Freedom, Finality, and Federal Preemption: Seeking Expanded Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards Under State Law After Hall Street

When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Hall Street Associates, L.L.C. v. Mattel, Inc. in March 2008, the Court held that under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), parties to an arbitration agreement may not contractually expand the grounds for judicial review of an arbitration award beyond the grounds enumerated in the FAA. In dicta, however, the Court expressly left open the possibility that parties nonetheless may obtain expanded review by relying on state arbitration law, rather than the FAA. This Note examines the availability of contractually expanded review under state law and addresses the question of whether, in light of Hall Street’s holding and despite its dicta, the FAA preempts state laws that otherwise would permit expanded review of arbitration awards. This Note looks at the history and development of the FAA and examines its preemptive effect on state laws. It then analyzes the arguments for and against the proposition that the FAA preempts state laws that permit expanded review. Finally, this Note argues that the FAA should preempt state laws that permit expanded review, unless the parties have expressly agreed that state arbitration law will apply to the exclusion of the FAA

Design and Implementation of an Interactive Animatronic System for Guest Response Analysis

In theme park based entertainment applications, there is a need for interactive, autonomous animatronic systems to create engaging and compelling experiences for the guests. The animatronic figures must identify the guests and recognize their status in dynamic interactions for enhanced acceptance and effectiveness as socially interactive agents, in the general framework of human-robot interactions. The design and implementation of an interactive, autonomous animatronic system in form of a tabletop dragon and the comparisons of guest responses in its passive and interactive modes are presented in this work. The dragon capabilities include a four degrees-of-freedom head, moving wings, tail, jaw, blinking eyes and sound effects. Human identification, using a depth camera (Carmine from PrimeSense), an open-source middleware (NITE from OpenNI), Java-based Processing and an Arduino microcontroller, has been implemented into the system in order to track a guest or guests, within the field of view of the camera. The details of design and construction of the dragon model, algorithm development for interactive autonomous behavior using a vision system, the experimental setup and implementation results under different conditions are presented. Guest experiences with the dragon operating in passive and interactive configurations have been compared both quantitatively and qualitatively through surveys and observations, for different age groups, from elementary school children to college students. Statistical significance of the survey results are presented along with a discussion on the scope of further work

Design and Implementation of an Interactive Animatronic System for Guest Response Analysis

For nearly half a century, animatronic figures have provided entertainment in the theme park industry by simulating life-like animations and sounds. These figures enhance the storytelling experience by stimulating visual and audio senses among guests. Animatronics must be identified as human partners to establish status for dynamic interactions for enhanced acceptance and effectiveness as socially-interactive agents. An animatronic dragon, Kronos, has been designed, fabricated and implemented with human-identification sensors. The primary sensor input comes from an infrared camera, the PrimeSense Carmine, and includes an Arduino Mega 2560 as the center of control. Using the data from the depth camera, people are identified by approximating a person’s skeletal information. The program, written with a Java-based language, tracks a human body, or bodies, within the field of view of the camera. Joint locations, in the tracked human, can be accessed for specific usage by the system. Joints include the head, torso, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees and feet. Inside the microcontroller, logic and calibration techniques were used to translate the coordinate data into usable data for the motors and actuators. The motion capabilities of the dragon include a 4 degrees-of-freedom neck, moving wings, tail, jaw, blinking eyes and sound effects. These capabilities instigate a change in the tracked human, which establishes the closed-loop cycle of human to animatronic interactions. The animatronic system features passive and interactive modes. Both of these modes were utilized during test demonstrations with guest volunteers. This research presents everything from the concept to the final analysis of guest feedback. This includes the aesthetic components from sculptures, molds, and castings to the mechanical design, fabrication, and assembly for the mechanisms installed in the figure. The control testing, calibration, and implementation are covered along with the actuator sizing and specifications. The guest feedback was acquired and analyzed to form conclusions on responses for passive and interactive environments

A Technique for Solving the Singular Integral Equations of Potential Theory

The singular integral equations of Potential Theory are investigated using ideas from both classical and contemporary mathematics. The goal of this semi-analytic approach is to produce numerical schemes that are both general and computationally simple. Previous works based on classical methods have yielded solutions only for very special cases while contemporary methods such as finite differences, finite elements and boundary element techniques are computationally extensive. Since the two-dimensional integral equations of interest exhibit structural invariance under a wide class of conformal mappings initial emphasis is placed on circular domains. By Fourier expansion with respect to the angular variable, such two-dimensional integral equations yield simultaneous systems of one-dimensional integral equations that, in many cases, uncouple. Integral transform techniques and classical function theory are used to identify the eigenfunctions associated with the dominant parts of the onedimensional singular equations. Hilbert spaces spanned by these eigenfunctions are then constructed and an operator theory developed for the general class of integral equations. Numerical algorithms are derived for both Galerkin and collocation solution techniques with convergence proved in the Galerkin case and collocation method verified experimentally. A generalization of the Hilbert space theory is then applied to the two-dimensional case with eigenfunctions created by combining the angular Fourier terms with the radial eigenfunctions of the dominant one-dimensional parts. Numerical algorithms based Galerkin and collocation methods are again derived and used to solve the two-dimensional equations. The techniques developed are used to solve a number of both previously known and new problems in Electrostatics and Fracture Mechanics. Simple layer potential representations yield weakly singular integral equations for the induced charge on disc shaped conductors that are placed in an electrostatic field. Similarly, double layer potentials yield hyper-singular integral equations for the crack opening displacement of penny shaped cracks in an elastic solid under various loading conditions. Conformal mapping techniques for solving problems on non-circular domains are also briefly discussed as are extensions to fields that are governed by the Helmholtz Equation

Autonomous Unmarked Aerial Rendezvous for Automated Aerial Refueling (AAR)

As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) increase in capability, the ability to refuel them in the air is becoming more critical. Aerial refueling will extend the range, shorten the response times, and extend loiter time of UAVs. Executing aerial refueling autonomously will reduce the command and control, logistics, and training efforts associated with fielding UAV systems. Currently, the Air Force Research Lab is researching the various technologies required to conduct automated aerial refueling (AAR). One of the required technologies is the ability to autonomously rendezvous with the tanker. The goal of this research is to determine the control required to fly an optimum rendezvous using numerical optimization and to design a controller that will approximate that control. Two problems were examined. The first problem is for the receiver to rendezvous in minimum time, with a known tanker path. The second problem is for the receiver to rendezvous at a specified time with a known tanker path. For the first problem, the simulated controller results will be compared to the calculated optimal control