Digital Commons Network^™

Stuff: The Abandoned Land An Interactive Sustainable Role-Playing Game, Chien-Ju Peng

Theses

Stuff: The Abandoned Land is an interactive role-playing game web application

designed to help teenagers and young adults understand environmental

destruction and the importance of recycling and reducing waste. We are part

of the production and consumption cycle but we can instead change our

consumptive behavior in order to create a better future. This web application

is designed for teenagers and young adults, ages 15 to 24. By developing

an engaging interactive game application, we intended to focus the target

audience's attention on serious environmental topics.

The story begins with the main character, Kevin, who questions the worth of

life …

An End-To-End License Plate Localization And Recognition System, Siyu Zhu

Theses

An end-to-end license plate recognition (LPR) system is proposed. It is composed of pre-processing, detection, segmentation and character recognition to find and recognize plates from camera based still images. The system utilizes connected component (CC) properties to quickly extract the license plate region. A novel two-stage CC filtering is utilized to address both shape and spatial relationship information to produce high precision and recall values for detection. Floating peak and valleys (FPV) of projection profiles are used to cut the license plates into individual characters. A turning function based method is proposed to recognize each character quickly and accurately. It …

Implementing A Patient Information System In Public Hospitals In Kosovo, Adriana Sejfia

Theses

The conditions in Kosovo’s hospital reflect the need for an urgent solution that leads to an efficient management of the patients. A suitable solution would be implementing a Patient Information System. In line with this, the primary goal of this capstone project was to establish the main functionalities that would enhance the efficiency of hospitals. Another goal was to evaluate Kosovo’s Health Information Strategy, especially the patient-related fields, against the findings of this capstone project and suggest changes that might be needed.

Adding Internet Safety And Financial Education For Children As New Courses In Elementary School Curriculum, Gresa Statovci

Theses

Internet Safety and Financial Education for children are the new necessary courses to be added in the school curriculum given the importance of these two topics in today’s society. Children face detrimental online risks while using the internet and there is lack of proper information provided to them upon cyber security. The same scenario is with Financial Education – children barely have access to any kind of educative materials in regards to finances while they are at school. Considering the necessity of having online and financial knowledge, children should be provided with this information through their teachers in primary schools. …

Matural Exams In Kosovo: An Analysis On 2014 Test Results, Genta Agaj

Theses

The focus of this research project was to address some of the criticisms associated with Kosovo’s standardized tests - Matura Exams. The main goal of the project was to statistically analyze students’ test results using three statistical techniques. This problem was tackled by obtaining the 2014 results for the Municipality of Prishtina.

First, Prishtina’s Matura Exam test results were checked for normality. The results from this test suggested that even though Matura Exam is supposed to have normally-distributed results, it failed to do so. Its implications include students and universities not being able to compare individual results with the population …

The Neoliberal Privatization In Kosovë: A Deconstructed Myth, Edison Jakurti

Theses

This paper describes and analyzes the process of neoliberal privatization in Kosovë, mainly focusing on the privatization of Kosovo Energy Distribution and Supply (KEDS) and the attempt to privatize Post and Telecommunications of Kosovo (PTK). The methodology used to obtain the results includes both primary and secondary data collection. Initially, we examine privatization as a concept and neoliberalism as an ideology that promotes privatization. To contextualize how neoliberal privatization has worked, we look at a brief history of privatization in Kosovë.. We come to the conclusion then that what was promised before privatization was not accomplished once privatization took place, …

Efficiency And Betweenness Centrality Of Graphs And Some Applications, Bryan Ek

Theses

The distance $d_{G}(i,j)$ between any two vertices $i$ and $j$ in a graph $G$ is the minimum number of edges in a path between $i$ and $j$. If there is no path connecting $i$ and $j$, then $d_G(i,j)=infty$. In 2001, Latora and Marchiori introduced the measure of efficiency between vertices in a graph. The efficiency between two vertices $i$ and $j$ is defined to be $in_{i,j}=frac{1}{d_G(i,j)}$ for all $ineq j$. The textit{global efficiency} of a graph is the average efficiency over all $ineq j$. The {it power of a graph} $G^m$ is defined to be $V(G^m)=V(G)$ and $E(G^m)={(u,v)|d_G(u,v)le m}$. In …

Career Development Center Reformation: Enhancing The Employability Of Up Students, Blendrit Elezaj

Theses

Kosovo’s youth is facing immense challenges in finding jobs and be an active part of the labor force. With a more than 60% young population (Kosovo Statistical Agency), it is certainly the country with the youngest population in Europe. Out of the ones already part of the labor force, 55.9% are unemployed (KSA) – a percentage that is increasing annually, with more and more students graduating and entering the labor force. The University of Prishtina, as an institution of higher education and a major channel of Kosovar youth towards the labor force, has a significant role in preparing them to …

Gender And Selection Of Undergraduate Programs: Factors Affecting Career Aspirations Of Females In Prishtina District, Fjolla Kancaniku

Theses

This Honors Project assesses the problem of student carrier development in Kosovo nowadays. It involves assessment of females and the emerging issues and challenges in Prishtine District. The study targeted 120 students from which 60 of them were high school students, 30 males and 30 females, while 60 were University students, 30 males and 30 females, in Prishtina area. The data was analyzed with these numbers.

An Embedded System Supporting Dynamic Partial Reconfiguration Of Hardware Resources For Morphological Image Processing, Gyana Ranjan Sahu

Theses

Processors for high-performance computing applications are generally designed with a focus on high clock rates, parallelism of operations and high communication bandwidth, often at the expense of large power consumption. However, the emphasis of many embedded systems and untethered devices is on minimal hardware requirements and reduced power consumption. With the incessant growth of computational needs for embedded applications, which contradict chip power and area needs, the burden is put on the hardware designers to come up with designs that optimize power and area requirements.

This thesis investigates the efficient design of an embedded system for morphological image processing applications …

Visualeyes 2020: A Software Suite To Integrate Instrumentation To Study The Near Triad Of Vergence, Stephen J. Lestrange

Theses

A complete instrumentation suite has been constructed for use in a randomized clinical trial to be funded from the National Institute of Health and study the underlying potential mechanism(s) of vision therapy. This suite is designed to track rotation of each eye (vergence) as well as measure the lens power of the eye's lens (accommodation). The system is designed to dissect the near triad which is composed of the pupil constriction, vergence and accommodation. The visual targets are programmed to be shown on two sets of computer screens which allowed vergence, accommodation and proximal vergence cues to be presented in …

Rice And Mouse Quantitative Phenotype Prediction In Genome-Wide Association Studies With Support Vector Regression, Abdulrhman Fahad M. Aljouie

Theses

Quantitative phenotypes prediction from genotype data is significant for pathogenesis, crop yields, and immunity tests. The scientific community conducted many studies to find unobserved quantitative phenotype high predictive ability models. Early genome-wide association studies (GWAS) focused on genetic variants that are associated with disease or phenotype, however, these variants manly covers small portion of the whole genetic variance, and therefore, the effectiveness of predictions obtained using this information may possibly be circumscribed [ 1 ].

Instead, this study shows prediction ability from whole genome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) data of 1940 genotyped stoke mouse with - 12k SNPs, and 413 …

Fem Of Electrospinning Compared To Inkjet Printing Model, Maikel Ghaly

Theses

Electrospinning is a process that uses electrostatic forces to produce nanofibers, or fibers in the nano scale. Nanofibers are widely used in many fields like drug delivery and tissue engineering. Nowadays, it is gaining much attention in the research community as an advantageous process. However, there are many parameters that controlnanofiber formation. This research intends to develop a model of electrospinning on the basis of an inkjet printer technique by using a computer aided simulation (COMSOL). Inkjet printing is a technique that delivers small volumes at high repetitions which can betransported by electrostatic forces through the air onto their intended …

Computer Aided Analysis Of Skin Lesions, Sukanya Panja

Theses

Effective screening to detect the skin cancer accurately in the early stage is essential for reducing the mortality of skin cancer. Surface features, such as texture and pigmentation area from the surface, epi-illumination images of the skin lesions have been well correlated to detect skin cancer. An increase in the lesion's subsurface blood volume has been correlated to early diagnosis of malignant melanoma. A method for estimating the optimal features is obtained. The optimal features help in accurately classify the skin lesion in various grades. To make the process faster these optimal features are clustered. The optimal clusters are obtained …

Cancer Risk Prediction With Next Generation Sequencing Data Using Machine Learning, Nihir Patel

Theses

The use of computational biology for next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis is rapidly increasing in genomics research. However, the effectiveness of NGS data to predict disease abundance is yet unclear. This research investigates the problem in the whole exome NGS data of the chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) available at dbGaP. Initially, raw reads from samples are aligned to the human reference genome using burrows wheeler aligner. From the samples, structural variants, namely, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) and Insertion Deletion (INDEL) are identified and are filtered using SAMtools as well as with Genome Analyzer Tool Kit (GATK). Subsequently, the variants are …

Infrared Drying Parameter Optimization, Matthew R. Jackson

Theses

In recent years, much research has been done to explore direct printing methods, such as screen and inkjet printing, as alternatives to the traditional lithographic process. The primary motivation is reduction of the material costs associated with producing common electronic devices. Much of this research has focused on developing inkjet or screen paste formulations that can be printed on a variety of substrates, and which have similar conductivity performance to the materials currently used in the manufacturing of circuit boards and other electronic devices. Very little research has been done to develop a process that would use direct printing methods …

Zero Gravity Dynamics Of Two-Phase Flow In A Circular Cylinder, H. Hallaby Ghazi

Theses

The current study investigates the dynamics of a two phase flow in a circular cylinder under zero gravity conditions. Zero gravity fluid mechanics is applicable in both spaceflight and terrestrial applications. Plug formation obstruct lung passages and is the cause of asthma and pulmonary disease .In spaceflight applications, the helium bubbles occlude fuel lines of hydrazine arc-jet thrusters on satellites which cause operational problems. The process of plug formation is not fully understood. Previous studies have been limited to static solutions in cylinders. The goal of the current study is to investigate the dynamics of two phase flow under zero …

Business Intelligence: Evolution And Future Trends, Dalal Suliman Bataweel

Theses

Business Intelligence systems play a critical role in the business development process. They help make critical decisions based on meaningful information culled from a huge, complicated database system. Business intelligence also plays a key role in business growth and profitability by capturing real-time information and data pieces for market forecasting. As electronics media advance, companies are looking for the best data integration processes to integrate important information through electronic and computer devices to their business intelligence systems. The real challenge that organizations are facing is how to get real information in real time. In the past, organizations have adopted different …

Graphical Database Architecture For Clinical Trials, Aiman G. Baset

Theses

The general area of the research is Health Informatics. The research focuses on creating an innovative and novel solution to manage and analyze clinical trials data. It constructs a Graphical Database Architecture (GDA) for Clinical Trials (CT) using New Technology for Java (Neo4j) as a robust, a scalable and a high-performance database. The purpose of the research project is to develop concepts and techniques based on architecture to accelerate the processing time of clinical data navigation at lower cost. The research design uses a positivist approach to empirical research. The research is significant because it proposes a new approach of …

A Course Module On Application Logic Flaws, Lindsay Simpkins

Theses

Software security is extremely important, and even thoroughly tested code may still have exploitable vulnerabilities. Some of these vulnerabilities are caused by logic flaws. Due to the nature of application or business logic, few automated tools can test for these types of security issues. Therefore, it is important for students to learn how to reduce the number of logic flaws when developing software, and how to test for them manually. A course module with a case study was created to teach students about this topic. Case-based teaching methods are used because it allows students to better apply learned skills to …

Dynamics Of Frequency Swept Sources For Optical Coherence Tomography, Svetlana Slepnava

Theses

This thesis aims to analyse the properties of optical coherence tomography swept sources, using fast real-time intensity and phase characterisation techniques for full electric field reconstruction. In the first part, these techniques are applied to analyse a commercial short cavity laser that exhibits mode hopping, sliding frequency mode locking or chaotic dynamical regime depending on the sweep speed and direction Numerical simulations of time-delayed differential equations display similar features and enable an understanding the underlying physics of the coherence properties of these light sources. In the second part of the thesis, a Fourier Domain Mode Locked (FDML) laser is built …

Bifurcation Analysis Of Mutually Coupled Laser Systems, Vincent Brennan

Theses

Coupled laser systems have application in everyday modern life, including for example, telecommunications and cryptography. Therefore it is important to gain insight into the dynamic processes at work and theoretical modeling can elucidate such processes. The work presented in this thesis is primarily concerned with aspects such as excitability and phase locking in mutually coupled oscillators. Phase-only delay-coupled oscillator models are introduced to demonstrate excitability and it is subsequently shown that similar processes can occur in a low-dimensional variation of these models. Further, delay differential rate equation models also exhibit excitability and these are explored and contrasted with another, similar, …

Suitable Financing: A High-Tech Semiconductor (Photonics) Start-Up Context, Sarkar Mahbub Akhter

Theses

This research investigates the financing options available to a "High-Tech Start-up" when a technical person seeks to start a business from innovations emerging from his or her daily work. In seeking to understand the different factors which might influence the choice of a particular type of financial source, firstly a thorough literature survey has been performed. In the main part of the study, a qualitative research approach was considered to be the most appropriate one and as part of it, a number of interviews with entrepreneurs, CEOs and CTOs have been conducted. Findings from these people with financial experiences are …

Sensitivity Of C-Band Polarimetric Radar-Rain Algorithms To Disdrometer Drop Size Distribution Integration Period, Charanjit S. Pabla

Theses

Rainfall has spatial and temporal variability due to the microphysical properties of precipitation. Radar-rainfall algorithms are typically based on assumed raindrop and radar scattering models which include fitting a mathematical function such as a gamma model with three parameters (N0, mu, lamda) to the drop size distribution (DSD). Disdrometer observations are typically combined into a radar model to produce radar observables that are then used to derive empirical radar-rain algorithms. If radar and disdrometer-derived radar measurements are to be inter-compared, the appropriate spatial and temporal scales should be considered. For example, groundbased radar spatial resolutions are on the order of …

Measurement Of Solid Rocket Propellant Burning Rate Using X-Ray Imaging, Matthew D. Denny

Theses

The burning rate of solid propellants can be difficult to measure for unusual burning surface geometries, but X-ray imaging can be used to measure burning rate. The objectives of this work were to measure the baseline burning rate of an electrically-controlled solid propellant (ESP) formulation with real-time X-ray radiography and to determine the uncertainty of the measurements. Two edge detection algorithms were written to track the burning surface in X-ray videos. The edge detection algorithms were informed by intensity profiles of simulated 2-D X-ray images. With a 95% confidence level, the burning rates measured by the Projected-Slope Intersection algorithm in …

The Development Of A Near-Real Time Hail Damage Swath Identification Algorithm For Vegetation, Jordan R. Bell

Theses

The central United States is primarily covered in agricultural lands with a growing season that peaks during the same time as the region's climatological maximum for severe weather. These severe thunderstorms can bring large hail that can cause extensive areas of crop damage, which can be difficult to survey from the ground. Satellite remote sensing can help with the identification of these damaged areas. This study examined three techniques for identifying damage using satellite imagery that could be used in the development of a near-real time algorithm formulated for the detection of damage to agriculture caused by hail. The three …

A Comparative Study Of Sliding Mode Control Algorithms Implemented On A 2-Dof Planar Robot, Micah Harvey

Theses

This paper examined seven controllers including PID type and sliding mode controllers (SMC) with chattering attenuation and their development and implementation on a Quanser 2-DOF planar robot system. A Simulink model of the robot was created by deriving the robotic system kinematics and dynamics. Controller performance was characterized in terms of accuracy, energy use, and disturbance handling. Hardware trials directed the robot to sketch a predetermined image using the controllers. Simulator trials validated the results then explored behavior with and without a disturbance signal. The SMCs proved to have similar or better accuracy than the PD and PID controllers while …

Conversion Of Neural Network Models To State-Space Models For Model-Based Control Design, Sai Susheel Praneeth Kode

Theses

The objective of this research is to implement an artificial neural network into a closed-loop model based control law that requires a state space model. Model based control laws are strongly preferred due to the existence of mathematical proofs for their performance. With mathematical proof of performance, the controller is guaranteed to work correctly within a designed domain of operation. However, deriving physics based mathematical models and accurately identifying the parameters of such models are cumbersome, or sometimes impossible, for complex nonlinear systems. This limits the application domain of model based controllers. Neural networks are a great tool for modeling …

Risk Processing, Affect, And Efficacy In Online Privacy Behavior, Michael Shreeves

Theses

Cybersecurity research has indicated that people use simple heuristics to assess online privacy risk. Online warnings typically operate by encouraging systematic risk processing. A review of the literature on risk perception suggested that negative emotional affect produced by risk descriptions can both increase systematic processing and independently increase perceived risk. A review of fear appeals in health behavior research suggested that risk communications that produce fear will be rejected if an effective behavioral response recommendation is not provided. This study investigated the (a) impact of emotional vividness in warning descriptions and (b) response information presence on disclosure of a single …

The Effect Of De-Privatisation Of The Mathematics Classroom On The Teacher, Jennifer Chu

Theses

To improve teacher quality and student outcomes, teachers involved in the Reading and Mathematics Project (RAMP) in Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney have been required to de-privatise their classrooms so that teaching and learning can be observed by, and studied with, other educational colleagues within their own school. This study sought to ascertain how this approach to professional learning has impacted teachers, from their perspective, in the context of primary mathematics education. Teachers were able to voice the conditions under which de-privatisation would be most conducive to their learning and to improvements in the teaching of mathematics across …