Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2010, Physics and Astronomy (Arts and Sciences)

This dissertation presents analysis for electromagnetic decay of the Σ0(1385) from the reaction γ p → K+ Σ*0. Also presented is the first ever measurement of the electromagnetic decay of the Σ+(1385) from the reaction γ p → K0 Σ*+. Both results are extracted from the g11a data set taken using the CLAS detector at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. A real photon beam with a maximum energy of 3.8 GeV was incident on a liquid hydrogen target during the experiment resulting in the photoproduction of the kaon and Σ* hyperons. Kinematic fitting is used to separate signal from background in each case. For the first time, a method to kinematically fit the neutron in the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (EC) of CLAS was performed, leading to a high statistics study of the neutron resolutions in the EC. New techniques in neutron resolution matching for Monte Carlo simulation using dynamic variable smearing are also developed. The results from the Σ0(1385) electromagnetic decay lead to smaller statistical and systematic uncertainties than the previous measurement by Taylor et al. A U-spin symmetry test using the U-spin SU(3) multiplet representation gave a prediction for the Σ*+→ Σ+γ partial width and the Σ*0→ Λγ partial width. The latter agrees, within the experimental uncertainties, with the prediction from U-spin symmetry, but the former reaction is much smaller than its prediction.

Committee: Kenneth Hicks PhD (Advisor); Todd Young PhD (Committee Member); Justin Franz PhD (Committee Member); Carl Brune PhD (Committee Member); Kenneth Hicks PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Physics

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 1961, Theatre

Committee: F. Lee Miesle (Advisor) Subjects: Theater

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Physics

Two-dimensional crystals have become a prominent part of condensed-matter research for many years due to the unique adaptability of their interlayer interactions. This ability to isolate and stack individual crystal layers has led to the exploration of low dimensional physics and has spurred the creation of countless van der Waals heterostructure devices. Graphene, a monolayer of graphite, has spearheaded this research and continued to remain at the forefront since the tremendous activity directed towards it following the experiment of 2004 [1]. More recently, graphene has regained the spotlight with the discovery of twisted bilayer graphene, a heterostructure consisting of two overlapping graphene layers with an interlayer twist. As a result of the twist, a geometric interference pattern whose periodicity can be controlled by the relative angular alignment between them is formed. This is known as a moire pattern and it creates a superlattice potential that modifies the electronic structure of the system. For twist angles of about 1.1°, the “magic angle”, flat bands form near zero Fermi energy, resulting in a number of correlated phases including Mott-like insulators, superconductivity, and magnetism. [2-12] Another atomically thin two-dimensional material of interest is black phosphorus (BP), a semiconductor with high electron mobility and a tunable direct band gap. BP is an allotrope of phosphorus that can be obtained by heating up white phosphorus under high pressure. Known as phosphorene when it is mono- or few-layered, BP possesses an anisotropic crystal structure, which translates to anisotropic electronic, optical, and thermal properties [13, 14]. As a result of these particularly interesting features, phosphorene has spurred its own set of studies [15-26] The focus of this dissertation can be divided into two parts. In the first part (Chapters 1-6), it will explore Hall transport in TBG near the magic angle [27]. In the second part (Chapters (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Marc Bockrath (Advisor); Chun Ning Lau (Committee Member); Ilya Gruzberg (Committee Member); Richard Furnstahl (Committee Member) Subjects: Materials Science; Physics

Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2021, History

Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, and Nina Simone were musicians in the early-mid twentieth century who were innovators for using art as activism. They used their art and platforms to raise awareness and comment on the state of the nation in regards to civil rights. Billie Holiday paved the way with her iconic song "Strange Fruit," calling out racial injustice in the form of lynchings. Lena Horne was a performer who made room for Black actors in Hollywood for roles outside of stereotypes, like servants or "mammies." Nina Simone was a classical pianist who used her strong voice and honest lyrics to narrate the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. Their lives demonstrate intersectionality and how Black women used their strength, determination, and art to be part of a movement.

Committee: Chester Pach Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; American History; Black History; Gender; History; Modern History; Music

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Theatre and Film

In Toward the Horizon: Contemporary Queer Theatre as Utopic Activism, I pursue two intersecting goals. First, I offer close readings of theatrical representations of queerness that expand beyond the shallow representations of the not-so-distant past, including the trope of the gay best friend (G.B.F.) and so-called “homosexual problem plays.” Second, I engage with dramaturgies of theatre for social change, reading those dramaturgical possibilities into scripted drama in support of my argument that contemporary queer theatre creates utopic activist potential within viewing and/or reading audiences. Over five chapters, I explicate and critically consider queer theatrical works that deploy dramaturgies and pedagogies of theatre for social change, including Bull in a China Shop by Bryna Turner, Significant Other by Joshua Harmon, Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Scissoring by Christina Quintana, Log Cabin by Jordan Harrison, The Prom by Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar, A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson, and The Inheritance by Matthew Lopez. I build upon the queer theory legacies of Jose Esteban Munoz and his conceptualizing of utopia on the horizon, and Jill Dolan's notion of utopic performatives, to argue that these pieces hold the potential to lead audiences towards what I term “utopic activism.” Utopic activism concerns the potential to create change through the application of pedagogies and dramaturgies of theatre for social change to scripted drama, and in turn prompt audiences toward envisioning, embracing, and enacting a better future. Individual chapters draw on a variety of critical modes of investigation including history, historiography, and historicization, empathy, relationships and friendships, and genre conventions to investigate the ways queer theatre creates meaning. My study finds queer representation in contemporary theatre is steadily changing and consistently embracing more complex and affirming visions of queerness. Indeed, while there (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jonathan Chambers PhD (Advisor); Mieses Nermis DMA (Other); Ahlgren Angela PhD (Committee Member); Nees Heidi PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Glbt Studies; Theater; Theater Studies

Master of Fine Arts (MFA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Creative Writing/Poetry

The speaker in this collection is a continually evolving entity which is both aware of, connected to, and separate from the previous versions of themselves. In the first section, the speaker still needs to explore and spends a great deal of time wondering about what they are. The speaker eventually realizes that they are not the same as the members of their family, or possibly not even humanity as a whole. By the second section, the speaker has become aware of themselves, but still feels the need to explain or describe themselves to the reader, and sometimes even to the previous versions of themselves referred to as “she” and “you,” with “she” being the oldest or original version of the speaker. The speaker does not have much compassion for the lack of enlightenment in their previous counterparts in this section, but that begins to change by the third and final section. In the last section, the speaker has become fully aware of themselves and has developed a more mature and confident voice. Their wondering has disappeared, as has any lingering bitterness toward their previous selves. Instead, the speaker, while still viewing themselves as separate from the “she” and the “you,” speaks more directly to them in a more tender and understanding tone, as the speaker knows what it is they will have or have gone through to become the “I.” The collection as a whole deals with themes of birth, metamorphosis, the self, and what it means to be entirely other, however one might interpret the idea of otherness.

Committee: Larissa Szporluk (Advisor); Sharona Muir (Committee Member); Abigail Cloud (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2015, Mathematics

A strange duality morphism is a map between the spaces of global sections of a pair of line bundles on two different moduli spaces of stable complexes, induced by the so-called theta divisor of product of the two moduli spaces. We study these morphisms by varying stability conditions that define the moduli spaces and comparing the corresponding theta divisor.

Committee: James Cogdell (Advisor); David Anderson (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2003, Physics

The consequences of a first order QCD phase transition in the protoneutronstar remnant of core collapse supernova are presented with a special focus on the effects on neutrino transport. A secondary focus is the detection of these neutrinos in terrestrial detectors. Hybrid stars are constructed such that a coexistence region of QCD-confined and deconfined phases forms in the protoneutronstar interior with possibly a pure deconfined phase in the center. The resulting Coulomb lattice (1D,2D and 3D) in the coexistence region is shown to crystallize for temperatures relevant in supernova cores seconds after bounce. Droplet deformation modes freeze out in the same range. For the outermost ~1 km of the coexistence region, the stability of the 3D lattice to shear stresses falls below the critical range of mechanical energy densities provided by hydrodynamical flow. This can lead to a non-spherical relief structure which, together with the enhanced neutrino opacity of the coexistence lattice, can result in anisotropic neutrino transport and therefore neutron star kicks. A computer model for neutrino diffusion coupled with quasistatic evolution of a solid lattice phase and hydrodynamical treatment of the confined matter envelope was developed to address the kick model and other problems. The state of newly formed hybrid stars is determined using a self-consistent approach of integrating the stellar structure equations with the constraint of heat flow equilibrium, resulting in relatively cool energy spheres (T~1MeV) compared to T~10MeV in the interior. Typical cooling timescales of hybrid stars are then ~100 seconds. This is shown to result in a statistically significant signal in a Pb-neutron spallation detector. In exploratory calculations, observed kick speeds were reproduced and the presence of a sustainable convective flow pattern to maintain a crater in the coexistence region was verified. The Pb and Fe components of a proposed neutron spallation neutrino detector conce (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Boyd (Advisor) Subjects: Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2001, Physics (Arts and Sciences)

We study data acquired at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to obtain cross sections for the reaction: e+p→e′+K0∗(892)+Σ+(1189), measuring cross sections at a beam energy of 4.2 GeV of a few hunderd nb, depending on the available energy in the reaction. A second measurement is made, strictly as a consistency check, which about half as much data taken at a beam energy of 4.4 GeV. The particles detected in the final state include the scattered electron, and the K0∗ decay products, K+ and π−. Our statistical error is on the order of 15%. This represents the first-ever measurement of this final state with an electron beam. These data are expected to be an important test of theoretical models of the process.

Committee: Kenneth Hicks (Advisor) Subjects: Physics, Nuclear

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2008, English

This thesis explores the function of iconic literary characters in late-Victorian gothic romance as expressed through the contemporary debates they embody as narrative types. Chapter 1 examines the paradoxical position of the Victorian gentleman's public identity through a reading of Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Chapter 2 analyzes the relationship between Sherlock Holmes's position on the social periphery and the tale of imperial corruption he exposes in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of Four. Chapter 3 discusses the dandy's ambiguous moral state as a product of economic and cultural changes among wealthier residents in London's West End that were connected to debates about their group's role in relation to charity, consumerism, and culture. These findings suggest characters that are often read as personifying complex literary aspirations may also be approached productively as vessels that are capable of addressing difficult issues on innocuous terms.

Committee: Susan Morgan PhD (Committee Chair); Mary Jean Corbett PhD (Committee Member); Madelyn Detloff PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: English literature

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, English

Historically, dress has served as a kind of shorthand for expressing information about characters, particularly female characters, in British literature. I assert that there is a language of dress at work in the New Woman novel, and this dissertation is an endeavor to interpret four components of that language: Aesthetic dress, the tea gown, the tailor-made gown, and rational dress. Through analysis of Vernon Lee's Miss Brown, Sarah Grand's The Heavenly Twins, and Mary Ward's Marcella, I argue that to dress a woman Aesthetically was often to denote her desire for women's liberation along with her own. As painters dressed female models Aesthetically, so Aesthetically dressed characters found themselves “painted” into particular roles. Through readings of Netta Syrett's The Day's Journey, John Strange Winter's A Blameless Woman, and Violet Hunt's The Human Interest and A Hard Woman, I show that to dress a character in a tea gown was to demonstrate her desire for intimacy. New Women heroines often wear tea gowns in situations not considered socially appropriate. Such fashion statements demonstrate a desire to expand societal notions of “respectable” intimacy; one example of this is the association of the tea gown with maternity. Through interpretations of Rita's A Jilt's Journal, George Moore's Evelyn Innes and Sister Teresa, Ella Hepworth Dixon's The Story of a Modern Woman, and Beatrice Whitby's Mary Fenwick's Daughter, I show how the tailor-made represents a desire for solidarity with other New Woman, and a tendency to seek maternal guidance from one's peers rather than from one's mother. Finally, some fictional New Woman heroines appear in trousers, or rational dress. These costumes appear only rarely in fiction as they appeared rarely in life, due to social stigma which associated women in pants with actresses and prostitutes. Such fiction represents an attempt to revise the language of dress by presenting rationally dressed New Women as particularly honest, whi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: William Siebebschuh PhD (Committee Chair); Kurt Koenigsberger PhD (Committee Member); Kenny Fountain PhD (Committee Member); Mary Davis PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Literature