This research develops an algorithm to perform isolated word recognition. A detailed description of the recognition system is presented in this thesis. We discuss detection of a spoken word from a recording using an end-point algorithm, extraction of the feature vectors from the sampled speech signal, quantization of the feature vectors into a codebook of a particular size, and recognition of the spoken word using discrete Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) of the words. We discuss the discrete HMM in detail and explain why it is suitable for performing the recognition. A detailed explanation of the training algorithm used to train the HMM to recognize the words is presented. We evaluate the performance of the recognition system under different conditions such as varying the codebook size of the quantizer, the number of states in the HMM, and scaling issues. Experiments showed that a recognition rate of better than 95% was obtained upon using a codebook of size 128 and 4 states in the HMM. The words used for training the HMM were recognized with a rate of better than 99%. / Master of Science

Growers report that plants on a gravel bed cover often require more frequent irrigation compared to plants on a plastic bed cover. Three experiments were conducted to determine the cause of this reported observation. The objective of Expt. 1 was to determine if bed cover type (gravel or plastic) influenced the container environment or growth of Rhododendron ‘Girard Pleasant White’ and Ilex crenata Thunb. ‘Bennets Compacta’ in 11.4 L pine bark-filled containers. Measurements included bed cover, substrate, and plant canopy temperatures; evapotranspiration, stem water potential, and plant widths were also determined. The objective of Expt. 2 and 3 was to determine the amount of water retained by the container substrate following irrigation and drainage on gravel or plastic bed covers. Pine bark-filled containers (3.8 L) on gravel or plastic beds were irrigated, allowed to drain for one h, and the amount of water retained in the container substrate was determined. In Expt. 1, bed cover temperatures (0730 to 1930 HR) and container substrate temperatures (2300 to 0400 HR) were about 2 and 1C higher, respectively, for plastic than for gravel. There were no bed cover treatment differences for other measurements. In Expt. 2, containers on plastic beds with a minimal slope retained more water than containers on gravel; water puddled at the base of containers on plastic but not on gravel. When beds were sloped so that a minimal amount of water collected at the base of containers, there was no influence of bed cover type on substrate water retention (Expt. 3). Thus, the influence of bed cover type on substrate water retention following irrigation and drainage was dependent on bed design. / Master of Science

Master of Architecture

The stress corrosion resistance of 7XXX-series aluminum alloys is related to the distribution of precipitates on grain boundaries. In particular, an increase in the spacing of grain boundary precipitates has been correlated with an increase in the resistance to stress corrosion cracking [1]. In this study, three approaches to heat treating aluminum alloy 7075 were explored in an attempt to increase the grain boundary precipitate spacing relative to that in commercially processed 7075-T651 plate. The first approach consisted of quenching from the solution treatment temperature directly to the aging temperature, the second approach included a step quench to an intermediate annealing temperature after solution treating and before quenching to room temperature and aging, and the third approach consisted of step quenching to an intermediate annealing temperature followed by a relatively high-temperature aging treatment. Grain boundary precipitate spacings significantly larger than those in commercially processed 7075-T651 were obtained without sacrificing hardness using the third approach. The increase in precipitate spacing is attributed to lower grain boundary nucleation kinetics at the intermediate annealing temperature and subsequent coarsening of grain boundary precipitates at the high aging temperature. / M.S.

The experience of daylight directly connects all human life to the universe of nature. Light is the empowering natural engine which anchors all human understanding of physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual discovery. “Building With Organic Light” is a search, through architecture, for the critical values of daylight and movement, in the environments designed for human health, disability, and recovery. This thesis document presents four specific design projects which focus on the value of environmental design specifically crafted to motivate the development of a child living with cerebral palsy. The work is grounded in the thesis that an architectural environment directly integrated with the energy of daylight and nature, is within itself a therapeutic vessel for human health. / Master of Architecture

“Images haunt… Images are not quite ideas, they are stiller than that, with less implication outside themselves. And they are not myth, they do not have that explanatory power; they are nearer to pure story. Nor are they always metaphors; they do not say this is that, they this is. In the nineteenth century one would have said that what compelled about them was a sense of the eternal. And it is something like that, some feeling in the arrest of the image that what perishes and what lasts forever have been brought into conjunction, and accompanying that sensation is a feeling of release from the self.” Robert Hass / Master of Architecture

Architects must use their intuitive abilities to recognize worldly phenomena that can transcend the mundane, and they must interpret them and through them create architecture. Often dismissed as a dismal, merely utilitarian space, the alley presents certain unique conditions which merit attention. Exploration of the conditions led to the development of urban dwellings in which the alley is dignified and becomes a space for comfortable habitation. The housing settlement is located in downtown Blacksburg, a small college town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia. The site is one of the original 16 blocks of the town's central business district. An urban density exists due to the many retail shops and restaurants that are frequented by students and the local townspeople. The initial objective was to integrate this settlement into the fabric of the town by maintaining the density of the downtown area, not only on the street level but within the block as well. The intent was to create urban dwellings that would emphasize the idea of community within a downtown setting. / Master of Architecture

The current crisis of the “American City”, stems from the notion of “The Loss of Place.” This concept of “Place” is defined and a specific project study demonstrating this concept of “Place” is presented. By utilizing new technologies available for methods and means of construction to produce “Meaningful” buildings that convey a sense of “Place” the identity and character of our cities will re-emerge. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is tripartite. It is at once a search for the universal principles of good architecture, an architect's personal search for what is valuable, and the exploration of some particular ideas in a particular project. The successful thesis joins the universal and the particular and calls into use the rational and the intuitive. The thesis began with an attempt to name some of these universals and from them to distill some "clear and distinct"² ideas about the making of architecture. Together these ideas make a manifesto, not in a positivistic sense but rather as a way of beginning this "creative dialectic" between universal and particular. They are ultimately to help address the issue of significance in architecture. / M. Arch.

This master's thesis is the design and discussion of a glass gallery and museum for the Blenko Glass factory in Milton, West Virginia. It is an exploration of Hertzberger’s concept of warp and weft. Let us take the image of a fabric such as constituted by warp and weft. You could say the warp established the basic ordering of the fabric, and in doing so creates the greatest opportunity to achieve the greatest possible variety and colorfulness in the weft. The warp must first and foremost be strong and of the correct tension, but as regards to color it needs merely to serve as a base. It is the weft that gives color, pattern and texture to the fabric, depending on the imagination of the weaver. Warp and weft make up an invisible whole, the one cannot exist without the other, they give each other their purpose. / Master of Architecture