Interactive Learning and Prediction Algorithms For Computer Vision Applications

Branson, Steven University of California, San Diego 2012 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

In this dissertation, we explore three different types of interactive methods in computer vision. First, we introduce interactive variants of popular computer vision algorithms, and have applied one of them to create a practical web-based bird species recognition tool. Second, we explore a simple form of active learning that interleaves online learning and interactive labeling of structured objects, and show that it has good properties in theory and practice in terms of scalability to large datasets and complex image models, with some bounds on total annotation effort. Lastly, we investigate interactive feedback methods to researchers and annotators, with the objective of diagnosing errors due to insufficient training data, a bad model or feature space, annotation error, or insufficient computation time. We have combined these methods into a common software package and applied them to a variety of problems including object detection, pose registration and part-based methods, model sharing methods based on parts and attributes, cost-sensitive multiclass classification, and behavior detection and segmentation.

Innovations in Randomization Inference for the Design and Analysis of Experiments and Observational Studies

Branson, Zach Harvard University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2019 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Action-Maslov homomorphism for monotone symplectic manifolds

Branson, Mark Columbia University 2010 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The action-Maslov homomorphism I : pi1(Ham(X, o)) → R is an important tool for understanding the topology of the Hamiltonian group of monotone symplectic manifolds. We explore conditions for the vanishing of this homomorphism, and show that it is identically zero when the Seidel element has finite order and the homology satisfies property D (a generalization of having homology generated by divisor classes). These properties hold for products of projective spaces, the Grassmannian of 2 planes in C4 , and tonic 4-manifolds. We show that these properties do not hold for all Grassmannians. Finally, the relationship between these statements and the geometry of pi1(Ham(X, o)) is explored.

The Discursive Construction of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) in Women's Popular Health Media and Medical Journals

Branson, Carolina Renee Fernandez University of Minnesota 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

In this dissertation, I examine how CAM is discursively constructed in four major biomedical journals, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Nature, Science, and The New England Journal of Medicine, and three widely known women's popular health media sites, The Dr. Oz Show, Women's Health magazine, and Prevention magazine, and argue that risk is a major trope in the construction of CAM. In my analysis, I found that medical journals use risk discursively to circumscribe the extent to which CAM is accepted in the mainstream medical community and to reinforce institutional boundaries. In women's popular health media, I found that risk is used discursively to reinforce the importance of conventional beauty standards while also supporting CAM as a valid supplement to conventional medicine by emphasizing how using CAM may enhance or improve health. Finally, I argue that although medical journals use the risk of CAM to validate professional norms, and women's health media conflate health and appearance using CAM, women's popular health media also provide specific examples of resistance against both the construction of the riskiness of CAM by medical journals and the patriarchal discourses that inflect the popular media's coverage of CAM.

Reading achievement of students in a fifth-grade urban classroom: A comparison of basal and literature-based approaches to teaching reading. A longitudinal study

Branson, Charlotte Ann University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1999 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

This study focused on a comparative analysis of the effects of basal and literature-based reading programs on the achievement of fifth-grade students. This three-year study was conducted with 120 students in four heterogeneously grouped classes. A control and experimental group design was used to compare the reading scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Reading comprehension scores from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were used as pretest scores and indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between the groups prior to fifth grade. Observations over time revealed that a literature-based reading program helped students to develop and adopt the reading behavior of good readers. This approach to learning to read teaches students to recognize some important distinctions between good and poor readers. As a result, students taught to read using a literature-based approach are likely to become better readers with appropriate comprehension and adequate understanding. Both literature-based and basal-reading programs indicated significant growth from pre to posttest results. It appears that either program can result in significant growth over a comparable time period. An analysis of covariance conducted on the reading scores indicated that there was no statistically significant differences in reading achievement between the classes taught with a basal-reading program or with a literature-based reading program.

Tracking multiple mice through severe occlusions

Branson, Kristin University of California, San Diego 2007 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

In this thesis, I address the problem of tracking multiple identical mice through severe occlusions from video of a side of their cage. A solution to this problem would greatly benefit medical research because of the key role animal testing plays in medical research. As the majority of visual tracking algorithms are intended for tracking people or cars, they are not directly applicable to the mouse tracking problem. Mice are extremely deformable, unconstrained three-dimensional objects. They have few trackable features, and their motion is extremely erratic. In addition, the mice are visually indistinguishable. Thus, to keep track of identities one must track the mice through sometimes complete occlusions. Furthermore, because of the constraints of the application, we had little control over the content of the video sequence. Thus, the bedding of the cage was hard to distinguish from the mice, and the mice were also occluded by scratches on the front of the cage. In this thesis, I break up the tracking problem into parts: defining a state representation for the mice, defining an appearance model, defining a motion model, and inferring statistics of the positions of the mice for a novel video sequence given the defined model. Because of the difficulty and uniqueness of the mouse tracking problem, it was necessary to understand, modify, combine, and invent state-of-the-art approaches to each of these parts of the tracking problem. In this thesis, I describe and motivate the solutions chosen for each of these subproblems.

Effect of using the Ages and Stages Questionnaires on childcare providers' developmental assessment ability

Branson, Diane Marie University of Nevada, Reno 2009 해외공개박사

Benefits of early intervention for children who are identified with developmental delays and who receive early intervention are confirmed in the literature. Yet the majority of children are not identified prior to age 5 years. Childcare providers are a group of professionals who spend time with young children and who could assist with early recognition of children at risk for developmental delay, but there is a lack of research on this topic. Mixed methods sequential explanatory design was used to investigate childcare providers' ability to accurately assess child development and make appropriate referrals to child find agencies. A secondary goal of the study was to determine if certain childcare provider characteristics could predict which childcare providers would have high agreement between their developmental impression of a child and the ASQ results. Results from the quantitative data analysis suggest that childcare providers are able to recognize children at risk for developmental delays regardless of whether the ASQ was given first or second. Childcare providers were able to administer the ASQ with acceptable accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The majority of childcare providers (89%) demonstrated high agreement between their developmental impression of a child and ASQ results. Specific childcare provider characteristics (age, experience, and level of education) did not predict which childcare providers would have high agreement between their developmental impression and ASQ results. Qualitative results showed that comparison of children to same-age peers was an important cue childcare providers used to recognize children with developmental differences and identified several barriers that interfere with childcare providers making appropriate referrals to child find agencies.

Numerical MHD simulations in dynamical spacetimes

Stephens, Branson Craig University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2007 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

Numerical relativity probes some of the most energetic events in the universe using computer simulations. These simulations must account for the relevant physical processes while, at the same time, evolving the spacetime according to Einstein's equations of general relativity. In particular, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and relativistic gravity are of crucial importance in astrophysical phenomena such as stellar collapse to black holes, binary neutron star mergers, supernovae, and gamma-ray bursts. Many of these phenomena are promising sources of GWs for detectors such as LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory). The complex interplay of the magnetic field and fluid in a dynamically changing spacetime makes numerical simulations indispensable for studying such systems. We have developed a code which simultaneously solves the Einstein equations for the gravitational field, Maxwell's equations for the electromagnetic field, and the equations of relativistic magnetohydrodynamics for the fluid. We apply this code to study the evolution of magnetized differentially rotating neutron stars and magnetorotational core collapse.

Synthesis and Solid State Characterization of Actinide Cyanometallates and Actinide Benzimidazole Compounds

Maynard, Branson Allen Auburn University ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

소속기관이 구독 중이 아닌 경우 오후 4시부터 익일 오전 9시까지 원문보기가 가능합니다.

The square-planar cyanometallate anions allow for the unique columnar structural feature in the solid state, termed in the literature as pseudo 1-D M…M interactions in the Pt analogs. The distance between metal sites has been coined, R, and can be tuned by many physical and chemical processes. While the akali and alkaline earth metal tetracyanoplatinates have been known for two centuries, few compounds have been reported in the actinide square planar cyanometallate class of compounds, Anx[M(CN)4]y. Utilizing this structural feature provides a new means for probing the chemistry of the 5f elements. Described here is the synthesis, emission spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, computation analysis, and structural characterization using small molecule X-ray single crystal diffraction of the recently reported actinide cyanometallates, general formula Anx[M(CN)4]y.