Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar And Passive Visible Light Polarimetric Imaging Data Fusion For Remote Sensing Applications, Sanjit Maitra

Theses

The recent launch of spaceborne (TerraSAR-X, RADARSAT-2, ALOS-PALSAR, RISAT) and airborne (SIRC, AIRSAR, UAVSAR, PISAR) polarimetric radar sensors, with capability of imaging through day and night in almost all weather conditions, has made polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (PolSAR) image interpretation and analysis an active area of research. PolSAR image classification is sensitive to object orientation and scattering properties. In recent years, significant work has been done in many areas including agriculture, forestry, oceanography, geology, terrain analysis. Visible light passive polarimetric imaging has also emerged as a powerful tool in remote sensing for enhanced information extraction. The intensity image provides information …

Approachi Significans, Luke Shaw

Theses

Approachi Significans is a demonstration of the interference patterns created by scientific and artistic logics. It promotes immersion in the everyday world through experimentation and a search for novel experience, as such efforts prime the mind for novel thought. It is loosely based in a search for constellations of experiences that prompt Eureka moments and an effort to illustrate the organic nature of the scientific process. The title is derived from the phrase `approaching significance,' which is used to indicate that experimental data is moving towards the confirmation of a hypothesis.

Augmented Sound, Berio Molina

Theses

A Computer Vision System for doing Interactive Installations

This thesis is a computer vision system for doing interactive-creative musical installations: A portable computer vision system based on video projection and a green laser, that allows the interaction with the projection itself, with the physical space where it is projected and with multiple users.

By using a green laser as a physical user interface, people create projections of sound balls that are projected on top of objects. These balls interact with the physical characteristics of the object where they are projected, as well as with other balls that where previously created …

A Lived-In Life, Sara Basher

Theses

A Lived-In Life documents the creation of my thesis work and accompanying discoveries. The movement of Fauvism and artists Vincent van Gogh, Alice Neel and Henry Darger are named as historical inspirations. Contemporaries named as influential include female figurative painters Jenny Saville, Xenia Hausner, Hung Liu, Elizabeth Peyton and Anna Bjerger.

I reflect on my position within contemporary art culture, placing myself between abstraction and photo realism. I discuss graduate school epiphanies on material, asserting my commitment to sustainable and safe practice. I address the historical use of photographic reference, as well as the role of photography in contemporary culture …

Persuasion In Antiquity: A Content Analysis Of Ptahhotep’S Maxims And Lao Tzŭ’S Tao Te Ching, Joel Skelton

Theses

This study investigated persuasive strategies used in ancient Egypt and ancient China. In an effort to attain a better understanding of the utilization of persuasive tools from these two ancient societies, this study was completed by examining Ptahhotep's Maxims from Egypt and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching from China. A thematic analysis revealed the most common themes found in Ptahhotep's Maxims (e.g., humility) and Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching (e.g., comparison). A content analysis examined persuasive tactics within passages of both texts. It was found that Ptahhotep principally utilized negative expertise and loss-framed messages while Lao Tzu utilized positive expertise …

Investigation Of Water Droplet Dynamics In Pem Cell Gas Channels, Preethi Gopalan

Theses

Water management in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) has remained one of the most important issues that need to be addressed before its commercialization in automotive applications. Accumulation of water on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface in a PEMFC introduces a barrier for transport of reactant gases through the GDL to the catalyst layer. Despite the fact that the channel geometry is one of the key design parameters of a fluidic system, very limited research is available to study the effect of microchannel geometry on the two-phase flow structure. In this study, the droplet-wall dynamics and two-phase pressure …

A Forensic Comparison: Windows 7 And Windows 8, Peter J. Wilson

Theses

Whenever a new operating system or new version of an operating system is released, forensic investigators must re-examine the new operating system or new version. They do so to determine if there are significant differences that will impact and change the way they perform their investigations. With the release of Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 8, and its update, Windows 8.1, understanding the similarities and differences between Windows 8 and previous operating systems such as Windows 7 is critical. This paper forensically examines Windows 7 and Windows 8 to determine those similarities and differences.

Reporter - November 1st 2013, Rit Reporter Staff

University Publications

No abstract provided.

User Preferences For Accessing Online Content Through Desktop, Laptop, And Handheld Devices, Abel B. Rondon Lopez

Theses

This study determined which devices, hand held or desktop and laptop computers, users preferred to access specific types of Internet content and why they chose mobile apps or mobile websites. Significant differences were found in favor of using handheld devices for social networking, looking up directions, programing reminders, global positioning systems, playing games, and listening to music. Activities showed a significant difference in favor of using desktop and laptop computers to investigate topics of interest, watch videos, and manage finances. Users preferred the way mobile apps are presented over mobile websites, but no significant differences between devices were found for …

Flap Stool Storage Furniture For Urban Nomads, Liu Yang

Theses

The purpose of this project was to make moving from one location to another an easier process by developing a creative furniture piece that can be used for storage.

Research on the actual moving process and existing moving solutions was done to gather information to begin this project. At the beginning of ideation, light-weight materials and folding structures were studied, and several new furniture solutions were explored. Concepts such as a storage stool, a transformable shelf, and bamboo roll furniture were created and tested.

A storage stool was selected for further development, because it provided the best fit for the …

I Am Pakistan, Shehzil Malik

Theses

I Am Pakistan is a project that aims to address the question of whether interaction design can be used to create human connections and foster the intrinsic motivation needed for becoming an agent of social change.

Pakistan is a country riddled with crippling problems such as poverty, illiteracy, terrorism and injustice. There is a need to make young people aware of proactive measures they can take to help change this dire situation.

Figures show that around 55% of Pakistani nationals are under the age of 25 with over 30 million Internet users in the population. This indicates that there is …

Reporter - October 1st 2023, Rit Reporter Staff

University Publications

No abstract provided.

Oh My Plant: A Creative Design For Building Emotional Relationships Between People And Plants, Boran Song

Theses

While speaking with plant owners, I realized that one of the main reasons why people's plants were dying was that people lacked emotional relationships with their plants. In creating Oh My Plant, I wanted to help busy people to easily improve their gardening skills and to create an emotional relationship between people and their houseplants.

When our lives become busy and stressful, it is easy to forget to take care of our own bodies, let alone our houseplants. Yet houseplants offer numerous benefits to people, beautifying the environment and purifying the air.

I believe that the design for Oh My …

Pox And The City, Elizabeth S. Goins

Journal of Interactive Humanities

Pox in the City is a prototype of a social history game that focuses on the medical profession circa 1800 in Edinburgh. The prototype was research, designed and developed on a small budget (about $17,000) and in a short time frame (20 weeks). The experimental design goal was to create a narrative driven educational game that was engaging and delivered some basic educational goals to be used in the high school and college level classrooms. To experiment with writing historic game narrative and to stay within budget, the design was built around a point and click adventure framework. Narrative was …

Press Start: Video Games In An Art Museum, Georgina Goodlander, Michael Mansfield

Journal of Interactive Humanities

Art museums can be complex, confounding, boring, exciting, absurd, and breathtaking. They can be sad, enlightening, hurtful, alive, dead, mainstream and avant-garde. They can, at once, be all of these things. Or they can be any one of these things separately. Museums can be more. Art museums might provide a place for contemplation, a place for social commentary, a place for political discourse, a place for lunch. They can identify us, deconstruct us, or illuminate our experiences for everyone. They can be an index for the health and vibrancy of our culture and our time. The Smithsonian American Art Museum …

Embodied Tuning: Interfacing Danish Radio Heritage, Christian Hviid Mortensen, Vitus Vestergaard

Journal of Interactive Humanities

Most museum exhibitions favor vision, not hearing. When there is audio in exhibitions, it tends to take on a secondary role as a soundtrack or commentary. In some cases, however, audio should be the primary object of interest. Radio heritage is such a case. The traditional way of showcasing audio is through webaccessible archives or through listening kiosks in the exhibition. Neither one takes advantage of the unique affordances of the spatiality and physicality of an exhibition. We therefore propose an alternative way of exhibiting radio heritage in a listening exhibition where users move around and explore the physical gallery …

You Have Died Of Dysentery: A First Attempt At Navigating A Course In Educational Games, Adrienne Decker, David Simkins

Journal of Interactive Humanities

This paper describes our experiences developing and piloting a course in educational games. We discuss the structure of the course, the topics we included in the course, as well as the final projects the students created for the course. Of particular interest to non-technical educators interested in exploring games in their courses is the fact that our course incorporated many critical thinking skills as part of the coursework. We felt that an important part of the student’s immersion in this material was not just the production of the game, but also a deeper understanding of the issues surrounding education and …

Tax Competition For Fdi In Western Balkans, Nita Shala

Theses

The aim of this project is to study the application and effectiveness of tax incentives (TI) in the countries of Western Balkans (WB), more specifically in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia. Based on the research made of the field of TI it was found that all these countries have applied certain forms of TI. The reasoning behind the decisions of the government officials to apply FI in these countries was the belief that the application of these incentives would increase the level of FDI inflow. By being able to increase the level of FDI inflow, countries would experience a faster …

The Role Of Municipalities In Developing Kosovo Mountain Villages, Blerina Halili

Theses

The mountainous villages of Kosovo are on a verge of development due to a substantial number of challenges hindering their progress. The role that municipalities have in developing these villages is crucial in terms of overcoming these challenges, and through it, ensuring future development. This study has investigated the role this role while placing particular focus upon the municipalities of Shtërpce and Dragash. The study which included 150 research participants has been carried out in eleven mountain villages surrounding these municipalities. Through it several areas have been investigated, such as the quality of the public services offered, current economic standing …

Establishing A Women's And Gender Studies Program At Auk, Teuta Avdimetaj

Theses

The aim of this research project is to serve as a guiding document towards the establishment of a taught Women’s and Gender Studies minor program at AUK which would offer students the opportunity to critically expand their views in the field of gender and actively promote the political, social and economic empowerment of women in Kosovo and the wider region through proactive gender equality initiatives and projects. The Gender Studies program will tackle the main theories that revolve around issues of gender, status of men and women in several spheres, analyze the discrepancies that can be found based on gender, …

The Paradox Of Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations: Insights From Sustainable Silicon Valley’S Regional Co2 Emissions Reduction Program, Peter Melhus, Bruce Paton

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Significant progress toward sustainability will require effective collaboration among governments, businesses, non-governmental organizations, and citizens. But research on multi-stakeholder collaborative efforts as tools for achieving environmental results has identified an apparent paradox. Collaborative efforts can be extremely effective in enlisting participation of diverse participants, heightening awareness of critical problems, and catalyzing actions in the absence of clear public policy requirements; however, they may not be effective at achieving specific quantitative objectives. This paper illustrates this paradox, based on the experiences of the “Sustainable Silicon Valley” (SSV) project in the San Francisco (California) Bay Area. SSV is a multi-stakeholder collaboration among …

The Localism Movement: Shared And Emergent Values, Nancy B. Kurland, Sara Jane Mccaffrey, Douglas H. Hill

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Localism, a movement to encourage consumers and businesses to purchase from locally owned, independent businesses rather than national corporations, has grown rapidly in the past decade. With several national, federated organizations and popular “buy local” campaigns, the localism movement has the potential to affect buying patterns, marketing, and distribution in American business. Yet localism remains understudied by researchers. This article, based on data from 38 interviews with localism leaders, identifies four of the movement’s priorities: independent ownership, local buying, local sourcing, and pragmatic partnering. In addition, we analyze the movement’s emerging values, including responsibility to workers and to the natural …

The Importance Of Human Resource Management In Strategic Sustainability: An Art And Science Perspective, Harold Schroeder

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Strategic sustainability is associated with significant business benefits as well as positive environmental impacts, yet many organizations fail to recognize the potential of this approach, and neglect the factors necessary for its successful implementation. This article recommends an art and science based approach to strategic sustainability and discusses the important role of Human Resource professionals in contributing to the success of this approach. A number of key areas of responsibility for the HR department in relation to strategic sustainability are discussed and the importance of a more proactive approach on the part of HR professionals is noted.

Evolving Role Of Ehs Manager In Industrial Sustainability Programs — Case Studies Incorporating A Pollution Prevention Approach To Problem Solving, Anahita Williamson, David Fister, Rajiv Ramchandra

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

The role of the Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) Manager has evolved over the last two decades. For many companies, the focus of the EHS Manager is shifting from solely a regulatory compliance and waste treatment or waste disposal role to incorporating a green engineering and pollution prevention approach when solving environmental problems. It is critical for the EHS Manager to have a strong understanding of Environmental Management Systems (EMS), regulatory requirements, and ISO standards pertaining to environment, health, and safety. However, having the ability to go beyond this realm and collaborate with manufacturing personnel to determine opportunities for cost …

Environmental Sustainability And Supply Chain Management — A Framework Of Cross-Functional Integration And Knowledge Transfer, Dorli Harms

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

The purpose of this paper is to discuss mechanisms of intra-organizational knowledge transfer within sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). Through a conceptual study design, the focus of this paper is on the transfer of SSCM-associated information and knowledge between functional units. Furthermore, the external stakeholder perspective is taken into account. To support this conceptual framework, the knowledge-based theory provides a theoretical foundation in order to study a company’s ability for knowledge sharing. Within this perspective one approach distinguishes between internal and external structures and the individual competence. These findings will be used as a basis to further develop a framework …

Today’S Environmental Manager’S Toolbox: Evaluating The Ehs Attributes Of Products, Kathryn H. Winnebeck

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

In response to the public’s interest, companies have expanded their focus on reducing their environmental footprint through designing environmentally preferable products. Corporate environmental managers typically work with product design teams on this effort. This paper explains three tools available to assist in the assessment of EHS attributes of products, namely risk assessment, alternatives assessment, and life cycle assessment. An overview, process appropriate uses, and limitations of each tool are discussed.

Assessing Corporate Sustainability Through Ratings: Challenges And Their Causes, Sarah Elena Windolph

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Assessing corporate sustainability is increasingly practice-relevant, not least because the capital market and other markets have been paying growing attention to the topic. Recently, ratings have become an important assessment approach and nowadays a variety of organizations and financial service providers conduct their own ratings. Yet, despite their growing popularity, ratings are criticized in research and practice. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to systematize the challenges that corporate sustainability ratings face: lack of standardization, lack of credibility of information, bias, tradeoffs, lack of transparency, and lack of independence. Furthermore, the paper discusses the causes of these challenges and …

Corporate Environmental Sustainability Beyond Organizational Boundaries: Market Growth, Ecosystems Complexity And Supply Chain Structure As Co-Determinants Of Environmental Impact, Stefano Pogutz, Valerio Micale, Monika Winn

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

“Corporate Environmental Sustainability” has become a widely used term. It implies that an individual firm has the capacity to effectively manage and control the harm inflicted upon the natural environment by its processes, products and business models – a notion we refer to as an organization’s “manageability of environmental impact”. This paper argues that the organization-level concept of corporate sustainability cannot be meaningfully discussed unless it is understood in light of three conditions: market growth dynamics, ecosystems complexity, and supply chain structure. These economic, ecological and industry-organizational conditions outside the organization’s boundaries severely limit an organization’s manageability of its environmental …

Contradictions Inherent In The Management Of Natural And Industrial Disasters, Sándor Kerekes

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

These days people keep wondering whether the world is more dangerous now than it was before. Do natural disasters really happen more frequently or is it just that the damage they cause that has become greater? The situation is not quite clear. As a result of the globalizing world and advanced communication infrastructure, the number of known / reported catastrophes is relatively high, but that does not necessarily mean there has been an actual increase in frequency. The red mud spill in Hungary was a special combination of industrial and natural disasters. This is one of the reasons why it …

Rise And Fall Of The Concept Sustainability, Kiss Károly

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Sustainability is a key concept when we discuss the effects of human population and activity on nature and the biosphere. Still, especially in Europe, for years it has been used in many other senses both in economics and sociology. Its original meaning has been greatly distorted and extended; it has been misused and abused. This paper examines why this happened and what is the new meaning (if any) of the concept. It also discusses the interpretation of the concept sustainability on different levels—global, national, industrial, and corporate—as the author sees it. Emphasis is placed on the difference between environmental protection …