230 research outputs found

    An Intelligent Robot and Augmented Reality Instruction System

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    Human-Centered Robotics (HCR) is a research area that focuses on how robots can empower people to live safer, simpler, and more independent lives. In this dissertation, I present a combination of two technologies to deliver human-centric solutions to an important population. The first nascent area that I investigate is the creation of an Intelligent Robot Instructor (IRI) as a learning and instruction tool for human pupils. The second technology is the use of augmented reality (AR) to create an Augmented Reality Instruction (ARI) system to provide instruction via a wearable interface. To function in an intelligent and context-aware manner, both systems require the ability to reason about their perception of the environment and make appropriate decisions. In this work, I construct a novel formulation of several education methodologies, particularly those known as response prompting, as part of a cognitive framework to create a system for intelligent instruction, and compare these methodologies in the context of intelligent decision making using both technologies. The IRI system is demonstrated through experiments with a humanoid robot that uses object recognition and localization for perception and interacts with students through speech, gestures, and object interaction. The ARI system uses augmented reality, computer vision, and machine learning methods to create an intelligent, contextually aware instructional system. By using AR to teach prerequisite skills that lend themselves well to visual, augmented reality instruction prior to a robot instructor teaching skills that lend themselves to embodied interaction, I am able to demonstrate the potential of each system independently as well as in combination to facilitate students\u27 learning. I identify people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) as a particularly significant use case and show that IRI and ARI systems can help fulfill the compelling need to develop tools and strategies for people with I/DD. I present results that demonstrate both systems can be used independently by students with I/DD to quickly and easily acquire the skills required for performance of relevant vocational tasks. This is the first successful real-world application of response-prompting for decision making in a robotic and augmented reality intelligent instruction system

    Collateralization of the pathways descending from the cerebral cortex to brain stem and spinal cord in cat and monkey

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    The present study deals with the collateralization of the descending pathways from the cerebral cortex to the brain stem and the spinal cord in cat and monkey. The distributions of the branching cortical neurons were studied using retrograde fluorescent tracers. In addition, a new retrograde fluorescent tracer is describe

    Probing the Unseen Depths of the Hepatic Microarchitecture via Multimodal Microscopy

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    Multimodal microscopy combines the advantages and strengths of different imaging modalities in order to holistically characterise the organisation of biological organisms and their comprising constituents under healthy and diseased conditions, down to the spatial resolution required to understand the morphology and function of such structures. Given the profound advantages conferred by such an approach, this work broadly aimed to develop and exploit various multimodal and multi-dimensional imaging modalities in a complimentary, combined and/or correlative manner – namely, three-dimensional scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron tomography, bright-field light microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy and X-ray micro-computed tomography – in order to characterise and collect new information on the normal and pathological microarchitecture of rodent and human liver tissue in 3-D under various experimental conditions. The data reported in this work includes a comparative analysis of a variety of sample preparation protocols applied to rat liver tissue to determine the suitability of such protocols for the application of serial block-face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM). Next, 3-D modelling and morphometric analysis (utilising the premier SBF-SEM protocol) was performed in order to visualise and quantify key features of the hepatic microarchitecture. We further outline a large-volume correlative light and electron microscopy approach utilising selective molecular probes for confocal laser scanning microscopy (actin, lipids and nuclei), combined with the 3-D ultrastructure of the same structures of interest, as revealed by SBF-SEM (Chapter 2). Development of a straightforward combinatorial sample preparation approach, followed by a swift multimodal imaging approach – combining X-ray micro-computed tomography, bright-field light microscopy and serial section scanning electron microscopy – facilitated the cross correlation of structure-function information on the same sample across diverse length scales (Chapter 3). Next, we outline a novel “silver filler pre-embedding approach” in order to reduce artefactual charging, minimise dataset acquisition time and improve resolution and contrast in rat liver tissue prepared for SBF-SEM (Chapter 4). Next, we employ a complementary imaging approach involving serial section scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron tomography in order to comparatively analyse the structure and morphometric parameters of thousands of normal- and giant mitochondria in human patients diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In so doing, we reveal functional alterations associated with mitochondrial gigantism and propose a mechanism for their formation (Chapter 5). Finally, the significance of the results obtained, and major scientific advances reported in this work are discussed in-depth against the relevant literature. This is proceeded by the future outlooks and research that remains to be done, followed by the main conclusions of this Ph.D thesis (Chapter 6). In summary, our findings firmly establish the immense importance and value of contemporary multimodal microscopy modalities in modern life science research, for holistically revealing cellular structures along the vast length scales amongst which they exist, under healthy and clinically relevant pathological conditions

    THE STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE OF MAYA SACRIFICE: A CASE STUDY OF RITUALIZED HUMAN SACRIFICE AT MIDNIGHT TERROR CAVE, BELIZE

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    The site of Midnight Terror Cave is located in the karstic Roaring Creek Valley near the village of Springfield in the Cayo District of Belize. The site was discovered in 2006 and fieldwork was conducted by the Western Belize Regional Cave Survey Project and California State University, Los Angeles, between 2008 and 2010. This dissertation focuses on the osteological analysis of the bones of 118 individuals recovered and recorded at the site. The osteological, contextual, and demographic evidence is framed within ritual and costly signaling theory of structural violence and viewed with the ethnohistoric and ethnographic literature of the ancient and modern Maya in mind. Analyses of the data indicate that the site’s remains constitute the largest assemblage of probably sacrificed individuals in the Southern Maya Lowlands, and that these sacrifices may have coincided with the Terminal Classic droughts. Demographic analysis indicates that the mortuary assemblage is significantly different from what would be expected for a “normal” cemetery assemblage of a horticultural society. The large quantities of older children and young adults apparently sacrificed in this cave suggest that these may have been petitions to the Maya rain deity. Isotopic data and paleopathology evidence suggest that geographical outsiders and possible social outcasts were at least sometimes chosen for sacrifice

    Face Image Retrieval with Landmark Detection and Semantic Concepts Extraction

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    This thesis proposes various novel approaches for improving the performances of automatic facial landmarks detection system based on the concept of pictorial tree structure model. Furthermore, a robust glasses landmark detection system is also proposed as glasses are commonly used. These proposed approaches are employed to develop an automatic semantic based face images retrieval system. The experiment results demonstrate significant improvements of all the proposed approaches towards accuracy and efficiency

    NEGOTIATING HOUSEHOLD QUALITY OF LIFE AND SOCIAL COHESION AT UCANHA, YUCATAN, MEXICO, DURING THE LATE PRECLASSIC TO EARLY CLASSIC TRANSITION

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    The main focus of this project is to chronicle whether or not social inequality increased among households and community-level interactions in Ucanha, Yucatan, Mexico, at the time it was physically integrated with a larger regional polity headed by Ucí around the Terminal Preclassic/Early Classic (50 BCE – CE 400) transition. My research seeks to identify how social distinctions emerged during the early moments of social inequality and how these distinctions did or did not become a threat to social cohesion, as seen in the Early Classic “collapse” in some areas. Using a relational theoretical perspective, I argue that political authority and economic practices are embedded in moral expectations of a household quality of life that is negotiated by all actors. Trenching and broad-scale horizontal excavations document five variables of social distinction—architectural energetics, feasting, diversity of household assemblage, caching/burial practices, and the use of space—at three dwellings. Gini scores that calculate the distribution of fancy ceramics and labor investments in architecture also contribute to measuring household wellbeing at Ucanha. Results highlight differential, yet relatively high, quality of life during the Late Preclassic and then greater inequality and an overall decreased quality of life by the middle of the Early Classic (CE 400/450 – 600). Excavations from contexts associated with monumental architecture indicate vast labor inputs into Ucanha’s built landscape around the time of broader regional integration. Excavations and multi-elemental chemical analyses from the Central Plaza suggest this large public space was built during the Late Preclassic and was used for a variety of rituals that incorporated the populace through processions and performances. By the first few centuries into the Early Classic, however, the Central Plaza was walled off and access became limited and more tightly controlled. Thus, it appears emergent leaders at Ucanha, as evidenced by the presence of iconography related to centralized decision-making and possibly kingship, were successful in providing a high quality of life for their citizenry in exchange for labor and devoted followers during regional integration. Yet, during the Early Classic, household quality of life diminished, access to fancy ceramics became highly curtailed, and many residential platforms were abandoned likely as a result of leaders failing to meet the expectations of their followers

    Machine Learning Based Defect Detection in Robotic Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

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    In the last ten years, research interests in various aspects of the Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) processes have grown exponentially. More recently, efforts to integrate an automatic quality assurance system for the WAAM process are increasing. No reliable online monitoring system for the WAAM process is a key gap to be filled for the commercial application of the technology, as it will enable the components produced by the process to be qualified for the relevant standards and hence be fit for use in critical applications in the aerospace or naval sectors. However, most of the existing monitoring methods only detect or solve issues from a specific sensor, no monitoring system integrated with different sensors or data sources is developed in WAAM in the last three years. In addition, complex principles and calculations of conventional algorithms make it hard to be applied in the manufacturing of WAAM as the character of a long manufacturing cycle. Intelligent algorithms provide in-built advantages in processing and analysing data, especially for large datasets generated during the long manufacturing cycles. In this research, in order to establish an intelligent WAAM defect detection system, two intelligent WAAM defect detection modules are developed successfully. The first module takes welding arc current / voltage signals during the deposition process as inputs and uses algorithms such as support vector machine (SVM) and incremental SVM to identify disturbances and continuously learn new defects. The incremental learning module achieved more than a 90% f1-score on new defects. The second module takes CCD images as inputs and uses object detection algorithms to predict the unfused defect during the WAAM manufacturing process with above 72% mAP. This research paves the path for developing an intelligent WAAM online monitoring system in the future. Together with process modelling, simulation and feedback control, it reveals the future opportunity for a digital twin system

    Glyptic Art Under and After Empire: Late Bronze IIB and Iron I Scarabs and Stamp Seals from the Southern Levant

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    This study systematically establishes a methodology for the dating of scarabs and stamp seals from the Late Bronze IIB and Iron I in the Southern Levant. First, it recounts the history of the field’s dating of the typological forms of scarabs. Second, it systematically employs three methodologies for dating the typological forms of scarabs from the 19th Dynasty, 20th Dynasty, and early Third Intermediate Period. Each methodology assesses different portions of the glyptic corpus. Next, the study evaluates the dating of scarabs and stamp seals on the basis of stylistic criteria. The complex relationship between the Egyptian empire and Southern Levantine vassals is examined through glyptic art. Egyptianizing motifs rooted in local Levantine traditions from the Middle Bronze reemerge in the Late Bronze IIB and Iron I. Motifs half a millennium old are engraved once more as Egyptian empire wanes during the Iron I. Finally, this methodology for the dating of scarabs and stamp seals is used to examine the representations of deities within the burial cults of the Southern Levant. Though the Egyptian empire is in control of the Southern Levant during the Late Bronze IIB, local traditions continue to govern local material culture and cultic practices
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