1,314 research outputs found
Life at war and the heroic illusions created to cope with war: a study of Stephen Crane and Tim O'Brien
No full textThis thesis will examine the fictional war novels, The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane and Going after Cacciato by Tim O‘Brien. It will examine the heroic illusions created by soldiers on the frontline as psychological coping mechanisms as a means to escape the realities of war. It will also examine how Stephen Crane and Tim O‘Brien create protagonists and characters that struggle to understand the conflicts within themselves as consequences of their developing point of view toward themselves, their war comrades, and their society‘s values and how each of these writers through observing battlefield experience comes to question the meaning of war and its effects. Stephen Crane and Tim O‘Brien investigate the moral and cultural values of their respective societies. Crane portrays the Victorian era O‘Brien examines1960‘s America. Each novel asks us to view their war with both irony and sympathy.M.A.L.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Gaye L. Alle
Evaluating Citebase, an open access Web-based citation-ranked search and impact discovery service
No full textCitebase is a new citation-ranked search and impact discovery service that measures citations of scholarly research papers which are openly accessible on the Web, i.e. papers that are assessable continuously online. Other services, such as ResearchIndex, have emerged in recent years to offer citation indexing of Web research papers. In the first detailed user evaluation of an open access Web citation indexing service, Citebase has been evaluated by nearly 200 users from different backgrounds. The paper details the procedures used in the evaluation, and analyses the results of this study, which took place between June and October 2002. It was found that within the scope of its primary components, the search interface and services available from its rich bibliographic records, Citebase can be used simply and reliably for the purpose intended, and that it compares favourably with other bibliographic services. It is shown tasks can be accomplished efficiently with Citebase regardless of the background of the user. More data need to be collected and the process refined before it is as reliable for measuring citation impact of indexed papers. Better explanations and guidance are required for first-time users. Coverage is seen as a limiting factor, even though Citebase indexes over 200,000 papers from arXiv. Non-physicists were frustrated at the lack of papers from other sciences. The principle of citation searching of open access archives has thus been demonstrated and need not be restricted to current users. Since the evaluation, Citebase has become a featured service of the ArXiv physics eprint archives
Oregon Cascades forest carnivore research, final progress report, Jun 2014
No full textJamie E. McFadden-Hiller, Tim L. Hiller.This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 9-10).Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English
Nostalgia: content, triggers, functions
Full text linkSeven methodologically diverse studies addressed 3 fundamental questions about nostalgia. Studies 1 and 2 examined the content of nostalgic experiences. Descriptions of nostalgic experiences typically featured the self as a protagonist in interactions with close others (e.g., friends) or in momentous events (e.g., weddings). Also, the descriptions contained more expressions of positive than negative affect and often depicted the redemption of negative life scenes by subsequent triumphs. Studies 3 and 4 examined triggers of nostalgia and revealed that nostalgia occurs in response to negative mood and the discrete affective state of loneliness. Studies 5, 6, and 7 investigated the functional utility of nostalgia and established that nostalgia bolsters social bonds, increases positive self-regard, and generates positive affect. These findings demarcate key landmarks in the hitherto uncharted research domain of nostalgi
A Scalable Architecture for Harvest-Based Digital Libraries - The ODU/Southampton Experiments
No full textThis paper discusses the requirements of current and emerging applications based on the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and emphasizes the need for a common infrastructure to support them. Inspired by HTTP proxy, cache, gateway and web service concepts, a design for a scalable and reliable infrastructure that aims at satisfying these requirements is presented. Moreover it is shown how various applications can exploit the services included in the proposed infrastructure. The paper concludes by discussing the current status of several prototype implementations
A wearable navigation system for augmenting guide dog object detection
No full textThis electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2019Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 81-85).In this thesis, I discuss the design, construction and evaluation of a wearable object detection system for blind users to avoid collisions. Blind people rely upon tools such as guide dogs to navigate the world around them. However, even guide dogs are prone to errors that leave their owners prone to unexpected collisions with objects, such as low-hanging branches and street signs, that may cause bodily harm. This work introduces a wearable device that provides object detection capabilities to blind people with guide dogs. The device contains a camera, an embedded computer and a vibration motor to provide feedback when an obstacle is detected. The system uses computer vision techniques to determine whether there are objects in the path of the user, as well as the distance of said objects. A series of experiments was conducted with guide dog users traversing a path of obstacles while using the device to determine the effectiveness of the device at allowing users to avoid collisions.by Tim Zhong.M. Eng.M.Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Scienc
Active inference for fault tolerant control of robot manipulators with sensory faults
No full textWe present a fault tolerant control scheme for robot manipulators based on active inference. The proposed solution makes use of the sensory prediction errors in the free-energy to simplify the residuals and thresholds generation for fault detection and isolation and does not require additional controllers for fault recovery. Results validating the benefits in a simulated 2DOF manipulator are presented and the limitations of the current approach are highlighted.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Robot DynamicsTeam Jan-Willem van Wingerde
Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author
Full text linkThe question motivating this review paper is, how can
computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn-
ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to
link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory,
and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional
question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in-
teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while
maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question
derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that,
as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency.
Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip-
ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based
on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are
reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the
conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question
that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional
question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in-
teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity
Dr. Tim Brock
No full textTimothy R. Brock, PhD, CPT, CRP, ID(S&L+)
Dr. Tim Brock is the Founder and CEO of The Institute 4 Worthy Performance, a company dedicated to helping organizations apply the evidence-based principles, practices, and 10 international standards of performance improvement using 21st Century human capital big data analytics to achieve sustainable organizational and mission goals and objectives.
Dr. Brock’s PhD is in Education with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. He wrote his dissertation, “Training NASA Astronauts for Deep Space Exploration Missions: A Research Study to Develop and Validate a Competency-Based Training Framework” while he was the Senior Training and Human Performance Architect author for Lockheed Martin’s (LM) winning Crew Exploration Vehicle (now known as the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)) proposal selected by NASA. His learning and sustainment architecture included the initial training and competency sustainment/development for all managers, mission maintainers, ground and mission controllers, and astronauts. Dr. Brock was also led a team of human performance engineers to JSC to conduct a training situation analysis of mission controller training that resulted in a white paper of options NASA could adopt to decrease time and cost to proficiency. He also supported LM’s Facility Development and Operations Contract (FDOC) with NASA with the NASA Constellation Training Facility (CxTF) leadership team. During his Air Force career, Dr. Brock was also a US Air Force missile launch officer for two ICBM weapon systems and was responsible for the initial qualification weapon system academic classroom and high fidelity simulation curriculum for all missile launch officer candidates for all five of the US Air Force’s ICBM fleet.
In addition, while he was manager of LM’s Global Training and Science of Learning and Performance Improvement initiatives, Dr. Brock established and led a R&D and analysis team of distinguished, PhD-level, multi-disciplinary team of behavioral, social, cognitive, learning, and technology scientists and practitioners. His team crafted proprietary thought leadership (e.g., R&D, white papers, patents, etc.) in Human Cognitive and Behavior Modeling research to improve the effectiveness of the Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) within complex organization and technical systems. Dr. Brock’s team also provided innovative discriminator capabilities to solve complex, 100M+ bottom line learning and human performance challenges for existing and potential customers. For example, he was also the Principal Investigator for an R&D initiative that collaborated with a major health care provider to conduct a proof-of-concept prototype that integrated simulation technologies in an immersive learning environment to rapidly develop the affective, cognitive, and metacognitive skills of novice and experienced nurses. As a result of this proof-of-concept study, Dr. Brock was the lead inventor of a company-sponsored, patent-pending “Method and System for Accelerated Guided Experiential Learning and Performance Improvement” innovative instructional architecture. The invention created a method and system to generate a competency continuum of increasing competency levels, by interviewing a plurality of competency exemplar sets to elicit knowledge associated with a terminal skills and identifying cognitive discriminators associated with each competency level from the knowledge to establish cue-action schema norms to assess cognitive development.
Dr. Brock is a Certified Performance Improvement Practitioner through the International Society for Performance Improvement, a Certified Return on Investment Professional through the ROI Institute, and a Certified Instructional Designer with a specialization in high-fidelity simulations and labs through The Institute for Performance Improvement.
Dr. Brock’s PhD is in Education with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement. He wrote his dissertation, “Training NASA Astronauts for Deep Space Exploration Missions: A Research Study to Develop and Validate a Competency-Based Training Framework” while he was the Senior Training and Human Performance Architect author for Lockheed Martin’s (LM) winning Crew Exploration Vehicle (now known as the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV)) proposal selected by NASA. His learning and sustainment architecture included the initial training and competency sustainment/development for all managers, mission maintainers, ground and mission controllers, and astronauts. Dr. Brock was also led a team of human performance engineers to JSC to conduct a training situation analysis of mission controller training that resulted in a white paper of options NASA could adopt to decrease time and cost to proficiency. He also supported LM’s Facility Development and Operations Contract (FDOC) with NASA with the NASA Constellation Training Facility (CxTF) leadership team. During his Air Force career, Dr. Brock was also a US Air Force missile launch officer for two ICBM weapon systems and was responsible for the initial qualification weapon system academic classroom and high fidelity simulation curriculum for all missile launch officer candidates for all five of the US Air Force’s ICBM fleet.
In addition, while he was manager of LM’s Global Training and Science of Learning and Performance Improvement initiatives, Dr. Brock established and led a R&D and analysis team of distinguished, PhD-level, multi-disciplinary team of behavioral, social, cognitive, learning, and technology scientists and practitioners. His team crafted proprietary thought leadership (e.g., R&D, white papers, patents, etc.) in Human Cognitive and Behavior Modeling research to improve the effectiveness of the Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) within complex organization and technical systems. Dr. Brock’s team also provided innovative discriminator capabilities to solve complex, 100M+ bottom line learning and human performance challenges for existing and potential customers. For example, he was also the Principal Investigator for an R&D initiative that collaborated with a major health care provider to conduct a proof-of-concept prototype that integrated simulation technologies in an immersive learning environment to rapidly develop the affective, cognitive, and metacognitive skills of novice and experienced nurses. As a result of this proof-of-concept study, Dr. Brock was the lead inventor of a company-sponsored, patent-pending “Method and System for Accelerated Guided Experiential Learning and Performance Improvement” innovative instructional architecture. The invention created a method and system to generate a competency continuum of increasing competency levels, by interviewing a plurality of competency exemplar sets to elicit knowledge associated with a terminal skills and identifying cognitive discriminators associated with each competency level from the knowledge to establish cue-action schema norms to assess cognitive development.
Dr. Brock is a Certified Performance Improvement Practitioner through the International Society for Performance Improvement, a Certified Return on Investment Professional through the ROI Institute, and a Certified Instructional Designer with a specialization in high-fidelity simulations and labs through The Institute for Performance Improvement.https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-bios-2016/1027/thumbnail.jp
Assessment of Fe(II), Fe(III) and NaMnO4 dosing for As removal <1 µg/L during aeration-filtration at WTP Prinsenbosch
No full textIn 2013, Brabant Water (BW) adopted a new goal of <1 μg/l for As level in the drinking water, resulting in the need to enhance As removal at seven water treatment plants (WPT’s), including WTP Prinsenbosch (As = 2.6 μg/l). Earlier experiences of BW at WTP Dorst had shown that dosing of NaMnO4 to an aeration-filtration system efficiently reduces As concentrations. However, the so-called AOCF method had undesired operational side-effects, including decreased filter run time, breakthrough of particles and poor thickening of backwash sludge. The aim of this thesis was to investigate 3 process alternatives (respectively dosing of NaMnO4, Fe(III) and Fe(II)) to enhance the As removal to < 1 μg/l at WTP Prinsenbosch, specifically including the impact on operational aspects like the filtration process and the backwash water production and sludge properties. The assessment is based on the results of (full-scale and) pilot-plant research at WTP Prinsenbosch. It was found that Fe(III) was slightly more effective than Fe(II) and NaMnO4 for the removal of As, but at doses of 1.3 mg/l NaMnO4, 0.7 mg/l Fe(III) or 1.2 mg /l Fe(II) a drinking water quality of 0.7 μg As/l could be obtained with all 3 chemicals. In rapid sand filters, As(III) is oxidized biologically leading to subsequent adsorption of As(V) onto Fe(III)oxyhydroxides and Mn(IV) oxides. It was found that the adsorption capacity of the filter precipitates was relatively high, because to obtain a concentration of 0.7 μg As/l, the acceptable adsorption load was between 1.4-1.7 μg As/ mg (Fe+Mn). Although As removal was similar for dosing either 1.3 mg/l NaMnO4, 0.7 mg/l Fe(III) or 1.2 mg /l Fe(II), the impact on the filtration process and the backwash water production and sludge properties proved to be quite different. Dosing of NaMnO4 and Fe(III) led to shorter filter run times, increased vulnerability to breakthrough, higher backwash water production and reduced thickening of the sludge. Contrarily, dosing of Fe(II) and the reference case (without dosing) led to longer run times, no breakthrough, lower backwash water production and superior thickening of the sludge. The differences in the impact on the filtration process and sludge properties between Fe(II) and Fe(III) and NaMnO4 are most likely explained by a different density of the Fe(III)oxyhydroxides and Mn(IV) oxides formed in the filter. The different density may be related to the formation process (biotic or abiotic oxidation of Fe and Mn, homogeneous or heterogeneous precipitation of Fe(III)oxyhydroxides and Mn(IV) oxides) and the crystal structure and density (which may be influenced by Eh and pH). The conclusion of the research for WTP Prinsenbosch is that Fe(II) is the preferred chemical in view of the superior operational aspects. It is also cheaper than NaMnO4 (both chemical costs and sludge disposal costs) and easier to handle
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