo Lenca, han resistido el extractivismo, la militarización y la corrupción estatal mediante formas de defensa espiritual, cultural y política. A partir del análisis del libro 13 colores de la resistencia hondureña, el pódcast Las mujeres Lencas en defensa del río Gualcarque y el documental Agua es vida, la tesis argumenta que despertar ante la resistencia implica …

Language And The Navigation Of Individual Understandings Of Multiracial Belonging In Hong Kong, Ailbhe Ong

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores how self-identified multiracial individuals in Hong Kong navigate identity, belonging, and community within the city’s unique historical, political, and cultural landscape. Through interviews with young adults who grew up in Hong Kong, the project examines how language, family dynamics, schooling, and social spaces shape the formation and performance of multiracial identities. It argues that although Hong Kong’s environment offers a degree of fluidity, societal expectations, language hierarchies, and shifting political dynamics often challenge this flexibility. Moreover, Cantonese emerged as a key site where cultural competency, belonging and acceptance intersect, highlighting the tension for multiracial individuals when trying …

Weathering And Beyond: Leveraging Mathematical Modeling To Simulate Erosion In Digital Media, Fiona Irving-Beck

Scripps Senior Theses

How might we bring an idea to life from both a mathematical and an artistic perspective? Within Weathering, I use imagery of environmental erosion to explore the differences between physical and digital forms of representation. I created a physical painting of an abandoned copper mine, digitized the work, and then used a mathematical model to digitally “erode” it, which I re-translated into paintings. While the explicit texture present in physical work speaks best to my practice/intent, the mathematical framework that is the basis for my digital work affords a powerful mode of temporal flexibility. Used in conjunction, these two …

Constructing Bodies Of Subversion And Resistance: The Carceral Quarantine Of Hiv-Positive Haitian Refugees At Guantanamo Bay Under U.S. Imperialism, Isabelle E. Oringer

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the detention of HIV-positive Haitian refugees at Guantánamo Bay in the early 1990s as a case study of medicalized racism and U.S. imperialism. It explores how U.S. public health policy, immigration law, and Cold War-era foreign interventions converged to criminalize and confine Black Haitian bodies, constructing them as threats to national security and public health. By analyzing primary testimonies and media coverage alongside the works of scholars such as Paul Farmer and Naomi Paik, the project reveals how racialized conceptions of disease and subversion informed discriminatory practices that disproportionately targeted Haitian refugees. Furthermore, it examines how the …

The Fight For Education: The Rise Of Indigenous Oaxacan Teachers And Their Role In The 1980s Mexican Teacher’S Movement, Chiara Gutierrez

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the pivotal role of Indigenous Oaxacan teachers in the 1980s Mexican Teacher’s Movement, addressing a significant gap in scholarship that has often overlooked Indigenous political activism in Mexico prior to the 1990s. It argues that these teachers were critical actors whose prior organizing experience, cultivated throughout the 1970s in response to state assimilationist policies (via INI, IIISEO) and discriminatory practices (from SEP, SNTE), enabled them to significantly shape the 1980s movement. Drawing on theories of political identity (Yashar 2006), repertoires of strategies (Rossi 2023), and identity salience (Hunt & Benford), this study traces the development of their …

Geographies Of Freedom: Marronage, Slavery, And Black Cosmopolitanism In The Early North American Borderlands, Gemma K. Lynch

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis reconceptualizes the colonial U.S. South through the lens of the Atlantic World, revealing the mobility, and influence of Black actors. It emphasizes the role of Black people who, rooted in Africa and dispersed across the American colonies, developed and used a cosmopolitan understanding of the Atlantic to negotiate their freedoms. Focusing on Spanish Florida, Georgia borderlands, and French New Orleans, it unveils how enslaved Africans and their descendants navigated and exploited imperial conflicts between British, Spanish, French, and Native Americans. By uncovering the linkages between the colonial Southeast and contextualizing them with the greater Caribbean, this study reframes …

Sticking Out And Fitting In: Experiences Of Black And Asian Pacific Islander Desi American Students At Scripps College, Grace Njoki Gitau

Scripps Senior Theses

There is a lack of research about the experiences of students of color at predominantly white women’s colleges. Women’s colleges are institutions that have evolved over hundreds of years to support the education of marginalized genders, including transgender women and nonbinary people in recent years. Many women’s colleges have a white majority of students, which can have adverse effects on students of color pursuing their education. Collecting data from Scripps College, a women’s college with 40% students of color, 12 interviews were conducted with students who self-identified as Black or Asian American. Results found that students of color who experience …

“Ignorance Is No Excuse”: Reproducing The Normative Female Body Through Mass Consumerism In Post-Wwii Women’S Magazines, Hannah E. Lorenz-Meyer

Scripps Senior Theses

In the Post-War era, women’s magazines took on a key role in cultural production, publishing literature, non-fiction articles, and advice on everything from marriage to fashion. Women’s magazines served a a form of propaganda, promoting a specific form of femininity that upheld the status quo. And that form of femininity was overwhelmingly affluent and White. By establishing magazines as a solution to women’s personal problems, editors served to shape the image of the post-war American woman. Nowhere is this vision more intimate than the way it was applied to the female body and reproduction. In this thesis, I analyze how …

Preserving The Stolen: Cultural Appropriation And The Case Of Seattle's Totem Pole, Olga S. Koutroulis

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the cultural appropriation and conservation of the Chief-of-All-Women totem pole, originally stolen by Seattle businessmen from the Tlingit village of Tongass in 1899 and later reinstalled in Pioneer Square as a symbol of the city. By framing the totem pole as a site of both physical and cultural displacement, I trace its journey from sacred object to public monument, and ultimately to federally funded replica. Drawing on conservation theory, oral history, archival research, and an interview with Haida artist Sondra Segundo, I argue that the pole’s removal, replication, and continued display reflect broader patterns of settler colonialism …

Representing Childhood: Abstraction And Aesthetics Of Simplicity In Ezra Jack Keats's The Snowy Day, Elle Propp

Scripps Senior Theses

The central question driving this project is not “Is The Snowy Day art?”—a question that risks reifying the very hierarchies this thesis seeks to trouble—but rather: What might it mean to treat this picturebook as an art historical object? What must be addressed in the discipline’s practices, priorities, and self-conceptions to engage such work with rigor and care? How can we analyze the picturebook as an art object?

Design And Deployment Of A Compact Rov For Deep-Sea Research And Exploration, Joshua F. Wood

Open Access Master's Theses

The scientific community has utilized unmanned underwater vehicles for ocean exploration since the mid-twentieth century, resulting in a well-cultivated and ever-changing discipline of ocean technology. The deep-sea environment, specifically, presents unique and harsh criteria due to the increased pressure found at depth and the vehicle components necessary to overcome it. The size and weight of underwater vehicles typically increase as operational depth increases, resulting in physically large systems with high operational costs to accommodate deep-sea research. This project first characterized the effect of length and diameter on carbon fiber pressure housing’s depth tolerance. It then leveraged this data to reduce …

Coastal Perspectives: An Analysis Of Resident And Visitor Attitudes And Motivations Of Coastal Resilience Measures In Rhode Island, Jamie-Lynn Ward

Open Access Master's Theses

Anthropogenic impacts of climate change negatively affect the geographic structure, economic stability, and environmental conservation of coastal communities at exhaustive rates. Coastal resiliency planning and frameworks have been widely credited and criticized for their ability to mitigate climate risks in vulnerable communities. Yet, the rapid impacts of climate on communities' socioeconomic and environmental sectors have led to outcries from researchers and users for integrated and holistic coastal resilience approaches. Approaches highlighting stakeholders’ views of risks, coastal resilience measures, and place values to form localized adaptation and politically supported management strategies directly involving and benefiting communities. This mixed-method study was designed …

A Compact Frequency Comb Generator For Large-Format Superconducting Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors, Sungyoun Seo

Open Access Master's Theses

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) are promising superconducting detectors that achieve superior sensitivity to silicon-based photo detectors by leveraging a small bandgap of superconductors. They are advantageous for sensitive imaging instruments, particularly space telescopes. However, a large-format array with several hundreds of thousands of detectors is required for large-scale observations in space, and it encounters multiple challenges. The biggest challenge is the absence of compact, energy-efficient, and radiation-tolerant readout solutions. Of multiple functions in the MKID readout, the new frequency comb generator is presented in this thesis. It features a low on-chip memory requirement while promising the relaxed frequency resolution …

Nanotube Spectral Fingerprinting And Machine Learning For Optimized Bioimaging/Sensing And Disease Detection Applications In Als, Rodrigo Monroy Lopez

Open Access Master's Theses

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess unique physicochemical and optical properties that make them ideal candidates for biomedical imaging, biosensing, and disease diagnostics. This thesis explores the potential of SWCNT-based spectral fingerprinting combined with ML (Machine Learning) algorithms to optimize bioimaging, disease detection and prediction, with a specific focus on differentiating between healthy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) lymphoblastic patient samples. By functionalizing SWCNTs with single-stranded DNA, we enhance their stability and target specificity, enabling their application in serum patient samples.

A comprehensive spectral analysis of DNA-SWCNTs was conducted using near-infrared fluorescence spectroscopy and other characterization techniques, including UV-Vis-absorption spectroscopy. The …

The P3 Event-Related Potential (Erp) In Visual And Auditory Tasks: Implications For Executive Functioning In Adhd Preadolescent Children, Alex Visal Seng

Open Access Master's Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a widespread psychological disorder in children, poorly impacting executive functioning domains of inhibitory control and working memory. Event-related potentials (ERPs) provide neuroelectric insight into these cognitive processes. However, most ERP research focuses on one task type, limiting direct comparisons of cognitive demands across different task paradigms. This study examined P3 amplitude and latency in ADHD children using a visual NoGo task (response inhibition) and an auditory oddball task (working memory), and associations between the P3 ERP and behavioral measures of executive functions.

Cross-sectional data of symptomatic ADHD children (N=13; F=5; aged 9.15 ± 1.86 years) were …

Big Cells, Big Impact: Unravelling Seasonal Patterns Of Net Primary Production In Narragansett Bay, Dominique Jae Lockwood

Open Access Master's Theses

Net primary production is a measurement of available energy, or the amount of biomass that phytoplankton produce during photosynthesis that fuels marine food webs and drives carbon cycling. Despite its ecological importance, net primary production is relatively understudied in comparison to chlorophyll-a, which is often used as a proxy for biomass rather than productivity. In this study, we measured size-fractionated net primary production and chlorophyll-a concentrations in Narragansett Bay over a 14-month period from January 2022 to February 2023. Weekly surface water samples were collected and filtered to distinguish between small (> 10 μm) and large ( …

Investigating Ventilation In The Amundsen Sea, Antarctica Using An Eddy-Permitting Regional Ocean Model, Lauren Kowalski

Open Access Master's Theses

The Amundsen Sea is not a known site of bottom water formation, yet the presence of Winter Water reveals the role of deep winter mixing. In this study, we investigate how the production of Winter Water within the Amundsen Sea leads to ventilation by introducing a surface tracer into a regional configuration of MITgcm with ECCO-constrained forcing conditions for the years from 1998 to 2023. Modeled mixed layer depths routinely reached depths of 300 m or deeper in coastal polynyas and along sea ice divergence zones, driven by changes in salinity from sea ice formation and wind stress. The annual …

The Anatomy Of Efficiency: Changes In British Military Medicine On The Western Front, 1914-1918, Ricky Mather

Open Access Master's Theses

The Western Front of the First World War was a theater of tragedy and unprecedented loss. As thousands of mangled British bodies were evacuated from the front lines, medical officers, surgeons, nurses, orderlies, stretcher-bearers, and other staff worked tirelessly in an efficient and technical manner to restore soldiers’ fitness so they might be redeployed into the chaos, and continue servicing the war machine. This thesis looks at changes in medicine driven by the war. First, it examines the evolution of medical theory and practice as reflected in three medical manuals. The first was published in 1911, before the war, and …

The Impact Of Urbanization On Water Scarcity And Waterborne Diseases In Eastern Africa: A Case Study Of Nairobi, Lucy N. Kamau

Open Access Master's Theses

Urbanization in Eastern African cities has rapidly accelerated, placing immense strain on existing water infrastructure and sanitation systems. In Nairobi, this has resulted in spatial disparities in access to clean water and heightened vulnerability to waterborne disease risks. The study aimed to (1) assess the impact of urbanization on water scarcity and waterborne diseases in Nairobi using geospatial analysis and remote sensing (2) quantify urbanization trends 1999–2024 (3) identify spatio-temporal water scarcity hotspots for the years 2019 and 2024 (4) model waterborne disease risk maps for 2019 and 2024 (5) Overlay disease risk map with hospitals. To quantify urbanization for …

Analysis Of The Utilization Of Vegfinhibitors In Rhode Island And In Medicare Part B Nationally, Kevin Izzio

Open Access Master's Theses

Statement of the Problem: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are leading causes of blindness and low vision in the United States. In 2019, approximately 19.8 million Americans were living with AMD, which is classified into dry (non-neovascular) and wet (neovascular) forms, with the latter being more severe. DR, a complication of diabetes, affected an estimated 9.6 million Americans in 2021, with progression leading to proliferative DR (PDR) and diabetic macular edema (DME), both of which can cause vision loss. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors are the standard treatment for these retinal diseases, targeting abnormal angiogenesis …

My Grandpa: How One Man Changed Our Life, Jada Shavers

Scripps Senior Theses

My thesis uses argumentation, personal essay, letters, and writing about feelings to recount stories of three generations of women (my grandmother, my mom, and myself) to ultimately explore the controversies of sexual violence. To establish this point, I use a combination of writing techniques to challenge the typical framework of a memoir and destabilize a linear retelling of events. I also complicate the narrative to allow the reader to question their own understanding of sexual violence; ultimately defining sexual violence as a loss of autonomy, a feeling that extends far beyond any single or recurring event, and something that never …

Globalization In Fashion: Organizational Strategies For Cultural Adaptation While Maintaining Core Identity, Karina Klein

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines how fashion brands can effectively maintain their brand identity while expanding into international markets with diverse cultural landscapes. Addressing the fundamental tension between standardization and localization in global fashion marketing, this research investigates when brands should maintain consistent approaches versus adapting to local cultural contexts. Through a comprehensive literature review of global branding theory, historical patterns of fashion globalization, and cultural dimensions affecting fashion consumption, the study establishes foundational principles for strategic international expansion. The research presents Burberry's successful entry into the Chinese market as a case study, analyzing how the luxury brand effectively balanced standardization of …

Navigating Online Perceptions Of Offshore Wind On Social Media: Facebook Discussions On Recent Whale Strandings, Giselle Hausmann

Open Access Master's Theses

The Biden-Harris administration implemented a goal to achieve 30 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 (US Department of Interior, 2021). The rapid increase in offshore wind activity on the East Coast, combined with NOAA’s declared unusual mortality event in 2016/2017, has sparked a discussion about offshore wind being a potential cause of whale deaths. This paper aims to analyze the discourse on offshore wind and whales through a content analysis of Facebook comments. Facebook pages from Massachusetts (The New England Aquarium), Rhode Island (Rhode Island DEM), New York (The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society), New Jersey (Marine Mammal Stranding Center), …

Through Their Eyes: Investigating The Broad Autism Phenotype In Parents An Exploration In Eye Tracking During A Phonemic Restoration Paradigm In Conjunction With Social Communication Measures, Elena Esposito

Open Access Master's Theses

The Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP) refers to traits that resemble those seen in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The BAP traits are more common in first-degree relatives of individuals with ASD which suggests a potential genetic contribution to the disorder. Understanding how these traits manifest in communication remains limited. Previous research has shown differences in eye gaze patterns between children with ASD and neurotypical children. This study explored whether similar patterns exist in parents of children with autism (pASD) during a phonemic restoration task. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) and Broad Autism Phenotype Questionnaire (BAPQ) were also used in this study …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Improve Understanding Of Marine Plastic Debris In Rhode Island, Georgia Cheney

Open Access Master's Theses

The marine plastic debris problem, brought to people's attention in the 1970s, has been a growing environmental challenge. It is estimated today that society produces 400 million tonnes of plastic every year. Of the plastic produced, only a small percentage of the plastic is successfully recycled and reused. It is important to better understand people's perceptions of marine plastic debris, so policy makers can better define the problem, develop effective policies, and gain policy support. This study aims to fill a gap in knowledge around Rhode Islander’s perceptions of the marine plastic debris problem.

A Methodological Study: Using Eye Tracking & Comprehension Questions With L1 And L2 Spanish Readers, Julia Cerveira-Bianchi

Open Access Master's Theses

Eye tracking with a violation paradigm is an online, real-time measure, used within the field of second language acquisition to measure implicit or automatic knowledge (Godfroid, 2019). Native speakers (L1) demonstrate implicit knowledge, and second language learners (L2) exhibit various levels of developing implicit knowledge, which serves as a measure of proficiency. In a violation paradigm, L1 and L2 speakers read grammatical and ungrammatical stimuli. The eye-tracking data provides insight into participants’ sensitivity to grammatical violations. Previous studies have included comprehension questions, an offline measure, to ensure that participants read for meaning. However, eye tracking has rarely been applied to …

Risk Factors For Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Statistical And Machine Learning Perspective, Supti Biswas

Open Access Master's Theses

his study explores factors associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through analysis of a rich dataset comprising maternal and child characteristics. The data were carefully cleaned and preprocessed to address missing values and ensure analytical consistency. Statistical analyses and advanced visualization techniques were used to uncover patterns linking ASD status with variables such as maternal age, prenatal smoking, and education level. To further assess predictive capacity and feature importance, multiple supervised machine learning algorithms - logistic regression, decision trees, random forests, and support vector machines (SVM) - were applied. ASD appears to be influenced by a complex interplay of demographic …

Associations Between Dietary Sodium And Potassium Intakes, Urinary Sodium And Potassium Excretion And Blood Pressure Among Adult Females In Oromia Region, Ethiopia, Fred Baffour Addo

Open Access Master's Theses

Introduction: Accurate assessment of sodium (Na) and potassium (K) intake is essential for population level monitoring of salt intake as part of global strategies to reduce salt consumption to control the increasing prevalence of high blood pressure (BP). Thus, a simple, cost-effective, and low-burden method is particularly valuable in resource-limited settings for population level monitoring of Na and K intake. This study aimed to compare the reliability of various methods of Na and K intake assessment, and their associations with blood pressure measurements.

Methods: This secondary analysis was based on a cross-sectional study of 100 non-pregnant women of …

The Bodhi App: A Post-Trauma Self-Regulation App For People With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Liam Cannon

Open Access Master's Theses

People in the United States living with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) often experience trauma at a disproportionate rate. Due to societal and personal barriers, individuals with I/DD have problems with gaining access to therapy, thus often having to live with the negative effects of their untreated trauma. The effects of untreated trauma can cause severe impairment which affects a person’s quality of life and emotional, social, and physical development.

Post-trauma self-regulation is a way of doing activities to regulate one’s emotions to help cope with the negative effects of trauma. It has been shown as an effective method of …

From Lawns To Life: Landscaping For Biodiversity On Mason’S Island, Margit Burgess

Open Access Master's Theses

The collapse of biodiversity is an existential threat to life on Earth. Residential landscapes, dominated by open lawns maintained in turfgrass, do not support biodiversity. In the United States, turfgrass has replaced native landscapes in over 40 million acres, with 500 square miles added each year (Tallamy, 2019). Of the 78% of the U.S. land that is privately owned, approximately 135 million acres - nearly twice the size of all national parks combined - are residential (Milesi et al., 2005). With a shift in private landscape management, this land could present a largely untapped opportunity for biodiversity restoration and social …