Digital Commons Network^™

Integrated Cardiac Electromechanics: Modeling And Personalization, Hongda Mao

Theses

Cardiac disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. A variety of heart diagnosis techniques have been developed during the last century, and generally fall into two groups. The first group evaluates the electrical function of the heart using electrophysiological data such as electrocardiogram (ECG), while the second group aims to assess the mechanical function of the heart through medical imaging data. Nevertheless, the heart is an integrated electromechanical organ, where its cyclic pumping arises from the synergy of its electrical and mechanical function which requires first to be electrically excited in order to contract. At …

Bipartite Ramsey Numbers And Zarankiewicz Numbers, Alex F. Collins

Theses

The bipartite Ramsey number b(m, n) is the minimum b such that any 2-coloring of Kb,b results in a monochromatic Km,m subgraph in the first color or a monochromatic Kn,n subgraph in the second color. The Zarankiewicz number z(m, n; s, t) is the maximum size among Ks,t-free subgraphs of Km,n. In this work, we discuss the intimate relationship between the two numbers as well as propose a new method for bounding the Zarankiewicz numbers. We use the better bounds to improve the upper bound on b(2, 5), in addition we improve the lower bound of b(2, 5) by construction. …

Accelerated Successive Approximation Technique For Analog To Digital Converter Design, Ram Harshvardhan Radhakrishnan

Theses

This thesis work presents a novel technique to reduce the number of conversion cycles for Successive Approximation register (SAR) Analog to Digital Converters (ADC), thereby potentially improving the conversion speed as well as reducing its power consumption. Conventional SAR ADCs employ the binary search algorithm and they update only one bound, either the upper or lower bound, of the search space during one conversion cycle. The proposed method, referred to as the Accelerated-SAR or A-SAR, is capable of updating both the lower and upper bounds in a single conversion cycle. Even in cases that it can update only one bound, …

A Non-Destructive Crossbar Architecture Of Multi-Level Memory-Based Resistor, Seyedmorteza Sahebkarkhorasani

Theses

Nowadays, researchers are trying to shrink the memory cell in order to increase the capacity of the memory system and reduce the hardware costs. In recent years, there has been a revolution in electronics by using fundamentals of physics to build a new memory for computer application in order to increase the capacity and decrease the power consumption. Increasing the capacity of the memory causes a growth in the chip area. From 1971 to 2012 semiconductor manufacturing process improved from 6µm to 22 µm. In May 2008, S.Williams stated that "it is time to stop shrinking". In his paper, he …

Tolerance Equivalency Between Δe*Ab And Δe00 Metrics, Lufei Yu

Theses

In order to be competitive and to meet global brand’s printing requirements, conventional printing is increasingly moving toward standardization. The principal international standard for offset printing is defined ISO 12647-2. The latest revision of ISO 12647-2 (2013) includes ∆E00 as the tolerance metric for deviation assessment, as the traditionally utilized ∆E*ab lacks visual uniformity. However, the tolerance value for ∆E00 from ISO 12647-2 (2013) is informative only. In addition, there is no justification given for how the published ∆E00 values were derived.

This research devised a method that uses the %Pass approach in a database to determine the equivalent tolerances …

Experimental Comparison Of Parametric Characterization Methods For Thermoelectric Generators, Reginald D. Pierce

Theses

Thermoelectric generator modules are solid-state semiconductor devices that convert heat directly to electricity. Because thermoelectric generators are small and free of moving parts, they are well suited to recovering waste heat from various processes, such as automotive exhaust, increasing the overall energy efficiency of the process. Waste heat recovery is becoming increasingly important as the global energy demand continues to rise. Recently, large improvements in thermoelectric materials have been realized as a consequence of better nanoscale materials science which show great promise, but accurate device-level characterization is needed in order to optimize device design. To date, a handful of different …

Don’T Train In Vain: An Enterprise Information System Implementation Training Strategy, Luke Auburn

Theses

Universities often rely on complex information systems to manage student data. When higher education institutions implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to replace legacy systems, they may introduce new processes, concepts, and terminology to the students, faculty, and staff who are the system’s end users. A well-executed training plan can foster end-user adoption and increase an implementation’s chance of success. This thesis project provides a blueprint for incorporating a training plan that best fits the needs of end users into an overall system implementation project plan. To effectively train end users, the training team must identify skill gaps, ascertain the …

Some Multicolor Ramsey Numbers Involving Cycles, David E. Narvaez

Theses

Establishing the values of Ramsey numbers is, in general, a difficult task from the computational point of view. Over the years, researchers have developed methods to tackle this problem exhaustively in ways that require intensive computations. These methods are often backed by theoretical results that allow us to cut the search space down to a size that is within the limits of current computing capacity.

This thesis focuses on developing algorithms and applying them to generate Ramsey colorings avoiding cycles. It adds to a recent trend of interest in this particular area of finite Ramsey theory. Our main contributions are …

A Model-Free Control Algorithm Derived Using The Sliding Model Control Method, Arielle Mizov

Theses

In this work, a model-free sliding mode control scheme is derived and applied to linear and nonlinear systems that is solely based on observable measurements and therefore does not require a theoretical system model in developing the controller form. The general sliding mode controller form is derived for an nth-order system and is strictly limited to a single-input unit input influence gain case for this work. The controller form is based solely on system measurements assuming the order of the system is known. The switching gain form is developed so that stability of the closed-loop sliding mode controller system is …

Investigating The Effect Of Color Gamut Mapping Quantitatively And Visually, Anupam Dhopade

Theses

With the advent of various color management standards and tools, the print media industry has seen many advancements aimed towards quantitatively and qualitatively acceptable color reproduction. This research attempts to test one of the most fundamental and integral parts of a standard color management workflow, the profile. The gamut mapping techniques implemented by the ICC profiles created using different profiling application programs were tested for their congruity to the theoretical concepts, standards, and definitions documented by International Color Consortium (ICC). Once these profiling software applications were examined, the significance of the possible discrepancies were tested by establishing a visual assessment …

The Shape Of Poetry: A Typographic Exploration Of Poetry And Synesthesia, Boliang Chen

Theses

The Shape of Poetry is a thesis which explores the relationships of synesthesia, typography and poetry.

Synesthesia is a neurologically-based condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. This phenomenon is common in poetry as a rhetorical device. In graphic design, we uses typography and other visual elements to make cross-sensory metaphors as well. The similarity among these three provides a new field of research possibilities.

The goal of the thesis is to visualize poetry by exploring typographic variations and implementing synesthesia findings. The final result …

A Model-Based Design Framework For Application-Specific Heterogeneous Systems, Samuel Skalicky

Theses

The increasing heterogeneity of computing systems enables higher performance and power efficiency. However, these improvements come at the cost of increasing the overall complexity of designing such systems. These complexities include constructing implementations for various types of processors, setting up and configuring communication protocols, and efficiently scheduling the computational work. The process for developing such systems is iterative and time consuming, with no well-defined performance goal. Current performance estimation approaches use source code implementations that require experienced developers and time to produce.

We present a framework to aid in the design of heterogeneous systems and the performance tuning of applications. …

Coeffects Of Experience And Professional Interest On Slps' Assessment Of Chronic Aphasia: A Correlational Survey Study, Alivia Rachelle Berry

Theses

Abstract Background: Aphasia is a commonly treated language disorder; however there is discrepancy among professionals regarding classification and assessment practices (Code & Petheram, 2011; McNeil & Pratt, 2001). Current research focuses heavily on acute treatment; chronic aphasia is severely under-represented. A review of the literature revealed a wide array of standardized and non-standardized tests used to evaluate both acute and chronic aphasia cases. Overall, there appears to be variance in evaluation practices, especially among SLPs (Bland et al., 2013). Aims: The present study aims to quantify two variables that may account for this inconsistency in evaluation procedures: 1) years of …

A Family Of Circles In A Window, Ethan Taylor Lightfoot

Theses

For Ford Circles on the real line, [0; 1], G.T. Williams and D.H. Browne discovered that this arrangement of infinite circles has an area-sum \pi+\pi\frac{\zeta(3)}{\zeta(4)}, where \zeta(s) is the Riemann-Zeta function from complex analysis and number theory. The purpose of this paper is to explore their findings in detail and provide alternative methods to prove the statements found in the paper. Then we will attempt to show similar results on the Apollonian Window packing using inversion through circles and the results of Williams and Browne.

Formal Specification And Refinement Of The Navigation Tasks Of Autonomous Robots, Eman Rabiah

Theses

Autonomous robots are hybrid systems whose role in our daily life is becoming increasingly critical. They are tasked with various activities requiring reliability, safety, and correctness of their software-controlled behavior. Formal methods have been proved effective in addressing development issues associated with these software qualities. However, even though autonomous robot navigation is a primordial function, there is no research dealing with enhancing reliability of the navigation algorithms. Thus, our focus is to investigate this type of algorithms, and specifically path planning, a fundamental and critical functionality supporting autonomy. We formally address the issue of enhancing reliability of the widely-used A* …

Adsorption Of Dyes On Activated Carbon From Agricultural Wastes, Maliha Parvin

Theses

Adsorption of dyes as a remediation technique for dye-loaded wastewater remains an area of interest. On the one hand, adsorption using bio-derived, renewable sorbent materials can be seen as environmentally friendly, on the other hand adsorption can provide us with a trouble-free, commercially cheap operation. The main objective of this thesis is adsorption of the dyes Crystal Violet (CV) and Nile Blue (NB) on activated carbon derived from date palm leaf wastes. For this purpose, activated carbon was prepared via chemical treatment of palm leaf wastes with sulfuric acid (H2SO4), phosphoric acid (H3PO4), and nitric acid (HNO3), respectively, with subsequent …

Aluminum Nitride Contour Mode Resonators, Joshua Robert Melnick

Theses

Resonators are a major component in RF electronic products. They are used in a host of ways to filter radio signals. Modern and Future RF communications have placed high demands on the industry; requiring low power usage, wide array of applications and resistance to noise.

In this thesis, a discussion of the motivation for RF MEMS filters and basic theory is given with an explanation of the concepts of Q factor, piezoelectricity, acoustics theory, the major types of resonators (SAW, BAW, CMR or LAMB), apodization theory and techniques as well as design, simulation of CMR and BAW devices, testing and …

Topic Uncovering And Image Annotation Via Scalable Probit Normal Correlated Topic Models, Xingchen Yu

Theses

Topic uncovering of the latent topics have become an active research area for more than a decade and continuous to receive contributions from all disciplines including computer science, information science and statistics. Since the introduction of Latent Dirichlet Allocation in 2003, many intriguing extension models have been proposed. One such extension model is the logistic normal correlated topic model, which not only uncovers hidden topic of a document, but also extract a meaningful topical relationship among a large number of topics. In this model, the Logistic normal distribution was adapted via the transformation of multivariate Gaussian variables to model the …

Analysis Of Cycle 2 Science Textbooks Representation Of Scientific Literacy And Readability Level, Aisha Abdulla Salem Al Qaydi Al Qaydi

Theses

For over half a century, textbooks have played a decisive role in teaching and learning activities. In today’s classrooms, textbooks serve as primary teaching instruments and greatly influence how knowledge is delivered and communicated. With the development of the society, a majority of teachers use textbooks to guide their instruction. On the other hand, readability of textbooks is an important construct for both educators and textbook authors. Finding the right fit between the students’ reading ability and the text difficulty is an important and challenging task for teachers. This study is about how scientific content is presented and represented in …

Studies Of The Preparation Of Pi-Extended Anthracenes And Their Reactivity With An Emphasis On Their Photoreactivity, Hasnaa Abdelkareem Sadeq

Theses

Both 9,10-diaryl and 9,10-diarylethenyl substituted Anthracenes have recently been forwarded as light-regulated semiconducting materials, as well as potential constituent molecules in light-harvesting devices for the organic solar cell applications. So, it is of importance to understand whether such 9,10-substituted Anthracenes are stable under photo-irradiation for a long time, and what type of reactions they could undergo. In the present thesis, photochemistry of 9-anthranylacrylates and 9-aroylethenylanthracenes has been investigated. Anthranylacrylates and 9-aroylethenylanthracenes have been prepared by Wittig-olefination reaction from 9-anthranylcarbaldehyde. Bromination of these molecules was found to give an access to 10-aryl-9-aroylethenylanthracenes after Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions. While 9-ethenyl-substituted Anthracenes in principle …

Applications Of Pure And Recycled Polymeric Micronanofiber For The Removal Of Oil Spills, Afra Gharib Khamis Al-Blooshi Al-Blooshi

Theses

Cleaning oil spills is a universal concern due to its environmental impact. The aim of this study is to study the effectiveness and applications of pure and recycled polymers in clean-up and the recovery of crude oil from oil spills. In this study, micro-nanofibers of analytical-grade and commercial polystyrene samples were prepared by electrospinning technique. Fiber size distribution was shown to vary with the electrospinning parameters and type of polymer. Fibrous sorbents prepare hereafter were investigated for their efficiency in removing oil spills. Results showed a variation in the sorption capacities of the fibers to various types of crude oils …

Pricing European Option Under A Modified Cev Model, Wafaa Ibrahim Abuzarqa

Theses

A financial derivative is an instrument whose payoff is derived from the behavior of another underlying asset. One of the most commonly used derivatives is the option which gives the right to buy or to sell an underlying asset at a pre-specified price at (European) or at and before (American) an expiration date. Finding a fair price of the option is called the option pricing problem and it depends on the underlying asset prices during the period from the initial time to expiration date. Thus, a “good” model for the underlying asset price trajectory is needed. In this work, we …

An Efficient Method For Solving Singularly Perturbed Two Points Fractional Boundary-Value Problems, Suha Atallah Abdelhadi

Theses

In this thesis, we present numerical method for approximating the solutions of singularly perturbed two points boundary value problems in both cases: ordinary derivatives and fractional derivatives. We use the Caputo derivation for the fractional case. The method starts with solving the reduced problem then the boundary layer correction problem. A series method; namely, the Adomian decomposition method is used to solve the boundary layer correction problem, and then the series solution is approximated by the , - Pade’ approximation of order. Numerical and theoretical results are presented to show the efficiency of the method. Singularly perturbed problems arise frequently …

An Evaluation Of The School-Based Management Practices In The New School Model: A Study On Al Ain Schools, Shaikha Ali Abdulla Al Kaabi

Theses

In 2005, the government of Abu Dhabi started a reform initiative by establishing the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC). ADEC became responsible for efforts to improve the performance of schools and increase students’ achievement in the emirate. One way to do this was by creating the New School Model (NSM). Part of the NSM reform was a shift from the centralized system of managing the schools into a decentralized system that delegates and sometimes devolves decision-making authority to schools themselves. The purpose of this study is to investigate the degree to which School-Based Management (SBM) has been practiced in the …

The Groups Acting On The Riemann Sphere, Ruba Yousef Wadi

Theses

In this Master thesis we consider the group actions, with emphasis on the group of general Möbius transformations of one complex valuable acting on the Riemann sphere. We study some invariant subspaces of Riemann sphere under the actions of natural groups of transformations, including the invariant quantities in Hyperbolic Geometry that is a beautiful area of Mathematics. We use analytic and algebraic points of view to describe some group actions on Riemann sphere; in particular, we present the relationships between isometries of hyperbolic plane, Möbius transformations, and groups of matrices. Keywords: Group actions, Riemann sphere, general Möbius transformations, transitivity, hyperbolic

Control Of Radiation Exposure To Paediatric Patients At Conventional Radiology And Cardiac Centers At Dubai Hospital, Najlaa Khalfan Saeed Almazrouei

Theses

In view of increasing the number of x-ray examinations over the years, paediatric radiation safety is considered as one of the critical subjects in the modern medical imaging. Paediatric patients are at higher risk from ionizing radiation than adults if they receive same amount of dose. This project was conducted to evaluate paediatric patient radiation dose levels in digital radiology (both fixed and mobile x-ray units) and interventional cardiology at Dubai Hospital. The results of this study are expected to contribute in establishing local and national diagnostic reference levels in United Arab Emirates (UAE). A combination of phantom studies and …

Mathematical Modeling Of Communicable Imported Diseases Screening In The United Arab Emirates, Lahbib Ben Ahmadi

Theses

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), as one of the countries with high numbers of expatriates in the world, is expected to face public health challenges. The reason for this situation is that the majority of those expatriates belong to regions where health issues are usually left behind. This may create the possibility of having imported communicable diseases. However, screening policy should be tested and adapted to protect the population from any imported communicable disease. This study aims at identifying an approach and method to deal with these imported diseases via a set of differential equations. The spread of a communicable …

On The Geometry Of Fuchsian Groups, Hala Alaqad

Theses

In this Master thesis we consider the discrete groups with emphasis on the geometry of discrete groups, which lie at the intersection between Hyperbolic Geometry, Topology, Abstract Algebra, and Complex Analysis. Fuchsian groups are discrete subgroups of the group PSL(2,ℝ) of linear fractional transformations of one complex variable, which is isomorphic to a quotient topological group: PSL(2,ℝ)≅SL(2,ℝ)/{±I}. Here SL (2,ℝ) is special linear group and I is the identity. We study discrete groups, in particular, Fuchsian groups. We present the geometric properties of Fuchsian groups such as fundamental domains, compactness, and Dilichlet tessellations. In addition, we also present some algebraic …

Quaternary Affine-Invariant Codes, Badria H Omar Salih

Theses

This thesis concerned with extended cyclic codes. The objective of this thesis is to give a full description of binary and quaternary affine-invariant codes of small dimensions. Extended cyclic codes are studied using group ring methods. Affine-invariant codes are described by their defining sets. Results are presented by enumeration of defining sets. Full description of affine-invariant codes is given for small dimensions

Principals' Instructional Leadership Practices And Their Relationship To Teachers' Instructional Practices In Sharjah Schools, Hayat Mohamed Al Hosani

Theses

Instructional leadership has become one of the most widely researched topics. This type of leadership has been connected to teacher growth and development, teacher job satisfaction, student achievement, and improving school climate in general. This study focuses on instructional leadership in schools of Sharjah Education Zone. Specifically, the study aims to describe the principal instructional leadership practices, to identify the most and least important teachers' instructional practices, and to investigate whether there is a relationship between the principals' instructional practices and teachers' teaching practices. This study is quantitative in nature and therefore a questionnaire was used to collect data from …