Digital Commons Network^™

Cryogenic Operation Of Scmos Image Sensors, Benjamin P. Stewart

Theses

Scientific CMOS image sensors have lower read noise and dark current than charge coupled devices. They are also uniquely qualified for operation at cryogenic temperatures due to their MOSFET pixel architecture. This paper follows the design of a cryogenic imaging system to be used as a star tracking rocket attitude regulation system. The detector was proven to retain almost all its sensitivity at cryogenic temperatures with acceptably low read noise. Once the star tracker successfully maintains rocket attitude during the flight of the CIBER-2 experiment, the technology readiness level of scientific CMOS detectors will advance enough that they could see …

Tactile Painting Easel: For People With Limited Vision, Yue Zhang

Theses

Visual art is probably the oldest art. But people with vision challenges have been held back, perhaps for many years by avoiding making art. However, it is never late to start and this painting system helps to paint with ease and joy. Through the researching about the behavior of people with visual disability, the conclusions are: Painting can help people with limited vision to face life in a more positive way; vision and touch are closely related. After the shape symbolism experiment and interview, the conclusion is people with visual disability understand the metaphors of the pictures. The mock blind …

Exploring The Application Of Homomorphic Encryption For A Cross Domain Solution, Cody W. Tinker

Theses

A cross domain solution is a means of information assurance that provides the ability to access or transfer digital data between varying security domains. Most acceptable cross domain solutions focus mainly on risk management policies that rely on using protected or trusted parties to handle the information in order to solve this problem; thus, a cross domain solution that is able to function in the presence of untrusted parties is an open problem.

Homomorphic encryption is a type of encryption that allows its party members to operate and evaluate encrypted data without the need to decrypt it. Practical homomorphic encryption …

Functional Imaging Connectome Of The Human Brain And Its Associations With Biological And Behavioral Characteristics, Chao Zhang

Theses

Functional connectome of the human brain explores the temporal associations of different brain regions. Functional connectivity (FC) measures derived from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) characterize the brain network at rest and studies have shown that rfMRI FC is closely related to individual subject's biological and behavioral measures. In this thesis we investigate a large rfMRI dataset from the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and utilize statistical methods to facilitate the understanding of fundamental FC-behavior associations of the human brain. Our studies include reliability analysis of FC statistics, demonstration of FC spatial patterns, and predictive analysis of individual biological …

Incremental And Adaptive L1-Norm Principal Component Analysis: Novel Algorithms And Applications, Mayur Dhanaraj

Theses

L1-norm Principal-Component Analysis (L1-PCA) is known to attain remarkable resistance against faulty/corrupted points among the processed data. However, computing L1-PCA of “big data” with large number of measurements and/or dimensions may be computationally impractical. This work proposes new algorithmic solutions for incremental and adaptive L1-PCA. The first algorithm computes L1-PCA incrementally, processing one measurement at a time, with very low computational and memory requirements; thus, it is appropriate for big data and big streaming data applications. The second algorithm combines the merits of the first one with additional ability to track changes in the nominal signal subspace by revising the …

Evaluating Material Consumption At The Intersection Of Technological Innovation And Shifting Consumer Demand: A Case Study Of Consumer Electronics, Barbara V. Kasulaitis

Theses

Increasing availability of consumer electronics offers the potential to improve quality of life, extend educational access, and improve efficiency of industrial processes, yet introduce their own set of challenges including increasingly diverse material supply chains, the fastest growing waste stream, and high life cycle resource demands. A significant body of research has been developed to understand material and energy flows across the product life cycle, but to date, that research has neglected to understand aggregate material flows across a community of interrelated products that are consumed, used, and disposed of together.

This research explores that research gap, first evaluating the …

Outsourcing In Kosovo: An Analysis Of Kosovo's Comparative Advantage And The Potential For Growth, Yllza Hoti

Theses

The main focus of this research project is to explore the implications of outsourcing on the service provider countries, specifically for the case of Kosovo. With the emergence of globalization, international markets are more interconnected than ever. Technology has facilitated businesses with different ways of reducing costs, one of them being outsourcing part of their business processes internationally, also known as offshore outsourcing. While the impact of such strategies on the client countries is controversial, there is almost universal agreement that the impact on provider countries, especially when they are developing countries, is positive. Being a developing country, Kosovo can …

The Psychology Behind Voting Behavior In Kosovo, Fjolla Qorri

Theses

The extent to which voting is a rational behavior is highly debated among social psychologists and political scientists. This paper aims to answer the question of what guides the voting behavior in Kosovo. Firstly, it suggests that the voters’ rationality is limited and that implicit biases override policy analysis. Secondly, it argues that social identity, family voting, gender bias, ideology, and emotions are all significant in its own way in guiding the voting behavior in Kosovo. It does this through a combination of secondary and primary research that includes one survey of 250 respondents and the Implicit Association Test (IAT). …

Hotel Industry Development In Kosovo, Kaltrina Zeka

Theses

The purpose of this paper is to first analyze the hotel industry in Kosovo in depth, through qualitative and quantitative research, and then to compare it with the hotel industry in Macedonia. In this paper, I look at: what are the capacities of hotels in Kosovo, do these capacities fulfill the hotel industry and tourism needs in Kosovo, how do star ranking criteria reflect the quality of hotels in Kosovo, where do Kosovo hotels lack the most, how does the hotel industry stand in general, how does it differ and compare to the hotel industry in Macedonia, both in capacities …

An Analysis Of The State Matura Exam In Kosovo, Vjolla Gashi

Theses

This paper’s aim is to analyze the State Matura Exam. The focus of the analysis is in particular on the administration process of the exam. The analysis is conducted by relying on both primary and secondary research. The research discusses the issues with the administration process of the test, whereby it identifies organized cheating as one of the most problematic issues. It also identifies methods of cheating by relying on primary research e.g. surveys and focus groups. Thus, the study analyzes whether the State Matura Exam fulfills the criteria needed to be considered a standardized test.

To conclude, the purpose …

A Study Of The Lightfastness Of High-Chroma Water-Based Flexographic Printing Inks, Nuanjan Narakornpijit

Theses

The study of new material for package printing is critical because packaging is not only about visual aesthetics, but also function. Technologies such as High-chroma ink that aid expanded gamut printing can be especially useful in package printing.

The thesis experiment examined the lightfastness characteristics of High-chroma water-based flexographic printing inks sets within the context of package printing applicability. Using conventional water-based flexographic printing inks as a standard, the study examined whether High-chroma inks exhibit different lightfastness characteristics. First, the researcher chose yellow and magenta process color water-based flexographic inks because of the traditional process colors, they are the least …

Optimization Of Dry And Wet Gan Etching To Form High Aspect Ratio Nanowires, Matthew Hartensveld

Theses

Nanowire devices are emerging as the replacement technology to planar devices, such as Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and Field Effect Transistors (FETs), due to better performance and higher device densities. Here, top-down GaN nanowire fabrication is studied through the use of dry and wet etching techniques. Specifically, dry etching is studied focusing on the effects of etching power, pressure, and the use of chloroform during the process. Wet etching of GaN nanowires takes the initial structures formed by the dry etch to create the desired high aspect ratio, tunable-diameter nanowires. Effects of etching time, temperature, concentration, and ability to remove …

Exploring High Level Synthesis To Improve The Design Of Turbo Code Error Correction In A Software Defined Radio Context, Bradley E. Conn

Theses

With the ever improving progress of technology, Software Defined Radio (SDR) has become a more widely available technique for implementing radio communication. SDRs are sought after for their advantages over traditional radio communication mostly in flexibility, and hardware simplification. The greatest challenges SDRs face are often with their real time performance requirements. Forward error correction is an example of an SDR block that can exemplify these challenges as the error correction can be very computationally intensive. Due to these constraints, SDR implementations are commonly found in or alongside Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to enable performance that general purpose processors …

Cache Memory Access Patterns In The Gpu Architecture, Yash Nimkar

Theses

Data exchange between a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and a Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) can be very expensive in terms of performance. The characterization of data and cache memory access patterns differ between a CPU and a GPU. The motivation of this research is to analyze the cache memory access patterns of GPU architectures and to potentially improve data exchange between a CPU and GPU. The methodology of this work uses Multi2Sim GPU simulator for AMD Radeon and NVIDIA Kepler GPU architectures. This simulator, used to emulate the GPU architecture in software, enables certain code modifications for the L1 and …

Numerical Investigation Of Heat And Mass Transfer Phenomena In Boiling, Isaac Bernabe Perez-Raya

Theses

Applications boiling are found in heat sinks for electronics cooling, nuclear and fossil fuel powered steam generators, distillation columns, concentrated solar power systems, glass melting furnaces, desalination chambers, and heat and mass exchangers. In order to increase the performance and safety margins of these applications, there is a need to develop tools that predict the thermal and fluid behavior during bubble growth. The analysis of boiling has been addressed by computer simulations, which employ methods for approximating mass and heat transfer at the interface.

However, most simulations make assumptions that could adversely affect the prediction of the thermal and dynamic …

Graph-Based Performance Estimation On Customized Mips Processors, Saaim Valiani

Theses

The desire for greater processor performance with shrinking technologies and increasing heterogeneity, leads to a need for improvement in performance estimation. Being able to estimate the performance of an application without needing to implement the application on the available hardware and soft-core choices can decrease development time and help expedite the process of choosing which platform would be the best choice to use for development.

This thesis work focuses on using a graph-based description of an application to estimate performance. By using a graph-based approach, the need for a hardware specific implementation is eliminated and the design space is simplified. …

Comparative Analysis Of Public And Private Start-Up Incubators (From A Users’ Perspective), Jelena Putarek

Theses

The emergence of technologically oriented small business ventures referred to as start-ups has brought in another global trend, the emergence of start-up incubators. Although business incubators have been present since the 1950’s, their importance has never been greater. Local governments, as well as private entities, have recognized the importance of business incubation as a driving force of innovation and the economy as a whole. This qualitative study is focused on examining experiences of tenants located in two start-up incubators in the city of Zagreb – public Tehnološki Park Zagreb – The Technology Park Zagreb incubator, and privately owned Zagrebački Inkubator …

Development And Life Cycle Assessment Of Advanced-Concept Iii-V Multijunction Photovoltaics, Brittany L. Smith

Theses

III-V semiconductors make for highly efficient solar cells, but are expensive to manufacture. However, there are many mechanisms for improving III-V photovoltaics in order to make them more competitive with other photovoltaic (PV) technologies. One possible method is to design cells for high efficiency under concentrated sunlight, effectively trading expensive III-V material for cheaper materials such as glass lenses. Another approach is to reduce the amount of III-V material necessary for the same power output, which can be achieved by removing the substrate and installing a reflector on the back of the cell, while also adding quantum structures to the …

Effects Of Fullerenes On A Freshwater Benthic Community: Toxicity And Implications For Ecological Functions And Services, Sarah Ponte Cabral

Theses

Production of engineered carbon-based nanomaterials (CNM) is rising, with increased risk of release to the environment during production, transportation, use, and disposal. This trend highlights a need to understand potential impacts of CNM on the natural environment. Fullerenes (n-C60) are insoluble in water, and form aggregates that settle quickly, suggesting higher relative vulnerability of aquatic benthic ecosystems. This study aimed to determine eco-toxicity of fullerene and its functionalized derivatives on functionally representative benthic organisms, and evaluate how the potential lethal and sub-lethal effects of fullerene on these organisms indirectly impact benthic ecosystem function, including decomposition, primary productivity and nutrient cycling. …

Young, Low-Mass Stars: X-Rays And Circumstellar Environments, Kristina Marie Punzi

Theses

Nearby, young stars are the ideal targets for investigations of stellar and protoplanetary disk evolution, so as to understand the processes involved in planet formation and evolution, as well as the origins of our Solar System. High energy radiation (X-ray and FUV) from the central star significantly alters the structure, chemistry, and ionization of planet-forming circumstellar disks. In this dissertation, I present observations of young stars and star-disk systems to better understand the connection between stellar high energy radiation and the evolution of circumstellar environments, and to further develop methods to exploit the signatures of youth, as well as methods …

Self-Assembled Monolayers For Phosphorus Doping Of Silicon For Field Effect Devices, Jenna L. Doran

Theses

Moore's law continues to drive the semiconductor industry to create smaller transistors and improve device performance. Smaller transistors require shallower junctions, especially for the non-planar geometries such as FinFETs and nanowires which are becoming more common. Conventional doping techniques such as ion implantation and spin-on diffusants have difficulty producing shallow junctions, especially for conformal doping of non-planar structures. Molecular monolayer doping (MLD) is presented as an alternative doping method with the capability to produce ultra-shallow junctions with low sheet resistances for planar and non-planar structures. MLD relies on the formation of a self-assembled monolayer of a dopant-containing compound which is …

Social Media And Its Impact On Users’ Decision Making To Visit A Fine Dining Restaurant, Petra Malbasa

Theses

This study focused on exploring what factors and social media tactics are important to consider when creating an effective social media strategy for a fine dining restaurant in Zagreb for Facebook and Instagram. The important factors to consider when creating an effective social media strategy and useful social media tactics to use for a fine dining restaurant in Zagreb were defined. The study used a qualitative research approach and in-depth research questions. Ten participants shared their personal experiences connected to social media and fine dining restaurants. Fifty percent of the participants were experts in marketing and the food industry who …

Highly Ordered Titanium And Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes Electrode Development And Electrochemical Application, Xiang Li

Theses

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is one of the most extensively studied compounds in materials science. Since the first successful fabrication of highly ordered TiO2 nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) arrays via electrochemical anodization in ’90s, thousands of publications have focused on the growth, properties, and applications of these versatile nanostructures. In the present study, anodization conditions were found to be the key determinants for TiO2-NTs’ structures and properties. In fact, this work demonstrates that tuning anodization conditions leads to tailoring TiO2-NTs’ for distinctive electrochemical applications. Deconvoluting myriad factors, for example temperature, electrolyte, reaction time, and potential, which govern the anodized products properties, was possible …

Anatomy Of The Rotator Cuff, Shevon Barnes

Theses

Health literacy is the level at which an individual can obtain, comprehend, and retain general health information and available health services. Health literacy determines more than just how well a person understands medical information. It affects how well they can navigate the medical world. There are problems that often reoccur in patient education materials. Most patient education materials should be written at a 5th or 6th grade level (Health Literacy, NIH 2015) whereas most materials are written at an 11th grade level, or higher. Many illustrations included in resources are complex and not designed to give a general overview of …

Empirical Satellite Characterization For Realistic Imagery Generation, Nilay Vijay Mokashi

Theses

There is an increasing interest in the use of machine learning deep networks to automatically analyze satellite imagery. However, there are limited annotated satellite imagery datasets available for training these networks. Synthetic image generation offers a solution to this need, but only if the simulated images have comparable characteristics to the real data. This work deals with analysis of commercial satellite imagery to characterize their imaging systems for the purpose of increasing the realism of the synthetic imagery generated by RIT’s Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) model.

The analysis was applied to satellite imagery from Planet Labs …

Self-Healing Polymer Matrix Composite Matrix Materials Using Hindered Urea Bonding, Joseph F. Schevtchuk

Theses

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) utilize thermoset resins in large part because of their low starting molecular weights which allow for good reinforcement infiltration prior to curing. Formed networks owe much of their mechanical properties to covalent crosslinks tethering molecules within the matrix. Traditional covalent bonds are irreversible and thus damaged composites are either repaired or replaced. For the former, traditional repair techniques remain costly and time consuming. Dynamic covalent bonds represent a potential alternative to traditional covalent bonds. These unique chemical groups can be tailored to engender thermoset-like characteristics at use-temperatures and thermoplastic-like behavior at elevated temperatures thus enabling self-healing. …

Impact Of Snap Fruit And Vegetable Incentive Programs: An Analysis Of Usda Fini Projects, Katherine Engel

Theses

As diet-related chronic diseases continue to jeopardize public health in the United States, improving the dietary quality of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants is essential. One strategy that has been proposed as a means of doing so is utilizing fruit and vegetable incentives. Incentives serve to lower the cost of these foods for participants and thus theoretically encourage and enable them to purchase and consume more fruits and vegetables. The existing research indicates that incentives are an effective approach for increasing fruit and vegetable purchase and consumption. However, there is lack of research on the factors that influence the …

Efficient Organic Photovoltaic Cells Employing Squaraines And Their Aggregates: Experiment And Theory, Chenyu Zheng

Theses

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have continued to attract attention over the past two decades, promising solution processable and aesthetically pleasing solar energy harvesting devices. The power conversion efficiency of OPV has improved rapidly owing to the development of novel conjugated polymers and functional molecules. Recently, donor-acceptor push-pull type materials have been investigated ubiquitously for OPV applications due to their high extinction coefficients in the near-infrared region of the solar spectrum. At RIT, a series of donor-acceptor-donor type squaraine (SQ) materials have been systematically synthesized and investigated for their potential in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OPV devices. This dissertation presents both experimental and …

Development Of The Commodity Strategy: The Case Of Sidel, Giuseppe Celiberti

Theses

The thesis will address the development of the sourcing strategy in Sidel, a manufacturing company that provides packaging equipment for liquids such as water, carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks, sensitive beverages like milk, and liquid dairy products.

It is developed the sourcing strategy structure that characterizes every commodity, with a particular focus on the commodity execution process. Then, it is discussed a concrete case: the one of Nitro Dozers. In order to achieve the goal, it is used a systematic approach that focuses on different steps, from the Product overview and Spend analysis to the supplier assessment and benchmarking.

After …

Family Business: Innovation And Tradition In A Global Economy, Francesca Fornasari

Theses

Eighty-five percent of Italian companies are run as a family business. They are considered vital for Italian economy. The purpose of this thesis is to study how these companies challenge the global market to understand if the globalization can cause them disadvantages or benefits. The study explains what a family business is and who are the components that can be part of it. Then it focuses on the structure of the firms, how the families run their businesses and organize the tasks between the family members. This thesis considers the strategies of innovation adopted by the family to remain competitive …