Digital Commons Network^™

The Inspector: Removing Barriers To Efficient Specimen Analysis By Reduced Specimen Repositioning, Josef Mayo

Theses

Entomology is the scientific field dedicated to the research and study of insects. In the last several decades, many journals and scientific papers have addressed the decline in insect populations worldwide and the increased need to understand the reasons for this. Many have called this decline an indicator that we have entered a “Sixth Extinction” which would lead to a mass extinction of life on Earth. How can we as designers provide assistance to the scientific community who are working to understand and provide solutions to this natural crisis? As an Entomologist's primary tool for observation, microscopes and other optical …

Microclimate Enhancement In Arid Climate, Paras Bharat Nandu

Theses

In summary, the four primary variables for human comfort - air temperature, wind speed, humidity, and mean radiant temperature - can be analyzed using solar analysis and computational fluid dynamics on computer-aided software. This allows for quick calculations and the ability to measure the effects of sun and wind on building design. Historically, designers relied on judgment for passive design decisions, but now with the help of software, sustainable architectural design solutions can be achieved. This includes utilizing proven passive techniques that have existed since ancient times but are often overlooked in favor of energy-consuming mechanical systems. This thesis challenges …

Design And Development Of A Movable Multi-Functional Display, Junjie Zhou

Theses

COVID-19 has altered lives and work. Travel restrictions and social distance requirements compel remote communication. My design will help the youth group communicate remotely in various situations. I identified two primary forms of remote communication for people separated by interviews and questionnaires: direct communication based on video calls and interactive entertainment based on online games and streaming media. I summarized long-distance communication issues and user needs in further research. Video calling is the most popular method for those who need to interact directly. Video calling does have certain drawbacks, though, like the inability to actively choose one's point of view …

An Analysis Of The Homicide Response Team In Rochester, New York, Nicole Pratt

Theses

The focus of this capstone project is on the Homicide Response Team in Rochester, New York, which is a collaborative effort among various government and local agencies to provide outreach services to the family members of homicide victims. This capstone seeks to examine community-based responses to violence, their impact on the community, and related literature, including community organizations and crisis intervention teams.

The Impact Of Digital Transformation On Human Resources During The Pandemic Covid-19, Hind Rashid Alessa

Theses

Technological advancement in human resources and the adoption of artificial intelligence, analytics, and machine learning help HR leaders become strategic leaders. Automation helps in engaging employees and improving their work experience. Human resource is an important part of an organization and before covid epidemic the human resource department works manually and in an office environment completely. However, due to covid-19 pandemic has raised the demand for working online and implementing digital transformation ways. There is a high demand for working virtually or what is called hybrid working, simple-to-use technology that can be accessible at anytime from anywhere. Human resource employees …

Characterization Of Microbial Communities On Post-Consumer Polymers In Water Bodies Of The Lake Ontario Watershed: Environment Determines Community Structure On Post-Consumer Plastic, Carmella M. Bangkong

Theses

Plastic debris has been found across the spectrum of freshwater ecosystems, including stormwater retention ponds, tributaries, rivers, and large lakes. The ubiquity of plastic debris in the valuable freshwater ecosystems that we rely on for our water supply and natural resources raises a number of environmental and human health concerns. Little is known about how the composition of plastic-associated microbial biofilms varies across the many types of plastic polymers or how these biofilms vary in microbial composition across freshwater environments. These interactions raise the potential for the selection of unique communities of organisms that shift ecosystem function, or harbor pathogenic …

Colorful Chef: A New Kitchen-Experience For Colorblind People, Anqi Zhu

Theses

Color is an important medium of perception. Color blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women.1 It’s estimated that there are 300 million colorblind people in the world, and there are different types of colorblindness, varying from color, degree, age, gender, and more. Apart from medical treatment, the life experience of different color-blind people has always been put in one large category, but it’s important to pay attention to different types of colorblindness causing different life inconveniences for color-blind people. Through all the life experiences, kitchen use is one of the most important routines in …

Quantifying The Nexus Of Climate, Economy, And Health: A State-Of-The-Art Time Series Approach, Kameron Blair Kinast

Theses

Extreme weather events pose significant threats to human life, the economy, agriculture, and various other socio-economic aspects. This thesis presents a comprehensive analysis of the patterns of climate factors and their impact on the economy and human health using state-of-the-art and emerging statistical machine learning techniques. This research consists of two parts: exploring and comparing the effectiveness of statistical models with respect to climate time series forecasting and analyzing the effects on the economy and human health. The study employs a predominantly computational approach, leveraging R, Python, and Julia to demonstrate the role of statistical computing in understanding climate change …

Targeted, Neha Joshi

Theses

The document is about the impact of targeted advertising on individuality and the loss of privacy. I describe my personal experience of being influenced by advertisements and how it led me to question my identity. I highlight how algorithms use personal information to categorize people and target them with specific ads, leading to a loss of privacy. I also argue that the internet has provided us with platforms to promote ourselves, but we lose our identity in the process of being boxed up and targeted by advertisements. I conclude by emphasizing the importance of recognizing and spreading awareness about the …

Electricity Theft And Energy Fraud Detection, Ali Jassim Rajab

Theses

Electricity theft is a widespread problem with significant negative economic and financial impacts. This problem is still a challenge for energy utilities all around the world. Estimates place the cost of power theft and fraud in the energy sector at $96 billion yearly, with costs of up to $6 billion in only the United States, making it the third largest form of theft in the country. Therefore, tackling electrical fraud and theft is more necessary now than ever.

Different methods are being used or developed to detect this practice and lessen its effects. The project aims to detect electricity theft …

Workforce Management For Salik Call Center, Alaa Seder, Rawan Alnasser

Theses

Salik is the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority’s (RTA) automated toll collection system. Salik uses tag technology that must be registered for each vehicle either online or through an authorized dealer. With this tag, you can drive freely in the Emirate without having to stop at any toll booth. Salik means "open" or "clear" in Arabic, meaning that there are no toll booths, barriers, or physical gates. As a customer- focused organization, RTA Salik can only thrive if we truly understand the needs of our customers and provide them with the service, they want using the highest quality standards.

Prediction …

Legacy, Joseph Jackson

Theses

What will A.I. look like in the near future, and how will we incorporate it? In the past decade, I have seen personal assistants like Siri and Alexa become common. I believe that the next leap in personal assistants will not be a new personality entirely but one our own choosing. Legacy is a short fiction film that offers a glimpse into the life of a programmer named Wright, who works at an A.I. company called Legacy. Legacy is a subscription-based A.I. personal assistant developer that creates a likeness of historical persons and celebrities. Following the recent death of Wright’s …

Which?, Ting Yu Chang

Theses

Which? is a 2D animation of a young witch, who looks like the typical witch with her black robe and her bony face. She is trying to find her prince charming from a dating app. The witch keeps scrolling on the mirror. Suddenly, a prince's profile gets her attention. The prince is tall and handsome.She falls in love with the prince at first sight. However, the prince's profile shows that he only loves a princess, who has beautiful long hair and a delicate face. The witch decides to change herself to look like a princess. The witch’s little friends, such …

Lwir Spectral Variability Integration And Improvements To An Earth Observing Statistical Performance Model, Runchen Zhao

Theses

Remote sensing systems can be used to identify objects without physical contact. In hyperspectral remote sensing systems, pixels from a 3D hypercube can be described as a one-dimensional spectra. This one-dimensional spectrum can contain information about surface reflectance and emissivity variation as a function of wavelength, and is often thought of as the materials spectral signature or fingerprint. This spectral signature can be used in applications such as spectral target detection. To study the spectral signatures variation and its impact on target detection, for example, a parameter trade- off study is often needed. In this research, a full-spectrum spectral imaging …

Shiftable Load Forecasting And User-Centric Demand-Side Optimization For Nanogrid, Akash Kumar

Theses

Increased focus on sustainability and energy decentralization has positively impacted the adoption of nanogrid (NG). Despite its perceived advantages, NG’s high load volatility poses risk not only to its stability but also to the associated network. This is further exacerbated by the user’s transient moods and the probabilistic nature of metrological events. Moreover, unoptimized operation of electrical appliances in a NG, especially in peak hours, raises the energy cost substantially. Thus, for risk aversion and cost savings, day-ahead demand-side optimization is highly required, especially for shiftable loads. Moreover, most load centers, aspiring to be NGs, have either limited or no …

Appearances Are Deceiving: Long-Distance Subject Anaphors And Phasal Binding Domains, Fahad A. Almalki

Theses

An unusual behavior of anaphors is to occur in embedded subject positions and bebound across a finite clause boundary by a matrix subject. This thesis, however, demonstrates that such constructions exist in Malki Arabic, besides other languages. First, this thesis shows that the clause size of the embedded clause in which subject anaphors are allowed is CP and not always a TP. Second, in light of current reductionist approaches to binding domains of the classical binding theory to phase theory, a cross-clausal binding relation bears issues to those approaches, as a long-distance antecedence relation crosses a phase boundary. Taking long-distance …

Evaluating The Performance Of Process-Based And Machine Learning Models For Rainfall-Runoff Simulation With Application Of Satellite And Radar Precipitation Products, Amrit Bhusal

Theses

Hydrology Modeling using HEC-HMS (Hydrological Engineering Centre-Hydrologic Modeling System) is accepted globally for event-based or continuous simulation of the rainfall-runoff operation. Similarly, Machine learning is a fast-growing discipline that offers numerous alternatives suitable for hydrology research's high demands and limitations. Conventional and process-based models such as HEC-HMS are typically created at specific spatiotemporal scales and do not easily fit the diversified and complex input parameters. Therefore, in this research, the effectiveness of Random Forest, a machine learning model, was compared with HEC-HMS for the rainfall-runoff process. In addition, Point gauge observations have historically been the primary source of the necessary …

Comparing Knowledge About Differential Diagnosis Of Childhood Apraxia Speech And Phonological Development Between Communication Disorders And Sciences Graduate Students, Bayley Eubanks

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OFBayley Eubanks, for the Master of Science degree in Communication Disorders and Sciences presented on March 30, 2023, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: COMPARING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS OF CHILDHOOD APRAXIA SPEECH AND PHONOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN COMMUNICATION DISORDERS AND SCIENCES GRADUATE STUDENTSMAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Valerie Boyer The purpose of the study was to gather information from current graduate students by a brief in-service on the differential diagnosis of CAS and PD in speech-language pathology pre-professionals. The distinctions between CAS and other speech sound disorders, such as PD, must be made clear to pre-professional SLPs …

Effects Of Matching Images Of Natural And Built Environments On Delay Discounting: A Systematic Replication Of Berry Et Al. (2014), Elizabeth Fillmore

Theses

Decision making is heavily influenced by the environment around us. Berry et al. (2014, 2015, 2019) showed that viewing images of natural environments during the delay discounting task resulted in lower impulsive choice, as compared to viewing images of built environments or geometric figures. Berry et al. proposed that attentional factors could explain this effect, however, recent attempts to reproduce Berry et al.’s findings in a different laboratory have been unsuccessful (Johnson 2017, 2018, 2019). The present study tested if manipulating the participants’ observing responses towards different types of images (natural, built, and no images) modulates the effect reported by …

Multi-Species Trophic Response In Tributaries Of The Ohio River Along A Gradient Of An Invasive Planktivore, Justin Kowalski

Theses

1. Aquatic invasive species often have a gradient of abundance along connected systems as invasion occurs. Invading species effects on native species may not be apparent when the species first colonizes a new area but as abundance of the invader increases they may have detrimental effects to native ecosystems even when not fully established. 2. A gradient of Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) abundance in the Ohio River exists as invasion has been slowed by the many navigation dams that exist on the river. I examined how the isotopic niche of four native species differed along the Silver Carp gradient in …

Study Of Advanced Friction Material For The Automotive Industry, Manisha Upreti

Theses

Manufacturing/casting defects and the corroding nature of grey cast iron require the attention of researchers to search for a better alternative to grey cast iron rotors. The increasing demand and market of electric, hybrid vehicles draw the attention of scientists and car manufacturers to conduct more research to find suitable and sustainable braking material that can overcome the issues related to grey cast iron rotors brakes. A modern alternative for grey cast iron rotors may be 3D-printed stainless steel rotors. The promising future of 3D printing technology has propelled the manufacturing industry into a new era of customized fabrication. Thus, …

Potential For Bioaccumulation And Biotransformation Of Bifenthrin And 4, 4’-Ddt Through Sediment Exposure To Chironomus Dilutus, Eleni K. Robinson

Theses

The ecological role of chironomids has been described as an abundant and ubiquitous prey item for not only aquatic species, but terrestrial and avian species as well. Global use of pesticides in urban and agricultural applications have introduced a potential threat not only to chironomid populations, but to the individuals that prey on chironomids. Chironomids direct contact with the sediment has resulted in both legacy and current-use pesticides being detected in the individuals throughout their life cycle. The capacity for contaminant uptake and biotransformation among each midge life stage and from larvae to adults, however, is poorly understood. The lipophilic …

Beyond The Page: Multimodal Lab-Based Research And Development In Creative Writing, Matthew Jacob Gordon

Theses

This collection acts as the supporting evidence of the hypothesis that, while acting as Graduate Director of SIU’s Digital Xpressions Lab, Matthew Gordon was able to successfully provide effective support for the digital expression of collaborator’s and client's domains of knowledge while forming innovative research partnerships with academics within the SIU system and beyond. A unique form for a MFA in Creative Writing’s thesis, this collection represents the multimodal creative work a contemporary narrative designer can undertake in a single academic year when given the ability to lead a facility like Southern Illinois University’s Digital Xpressions Lab. Qualitative evidence in …

A Current To Digital Converter For Power Signature Generation Applications, Arunima Aindrila Badhon

Theses

The security of IoT devices is significantly increasing as a consequence of the widespread usage of the Internet of Things (IoT) in applications that include confidential data and implementation of important control decisions using those data. Because of their cheap cost and computational limitations, IoT devices confront significant obstacles in safeguarding. Among the variety of devised tactics analyzing power is one of the most potential strategies to address such challenges. However, due to the size, cost, and power consumption of power analysis devices, this strategy is not suited for many IoT applications. In this thesis, two techniques for collecting power …

Hardware Accelerators And Their Use In Computer Vision, Cameron Villone

Theses

The evolution of technology is impressive. Before digital, there was analog; before software, there needed hardware. This evolution is natural as we try and optimize technology for our needs. The shift to digital was fueled by the space saved from using digital systems compared to analog. When it came to software, the ability to use generic hardware in the forms of cen- tral processing units; CPUs, Graphics Processing Units; GPUs, and Random Access Memory; RAM allowed for complex software solutions to be able to run on many different devices with- out much need for translations. With software development getting so …

Online Fourier Analysis Of Time-Varying Signals In A Real-Time Embedded Environment, Ty Freeman

Theses

A software-based, constant-flow implementation of the radix-2 Cooley-Tukey fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm is presented in this paper. The program is built within a real-time embedded environment running FreeRTOS. The system is used for the online frequency anal- ysis of time-varying, one-dimensional signals of an arbitrary length. The system’s design is validated through testing to produce results accurately on signals within specific boundaries. The proposed system has a maximum transform size of 256 samples due to the memory limitations on the development board. The hardware in use is an STM32L476 Nucleo development board which simulates the lightweight, low power, and …

Embedded Solar Tracker Design Utilizing Solar Position Calculation With Sensor Correction, Austin Martinez

Theses

As renewable energy becomes more accessible, affordable optimization solutions have become a larger part of at home systems. Solar energy is one of the most common clean energy applications used by homeowners because of its increasing affordability. While many photovoltaic systems are statically mounted on roofs or in yards, many systems also employ some kind of solar tracking. Both single axis and dual axis solar tracking systems have been implemented and tested with multiple kinds of tracking methods. Two of the most accurate tracking strategies are utilizing light dependent resistors or using some kind of solar position calculation. This paper …

Memory Protection With Cached Authentication Trees, Andy Belle-Isle

Theses

The use of embedded systems and the amount of data they process is rapidly growing in the modern information age. Given physical access to a device, an attacker can monitor the signals between the CPU and Memory to intercept, and possibly even inject new data into the system. A variety of attacks are possible including, replay, spoofing, and splicing attacks, each one threatening the safety of the system. Ensuring this data is intact is imperative, and as physical protection is difficult, data protection hardware is a must. Protecting memory was researched in the past, and there are several methods of …

A Bit-Exact Hierarchical Systemc Model Of Ppim For Verification And Performance Modeling, Dhana Lavanya Balasubramanian

Theses

The semiconductor industry has seen tremendous advancement lately and is expected to continue to grow since multiple industries like automobile, health care, meteorology, etc are developing dedicated chips with advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI). These improvements also come with increased complexities. Engineers now require advanced ways to model the designs in addition to existing Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) such as Very High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) and Verilog. One such way to model the designs is by using SystemC, which is a library of C++ classes and macros that can be used similar to an HDL for modeling …

Optimizing Voronoi Tessellation Façade’S Capability For Pollution Removal And Interior Daylighting In An Urban Environment, Simon Bai

Theses

Air pollutants are a major health concern in urban zones worldwide, and these unnoticeable air particulates and gases are detrimental to the individuals’ respiratory and cardiovascular wellbeing. Since buildings are the most abundant structure within these built environments, this study focuses on how to utilize the façade of these structures in an attempt to solve the escalating air pollution problem. In this case, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is introduced to give building façades the capability to deal with air pollution in addition to being inexpensive and chemically stable. A TiO2 surface makes use of photocatalysis under ultraviolet (UV) light to decompose …