Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / This thesis begins with a general survey of different model based systems for object recognition. The advantage and disadvantage of those systems are discussed. A system is then selected for study because of its effective Affine invariant matching [Ref. 1] characteristic. This system involves two separate phases, the modeling and the recognition. One is done off-line and the other is done on-line. A Hashing technique is implemented to achieve fast accessing and voting. Different test data sets are used in experiments to illustrate the recognition capabilities of this system. This demonstrates the capabilities of partial match, recognizing objects under similarity transformation applied to the models, and the results of noise perturbation. The testing results are discussed, and related experiences and recommendations are presented. / http://archive.org/details/affineinvarianto00hsut / Captain, Taiwan Republic of China Army

A set of definitions, theorems and proofs to describe the Laplace transformation.

Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are increasing becoming incorporated into consumer products to imbue remarkable physical and chemical properties. The increased use of these ENMs leads to a growing need to understand the environmental fate of ENMs after release. Many ENMs, including Ag and Cu ENMs, have the potential to undergo complex physical and chemical transformations which impact their toxicity, solubility and fate in the environment. There is a lack of research characterizing the transformation rate and understanding how these transformations affect interactions with organisms and the ultimate environmental fate. The first objective of this thesis was to understand how transformations of Ag ENMs affect the uptake, distribution and speciation of these materials in plants. Terrestrial (alfalfa, Medicago sativa) and an aquatic (duckweed, Landoltia punctate) plant species were exposed hydroponically to as manufactured (“pristine”) Ag0-NPs and more environmentally relevant (“transformed”) Ag2S NPs. The uptake, spatial distribution and speciation of Ag were analyzed using synchrotron based X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) techniques to provide mechanistic insights into the uptake of these ENMs. The reduced solubility and reactivity of Ag2S ENMs was expected to prevent plants from solubilizing these particles and only allow for direct uptake of particles. For the more soluble Ag species, the absorption of Ag+ ions was expected to be primarily the mechanism of Ag uptake. Although the total Ag associated with the plants was similar, the Ag distribution in the roots was dramatically different. The transformed ENMs (Ag2S) appeared to be taken into the plant tissue as sulfidized ENMs. The pristine Ag0 ENMs were found to partially dissolve and incorporate into the plant tissue as both dissolved Ag and Ag0-NPs. The fact that ENMs readily attach onto plant tissue regardless of speciation and solubility suggests that exposure to ENMs may be controlled by factors affecting attachment to root surfaces. However, internalization of Ag appears to be affected by solubility. The second objective was to characterize the impact of transformations of Ag and Cu-based ENMs on the distribution, speciation and fate of these materials in subaquatic sediments and the aquatic plant, E. Densa in a simulated emergent freshwater wetland using large-scale mesocosms. The exposure of pristine (Ag0 and CuO) ENMs and their transformed analogues (Ag2S and CuS) was compared to an ionic control (Cu(NO3)2) to determine if nanoparticulate species of metals were distributed differently than their dissolved counterparts. The metal speciation was determined using XAS to elucidate relative timescales of transformations. The pristine ENMs were expected to rapidly transform into their more stable sulfidized species and the uptake of Ag and Cu were expected to depend on the solubility of the ENMs. Transformations of the pristine ENMs were found to be rapid (weeks) in the surficial sediment, but slower (months) in the aquatic plant tissue. The uptake of ENMs coupled with the slow transformation in the aquatic plant tissue suggests ENMs persist longer than the timescales measured in sediments. This knowledge enables better risk forecasting for ENMs exposed to aquatic organisms and informs toxicity testing to ensure correct forms of ENMs are examined. This thesis provided several novel contributions to the understanding of how transformations of ENMs affect their interactions with plants and their fate in real complex environments. Mechanistic insights into the attachment and uptake of ENMs into plant tissues were identified suggesting two predominant uptake pathways. Relative timescales of ENM transformations in freshwater wetland sediments and plant tissue provided suggests plants can slow transformations and allow labile ENMs to persist longer than assumed.

No description available.

Previous methods for genetic transformation in Azotobacter vinelandii have employed poorly defined genetic markers or crude DNA extracts. An improved transformation technique has been developed for use in Azotobacter. The technique was used to transform several strains of Azotobacter with DNA carrying a defined genetic marker. A method for isolating pure, high molecular weight, biologically active DNA from Azotobacter is also presented. Purity of the extracted DNA was determined by standard chemical assays. The molecular weight was determined by boundary sedimentation techniques to be 18.2 megadaltons. DNA was obtained from several mutant strains of Azotobacter. Biological activity of these samples was demonstrated by using them to accomplish both intra- and interstrain transformation. Thermal denaturation profiles of several DNA samples are presented, from which guanine plus cytosine content was determined. Among the Azotobacter species examined, GC content ranged from 65.1 to 67.8%. The use of the new transformation and DNA isolation methods in taxonomic and mapping studies is discussed.

"October 13, 2003" Bibliography: leaves 102-105. This work describes methods associated with general random effects models. Part one describes a technique for investigating mean-variance relationships in random effects models. Part two derives and approximation to the likelihood function using a Laplace expansion to the fourth order.

En 1857, en traduisant dans un langage moderne, Riemann a montré que l'équation hypergéométrique peut être reconstruite, à isomorphisme près, à partir de la connaissance de ses mono dromies aux points 0, 1 et ∞. Dans un langage moderne, on dit que l'équation hypergéométrique est rigide et que son système local est physiquement rigide. Katz, dans son livre Rigid Local Systems [11], donne une condition nécessaire et usante pour qu'un système local L sur P1 soit physiquement rigide (Théorème 1.1.2 page 14). Dans la section 3.1 on étend cette définition au cadre des DP1 -modules en utilisant la notion d'extension minimale, laquelle est présentée dans le chapitre 2. Katz montre, cf. [11] Théorème 3.0.2 page 91, que la transformation de Fourier, en caractéristique positive, préserve l'indice de rigidité des faisceaux pervers irréductibles, pourvu que ni le faisceau ni sont transformé de Fourier soient à support ponctuel. D'autre part Katz pense aussi que la transformation de Fourier dans le cadre des D-modules doit préserver l'indice de rigidité, cf. [11] page 10. En utilisant ces conditions comme guide, on infère l'énoncé du théorème 3.2.1, cf. section 3.2, et on le démontre dans le cas où le module de départ est régulier sur P1. Pendant la préparation de cette thèse, S. Bloch et H. Esnault ont montré ce résultat en toute généralité dans [2]. Nous proposons ici une démonstration différente lorsque le module de départ est à singularités régulières sur P1. La démonstration est faite en comparant l'indice de rigidité d'un DP1 -module, cf. Théorème 3.1.1, et de son transformé de Fourier, cf. Théorème 3.1.7. L'expression de l'indice de rigidité du DP1 -module de départ fait appel à la connaissance de la monodromie sur chacun de ses points singuliers et l'expression de l'indice de rigidité de son transformé de Fourier fait appel à la connaissance de la monodromie en 0 et des mono dromies de la décomposition de Turrittin à l'infini. Les notions de transformation de Fourier et de décomposition de Turrittin sont présentées dans le chapitre 1. Dans son livre Équations différentielles à coefficients polynomiaux Malgrange montre, d'une façon analytique, que ces mono dromies ne sont pas indépendantes, cf. [16] Théorème XII.2.9 page 203. Dans le chapitre 3 on le démontre d'une façon algébrique en utilisant aussi la notion de couples d'espaces vectoriels, notion présenté dans le chapitre 2.

Graduation date: 2003

Although the impacts of foreign species on aqueous transformations and arsenic adsorption by 2-line ferrihydrite (FH2) have been extensively studied, much less is known about the impact of transformation inhibitors on solid-state transformation of FH2 and arsenic adsorption. In this study, the influence of inhibitors (Si(IV), Mg(II), Al(III), Ti(IV), and Ci(citrate)), aging time, and heat treatment on FH2 transformation and arsenic adsorption was investigated. The FH2s were synthesized by mixing Fe(III) salts with an inhibitor at pH 7.5 and air drying for 2 d. With increases in Al/Fe molar ratio, FH2, poorly crystalline Al hydroxide, gibbsite, and bayerite were formed in the FH2-Al series, whereas FH2 was formed in the other FH2s. Heat treatment had a more considerable impact on the transformation, structure, and PZC of FH2 than aging at RT for 235 d. Upon heating the FH2s at 360 oC, most of the amorphous Fe oxide was transformed into hematite, whereas Si and Al had stronger retarding effects on transformation than the other inhibitors. Hematite and FH2 were identified with increases in Si/Fe molar ratio, whereas with increasing Al/Fe molar ratio, FH2 remained, gibbsite and bayerite were decomposed, and boehmite appeared as a trace component. However, the effect of Si was much more pronounced than that of Al in retarding the transformation. The adsorption density for As(III) on the FH2s (at pH 7) decreased in the order: FH2-Mg-2 > FH2 > FH2-Al-1, whereas As(V) followed the order: FH2-Al-1 > FH2-Mg-2 > FH2. Compared to aging at RT for 235 d, heat treatment at 360 oC resulted in significantly reduced arsenic adsorption. The heated FH2 showed a smaller adsorption capacity for arsenic compare to that of the other FH2s. In contrast, the heated FH2-Al and FH2-Si series showed much higher adsorption capacities for As(V) than any other FH2, whereas the heated FH2-Mg series exhibited the largest adsorption capacity of As(III) among the heated FH2s. It is concluded that the use of the FH2-Al, FH2-Mg, or FH2-Si series instead of pure FH2 as filter media in water treatment might achieve more efficient arsenic removal and enhance arsenic retention at waste-disposal sites.

Euclidean Distance transformation and watershed are fundamental technique for the application fields of image understanding and computer vision. Calculated using the watershed transformation can be extracted important image features. Such as the identification of the contour and the number of such applications. In this paper, we will compare the effects of our proposed watershed transform method and other watershed transformation method. Our proposed method will be more accurate. In image processing, object boundary segmentation is an important and fundamental issue.This study modified the traditional style of the watershed transformation,and we proposed the concept of an election-style, so that contact between the object image can be properly divided. By this method, image of objects can be converted according to the results of Euclidean distance transformation. It is easier to obtain images of various objects in the correct profile for easy application in medical image. Finally,we compare our methed with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed image processing software ImageJ, and marker-controlled watershed transformation of other scholars.