Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of The Duration And Energy Consumption Of Aes Algorithms On A Contiki-Based Iot Device, Brandon Tsao

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

With the growing prevalence of the Internet of Things, securing the sheer abundance of devices is critical. The current IoT and security landscapes lack empirical metrics on encryption algorithm implementations that are optimized for constrained devices, such as encryption/decryption duration and energy consumption. In this paper, we achieve two things. First, we survey for optimized implementations of symmetric encryption algorithms. Seconds, we study the performance of various symmetric encryption algorithms on a Contiki-based IoT device. This paper provides encryption and decryption durations and energy consumption results on three implementations of AES: TinyAES, B-Con’s AES, and Contiki’s own built-in AES. In …

Extreme Image Compression With Deep Learning Autoencoder, Licheng Xiao

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

Image compression can save billions of dollars in the industry by reducing the bits needed to store and transfer an image without significantly losing visual quality. Traditional image compression methods use transform, quantization, predictive coding and entropy coding to tackle the problem, represented by international standards like JPEG (joint photographic experts group), JPEG 2000, BPG (better portable graphics), and HEIC (high efficiency image file format). Recently, there are deep learning based image compression approaches that achieved similar or better performance compared with traditional methods, represented by autoencoder, GAN (generative adversarial networks) and super-resolution based approaches.

In this paper, we built …

Democratic Innovations In North America, Christopher F. Karpowitz, Chad Raphael

Communication

This chapter assesses the state of democratic innovations in North America, including the United States, Canada, and English-speaking countries of the Caribbean. We begin by setting these innovations in the contexts of democracy on the continent, which includes both established democracies and countries that have only recently decolonised. We go on to discuss major trends in democratic innovations over the past two decades in North America, including referendums and initiatives, mini-publics and collaborative governance, and digital participation in political and civic life. We note the broad range of issues addressed by these innovations and their effects on democratic institutions at …

The Fog Development Kit: A Platform For The Development And Management Of Fog Systems, Colton Powell

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

With the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), fog computing has emerged to help traditional cloud computing in meeting scalability demands. Fog computing makes it possible to fulfill real-time requirements of applications by bringing more processing, storage, and control power geographically closer to end-devices. How- ever, since fog computing is a relatively new field, there is no standard platform for research and development in a realistic environment, and this dramatically inhibits innovation and development of fog-based applications. In response to these challenges, we propose the Fog Development Kit (FDK). By providing high-level interfaces for allocating computing and networking resources, …

Fostering Dialogue And Engagement: The Role Of The Catholic Church In Nigeria, Tony Terwase Famave

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

This thesis entitled “Fostering Dialogue and Engagement: The Role of the Catholic Church in Nigeria,” written by Tony Terwase Famave, seeks to address the long-standing misunderstandings between Christians and Muslims that often lead to the wanton destruction of lives, property, and destabilization of the social order, using Vatican II as a model for Nigeria. The ethnic and religious division in the country is further complicated by a Muslim north which is predominantly of the Hausa Fulani tribe and the Christian south which is mostly of the Igbo and Yoruba tribes, with a number of minority tribes counted among the two …

Whole Plastome Sequencing Within Silene Section Psammophilae Reveals Mainland Hybridization And Divergence With The Balearic Island Populations, José Carlos Del Valle, Inés Casimiro-Soriguer, Mᵃ Luisa Buide, Eduardo Narbona, Justen B. Whittall

Biology

Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships within Caryophyllaceae tribe Sileneae has been obscured by hybridization and incomplete lineage sorting. Silene is the largest genus in the Caryophyllaceae, and unraveling its evolutionary history has been particularly challenging. In order to infer the phylogenetic relationships among the five species in Silene section Psammophilae, we have performed a genome skimming approach to acquire the complete plastid genome (cpDNA), nuclear ribosomal cistron (nrDNA), and partial mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). We have included 26 populations, representing the range of each species' distribution. This section includes five morphologically similar species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands …

Stability Of Petal Color Polymorphism: The Significance Of Anthocyanin Accumulation In Photosynthetic Tissues, José Carlos Del Valle, Cristina Alcalde-Eon, Mª Teresa Escribano-Bailón, Mª Luisa Buide, Justen B. Whittall, Eduardo Narbona

Biology

Background: Anthocyanins are the primary source of colour in flowers and also accumulate in vegetative tissues, where they have multiple protective roles traditionally attributed to early compounds of the metabolic pathway (flavonols, flavones, etc.). Petal-specific loss of anthocyanins in petals allows plants to escape from the negative pleiotropic effects of flavonoid and anthocyanins loss in vegetative organs, where they perform a plethora of essential functions. Herein, we investigate the degree of pleiotropy at the biochemical scale in a pink-white flower colour polymorphism in the shore campion, Silene littorea. We report the frequencies of pink and white individuals across 21 populations …

Partners With Passion For The Archives, Nadia Nasr

Staff publications, research, and presentations

On November 7, 2019, the Sisters of the Holy Family religious congregation located in Fremont, California, celebrated the 148th anniversary of their founding at their community event "Celebrating Our Legacy: Past, Present, and Future," held at the conference center of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, located in Fremont, California. This presentation provides an update to the Sisters of the Holy Family after completion of the SHF Archives transfer to SCU, articulating the reasons why this partnership is important not only to Santa Clara University but also to understanding the history of women in the Catholic Church, as well …

Three Wheels United: Market Evaluation Guide, Rachael Han, Gavin Cosgrave

Miller Center Fellowship

This guide evaluates the feasibility of expanding into a new market based on factors found to be important from field research. Examples of these factors include local regulations, existing infrastructure, and driver demographics.

Three Wheels United: Customer Journey Map Recommendations, Gavin Cosgrave, Rachael Han

Miller Center Fellowship

By detailing a driver’s decision-making process, the journey map reveals improvements for the customer experience. Implementing new initiatives can increase driver loyalty and brand recognition.

Three Wheels United: Human Resources Recommendations, Gavin Cosgrave, Rachael Han

Miller Center Fellowship

This guide presents high-level recommendations for improving company communications, building leadership capacity in current employees, and developing organized management structures as the enterprise scales.

Three Wheels United: New Delhi Market Entry Strategy, Rachael Han, Gavin Cosgrave

Miller Center Fellowship

Three Wheels United is preparing to expand into New Delhi, the largest city in India. This document presents pertinent market research, a customized market entry strategy, and partnership recommendations with an electric rickshaw aggregator.

Relationship Between Religion, Spirituality, And Psychotherapy: An Ethical Perspective, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Spirituality and religion are typically a critically important element of most people’s lives. They offer an overarching framework for making sense of the world and a strategy to cope with life’s stressors. They provide a community and a way to wrestle with life’s biggest questions regarding meaning, purpose, and suffering. Mental health professionals are mandated to behave in an ethical manner defined by their codes of ethics. These codes typically understand religion and spirituality a multiculturalism issue. Professionals need to be respectful and responsible and pay close attention to potential implicit bias, boundary crossings, and destructive beliefs and practices. Working …

Clergy Sexual Abuse In The Roman Catholic Church: Dispelling Eleven Myths And Separating Facts From Fiction, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The sexual abuse crisis in the Roman Catholic Church has made headline news across the country and world for years. Yet, even with such remarkable publicity, so much misinformation and myths about the problem persist. It is important for psychologists, as well as other mental health professionals, to be better informed about these myths and misinformation in order to better serve their clients who may be impacted by the story. Those impacted include not only clerical abuse victims, their families, and clerics themselves but also Catholics in general, who may be troubled and demoralized by the ongoing and unfolding crisis …

Engineering News, Fall 2019, School Of Engineering

Engineering News

No abstract provided.

As A Matter Of Impact: Scaling Livelyhoods, Skyler Kriese, Richie Garger

Miller Center Fellowship

This scaling toolkit analyzes critical success factors for LivelyHoods’ expansion both domestically and internationally. These factors are analyzed in tandem with a menu of business strategies LivelyHoods can implement to facilitate the scaling of the enterprise. The business strategy menu will include a matrix and explanations to optimize revenue streams and reduce costs of LivelyHoods’ operations.

Livelyhoods Partnership Evaluation Toolkit, Richie Garger, Skyler Kriese

Miller Center Fellowship

These partnership evaluations provide LivelyHoods with an assessment of its current partnerships throughout Tanzania and Uganda. These assessments include a SWOT analysis of business and impact models to determine potential synergies and opportunities in LivelyHoods’ current and future partners.

On-Farm Food Loss In Northern And Central California: Results Of Field Survey Measurementsauthor Links Open Overlay Panel, Gregory A. Baker, Leslie C. Gray, Michael J. Harwood, Travis J. Osland, Jean Baptiste C. Tooley

Environmental Studies and Sciences

Prevailing estimates of food loss at the farm level are sparse and often reliant upon grower surveys. A more comprehensive review of food loss at the farm level using field surveys is required to gain an adequate understanding of the depth of this issue. This paper details the results of 123 in-field surveys and 18 in-depth interviews of 20 different, hand-harvested field crops performed largely on midsize to large conventional farms in northern and central California. We also provide estimates of the percentage of fields that go unharvested, commonly known as walk-by fields. The results show that food loss is …

Exploring The Changing Teaching Practices And Needs Of Business Faculty At Santa Clara University, Nicole Branch, Anthony Raymond, Melanie Sellar

Staff publications, research, and presentations

This report will present the findings and recommendations of a study designed to explore Santa Clara University (SCU) business faculty’s current and emerging undergraduate teaching practices. The study was led locally by researchers in the SCU Library, with parallel studies conducted at fourteen other institutions of higher education in the United States during the 2018-19 academic year. These studies were coordinated at the national level by Ithaka S&R, a not-for-profit research and consulting service that helps academic and cultural communities serve the public good and navigate economic, technological, and demographic change. Ithaka will publish a capstone report of major themes …

Youtubers Influence Of Young People, Matisse Melendres

Pop Culture Intersections

Youtube Influencers are the new form a fame in our society, and young people of the ages 13-17 spend a huge portion of their free time watching Youtube videos. Youtube Influencers, also known as Youtubers, have a huge amount of influence of young people. In this article, it will discuss that reaction based videos not only attract young people, but also behavior and actions in that video can be easily transferred to the young viewer. In addition, the excessive amount of time young people spend on Youtube can determine the amount of influence Youtubers have amongst the youth.

Holding The Line: A Dynamic Salary Cap For European Association Football, Kavi Sachania

Pop Culture Intersections

European association football’s domination by a select few teams with the plentiful resources to buy talent exposes how a sports league can develop runaway disparity without the presence of any wage spending controls. With the introduction of the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules to keep teams from furthering their debt, much discussion has ensued on whether these financial laws need to be expanded to address competitive imbalance. While salary cap systems have been proposed before, none have been able to balance the interests of owners, fans, players, and regulators within the European Union. I plan to add to the discussion …

The Relationship Between Entrepreneurship, Business And Mental Health, Madison Bregman

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will cover the relationship between entrepreneurship, business and mental health. As entrepreneurship has become increasingly popular in culture, many people aspire to be entrepreneurs. However, the "darker side" of it - the mental health challenges that often come with it - is less talked about and can have a significant impact on the "success" of an entrepreneur.

The Effects Of Scrolling: Social Media Takeover, Bianca Mancini

Pop Culture Intersections

The present research and argument examines how social media (influencers) negatively affect individuals by causing envy and low self esteem. Results suggest that many factors play a role, including time spent on social media and the individual’s level of self-esteem. To support my background research I will pull from my personal experience and a study I conducted. From these results, I have determined that we as a society have to take envy, low self-esteem, age, gender, and location into consideration when we are examining the link between mental health and social media. In the study, I will show that females …

Assistance From Alexa: The Social And Material Benefits Of The Internet Of Things, Sara Bunyard

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will apply the uses and gratifications theory to examine why people adopt products from the Internet of Things. Previous studies have applied the uses and gratifications theory to analyze why consumers have adopted forms of new media and technology, including social media and the Internet of Things. There are also many articles on the potential flaws of the Internet of Things, especially privacy concerns. This article will expand on this research by combining the benefits and concerns about the Internet of Things to asses user satisfaction. It argues that the Internet of Things satisfies user needs successfully despite …

Video Games And Social Relation, Feiyang Yu

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will be discussing how multi-player games encourage social interactions. It will over multiple games as examples to illustrate the argument. The article has two focus: game mechanics and player psychology.

Influences Of Religion In Rap Music, Joey Rubino

Pop Culture Intersections

This article covers the intersection of religion and rap music. It covers many popular rappers of the current era and how their success has been bolstered by religious influence in their music.

The Impact Of The 90’S-2000’S Boy Bands, Tamia Braggs

Pop Culture Intersections

This article will be covering the impact that top tier boy bands, The Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC made in the 90's with Masculinity as well as Marketing aspects.

The Porn Crisis: This Generations Sexual Outlet, Daniela Williams

Pop Culture Intersections

With the development of technology, we opened a world, not only to new ideas and innovations but also to the world of pornography. Pornography has invaded our culture, in music, television shows, movies even social media. Advocates for the production and consumption of pornography claim pornography to be a form of self-expression that is healthy and essential to discovering their sexual experiences. However, this paper argues that the lack of regulation is contributing to the damaging effects pornography has on the consumers’ psyche and behavior, it is also factoring into our society’s decline of public health. This claim is supported …

Effects Of American Pop Culture On The Political Stability Of The Arab Spring!, Mina Alsadoon

Pop Culture Intersections

The Arab Spring was an act of rebellion by the youth to ask for freedom of speech, a relief from the dictatorship era, and to demand basic civil rights. It all started in Tunisia when a policewoman slapped a young boy in public when he was trying to sell merch on the sidewalk to support his family, the boy resulted to burning himself in public as its a shameful thing that a woman hit a man. That in a way started a revolution to enlighten people's minds, and be conscience to reality. In 2009, the Middle East started to get …

Structures, Properties, And Applications Of Cnt-Graphene Heterostructures, Wei Du, Zubair Ahmed, Qi Wang, Cui Yu, Zhihong Feng, Guoyuan Li, Min Zhang, Changjian Zhou, Richard Senegor, Cary Y. Yang

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Both carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene exhibit excellent properties and have many potential applications in integrated circuits, composite materials, thermal management, sensors, energy storage, and flexible electronics. However, their superior properties are confined to one or two dimensions, thus limiting their utility in interconnects or thermal interface materials that require a 3D structure for efficient electron and/or phonon transport. It is conceivable that a combined CNT-graphene structure would provide new opportunities for realizable applications in these and other fields. In recent years, numerous results on synthesis, structural analyses, theoretical modeling, and potential applications of various CNT-graphene heterostructures have been reported. …