Browsing by Subject "Mapping"

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The 5th wall project : projection design applications for transforming education and medical spaces for youth communities
(2015-05) Lord, Patrick William; Ortel, Sven; Alrutz, Megan
This paper and project explore how creative applications of existing design and technology can provide a unique service for children anywhere. This project fuses that technology with a belief that youth communities in education and medical spaces deserve access to artistic experiences. By devising original, immersive story performances with two classes from local Austin schools, The 5th Wall Project has begun to develop a process that facilitates educational engagement, and exposes students to design and art where they live and learn. The intention of this project is to continue beyond the performances and residencies completed and documented in this paper. Future applications, such as the installation of this model into pediatric patient rooms is a primary goal of the project that has yet to be explored, but is an integral motivator in the aforementioned investigation of our process.
Cartography and community planning among indigenous communities in Latin America
(2007-05) Russo, Suzanne Rebecca; Beamish, Anne, 1954-
Map-making is viewed among many planners, geographers, and anthropologists as a necessary first step in achieving land claims for indigenous communities in Latin America. However, map-making has yet to result in a land claim for any indigenous group, but the effects of establishing boundaries and claiming territories that have been traditionally shared are contentious. Through a literature review and interviews with three practitioners, this paper will critically examine the role of participatory ethnomapping on indigenous communities in Latin America, specifically their efforts to demarcate territory, procure land claims, and use these land claims to plan for social and economic development.
Centralized task offloading on distributed remote robot agent(s) : simultaneous localization and mapping
(2023-12) Meza, Daniel I.; Julien, Christine, D. Sc.; Pryor, Mitchell Wayne
This thesis contributes to an ongoing initiative aimed at providing a comprehensive hardware and software solution for routine radiation surveying in nuclear facilities. The proposed Minibot system is a robotic application featuring a server computer that coordinates multiple mobile agents to collaboratively map hazardous indoor environments. The robot agents, designed to be small, low-powered, and cost-effective, strategically offload computational tasks to a central computer, facilitating the execution of complex algorithms for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). This work explores the unique improvements and limitations associated with using small, wheeled robotic platforms, the feasibility of running computationally complex applications through a distributed structure, and the real-world deployment conditions that may affect mapping performance and system scalability.
Civil resistance and digital media in Uganda : hybrid spaces of resistance and expression
(2023-04-19) Moriarty, Daniel Patrick; Adams, Paul C.; Faria, Caroline; Sletto, Bjorn
This research explores the ongoing political resistance in Uganda under the guise of the National Unity Platform (NUP) and its leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine. The NUP, in its efforts to challenge the 37-year long rule of President Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Movement (NRM), has mobilized millions of young Ugandans through the adaptive use of various social media platforms. Evolving from a social movement into a formal political organization, the NUP’s resistance strategy has shifted into continued digital engagement and physical outreach into Uganda’s hinterlands. Taking a mixed-methods approach, this work seeks to present a trans-scalar view of the intersections between digital and physical spaces of political expression and resistance inside (and outside) Uganda today. The use of GIS to interrogate the relationship between telecommunications infrastructure and political unrest at a national scale presents an introductory context to the research. Content analysis of newspaper archives on the formalization of the People Power Movement into the NUP and forty surveys on the use of digital media and political action gradually “zoom in” the scale to focus on the emergence of the NUP and the environment which it finds itself. Proceeding to qualitatively focused methods, interviews with several members of the NUP (to include several of Wine’s chief lieutenants) highlights key themes of a digitally mediated resistance movement struggling to ground itself in rural territories. Lastly, a novel attempt at visualizing digital spaces in relation to a resistance movement is operationalized through participatory mapping. This research explores the unique ways in which Uganda’s political history and human geography affects the ongoing struggle for democratic reforms. Thematically, this work also grounds the NUP’s struggle in the global geopolitical competition between authoritarianism and pro-democracy movements, at times aligned or against neoliberal democratic states.
Identification of genes that interact with liquid facets
(2012-08) Van Der Ende, Gerrit Alexander; Fischer, Janice Ann
The protein Liquid facets (Lqf) promotes endocytosis at the plasma membrane1. Lqf activity is required for proper Notch signaling, likely through facilitating the endocytosis of Notch ligand by indirectly linking ligand to clathrin. A genetic modifier screen to identify genes that interact with lqf was performed by a previous graduate student. Genes identified in the screen might provide new insights into how Lqf promotes endocytosis or how Notch signaling is regulated. In this work, I performed genetic mapping techniques to identify the genes mutated in each complementation group of the screen. I identified the gene mutated in complementation group 6 as mitochondrial alanyl tRNA synthetase (Aats-ala-m). tRNA synthetases link a tRNA to its cognate amino acid during translation. Mitochondrial tRNA synthetases function in the mitochondria in translation. Aats-ala-m genetically interacts with lqf, suggesting the two genes function in the same pathway. In this work, I also identified chromosomal regions where the genes mutated in complementation groups 1,2, and 9 are located.
Mapping Texas
(2015-08) Rodriguez, Frank, M.A.; Rodriguez, Néstor; Menchaca, Martha
The evolution of scientific reasoning and its practice today is noticeable to say the least. Access to the Internet exemplifies how technologies redefine the speed, access and interaction with information. In cartography, innovations at the turn of the twenty-first century travel alongside the growth of computation and the Internet, particularly in the graphic presentation and reproduction of maps. The Internet has molded cartographic practices to advance the virtual representation of space, a tool bounding potential voters for political ends. Simply, they provide a platform to make populations legible to the point of immediacy. The method of this thesis is to get entrenched in the fiction of Texas. Fiction, here, is interchangeable with the idea of social constructions. It is an attempt to build off the approach of Walter Benjamin, as described in Susan Buck Morris's The Dialetics of Seeing (1989) where consumers get engulfed in a dream world with the commodities that makes their relation to society more personal. The commodity of interest for this work is that of maps. Accordingly, this work builds its analysis on the fiction that makes up the Texas story, as told by maps and cartography. In addition, fiction itself is specifically theorized in analyzing the field of demography and cities in Texas. In conclusion, in calling for critical thought, particularly feminist thought, modern mapping practices are presented to help provide voters an empowering lens in relation to electoral mapping.
Mapping the wastelands : spectacles of wasting in neoliberal Brazilian and Mexican film
(2018-08) Argueta, Arno Jacob; Dominguez-Ruvalcaba, Hector, 1962-; Podalsky, Laura; Arroyo, Jossianna; Moore, Lorraine; Borge, Jason
This project explores representations of waste in films created in Brazil and Mexico in their neoliberal period. By approaching waste as an object that redefines the space it occupies as a wasteland, this dissertation explores the effects of spectacular representations of waste upon the people that inhabit and transit these lands of waste. To analyze this, I explore how certain films frame, symbolically construct and reproduce often-violent acts of wasting on screen. The goal of this dissertation is to expose how the modern desire for cleanliness that discursively frames undesirable byproducts as waste, also denotes certain “wasted beings” as outside modernity and the state. This act subjects these beings to the power of market dynamics that enforce violence and a politics of death. I draw from the work of scholars like Julia Kristeva on abjection, Kevin Bales on disposable beings, Melissa Wright on disposable women, Zygmunt Bauman on wasted beings, and Sayak Valencia on gore capitalism. Specifically, I argue that modernity denotes certain beings as outside the state and its structures of control. As a type of non-state space, the wasteland is ruled by the violent acts of taking life, which are the last reductions of sovereignty, and empowerment.
Mutli-objective trade-off exploration for Cyclo-Static and Synchronous Dataflow graphs
(2012-08) Sinha, Ashmita; Gerstlauer, Andreas, 1970-; John, Lizy K.
Many digital signal processing and real-time streaming systems are modeled using dataflow graphs, such as Synchronous Dataflow (SDF) and Cyclo-static Dataflow (CSDF) graphs that allow static analysis and optimization techniques. However, mapping of such descriptions into tightly constrained real-time implementations requires optimization of resource sharing, buffering and scheduling across a multi-dimensional latency-throughput-area objective space. This requires techniques that can find the Pareto-optimal set of implementations for the designer to choose from. In this work, we address the problem of multi-objective mapping and scheduling of SDF and CSDF graphs onto heterogeneous multi-processor platforms. Building on previous work, this thesis extends existing two-stage hybrid heuristics that combine an evolutionary algorithm with an integer linear programming (ILP) model to jointly optimize throughput, area and latency for SDF graphs. The primary contributions of this work include: (1) extension of the ILP model to support CSDFGs with additional buffer size optimizations; (2) a further optimization in the ILP-based scheduling model to achieve a runtime speedup of almost a factor of 10 compared to the existing SDFG formulation; (3) a list scheduling heuristic that replaces the ILP model in the hybrid heuristic to generate Pareto-optimal solutions at significantly decreased runtime while maintaining near-optimality of the solutions within an acceptable gap of 10% when compared to its ILP counterparts. The list scheduling heuristic presented in this work is based on existing modulo scheduling approaches for software pipelining in the compiler domain, but has been extended by introducing a new concept of mobility-based rescheduling before resorting to backtracking. It has been proved in this work that if mobility-based rescheduling is performed, the number of required backtrackings and hence overall complexity and runtime is less.
Pleistocene to recent geomorphic and incision history of the northern Rio Grande River Gorge, New Mexico : constraints from field mapping and cosmogenic 3He surface exposure dating
(2017-08) Clow, Travis Wellington; Behr, Whitney M; Helper, Mark Alan
Relationships between river incision, aggradation, and widening are investigated in a ∼5 km reach of the northern Rio Grande River Gorge near the confluence with the Red River in New Mexico using detailed geomorphic mapping and cosmogenic 3He surface exposure dating. This wide (exceeding 1.5 km) and deep (∼240 m on average) stretch of the river exhibits a unique set of cohesive, stacked toreva blocks, incoherent landslides, rockfalls, and slumps developed within ∼3-5 Ma Servilleta Basalts and intercalated weak Pliocene Santa Fe Group gravels. Toreva blocks are best developed along the eastern side of the river — they exhibit coherently-dipping, patinated tops that can be reconstructed to the gorge walls, but with toes that are truncated or buried by later deposits. Located below these landslide features is a flight of fill and fill-cut terraces spanning 6 levels at elevations of 60, 45, 29, 25, 15 and 7 m above the modern river grade, on average. Terraces at 29 m can be correlated across and along the river axis, whereas others are more locally preserved. All terraces exhibit well-defined boulder levees and risers constructed from alluvium sourced from upstream, and rounded and sculpted basalt clasts on their treads. Minimum 3He surface exposure ages of multiple samples from each terrace indicate Qt6 was likely abandoned at 63.4 ± 9.8, Qt5 at 30.0 ± 4.8 ka, Qt4 at 23.8 ± 3.7 ka, Qt3 at 22.7 ± 3.6 ka, and Qt2 at 19.0 ± 3 ka, however the potential for pre- depositional inheritance is evident. Terraces are the youngest preserved deposits in the gorge and record at least three aggradation-incision geomorphic cycles over the past ∼60 ka. If initiation of gorge incision was coeval with capture of the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado at ∼440-800 ka, average incision rates prior to the for- mation of Qt6 were 0.26-0.52 mm/yr. This incision was likely coincident with toreva block formation and substantial gorge widening, as the toreva blocks and large-scale incohesive landslide deposits predate terrace development. Landsliding controls the width of the gorge along this stretch, leading to a 2-2.5x increase in width compared to immediately up- and down-river. These landsliding events were likely primarily driven by undercutting of basaltic bedrock along weaker gravel horizons. Average incision from ∼60 ka to present day appears to have been faster, with maximum average rates of ∼1.0 mm/yr from Qt6-modern river. Gorge narrowing is observed during this time period, with only minor widening accommodated by slumping and incoherent landsliding that post-date terrace treads. This period of incision was punctuated by aggradational events that roughly correlate with regional climatic events and/or late Pleistocene MIS climate cycles that increase in amplitude towards present day, with terraces incised into and abandoned during transitions from glacial to interglacial climate. Rates of surface uplift from dynamic topography and/or active slip rates along basin bounding normal faults are over an order of magnitude too small to explain the observed incision rate increase over time. These increasingly rapid incision rates mirror the phenomena seen in other western US river systems since the Pliocene.
Probabilistic object maps for long-term robot localization
(2023-04-26) Adkins, Amanda; Biswas, Joydeep (Assistant professor)
Robots deployed in settings such as warehouses and parking lots must cope with frequent and substantial changes when localizing in their environments. While many previous localization and mapping algorithms have explored methods of identifying and focusing on long-term features to handle change in such environments, we propose a different approach – can a robot understand the distribution of movable objects and relate it to observations of such objects to reason about global localization? In this thesis, we present probabilistic object maps (POMs), which represent the distributions of movable objects using pose-likelihood sample pairs derived from prior trajectories through the environment and use a Gaussian process classifier to generate the likelihood of an object at a query pose. We also introduce POM-Localization, which uses an observation model based on POMs to perform inference on a factor graph for globally consistent long-term localization. We present empirical results showing that POM-Localization is indeed effective at producing globally consistent localization estimates in challenging real-world environments and that POM-Localization improves trajectory estimates even when the POM is formed from partially incorrect data.
Reading the city : East Austin
(2012-05) Ogden, Rowan Matthew; Shields, David, M.F.A.; Olsen, Dan
My research trajectory focuses on creating graphic interpretations of the relationship between the urban landscape and the populations that reside within it. I use the term reading the city to indicate the process of selecting a focal point and connecting relevant information to it. By creating experimental mappings that connect the physical experience of the East Austin to relevant information contexts I seek to develop a series of design strategies that are appropriate for fostering a heightened awareness of the dynamics that shape the urban environment. In this context, graphic design functions as the primary tool for expressing these connections. This report explores the development of the reading process by summarizing conceptual precedents and eleven personal works, which were undertaken to explore the viability of the approach.
The student's experience of multimodal assignments : play, learning, and visual thinking
(2012-12) Nahas, Lauren Mitchell; Faigley, Lester, 1947-; Roberts-Miller, Patricia; Syverson, Margaret; Hodgson, Justin; Pena, Jorge
Much of current pedagogical discussion of the use of multimodal assignments in the writing classroom argues that one benefit of such assignments is that they foster student engagement, innovation, and creativity while simultaneously teaching writing and argumentation concepts. Although such discussions rarely use the term “play,” play theorists consider engagement, innovation, creativity, and learning to be central characteristics and outcomes of play. Thus, what many scholars view as a major outcome of multimodal assignments might most accurately be described as playful learning. In order to investigate the validity of claims that playful learning is a product of multimodal assignments, this dissertation reports on the results of a comparative case study of four different classrooms that used multimodal assignments. The objective of the study was to better understand the students’ experience of these assignments because the students’ perspective is only represented anecdotally in the literature. The study’s research questions asked: Do students find these assignments to be playful, creative, or engaging experiences? Do they view these assignments as related to and supportive of the more traditional goals of the course? And what role does the visual nature of these technologies have in the student’s experience of using them or in their pedagogical effectiveness? Each case was composed of a different writing course, a different assignment, and a different multimodal computer technology. The results of the study show that students generally did find these assignments both enjoyable and useful in terms of the learning goals of the course. Many students even went so far as to describe them as fun, indicating that for some students these were playful experiences in the traditional sense. However, comparison of the results of each case illustrates that the simple injection of a multimodal assignment into the classroom will not necessarily create a playful learning experience for students. The students’ experience is a complex phenomenon that is impacted by the structure of the assignment, whether or not they are provided a space for exploration and experimentation, their attitude towards the technology, and the characteristics of the technology.
Synthesis and Raman spectroscopy characterization of long Carbon Nanotubes
(2023-08) Cantu, Rodolfo, Jr.; Shi, Li, Ph. D.
Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) are promising nanomaterials with outstanding thermal, electrical, and mechanical properties. Composed of carbon atoms arranged in thin cylindrical walls, these nanostructures have promising applications in nanoelectronics, ultra-strong fibers, and thermal management solutions. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) has been used to grow CNTs from catalytical nanoparticles at low pressure and high temperatures. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterization of the structures of CNTs can potentially induce defects due to the high electron beam energy. This thesis reports an effort to establish Raman spectroscopy mapping as a relatively non-invasive technique for locating individual suspended and long single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) grown by catalytic CVD before they are transferred for subsequent measurements of their thermal transport and other properties. The g-band and radial breathing mode in the Raman spectrum is used to identify SWCNTs and determine their diameters.