Autonomy is the most enabling and the least developed robot capability. A mobile robot is autonomous if capable of independently attaining its objectives in unpredictable environment. This requires interaction with the environment by sensing, assessing, and responding to events. Such interaction has not been achieved. The core problem consists in limited understanding of robot autonomy and its aspects, and is exacerbated by the limited resources available in a small autonomous mobile robot such as energy, information, and space. This thesis describes an efficient biomorphic visual capability that can provide purposeful interaction with environment for a small autonomous mobile robot. The method used for achieving this capability comprises synthesis of an integral paradigm of a purposeful autonomous mobile robot, formulation of requirements for the visual capability, and development of efficient algorithmic and technological solutions. The paradigm is a product of analysis of fundamental aspects of the problem, and the insights found in inherently autonomous biological organisms. Based on this paradigm, analysis of the biological vision and the available technological basis, and the state-of-the-art in vision algorithms, the requirements were formulated for a biomorphic visual capability that provides the situation awareness capability for a small autonomous mobile robot. The developed visual capability is comprised of a sensory and processing architecture, an integral set of motion vision algorithms, and a method for visual ranging of still objects that is based on them. These vision algorithms provide motion detection, fixation, and tracking functionality with low latency and computational complexity. High temporal resolution of CMOS imagers is exploited for reducing the logical complexity of image analysis, and consequently the computational complexity of the algorithms. The structure of the developed algorithms conforms to the arithmetic and memory resources available in a system on a programmable chip (SoPC), which allows complete confinement of the high-bandwidth datapath within a SoPC device and therefore high-speed operation by design. The algorithms proved to be functional, which validates the developed visual capability. The experiments confirm that high temporal resolution imaging simplifies image motion structure, and ultimately the design of the robot vision system.

The major purpose of this thesis is to present a proposal for a Kurdish Tourism Center complex designed on the present site of two of Chicago’s most famous parks. These parks are the Washington Park and the Jackson Park located near the center of this famous city. Moreover, this thesis attempts to offer some new ideas about Kurdish architecture which blend ideas of bio morphism and critical regionalism into the overall design of Center Complex. Thus, much of this thesis offers a discussion of issues related to trying to define Kurdish identity in the 21st century and seeks to include these ideas into the architectural designs of the projects. For example, Kurdish people, by and large, love and treasure the many famous Kurdish poets who have written throughout the centuries until the present day. Overall, Kurdish people love the outdoors and nature. They love flowing water falls and often escape to the mountains with their families to enjoy picnics and have celebrations. Moreover, Kurdish people love music and they love to dance. These are just some of the things that have been translated from ideas into architectural designs for this project. In addition, the Kurds are one of the largest populations of “ethnic” people’s in the world that do not have their own recognized country or nation. Consequently, much of Kurdish identity is about this struggle for freedom and autonomy and the desire to have a country they can call their own. These themes are explored in both the architectural designs for this project and in the accompanying “programing” that might be presented and housed at a Kurdish Tourism/Cultural Center Complex in Chicago, Illinois.

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No description available.

My current work revels in a state of flux. I strive for the work to be electrically charged, conveying a feverish sense of immediacy and vitality that implies motion and frenetic energy. The work is an accretion of brightly colored biomorphic forms that extend out from the wall and onto the floor. Viscous parts ooze and drip while others are globular and bulbous. The hyper-organic forms suggest a paradoxical state of both ripening and rotting, becoming and unbecoming. The work is an attempt to traverse between seemingly divergent constructs, some of which include: growth and decay, the artificial and the natural, the body and the landscape, the infinite and the miniscule, and the real and the imagined. I intend for the works to be suggestive of mutation, of systems becoming cross-wired and melting into each other.

The work that I have produced during my graduate studies at the University of New Orleans addresses the impact that humans have on the environment in our contemporary world. A primary focus, but not exclusive, includes industrial materials or objects, their overwhelming presence that informs the juxtaposition of economic progress, and the reality of environmental disruption. Humor and metaphor are central themes of my work and reference my personal observations and experiences of living in the midst of these environments. Sources from Contemporary underground art have been filtered through my exposure to studio practice and art history, mainly the autonomous processes of Surrealism, resulting in a variety of influences that inform my work. I present imaginary images of architectural, biological, and mechanical transformations with the hopes of nudging the viewers' expectations and to create a better understanding of my opinion pertaining to the world and reality we all live in.

Through sculpture and drawing, I create my own versions of natural specimens primarily based upon the visual unity of disparate organisms. Invented specimens are composed using a variety of processes employing a mixture of atypical materials following the (20th, 21st century) Postmodern shift away from formalist and traditional uses of any singular medium. As well as a variety of art materials, the specimens are hybrids of organic and biomorphic elements, blurring boundaries between botanical, animal, fungal, metal, and mineral. Is my approach perhaps like Charles Darwin, observant and studious naturalist, or am I more like Dr. Frankenstein, science fiction maker of monstrosities?

This paper looks at the concepts of the biomorphic and grotesque in art from the start of the 20th century to the present with a focus on painting and drawing. Included in the discussion of the grotesque throughout history are the works of Dadaist Otto Dix, painter Georg Baselitz, and feminist artists Judy Chicago, Hannah Wilke, and Ana Mendieta. Each used grotesque imagery to comment or react to a larger sociopolitical issue. Biomorphic artworks from the 20th century are mentioned as well, with specific examples of work by Lee Krasner, Willem DeKooning, and Hans Bellmer. These artists together start to illustrate the ways biomorphic and grotesque imagery can be used to explore physical gesture, inspire a visceral reaction in the viewer, and make societal critique. These themes are currently being explored by contemporary artists Jenny Saville, Wangechi Mutu, Inka Essenhigh, Cecliy Brown, Elizabeth Murray, and Maria Lassnig, each of whom is discussed in detail. Their work explores the boundary space between the body and hybridity, impurity, or abstraction, each in their own way. Following this discussion the author’s own paintings and drawings are mentioned, including dialogue detailing the thought process behind each one. Photographs of these works are included.

Tyrimas vykdytas 2004 – 2007 metais, Vilniaus miesto Karoliniškių mikrorajono Pasakų parke. Anotuotas augalų rūšių sąrašas sudarytas remiantis Tachtadžiano sistema (Tachtadjan A.1978), atlikta ekologinė floros analizė pagal Ellenbergą (Ellenberg H.1991), chorologinė − pagal Natkevičaitės-Ivanauskienės sistemą, biomorfinė − pagal atsinaujinimo pumpurų išsidėstymą (Raunkiar CH.), nustatyta parko augalų bendrijų sintaksonominė struktūra. Pasakų parke identifikuotos 210 augalų rūšys, priklausančios 155 gentims ir 55 šeimoms. Išanalizavus augalų spektrą nustatyta, kad didžiausią dalį sudaro astrinių (19,8%), pupinių (16,5%) bei erškėtinių šeimų augalai (14,1%). Pasakų parke aptiktos dvi į Raudonąją knygą įrašytos augalų rūšys – Epipactis atrorubens (tamsialapis skiautalūpis) ir Pulsatilla patens (vėjalandė šilagėlė). Nustatyta, kad 45,1 % augalų vidutiniškai reiklūs šviesai, 51,6 % vidutinio šiltumo augaviečių augalai, 29 % augalų priklauso centrinei Vidurio Europos daliai, 38,7 % vidutinio dirvožemio drėgnumo augalų. Pagal augalų gyvenimo formas didžiausią dalį sudaro hemikriptofitai (42,8 % ), kriptofitai – 18,1 %, fanerofitai – 14,3 %, chamefitai ir terofitai po 10 % nuo visų augalų rūšių.Parke išskirtos augalų bendrijų klasės: Borealiniai Šiaurės pusrutulio spygliuočių miškas ir Pamiškių, miško aikštelių ir šlaitų pieva. Parengtas parko pažintinio tako projektas: tako ilgis 2 km, jame numatyta 10 stotelių. Išsiaiškintos moksleivių nuostatos, poreikiai, pažintiniai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The research was made in Pasakų Park, Karoliniškiai district, Vilnius city, in 2004 – 2007. Annotated plant species list was formed on the basis of Tachtadjan system, (Tachtadjan A.1978), ecological flora analysis was made according to Ellenberg (Ellenberg H.1991), chloric analysis, according to Natkevičaitė−Ivanauskienė‘s system, biomorphic – according to renewed buds‘ position (Raunkiar CH.); park plants communities‘ syntaxonomic structure was determined. 210 plant species, which belong to 155 plant genus and to 55 plant families were identified in Pasakų Park. Plant spectrum analysis revealed that the biggest part of plants belong to aster family (19,8%) bud family- (16,5%), eglantine family (14,1%). Two plant species that are included into The Red Book of Endangered Species were found in the Park¬ − Epipactis atrorubens (The Dark Red Helleborine) and Pulsatilla patens (wild crocus). It is determined that 45,1 % of the plants need the average light, 51,6 % - need the average heat to grow, 29 % belong to Middle Europe plants; 38,7 % of the plants grow in the soil with average wetness. According to plant life forms categories, the biggest part of the plants in the Park belong to (42,8 % ) Hemicryptophyte, cryptophyte-18,1 %, Phanerophyte – 14,3 %, chamaephyte and therophyte 10%. The following plant communities’ classes were determined in the Park: Boreal zone’s Northern hemisphere’s coniferous forest and the outer wood ground’s and slopes’ field. Park’s Cognitive... [to full text]