While machine vision research has continued to improve multi-fold over the past few decades, it still significantly falls short of the abilities and efficiencies of the primate visual cortex system. The primate brain is especially superior as pertains to comprehending and interacting with complex natural environments. In energy-efficiencies, the brain is estimated to be five to six orders bette...

Models for automatic speech recognition (ASR) hold detailed information about spectral and spectro-temporal characteristics of clean speech signals. Using these models for speech enhancement is desirable and has been the target of past research efforts. In such model-based speech enhancement systems, a powerful ASR is imperative. To increase the recognition rates especially in low-SNR condition...

ACKNOWLEGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Prof. Ali Adibi, for his support and guidance throughout my PhD years, and for giving me the chance to be a part of the Georgia Tech community. the past six years. for their kind efforts in reviewing the present dissertation, and for honoring me with their presence at my doctoral defense session. especially Devin Brown and Gar...

Advances in genetic technology over the past two decades have provided a variety of molecular genetic marker systems that are enabling new insights into the historical and contemporary processes that influence fish biology. Genetic research on brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) in Algonquin Park is allowing us to examine issues ranging from the phylogeogra...

The re-emergence of the zoonotic importance of trichinellosis reminds us that this parasite's unique biological features serve it well in helping it to persist in the face of 150 years of efforts to eliminate it from the food chain. Because of Trichinella's re-emergence as an important public health risk, and the consequent stimulation of research, our knowledge of the parasite has grown, espec...

Interconnections between the faith-based and medical sectors are multifaceted and have existed for centuries, including partnerships that have evolved over the past several decades in the U.S. This paper outlines ten points of intersection that have engaged medical and healthcare professionals and institutions across specialties, focusing especially on primary care, global health, and community...

With the expected introduction of robots into our daily lives, providing mechanisms to avoid undesired attacks and exploits in robot communication software is becoming increasingly required. Just as during the beginnings of the computer age (Pfleeger and Pfleeger, 2002), robotics is established in a “happy naivety,” where security rules against external attacks are not adopted, assuming that ro...

Three-dimensional (3D) functional systems are of rapidly growing interest over the past decade, from perspective both fundamental and applied research. In particular, tremendous efforts have been devoted to developments 3D flexible, physical sensors, partly because their substantial advantages planar counterparts in many specific performances. this review, we summarize recent advances diverse c...