Digital Commons Network^™

Modeling And Synthesis Of The Hd Photo Compression Algorithm, Seth Groder

Theses

The primary goal of this thesis is to implement the HD Photo encoding algorithm using Verilog HDL in hardware. The HD Photo algorithm is relatively new and offers several advantages over other digital still continuous tone image compression algorithms and is currently under review by the JPEG committee to become the next JPEG standard, JPEG XR. HD Photo was chosen to become the next JPEG standard because it has a computationally light domain change transform, achieves high compression ratios, and offers several other improvements like its ability to supports a wide variety of pixel formats. HD Photo’s compression algorithm has …

Low Bandwidth Eye Tracker For Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscopy, Zachary Harvey

Theses

Use of adaptive optics with scanning laser ophthalmoscopes (AOSLOs) has allowed for in vivo, noninvasive imaging of the human rod and cone pho- toreceptor mosaic. This modality could prove to be a valuable tool for clin- icians in early diagnosis of retinal disease as well as provide invaluable incite for researchers. In order for these instruments to become practical in a clinical environment, many challenges must be overcome. Involuntary eye motion makes the use of AOSLOs particularly difficult as it increases imaging time, post-processing time, data storage requirements, and, most importantly, subject's chances of retinal damage due to light exposure. …

Time-Measuring Device: Making Your Own History Of Remembrance Box With Childhood’S Physical Growth, Sang Hee Huh

Theses

Memories, for most of us, are precious indeed. Reminiscing helps us recall long gone events and a wide range of emotions. However, our recollection is imperfect and we know our memory is limited. Our memories may change or we may forget. We are unwilling to entrust precious memories solely to the unassisted mind. Children, in particular, undergo considerable physical, mental, and emotional changes. It is not easy for them to realize or later recall their growth process without assistance. At present, children can review their growth with different types of records: written data on a medical history, photos in family …

Study Of Hardware And Software Optimizations Of Spea2 On Hybrid Fpgas, Brad Theophila

Theses

Traditional radar technology consists of multiple platforms, each designed to process only a single mission objective, such as Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI), Airborne Moving Target Indication (AMTI) or Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR). This is no longer considered a cost effective solution, thus leading to the increased need for a single radar platform which can perform multiple radar missions. Many algorithms have been developed to specifically address multi-objective design problems. One such approach, the Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm 2 (SPEA2), applies the concept of evolution through a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to the design of simultaneous orthogonal waveforms. The objectives of …

Gather: Multifunctional Unit For Cooking In Small Spaces, Ana Maria Leal Yepes

Theses

This thesis project is a proposal to improve student's life living at college dorms in USA. To accomplish this, a more functional and practical object and also meaningful for students will be design. The main purpose of the object is to meet student's desires and needs of having a fully functional appliance that allows a safe and easy cooking while living at the college dorms. During studies made to students living at college dorms, it was revealed that most of the students struggled cooking and had difficulty assimilating the new eating habits, ending in eating disorders. Despite the fact colleges …

A Content Analysis Of Black Female Athletes And White Female Athletes In Sports Magazines, Amanda N. Wade

Theses

Literature suggests that female athletes receive less coverage in media than male athletes and that representation more often focuses on femininity than athleticism. Yet factors other than gender may influence media representation. Race and gender of target readers may impact representation of female athletes. This study reports the results of a content analysis of representations of white and black female athletes in 92 magazines. Representations of black female and white female athletes in Sports Illustrated, Sports Illustrated for Women and Her Sports from two different time periods, 2000-2002 and 2004-2008, were compared. Results reveal that the race of the female …

Flow Field Analysis In An Expanding Healthy And Emphysematous Alveolar Model Using Particle Image Velocimetry, Jessica Oakes

Theses

Particle deposition in the acinus region of the lung is a significant area of interest, because particles can potentially travel into the bloodstream through the capillaries in the lung. Drugs, in the form of aerosols, small particulates in a volume of air, may be delivered through the respiratory system. Also, toxic, airborne, particles could enter the body through the pulmonary capillaries in the acinus region of the lung. In order to accurately predict particle deposition, the aspects that influence deposition needs to be understood. Many physiological features may influence flow and particle deposition in the lung; the geometry of the …

Barriers For Telecommunication Accessibility And Needs Assessment Of Video Relay Services (Vrs): Utilization Of Vrs For The Deaf Community, Minoru Yoshida

Theses

Approximately 28 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people reside in the United States, and a majority of them benefit from Telecommunications Relay Services which is mandated by Title IV of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Title IV of ADA was drafted based on the provision for TTY services. As Video Relay Services emerged in 2002, it surpassed TTY relay services because of its efficiency compared to the traditional TTY relay. However, Video Relay Services is a relatively new relay format, and no legal mandates for VRS technologies have been established. Thus, there is a strong need for a better understanding …

D-Base: Interactive Digital Fashion Catalogue, Mei-Ling Chen

Theses

There is no doubt development of digital media has had a great impact on the way that people create and view art. Some of the most innovative advances in digital media and graphic design have been developed for advertising and sales through the Internet. The exponential growth in availability of broadband cable Internet access for private residences is providing an opportunity to attract consumers in new and engaging ways. This fact combined with a general perception of a scarcity of free time and a desire to purchase unique goods that may not be readily available in ones local area has …

Imagination And Phenomenal Experience, Blake Austin Myers

Theses

In this paper I argue that the zombie conceivability argument, as developed by David Chalmers, is unsound. My primary contribution in the paper is a critique of the claim that zombies are positively conceivable. I argue that phenomenal experience (that which zombies purportedly lack) is not something we can imagine; it is only something we can have. We can only imagine the contents of experience, and in doing so we have a new phenomenal experience of the imagined contents. Without being able to imagine phenomenal experience we have no way to determine whether a creature we imagine has or lacks …

Hardware/Software Optimizations For Elliptic Curve Scalar Multiplication On Hybrid Fpgas, Glenn Ramsey Jr.

Theses

Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) offers a viable alternative to Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) by delivering equivalent security with a smaller key size. This has several advantages, including smaller bandwidth demands, faster key exchange, and lower latency encryption and decryption. The fundamental operation for ECC is scalar point multiplication, wherein a point P on an elliptic curve defined over a finite field is multiplied by a scalar k. The complexity of this operation requires a hardware implementation to achieve high performance. The algorithms involved in scalar point multiplication are constantly evolving, incorporating the latest developments in number theory to improve computation time. These …

Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy Applied To Indium Arsenide Quantum Dot Structures, Daniel P. Byrnes

Theses

The technique of Scanning Tunneling Optical Resonance Microscopy (STORM) has been investigated for use on nanostructures. It has been demonstrated as a viable technique to characterize both bulk and nanostructured materials by optically pumping the tip-sample junction with variable energy photons thereby changing the electronic signature in the scanning tunneling microscope allowing for the determination of the local absorption spectrum. STORM offers an alternative technique to characterize very small structures that lie beyond the limits of more conventional approaches.

Internet Dependency, Motivations For Internet Use And Their Effect On Work Productivity: The 21st Century Addiction, Megan L. Hilts

Theses

Past research has studied peoples’ addiction to the radio and television. Today some media scholars suggest that one can become addicted to or dependent on the Internet. The present study compares Internet use among college students and full-time employees to determine differences between those who are dependent and non-dependent Internet users, their motivations for Web sites visited and the effect of dependency on work productivity. The present study discovered that dependent Internet users are more likely to report that Internet use negatively affected their work productivity at both school and work and also reported higher levels of motivation for going …

An Fpga Architecture Design Of A High Performance Adaptive Notch Filter, Michael James Szalkowski

Theses

The occurrence of narrowband interference near frequencies carrying information is a common problem in modern control and signal processing applications. A very narrow notch filter is required in order to remove the unwanted signal while not compromising the integrity of the carrier signal. In many practical situations, the interference may wander within a frequency band, in which case a wider notch filter would be needed to guarantee its removal, which may also allow for the degradation of information being carried in nearby frequencies. If the interference frequency could be autonomously tracked, a narrow bandwidth notch filter could be successfully implemented …

Target Detection Using Oblique Hyperspectral Imagery: A Domain Trade Study, Josef Bishoff

Theses

Hyperspectral imagery (HSI) has proven to be a useful tool when considering the task of target detection. Various processes have been developed that manipulate HSI data in different ways in order to render the data useable for target detection activities. A fundamental initial step in each of these processes is ensuring that the HSI data set obtained is in the same domain as the target’s spectral signature. In general, remotely sensed HSI is collected in terms of digital counts which are calibrated to units of radiance, whereas spectral target signatures are normally available in units of reflectance. This work investigates …

A Homography-Based Multiple-Camera Person-Tracking Algorithm, Matthew Robert Turk

Theses

It is easy to install multiple inexpensive video surveillance cameras around an area. However, multiple-camera tracking is still a developing field. Surveillance products that can be produced with multiple video cameras include camera cueing, wide-area traffic analysis, tracking in the presence of occlusions, and tracking with in-scene entrances. All of these products require solving the consistent labelling problem. This means giving the same meta-target tracking label to all projections of a realworld target in the various cameras. This thesis covers the implementation and testing of a multiple-camera peopletracking algorithm. First, a shape-matching single-camera tracking algorithm was partially re-implemented so that …

Process-Structure-Property Relationships Of Resorbable Desamino Tyrosine Derived Polymers : Effect Of Backbone Chemistry And Assembly On Drug Delivery, Pinar Nebol

Theses

The selection the correct biomaterial for a specific medical application plays an important role for the success of both application and the device. Since different applications require different properties, investigation and improvement of biomaterials with different properties are very important. L-tyrosine derived polymers enable the manipulation of the properties of the material by changing backbone or pendent chain structure. L-tyrosine derived polyarylate is one of the class of these materials.

This study investigates the behavior of the tyrosine derived polyarylates under in vitro conditions. The change of structure caused by incubation in phosphate buffer solution and the effect on the …

A Virtual Training Environment For Wheelchair Mounted Robot, Elizabeth Leichtnam

Theses

A model of a robotic manipulator designed to respond to different inputs from users with different skills or conditions is presented. This model can be adapted to different input variables and converted into joint angles which relate to movement in space of the manipulator's links. The algorithm allows for real time response and the features of the virtual environments (i.e., 3D design, stereoscopic vision) gives the designers the opportunity to use this model for training and usability evaluation according to the skills and different conditions that users could present.

Two types of virtual environments were created aiming to be used …

Altered Brain Activity In Autistic Children Versus Healthy Controls While Performing Simple Tasks Using Fmri, Donald Martin Adams Jr.

Theses

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies dealing with Autistic children have primarily been concerned with cognitive facial recognition. Recent studies have demonstrated that Autistic children, when compared to healthy matched controls, exhibit higher neuronal activity when identifying patterns or objects, but lower levels of activity in regards to facial recognition.

The objective of this study was to examine both facial and object recognition and compare them to simple sensorimotor tasks. All subjects were administered 5 stimuli each lasting 320 seconds. Subjects were instructed to use a button press box to identify between a Person/Object and an Arrow/Object. They were then …

Automated Multi-Well Neural Injury Device, Linda Y. Chen

Theses

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a wide spread pathological problem occurring in 1.4 million individuals every year according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. There are several types of TBI and the most prominent ones are concussion, contusion, hematoma, coup-contrecoup injury and diffuse axonal injury (DAI). The most severe type and the one that is the hardest to diagnose is DAI. DAI occurs mostly due to accidents relating to automobile, motorcycles and in some cases fall and assault, resulting in a "shearing" phenomenon of the brain. Patients with DAI can range from being, mildly injured, severely disabled …

Raman Scattering In Free Standing Porous Si Films, Thenappan Chidambaram

Theses

In this thesis, Raman Scattering of free standing porous silicon on sapphire samples of controllably varying porosity is studied. The free standing, fully crystalline porous silicon films were prepared by electrochemical etching and the porous structure were lifted-off by a procedure based on electro-polishing. During Raman scattering measurements, the samples are exposed to relatively high intensity laser radiation. Free-standing porous Si sample temperature and thermal conductivity are calculated by comparing intensities of Stokes and anti-Stokes Raman peaks. Compared to crystalline Si, we find strong decrease in thermal conductivity accompanied by a change in the phonon spectra. Also, comparing Stokes and …

Thermal And Morphological Analysis Of Collagen-Plla Electrospun Blends, Angana Banerjee

Theses

Electrospinning of bovine Type I collagen and Poly (L-lactic acid) produces blended nanofiber scaffolds that may have application in tissue engineering, wound dressing and drug delivery.

The goal of this research work was to produce and characterize blended nanofibers of a protein, collagen, and a synthetic polymer, poly (L-lactic acid). This study focuses on the in-depth analysis of the appearance of the structural relaxation occurring at the glass transition temperature of PLLA in the collagen-PLLA blended electrospun mats. It is speculated that occurrence of this thermal event is more prominent in PLLA with high molecular weight due to the presence …

Surface Recordings Of Evoked Field Potentials From The Cerebellum With A Flexmea Microelectrode Array, Jonathan David Groth

Theses

The cerebellum is an integral part of multijoint control. There are two input pathways to the cerebellar cortex, the mossy fiber and the climbing fiber pathways. The mossy fiber pathway forms a disynaptic input to Purkinje cells through the granular cells. This disynaptic input produces a multicomponent field potential composed of the P1, N 1, N2, N3, N4, and P3 waves. The climbing fiber input forms a monosynaptic input to the Purkinje cells and thus creates a much simpler field potential.

The mossy and climbing fiber field potentials were recorded with a FlexMEA microelectrode array from the pial surface of …

Synthesis Of Corn-Derived Carbohydrate Derivatives As Effective Multifunctional Sunscreen, Xianhong Feng

Theses

The eighty-years-old sunscreen industry is sustained by the growing incidence of skin cancer and the continual exploration of skin aging. From the UVB-induced erythema to the UVA-induced persistent pigment darkening, scientists have used versatile methods to reveal that not only does UVB damage skin but also that longer wavelengths such as UVAIL (290nm ~ 340nm) and UVAL rays (340nm ~ 400nm) trigger skin cancer, premature skin aging and immunosuppression.

To meet a significant demand for improved photoprotection, a broad-spectrum sunscreen with a high extinction coefficient has been desired. As part of our ongoing studies on isosorbide-cinnamate derivatives, this work have …

Derivation Of The Respiratory Rate Signal From A Single Lead Ecg, Murtaza M. Lakdawala

Theses

It has been long established that respiration has an influence on heart rate, and this effect is called respiratory sinus arrhythmia. As a result, two inferences can be postulated: first respiration information can be derived from cardiac activity, and second this effect offers the potential of removing the respiration effect that suppresses cardiac information which is of clinical significance. As a result of research performed at NJIT, there is a significant amount of data on exercise and heart rate recovery, but not the associated respiration signal. The motivation of this research was to compare and implement an optimal ECG derived …

Experimental Investigation Of The Fluid Velocity Distribution In Stirred Tank Reactors Equipped With Retreat-Blade Impellers Using Laser Doppler Velocimetry, Deepak Rajesh Madhrani

Theses

Stirred tank reactors are commonly used in the pharmaceutical industry for synthesis of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API's) and their intermediates. Typically, these vessels are glass-lined and are provided with a single retreat-blade glass-lined impeller and a single baffle. Despite their ubiquitous utilization in the pharmaceutical industry for at least the past 40 years, the mixing characteristics of these systems have not been studied to any great extent, making it difficult to predict mixing performance in any given operation.

In this work, the velocity distribution inside the typical glass-lined vessel/impeller system was experimentally quantified using Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV), which is …

Synthesis And Analysis Of Carbon Nanowalls And Their Raman Spectroscopy, Amit Mahajan

Theses

Growth of Carbon Nanowalls has been carried out by Radio Frequency Chemical Vapor Deposition (RF-PECVD) on various substrates. Hydrogen was used as an active gas for the growth where as Ethanol bubbled with Argon was used as carbon source for formation of Carbon Nanowalls (CNW). The growth was then confinned by Raman Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images. Also the need of using catalyst in CNW has been analyzed. The intensities of D and G bands obtained from Raman spectrum have been related to the length of Graphene walls, to study the CNW's length on different substrates.

The growth …

The Synergistic Effect Of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields And Demineralized Bone Matrix On The Osteogenic Differentiation Of Mesenchymal Stem Cells, John Manocchio

Theses

Orthopaedic bone grafting continues to be a mainstay in the treatment of non unions and other difficult to heal bone defects. Tissue engineering strategies have focused on providing bone graft materials that are osteoconductive, osteoinductive and osteogenic in order to achieve optimal bone healing. Furthermore, electrical stimulation technologies such as pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) have been used to enhance the effectiveness of bone graft materials. PEMP has been shown to have a synergistic effect with BMP-2 and it was hypothesized that PEMF would have the same effect with demineralized bone matrix (DBM). In the present study human mesenchymal stem cells …

Interactions Between Adult Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells And Nanofibrous Scaffolds Of Different Compositions, Lisamarie Moore

Theses

Stem cells have become increasingly important in the biomedical field because they have the potential to invade and regenerate damaged tissue. In particular, the bone marrow contains meesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have the capacity to differentiate into many cell lineages. The incorporation of MSCs within a multidimensional biomaterial provides a delivery vehicle to areas of injury. Natural and synthetic biomaterials can be made into scaffolds to represent different types of tissues. The ratio of synthetic to natural biomaterials in the scaffold influences the interaction with MSCs. This thesis created two different nanofibrous scaffolds by a process of electrospinning. The …

A Comparative Study Of Common Crosslinking Agents For Electrospun Collagen Scaffolds, Pallavi Masih

Theses

Cartilage injury is one of the leading causes of knee pain in the world. Over two million Americans suffer from cartilage injury every year, resulting in swelling, pain or joint impairment, causing it difficult to maintain an active life style. Synthetic grafts are used extensively to restore tissue functions. The major drawback limiting successful incorporation of synthetic grafts in body is their lower ability to integrate to natural tissue, poor biocompatibility which often results in triggering immunogenic responses, causing graft rejection. Collagen is thus studied and used excessively as a successful implantable material. The reason being that it is natural …