In a spatial regression context, scientists are often interested in a physical interpretation of components of the parametric covariance function. For example, spatial covariance parameter estimates in ecological settings have been interpreted to describe spatial heterogeneity or “patchiness” in a landscape that cannot be explained by measured covariates. In this article, we investigate the inf...

Vivek A. Sujan Steven Dubowsky Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Mechanical Engineering Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 Abstract. The basic technology for a robotic system is developed to automate the packing of polycrystalline silicon nuggets into fragile fused silica crucible in Czochralski (melt pulling) semiconductor wafer production. The highly irregular shapes of the nugg...