Not available / text

Recent years studies of artillery forward observers training exposed many training problems in this field. This thesis is a result of the need to solve such problems and to have an alternative, low-cost and easily accessible artillery fire control training system for the artillery personnel, based on complex artillery forward observer task and training means analysis. The thesis goal was to develop a proof of concept simulator that uses advanced 3D graphics technology to realize the artillery fire control procedures. The system utilizes Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and VRML technology to produce accurate 3D geometry that is improved by texture overlay to produce quite realistic terrain. The procedures utilized in the Artillery fire control training system are taken directly from the artillery forward observer task analysis and executed through keyboard and mouse interfaces. AFCTS is a computer based system with graphic output used to train military personel fire control procedures.

A mathematical model for a Two-Span Web Roller machine is defined in order to facilitate motion planning, motion tracking and state observer design for tracking web tension and web velocity. Differential Flatness is utilized to create reference trajectories that are tracked with a high convergence rate. Flatness also allows for nominal input torque generation without integration. Constraints on the inputs are satisfied through the motion planning phase. A partial state feedback linearization is performed and an exponential tracking dynamic feedback controller is defined. An exponential Kalman-related tension observer is also defined with semi-optimal gain formulation. The observer takes advantage of the bilinearity of the dynamics up to additive output nonlinearity. The closed-loop system is simulated in MatLab with comparisons to reference trajectories previously employed in literature. The importance of proper motion planning is demonstrated by producing excellent performance compared with existing tracking and tension observing methods.

Citizen science, which uses volunteer observers in research, is fast becoming standard practice in ecology. In this thesis, I begin with an essay reviewing the benefits and limitations of citizen science, and then measure the influence of several forms of observer error that might bias ornithological citizen science. Using an internet-based survey, I first found that observer skill level can predict the nature of false-positive detections, where self-identified experts tend to falsely detect more rare species and moderately-skilled observers tend to falsely detect more common species. I also found that overconfidence is widespread among all skill levels, and hence that observer confidence is an unreliable indication of data quality. Using existing North American databases, I then found that older observers tend to detect fewer birds than younger observers -- especially if the birds' peak call frequencies exceed 6 kHz -- and that published long-term population trend estimates and high-pitched (>= 6 kHz) peak bird vocalization frequencies are negatively correlated. Taken together, these data suggest that both hearing loss and other sensory changes might be negatively biasing long-term trend estimates. In the next chapter, I measured how observer experience can bias detection data. In solitary observers, I found that detections tend to increase over the first 5 years of service (e.g. learning effects), after which they decline consistently (e.g. observer senescence). Conversely, among survey groups that may be motivated to exceed a previous year's species count, I found that species richness tends to increase consistently with consecutive survey years. In this case, individual sensory deficits may be offset by group participation. Lastly, I re-evaluated the established assumption that the quality of new volunteers on North American Breeding Bird Survey routes is increasing over time. I showed that the existing measure of “quality” ignores variable lengths of observer service, and that, after accounting for this variable, “quality” is unchanging. Throughout this thesis, I also show how generalized additive mixed models can address these biases statistically. My findings offer new opportunities to improve the accuracy and relevance of citizen science, and by extension, the effectiveness of wildlife conservation and management.

No description available.

The current thesis considers the issue of state estimation of condition systems, a form of petri net with signal inputs and outputs. In previous research the problem of unobservability due to progress confusion was identified, in the presence of which state estimation is not possible. Here we introduce the notion of Time Condition Systems", a class of condition systems that uses timing information from condition models to overcome state estimation problem caused by progress confusion. To make use of the timing information in the plant model, a procedure called Exploded Time Plant" is synthesized. This procedure makes the plant model an observable model. It is proved that this procedure does not alter the structural and temporal behavior of the plant model and the plant maintains its integrity. The time plant(s) and the corresponding Exploded time plant(s) are subsequently used to develop observer(s) and controller(s) for Time condition models.

<p>The cross-sectional images of computed tomography (CT) are calculated from a series of projections using reconstruction methods. Recently introduced on clinical CT scanners, iterative reconstruction (IR) method enables potential patient dose reduction with significantly reduced image noise, but is limited by its "waxy" texture and nonlinear nature. To balance the advantages and disadvantages of IR, evaluations are needed with diagnostic accuracy as the endpoint. Moreover, evaluations need to take into consideration the type of the imaging task (detection and quantification), the properties of the task (lesion size, contrast, edge profile, etc.), and other acquisition and reconstruction parameters. </p><p>To evaluate detection tasks, the more acceptable method is observer studies, which involve image preparation, graphical user interface setup, manual detection and scoring, and statistical analyses. Because such evaluation can be time consuming, mathematical models have been proposed to efficiently predict observer performance in terms of a detectability index (d'). However, certain assumptions such as system linearity may need to be made, thus limiting the application of the models to potentially nonlinear IR. For evaluating quantification tasks, conventional method can also be time consuming as it usually involves experiments with anthropomorphic phantoms. A mathematical model similar to d' was therefore proposed for the prediction of volume quantification performance, named the estimability index (e'). However, this prior model was limited in its modeling of the task, modeling of the volume segmentation process, and assumption of system linearity.</p><p>To expand prior d' and e' models to the evaluations of IR performance, the first part of this dissertation developed an experimental methodology to characterize image noise and resolution in a manner that was relevant to nonlinear IR. Results showed that this method was efficient and meaningful in characterizing the system performance accounting for the non-linearity of IR at multiple contrast and noise levels. It was also shown that when certain criteria were met, the measurement error could be controlled to be less than 10% to allow challenging measuring conditions with low object contrast and high image noise.</p><p>The second part of this dissertation incorporated the noise and resolution characterizations developed in the first part into the d' calculations, and evaluated the performance of IR and conventional filtered backprojection (FBP) for detection tasks. Results showed that compared to FBP, IR required less dose to achieve a threshold performance accuracy level, therefore potentially reducing the required dose. The dose saving potential of IR was not constant, but dependent on the task properties, with subtle tasks (small size and low contrast) enabling more dose saving than conspicuous tasks. Results also showed that at a fixed dose level, IR allowed more subtle tasks to exceed a threshold performance level, demonstrating the overall superior performance of IR for detection tasks.</p><p>The third part of this dissertation evaluated IR performance in volume quantification tasks with conventional experimental method. The volume quantification performance of IR was measured using an anthropomorphic chest phantom and compared to FBP in terms of accuracy and precision. Results showed that across a wide range of dose and slice thickness, IR led to accuracy significantly different from that of FBP, highlighting the importance of calibrating or expanding current segmentation software to incorporate the image characteristics of IR. Results also showed that despite IR's great noise reduction in uniform regions, IR in general had quantification precision similar to that of FBP, possibly due to IR's diminished noise reduction at edges (such as nodule boundaries) and IR's loss of resolution at low dose levels. </p><p>The last part of this dissertation mathematically predicted IR performance in volume quantification tasks with an e' model that was extended in three respects, including the task modeling, the segmentation software modeling, and the characterizations of noise and resolution properties. Results showed that the extended e' model correlated with experimental precision across a range of image acquisition protocols, nodule sizes, and segmentation software. In addition, compared to experimental assessments of quantification performance, e' was significantly reduced in computational time, such that it can be easily employed in clinical studies to verify quantitative compliance and to optimize clinical protocols for CT volumetry.</p><p>The research in this dissertation has two important clinical implications. First, because d' values reflect the percent of detection accuracy and e' values reflect the quantification precision, this work provides a framework for evaluating IR with diagnostic accuracy as the endpoint. Second, because the calculations of d' and e' models are much more efficient compared to conventional observer studies, the clinical protocols with IR can be optimized in a timely fashion, and the compliance of clinical performance can be examined routinely.</p> / Dissertation

Dabarties eilėraščiui ypač reikšminga kultūrinė žanro atmintis. Ji teikia papildomų prasmių. XXI amžiuje lyrikos žanrinis skirstymas nebėra aktualus. Labai dažnai sumaišomi gyvi ir nebegyvi žanrų elementai. Tačiau XX amžiuje buvo rašytojų, kurie pasirinkdavo vieną ar kitą žanrą, arba – bent jau žanro elementus savo poezijai. Tokie turinio ir formos elementai būdavo apjungiami į moderniąją visumą. Moderniosios lietuvių literatūros ištakos – Vakarų Europos literatūros tendencijų plėtotė XX amžiaus vidurio lietuvių prozoje ir poezijoje. Šiuo laikotarpiu Lietuvoje susiformavo ir Vakarų Europoje subrendo poetų žemininkų karta – poetų karta, kurios kūrybai įtaką darė ne tik Lietuvos kultūrinis modernizmas, bet ir Europos literatūros ištakos bei moderniausioji Vakarų Europos kultūra. Jonas Mekas yra retai analizuojamas literatūrinės kritikos. Poeto lyrika nagrinėta prarasto rojaus, gamtos kaitos, laiko ir erdvės įvaizdžių aspektais. Jo poezija, kaip pažymi kritikai savo straipsniuose, įtvirtino naują daiktiškumą. Iš keturių idilių laidų daugiausia dėmesio sulaukė 1955 metų laida. Pasirodžius šiam leidimui savo kritinį požiūrį Henrikas Nagys pateikia 1957 metų Literatūros lankų laikraštyje. / The literary searching of the 20th century Lithuania’s poets lead to the modern changes of the genre. In Jonas Mekas’ ‘Semeniskiu idiles’ lyrical subject is divided into subject-speaker and subject-observer. In ‘Semeniskiu idiles’ the time consists of two parts. The big circle of time belongs to the subject-speaker and it is his journey of one year in ‘lost paradise’ cycle of nature. The speaker using his senses and memory becomes the observer in the small circle of time. The space consists of two parts in ‘Semeniskiu idiles’. The big circle of space is the view which is seen by lyrical subject. In the small circle of space the lyrical subject-observer using his senses pays attention to concrete objects. Jonas Mekas can be named as the landowners.

Studies of diagnostic accuracy often report paired tests for sensitivity and specificity that can be pooled separately to produce summary estimates in a meta-analysis. This was done recently for a systematic review of radiographers' reporting accuracy of plain radiographs. The problem with pooling sensitivities and specificities separately is that it does not acknowledge any possible (negative) correlation between these two measures. A possible cause of this negative correlation is that different thresholds are used in studies to define abnormal and normal radiographs because of implicit variations in thresholds that occur when radiographers' report plain radiographs. A method that allows for the correlation that can exist between pairs of sensitivity and specificity within a study using a random effects approach is the bivariate model. When estimates of accuracy as a fixed-effects model were pooled separately, radiographers' reported plain radiographs in clinical practice at 93% (95% confidence interval (CI) 92-93%) sensitivity and 98% (95% CI 98-98%) specificity. The bivariate model produced the same summary estimates of sensitivity and specificity but with wider confidence intervals (93% (95% CI 91-95%) and 98% (95% CI 96-98%), respectively) that take into account the heterogeneity beyond chance between studies. This method also allowed us to calculate a 95% confidence ellipse around the mean values of sensitivity and specificity and a 95% prediction ellipse for individual values of sensitivity and specificity. The bivariate model is an improvement on pooling sensitivity and specificity separately when there is a threshold effect, and it is the preferred method of choice.

For 141 years, The Ryerson Press was both a cultural engine for and a reflection of Canadian society. Founded in 1829 as the Methodist Book Room, it was Canada’s first English-language book publisher and became the largest textbook publisher in Canada. Its contributions to Canadian literature, particularly under long-time editor Lorne Pierce, were considerable. In 1970, however, the press was sold to American branch plant McGraw-Hill, causing a cultural and nationalist crisis in the publishing community. The purpose of this thesis is to explanation many of the factors causing the United Church to sell the House. The purchase of an expensive and outdated printing press in 1962 has been blamed for the sale, as has the general state of Canadian publishing at the time. However, the whole story is much more complex and includes publication choices, personnel shifts, management failures, financial ruin, organizational politics, inflation, and the massive cultural shift of the late 1960s. Specifically, the thesis looks at the succession crisis that followed Lorne Pierce’s retirement, the Woods, Gordon Management Report, the New Curriculum, The United Church Observer, the practice of hiring ministers as managers, the formation of the Division of Communication, the proposed merger of the United Church of Canada with the Anglican Church of Canada, and falling church membership.