America has a long history of making promises it can't keep, the most accessible buzz word for such promises being, "the American Dream", where everyone will enjoy some level of affluence and assimilate into the proverbial "melting pot" so long as they work hard and follow predetermined rules set by the power structure. In this model American lifestyle, the spiritual essence of humans is buried by the materialistic drive of capitalism, which drives us farther apart and alienates us from our neighbors. Yet in the mid 2000s, in the aftermath of some of the country's worst disasters, this power structure began to crumble. As with any transition, those with stake in the power structure suffered, which was virtually everyone in America at the time. Yet regardless of what they suffered, they found themselves still alive, still breathing. This proved something existed beyond the American dream, something more spiritual and intangible. The aim of these stories is to explore the lives of those left in the wake of the initial post9/11 economic collapse of Brevard County. Dubbed the "Space Coast," it stood as a pinnacle for the lofty promises of the American dream and a staple of its subsequent collapse. The following stories render this time and place, populated not only by those who lost something during the economic failure, but the young people who'd been promised a bright future and watched it ebb away before their eyes.

The purpose of this investigation was to identify key design parameters that might significantly affect the response of span wire traffic light systems during extreme wind events. The performance of these systems was assessed through physical testing in an effort to quantify the effect of sag ratio, wire tension and wire clearance. The Wall of Wind experimental facility at Florida International University was utilized for testing the systems at different wind speeds and wind directions. The findings showed that, at all tested wind directions, lift, drag and tension forces increased with increasing wind speeds. On the contrary, increasing the wind speed resulted in higher inclination on the traffic lights, lower drag coefficients and higher lift coefficients. Overall, when the wind was approaching from the rear face of the traffic signals, increased drag coefficients were recorded. When the sag was set at 7% lower drag coefficients were observed.

Research has shown that riding a motorcycle can potentially be much more dangerous than operating a conventional vehicle. There are factors inherent in driving or riding a small two wheeled vehicle, such as a motorcycle, moped or even bicycle that can potentially decrease their ability to be seen or noticed by other drivers. This disadvantage is reflected in the disproportionate over-representation of injuries and/or fatalities incurred by this particular driving group. This creates a significant problem which deserves dedicated evaluation as to causative factors and/or influential variables. The following research was conducted with intentions to investigate the topic of motorcycle conspicuity so as to further explain the variables which positively contribute to a motorcycle being seen and to supplement the body of knowledge that currently exists on this topic. This study specifically evaluated the influence of sex, age, motorcycle lighting conditions, and vehicular daytime running lights upon one's ability to effectively detect a motorcycle within a "high fidelity" simulated environment. This research additionally sought to examine the feasibility and validity of using a novel fixed base "high fidelity" simulator for the evaluation of motorcycle conspicuity. The results from this research clearly indicate a link between vehicular DRLs and the effective detection of motorcycles and also support previous research as to the effectiveness of motorcycle DRLs. Additionally, these results suggest that as one ages, certain degradations in vision, cognition, and physiology occur which decrease one's performance in detecting and responding to a motorcycle. These findings additionally provide support for the use of a "high definition" fixed base simulator as a valid technology for the evaluation of motorcycle conspicuity.

This study evaluated the effects of public postings on energy conservation behavior at a public university, using a multiple baseline design across three settings; bathrooms break rooms, and conference rooms. The behavior of building occupants was recorded to assess the frequency at which those individuals would turn lights off upon exiting an unoccupied room. The independent variables implemented by experimenters (light-switch plate stickers and laminated signs) had little to no effects on cumulative instances of lights turned off however, the installation of motion sensor lights produced better results. Across all conditions, lights were turned off most frequently in conference rooms (65% of observations) followed by break rooms (9% of observations), and bathrooms (3% of observations).

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. August 2015. / This work investigates the impact of the extragalactic background light fluctuations on very high energy !-ray spectra from distant blazars. We calculate the extragalactic background light spectral energy distribution using a model that extends those proposed by Razzaque et al. (2009ApJ.697.483R) and Finke et al. (2010ApJ.712.238F). We introduce a model for fluctuations in the extragalactic background light based on fluctuations in the star formation rate density, since these two fluctuations can reasonably be expected to be correlated. Fluctuations in the star formation rate are estimated from the semi-analytical galaxy catalogue of Guo et al. (2013MNRAS.428.1351G), we use his model to derive the resulting opacities for !-rays from distant sources. We determine the mean, lower and upper limits for the scatter of the star formation rate density, which then allow us to compute corresponding limits on the extragalactic background light spectrum. We then calculate the impact of these fluctuations limits on the !-ray optical depth. This appears to be the first detailed analytical model that aims to account for the impact of extragalactic background light fluctuations on the !-ray opacity. The model predicts relatively high variations ( 15%) on the opacity in the energy range less than 100 GeV for nearby sources. The impact is found to be smaller (⇠ 5%) for very high energy !-rays from distant sources.

This project is dealing with the human body and surgical modifications. I am wondering how to achieve the aim of provoking compassion, rejection and attraction in one collection. I would like to deeply move the sensation of your own body by showing deformed and reconstructed bodies.Cut off body parts and re-sew them somewhere else…I want to show something that is considered to be disgusting in a context where you would not expect to meet it.Furthermore, I would like to show that anything that looks normal disgusts you in an abnormal size or position.I want people to discover such elements at a second glance and I chose this theme also in order to provoke myself. I was wondering how it would affect my work by chosing a topic that irritates myself.The background for this project is built on a two year research and I am going to highlight the decisions along the way.I do relate my work strongly to Matthew Barneys way of creating and I got influenced by his aesthetics. But also the methods I used were significant for my end result which I am showing in form of clinical reports in which each character and its personal story is described.This report ends with a discussion part where I evaluate the result and my competence. / Program: Master Programme in Fashion Design

Le trafic routier entraine de nombreux effets néfastes, dont la pollution, l'insécurité et la congestion. La plupart de méthodes développées, pour la régulation du trafic urbain au niveau des carrefours, cherche à réduire les temps d’attente et les longueurs des files d'attente. Ces méthodes se fixent principalement comme objectif l’optimisation des cycles de feu sur un horizon fini.Pour la description du trafic, nous adoptons une modélisation par les réseaux de Pétri Hybrides (RdPH), qui représente, simultanément, deux niveaux de représentation complémentaires : l'évolution continue des files d'attente et l'évolution discrète des feux tricolores. Ces deux niveaux sont, respectivement, articulés autour des réseaux de Pétri à vitesses variables et des réseaux de Pétri discrets temporisés.Nous élaborons en plus, une nouvelle stratégie pour résoudre le problème de la régulation du trafic urbain intervenant d'une manière adaptée au niveau des feux de signalisation. Nous cherchons à éviter, en premier lieu,la congestion et la sursaturation des files d'attente, qui ne doivent pas dépasser l'optimum des capacités des voies de l'intersection et, en second lieu, à réduire le temps d'évacuation des véhicules au niveau du carrefour et surtout les temps d'attente des conducteurs.Dans ce sens, un premier algorithme est élaboré pour calculer les longueurs des files d'attente, utilisant une approche qui se base sur la simplification de la modélisation d'un carrefour. Pour optimiser le temps moyen d’attente et le temps total d'évacuation sont, considérés et appliqués, avec succès, une heuristique de contrôle et une stratégie de régulation à feux fixe et à feux variables, suite à la détermination de la durée de feu vert correspondante à la situation de l'intersection en temps réel.Nous envisageons, de généraliser les résultats de nos travaux exploitant le modèle RdPH aux intersections plus complexes pour des situations réelles d'un réseau de carrefour. / Road traffic causes many adverse effects, including pollution, insecurity and congestion. Most of the developedmethods for regulation of urban traffic at crossroads, seeking to reduce wait times and lengths of queues. Thesemethods are mainly set objective optimization fire cycles over a finite horizon.To describe the composition of traffic, we opted for a traffic modeling by hybrid Petri nets, representingsimultaneously two complementary levels of representation: the continuing evolution of queues and discreetchanging traffic lights. These two levels are respectively articulated about Petri nets variable speed and discretetimed Petri nets.We chose, as well, for a new strategy to solve the problem of urban traffic control intervening in an appropriatemanner to the level of the signal lights. We sought to avoid first, congestion and the super saturation of queues,which must not exceed the optimum capacity of the intersection of routes studied and, second, to reduce theevacuation time of vehicles at the crossroads and especially waiting times for drivers.In this sense, a first algorithm is developed to calculate the lengths of queues, using a modeling simplificationapproach to a junction. To optimize the average waiting time and the total evacuation time are considered andapplied successfully by a heuristic control lights and a fixed control strategy and floating lights, following thedetermination of the duration of corresponding green light to the situation in real time intersectionWe plan to generalize the results of our work exploiting RDPH model to complex intersections for real situations of acrossroads network.

A new approach for the development of problem-solvers for combinatorial problems is proposed in this thesis. The approach combines incremental knowledge acquisition and probabilistic search algorithms, such as evolutionary algorithms, to allow a human to rapidly develop problem-solvers in new domains in a framework called HeurEAKA. The approach addresses a known problem, that is, adapting evolutionary algorithms to the search domain by the introduction of domain knowledge. The development of specialised problem-solvers has historically been labour intensive. Implementing a problem-solver from scratch is very time consuming. Another approach is to adapt a general purpose search strategy to the problem domain. This is motivated by the observation that in order to scale an algorithm to solve complex problems, domain knowledge is needed. At present there is no systematic approach allowing one to efficiently engineer a specialpurpose search strategy for a given search problem. This means that, for example, adapting evolutionary algorithms (which are general purpose algorithms) is often very difficult and has lead some people to refer to their use as a ???black art???. In the HeurEAKA approach, domain knowledge is introduced by incrementally building a knowledge base that controls parts of the evolutionary algorithm. For example, the fitness function and the mutation operators in a genetic algorithm. An evolutionary search algorithm ismonitored by a human whomakes recommendations on search strategy based on individual solution candidates. It is assumed that the human has a reasonable intuition of the search problem. The human adds rules to a knowledge base describing how candidate solutions can be improved, or why they are desirable or undesirable in the search for a good solution. The incremental knowledge acquisition approach is inspired by the idea of (Nested) Ripple Down Rules. This approach sees a human provide exception rules to rules already existing in the knowledge base using concrete examples of inappropriate performance of the existing knowledge base. The Nested Ripple Down Rules (NRDR) approach allows humans to compose rules using concepts that are natural and intuitive to them. In HeurEAKA, NRDR are significantly adapted to form part of a probabilistic search algorithm. The probabilistic search algorithms used in the presented system are a genetic algorithm and a hierarchical bayesian optimization algorithm. The success of the HeurEAKA approach is demonstrated in experiments undertaken on industrially relevant domains. Problem-solvers were developed for detailed channel and switchbox routing in VLSI design and traffic light optimisation for urban road networks. The problem-solvers were developed in a short amount of time, in domains where a large amount of effort has gone into developing existing algorithms. Experiments show that chosen benchmark problems are solved as well or better than existing approaches. Particularly in the traffic light optimisation domain excellent results are achieved.

Bakalauro darbo tema: Popieriniai šviestuvai. Papjė – mašė šviečianti kompozicija „Galenis“. Darbo problema: Moksleiviai individualybės, skirtingai suvokiantys, bei atliekantis užduotis. Iškyla problema, kaip sudominti mokinius, kad visi mokiniai ieškotų kūrybinių sprendimų, kokias idėjas pateikti technologijų pamokose. Svarbu, kad mergaitės ir berniukai mokėtų vertinti ir kurti grožį, pritaikyti jį savo aplinkoje. Panaudotą popieriaus lapą gebėtų prikelti naujam gyvenimui, panaudojant savo kūrybines idėjas ir mintis. Sugebėtų bendrauti ir bendradarbiauti, lavintų kūrybinį mąstymą. Darbo tikslas: Analizuojant informacinius šaltinius apie popierių, bei šviestuvus, sukurti šviečiančią kompoziciją „Galenis“. Darbo uždaviniai: • Apžvelgti popieriaus istoriją. • Išnagrinėti papjė – mašė technologiją, jos gamybos priemones ir metodus. • Apžvelgti literatūrą apie popierinius šviestuvus, bei šviečiančias kompozicijas. • Pritaikyti papjė – mašė technologiją, technologijų pamokose. • Apžvelgti gamtos formų įtaką meninėje kūryboje. • Atlikti kūrybinį darbą papjė – mašė šviečiančią kompoziciją „Galenis“. Baigiamąjį darbą sudaro trumpas susipažinimas su popieriaus atsiradimo istorija, jo gamyba, popierinių šviestuvu apžvalga, antrinių žaliavų panaudojimu, bei papjė – mašė technika, jos gamybos priemones ir metodus. Pateikta informacinė medžiaga apie papjė – mašė technikos pritaikymą technologijų pamokose, pamokų planai. Aprašoma kūrybinio darbo projektavimas ir jo vykdymo procesas... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The theme of the Bachelor work: Paper lights. Papier-mâché lights composition „Galenis‟. The problem of the work: Learners are personalities realizing and doing tasks in different ways. The problem turns up how to interest them as everyone would look for creative decisions, what kind of ideas to offer in technology lessons. It is quite important that girls and boys would be able to evaluate and create beauty and apply it in their surroundings. Furthermore using their creative ideas and thoughts pupils would be able to breathe new life into used sheet of paper, to communicate and collaborate and to develop their creative thought. The aim of the work: Analysing information resources about paper and chandeliers to create shining composition „Galenis‟. The goals of the work: • To review the history of the paper; • To explore papier-mâché technology, the means and methods of its production; • To review the literature about paper chandeliers and shining compositions; • To apply papier-mâché technology in technology lessons; • To review the influence of nature shapes on artistic creation; • To perform creative work – shining composition „Galenis‟ using papier-mâché technology. The final work consists of short familiarization with the history of paper origin, its production, the review of paper chandeliers, the use of indirect materials, also the technology of papier-mâché, the means and methods of its production. There are introduced information resources about the application of... [to full text]

A new approach for the development of problem-solvers for combinatorial problems is proposed in this thesis. The approach combines incremental knowledge acquisition and probabilistic search algorithms, such as evolutionary algorithms, to allow a human to rapidly develop problem-solvers in new domains in a framework called HeurEAKA. The approach addresses a known problem, that is, adapting evolutionary algorithms to the search domain by the introduction of domain knowledge. The development of specialised problem-solvers has historically been labour intensive. Implementing a problem-solver from scratch is very time consuming. Another approach is to adapt a general purpose search strategy to the problem domain. This is motivated by the observation that in order to scale an algorithm to solve complex problems, domain knowledge is needed. At present there is no systematic approach allowing one to efficiently engineer a specialpurpose search strategy for a given search problem. This means that, for example, adapting evolutionary algorithms (which are general purpose algorithms) is often very difficult and has lead some people to refer to their use as a ???black art???. In the HeurEAKA approach, domain knowledge is introduced by incrementally building a knowledge base that controls parts of the evolutionary algorithm. For example, the fitness function and the mutation operators in a genetic algorithm. An evolutionary search algorithm ismonitored by a human whomakes recommendations on search strategy based on individual solution candidates. It is assumed that the human has a reasonable intuition of the search problem. The human adds rules to a knowledge base describing how candidate solutions can be improved, or why they are desirable or undesirable in the search for a good solution. The incremental knowledge acquisition approach is inspired by the idea of (Nested) Ripple Down Rules. This approach sees a human provide exception rules to rules already existing in the knowledge base using concrete examples of inappropriate performance of the existing knowledge base. The Nested Ripple Down Rules (NRDR) approach allows humans to compose rules using concepts that are natural and intuitive to them. In HeurEAKA, NRDR are significantly adapted to form part of a probabilistic search algorithm. The probabilistic search algorithms used in the presented system are a genetic algorithm and a hierarchical bayesian optimization algorithm. The success of the HeurEAKA approach is demonstrated in experiments undertaken on industrially relevant domains. Problem-solvers were developed for detailed channel and switchbox routing in VLSI design and traffic light optimisation for urban road networks. The problem-solvers were developed in a short amount of time, in domains where a large amount of effort has gone into developing existing algorithms. Experiments show that chosen benchmark problems are solved as well or better than existing approaches. Particularly in the traffic light optimisation domain excellent results are achieved.