Digital Commons Network^™

Network Dynamics Of Visual Naming, Christopher R. Conner

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recognition and naming of objects and actions are fundamental components of language. They involve several different systems working in coordination to accomplish a complex behavior. During visual naming, sensory and semantic processing are carried out by dedicated cortical substrates in the temporal and occipital lobes, while response selection and articulatory planning are handled by prefrontal cortex. Despite decades of research using lesion analysis, functional MRI and electro-encephalography, the precise dynamics involved remain unknown due to the inadequate spatio-temporal resolution of these methodologies. Of particular interest is the organization of semantic knowledge and the degree of serial and parallel organization of …

Rnn Language Model With Word Clustering And Class-Based Output Layer, Yongzhe Shi, Wei-Qiang Zhang, Jia Liu, Michael T. Johnson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The recurrent neural network language model (RNNLM) has shown significant promise for statistical language modeling. In this work, a new class-based output layer method is introduced to further improve the RNNLM. In this method, word class information is incorporated into the output layer by utilizing the Brown clustering algorithm to estimate a class-based language model. Experimental results show that the new output layer with word clustering not only improves the convergence obviously but also reduces the perplexity and word error rate in large vocabulary continuous speech recognition.

Complementarities Of Probabilistic And Evidence Approaches: An Uncertainty Assessment For Selection Of Composite Material, Stella B. Bondi, Resit Unal, Patrick T. Hester, Trina M. Chytka

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A complimentary probabilistic and evidence theory approach is utilized to enhance uncertainty assessments in the area of critical safety characteristics for conceptual design. This research provides additional exploration into the failure modes necessary to utilize Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) and various composites to their fullest potential and to minimize uncertainty by comparing probability and evidence theories. This combined approach has been applied to a selection of composite material that could provide uncertainty assessment design for a space transportation system. Uncertainty estimates presented are bounded by belief and plausibility functions. The results may provide additional information to the decision makers in …

Design And Realization Of A Hybrid Intelligent Controller For A Twin Rotor Mimo System, Jih-Gau Juang, Kai-Ti Tu

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

An intelligent control scheme using a fuzzy switching mechanism, grey prediction and genetic algorithm (GA) is applied to a coupled nonlinear system, called a twin rotor multi-input multi-output system (TRMS). In real-time control, a Xilinx Spartan II SP200 FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) is employed to construct a hardware-in-the-loop system through writing VHDL on this FPGA. The objective is to stabilize the TRMS in significant cross-coupled conditions, and to experiment with setpoint control and trajectory tracking. The proposed scheme improves the performance of the PID controller. Control gains and parameters of the fuzzy switching mechanism are obtained by GA. Simulation …

An Investigation Of Fast And Frugal Heuristics For New Product Project Selection, Fatima Mohammed Albar

Dissertations and Theses

In the early stages of new product development, project selection is dominantly based on managerial intuition, rather than on analytic approaches. As much as 90% of all product ideas are rejected before they are formally assessed. However, to date, little is known about the product screening heuristics and screening criteria managers use: it has been suggested that their decision process resembles the "fast and frugal" heuristics identified in recent psychological research, but no empirical research exists. A major part of the product innovation pipeline is thus poorly understood.

This research contributes to closing this gap. It uses cognitive task analysis …

Automatic Text Analysis Using Drupal, Herman Chai

Computer Engineering

Natural language processing (NLP) is a field of computer science that is concerned with the interpretation of human language by computers. NLP has a multitude of different applications in the fields of computer science, artificial intelligence, and linguistics. The Automatic Text Analysis Using Drupal project is intended to increase the availability of NLP tools that can be easily used by the general public. By integrating a front-end content management system like Drupal with different back-end NLP applications, users can receive automatic analysis of their text without knowledge of the system.

Understanding Common Perceptions From Online Social Media, Derek Doran, Swapna S. Gokhale, Aldo Dagnino

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Modern society habitually uses online social media services to publicly share observations, thoughts, opinions, and beliefs at any time and from any location. These geotagged social media posts may provide aggregate insights into people's perceptions on a bad range of topics across a given geographical area beyond what is currently possible through services such as Yelp and Foursquare. This paper develops probabilistic language models to investigate whether collective, topic-based perceptions within a geographical area can be extracted from the content of geotagged Twitter posts. The capability of the methodology is illustrated using tweets from three areas of different sizes. An …

Distributed Multichannel Speech Enhancement Based On Perceptually-Motivated Bayesian Estimators Of The Spectral Amplitude, Marek B. Trawicki, Michael T. Johnson

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

In this study, the authors propose multichannel weighted Euclidean (WE) and weighted cosh (WCOSH) cost function estimators for speech enhancement in the distributed microphone scenario. The goal of the work is to illustrate the advantages of utilising additional microphones and modified cost functions for improving signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and segmental SNR (SSNR) along with log-likelihood ratio (LLR) and perceptual evaluation of speech quality (PESQ) objective metrics over the corresponding single-channel baseline estimators. As with their single-channel counterparts, the perceptually-motivated multichannel WE and WCOSH estimators are functions of a weighting law parameter, which influences attention of the noisy spectral amplitude through …

Research On Mppt Methods For Photovoltaic System Based On Microgrid, Jingchu Ji

Theses

This thesis introduces some basic concepts about a microgrid. Then it discusses the structure of photovoltaic system (PVS) which contains a solar panel and simplified PV models. Next, it discusses and compares different methods for Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) with PVS. It presents three types of DC-DC converters -- Buck, Boost and Buck-Boost converter. This work proposes to apply a DC-DC converter of Buck-Boost type to make PVS controllable because this type of converter has the largest range for operational region so that it can get the best result on MPPT. Finally, this thesis presents a kind of new …

Individual Articulator's Contribution To Phoneme Production, Jun Wang, Jordan R. Green, Ashok Samal

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Speech sounds are the result of coordinated movements of individual articulators. Understanding each articulator’s role in speech is fundamental not only for understanding how speech is produced, but also for optimizing speech assessments and treatments. In this paper, we studied the individual contributions of six articulators, tongue tip, tongue blade, tongue body front, tongue body back, upper lip, and lower lip to phoneme classification. A total of 3,838 vowel and consonant production samples were collected from eleven native English speakers. The results of speech movement classification using a support vector machine indicated that the tongue encoded significantly more information than …

The Role Of String Similarity Metrics In Ontology Alignment, Michelle Cheatham, Pascal Hitzler

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Tim Berners-Lee originally envisioned a much different world wide web than the one we have today - one that computers as well as humans could search for the information they need [3]. There are currently a wide variety of research efforts towards achieving this goal, one of which is ontology alignment.

Designing Asynchronous Online Discussion Environments: Recent Progress And Possible Future Directions, Fei Gao, Tianyi Zhang, Teresa Franklin

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

Asynchronous online discussion environments are important platforms to support learning. Research suggests, however, threaded forums, one of the most popular asynchronous discussion environments, do not often foster productive online discussions naturally. This paper explores how certain properties of threaded forums have affected or constrained the quality of discussions, and argues that developing alternative discussion environments is highly needed to offer better support for asynchronous online communication. Using the Productive Discussion Model developed by Gao, Wang & Sun (2009), we analyzed current work on four types of asynchronous discussion environments that have been developed and researched: constrained environments, visualized environments, anchored …

A Model-Free Approach To Vehicle Stability Control, Chinmay Pandit

All Theses

This project explored the feasibility of using measured responses of a passenger car together with a fuzzy logic based control algorithm to sense the onset of under-steer (or loss of steering control) and mitigate or eliminate it. The controller is simple and robust and, unlike existing controllers, instead of comparing the vehicle response to that of an idealized model it makes decisions based solely upon the measured response of the car.
Simulations were conducted (using CarSim) of various vehicles executing the skid pad and the double lane change tests to characterize the vehicle behavior. Consistent and qualitatively similar patterns in …

Professional Skills Portfolio For A Progressive Engineering Education, Dermot Mcgarthy, David Kennedy

Articles

At the 2013 launch of the return to work scheme, “Springboard” in Dublin, it was stated that employers were seeking staff with enhanced language, presentation, communication, coping, and team-working skills. Graduates without these skills were finding it more difficult to gain permanent employment and were more likely to find themselves out of work unless they developed these skills. Enhancing personal development skills in education requires a revision of existing programmes. Not alone will these skills open new doors of opportunity for those who have lost their jobs during the recession, but should help sustain them going forward. The education of …

Tower Of Babel: A Crowdsourcing Game Building Sentiment Lexicons For Resource-Scarce Languages, Yoonsung Hong, Haewoon Kwak, Youngmin Baek, Sue. Moon

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the growing amount of textual data produced by online social media today, the demands for sentiment analysis are also rapidly increasing; and, this is true for worldwide. However, non-English languages often lack sentiment lexicons, a core resource in performing sentiment analysis. Our solution, Tower of Babel (ToB), is a language-independent sentiment-lexicon-generating crowdsourcing game. We conducted an experiment with 135 participants to explore the difference between our solution and a conventional manual annotation method. We evaluated ToB in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfactions. Based on the result of the evaluation, we conclude that sentiment classification via ToB is accurate, …

A Controlled Study Of The Flipped Classroom With Numerical Methods For Engineers, Jacob L. Bishop

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Recent advances in technology and new ways of using it have led to new possibilities for education research. Increasing tuition costs and free, online course offerings are two influences that have led researchers to re-consider the wisdom of conventional teaching methods and to consider alternatives. The flipped classroom is a new teaching method, which uses video lectures and practice problems as homework, while group-based problem-solving activities are used in the classroom. It combines aspects of two learning theories once thought to be incompatible—constructivism and behaviorism. Active, problem-based learning activities are based on the theories of constructivism, and direct instructional (video) …

2013 - The Eighteenth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the Eighteenth Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 25, 2013. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Assessment Of Solar Photovoltaic Technologies Using Multiple Perspectives And Hierarchical Decision Modeling, Nasir Jamil Sheikh

Dissertations and Theses

The objective of this research is to build a decision model for a comprehensive assessment of solar photovoltaic technologies using multiple perspectives. These perspectives include: social, technological, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) with each perspective consisting of multiple criteria. Hierarchical decision modeling and expert judgment quantification are used to provide the relative ranking of the perspectives and criteria. Such modeling is effective in addressing technology evaluations with competing and contrasting perspectives and criteria where both quantitative and qualitative measurements are represented. The model is then operationalized by constructing desirability functions for each criterion. The combined results provide an overall numerical …

Wright State University Celebration Of Research, Scholarship And Creative Activities Book Of Abstracts Friday, April 12, 2013, Wright State University Office Of Undergraduate Research And Stemm Activities

Celebration of Undergraduate & Graduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities Materials

The student abstract booklet is a compilation of abstracts from students' oral and poster presentations at Wright State University's second annual Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activities on April 12, 2013.

Programming Literacy Needs To Be A Core Content Standard: A Case Study Of Teaching 7th And 8th Grade Students Computer Programming, Dr. Geoffrey Wright

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Just as typing has replaced calligraphy and hand-writing as the most common form of written language, programming is ready to replace many domains of the English language. Regardless of whether you perceive this, as negative or positive, programming is how many students are communicating. In a recent study (paper) a teacher found the following grammatical errors (as she defined them): ttyl, sg, L2G, 2G2BT, 2M2H, 404, 411, 511, LOL (double meaning), NMU, N1, W@, WU

Imprecise Probabilities In Engineering Analyses, Michael Beer, Scott Ferson, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Probabilistic uncertainty and imprecision in structural parameters and in environmental conditions and loads are challenging phenomena in engineering analyses. They require appropriate mathematical modeling and quantification to obtain realistic results when predicting the behavior and reliability of engineering structures and systems. But the modeling and quantification is complicated by the characteristics of the available information, which involves, for example, sparse data, poor measurements and subjective information. This raises the question whether the available information is sufficient for probabilistic modeling or rather suggests a set-theoretical approach. The framework of imprecise probabilities provides a mathematical basis to deal with these problems which …

Analyzing Communication Performance: A Comparison Of Native-English Speakers And Non-Native English Speakers, Tami Marie Gibbs

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to research how well native and non-native English speakers proficiently communicated using learned Air Traffic Control (ATC) phraseology, and how well they communicated using plain phraseology. The participants in this study were Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) flight students at the Daytona Beach campus. This study used a sample of students from English-speaking countries and a sample of students from non-English speaking countries. A quantified study of the types of communication errors was conducted by listening to a pre-defined amount of voice communications between the Daytona Beach International Airport tower facility and ERAU flight student …

Fast And Frugal Heuristics For New Product Screening - Is Managerial Judgment "Good Enough?", Antonie J. Jetter, Fatima M. Albar

Engineering and Technology Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Project screening in the fuzzy front-end of product development is dominantly based on managerial judgment, yet little is known about the quality of heuristic screening decisions. This research models three commonly discussed fast and frugal (F&F)heuristics for project screening (take-the-best, tallying and elimination-by-aspect) and explores their performance. An illustrative dataset of 52 new product development projects is used to compare the performance of F&F heuristics against that of regression models, which reflect compensatory judgment behaviour. The findings uncover a 'less is more' effect that justifies the use of simple heuristics in early stage product screening; two out of the three …

College Of Engineering News, Georgia Southern University

College of Engineering & Computing: News & Publications (2010-2023)

• Evin Hughes, Dual Major in Information Technology and Writing and Linguistics Wins Muhammad Ali Writing Award for Ethics

Generating Co-Occurring Facial Nonmanual Signals In Synthesized American Sign Language, Jerry Schnepp, Rosalee Wolfe, John Mcdonald, Jorge Toro

Visual Communications and Technology Education Faculty Publications

Translating between English and American Sign Language (ASL) requires an avatar to display synthesized ASL. Essential to the language are nonmanual signals that appear on the face. In the past, these have posed a difficult challenge for signing avatars. Previous systems were hampered by an inability to portray simultaneously-occurring nonmanual signals on the face. This paper presents a method designed for supporting co-occurring nonmanual signals in ASL. Animations produced by the new system were tested with 40 members of the Deaf community in the United States. Participants identified all of the nonmanual signals even when they co-occurred. Co-occurring question nonmanuals …

Research Challenges And Opportunities In Knowledge Representation, Natasha Noy, Deborah Mcguinness, Eyal Amir, Chitta Baral, Michael Beetz, Sean Bechhofer, Craig Boutilier, Anthony Cohn, Johan De Kleer, Michel Dumontier, Tim Finin, Kenneth Forbus, Lise Getoor, Yolanda Gil, Jeff Heflin, Pascal Hitzler, Craig Knoblock, Henry Kautz, Yuliya Lierler, Vladimir Lifschitz, Peter F. Patel-Schneider, Christine Piatko, Doug Riecken, Mark Schildhauer

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Modern intelligent systems in every area of science rely critically on knowledge representation and reasoning (KR). The techniques and methods developed by the researchers in knowledge representation and reasoning are key drivers of innovation in computer science; they have led to significant advances in practical applications in a wide range of areas from natural-­‐language processing to robotics to software engineering. Emerging fields such as the semantic web, computational biology, social computing, and many others rely on and contribute to advances in knowledge representation. As the era of “Big Data” evolves, scientists in a broad range of disciplines are increasingly relying …

A Decision Support System For The Intelligence Satellite Analyst, Gi Yeon Park

Dissertations

The study developed a decision support system known as Visual Analytic Cognitive Model (VACOM) to support the Intelligence Analyst (IA) in satellite information processing task within a Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) domain. As a visual analytics, VACOM contains the image processing algorithms, a cognitive network of the IA mental model, and a Bayesian belief model for satellite information processing. A cognitive analysis tool helps to identify eight knowledge levels in a satellite information processing. These are, spatial, prototypical, contextual, temporal, semantic, pragmatic, intentional, and inferential knowledge levels, respectively. A cognitive network was developed for each knowledge level with data input from …

Engineering Problem Solving And Sustained Learning: A Mixed Methods Study To Explore The Dynamics Of Engineering Knowledge Creation, Rachel Itabashi-Campbell

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation research explores processes by which engineering problem solving (EPS) results in sustained organizational learning. Approaching from a constructionist perspective, the study empirically examines the knowledge creation dynamics instigated by product-related problems using a mixed methods research approach. The research has identified the Japanese concept of ba, defined in this study as "shared experiential space," as a key construct that explains the phenomena of interest. A new framework that the study has developed, which interprets EPS as an epistemic journey to attain system-wide improvements, is highly complementary to the traditional structured routine based approaches to engineering operations and …

Load Estimation For Electric Power Distribution Networks, Chiebuka Eyisi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In electric power distribution systems, the major determinant in electricity supply strategy is the quantity of demand. Customers need to be accurately represented using updated nodal load information as a requirement for efficient control and operation of the distribution network. In Distribution Load Estimation (DLE), two major categories of data are utilized: historical data and direct real-time measured data. In this thesis, a comprehensive survey on the state-of-the-art methods for estimating loads in distribution networks is presented. Then, a novel method for representing historical data in the form of Representative Load Curves (RLCs) for use in realtime DLE is also …

Mission Aware Energy Saving Strategies For Army Ground Vehicles, Macam Dattathreya

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fuel energy is a basic necessity for this planet and the modern technology to perform many activities on earth. On the other hand, quadrupled automotive vehicle usage by the commercial industry and military has increased fuel consumption. Military readiness of Army ground vehicles is very important for a country to protect its people and resources. Fuel energy is a major requirement for Army ground vehicles. According to a report, a department of defense has spent nearly $13.6 billion on fuel and electricity to conduct ground missions. On the contrary, energy availability on this plant is slowly decreasing. Therefore, saving energy …