Digital Commons Network^™

Mutational Studies In The Dntp Binding Pocket Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reverse Transcriptase, Smita Shukla

Theses

It was earlier postulated that Gln 91 of HIV-1 RT stabilizes the side chain of Tyr 183 via hydrogen bonding interaction between 0(H) of Y1 83 and CO of Q91 (Harris et al., BIOCHEMISTRY 37: 9630, 1998). In an attempt to understand the function of Gln 91 in the catalytic mechanism, mutants of this residue (Gln91 - -> Ala and Gln91 - ->Asn) were generated and subjected to an in-depth analysis. The efficiency of reverse transcription of natural U5-PBS HIV-1 RNA template was severely impaired by both conservative and non-conservative substitutions from Gln—>Asn and Gln—> Ala, a result …

Design And Construction Of A Novel Transpalpebral Ophthalmic Tonometer, Philippe R. Moinot

Theses

Glaucoma -- a degeneration of the optic nerve- is a leading cause of blindness which is primarily caused by large fluctuations in intraocular pressure (lOP) known as diurnal variations. Because these peak in the early morning dropping off rapidly, a self administrable and inexpensive lOP home testing procedure is highly desirable. The approach contained herein -- unlike traditional Goldman applanation tonometry which requires the use of ophthalmic anesthetics and complex diagnostic equipment- describes a novel lOP measurement method consisting of concavation of the cornea or sclera through the palpebra superior by the spherical tip of an optoelectronic photodetector suspended in …

Biogeographic Patterns Of Avian Malaria Parasites In The Lesser Antilles: Prevalence, Diversity, And Community Composition, Linda Maria Elenor Svensson

Theses

We investigated determinants of local and regional species richness and community composition of avian malaria parasites (Haemoproteus and Plasmodium) in the Lesser Antilles. Chapter 1 addresses the local parasite richness and community structure, or lack thereof, on Barbados. We found only two parasite lineages on this island, one of which was recovered from only 2 birds, which stands in stark contrast to the much higher diversity on other islands. In addition, we investigated what factors may explain the absence of avian malaria in southeastern Barbados, and found this area to be drier, warmer, and supporting less vegetation. Chapter 2 addresses …

A Comparative Study Of The Robustness Of Voting Systems Under Various Models Of Noise, Derek M. Shockey

Theses

While the study of election theory is not a new field in and of itself, recent research has applied various concepts in computer science to the study of social choice theory, which includes election theory. From a security perspective, it is pertinent to investigate how stable election systems are in the face of noise, disruption, and manipulation. Recently, work related to computational election systems has also been of interest to artificial intelligence researchers, where it is incorporated into the decision-making processes of distributed systems. The quantitative analysis of a voting rule's resistance to noise is the robustness, the probability …

Using Reading Screening Measures To Create Risk Indicators For Student Performance On The New York State English Language Arts Examination, Kimberly Davis

Theses

The purpose of this study was to (a) determine whether the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills Oral Reading Fluency (DORF) measure and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) will accurately predict student failure on statewide assessments of reading performance, and (b) establish risk indicators for both DORF and the DRA that are predictive of student failure on a statewide reading assessment. One hundred ninety-five second grade students were administered DORF probes during the fall, winter, and spring and the DRA during the fall and spring. They were then administered the New York State English Language Arts Examination (NYS ELA) …

Nature And Rites Of Passage, Sowon Joo

Theses

My work tells the story of life and living. We all experience birth and death, and many complicated life events and changes occur during the living of a life. What I deem the most important areas of life are the rites of passage that everyone commonly experiences. The essential passages are birth and death, and between these two events, we all experience physical and intellectual development and growth. Throughout this thesis, my work expresses these rites of passage by metaphor.

In addition to metal, several of my sculptural forms incorporate painting on canvas and sculpted wood: the painting providing atmosphere …

A Survey Of Digital Printing In Home Décor Textiles: 3 Case Studies, Meredith O. Needham

Theses

This thesis examines the rising focus on digital textile printing in the home décor industry. The current textile market is dominated by roto-gravure and screen printing, making small, customized orders impossible. Industry analysts are predicting increases in digital printing because of customers’ increasing demands for a wider selection of products, as well more customized products. This changing desire is termed “mass customization” and is the lens through which the research is conducted. Three digital textile printers were interviewed to find out: 1) what is the current market for digitally printed textiles? 2) what is the workflow for a typical customized …

A Study Of Production Workflows, Technology And Hybrid Printing Models In Small Newspaper Companies, Claudia Cristina Alvarez Casanova

Theses

During the past five to ten years, the evolution of different media, and especially Internet-related services, has had a direct impact on the printed newspaper. Companies that have remained stable for several years are today exploring and employing new mechanisms to increase efficiency while maintaining their audiences. Although web offset has been for long the basic production process for printing newspapers, the latest developments implemented in equipment and software for newspaper production have achieved a high degree of automation in prepress, press, and post-press. At the same time, the demand of younger audiences for increasingly diverse and personalized products—as well …

A Study Of Indian Print Exports To The United States, Karthik Narayan Ravi

Theses

Offshoring is the reality of globalization. According to a survey conducted by trendstowatchgraphics.com, the percentage of American print providers who are worried about US print buyers offshoring their print requirements increased from 1% in 1995 to 7% in 2005. According to a survey conducted by the Graphics Arts Technical Foundation, 40% of the printers in the US think that their current customers are also seeking out offshore printers for their printing needs. According to UN Comtrade, exports of printed matter to the US from China in 2005 amounted to $722 million, and exports of printed matter to the US from …

Evaluation Of The Color Image And Video Processing Chain And Visual Quality Management For Consumer Systems, Abhijit Sarkar

Theses

With the advent of novel digital display technologies, color processing is increasingly becoming a key aspect in consumer video applications. Today’s state-of-the-art displays require sophisticated color and image reproduction techniques in order to achieve larger screen size, higher luminance and higher resolution than ever before. However, from color science perspective, there are clearly opportunities for improvement in the color reproduction capabilities of various emerging and conventional display technologies. This research seeks to identify potential areas for improvement in color processing in a video processing chain. As part of this research, various processes involved in a typical video processing chain in …

Timing Considerations In Visual Communication, Ahmad Eissa Aloumi

Theses

Viewers are surrounded by visual stimuli on a daily basis. These visuals, which may have intriguing and/or exciting qualities, enable designers to propose effective design solutions that could have heightened impact on the viewer. With this in mind, some designers attempt to construct crystal-clear messages that are eye-catching and easily understood, while other designers try to deliver messages enveloped by a planned ambiguity, which offers diverse paths of comprehension. In the end, this intentional ambiguity can eventually guide viewers toward a single understanding. Since ambiguity is an outcome of complex principles related to aesthetic and conceptual decision-making, often it is …

Semi-Automated Dirsig Scene Modeling From 3d Lidar And Passive Imagery, Stephen R. Lach

Theses

The Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) model is an established, first-principles based scene simulation tool that produces synthetic multispectral and hyperspectral images from the visible to long wave infrared (0.4 to 20 microns). Over the last few years, significant enhancements such as spectral polarimetric and active Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) models have also been incorporated into the software, providing an extremely powerful tool for multi-sensor algorithm testing and sensor evaluation. However, the extensive time required to create large-scale scenes has limited DIRSIG’s ability to generate scenes ”on demand.” To date, scene generation has been a laborious, …

Perspectives On Cochlear Implants, Thomastine Sarchet

Theses

Since their inception, the costs and benefits of cochlear implants (CIs) have been an area of considerable interest. Much of the discussion and published research, however, have focused on outcomes for children with implants; very little on adolescent and adult outcomes or the reasons why individuals choose to get implants (or not). Meanwhile, research on implant users typically only has included the "successful" users and the benefits of implantation, primarily with regard to speech and audition. Very little work has been published on mechanical failures of these devices or personal decisions to discontinue implant use. In general, the literature also …

The Influence Of Context On Message-Making And Audience Reception In Graphic Design, Sarah Kirchoff

Theses

The reception of a graphic design solution is greatly affected by the environment in which it is viewed: the space around it, and how it is approached and accessed. Obviously, the designer cannot control the specific life experiences that shape a viewer's personal response, or how that viewer may be situated in a broader, cultural context. Designers often have at least some degree of control over contextual factors that contribute to the message-making potential of a graphic design solution, as well as the form the solution takes, and how it is presented to an audience. When carefully constructed, content, application, …

In All Directions: An Investigation Of Multidirectional Camera-Centric Rigs In Hypothetical Space, Brendan Bond

Theses

Because the world as we know it is quite often dominated by visual information, most human beings have learned to extract and interpolate data efficiently from what they perceive optically. With the advent of new technologies, however, humans are now presented with challenges of viewing the world in many ways previously deemed conventionally impossible. The ultimate purpose of this thesis is to explore the possibilities of multiple virtual “cameras” placed in hypothetical space (virtual space that mimics actual space, with three dimensional axis of translation) from a single point of origin, their integration in coordinate space, and the possibility of …

Fuxi, Tungte Tsao

Theses

A descriptive narration of a project to create a 3-D computer animated film, "FuXi." The story is set around the time of the Qin dynasty in China. This era in China was full of mystery stories or myths. There are an emperor and a Taoist in the story, and both of them are trying to find a way to become immortal.

Multi-Threat Containment With Dynamic Wireless Neighborhoods, Nathan Ransom

Theses

Advances in the areas of robotics have greatly increased the complexity and number of problems that groups of robots are able to solve. This work deals with the use of homogeneous and autonomous robots to dynamically form teams in order to solve a multi-threat containment problem. The multi-threat containment problem has the robot teams surround a number of threats which may occur randomly. Approaches with and without utilizing wireless communication are proposed and analyzed with a focus on the effects of using wireless. Simulation results show the benefit of the proposed integrated algorithm and its performance in different scenarios. Simulations …

Reconfigurable Hardware For Color Space Conversion, Sreenivas Patil

Theses

Color space conversion (CSC) is an important application in image and video processing systems. CSC has been implemented in software and various kinds of hardware. Hardware implementations can achieve a higher performance compared to software-only solutions. Application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are efficient and have good performance. However, they lack the programmability of devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). This thesis studies the performance vs. flexibility tradeoffs in the migration of an existing CSC design from an ASIC to an FPGA. The existing ASIC is used within a commercial color-printing pipeline. Performance is critical in this application. However, …

Effects Of Ionizing Radiation On Nanomaterials And Iii-V Semiconductor Devices., Cory Cress

Theses

Devices based on III-V semiconductors and nanomaterials are expected to be critical components of future microsystems as the demand for greater functionality, range of application, and robustness continue to increase. There currently is a need for small-scale power supplies which can be used to power microsystems thereby enabling autonomous functionalities. The use of III-V semiconductor-based solid state devices and nanomaterials to convert the radiant energy of a radioisotope source into electricity has been investigated as a viable option to fulfill this demand. The energy imparted to a material by incident alpha-particles, resulting in electron-hole pair formation and ionization, may be …

Torn Away, Jonathan Schnapp

Theses

Why am I so afraid all the time? Why do I feel so alone? Why can't I just be like everyone else? This thesis is an attempt to find answers to these and other questions that I face every day—it unearths the very assumptions and perceptions that make up the reality I experience. My strategy is to create a visual context, a common denominator with the outside world so differences and inaccuracies between my perceptions and those of others' become readily apparent. Magazines are a real, physical part of our common cultural landscape and they play a role, even if …

Show And Tell, Andrew Coombs

Theses

I am a potter. I intend my work to be used. I strive to address the subjects of presentation, utility, beauty, and craft in my work. Although I seek to make work that stands on its own, I feel that a piece is not truly complete until it is in use. The pot and its contents should exist symbiotically, each elevating the other to heighten the enjoyment of the meal. In my current body of work, I am decorating the pots with layers of text. The text is a decorative element, as well as a record of my communication with …

Health Impacts From Diesel Freight Emissions: Development Of A Geospatial Analytical Framework For Policy Evaluation With A Case Study Of Sacramento, Ca, Colin Murphy

Theses

Diesel particulate matter, emitted by many types of freight transport, poses a health risk to populations living near freight activity. Accurate information about the magnitude and location of health impacts would help inform policy decisions at a number of levels. Existing methods, including atmospheric dispersion modeling, epidemiology or air quality measurement can estimate the magnitude of harm experienced by populations but these methods often require resources or expertise beyond the reach of some stakeholders, particularly those at local levels. This thesis describes a framework by which health impact estimation can be carried out utilizing readily available models and methodologies in …

Identifying C-Print As A Support Service For Rural, Mainstreamed Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Students, Andrea Hollier

Theses

The main focus of this qualitative research was to identify C-Print to participants who work and/or reside in a rural area. The research included 25 total participants. Eleven of the participants were deaf/hard of hearing students in grades 5-11 and attend various mainstreamed school settings. Fourteen adult participants included 7 teachers of the deaf, 2 parents, 1 adult sibling, 1 administrator and 3 educational interpreters. The participants attended a field trip to RIT/NTID to participate in a presentation/demonstration regarding C-Print. The respondents completed a preliminary questionnaire, post questionnaire and the students participants participated in one-on-one interviews about one to two …

Yzgd Pyridoxal Phosphatase From P. Thiaminolyticus; Subcloning, Expression, And Purification For X-Ray Crystallography Structure Determination, Amanda M. Strassner

Theses

The HAD superfamily contains enzymes that catalyze carbon or phosphate transfer reactions. One family within the HAD superfamily is the p-nitrophenyl phosphatase (PNPPase) family. Members of this family are all phosphatases that cleave the substrate analog pnitrophenyl phosphate, in addition to their biologically significant substrate. Interestingly, among the small number of family members that have been characterized, there is a wide variety of biologically relevant activities. YZGD from Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus has pyridoxal phosphatase activity, catalyzed by a HAD superfamily domain, as well as a CDP-alcohol/sugar nucleotide hydrolase activity, catalyzed by a Nudix hydrolase domain. Determining the structure of this enzyme …

Fpga Design And Performance Analysis Of Sha-512, Whirlpool And Phash Hashing Functions, Przemyslaw Zalewski

Theses

Hashing functions play a fundamental role in modern cryptography. Such functions process data of finite length and produce a small fixed size output referred to as a digest or hash. Typical applications of these functions include data integrity verification and message authentication schemes. With the ever increasing amounts of data that needs to be hashed, the throughput of hashing functions becomes an important factor. This work presents and compares high performance FPGA implementations of SHA- 512, Whirlpool and a recently proposed parallelizable hash function, PHASH. The novelty of PHASH is that it is able to process multiple data blocks at …

Somnambulance, Jon Karafin

Theses

An exhausted man looks for rejuvenation in caffeinated beverages during the lull between lovemaking. Somnambulance is an experimental film exploring the interaction between exhaustion and caffeine through various 2D and 3D techniques. The following thesis discusses the technical and metaphorical considerations that were needed to create the film.

Measurements And Control Of Noise Pollution From Dual Fuel Engine, Abdullah Ahmed Jawi Al Aseery

Theses

This study examines the effects of adding the water to the intake air of a dual fuel engine on the performance and combustion noise. Dual fuel engine is a diesel engine using small amount (5%) liquid diesel fuel as a pilot fuel and burns a liquefied petroleum gas as the main fuel. The addition of water to the combustion chamber has known effects on reducing the dangerous emission of nitrogen oxides. Previous research has attributed the observed reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions to a suppression of flame temperature due to quenching effects from the water, thereby reducing thermal NO_{x …}

Effects Of Natural And Accelerated Weathering On The Performance Of Locally Manufactured Polymer-Modified Bituminous Waterproofing Membranes, Rauda Ali Saeed Al Saadi

Theses

As in most industrial sectors, today there is a growing preoccupation about product quality. Since waterproofing systems are intended to have the longest possible service life, one of the most critical quality features is their aging performance. As a result, the importance of aging tests is steadily growing, especially in the hot-dry climate zones.

Polymer-modified bituminous waterproofing membranes are normally exposed to solar radiation and various weathering conditions when used in residential and commercial buildings. They are attacked and deteriorated to some degree by environmental factors such as heat, radiation, especially ultraviolet, moisture and gases. The weathering (aging) consequences commonly …

On-Chip Probe Metrology, William Robert Farner

Theses

The semiconductor market was valued at over $270 billion in 2007, with projections to continue steady growth [7]. Any manufacturing process of this volume is tightly controlled to ensure high efficiency, and improvements are readily sought after. Despite semiconductor fabrication process advancements allowing circuits to contain larger numbers of transistors in smaller package sizes, there has not been any significant change in the way these circuits interface with test systems before packaging. This limitation causes the area overhead occupied by circuit contacts, known as bond pads, to become increasingly costly. To amend the situation, VLSI designers have attempted to reduce …

Real-Time Fusion And Projection Of Network Intrusion Activity, Stephen Reed Byers

Theses

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) warn of suspicious or malicious network activity and are a fundamental, yet passive, defense-in-depth layer for modern networks. Prior research has applied information fusion techniques to correlate the alerts of multiple IDSs and group those belonging to the same multi-stage attack into attack tracks. Projecting the next likely step in these tracks potentially enhances an analyst’s situational awareness; however, the reliance on attack plans, complicated algorithms, or expert knowledge of the respective network is prohibitive and prone to obsolescence with the continual deployment of new technology and evolution of hacker tradecraft. This thesis presents a real-time …