MA, Kent State University, 2018, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Sociology and Criminology

Sociologists have been unable to determine whether online communication supports the development of communities, or perhaps ironically, encourages increased isolation. The important question arises: can solidarity be established and maintained electronically (i.e., online). To address this question, I conducted an experiment that utilizes Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) methods to determine whether individuals can experience interpersonal synchronization and solidarity while interacting through different mediums. Results from this study show that face-to-face interaction produces greater feelings of solidarity than audio-only and audio/video forms of mediated communication, that audio/video produces less solidarity than audio-only interaction, and that the impact of communication medium on solidarity grows stronger over time. Further research is needed to fully understand the problems of solidarity in modern society, including the examination of other solidarity-producing forms of distance media.

Committee: Will Kalkhoff (Advisor) Subjects: Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Applied Mathematics

Image segmentation and registration play active roles in machine vision and medical image analysis of historical data. Individually, the two has seen important research contributions, and the joint treatment of the two problems has become an active area of research. In this thesis we will explore the joint problem of segmenting and registering a template image given a reference image. We formulate the joint problem through an energy functional that integrates two well studied approaches in segmentation and registration: Geodesic Active Contours and nonlinear elastic registration. In the registration regime, the domain is modeled as a St. Venant-Kirchhoff material. We minimize the potential energy of this elastic system using variational methods, and derive an evolution equation which we solve using implicit-explicit integration methods. The numerical discretization of the problem allows us to take advantage of the Fast Fourier Transform. In the segmentation regime, we will adopt an active contours based energy with a weighted total variation penalty on the segmenting front. This particular choice allows for fast solution using the dual formulation of the total variation. The weight of the total variation penalty is an edge stopping function which depends on the deforming template. This allows the segmenting front to accurately track spontaneous changes in the shape of objects embedded in the template image as it deforms.

Committee: Weihong Guo (Committee Chair); Daniela Calvetti (Committee Member); Julia Dobrotsoskya (Committee Member); Erkki Somersalo (Committee Member); Michael Lewicki (Committee Member) Subjects: Applied Mathematics; Biomedical Engineering

MS, University of Cincinnati, 2003, Arts and Sciences : Physics

The principle goal of the present research is to understand the process of crystal dendrite growth. The main interest is to map the concentration and the temperature profile in the environment surrounding a crystal that is growing in the melt, using algorithms developed in MATLAB. Using optical interferometric techniques, it is clear that during the growth of dendrite crystals, a concentration gradient in the solution drives molecules toward the crystal. This results in the release of heat that is fed back into the temperature field of the melt. Solidification proceeds by driving the liquid/solid interface through a temperature gradient, at a specific velocity. Recent experimental advances have made it possible to map the index of refraction of the solution in the vicinity of the growing crystal through Fourier Interferometric techniques. Of particular interest are the calculations of the temperature dependence on the index of refraction. These calculations make the mapping of a field surrounding the crystal possible using a Fast Fourier Transform Technique.

Committee: DR. HENRY FENICHEL (Advisor) Subjects: Physics, General