Digital Commons Network^™

The Influence Of Message And Audio Modalities In Augmented Reality Mobile Advertisements On Consumers' Purchase Intention, Jingyue Tao

Master's Theses

Evidence shows that augmented reality (AR) technology is an effective advertising approach to raise a brand’s awareness, so many big brands implement AR into their marketing strategy. However, the effectiveness of AR mobile advertisements on consumers’ purchase intentions remains unclear. To fill this dearth in the literature, this study examined how message and audio modalities of AR mobile advertisements influenced consumers’ purchase intentions by surveying 120 participants in an online experiment. Based on the uses and gratifications perspective, this experiment manipulated the message type (emotional/factual) and audio-verbal appeal (present/absent) of AR advertisements to investigate their impact on consumers’ attitudes towards …

Changing Tides: The Impact Of Chinese Investment In Gambia’S Fishing Industry, Abdallah Alami

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the presence and impact of Chinese fishing companies in the West African country of The Gambia. The presence of the Chinese companies have resulted in drastic changes in the country’s fisheries industry where they have a comparative advantage due to their geographic location. Through interviews conducted with Gambian officials in the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources, and members of the fishing community (both fishermen and merchants), I conclude that the Chinese presence is a trade-off between the Gambian government and the Chinese investors. It is positive because they are engaged in a beneficial partnership with the …

Cruising Through School: General Equilibrium Effects Of Cruise Ship Arrivals On Employment And Education, Ryan Mcway

Master's Theses

Cruise ship tourism has been the fastest growing branch of the tourism sector since the turn of the century. As a result, cruise tourism’s increased port traffic has garnered attention as a development strategy for port cities of developing nations over the past two decades. I utilize 10.6 million automatic identification system (AIS) locations from 517 cruise ships to estimate granular city by year cruise ship arrivals in 5,644 port destinations over 220 nations and territories from 2009 to 2018. Matched with 355,463 individual Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) women’s surveys in 23 countries from 2009 to 2016, this study …

Assessing Methods For Determining Reference Conditions For Riparian Restoration In Santa Clara County, Claire Mallen

Master's Theses

Valley Water is the primary water wholesaler and flood control agency in Santa Clara County, providing services to 1.9 million residents. The operation and maintenance of infrastructure for water supply and flood control often require work within legally protected natural resources such as riparian ecosystems. Riparian ecosystems are dynamic and diverse ecosystems that provide our society with valuable services such as wildlife habitat, water quality, and recreation. However, the threat of human development on native ecosystems has led to the degradation and loss of 85-98% of riparian ecosystems nationwide. Today, federal, state, and regional laws mitigate further impacts to riparian …

Genome-Wide Rnai Screen Of Kinase Pathways Regulating Rrt-1 Constitutive Cytoprotective Gene Expression, Jacob Bowie

Master's Theses

Environmental stress disrupts cellular homeostasis leading to proteostasis disruptions which must be correct by rapid reprogramming of transcription and translation mediated by the translation machinery of which tRNA and aminoacyl tRNA synthetases are particularly important. Our aim in this study was to conduct a genome-wide RNAi kinase screen of a long-lived and stress-resistant rrt-1(gc47) (MC240) C. elegans mutant that constitutively, under naïve conditions, expresses a GFP reporter for gpdh-1, which is required for survival during hypertonic stress, but not expressed under naïve, non-stress conditions. Our approach was to administer RNAi by feeding, and we used 382 RNAi clones, including genome-wide …

Manufacturing Process Of Electrode Films, Bryan Aponte

Master's Theses

Rotating disk electrodes (RDE) provide a rapid, and reliable method of quantifying catalyst performance, however fabricating consistent RDEs require understanding of the role of fabrication parameters. The goal of this research is to identify the parameters that control the quality of a catalyst film and the role of these parameters that control the performance. To understand the role of environment, tests are conducted in ambient uncontrolled environments and in controlled environments. Catalyst film performance is measured with electrochemical methods. It was found that the uniformity of catalyst films directly affects the electrochemical performance when tested using RDE. The films that …

Piggybac Transposon-Based Lineage Tracing To Reveal Ependymogenesis, Tasnuva Nuhat Shafin

Master's Theses

The lateral walls of the lateral ventricle of the brain are home to one of the two main neurogenic niches of the postnatal and adult mammalian brain, the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ). During late embryonic development (E14 to E16 in mouse brain), a subpopulation of radial glial cells from the neuroepithelial lining of lateral ventricle wall starts ependymogenesis to establish an ependymal cell lining of the ventricular system. Ependymal cell maturation and ciliogenesis continues after birth and the remaining radial glia, designated neural stem cells after birth, are established within the ependymal lining by retention of a thin apical process. The …

A Thermal-Mechanical Finite Element Analysis Of Orthogonal Cutting For Normalized Steels, Lilia Miller

Master's Theses

A coupled thermal-mechanical finite element analysis is performed in order to simulate orthogonal cutting of normalized steels. The Johnson-Cook cook material and damage parameters are utilized to define the behavior and failure of the material. Four cases are simulated with workpiece materials of A2024-T351, AISI 1045, AISI 4140, and AISI 9310. The numerical results include the average cutting force, residual stresses and strains, chip morphology, and tool temperature. These results are summarized for each of the four cases and validated with experimental results found in literature. This study looks at optimizing the Johnson-Cook damage parameter D₂ for steel materials …

Nf-Κb Subunits P50 And Rela Contribute To Oncogenesis In A Mouse Model Of St-Epn, Ericka J. Randazzo

Master's Theses

The NF- κB pathway has been demonstrated to be upregulated in supratentorial ependymoma (ST-EPN). Whether the different NF- κB transcription factors contribute to ST-EPN tumorigenesis however, has not been investigated. We assessed the degree to which NF- κB subunits p50 and RelA interact with the ST-EPN fusion mutation C11orf95-RELA in regulating gene expression via colocalization analysis in Hek293T cell nuclei. We analyzed the functional outcomes of overexpression of p50 or RelA, or CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knockdown of p50, in combination with the C11orf95-RELA fusion in vivo by examination of tumor area in P14 – 21 CD1 mice. We further analyzed the …

Mir-433-3p Negatively Regulates Bone Formation And Targets Critical For Osteoblast Function, John Garcia

Master's Theses

Osteoblastic differentiation is tightly controlled by multiple signaling pathways associated with key transcription factors, as well as a number of microRNAs (miRNAs). miRNAs are small noncoding RNAs that function in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. While clinical strategies to combat the reduction in bone density have often centered on impeding further bone resorption, this strategy neglects to promote bone formation, a component which is particularly problematic in the aging population. miRNAs could serve to bridge that gap, as potential therapeutic candidates. Several studies have established that miRNAs can direct osteoprogenitors towards an osteoblastic lineage through modulation of Wnt, MAPK, …

State Of Community Health Needs Assessments In Connecticut, Miryam Hannah Wilson Reardon

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Agricultural Management On Wetland Birds, Theresa Wisneskie

Master's Theses

With the rapid growth of the human population, there is a need to balance biodiversity conservation with achieving food security. Increasing agricultural inputs has greatly augmented food production on smaller areas of land, but generally has negative effects on biodiversity. As natural wetlands decline worldwide, birds are increasingly using flooded agricultural land. The objectives of this thesis are (1) to determine what affects the use of flooded agriculture by waterbirds and (2) to determine what has been studied about the effects of agricultural intensification on wetland birds.

I examined the factors affecting the use of flooded agriculture by waterbirds by …

Dealing With Faulty Data Via A Physics-Based Filtering Method, Ross Pellenberg

Master's Theses

Gas turbines are expensive, revenue generating machines and, as such, there is a strong interest in practicing state-of-the-art maintenance techniques to keep them running at healthy performance levels. One way to monitor and evaluate gas turbine health is to train a machine learning model on historical run-to-failure sensor data to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy performance. The biggest barrier to building these models is the scarcity of run-to-failure data. Not only is this data expensive and time consuming to acquire, but the data is often not publicly released for competitive purposes. This thesis uses a publicly available run-to-failure dataset previously …

Comparative Genomics Of Six Juglans Species Reveals Disease-Associated Gene Family Contractions, Alexander Trouern-Trend

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Actors As Engineers: The Reconstruction Of Antifascism In Defa Films, 1949-1961. [2020], Jonathan Herr

Master's Theses

The East German film industry (led by state film company DEFA) had, since its inception in 1946, focused heavily upon the theme of antifascism. However, the meaning and definition of antifascism changed dramatically over the course of East Germany’s early history. In DEFA’s earliest days, antifascism was a confrontation of Germany’s Nazi past and argued that capitalism was a forebearer to fascism. As the East German state formed, antifascism evolved, casting America and its unchecked capitalism as the enemy to democracy. Here DEFA films still confronted Germany’s dark past, though the end goal of the films was to promote hope …

Local Oxidation Nanolithography Of Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite, Zachary Swart

Master's Theses

In this thesis, the physical and electrical alterations caused by local oxidation nanolithography (LON) on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) are characterized. The LON is an atomic force microscopy (AFM) based technique that applies a positive bias to the sample relative to the AFM tip, leading to an electrochemical oxidation of the sample surface. If these physical and electrical alterations due to LON are well understood, this could yield a higher degree of control over tailoring the surface to become conductive, semiconductive or insulative in nature. The advantages of LON include room temperature operation in a non-vacuum environment, less steps …

Non-Pll Direct Power Control For A Single-Phase Grid-Connected Three-Level Inverter, King Ademola Adebo

Master's Theses

The growing demand for clean, reliable renewable energy generation has led to the widespread adoption of solar energy as a source of electricity. Technological advancement aiding to reduce the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, as well as improvement in power electronics and control strategies for solar PV systems have also contributed to the growing popularity. For grid-connected solar systems to adequately meet future demand and grid requirements, the system must be reliable, and not affected by instability or distortions on the power grid.

In this thesis, a control strategy for single-phase grid-connected inverters that can synchronize to the grid …

Computer Vision For Inventory Management, Christopher Bradley Kalahiki

Master's Theses

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that extracts high-level features from raw data over multiple layers. Deep learning for computer vision has become more popular in the last few years, but the data and resource requirements make it difficult to implement on Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This work aims at providing a series of techniques that can alleviate some of the strain caused by these requirements in order to make a computer vision system for inventory management more feasible. These techniques include data collection, data preprocessing, transfer learning, and a method for intelligently growing a dataset throughout …

Multiple Input Single Output Converter With Uneven Load Sharing Control For Improved System Efficiency, Kristen Y. Chan

Master's Theses

This paper presents the development and study of multiple-input single-output converter (MISO) for the DC House project that utilizes a controller to maximize the overall converter’s efficiency. The premise of this thesis is to create uneven load current sharing between the converters at different loading conditions in order to maximize the efficiency of the overall MISO converter. The goal is to find a proper ratio of current from each converter to the total load current of the MISO system to achieve the greatest efficiency. The Arduino microcontroller is implemented to achieve this goal. The design and operation of the MISO …

A Novel Arc Welding Power Supply With Improved Power Factor Correction, Benjamin H. Tan

Master's Theses

This paper presents the design and development of a novel Arc Welding Power Supply utilizing a modified two-switch forward converter topology. The proposed design improves the power quality by improving power factor to near unity and reducing total harmonic distortion. State space analysis of the proposed circuit showed that the circuit followed a boost-buck input output relationship. Simulation of the circuit was first implemented in LTspice to verify the functionality of the new topology. Hardware implementation of the proposed design was built on a scaled-down prototype for a proof-of-concept of the new topology. The prototype specifications were created for a …

Multiple Input Single Output Converter With Maximum Power Point Tracking For Renewable Energy Applications, Kenneth K. Nguyen, Taufik Taufik

Master's Theses

In this thesis, a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) for multiple input single output (MISO) converter is presented such that power generated from multiple individual energy sources can be combined to deliver the maximum amount of power to a common resistive load. Typically, MISO converters will employ techniques that yield equal current sharing from each energy source. However, this may not be desirable since each source may be rated at different power ratings and/or may experience different operating conditions, preventing the system MISO converter to acquire the most available total power from the sources. Utilizing MPPT control would therefore be …

Cascaded Linear Regulator With Positive Voltage Tracking Switching Regulator, Brandon K. Nghe

Master's Theses

This thesis presents the design, simulation, and hardware implementation of a proposed method for improving efficiency of voltage regulator. Typically, voltage regulator used for noise-sensitive and low-power applications involves the use of a linear regulator due to its high power-supply rejection ratio properties. However, the efficiency of a linear regulator depends heavily on the difference between its input voltage and output voltage. A larger voltage difference across the linear regulator results in higher losses. Therefore, reducing the voltage difference is the key in increasing regulator’s efficiency. In this thesis, a pre switching regulator stage with positive voltage tracking cascaded to …

The Development And Evaluation Of A New Analytical Model For The Characterization Of Friction Induced Disc Brake Vibration, Michael Vladimirov

Master's Theses

This research proposes a new method of modeling vibration of disc brake systems. This modeling method treats the brake pads of a disc braking system as lumped spring-mass-damper subsystems and the disc as a continuous bar. This modeling concept increases both the ease of analytical expression and the insight provided into the behavior of the real-world systems. This paper describes the analytical expression of this model and its implementation in Matlab. A parameter variation study yielded results that agree with existing research, which serves to validate the fundamental principles of this proposed modeling method.

Dewatering Of Chlorella Through Carbon Dioxide Hydrate Formation For Biofuel Production, Charles Dow

Master's Theses

Renewable energy alternatives are currently of interest to meet ever-growing energy demands due to fossil fuel depletion and climate change. Biofuels, an alternative source, can be made from a range of organic matter. One option is algae, which can be grown without impacting food production and in a variety of conditions, however, the feasibility of converting algae into biofuel is of concern. Dewatering algae is a critical step in the process to make oil extraction more efficient. This study utilizes carbon dioxide clathrate hydrates as a novel process to dewater water saturated algae solutions. Clathrate hydrates are crystalline solids formed …

Nursing Students' Awareness About Effective Teamwork And Related Factors, Vi Thi Thuong Nguyen

Master's Theses

This study surveyed the awareness level of nursing students about the effectiveness of teamwork and related factors. At Hong Bang International University (HIU), teamwork training for nursing students at HIU has been applied but it has been difficult for all students to achieve high results and confidence in practicing teamwork skills. The effectiveness of self-study and group activities depends on many factors. The effectiveness of teaching approaches has not been measured and has needed to be addressed to result in the best learning experience for students. The results of this study provided recommendations to improve the quality of training as …

Cascaded Linear Regulator With Negative Voltage Tracking Switching Regulator, Ernest Lei

Master's Theses

DC-DC converters can be separated into two main groups: switching converters and linear regulators. Linear regulators such as Low Dropout Regulators (LDOs) are straightforward to implement and have a very stable output with low voltage ripple. However, the efficiency of an LDO can fluctuate greatly, as the power dissipation is a function of the device’s input and output. On the other hand, a switching regulator uses a switch to regulate energy levels. These types of regulators are more versatile when a larger change of voltage is needed, as efficiency is relatively stable across larger steps of voltages. However, switching regulators …

Sustainable Wastewater Treatment In The American South, Caroline Miles

Master's Theses

Aging infrastructure and changing social and environmental conditions are two factors that are currently pushing wastewater treatment towards more sustainable methods. This thesis investigates what sustainable treatment technologies are being used in the American South through a focused sample of six cities across the region: Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The study assesses the types of sustainable treatment technology utilized at each facility, the perspectives of wastewater professionals about the technology, and the economic and environmental sustainability of each facility. Data was collected through direct observations on tours of the facilities, …

Vegetative Community And Health Assessment Of A Constructed Juncus-Dominated Salt Marsh In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Nickolas R. Murphy

Master's Theses

Deer Island is a coastal habitat which provides a buffer from storm and flood damage as well as shore-line stabilization to the mainland of Biloxi, Mississippi. A third of the land has been lost since 1850, largely driven by tropical storm and hurricane impacts as well as sea level rise. The United States Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi Department of Marine Resources have targeted the shores of the island as sites for restoration using beneficial use dredged material, and two sites of differing age have since been planted with Spartina alterniflora, Juncus roemerianus, Uniola paniculata, S. patens, and Panicum …

Thiol-Ene Click Chemistry For Solid State Triplet-Triplet Annihilation Upconversion And Parts-Per-Billion Pyrophosphate Sensing In Artificial Seawater, Abagail K. Williams

Master's Theses

Thiol-ene click chemistry is a robust approach to molecularly engineering polymers for many applications. Within this work, thiol-ene click chemistry is used to fabricate thiol-ene networks for TTA-UC and to synthesize a conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) used as a pyrophosphate (PPi) sensor in complex aqueous media. Chapter I focuses on the synthesis and upconversion performance of rubbery networks fabricated using thiol-ene click photopolymerization. The advancement of triplet-triplet annihilation based upconversion (TTA-UC) in emerging technologies necessitates the development of solid-state systems that are readily accessible and broadly applicable. We demonstrate that thiol-ene click chemistry can be used as a facile cure-on-demand synthetic …

An Analysis Of Dredge Efficiency For Surfclam And Ocean Quahog Commercial Dredges, Leanne Poussard

Master's Theses

Between 1997 and 2011, The National Marine Fisheries Service conducted 50 depletion experiments to estimate survey gear efficiency and stock density for Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) and ocean quahog (Arctica islandica) populations using commercial hydraulic dredges. The Patch Model was formulated to estimate gear efficiency and organism density from the data. The range of efficiencies estimated is substantial, leading to uncertainty in the application of these estimates in stock assessment. Analysis of depletion experiment simulations showed that uncertainty in the estimates of gear efficiency from depletion experiments was reduced by higher numbers of dredge tows per experiment, more tow overlap …