Digital Commons Network^™

Cview, A Graphical Program Generator For The C Programming Language, Walter E. Martin

Theses

The electronics industry has long been a user of graphical design aids. Graphical design tools for VLSI circuits are used to lay out the design, generate data structures for the simulation of the circuit and eventually produce the photomasks for the production of the chip. As such these tools form a working environment that allows an engineer to design, debug and produce a final product. Software design, in general, is still done by writing individual lines of code. At best a macro language or a meta-language will be available to ease the pain of detail coding. While these tools are …

B-Spline Surface Techniques For Solid Modeling An Application To Computer-Aided Geometric Design, Chi-Ming Tang

Theses

One important area of Computer-Aided Geometric Design (CAGD) is concerned with the approximation and representation of the surfaces of solid objects. Accurately describing the shape of an object so that the description is useful to designers who must decide how to manipulate it is an important problem. B-spline techniques promise greater versatility in describing complex surfaces than other techniques, thus the B-spline surface is highlighted in the field of constructive solid geometric modeling. A method for drawing complex surfaces by using B-spline techniques is presented. The tensor product surface scheme is developed for constructing sculptured surfaces. Also, the basic principle …

A Synthesized Approach For Data Base Life Cycle Design, Philip J. Morales

Theses

This thesis examines the human and technological issues that are often encountered during the application-driven system design and recommends a synthesized life cycle approach to data base design. The aerospace industry is emphasized due to the highly competitive and regulatory operating environment. Special attention is given to the strategic business planning and end-user involvement in the requirements definition phase of system development. The research consists of reviewing of current literature concerning tools, techniques, and available Information Engineering (IE) methodologies that are the basis for managing data as a resource. The benefits offered by these methodologies along with the experience gained …

My Thesis, Kandice L. Kelley

Theses

Unavailable.

Research And Development Of An Abc Book Of Thinking Skills With Caldecott Books For Primary Students, Edythe Bernhardt

Theses

The goal of A1erican education today is to develop the thinking ability of children to enable them to learn even after leaving school. Because of an increasingly complex, ever-changing, problem-ridden world, creative thinkers and problem solvers are needed today more than ever before.

The purpose of the project was to research and prepare appropriate materials to develop thinking skills in primary aged children, kindergarten through grade three. The thinking skills were combined with quality children's literature, the Caldecott Award winning books, in activities which teach children to think and motivate them to read excellent children's literature . These activities were …

Implementation Of A Module Implementor For An Activity Based Distributed System, Stewart W. Mayott

Theses

This thesis investigates process environment within a distributed computational network, in particular, an activity-based distributed system. An activity-based distributed system is an object-oriented programming system. Objects are grouped together into logical arrangements called activities as the programmer desires . All program code is contained within objects, and some objects are implementors of object types. Objects in an activity receive activity information related to other objects in the activity and have virtual communication capability with other objects in the same activity. To investigate the feasibility of this environment, a fully functional module implementor was created. Further, other components with limited functionality …

Dataflow: Overview And Simulation, Steven I. Benjamin

Theses

The thesis project is a software simulation of the dataflow machine prototyped at the University of Manchester. It uses a dynamic token matching scheme based on the U-interpreter, and supports I-structures, an array-like data structure. An assembly language is provided for programming the simulator.

An Alternative Language Interface For The Mistress Relational Database Patterned After Ibm's Query-By-Example, Susan C. Vogel

Theses

This thesis effort developed a user-oriented query language interface, patterned after IBM's Query-by-Example, for the Mistress relational database. The interface, Mistress/QBE, is written entirely in C and uses the UNIX curses library of subroutines to allow full screen input and output. Mistress /QBE allows the user to issue commands to draw pictorial representations of tables which exist in the database. The user then enters values and operators into the tables to specify a query by indicating attributes to be used in conditional selections, sort and grouping orders, and output formats. Mistress /QBE decodes the information entered on the screen and …

Performance Analysis Of Text-Oriented Printing Using Postscript, Thomas Kowalczyk

Theses

POSTSCRIPT is a page description language which is used to transmit printing information from a host computer (i.e. Apple Macintosh) to a printer (i.e. Apple LaserWriter Plus). It has the ability to describe pages consisting of text, vector graphics, and scanned bit-map images. Printing text is the area of concentration for this thesis. Specifically several variables that affect the printing speed of a common POSTSCRIPT printer, the Apple LaserWriter Plus, are looked at when printing text in a variety of fonts, sizes, and orientations. The variables that affect printer performance include: - use of outline vs. bit-map fonts; - the …

Ada As A Design Specification Language, Barbara Brunner Gibson

Theses

The primary thesis objective is research into current approaches to design specification languages, emphasizing Ada. Requirements specification is touched upon. Design specification is explored and related to requirements and implementation. The role of language in design is discussed, as well as objectives of the design specification and features that a specification language should provide in order to meet those objectives. Formal language is contrasted with natural language. Some formal specification languages are described, both Ada related and not Ada related. The secondary objective, the thesis project, is to illustrate a design specification in a formal language, Ada. The purpose of …

Implementation Of An Activity Coordinator For An Activity-Based Distributed System, Robert Shaw

Theses

Distributed computing systems offer a number of potential benefits, including: - improved fault-tolerance and reliability - increased processor availability - faster response time - flexibility of system configuration - effective management of geographically distributed resources - integration of special purpose machines into applications In order to realize this potential, support systems that aid in the development of distributed programs are needed. An Activity System facilitates the design and implementation of distributed programs: (1) By allowing the programmer to group functionally related objects into an activity (or job) which is recorded within the system. The information stored concerning relationships between objects …

Database Machines In Support Of Very Large Databases, Mary Ann Kuntz

Theses

Software database management systems were developed in response to the needs of early data processing applications. Database machine research developed as a result of certain performance deficiencies of these software systems. This thesis discusses the history of database machines designed to improve the performance of database processing and focuses primarily on the Teradata DBC/1012, the only successfully marketed database machine that supports very large databases today. Also reviewed is the response of IBM to the performance needs of its database customers; this response has been in terms of improvements in both software and hardware support for database processing. In conclusion, …

History And Criticism Of Photographically Illustrated Children's Books, Debora J. Bork

Theses

None provided.

Importance And Implementation Of Explanation In Expert Systems, Kurt R. Heilbronn

Theses

Explanation is crucial in persuading others of the correctness of our beliefs to gain acceptance of our conclusion. Early research into expert systems focused on methods for reasoning. However it became apparent that the ultimate success lay in the ability to gain user acceptance by explaining the reasoning behind the conclusion. This study examines explanation from a social and an implementation standpoint. The social aspects of explanation provide insight into the role of naturally occurring explanations and listener expectations. Examination of research expert systems with explanation facilities and modifications of a simple Prolog expert system shell demonstrate the techniques required …

Colorpalette: A Knowledge-Based System To Select Colors For A Palette, Penny Bauersfeld

Theses

This paper describes ColorPalette, a knowledge-based system to advise users in selecting colors for a palette used for computer screen design applications. Color selections and advice are based on principles of human computer interface design and color theory, gathered through both research and knowledge acquisition from a human expert. The user may put together various color combinations to form acceptable and successful palettes. The system consists of a color data-base of facts formulated from an HSV color model, a knowledge base that can reason about these colors and their relations to each other, and a set of rules based on …

Variable Size Block Truncation Coding With Adaptive Bit Plane Omission For Image Compression, Hieu T. Pham

Theses

A modified version of the Block Truncation Coding (BTC), which is a non-information preserving image compression technique, is studied. The first modification is the introduction of variable block sizes to the standard BTC technique. The second modification is the adaptive omission of bit planes. Threshold selections for this modified BTC technique are analyzed in the context of the human visual system. Modified BTC techniques are compared against the standard technique from the point of view of visual image quality and compresion efficiency.

Computer Graphics And The Harvard Interactive Videodisc Project, David B. Marshall

Theses

Not Included

Photographic Work 1986-87, Peter Ainsworth Carter

Theses

Not listed.

An 8085 Microprocessor Based Monitor System For A 750 Cc Honda Motorcycle, Robert H. Leet

Theses

This system replaces the analog speedometer and tachometer gauge cluster of a 750 cc Honda motorcycle with a computerized monitor system based on the INTEL 8085A microprocessor and family of peripherals. The system adds the enhanced functionality of engine temperature, battery charging, fuel level, turn signal, and kick stand monitoring and status display. A security function is also employed as a guard against unauthorized use or theft. The speedometer and tachometer functions utilize phototransistor sensors generating pulses derived from stock cable connections to the engine block and front wheel. The engine temperature, fuel level, and battery charging functions are implemented …

Namer: A Distributed Name Server For A Connected Unix Environment, Thomas Tatakis

Theses

A naming or identification scheme is crucial to the design of any computer system. One must be able to access and perform operations on resources and data in order to complete a given task. In a distributed system the problem is compounded by the geographical separation of resources. Moreover, the underlying network of computers should be transparent to the users. A user should simply be able to request that an operation be performed and the system should locate the necessary resources. This function of locating a named resource is performed by a special service called a name service. This thesis …

A Knowledge Acquisition Assistant For The Expert System Shell Nexpert-Object, Florence Perot

Theses

This study addresses the problems of knowledge acquisition in expert system development examines programs whose goal is to solve part of these problems. Among them are knowledge acquisition tools, which provide the knowledge engineer with a set of Artificial Intelligence primitives, knowledge acquisition aids, which offer to the knowledge engineer a guidance in knowledge elicitation, and finally, automated systems, which try to replace the human interviewer with a machine interface. We propose an alternative technique to these approaches: an interactive syntactic analyzer of an emerging knowledge base written with the expert system shell called Nexpert Object. This program intends to …

The Relationship Between Computer Interaction And Individual User Characteristics, Kathleen Lambert

Theses

Development of effective human computer interaction is being approached independently by two disciplines -- user interface design and computer aided instruction. The lack of communication between the two fields has left each separately pursuing different paths toward the same goals. This thesis attempts to bridge the gap between these two disciplines. An exploratory study was conducted to analyze whether user choices in a computer aided instruction environment and personality types as defined by the Myers-Briggs type indicator are related strongly enough to provide the basis for future user models. The results demonstrated that no single instructional strategy was preferred, implying …

Aids And The Foodservice Industry: Operators, Employees, Patrons, And ... Problems, Cheri Ann Young

Theses

Not Included

A User Interface Management System For Voice I/O Applications, Brian A. Nadworny

Theses

With the use of voice technology increasing, a need for proper end-user interfacing is necessary. To deal with voice I/O applications, a user interface management system (UIMS) is suggested. This will alleviate the frustrations of poorly designed interfacing. It will also remove the burden from the systems designer of implementing the end-user interface and allow him/her to concentrate on the application. The end-user interface will then be designed by an expert in dialogue design with the assistance from the UIMS. This thesis presents a UIMS model to be used with voice applications.

Adaptive Arithmetic Data Compression: An Implementation Suitable For Noiseless Communication Channel Use, James E. Robinson

Theses

Noiseless data compression can provide important benefits in speed improvements and cost savings to computer communication. To be most effective, the compression process should be off-loaded from any processing CPU and be placed into a communication device. To operate transparently, It also should be adaptable to the data, operate in a single pass, and be able to perform at the communication link's speed. Compression methods are surveyed with emphasis given to how well they meet these criteria. In this thesis, a string matching statistical unit paired with arithmetic coding, is investigated in detail. It is implemented and optimized so that …

Graphical Programming System For Dataflow Language, Jyun-Jier Roland Jehng

Theses

Dataflow languages are languages that support the notion of data flowing from one operation to another. The flow concept gives dataflow languages the advantage of representing dataflow programs in graphical forms. This thesis presents a graphical programming system that supports the editing and simulating of dataflow programs. The system is implemented on an AT&T Unix^TM PC.

A high level graphical dataflow language, GDF language, is defined in this thesis. In GDF language, all the operators are represented in graphical forms. A graphical dataflow program is formed by drawing the operators and connecting the arcs in the Graphical Editor which …

Microprocessor Controller For A Multi-Targets System, Shoeineng Lin

Theses

This thesis presents a microprocessor controller for a multi-targets system, which is designed by a direct digital control in the modern computer-aided manufacture system. It is made up of digital control theory, computer hardware configuration and software algorithm. An example is illustrated by IBM PC/XT computer. In this example, the control laws of three simple targets are developed and implemented by C-language. Simultaneously, the computer self-test routines, such as CPU, ROM etc, are developed by intel-8088 assembly language.

Interfacing Of The Digital Spyghnomanometer [Sic] Ds-165 To The Intel 8052ah Basic Based Single Board Computer, Rakesh P. Patel

Theses

The aim of this thesis is to collect the measured data from the blood pressure measurement unit to the single board computer and to store the data for the analysis purposes.

Visual Organizational Systems For The Graphic Designer, Michael P. Agoston

Theses

None provided.

Graphic Design Archive On Videodisc: Graphic Access, Sister Alma Mary Anderson C.S.C.

Theses

Not Included