Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 204-209). Also available on the Internet.

People who match each other’s language styles in dialogue tend to have more positive interactions. A person’s language style is defined by his or her use of function words (e.g., pronouns, articles), a class of short, commonly used words that make up the grammatical structure of language. The language style matching (LSM) metric indexes the degree of similarity between two individual’s patterns of function word usage. Previous research assumes that function word similarity and its positive social correlates, such as liking, result from convergence that occurs within an interaction. However, the link between language style similarity and liking may alternately be explained by two kinds of preexisting similarity. First, people tend to like each other more to the degree that they are similar in terms of attitudes, backgrounds, and personality, and these kinds of interpersonal similarity tend to manifest themselves in similar function word use. Second, processing fluency research suggests that people will process typical language styles—which are by definition similar to most other language styles in a normal population—more fluently and thus will like typical speakers more than less typical speakers. Two studies compared the relationship between liking and three measures of function word similarity (convergence, baseline similarity, and typicality) during brief conversations. Each language similarity variable was hypothesized to positively predict measures of liking individually. However, consistent with the behavior coordination literature, only LSM, a measure of within-conversation language convergence, was expected to predict liking above and beyond the other predictors. Study 1 revealed that both men and women in mixed-sex dyads were more interested in contacting their partners the more that their language styles converged during 4-minute face-to-face conversations. Men were also more interested in contacting their female partners to the degree that women’s baseline language styles matched their own. Study 2 found that men, but not women, were more interested in contacting their partners the more that they matched each other’s language styles during 8-minute online chats. Results support the hypothesis that language convergence, theoretically an index of interpersonal engagement, positively predicts quasi-behavioral measures of liking. / text

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

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One of the applications where the use of robots can be beneficial is Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSAR), which involves the search for a possibly mobile but non-trackable lost person (i.e., the target) in wilderness environments. A mobile target implies that the search area grows continuously and potentially without bound. This fact, combined with the presence of typically rugged, varying terrain and the possibility of inclement weather, poses a considerable challenge to human Search and Rescue (SAR) personnel with respect to the time and effort required to perform the search and the danger entailed to the searchers. Mobile robots can be advantageous in WiSAR due to their ability to provide consistent performance without getting tired and their lower susceptibility to harsh weather conditions compared to humans. Thus, a coordinated team of robots that can assist human SAR personnel by autonomously performing searches in WiSAR scenarios would be of great value. However, to date, a suitable multi-robot coordination methodology for autonomous search that can satisfactorily address the issues relevant to WiSAR is lacking. The objective of this Dissertation is, thus, to develop a methodology that can autonomously coordinate the search strategy of a multi-robot team in wilderness environments to locate a moving target that is neither continuously nor intermittently observed during the search process. Three issues in particular are addressed: (i) target-location prediction, (ii) robot deployment, and (iii) robot-path planning. The corresponding solution approaches devised to address these issues incorporate the influence of varying terrain that may contain a priori known and unknown obstacles, and deal with unique target physiology and psychology as well as found clues left behind by the target. The solution methods for these three tasks work seamlessly together resulting in a tractable MRC methodology for autonomous robotic WiSAR. Comprehensive simulations have been performed that validate the overall proposed methodology. Moreover, the tangible benefits provided by this methodology were further revealed through its comparison with an alternative search method.

When you want to pick up an object, it is usually a simple matter to reach out to its location, and accurately pick it up. Almost every action in such a sequence is guided and checked by vision, with eye movements usually preceding motor actions (Hayhoe & Ballard, 2005; Hayhoe, Shrivastava, Mruczek, & Pelz, 2003). However, most research in this area has been concerned about the sequence of movements in complex “everyday” tasks like making tea or tool use. Less emphasis has been placed on the object itself and where on it the eye and hand movements land, and how gaze behaviour is different when generating a perceptual response to that same object. For those studies that have, very basic geometric shapes have been used such as rectangles, crosses and triangles. In everyday life, however, there are a range of problems that must be computed that go beyond such simple objects. Objects typically have complex contours, different textures or surface properties, and variations in their centre of mass. Accordingly, the primary goals in conducting this research were three fold: (1) To provide a deeper understanding of the function of gaze in perception and action when interacting with simple and complex objects (Experiments 1a, 1b, 1c); (2) To examine how gaze and grasp behaviours are influenced when you dissociate important features of an object such as the COM and the horizontal centre of the block (Experiments 2a, 2c); and (3) To explore whether perceptual biases will influence grasp and gaze behaviours (Experiment 2b). The results from the current series of studies showed the influence of action (i.e., the potential to act) on perception in terms of where we look on an object, and vice versa, the influence of perceptual biases on action output (i.e. grasp locations). In addition, grasp locations were found to be less sensitive to COM changes than previously suggested (for example see Kleinholdermann, Brenner, Franz, & Smeets, 2007), whereas fixation locations were drawn towards the ‘visual’ COM of objects, as shown in other perceptual studies (for example see He & Kowler, 1991; Kowler & Blaser, 1995; McGowan, Kowler, Sharma, & Chubb, 1998; Melcher & Kowler, 1999; Vishwanath & Kowler, 2003, 2004; Vishwanath, Kowler, & Feldman, 2000), even when a motor response was required. The implications of these results in terms of vision for Perception and vision for Action are discussed.

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This thesis provides the first example of coordination of a 1,2,3-dithiazolyl (1,2,3-DTA) ligand through a N, O bidentate pocket that is reproducible in high purity and bulk quantities. More importantly, it reports the first magnetometry measurements on metal complexes of a 1,2,3-DTA ligand. The radical ligand 1,2,3-dithiazolyl-6,7-dimethyl-1,4-naphthoquinone (6,7-Me2DTANQ) has been prepared and fully characterized. Coordination complexes of 6,7-Me2DTANQ have also been prepared and the resulting species’ structural and magnetic properties are presented. The transition metal ions Ni2+ and Mn2+ produce volatile trinuclear M(hfac)2-Rad-M(hfac)2-Rad-M(hfac)2 complexes. The spin ground state of the trinuclear Mn complex ST = 13/2 results from antiferromagnetic (AFM) coupling. Short sulfur-sulfur contacts and sulfur-oxygen contacts between trinuclear complexes produce weak AFM coupling interactions between trimer units. The lanthanide ions Nd3+, Gd3+ and Dy3+ produce volatile [Ln(hfac)3-Rad]n complexes. The spin ground state of the Gd polymer is ST = 3 per monomeric unit due to Gd3+‒radical AFM coupling.

A 1,2,3-dithiazolyl radical, [1,2,3]dithiazolyl[4,5-f][1,10]phenanthroline, has been prepared and characterized. The EPR spectrum in toluene supports a delocalized structure with an experimental g-factor of 2.0081. Cyclic voltammetry in CH2Cl2 reveals an Ecell of 1.30 V vs. SCE with a reversible +1/0 and irreversible 0/-1 redox couple. The structure belongs to the space group P-1. Complexes of the radical with Mn2+ and Dy3+ have been obtained. The mononuclear Mn2+ complex was confirmed by elemental analysis; however, no structure was determined. The structure of the mononuclear Dy3+ complex was determined by X-ray crystallography and belongs to the space group C2/c. An isopropyl-substituted oxobenzene-bridged bis-1,2,3-dithiazolyl radical has been prepared and characterized by EPR and cyclic voltammetry. The EPR in toluene supports a delocalized structure with an experimental g-factor of 2.0091. Cyclic voltammetry in CH3CN reveals an Ecell of 0.64 V vs SCE with a reversible +1/0 and irreversible 0/-1 and +2/+1 redox couples.