Digital Commons Network^™

The Design And Realization Of A Dual Mode Photoacoustic And Ultrasound Imaging Camera, Zichao Han

Theses

Prostate cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. Diagnosis of the disease is based on persisting elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and suspicious lesion felt on digital rectal examination (DRE), prompting transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) imaging guided biopsy. This method, however, has long been criticized for its poor sensitivity in detecting cancerous lesions, leading to the fact that these biopsies generally are not targeted but systematic multi-core in nature that try to sample the entire gland. The thesis presents a new modality that, in combination of ultrasound (US) imaging with multi-wavelength photoacoustic (PA) imaging, improves …

Design Vs. War: Modular System Of Toys For War-Affected Children, Shima Ghaheri

Theses

Toy and play as integral childhood components have proven to be crucial in child development. [1] It has been adults’ responsibility to provide children with suitable toys or help them find or make ones. However, this task seems to be challenging about children in war zones. Children that still have the rights to be recognized as children, to spend their time playing delightfully, and to grow peacefully.

In this project, first I examine how wars affect lives. To dig into the effect further, I explore the affected war children as the most vulnerable group of the society. Then I study …

Array-Based Statistical Analysis Of The Mk-3 Authenticated Encryption Scheme, Peter Bajorski, Alan Kaminsky, Michael Kurdziel, Marcin Lukowiak, Stanislaw Radziszowski

Presentations and other scholarship

Authenticated encryption (AE) schemes are symmetric key cryptographic methods that support confidentiality, integrity and source authentication. There are many AE algorithms in existence today, in part thanks to the CAESAR competition for authenticated encryption, which is in its final stage. In our previous work we introduced a novel AE algorithm MK-3 (not part of the CAESAR competition), which is based on the duplex sponge construction and it is using novel large 16×16 AES-like S-boxes. Unlike most AE schemes, MK-3 scheme provides additional customization features for users who desire unique solutions. This makes it well suited for government and military applications. …

Customization Modes For The Harris Mk-3 Authenticated Encryption Algorithm, Peter Bajorski, Alan Kaminsky, Michael Kurdziel, Marcin Lukowiak, Stanislaw Radziszowski

Presentations and other scholarship

MK-3 is a new proprietary authenticated encryption algorithm based on the duplex sponge construction. To provide security autonomy capability, such that different users can have sovereign variants of the encryption algorithm, MK-3 is designed to be customizable. Two levels of customization are supported, Factory Customization and Field Customization. Customization is done by modifying functions and function parameters in the algorithm to yield differing cipher functions while preserving the algorithm’s security. This paper describes the MK-3 algorithm’s customization options and discusses results of testing designed to verify security autonomy among the customized variants.

Which Method-Stereotype Changes Are Indicators Of Code Smells?, Michael J. Decker, Christian D. Newman, Natalia Dragan, Michael L. Collard, Johnathan I. Maletic, Nicholas A. Kraft

Presentations and other scholarship

A study of how method roles evolve during the lifetime of a software system is presented. Evolution is examined by analyzing when the stereotype of a method changes. Stereotypes provide a high-level categorization of a method's behavior and role, and also provide insight into how a method interacts with its environment and carries out tasks. The study covers 50 open-source systems and 6 closed-source systems. Results show that method behavior with respect to stereotype is highly stable and constant over time. Overall, out of all the history examined, only about 10% of changes to methods result in a change in …

Suitability Of Active And Intelligent Packaging For Local And Organic Food – A Case Study In Southern Finland, Sara Paunonen, Marja Pitkänen, Mika Vähä-Nissi, Ville Leminen, Mika Kainusalmi

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

This study explores the suitability of innovative packaging for local and organic food. Attitudes and opinions in local and organic food chains in Southern Finland were collected via eighteen semi-structural interviews. The respondents were small-scale producers and processors of fish, meat, berries, and mushrooms, wholesalers, retailers, and institutional kitchens. The aim of this study was to understand factors promoting and preventing the penetration of innovative packaging solutions into the organic and local food market. A clear majority (89%) of respondents considered active and intelligent solutions to be equally suitable for local and organic food as for conventional food. However, less …

A Qualitative Study On How Students With Visual Impairments Perceive Environmental Issues, Mustafa Ürey, Maşide Güler Mrs.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Although there is a growing emphasis on determining how people perceive environmental issues, the studies composed of functioning members of society who happen to have visual impairments are still scarce. The scope of this current paper is aimed at revealing the environmental issue perceptions of middle school students with such conditions. As a part of a large-scale study, this paper presents qualitative data gathered from a well-structured interview protocol. The participants of the study were fifteen Turks from different regions who fell into the aforementioned group. In order to analyse the data, a content analysis technique has been adopted. The …

#Metoo: Personal Accounts Of Sexual Violence On Facebook Analyzing Individual Stories To Reveal Themes About Gender, Power, And Intersectional Factors, Lauren Depoint

Theses

This study examines the types of narratives constructed about experiences with sexual violence shared in Facebook posts using the hashtag #MeToo. Feminist and intersectional theories were used to contextualize a textual analysis of 61 public posts to explore how individuals were presenting their experiences for a mass audience online in the absence of traditional gatekeepers. Most of the posts featured graphic details, strong emotion, and patterns of internalized misogyny. Stories shared revealed troubling power dynamics involving disability, race, and gender. Intersectional groups are underrepresented in online spaces, indicating a problematic absence of these individuals within online movements like #MeToo that …

Perceptions Of Non-Americans Towards American Tv Series, Thaarika Charumathy Seetharaman

Theses

Television drama is one of the most entertaining genre of the media industry, and it serves as a socialization platform (Greenberg, 1982). American TV series have gained audience and fans from all around the world which opens up the scope for examining the effects of American media on the secondary audience. Drawing on the framework of cultivation theory, this study examined the effect of American TV series on non-American population. The results suggested that the cultivation effects are dependent on age and gender of the respondents, in connection with the genre of the series influencing the audience’s framing of the …

Understanding Motives For Posting Online Reviews, Mara Plecas

Theses

With the help of the Internet, information is no longer only controlled by large businesses and news media. Consumers now have an opportunity to assert their opinion of products or services online in form of online reviews and electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) communication. Both positive and negative word-of-mouth communication can have a strong influence on consumers’ behavior and on business performance. Positive word-of-mouth is becoming a new way of promoting and building brand relationships with consumers. Negative worth-of-mouth is motivated by revengeful behavior due to a negative or dissatisfying experience. Vast amount of research has shown that word-of-mouth can be a …

Système, Trupti Pomaje

Theses

In today’s throwaway world, the rate at which and the amount of goods that are getting discarded has developed an alarming situation. Electronic industry has evolved rapidly since the invention of transistors in 1947. From these days onwards, efforts have been taken to make the products more efficient in terms of their performance, reduce design and production cost and have higher profit margins. However, this has led to products being designed in a way which makes people want to dispose them early, in turn making them part of waste after usage. Electronic products contain certain materials and components which are …

Daily Artefact: A Record Of Making And Maker, Aprille Nace

Theses

Reacting to the inherent qualities of clay this thesis is an exploration into how mass, color, expressionistic textures, quiet neutral planes, and the materiality of clay can embody extreme contradiction and tension in abstract ceramic sculpture. The body of work begins as a massive blank canvas awaiting my response of the moment. Each form is acted upon differently but holds in common a stretching of the expressivist potential of clay. This exploration is driven by my struggles with the extreme highs and lows of bipolar disorder.

That was the premise of my thesis before I began working on it. As …

The Lost & Found Game Series: Teaching Medieval Religious Law In Context, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Presentations and other scholarship

Lost & Found is a strategy card-to-mobile game series that teaches medieval religious legal systems with attention to period accuracy and cultural and historical context. The Lost & Found project seeks to expand the discourse around religious legal systems, to enrich public conversations in a variety of communities, and to promote greater understanding of the religious traditions that build the fabric of the United States. Comparative religious literacy can build bridges between and within communities and prepare learners to be responsible citizens in our pluralist democracy. The first game in the series is a strategy game called Lost & Found …

An Empirical Evaluation Of The Indicators For Performance Regression Test Selection, Kevin Hannigan

Theses

As a software application is developed and maintained, changes to the source code may cause unintentional slowdowns in functionality. These slowdowns are known as performance regressions. Projects which are concerned about performance oftentimes create performance regression tests, which can be run to detect performance regressions. Ideally we would run these tests on every commit, however, these tests usually need a large amount of time or resources in order to simulate realistic scenarios.

The paper entitled "Perphecy: Performance Regression Test Selection Made Simple but Effective" presents a technique to solve this problem by attempting to predict the likelihood that a commit …

Heaven & Earth, Nelson Caliguia Jr.

Theses

Heaven & Earth is a graduate animated thesis film with a runtime of four minutes and 58 seconds. This animated short film is a playful take on the eternal struggle between humans and the heavenly forces that dictate weather conditions. Heaven & Earth combines elements from both Philippine folk art and classic American cartoons, exploring a stylistic hybrid borne out of influences that I have genuine affinity for.

This animated short is in full color, and was produced using digital 2D animation. It was entirely animated in TVPaint, while the backgrounds were drawn and painted in Photoshop. For compositing and …

Compelling, Fatmah Bamashmous

Theses

As a woman from Saudi Arabia learning the craft of woodworking in America, I intend to embrace the opportunity to blend Arabic art and design with my knowledge of making furniture to create a body of work that is uniquely mine.

In my thesis, I created a body of work that helped me define my voice as an Arabic designer and maker. I have seen and researched Islamic art and graphic details such as Arabesque (عربسكي), which is an ornamental design consisting of intertwined flowing lines, and architectural details found in Mashrabiya (مشربية) arches, doors,..etc., and incorporated these aspects into …

24 Jie Qi Journey: Learning Jie Qi Culture And Living A Healthy Life, Yuqi Xiao

Theses

This project aims to explore new ways to spread traditional culture of Jie Qi and to teach a healthy lifestyle according the theory of Jie Qi. The project provides comprehensive design solutions through a website to remedy the problem of ineffective learning of complex knowledge from books and lack of communication. The website creates a virtual visual environment through interactive design that offer users a playful journey through an introduction of Jie Qi.

Jie Qi is a historic and significant invention. Based on observations of the sun’s movement integrated with natural phenomenon, starting about 3000 years ago, the ancient Chinese …

Special Interest Magazine Publishers’ Digital Strategies For Reader Engagement, Patricia Axford

Theses

This research study is intended to examine the strategies that special interest magazine publishers are utilizing to develop engaging reader experiences. In addition, the role of reader input in the curation and creation of interactive content for these publications is also investigated. Published research has indicated that reader interest in specific topics increases the likelihood of engagement with the publication, resulting in prolonged readership. Furthermore, studies suggest that interactivity has a positive effect on entertainment value, visual appeal, service excellence, and a return on investment with regard to readers. Digital technologies enable publishers to provide readers with bundled offerings with …

The Impact Of Perceived Leadership Styles On Hotel Employee Job Engagement, Abutaleb Zarban

Theses

Engaged employees have a positive impact on organizational outcomes. In fact, employees who are highly committed to their jobs tend to perform better, and such employees are less likely to quit. Leaders in the workplace have the potential to influence employee work engagement. Different leadership styles might drive employee engagement to different extents. The purposes of this study are twofold: to identify the leadership styles and drivers that lead to engaged employees, and to contribute to the literature of employee engagement in the context of hospitality and tourism. This study used a quantitative method, specifically survey that was distributed to …

Paving The Sustainability Journey: Flexible Packaging Between Circular Economy And Resource Efficiency, Michelle Marrone, Stefano Tamarindo

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely, therefore not hindering the future in any way, neither environmental, nor economic or social. The entire scientific community around the world recognizes and attributes the main cause of climate change and temperature anomaly to the significant increase of anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which in turn are the result of a linear economy of production, consumption and disposal. By 2030 the EU expects all packaging to be either recyclable or reusable. In this context, flexible packaging, always hailed as a sustainable and resource-efficient alternative to rigid packaging, is now being challenged, in …

Composition, Creative Writing, And The Digital Humanities, Kate Bradley

Journal of Creative Writing Studies

No abstract provided.

The Connected Package Dynamic, Updated, Customized Printed Packaging Communication, Goliardo Butti

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Current packaging identifications are based on barcode, Ean/GTIN, QR code. These systems offered great advantages but with some limitations: bad impact, duplicability and they are unreadable.

Printed package, today, is simply a container, a static product. Printed packaging communication is already obsolete when products arrive on the shelf, while Consumers ask to be key player: They need information, interactivity, customization.

“The connected package” represents the next generation in packaging communication.

StealthCode® is based on Digimarc® technology, a unique watermark enhanced into the file design. It adds traditional GTIN barcode and URL information over the entire surface of the package without …

Incorporation Of Nanoclay And Orange Peels Extract Into Pla For Food Applications: Migration Assessment, Laura Marinoni, Sarah Montes, Elena Jubete, Jesus Palenzuela, Gabriel M. Cid, Daniel Aguilera, Giorgia Spigno

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

This research investigated the overall and specific migration from two different formulations of PLA: one obtained with addition of nanoclay as a filler (PLA_Clay), and another one obtained with the addition of an antioxidant extract from waste orange peels (OPE) as an active component for food application (PLA_OPE). Overall migration was always below the current European limit of 10 mg/dm² set for food contact materials (maximum 0.2 mg/dm² from PLA_Clay into distilled water and 2.7 mg/dm² from PLA_OPE into 3 % acetic acid). Specific migration of clay elements and particles from PLA_Clay was evaluated by different techniques …

Fissures And Fractures: An Investigation In Natural Breakdowns, Joshua Dewall

Theses

Growing up in a mostly rural area in the Midwest, I spent great lengths outside as a child. Sure, I was born into the era of arcade games and Nintendo, but I remember preferring more active experiences rather than the stationary ones held within doors. Maybe it was hard to keep my focus; maybe I was a bit hyperactive. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t inside when I didn’t have to be. I recall escaping into the woods for hours when I was younger. I would take long bike rides or escape into the horse pasture deep behind our house. Not …

Heymoe: Leveraging Virtual Robot And Game Mechanics In Mobile Prototype Application Design For Chinese Language Learning, Boxiao Gong

Theses

With the growth of internet technology, individuals currently have a better experience in using interactive systems like desktop computer software or mobile device applications than ever before. Moreover, using mobile phones in learning activities is becoming increasingly popular. However, the learning applications today do not fully meet the learner’s needs, especially for young adults who have some interest but lack fundamental knowledge in their study subjects. Combining mobile phone technology and game elements could make it possible to solve this problem. In this way, the limitations of location and the sometimes boring nature of the learning activities could be efficiently …

The Graphic Design Archive: Generating Higher Levels Of Scholarship Through A User Experience Approach To Scholarly Image Database Design, Jenna Shay

Theses

Innovations in the user experiences of digital image collections have taken image-based searching from the realm of basic one-way searches and sorts and delivered users a new world of dynamic and interactive explorations that offer mechanisms for higher-level cognitive functions such as comparing, analyzing, sorting, sharing, designing, and creating in an intuitive environment. While innovations in image search functionality often occur first in non-academic applications (e.g., social media), image archives meant to amasse and preserve visual information for the ages would benefit by adopting and adapting search innovations.

Students and scholars that access image-based archives of information to gather resources …

The Budgeting Process Of Kosovo: A Critical Analysis, Arber Maxhuni

Theses

The budgeting process is one of the most important macroeconomic tools of the Government. Throughout the budget cycle, strategic allocations of public money to budget organizations are conducted in aspiration of financial stability and economic prosperity. This study attempts to provide a comprehensive overview of Kosovo’s contemporary budgetary practices and underpin some of its weaknesses. It discusses both legislative and executive viewpoints of the process and proposes recommendations which would improve the budgeting process in terms of quality, transparency, and efficiency.

Tactile Painting Easel: For People With Limited Vision, Yue Zhang

Theses

Visual art is probably the oldest art. But people with vision challenges have been held back, perhaps for many years by avoiding making art. However, it is never late to start and this painting system helps to paint with ease and joy. Through the researching about the behavior of people with visual disability, the conclusions are: Painting can help people with limited vision to face life in a more positive way; vision and touch are closely related. After the shape symbolism experiment and interview, the conclusion is people with visual disability understand the metaphors of the pictures. The mock blind …

Outsourcing In Kosovo: An Analysis Of Kosovo's Comparative Advantage And The Potential For Growth, Yllza Hoti

Theses

The main focus of this research project is to explore the implications of outsourcing on the service provider countries, specifically for the case of Kosovo. With the emergence of globalization, international markets are more interconnected than ever. Technology has facilitated businesses with different ways of reducing costs, one of them being outsourcing part of their business processes internationally, also known as offshore outsourcing. While the impact of such strategies on the client countries is controversial, there is almost universal agreement that the impact on provider countries, especially when they are developing countries, is positive. Being a developing country, Kosovo can …

An Analysis Of The State Matura Exam In Kosovo, Vjolla Gashi

Theses

This paper’s aim is to analyze the State Matura Exam. The focus of the analysis is in particular on the administration process of the exam. The analysis is conducted by relying on both primary and secondary research. The research discusses the issues with the administration process of the test, whereby it identifies organized cheating as one of the most problematic issues. It also identifies methods of cheating by relying on primary research e.g. surveys and focus groups. Thus, the study analyzes whether the State Matura Exam fulfills the criteria needed to be considered a standardized test.

To conclude, the purpose …