Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Performance Of Digital Micromirror Devices For Use In Space-Based Multi-Object Spectrometers, Kenneth Fourspring

Theses

A current need in space-based instrumentation is a reconfigurable slit mask. Several techniques for slit masks have been employed for ground-based astronomical spectrographs. These ground-based instruments have used large discrete components, which are impractical for remote operation in space-based deployment. The Texas Instruments' Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) was originally conceived purely for display purposes, but is a viable candidate to be use as a slit mask in a space-based multi-object spectrograph (MOS). The Integrated Circuit (IC) manufacturing industry has enabled the robust integration of both silicon transistors and Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) optical components into a very reliable monolithic chip …

Transcriptional Analysis Of B-Cells Post Flu Vaccination Using Rna Sequencing, Manimozhi Manivannan

Theses

RNA-Seq (Nagalakshmi, et al., 2008; Mortazavi, et al., 2008), also known as Whole transcriptome sequencing investigates the RNA content from a sample through high throughput sequencing of cDNA. This exciting technology has important applications such as the improvement of existing genome annotations, discovery of novel genes and transcripts (Roberts, et al., 2011), revealing alternative splicing events and measuring the differential expression of genes across samples. This study examines the transcriptional responses of B-cells to the influenza vaccine using RNA-Seq. Five subjects received the flu vaccine. RNA was extracted at 11 different time points and sequenced using RNA-Seq. The RNA-Seq data …

Transcriptional Analysis Of B-Cells Post Flu Vaccination Using Rna Sequencing, Manimozhi Manivannan

Theses

RNA-Seq (Nagalakshmi, et al., 2008; Mortazavi, et al., 2008), also known as Whole transcriptome sequencing investigates the RNA content from a sample through high throughput sequencing of cDNA. This exciting technology has important applications such as the improvement of existing genome annotations, discovery of novel genes and transcripts (Roberts, et al., 2011), revealing alternative splicing events and measuring the differential expression of genes across samples. This study examines the transcriptional responses of B-cells to the influenza vaccine using RNA-Seq. Five subjects received the flu vaccine. RNA was extracted at 11 different time points and sequenced using RNA-Seq. The RNA-Seq data …

Evaluation Of The 2011 Kosovo Population Census [Presentation Given May 15, 2013], Shpend Thaqi

Theses

Registration as a statistical operation, reveals the real situation of the population in a certain time and serves as a base to conduct further demographic assessments by using the data on natural increment and migration balance. A Census is real picture of the territory of a country expressing the real situation over everything that deals with numbers and statistics of a country. In 2011, from the date 1-30th of April, Kosovo realized its first census, family economies and dwellings after 20 years. After the independence of Republic of Kosovo in 2008, the census was considered to have been the most …

Creatures And Environments, Daniel Stevens

Theses

I am interested in how things are formed or made both by natural events and by man. The history and story of the environment we inhabit greatly influences my work. I reorganize materials in ways that twist how they may actually develop left to nature. Nature does some very strange and difficult to explain things and I am looking to make the viewer question the boundaries between nature and manmade. My jewelry is similar to a collected specimen, seemingly distant from where it originated but still bearing the evidence of its origin. In this body of work I hope to …

A Qualitative Examination Of Recent Public Participation Activities In Association With Ecosystem Management In The Great Lakes, Erin Muench

Theses

Government approaches to the management of the North American Great Lakes have evolved following the introduction of ecosystem management principles in the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the United States and Canada. This approach was adopted as a way to address the complexities associated with the interconnections between the air, land, and water in the Great Lakes basin and its more than 30 million inhabitants. Although there is no universally accepted definition of ecosystem management, a key element is stakeholder participation in policy formulation and implementation to validate decisions within the public sphere. In this thesis I assess …

Already Gone, Manuel Fermin Hernandez Marquez

Theses

Already Gone is a project that explores the relationship of the photographic medium to the concepts of time and history, and the several temporal and historical layers contained within any photographic image. It is heavily influenced by photo-conceptualist practices that were introduced in the 1960s that often employed a de-skilled aesthetic, and questioned photography's intrinsic characteristics, possibilities, and limitations. Already Gone is inspired by the ideas of artistic agency in a time where the end of history and the beginning of post-history is proposed, and in the effects the demise of analog photography might have in the indexical nature of …

Impartial Validity, Salah Ahmed

Theses

Impartial Validity probes the relationship between self-representation and self-validation. This probing arises from an unsatisfied attempt to validate my own trauma associated with combat and selfhood. I find myself drawn to photograph banal objects that seem to reflect me, using representation to authenticate the experience of trauma. I feel a connection with these objects before I photograph them. Yet, once I have rendered them as images, I discover that the tenuous connections between the objects and myself were wholly created by the potential of the camera in my original encounter. These connections have little or no reality outside of the …

Caroline, Margaret Cogsdill

Theses

Caroline explores the notion of loss as an overarching theme by examining a mother's illness and its profound impact on her daughter. My work is inspired by a desire to understand my relationship with my mother, Caroline. Throughout my life I have struggled to accept her illness and its impact on me. Through photography, performance, and imaginative play I am able to initiate a new relationship with her and to explore intimacy, connection, nostalgia, and loss. Through this body of work, my mother and I enter into a world of our imagination where we collaborate as artist and mother. We …

Constrained Independent Component Analysis For Non-Obtrusive Pulse Rate Measurements Using A Webcam, Survi Kyal

Theses

Assessment of cardiac function of a patient is very important for understanding a patient's physiological state. Remote measurements of the cardiac pulse can provide comfortable physiological assessment by minimizing the amount of wires and cables and allowing for near continuous measurements. It has been found that state-of-the-art algorithms based on independent component analysis (ICA) suffer from a sorting problem which hinders their performance. This effect is demonstrated in this work. The automated pulse detection techniques are applied to RGB color video recordings of the facial region of a person being monitored for cardiac function in a remote sensing environment. Automated …

Design For The High School Experience, Richard L. Beckman

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to allow teachers in high schools to have a resource for creative thinking to help aid their classrooms in design based education for their students.

I started this journey with two questions:

`How can I help educate others about the world of design?'

`How can I show other educators outside of the design field that design education is needed now more than ever?'

The first question was answered in part by me enrolling at RIT's Industrial Design Program. At the end of my first year at RIT I was given the opportunity from the …

A Cart, A Box, A Gps: A Luggage Cart And A Clip Style Information Device Design From The View Of Universal Design, Sunyoung Stephanie Kim

Theses

The existing design of the airport luggage cart, which is intended to help travelers carry multiples pieces of luggage, has some issues. Also, the travelers sometimes are challenged to get information or to communicate with the workers at the airports especially when people travel outside of their mother country. These issues show that the airport needs a new luggage cart that is designed under the aspect of Universal Design. Therefore, this study proposed a new luggage cart design and the possibility of it to provide better service for all.

Actors & Athletes On Trial: A Textual Analysis Of Two Scandals In The 1920s, Melissa Lopes

Theses

Using textual analysis, this thesis studied newspaper coverage of the Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle murder trial and the 1919 World Series fix. It examined differences in how hometown papers (Chicago Daily Tribune and Los Angeles Times)and a national paper (New York Times)covered the scandals. It answered questions about coverage of a scandal within the entertainment industry versus one within the sports arena, and also explored how reports revealed standards of morality in the 1920s. Results showed subtle differences in hometown and national newspaper coverage, but vast differences in reports about the entertainment scandal versus the sports scandal. The research also found …

Perception Based Heterogeneous Subsurface Scattering For Film, Laura Wieme

Theses

Many real world materials exhibit complex subsurface scattering of light. This internal light interaction creates the perception of translucency for the human visual system. Translucent materials and simulation of the subsurface scattering of light has become an expected necessity for generating warmth and realism in computer generated imagery. The light transport within heterogenous materials, such as marble, has proved challenging to model and render. The current material models available to digital artists have been limited to homogeneous subsurface scattering despite a few publications documenting success at simulating heterogeneous light transport. While the publications successfully simulate this complex phenomenon, the material …

Sinographs: Studying Chinese Characters Through Adobe Flash On Apple Iphone, Paul Guo

Theses

Sinographs are Chinese characters used in the Chinese and Japanese languages. People who are learning Chinese and sinographs challenging to memorize. My objective is to teach 50 of the most-used simplified sinographs to Chinese learners and to help them determine how to form basic characters through an interactive application developed in Flash Professional for utilization on the iPhone and as on a demo webpage. Interactive applications appear to becoming increasingly more popular, especially in web design and for other devices, so I utilized my experience in Flash Professional (and ActionScript 3) and graphic user interface (GUI) to create this application. …

Thin-Film Transistors Fabricated Using Sputter Deposition Of Zno, Nan Xiao

Theses

Development of thin film transistors (TFTs) with conventional channel layer materials, such as amorphous silicon (a-Si) and polysilicon (poly-Si), has been extensively investigated. A-Si TFT currently serves the large flat panel industry; however advanced display products are demanding better TFT performance because of the associated low electron mobility of a-Si. This has motivated interest in semiconducting metal oxides, such as Zinc Oxide (ZnO), for TFT backplanes. This work involves the fabrication and characterization of TFTs using ZnO deposited by sputtering. An overview of the process details and results from recently fabricated TFTs following a full-factorial designed experiment will be presented. …

Integrating Site-Specific Environmental Graphic Design Within An Urban Context, Sanjyot Wagle

Theses

There are opportunities for environmental graphic design solutions that can enable urban residents to grasp information faster, reach destinations sooner and foster memorable experiences. In the daily negotiation of city living there may also be opportunities for educating residents about meaningful community-related topics. Graphic design can play a key role in addressing these goals. Environmental graphic design and wayfinding can help make urban experiences easier and more interesting. Incorporating the strategies of layering and sequencing within environmental graphic design solutions can strengthen the overall design and the particular messages being conveyed. One socially important topic city residents need to be …

Bubble Boy, Tang Tao

Theses

Love is always unpredictable, especially for those who don't believe this. The story happens in an anti-physics universe, everyone lives in a separate planet. A lonely boy tried different ways to get a girl's attention. He truly believed the girl would notice him. "Bubble Boy" is a three-minute thesis animation. It is a 3D animation that was mostly produced in MAYA 2012. This paper delineates the whole process of making this animation, from the early stage till the final. It describes my innovations, obstacles, effort, sadness and happiness in this entire production.

Comparison Of Media Selection In The U.S. And Indian Advertising Industries, Yashashree Potdar

Theses

Advertising is necessary to establish a brand and to increase the sale of the products. Media planning is an important phase of any advertising campaign. The purpose of this study was to determine the media types used in the advertising industries in India and in the U.S. Media professionals from five Indian advertising agencies and five U.S advertising agencies were interviewed to find out the media selection in both countries. The identification of media was then followed by the comparison of media selection in India and the U.S. The secondary research was carried out to find out media environment in …

Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Testing: A Survey Of Consuming Perceptions, Albert Blankley

Theses

INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE

New technology presents difficulties for policy makers in that it is impossible to determine every subsequent impact of a novel technology when it is introduced to society. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing exemplifies this problem while presenting the additional complication of having an impact on both individual and public health. Little research has been done on what consumer perceptions of information presented to them are. Some studies have demonstrated a need for further work and expert consensus has identified issues with advertisements but no research has been

done on consumer perceptions.

METHODOLOGY

A cohort of faculty and staff …

An Efficient Interaction Framework For Mobile Web Services, Abdullah Almuaibid

Theses

Having the latest technological devices is becoming more of a necessity these days rather than a luxury as it was only a decade ago. Among these advancements, the smart phone has grown in popularity significantly. This is due to a variety of reasons but it would have to be said that the access to mobile internet service it provides is a strong motivator for acquiring one. As might be expected the increased number of smart phone users requesting information from the internet has resulted in times when the average access time (the time a user must wait to download his/her …

Automated Sleep Classification Using The New Sleep Stage Standards, Elizabeth Fehrmann

Theses

Sleep is fundamental for physical health and good quality of life, and clinicians and researchers have long debated how best to understand it. Manual approaches to sleep classification have been in use for over 40 years, and in 2007, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) published a new sleep scoring manual. Over the years, many attempts have been made to introduce and validate machine learning and automated classification techniques in the sleep research field, with the goals of improving consistency and reliability. This thesis explored and assessed the use of automated classification systems with the updated sleep stage definitions …

Investigation Of The Intermediate And High End Initial Mass Function As Probed By Near-Infrared Selected Stellar Clusters, Christine Trombley

Theses

Young stellar clusters serve as powerful natural laboratories for studying the intermediate to high mass end of the initial mass function. The purpose of this dissertation is to measure the slope of the stellar initial mass function (IMF) over the intermediate to high mass range. Previous measurements are consistent with a "canonical" value over this mass regime, though the young massive star population in the Galactic Center may have a "top-heavy" distribution. In order to probe the IMF in stellar clusters that are preferentially more distant and more massive than the majority previously studied in the literature, the cluster sample …

Pupil Wavefront Manipulation For The Compensation Of Mask Topography Effects In Optical Nanolithography, Monica Sears

Theses

As semiconductor optical lithography is pushed to smaller dimensions, resolution enhancement techniques have been required to maintain process yields. For some time, the customization of illumination coherence at the source plane has allowed for the control of diffraction order distribution across the projection lens pupil. Phase shifting at the mask plane has allowed for some phase control as well. However, geometries smaller than the imaging wavelength introduce complex wavefront effects that cannot be corrected at source or mask planes. Three dimensional mask topography effects can cause a pitch dependent defocus (δBF), which can decrease the useable depth of focus (UDOF) …

Developing Kosovo’S Intergovernmental System For Improving Regional Cooperation / [Presentation Given February 20, 2013], Arta Efendija

Theses

This capstone project addressed the important issues of regional cooperation amongst the countries of South East Europe. The main challenges are assessed for promoting the development of an intergovernmental system for effective coordination and greater cooperation between the regional countries. The project highlights the main difficulties of participation of the Kosovo representatives at the regional meetings. Most of the project survey work report the top three problems are related to political, visa and financial issues. These are the assessments from 30 senior governmental officials across several government ministerial departments. The results from the project suggest that three very important requirements …

Human Resource Planning In Kosovo Aeronautical Institutions With The Special Focus On Civil Aviation Authority Caa / [Presentation Given February 20, 2013], Diana Pacolli

Theses

Globally, Civil Aviation is a highly complex and safety sensitive process. This capstone project addresses the significant challenges related to human resource planning of Aeronautical Authorities in the Republic of Kosovo. The major challenges for Kosovo are in three main areas. These are (i) sustainable Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) funding, (ii) attracting and remuneration of professional staff, and (iii) retaining skilled, committed, and experienced aviation professionals ... The four main recommendations of this capstone project are: 1. The CAA dedicated revenues should be spent for capacity building and filling key related aviation positions in order to be capable of accomplishing …

Eat A Peach, Lisa Adamucci

Theses

Eat a Peach focuses on the members of my immediate family and each individual's relationship to our small southern New Jersey peach farm. There are seven of us: my mother and father, my four brothers, and me. Growing up, I never gave the farm much thought, treating it as a place where my family lived and nothing more. When I began photographing the members of my family the farm took on a life of its own, like a long-lost family member I wanted to get reacquainted with. I became more curious about the business, history, and daily routines of the …

Imaging Methods For Understanding And Improving Visual Training In The Geosciences, Brandon May

Theses

Experience in the field is a critical educational component of every student studying geology. However, it is typically difficult to ensure that every student gets the necessary experience because of monetary and scheduling limitations. Thus, we proposed to create a virtual field trip based off of an existing 10-day field trip to California taken as part of an undergraduate geology course at the University of Rochester. To assess the effectiveness of this approach, we also proposed to analyze the learning and observation processes of both students and experts during the real and virtual field trips. At sites intended for inclusion …

Unit, Shuang Chang

Theses

It is a basic concept in Taoism that "personal infinity" can be achieved by visualizing the process where human bodies unify with the Universe through Taoism study and practice. This project, Unit is an animated adaptation of drawings created by my mother, Mrs. Hanjinying, who is writing and painting for a textbook on Taoism. It is a visualized journey of a Taoism experience featuring two characters who are different manifestations of the same self that unite and connect to nature and the Universe through their spiritual development. The animation is four minutes in length. The imagery consists of 2D based …

Route-Based Transportation Network Design, Lifan Zhang

Theses

Given shipment demand and driving regulations, a consolidation carrier has to make decisions on how to route both shipments and drivers at minimal cost. The traditional way to formulate and solve these problems is through the use of two-step models. This thesis presents a heuristic algorithm to solve an integrated model that can provide superior solutions. The algorithm combines a slope scaling initialization phase and tabu search to find high-quality solutions. The performance of the proposed heuristic is benchmarked against a commercial solver and these results indicate that the proposed method is able to produce better quality solutions for the …