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Editorial: The 2nd Asia Pacific International Religious Tourism And Pilgrimage Conference (Apirtp), Darius Liutikas, Imam Wahyudi Karimullah, Sonny Elfiyanto

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Editorial and overview of 2nd International Asia Pacific Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference (APIRTP) was held in Universitas Islam Malang in Malang, Indonesia on 17 – 20 January 2024.

Untapped Halal-Friendly Tourism Potential For Taiwan, Arina Khoirunnisa, Indrawati Indrawati, Yu-Fang Yen, Subhash Kizhakanveatil Bhaskaran Pillai

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Being the second largest belief, and fastest growing economy, many of the people from Muslim countries started travelling outside their countries due to increased economic prosperity and curiosity of exploring different cultures. The present study focuses on a non-Muslim country Taiwan, where the government is taking initiatives to attract the new segment of Muslim travellers. To support such initiatives, Halal-friendly-tourism is promoted in Taiwan. The pandemic period of 2019-2022 led to exploring different forms of tourism for reviving the ailing tourism sector, and cultural and heritage tourism is gaining prominence in this direction. Taiwan is trying to showcase its cultural …

Optimizing Option Market Clearing, Juan Andrés Malaver Alvarado

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Modern options markets clear each strike in isolation, leaving cross-strike arbitrage unexploited. This thesis applies a payoff-dominant clearing mechanism to realized trades—roughly 2 000 Cboe VIX option executions from June–November 2016—after classifying each trade’s side and bundling by expiration. Three optimization formulations are tested: a fractional linear program (LP), a mixed-integer LP, and a pure integer program. On a 10-core laptop every bundle solves in < 0.5 s. The LP captures the greatest surplus, yet the integer models recover nearly as much while filling whole contracts and holding only modest margin. Results reveal persistent, albeit small, inefficiencies in executed trades and demonstrate that an integral cross-strike auction could operate in real time. The accompanying C/Gurobi code is modular and readily extendable to early-exercise options. Trade-level evidence thus supports redesigning exchange clearing to consider the complete option book.

Gbotuner: Autotuning Of Openmp Parallel Codes With Bayesian Optimization And Code Representation Transfer Learning, Kimsong Lor

Computer Science and Engineering Master's Theses

Empirical autotuning methods such as Bayesian optimization (BO) are a powerful approach that allows us to optimize tuning parameters of parallel codes as black-boxes. However, BO is an expensive approach because it relies on empirical samples from true evaluations for varying parameter configurations. In this thesis, we present GBOTuner, an autotuning framework for optimizing the performance of OpenMP parallel codes, where OpenMP is a widely used API that enables shared-memory parallelism in C, C++, and Fortran using simple compiler directives. GBOTuner improves sample efficiency of BO by combining code representation learning from a Graph Neural Network (GNN) into a BO …

Foldit Education Mode, Brett Schulz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Foldit education mode is a puzzle campaign within the protein folding video game Foldit. Education mode, initially designed as a classroom supplement for undergraduate biochemistry courses, has been expanded to provide a more comprehensive learning tool to players without a background in biochemistry. The edited and added levels teach players about protein biochemistry through playing puzzles designed to convey information and gameplay mechanics. The new Foldit education mode campaign features 49 levels grouped into 11 categories. The campaign has 6 new levels designed specifically for education mode and 4 levels adapted from the traditional Foldit campaign for use within education …

Reducing Hospital Readmissions For Medicare Patients With Chf And Copd, Darrell Shatel Mccrimon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Hospital readmissions for Medicare beneficiaries with congestive heart failure (CHF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) contribute to increased healthcare costs and adverse outcomes. Evidence-based interventions, such as discharge planning, multidisciplinary care coordination, and patient education, have been implemented to reduce ambulatory care-sensitive admissions (ACSA), yet challenges in care continuity persist. This integrative review examined strategies adopted by healthcare organizations to reduce ACSA among Medicare beneficiaries with CHF and COPD. Guided by the utilization management framework, the review analyzed 19 studies and identified six primary themes: (a) integrated care models, (b) discharge and transitional care, (c) patient-centered interventions, (d) economic …

Multi-Field Quantum Conference Key Agreement Using An Integrated Photonic Green Machine, Benjamin J. Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Conference Key Agreement (QCKA) enables a group of users to generate a shared secret key, which reduces the latency and equipment overhead of establishing multiple Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) links. Conventional QCKA protocols send a multi-photon entangled state from one user to others and a key is generated only when all photons are detected, which is inefficient at high loss and opens side-channels at the receiver side. Here, we overcome this barrier through a multi-field QCKA protocol enabled by designing, fabricating, and testing an integrated photonic Green Machine that implements an eight-mode Hadamard unitary transformation through a beam-splitter network. …

Utilizing Spatial Criteria To High-Grade Wyoming Eor Opportunities Along Proposed Pipeline Corridors: A Value Driven Approach, Jack Borski

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

Oil and gas development has played a critical role in human civilization, and continues to bring drive economies around the world. One such economy is the state of Wyoming that has seen oil and gas production generally decline of the last several decades due to the depletion of high volume conventional reservoirs. A proven secondary technique such as CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) may serve as a method to arrest declining production, and increase economic activity. Wyoming has recognized this opportunity, and has attempted decrease the barriers of entry for oil and gas operators to invest in field-level CO2 EOR …

Consumer Choice And Indoor Air Quality, Crystal Jadach

Civil and Environmental Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Outdoor air pollution has drastically improved for everyone since the passage of the clean air act. However, indoor air quality is not monitored or enforceable in the United States. Yet, the EPA estimates that people of developed nations spend approximately 90% of their time indoors. Candles, a common ambiance setting choice for many household consumers, have been well characterized as a source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs can have a wide variety of negative effects on human health. A benchtop and pilot scale study were used to characterize the difference in the accumulation and displacement of total volatile organic …

Rationality And Discomfort: Stance In "The End Of The Altaic Controversy" And "In Defense Of The Comparative Method, Or The End Of The Vovin Controversy", Logan Mcdowall

University Honors Theses

This study will use corpus linguistics techniques and Hyland's framework for stance in academic discourse to analyze authors' discoursal roles in different framings of a famous controversy in historical linguistics: the classification of the Altaic language family. Two significant pieces of discourse in this debate include "The End of the Altaic Controversy" by A. Vovin and "In Defense of the Comparative Method, or the End of the Vovin Controversy" by A. Dybo and G. Starostin. Despite the importance of these works, no one has analyzed how these authors use stance to position themselves within it. After performing a corpus word …

Sae Baja Drivetrain Capstone 2024-2025, Leslie Alvarez Cisneros

University Honors Theses

This thesis reviews the 2024-2025 Baja SAE Drivetrain capstone project. The Baja SAE competition mimics real world engineering problems where teams of students design and build off-road vehicles that can handle tough, rough terrain. The objective of this capstone was to design a functional and reliable drivetrain system for the vehicle, within the constraints of a limited budget and the SAE competition guidelines. As part of a 12-member capstone team divided into three subgroups: frame, suspension, and drivetrain. As part of a four person drivetrain team, we picked up where the 2023-2024 team left off by relying on their past …

How Did I Get Here? A Capstone Review, Michael Koach

University Honors Theses

In this thesis, I highlight my personal and professional growth as a college student. I use structured reflection and meta-analysis to uncover insights about how I learn and develop new skills. Over the past five years, I have built a toolbox of skills, including teamwork, public speaking, navigating uncertainty, strategic thinking, and leadership. I trace the development of each of these skills back to my coursework as a business student, my role in PSU's student-run advertising agency, and my professional experience. I show how these skills culminated in my business capstone project. My communication and leadership skills allowed me to …

Intersectional Realities, Multi-Dimensional Films: Reading Julie Dash's Illusions As An Activist Text, Amelia Morrison

University Honors Theses

This paper reads Julie Dash's 1982 film Illusions as an activist text, which challenges dominant cinematic and historical narratives through its Black feminist perspective. It explores the cinematic and narrative devices that Dash uses--including the weaving of fantasy and history, the strategic use of period aesthetics, and masking--to expose and subvert the mechanisms of white supremacist and patriarchal hegemony within Hollywood. Drawing on intersectional feminist theory from scholars like Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, and bell hooks, alongside cinematic theory, this analysis demonstrates how Illusions critiques the historical erasure of people of color from United States cinema and history. By …

Freeing The Fremont: Visions Of A Post-Automobile Portland Highway Bridge, Henry Senters

University Honors Theses

The Fremont Bridge is an iconic piece of highway transportation infrastructure in the city of Portland, Oregon. Unfortunately, it is one of only three Willamette bridges in the city that does not allow any pedestrian access, except for a single day every year during an annual bicycling event. Consider, however: what if that were to change, in a future less dependent on private automobile usage? Drawing on historical precedents of pedestrian and car-free bridges, this thesis proposes three types of pedestrian-focused programs which a car-free Fremont Bridge could host, each of which speaks to a current aspect of civic life …

Mass Timber: The Future Of Sustainable Architectural Design, Julian Nychay

University Honors Theses

The current state of Mass Timber structures is in an interesting state at the moment; Mass Timber adoption has become a recent trend that has been taking place very recently. This is due to a number of factors, mainly the technology for mass timber has grown substantially, as well as human consciousness of our negative impact on the environment has led to a deep rethinking about how we build. In this paper, I examine what exactly mass timber is, why it is being used and what are the future and current benefits and challenges facing mass timber in modern design …

Examining The Impact Of Legalized Sports Gambling On Ncaa Athletes' Welfare And Game Integrity, Reem Al Jaradi

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the effects of legalized sports gambling on NCAA player welfare and the integrity of competition through a mixed-method analysis of NCAA reports, academic literature, and media sources. Data disclose that although the overall prevalence of gambling among student-athletes has decreased, these individuals are demonstrating more detrimental behaviors, including solitary gaming and incurring substantial losses in a single day. The emphasis on internet abuse associated with betting results has escalated, especially during prominent tournaments. The NCAA's instructional programs and data-monitoring agreements are compromised by ethical issues surrounding data monetization and varying state gambling rules. The research contends that …

Advances In Bone And Orthopedics 2025 – 5th Edition, Jean-Philippe Berteau, Laurent Pujo-Menjouet, Hélène Follet, Aurélie Levillain

Publications and Research

This volume brings together selected works from the 2025 Bone and Orthopedics Interdisciplinary Symposium (BONITOS), underscoring our community’s ongoing commitment to advancing research in biomechanics, bone health, and orthopedic science. The symposium unites leading experts from around the world, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas across disciplines. Organized in partnership with the French-speaking Society of Biomechanics, the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), the University of Lyon, the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York (CUNY), and the American Association of Physical Therapists (APTA) – Brooklyn Staten Island Chapter, BONITOS 2025 represents …

Who's On The Phone: Effectiveness Of Cloned Vishing Messages, Katherine A. Rackliffe

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Voice cloning is increasingly used as a form of phone-based phishing attack (i.e., vishing attack). The purpose of this research is to understand the impact of voice cloning on the success rate of vishing/phishing attacks. We hypothesize that calls utilizing cloned voices are more likely to deceive recipients compared to traditional vishing calls or text messages with the same phishing content. As AI cloning is a new technology, there is not much literature on this topic. To evaluate this hypothesis, we conduct a field experiment with students in university courses who receive a message purporting to be from a professor …

Computational Fluid Dynamics And Fluid Structure Interaction Modeling In Healthy Vertebral Arteries: A Comparative Study, Bryce Clinkenbeard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cerebral perfusion is critical for maintaining proper brain function, with each cerebrovascular artery playing an integral role in the overall cerebrovascular system. When these arteries become damaged or develop plaque, cardiovascular disease (CVDs) such as atherosclerosis can arise, leading to conditions like arterial stenosis. While CVDs are most prevalent in older individuals, they are also observed in young adults, particularly those engaged in high-endurance occupations such as military service. Diagnosis and prediction of CVDs often rely on imaging modalities supported by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) which account for low resolution in fluid flow. CFD models assume rigid arterial walls, which …

Supercritical Co2 Technology For Biomass Extraction: Review, Bahare Nozari, Ron Kander

School of Design and Engineering Papers

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction is increasingly recognized as a green and efficient alternative to conventional solvent-based techniques for valorizing plant biomass. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in a scCO₂ extraction method, focusing on its advantages in isolating high-value compounds from agricultural feedstocks. The unique physicochemical properties of scCO₂, combining gas-like diffusivity with liquid-like solvating power, enable selective extraction under mild and tunable conditions, which preserves the integrity of thermally sensitive molecules. In addition, scCO₂ reduces energy consumption, eliminates toxic solvent residues, and offers greater extraction precision than traditional methods. These features have …

Development Of An Embedded Iot Board For Real-Time Floor Estimation Of Autonomous Robots, Carter J. Sorensen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As service robots become more prevalent in multi-story environments such as hospitals, hotels, and laboratories, accurate floor-level detection is critical to ensuring operational reliability. Consider a robot tasked with delivering medical samples in a multi-story laboratory. Without accurate feedback, a robot exiting on the wrong floor could introduce delays, disrupt workflows, or compromise sample integrity. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies offer a way to address these risks by providing real-time error detection and corrective capability. However, current IoT-based floor estimation systems often require invasive modifications to building infrastructure—particularly elevator control panels. These approaches introduce challenges related to cost, liability, backward …

An Advanced Hexacopter For Autonomous Exploration Of Mars: Attitude Control And Navigation Strategies, Laura Sopegno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mars exploration has recently witnessed major interest within the scientific community. Unmanned robotic platforms offer reliable solutions to acquire and collect data and information from the Red Planet. Particularly, rovers, landers, and orbiters have significantly shaped planetary exploration on the Moon and Mars, contributing significantly to past missions while also highlighting limitations in their capacity to cover diverse terrains over wide ranges. Given current advances in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) offer promising alternatives for future scientific missions.

It is argued that hexacopters, with their relatively compact design and redundancy, present a promising …

Effects Of Oil Content On Dough And Fermentation Characteristics, Liang Yongxia, Luo Wenyun, Huang Zeyu, Zeng Zicong, Li Dongming

Food and Machinery

［Objective］ To investigate the influence of oil content on the characteristics of dough made of flour with different qualities.［Methods］ Camellia oil and butter are used as raw materials,and incorporated into flour at different proportions (mass fractions of 0%,1%,2%,3%,and 4%,respectively ).The control group consists of flour without oil added.The properties of the dough are analyzed using the farinograph,viscosity analyzer,rheometer,and other instruments.［Results］ Compared with the control group,the water absorption capacity and wet gluten content of the dough significantly decrease (P<0.05),and the pasting and tensile properties of the dough are markedly altered (P<0.05) when the oil content reaches 4%.When the oil content is 3%,there is no significant change in the formation time or stabilization time of the dough,while the fermentation performance of the dough is notably enhanced.［Conclusion］ The addition of oil facilitates the formation and stabilization of the gluten network,enhances the stability of the dough,delays its aging process,and significantly improves its properties.These effects are more pronounced compared to those observed in the butter -supplemented group.

Preparation Process Optimization And Application Of Naringin-Polysaccharide-Protein Composite Preservative Film, Xu Di, Liu Xia, Xiong Yingzi, Xie Yutong, Hu Yifei, Zheng Yawen

Food and Machinery

［Objective］ To optimize the processing parameters of naringin -polysaccharide -protein composite preservative film and to explore the slow release ability and preservation effect of the composite film.［Methods］ Polysaccharides and proteins are used as the substrate of the composite film,and the types,additions,and ratios of the substrate materials are optimized by the indicators of light transmittance,opacity,water vapor permeability (WVP ),and oxygen permeability (OP).On this basis,naringin (1%,3%,5%) is added to the base film to obtain naringin -polysaccharide -protein composite film.A preliminary study is conducted to analyze the slow -release effect and freshness preservation effect of the composite film on Longan.［Results］ When the polysaccharide …

Simple Yet Effective, Effective Yet Inclusive: A Skincare Line, Ayesha Wali Rahimoon

Lawrence University Honors Projects

This honors project addresses the lack of inclusive skincare formulations by developing a scientifically grounded skincare line with an antioxidant-rich serum, moisturizer, and cleanser tailored to support diverse skin types, particularly melanin-rich skin. The serum combines strawberry extract powder, Manuka honey, niacinamide, green tea extract, and humectants to promote hydration, antioxidant protection, and skin barrier reinforcement. Formulated with a stable pH of 5.0–5.5 and an effective preservative system, the product was tested through non-animal, biologically relevant models.

A UV protection assay using HEK293 cells demonstrated that the serum significantly reduces oxidative damage, increasing post-exposure cell viability to 80%, compared to …

Evolutionary Conservation Of Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein In Clarthrin-Mediated Endocytosis, Jonah Friedmann

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME) is a cellular process for internalizing extracellular materials and recycling parts of the plasma membrane into intracellular vesicles. When a threshold of membrane-bound receptors is met at the cell surface, endocytic proteins organize into a conformation that can invaginate the membrane and separate a vesicle into the cytosol. Our current model for understanding CME has been derived from studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Previous research has led to a model for how Las17, a homolog of Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome Protein (WASP), contributes to CME. WASP proteins are critical actin nucleators involved in multiple processes. In S. cerevisiae, Las17 …

Degraded Document Binarisation, Miriyala Ajith

Master’s Dissertations

In this study, I explored degraded document binarization by reviewing two recent model frameworks and implementing their models using PyTorch. The first model is based on cGANs, specifically the DE-GAN [41] framework, which enhances degraded documents by restoring their quality prior to binarization. The second model employs vision transformers [40], inspired by the DocBinFormer architecture, which uses an autoencoder in both the encoder and decoder for effective binarization. Both models were evaluated on the ISI-Bengali dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that DE-GAN improved document quality by 4% compared to the degraded input, while the vision transformer model achieved a 14% improvement, …

Reducing Attention Complexity In Graph Transformers Through Subgraph Partitioning, Ranjan Kumar Choubey

Master’s Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the challenge of scaling Graph Transformers by proposing a subgraph-based strategy to reduce attention complexity. The proposed framework preserves representational power while making attention computation tractable for largescale graphs. The method begins by partitioning the input graph into K subgraphs using the METIS algorithm. Each subgraph is encoded using a combination of local structural features from a Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) and global positional cues from Laplacian Positional Embeddings (LPEs). These embeddings are fused via a trainable projection function to form subgraph tokens. A supergraph is constructed to model interactions among subgraphs, allowing attention to be applied …

The Shōnen Apocalypse: An Analysis Of The Shōnen Power System And Its Narrative Functions, Mario Da Silva Melo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My thesis has two primary goals. First, it provides an overview of the history of manga as a medium, and manga studies as a field. In doing so, I observe a lack of terminological and methodological specificity. As a result, I provide a formalist approach to thematic criticism in order to address the above issues. Second, my thesis primarily centers on shōnen power systems and their narrative functions. Power systems are "magic rules" that determine how superhuman abilities mechanically function. I identify two main power systems in shōnen manga: spiritual manipulation and transformations. My thesis posits that shōnen manga authors …

The Intersection Of Education And Empowerment: How Comprehensive Sex Education Equips Adolescents To Navigate Complex Relational Dynamics, Joleigh Wood

University Honors Theses

This thesis examines the impact of comprehensive sex education (CSE) on adolescents' understanding of consent, personal boundaries, and relational competence. Drawing upon social learning theory, intersectionality, and relational-cultural theory, the study employs a multidisciplinary framework to analyze how CSE functions as both an instructional practice and a sociocultural intervention. Utilizing an integrative thematic review of empirical studies, policy analyses, and national curriculum standards, the research evaluates the extent to which CSE promotes emotional literacy, fosters ethical relationship skills, and addresses structural inequities in educational access. Findings indicate that well-implemented, inclusive CSE contributes to healthier developmental outcomes by enhancing students' emotional …