published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Computer Science / Master / Master of Philosophy

5 pp. / As long term investments, trees are expected to provide benefits for extended periods of time, usually decades. Trees planted in locations where they cannot survive or where they create problems rarely stay in place for any length of time. Trees experiencing shortened lives waste money, create hazards, and fail to perform their intended horticultural function. The bulletin highlights the importance of selecting a tree right for the location in which it will be planted. Key suggestions for making sound horticultural decisions along with ten examples of trees planted in locations where problems can far outweigh the benefits are presented.

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone / The study is on non-profit organizations use of data to analyze and plan projects. It looks at Geographical Information Systems as a tool that could benefit organizations in their data management, project creation, and community collaboration. Case study research was used to analyze three different tree maps created by non-profit organizations. The case studies looked specifically at the organizations’ use of GIS in the data management, project creation, and community collaboration aspects of the maps. By looking at these aspects, it was concluded that GIS is a beneficial tool for non-profit organizations, even on the most basic level. As the organizations become more financially able to afford better software, the GIS capabilities become more beneficial. Non-profits should try to incorporate GIS at any level into their organization.

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Let <a1,..., a m | wn> be a presentation of a group G, where w is freely and cyclically reduced and n ≥ 2 is maximal. We define a system of codimension-1 subspaces in the universal cover, and invoke a construction essentially due to Sageev to define an action of G on a CAT(0) cube complex. By proving easily formulated geometric properties of the codimension-1 subspaces we show that when n ≥ 4 the action is proper and cocompact, and that the cube complex is finite dimensional and locally finite. We also prove partial results when n = 2 or n = 3. It is also shown that the subgroups of G generated by non-empty proper subsets of {a1, a 2,..., am} embed by isometries into the whole group.

We produce a nonpositively curved square complex, X, containing exactly four squares. Its universal cover, X̃ ≅ T4 x T 4, is isomorphic to the product of two 4-valent trees. The group, pi1X, is a lattice in Aut (X̃) but π1X is not virtually a nontrivial product of free groups. There is no such example with fewer than four squares. The main ingredient in our analysis is that X̃ contains an "anti-torus" which is a certain aperiodically tiled plane.

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Integration of multisensor airborne data for object based image analysis, and spectral classification of individual trees is complicated by the multi-modal operation of complimentary sensors required for intersensor calibration. Simplified and generalized representations of sensor data impacts the ability to calibrate, rectify, segment, and extract scene objects represented as differing scales. This research project examines the effect and implications of using lidar to calibrate, and rectify airborne imaging spectrometer to an appropriate resolution digital surface model. Through the use of a normalized digital canopy surface model, tree objects are detected and integrated with field surveyed species data for trees of classification interest. Canopy structure is used to segment, and extract airborne imaging spectrometer data for assessment and suitability in species classification. / Graduate