Digital Commons Network^™

Timeless, Christopher E. Smith

Theses

Timeless, a 3D computer animated film, is about exploring the nature of time and nostalgia through the story of a clock man who resides in an old clock inside an abandoned house. I used Maya, a 3D computer animation application for the production and Adobe After Effects for the postproduction. Includes appendices for my thesis proposal containing a budget and a timeline, storyboards, and color stills from the final production.

Long-Term Unemployed Men: A Social Constructionist Exploration Of Identity Construction, Elizabeth A. Scott

Theses

Identity construction in long-term unemployed men over the age of thirty-five was explored using discursive psychological analysis (Wetherell, 2001). Forty participants in County Kerry, who had not engaged with statutory agencies providing employment rehabilitation services, were accessed over a three year period in order to identify the reasons for nonengagement. A grounded theory approach (Bryman, 2004) to data collection was utilised. This yielded six broad codes and eighteen categories of discursive resource drawn upon by the men in constructing identities. In explaining their continued absence from the workforce and lack of engagement with services, discourses identified by Levitas (2004) classifying …

Modified Art Curriculum For Deaf Students With Secondary Disabilities, Laural Hartman

Theses

This capstone_masters_project focuses on creating a modified art curriculum for deaf students with secondary disabilities. From personal experiences, there are art curriculums designed for special education students in general and art curriculums for deaf students, but there is no art curriculum for deaf students with disabilities. Since deaf students with disabilities at residential schools already face a limitation by not being able to hear, they shouldn't face more limitations due to another disability. This paper will present what researchers have said about teaching art to both special education students and deaf students. This paper will also include how deaf and …

Interactions Between Physical And Virtual Space, Carolyn Hsu

Theses

Taking an in-depth look into how graphic design is used to successfully open doors to and encourage the journey through conceptual environments can provide an enhanced understanding of visual communication and visual perception in virtual spaces. This may lead to the creation of improved strategies for navigating through virtual environments, helping to create a system that will more closely reflect wayfinding and navigation in the physical world. Aspects of the study will include the visual translation of time, space, motion, and emotion through conceptual, spatial, and color considerations. Furthermore, understanding visual coding and other navigational aspects will involve the study …

Exploration Of A Hybrid Locomotion Robot, Jeffrey Webb

Theses

In this work, a hybrid locomotion robotic platform is evaluated. This system combines the benefits of both rolling and walking, with the intent on having the ability to traverse variable terrain. A quadruped leg-wheeled robot was designed, built, and tested. Experimental trials were conducted to demonstrate the overall feasibility of the design. Finally, important conclusions about the effectiveness and value of hybrid locomotion were reached. Posturecontrol is specifically identified as an effective area with great potential.

Art Curriculum: Self-Expression By Connecting To Real World Events, Sarah Mccormick

Theses

Self-expression in art to connect with real world events is an art curriculum intended for any art teacher across America. The rational for the art curriculum project is to encourage students to learn how to express themselves visually. Actively experiencing history in art as well as the logic of certain artists' reasoning will promote understanding of the real world. Although it would be very easy to have the students follow directions, step-by-step, where the entire class will get the same or similar outcomes. These "cookie-cutter" pieces inhibit students' development as a human being. We, as teachers, need to notice the …

Developing A Habitat Suitability Model For The Spotted Turtle Using A Hybrid-Deductive Approach, Bryan Correa-Berger

Theses

Knowledge of species with multiple habitat needs for conservation and species survival planning is scarce. In order to predict areas of habitat suitability and potential further research, suitability modeling is necessary. This research created a GIS-based model to predict habitat suitability potential for the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) in four counties of western New York. Because of scarce and conflicting information on spotted turtle habitat needs, a survey was sent out to experts that evaluated spotted turtle habitat parameters. The goal of the habitat model was to predict optimal habitat for sustainable spotted turtle populations in an area where viable …

A Tale In Motion; Ascended Learning, Stacey Houghton

Theses

The education of children in their early development is an essential time for them to develop their minds both cognitively and creatively. Reading, in particular, is one of the most important factors within this developmental stage, and thus needs to be fully grasped by children. A widening gap of illiteracy in America may be lessened by a more interactive and creative approach to learning. With the advent of the computer and motion graphics software, this thesis proves that there is now a more engaging way of educating our youth. Using the characters within the words to create imagery, rather than …

Fish Predation Alters Community Predictability In Small Ponds, Elizabeth Gabor Biro

Theses

Predation can have large but variable impacts on prey species diversity. Although the effects of predation are often deterministic, stochastic processes can often influence the outcome on community assembly regardless of predator presence. Top predators can alter several properties of the community, including the abundance and richness of species, as well as the traits of species that can persist with predators. These properties, in turn, may influence the pattern of community assembly and the predictability of community structure from site to site. In this study, we investigated whether the presence of fish predators influenced the site-to-site predictability (similarity in community …

Shakespeare's Richard Iii: One Actor's Path, Jerry Vogel

Theses

There are a few roles in theatre that are considered a Mount Everest of acting. It's no surprise that Shakespeare created several of these steep and treacherous climbs. Richard ill, as created by Shakespeare, provides all the stage death-defying challenges an actor could ever hope for, if the ultimate goal is to push one's ability to the maximum. There is a rich history of past productions, some of them legendary, to intimidate the actor from the start. There are the obligatory deformities to contend with, sending some actors to a chiropractor's table for the remainder of their lives. There is …

Mathematics And Signing Using Modem Technology, Erin Bosley

Theses

The purpose of this curriculum development capstone project is to provide a sign language resource for the teachers of mathematics classes in deaf education settings. The project consists of a webpage including the clips of various mathematics signs in American Sign Language (ASL). The webpage includes 45 mathematics vocabulary words, taken from the Algebra I mathematics book by Bellman, Bragg, Charles, Hall, Handlin, and Kennedy (2007). A definition as well as visual illustrations and/or visual examples are provided for each word. After the implementation of the website, several questions were asked in order to improve the quality of the webpage. …

Dossier: Truth, Jasna Bogdanovska

Theses

This thesis examines two very different themes. The first one is a historical look on the change of female roles in society shown through very well known symbols, and the second one is the search for truth in times of war. I used mythology as a bridge from our ancestors to understand historical and present roles of women in society. Through my artwork I was asking questions about female identity: How are women portrayed in society? Do we make decisions about our lives or do we live by preset traditional rules? Is anatomy defining our destiny; Or we are just …

A Kinematic Analysis Of Sign Language, Chemuttaai C. Koech

Theses

Signed languages develop among deaf populations and employ manual communication instead of voiced communication. Stokoe attributes classify individual signs in American Sign Language (ASL) and include handshape, hand location, movement, orientation, and facial expression. Signed and oral languages are not mutually understood, and many deaf individuals live in linguistic isolation. This research addresses computer translation between signing and speech, investigating sign duration in sentence context versus in isolation and identifying kinematic sign markers. To date, there has been little study of continuous signing kinematics; it was previously unknown if kinematic markers existed.

Kinematic data were collected from a proficient signer …

Multi-Degree Of Freedom Telemanipulation In An Unstructured Environment, Diego Ramirez

Theses

Two approaches to 6-degrees-of-freedom telemanipulation that will accommodate different needs and skills of potential users with congenital amputation, arthrogryposis, muscular dystrophy and cerebral palsy were developed. One method uses scalable movements (i.e. position and orientation), and the second employs isometric forces and torques without movement. The scalable position approach employs a 6-degress-of-freedom electromechanical stylus whose joint orientations are used by the controlling computer to determine the position and orientation of the robot's end effector via inverse kinematics or by one-to-one matching of the stylus joint angles with those of the manipulator. The isometric method uses the measured forces and torques …

Development Of Enzymatic Biofuel Cell Based On Carbon Nanotube Electrodes On Porous Silicon, Fan Yang

Theses

The work presented in this thesis has focused on designing and characterizing biofuel cell electrodes using porous silicon (p-Si) as the substrate or current collecting platform on which carbon nanotubes (CNTs), both single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MiWNTs), were synthesized directly, followed by enzyme catalyst immobilization on the CNTs. Laccase and glucose oxidase (GOx) were used as enzymatic biocatalysts, which were immobilized on the CNT walls and tips using an electrochemical technique. Cyclic voltammetry showed well-defined redox peaks which indicated that the enzyme (GOx and laccase) were successfully immobilized on the CNTs. The amperometric responses of the …

J-Horror : A Discourse In Cross-Cultural Communication And Cinematic Hybridity, Marylou Quillen

Theses

Film visually communicates the idea of culture, leaving interpretation open to an impressionable audience. Though a genre's recognizable iconography can transcend boundaries, understanding a film's intended message still requires a certain amount of foreknowledge. J-Horror, the common term for Japanese horror among fans, is a sub- genre of Horror that has been catapulted into Hollywood's limelight due to adaptations such as The Ring (2002). Based upon a novel, Ringu, by Koji Suzuki and Nakata Hideo's 1998 cinematic creation of the same name, Gore Verbinski adapted the terrifying plot for Western audiences in his 2002 counterpart.

With the cross-cultural transition, certain …

Prepare To Board! Creating Story And Characters For Animated Features And Shorts, Nancy Beiman

Theses

PREPARE TO BOARD! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts is a textbook for animators and storytellers working in time-based media. It discusses the creation of an animated conceptthe heart and soul of an animated motion picture that has not been covered in previously published storyboarding books and then describes techniques used to develop characters and storyboards simultaneously in accordance with industry practice. Exercises are included to allow readers who are not familiar with animation to progress from simple to increasingly complex projects. The text supports the visuals much in the same way that dialogue supports visuals in …

Woman In Art, Sun Young Park

Theses

This thesis describes the author's creation of sculptures combining glass and metal, in which she tests the boundary between realism and abstraction, and that between jewelry and sculpture. This sculpture is intended to embody the voluptuous and sensual nature of the human female form.

Scaling Up, Brian Blasiak

Theses

A descriptive narration of a project to create a 3-D animated film, "Scaling up," featuring a young boy who, while practicing his scales, finds a magical old trumpet. Includes Includes proposal, conceptual statement, storyboard, press kit, and colored stills.

Exploring Visual Expressions To Articulate Thoughts On Human Existence, Mieko Tachibana

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to broaden my thoughts on human existence and identity in nature and the universe. It is also to explore the varied visual expressions of my thoughts, feelings, and ways to engage the audiences. ... I tried to experiment with various possible visualizations of my thoughts and feelings through four different installations. Video and installation 1 is about the existence of human beings. In Installation 1, I limited my personal visual images, and instead used language to convey my thoughts. Installation 2 is about the relationship between human beings and nature, and is expressed through …

The Past, Chun-Hsiang Huang

Theses

A descriptive narration of a project to create a computer-animated film depicting an epic battle between a primeval human, a devil, and a god who comes from space, when the Earth is still young. Includes original thesis proposal, complete storyboard, and production stills.

The Endangered, Rick Mabrey

Theses

This writing project is a culmination of essays based on my personal experiences as an educator, and an environmentalist. The work illustrates a mindset of abuse and neglect that harms nature, and mistreats children. It offers hope through those who will nurture and not turn their back on the problems of society.

The endangered list no longer singles out animals in the wild. It now includes what is left of the open land, the healthy waterways, and many of the kids I teach.

St. Francis of Assisi said, "Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, …

See You Soon: An E-Memoir, Leigh C. Kolb

Theses

This thesis is a creative nonfiction piece, which uses e-mails between two people to create its text. It is in an epistolary style, which historically is a style in which letters, diary entries or newspaper clippings are used to construct a story. Epistolary (which comes from the word "epistle," or letter) novels often are used to show a developing relationship between people, which is precisely what the proceeding piece, See You Soon, aims to do.

The following document is constructed out of thousands of e-mails between the author and her now-husband. The e-mails were weeded through and woven together to …

The Fine Art Of Monsters In Literature, Charles Garvin

Theses

This thesis will focus on the assimilation of my life experiences that ultimately result in the creation literary monsters. The following introduction defines my development as a writer through explorations of poetry and fiction. Traumatic life experiences as both a child and as an adult, coupled with an excellent education, has augmented my writing style towards literary horror.

A section of poetry comes after the introduction, which is a serious experiment by me to delve into the finer arts of pattern making. The fictional piece, Beyond Road's End, which follows the poetry, is primarily the object of my focus, which …

Short Story Collection: Final Project, Aisha S. Abram

Theses

This collection of six short stories all center their plots on the actions and responses of a strong female character. I took this approach because I feel there are too few female characters in the world of fiction.

In the story ''Angie" a young girl befriends a strange man Living under the family's house. The story focuses on her mother's fear and ultimately her acceptance of this odd friend.

The story of "Chelsea'' centers on the decision that Chelsea, a common waitress, must make to change her situation. In the story she meets a trucker who is like many of …

Extraction Of Text Regions In Natural Images, Sneha Sharma

Theses

The detection and extraction of text regions in an image is a well known problem in the computer vision research area. The goal of this project is to compare two basic approaches to text extraction in natural (non-document) images: edge-based and connected-component based. The algorithms are implemented and evaluated using a set of images of natural scenes that vary along the dimensions of lighting, scale and orientation. Accuracy, precision and recall rates for each approach are analyzed to determine the success and limitations of each approach. Recommendations for improvements are given based on the results.

The Potential For Biomass In Ireland., Sarah J. Corcoran

Theses

It is not an understatement to say that a global crisis is approaching and at an alarming pace. It is a widely accepted fact that within the next few years, a change is going to take place. The sources we currently rely on to power our economies are already in an alarmingly depleted state, there is a necessity to find a new source or sources of energy. In addition to this, the global consequences of our past actions on the environment are also coming to the front, with climate change and ozone depletion making international headlines on an almost daily …

Is There A Mass Market For Ethical Fashion In Ireland?, Shirley Quinn

Theses

The following research dissertation was carried out with the intention of solving the question of whether there is a mass market for ethical fashion in Ireland. To answer this question, awareness of ethics in fashion among Irish consumers was investigated, along with general attitudes to ethical fashion, and whether ethics affects fashion purchase behaviour. The research was carried out over the space of six months and comprised a triangulated multi-method approach, consisting of primary and secondary research. Quantitative descriptive research was conducted through a questionnaire and the primary qualitative method used was a focus group. Secondary research took the form …

A Service Provisioning Platform For Beyond 3g - The Telecommunication Service Exchange, Donna Griffin

Theses

From the inception of mobile communications one of the most important factors contributing to its success has been a good understanding of user requirements. In the first generation, mobile networks offered subscribers the freedom to communicate regardless of their locations and the joy of instant access to voice telephony services. This provided a competitive edge over wire line communication networks and resulted in large revenue streams. However over the past decade, mobile network operators have been faced with a number of factors that have incurred significant costs and resulting reduced revenue. These factors include deregulation, increased competition and technological progress …

Anaerobic Digestion: Decision Support Software, Marco Poliafico

Theses

Ireland has significant quantities of livestock; meat exportation is a vibrant sector of the economy. Environmental management of animal wastes has therefore become an important concern. On the other hand in the last decade, national and EU policy debate has highlighted the need to investigate alternative energy: in particular energy for transport.

This study investigates the quantities of animal wastes produced in Ireland and their potential treatment using Anaerobic Digestion technologies. In 2005 Ireland had over 8 millions animals (cattle and pigs) and the annual slaughter accounted for over 4.2 million of these creatures. These animals have been responsible for …