Digital Commons Network^™

Scalable Real-Time Rendering For Extremely Complex 3d Environments Using Multiple Gpus, Yangzi Dong

Theses

In 3D visualization, real-time rendering of high-quality meshes in complex 3D environments is still one of the major challenges in computer graphics. New data acquisition techniques like 3D modeling and scanning have drastically increased the requirement for more complex models and the demand for higher display resolutions in recent years. Most of the existing acceleration techniques using a single GPU for rendering suffer from the limited GPU memory budget, the time-consuming sequential executions, and the finite display resolution. Recently, people have started building commodity workstations with multiple GPUs and multiple displays. As a result, more GPU memory is available across …

Engram, An Application Of Recording And Throwing Back Memories With Your Parents, Tong Wu

Theses

Adults can recall memories from the age of three. Our brains help us sort out important things for long-term memory and more trivial things for short-term memory. 1 We pull up these pieces of memory when we need them. We can remember a lot, but we also keep forgetting, forgetting details.

Therefore, humans have always had the habit of recording. Today we record our lives by posting in social media, taking photos, and so on. In most of the more modern methods, we record our life initiatively, which means we need to do something to record a piece of memory. …

Miss, Jiahui Liu

Theses

Miss is a 2D animation graduate thesis film, with a length of 5 minutes and 50 seconds. The production phase went from September 2019 to November 2020.

"Miss" is a microcosm of ordinary children's emotional expression facing the death of their loved ones in reality. The protagonist is a child. The first time he met his relatives' death, he was at a loss and didn't know how to deal with it. He tries to pray and find an answer. But the answer is already in the heart of the little boy in the end. The temple gods are very kind …

Roll Back, A User Experience Design To Help People Recall Memories, Haotian Sun

Theses

This article introduces a user experience design of recalling memories. People take numerous photos in their whole lives, so they need a powerful tool to help them organize and review all those pictures in an interesting way. After having interviews with target users, most of them have problems with organizing massive digital photos. This process costs them a lot of time and makes them feel boring. In this article, a mobile app named “Roll Back” is designed to solve this problem, users can review their memories randomly by solving a simplified Rubik’s Cube game, their photos will display on the …

Automatic Pigment Classification In Painted Works Of Art From Diffuse Reflectance Image Data, Tania Kleynhans

Theses

Information about artists' materials used in paintings, obtained from the analysis of limited micro-samples, has assisted conservators to better define treatment plans, and provided scholars with basic information about the working methods of the artists. Recently, macro-scale imaging systems such as visible-to-near infrared (VNIR) reflectance hyperspectral imaging (HSI) are being used to provide conservators and art historians with a more comprehensive understanding of a given work of art. However, the HSI analysis process has not been streamlined and currently requires significant manual input by experts. Additionally, HSI systems are often too expensive for small to mid-level museums. This research focused …

Identification Of Micrornas Related To Type 2 Diabetic Osteopath, Mouza Mohammed Saeed Alfashti Alaleeli

Theses

T2DM is linked to an increase in the fracture rate as compared to the non-diabetic population even with normal or raised Bone Mineral Density (BMD). Previous studies have addressed the question of how T2DM induces osteoporosis; the exact underlying mechanism is still elusive. Bones undergo continuous remodelling throughout life. Bone remodelling implicates the coupling of osteoclastic bone resorption and osteoblastic bone formation. This process is controlled by numerous genetic, hormonal, and neurogenic mechanisms. Osteoporosis is a result of bone loss that occurs by uncoupled remodelling. The existing evidence indicates that short non-coding RNAs known as microRNAs (miRNAs), are the key …

Conducting A Feasibility Study For Generating Power From Renewable Energy Resources And Utilizing High Voltage Direct Current For Interconnection In The Middle East And North Africa, Rashid Al Maazmi, Mahmood Broushan

Theses

Electricity consumption is on the rise as the global population is increasing. The need of energy has been discussed in length over the years. Oil and gas have been the primary resource for generators fuel. As oil and gas are a finite resource, an alternative resource that does not harm the environment is needed to generate energy. The Middle East and North Africa have a huge potential for using solar and wind energy to generate electricity as MENA region has one of the highest levels on solar irradiation. A new system of transferring the power through the MENA region is …

An Evaluation Of Current Policy Guidelines For The Best Practices Of Robotic Surgery Training, Zachary Geffert

Theses

Robotic surgery is a young and new technology, becoming widely used only within the past twenty years. Robotic surgery is categorized as minimally invasive and has immense patient benefits, including shorter hospital stays, reduction of human errors, increased precision, and faster recovery time. A recent study looked “at more than 10,000 incident reports from the FDA spanning from 2000 to 2013…found [finding] that robots were involved in 144 patient deaths and 1,391 patient injuries” (Wagstaff, 2015, pp. 2). Wagstaff (2015) also notes that very little information regarding cause of death was provided by the incident reports, which brings forth the …

Wait., Kayla Cantu

Theses

Wait explores concepts of discomfort and acceptance through the use of the human body, glass, and honey. The artwork and this thesis both use personal experience of physical insecurities and scholarly investigations into psychology related to unruly bodies. The work and research allude to the material qualities of glass such as its malleability, susceptibility, and softness to draw a parallel between the materials and the human identity. Parallels between glass and body create conversations investigating acceptance of identity and questions ideas about resistance of unruly bodies.

Pond Scum: Partygeddon, Zachary Kirwin

Theses

Pond Scum: Partygeddon is a film about three lowlifes, Algee, Oozer and Ewwglena, who set out to throw a party to end all parties, and get a little more than they bargained for. Their scrappy friendship will be all that keeps them alive by the end of the night.

The film is hand drawn 2d animation created in Toon Boom Harmony and composited with original, hand-painted, watercolor backgrounds in Adobe After Effects. The soundtrack is a mix of original songs by the bands Pond Scum, Lord Scum, and Sh*t Rat.

This paper is both a documentation of the process of …

A Cross-Cultural Study On The Relationship Between Environmental Awareness And Social Media Use: Saudi Arabia Vs United States, Mohammed Alsahafi

Theses

For many countries today, environmental sustainability is a subject of concern, and the world has witnessed the rise of environmental activism in recent years. Social media is increasingly being used by relevant stakeholders to raise environmental awareness. This study explores the relationship between social media use and environmental awareness from a cross-cultural perspective. Building upon previous research, this study compares social media use, environmental awareness, and their relationship between Saudi Arabian and American college students. Survey data was collected from a convenient sample of 266 Saudi Arabian and 290 American college students on their use of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram …

Techno-Economic Optimization Of Food Waste Diversion To Treatment Facilities To Determine Cost Effectiveness Of Policy Incentives, Kanwal Shahid

Theses

New York state recently passed a food waste (FW) disposal ban, which will prohibit land-filling of FW produced by commercial entities generating more than 2 tons/week by the year 2022. This will redirect 370,000 tons/year of FW from landfills. In this work, we investigate three questions about the landfill ban: 1) How can this waste be diverted to treatment facilities at lowest system cost? 2) To what degree can an expanded anaerobic digestion portfolio help with the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standards? 3) What policies can help with the transition of waste-to-energy technologies? We develop a mixed-integer linear programming model that …

Estimation Of The Removal Of Chiral Pharmaceutical Drugs From Domestic Wastewater Using Uplc-Ms/Ms, Mohammed Khaled Al Tabaji

Theses

This thesis is concerned with the estimation of the removal of chiral pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) from domestic wastewater in Al Ain using UPLC-MS/MS. PCs are classified into many classes such as hormones, antibiotics, analgesics, cosmetic products, ꞵ blockers, and anti-inflammatory drugs. PCs do not have a guideline to describe their concentrations in treated domestic wastewater. Additionally, there is a very high demand for using PCs around the world, which results in their discharge to wastewater at relatively high masses, which could be harmful to the environment. Furthermore, very limited work has been done to estimate the removal of chiral PCs. …

Mass Spectrometric Determination Of Retinol In Emirati Population, Israa Samir Mohamed Shawky El-Konaissi

Theses

This thesis is concerned with analyzing vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A is crucial for several functions, including vision, growth, and cell differentiation. the main aim is to develop and validate an LC-MS/MS method for the determination of vitamin A in plasma matrix and use the new method for the determination of vitamin A levels in the obese Emirati population. Methods: A positive ion electrospray ionisation (ESI) LC-MS/MS method was used in the Multiple Reaction Monitoring (MRM) mode for quantification. It involved i) LC-MS/MS, ii) a guard column together with C18 Ascentis Express F5 column iii) Internal standard, 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 (6, …

Determination Of Vitamin D Metabolites And Their Epimers In Obese Emirati Population, Bashar Hiatham Alzohily

Theses

Vitamin D deficiency is a global issue, and despite all-year-round sunshine, it is a big problem in the UAE. Obesity or overweight refers to an accumulation of excessive fat that may harm health so, it is considered a worldwide health concern. The accurate measurement of vitamin D active forms is a problematic issue. This study aimed to develop and validate a UHPLC-MS/MS method for the new method for determining vitamin D levels in the obese Emirati population. The vitamin D epimers and other metabolites were determined by UHPLC-MS/MS system, model 8060. The methods include the collection of blood samples from …

A New Green Composite Based On Polylactic Acid Mixed With Biomass From Uae Date Palm Waste For Cutlery And Food Packaging Applications, Noran Hussein Awad Elsayed Mousa

Theses

Petroleum-based plastic cutlery is widely used and due to its non-biodegradable properties, they cause serious threats to the environment. Therefore, there is a need to fabricate such products from biodegradable material. Date Palm Rachis (DPR) waste was used as a filler in three levels of 30 wt%, 40 wt% and 50 wt% for cost-performance optimization balance and to improve the thermal behaviours of the biodegradable Polylactic Acid (PLA). The preparation of biodegradable PLA/date palm waste composites was done using a melt mixing extruder at 180°C by varying parameters such as mixing time, the composition of date palm waste biomass, biomass …

Mend Magazine: Creating Awareness. Shifting Habits Of Consumption., Marie A. Fabozzi

Theses

Generation Y, or more commonly known as Millennials (born from 1981-1996) seamlessly blend the digital realm with the physical world, as a result of adolescence in a time when technology was adopted early on (Dimock, 2019 & Fromm et al, 2013). Research shows that millennials want constant participation and interactivity to be personally engaged and that millennials are a largely influential, specifically with family members (Fromm et al, 2013 and Lu et al, 2013). Combining the Millennial generation's leverage with the topic of climate crisis there is opportunity for current and future generations to establish better habits early on. By …

Bx | Branded Ar Filters: Redefining Branded Interactions, Moses Michael Araujo

Theses

Traditional forms of experiential marketing have been interrupted by augmented reality. As augmented reality continues to grow, a new ecosystem for brand interactions has revealed a world of branded augmented content or “BX”. BX is a concept design that creates a personalized, immersive connection between brand and user through four AR filters.

Phylogenomic Analysis Of Evolutionary Relationships In Ranitomeya Poison Frogs (Amphibia: Dendrobatidae) Using Ultraconserved Elements, Morgan Renee Muell

Theses

Knowledge of phylogenetic relationships among organisms is essential for anchoring evolutionary studies. Phylogenomic studies use large amounts of genetic data in analyses, which is particularly important for highly phenotypically variable taxa that are difficult to distinguish from one another without the use of genetic data, due to the abundance of homoplasy in morphological characters typically used in morphological classification. Use of genome-scale molecular data has thus become the gold standard for identifying these phylogenetic relationships, specifically in comparison to past studies based on fewer genes. Greater quantities of genetic data, in addition to finer taxon sampling, may lead to different …

The Effect Of Phytoplankton Properties On The Ingestion Of Marine Snow By Calanus Pacificus, Grace Cawley

Theses

The aggregation of phytoplankton into marine snow provides a mechanism by which smaller particles can coagulate to form larger particles, which can be consumed at various depths or readily transported to the deep ocean and sequestered from the atmosphere on time scales of a thousand years or more. Zooplankton interacting with these large carbon-rich aggregates can obtain nutrition in environments where the phytoplankton size spectrum is small and not directly available, enhancing the possibility of obtaining adequate nutrition in environments dominated by small cells. In addition, interactions between zooplankton and marine snow can result in fragmentation, thus affecting the particle …

The Role Of Activation In The Relationship Between Power Posing And Task Performance, Jeremy Walter Marshall

Theses

This research analyzed the psychophysiological effects that expansive and contractive body poses have on the human body. Participants were asked to hold either an expansive or contractive body pose for two minutes prior to participating in a Color-Word Interference Test (CWT, which induced stress) and a gambling task (which measured risk tolerance). Heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal activity (EDA) for each participant was measured to gauge stress throughout the experiment. Positive and negative affect scales were used to measure mood before and after posing. Results of this research did not support our hypotheses, which were: 1. Expansive, dominant poses …

Murine Flexor Tendon Repair Model With Noninvasive Assessment Of Healing With Ultrasound, Fei Rost

Theses

Flexor tendon injuries in the hands are relatively common, significantly disabling more than 100,000 people in the United States per year (Nichols 2019). The majority of flexor tendon injuries require surgical repair, but despite the advancement of technology and medicine, current treatments still yield poor outcomes. Even with prevailing treatments to improve or restore function to the affected digit(s), patients often suffer psychologically and financially in the long-term. A recent study gave a conservative estimate that flexor tendon lacerations cost the American healthcare system and taxpayers between US $240.8-409.1 million per year and emphasized the need to “focus our efforts …

Exploration Of The Motion Graphics Educational Tools Based On The Animations ‘Virtual Property’, Hao Ge

Theses

Every user must agree with a cookie policy if they want to continue viewing a new web page. In most cases, users scan the terms and click the button. However, they often know nothing about what a web cookie is, what advantages a web cookie brings, and what a web cookie’s disadvantages are. Every coin has two sides. Web cookies save users time and enhance their experience, but they may put users on a dangerous path. A new cookie is created and stored on the computer every time users visit a new page. These cookies bring users benefits but also …

Query-Driven Global Graph Attention Model For Visual Parsing: Recognizing Handwritten And Typeset Math Formulas, Mahshad Mahdavi

Theses

We present a new visual parsing method based on standard Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for handwritten and typeset mathematical formulas. The Query-Driven Global Graph Attention (QD-GGA) parser employs multi-task learning, using a single feature representation for locating, classifying, and relating symbols. QD-GGA parses formulas by first constructing a Line-Of-Sight (LOS) graph over the input primitives (e.g handwritten strokes or connected components in images). Second, class distributions for LOS nodes and edges are obtained using query-specific feature filters (i.e., attention) in a single feed-forward pass. This allows end-to-end structure learning using a joint loss over primitive node and edge class distributions. …

The Sense Of Anxiety, Suhyeon Kang

Theses

My thesis research explores the use of glass, and several other mediums to reflect impressions of traumatic memories without directly representing the details of a personal story. Sensory experiences act as metaphors for memories. In my work, glass serves as a medium for preservation of those impressions. The frustrating and fragile characteristics of glass parallel my annoyance with my anxiety. I discovered, however, that working with glass has a therapeutic effect for me. I researched the psychology of traumatic memory and the work of artists whose work is related to my inquiries. This process allowed me to use visual language …

A Ux Design Project For A Transparent News Platform, Keni Wu

Theses

In recent years, fake news has been dominating real news on the Internet. It misleads the public, stirs up and intensifies social conflicts. Online news readers crave the truth than ever. However, it is difficult for them to identify fake news from massive information on the Internet. This paper seeks to help online news readers make more informed and confident judgments on fact-checking by building a transparent news platform. This platform collaborates with news publishers to provide evidence and publish news articles on the desktop software. It also includes a news website which creates an engaging and understandable experience for …

Interactions Of Photosensitizers With Model Membranes And Their Applications In Photodynamic Therapy, Poornima Kalyanram

Theses

Cancer is caused by the uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells resulting in 1 in 6 deaths every day. The most common treatment methods include surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. These techniques are invasive, aggressive, and non-specific to cancer cells. Therefore, alternative therapies which are both potent and does not interfere with the quality of living are on a rise. Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) is an approved alternative remedy in the treatment of cancer. The efficacy of PDT depends on the penetration power of the photosensitizer (PS) when injected into to the site of tumor. However, due to complexity involved in …

An Ar Safety Instruction App Designed For Kids, Shaowei Leng

Theses

Safety is very important for little kids. Our children could be harmed by various kinds of danger. According to the statistics, among those 0 to 19 years of age, more than 12,000 people die from unintentional injuries . Meanwhile, more than 9.2 million of them are treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries .

There are few lessons which could teach kids about what can do with the surroundings and what they could not do. Few kids know when facing threats, how to fix it.

In this paper, a safety instruction app is designed for kids. The app could help …

Art As Alchemy: The Meaning Of Bartholomeus Spranger's Hermaphroditus And The Nymph Salmacis And Scylla And Glaucus, Peter Kos

Theses

The subject of this study is two paintings by Bartholomeus Spranger titled Glaucus and Scylla (Fig. 1) and Hermaphroditus and the Nymph Salmacis (Fig. 2). Building upon the work of scholars who have argued for a possible alchemical interpretation of at least one of the paintings in the context of its execution for Emperor Rudolf II, this study goes beyond merely suggesting an alchemical connection, and argues that the two paintings, forming a pendant pair, depict two attempts at the alchemist’s magnum opus—one a failure, the other a success. This study further argues that the paintings are not merely inert …

Using Classification For Analysis Of Multi-Modal Video Summarization, Brendan Wells

Theses

Video Summarization refers to taking the important contents of a video and condensing it down to an easily consumable piece of data without having to watch the entire video. Currently, Millions of Videos are being recorded and shared every day. These videos range from the consumer level, such as a birthday party or wedding video, all the way up to industry such as film and television. We have constructed a model that seeks to address the problem of not being able to consume all the media that is being presented to you because of time constraints. To do this, we …