Digital Commons Network^™

Tracing Vulnerabilities Across Product Releases, Adriana Sejfia

Theses

When a software development team becomes aware of a vulnerability, it generally only knows that the last version of that software product is vulnerable. However, today most software products have more than one version being actively used at a time. Garnering information on which versions contain a vulnerability, and which do not, is crucial for the users, to know which versions of a software product are safe to use, and also for the developers, to know where to apply the patch. The patch, i.e. the fix of the vulnerability, contains valuable information in the form of changes made to the …

Contractive Autoencoding For Hierarchical Temporal Memory And Sparse Distributed Representation Binding, Luke G. Boudreau

Theses

Hierarchical Temporal Memory is a brain inspired memory prediction framework modeled after the uniform structure and connectivity of pyramidal neurons found in the human neocortex. Similar to the neocortex, Hierarchical Temporal Memory processes spatiotemporal information for anomaly detection and prediction. A critical component in the Hierarchical Temporal Memory algorithm is the Spatial Pooler, which is responsible for processing feedforward data into sparse distributed representations.

This study addresses three fundamental research questions for Hierarchical Temporal Memory algorithms. What are the metrics for understanding the semantic content of sparse distributed representations? The semantic content and relationships between representations was visualized with uniqueness …

Velleity, Yiyun Chen

Theses

The work Velleity is an installation of photographs presented on the gallery wall along with a photobook, which explore the process of self-reflection and self-discovery. This experimental work is a form of meditation, which reveals itself through the process of walking photographing, and repurposing into a work of art. The photobook, with its textual references and adaptation of color, develops the concept of the images and text as the language to describe the seemingly unexceptional moments of everyday life. Visualizing the experience as a person navigating different cultures, social expectations, and realities, ponders my displacement in the past and present, …

A Study Of High-Chroma Inks For Expanding Cmyk Color Gamut, Sanyukta Sanjay Hiremath

Theses

The number of possible reproducible colors in a printing method is called the color gamut. The need to satisfy the growing quality demands and produce color match has given rise to the use of expanded color gamuts. There are many ways to achieve an expanded color gamut, including printing with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black (CMYK) plus additional inks, printing with higher ink film thickness (IFT), and printing with high-chroma inks. The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between color gamut volume, metric chroma (C*), IFT, and solid ink density (SID) for regular and high-chroma inks in offset …

Architectural Vulnerabilities In Plug-And-Play Systems, Taylor Corrello

Theses

Plug-and-play architectures enhance systems’ extensibility by providing a framework that enables additional functionalities to be added or removed from the system at their runtime. Such frameworks are often implemented through a set of well-defined interfaces that form the extension points for the pluggable functionalities. However, the plug-ins can increase the applications attack surface or introduce untrusted behavior into the system. Designing a secure plug-and-play architecture is critical and non-trivial as the features provided by plug-ins are not known in advance. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth study of seven systems with plug-and-play architectures. In total, we have analyzed 3,183 …

Self-Regulation Within The Wearable Device Industry And The Alignment To Device Users’ Perceptions Of Health Data Privacy, Tegan Ayers

Theses

Health data privacy has become increasingly pertinent as the Internet-of-Things (IoT), specifically, health-monitoring, wearable devices, has become more advanced. Today’s regulatory framework allows wearable device companies to self-regulate how data is collected and used, thus leaving consumer, health data at risk of possible mishandling or abuse. Consequently, this research sought to examine whether data privacy practices adopted by major wearable manufacturers align with consumer expectations about these devices and the data they collect. Both consumers’ understanding of health data privacy and the corresponding tech companies’ stance on protecting consumer privacy were evaluated by performing crowd-sourced surveys and a thematic analyses …

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells For Automotive Applications: Low-Temperature Operation And Deployment In Material Handling Equipment, Xuan Liu

Theses

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that combine hydrogen and oxygen from air to produce electric current, with water and heat as the main co-products. The management of liquid water from either the internal chemical reactions or externally humidified reactants is an important design consideration for proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells because of the effects on both cell performance and durability. To achieve proper water management, significant effort has been devoted to developing new fuel cell materials, hardware designs, and appropriate stack operating conditions. However, water management in the region of the channel-to-manifold interfaces has received limited attention. This region …

Eighteen Mile Creek, Allison Nichols

Theses

Eighteen Mile Creek is a body of work consisting of cyanotype chemigrams that explores the space of a Superfund site located in Lockport, New York. The works installed in the gallery are large in scale and abstract. They are created solely through the interactions between photographic chemistry, contaminated water collected from Eighteen Mile Creek, and light. The cyanotypes are bound in contradictions, engaged in a push and pull with the viewer. Ranging in tone from deep blue to harsh yellow, they make visual gestures towards landscapes and topography, but also towards toxicity and warning. Further contradictions exist. While the prints …

Identifying The Main Effects That Cause Spatial Variation In A Stereolithographic 3d-Printer With A Test Target And Graphical Analysis, Joseph V. Kain

Theses

This thesis investigates a stereolithography printers’ ability to resolve converging features within its build volume. This experiment employs the use of a Formlab Form 2 stereolithography device to create Geometric Element Test Target (GETT) artifacts designed in Solidworks. The sample will consist of a global arrangement of test artifacts in predetermined positions from a fractional factorial design of experiments. Each local sample will be a slanted ray GETT with designed wedge heights of 1 and 2mm. The finished array of samples are photographed and cataloged for graphical analysis. The ray step heights will be measured using a caliper and graphical …

Traditional Clothing Of Kuwaiti Women, Montaha Alqattan

Theses

In this thesis, I present my artwork of “traditional clothing of Kuwaiti women” completed for my Master of Fine Art at the Rochester Institute of Technology. This work has been a culmination of my feelings about the symbolic meaning of traditional clothing as well as my knowledge and experience gained throughout the master’s program. My learning curve has been reshaped in terms of method and school of art: I was plunged into oil painting as an art method to produce realistic art in all of my artwork before joining the master’s program, but I became more inspired to monoprinting to …

Discriminative Feature Extraction Of Time-Series Data To Improve Temporal Pattern Detection Using Classification Algorithms, David Stolze

Theses

Time-series data streams often contain predictive value in the form of unique patterns. While these patterns may be used as leading indicators for event prediction, a lack of prior knowledge of pattern shape and irregularities can render traditional forecasting methods ineffective. The research in this thesis tested a means of predetermining the most effective combination of transformations to be applied to time-series data when training a classifier to predict whether an event will occur at a given time. The transformations tested on provided data streams included subsetting of the data, aggregation over various numbers of data points, testing of different …

Hangout! A Comprehensive Outdoor Activity Planner & Information Sharing Platform, Yani Qu

Theses

Hangout! is a mobile social-activity app, encouraging users to connect with friends and family. Users can specify their preferred leisure activity, whether that may be camping or caving, kayaking or surfing, running or rock climbing—whatever type of fun they are looking for. Combining a GPS location and a user’s history of outside recreational experiences, the app provides news about the area in real time, along with any emergency notifications for issuing caution.

As the name implies, Hangout! is an application celebrating the recreational places you frequent and the people you socialize with. High-quality imagery and video helps bolster a high …

Dream, Dongyi Wu

Theses

People’s dreams are what interest me most as an artist. Life events, emotional experiences, desires and other personal matters do not come to a person by accident. They are also the things that symbolically shape the images in each of our minds.

We have various images that arise in our dreams caused by daily experiences, personal matters and sensations experienced in our lives. All images or ideas that occur in dreams are recreated, and real emotions are able to appear clearly. Emotions in dreams tend to be real and clear, and our sensitivity to them promotes the clarity of genuine …

Design And Verification Of A Pipelined Advanced Encryption Standard (Aes) Encryption Algorithm With A 256-Bit Cipher Key Using The Uvm Methodology, Devyani Madhukar Mirajkar

Theses

Encryption is the process of altering information to make it unreadable by anyone except those having the key that allows them to change information back to the original readable form. Encryption is important because it allows you to securely protect the data that you don’t want anyone else to have access to. Today, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is the most widely adopted encryption method. Till date there are no cryptanalytic attacks discovered against AES. Hence the verification of the hardware implementation of the AES Core is of utmost importance. In this research paper, the design and verification of a …

Design And Verification Of A Dual Port Ram Using Uvm Methodology, Manikandan Sriram Mohan Dass

Theses

Data-intensive applications such as Deep Learning, Big Data, and Computer Vision have resulted in more demand for on-chip memory storage. Hence, state of the art Systems on Chips (SOCs) have a memory that occupies somewhere between 50% to 90 % of the die space. Extensive Research is being done in the field of memory technology to improve the efficiency of memory packaging. This effort has not always been successful because densely packed memory structures can experience defects during the fabrication process. Thus, it is critical to test the embedded memory modules once they are taped out. Along with testing, functional …

Design For Tea, Xiaoru Chen

Theses

From a perspective of a young Chinese person, I noticed that lots of Chinese youth who like me neither drink tea daily nor understand the cultural meaning of tea. It is concerning that the lack of awareness of tea among Chinese youth might lead to the loss of Chinese tea culture. In this thesis project, I will introduce a system of portable teaware design focused on motivating users to enjoy the true beauty of tea, and so inspiring them to reassess their understanding of tea and themselves.

Uvm Verification Of An Spi Master Core, Deepak Siddharth Parthipan

Theses

In today’s world, more and more functionalities in the form of IP cores are integrated into a single chip or SOC. System-level verification of such large SOCs has become complex. The modern trend is to provide pre-designed IP cores with companion Verification IP. These Verification IPs are independent, scalable, and reusable verification components. The SystemVerilog language is based on object-oriented principles and is the most promising language to develop a complete verification environment with functional coverage, constrained random testing and assertions. The Universal Verification Methodology, written in SystemVerilog, is a base class library of reusable verification components. This paper discusses …

Inspecting Nitrate Silent Cinema: Case Studies From The John E. Allen Collection Of The George Eastman Museum, Lauren Hubbs

Theses

This thesis emphasizes the need to conserve nitrate silent films and to raise awareness that digital copies are not the only solution. Digital copies cannot fulfill all conservation and preservation needs. After reviewing the work of a film historian, archival experts, and several academics in the field of film and archives, I chose silent nitrate films dating from the early 20th-century as case studies. The selected films, part of the John E. Allen Collection of the George Eastman Museum (GEM) in Rochester, NY are housed in the nitrate vaults at the Louis B. Mayer Conservation Center in Chili, NY, although …

From Cultivating Local Foods To Cultivating Local Audiences, K.T. Jackson

Theses

The Rochester Public Market (RPM) is a city-run institution that offers the public access to fresh produce, ethnic delicacies, and general merchandise at low cost, year-round. Its low barrier for entry and allowance for informal interactions between visitors and vendors are just a few of the reasons why the visitorship is consistently high and diverse. With such attributes, the RPM is a vital institution in the Rochester community, leading to the question “what can local museums learn from the market’s methods?” At the time of this writing more and more museums are becoming event spaces with multipurpose uses that fall …

Communicating History: Podcasts As Public History, Alexandra Serpikov

Theses

Since the arrival of “audioblogging” in the 1980s and its transformative rise in popularity in the early 2000s, podcasts have been used to share stories and information all over the globe. History-themed podcasts in particular have grown in number, with content creators utilizing new and emerging media as platforms for dissemination of historical subjects. As a newer medium, podcasting was never specifically targeted to be an educational endeavor, yet it is sharing history through a widely accessible platform. This raises the question, are historically themed podcasts a form of public history? If they are, then how do they function as …

Electrical Demand Modeling Of A Household At An Appliance/Occupant Level, Sanjairaj Gnanasundaram

Theses

Ever increasing demand for electricity in the residential sector has made providers implement demand management strategies to curtail residential electricity consumption during peak demand events. With time, customer satisfaction of such programs dropped, resulting in high dropout rates making utilities rethink about the success of such strategies. The future success of how well these strategies could be implemented is highly dependent on how well the providers understand the effect the strategies have on the customers. This in turn, requires them to study occupant and appliance behavior of each household to have a much better understanding of the problem and this …

The Lifetime Economic Burden Of Monogenic Diseases And The Social Motivations For Their Treatment With Genetic Therapy, James P. Cummings

Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the social cost motivations associated with paying for genetic therapies at the beginning of life for monogenic diseases from various perspectives including the social perspective and the perspective of an average member of the US population. The findings were generated by collecting direct medical cost data (in current USD) relevant to nine common monogenic diseases (Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell Disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Hemophilia A, Huntington’s Disease, Polycystic Kidney Disease, Gaucher Disease, Hereditary Angioedema, and Pompe Disease) to conduct a Monte Carlo and Net Present Value analysis to generate robust lifetime cost …

Application Of Plant Based Edible Coatings For Maintaining Post Harvest Quality And Extending Shelf Life Of Strawberries, Rajiv Dhital

Theses

Strawberries are a popular fruit with a pleasing color and flavor. However, its delicate tissue and high sugar content makes it highly perishable with visible mold. In this study, we have attempted to test feasibility of different edible coatings for extending shelf life of ‘Chandler’ strawberries subjected to simulated vibrations of local transportation. Six types of coatings were compared based on the quality of treated berries. Curcumin and limonene were used as natural antimicrobials and coatings were prepared from their liposomes and were over-coated with methyl cellulose. One set of each coating type were subjected to the simulated vibration of …

Effects Of Defusion And Deictic Frames Interactions On The Development Of Self-As-Context In Individuals With Disabilities, Sebastian Garcia-Zambrano

Theses

MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Ruth Anne Rehfeldt The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a defusion exercise in combination with perspective- taking interactions as a brief protocol based on the Relational Frame Theory (RFT). The protocol was designed to alter verbal statements about the self through the implementation of training on deictic frames (I-YOU, HERE-THERE, AND NOW-THEN) in conjunction with an exercise of defusion. A pre-post design with a control group was implemented to evaluate the effects of the protocol on the frequency rate of self-as-context and self-as-content statements. Adolescents with disabilities were selected and assigned to …

Interpreting Ritual In Ceramics Of Late Mississippian Southern Illinois, Alice Eileen Muntz

Theses

This research aims to understand whether and how ritual manifests in ceramic objects dating to the Late Mississippian Period (ca. late 1200s A.D. to A.D. 1500) in southern Illinois. The study focuses on ritual phenomena that occurred at two village sites: Millstone Bluff (11Pp3) and Dillow’s Ridge (11U635). Millstone Bluff has been interpreted as a site of public ritual and unusual symbolic importance evidenced by its general location and topography, spatial organization, and distinctive rock art. Though Dillow’s Ridge was the locale for an inordinate level of lithic tool production, in other ways the site is understood to be typical …

Statistical Evaluation Of Hydrological Extremes On Stormwater System, Narayan Nyaupane

Theses

Climate models have anticipated higher future extreme precipitations and streamflows for various regions. Urban stormwater facilities are vulnerable to these changes as the design assumes stationarity. However, recent climate change studies have argued about the existence of non-stationarity of the climate. Distribution method adopted on extreme precipitation varies spatially and may not always follow same distribution method. In this research, two different natural extremities were analyzed for two separate study areas. First, the future design storm depth based on the stationarity of climate and GEV distribution method was examined with non-stationarity and best fit distribution. Second, future design flood was …

Empowering Women Through Advertising: A Content Analysis On 'Femvertising' Campaigns, Shan Wang

Theses

This study selects and content analyzes a sample of 40 femvertising videos, aims to explore what messages are delivered by the videos, and whether the campaigns actually break down the cliched ways in which media present women as the companies claim. The messages of the videos sent to viewers are qualitative content analyzed to provide a general description of the campaign videos. Women’s representations in the campaign videos are quantitively coded in terms of how women look like (i.e. physical characteristics), what age groups they are in, what traits they possess, and what roles they play in the advertisements. Also, …

An Analysis Of Stresses And Displacements Around A Fault Plane Due To Longwall Face Advance In Coal Mining, Corbin Grant Carlton

Theses

This study has examined 3D stresses and displacements around a longwall mining system that is intercepted by a geological fault. More specifically, the study has analyzed the effect of a fault on longwall gate development entries, set-up rooms, T-junctions, and the longwall face as the longwall face progressed toward, through, and away from the fault. A general lithologic sequence and mining parameters related to the Herrin No. 6 coal seam in southern Illinois were employed. FLAC3D structural analysis code was used for simulating two (2) adjacent longwall faces. Linear elastic rock mass elements with non-linear elastic-plastic fault elements were analyzed …

The Effects Of Societal Threat On Authoritarianism And Social Dominance Orientation, Chasity Ratliff

Theses

The present study examined the effects of societal threat on levels of authoritarianism and social dominance orientation and investigated if those self-report measures were consistent or inconsistent with a measure of implicit attitudes regarding Americans and Immigrants. Exposure to societal threat was hypothesized to increase authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, as well as to increase implicit prejudicial attitudes, as measured by the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP), towards out-group members. Based on prior findings, men were expected to have higher levels of social dominance orientation. As predicted, exposure to societal threat significantly increased right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. Additionally, …

Directing Rebecca Gilman's Boy Gets Girl: A Southern Feminist's View On What I’M Supposed To Do As A Woman, Kelley Mcgahey Jordan

Theses

“Directing Rebecca Gilman’s Boy Gets Girl…” reviews the process of directing Boy Gets Girl by Rebecca Gilman, presented on October 26-29, 2017, in the Cristian H. Moe Laboratory Theater at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. This document chronologically details the year-long production process for the director, beginning with the preliminary research and discussing the development of a concept, through formulating designs, conducting rehearsals and observing performances, and concluding with a post production evaluation. This document begins with Chapter 1, exploring the preliminary research which developed into the director’s concept and vision for production. Chapter 2 explains the pre-production process, …