Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Modular Approach To Soft Mobile Robots, Dimuthu Kodippili Arachchige

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Soft robot locomotion is a highly promising but under-researched subfield within the field of soft robotics. The compliant limbs and bodies of soft robots offer numerous benefits, including the ability to regulate impacts, tolerate falls, and navigate through tight spaces. These robots have the potential to be used for various applications, such as search and rescue, inspection, surveillance, and more. The state-of-the-art still faces many challenges, including limited degrees of freedom, a lack of diversity in gait trajectories, insufficient limb dexterity, limited payload capabilities, lack of control methods, etc. To address these challenges, this research introduces a modular approach to …

The Robot On The Hill, James Ryan

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

“The Robot on the Hill” is a rogue-like autobattler that procedurally models the state of the individual in the information age. The game abruptly transitions between diverse framings - a hill, a bedroom, a pond, a chessboard, the void - in order to highlight the disjointedness that is present in the informationalizing of self and reality. It dialogues with Byung Chul Han and Heidegger to portray what Han describes as a ‘narrative crisis’ in modernity and the devaluation of experience. When the value of experience diminishes and disintegrates, “all that is left is bare life, a kind of survival.” …

Ai's Ethical Frontier

DePaul Magazine

Artificial intelligence (AI) is affecting every aspect of the university and society. Experts from across DePaul share their insights on artificial intelligence's advantages and pitfalls. Learn about DePaul's new Artificial Intelligence Institute and research projects that use AI for societal benefit.

Machines Of The Absurd: Leveraging Generative Ai For Creativity, Humor, And Playfulness, Tyler Sanders

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Machines of The Absurd is a collection of four projects exploring how generative AI can be leveraged for creativity, humor and playfulness.

1. neverOS — A node-based visual playground for interacting with large language models.

2. Other Calc — An iOS app with a calculator interface, where players can “calculate” text instead of numbers.

3. What Must Burn — An experiment where players type in text that can be dragged into a campfire to produce contextually appropriate sound effects.

4. Jazz vs Waffles — A turn-based comedy game, where players battle anything they type in.

Together, these projects make the …

Overcoming Foreign Language Anxiety In An Emotionally Intelligent Tutoring System, Daneih Ismail

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Learning a foreign language entails cognitive and emotional obstacles. It involves complicated mental processes that affect learning and emotions. Positive emotions such as motivation, encouragement, and satisfaction increase learning achievement, while negative emotions like anxiety, frustration, and confusion may reduce performance. Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA) is a specific type of anxiety accompanying learning a foreign language. It is considered a main impediment that hinders learning, reduces achievements, and diminishes interest in learning.

Detecting FLA is the first step toward reducing and eventually overcoming it. Previously, researchers have been detecting FLA using physical measurements and self-reports. Using physical measures is direct …

Depaul Digest

DePaul Magazine

College of Education Professor Jason Goulah fosters hope, happiness and global citizenship through DePaul’s Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education. Associate Journalism Professor Jill Hopke shares how to talk about climate change. News briefs from DePaul’s 10 colleges and schools: Occupational Therapy Standardized Patient Program, Financial Planning Certificate program, Business Education in Technology and Analytics Hub, Racial Justice Initiative, Teacher Quality Partnership grant, Intimate Partner Violence and Brain Injury collaboration, School of Music Career Closet, Sports Photojournalism course, DePaul Migration Collaborative’s Solutions Lab, Inclusive Screenwriting courses. New appointments: School of Music Dean John Milbauer, College of Education Dean Jennifer …

Link Tank

DePaul Magazine

A new JD certificate program in information technology, cybersecurity and data privacy provides DePaul University students with proficiency in both law and tech.

Designing Depaul

DePaul Magazine

DePaul’s comprehensive, collaborative plan creates a road map that positions the university for monumental impact.

Interposition Based Container Optimization For Data Intensive Applications, Rohan Tikmany

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Reproducibility of applications is paramount in several scenarios such as collaborative work and software testing. Containers provide an easy way of addressing reproducibility by packaging the application's software and data dependencies into one executable unit, which can be executed multiple times in different environments. With the increased use of containers in industry as well as academia, current research has examined the provisioning and storage cost of containers and has shown that container deployments often include unnecessary software packages. Current methods to optimize the container size prune unnecessary data at the granularity of files and thus make binary decisions. We show …

Attention Visual, Baris Dingil

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

This research presents an innovative approach to improving visual-spatial attention using a research tool based on the web. Recognizing the significant role visual-spatial attention plays in everyday life and cognitive function for humans, this research was undertaken with the aim of developing a user-friendly, accessible web-based tool called Attention Visual (attentionvisual.com) to enhance this crucial cognitive skill. This tool also facilitates data collection, potentially accelerating the pace and enhancing the quality of related research. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized for data collection and analysis. In order to stimulate improvements in visual-spatial attention, the tool’s algorithm was structured to …

Hacker, Influencer, Counter-Culture Spy: Cyberspace Actors’ Models Of Misinformation And Counter-Operations, Benjamin Kessell

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

As misinformation continues to spread on social media, its residents have begun to fight back, independent of any platform. This organic resistance to the diffusion of misinformation is a clearly observable phenomenon with roots in Anonymous’ distributed campaigns from the 2010s outwards. Hacker and information security communities are acting in defense of some of their favorite spaces, most notably, Twitter. Security researchers of all stripes use it for sharing indicators of compromise but, as the diffusion of misinformation becomes more problematic it becomes more difficult to find signals in the noise.

These actors’ response to the issues at hand is …

Code Generation Based On Inference And Controlled Natural Language Input, Howard R. Dittmer

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Over time the level of abstraction embodied in programming languages has continued to grow. Paradoxically, most programming languages still require programmers to conform to the language's rigid constructs. These constructs have been implemented in the name of efficiency for the computer. However, the continual increase in computing power allows us to consider techniques not so limited. To this end, we have created CABERNET, a Controlled Natural Language (CNL) based approach to program creation. CABERNET allows programmers to use a simple outline-based syntax. This syntax enables increased programmer efficiency.

CNLs have previously been used to document requirements. We have taken this …

Predicting Code Refactoring Via Analyzing The History Of Quality Metrics And Code Anti-Patterns, Sarah Alanqari

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Code refactoring is the process of improving the internal structure of existing code without altering its functionality. Refactoring can help to reduce technical debt, enhance the quality of the code and make the code easy to evolve. However, the manual identification of the proper code refactoring operations to apply can be time-consuming and not scalable. In this thesis, we propose an approach based on data mining and machine learning techniques to analyze historical data and predict refactoring operations that may occur in a future release of a project. The approach uses a combination of techniques to identify patterns in the …

Empirical Assessment Of Big Data Technology Adoption Factors For Organizations With Data Storage Systems, Ahmad B. Alnafoosi

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Many organizations have on-premises data storage systems. Data storage systems are evolving in multiple ways. One way is the adoption of Big Data. Big Data is a data storage system with the ability to analyze large volumes, velocity, and a variety of data. Per the Economist, data is now the most valuable resource (Parkins, 2017). Big Data holds the promise of unlocking a substantial value of data stored. Yet many organizations are not implementing Big Data. There is a need to identify key factors affecting adoption for such organizations. The literature review revealed multiple gaps in studied adoption factors (un-studied …

Winter 2021

In The Loop

2021 Emmy Nominees; Animator Tapped by Cartoon Network; IndieCade Horizons 2021; Hack4Space; Security Daemons Prevail; Role Models: DePaul Originals Game Studio students build industry-level skills that benefit themselves and others; Frames and Fortune: Eugene Bush programmed his indie video studio with patience and planning; Reality Check: Heather Snyder Quinn augments reality to question systems of unchecked power

Facilitating Heuristic Evaluation For Novice Evaluators, Anas Abulfaraj

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Heuristic evaluation (HE) is one of the most widely used usability evaluation methods. The reason for its popularity is that it is a discount method, meaning that it does not require substantial time or resources, and it is simple, as evaluators can evaluate a system guided by a set of usability heuristics. Despite its simplicity, a major problem with HE is that there is a significant gap in the quality of results produced by expert and novice evaluators. This gap has made some scholars question the usefulness of the method as they claim that the evaluation results are a product …

Threshold Concepts In Web Development: The Impact Of Education And Experience On The Perceptions Of Practitioners, Michael Lee Mick

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

The Threshold Concepts (TCs) framework posits characteristics of critical concepts that enable a learner to see things in a new and unforgettable way that allows the incorporation of cognitive approaches and skills needed by professionals in the discipline. All previous research has been qualitatively oriented toward discovery of candidate TCs, without, so far, quantitative studies of the candidate TCs recognition within the professional ranks. An underrepresented group in previous research is that of Web development professionals.

This proposal describes initial quantitative research utilizing the TCs framework in the Web development area to measure the perception of candidate TCs by professionals …

Examining Dimensions Of Patient Satisfaction With Telemedicine, Robert Garcia

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

During the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) medical institutions and practitioners have drastically increased their adoption of telemedicine. The proliferation of telemedicine systems has sparked renewed interest among IS researchers in evaluating its usage. One of the main indicators used to measure the success of telemedicine services is patient satisfaction. Yet several problems exist with current methods used to evaluate telemedicine satisfaction. Patient satisfaction with telemedicine is frequently evaluated using either single question items or handmade instruments that are seldom assessed for validity. While telemedicine satisfaction is typically evaluated through single measures, satisfaction is considered a complex and multidimensional …

Federated Learning In Gaze Recognition (Fligr), Arun Gopal Govindaswamy

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

The efficiency and generalizability of a deep learning model is based on the amount and diversity of training data. Although huge amounts of data are being collected, these data are not stored in centralized servers for further data processing. It is often infeasible to collect and share data in centralized servers due to various medical data regulations. This need for diversely distributed data and infeasible storage solutions calls for Federated Learning (FL). FL is a clever way of utilizing privately stored data in model building without the need for data sharing. The idea is to train several different models locally …

Quantitative Intersectional Data (Quinta): A #Metoo Case Study, Alicia E. Boyd

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

This research began as an investigation of the #metoo movement, with the initial impetus to illuminate the voices located on the margins, those who often go unheard or are never recognized. This work aimed to understand the intersectional aspects of how these hashtag variations of the hashtag #metoo (i.e. #metoomosque, #churchtoo, #metoodisable, #metooqueer, #metoochina, etc) reveal the inequities of the #metoo movement on Twitter. The proliferation of these hashtag variations has often been ignored by scholars, and therefore absorbed into the larger #metoo movement conversation on Twitter. Therefore, the term `hashtag derivative' was created to describe the variation on the …

Spring 2021

In The Loop

IRL Programs Debut; Short & Sweet Pandemic Film Fest; New MS in Artificial Intelligence; Virtual Experts Talks; DePaul Trustee Producing Documentary; DemonHacks Hackathon; Silicon Valley 2.0: The DePaul Innovation Development Lab connects students and companies to spark solutions to technological challenges; Code Warrior: Ovetta Sampson has risen to challenges in digital design, journalism and athletics while inspiring others; Pattern Recognition: A CDM health informatics team joins a global race to advance COVID-19 diagnostics through X-ray insights

In The Loop - Spring 2021 (Full Issue)

In The Loop

No abstract provided.

Silicon Valley 2.0

In The Loop

The DePaul Innovation Development Lab is a collaborative ecosystem that joins business and academia in mutually beneficial, experimental enterprise. Students work in the techcentric think tank and consultancy that turns business problems into functional, testable software prototypes.

Seen And Heard

In The Loop

IRL Programs Debut; Short & Sweet Pandemic Film Fest; New MS in Artificial Intelligence; Virtual Experts Talks; DePaul Trustee Producing Documentary; DemonHacks Hackathon

Alumna Profile: Code Warrior

In The Loop

Competing in triathlons helped Ovetta Sampson (CDM MS ’16) stride past personal setbacks. The DePaul graduate’s career path evokes that athletic competition as well. She has moved from journalist to principal creative director at Microsoft, where she leads a team she says tackles “big, human-centered problems for big companies” in artificial intelligence, automation, digital transformation and manufacturing.

Research Focus: Pattern Recognition

In The Loop

A CDM health informatics team joins a global race to advance COVID-19 diagnostics through X-ray insights.

Designing An Interactive Theatre Game With Dynamic Asynchronous Play, Ardian Amiti

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

This project proposes the use of asynchronous narrative mechanics and dynamic elements of gameplay to further the player’s sense of interaction with characters and the environment of the game, inspired by interactive theatre performances such as Sleep No More. The player plants seeds in a garden which is maintained by several Non-Playable Characters, influencing both the environment and the narrative. Scenes occur according to the state of the garden, but do not wait for the player to be present. Plants grow and wilt as time passes. Sometimes the player cedes control as the characters tend to or cut down plants, …

Walking The Walk

In The Loop

DePaul's College of Computing and Digital Media has several programs that engage students in enjoyable and educational endeavors that build their skill sets, confidence, and connections. The School of Cinematic Arts has partnered for several years with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) on a program that pays youth residents of CHA housing to participate in documentary filmmaking, screenwriting and design. DeSports involves students at two Chicago Public Schools (CPS) in e-sports to develop collaboration, communication and critical-thinking skills. Middle-school girls in CPS participate STEM-oriented pursuits as part of Digital Youth Divas.

Bert Efficacy On Scientific And Medical Datasets: A Systematic Literature Review, Clayton Cohn

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) [Devlin et al., 2018] has been shown to be effective at modeling a multitude of datasets across a wide variety of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks; however, little research has been done regarding BERT’s effectiveness at modeling domain-specific datasets. Specifically, scientific and medical datasets present a particularly difficult challenge in NLP, as these types of corpora are often rife with technical jargon that is largely absent from the canonical corpora that BERT and other transfer learning models were originally trained on. This thesis is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of twenty-seven studies that were …

Fall 2020

In The Loop

Studio CDM Documents Remote Initiatives; "Tom of Your Life" Film Release; Animation Jam Goes Virtual; DePaul Experimental Film Showcase 2020; Trackmania Soundtrack; Alumni Games at Pixel Pop; Alumnus Commemorates St. Vincent de Paul; Cybersecurity Champion Alina Kuzmenkova; Walking the Walk: Youth programs at CDM express DePaul’s Vincentian values; Fair Treatment: Three initiatives address racial inequity in health care; They've Got You Covered: A School of Design instructor leads a cottage industry of makers protecting essential workers from the novel coronavirus; Meet Would-Be Hot Topic Influencer Vera Drew; Data Detectives: CDM helps Chicago track the racial proportions of its COVID-19 cases