Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Analysis Of The Dissolution Performance Of Aspirin Tablets In The Usp Apparatus 2 And In A Minivessel Dissolution System, Annmarie C. Walker

Theses

Dissolution testing is a critical component of quality control procedures in the pharmaceutical industry in order to ensure that the final solid dosage forms have consistent dissolution properties. Dissolution tests are also routinely conducted to evaluate the in-vitro performance of solid dosage forms during pharmaceutical development, to aid in the behavior of formulations, and to optimize drug release from dosage forms.

The use of compendial dissolution test apparatus and techniques, such as the USP 2 (Paddle), to characterize the dissolution performance of oral drug delivery system is an established area of pharmaceutical science. However, this method is not always appropriate, …

No Beginning And No End, Ryan Arthur Florey

Theses

This thesis describes the realization of my art, created with the intention to project into a plastic medium the story of an ancient artifact, a weather-beaten stone, or a plant responding to stress in its environment. It describes the evolution of my inspiration and thought over the course of my graduate career, as well as, the various ancient cultures, artifacts, and traditions of making that I have found to be rooted in similar inspiration, and which have helped to guide the progression of my works.

Stuck, Whitney Walters

Theses

Stuck is six-minutes and five seconds in duration. The film starts in an artist’s studio, a blob creature gingerly applies paint to a canvas. The goopy creature is exhausted and slumps onto their canvas. It rests its head there, but is startled by an alarm and remembers something. The blob panics and seizes its portfolio before rushing off.

The blob sits in an office while a bored man flips through the portfolio and hands back the book. Rejected, the blob melts and flows out the door into a hallway of parody movie posters and a display case of ‘mockquettes.’ The …

The Relationship Between Restricted, Repetitive Behavior And Anxiety In Adults With Intellectual Disability, Casey M. Mazzola

Theses

This study investigated the relationship between restricted, repetitive behavior (RRB) and anxiety in a sample of adults with intellectual disability (ID). Six regression analyses were conducted. Predictor variables were age, severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms, level of adaptive functioning, and anxiety; RRB (in general and specific subtypes) was the criterion. Together, the four predictor variables accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in total RRB, Stereotypic Behavior, Compulsive Behavior, Ritualistic/Sameness Behavior, and Restricted Interests. Self-injurious behavior (SIB) was the only subtype of RRB in which the results of the regression analysis were not significant. Anxiety was found …

Food Watch: Helping People To Live A Healthy Life, Jiaqi Yang

Theses

Food is one of the great pleasures of life. However, due to cultural backgrounds and physical conditions, the same food is not suitable for all consumers. Peanuts, dairy products, and wheat can be deadly for people with food allergies. These consumers must carefully check the ingredients of all of their food.

This article outlines a system that combines product labeling and mobile technology to help those with food allergies and food intolerances easily manage their diet and protect their health.

With this new system, a user with dietary restrictions only needs to scan a label barcode with a mobile phone …

Paleo Journey: An Interactive Paleolithic Cave Art Experience. Using The User Experience (Ux) Design Process To Develop An Interactive And Immersive Paleolithic Cave Art Exhibit Suitable For Children Between Five (5) And Seven (7) Years Old., James J. Parrillo

Theses

Most European caves containing Paleolithic cave art paintings (dating from approximately 10,000 – 50,000 years BP) are no longer accessible to the general public, and their visitor centers often require lengthy travel for tourists. In addition, the interactivity associated with these exhibits largely focus upon computer screens, and not a tactile interface. This Thesis project seeks to create a prototype of a tactile interface on a mock cave surface using projection mapping and motion tracking.

In developing this exhibit, the user experience (UX) design process was used as a methodology for defining, researching and co-designing for a particular user segment. …

A Comprehensive Branding Strategy For The Vignelli Center For Design Studies, Hui Xu

Theses

This project presents solutions for Vignelli Center for Design Studies that address the question about the ineffective use of digital resources and lack of communications with users though the website. The results provide design solutions for both web and mobile users, aiming to improve the user experience and creatre an lasting impression on the audience.

This project creates a comprehensive branding strategy that enables the Vignelli Center to expand its reach and build a powerful connection to both existing and future audience. It also builds a consistent brand system across different platforms. Furthermore, this project demonstrates the importance of utilizing …

We Fish: An Interactive Information Design Mobile App For Local Fishing, Liyang Wang

Theses

Fishing is a popular hobby in today’s society. People enjoy fishing to relieve stress, create social bonds, and find it fulfilling and challenging. In order to fish effectively, a fisherman needs to know the real-time weather, location information, and have basic fishing knowledge. There are many ways we can help fishermen by providing this information in an easily accessible manner. For fishing beginners and fishing amateurs, the best way to help them catch fish is to create a tool that solves their needs.

Mobile applications have quickly become a useful tool and are widely used today for its diversity and …

Reborn Of The Beauty, Ting Hsuan Tsao

Theses

Nowadays, 3D techniques play an important role in the reproduction of history and culture on screen. Modeling and 3D visual effects, using technical tools and other computer methods to achieve high returns from the movie industry, have become prominent in today’s technological trends.

Taiwan has always been identified as a province of China. The island nation, however, has its own unique culture and history. With the growing number of people emigrating to Taiwan annually, the opportunity to share our story has grown as well. In this regard, the 3D technique offers useful ways to bring the past back to life, …

Weekly: A Design System That Combines Graphic And Interaction Design For Scheduling Student Events, Kaige Liu

Theses

A common need for students is scheduling events efficiently. Students using various methods for scheduling events. Some prefer a physical paper calendar, while others prefer to use a mobile device. Several problems can occur when students schedule events. For example, it may not be clear when a student’s free time periods are, especially when trying to meet with a team or group members. Also, user’s preferences are different on how they schedule events.

To address the issue of inefficiency in scheduling events, a design system that focuses on print, interaction, and user experience design is created. The design system includes …

Bomber Boy, Biying Xu

Theses

Bomber Boy is a 2D animation thesis with a length of three minutes and 44 seconds. It is a story about finding a better way to control temper to avoid causing harm to others. It happens in a world that people blow up when they are angry. All the people in this world have a fuse on their head. While the main character, Thorn, has a very short fuse. He blows up quickly because of it. He blows up several times in school, which makes other students afraid of him. He hates himself and runs into an illusion that he …

The Misconception Of Social Anxiety Disorder: Creating Understanding Through Motion Graphics, Kaijun Qu

Theses

This thesis project explores Social Anxiety Disorder, by showing emotions and feelings of the person who suffers from social phobia to help his/her friends and classmates to understand them.

The symptoms of a person with social phobia can be seen as being afraid of communicating with other people, appearing in public, and/or being the center of attention. In such situations, others may easily misunderstand them, so the patient can lose the chance to communicate to others. As a result, the patient's condition will be getting worse. Therefore, it is very hard for people with social phobia to make new friends. …

Sohni Mahiwal Preserving South Asian Cultural Heritage Through Animated Storytelling, Anem Syed

Theses

Majority of Pakistani youth is not enthralled by the country’s rich cultural heritage. There is less public knowledge on the subject. This translates into less appreciation or interest. The academic system is largely responsible for this. It imparts a conservative history of undivided India, focuses on politics, ignores its nuanced culture. Unless students venture into specialized fields of art and humanities, most do not get stimulated to study history. Additionally, today when digital learning is on the rise, there is a lack of relevant sources on the subject. This thesis is creating a digital source. It is re-packaging an Indian …

Better Fit: A Conceptual Solution For Seamless Exercise Experience, Hongwei Huang

Theses

The development of fitness technology has changed the way we exercise over time, and each technology has allowed people to exercise independently in various ways, such as wearable devices, fitness apps, game consoles, and even social media. The consequence is that more people get used to exercising solely with their digital device and get motivated from virtual communities rather than in a real environment. However, the research shows there can be even more benefit for people by exercising with others in a physical space.

The thesis utilizes UX design methodologies to develop a seamless-workout experience that enables a user to …

Black Behind The Ear: Using Motion Graphics To Encourage Self-Awareness And Embrace Racial Heritage., Carolina Lopez

Theses

Black Behind the Ear is an animated visual representation of Elizabeth Acevedo’s poem “Hair”. This poem uses hair as a metaphorical element to represent the internalized racism and racial amnesia predominant in the Dominican Republic, a place that owes African slaves for much of the island’s racial, and cultural heritage.

This motion graphics piece intends to encourage self-awareness in a time when embracing one’s culture and race can break the ossified schemes passed through generations about personality standards based on physical attributes. Understanding where one comes from helps people see why certain ideas are worth standing for, and consequently results …

Camera Obscura, Dan Latourette

Theses

Camera Obscura is a feature-length script about a 19th-century photographer who must document the unraveling Civil War while struggling to come to terms with deaths of his loved ones. It is a historical fiction film about memory, death, and human costs.

Rutherford Holding, an adept yet recluse photographer, stands between a mobilizing country bound for war and the trauma of losing his loved ones years ago. As those around him enlist and prepare in nationalistic fervor for what is to be the American Civil War, Holding desires to evade any chance to meet death face-to-face once again. However, he pigeonholes …

The Soul’S Speaker: Give Your Eyes Some Rest, Fuye Zhang

Theses

The students studying in colleges often fix their eyes on books, on computer screens and archives for a long time to gain knowledge. As a result of this, their eyeballs often turn red out of fatigue. Researches have shown that college students lack the awareness of the benefits of giving their eyes some rest. However, there are few of eye protection advertisements which suggest the need for students to give their eyes some rest. As a designer, I need to let people know the important roles that eyes play in the human body. I feel it is important for designers …

Audialtext: Improving Communication Accessibility For The Deaf Through Automatic Voice-Recognition And Wearable Smart-Technology., Ernest Roszkowski

Theses

Whether you are ordering food at a restaurant, asking for directions, or receiving a phone call from a family member, it is apparent that human communication is an important part of everyday life. Those who are deaf have limited communication accessibility compared to their hearing counterparts, and by default, obtain less public information and face more obstacles during social interactions.

This thesis project will attempt to bridge this communication gap through the exploration of human interactions with user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) design. The goal is to design and develop an application concept for wearable smart-technology that will …

Abyss, Manojh Reddy

Theses

“When the human civilization continues to pursue its darker deeds, the wrong doings, the dark demons in every individual, the rage we show towards Mother Nature is the path to the end of the entire civilization. And, that end will not come with a bang, but with a whimper “ - Manojh Reddy

Evaluating The Effect Of Contextual Variables On Discounting Of Health Related Behaviors, Jessica Hubrich

Theses

The present study used a discounting task with differing contextual variables to examine how variables effect discounting between studies and future health related behaviors. Thirty nine participants completed two discounting questionnaires, each included hypothetical food choices paired with a weight loss or stable weight. Participants were instructed to complete each survey based on either their current weight or a gain of 75 pounds, and each survey included two identical hypothetical menu options. One menu incorporated low calorie foods, while the other incorporated moderately healthy foods, and participants were instructed to select the menu they preferred based on weight loss/no weight …

Survival And Capture Efficiency Of River Otters In Southern Illinois, Andrew U. Rutter

Theses

River otter (Lontra canadensis) populations in Illinois have rebounded considerably after >80 years of harvest protection and a successful reintroduction program. However, few studies of river otter ecology exist in the Midwestern U.S. where river otter numbers have increased in recent decades. Capturing study animals safely and efficiently is a critical part of wildlife research, and difficulties associated with live capture of river otters have contributed to the dearth of research on the species. Furthermore, estimating survival rates and identifying causes of mortality are important in effectively managing river otters. To address these knowledge gaps, my objectives were determine survival …

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy For Children With Autism, Tiffany Thomas

Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive lifelong developmental delay with a prevalence of 1 in 68 children. This growing epidemic occurs for unspecified causes and researchers continue to explore evidence-based treatments available. Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a parent training program, initially developed for implementation with typically-developing children. PCIT has shown effectiveness in increasing child compliance, minimizing disruptive problem, improving parent-child relationship satisfaction, and communication. The present study investigated the efficacy of PCIT as an evidence-based practice (EBP) for children with ASD by implementing a non-concurrent multiple baseline design across three participants. Results indicated socially significant increases in child …

Deer: Creating A Realistic 3d Animal Using Photogrammetry, Karie Carita

Theses

Creating a 3D animal using the process of photogrammetry can bring more realism to a user’s game experience.

In the 3D world, there are various ways for creating animals in video games. Specifically, quadrupeds are known to be very challenging. Since technology is evolving every day, there are always newer ways of creating video game assets. It is challenging to have complex model details and also have smooth real-time rendering in a game engine.

Photogrammetry can capture exact details of a real world animal and incorporate them into a 3D asset. The purpose for using this process is to create …

Integration Of Daylighting Into Educational (School) Building Design For Energy Efficiency, Health Benefit, And Mercury Emissions Reduction Using Heliodon For Physical Modeling, Angela Read

Theses

This thesis examines the concept of incorporating daylight into a school using a heliodon device and Illuminance Rendering in Cloud for Revit software to create a physical and computer model of how the building will function in its given location as a tool to improve the institution’s economy, society, and environment. To properly design the inclusion of natural light in a school building, the climate and weather of the location and the unique timing of occupant use must be considered as daylighting design practices often include concepts that could increase glare or cooling loads. By carefully examining the impacts of …

Estimating The Range Shift And Harvesting Intensity Of Junipers In Bhutan (Eastern Himalaya), Rinchen Namgay

Theses

The authors of more than 97% of the scientific publications on climate change agree that global temperature has increased in the last six decades and is caused by human beings via emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This phenomenon has altered natural ecosystem functions, causing many species to shift to a more suitable habitat. Throughout the world, because of recent climate warming, many forms of range shift associated with climate warming has occurred. While animals can move as warming happens, plants being stationary organisms cannot move, so the difference in the distribution of different plant life stages is an …

Empirical, Brianne Nelson

Theses

This thesis discusses the relationship between presence and void in relation to two pieces being found within one. A product of my upbringing, the monotony and multiples gave me the opportunity to continue my pattern of processing personal emotions through the artistic process. Very physically and conceptually fluid, the pieces are all visually singular with ties to architecture or city planning as well as influences from other artists that work with positive and negative.

Re:Act A Three-Way Communication Interactive Design System For School-Family Partnerships, Yoon Jin Lee

Theses

Using interaction design to create conversation to help create a personalized learning environment in and out of elementary classrooms for achieving students’ academic and mental success from a three-way communication between teachers, students, and parents

Many elementary school teachers encounter problems interacting with each student individually. Also, many parents are losing chances to track their child’s development and achievement closely in both physical and mental perspectives because of their busy schedules. There are several web and mobile applications to assist with these issues, but most of those are too focused on grading students’ positive and negative behavior and two-way communication …

Wave: Brain-Computer Interface Connection And Biofeedback Monitor, Kurtis Unruh-Kracke

Theses

Over the last couple of years I have had the unfortunate experience of helping a loved one through multiple hospital stays. Anyone who has ever been in a hospital knows it’s not the most pleasant experience one can have. These experiences have lead me to the question of, how do I create a space to optimize and inspire the body, mind, and emotional centers to heal and engage support and community? By using empathy I can create solutions for the most extreme patients and use those solutions for other patients and other situations.

Through interviews with ICU patients, nurses and …

Evaluation Of Functionalized Magnetite Nanoparticles For The Removal Of Heavy Metal Ions From Aqueous Media, Khaula A. Ai Jahoushi

Theses

Sorption is one of the most efficient techniques for the removal of heavy metal ions from waste water. It involves the use of solid materials, known as sorbents, which can be natural of synthetic in origin. Recently, synthetic nanomaterials of various compositions have been used as sorbents. Among these materials, calcium phosphate; also known as hydroxyapatite (HAp), and magnetite were previously investigated as potential sorbents. In the current study, commercial HAp, and magnetite nanoparticles as well as their physical and chemical mixtures were investigated as potential sorbents for the removal of Cd²⁺ ions from simulated wastewater. A comparison is made …

Comparative Degradation Of Emerging Pollutants Using Chemical And Enzymatic Approaches, Khadega Abobaker Al-Maqdi

Theses

Organic pollutants, especially those found in water bodies; pose a direct threat to various aquatic organisms as well as humans. A variety of different remediation approaches, including chemical and biological methods have been developed for the degradation of these organic pollutants. However, comparative mechanistic studies of pollutant degradation by these different systems are almost non-existent. In this study, the degradation of two emerging pollutants an antibiotic pollutant, Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and a model thiazole pollutant, Thioflavin T (ThT), was carried out using advanced oxidation process (AOP), using UV+H2O2 or a peroxidase enzyme system. Optimization conditions for Sulfamethoxazole degradation by peroxidase enzyme …