Large quantities of bulk grain are moved using graincars in Canada and other parts of the world. Automation has not progressed significantly in the grain industry probably because the market is limited for automated systems. A prototype of a robot (“Grain-o-bot”) using machine vision to automatically open and close graincar hopper gates and detect the contents of the graincar was built and studied. The “Grain-o-bot” was a Cartesian robot equipped with two cameras and an opening tool as the end-effector. One camera acted as the eye to determine the sprocket location, and guided the end-effector to the sprocket opening. For most applications, machine vision solutions based on pattern recognition were developed using images acquired in a laboratory setting. Major constraints with these solutions occurred when implementing them in real world applications. So the first step for this automation was to correctly identify the hopper gate sprocket on the grain car. Algorithms were developed to detect and identify the sprocket under proper lighting conditions with 100% accuracy. The performance of the algorithms was also evaluated for the identification of the sprocket on a grain car exposed to different lighting conditions, which are expected to occur in typical grain unloading facilities. Monochrome images of the sprocket from a model system were acquired using different light. Correlation and pattern recognition techniques using a template image combined with shape detection were used for sprocket identification. The images were pre-processed using image processing techniques, prior to template matching. The template image developed from the light source that was similar to the light source used to acquire ii images was more successful in identifying the sprocket than the template image developed using different light sources. A sample of the graincar content was taken by slightly opening and immediately closing the hopper gates. The sample was identified by taking an image using the second camera and performing feature matching. An accuracy of 99% was achieved in identifying Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat and 100% for identifying barley and canola.

Modern IT development infrastructure has a large number of components that must be monitored, for instance servers and network components. Various system-metrics (build time, CPU utilization, queries time etc.) are gathered to monitor system performance. In practice, it is extremely difficult for a system administrator to observe a correlation between several systemmetrics and predict a target system-metric based on highly correlated system-metrics without machine learning support. The experiments were performed on development logs at Ericsson. There were many system-metrics available in the system. Our goal is use machine learning techniques to find correlation between buildtime and other system-metrics and predict its trends in the future.

In this study, we explore the relationship between the components of a hybrid process consisting of a spatial point process arid a lattice process using two-dimensional spectral techniques. Simulated spatial point-lattice patterns are used to demonstrate how the different cross-spectral statistics can reveal correlation between the two components. A method to adjust for jumps that normally occur in the cross-spectral phase statistic is then proposed. Such adjustment is needed to enable us to calculate the slope of the phase spectrum which measures the shift between the two components. Several methods to calculate the slope are investigated. Asymptotic properties of the cross-spectral statistics are derived and their confidence intervals estimated. .A test that the components are independent is described. In a study region, lattice processes are observed at regular grids whereas point, processes can be observed anywhere. In order to account for discrepancies that. might arise due to this, methods to discretise the point pattern are suggested. Cross-spectral techniques are then applied to analyse the joint process of the discretised point pattern and the lattice pattern. Finally, we apply the techniques suggested above to study the joint properties of two data sets. The first consists of altitude data of a region in a rain forest in French Guyana together with the locations of a number of tree species in that region. The second set consists of altitude data of the Sahel region of Africa together with location of storms and some of their characteristics. In order to incorporate the storm characteristics in the analysis, cross-spectral tools used to analyse two components are extended to three components.

An investigation into the factors affecting the metered atomisation of superheated liquids has been carried out. The investigation was aimed primarily at developing an understanding of the factors which affect the performance of. respiratory drug delivery systems (Suspension Pressurised Metered Dose Inhalers). Initial investigations used a semi-empirical sizing technique, representing the human airways, to identify the major variables (formulation and geometric) which affect the performance of the MDI system. Computer models were developed to describe both continuous and metered discharge from a superheated-liquid aerosol generator. These models were based on the concept of thermal and dynamic equilibrium, but they were improved and extended, to describe metered discharge, by including empirical corrections obtained from continuous discharge experiments. Experimental investigations using 'instrumented inhalers' were used to confirm the validity of the computer model. The experimental investigations encompassed the use of conventional CFC's and the new non-chlorinated propellants 134A and 227. The computer models and droplet correlation function developed during these investigations represent powerful tools for use in the design of both current and future HFC/HFA powered metered dose inhaler delivery systems.

Children with severe disabilities have limited ability to communicate with their environment. Understanding how and to what extent these children connect with the environment can be an insurmountable challenge for their caregivers. In this thesis we investigated the degree of interactions between a pair of individuals using their physiological signals. It was hypothesized that stronger social interaction induces greater physiological synchrony. We introduced a multivariate index of synchrony to relate various physiological correlations into the degree of social interaction. 18 able-bodied individuals participated in a study to measure the extent of synchrony between two intimate individuals vs. two strangers during conversation. Stronger correlation was detected for intimate participants in comparison with the strangers. The physiological alignment also increased as the dyad interacted more. A generalization of our method can be used for the study of children with disabilities to understand the degree of their non-verbal interaction with their social environment.

Demand for high-resolution imaging capabilities for both space-based and ground-based imaging systems has created significant interest in improving the design of multi-aperture interferometry imaging systems. Interferometers are a desirable alternative to single aperture imaging systems due to the fact that the angular resolution of a single aperture system is dependent on the diameter of the aperture and the resolution of the image recording device (CCD or otherwise) which quickly results in increased size, weight, and cost. Interferometers can achieve higher angular resolutions with lower resolution recording mediums and smaller apertures by increasing the distance between the apertures. While these systems grow in both size, mechanical, and computational complexity, methods of testing large scale designs with small scale demonstration systems currently do not exist. This paper documents the performance of a small scale multi-aperture intensity correlation interferometer which is used to view a double slit image. The interferometer consists of 2 avalanche photo-diodes connected to a data acquisition computer. The image is produced by shining light through the double slit image an image containment system. The sensors are placed at the far end of the image containment system, and their voltages are recorded and digitally filtered. This study presents the formulation of the design parameters for the interferometer, the assembly and design of the interferometer, and then analyzes the results of the imaging experiment and the methods used to attempt to prevent unwanted noise from corrupting the expected interference pattern. Codes in C and C++ are used to collect and analyze the data, respectively, while Matlab® was used to produce plots of binary data. The results of the analysis are then used to show that a small scale intensity correlation interferometer is indeed feasible and has promising performance.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-95) / Microfiche. / vii, 95 leaves, bound 29 cm

<p>The 24-item scale has been used extensively to assess the attitudes towards AIDS precautions. This study investigated the usefulness and validity of the instrument in a South African setting, fourteen years after the development of the instrument. If a new structure could be found statistically, the HIV/AIDS prevention strategies could be more effective in aiding campaigns to change attitudes and sexual behaviour.</p>

There are two distinct areas of research on which the work in this thesis impinges. They are methods for the analysis of patterns in correlation matrices and the analysis of taster performance in wine-tasting experiments in which the wines are scored. For the analysis patterns in correlation matrices, least squares procedures are developed to examine patterns under certain equal correlation hypotheses. The procedures are applied to the z-transforms of the elements of correlation matrices that can be based on either a single group of variables, or variables that can be cross-indexed by two factors such as the multitrait-multimethod matrices given by Campbell and Fiske (1959). The procedures are of the analysis of variance type, being investigative in the sense that, in the event that the correlation matrix is judged to depart from the hypothesised pattern, alternative models to be pursued further are indicated. The associated statistics are calculated directly from closed-form expressions, rather that requiring the iterative solution of some estimation function as is the case with some alternative methods. The procedures are used to analyse the data from a number of wine-tasting and other experiments. The results obtained are shown to be similar, in many instances, to those obtained with maximum likelihood procedures applied to variance-covariance matrices; in other instances, large differences occur between the methods. The test for the hypothesis of equal correlation between all variables developed here is also shown to give similar answers to Lawley’s (1963) test for the hypothesis, in a number of cases. For the analysis of taster performance in wine-tasting experiments in which the wines are scored, the method of examining patterns in correlation matrices can be applied to multitaster and multitaster-multisession correlation matrices. Certain conditions to be fulfilled by multitaster-multisession matrices are specified; the extent to which they are met in a particular experiment can be ascertained from the results of these analyses. The data from several wine-tasting experiments are analysed and the results provide further substantive evidence of the lack of agreement and differences in reliability that can occur between tasters in such experiments. As the technique is applied to data from a single experiment, it can be used, particularly when session replicates are included, to select tasters on the basis of their performance in the experiment under consideration – a highly desirable approach. Four duplicate-evaluation wine-tasting experiments, that were aimed at determining the effect of several treatments on wine quality, fit into this category and so are analysed in more detail. A group of less heterogeneous tasters is selected, where possible, for each of the experiments using the results of the analysis of the multitaster-multisession correlation matrices. Compared with other techniques for selecting tasters on the basis of their results in a wine-tasting experiment, the analysis of multitaster-multisession correlation matrices has the advantages that both reliability and agreement are measured and that the measures are correlation coefficients. However, even the subsets of selected tasters do not behave in a manner that would justify a single analysis for mean differences for each subset. Because this is likely to be a common phenomenon, it is recommended that wine-tasting experiments be designed to include session replicates and the scores of each taster be analysed for mean differences separately. The results of the analysis of the multitaster-multisession matrix can then be used to determine the confidence to be attached to the results of individual tasters in drawing inferences from the experiment. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=721471 / Thesis (M.Ag.Sci.) - University of Adelaide, Dept. of Biometry, 1980

With the increasing use of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) as a core component of network security, a vast array of competing products have appeared to fulfil the role of reliably detecting potential breaches of security in a network. The domain of detecting intrusions is large. This leads to products which are better at detecting some intrusions than others, and so to the use of multiple different types of IDS within a network. This typical usage, combined with the common practice of using IDS at multiple points in the network, requires sophisticated management of heterogenous alerts from multiple sources. This management should enable correlation of alerts with the goal of better detecting attacks, and reducing the monitoring workload on administrators. This thesis presents an architecture utilising commodity components and the Intrusion Detection Message Exchange Format (IDMEF) to enable this type of alert management. A signature scheme for the specification of patterns of alerts that indicate multi-step attacks is given, and a methodology for analysing alerts using the architecture that was developed. The final outcomes are a signature system and collection of tools integrated in a GUI management interface to aid in the detection of attacks, and the results of utilising these tools on a series of experiments in attack detection.