MSARCH, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture

In the past, bazaars constituted a chain of shops along a street that were known to sell a variety of goods. Shopping malls evolved from the traditional form of bazaars where people would frequent to buy goods from local artisans, craftsmen as well as farm products from local farmers. Owing to the oil boom in the Middle East in the late 20th century, particularly, from 1974 - 1980, there was a rapid development of these facilities as people invested oil money in land purchase and construction of commercial buildings. As time went by, investors sought to incorporate leisure facilities into the mall structures thereby creating the modern day malls and bazaars. This was particularly necessary due to the lack of nature parks and other recreational areas, aspects that can be attributed to dry conditions of the region hence limited productive acreage. As a result, malls in Saudi Arabia have become cultural hotspot where people of all ages, nationalities, and races come to meet and interact. The number of people visiting the country has been on the increase. The factors behind visiting this wonderful country are diverse and not limited to the scope of cultural factors and religion, age, gender, among other demographic characteristics. The influence on individuals' capacity to visit shopping malls to purchase their needs, do window shopping, or socialize is therefore varied. The rationale behind this is that while some shoppers seek social exploration, others are after recreational facilities and opportunities. Being an activity that involves face-to-face interactions between buyers and sellers in the mall, shopping has become an agent for breaking cultural boundaries in the society of Saudi Arabia as people interact with each other. This thesis is an observation of the emerging social interactions in the malls in Saudi Arabia.

Committee: Nnamdi Elleh Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Edson Cabalfin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Architecture

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2019, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Information Technology

This study explores the philosophical foundations, benefits and shortcomings, and potential design space of a prison-based social media application – Panoptix. This exploration begins by attempting to understanding constructs of ICT utility in prison - recreation, socialization, and social control - that can be used to assess stakeholder viewpoints. It used these constructs to develop a survey that was shared with a sampling of stakeholders - police and corrections officers, formerly incarcerated individuals, and individuals with no direct corrections contact. The results were then analyzed to better understand opportunities and challenges that such a system may present. This study found that viewpoints did in fact vary across stakeholder groups. Across all respondents, greater value is assigned to recreation and socialization in the prison environment than inmate control. Furthermore, the perceived value of social media in these same areas of utility was ambivalent across all groups except for the formerly incarcerated, who overall appear to view the recreational, socialization and control value of social media more strongly. These are presented as early findings that show potential for future work on this design space.

Committee: Jess Kropczynski Ph.D. (Committee Chair); M. Murat Ozer Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Information Technology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2019, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

The role of behavior in the success of invasive species has been widely studied, however the influence of behavioral plasticity on invasive success has not. In the first chapter of this thesis, two morphs of pet-trade hybrid swordtails (X. helleri x maculatus) underwent a treatment regimen consisting of differing levels of food availability to measure the responses of aggression, feeding rate, and boldness behaviors when facing changes in this important environmental factor. There was significant variation across the food availability treatments in feeding rate, as well as differences influenced by sex, which suggests behavioral plasticity for this behavior. The difference by sex is possibly due to differential reproductive strategies involving prioritization of time and resources. Boldness and aggression behaviors were not plastic in response to food availability, and morph and size did not significantly influence any behavioral variation across the treatments. These findings suggest that while plasticity may be present in one of the behavioral traits that are vital to a potential invasive species, it does not appear to be a primary factor influencing the success of this hybrid species. Social context is often not considered in laboratory-based fish behavioral research, although it has been shown to have significant effects on behavior. In the second chapter of this thesis, swordtail hybrids underwent one of two different social housing treatments to determine if socialization influences exploration behavior: half of the hybrids were housed alone, and the other half were housed with conspecifics. All individuals were then tested for exploratory behavior in two tests: the first being a solitary exploration test and the second being a test with conspecifics. Solitarily housed hybrids were significantly more exploratory than those housed with conspecifics in the solitary test environment. Additionally, swordtail hybrids were more exploratory overall when in a group (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Molly Morris PhD (Advisor); Viorel Popescu PhD (Committee Member); Susan Williams PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Animal Sciences; Aquatic Sciences; Biology; Conservation; Ecology; Freshwater Ecology