Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1979. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Samuel Marc Goldwasser. / Ph.D.

Choi Kup Sze. / "June 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 122-127). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Endodontic or root canal treatment is one of the most important dental procedures employed in modern dentistry. Although there have been many results in surgical simulation in the past two decades, little work has been done on endodontics. The objective of this thesis is to explore critical issues for simulating root canal procedures effectively and efficiently, and to develop an interactive virtual environment featured with both visual and haptic feedback to facilitate endodontic training, which opens new roads to the research of root canal simulation and endodontic training. Beyond endodontics, the results of this work can be extended and applied to other kinds of medical simulation and biomechanical modeling, especially the simulations featured with interactions between soft tissue and solid tool objects. / This work covers both theories and methodologies related to the interactive endodontic simulation and validation, including dynamic modeling, visual and haptic display, model validation and statistical learning. We focus on the simulation of the most critical step in the entire endodontic procedure---shaping root canal with endodontic files. There are four major contributions of this thesis. First, we propose a dynamic model to simulate endodontic shaping operations, which is a smoothed particle based dynamic model derived for the pulpal tissue coupled with a finite element model for the endodontic files. This approach effectively characterizes the special properties and constraints associated with both the pulpal tissue and the endodontic files. Second, we implement the derived dynamic model and build up the virtual environment for endodontic simulation with both graphic and haptic interfaces. Third, we design a novel Robotic Endodontic Measurement System to acquire real haptic data of interactions between root canal and endodontic files during endodontic shaping, and propose an experimental validation method to evaluate the performance of derived dynamic model. Finally, we propose a support vector regression model to accurately characterize the input-output haptic mapping for endodontic shaping operation. The optimized parameters of this model can be learned from robotic endodontic measurements with RBF kernel. / Li Min. / "December 2005." / Adviser: Yun-Hui Liu. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: B, page: 6554. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-116). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / School code: 1307.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by John Turner Maxwell III. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Baylor University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-121).

One of the commonly used simulation approaches is process orientation. This is based on the use of nodes (or blocks) that perform functions in series. In spite of the compactness and ease of learning that characterize process-based simulation, many languages are somewhat complex, primarily the result of the large number of nodes that users have to deal with and the considerable gulf between a user's abstract notion of the model and the details required to implement it. This paper describes a process-based simulation system that integrates object-oriented programming, visual interactive simulation and graphical model specification. Object-oriented programming techniques and simulation seem to be a natural match. The process classes are represented as network blocks or network nodes, and the process as a network diagram or directed graph. Arcs connect the nodes and specify the next step in the process. Each block type has its own icon. Developing an application model requires selecting a set of nodes, connecting them, and specifying the parameters (such as activity durations and random number streams) of the nodes through dialog boxes or inspection panels. Nodes have been designed to accomplish the major requirements in simulation modeling, including creation and termination of entities, attribute assignment, branching, queues and resources, activity specification and statistics collection and display. Additional system features include: statistics manipulation for steady state results, execution trace utilities, and limited animation capabilities. The system has been implemented for the NeXT programming environment using Objective-C. The NeXT includes an extensive object-oriented user interface library, relatively powerful hardware, and a modern multi-tasking and virtual memory operating system. Objective-C allows object-oriented concepts such as inheritance and subclassing while adding only a few constructs to that of the C language. The system modeling environment developed in this research enhances the applicability and usability of high level modeling tools. The program also provides a platform for further work on the distribution of the modeling process over several cooperating, communicating applications. / Graduation date: 1992

The trap of "reinventing the wheel" could cause us to neglect the tools already developed. Instead of a negative or dreaded aspect, the possibility of turning this potential liability into asset should be investigated. Increasingly, computer-assisted instruction and computer-managed instruction seem to be gravitating toward the inclusion of computer graphics. The ultimate extrapolation of this tendency would seem to be the symbiotic relationship generated and controlled through the interaction of the person and the machine. The burgeoning world of video applications could probably be viewed as the fine edge for teaching and learning via a computer. As a result of this conclusion, this thesis provides research into the possible and actual synergism generated by CAI and computer graphics.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

People are increasingly concerned about online privacy and how computers collect, process, share, and store their personal information. Such concerns are understandable given the growing number of privacy invasions and the pervasiveness of information capture and sharing between IT systems. This situation has led to an increasingly regulated environment, limiting what systems may do, and what safeguards they must offer users. Privacy is an especially important concern in the fields of computer supported collaborative work (CSCW), Ubiquitous Computing, and e-commerce, where the nature of the applications often requires some information collection and sharing. In order to minimize risks to users it is essential to identify privacy problems early in the design process. Several methods and frameworks for accomplishing this have been proposed in the last decades. These frameworks, though based on hard-earned experience and great insight, have not seen widespread adoption despite the high level of interest in this topic. Part of the reason for this is likely the lack of evaluation and study of these frameworks. In our research we examine the key design and analysis frameworks and their elements, and compare these to the kinds of problems users face and are concerned with in terms of privacy. Based on this analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of existing design frameworks we derive a new design framework; STRAP (STRuctured Analysis of Privacy). In STRAP we combine light-weight goal-oriented analysis with heuristics to provide a simple yet effective design framework. We validate our analysis by demonstrating in a series of design experiments that STRAP is more efficient and effective than any one of the existing design frameworks, and provide quantitative and qualitative evidence of the value of using such frameworks as part of the design process.

Thesis (PhD) - Faculty of Design, Swinburne University of Technology, 2008. / Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, [Faculty of Design], Swinburne University of Technology - 2008. Typescript. Bibliography: p. 348-357.

Thesis (M.S.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.