Digital Commons Network^™

Hypermanual A Hypermedia Construction And Browsing System In Smalltalk/V Mac, James Tracy Burdick

Theses

The process of locating needed information in a paper document is often frustrating and time consuming. The information may be available but, since the basic access method is often linear, the information is not readily available. Hypermedia systems offer a computer-based mechanism that can simplify the search process and increase the ratio of useful information found to time expended. Such systems also support the creation of alternate views on the same data base of information. This thesis describes some current hypertext systems and the overall structure of the HyperManual system. This system includes both the tools needed to create and …

Computer Classification Of Stop Consonants In A Speaker Independent Continuous Speech Environment, Michael R. Campanelli

Theses

In the English language there are six stop consonants, /b,d,g,p,t,k/. They account for over 17% of all phonemic occurrences. In continuous speech, phonetic recognition of stop consonants requires the ability to explicitly characterize the acoustic signal. Prior work has shown that high classification accuracy of discrete syllables and words can be achieved by characterizing the shape of the spectrally transformed acoustic signal. This thesis extends this concept to include a multispeaker continuous speech database and statistical moments of a distribution to characterize shape. A multivariate maximum likelihood classifier was used to discriminate classes. To reduce the number of features used …

Electrostatic Discharge - Understanding And Controlling The Phenomenon: A Handbook For Packaging Professionals, Deanna Jacobs

Theses

This thesis is designed to be a handbook on the phenomenon of electrostatic discharge (ESD) and its deleterious effects on electrically-sensitive electronic devices. Packaging and handling of sensitive devices occurs at every step in the assembly of such devices. Once the hardware is designed (and this may include some ESD-protective mechanisms) , it is the packaging of ESD-sensitive devices that determines their ultimate fate: being 100% reliable, being among the "walking wounded," or being completely useless. Electrostatic discharge is a phenomenon experienced in many industries from foods to pharmaceuticals, aerospace to communications, medical packaging to explosives, military to optics, and …

A Group Art Therapy Program For Use With Adolescents Who Have Been Victims Of Incest, H. Alec Arnold

Theses

This project represents the development of a manual for the application of art therapy activities in group therapy with adolescents who have been victims of incest. The treatment model presented in the manual is based on the need of incest victims to be able to articulate and abreact the feelings associated with their abuse within the context of a supportive and empathic relationship.

This need serves as the basis for this model for two principal reasons. In the act of incest victims are treated with complete disregard for their feelings and needs. Victims are treated as objects to be used …

Conservation Survey Of The Benaki Museum Photographic Archive In Athens, Greece, Vasiliki Hontos

Theses

Not listed.

Thermal Evaluation Of An Integrated Circuit Chip Using Infrared Imaging And Finite Element Techniques, Terence Lerch

Theses

Thermal Analysis of a prototype IC chip was performed with the use of an Agema Infrared Thermal Imaging System and the Algor Thermal Supersap Heat Transfer finite elements software package. A preliminary calibration of the Agema Thermal Imaging system demonstrated its accuracy to be within ± 0.5 °C of the actual surface temperature being measured. Computed emissivities were within 6.0% of actual emissivity values of a surface. Qualitative comparison of the IC chip's temperature profiles measured by the Agema system and computed by the Algor finite elements package revealed agreement between the two techniques. Quantitative comparison between the two resulted …

Investigation Of Cell Mapping And Off-Line Programming Within A Flexible Assembly System, Marta Anna Galuga

Theses

This investigation achieves two objectives. The first objective renders every robot on the production floor "alike" via a single robot configuration file. The second objective eliminates the tedious routine of teaching and reteaching robotic locations on-line by an operator or engineer. The functionality of these software solutions is demonstrated using the AdeptOne Scara robot, but the impact of this system is far beyond Adept. The code listings included within this thesis are specific to the AdeptOne controller, but the concepts developed and demonstrated herein may be extended to any sophisticated robot controller and programming language.

Effect Of Low Level Radiation On The Barrier Qualities Of Spunbonded Olefin, Samir A. Sheth

Theses

Medical packages have to meet highly specific criteria over and above other types of packages. Protection of contents from microbial contamination and physical damage is a priority. The permeability to sterilizing gas; retention of properties and appearance after sterilizing radiation; printability and aseptic presentation all have to be present at reasonable cost. The most important is maintenance of sterile integrity. In order to have sterile integrity, the medical package must have high barrier properties. Sterility maintenance is the ability of porous packaging materials to act as barriers to microorganisms. The random non- woven structure of spunbonded olefin creates a highly …

The Transportation Of Hazardous Materials, Songsamorn Kongboonma

Theses

Effective January 1, 1991, both international and domestic hazardous materials must be transported according to the shipment required by the United Nation Recommendations (UN Recommendations). This mandate to follow the UN Recommendations has caused a lot of confusions for packers, shippers and shipping agents. Due to the confusion surrounding the use of this document, this thesis provides a basic guideline and complete instructions on how to handle hazardous materials smartly and safely. Not understanding the regulations involved in hazardous material movement could result in much confusion in dealing with these type of materials. These analysis will clarify such areas as …

Fast Multiplication Of Multiple-Precision Integers, Sonja Benz

Theses

Multiple-precision multiplication algorithms are of fundamental interest for both theoretical and practical reasons. The conventional method requires 0(n2) bit operations whereas the fastest known multiplication algorithm is of order 0(n log n log log n). The price that has to be paid for the increase in speed is a much more sophisticated theory and programming code. This work presents an extensive study of the best known multiple-precision multiplication algorithms. Different algorithms are implemented in C, their performance is analyzed in detail and compared to each other. The break even points, which are essential for the selection of the fastest algorithm …

Determination Of The Thermal Properties Of Thin Polymer Films, Duane A. Swanson

Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to analyze heat transfer characteristics of cavitated-core polymer films. The effects of thickness and composition on the insulative properties of thin polymer films were studied. Two experimental tests were developed to measure the heat transfer rate through a variety of thin films. One test apparatus was used to study convective and radiative effects while the second was used to study the conductive effects. A finite element model of a frozen food commodity wrapped in an insulative thin film was developed. Transient simulations were performed for the dynamic characterization of thermal wave propagation across the …

Vowel Recognition Using Kohonen's Self-Organizing Feature Maps, Anand R. K. Sundaram

Theses

An important organizing principle observed in the sensory pathways in the brain is the orderly placement of neurons. Although the neurons are structurally identical, the specialized role played by each unit is determined by its internal parameters that are made to change during early learning processes. In the human auditory system, the nerve cells and fibres are arranged in a manner that would elicit maximum response from the neurons when they are activated. Although most of this organization is genetically determined, some of the high level organization is created due to algorithms that promote self-organization. Kohonen's self-organizing feature map is …

An Expert System To Generate Musical Variations In The Style Of Telemann, Kathy Johnson Merck

Theses

Musical performance practice during the Baroque period (approximately 1600 - 1750) required that a solo performer be adept at adding extemporaneous variations on the composer's original melody during performance. Atypically, George Phillip Telemann, in his "Methodical Sonatas", provided, along with the original melody line, a written-out variation of that line. Using knowledge of the Baroque style in general and that gleaned from an analysis of Telemann's variations in particular, this expert system models a Baroque musician's (expert's) process of creating such variations. The variation process (programmed in Prolog) involves transformations to a list structure which represents the piece. The system …

Etrans: A English-Thai Translator, Nuntaporn Warote

Theses

ETRANS is an experimental English-Thai machine translation (MT) system that translates a simple English sentence into a grammatically correct Thai sentence. The entire system is written in C-Prolog, and runs on UNIX systems. The MT strategy taken by ETRANS is an interlingual strategy with a parser for English and a generator for Thai. The parser creates a semantic representation equivalent to the meaning of the English sentence. A generator then interprets the semantic representation into Thai. ETRANS employs frames as a means for representing knowledge, and an augmented transition network (ATN) as the linguistic framework for analyzing and generating sentences.

Genroute: A Genetic Algorithm Printed Wire Board (Printed Wire Board (Pwb) Router), Bob Coward

Theses

The major effort of this thesis was to develop an electronic circuit routing system that utilizes genetic algorithms to perform Printed Wire Board (PWB) routing rather than brute force exhaustive searching methods. This problem can be classified as an NP-Hard optimization problem searching a large solution space. Some desirable characteristics of an electronic routing system are that it: Minimize the number of potential solutions Minimize the number of board layers and tap holes Minimize trace lengths and the number of "jogs" Minimize trace cross-talk and the board capacitance.

Nonlinear Dynamics Of A Magnetoelastic System, Chetan O. Modi

Theses

A dynamically buckled elastic beam is a physically realizable system exhibiting both periodic and chaotic behavior. The equations of motion are developed as a finite dimensional Galerkin approximation of an infinite degree of freedom system. Generalized eigenvalues or Lyapunov exponents are introduced as a quantitative characterization of chaos, i.e. unstable but bounded motion. A semi-discrete method for the estimation of the Lyapunov spectrum is used to investigate the influence of the forcing parameters on the system response. The equations of motion are then integrated numerically to correlate the steady state response with the value of the associated largest Lyapunov exponent.

An Investigation Of The Effect Of A Reverse Engineering Tool On The Software Maintenance Effort, Leonie Menco Fernandes

Theses

In order to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of software engineering aids in software program maintenance, productivity improvements as measured by the time to task completion -- for a representative sample of Software Engineers were assessed, with and without the use of a commercially available CASE tool. These improvements were also measured in relation to the level of experience of the Software Engineer and the complexity level of the program maintained. Results show that the CASE tool appeared to have a significant impact on the productivity of the Software Engineers included in the study. The effect of the tool in …

Findings Of A Comparison Of Five Filing Protocols, R. Elayne Mcfaul

Theses

Filing protocols are essential for the management and dissemination of shared information within computer systems. This is a survey of the current state of the art in filing protocols. Five popular filing protocols were selected and subjected to a rigorous comparison. FTAM, FTP, UNIX rep, XNS Filing, and NFS are compared in the following areas: exported interface, concurrency control, access control, error recovery, and performance. The coverage of background material includes a taxonomy and a brief history of filing protocols.

An Energy Comparison Between Polycarbonate And Glass Half-Gallon Milk Bottles Used In A Returnable Refillable System, Mark A. Plezia

Theses

Not provided.

Algorithm Animation And Its Application To Artificial Neural Network Learning, Walter Bubie C.

Theses

Algorithm animation is a means of exploring the dynamic behavior of algorithms using computer-generated graphics to represent algorithm data and operations. Research in this field has focused on the architecture of flexible environments for exploring small, complex algorithms for data structure manipulation. This thesis describes a project examining two relatively unexplored aspects of algorithm animation: issues of view design effectiveness and its application to a different type of algorithm, namely back-propagation artificial neural network learning. The work entailed developing a framework for profiling views according to attributes such as symmetry, regularity, complexity, etc. This framework was based on current research …

Transition Through Resonance In Linear And Nonlinear Systems, Mantrala Anand

Theses

In this work an asymptotic method known as the Krylov- Bogol iubov-Mit ropolsky (KBM) method is used to analyze linear and nonlinear systems. A system of first order equations for amplitude and phase is deduced. Using these first order equations the amplitude-response is approximated. The amplitude-response is then compared with the displacement response obtained by the Runge-Kutta method. Also, a comparative study is made between the stationary and nonstat ionary resonances in linear and nonlinear systems. The effect of linear variation of forcing frequency on the amplitude of the systems is closely examined. The consequence of different sweep rates on …

A Vibrational Study Of Gear Pumps And Gear Pump Drives, Matthew Kulpa

Theses

Process equipment used for lamination was evaluated to determine the causes for variance of the thickness of the laminated material applied to the plastic sheathing. This study selected one area, specifically the pumping system, for further evaluation. The pumping system being evaluated to determine the dynamic characteristics of the flow and to determine if any vibrations from the gear drive unit were being transmitted through the pump to perturb the flow. The natural frequencies were determined analytically and experimentally for shafts in bending and angular modes. The excitation frequencies (frequencies actually generated through the actual running of the gear drive …

Bidding A Bridge Hand: A Thesis On Knowledge Acquisition And Application, Gregg Silveira

Theses

Computerizing the game of Bridge has not yet met with much success. The efforts to date have fallen short of any reasonable technical proficiency. The game does appear to be perfectly suited for an expert system, however, since the game can be segmented into three contexts (Bidding, Play of the Hand, and Defense), each context can be described by a set of rules, and a series of inferences can be used to fire those rules. Each of the contexts is reviewed, then Bidding is chosen for further research. This thesis claims that the set of all hands subdivides into 1 …

An Experiment In The Complexity Of Load Balancing Algorithms, Charles Carlino

Theses

Not provided.

A Survey And Analysis Of Algorithms For The Detection Of Termination In A Distributed System, Lois Rixner

Theses

This paper looks at algorithms for the detection of termination in a distributed system and analyzes them for effectiveness and efficiency. A survey is done of the published algorithms for distributed termination and each is evaluated. Both centralized distributed systems and fully distributed systems are reviewed. The algorithms are analyzed for the overhead and conclusions are made about the situations in which they can be used, i.e. an operating system, a real-time system, or a user application. An original algorithm is presented for the asynchronous case with first-in-first-out message ordering. It allows any process to initiate detection of termination and …

Turret Envy, Gregory Owen Stanforth

Theses

Not provided.

Development Of A Selection Model For Package Structural Designs Which Optimize Flexible Manufacturing, Luke Faulstick

Theses

The purpose of this study was to develop a selection model to be used in the design of packages for flexible manufacturing. The model was developed by utilizing the concepts and philosophies of Just-In-Time (JIT), Total Quality Control (TQC), and Design For Assembly (DFA). A case study was used to demonstrate the model. The case study involved the design of a new package for an existing product utilizing the concepts as previously outlined. Reduced part count, use of standard materials, configurations and process, and process flow charting were all key components of the selection model. As flexible manufacturing becomes a …

A Knowledge-Based Approach To Understanding Natural Language, Bernard J. Huber Jr.

Theses

Understanding a natural language requires knowledge about that language as a system of representation. Further, when the task is one of understanding an extended discourse, world knowledge is also required. This thesis explores some of the issues involved in representing both kinds of knowledge, and also makes an effort to arrive at some under standing of the relationship between the two. A part of this exploration involves an examination of some natural language understanding systems which have attempted to deal with extended discourse both in the form of stories and in the form of dialogues. The systems exam ined are …

Cpga: A Two-Dimensional, Order-Based Genetic Algorithm For Cell Placement, John T. Cooklis

Theses

Not provided.

Compiling Gen-X Knowledge Bases Into "C", Paul Cuddihy

Theses

GEN-X is a proprietary expert system shell developed by General Electric. It supports several types of rule-based module types which use sophisticated goal-selection techniques. A compiler for the GERULE modules has been written. The modules are translated to "C" code, which shows considerable improvements in speed and space usage over the traditional interpreted version of GEN-X. This work demonstrates that all of GEN-X could be compiled to “C”, and that even complex rule-based systems can be compiled into efficient code-removing the speed handicap which has characterized many expert system shells. This opens up opportunities for the use of these intuitive …