Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone Project / In today’s market there are two major categories of home features that home buyers choose from: sustainable or aesthetic. In a residential housing context, sustainable home features are considered as those that reduce the energy consumption of the home while aesthetic home features do not have an effect on energy consumption. While there have been several studies conducted on appraising sustainable or aesthetic features alone this research aims to directly compare the two through a sales comparison approach of Taylor Morrison and Meritage Homes new construction comparable sales homes in the Queen Creek subdivision of Victoria Estates. A sales comparison approach enables each feature type to be analyzed individually for how it affects the pricing variation of a home with its implementation through comparing comparable sales homes to a subject home without the feature type that is being valued. Through this methodology the pricing variation of homes with the inclusion of sustainable features alone was found to consist of an average pricing increase of $39,117 for Meritage homes and a $17,861 increase for Taylor Morrison homes in comparison to aesthetic and sustainable features at an average $47,817 increase for Meritage Homes and $26,561 for Taylor Morrison homes. This research lends itself to providing prospective home buyers with guides on what home features will actively make their homes investments such as MERV 8 filters, a HERS rating of 58, among other findings. In addition, the research highlights which standard, included sustainable and aesthetic features increase the pricing variation of a home from each homebuilder and should be prioritized in being offered as included based on their investment value to home buyers.

Cette thèse a pour but de définir et concevoir de nouvelles techniques de représentation des signauxacoustiques sous-marins. Notre objectif est d’interpréter, reconnaître et identifier de façon automatique lessignaux sous-marins émanant du système sonar. L’idée ici n’est pas de substituer la machine à l’officiermarinier, dont l’expérience et la finesse d’ouïe le rendent indispensable à ce poste, mais d’automatiser certainstraitements de l’information pour soulager l’analyste et lui offrir une aide à la décision.Dans cette thèse, nous nous inspirons de ce qui se fait de mieux dans ce domaine : l’humain. A bord d’un sousmarin,ce sont des experts de l’analyse des sons à qui l’on confie la tâche d'écoute des signaux afin de repérerles sons suspects. Ce qui nous intéresse, c’est cette capacité de l’humain à déterminer la classe d’un signalsonore sur la base de son acuité auditive. En effet, l’oreille humaine a le pouvoir de différencier deux sonsdistincts à travers des critères perceptuels psycho-acoustiques tels que le timbre, la hauteur, l’intensité.L’opérateur est également aidé par des représentations du signal sonore dans le plan temps-fréquence quiviennent s’afficher sur son poste de travail. Ainsi nous avons conçu une représentation qui se rapproche de laphysiologie de l’oreille humaine, autrement dit de la façon dont l’homme entend et perçoit les fréquences. Pourconstruire cet espace de représentation, nous utiliserons un algorithme que nous avons appelé l’Hearingogramet sa version débruitée le Denoised Hearingoram. Toutes ces représentations seront en entrée d’un systèmed’identification automatique, qui a été conçu durant cette thèse et qui est basé sur l’utilisation des SVM. / This thesis aims to identify and develop new representation methods of the underwater acoustic signals. Ourgoal is to interpret, recognize and automatically identify underwater signals from sonar system. The idea hereis not to replace the machine petty officer, whose experience and hearing finesse make it indispensable for thisposition, but to automate certain processing information to relieve the analyst and offer support to the decision.In this thesis, we are inspired by what is best in this area: the human. On board a submarine, they are experts inthe analysis of sounds that are entrusted to the listening task signals to identify suspicious sounds. Whatinterests us is the ability of the human to determine the class of a sound signal on the basis of his hearing.Indeed, the human ear has the power to differentiate two distinct sounds through psychoacoustic perceptualcriteria such as tone, pitch, intensity. The operator is also helped by representations of the sound signal in thetime-frequency plane coming displayed on the workstation. So we designed a representation that approximatesthe physiology of the human ear, i.e how humans hear and perceive frequencies. To construct thisrepresentation space, we will use an algorithm that we called the Hearingogram and a denoised version theDenoised Hearingoram. All these representations will input an automatic identification system, which wasdesigned during this thesis and is based on the use of SVM.

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This work examines the potential of spaceborne microwave remote sensing for the discrimination and analysis of morphological and surface cover-features in semi-arid Tunisia. The study area in central Tunisia comprises a region of overlap between two satellite radar passes: namely Seasat and SIR-A. This allows the influence of two different radar depression angles, look directions and resolutions upon image appearance to be determined. Botn these systems operated at a wavelength of 23cm and hence the characteristic responses of semi-arid surfaces at this wavelength are assessed. This is achieved through visual and digital image interpretation and discriminant analysis of image data. As SIR-A data is available only in optical format, the image had to be digitised before digital image processing could be undertaken. Several radiometric and geometric pre-processing procedures have to be accomplished. Despite the time-lag and calibration difficulties involved, the dominant ground controls on radar backscatter are identified through statistical analysis of information collected in the field. Surface relief, feature geometry and surface roughness are the most important parameters for both systems. The difference in depression angle causes relief information to dominate the Seasat image, while roughness information dominates the SIR-A image. The availability of Landsat Thematic Mapper data for part of the SIR-A swath west of the coastal study area provides a valuable opportunity to assess the complementary nature of data from the visible, infra-red and microwave parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. This is examined through digital and statistical analysis of image data. In the mountain environments, slope angle and aspect are found to be the dominant parameters influencing SIR-A backscatter through their effect on local radar incidence angle. The special quality of radar is its sensitivity to relief and roughness information. This is exploited in a number of applied studies that assess the contributions of radar to environmental management in semi-arid areas. Finally, recommendations are made for future research in the light of the multi-parameter radar systems due to be launched in the 1990s.

The natural phenomena simulation in computer graphics is commonly achieved by the procedural methods or the physics model. However, these approaches are hard to directly approach the visual experience. On the other hand, the image reconstruction works can provide the outcome based on real images but lack of interactivity and efficiency on using image resource. For solving these drawbacks, we propose a novel method that enhances the fire simulation effect using the visual learning of image features and generates continuous animations by integrating with procedural methods. We first obtain the dynamics of fire contour by binarization and edge detection. The information extracted from images is gathered into a set of feature data called fire profile. To generate a long sequence of fire animation from a short clip of fire video, we propose two approaches of visual learning to utilize fire profile to produce continuous animation. One is to use the fire image to setup a color value lookup table which contains the average color value of the fire spatial divisions; the other is to design a state machine for describing fire wiggling movement that can generate effects based on user¡¦s input. During the rendering stage of 3D visualization, we set up the fire volume which connecting the feature points of two cross-views by the cubic spline. Then the edge points found on the fire volume can be used as the contour points of the supplementing slices and generate these supplements inside the planned fire volume to formulate a complete fire effect. The proposed method can raise not only the visual reality but also the interactive ability compared with the existing work.

Three laboratory studies were performed to elucidate the influence of soil texture, pH, and cation exchange capacity (CEC) on the concentration of ferrous Fe in soil solution and the resulting expression of soil redoximorphic features. The objectives were: 1) assess the buffering effects of CEC on ferrous Fe concentration in soil solution, 2) evaluate the effects of pH on the concentration of ferrous Fe in soil solution, and 3) observe the expression of redoximorphic features in soils with varying texture and CEC. The studies concentrated on seasonally wet soils from the Texas Gulf Coast Prairie. Selected soils included Alfisols and Vertisols with characteristics ranging from coarse-loamy to very-fine in texture, strongly acidic to neutral in soil reaction, and siliceous, mixed, and smectitic in mineralogy. The soils included the Pledger clay microlow (acidic, fine-textured), Pledger clay microhigh (neutral, fine-textured), China clay (acidic, fine-textured), Cieno loam (acidic, fine-loamy), Orelia sandy clay loam (neutral, fine-loamy), Gessner fine sandy loam (acidic, coarse-loamy), and Orelia fine sandy loam (neutral, coarse-loamy). The studies provided the following information: 1) fine-textured soils with higher CEC contained more ferrous Fe in solution, 2) ferrous Fe concentrations in the acidic fine-loamy and coarse-loamy soils were higher than the neutral soils for the same textural class, 3) acidic and neutral fine-textured soils contained more ferrous Fe in solution than the remaining soils, 4) the highest percentage of redox concentrations was observed in the acidic, fine-textured soil, 5) the acidic fine-loamy and coarse-loamy soils exhibited a greater percentage of Fe depletions, and 6) a higher percentage of redox features were observed by micromorphic analysis (i.e., point counts under a binocular stereoscopic microscope) than by macromorphic descriptions. This research showed that differing soil characteristics affect the reductive dissolution and translocation of Fe, and subsequent formation of redox features.

An important and in fact essential feature throughout Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is the gothic elements. At first sight Jane Eyre may not look like a gothic novel. However, it includes a lot of gothic features that appear throughout the novel such as ghost, dark secrets and supernatural experiences. The aim of this essay is to show that the gothic elements in the novel have the function of developing the storyline as well as the characters. Importantly, the gothic features affect the relationship between the two main characters both positively and negatively. The results of this essay show that the gothic elements in the novel have a greater function than to frighten the reader. They do not only help develop the main character but they also show the reader Jane’s inner passions and desires. The gothic features are also central in developing Mr Rochester’s character in the eyes of the reader, as they help illustrate his complicated background as well as his growing closeness to Jane. The gothic features are thus central to characterization, and ultimately crucial in building the relationship between the two main characters.

Orientation – the process by which animals determine their position in an environment – can be accomplished by using the visually distinct properties of objects or surfaces, known as features (i.e., colour or pattern) or the relationship among objects and surfaces, known as geometry (i.e., wall length or angular information). Although features have been shown to facilitate the encoding of geometry, little is known as to whether restricting one’s viewpoint to include fewer features will still facilitate the encoding of geometry. During this experiment, men and women were trained to search near either an acute or an obtuse corner of a virtual parallelogram-shaped room that contained either three or four discrete and distinctive features. Participants were subsequently tested for their encoding of wall length and angles when the cues were presented in isolation, together, or in conflict. Results showed that the number of features present during training did not influence the encoding of geometry. However, the discrete and distinctive properties of the features overshadowed the encoding of angles by women as well as by participants who were trained with the obtuse corner. Although some groups of participants did not encode angular information when this was the only available geometric cue, all groups weighed angles more heavily than wall length when the cues provided conflicting information. This result suggests that one type of geometric cue (i.e., wall length) can facilitate the encoding of another (i.e., angles).