Digital Commons Network^™

You Can Be Strong: An Animation About A Young Woman Fighting Against Breast Cancer, Yuting Hou

Theses

Many young women don’t take cancer as a potential threat. They consider this situation only when they attain a certain age. But in fact, cancer is a serious threat. Breast cancer has become the fastest-growing type of cancer in urban areas. The age of women between 25-39 years old are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, accounting for 10-15 percent of all patients.

Being stressed, depressed, lacking of sleep, eating unhealthy food, and smoking are among the factors that are potential causes for breast cancer. It should be taken seriously by young women.

In order to improve awareness of this disease, …

Mudboy: An Animated Short Story Of Procrastination, Wentao Huang

Theses

Procrastination is becoming an issue of people daily lives. This thesis aims to use a short film called Mudboy to investigate what is the main factors that caused procrastination, and raise public awareness of procrastination, through a story about lazy boy whom turns himself into mud whenever he feels like running away from doing his work. Mudboy was developed based on a strictly scheduled plan. More specifically, in the first stage, research and planning were conducted, with significant emphasis on idea creation, story creation, and animatic design. Following the theories and evidence of comprehensive research, a 3D animation story integrating …

Additives Abyss, I-Tang Wu

Theses

Through the news, publications and journals about misuse of food additives in Taiwan, food additives are gradually recognized by the public. However, many people were neither aware of the additives nor able to understand the importance of nutrition usage until some negative food safety issues broke out. This has a lot to do with the lack of knowledge about additives among Taiwanese. People are seldom suspicious of the unnatural taste, even get familiar with it. Therefore, food companies replace the natural ones with food additives not only to lower costs and make food attractive, but also to fulfill customers’ need …

Leper/Cat, Bryan Halvarsson

Theses

This novella is about an artist stricken with leprosy who has to spend the rest of his living days on a mountainside with a particularly large cat.

Simulation-Based Inference On Mixture Experiments, Tejasv Bedi

Theses

Mixture Experiments provide a foundation to optimize the predicted response basedon blends of different components . Parody and Edwards (2006) gave a method of inference on the expected response of a 2nd-order rotatable design, utilizing a simulation-based critical point to give substantially sharper intervals when compared to the simultaneous confidence intervals provided by Sa and Edwards (1993). Here, we begin with discussing the theory of mixture experiments and pseudocomponents. Then we move on to review the literature of simulation-based methods forgenerating critical points and visualization techniques of general response surface designs. Next, we develop the simulation-based technique for a {q, …

Process Planning For Concurrent Multi-Nozzle 3d Printing, Paritosh Santosh Mhatre

Theses

Additive manufacturing (AM) processes possess excellent capabilities for manufacturing complex designs as single uniform parts with optimum material utilization. However, the processes are still not widely used in industry to make large parts. The main reason for this slow adoption is the low material deposition rate during printing. Increasing the material deposition rate by increasing the layer thickness or utilizing larger diameter nozzles results in deterioration of the surface quality of the part. This is known as the “staircase effect”; thus there is a trade-off between the print time and the surface finish of a part. A majority of the …

Transferring Generalized Knowledge From Physics-Based Simulation To Clinical Domain, Mohammed Abdullatif Alawad

Theses

A primary factor for the success of machine learning is the quality of labeled training data. However, in many fields, labeled data can be costly, difficult, or even impossible to acquire. In comparison, computer simulation data can now be generated at a much higher abundance with a much lower cost.

These simulation data could potentially solve the problem of data deficiency in many machine learning tasks. Nevertheless, due to model assumptions, simplifications and possible errors, there is always a discrepancy between simulated and real data. This discrepancy needs to be addressed when transferring the knowledge from simulation to real data. …

Effect Of Religion On Domestic Violence Perpetration Among American Adults, Cassidy Mitchell

Theses

After Hirschi and Stark’s Hellfire and Delinquency (1969), researchers have been seeking to determine whether there is a correlational link between religion and crime. This paper seeks to add to the literature by correlating domestic violence with four elements of religion (use of belief to solve everyday problems, prayer frequency, religious importance, and attendance of worship) that correspond with the four elements of Hirschi’s social control theory (attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement, respectively) (1969). It also includes male victims of domestic violence among female victims, unlike most previous literature. Using a series of logistic regression models, only attendance of worship, …

The Limits Of Sociality, Johnna B. Mcgovern

Theses

There is a longstanding tradition in Western philosophy of emphasizing the capacity for reflection in theories about humans’ characteristic nature. In Talking to Ourselves: Reflection, Ignorance, and Agency, John Doris attempts to shift the focus to an emphasis on human sociality. Particularly, Doris argues that sociality, both implicitly and in the form of collaborative reasoning, is what makes humans best equipped for moral improvement. This collaborativism possesses a defining role in his account of agency and responsibility. This thesis attempts to gain an understanding of how sociality affects moral behavior and to argue that it is not conducive to agency …

Development Of A Two Dimensional Stochastic Methodology And A Computer Model To Assess Response To The Nonlinear Seismic Wave Propagation, Sudhanshu Sengaonkar

Theses

Seismic wave propagation in spatially variable soil continuum can be described by partial differential equations (PDE) with stochastic coefficients. Typical method of analysis in this area is a spectral analysis approach, where time series is presented by a Fourier expansion or a Fourier integral transform. This approach has a limited capability being applicable to the linear problems only.

The novelty of presented method is that it can handle any nonlinear elastic - plastic stochastic constitutive model. The output of the project is the 2D seismic random wave propagation model accounting for the spatial variability of soil properties, described by the …

The Epistemic And Psychological Mechanisms Perpetuating Racism Within The Criminal Justice System, Danielle Walker

Theses

Abstract

Many attempts have been made by philosophers, political activists, psychologists, historians, social advocates, and others to explain the mechanisms at play in the perpetuation and resulting manifestations of systemic and institutional racism. On one side of the debate there lies a theory that there is an epistemic failure at the root of racial bias towards Blacks, white ignorance, a collective amnesia regarding what has and does take place in society, as it pertains to their oppression and isolation, like the view of philosopher Charles W. Mills. According to Mills, this type of ignorance, or non-knowing, is a cognitive phenomenon …

A Model-Free Control Algorithm Based On The Sliding Mode Control Method With Applications To Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Adarsh Raj Kadungoth Sreeraj

Theses

Control methods require the use of a system model for the design and tuning of the controllers in meeting and/or exceeding the control system performance objectives. However, system models contain errors and uncertainties that also may be complex to develop and to generalize for a large class of systems such as those for unmanned aircraft systems. In particular, the sliding control method is a superior robust nonlinear control approach due to the direct handling of nonlinearities and uncertainties that can be used in tracking problems for unmanned aircraft system. However, the derivation of the sliding mode control law is tedious …

Website Fingerprinting Using Deep Learning, Payap Sirinam

Theses

Website fingerprinting (WF) enables a local eavesdropper to determine which websites a user is visiting over an encrypted connection. State-of-the-art WF attacks have been shown to be effective even against Tor. Recently, lightweight WF defenses for Tor have been proposed that substantially degrade existing attacks: WTF-PAD and Walkie-Talkie. In this work, we explore the impact of recent advances in deep learning on WF attacks and defenses. We first present Deep Fingerprinting (DF), a new WF attack based on deep learning, and we evaluate this attack against WTF-PAD and Walkie-Talkie. The DF attack attains over 98% accuracy on Tor traffic without …

Designing Better Prosthetics For Use In Rock Climbing And Other Sports, Tyler Monica

Theses

Participation in sports, and rock climbing in particular, is able to offer many benefits to those who have lost or were born without a limb. Depending on the sport the individual wishes to participate in, there remains relatively few to no prosthetics despite the strong desire of amputees to engage in sports. Industrial designers are increasingly needed on teams to bring about change. Their skill set can help create prosthetics that are functional for a given sport, capture that sport’s essence, are aesthetically pleasing and comfortable for extended use. Together with engineers and prosthetists, they can find the right materials …

Eastern State Penitentiary: A Digital Restoration, Nicholas Gregory Golden

Theses

A model of prison architecture which has been replicated in modern prisons and schools throughout the world, Eastern State Penitentiary was built as the first prison to induce reformation upon its inmates. While kept in solitary confinement inside of generously proportioned cells with barrel vaulted ceilings lit by skylights, inmates were thought to see the light of God and be penitent of their crimes. Today, the interior of the structure is kept in ruin without funding to restore a major cell-block to its former prestige. The cells of the prison today have become dilapidated since the prison closed in 1970 …

The Tendency Of The Automobile Design With The Influence Of Social Culture, Cunzhi Huang

Theses

With the development of the transportation industry, the automobile has become a critical component of Chinese society. Likewise, Chinese culture has influenced automotive design. However, this influence has generally been limited to an increased focus on environ sustainability. This paper presents a strategy to explain this influence. The author discussed social changes and evaluates automobile designs for the future. Through the comparison of China history, culture, various type of automobile to analyze changes in functions and structure. This paper also describes the principles of automobile design necessary for future automobile design and automobile industry development in China.

How To Improve The Office Workers’ Lifestyle With Emotional Design, Chi Zhang

Theses

Nowadays in China, nearly 83% of office workers have to work overtime and 94% of them have physical health conditions due to work schedules. Physical stress increases mental stress while working. nonetheless, many office workers ignore this stress, resulting in severe injury. This thesis explores on phenomenon of office workers in China giving up their health for work. It discusses their working condition and psychological status, and how it affects their balance of work and entertainment. Finally, it suggests a possible way to alleviate this problem- using the emotional design to give users a comfortable and enjoyable experience to make …

Industrial Design Strategies To Enhance The Value Of Paraguayan Artisans’ Textiles, Andrea Gonzalez Esteche

Theses

Countries around the world promote their identity by sharing their culture, traditions, and people. Artisans play an important way of demonstrating a unique variety of elements that show the identity of a country. They share the country’s culture through its products in the world.

Artisans have an insight into the cultural interaction of the folkloric work, inspired by elements of nature to produce different artisanal products oftentimes lack technical knowledge for how to develop their products. This paper proposes an industrial design strategy to help enhance the value of the artisans broaden their offering through new product development, while preserving …

Using Emotional Design To Make Memories And Enhance Relationships, Xi Guo

Theses

We have all experienced this. When we see a thing, the memory of it will come back in our minds no matter how many years have passed. This is the power of memory. What follows is our feelings and emotional reaction to this memory. Reminders of happy memories can bring back pleasant feelings tied to the original experience, regulate positive emotion and promote better well-being. This paper will focus on using emotional design to generate and recall positive memories in order to develop healthy relationships.

Enhancing Dining Experiences Through Emotional Tableware Design, Yueyue Zhang

Theses

Positive dining experiences can improve both physical and psychological health. Eating with people and eating slowly can facilitate one’s experience and behavior during the process, owing to the unexpected information from their senses and the surrounding environment. Tableware is a very important bridge between people and food. People get food, share food, and serve food while dining. Therefore, the tableware based on emotional design can to a certain extent affect people's dining behavior and dining experience. This paper firstly introduces the reasons why people are getting hard to get a positive dining experience, and the importance of dining experiences. Then, …

Understanding Design Challenges For Homeless’ Sleeping Situation In The Us., Siqi Xu

Theses

The living situations of the unsheltered America homeless vary across America. This paper highlights this difference by comparing two cities: New York City and San Francisco. The author considers the causes of homelessness, difficulty of being shelters, current living situation and the influence of the society. In both cities, the sleeping space has the biggest problems. It is critical and worth to improve. Different from bedding supplies for camping, disaster reliefs and military, bedding for unsheltered homeless people must meet their chronic needs and flexible requirements of changing sites. As in the New York City, the unsheltered homeless people prefer …

Coffee Culture: Design Inspiration Balancing Social Connection And Independence In Modern Workplaces, Tianzhi Li

Theses

Positive interaction with others and employee themselves in the workplace can increase work engagement and satisfaction. However, the staff does not have enough flexibility to control their schedule or enough belongings to their coworkers and companies, which make them commit their time, talent, skills, and ambition to their team and companies hard. As a new modern workplace layout type, activity-based workplace (ABW) shows the trend of employee office interaction development. It allows employees to choose the most suitable workstation based on their activities, offering more flexibility to set up their own work life. However, there are some worries preventing people …

What The Water Brought Me: A Composite Of Two Short Stories And A Novel Portion, Shannon Strawhun

Theses

This thesis is a collection of two short stories and three chapters from my novel, Shore Walkers. The short stories, “Lights Against Your Back” and “Thunder and Dust” are a part of a larger collection I have been working on. Each story is based on a different being or place from Gulliver’s Travels. Though the stories can be read separately, there are characters and settings which eventually link all the works in the collection. The stories follow characters in different places and time in the United States. “Thunder and Dust” centers around the dismantling of the Hearst Castle in the …

How To Distinguish Qualities And Dispositions, Seth Reed

Theses

There is an intuitive difference between a qualitative and a dispositional predicate. Qualitative predicates seemingly refer to inherent features of an object, while dispositional predicates point outward to possible interactions. Attempts to further spell this distinction have proven difficult, however. Past approaches have either started from metaphysical assumptions or compared paradigmatic cases of each side-by-side. In this paper I offer a new approach to solving this puzzle. Starting with a qualitative or dispositional predicate of a property, we can examine how that differs from a predicate of the other kind that applies, in virtue of that property, to the same …

Investigation Of Cold Stress Induced Disease Resistance (Sidr) In Grapevines And Arabidopsis, Cal D. Palumbo

Theses

The focus of this thesis project was to investigate the impact of cold temperature conditions on the resistance of Vitis vinifera (grapevines) to powdery mildew, a phenomenon known as cold stress-induced disease resistance (SIDR). The model organism Arabidopsis thaliana was used to determine specific defense mechanisms of plant-pathogen resistance. An RNA-Seq time course experiment was performed for the two organisms: V. vinifera and A. thaliana. The time-series datasets consisted of data points where samples were exposed to an acute (less than 4 hours) cold (below 8°C) temperature for set times prior to inoculation with powdery mildew. The acute cold time …

Factors Limiting Organic Carbon Degradation By Antibiotic-Resistant Heterotrophic Microorganisms In Wastewater Contaminated Sediments, Katelyn Whitburn

Theses

This study aims to assess the interactions between antibiotic resistance and the ability of heterotrophs effected by highly polluted environments to remediate antibiotics from soil via biodegradation. These findings would reveal whether a self-cleaning process is occurring in the waters of Western NY. Water and sediment heterotrophs were obtained from wastewater contaminated environments to understand the factors influencing metabolism. A total of 113 isolates from Charlotte, Durand, and Payne Beaches, the Genesee River, and Hemlock Lake were cultured and detected for antibiotic resistance to 24 different antibiotics. Of these, seven robust bacteria from sediments were considered for their ability to …

Mcam - The Ar Photography Composition Education Prototype For Mobile Device Based On Augmented Reality Interactive, Yunke Liu

Theses

The current digital age and era where technological advancements and innovation have revolutionized various sectors, photos and videos are the most convenient and direct medium for people to record and share their personal lives today. In this digital era and internet age, mobile phone cameras have replaced cameras as the most widely used photography tools. While documenting personal life with photos, people gradually pay more and more attention to the artistry and aesthetics of photos. Just recording that life can no longer satisfy them, how to present more of their own life is a new pursuit of videos and pictures …

Starved Lubrication Using Ionic Liquid As An Additive To Biodegradable Oil In Titanium-Ceramic Contact, Sameer Magar

Theses

Friction leads to energy loss in any system that has two bodies in contact and relative motion with each other. Advancements in lubricants and the lubrication process have helped to reduce friction and in return reduced energy losses owing to friction. But, however, lubricant starvation is still a reality and can happen in applications like piston-ring and cylinder liner contact, and machining etc. It can cause equipment damage leading to unexpected downtime. Ionic liquids, in the recent years have shown a great potential in terms of friction and wear reduction. Using ionic liquids as additives helps reduce the cost of …

Bubble Interactions At Multi-Fluid Interfaces, Travis S. Emery

Theses

Numerous industrial applications and environmental phenomena are centered around bubble interactions at multi-fluid interfaces. These applications range from metallurgical processing to direct contact evaporation and solid shell formation. Environmental phenomena, such as bubble collisions with the sea surface microlayer and the collision of liquid encapsulated bubbles, were also considered as motivators for this work. Although the associated flow dynamics are complex, they play a vital role in governing the related application outcome, be it in terms of mass or heat transfer efficiency, bubble shell production rate, chemical reaction rate, etc. For this reason, a fundamental understanding of the fluid dynamics …

Negative And Positive Reappraisal After A Romantic Break-Up, Scarlett Horner

Theses

Romantic break-ups can cause sadness, depression, and physical symptoms. The purpose of this study is to compare two methods of alleviating heartbreak: negative reappraisal of the ex-partner and positive reappraisal of the break-up. We expected that positive reappraisal would make people feel more positive than negative reappraisal, but that negative reappraisal would make people feel less in love than positive reappraisal. We expected that negative reappraisal would reduce motivated attention as measured by the late positive potential (LPP) and how upset people were about the break-up more than positive reappraisal. In this study, 24 participants (16 female) who were upset …