Ultrasonic Data Transmission and Steganography

This project discusses the feasibility of using ultrasound to transmit data between computer systems, particularly computer systems that have been intentionally cut off from traditional networks for increased security. The goal of this project is to provide a synthesis of the current research that has been done into the use of ultrasonic data transmission, and to conduct a series of tests determining the validity of certain claims made in regards to ultrasonic data transmission within the information security community. All research, experiments, results, and inferences have been discussed in the context of how they relate to the realm of information security. All security concerns discovered during the course of this project have been outlined at the end of this paper, and potential remediation strategies have been suggested

mixtools: An R Package for Analyzing Mixture Models

The mixtools package for R provides a set of functions for analyzing a variety of finite mixture models. These functions include both traditional methods, such as EM algorithms for univariate and multivariate normal mixtures, and newer methods that reflect some recent research in finite mixture models. In the latter category, mixtools provides algorithms for estimating parameters in a wide range of different mixture-of-regression contexts, in multinomial mixtures such as those arising from discretizing continuous multivariate data, in nonparametric situations where the multivariate component densities are completely unspecified, and in semiparametric situations such as a univariate location mixture of symmetric but otherwise unspecified densities. Many of the algorithms of the mixtools package are EM algorithms or are based on EM-like ideas, so this article includes an overview of EM algorithms for finite mixture models.

Subarcsecond Imaging of the NGC 6334 I(N) Protocluster: Two Dozen Compact Sources and a Massive Disk Candidate

Using the SMA and VLA, we have imaged the massive protocluster NGC6334I(N) at high angular resolution (0.5"~650AU) from 6cm to 0.87mm, detecting 18 new compact continuum sources. Three of the new sources are coincident with previously-identified water masers. Together with the previously-known sources, these data bring the number of likely protocluster members to 25 for a protostellar density of ~700 pc^-3. Our preliminary measurement of the Q-parameter of the minimum spanning tree is 0.82 -- close to the value for a uniform volume distribution. All of the (nine) sources with detections at multiple frequencies have SEDs consistent with dust emission, and two (SMA1b and SMA4) also have long wavelength emission consistent with a central hypercompact HII region. Thermal spectral line emission, including CH3CN, is detected in six sources: LTE model fitting of CH3CN(J=12-11) yields temperatures of 72-373K, confirming the presence of multiple hot cores. The fitted LSR velocities range from -3.3 to -7.0 km/s, with an unbiased mean square deviation of 2.05 km/s, implying a dynamical mass of 410+-260 Msun for the protocluster. From analysis of a wide range of hot core molecules, the kinematics of SMA1b are consistent with a rotating, infalling Keplerian disk of diameter 800AU and enclosed mass of 10-30 Msun that is perpendicular (within 1 degree) to the large-scale bipolar outflow axis. A companion to SMA1b at a projected separation of 0.45" (590AU; SMA1d), which shows no evidence of spectral line emission, is also confirmed. Finally, we detect one 218.440GHz and several 229.7588GHz Class-I methanol masers.Comment: 54 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Version 2: Keywords updated, and three "in press" citations updated to journal reference. Version 3: corrected the error in the quantum numbers of the 218 GHz methanol transition in the text and in Table 8. For a PDF version with full-resolution figures, see http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~thunter/papers/ngc6334in2014.pd

Teaching social perspective taking: How educators might learn from the Army

Frequently and accurately discerning others’ thoughts and feelings is associated with multiple valued educational outcomes across an array of settings. Despite its foundational role in social interactions, it is unclear whether individuals can be taught to improve their social perspective taking capacities. This experiment assesses whether a curriculum taught to US Army personnel (N = 116) improved their social perspective taking prior to deployment. Results showed that participants improved their social perspective taking in three ways: through more accurately detecting biases in others, by generating more initial hypotheses to explain others’ behaviours, and by adapting their hypotheses in the face of new evidence. The curriculum did not affect participants’ perspective taking accuracy on a video measure. We discuss these findings with respect to their implications for other learning environments.https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.org/books/1056/thumbnail.jp

Bright Ultraviolet Regions and Star Formation Characteristics in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies

We compare star formation in the inner and outer disks of 11 dwarf Irregular galaxies (dIm) within 3.6 Mpc. The regions are identified on GALEX near-UV images, and modeled with UV, optical, and near-IR colors to determine masses and ages. A few galaxies have made 10^5-10^6 Msun complexes in a starburst phase, while others have not formed clusters in the last 50 Myrs. The maximum region mass correlates with the number of regions as expected from the size-of-sample effect. We find no radial gradients in region masses and ages, even beyond the realm of Halpha emission, although there is an exponential decrease in the luminosity density and number density of the regions with radius. Halpha is apparently lacking in the outer parts only because nebular emission around massive stars is too faint to see. The outermost regions for the 5 galaxies with HI data formed at average gas surface densities of 1.9-5.9 Msun/pc2. These low average densities imply either that local gas densities are high or sub-threshold star formation is possible. The distribution of regions on a log Mass - log age plot is is usually uniform along log age for equal intervals of log Mass. This uniformity results from either an individual region mass that varies as 1/age or a region disruption probability that varies as 1/age. A correlation between fading-corrected surface brightness and age suggests the former.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in press for November 2009. 34 pages, 18 figures, 5 table

Introduction: Re-Examining Criminal Process Through the Lens of Integrity

This is the Introduction to Hunter, Roberts, Young and Dixon (ed), The Integrity of Criminal Process: From Theory into Practice (Hart, 2016). It sketches a theoretical framework for reconsidering familiar topics and issues 'through the lens of integrity', and identifies key themes unifying the volume's sixteen chapters, written by leading scholars from Australia, Hong Kong, UK, and USA. Reflecting the flexibility and scope of a putative ‘integrity principle’, these new essays range widely over many of the most hotly contested issues in contemporary criminal justice theory, policy and practice, including: the ethics of police investigations, charging practice and discretionary enforcement; prosecutorial independence, policy and operational decision-making; plea bargaining; the perils of witness coaching and accomplice testimony; expert evidence; doctrines of admissibility and abuse of process; lay participation in criminal adjudication; the role of remorse in sentencing; the ethics of appellate judgment writing; innocence projects; and state compensation for miscarriages of justice.postprin

ARDEE: A general agricultural robotic development and evaluation environment

When evaluating any algorithm, it is essential that the data used for evaluation be collected from the target operating environment, as well as conditions, in order to get an accurate representation of the algorithm's performance in that environment. This is especially important when extrinsic sensor measurements are used for developing and evaluating autonomous control and perception algorithms intended for agricultural applications. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles that can considerably hinder the development process, most notably the 7-8 months in which most crops are not in season. The work presented in this thesis allows the year-round development and evaluation for a wide variety of autonomous control and perception algorithms for agricultural field robotic applications, using a set of developed simulation tools in combination with an open-source simulation platform, Gazebo. The custom set of tools was designed such that any number of user-specific agricultural environments can be simulated, and the sensor/robot configuration can be easily customized, being useful for a wide range of agricultural research interests. The fundamental contributions of this work are the following: (1) a collection of sufficiently accurate simulated crop models for three different crop species (corn, sorghum, and tobacco), (2) user-friendly tools for generating a user-customizable agricultural field environment, (3) a collection of simulated, commonly-used, sensors that can be attached to any simulated robot platform, (4) a simulated model of an ultra-compact robot platform, and (5) a set of socket-based, or UDP, tools used for testing algorithm performance on-board target hardware and with the simulated sensors and field. Finally, a few core autonomous control and perception algorithms, which reflect the range of field robot research areas that could be used, are executed on-board an ultra-lightweight ground robot platform, and the performance is evaluated and compared in both a real-world and a simulated, agricultural environment

Teaching social perspective taking: how educators might learn from the Army

Frequently and accurately discerning others' thoughts and feelings is associated with multiple valued educational outcomes across an array of settings. Despite its foundational role in social interactions, it is unclear whether individuals can be taught to improve their social perspective taking capacities. This experiment assesses whether a curriculum taught to US Army personnel (N = 116) improved their social perspective taking prior to deployment. Results showed that participants improved their social perspective taking in three ways: through more accurately detecting biases in others, by generating more initial hypotheses to explain others' behaviors, and by adapting their hypotheses in the face of new evidence. The curriculum did not affect participants' perspective taking accuracy on a video measure. We discuss these findings with respect to their implications for other learning environment