Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Available also in an electronic version.

Extensive new trackline coverage of the Chile Trench between 23°S and 34°S, including more than 60 bathymetric and seismic reflection profiles across the trench axis, allows a much more detailed study of the tectonics and sedimentation of this feature than previously possible. Sediment distribution along the axis shows a remarkable variation from over a kilometer of turbidites in the axis south of 33°S to a barren axis in places north of 27°S. Turbidity currents originating on the outer continental margin in the south carry sediment northward along the axis. Ponding behind structural barriers created by plate convergence restricts the amount of sediment reaching northern trench sections. Horst and graben blocks are the dominant structural features on the seaward trench slope, with fault offsets of 500 to 1000 meters. Grabens range in width from 4 to 8 km, while the faulting probably extends down into oceanic layer three. Faulting is most pronounced in the deeper northern parts of the trench, but can also be seen in the basement beneath undeformed axial sediments in the south. This crustal rupture can be related to extensional stress in the upper oceanic crust due to the downbending of the Nazca Plate prior to subduction. Most of the active normal faulting occurs soon after the plate begins its descent into the trench, and not within the trench axis. Using structure, sediment distribution, bathymetry, and morphology, the trench and outer continental margin can be divided into three provinces (Northern, 23°-27°S; Central 27°-33°S; and Southern, 33°-34°S) separated by distinct tectonic transition zones at 27°S and 33°S. These boundaries coincide with breaks in onshore geologic trends and correlate less well with seismic zone segmentation. An analysis of potential strain due to subduction along a non-arcuate trench concludes that segmentation in the trench is probably controlled more by continental block structure than by the linearity of the trench. A narrow, continuous pond of sediment partially fills the Central Province trench axis between 32°30'S and 27°S. Trench axis morphology and piston core samples indicate there is transport of terrigenous sediment down the axis from the abundant sediment supply regions of the Southern Province. A model is formulated from this data which accounts for the sediment wedge in the Central Province by supply of turbidites from the south. A steady-state of axial fill can be maintained by one typical flow every 14 to 27 years. Uplifted axial turbidites are present on the seaward trench slope at 30°35'S, elevated 350 meters above the axis. Radiocarbon dating puts the age of initial uplift at 5380 ± 350 years B.P., which results in a minimum vertical movement rate of 6.5 cm/yr. Reversed faulting due to compressive stresses generated by plate convergence is the presumed mechanism of uplift. A model is proposed to explain the differences in the Chilean continental margin morphology in each of the three provinces. The radical differences in the amount of sediment available to the trench axis appears to be a prime influence in the development of the margin. An abundance of axial sediments provides a buffer zone along the major interplate contact (slip) zone, plus material to be accreted into the lower continental slope. If the amount of axial sediments is limited, excessive frictional resistance to slippage between the converging plates may tectonically erode the margin by slowly wearing away the underside of the continental slope. / Graduation date: 1976

Based on digital image processing techniques, the goal of this work is develop a method to automatically detect license plates. To achieve this goal, this thesis estimates the change of gray value on pixels to first find the position of the license plate. A number of image processing techniques are then developed to identify each character on the license plate. Finally, experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, which is the followed by a simple conclusion.

In this thesis, we develop a method to automatically detect and recognize the vehicle license plates. By using a large number of images to study statistically several important features of the license plates, this work has developed several methods to systematically detect and recognize the license plates. In particular, these methods are used to detect edges, to locate regions with densely distributed edges, to detect region with grey color and to identify character shapes. This work restricts its study on outdoor environment. Many environmental uncertainties such as lighting and background complexity should also be considered. By taking these factors into consideration, our algorithm can first detect the license plates. Next, our system uses a two-stage approach to recognize the characters on the plates. Most of the characters can be correctly recognized in the first stages by using conventional template-based method. However, a moment-feature based method is applied to two pairs of characters which can not be accurately classified by the template-based method. Experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In order to improve the proposed approach in the future, this work also studies a relatively small portion of plates that can not be perfectly handled by the proposed approach.

Thesis (M.S.) in Earth Sciences--University of Maine, 2007. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-145).

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 1997. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-51). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-85). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript. Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 575-599).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Rhode Island, 2005. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 127-133).