Digital Commons Network^™

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 …

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 …

The Ephemeral Form And Objects Of Inspection, Desireé Rose Schanding

Theses

The series The Ephemeral Form is my attempt to communicate the ways in which women are similar in order to empower women so that they may overcome their differences creating a way for more open communication. This series of prints explore the notion of femaleness from a personal perspective and aesthetic. The main subject in each piece is the female torso as a static figure or a figure in motion. There is a specimen-like quality to the images as well as direct references to medieval panel paintings. Within each image the torso of the female is transparent revealing the biology …

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 …

The Effect Of Image Size On The Color Appearance Of Image Reproductions, Mahdi Nezamabadi

Theses

Original and reproduced art are usually viewed under quite different viewing conditions. One of the interesting differences in viewing condition is size difference. The main focus of this research was investigation of the effect of image size on color perception of rendered images. This research had several goals. The first goal was to develop an experimental paradigm for measuring the effect of image size on color appearance. The second goal was to identify the most affected image attributes for changes of image size. The final goal was to design and evaluate algorithms to compensate for the change of visual angle …

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 …

Hardware Study On The H.264/Avc Video Stream Parser, Michelle M. Brown

Theses

The video standard H.264/AVC is the latest standard jointly developed in 2003 by the ITUT Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) and the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). It is an improvement over previous standards, such as MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, as it aims to be efficient for a wide range of applications and resolutions, including high definition broadcast television and video for mobile devices. Due to the standardization of the formatted bit stream and video decoder many more applications can take advantage of the abstraction this standard provides by implementing a desired video encoder and simply adhering to the bit …

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 …

Neural Characteristics Of Affectionate Communicators: Trait Affection And Asymmetry In The Prefrontal Cortex, Robert Joel Lewis

Theses

Individual differences in thresholds for affectionate communication should be reflected by differences in neurological structure and function. A theoretical schema from several overlapping literatures including evolutionary psychology, social neuroscience, fundamental personality, and communication are examined to make the case that high-affection communicators have greater relative electrical activity in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) versus the right PFC reflected in asymmetrical baseline EEG recordings. Participants (N=16) reported trait-affection levels using Floyd?s (2002) TAS-G, which measures an individual?s threshold for expressing affection. Participants? baseline electrical activity was then recorded. Asymmetry was operationalized as the difference between microvolt (μV) values of laterally opposed …

Automated Processes For Sarbanes-Oxley Risk Management In A Unix Environment, Matthew Bahrenburg

Theses

Not Included

Mobility In China: A Conceptual Take On A Personal Vehicle For China In 2020 That Enhances Maneuverability, Jonathan Eziquiel-Shriro

Theses

China has the largest projected automobile market in the world, expected to surpass the United States as the largest car market in the world by 2025. The combination of large population, a mass movement of citizens to cities, and a pollution crisis creates unique opportunities in China for automobile design. The first generations of Chinese to embrace the automobile have been attracted to them by the same values that have been embraced by the West such as prestige, a reflection of personal success, and a sense of freedom of movement. This attraction has given rise to traditional brands such as …

Realistic Texture In Simulated Thermal Infrared Imagery, Jason T. Ward

Theses

Creating a visually-realistic yet radiometrically-accurate simulation of thermal infrared (TIR) imagery is a challenge that has plagued members of industry and academia alike. The goal of imagery simulation is to provide a practical alternative to the often staggering effort required to collect actual data. Previous attempts at simulating TIR imagery have suffered from a lack of texture—the simulated scenes generally failed to reproduce the natural variability seen in actual TIR images. Realistic synthetic TIR imagery requires modeling sources of variability including surface effects such as solar insolation and convective heat exchange as well as sub-surface effects such as density and …

Transitions, Kevin R. Mulcahy

Theses

None provided

Bystander, Paul D. Van Hoy

Theses

My thesis raises existential questions about identity and the construction of meaning using language as a premise and platform to provoke inquiry about the distinction between various classifications of viewer. A reexamination of the term bystander compelled me to create violently themed imagery in order to locate boundaries within viewership roles. Although it shares similarities with the roles of observer, spectator, and witness, in terms of the bystanderʼs visual observance of an event, there are unclear connotations that allude to varying degrees of lucidity and sentience among these roles. The agency of the viewer is evaluated by his/her level of …

Untitled, Matt Gehring

Theses

This thesis examines the understanding and visual perception of photographs. My work investigates the role that difference plays in one’s ability to perceive depth between planes. Through the visual representation of various temporal phenomena, it is possible to begin a discourse about difference, in relation to perception. This thesis document and the accompanying exhibition address themes of illusion, abstraction, repetition, and the infinite. All of which can be affected by subtle variance in color, light, and orientation. These slight variations affect how a viewer perceives the other photographs in the exhibition. The ambiguity of perspective in the images relies heavily …

The Effect Of Polymer Composition And Structure On The Photo-Fries Rearrangement, Glen David Labenski

Theses

The objective of research presented in this thesis is to elucidate the effect of polymer composition and structure on the photo-Fries rearrangement in polymers bearing aryl ester moieties. Towards this end, a systematic study wherein constraint, proximity, and dielectric constant were varied was carried out. This study was enabled by the synthesis of poly(phenylacrylate), poly(p-acetoxystyrene) and copolymers of phenylacrylate or p-acetoxystyrene with ethylacrylate, butylacrylate and 2- hydroxyethylmethacrylate. In addition, siloxane polymers with pendant aryl ester groups were also synthesized. Varying constraint by tethering aryl esters to the polymer backbone at the ester group, tethering aryl esters to the polymer backbone …

Part I: Studies Toward The Total Synthesis Of Trocheliophorolide A. Part Ii: Studies On The Development Of A Palladium-Catalyzed Carbonylative Cross-Coupling Towards The Synthesis Of Alkenyl Alkynyl Ketones, William T. Spencer

Theses

In Part I, efforts toward the total synthesis of a novel antibacterial γ-lactone, Trocheliophorolide A, are described. The natural product was isolated from Red Sea soft corals S. trocheliophorum and L. arboreum. Biological assays show that this compound exhibits significant growth inhibition of bacterial cell lines S. aureus and B. subtilis. The structure consists of an (S)-β-angelica lactone ring connected to an ynediene side chain. Our strategy employs synthesis of the lactone ring as a stannylfuranone, which will be Stille coupled with vinylidene dibromide to form an alkenyl bromide. This alkenyl bromide will be cross-coupled with an enynyl metal species …

The Academic English Literacy Acquisition Experiences Of Deaf College Students, Kathryn Schmitz

Theses

The purpose of this dissertation was to describe deaf college students’ perceptions of their experiences learning academic English literacy. The study examined the narrated academic English literacy acquisition experiences and practices of 11 deaf and hard-ofhearing students at a hearing university with a large deaf student population. Through paradigmatic analysis of narrative data, the study located common themes that revealed their perceptions of academic English literacy acquisition. The study was conducted with deaf students attending a college for deaf and hardof- hearing students, which is one of eight colleges at a major northeastern university. Methods employed in the study were …

Collector, Larissa Cleveland

Theses

This thesis compliments my photographic investigation into an individual and societal preoccupation with collecting and the narrative or symbolic power of objects. My experiences as a child surrounded by my father’s mass collection of civil war artifacts prompted my continued interest in the pursuit of collecting and also to question the nature of hobby versus obsession. In this paper, I consider the personal and social conditions present in Western society that inform an inherent need to possess, create order, gain status, knowledge and to preserve. I discuss the creation of a persona through possession, but also question to what extent …

Implementing Efficient 384-Bit Nist Elliptic Curves Over Prime Fields On An Arm946e, Tracy Vanameron

Theses

This thesis presents a performance evaluation of a 384-bit NIST elliptic curve over prime fields on a 32-bit ARM946E microprocessor running at 100-MHz. While adhering to the constraints of an embedded system, the following items were investigated to decrease computation time: the importance of the underlying finite arithmetic, the use of hardware accelerators, the use of memory options, and the use of available processor features. The elliptic curve implementation utilized existing finite arithmetic C code to interface to an AiMEC Montgomery Exponentiator Core. The exponentiator core supports modular addition, modular multiplication, and exponentiation. The finite arithmetic C code also contained …

The Use Of Molecular Scatology To Study River Otter (Lontra Canadensis) Genetics, Barbara Mcelwee

Theses

North American river otters (Lontra canadensis) were extirpated throughout all of Western New York due to habitat loss, pollution, and trapping. Between 1995 and 2000, 279 river otters were released throughout Western New York, 31 of which were released in the Genesee river watershed. Since their release there have been no followup studies on the river otters until the RIT River Otter Lab was formed in 2004. Researchers surveyed three local creeks to record data on toilet site locations and collect otter feces in order to perform dietary and genetic analyses. Through the use of molecular scatology I extracted DNA …

Visual Agreement Of Spot Color Overprints As Displayed And As Printed, Sri Hemanth Prakhya

Theses

The spot color system has several discrepancies within it, as it lacks the support system and strong fundamental color management system that the process color system has. It has been proven that the display and print reproduction of process colors is predictable; however, for spot colors, the predictability is questionable. The intent of the thesis research is to assess the accuracy of the premedia software tools for a softproofing setup of the spot colors and their overprints. The research experiment is examined on the most available scenarios of softproofing for spot colors, under a streamlined and controlled methodology that provides …

Human Activity Recognition Using Limb Component Extraction, Jamie Boeheim

Theses

in the field of human activity recognition has existed for quite sometime, but has gained popularity in recent years for use in many areas of application. In the security industry, suspicious activities could be detected in high-profile areas. In the medical industry, systems could be trained to detect patterns of motion indicating distress or to detect a lack of motion if a person had fallen and was unable to move. However, algorithms with reliable accuracy are difficult to implement in a real-time environment due to computational complexity. This thesis developed a new way of extracting and using data from a …