Digital Commons Network^™

Error Propagation In Pattern Recognition Systems: Impact Of Quality On Fingerprint Categorization, Jakub Mocny

Doctoral Dissertations

The aspect of quality in pattern classification has recently been explored in the context of biometric identification and authentication systems. The results presented in the literature indicate that incorporating information about quality of the input pattern leads to improved classification performance. The quality itself, however, can be defined in a number of ways, and its role in the various stages of pattern classification is often ambiguous or ad hoc.

In this dissertation a more systematic approach to the incorporation of localized quality metrics into the pattern recognition process is developed for the specific task of fingerprint categorization. Quality is defined …

The Wend Concept For Worldwide Enc Database - Past Or Future? A Review Of Progress And A Look To The Future, Horst Hecht, Abri Kampfer, Lee Alexander

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

No abstract provided.

European - North American - Russian Federation Inland Enc Harmonization Group, Anthony R. Niles, Bernd Birklhuber, Lee Alexander, Peter Kluytenaar, Vladimir Sekachev

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

In 2003, the Inland ENC Harmonization Group (IEHG) was formed to agree upon specifications for Inland ENCs that are suitable for all known Inland ENC data requirements for safe and efficient navigation in European and North American inland waterways and rivers. In 2004, the IEHG expanded to include Russian Federation. It is expected that South America will join IEHG in the near future. The overall framework for international Inland ENC standards includes: - Use IHO S-57 Edition 3.1 ‘maritime’ ENC Product Specification, where applicable. - A minimum Inland ENC Product Specification that includes mandatory requirements for safety-of-navigation on inland waterways, …

Improving The Sound Absorbing Capacity Of Portland Cement Concrete Pavements Using Recycled Materials, Jonathan Gene Pitre

Master's Theses and Capstones

Over 50 percent of the United States population is exposed to traffic noise at a disturbance level of 70 decibel, while 15 percent are subjected to noise levels even higher and are considered an actual nuisance. Porous portland cement concrete pavements reduce noise at the source and have been very successful in Europe. A method was developed to predict the aggregate and concrete porosity and that was verified by image analysis. A laboratory manufactured impedance tube was developed to test the acoustical performance of the samples. Relationships were determined between the porosity, sample depth, aggregate type and acoustical performance. Detailed …

Intelligent Airlift System For Submersible Cage Aquaculture, Darren Landino

Master's Theses and Capstones

The University of New Hampshire's Open Ocean Aquaculture Project operates offshore fish cages in the exposed ocean near the Isle of Shoals. A need exists for improved vertical control of their cages that would permit continuous depth control, communication with operators, and logging of data. This thesis investigates the feasibility and practicality of applying a computer controlled lifting system to an experimental fish cage.

The submersible fish cage investigated has a diameter of 15.54 meters, and in internal volume of approximately 1500 cubic meters. The cage is moved through the water column via an airlift located beneath the cage. Air …

University Of New Hampshire Undergraduate Catalog, 2007-2008 Bulletin, University Of New Hampshire

Undergraduate Catalog

No abstract provided.

Town Of Brentwood. Annual Town And School District Reports For The Year Ending December 31, 2006., Brentwood Town Representatives

Brentwood, NH Annual Reports

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire.

Acoustic Calibration And Bathymetric Processing With A Klein 5410 Sidescan Sonar, James Michael Glynn Jr.

Master's Theses and Capstones

In 2001, NOAA acquired an L-3 Communications Klein 5410 bathymetric sidescan sonar system that simultaneously provided high resolution multibeam acoustic imagery and wide swath bathymetry. The sonar's inability to produce matching bathymetry in overlapping swaths motivated the detailed acoustic and signal processing analyses described in this thesis.

Results of this research include specific corrections for phase distortions introduced by the sonar's transmit pulses, receiver electronics, and transducer elements, which are implemented in a newly-developed full vector bathymetric processing algorithm to estimate accurate acoustic arrival angles for each sample of the seafloor echo acquired by the Klein 5410 sonar. Performance of …

Non-Invasive Keyboard Fatigue Monitoring System For Improving User Performance And Reducing Incidences Of Repetitive Strain Injuries, Satheesh Jayakumar

Master's Theses and Capstones

Computers are ubiquitous in their application and deployment all over the world. Along with their universal appeal and versatility they also pose dangers to their various users in the form of ailments such as Repetitive Strain Injuries, Carpals Tunnel Syndrome, etc. which are all specifically related to keyboard use. The objective of this thesis was to explore the possibility of developing a deterministic and non-invasive method of detecting keyboard fatigue. A software application was developed which allowed us to reliably monitor this as a function of the latency between keyboard key-press and key-release events recorded by the resident operating system. …

Field Efficiency And Bias Of Several Methods For Downed Wood And Snag Inventory In Western North American Forests, Robert Scott Kenning

Master's Theses and Capstones

Coarse woody debris (CWD)---downed forest wood and snags---has been afforded increasing attention in the past decade as studies illuminate the role of dead wood in the study of global carbon cycling, wildlife, forest fire, and soil ecology. Accordingly, the need for efficient sampling methods of CWD has grown. This study compares the field efficiency and bias of seven traditional and novel sampling techniques. Methods were tested in 14 forest stands across 3 broad study regions---alpine and ponderosa forests in Colorado and coastal rainforest in British Columbia.

For sampling downed wood volume, perpendicular distance sampling (PDS) proves to be the most …

Mythological Heroes And The Presence Of The Hero And Journey Archetypes In "The Lord Of The Rings" And "Harry Potter", Cheryl A. Hunter

Master's Theses and Capstones

Mythology entertains, relates history and conveys man's relationship to god and the universe. Mythology provides individuals with life models and establishes a connection to the people from whom an individual is descended. Works of modern literature that incorporate mythology and universal human themes and archetypes provide a contemporary guide to dealing with the problems universally faced by people.

In Western literature, Homer first established the hero and the journey archetypes approximately 800 B.C. and authors continue to use them. In literature, heroes are important and interesting characters who are role models and who teach the reader important lessons about the …

Blending Techniques For Underwater Photomosaics, Fan Gu

Master's Theses and Capstones

The creation of consistent underwater photomosaics is typically hampered by local misalignments and inhomogeneous illumination of the image frames, which introduce visible seams that complicate post processing of the mosaics for object recognition and shape extraction. In this thesis, methods are proposed to improve blending techniques for underwater photomosaics and the results are compared with traditional methods. Five specific techniques drawn from various areas of image processing, computer vision, and computer graphics have been tested: illumination correction based on the median mosaic, thin plate spline warping, perspective warping, graph-cut applied in the gradient domain and in the wavelet domain. A …

Digital Seismo-Acoustic Signal Processing Aboard A Wireless Sensor Array For Volcano Monitoring, Omar E. Marcillo

Master's Theses and Capstones

This work describes the design and implementation of a low cost wireless sensor array utilizing digital processing to conduct autonomous real-time seismo-acoustic signal analysis of earthquakes at actively erupting volcanoes. The array consists of (1) three sensor nodes, which comprise seismic and acoustic sensors, (2) a GPS-based time synchronization node, and (3) a base receiver node, which features a communication channel for long distance telemetry. These nodes are based on the Moteiv TMote Sky wireless platform. The signal analysis accomplishes Real-time Seismic-Amplitude Measurement (RSAM) and Seismic Spectral-Amplitude Measurement (SSAM) calculations, and the extraction of triggered arrival time, event duration, intensity, …

Software Tools For Comparing Genomic Sequence, Morel Henley

Master's Theses and Capstones

We describe three software tools related to research in comparative genomics, a growing research area that explores the variation within and between organisms. We developed a set of tools that explore sequence similarity and differences in genomes. Two of these tools are specifically aimed at examining DNA sequence data from two or more genomes: (1) The Magenta's OPUS tool compares genomic sequences to identify shared or unique segments between closely related species. This tool looks for functional similarities and differences in genomic data by classifying sequences into groups based on genomic categories: Orthologs, Paralogs, and Unique Sequence. (2) The DSNP …

Statistical Characterization Of Correlation-Based Time/Frequency Synchronizers For Ofdm, Anupama Sankaran

Master's Theses and Capstones

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) has been widely adopted as a modulation format for reliable digital communication over multipath fading channels, e.g. IEEE 802.11g "WiFi" networks, as well as broadband wireline channels, e.g. DSL modems. However, its robustness to channel impairments comes at the cost of increased sensitivity to symbol timing and carrier frequency offset errors, and thus requires more complex synchronization methods than conventional single-carrier modulation formats.

In this thesis, a class of synchronization methods based upon the intrinsic autocorrelation structure of the OFDM signal is studied from a statistical perspective. In particular, the reasons for the existence of …

A Graduate Career Services Program For A Regional Business School: Facilitating The Career Growth And Development Of Mba Students, Brent Atwater

Master's Theses and Capstones

This paper creates a comprehensive Graduate Career Services program for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students at a regional business school in a public university, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). With a primary goal of facilitating MBA student career growth and development, the paper reviews the transformation of the global economy and the unique challenges facing MBA students under the new work social contract. After review of the changed social context, consideration is given to the specific psychosocial and career development needs of the MBA students enrolled in the day and evening programs at UNCG. Through assessment …

Nitrogen Loading In Coastal Watersheds Of New Hampshire: An Application Of The Sparrow Model, Kathleen A. Legere

Master's Theses and Capstones

In coastal New Hampshire as well as throughout the world there has been an increase in Nitrogen (N) loading to coastal areas. N is considered the limiting nutrient in coastal waters and can lead to eutrophication. Understanding the sources of coastal inputs is difficult because of the many possible sources of N are found in the watershed and few are adequately sampled. Modeling is an important tool in understanding the sources of N in a watershed. In this research, the New England SPARROW (Spatially Referenced Regression on Watershed Attributes) will be applied to predict nitrogen loading in the Exeter, Oyster, …

The Annals Of Hildesheim, Bethany Hope Allen

Master's Theses and Capstones

The Annals of Hildesheim is the first English translation of the Annales Hildesheimensis as edited by George Waitz in the Monumenta Germinae Historica and originally found in the Codex Parisiensi. The translation is annotated, and notes provide information pertaining to dates, important personages, martial affairs, politics and religion. In addition, an introduction includes a brief history of Hildesheim, as well as a description of the organization of The Annals, a discussion of the possible identity of the anonymous authors of the text, the historical method used by the authors, and the sources that were employed in the creation of the …

Gender Socialization: Implications For Gender Differences In Self-Concept Among Adolescents, Erin D. Libby

Master's Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between traditional gender socialization and self-concept during adolescence, in the domains of athletic competence, physical appearance, social competence, and close friendship.

The sample used in the study consisted of 33 eighth graders, of which 19 were female and 14 were male. Participants completed an instrument developed by the researcher to measure level of gender socialization, along with Harter's (1988) Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents (SPPA) to measure self-concept in the above-referenced domains.

The Mann-Whitney U-Test was used to test distributions of means. Results were not statistically significant and therefore failed …

Structural Modeling Of Full Depth Concrete Deck Panels, Rebekah Joelle Briggs

Master's Theses and Capstones

As technology for finite element software improves, the ability to create accurate models of existing systems becomes feasible. Structural modeling is used to predict response to various loading conditions, and if used with structural parameter estimation, could be a successful tool for structural health monitoring.

In June 2006, laboratory testing was completed at the University of New Hampshire on two sets of pre-cast, post-tensioned concrete deck slabs. This work was sponsored by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation for future use in rapid bridge construction. Models of these slabs were created using the finite element software package GTSTRUDLRTM.

This research …

An Observer-Based Attitude And Nutation Control And Flexible Dynamic Analysis For The Nasa Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, Neil Mushaweh

Master's Theses and Capstones

Current research with the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) involves the dynamic modeling and control of the NASA Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mission, a. Solar-Terrestrial Probe mission to study Earth's magnetosphere. Four observer-based attitude and nutrition controllers are designed and evaluated to determine the most effective feedback control system as it applies to MMS. Also, a dynamic analysis of each of the four identical satellites' two Axial Double Probe (ADP) booms is performed to provide an understanding of flexible boom dynamics.

The Finite Element method is used in evaluating boom modes of vibration for confirmation of NASA GSFC theoretical analysis …

A Comparative Study Of The Extended Kalman Filter And Sliding Mode Observer For Orbital Determination For Formation Flying About The L(2) Lagrange Point, Oliver Olson

Master's Theses and Capstones

Two nonlinear state estimation techniques, the Sliding Mode Observer and the Extended Kalman Filter, are compared in terms of their ability to provide accurate relative position and velocity estimates for a formation flying mission about the Earth/Moon - Sun L2 libration point. The observers are individually tested on the NASA Constellation X simulation model. Constellation X is a proposed x-ray telescope mission, where formation flying spacecraft was considered as a possible mission scenario. A follower spacecraft is controlled to maintain a fixed distance (50 meters) from a leader spacecraft to with 1 millimeter accuracy.

The state estimates propagated by each …

Molecularly Imprinted Polymers For The Detection Of Caffeine In Water, Marine Barasc

Master's Theses and Capstones

This work investigates the potential of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for the detection of caffeine in water samples. Different polymerization techniques were explored; namely free-radical bulk, miniemulsion and precipitation polymerization. Building the adsorption isotherms allowed determining the rebinding capacities of the resulting polymers (binding constant and number of sites). Using the nanoparticles prepared by precipitation polymerization in acetonitrile, new analytical techniques were developed. The latex was analyzed directly by High Performance Liquid Chromatography allowing fast template quantification in water samples. In addition, the nanoparticles were coated on a 5MHz microbalance quartz crystal. The bi-Langmuir isotherm allowed computing the mass uptakes …

Simulation And Control Of Processes, Maninder Gill

Master's Theses and Capstones

Process control is required in most of the industries to regulate the output of a specific chemical process. Any improvement in control design results in process optimization, consistent production, hence less waste. In this thesis, process dynamics of first and second order systems was studied in terms of a response to a step input change. A software called LabVIEW from National Instruments was used to simulate a number of processes to observe time response and frequency response to calculate gain, phase margin and Bode plots. This was followed by system stability analysis. Programs in LabVIEW were created to calculate Ziegler …

Kaon Nucleon Scattering In Lattice Qcd, Anthony Charles Marcolongo

Master's Theses and Capstones

In this paper I discuss why one would want to study meson baryon interactions within the framework of lattice QCD, and what I have contributed to this area of research. I begin with a little background on QCD, and Chiral theories. I analyze Kaon Nucleon scattering, and calculate the Kaon Nucleon scattering length from data obtained using a lattice QCD simulation. Therefore, I show that it is possible to use Lattice QCD simulation to extract observables. This is important in areas where experiments are challenging or impossible with current technologies.

Thin-Film Dynamics Above A Periodically-Stretched Alveolar Substrate, Lu Luo

Master's Theses and Capstones

During last few years several new respiratory diseases including SARS and avian flu have appeared in various parts of the world. With deteriorating environmental conditions and increased air travel, more and more people will suffer breathing disorders, leading to an increased demand for methods to prevent and treat these diseases. To properly address this problem, it is necessary to gain a more complete understanding of the mechanics of respiration. This research constitutes a further step toward this goal by focusing on the coupled solid/liquid micromechanics of an idealized piece of lung tissue.

Gas exchange in mammalian lungs is efficient because …

Statistical And Cartographic Modeling Of Vernal Pool Locations: Incorporating The Spatial Component Into Ecological Modeling, Tina A. Cormier

Master's Theses and Capstones

Vernal pools are small, isolated, depressions that experience cyclical periods of inundation and drying. Many species have evolved strategies to utilize the unique characteristics of vernal pools; however, their small size, seasonal nature, and isolation from other, larger water bodies, suggest increased risk of damage/loss by development. The goals of this research were to statistically determine physical predictors of vernal pool presence and, subsequently, to represent the output cartographically for use as a conservation tool. Logistic regression and Classification and Regression Tree (CART) routines were used to define important variables (slope, aspect, land use, soils, and reflectance) of 405 known …

The Granite, 2007, University Of New Hampshire

The Granite – Yearbook

The yearbook of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts, 1909-1922, the University of New Hampshire, 1923-

Winter 2006, Twenty-Two Receive Scholarships For Study Abroad, Center For International Education

UNH International Educator Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The New Hampshire, Vol. 96 [97], No. 22 (Dec. 1, 2006), The New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Print Edition

An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire. This volume was printed as 96, but it is the 97th volume in the series. This was corrected in pencil.