Land resources survey for the state of Michigan

The usefulness of ERTS-1 satellite imagery as an information source for a statewide inventory of Michigan's land resources is documented. The project is currently relying on photointerpretation of MSS photography and computed processed results. The first task completed was a 1:500,000 scale land use map of the state in four classes: urban, forest, water, and agriculture and other. This map was constructed from existing (pre-ERTS-1) information sources including federal, state and county maps, and aerial photography. An ERTS color IR photomosaic for the entire state will also be constructed at a scale of 1:250,000. The Institute is currently working on tape processed data that will include both recognition data as well as a UTM coordinate addressing capability so that the final tape can be inputed directly into computerized land use and transportation corridor analysis models

Densification of powder metallurgy billets by a roll consolidation technique

Container design is used to convert partially densified powder metallurgy compacts into fully densified slabs in one processing step. Technique improves product yield, lowers costs and yields great flexibility in process scale-up. Technique is applicable to all types of fabricable metallic materials that are produced from powder metallurgy process

Remote sensing impact on corridor selection and placement

Computer-aided corridor selection techniques, utilizing digitized data bases of socio-economic, census, and cadastral data, and developed for highway corridor routing are considered. Land resource data generated from various remote sensing data sources were successfully merged with the ancillary data files of a corridor selection model and prototype highway corridors were designed using the combined data set. Remote sensing derived information considered useful for highway corridor location, special considerations in geometric correction of remote sensing data to facilitate merging it with ancillary data files, and special interface requirements are briefly discussed

Objectworlds : a class of computer-based discovery learning environments

It is possible to discern a class of Computer-Based Discovery Learning Environments which centre on novel, concept rich,simulated objects and which include simple but general functions with which the objects may be manipulated. This thesis provides a history of this class of environments, which we call objectworlds, and we also give them a strict definition. We describe Gravitas, a new objectworld we have built, which allows learners to work with objects that behave like gravitating masses moving in a two dimensional space.Gravitas contains a powerful programmable interface to the objects, in the form of a set of Logo commands, and a functionally equivalent but easier to use graphical interface which is controlled by the mouse. We show that the combination of interfaces helps learners to explore the world of these objects more effectively.We contrast the educational experiences learners are afforded by objectworlds with those offered by two closely related kinds of Discovery Learning Environment: Simulations and Modelling Systems. We also describe a psychological framework which provides a useful way of thinking about the construction of computer simulated objects for discovery learning applications

Handwashing behavior and habit formation in the household: evidence from the pilot randomized evaluation of HOPE SOAP© in South Africa

Handwashing with soap at critical times is a simple and effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, such as diarrhea and acute respiratory infection, which are major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. However, rates of handwashing remain low throughout the world, and interventions which attempt to improve handwashing behaviors have largely been unsuccessful in practice. This may be because behavior change programs often fail to recognize the habitual drivers of handwashing behavior. In contrast, this paper examines the effectiveness of a novel soap technology, HOPE SOAP©, a child-size and colorful bar of soap with a toy embedded in its center, which aims to increase handwashing in children by specifically targeting its habitual nature. To rigorously evaluate HOPE SOAP©, this paper exploits data from a pilot randomized controlled trial whereby 229 households from a poor urban community in South Africa were randomly assigned to receive HOPE SOAP© for a period of 12-weeks. In an initial analysis of the effects of the intervention on children’s health and behavior, Burns, Maughan-Brown, and Mouzinho (2017) found that that HOPE SOAP© had positive impacts on children’s handwashing behaviors and health outcomes. Children who received HOPE SOAP© children were more likely to wash their hands, and had better overall health outcomes than control children (Burns, Maughan-Brown, and Mouzinho 2017). Although HOPE SOAP© aims to induce behavior change in children, this paper explores the spillover effects that it has on other members of children’s households. Specifically, this work uses regression analysis to investigate the impacts of HOPE SOAP© on the handwashing behaviors of children’s primary caregivers, and on the health outcomes of all non-treated household members. This paper finds compelling evidence illustrating that a child’s assignment to HOPE SOAP© has a positive impact on the handwashing behavior of their caregiver. Specifically, HOPE SOAP© increases the probability that a caregiver will wash their hands before eating a snack by 13 percentage points on average (p-value 0.17). A further investigation of the causal mechanisms for this improvement suggests that HOPE SOAP© affects caregiver behavior both by disrupting existing poor-hygiene habits, and by strengthening handwashing norms within households. Despite its positive effects on household handwashing behavior, this paper finds that a child’s assignment to HOPE SOAP© has no discernable shortterm impacts on the health of individual household members. Nevertheless, the positive influence of HOPE SOAP© on caregiver handwashing behavior is promising and, in conjunction with the finding that HOPE SOAP© improves children’s behaviors, provides reason to believe the intervention may be successful in inducing habitual handwashing behaviors which can persist in the long run

Word hypothesis from undifferentiated, errorful phonetic strings

This thesis investigates a dynamic programming approach to word hypothesis in the context of a speaker independent, large vocabulary, continuous speech recognition system. Using a method known as Dynamic Time Warping, an undifferentiated phonetic string (one without word boundaries) is parsed to produce all possible words contained in a domain specific lexicon. Dynamic Time Warping is a common method of sequence comparison used in matching the acoustic feature vectors representing an unknown input utterance and some reference utterance. The cumulative least cost path, when compared with some threshold can be used as a decision criterion for recognition. This thesis attempts to extend the DTW technique using strings of phonetic symbols, instead. Three variables that were found to affect the parsing process include: (1) minimum distance threshold, (2) the number of word candidates accepted at any given phonetic index, and (3) the lexical search space used for reference pattern comparisons. The performance of this parser as a function of these variables is discussed. Also discussed is the performance of the parser at a variety of input error conditions

Regiae Academiae Gustavo-Carolinae sive Dorpato-Pernaviensis historiae particulam decimam nonam ... praeside Gustavo Sommelio, prof. reg. et acad. Carol. bibliothecario. Ad publicum examen defert Sven Nicolaus Sellman, Smolandus. D. VII. Maji a. MDCCXCVI. Lundae, typis Berlingianis

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2612340~S1*es

Water-depth measurement by wave refraction and multispectral techniques

Shallow ocean depth measurements by aerial photographs of wave refraction and wavelength changes and by multispectral scanning of wave reflectio

Adding lemon juice to poison: examining the oxymoronic nature of mindfulness in education and its future direction

This article seeks to amplify a debate initiated in this journal by Hyland (2016)by deepening a number of conceptual, methodological and implementationalissues concerning the application of mindfulness based interventions (MBIs) toschools and other places of learning. It argues that the pursuit of the by-products of mindfulness, enhanced focus and well-being, serve a neoliberalagenda for education. This is lemon-juice to poison as it encourages students toaccept and cope with oppressive structures partially responsible for suffering insociety rather than develop the deepened awareness necessary to challenge andtransform them. Reconnecting mindfulness with its original meaning ofremembrance and discernment is highlighted as a means for engaging studentswith more agentic possibilities. The article begins to make the case formindfulnessaseducation, rather than mindfulnessineducation, realised as anembodied approach rather than psychological intervention with key roles forcontemplative pedagogy and mindful inter-personal relationships