Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes special report study entitled : Skin and skeleton of a hangar. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 29, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

This dissertation examined the effects of distributed, multiplayer training video games on the performance of distributed teams of robot operators. Two hypotheses were tested, the first hypothesis stated that online, game-based team training will improve the performance of an ad-hoc team versus an ad-hoc team formed of individually trained teammates. The second hypothesis stated that the fractal dimension of a robot's path can be used as an indicator of its operator's skill. Forty-one volunteers participated in an experiment in which they played a distributed, online training game which showed them the basics of operating an Inuktun Extreme VGTV for a search task. The participants were divided into two groups, one group trained in pairs as a team while the other group trained individually. The results showed that team training has no effect on the number of items found in a search by an ad-hoc team; however, team training does significantly impact the amount of information sharing between team members. The results also showed that the fractal dimension of a robot's path is quadratically related to the operator's effectiveness in a search task. Additionally, a participant's age and prior video game experience are related to their score obtained in a search task using a robot.

Search operations can be described by the interaction between three entities: the target, the sensor, and the environment. Past treatments of the search problem have focused primarily on the interaction between the sensor and the target. The effects that the environment has on the target and sensor have been greatly simplified or ignored completely. The wilderness search and rescue scenario is one case in which these interactions cannot be safely ignored. Using the wilderness search and rescue problem as our motivating example, we develop an algorithm for planning search paths for a small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) over rough terrain environments that provide complete coverage of the specified terrain region while minimizing effort wasted on duplicate coverage. The major components of this algorithm include 1) breaking the search region into smaller sub-regions that are easier to deal with, and 2) planning the search for each of these sub-regions. The original contributions of this thesis focus on the latter of these two components. We use a method based on the directional offset of terrain contours to produce paths on the terrain for the sensor to observe as the UAV follows the flight path. We then employ directional-offset methods again by moving in the direction along the terrain normal from the sensor path to generate a flight path that lies in the air a specified distance away from the points on the terrain that are to be observed. These two paths are linked in a way that provides the sensor with an ample viewing opportunity of the terrain regions below. We implement this planning algorithm in software with Matlab, and provide a complete simulation of a UAV that follows the planned search pattern. Our planning algorithm produced search paths that were 94 to 100 percent complete in test scenarios for several rough-terrain regions. Missed regions for these plans were near the search boundaries, and coverage could easily be provided by subsequent plans. We recommend the study of region segmentation, with careful consideration of planning algorithms as the major focus of future work.

Wilderness search and rescue can be assisted by video searchers in manned aircraft. The video searcher's primary task is to find clues on the ground. Due to altitude, it may be difficult to resolve details on the ground with a standard video camera. As the video streams at a constant frame rate, the searcher may become distracted by other tasks. While handling these tasks the searcher may miss important clues or spend extra time flying over the search area; either outcome decreases both the effectiveness of the video searcher and the chances of successfully finding missing persons. We develop an efficient software system that allows the video searcher to deal with distractions while identifying, resolving, and geolocating clues using mixed-resolution video. We construct an inexpensive camera rig that feeds video and telemetry to this system. We also develop a simple flight simulator for generating synthetic search video for simulation and testing purposes. To validate our methods we conduct a user study and a field trial. An analysis of the user study results suggests that our system can combine the video streams without loss of performance in the primary or secondary search task. The resulting gains in screen-space efficiency can then be used to present more information, such as scene context or larger-resolution images. Additionally, the field trial suggests that the software is capable of robustly operating in a real-world environment.

The project examines the construction of state space and the contestation of the EUropean borderscape through the work of non-state actors in the Mediterranean Sea. In response to the precarity of irregularized migrant journeys, there has been a rise in Search and Rescue (SAR) NGOs committed to assisting people on the move through upholding the basic human rights and dignity of migrants. Increasingly, NGOs are criminalized for providing basic necessities like food, water and shelter to migrants passing through the peripheral spaces of the state. Not only does irregular migration through the borderlands of the Global North directly confront state efforts to exclude through violent bordering practices, but NGO acts of solidarity also transform the harsh environment of the sea into contested spaces of political action. The lifesaving actions of NGOs operating in the Mediterranean directly challenge state authority and governance at sea while laying bare the violence inherent in state bordering practices. Conversely, the disruptive politics of these NGOs serve as a form of resistance to these same bordering practices and operate as a means of contesting state exclusion. Situating NGO SAR operations within the wider context of the securitization of borders, the repression and criminalization of solidarity in the Mediterranean highlights state efforts to reassert sovereign authority over the sea. This ongoing research contextualises the spatial politics of the Mediterranean borderscape at the intersections of migration governance and acts of solidarity by European NGOs. The research conducted for my doctoral project was driven by an ethnographic methodology that included six months working with SAR NGOs active in the Central Mediterranean while gathering over 50 interviews with activists working in the region. More directly, this also involved three months living and working alongside the German SAR organization, Sea-Watch, in France and Italy during periods of legal and administrative detention. My work bridges the opportunity to write about these movements and resistance efforts, with direct involvement in these struggles for rights, recognition, and freedom of movement, in solidarity with people on the move. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

People who are considered missing have much higher probabilities of being found dead compared to those who are not considered missing in terms of Search and Rescue (SAR) missions. Dementia patients are incredibly likely to be declared missing, and in fact after removing those with dementia the probability of the mission being regarded as missing person case is only about 10%. Additionally, those who go missing are much more likely to be on private land than on protected areas such as forests and parks. These and similar associations can be represented and investigated using a Bayesian network that has been trained on Search and Rescue mission data. By finding associations between factors that affect these missions, SAR teams can find patterns in historical cases and apply them to future cases in order to narrow down their search areas, improve their plans, and hopefully lead to lower search times and fewer deaths and unsolved cases. Causal inference allows causal relationships to be determined, telling SAR teams that they can make current decisions based on these learned relationships and their decisions will cause the change that they expect based on the Bayesian network.

Approved for public release; distribution in unlimited. / On 1 October 2003 the USAF transferred control of its CONUS-based combat search and rescue(CSAR) assets from Air Combat Command to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC). Transferto AFSOC was CSAR's fourth major reorganization in twenty years, and was the latest in a turbulentprocession of attempts to improve the combat effectiveness of CSAR forces. Despite possessing anabundance of brave, motivated, and extremely capable personnel yearning to accomplish their mission, dysfunctional organizational arrays and nagging organizational constraints have prevented USAF dedicatedCSAR forces from "getting to the fight" for the onset of hostilities in three of this nation's past four majorarmed conflicts. Special operations forces had to fill the void. This analysis evaluates CSAR's positionwithin AFSOC's organizational array to determine if this latest reorganization is likely to produce durableimprovements in CSAR combat effectiveness. My conclusion is that "CSAR friendly" organizational cultureand effective organizational constructs within AFSOC Headquarters, combined with highly receptiveattitudes among CSAR crewmembers, form a historically unique organizational mix that favors the long termsuccess of CSAR forces in AFSOC. To ensure AFSOC's favorable organizational posture is translated toimproved combat capability, leadership must immediately increase CSAR representation on HHQ staffs. / Major, United States Air Force

Flyktingströmmarna över Medelhavet har de senaste åren ökat dramatiskt. Dessa migranter och flyktingar har oftast färdats i undermåliga farkoster, vilket i flera fall lett till att de hamnat i sjönöd. Detta har i sin tur resulterat i att ett stort antal fartyg engagerats i att undsätta dessa människor. Denna studie har genom intervjuer med svenska sjöfarare och genom en litteraturstudie undersökt vilka skillnader och likheter det finns mellan gällande riktlinjer för sjöräddning och räddningsinsatser i Medelhavet. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om riktlinjerna identifierar samma problem och risker som personer som deltagit i räddningsinsatser av nödställda migranter i Medelhavet gjort. Av intervjuerna framkom att det inte fanns några större skillnader mellan de internationella riktlinjerna och respondenternas upplevelse. Dock framkom det av intervjuerna att det stora antalet människor ombord utgjorde en säkerhetsrisk. Detta är något som inte togs i beaktande i de riktlinjer som undersökts. Studien poängterar vikten av att undvika panik i alla situationer, ha tydlig ansvarsfördelning samt att vara väl medveten om att omhändertagandet är resurskrävande och innebär en stor arbetsinsats. Den mest centrala rekommendationen för att uppnå ett framgångsrikt resultat ansågs vara att planera väl före en sjöräddningsinsats påbörjades. / The stream of refugees across the Mediterranean Sea has in recent years increased dramatically. This study has through interviews with Swedish seafarers and through a literature study, examined what differences there are between international guidelines and actual efforts made in the Mediterranean Sea. The purpose of the study was to enquire if these guidelines identified the same problems and risks during a SAR-operation as the people involved in the rescue of distressed migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The interviews revealed that there were no major differences between the guidelines and the experience of the people involved. It emerged however from the interviews that the large number of people on board constituted a security risk. This is something that was not taken into account in the guidelines that were examined. The study showed the pressing need to avoid panic in any situation, have clear responsibilities and be aware that the care of the distressed migrants is resource-intensive and involves a lot of work. The most important recommendation to achieve a successful outcome was considered to plan well before a search and rescue effort began.

Using teams of autonomous, heterogeneous robots to operate in dangerous environments has a number of advantages. Among these are cost-effectiveness and the ability to spread out skills among team members. The nature of operating in dangerous domains means that the risk of loss is higher---teams will often lose members and must acquire new ones. In this work, I explore various recruitment strategies for the purpose of improving an existing framework for team management. My additions allow robots to more actively acquire new teams members and assign tasks among other robots on a team without the intervention of a team leader. I evaluate this framework in simulated post-disaster environments where the risk of robot loss is high and communications are often unreliable. My results show that in many scenarios, active recruitment strategies provide significant performance benefits. / February 2017