Digital Commons Network^™

Tell Me About Gaslighting, Lindsay Steffen

RhetTech

This podcast explores the concept of gaslighting in relation to college students' experiences through interviews with campus staff and experts who further analyze gaslighting within specific communicative contexts, such as romantic relationships. There is a lack of education among college students about gaslighting and intimate partner abuse. A survey conducted by the National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH) in 2014 asked 2,500 hotline callers about their experiences of coercion (Warshaw et al. 2014). Respondents were adult women who had experienced domestic violence, called the hotline, and agreed to participate in the survey. They answered these questions: “Do you think your partner …

Modernizing Handmade Crochet Lace, An Antiquated Craft, Through The Development Of A Blog, Livier Olson

Theses

This project investigates the degree of difficulty involved in initiating a web-based blog and growing its content with the intention to create craft-based entrepreneurship. With the advancement in technology and the help of the internet and social media, this project also aims to express how a vintage craft can be modernized and continue to thrive as a cottage industry. The final deliverable is a blog that intends to educate the public about the history of crochet and its ties to the lace and fashion industry, tutorials for crocheted lacemaking, and the continued use of crocheted lace in modern fashion.

Gerontoludic Character Design: Creating Engaging Player Characters For Older Adults, Robin Noelle Koman

Theses

In this thesis, findings of research in gerontoludic character design, in other words the design of game player characters focused upon the needs, wants, and expectations of older adults, are delivered. To support these findings, there is a review of qualitative and quantitative literature on ageism, including the impact of aging stereotypes and assumptions upon technology driven industries such as the game industry. This exploration of the roots of ageism includes an examination of how ageism affects the frequency and nature of older adult characters, both playable and non-playable, found in video games. Part of the justification of this topic …

A Proposal For A Survey Of American Art History Course: An Intersectional Approach, Fernando Mejia

Theses

The purpose of this project is to propose and create a course surveying American art history that currently is not offered at the Los Angeles Community College (LACCD). The creation of this course is important because it will fill a void within the curriculum in art history at LACCD. Most importantly, however, the course will offer students interested in American art an opportunity to take this course at the community college, which will prepare them for upper-division coursework before transferring, allowing them to focus on upper-division courses in the field. The Thesis Project addresses the state-of-field in the teaching of …

Web For All – An Accessibility Website, Kirsten Hawkes

Theses

This project focuses on how to improve awareness and implementation of web accessibility. The primary focus of the webforall.tech website is to provide a guide of best practices for web accessibility and a list of resources. The aim of the project is to create a website that provides UX designers and developers with the tools to design with accessibility in mind. Furthermore, the project involves testing the website with a survey and usability testing sessions to inform the updates and improvements implemented.

Art Curriculum Lesson Plan: Horace Pippin’S World War I Journal, Tracie Dana Sykes

Theses

This report contains a detailed curriculum plan for a ninety-minute, eleventh grade Art class. The purpose is to provide the students with a thorough study of Horace Pippin’s World War I journal, while implementing two assignments to test their understanding of the areas which will be emphasized in the lesson. The students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of Pippin’s War journal by presenting a detailed slideshow about the artist and his journal. The students' foundational knowledge of Naive art will be recognized through the creation of his/her unique piece of art which will implement the mannerisms of Naive …

The Effects Of Therapeutic Arts On Black Mental Health, Alicia Newsome

Theses

This project focuses on black mental health that encompasses mental wellness education through social media and builds community connection by sharing stories. It reduces social exclusion and creates positive change in black communities. The final deliverable will be a short video poem compilation via YouTube that gives insight into what it is like living with depression and anxiety. It will include motion graphics, photo manipulation, and graphic art covers titled Misconceptions, Beautiful Temptations, Relentless, and Old Abuse. It is about implementing healthy coping mechanisms and bringing together a community that is often overlooked and/or stigmatized regarding mental health. It enhances …

A Non-Traditional Approach: Seventeenth-Century Dutch Women Artists And The Nocturnal Genre Scene Market, Jordan J. Harris

Theses

Nocturnal genre scenes were on the rise in the seventeenth-century Netherlands. With new technologies and advances taking place during this time, people were staying out later and partaking in more nocturnal activities. Both men and women engaged in these new nightly endeavors, but there were still notable expectations in regards to gender roles for men and women. As seen in the scholarship included within this thesis, men were allotted more freedom than women. The Dutch artists who chose to specialize in nocturnal genre scenes depicted these well-known gender roles within their paintings. Seventeenth-century women artists Judith Leyster and Gesina ter …

Cross-Cultural Currents And Syncretism In Early Modern Opossum Iconography, Deniz Martinez

Theses

Opossums (Order Didelphimorphia) are marsupial mammals endemic to the Americas. They are also the first marsupials Europeans ever encountered, over a century before any Australasian species. Because of their unique marsupial characteristics, opossums have historically been viewed as an “anomalous” animal form across both Indigenous American and European cultures, and thus developed a rich and complex transatlantic cultural history. By tracing the development of opossum imagery through the millennia, one can uncover clear patterns of how their distinct features became embedded in iconographies relative to biogeocultural sphere, and how certain iconographic conventions were transmitted through various media both within and …

The Control Of Morality As Demonstrated Through Allegorical Symbolism In Late Medieval Tapestry And Morality Plays, Kelsey Cook

Theses

This paper examines the use of allegory in the late medieval tapestry The Prince of Malice and His Court, produced between 1470 and 1480, alongside similar allegorical devices used in the contemporary French morality play L’Homme Juste et L’Homme Mondain. Recent scholarship on late medieval tapestry has included conversations of literary influence, mainly focusing on romance literature in particular. Although these comparisons have laid a foundation for the use of allegory within tapestry, a comparison to other literary examples is lacking. The following research, therefore, will analyze tapestry against morality plays to further extrapolate the visual exchange that occurred between …

Creating Better Musicians Through Musicality: A Guide To Building An Instructional Unit, Shelby Leo

Theses

This project provides an in depth focus on how to strengthen an ensemble's approach to musicality through lesson plans, assessments, and activities. The primary focus group of this project is high school aged performance based classes including band and choir. The aim of the project is to provide a music educator with a detailed curriculum to teach musicality that is adjustable to any size ensemble and any score. Furthermore, this project is not a study but instead an explanation to the approach of developing the curriculum unit. The project consists of a four unit curriculum with two to three lessons …

Women’S Influence In Cerén’S Architecture: Weaving Patterns In Classic Maya Art, Nicole Rosalia Lazo

Theses

This study aims to disclose how Classic Maya commoners utilized weaving patterns in small village architecture to highlight female power and status in the highlands of Mesoamerica. There are two primary goals for this project: first, to demonstrate how the weaving patterns in Maya highlands architecture stood as a symbol for female authority; second, to add equity and diversity to the field of art history by studying the Maya with a feminist lens, which is typically an underrepresented culture and gender in comparison to other civilizations, such as those from Europe and the United States. Furthermore, the Classic Maya farming …

The Heroic Parallels Of Hercules And Lorenzo De Medici, Michael Putorti

Theses

During the late fifteenth century, a painting was displayed in the Palazzo Medici, home to one of Florence’s most influential families. The painting was commissioned by Lorenzo de’ Medici from one of his favorite artists, Antonio Pollaiuolo. The painting, entitled Hercules and Deianira, portrays a scene from the Herculean myth. The composition depicts the hero Hercules, who can be seen aiming an arrow at the centaur Nessus, who is carrying of Hercules’ new bride, Deianira. Throughout his life, Lorenzo admired the mythological hero and would often acquire compositions depicting him as a way of representing his own heroic qualities. However, …

Cult Of Propaganda: Monastic Dominance As Displayed In Canterbury Cathedral's Saintly Iconography, Jon Talvin Breazeale

Theses

This thesis examines the iconography in the windows of the Early English saints Dunstan and Alphege as depicted in England’s Canterbury Cathedral. In the windows of St. Dunstan, one can see how the saint saves the monarchs from the flames of hell. It also shows what can happen to those that would question or challenge the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The windows of St. Alphege show a dedicated man of the church ready to give his life to help save the town’s people from an unruly group of invaders. These windows were added to the eastern arm of …

Pretreatment Optimization For Ceramic Microfiltration With Ozonation And Coagulation For The Reuse Of Wastewater Effluent, Nicola Elardo

Master's Theses and Capstones

Ceramic microfiltration (CMF) is a promising alternative to traditional polymeric microfiltration and its chemical resistance makes it particularly attractive for sustainable water reuse applications. This research investigated the ability of ozonation and coagulation as pretreatments to improve the performance of ceramic microfiltration using HHNK’s WWTP in Wervershoof, The Netherlands. With a CMF pilot plant design flow of 200 L/h, critical flux tests were completed using ozonation individually and with coagulation sequentially to evaluate the ceramic membrane filtration performance. Results showed that with an ozone residual before the ceramic membrane, the performance increased significantly compared to no pretreatment and without an …

The Effect Of Harvest Maturity On 'Geneva 3' Kiwiberry Storability, Ripening Dynamics, And Fruit Quality, Aislinn Mumford

Master's Theses and Capstones

Maturity at harvest is an important determinant of fruit quality in kiwiberry [Actinidia arguta (Siebold & Zucc.) Planch. ex Miq.,], a climacteric fruit that is harvested after reaching physiological maturity but not yet ready-to-eat ripeness. Although the recommended cultivar for commercial kiwiberry producers in the northeast United States is ‘Geneva 3’, no published research exists regarding recommended harvest and postharvest practices for that variety. In this study, conducted across two seasons, ‘Geneva 3’ kiwiberries were harvested at a range of mean maturities (6.5, 8.0, and 10.0 °Brix), held in cold storage (CS, 0-1 °C, >90% relative humidity) for various durations …

Mobilization And The Power Of The English Crown During The Wars Of The Roses, Cory Daniel Szaro

Master's Theses and Capstones

Historians of the period of the Wars of the Roses have long debated about the power of the English Crown relative to that of the nobility in fifteenth-century England. These historians have often based their arguments on outdated notions of “bastard feudalism” and supported them using biased narrative sources. This study draws upon the patent rolls and close rolls produced by theroyal government to examine the different aspects of English military organization during the period from 1452 to 1477.The evidence contained within these sources demonstrates that military mobilization relied on the enduring authority of the Crown and its central administration. …

Wvu Extension Crop Fertilization Recommendation Software, Edward Barrow Rayburn, Tom Basden

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

WVU-Extension fact sheet

Food Insecurity Among Students In Alabama's Black Belt, Brandon Craig Renfroe

College of Education

Food insecurity is a multifaceted problem. Though it involves lack of access to sufficient nutrition for an active, healthy life, it frequently portends more. Food insecurity negatively impacts academic performance, mental and physical health, and social/emotional well-being. It is particularly detrimental for rural adolescent students, who experience food insecurity at higher rates than their urban and suburban peers. Especially is this true for minority students, whose food insecurity rates are more than twice the national average. In the Black Belt region of Alabama, levels of food insecurity among high school adolescents, as perceived by those adolescents ( as opposed to …

Exploring Associations Between Self-Concept, Ideal Self, And Assessment Practices Of High School Science Teachers, Jeffrey Celebre

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Despite being faced with major barriers to overcome, local school districts and teachers must work to align their instructional practices in science and their assessment practices to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Science (NJSLS-Science). As described in the literature, a three-dimensional approach to assessment design is one of the qualities considered the model for a true and authentic measurement of student aptitude in science. As teachers work to understand NGSS alignment and their ability to meet alignment standards as an assessor while designing and implementing NGSS-aligned assessments, they will undoubtedly encounter …

Black Female Higher Education Administrators: A Perspective On The Influence Of Microaggression On Work Engagement, Renee Ojo-Ohikuare

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of gender and racial microaggressions and how those experiences impact work engagement from the perspective of the Black woman higher education administrator. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 Black women with current professional mid- or senior-level administrative positions in higher education institutions who had personal experiences of microaggression in the workplace and its impact on work engagement. A phenomenological methodology was used to reveal the lived experiences of these women. The results of the analysis uncovered six themes that described the experiences of microaggressions, the stereotypes of Black women, impacts …

Site Characterization For Co2 Storage, Abd-Rasheed Abiodun Ajiboye

Theses and Dissertations

Global warming is one of the most widely debated issues on the planet. Growing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are responsible for global warming but not just as a result of human activity. Nonetheless, human activity has a significant impact on the rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere. International bodies are worried; as a result, the world's CO2 reduction options are being investigated. CO2 storage in suitable geological strata under the earth is believed to be one of the most viable options. The purpose of this research is to set the framework for evaluating the characteristics of an …

Mathematical Modeling Of Pre And Post Combustion Processes In Coal Power Plant, Ashish Pramod Kotwal

Theses and Dissertations

Coal is a brownish-black sedimentary rock with organic and inorganic constituents. It has been a vital energy resource for humans for millennia. Coal accounts for approximately one quarter of the world’s energy consumption, with 65% of this is energy utilized by residential consumers, and 35% by industrial consumers. Coal operated power stations provide 42% of U.S. electricity supply. The United States hold 96% of coal reserves in North America region, out of which 26% are known for commercial usage. The coal combusted in these power generating facilities requires certain pre-combustion processing, while by-products of coal combustion go through certain post-combustion …

Implementation Of A Self-Management Program For Hispanic Patients With Chronic Non-Cancer Pain, Genesis M. Ladinez Velez

DNP Projects

Background: Chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) is a major public health issue that affects over 100 million Americans. From January 2019 to September 2021, the number patients seen at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) was 41, 974 of these 40.12% were Hispanic. Of the total patient population at this FQHC, 904 patients had preexisting opioids prescriptions for CNCP. The Hispanic population represents 41.15% of the preexisting prescriptions. Nonopioid alternatives to manage CNCP have been shown to decrease pain and improve functioning similarly to opioids.

Purpose: To implement a CNCP SMP at a FQHC in the Northeast. This quality improvement …

Adjusting For Speaking Rate When Perceiving Speech In Background Noise., Dawson C Stephens

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Speech perception is a very relevant concept occurring every day. Acoustic context effects such as temporal contrast effects (TCEs) influence perception significantly. For instance, when a faster context sentence is spoken, the participant should perceive the following target word as slower and more like /t/ in “tier”; when a slower context sentence is spoken, the participant should perceive the following target sound as faster and more like /d/ in “deer”. Recent work by Bosker et al. (2020) concluded that selective attention (directing attention to a specific stimulus while ignoring surrounding stimuli) had no effect on TCEs, suggesting they were automatic …

Reconsidering Scales And The Binary In Forensic Anthropology: A Critical Analysis Of Morphoscopic Data Utilized In Sex Estimation Standards., Bailey N. Watson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This research explores sex estimation standards used in forensic anthropology in an effort to further the conversation about forensic anthropology's binary-focused language and methods. Discussions regarding sex estimation methodology are important in light of gender variance in the general population. Presently, there is minimal published research on the identification of gender non-conforming individuals in forensic anthropology.

Two researchers individually assigned scores to features associated with sexual dimorphism in the os coxae according to existing methods for 253 individuals, equally represented by self- reported males and females. These data were statistically analyzed for correlation and overlap between features.

Results mainly point …

The Effect Of Object Contact On Pre-Reaching Infants' Causal Perception., Mallory L. Thompson

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The Sticky Mittens (SM) paradigm is an object manipulation task that provides infants the opportunity to explore objects through active experience before they have the necessary motor skills to do so on their own. Positive cognitive outcomes like increased attention to objects, object engagement, object exploration, and causal perception have been shown to result from active SM experience (Libertus & Needham, 2010; Rakison & Krogh, 2012). Researchers are interested in understanding which aspects of SM training are important for infant learning. Although there have been many SM studies looking at different variables, such as active vs. passive experience and parent …

How And Why Do Great Powers Weaponize Bordering Diasporas In Foreign Policy., Matthew A. Payne

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, many ethnic groups found themselves suddenly as a diaspora across the various republics. Most notable among these would be the Russians who radiated out from the Russian SFSR into the periphery states. In two states in particular, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, was there simultaneously an overall large community of these dispersed Russians and in which that community formed a substantial share of the host state’s population. In 2014, in the wake of a pro-European regime change in Ukraine, a civil war erupted as Moscow directed pro-Russian separatists to seek independence.

This paper …

Inducing Cognitive Reflection And Its Impact On Contradictory Beliefs., Margaret Powers

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Currently, there is extensive research within psychology about two distinct processing models where one is fast, automatic, and relatively effortless and the other is slow, systematic, and effortful. One mechanism of effortful processing is cognitive reflection which is one’s ability to reflect on their intuition. While there is research on explicit instructions of certain cognitive mechanisms and implicit induction of cognitive reflection, there is a lack of research on the explicit induction of cognitive reflection specifically. In this study, two techniques were investigated to see if cognitive reflection could be explicitly induced. Participants either read a prompt before beginning the …

Examining Body Trust And Body Listening In Sexual And Gender Minorities., Emma G. Roberts

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Introduction: Minority stress theory posits that sexual and gender minority individuals (SGM) may be at higher risk for poor mental health outcomes due to unique social experiences of stigma and discrimination. Interoception (i.e., awareness of one’s body and bodily sensations; Mehling et al., 2012) is a factor that has been linked to mental health broadly, however, SGM individuals may experience interoceptive awareness differently than cisgender and heterosexual individuals given experiences of stigma. In this paper, we aim to examine how two specific facets of interoceptive awareness (body listening and body trusting) relate to differences in mental health outcomes among SGM …