Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Compatibilisers On Mechanical, Barrier And Antimicrobial Properties Of Ipp/Zno Nano/Microcomposites For Food Packaging Application, Sossio Cimmino, Donatella Duraccio, Antonella Marra, Marilena Pezzuto, Ida Romano, Clara Silvestre

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

It is investigated the effects of the addition of three PPgMA, with different molecular weight and maleic anhydride content, on the structure, morphology, mechanical, thermal and antimicrobial properties and oxygen permeability of iPP/ZnO 98/2 wt% composite.

The composition of iPP/PPgMA/ZnO composites is fixed at 88/10/2 wt%, that is, about 10 wt% of iPP is substituted with PPgMA. The composites are prepared via melt mixing by using a twin-screw extruder. The ZnO is obtained in a preindustrial scale spray pyrolysis platform. The Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy indicates that the ZnO particles, in all the ternary composites, react with maleic anhydride groups …

Expression Identity/Culture, Hyekeun Helen Park

Theses

The following thesis contains the background and inspiration for my thesis paintings. I will be explaining how my works reflect my identity and culture and the background of my artistic history, which include Korean calligraphy. I also go into how the paintings of Jackson Pollock, Hans Hofmann and Sam Gilliam have influenced my own paintings. I will explain the artistic and technical process of my paintings in detail and show how each processes affected my work.

Tcp – Random Early Detection (Red) Mechanism For Congestion Control, Asli Sungur

Theses

This thesis discusses the Random Early Detection (RED) algorithm, proposed by Sally Floyd, used for congestion avoidance in computer networking, how existing algorithms compare to this approach and the configuration and implementation of the Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED) variation.

RED uses a probability approach in order to calculate the probability that a packet will be dropped before periods of high congestion, relative to the minimum and maximum queue threshold, average queue length, packet size and the number of packets since the last drop.

The motivation for this thesis has been the high QoS provided to current delay-sensitive applications such …

Seasons: A Motion Graphics Depicts Activities Of Ancient Chinese People In Four Seasons, Qina Chen

Theses

Seasons is a 2D motion graphics film that aims to visually depict my interpretation of seasons changing and seasonal activities of ancient Chinese people. It is an attempt to reproduce two classical arts on modern media. I mimic and mix the visual effects of Chinese shadow puppets and Chinese ink wash strokes through digital media technologies. Neither Chinese painting nor shadow puppet emphasize on reproducing the appearance of subject. It is more regarded as a form of expressionistic art, which intends to capture the spirit of the subject and illustrate the perception of the scene. My graphics are not planned …

Occupy Judaism: Religion, Digital Media, And The Public Sphere, Ayala Fader, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article provides an analysis of Occupy Judaism, an explicitly religious expression of Jewish protest, which occurred simultaneously with Occupy Wall Street, the direct-democracy movement of 2011. Occupy Judaism, like Occupy Wall Street, took place both in physical spaces of protest in New York City and digitally, through mobilizing and circulating debate. The article focuses on the words and actions of Daniel Sieradski, the public face and one of the key founders of Occupy Judaism, supplemented by the experiences of others in Occupy Judaism, Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Faith (a Protestant clergy-led initiative). We investigate what qualified as religion …

An Experimental Study Of Dispersion In Oscillating Flows In Cylindrical Tubes, Siddharth Dasgupta

Theses

The cochlea of the inner ear has fluid filled spaces. Drugs are delivered to the cochlea via transtympanic injections to the base of the cochlea, at a membrane called the Round Window Membrane (RWM). Drugs diffuse through the RWM into the cochlear fluids. This method relies on the mechanism of pure diffusion. Hence drug delivery is slow and treatment efficacy is affected. The cochlear fluid oscillates when stimulated by sound. This thesis experimentally investigates if drug dispersion in the cochlea can be enhanced by oscillating the cochlear fluids for amplitudes as small as that of the cochlea.

To answer this …

The Benefits Of Hosting The Neccdc At Your Institution, George Markowsky, Peter Lutz, Daryl Johnson, Bill Stackpole

Presentations and other scholarship

The Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NECCDC) [2] is a regional competition that feeds the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC)[1]. Since RIT organized the first NECCDC in 2008, the NECCDC has selected a representative to compete in the CCDC. It has been relatively successful and has produced the national champion twice and the runner up three times during its eight years of existence. The NECCDC has been hosted on a rotating basis by one of the universities in the northeast and has become a popular event for both the hosting schools and for the students. We feel that the …

Tailor-Made: Meeting The Unique Needs Of Women Of Color Stem-Sbs Faculty Through Mentoring, Delois Crawford

Presentations and other scholarship

Women of Color faculty have some of the worst outcomes of all other faculty in terms of attainment of tenure and promotion. They are much more likely than others to leave a university, file suits for discrimination and face hostile work environments and classrooms, and leave academe. It is to a university’s and society’s benefit to retain talented women of color and remedy these negative outcomes. This paper seeks to address the unique concerns and issues of Women of Color through mentoring.

“What’S Race Got To Do With It?” An Investigation Into The Differences Between Self-Reported Television Exposure And Self-Reported Attitudes Towards Interracial Dating, Kimberly Reeb

Theses

Television has the power to suggest what its viewers should think about and to impact individuals’ attitudes towards controversial topics. The present study examined the differences between individuals’ self-reported television exposure and self-reported interracial dating attitudes (IDA). Television viewing habits and demographics were also analyzed. A survey distributed via social media and email collected 216 responses. Cultivation theory suggests heavy viewers are likely to have more negative perceptions and attitudes. Analysis of differences for IDA between viewers was not statistically significant, but the IDA score was slightly more negative for heavy viewers. Overall, IDA scores were positive, however individuals’ attitude …

The Self-Reported Reasons For Self-Disclosure And Uncertainty Reduction Strategies Used In Romantic Online Dating Relationships Compared To Face-To-Face Romantic Dating Relationships, Krystle N. Jones

Theses

“One in ten Americans have used an online dating site or mobile dating app themselves, and many people now know someone else who uses online dating or who has found a spouse or long-term partner via online dating” (Pew Research Center 2013). Online dating is now a 2.1 billion dollar industry and growing (Fiscal Times, 2014). The current study examines how interpersonal computer-mediated relationships developed through uncertainty reduction strategies and self-disclosure. Online daters may become educated on courting in a computer-mediated environment by learning from the experiences of those that participate in online relationship seeking. Online daters may desire an …

Life Structures, Melissa M. Pepin

Theses

The following document defines my creative journey as a fine arts graduate student at Rochester Institute of Technology. Through a series of personal life experiences I have selectively visualized a meaningful collection of prints on butcher-block paper.

In addition, I have described positive print experiences at a previous school. This MA studies ultimately directed my search for a MFA program that would provide breath to my research investigations. Creative problem solving in Fine Arts Studio New Forms also contributed to my exhibited work in the Bevier Gallery at RIT. By rendering stills, I was able to capture my personal environment …

Finger Lakes Interactive Play Assessment Of Implementation, Jessica Kernan

Theses

In 2014, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo launched Path Through History, a project connecting New York’s historical and cultural heritage sites. This effort aimed to benefit New York State by promoting the important historical past of New York, as well as highlighting the tourism industry and economic development throughout the entire state as a whole. One million dollars in funding was distributed among ten tourism regions throughout New York State, in an effort to assist each region in creating a unique tourism-marketing plan. This paper focuses specifically on the Finger Lakes Region and its use of the Path Through …

Parking In The Urban Core, Matthew Simonis

Theses

This paper explores parking policy as it relates to the creation of densely populated downtown city centers. The impacts of careful parking planning, correlated with other factors such as streetscape and building design, dictate how people move around their community. This topic is even more important as cities across America have seen a resurgence in their population and are for the first time in decades, laying out new plans and goals of what they are seeking to achieve as it relates to land use. The City of Rochester is one city that is working to create lively streets as stated …

The Apnaase/Mrna Decapping Nudix Hydrolases From M. Tuberculosis And M. Leprae, Peipei Zhu

Theses

Throughout history, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) has killed more people than any other infectious agent, while Mycobacterium leprae is an ancient human pathogen that still causes disease today. Each has developed drug resistance, thus the discovery of potential novel antibiotic targets is essential. The diadenosine polyphosphatases (ApnAases) / mRNA decapping enzymes of the Nudix hydrolase superfamily have been found to be essential for a number of pathogens (Bartonella bacilliformis, Legionella pneumophila) to invade human host cells, a process often essential for pathogenesis, and thus potential novel drug targets. There are two ApnAases in MTB: Rv2985 and Rv3908 and two corresponding orthologs …

Forma Naturalis, Patrick Kana

Theses

Mankind’s fascination with natural form is undeniably long-lived. From collecting and preserving specimens for evolutionary research, to documenting and expressing natural form through artistic practice, Mankind continues to embrace for scientific and aesthetic benefit that which surrounds us. I believe that botany, marine biology, and environmental phenomena—all areas of influence and study from my childhood—are sources that illustrate perfection in form and utility. The sheer beauty evident in these scientific forms continues to inspire me, and I will celebrate them and explore my relationship with them through an experimental making process in wood.

Carved objects, form studies, and functional furniture …

Characterization Of Cardiac Electrogram Signals During Atrial Fibrillation, Prasanth Ganesan

Theses

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in United States. The most popular treatment for AF is a percutaneous procedure called catheter ablation. Current AF ablation procedures unfortunately have a poor success rate, primarily because the mechanisms involved in AF are incompletely understood even today. Intra-atrial electrograms have previously been shown to provide information on the mechanisms of AF. This thesis focuses on two such mechanisms – AF-sustaining sites known as sustained rotational activities (RotAs), and atrial tissue with unique electrical properties known as myocardial scars. Catheter ablation procedures today construct the 3D electroanatomic map of the left …

Graduate Student Profile Of Saudi Arabian Students Enrolled In The Hospitality And Tourism Management Program At Rit, Saleh Aljubaili

Theses

This research explores the experience of Saudi students at RIT who are enrolled in the Hospitality and Tourism Management graduate program. It focuses on investigating the educational needs and expectations of the students for the purpose of program development in regard to the courses offered and the teaching methods used. The data of this study were collected using interviews, which resulted in a large amount of data being collected. The key areas that the interviews sought to explore were reasons for choosing the US and RIT, learning and educational experiences, and social and cultural interactions with faculty. It was found …

Biological Significance Of Dual Oriented P6 From Nontypeable Haemophilus Influenzae: Assessing Surface P6 Levels In Different Strains Of Nthi, Cultured Under Various Physiologically Relevant Environmental Conditions, Casey Reulbach

Theses

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) or nonencapsulated Haemophilus influenzae has been connected to such diseases as pneumonia, bacteremia, meningitis and sepsis in adults. NTHi is also linked to 25-35% of the roughly 25 million annual cases (within The United States) of acute otitis media (ear infections) in children. Vaccines against encapsulated strains of Haemophilus influenzae have been proven effective; yet, no vaccines have been produced to protect against NTHi infection. The 16-kDa outer membrane lipoprotein P6 has been shown to be nearly homologous between NTHi strains, making it one of the leading vaccine candidates for NTHi. However, it was recently demonstrated, …

Crowdsourcing Computer Security Attack Trees, Matthew Tentilucci, Nick Roberts, Shreshth Kandari, Daryl Johnson, Bill Stackpole, George Markowsky

Presentations and other scholarship

This paper describes an open-source project called RATCHET whose goal is to create software that can be used by large groups of people to construct attack trees. The value of an attack tree increases when the attack tree explores more scenarios. Crowdsourcing an attack tree reduces the possibility that some options might be overlooked. RATCHET has been tested in classroom settings with positive results. This paper gives an overview of RATCHET and describes some of the features that we plan to add.

An Eye-Tracking Methodology For Testing Consumer Preference Of Display Trays In A Simulated Retail Environment, Erin Snyder, Rupert Andrew Hurley, Charles E. Tonkin, Kay Cooksey, Julie C. Rice

Journal of Applied Packaging Research

Display trays have traditionally been used to support distribution packaging and retail stocking. Yet, it is becoming increasingly common to find display trays as devices to garner attention and increase the shelf presence of packaging. This paper presents a method for testing consumer preference of display trays for liquid dish soap and canned tomatoes in CUShop™, a consumer experience laboratory, using eye-tracking technology. It was hypothesized that display trays would increase total fixation duration and decrease time to first fixation on the respective products tested. However, it was determined that attention to products in a display tray was …

Mining News Content For Popularity Prediction, Moayad Alshangiti

Theses

The problem of popularity prediction has been studied extensively in various previous research. The idea behind popularity prediction is that the attention users give to online items is unequally distributed, as only a small fraction of all the available content receives serious users attention. Researchers have been experimenting with different methods to find a way to predict that fraction. However, to the best of our knowledge, none of the previous work used the content for popularity prediction; instead, the research looked at other features such as early user reactions (number of views/shares/comments) of the first hours/days to predict the future …

Designing Children’S Interactive Pop-Up Books: Creating Enhanced Experiences Through The Incorporation Of Animation Principles And Interactive Design., Michael Begay

Theses

This thesis, Designing Children’s Interactive Pop-up Books: Creating enhanced experiences through the incorporation of animation principles and interactive design, created by Michael Begay, explores how interactive design and computer graphics can be used to create enhanced user experiences in children’s book design. Key factors taken into consideration during the creation of this thesis include children’s book design, typography, storytelling, animation principles, and interactive design principles.

In order to explore the effect computer graphic design has on creating an enhanced user experience in pop-up book design, this project starts with research on writing a compelling, age appropriate story for children between …

The Evaluation Of Process Safety Management Effectiveness In The Oil And Gas Sector: Case Of Sonatrach, Algeria, Salim Ghettas

Theses

Over the last decade the process sector has experienced unprecedented process incidents that are due to a combination of organizational, technical, and cultural deficiencies. Thus, Process Safety Management (PSM) has become a subject of great interest for process companies, governments, and professional associations. In fact, many researchers have questioned the effectiveness of PSM programs in process companies and discussed the features of a quality PSM program.

Indeed, a review of the literature reveals several PSM issues in this sector internationally, which are mainly about organizational safety culture, maintenance and operational integrity of processes, PSM performance measurement, employee training, and knowledge …

Chinese International Students At Rit: A Digital Book Representing Chinese International Students’ Lives At Rochester Institute Of Technology, Muzi Meng

Theses

This thesis work is a digital book presenting Chinese international students’ lives at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The book introduces detailed information about Chinese students who are presently attending RIT. There are five main topics discussed in the book: finding housing around the campus, commuting and transportation, food and dining, education and academics at RIT, and extracurricular activities for Chinese international students at RIT.

The book content is developed based on the research of RIT Chinese students. It is designed for those who are interested in as well as those who are considering attending RIT.

Instead of another traditional …

3d Modeling Techniques For Print And Digital Media, Megan Ashley Stephens

Theses

In developing my thesis, I looked to gain skills using ZBrush to create 3D models, 3D scanning, and 3D printing. The models created compared the hearts of several vertebrates and were intended for students attending Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy . I used several resources to create a model of the human heart and was able to work from life while creating heart models from other vertebrates.

I successfully learned ZBrush and 3D scanning, and successfully printed 3D heart models. ZBrush allowed me to create several intricate models for use in both animation and print media. The 3D scanning technique did not …

From The Co-Editors, Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

We continue to work diligently to improve JSESD. One of the largest challenges to the journal remains the solicitation of manuscript submissions. As such, we are asking the journal’s readership to assist us in advertising the journal. If you are familiar with individuals who might be interested in submitting a manuscript, please pass along the JSESD author link provided above. We are especially interested in articles on science education for students with varying types of disabilities and at a full range of grade levels (K-12 and postsecondary).

Directing Attention In An Augmented Reality Environment: An Attentional Tunneling Evaluation, Alan J. Lambie

Theses

Augmented Reality applications use explicit cuing to support visual search. Explicit cues can help improve visual search performance but they can also cause perceptual issues such as attentional tunneling. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the relationship between directing attention and attentional tunneling, in a dual task structure. One task was tracking a target in motion and the other was detection of non-target elements. Three conditions were tested: baseline without cuing the target, cuing the target with the average scene color, and using a red cue. A different color for the cue was used to vary the attentional tunneling level. …

The Digitization And Accessibility Of Documents: A Case Study At The Rochester Public Library, Kirsten Feigel

Theses

Technology has proven to benefit human experience and achievement in many ways and has become a growing aspect of visitor engagement, documentation, and research in museums. Collections professionals in libraries and archives, as well as museums, are committing to processing artifacts, in many cases, to make them digitally accessible online. Such collections of online assets are classified as digital libraries, which become online tools used for research and descriptive search engines to assist individuals beyond the need of the physical interaction at the place of learning. This thesis provides an overview of the four outline digital repositories based in the …

Trends In Acquiring New Members And Retaining Loyal Members At Rochester Regional Museums, Joshua L. Stapf

Theses

Membership is a very important aspect of many organizations like the Memorial Art Gallery (MAG), The Strong (TS), and the Seneca Park Zoo (SPZ). Membership gives an organization a vital source of income and museums can also use those annual members as a built-in long-term donor pool if conversion of members into donors happens. Conversion means taking a member and having them donate an additional philanthropic gift on top of paying to be a museum member. Within an organization’s membership program, two aspects are inherent: acquisition of new members to the organization as well as retention of its current members. …

Early Pioneers, Philip Szrama

Theses

Rochester, NY has a rich history of innovation and visionary ideas. Many people who hear or talk about Rochester outside of the area are not familiar with the people who called Rochester their home. These pioneers took advantage of the areas strategic placement in the United States and use it to help achieve great things. The use of a short motion graphics piece can help people get a taste of what some of the early pioneers achieved.

Content, planning, and organization of this piece has been completed through research on four specific people (George Eastman, John Jacob Bausch, Henry Lomb, …