Digital Commons Network^™

Smart Reversible Lanes In Dubai, Amna Nabeel Hamad Al Shamsi

Theses

There is no doubt that transportation is one of the most important elements in any city and its development. However, traffic congestion is hurdle to any transportation system and especially in top cities like Dubai. Traffic congestions have many reasons like traveling from suburban to the city center for work and study, and relaying mostly on private vehicles. The impacts of traffic congestions reach beyond the increase in travel time, it also increase gas consumption, and affect people’s health negatively. One of the most practical ways to ease traffic congestion is using Reversible lanes (RL) which are lanes that can …

Domestic Violence In Culturally And Linguistically Diverse (Cald) Communities: Perceptions, Therapeutic Approaches And Responses Of Frontline Workers In New South Wales (Nsw), Oluwatoyin A. Dedeigbo

Theses

Domestic violence is a universal public health concern (VicHealth, 2011; World Health Organisation [WHO], 2013). Domestic violence cuts across all countries, regardless of economic, social, cultural or religious differences (Ali et al., 2020; VicHealth, 2011; WHO 2013). Men are often responsible for perpetrating domestic violence against women (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2019; Australia Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2018).

The effects of domestic violence on victims can be serious and long-term; affecting their physical and mental wellbeing, and lingering even after the exposure to violence has ended (Mitchell, 2011). That is, the effect on victims’ mental health is …

Reclaiming The R-Word : Romanization As A Framework For Culture Change In The Roman Provinces, Mary Lauryn Davis

Theses

The concept of Romanization, or Rome’s process of making its newly conquered provinces more like Rome, has fallen out of favor in recent decades and has been replaced by a succession of postcolonial frameworks that progressively decenter Rome from the transformation process. I argue, against this new orthodoxy, that Rome was actively responsible for imposing profound social changes on its provincial populations that resulted in a shift toward Roman culture in the interest of Roman imperialism. This affected every segment of every conquered population, though the details of individual experiences varied widely, as can be seen in analysis along geographical, …

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 …

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 …

Sustainability Assessment Of Wireless Community Grid For Off-Grid Communities: A Case Study For Haiti, Tejan Adhikari

Theses

Affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy service is fundamental to human, social and economic development. Approximately 1.2 billion people lack access to basic energy services. There exists a huge energy access gap between urban centers and rural areas. Approximately 84% of the people deprived of energy access live in rural areas. Existing rural electrification options including grid extension, mini-grids, and stand-alone solar home systems, have limited penetration in rural regions. Entrepreneurs, with support from governments and international institutions, have experimented with different business mechanisms to facilitate energy delivery. A significant amount of investment is being made for rural electrification but many …

Lambdanet: A Novel Architecture For Unstructured Change Detection, Bryan Matthew Blakeslee

Theses

The goal of this thesis is the development of LambdaNet, a new type of network architecture for the performance of unstructured change detection. LambdaNet combines concepts from Siamese and semantic segmentation architectures, and is capable of identifying and localizing the significant differences between image pairs while simultaneously disregarding background noise. Changes are marked at the pixel level, by interpreting change detection as a binary (change/no change) classification problem.

Development of this architecture began with an evaluation of several candidate models, inspired by other successful network architectures and layers, including VGG, ResNet, and the Res2Net layer. Once the best performing LambdaNet …

The Emergence Of United Arab Emirates As A Global Soft Power: Strategies And Challenges, Amira Ali Alhashmi

Theses

The thesis focuses on how the United Arab Emirates is emerging as a global soft power by examining the elements of its soft power. This is accomplished via in-depth interviews with UAE-based foreign diplomats and academics and Emirati diplomats and academics. This is supplemented with primary and secondary data from government, international agencies, and media sources. The UAE has excelled in many facets of governance, accomplished a lot in a relatively short period, and pursued domestic and foreign policies that have made it a role model for other countries. These accomplishments enable the UAE to exercise soft power influence in …

The Impact Of Biotic Characteristics Of Uae Coastal Area On Movements Of Socotra Cormorant, Nouf Sameer Abdullah Saeed Al Qadi

Theses

Monitoring Socotra Cormorant population and conducting research on their breeding biology and feeding habits are considered the top priorities for ensuring the long-term protection of their breeding colonies and feeding grounds. The research was conducted by using ArcMap Software (10.5) to map Socotra cormorant migratory movements in the Arabian Gulf Region during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 breeding seasons.; and to determine environmental variables that affect migratory movements using a GIS approach, which helps to identify areas of conservation value. The study provided needed information on the current distribution of Socotra Cormorant along with the distribution of marine ecosystems (mangroves and …

The Role Of Digital Diplomacy In Uae Foreign Policy: Strategies, Challenges And Opportunities, Khadija Ali Mohammed Al Mazrouei

Theses

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is emerging as a world leader in digital diplomacy due to its excellent communication infrastructure and willingness to connect with the outside world as part of it is foreign policy goals. In spite of the UAE’s central role in this digital diplomacy phenomenon, not much by way of research has been conducted into the UAE’s efforts. Thus, this thesis seeks to fill the research gap by addressing three key research questions vis-à-vis UAE’s digital diplomacy. First, what are the UAE’s digital diplomacy strategies? Second, what are the benefits of digital diplomacy to the UAE? Third, …

Sustainable Tourism Heritage Village – Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, Hatan A. Alshammaa

Theses

The city of Al-Ula in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a historic city that considered as a supplier of natural and cultural heritage that allows the city to be a unique tourist destination that distinguished with a specific type of nature that attracts tourists to enjoy the natural desert mountainous landscape. However, Al-Ula city lacks accommodation and entertainment to encourage tourists to come according to MAS (Tourism Information and Research Center for the tourist investment in al-Ula city).

This design thesis will support the development of tourism by designing a sustainable tourism heritage village that matches the existing environment …

Three Dimensional Digital Alloying With Reactive Metal Inks, Chaitanya G. Mahajan

Theses

3D printing of multifunctional components using two or more materials is a rapidly growing area of research. Metallic alloy inks have been used with various 3D printing techniques to create functional components such as antennas, inductors, resistors, and biocompatible implants. Most of these printing techniques use premixed metallic alloy inks or nanoalloy particles with a fixed composition to fabricate the functional part. Since the properties of alloys vary with changes in the elemental composition, a printing process which could digitally dispense alloy inks having specific desired compositions would enable different functionalities and be highly desirable.

Using the binary copper-nickel system …

Population Genetics Of Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) At The Northern Edge Of The Species Range, Phillip Conrad Williams

Theses

The marsh rice rat (Oryzomys sp.) is a semiaquatic rodent native to wetlands in the southeastern United States. The northwestern-most part of the rice rat’s range extends to Illinois where rice rats are found in wetlands across the southern part of the state. Recent studies have shown that rice rats in the United States can be divided into two species: O. palustris and O. texensis, but the taxonomic status of rice rats in Southern Illinois is unclear. To resolve this, I sequenced cytochrome-b and the control region, two regions of mitochondrial DNA, for 16 rice rats and constructed a phylogeny …

Social Media Footprints Of Public Perception On Energy Issues In The Conterminous United States, David Leifer

Theses

Energy has been at the top of the national and global political agenda along with other concomitant challenges, such as poverty, disaster and climate change. Social perception on various energy issues, such as its availability, development and consumption deeply affect our energy future. This type of information is traditionally collected through structured energy surveys. However, these surveys are often subject to formidable costs and intensive labor, as well as a lack of temporal dimensions. Social media can provide a more cost-effective solution to collect massive amount of data on public opinions in a timely manner that may complement the survey. …

Challenges And Opportunities For Startup Innovation And Entrepreneurship As Tools Towards A Knowledge-Based Economy: The Case Of Kosovo, Xheneta Sopjani

Theses

There is a global drive to accelerate the growth and development of nations through innovation and technology. Supporting new businesses has become a priority on the global agenda and their critical role as key drivers of growth and development is beginning to be recognized in developing countries. It is crucial to distinguish and place at the heart of any strategy the significant impact of establishing new and relevant companies which will design, develop and support products and services that meet the needs of the society and are valuable for developing the economy in Kosovo. This research study, analyzes the entrepreneurship …

My Guest From Afar, Yuan Yao

Theses

An elderly American old man accepts a young Chinese visiting scholar to live in his house. They argue for trifles, they fight for money, but they build up the friendship as time goes by. One day the scholar finishes his research then the old man suddenly realizes that he has already been embedded in his life.

Blinc: Designing Bicycle Path Protection For Accessible Transportation Networks, Blair A. Benson

Theses

The City of Rochester is defined by both poverty and renewed development in its center city. Often overlooked, access to transportation systems plays an important role in the prevalence of poverty. Accessing areas of Rochester that offer higher paying jobs, better schools, and a greater variety of services is directly related to car ownership, a luxury that Rochester’s poorest cannot afford. This transportation inequality is considered a contributing factor to Rochester’s poverty rate.

In addition, the discontinuous urban fabric of downtown Rochester is designed for automobile, not pedestrian or bicycle traffic. Safe and continuous pedestrian and cycling pathways are often …

Research On A Future Senior Housing Model In Wuhan, China, Fangyuan Shi

Theses

Recently in China, seniors’ health and living conditions after retirement have become the focus of increasing political and social concerns. Due to fertility policies in China since the 1980s, improvements in living conditions have led to longer average lifespan, increasing demand in the country’s senior housing market. This research explores the future development of senior housing for this and the next generation, the evolution of needs after retirement, and possible future solutions for providing an up-to-date senior housing community in Wuhan, China. Through documentary analysis of the current conditions as well as the needs and social concerns of seniors, case …

The Role Of Visual Identity Design In The Evolution Of Luxury Fashion Brand Strategy, Jia Cai

Theses

Fashion luxury brands have taken longer than other retail segments to understand and adapt to consumer behavior changes created by the digital revolution over the past decade. Digital and social media has created a fundamental shift in consumers expectations of their shopping experiences.

The big debate in the luxury fashion industry has been whether the integration of ‘off-line’ and ‘on-line’ actually creates value or reduces the exclusivity associated with the brands. In the past, luxury brands have relied on traditional marketing channels such as print and direct mail to engage their high-value customers. Additionally, the industry has placed an enormous …

Post-Gated Era: Towards Integrated Urban Communities In China, Xiaojing Lin

Theses

Gated communities, which typically refer to residential compounds that have strict boundaries with entrances guarded by securities and other technology appliances for surveillance, are the most common developments in Chinese cities over the past few decades. These enclosures of isolated city blocks have caused heated discussion since The CPC (Central Committee and State Council) published a guildline in 2016 to prohibit the construction of Gated communities in Chinese cities. For unique historical and social-cultural reasons, “Gated” has been deeply embedded in Chinese traditional dwelling ideology for a long time, and it is still widely accepted by the vast majority as …

Biorefinery Pathways For Institutional Food Waste, Shwe Sin Win

Theses

Every day, enormous quantities of nutritious food are wasted in landfills across the globe. Agriculture and food production use intensive amounts of water, chemicals, and land, rendering food waste as a major environmental and economic concern. New York State is currently considering legislation that would ban landfill disposal of food waste produced by large institutional generators, such as universities, hospitals, sports venues, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. Institutions have concentrated populations which generate predictable volumes of food waste and waste cooking oil. At the same time, these populations need heat, electricity, vehicle fuel, and soap. Developing a biorefinery system offers great …

The Role Of Programming In Interpreting Lgbtq Identities In Contemporary Art Museums, Anna Vernacchio

Theses

This thesis focuses on the methods through which art museums represent LGBTQ identities, facilitate discourse about diverse sexualities through programming, and address targeted media controversy. Through the analysis of the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture (November 2010 – February 2011) in comparison to the Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition (November 2011 – February 2012), I discuss effective methods of engaging diverse communities when faced with opposing voices or perspectives. Hide/Seek was a ground-breaking exhibition which publicly interpreted LGBTQ identities through the lens of artwork, spanning from the late 19th century to the post-modern period. I analyze …

“15 Miles On The Erie Canal”: Navigating The Erie Canal Through A Digital Exhibit, Mason Lezette

Theses

The Erie Canal is one of the engineering marvels of the world and was largely responsible for Rochester’s transformation into an economic powerhouse, yet there is little representation of it in the cultural institutions throughout Rochester. In collaboration with the Office of the City Historian, I created a digital exhibit to commemorate the Erie Canal and its economic and social effects on the City of Rochester. This paper tracks the many decisions I made throughout the process of creating the exhibit and goes into detail about how best to select items, craft a narrative, and put the exhibit together in …

Consumer Considerations Of Local Value-Added Dairy Products In North Carolina's Triangle, Gabriel Adjei Agyekum

Theses

The global and domestic dairy markets promise exciting opportunities for companies willing to adapt to a continuously evolving consumer market. However, local dairy farmers face a myriad of challenges as they navigate low milk prices, shrinking margins, increasing production cost, and a rising demand for plant-based varieties of milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy-based foods. The goal of this research was to investigate consumer behavior towards value-added local dairy products in North Carolina’s Triangle cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Data were used from an overarching project with collected data from food consumers in the triangle tri-city area using …

Effects Of International Trade On Food Security Of Selected Low Income And Low-Middle Income Economies, Rose Anapoka Anaabah

Theses

Food security has been a challenge for most people all over the world, especially among people living in low income countries. Food security is considered a complex sustainable development issue and is linked to health through malnutrition due to poverty. Food security became a major challenge following the sharp increase in global food prices during the last decade. Several factors contribute to food security. One factor is international trade which plays a major role in shaping the economy in most countries of the world. Access to food which is supposed to be an entitlement, or a basic right can be …

Development Of An Environmental Dna Assay For Detection And Monitoring Of The Troglobitic Crayfishes Cambarus Speleocoopi And Cambarus Laconensis, Spencer Boyd

Theses

Cave-dwelling species live in habitats that are hard to access and study. They often are small, elusive to capture, and possess morphological characters that make them difficult to identify without collection and dissection. Environmental DNA (eDNA) offers a nondestructive, noninvasive, and potentially cost-effective way to monitor and detect these species. I investigated the use of eDNA to detect two troglobitic crayfishes Cambarus speleocoopi in Marshall County and Cambarus laconensis in Morgan County, Alabama. I developed and tested in silico and in vivo primer-probe quantitative PCR assays for both species, then screened water samples collected from caves and springs in northern …

The Unesco Creative City Network - A Case For Cork City, Colette Scariff-Lalor

Theses

We are all creative, but by the time we are three or four years old, someone has knocked the creativity out of us ~ Maya Angelou

This research study will examine the potential interest and perceived benefits of the UNESCO Creative City designation for Cork City as well as exploring the concept of the Creative City concept and what it may mean for Ireland’s second city. At present, Cork City Council have the intention of applying for Creative City status. Comprising of a network of 180 members with Dublin and Galway currently holding the status, it is important for Cork …

Conqueror, Lei Wu

Theses

This thesis primarily focuses on the shooting of a documentary about Lun Qiu, a shy and ordinary ethnic Tibetan boy from China. His family is poor, and he is a boxer who was injured when he was defeated in a competition. These events did not cause him to lose confidence because his experience has been very helpful for him. He dreams of participating in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and earning his own gold belt.

The original idea for my thesis had nothing to do with its final conception. In fact, the original idea was not even to make a documentary, …

The Use Of Media Technologies In Long-Distance Relationships, Paola P. Soto Herrera

Theses

Communication technologies have helped reduce personal distances and stay connected. This study pursued the following questions: What are the most popular media used to communicate in long-distance relationships? Are those in long-distance relationships more likely to use rich or lean media? Do family, friends, and romantic partners differ in their selection of media? Instant Messaging, social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat), telephone (cellular, mobile, or landline), online video chat, online audio chat, SMS, and regular mail were the most used media. Respondents were significantly more likely to use rich media. Romantic partners were more likely than either family or friends …

A Survey And Use-Wear Analysis Of Wickliffe Thick Pottery In The Southeastern United States, Anthony P. Farace

Theses

The Wickliffe Thick pottery type, an unusual vessel with a globular body, thick wall, and funnel-like opening at the bottom, has been assumed to be related to salt production and/or juice pressing. The following project presents the results of a use-wear analysis in order to understand Wickliffe Thick’s possible uses demonstrating that past conclusions likely need revision. A systematic, macroscopic analysis of ceramic sherds from more than 20 Mississippian sites throughout Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois are included in the study. Use-wear on the samples occur in a low frequency. Although other factors such as a white efflorescence, and Wickliffe Thick’s …