Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Autonomous Face Segmentation, Kevin P. Gay

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to implement an autonomous face segmentor as the front end to a face recognition system on a Sun SPARCStation2. Face recognition performance criteria, specifically, the capabilities to isolate and resize faces in an image to a consistent scale, were analyzed to determine current practical limitations. Face images were acquired using a S-VHS camcorder. Segmentation was accomplished using motion detection and predefined rules. Tests were run to determine the suitable of the autonomous segmentor as the front-end to a face recognition system. The segmentation system developed consistently located faces and rescaled those faces to a …

Comparative Evaluation Of A Monocular Head Mounted Display Device Versus A Flat Screen Display Device In Presenting Aircraft Maintenance Technical Data, Jeffrey A. Friend, Randy S. Grinstead

Theses and Dissertations

As military developers provide increasingly complex weapon system, it becomes more difficult for maintenance technicians to perform their jobs. One aspect of the technicians' world is the need to access technical information in the performance of their duties. This study investigated two electronic display systems to evaluate which enhanced technician performance more. A Head Mounted Display (HMD) device and a portable hand-held flat-screen computer were evaluated in the performance of two flightline maintenance activities. Although both display systems were fully portable and self contained, only the HMD system allowed continuous access to technical information during task performance. In most cases, …

The Application Of Function Points To Predict Source Lines Of Code For Software Development, Garland S. Henderson

Theses and Dissertations

This research investigated the results of using function point analysis-based estimates to predict source lines of code (SLOC) for software development projects. The majority of software cost and effort estimating parametric tools are categorized as SLOC-based, meaning SLOC is the primary input. Early in a program, an accurate estimate of SLOC is difficult to project. Function points, another parametric software estimating tool, bases software cost and effort estimates on the functionality of a system. This functionality is described by documents available early in a program. Using a modeling methodology, the research focuses on function point's ability to accurately estimate SLOC …

The Development Of An Expert System For Hazardous Cargo Compatibility, Douglas A. Furst, Ronald E. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This research demonstrates the application of expert system technology to automate the aircraft load selection process performed when transporting hazardous cargo. The resulting computer program is an expert system named HAZARD. This system incorporates the regulations governing hazardous cargo compatibility with the heuristics used by experts in loadplanning operations. The impetus to develop such a system is the January 1993 conversion of regulation guidelines for hazardous cargo classification and management in Air Force Regulation 71-4, to a universal international standard. The Cargo Operations Division of Headquarters Air Mobility Command at Scott AFB, was concerned that this change in procedures and …

Design Of An Artificial Neural Network Based Tactile Sensor For The Utah/Mit Dexterous Hand, Jeffery D. Nering

Theses and Dissertations

The Neural Tactile Sensor (NTS) is a high resolution, easily manufactured tactile sensor consisting of electrodes, a thin resistive 'skin', and pattern recognition circuitry that is capable of resolving dynamic and static contact location, force, and slip throughout the continuum of the sensor's active region. The sensor operates by means of a resistive 'skin' harboring the electric field generated when a current is injected into it, and a plurality of electrodes for taking measurements of said electric field. When current flows through the resistive medium from the location of tactile contact, an electric field within the resistive medium is established, …

Development Of An Environment For Software Reliability Model Selection, Salah A. Elewa

Theses and Dissertations

An environment was developed for solving the problem of selecting a proper software reliability model for a given set of software failures. The idea behind the environment developed in this dissertation was to liken a collected set of software failure data to a previous one that proved to fit well with a specified software reliability model. Software failures were assumed to have a two-Parameter exponential distribution with unequal type II censoring. A test criterion was derived for testing Ratio Criterion. The exact distribution of the test criterion was derived. An asymptotic approximation was also obtained and was found to be …

Comparison Of Four-Cursor Buttons Vs Joystick To Access Computerized Technical Information From An Integrated Maintenance Information System, Gerald E. Streff, Robert H. Gundel

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate the use of four-cursor buttons versus a joystick device to present technical order information on a portable maintenance aid computer for aircraft technicians in a maintenance environment. Studies to date have verified the superiority of computer-presented technical orders when compared to current paper-based systems; this research investigated the effectiveness of these computer-based systems when technicians used a joystick or four-cursor button to display desired technical information. A comparison was made as to technician performance using a portable maintenance aid at the 4950th Test Wing, WPAFB OH. A total of thirty-two maintenance technicians …

Award Fee In Software Acquisition, Mark T. Hunter

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research effort was to determine, in general terms, what contractual tools are available to influence contractor performance during the software development process and, specifically, whether or not award fee contracts are appropriate tools. First, a qualitative, in depth literature review was done. Next, personal interviews were conducted with Program Directors and Deputy Program Directors at Aeronautical Systems Center, Electronic Systems Center, and Space and Missiles Systems Center. Then, after the results were summarized, the data was analyzed and findings were made. Findings include: award fee was found to be the most flexible provision in the FAR …

Approximation By Interval Bezier Curves, Thomas W. Sederberg, Rida T. Farouki

Faculty Publications

The interval Bezier curve, which, unlike other curve and surface approximation schemes, can transfer a complete description of approximation errors between diverse CAD/CAM systems that impose fundamentally incompatible constraints on their canonical representation schemes, is described. Interval arithmetic, which offers an essentially infallible way to monitor error propagation in numerical algorithms that use floating-point arithmetic is reviewed. Affine maps, the computations of which are key operations in the de Casteljau subdivision and degree-elevation algorithms for Bezier curves, the floating-point error propagation in such computations, approximation by interval polynomials, and approximation by interval Bezier curves are discussed.

Minimum Separation For Single-Layer Channel Routing, Ronald I. Greenberg, F. Miller Maley

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

We present a linear-time algorithm for determining the minimum height of a single-layer routing channel. The algorithm handles single-sided connections and multiterminal nets. It yields a simple routability test for single-layer switchboxes, correcting an error in the literature.

Erep An Editable High-Level Representation For Geometric Design And Analysis, Christoph M. Hoffmann, Robert Juan

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Robust Display Of Arbitrary Rational Parametric Surfaces, Chandrajit L. Bajaj, Andrew V. Royappa

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Design And Implementation Of The Raid V2 Distributed Database System, Bharat Bhargava, Karl Friesen, Abdelsalum Helal, Enrique Malfa, John Riedel

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Speedup, Communication Complexity And Blocking - A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, Dan C. Marinescu, John R. Rice

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Xellpack User Guide, The Parallel Ellpack Group

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Parallel Techniques For Paths, Visibility, And Related Problems (Thesis), Ziyi Danny Chen

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

The Euclidean Distance Transform (Thesis), Ching-Shoei Chiang

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Formal Generation Of Executable Assertions For Application-Oriented Fault Tolerance, Hanan Lutfiyya, Martina Schollmeyer, Bruce M. Mcmillin

Computer Science Technical Reports

Executable assertions embedded into a distributed computing system can provide run-time assurance by ensuring that the program state, in the actual run-time environment, is consistent with the logical stage specified in the assertions; if not, then an error has occurred and a reliable communication of this diagnostic information is provided to the system such that reconfiguration and recovery can take place. Application- oriented fault tolerance is a method that provides fault detection using executable assertions based on the natural constraints of the application.

This paper focuses on giving application-oriented fault tolerance a theoretical foundation by providing a mathematical model for …

Compact Suffix Trees Resemble Patricia Tries: Limiting Distribution Of Depth, Philippe Jacquet, Bonita Rais, Wojciech Szpankowski

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Using Flexible Transactions To Support Multisystem Telecommunication Applications, Mansoor Ansari, Linda Ness, Marek Rusinkiewicz, Amit P. Sheth

Kno.e.sis Publications

Service order provisioning is an important telecommunication application that automates the process of providing telephone services in response to the customer requests. It is an example of a multi-system application that requires access to multiple, independently developed application systems and their databases. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a prototype system1 that supports the execution of the Flexible Transactions and its use to develop the service order provisioning application. We argue that such approach may be used to support the development of multi-system, flow-through processing applications in a systematic and organized manner. Its advantages include fast …

Dna Mapping Algorithms: Strategies For Single Restriction Enzyme And Multiple Restriction Enzyme Mapping, Will Gillett

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

An approach to high-resolution restriction-fragment DNA mapping, known as Multiple-Restriction-Enzyme mapping (MRE mapping), is present. This approach significantly reduces the uncertainty of clone placement by using clone ends to synchronize the position in of clones within different maps, each map being constructed from fragment-length data produced by digestion of each clone with a specific restriction enzyme. Maps containing both fragments-length data and clone-end data are maintained for each restriction enzyme, and synchronization between two such maps is achieved by requiring them to have "compatible" clone-end map projections. Basic definitions of different kinds of maps, such as restriction sites maps, restriction …

On Parallel Rectilinear Obstacle-Avoiding Paths, Mikhail J. Atallah, Danny Z. Chen

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Computing The All-Pairs Longest Chains In The Plane, Mikhail J. Atallah, Danny Z. Chen

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Remote Memory Backing Storage For Distributed Virtual Memory Operating Systems (Thesis), James Griffoen

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Architecture Of The Relax Problem Solving Environment, H. Scott Mcfaddin, John R. Rice

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

On The Mapping Of Partial Differential Equation Computations Onto Distributed Memory Mimd Parallel Machines (Ph.D. Thesis), Nikos Chrisochoides

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Formal Implementation Of High-Level Languages For Data-Parallel Programming, Deb Banerjee

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

The success of parallel architectures has been limited by the lack of high-level parallel programming languages and useful programming models. The data-parallel model of programming has been demonstrated to be useful and natural on a wide variet of parallel architectures. This dissertation presents a set of formal techniques for compiling high- level languages based on data-parallelism.

Multiple Learner Systems Using Resampling Methods, Binyun Xie

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The N-Learners Problem deals with combining a number of learners such that the resultant system is "better", under some criterion, than the best of the individual learners. We consider a system of probably approximately correct concept learners. Depending on the available information, there are several methods to make the composite system better than the best of the individual learners. If a sample and an oracle that generates data points (but, not their classification) is available, then we show that we can achieve arbitrary levels of the normalized confidence of the composite system if (a) a robust learning algorithm is available, …

Observing Reusable Password Choices, Eugene H. Spafford

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Why That Expression Has This Type, And How It Got It, Mike Beaven

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.