Digital Commons Network^™

Within The Walls, Nina Ramadan

Theses

Within the Walls looks at the way in which nature is collected and represented within the domestic space. The images employ a quiet and introspective gaze, carefully examining our relationship to these environments. As the home expanded from a simple shelter to escape the elements into a farther removed, more complex and personalized space, we continuously found methods to stay connected to nature. The work explores this connection, as well as the relationship between written and visual language, by using photography and text gleaned from travel postcards.

Analysis And Optimization Of Patient Bed Assignments Within A Hospital Unit While Considering Isolation Requirements, Christina Cignarale

Theses

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are infections acquired by patients admitted in healthcare facilities. These infections can be contagious or even worse, fatal, which has prompted the medical community to put guidelines in place to isolate patients who may pose a risk of spreading or be susceptible to an infection(s). These isolation practices also have the unwanted consequence of constraining the options for inpatient bed assignments since infected patients cannot be assigned to a room where uninfected patients reside. Historically, hospitals in the United States have been built with single and double bedrooms to provide inpatient care. As long as demand …

Advanced Statistical Analysis Of The Pupil Project Program, Erin Marie Brooks

Theses

Objective: Early visual processing integrity is correlated with word reading. In previous reports, duration of fixation when reading sight-words has been established as an early sensory correlate of single word decoding ability. In attempts to model the direct and indirect predictive value between duration of fixation, number of fixations, orthographic processing, phonological processing, and rapid automatized naming (RAN) to word decoding ability, we compared Visagraph duration of fixation and number of fixations data to results of the Processing and Learning Test-Reading and Writing (PAL-RW) and dyslexia screening test (DST) in a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Methods: Seventy-four students with …

Using Multimedia To Promote Environmental Protection, Min-Wan Chiu

Theses

This interactive project allows users to explore what causes and affects environmental problems on Earth using papervision 3D. The purpose of this project is to provide a simple platform for users to be aware of the environmental issues and know how to improve the environment. Moreover, these environmental issues are discussed by scientists and environmental protection agencies. The environmental issues discussed are global warming, acid rain, and air pollution, which impact the quality of human life. Reading helps us learn so much truth that we may not be aware of. The traditional pop-up books give readers a deeper impression of …

Pattern Changing Clothing, Yong Kwon

Theses

People's styles and characters are changed by their environment and their relationship throughout their lifetime. However, the garment that we wear has just one look without accessories because once we wear clothing its appearance doesn't change, even though it is an essential medium to express ourselves. This thesis project's main goal is to make a piece of responsive clothing and to provide users the pleasure of creating their own style. When the clothing is an active medium through interactive communication between a wearer and a garment, it will be a responsive living object for a user. By the use of …

A Better Looking Brain: Image Pre-Processing Approaches For Fmri Data, Siddharth Khullar

Theses

Researchers in the field of functional neuroimaging have faced a long standing problem in pre-processing low spatial resolution data without losing meaningful details within. Commonly, the brain function is recorded by a technique known as echo-planar imaging that represents the measure of blood flow (BOLD signal) through a particular location in the brain as an array of intensity values changing over time. This approach to record a movie of blood flow in the brain is known as fMRI. The neural activity is then studied from the temporal correlation patterns existing within the fMRI time series. However, the resulting images are …

Toward Privacy-Preserving Emergency Access In Ehr Systems With Data Auditing, Muhannad Darnasser

Theses

Widespread adoption of health information sharing is claimed to improve healthcare quality at reduced cost due to the ability for providers to share healthcare information rapidly, reliably, and securely. During emergency access, however, such sharing may affect patient privacy adversely and steps must be taken to ensure privacy is preserved. Australia and the US have taken different approaches toward health information sharing. The Australian approach broadly uses a "push" model where a summary record is extracted from local health records, and pushed into a centralized system accessed by providers. Under the US approach, providers during emergency access generally "pull" health …

Evaluation Of The 2011 Kosovo Population Census [Presentation Given May 15, 2013], Shpend Thaqi

Theses

Registration as a statistical operation, reveals the real situation of the population in a certain time and serves as a base to conduct further demographic assessments by using the data on natural increment and migration balance. A Census is real picture of the territory of a country expressing the real situation over everything that deals with numbers and statistics of a country. In 2011, from the date 1-30th of April, Kosovo realized its first census, family economies and dwellings after 20 years. After the independence of Republic of Kosovo in 2008, the census was considered to have been the most …

A Qualitative Examination Of Recent Public Participation Activities In Association With Ecosystem Management In The Great Lakes, Erin Muench

Theses

Government approaches to the management of the North American Great Lakes have evolved following the introduction of ecosystem management principles in the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. This approach was adopted as a way to address the complexities associated with the interconnections between the air, land, and water in the Great Lakes basin and its more than 30 million inhabitants. Although there is no universally accepted definition of ecosystem management, a key element is stakeholder participation in policy formulation and implementation to validate decisions within the public sphere. In this thesis I assess …

Design For The High School Experience, Richard L. Beckman

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to allow teachers in high schools to have a resource for creative thinking to help aid their classrooms in design based education for their students.

I started this journey with two questions:

`How can I help educate others about the world of design?'

`How can I show other educators outside of the design field that design education is needed now more than ever?'

The first question was answered in part by me enrolling at RIT's Industrial Design Program. At the end of my first year at RIT I was given the opportunity from the …

Integrating Site-Specific Environmental Graphic Design Within An Urban Context, Sanjyot Wagle

Theses

There are opportunities for environmental graphic design solutions that can enable urban residents to grasp information faster, reach destinations sooner and foster memorable experiences. In the daily negotiation of city living there may also be opportunities for educating residents about meaningful community-related topics. Graphic design can play a key role in addressing these goals. Environmental graphic design and wayfinding can help make urban experiences easier and more interesting. Incorporating the strategies of layering and sequencing within environmental graphic design solutions can strengthen the overall design and the particular messages being conveyed. One socially important topic city residents need to be …

Comparison Of Media Selection In The U.S. And Indian Advertising Industries, Yashashree Potdar

Theses

Advertising is necessary to establish a brand and to increase the sale of the products. Media planning is an important phase of any advertising campaign. The purpose of this study was to determine the media types used in the advertising industries in India and in the U.S. Media professionals from five Indian advertising agencies and five U.S advertising agencies were interviewed to find out the media selection in both countries. The identification of media was then followed by the comparison of media selection in India and the U.S. The secondary research was carried out to find out media environment in …

Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing: A Survey Of Consuming Perceptions, Albert Blankley

Theses

INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE

New technology presents difficulties for policy makers in that it is impossible to determine every subsequent impact of a novel technology when it is introduced to society. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing exemplifies this problem while presenting the additional complication of having an impact on both individual and public health. Little research has been done on what consumer perceptions of information presented to them are. Some studies have demonstrated a need for further work and expert consensus has identified issues with advertisements but no research has been

done on consumer perceptions.

METHODOLOGY

A cohort of faculty and staff …

Automated Sleep Classification Using The New Sleep Stage Standards, Elizabeth Fehrmann

Theses

Sleep is fundamental for physical health and good quality of life, and clinicians and researchers have long debated how best to understand it. Manual approaches to sleep classification have been in use for over 40 years, and in 2007, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) published a new sleep scoring manual. Over the years, many attempts have been made to introduce and validate machine learning and automated classification techniques in the sleep research field, with the goals of improving consistency and reliability. This thesis explored and assessed the use of automated classification systems with the updated sleep stage definitions …

Developing Kosovo’S Intergovernmental System For Improving Regional Cooperation / [Presentation Given February 20, 2013], Arta Efendija

Theses

This capstone project addressed the important issues of regional cooperation amongst the countries of South East Europe. The main challenges are assessed for promoting the development of an intergovernmental system for effective coordination and greater cooperation between the regional countries. The project highlights the main difficulties of participation of the Kosovo representatives at the regional meetings. Most of the project survey work report the top three problems are related to political, visa and financial issues. These are the assessments from 30 senior governmental officials across several government ministerial departments. The results from the project suggest that three very important requirements …

Route-Based Transportation Network Design, Lifan Zhang

Theses

Given shipment demand and driving regulations, a consolidation carrier has to make decisions on how to route both shipments and drivers at minimal cost. The traditional way to formulate and solve these problems is through the use of two-step models. This thesis presents a heuristic algorithm to solve an integrated model that can provide superior solutions. The algorithm combines a slope scaling initialization phase and tabu search to find high-quality solutions. The performance of the proposed heuristic is benchmarked against a commercial solver and these results indicate that the proposed method is able to produce better quality solutions for the …

Condition Monitoring Of Reciprocating Compressor Valves Using Analytical And Data-Driven Methodologies, Christopher Guerra

Theses

Condition-based health monitoring systems are a very important addition to machinery to monitor the system and assure it is running at the peak efficiency, to schedule maintenance, and prevent catastrophic failure. Many times these systems are combined with different sensors to predict when service is required for different wear parts and this keeps the machine running optimally. An accurate prediction of health is accomplished by measuring and analyzing different critical parameters and detecting when these parameters deviate from the nominal values. Recently, these systems have started to become more common on industrial compression technology. Typically, reciprocating compressor health monitoring systems …

Android Forensics: Automated Data Collection And Reporting From A Mobile Device, Justin Grover

Theses

As Android smartphones gain popularity, industry and government will face increasing pressure to integrate them into their environments. The implementation of these devices on an enterprise can save on costs and add capabilities previously unavailable; however, the organizations that incorporate this technology must be prepared to mitigate the associated risks. These devices can contain vast amounts of personal and work-related data that can impact internal investigations, including (but not limited to) those of policy violations, intellectual property theft, misuse, embezzlement, sabotage, and espionage. Physical access has been the traditional method for retrieving data useful to these investigations from Android devices, …

Safety Performance Comparison Between Light Rail Transit And Subway, Nehemie Jasmin

Theses

Along with the expansion and addition of guide way transit systems, such as light rail and subway, there came the need to compare the safety performance of each mode. The multimodal transportation systems with many different technologies, operating characteristics and diversified environments made it more difficult to compare their safety.

In order to evaluate the potential for intermodal comparison of safety performance measures, the thesis has focused on the subway and Light Rail Transit (LRT) modes at the national level. Starting with clear definitions of each safety category, the analysis utilizes mostly the National Transit Database (NTD) from recent years …

New Economy : Assessment Of The Institutionalization Of An Emerging Paradigm And Academic Field Through Inquiry Into Prominent Boundary Organizations, Jeanine Cava Rodgers

Theses

It is increasingly acknowledged that in order to reach global and regional sustai nabi l ity goals, economic growth and consumption levels in wealthy developed nations will need to stabilize or reverse. Organizations and projects of a wide variety have emerged and expanded to take on this challenge, and shape the so-called, "new economy". The purpose of this research is to gain a clearer picture of the impacts of efforts to develop a shared new-economy knowledge framework on the broader sustai nabi l ity conversation, and to assess the intellectual institutionalization of same. This thesis focuses in on the influence …

Remnant, Allyson Klopp

Theses

This body of work focuses on the creation of structures by individuals and shedding of identities. I have recreated remnants that portray a significant part of an organism's livelihood and identity. The remaining evidence of identity leaves a footprint of the past telling their story.

The Effect Of Magnesium On Angiogenesis Evaluated Utilizing The Chick Chorioallantoic Membrane Assay, Lauren Ashlee Douglas-Byrd

Theses

Magnesium and magnesium alloys are emerging as possible novel biodegradable materials for medical implants such as cardiovascular stents. Understanding the angiogenic properties of magnesium would increase the level of knowledge regarding the healing process once the material is implanted. The chick chorioallantoic membrane assay is an effective, inexpensive method of assessing magnesium's angiogenic properties. The assay is more informative than an in vitro model, in terms of magnesium degradation environment, and provides similar results of an in vivo model. This model can be used as a preliminary method of assessing results before investing labor and finances into larger in vivo …

Implementing A Dynamic Scaling Of Web Applications In A Virtualized Cloud Computing Environment, Mohammed Aljebreen

Theses

Cloud computing is becoming more essential day by day. The allure of the cloud is the significant value and benefits that people gain from it, such as reduced costs, increased storage, flexibility, and more mobility. Flexibility is one of the major benefits that cloud computing can provide in terms of scaling up and down the infrastructure of a network. Once traffic has increased on one server within the network, a load balancer instance will route incoming requests to a healthy instance, which is less busy and less burdened. When the full complement of instances cannot handle any more requests, past …

Characterization Of Wave Propagation Through Composite Laminates, Chantly Smith

Theses

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) seeks to develop systems for data collection, verification, and analysis to detect the potential for critical damage to occur in engineering structures. Composite panels are engineering structures that are susceptible to damages such as delamination and fiber breakage which greatly reduce the safety and performance of the structure. For composite materials that are widely used in aviation, early detection of such damage is important to prevent failure while the component is in flight. A common SHM method for damage assessment of composites is the Lamb wave propagation technique, whereby waves may be introduced into the composite …

Energy Analysis Of Co2-Based Demand Controlled Ventilation And Economizer For Air Source Heat Pump In Schools, Nihal Al Raees

Theses

This study discusses the application of the CO2-based demand-controlled ventilation (CO2-DCV) strategy along with an economizer for air source heat pumps in schools. An investigation was performed of their impact on annual energy consumption, and the potential savings achieved in different USA locations was determined. The study includes detailed energy analysis on an existing middle school through entire building energy simulation software. The simulation model is first calibrated and checked for accuracy using the actual monthly utility data of the school. Second, this model is used for saving calculations due to the application of an integrated CO2- based DCV and …

Biocompatibility Of Magnesium-Based Biomaterials For Airway Stent Applications, Sara Dolly Tatum

Theses

Tracheomalacia, stenosis and other traumatic airway injuries (e.g., obstructive tracheobronchial tumors) often require airway stenting. Traditional polymeric stents are prone to cause infection, do not ‘grow’ with a child and often require surgical removal. Therefore, resorbable biometallics are ideal materials for tracheal stent devices. Magnesium (Mg) is an attractive material because of its biocompatibility, abundance within the human body, and intrinsic corrosive nature can be overcome via alloying elements. We hypothesize that resorbable magnesium-based materials can be utilized for the development of tracheal stents. The objective of the present study was to determine cytocompatibility of Mg alloys with fully differentiated …

Production Of Canola As A Biofuel Feedstock In The Piedmont Region Of North Carolina, Matthew Rhyan Miller

Theses

Canola in the past and present has been evaluated as a domestic fuel source and a means to stimulate rural economic development. In order to ease the transition of the economy in North Carolina new rotational crops can be looked upon as sources of additional revenue. Canola Brassica napus (L.) production was evaluated for cultivation in a Piedmont soil (Mecklenburg Sandy Clay Loam) at NC A&T State University research farm located in Greensboro, NC (Guilford County). The experiment was conducted using a split plot design with main plot factor cultivar (Virginia and DKW 46-15) and subplot factor fertilizer: (N-P2O5-K2O) in …

Synthesis Of Pcl/Keratin Composite Nanofibers For Nerve Repair Application, Angela Michelle Edwards

Theses

In the past decade, a wide variety of biomaterials comprised of both synthetic and natural polymers have been used to promote restoration of injured peripheral nerves. Despite making advances, none have matched performance of autographs, a gold standard in nerve repair. Mammalian-derived, protein-based conduits have shown good tissue biocompatibility and safe degradation products, but are mechanically fragile. Synthetic materials such as Polycaprolactone (PCL) typically have advantage of suitable mechanical properties and fine degradation rate tunability, but lack cell recognition signaling. Recent studies have shown that keratin promotes nerve cell attachment, differentiation and growth, but alone, it cannot be used as …

The Effectiveness Of Small Scale Photovoltaic (Pv) Systems Design And Cost Analysis Simulation On Saudi Arabian Economy, Faris Abdullah Almansour

Theses

The advantages of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are much more than the disadvantages, RES such as solar, wind energy, biomass, and geothermal, which can be used for generating distributed power but cannot directly replace the existing electric energy grid technologies. The latter are far too well established to abandon, while the new RES technologies are not sufficiently developed to meet the total energy demand. Therefore, it is sensible to gradually infuse RES into existing grids and transform the system over time Saudi Arabia (SA) is a semi-developed nation with a population of over twenty nine million people. It is the …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Boronic Acid Chalcones As Potential Cancer Chemoprevention Drug Candidates, Davia Lauren Mckoy

Theses

Carcinogenesis is the transformation of a normal cell into a cancerous cell. Cancer chemoprevention is the use of natural and synthetic compounds to stop carcinogenesis. These compounds have been labeled chemopreventives and they take advantage of the human body's natural defenses to stop carcinogenesis. Chalcones have demonstrated antibacterial, antifungal, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory properties. In this project, chalcones and their derivatives are synthesized with the goal to be used as possible chemopreventives. We believe that when tested on cancer cell lines, the boronic acid derivative will show greater chemopreventive activity because of the boronic acid's increased bioavailability. We have synthesized and …