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Under Water: How to Green Up Your Roadway Project
Get PDFLearn effective streambank stabilization techniques and funding resources that can be used to protect your roadways. Presenters will explain how to select the most effective stream bank restoration technique— natural channel design, traditional engineering, or both. Also learn how to maximize water quality and asset protection through stream bank stabilization using case studies that compare cost, form, and function. Lastly, we will review funding opportunities for the proposed green strategies
5G/Small Cell Structures in Your Right of Way
Get PDFAs telecommunication companies are pushing towards 5G technology and the installation of small cell facilities in residential areas, the City of Fishers has been at the front of state legislation. They passed an ordinance in 2017 that requires telecommunication companies to follow a waiver process that allows residents to work directly with the telecommunication companies on the placement of cell facilities. As state regulations continue to change, Fishers has modified the waiver process to continue to allow public input. Join this session to learn more
Object Rigidity: Competition and cooperation between motion-energy and feature- tracking mechanisms and shape-based priors
Get PDFToward a Manifold Encoding Neural Responses
Get PDFUnderstanding circuit properties from physiological data presents two challenges: (i) recordings do not reveal connectivity, and (ii) stimuli only exercise circuits to a limited extent. We address these challenges for the mouse visual system with a novel neural manifold obtained using unsupervised algorithms. Each point in our manifold is a neuron; nearby neurons respond similarly in time to similar parts of a stimulus ensemble. This ensemble includes drifting gratings and flows, i.e., patterns resembling what a mouse would “see” running through fields.
Regarding (i), our manifold differs from the standard practice in computational neuroscience: embedding trials in neural coordinates. Topology matters: we infer that, if the circuit consists of separate components, the manifold is discontinuous (illustrated with retinal data). If there is significant overlap between circuits, the manifold is nearly-continuous (cortical data). Regarding (ii), most of the cortical manifold is not activated with conventional gratings, despite their prominence in laboratory settings. Our manifold suggests organizing cortical circuitry by a few specialized circuits for specific members of the stimulus ensemble, together with circuits involving ‘multi-stimuli’-responding neurons.
To approach real circuits, local neighborhoods in the manifold are identified with actual circuit components. For retinal data, we show these components correspond to distinct ganglion cell types by their mosaic-like receptive field organization, while for cortical data, neighborhoods organize neurons by type (excitatory/inhibitory) and anatomical layer. In summary: the topology of neural organization reflects well the underlying anatomy and physiology of the retina and the visual cortex
Resilient Architectures Through Dynamic Management of Software Components
No full textThe architecture of software-intensive systems is determined by their functionality and the environment they operate in. For Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), the environment can vary in complexity and change with time. These systems operate independently, with little or no supervision, and with little maintenance. They are expected to last for long periods, that can extend to even decades. Since their operating conditions can change over time and the requirements for the systems can evolve, it is necessary to have a non-intrusive way to instantiate newer software components as the system is operating. This can extend the usability, adaptability, and longevity of such systems. The ability to replace software components as systems are operating can also be a way to improve software diversity, safety and security. Techniques that include redundancy and diversification of the software can become a reality only if a dedicated approach for software components update is available during run-time. The practicality of this can be achieved if component interfaces, state, and dynamic management are handled appropriately. This study explores the mechanisms, and the challenges of dynamic changes through the manipulation of software components while the system is in running. The focus is on safety-critical embedded systems, which may be resource-constrained and have real-time requirements. Improving security and reliability through fault-tolerant mechanisms is the primary goal of this work. The study of dynamic architecture is not solely restricted to individual systems. The principles that are presented are discussed in the scope of large scale systems and system of systems. Run-time assurance is also receiving attention as part of the life of dynamic systems. Techniques such modeling and validation are explored in the same context. The work presents some experimental results and discusses possible practical approaches for designing dynamic system of systems
Grove City College v. Bell (1984): Conservative Education on Trial, and the Legacy of J. Howard Pew
No full textBetween 1977 and 1984, Grove City College engaged in a legal dispute with the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare as to whether the college needed to sign federally mandated Title IX compliance forms for its students to receive federal funding. This project uses the culmination of the legal dispute, the Supreme Court case Grove City College v. Bell (1984) to engage with discussions about philanthropy’s role in shaping education, the political effects of that education, the politicization of interpretations of Supreme Court decisions, and the continued role of education in shaping a conservative intellectual elite. Throughout much of the twentieth century, oil magnate and conservative businessman J. Howard Pew funded Grove City College’s building projects and gave countless speeches at the college. By relying on his money, Pew steered the private college’s curriculum and student life to embrace Judeo-Christian norms, cultural conservatism, and libertarian economics. These values shaped the conservative response to federal regulations in the form of Title IX as Grove City College sought to defend those values. This sociolegal history of the case reveals the intellectual roots of Grove City College’s retaliation. Furthermore, this project bridges legal and political history as I show that Supreme Court decisions were shaped by activists and politicians. We must look beyond case law. The project connects grassroots activism and political decisions as both meted out the future of conservatism in the public square. By conflating popularity with democracy, Ronald Reagan and his Department of Justice tried to appease all sides in the legal conflict as he made overtures to the antifeminist New Right. This project then touches on the battle over minority rule and majoritarian democracy as Reagan was at odds with the New Right as he subscribed to the latter. My work on Grove City College v. Bell (1984) then pushes our discussion of political history beyond a red and blue dichotomy as Democrats and moderate Republicans formed a bipartisan coalition to legislatively overturn the Supreme Court’s decision. Grove City College’s conservative think tank acts as a new endeavor to inform the public square as to the values of conservatism. Long since passed away, Pew’s values live on in the Institute for Faith and Freedom. By observing the branding of the organization and its connection to the college’s history, this work shows the fluidity and adaptability of conservatism as it occurs on campus and how it intertwines with national conversations today with which conservatism is concerned
Modeling Density and Group Size of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) with Distance Sampling
No full textManagement of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) remains a high priority for wildlife agencies, and principally sound and current science is a foundation of effective wildlife management. To ensure that deer management in Indiana is grounded in sound and current science, my dissertation aims to: (1) improve components of density estimators for deer management; (2) compare candidate deer density estimators; (3) examine how spatially explicit density of demographic classes of deer change across Indiana and test for differences between demographic ratios of density; and (4) examine how deer group sizes change across space and time in Indiana. I accomplish these goals with data from fecal-pellet, camera-trap, and aerial sampling collected in Deer Regional Management Units 3, 4, and 9 within Indiana. Two issues when estimating persistence time, t, of dung piles frequently occur in deer management: (i) differences between observers on what constitutes a dung pile; and (ii) substituting the number of days between the date in which 98% of deciduous trees shed leaves in autumn and field sampling for t. I therefore developed and implemented a new method for estimating t, which produced density estimates that were larger than previous leaf-off methods and accounted for variation attributable to interobserver classification discrepancies. Similarly, density estimates from aerial sampling often suffers from sources of error. I showcased the importance of accounting for common types of error in aerial sampling by using a simple double-observer approach with infrared and visible cameras. My results stressed the significance of pairing red-green-blue sensors with infrared thermal sensors, choosing appropriate sampling altitudes, and using specific criteria to classify thermal signatures. To aid decision making, I then extended cost-effectiveness analysis to choose between density-estimation methods, and simultaneously integrated precision and per-area cost of sampling, allowed for situation weighting of factors, and annualized capital cost across a single or multiple applications of capital equipment. I found aerial sampling to be the most cost-effective method for long-term deer monitoring in Indiana. I next developed a density surface model that utilized camera-trap distance sampling within a hierarchical generalized additive model to estimate spatially explicit densities of bucks, does, and fawns. I found that deer density was influenced by landscape fragmentation, wetlands, and anthropogenic development. By extending simple statistical theory to test for differences in two ratios of density, I found strong evidence that recruitment was tied to agriculture. Finally, I used camera traps, detectability estimates from distance sampling, and hierarchical Bayesian modelling to index group size and test multiple group-formation hypotheses in deer. I found a strong relationship between group size and several interactive predictors. I documented the largest groups in areas near anthropogenic development, in areas with high predator use intensity, and during times of day when predators were active. Additionally, groups were larger in locations with concealment when the area of concealment within the surrounding landscape was small, and larger in open areas when the amount of concealment within the surrounding landscape was large. I lastly concluded my dissertation by encouraging future deer management in Indiana to carefully consider their goals for population estimation, and recognize and address sources of bias in common sampling protocols for population data
Incremental Test Pattern Generation for Structurally Similar Circuits
No full textThe advancement of semiconductor technology has resulted in the development of devices that are fast, cost-effective, low-power, and high-performance. Many gates are integrated into smaller areas, resulting in increased complexity of digital circuits. Increased size and complexity result in a large number of faults, which increases the time taken to test the circuit. However, as the size of the digital designs increases, they also exhibit structural similarities. This thesis describes a test generation process that utilizes structural similarity to speed up the test generation process. The property of structural similarity can be seen in circuits that are subjected to engineering change order (ECO), circuits that are modified during place and route, circuits subjected to retiming, circuits with multiple cores. The goal is to determine the testability of a circuit (circuit2) given a test set for a structurally similar circuit (circuit1). This is achieved by transforming a test set generated for circuit1 into a test set for circuit2 without repeating the entire test generation process. The algorithm starts with a structural analysis of circuit1 and circuit2 that captures their structural properties using an integer-arithmetic based computation called signatures. The signatures are used to obtain a partial mapping between the inputs and outputs of the two circuits. The mapping is used for transforming test patterns for circuit1 into test patterns for circuit2. The first chapter looks into similar circuits obtained after modifying the gate-level netlist. In the next chapter, structurally similar circuits were obtained by modifying the RTL, and the gate-level was resynthesized. This chapter proposed a mapping methodology to accommodate the changes introduced during the resynthesis of a netlist. Lastly, the thesis described a test generation methodology where transition faults are considered, which required two-cycle tests to be detected
User Controlled Privacy Boundaries for Smart Homes
No full textThe rise of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies into the substantial commercial market that it is today comes with several challenges. Not only do these systems face the traditional challenges of security and reliability faced by traditional information technology (IT) products, but they also face the challenge of loss of privacy. The concern of user data privacy is most prevalent when these technologies come into the home environment. In this dissertation quasi-experimental research is conducted on the ability of users to protect private data in a heterogeneous smart home network. For this work the experiments are conducted and verified on eight different smart home devices using network traffic analysis and discourse analysis to identify privacy concerns. The results of the research show that data privacy within the confines of the user’s home often cannot be ensured while maintaining smart home device functionality. This dissertation discusses how those results can inform users and manufacturers alike in the use and development of future smart home technologies to better protect privacy concerns