Digital Commons Network^™

Design, Fabrication And Characterization Of Low­ Power Gas Sensors Based On Organic-Inorganic Nano-Composition, Ayah Faeik Salim Abu Hani

Theses

Lower power consumption and higher performance are compelling demands in the electronic systems motivating the search for new materials, which are capable of fulfilling these demands. Recently, nanomaterial-based sensor technology has drawn considerable attention towards the development of sensing applications such as H2S gas sensors. Development of H2S gas sensors is crucial due to its extreme toxicity and damaging effects on both health and environment. This thesis aims to develop H2S gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity, flexibility, lower operating temperature, and high selectivity.

The proposed sensors present a contribution to the field of nano-electronics. They are designed based on the …

The Potential Antioxidant And Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Date Seed Powder In Rats, Fatima Theyab Saif Amer Ai Meqbaali

Theses

Chronic diseases are among the main leading causes of mortality and morbidity in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Oxidative stress (defined as an imbalance in the reactive oxygen species production/degradation ratio) in interaction with inflammation, has been highlighted as one major underlying mechanism in the development of these diseases. Due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, polyphenols could prevent the development of chronic diseases. Interestingly, date seeds are particularly rich in such compounds. Nonetheless, an in vivo study aiming at studying and understanding antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of date seeds in serum and various organs is missing. Therefore, the present …

Effect Of Genipin On Cisplatin- Induced Nephrotoxicity, Eglal Orner Mahgoub

Theses

Cisplatin (CSP) is a potent and widely used chemotherapeutic agent. However, clinical efficacy of CSP is compromised due to the elicitation of nephrotoxicity and ototoxicity. In this study, I have investigated the nephroprotective effects of a phytochemical – genipin (GP) isolated from gardenia flower (Gardenia jasminoides), on a murine model of cisplatin-induced nephropathy. CSP-induced renal tissue injury was characterized by elevated levels of serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) and cystatin-C. In addition, levels of kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) were increased in the renal tissues of CSP administered animals. CSP also induced renal oxidative stress, evidenced by increased NADPH …

Technological, Policy, And Organizational Issues In The Response To Biological Emergency Incidents In The Us Food Supply, Kristina J. Owens

Theses

Numerous emergency incidents in U.S. food supply occur each year. Incidents include invasive pests and diseases impacting agriculture crops and foodborne pathogens contaminating meat and poultry. An effective response is not just dependent on the technology that is being used, but also policy and organizational factors. This research is a cross-case analysis of two federal regulatory and emergency response agencies under the U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). This research analyzes how each agency uses technology, policy and organizational factors to responds to their respective emergencies. This study also …

Predictors Of Success In An Associate Nursing Program Utilizing Comprehensive Examination Scores, Deborah Sue Judge

Theses

The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between the scores obtained on the Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) tests and the results of the first attempt on the National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN). A quantitative approach was utilized for this study. The dependent variable for the study was the results of the NLCEX-RN on the first attempt. The independent variables were the ATI adjusted individual total scores that include the medical-surgical, mental health, maternal-newborn, fundamentals, the comprehensive predictor test, and the TEAS exam score.

The Effect Of Acute Supplementation Of Sodium Bicarbonate And Caffeine On Anaerobic Running Performance, Kyle E. Witherbee

Theses

Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and caffeine are two sport supplements that have been widely explored for their possible ergogenic effects during exercise. Few studies have looked at sodium bicarbonate and caffeine supplementation together and no studies have included a running test.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of sodium bicarbonate and caffeine, both independent and synergistically, on a field-based intermittent sprint test.

Methods: Three men and 10 women, of recreational fitness level, completed this research study. On four separate visits, participants consumed a supplement solution in randomized order of 300mg/kg NaHCO3, 5mg/kg caffeine, 300mg/kg …

Identification And Characterization Of The Anticancer Potential Of Indigenous Medicinal Plants Of The Arabian Peninsula, Sameera Omar Mohammed Saeed Balhamar

Theses

Indigenous plant species historically used for their medicinal properties are a tremendous source for bringing newer and safer drugs to the market. A concerted effort is needed to characterize their medicinal potential and identify new molecules that could be exploited in modern medicine. The current study was undertaken to study the anticancer properties of several indigenous plants that are used by the local population of the Arabian Peninsula and beyond for various medicinal purposes. Towards this end, we acquired different plant extracts from five plants, namely Boswellia sacra (BS), Cleome droserifolia (CD), Teucrium muscatensis (TM), Orchadenus arabicus (OA), and Acredocarpus …

Growth Promotion Of Tomato By The Implementation Of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria And Plant Growth Regulators -Producing Bacteria In Calcareous Saline Soil In The United Arab Emirates, Asma Hamad Alsedeeri

Theses

In the present thesis, the ability of different plant growth promoting actinomycetes to promote the growth of tomato plants under saline conditions was examined using phosphorus solubilizing actinomycetes and/or plant growth regulates producing actinomycetes compared to tomato plants grown in soil not amended with any actinomycetes isolates. The overall aim of the present project was to determine whether enhanced phosphorus solubilization, as a result of soil inoculation with either phosphorus-solubilizing actinomycetes and/or with the production of plant growth regulators by plant growth promoting actinomycetes or the combination of both characteristics will results in the promotion of tomato plant growth.

To …

Optimization Of Fuel Consumption For Municipal Solid Waste Collection In Al Ain City, Uae, Elkhalifa Mohamed Zeyada Swar Aldahab

Theses

Collection and transportation of municipal solid waste (MSW) often account for a significant amount of the total budget allocated for waste management. A major portion of that is attributed to fuel consumption. Meanwhile, vehicles involved with waste collection can emit significant levels of atmospheric pollutants. Hence, optimization of waste collection yields both financial and environmental benefits. No work has been done to optimize fuel consumption during MSW collection in Al Ain city. In this study, several cases were developed using ArcGIS Network Analyst tool in order to establish optimum conditions for MSW collection in Um Gafa district in Al Ain …

Robust Algorithms For Unattended Monitoring Of Cardiovascular Health, Nicholas J. Conn

Theses

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Tracking daily changes in one’s cardiovascular health can be critical in diagnosing and managing cardiovascular disease, such as heart failure and hypertension. A toilet seat is the ideal device for monitoring parameters relating to a subject’s cardiac health in his or her home, because it is used consistently and requires no change in daily habit. The present work demonstrates the ability to accurately capture clinically relevant ECG metrics, pulse transit time based blood pressures, and other parameters across subjects and physiological states using a toilet seat-based cardiovascular monitoring …

An Environmental Lifecycle Comparison Of Road Deicers Using Hybrid Modeling Techniques To Capture Effects During Early Processing Stages, Mary Elizabeth Warner

Theses

For decades the United States has relied on application of road deicers for the purpose of winter road maintenance to provide safe transportation for the majority of U.S. commuters in northern states. Road deicers are a necessity but are linked to contamination of surrounding environments, including effects on water systems, vegetation, and soil quality. While sodium chloride is the most common road deicer, a variety of alternatives have been implemented. Each deicer alternative has different deicing abilities and a range of environmental impacts that, thus far, have primarily been compared during their application phase. This research conducts an environmental lifecycle …

A Study On Process, Strength And Microstructure Analysis Of Low Temperature Snbi-Containing Solder Pastes Mixed With Lead-Free Solder Balls, Sakthi Cibi Kannammal Palaniappan

Theses

As the traditional eutectic SnPb solder alloy has been outlawed, the electronic industry has almost completely transitioned to the lead-free solder alloys. The conventional SAC305 solder alloy used in lead-free electronic assembly has a high melting and processing temperature with a typical peak reflow temperature of 245ᵒC which is almost 30ᵒC higher than traditional eutectic SnPb reflow profile. Some of the drawbacks of this high melting and processing temperatures are yield loss due to component warpage which has an impact on solder joint formation like bridging, open defects, head on pillow, and other drawbacks which include circuit board degradation, economic …

Matlab System Simulation: Solar-Dehumidification For Low Volume Water Production In Remote Regions, Daniel Appiah-Mensah

Theses

Modern techniques for water desalination focus on large scale industrial plants. These plants often require a large amount of resources in capital and location for efficient operation. As a result, the worldwide toll on human deaths from poor access to clean water was estimated above 1.7 million. To provide a low cost and resource system for water production, this study aims to test the feasibility of a portable solar dehumidification system to produce enough daily drinking water for four adults (about 4 gallons). The system concept design consists of using a heat chamber (solar still) and polluted water to heat …

The "Rib" Of The South? An Analysis Of Feminine Agency Among Southern Elite Women Of The Antebellum Period (1815-1860), Louann Marie Sabatini

Theses

No abstract provided.

Death With Dignity: The Legislative Wave Of The Future, Justin M. Downey

Theses

The objective of this paper is to determine whether the United States will experience a significant increase in the passage of Death with Dignity legislation. The methods used to predict future legislation was a comparative examination of the history of the legislation politically and socially within the United States. The historical trends of the legislation were compared with global trends as well as current societal factors that may influence legislation. The results will indicate that societal factors such as global influence, social media and the Baby Boom generation will have a dramatic affect in the rapid increase in Death with …

The Transverse Musculocutaneous Gracilis Flap For Breast Reconstruction Educational Illustration Series, Ryan Steenberg

Theses

Advancements in medicine have allowed surgeons a menu of options in post-mastectomy breast reconstruction. A conundrum exists, however, in flap selection when faced with varying patient body types. In the case of the athletic patient who does not have the appropriate amount of donor site tissue to warrant a Transverse Rectus Abdominus Musculocutaneuos Flap (TRAM) the Transverse Musculocutaneous Gracilis Flap (TMG) is an appropriate alternative due to its functional and aesthetic benefits. An intricate and timely process, the TMG procedure can be difficult to understand for the layperson. Therefore, a need for a condensed and standardized description exists. By breaking …

Libdetector: Version Identification Of Libraries In Android Applications, Zhihao Mike Chi

Theses

In the Android ecosystem today, code is often reused by developers in the form of software libraries. This practice not only saves time, but also reduces the complexity of software development. However, like all other software, software libraries are prone to bugs, design flaws, and security vulnerabilities. They too undergo incremental updates to not only add/change features, but also to address their flaws. Unfortunately, the knowledge gap between consumers and maintainers of software libraries presents a barrier to the timely adoption of important library updates.

Therefore we present LibDetector, a tool for identifying the specific version of Java libraries used …

Electronic Cigarette Topography: A Quantitative Validation Study Of The Wireless Personal Use Monitor, Karina Roundtree

Theses

Background: Electronic cigarettes are battery powered nicotine vaporizers built with a heating element that atomizes an e-liquid solution. Studies have been conducted to understand user nicotine exposure however, replicating realistic use patterns, puff topography, is necessary to conduct accurate emissions studies. Previous studies have been conducted in the laboratory environment using the CReSS Micro System however, this instrument has limitations making it impractical to measure natural use behavior. The Wireless Personal Use Monitor (wPUM), developed at RIT can overcome the CReSS limitations to capture usage behavior in the natural environment. The wPUM was deployed in 2015 to measure the usage …

The Opportunity: A 3d Animation About Karma, Mark J. Reisch

Theses

The Opportunity is a three dimensional animation that illustrates the idea that by helping others you can inadvertently help yourself. The story is told using an animated sunflower, bees, tulip, and farmer. In a sunflower garden, a sunflower tries to entice a bee to pollinate it, but a tulip (that is not supposed to be in the sunflower garden) attracts all of the bees. The tulip sees the farmer coming to weed out any unwanted plants. Seeing the fear in the tulip’s eyes, the sunflower helps disguise the tulip. The farmer is tricked and the tulip is saved. With the …

Cohousing In The Flower City: A Carbon Capture Design, Samuel Elliot

Theses

Our climate is changing rapidly due to an excess of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. A major force behind the release of these gases is the means by which we generate our energy — the combustion of fossil fuels. One of the biggest drivers of this energy demand within the United States is our built environment and more pointedly our cold-climate, urban based, residential building stock. All signs indicate that unless steps are taken, this demand will continue to grow. Ed Mazria’s Architecture 2030 Challenge proposes an ambitious plan for achieving carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030. What if …

Rolling Horizon Workforce Schedule To Assign Workers To Tasks In A Learning/Forgetting Environment, Bhanu Krishna Potluri

Theses

The variability in demand across the planning horizon and the presence of heterogeneous workforces where workers learn and forget at different rates make the process of building and managing a workforce challenging. When integrating learning and forgetting functions of workers into workforce scheduling, the previous experience of a worker on a task can have significant impact on productivity. While making assignments over an infinite planning horizon is ideal, the learning/forgetting function significantly increases problem complexity and solution difficulty as the length of planning horizon increases. In this thesis, a multi-period rolling horizon worker-task assignment framework is developed to overcome computational …

Investigating The Role Of Anaerobic Bacteria In Colorectal Carcinoma, Oluwadara Coker

Theses

Colorectal cancer (CRC), with multifactorial influences of genetic, molecular, inflammatory, and environmental factors, is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Due to the high diversity and concentration of microbes found in the human colon, the microbiome has become a prime suspect of being a biological contributor. This prompts the need to investigate the relationship between microorganisms and CRC. Recent studies have shown that Fusobacterium nucleatum, Campylobacter showae, Leptrotrichia buccalis, and Selenomonas sputigena are overrepresented in colon tumors. These anaerobes have known associations to the oral microbiome and cause infections. Here, these findings are further expanded in an experimental attempt to …

Humberto: The Fire Next Time, John David Fournie

Theses

“The Fire Next Time” is the opening section of a novel, Humberto, that tells the story of a group of people working at a biomedical engineering firm in St. Louis. The section follows Charles, a well-respected employee and leader whose marriage is slowly disintegrating. In the first chapter, a larger-than-life employee, the Priest, joins the company. He befriends Charles while working closely with him. The Priest, however, begins an affair with Charles’ wife, Linda. Charles is put in a difficult position: how should he work with a man he both hates and admires? As Charles struggles with this dilemma, a …

Close Your Legs, Dear, Narin Shech

Theses

close your legs, dear examines the notion of an internal gaze, or self-regulation, through the subjective experience of the pursuit of a feminine ideal and the underlying emotional disquietude that accompanies that pursuit. This body of work primarily utilizes self-portraiture through time-based moving images to examine the a-priori fragmentation of the body in the subject. This fragmentation of the body is also a metaphorical fragmentation of the ego, which becomes a host to obsessive, self-observation and self-regulation vis-à-vis the feminine ideal.

Each moving image exhibits varying degrees of subtle motion, primarily gestures that the female subject performs in repetition, which …

Funeral Home Or Ritualistic Edifice? An Assessment Of An Enigmatic Structure At The Late Pre-Hispanic Site Of Panquilma, Central Coast Peru, Alysia Ashley Leon

Theses

Mortuary remains within an archaeological context can illuminate the social and political aspects not only of the individual(s) buried, but also of the living who interred them. Although this is so, a consensus has not been reached in regard to the following questions: how can we determine the social identity of the living that interred the dead? What are the implications of the living-dead interaction, and how do mortuary practices alter social memory in order to fit political needs? This thesis constitutes an initial attempt to answer these questions while examining pre-internment mortuary practices, and associated ideologies regarding the afterlife …

The Effects Of Starter Fertilizer On Soybean Infected With Fusarium Virguliforme Or Rhizoctonia Solani, Jesse Alan Miller

Theses

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF JESSE MILLER, for the Master of Science degree in PLANT, SOIL, and AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS, presented on May 13, 2016 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: THE EFFECTS OF STARTER FERTILIZER ON SOYBEAN INFESTED WITH FUSARIUM VIRULIFORME OR RHIZOCTONIA SOLANI MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Jason Bond Fusarium virguliforme (Aoki), the fungus that causes sudden death syndrome of soybeans (SDS), is prevalent in most of the soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) production regions throughout the United States. Sudden death syndrome management has been limited to cultural practices and host resistance. Rhizoctonia solani (Kühn) is a fungus responsible …

Bayesian Inference With Combined Dynamic And Sparsity Models: Application In 3d Electrophysiological Imaging, Jingjia Xu

Theses

Data-driven inference is widely encountered in various scientific domains to convert the observed measurements into information that cannot be directly observed about a system. Despite the quickly-developing sensor and imaging technologies, in many domains, data collection remains an expensive endeavor due to financial and physical constraints. To overcome the limits in data and to reduce the demand on expensive data collection, it is important to incorporate prior information in order to place the data-driven inference in a domain-relevant context and to improve its accuracy.

Two sources of assumptions have been used successfully in many inverse problem applications. One is the …

Retopologizing Mri And Diffusion Tensor Tractography Datasets For Real-Time Interactivity, R. Scott Riddle

Theses

Current technology allows MRI and other patient data to be translated into voxel-based 3D models for the purpose of visualization. However, these voxel models are extremely complex and are not suitable for rapid real-time manipulation. For true “on-the-fly” interactivity, polygon-based models must be hand-built using other methods and imported into a game engine.This project develops an algorithm to translate complex datasets into optimized models for real-time interactivity without sacrificing accuracy of the original imaging modality. A working prototype, ready for integration into game engines, has been built with brain tumor data exported from OSIRIX1 and 3D Slicer2 via Mudbox3, retopologized …

The Case Of Villa Benfica: Retrofitting A Multifamily Building In A Hot And Humid Climate For Energy Efficiency, Carolina Kuhner Camara Dos Santos

Theses

Buildings and constructions occupy 50% or more of a city's land area and impact the environment with their elevated energy consumption. The current debates involving alternatives to limit the impacts of climate change have informed decision makers, architects, and engineers on design alternatives addressing energy efficiency in new constructions, but the existing building stock requires adaptation. Existing buildings are locked in an inefficient typology. In this context, this work presents energy efficient strategies to retrofit a typical residential building in Recife, Brazil. The study involves the application of three retrofit strategies concerning the building envelope to a baseline building, and …

Bioclimatic Design For Global Projects: The Case Of Maranatha One-Day Church, Cibele Eller Rodrigues

Theses

Bioclimatic design is an effective architectural approach for creating environmentally responsive buildings, improving comfort and quality of life for its users while using fewer resources. However, globalization of construction strategies and standardized systems are often applied to various locations without considering the specificity of each climate and site. Thus, working contrary to bioclimatic premises and reducing the overall building performance. This work analyzes the case of the One-Day Church (ODC) global project from Maranatha Volunteers International (MVI), which consists of building churches around the world using a standard roof and frame kit, and local materials. It proposes design improvements for …