Digital Commons Network^™

Testing The Forensic Confirmation Bias : Do Jailhouse Informants Contaminate Evidentiary Independence?, Baylee D. Jenkins

Theses

Research has shown that primary confessions influence forensic evidence examinations such as handwriting evidence. Additionally, previous research on secondary confessions from jailhouse informants has indicated that primary and secondary confessions are equally influential in jury decision making. The current study investigated the relationship between jailhouse informant statements and perceptions of forensic evidence. Participants read a case summary depicting a bank robbery along with confession evidence either from the suspect or a jailhouse informant before examining handwriting evidence. Result indicated that reliable jailhouse informant statements led participants to fall prey to the forensic confirmation bias. Jailhouse informant reliability significantly impacted perceptions …

An Exploration Of The Impact Of Clothing Match And Opportunity To View On Showup Performance, Alexis Marie Le Grand

Theses

Clothing bias occurs during a showup when the clothing worn by the suspect matches the clothing of the culprit during a crime. The present study investigated whether a clothing match enhanced identification performance at varying levels of culprit facial view. Witnesses watched a mock-crime video and then made an identification decision from a showup. The results indicated that a clothing match led to an increase in correct and false identifications of the suspect, regardless of facial view. However, the presence of a clothing match did not enhance discriminability. Additionally, there was not a match by facial view interaction. Furthermore, there …

Empty Skies, David Gambino

Theses

No abstract provided.

The Detection Of Continuing Current In Lightning Using The Geostationary Lightning Mapper And Exploring Its Relationship To Lightning Initiated-Wildfires, Sarah I. Fairman

Theses

Lightning with continuing current may have current durations that last for hundreds of milliseconds, resulting in continuous optical emission that coincides with the uninterrupted current flow. The space-based Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) is an optical sensor that allows for the detection of continuous optical emission. GLM optical attributes associated with continuous optical emission are utilized to train a multiple logistic regression model to predict the presence of continuing current. GLM flashes that have continuous optical emission related to higher probabilities of continuing current tend to cover a longer distance, have a brighter maximum optical energy, and cover a larger maximum …

A Study Of Food Safety Training And Associated Barriers To Effective Training Outcomes, Diane Fox

Theses

The safety of food is fundamental to public health, businesses and wider society and effective food safety training is an essential element to ensure safe food reaches our consumers. This is true for all food business operators in all sectors of the food industry including food service, retail and manufacturing facilities. Not complying with food safety obligations can have a serious impact on human health and serious consequences for the food business operator. In 2015 the World Health Organisation reported that almost 1 in 10 people fall ill every year from eating contaminated food and 420,000 die as a result. …

Development Of A Composite Sustainability Index For Roadway Intersecttion Design Alternatives In The Uae, Maryam Juma Al-Kaabi

Theses

Many studies had been carried out to evaluate the sustainability of transportation systems, but little attention was given in these studies to the design of roadway intersections. The objective of this study was to define a framework to assess intersection sustainability from a road-user perspective and to develop a visual tool that helps decision-makers to support a more sustainable design of roadway intersections. Suitable sustainability indicators that would serve as elements in the built framework at the strategic and early planning level were extracted from the literature. The extracted indicators were utilized with relative weights to develop basic dimensional indices …

Evaluating Information Flow In Medication Management Process In Australian Acute Care Facilities: A Multi-Professional Perspective, Seyi Lagoke

Theses

Over the years, various interventions have been introduced to improve the medication management process. While these interventions have addressed some aspects predisposing the process to inefficiencies, significant gaps are still prevalent across the process. Studies have suggested that the goal of optimal medication therapy is achievable when information flow integrates across the various medication management process phases, stakeholders and departments involved as the patient moves through the process. To provide a cross-sectional view of the process, this study utilised a systemic philosophy to evaluate the information flow integration across the process.

The research approach adopted for this study takes a …

Effect Of 3d Printed Tablet Shape On Drug Release Profile, Christina Gedeon

Theses

There is a growing interest in utilizing additive manufacturing (AM) as a manufacturing tool to develop oral tablets for personalized medicine. This ultimate goal in mind, this study explores the feasibility of extrusion-based fused deposition modeling (FDM) to 3D print oral tablets with tunable design to control drug release profile. Tablets are printed using poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) loaded with model drugs: acetaminophen and caffeine. Hot melt extrusion (HME) is used to fabricate PVA filaments loaded with acetaminophen and caffeine. These filaments are used to fabricate a range of tablets with varying designs to prepare immediate and delayed release tablets. Thermal …

Lithium As A Possible Therapeutic Drug In Posttraumatic Brain Injury, Tulika Das

Theses

Lithium, a popular drug for treating mental health disorder has shown promising effect in recent research on traumatic brain injury (TBI). The mechanism of lithium for treating bipolar mood disorder is still not properly understood, but recent studies showed that lithium is neuroprotective in TBI. In my thesis, the neuroprotective effects of lithium were examined in primary neuronal culture and mild blunt injury using rodent model of Lateral Fluid Percussion Injury (LFPI). At first determination of the neuroprotective/toxicity effects of lithium in neuronal culture was done and observed that 0.5 - 1.0 mM concentrations were found to be neuroprotective as …

Audience Engagement With The Marvel Studios’ Film Black Panther: Analyzing Fan Reactions Posted On An Online Forum, Jatin Vichare

Theses

This project examines audience response to the Black Panther movie by analyzing fan forums on SuperHeroHype website using a textual analysis approach. Grounded in film adaptation theory, (N = 200) comments posted by users were analyzed to identify fan reception of pre-release publicity of the film and post-release reactions. The results show that before the release of the movie, fans were excited about the adaptation of a comic book to a film. The analysis identified six themes in the comments posted on the website. Pre-release comments focused on a) casting, b) narrative arc, and c) music and locations. Post-release comments …

Solo Dining Restaurant: Environmental Interior Design & Interactive Ux Design, Kaiqi Jiang

Theses

Individualized dining can be anxious and awkward experiences for people. Especially when it comes to the sharing style of some foods (e.g., hotpot, barbecue, etc.) In addition to the form of food, the perception of social judgment creates discomfort for the individual. This project aims to incorporate the 3D interior design to model a restaurant that has embedded interactive UX design in the physical environment so that solo guests can enjoy the comfort of dining alone.

A case in point, imagine yourself sitting in a crowded restaurant, a giant pot with hot soup boiling in front of you. Every other …

Towards An Intelligent System For Software Traceability Datasets Generation, Waleed Abdu Zogaan

Theses

Software datasets and artifacts play a crucial role in advancing automated software traceability research. They can be used by researchers in different ways to develop or validate new automated approaches. Software artifacts, other than source code and issue tracking entities, can also provide a great deal of insight into a software system and facilitate knowledge sharing and information reuse. The diversity and quality of the datasets and artifacts within a research community have a significant impact on the accuracy, generalizability, and reproducibility of the results and consequently on the usefulness and practicality of the techniques under study. Collecting and assessing …

Smartphone-Based Human Fatigue Detection In An Industrial Environment Using Gait Analysis, Swapnali Babasaheb Karvekar

Theses

Human fatigue due to repetitive and physically challenging jobs may result in poor performance and a Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorder (WMSD). Thus, the importance of being able to monitor fatigue to implement preventative interventions cannot be overstated. This study was designed to monitor fatigue through the development of a methodology that objectively classifies an individual’s level of fatigue in the workplace by utilizing the motion sensors embedded in smartphones. An experiment consisting of squatting tasks, primarily involving the lower extremity musculature, was conducted with 24 participants using a smartphone attached to their right shank. Using Borg’s Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) …

Analyzing Sentiments To Improve Transportation Services Using Nlp, Abdulnasser Ahli

Theses

In the 21st century, social media apps like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Waze, Instagram, etc. are used by people to post their activities, sentiments, and feedback. Likewise, people are posting their experiences either positive or negative feedback or recommendation to improve the existing services of public transportation such as Buses, Tram, Metro, Taxis, Marines. Moreover, people are also posting about traffic conditions and accidents on the social media. However, at present most of the authorities depend on surveys and customer complaints to improve to knew people sentiments. This has very limited information because they cannot reach to all customers. Therefore, in …

A 3u Cubesat Platform For Plant Growth Experiments, Jared A. Loewenthal

Theses

This thesis work presents the design, manufacturing, and ground testing of a 3U Cubesat platform intended for plant growth experiments. The structure is comprised of four identical, but independent plant growth chambers. Each of these accommodates about two cubic inches of soil, and the necessary air volume and moisture regulation to grow a fast-growing plant from seed to seed in 3-4 weeks. The plant growth is artificially stimulated by an array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) at grow light wavelengths that match the properties of chlorophyll, and is monitored by a suite of sensors: temperature, pressure, relative humidity, CO2, custom …

A Framework For Firm-Level Critical Material Supply Management And Mitigation, Gillian A. Griffin

Theses

Organizations of all sizes are vulnerable to critical material supply disruptions. Although there is a significant body of literature that examines how large entities such as nations and governments can assess and mitigate criticality, there is very little work that addresses firm-level criticality in a way that is actionable for businesses. This work uses literature review and case study analysis to understand the impact of critical material supply risk at the firm level, and to determine salient internal indicators. A total of 42 criticality studies were reviewed and the findings were used to develop a framework to assess and monitor …

Testing And Modeling Of The Indirect Solar Drying Of Thin Film Mangos, Olivier Montmayeur

Theses

In Haiti, 80% of rural people live in dire poverty living on less than a dollar a day. Cultivated and wild grown foods such as mangos and breadfruit could be used to reduce the economic and nutritional disparity for rural communities. Unfortunately in these areas there is a high amount of spoilage due to short harvesting seasons with high yields and lack of preservation options. 80% of breadfruit and 60% of mangoes are lost annually according to a local farmer’s co-op in Borgne, Haiti [1]. Based on a 2018 three-week collaborative design session with Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and …

Food Waste Management Networks: Novel Methods For Overcoming Emerging Logistics Challenges, William R. Armington

Theses

The U.S. produces an estimated 63 million tons of food waste per year. Interest from state and local governments in diverting unused food from landfills to alternative treatment facilities is growing. However, this emerging food waste (FW) stream will face logistics challenges as diversion networks expand. Current methods for evaluating challenges are insufficient for providing solutions for network development because they do not explore the impacts of variability in the food waste management system. This dissertation aims to fill this knowledge gap by exploring three key research areas.

First, variability in FW generation from different types of commercial generators is …

Groundless, Niara Jackson

Theses

Groundless is a collection of realist short stories that follow original characters as they move into a new understanding of themselves. They may think they are grounded in who they are, but each character learns new things that often contradict what they think they know about themselves. As with anyone, it is important that these characters re-examine who they think they are and look outward – what has made them that way? Is their perception accurate? Are they being fair to themselves and those around them? New understandings of what they believe about themselves and about their world are always …

Moral Outrage Is Elicited By Others’ Beliefs Just As Much As Their Actions: Implications For Workplace Ideological Discrimination, Emily Rose Galeza

Theses

Moral outrage is an emotional, cognitive, and behavioral response to moral violations, resulting in a desire to punish the transgressor. Previous research has examined moral outrage toward transgressive behaviors, but no studies have examined the potential for moral outrage to be roused by another’s beliefs alone. Do people experience moral outrage at one another’s thoughts? If so, how do they punish someone who has roused their outrage but has “done nothing wrong”? In Study 1 (n = 209), I examined moral outrage reactions at people’s unacceptable beliefs on three topics (pedophilia, sexual assault, fraud) by comparing moral outrage elicited by …

Social Discounting Of Clean Water And Environmental Sustainability, Ashley Katz

Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine choice-making as it relates to providing a source of clean water to those at varying social distances. A discounting survey was completed by 65 participants asking them to choose between spending a specified about of money on plastic water bottles that have a 100% chance of harming the environment or spending $1000 on a water filtration system that has a 0% chance of harming the environment. Results indicated that as social distance increased, responding became more impulsive as evident by a steeper amount of discounting. For “Person #1”, 27.69% of participants chose …

Understanding Gaps Between Established Software Engineering Process Knowledge And Its Actual Implementation, Sayantika Bhattacharya

Theses

A part of Software Engineering (SE) Process Improvement is to identify and bridge the gaps between what we learn about established SE Processes and what we actually execute. Students majoring in SE degrees learn about various established SE processes in class and also try to execute them in their academic projects. In our research, we analyze student SE projects and interview these project teams to identify the gaps between what students learn in class about SE processes, what they think they execute, along with understanding the cause behind these gaps.

An Analysis Of The Radiometric Quality Of Small Unmanned Aircraft System Imagery, Baabak G. Mamaghani

Theses

In recent years, significant advancements have been made in both sensor technology and small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS). Improved sensor technology has provided users with cheaper, lighter, and higher resolution imaging tools, while new sUAS platforms have become cheaper, more stable and easier to navigate both manually and programmatically. These enhancements have provided remote sensing solutions for both commercial and research applications that were previously unachievable. However, this has provided non-scientific practitioners with access to technology and techniques previously only available to remote sensing professionals, sometimes leading to improper diagnoses and results. The work accomplished in this dissertation demonstrates the …

The Innocent Game, Kibaek Sung

Theses

Everyone has an innocent childhood. People often reminisce about the old days, pursuing happiness today rather than tomorrow's worries and anxieties. Innocence is an expression of the good value inherent in man, which breaks down the walls and loosens tensions between people. However, childhood innocence is weakened and fainted after continual exposure to the world. The world we live in is not simple or tolerant enough to let people live as an innocent child. Just like games, the situations of today and tomorrow can be completely different depending on how we play on the gameboard of life. The current society …

What A Night, Jose Hidalgo Thormann

Theses

Producing an audiovisual work is the ability to transform an idea, a story, a script into a tangible product, to bring it closer to the screen. After the production of any project, it is ready to be filmed. In this project, you can find the memories to carry out the production of a fiction short film entitled What A Night. This paper discusses the making of the short film by Jose Hidalgo Thormann to fulfill his thesis requirement to receive his MFA in Film and Animation from the Rochester Institute of Technology

Methods And Algorithms For Cardiovascular Hemodynamics With Applications To Noninvasive Monitoring Of Proximal Blood Pressure And Cardiac Output Using Pulse Transit Time, Yashar Seyed Vahedein

Theses

Advanced health monitoring and diagnostics technology are essential to reduce the unrivaled number of human fatalities due to cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Traditionally, gold standard CVD diagnosis involves direct measurements of the aortic blood pressure (central BP) and flow by cardiac catheterization, which can lead to certain complications. Understanding the inner-workings of the cardiovascular system through patient-specific cardiovascular modeling can provide new means to CVD diagnosis and relating treatment. BP and flow waves propagate back and forth from heart to the peripheral sites, while carrying information about the properties of the arterial network. Their speed of propagation, magnitude and shape are …

Uvm Verification Of A Floating Point Multiplier, Nicholas J. Marsaw

Theses

Increased design complexity has resulted in the need for efficient verification. The verification process is crucial for discovering and fixing bugs prior to fabrication and system integration. However, as designs increase in complexity, the use of traditional verification techniques with VHDL and Verilog may fall short to provide a proper toolset. Especially when performing verification on designs involving audio signal processing, untested corner cases and bugs may result in significant and sometimes undiscovered processing errors. This paper explores the use of SystemVerilog and the universal verification methodology (UVM) class library to verify a pipelined floating-point multiplier (FMULT) within the adaptive …

Perception Methods For Speed And Separation Monitoring Using Time-Of-Flight Sensor Arrays, Sarthak Arora

Theses

This work presents the development of a perception pipeline to passively track the partial human ground pose in the context of human robot collaboration. The main motivation behind this work is to provide a speed and separation monitoring based safety controller with an estimate of human position on the factory floor. Three time-of-flight sensing rings affixed to the major links of an industrial manipulator are used to implement the aforementioned. Along with a convolutional neural network based unknown obstacle detection strategy, the ground position of the human operator is estimated and tracked using sparse 3-D point inputs. Experiments to analyze …

User Preference In Detail-Enhancement Adjustments For Images Captured By Camera Phones, Pawan Khake

Theses

Most smartphones now come with an integrated camera. Such a smartphone is called a camera phone. Popularity of camera phones is rising and it is expected that 87.8% of United States population will possess camera phones by year 2020 (Euromonitor International, 2017). A camera phone’s workflow for capturing, editing, and sharing images on social media has become very efficient. Its ease of use, accessibility, and automatic exposure settings to capture an image has contributed to its popularity. Camera phones are more compact and convenient than professional DSLR cameras. The popularity of this technology has created a need to study and …

Oblivion, Deema Ali

Theses

Oblivion tells a story of a plain-looking individual named Miech at a gritty, damp subway station en route to catch a movie. As he waits for a train, he faces a troubling memory of a past relationship and is confronted by a projection of his inner emotions that takes the form of a creature. In a desperate attempt to escape from this manifestation, he shifts his attention to his external surroundings only to find that his fellow commuters also have similar creatures. In Oblivion, I address a very human experience through the spectacle of an animated lens. This film is …