abstract: The current method of measuring thermal conductivity requires flat plates. For most common civil engineering materials, creating or extracting such samples is difficult. A prototype thermal conductivity experiment had been developed at Arizona State University (ASU) to test cylindrical specimens but proved difficult for repeated testing. In this study, enhancements to both testing methods were made. Additionally, test results of cylindrical testing were correlated with the results from identical materials tested by the Guarded Hot&ndashPlate; method, which uses flat plate specimens. In validating the enhancements made to the Guarded Hot&ndashPlate; and Cylindrical Specimen methods, 23 tests were ran on five different materials. The percent difference shown for the Guarded Hot&ndashPlate; method was less than 1%. This gives strong evidence that the enhanced Guarded Hot-Plate apparatus in itself is now more accurate for measuring thermal conductivity. The correlation between the thermal conductivity values of the Guarded Hot&ndashPlate; to those of the enhanced Cylindrical Specimen method was excellent. The conventional concrete mixture, due to much higher thermal conductivity values compared to the other mixtures, yielded a P&ndashvalue; of 0.600 which provided confidence in the performance of the enhanced Cylindrical Specimen Apparatus. Several recommendations were made for the future implementation of both test methods. The work in this study fulfills the research community and industry desire for a more streamlined, cost effective, and inexpensive means to determine the thermal conductivity of various civil engineering materials. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering 2011

Opening a door is still a hard problem in robotics. Many robotic manipulators use open-loop position control to open doors, which reduces reusability and reliability in the face of slight differences or sensor errors. Many others use force feedback or impedance control but skip past the problem of grabbing the handle, which could lead to failures due to sensor errors. This research assumes that perception is faulty, and uses joint-level force feedback to probe the location of the door and its handle before attempting to open it. The resulting control strategy is at least 33% faster than the open-loop control system it replaces, and had an 83% success rate during testing in place of the previous method's 60% success rate. / Master of Science

This paper presents a concurrent interpreter for a general-purpose concurrent logic programming language, Guarded Horn Clauses (GHC). Unlike typical implementations of GHC in logic programming languages, the interpreter is implemented in the Actor language Acore. The primary motivation for this work was to probe the strengths and weaknesses of Acore as a platform for developing sophisticated programs. The GHC interpreter provided a rich testbed for exploring Actor programming methodology. The interpreter is a pedagogical investigation of the mapping of GHC constructs onto the Actor model. Since we opted for simplicity over optimization, the interpreter is somewhat inefficient.

Este trabalho apresenta a metodologia empregada para desenvolvimento e utilização de um equipamento para medir valores de emissividade hemisférica. O referido equipamento permite efetuar simultaneamente medidas de emissividade através do método calorimétrico e do método radiométrico. O calorímetro mede o fluxo de calor entre duas superfícies paralelas e horizontais, onde a superfície superior é aquecida por uma fonte de corrente elétrica de alta estabilidade. As temperaturas das duas superfícies são determinadas quando o sistema atinge o equilíbrio térmico. A superfície aquecida é protegida por uma guarda térmica fazendo com que toda a potência elétrica seja dissipada à superfície inferior, que por sua vez é refrigerada com um sistema que utiliza pastilhas Peltier. O fluxo de calor é medido e seu valor é utilizado em uma equação onde as emissividades de ambas as superfícies são participantes. O radiômetro utiliza sensores detectores térmicos que convertem em sinal elétrico o efeito de aquecimento decorrente da incidência deste fluxo de calor radiante entre as duas superfícies. A partir de experimentos com superfícies de emissividades conhecidas, parâmetros fixos do equipamento foram determinados estando o mesmo apto a medir superfícies com valores de emissividade desconhecidos. O trabalho analisa também os erros experimentais intrínsecos do instrumento. / This work presents the methodology used for development and use of an equipment to measure values of hemispherical emissivity. The equipment allows to make emissivity measurements simultaneously through the calorimetric method and of the radiometric method. The calorimeter measures the heat transfer between two parallel and horizontal surfaces, where the superior surface is heated up by a source of electric current of high sustainability. The temperatures of the two surfaces are determined when the system reaches the thermal equilibrium. The heated surface is protected by a thermal guard, wich makes all the eletrical power to be dissipated towards the inferior surface that is cooled by a Peltier system. The heat flux is measured and its value is used in an equation where the emissividades of both surfaces are important. The radiometer uses thermal detectors that convert in electric sign, the heating effect due to the incidence of this radiant heat flux between the two surfaces. Starting from experiments with surfaces of known emissivity, fixed parameters of the equipment were determined being the same capable to measure surfaces with unknown emissivity values. The work also analyzes the experimental intrinsic errors of the apparratus.

Este trabalho apresenta a metodologia empregada para desenvolvimento e utilização de um equipamento para medir valores de emissividade hemisférica. O referido equipamento permite efetuar simultaneamente medidas de emissividade através do método calorimétrico e do método radiométrico. O calorímetro mede o fluxo de calor entre duas superfícies paralelas e horizontais, onde a superfície superior é aquecida por uma fonte de corrente elétrica de alta estabilidade. As temperaturas das duas superfícies são determinadas quando o sistema atinge o equilíbrio térmico. A superfície aquecida é protegida por uma guarda térmica fazendo com que toda a potência elétrica seja dissipada à superfície inferior, que por sua vez é refrigerada com um sistema que utiliza pastilhas Peltier. O fluxo de calor é medido e seu valor é utilizado em uma equação onde as emissividades de ambas as superfícies são participantes. O radiômetro utiliza sensores detectores térmicos que convertem em sinal elétrico o efeito de aquecimento decorrente da incidência deste fluxo de calor radiante entre as duas superfícies. A partir de experimentos com superfícies de emissividades conhecidas, parâmetros fixos do equipamento foram determinados estando o mesmo apto a medir superfícies com valores de emissividade desconhecidos. O trabalho analisa também os erros experimentais intrínsecos do instrumento. / This work presents the methodology used for development and use of an equipment to measure values of hemispherical emissivity. The equipment allows to make emissivity measurements simultaneously through the calorimetric method and of the radiometric method. The calorimeter measures the heat transfer between two parallel and horizontal surfaces, where the superior surface is heated up by a source of electric current of high sustainability. The temperatures of the two surfaces are determined when the system reaches the thermal equilibrium. The heated surface is protected by a thermal guard, wich makes all the eletrical power to be dissipated towards the inferior surface that is cooled by a Peltier system. The heat flux is measured and its value is used in an equation where the emissividades of both surfaces are important. The radiometer uses thermal detectors that convert in electric sign, the heating effect due to the incidence of this radiant heat flux between the two surfaces. Starting from experiments with surfaces of known emissivity, fixed parameters of the equipment were determined being the same capable to measure surfaces with unknown emissivity values. The work also analyzes the experimental intrinsic errors of the apparratus.

Este trabalho apresenta a metodologia empregada para desenvolvimento e utilização de um equipamento para medir valores de emissividade hemisférica. O referido equipamento permite efetuar simultaneamente medidas de emissividade através do método calorimétrico e do método radiométrico. O calorímetro mede o fluxo de calor entre duas superfícies paralelas e horizontais, onde a superfície superior é aquecida por uma fonte de corrente elétrica de alta estabilidade. As temperaturas das duas superfícies são determinadas quando o sistema atinge o equilíbrio térmico. A superfície aquecida é protegida por uma guarda térmica fazendo com que toda a potência elétrica seja dissipada à superfície inferior, que por sua vez é refrigerada com um sistema que utiliza pastilhas Peltier. O fluxo de calor é medido e seu valor é utilizado em uma equação onde as emissividades de ambas as superfícies são participantes. O radiômetro utiliza sensores detectores térmicos que convertem em sinal elétrico o efeito de aquecimento decorrente da incidência deste fluxo de calor radiante entre as duas superfícies. A partir de experimentos com superfícies de emissividades conhecidas, parâmetros fixos do equipamento foram determinados estando o mesmo apto a medir superfícies com valores de emissividade desconhecidos. O trabalho analisa também os erros experimentais intrínsecos do instrumento. / This work presents the methodology used for development and use of an equipment to measure values of hemispherical emissivity. The equipment allows to make emissivity measurements simultaneously through the calorimetric method and of the radiometric method. The calorimeter measures the heat transfer between two parallel and horizontal surfaces, where the superior surface is heated up by a source of electric current of high sustainability. The temperatures of the two surfaces are determined when the system reaches the thermal equilibrium. The heated surface is protected by a thermal guard, wich makes all the eletrical power to be dissipated towards the inferior surface that is cooled by a Peltier system. The heat flux is measured and its value is used in an equation where the emissividades of both surfaces are important. The radiometer uses thermal detectors that convert in electric sign, the heating effect due to the incidence of this radiant heat flux between the two surfaces. Starting from experiments with surfaces of known emissivity, fixed parameters of the equipment were determined being the same capable to measure surfaces with unknown emissivity values. The work also analyzes the experimental intrinsic errors of the apparratus.

Ces dernières années ont vu un regain d’intérêt dans l’utilisation de données semi-structurées, grâce à la standardisation de formats d’échange de données sur le Web tels que XML et RDF. On notera en particulier le Linking Open Data Project qui comptait plus de 31 milliard de triplets RDF à la fin de l’année 2011. XML reste, pour sa part, l’un des formats de données privilégié de nombreuses bases de données de grandes tailles dont Uniprot, Open Government Initiative et Penn Treebank. <p><p>Cet accroissement du volume de données semi-structurées a suscité un intérêt croissant pour le développement de bases de données adaptées. Parmi les différentes approches proposées, on peut distinguer les approches relationnelles et les approches graphes, comme détaillé au Chapitre 3. Les premières visent à exploiter les moteurs de bases de données relationnelles existants, en y intégrant des techniques spécialisées. Les secondes voient les données semistructurées comme des graphes, c’est-à-dire un ensemble de noeuds liés entre eux par des arêtes étiquetées, dont elles exploitent la structure. L’une des techniques de ce domaine, connue sous le nom d’indexation structurelle, vise à résumer les graphes de données, de sorte à pouvoir identifier rapidement les données utiles au traitement d’une requête.<p><p>Les index structurels classiques sont construits sur base des notions de simulation et de bisimulation sur des graphes. Ces notions, qui sont d’usage dans de nombreux domaines tels que la vérification, la sécurité, et le stockage de données, sont des relations sur les noeuds des graphes. Fondamentalement, ces notions caractérisent le fait que deux noeuds partagent certaines caractéristiques telles qu’un même voisinage. <p><p>Bien que les approches graphes soient efficaces en pratique, elles présentent des limitations dans le cadre de RDF et son langage de requêtes SPARQL. Les étiquettes sont, dans cette optique, distinctes des noeuds du graphe .Dans le modèle décrit par RDF et supporté par SPARQL, les étiquettes et noeuds font néanmoins partie du même ensemble. C’est pourquoi, les approches graphes ne supportent qu’un sous-ensemble des requêtes SPARQL. Au contraire, les approches relationnelles sont fidèles au modèle RDF, et peuvent répondre au différentes requêtes SPARQL. <p><p>La question à laquelle nous souhaitons répondre dans cette thèse est de savoir si les approches relationnelles et graphes sont incompatible, ou s’il est possible de les combiner de manière avantageuse. En particulier, il serait souhaitable de pouvoir conserver la performance des approches graphe, et la généralité des approches relationnelles. Dans ce cadre, nous réalisons un index structurel adapté aux données relationnelles. <p><p>Nous nous basons sur une méthodologie décrite par Fletcher et ses coauteurs pour la conception d’index structurels. Cette méthodologie repose sur trois composants principaux. Un premier composant est une caractérisation dite structurelle du langage de requêtes à supporter. Il s’agit ici de pouvoir identifier les données qui sont retournées en même temps par n’importe quelle requête du langage aussi précisément que possible. Un second composant est un algorithme qui doit permettre de grouper efficacement les données qui sont retournées en même temps, d’après la caractérisation structurelle. Le troisième composant est l’index en tant que tel. Il s’agit d’une structure de données qui doit permettre d’identifier les groupes de données, générés par l’algorithme précédent pour répondre aux requêtes. <p><p>Dans un premier temps, il faut remarquer que le langage SPARQL pris dans sa totalité ne se prête pas à la réalisation d’index structurels efficaces. En effet, le fondement des requêtes SPARQL se situe dans l’expression de requêtes conjonctives. La caractérisation structurelle des requêtes conjonctives est connue, mais ne se prête pas à la construction d’algorithmes efficaces pour le groupement. Néanmoins, l’étude empirique des requêtes SPARQL posées en pratique que nous réalisons au Chapitre 5 montre que celles-ci sont principalement des requêtes conjonctives acycliques. Les requêtes conjonctives acycliques sont connues dans la littérature pour admettre des algorithmes d’évaluation efficaces. <p><p>Le premier composant de notre index structurel, introduit au Chapitre<p>6, est une caractérisation des requêtes conjonctives acycliques. Cette<p>caractérisation est faite en termes de guarded simulation. Pour les graphes la<p>notion de simulation est une version restreinte de la notion de bisimulation.<p>Similairement, nous introduisons la notion de guarded simulation comme une<p>restriction de la notion de guarded bisimulation, une extension connue de la<p>notion de bisimulation aux données relationelles. <p><p>Le Chapitre 7 offre un second composant de notre index structurel. Ce composant est une structure de données appelée guarded structural index qui supporte le traitement de requêtes conjonctives quelconques. Nous montrons que, couplé à la caractérisation structurelle précédente, cet index permet d’identifier de manière optimale les données utiles au traitement de requêtes conjonctives acycliques. <p><p>Le Chapitre 8 constitue le troisième composant de notre index structurel et propose des méthodes efficaces pour calculer la notion de guarded simulation. Notre algorithme consiste essentiellement en une transformation d’une base de données en un graphe particulier, sur lequel les notions de simulation et guarded simulation correspondent. Il devient alors possible de réutiliser les algorithmes existants pour calculer des relations de simulation. <p><p>Si les chapitres précédents définissent une base nécessaire pour un index structurel visant les données relationnelles, ils n’intègrent pas encore cet index dans le contexte d’un moteur de bases de données relationnelles. C’est ce que propose le Chapitre 9, en développant des méthodes qui permettent de prendre en compte l’index durant le traitement d’une requête SPARQL. Des résultats expérimentaux probants complètent cette étude. <p><p>Ce travail apporte donc une première réponse positive à la question de savoir s’il est possible de combiner de manière avantageuse les approches relationnelles et graphes de stockage de données RDF.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences de l'ingénieur / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Aus der Einleitung: „The Guarded Fragment of first-order logic, introduced by Andréka, van Benthem, and Németi, has been a succesful attempt to transfer many good properties of modal, temporal, and description logics to a larger fragment of predicate logic. Among these are decidability, the finite modal property, invariance under an appropriate variant of bisimulation, and other nice modal theoretic properties. ...”

We examine how logical reasoning in the two-variable guarded fragment with counting quantifiers can be integrated with databases in the presence of certain integrity constraints, called path-functional dependencies. In more detail, we establish that the problems of satisfiability and finite satisfiability for the two-variable guarded fragment with counting quantifiers, a database, and binary path-functional dependencies are EXPTIME-complete; we also establish that the data complexity of these problems is NP-complete. We establish that query answering for the above fragment (with a database and binary path-functional dependencies) is 2-EXPTIME-complete with respect to arbitrary models, and provide a 2-EXPTIME upper bound for finite models. Finally, we establish that the data complexity of query answering is coNP-complete, both with respect to arbitrary and finite models.

This study was designed to test the responses of a group of juvenile delinquests and a group of normal adolescents to a sentence completion test. The test used was a modified form of Sack's Sentence Completion test in two forms--form A, first person stems and form B, third person stems. The hypothesis to be tested were (1) people project more in the third person, (2) the normal projects more, and (3) there would be no difference in projection on neutral items. The results bear out the three hypothesis. The sex scale, however, was an exception. This may be due to the deficiency of items on this particular scale.