Digital Commons Network^™

Algorithms For Building Compact Representatives And Processing Ranking Queries, Abolfazl Asudeh Naee

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Ranked retrieval model has rapidly replaced the traditional Boolean retrieval model as the de facto way for query processing when a large portion of (big) data matches a given query. Returning all the query results in these cases is not efficient nor informative. Unlike the Boolean retrieval model, the ranked retrieval model orders the matching tuples according to an often proprietary ranking function and returns the top-k of them. In this dissertation, we study ranked retrieval model and propose exact and approximate algorithms for (i) building representatives for fast query processing, and (ii) online processing of ranking queries. We study …

Crypto Ransomware Analysis And Detection Using Process Monitor, Ashwini Balkrushna Kardile

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Ransomware is a faster growing threat that encrypts user’s files and locks the computer and holds the key required to decrypt the files for ransom. Over the past few years, the impact of ransomware has increased exponentially. There have been several reported high profile ransomware attacks, such as CryptoLocker, CryptoWall, WannaCry, Petya and Bad Rabbit which have collectively cost individuals and companies well over a billion dollars according to FBI. As the threat of ransomware has become more prevalent, security companies and researchers have begun proposing new approaches for detection and prevention of ransomware. However, these approaches generally lack dynamicity …

Scalable Conversion Of Textual Unstructured Data To Nosql Graph Representation Using Berkeley Db Key-Value Store For Efficient Querying, Jasmine Manoj Varghese

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Graph database is a popular choice for representing data with relationships. It facilitates easy modifications to the relational information without the need for structural redefinition, as in case of relational databases. Exponentially growing graph sizes demand efficient querying, memory limitations notwithstanding. Use of indexes, to speed up query processing, is integral to databases. Existing works have used in-memory approaches that were limited by the main memory size. This thesis proposes a way to use graph representation, indexing technique and secondary memory to efficiently answer queries. Textual unstructured data is parsed to identify entities and assign unique identification. The entities and …

Social Coding Standards On Touchdevelop: An Empirical Study, Shivangi Kulshrestha

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

This study compares and contrasts the application development pattern on Microsoft’s mobile application development platform with leading version control and social coding sites like Github. TouchDevelop is an in-browser editor for developing mobile applications with the main aim to concentrate on ‘touch’ as the only input. Apart from being the first of it’s kind platform, TouchDevelop also allows users to upload their script directly to cloud. This is what makes this study interesting, since the API data of the app has never been studied before to follow social coding standards or version control techniques. Till today, all major IDEs, e.g …

Visual Logging Framework Using Elk Stack, Ravi Nishant

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Logging is the process of storing information for future reference and audit purposes. In software applications, logging plays a very critical role as a development utility and ensures code quality. It acts as an enabler for developers and support professionals by providing them capability to see application’s functionality and understand any issues with it. Data logging has a widespread use in scientific experiments and analytical systems. Major systems which heavily uses data logging are weather reporting services, digital advertisement, search engines, space exploration systems to name a few. Although, data logging increases the productivity and efficiency of a software system, …

Igait: Vision-Based Low-Cost, Reliable Machine Learning Framework For Gait Abnormality Detection, Saif Sayed

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Human gait has shown to be a strong indicator of health issues under a wide variety of conditions. For that reason, gait analysis has become a powerful tool for clinicians to assess functional limitations due to neurological or orthopedic conditions that are reflected in gait. Therefore, accurate gait monitoring and analysis methods have found a wide range of applications from diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation. This thesis focuses on creating a low-cost and non-intrusive vision-based machine learning framework dubbed as iGait to accurately detect CLBP patients using 3-D capturing devices such as MS Kinect. To analyze the performance of the …

Towards The Fabrication Of Bioresorbable Constructs With Customized Properties Using Additive Manufacturing, Prashanth Ravi

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has been employed to fabricate medical constructs for over two decades. This dissertation investigates the effects of AM process parameters on raster level geometric features and structural properties of bioresorbable constructs. The development of an open architecture custom multi-process 3D printer employed for fabricating bioscaffolds and test structures is discussed. Bioresorbable polymers including a newly synthesized radiopaque polymer, poly (glycerol sebacate fumarate) gadodiamide (Rylar) and medical grade poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA) were investigated. In the first part, the effects of process parameters on raster geometry were investigated to aid in the fabrication of structures with improved geometric features …

Space Launch Vehicle Design: Conceptual Design Of Rocket Powered, Vertical Takeoff, Fully Expendable And First Stage Boostback Space Launch Vehicles, David Michael Woodward

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Engineering design can be broken down into three phases: conceptual design, preliminary design, and detailed design. During the conceptual design phase, several potential configurations are studied towards the identification of the baseline vehicle. Although the least amount of detail is known about the design during the early conceptual design phase, the decisions made during this phase lock in major features effecting life-cycle cost and overall product success. As the next big space race begins, it is critically important to have a readily available tool for launch vehicle designers that is intuitive to use, easy to modify, cost effective, and provides …

A Methodology For Topology And Lattice Structure Optimization Of A Cargo Drone Motor Mount, Nagadurga Srinivas Sripada

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

This work discusses a CAE driven methodology for designing a lightweight component by performing structural configuration on a given package space, creating a closed surface along this configuration using an interactive geometric modeling tool, and lastly generating lattice members that provide the required stiffness for the structure. The design process is explained starting with topology optimization performed on a single block with specific design constraints. It describes the effect of different parameters on the optimized results and how to analyze these results based on a given volume fraction constraint with the objective of minimizing the compliance. It then talks about …

Region Based Convolutional Neural Networks For Object Detection And Recognition In Adas Application, Sachit Kaul

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Object Detection and Recognition using Computer Vision has been a very interesting and a challenging field of study from past three decades. Recent advancements in Deep Learning and as well as increase in computational power has reignited the interest of researchers in this field in last decade. Implementing Machine Learning and Computer Vision techniques in scene classification and object localization particularly for automated driving purpose has been a topic of discussion in last half decade and we have seen some brilliant advancements in recent times as self-driving cars are becoming a reality. In this thesis we focus on Region based …

Revealing Hemodynamic Response And Dynamic Changes In Functional Cortical Networks Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs), Jianwei Cao

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Therapeutic interventions, such as physical therapy and non-invasive brain electrical stimulation can enhance the physical performance of persons with brain disorders. One often-used form of physical therapy named constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) improves motor control skills of children with cerebral palsy (CP) through forced intensive use of the affected extremity. A complementary method to physical rehabilitation methods for overcoming a deficit is to facilitate use of the affected brain areas by non-invasive brain electrical stimulation. One currently popular form of brain stimulation is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which has been shown to enhance both motor and language performance in …

Evaluation Of Plant Root On The Performance Of Evapotranspiration (Et) Cover System, Md Jobair Bin Alam

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The performance of an evapotranspiration (ET) cover for a landfill exceeds that of a conventional landfill final cover. Its low percolation and high evapotranspiration rely on the properties of unsaturated soils, the energy demands of plants, and the atmosphere. Plant roots pull water out of the cover soil and release it into the environment, thus managing water in a much more natural way than the conventional cover, where water is controlled by creating a physical barrier. Therefore, plant roots are a significant component in the optimization of ET cover performance. In recent years, a great deal of effort has been …

Quantitative Non-Destructive Evaluation (Nde) Of Frp Laminate-Concrete Bond Strength, Mina Riad

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Repair and rehabilitation methods for civil infrastructure have become a topic of great interest to engineers. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) is considered as one of the most popular and practical solutions for strengthening and retrofitting of civil infrastructure. Several past studies indicated that significant increase in strength and stiffness can be achieved by using this technology. The FRP-concrete interface bond is critical in transferring stresses from the concrete surface to the FRP. However, the evaluation of the bond strength is still a challenging issue. To evaluate the bond strength using non-destructive techniques, 32 concrete beams strengthened with FRP using different …

Non-Linear Analysis Of Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete Hollow Columns Under Uniaxial Bending, Mohammed Huzaifa Ghori

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

This study investigates the performance of Steel Fiber Reinforced concrete hollow columns under axial compressive load and uniaxial bending with varying amounts of steel fiber using Finite Element Method of Analysis. The columns are of two groups, one with a 10% void and the other group has 20% void at the center. Each group’s specimens’ fiber content is varied in 0.5% increments from 0 to 1.5%. Also, the collapse load of the columns was obtained. Numerical results were compared with the available experiments. Two parametric studies were conducted by varying the amount of void percentages and steel fiber contents. In …

Fatigue Life Improvement Of Welded Girders With Ultrasonic Impact Treatment, Jonathan Fong-Ching Hui

Open Access Theses

The fatigue life of welded connections can be improved by a variety of post-weld treatment methods. One of the most effective methods is ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT). This technology may be applied during shop fabrication, but the greatest benefit comes from field retrofitting applications. Tensile cyclic stress ranges drive fatigue crack initiation and growth at the weld toe. This is made worse by tensile residual stresses at the weld toe that can reach the yield strength of the base metal resulting from differential cooling of the weld metal during fabrication. This concentration of tensile residual stress can have the effect …

Sympathy For The Devil: Gawker, Thiel, And Newsworthiness, Amy Gajda

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Petrophysical Characterization Of The Jo Mill Submarine Fan Complex, Spraberry Trend, Midland Basin, Texas, Benjamin Frederic Rogers

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Understanding and quantifying reservoir quality require a new suite of knowledge when approaching the nanometer sized pore-networks of unconventional reservoirs. These low porosity and permeability reservoirs have been produced in major basins all over the world, but characterizing their pore networks has been fairly recent in its application. One of the challenges of quantifying reservoir characteristics like porosity, pore size distribution, permeability, and tortuosity in unconventional reservoirs is the abundance of their nanometer-sized pore systems. Pore systems in these rocks tend to behave differently and with less predictability than the conventional reservoir. The Spraberry Formation in the Midland Basin of …

Characterization Of Nanopetrophysical Properties Of The Mancos “B”/ Prairie Canyon Member Of The Mancos Shale, Rio Blanco, Colorado, Scott Brian Leaseburge

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

Over the past decade hydrocarbon production from unconventional reservoirs has grown to become a significant source of North American domestic energy and will likely continue so for decades to come. However, production from unconventional reservoirs is plagued with low overall recovery and sharp declines in production. Low matrix permeability and poor pore connectively are significant factors limiting recovery and production. Research into the fluid flow characteristics of low permeability reservoirs can lead to extended initial production and greater overall recovery. Technically recoverable unconventional oil and gas resources in the Mancos Shale of the Piceance Basin are estimated to be 66.3 …

Critical Success Factors For Agile Project Management In Non-Software Related Product Development Teams, Jeff Totten

Dissertations

The use of agile project management methods in the software development industry is well established and researched. The purpose of this study is to understand whether agile project management methods (Scrum in particular) used successfully in the software industry are also being used in full, or in part, in non-software development industries when managing product development projects.

Using an online survey instrument, data was collected from 329 non-software/IT global practitioners to identify in what industries and work functions agile project management methods are used, to find the independent variables that have a significant relationship with project success, and to determine …

Family Limited Partnerships And Section 2036: Not Such A Good Fit, Mitchell M. Gans, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

ACTEC Law Journal

The IRS has struggled to close down abusive family limited partnerships. At first unreceptive to IRS arguments, the courts eventually embraced section 2036 as an estate-tax tool for attacking such partnerships. Because the section was not designed to apply to partnerships, difficulties have arisen as the courts have struggled with the fit. In its most recent encounter, the Tax Court in Powell grappled with a fit-related issue that implicates the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Byrum. The Powell court, it will be argued, misread Byrum, conflating the majority opinion with the dissent – and converting the rule-based approach …

The Banner - V. 152, No. 11 - (December 2017), Christian Reformed Church In North America

The Banner

No abstract provided.

Masculinities, Attachment Theory And Transformative Learning: A Discussion Of Some Theoretical Considerations For Developing An Emotionally Secure Teaching Praxis, Damien Carberry

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This paper situates education as an integral component of the overall prison rehabilitation process. The article discusses how an educational practitioner's knowledge of attachment theory and masculinities can be utilized to develop a secure methodological teaching environment in the classroom of a prison education unit and create a space where transformative learning can take place. The link between attachment theory and the social and institutional composition of masculinities are considered for their influence on perceptions and concepts of the masculine self and masculine identity in general. The practitioner who is cognizant of these issues has the potential to develop secure …

Full Issue

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

No abstract provided.

High Annual Survival In Infected Wildlife Populations May Veil A Persistent Extinction Risk From Disease, Brooke Maslo, Oliver C. Stringham, Amanda J. Bevan

KIP Articles

Host response to emerging pathogens is variable, causing uncertainty about population‐level impacts and challenging effective disease management. White‐nose syndrome (WNS) has caused catastrophic declines in some bat species, while others appear less impacted. Developing predictive models based on observed survival patterns can generate testable hypotheses about mechanisms driving population dynamics and contribute to the development of targeted approaches to disease management. We conducted a mark–recapture study of federally endangered Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis) during 2011–2016. Annual survival decreased from 0.78 (95% CI: 0.59, 0.89) and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.70, 0.86) for females and males, respectively, in 2011 to 0.74 (95% …

Creche Herald Vol. 21, No. 4, Rita B. Bocher

Creche Herald

The Winter 2017-18 publication features nativity sets and personal reflections from members in the organization; information about nativities and nativity exhibits; and information about the Friends of the Creche annual meeting.

Human Metapneumovirus Induces Formation Of Inclusion Bodies For Efficient Genome Replication And Transcription, Nicolás P. Cifuentes-Muñoz, Jean Branttie, Kerri Beth Slaughter, Rebecca Ellis Dutch

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) causes significant upper and lower respiratory disease in all age groups worldwide. The virus possesses a negative-sense single-stranded RNA genome of approximately 13.3 kb encapsidated by multiple copies of the nucleoprotein (N), giving rise to helical nucleocapsids. In addition, copies of the phosphoprotein (P) and the large RNA polymerase (L) decorate the viral nucleocapsids. After viral attachment, endocytosis, and fusion mediated by the viral glycoproteins, HMPV nucleocapsids are released into the cell cytoplasm. To visualize the subsequent steps of genome transcription and replication, a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) protocol was established to detect different viral RNA …

Full Issue

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Thiopental To Desflurane-An Anaesthetic Journey. Where Are We Going Next?, J. R. Sneyd

More Faculty of Health Research

Development targets in anaesthetic pharmacology have evolved from minimizing harm caused by unwanted effects through an era in which rapid onset and offset of drug effect were prioritised. Today's anaesthetists have access to a library of effective drugs whose characteristics offer controllable hypnosis, analgesia and paralysis with manageable off-Target effects. The availability of these agents at generic prices inhibits commercial interest and this is reflected in the limited number of current anaesthetic drug development projects. Recently, questions around neonatal neurotoxicity, delirium and postoperative cognitive dysfunction have stimulated research to characterise these phenomena and explain them in mechanistic terms. Emergent basic …

Volatility Spillovers And Linkages In Asian Stock Markets, Hwee Kwan Chow

Research Collection School Of Economics

Diebold–Yilmaz spillover indexes are computed for weekly return volatilities based on daily benchmark stock indexes of the US, the UK, and 10 Asian countries. We found (i) the strengthening of overall volatility spillovers is not a temporary surge but persisted after the crisis; (ii) the susceptibility of individual Asian stock markets to inward volatility transfers is linked to its degree of openness; and (iii) the Asian bourses are becoming more important emitters of financial shocks since the crisis. Rolling regressions on volatility linkages reveal the relative dominance of the US over the Japanese and Chinese bourses, and the level of …

What Aspects Of Emotional Intelligence Help Former Prisoners Make Decisions To Desist Crime?, Craig A. Waleed

Education Doctoral

Making good post-incarceration decisions are important for helping formerly incarcerated individuals avoid a return to prison. This is the first study to look at emotional intelligence (EI) components formerly incarcerated men considered important for post-prison criminal desistance. This study explored six former New York state male prisoner’s individual experiences developing EI competencies, and how those EI skills contributed to their post-release decisions to desist crime. Research participants spent an average 7.5 years in a New York state prison, and have been out of prison and living in the community for an average 3.6 years without recommitting a criminal offense. Research …