Phonological processing, the ability to recognize and manipulate the sounds of one's native language, is an essential linguistic skill. Deficits in this skill may lead to decreased social, educational, and financial success (Kraus & White-Schwoch, 2019). Additionally, phonological disorders have been shown to be highly variable and individualized (Bellon-Harn & Cradeur-Pampolina, 2016) and therefore difficult to treat effectively. A better understanding of the neural underpinnings of phonological processing, including the underlying skill of phonemic discrimination, could lead to the development of more individualized and effective intervention. Several studies, some using quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) and others using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have been conducted to investigate these neural underpinnings. When considering the relative strengths and weaknesses of qEEG and fMRI, the scientific community has traditionally believed qEEG to be excellent at determining when brain activity occurs (temporal resolution), but to have limited abilities in determining where it occurs (spatial resolution). On the other hand, the reverse is believed to be true for fMRI. However, the spatial resolution of qEEG has improved over recent decades and some studies have reached levels of specificity comparable to fMRI. This thesis provides an abbreviated meta-analysis determining the accuracy and consistency of source references, or areas where brain activation is determined to originate from, in qEEG studies evaluating phonemic discrimination. Nineteen experiments were analyzed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. A study's event rate was defined as the number of times an anatomical area was coded as a source reference, divided by the participants in the study. Results show that each of these experiments had relatively low event rates, culminating into a summary event rate of 0.240. This indicates that qEEG does not provide source references that are as accurate or consistent as fMRI. This meta-analysis concludes that although there is research suggesting qEEG may have developed to be comparable to fMRI in spatial resolution, this is not supported in the analysis of qEEG studies focused on phonemic discrimination.

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Since its inception, the Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) insurance program has issued a total of $8.8 billion in payouts. Given the program's significance, this thesis investigates methodologies to help improve it. For the first part, we evaluated the impact of finer-scale precipitation data on insurance payouts by comparing how the payout distribution differs between the program's current dataset and the finer-scale precipitation dataset by creating a simulated scenario where all parameters are constant except the rainfall index computed by the respective dataset. The analysis for Texas in 2021 revealed that using the finer-scale dataset to compute the rainfall index would result in payouts worth $27 million less than the current dataset. The second part of the research involved the development of two interactive decision-support tools: the "Next-Gen PRF" web tool and the "AgInsurance LLM" chatbot. These tools were designed to help users understand complex insurance parameters and make informed decisions regarding their insurance policies. User studies for the "Next-Gen PRF" tool measured usability, comprehension decision-making efficiency, and user experience, showing that it outperforms traditional methods by providing insightful visualizations and detailed descriptions. The findings suggest that using fine-scale precipitation data and advanced decision-support technologies can substantially benefit the PRF-RI program by reducing spatial basis risk and promoting user education, thus leading to higher user engagement and enrollment. / Master of Science / The Pasture, Rangeland, and Forage Rainfall Index (PRF-RI) program helps farmers manage drought risk. Since it started, it has paid farmers about $8.8 billion. This study looks into ways to improve the program. We first examined whether using rain data at a more finer spatial resolution could affect how much money is paid out. In Texas in 2021, we found that using this finer spatial resolution data could have reduced payouts by $27 million, underscoring the importance of evaluating our proposed change. Additionally, we created two new tools to help farmers understand and choose their insurance options more easily: the "Next-Gen PRF" web tool and the "AgInsurance LLM" chatbot. These tools seek to provide clear visuals and explanations. User studies with these tools show they help users learn more effectively and make more informed decisions compared to existing tools. Overall, our research suggests that using finer spatial resolution precipitation data as well as these interactive tools can enhance the insurance program, including by making it easier to engage with, and enabling farmers to evaluate if and how this program can help them resolve their weather risk management problems.

It is often claimed that the first Fresnel zone associated with the dominant frequency represents the spatial resolution limit of traveltime tomography. We show, however, that the relevant Fresnel limit for tomographic resolution is the maximum, not the dominant frequency in the data. For physically realizable causal wavelets, the maximum frequency is infinite. In practice, noise lowers the effective possible maximum frequency. To demonstrate these points, synthetic seismic data were generated for traveltime picking and inversion for a single, small velocity anomaly embedded in a homogeneous background velocity. A variety of traveltime picking techniques were tested and compared for their ability to detect the presence of objects smaller than that Fresnel zone associated with the dominant frequency. All methods produced accurate ray-theoretical (infinite-frequency) picks from noise-free seismic data for objects smaller than the dominant-frequency Fresnel zone. For the lowest dominant frequencies with Fresnel zones many times larger than the object, picking methods that focus on features along the onset of the first arrival were the most accurate, while cross-correlation with a known wavelet preformed less accurately. First-onset picking methods perform better because they take advantage of the highest frequencies in the data, whereas the correlation wavelet is typically in line with the dominant frequency. All methods successfully detected the presence of objects smaller than a wavelength. The inversion of the traveltime picks from the different picking methods always recovered the position and shape of the object. Random noise at a range of signal-to-noise ratios was then added to the seismic data and the data were repicked. Pick times with different noise realizations are statistically centered on the noise-free pick, not the time that would be recorded in the absence of the object. Trace stacking prior to picking or the averaging of many picks improves the signal-to-noise ratio and can extract signal that is not detected on an individual pick. An averaging of traveltime picks also occurs during tomographic inversion. This inherent signal-to-noise improvement allows tomography to image objects that are undetectable in individual trace picks. The resolution of tomography is limited not by the Fresnel zone associated with the dominant frequency, but by the accuracy of the traveltime picks. Resolution is further improved by dense ray coverage. / Master of Science

The ability to perceive speech is related to the listener's ability to differentiate among frequencies (i.e. spectral resolution). Cochlear implant users exhibit variable speech perception and spectral resolution abilities, which can be attributed at least in part to electrode interactions at the periphery (i.e. spatial resolution). However, electrophysiological measures of peripheral spatial resolution have not been found to correlate with speech perception. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate auditory processing from the periphery to the cortex using both simple and spectrally complex stimuli in order to better understanding the underlying processes affecting spatial and spectral resolution and speech perception. Eleven adult cochlear implant users participated in this study. Peripheral spatial resolution was assessed using the electrically evoked compound action potential (ECAP) to measure channel interaction functions for thirteen probe electrodes. We evaluated central processing using the auditory change complex (ACC), a cortical response, elicited with both spatial (electrode pairs) and spectral (rippled noise) stimulus changes. Speech perception included a vowel-discrimination task and the BKB-SIN test of keyword recognition in noise. We varied the likelihood of electrode interactions within each participant by creating three experimental programs, or MAPs, using a subset of seven electrodes and varying the spacing between activated electrodes. Linear mixed model analysis was used to account for repeated measures within an individual, allowing for a within-subject interpretation. We also performed regression analysis to evaluate the relationships across participants. Both peripheral and central processing abilities contributed to the variability in performance observed across CI users. The spectral ACC was the strongest predictor of speech perception abilities across participants. When spatial resolution was varied within a person, all electrophysiological measures were significantly correlated with each other and with speech perception. However, the ECAP measures were the best single predictor of speech perception for the within-subject analysis, followed by the spectral ACC. Our results indicate that electrophysiological measures of spatial and spectral resolution can provide valuable information about perception. All three of the electrophysiological measures used in this study, including the ECAP channel interaction functions, demonstrated potential for clinical utility.

Security and quality of service (QoS) issues in cluster-based wireless sensor networks are investigated. The QoS perspective is mostly at application level consisting of four attributes, which are spatial resolution, coverage, system lifetime and packet loss due to collisions. The addressed security aspects are message integrity and authentication. Under this scope, the interactions between security and service quality are analyzed with particular emphasis on the tradeoff between security and spatial resolution for channel capacity. The optimal security and spatial resolution levels which yield the best tradeoff are determined. In addition, a control strategy is proposed to achieve the desired quality of service and security levels during the entire operation of a cluster-based sensor network. Compared to the existing studies, the proposed method is simpler and has superior performance.

Darbo tema: akies dažninės skiriamosios gebos priklausomybės nuo žiūros kampo tyrimas. Šiame darbe analizuojami akies inertiškumo ypatumai. Išnagrinėta mokslinės literatūros žmogaus regos, akies inertiškumo, akipločio klausimais. Išanalizuota žmogaus regėjimo sistema, regos fiziologija. Pristatoma akies skiriamoji geba, pateikta jos matematinė išraiška, akies inertiškumo pavyzdžiai. Atliktas tyrimas, kurio metu nustatoma akies dažninės skiriamosios gebos priklausomybė nuo žiūros kampo. Tyrime dalyvavo 36 žmonės. Tiriamieji suskirstyti į dvi: 10-25 ir 26-50 metų amžiaus grupes. Tyrime nustatyta, tiriamųjų dažninės skiriamosios gebos priklausomybė nuo žiūros kampo, apskaičiuoti vidutiniai tyrimo duomenų rezultatai, pateikti įvairūs, tyrimo eigoje išryškėję nukrypimai nuo vidurkio. Šie tyrimo duomenys pavaizduoti grafiškai. Analizuojant teorinę medžiagą pastebėta, kad Lietuvoje, tai mažai tyrinėta sritis. Gauti tyrimo rezultatai rodo, kad padarius didesnius, daug daugiau tiriamųjų, kriterijų, apimančius tyrimus, būtų galima gauti įdomių rezultatų. / The subject of the work is the investigation of the dependence of human eye frequency resolution on a viewing angle. The final work analysis the features of eye inertia. Scientific literature was studied to look into the issues of human’s eyesight, eye inertia and the range of vision. The system and physiology of human’s eyesight have been examined as well. The work introduces eye resolution and its mathematical expression, and gives inertia examples. The investigation has been carried out to determine the dependence of human eye frequency resolution on a viewing angle with 36 people participating in it. The people were divided into two groups according to their age: 10-25 and 26-50. The investigation has determined the people’s dependence of eye frequency resolution on a viewing angle. The average data of the results have been estimated and various deviations from the mean shown up during the investigation are graphically presented in the work. While studying the theoretical material it was noticed that this field is still a byway in Lithuania. The findings suggest that if deeper and more criteria spanning researches were carried out, more revealing results could be expected.

With the advent of very high spatial resolution (VHR) satellite, spatial details within the image scene have increased considerably. This led to the development of object-based image analysis (OBIA) for the analysis of VHR satellite images. Image segmentation is the fundamental step for OBIA. However, a large number of techniques exist for RS image segmentation. To identify the best ones for VHR imagery, a comprehensive literature review on image segmentation is performed. Based on that review, it is found that the multiresolution segmentation, as implemented in the commercial software eCognition, is the most widely-used technique and has been successfully applied for wide variety of VHR images. However, the multiresolution segmentation suffers from the parameter estimation problem. Therefore, this study proposes a solution to the problem of the parameter estimation for improving its efficiency in VHR image segmentation. The solution aims to identify the optimal parameters, which correspond to optimal segmentation. The solution to the parameter estimation is drawn from the Equations related to the merging of any two adjacent objects in multiresolution segmentation. The solution utilizes spectral, shape, size, and neighbourhood relationships for a supervised solution. In order to justify the results of the solution, a global segmentation accuracy evaluation technique is also proposed. The solution performs excellently with the VHR images of different sensors, scenes, and land cover classes. In order to justify the applicability of solution to a real life problem, a building detection application based on multiresolution segmentation from the estimated parameters, is carried out. The accuracy of the building detection is found nearly to be eighty percent. Finally, it can be concluded that the proposed solution is fast, easy to implement and effective for the intended applications.

The present work introduces a new method that is used to explore the connection between molecular order and molecular dynamics in liquid crystals. In liquid crystals, the building blocks show a liquid like disorder in at least one dimension of space with an otherwise crystalline like positional or orientational long range order. A new microscope is introduced that combines polarization measurements with the ability to track single fluorescent probe molecules in a thin sample of ordered liquid crystal. A new method for the analysis of orientation dependent diffusion is also introduced. It can be used to spatially resolve the anisotropic diffusion of the probe molecules. With this setup, molecular structure and molecular dynamics can be directly compared on a μm scale. Three different kinds of liquid crystal samples are analyzed with the new experimental method. First, twisted nematic liquid crystal cells are used to verify a proposed model for the connection between molecular structure and the dynamics in twisted nematic cells. Second, the liquid crystal structure and probe mobility are analyzed in homogeneous samples in a temperature regulated environment. The third experiment focuses on the combination of both of these scenarios. Different domains in a heterogeneous section of a sample are analyzed with different methodical approaches at various temperatures. The results display the close connection between molecular order and molecular dynamics in the samples. It is also found that the probe molecules introduce local distortions in the director field of the host material. Despite this realization, only the absolute value of the probes mobility seems to be effected. The anisotropy of the translational diffusion of the probe molecules resembles the results found in the literature on the self-diffusion of the liquid crystal molecules. The anisotropy also follows the same temperature dependence as the order of the host molecules. Using these results and the new method of analyzing single molecule tracking data, it is shown that the structure of a heterogeneous sample can be spatially resolved, only by means of single probe molecule tracking.