Digital Commons Network^™

An Empirical Analysis Of The Role Of Geography In Sustainability Education, Makayla Jane Bonney

Theses

Many within and outside of the discipline of geography see it as a highly appropriate home for sustainability studies. Despite a history of human-environment education within geography and support from professional research or education organizations, some studies show that geography has not developed a lead role in sustainability education. This study examines the role of geography in offering "Sustainability Focused" courses as reported by AASHE STARS institutions with geography programs. The results show that although geography departments are highly utilized when available at an institution -offering the highest proportion of sustainability courses, averaging 14% of "Sustainability Focused" curriculum- there is …

A Scale To Measure The Complexity And Perceptual-Cognitive Skills In Soccer, Maurici Abraham Lopez Felip

Theses

The complexity of dynamical systems (spanning brain, body and environment) can yield complex adaptive behaviors from non-linear interactions of individuals in space and time. A lack of reliable instruments to assess these varying behaviors results in inferences of how changes in behavior occurred over an extended period of time rather than being based on direct scientific measures. The aim of this study was to develop a scale of complexity and perceptual-cognitive skills' assessment in the sport soccer and to evaluate structural and criterion reliability. Based on the embodied cognition literature, the construct of this scale was identified with three dimensions …

Y-Chromosome Polymorphism In United Arab Emirates, Safa Yaqoub Yousif Alkhayyat Al Hammadi

Theses

Human Y chromosome is a specific male marker and it consists of the largest non-recombining segment in human genome that is the hallmark of Y chromosome population-based studies.This stud establishes an extensive Y poly-morph ism profile of the U A E Population and to our knowledge, this is the largest study carried out in the UAE.

DNA samples were for 1 7 polymorphic STR from 345 unrelated Emirate male. In UAE population, the analysis of the allele frequency clearly shows that each u ha a predominant allele. It is also apparent that alleles for most loci are clustered over a …

Power Generation For A 2d Tethered Wing Model With A Variable Tether Length, Ashwin Chander Ramesh

Theses

Airborne wind energy systems consist of a lifting body and a tether. Several airborne wind energy systems have been created by others, but the most promising consists of a wing which translates through the air in a crosswind motion. Two computational models of a translating wing system were used to study the dynamics and performance of these systems. The rst model that was examined consists of a rigid connecting arm between a rotating base station and a wing. A study of this model showed that one can increase the power production of the system by changing the wing angle relative …

Tiered Based Addressing In Internetwork Routing Protocols For The Future Internet, Yoshihiro Nozaki

Theses

The current Internet has exhibited a remarkable sustenance to evolution and growth; however, it is facing unprecedented challenges and may not be able to continue to sustain this evolution and growth in the future because it is based on design decisions made in the 1970s when the TCP/IP concepts were developed. The research thus has provided incremental solutions to the evolving Internet to address every new vulnerabilities. As a result, the Internet has increased in complexity, which makes it hard to manage, more vulnerable to emerging threats, and more fragile in the face of new requirements.

With a goal towards …

Design And Cryptanalysis Of A Customizable Authenticated Encryption Algorithm, Matthew Joseph Kelly

Theses

It is common knowledge that encryption is a useful tool for providing confidentiality.

Authentication, however, is often overlooked.

Authentication provides data integrity; it helps ensure that any tampering with or corruption of data is detected.

It also provides assurance of message origin.

Authenticated encryption (AE) algorithms provide both confidentiality and integrity / authenticity by processing plaintext and producing both ciphertext and a Message Authentication Code (MAC).

It has been shown too many times throughout history that encryption without authentication is generally insecure.

This has recently culminated in a push for new authenticated encryption algorithms.

There are several authenticated encryption algorithms …

Probabilistic Modeling And Inference For Obfuscated Network Attack Sequences, Haitao Du

Theses

Prevalent computing devices with networking capabilities have become critical network infrastructure for government, industry, academia and every-day life. As their value rises, the motivation driving network attacks on this infrastructure has shifted from the pursuit of notoriety to the pursuit of profit or political gains, leading to network attack on various scales. Facing diverse network attack strategies and overwhelming alters, much work has been devoted to correlate observed malicious events to pre-defined scenarios, attempting to deduce the attack plans based on expert models of how network attacks may transpire.

We started the exploration of characterizing network attacks by investigating how …

Process Development For Single-Crystal Silicon Solar Cells, Mihir H. Bohra

Theses

Solar energy is a viable, rapidly growing and an important renewable alternative to other sources of energy generation because of its abundant supply and low manufacturing cost. Silicon still remains the major contributor for manufacturing solar cells accounting for 80% of the market share. Of this, single-crystal solar cells account for half of the share. Laboratory cells have demonstrated 25% efficiency; however, commercial cells have efficiencies of 16% - 20% resulting from a focus on implementation processes geared to rapid throughput and low cost, thereby reducing the energy pay-back time. An example would be the use of metal pastes which …

A Layer 2 Protocol To Protect The Ip Communication In A Wired Ethernet Network, Reiner Augusto Campillo Terrero

Theses

The IP protocol is the preferred data communication mechanism used nowadays. Data encapsulated using IP can be compromised if it is sent in clear text or without integrity protection, and even using known protocols to protect the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of this data, the EtherType field of the Ethernet frames and the header of the IP packets in a wired Ethernet network still remain exposed opening possibilities for an attacker to gain knowledge of the network, cause a denial of service attack or steal information.

In this thesis, we propose a new protocol that protects the confidentiality, integrity and …

A Novel Method For Extraction Of Neural Response From Cochlear Implant Auditory Evoked Potentials, Daniel Q. Sinkiewicz

Theses

Cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) tests are used to evaluate cochlear implant (CI) patient auditory pathways, but when the CI device processes sound stimuli it produces an electrical artifact which obscures the relevant information in the neural response. Currently there are multiple methods which attempt to extract the neural response from the contaminated CAEP, but there is no gold standard which can quantitatively confirm the effectiveness of these methods. To address this crucial shortcoming, this work employs time-frequency analysis, using the continuous wavelet transform (CWT), to quantify how much artifact energy remains in the neural response recovered by these methods. …

Iterative Methods For The Elasticity Imaging Inverse Problem, Brian C. Winkler

Theses

Cancers of the soft tissue reign among the deadliest diseases throughout the world and effective treatments for such cancers rely on early and accurate detection of tumors within the interior of the body. One such diagnostic tool, known as elasticity imaging or elastography, uses measurements of tissue displacement to reconstruct the variable elasticity between healthy and unhealthy tissue inside the body. This gives rise to a challenging parameter identification inverse problem, that of identifying the Lamé parameter μ in a system of partial differential equations in linear elasticity. Due to the near incompressibility of human tissue, however, common techniques for …

Application Of Visual Imaging Correlation-2d To Strain Measurement, Hui Xu

Theses

The Visual imaging correlation-2D is an innovative software application that can be used for strain measurement of different packaging materials. In recent years, Vic-2D has been increasingly utilized in packaging industry. It is able to break through certain technical limitations of traditional strain testing method and provide a comprehensive strain map that can be suitable for any case of mechanical testing and obtaining the most desired results in the shortest period of time.

In this study, tensile tests are conducted to compare operational performance and functional completeness of conventional mechanical analyzes software, BLUEHILL, with VIC-2D technique. Tensile test is a …

Applications Of Isogeometric Analysis Coupled With Finite Volume Method, Carlos Pantaleón

Theses

In this thesis, a combination of Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) and Finite Volume Method (FVM) on geometries parameterized by Non-Uniform Rational Basis Splines (NURBS) is explored with applications in fluid flow, heat transfer, and shape optimization. An IGA framework supplemented with FVM is created in MATLAB® to solve problems defined over single patch domains with mesh refinement by node insertion. Additionally, a second-order finite difference method is developed using non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates and a numerical Jacobian of the NURBS geometry. The examples include fully developed laminar flow through ducts, potential flow around a tilted ellipse, transient heat conduction, linear advection-diffusion, and …

Increased Persistence Of Wi-Fi Direct Networks For Smartphone-Based Collision Avoidance, Priyanka Angadi

Theses

Inter-vehicular communication is a promising technology to improve road safety. Inter-vehicular communication over a wireless medium can be used to exchange important information such as the speed, location, and headings of a vehicle with nearby vehicles. Using this information, it is possible to calculate if a collision is imminent and warn the driver to take action. Wi-Fi can also be used to share this information, however it requires an access point hardware to facilitate communication. Wi-Fi Direct enabled devices can share information without a hardware access point.

Wi-Fi Direct provides peer to peer communication by employing a software defined access …

Energetics Of An Inertia Coupled And Simple Rimless Wheel, Saloni Motichandra Vardhan

Theses

It has been shown by others that it is theoretically possible for a walking robot to achieve a perfectly efficient gait. The simplest model capable of highly efficient walking motions is the Inertial Coupled Rimless (ICR) Wheel. To examine the dynamics of the ICR wheel, two related studies were done.

To determine the lowest energy cost for the ICR wheel we examined one mechanism of energy loss, non-elastic deformation of the elastic elements. Quasi-static experimental tension tests determined that the minimal energy loss for our system was 8:4x10�4 Joules per cycle. A more realistic, high frequency test, showed that the …

Dynamics Of The Inertia Coupled Rimless Wheel With Frictional Losses And Actuation, Konrad J.H. Ahlin

Theses

The Inertia Coupled Rimless (ICR) wheel is a mechanically simple walking device capable of energy efficient motion. Typically, walking robots that are capable of level ground transport are extremely energy inefficient. To address this performance issue, the ICR wheel was examined while considering real-world frictional losses. The ICR wheel has been previously shown to be capable of collisionless, periodic motion, but until now, the ICR wheel had only been examined as an ideal, theoretical model. The inertia device within the system was tested to determine both the magnitude of energy loss due to damping and a suitable model for its …

Mr. Perfect, Ruosi Han

Theses

This graduate thesis film, Mr. Perfect is a 21-minute feature film. As the progress of economic, science and education in modern society, women's lives are changing. Their become to be more ambitious in career; they started to try different ways of division of work in family; they get higher vision for life, especially for marriage. However, in such a fast-paced, multi-tasked, high-pressure, and high-energy environment, successful businesswomen become very tired and begin to lose themselves in the life of substance and money unconsciously. Under certain situations, a great number of them still remain single to an old age after achieving …

Effect Of Evaporation Momentum Force On A Bubble Under Asymmetric Temperature Conditions, Pruthvik A. Raghupathi

Theses

Boiling has for a long time been regarded as a promising option in a wide range of applications such as electronic cooling, steam generation in boiler or solar concentrators, space applications etc. In order to make boiling a more attractive option for various applications many surface enhancements have been developed to improve the heat transfer performance during boiling. Recent literature indicates that boiling performance can be significantly improved by using evaporation momentum force to control the trajectory of a bubble. This approach merits a detailed investigation into evaporation momentum force, its effect on bubble growth, bubble trajectory and heat transfer. …

Non-­‐Invasive Fault Detection In Axial Flow Blood Pump Used As Ventricular Assistive Device, Rohit Rana

Theses

A Ventricular Assistive Device (VAD) is a mechanical pump used to assist the functioning of a weak heart. A catastrophic obstruction in the VAD system could cost the patient their life. This thesis presents a set of fault detection techniques using the commercially available Jarvik 2000 Flowmaker® VAD in a closed loop circuit that incorporates the ability to alter common causes of VAD congestion. The first goals of this research is to determine the nominal pressure-low performance of the Jarvik pump, which is a graphical presentation of the static head and guides us about the major and minor losses in …

The Treachery Of Imaging, Charlie C. Campbell

Theses

"The Treachery of Imaging" is a conceptual exploration of digital media's translational nature, a recognition of its ubiquity in our visual culture, and its fallibility. This work is an experiment in process; the dissection of a workflow for the purposeful obfuscation and destruction of digital imaging technology in opposition to its commonly held status as a scientifically accurate measurement tool; or as Paul Gsell referred to it, "an unimpeachable mechanical witness."

Through reflection, reference, reiteration, repetition, and the construction of algorithms "Treachery" is a process-oriented body of visual work, a documentation of this process, presentation, and context created in the …

A Generalized Probabilistic Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem, Jonathan Potter

Theses

Friedgut, Kalai, and Nisan have proved that social choice functions can be successfully manipulated by random preference reordering with non- negligible probability. However, their results require two restrictions: the social choice function must be neutral, and the election must have at most 3 alternatives. In this thesis we focus on removing the latter restriction and generalizing the results to elections with any number of candidates. We also provide a survey of related work analyzing and comparing results from a number of authors.

Kosovo’S Verification Procedure For Diplomas Issued By Private Providers Of Higher Education, Mirushe Dalipi Latifaj

Theses

This capstone project addressed the issue of regulation of the verification procedures for diplomas and other documents issued by the Private Providers of Higher Education (PPHEs)[1] in Kosovo. This verification procedure has created a problematic situation. Firstly, in the legal aspect, it violates the applicable 2011 Law on Higher Education[2] which states the principles that “all institutions of higher education are equal before the Law”. “All students and personnel of the institutions of higher education should have equal opportunities without any discrimination”. Secondly, since the Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) evaluates and accredits both public and private institutions of …

Assessment Of Groundwater Recharge From The Dam Of Wadi Al-Jizzi, Sultanate Of Oman, Rashid Said Al-Kindi

Theses

Water is the most precious resource in arid and semi-arid countries including the Sultanate of Oman. In such countries, groundwater is regarded a major source of water. However, the long-term yield of aquifers should be evaluated. Annual recharge of groundwater resources, in such areas, is generally small but groundwater levels may also recover dramatically during wet years.

Due to the increase in population and the associated increase in agricultural and industrial activities groundwater abstraction from the different aquifers in Oman has increased tremendously since the mid-1970s. This over exploitation of the groundwater resources has led to a considerable decline in …

Bacteriophage Therapies As Alternatives To Antibiotics In Chicken Feed In The United Arab Emirates, Wafa Awad Al Shamsi

Theses

No abstract provided.

Hydrogeologic Setting And Characterization Of The Aquifer System In Al Wagan Area, South Al Ain, Uae, Mohamed Ali Khalifa

Theses

AI Wagan area lies to the south of AI Ain City of the eastern region of Abu Dhabi Emirate

along the Sultanate of Oman-United Arab Emirates borders. AI Wagan area is important

for agriculture in the eastern region of Abu Dhabi. Ground water is the primary source of

irTigation in the area. The main source of recharge to the ground-water-flow system of the

entire eastern region of Abu Dhabi Emirate is rainfall on the Oman Mountains. Ground

water flows in an east-west direction because most of the recharge at higher elevations is or

near the Oman Mountains.

The ground-water-flow system …

Development Of A Process For Producing Biodiesel From Microalgae Lipids With Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction And Enzyme-Catalyzed Transesterification, Hanifa Easa Taher Al Belooshi

Theses

Lipids were extracted from microalgae using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2), and used for enzymatic biodiesel production in SC-CO2. The growth of several fresh water and marine strains was tested under aeration with different CO2 enrichments. The highest growth found was for Chlorella sp. grown at 27 oC, 1 % CO2 enrichment and 460 mM NaCl concentration, at which carbon fixation rate was 1.7 g L-1 d-1. The highest enhancement of lipids content by nitrogen starvation was found with Scenedesmus sp., but with a lower growth rate. Two step cultivation of Scenedesmus sp. was carried out in a 5 L internally-illuminated …

Scalable Multi-Document Summarization Using Natural Language Processing, Bhargav Prabhala

Theses

In this age of Internet, Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques are the key sources for providing information required by users. However, with the extensive usage of available data, a secondary level of wrappers that interact with NLP tools have become necessary. These tools must extract a concise summary from the primary data set retrieved. The main reason for using text summarization techniques is to obtain this secondary level of information. Text summarization using NLP techniques is an interesting area of research with various implications for information retrieval.

This report deals with the use of Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) for generic …

Intelligent Combination Of Structural Analysis Algorithms: Application To Mathematical Expression Recognition, Amit Pillay

Theses

Structural analysis is an important step in many document based recognition problem. Structural analysis is performed to associate elements in a document and assign meaning to their association. Handwritten mathematical expression recognition is one such problem

which has been studied and researched for long. Many techniques have been researched to build a system that produce high performance mathematical expression recognition. We have presented a novel method to combine multiple structural recognition algorithms in

which the combined result shows better performance than each individual recognition algorithms. In our experiment we have applied our method to combine multiple mathematical expression recognition parsers …

Object Detection Using Dimensionality Reduction On Image Descriptors, Riti Sharma

Theses

The aim of object detection is to recognize objects in a visual scene. Performing reliable object detection is becoming increasingly important in the fields of computer vision and robotics. Various applications of object detection include video surveillance, traffic monitoring, digital libraries, navigation, human computer interaction, etc. The challenges involved with detecting real world objects include the multitude of colors, textures, sizes, and cluttered or complex backgrounds making objects difficult to detect.

This thesis contributes to the exploration of various dimensionality reduction techniques on descriptors for establishing an object detection system that achieves the best trade-offs between performance and speed. Histogram …

A Comparison Between International And Us Graduate Students’ Attitudes And Experiences Using Massive Open Online Courses (Moocs), Omar Ibrahim Asiri

Theses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have affected the pattern of learning in the last few years. Many studies have been conducted to investigate MOOCs' impact on the educational field. In this study, the researcher will compare international and US graduate students' attitudes and experiences when they use MOOCs as a resource for learning. The study used a mixed-method design to collect the data. Quantitative data was compiled by using 79 responses for an online survey, and qualitative data was gathered by 10 semi-structured interviews. Participants in the study were graduate students at Rochester Institute of Technology. They were divided into …