Digital Commons Network^™

Museum Discovery Rooms Engaging Families Using Learning Theories, Cassandra E. Demski

Theses

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Oligomer-To-Monomer Ratio On Ink Film Properties Of White Uv-Curable Gravure Ink For Printing On Biaxially Oriented Polypropylene (Bopp), Eubert C. Go

Theses

The high shear rate environment of gravure requires very low viscosity, fluid inks. The problems associated with low viscosity such as spilling, crawling, scumming and crazing, have hindered the development of UV-curable gravure inks. This led the researcher to study UV-curable gravure ink formulation. The effects of oligomer-to-monomer ratio and pigment dispersion loading on white ultraviolet (UV)-curable gravure ink film properties (surface cure efficiency, abrasion resistance, substrate adhesion, and ink film flexibility) were investigated. In this study, molecules normally used as monomers, in UV-curable systems, were selected as oligomers relative to the selected monomer, Glycerol Propoxylate Triacrylate (GPTA). The selected …

A Study Of Outsourcing Of Premedia Services To India By Us Companies , Rahul P. Nayak

Theses

Offshore outsourcing continues to gain prominence as the printing industry strides into the future. With different segments of the industry looking at reducing costs and, in exchange providing value-added services, more companies turn towards outsourcing services offshore as a solution. Although it is still unclear whether companies stand to gain from outsourcing offshore in the long-term, at present it is believed that sending parts of labor offshore provides companies with the much-needed opportunity to focus on their core businesses in addition to realizing monetary gains. The Premedia segment of the printing industry comprises several different types of work that take …

Implementing Lean Manufacturing Into Newspaper Production Operations, Marianne Engum

Theses

The evolution of technology and new media has, over a long period of time, had an influence on the newspaper industry. This development has particularly affected the printed newspaper with a decline in circulation; forcing newspaper printers to be more efficient and to look for methods of increasing profit and reducing costs. Lean Manufacturing strategy, which includes waste elimination, can help the newspaper printers to achieve these goals. Lean Manufacturing has gotten an increased focus in the printing industry. However, the number of newspapers implementing Lean is still minimal. This research has sought to determine the level of knowledge of …

Reducing Changeover Times In A Web Offset Packaging Environment, Prashanth Nagarajan

Theses

The printing industry has been experiencing steadily rising costs and declining profits, at times leading to the closing down, consolidation, or restructuring of printing companies. Lean Manufacturing is an effective tool that has helped printing companies to overcome these rising costs by reducing the cost of production and by improving productivity (Cooper, 2007). This research identified methods to reduce setup times, leading to savings of close to $60,000 annually on one press. The average setup time was reduced by 60%, from over two hours to less than one hour. The changes implemented on one press could be standardized on the …

Evaluating The Effect Of Peer Feedback On The Quality Of Online Discourse, Timothy D. Wells

Theses

This study explores the effect on discussion quality of adding a feedback mechanism that presents users with an aggregate peer rating of the usefulness of the participant's contributions in online, asynchronous discussion. Participants in the study groups were able to specify the degree to which they thought any posted comment was useful to the discussion. Individuals were regularly presented with feedback (aggregated and anonymous) summarizing peers' assessment of the usefulness of their contribution, along with a summary of how the individuals rated their peers. Results indicate that continuous, anonymous, aggregated feedback had no effect on either the students' or the …

A Comparison Study Of The Implementation Of Digital Camera’S Raw And Jpeg And Scanner’S Tiff File Formats, And Color Management Procedures For Inkjet Textile Printing Applications, Chi-Hao Chien

Theses

The objective of this research was to evaluate the results and characteristics of utilizing different image file formats in inkjet textile printing. Two format files derived from digital camera (JPEG and RAW format files) and two TIFF format files derived from scanning the transparency films were sent through color management processes and adjustment procedures. These images files were then rendered on 100% cotton fabric using an inkjet textile printer. The evaluation and analysis of the image files and textile patterns were based on visual assessment and measured values. The end result of this experiment was mainly to evaluate the image …

Biomersa: The Biology Media Repository With Semantic Augmentation, Adam Cornwell

Theses

With computers now capable of easily handling all kinds of multimedia files in vast quantity, and with the Internet now well-suited to exchange these files, we are faced with the challenge of organizing this data in such a way so as to make the information most useful and accessible. This holds true as well for media pertaining to the field of biology, where multimedia is particularly useful in education, as well as in research. To help address this, a software system with a Web-based interface has been developed for improving the accuracy and specificity of multimedia searching and browsing by …

A Graph-Based Factor Screening Method For Synchronous Data Flow Simulation Models, Gregory Tauer

Theses

This thesis develops a method for identifying important input factors in large system dynamics models from an analysis based on those models' underlying structures. The identification of important input factors is commonly called factor screening and is a key step in the analysis of simulation models with many input parameters. Models under investigation are system dynamics models implemented as synchronous data flow programs, a model of computation that requires encoding the model components' dependencies in a graph format. The developed method views this graph as a stochastic process and attempts to rank the importance of inputs, or source nodes, with …

Scalable Framework For Heterogeneous Clustering Of Commodity Fpgas, Jeremy K. Espenshade

Theses

A combination of parallelism exploitation and application specific hardware is increasingly being used to address the computational requirements of a diverse and extensive set of application areas. These targeted applications have specific computational requirements that often are not able to be implemented optimally on general purpose processors and have the potential to experience substantial speedup on dedicated hardware. While general parallelism has been exploited at various levels for decades, the advent of heterogeneous cluster computing has allowed applications to be accelerated through the use of intelligently mapped computational tasks to well-suited hardware. This trend has continued with the use of …

Architecture And Urban Design As Influences On The Communication Of Place And Experience In Graphic Design, Candice Reese

Theses

Most architects and urban designers are challenged to design schemas and structures to create a particular experience and sense of place. It is through the manipulation and design of actual three-dimensional spaces that they are able to achieve this. How then is a three-dimensional experience of a place conveyed in two dimensions? Distilling an actual experience into a graphic solution can be exceptionally challenging, but graphic designers may need to accomplish this for particular clients. Examining the ideologies and methodologies of architecture and urban design may offer new and thoughtful approaches for graphic interpretations of three-dimensional experiences. This thesis first …

Semi-Automated Techniques For The Retrieval Of Dermatological Condition In Color Skin Images, Ranxi Huang

Theses

Dermatologists base the diagnosis of skin disease on the visual assessment of the skin. This fact shows that correct diagnosis is highly dependent on the observer's experience and on his or her visual perception. Moreover, the human vision system lacks accuracy, reproducibility, and quantification in the way it gathers information from an image. So, there is a great need for computer-aided diagnosis. We propose a content-based image retrieval (CBIR) system to aid in the diagnosis of skin disease. First, after examining the skin images, pre-processing will be performed. Second, we examine the visual features for skin disease classified in the …

Annotation Consistency Tool: The Assessment Of Jcvi Microbial Genome Annotations, Rhea I. Sanchez

Theses

BRC-Pathema is one of eight National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Bioinformatics Resource Centers. It consists of sophisticated, clade-specific Web resources targeting the data and analysis needs of different scientific communities. Among those resources are sophisticated bioinformatics software, a comprehensive library of scientific literature, and manually curated data. Periodical evaluations by the BRC-Central determine Pathema's level of completeness, accuracy, and consistency. The results of these evaluations have revealed the need to develop customized tools for the maintenance of acceptable levels of accuracy and consistency within Pathema's curated databases of annotated microbial genomes. The Annotation Consistency Tool, or ACT, …

Co Co Nut, Jiunnfu Su

Theses

This paper is a companion to my thesis film, CoCo Nut. Thesis film is the third animation I made at RIT. From Position (one quarter film) to Noble (two quarter film), the core focus of my story moved from individuality to family; so for my third and last film at RIT, I wanted to make my country the core essence of my story. The idea of my thesis film is about Taiwan, where I was born and raised. It is a story on the importance of cooperation. Due to our unique historical and political background, the two ruling parties of …

Feature Selection Of Microarray Data Using Genetic Algorithms And Artificial Neural Networks, Paul Yacci

Theses

Microarrays, which allow for the measurement of thousands of gene expression levels in parallel, have created a wealth of data not previously available to biologists along with new computational challenges. Microarray studies are characterized by a low sample number and a large feature space with many features irrelevant to the problem being studied. This makes feature selection a necessary pre-processing step for many analyses, particularly classification. A Genetic Algorithm -Artificial Neural Network (ANN) wrapper approach is implemented to find the highest scoring set of features for an ANN classifier. Each generation relies on the performance of a set of features …

Dynamic Voltage And Frequency Scaling With Multi-Clock Distribution Systems On Sparc Core, Michael Nasri Michael

Theses

The current implementation of dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVS and DFS) in microprocessors is based on a single clock domain per core. In architectures that adopt Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP), multiple execution units may exist and operate concurrently. Performing DVS and DFS on such cores may result in low utilization and power efficiency. In this thesis, a methodology that implements DVFS with multi Clock distribution Systems (DCS) is applied on a processor core to achieve higher throughput and better power efficiency. DCS replaces the core single clock distribution tree with multi-clock domain systems which, along with dynamic voltage and …

Radiometric Modeling Of Mechanical Draft Cooling Towers To Assist In The Extraction Of Their Absolute Temperature From Remote Thermal Imagery, Matthew Montanaro

Theses

Determination of the internal temperature of a mechanical draft cooling tower (MDCT) from remotely-sensed thermal imagery is important for many applications that provide input to energy-related process models. The problem of determining the temperature of an MDCT is unique due to the geometry of the tower and due to the exhausted water vapor plume. The radiance leaving the tower is dependent on the optical and thermal properties of the tower materials (i.e., emissivity, BRDF, temperature, etc.) as well as the internal geometry of the tower. The tower radiance is then propagated through the exhaust plume and through the atmosphere to …

The Lantern, Ting Liu

Theses

The Lantern is a computer animated master’s thesis film by Ting Liu at Rochester Institute of Technology. This work creates an impressionistic and metaphysical atmosphere as the story reveals the relationship between a grandfather and his granddaughter and the promise she has made to make a lantern for her grandfather in order to conjure her memories of him. The Lantern is a reminiscence of the filmmaker’s own childhood memories of her grandfather and the Chinese lanterns. This Thesis Report includes a discussion of the creation process of The Lantern as well as the original proposal, concept visualization artworks, and color …

Private Viewing, Ryan Barone

Theses

This thesis explores my birthplace and hometown of Gloversville, New York, using loss as a primary theme. Issues related to memory and the photographic medium such as the trace and latent image are investigated through a range of interdisciplinary projects. The thesis also addresses the language of early Conceptualism, often utilizing systematic methodologies and employing common materials as a means of addressing amateur uses of the photographic image. Photographic production and circulation are interrogated on a consumer level, emphasizing vernacular optimism for the medium while illustrating their ultimate shortcomings

Motive And Responsibility As Influences On Graphic Design Outcomes, Jackie Clements

Theses

In the world of visual communication many message-making strategies are used to convey information to a defined audience. The ways in which these strategies are used can greatly impact the meaning and success of a graphic design solution. Often strong emotion is employed to intentionally influence a defined audience. In addition, the format and context in which facts are presented in a message are also greatly effective. When looking at the potential communication power that solutions can hold, it is important to assess the types of messages being communicated and related ethical responsibilities that accompany them. This thesis study focuses …

Sliding Mode Control Applied To An Underactuated Fuel Cell System, Daniel C. Difiore

Theses

In this work, a method for controlling a nonlinear underactuated system using augmented sliding mode control (SMC) is proposed. SMC requires inversion of the input influence matrix to derive the desired control law. In under or over actuated systems this matrix is nonsquare therefore a true inverse does not exist. The proposed control approach demonstrated in this work involves introducing a transformation matrix mapping the systems input influence matrix to a transformed system that is square and thus invertible. The proposed approach is shown to control selectable states with proper choice of the transformation matrix yielding good control performance. The …

Extremely Low-Overhead Security For Wireless Sensor Networks: Algorithms And Implementation, Michael Schab

Theses

Recent advances in the development of compact microprocessors have brought forth new applications in the field of data acquisition and wireless communication. One of these applications is a compact sensor mote that has the ability to perform both data acquisition and transmission within a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Wireless sensor communication is susceptible to the same data security threats as traditional wireless networks. In an environment where sensors are broadcasting battlefield intelligence or patient biometrics, data confidentiality must be enforced utilizing some form of encryption. Unlike traditional wireless networks, where the communicating devices have unrestricted access to power and memory, …

Genetic Elements Of Microbes: A Comprehensive And Integrated Genomic Database Application, Ashlee Benjamin

Theses

The increasing abundance of genomic data has led to the creation of several databases containing the sequence data, metadata about the sequences and information about the organisms. These data are useful in many areas of biological research. Of the many available databases, few contain a significant amount of genome-associated data. In an effort to create a comprehensive microbial genomes database, the Genetic Elements of Microbes (GEM) database application was created. A K-mer analysis tool was also created and added the GEM application to provide an analysis of sequence composition and potential Lateral Gene Transfer (LGT) identification. The GEM application was …

Color Difference Formula And Uniform Color Space Modeling And Evaluation, Shizhe Shen

Theses

Defining color tolerances numerically continues to be a topic of intense interest in colorimetry. A technique was developed to evaluate formula performance that incorporated visual uncertainty. In this technique, visual uncertainty was represented by randomized equal color-difference ellipsoids or randomized visual color differences. STRESS, a multivariate statistical tool, was employed to quantify these randomized equal color-difference ellipsoids or visual color differences. The STRESS clouds were composed of the STRESS values between the randomized equal color-difference ellipsoids and T50 equal color-difference ellipsoids, or between the randomized visual color differences and T50 visual color differences where T50 represented visually determined tolerances equivalent …

Monitoring Reading Fluency Progress With The Use Of Graphs, Emily Lewandowski

Theses

Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is a scientifically based approach used to

collect progress monitoring data, and is often used to monitor reading development.

Graphing a student's reading data over time allows educators to view the student's rate of progress, goal, and interventions. This leads to timely changes to ineffective instructional programs, often resulting in more academic success for students. Graphs can be a communication tool for educators to share progress data with students, parents, and other staff. The current need for educators to monitor student progress has resulted in an increasing need of programs that can be used in the educational …

Optimal Interpolation Grids For Accurate Numerical Solutions Of Singular Ordinary Differential Equations, Michael Margitus

Theses

Researchers are interested in three types of error: experimental error, truncation error, and interpolation error. This thesis will study the last. Given a differential equation g"(x) = f(x) and a fixed number of interpolation grid points, an optimation problem is formulated to minimize the difference between f(x) and its interpolating function, thus reducing the error between the actual solution and the approximated solution of the ODE. Using the Nelder-Mead Simplex Method, the optimal distribution of grid points that will minimize the error between the solution g and its approximated solution will be found. This technique will then be applied to …

Imaging Schizophrenia: Data Fusion Approaches To Characterize And Classify, Andrew M. Michael

Theses

Schizophrenia is a complex, chronic and disabling mental disorder that affects about one percent of the adult population. The etiology of schizophrenia remains elusive and to date there are no image based tools to diagnose it. Advancements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have enabled researchers to develop less invasive and in vivo techniques, such as structural MRI (sMRI), functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to construct theories about the neural underpinnings of schizophrenia. With sMRI, fMRI and DTI the distribution of tissues, the functional activity and the brain network are imaged respectively. Subjects with schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy …

Moral Concerns In Genomic Medicine Beyond Gina, Stuart Paul Reeves

Theses

Genomic medicine, including pharmacogenomics, represents a potential paradigm shift in the diagnosis of disease and delivery of healthcare. Beyond the promise to address and resolve pandemics affecting specific ethnic/racial communities is the potential to develop pharmacological therapies custom tailored to the individual patient¿s genomic profile. However, the delivery of such promise rests on the contribution of genomic samples from individuals in communities where the culpable polymorphisms are present in high volumes. With the potential for an ever-widening disparity in overall population health among the socio-economic tiers in which these communities are often found, a theory of justice is needed to …

A Leader Despite Himself? An Analysis Of The Statesmanship Of Alija Izetbegovic, 1990-2000, Jason Edward Carson

Theses

Although much attention and scholarship have been devoted to the 1992-1995 Bosnian War, very little work has been done on one of the key figures of that conflict, Alija Izetbegovi¿. No biography exists of Izetbegovi¿ in English, nor is there even a serious journal article which thoughtfully analyzes Izetbegovi¿¿s statesmanship during the war. There is a great need then for a work which intelligently analyzes Izetbegovi¿¿s actions during that turbulent time, something I have attempted to do in this thesis. I argue that Alija Izetbegovi¿ was a flawed political leader, who because of reasons of temperament and religious belief was …

Benthic Macroinvertebrate Diversity In A Shallow Estuary: Controls On Nutrient And Algal Dynamics, Natalie Ann Mclenaghan

Theses

Nutrient loading has produced radical shifts in the structure and function of shallow estuaries, with substantial impacts upon the community composition of invertebrates and autotrophs. The progression of eutrophication is regulated by both bottom-up and top-down factors, which may be mediated by fauna via trophic interactions and nutrient release. We conducted field surveys of benthic invertebrates in West Falmouth Harbor (WFH), MA, an estuary subject to localized wastewater enrichment, across a 1 km gradient of suspected degradation. Dominant taxa included gammarid amphipods and nereidid, orbiniid, and capitellid polychaetes, with lower diversity and opportunistic species characterizing the inner basin nearest the …