Thesis--Heidelberg. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-214).

Thesis--Heidelberg. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 208-214).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis presents two novel algorithms for converting a normalised binary floating point number into a binary logarithmic number with the single-precision of a floating point number. The thesis highlights the importance of logarithmic number systems in real-time DSP applications. A real-time cross-correlation application where logarithmic signal processing is used to simplify the complex computation is presented. The first algorithm presented in this thesis comprises two stages. A piecewise linear approximation to the original logarithmic curve is performed in the first stage and a scaled-down normalised error curve is stored in the second stage. The algorithm requires less than 20 kbits of ROM and a maximum of three small multipliers. The architecture is implemented on Xilinx's Spartan3 and Spartan6 FPGA family. Synthesis results confirm that the algorithm operates at a frequency of 42.3 MHz on a Spartan3 device and 127.8 MHz on a Spartan6. Both solutions have a pipeline latency of two clocks. The operating speed increases to 71.4 MHz and 160 MHz respectively when the pipeline latencies increase to eight clocks. The proposed algorithm is further improved by using a PWL (Piece-Wise Linear) approximation of the transform curve combined with a PWL approximation of a scaled version of the normalized segment error. A hardware approach for reducing the memory with additional XOR gates in the second stage is also presented. The architecture presented uses just one 18k bit Block RAM (BRAM) and synthesis results indicate operating frequencies of 93 and 110 MHz when implemented on the Xilinx Spartan3 and Spartan6 devices respectively. Finally a novel prototype of an FPGA-based four channel correlation velocimetry system is presented. The system operates at a higher sampling frquency than previous published work and outputs the new result after every new sample it receives. The system works at a sampling frequency of 195.31 kHz and a sample resolution of 12 bits. The prototype system calculates a delay in a range of 0 to 2.6 ms with a resolution of 5.12 us.

Automatic ontology creation, aiming to develop ontology without or with minimal human intervention, is needed for robots that work in dynamic environments. This is particularly required for service (or domestic) robots that work in unstructured and dynamic domestic environments, as robots and their human users share the same space. Most current works adopt learning to build the ontology in terms of defining concepts and relations of concepts, from various data and information resources. Given the partial or incomplete information often observed by robots in domestic environments, identifying useful data and information and extracting concepts and relations is challenging. In addition, more types of relations which do not appear in current approaches for service robots such as “HasA” and “MadeOf”, as well as semantic knowledge, are needed for domestic robots to cope with uncertainties during human–robot interaction. This research has developed a framework, called Data-Information Retrieval based Automated Ontology Framework (DIRAOF), that is able to identify the useful data and information, to define concepts according to the data and information collected, to define the “is-a” relation, “HasA” relation and “MadeOf” relation, which are not seen in other works, to evaluate the concepts and relations. The framework is also able to develop semantic knowledge in terms of location and time for robots, and a recency and frequency based algorithm that uses the semantic knowledge to locate objects in domestic environments. Experimental results show that the robots are able to create ontology components with correctness of 86.5% from 200 random object names and to associate semantic knowledge of physical objects by presenting tracking instances. The DIRAOF framework is able to build up an ontology for domestic robots without human intervention.

No description available.

This dissertation uses Heidegger’s critique of technology and its essence in an attempt to understand how Virtual Reality technology can change how we interact with the world and each other. The history of VR devices is unpacked to understand the motivation behind VR’s uses and development. Merleau-Ponty’s theories about embodied experiences are also used to understand how VR has an increased capacity to generate a sense of telepresence in the virtual environment for the user. Cases are investigated that specifically deals with how VR has influenced human interactions and rituals and made them more convenient to the users. The first cases focus on religion and how it changes when it is taken online. Specific focus is given to the Church of Fools online church and D.J. Soto’s VR church. The difference between how an online church operates is compared to the VR Church and how embodiment in the VE is experienced in each. This dissertation also explores cases where a user enters a ‘cross-dimensional’ relationship with the virtual. Two cases of people marrying virtual characters are examined. In these cases, the user entered a relationship with a character that was constructed by someone else. The other case examined, is that of Sgt.Hale (username) who created and then married a virtual character in a VE that he designed and based on a real-world location. In each of the relevant cases, how technology has influenced and, in a sense, encouraged them, is explored and unpacked. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Visual Arts / MA / Unrestricted

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Fred Martin. / M.S.

No description available.

This thesis argues that the interface between human and machine has been an important system of metaphors since the beginning of the twentieth century in North American science fiction (SF) and nonfictional writings. In examining these texts, this study intends to discuss positions and responses regarding technological developments and the social and political experiences underlying it In my parallel analyses of fictional (SF) and nonfictional (philosophical, scientific, theoretical) texts. I wish to signal similarities and differences among the two fields. In different ways, the treatments of cyborgs and cyberspace in both nonfiction and SF have addressed, through these metaphors, notions of mass culture, democracy, as well as individual and collective agency and subjectivity. I also argue that these critical strategies are best understood as the strategies of two social groups---one, of them in a dominant position (that of a professional, mainly technocratic class) and one in an ambivalently marginal position (that of the readers of a mass genre such as SF). In nonfictional writings, the strategy is as a rule one of either uncritical embrace of the present state of affairs, or a specular one of utter rejection, with the only exceptions emerging from contemporary feminism. In SF, attitudes of both consensus and problematization emerge. Thus, my study also calls for a qualification of claims about "postmodernity" as the privileged period in which technology acquires center stage. My first two chapters foreground some theoretical concepts and issues related to both the study of mass culture and of the SF genre. The next three chapters focus on specific texts about the instrumental body and of the virtual frontier, and on the critical responses (by women, and by dissenting male figures) to them. The conclusion stresses the notions of democracy allegorically presented in these texts.