The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate accuracy and precision of the machine vision system used to calibrate a prepared environment foroptical navigation. Rotationally independent optimized colour reference labels (symbols) creates an environment. Any number of symbols can be used. A symbol carries 8–bit (0 to 255) information, which can be designed for different values by using Matlab algorithms. An optical navigation system enters into the environment and captures thesymbols. The symbols are then decoded to determine the geographical positions of the symbols from reference position of the system by using Matlab algorithms. Then, the system is moved to a known position and the same set of symbols are captured, decoded and located. The process is repeated for several positions of the system to find precision and accuracy. Finally, the results are analysed.

Accurately guessing the thoughts and feelings of another person, known as empathic accuracy, is thought to be a useful skill across many domains. However, the evidence supporting the value of empathic accuracy has been mixed, perhaps because the domains previously examined did not require accuracy for functionality. Negotiation may be one domain in which being accurate really matters for positive outcomes for the perceiver. Additionally, men and women may have different motivations to be accurate, including the presence of a competitive or cooperative situation. The primary research questions of this study are: 1) Is empathic accuracy related to outcomes in the negotiation?; 2) Is accuracy dependent on how the negotiation is framed?; and 3) Does how the negotiation is framed affect men’s and women’s empathic accuracy differently? Individual differences in personal power and Machiavellianism are also examined in relation to accuracy in this context. In this study, 336 participants interacted in same-sex dyads to negotiate over small items in either a competitive or cooperative context, resulting in a 2 (gender) x 2 (context) design. Accuracy was measured both as empathic accuracy for partner’s thoughts during the negotiation as well as accuracy for guessing their partner’s idiosyncratic item preferences (provided prior to the negotiation). Actor-Partner Interdependence models were used to estimate the contributions of each person in the dyad to the outcome of interest. Neither empathic accuracy nor accuracy for guessing item values led to any increases in personal gain in the negotiation. However, empathic accuracy was predictive of satisfaction with the outcome of the negotiation, such that more accurate actors and having more accurate partners both led to significantly increased satisfaction with the outcome. Contrary to the hypotheses, accuracy was not affected by gender or the framing of the negotiation or any interactions between the two variables. Individual differences in power and Machiavellianism did not lead to increases in perceiver empathic accuracy, but rather led to decreases in partner’s accuracy: actors that had partners who were high in power or high in Machiavellianism were less empathically accurate. The implications for negotiation research and future empathic accuracy research are discussed.

Through different learning portals, computer-assisted assessment (CAA) tools have improved considerably over the past few decades. In a CAA community, these tools are categorised into types of questions, types of testing, and types of assessment. Most of these provide the assessment of multiple-choice questions, true and false questions, or matching questions. Other CAA tools evaluate short and long essay questions, each of which different grading methods and techniques in terms of style and content have. However, due to the complexity involved in analysing free text writing, the development and evaluation of accurate, easy to use, and effective tools is questionable. This research proposes a new contextual framework as a novel approach to the investigation of a new CAA tool which auto-generates feedback on project proposals. This research follows a Design Science Research paradigm to achieve and evaluate the accuracy, ease of use, and effectiveness of the new tool in the computer science domain in higher education institutes. This is achieved in three interrelated cycles:(1) based on the existent literature on this topic and an exploratory study on the currently available approaches to the provision of feedback on final year project proposals, a proposed framework to auto-generate feedback on any electronically submitted coursework is constructed in order to gain a clear understanding on how such a CAA tool might work; (2) a contextual framework based on the proposed framework for final year project proposals is constructed by considering both the style and content of the free text and using different text mining techniques; and (3) the accuracy, easy to use, and effectiveness of the implemented web-based CAA application named Feedback Automated Tool (FEAT)is evaluated based on the contextual framework. This research applies CAA and text mining techniques to identify and model the key elements of the framework and its components in order to enable the development and evaluation of a novel CAA contextual framework which can be utilised for auto-generating accurate, easy to use, and effective feedback on final year project proposals.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:22:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-05-28Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:28:45Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barbosa_em_me_prud.pdf: 6325120 bytes, checksum: 83ca12d41a1c8b2c08c84707b01d7e4c (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Os avanços tecnológicos nos métodos de posicionamento têm possibilitado o desenvolvimento de metodologias que viabilizam a sua utilização pelo usuário numa diversidade de aplicações. Um dos métodos de posicionamento GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) de grande destaque é o RTK (Real Time Kinematic) utilizando o conceito de rede de estações. Esse método utiliza a infra-estrutura de uma rede de estações de referência, para disponibilizar correções ao usuário. O conceito clássico do RTK tem como princípio básico a alta correlação dos erros provocados pela ionosfera, troposfera e órbita dos satélites na estação de referência e em uma estação próxima de interesse. No entanto, com o afastamento entre o usuário e a estação base, a eficiência do método é degradada, pois a correlação dos erros é reduzida. Mas, quando se utiliza uma rede de estações de referência, pode-se realizar a modelagem dos erros na área de abrangência da rede. Esta concepção é denominada de RTK em Rede. No que concerne a rede de estações de referência GNSS, utilizou-se a rede estabelecida no oeste do estado de São Paulo (rede GNSS-SP). O software adotado para realizar o processamento em rede foi o GPSNet na versão 2.73. Outra questão levantada foi com relação aos padrões disponíveis para a transmissão dos dados ao usuário, tais como o RTCM e CMR, mostrando as evoluções e aplicações. A questão do enlace de comunicação (link) também foi abordada, mostrando os principais tipos disponíveis, mas com ênfase na telefonia móvel que foi utilizada para transmitir os dados via internet. Foram conduzidos vários experimentos... / Technological advances in positioning methods have enabled the development of methodologies that allow its use in a great variety of applications. One method of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) positioning of high performance is the RTK (Real Time Kinematic) network. This method uses the infrastructure of a network of reference stations. The original concept of RTK is the high correlation of the errors caused by ionosphere, troposphere and satellite orbit at a reference station and at a nearby station of interest. However, increasing the distance between the user and the base station, the efficiency of the method is degraded, because the error correlation is reduced. But when using a network of reference stations, a better error modeling in the area of the network is possible. This concept is the so called Network RTK. Regarding the network of GNSS reference stations, in this work the established network in the western state of São Paulo (GNSS network-SP) was used. The software adopted to perform the tests in the network was that GPSNet, version 2.73. Another issue raised during the investigation was related to the available standards for transmitting data to the user, such as CMR and RTCM. The developments and applications were presented. The issue of communication link (link) has been addressed, showing the main available types, but with emphasis on mobile phone that was the technology used to transmit data via the Internet. Several experiments were conducted in different locations to examine the integrity, availability and accuracy for RTK positioning and RTK network. The experiments performed with RTK and RTK network (using the concept of VRS (Virtual Reference Station)) showed some problems, probably related to the density of the network. Among them the accuracy, the initialization time span more than expected or even... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:06:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

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abstract: Camera calibration has applications in the fields of robotic motion, geographic mapping, semiconductor defect characterization, and many more. This thesis considers camera calibration for the purpose of high accuracy three-dimensional reconstruction when characterizing ball grid arrays within the semiconductor industry. Bouguet's calibration method is used following a set of criteria with the purpose of studying the method's performance according to newly proposed standards. The performance of the camera calibration method is currently measured using standards such as pixel error and computational time. This thesis proposes the use of standard deviation of the intrinsic parameter estimation within a Monte Carlo simulation as a new standard of performance measure. It specifically shows that the standard deviation decreases based on the increased number of images input into the calibration routine. It is also shown that the default thresholds of the non-linear maximum likelihood estimation problem of the calibration method require change in order to improve computational time performance; however, the accuracy lost is negligable even for high accuracy requirements such as ball grid array characterization. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2012

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:33:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:06:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Os Programas Interlaboratoriais (PIs) de proficiência são parte integrante do processo de obtenção de confiabilidade metrológica para medições e resultados analíticos gerados em laboratórios, ambientes de prática da atividade metrológica. Entre as diretrizes estratégicas do Comitê Brasileiro de Metrologia (CBM) estão incentivar a implantação de PIs que permitam aos laboratórios verificar e demonstrar a confiabilidade de seus resultados e acreditar provedores de PIs. O Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo IPT, órgão subordinado à Secretaria de Desenvolvimento do Estado de São Paulo, apesar de ter sido um dos pioneiros na oferta de PIs, não é atualmente um grande provedor. O objetivo desta pesquisa é propor um modelo de estrutura organizacional de provedor de Programas Interlaboratoriais (PIs), aplicado ao Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnológicas do Estado de São Paulo IPT. O desenvolvimento deste modelo se apoia em revisão teórica, em estratégias advindas da análise SWOT do estudo de dez programas interlaboratoriais oferecidos pelo IPT no período de 2000 a 2009, em fatores condicionantes do IPT, em políticas governamentais atuais, em modelos de estrutura existentes no mercado e em componentes principais de uma estrutura organizacional. O modelo proposto, constituído de dois núcleos principais, o de Coordenação dos Provedores de PIs (COPPI) e o de Gerentes de PIs (GEPI), apresenta os elementos necessários para elevar o IPT à condição de provedor de PIs que atenda, de modo sustentável, às demandas governamentais e de setores produtivos. / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP

Empathy is a central concern in the counselling process. Though much researched, and broadly commented upon, empathy is still largely understood through the words within a client-counsellor interaction. This semantic focus continues despite converging lines of evidence that suggest other elements of an interaction – for example body language – may be involved in the communication of empathy. In this thesis, the foundations of empathy are examined, focusing on empathy’s professional instantiation. These foundations are then related to the idea that the face, and its ability to express emotion, are an important part of the empathic process. What follows is an experiment testing 60 participants. This was a between groups design, with participants assigned to two even groups; one group receiving training in how emotion appears on the face: using the training program eMETT; the other reading a passage on empathy. Following the intervention, hypothesised group differences were assessed using the following analyses. Firstly, an Independent sample T-test, compared group means on the Ickes Empathic Accuracy paradigm, the measure of empathy used. Secondly, a further Independent sample T-test assessed the effect of eMETT training. Thirdly, an ANCOVA, evaluated whether the obtained results may have been confounded by age difference between the experimental groups. Finally a correlational analyse tested for any relationship between baseline and outcome measures. The hypothesis tested stated: training in facial expressions of emotion will enhance counsellors’ empathic accuracy; a hypothesis for which positive evidence was shown. The implications of this evidence suggest efficacy of the eMETT training to enhance empathic accuracy, though this is qualified through critical examination of the experimental method. Suggestions for refinement of this method are discussed.

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / This investigation assessed the diagnostic accuracy of thin-slice (1mm) axial Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the detection and classification of meniscal tears. Meniscal injuries are a common reason for knee pain and the use of MRI has become standard in their assessment. However, the classification of tears and not merely the detection of lesions has become increasingly important to surgeons in deciding between surgery and conservative management. There is a growing body of literature examining the utility of axial MR images in aiding radiologists to more accurately describe and classify morphological characteristics of meniscus tears. However, the thick- slice (4-5mm) axial sequences utilized at many institutions typically only produce 1-2 images on which the menisci can be visualized, which does not provide the required detail to accurately describe the morphological characteristics of meniscal lesions. This study adds to the growing body of literature examining the diagnostic capabilities of MRI with TSAi to accurately describe meniscal tear morphologies. Imaging reports from 107 patients with clinically suspected meniscus injuries who underwent MRI with thin-slice axial imaging were compared to arthroscopic findings using receiver operating characteris (ROC) analysis to assess the diagnostic accuracy of MRI with thin- slice axial imaging (TSAi). The sensitivity and specificity of MRI with TSAi for meniscal tear detection were found to be 91% and 37.5% respectively. Furthermore, MRI with TSAi was highly specific for bucket handle (98.5%) and root ligament tears (94.1%). The findings of our investigation indicate that MRI with TSAi may assist surgeons in determining the need for operative versus conservative management. MRI with TSAi may be particularly helpful in the case of root tears, which were not as readily identified with traditional MRI techniques and often require surgical intervention due to morbidity associated with unrepaired root tears.