Reduction theory for systems with symmetry deals with the problem of understanding dynamics on a manifold with an action of a Lie group. In geometric mechanics, this problem can be formulated in the Lagrangian, Hamiltonian or affine connection frameworks. While the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations have been well developed, the results obtained in these setups are based on variational principles and symplectic geometry. These methods cannot be used directly in the affine connection formulation unless additional structure is available. In this thesis, a manifold with an arbitrary affine connection is considered, and the geodesic spray associated with the connection is studied in the presence of a Lie group action. In particular, results are obtained that provide insight into the structure of the reduced dynamics associated with the given invariant affine connection. The geometry of the frame bundle of the given manifold is used to provide an intrinsic description of the geodesic spray. A fundamental relationship between the geodesic spray, the tangent lift and the vertical lift of the symmetric product is obtained, which provides a key to understanding reduction in this formulation. / Thesis (Ph.D, Mathematics & Statistics) -- Queen's University, 2007-07-24 01:00:05.635

Le medianoche amoureux is a collection of short narratives by Michel Tournier that was published in 1989. Being introduced as a collection of "Contes et nouvelles" and being compared with Boccacio's Decameron, Le medianoche amoureux has raised many questions. Some of its traits, however, were not explored: is the Medianoche amoureux a "recueil-ensemble"? If so, can it be classified as a "recueil a recit cadre", just like the Decameron? These are the questions this thesis tries to answer. After the characteristics of the different types of short narratives collections have been established, Le medianoche amoureux is confronted to it. In the same vein, it is compared to short narratives collections belonging to the Decameron 's tradition. This analysis' results do not allow to conclude that Le medianoche amoureux has enough resemblance with the Decameron and other collections of the same type to be included in this tradition. However, some traits that are unique to it, for example the progression from "nouvelles" to "contes" and the interactive structure, suggest that it should be seen as a "recueil a recit cadre" as well as being recognized as original in its construction. Le medianoche amoureux hence opens the way to a new generation of collections. This thesis' "creation" part is trying to construct that type of collection. Le second banquet can be seen as a progression from "nouvelle" to "conte" and it has an interactive structure. One must search the same kind of progression that is found in Le medianoche amoureux and see that the opening and closing texts establish an interactive structure, for the reader will have to reconstruct the context in which the narratives appear.

A brief explanation of RNA and its general structure on dierent levels is given. The standard continuous Frenet frame is explained. A discrete version of the Frenet frame is explained in detail and constructed for a piecewise linear curve. The results of the application of the discrete Frenet frame to RNA is shown in the form of several distributions. An analysis of these distributions is conducted and gives some results regarding tiny structures in RNA. / <p>Master Degree Project thesis</p>

Videogrammetry is an affordable and easy-to-use technology for spatial 3D scene recovery. When applied to the civil engineering domain, a number of issues have to be taken into account. First, videotaping large scale civil infrastructure scenes usually results in large video files filled with blurry, noisy, or simply redundant frames. This is often due to higher frame rate over camera speed ratio than necessary, camera and lens imperfections, and uncontrolled motions of the camera that results in motion blur. Only a small percentage of the collected video frames are required to achieve robust results. However, choosing the right frames is a tough challenge. Second, the generated point cloud using a monocular videogrammetric pipeline is up to scale, i.e. the user has to know at least one dimension of an object in the scene to scale up the entire scene. This issue significantly narrows applications of generated point clouds in civil engineering domain since measurement is an essential part of every as-built documentation technology. Finally, due to various reasons including the lack of sufficient coverage during videotaping of the scene or existence of texture-less areas which are common in most indoor/outdoor civil engineering scenes, quality of the generated point clouds are sometimes poor. This deficiency appears in the form of outliers or existence of holes or gaps on surfaces of point clouds. Several researchers have focused on this particular problem; however, the major issue with all of the currently existing algorithms is that they basically treat holes and gaps as part of a smooth surface. This approach is not robust enough at the intersections of different surfaces or corners while there are sharp edges. A robust algorithm for filling holes/gaps should be able to maintain sharp edges/corners since they usually contain useful information specifically for applications in the civil and infrastructure engineering domain. To tackle these issues, this research presents and validates an improved videogrammetric pipeline for as built documentation of indoor/outdoor applications in civil engineering areas. The research consists of three main components: 1. Optimized selection of key frames for processing. It is necessary to choose a number of informative key frames to get the best results from the videogrammetric pipeline. This step is particularly important for outdoor environments as it is impossible to process a large number of frames existing in a large video clip. 2. Automated calculation of absolute scale of the scene. In this research, a novel approach for the process of obtaining absolute scale of points cloud by using 2D and 3D patterns is proposed and validated. 3. Point cloud data cleaning and filling holes on the surfaces of generated point clouds. The proposed algorithm to achieve this goal is able to fill holes/gaps on surfaces of point cloud data while maintaining sharp edges. In order to narrow the scope of the research, the main focus will be on two specific applications: 1. As built documentation of bridges and building as outdoor case studies. 2. As built documentation of offices and rooms as indoor case studies. Other potential applications of monocular videogrammetry in the civil engineering domain are out of scope of this research. Two important metrics, i.e. accuracy, completeness and processing time, are utilized for evaluation of the proposed algorithms.

No description available.

Abstract This paper describes an analysis of social practice taking place between teachers and students within the classroom in a Tanzanian Secondary School. The aim of this contemporary study is to describe and explain classroom interaction with respect to existing role patterns and frame factors. The studied material consists primarily of collected data from classroom observations, with concentration on one class in form one and five single teachers. In addition to the observation method the investigation is also based on complementary informant study where five students within the observed class were interviewed.  An analysis consisting of categorisation, description, and explanation of the different variables of verbal and written communication is expected to yield information about the social practice within the Tanzanian classroom. Such information will aid in addressing a potential connection between pattern of roles and certain frame factors.   The results of the observations imply that the teacher has the most active role; the teaching was almost entirely based on the use of direct, reproductive, teacher-centered methods leaving diminutive room for student moves.  A notably high frequency of questions of a reproductive form, where students merely had to emulate the teacher, was discovered. Even though students were rarely addressed with questions of an open form, observations and interviews reveal students’ eager to break free from their constrained roles. What occurred to be a fixed pattern of steered activities turned out to be highly dynamical process. Considering relevant frame factors, there are reasons to believe that the Tanzanian classroom interaction is about to shift from a monologic to a dialogic classroom discourse; making this a highly interesting matter to investigate.

Thesis (B.Sc.(Hons.)-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1974.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1990. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 226-230). Also available via the Internet.

Zugl.: München, Universiẗat, Diss., 2009.

Thesis (M.S. in civil engineering)--Washington State University. / Includes bibliographical references.