Digital Commons Network^™

Pulsed Photonic Sintering Of Lithium Doped Potassium Sodium Niobate (Knn) For Flexible Energy Harvesting Devices, Sara Hernandez Juarez

Theses

In this work, KNNL was sintered as a lead-free alternative to PZT using a pulsed photonic sintering method. The KNNL post-sintering composition remained close to theoretical composition indicating minimal volatilization of alkali metals. Furthermore, a remnant polarization was observed in the processed material. Energy and time demands were greatly reduced using the pulsed photonic sintering method versus conventional furnace sintering.

Piezoelectric materials can produce electric current when bent or compressed. Currently lead zirconium titanate (PZT) is the most widely used piezoelectric material. A promising lead-free alternative is sodium potassium niobate (KNN), which can be doped with lithium (KNNL) to improve …

A(Meme)Rican Politics: Gender Representation In Political Memes Of The 2016 Election, Taylor C. Lincoln

Theses

Utilizing the lens of feminist theory, this research examines gender representation in the political memes of the 2016 Presidential election in the United States. Using a mixed-methods approach, I first examine the use of the #election2016 on Twitter (N = 2,108) through a network analysis to understand the driving actors of discourse surrounding the election. A textual analysis was used to examine the views and opinions through the vocabulary and terms utilized within that network. Finally, a content analysis was conducted to interpret the latent messages and representations of gender within the memes (n = 100). Results show that political …

Impact Of Education Policies On Stem Education For Deaf/Hard Of Hearing Students, Valerie Horn

Theses

The thesis is focused on STEM education and education policy for students who are deaf/hard of hearing. The research broadly examines the impacts of legislation such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on science education for deaf/hard of hearing students. Additionally, the thesis argues that the benefits of greater accessibility in STEM for deaf/hard of hearing students would be beneficial.

The findings considered STEM education in the deaf/hard of hearing community and how their perspectives and practices may improve science education. Deaf students’ personal experiences and available services in schools may spark …

Aventurescence, Gracia E. Nash

Theses

Aventurescence explores ideas of comfort and identity through glass and the body. I am interested in the material qualities and limitations of glass, including luminosity, flexibility, and fragility; and the ways in which these can be expressed and communicated through the body. To expand the material’s flexibility I used a combination of multiple glass bodies and silicones to create glass textiles and objects with flexible surfaces. I also used traditional fusing methods and alternative glasses (reflective glass beads) to create sheets and screens. These objects and textiles parallel skin, and communicate with the body through object, performance, and the consequent …

Curo — Patient Home Recovery Guide For Stressfree And Better Recovery After Hospitalization, Khushboo Rajesh Agarwal

Theses

The transition from in-hospital illness management to self-management exposes patients to many risks such as inadequate training before leaving the hospital and medication errors which can lead to patient re-hospitalization. Effective care after discharge can improve patients’ health, reduce chances of re-hospitalization and decrease healthcare costs.

A patient leaves the hospital with a complex and verbose discharge summary. Once home they rely on this discharge summary to guide their recovery. Most of the printed summaries use medical jargon that informs the clinicians more than the patients. To help patients understand better, nurses go through the discharge papers with the patient …

Lore: A World Beyond Pages, Anushka Nalluri

Theses

All around us are hundreds of people with years of accumulated knowledge and unique life stories. I call these people ‘Human books’. At the same time, there are people around us who want to hear the stories from these human books and glean the knowledge from their life experiences. When people realize this, they will naturally develop an urge to connect with the others and learn more from them. Unfortunately, in our increasingly impersonal and disconnected culture, we do not have a method to discover and connect with those who are interested in sharing their knowledge. I’m proposing a system …

A Performance Analysis Of The Meshed Tree Protocol And The Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol, Peter Willis

Theses

Loop avoidance is essential in switched networks to avoid broadcast storms. Logical Spanning Trees are constructed on the physical meshed topologies to overcome this issue and preserve the stability of the network. However, during topology changes as the result of a failure, frame forwarding latency or frame loss is introduced when re-converging and identifying new spanning tree paths. The Meshed Tree algorithm (MTA) offers a new approach. Meshed Trees support multiple tree branches from a single root to cut down on re-convergence latency on link failures. A Meshed Tree Protocol (MTP) based on MTA is currently under development as an …

A Study On Copper-Gate Integration With Titanium Interface Layers For Igzo Tfts, Harithshanmaa Sethupathi

Theses

The continuous demand for ultra-high resolution and improved video performance on increasingly larger active-matrix displays has advanced the research field of thin film transistors (TFTs) materials, processes and devices. Performance improvements demonstrated by amorphous Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (IGZO) TSTs has enabled a commercialized backplane technology adopted for AM-OLED displays, providing advantage in device performance and uniformity at a much lower cost than Low Temperature Poly-crystalline Silicon (LTPS). However as the display size gets larger and the pixel density increases, charge transfer from the column driver to the pixel through the addressed row TFT within the required time interval becomes increasingly difficult. As …

3d Printing Support-Less Engineered Lattice Structures Via Jetting Of Molten Aluminum Droplets, Dinesh Krishna Kumar Jayabal

Theses

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) metal jetting is a novel additive manufacturing method where parts can be manufactured by precisely depositing molten metal droplets. This thesis work explores the possibility of using such a method to print engineered lattice structures without the aid of any support material. It was determined through experiments that by carefully controlling the droplet jetting frequency, the droplet step-over distance, and the stand-off distance between the print head and the substrate, pillars with varying angles to the substrate could be printed. Also presented is the parameter study which maps droplets jetting frequency, and droplet step-over distance with the angle …

Development Of A High Performance Resonant Photon-Pair Source In Silicon, Jeffrey A. Steidle

Theses

One of the key building blocks of quantum photonic systems is a source of indistinguishable photons. Silicon ring resonators can be used as photon pair sources by taking advantage of silicon's large third order nonlinearity with a process known as spontaneous four wave mixing. These sources are capable of producing pairs of indistinguishable photons but typically suffer from an effective 50% loss. By slightly decoupling the input waveguide from the ring, the desired photons generated in the ring can be directed to the drop port. Thus, the ratio between the coincidences from the drop port and the total number of …

Combining Hyperspectral Imaging And Small Unmanned Aerial Systems For Grapevine Moisture Stress Assessment, Rinaldo R. Izzo

Theses

It has been shown that mild water deficit in grapevine contributes to wine quality, in terms of especially grape and subsequent wine flavor. Water deficit irrigation and selective harvesting are implemented to optimize quality, but these approaches require rigorous measurement of vine water status. While traditional in-field physiological measurements have made operational implementation onerous, modern small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) have presented the unique opportunity for rigorous management across vast areas. This study sought to fuse hyperspectral remote sensing, sUAS, and sound multivariate analysis techniques for the purposes of assessing grapevine water status. High-spatial and -spectral resolution hyperspectral data were …

Water Quality And Algal Bloom Sensing From Multiple Imaging Platforms, Ryan Ford

Theses

Harmful cyanobacteria blooms have been increasing in frequency throughout the world resulting in a greater need for water quality monitoring. Traditional methods of monitoring water quality, such as point sampling, are often resource expensive and time consuming in comparison to remote sensing approaches, however the spatial resolution of established water remote sensing satellites is often too coarse (300 m) to resolve smaller inland waterbodies. The fine scale spatial resolution and improved radiometric sensitivity of Landsat satellites (30 m) can resolve these smaller waterbodies, enabling their capability for cyanobacteria bloom monitoring.

In this work, the utility of Landsat to retrieve concentrations …

System Design Considerations For A Low-Intensity Hyperspectral Imager Of Sensitive Cultural Heritage Manuscripts, Tyler R. Peery

Theses

Cultural heritage imaging is becoming more common with the increased availability of more complex imaging systems, including multi- and hyperspectral imaging (MSI and HSI) systems. A particular concern with HSI systems is the broadband source required, regularly including infrared and ultraviolet spectra, which may cause fading or damage to a target. Guidelines for illumination of such objects, even while on display at a museum, vary widely from one another. Standards must be followed to assure the curator to allow imaging and ensure protection of the document. Building trust in the cultural heritage community is key to gaining access to objects …

Modeling Composite Cytoskeletal Networks Using Effective Medium Theory, Jacob Wales

Theses

The mechanical response of most living cells arises from their cytoskeleton, a polymeric scaffold made of different types of biopolymers and associated crosslinking proteins.

We used rigidity percolation theory to devise a set of models using an effective medium approach to study the mechanical properties of cytoskeleton-like networks. We first successfully recreated a model which obtains the mechanical response of a disordered network of a single filament type, given the constitutive material properties of individual filaments and the network geometry. In this model, wherever two filaments cross they are crosslinked together, and these crosslinkers allow for energy free rotation of …

Magnetoactive Elastomer Solenoid Development And Implementation In Underwater Jet Propulsion, Eric Damm

Theses

The objective of this research was to develop and implement an elastomer solenoid capable of generating underwater jet propulsion for soft robot actuation. This is significant in pushing forward the progress of soft robotics by proving the viability of a new soft actuation method in addition to proving the viability of using silicone and magnetic particles as the driving mechanism for a soft actuator.

The two primary aims were to effectively manufacture an elastomer solenoid core and to incorporate that core with a flexible diaphragm that actuates when a voltage is applied. This combination creates a pulse of water that …

The Characterization Of Earth Sediments Using Radiative Transfer Models From Directional Hyperspectral Reflectance, Rehman S. Eon

Theses

Remote sensing techniques are continuously being developed to extract physical information about the Earth’s surface. Over the years, space-borne and airborne sensors have been used for the characterization of surface sediments. Geophysical properties of a sediment surface such as its density, grain size, surface roughness, and moisture content can influence the angular dependence of spectral signatures, specifically the Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF). Models based on radiative transfer equations can relate the angular dependence of the reflectance to these geophysical variables. Extraction of these parameters can provide a better understanding of the Earth’s surface, and play a vital role in …

Evaluation Of Pixel-Scale Tunable Fabry-Perot Filters For Optical Imaging, Daniel L. Edwards

Theses

The Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI) is a well-developed and widely used tool to control and measure wavelengths of light. In optical imaging applications, there is often a need for systems with compact, integrated, and widely tunable spectral filtering capabilities. We evaluate the performance of a novel tunable MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) Fabry-Perot (FP) filter device intended to be monolithically integrated over each pixel of a focal plane array. This array of individually tunable FPIs have been designed to operate across the visible light spec-trum from 400-750 nm. This design can give rise to a new line of compact spectrometers with fewer moving …

Tool For The Analysis Of Human Interaction With Two-Dimensional Printed Imagery, Anjali K. Jogeshwar

Theses

The study of human vision can include our interaction with objects. These studies include behavior modeling, understanding visual attention and motor guidance, and enhancing user experiences. But all these studies have one thing in common. To analyze the data in detail, researchers typically have to analyze video data frame by frame. Real world interaction data often comprises of data from both eye and hand. Analyzing such data frame by frame can get very tedious and time-consuming. A calibrated scene video from an eye-tracker captured at 120 Hz for 3 minutes has over 21,000 frames to be analyzed.

Automating the process …

Population Genetics Of Rice Rats (Oryzomys Palustris) At The Northern Edge Of The Species Range, Phillip Conrad Williams

Theses

The marsh rice rat (Oryzomys sp.) is a semiaquatic rodent native to wetlands in the southeastern United States. The northwestern-most part of the rice rat’s range extends to Illinois where rice rats are found in wetlands across the southern part of the state. Recent studies have shown that rice rats in the United States can be divided into two species: O. palustris and O. texensis, but the taxonomic status of rice rats in Southern Illinois is unclear. To resolve this, I sequenced cytochrome-b and the control region, two regions of mitochondrial DNA, for 16 rice rats and constructed a phylogeny …

Human Resource Technology And The Changing Role Of Human Resource Professionals, Eris Çunaku

Theses

The focus of this research is to understand the changing role of HR professional through technological advancements. This includes looking into recruitment technologies which reduce the amount of time it takes recruiters to go through every application. Additionally, this thesis will focus on understanding these implications in different countries who have introduced these technological advancements and comparing them to a developing country, such as Kosovo. Kosovo, as a case study, provides an insightful view of how an under-research and under-developed HR program and field can affect the businesses and organizations in the country. The research shows that the role of …

Security Vetting System In Kosovo: Challenges And Opportunities, Rita Ejupi

Theses

The purpose of this Honors project is to provide insights into the current condition of Kosovo’s vetting system, highlight its major drawbacks, and provide recommendations on how to overcome them. This paper discloses that the vetting system, despite being recently established, remains greatly challenged by political implications and the clannish and/or individual decisions to issue or deny security clearances for civil servants, intelligence and police personnel. The study emphasizes that an oversight in the development of the vetting process may come associated with political and material costs, thus, putting the integrity and objectivity of the whole security system in question. …

Being A Social Enterprise: Value-Added Or Fuel To The Misconceptions? The Case Of Social Enterprises In Kosovo, Majlinda Dervishi

Theses

The main focus of this research study is to understand the current state of social enterprise development in Kosovo and public perception about them, as well as to look at the methods that social enterprises use to reach their customers. Since social enterprises have emerged as innovative models in the recent decades, their importance has been growing continuously. The social enterprise’s approach to address social and environmental issues through a market-driven approach has contributed to its financial stability and long-term sustainability. However, the public has not been able and has not been educated to grasp the concept of social enterprises. …

Gender Bias In Managerial Positions In The Private Sector In Kosovo, Diona Hoxha

Theses

This project analyzes gender bias and gender barriers in managerial positions by focusing on private the sector in Kosovo. The study specifically analyzes the barriers that women in the private sector face, such as disregarding qualifications, traditional gender based occupations, discriminatory language in job ads, maternity leave and the lack of contracts that make the employee-employer relationship legally binding. It further elaborates on the concept of gender quotas in management and analyzes their effects in managerial positions and the workplace in general. The study also analyzes best practices outside Kosovo, in which gender equality has been integrated as a part …

A Patient-Specific Approach For Breast Cancer Detection And Tumor Localization Using Infrared Imaging, Jose Luis Gonzalez Hernandez

Theses

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women in the United States; approximately one out of every 24 women die of related causes. BC screening is a critical factor for improving patient prognosis and survival rate. Infrared (IR) thermography is an accurate, inexpensive and operator independent modality that is not affected by tissue density as it captures surface temperature variations induced by the presence of tumors. A novel patient-specific approach for IR imaging and simulation is proposed. In this work, multi-view IR images of isolated breasts are obtained in the prone position (face down), which allows access to …

Flowering In The Springtime: An Iconographical Analysis Of Botticelli’S Primavera, Eynav Ovadia

Theses

This thesis examines how the iconographical program of Botticelli’s Primavera allows the painting to function as a how-to guide of sexuality for an aristocratic young bride in late-fifteenth century Florence. This thesis argues that the inclusion and juxtaposition of specific mythological figures creates a message about the appropriate locations and behaviors expected of a woman when expressing her sexuality. This iconographical program takes into account popular vernacular literature, allegorical meanings of mythology, and Christian understanding of Classical myth in order to produce a message that is meant to be understood by a very specific audience.

Deep Grassmann Manifold Optimization For Computer Vision, Breton Lawrence Minnehan

Theses

In this work, we propose methods that advance four areas in the field of computer vision: dimensionality reduction, deep feature embeddings, visual domain adaptation, and deep neural network compression. We combine concepts from the fields of manifold geometry and deep learning to develop cutting edge methods in each of these areas. Each of the methods proposed in this work achieves state-of-the-art results in our experiments. We propose the Proxy Matrix Optimization (PMO) method for optimization over orthogonal matrix manifolds, such as the Grassmann manifold. This optimization technique is designed to be highly flexible enabling it to be leveraged in many …

Engineering Source/Channel/Drain Regions For Pmos Tfts In Flash Lamp Annealed Polycrystalline Silicon, Viraj Garg

Theses

The flat panel industry requires high performance semiconductor materials to withstand the growth rate in the standards of display quality due to the inability of amorphous silicon (a-Si) to support the next generation display manufacturing. Upon research of other materials, low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) has exhibited the maximum potential considering its high charge carrier mobility. Currently, industry has been employing excimer laser annealing (ELA) process for production of polycrystalline silicon from amorphous silicon which is an expensive process and limits its usability to small screen displays. Flash lamp annealing (FLA) is another approach that is cost efficient and can …

Fabrication Of Resistive Thermo-Optic Heaters On Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits, Venkatesh Deenadayalan

Theses

A reliable process for the fabrication of active heater components on passive silicon photonic integrated circuits is presented in this thesis. The heater components enable modulation of the photonic circuits’ optical response through the concept of Joule heating. This thesis proposes and successfully establishes an optimized process that can be entirely carried out in an academic clean room facility. The entire cycle of design, simulation and modelling, fabrication and testing is covered. Target lithographic resolution of 300 nm was achieved through process optimization (using a spin on carbon hard mask) by using i-line 365 nm lithography. A very good resolution …

Design And Verification Of A Dfi-Axi Ddr4 Memory Phy Bridge Suitable For Fpga Based Rtl Emulation And Prototyping, Pallavi Avinash Mayekar

Theses

System on chip (SoC) designers today are emphasizing on a process which can ensure robust silicon at the first tape-out. Given the complexity of modern SoC chips, there is compelling need to have suitable run time software, such at the Linux kernel and necessary drivers available once prototype silicon is available. Emulation and FPGA prototyping systems are exemplary platforms to run the tests for designs, are naturally efficient and perform well, and enable early software development. While useful, one needs to keep in mind that emulation and FPGA prototyping systems do not run at full silicon speed. In fact, the …

Task Planning And Execution For Human Robot Team Performing A Shared Task In A Shared Workspace, Tuly Hazbar

Theses

A cyber-physical system is developed to enable a human-robot team to perform a shared task in a shared workspace. The system setup is suitable for the implementation of a tabletop manipulation task, a common human-robot collaboration scenario. The system integrates elements that exist in the physical (real) and the virtual world. In this work, we report the insights we gathered throughout our exploration in understanding and implementing task planning and execution for human-robot team.