Digital Commons Network^™

Stirrings: Interactive Tableware, Lorianne Resch

Theses

The goal of this thesis project was to create an object or set of objects that would serve as an interaction point to foster reciprocal learning and perceptual exchange between children and adults. The underlying investigation dealt with the notion that the child's point of view can be quite insightful, but it is often forgotten or overlooked and replaced by a more `reasonable' and rational perspective as we age. The project's final form serves not only as a whimsical, functional set of dishes, but also as a language of anthropomorphic forms.

Facial Feature Point Fitting With Combined Color And Depth Information For Interactive Displays, Colin Bellmore

Theses

Interactive displays are driven by natural interaction with the user, necessitating a computer system that recognizes body gestures and facial expressions. User inputs are not easily or reliably recognized for a satisfying user experience, as the complexities of human communication are difficult to interpret in real-time. Recognizing facial expressions in particular is a problem that requires high-accuracy and efficiency for stable interaction environments. The recent availability of the Kinect, a low cost, low resolution sensor that supplies simultaneous color and depth images, provides a breakthrough opportunity to enhance the interactive capabilities of displays and overall user experience. This new RGBD …

The Soulless Machine, Nathan Lomas

Theses

Since their creation, we have grown increasingly reliant on machines to aid us in our understanding and perceptions of the world - the camera is no exception. As an extension of the human eye, it allows us the opportunity to examine our environments from new perspectives, offering up views that we may not be able to witness on our own. Though in truth, the structure of the machine is ingrained in everything we know: from the natural world to our social patterns, actions are prescribed, parts move with united purpose, yet there is a certain comfort in the surrender of …

Evolutionary Star-Structured Heterogeneous Data Co-Clustering, Amit Salunke

Theses

A star-structured interrelationship, which is a more common type in real world data, has a central object connected to the other types of objects. One of the key challenges in evolutionary clustering is integration of historical data in current data. Traditionally, smoothness in data transition over a period of time is achieved by means of cost functions defined over historical and current data. These functions provide a tunable tolerance for shifts of current data accounting instance to all historical information for corresponding instance. Once historical data is integrated into current data using cost functions, co-clustering is obtained using various co-clustering …

Podification: Horatio And The Metamorphosis Mystery, Daniel Driscoll

Theses

The animated film, Podification: Horatio and the Metamorphosis Mystery is the tale of a caterpillar, Horatio, who is faced with what could be the final moments of his life. The story tells the end of his journey and his interactions with his few remaining friends. The film was created using Autodesk Maya, Adobe Creative Suite and edited using Final Cut Pro. The intention of the film was to create a small world, populate it with a broad range of characters, and communicate the central narrative theme which encompassed change, the unknown, and the uncertainties we all face in our own …

The Mystery Spot, Joe Arcovitch

Theses

Mystery Spot is a graduate thesis film that tells the story of a sorceress who has grown bored with her daily routine and disinterested in her magical abilities; significant though they may be. She seeks answers outside herself, feeling that the life and 'powers' outside her own are more interesting and more powerful. She discovers things aren't always as they seem. Other powers can come at a price and other lives are not necessarily so good. She returns home with a renewed interest and appreciation for what she has. The final film is a mixed media 2D/3D using Maya, Adobe …

Hey! Beijing: China Special Series: Promoting The Internet Travel Program Of Beijing With Motion Graphics, Pengxiao Zhao

Theses

Beijing, the capital of China, is considered one of the largest cultural centers in the world. Because of its mysteries and long historical heritages, visitors from all over the world love to travel and witness such a miraculous city. Thus, an Internet travel program featuring Beijing is the primary goal to introduce China to the world. Audiences, especially travelers, will always enjoy watching a high-quality Internet travel channel with a stylish, yet informative, title sequence. As a result, this thesis project aims to use a new computer graphic design technique to create and promote the original title sequences.

For the …

Subject Vs Object, Francesca Lalanne Jeune

Theses

This paper focuses on the concepts that inform my thesis work for the Master of Fine Arts in Fine Arts Studio from Rochester Institute of Technology. I have always been intrigued by circumstances such as war and oppression. I have also wondered about the opposite, moments of peace and serenity. Inevitably, I have allowed these dualistic thoughts to govern my artwork, abstractly through form and underlying narratives. In my thesis, I investigate concepts such as identity, history, memory, and how they play a role in my artwork. I see history as a tool for examining identity, while memory serves as …

Obstacle As Inspiration: Producing Imago Dei, Jeremy Gemetta

Theses

Connecting, sharing, breathing into life: for me these are the magic behind film-making. I strive to express more than the sum of visible parts. Movement and its absence are visceral tools to express temporality and relationship dynamic; they formed the concept for my thesis film, Imago Dei. Story always captivated me: over time, I found I could engage people with it, but was frustrated by inconsistent results. My instinctive grasp of image as a storytelling tool did not help me string visual essays into a narrative. Imago Dei would be about the magic of human connection. Inspired by Chris Marker's …

Mechanisms Of Psoriatic Arthritis, Laurel Myers

Theses

Psoriasis (Ps) is the most common chronic autoimmune disease in the United States. The immune system releases proinflammatory cytokines and growth factors that accelerate the growth of skin cells which accumulate and form thick red patches of skin on various parts of the body. About 25 percent of psoriasis patients develop inflammatory arthritis in which inflammation progresses to joints and entheses. Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) patients exhibit joint pain, stiffness, and swelling which can affect any part of the body. PsA occurs when the immune cells release cytokines that act on healthy cells and tissues to induce skin and joint inflammation. …

Palpable, John Archer

Theses

To provoke intrigue using simplified, whimsical, playful (toy-like) forms with recycled materials that convey complex, possibly dark, relationships to foster a curiosity of innocence lost and deliver a deeper meaning (Archer, 2012). To me life is an exercise in exploring the human condition; specifically relationships. From the day we arrive we establish relationships with everything in our world, even before we arrive, if we count the ten months of uterine swimming. The sights, sounds, and touch of lights, voices, and caress all play a part in our connection to the world. My thesis work focuses on the connections among interpersonal …

Spatial Relationship, Jeong Ju Lee

Theses

My sculptural furniture and jewelry works derive from my interest in the human body and its spatial relationship to surroundings. Inspired by the organic forms from nature with human elements, the furniture presents the interaction between the work and the viewers as it is conceived as both functional and sculptural. The jewelry makes a statement on the body as a wearable sculpture, focusing on the organization of space as well as considering the movement on the human body.

Think Aloud: Can Eye Tracking Add Value In Detecting Usability Problems?, Alekhya Paruchuri

Theses

The protocols of Think Aloud and Eye Tracking, in their own unique way have proven to be great methods to understand users' thought processes, and their mental models when interacting with interfaces. However the effectiveness of the combination of the two protocols in discovering usability problems has not been explored. This study aimed to discover if the addition of Eye Tracking data (fixations and scan movements) to the traditional protocol of Think Aloud can uncover more usability problems. Web users were split into three groups: Eye Tracking Only (ET), Think Aloud Only (TA), and Eye Tracking and Think Aloud Only …

Pablo & The Artists: A Mobile Game For Art Education, Yixiong Zhou

Theses

Pablo & The Artists is an educational mobile application project. This documentation aims to focus and further explore the opportunities of a mobile application by analysing the process of Pablo & The Artists. My emphasis is on the design aspect of creating a mobile gaming experience, involving researches on user behaviors of a particular group and technical implementations of a complex mobile application.

Two And Three Dimensional Segmentation Of Multimodal Imagery, Sreenath Rao Vantaram

Theses

The role of segmentation in the realms of image understanding/analysis, computer vision, pattern recognition, remote sensing and medical imaging in recent years has been significantly augmented due to accelerated scientific advances made in the acquisition of image data. This low-level analysis protocol is critical to numerous applications, with the primary goal of expediting and improving the effectiveness of subsequent high-level operations by providing a condensed and pertinent representation of image information. In this research, we propose a novel unsupervised segmentation framework for facilitating meaningful segregation of 2-D/3-D image data across multiple modalities (color, remote-sensing and biomedical imaging) into non-overlapping partitions …

A Visualization Of A New Conceptual Sustainable Building Using Green Materials, Tzu-Fang Tseng

Theses

The project was inspired by a 9-story building constructed from plastic bottles, which was hailed as a spectacular showpiece for the Taipei International Flora Expo. This building weighs 50 percent less than a conventional structure. It is reconfigurable, energy saving and very low in CO2. The main intent of the project is to utilize a surreal story in an animation to illustrate the concept of reusing hundreds of thousands of old bottles around the world is a new green method of building which is one way to protect our planet. The resulting product is a short film that can be …

Tracking Of Various Targets In The Infrared And Issues Encountered, Kyle Ausfeld

Theses

The use of a computer to track objects has been a subject of interest for a few decades. The applications these algorithms may be applied to span a large number of fields; anything from homeland security to the study of animal behavior. In particular, visible tracking has been around the longest and has the largest library of algorithms available. Algorithms such as Mean Shift have become a standard for testing algorithms against. However, algorithms such as Mean Shift may work well for visible video data, infrared video data presents some issues beyond many visible algorithms. Infrared video gives certain advantages …

Design And Simulation Of A Mechanical Hand, Yateen P. Shembade

Theses

A variety of mechanical hand designs have been developed in the past few decades. The majority of the designs were made with the sole purpose of imitating the human hand and its capabilities; however, none of these designs have been equipped with all the motions and sensory capabilities of the human hand. The primary goal of this thesis project was to design a robotic hand with the required amount of degrees-of-freedom and necessary constraints to achieve all the motions of the human hand. Demonstration of the American Sign Language (ASL) alphabet, using a virtual design and controls platform, was used …

A Signal Processing Approach For Preprocessing And 3d Analysis Of Airborne Small-Footprint Full Waveform Lidar Data, Jiaying Wu

Theses

The extraction of structural object metrics from a next generation remote sensing modality, namely waveform light detection and ranging (LiDAR), has garnered increasing interest from the remote sensing research community. However, a number of challenges need to be addressed before structural or 3D vegetation modeling can be accomplished. These include proper processing of complex, often off-nadir waveform signals, extraction of relevant waveform parameters that relate to vegetation structure, and from a quantitative modeling perspective, 3D rendering of a vegetation object from LiDAR waveforms. Three corresponding, broad research objectives therefore were addressed in this dissertation. Firstly, the raw incoming LiDAR waveform …

Cancer Biotherapy Resource, Preety Priya

Theses

`Cancer Biotherapy' - as opposed to cancer chemotherapy- is the use of macromolecular, biological agents instead of organic chemicals or drugs to treat cancer. Biotherapy is a treatment modality that blocks the growth of cancer cells by interfering with specific, targeted molecules needed for carcinogenesis and tumor growth instead of simply interfering with rapidly dividing cells as in chemotherapy1. In light to the much higher selectivity of biological agents than chemical agents for cancer cells over normal cells, there is a much less toxic side effect in biotherapy as compared to chemotherapy. As solid tumor cancer continues to be analyzed …

World Trade Center Health Effects, Erin Neill

Theses

The author worked with the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring and Treatment Program to create part of a public health education campaign to advertise the existence of the program and to explain World Trade Center health effects. World Trade Center Dust contained particles of many sizes, and it caused irritation to the body's tissues resulting in aerodigestive disorders like World Trade Center Cough, Sinusitis, Bronchitis, Rhinitis and Tracheo-Laryngitis. At the completion of this project, 2 posters, 1 brochure, 4 fact sheets and an interactive web site were created. One of the posters designed was used to promote program awareness amongst …

Ultra Shiny, Beccy Feather

Theses

Ultra Shiny; what could be more compelling to a crow, or a hypnotized, dazed supermarket consumer? This thesis will discuss my theories regarding package design, advertising techniques, glitz, pizzazz and pyrotechnics from the sublime to the ridiculous, as a legitimate strategy for art making, both utterly sincere and ironic.

A Comparison Of Different Forms Of Methamphetamine On Locomotor Activity And Sign Tracking Performance In Rats, Christine E. Michaels

Theses

No abstract provided.

Avoidance, Escape, And Approach Behavior In Individuals With High Behavioral Inhibition, Nicole Anastasides

Theses

No abstract provided.

Study Of Cellular Responses Under Chemically Induced Hypoxia, George Coricor

Theses

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Growing Media For Annual Herb Production In Green Roof Modular Trays, Mary Margaret Fischer

Theses

Extensive urban development has led to the resurgence of green roofs. These vegetated roofs provide significant ecological and economic benefits including mitigation of the urban heat island effect, reduced storm-water runoff, lower energy costs, increased biodiversity, and improved aesthetics, as well as food production and security. Urban agriculture and food security are becoming increasingly important factors of the green roof renaissance. Due to weight load limitations of potential buildings, the ability to produce quality food in shallow media, less than 6.75 cm, could encourage green roof food production. The effectiveness of a commercially available green roof media and a vermicompost …

Influence Of Coffee Vermicompost On Growth And Nutrient Quality Of Greenhouse Spinach And Field Grown Green Bell Peppers, April Lorraine Vigardt

Theses

The vermicomposting of coffee grounds shows great promise for urban areas and university campuses. Several studies have examined using coffee grounds as a substrate for vermicomposting, however, little is known about its effect on plant growth, yield and quality. Therefore, two studies were conducted to assess these effects on greenhouse spinach and field grown bell peppers. Coffee vermicompost (VC) was utilized in a greenhouse spinach study over two spring growing seasons (2011 and 2012). Coffee VC was added to a 1:1:1 (peat, soil, sand) medium by volume (0, 25, 50 and 75%) in 4.5 L clay pots and seeded with …

Do Large, Infrequent Disturbances Release Estuarine Wetlands From Coastal Squeezing?, Jesse Fruchter

Theses

As disturbance frequencies, intensities, and types have changed and continue to change in response to changing climate and land-use patterns, coastal communities undergo shifts in both species composition and dominant vegetation type. Over the past 100 years, fire suppression throughout the Northern Gulf of Mexico coast has resulted in shifts towards woody species dominance at the expense of marsh cover. Over the next 100 years, sea levels will rise and tropical storm activity is projected to increase; resultant changes in salinity could reduce cover of salt-intolerant fresh marsh species. Together, the effects of fire suppression upslope and rising salinities downslope …

Late Spring Survey And Richness Estimation Of The Aquatic Benthic Insect Community In The Upper Portion Of The Lusk Creek Watershed, Jacqueline Turner

Theses

The Lusk Creek Watershed, located in Pope County, IL, long has been recognized as a high quality area and as biologically significant. Yet, surveys of the macroinvertebrate fauna have been limited. Thus, a survey of the benthic insect community in the upper portion of Lusk Creek was conducted from May 2003 to April 2005. Eleven sites were selected and characterized by physical properties and water chemistry. Insect distribution patterns, abundance, and diversity (richness, evenness) were examined. A total of 20,888 specimens, mostly immatures, were examined during the study and represented eight orders. The Diptera, by far, was the most common …

Perceptions And Satisfaction Of Healthy Food Choices Among College-Aged Females In A Self-Serve Dining Facility Setting, Kristin Timken

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Kristin Timken, for the Master of Science degree in Food & Nutrition, presented on November 21, 2011, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: PERCEPTIONS & SATISFACTION OF HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES AMONG COLLEGE-AGED FEMALES IN A SELF-SERVE DINING FACILITY SETTING MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Sara Long Roth Objective: The purpose of this study was to measure perceptions of healthy food choices and satisfaction of menu choices among members of a sorority house. Design: Three surveys were used in this experiment, two pre-tests and one post-test. Subjects and Setting: The study consisted of a self-selected sample of …