Digital Commons Network^™

Preferred Rendering Of Memory Colors, Anku Manderna Anku

Theses

With the rise in high quality displays and cameras following the mainstream adoption of smartphones, image quality has become an essential aspect of engaging and attracting consumers. In the case of smartphones, the bar raises with release of every new generation. There are many factors affecting image quality such as sharpness, image noise or non-uniformity, and geometric distortion, but it is fair to say that color plays a vital role in the perceived quality of an image. Colors not only spark emotions and engage a user but also decide the likability of a certain image. Over the past few years …

Continuous Variable Quantum Compilation Analysis, Federico Rueda

Theses

Over the last few years quantum computers have rose to prominence as a solution for increasing computing power and tackling problems intractable by classical computers. Classical computers have struggled to meet the ever-increasing demand for data processing and modeling. Thus, quantum computers would meet the demand for heavy computing tasks that classical computers could never achieve. Today there exist two promising quantum technologies that have the potential to prove quantum supremacy in the near future: super-conducting qubits and Continuous Variable (CV) model. Out of the two, superconducting qubits have been at the forefront of quantum computing research. NISQ (Noise intermediate-scale …

The Use Of Reverse Vending Machine (Rvm) For Less Plastic In Dubai, Sarah Obaid Al Shamsi

Theses

Plastic pollution is affecting negatively on the environment, it affects trees, animals, marine life, and even humans. One of the most common plastic types is plastic bags, it is widely spread due its special characteristics such as light weigh, and cheap price. In Dubai City, plastic bags are widely used especially in the supermarkets, with the increase in the population of Dubai, the number of plastic bags will increase and the impacts will be more appearance. Dubai City is a leading city in the region for its ability to change and adapt with new strategies that serves the citizen and …

Smart Urban Solutions For Low-Income Neighborhoods In Dubai: Hor Al Anz Area As A Case Study, Alaa Yahia Ragab Eleraqi

Theses

The project’s main objective is to study and assess the current situation and future setup of implementing smart solutions technologies, and the main challenges facing the growth in Dubai in general and the Hor Al Anz neighborhood in Dubai in particular. The expected results and outcomes of this study are illustrated in this research report. The project report consists of 5 parts. Part 1 covers the implemented initiatives and presents the problem statement and the historical background of the case study area by showing why did I select the Hor Al Anz neighborhood in Dubai (Figure 1 below). The purpose …

Futuristic Smart Solutions For People Of Determination In Schools And Universities, Luloa Alsayah, Shaikha Abdulrahman, Sanaa Enkeleya

Theses

In this project, future smart solutions for people of determination in schools and universities were discussed. The background was presented on the topic, as the issue of integrating people of determination in schools and then integrating them into society still takes a wide range of societal, family, and institutional attention, and it undoubtedly deserves much attention that befits this dear group in our society. The literature has shown the existence of previous studies and applications similar to those proposed in the project, which sought within the framework of this advanced vision to enable "people of determination" to provide quality services …

Test Naming Failures. An Exploratory Study Of Bad Naming Practices In Test Code, Zachariah Wigent

Theses

Unit tests are a key component during the software development process, helping ensure that a developer's code is functioning as expected. Developers interact with unit tests when trying to understand, maintain, and when updating code. Good test names are essential for making these various processes easier, which is important considering the substantial costs and effort of software maintenance. Despite this, it has been found that the quality of test code is often lacking, specifically when it comes to test names. When a test fails, its name is often the first thing developers will see when trying to fix the failure, …

Predicting Risk Of Readmission In Heart Failure Patients Using Electronic Health Records, Pradumna Suryawanshi

Theses

This thesis research investigates the prediction of readmission risk in heart failure patients using their electronic health record (EHR) data from previous hospitalizations. We examine three primary questions. First, we study the use of attention mechanism in readmission prediction model based on long short-term memory(LSTM) networks and investigate the interpretability it offers regarding the importance of critical time during the visit in readmission prediction. Second given that, generally dataset is curated by combining data from multiple hospitals we investigate model generalization across multiple sites. Finally since in real life scenario model will be trained on past data and used to …

Evaluation Of Neuro-Evolution Algorithms For Tactic Volatility Aware Processes, Aizaz Ul Haq

Theses

Our society is increasingly evolving to rely on computer mechanisms that perform a variety of tasks. From a self-driving car to a satellite in space relaying data from Mars rovers, we need these systems to perform optimally and without failure. One such point of failure these systems can encounter is tactic volatility of an adaptation tactic. Adaptation tactics are defined workflows that allow systems to navigate their environment. Tactic volatility is the variance in the behavior in the attribute of a tactic, such as cost and latency and/or the combination of the two. Current systems consider these tactic attributes to …

Survey And Analysis Of Deepfake Media As It Applies To The New Era Of Disinformation, Jade L. Wise

Theses

The world has become a place where technology and the internet is so integrated into every-day life that people rely on the media and internet access to stay informed and connected. But, that has exposed us to a whole new world of positives and negatives, and the negatives could be catastrophic for our society. It will very soon be very difficult for the average person to distinguish between figment and reality; primarily with video, which has always been seen as a credible form of evidence. Deepfake videos are a prime example of this growing phenomenon. They are videos in which, …

Radio Carbon - Hybrid Documentary Process, Robert Stokes

Theses

Radio Carbon is a documentary made using a methodology for creating conscious digital video projects with a process privileging respect for crew, subject, and environment over the needs of a commercial, or market driven product. The guidelines imposed by this method are fluid, and project-specific in terms of their exact interpretation for each film. This project is meant to demonstrate a production style that allows for work to be made by the participants without a dominating creative force at every stage of production. This is made possible through the introduction of chance operations at several key points along the production …

Feasibility Of Twitter Sentiment Analysis In Predicting Crime In The Uae, Rashed Khalifa Alsubousi

Theses

In this study, we demonstrate how the information provided by individuals on social media can represent some aspects of their behavior to predict criminal activities and intentions in societies. The problem discussed in this study is finding a model that can analyze social media posts to infer the intentions and feelings of the publisher behind those posts to predict the probability of committing a crime. This is a preventive technique that can be used to monitor individuals or organizations who have a behavioral pattern that can be inferred as criminal intent. To help detect and predict criminal activities, we observe …

A Deep Learning Classifier For Detecting Atrial Fibrillation In Hospital Settings Applicable To Various Sensing Modalities, Kamil Bukum

Theses

Cardiac signals provide variety of information related to the patient's health. One of the most important is for medical experts to diagnose the functionality of a patient’s heart. This information helps the medical experts monitor heart disease such as atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most major diseases that are threatening patients’ health. Medical experts measure cardiac signals usng the Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), the Photoplethysmogram (PPG), and more recently the Videoplethysmogram (VPG). Then they can use these measurements to analyze the heart functionality to detect heart diseases. In this study, these three major …

Quantum Correlations Using Classical Detectors, Chamithri Adikarige

Theses

Single photons are vital to quantum computing, information processing, and transportation. Popular single-photon experiments are one or two-photon interference, classification of the light source, and characterization of detectors. Currently, the most efficient detector in the telecom wavelength is the Superconducting Nanowire detector. How- ever, experiments have been successful in demonstrating single-photon measurements can be done with unconventional detectors. One such method employed an EMCCD camera to observe spatial correlations between pixels with single photons. This thesis aims to test non-single photon-counting PIN photodetectors to observe time-correlation measurement. The improved detection model uses a high-resolution 2GHz oscilloscope and a cross-correlation algorithm. …

Used Cars Price Prediction And Valuation Using Data Mining Techniques, Abdulla Alshared

Theses

Due to the unprecedented number of cars being purchased and sold, used car price prediction is a topic of high interest. Because of the affordability of used cars in developing countries, people tend more purchase used cars. A primary objective of this project is to estimate used car prices by using attributes that are highly correlated with a label (Price). To accomplish this, data mining technology has been employed. Null, redundant, and missing values were removed from the dataset during pre-processing. In this supervised learning study, three regressors (Random Forest Regressor, Linear Regression, and Bagging Regressor) have been trained, tested, …

Retail Demand Forecasting, Mohamed Al Ali

Theses

Sales and demand forecasting is one the most critical tasks of enterprises. It lays the foundation for many other essential business assumptions, such as cash flows, profit margins, turnover, capacity planning, and capital expenditure. This report presents a solution for the case study of forecasting monthly sales of one of the largest retail stores in Europe, Rossman chain stores. There are three steps in which this problem will be handled. First, a complete and comprehensive exploratory data analysis will be done to understand the data and perform feature engineering. Secondly, a time series will be modeled by autoregressive models using …

Adaptability And Revisability In Climate Models, Kristopher Edelman

Theses

The global climate is shifting rapidly, bringing with it increased risk for climate-related harms to human societies. Climate science is a multi-disciplinary field, requiring experts from diverse specialties to collaborate in order to model complex systems. The complexity and uncertainty of these scientific models raise philosophical questions such as:

• What epistemic, ethical, and social assumptions go into model creation?
• What mathematical and statistical principles are incorporated into their design?
• How is interpretation involved in the selection and analysis of data to generate climate models?

Philosophical issues related to complexity, uncertainty, and the role of values require that modelers evaluate trade-offs. …

Applying Behavioral And Physiological Measures To Assess The Relative Impact Of The Prolonged Covid-19 Pandemic Closure On Two Mammal Species At The Oregon Zoo: Cheetah (A. Jubatus) And Giraffe (G. C. Reticulata And G. C. Tippelskirchii), Laurel Fink, Candace D. Scarlata, Becca Vanbeek, Todd Bodner, Nadja C. Wielebnowski

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The effect of visitor presence on zoo animals has been explored in numerous studies over the past two decades. However, the opportunities for observations without visitors have been very limited at most institutions. In 2020, the Oregon Zoo was closed, in response to the global SARSCoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, from 15 March 2020 to 12 July 2020, resulting in approximately four consecutive months without visitor presence. This study aimed to quantify potential behavioral and hormonal changes expressed during two transition periods in zoo visitor attendance: the initial time period before and after closure in March 2020 and time before and after …

Decline In Subarachnoid Haemorrhage Volumes Associated With The First Wave Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Italo Linfante

All Publications

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased volumes of stroke admissions and mechanical thrombectomy were reported. The study's objective was to examine whether subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions demonstrated similar declines.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, retrospective, observational study across 6 continents, 37 countries and 140 comprehensive stroke centres. Patients with the diagnosis of SAH, aneurysmal SAH, ruptured aneurysm coiling interventions and COVID-19 were identified by prospective aneurysm databases or by International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, codes. The 3-month cumulative volume, monthly volumes for SAH hospitalisations and ruptured aneurysm coiling procedures were compared for the period …

Autocratic Leadership Within West African Pentecostal Denomination, Ezekiel Olaleye

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to determine whether autocratic leadership theory best explains the nature of leadership in the West African Pentecostal/Charismatic Denomination (PCD) across West Africa and to compare the current leadership practices within the PCD to a biblical and theological framework. Since Africa is the fastest growing Christian continent in the world, it is important to give careful attention to matters arising within the church leadership. The researcher believes that this study helped shed light on leadership challenges within African Christianity, Christian education, and most importantly within the Pentecostal/Charismatic denomination. It also provides information that …

Chaplaincy: A Practical Approach To Caring For The Human Spirit, Susan Fair

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This DMIN project is based on the Pastoral Ministry program at Nyack College, which publicly promotes that it leads the student to become a professional in the ministry context. The problem is that the academic curriculum does not include components of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE). The project facilitator reasons that the current environment demands that spiritual care providers possess a specific skill set extending beyond pulpit preaching, reading scriptures, and prayer. The literature review contains articles, journals, and books that explore caring for the human spirit within the physical, spiritual, emotional, financial, religious, and holistic context. The research methodology designed …

Teaching Intentional Discipleship In An Age Of Moral Relativism, David Cruz Martinez

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teaching Intentional Discipleship in an Age of Moral Relativism is essential to counteracting the downward trend of morality, religious affiliation, and church growth in America. In the church where discipleship and fulfilling the Great Commission is becoming more of an option versus a necessity, the fruit of unintentional discipleship has contributed to the transformation of America into an age of moral relativism with no end in sight unless the church reverts to its first love of the Great Commission. The project will accentuate the statistics that demonstrate the current statistical decline of church attendance in the western world and explain …

From Perpetual Struggle To Liberation And Freedom: An Analysis Of Two Predominately African American Churches, Stanley Bernard Baldwin Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

African American Church Music has a unique and robust history dating back to the era of the African Slave Trade. This project will focus on African American Church Music and its effect on the African American worship experience in the 21st century. The creation of spirituals and gospel music helped shape the doctrine and identity in the African American Church. However, its message of suffering and “longing to go home” has limited the worship experience of the African American demographic. Musical style, historical significance, and racial issues have played a significant role in shaping the African American worship experience. These …

Sustainability Issue Of The Total Quality Management (Tqm) System In The Manufacturing Industry, Jesus A. Guillergan

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research is to understand the sustainability issue of total quality management (TQM) and its effects in the manufacturing industry. Having exploratory and descriptive objectives, this research used a flexible design single case study on a water treatment company in the southeastern United States to facilitate the examination of the phenomenon using real‐life, present‐day context, and multiple perspectives from participants. The single bounded case study collected and integrated many forms of qualitative data ranging from interviews, observations, and quality‐related archived documents to answer the research questions. The results revealed that failure in sustaining the quality system in …

Premarital Counseling As Foundational To Discipleship, David J. Hollifield

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This paper will examine the lasting impact of biblical, pastoral premarital counseling. Couples who have completed this type of program before marriage will be studied. This work will attempt to measure the impact of premarital counseling based on whether couples have used tools explored in their original counseling program in areas such as effective communication, conflict resolution, stewardship of money, and spiritual disciplines. If the tools and resources provided in counseling have never been utilized, this survey will seek to discover reasons the material was never used. The purpose of this study is to determine which areas are most helpful …

Students' Evaluations Of Black Faculty At Historically White Institutions: A Causal- Comparative Study, Kathleen Carter Gentry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With a call for greater accountability, institutions of higher education have focused upon student evaluations to measure teacher effectiveness to ensure that students are learning. Education researchers have revealed that Black faculty reported negative experiences within academe such as microaggressions, insults, and not being regarded as credible scholars by students and other faculty. Very little research examines the role that race plays in students’ evaluations of Black faculty from the viewpoints of students. This quantitative, nonexperimental, causal-comparative dissertation investigates 210 students’ evaluation scores of actual university faculty as measured by academic competence, sensitivity to students, instructional effectiveness, and their viewpoints …

Analysis Of Texas Collegiate Mariachi Ensembles: Standard Repertoire And Genres, Angela Michelle Morgan-Thornton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A standard prescribed music list exists for band, orchestra, and choral music ensembles in Texas K-12 music education. Presently, no prescribed music list exists for mariachi ensembles or degree plans in Texas at the collegiate level. This study used explanatory sequential mixed methods to examine the differences in seven Texas collegiate mariachi programs’ standard teaching and performance repertoire. The study explored the commonalities and differences in repertoire and balance of mariachi genres in instruction. The repertoire of diverse genres reflects influences associated with European, Caribbean, and Indigenous cultures and musical forms. Related issues of this study included music literacy, college …

The Flourishing Life Of The Leader Who Makes God The Top Priority, Frank Owusu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The Thesis Project that is undertaken in Richmond, Virginia, is addressing the issues in the leaders of churches’ lack of understanding, when it comes to prioritizing their relationship with God. The purpose of the thesis is to train the men and women in leadership, so that they seek and reach forth onto that highest priority of relationship with Christ. The interventions that are designed to help in the development of the spiritually healthy leaders include the practices that the Lord Jesus Christ mentions in His speech, the Sermon on the Mount. Through mentoring and the participants’ initiative in fasting, prayer, …

An Effective Online Training Strategy For Worship Leaders In Korea, Dong Hyun Kwon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A trained worship leader plays a significant role in a modern church's proper worship experience. It is hard to find well-prepared worship leaders, and most local churches need to train those who are or will be leading their worship services. There have been various courses for this purpose by several organizations in Korea. However, these programs have usually been limited to those who are able to attend at a certain time and place set by the organization. Those who do not live in large cities or cannot afford time off during those hours have been excluded from the opportunity to …

A Study Of Support For The Bereaved In The Local Congregation, Ngoy Nadine Ilunga

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The bereaved often face the ongoing challenges of grief with little support from the Church. This study aimed to resource the Church with practical methodologies to help congregants cope with grief. The study examined the troubling issues the bereaved experience after the death of a loved one. Survey data was collected from ten United Methodist members and had lost an immediate family member within the past five years. The measure consisted of interviews and questionnaires. An email and a verbal announcement during church worship service built the sample. Findings reveal that approximately 90% of participants experienced grief and emotional effects …

The Strong Black Woman And Marital Satisfaction: A Mediation Moderation Analysis Of Mental Health And Religiosity, Jessica Christine Wright

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between endorsement of the Strong Black Woman (SBW) schema (stoicism and independence subscales), mental health (depression and anxiety), marital satisfaction, and the potential moderating effects of religiosity (negative and positive religious coping) on the strength and direction of this relationship. Participants consisted of four-hundred and thirty-nine married women who were recruited via Qualtrics. The women completed inventories to assess for SBW endorsement, marital satisfaction, depression, anxiety, and both negative and positive religious coping. The results indicated embracing characteristics of SBW-stoicism predicted decreased marital satisfaction and increased anxiety and depression. In …