Digital Commons Network^™

Avatar, Sean Kirchhoff

Theses

AVATAR||Presents the artist's personal experience and background for the artist's thesis exhibit, the artist's work of previous quarters at RIT, influential artists, and the philosophy behind the artist's use of appropriation.

Fundamental Principles Of Narrative, Sequence, And Motion, James A. Pannafino

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Not Included

Clarifying Meal Planning Information, John D. Tran

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Support Vector Machines In A Real Time Tracking Architecture, Benjamin Castaneda

Theses

The standard approach to tracking an object of interest in a video stream is to use an object detector, a classifier and a tracker in sequential order. This work investigates the use of Support Vector Machines (SVM) as classifiers for real-time tracking systems, combining them with Kalman Filter predictors. Support Vector Machines have been proved successful in a variety of classification tasks such as recognizing faces, cars, handwriting and others. However their use has been hampered by the complexity and computational time involved in the training and classification stages. In recent years new methods and techniques for training and classification …

Statistical Closed-Loop Process Scheduling, James D. Remus

Theses

Traditionally, scheduling algorithms have been implemented as open-loop control systems. This allows the operating system to make quick decisions on the order in which tasks should be scheduled without requiring complex calculations. It is very common for a task to be assigned a priority based on its anticipated performance, or based on general process characteristics (i.e., I/O bound versus CPU bound). The problem with this type of scheduling, and this type of control system in general, is that it is rigid and lacks the ability to adjust based on the actual performance of the system and its processes. This work …

Simulating Particle Deposition In A Human Replica Lung Model, Pravir Rai

Theses

Tobacco consumption causes a variety of respiratory diseases including lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. These diseases occur when pathogens present in cigarette smoke enter into the respiratory system and deposit in the airways or gas exchanging membranes. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) package FLUENT has been applied to study the deposition patterns of cigarette smoke particles from sidestream and mainstream smoke, as well as carcinogen size specific particles for NNK and BaP. A three dimensional cast of an ideal three generation Weibel lung model and a three dimensional morphologically accurate human replica lung model were used in the analysis. …

A Convex Optimization Approach To The Design Of Multiobjective Discrete Time Systems, Anirudh Oberoi

Theses

One of the most important contributions of robust control theory has been the devel opment of a new framework for the design and analysis of feedback systems satisfying mixed time-frequency specifications. This framework is given by the Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) approach where design and analysis problems are posed as convex optimization problems subject to affine matrix constraints. Most of the focus in this area has been on continuous-time systems design with very few results for discretetime systems. One of the main contributions of this work is the development and implementation of a MATLAB toolbox for discrete-time controller design using …

The Evolution, Current Status, And Future Direction Of Xml, Christina Ann Oak

Theses

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is now established as a multifaceted open-ended markup language and continues to increase in popularity. The major players that have shaped its development include the United States government, several key corporate entities, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). This paper will examine these influences on XML and will address the emergence, the current status, and the future direction of this language. In addition, it will review best practices and research that have contributed to the continued development and advancement of XML.

Code, Konstantinos Batalamas

Theses

Not Included

Performance Analysis Of Self-Organized Ad-Hoc Sensor Networks, Venkateswararao Oruganti

Theses

This project deals with a Distributed Sensor Network (DSN). The main focus of this thesis is to deliver an OPNET simulation model for working DSN model. After building a model, various performance analysis techniques in terms of different parameters were used to verify the working model. Query Dominant Sets (QDS) are the main idea behind this thesis. The QDS node is in charge of the nodes for a specific region and its job is to assign the query tasks that it gets to the nodes in that region to help maximize the life of the network. If no user queries …

Impacts Of The Alien Invasive Prosopis Juliflora (Swartz) Dc. On The Flora And Soils Of The Uae And Feasibility Of Using It In The Afforestation Of Saline Habitats, Awatif Abdulleh Khalfan Al-Rawai

Theses

The effects of the invasive exotic Prosopis juliflora shrubs on the natural plant communities were assessed in three regions (Sharja, Ras Al-Khima and Fujira) of the UAE. The effect of the P. juliflora shrubs on the associated annual and perennial plants was studied in a number of quadrats distributed under, at the margin and outside the crown of a shrub. The results indicate that the effect of P. juliflora on the associated species depends significantly on the density and size of their individuals. Large individuals and greater densities have significantly adverse effect on the associated species. All of the studied …

Influence Of Varying Intensities Of Natural Area On-Site Interpretation On Attitudes And Knowledge, Michael Hughes

Theses

Using interpretation as a means of influencing attitudes and knowledge is a core component of natural area management practice. However, this aspect of on-site interpretation is rarely assessed when evaluating natural area management success. This thesis examined the immediate influence of different intensities of on-site interpretation on attitudes and knowledge of visitors to natural areas. Measuring the immediate (short term) influence of a site experience enables clearer links to be made between survey responses and interpretation used at a specific site, something long term surveys are less able to achieve. Two sites from Western Australia (the Tree Top Walk and …

Effects Of Irrigation Water Salinity On Forage Growth And Qualities Of Some Salt Tolerant Species Under Uae Conditions, Mahmood Abdul Razaq Belselah

Theses

Experiments were conducted at the International Center for Bio saline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai to evaluate the growth and productivity of some locally grown grass species; Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana L.) var. Katambora, Pioneer, and Callide; and Panicum grass (Panicum maximum) var. Green, and Gatton over a range of irrigation levels (1 gal/hr and 1.3 gal/hr), and water salinity (5 dS/m, 10 dS/m and 15 dS/m). The effect of different quality of water in respect to the salinity levels would provide information about water use efficiencies and soil salinity over a period. Growth and biomass productivity of …

Transport Of Pesticides Through Soil Columns From Al-Ain Area, United Arab Emirates, Huda Ateeq Al Hassani

Theses

Proper management of pesticides application in the UAE is greatly lacking, causing waste of resources and environmental concerns due to the excessive use of these chemicals. It has been reported that the rate of pesticides use in UAE reaches about 10 kg/hectare/yr, posing a potential threat to the quality of water in underlying aquifers. Little, however, is known about the mobility of applied pesticides in the UAE subsurface environment and the impact of these pesticides on soil and groundwater quality.

The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the fate and mobility of pesticides in the UAE …

Insect Control Using Chitinolytic Soil Actinomycetes As Biocontrol Agents, Fatma Khamis Al-Kaabi

Theses

No abstract provided.

Laboratory Investigation Of Transport And Treatment Of Chromium In Groundwater At Liwa District, Abu Dhabi, Wali-Ur-Rahman Din Badshah

Theses

Groundwater quality is a critical aspect affecting utilization of this source for certain purposes. In the UAE, utilization of groundwater for domestic purposes is well practiced. While the quality of groundwater at some locations does not permit direct utilization of this source, groundwater, in many cases, is mixed with desalinated water at certain proportion before being disinfected and then distributed to customers.

Groundwater of Liwa aquifer contains high level of Cr(VI) which is believed to originate from natural sources. However, little has been done to investigate the fate of this contaminant. Spreading of chromium to nearby aquifers may render the …

Integrating Experiments And Simulators Into A Distributed E-Learning Environment, Frank Koehler

Theses

New information and communication technologies have emerged in the last few years which have made an impact on learning at all levels. At universities, the spectrum of learning support ranges from enriching traditional lectures and courses with multi- media elements to complete web-based interactive learning environments. A special aspect based on the new media technologies is learning within model worlds by use of simulations or real-life experiments. There are normally no links between these applications and the learning content, so it is impossible to tap the full potential of these applications. Research activities in the area of e-learning underline the …

Performance Estimation Of A Sip Based Push-To-Talk Service For 3g Wireless Networks, Eoin O'Regan

Theses

Push To Talk (PTT) services have been in existence for several decades providing dispatch services via two-way radio such as walkie-talkies. For a number of years now PTT services have been available for use over mobile phone networks. These mobile PTT services have occupied a niche market with business users and have been provided on proprietary networks that do not enable roaming.

Over the past year there has been an explosion of interest in the concept of PTT provided over mobile networks using Internet Protocol (IP) technology. This service uses cellular access and radio resources more efficiently than circuit-switched cellular …

The Convergence Of Traditional Higher Education And E-Learning: Organisational, Societal, Technological And Pedagogical Trends, Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin

Theses

The thesis is about the coming together of two traditions and how they are both changing dynamically in relation to each other, giving rise to a number of discernable organisational, societal, technological and pedagogical trends. Each tradition is examined in turn in the first two chapters, which deal with issues such as what the definitional characteristics of each tradition are and what factors have determined them. Organisational and societal trends in the convergence of traditional higher education and e-learning, as described in chapter three, highlight the tensions between the two traditions, as evidenced in the specific challenges e- learning represents …

A Service-Based Architecture For Learning Management Systems Which Supports Personalisation And Collaboration, Markus Schmid

Theses

This work develops a service-based architecture for an extensible and customisable learning management system (LMS) runtime environment. The architecture mainly defines interfaces for the interaction of functional system components represented by loosely coupled distributed services. Services that represent functional components of the distributed LMS are called e-leaming services. In addition, underlying infrastructure services provide supportive functionality such as service-lookup within an institution. Users access the system using an LMS portal component that acts as a front-end for the LMS services.

While existing e-leaming environments provide a relatively good coverage of most of the functional requirements defined in this work, they …

Preparation And Characterization Of Thermally Stabilized Ceria And Ceria Containing Materials, Leena Ali Rashid Al-Kaabi

Theses

Ceria, CeO₂, is one of the most important catalytic materials that can play multiple roles owing to its ability to release and uptake oxygen under catalytic reaction conditions with the preservation of it fluorite structure. Textural and thermal stability is a critical issue in determining the promoting and metal supporting functions of CeO₂ in its catalytic applications in the three way catalysis. Therefore, significant efforts have been made by industry on finding ways to improve the thermal stability of ceria both by modification of the synthesis of CeO₂ and by looking at possible stabilizers.

In the …

Assessment Of Organic And Inorganic Pollutants In The Offshore Sediments, Dubai, Uae., Haifa Darwish Ahmad Al Darwish

Theses

The investigated area covers the maximum fragments of Dubai offshore in the Arabian Gulf. The sediment samples were collected from fifteen stations starting by Al-Mamzar mouth and ending by Ras Ghantoot in order to assess the organic and inorganic pollutants affecting the coastal region in Dubai.

The textural class was determined through grain-size analysis and the mineral composition was identified by X-Ray diffraction. The organic pollutants were characterized through the determination of Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN), Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and individual polychlorinated biphenyls. On the other hand the …

Structural Studies Of The Role Of Iron Oxide In Environmental Catalysis, Aisha Ali Saif Rashid Al-Nayeli

Theses

This thesis presents several fundamental studies of structure-reactivity relationships between pure iron oxides, supported and composite oxides specifically in relation to the decomposition of carbon tetrachloride, CCI₄. A series of iron oxides were synthesized and characterized using infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to establish their composition spectroscopically, using BET surface area measurements to determine their surface areas and X-ray diffraction powder (XRD) experiments to measure their structural parameters.

A new method was then developed to decompose CCl₄ at a lower temperature than previously found, choosing the optimum catalyst. The effects of varying the temperature on the CCl₄ decomposition …

Assessment Of Brine Shrimp (Artemia Sp.) Productivity At Al Wathba Wetland Reserve, Abu Dhabi (Uae), Shaikha Salem Obaid Al Dhaheri

Theses

Al Wathba Lake was created in 1982 by accidental discharge of over-capacity treated sewage water from Al Mafraq Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWT). The lake lies on the north side of the Abu Dhabi - Al Ain truck road, approximately 40 km Southeast of Abu Dhabi Island. In 1998, the lake and its surroundings were designated as protected area, the Al Wathba Wetland Reserve, and placed under the management of the Environmental Research and Wildlife Development Agency (ERWDA). The reserve covers an area of approximately 5 km², and the lake system covers an area of 1.5 km^{2 …}

Geological Assessment Of The Intertidal Environment In Some Areas Along The Arabian Gulf And Gulf Of Oman Coastal Region, Uae: A Comparative Study., Mouza Rashid Mohamed Airashidi

Theses

The present study aims at assessing the geological environment of some selected areas along the coastal zones of the Arabian Gulf (northern coast) and the Gulf of Oman (eastern coast). Eight stations were selected for this study; these include three stations from the Gulf of Oman (Khor Fakkan, Kalba and Fujairah) and five stations from the Arabian Gulf (Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwen and Ras A1-Khaimah). 25 sediment samples were collected and subjected to grain-size analysis, X-ray diffraction analysis, microfacies and petrographic study and chemical analysis. Shell samples were collected from the same sites using 50x50x10 cm box. These shells …

New Fixed Assets Management Process Design For Pontifica Universidad Catolica Madre Y Maestra (Pucmm), Mary Baez

Theses

Currently, PUCMM does not have a reliable management process for its fixed and controlled assets. In addition, PUCMM does not have a system that can provide accurate, fast and updated information about these items. Therefore, there is the need of a new process for managing PUCMM's fixed assets. The purpose of this research is to design a new management process for PUCMM's fixed and controlled assets that will provide reliable, quick and updated information. The methodology for this study is based on a cross-sectional study to assess fixed assets management processes in this and other well-established organizations. It is a …

The Determinants And Implications Of Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In Web-Based Commerce: An Empirical Analysis, Samuel Otim

Theses

The study was undertaken to categorize and assess the relative importance of various factors in determining customers' evaluation of the overall online shopping experience (customer satisfaction) and their intention to provide continued patronage (remain loyal) to the pertinent online stores. Furthermore, the study also investigated the effects of customer loyalty and satisfaction on revenue. Various hypotheses were formulated and tested using empirical methods. The results from the study imply that web site design factors may lead to discretionary customer loyalty but have no significant effect in fostering customer satisfaction. Discretionary customer loyalty is a product of shopping convenience; thus, web …

Institutional Development Of Water Users Associations In Kyrgyzstan, Aida Alymbaeva

Theses

Irrigation is of great importance for the agriculturally-predominant country of Kyrgyzstan, and the adequate operation and maintenance (O&M) of irrigation systems is required to support agricultural productivity in the country. A process of irrigation management transfer from the government to farm-based Water Users Associations (WUAs) has been pursued in the country for about a decade, but the results of institutionalization of WUAs are mixed. This thesis aims to explore the factors enabling the development of WUAs to manage O&M of irrigation infrastructure and ensure equitable and reliable water distribution to farmers. The research results show that WUAs are still too …

Cyber Addiction, Heebok Park

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Not Included

Teachers' Receptions Of Facilitators And Barriers To Inclusion: A Regional Survey, Hillary Kretz-Harvey

Theses

This study examined teachers' perceptions of facilitators needed to include students with special needs. The Teachers' Opinions of Inclusive Education Needs Survey (TOIENS) was developed for this study in order to examine teachers' perceptions of facilitators to inclusion. Results found that teachers identified material and personnel supports, preservice and inservice training, and environmental/classroom features as all similarly necessary. Discrepancies were found, however, between identified facilitators and the availability of them. Personnel supports were generally considered to be available in the school districts, but several necessary material supports, training, and environmental/classroom features were considered to be unavailable.