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AI-ing the Future: An Analysis of Past Treaty Features in Regulating Innovative Technologies
No full textThis thesis examines the relationship between the specific features written into multilateral treaties and their success in regulating innovative technologies. It explores why detailed treaty provisions such as periodic reviews, trigger mechanisms, amendment provisions, and knowledge sharing are critical to the effectiveness of these international agreements. I argue that the presence of these features contributes significantly to a treaty's ability to adapt to changing circumstances, ensure transparency, and facilitate ongoing cooperation and collaboration among signatories. To test this claim, I completed an in-depth case study analysis of technologies like railroads, telegraphs, electricity, and nuclear weapons. The findings indicate that treaties incorporating these dynamic features are better equipped to prevent negative outcomes and promote positive advancements. Specifically, the analysis shows a correlation between these features and successful outcomes, as evidenced by their capacity to reduce human harm and minimize unfair gains among participating nations. This argument is significant because it suggests a blueprint for drafting future treaties that can effectively manage the complex challenges posed by rapid technological changes. The study's insights are instrumental for policymakers aiming to harness the benefits of global technological progress while mitigating its potential risks to humans.GovernmentBachelors of Arts (BA
Applying Theory to Learn Barriers to Implementing Restorative Justice in Schools
No full textThis systematic review identifies the barriers to implementing restorative justice programs in public school organizations. Due to the novelty of restorative justice in schools, barriers often hamper the implementation process. Thus, it was necessary to identify barriers and how they can be mitigated. The PRISMA tool was utilized to examine 17 studies. The review harnessed Lipsky’s (1980) street-level bureaucracy framework to understand the roles of street-level bureaucrats in the education bureaucracy and to understand how the barriers align with the variables that comprise the framework. The results indicated that several barriers existed which include resources, bureaucratic discretion, and role ambiguity
Dataset: Ribbed Mussel Carbon and Nitrogen Composition Data
No full textRibbed mussel (Geukensia demissa) C:N ratios for tissue and shell samples are provided from a marsh in VirginiaVirginia Institute of Marine ScienceCenter for Coastal Resources Management (CCRM
IMPACT OF INTERFACIAL SOLVATION ENVIRONMENTS ON NITROPHENOL PHOTOCHEMISRY
No full textThe solar absorption outcomes of brown carbon (BrC) aerosols are a primary subject of investigation in atmospheric chemistry due to their impact on climate, atmospheric composition, and human health. BrC efficiently absorbs ultraviolet and visible wavelengths, opening a complex set of photochemical pathways. Many of these photochemical processes occur at the air/aerosol interface, where partial solvation geometries facilitate unique, often accelerated chemistry. Nitroaromatic compounds have been identified as important chromophores in BrC aerosols. This study investigates the fundamental geometry and molecular motion of ortho-nitrophenol (oNP), a prototypical BrC nitroaromatic compound, at aerosol interfaces using the powerful surface-selective spectroscopic technique vibration sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy. Experimental data is complemented with high-level density functional theory calculations used to obtain the spatial geometries and hydrogen bonding networks of ortho-nitrophenol at an interfacial solvation environment. Overall, results provide insights into likely conformational and spectroscopic properties of ortho-nitrophenol at the air/aerosol interface.ChemistryBachelors of Science (BS
APIA: A Major Success in Student Activism
Get PDFA movement for an Asian & Pacific Islander American (APIA) Studies Program at William & Mary began in 2009, inspired by 1990s-era student activism on the West Coast. In the comic, the main character’s discovery of the program’s unique origins is represented by blooming lotuses - a reference to the APIA program’s symbol. We hope that readers come away with a greater understanding of APIA, how student-centered its creation was, and how its story continues to evolve. We invite readers to consider taking an APIA class, as there are intersections for all identities to engage in this community
To Memory Now I Can't Recall
No full textTo Memory Now I Can't Recall is a multigenre memoir founded on love and featuring prose, poetry, and photography. Inspired by Sarah Manguso's Ongoingness: The End of a Diary, Cherríe Moraga's Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood, Tiya Miles's All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley's Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, and Michelle Zauner's Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, the author interrogates her past, her mother's past, and her relationship with her mother through the lens of her own multiple and intersectional identities, especially — but perhaps covertly — her Korean one.EnglishBachelors of Arts (BA
Learning-Based Sensing For Solving Health-Related Problems
No full textIn the field of ubiquitous computing, health-related problem analysis has gained increasing attention. Collaborations between domain doctors and computing researchers have been established to recognize and address health-related issues. However, accurate detection and recognition of health-related problems remain a major challenge that attracts extensive research efforts. Among all the research works, wearable sensors-based health-related problem recognition is promising as it is low cost, low power, and easy to carry. This dissertation focuses on utilizing wearable sensors to study health-related problems. The first project introduced in this dissertation is TremorSense, a PD tremor detection system designed to classify Parkinson's Disease hand tremors. PD hand tremors are common symptoms in all stages of PD and have a severe influence on patients' daily quality of life. TremorSense utilizes accelerometers and gyroscopes as wearable sensors on patients' wrists to collect data from 30 PD patients. An 8-layer Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) was designed to classify PD rest, postural, and action tremors. The CNN model was evaluated with accuracies greater than 94% for all three evaluations. The second project introduces a PD action tremor detection method to recognize PD tremors from regular activities. The method uses a dataset from 30 PD patients wearing accelerometers and gyroscope sensors on their wrists. Hand-crafted time-domain and frequency-domain features were selected and compared with existing CNN data-driven features. Multiple supervised machine learning models were trained for detecting PD action tremors. The performance of all models using the hand-crafted features achieved more than 90% F1 scores. The third project reviews the previous research on Freezing of Gait (FoG) computing, which refers to a sudden and short event in which a patient loses the ability to step forward, commonly experienced by advanced Parkinson's Disease patients. Wearable devices have been explored for detecting and predicting FoG and falls in PD, but a systematic survey is still lacking in this area. This project discusses a series of FoG challenges and future research trends, which will contribute to further research advancement. Finally, AudioPalate is a novel automatic dietary monitoring tool that uses Apple AirPods Pro to classify food types based on audio data. Developed through data from four users and various food types, the system employs preprocessing, Short-Time Fourier Transform for feature extraction, and data augmentation to improve accuracy. Utilizing a Long Short-Term Memory model, it classifies 20 food types with over 85% accuracy in several evaluations, demonstrating its effectiveness in food recognition and its potential to aid in dietary monitoring and healthier eating habits.Computer ScienceDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.
Estimating Relative Abundance of Young‐of‐Year American Eel, Anguilla rostrata, in the Virginia Tributaries of Chesapeake Bay (Spring 2023)
No full textAmerican Eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a valuable commercial species along the Atlantic coast of North America from New Brunswick to Florida. American Eel is also important to the recreational fishery as it is often used live as bait for Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) and Cobia (Rachycentron canadum). In 2021, 87% of the U.S coastwide commercial landings came from Maryland, the Potomac River, and Virginia (personal communication from the National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division). Since the 1980s, harvest along the U.S. Atlantic Coast has declined, with similar patterns occurring in the Canadian Maritime Provinces (Meister and Flagg 1997). The American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment report (ASMFC 2012) established that the American Eel is depleted in U.S. waters; the 2023 American Eel Benchmark Stock Assessment (ASMFC 2023) confirmed that this stock remains depleted and abundance is lower than what was reported in the 2017 stock assessment update (ASMFC 2017). The decline in abundance of American Eel has been observed throughout its range, with conflicting evidence regarding spatial synchrony (Richkus and Whalen 1999; Sullivan et al. 2006). Hypotheses for the decline in abundance include shifts in location of the Gulf Stream, pollution, overfishing, parasites, altered oceanic conditions, and barriers to fish passage (Castonguay et al. 1994; Haro et al. 2000; Knights 2003). Additionally, factors such as unfavorable wind‐driven currents may affect glass eel recruitment on the continental shelf and may have a greater impact than fishing mortality or continental climate change (Knights 2003). However, limited knowledge about fundamental biological characteristics of glass eels has complicated interpretation of juvenile abundance trends (Sullivan et al. 2006). The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the American Eel in November 1999. The FMP calls for efforts to collect American Eel data through both fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent studies in coastal states. Consequently, member jurisdictions agreed to implement an annual survey for young‐of‐year (YOY or glass) American Eels. The survey is intended to “…characterize trends in annual recruitment of the YOY eels over time [to produce a] qualitative appraisal of the annual recruitment of American Eel to the U.S. Atlantic Coast” (ASMFC 2000). The development of these annual surveys began in 2000 with full implementation in 2001. Survey ‐ 4 ‐ results provide necessary data on coastal recruitment success and contribute to the understanding of American Eel population dynamics. The 2017 American Eel Stock Assessment Update emphasized the continued importance of the coast‐wide survey as an index of recruitment over the historical coastal range in the U.S. and an early warning of potential range contraction of the species (ASMFC 2017). The 2023 American Eel Benchmark Assessment (ASMFC 2023) recommends continuation of glass eel surveys, but eliminates the need to measure length, weight, and pigment stage for glass eels as no discernable patterns were detected in these statistics after 20 years of sampling.Virginia Institute of Marine Scienc
Lost Lands, Lost Heritage: Examining Displacement And Cultural Exploitation In Black New Orleans And Native American Communities / Storyville’s Shadows Of Desire: Unveiling The Plight Of Black And Mixed-Race Sex Workers In New Orleans
No full textLost Lands, Lost Heritage: Examining Displacement and Cultural Exploitation in Black New Orleans and Native American Communities. This paper examines the displacement of Black residents in post-Katrina New Orleans, arguing it mirrors a continuation of the historical dispossession experienced by Indigenous peoples in the United States. While Hurricane Katrina served as the immediate catalyst, the research demonstrates a deeper, systemic pattern of racial exclusion. This paper traces a historical timeline, revealing how racist housing policies relegated Black communities to low-lying, flood-prone areas, mirroring tactics employed during Indigenous removal acts. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers the devaluation of Black-owned property, highlighting its parallels to the historical undervaluing of Indigenous land and eventual displacement. The paper also explores the role of environmental racism and religious narratives in justifying both Indigenous dispossession and the suffering of Black New Orleanians. By establishing these connections, the research contributes to a broader understanding of settler colonialism in America, demonstrating how its legacy continues to shape contemporary displacement patterns. Storyville’s Shadows of Desire: Unveiling the Plight of Black and Mixed-Race Sex Workers in New Orleans. This paper examines the mythologized reality of Storyville, New Orleans' infamous red-light district. While often romanticized as a cradle of jazz innovation and female liberation, the lived experiences of sex workers, particularly Black and mixed-race women, paint a far grimmer picture. This research dismantles the popular narrative of Storyville as a haven of free expression, exposing the harsh realities of exploitation and abuse faced by the women who lived here. Through analysis of historical documents, police records, and personal accounts, the paper unveils the pervasive presence of sexual violence, including rape, assault, and coercion. Furthermore, the research explores the racist and classist power structures that relegated Black and mixed-race women to the most vulnerable positions within the sex trade. By dispelling the myths surrounding Storyville, this paper sheds light on the oppressive dynamics that governed this segregated vice district. The research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of sex work in the early 20th century, highlighting the complex interplay between race, gender, and economic realities that shaped the lives of women in Storyville.HistoryMaster of Arts (M.A.
Plants, Animals, and Others, Oh My!
Get PDFGrades: 1. Subjects: Life Science Difference between biotic and abiotic ocean lifeVirginia Institute of Marine Scienc