his dissertation analyzes how local knowledge improves environmental decisions. The premise is that controlling pollution and addressing public health disparities are not problems that professionals alone can solve. Concerned lay publics, especially low-income populations and people of color that experience…

(cont.) which is expected, given their additional knowledge resources. The respondents' urgency in looking for the relevant knowledge is the primary explanation for this difference between the two networks. This difference in knowledge networking among the different groups did not…

This thesis examines the evolution of Internet based knowledge networks (e-knowledge networks) in the domain of sustainable development. The objective of this thesis is to use an engineering systems approach to understand knowledge networks, identify the barriers to their sustainability…

El estrés oxidativo juega un papel importante como cofactor en la patogénesis del virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH). Los individuos infectados con VIH desarrollan además deficiencia en micronutrientes antioxidantes que recrudecen aún más el estado redox. En la era…

Este trabalho foi conduzido na Comunidade de Vila Cachoeira, município de Ilhéus, Bahia, no período de setembro de 2000 à maio de 2001, tendo como objetivo analisar o resgate do conhecimento da comunidade sobre o uso de plantas medicinais. Foram…

Las plantas medicinales y sus preparaciones farmacéuticas tienen cada vez mayor aceptación por parte del personal de salud y de la población en general. Su utilización se concentra fundamentalmente en la Atención Primaria de Salud, donde contribuyen a resolver muchos…

by Kimberly G. Waters., Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2002., Includes bibliographical references (p. 45-46).

Conversational interfaces have received much attention as a promising natural communication channel between humans and computers. A typical conversational interface consists of three major systems: speech understanding, dialog management and spoken language generation. In such a conversational interface, speech recognition…

Most neural network learning algorithms cannot use knowledge other than what is provided in the training data. Initialized using random weights, they cannot use prior knowledge such as knowledge stored in previously trained networks. This manuscript thesis addresses this problem.…

The activity of designing and developing large, complex, discrete, physical, and engineered products faces the challenges in the physical product system, the organization of people, and the larger systems in which the product resides-the natural and societal systems. This thesis…