▼ This study evaluates the efficacy of the continuous GA algorithm in solving two complex problems. The queuing network design problem has random processes and the decisions are subject to a cost constraint. Therefore, a simulation program is run to determine the fitness of each solution in population. The second problem is a large-scale gene-clustering problem in which thousands of genes have to be grouped into a fixed, small number of clusters on the basis of similarity. Clustering of gene expressions reduces the unmanageable volume of data into small number of sets that are of great interest to the biologists. For these problems, the GA algorithm produces good results compared to the alternative methods. The GA can also handle the same class of problems without the restrictive assumptions. Advisors/Committee Members: Ozden, Mufit.

▼ Practical full body tracking remains a difficult challenge related to the construction of immersive synthetic environment systems. Human body posture can be tracked in real-time using small, inexpensive inertial/magnetic sensor modules to track the orientation of individual limb segments and using the individual orientations to determine body posture. If the position of one point on the body is tracked, the position of all body segments can be determined. The software required for such a system is inherently complex due to its real-time distributed nature and the necessity to interface with varying sensor types and numbers. Furthermore, the software must be modular and flexible to ease enhancements and modifications. This thesis describes the implementation and design of a software system capable of processing data from a minimum of fifteen inertial/magnetic sensors at an update rate in excess of 100 Hz. Sensor data can be collected by a wearable computer and submitted via wireless LAN to a fixed workstation. The workstation processes data and acts as a server for avatar animation data. Design of the system software was completed using object-oriented techniques and the unified modeling language (UML). Several conversion classes process raw data from the fifteen sensors before being processed by a quaternion based complementary filtering algorithm to produce orientation estimates in quaternion form. Estimates are sent to a graphical display unit through a local area network. At any point through the conversion process, data may be archived for data analysis purposes or reprocessing. Advisors/Committee Members: Bachmann, Eric.

▼ Sourceless human posture tracking in real-time can be accomplished using small inexpensive inertial/magnetic (IM) sensor modules to track the orientation of individual limb segments. Three magnetometers, accelerometers, and angular rate sensors are each aligned orthogonally in the sensor modules. The magnetometers measure the orientation change of the sensor relative to the local magnetic field. A question related to this particular tracking method is to what degree the inexpensive IM sensors are affected by local variations in the earth magnetic field. This thesis describes and documents experiments related to magnetic variations on IM sensors. These experiments begin to build fundamental knowledge about these sensors and how they interact with the environment in order to establish a basis for possible corrective algorithms. The investigation includes, testing the IM sensors to determine their sensitivity to local magnetic field changes, and investigating the magnetic variations produced by small appliances and ferrous objects. Results indicate that local magnetic variations cause errors in only azimuth estimation regardless of sensor module orientation and that these errors can be avoided by maintaining a distance of one to two feet from the source of interference. Examination of the nature of the variation indicates that alternating field sources of interference could be reduced through the use of a notch filter tuned to the appropriate frequency. Advisors/Committee Members: Bachmann, Eric R.

▼ This thesis is a project-oriented one that features the design and development of a software system used for employee hourly progression tracking and job scheduling in an industrial environment. This software was developed at a professional level as verified by its adoption by one of the largest boxboard companies in the industry for its day-to-day operations. Some of the main features of this system are: Specialized ActiveX controls Object oriented design utilizing classes in Visual Basic 6.0 and C++ Stored procedures embedded in Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 TCP/IP technology This system consists of two integrated subsystems, Tracker and Crew Master. The first, Tracker, was designed to replace a manual system used by the accounting department for tracking employee hourly progression. The second, Crew Master, replaces a manual system for scheduling hourly employees for job positions as well as vacation scheduling. Advisors/Committee Members: Kiper, Jim D.

▼ Since the publishing of A Nation at Risk in 1983, the emerging trend in secondary education is to measure student, school and district performance using standardized proficiency exams. Districts in the same state are then ranked based on the percentage of students passing these exams. These rankings affect funding and public opinion about the district. Due to the No Child Left Behind Act being signed into Law in January 2002, the stakes based on these rankings will be even greater. All states must ensure that districts are making "adequate yearly progress", and if they are not, apply sanctions. The purpose of this study is to consider Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) as an alternative to the current system for ranking and benchmarking districts. DEA is a variation of traditional linear programming and has proven to be a useful tool for obtaining relative efficiencies and developing peer groups of service oriented institutions. Advisors/Committee Members: Hatch, Melanie.

▼ The purpose of this study is to experience creating 3D virtual scenes in World Wide Web using Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), to explore the status of VRML development, and to research the applicability and potential of VRML. This thesis introduces the VRML language basics, reviews VRML development and supporting tools, and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of VRML and its future. VRML allows the users to control the interactions between the user and a 3D graphic model. It can be used in applications such as recreating a historical site or constructing chemistry molecules. However a lack of wide spread efficient business use of VRML has slowed its development. At the present stage, more sophisticated authoring tools along with high-speed computer and high-speed network resources are needed before VRML will become more widely used on the Internet. Advisors/Committee Members: Troy, Douglas A.

▼ One way of automating the hypertext creation for a text database is providing links among nodes based on their similarities. For a large database this process is inefficient due to the number of node pairs involved. Clustering the nodes and creating links among the members of individual clusters can enhance efficiency. The drawback of this approach is the lack of links among documents of different clusters. In this study, we modify and use the concepts of the Covered Coefficient Based Clustering Methodology (C3M) to provide overlapping among different clusters; the new method is called Overlapping Covered Coefficient Based Clustering Methodology (OC3M). Through this study, we are able to conclude that OC3M is an effective method for detecting hypertext links as well as a relatively efficient method. Advisors/Committee Members: Can, Fazli.