Teleoperators for remote operations in space

The primary objective of the remote nuclear teleoperator study program was to define in detail a program plan which would provide a qualified operational space teleoperator system by about 1980. The concept and philosophy presented provides a product considered to be an advanced teleoperator when compared to today's state-of-the-art. The teleoperator concept is formulated to meet NERVA requirements

Fast and deep deformation approximations

Character rigs are procedural systems that compute the shape of an animated character for a given pose. They can be highly complex and must account for bulges, wrinkles, and other aspects of a character's appearance. When comparing film-quality character rigs with those designed for real-time applications, there is typically a substantial and readily apparent difference in the quality of the mesh deformations. Real-time rigs are limited by a computational budget and often trade realism for performance. Rigs for film do not have this same limitation, and character riggers can make the rig as complicated as necessary to achieve realistic deformations. However, increasing the rig complexity slows rig evaluation, and the animators working with it can become less efficient and may experience frustration. In this paper, we present a method to reduce the time required to compute mesh deformations for film-quality rigs, allowing better interactivity during animation authoring and use in real-time games and applications. Our approach learns the deformations from an existing rig by splitting the mesh deformation into linear and nonlinear portions. The linear deformations are computed directly from the transformations of the rig's underlying skeleton. We use deep learning methods to approximate the remaining nonlinear portion. In the examples we show from production rigs used to animate lead characters, our approach reduces the computational time spent on evaluating deformations by a factor of 5×-10×. This significant savings allows us to run the complex, film-quality rigs in real-time even when using a CPU-only implementation on a mobile device

Fintech Lending: A Study of Expectations Versus Market Outcomes

This article explores expectations and outcomes. It documents the expectations for the fintech lending industry, which has emerged in this decade, and compares such expectations to market outcomes. It presents an evidence-based analysis for policy making decisions. Part one of the article documents expectations—possible benefits and risks of fintech lending—through large-scale surveys and interviews of industry, consumer and government stakeholders. Part two of the article examines market outcomes—benefits and risks that have been realized or failed to materialize as documented by studies of substantial data sets of various types of fintech loans. The benefits and risks explored include increased access to credit, lower costs, lack of transparency and delinquency and default. After comparing expectations and outcomes, the article considers policy implications, particularly the implications for chartering special purpose national banks

A guidebook for special education programs in the Council Bluffs Community School District.

In October, 1974,.the Department of Special Education of the Council Bluffs Community Schools was requested to do a needs assessment for the newly created Area Education Agency XIII. The Department of Special Education was also charged with the responsibility for developing a master plan for special education services in the district. A Special Education Needs Study completed October 16, 1975 by the Department of Special Education of the Council Bluffs Community Schools for Area Education Agency XIII indicated that more services were needed. Anticipated expansion was due, in part, to new legislation, not only mandating special education, but providing extensive financing for these services. The education of handicapped children presents unique school problems which necessitates a guidebook outlining services and administrative procedures to be used. The review of related research points to some of the problems encountered in educating handicapped children. For example, Peckens (1967, p. 23) feels that parent education can help parents who need to overcome feelings of disappointment, rejection, or disgrace, which they may have concerning their mentally retarded child. The guidebook provides guidelines for parent involvement such as counselling with parents at every stage of the referral assessment and placement procedure. As stated in the guidebook this is done so that parents can gain a gradual understanding of their child\u27s handicapping condition. Parents are also given an opportunity to share feelings they have concerning their handicapped child

Corporate Wrongdoing: Interactions of Legal Mandates and Corporate Culture

In recent years, enforcement officials have imposed billions of dollars in sanctions on all major U.S. financial institutions and many major financial institutions abroad. Similar sanctions have been imposed on nonfinancial institutions. The sanctions are the result of findings of recurrent violations of law, as well as recidivism. Why have existing regulatory standards and enforcement policies led to repeated violations of law? Will the recent billion dollar sanctions deter future wrongdoing? This article explores these issues by examining the philosophy motivating regulatory policy and action in the United States and United Kingdom, using financial regulators as a case study. This article discusses the interaction between two institutions that influence corporate actors: government and corporate culture. That interaction is examined through the lens of behavioral decision theory and complexity theory. This article draws the conclusion that regulators in the United States continue to be blind to cognitive influences on corporate behavior. Enforcement policy in the United States has ignored the multiple influences on corporate behavior that interact and lead to nonlinear outcomes. The only change made in U.S. enforcement strategy, if any, has been a greater emphasis on large penalties to deter future misconduct. This emphasis continues to reflect a linear, reductionist view of corporate behavior. By contrast, regulators in the United Kingdom have begun to recognize cognitive influences, and are rethinking their enforcement strategy based, in part, on recognition of multiple influences on corporate decision-making. U.S. enforcement policy’s regulatory blindness appears likely to lead to recurring issues of noncompliance

Conjoint Audiogram Estimation via Gaussian Process Classification

In traditional audiometry, a clinician seeks to estimate her patient’s auditory response through the sequential delivery of various individual tests. These tests are treated as independent and correlation is assessed after each individual test has been completed, resulting in a diagnosis. Treating tests as independent impedes both accuracy and efficiency by ignoring correlations in conditions known to influence physiological response, for instance age, genetics, and exposure to noise. This thesis advances the existing framework for audiometry via Gaussian Processes by allowing for the estimation of audiogram thresholds for both ears simultaneously. The resulting model estimates both correlated and uncorrelated right- and left-ear audiograms with higher efficiency than was previously achievable. This work lays a foundation for building further estimation between discrete psychometric spaces

Looking at substance use disorders through lenses of self psychology and existential psychotherapy : a theoretical study

This theoretical study explored the theoretical frameworks of self psychology and existential psychotherapy in the context of their usefulness for clinical social workers in their therapeutic work with clients with substance use disorders (SUDs). The central guiding question of this thesis was, How can the theoretical lenses of self psychology and existential psychotherapy help clinical social workers and other mental health professionals to better understand SUDs and inform clinicians\u27 work with addicted clients? In this theoretical study, self psychology and existential psychotherapy were examined and employed as a means of understanding the nature of SUDs. In addition, these two theories were used to analyze and interpret the underlying psychological and existential factors that may contribute to the development and persistence of SUDs in some individuals. This study concluded that both self psychology and existential psychotherapy can be useful—separately and even more so together—to clinicians in their work with clients with SUDs. Both of these theories, despite their many differences, share a number of important similarities that make them useful for clinical social work. These include an optimistic view of the potential for growth and healing through treatment; the importance of imperfect attunement and empathic failures between therapist and client during the course of therapy; an emphasis on trying to understand the client\u27s subjective experience; and a genuinely humane and respectful view of all clients, including those struggling with SUDs

Torts—Contractor Held Actively Negligent As A Matter Of Law And Not Entitled To Indemnification From Sub-Contractor

Colon v. Board of Educ., 11 N.Y.2d 446, 184 N.E.2d 294, 230 N.Y.S.2d 697 (1962)

Administrative Law—Permanent State Board Of Equalization And Assessment Held Properly Constituted

Town of Smithtown v. Moore, 11 N.Y.2d 238, 183 N.E.2d 66, 228 N.Y.S.2d 657 (1962)