Parent-child social games, such as peek-a-boo and patty-cake, are a key element of an infant's earliest social interactions. The analysis of children's behaviors in social games based on video recordings provides a means for psychologists to study their social and cognitive development. However, the current practice in the use of video for behavioral research is extremely labor-intensive, involving many hours spent extracting and coding relevant video clips from a large corpus. From the standpoint of computer vision, such real-world video collections pose significant challenges in the automatic analysis of behavior, such as cluttered backgrounds, the effect of varying camera angles, clothing, subject appearance and lighting. These observations motivate my thesis work - automatic retrieval of social games from unstructured videos. The goal of this work is both to help accelerate the research progress in behavioral science and to take the initial steps towards the analysis of natural human interactions in natural settings. Social games are characterized by repetitions of turn-taking interactions between the parent and the child, with variations that are recognizable by both of them. I developed a computational model for social games that exploits the temporal structure over a long time-scale window as quasi-periodic patterns in a time series. I presented an unsupervised algorithm that mines the quasi-periodic patterns from videos. The algorithm consists of two functional modules: converting image sequences into discrete symbolic sequences and mining quasi-periodic patterns from the symbolic sequences. When this technique is applied to video of social games, the extracted quasi-periodic patterns often correspond to meaningful stages of the games. The retrieval performance on unstructured, lab-recorded videos and real-world family movies is promising. Building on this work, I developed a new feature extraction algorithm for social game categorization. Given a quasi-periodic pattern representation, my method automatically selects the most relevant space-time interest points to construct the feature representation. Our experiments demonstrate very promising classification performance on social games collected from YouTube. In addition, the method can also be used to categorize TV videos of sports rallies, demonstrating the generality of this approach. In order to support and encourage more research on human behavior analysis in realistic contexts, a video database of realistic child play in natural settings has been collected and is published on our project website (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/cpl/projects/socialgames), along with annotations. The unsupervised quasi-periodic pattern mining method represents a substantial generalization of conventional periodic motion analysis. Its generality is evaluated by retrieving motions of a range of quasi-periodicity from unstructured videos. The performance was compared with that of a periodic motion detection method based on motion self-similarity. Our method demonstrates superior retrieval performance with a 100% precision when the recall is up to 92.04%, with much fewer parameters than that of the other method.

Les équations aux dérivées partielles (EDP) permettent d’aborder d’un point de vue mathématique des phénomènes observés dans tous les domaines des sciences. Certaines EDP non-linéaires modélisent des problèmes de mécanique statistique, mécanique des fluides, théories de la gravitation ou des mathématiques financières.L’objectif de ce travail de thèse est l’étude de certains problèmes d’ EDP non-linéaires et hamiltoniennes et la recherche des leurs solutions périodiques et quasi-périodiques. / The aim of this thesis is the research of periodic and quasi-periodic solutions for some non-linear hamiltonian PDEs.

<div>Over the past twenty years, ridesharing opportunities for smallsats, i.e., secondary payloads, has increased with the introduction of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) rings. However, the orbits available for these secondary payloads is limited to Low Earth Orbits (LEO) or Geostationary Orbits (GEO). By incorporating a propulsion system, propulsive ESPA rings offer the capability to transport a secondary payload, or a collection of payloads, to regions beyond GEO. In this investigation, the ridesharing scenario includes a secondary payload in a dropped-off Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and the region of interest is the vicinity near the Sun-Earth Lagrange points. However, mission design for secondary payloads faces certain challenges. A significant mission constraint for a secondary payload is the drop-off orbit orientation, as it is dependent on the primary mission. To address this mission constraint, strategies leveraging dynamical structures within the Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CRTBP) are implemented to construct efficient and flexible transfers from GTO to orbits near Sun-Earth Lagrange points. First, single-maneuver ballistic transfers are constructed from a range of GTO departure orientations. The ballistic transfer utilize trajectories within the stable manifold structure associated with periodic and quasi-periodic orbits near the Sun-Earth L1 and L2 points. Numerical differential corrections and continuation methods are leveraged to create families of ballistic transfers. A collection of direct ballistic transfers are generated that correspond to a region of GTO departure locations. Additional communications constraints, based on the Solar Exclusion Zone and the Earth’s penumbra shadow region, are included in the catalog of ballistic transfers. An integral-type path condition is derived and included throughout the differential corrections process to maintain transfers outside the required communications restrictions. The ballistic transfers computed in the CRTBP are easily transitioned to the higher-fidelity ephemeris model and validated, i.e., their geometries persist in the ephemeris model. To construct transfers to specific orbits near Sun-Earth L1 or L2, families of two-maneuver transfers are generated over a range of GTO departure locations. The two-maneuver transfers consist of a maneuver at the GTO departure location and a Deep Space Maneuver (DSM) along the trajectory. Families of two-maneuver transfers are created via a multiple- shooting differential corrections method and a continuation process. The generated families of transfers aid in the rapid generation of initial guesses for optimized transfer solutions over a range of GTO departure locations. Optimized multiple-maneuver transfers into halo and Lissajous orbits near Sun-Earth L1 and L2 are included in this analysis in both the CRTBP model and the higher-fidelity ephemeris model. Furthermore, the two-maneuver transfer strategy employed in this analysis are easily extended to other Three-Body systems. </div>

We consider the incompressible 2D Navier-Stokes equations on the torus driven by a deterministic time quasi-periodic force and a noise that is white in time and extremely degenerate in Fourier space. We show that the asymptotic statistical behavior is characterized by a uniquely ergodic and exponentially mixing quasi-periodic invariant measure. The result is true for any value of the viscosity ν > 0. By utilizing this quasi-periodic invariant measure, we show the strong law of large numbers and central limit theorem for the continuous time inhomogeneous solution processes. Estimates of the corresponding rate of convergence are also obtained, which is the same as in the time homogeneous case for the strong law of large numbers, while the convergence rate in the central limit theorem depends on the Diophantine approximation property on the quasi-periodic frequency and the mixing rate of the quasi-periodic invariant measure. We also prove the existence of a stable quasi-periodic solution in the laminar case (when the viscosity is large). The scheme of analyzing the statistical behavior of the time inhomogeneous solution process by the quasi-periodic invariant measure could be extended to other inhomogeneous Markov processes.

L'étude par continuation des solutions périodiques et quasi-périodiques est appliquée à plusieurs modèles issus du violon. La continuation pour un modèle à un degré de liberté avec friction régularisée permet de montrer la préservation, par rapport à la friction de Coulomb, des bifurcations de cycle limite (une vitesse maximale et une force minimale permettant le mouvement de Helmholtz) et de propriétés globales de la branche de solution (croissance de l'amplitude avec la vitesse, décroissance de la fréquence avec la force normale). L'équilibrage harmonique est évalué sur la friction régularisée et a des propriétés de convergence intéressantes (erreur faible, monotone, à décroissance rapide). La continuation sur un modèle à deux modes donne accès aux solutions de registres supérieurs, dont la stabilité coïncide avec l'expérience. La valeur retenue pour l'inharmonicité peut modifier fortement le diagramme de bifurcation. Une nouvelle méthode de continuation des solutions quasi-périodiques est proposée. Elle associe l'EH étendu à deux pulsations avec la Méthode Asymptotique Numérique. Une attention particulière est portée à la rapidité des calculs, face à la croissance rapide de la taille des systèmes à inverser. Un modèle de friction prenant en compte la température au point de contact est reformulé à l'aide d'une dérivée fractionnaire. Nous proposons une méthode de continuation de solutions périodiques de systèmes contenant des dérivées ou intégrales fractionnaires. Nous établissons une condition suffisante pour que les cycles asymptotiques du cadre causal (Caputo) soient solutions du cadre que nous avons choisi. / The continuation of periodic and quasi-periodic solutions is performed on several models derived from the violin. The continuation for a one degree-of-freedom model with a regularized friction shows, compared with Coulomb friction, the persistence of limit cycle bifurcations (a maximum bow speed and a minimum normal force allowing Helmholtz motion) and of global properties of the solution branch (increase of amplitude with respect to the bow speed, decrease of frequency with respect to the normal force). The Harmonic Balance Method is assessed on this regularized friction system and shows interesting convergence properties (the error is low, monotone and rapidly decreasing). For two modes the continuation shows higher register solutions with a plausible stability. A stronger inharmonicity can greatly modify the bifurcation diagram. A new method is proposed for the continuation of quasi-periodic solutions. It couples a two-pulsations HBM with the Asymptotic Numerical Method. We have taken great care to deal efficiently with large systems of unknowns. A model of friction that takes into account temperature of the contact zone is reformulated with a fractional derivative. We then propose a method of continuation of periodic solutions for differential systems that contain fractional operators. Their definition is usually restricted to causal solutions, which prevents the existence of periodic solutions. Having chosen a specific definition of fractional operators to avoid this issue we establish a sufficient condition on asymptotically attractive cycles in the causal framework to be solutions of our framework.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2017-01-17T12:39:40Z No. of bitstreams: 3 Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte1) - 2013.pdf: 11591347 bytes, checksum: e970b2f0fffd5ccc2222bce05ea90d41 (MD5) Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte 2) - 2013.pdf: 18027973 bytes, checksum: 6bdbe04565ae04f1d810137fc59f37e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-01-18T10:31:58Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 3 Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte1) - 2013.pdf: 11591347 bytes, checksum: e970b2f0fffd5ccc2222bce05ea90d41 (MD5) Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte 2) - 2013.pdf: 18027973 bytes, checksum: 6bdbe04565ae04f1d810137fc59f37e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-18T10:31:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte1) - 2013.pdf: 11591347 bytes, checksum: e970b2f0fffd5ccc2222bce05ea90d41 (MD5) Dissertação - Joaquim Orlando Parada (parte 2) - 2013.pdf: 18027973 bytes, checksum: 6bdbe04565ae04f1d810137fc59f37e2 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this work, the linear and nonlinear instability of pipes conveying static and pulsating fluid flow is analyzed. The dynamic equation of motion was derived for cantilevered and clamped-clamped pipes. For this purpose, the Euler Bernoulli beam theory and Hamilton’s principle were applied, resulting in a partial differential equation of second order in time. Thus, a model with four degrees of freedom, which satisfies the boundary condition, is used and, the Galekin method is applied to derive the set of coupled non linear ordinary equations of motion which are, in turn, solved by the fourth order Runge-Kutta method, and then some numerical results were obtained as Argand diagram, stability boudaries, time response, phase plane and, Poincaré section, through computational algorithms modeled in C++. These results revealed the importance of the nonlinear terms in the stability of the system, especially in the post-critical analysis, also revealed the existence of quasi-periodic motions, for the system subjected to a static flow and, chaotic motions for pulsating fluid flow / Nesta dissertação analisa-se a instabilidade linear e não linear de tubos com fluido interno em escoamento estático e pulsante. A equação de movimento dinâmico foi deduzida para tubos em balanço e biengastados. Para tanto, utilizou-se a teoria de vigas de Euler Bernoulli e o princípio variacional de Hamilton, resultado em uma equação diferencial parcial de segunda ordem no tempo. Tal equação foi discretizada, pelo método de Galerkin, em quatro equações diferenciais ordinárias, uma para cada grau de liberdade, em seguida transformadas em um conjunto de equações diferenciais de primeira ordem. Tais equações foram integradas pelo método de Runge-Kutta de quarta ordem e, posteriormente, foram obtidos alguns resultados numéricos como: diagrama de Argand, curvas de escape, diagrama de bifurcação, resposta no tempo, plano fase e, seção de Poincaré, através de algoritmos implementados computacionalmente na linguagem C++. Tais resultados revelaram a importância dos termos não lineares na estabilidade do sistema, especialmente na análise pós-crítica, revelaram também a existência de movimentos quase periódicos, para o sistema submetido a um fluxo estático e, caóticos para fluxo pulsante.

In this thesis, RXTE timing analysis of Galactic Microquasars GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105, the Chandra and RXTE joint spectral analysis of GRS 1915+105 are presented. We have investigated quasi periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the black hole binaries GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105 observed in 99 and 122 observations made by the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on board Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) in both low energy band (2-12 keV) and high energy band (13-27 keV), respectively. Four different X-ray states are seen in the combined characteristics of power spectra, light curves extracted by using All Sky Monitor (ASM) and spectra during 1996 and 2005. Timing analysis of RXTE observations of both of two black hole binaries GRO J1655-40 and GRS 1915+105 displays twin high frequency quasi periodic oscillations (QPOs) which are sometimes simultaneous in high energy band. It is also shown that the time averaged 30 ksec Chandra grating spectrum analysis and RXTE spectrum analysis of recent observation of GRS 1915+105 in the very high state are consistent with the parameters which were mentioned before. We briefly discussed our results and the models on black hole spin and mass.

In this thesis, X-ray observations of four accretion powered pulsars are presented. Using RXTE observations of 4U 1907+09, we found three new pulse periods of the source. We found that the source spun-down almost at a constant rate of $dot nu$ = (-3.54 $pm 0.02) times 10^{-14}$ Hz s$^{-1}$ for more than 15 years. Using RXTE observations, X-ray flux related spectral and timing features in 2S 1417-62 were, in general, interpreted as a sign of a disc accretion with a similar geometry with a varying mass accretion rate, whereas spectral and timing features of the low X-ray flux regions were interpreted as a sign of possible temporary accretion geometry change prior to the next periastron. Using XMM-Newton and RXTE observations of SAX J2103.5+4545, we discovered quasi periodic oscillations around 0.044 Hz (22.7 sec) while the source was spinning-up with a rate of $(7.4pm0.9)times10^{-13}$Hz s$^{-1}$. In the X-ray spectrum, we also found a soft component consistent with a blackbody emission with ${rm{kT}}sim1.9$keV. Using RXTE observations, we also studied spectral evolution of Her X-1

<p dir="ltr">In the pursuit of establishing a sustainable space economy within the cislunar region, it is vital to formulate transfer design strategies that uncover economically viable highways between different regions of the space domain. The inherent complexity of spacecraft dynamics in the cislunar space poses challenges in determining feasible transfer options. However, the motion characterized by known dynamical structures modeled through the circular restricted three-body problem (CR3BP) aids in the identification of pathways with reasonable maneuver costs and flight times. A framework is proposed that incorporates a quasi-periodic orbit (QPOs) as an option to design transfer scenarios. This investigation focuses on the construction of transfers between periodic orbits. The framework is exemplified by the construction of pathways between an L2 9:2 synodic resonant Near-Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) and a planar Moon-centered Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO). The innate difference in the geometries of the departure and arrival orbits of the sample case, along with the lack of natural flows towards and away from them, imply that links between these orbits may necessitate costly maneuvers. A strategy is formulated that leverages the stable and unstable manifolds associated with intermediate periodic orbits and quasi-periodic orbits to construct end-toend trajectories. As part of this strategy, a systematic methodology is outlined to streamline the determination of transfer options provided by the 5-dimensional manifolds associated with a QPO family. This approach reveals multiple local basins of solutions, both interior and exterior-types, characterized by selected intermediate orbits. The construction of transfers informed by the manifolds associated with QPOs is more intricate than those based on periodic orbits. However, QPO-derived solutions allow for the recognition of alternative local basins of solutions and often offer more cost-effective transfer options when compared to trajectories designed using periodic orbits that underlie the QPOs.</p>

Les Structures atomiques Quasi-périodiques (QP) possèdent des propriétés particulières, notamment dans le domaine vibrationnel. Il pourrait être intéressant de pouvoir transférer ces propriétés à des méta-matériaux macroscopiques. Des réseaux de poutres quasi-périodiques 2D sont étudiés dans cette thèse dans le cadre du modèle élément finis (EF) poutre Euler Bernoulli. Ces réseaux de poutres peuvent facilement être produits par fabrication additive ou par découpe laser. Il est possible de faire varier l'élancement des poutres (le ratio hauteur sur longueur) qui est un paramètre intéressant pour modifier la réponse mécanique du réseau. En utilisant la méthode EF, l'influence de l'élancement des poutres sur la réponse vibratoire des réseaux de poutres QP est étudiée. La méthode numérique Kernel Polynomial (KPM) est adaptée avec succès de la dynamique moléculaire aux réseaux de poutres pour étudier leurs modes de vibration sans avoir à diagonaliser complètement la matrice dynamique. Les réseaux de poutres QP présentent des propriétés similaires à leur compère atomique: en particulier la localisation de modes sur des sous-structures et une relation de dispersion hiérarchisée. Le comportement à la fracture est aussi étudié étant donné que les symétries présentes dans les QP pourraient permettre des réseaux de poutres ne présentant pas de plans faibles pour la propagation de fissures. Cela a été démontré d'après des calculs EF statiques avec un critère de fracture fragile sur l'énergie de déformation. Les simulations statiques ne suffisent pas car elles ne peuvent pas capturer les phénomènes dynamiques complexes qui apparaissent lors de la fissuration fragile. Les propriétés de vibration du QP pourraient aussi avoir un impact sur la propagation dynamique de fissure. Un modèle dynamique de fissuration est développé afin d'étudier l'impact de l'élancement sur la capacité des réseaux de poutres QP à dissiper de l'énergie par fissuration. Finalement une méthode Coarse Graining est développée pour identifier un milieu Cosserat continu équivalant au réseau de poutres QP pour différentes échelles. Cette méthode permet d'identifier la densité, les déformations, les contraintes et donc les modules d'élasticité du milieu Cosserat équivalent, permettant ainsi une meilleure compréhension du rôle des sous structures précédemment identifiées. / Quasi periodic (QP) structures have shown peculiar properties in the atomistic domain, especially the vibrational one. It could be interesting to be able to transpose these properties in macroscopic meta-materials. Quasi periodic 2D beam lattices are studied in this thesis due to the simplicity of the Euler Bernoulli finite element (FE) model. These beam lattices can easily be produced by additive manufacturing or by laser cutting. It is possible to vary the beam slenderness (i.e the ratio of height over length) that is a interesting parameter to modify the mechanical response of the lattice. Using finite element method, the influence of the beam slenderness over the vibration behavior of the QP beam lattices will be studied. The Kernel Polynomial numerical Method (KPM) is successfully adapted from molecular dynamics simulations in order to study vibrational modes of FE beam lattices without having to fully diagonalize the dynamical matrix. The QP lattices show similar properties as their atomic counterpart e.g mode localization over sub-stuctures and hierarchical dispersion relation. The fracture behavior is also studied, as the special symmetries allowed by the quasi periodicity could result in beam lattices without weak planes for crack propagation. It was proved to be true from static FE simulations with a brittle strain energy breaking criterion. Static simulations were not enough and do not grasp the complex dynamical phenomena taking place in brittle fracture. A dynamic crack propagation model was thus developed. The vibrational properties of quasi periodic structures could also have an impact on the dynamic crack propagation. Several simulations are run in order to study the impact of the slenderness on the energy dissipated by fracture of QP lattices. Finally, a coarse graining method (CG) was developed to identify a continuous Cosserat medium at different scales from the FE beam model. This CG method allows to identify, density, strain, stress and elastic moduli of an equivalent continuous Cosserat. This allows a better understanding of the role of previously identified characteristic sub structures.