Digital Commons Network^™

Self-Portrait, Hong Seon Jang

Theses

My primary aim is to investigate and analyze the ways in which my cultural identity as an Asian artist has been shaped, redefined, and recognized, and how my questions of cultural identities cannot be separated from the broader context of major social, philosophical, and cultural exchanges under the guise of 'Globalization.' [...] The thesis project is a continuation of my inquiries about my cultural identity and how my interpretation of others in the concepts of my art practice has been affected by the authoritative standards of art and humanities set by Western powers over the centuries. I seek to understand …

School Days, Hope Rovelto

Theses

My thesis exhibition, 'School Days,' is a collection of autobiographical sculptures. My thesis is inspired by the difficult memories of my childhood education. During school I felt condescension from my teachers and peers; I felt like I was actually wearing a dunce cap. This body of work represents the feeling of being ostracized from others in a classroom. I used the form of school chairs for my sculpture. The school chairs are the primary metaphor reflecting my early formal education. We, western industrial society, have an almost universal relationship with the school chair. As an artist, I use its form …

Office Foody: Conceptual Restaurant Website Development, Chih-Wei Hsu

Theses

The conceptual restaurant website "OFFICE FOODY" offers users a new experience of ordering their meal via the Internet.

Through this website, the restaurant is allowed to receive customer's order and start to prepare their food immediately. Just like sometimes, we make an order when waiting in the long line during rush hour, this time the users can make an order simply in their office.

Besides, by designing the 2D visual environment based on a restaurant metaphor, the users can not only make their orders, but also customize their favorite setting. Furthermore, the reservation and E-mail interlace in the website are …

Si Dios Quiere ..., Katrina Marcelle D'Autremont

Theses

This thesis explores issues of closeness and distance within families. By looking at how aspects of cultural identity further complicate this dynamic as well as how photography is used as a way of mapping a family character, this thesis encompasses topics ranging from Argentine artists to early daguerreotype photography. Using her own Argentine- American heritage as a subject for the photographs, the artist focuses on her grandfather's apartment in Argentina, which acts as a stage, and character in her family story. Traditional modes of photographic posing are borrowed and explored in this work, not only to reference the old photographs …

The Effects Of Writing About Positive Reminiscence On Happiness With Adolescents, Alison M. Senter

Theses

Much research has been done with adults in the field of positive psychology, reminiscence, and journal writing. Previous findings reveal that reminiscing about positive memories enhances one's happiness, well-being, life satisfaction, and self-continuity. The current study sought to expand this to adolescence. A group of 19 male and female ninth graders from a northeastern, suburban high school were assigned to a positive reminiscence or a daily hassles journal writing group. Analyses revealed significant effects on participants' positive affect; journal writing in general and specifically writing only about positive memories both significantly increased participants' ratings of perceived positive affect. However, no …

Automated Grazing Management, Gregory J. Von Pless

Theses

Management-intensive grazing is a grazing management strategy that relies on careful monitoring of animals at pasture and frequent relocation of animals between various regions of the pasture, or paddocks, in order to maximize the nutrients and sustenance the animals obtain through grazing. When applied successfully, this approach to grazing management yields higher animal production, while cutting feed costs; however, a great deal of overhead is introduced in monitoring and moving the animals throughout the pasture, making this approach very difficult to implement at a large scale. Recent successes in the field of dynamic virtual fencing have demonstrated the feasibility of …

Minimization Of Halftone Noise In "Flat" Regions For Improved Print Quality, Harsha Narne

Theses

The work in this thesis proposes a novel algorithm for enhancing the quality of "flat" regions in printed color image documents. The algorithm is designed to identify the "flat" regions based on certain criteria and filter these regions to minimize the noise prior and post Halftoning so as to make the hard copy look visibly pleasing. Noise prior to halftone process is removed using a spatial Gaussian filter together with a Hamming window, concluded from results after implementing various filtering techniques. A clustered dithering is applied in each channel of the image as Halftoning process. Furthermore, to minimize the post …

A Framework For Integrating Dna Sequenced Data, Prabin Dutta

Theses

The Human Genome Project generated vast amounts of DNA sequenced data scattered in disparate data sources in a variety of formats. Integrating biological data and extracting information held in DNA sequences are major ongoing tasks for biologists and software professionals. This thesis explored issues of finding, extracting, merging and synthesizing information from multiple disparate data sources containing DNA sequenced data, which is composed of 3 billion chemical building blocks of bases. We proposed a biological data integration framework based on typical usage patterns to simplify these issues for biologists. The framework uses a relational database management system at the backend, …

The Manufactured Experience, Debra Ruzinsky

Theses

Repeatedly what I see around me are places and messages that generate manufactured experiences, manipulated by someone with an agenda to promote. My thesis work, entitled "Sweet Reassurance," is a personal approach to re-invention; a conceptually driven body of work that explores my obsession with irony, a need to vent frustration with public policy, complacency, and misguided priorities. The work springs from a notion to create proposals for architectural projects that are rather absurd and could never really be realized. They are my brand of visionary architecture, existing somewhere between the Utopian and the Dystopian. I have developed a vocabulary …

Perceptions Of Advertising In Online Social Networks: In-Depth Interviews, Zeljka Hadija

Theses

Advertising in online social networks is a major unexplored advertising area. However, interactivity on the Internet shifts the ways in which users perceive advertising, and whether they perceive it at all. This research study focuses on college students, users of online social networks, as main sources of information that helps advertisers understand the ways in which advertisements are perceived online. Through the personal in-depth interviews, using Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique, it has been revealed that only 20% of online social network users notice advertisements while using online social networks. The content found in online social networks inhibits viewing advertisements. This …

The Application Of Lc-Ms Technologies For The Detection Of Triazine Herbicides In Water, Michael Cahill

Theses

The triazine herbicides, including, simazine (6-chloro-N,N’-diethyl-1,3,5-triazine-2,4- diamine), atrazine (2-chloro-4-ethylamino-6-isopropylamino-l,3,5-triazine) and cyanazine were developed as selective weed killers. Their design function is to disrupt the photosynthesis of broad-leafed plants. In the intensive production of grasses (e.g. wheat, cereals, etc.) broad-leafed plants growing in the grass production area are economically costly, competitors with the grasses for nutrients; their removal is facilitated by triazines herbicides and simazine and atrazine are the predominant compounds used. Significant amounts of triazine herbicides are consumed by the agricultural industry each year. However, due to the indiscriminate use of pesticides/herbicides, traces of herbicides have been found in run-off …

Precision Coil Inspection, Karol Murphy

Theses

Boston Scientific produces the Guglielmi Detachable Coil in their Cork based facility. These are used in a surgical procedure to eliminate aneurysms. The first step in the process is to form a coil by wrapping a platinum wire around a mandrel. These coils have outer diameters ranging from 190 pm to 520pm. This is called the primary wind and is inspected to find any defects introduced into the coil from the winding process. These defects may be the result of wire defects in the raw material or possibly poor handling by the operators. These primary winds are processed further to …

Treatment Of Industrial Wastewater Containing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients With A Membrane Bioreactor, With The Aim Of Reducing Resource Consumption, Pádraig Colm Ó'Maolcatha

Theses

The biodegradation of a selected active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) during wastewater treatment in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was examined experimentally. A comparison study was conducted by operating a conventional activated sludge (CAS) pilot plant in parallel to the MBR. The MBR was operated under varying conditions of pH (pH6 and pH8), MLSS (6g/L and l0g/L) and SRT (20 days and 30 days) according to a full factorial design of experiments. In the CAS, pH and SRT were altered as above but MLSS was maintained at 3-4g/L. Comparable average API removal results of 95.5% and 95.7% were obtained for the MBR …

Assessment Of Informal Learning: Critical Review Of Current Methodologies And Research Into Appropriate Instrument(S), Deirdre Goggin

Theses

This thesis seeks to examine the recognition and formal assessment of informal and non- formal learning, paying particular attention to the methodologies that are currently being used and identifying the possibility of more appropriate instruments. This examination is conducted within the context of the national emphasis on the creation of a learning and knowledge intense society, the requirements necessary for this to become a reality and the increasing discussion on the recognition of informal and non formal education and training.

In order to discuss the above comprehensively, this research will examine the Irish education framework which supports the recognition of …

Non-Eea (European Economic Area) Entrepreneurs Face No Additional Barriers Than Their Eu Counterparts, When Starting A Business In Ireland., Anthony Garvey

Theses

Do ethnic minority entrepreneurs (EMEs) seeking to start up a business in Ireland operate on a level playing field with their EU counterparts? Or are there unique barriers that EMEs face and if so, what are they and how do we tackle them?

This dissertation examines all of these questions and reveals whether racism or red tape, lack of finance or language skills is suffocating ethnic entrepreneurship more.

It explores the very latest research papers, and reports and combines both qualitative and quantitative data, with a series of semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire aimed squarely at entrepreneurs.

The dissertation discovers …

Art Therapy Student Placement : Challenge And Opportunity?, Niamh Kennedy

Theses

The purpose of this research project is to explore the sector of Student Placement as it forms a significant part of the training programme on the MA in Art Therapy in Cork. The study aims to assess the effectiveness of this part of the educational process for trainees and investigate the impact the Clinical Placement experience has on Student Art Therapists.

By reflecting on the advancement of Art Therapy in our neighbouring isle and exploring the growth of Art Therapy as a profession in the Republic of Ireland, this study aims to chronicle a more recent Irish history of Art …

Feasibility Of Utilising Construction And Demolition Waste And Dredge Material As Landflll Liner, John David Riordan

Theses

Construction and demolition (C&D) waste and dredge material are significant bulk waste streams in the Republic of Ireland. This thesis examines the feasibility of combining these waste streams to produce a viable novel geotechnical clay liner for landfill.

This thesis includes a literature review and a detailed study of C&D waste, dredge material and landfill liners in Ireland. The research for this thesis includes a geotechnical laboratory test programme. Samples of C&D waste and dredge material were collected and tested to establish relevant characteristics. In addition, a senes of tests were commissioned on test samples to establish their chemical and …

Cold Atom Physics: Trapping Methods And Detection Schemes., Thejesh N. Bandi

Theses

The work presented in this thesis is concerned with the manipulation of laser- cooled rubidium atoms and the detection of small numbers of cold atoms using very sensitive light detectors. Laser-cooled atoms are atoms that have been slowed to very low velocities, corresponding to temperatures of the order of 100 //K, and they can be trapped in magnetic and/or optical traps. The advantage of using cold atoms for experiments in atomic and quantum physics stems from the fact that these atoms are effectively confined within a region of space and this provides longer interaction and observation times compared to atoms …

Model-Based Instrumentation Of Distributed Applications, Jan Schäfer

Theses

Problems such as inconsistent or erroneous instrumentation often plague applications whose source code is manually instrumented during the implementation phase. Integrating performance instrumentation capabilities into the Model Driven Software Development (MDSD) process would greatly assist software engineers who do not have detailed knowledge of source code instrumentation technologies. This thesis presents an approach that offers instrumentation support to software designers and developers. A collection of instrumentation patterns is defined to represent typical instrumentation scenarios for distributed applications. A UML profile derived from these patterns is then used to annotate UML models. Based on suitable code generation templates, the annotated models …

The Influence Of Health Inquiries On Clinical Governance Systems: A Case Study Of The Douglas Inquiry, Heather Gluyas

Theses

Major failures in patient safety often lead to high profile inquiries set up to establish the facts, and to identify areas of improvement to prevent further failures. In order to learn from inquiries, we need to be able to identify if, and how, the inquiry process influences improvements. Using a case study strategy, this research study examined the perceptions of external stakeholders in regards to the impact or influence of the Douglas Inquiry on KEMH’s clinical governance systems. The research focused on two areas that were highlighted in the final Inquiry report as requiring reform. These systems deal with the …

Research In Aboriginal Contexts: Kimberley Voices, Luke Taaffe

Theses

As a result of the enduring legacy of negative Australian history and culturally inappropriate past research practices, Aboriginal peoples are generally suspicious and mistrusting of research and researchers, particularly non-Indigenous researchers. Poor relations, paternalistic policies, racial discrimination and the inherent unequal power distribution in research relationships has seen many Aboriginal communities exploited, studied as ‘the other’, robbed of intellectual property, sacred artefacts and human remains. The introduction of ethical research guidelines in recent times has since improved contemporary researcher practices; however the lack of grassroots Aboriginal community consultation regarding appropriate, culturally competent research practices led the researcher to ask Aboriginal …

Practical Rationality In The Nicomachean Ethics: An Investigation Into The Use Of Craft Analogies In Relation To Practical Wisdom (Phronesis) And Happiness (Eudaimonia), Tom Vanderveen

Theses

This thesis is an investigation into Aristotle’s use of craft analogies in the Nicomachean Ethics, as instructional to his concept of practical wisdom and happiness. For Aristotle, ethics is predominantly a practice, thus the focus is on practical rationality rather than theory. For this reason, Aristotle’s discussion of ethics lends itself to the use of craft analogy, in that craft is a practice. It is argued that while being a good pedagogical tool, craft analogies fall short, because they do not cover the full gamut of human experience.

Localized Manufacturing And The Future Of Products, Rob Englert

Theses

This paper proposes a new approach to manufacturing products: one that is environmentally friendly, ethically sound and economically viable. Localized manufacturing, and more specifically, Retail Manufacturing (RM) is the concept of retail outlets using advanced additive fabrication processes to print products on demand. RM will streamline many of the steps involved with transporting products to end users. RM will also allow greater end-user participation in the design process, giving consumers more control over product features and aesthetics with a higher level of customization to meet their unique user needs. RM will create and sustain well-paying technical employment opportunities, thus helping …

Structural Validity Of The Mood And Behavior Rating Scale For Youth – Parent Form (Mbrsy-Pf): A Parent Informant Questionnaire To Assess Bipolar Disorder In Children And Adolescents, Laura A. Nemcek

Theses

Empirically validated techniques to reliably assess for bipolar disorder in children and adolescents are crucial toward timely and effective treatment efforts. Rating scales and behavior checklists are often considered a valuable alternative to the semi-structured interview, as they can provide quantified information regarding symptom experience, and values can be compared to both age and gender norms as a supplement to clinical expertise (Kahana, Youngstrom, Findling, & Calabrese, 2003). Converse to semistructured interviews, rating scales are brief and time efficient, inexpensive, simple to administer, require much less training to deliver and interpret, and can be utilized for screening purpose by a …

Transmute, Joseph Montroy

Theses

Man has an enduring subconscious connection with anthropological imagery and narrative. This association extends to the methods and practices that place importance on certain objects over others. In every culture throughout history the shared understanding of existence has been determined by images, symbols and archetypes. Intuitive logic and shared unconscious knowledge pervaded the daily lives of pre-modern man. Early people maintained a stronger connection with nature, spirituality and the subconscious. Archaic man acknowledged one stone among many as possessing spiritual properties. That stone could become a sacred receptacle that differentiated it from all others and saturated it with meaning and …

Recollection, Erika Tada

Theses

My central thesis meaning is seeking to recollect my authentic experiences and memories, and to encapsulate my emotions and any "small happiness" I encounter. For the concept of preservation of my memories, I intend to document important times and places by recalling my childhood and family history, and to make my memories eternal. During the process of creating my glass art, I can signify my personal experience in relation to my inner life. I am working with my feelings, and I make objects important and of great reverence in my life. Moreover, this process helps me assimilate a new culture …

A Computational Investigation Of Graph Reconstruction, David Rivshin

Theses

First proposed in 1941 by Kelly and Ulam, the Graph Reconstruction Conjecture has been called the major open problem in the field of Graph Theory. While the Graph Reconstruction Conjecture is still unproven it has spawned a number of related questions. In the classical vertex graph reconstruction number problem a vertex is deleted in every possible way from a graph G, and then it can be asked how many (both minimum and maximum values) of these subgraphs are required to uniquely reconstruct G (up to isomorphism). This problem can then be extended to k-vertex deletion (for 1 ≤ k ≤ …

Cognitive Dimensions Usability Assessment Of Textual And Visual Vhdl Environments, George Kontos

Theses

Visual programming languages promise to make programming easier with simpler graphical methods, broadening access to computing by lessening the need for would-be users to become proficient with textual programming languages, with their somewhat arcane grammars and methods removed from the problem space of the user. However, after more than forty years of research in the field, visual methods remain in the margins of use and programming remains the bailiwick of people devoted to the endeavor. VPL designers need to understand the mechanisms of usability that pertain to complex systems like programming language environments. Effective research tools for studying usability, and …

A Distributed Public Key Creation System For Ad-Hoc Groups, Brian Padalino

Theses

Ad-hoc networks are on the forefront of technological advances as more embedded devices allow for wireless communications without necessarily requiring a network infrastructure to connect to. One of the larger problems associated with such ad-hoc networks is the lack of being able to access a PKI to create individual secure sessions for these groups being created. For this project, an implementation generating the public and private keys for an RSA public-key protocol has been created on top of the M2MI middleware developed at RIT. In this implementation, as originally described by Dan Boneh, all parties help contribute to the generation …

Interactive Television: Advancing Television Through Integrated Technology, Stephen Gallo

Theses

Television has been struggling to find its position in the evolving world of media. It remains mostly one directional output of content and it needs to fit into a world where people are growing to expect more and more interactivity in their experience. Adding a dense component of interactive options into the television experience could cater to revitalizing this centerpiece of entertainment and sustain its dominant place in our households’ entertainment center. There is a vast array of technology that has arisen that television could easily play off of and integrate into the main experience to revitalize itself. The goal …