Digital Commons Network^™

[Iteration 2491-J], Jeff Leavitt

Theses

When one considers the macro scale of human existence, it is ultimately a never-ending cycle of futility. We are born, some of us reproduce, and then we die. No matter what exists within that cycle, those facts remain true. However, a futile existence does not have to be a meaningless one. When one considers the micro scale of human existence, there is beauty and joy within the lives of individuals. Individuality is an essential component our existence, and it allows us to spend our time on this planet in a meaningful way. Futility, as a concept, is not inherently pessimistic. …

Token, Kathleen Marie Ripton Johnson

Theses

Token is a thesis body of work that combines two and three-dimensional printmaking and sculpture techniques, to highlights contemporary issues and poetry through the lens of a fable. This body of work deals with how culturally relevant information is spread by using traditional storytelling to reveal, with a certain level of absurdity, an underlying lesson, warning, or teachable moment.

In the work, the tooth is a symbol of payment or sacrifice and in our contemporary capitalist world, everything costs something. In this reality, the number of teeth lost demonstrates who you are, what you have and what you have had …

Exploration Of The Motion Graphics Educational Tools Based On The Animations ‘Weddings’, Xichen Yang

Theses

With the development of science and technology, computer networks and smart devices are widely used in our life and strongly driving social growth, including the field of education. Cities are becoming bigger and bigger. People are getting busier in modern times. People have lots of free but short time slots every day, but attending traditional classes is limited by the factors of geographical location, distance, time, etc. Thus the demand for on-line meetings and remote learning is sharply increasing. People are seeking a convenient and effective method to gain knowledge or information with their fragment time. This thesis is under …

Dead On Arrival, Paul Benns

Theses

Dead on Arrival is a film about a character named Blue. The world is comprised of memories and follows our character along a path of self-discovery and redemption. Blue’s earliest memory is that of discovering an object that makes him happy. Through the course of the opening moments of the film, Blue discovers the harsh reality of not quite hitting the mark with his abilities. With the missed mark, comes the self-doubt and negative self-thinking that manifests itself through a physical change in his character. This physical manifestation leads to the rejection of his newfound friend and follows him throughout …

The B Respirator Respiratory Protection For The Bearded Man, Joseph R. Allgeier

Theses

The news today is filled with stories of respiratory illnesses. The health risks to people are everywhere. Dangerous health situations are created by nature and they are also man made. One thing stands between people and breathing contaminated air and that is a variety of different types of dust masks and respirators. Unfortunately, a huge portion of our population has been left out of this protective solution since most affordable respirators rely on seal created by skin contact. Men with beards or facial hair that interfere with this seal must choose between faulty protection or no protection at all. “Just …

Leverage Social Filtering To Enhance Viewing Experience With Amazon Prime Video, Wen-Hua Chen

Theses

The development of technology has changed the way viewers consume video contents. With the rising of streaming services, video contents are gathered in one big platform, making them much more accessible than ever before. However, in the meantime, the ever increasing content choices on streaming services overwhelm and frustrate us, reducing our satisfaction with the experience. In addition, as recently as just a few years ago, television was a communal experience. We would watch TV together, on one shared screen. Now, we are isolated when using video streaming services on personal screens.

This project is aimed to enhance viewing experience …

Divide And Conquer In Neural Style Transfer For Video, Paul Galatic

Theses

Neural Style Transfer is a class of neural algorithms designed to redraw a given image in the style of another image, traditionally a famous painting, while preserving the underlying details. Applying this process to a video requires stylizing each of its component frames, and the stylized frames must have temporal consistency between them to prevent flickering and other undesirable features. Current algorithms accommodate these constraints at the expense of speed.

We propose an algorithm called Distributed Artistic Videos and demonstrate its capacity to produce stylized videos over ten times faster than the current state-of-the-art with no reduction in output quality. …

Audience Preference For Engagement With Online Museums, Xiang Chen

Theses

With the rapid development of science and technology, “digitization” as a new structure carrier of information codes has been widely used by more and more people. Contemporary museums are no longer confined to the traditional mode of exhibition, but now are able to employ a high degree of integration of conventional physical displays and digital technology. Through various channels, such as social media, website platforms, documentaries and movies, and related apps, museums enhance the interaction and experience of the audience. This research project surveyed Chinese and American college students about their engagement with museums and the effectiveness of digital technology …

Implementation Of A Digital Asset Management System Using Human-Centered Design, Lynne Tseng

Theses

With all the people and activities involved, modern marketing and strategic communications departments are complex organizations. This complexity can lead to longer lead times to complete projects within specific and deadline-driven timeframes. Therefore, companies are turning to digital asset management (DAM) systems to streamline their workflows and become more efficient. However, without a comprehensive and strategic implementation plan, DAM systems are significantly less likely to be adopted by their end-users. This paper describes how a DAM system was selected and implemented in the marketing and strategic communications department of a large health system. By using a human-centered design methodology to …

The Effect Of Β-Caryophyllene On Isoproterenol-Induced Myocardial Infarction, Farah M. Jamal Laham

Theses

Cannabinoid type 2 receptors (CB2), a key member of the endocannabinoid system have recently emerged as a crucial therapeutic target for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Downregulation of CB2 receptors has been witnessed in various cancers, neurological and cardiovascular disorders. Thus, the activation of CB2 receptors may protect against ISO-induced myocardial infarction (MI) in rats. The present study investigates the cardioprotective effect of a selective cannabinoid type 2 receptor agonist β-caryophyllene (BCP), a dietary phytocannabinoid, and a natural bicyclic sesquiterpene against isoproterenol (ISO)-induced MI in rats. Male albino Wistar rats were pre-and co-treated with β-caryophyllene (50 mg/kg, orally) twice daily for 10 …

A Scene Designer's Guide To Evil Dead: The Musical, Leighanna Victoria Evans

Theses

This thesis encompasses the design and production process for Southern Illinois University Carbondale Department of Theater’s production, Evil Dead: The Musical. The writing focuses on the scene designer’s process of analyzing a script to putting it on stage. Through the document the reader will gain insight into the process of a live production from the pre-design phase to post production.

Analyzing Efl Teachers’ Technology Preparedness To Promote Call In Indonesia, Eugenie Mainake

Theses

In recent decades, technology has played a significant role in English language teaching. Current Indonesian policies in education encourage teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning activities to bolster the effectiveness and efficiency of their teaching practice (Ministry of National Education Indonesia, 2013). Previous studies found that various technology-based pedagogies yielded rewarding results for learners’ language skills in Indonesia, yet teachers report a lack of skills and knowledge necessary for CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning) integration (Cahyani & Cahyono, 2012; Ridwan, 2017). There are, however, limited studies examining teachers’ readiness and skills to implement technology use in their classroom …

Evaluating The Efficacy Of Group Equivalence-Based Instruction Using Observational Learning, Megan Rae Harrison

Theses

The current study investigated the effect of observational learning during equivalence based instruction (EBI). Two boys (Tim and Nate) ages 11 and 12 with Autism Spectrum Disorder participated in the study. Participants received small-group EBI training with an embedded observational learning component twice weekly for six weeks. Both participants were given a trained and observation set containing three classes (Class A, Class B and Class C) consisting of four class members. Participants served as both learners and observers during each training session. Each participant was trained on match-to-sample tasks with relations A-B and B-C and tested for class formation across …

Evaluating The Effects Of A Brief Acceptance And Commitment Therapy Intervention On Environmentally Sustainable Behavior, Anne Sheerin

Theses

The purpose of the present study was to use the principles of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to increase environmentally sustainable behavior among seven college-aged students. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy involves increasing mindfulness and psychological flexibility. All participants filled out a daily survey that ranked how much they had participated in environmentally sustainable behavior or if they had the opportunity to participate in it at all. Four participants then received three individual, brief ACT sessions with the researcher and three of these participants showed an average of a 20% increase overall in self-reported sustainable behaviors after the brief intervention in …

Modular Synthesis Of Dual- And Tri-Modal Targeted Molecular Imaging Agents, Nicholas C. Schug

Theses

There are few reported methods for combining two or three different imaging dyes, metals, or dye-metal combinations, followed by the conjugation of a disease- targeting group to enable the use a given imaging system for multiple imaging applications. Previously, peptides have been used as scaffolds for dyes and metals used in diagnostic techniques such as optical molecular imaging (OMI), positron emission tomography (PET), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aim of this project was to reassemble peptide-based imaging agents through a modular method by coupling together modules comprised of amino acids with imaging agents attached to their side chains to …

Design And Production Of 3d Animation Short Film “Memories Of The Post-80s”, Hui Shen

Theses

“The memories of the post-80s” is a 2minutes and 8 seconds 3D animated short film which tells a story of a young man named Kai who born in the post-80s in China, living in a modern, high-tech environment, but falling into a fantasy dream and reminiscing about his simple and happy life as a child. The most important question expressed in this short film is whether a more convenient, high-tech, fast-paced modern life is proportional to people's happiness index. The main reasons for this problem are multiple, such as working pressure, stressful life, repayment of loans, health, and so on. …

Gait Generation For Damaged Hexapods Using Genetic Algorithm, Justin Kon

Theses

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a Genetic Algorithm for the generation of gaits compensating for system damage on the joint level of a hexapod system. The hexapod base used for this algorithm consists of six three degree of freedom legs on a rectangular body. The purpose of this algorithm is to generate a gait such that when N motors become inoperable, as detected by the robot’s internal software, the system is able to continue moving about its environment. While algorithms like this have been implemented before, the generated gaits are a sequence of discrete foot positions. This …

Exploring The Role Of Direct Phonemic Awareness Instruction Of Decoding And Letter Naming On Reading Abilities Of Uae Kindergarteners, Eiman Abdulla Alkhlaifi

Theses

This study aimed at exploring the role of direct phonemic awareness of letter naming and decoding in the reading abilities of Emirati kindergartners. The mixed-method was adopted to achieve the purpose of this study. In the first phase of the study quantitative means were used by conducting a pre and post-test after implementation of the program for six weeks. The second phase of the study featured a collection of qualitative data means of document analysis which was randomly selected from the participant's performance during the program. The participants in this study were KG1 students who were selected conveniently (n=40) and …

Probability Of Naturalism And Metanormative Realism, Curtis Howd

Theses

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution can be mobilized to provide epistemological challenges to metanormative realism. It is argued that, since natural selection selects for behaviors adequate for survival and fecundity, our psychologies must be shaped by this same process. A-type challenges point to the improbability of the vast number of true normative beliefs given that they evolved to track survival and fecundity, not truth. B-type debunking arguments point to the improbability of the hypothesis that evolution would track truth given that there are a multitude of defeaters for this hypothesis. I will argue that both a-type and b-type arguments fail to …

The Fourth Wall, Serenity Dougherty

Theses

“The Fourth Wall” is the beginning of a fiction novel set in the comedy scene in Lincoln, NE during the #MeToo movement. The story follows a young female comedian in the scene, Kara, from the perspectives of several significant people in her life. Though the novel never inhabits Kara’s perspective directly, it seeks to give readers an intimate look at the difficulty she faces as she tries to navigate the male-dominated world of stand-up comedy during a time when the community is being forced to confront its troubling history of sweeping reports of sexual violence under the rug.

Different Exercise Tendencies Modulate Behavioral And Molecular Changes To Opioid Or Exercise-Induced Reward, Amanda Titus

Theses

Reward changes were observed in rodents with different exercise tendencies by utilizing the conditioned place preference paradigm. Adult male Wistar rats with distinct phenotypes (low volume runners, high volume runners, and wild-type) were given access to a running wheel or an injection of morphine as a rewarding stimulus. There was no difference observed in the strength of conditioned place preference between the rewarding stimuli. Extinction was significantly more effective in low volume runners than high volume runners and wild-type animals, as was observed in the lower percentage of time spent in their assigned conditioning chamber. These findings suggest that low …

Toy Design For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Based On Existing Therapeutic Training Methods, Ye Wang

Theses

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) behave in different ways from other children as well as face enormous problems in their daily life. Previous research has found that physical treatment not only improves their body functions, but also benefits their mental development. Play therapy is a very effective way to help children with ASD since playing is the way children express themselves. However, after field research and benchmarking, I found that there are few toys helping them with their developmental coordination, which is necessary especially for children with ASD. In this paper, I have designed a series of devices for …

Speculative Fashion: A Spacesuit For Life Outside Earth, Lauren Miyoko Furushima

Theses

When Earth is no longer able to house living creatures, humans will need a new environment to inhabit. Space tourism companies are already looking toward building civilizations in outer space. In accordance, humans will need space wear that is able to support their bodies for long periods of time, therefore supporting life outside of Earth. NASA’s white spacesuits protect astronauts but are hard to move in and costly to manufacture. As designers, it is vital to envision different solutions for spacesuits because it will soon become our normal clothing. The importance of designing for future space travel for everyone may …

Magnolia Twilight, Qin Zhou

Theses

A village girl, Yulan (19), goes to Shanghai and her life changes completely.

Yulan runs out from a small village in Yunnan, because her family only cares about her brother, and the culture in that town is that boys are always superior to girls. The boy next door from hometown, Jinxian Fang (26), takes care of Yulan. Yulan wants to be independent and moves out, and she has a roommate Mulan (26). Mulan is the kind of female that Yulan wants to become.

Yulan finds out Jinxian has some secret business, and he seems cheats on her. After the suggestion …

Design And Production Of 3d Animation Short Film “The Blue Battery”, Xianyu Liao

Theses

he Blue Battery is a character animation short film telling a story of a robot pursuing freedom in a totalitarian environment. The idea of the film expresses reflection and vigilance against totalitarianism. During World War II, Nazism prevailed in Europe, the extreme abuse of power by the ruling class led to a large number of people suffering from war. After the war, the Soviet Republic gradually moved toward totalitarianism and eventually died out. In these past countries, political scientists have found that violence and secret police often exist. Especially the control of thought, the fanaticism of personal worship, and the …

Dog Days On The Chaparral, Hugo Teixeira

Theses

Dog Days on the Chaparral is an installation comprised of three photographic sculptures made in response to the question “where are you from?” Although I define myself as both Portuguese and American, as someone who immigrated as a child, my identification as either ebbs and flows. The work embodies this slipperiness—a complicated emotional geography—in fabricated sculptures which collage images of two landscapes, the California chaparral and Portuguese montado, as proxies for these two homes and identities. I employ vernacular building materials and tools, such as lumber, engineered wood, common fasteners, house paint and steel clamps to create a literal and …

Cruces, Carlos Mario Tobon Franco

Theses

Cruces is a multimedia installation depicting immigrant conditions and experiences throughout landscapes, Latinx communities, and borderlands. Made during the last two years, it is constructed as a multivocal ethnography of immigrants with varying legal statuses, countries of origin, and stages in their journey. The imagery, sounds, and narratives are composed of the distributed yet relational geographies of immigrants’ experience and the pieces are structured to highlight the constitutive elements of human mobilities, such as trains, rivers and immigration hubs, as well as the natural obstacles they face in their perilous transit, such as forests and deserts.

The fieldwork was carried …

Because The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me, Granville Carroll

Theses

"Because the Sun Hath Looked Upon Me" is a photographic project examining identity construction on an individual, society, and cosmological level. It is a response to racial limitations and judgements thrust upon the African diaspora. I reimagine my identity through Afrofuturism by intersecting cosmology, philosophy, and spirituality. Using digital technology, I composite photographs to create new landscapes and self-portraits. The landscapes are my vision of the promised land; the ground references the physical world, the sky becomes a canvas for projection and imagination, and the horizon acts as a symbol for the liminal space between the physical and ethereal. The …

Tiny Furious Circles, Ann M. Herrington

Theses

I have had time to live and time to reflect on that living. What I have found is that certain things present themselves, over and over, wearing different skins. And though they look different, there is a certain whiff of familiarity that activates the soul’s hindbrain and pulls you close. That’s how it has been for me. Because of this — my failure to learn the first time; my need to see a thing from all its sides; my constant picking at the half-healed — certain themes repeat. And because they have come to me at different times in many …

The Vulnerability Of Chronic Stress: Implications For Feeling Like Giving Up, Miranda Jany

Theses

The feeling of learned helplessness has been associated with prolonged stress and trauma. Additionally, many previous studies have examined the relationship between stress and decreased feelings of control, such as self-efficacy and locus of control. However, these forms of control have been primarily self-reported. The present study aimed to investigate the relationships among learned helplessness, chronic stressors, and self-agency using a computer-based task. We also measured heart rate variability (HRV) during the self-agency task to assess psychophysiological correlates of these variables. Seventy-four participants completed a series of questionnaires that were used to assess lifelong stressors (e.g., exposure to natural disasters, …