Digital Commons Network^™

Business Data Analytics Dashboard Development For Performance Improvement Of Uae Government Service Centers, Laith Iyad Alawaysheh

Theses

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, The Vice President of UAE, The Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, once said that “Focusing on the happiness of various customers and enabling them to achieve an outstanding service experience, is a fundamental pillar for government development” and this quote was one of the main triggers for this project, which has a clear purpose to “enhance and improve the customer experience (CX) and service centers performance by implementing data analytics concept along with forecasting future demand of customers and benefit from it in the capacity planning of service centers’ resources”. Through …

Translating Macroscale Concepts To Microfluidic Devices, Nicole Hill

Theses

Electrokinetics represents an extremely versatile family of techniques that can be used to manipulate particles and fluid in microfluidic devices. This dissertation focused on taking techniques commonly used on a macroscale and developing microscale equivalents utilizing electrokinetics to effectively manipulate and separate microparticles. This analysis focuses on chromatography and separation trains as macroscale techniques translated to microfluidic insulator-based electrokinetic devices. The geometries of insulating post arrays embedded in microchannels were optimized using a combination of mathematical simulations and experimentally derived correction factors. Two particle separations were experimentally demonstrated: a separation based on differences in particle size and a separation based …

Harness, Nickolas Viele

Theses

The struggles individuals encounter in their lifetime have as many peaks and valleys as a roller coaster at an amusement park. The goal of my thesis work is to unpack the complex feelings of personal breakdowns so that the viewer can empathize with the raw emotions of these chaotic situations and establish a bridge of empathy from person to person. My investigation uses the relationship of life casting and found objects to create a personal, tangible connection for my audience. The struggle and turmoil we encounter in life can create the common ground needed for others to identify with these …

Edible Negros, Unique Fair-Smith

Theses

Edible Negros is an exploration of western consumerism and its impact on African-Americans. The thesis grapples with the oppression African-Americans have systematically experienced within capitalist and consumerist society and our collective struggles toward liberation.

This analysis goes further to study the western world's consumption of the black body, how African-Americans have been abused as a commodity; and as an overall examination of the western world's dependence on both the metaphorical and literal consumption of our bodies through labor exploitation, physical mutilation, and cannibalism.

Furthermore, the investigation encompasses how the perception and value of African-American lives has transitioned. This includes a …

Modeling Dyadic Human Interaction Using Sequential Neural Network, Srijan Kumar Sharma

Theses

Social networks, involving people and their interactions are at core of human society. But many current computational social methods focus more on the individual than their interactions. Deep neural networks have been successfully applied to tasks such as natural language processing, dialog modeling, or analyzing sentiments in a conversation. In these areas, we will often encounter data that originate from multiple sources. These signals can interact with each other synchronously, but detecting such synchrony may prove challenging.

In this work we focus on investigating how deep neural network architectures can help us better understand synchrony in social contexts. We investigate …

Dubai Real Estate Investment: A Predictive And Time Series Analysis, Nikhil Krishna

Theses

The capstone aims to provide real estate investors suitable portfolios for investment in Dubai, considering maximum return on investment as per their investment goals. CRISP-DM methodology was used as it is a structured approach for planning a data mining project. The datasets from Dubai Land Department, RERA and Property Finder was used to conduct Exploratory Analysis, Predictive Analysis using Linear Regression, Random Forest Regression, Decision Tree Regression, Gradient Boost Regression and Time Series analysis using Exponential Smoothing, Holt forecasting, Holt Winter Method, ARIMA and SARIMA. To facilitate investors in easily searching for suitable portfolio to invest in based on their …

Artificial Intelligence For Smarter Surveillance Using Cctv Cameras In The Uae, Fatma Sabeel Alblooshi

Theses

Nowadays there are many technologies being developed worldwide, and people should keep abreast of new technologies and developments. In addition, many companies are focusing on developing new features and technologies for cameras in several sectors. It’s very important to have cameras in public places, schools or hospitals. For instance, in these public places they need to install cameras that recognize image processing, avoiding recording people’s information and data, when the crime happened, or for safety purposes. On the other hand, CCTV cameras pose risks since we don’t know who is monitoring the screen, and this sensitive footage can be shared …

Mindful Consumption, Hind Ali Almualla

Theses

This study explores the impact of human behaviour on spaceship earth. It also explores the possibilities systems thinking offers to address complex problems such as climate change by influencing human behaviour. This study hypothesizes that the level of information the consumer knows about the ecological footprint of a product has an impact on his purchasing decisions in favour of the environment. The hypothesis was tested by running an experiment on an online shopping experience. Fourteen respondents completed the two phases of the experiment and answered two questionnaires. They were followed by 4 in-depth interviews. The analysis measured if there is …

Sustainability Of Modern Groundwater Pumping Technologies, Life Cycle Assessment, Hesham Mahmood Alshehabi

Theses

The sustainability of groundwater equipment systems is not well addressed in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC). The typical technology practiced in the GCC is the borehole pumps coupled with asynchronous motors. This thesis is evaluating the sustainability of various alternatives for groundwater equipment through the three pillars of sustainability. Economic assessment seeking the Levelized cost of water given typically in $/m³ and main factors affecting the energy intensity through a statistical comparative analysis approach. Environmental evaluation through performing a life cycle assessment model for four pumping alternatives, and finally, societal impact assessment aiming to identify the best practices and …

Heart Rhythm Classification From Static And Ecg Time-Series Data Using Hybrid Multimodal Deep Learning, Ahmad Abdulrazaq Abdulla Alnajjar

Theses

Cardiovascular arrhythmia diseases are considered as the most common diseases that cause death around the world. Abnormal arrhythmia diseases can be identified by analyzing heart rhythm using an electrocardiogram (ECG). However, this analysis is done manually by cardiologists, which may be subjective and susceptible to different cardiologist observations and experiences, as well as to noise and irregularities in those signals. This can lead to misdiagnosis. Motivated by this challenge, an automated heart rhythm diagnosis approach from ECG signals using Deep Learning has been proposed. In order to achieve this goal, three research problems have been addressed. First, recognize the role …

Evaluation Of Nutrient Solutions Produced From Aqueous Extracts And Decomposition Products Of Organic Waste Materials On The Plant Growth Performance In Hydroponics, Noura Said Al Nuaimi

Theses

Hydroponic plant production involves the cultivation of plants in absence of soil. In this system, the supply of the plant root with water and nutritional elements occurs via a nutrient solution made of inorganic salts. Hydroponic plant cultivation often achieves higher yields, water use efficiencies and quality of crops compared with soil production. In addition, it renders the farming system independent from soil properties. However, the currently available systems rely on the steady input of non-renewable inorganic salts. Unlike soil-based systems, hydroponics, so far, do not offer feasible opportunities for recycling nutritional elements from within crop residues or organic waste …

Performance Of Ultrasound-Assisted Forward Osmosis Membrane Process In Desalination Of Seawater, Bara Awwad Al-Sakaji

Theses

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of using ultrasound on water flux through forward osmosis membrane when applied for seawater desalination. A synthetically prepared solution simulating seawater characteristics was used. Parameters considered in the investigation included membrane cross-flow velocity (0.25 and 1.0 cm/s), flow configuration (co-current versus counter-current), direction of ultrasound waves relative to the membrane side (active layer versus support layer), and type of draw solution (NaCl versus MgCl₂). Furthermore, a two-level factorial design was considered in the analysis of the results obtained from the experimental work. This study revealed that applying a …

Mechanistic Insights On The Role Of Ambrisentan, An Endothelin Type-A Receptor Antagonist, In Breast Cancer, Ruba Saleem Amer

Theses

The activation of the endothelin receptor type A (ETAR) by its ligand endothelin-1 (ET-1) is well known for its role in vasoconstriction. Interestingly, ET-1 and ETAR are over-expressed in various human tumors, including breast cancer. Several studies described an important role for ETAR in cancer progression and metastasis. The extensive network of interactions that exist between ET-1 axis and other signaling pathways can trigger an autocrine and paracrine signaling that modulates different tumorigenesis processes, such as cellular proliferation and survival, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and chemoresistance. The main objective of this study was to investigate the antitumor effects of Ambrisentan, a …

Examining Awareness And Identification Procedures Of Students With Specific Learning Disabilities In Uae Elementary Government Schools, Hana Aidrous Omar

Theses

Specific Learning Disability (SLD) is the most prevalent type of disability. Many students have been incorrectly identified as having SLD when, in fact, they have a different issue or disability. Other students with serious academic problems have been ignored and have not been evaluated. This study, therefore, examines the procedures used to identify students with SLD in UAE elementary government schools. The purpose of this study is twofold: (a) to examine the diagnostic procedures and steps that UAE elementary government schools follow to identify and place students with SLD and (b) to investigate school professionals’ awareness of SLD. A mixed …

Female Pharaohs And Divine Advocacy, Stephanie Jost

Theses

This analysis is addressing a form of divine advocacy by looking at the role of the goddess Hathor in the political/religious context of Egypt. Traditionally, pharaohs have used Hathor in Egyptian canonical imagery to convey messages of power- reiterating their own role as the incarnation of the God Horus. Here, we will focus on the role of traditional role of Hathor juxtaposing Royal Women in power during the Middle Kingdom and New Kingdom. The two female pharaohs, Sobekneferu and Hatshepsut, used their traditional roles as incarnations of Hathor to establish a power base before becoming a “female Horus”. An iconographic …

The “New Normal”: A Virtual Insight From Industry Professionals On Pivoting Within The Digital Ecosystem During A Global Pandemic., Delina Corcione

Theses

This project is over industry professionals within a relative field of Digital Content Strategy, and their professional experiences as it relates to the global pandemic that hit the United States in 2020. This virus (COVID-19) has boosted us into a predominantly digital world, with little analysis on how society is to handle or adapt. The final deliverable is short documentary offering insight on industry professionals within the field of study. The “New Normal” takes a unique approach on analyzing the state of the field as it relates to the pandemic, focusing on the personal experiences these industry professionals went through …

The Life And Times Of The Berlin Secession Podcast, Chris Kitamura

Theses

This project is a podcast series with five of episodes titled “The Life and Times of the Berlin Secession”. By research and design, the podcast can be used as supplemental material to modern art discussions in art history classes, as well as be entertaining to the public audience. This series presents information and education on how the Berlin Secession helped bridge between earlier genres of German art to the modern art of the Expressionists. It discusses the value of specific artists – Max Liebermann, Käthe Kollwitz, and Max Beckmann – within the Berlin Secession and to the greater history of …

Monstrosity In Religious Art: An Analysis Of Hieronymus Bosch’S Temptation Of Saint Anthony, Jennifer Beaudoin

Theses

This paper analyzes the artist Hieronymus Bosch and his triptych The Temptation of St Anthony in an attempt to elucidate the creative adoption of medieval tropes to invent new forms of monstrosity in his art and exciting imagery. Throughout this paper, I will review how historians have viewed Bosch’s art and an understanding of the ideas surrounding why Bosch chooses to take on the task of telling the stories of creation and St Anthony’s torment. The Middle Ages saw a spike of creative freedoms and visual interpretations of exotic, otherworldly beasts, from dragon-like beings to inhabitants of far-off lands. Bosch …

A Programmable Processing-In-Memory Architecture For Memory Intensive Applications, Mark Connolly

Theses

While both processing and memory architectures are rapidly improving in performance, memory architecture is lagging behind. As performance of processing architecture continues to eclipse that of memory, the memory architecture continues to become an increasingly unavoidable bottleneck in computer architecture. There are two drawbacks that are commonly associated with memory accesses: i) large delays causing the processor to remain idle waiting on data to become available and ii) the power consumption required to transfer the data. These performance issues are especially notable in research and enterprise computing applications such as deep learning models. Even when data for an application such …

Architectural Style: Distortions For Deploying And Managing Deception Technologies In Software Systems, Elijah Cantella

Theses

Deception technologies are software tools that simulate/dissimulate information as security measures in software systems. Such tools can help prevent, detect, and correct security threats in the systems they are integrated with. Despite the continued existence and use of these technologies (~20+ years) the process for integrating them into software systems remains undocumented. This is due to deception technologies varying greatly from one another in a number of different ways. To begin the process of documentation, I have proposed an architectural style that describes one possible way deception technologies may be integrated into software systems.

To develop this architectural style, I …

A Comparison Of Quantum Algorithms For The Maximum Clique Problem, Andrew R. Haverly

Theses

Two of the most promising computational models for quantum computing are the qubit-based model and the continuous variable model, which result in two different computational approaches, namely the qubit gate model and boson sampling. The qubit gate model is a universal form of quantum computation that relies heavily on the principles of superposition and entanglement to solve problems using qubits based on technologies ranging from magnetic fields created from superconducting materials to the spins of valence electrons in atoms. Boson sampling is a non-universal form of quantum computation that uses bosons as continuous-variable values for its computation. Both models show …

Medical Grade Displays In Radiation Oncology, Adi Robinson

Theses

In modern day medicine medical images are an integral part of clinical care. They are used in almost every clinical department from diagnosis to treatment and beyond. Medical images are viewed using electronic displays of various sizes, shapes, hardware, and software. Some clinical departments, like diagnostic radiology, require electronic displays with a large dynamic range, high contrast and high resolution. Other departments do not have any requirements and will use any commercially available display in their clinical workflow.

Viewing the same medical image on different electronic displays with different hardware, software or calibration setup could influence how observers perceive and …

Process Investigations On Sputter Deposited Indium Tungsten Oxide Tft, Rishmithaa Sivakanthan

Theses

Indium-Tungsten Oxide (IWO) has been investigated as a potential semiconductor material for next-generation display devices. Several publications have reported on IWO thin-film transistors (TFTs) with a channel mobility μch ~ 20cm2/Vs, approximately 2X higher than typically reported for Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide (IGZO). However, other attributes of the device characteristics have not performed as well as IGZO such as the subthreshold behavior. This work presents a study on the electronic properties of sputtered IWO, with the sputter ambient (i.e. percent O2 ) and O2 annealing conditions as the primary factors investigated. In the early stages of the study, a problem with the …

Spatial Vs. Graph-Based Formula Retrieval, Robin Avenoso

Theses

Recently math formula search engines have become a useful tool for novice users learning a new topic. While systems exist already with the ability to do formula retrieval, they rely on prefix matching and typed query entries. This can be an obstacle for novice users who are not proficient with languages used to express formulas such as LaTeX, or do not remember the left end of a formula, or wish to match formulas at multiple locations (e.g., using `$\int \quad\quad dx$' as a query). We generalize a one dimensional spatial encoding for word spotting in handwritten document images, the Pyramidal …

An Empirical Study Of Offensive Language In Online Interactions, Diptanu Sarkar

Theses

In the past decade, usage of social media platforms has increased significantly. People use these platforms to connect with friends and family, share information, news and opinions. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter are often used to propagate offensive and hateful content online. The open nature and anonymity of the internet fuels aggressive and inflamed conversations. The companies and federal institutions are striving to make social media cleaner, welcoming and unbiased. In this study, we first explore the underlying topics in popular offensive language datasets using statistical and neural topic modeling. The current state-of-the-art models for aggression detection only present a …

Matching As Color Imaging: Thermal Feature Detection, Bhavesh Deshpande

Theses

Feature detection and extraction is considered to be one of the most important aspects when it comes to any computer vision application, especially the autonomous driving field that is highly dependent on it. Thermal imaging is less explored in the field of autonomous driving mainly due to the high cost of the cameras and inferior techniques available for detection. Due to advances in technology the former is not a major limitation and there lies tremendous scope for improvement in the latter. Autonomous driving relies heavily on multiple and sometimes redundant sensors, for which thermal sensors are a preferred addition. Thermal …

Predicting The Required Demand Flow To A Customer, Thani Almansoori

Theses

Yearly District Cooling Company (DCC) needs to upgrade the plants to meet customer requirements. Moreover, this project will help the company to find when the demand load of flow will reach above the plant's installed capacity and how much increase is expected. So, the dataset was provided by the company for previous years. By applying ML and Arima, KNN, and SVM algorithms, it was found that the best result was the KNN algorithm with an accuracy of 94%, and the maximum flow load will be reached in summer of upcoming years. Hence, the company needs to take further action to …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of The Eclipse Narrative In American Philosophy, Noah W. Collins

Theses

Philosophical pragmatism originated in the United States in the late 19th century. Some historians of philosophy have described the history of American pragmatism in terms of an “eclipse narrative”: dominant in the early 20th century, followed by a mid-century decline and, eventually, a late-century resurgence. Defenders of this narrative often point to the influx of European philosophers around WWII, and the rise of “analytic” philosophy, as the main reasons for pragmatism’s initial eclipse. While the eclipse narrative is common in the philosophical literature, it is not without controversy. Unfortunately, the contemporary debate tends to rely on anecdotal evidence and contested …

From Darkness To Light: Bringing Collections Out Of Storage At The History Center In Tompkins County, Katie Keegan

Theses

One of the museum's important missions is collecting objects and artifacts to store, preserve, and display. Today, however, museums only have a small portion of their objects out on display. Large institutions have the funds to buy and create new spaces to display more of their collections. With small budgets and small spaces, however, smaller institutions do not have this luxury. I wish to find different ways to bring out collections from storage into the public eye to better serve the community. I apply my investigation to a case study of the History Center in Tompkins County, a local history …

The Pursuit Of Virtue In Outdoor Sport And Recreation, Jonathan Schnaufer

Theses

This thesis presents for consideration six virtues that can be used to determine how adventure sports, outdoor recreation and expeditions can maintain their integrity when their methods are challenged by novel influences. Sports must adapt to social change, such as cultural, technological, or monetary influences. When they do so, mountaineering and adventure sports should be guided by ethical and aesthetic values that I argue can be maintained by adhering to the virtues of collaboration, education, athleticism, stewardship, sport empowerment and temperance. Some methods of pursuing these activities have alienated athletes from the natural component of outdoor sports and have moved …