Digital Commons Network^™

Screening And Genomic Characterization Of Multi-Drug Resistant (Mdr) Bacteria From Hospital Wastewater, Showq Abdelaziz Abdelaziz

Theses

Antimicrobial resistance poses an imminent global threat to public health, with multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria being particularly worrisome due to their resistance to multiple antibiotics. Hospital wastewater has been identified as a potential source of MDR bacteria and antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). This study aimed to investigate MDR bacteria's prevalence, diversity, and genomic potential in hospital wastewater samples collected from three different hospitals in the UAE. Samples were processed for culturing antibiotic-resistant bacteria using different HiCrome™ chromogenic media to screen for ESBL-producing, Vancomycin, Carbapenem, colistin, and Methicillin-resistant bacteria. The isolates were characterized using VITEk2 antibiotic profiling and identified using 16S rRNA sequencing …

Preparation Of Copper Oxide Nano-Architectures For Fog Harvesting Applications, Ola M. Abu Draz

Theses

The issue of limited freshwater resources is a significant problem for humans, especially in desert areas where water scarcity poses a serious risk to human survival. In nature, there are several species that harvest fog based on their tuned surface structure, e.g.., Cactus, desert beetles, etc. In addition to surface hydrophilic/hydrophobic architecture, another key factor in effective water collection is the porosity of the surface, which helps droplets to form, grow, and be removed. To address the challenge of water scarcity, we inspired, from nature, to design surfaces that have features that favor water collection. In this aspect, we introduced …

Dominance Of Blaoxa-48-Like Among Carbapenem Resistant Klebsiella Pneumoniae Isolated From Abu Dhabi Hospitals, Mohammed Awase Baig

Theses

Antibiotic resistance is a major concern for public health worldwide due to its associated morbidity and mortality, which is primarily attributed to the inappropriate use of antibiotics. This, in turn, leads to the evolution of bacteria which can develop genetic mechanisms to combat antibiotics. Despite the discovery of various antibiotics with different mechanisms of action, many have become ineffective due to the development of resistance over time. Carbapenems, in particular, are considered the last line of defense against some bacterial infections, making their resistance a major concern. Among the various carbapenem-resistant bacteria, Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is of utmost concern …

Assessment Of Microplastics Consumed By Fishes In The United Arab Emirates Waters Of The Arabian Gulf, Maisan Mhd Al Wattar

Theses

Microplastics are plastic particles that are between 1 μm to 5 mm in size. Microplastics are currently threatening the marine ecosystems, including the water, sediments, and biota. Due to microplastics being relatively mobile, evidence of microplastic pollution is found in all water bodies, even in remote places such as the Antarctica. Although the Arabian Gulf is subjected to a number of anthropogenic stressors, to date, only few studies on the presence of microplastics have been carried out. This study assesses the microplastic presence in 60 fish samples from the emirates Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Ras Al Khaimah. The 5 fish …

Heavy Metal Bioaccumulation In Benthic Flatfishes From Territorial Waters Of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Shima Mohammed Albadi

Theses

Marine pollution from anthropogenic sources is a major threat to many coastal and offshore species. A variety of potentially harmful elements are released from wastewater runoff, leached from landfills or industrial effluents. I measured trace metal concentrations in the liver, gills, and muscles of two benthic flatfish species, the halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus), and the Dover sole (Solea solea). The primary objective of this thesis was to evaluate the status of the benthic fish species in the Fujairah waters to understand the pollution status of regional waters and assess their effects on human consumption. Inductively Coupled Plasma …

Comparing Teaching Methods For Auditory-Visual Conditional Discrimination, Brady Conley, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Responding to spoken language is a skill that is typically acquired at a young age. However, responding to spoken language requires discrimination between stimuli. Many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have demonstrated difficulty acquiring listener behavior involving conditional discrimination. Thus, the most efficient and effective teaching strategies should continue to be a focus in behavior-analytic research. The purpose of the current study was to compare teaching methods for conditional discrimination for three school-aged children with ASD. The results showed that one participant met criterion for the best practice condition only, one participant met criterion for both best practice and …

The Role Of Trees In Reducing The Urban Heat Island Effect On The New Jersey Institute Of Technology Campus, Newark, Nj, Dahlia Mansour

Theses

Every year, an estimated 12.3 million tons of glass are generated in the United States. Of all glass generated, only 3.1 million tons are recycled. Despite the near endless recyclability of glass waste, recycling rates in the United States remain low. This is primarily due to the lack of color separation and presence of non-recyclable materials associated with single-stream curbside collection used in many municipalities throughout the country. These factors make recycled glass unusable for many glass bottle manufacturers, causing the majority of glass placed in a recycling bin to eventually be landfilled. The purpose of this research is to …

The Evaluation Of Carbon Benefits Produced By Urban Street Trees, Hanyu Wang

Theses

Urban tree service and urban forestry are important fields that focus on the care and management of trees in urban areas. Urban trees provide numerous benefits around all aspect, including carbon storage, improving air and water qualities. Carbon storage refers to the process of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in various reservoirs, and in this case, in trees and forests.

i-Tree is a suite of software tools developed by the United States Forest Service that provides a range of resources for assessing and managing forests. i-Tree Eco is one of the more used tools from …

The Effects Of Antecedent And Consequence Strategies On Data Collection In A Human Service Organization, Sarah Love, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Antecedent and consequence strategies in the research literature to improve employee performance within human service organizations have included behavioral skills training (BST) and performance-based incentive programs, among others. The current study continued this line of research in which participants were members of a human service organization and were responsible for collecting data on clients’ responding during programming. The purpose was to evaluate the effects of antecedent and consequence-based strategies on the accuracy of data collected by participants. The results showed that BST was effective at increasing accurate data collection across all participants and that the consequence-based intervention, in the form …

A Novel Approach To The Treatment Of Degenerative Disc Disease, Alexandra Mckillop

Theses

Low back pain is estimated to affect 80% of the population at some point in their lives. It places a high economic burden on society, as individuals suffering from low back pain are often less productive and miss more work days, resulting in lost wages (Freburger et al., 2015; Katz, 2006; Taher et al., 2012). Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is among the most common causes of low back pain. It is a pathological process where the intervertebral disc (IVD) undergoes structural changes and is characterized by increased inflammation within the disc, in combination with nerve ingrowth causing pain. Structural changes …

The Effect Of Demographic Imbalance On Crime, Maher Bhadri

Theses

This study investigates demographic imbalance on crimes in the UAE by analyzing a record of crimes from 2020 to 2022 using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings reveal gender, marital status, and age imbalance among crime offenders in the UAE. Males, married individuals, and individuals in their 30s are more prevalent in committing crimes. Certain countries, accused individuals, and certain types of crimes are also more frequent in the UAE. Policymakers and law enforcement agencies can use these insights to develop targeted interventions to reduce crime rates in the country. Future studies should investigate the underlying causes of these imbalances …

A Novel Analytic Linear Interface Calculation And Its Use In Computational Fluid Dynamics For Enhanced Multiphase Modeling, Simon P. Shipkowski

Theses

Interfacial modeling is of widespread interest in manufacturing, imaging, and scientific applications. Presented here is an interfacial reconstruction method designed for use in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations of nucleate boiling, yet it is more broadly applicable. Nucleate boiling is vital in current and emerging technologies due to the high heat transfer at low temperature. A challenge for multiphase CFD simulation with phase change mass flux is the competing interests of quality mass transfer conservation, resolution of interfaces, and computational time/power. This Piecewise Linear Interface Calculation-Analytic Size Based (PLIC-ASB) method was developed to mitigate this problem in the volume of …

Augmented Reality Shopping Guide: Enhancing Efficiency And Experience, Shengyang Luo

Theses

Shopping is important in our life, especially food shopping. Almost every family needs to go shopping once per week and spend lots of time and energy on it. This project proposes the design of an application to help people have a better shopping experience by saving time, saving energy, and saving money. The application combines online shopping and in-person shopping in a new shopping mode. People don’t need to pay the expensive delivery fee and wait a long time to get food which could be unfresh. And they also don’t need to spend lots of time at the supermarket, which …

Hua Shang, Yanjie Zhang

Theses

This thesis aims to convey the "leisure" and "slow" Chinese life concept. This Thesis shows the lives of people in different dynasties from a third-person perspective. Using traditional costumes as the carrier, it focuses on using semi-realistic visual styles to show the connection between emotions and the environment, creating an atmosphere-filled picture, and arousing the audience's thinking about the rhythm of life and their spiritual yearning for the non-obvious pleasures in life.

Healthy Grocery Shopping Experience Via Augmented Reality, Mengjia Isabelle Qiu

Theses

This paper presents how augmented reality can facilitate the modern grocery shopping experience in a fast-paced environment. Grocery shopping customers are facing several problems. Firstly, filtering necessary information by eyes while shopping in grocery stores. Secondly, being distracted by overwhelming information leads to time-consuming deviation in an unfamiliar shopping environment. Thirdly, losing track of purchased food at home and buying the same ingredient repeatedly. Fourthly, neglecting ingredient lists that contain allergic or unhealthy food. To solve these problems, increase the efficiency of decision-making, and achieve shopping goals, this project aims to utilize augmented reality as the primary tool to complete …

The Inspector: Removing Barriers To Efficient Specimen Analysis By Reduced Specimen Repositioning, Josef Mayo

Theses

Entomology is the scientific field dedicated to the research and study of insects. In the last several decades, many journals and scientific papers have addressed the decline in insect populations worldwide and the increased need to understand the reasons for this. Many have called this decline an indicator that we have entered a “Sixth Extinction” which would lead to a mass extinction of life on Earth. How can we as designers provide assistance to the scientific community who are working to understand and provide solutions to this natural crisis? As an Entomologist's primary tool for observation, microscopes and other optical …

Design And Development Of A Movable Multi-Functional Display, Junjie Zhou

Theses

COVID-19 has altered lives and work. Travel restrictions and social distance requirements compel remote communication. My design will help the youth group communicate remotely in various situations. I identified two primary forms of remote communication for people separated by interviews and questionnaires: direct communication based on video calls and interactive entertainment based on online games and streaming media. I summarized long-distance communication issues and user needs in further research. Video calling is the most popular method for those who need to interact directly. Video calling does have certain drawbacks, though, like the inability to actively choose one's point of view …

Legacy, Joseph Jackson

Theses

What will A.I. look like in the near future, and how will we incorporate it? In the past decade, I have seen personal assistants like Siri and Alexa become common. I believe that the next leap in personal assistants will not be a new personality entirely but one our own choosing. Legacy is a short fiction film that offers a glimpse into the life of a programmer named Wright, who works at an A.I. company called Legacy. Legacy is a subscription-based A.I. personal assistant developer that creates a likeness of historical persons and celebrities. Following the recent death of Wright’s …

Which?, Ting Yu Chang

Theses

Which? is a 2D animation of a young witch, who looks like the typical witch with her black robe and her bony face. She is trying to find her prince charming from a dating app. The witch keeps scrolling on the mirror. Suddenly, a prince's profile gets her attention. The prince is tall and handsome.She falls in love with the prince at first sight. However, the prince's profile shows that he only loves a princess, who has beautiful long hair and a delicate face. The witch decides to change herself to look like a princess. The witch’s little friends, such …

Glass, Danielle Tonnessen

Theses

This project is a full walking simulator video game and includes a demonstration of a variety of game design and development skills, including pre-development documentation, narration, game design audio, graphics, post-processing, UI elements and animation. Additionally, the project promotes the author’s ability in creative writing, and involves mental health subject matter with a focus on trauma processing, hypnosis, and survivor’s guilt.

A Study Of Wicca And Art, Shannon Hillyer

Theses

Art can be interpreted from a religious perspective given knowledge of the artist’s present or past religious affiliations. The photo series presented in this paper was part of a survey that asked participants to consider their own religious backgrounds and to determine the inspiration for the photo series. This project utilized introspection, autoethnographic research, and formalist analysis to determine if viewers could pinpoint the artist’s religious affiliation based on the themes present in the photo series. Most participants identified mythological themes were present in the series but didn’t connect those to Wicca unanimously. Art can be interpreted from a religious …

The Use Of Digitalization And Internet Of Things To Help Alleviate Traffic Congestion In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Nujuma Ibrahim

Theses

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, has a population of just over 5 million people in 2021. This is 4.4% more than the population in 2020, and 8.8% more than the population in 2019 (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Metro Area population 1950-2021). With rapid urbanization and economic growth Addis Ababa’s transportation infrastructure is unable to meet the demands of the population. As a result, the city is facing high rates of traffic congestion. Based on the research conducted by Wondwossen Taddesse for his paper on ‘Assessing & quantifying the level of traffic congestion at major intersections, the average traffic congestion …

Optimizing Voronoi Tessellation Façade’S Capability For Pollution Removal And Interior Daylighting In An Urban Environment, Simon Bai

Theses

Air pollutants are a major health concern in urban zones worldwide, and these unnoticeable air particulates and gases are detrimental to the individuals’ respiratory and cardiovascular wellbeing. Since buildings are the most abundant structure within these built environments, this study focuses on how to utilize the façade of these structures in an attempt to solve the escalating air pollution problem. In this case, titanium dioxide (TiO2) is introduced to give building façades the capability to deal with air pollution in addition to being inexpensive and chemically stable. A TiO2 surface makes use of photocatalysis under ultraviolet (UV) light to decompose …

Curio-Stereo: A Vr Application For The Viewing Of Stereograph Cards, Paige Sandheinrich

Theses

This project discusses the historical significance of stereograph cards as a tool for constructing a shared visual culture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States and the United Kingdom. Stereographs were widely popularized as an entertainment and educational tool, offering an immersive experience for the viewers. The stereoscopic nature of the images allowed the viewers to immerse themselves in a non-physical reality through visual stimulation, creating a haptic involvement that was unique to the medium. The project of creating a VR application to view stereographs is presented as a potential solution to the problem of …

An Analysis Of Tiktok's Digital Marketing Capabilities And Its Effectiveness For Brands And Businesses Across Different Industries, Katherine Jacome Guerrero

Theses

TikTok, a video-sharing social media site, has become one of the most popular platforms among digital natives. As a result of evolving globalization trends and unprecedented social changes, this platform has rapidly grown in popularity since its debut in 2016. TikTok has established an ideal setting to boost engagement by fostering a repetitive logic and enabling everyone around the globe to easily create and consume short videos. Although TikTok has capabilities similar to those found on other more established platforms, it has a distinct framework and platform culture refined by its predictive algorithm and user-friendly content interface. For this study, …

Reconsidering Gender And Social Constructs In Prehistoric Cave Art: The Role Of Women In Creating Art, Amanda Mooney

Theses

This thesis reviews the importance of Prehistoric Cave Art and the partial basis of its creation, including some ways in which gender and society of the time influenced and led to the creation of said art, with a considerable focus on the devaluation that women have faced as artists in prehistory. The timeframe under consideration follows the Upper Paleolithic period, which covers 50,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago. Reviewing images from certain cave art in this time period of 50,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago, and recent scholarship allows for a specific look into the assumptions of who …

Building An Immersive Simulation Of The 1785 Parisian Salon In Vr: A Guide To Recreating Historical Interiors And Digital Twins, Charles E. O'Brien

Theses

This project aims to identify a workflow for creating digital twins without access to specialized 3D imaging equipment, such as photogrammetry. The process of creating a digital twin without specialized equipment is focused more on research than data analysis. Readily available resources, such as literature, paintings, drawings, and any other historical accounts, need to be considered. The case study for this workflow was reconstructing the Parisian Salon from 1785. The Salons were a haven for men and women to have intellectual discourse. The essence of scholarly thought that was produced through these Salon exhibits makes them perfect historical event candidates …

A Critical Analysis Of Jeffrey Gibson’S Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House, A Queer Counter-Monument, Ryan Pagett

Theses

This thesis discusses Indigenous Queer artist Jeffrey Gibson’s active engagement with his queer identity in his work. Using the five aspects of a counter-monument as defined by Stevens, Franck, and Fazakerley’s Counter-monuments: the anti-monumental and the dialogic; using queer as both a form of identification; and using queer as a verbal strategy, this thesis argues that Gibson’s latest work, Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House is a “queer counter-monument.” Counter-monumentalism was a movement initially developed in Germany post-World War II in opposition to monumentalism as a system of oppression. Countermonumental work disengages from traditional monuments …

Building A New Bridge: Justin Favela's Puente Nuevo, Kelley Yost

Theses

This thesis analyzes an installation work, Puente Nuevo, created in 2019 by artist Justin Favela at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In this large-scale, piñata-like mural, Favela asserts his Latinx identity while questioning cultural stereotypes and viewer expectations with a sense of humor and irony. The unique materiality of Favela’s work, based in the folk art forms of papel picado and cartonería, transforms spaces into immersive environments that are fun and provocative, and capable of housing darker associations as well. He builds layers of meaning into his pieces by revising historic works, such as picturesque landscapes by Casimiro …

Re-Presenting The Spanish Civil War At The Museo Reina Sofía: Recordando Un Pasado “Olvidado” (Remembering A “Forgotten” Past), Gabrielle Estes

Theses

Upon opening in 1990, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid was intended as a modern and contemporary Spanish art museum that could stand on an international scale. It has since achieved this goal, with much of its success riding on the significant work of the second-floor gallery, Picasso’s 25-foot mural entitled Guernica. The painting sets the tone for the surrounding gallery space that narrates the story of the Spanish Civil War through paintings, propaganda, photographs, magazines, and films produced during the time period. The permanent collection in this gallery helps to display a violent past to …