Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Metrical patterns'

This essay analyses a selection of poems written by the American poet Emily Dickinson. The essay aims to explore the function of the meter in Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Earlier studies have combined Emily Dickinson’s poetry with meter, but the research of metrical pattern and form has not been sufficient enough to show Emily Dickinson’s full potential with the different meters. The purpose of this essay is to analyse how the metrical patterns are used by the poet as metrical strategies to impact the reader’s perception. One assumption is that structure and form are fundamental to her writing style. It justifies the reading of her poetry in relation to meter. The main focus was the physical structures of the poems, such as line length, metrical patterns, and systematic rhymes. The second most important aim was to analyse her other poetic devices, such as dashes and capitalizations. The findings were analysed together with the vocabulary and figurative language. The analysis shows Emily Dickinson’s poetic artistry in meter and rhyme and clarifies how she creates poetry with lyrical qualities. The result is important because it also shows that she can create poetry with metrical patterns, without in that sense being bound to meter.

Humans have the ability to synchronise with sounds divided by equal intervals and predict when the next sound is coming, as opposed to reacting to them. By creating a pulse within ourselves based on these recurrent sounds we are able to, for instance, play music and dance. A stable pulse can be maintained accurately even without external stimuli for up to about two seconds. Previous research showed that this limit could be extended to about eight seconds if the pulse was supported by a sound pattern with a facilitating temporal structure, which also seemed to be slowing down infinitely. The present study used the same type of multi-level pattern, but with longer playing time and stricter instructions for the participants. Just as in the seminal study the participants had to hit a drumstick against a drum pad according to their inner representation of the pulse when hearing the stimuli, for both increasing and decreasing tempi. In addition, the present study featured four different rates of tempo change. The results showed that the produced time interval could be extended to around 16 seconds for decreasing tempo with the slowest rate of change.
Människor har förmågan att synkronisera med ljud separerade av lika långa tidsintervalleroch förutse när nästa ljud kommer, istället för att bara reagera på dem. Genom att skapa en inre puls baserad på dessa återkommande ljud kan vi till exempel spela musik och dansa. En stabil puls kan upprätthållas även utan externa stimuli i upp till omkring två sekunder. Tidigareforskning visade att denna gräns kunde förlängas till omkring åtta sekunder om pulsenstöddesav ett ljudmönster med en underlättande temporal struktur, som också verkade sakta ner i oändlighet. Den aktuella studien använde sig av samma typ av stimuli, men med längre speltid och striktare instruktioner till deltagarna. Precis som i den första studien var deltagarnas uppgift att slå en trumstock mot en trumplatta baserat på deras inre representation av pulsen när dom hörde stimulit, för både ökande och avtagandetempo. Dessutom så innehöllden aktuella studienfyra olika grader av tempoändringar.Resultaten visade att det producerade tidsintervallet kunde ökas till nästan 16 sekunderför avtagandetempo med den långsammaste graden av ändring.

This thesis study investigates the connection between design patterns, OO metrics and software error-proneness. The literature on OO metrics, design patterns and software error-proneness is reviewed. Different software projects and synthetic source codes have been analyzed to verify this connection.

A good distance metric can improve the accuracy of a nearest neighbour classifier. Xing et al. (2002) proposed distance metric learning to find a linear transformation of the data so that observations of different classes are better separated. For high-dimensional problems where many un-informative variables are present, it is attractive to select a sparse distance metric, both to increase predictive accuracy but also to aid interpretation of the result. In this thesis, we investigate three different types of sparsity assumption for distance metric learning and show that sparse recovery is possible under each type of sparsity assumption with an appropriate choice of L1-type penalty. We show that a lasso penalty promotes learning a transformation matrix having lots of zero entries, a group lasso penalty recovers a transformation matrix having zero rows/columns and a trace norm penalty allows us to learn a low rank transformation matrix. The regularization allows us to consider a large number of covariates and we apply the technique to an expanded set of basis called rule ensemble to allow for a more flexible fit. Finally, we illustrate an application of the metric learning problem via a document retrieval example and discuss how similarity-based information can be applied to learn a classifier.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the kinetic structures or reinforcement schedules of metric temporal patterns (metric combination of note values within a measure) in five best-selling beginning piano method series. Based upon a survey mailed to 98 music dealers, the five best-selling beginning piano method series in 1992 and 1993 were identified as: the Alfred Basic Piano Library, Bastien Piano Basics, David Carr Glover Piano Library, John. W. Schaum Piano Course, and John Thompson Modern Course for Piano. A coding system was developed for identifying the numerical appearances and occurrences of various metric temporal patterns per learning piece within each method series. Several computer programs were written to compute the kinetic structures, scope, and pacing of metric temporal patterns for each method series. The derived data were then compared to delineate relationships between the three analytical variables.

Networks are becoming increasingly complex, making network quality of service (QoS) an ongoing and difficult problem. Important QoS challenges include ensuring availability of services, privacy and accuracy of data and preventing data loss. These challenges can be addressed by providing effective security mechanisms that meet the scalability requirements of modern networks, environments for testing these mechanisms and providing metrics to measure and increase information quality especially in resource limited networks such as sensor networks. To meet these goals, we present several topics. First, to address the scalability problems of deep packet inspection (DPI) in network intrusion detection systems (NIDS), we theoretically characterize DFA in order to develop scalable pattern matching engines. Second, to keep up with the multi-gigabit rates of current and future networks and to increase DPI performance, we exploit the inter-stream parallelism of network traffic and the parallel processing capabilities of graphics processing units to create a multi-gigabit GPU based deep packet inspection engine. Third, we address the state explosion problem of multi-stride DFA and exploit intra-stream parallelism to achieve multiple Gb/s speeds of DPI on a single processor. Fourth, to evaluate large scale deployment of DPI we develop a software test-bed for evaluating worm containment systems. Lastly, we develop information quality metrics for sensor networks, and use these metrics to schedule sensor data collection and increase the quality of information.

Following the success of software engineering design patterns, security patterns are a promising approach to aid in the design and development of more secure software systems. At the same time, recent work on aspect-oriented programming (AOP) suggests that the cross-cutting nature of software security concerns makes it a good candidate for AOP techniques. This work uses a set of software metrics to evaluate and compare object-oriented and aspect-oriented implementations of five security patterns--Secure Base Action, Intercepting Validator, Authentication Enforcer, Authorization Enforcer, and Secure Logger. Results show that complete separation of concerns was achieved with the aspect-oriented implementations and the modularity of the base application was improved, but at a cost of increased complexity in the security pattern code. In most cases the cohesion, coupling, and size metrics were improved for the base application but worsened for the security pattern package. Furthermore, a partial aspect-oriented solution, where the pattern code is decoupled from the base application but not completely encapsulated by the aspect, demonstrated better modularity and reusability than a full aspect solution. This study makes several contributions to the fields of aspect-oriented programming and security patterns. It presents quantitative evidence of the effect of aspectization on the modularity of security pattern implementations. It augments four existing security pattern descriptions with aspect-oriented solution strategies, complete with new class and sequence diagrams based on proposed aspect-oriented UML extensions. Finally, it provides a set of role-based refactoring instructions for each security pattern, along with a proposal for three new basic generalization refactorings for aspects.

Topographic analysis using digital elevation models (DEMs) has become commonplace in soil and hydrologic modeling and analysis and there has been considerable assessment of the effects of grid resolution on topographic metrics using DEMs of 10 m resolution or coarser. However, examining fine-scale (i.e., 1-10 m) soil and hydrological variability of headwater catchments may require higher-resolution data that has only recently become available, and both DEM accuracy and the effects of different high-resolution DEMs on topographic metrics are relatively unknown. This study has two principle research components. First, an error analysis of two high-resolution DEMs derived from light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data covering the same headwater catchment was conducted to assess the applicability of such DEMs for modeling fine-scale environmental phenomena. Second, one LiDAR-derived DEM was selected for computing topographic metrics to predict fine-scale functional soil units termed hydropedological units (HPUs). HPU development is related to topographic and surface/subsurface heterogeneity resulting in distinct hydrologic flowpaths leading to variation of soil morphological expression. Although the two LiDAR datasets differed with respect to data collection methods and nominal post-spacing of ground returns, DEMs interpolated from each LiDAR dataset exhibited similar error. Grid resolution affected DEM-delineated catchment boundaries and the value of computed topographic metrics. The best topographic metrics for predicting HPUs were the topographic wetness index, bedrock-weighted upslope accumulated area, and Euclidean distance from bedrock. Predicting the spatial distribution of HPUs may provide a more comprehensive understanding of hydrological and biogeochemical functionality of headwater systems.
Master of Science

It is well-known that the early assignment of prominence in sequences like THIRteen MEN vs. thirTEEN, (defined as the Rhythm Rule, or post-lexical stress shift), is an optional phenomenon. This dissertation examines some of the factors that encourage the application of stress shift in English and how it is phonetically realised. The aim is to answer two sets of questions related to why and how stress shift occurs in English: 1a) Does prosodic boundary strength influence stress shift? 1b) Does the adjacency of prominences above the level of the segmental string encourage stress shift? 2) How is stress shift realized? a) Is stress shift only a perceptual phenomenon? and b) Which syllables, if any, change acoustically when stress shift is perceived? To answer these questions, four experiments were designed. The first three experiments test whether the strength of the prosodic boundaries before and after the target word (e.g., canteen) influence stress shift. The effect of the strength of the left-edge prosodic boundary was investigated by comparing perceived stress patterns of the target (e.g., canteen) as produced in isolation where it is preceded by an utterance- and a phrase- initial prosodic boundary (the Isolated condition) with its rendition when embedded in a frame sentence (e.g., Say canteen again) where the left prosodic boundary before canteen is weaker (the Embedded condition). Results show a very clear tendency towards late phrasal prominence on the final accentable syllable (e.g., -teen in canteen) in the Embedded condition while in the Isolated condition this pattern appeared in less than half of the targets, showing that the stronger left boundary increased the incidence of stress shift. Two more experiments manipulated the strength of the boundary to the right of the target (#) respectively by changing the syntactic parse of the critical phrase (e.g. canteen cook) in sequences like (1) and by manipulating constituent length as in (2). Results showed that the syntactic manipulation significantly affected the strength of the prosodic boundary between the clashing words which was stronger in (1b) relative to (1a), and affected the incidence of stress shift, which was higher in (1a) relative to (1b). The length manipulation also affected the rate of stress shift, which was significantly higher in the phrase with the shorter word, e.g., soups (2a) relative to phrase with the longer word, e.g., supervisors (2b). (1) Example from the Syntax Experiment a. Who is the canteen (#) cook these days? (Pre-modifier + Noun) b. How do the canteen (#) cook these days? (NP + VP) (2) Example from the Length Experiment a. It should include the canteen (#) soups again. (Shorter constituent) b. It should include the canteen (#) supervisors again. (Longer constituent) Whilst we knew from the literature that the grouping of the clashing words within one Intonational Phrase (IP) encourages stress shift, results from the Syntax and Length experiments indicate that this (i.e., the phrasing of the clashing words within same IP) is not sufficient condition for the occurrence of stress shift, and that fine-grained degrees of boundary strength below the Intonational Phrase can drive changes in prominence pattern. The fact that higher rates of stress shift (and associated significant acoustic changes) were driven by manipulations of constituent length --for sequences with the same syntactic structure-- provides support for the idea that prosodic (rather than syntactic) boundaries directly influence stress shift. The fourth experiment tests the definition of stress clash in English in cases like fourteen candles where the two main lexical prominences are strictly adjacent along the time dimension, in fourteen canoes where the prominences are not adjacent in time, but adjacent at the higher levels of the metrical hierarchy, and in fourteen canteens where the main lexical prominences are not adjacent, and do not clash. This experiment highlighted and resolved an unacknowledged disagreement about what clash status sequences with one weak intervening syllable (e.g., fourTEEN caNOES). The fourTEEN caNOES type were shown to behave like metrically clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANdles) in attracting stress shift, and differently from the non-metrically-clashing sequences (e.g., fourteen CANTEENS) in discouraging it. These results provide empirical support for the Standard Metrical Theory (e.g. Selkirk, 1984; Nespor & Vogel, 1989) claim that 1) stress clash matters in triggering stress shift and that 2) stress clash in English is defined at the higher prosodic levels and not restricted to the level of the segmental string as indirectly assumed in a growing body of research (e.g., Vogel, Bunnel & Hoskins, 1995; Tomlinson, Liu & Fox Tree, 2014). Along with the establishment of prosodic boundary strength as one of the predictors influencing stress shift, another important contribution of the thesis is providing empirical evidence that the English Rhythm Rule is not solely a perceptual phenomenon and that it is associated with acoustic correlates. The main correlates of perceived stress shift consistently appearing across experiments is the decrease in the duration of the main lexical prominence of the target (e.g., -teen in canteen) and the increase of fundamental frequency and Sound Pressure Level peaks and on the initial syllable (e.g., canin canteen), when followed by a main clashing phrasal prominence. The acoustic analysis shows that the first accentable syllable also contributes in the perception of stress shift. This latter result does not lend support to the deletion formulation of the Rhythm Rule (Gussenhoven, 1991) which stipulates that the impressions of stress shift are solely associated with changes of prominence in the last accentable syllable of the target (e.g. -teen in canteen). Along with the determination of the acoustic correlates of perceived stress shift in English, the present research 1) indicates that fine-grained gradations of prosodic boundary strength can influence stress shift, 2) shows that while stress clash can increase the incidence of stress shift, stress shift can take place even in environments completely free of stress clash, and 3) provides evidence that stress clash should not be construed simply as the concatenation of two main lexical prominences along the time dimension.

One method suggested for improving software quality has been that of collecting metric scores for a given design and refactoring in response to what are deemed to be unsatisfactory metric values. In the case of object orientation, a considerable number of metrics have been proposed in the literature, with the intention of highlighting the possible 'misuse' of concepts such as inheritance and polymorphism. The aim is to produce systems which are more easily maintainable than may otherwise be the case (in terms of characteristics such as reduced modification times or increased class reusability). Subsequent to this, a major requirement for promoting the widescale adoption of such design metrics has been to establish their validity beyond mere intuitive appeal. The theoretical approach to validation has been limited, relying on the use of measurement axioms as an initial filter to rule out inconsistent measures. Given the profusion of possible systems, empirical studies must be seen to represent limited sampling, and taken as a whole seem to produce an excess of (sometimes conflicting) correlations. The aim as therefore been to establish a complementary approach to the attempts at validation so far undertaken. One aspect of this activity is to examine the theoretical nature of inter-metric dependencies, and a technique for evaluating levels of metric interaction is presented. This addresses a significant issue as highly correlated metrics may imply redundancy, while conflicting measures can cause problems if they are simultaneously applied as part of a suite. To this end, a matrix based technique for metric score generation and comparison is introduced. In addition, the interaction between metrics and a sample of design patterns is considered, to provide an assessment of whether these two approaches to improving software quality are in fact compatible. Methods of analysis are presented which gauge the effects of applying various patterns on certain metric scores, highlighting cases where viewpoints for the metric, the pattern (or indeed both) could be anomalous. The results generated suggest that only minor levels of redundancy and conflict exist amongst commonly quoted metrics, although the application of certain design patterns can actually work in opposition to the viewpoints for particular metrics. On this basis, overall recommendations regarding the selection and application of measures for designs are then made.

The presented dissertation entitled „Development and Validation of a Landscape Metrics Based Approach for Standardized Landscape Assessment Considering Spatial Patterns” addresses three main questions: I. Which ecosystem services depend on landscape structure? II. How can landscape metrics be used to achieve a standardized routine for assessing the impact of landscape structure on the hereon dependent ecosystem services? III. How can regional planning benefit from the consideration of landscape structural effects on the provision of ecosystem services? The PhD study was carried out in the context of the Climate Change adaptation project REGKLAM (funding code 01 LR 0802). The work package “Land Use” was conducted at the Institute of Soil Science and Site Ecology of the TU Dresden under the direction of Prof. Dr. Makeschin. The PhD study took place in the framework of a sub-work package of it, which was called “Integrated Land Use Assessment”. The aim of this sub-work package was the evaluation of Climate Change adaptation strategies at the landscape scale in a cross-sectoral manner. The ecosystem services concept was chosen as methodological framework for this purpose. Particular motivation of this PhD study was that landscape structural aspects are often not sufficiently considered in commonly used ecosystem services assessment approaches. A standardized assessment procedure regarding the impact of the composition and configuration of land use/ land cover types is not yet existent in contemporary planning approaches, neither in strategic environmental assessment. In my thesis, I developed in the period from 2010 to 2014 a methodological basis which addresses this challenge. My thesis was realized as cumulative dissertation, which consists of three articles. These articles are published in peer-reviewed, ISI-listed international journals, whereas the third article still is in press. The short introduction in chapter one gives information on the motivation and the structure of the thesis. In chapter two, the research hypothesis is formulated and scope and objectives are explained. Chapter three gives an overview of the history of landscape metrics, the state-of-the-art, and current research in topic. In chapter four, the model region, focus areas, and the methodological basis are described. The fifth chapter summarizes results of the three articles (Frank et al. 2012, 2013, in press). Discussions in chapter six critically reflect the methodology and identify limitations, strengths, and its contribution to regional planning and to decision-making. Furthermore, some suggestions for extending the approach to other ecosystem services, especially regulating services, are made and perspectives towards different research questions are shown. Chapter seven summarizes the main outcomes of the PhD study. The central output of the dissertation is a module of GISCAME, a land use change impact assessment platform for supporting regional planning. The landscape metrics based ecosystem services assessment approach facilitates calculation, combination, and interpretation of a choice of landscape metrics and, hence, the evaluation of the impact of composition and configuration of land use patterns on ecosystem services. I selected eleven focus areas in the planning region “Upper Elbe Valley/Eastern Ore Mountains” to demonstrate the application and validation of the landscape metrics based approach that I propose in my dissertation. With these use cases, I show that the landscape structure significantly influences the provision of the ecosystem services ecological integrity and landscape aesthetics. Within the first use case I could demonstrate that the afforestation planning can be enhanced by including landscape metrics in the planning process. Actual priority areas for afforestation do not contribute to ecological integrity at the regional scale. Landscape fragmentation, habitat connectivity, and landscape diversity must be taken into account in order to identify most efficient priority areas for afforestation in terms of enhancing ecological integrity. The second use case focused on the question, how landscape structure influences scenic beauty. By means of a survey, I performed a comparison between the landscape metrics based approach and landscape perception of 153 respondents. This test underpinned my assumption that a landscape metrics based routine allows conclusions on the value of landscape aesthetics. The third use case gives practical advice in the current planning challenge about how to enhance water erosion protection planning in the context of Climate Change. Here, I demonstrated that not only land use change in preferential water erosion paths, but especially the change of management strategies combined with an improvement of landscape structure have the capacity to reduce water erosion potential by 92 %. The results show that it is of great importance to consider landscape structural aspects in current and future regional planning questions because additional, relevant planning information becomes tangible. The comparison of the presented method with other landscape metrics based approaches for ecosystem services assessment shows that the interpretation of the landscape metric values in the GISCAME platform module goes one step further towards usability for planning support: its transparency, spatial transferability, and flexibility are the main strengths of the approach. However, there is a clear need to involve the impact of landscape structure aspects also regarding other ecosystem services
Die vorgelegte Dissertation mit dem Titel „Entwicklung und Validierung eines auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierten Ansatzes zur standardisierten Landschaftsbewertung unter Berücksichtigung räumlicher Muster“ behandelt die drei Hauptfragen I. Welche Ökosystemdienstleistungen hängen von der Landschaftsstruktur ab? II. Wie können Landschaftsstrukturmaße genutzt werden, um ein standardisiertes Bewertungsverfahren dieser abhängigen Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu ermöglichen? III. Wie kann die Regionalplanung von der Berücksichtigung der Effekte von Landschaftsstruktur auf die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemdienstleistungen profitieren? Die Promotions-Studie wurde im Rahmen des Klimawandel-Anpassungs-Projektes REGKLAM (Förderkennzeichen 01 LR 0802) durchgeführt. Das Arbeitspaket „Landnutzung“ wurde am Institut für Bodenkunde und Standortslehre der TU Dresden unter Leitung von Prof. Dr. Makeschin bearbeitet. Die Promotions-Studie erfolgte im Rahmen des Teil-Arbeitstaktes „Integrierte Landnutzungsbewertung“. Ziel dieses Teil-Arbeitspaketes war die Bewertung von Klimawandel-Anpassungs-Strategien auf Landschaftsebene in Sektor-übergreifender Weise. Zu diesem Zweck wurde das Ökosystemdienstleistungskonzept als methodischer Rahmen gewählt. Der spezielle Anlass dieser Promotion-Studie war, dass landschaftsstrukturelle Aspekte in gebräuchlichen Ökosystemdienstleistungs-Bewertungsansätzen oft ungenügend berücksichtigt sind. Ein standardisiertes Bewertungsverfahren des Einflusses von Zusammensetzung und Anordnung von Landnutzungs-/Landbedeckungstypen existiert weder in aktuellen Planungsansätzen noch in Umweltverträglichkeitsprüfungen. In meiner Dissertation entwickelte ich im Zeitraum von 2010 bis 2014 eine methodische Grundlage, welche diese Herausforderung angeht. Meine Promotion wurde als kumulative Dissertation, welche aus drei Artikeln besteht, umgesetzt. Diese Artikel wurden in begutachteten, ISI-gelisteten, internationalen Journalen veröffentlicht, wobei sich das dritte aktuell im Druck befindet. Die kurze Einleitung im ersten Kapitel informiert über die Beweggründe und die Struktur der Dissertation. Im zweiten Kapitel ist die Forschungshypothese formuliert sowie Geltungsbereich und Zeile erläutert. Kapitel drei gibt einen Überblick über die Geschichte der Landschaftsstrukturmaße, den aktuellen Forschungsstand und aktuelle Forschungsfelder. Im vierten Kapitel sind die Modellregion, die Fallstudien-Gebiete, sowie methodische Grundlagen beschrieben. Das fünfte Kapitel fasst die Ergebnisse der drei Artikel (Frank et al. 2012, 2013, im Druck) zusammen. Diskussionen in Kapitel sechs reflektieren die Methodik kritisch und identifizieren ihre Grenzen und Stärken sowie den Beitrag der Ergebnisse zu Regionalplanung und Entscheidungsfindung. Darüber hinaus werden einige Empfehlungen zur Erweiterung des Ansatzes für weitere Ökosystemdienstleistungen, insbesondere regulierende Leistungen, getroffen und Perspektiven zur Anwendung für andere Forschungsfragen werden aufgezeigt. Kapitel sieben fasst schließlich die wichtigsten Ergebnisse der Promotions-Studie zusammen. Das zentrale Ergebnis der Dissertation ist eine Erweiterung des Entscheidungsunterstützungs-Werkzeuges GISCAME. Der auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierende Ökosystemdienstleistungs-Bewertungsansatz ermöglicht die Berechnung, Kombination und Interpretation einer Auswahl von Landschaftsstrukturmaßen und somit die Bewertung des Einflusses von Zusammensetzung und Anordnung von Landnutzungsmustern auf Ökosystemdienstleistungen. Ich wählte elf Fokusgebiete in der Planungsregion „Oberes Elbtal/Osterzgebirge“ aus um die Anwendung und Validierung des auf Landschaftsstrukturmaßen basierenden Ansatzes, den ich in der Dissertation vorschlage, zu demonstrieren. Mittels dieser Anwendungsfälle zeige ich, dass die Landschaftsstruktur die Bereitstellung der Ökosystemdienstleistungen ökologische Integrität und Landschaftsästhetik erheblich beeinflusst. Im ersten Anwendungsfall konnte ich zeigen, dass die Aufforstungsplanung durch die Einbeziehung von Landschaftsstrukturmaßen in den Planungsprozess verbessert werden kann. Vorranggebiete für Waldmehrung in ihrer derzeitigen Form tragen nicht zur ökologischen Integrität auf der regionalen Ebene bei. Landschaftszerschneidung, Biotopverbund und Landschaftsdiversität müssen vermehrt beachtet werden, um Vorranggebiete für Waldmehrung für eine Verbesserung der ökologischen Intaktheit effizienter anzuordnen. Der zweite Anwendungsfall richtete sich auf die Frage, wie Landschaftsstruktur die Landschaftsästhetik beeinflusst. Mithilfe einer Befragung verglich ich den auf Landschaftsstrukurmaßen basierenden Ansatz mit der Landschaftswahrnehmung von 153 Befragten. Dieser Test untermauerte meine Annahme, dass das auf Landschaftsstrukurmaßen basierende Vorgehen Rückschlüsse auf den ästhetischen Wert einer Landschaft zulässt. Der dritte Anwendungsfall gibt praktische Hinweise bezüglich der aktuellen Planungs-Herausforderung, wie Erosionsschutzplanung im Kontext des Klimawandels verbesset werden kann. In diesem Fall konnte ich zeigen, dass nicht nur Landnutzungsänderungen in präferenziellen Abflussbahnen, sondern insbesondere eine Änderung der Bodenbearbeitungsstrategie in Kombination mit verbesserter Landschaftsstruktur das Potential hat, die potentielle Wassererosion um 92 % zu reduzieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass es von großer Bedeutung ist, landschaftsstrukturelle Aspekte in aktuellen und zukünftigen Planungsfragen zu berücksichtigen, da somit zusätzliche, maßgebliche Informationen greifbar werden. Der Vergleich der vorliegenden Methodik mit anderen Ansätzen, die Landschaftsstrukturmaße nutzen um Ökosystemdienstleistungen zu bewerten, zeigt, dass die automatisierte Interpretation der Landschaftsstrukturmaße mittels des neuen Moduls in GISCAME einen Schritt in Richtung Nützlichkeit für Planungsunterstützung geht: Transparenz, räumliche Übertragbarkeit und Flexibilität sind weitere Stärken des Ansatzes. Jedoch gibt es eindeutig den Bedarf den Einfluss von Landschaftsstruktur auf weitere Ökosystemdienstleistungen einzubeziehen

This study investigates the connection between design patterns, object oriented (OO) quality metrics and software maintainability. The literature on OO metrics, design patterns and software maintainability are reviewed, the relation between OO metrics and software maintainability is investigated, and then, in terms of obtained maintainability indicator metrics, the maintainability change of an application due to usage of design patterns is observed.

Landscape metrics measure the composition and configuration of habitats within landscapes; often the goal is to measure fragmentation. While a variety of existing metrics characterize the connectivity and contiguity of habitat patches, most do not explicitly consider the fragmenting effects of roads in their formulations. This research develops a set of new landscape metrics that explicitly quantify how roads disconnect and break apart habitat patches. This research introduces the following four metrics to consider the fragmenting effects of transportation networks: (1) Number of Connected Patches, a measure of connectivity; (2) Euclidean Nearest Neighbor-Roads, a measure of proximity; (3) Road Density, a measure of dispersion, and (4) Distance to Roads, a measure of division. Each of these formulations explicitly considers the presence of roadways. The metrics are applicable at three spatial scales: patch, class, and landscape. Number of Connected Patches (NCP) provides a new roadway-sensitive measure of patch connectivity by computing the number of patches of identical cover type in a landscape that can be traversed on the shortest straight line distance between them without crossing a road. Euclidean Nearest Neighbor-Roads (ENNR) calculates the distance to the Euclidean nearest neighbor of a patch of the same cover type that is not separated by a roadway. Road Density (RD) leverages the ratio of total roadway network length intersecting a patch, class, or landscape versus respective total unit area. Distance to Roads (DR) provides a new measure of division by taking the shortest Euclidean distance in meters of any patch to the nearest roadway. The performance of the new metrics is evaluated using simulated landscape data with different transportation network structures and habitat patch configurations. This is accomplished by comparing output from the road-based metrics to existing metrics that quantify habitat density, isolation, dispersion, and division. The results of the study demonstrate that the new road-based landscape metrics provide an improved means of quantifying habitat fragmentation caused by transportation networks. This is especially evident as simulated transit network increases for each landscape; response of new metrics to increased road presence is linear and as expected given metric design. These metrics have successfully captured notable patch, class, and landscape level characteristics and their associated responses which are not available with treatment by conventional measures of landscape fragmentation.

Supporting huge population, megacities are definitely the hot spots of production, consumption, and waste generation. Without careful investment and planning, megacities will be overwhelmed by burgeoning negative impacts on the environment, natural resources, and human health, as well as a host of social and economic issues. The unprecedented combination of economic and population growth since the Reform and Open Policy has led China into transition from a largely rural society to a predominantly urban one. Chinese cities, without question, have not escaped the danger of the series of problems during the rapid progress of urbanization. Therefore, monitoring the spatial-temporal patterns of urban sprawl and their impact on the environment is of critical importance for urban planning and sustainable development, especially in developing Chinese cities such as Shanghai.

To date, few studies have focused on the urban trajectories of Shanghai over the past 30 years from a remote sensing perspective. Most of the studies were concentrated on the technical issues of image processing and classification. Moreover, research on spatial metrics has focused on analyzing remote sensing classification results rather than on the use of interpreting, assessing, and verifying urban simulation results. Furthermore, many researches merely focused on baseline projection and very few studies took into consideration urban growth scenarios so far. As yet there have been no reported scenario simulations of future Shanghai growth with several land-use categories within urban areas.

The overall objective of this research is to investigate the integration of remote sensing, spatial metrics, and spatial-temporal models in the monitoring, analysis, and simulation of urban growth in Shanghai, China. The specific objectives are to: 1). monitor urban dynamics over time with multi-sensor remote sensing images; 2). quantify spatial-temporal properties of urban growth and representing the urban morphological structures by means of spatial metrics; and 3). simulate the geographic extent, patterns, and detailed catalogs of urban growth under different scenarios using Markov-Cellular Automata (Markov-CA) model to support decision making for a more sustainable Shanghai.

Through this study, the combined approach using remotely sensed data with change detection techniques, spatial metrics, and a scenarios-based simulation model proved to be effective to understand, represent, and predict the spatial-temporal dynamics of urban growth. In detail, the segmented-based hierarchy classification and visual interpretation were effective methods to extract urban and industrial land with high-resolution remotely sensed images. Direct change detection using variables derived from tasseled cap transformation was efficient for monitoring impervious surface sprawl. Spatial metrics is a quick and executable way to assessing the impact of urban sprawl on landscape dynamic. Markov-CA model is a useful tool to simulate the scenarios of future urban developments and therefore provides the policy options for sustainable urban planning.

The research results of urban trajectories and impervious surface sprawl showed that Shanghai experienced high-speed urban sprawl and the rate of urban expansion, however, was not homogeneous spatially and temporally. The general annual urban expansion speed was 34.8 km² per year; nevertheless, it reached 80.2 km² per year recent six years from 2001 to 2007, while it touched the bottom speed around 14.3 km² per year during 1979-1989. The expanded area in the Puxi region was 5.23 times of its original area while that of Pudong region was 19.94 times of its original area during 1979-2007. The research results of landscape analysis demonstrated that greenbelt becomes fractured while infrastructural and commercial area is more and more aggregated in the central Shanghai area, and satellite images such as SPOT Pan, XS and Landsat TM with 10-30 meter resolution are sufficient for the landscape dynamic research in central Shanghai area. The results of scenarios-based simulation indicated that built-up areas in Shanghai will increase significantly in 2025 and Shanghai will experience less urban sprawl and retain a better environment in 2025 under service-oriented center (SOC) than under baseline (NS) or manufacturing-dominant center (MDC) scenario. If favorable policy for MDC scenario is adopted, however, there will be a lot of manufacturing industries gathering in Shanghai and more agricultural lands will be encroached.

The present research focused on the analysis of physical and morphological aspects of urban growth. Urban land-use dynamics are, however, intrinsically linked with socio-economic, political, or demographic drivers. Trying to fill in the missing link between traditional urban geography and urban remote sensing & urban simulation and to improve understanding of the interactions between human and natural aspects in the urban socio-ecosystem is the major focus in the next phase of the Ph.D. research.

Keywords: Urban growth, Spatial-temporal pattern, Remote sensing, Spatial metrics, Scenarios-based simulation, Shanghai

In particle image velocimetry (PIV) the measurement signal is contained in the recorded intensity of the particle image pattern superimposed on a variety of noise sources. The inherent amount of signal mutual information between consecutive images governs the strength of the resulting PIV cross correlation and ultimately the accuracy and uncertainty of the produced PIV measurements. Hence we posit that the correlation signal-to-noise-ratio (SNR) metrics calculated from the correlation plane can be used to quantify the quality of the correlation and the resulting uncertainty of an individual measurement. A new SNR metric termed "mutual information" (MI) which quantifies the amount of common information (particle pattern) between two consecutive images is also introduced and investigated. This measure provides a direct estimation of the apparent NIFIFO parameter of an image pair providing an alternative approach towards uncertainty estimation but also connecting the current development to one of the most fundamental principles of PIV and the previous established theory. We extend the original work by Charonko and Vlachos and present a framework for evaluating the correlation strength using a set of different metrics, which in turn are used to develop models for uncertainty estimation. Several corrections have been applied in this work. The metrics and corresponding models presented herein are expanded to be applicable to both standard and filtered correlations by applying a subtraction of the minimum correlation value to remove the effect of the background image noise. In addition, the notion of a "valid" measurement is redefined with respect to the correlation peak width in order to be consistent with uncertainty quantification principles and distinct from an "outlier" measurement. Finally the type and significance of the error distribution function is investigated. These advancements lead to robust uncertainty estimation models, which are tested against both synthetic benchmark data as well as actual experimental measurements. In this work, U68.5 uncertainties are estimated at the 68.5% confidence level while U95 uncertainties are estimated at 95% confidence level. For all cases the resulting calculated coverage factors approximate the expected theoretical confidence intervals thus demonstrating the applicability of these new models for estimation of uncertainty for individual PIV measurements.
Master of Science

Skills assessment in Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) has been a challenge for training centers for a long time. The emerging maturity of camera-based systems has the potential to transform problems into solutions in many different areas, including MIS. The current evaluation techniques for assessing the performance of surgeons and trainees are direct observation, global assessments, and checklists. These techniques are mostly subjective and can, therefore, involve a margin of bias. The current automated approaches are all implemented using mechanical or electromagnetic sensors, which suffer limitations and influence the surgeon’s motion. Thus, evaluating the skills of the MIS surgeons and trainees objectively has become an increasing concern. In this work, we integrate and coordinate multiple camera sensors to assess the performance of MIS trainees and surgeons. This study aims at developing an objective data-driven assessment that takes advantage of multiple coordinated sensors. The technical framework for the study is a synchronized network of sensors that captures large sets of measures from the training environment. The measures are then, processed to produce a reliable set of individual and composed metrics, coordinated in time, that suggest patterns of skill development. The sensors are non-invasive, real-time, and coordinated over many cues such as, eye movement, external shots of body and instruments, and internal shots of the operative field. The platform is validated by a case study of 17 subjects and 70 sessions. The results show that the platform output is highly accurate and reliable in detecting patterns of skills development and predicting the skill level of the trainees.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the most common illnesses that is frequently reported in the occupational and military sectors. Hearing loss due to high noise exposure is a major health problem with economic consequences. Industrial and military noise exposures often contain high-level impulsive noise components. The presence of these impulsive noise components complicates the assessment of noise levels for hearing conservation purposes. The current noise guidelines use equal energy hypothesis (EEH) based metrics to evaluate the risk of hearing loss. A number of studies show that the current noise metrics often underestimates the risk of hearing loss in high-level complex noise environments. The overarching goal of this dissertation is to develop advance signal processing based methods for more accurate assessments of the risk of NIHL. For these assessments, various auditory filters that take into account the physiological characteristics of the ear are used. These filters will help to understand the complexity of the ear’s response to high-level complex noises.

Abstract Freshwater ecosystems are severely threatened by a variety of anthropogenic stressors. In order to keep track with at least part of the changes, it is important to efficiently assess and monitor freshwater biological diversity. Biological assessment programs are developed to detect human-induced changes in the ecological state of aquatic systems. These programs typically rely on the assumption that environmental conditions are the sole drivers of biological communities occupying a site and, thus, these local communities would correctly inform about environmental conditions. Recently, this background principle of current bioassessment methods has faced some criticism, stemming from the idea that community structuring is a more complex process than just a mere result of local environmental conditions. In this thesis, I studied the natural and anthropogenic drivers of freshwater biodiversity. I was particularly interested if the various biodiversity metrics studied showed any spatial patterns and if so, for which reasons these patterns might occur. To obtain a comprehensive picture of spatial patterns in biodiversity, I studied multiple spatial contexts, biological groups and indices. I found that environmental conditions were not the only drivers of freshwater biodiversity. Instead, different spatial patterns, likely stemming from dispersal processes, were surprisingly powerful drivers of aquatic communities and index values derived from them. The spatial context (i.e. spatial extent and connectivity) of the aquatic study systems likely played a major role in structuring biodiversity. I also found that the distinct biological groups and indices studied were partly related to different predictor variables. The findings of this thesis are of importance to the development of new bioassessment methods. The results of this thesis also suggest that the spatial context of the study setting should be acknowledged when interpreting results based on current bioassessment methods
Tiivistelmä Makeanveden ekosysteemit ovat hyvin alttiita ihmistoiminnalle. Ekosysteemissä mahdollisesti tapahtuvien muutosten havaitseminen vaatii tehokkaita vesistöjen ekologisen tilan ja luonnon monimuotoisuuden arviointi- ja seurantamenetelmiä. Näiden menetelmien toimintaperiaatteen yleisenä tausta-ajatuksena on, että biologiset yhteisöt määräytyvät paikallisten ympäristöolojen mukaan. Tietyn paikan yhteisön oletetaan siis heijastavan kyseisen paikan ympäristön tilaa. Viime aikoina tausta-ajatus paikallisten ympäristöolojen merkityksestä ainoana eliöyhteisöjä muovaavana tekijänä on kuitenkin kohdannut kritiikkiä. Kriitikot painottavat, että biologisten yhteisöjen rakenteeseen vaikuttavat monet muutkin asiat kuin paikalliset ympäristöolosuhteet ja niissä tapahtuvat ihmisperäiset muutokset. Väitöskirjassani tutkin sisävesien luonnon monimuotoisuuteen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Olin erityisen kiinnostunut siitä, näkyykö tutkituissa biologisissa parametreissa maantieteellisessä tilassa ilmeneviä spatiaalisia säännönmukaisuuksia. Saadakseni mahdollisimman laaja-alaisen käsityksen luonnon monimuotoisuudessa esiintyvistä spatiaalisista säännönmukaisuuksista, tutkin useaa spatiaalista kontekstia, eliöryhmää ja indeksiä. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, että paikalliset ympäristöolosuhteet eivät ole ainoita luonnon monimuotoisuuteen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Erilaiset spatiaaliset säännönmukaisuudet, todennäköisesti eliöiden levittäytymiseen liittyvien seikkojen aiheuttamina, olivat yllättävän yleisiä makeiden vesien eliöyhteisöjen rakenteessa ja niihin perustuvien indeksien arvoissa. Tutkimussysteemien spatiaalinen konteksti (alueen laajuus ja paikkojen väliset spatiaaliset suhteet) selvästi vaikutti luonnon monimuotoisuutta kuvastavien indeksien arvojen vaihteluun. Lisäksi selvisi, että eri eliöryhmät ja indeksit olivat useimmiten liitoksissa hyvin erilaisiin selittäviin muuttujiin, osoittaen, että nämä mittarit kuvastavat eri asioita. Väitöskirjassa esitetyt havainnot on tärkeää huomioida vesistöjen ekologisen tilan ja luonnon monimuotoisuuden arviointi- ja seurantamenetelmiä kehitettäessä. Spatiaalisen kontekstin merkitys olisi hyvä huomioida myös nykyisten arviointi- ja seurantamenetelmien tuottamien tulosten tulkinnassa

This study explored the publication pattern of Canadian computer scientists and compared the impact of conference papers and journal articles published by these researchers. It was found that conference proceedings are the preferred venue for scholarly communication, but the impact of conference papers is not comparable to that of journal articles. The potential reasons for the lower impact of conference papers are discussed, and possible approaches to improve the current scholarly communication system in computer science are proposed.

Dans de nombreux problèmes d’apprentissage automatique et de reconnaissance des formes, il y a toujours un besoin de fonctions métriques appropriées pour mesurer la distance ou la similarité entre des données. La fonction métrique est une fonction qui définit une distance ou une similarité entre chaque paire d’éléments d’un ensemble de données. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons une nouvelle methode, Triangular Similarity Metric Learning (TSML), pour spécifier une fonction métrique de données automatiquement. Le système TSML proposée repose une architecture Siamese qui se compose de deux sous-systèmes identiques partageant le même ensemble de paramètres. Chaque sous-système traite un seul échantillon de données et donc le système entier reçoit une paire de données en entrée. Le système TSML comprend une fonction de coût qui définit la relation entre chaque paire de données et une fonction de projection permettant l’apprentissage des formes de haut niveau. Pour la fonction de coût, nous proposons d’abord la similarité triangulaire (Triangular Similarity), une nouvelle similarité métrique qui équivaut à la similarité cosinus. Sur la base d’une version simplifiée de la similarité triangulaire, nous proposons la fonction triangulaire (the triangular loss) afin d’effectuer l’apprentissage de métrique, en augmentant la similarité entre deux vecteurs dans la même classe et en diminuant la similarité entre deux vecteurs de classes différentes. Par rapport aux autres distances ou similarités, la fonction triangulaire et sa fonction gradient nous offrent naturellement une interprétation géométrique intuitive et intéressante qui explicite l’objectif d’apprentissage de métrique. En ce qui concerne la fonction de projection, nous présentons trois fonctions différentes: une projection linéaire qui est réalisée par une matrice simple, une projection non-linéaire qui est réalisée par Multi-layer Perceptrons (MLP) et une projection non-linéaire profonde qui est réalisée par Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). Avec ces fonctions de projection, nous proposons trois systèmes de TSML pour plusieurs applications: la vérification par paires, l’identification d’objet, la réduction de la dimensionnalité et la visualisation de données. Pour chaque application, nous présentons des expérimentations détaillées sur des ensembles de données de référence afin de démontrer l’efficacité de notre systèmes de TSML
In many machine learning and pattern recognition tasks, there is always a need for appropriate metric functions to measure pairwise distance or similarity between data, where a metric function is a function that defines a distance or similarity between each pair of elements of a set. In this thesis, we propose Triangular Similarity Metric Learning (TSML) for automatically specifying a metric from data. A TSML system is loaded in a siamese architecture which consists of two identical sub-systems sharing the same set of parameters. Each sub-system processes a single data sample and thus the whole system receives a pair of data as the input. The TSML system includes a cost function parameterizing the pairwise relationship between data and a mapping function allowing the system to learn high-level features from the training data. In terms of the cost function, we first propose the Triangular Similarity, a novel similarity metric which is equivalent to the well-known Cosine Similarity in measuring a data pair. Based on a simplified version of the Triangular Similarity, we further develop the triangular loss function in order to perform metric learning, i.e. to increase the similarity between two vectors in the same class and to decrease the similarity between two vectors of different classes. Compared with other distance or similarity metrics, the triangular loss and its gradient naturally offer us an intuitive and interesting geometrical interpretation of the metric learning objective. In terms of the mapping function, we introduce three different options: a linear mapping realized by a simple transformation matrix, a nonlinear mapping realized by Multi-layer Perceptrons (MLP) and a deep nonlinear mapping realized by Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). With these mapping functions, we present three different TSML systems for various applications, namely, pairwise verification, object identification, dimensionality reduction and data visualization. For each application, we carry out extensive experiments on popular benchmarks and datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed systems

[ES] Esta tesis aborda el desarrollo y análisis de nuevas herramientas y métodos para monitorizar y caracterizar el crecimiento urbano utilizando datos geográficos y bases de datos de usos y coberturas del suelo (LULC), así como explorar sus relaciones con factores socioeconómicos, aportando nuevas evidencias sobre el uso de los datos LULC para la caracterización urbana en diferentes niveles mediante métodos espaciales y estadísticos. En primer lugar, se compilaron e implementaron las métricas espacio-temporales más comunes dentro de una herramienta software, IndiFrag. A continuación, se presenta una metodología basada en métricas espacio-temporales y se propone un nuevo índice que cuantifica la desigualdad entre el crecimiento de la población y las zonas edificadas, para analizar y comparar los patrones de crecimiento urbano en diferentes niveles. Esto permitió una distinción de los patrones de crecimiento, además el análisis a diversos niveles contribuyó a una mejor comprensión de los patrones. En segundo lugar, se cuantificaron relaciones bidireccionales entre la estructura urbana de las ciudades y su situación socioeconómica a partir de métricas espaciales extraídas de mapas de zonas climáticas locales en 31 ciudades en Renania del Norte-Westfalia (Alemania). A partir de estos datos se cuantificaron relaciones con indicadores socioeconómicos mediante modelos de regresión lineal múltiple, explicando gran parte de su variabilidad. El método propuesto es transferible a otros conjuntos de datos, niveles y regiones. En tercer lugar, se evaluó el uso de las métricas espacio-temporales derivadas de los mapas LULC para identificar patrones espaciales de crecimiento urbano. Se utilizaron modelos de cambio de usos del suelo para simular diferentes escenarios de crecimiento urbano a largo plazo siguiendo varios patrones espaciales en diversas formas urbanas de partida. A continuación, se calcularon las métricas espacio-temporales para los escenarios simulados, se seleccionaron las más explicativas aplicando análisis discriminante y se clasificaron los patrones de crecimiento utilizando métodos estadísticos de agrupación. Por último, se identificaron relaciones empíricas entre indicadores socioeconómicos y su evolución a lo largo del tiempo con la estructura espacial de los elementos construidos y naturales en hasta 600 áreas urbanas de 32 países. Se aplicaron modelos de regresión random forest y las métricas espacio-temporales fueron capaces de explicar considerablemente la variabilidad de los indicadores socioeconómicos, confirmando que los patrones espaciales y sus cambios están vinculados a los indicadores socioeconómicos. Este trabajo contribuye a una mayor comprensión de los patrones de crecimiento urbano y amplía el conocimiento sobre las relaciones entre la estructura espacial urbana y los factores socioeconómicos. Se describen nuevos métodos para monitorizar y evaluar la sostenibilidad urbana a partir de bases de datos LULC, que podrían ser utilizadas por los investigadores, planificadores urbanos y responsables políticos para garantizar un futuro sostenible en los entornos urbanos.
[CAT] Aquesta tesi aborda el desenvolupament i l'anàlisi de noves ferramentes i mètodes per a monitorar i caracteritzar el creixement urbà utilitzant dades geogràfiques i bases de dades d'usos i cobertures del sòl (LULC), així com explorar les seues relacions amb factors socioeconòmics, i aportar noves evidències sobre la utilització de les dades LULC per a la caracterització urbana en diferents nivells mitjançant mètodes espacials i estadístics. En primer lloc, es van compilar i implementar mètriques espaciotemporals dins d'un programari, IndiFrag. A continuació, es presenta una metodologia basada en mètriques espaciotemporals i es proposa un nou índex que quantifica la desigualtat entre el creixement de la població i les zones edificades, i serveix per a analitzar i comparar els patrons de creixement urbà a diferents nivells. Això va permetre una distinció dels patrons de creixement, a més l'anàlisi a diversos nivells va contribuir a una millor comprensió dels patrons. En segon lloc, es van quantificar relacions bidireccionals entre l'estructura urbana de les ciutats i la seua situació socioeconòmica a partir de mètriques espacials extretes de mapes de zones climàtiques locals en 31 ciutats a Renània del Nord-Westfàlia (Alemanya). A partir d'aquestes dades es van quantificar relacions amb indicadors socioeconòmics mitjançant models de regressió lineal múltiple, explicant gran part de la seua variabilitat. El mètode proposat és transferible a altres conjunts de dades, nivells i regions. Seguidament, es va avaluar l'ús de les mètriques espaciotemporals derivades dels mapes LULC per a identificar patrons espacials de creixement urbà. Es van utilitzar models de canvi d'usos del sòl per a simular diferents escenaris de creixement urbà a llarg termini seguint diversos patrons espacials en diverses formes urbanes de partida. A continuació, es van calcular les mètriques espaciotemporals per als escenaris simulats, es van seleccionar les més explicatives aplicant anàlisi discriminant i es van classificar els patrons de creixement utilitzant mètodes estadístics d'agrupació. Finalment, es van identificar relacions empíriques entre indicadors socioeconòmics i la seua evolució al llarg del temps, amb l'estructura espacial dels elements construïts i naturals en fins a 600 àrees urbanes de 32 països. Es van aplicar models de regressió random forest i les mètriques van ser capaces d'explicar considerablement la variabilitat dels indicadors socioeconòmics, això confirma que els patrons espacials i els seus canvis estan vinculats als indicadors socioeconòmics. Aquest treball contribueix a una major comprensió dels patrons de creixement urbà i amplia el coneixement sobre les relacions entre l'estructura espacial urbana i els factors socioeconòmics. Es descriuen nous mètodes per a monitorar i avaluar la sostenibilitat urbana a partir de bases de dades LULC, que podrien ser utilitzades pels investigadors, planificadors urbans i responsables polítics per a garantir un futur sostenible en els entorns urbans.
[EN] This thesis addresses the development and analysis of new tools and methods for monitoring and characterizing urban growth using geo-data and land-use/land-cover (LULC) databases, as well as exploring their relationships with socio-economic factors, providing new evidences regarding the use of LULC data for urban characterization at different levels by means of spatial and statistical methods. First, the most common spatio-temporal metrics were compiled and implemented within a software tool, IndiFrag. Then, we present a methodology based on spatio-temporal metrics and propose a new index that quantifies the inequality of growth between population and built-up areas to analyze and compare urban growth patterns at different levels. This allowed for a differentiation of growing patterns, besides, the analysis at various levels contributed to a better understanding of such patterns. Second, we quantified the two-way relationship between the urban structure in cities and their socio-economic status by means of spatial metrics issued from a local climate zone map for 31 cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Based on these data, we quantified their relationship with socio-economic indicators by means of multiple linear regression models, explaining a significant part of their variability. The proposed method is transferable to other datasets, levels, and regions. Third, we assessed the use of spatio-temporal metrics derived from LULC maps to identify urban growth spatial patterns. We applied LULC change models to simulate different long-term scenarios of urban growth following various spatial patterns on diverse baseline urban forms. Then, we computed spatio-temporal metrics for the simulated scenarios, selected the most explanatory by applying a discriminant analysis and classified the growth patterns using clustering methods. Finally, we identified empirical relationships between socio-economic indicators and their change over time with the spatial structure of the built and natural elements in up to 600 urban areas from 32 countries. We employed random forest regression models and the spatio-temporal metrics were able to explain substantially the variability of socio-economic variables. This confirms that spatial patterns and their change are linked to socio-economic indicators. This work contributes to a better understanding of urban growth patterns and improves knowledge about the relationships between urban spatial structure and socio-economic factors, providing new methods for monitoring and assessing urban sustainability by means of LULC databases, which could be used by researchers, urban planners and decision-makers to ensure the sustainable future of urban environments.
Sapena Moll, M. (2020). Development and analysis of land-use/land-cover spatio-temporal metrics in urban environments: Exploring urban growth patterns and linkages to socio-economic factors [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/158626
TESIS

A questão da implementação de modelos de dados que utilizam a orientação a objetos constitui-se, ainda, em um assunto não totalmente consolidado. Dessa forma, nesta dissertação realiza-se uma sistematização relativa à implementação de um banco de dados relacional representado por um diagrama de classes. Este trabalho apresenta como foco principal uma avaliação de métricas do mapeamento de três tipos de relacionamento de um modelo orientado a objetos, Herança, Agregação/Composição e Associação, quando aplicados a um modelo relacional de banco de dados. Para isso, foram avaliados ao todo sete padrões de mapeamento desses relacionamentos para a modelagem relacional, sendo dois padrões de Herança, dois de Agregação e dois de Associação, além de análise de estudos empíricos relacionados ao tema. Ambas as formas de modelagem, relacional e orientada a objetos, são compatíveis quando analisadas suas modelagens conceituais. Assim, avalia-se a adequação da implementação dos modelos orientados a objetos em um banco de dados relacional após a aplicação dos padrões de mapeamento. Como resultado deste trabalho, é apresentada uma proposta de análise de métricas da aplicação dos padrões de mapeamento em um modelo apropriado para implementação em um banco de dados relacional. Algumas das métricas avaliadas são desnormalização, método de armazenamento lógico alinhado à estratégia de indexação, alta disponibilidade e uso de métodos de replicação, custo de acesso a dados, espaço em disco e flexibilidade e custo de manutenção.
Implementation of object-oriented data models constitutes in a not fully consolidated subject yet. Thus, this work performs an evaluation about a relational database implementation represented by a class diagram. The main focus of this paper is to present a systematic metric evaluation for the mapping of three relationships types of an object-oriented model, Inheritance, Aggregation / Composition and Association, when applied to a relational database model. For this purpose, seven mapping patterns that transform these relationships into a relational model notation were evaluated, two patterns of Inheritance, two of Aggregation, and two of Association, besides the analysis of empirical studies related to the topic. Both forms of modeling, relational and object-oriented, are considered compatible when their conceptual modeling is analyzed. So this paper evaluates the adequation of the object-oriented models implementation in a relational database after the appliance of the mapping standards. As a result of this work, it is presented an analysis of metrics proposal from the mapping patterns application in a suitable model for implementation in a relational database. Some of the evaluated metrics are denormalization, logical storage method aligned to indexing strategy, high availability and use of replication methods, cost of access to data, disk space and flexibility and maintenance costs.

A growing number of scientists are investigating applications of landscape ecology principles to marine studies, yet few coral reef scientists have examined spatial patterns across entire reefscapes with a holistic ecosystem-based view. This study was an effort to better understand reefscape ecology by quantitatively assessing spatial structures and habitat arrangements using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). Quantifying recurring patterns in reef systems has implications for improving the efficiency of mapping efforts and lowering costs associated with collecting field data and acquiring satellite imagery. If a representative example of a reef is mapped with high accuracy, the data derived from habitat configurations could be extrapolated over a larger region to aid management decisions and focus conservation efforts. The aim of this project was to measure repeating spatial patterns at multiple scales (10s m2 to 10s km2) and to explain the environmental mechanisms which have formed the observed patterns. Because power laws have been recognized in size-frequency distributions of reef habitat patches, this study further investigated whether the property exists for expansive reefs with diverse geologic histories. Intra- and inter-reef patch relationships were studied at three sites: Andavadoaka (Madagascar), Vieques (Puerto Rico), and Saipan (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands). In situ ecological information, including benthic species composition and abundance, as well as substrate type, was collected with georeferenced video transects. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) surveys were assembled into digital elevation models (DEMs), while vessel-based acoustic surveys were utilized to empirically tune bathymetry models where LiDAR data were unavailable. A GIS for each site was compiled by overlying groundtruth data, classifications, DEMs, and satellite images. Benthic cover classes were then digitized and analyzed based on a suite of metrics (e.g. patch complexity, principle axes ratio, and neighborhood transitions). Results from metric analyses were extremely comparable between sites suggesting that spatial prediction of habitat arrangements is very plausible. Further implications discussed include developing an automated habitat mapping technique and improving conservation planning and delimitation of marine protected areas.

This thesis presents a framework of test methodology to assess spatial domain compression artefacts produced by image and intra-frame coded video codecs. Few researchers have studied this broad range of artefacts. A taxonomy of image and video compression artefacts is proposed. This is based on the point of origin of the artefact in the image communication model. This thesis presents objective evaluation of distortions known as artefacts due to image and intra-frame coded video compression made using synthetic test patterns. The American National Standard Institute document ANSI T1 801 qualitatively defines blockiness, blur and ringing artefacts. These definitions have been augmented with quantitative definitions in conjunction with test patterns proposed. A test and measurement environment is proposed in which the codec under test is exercised using a portfolio of test patterns. The test patterns are designed to highlight the artefact under study. Algorithms have been developed to detect and measure individual artefacts based on the characteristics of respective artefacts. Since the spatial contents of the original test patterns form known structural details, the artefact distortion metrics based on the characteristics of those artefacts are clean and swift to calculate. Distortion metrics are validated using a human vision system inspired modern image quality metric. Blockiness, blur and ringing artefacts are evaluated for representative codecs using proposed synthetic test patterns. Colour bleeding due to image and video compression is discussed with both qualitative and quantitative definitions for the colour bleeding artefacts introduced. The image reproduction performance of a few codecs was evaluated to ascertain the utility of proposed metrics and test patterns.

Large open-source software projects involve developers with a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise. Such software projects furthermore include many internal APIs that developers must understand and use properly. According to the intended purpose of these APIs, they are more or less frequently used, and used by developers with more or less expertise. In this paper, we study the impact of usage patterns and developer expertise on the rate of defects occurring in the use of internal APIs. For this preliminary study, we focus on memory management APIs in the Linux kernel, as the use of these has been shown to be highly error prone in previous work. We study defect rates and developer expertise, to consider e.g., whether widely used APIs are more defect prone because they are used by less experienced developers, or whether defects in widely used APIs are more likely to be fixed.

A biodiversidade, as interações entre organismos e o meio físico são componentes do Sistema de Suporte da Vida no planeta, mantendo possível a vida do homem na Terra; entretanto, tem-se observado uma crescente e preocupante perda da biodiversidade, principalmente em função da perda de habitat e fragmentação, fogo, exploração excessiva dos recursos naturais e introdução de espécies exóticas e invasoras, entre outros. O Estado de São Paulo abriga dois grandes biomas brasileiros: a Mata Atlântica e o Cerrado, ambos reconhecidos como hotspots de biodiversidade, devido a grande biodiversidade e elevado grau de ameaças a que esses estão submetidos. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa propôs-se verificar a relação entre dados de riqueza de espécies (aves) e preditoras ambientais e de paisagem em diferentes regiões e escalas. Embora o Estado já conte com mapas de áreas prioritárias frutos do Biota/FAPESP de 2008, até o momento o componente de paisagem foi explorado muito superficialmente, da mesma forma que os dados biológicos não foram explorados em sua totalidade. Neste sentido, este projeto busca ir de encontro com as linhas diagnosticadas como necessárias para um maior direcionamento da ciência à conservação da biodiversidade. Foram utilizados dados pré-existentes de registros de aves no Estado de São Paulo (Brasil) compilados do banco de dado do Biota/FAPESP e do Livro vermelho de espécies ameaçadas do Estado de São Paulo. Para a análise dos dados utilizou-se de modelos aditivos generalizados (GAM), AKAIKE e análise de sensibilidade (SRC). Como principais apontamentos conclusivos escala é um fator extremamente importante e deve ser considerado ao buscar a compreensão de padrões biológicos, uma vez que, se ignorado pode resultar em relações não reais, e em decorrência disso uma má prática de conservação. Características da região de estudo, como tipo de bioma, também podem gerar diferentes relações entre variáveis ambientais e biológicas, e não devem ser subestimados; barreiras políticas não respeitam barreiras biológicas, e deve-se entender como isso pode influenciar as respostas obtidas. De todas as preditoras apenas porcentagem de floresta, altitude, precipitação e temperatura pareceram explicar todas as variáveis biológicas analisadas. Por fim, ainda observamos uma má gestão e padronização dos dados que irá ocasionar problemas na utilização e aplicação desses dados. Aqui se percebe que este viés pode ter influenciado na ausência de algumas relações ou na observação de padrões fracos. Apesar de extremante importante trabalhos com agrupamento de informações para buscar entender padrões de biodiversidade estes devem ser padronizados.
Biodiversity, the interactions between organisms and the environment are components of the Life Support System on the planet, keeping possible the man\'s life on the Earth; however, we are witnessing a growth and alarming loss of biodiversity, mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation, fire, over-exploitation of natural resources and the introduction of exotic and invasive species, among others. The State of São Paulo is home to two major Brazilian biomes, the Atlantic Forest and Cerrado, both recognized as biodiversity hotspots, due to its high biodiversity and high level of threat to which these are subject. In this sense, this research proposed to investigate the relationship between species richness data (birds) and environmental and landscape predictors at different regions and scales. Although the state already counts with priority areas maps product of the Biota/FAPESP project (2008), the landscape component has been explored very superficially in the same way that biological data has not been fully explored. Thus, this project seeks to meet with the lines diagnosed as necessary for further direction of science to the conservation of biodiversity. Preexisting bird records data of the São Paulo\'s State (Brazil) were compiled from the databases of Biota/FAPESP and of the Red Book of endangered species of the São Paulo\'s State. For data analysis we used generalized additive models (GAM), Akaike and sensitivity analysis (SRC). The main conclusive notes were that scale is an extremely important factor and should be considered when seeking to understand biological patterns, given that if ignored may result in misleading relationships, and as result a bad conservation practice. Characteristics of the study area, such as biome, can also generate different relationships between environmental and biological variables, and should not be underestimated; political barriers do not respect biological barriers, and we should understand how this can influence the findings. Of all the predictors only forest percentage, altitude, rainfall and temperature seemed to explain all biological variables. Finally, we also observed that poor management and standardization of data will lead to problems in the use and application of such data. This bias may have influenced the absence of some relationships or the observation of weak standards. Despite been extremely important the gathering of information to try understand biodiversity patterns, these information should always be standardized.

Problemi klasifikacije i segmentacije digitalnih slika su veomaaktuelni i zastupljeni u praksi. Potreba za modelima koji razmatrajuovu problematiku u poslednjih nekoliko decenija ubrzanim tempompoprima sve veći značaj i obim u svakodnevnom životu. Koriste se uračunarskoj grafici, prepoznavanju oblika, medicinskoj analizi slika,saobraćaju, analizi dokumenata, pokreta i izraza lica i sl.U okviru ove disertacije, predstavljeno istraživanje motivisano jeprimenama razvijenih modela u klasifikaciji i segmentacijidigitalnih slika. Istraživanje obuhvata dva segmenta. Ovi segmentipovezani su terminom neodređenosti, koji je uz upotrebu adekvatnogmatematičkog aparata (teorije fazi skupova), ugrađen u modele razvijeza primenu u obradi slike.Jedan pravac istraživanja baziran je na teoriji fazi skupova, t-normama, t-konormama, operatorima agregacije i agregiranimfunkcijama rastojanja. U okviru toga, istraživanje je sprovedeno sastruktuiranom matematičkom podlogom, izložene su osnovnedefinicije, teoreme, kao i osobine korištenih operatora, proširenisu teorijski koncepti t-normi i t-konormi. Definisani su novi tipovioperatora agregacije i njihovom primenom konstruisane su novefunkcije rastojanja, čija je upotreba diskutovana kroz uspešnost uprocesu segmentacije digitalnih slika.Drugi pravac istraživanja, izložen u ovoj disertaciji, obuhvata višeinženjerski pristup rešavanju problema klasifikacije teksturadigitalnih slika. U skladu sa tim, detaljno je analizirana idiskutovana klasa lokalnih binarnih deskriptora teksture.Inspirisana uspešnošću pomenute LBP klase deskriptora, uvedena jejedna nova podfamilija α-deskriptora teksture. Uvedeni modeldeskriptora formiran je na temeljima idejnih principa lokalnihbinarnih kodova i bazičnih pojmova iz teorije fazi skupova. Praktičnaupotreba i značaj predstavljenog modela demonstrirani su kroz veomauspešne procese klasifikacije na nekoliko javno dostupnih baza slika.
Classification and segmentation problems of digital images is a very attractivetopic and has been making impact in many different applied disciplines. In thepast few decades, the demand for models that address these issues has beengaining momentum and applications in everyday life. These models are used incomputer graphics, shape recognition, medical image analysis, traffic, documentanalysis, facial movements and expressions, etc.The research within this doctoral dissertation was motivated by the application ofdeveloped methods in classification and segmentation tasks. The conductedresearch covered two segments, which were linked by the term of indeterminacy,with the usage of the theory of fuzzy sets, which is incorporated into methodsdeveloped for application in image processing.One direction of the research was founded on the theory of fuzzy sets, t-norms,t-conorms, aggregation operators, and aggregated distance functions. Within thisframework, the research was conducted with a structured mathematicalbackground. Firstly, basic definitions, theorems and characteristics of the usedoperators were presented, followed by the theoretical concepts of t-norms and tconormsthat were extended. New types of aggregation operators and distancefunctions were defined, and finally, their contribution in the digital imagesegmentation process was explored and discussed.The second direction of the research presented in this dissertation involved moreof an engineering-type of approach to solving the problem of the classification ofdigital image textures. To that end, a class of local binary texture descriptors(LBPs) was analyzed and discussed in detail. Inspired by the results of theabove-mentioned LBP descriptors, one new sub-family of the $\alpha$-descriptors was introduced by the author. The introduced descriptor model wasbased on the conceptual principles of LBPs and basic definitions from the fuzzyset theory. Its practical usage and importance were established and reflected invery successful classification results, achieved in the application on severalpublicly available image datasets.

Les modèles conceptuels (MC) jouent un rôle crucial qui est celui de servir de base à l'ensemble du processus de développement d'un système d'information (SI) mais aussi de moyen de communication à la fois au sein de l'équipe de développement et avec les utilisateurs durant les premières étapes de validation. Leur qualité joue par conséquent un rôle déterminant dans le succès du système final. Des études ont montré que la majeure partie des changements que subit un SI concerne des manques ou des défaillances liés aux fonctionnalités attendues. Sachant que la définition de ses fonctionnalités incombe à la phase de l'analyse et conception dont les MC constituent les livrables, il apparaît indispensable pour une méthode de conception de veiller à la qualité des MC qu'elle produit. Notre approche vise les problèmes liés à la qualité de la modélisation conceptuelle en proposant une solution intégrée au processus de développement qui à l'avantage d'être complète puisqu'elle adresse à la fois la mesure de la qualité ainsi que son amélioration. La proposition couvre les aspects suivants: i. Formulation de critères de qualité en fédérant dans un premier temps les travaux existant sur la qualité des MC. En effet, un des manques constaté dans le domaine de la qualité des MC est l'absence de consensus sur les concepts et leurs définitions. Ce travail a été validé par une étude empirique. Ce travail a également permis d'identifier les parties non couverte par la littérature et de les compléter en proposant de nouveaux concepts ou en précisant ceux dont la définition n'était complète. ii. Définition d'un concept (pattern de qualité) permettant de capitaliser les bonnes pratiques dans le domaine de la mesure et de l'amélioration de la qualité des MC. Un pattern de qualité sert à aider un concepteur de SI dans l'identification des critères de qualité applicables à sa spécification, puis de le guider progressivement dans la mesure de la qualité ainsi que dans son amélioration. Sachant que la plupart des approches existantes s'intéresse à la mesure de la qualité et néglige les moyens de la corriger. La définition de ce concept est motivée par la difficulté et le degré d'expertise important qu'exige la gestion de la qualité surtout au niveau conceptuel où le logiciel fini n'est pas encore disponible et face à la diversité des concepts de qualité (critères et métriques) pouvant s'appliquer. iii. Formulation d'une méthode orientée qualité incluant à la fois des concepts, des guides et des techniques permettant de définir les concepts de qualité souhaités, leur mesure et l'amélioration de la qualité des MC. Cette méthode propose comme point d'entrée le besoin de qualité que doit formuler le concepteur. Il est ensuite guidée de manière flexible dans le choix des critères de qualité adaptés jusqu'à la mesure et la proposition de recommandations aidant à l'amélioration de la qualité du MC initial conformément au besoin formulé. iv. Développement d'un prototype "CM-Quality". Notre prototype met en œuvre la méthode proposée et offre ainsi une aide outillé à son application. Nous avons enfin mené deux expérimentations ; la première avait comme objectif de valider les concepts de qualité utilisés et de les retenir. La deuxième visait à valider la méthode de conception guidée par la qualité proposée

Este trabalho foca no estudo de duas redes complexas. A primeira é um modelo de Ising com campo aleatório. Este modelo segue uma distribuição de campo gaussiana e bimodal. Uma técnica de conectividade finita foi utilizada para resolvê-lo. Assim como um método de Monte Carlo foi aplicado para verificar os resultados. Há uma indicação em nossos resultados que para a distribuição gaussiana a transição de fase é sempre de segunda ordem. Para as distribuições bimodais há um ponto tricrítico, dependente do valor da conectividade . Abaixo de um certo mínimo de , só existe transição de segunda ordem. A segunda é uma rede neural atratora métrica. Mais precisamente, estudamos a capacidade deste modelo para armazenar os padrões estruturados. Em particular, os padrões escolhidos foram retirados de impressões digitais, que apresentam algumas características locais. Os resultados mostram que quanto menor a atividade de padrões de impressões digitais, maior a relação de carga e a qualidade de recuperação. Uma teoria, também foi desenvolvido como uma função de cinco parâmetros: a relação de carga, a conectividade, o grau de densidade da rede, a relação de aleatoriedade e a correlação do padrão espacial.
This work focus on the study of two complex networks. The first one is a random field Ising model. This model follows a gaussian and bimodal distribution, for the random field. A finite connectivity technique was utilized to solve it. As well as a Monte Carlo method was applied to verify our results. There is an indication in our results that for a gaussian distribution the phase transition is always second-order. For the bimodal distribution there is a tricritical point, tha depends on the value of the connectivity . Below a certain minimum , there is only a second-order transition. The second one is a metric attractor neural network. More precisely we study the ability of this model to learn structured patterns. In particular, the chosen patterns were taken from fingerprints, which present some local features. Our results show that the higher the load ratio and retrieval quality are the lower is the fingerprint patterns activity. A theoretical framework was also developed as a function of five parameters: the load ratio, the connectivity, the density degree of the network, the randomness ratio and the spatial pattern correlation.

Notre thèse se situe dans le contexte du projet ANR GEONTO qui porte sur la constitution, l’alignement, la comparaison et l’exploitation d’ontologies géographiques hétérogènes. Dans ce contexte, notre objectif est d'extraire automatiquement des termes topographiques à partir des récits de voyage afin d'enrichir une ontologie géographique initialement conçue par l'IGN. La méthode proposée permet de repérer et d'extraire des termes à connotation topographiques contenus dans un texte. Notre méthode est basée sur le repérage automatique de certaines relations linguistiques afin d'annoter ces termes. Sa mise en œuvre s'appuie sur le principe des relations n-aires et passe par l'utilisation de méthodes ou de techniques de TAL (Traitement Automatique de la Langue). Il s'agit de relations n-aires entre les termes à extraire et d'autres éléments du textes qui peuvent être repérés à l'aide de ressources externes prédéfinies, telles que des lexiques spécifiques: les verbes de récit de voyage (verbes de déplacement, verbes de perceptions, et verbes topographiques), les pré-positions (prépositions de lieu, adverbes, adjectifs), les noms toponymiques, des thésaurus génériques, des ontologies de domaine (ici l'ontologie géographique initialement conçue par l'IGN). Une fois marquées par des patrons linguistiques, les relations proposées nous permettent d'annoter et d'extraire automatiquement des termes dont les différents indices permettent de déduire qu'ils évoquent des concepts topographiques. Les règles de raisonnement qui permettent ces déductions s'appuient sur des connaissances intrinsèques (évocation du spatial dans la langue) et des connaissances externes contenues dans les ressources ci-dessus évoquées, ou leur combinaison. Le point fort de notre approche est que la méthode proposée permet d'extraire non seulement des termes rattachés directement aux noms toponymiques mais également dans des structures de phrase où d'autres termes s'intercalent. L'expérimentation sur un corpus comportant 12 récits de voyage (2419 pages, fournit par la médiathèque de Pau) a montré que notre méthode est robuste. En résultat, elle a permis d'extraire 2173 termes distincts dont 1191 termes valides, soit une précision de 0,55. Cela démontre que l'utilisation des relations proposées est plus efficace que celle des couples (termes, nom toponymique)(qui donne 733 termes distincts valides avec une précision de 0,38). Notre méthode peut également être utilisée pour d'autres applications telles que la reconnaissance des entités nommées géographiques, l'indexation spatiale des documents textuels
This thesis is in the context of the ANR project GEONTO covering the constitution, alignment, comparison and exploitation of heterogeneous geographic ontologies. The goal is to automatically extract terms from topographic travelogues to enrich a geographical ontology originally designed by IGN. The proposed method allows identification and extraction of terms contained in a text with a topographical connotation. Our method is based on a model that relies on certain grammatical relations to locate these terms. The implementation of this model requires the use of methods or techniques of NLP (Processing of Language). Our model represents the relationships between terms to extract and other elements of the texts that can be identified by using external predefined resources, such as specific lexicons: verbs of travelogue (verbs of displacement, verbs of perceptions, topographical verbs), pre-positions (prepositions of place, adverbs, adjectives), place name, generic thesauri, ontologies of domain (in our case the geographical ontology originally designed by IGN). Once marked by linguistic patterns, the proposed relationships allow us to annotate and automatically retrieve terms. Then various indices help deduce whether the extracted terms evoke topographical concepts. It is through reasoning rules that deductions are made. These rules are based on intrinsic knowledge (evocation of space in the language) and external knowledge contained in external resources mentioned above, or their combination. The advantage of our approach is that the method can extract not only the terms related directly to place name but also those embedded in sentence structure in which other terms coexisted. Experiments on a corpus consisting of 12 travel stories (2419 pages, provided by the library of Pau) showed that our method is robust. As a result, it was used to extract 2173 distinct terms with 1191 valid terms, with a precision of 0.55. This demonstrates that the use of the proposed relationships is more effective than that of couples (term, place name) (which gives 733 distinct terms valid with an accuracy of 0.38). Our method can also be used for other applications such as geographic named entity recognition, spatial indexing of textual documents

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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
GRN (Gestão de Recursos de Negócio Business Resource Management) pattern language provides a set of patterns in analysis level to support the development of applications which deal with rental, purchase, sale and maintenance transactions of a good or service. GRENJ-OO is an object-oriented (OO) application framework built to support the instantiation of Java applications in the GRN domain. GRENJ-OO instantiates applications that include in their architecture all framework variabilities. The units of this framework, which implement each GRN pattern and their variants, are highly coupled between them, because there are concern tangling and concern scattering related to each one of those patterns. So, the aspect-orientation (OA) techniques were used in each pattern to minimize those problems and a new framework version was obtained, called GRENJ-OA. The improvements of separation of concerns, the coupling reduction, the cohesion increasing and the reduction of the number of lines of code of the majority of the patterns implemented in GRENJ-OA was the result reached after performing a quantitative evaluation based on separation of concerns, coupling, cohesion and size metrics. From the approach used to modularize this framework is introduced the Framework Product Line concept, that consists in a product line which their products are frameworks instead of software applications. From the GRENJ-OO modularization was also possible to extract a process that can be applied to modularize frameworks. This process aims to transform a framework in a Framework Product Line.
A linguagem de padrões GRN (Gestão de Recursos de Negócio) fornece um conjunto de padrões em nível de análise que apóiam o desenvolvimento de aplicações que tratam de transações de aluguel, compra, venda e manutenção de um bem ou serviço. GRENJ-OO é um framework de aplicação orientado a objetos (OO) construído para apoiar a instanciação de aplicações no domínio da GRN na linguagem Java. O framework GRENJ-OO instancia aplicações que incluem em sua arquitetura todas as variabilidades do framework. As unidades desse framework, que implementam cada padrão da GRN e suas variantes, estão altamente acopladas entre si, em virtude da existência de entrelaçamento e espalhamento de interesses relacionados a cada um desses padrões. Assim, a orientação a aspectos (OA) foi utilizada em cada um dos padrões a fim de minimizar esses problemas e uma nova versão do framework foi obtida, denominada GRENJ-OA. A melhoria dos níveis de separação de interesses, a redução do acoplamento, o aumento da coesão e redução do número de linhas de código da maioria dos padrões implementados no GRENJ-OA foram os resultados obtidos após a realização de uma avaliação quantitativa com base em métricas de separação de interesses, acoplamento, coesão e tamanho. A partir da abordagem utilizada na modularização desse framework, é introduzido o conceito de Linha de Produtos de Frameworks, que consiste em uma linha de produtos na qual seus produtos são frameworks, ao invés de aplicações de software. Com a modularização do GRENJ-OO também foi possível extrair um processo, que pode ser aplicado na modularização de frameworks. Esse processo tem o objetivo de transformar um framework em uma Linha de Produtos de Frameworks.

L'avenir de la communication est perçu comme étant quasiment exclusivement constitué de nœuds mobiles évoluant dans un réseau mobile. Dans ce contexte, différentes approches contribuent continuellement à l'amélioration directe ou indirecte des délais d'acheminement des informations échangées entre les utilisateurs, dont :- l'analyse des traces;- l'évaluation des performances ;- les services de localisation;- le routage. Nous décrivons chacun de ses thèmes et proposons des solutions faisant évoluer l'état de l'art. Celles-ci prennent appui sur des méthodes et outils tels que :- les Réseaux de Petri, pour l'analyse des traces ;- les modèles de mobilité, pour l'évaluation des performances;- l'introduction du social dans les services de localisation;- la mise en place d'une nouvelle métrique pour le routage. Nous montrons comment ces solutions concourent de façon complémentaire les unes avec les autres, à améliorer l'expérience de l'utilisateur.

En raison de la capacité et de l'amélioration des performances informatiques, les représentations structurelles sont devenues de plus en plus populaires dans le domaine de la reconnaissance de formes (RF). Quand les objets sont structurés à base de graphes, le problme de la comparaison d'objets revient à un problme d'appariement de graphes (Graph Matching). Au cours de la dernière décennie, les chercheurs travaillant dans le domaine de l'appariement de graphes ont porté une attention particulière à la distance d'édition entre graphes (GED), notamment pour sa capacité à traiter différent types de graphes. GED a été ainsi appliquée sur des problématiques spécifiques qui varient de la reconnaissance de molécules à la classi fication d'images
Due to the inherent genericity of graph-based representations, and thanks to the improvement of computer capacities, structural representations have become more and more popular in the field of Pattern Recognition (PR). In a graph-based representation, vertices and their attributes describe objects (or part of them) while edges represent interrelationships between the objects. Representing objects by graphs turns the problem of object comparison into graph matching (GM) where correspondences between vertices and edges of two graphs have to be found

圖像相似性度量準則是一個傳統的研究領域。大量經典的圖像處理技術被用來為各種類型的圖像設計相似性度量準則，這些圖像包括了線條圖，灰度圖，彩圖以及高動態範圍圖像。儘管已有的度量準則在指定的條件下可以實現優良的圖像相似度比較，這些度量準則極少系統地考慮或檢驗自身與人類視覺感知之間的一致性。而與人類知覺的一致性是由大量實際應用提出的共同需求。隨著三維立體設備的廣泛應用，圖像的相似性已經不只是傳統的可視差別，更包括了人眼利用三維立體設備同時觀看兩張不同的圖片時的視覺可接受度。
非嚴謹對準形狀相似性度量準則（AISS）可以比較兩幅具有固定尺寸的線條圖的形狀相似度。對於該度量準則，兩幅待比較圖像的形狀不要求完全對齊，同時，又會考慮到圖像的形變，例如位置，方向和縮放上的變化。
雙目觀看舒適度預測器（BVCP）是另一個度量準則。當人的雙眼同時觀看兩幅不同的圖像時，該準則可用以預測視覺的舒適度。根據著名的双眼單视理論，人的視覺可以將兩幅具有細節、對比度以及亮度差別的圖像合成一幅圖像，只要這些差別在限定的程度之內。在計算機圖形學領域，BVCP 首次嘗試去預測雙目的圖像差別會否引起觀看的不舒適。
在本論文中，實用的應用程序也被提出用以衡量AISS 和BVCP。AISS 被用在了一個名為“基於結構的ASCII 藝術的應用程序中，該應用程序可以利用ASCII 字符的形狀近似地表現參考圖像的線條結構信息。而BVCP 則被用在一個創新地應用框架中，該框架可以從單幅高動態範圍圖像中生成一組（兩幅）低動態範圍圖像。當這一組低動態範圍圖像組被人的雙眼同時觀看時，可以比傳統的單幅低動態範圍圖像保留更多的人類可感知視覺信息。可信的結果和使用者研究也用來證明SSIM 和BVCP 的有效性以及與人類知覺的一致性。
Image similarity metric is a traditional research field. Classical image processing techniques are used to design similarity metrics for all kinds of images, such as line drawings, gray or color image and even high-dynamic range (HDR) images. While existing metrics perform well for the tasks of comparing images in specified situations, few of them have systematically considered or examined the consistency with human perception required by practical applications. With the blooming of stereo devices, the similarity to be measured is not only the traditional visual difference between two images, but also the visual acceptance of two images when they are viewed simultaneously with 3D devices. This thesis presents two image similarity metrics motivated by perceptual principles, also with applications to demonstrate their novelty and practical values.
Alignment-Insensitive Shape Similarity Metric (AISS) measures shape similarity of line drawings. This metric can tolerate misalignment between two shapes and, simultaneously, accounts for the differences in transformation such as, position, orientation and scaling.
Binocular Viewing Comfort Predictor (BVCP) is another metric proposed to measure visual discomfort when human's two eyes view two different images simultaneously. According to a human vision phenomenon - binocular single vision, human vision is able tofuse two images with differences in detail, contrast and luminance, up to a certain limit. BVCP makes a first attempt in computer graphics to predict such visual comfort limit.
Applications are also proposed to evaluate AISS and BVCP. AISS is utilized in an application of Structure-based ASCII Art, which approximates line structure of the reference image content with the shapes of ASCII characters. BVCP is utilized in a novel framework - Binocular Tone Mapping which generates a binocular low-dynamic range (LDR) image pair from one HDR image. Such binocular LDR pair can be viewed with stereo devices and can preserve more human-perceivable visual content than traditional one single LDR image. Convincing results and user studies are also shown to demonstrate that both AISS and BVCP are consistent with human perception and effective in practical usage.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Zhang, Linling.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-132).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstract also in Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgement --- p.v
Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1
Chapter 2 --- Alignment-Insensitive Shape Similarity Metric --- p.8
Chapter 2.1 --- Related Work --- p.10
Chapter 2.2 --- Design of AISS --- p.13
Chapter 2.2.1 --- Misalignment Tolerance --- p.14
Chapter 2.2.2 --- Transformation Awareness --- p.16
Chapter 2.2.3 --- Parameter Setting --- p.17
Chapter 2.3 --- Results and Discussion --- p.18
Chapter 2.4 --- Discussion --- p.20
Chapter 3 --- Application for AISS: Structure-based ASCII Art --- p.21
Chapter 3.1 --- Overview --- p.24
Chapter 3.2 --- Optimization --- p.28
Chapter 3.3 --- User Study and Discussion --- p.35
Chapter 3.3.1 --- Metrics Comparison --- p.35
Chapter 3.3.2 --- Comparison to Existing Work --- p.38
Chapter 3.3.3 --- User Study --- p.40
Chapter 3.4 --- Summary --- p.44
Chapter 4 --- Binocular Viewing Comfort Predictor --- p.48
Chapter 4.1 --- Background --- p.51
Chapter 4.2 --- Design of BVCP --- p.54
Chapter 4.2.1 --- Fusional Area --- p.55
Chapter 4.2.2 --- Contour Fusion --- p.58
Chapter 4.2.3 --- Contour and Regional Contrasts --- p.68
Chapter 4.2.4 --- Failure of Rivalry --- p.70
Chapter 4.2.5 --- The Overall Fusion Predictor --- p.74
Chapter 4.3 --- User Study --- p.77
Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion and Limitations --- p.84
Chapter 5 --- Application for BVCP: Binocular Tone Mapping --- p.86
Chapter 5.1 --- Framework --- p.90
Chapter 5.1.1 --- Overview --- p.90
Chapter 5.1.2 --- Optimization --- p.93
Chapter 5.2 --- Results and Discussion --- p.96
Chapter 5.2.1 --- Results --- p.96
Chapter 5.2.2 --- User Study --- p.103
Chapter 5.2.3 --- Incorporating Stereopsis --- p.106
Chapter 5.2.4 --- Limitations --- p.109
Chapter 5.3 --- Summary --- p.112
Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.113
Chapter A --- User Study for ASCII art --- p.117
Bibliography --- p.122