Thesis (M.S.)--Cleveland State University, 2009. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Dec. 2, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-72). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.

M. Tech. Electrical Engineering. / Aims to develop directional light emitters, wave guiding of light along CMOS structures and coupling of light into secondary elements in CMOS integrated circuitry that can be modulated at a high speed up to (1Gb/sec PLUS). This could enable high density in connection in integrated circuit packages, helping to implement on-chip optical processing and to generate optical highway communication channels from and to the chip tp produce photonic signal processing using standard CMOS and bipolar-base integrated circuitry.

Λαμβάνοντας υπ’ όψη τις διάφορες τεχνικές Blind Source Separation (BSS) που αναφέρονται στη βιβλιογραφία και που εφαρμόζονται σε πολλά πεδία ενδιαφέροντος, αποφασίσαμε να τις εφαρμόσουμε σε ανθρώπινο μαγνητοεγκεφαλογράφημα. Οι τεχνικές αυτές προσπαθούν να εξάγουν πηγές από σήμα το οποίο είναι γραμμικός συνδυασμός των πηγών. Απαραίτητη προϋπόθεση τα σήματα από τις πηγές να είναι στατιστικώς ανεξάρτητα. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, θεωρώντας τις πηγές στον εγκέφαλο ανεξάρτητες, η τεχνική που επιλέχθηκε είναι η Independent Component Analysis (ICA) και κάποιες παραλλαγές της που χρησιμοποιούν κυματίδια ώστε να εισάγουμε τη δυνατότητα περιορισμού στο χρόνο ή στο χώρο. Επιλέγοντας χωρικά ή χρονικά την περιοχή ενδιαφέροντος εστιάζουμε σε κάποια περιοχή του εγκεφάλου ή σε κάποια συγκεκριμένη χρονική στιγμή π.χ. μετά από κάποιο ερέθισμα. Θα χρησιμοποιήσουμε αυτές τις τεχνικές για να αναλύσουμε ανθρώπινο μαγνητοεγκεφαλογράφημα (MEG). Τα δεδομένα των καταγραφών είναι από το ινστιτούτο Riken στην Ιαπωνία. / Bearing in mind the Blind Source Separation Techniques mentioned in the literature and applied to many fields of interest, we decided to apply them on human MEG. These techniques extract sources from the initial signal, which is considered as linear combination of theses sources. It is required that the recorded signals are statistically independent. More specifically, considering the sources in the brain as independent, the method used is called Independent Component Analysis (ICA) and some versions which use wavelets in order to introduce spatial and temporal constraints. By selecting the region of interest either in space or in time, we focus on a region in the brain or on a specified latency e.g. after a stimulus. We use these methods to analyse MEG. The data are recorded in RIKEN institute in Japan.

This dissertation discusses a method that will aid in diagnosing the root causes of product and process variability in complex manufacturing processes when large quantities of multivariate in-process measurement data are available. As in any data mining application, this dissertation has as its objective the extraction of useful information from the data. A linear structured model, similar to the standard factor analysis model, is used to generically represent the variation patterns that result from the root causes. Blind source separation methods are investigated to identify spatial variation patterns in manufacturing data. Further, the existing blind source separation methods are extended, enhanced and improved to be a more effective, accurate and widely applicable method for manufacturing variation diagnosis. An overall strategy is offered to guide the use of the presented methods in conjunction with alternative methods.

Blind source separation methods such as independent component analysis (ICA) and second order blind identification (SOBI) have shown considerable potential in the area of ambient vibration system identification. The objective of these methods is to separate the modal responses, or sources, from the measured output responses, without the knowledge of excitation. Several frequency domain and time domain methods have been proposed and successfully implemented in the literature. Whereas frequency-domain methods pose several challenges typical of dealing with signals in the frequency-domain, popular time-domain methods such as NExT/ERA and SSI pose limitations in dealing with noise, low sensor density, modes having low energy content, or in dealing with systems having closely-spaced modes, such as those found in structures with passive energy dissipation devices, for example, tuned mass dampers.Motivated by these challenges, the current research focuses on developing methods to address the problem of separability of sources with low energy content, closely-spaced modes, and under-determined blind identification, that is, when the number of response measurements is less than the number of sources. These methods, requiring the time and frequency diversities of the measured outputs, are referred to as hybrid time and time-frequency source separation methods. The hybrid methods are classified into two categories. In the first one, the basic principles of modified SOBI are extended using the stationary wavelet transform (SWT) in order to improve the separability of sources, thereby improving the quality of identification. In the second category, empirical mode decomposition is employed to extract the intrinsic mode functions from measurements, followed by an estimation of the mode shape matrix using iterative and/or non iterative procedures within the framework of modified-SOBI. Both experimental and large-scale structural simulation results are included to demonstrate the applicability of these hybrid approaches to structural system identification problems.

A system for generative rhythmic modeling is presented. The work aims to explore computational models of creativity, realizing them in a system designed for realtime generation of semi-improvisational music. This is envisioned as an attempt to develop musical intelligence in the context of structured improvisation, and by doing so to enable and encourage new forms of musical control and performance; the systems described in this work, already capable of realtime creation, have been designed with the explicit intention of embedding them in a variety of performance-based systems. A model of qaida, a solo tabla form, is presented, along with the results of an online survey comparing it to a professional tabla player's recording on dimensions of musicality, creativity, and novelty. The qaida model generates a bank of rhythmic variations by reordering subphrases. Selections from this bank are sequenced using a feature-based approach. An experimental extension into modeling layer- and loop-based forms of electronic music is presented, in which the initial modeling approach is generalized. Starting from a seed track, the layer-based model utilizes audio analysis techniques such as blind source separation and onset-based segmentation to generate layers which are shuffled and recombined to generate novel music in a manner analogous to the qaida model.

The structured arrangement of sounds in musical pieces, results in the unique creation of complex acoustic mixtures. The analysis of these mixtures, with the objective of estimating the individual sounds which constitute them, is known as musical instrument sound source separation, and has applications in audio coding, audio restoration, music production, music information retrieval and music education. This thesis principally addresses the issues related to the separation of harmonic musical instrument sound sources in single-channel mixtures. The contributions presented in this work include novel separation methods which exploit the characteristic structure and inherent correlations of pitched sound sources; as well as an exploration of the musical timbre space, for the development of an objective distortion metric to evaluate the perceptual quality of separated sources. The separation methods presented in this work address the concordant nature of musical mixtures using a model-based paradigm. Model parameters are estimated for each source, beginning with a novel, computationally efficient algorithm for the refinement of frequency estimates of the detected harmonics. Harmonic tracks are formed, and overlapping components are resolved by exploiting spectro-temporal intra-instrument dependencies, integrating the spectral and temporal approaches which are currently employed in a mutually exclusive manner in existing systems. Subsequent to the harmonic magnitude extraction using this method, a unique, closed-loop approach to source synthesis is presented, separating sources by iteratively minimizing the aggregate error of the sources, constraining the minimization to a set of estimated parameters. The proposed methods are evaluated independently, and then are placed within the context of a source separation system, which is evaluated using objective and subjective measures. The evaluation of music source separation systems is presently limited by the simplicity of objective measures, and the extensive effort required to conduct subjective evaluations. To contribute to the development of perceptually relevant evaluations, three psychoacoustic experiments are also presented, exploring the perceptual sensitivity of timbre for the development of an objective distortion metric for timbre. The experiments investigate spectral envelope sensitivity, spectral envelope morphing and noise sensitivity.

The structured arrangement of sounds in musical pieces, results in the unique creation of complex acoustic mixtures. The analysis of these mixtures, with the objective of estimating the individual sounds which constitute them, is known as musical instrument sound source separation, and has applications in audio coding, audio restoration, music production, music information retrieval and music education. This thesis principally addresses the issues related to the separation of harmonic musical instrument sound sources in single-channel mixtures. The contributions presented in this work include novel separation methods which exploit the characteristic structure and inherent correlations of pitched sound sources; as well as an exploration of the musical timbre space, for the development of an objective distortion metric to evaluate the perceptual quality of separated sources. The separation methods presented in this work address the concordant nature of musical mixtures using a model-based paradigm. Model parameters are estimated for each source, beginning with a novel, computationally efficient algorithm for the refinement of frequency estimates of the detected harmonics. Harmonic tracks are formed, and overlapping components are resolved by exploiting spectro-temporal intra-instrument dependencies, integrating the spectral and temporal approaches which are currently employed in a mutually exclusive manner in existing systems. Subsequent to the harmonic magnitude extraction using this method, a unique, closed-loop approach to source synthesis is presented, separating sources by iteratively minimizing the aggregate error of the sources, constraining the minimization to a set of estimated parameters. The proposed methods are evaluated independently, and then are placed within the context of a source separation system, which is evaluated using objective and subjective measures. The evaluation of music source separation systems is presently limited by the simplicity of objective measures, and the extensive effort required to conduct subjective evaluations. To contribute to the development of perceptually relevant evaluations, three psychoacoustic experiments are also presented, exploring the perceptual sensitivity of timbre for the development of an objective distortion metric for timbre. The experiments investigate spectral envelope sensitivity, spectral envelope morphing and noise sensitivity.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-129).

Avloppsvatten innehåller näring, bland annat kväve och fosfor som kan orsaka övergödningom det kommer ut i sjöar och vattendrag. Samtidigt behöver stora mängder näringsämnen tillföras i jordbruket för att producera mat. Ett sätt att effektivt ta till vara på näringen i avlopp och återföra den till jordbruket skulle kunna vara källsortering av avlopp. På så sätt samlas näringsämnena i en mindre volym och blandas inte med bad-, disk-, och tvättvatten. Examensarbetet syftade till att undersöka rötning som behandlingsmetod och teknik för att utnyttja energin i latrin. I rötning bryter mikroorganismer ner organiskt material anaerobt och producerar energirik biogas som kan användas till värme, el eller fordonsbränsle. Rötresten som blir kvar efter rötningen innehåller näringsämnen men också föroreningar. I studien undersöktes latrinens innehåll av tungmetaller och läkemedelsrester och hur läkemedelshalten påverkades under rötningsprocessen. För att utvärdera rötning som behandlingsmetod av latrin gjordes 44 satsvisa utrötningsför-sök i laboratorium. Latrinen hämtades från en latrininsamling i Norrtälje. Ymp från två aktiva rötningsanläggningar blandades med latrinen i gastäta glasflaskor vilka sattes på skakbord i ca 60 dagar. En del flaskor innehöll en tillsats av läkemedel lösta i metanol. Två parallella försök utfördes i olika temperaturer, i mesofil temperatur (37ºC) och i termofil temperatur (52ºC). Gasproduktion och gasens metanhalt mättes under försöksperioden för att beräkna latrinens biogaspotential. Efter avslutad rötningsperiod separerades vätskan och det fasta materialet i rötresten och frystes in i väntan på analys av läkemedelsrester. Biogasproduktionen var drygt 250 Nml CH4/g VS (ml metan per gram organiskt material vid tryck 1 atm och 0ºC) efter 60 dagar, vilket antas vara biogaspotentialen hos latrin. Det är i samma nivå som biogaspotentialen från hönsgödsel och svinkletgödsel. Gasproduktionen i flaskorna med tillsats av läkemedel var något högre och någon inhibering av processen kunde alltså ej påvisas. Kvävehalten i latrinen var 3,7 g/l, fosforhalten 1,0 g/l, kaliumhalten 1,0 g/l. Latrinens tungmetallhalter var under Naturvårdsverkets föreslagna gränsvärden för avloppsfraktioner som tillförs åkermark och skulle därför kunna användas som gödsel med dagens regelverk. Kadmiumfosforkvoten var 25 mg Cd/kg P vilket är lika mycket som medelvärde av Revaq-certifierat avloppsslam. Flera saker tyder på att latrinen som användes innehöll mer fekalier än urin i förhållande till vad som borde produceras och därmed inte fullt ut representerar ett komplett toalettavfall. Analyser gjordes av läkemedelskoncentrationer i vätskefasen av rötningsmaterialet före och efter olika långa perioder av rötning. Rötning visade sig inte vara någon effektiv metod för att rena latrin från läkemedel. Det var i fler fall som koncentrationen av läkemedel ökade än minskade under rötning. Ökningen kan bland annat ha att göra med att adsorptionsegen-skaper hos materialet förändras under rötningen och därmed frigörs substanserna och syns bättre i analysen av vätskefasen. Förekomsten av läkemedel i miljön är relativt väl undersöktmen däremot behövs mer förståelse för riskerna med läkemedel i vattenmiljö men framför-allt i jordbruksmiljö där kunskapsluckorna är stora / Wastewater contains nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous which can cause eutrophi-cation in lakes and streams. Meanwhile, large quantities of nutrients are used in agriculture in order to produce food. One way to utilize nutrients in wastewater and return them to agriculture could be source separation of sewage. This way, nutrients are collected in smallvolumes and are not mixed with bathing, washing, and cleaning water. This thesis aimed at investigating anaerobic digestion as a treatment method and technology to make use of the energy in latrine. In anaerobic digestion, microorganisms degrade organic material and produce energy rich biogas that can be used for heating, electricity, or vehicle fuel. The residue remaining after digestion contains nutrients but also pollutants. The study examined the content of heavy metals and drug residues in latrine, and to what extent the digestion process affected the pharmaceutical content. To evaluate the anaerobic digestion as treatment of latrines, 44 batch experiments wereperformed at laboratory scale. Latrine was taken from a collection basin in Norrtälje. Inoculum from two active anaerobic digestion plants were mixed with latrine in sealed glass bottles and put on shaking tables for approximately 60 days. Some bottles contained an addition of eight drugs dissolved in methanol. Two parallel experiments were performed one at mesophilic temperature (37ºC) and one at thermophilic temperature (52ºC). The volume of gas produced and methane content was measured for calculation of the biogas potential. After completion of the digestion period, the liquid and solids were separated and frozen pending analysis of drug residues. The biogas produced was a little over 250 Nml CH4/gVS after 60 days being comparable to production from pig and chicken manure. The bottles containing added substances showed no inhibition of the biogas process since the gas production was slightly greater in these. The nitrogen content of latrine was 3.7 g/L, the phosphorus content 1.0 g/L and potassium content of 1.0 g/L. The cadmium-phosphorus ratio was 25 mg Cd/kg P, same as the average of Revaq certified sewage sludge. The heavy metal concentrations were below the limits allowed for sewage fractions applied on arable land as proposed by the Swedish Environ-mental Protection Agency. The latrine could be used as fertilizer with current and proposed regulations. Several things indicate that the latrine used contained a higher feces-urine ratio than expected and therefore does not fully represent a complete blackwater. Analyses on drug concentrations were preformed on the liquid phase of the material before and after various periods of anaerobic digestion. Anaerobic digestion proved not to be an effective method to reduce pharmaceuticals in latrine. There were more cases where the concentration of the drug increased rather than decreased during digestion. The increase could be due to changes in adsorption properties of the material during digestion, making them more observable in the analysis. The presence of pharmaceuticals in the environment is relatively well known but more understanding is needed on the hazards of pharmaceutical residues in aquatic and especially agricultural environment.