Digital Commons Network^™

Using Facial Landmarks For Lip Motion Interpretation Applications, Kimi S. Wright

Theses and Dissertations

Facial motion, particularly lip movement, carries rich information about human speech that can be leveraged for a variety of computer vision and speech-processing tasks. Unlike other pixel-based methods, this work investigates the use of facial landmarks as a compact, privacy- preserving, and computationally efficient representation for lip-motion analysis. We evaluate landmark-based models across multiple tasks, including visual voice activity detection (VVAD), lip–audio synchroniza- tion, and visual speech recognition (VSR) for liveness detection. Using LRS3-VVAD1 and LRS22 datasets, we demonstrate that landmark-only models can achieve performance comparable to pixel-based systems for VVAD and synchronization, while significantly reducing parameter counts and inference …

Combinatorial Therapeutic Strategies To Combat Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii, Tope A. Aderibigbe

Theses and Dissertations

Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic Gram-negative pathogen that poses a significant global health threat due to its remarkable ability to acquire multidrug (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) phenotypes. Therapeutic failures are increasingly common as strains develop resistance to nearly all available antibiotics, including carbapenems, polymyxins, and tigecycline, leaving clinicians with limited treatment options. This study aimed to investigate combinatorial therapeutic approaches capable of revitalizing antibiotic efficacy against MDR/XDR A. baumannii clinical isolates. We evaluated the synergistic potential of durlobactam-sulbactam in combination with twelve commonly used antibiotics, including amikacin, rifampin, tobramycin, tigecycline, cefiderocol, and others. Initial screening using the disc diffusion …

Jackfruit Peel Valorization Through An Integrated Biorefinery Approach, Rohil Kumar K Mr

Theses and Dissertations

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) peel (JFP), an abundantly available lignocellulosic biomass, remains largely underutilized despite being rich in cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin. In India, approximately 13,460 hectares are under jackfruit cultivation, with Panruti in Tamil Nadu as a major production zone. The discarded peel often contributes to environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The present study emphasizes sustainable valorization of JFP through an integrated biorefinery framework for generating value-added bioproducts.

Major biopolymers, cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and pectin were extracted and fractionated, followed by detailed physicochemical characterization using FTIR, NMR, XRD, SEM, TGA, DSC, GPC, and BET analyses. Pectin extraction with …

Mscl-X: Meta Supervised Contrastive Learning With Gaussian Prototypes For Robust Few-Shot Open-Set Modulation Classification, Emmanuel Mawuli Agbator

Theses and Dissertations

Automatic modulation recognition has found its way into the core modern-day wireless communication systems whereby intelligent receivers estimate signal formats without any prior coordination with the transmitters. Challenging situations arise in any working radio frequency environment for the conventional modulation recognition systems due to insufficient labeled data, rapidly fluctuating channel conditions, and appearance of plenty other unseen modulation types. Taken together, these challenges raise questions concerning the ability to institute learning frameworks that could perform well on few-shot and open-set conditions. Hence the thesis attempts to address the same by proposing two complementary learning-based frameworks for few-shot open-set modulation recognition …

The Indeterminacy Of Customary International Law, Mohamed Diaa Tawfik

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the judicial formation of customary international law and examines how international courts oscillate between interpretive and law-making functions. It analyzes key theoretical frameworks—including Kelsen’s Pure Theory of Law, Dworkin’s Law as Integrity, Kennedy’s radical indeterminacy, and Koskenniemi’s Descending-Ascending Approach—to understand how courts assert and shape customary norms beyond mere state practice and opinio juris. The work concludes that the International Court of Justice and other tribunals increasingly act as de facto lawmakers under the guise of interpretation, advocating the indeterminacy they try to avoid.

Reconfiguring The Category Of 'Sudan' Through The Literary Field: Representation, Disposability, Ambiguity And The 'Magical' In Four Post-Colonial Novels (2002-2022), Mourad Farahat

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I shall argue that contemporary African literature, with ‘’both its ethnographic imagination and anthropological complexity’’ (Orock, 2022, p.3), its use of ‘disruptive’ characters, and its focus on the embeddedness of the ‘collective’, the ‘common’ and the ‘vulgar’ in the personal (Mbembe, 2003), may help us mitigate some social scientific limitations on the study of Africa, and may aid us in understanding relations of power within the post-colony. I seek to show how contemporary Sudanese literature has already moved beyond the fixed social categories, lines, and limits which dominate some of the social scientific literature on Sudan. Literature …

Uncovering Potential Therapeutic Targets For Spinal Cord Injury; Insights From Single-Cell And Cross-Species Transcriptomics, Sara Samy Abouzekry

Theses and Dissertations

Central nervous system (CNS) injury remains a devastating healthcare problem. Despite years of research, it remains almost impossible to achieve meaningful functional repair following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI). Spinal cord injury (SCI), a highly devastating subset of CNS trauma, is considered a challenge due to the extremely limited regenerative capacity of the nervous system in adult mammals. In contrast, certain species display remarkable repair abilities followed by moderate regenerative ability in neonatal mammals, indicating that regeneration is shaped by the evolutionary context as well as the developmental age.

To uncover the core molecular mediators of …

Two Decades Since Cms V. Argentina: Concession Contracts, Necessity Doctrine, And The Imf’S Impact On Sovereign Economic Governance, Esraa S. Saied Abdallah

Theses and Dissertations

In the evolving landscape of international trade, particularly within the framework of Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs), the primary aim has been to promote and protect foreign investment. The 1980s witnessed a notable increase in investment treaties, coinciding with a global shift toward privatization that was significantly influenced by the impact of international financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. By the 1990s, BITs had evolved to offer specific guarantees aimed at reducing the risks foreign investors faced in host states. However, despite the growth and transformation brought about by foreign investments, disputes arising under investment …

Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices (Kap) Towards The One Health Approach In Governmental Officers In Egypt, Nour Elsersawy

Theses and Dissertations

Background: the one health (OH) approach emphasizes the interconnectedness among human, animal, and environmental health and requires multisectoral collaboration to address complex health challenges. Egypt faces significant threats at the human-animal-environment interface, including endemic and emerging zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food safety challenges, and vector-borne diseases. Despite established coordination mechanisms and the launch of the One Health National strategic framework (2023-2027) of Egypt, the extent to which oh principles are understood, embraced, and practiced by governmental officers responsible for implementation remains incompletely understood. Objectives: this study assessed and evaluated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding the one health …

Groove Goes The Distance: An Initial Inquiry Into Jazz Music In Egypt, Farida Gohar

Theses and Dissertations

Jazz music has been a historically contentious site of social, cultural, and political signification. From the violent subjugation that characterized its origins and aspirational freedom that animated its practice, to its transformation into a distinctly “American” music instrumentalized by the US State Department to counter Soviet influence, jazz’s capacity for the inscription of meaning is vast and regularly cause for debate. The particular configuration of jazz music in Egypt is no less complicated although seldom studied. This thesis ventures an initial mapping of the dynamics and negotiations that historically defined the initiation of “Egyptian” jazz, as well as the ones …

Law And The (Re)Production Of Class Hierarchies In Egypt, Ahmad Abdelnaby

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates how Egypt’s legal system, structurally tilted toward the elite and constitutive of inequality, has interacted with the country’s entrenched culture of class-based discrimination to produce a legal culture uniquely comfortable with hierarchy. It contends that class-based discrimination in Egypt has evolved from a social prejudice into a juridical condition, one in which the law does not merely mirror inequality but actively constructs and rationalizes it. By examining the intersection between legal structure and Egypt’s entrenched moral order of class-based discrimination, the study reveals a legal culture that no longer hides its hierarchies behind the veil of neutrality …

Investigating Tau Pathology In The Retina And Anterior Segment Structures Of The Eye In A 3-Nitropropionic Acid–Induced Tauopathy Mouse Model, Mohamed Sayed Ahmed Abdel-Kader Qasem

Theses and Dissertations

Background and Objectives: Alzheimer's disease, the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder in older adults, is characterized by accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau and amyloid-beta (Aβ) plaques in the central nervous system. Given the retina's shared embryological origin with the brain, its direct neural connectivity via the optic nerve, and similarities in vasculature and age-related degeneration patterns, retinal pathology may serve as an early, non-invasive biomarker for Alzheimer's disease. This study employed 3-nitropropionic acid (3NP) as a pathway-specific tauopathy model driven by mitochondrial dysfunction. The study particularly aimed to investigate whether retinal and corneal tau pathology reflects underlying tau-related neurodegeneration triggered by …

Metagenomic Profiling Of Gut Microbiome Signatures Across Liver Disease Stages And Hcv-Related Hepatocellular Carcinoma In Egyptian Patients, Marwa A. Zahra

Theses and Dissertations

Dysbiosis in the gut microbiome, particularly concerning the synchronous crosstalk between the gut and the liver, has been associated with various diseases. This study profiles the gut microbiome in liver diseases among Egyptian patients, with a focus on the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), both of which are highly prevalent in Egypt. Utilizing shotgun metagenomic sequencing, we analyzed microbial gene catalogs and taxonomic profiles from 46 Egyptian patients categorized into five groups: healthy individuals, liver disease patients of different etiologies, post-HCV, treated HCV, and HCV-HCC patients. Healthy and treated HCV patients exhibited distinct microbial profiles characterized by …

Refugees In Egypt: State Framing, Ministerial Narratives, And The Politics Of Representation On Social Media, Habiba Kohail

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines Egyptian government discourse on refugees in 2024, a year characterized by heightened regional displacement and the enactment of Egypt’s first Asylum Law (Law No. 164 of

2024). Using a multidisciplinary framework that combines framing analysis with van Dijk's socio-cognitive approach, the study systemically analyzes how the government construct refugees on social

media and sets the boundaries of their inclusion in Egypt.

The thesis analyzes the Egyptian government discourse on refugees across official social media platforms from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, a period that witnessed an increase in the government engagement in the refugee issue …

Prephiral Bacterial Infectious Agent Triggers Neuroinflammatory Responses And Neurobehavioral Impairment In Wild-Type Mice, Hadeer Atalah

Theses and Dissertations

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, present an increasing global challenge, with chronic neuroinflammation identified as a principal factor alongside genetic, environmental, and infectious influences (Boyd et al., 2022).  Epidemiological data associate bacterial infections with a 40% heightened risk of Parkinson's disease; however, the mechanisms—especially the direct connection between peripheral sepsis and the silent onset of central nervous system pathology absent acute meningitis—are inadequately investigated (Smeyne et al., 2021), particularly concerning common pathogens like Klebsiella pneumoniae in high-burden areas such as Egyptian ICUs, where it constitutes 30% of cases (Alkompoz et al., 2023). This study filled the gap by creating …

A Study Of The Intellectual Property Rights Of Farmers With Special Reference To The Protection Of Plant Variety And The Farmers' Rights Act, 2001, Gomathi R Ms

Theses and Dissertations

Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) confer exclusive rights on individuals over the creations of their minds. Intellectual property is protected through patents, trademarks, copyrights, industrial designs, geographical indications, and other legal rights, enabling inventors to obtain economic benefits and legal recognition from their innovations. These rights provide exclusive usage for a prescribed period and have evolved significantly over the years, sharing similarities with ownership rights over tangible property. As intangible rights, IPR primarily consist of the property element and the object to which that property relates. Among the various forms of IPR, Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rights recognize the creativity and …

Electromagnetic Simulations For Vulnerable Road User Safety In 5g/6g Wireless Systems, Colin Mcnerny

Theses and Dissertations

Protecting vulnerable road users is imperative. As 5G wireless technology matures and 6G standards are established, new operational technology emerges to reduce traffic accidents. There is widespread evidence to support the need for pedestrian awareness in modern traffic ecosystems as a significant number of vulnerable road users are injured or killed every year due to observable traffic failures. Computational electromagnetic (CEM) solvers are used to model, simulate, and analyze the performance of antennas deployed to meet this challenge. Validation studies using the Altair FEKO CEM solver demonstrate scenarios where vulnerable road users are at risk. The simulation data in this …

Ethical Constraint-Based Mpc With Adaptive Weight Scheduling For Autonomous Vehicles In Diverse Scenarios, Hend Mohammed Aafia`

Theses and Dissertations

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are increasingly deployed in complex and safety-critical environments, raising fundamental questions about how ethical principles should be operationalized within real-time control systems. While existing research has extensively addressed ethical decision-making at the planning and behavioral layers, ethical intent is commonly translated into predefined trajectories and delegated to low-level controllers under the assumption of safe execution. This separation introduces a critical gap between ethical reasoning and physical feasibility, particularly in scenarios involving nonlinear vehicle dynamics, actuation limits, constrained perception horizons, and time-critical interactions with vulnerable road users. This thesis proposes an Ethical Model Predictive Control (E-MPC) framework that …

Examining The Science Of Reading Focusing On Phonemic Awareness And Multicultural Literature To Enhance Reading Achievement Among African American Students, Danielle L. Gantt

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study examined how implementing the CKLA, Core Knowledge Language Arts, curriculum, founded in the science of reading, enhanced the reading achievement among first-grade African American students. The purpose of the study was to explore how phonics instruction, specifically phonemic awareness, and multicultural literature would improve literacy. The study was guided by Ivankova’s six-phased mixed methods model integrating quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data collected included the DIBELS, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, benchmark and progress monitoring assessments. The qualitative data included student work samples, multicultural literature lessons, and open-ended student responses. The quantitative …

Mechanical Characterization And Modeling Of Rat Myocardia Under The Influence Of Epirubicin, Abdallah Mahmoud Alkhaiyat

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer remains a predominant health challenge that is responsible for a significant portion of global morbidity and mortality. Epirubicin (EPI), a chemotherapeutic anti-cancer drug, has shown remarkable efficacy in combating various malignancies. However, it is known to have undesirable side effects on the heart, collectively referred to as cardiotoxicity. This research investigates the adverse effects of chemotherapy on cardiac contractility through an in vitro examination of the mechanics of healthy and infarcted animal heart tissues. Electrically stimulated slices of rat ventricular tissue were tested using an isometric force measurement tissue bath. The tissue slices were subjected to uniaxial stretching, allowing …

Harnessing Ml And Iiot For Traceability In Continuous Production Systems: A Conceptual Framework, Kholoud M. Abdelaal

Theses and Dissertations

In the era of rapid technological advancement, the manufacturing sector faces increasing pressure to leverage emerging technologies to enhance operational efficiency and minimize waste. In this context, traceability plays a pivotal role, as it provides complete visibility of processes and products throughout manufacturing systems, enabling them to identify areas for improvement and take corrective actions accordingly. Additionally, traceability ensures compliance, supports product recalls, provides a clear understanding of the system’s performance, and enables fact-driven decision-making in multiple aspects of the manufacturing system. Although the broad spectrum of traceability applications in batch production-based plants, traceability remains challenging to achieve in continuous …

The Effect Of The Socioeconomic Variety In Greater Cairo On Transport Mode Choices, Rafik Yanni

Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, Egypt has experienced a noticeable upgrade in its infrastructure investment, implementing a lot of transport projects, especially in the Greater Cairo region. In a city with over 20 million residents, variations lie in socioeconomic elements like income, age, gender, and neighborhood, which shape people’s choice of mobility modes based on their culture and lifestyle. The questions then become: whom are these new projects targeting? What are the barriers to using these services? And is there any willingness to change commuting habits if conditions changed? This thesis investigates how the socioeconomic variety in Greater Cairo metropolitan region …

Examining The Science Of Reading Focusing On Phonemic Awareness And Multicultural Literature To Enhance Reading Achievement Among African American Students, Danielle L. Gantt

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods action research study examined how implementing the CKLA, Core Knowledge Language Arts, curriculum, founded in the science of reading, enhanced the reading achievement among first-grade African American students. The purpose of the study was to explore how phonics instruction, specifically phonemic awareness, and multicultural literature would improve literacy. The study was guided by Ivankova’s six-phased mixed methods model integrating quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data collected included the DIBELS, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, benchmark and progress monitoring assessments. The qualitative data included student work samples, multicultural literature lessons, and open-ended student responses. The quantitative …

Metal Free Multicomponent C-C And C-N Bond Formation Via Cross – Coupling And Cross – Dehydrogenative Coupling Methodologies For The Synthesis Of Diversely Functionalized N – And O – Heterocyclic Compounds, Reicha Pandey Ms

Theses and Dissertations

Heterocyclic compound is a significant domain of organic chemistry that focuses with synthetic, design and characteristics. This molecule is characterized by ring structure including one or more atom of an elements other than carbon (C), typically nitrogen (N), Oxygen (O) or Sulphur (S). The synthesis of heterocyclic compound via sustainable strategy encompasses various approaches such as design and implementation of real time analysis aimed at pollution prevention. It demonstrates wide range of medicinal application by showing various activities such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and many more. Additionally, many functional materials including dye, polymers etc. are the other application of heterocyclic …

A Little Blue Hedgehog That Runs A Lot And Has An Attitude: An Analysis Of The Covers Of Archie Comics’ Sonic The Hedgehog, Eleanor Herman

Theses and Dissertations

Through the lens of Robin Williams principles of design as outlined in her book, The Non-Designer’s Design Book, this thesis analyzes selected covers of Archie Comics’ Sonic the Hedgehog comic book series to see how the covers evolved over time, as the nearly 25-year continuous run allows for a unique analysis opportunity. 18 issues were selected and analyzed, with conclusions drawn from the covers’ use of contrast, alignment, repetition, and proximity.

Defining And Evaluating Performative Activism: A Mixed Methods Approach, Caitlyn Renee Upton Massaro

Theses and Dissertations

Activism, specifically Performative Activism (PA), has been difficult to study due to its wide variation and individual complexity. Study 1, a qualitative exploration of PA, involved interviews with 9 individuals, who were highly variable on the ADDRESSING Framework, regarding their experiences with and opinions on PA. Study 1 used Reflexive Thematic Analysis to identify 6 behavioral markers of PA which were used to create a definition of Performative Activism based on the voices and opinions of diverse people in activist spaces. Study 2 was an ABA (test-retest) design using fictional scenarios to train participants to identify PA. Participants were 54 …

Comparative Evolution Of Caenorhabditis Hermaphrodites, James Francis Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

The Caenorhabditis genus produced three independently-evolved hermaphroditic species, C. elegans, C. briggsae, and C. tropicalis. This convergence happened by the independent co-option of male programs for use in a female body. This required two distinct steps: (1) mutations in the sex-determination pathway that activated spermatogenesis in XX animals, and (2) mutations that expressed one of the redundant sperm activation signals in XX animals. My project focused on characterizing how sex-determination genes work in C. briggsae and C. tropicalis. Loss-of-function alleles were used to compare the core sex-determination pathway to that of C. elegans. I found that the somatic sex-determination pathway …

The West And The Rest: Misplaced Blame Of Underdevelopment, Rana R. Abadeer

Theses and Dissertations

This paper will discuss the link between the history of colonialism and the genesis and evolution of International Law and in turn the role played by this relationship to maintain it, directly or indirectly, to our current day. The blame of underdevelopment is often misplaced, and its responsibility falls on the Global South for their inability to follow the same momentum of development as the Global North. Nevertheless, the aim of this paper is to prove that this blame of underdevelopment given its original reasons should be placed elsewhere. With that, the discussion of where the blame should be is …

Following The Thread: Maria Lai’S 1981 Legarsi Alla Montagna, Claire Borre

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Maria Lai’s (1919-2013) Legarsi alla montagna (1981), a three-day, relational project in which seventeen miles of ribbon were wound through the Sardinian town of Ulassai. In its conception, execution, and legacy, Lai’s project represented a significant challenge to traditional monumentality.

Fugitive Formalisms: Strategies Of Dissemblance And Dissent In The Work Of Queer-Identifying Artists, 1970–Present, Rowan Diaz-Toth

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing case studies of works by Hélio Oiticica, Scott Burton, and Felix Gonzalez-Torres as points of departure, this thesis puts forth a speculative historical framework for reconsidering queer art practices up through the present day in opposition to regimes of visibility and transparency, exploring the subversive, fugitive potential of non-representational formalisms.