Digital Commons Network^™

Algal Wrack Community Composition And Succession On A Sandy Beach In San Diego, Ca, Marisol Palomares

Theses

Sandy beaches are high-energy impact zones that produce little to no organic material. Much of the organic matter on beaches is washed up on shore in the form of algal wrack, providing a vital source of nutrients, food, and habitat for a variety of organisms on the sandy beach. Over time wrack will decay and decompose, releasing nutrients including nitrogen and phosphorus, which are consumed by benthic microalgae and bacteria. The type of wrack and geomorphology of the beach environments affect decomposition, which in turn supports a variety of different wrack associated macrofaunal communities. Different species of algal wrack will …

Reducing Body Contact Using Smart Mobile App And Machine Learning Soltutions, Rashed Saeed Abdulrahman Shaliya

Theses

The physical contact or the daily body interaction with people by shaking hands, using electronic and payment cards or touching objects such as devices, pens, access cards and gates, all these habits increase the proportion of spreading microbes, viruses and spread diseases among the people all over the world. This project illustrates how body contact can lead to a global disaster by spreading dangerous diseases and deadly viruses among people because of their daily dealings and routine. Analytical techniques were used to explore the relevant data and visualize how body contact increases the infection of a disease to become a …

A Model-Free Control System Based On The Sliding Mode Control With Automatic Tuning Using As On-Line Parameter Estimation Approach, Md Sariful Islam

Theses

The sliding mode control algorithm and Lyapunov-based methods, have received much attention recently due to their ability to directly handle nonlinear systems while guaranteeing closed-loop tracking stability. In this work, a unique model-free sliding mode control technique has developed solely based on previous control inputs. The new method requires only knowledge of the system order and state measurements and does not require a theoretical model of the dynamic system. Lyapunov’s stability theorem is used in the controller formulation process to ensure closed-loop asymptotic stability. High frequency chattering of the control effort is reduced by using a smoothing boundary layer into …

Cstars: Cryogenic Cmos Optical Star Tracking, Kevin Gates

Theses

CMOS and sCMOS image sensors are a cost-effective alternative to the more common CCD based experimental sensors. While often being less favored than CCDs at room temperature, CMOS image sensors have a better performance at lower temperatures and are the only of the two highly used technologies that is viable at cryogenic temperatures. This paper discusses development iterations of the star tracking rocket attitude regulation system (CSTARS). This includes discussions of the cryogenic operation of CMOS sensors as well as operating in and interfacing with a NASA sounding rocket as a star tracking system. Both iterations of the project have …

Nature-Inspired Topology Optimization Of Recurrent Neural Networks, Abdelrahman A. Elsaid

Theses

Hand-crafting effective and efficient structures for recurrent neural networks (RNNs) is a difficult, expensive, and time-consuming process. To address this challenge, this work presents three nature-inspired (NI) algorithms for neural architecture search (NAS), introducing the subfield of nature-inspired neural architecture search (NI-NAS). These algorithms, based on ant colony optimization (ACO), progress from memory cell structure optimization, to bounded discrete-space architecture optimization, and finally to unbounded continuous-space architecture optimization. These methods were applied to real-world data sets representing challenging engineering problems, such as data from a coal-fired power plant, wind-turbine power generators, and aircraft flight data recorder (FDR) data.

Initial work …

Interactive Tool To Help Decidophobia People Make Decisions With Confidence, Xukang Zhang

Theses

Various internet sources estimate that we might make about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day. For some people, making decisions is a natural and easy thing. They can quickly weigh the pros and cons and make a choice right away. However, when we make decisions, the options are getting more and more than before. Therefore, it is more and more difficult for people to make quick choices. Suppose you are afraid of making decisions. In extreme cases, you cannot make the most straightforward decisions or depend on externalized decision processes. You might have decidophobia.

Having difficulty making decisions is a …

Backplane System Design Considerations For Micro Led Displays, Kush Benara

Theses

Display technologies have evolved from the bulky Cathode Ray Tube based displays to the latest lightweight and low power micro-Led (uLED) based flat panel displays. A display system consists of a device technology that either manipulates the incoming light or emits its own light and a controller circuit to control the behavior of these devices. This system makes up the backplane of a display technology. uLEDs due to their small size provide higher resolution and better contrast than all the previous display technologies like the LCDs and the OLEDs. Backplane system design considerations for a uLED flat panel display is …

Three-Way Comparison Of Selected Substrates Used In Wine Labels: Wood-Based Paper, Synthetic Paper, And Stone Paper, Sanjana Babu

Theses

Wine labels are one of the most important factors that attract customers to a particular wine bottle. This exploratory study came from an opportunity to expand on the limited material science research published about wine label substrates. It limits its geographic scope to the European and Indian wine label markets. Two synthetic substrates and a stone-based substrate were selected and tested, and their results were compared with test measurements from popular wood-based substrates in this market. When tested, each substrate had an adhesive coating and a liner backing suitable for the substrate. These substrates were tested using six properties: four …

Customer Allocation Targeted For Broadband Services In South Africa Using Predictive Analytics, Hamad Jassem Mohammad Alhelo

Theses

In this capstone project, we propose a solution to the business problem being facing by one of the satellite companies in UAE, Yahsat. They are providing broadband (internet) services through satellite for wide area in the world including Middle East, Asia and Africa. Specifically, in South Africa, they noticed that they are losing some customers and at the same time the number of customers is not as what was anticipated when they entered the business there. So, increasing the number of customers will increase the revenue, which is the main goal of the company. For Yahsat Company to achieve their …

A Convolutional Neural Network (Cnn) Based Pill Image Retrieval System, Ezekiel Adebayo Adewumi

Theses

Several works have been done in the area of image retrieval systems, and many are still trying to provide improvements for a better model for retrieving said images. Image segmentation using clustering techniques is one of the most used approaches. There are various clustering methods available, but the non-linear k-means clustering technique is the most used method. In the following research, a model of retrieving images using a non-linear classifier aided with a convolutional neural network is proposed. Both algorithms were exploited and paired in terms of feature extraction and classification. Comprehensive evaluations over a dataset containing over 7,000 pill …

Recommender Systems And Amazon Marketing Bias, Yousuf Alolama

Theses

Proper marketing requires a great understanding of customers' needs and how they can be presented to them properly so that they purchase the services provided by companies and generate high profits. Recommender systems are considered as an answer to this marketing scheme; through feeding it enough data on customers' purchase history, it can understand what customers usually procure and what items can be proposed to them so that more sales can be conducted, resulting in higher profits. However, with the increasing number of techniques and algorithms for recommender systems, it reduced the rate of its accuracy toward presenting customers with …

Smart Grid Program For Large Firms, Masood Alolama

Theses

A smart grid can help utilities conserve energy, cut costs, increase reliability and accountability, and increase efficiency in processes. Nevertheless, the growing use of IT-based electrical power systems increases the vulnerabilities of cyber security causes which increases the importance of cyber security in interconnected power grids. Utilities should understand protection of the smart grid, including vulnerable areas, strategic issues, layered security. However, there is a lack of awareness over the country since the inhabitants less informed about its importance in our life to transform into a smart grid and being part of this plan. Knowing that the government started already …

Catch Me If You Can: Henri Matisse’S Chase For Symbolic Capital In The New York Art Market Of The Early Twentieth Century, Monica M. Mitchell-Werp

Theses

This paper analyzes how the development and consequence of symbolic capital influences an art market. This comprehensive, qualitative analysis examines the early twentieth century New York modern art market activated by French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and the 1913 Armory Show. This examination derived from the French sociologist, philosopher, and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu’s (1930-2002) theories provides evidence of the use of symbolic capital by Matisse. The evidence points to the twofold function that symbolic capital holds within the emerging modern art market. The first function of symbolic capital manifests through the nonmonetary value Matisse received from the intangible qualities of …

Churches Can Increase Membership Among Millennials And Generation Z By Using Social Media, Deja Erin Mcghaw

Theses

This project examines how churches can increase membership among Millennials and Generation Z on social media. The final deliverable is a 45-minute webinar offering tips for churches to create effective and relevant content online. This webinar will be housed on a website created called Social Media for Churches. It features many videos and resources to help churches with social media such as trends, recommendations, practical tips, and free tools for content creation. Doc

A Best Practices Guide For The Web Designer Utilizing Search Engine Optimization And Social Media Optimization, Kimberlie Ann Nash

Theses

Today, searching on the Internet is a common everyday occurrence, and behind the scenes, search engines go to work finding websites based on keywords. This project focuses on the different methods applied within Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) and how they can benefit a web designer. The purpose of this study is to identify the best practices for a web designer utilizing SEO and SMO. This research is a blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, with the primary focus as a customized survey questionnaire designed to extract a list of best practices from the various SEO …

Starting Off Right: A Beginning Band Curriculum Guide, Emily Fiasco

Theses

This project is a curriculum guide for the first quarter of a beginning class. After researching ways to build engagement in beginning learners, this project was constructed to serve as an overview of the most important topics to be covered in a beginning band class. It contains five topics, each consisting of a set of lesson plans as well as a culminating assessment. This is not intended to be a comprehensive unit plan, covering everything a student needs to learn, but addresses a sampling of the most important skills that students need to develop. This guide is also not meant …

Native Activism And Materiality Through The Work Of Cannupa Hanska Luger: A 21st Century Indigenous Artist, Rachel Daniela Vera

Theses

This thesis focuses on a specific work by Cannupa Hanska Luger called This is Not a Snake. This project examines the materiality of the artwork, including beads, crochet, sewing, ceramics, and non-traditional materials. The materials used in this work address 21st-century indigenous issues while also promoting activism from the Water is Life movement, which is centered at Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota. The materials of this work are relative to Luger’s 21st-century contemporary style. The use of repurposed heavily merchandized inorganic materials refers to the protests in Standing Rock. This is Not a Snake was inspired by these events, activism …

Exploring The Visual Arts With Rog: A Four-Part Series, Roger Heuberger

Theses

This project report addresses the research which led to the choice of content, formatting of curriculum, delivery system, and video conference management. The combined art appreciation and art history classes are innovative as they are built around high-interest key art events or movements instead of linear chronologies or systematic reviews of art elements. The research for this Thesis II project extended beyond art historical materials. The literature review and analysis additionally explored educational theories which could be adapted for use with the target audiences of 65+ aged seniors and lifelong learners. The original project submitted in mid-2019 was for in-class …

Shutdown University: Comparing Video Content Performance Against Non-Video In Digital Crisis Communications At Institutions Of Higher Learning During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brian Patrick Vorce

Theses

This thesis project examines best practices in crisis communications at institutions of higher learning during the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. With a large amount of literature stating the importance of video content in the digital realm, video communications were closely examined and compared with non-video communications in terms of efficacy and successful engagement on social media platforms. The final deliverable for the project is a website where communications professionals can access resources, data, and research on these crisis communications, all delivered through accessible blogs and videos.

Proof Of Existence And Uniqueness Of Simple Root Systems, Clarified, William Ian Holt

Theses

Humphreys (1990) defines a simple root system for a finite reflection group which is an important concept fundamental to the understanding of reflection groups as well as Coxeter complexes and Coxeter groups. The proof that Humphreys uses to establish the existence and uniqueness of these systems follows an indirect method that left portions of the proof as exercises to the reader. I present a more complete and direct proof using different organization and methods.

Establishing A Kpis And Initiatives Classifying Model Based On Performance Datasets For A Supply Chain Health System, Jamal Alshanableh

Theses

With the increasing demand for advanced analytics in health care, the digital health department at PwC needs to have an automated process for automating and quantifying the current state of the client on a performance management level in a more effective and quantitative manner in order to generate for the client a common type of deliverables which are usually (KPIs and initiatives). The following research was done and evolved for the purpose of providing a quantitative, smart and analytical solution for current state assessment phase of a project engagement, which is a commonly required phase in most of the management …

Iot Smart Parking, Anas Hamdan

Theses

A Smart City is designed to improve the quality of life of its residents by utilizing the forefront innovations. Embedded within the smart city is the fundamental innovation using the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide novel solutions to residents, prompting to the enhancement of everyday life while promoting sustainability. This project highlights smart parking management that is a key pillar of a smart city. It implements IoT, sensors, and software to track the availability of parking spaces, the number of vehicles parked in a parking lot, the time for which these vehicles have been parked, and the real-time pricing …

A Low-Power Capacitive Transimpedance D/A Converter, Sundararaman Velayutham

Theses

This thesis proposes a new low-power and low-area DAC for single-slope ADCs used in CMOS image sensors. With increase in resolution requirements for ADCs, conventional DAC architectures suffered the limitation of either large area or high power consumption with higher resolution scaling. Thus, the proposed capacitive transimpedance amplifier DAC (CTIA DAC) could solve this by offering the resolution requirement required without taking a hit on the area or power budget.

The thesis has been structured in the following manner:

The first chapter introduces image sensors in general and talks about progression through different image sensors and pixel architectures that have …

Roll Back, A User Experience Design To Help People Recall Memories, Haotian Sun

Theses

This article introduces a user experience design of recalling memories. People take numerous photos in their whole lives, so they need a powerful tool to help them organize and review all those pictures in an interesting way. After having interviews with target users, most of them have problems with organizing massive digital photos. This process costs them a lot of time and makes them feel boring. In this article, a mobile app named “Roll Back” is designed to solve this problem, users can review their memories randomly by solving a simplified Rubik’s Cube game, their photos will display on the …

Engram, An Application Of Recording And Throwing Back Memories With Your Parents, Tong Wu

Theses

Adults can recall memories from the age of three. Our brains help us sort out important things for long-term memory and more trivial things for short-term memory. 1 We pull up these pieces of memory when we need them. We can remember a lot, but we also keep forgetting, forgetting details.

Therefore, humans have always had the habit of recording. Today we record our lives by posting in social media, taking photos, and so on. In most of the more modern methods, we record our life initiatively, which means we need to do something to record a piece of memory. …

Miss, Jiahui Liu

Theses

Miss is a 2D animation graduate thesis film, with a length of 5 minutes and 50 seconds. The production phase went from September 2019 to November 2020.

"Miss" is a microcosm of ordinary children's emotional expression facing the death of their loved ones in reality. The protagonist is a child. The first time he met his relatives' death, he was at a loss and didn't know how to deal with it. He tries to pray and find an answer. But the answer is already in the heart of the little boy in the end. The temple gods are very kind …

An Integrated Camera And Radar On-Robot System For Human Robot Collaboration, Anmol S. Modur

Theses

The increased demand for collaborative tasks between humans and robots has caused an upsurge in newer sensor technologies to detect, locate, track, and monitor workers in a robot workspace. The challenge is to balance the accuracy, cost, and responsiveness of the system to maximize the safety of the worker. This work presents a sensor system that combines six 60GHz radar modules and six cameras to accurately track the location and speed of the workers in all 360 degrees around the robot. While the radar is tuned to identify moving targets, the cameras perform pose detection to evaluate the humans in …

Evaluating Appearance Differences Of Color 3d Printed Objects, Matt Ronnenberg

Theses

Color 3D printing is a relatively young technology with several exciting applications and challenges yet to be explored. One of those challenges is the effect that three dimensional surface geometries have on appearance. The appearance of 3D objects is complex and can be affected by the interaction between several visual appearance parameters such as color, gloss and surface texture. Since traditional printing is only 2D, several of these challenges have either been solved or never needed to be addressed. Complicating matters further, different color 3D printing technologies and materials come with their own inherent material appearance properties, necessitating the study …

Automatic Pigment Classification In Painted Works Of Art From Diffuse Reflectance Image Data, Tania Kleynhans

Theses

Information about artists' materials used in paintings, obtained from the analysis of limited micro-samples, has assisted conservators to better define treatment plans, and provided scholars with basic information about the working methods of the artists. Recently, macro-scale imaging systems such as visible-to-near infrared (VNIR) reflectance hyperspectral imaging (HSI) are being used to provide conservators and art historians with a more comprehensive understanding of a given work of art. However, the HSI analysis process has not been streamlined and currently requires significant manual input by experts. Additionally, HSI systems are often too expensive for small to mid-level museums. This research focused …

Price Prediction And Valuation Using Data Mining In Dubai Real Estate Market, Abdulla Alhathboor

Theses

The purpose of this study is to find out the impact of data mining in predicting prices and values of real estate units in the Dubai real estate market. This market has always been one of the biggest markets in the economy of any nation worldwide and has always been considered one of the biggest indicators on the health of any economy. After the devastating crash of the world economy in 2008, many real estate projects were halted and economies are still recovering from that incident. Real estate brokers and agents found it difficult to sell any property during that …