Th is paper focuses on bridging the gap between the physical and digital world by creating a balance between performative (learned) interaction and transparent (direct-realism) interaction. The balance between these two types of interactions is also reminiscent of the balance between how people currently interact with digital objects and how people interact with physical objects.This paper does a deep review of the many ways designers, researchers, and even psychologists have studied interaction between the physical and digital world. The project started off with a literature review, the literature review consisted of four sections; a review of related papers and projects, discussion of related theories, my analysis of reviewed literature, and ended with the creation of design guidelines for Near-Field Communication (NFC) devices.The paper proceeds through a hands-on, iterative physical prototyping process in order to develop aprototype that allows our physical interactions to be supported digitally through the use of mobile computing. Wireless communication and metadata are used to create a physical interaction, which is both highly personalized and contextually based in a digital way. An interaction that supports our deeper understanding of the purpose of the interaction, and which also benefi ts from the availability of digital information, which is personal and contextual.Lastly a proposal for a fi nal design for a digital device that will allow the user to bridge the gap between the physical and digital world is described in this paper. This final design incorporates both my analysis of the reviewed projects, theories and literature, and the findings from two rounds of user testing with and iterative physical prototype. This is followed by overall conclusions and suggestions for future work.

Dysfunctions of ocular motor and binocular vision are some of the most commonly observed problems in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. Secondarily, subjective complaints of compromised vision and ocular motor functions are also sometimes reported in mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBI). Simple ocular/vision assessments such as near point of convergence (NPC), the King-Devick Test (KDT), and stereoacuity can be performed to identify and assess these deficits, but their diagnostic accuracy has yet to be thoroughly investigated. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences exist in NPC, KDT, and stereoacuity test scores between concussed and control athletes, and to determine the diagnostic accuracy of these tests. A multicenter control group design was utilized. The independent variable was group (control vs. concussed). The dependent variables were the ocular test scores from the NPC, KDT, and stereoacuity tests. Participants were recruited from several collegiate athletic programs. In total 34 healthy, non-concussed controls (21 male, 13 female) aged 19 + 1.5 years and 19 concussions (11 male, 8 female) aged 20.42 + 1.5 years participated in the study. A concussion was operationally defined as a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain, induced by biomechanical forces, that was diagnosed by a health care professional through the use of signs and symptoms scales, balance and neurocognitive testing. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. T-tests and chi-squares were performed to ensure there were no significant differences between groups on specific demographic or relevant prognostic variables (sport, sex, and concussion history). T-tests were employed to identify significant differences between groups on ocular test scores. Then clinical and statistical cutoffs for all three tests were determined. Based off of these cutoffs sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios were determined for each assessment. Furthermore, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to help determine the diagnostic accuracy of these assessments. The alpha level was set at p < .05 and the SPSS for Windows, Version 21.0, statistical program (IBM, Inc., Armonk, NY) was used for all data analysis. Significant differences were found between groups for all three ocular assessments. NPC demonstrated a statistical cutoff of 5.5 cm, which provided a sensitivity of 79% and specificity of 76% and an AUC of 0.827. For the KDT, a statistical cutoff time of 49.5s demonstrated a sensitivity of 58% and specificity of 72% with an AUC of 0.658. Lastly, for stereoacuity a statistical cutoff point of 28.50 arc sec was found which produced a sensitivity of 65% and specificity of 54% with a maximum AUC of 0.706. All three tests demonstrated their potential to positively contribute to the diagnosis of a concussion. / Kinesiology

Through research grounded in participant observation among online journalists in Jordan, this project contributes to the investigation of longstanding problems in social theory by asking how the relationship between mass communication and politics is changing in the post-internet age. Or perhaps more skeptically, it asks: Is this relationship changing, or do we merely assume that it must be? Focusing on the concept of censorship, where media and politics meet most forcefully, I investigate the intersections of new technologies, journalistic practices, and state control. My dissertation examines how journalists in Jordan negotiate state censorship and understand their own processes of self-censorship as they mediate modernity and political change in a country where political truths are to a great degree contrived and manipulated. My research explores the effects of censorship on digital news transmission – and the effects of digital transmission on censorship – as journalists create knowledge in an evolving media environment. Particularly in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring, new technologies have enabled a cadre of Jordanian journalists and media activists willing to test boundaries, and permitted an explosive media pluralism in the kingdom. In response to this more distributed, smaller-scale media production, the Jordanian state seems to be changing its tactics. Where it earlier relied on newspaper editors to act as gatekeepers, it now relies on cultivating self-censorship in the individual. My research shows that as media production and consumption become more distributed, so must state censorship. No longer centrally negotiated between government and media institutions, it is communicated to journalists through diffuse control, prosecutions of their peers, changing regulatory schema, and professional codes that promote "responsibility" and "balance" on the part of the individual. Nevertheless, there are still avenues of resistance available to journalists at both independent online news outlets and larger state-aligned outlets. I argue that the Jordanian regime disciplines its media to act as a form of window-dressing, in which it performs certain democratic ideals while ceding no power to its citizens and institutions of civil society. Through this strategy, aimed in part toward its own people but primarily at its all-important foreign investors and donors, the state adds a veneer of freedom to its autocratic foundation. / Anthropology

Articular cartilage has limited intrinsic healing capacity due to its dense and avascular structure. Clinical approaches have been developed to address the limitations associated with the poor ability of articular cartilage to regenerate. Current clinically approved techniques, however, can result in repair tissue that lacks appropriate hyaline cartilage biochemical and biomechanical properties, which lead to uncertain long-term clinical outcomes. Using tissue engineering strategies and a range of scaffolding materials, cell types, growth factors, culture conditions, and culture times, engineered tissues have been produced with compositional and biomechanical properties that approximate that of native tissue. In these studies, a considerable number of samples are typically sacrificed to evaluate compositional and mechanical properties, such as the amount of deposited collagen and sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) in the constructs. The number of sacrificed samples, as well as the amount of time and resources spent to evaluate the sacrificed samples using current gold standards, motivates an alternative method for evaluation of compositional properties. Vibrational spectroscopy, including infrared, has been considered as an alternative technique for assessment of tissues over the last 15-20 years. Infrared spectroscopy is based on absorbance of infrared light by tissue functional groups at specific vibrational frequencies, and thus, no external contrast is required. Vibrational spectroscopy is typically performed in two frequency regions, the mid infrared region (750-4000 cm-1), where penetration depth is limited to approximately 10 microns, and the near infrared (NIR) region (4000-12000 cm-1). In the NIR region, penetration of light is on the order of millimeters or centimeters, which makes it ideal for obtaining data through the full depth of engineered constructs. Here we employ NIR spectroscopy to nondestructively monitor the development of tissue-engineered constructs over culture period. / Bioengineering

Bergman showed that systems of projections of algebras in a variety will satisfy a certain property if the variety has a near-unanimity term. The converse of this theorem was left open. This paper investigates this open question, and shows that in a locally finite variety, Bergman's Condition implies congruence modularity. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

This thesis examines the practice of hunting within the Neolithic community of Çatalhöyük by focusing on its stone projectile points. Wild faunal remains indicate that hunting remained in practice, even though domesticated animals and plants comprised the staple diet of the Neolithic people of Çatalhöyük. Hunting and the “wild” are venerated in the site's iconography (wall paintings, wild bull skull mural installations, zoomorphic figurines), while obsidian projectile points—the dominant hunting weapons— were carefully executed artifacts that seem to have served more than one purpose. In studying the projectile points I consider the role of hunting at Çatalhöyük and its significance in shaping personal and communal identities. By employing an attribute analysis I examined the projectiles’ deposition in varied contexts (caches, burials, building infills, middens etc). Differences in use-wear traces as well as in technological and morphological traits suggest that the Çatalhöyük point assemblage consists of two groups that were used and treated in very distinct ways. The first group comprises projectile weapons that were used in hunting, exhibiting clear signs of actual use; whereas the second group consists of bifaces that were in all likelihood reserved for ceremonial purposes given their pristine condition and special deposition. This thesis argues that hunting was not merely an alternate subsistence strategy but an arena where symbolic expression and social identities could be performed and negotiated. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis researches the role of hunting in one of the earliest agricultural societies with livestock, Çatalhöyük in Turkey (7th-6th millennium cal BCE). For this purpose I studied the stone tips of projectile weapons, i.e. arrows and spears. The results of this work show that apart from the actual hunting weapons, the people of Çatalhöyük also had weapons reserved for ceremonial purposes. Indeed other evidence also shows that hunting and the “wild” was revered at the site: wall paintings, wall decorations with wild animal skulls, large feasting events, and animal figurines. In this thesis I argue that hunting was not only a strategy for the farmers of Çatalhöyük to acquire extra food resources but it also played a significant role in their symbolic and religious life, which is why this tradition persisted even after the domestication of animals.

The purpose of this research was to explore traffic event severity relationships, evaluate the potentiality of a hazardous event, and develop a framework of observable event factors. Data was collected from three regions in Virginia, each assumed to exemplify a unique driving environment due to amount of traffic and infrastructure characteristics. In combination, a broad spectrum of site, traffic, and driver performance variables were accounted for. Observational techniques of surveillance, incident reporting, and inventorying were used to collect site, traffic, and driver data. This effort resulted in 368 observed traffic events that were evenly distributed among the three regions that represented metropolitan, mid-sized city, and town/rural driving environments. The 368 events were evaluated for severity and contributing variables where 1% of the events were non-injury crashes, 10% were serious, near-crashes, 24% were near-crashes, and the remaining 65% were serious errors with a hazard present. Exploratory analyses were performed to understand the general relationship between event severity levels. Binary logistic regression analyses (α = 0.05) were performed to further scope predictor variables to identify traffic event characteristics with respect to severity level, maneuver type, and conflict type. The results were that 69 of 162 observed predictor variables were valuable in characterizing traffic events based on severity. It was found that variables could be grouped to create event severity signatures for crashes, serious near-crashes, and near-crashes. Based on these signatures, it was found that there is a trend between severity levels that included a propensity for problems with straight path maneuvers, lateral and longitudinal vehicle control, and information density within the driving environment as contributing to driver error and hence crashes and near-crashes. There were also differences between the severity levels. These differences were evident in the degree of control the driver appeared to have of the vehicle, type of control regulating the driving environment, and type of road users present in the driving environment. Modifications to roadway evaluative techniques would increase awareness of additional variables that impact drivers to make more informed decisions for roadway enhancements. / Ph. D.

Large-scale optoelectronic integration is limited by the lack of efficient light sources and broadband photodetectors, which could be integrated with the silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Persistent efforts continue to achieve efficient light emission as well as broadband photodetection from silicon in extending the silicon technology into fully integrated optoelectronic circuits. Recent breakthroughs, including the demonstration of high-speed optical modulators, photodetectors, and waveguides in silicon, have brought the concept of transition from electrical to optical interconnects closer to realization. The on-chip light sources based on silicon are still a key challenge due to the indirect bandgap of silicon that impedes coherent light sources. To overcome this issue, we have studied, fabricated, and characterized nanostructures including single semiconductor epilayers, multiple quantum wells, and graphene-semiconductor heterostructures to develop coherent light sources and photodetectors in silicon. To develop coherent light sources, we reported the demonstration of room-temperature lasing at the technologically crucial 1.5 m wavelength range from Er-doped GaN epilayers and Er-doped GaN multiple-quantum wells grown on silicon and sapphire. The realization of room-temperature lasing at the minimum loss window of optical fiber and in the eye-safe wavelength region of 1.5 m is highly sought-after for use in many applications in various fields including defense, industrial processing, communication, medicine, spectroscopy and imaging. The results laid the foundation for achieving hybrid GaN-Si lasers providing a new pathway towards full photonic integration for silicon optoelectronics. Silicon photodiodes contribute a large portion in the photodetector market. However, silicon photodetectors are sensitive in the UV to near infrared region. Photodetection in the mid-infrared is based on thermal radiation detectors, narrow bandgap materials (InGaAs, HgCdTe) semiconductors, photo-ionization of shallow impurities in semiconductors (Si:As, Ge:Ga), and quantum well structures. Such technology requires complicated fabrication processes or cryogenic operation, resulting in manufacturing costs and severe integration issues. To develop broadband photodetectors, we focus on graphene photodetectors on silicon. Graphene generates photocarriers by absorbing photons in a broadband spectrum from the deep-ultraviolet to the terahertz region. Graphene can be realized as the next generation broadband photodetection material, especially in the infrared to terahertz region. Here, we have demonstrated high-performance hybrid photodetectors operating from the deep-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared region with high sensitivity and ultrafast response by coupling graphene with a p-type semiconductor photosensitizer, nitrogen-doped Ta2O5 thin film. / Doctor of Philosophy / According to Moor's law, the number of transistors per die area doubles every 18 months with no increase in power consumption, which means that digital devices including smart phones and computers will become significantly faster and more energy-efficient than those of the previous generation. Photons (light) travel with the highest speed permitted by the known law of physics. The idea of optical interconnects, using photons instead of electrons, enables faster data transfer. Two important elements of the integrated circuits (ICs) based on photons are the coherent light source (laser) and the photodetector. We investigated the optical properties of erbium doped gallium nitride epilayers and multiple quantum wells grown on silicon and sapphire and demonstrated lasing from these materials at 1.5 µm. We also fabricated and characterized graphene photodetectors that can detect the light from the deep ultraviolet to the mid-infrared region. The results provided a new pathway towards full photonic integration for silicon optoelectronics. Besides, they are the heart of many important applications ranging from gas sensing, aerospace sensors and systems, thermal imaging, biomedical imaging, infrared spectroscopy, and lidar-to-optical telecommunications.

Evaluation of the flow field imparted by a marine vehicle reveals the underlying efficiency and performance. However, the relationship between precise design features and their impact on the flow field is not well characterized. The goal of this work is first, to investigate the thermally-stratified near field of a self-propelled marine vehicle to identify the significance of propulsion and hull-form design decisions, and second, to develop a functional mapping between an arbitrary vehicle design and its associated flow field to accelerate the design analysis process. The unsteady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved to compute near-field wake profiles, showing good agreement to experimental data and providing a balance between simulation fidelity and numerical cost, given the database of cases considered. Machine learning through convolutional networks is employed to discover the relationship between vehicle geometries and their associated flow fields with two distinct deep-learning networks. The first network directly maps explicitly-specified geometric design parameters to their corresponding flow fields. The second network considers the vehicle geometries themselves as tensors of geometric volume fractions to implicitly-learn the underlying parameter space. Once trained, both networks effectively generate realistic flow fields, accelerating the design analysis from a process that takes days to one that takes a fraction of a second. The implicit-parameter network successfully learns the underlying parameter space for geometries within the scope of the training data, showing comparable performance to the explicit-parameter network. With additions to the size and variability of the training database, this network has the potential to abstractly generalize the design space for arbitrary geometric inputs, even those beyond the scope of the training data. / Doctor of Philosophy / Evaluation of the flow field of a marine vehicle reveals the underlying performance, however, the exact relationship between design features and their impact on the flow field is not well established. The goal of this work is first, to investigate the flow surrounding a self–propelled marine vehicle to identify the significance of various design decisions, and second, to develop a functional relationship between an arbitrary vehicle design and its flow field, thereby accelerating the design analysis process. Near–field wake profiles are computed through simulation, showing good agreement to experimental data. Machine learning is employed to discover the relationship between vehicle geometries and their associated flow fields with two distinct approaches. The first approach directly maps explicitly–specified geometric design parameters to their corresponding flow fields. The second approach considers the vehicle geometries themselves to implicitly–learn the underlying relationships. Once trained, both approaches generate a realistic flow field corresponding to a user–provided vehicle geometry, accelerating the design analysis from a multi–day process to one that takes a fraction of a second. The implicit–parameter approach successfully learns from the underlying geometric features, showing comparable performance to the explicit–parameter approach. With a larger and more–diverse training database, this network has the potential to abstractly learn the design space relationships for arbitrary marine vehicle geometries, even those beyond the scope of the training database.

Near-natural river corridors (NNRs) provide crucial habitat for a host of biota and support the survival of people and nature worldwide at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Furthermore, NNRs represent fundamental references for river conservation, management, and restration, offering the opportunity to investigate processes under minimal anthropic disturbances. However, in the Anthropocene large near-natural rivers are rare gems in Europe an worldwide, and knowledge of their dynamics and ecosystem services are often scarcedue to a lack of hydromorphological and ecological data, monitoring, and baseline studies. Despite the scarcity and fragmentation of pertinent studies, many national and international guidelines and directives point to NNRs as reference systems for conservation, management, and restoration targets. In this framework, this Ph.D. thesis investigates the value of NNRs in the Anthropocene with an interdisciplinary approach, bridging fluvial geomorphology and environmental planning disciplines to support freshwater management and conservation in international cooperation for development. The first part of the research activity is rooted in fluvial geomorphology and explores the spatiotemporal trajectories of NNRs adopting several remote sensing products, cloud computing, and geomatic. The recent morphological trajectory of the near-natural Vjosa River (GR/AL) is presented as the response of the river to multidecadal climatic oscillations and more recent localized anthropic pressures, warning about the importance of considering and quantifying the geomorphic sensitivity of river systems in management and conservation. Thus, we focused on framing remote sensing-based procedures for characterizing active river channel spatiotemporal dynamics in the Mediterranean biogeoclimatic region. The second part of the research activity deals with the need to improve riverscape science and landscape management dialogue and the valuation of river ecosystem services. Focusing on inland waters ecosystem services, we integrate a socio-cultural approach with spatial analysis for cultural ecosystem services supply assessment in selected Albanian Protected freshwater ecosystems, outlining the relevant role of ecotones in providing cultural ecosystem services and the multifacet value of such dynamic zones. The third part of the research activity strongly links fluvial geomorphology and environmental management and conservation. It proposes the reconstruction of in-channel vegetation age and related ecosystem services spatiotemporal trajectories in targeted reaches of the Vjosa (GR/AL) and Tagliamento (IT) NNRs, integrating cloud computing, multispectral images, and fieldwork data. Developed baseline knowledge and tools can support the study, management, and conservation of highly dynamic river corridors in Mediterranean temperate climates, and the proposed integrated and multidisciplinary set of approaches is promising to cope with data scarcity that often characterizes the few remaining near-natural rivers in the world.