Institutional Repository

The UDSpace Institutional Repository collects and disseminates research material from the University of Delaware.

  • Faculty, staff, and graduate students can deposit their research material directly into UDSpace. Faculty may use UDSpace to fulfill the University of Delaware Faculty Senate Open Access Resolution, and in many cases may use it to fulfill open access requirements from grant funding agencies.
  • Departments can use UDSpace to publish or distribute their working papers, technical reports, or other research material.
  • UDSpace also includes all doctoral dissertations from winter 2014 forward, and all master's theses from fall 2009 forward.

To learn more about UDSpace, and how you can make your research openly accessible to the public, visit our UDSpace Policies website.

 

Recent Submissions

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Thracians in the Eyes of Others: A Critical Analysis of Data and Biases within Ancient and Modern Sources
(University of Delaware, 2025-05) Damian Dumchus
Archaeology plays an important role in constructing, developing, and modifying identities from both the past and present and is often cited in geopolitical or ethnonationalist disputes around the globe. The Thracians were an ancient Indo European speaking people living in what is now Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, and were mentioned extensively in Ancient Greek mythology and literature. Today, Bulgarian identity traces its ultimate origins to the Thracians, a result of an identity construction necessitated by over seven hundred years of foreign occupation. Archaeology plays a significant role in this process and is heavily promoted by the Bulgarian government. Archaeology, as a discipline, is often undermined by the preconceptions and biases that may influence interpretations, often in ways that are wildly inaccurate. This thesis examines textual and archaeological data pertaining to Thrace from both classical antiquity and the present, as well as providing an outline of the social contexts and biases of specific societies that often influence the interpretations. Consisting of three main parts, each with several chapters, this thesis begins with an ‘ethnohistory’ of the Thracians, a project commonly found within archaeology. The second part analyzes influences and contacts the Thracians had with their neighbors, and the third part contains an outline of the social contexts, biases, trends, and geopolitical situations of the relevant societies, relating them to the data and interpretations that have been compiled. This structure mirrors that of archaeological textbooks and journals, albeit with greater emphasis on critique and postprocessual theory.
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AUTOMATIC ANALYSIS OF TIMING AND SYNCHRONY IN ROWING
(University of Delaware, 2025-05) Cornelia Meiss
Synchrony and Timing are key components of the sport of rowing. This thesis investigated different ways of determining the synchrony between two athletes on rowing ergometers in a video. First, human pose estimation techniques were used to extract body key points and compare the synchrony of one or multiple body parts across the length of the video. Second, a video classification model based on either the R3D or I3D model were trained to classify rowing videos as synchronized or unsynchronized and their performance was compared. The pose estimation approach could detect and highlight small asynchronies between rowers that are hard to detect for humans and could provide valuable additions to rowing training. For the video classification approaches, the R3D-based model reliably classified rowing videos and generalized well to unseen and slightly different data. It outperformed the I3D-based approach, which performed well on the training data but generalized poorly to different data.
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DIVERSITY, MOVEMENT AND SURVIVAL OF JUVENILE FISHES AROUND AQUACULTURE GEAR IN NEARSHORE ENVIRONMENTS OF DELAWARE BAY, USA
(University of Delaware, 2025-05) Clare McLaughlin
As aquaculture continues to expand in coastal systems worldwide, evaluating ecological impacts on wild fish communities is essential for sustainable marine resource management. This study examined the influence of rack-and-bag (RB) oyster aquaculture structures on the diversity, movement, and apparent survival of juvenile fishes in nearshore environments of Delaware Bay, USA. Using a mark-recapture framework, Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging, and environmental monitoring, we investigated the habitat use of two focal species—American Eel (Anguilla rostrata) and Black Sea Bass (Centropristis striata)—across two ecologically distinct sites: Port Mahon and Lewes. Over a 12-week sampling period, eel traps were deployed at fixed distances (0, 3.5, 7, and 14 meters) from aquaculture gear to detect spatial gradients in fish distribution. Biodiversity metrics revealed higher species richness and abundance at Port Mahon, while Lewes exhibited greater species evenness. A pronounced halo effect was observed at both sites, characterized by elevated capture rates and species richness nearest to RB structures, suggesting that aquaculture installations enhance localized habitat complexity and biological activity. Cormack-Jolly-Seber models estimated an apparent survival rate (Φ) of 64.6% for American Eels, with a detection probability (p) of 15% at Port Mahon. In Lewes, Black Sea Bass exhibited a higher survival estimate under a time-variant detection model (Φ = 90.6%), though with wide uncertainty. For comparison, a time-invariant model for Black Sea Bass yielded a lower survival estimate (Φ = 43.88%; 95% CI: 19.98–70.99%) and a detection probability of 13.42% (95% CI: 3.52–39.68%). These results reflect the episodic use of aquaculture gear by American Eel and Black Sea Bass. My findings indicate that RB oyster aquaculture provides valuable refuge and foraging habitat for juvenile fishes and may function as a habitat enhancement tool in estuarine systems. The spatial patterns observed underscore the ecological role of aquaculture gear in shaping fish community structure and movement, with implications for the design and management of sustainable aquaculture operations.
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Latvia’s Russophone Dilemma: The Correlation Between Language Ideology and Populism In Post-Soviet Latvia
(University of Delaware, 2025-05) Carly Brant
In the last decade, Europe has witnessed a significant rise of populist parties, a trend mirrored globally with the re-election of Donald Trump in the United States. This thesis examines the reasons behind the success of these populist movements, focusing on the interplay between language ideologies, populism, and democratic state-building specifically in post-Soviet Latvia. It explores how the legacies of Russian-language occupation contribute to present-day societal tensions between the Russophone minority and the “ethnic Latvian” majority, reinforcing the success of Latvian populist parties. Drawing on Jan Werner Muller’s theories on populism, the study argues that Latvian language policies contribute greatly to the marginalization of the Russophone population, ultimately resulting in moralized anti-pluralism that erodes Latvian democracy. The research finds a positive correlation between heightened sociolinguistic tension and increased support for populist parties like National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība) and Latvia First (Latvija pirmajā vietā). This thesis explores the tension between the ethnic-Latvian and Russophone populations that has heightened within the context of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Rather than sympathizing with or excusing in any capacity the current actions of the Russian government, this thesis offers possible explanations for the infiltration of Latvian’s democracy by populist actors that capitalize on a powerful sociolinguistic division present in Latvian society that was formed out of remnants of its colonial past and has re-emerged in light of the current regional conflict.
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“FROM COP CITY TO PALESTINE”: DIGITAL PLACEMAKING AS TRANSNATIONAL SOLIDARITY
(University of Delaware, 2025-05) Cadence Roy
The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE), a program facilitating exchanges of policing techniques and technologies between the Atlanta Police Department and the Israeli Defense Forces, has initiated the construction of a militarized police training center called Cop City. The violent policing tactics Israel weaponizes against Palestinians are now exported to the United States. Atlanta’s activists in the Stop Cop City movement and Palestinians resisting occupation note the formal connections between the two sites and employ digital placemaking tactics to collaboratively contest dominant narratives of place. I argue that these transgressive digital placemaking practices are a form of transnational solidarity, bringing together geographically disparate actors in a common political struggle.