Digital Commons Network^™

Using Social Media Data In Demand Forecasting: The Case Of Walmart, Aybike Akici

Theses

We describe a fully empirical study on demand forecasting, that is applicable to any real-world data. This is a hands-on case study on the power of social media in demand forecasting. We implement a Box-Jenkins methodology with exogenous variables, namely ARIMAX, to forecast Walmart's future sales. The social media components that we utilize are the number of likes and comments on the official Facebook page of Walmart. The details of the empirical investigation for fitting the best ARIMAX model are presented, and the results are discussed. With this thesis, we demonstrate that social media information should be considered in forecasting, …

Meta Learning For Graph Neural Networks, Rohan N. Dhamdhere

Theses

Deep learning has enabled incredible advances in pattern recognition such as the fields of computer vision and natural language processing. One of the most successful areas of deep learning is Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). CNNs have helped improve performance on many difficult video and image understanding tasks but are restricted to dense gridded structures. Further, designing their architectures can be challenging, even for image classification problems. The recently introduced graph CNNs can work on both dense gridded structures as well as generic graphs. Graph CNNs have been performing at par with traditional CNNs on tasks such as point cloud classification …

Evolution Of Garamond: An Interactive Timeline Demonstrating The Evolution Of Garamond, Yeseul Son

Theses

Typography is an essential subject that every visual communication design (VCD) student should learn to be a professional. The knowledge and skill of typography can be required in any type of VCD project such as in branding, interaction, or motion graphics design. In consequence, even when VCD students focus on specific fields, polishing their knowledge and skills of the subject can help them become thriving practitioners. This thesis aims to pique their interests in typography, which could help motivate them to self-study the subject, by illustrating the evolution of Garamond: a name of typeface that is descended from letters designed …

How Architecture Can Promote A Sustainable And Therapeutic Experience For Patients In Psychiatric Hospitals In China, Xili Li

Theses

Mental, physical and social health are the interwoven strands of well-being for all individuals’ lives. Mental health, in particular, is crucial to the overall robustness of humans, as it enables individuals to realize their abilities, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their communities. Unfortunately, mental disorders have suffered the stigma of disgrace. Although the world has long struggled to understand, identify, and treat mental illnesses, the quality of relative facilities and treatments lags far behind other medical fields. The conditions of mental healthcare facilities are especially inadequate in developing countries, like China.

The author’s …

The Design And Realization Of A Dual Mode Photoacoustic And Ultrasound Imaging Camera, Zichao Han

Theses

Prostate cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer death in American men. Diagnosis of the disease is based on persisting elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and suspicious lesion felt on digital rectal examination (DRE), prompting transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) imaging guided biopsy. This method, however, has long been criticized for its poor sensitivity in detecting cancerous lesions, leading to the fact that these biopsies generally are not targeted but systematic multi-core in nature that try to sample the entire gland. The thesis presents a new modality that, in combination of ultrasound (US) imaging with multi-wavelength photoacoustic (PA) imaging, improves …

Design Vs. War: Modular System Of Toys For War-Affected Children, Shima Ghaheri

Theses

Toy and play as integral childhood components have proven to be crucial in child development. [1] It has been adults’ responsibility to provide children with suitable toys or help them find or make ones. However, this task seems to be challenging about children in war zones. Children that still have the rights to be recognized as children, to spend their time playing delightfully, and to grow peacefully.

In this project, first I examine how wars affect lives. To dig into the effect further, I explore the affected war children as the most vulnerable group of the society. Then I study …

Study Of Interior Public Spaces For The Promotion Of Social Interaction In High-Rise Residential Buildings, Xinyi He

Theses

Urbanization is progressing rapidly in China. To accommodate the increasing population, high-rise residential buildings are becoming more prevalent in urban areas. But residents of high-rise buildings have little opportunity to socially interact with their neighbors, and this lack of social interaction may generate community-relevant negative outcomes, such as loneliness, reduced helpfulness, and insecurity, all of which have an adverse effect on the overall satisfaction level of the community. To address this issue, there is a need to develop strategies for community-oriented high-rise residential building designs that take into consideration China’s specific realities.

Due to the high-density living environment that is …

For That What Didn't, Sue Britt

Theses

ABSTRACT The work of this book was pursued with the objective of exploring psychological and sociological causes and effects of the human condition with themes including family, love, solitude, loss, abandonment, estrangement, maternity, sex, and gender power dynamics--especially that of male dominance of women and varying female responses to this sociological organization--using characters, animals, settings and voices in the artistic medium of poetry. The assembly of the book is in the style of novel structure, but neither story nor chronology were considered in the order of organization as each poem is an independent piece. Epigraphs were used at the beginning …

Habitat Preferences Of Blue Marlin (Makaira Nigricans) And Black Marlin (Istiompax Indica) In The Eastern Pacific Ocean, Nima Farchadi, Michael G. Hinton, Andrew R. Thompson, Zhi-Yong Yin

Theses

Overexploitation and climate change can reduce the abundance and shift the spatial distribution of marine species. Determining the habitat suitability of a mobile pelagic species, such as Makaira nigricans (BUM) and Istiompax indica (BLM), can help describe their spatiotemporal distribution patterns over a broad spatial scale, which is a crucial need for fisheries management. Using 14 years (1997-2010) of Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) catch data from purse-seine vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO), we modeled the dynamic habitat suitability of BUM and BLM in response to environmental variables within the EPO using a species distribution model (MaxEnt) with …

Effects Of Slips And Trips On Resultant Lumbar Kinematics, Lumbar Muscle Activity And Low-Back Loads, Kavish J. Kathawala

Theses

Slips, trips, and falls (STFs) represent one of the leading causes of occupational injuries and fatalities. In particular, many prior reports have linked STFs with the onset of low-back disorders, which, depending on the severity of the incident, can leave the worker physically limited both in the workplace and at home. In contrast, the incidence and outcomes of loads acting on the low back due to a slip and trip that does not lead to a fall (i.e., slip/trip without fall: STWF) remain only marginally investigated to date. To address this research deficit, this quantitative study was designed to explore …

Web Whys? An Investigation Into The Capacity, Capability And Commitment Of Youth Work Providers To Engage Young People In Their Services Through New Media And Technologies., Nora Butler

Theses

Firstly, we shall explore what technologies young people have at their disposal and how tools like social networking sites have created a shift in our communication processes. In order to harness the potential of this technology and improve the relationship between youth work and technology, we must first understand how it is used in practice which requires investigative research, of which this paper has undertaken. I suggest that Web Whys? is used as a resource for other practitioners in Youth Work to understand the real impact and potential of digital platforms for improving young people’s lives.

A mixed method approach …

The Design, Test And Evaluation Of A Sensing System For Process Analytical Technology (Pat), Trevor Murphy

Theses

Increased globalisation and competitiveness has given rise to a more dynamic and diverse global market that has begun to place incredible strain on manufacturing supply chains. Conventional manufacturing methods such as the batch manufacturing methods employed largely by the materials processing industries i.e. pharmaceuticals, polymers and magnesium processing plants are ill-suited to cope with the demands of today. As products evolve with technological advancements they become more complex to produce and require alternative approaches to manufacturing to ensure product quality while reducing costs and increasing manufacturing efficiencies.

A potential solution to the growing demands on today’s supply chain is process …

Effects Of Exertion Variability On The Fdi Muscle Fatigue During Intermittent Contractions, Abdul Mathin Shaik

Theses

Many current workplace tasks involve prolonged and/or repetitive physical exertion, which can result in localized muscle fatigue (LMF). LMF has been shown to reduce a worker’s performance and increase the chance of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Exertion variation is an approach known to impart a generally positive impact to reduce LMF. In this study, our main goal was to observe how exertion variability under specific laboratory working conditions affects the fatigue and recovery of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle. Twelve participants performed finger abduction task during four different experimental conditions: 1) baseline intermittent contractions (20% MVC); 2) active rest …

Sustaining Dockless Bike-Sharing Based On Business Principles, Neil Horowitz

Theses

Currently in urban areas, the value of money and fuel is increasing because of urban traffic congestion. As an environmentally sustainable and short-distance travel mode, dockless bike-sharing not only assists in resolving the issue of urban traffic congestion, but additionally assists in minimizing pollution, satisfying the demand of the last mile problem, and improving societal health. Despite the positives that this new transportation mode provides, currently there are few effective measures in place to make the development of dockless bike-sharing providers more sustainable.

This study endeavors in establishing a foundation for resolving this problem through developing business models of dockless …

The Effects Of Density Gradients On The Distribution And Behavior Of Copepods, Connor Cayson

Theses

Observations of fine-scale behavioral dynamics of zooplankton may shed insight into much larger-scale ecosystem patterns and phenomena. Some zooplankton, such as copepods, are known to aggregate near density gradients; however, it is not clear the extent to which density gradients alone affect copepod distribution and behavior, since these gradients are often associated with phytoplankton layers. In this study, we investigated the behavior of Calanus pacificus in response to salinity gradients through laboratory experiments observed with high-resolution video and analyzed using computational techniques. Image data were collected using two cameras recording continuously for a duration of 30 minutes or more, allowing …

Low-Shot Learning For The Semantic Segmentation Of Remote Sensing Imagery, Ronald Kemker

Theses

Deep-learning frameworks have made remarkable progress thanks to the creation of large annotated datasets such as ImageNet, which has over one million training images. Although this works well for color (RGB) imagery, labeled datasets for other sensor modalities (e.g., multispectral and hyperspectral) are minuscule in comparison. This is because annotated datasets are expensive and man-power intensive to complete; and since this would be impractical to accomplish for each type of sensor, current state-of-the-art approaches in computer vision are not ideal for remote sensing problems. The shortage of annotated remote sensing imagery beyond the visual spectrum has forced researchers to embrace …

The Chromatic Villainy Of Complete Multipartite Graphs, Anna Raleigh

Theses

Suppose the colors in a $\chi(G)$-coloring of a graph $G$ have been rearranged. We will call this rearrangement $c^*$.

The chromatic villainy of the $c^*$ is defined as the minimum number of vertices that need to be recolored in order to return $c^*$ to a proper coloring in which each color appears the same number of times as in the initial coloring.

The maximum chromatic villainy when considering all rearrangements of all $\chi(G)$-coloring of $G$ is the chromatic villainy of $G$.

Here, the chromatic villainies of certain families of graphs were investigated and the chromatic villainies of paths and certain …

Improvements On Orca For Fast Computation Of Graphlet Degree Vectors Of Any Graphlet Order, Wilberto Z. Nunez

Theses

It is increasingly common to find real-life structures or behaviors represented as graphs in many areas of the computing sciences. Comparing these graphs is a hard task, especially when we are interested in assigning a non-binary similarity score between two large graphs based on some domain-specific context. In bioinformatics, social network analysis and other areas is frequently necessary to compute graph similarities based on the local topological information of each vertex of the given graphs. This is why graphlet degree vectors have become more and more popular in these areas. They provide a simple yet detailed representation of a vertex's …

Using Packet Timing Information In Website Fingerprinting, Mohammad Saidur Rahman

Theses

Website Fingerprinting (WF) enables an eavesdropper to discover what sites the user is visiting despite the use of a VPN or even the Tor anonymity system. Recent WF attacks on Tor have reached high enough accuracy (up to 98%) to prompt Tor to consider adopting defenses based on packet padding. Defenses such as Walkie-Talkie mainly remove features related to bursts of traffic without affecting packet timing. This was reasonable given that previous research on WF attacks ignored or deemphasized the use of packet timing information. In this thesis, we examine the extent to which packet timing can be used to …

Perceptions Of Non-Americans Towards American Tv Series, Thaarika Charumathy Seetharaman

Theses

Television drama is one of the most entertaining genre of the media industry, and it serves as a socialization platform (Greenberg, 1982). American TV series have gained audience and fans from all around the world which opens up the scope for examining the effects of American media on the secondary audience. Drawing on the framework of cultivation theory, this study examined the effect of American TV series on non-American population. The results suggested that the cultivation effects are dependent on age and gender of the respondents, in connection with the genre of the series influencing the audience’s framing of the …

#Metoo: Personal Accounts Of Sexual Violence On Facebook Analyzing Individual Stories To Reveal Themes About Gender, Power, And Intersectional Factors, Lauren Depoint

Theses

This study examines the types of narratives constructed about experiences with sexual violence shared in Facebook posts using the hashtag #MeToo. Feminist and intersectional theories were used to contextualize a textual analysis of 61 public posts to explore how individuals were presenting their experiences for a mass audience online in the absence of traditional gatekeepers. Most of the posts featured graphic details, strong emotion, and patterns of internalized misogyny. Stories shared revealed troubling power dynamics involving disability, race, and gender. Intersectional groups are underrepresented in online spaces, indicating a problematic absence of these individuals within online movements like #MeToo that …

Design For Motorcycle Safety, David Villarreal

Theses

The following presents a holistic approach for the design of safer interactions between motorcyclists and car drivers operating public roads. Several factors appear to influence the way motorcycles are perceived which has played a significant role for their development. Although motorcycles themselves are mechanically stable machines their use in mixed traffic environments can be highly dangerous as a motorcyclist’s inherent degree of conspicuity leaves them unseen by Other Vehicle operators. There are many factors that can have implications on a motorcyclist’s safety; those being a rider’s conspicuity on public roadways, the rider’s ability and confidence level, the size of the …

The List, Joseph C. Bellavia

Theses

The List is a feature film script about Jacob, a dejected teen, during a cold spring break, decides to protect his friend Benny from his abusive father by exploring the city he once thought of as nothing but boring. This feature film script is a boy coming-of-age that incorporates elements of the hero’s journey. The characters deal with the real-world problems of single-parent families, peer pressure, bullying, and abuse while escaping into the world of experiencing their surroundings. It is a prevailing thought by teens that they are growing up in the most boring place. This story unveils that the …

Mapping The Circumnuclear Gas Of The Active Galaxies Ngc 4180 And Mcg−06-30-15, Trent Seelig

Theses

The growth of Super Massive Black Holes in galactic nuclei has been shown through em- pirical studies to be connected with the evolution of the host galaxy. The growth of the black hole through accretion of interstellar gas can generate enough energy to outshine the host galaxy; during this phase it is observed as an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). The nature of the feeding processes that regulate the accretion flow and the processes governing the feedback of radiative and mechanical energy to the host galaxy is still an active field of research. These processes may be investigated by mapping the …

Accretion Disks Formed From Tidally-Disrupted Companions Inside Agb Stars, Gabriel Colin Guidarelli

Theses

The origin of isolated white dwarfs (WDs) with magnetic fields in excess of ∼1 MG has remained a mystery since their initial discovery. Recently, the formation of these high-field magnetic WDs has been observationally linked to binary interactions with low-mass companions (< 0.1 solar mass ) during post- main-sequence evolution. Planetary and M dwarf companions orbiting within several AU of main-sequence stars will become engulfed during the primary’s expansion off the main sequence. Such low-mass companions rapidly in-spiral inside a “common envelope” until they are tidally disrupted near the natal white dwarf core. Formation of an accretion disk from the shredded companion provides a source of turbulence and shear which, in principle, acts to amplify magnetic fields and transport them to the WD surface. However, the disk is initially very cold (∼ 10^3 K) compared to the hot thermal bath present in the center of the red giant (∼ 10^7 K). As there is significant shear in the system, entrainment of hot stellar material into the cold disk may lead to vigorous mixing and thermal evaporation before the field can be sufficiently amplified. To study the evolution and lifetime of the tidally-disrupted disks, we perform three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks formed from 1, 3, 6 and 10 Jupiter mass planets. While entrainment leads to a decrease in disk mass, we find that all disks survive long enough to sufficiently amplify the magnetic field.

The Embrace - Design For Elderly, Meng Liu

Theses

The elderly requires special care, especially those who live in China and living alone. This age group faces physical, mental and emotional challenges, one of which is loneliness. This paper explores the help people age 65-75 in China need to reduce their loneliness due to their children living away from them. The proposed solution is to encourage them to meet new people and keep them busy; then reducing their isolation. One such solution, a bench, is designed to curb the loneliness of elders by providing a platform to connect with each other and promoting their health through physical exercise, comfort, …

Robust Path-Based Image Segmentation Using Superpixel Denoising, Renee T. Meinhold

Theses

Clustering is the important task of partitioning data into groups with similar characteristics, with one category being spectral clustering where data points are represented as vertices of a graph connected by weighted edges signifying similarity based on distance. The longest leg path distance (LLPD) has shown promise when used in spectral clustering, but is sensitive to noisy data, therefore requiring a data denoising procedure to achieve good performance. Previous denoising techniques have involved identifying and removing noisy data points, however this is not a desirable pre-clustering step for data sets with a specific structure like images. The process of partitioning …

A Mathematical Model Of Fluid Flow In Evaporating Droplets Using Wedge Geometry, Jordana O'Brien

Theses

As a droplet of liquid evaporates, particles within the droplet are often pulled to the edge and deposited in a ring-shaped pattern. This is known as the coffee-ring effect. The coffee-ring effect is largely due to evaporation taking place at a pinned contact line. Since this formation is an adverse outcome in many practical applications, methods to counteract the coffee-ring effect have become of interest, including the application of an electric field. In this research project, we discuss the first stage in constructing a coupled mathematical model of colloidal transport within an evaporating droplet under the influence of an electric …

Novel Methods To Determine And Use The Magnetic Vector Potential In Numerical General Relativistic Magnetohydrodynamics, Zachary J. Silberman

Theses

Many codes have been developed to study highly relativistic, magnetized flows around and inside compact objects. Depending on the adopted formalisms, some of these codes evolve the vector potential A, and others evolve the magnetic field B = curl(A) directly. Given that these codes possess unique strengths, it is sometimes desirable to start a simulation using a code that evolves B and complete it using a code that evolves A. Transferring data from one code to another requires an inverse curl algorithm. This dissertation describes two new inverse curl techniques in the context of Cartesian numerical grids: a cell-by-cell method, …

Binary Black Holes In The Inspiral Regime: The Effect Of Spins And Eccentricity On Spacetime Dynamics And Gravitational Radiation, Brennan M. Ireland

Theses

Observations of black hole binaries via the emission of gravitational waves are one of the most exciting discoveries in physics in the past 50 years. The most generic black holes in nature are ones with spin, which may be misaligned with the orbital angular momentum of the binary, and also orbital eccentricity. This demands computationally inexpensive and accurate models of spinning binary black holes for hundreds of orbits as the binary inspirals.

This dissertation is divided into two projects, both of which focus on binary black holes with spin. In the first project, I construct and present a new global, …