Digital Commons Network^™

A Competitive Gaussian Model And Linear Regression Technique For Modeling Mst Neuron Receptive Field Responses For Primate Perception Of Self-Motion, Jeffrey Robble

Theses

This thesis presents a linear regression technique applied to non-linear features extracted from a scaled Gaussian mixture model (SGMM) to describe the receptive field (RF) behavior of neurons in the Medial Superior Temporal region of the brain of Rhesus monkeys which viewed visual stimuli on a projector screen. The stimuli consist of simple and complex combinations of planar, circular, and radial motion and neuron responses were recorded in spikes/second. It is our goal to understand the neuronal responses of the primates to these stimuli and to create a model capable of predicting how the RFs in the primates' neurons respond …

Addressing The Gender Gap: Teaching Preadolescent Girls Computer Networking Concepts, Cynthia Strong

Theses

Due to the decline in the number of professional women entering labor markets in the area of computing and technology, there is a need for intervention. Focus should be given to improving these numbers by creating an early interest in women in computing and technology. This thesis focuses on developing educational modules that will create interest in networking concepts in preadolescent girls. Educational best practices, fundamentals of how people learn, assessments of pedagogy effectiveness, observations, and personal experiences frame the modules. Research such as this in the area of creating early interest will help address the issue of equal opportunity …

A Two Degrees-Of-Freedom (Dof) Scanning Micromirror Using Thermocapillary Effect In Microdroplets, Rakesh Dhull

Theses

This thesis research proposes a novel and simple means of tilting micromirror on a microdroplet by utilizing thermocapillary actuated droplet deformation. Device theory, device design, fabrication, packaging, testing and results are discussed to demonstrate the operation of a 2-degrees-of-freedom (2- DOF) scanning micromirror. Thermocapillary, or Marangoni, effect and contact angle hysteresis are employed to control the droplet shape and position. Hysteresis in different liquids is studied with its influence on the stability of the droplet. The device consists of a micromirror placed onto a microdroplet, and can produce a 6.5° tilting angle when actuated at 30 V. The tilting angle …

Accuracy Of Real Time Radiography Burning Rate Measurement, Bisola Olaniyi

Theses

The design of a solid propellant rocket motor requires the determination of a propellant's burning-rate and its dependency upon environmental parameters. The requirement that the burning-rate be physically measured, establishes the need for methods and equipment to obtain such data. A literature review reveals that no measurement has provided the desired burning rate accuracy. In the current study, flash x-ray modeling and digitized film-density data were employed to predict motor-port area to length ratio. The pre-fired port-areas and base burning rate were within 2.5% and 1.2% of their known values, respectively. To verify the accuracy of the method, a continuous …

Other-Centred Love: Diotima’S Lesson To Socrates, Colin A. Redmond

Theses

In this thesis I set out to determine the possible motivations in response to which Diotima agreed to teach Socrates the arts of love. In the process I develop a broader understanding of Diotima and her natural, feminine complexity. This understanding of Diotima suggests an interpretation of her teaching to show that, for all that can be said of love it is, importantly a re-orientation from self-centred interest to other-centred interest and it is this re-orientation which impacted on Socrates and by which he was persuaded.

Such an impact and its explanation offers a clear rationale for the changes which …

The Genetic Basis Of Familial Hypercholesterolemia In The United Arab Emirates, Shaikha Saif Mohamed Al Mazrooei

Theses

No abstract provided.

The Prevalence Of Epstein Barr Virus In The Tonsils And Adenoids Of United Arab Emirates Nationals, Shamma Sultan Mohamed Al Dhaheri

Theses

Although Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is often found in human tonsils and adenoids, it remains to be precisely determined in what cells and microenvironment the virus is present. Although generally regarded as a B lymphotropic virus, EBV can infect non B-cells. The aim of this project is to determine the prevalence of EBV in the tonsils and adenoids of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Nationals and to provide a basis for understanding the origin and biology of EBV -infected B and non-B cells, the immunophenotype of all EBV -infected cells in reactive tonsils was determined by subjecting tonsil and adenoid sections …

Effect Of Various Heavy Metals On The Enzymatic Activity Of Bacterial Alkaline Phosphatase, Maithah Maktoom Salmeen Al Nuaimi

Theses

Soil is a natural resource that is utmost importance from an agricultural as well as environmental perspective. Good soil health not only helps improve the quality and yield of agriculture products, but is also important for recycling of significant amounts of organic biomass. However, pollution of soil by various pollutants, such as heavy metals, pesticides or petroleum hydrocarbons, can lead to serious environmental as well as biological effects. This pollution can directly harm animals and human beings, leach into drinking water source, damage plants and vegetation, as well as affect the endemic microorganisms and insects living in the soil.

Microorganisms …

The Effect Of Visfatin And Adiponectin On Metabolic Parameters Of An Animal Model Of Type 2 Diabetes, Thuraya Saeed Ali Alshamisi

Theses

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most common exocrine disorders affecting more than 6% of the world’s population. The incidence and prevalence of this chronic disease are on the rise in many parts of the world including the Middle East. DM is caused by defective Insulin production, release and/or function. The causes and nature of abnormal insulin metabolism is less than clear. While defective insulin secretion is observed in type 1 diabetes, insulin resistance is predominant in type 2 diabetes, which affects more than 94% of the diabetic patients.

Materials and Methods: Rats between the age of two …

The Potential For Gaseous Biofuels In Ireland, Darren Kenneally

Theses

According to the EU Renewables Directive 2009/28/EC, 20% of the energy across Europe needs to be renewable by 2020. This is inclusive of the energy utilised in the transport sector where 10% of this energy needs to be renewable. In order for Ireland to meet the targets set in the Renewables Directive various changes need to be applied. The utilisation of gaseous biofuels produced from the anaerobic digestion of various feedstocks will aid Ireland in meeting this directive.

In this study biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) and energy crops are analysed as potential feedstocks for the production of biomethane. This biomethane …

Automated Interpretation Of The Tandem Mass Spectra Of Peptides Using Artificial Neural Networks, Timothy Patrick Manning

Theses

The manual interpretation of mass spectra is a complex and time consuming task. The problem of manually interpreting this data is further exacerbated by the large numbers of mass spectra which can potentially be produced in a single proteoniics experiment. This shows the need for high throughput approaches to the interpretation of mass spectra. Existing automated approaches are however error prone due to the complexity of the task. Accordingly, this thesis discusses and evaluates the application of neural networks to improving the sensitivity, specificity and robustness of current approaches to the automated interpretation of such mass spectral data.

Several neural …

The Application Of Viral Marketing To The Irish Film Industry, Stephen O'Mahony

Theses

The research examines the concept of viral marketing and in particular, its application to the Irish film industry. It explores the merits of viral marketing as a promotional technique for Irish film and the associated online social media channels through which viral messages are disseminated. Further to this, the study identifies the extent to which viral marketing and online social media have been adopted by Irish consumers and enterprise. Given that viral marketing is still in its relative infancy, the research also takes a conceptual approach so that it contributes to the continued understanding of the practice in general.

A …

A Project-Based Learning Approach To Applied Craft Calculations Within Apprenticeship Education: An Action Research Study, Kevin Furlong

Theses

Using an Action Research methodology, this study was based in Technologicl University Dublin and conducted with the cooperation of three groups of Phase Six Plumbing apprentices over a ten-month period (three cycles). The main aim of the research project was to establish if a deeper understanding and application of Building Services Applied Calculations could be achieved through the implementation of Project-Based Learning within Apprenticeship Education? Research literature shows that not only in Ireland but also abroad, third level education is experiencing what is described as a ‘maths problem’. With applied calculations and mathematics being a fundamental and essential part of …

The Effect Of Dietary Supplement On Risk Of Infection In Community Based Patients With Type Two Diabetes Mellitus, Mamoon Ibrahim Abu Haltem

Theses

Background: Type Two diabetes mellitus prevalence is increasing dramatically universally and locally. Diabetic patients have shown higher risk of infections and associated morbidity. Many factors contribute to this, including poor nutritional status of this population. The lack of evidence in this field inspired us to look at the relationship between the dietary supplements and risk of infection in these patients.

Objective: To measure the effect of dietary supplement on risk of infection in community based patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods: Following informed written consent 100 diabetic patients have been randomly assigned to receive either an oral dose of …

Automatic Multi-Resolution Spatio-Frequency Mottle Metric (Sfmm) For Evaluation Of Macrouniformity, Siddharth Khullar

Theses

Evaluation of mottle is an area of on-going research in print quality assessment. We propose an unsupervised evaluation technique and a metric that measures mottle in a hard-copy laser print. The proposed algorithm uses a scanned image to quantify the low frequency variation or mottle in what is supposed to be a uniform field. `Banding' and `Streaking' effects are explicitly ignored and the proposed algorithm scales the test targets from "Flat print" (Good) to "Noisy print" (Bad) based on mottle only. The evaluation procedure is modeled as feature computation in different combinations of spatial, frequency and wavelet domains. The model …

Scene Classification Using Spatial Pyramid Matching And Hierarchical Dirichlet Processes, Haohui Yin

Theses

The goal of scene classification is to automatically assign a scene image to a semantic category (i.e. "building" or "river") based on analyzing the visual contents of this image. This is a challenging problem due to the scene images' variability, ambiguity, and a wide range of illumination or scale conditions that may apply. On the contrary, it is a fundamental problem in computer vision and can be used to guide other processes such as image browsing, contentbased image retrieval and object recognition by providing contextual information. This thesis implemented two scene classification systems: one is based on Spatial Pyramid Matching …

Manipulation Of Elections By Minimal Coalitions, Christopher Connett

Theses

Social choice is the study of the issues arising when a population of individuals attempts to combine its views with the objective of determining a collective policy. Recent research in artificial intelligence raises concerns of articial intelligence agents applying computational resources to attack an election. If we think of voting as a way to combine honest preferences, it would be undesirable for some voters cast ballots that differ from their true preferences and achieve a better result for themselves at the expense of the general social welfare. Such an attack is called manipulation. The Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem holds that all reasonable …

Scanning Acoustic Microscopy For Gdl Water Distribution Characterization, Christopher Mcdade

Theses

The objective of this research was to identify and apply possible acoustic imaging techniques for water transport studies in PEM fuel cell diffusion mediums. To accomplish this, a scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) was designed and built along with dedicated control and analysis software to implement all investigative tests and scans. The results of the study were in two parts, acoustic response characterization of the fibrous material and implementation of the developed imaging technique for water saturation distribution characterization. Having used a focused 30MHz centered wide band transducer with focal point FWHM beam diameter of 90 microns the target material ensured …

Necessity Of Implementing Electronic Personal Health Information Privacy Regulation In Dominican Republic, Miguel Molina

Theses

The use of technology has increased considerably in the Dominican Republic in the past years. All public and private organizations have started a process of digitize all information they manage. The health area is not away from this process and hence they have started to use personal health records in a digital format. However, the management given to this information is not regulated by any law in the DR. Doctors, medical centers, health assurance companies and patients treat this data as they want without any control which represents a huge privacy risk for patients in the country. During our investigation …

Gaining System Access Through Information Obtained In Web 2.0 Sites, Arsenio Guzmán

Theses

Along with growth of the internet in recent years, a related phenomenon is also growing: the complaints by internet users that their accounts have been hacked by others. What are the reasons behind this? Are those hackers really that good that they can find out our passwords and almost magically gain access to our systems? This project focuses on the ways in which personal information is propagated by users on the Internet by web 2.0 sites like social networks as well as on the problems inherited by password reset methods, which are how we inadvertently provide others with easy access …

Investigation And Modeling Of Viscoelastic Moduli For Multilayered Polymeric Systems Using High Frequency Ultrasonic Waves, Todd Mathew Fernandez

Theses

Mechanical characterization of both the bulk and individual layer properties of layered polymer stacks provides important information for their use in novel applications. A single technique to measure both the bulk and layer properties is atempted. Ultrasonic testing provides an opportunity to determine the mechanical characteristics for layered samples in the form of the complex mechanical moduli. These moduli express the viscoelastic properties of the materials. Using ultrasound, this can be done for the bulk and the layers in a single test. With ultrasound, the ability to determine the complex moduli in single layers has been demonstrated. The moduli were …

Development Of A Platform For Simulating And Optimizing Thermoelectric Energy Systems, John Kreuder

Theses

Thermoelectrics are solid state devices that can convert thermal energy directly into electrical energy. They have historically been used only in niche applications because of their relatively low efficiencies. With the advent of nanotechnology and improved manufacturing processes thermoelectric materials have become less costly and more efficient As next generation thermoelectric materials become available there is a need for industries to quickly and cost effectively seek out feasible applications for thermoelectric heat recovery platforms. Determining the technical and economic feasibility of such systems requires a model that predicts performance at the system level. Current models focus on specific system applications …

Design And Analysis Of An Fpga-Based, Multi-Processor Hw-Sw System For Scc Applications, Andrew Fitzgerald

Theses

The last 30 years have seen an increase in the complexity of embedded systems from a collection of simple circuits to systems consisting of multiple processors managing a wide variety of devices. This ever increasing complexity frequently requires that high assurance, fail-safe and secure design techniques be applied to protect against possible failures and breaches. To facilitate the implementation of these embedded systems in an efficient way, the FPGA industry recently created new families of devices. New features added to these devices include anti-tamper monitoring, bit stream encryption, and optimized routing architectures for physical and functional logic partition isolation. These …

Characterization Of The Effects Of The Human Head On Communication With Implanted Antennas, Michael A. Pecoraro

Theses

Cranially implanted sensors and electrodes have been used in practice for several years; their applications range from the recording of neural signals for use in Brain-Computer Interfaces to help the disabled, to the treatment of diseases and conditions ranging from Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, depression, etc. Current communication methods with implants, however, are lacking; they run the gamut from physical, percutaneous connections that increase the risk of infection, to wireless links that are slow and uncomfortable for patients. The present work focuses on the characterization of the effects of the human head on communication with cranially implanted antennas for its …

Particle Deposition In Replica Healthy And Emphysematous Alveolar Models Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Edward Harding Jr

Theses

Particle deposition in the pulmonary region of the lung has gained increasing interest in the past years. Of particular interest are nano-sized particles, because they have the potential of crossing the blood-gas barrier and into the capillaries. Many factors contribute to how and where particles deposit, such as lung morphology, breathing conditions, fluid flow characteristics, and alveolar wall movement. These many factors make simulating particle deposition in the alveoli difficult. The experimental in vivo studies have commonly used micron sized particles and there is a lack of data for smaller sized particles. Due to these many factors, deposition in the …

A Pca Based Method For Image And Video Pose Sequencing, James Massaro

Theses

Problems exist in image sequence processing that require an ordered set of object views. In some cases, multiple angled images are acquired in random order and the angle of view information is not available. When this occurs, the poses have to be put into proper order. For example, in databases containing images of an object or scene taken over a period of time, each image pose or angled-view with respect to the camera or scene is unknown. This is important to achieve a complete or partial three-dimensional reconstruction. Other applications exist in photogrammetry, machine vision, computer-aided design, and military intelligence. …

Temporal Awareness And Rhythmic Performance, Daniel J. Colombo

Theses

The objective of this research was to study the conditions under which rhythmic behavior arises and its effects on task performance and mental workload. It has been demonstrated that temporal awareness (TA) in dynamic systems draws on high-level mental resources and contributes to superior performance on some task elements but not others. Elsewhere it has been demonstrated that TA in environments with high predictability can lead to superior task performance and reduced mental workload. This research sought to examine the behavior and subsequent performance that arises under highly predictable vs. dynamic conditions. Using a computer-based time-sharing task, we analyzed task …

A Precise Analysis Of A Class E Amplifier, Brett Klehn

Theses

An analytical approach to the design and simulation of a Class-E power amplifier under typical high frequency switching conditions is presented. The analysis will optimize the loading network at the output for transistors with an exponential transition current, while accounting for harmonics injected into the circuit from the choke inductor and a non-infinite output Q. Two methods have been successfully implemented to simulate the class-E amplifier waveforms, optimize the required circuit components, and calculate amplifier performances such as efficiency and total harmonic distortion (THD). The first optimizes the circuit parameters while considering finite choke inductances, drain current fall time, and …

Design, Simulation, And Fabrication Of A Flow Sensor For An Implantable Micropump, Matthew J. Waldron

Theses

The design, simulation, and fabrication of a flow sensor to be integrated into an implantable micropump is presented. The flow sensor operates by the method of thermal anemometry, in which heat is dissipated from a resistive element held in the flow of the fluid. The rate at which heat is carried away is dependent on the flow rate and is directly related to the thermal conductance. A control circuit utilizing the constant-temperature anemometry mode of operation is used to generate a change in voltage in response to change in thermal conductance, and subsequently, flow rate. A mathematical expression describing the …

Reorganization Of Massive Multiagent Systems: Motl/O, Aruntej Seelam

Theses

MOTL/O embodies the MOTL paradigm and models organizational adaptation. We report progress on developing computational tools for systematically altering organizational components. This adds a novel dimension to MOTL (Hexmoor, et.al., 2008). This extension is necessary to allow communities of agents or robots to reconfigure their organizational structure in response to changes in the environment. Traditional approach of a hierarchical command and control (C2) structure is ineffective (Alberts & Hayes, 2003). Recently, an edge organization has been proposed as a more suitable alternative Command and control structure in the current information age, due to its empowerment of the edge members, better …