Decision-making and problem-solving methods in automation technology

The state of the art in the automation of decision making and problem solving is reviewed. The information upon which the report is based was derived from literature searches, visits to university and government laboratories performing basic research in the area, and a 1980 Langley Research Center sponsored conferences on the subject. It is the contention of the authors that the technology in this area is being generated by research primarily in the three disciplines of Artificial Intelligence, Control Theory, and Operations Research. Under the assumption that the state of the art in decision making and problem solving is reflected in the problems being solved, specific problems and methods of their solution are often discussed to elucidate particular aspects of the subject. Synopses of the following major topic areas comprise most of the report: (1) detection and recognition; (2) planning; and scheduling; (3) learning; (4) theorem proving; (5) distributed systems; (6) knowledge bases; (7) search; (8) heuristics; and (9) evolutionary programming

The Nature of Notebooks: How Enlightenment Schoolchildren Transformed the Tabula Rasa

John Locke's comparison of the mind to a blank piece of paper, the tabula rasa, was one of the most recognizable metaphors of the British Enlightenment. Though scholars embrace its impact on the arts, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences, they seldom consider why the metaphor was so successful. Concentrating on the notebooks made and used by the schoolchildren of Enlightenment Scotland, this essay contends that the answer lies in the material and visual conditions that gave rise to the metaphor's usage. By the time students had finished school, they had learned to conceptualize the pages, the script, and the figures of their notebooks as indispensable learning tools that could be manipulated by scores of adaptable folding, writing, and drawing techniques. In this article, I reveal that historicizing the epistemology and manipulability of student manuscript culture makes it possible to see that the success of Locke's metaphor was founded on its appeal to everyday note-keeping activities performed by British schoolchildren

The role of computer-aided design in the learning of practical 3D-descriptive geometry: a case study

There are a number of problems surrounding the teaching of practical 3-D descriptive geometry to children in secondary education, notably the difficulty pupils have with visualising an object's form from orthographic views, and the interpretation of an object's geometric attributes into the descriptive geometry representation. The purpose of the current research is to evaluate the use of computer-aided design in this area of the curriculum and is based upon work undertaken in a North London comprehensive school. The school and its context is described and evaluated. Theories of child development and educational psychology of relevance to the study are reviewed, notably the work of Piaget, Bryant, Gagne, and Freeman. The history and nature of 3-D descriptive geometry is reviewed in practice and in education, with special reference to various methods employed in instruction. Dr. J. Vince's PICASO SYSTEM of computer subroutines and functions written in FORTRAN for graphic applications is explained as a means of teaching the subject, with special reference to the researcher's own instructional material and computer programs. The use and effectiveness of these teaching materials are related and evaluated in the light of students' performance and results. The research concludes that the special benefits of computer graphics in this field are: the economic production of appropriate didactic material under the direct control of the teacher, increased pupil motivation due to the use of better illustration and the interest generated by computer-aided design project work. and an opportunity to employ analytic geometry to support learning. Its limitations include: the high cost of the computer and peripheral devices, and the lack of a facility for modelling objects by the removal of solid volumes in the existing software. Further research is recommended in the areas of computer graphics, descriptive geometry, and psychology

3D reconstruction of curved objects from single 2D line drawings.

Wang, Yingze.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-47).Abstract also in Chinese.Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 2 --- Related Work --- p.5Chapter 2.1 --- Line labeling and realization problem --- p.5Chapter 2.2 --- 3D reconstruction from multiple views --- p.6Chapter 2.3 --- 3D reconstruction from single line drawings --- p.7Chapter 2.3.1 --- Face identification from the line drawings --- p.7Chapter 2.3.2 --- 3D geometry reconstruction --- p.9Chapter 2.4 --- Our research topic and contributions --- p.13Chapter 3 --- Reconstruction of Curved Manifold Objects --- p.14Chapter 3.1 --- Assumptions and terminology --- p.14Chapter 3.2 --- Reconstruction of curved manifold objects --- p.17Chapter 3.2.1 --- Distinguishing between curved and planar faces --- p.17Chapter 3.2.2 --- Transformation of Line Drawings --- p.20Chapter 3.2.3 --- Regularities --- p.23Chapter 3.2.4 --- 3D Wireframe Reconstruction --- p.26Chapter 3.2.5 --- Generating Curved Faces --- p.28Chapter 3.2.6 --- The Complete 3D Reconstruction Algorithm --- p.33Chapter 4 --- Experiments --- p.35Chapter 5 --- Conclusions and Future Work --- p.40Chapter 5.1 --- Conclusions --- p.40Chapter 5.2 --- Future work --- p.40Bibliography --- p.4