Digital Commons Network^™

Mythos, Selma Pena Arenzana

Theses

Mythos is a 2D animated series project developed by Mattea Guldy and Selma Peña. The story revolves around a fairy named Marina and her misfit friends Enki the faun, Demetri the unicorn, and The Kodama, a cute forest spirit. The project consists of a series pitch with a pilot, an episode of the series, a pitch deck, and an animated proof of concept. Our fantastical world aims to represent the diversity of human beings and make the audience question where their beliefs and conceptions come from. The story's main plot is the following: Marina, a fairy descendant from the creature …

Another Cookie, Amanda Kopacz

Theses

Another Cookie is an animated 3D graduate thesis film. It is based on a personal story about a girl who loses her grandfather and learning to live with the lessons he left behind. She has help overcoming this grief from a spirit that represents the humor and happiness of the relationship between the girl and her grandfather. Cookies are at the heart of this story. In the film, there is a plate of cookies at the end of a table full of baking items. Two characters start taking cookies from the plate. A girl and her grandpa are holding a …

Policy Recommendations For Concussion Recovery: Using Evidence Based Data For A Safe Return To Learn In Student-Athletes, Maya Vanderhorst

Theses

The return of concussed students and student-athletes to the classroom is commonly referred to as return-to-learn (RTL). RTL, however, is often overshadowed by returning a student-athlete back to athletic competition (return-to-play), with few recommendations and studies evaluating the effect of improper management of recovery from a concussion in an academic setting. Therefore, the research proposed here aims to track how symptom severity, student behaviors, and oculomotor performance formulate our ability to prognosticate how a student will respond to academic stimuli post-injury. This will be achieved by longitudinally tracking student-athletes as they recover from concussion, using a repeated measures design to …

How Do Academic Advisors Intentionally Design Their Office Space To Be More Inviting? A Qualitative Study On Office Décor And Self-Disclosure, Jessica Garcia

Theses

Academic advising has been part of institutions of higher education in the United States since the early 19th century. With the rise of incoming students each year and the wide range of majors and programs colleges offer, advisors are necessary to help guide students through their academic careers. This paper presents a qualitative study on how advisors intentionally create a space that encourages communication and collaboration within an advisor-advisee relationship. The theoretical framework used in this study is Social Penetration Theory, which suggests that facilitating self-disclosure will also support relationship development. For this research, academic advisors working at two different …

Study Of Dual-Tapered Manifold Microgap Spacing And Taper Angle On Pool Boiling Characteristics, Chad Wake

Theses

The miniaturization of electronic components has resulted in higher heat generation on a smaller surface area, creating a desire for better heat removal techniques and systems. To improve the performance of the pool boiling system, high critical heat flux and low surface temperatures are desired for efficient heat removal. External structures are one technique that seeks to improve pool boiling performance by passively regulating the flow of vapor away from the boiling surface. The present work seeks to study the effect of dual-taper manifold inlet gap height and taper angle on boiling performance through a parametric study with a copper …

"Can You Please Turn Your Cameras On?" Communication Apprehension And Teleconferencing, Emily James Mcindoe

Theses

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a multitude of normalities in individuals' lives had to change to continue moving forward. The world began to embrace new technologies that allowed individuals to be connected while physically apart. One of the most embraced technologies was teleconferencing. Teleconferencing is not a new technology with the first primitive form being created in 1968, however, it was not until the world had to embrace teleconferencing during the COVID-19 pandemic did the technologies became a common part of everyday life. The term Zoom is now synonymous with video chatting and conferencing becoming a part of …

Address Obfuscation To Protect Against Hardware Trojans In Network-On-Chips, Thomas Mountford

Theses

Interconnection networks for multi/many-core processors or server systems are the backbone of the system as they enable data communication among the processing cores, caches, memory, and other peripherals. Given the criticality of the interconnects, the system can be severely subverted if the interconnection is compromised. The threat of Hardware Trojans (HTs) penetrating complex hardware systems such as multi/many-core processors are increasing due to the increasing presence of third-party players in a System-on-chip (SoC) design. Even by deploying native HTs, an adversary can exploit the Network-on-Chip (NoC) backbone of the processor and get access to communication patterns in the system. This …

Predicting Failure Rate Of Oil & Gas Equipment Using Ml, Shaima Alblooshi

Theses

Value of time has become an important perspective in business application ranging from day to day working to big businesses. The value of time is more important in the case of refinery business which has become of paramount importance with increasing energy needs. The main point of contention in refinery operations is the periodic maintenance of the pipelines which consumes of valuable time and resources. With a proper solution which can cater the time requirements of the lead time. The fact is that time consumption is extremely critical for the operations of refinery. Therefore, the application of machine learning is …

Balanced Ar Glasses System Between Text And Image Information Helps People Get A Better Reading Skill, Libo Jiang

Theses

Nowadays, people prefer browsing images and videos on their phones rather than reading a book (Thain 2018). Even if they decide to read something, they are still heavily distracted by electronic devices. In my thesis, I’m trying to balance the visual and text information and help people to stay more focused while reading. My solution: Focus is an AR glasses system that recognizes the contents users are viewing and records users’ reading and image browsing time. And users have to earn image/video time by reading the text. The glasses block images/videos if they run out of image time.

Predicting & Optimizing Airlines Customer Satisfaction Using Classification, Mhd Ridwan Alhabbal

Theses

This research is going to be a machine learning project that aims to study the various factors that may play a role in forming customer satisfaction response and tries to figure out which attributes or combination of them are the driver of positive customer satisfaction. The research is going to use initially some dataset from Kaggle (explained in the section of data source) in order to run machine learning algorithms and creating a predictor that would help airlines in predicting which customers are satisfied and trying to have a proactive reaction in case of negative feedback, so we can make …

Light Scattering Study Of An Important Eye Lens Protein: Beta Crystallin, Malcolm F. Larose

Theses

Light scattering experiments were performed on bovine βH crystallin, an important protein component of the mammalian eye lens. Light scattering results are compared to simplified models for the free energy of mixing of β crystallins with water. The static light scattering data are well-represented by hard convex body equations of state having dimensionless non-sphericity coefficients of close to 2, compatible with prolate spherocylinders, and weight-average molecular weights ranging between 2−5×105 g/mole. Additionally, quasi-elastic light scattering data was obtained which shows that βH has a hydrodynamic radius near 7.3 nm. These experiments extend light scattering work on β crystallins well into …

Electrolyte Loss And Voltage Degradation Of Ht-Pem Fuel Cells Operated At 200oc., Jared Oscar Leader

Theses

As the world transitions toward a more sustainable energy future, it becomes clear that fuel cells will play a role in the global sustainable energy infrastructure. Of the many types of fuel cells, high temperature proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells operating in the range of 120-200oC are particularly interesting as they offer several advantages over low temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Most notably high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells exhibit increased tolerance to fuel impurities and simplified water management system requirements. These advantages are offset by a significantly shortened operational lifespan which makes high temperature proton exchange …

Effective Academic Advising Strategy In Higher Education Using Machine Learning, Reem Abuzayeda

Theses

Covid-19 pandemic has caused many obstacles to higher education students, especially students with academic, financial, and family disadvantages. Moreover, Covid-19 has caused negative impacts on enrollment of junior students and students’ academic goals, which has led to a higher rate of dropouts worldwide.

University enrollment is a complex process for students and families, and the decision to drop out is overwhelming to both. Many factors might cause the dropout, but the most important factors that might affect this decision are financial factors and academic standing. Higher education institutions can boost their academic advising plans, through the use of their strategic …

The Impact Of Game Play On Children’S Impulse Control In Early Education Settings, Sara Rodehaver

Theses

Executive functioning skills, especially impulse control, have been widely studied andinterventions have been developed to improve impulse control in young children. Play has also been studied for its benefits to young children’s development. Play skills have also been taught to students with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. However, play has not often been utilized to teach impulse control directly. The current study attempted to define the components of impulse control as conditional discrimination, and to apply those discrimination skills in early childhood settings for students with no diagnosis. Kindergarten children participated in baseline measuring of conditional discrimination …

Use Of Assemblage Structure, Abundance, And Year-Class Strength To Assess Fish Assemblage Responses To Water Level Fluctuations, Hannah Holmquist

Theses

Water level fluctuations can influence lateral connectivity of a water body; during high water levels, fish gain access to off-channel and floodplain habitats that can provide refuge for smaller fish and provide access to abundant aquatic and terrestrial prey. Water level dynamics play a critical role in ecosystem productivity and can have varying effects on biota. Modifications to water flow in Buttonland Swamp, located near the headwaters of the Lower Cache River in southern Illinois, were put in place to improve drainage and restore historical water levels; however, these alterations have disrupted the natural hydrologic dynamics and flood pulse processes, …

Measuring Macroeconomic Shocks Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: An Empirical Analysis For Bhutan, Lekey Dorji

Theses

Taking GDP growth and inflation as endogenous variables, this paper employs a Structural VAR from Baumeister and Hamilton (2015, 2019) to identify aggregate demand and aggregate supply shocks for Bhutan, focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that 94 percent of the GDP growth plunge in 2020 is attributable to a fall in aggregate supply. The higher inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 also implies a negative supply shock. Although the magnitudes differ, characterizing the COVID-19 pandemic in Bhutan as a supply shock coincides with preceding episodes that were also primarily driven by supply shocks.

Recycling Of Cured Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Resin Laminated Composites Scraps: Processing And Characterization, Khaled Mohammed Al Harmoodi

Theses

The concept of reinforced composites came decades ago from the need to fabricate high-strength, heat-resistant, wear-resistant, and low-density materials. The polymer matrix composites offer a wide range of applications due to the collaborative nature of the functional fillers and polymers present. Towards the twenty-first century, the aviation industry flourished due to flying being the preferred way of travel across states and countries. With such a massive demand for air transport, there is an equally parallel demand for the production of aircraft components. This study aims to reuse the waste of uncured composite prepreg scraps from the ply-cutting manufacturing process in …

Spatial Response Of Bobcats And Coyotes To Resources And Human Modification In Illinois, Nicole Gorman

Theses

Mesocarnivores, including bobcats (Lynx rufus) and coyotes (Canis latrans), fill a unique ecological role throughout much of North America, where they were once influenced by larger predators, but are now the top predators where large carnivores have been extirpated. Their adaptability, generalist traits, and ability to coexist with humans to a greater extent than many species makes them an important subject for current predator research. In addition, their recent population recovery in the case of bobcats and historical range expansion in the case of coyotes make their study timely given a potential increase in their influence on their prey and …

Inflation Targeting In Mongolia: A Var Model Analysis, Anujin Nergui

Theses

This study aims to conduct a descriptive analysis of inflation targeting in Mongolia. In this context, I will assess whether the current inflation targeting practice of Mongolia is classified as a fully-fledged, eclectic, or inflation targeting lite regime. Then I will verify that Mongolia validates the prerequisites necessary for the implementation of fully fledged inflation targeting. Finally, I will proceed to a VAR model analysis aiming to describe the determinants of inflation. The results show that the inflation targeting practice of Mongolia falls in inflation targeting lite countries categorization and most of the prerequisites to adopt fully fledged inflation targeting …

Tracing The Roots Of Resistance, Collective Action And Solidarity Among Igbo Women, Sebastian Ukoh

Theses

Most societies have always achieved balance through some internal mechanisms. Achieving gender balance and drawing lines without letting what we may term the "stronger sex" domineer the "weaker sex" is not always easy. Among the Igbos of South Eastern Nigeria, the women have always pressed home their demands without fear. We will be looking at how they have done this for more than a century, especially at the onset of the British colonial enterprise.

Progressing Suas-Based Remote Sensing Data Collection Automation: Performance Analysis Of The At-Altitude Radiance Ratio Method For Reflectance Conversion Of Multispectral And Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data, Luke J.R. Decoffe

Theses

In remote sensing, the conversion of at-sensor radiance to surface reflectance for each pixel in a scene, canonically known as reflectance conversion, is an essential component of many diagnostic analysis tasks. This process is crucial to the production of accurate information for a variety of applications, notably precision agriculture. The empirical line method (ELM) is the most used technique among remote sensing practitioners due to its reliability and production of accurate reflectance measurements. However, the at-altitude radiance ratio (AARR), a more recently researched method, is attractive as it allows reflectance conversion to be carried out in real time throughout data …

Measuring Entanglement Using Programmable Holograms, Jason Ziskind

Theses

The Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) paradox proposes an entangled quantum state in high dimensional non-commuting observables, position and momentum. We experimentally demonstrate a novel method for measuring spatial correlations in joint position and joint momentum space for entangled photons in an EPR-like state. Research in the field of quantum optics can provide insight into quantum information processing, communication, quantum key distribution, and further investigation into the EPR paradox and locality. Unlike existing techniques, we take measurements of non-commuting observables using a static configuration. A 405nm pump laser incident on a Bismuth Borate nonlinear crystal produces an EPR state as a pair of …

A Taguchi-Grey Relational Analysis Of Fdm Printed Pla, Essa Hareb Almehairi

Theses

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an environmentally friendly process of constructing 3D objects by using Computer Aided Design (CAD) models. The material can be metals in powder form, thermoplastics, thermosets, ceramics, and more. AM is divided into seven main categories according to the American Society for Testing and Manufacturing (ASTM), and one of the most common types is material extrusion. In material extrusion, solid materials, most commonly thermoplastics, are preheated and extruded out of a nozzle from which the material is deposited layer by layer. Material extrusion is widely considered as one of the most user friendly and inexpensive 3D printers. …

A Taguchi-Grey Relational Analysis Of Fdm Printed Pla, Essa Hareb Almehairi

Theses

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an environmentally friendly process of constructing 3D objects by using Computer Aided Design (CAD) models. The material can be metals in powder form, thermoplastics, thermosets, ceramics, and more. AM is divided into seven main categories according to the American Society for Testing and Manufacturing (ASTM), and one of the most common types is material extrusion. In material extrusion, solid materials, most commonly thermoplastics, are preheated and extruded out of a nozzle from which the material is deposited layer by layer. Material extrusion is widely considered as one of the most user friendly and inexpensive 3D printers. …

Axisymmetric Soft Elastohydrodynamic Squeeze Films: Parametric Studies, Eli Heisey

Theses

Theoretical and experimental studies of hydrodynamically lubricated bearings with a soft, compliant surface have shown advantages over conventionally rigid bearings. These bearings operate in the isoviscous, elastohydrodynamic regime of thin film lubrication with low film pressures and relatively large surface deflections. They exhibit less sensitivity to misalignment, particulates in the lubricant, and low levels of lubricant, making them very attractive for bearing designers. However, there is very little published work, either experimental or theoretical, to describe the squeeze-film lubrication behavior of a bearing with a compliant layer. This thesis utilizes a Nodal Inverse Hydrodynamic computation approach to calculate the behavior …

Are Numerical Symbols Fundamental To Neural Computation?, Mirinda James

Theses

Abstract: Neuroclassicism is the view that cognition is computation and that core mental processes, such as perception, memory, and reasoning are products of digital computations realized in neural tissue. Cognitive psychologist C. R. Gallistel uses this classical framework to argue that all cognitive information processing is based on symbolic operations performed over quantitative values (i.e. numbers) stored in the brain, much like a digital computer. Assuming this hypothesis, he investigates how the brain stores quantitative information (i.e. the numerical symbols involved in neural computation). He claims that it is more plausible that memories for numbers are stored within molecular mechanisms …

Life Is A Die, Xiangyu Deng

Theses

Life are consist of uncertainty and certainty. The most functional way for people to deal with life is to try their best for certainty and to accept uncertainty. However, due to the consistently changing environment and fast increasing uncertainty, people are more and more unlikely to deal with life and its uncertainty. This project, Life-is-a-die, will express the personal thought to deal with life and release worries and fear through a poetic video. In this video, the designed metaphors, poetic story, sound effects, text, 3d elements, motions, visuals, motion, and textures will play a vital role to help people understand …

The Effects Of Floral And Social Information On Bumblebee Forager Learning And Memory, Avery Hume Baker

Theses

Bumblebees rely on information gathered from their environment to make the best choices they can when foraging for pollen and nectar. The type of information gathered should influence how a bee learns and remembers it, but other factors such as the size of the bee’s brain may also play a role in the learning and remembering process. While social information learned from other organisms and information gathered directly from flowers can each be used alone to improve both the efficiency with which a bee learns to forage from a flower and how accurately and how long the bee remembers these …

Whole Genome Duplication Analysis Of The Invasive Lonicera Maackii (Amur Honeysuckle), Gaochan Wang

Theses

Invasive Lonicera maackii (L. maackii) is one of the highly successful and problematic bush honeysuckles found in the central and eastern of United States of America, which has been reported to pose a threat to native ecosystems by decreasing biodiversity. The mechanism by which L. maackii negatively impact environments is typically through either the direct effect of increased dominance or the indirect effect of territory modification. Numerous studies have documented the negative effects of L. maackii on native biota and the key traits such as seed dispersal, phenology, resistance to herbivory, rapid growth and environmental plasticity that contribute to invasion …

Taxonomic Revision And Morphometric Analysis Of Selected Anthurium (Araceae) Species From Bolivia And Peru, Daniel M. Tarazona Ocana

Theses

The genus Anthurium (Araceae) consists of around 1,200 species distributed in the Neotropics, particularly in Central and South America. The montane forests in the eastern flank of the Andes, ranging from northern Ecuador to central Bolivia; hereafter, the East Andes Gradient region, are particularly rich in terms of species diversity, and include an understudied group of Anthurium species endemic to the region. Within this group of species, some taxa are difficult to distinguish from each other mainly due to the lack of identification keys, incomplete species descriptions and unknown synonyms. In this study, a combination of traditional taxonomic techniques and …