Digital Commons Network^™

The Theory Of Planned Behavior As Applied To Helmet Use In Equestrians, Kelly L. Arnold

Theses

The theory of planned behavior is a model wherein beliefs give rise to intention which results in action. We tested it by separating equestrians into helmet users and non-users then presented framed health messages manipulated in a 2 (Helmet: Present, Absent) x 2 (Valence: Positive, Negative) x 2 (Icon: Circle, Rosette) between subjects design. We measured equestrians' intent to use a helmet after viewing a short horse-accident video and found that helmet non-users were most responsive to positively framed messages focusing on helmet use instead of non-use. Reasons for helmet non-use in equestrians as well as information on head injuries …

Heat Deposition During Turbulence Distorted Laser Irradiation, William Vaden Dent Iii

Theses

Realistically modeled heat deposition by a laser source under a variety of turbulent conditions generated from the classic Kolmogorov model is presented. Predicted heat deposition data is created from solutions to the differential heat flow equation and for representative example turbulence distorted waveforms.

The Effects Of Maturational Variation On The Performance Of Young Australian Footballers And Their Selection Into The Australian Football League's Talent Pathway, Ashley Cripps

Theses

Traditional player development pathways share a common goal, to identify and accelerate the development of talented adolescent players for senior competition. Players who gain selection into development programs gain greater access to experienced coaches, training facilities, support staff and competition. However, despite such advantages, research has shown that few players who gain initial selection into development pathways progress into professional senior competition. A major factor which potentially contributes to poor player retention in development pathways is the initial misidentification of talented athletes due to variations in biological maturity.

Earlier maturing individuals have been shown to be at a physical advantage …

Towards The Identification Of Metabolite Markers Of Nipple Pain And Inflammation In Human Milk, Erin Fee

Theses

Background: Human milk is considered the best source of nutrition for all newborns as it contains important growth, developmental and immunological factors. The WHO (2003) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of age, with complementary breastfeeding up to two years and beyond. However, some women experience complications of the breast that lead to early cessation of breastfeeding, which can adversely affect the well being of the developing infant and her own health.

Nipple pain is the most commonly cited reason for weaning in the first week postpartum. Nipple pain is also linked to mastitis from milk stasis and …

Joseph Of Nazareth As Man And Father In Jerónimo Gracián’S Summary Of The Excellencies Of St Joseph (1597), Sophia Boffa

Theses

This thesis explores the representation of St Joseph as man, father and holy exemplar found in Jerónimo Gracián’s Summary of the Excellencies of St Joseph, published in Rome in 1597. The Summary is dedicated to the Venerable Archconfraternity of St Joseph of the Carpenters and is regarded as one of the most influential and comprehensive Josephine texts to date. The work consists of three integral and interconnected elements: Gracián’s text, six episodes of Joseph’s life completed by engraver Christophorus Blancus, and accompanying Latin epigrams (or mottos) composed by Francisco de Cabrera Moral. The Summary has enjoyed popularity as a …

Private Conscience And Public Dissent: The Influence Of Revisionist Theological Rhetoric In Australian Public Life, Gerard Calilhanna

Theses

Catholic parliamentarians in Australia are often in decisive roles in parliamentary debates and play crucial roles in votes for and against particular Bills, deciding their fate in Parliaments. These Bills may often have a direct relationship to the conformity of laws in a parliamentary jurisdiction with the natural or moral law. The Catholic parliamentarian is both a Catholic and an elected representative, with implications for his or her life in parliament and upon decisions made as a parliamentarian. Impressing upon these parliamentarians is the traditional Catholic understanding of conscience in conformity with Apostolic Tradition that obliges adherence to the Magisterium …

Water Demand Forecasting In Al-Ain City, United Arab Emirates, Hebah Ibrahim Younis

Theses

Al-Ain city is the second largest city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the third in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Currently, desalination plants are the only source of municipal water in Al-Ain city with an average daily supply of 170 MIG. The expected natural population growth, in addition to future projects, will certainly put additional stress on the water resources in the city. Therefore, Al-Ain city seems to be in an urgent need for estimations of future water demands for achieving sustainable development. The main aim of this thesis is to introduce a water demand forecasting model to …

Suspended Sediment And Nutrient Concentrations And Loads In Two Irish Rivers, Sean T. Harrington

Theses

This thesis presents the results of new and original research on suspended sediment (SS) and nutrient concentrations and loads on the Rivers Bandon and Owenabue in the south of Ireland. It addresses the knowledge gap in SS and nutrient concentration data and in particular SS load/yield estimation methods. A comprehensive database of SS and nutrient concentrations has been established. An investigation into the relationship between water discharge and sediment and nutrient transport is presented and new original relationships between turbidity and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) and nutrients are developed. Turbidity-based suspended sediment loads (SSL) are estimated from the continuous turbidity …

Love Sip, Tianshu Liu

Theses

Love Sip is an animated graduate thesis film. The entire film, including the credits, is 4 minutes 58 seconds long. The premier of the film occurred in December 2015 in the School of Film and Animation’s end of semester screenings at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The story takes place in a vending machine. The main characters are a bottle of Soda and a bottle of Juice. They fall in love and try to escape from the vending machine. Their journey is challenging, action packed, and with the promise that their love for each will survive.

Love Sip is a 3D …

Extreme Contrast Enchantment Of An All-Optical And Gate, Saif Al Graiti

Theses

We experimentally demonstrate a 31.2-dB-contrast all-optical AND gate based on a Fabry-Pérot semiconductor optical amplifier (SOA). Typically, cross phase modulation is the dominant nonlinearity as it shifts a FPSOA resonance to trigger the AND-gate functionality. Cross polarization modulation (XPolM) is introduced here to produce a distinct output SOP for the high-state power that is different from the low-state power. A linear polarizer is used to block the low-state power to enhance the contrast by 24 dB, far exceeding previous demonstrations for such FPSOA gates.

Toothdoll, Xiaodong Han

Theses

The 3D short animated film Toothdoll is a master degree thesis film. The film runs five minutes and ten seconds including credits. All the scenes in this film happen indoors. The story is between a little boy, Ushka and his grandmother. After the little boy’s first tooth comes out, he expects the new tooth sprout. With this little story, I wanted to recreate this normal but important first-time experience in our childhood.

Throughout the entire production, the primary goal for me to tell a clear and solid story to my audiences. No matter how interesting the story is, I think …

Chromatic Dispersion Compensation In Electrical Domain Via Signal Pre-Distortion Using A Dual-Drive Mach-Zehnder Modulator, Saivivek Bheemanathini

Theses

In recent years, evolution of technology has contributed a major role in the field of optical communication systems. There is an ever growing demand for transmitting signals at higher data rates and compensating the transmission impairments simultaneously. Speed of the signal transmission down the optical fiber is limited by transmission impairments that are characterized as linear or nonlinear losses. In my thesis, I lay a special emphasis on linear loss especially chromatic dispersion and it's effect on an optical signal down the fiber and study the compensation techniques in an electrical domain challenging the methods employed in an optical domain. …

Monitoring Cloud-Prone Complex Landscapes At Multiple Spatial Scales Using Medium And High Resolution Optical Data: A Case Study In Central Africa, Bikash Basnet

Theses

Tracking land surface dynamics over cloud-prone areas with complex mountainous terrain and a landscape that is heterogeneous at a scale of approximately 10 m, is an important challenge in the remote sensing of tropical regions in developing nations, due to the small plot sizes. Persistent monitoring of natural resources in these regions at multiple spatial scales requires development of tools to identify emerging land cover transformation due to anthropogenic causes, such as agricultural expansion and climate change. Along with the cloud cover and obstructions by topographic distortions due to steep terrain, there are limitations to the accuracy of monitoring change …

Numerical Investigation Of Parameters Impacting The Wall Thickness Of Carbon Nanotubes Manufactured By Template-Based Chemical Vapor Deposition, Yashar Seyed Vahedein

Theses

Template-based chemical vapor deposition (TB-CVD) is a versatile technique for manufacturing carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or CNT-based devices for various applications. In this process, carbon is deposited by thermal decomposition of a carbon-based precursor gas inside the nanoscopic cylindrical pores of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) templates to form CNTs. Experimental results show CNT formation in templates is controlled by TB-CVD process parameters, such as time, temperature and flow rate. Optimization of this process is done empirically, requiring tremendous time and effort. Moreover, there is a need for a more comprehensive and low cost way to characterize the flow in the furnace …

The Use Of Landsat 8 For Monitoring Of Fresh And Coastal Waters, Javier A. Concha

Theses

The most interaction between humankind and water occurs in coastal and inland waters (Case 2 waters) at a scale of tens or hundred of meters, but there is not yet an ocean color product (e.g. chlorophyll-a product) at this spatial scale. Landsat 8 could potentially address the remote sensing of these kinds of waters due to its improved features. This work presents an approach to obtain the color producing agents (CPAs) chlorophyll-a, colored dissolved organic material (CDOM) and suspended material (SM) from water bodies using Landsat 8. Adequate atmospheric correction becomes an important first step to accurately retrieving water parameters …

Recursive Model Selection For Gnss-Combined Precise Point Positioning Algorithms, Andrew Tollefson

Theses

The accuracy of Global Positioning algorithms can be improved by incorporating observations from the satellites of multiple Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). To best utilize these observations, inter-system biases must be modeled. A unified observational model is proposed which accounts for these factors for an arbitrary number of GNSS. The Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) may be imposed upon the unified model to balance data-fitting degree with model complexity among candidate models for a given satellite configuration scenario. A simple formulation is derived for the change to the Weighted Sum Squared Residuals (WSSR) outcome caused by modifying the least-squares design matrix …

Multiplayer Sound-Oriented Game Design: An Ios Brain And Hearing Training Game, Liwei Yu

Theses

Hearing (auditory perception) is one of the most important senses in our human bodies. There are millions of different sounds in our world; humans perceive the sounds from the outside world to get information, and respond to them.

It is beneficial to enhance hearing abilities and hand-ear coordination to boost brain fitness, engage in better communication with others, and enhance concentration abilities.

With the fast development of smart mobile devices and mobile internet, it is easy to get people connected no matter where they are. Some people usually play games during short fragments time.

Considering these factors, it is a …

Effects Of Persuasive Communication On Intention To Save Energy: Punishing And Rewarding Messages, Michell Patricia Garcia Mera

Theses

Communication can be used to persuade individuals to change their intentions. This study analyzes the use of rewarding and punishing messages for the purpose of changing intention towards energy saving. It also analyzes the use of social and individual rewards and punishments and their effects in motivating behavioral change positively towards energy saving. Results show that while reward and punishment are both effective in manipulating intention positively towards energy saving behaviors, overall there is no significant difference between the two. However, when individual reward was compared to individual punishment, individual punishment was found to be more effective than reward in …

A Generalized Model Of Cognitive Workload, Taylor Carpenter

Theses

Numerous catastrophic accidents have been the result of human operators making poor judgement calls stemming from suboptimal decision making. This suboptimal decision making, in many cases, arises when an operator is either in a high cognitive workload state, overwhelmed with information leading to a greater chance of missing an important detail, or in a low cognitive workload state, distracted and overall not paying attention to the task at hand. If the cognitive workload of an individual can be properly monitored, suboptimal operator conditions can be recognized or prevented, reducing the chance of an accident. While previous research has led to …

See A Different World: Interactive Storytelling For Children To Raise Awareness Of Color Blindness, Dan Yu

Theses

Children play with interactive applications to gain knowledge in their daily life. There are different kinds of interactive applications that help educate children through visual storytelling. In reviewing the current apps available, few of them were written or designed for children with disabilities, especially children with color blindness. Through research, it was discovered that children lack an awareness of color blindness. This thesis aims to design an effective, interactive visual storytelling application to raise awareness of color blindness for elementary school aged children. The project helps children gain knowledge about color blindness through reading and playing activities within the app. …

Left Ventricle Myocardium Segmentation From 3d Cardiac Mr Images Using Combined Probabilistic Atlas And Graph Cut-Based Approaches, Aditya Daryanani

Theses

Medical imaging modalities, including Computed Tomography (CT) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Ultrasound (US) are critical for the diagnosis and progress monitoring of many cardiac conditions, planning, visualization and delivery of therapy via minimally invasive intervention procedures, as well as for teaching, training and simulation applications.

Image segmentation is a processing technique that allows the user to extract the necessary information from an image dataset, in the form of a surface model of the region of interest from the anatomy. A wide variety of segmentation techniques have been developed and implemented for cardiac MR images. Despite their complexity and performance, …

Experimental Study Of Heat Transfer And Pressure Drop Over An Array Of Short Micro Pin Fins, Aditya Bhat

Theses

Studies on thermal enhancement for electronic chips has been gaining prominence as increased transistor density in the chips calls for larger heat dissipation. Various enhancement techniques have been proposed ever since 1981, to enhance the heat dissipation from the chip surface. Micro pin fins have been gaining recognition as a highly favorable surface enhancement due to the design versatility it provides in the form of myriad geometric shapes and fin arrangements as opposed to convention microchannels. The micro pin fins however, present a larger pressure drop over the surface as compared to other conventional methods which reduces the thermal efficiency …

Mist, Huan Abby Liao

Theses

Mist is an abstract, animated graduate thesis film with a duration of five minutes. It is an extremely personal film, which is inspired by my childhood memories and Chinese culture. It is a reflection of my own life, which just like the fluid ink in the film, reacts with the environment naturally and leaves distinct marks on the paper of my life.

This is a live action and 2D animation mixed film that was produced with After Effects and Premiere software. The primary plan was to produce this film in 3D. However, in order to achieve a more dynamic look, …

Full Measures, Xuejing Xu

Theses

“Full Measures” is a 3D Animated Short Film about a pianist’s struggle writing the music he desires before his deadline. With musical creatures taunting him, will he defeat his nightmares in time?

“Full Measures” has two meanings, it’s literally definition is “to perform a task as well as possible.” The second definition is a play on words meaning “Passages with heavily written music.” It’s a phrase I found through speaking with musician at the Eastman School of Music.

In life we all aspire to achieve what we want to create. Often the greatest obstacles are constructs in our minds. We …

Getting Back The Lost, Wanru Liu

Theses

Getting Back the Lost is an animated graduate thesis film with a total running time of 7 minutes and 13 seconds. The film is about a girl seeking hope in a ruined and destroyed environment.

Nowadays, the global environmental problem, which is due to human activities, is becoming increasingly serious. Human beings have overused natural resources in a continuous and reckless way, without caring about their harmful and detrimental effects on this earth. Getting Back the Lost is a story that takes place in a former land of oil extraction and production. It is a place that represents what the …

Empirical Study Of Training-Set Creation For Software Architecture Traceability Methods, Waleed Abdu Zogaan

Theses

Machine-learning algorithms have the potential to support trace retrieval methods making significant reductions in costs and human-involvement required for the creation and maintenance of traceability links between system requirements, system architecture, and the source code. These algorithms can be trained how to detect the relevant architecture and can then be sent to find it on its own. However, the long-term reductions in cost and effort face a significant upfront cost in the initial training of the algorithm. This cost comes in the form of needing to create training sets of code, which train the algorithm how to identify traceability links. …

Oil Painting 3d Scene: A Desert Survival Game Environment, Chien Hui Jarvis

Theses

Oil Painting 3D Scene: A Desert Survival Game Environment is a hand-painted, stylized game level. The whole environment includes desert, animals, plants, rocks, small particle effects and a shack built in Unreal Engine.

This report outlines the whole production process, from the very beginning of visual development stage till completion, and illustrates my ideas, sketches, obstacles, tests, design choices, failures and successes, as well as technical specifics.

3d Gaze Point Localization And Visualization Using Lidar-Based 3d Reconstructions, James Pieszala

Theses

We present a novel pipeline for localizing a free roaming eye tracker within a LiDAR-based 3D reconstructed scene with high levels of accuracy. By utilizing a combination of reconstruction algorithms that leverage the strengths of global versus local capture methods and user-assisted refinement, we reduce drift errors associated with Dense Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (D-SLAM) techniques. Our framework supports region-of-interest (ROI) annotation and gaze statistics generation and the ability to visualize gaze in 3D from an immersive first person or third person perspective. This approach gives unique insights into viewers' problem solving and search task strategies and has high applicability …

American Sign Language Recognition System By Using Surface Emg Signal, Celal Savur

Theses

Sign Language Recognition (SLR) system is a novel method that allows hard of hearing to communicate with general society. In this study, American Sign Language (ASL) recognition system was proposed by using the surface Electromyography (sEMG). The objective of this study is to recognize the American Sign Language alphabet letters and allow users to spell words and sentences. For this purpose, sEMG data are acquired from subject right forearm for twenty-seven American Sign Language gestures of twenty-six English alphabets and one for home position. Time and frequency domain (band power) information used in the feature extraction process. As a classification …

Relational Training Of Contextual Cues And Self-Rule Formation In Simulated Slot Machines, Rocco Giovanni Catrone

Theses

Between 1% and 1.4% of people who engage in gambling behaviors lead to disordered or pathological gambling (Whiting & Dixon, 2015), while 44% of all money spent on legal gambling is done so with slot machines (Choliz, 2010). Various behavioral concepts have been theorized as a possible source of gambling addition; losses disguised as wins (LDWs), near-miss, gamblers’ fallacy, illusions of control, and verbally constructed self-rules related to these topics. The current study sought to extend the previous research on condition discrimination in altering slot machine preference while also analyzing the effects of vocalized self-rules during slot machine selection. Conclusions …