Digital Commons Network^™

Improving The Knowledge-Based Expert System Lifecycle, Lucien Millette

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge-based expert systems are used to enhance and automate manual processes through the use of a knowledge base and modern computing power. The traditional methodology for creating knowledge-based expert systems has many commonly encountered issues that can prevent successful implementations. Complications during the knowledge acquisition phase can prevent a knowledge-based expert system from functioning properly. Furthermore, the time and resources required to maintain a knowledge-based expert system once implemented can become problematic. There are several concepts that can be integrated into a proposed methodology to improve the knowledge-based expert system lifecycle to create a more efficient process. These methods are …

Evaluating Speedup In Parallel Compilers, Deepa V. Komathukattil

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parallel programming is prevalent in every field mainly to speed up computation. Advancements in multiprocessor technology fuel this trend toward parallel programming. However, modern compilers are still largely single threaded and do not take advantage of the machine resources available to them. There has been a lot of work done on compilers that add parallel constructs to the programs they are compiling, enabling programs to exploit parallelism at run time. Auto parallelization of loops by a compiler is one such example. Researchers have done very little work towards parallelizing the compilation process itself.

The research done here focuses on parallel …

Empirical Performance Analysis Of High Performance Computing Benchmarks Across Variations In Cloud Computing, Sindhu Mani

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High Performance Computing (HPC) applications are data-intensive scientific software requiring significant CPU and data storage capabilities. Researchers have examined the performance of Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) environment across several HPC benchmarks; however, an extensive HPC benchmark study and a comparison between Amazon EC2 and Windows Azure (Microsoft’s cloud computing platform), with metrics such as memory bandwidth, Input/Output (I/O) performance, and communication computational performance, are largely absent. The purpose of this study is to perform an exhaustive HPC benchmark comparison on EC2 and Windows Azure platforms.

We implement existing benchmarks to evaluate and analyze performance of two public clouds spanning …

Improvements In Genetic Approach To Pole Placement In Linear State Space Systems Through Island Approach Pga With Orthogonal Mutation Vectors, Arnold Cassell

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a genetic approach for shaping the dynamic responses of linear state space systems through pole placement. This paper makes further comparisons between this approach and an island approach parallel genetic algorithm (PGA) which incorporates orthogonal mutation vectors to increase sub-population specialization and decrease convergence time.

Both approaches generate a gain vector K. The vector K is used in state feedback for altering the poles of the system so as to meet step response requirements such as settling time and percent overshoot. To obtain the gain vector K by the proposed genetic approaches, a pair of ideal, desired …

Cross-Cultural Comparative Study Of Users’ Perception Of The Navigation Organization Of An E-Commerce Web Application, Tetiana A. Bilyayeva

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The object of this study was to assess the influence of native language, as a principal cultural characteristic, one users’ behavior when using a web-based e-commerce application. The study expands on previous research by comparing English and Russian users. The research also considered demographic data to assess additional factors that influence behavior and task performance. The research design encompassed an online shopping application with two different navigation menus. One menu was based on the action-object model and the other was based on the object-action model. The user interface was created in two different languages (Russian and …

Flexural Behavior Of Laterally Damaged Full-Scale Bridge Girders Through The Use Of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers (Cfrp), Nicholas James Alteri

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The repair and strengthening of concrete bridge members with CFRP has become increasingly popular over recent years. However, significant research is still needed in order to develop more robust guidelines and specifications. The research project aims to assist with improving design procedures for damaged concrete members with the use of CFRP.

This document summarizes the analysis and testing of full-scale 40’ foot long prestressed concrete (PSC) bridge girders exposed to simulated impact damage and repaired with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) materials. A total of five AASHTO type II bridge girders fabricated in the 1960’s were taken from an …

Colordots: An Intersection Analysis Resistant Graphical Password Scheme For The Prevention Of Shoulder-Surfing Attack, Jim Littleton

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an increasingly mobile world, the combination of mobile computing devices, publicly accessible Wi-Fi hotspots, and camera phones pose a significant threat to alphanumeric passwords in public environments. Graphical passwords, introduced as an alternative to alphanumerical passwords, help prevent successful shoulder-surfing attacks – covertly observing or recording a password login session, however, most cannot prevent intersection analysis on the data collected through shoulder-surfing. ColorDots is a new graphical password scheme designed to be easy to use and learn, to prevent successful shoulder-surfing attacks, and to hinder intersection analysis. A software implementation of ColorDots is tested, and the results analyzed. This …