Digital Commons Network^™

Catalyst-Free Heteroepitaxy Of Iii-V Semiconductor Nanowires On Silicon, Graphene, And Molybdenum Disulfide, Mohadeseh Asadolahi Baboli

Theses

The research presented in this dissertation pioneered three novel nano-material systems, including vertically aligned InAlAs nanowires (NWs) on two-dimensional (2-D) graphene, InAs NWs on 2-D MoS2, and GaAsP NWs on Si using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Bottom up integratiton of NW structures enable heteroepitaxy of largely dissimilar III-V compounds on foreign substrates and provide a basis for design of high-performance devices that are otherwise inaccessible using thin- films or planar geometries. During conventional heteroepitaxy of planar geometries, strict constraints are imposed by the need to match lattice parameters, thermal expansion coefficients, and polar coherence between adjacent dissimilar materials. Semiconductor …

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 …

Accessibility In User Reviews For Mobile Apps: An Automated Detection Approach, Murtaza Tamjeed

Theses

In recent years, mobile accessibility has become an important trend with the goal of allowing all users the possibility of using any app without many restrictions. Recent work demonstrated that user reviews include insights that are useful for app evolution. However, with the increase in the amount of received reviews, manually analyzing them is tedious and time-consuming, especially when searching for accessibility reviews. The goal of this thesis is to support the automated identification of accessibility in user reviews, to help practitioners in prioritizing their handling, and thus, creating more inclusive apps. Particularly, we design a model that takes as …

Antipodal Robotic Grasping Using Deep Learning, Shirin Joshi

Theses

In this work, we discuss two implementations that predict antipodal grasps for novel objects: A deep Q-learning approach and a Generative Residual Convolutional Neural Network approach. We present a deep reinforcement learning based method to solve the problem of robotic grasping using visio-motor feedback. The use of a deep learning based approach reduces the complexity caused by the use of hand-designed features. Our method uses an off-policy reinforcement learning framework to learn the grasping policy. We use the double deep Q-learning framework along with a novel Grasp-Q-Network to output grasp probabilities used to learn grasps that maximize the pick success. …

Astralis: Discover 1000 Years Of You, Emma Canfield

Theses

Problem

We are defined by our memories and experiences. Despite the proliferation of family photos and video media, we lack an engaging way to connect our memories and experiences to those images. Online genealogical programs (such as Ancestry, MyHeritage, or FamilySearch) remain two-dimensional and inherently confusing to navigate. As soon as the user chooses to dive more deeply into one relative’s additional family, they leave the view they were in and cannot easily navigate back, or even see themselves in context any longer. Similarly, image archiving programs (such as Apple Photos, Shutterfly) or AmazonPhotos) are simplistic and rely on a …

Evaluation Of The Premarket Tobacco Product Application For Electronic Cigarettes, Maya Lara

Theses

Use of tobacco has remained one of the most lethal pastimes within the United States. With the creation of new products, like electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), more and more individuals have begun to engage in this activity. In 2019, an epidemic surrounding the use of e-cigarettes emerged causing a multitude of users to suffer harmful respiratory illnesses. These events triggered the need for further investigation not only into the research used to analyze e-cigarettes, but also the regulation process used to validate them. E-cigarettes, like their predecessor traditional cigarettes, are regulated by the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) within the United …

Parametric Study Of Infrared Imaging Based Breast Cancer Detection Program, Carlos B. Gutierrez

Theses

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women and is responsible for over 41,000 lives every year in the US according to The American Cancer Society. Current screening and imaging methods such as mammography, breast magnetic resonance imaging, and breast ultrasound imaging have helped in improving survival rate when the cancer is detected at an early stage. The problems with these techniques include: low sensitivity, patient discomfort, invasiveness, and cost. Due to current advancements in infrared and computational technologies, infrared thermography has been utilized as a noninvasive adjunctive screening modality. A computerized approach using infrared imaging (IRI) …

The Influence Of Hr On Desired Company Culture, Dino Lučan

Theses

Company culture is an integral part of all business organizations. It has a strong influence on organizational success and it directly affects organizations’ work environment and business processes. As company culture is experienced and created by the employees, the HR function tends to be responsible with defining and implementing the appropriate company culture. This study analyzes the connection between HR and company’s culture by evaluating manager and HR personnel opinions on the influence of HR in developing and sustaining the desired company culture. A quantitative, non-experimental, design is applied via an online survey that was sent to a sample of …

Application Of Thermal And Ultraviolet Sensors In Remote Sensing Of Upland Ducks, Matthew W. Helvey

Theses

Detection, mapping, and monitoring of wildlife populations can provide significant insight into the health and trajectory of the ecosystems they rely on. In fact, it was not until recently that the benefits of wetland ecosystems were fully understood. Unfortunately, by that point, the United States had removed more than 50% of its native wetlands. The Prairie Pothole Region in North America is the premier breeding location for ducks; responsible for producing more than 50% of the North American ducks annually. The current survey methods for obtaining duck population counts are accomplished primarily using manned flights with observers manually identifying and …

Blockchain And Smart Contracts: The Need For Better Education, Ali Alkhajeh

Theses

The study aims at understanding the current scenario of blockchain education and whether it is meeting the increasing demand of blockchain professionals in the job market. In addition, it also provided a comparison between Ethereum and Hyperledger and analyzed the one best suited for better academic curriculum design. By drawing from various sources of data, including journals, articles, reports, the study provided critical insights into the various aspects of a blockchain education. It assesses the existing curriculum on the blockchain that includes courses and programs from various renowned universities and business schools. The study reveals that although the courses are …

Building Simulation, Solar Potential And Consumption Analysis Of Residential Dwellings, In Dubai, Aysha Alremeithi, Hasan Kamal, Marwa Alraeesi

Theses

City sustainability analysis is overly broad, and people with diverse mindsets look at cities from different perspectives. As part of the city’s fabric, buildings are an integral component and hence require attention. Although the electricity consumed in buildings varies from country to country, it is equal to 30–40% of the total electricity consumption all over the world. [1]. This research targeted studying residential building simulation in Dubai, using various Green Building Codes, assessing energy consumption trends, designing solar systems with respective sizing along with conducting detailed load profile analysis and developing statistical model to directly estimate the HVAC consumption. The …

Critical Material Supply Risks And Mitigation Strategies In Clean Energy Technologies, Alexandra Leader

Theses

The pressing global issue of climate change has driven the development of clean energy technologies. The clean energy technologies addressed in this dissertation include those used to produce energy and provide mobility with reduced emissions, as well as technologies outside the energy and transportation sectors which utilize energy in a more efficient way. Many of these technologies rely on materials that are considered critical due to their importance to the technology’s functionality and their potential vulnerability to supply disruption. Supply disruptions can stem from a variety of factors such as geographical supply concentration, production in unstable areas, low ore grades, …

Domestic Food Waste Reduction System In The U.A.E., Eman Alsuwaidi, Nawar Al Sammarraie, Vilas Vijaykumar, Zaid Nayaz Syed

Theses

The emerging need for a domestic food waste management system in UAE has opened the door for innovations in managing food activities to minimizing waste. At present, there are no specific strategies or solutions effective enough to considerably reduce domestic food waste. This project mainly covers objective, methodology, waste identification tools and techniques, and strategy creation for system improvement. The results obtained from several surveys conducted to study the food habits of the people were used in this project to develop a strategy to reduce food waste. Smart systems are gaining high demand in various fields of the markets as …

Domestic Food Waste Reduction System In The U.A.E., Eman Alsuwaidi, Nawar Al Sammarraie, Vilas Vijaykumar, Zaid Nayaz Syed

Theses

The emerging need for a domestic food waste management system in UAE has opened the door for innovations in managing food activities to minimizing waste. At present, there are no specific strategies or solutions effective enough to considerably reduce domestic food waste. This project mainly covers objective, methodology, waste identification tools and techniques, and strategy creation for system improvement. The results obtained from several surveys conducted to study the food habits of the people were used in this project to develop a strategy to reduce food waste. Smart systems are gaining high demand in various fields of the markets as …

Domestic Food Waste Reduction System In The U.A.E., Eman Alsuwaidi, Nawar Al Sammarraie, Vilas Vijaykumar, Zaid Nayaz Syed

Theses

The emerging need for a domestic food waste management system in UAE has opened the door for innovations in managing food activities to minimizing waste. At present, there are no specific strategies or solutions effective enough to considerably reduce domestic food waste. This project mainly covers objective, methodology, waste identification tools and techniques, and strategy creation for system improvement. The results obtained from several surveys conducted to study the food habits of the people were used in this project to develop a strategy to reduce food waste. Smart systems are gaining high demand in various fields of the markets as …

Pal: Building Trust In High Stakes Service Provider Relationships, Belinda Chang

Theses

The rise of on-demand economies has forced consumers to increasingly rely on evaluating service providers through a digital medium. Research has found that Americans’ trust in others has declined over the past several decades, while their trust in strangers from on-demand sharing economies is contrastingly high. In many cases however, the trust goes too far, resulting in negative or even dangerous experiences for both the service provider and customer.

One area where digital trust is being widely implemented is in online marketplaces for pet care services. Popular sites and mobile applications like Rover and Wag provide on-demand dog walking and …

Vascular Surgery: Physician And Patient Education On Novel Procedures, Ashlyn Kelley

Theses

Carotid artery disease accounts for 20-30% of all strokes in the western world, and while several surgical procedures have been developed and utilized for decades as a means of treatment, each method comes with its own set of drawbacks (Saw et. al., 2007). A novel procedure, known as transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR), seeks to mitigate the shortcomings of these previous surgical approaches.

The illustrations depicting the TCAR procedure are intended to assist in the education of surgeons and operating room staff who are responsible for carrying out the procedure. The Vascular Surgery Department at the University of Rochester Medical Center …

Parental Hearing Status And Sign Language Use As Predictors Of English Literacy Outcomes For Deaf Children In A Bilingual Educational Setting, Sarah E. Kimbley

Theses

Deaf children in the United States are not achieving age-appropriate literacy in English. Nearly 90-95% of deaf infants are born to hearing parents who do not know American Sign Language (ASL). These deaf children are experiencing limited access to a spoken language and as a result do not develop skills needed to be prepared for academic learning because language acquisition during the sensitive period in development is crucial for the development of literacy skills. However, 5-10% of deaf children have deaf parents who use ASL. Studies show correlations between higher ASL fluency and higher English literacy scores in deaf children …

Design And Production Of 3d Animation Short Film “Relict”, Huzehui Xia

Theses

Relict is a surrealist animation short film expressing satire and self-examination of Beijing's major social issues by depicting the illusion of Beijing’ future. Beijing, as the capital of China, has a lot of social problems that have existed for many years. Among them, the main problems we focused on are the housing price, the population explosion, and air pollution. In this piece, with a series of scenarios including indoor scenes and outdoor landmarks created for Beijing's future based on social problems, Relict will affect the audience's thoughts about our modern life.

Deciduous Broadleaf Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function (Bsdf): Measurements, Modeling, And Impacts On Waveform Lidar Forest Assessments, Benjamin D. Roth

Theses

Lidar (light detection and ranging) remote sensing has proven high accuracy/precision for quantification of forest biophysical parameters, many of which are needed for operational and ecological management. Although the significant effect of Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Functions (BSDF) on remote sensing of vegetation is well known, current radiative transfer simulations, designed for the development of remote sensing systems for ecological observation, seldom take leaf BSDF into account. Moreover, leaf directional scattering measurements are almost nonexistent, particularly for transmission. Previous studies have been limited in their electromagnetic spectrum extent, lacked validated models to capture all angles beyond measurements, and did not adequately …

Self-Awareness: A Dynamic Poster Design About Self-Awareness Child Development, Shuaiqi Xiong

Theses

Self-awareness is a psychological state in which we see ourselves truthfully and objectively through introspection and reflection. As 90s generation, we are the newest generation of “Chinese-style” individualism, but most of us do not have knowledge of self-awareness. We probably do not acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses, do not accept ourselves, and have no sense of what we do and others think of us. According to our research” says organizational psychologist and researcher Tasha Eurich, “with thousands of people from all around the world, 95 percent of people believe that they’re self-aware, but only about 10 to 15 percent really …

Associations Between Cannabis Use Characteristics, Impulsivity, And Mindfulness, Sam Feck

Theses

Dual-process theories of addiction have suggested that drug use behavior is influenced by the interaction between an automatic system, which uses affective and motivational significance to appraise stimuli rapidly, and a reflective system, which includes conscious emotion regulation and decision making. The current study examined the constructs of impulsivity and mindfulness, selected to approximate the automatic and reflective systems, respectively, and their associations with cannabis use characteristics. Research suggests deficits in impulsivity and mindfulness are hallmark characteristics of substance use. However, evidence supporting this association specific to cannabis use is inconsistent. A community sample of adults (N = 289, 137 …

Interaction Recognition In A Paired Egocentric Video, Ajeeta Rajkumar Khatri

Theses

Wearable devices and affective computing have gained popularity in the recent times. Egocentric videos recorded using these devices can be used to understand the emotions of the camera wearer and the person interacting with the camera wearer. Emotions affect the facial expression, head movement and various other physiological factors. In order to perform this study we collected dyadic conversations (dialogues between two people) data from two different groups; one where two individuals agree on certain topic and second where two individuals disagree on certain topics. This data was collected using a wearable smart glass for video collection and a smart …

Allocation Of Public Expenditures In The Post-War Kosovo: A Critical Analysis, Leonita Krasniqi

Theses

How public expenditures are allocated can have profound effects on the macro-fiscal environment of a country. This research project analyzes how the Government of Kosovo allocates its public expenditures. Two particular strategic documents are examined—the Economic Vision 2011-2014 and the National Development Strategy 2016-2021. It does so by analyzing whether or not the priorities set in these strategies are translated in Medium-Term Expenditure Frameworks and the Budget Laws. Finally, this research project examines how the allocated public expenditures are realized. The research concludes that despite the well-established written strategies, a wide gap exists between the priorities set and their actual …

Painting And Prosody: Robert Browning's (Re)Presentation Of Fra Lippo Lippi And Andrea Del Sarto, Ana Schnellmann

Theses

This paper examines the ways in which all art interpretation is revising and re-presenting the art and artists in question. When Robert Browning wrote Fra Lippo Lippi and Andrea del Sarto as part of his collection Men and Women, he drew on the histories provided of them by Giorgio Vasari. Browning used Vasari’s stories as a base from which to personify the artists and use them in a sense as synecdoches representing the ways religious art is received and viewed. Religious art is meant to elevate the soul. That elevation may take place through the artist’s rendering religious figures as …

Primary School Space Design In The City Of Beijing: A Design Demonstration That Promotes The Physical Well-Being Of Children, Dan Wu

Theses

In recent years, obesity and health problems have increased among children in China because they participate in fewer physical activities than in previous years. The reasons for this change include academic overload, the increased number of students, and the limited amount of open space in cities. It has, therefore, become important to encourage students to engage in more outdoor exercise. Children aged 7 to 12 are considered primary school age in China. They spend most of the day at school, where physical activity opportunities should be provided. Architectural design can help improve the quality of spaces by laying them out …

Freelancing As A Tool Of Increasing Women’S Activity Rate In Kosovo, Ema Baraku

Theses

This research project explores the implications of freelancing in the activity rate of women in the labor market in Kosovo. It specifically analyzes the employment barriers that women encounter such as taking care of children/elders, lack of suitable and flexible jobs, and low wage. It further elaborates on the concept of freelancing and the opportunities for Kosovar youth in general and for women in particular. The research includes a review of secondary data, an online survey, and focus group discussions. Findings from the research confirm the potential of freelancing to impact the participation of women in the job market as …

Corporate Social Responsibility — Introducing A New Model For Improving The Financial Performance Of Large Enterprises: The Case Of Kosovo, Ibrahim Jetullahu

Theses

The purpose of this research project is to show the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on improving long-term corporate financial performance. In line with the literature review, the integration of CSR with Human Resources Management (HRM) and Marketing Strategies were used as the two components of achieving profitability because they were considered as complements of one another. The overall goal is to show how CSR strategies can have positive effects on workforce productivity, employee engagement, brand awareness, and differentiation of the organization in a developing country such as Kosovo. The research method included two primary research tools: (1) semi-structured …

Towards Energy Transformational Policy In Kosovo: Dissecting The Inconsistencies Between Energy Regulation And Implementation, Ardian Kacaniku

Theses

The main purpose of this study was to identify and analyze the inconsistencies between the energy regulation and energy strategies in place, and the current patterns of energy production and consumption in Kosovo. That is, this current research looks at the existing discrepancies between the energy regulations and their implementation in Kosovo and provides recommendations on how to address these discrepancies. In doing so, the existing strategies and EU directives such as Kosovo Energy Strategies and Acquis Community Directives by the Energy Community Secretariat were reviewed and analyzed. The answer is represented and alternative methods pertaining to Kosovo’s energy industry …

Environmental Sustainability: Kosovo’S Waste Management And Its Road To Circular Economy, Diella Lulaj

Theses

The aim of this project is to evaluate environmental degradation in Kosovo, by concentrating on waste management, and to give recommendations on how to improve waste management in Kosovo, through implementing circular economy concepts. More specifically, the focus of the project will be circular economy in the cycle of waste management, the possibilities and obstacles to implement it in Kosovo. Case studies are used to explain the waste management in UK and India and their process of switching from a traditional economy to a circular economy; as well as an analysis of Western Balkans’ experiences with waste management to understand …