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Hidden Markov Model For Visual Guidance Of Robot Motion In Dynamic Environment, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Models and control strategies for dynamic obstacle avoidance in visual guidance of mobile robot are presented. Characteristics that distinguish the visual computation and motion-control requirements in dynamic environments from that in static environments are discussed. Objectives of the vision and motion planning are formulated as: 1) finding a collision-free trajectory that takes account of any possible motions of obstacles in the local environment; 2) such a trajectory should be consistent with a global goal or plan of the motion; and 3) the robot should move at as high a speed as possible, subject to its kinematic constraints. A stochastic motion-control …

Time Delay Neural Networks And Speech Recognition: Context Independence Of Stops In Different Vowel Environments, Gregory Andrew Makowski

Masters Theses

A series of speech recognition experiments was conducted to investigate time-dynamic speech recognition of stop consonants invariant of vowel environment using data from six talkers. The speech preprocessing was based on previous studies investigating acoustic characteristics which correlate to the place of articulation (Blumstein and Stevens 1979). The place of articulation features were statistically abstracted using four moments and the energy level of the speech sample.

Both statistical and neural network pattern recognition methods were used. Statistical methods included linear and quadratic discriminant functions, maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and K-nearest neighbors (KNN). The neural network approach used was Time Delay …

Biological Coal Desulfurization, Ming Le

Theses

Sulfur removal from coal before combustion is of considerable interest to avoid emission of oxides of sulfur(SO_x). Chemical and physical methods have been developed for removing the inorganic sulfur component in coal. This component is generally associated with pyrites(FeS2). However, no commerical methods have been developed for the removal of the organic sulfur conponent. This study describes microbial methods for removing organically bound sulfur from coal. The specific goals of this study were to ascertain whether a robust biologically active population such as activated sludge biomass can remove organic sulfur from coal and to devise sulfur analytical methods …

Experiments In Aerobic And Anaerobic Biodegradation Of Methylene Chloride Using Activated Sludge, Vivek Chandrakant Sinkar

Theses

Biological removal of methylene chloride was studied under aerobic and anaerobic conditions using activated sludge cultures. Shaker flask experiments were conducted to test the ability of the microorganisms to degrade methylene chloride under aerobic conditions. Hydrogen peroxide was used a as source of dissolved oxygen to minimize physical removal of methylene chloride due to aeration. The effect of secondary substrates like glucose, cellulose acetate, ammonium acetate and nutrient broth on biodegradation of methylene chloride was studied. Biodegradation in the presence of surfactant and alkaline stress was also investigated.

No significant degradation was observed in all aerobic experiments.

Anaerobic sludge was …

Liquid-Vapor Equilibria And Henry's Law Constants For Volatile Organics In Surfactants, Qianping Peng

Theses

We present liquid vapor equilibria data and Henry's law constants for Methyl-ethyl Ketone, Toluene, Butyl Acetate, Acetone and i-Propanol in surfactants: Octylphenyl Decaethoxylate, Sorbitan Monooleate and Sodium Sulfonate at temperatures of 20 to 70 C.

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of applying surfactant absorption technique (neat surfactants) to volatile organic compounds (VOC's) for the removal of these species as organic vapors from air emission streams.

Liquid/vapor equilibrium data are presented as curves in several different ways:

i. Each individual VOC at four temperatures between 22 C to 70 C in the respective surfactants Octylpenyl Decaethoxylate, …

Visual Interaction In Diagnostic Radiology, Erika Rogers, Ronald C. Arkin, M. Baron

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The concept of Visual Interaction is introduced as the process which links perception and problem-solving such that problem-solving is affected by what is seen, and conversely, what is seen and perceived is affected by the current state of the problem-solving process. This paper describes the development of a cognitively-based model of the visual interaction process in diagnostic radiology, and shows how aspects of this model are being incorporated into the design and implementation of an intelligent computer-based radiological assistant. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to extract information about the nature and type of knowledge involved in this …

Interpretation Of The Thermal Behavior Of Groundwater In An Alluvial Terrace: Bonneville Dam, Columbia Gorge, Oregon, Richard Stephen Malin

Dissertations and Theses

Groundwater temperature data, collected at an alluvial terrace located on the Oregon shore of the Columbia River downstream from Bonneville Darn, was analyzed in order to characterize and formulate a conceptual model of the thermal data for the groundwater system in the terrace. There is concern that an unlined entrance channel for a new navigation lock, to be located down the middle of the terrace, will widen the range of temperatures in the fish hatchery-groundwater supply. The analysis of temperature behavior in the terrace supports the hydraulic observations derived from analysis of pump test data, but with greater definition of …

Mathematics And Poetry : Isolated Or Integrated?, Joanne S. Growney

Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal

No abstract provided.

The Calendar - May 1991, Nova University

The Calendar

No abstract provided.

On The Relationship Between Parsimonious Covering And Boolean Minimization, Venu Dasigi, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Kno.e.sis Publications

Minimization of Boolean switching functions is a basic problem in the design of logic circuits. The designer first comes up with a switching function expressed in terms of several binary input variables that satisfies the desired functionality, and then attempts to minimize the function as a sum of products or product of sums. It turns out that a sum of products form of a switching function that has no redundancy is a union of prime implicants of the function.

In this paper we would like to explicate some of the relationships of the boolean minimization problem to a formalization of …

An Introduction To The Global Positioning System And Some Geological Applications, Timothy H. Dixon

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Receivers equipped to measure dual frequency carrier phase signals from satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) have been capable, under special conditions, of determining relative horizontal positions among stations separated by one to a few hundred kilometers with a precision of one to several millimeters since the early 1980s. The major obstacles to making this capability routine, extending it to all parts of the globe, and extending it to longer station separations, have been equipment cost, limitations in the GPS satellite constellation, arduous data analysis, uncertainties in satellite orbits, uncertainties in propagation delays associated with variable tropospheric water vapor, …

Quenching And Rotational Energy Transfer In Molecular Bromine: Br2(B), Dean A. Massman

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the rotational energy transfer processes of optically excited bromine molecules in the presence of several collision partners. Resolved laser induced fluorescence spectra of collisionally populated rotational states were analyzed by means of Stern Volmer analysis. Total rotational removal rate coefficients and state-to-state rotational removal rate coefficients for the v'=11,J'=35 level of Br₂(B) were obtained for collisions with Br₂(X), He, Ar and Xe. Rotational removal rate coefficients were also obtained for the v'11, J'=26 and 47; v'=14, J'=36 states of Br₂(B) with collisions with Ar. Total rotational removal rate for Br_{2 …}

Determining If Self-Guided Demonstration Tours Are An Effective Method To Inform Farmers And Ranchers About Conservation Practices, Larry L. Andelt

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The primary purpose of this study was to determine if the "Conservation Neighbor to Neighbor" program was an effective method of delivery to inform farmers and ranchers about conservation practices in Nebraska. A survey instrument was developed with the help of a committee of experts. The instrument asked respondents to rate the degree of agreement, quality and interest in the Conservation Neighbor to Neighbor program and the effectiveness of the delivery method. The population for the study included all the program hosts and a random sampling of all farmers and ranchers in Nebraska. The following conclusions were drawn from the …

The Deposition Of Nickel Boride Thin Films By Borane And Metallaborane Cluster Compounds, John A. Glass Jr., Shreyas Kher, Yoon-Gi Kim, Peter A. Dowben, James T. Spencer

Peter Dowben Publications

The deposition of high purity and controlled stoichiometry metal boride thin-film materials has recently received considerable interest. Borane clusters and their corresponding metal complexes are currently Wig investigated in our laboratories for their utility as unique source materials for the formation of metallic boride thin films by MOCVD. Variable composition nickel boride thin films ranging from 0.1 micron to several microns have been prepared. These new materials have been characterized by SEM, AES and XES. The magnetic properties of these new films have been investigated with torque magnetometry and magneto-optic Kerr effect magnetometry.

Numerical Simulation Of Saturated Flow With Fractal Analysis Of The Hydraulic Conductivity Distribution, Joan Leilani Oana

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of this report is to investigate the behavior of a nonreactive contaminant in a perfectly stratified aquifer under uniform, steady-state flow. The design and the implementation of a solute transport model which characterizes the heterogeneities of the aquifer properties in a stochastic framework is reviewed. The model closely examines the advection and dispersion of the plume. The advection is the process by which the plume is transported in the aquifer by the bulk average motion of the groundwater whereas the dispersion refers to the spreading of the plume about its mean displacement position. The relationship between the fractally …

Route Adaptation And Persistence In Networks, Kenneth R. Rodemann

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Utah State University's Academic Program In Wildlife Damage Management, Michael R. Conover, Raymond D. Dueser, Frederick F. Knowlton, Joseph A. Chapman

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Every wildlife species has positive values or benefits it provides to society. Some people enjoy hunting, while others enjoy watching and hearing wildlife; still other people derive pleasure simply knowing animals exist free from human dependency (King 1947, Ehrenfeld 1976, Steinhoff 1978). Each species also has negative values (Decker and Purdy 1988) associated with adverse impacts, such as property damage, damage to agricultural crops, predation on other valuable species, or simply being a nuisance. For any location and point in time, the net value of any wildlife resource is the sum of all its positive and negative values. The goal …

Educating People About Wildlife Damage, Jeffrey S. Green

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Managing the damage that species of wildlife cause to human-owned resources is a legitimate area of specialization in the field of wildlife management. In recent years, wildlife damage management, particularly the Federal government's Animal Damage Control (ADC) program, has come under increased scrutiny and opposition. Reasons for the increased focus on ADC are varied but no doubt center on the fact that some of ADC's activities involve killing animals. Groups opposed to ADC have used the media to gain a following, but the glimpses of ADC they have shown to the public are rarely balanced or objective. Stories usually focus …

Environmentalism And Animal Welfare: Cornerstones Of Wildlife Damage Management, Rick D. Owens

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

There are two issues which each of us, personally and as professional wildlife biologists, share a belief in, and which are essential to the conduct of our day-to-day wildlife management activities. Unfortunately, because of associated negative implications, we have failed to appropriately acknowledge and receive credit for our concerns regarding these issues. These are the issues of environmentalism and animal welfare. This discussion will serve to clarify what these terms should mean to us, why they should be considered cornerstones of wildlife damage management, and the actions we must take in addressing these issues. It is imperative that we become …

Tenth Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings: Contents And Frontmatter, Scott E. Hygnstrom, Ronald M. Case, Ron J. Johnson

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Workshop held in Lincoln, Nebraska, April 15-18, 1991.

These proceedings consist of 41 presented papers on a variety of subjects relative to the prevention and control of wildlife damage. Subject sessions included: Wildlife Damage Management and the Public, Predators, Rodents, Birds, Programs and Projects, USDA-APHIS-ADC Activities, Professionalism, and General.

Materials in this section include list of previous workshops, editors of the Proceedings, members of the Workshop Committee, Sponsors, Supporters, Acknowledgements, Commercial Exhinitors, Contributors, and Table of Contents.

The Future Of Extension Education Programs In Wildlife Damage Management, James E. Miller

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Almost 10 years ago in October 1981, at the Fifth Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop here in Lincoln, I presented the keynote address to those in attendance entitled, "Wildlife Damage Control and the Cooperative Extension Service" (Miller 1981a). Although a great deal of change has occurred within the Extension System and within other agencies responsible for animal damage control since 1981, the role and responsibility for Extension educational programs in the prevention and control of wildlife damage has not changed significantly. There have been some changes in the audiences requesting assistance and in the manner, delivery mechanisms, and methodologies …

Attitudes Of Nebraska Sheep Producers Toward Predators, Dale J. Hafer, Scott E. Hygnstrom

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

The economy of the State of Nebraska is highly dependent on the agricultural industry. When factors arise that complicate and threaten facets of the industry, those involved, particularly producers, often express a high degree of concern toward those threatening factors. The sheep producers of Nebraska experience this situation with predation. Predators can often cause economic and emotional losses for producers. In 1987, Johnson and Timm estimated that coyotes (Canis latrans) cause $630,000 in damage annually to the sheep industry in Nebraska. Nationally, losses of sheep and lambs to predation is estimated at $21.7 million with coyotes responsible for 63.7% of …

Transport Properties Of An Interacting Lattice Gas Model In A Charge Density Gradient By Monte Carlo Simulation, Ras B. Pandey, Songping Gao

Faculty Publications

A two-dimensional lattice is considered with a linear charge-density gradient produced by a charge source at one end and a sink at the opposite end. A fraction p of the lattice sites are occupied by mobile particles that interact only with neighboring particles and empty sites (the substrate) and carry charges from source to sink; the charge neutrality of the whole lattice is maintained. The root-mean-square (rms) displacement of the particles (i.e., the tracers) and their effective conductivity for the charge transport are studied as a function of temperature and concentration p. The rms displacement shows a crossover from diffusion …

Opening Address:, Kenneth R. Bolen

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Nebraska is a major agricultural state. Nebraska ranks first in the nation in number of cattle on feed and fed cattle marketed, second in cash receipts from all livestock marketing, first in production of Great Northern beans, popcorn and alfalfa meal, and third in corn production. Agriculture is important to the state's economy. Some economists project that one-half of Nebraska workers depend on agriculture and the many related industries for their employment. The annual value of agricultural production in Nebraska is more than 8 billion dollars. Agriculture and wildlife damage problems often go hand-in-hand. We have problems in agricultural situations …

Implications Of The Animal Rights Movement For Wildlife Damage Management, Alice P. Wywialowski

Great Plains Wildlife Damage Control Workshop Proceedings

Animal rights advocates are a vocal and active segment of the public who are likely to protest the killing of animals to reduce wildlife-caused damage. Wildlife damage management frequently involves killing damage-causing animals. Most media portrayals of wildlife damage management programs emphasize the killing of wildlife, and so inherently evoke a negative response from the public. The goals of this paper are to help wildlife damage managers better understand animal rights advocates and to suggest possible means to reduce conflicts. To meet these goals, the animal rights movement is placed in a historical perspective with regard to the animal welfare …

Model Calculational Approach To The Conformation Of Adsorbed Polypeptide Fragments, Timothy J. Mckeon

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

The focus of the paper is to examine possible conformational changes of peptides when placed in the presence of a poly-synthetic material. A major concern in the pharmaceutical industry is the loss of potency of polypeptide drug products during processing, packaging and storage. An example of this is polymer syringes being used in place of glass ones. The effect is that some protien-derived products experience structural changes due to contact with the polymer. This is otherwise known as surface denaturation. In order to understand the energetics of interfacial polypeptide systems, a calculational approach was used via the program Alchemy. The …

The Architecture Of Braid: A System For Bridging Al/Db Systems, Amit P. Sheth, Anthony B. O'Hare

Kno.e.sis Publications

We describe the design of BrAID (a Bridge between Artificial Intelligence and Database Management Systems), an experimental system for the efficient integration of logic based Artificial Intelligence (Al) and database (DB) technologies. Features provided by BrAID include (a) access to conventional DBMSs, (b) support for multiple inferencing strategies, (c) a powerful caching subsystem that manages views and employs subsumption to facilitate the reuse of previously cached data, (d) lazy or eager evaluation of queries submitted by the AI system, and (e) the generation of advice by the AI system to aid in cache management and query execution planning. To discuss …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 33 Number 3, Spring 1991, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

12 - ABORTION : NO SIMPLE ANSWERS Jesuit theologian Ted Mackin examines pro-life and pro-choice positions and reports that neither side is addressing the issue with total honesty. By Theodore J. Mackin, S.J.

16 - STAY AT HOME MOMS Alumnae discuss why they decided to devote all their time and attention to their families. By Michelle Burget Fletcher '78, Brigid Modena Benham '81, and Anne Penoyer King '69

20 - SCU's WINE FAMILIES Northern California's vineyards are fertile ground for Santa Clara graduates. By Rosina Wilson

28 - WORKING THE SUICIDE HOTLINE Within these walls, no secret is too terrible …

Plate Tectonics, Space, Geologic Time, And The Great Plains: A Primer For Non-Geologists, Robert F. Diffendal Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

For most Americans, "The Great Plains" evokes images of grasslands, dust storms, prairie fires, Native Americans on horseback, cowboys and wheat lands, and perhaps flat valleys crossed by braided rivers carrying a heavy load of sand and gravel, extremes of weather, and a climate typified by an alternation of droughts and wetter periods. Geologists picture such general images, too, but they also see radical changes in the landscape over periods expressed in millions rather than hundreds of years. Geologically speaking, human activities on the Great Plains are too recent to have much of a place in the broad geologic history …

The Calendar - April 1991, Nova University

The Calendar

No abstract provided.