Digital Commons Network^™

Medical Grade Displays In Radiation Oncology, Adi Robinson

Theses

In modern day medicine medical images are an integral part of clinical care. They are used in almost every clinical department from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. Medical images are viewed using electronic displays of various sizes, shapes, hardware, and software. Some clinical departments, like diagnostic radiology, require electronic displays with a large dynamic range, high contrast and high resolution. Other departments do not have any requirements and will use any commercially available display in their clinical workflow.

Viewing the same medical image on different electronic displays with different hardware, software or calibration setup could influence how observers perceive and …

Spatial Vs. Graph-Based Formula Retrieval, Robin Avenoso

Theses

Recently math formula search engines have become a useful tool for novice users learning a new topic. While systems exist already with the ability to do formula retrieval, they rely on prefix matching and typed query entries. This can be an obstacle for novice users who are not proficient with languages used to express formulas such as LaTeX, or do not remember the left end of a formula, or wish to match formulas at multiple locations (e.g., using `$\int \quad\quad dx$' as a query). We generalize a one dimensional spatial encoding for word spotting in handwritten document images, the Pyramidal …

Coarse-Grained Model Of Dielectric Geometry-Modified Screened Electrostatic Protein-Protein Interactions, Joshua H. Dickie

Theses

To refine a coarse-grained model of protein interactions, we seek to conveniently represent how dielectric interface geometry and charge placement affect screened aqueous electrostatic interactions. We study two neighboring low dielectric spheres with near-surface charges, for which we solve the linearized Poisson-Boltzmann equation as a function of sphere-sphere separation. The spheres have ~15Å diameters and internal static dielectric coefficients of 3. The solvent’s Debye length is 6Å. These parameters are consistent with our charge-regulation model of bovine γB-Crystallin and with a wealth of previous experimental data for solutions of this protein. For a fixed on- or off-axis charge in the …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Eclipse Narrative In American Philosophy, Noah W. Collins

Theses

Philosophical pragmatism originated in the United States in the late 19th century. Some historians of philosophy have described the history of American pragmatism in terms of an “eclipse narrative”: dominant in the early 20th century, followed by a mid-century decline and, eventually, a late-century resurgence. Defenders of this narrative often point to the influx of European philosophers around WWII, and the rise of “analytic” philosophy, as the main reasons for pragmatism’s initial eclipse. While the eclipse narrative is common in the philosophical literature, it is not without controversy. Unfortunately, the contemporary debate tends to rely on anecdotal evidence and contested …

Dubai Real Estate Investment: A Predictive And Time Series Analysis, Nikhil Krishna

Theses

The capstone aims to provide real estate investors suitable portfolios for investment in Dubai, considering maximum return on investment as per their investment goals. CRISP-DM methodology was used as it is a structured approach for planning a data mining project. The datasets from Dubai Land Department, RERA and Property Finder was used to conduct Exploratory Analysis, Predictive Analysis using Linear Regression, Random Forest Regression, Decision Tree Regression, Gradient Boost Regression and Time Series analysis using Exponential Smoothing, Holt forecasting, Holt Winter Method, ARIMA and SARIMA. To facilitate investors in easily searching for suitable portfolio to invest in based on their …

Modeling The Mechanistic Behavioral Logic Supporting Adherence To Hormone Therapy In Breast Cancer Patients, Gina Kersey

Theses

This project proposed that given a basic model of the decisional logic driving stable adherence it might be possible to reliably anticipate increased vulnerability to discontinuation and use such a mode to design behavioral interventions that are specifically tailored to deliver course corrections that are temporally and contextually optimal. A logistic regression was coded and run using the core model predicted by the experts as a base for how the variables interact to make predictions. Then a logistic regression with stepwise selection was coded and run using the core model as a base for how the variables interact and to …

Combinatorial And Stochastic Approach To Parallelization Of The Kangaroo Method Of Solving The Discrete Logarithm Problem, Joe Klesczewski

Theses

The kangaroo method for the Pollard's rho algorithm provides a powerful way to solve discrete log problems. There exist parameters for it that allow it to be optimized in such a way as to prevent what are known as "useless collisions" in exchange for the limitation that the number of parallel resources used must be both finite and known ahead of time. This thesis puts forward an analysis of the situation and examines the potential acceleration that can be gained through the use of parallel resources beyond those initially utilized by an algorithm so configured.

In brief, the goal in …

Development Of A Low-Cost Eye Screening Tool For Early Detection Of Diabetic Retinopathy Using Deep Neural Network, David Mwanguo Mwasikira

Theses

It has been said that technology used in the lab does not directly transfer to what is done in healthcare. Research on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) has seen tremendous growth over the last couple of years but it is also true not much of that knowledge has been transferred into practice to benefit patients in need. One reason is that it’s a new frontier with untested technologies and one that is evolving too fast. Also, the Real Healthcare situation can be very complicated presenting itself with numerous challenges starting with strict …

Baby, Hexuan Cai

Theses

In this thesis, I discuss human nature by exploring the psychological state of human beings in the first period of life. A baby symbolizes the beginning of a life cycle. Most people have forgotten their state at the beginning of life, the period when human beings have the purest humanity. The baby is like a magnifying glass, completely expressing human nature, and demonstrates many different aspects of the human inner world. Through the baby, the diversity of human personality can be clearly seen, making the baby a suitable object to study human characteristics.

For me, a baby is both a …

Distfold: Distance-Guided Protein Folding, Matthew Bernardini

Theses

Protein structure prediction and its associated key sub-problems such as distance map prediction are of significance importance in biology and bioinformatics. The inter-residue distance prediction problem, or distance prediction in short, is to predict the physical distance between amino acids in a three-dimensional (3D) space, given a protein's one-dimensional sequence information. While there exist many methods to predict distance maps, there are currently no methods that can take those predicted distance maps and build 3D models from them in an ab initio way, i.e., without using any other information. This works aims to fill this gap by: a) developing a …

Development Of Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting System For Low-Frequency Vibrations, Mai Rabie Mahmoud Ismail

Theses

Harvesting energy from vibration sources has attracted the interest of researchers for the past three decades. Researchers have been working on the potential of achieving self-powered MEMS scale devices. Piezoelectric cantilever harvesters have caught the attention in this field because of the excellent combination of high-power density and compact structure. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a novel and optimum piezoelectric harvester system using lumped parameter model (LPM) for given vibration sources. The finite element model (FEM) is used in this work as an original approach to be utilized for optimal design optimization. Three types of validations …

Fabrication Of Chemically-Functionalized 3dprinted Porous Scaffolds For Biomedical Applications, Eiman Hamed Alblooshi

Theses

Hard tissues, such as bone and teeth, are natural composites of collagen nanofibers that are reinforced by inorganic calcium phosphate Nano crystallites, in the form of nanocomposites. The interlocking between these components in hard tissues explains their unique characteristics. Bone is mainly classified into two major types; compact and cancellous depending on the extent of porosity. Fractures in the compact bone can be treated using bone fixation implants, such as rods, screws, and plates, or can be totally replaced by bone implants if complete substitution is required. Cancellous bone, on the other hand, is highly porous and its substitution with …

Theory And Algorithms For Reliable Multimodal Data Analysis, Machine Learning, And Signal Processing, Dimitris G. Chachlakis

Theses

Modern engineering systems collect large volumes of data measurements across diverse sensing modalities. These measurements can naturally be arranged in higher-order arrays of scalars which are commonly referred to as tensors. Tucker decomposition (TD) is a standard method for tensor analysis with applications in diverse fields of science and engineering. Despite its success, TD exhibits severe sensitivity against outliers —i.e., heavily corrupted entries that appear sporadically in modern datasets. We study L1-norm TD (L1-TD), a reformulation of TD that promotes robustness. For 3-way tensors, we show, for the first time, that L1-TD admits an exact solution via combinatorial optimization and …

Controllability And Observability Of Blood Glucose Levels And The Impact Of Covid-19 On Diabetic Patients, Mahra Salem Nasser Abdulla Alblooshi

Theses

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that is characterized by high blood glucose concentrations resulting from insulin deficiency in case of type 1 or insulin inefficiency in case of type 2. While no cure for diabetes exists, the artificial pancreas is a possible way to manage diabetes, especially for type 1 diabetics. Where an artificial pancreas is a closed-loop control system with an integrated mathematical model. This control system imitates the function of a healthy pancreas. The first part of this thesis is concerned with the control system of an artificial pancreas that is based on Bergman’s minimal model of glucose-insulin …

Levels Of Testosterone Esters In Camel Hair, Aysha Khalid Alraeesi

Theses

Doping and steroid use represent a serious threat to animal health and can even lead to their untimely and painful death. However, doping is an acute problem in today's animal racing world, particularly in camel racing. Testosterone and its ten esters (benzoate, valerate, isocaproate, hexahydrobenzoate, decanoate, undecanoate, laurate, enanthate, cypionate, and caproate) are of utmost importance because when they are administered to animals it is difficult to measure them efficiently. The levels of testosterone and its esters in camels and other animals are typically determined using urine and blood tests. The aim of this study was to develop and validate …

Scenario-Based Simulation Of Treatment Processes For Minimization Of Sludge Production From Al-Saad Wastewater Treatment Plant, Omar Gamil Abdelmajeed Hussien

Theses

The biological-activated sludge treatment process is the most widely used approach to treating domestic wastewater. It involves the transformation of soluble and particulate organic matter to gases and large amounts of settleable biomass (produced sludge). This sludge is considered one of the most pressing management challenges since its treatment represents approximately 50 to 60% of the total operational cost of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The traditional management of excess sludge is by disposal in landfills, incineration, or agriculture reuse in the form of fertilizers but due to energy and environmental concerns, many jurisdictions developed strict policies and regulations for …

The Impact Of Digital Games Based Learning (Abacus) On Students’ Performance In Fraction For Fifth Grade Students In Al-Ain, Haneen Mazen Almassri

Theses

ABACUS active learn is an inclusive online site for teachers and students to illustrate and learn Mathematics in the primary level. ABACUS is considered as an online innovation that enables the students to have the ownership of their learning through interactive activities that can be done independently in the classroom or spend their rewards in online learning games. The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of using ABACUS on students’ performance of 5^th grade while studying Fractions. This study designed to be tested in Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. A quasi-experimental design was used to collect …

Sum Of Squares With Q-Series, Gosper’S Q- Trigonometry, An New Identities Via An Extended Bailey Transform, Zina Al Houchan

Theses

This report is concerned about q-series and some of their applications. Firstly, Jacobi’s q-series proof for Legendre’s theorem on sums of four squares will be presented. By way of comparison, the classical approach of this result will be also discussed. Secondly, Gosper’s q-trigonometry will be introduced using Jacobi’s theta functions and the theory of elliptic functions shall be employed to confirm one of Gosper’s conjectures. As an application, a proof for Fermat’s theorem on the sums of squares will be provided. Thirdly, an extended version of Bailey’s transform will be established and as a consequence, a variety of new q-series …

The Q-Gauss Product, Q-Trigonometry Via Landen-Like Identities, And Positive Alternating Q-Series, Sarah Abo Touk

Theses

The object of this report is q-series and their relationship with certain special functions. Firstly, Jackson’s q-analogue of the Euler gamma function is introduced and a q-analogue for a famous formula of Gauss on products of the gamma function will be presented. Secondly, Jacobi’s theta functions will be discussed in details and new Landenlike half argument formulas will be established. As an application, q-trigonometric formulas shall be derived and a new proof for a well-known q-series relation of Jacobi will be given. Thirdly, an extended Bailey transform will be presented and a variety of new q-series will be deduced as …

Thermo Hydraulic Performance Of Polymer Double-Pipe Heat Exchanger For Single-Phase Heating/Cooling Application, Ahmed Mohamed Gafar

Theses

This thesis details the model-based study carried out for understanding the thermal and hydraulic performance of double pipe heat exchangers with and without pin-fins; both counter and parallel flow configurations are considered in the study. The pin-fins are located on the outer wall of the inner pipe thereby extending into the annulus and in this study, the hot fluid is assumed to pass through the annulus. The model consists of multiple governing equations such as continuity equations, Navier-Stokes equations, and energy equations. A fluent module of Ansys Workbench is used for conducting the model-based study. Double pipe heat exchangers constructed …

Modelling And Control Of A Two-Link Rigid-Flexible Manipulator, Rahma Saeed Rasheed Alnajjar

Theses

The literature lacks data on the reliability of 3D models created by Autodesk Inventor software and imported to MATLAB Simulink software in comparison to mathematically generated models. In this contribution, a two-link rigid-flexible manipulator modelled in two different methods was demonstrated, one of which is using Lagrange equations and Finite Element Method to generate a mathematical model of the manipulator, and the other is creating a 3D model with the aid of Autodesk Inventor then import to MATLAB Simulink, both models were subsequently controlled by three types of controllers, conventional PID controller, LQR controller, and LQG controller. The research demonstrated …

Partial Oxidation Of Methane To Synthesis Gas Over Ni/Γ-Al₂O₃ Catalysts: The Effect Of The Structure And The Pre-Treatment Of The Support On The Catalysts’ Performance, Sheikh Tijan Jobe

Theses

Abundant natural gas is a potential source of more cost-effective energy and its effective utilization can significantly reduce the dependence on petroleum oil. Disadvantages of natural gas as a direct fuel include its low energy density by volume, and high cost of transportation, which resulted in its underutilization as an alternative energy source. Therefore, the conversion of methane to more easily-handled and value-added products is becoming a promising route for natural gas utilization. Compared to steam reforming of methane to syngas, which is the most commercially applied conversion process, partial oxidation is a more cost-effective promising route. While noble metals …

Numerical Investigation Of Mesh-Based Enhancement Of Vapor Bubble Condensation, Omar Darwish Ali Alqadi Alhammadi

Theses

The aim of this work is to study the vapor bubble condensation process and the enhancement technique via affecting bubbles dynamic using a mesh-based structure. The bubble dynamics and thermal behavior are studied by considering the heat and mass transfer through the bubble’s interface area between the vapor and liquid regions and the resulting condensation effects. The thermal characteristics of bubbles are observed considering the initial and final liquid temperatures. Additionally, the bubble dynamics are studied in terms of several parameters including the relative velocity of the bubble, bubble deformation, interfacial area, and the bubble diameters. The relation between the …

The Impact Of An Enrichment Program On Uae High School Students’ Creative Problem Solving Skills, Alyazia Sulaiman Alshehhi

Theses

Training human resources to be creative and innovate in the UAE had become a significant matter recently to stay within the stage of progressing towards a more dependable economy rather than oil. Gifted and talented individuals are the country's main resources, and way to progress. This study, therefore, aims to explore the impact of an enrichment program on improving UAE high school gifted students’ creative problem-solving skills. The sample included 78 gifted students from Abu Dhabi government schools. The students were grouped randomly into a control group (27 students), and an experimental group (30 students) who were exposed to a …

The Relationship Among Social Competence, Social Skills, And Academic Achievement For Students With Specific Learning Disability In The Uae, Amna Salem Al Yahyaee

Theses

The objective of this study is fourfold. To examine the relationship between a) parental involvement in their children’s education and social competence, b) parental involvement in their children’s education and their children’s academic achievement, c) parental involvement in their children's social competence and their children’s academic achievement, and d) parental involvement in their children's social competence and their children’s social skills. Thirty parents of children with specific learning disabilities participated in this study. Quantitative analysis was used in this study to answer the research questions. The results of this study revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship between parents’ …

Bending-Torsion Flutter Analysis Of A Viscoelastic Tapered Wing Carrying An Engine And Subjected To A Follower Thrust Force, Youssef Shaaban Abdelfattah Matter

Theses

Flutter, a dynamic divergent instability, is one of the significant phenomena of Aeroelasticity. This dangerous aeroelastic phenomenon can occur to any flexible structure subjected to aerodynamic forces such as aircraft wings, bridges, buildings, etc. It is important to analyze the flutter in order to predict the speed and frequency at which it occurs so that structural damages and failures can be avoided. This thesis is concerned with non-dimensional parametric modeling of the flutter of a viscoelastic tapered wing with an attached engine. The main objectives of this thesis are to determine regions of stability and boundaries of flutter speed and …

Deep Learning Of Scene-Specific Classifier For Pedestrian Detection In Dubai, Abduljalil Alolama

Theses

The performance of a generic pedestrian detector varies based on the data fed to it; when applied to a specific scene, its performance degrades dramatically, which require the detector to be fed with the specific target in mind so that it can produce the desired predictions and detect for the user the specified target. In this paper, I propose to feed the automated specialization of a scene-specific pedestrian detector, with multiple sources from pictures to even videos beginning with a generic video surveillance detector, however manually marking samples to ease the process, as the knowledge accumulated from the master program …

Api Recommendation Using Domain And Source Code Knowledge, Rana Kareem Talib Al-Rubaye

Theses

The process of migration the old retired API(Application Programming Interface) with new and most to up to date one, know as API migration. Developers need to fully understand the documentation for the retired (replaced) library and the new (replacing) library to do the appropriate migration. This manual process is complex, error-prone, and costly for companies. There have been many studies focused on the automation recommendation between different method mapping for different libraries. These studies focused on the recommendations between methods from different programming languages while non of them focused on the recommendations between methods of libraries that belong to the …

Daniel: Towards Automated Bug Discovery By Black Box Test Case Generation & Recommendation, Michael G. Peechatt

Theses

Finding and documenting bugs in software systems is an essential component of the software development process. A bug is defined as a series of steps that produces behavior which differs from the software specification and requirements. Finding steps to produce such behavior requires expert knowledge of the possible operations of the software in development as well as intuition and creativity. This thesis proposes the Directed Action Node Input Execution Language (DANIEL), a language that represents test cases as directed graphs, where each node represents an action, and possible input arguments for each action are represented along the incoming directed edges. …

High Dynamic Range (Hdr) Display Perception, Fu Jiang

Theses

Displays have undergone a huge development in the last several decades. From cathode-ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), to organic light-emitting diode (OLED), even Q-OLED, the new configurations of the display bring more and more functions into industry and daily life. In the recent several years, high dynamic range (HDR) displays become popular. HDR displays usually refer to that the black level of the display is darker and the peak being brighter compared with the standard dynamic range (SDR) display. Traditionally, the peak luminance level can be used as the "white" in characterization and calibration. However, for HDR displays, …