Maryland Shared Open Access Repository
MD-SOAR is a shared digital repository platform for twelve colleges and universities in Maryland. It is currently funded by the University System of Maryland and Affiliated Institutions (USMAI) Library Consortium (usmai.org) and other participating partner institutions. MD-SOAR is jointly governed by all participating libraries, who have agreed to share policies and practices that are necessary and appropriate for the shared platform. Within this broad framework, each library provides customized repository services and collections that meet local institutional needs. Please follow the links below to learn more about each library's repository services and collections.
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Recent Submissions
Tiny Houses and the Black Experience in Baltimore
(2020-05) Fair, Justin; Campo, Daniel; Kargon, Jeremy; Department of Design and Planning; Master in City and Regional Planning
Baltimore’s contemporary housing culture is the result of decades of discriminatory housing practices. Decades later from those insidious roots, residents are rightfully skeptical of innovative and alternative concepts when traditional solutions have repeatedly failed at paradigm shift. Proposals must then hold specific regard to the very-human, emotional effects that racism plays in setting structural expectations; both literally and institutionally. To the former expectation, an account of the traditional and innovative building types with an account of past successes and failures by local government can regain public confidence. Yet only if an alternative proposal offers a pragmatic, financially achievable and proven scope. But to the latter institutional expectation, the public feels amiss but does not know why. Like a patient who cries to be healed but watches as their doctor cannot get the serum just right, Baltimore residents are used to illness spreading; more rowhomes being abandoned than being rebuilt. Yet residents expect the standard formula to somehow net a body-wide cure when the pain’s cause is layered, requires multiple visits, and must be accompanied by the faith of optimism to prevent nihilism. In Baltimore City, market values are painfully askew yet residents expect business as usual to net a magic solution; whilst furthermore, actively disbelieving that any other route could reasonably address the problem. Among the many building types available to supplement an affordable housing inventory, “tiny houses” – often standalone foundation-based dwellings of an especially small footprint, often less than 400 square feet– may be an increasingly attractive option. With an emphasis on Baltimore’s Black (AfricanAmerican) population, what follows summarizes historical concerns, identifies groups for which “tiny houses” are an appropriate housing solution, and documents neighborhood indicators for or against their application. Based upon a survey of recent literature and a compilation of local questionnaires, this research will review cultural attitudes towards “tiny houses.” Recommendations about how they may be reintroduced successfully into Baltimore’s housing market will also be accompanied by proposed changes to legislation recently under consideration by the City Council. Whereas foundation-based homes, alley rowhomes, carriage houses, and marinas, are already permitted, their homeowners’ values are not well communicated. These recommendations will provide verbal outreach messaging as well as land use and landscape strategies that planners and developers can use to address contemporary residents’ positive and negative preconceptions. Lastly, this research is a preliminary effort to provide such a guide, as well as to document the evolving cultural and historical framework within which “tiny houses” are contributing to a more robust and equitable housing market in Baltimore, Maryland.
Infinite Transformations in a Suitcase: Encountering Human-DNA Interaction through Poetry-infused Wine
(ACM, 2025-03-04) Hamidi, Foad; Dusman, Linda Dusman; Boot, Lee
Interacting with materials, including biological and living materials, that embody computation and information has increasingly been of interest to the TEI community. In recent years, increased access to low-cost synthetic biology tools and techniques has made it easier for non-experts to experiment with modifying living organisms for creative and artistic purposes, including at the molecular DNA level. A challenge has been to create engaging and culturally-mediated experiences to make these human-DNA interactions accessible to diverse audiences. Infinite Transformations in a Suitcase is a multimedia installation that creates a mediative space inviting reflection on the resilience of culture. At its center is a glass of poetry-infused wine created using genetically modified yeast cells whose DNA contains an encoding of a 14th-century Sufi poem by Hafiz of Shiraz, surrounded by video of it being written in Farsi calligraphy. By combining multiple embodied and abstract poetic elements, the installation invites the audience to reflect on the materiality and movement of culture.
Administration, Delivery, and Creation of Public Value: Zambia’s Public Pension Fund
(2025-03-24) Michelo, Kelly; Naylor, Lorenda; Wyatt-Nichol, Heather; Michael, Eleftherios; University of Baltimore. College of Public Affairs; University of Baltimore. Doctor of Public Administration
This study pioneers the application of the Public Value (PV) framework to Zambia’s
Public Pension Funds (PPFs); it explores stakeholder’s conceptions of public value and
its alignment with Ubuntu principles. Through 47 in-depth interviews over 7 months, the
research identifies challenges in addressing the growing elderly population’s needs and
proposes reforms to improve the pension system. The study’s innovative alignment of PV
with Ubuntu principles offers social solidarity and collective well-being. The research
investigates how stakeholders’ conceptions of public value align with their goals, the
existing administrative frameworks, and the needs of the PPFs, and implications for
reforming PPF to better serve retired public servants and the growing elderly population.
This qualitative study contributes to the understanding of public value in pension system
reform and informs policy and administrative improvements for Zambia’s PPFs. Key
findings highlight the need for aligning vision and mission statements with social
protection goals and Ubuntu principles, addressing funding and technological constraints,
enhancing transparency and stakeholder engagement, and digitizing and decentralizing
services. This research seeking to improve public pension systems in Africa and beyond.
Magneto-optics in a van der Waals magnet tuned by self-hybridized polaritons
(Springer Nature, 2023-08) Dirnberger, Florian; Quan, Jiamin; Bushati, Rezlind; Diederich, Geoffrey M.; Florian, Matthias; Klein, Julian; Mosina, Kseniia; Sofer, Zdenek; Xu, Xiaodong; Kamra, Akashdeep; García-Vidal, Francisco J.; Alù, Andrea; Menon, Vinod M.
Controlling quantum materials with light is of fundamental and technological importance. By utilizing the strong coupling of light and matter in optical cavities¹ ² ³, recent studies were able to modify some of their most defining features⁴ ⁵ ⁶. Here we study the magneto-optical properties of a van der Waals magnet that supports strong coupling of photons and excitons even in the absence of external cavity mirrors. In this material-the layered magnetic semiconductor CrSBr-emergent light-matter hybrids called polaritons are shown to substantially increase the spectral bandwidth of correlations between the magnetic, electronic and optical properties, enabling largely tunable optical responses to applied magnetic fields and magnons. Our results highlight the importance of exciton-photon self-hybridization in van der Waals magnets and motivate novel directions for the manipulation of quantum material properties by strong light-matter coupling.
Unifying radiative transfer models in computer graphics and remote sensing, Part II: A differentiable, polarimetric forward model and validation
(Elsevier, 2024-01-03) Salesin, Katherine; Knobelspiesse, Kirk D.; Chowdhary, Jacek; Zhai, Peng-Wang; Jarosz, Wojciech
The constellation of Earth-observing satellites continuously collects measurements of scattered radiance, which must be transformed into geophysical parameters in order to answer fundamental scientific questions about the Earth. Retrieval of these parameters requires highly flexible, accurate, and fast forward and inverse radiative transfer models. Existing forward models used by the remote sensing community are typically accurate and fast, but sacrifice flexibility by assuming the atmosphere or ocean is composed of plane-parallel layers. Monte Carlo forward models can handle more complex scenarios such as 3D spatial heterogeneity, but are relatively slower. We propose looking to the computer graphics community for inspiration to improve the statistical efficiency of Monte Carlo forward models and explore new approaches to inverse models for remote sensing. In Part 2 of this work, we demonstrate that Monte Carlo forward models in computer graphics are capable of sufficient accuracy for remote sensing by extending Mitsuba 3, a forward and inverse modeling framework recently developed in the computer graphics community, to simulate simple atmosphere-ocean systems and show that our framework is capable of achieving error on par with codes currently used by the remote sensing community on benchmark results.