Engineering Commons^™

Design And Evaluation Of Auditory-Supported Air Gesture Controls In Vehicles, Jason Sterkenburg

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The number of visual distraction-caused crashes highlights a need for non-visual information displays in vehicles. Auditory-supported air gesture controls could fill that need. This dissertation covers four experiments that aim to explore the design auditory-supported air gesture system and examine its real-world influence on driving performance. The first three experiments compared different prototype gesture control designs as participants used the systems in a driving simulator. The fourth experiment sought to answer more basic questions about how auditory displays influence performance in target acquisition tasks. Results from experiment 1 offered optimism for the potential of auditory-supported displays for navigating simple menus …

Analyzing The Life-Cycle Of Unstable Slopes Using Applied Remote Sensing Within An Asset Management Framework, El Hachemi Y. Bouali

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

An asset management framework provides a methodology for monitoring and maintaining assets, which include anthropogenic infrastructure (e.g., dams, embankments, and retaining structures) and natural geological features (e.g., soil and rock slopes). It is imperative that these assets operate efficiently, effectively, safely, and at a high standard since many assets are located along transportation corridors (highways, railways, and waterways) and can cause severe damage if compromised. Assets built on or around regions prone to natural hazards are at an increased risk of deterioration and failure. The objective of this study is to utilize remote sensing techniques such as InSAR, LiDAR, and …

Affect-Preserving Visual Privacy Protection, Wanxin Xu

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The prevalence of wireless networks and the convenience of mobile cameras enable many new video applications other than security and entertainment. From behavioral diagnosis to wellness monitoring, cameras are increasing used for observations in various educational and medical settings. Videos collected for such applications are considered protected health information under privacy laws in many countries. Visual privacy protection techniques, such as blurring or object removal, can be used to mitigate privacy concern, but they also obliterate important visual cues of affect and social behaviors that are crucial for the target applications. In this dissertation, we propose to balance the privacy …

Crop Height Estimation With Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Carrick Detweiler, David Anthony, Sebastian Elbaum

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can be configured for crop height estimation. In some examples, the UAV includes an aerial propulsion system, a laser scanner configured to face downwards while the UAV is in flight, and a control system. The laser scanner is configured to scan through a two-dimensional scan angle and is characterized by a maxi mum range. The control system causes the UAV to fly over an agricultural field and maintain, using the aerial propulsion system and the laser scanner, a distance between the UAV and a top of crops in the agricultural field to within a programmed …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 27 Issue 2, 2018

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

ToC JITIM vol 27 - 2, 2018

Assessing Learning Outcomes Of A Mooc Incorporated Into An On-Campus Management Information Systems Class, Manying Qiu, Yaquan Xu

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Massive open source online course (MOOC) platform enables enterprises to introduce their new innovations and deliver basic knowledge to handle the new products. We incorporated an openSAP course into a management information systems (MIS) class. Students learned the latest development of SAP customer relationship management (CRM) solutions along with the SAP enterprise resource planning (ERP) business processes integration that they learned in the classroom. 46.2% of the students obtained Record of Achievement and Confirmation of Participation certificates, which is higher than the average success rate of MOOCs. More importantly, the students experienced a way of sustainable and lifelong learning.

The Impact Of Personal Privacy On The Acceptance Of Mobile Phone Technology: A Case Of Tanzanian Smes, Renatus Michael Mushi

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The adoption of mobile technology has gained a serious attention in organizations and individuals. SMEs in the developing countries have hugely been relying on mobile phone technology in performing their activities. The main reasons for the popularity of mobile phones include their perceived low cost, less learning curve, mobility and its compatibility with the usage at the SMEs level as compared to the desktop computers. Despite existence on studies on adoption of mobile technology in different contexts, few of them have explicitly explored the way personal privacy can affect its acceptance to be used at the workplaces.

This study covers …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 27 Issue 1, 2018

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Table of Contents JITIM volume 27, issue 1 - 2018

Driving Factors On Runoff Change In The North Semiarid Rapidly Urbanization Watershed, Yong Bai, Rui-Zhong Gao, Xi-Xi Wang, Wei-Na Wang

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The hydrological process of a watershed influences a lot on the local socioeconomic development. The analysis of runoff change caused by the rapid urbanization on the watershed is of important significance in the management and protection of the local water resource. In this study, based on the land use information from remotely sensed images, the hydrometeorological observation data and the social economy data from 1997 to 2015, the relationship between the influencing factors and the runoff trend in Wulanmulun River watershed was analyzed at different time scale using the improved Mann-Kendall Test and PCA (principal component analysis) method. The results …

Insulting Words: "They Are Animals!", Carolyn A. Ristau

Animal Sentience

As Chapman & Huffman state, creating divisive human categories has rationalized atrocities committed against the “other.” Labeling neighboring warring villagers as “animals” is considered a despicable insult. Yet contemporary scientific views of many animals grant them thinking and conscious faculties, and the capacity for impressive achievements, many unattainable by humans. Robots, too, can accomplish many similar feats. But the essential reason we must protect animals is not because of their admirable abilities, but their capacity for consciousness, for suffering. Robots are not conscious. Participants in the human-animal debate should not complain about changing criteria for determining human uniqueness. New and …

How Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Recognize Facial Expressions Displayed By A Rear-Projection Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Anibal Gutierrez, Timothy Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience reduced ability to perceive crucial nonverbal communication cues such as eye gaze, gestures, and facial expressions. Recent studies suggest that social robots can be used as effective tools to improve communication and social skills in children with ASD. One explanation has been put forward by several studies that children with ASD feel more contented and motivated in systemized and predictable environment, like interacting with robots.

Objectives: There have been few research studies evaluating how children with ASD perceive facial expression in humanoid robots but no research evaluating facial expression perception …

A Pilot Study On Facial Expression Recognition Ability Of Autistic Children Using Ryan, A Rear-Projected Humanoid Robot, Farzaneh Askari, Huanghao Feng, Timothy D. Sweeny, Mohammad H. Mahoor

Electrical and Computer Engineering: Graduate Student Scholarship

Rear-projected robots use computer graphics technology to create facial animations and project them on a mask to show the robot’s facial cues and expressions. These types of robots are becoming commercially available, though more research is required to understand how they can be effectively used as a socially assistive robotic agent. This paper presents the results of a pilot study on comparing the facial expression recognition abilities of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) with typically developing (TD) children using a rear-projected humanoid robot called Ryan. Six children with ASD and six TD children participated in this research, where Ryan …

Moderating Effects Of Age And Experience On The Factors Influencing The Actual Usage Of Cloud Computing, Shailja Tripathi

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Cloud computing technology (CCT) has attracted extensive attention of organizations to enhance their agility, flexibility and competitive advantage. Successful implementation of CCT depends on its acceptance and useby senior IT managers in the organizations. This study proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) to predict actual CCT usage by the managers. A questionnaire is used to collect the needful data. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are performed to analyze the factor structure and measurement model. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the structural model. The results supported all the hypotheses of the model. The moderating effect of experience and …

Design Of Revising Proximity Between Space And Time Cues On Flight Deck Displays To Support Nextgen – The First Phase, Chang-Geun Oh, Jennie J. Gallimore, Pamela S. Tsang

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The objective of this study is to develop and evaluate novel display formats to support RTA operations for near to midterm NextGen. Traditional cockpit displays separate space and time information in distant display sources in heterogeneous formats (graphics vs. text). This design composition may cause potential pilot errors when required time of arrival (RTA) obligations are imposed at every waypoint in NextGen. Pilots were randomly assigned to four different display conditions in a simulator – one traditional display with distant space and time cues, and three novel displays with close spatial proximity between the two cues. In the first phase …

Design Of Revising Proximity Between Space And Time Cues On Flight Deck Displays To Support Nextgen – The Second Phase, Chang-Geun Oh, Jennie J. Gallimore, Pamela S. Tsang

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

The prior first phase of this study investigated the effectiveness of new design of flight deck display for required time of arrival operation of NextGen by collecting objective query response data during autopilot flights and subjective data about the perception between display condition and situation awareness level. To evaluate pilots’ mental workload during the operations when they interacted with novel flight deck display design, this second phase provided pilots with simulation flight tasks arriving at four successive waypoints on time in the same display conditions as the first phase and asked them to rate their mental workload ratings. The workload …

Analysis On The Influence Factors Of Accident Severity: Evidence From Urban River-Crossing Tunnels In Shanghai Of China, Wan He, Zhuoye Zhang, Linjun Lu, Zhenyu Wang

CUTR Faculty Journal Publications

To analyze various factors influencing the accident severity of urban river-crossing tunnels, 12 influence factors were selected according to the three traffic elements of vehicle, road, and environment, including accident-involved vehicle type, tunnel length, tunnel speed limit, accident occurrence time, and weather. These factors were based on the historical data of 14 urban river-crossing tunnels in Shanghai. A binary logistic regression model was also utilized to identify significant influence factors and analyze the influence degrees of their accident severity. Significance analysis reveals that accident occurrence place, accident-involved vehicle type, tunnel speed limit, number of vehicles involved, and accident type are …

If I Had A Million Cryptos: Cryptowallet Application Analysis And A Trojan Proof-Of-Concept, Trevor Haigh, Frank Breitinger, Ibrahim Baggili

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Cryptocurrencies have gained wide adoption by enthusiasts and investors. In this work, we examine seven different Android cryptowallet applications for forensic artifacts, but we also assess their security against tampering and reverse engineering. Some of the biggest benefits of cryptocurrency is its security and relative anonymity. For this reason it is vital that wallet applications share the same properties. Our work, however, indicates that this is not the case. Five of the seven applications we tested do not implement basic security measures against reverse engineering. Three of the applications stored sensitive information, like wallet private keys, insecurely and one was …

Consuming Digital Debris In The Plasticene, Stephen R. Parks

Theses and Dissertations

Claims of customization and control by socio-technical industries are altering the role of consumer and producer. These narratives are often misleading attempts to engage consumers with new forms of technology. By addressing capitalist intent, material, and the reproduction limits of 3-D printed objects’, I observe the aspirational promise of becoming a producer of my own belongings through new networks of production. I am interested in gaining a better understanding of the data consumed that perpetuates hyper-consumptive tendencies for new technological apparatuses. My role as a designer focuses on the resolution of not only the surface of the object through 3-D …

A Review Of Unsupervised Statistical Learning And Visual Analytics Techniques Applied To Performance Analysis Of Non-Residential Buildings, Clayton Miller, Zoltán Nagy, Arno Schlueter

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

Measured and simulated data sources from the built environment are increasing rapidly. It is becoming normal to analyze data from hundreds, or even thousands of buildings at once. Mechanistic, manual analysis of such data sets is time-consuming and not realistic using conventional techniques. Thus, a significant body of literature has been generated using unsupervised statistical learning techniques designed to uncover structure and information quickly with fewer input parameters or metadata about the buildings collected. Further, visual analytics techniques are developed as aids in this process for a human analyst to utilize and interpret the results. This paper reviews publications that …

Engineering Standards In Highway Design Litigation, Michael Lewyn

Scholarly Works

Highway engineers sometimes believe that if they redesign streets to improve pedestrian safety (for example, by introducing traffic calming techniques) they might be successfully sued for negligent design by motorists. This chapter suggests that in such situations, governments are likely to be protected by discretionary function immunity. In addition, the chapter discusses a variety of technical issues.

Exploring Critical Success Factors Of Community Development Projects, Kevin Wanjama Muchiri

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The utilization of Community Development Projects in developing nations continues to increase in significance. In the wake of the latest Sustainable Development Goals, developing nations are working towards eliminating poverty, promoting sustainable cities and communities, gender equality, and health and well-being. Although Community Development Projects have become prevalent, the challenge has been that some are successful, while others fail. This dissertation investigates what makes Community Development Projects successful.

This dissertation implemented a comprehensive quantitative analysis using data collected from over one hundred community development projects obtained from The World Bank database. These projects took place in developing nations around the …

The Need For Enhanced Physical Infrastructure In The United States, Tanvi Gandham

CMC Senior Theses

An examination of necessary infrastructure improvements in the United States.

Integrated Assessment Of Shallow-Aquifer Vulnerability To Multiple Contaminants And Drinking-Water Exposure Pathways In Holliston, Massachusetts, Birgit Claus Henn, Yelena Ogneva-Himmelberger, Allegra Denehy, Marcie Randall, Nichole Cordon, Bilin Basu, Brian Caccavale, Stefanie Covino, Ravi Hanumantha, Kevin Longo, Ariel Maiorano, Spring Pillsbury, Gabrielle Rigutto, Kelsey Shields, Marianne Sarkis, Timothy Downs

Sustainability and Social Justice

Half of U.S. drinking water comes from aquifers, and very shallow ones (table) are especially vulnerable to anthropogenic contamination. We present the case of Holliston, a Boston, Massachusetts suburb that draws its drinking water from very shallow aquifers, and where metals and solvents have been reported in groundwater. Community concerns focus on water discolored by naturally occurring manganese (Mn), despite reports stating regulatory aesthetic compliance. Epidemiologic studies suggest Mn is a potentially toxic element (PTE) for children exposed by the drinking-water pathway at levels near the regulatory aesthetic level. We designed an integrated, community-based project: five sites were profiled for …

Spatial Transferability Assessment Of A Composite Walkability Index: The Pedestrian Index Of The Environment (Pie), Gabriel Lefebvre-Ropars, Catherine Morency, Patrick A. Singleton, Kelly J. Clifton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper analyzes the transferability of a composite walkability index, the Pedestrian Index of the Environment (PIE), to the Greater Montréal Area (GMA). The PIE was developed in Portland, Oregon, and is based on proprietary data. It combines six urban form variables into a score ranging from 20 to 100. The measure introduces several methodological refinements which have not been applied concurrently in previous efforts: a wide coverage of the different dimensions of the urban form, together with the use of a distance-based decay function and modelling-based weighing of the variables.

The Future Of Nuclear Security: A Medical Physicist’S Perspective, Katharine E. Thomson

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Planning for the future of nuclear security is a vital and complex task, requiring cooperation and contribution from many disciplines and industries. This diversity of expertise should include the medical sector, which faces many of the same challenges as the nuclear industry: controlling access to dangerous material, creating a strong security culture, cooperating with the wider world and engaging the public.

Medical physicists, of which the author is one, oversee all aspects of small-scale radiation use. This paper discusses three key areas increasingly important to both medical and nuclear uses of radioactive materials: public engagement, prevention of nuclear and radiological …

The Future Of Nuclear Security In Moroccan Territory After The Creation Of The New Moroccan Agency Of Nuclear And Radiological Safety And Security: Opportunities And Challenges, Amal Touarsi, Amina Kharchaf

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Nowadays, a security regime for protecting nuclear and radiological material—providing an intelligent national regulatory institution and establishing national security laws—is necessary in order for a state to ensure security of nuclear and radiological materials used within its borders.

This paper focuses on discussing the opportunities and challenges facing the future of nuclear security after the creation of the new Moroccan Agency of Nuclear and Radiological Safety and Security.

Assessing And Enhancing Nuclear Safety And Security Culture For Small Facilities That Handle Radioactive Material, Solymosi Máté

International Journal of Nuclear Security

The use of radioactive sources is expanding all over the world and abreast the necessity of the enhancement of its safe and secure application is increasing too. In the nuclear industry, the safety and security are top priorities since decades. They share the same goal, to protect humans from the negative affect of the ionizing radiation. The human component of them is a significant factor and technical solutions can protect us so far and thus the culture for safety and security become a major focus. On the other hand, there are still some contradiction between recommendations and international guidance of …

The Vibe, Sarah P. Douglass

Capstones

The Vibe is a long-form narrative about where tech is taking the female orgasm. The piece concludes that physiological research is a required next step when creating the climax of the future.

http://sarahpdouglass.com

Breadcrumbs: Privacy As A Privilege, Prachi Bhardwaj

Capstones

Breadcrumbs: Privacy as a Privilege Abstract

By: Prachi Bhardwaj

In 2017, the world saw more data breaches than in any year prior. The count was more than the all-time high record in 2016, which was 40 percent more than the year before that.

That’s because consumer data is incredibly valuable today. In the last three decades, data storage has gone from being stored physically to being stored almost entirely digitally, which means consumer data is more accessible and applicable to business strategies. As a result, companies are gathering data in ways previously unknown to the average consumer, and hackers are …

A Framework Towards Technology Creation In Africa: Focusing On Ghana, Martin Yao Donani, Hannatu Abue Kugblenu, Azindow Bawa Fuseini

International Journal of African Development

Underdevelopment in Africa has been historical and a global concern coupled with the quest for good governance. Several efforts have been made in academia, national governments, the international community, and other institutional arrangements to reverse the trend. These efforts however are yet to produce a lasting result as Africa is still characterized by low productivity output, poverty and a widening technology gap when compared to other developing regions of the world. Conventional approaches used to address the African problem have consistently been devoid of indigenous technology development. Technology is here seen as paramount to every form of production on which …