Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of Corrugated Shelf-Ready Packaging (Srp) Appropriate To Colgate Palmolive Products, Emmanuel Boillon

Theses

At the time of this study, each time a customer in Europe requested that Colgate Palmolive (CP) implement a Shelf Ready Packaging (SRP) solution for a product, CP did not have the data and tools necessary to weigh the impact of the request. Since most retail stores in Europe use a high level of SRP, it was important for Colgate Palmolive to master this type of packaging. The challenge of this thesis project was to address this situation by developing a set of practical guidelines for use by CP packaging engineers when developing SRP packaging solutions that met retailers' requirements …

Development Of A Community Sharps Collection Pilot Program For The Town Of Northampton, Massachusetts: A Review Of The Barriers, Carmela (Deb) Laino

Theses

Not provided.

Assisting Small And Medium Enterprises Establish Procedures For Verification, Management Review And Continual Improvement Of Iso 14001, Parimala Anthony

Theses

This study addresses the issue of reaching small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with appropriate means to help them establish procedures for verification, management review and continual improvement in accordance to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard. The relative contribution of SMEs to the total industrial environmental impact is unknown, but it is likely to be considerable, given their contribution to total production and their dominance in sectors such as information technology, electronics, metals, printing, textiles etc. Therefore, the role of SMEs in protecting and improving the environment, through their production and marketing of environmental technologies (for energy efficiency, …

Light Pollution: A Case For Federal Regulation, Timothy Berthaume

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the body of evidence concerning light pollution and exposure to artificial light and determine if the scientific research warrants regulatory oversight in the United States. The first question that guided this effort was: Does improper artificial lighting and exposure to light-at-night constitute a risk to human health and safety? The follow up question being: Is light pollution a concern to ecological systems, and if so to what extent? A comprehensive literature review was conducted to ascertain the status of the research—if any—in these two areas and what the findings were. The overarching …

A Program Of Self-Esteem Development For Deaf Children In Rural Areas, Candi Daviton

Theses

Deaf children in rural areas often lack the development of self-esteem essential to their overall development of social and academic skills. Deaf children in rural communities generally have low interpersonal communication and leadership skills. Being isolated with no role model for their identification (deafness) could limit their language acquisition and identity development. The purpose of this project is to develop a special curriculum project which would help initiate a program that would enable deaf children in rural areas to develop self-esteem skills through a one week summer camp program focusing on learning about themselves and related essential self-esteem skills through …

Multi-Variant Analysis Of Real-World Environmental Variables Affecting Image Fading On Outdoor Synthetic Inkjet Substrates, Elizabeth Kline

Theses

The permanence of large format, outdoor inkjet signs is a concern for many advertisers and companies creating signs that will be displayed for years or months in such an environment. The permanence industry has focused their research on using equipment to simulate these outdoor conditions the prints face to gauge their fading properties. This research took a more direct approach by placing the prints in an actual outdoor environment and tracking the rate of color change (∆Eab), and the environmental variables. A multiple regression analysis of the data was then used to create prediction models and to eliminate environmental variables …

Proteome Analysis Of Pseudomonas Putida Kt2440 Using 2d Gel Electrophoresis And Lc/Esi-Q-Tof Mass Spectrometry, Archana Pandey

Theses

The proteome can be defined as the complete set of global protein expression by an organism at any given time. It is this gene expression rather than genome itself that is responsible for most of the reactions taking place within a cell. Tools such as two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) and mass spectroscopy (MS) are often utilized for the analysis and identification of the proteins that constitute the proteome. This thesis provides a general overview of proteomics and describes the underlying processes, mechanisms and technologies associated with modern proteomic analysis with specific emphasis on the use of electrospray ionization time …

Investigation Of The Band Structures And Optical Properties Of Super Lattices, Sheikha Ahmed Awad Alnaeme

Theses

Group III nitrides are highly attractive materials because of their great potential for the development of optoelectronic devices in short wavelength, semiconductor lasers and optical light-emitters and detectors. GaN, AlN and InN are considered as the most important compounds in this class of materials. In this work, we present a theoretical investigation of the electronic properties (band structure, density of state and contour maps of the charge density distribution) and optical properties (refractive index, absorption and dielectric constants). Also, we investigate the band structures and optical properties of AlN/GaN and InN/GaN super lattices. A full-potential linearized plane-wave (FPLAPW) method is …

Proving Ground, Alison Secrest

Theses

This thesis seeks to explain and explore the work in Proving Ground, the thesis exhibition that accompanies this written thesis. The exhibition consists of an installation titled Proving Ground, a series of photographs titled All New Materials, and a series of small sculpture titled New Evolutions.

The installation Proving Ground is a set of life size animals; a cow, deer, and two smaller creatures that reference Romulus and Remus. The cow and the deer are made out of paper mache and discarded stuffed animals. Romulus and Remus are made out of paper mache and horse hair. …

Avian Seed Dispersers Of The Invasive Rubus Niveus (Rosaceae) In The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Monica C. Soria

Theses

The foraging behavior of bird assemblages at Rubus niveus was determined over two seasons in the agricultural zone of Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos in order to identify effective seed dispersers of the species and understand the factors that aid invasion of fleshy fruited weeds. A total of seven bird species were observed feeding on R. niveus fruits. In both seasons, the small ground finch (Geospiza fuliginosa), the introduced smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani ) and the small tree finch (Camarhynchus parvulus) were the most common visitors. Mean number of seeds removed per visit was higher for …

Assessing Ecological Correlates Of Avian Disease Prevalence In The Galapagos Islands Using Gis And Remote Sensing, Shane Robert Siers

Theses

In recognition of the potential consequences of pathogen introduction to the Galapagos Islands, the Saint Louis Zoo and the University of Missouri¿Saint Louis, in cooperation with the Galapagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Research Station, implemented an avian disease surveillance program in 2001, with the objective of identifying and monitoring for pathogens that pose risk for native bird populations. The purpose of this thesis is identify environmental factors that might influence the geographic distribution of avian pathogen infection, based on two data sets obtained as a result of these surveillance efforts: 1) seroprevalence data on 10 common poultry …

Vehicle & Infrastructure Relationships In Hydrogen Transportation Networks: Development Of The H2vision Modeling Tool, Patrick Meyer

Theses

The political instability of acquiring oversea oil resources, the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the desire for inexpensive energy have recently driven a shift of focus towards hydrogen energy. It has become increasingly evident that there are significant barriers facing the development of a hydrogen-based energy system – a system commonly referred to as the “hydrogen economy”. The small quantities of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that have been deployed to date are not numerous enough to facilitate the growth of a substantial refueling infrastructure. Additionally, the underdeveloped and extremely limited infrastructure has imposed significant convenience costs upon consumers. …

Green Power In Green Spaces: Policy Options To Promote Renewable Energy Use In U.S. National Parks, Erin Green

Theses

The National Park Service (NPS) has a mission of sustainability: to conserve its resources for the enjoyment of future generations. The mission implies the use of sustainable technologies. In order to best make use of sustainable energy technologies, the NPS must have an understanding of the most significant barriers inhibiting such technologies’ use. The purpose of this research is to identify barriers to renewable energy technologies (RETs) at U.S. national parks located in the Pacific West Region (PWR), and to develop recommendations for appropriate policy interventions to address the barriers. A survey of energy managers representing the approximately 50 parks …

An Auditory Classifier Employing A Wavelet Neural Network Implemented In A Digital Design, Jonathan Hughes

Theses

This thesis addresses the problem of classifying audio as either voice or music. The goal was to solve this problem by means of digital logic circuit, capable of performing the classification in real time. Since digital audio is essentially a discrete non-periodic timeseries, it was necessary to extract features from the audio which are suitable for classification. The discrete wavelet transform combined with a feature extraction method was found to produce such features. The task of classifying these features was found to be best performed by an artificial neural network. Collectively known as a wavelet neural network, the digital logic …

Food Habits Of A Re-Introduced River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Population In Western New York- Annual Diet, Temporal And Spatial Variation In Diet And Prey Selection Conclusions, Melissa Skyer

Theses

River otters were re-introduced to Western New York by the Department of Environmental Conservation between 1995 and 2000. The success of this population relies heavily on the availability of suitable prey. Diet was investigated via frequency of prey occurence in scats from 2004-2006. Overall diet was comprised mostly of fish and crayfish. The major fish taxa were Centrarchidae (sunfish), Cyprinidae (carp), and Salmonidae (trout); less common were Esocidae (pike and Castostomidae (sucker). All fish species combined ocurred at 100% frequency during the winter and spring months, but declined during the summer and fall. Sunfish prey were at their highest frequency …

A Wireless Method For Monitoring Medication Compliance, Jeffrey Scott Jonas

Theses

There are many devices on the market to help remind patients to take their pills, but most require observation by a caregiver to assure medication compliance. This project demonstrates three modes to detect pill removal from a pillbox: a switch under the pills, a reflective type photointerrupter and a transmissive "electric eye" photosensor. Each mode exhibited blind spots or other failures to detect pill presence, but by combining modes with complementary characteristics, the accuracy of pill detection is greatly increased.

Two methods of caregiver notification are demonstrated: text messages transmitted via an attached cellular phone, or the status is collected …

Individual Cell Pressure Control In An Air Mattress For The Prevention Of The Pressure Sores, Kapilchandra Anand

Theses

Many kinds of pressure-relieving mattresses have been developed to prevent pressure sores in patients with spinal cord injuries (SCIs) and obesity. Current technology uses alternating air pressure mattress, foam and low pressure mattress for reducing the incidence of pressure sores in SCI and obesity patients. These mattresses do not have control of pressure in individual air chambers. They are open loop system and they do not receive any feedback from the system. They have at the most control of two different pressures. The purpose of this study is to improve the current assistive technology in reducing pressure sores and to …

An Ergonomic Job Analysis Of A Work Process Within A Glovebox, Tamara Mcnair

Theses

Gloveboxes have been used in various industries to protect the user and environment from hazardous materials and/or isolate the materials from environmental contamination. As the use of gloveboxes continues to grow in an effort to reduce contamination and the dependency of personal protective equipment as well as increase the level of safety through containment, technical design specifications have been studied and investigated to great lengths. Unfortunately, ergonomic design criteria for this enclosed and restricting workstation have not been extensively investigated or documented.

This research evaluated ergonomic risk factors associated with the use of a glovebox in a pharmaceutical production facility. …

Effect Of Glove Port Height On Upper Body Stress For Performing Laboratory Work, Jason Mark Williams

Theses

Glove boxes are used in many industries to constrain environmental contamination and protect the worker from harmful or hazardous exposures. This research specifically evaluates the effect of height of the glove box arm ports on the efficiency of task performance and physiological costs of work for the glove box users.

Seven male and two female participants performed liquid mixing and vial filling tasks within a portable glove box. The tasks were designed to simulate common glove box tasks performed in pharmaceutical and laboratory settings. Each participant repeated the designed tasks while the glove port height was set at two different …

In-Vitro Characterization Of Boronized Titanium Alloy By Means Of Corrosion And Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Methods In Simulated Body Fluids, David Anthony Panus

Theses

Titanium and titanium alloys are becoming the backbone of medical implants and prosthetics. Titanium alloys are used because of its high biocompatibility and similarity to bone. However, titanium and titanium alloys have a low wear resistance. Titanium and titanium alloys are susceptible to particle erosion, which can cause inflammation, infection, and even implant rejection. Boronizing titanium alloy improves titanium's wear resistance and also improves corrosion resistance.

The target of this research was to characterize the corrosion characteristics of both unboronized and boronized titanium using both electrochemical corrosion methods and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (ELS) in simulated body fluid. Using electrochemical methods …

Driving Monro Muffler Brake With An It Dashboard, April Miller

Theses

Monro Muffler Brake, Inc started in 1966 when the founder Charles (Chuck) J. August discontinued his franchise affiliation in order to expand the service offered at his muffler shops. A locally owned and managed company, Monro went public in 1991. Monro has grown from 20 locally owned stores in 1977 to over 700 stores located in seventeen states. I made contact with my Monro client, John Appleman, through a professional networking group. We met and discussed two areas of the business that had potential Capstone Project opportunities – an inventory project and the creation of a dashboard for the IT …

How Kosovar Citizens Engage In The Political Process: The Role Of Interest Groups And The Uses Of Technology, Lyndsey Fisher

Theses

This thesis focuses on how Kosovo citizens currently engage themselves in the political process. An engaged civil society is needed to assist Kosovo in its transition toward a final status decision as well as continuing development. As this is a very broad question to address, the focus is on two areas: how do citizens engage themselves through interest groups and how do these interest groups use technology to promote political engagement? Structured interviews with local citizens involved in Kosovo interest groups are the main source of information used in the analysis. Quantitative and qualitative analysis is used to explain Kosovo …

Honoring The Sacred Space Within, Karen Marie Pelc

Theses

Not Included

Matthew Ford's Diet: An Application Of The Diet Problem, Matthew Ford

Theses

Linear Programming has its origins in the 1940's, when complex planning problems needed to be solved to contribute to the wartime operations. The Diet Problem was one of those problems. My project deals with the formulation of my own diet problem tailored to my personal tastes where I minimize the cost of eating for one week while maintaining a healthy diet. I gathered data for different meals as well as nutritional information such as calorie count and number of servings. The formulation was eventually modified to introduce variety into the diet.

10 Second Jimmy, Kevin Mcnulty

Theses

A descriptive narration of a project to create a 3-D computer animated film, "10 Second Jimmy," about an old man whose wife's rejection of him has unforeseen consequences. Includes proposal, original storyboard, color film stills, character sketches, modeling, discarded ideas, inspiration images, and promotional poster.

Location Estimation In A 3d Environment Using Radio Frequency Identification Tags, Adwitiya Akash Jain

Theses

RFID tag location estimation in a 3D environment is investigated. The location of the tag with unknown coordinates can be estimated with certain accuracy. However, accuracy can be improved using the knowledge based on measurement of additional reference tags with known location. This thesis studies the mathematical formulation and practical realization of location sensing using RFID tags.

Deviating from the standard use of RFID technology which employs one tag reader to identify the presence of tag, here multiple tag readers with known location are used to estimate the physical location of an individual tag, with/without the help of few reference …

Smart Home Technology For Aging, Fareedh Meeran

Theses

The majority of the growing population, in the US and the rest of the world requires some degree of formal and or informal care either due to the loss of function or failing health as a result of aging and most of them suffer from chronic disorders. The cost and burden of caring for elders is steadily increasing. This thesis focuses on providing the analysis of the technologies with which a Smart Home is built to improve the quality of life of the elderly. A great deal of emphasis is given to the sensor technologies that are the back bone …

Finding Role Errors Of The Ncit Gene Hierarchy Using The Ncbi, Marc Oren

Theses

Due to the knowledge discovery process of gene information, details such as organism and chromosomal location should be known. Furthermore, the extensive biomedical research in genomics led to discovery of processes and diseases in which a gene plays a role. In the Gene hierarchy of the NCI Thesaurus (NCIT) such knowledge is represented by appropriate roles. However, upon review of the Gene hierarchy of the NCIT, many role errors are found. Realizing that such details are provided by another knowledge repository of NIH, the NCBI gene database, a methodology is presented to use NCBI to discover role errors for the …

Development Of A System To Measure Cardiac Function In The Drosophila Melanogaster Animal Model, Heather Anne Reinhardt

Theses

Previous studies have shown that several genes are evolutionarily conserved from lower organisms to man, where a number of genes have been directly linked to cardiac function and disease. The Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit Fly) has a genome similar to humans and therefore has proven to be an important animal model to study the role of genetics in cardiac function and disease development. Fruit flies are an important basic science model because of the ease with which genes can be manipulated and quickly expressed due to the short lifespan of the fly. Although standard techniques exist to affect the genome of …

Pda Based Ambulatory Pulse Oximeter, Arpita Shah

Theses

The main aim of the research was to develop an ambulatory pulse oximeter which can be used to monitor the SpO₂ heart rate (HR) and plethsymograph (PPG) waveform of a person. To achieve this, an algorithm was developed in LabVIEW 8.0 to extract the HR, SpO₂ and PPG data from a Nonin Xpod device, Nonin Medical, Inc. LabVIEW PDA software was developed to make it compatible with the PDA. LabVIEW software was also developed for sending the data to the PDA via Bluetooth Pulse Oximeter commercialized by Nonin Medical Company.

Using this algorithm, data was collected from three …