Today’s robotics technology is often extremely user and location dependable, meaning that only a specific user using a specific hardware or software interface in a specific location can access that technique and alter it. This thesis focuses on an oil-monitoring system called Orilink, with those exact constraints. Orilink is only accessible through a specific computer using a serial port located in a special place. It is neither accessible from elsewhere nor through the cloud. This thesis removes that constraint and enables the access to Orilink independently of the user’s location or software / hardware interface.

Aim of this master's thesis is the creation of serial communication interface for FITkit. This serial interface is a full duplex industrial bus based on 20mA loop circuit and it should allow connection of two FITkits by RS-485. Aim of this paper is to design simple software allowing communication of two FITkits and to secure this communication on RS-485 link against interference or transfer errors.

The study of serial killer collaboration has received little attention in academia. While current explanatory theories of serial homicide can include subtypes of serial killers that operate alone, the study of collaborating serial killers has been neglected. In this paper, an integrated, explanatory theory of serial killer collaboration is proposed. The theory builds on concepts from social learning theory, the trauma control model, and relational self theory and aims to examine what interpersonal dynamics that characterize the partnerships of collaborating serial killers. Five cases of collaborating serial killers have been analyzed and compared with focus on individual life histories and how these are reflected in the interpersonal dynamics in serial killer collaboration. The study found that serial killer collaboration is fundamentally characterized by a mutual need for human connection and approval, and that sociocultural role expectations affect the interpersonal dynamics of collaborating serial killers in terms of dominance, victim-preference, victim-acquisition, and method of murder.

This study sets out to explore the relationship between news media coverage on serial killers and their behavior. As a result of the lack of previous research on this topic, utilizing past research on a few historically well-known serial killers and news media reports about those serial killers, this study attempts to determine if news media has any effect on a serial killer’s behavior prior to apprehension. After a review of the history of serial murder and the past findings about serial murderers, as well as background on the history of the media coverage of crime, this study will look closely at the media coverage and behavior of Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer; David Berkowitz, Son of Sam; and John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, the D.C. Snipers. These three cases received unparalleled attention from the media and involved a unique two-way communication between the offenders and the media/police. The relatively new role of the Public Information Officer in law enforcement agencies will be briefly reviewed to examine the expansion of their role in relation to considering the impact the media has on serial murderer behavior. The subsequent findings of this research will aid in increasing knowledge of serial killer behavior in relation to news media coverage so that news media can be a potential tool used by law enforcement to better control and predict serial killer behavior and aid in their apprehension.

Geographical profiling (GP) is a method used to determine an offender’s most likely area of residence. GP helps to better understand the spatial behaviour of an offender, by connecting series of crimes in a specific area. Research have shown that the geographic space plays an important part when solving crimes, especially with respect to serial offenders that tend to offend closer to their home. Despite the fact that GP has had some success, the field has received criticism, and speculations regarding its applicability for actual investigations. This thesis seeks to evaluate whether a specific method within GP could have been applied for an actual investigation. Thus, the aim of this study is to explore if it is possible to apply the Circle Theory of Environmental Range to the case of Marcel Lychau Hansen, ‘Amagermanden’, who is a famous Danish serial offender, and whether the theory could have contributed to the investigation at the time. By conducting a case study, the results showed that Hansen was operating as a commuter, and the theory was therefore not able to predict a narrowed area for his residence, since it was not possible to perform the Hypothesis of Environmental Range. However, the study showed that he had several of his daily routines on Amager – and this finding highlights, that considering the geographical factors would have been an important factor for the investigation. The study concludes the theory to be applicable to the case, though it was found limited in how it could have contributed to the investigation, and the geographical profile could not stand alone for this specific investigation.

Prever eventos ambientais, com base em memórias sobre regularidades passadas, é uma das funções fundamentais de sistemas nervosos complexos. Eventos ordenados serialmente ou sequências estruturadas de estímulos permitem extrair informação passível de descrição formal que define seu padrão serial. Esse padrão inclui informações temporais e espaciais que facultam prever os próximos eventos da sequência, possibilitando a preparação prévia do organismo para lidar com sua ocorrência. Não surpreende que animais, incluindo o ser humano, aprendam, de maneira relativamente rápida, sobre regras e estruturas de padrões sequenciais de estímulos. O uso de tarefas de tempo de reação serial (TRS) é recorrente em estudos envolvendo a formação de associações, antecipação, atenção, as bases da memória e aprendizagem de relações complexas. Resumidamente, voluntários devem responder a estímulos apresentados em sequências repetitivas ou aleatórias. Com o treino, há redução no tempo de reação a cada estímulo, refletindo a aprendizagem de relações percepto-motoras. Essa redução, porém, é maior na sequência repetitiva em relação à sequência aleatória, indicando um aprendizado também sobre a sequência repetitiva, mesmo quando o voluntário não a percebe (conscientemente) e seja incapaz de relatar sua existência. Trata-se, portanto, de uma aquisição (inicialmente) implícita. A complexidade de uma sequência de estímulos pode ser expressa quantitativamente por meio de uma ferramenta matemática proposta por Shannon (1948), a entropia informacional (EI), que considera, entre outras coisas, a probabilidade de ocorrência dos estímulos em diferentes níveis. No presente trabalho, avaliamos em que extensão o conceito de EI permite prever o desempenho de ratos na tarefa de TRS envolvendo sequências com diferentes níveis de complexidade. Ratos foram treinados a reagir (1) a uma sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 2 a 2) era 2,75. Após atingirem um nível assintótico de desempenho, os animais foram expostos (2) a sequências variáveis de estímulos com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 3 a 3). Numa etapa posterior os animais foram expostos (3) a uma nova sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 era 3,00; por fim, os animais foram submetidos (4) a sequências variáveis com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1em relação à sequência anterior, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 . Os resultados mostraram que os ratos aprenderam sobre os padrões seriais e, mais interessante, que seu desempenho esteve fortemente correlacionado à quantidade de EI no nível 2. Em outras palavras, quanto maior a EI, pior o desempenho dos animais tanto em termos do tempo de reação como em termos da percentagem de respostas corretas. Portanto, o conceito de EI permite não apenas quantificar a complexidade de sequências empregadas em estudos envolvendo aprendizagem serial, mas também prever o desempenho dos animais. / Prediction of environmental events, relying on memories of past regularities, is one of the fundamental functions of complex nervous systems. Sequences of serially ordered stimuli allow extracting information that defines its serial pattern. These patterns allow prediction of the next item in a sequence of events, facultating previous preparation to deal with its occurrence. Not surprisingly, animals, including humans, can identify rules present in serial structures of stimuli. Serial reaction time tasks (SRTT) have been extensively used in studies involving association, anticipation, attention, and learning and memory. Typically, subjects have to react to stimuli presented either in random or in repetitive sequences. As training proceeds, reaction time to each stimulus decreases, reflecting acquisition of this perceptual-motor skill. However, reaction time reduction is greater for repetitive sequences relative to the random sequences, indicating acquisition about the repetitive structure of the sequence. In human beings, this may occur even when the subject in uncapable of reporting the existence of a sequence, indicating that the acquisition was (at least initially) implicit rather than explicit. The complexity of a sequence of stimuli, at different levels, may be quantifyed by means of a mathematical tool proposed by Shannon (1948), the information entropy (IE). In this study we evaluated to which extent IE can predict performance of rats in SRTT involving sequences of stimuli organized at different levels of complexity. Rats were trained to react (1) a repeated sequence of stimuli which IE at the level \"1\" (i.e., expressing to which extent a given item allow prediction of the next) was 2.75. After reaching an asymptotic level of performance, the animals were exposed (2) a variable sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE in the level \"1\", but with more IE in the level \"2\" (i.e., expressing to which extent two given items allow prediction of the next). Later the animals were exposed to (3) a new repeated sequence of stimuli, which IE at the level \"1\" was 3.00. Finally, the animals were submitted to (4) a random sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE at the level \"1\", i.e., 3.00, but with greater IE in level 2. Results showed that rats learned about the serial patterns and, more interestingly, their performance strongly correlated to the amount of IE at the level \"2 \", both in terms of reaction times and in terms of percentage of correct responses. Therefore, IE allows not only to quantify complexity of sequences in studies involving serial learning, but also to predict performance of the subjects.

Prever eventos ambientais, com base em memórias sobre regularidades passadas, é uma das funções fundamentais de sistemas nervosos complexos. Eventos ordenados serialmente ou sequências estruturadas de estímulos permitem extrair informação passível de descrição formal que define seu padrão serial. Esse padrão inclui informações temporais e espaciais que facultam prever os próximos eventos da sequência, possibilitando a preparação prévia do organismo para lidar com sua ocorrência. Não surpreende que animais, incluindo o ser humano, aprendam, de maneira relativamente rápida, sobre regras e estruturas de padrões sequenciais de estímulos. O uso de tarefas de tempo de reação serial (TRS) é recorrente em estudos envolvendo a formação de associações, antecipação, atenção, as bases da memória e aprendizagem de relações complexas. Resumidamente, voluntários devem responder a estímulos apresentados em sequências repetitivas ou aleatórias. Com o treino, há redução no tempo de reação a cada estímulo, refletindo a aprendizagem de relações percepto-motoras. Essa redução, porém, é maior na sequência repetitiva em relação à sequência aleatória, indicando um aprendizado também sobre a sequência repetitiva, mesmo quando o voluntário não a percebe (conscientemente) e seja incapaz de relatar sua existência. Trata-se, portanto, de uma aquisição (inicialmente) implícita. A complexidade de uma sequência de estímulos pode ser expressa quantitativamente por meio de uma ferramenta matemática proposta por Shannon (1948), a entropia informacional (EI), que considera, entre outras coisas, a probabilidade de ocorrência dos estímulos em diferentes níveis. No presente trabalho, avaliamos em que extensão o conceito de EI permite prever o desempenho de ratos na tarefa de TRS envolvendo sequências com diferentes níveis de complexidade. Ratos foram treinados a reagir (1) a uma sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 2 a 2) era 2,75. Após atingirem um nível assintótico de desempenho, os animais foram expostos (2) a sequências variáveis de estímulos com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 (que relaciona os estímulos da sequência 3 a 3). Numa etapa posterior os animais foram expostos (3) a uma nova sequência repetitiva de estímulos, cuja quantidade de EI no nível 1 era 3,00; por fim, os animais foram submetidos (4) a sequências variáveis com a mesma quantidade de EI no nível 1em relação à sequência anterior, porém, com maior quantidade de EI no nível 2 . Os resultados mostraram que os ratos aprenderam sobre os padrões seriais e, mais interessante, que seu desempenho esteve fortemente correlacionado à quantidade de EI no nível 2. Em outras palavras, quanto maior a EI, pior o desempenho dos animais tanto em termos do tempo de reação como em termos da percentagem de respostas corretas. Portanto, o conceito de EI permite não apenas quantificar a complexidade de sequências empregadas em estudos envolvendo aprendizagem serial, mas também prever o desempenho dos animais. / Prediction of environmental events, relying on memories of past regularities, is one of the fundamental functions of complex nervous systems. Sequences of serially ordered stimuli allow extracting information that defines its serial pattern. These patterns allow prediction of the next item in a sequence of events, facultating previous preparation to deal with its occurrence. Not surprisingly, animals, including humans, can identify rules present in serial structures of stimuli. Serial reaction time tasks (SRTT) have been extensively used in studies involving association, anticipation, attention, and learning and memory. Typically, subjects have to react to stimuli presented either in random or in repetitive sequences. As training proceeds, reaction time to each stimulus decreases, reflecting acquisition of this perceptual-motor skill. However, reaction time reduction is greater for repetitive sequences relative to the random sequences, indicating acquisition about the repetitive structure of the sequence. In human beings, this may occur even when the subject in uncapable of reporting the existence of a sequence, indicating that the acquisition was (at least initially) implicit rather than explicit. The complexity of a sequence of stimuli, at different levels, may be quantifyed by means of a mathematical tool proposed by Shannon (1948), the information entropy (IE). In this study we evaluated to which extent IE can predict performance of rats in SRTT involving sequences of stimuli organized at different levels of complexity. Rats were trained to react (1) a repeated sequence of stimuli which IE at the level \"1\" (i.e., expressing to which extent a given item allow prediction of the next) was 2.75. After reaching an asymptotic level of performance, the animals were exposed (2) a variable sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE in the level \"1\", but with more IE in the level \"2\" (i.e., expressing to which extent two given items allow prediction of the next). Later the animals were exposed to (3) a new repeated sequence of stimuli, which IE at the level \"1\" was 3.00. Finally, the animals were submitted to (4) a random sequence of stimuli with the same amount of IE at the level \"1\", i.e., 3.00, but with greater IE in level 2. Results showed that rats learned about the serial patterns and, more interestingly, their performance strongly correlated to the amount of IE at the level \"2 \", both in terms of reaction times and in terms of percentage of correct responses. Therefore, IE allows not only to quantify complexity of sequences in studies involving serial learning, but also to predict performance of the subjects.

The phenomenon of serial killers is increasing world wide. During the past decade the most memorable cases of serial homicide in South Africa have been those of the "Norwood serial killer", the "Station Strangler", the "Cleveland serial killer", "The Gaunteng serial killer" and the "St Charles serial killer". The enigma surrounding serial killers is the so-called "lack of motive'' for the murders. No extrinsic motive such as robbery, financial gain, revenge or passion exists as there usually would be in the case of other murders. The available literature indicates that several theories have been proposed to explain the origin of serial homicide, but none can explain sufficiently to the author why one person with a certain type of background and exposed to a certain environment becomes a serial killer, whilst another, with a similar background and circumstances does not. The theories that are discussed are the socio-cultural factors, Ressler's motivational model, systemic factors, demonic possession, neurological factors, psychogenic factors and fantasy. In this thesis the author attempts to answer the question "What is the origin of serial homicide" by applying selected aspects of the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Melanie Klein on two case studies of South African serial killers. The author formulates twenty nine statements of her own, based on the theories of Freud and Klein which she applies to the two case studies. The cases of the "Station Strangler" in Mitchell's Plain, Cape province, and the "St Charles serial killer" in Donnybrook, KwaZulu Natal are selected. Both of these serial killers are organized in their modus operandi, but the "Station Strangler" is a ego-dystonic killer and the "St Charles serial killer" a ego-syntonic serial killer. The method of research is a qualitative case study method. The author divides the selected aspects of Freud and Klein's theories into categories and analyses the two cases presented according to these categories. In the final chapter she draws maps to illustrate the psychoanalytical developmental paths of serial killers in general and for each of the two cases. Multiple data sources are used for example interviews with the serial killers and their families, police dockets, court proceedings and psychiatric records. Multiple data sources, explanation building and replication by way of multiple case studies are employed to ensure construct validity, internal validity and external validity respectively. Reliability is supported by entering the data in a South African Police Service data base. In conclusion the author compares the differences and similarities between the two case studies, and discusses the statements which are supported by this research. She also recommends that those statements which are not supported, be discussed in consecutive case studies. The statements are generalized to all serial killers. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 1996. / gm2013 / Psychology / unrestricted

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Three different demodulators applicable to the coherent demodulation of binary Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK) signal are described and their performance compared. These include a near-optimal trellis demodulator, which utilizes two matched filters and Viterbi algorithm to carry out maximum likelihood sequence estimation, and a singlefilter threshold demodulator with and without pulse equalization. The performance of these demodulators in noise and adjacent channel interference (ACI) are compared for several signal BT products. The equalized threshold demodulator is shown to perform nearly as well as the near-optimal trellis demodulator in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN), and substantially outperform the trellis demodulator under severe ACI condition.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / November 04-07, 1991 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Shortened cyclic codes are not cyclic, but many cyclic shifts of various code words are still part of the shortened code set. This paper addresses the probability of false synchronization obtained through polynomial division of a serial shortened cyclic code stream in a “sliding” window correlator.