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…

This report develops a conceptual framework in which to talk about mathematical knowledge. There are several broad categories of mathematical knowledge: results which contain the traditional logical aspects of mathematics; examples which contain illustrative material; and concepts which include formal…

If we are provided a face database with only one example view per person, is it possible to recognize new views of them under a variety of different poses, especially views rotated in depth from the original example view? We…

The studies of anatomy and physiology are fundamental ingredients of medical education. This paper identifies six ways in which such functional knowledge serves as the underpinnings for general medical reasoning, and outlines the design of a computational model of common…

Many systems have been developed for constructing decision trees from collections of examples. Although the decision trees generated by these methods are accurate and efficient, they often suffer the disadvantage of excessive complexity that can render them incomprehensible to experts.…

This is a partial theory of thinking, combining a number of classical and modern concepts from psychology, linguistics, and AI. Whenever one encounters a new situation (or makes a substantial change in one's viewpoint) he selects from memory a structure…

A key problem in model-based object recognition is selection, namely, the problem of isolating regions in an image that are likely to come from a single object. This isolation can be either based solely on image data (data-driven) or can…

Control of machines that exhibit flexibility becomes important when designers attempt to push the state of the art with faster, lighter machines. Three steps are necessary for the control of a flexible planet. First, a good model of the plant…

The state of business in the U.S. automobile industry is such that competition is fierce, and consumers have a perplexing number of alternatives from which to choose. The final purchase decision by the consumer is where most industry experts focus…

Intelligent autonomous agents working cooperatively accomplish tasks more efficiently than single agents, as well as tasks that were infeasible for the single agent. For example, a single agent transporting a ton of blocks will need to take multiple trips, possibly…