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Construction Of Large Geo-Referenced Mosaics From Mav Video And Telemetry Data, Benjamin Kurt Heiner Jul 2009

Construction Of Large Geo-Referenced Mosaics From Mav Video And Telemetry Data, Benjamin Kurt Heiner

Theses and Dissertations

Miniature Aerial Vehicles (MAVs) are quickly gaining acceptance as a platform for performing remote sensing or surveillance of remote areas. However, because MAVs are typically flown close to the ground (1000 feet or less in altitude), their field of view for any one image is relatively small. In addition, the context of the video (where and at what orientation are the objects being observed, the relationship between images) is unclear from any one image. To overcome these problems, we propose a geo-referenced mosaicing method that creates a mosaic from the captured images and geo-references the mosaic using information from the …

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The Expectation Of Transition Events On Finite-State Markov Chains, Jeremy Michael West Jul 2009

The Expectation Of Transition Events On Finite-State Markov Chains, Jeremy Michael West

Theses and Dissertations

Markov chains are a fundamental subject of study in mathematical probability and have found wide application in nearly every branch of science. Of particular interest are finite-state Markov chains; the representation of finite-state Markov chains by a transition matrix facilitates detailed analysis by linear algebraic methods. Previous methods of analyzing finite-state Markov chains have emphasized state events. In this thesis we develop the concept of a transition event and define two types of transition events: cumulative events and time-average events. Transition events generalize state events and provide a more flexible framework for analysis. We derive computable, closed-form expressions for the …

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Factors Affecting Folic Acid Stability In Micronutrient Fortified Corn Tortillas, Jordan S. Chapman Jul 2009

Factors Affecting Folic Acid Stability In Micronutrient Fortified Corn Tortillas, Jordan S. Chapman

Theses and Dissertations

Folate degradation in micronutrient fortified corn masa and tortillas was evaluated using masa prepared from either nixtamalized corn flour or fresh nixtamal. A laboratory evaluation of the effects of pH, iron, and holding time at elevated temperature on folate loss in corn flour masa failed to show significant differences in any variable-treatment combination. An additional study was conducted at a commercial tortilla mill in Guadalajara, Mexico using masa prepared from fresh nixtamal. Commercial nixtamal was fortified with one of two different micronutrient premixes, containing iron, zinc, riboflavin, thiamin, niacin and either unencapsulated or lipid-encapsulated folic acid. A batch of each …

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The Orbifold Landau-Ginzburg Conjecture For Unimodal And Bimodal Singularities, Natalie Wilde Bergin Jul 2009

The Orbifold Landau-Ginzburg Conjecture For Unimodal And Bimodal Singularities, Natalie Wilde Bergin

Theses and Dissertations

The Orbifold Landau-Ginzburg Mirror Symmetry Conjecture states that for a quasihomogeneous singularity W and a group G of symmetries of W, there is a dual singularity WT and dual group GT such that the orbifold A-model of W/G is isomorphic to the orbifold B-model of WT/GT. The Landau-Ginzburg A-model is the Frobenius algebra HW,G constructed by Fan, Jarvis, and Ruan, and the B-model is the Orbifold Milnor ring of WT . The unorbifolded conjecture has been verified for Arnol'd's list of simple, unimodal and bimodal quasi-homogeneous singularities with G the maximal diagonal symmetry group by Priddis, Krawitz, Bergin, Acosta, et …

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An Investigation Of Middle School Student Interest, Perception, And Attitude Toward Technology And Engineering, Kari Marie Cook Jul 2009

An Investigation Of Middle School Student Interest, Perception, And Attitude Toward Technology And Engineering, Kari Marie Cook

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle school student perception and attitude toward technology and engineering and to better understand how the gender of the teacher, gender of the student, and information provided in technology classes affected their perception and attitude. To accomplish this, the Technology Attitude Scale, and the Pupil's Attitudes Toward Technology—United States assessment instruments were used to form the basis of a new survey instrument focused on technology and engineering perception, use, and interest. The new survey instrument is called the Technology and Engineering Attitude Scale (TEAS) survey. Multiple 7th grade technology engineering classes from …

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Offset Qpsk In Siso And Mimo Environments, Xiaoyu Dang Jul 2009

Offset Qpsk In Siso And Mimo Environments, Xiaoyu Dang

Theses and Dissertations

We demonstrate how the performance of offset quadrature phase-shift keying (OQPSK) and its variants of Feher-patented QPSK (FQPSK) and Shaped Offset QPSK (SOQPSK) (collectively known as the ARTM Tier-1 waveforms) in single input single output (SISO) system could change with the channel fading parameters. The bit error rate expression of offset QSPK and ATRM Tier-1 waveforms over the aeronautical telemetry multipath channel has been derived. Simulations show that for the case of a single multipath ray, the BER gets worse with increasing Γ for a fixed delay, and that the BER has a quasi-periodic property for fixed Γ and increasing …

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Motivation In Learners Of Japanese As A Foreign Language: An Analysis Of Profiles And Behaviors, Britainy Dawn Sorenson Jul 2009

Motivation In Learners Of Japanese As A Foreign Language: An Analysis Of Profiles And Behaviors, Britainy Dawn Sorenson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines motivation in English L1 learners of Japanese as a Foreign Language (JFL) by analyzing the students' responses to a questionnaire modeled after Dörnyei's research and an observational instrument called the Motivation Behaviors of Language Learning (MBLL) modeled after Guilloteaux and Dörnyei's (2008) research on motivational teaching strategies on behaviors. The data from the questionnaires were subjected to a discriminative analysis of students answers in relation to a high grade (receiving a B- or higher) or lower (C+ or lower) in their Japanese classes. A Factor Analysis of the data was also carried out. The discriminative results could …

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Estimating The Effect Of Disability On Medicare Expenditures, David Morris Burk Jul 2009

Estimating The Effect Of Disability On Medicare Expenditures, David Morris Burk

Theses and Dissertations

We consider the effect of disability status on Medicare expenditures. Disabled elderly historically have accounted for a significant portion of Medicare expenditures. Recent demographic trends exhibit a decline in the size of this population, causing some observers to predict declines in Medicare expenditures. There are, however, reasons to be suspicious of this rosy forecast. To better understand the effect of disability on Medicare expenditures, we develop and estimate a model using the generalized method of moments technique. We find that newly disabled elderly generally spend more than those who have been disabled for longer periods of time. Also, we find …

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Relaxation Of Vibrationally Excited Trifluorobenzene And Tetrafluorobenzene By Collisions With Carbon Dioxide, Alan M. Johnson Jul 2009

Relaxation Of Vibrationally Excited Trifluorobenzene And Tetrafluorobenzene By Collisions With Carbon Dioxide, Alan M. Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

An investigation into the relaxation of highly vibrationally excited trifluorobenzene and tetrafluorobenzene following collisions with carbon dioxide was performed using diode laser transient absorption spectroscopy. A 248 nm excimer laser prepared the vibrationally hot (E'~41,000 cm-1) fluorobenzene molecules. Large amounts of translational and rotational energy are transferred through collisions between the hot donor molecule and CO2. Rate constants and collisional probabilities were calculated by probing the high J states (J=58~80) of CO2 in the vibrational ground state, 0000, with measurements taken 1 µsec, ¼ the mean gas collision time, following each excimer laser pulse. The energy transfer probability distribution function, …

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Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation On The Very Small Array, Alan Joseph Stemmons Jul 2009

Radio Frequency Interference Mitigation On The Very Small Array, Alan Joseph Stemmons

Theses and Dissertations

Radio astronomical synthesis imaging arrays can create images with resolution much higher than can single dish telescopes. However, one of the biggest problems that imaging arrays face is radio frequency interference (RFI). This interference corrupts signals and prevents accurate image creation. Therefore, it is necessary to remove this interference. This thesis discusses the synthesis imaging procedure and array spatial filter­ing methods to remove interference, including Multiple Sidelobe Canceller (MSC), Subspace Projection (SP), and Cross­-Subspace Projection (CSP). The CLEAN algorithm, an image restoration technique, is also discussed. Various improvements to the VSA are discussed, including upgrades to the hardware and software …

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Development Of Methods To Propagate Energy Density And Predict Farfield Directivity Using Nearfield Acoustic Holography, Scott Richard Woolston Jul 2009

Development Of Methods To Propagate Energy Density And Predict Farfield Directivity Using Nearfield Acoustic Holography, Scott Richard Woolston

Theses and Dissertations

Acoustical-based imaging systems have found merit in determining the behavior of vibrating structures. This thesis focuses on the continued development of the nearfield acoustic holography (NAH) approach. Conventional NAH consists of first measuring the pressure field on a two-dimensional conformal surface and then propagating this data back to the vibrating structure to obtain information about the source, such as the normal velocity distribution. Recent work has been done which incorporates particle velocity information into the traditional NAH measurements to reduce the number of measurements required. This advancement has made NAH a more affordable tool for acoustical imaging and sound field …

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Ion Transport Behaviors Upstream And Downstream From The Sampling Cone Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, Haibin Ma Jul 2009

Ion Transport Behaviors Upstream And Downstream From The Sampling Cone Of An Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, Haibin Ma

Theses and Dissertations

Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is the technique of choice worldwide for trace elemental determinations because of its excellent ionization ability, low detection limits and fast analysis speeds. However, the ICP-MS still suffers from some disadvantages, such as spectral overlap and severe matrix effects. Matrix effects or interferences, partly arise from changes in the analyte transmission through the interfacial region between the ICP and mass spectrometer with changes in sample matrix. Better understanding of the transmission behaviors of analyte through the sampling and skimmer cones will provide the insights needed to alleviate matrix interferences and to improve the …

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An Investigation Of Utah Technology Education Teachers' Acceptance Of An Emphasis On Engineering Education Content, Douglas Ron Livingston Jul 2009

An Investigation Of Utah Technology Education Teachers' Acceptance Of An Emphasis On Engineering Education Content, Douglas Ron Livingston

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to collect information documenting Utah technology education teachers' acceptance of an emphasis on engineering content in technology education. The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) was used to determine the level of acceptance of this change. It was found that a majority of technology and education teachers are more concerned about other unidentified tasks, activities or initiatives than they are about the addition of engineering content to their classes. They were also shown to be concerned with being able to organize, manage, and schedule the change effectively and were found to be least concerned about …

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Some Congruence Properties Of Pell's Equation, Nathan C. Priddis Jul 2009

Some Congruence Properties Of Pell's Equation, Nathan C. Priddis

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I will outline the impact of Pell's equation on various branches of number theory, as well as some of the history. I will also discuss some recently discovered properties of the solutions of Pell's equation.

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The Role Of Smpb In The Early Stages Of Trans-Translation, Deanna June Cazier Jul 2009

The Role Of Smpb In The Early Stages Of Trans-Translation, Deanna June Cazier

Theses and Dissertations

Ribosomes stall on defective messenger RNA transcripts in eubacteria. Without a mechanism to release stalled ribosomes, these cells would die. Transfer-messenger RNA (tmRNA) and small protein B (SmpB) reactivate stalled ribosomes in a process known as trans-translation. Together, tmRNA and SmpB mimic alanyl-tRNA, entering the A site of stalled ribosomes and accepting transfer of the stalled polypeptide. A portion of tmRNA is then positioned as a template for the ribosome to resume translating. The tmRNA open reading frame encodes a proteolysis tag to mark the aberrant polypeptide for degradation and a stop codon to release the ribosome. How are tmRNA …

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Zero-Inflated Censored Regression Models: An Application With Episode Of Care Data, Jonathan P. Prasad Jul 2009

Zero-Inflated Censored Regression Models: An Application With Episode Of Care Data, Jonathan P. Prasad

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this project is to fit a sequence of increasingly complex zero-inflated censored regression models to a known data set. It is quite common to find censored count data in statistical analyses of health-related data. Modeling such data while ignoring the censoring, zero-inflation, and overdispersion often results in biased parameter estimates. This project develops various regression models that can be used to predict a count response variable that is affected by various predictor variables. The regression parameters are estimated with Bayesian analysis using a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. The tests for model adequacy are discussed and …

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Literary Case Histories And Medical Narratives In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Travis Wade Austin Jul 2009

Literary Case Histories And Medical Narratives In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Travis Wade Austin

Theses and Dissertations

Literature and medicine are not usually seen as related disciplines, but scholars have already begun producing fruitful scholarship regarding historical and aesthetic interactions between them. This thesis adds to that scholarship by examining medicine and literature in nineteenth-century Britain. More specifically, Thomas De Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde both use nineteenth-century medical case conventions to tell their stories. Furthermore, because both works deal with addiction, divided selves, and the power that physical substances can have on morality and character, these two works provide an excellent comparison coming …

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Evans Function Computation, Blake H. Barker Jul 2009

Evans Function Computation, Blake H. Barker

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we review the stability problem for traveling waves and discuss the Evans function, an emerging tool in the stability analysis of traveling waves. We describe some recent developments in the numerical computation of the Evans function and discuss STABLAB, an interactive MATLAB based tool box that we developed. In addition, we verify the Evans function for shock layers in Burgers equation and the p-system with and without capillarity, as well as pulses in the generalized Kortweg-de Vries (gKdV) equation. We conduct a new study of parallel shock layers in isentropic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) obtaining results consistent with stability.

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Numerical Solutions For Stochastic Differential Equations And Some Examples, Yi Luo Jul 2009

Numerical Solutions For Stochastic Differential Equations And Some Examples, Yi Luo

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I will study the qualitative properties of solutions of stochastic differential equations arising in applications by using the numerical methods. It contains two parts. In the first part, I will first review some of the basic theory of the stochastic calculus and the Ito-Taylor expansion for stochastic differential equations (SDEs). Then I will discuss some numerical schemes that come from the Ito-Taylor expansion including their order of convergence. In the second part, I will use some schemes to solve the stochastic Duffing equation, the stochastic Lorenz equation, the stochastic pendulum equation, and the stochastic equations which model …

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Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith Jul 2009

Learning English Through Interactive Weblogs: Student Experiences Blogging In The Secondary Esl Classroom, Glori H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research project examined the experiences of high school English language learners as they created personal weblogs and responded to queries on a class weblog. The data from the project demonstrates that blogging as a classroom writing activity is effective in helping students to obtain, process and construct the English language.

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Properties Of The Zero Forcing Number, Kayla Denise Owens Jul 2009

Properties Of The Zero Forcing Number, Kayla Denise Owens

Theses and Dissertations

The zero forcing number is a graph parameter first introduced as a tool for solving the minimum rank problem, which is: Given a simple, undirected graph G, and a field F, let S(F,G) denote the set of all symmetric matrices A=[a_{ij}] with entries in F such that a_{ij} doess not equal 0 if and only if ij is an edge in G. Find the minimum possible rank of a matrix in S(F,G). It is known that the zero forcing number Z(G) provides an upper bound for the maximum nullity of a graph. I investigate properties of the zero forcing number, …

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Modeling Temperature Reduction In Tendons Using Gaussian Processes Within A Dynamic Linear Model, Richard David Wyss Jul 2009

Modeling Temperature Reduction In Tendons Using Gaussian Processes Within A Dynamic Linear Model, Richard David Wyss

Theses and Dissertations

The time it takes an athlete to recover from an injury can be highly influenced by training procedures as well as the medical care and physical therapy received. When an injury occurs to the muscles or tendons of an athlete, it is desirable to cool the muscles and tendons within the body to reduce inflammation, thereby reducing the recovery time. Consequently, finding a method of treatment that is effective in reducing tendon temperatures is beneficial to increasing the speed at which the athlete is able to recover. In this project, Bayesian inference with Gaussian processes will be used to model …

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Musical Query-By-Content Using Self-Organizing Maps, Kyle B. Dickerson Jul 2009

Musical Query-By-Content Using Self-Organizing Maps, Kyle B. Dickerson

Theses and Dissertations

The ever-increasing density of computer storage devices has allowed the average user to store enormous quantities of multimedia content, and a large amount of this content is usually music. Current search techniques for musical content rely on meta-data tags which describe artist, album, year, genre, etc. Query-by-content systems, however, allow users to search based upon the actual acoustical content of the songs. Recent systems have mainly depended upon textual representations of the queries and targets in order to apply common string-matching algorithms and are often confined to a single query style (e.g., humming). These methods also lose much of the …

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Meta-Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models In Organizational Behavior, Michael David Ulrich Jul 2009

Meta-Analysis Using Bayesian Hierarchical Models In Organizational Behavior, Michael David Ulrich

Theses and Dissertations

Meta-analysis is a tool used to combine the results from multiple studies into one comprehensive analysis. First developed in the 1970s, meta-analysis is a major statistical method in academic, medical, business, and industrial research. There are three traditional ways in which a meta-analysis is conducted: fixed or random effects, and using an empirical Bayesian approach. Derivations for conducting meta-analysis on correlations in the industrial psychology and organizational behavior (OB) discipline were reviewed by Hunter and Schmidt (2004). In this approach, Hunter and Schmidt propose an empirical Bayesian analysis where the results from previous studies are used as a prior. This …

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Cross-Correlation-Based Texture Analysis Using Kinematically Simulated Ebsd Patterns, Joshua Peter Kacher Jul 2009

Cross-Correlation-Based Texture Analysis Using Kinematically Simulated Ebsd Patterns, Joshua Peter Kacher

Theses and Dissertations

The development and example applications of a new EBSD-based texture analysis system are presented. This new system uses the cross-correlation function to compare two EBSD patterns at a number of corresponding regions in each pattern to calculate the deformation gradient tensor. Bragg's Law-based simulated EBSD patterns are used as reference patterns in the cross-correlation method to enable the measurements of absolute elastic strain and lattice orientation at discrete points in a crystalline sample. The resolution limits of this new method are explored using a variety of computational and physical experiments. The simulated pattern method is estimated to be able to …

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Cumorah And The Limited Mesoamerican Theory, Andrew H. Hedges Jul 2009

Cumorah And The Limited Mesoamerican Theory, Andrew H. Hedges

Religious Educator: Perspectives on the Restored Gospel

From the time the Book of Mormon was published, its readers have wondered about its geographical setting. Following is a lively debate between two thoughtful scholars. To motivate study of this topic, the Religious Educator offers their different viewpoints.

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Supporting Induction Teachers' Development Using Performance-Based Video Evidence, Peter Rich, Richard E. West, Michael Hannafin, Arthur Recesso, Craig Shepherd Jul 2009

Supporting Induction Teachers' Development Using Performance-Based Video Evidence, Peter Rich, Richard E. West, Michael Hannafin, Arthur Recesso, Craig Shepherd

Faculty Publications

This formative research study was designed to inform the development of the Teacher Success Model (TSM), an initiative to develop a systematic, evidence-informed model for teacher assessment. While the overall initiative includes all teachers, support professionals, and evaluators, this study focused on induction teachers and their mentors/administrators. Participants were shown sample digital videos corresponding to seven pre-selected TSM attributes, and were asked to identify, annotate, and rate instances where specific attributes were evident. Overall, our findings indicated that participants could identify examples of key teaching attributes in the videos and that group reflection and discussion enabled many to refine their …

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Finding Alternatives To The Hard Disk Drive For Virtual Memory, Bruce Albert Embry Jul 2009

Finding Alternatives To The Hard Disk Drive For Virtual Memory, Bruce Albert Embry

Theses and Dissertations

Current computer systems fill the demand of operating systems and applications for ever greater amounts of random access memory by paging the least recently used data to the hard disk drive. This paging process is called "virtual memory," to indicate that the hard disk drive is used to create the illusion that the computer has more random access memory than it actually has. Unfortunately, the fastest hard disk drives are over five orders of magnitude slower than the DRAM they are emulating. When the demand for memory increases to the point that processes are being continually saved to disk and …

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A Sophisticated Library Search Strategy Using Folksonomies And Similarity Matching, William Lund, Yiu-Kai D. Ng, Maria Soledad Pera Jul 2009

A Sophisticated Library Search Strategy Using Folksonomies And Similarity Matching, William Lund, Yiu-Kai D. Ng, Maria Soledad Pera

Faculty Publications

Libraries, private and public, offer valuable resources to library patrons. As of today the only way to locate information archived exclusively in libraries is through their catalogs. Library patrons, however, often find it difficult to formulate a proper query, which requires using specific keywords assigned to different fields of desired library catalog records, to obtain relevant results. These improperly formulated queries often yield irrelevant results or no results at all. This negative experience in dealing with existing library systems turn library patrons away from library catalogs; instead, they rely on Web search engines to perform their searches first and upon …

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Radio Determination On Mini-Uav Platforms: Tracking And Locating Radio Transmitters, Braden Russell Huber Jun 2009

Radio Determination On Mini-Uav Platforms: Tracking And Locating Radio Transmitters, Braden Russell Huber

Theses and Dissertations

Aircraft in the US are equipped with Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs). In emergency situations these beacons are activated, providing a radio signal that can be used to locate the aircraft. Recent developments in UAV technologies have enabled mini-UAVs (5-foot wingspan) to possess a high level of autonomy. Due to the small size of these aircraft they are human-packable and can be easily transported and deployed in the field. Using a custom-built Radio Direction Finder, we gathered readings from a known transmitter and used them to compare various Bayesian reasoning-based filtering algorithms. Using a custom-developed simulator, we were able to test …

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