Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.), University of Dayton, 2020, Computer Science

Text-to-image is a process of generating an image from the input text. It has a variety of applications in art generation, computer-aided design, and photo-editing. In this thesis, we propose a new framework that leverages mask anchor points to incorporate two major steps in the image synthesis. In the first step, the mask image is generated from the input text and the mask dataset. In the second step, the mask image is fed into the state-of-the-art mask-to-image generator. Note that the mask image captures the semantic information and the location relationship via the anchor points. We develop a user-friendly interface that helps parse the input text into the meaningful semantic objects. However, to synthesize an appealing image from the text, image aesthetics criteria should be considered. Therefore, we further improve our proposed framework by incorporating the aesthetic assessment from photography composition rules. To this end, we randomize a set of mask maps from the input text via the anchor point-based mask map generator, and then we compute and rank the image aesthetics score for all generated mask maps following two composition rules, namely, the rule of thirds along with the rule of formal balance. In the next stage, we feed the subset of the mask maps, which are the highest, lowest, and the average aesthetic scores, into the state-of-the-art mask-to-image generator via image generator. The photorealistic images are further re-ranked to obtain the synthesized image with the highest aesthetic score. Thus, to overcome the state-of-the-arts generated images' problems such as the un-naturality, the ambiguity, and the distortion, we propose a new framework. Our framework maintains the clarity of the entities' shape, the details of the entity edges, and the proper layout no matter how complex the input text is and how many entities and spatial relations in the text. Our contribution is converting the input text to an appropriate constructed mask map or to a set (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Tam Nguyen (Advisor) Subjects: Computer Science

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, French, Italian, and Classical Studies

This thesis, written in English, is a comparative analysis of Walter Benjamin's and Annie Ernaux's readings of 'A la recherche du temps perdu' by Marcel Proust. While Benjamin emphasizes Proust's storytelling capabilities and commends Proust for his descriptions of involuntary memory, Ernaux works more critically to reimagine a writing process removed of spontaneous experience. To develop this point, we apply Benjamin's definitions of `storyteller' and `experience'; to Ernaux's Les Annees (2008), an autobiography written almost entirely without the first-person singular pronoun. Using Benjamin's terminology, we question the relationship between writing and collectivity, not only asking `how is Les Annees a collective autobiography,' but also `how can one write collectively?' We conclude by unraveling the mechanics of the `collective image' at work in Les Annees: Ernaux's collective image does not speak for all people, nor does it claim to be an objective rendition of the past; rather, writing such an image is an ethical exercise, a social engagement with one's community and one's selves.

Committee: Audrey Wasser Dr. (Advisor); Elisabeth Hodges Dr. (Committee Member); Jonathan Strauss Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Comparative Literature; Literature; Modern Language; Modern Literature; Technology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Popular Culture

Thinspiration images, meant to inspire weight-loss, proliferate online through platforms that encourage the circulation of user-generated content. Despite numerous alarmist critiques in mass media about thinspiration and various academic studies investigating 'pro-anorexia' sites, surprisingly little attention has been given to the processes of creation and the symbolic potential of thinspiration. This thesis analyzes the formal hybridity of thinspiration, and its use as an expressive medium. The particularities of thinspiration (including its visual characteristics, creative processes, and exhibition) may be considered carefully constructed instances of self-representation, hinging on the expression of beliefs regarding the mind and body. While these beliefs are deeply entrenched in popular body management discourse, they also tend to rely on traditional dualist ideologies. Rather than simply emphasizing slenderness or reiterating standard assumptions about beauty, thinspiration often evokes pain and sadness, and employs truisms about the transcendence of flesh and rebellion against social constraints. By harnessing individualist discourse and the values of mind/body dualism, thinspiration becomes a space in which people struggling with disordered eating and body image issues may cast themselves as active agents—contrary to images of eating disorders proffered by popular and medical discourse.

Committee: Marilyn Motz (Advisor); Rebecca Kinney (Committee Member); Jeremy Wallach (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Art Criticism; Communication; Folklore; Gender Studies; Health; Multimedia Communications; Social Research; Web Studies; Womens Studies

Master of Computing and Information Systems, Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems

The field of coding education is rapidly evolving, with emerging technologies playing a pivotal role in transforming traditional learning methodologies. This thesis introduces Dr. Lego, an innovative framework designed to revolutionize the assessment and understanding of block-based coding through the integration of sophisticated deep learning models. Dr. Lego combines cutting-edge technologies such as MobileNetV3 (Howard, 2019), for visual recognition and BERT (Devlin et al., 2018), and XLNet (Yang et al., 2019) for natural language processing to offer a comprehensive approach to evaluating coding proficiency. The research methodology involves the meticulous curation of a diverse dataset comprising projects from the LEGO SPIKE app (LEGO Education, 2022), ensuring that the models are subjected to a broad range of coding scenarios. Leveraging the dynamic educational environment provided by the LEGO SPIKE app (LEGO Education, 2022), Dr. Lego empowers users to design and implement various coding projects, fostering hands-on learning experiences. This thesis delves into methodologies aimed at enhancing coding education by exploring model integration, data generation, and fine-tuning of pre-trained models. Dr. Lego not only evaluates coding proficiency but also provides cohesive and insightful feedback, enhancing the learning experience for users. The adaptability of the framework highlights its potential to shape the future of coding education, paving the way for a new era of interactive and engaging learning experiences.

Committee: Abdu Arslanyilmaz PhD (Advisor); Feng Yu PhD (Committee Member); Carrie Jackson EdD, BCBA (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Engineering; Information Systems; Robotics; Teaching

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Art History

In this project, we want to reinterpret Max Ernst's collage novel, Une Semaine de Bonte (A Week of Kindness, 1934). Traditionally, this work of art has been studied through a psychoanalytic or formal frame. However, Ernst's work is not just inspired or inspired by traumatic childhood experiences. His work is an observation/critique of a society in chaotic change. Ernst was a voracious artist, who sought knowledge in all aspects of life, he studied philosophy, art history, history, literature, psychology. Abnormal psychology, and psychiatry, as well as theology. These forms of knowledge gave him a deep well from where to draw references, referents, and inspiration. In our world, meaning is mediated through language, visual culture, and culture, which create a referent, framing our world view. Furthermore, this framed world view is also mediated by the observers' experiences in their world. Thus, our interpretation is framed, influenced, and informed through Tony Fry's concept of `human design' and Jean Baudrillard's concept of simulacrum. Thus, trying to go beyond the iconology, iconography, materials; and we ask: Why does Ernst create such images? Why call this a novel when there is a limited narrative? What are Ernst's concerns when creating these images? We want to demonstrate that Ernst's novel is still significant because the novel still asks us the same questions as to when it was constructed. we, still, want to answer the same questions Ernst is asking through this novel. We, still, need to find beauty within the brutality of life. Keywords: Collage, Simulacrum, Image as Text, Language Games, Writing as plastic material, displacement of visual and verbal, Graphic novel, simulation.

Committee: Kristopher Holland Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Kate Bonansinga M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, History of Art

This dissertation outlines the history of the symbiosis between painting and Du Fu's poetry from the poet's time to the twentieth century. Examining the combination of the two arts between 1912 and 1966 will show artists' various ways of incorporating Du Fu's poems in their paintings. It suggests that a shift of spectatorship from private circles of the educated elite to the common people and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took place around 1949, which fundamentally changed the functions of traditionalist art from private communication to service to the masses and the country. In the People's Republic of China (PRC, 1949 onwards) the establishment of the Du Fu Memorial Museum in 1955 marked an important moment in the processes of politicizing and institutionalizing the symbiosis of painting and Du Fu's poetry. The museum has directed and controlled the production, exhibition, and circulation of paintings after Du Fu's poems based on constantly changing political realities. In this context, I argue in this dissertation that artists used their agency and incorporated Du Fu's poetry in their paintings in ingenious ways. They transformed their paintings, with Du Fu's texts, into versatile spaces, where on the surface they might appear satisfactory to the censors, but at other levels suggested alternative meanings available to elite viewers.

Committee: Julia F. Andrews (Advisor); Kirk A. Denton (Committee Member); Namiko Kunimoto (Committee Member) Subjects: Art History

Master of Arts in Rhetoric and Writing​, University of Findlay, 2016, English

Applying rhetorical theories to non-traditional forms of text is important and necessary in the world of composition to further understand and research the many different types of rhetoric. QSL postcards from the 1920s and `30s are a perfect example of a sub-genre of composition worthy of study because of the semiotics, discourse, and community that are represented on them in text and in image. This research, consisting of written text and a web project, will focus on a set of QSL cards collected by one ham radio operator during the 1920s and `30s and will demonstrate the importance of rhetorical and semiotic study of multi-modal text.

Committee: Courtney Bates Dr. (Committee Chair); Christine Denecker Dr. (Committee Member); Erin Laverick Dr. (Committee Member); Christine Tulley Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Composition; Cultural Anthropology; Mass Communications; Multimedia Communications; Rhetoric; Technical Communication

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2016, Electrical Engineering

Security of information transfer has a higher priority in this era of communication, and hence the importance of an acousto-optic (A-O) Bragg cell under feedback for generating chaotic carriers. In this research, the aperture area (A) of the photodetector (PD) is assumed to vary with time under uniform plane wave incidence which may arise in a hybrid A-O Bragg cell under first order feedback (HAOF) due to PD efficiency, intensity of the incident light, and disturbances in the medium between exit plane of the A-O Bragg cell and the PD. Bifurcation maps over varying A of a PD show a wide range of chaotic passbands with streaking transitional stopbands. A chaotic passband with sufficient signal dynamic range and stability with specific values of key parameters including input bias α0, feedback gain β, time delay TD, and the effective aperture cross section area A is chosen for the transmission of message signals. Initial simulations in the ideal scenario for the transmission of square and falling sawtooth waveforms at 10 KHz with A equal to 1, along with quiescent values of feedback gain set at 3 and 4 reveals superior encryption at higher orders of β. Despite noisy recoveries at higher β, turns out that square waves can be perfectly reconstructed by thresholding techniques which would be an added advantage for digital transmission. If the intensity of the light beam is increased, the system shows wider chaotic passbands suitable for accommodating larger amplitudes of message signals. For an aperture area varying linearly with time, an optimal passband (which is both wide and stable) is chosen for the transmission of data using text messages and gray and color images as input. For the study of the level of mismatch between the message and the recovered signals (to assess the robustness of the encryption) correlation plots are generated; it is found that the simulated results for an RGB image of size 512 X 512 indicate a mismatch less than 0.083%. Parameter tolerance (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Monish Chatterjee Dr. (Advisor); Partha Banerjee Dr. (Committee Member); Guru Subramanyam Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Electrical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, Spanish and Portuguese

This doctoral thesis talks about voice in the testimonial pieces entitled Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom: tales of drugs, mules and gunmen and La Sierra. In the context of this work of reflection, I consider voice in a broad sense, to include body gestures in their performance and prosody. These contemporary literary practices are about historical processes that have to do with the dynamics of the illegal drug trade and the armed conflict. In that sense, what is presented in the next pages is an interaction between the voice with its gestural dimension and the social contexts. In order to cope with this relation in a group of testimonials in written and in audio-visual form, I make use of the Sanskrit theory of dhvani, that allows me to listen through the eyes, the suggestive clothing that dresses the voices. In doing so, in this thesis I explore the stories told by The Mule Driver, Scuzzball, Hanged Man, Sharon, The Nun, The Puppet, Edison, Cielo and Jesus, proposing that through the epithelium of suggestion with which the voices are covered, is possible to hear and see, the emergence of a contemporary archetype of a warrior. All these reflections are bound together to establish a historical trial in which the character's ventriloquist voices constitute precocious testimonies, in other words, they shoot ahead through the gestural dimension, some of the effects that the hegemonic orders are having over societies. In this historical trial, that takes place in the courtroom proper to the studied literary practices, the evidences, consequently, represent a challenge to the legal language. As an ultimate goal, the explorations of these thesis intent to get closer to the force and intensity of the manifested experiences expressed by the voices in the testimonies, that by means of psychoanalytic reasoning, highlight the impossibility of being symbolized, therefore, the image of the warrior is just a metaphorical vehicle that tries to sight the real.

Committee: Ileana Rodriguez Humanities Distinguished Professor (Advisor); Laura Podalsky PhD (Committee Member); Ignacio Corona PhD (Committee Member); James Moore III PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Latin American Literature; Law; Literature

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2011, English (Arts and Sciences)

Absence of the rhetorical feminine from our Western tradition is an ideological, theoretical problem whose consequences manifest in material, practical ways that affect how we teach writing. This dissertation, the first hybrid manuscript of its kind at Ohio University, examines relationships between mythos, logos, and the eikon (icon) in light of ancient rhetorics that depict powerful feminine entities and woman rhetors engaging in public, rhetorical performativity. They suggest our rhetorical origins may be as visual as textual. But the feminine authority ancient rhetorics convey is diminished, masculinized, and resignified in the West through the social construction of masculinized L/logos. As a result, once powerful feminine rhetorics disappear from our rhetorical tradition. I question the rhetorical feminine's absence in light of images that show woman rhetors engaging in deliberative, epideictic, and forensic performativity long before Aristotle taxonomizes these terms. I argue that rhetorical and religious authorities historically entwine through masculinized L/logos and the institutionalization of what I call patri-theogony--a blend of sacred and secular patriarchal ideology that custom and laws enforce which coincides with the supposed mythos-to-logos cultural shift--that supports the inception of a masculinized rhetoric. Lasting academic consequences result: feminine authority is rendered invisible, affecting our discipline, our language, and our entire social order. For example, feminization of composition follows from masculinization of rhetoric in the structure of masculinized L/logos. Rhetorical inequity between women and men places what Robert Connors calls “feminized” writing faculty in positions of responsibility without authority. In these positions, feminized writing faculty enact what I call the trope of the schoolmarm: disempowered authority figures, “mythologized mother-teachers” separated from once powerful rhetorical feminine roots, they prac (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Jennie Nelson PhD (Committee Chair); Jennie Klein PhD (Committee Member); Albert Rouzie PhD (Committee Member); Mara Holt PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Rhetoric