In order to determine the validity and the quality of meshes, mesh optimization methods have been formulated with quality measures. The basic idea of mesh optimization is to relocate the vertices to obtain a valid mesh (untangling) or improve the mesh quality (smoothing), or both. We will look at a new algebraic way of calculating quality measure on quadrilateral meshes, based on triangular meshes in 2D as well as new optimization methods for simultaneous untangling and smoothing for severely deformed meshes. An innovative anisotropic diffusion method will be introduced for consideration of inner boundary deformation movements for quadrangle meshes in 2D.

The aim of this article is to introduce key definitions to patient access and a measurement approach, translated for a clinic-based research study or program evaluation. The authors hope this piece will provide those seeking to improve access with some basic starting points and replace rhetoric with rigor in evaluation. Issues discussed include defining access for measurement, measuring access, starting with the end point in mind, and using a logic model.

Applications of speech recognition have evolved in recent years from simple transcription tasks to metadata analysis. This thesis explores the use of speech recognition for automated fatigue detection. The fatigue detection system relies on accurate phonetic alignments from a speech recognition system. The main challenge addressed in this thesis was to make the process of phonetic alignment using speech recognition robust to out of vocabulary words. This requirement was achieved by incorporating confidence measures, which significantly reduce false positives in speech recognition output. This allowed the performance of the fatigue detection system to match the results of other cognitive tests based on the Sleep Onset Latency (SOL) and Sleep, Activity, Fatigue, and Task Effectiveness (SAFTE). Confidence measures reduced the squared error between voice-based fatigue prediction and SAFTE by 20% when 67.1% of the words in the test set were out of vocabulary words.

No description available.

No description available.

This project tested the reliability and validity of the Portable Osteometric Device Version 1 (PODv1) the Paleo-Tech Lightweight Field Osteometric Board (PaleoTech), by providing measurements of intra-observer and inter-observer error during the collection of osteometric data. The PODv1 is a device that the author invented for measuring anthropometric data from human skeletal material. This device was 3D printed and uses laser sensors with time-of-flight technology to measure distance. Twenty-three different volunteers with various osteological experience from the Mississippi State University community collect osteometric data for this project. These volunteers measured four different bones using both the POD and the PaleoTech devices over three different rounds. The results show that the PODv1 is a reliable and valid device compared to the PaleoTech. Both devices were prone to the same issues, but the PODv1 can improve on these issues with more modifications and research, unlike the current osteometric board designs.

Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

No description available.

Hysteresis, defined as a rate independent memory effect, is a phenomenon that occurs in many physical systems. The effect is sometimes desired, sometimes a nuisance, sometimes catastrophic, but in every case we must understand hysteresis if we are to better understand the system itself. While the study of hysteresis has been conducted by engineers, scientists and mathematicians, the contribution of mathematicians has at times been theoretically sound but impractical to implement. The goal of this work is to use sound mathematical theory to provide practical information on the subject. The Preisach operator was developed to model hysteresis in magnetism. It is based on a continuous linear combination of relay operators weighted by a distribution function μ. A new method for approximating μ in a finite dimensional space is described. Guidelines are given for choosing the “best” finite dimensional space and a “most efficient” training set. Simulated and experimental data are also introduced to demonstrate the utility of this method. In addition, the approximation of singular Preisach measures is explored. The types of singularities investigated are characterized by non-zero initial slopes of reversal curves. The difficulties of finding the “optimal” approximation in this case are detailed as well as a method for determining an approximation “close” to the optimal approximation. / Ph. D.

This dissertation contains work from the author's papers [35] and [36] with coauthor Eyvindur Palsson. The classic Mattila-Sjolin theorem shows that if a compact subset of $mathbb{R}^d$ has Hausdorff dimension at least $frac{(d+1)}{2}$ then its set of distances has nonempty interior. In this dissertation, we present a similar result, namely that if a compact subset $E$ of $mathbb{R}^d$, with $d geq 3$, has a large enough Hausdorff dimension then the set of congruence classes of triangles formed by triples of points of $E$ has nonempty interior. These types of results on point configurations with nonempty interior can be categorized as extensions and refinements of the statement in the well known Falconer distance problem which establishes a positive Lebesgue measure for the distance set instead of it having nonempty interior / Doctor of Philosophy / By establishing lower bounds on the Hausdorff dimension of the given compact set we can guarantee the existence of lots of triangles formed by triples of points of the given set. This type of result can be categorized as an extension and refinement of the statement in the well known Falconer distance problem which establishes that if a compact set is large enough then we can guarantee the existence of a significant amount of distances formed by pairs of points of the set