Engineering Commons^™

Controlling The Uncontrollable: A New Approach To Digital Storytelling Using Autonomous Virtual Actors And Environmental Manipulation, Matthew J. Colon

Master's Theses

In most video games today that focus on a single story, scripting languages are used for controlling the artificial intelligence of the virtual actors. While scripting is a great tool for reliably performing a story, it has many disadvantages; mainly, it is limited by only being able to respond to those situations that were explicitly declared, causing unreliable responses to unknown situations, and the believability of the virtual actor is hindered by possible conflicts between scripted actions and appropriate responses as perceived by the viewer. This paper presents a novel method of storytelling by manipulating the environment, whether physically or …

Wi-Fi Localization Using Rssi Fingerprinting, Michael Quan, Eduardo Navarro, Benjamin Peuker

Computer Engineering

Wireless Local Area Networks using Wi-Fi is becoming more and more ubiquitous. As such, they provide a potential pre-built infrastructure for small area localization. This project serves as a proof of concept for a playground child tracking system to be deployed at Cal Poly's Child Development Playground Lab. The two main options for doing Wi-Fi localization are triangulation and fingerprinting. Triangulation involves mapping signal strength as a function of distance while fingerprinting creates a probability distribution of signal strengths at a given location and uses a map of these distributions to predict a location given signal strength samples. The triangulation …

An Empirical Evaluation Of The Effectiveness Of Jml Assertions As Test Oracles, Kavir Shrestha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Test oracles remain one of the least understood aspects of the modern testing process. An oracle is a mechanism used by software testers and software engineers for determining whether a test has passed or failed. One widely-supported approach to oracles is the use of runtime assertion checking during the testing activity. Method invariants,pre- and postconditions help detect bugs during runtime. While assertions are supported by virtually all programming environments, are used widely in practice, and are often assumed to be effective as test oracles, there are few empirical studies of their efficacy in this role. In this thesis, we present …

A Physical Model Of Human Skin And Its Application For Search And Rescue, Abel S. Nunez

Theses and Dissertations

For this research we created a human skin reflectance model in the VIS and NIR. We then modeled sensor output for an RGB sensor based on output from the skin reflectance model. The model was also used to create a skin detection algorithm and a skin pigmentation level (skin reflectance at 685nm) estimation algorithm. The average root mean square error across the VIS and NIR between the skin reflectance model and measured data was 2%. The skin reflectance model then allowed us to generate qualitatively accurate responses for an RGB sensor for different biological and lighting conditions. To test the …

Tsukahara: A Comprehensive Web Solution Designed To Simplify The Process Of Hosting A Gymnastics Meet., Jonathan Thomassian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The process of setting up a gymnastics meet is long and complicated. Most meets organized today involve large amounts of paperwork by both organizing gyms and attending gyms. Tsukahara seeks to address this issue by providing a comprehensive web based solution, to make it easy for gyms to both host and attend meets.

Redesigning Src2pkg, A Linux Package Creation Toolkit, Timothy Goya

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Package managers ease installation and removal of applications. However, as the name indicates, in order for a package manager to be useful, they need packages created from upstream sources to manage. This is the purpose of src2pkg, a toolkit written in Bash shell script which automates many package creation tasks. src2pkg, however, suffers from major design flaws that cripple its ability to package some exotic upstream sources. src2pkg-ng is a prototype redesign of src2pkg that eliminates these flaws. src2pkg-ng fully supports creating packages for Slackware and Slackware-compatible variants for at least 21 upstream sources with various levels of complexity. Debian …

A System For Natural Language Unmarked Clausal Transformations In Text-To-Text Applications, Daniel Miller

Master's Theses

A system is proposed which separates clauses from complex sentences into simpler stand-alone sentences. This is useful as an initial step on raw text, where the resulting processed text may be fed into text-to-text applications such as Automatic Summarization, Question Answering, and Machine Translation, where complex sentences are difficult to process. Grammatical natural language transformations provide a possible method to simplify complex sentences to enhance the results of text-to-text applications. Using shallow parsing, this system improves the performance of existing systems to identify and separate marked and unmarked embedded clauses in complex sentence structure resulting in syntactically simplified source for …

Affine Region Tracking And Augmentation Using Mser And Adaptive Sift Model Generation, Matthew James Marano

Master's Theses

Relatively complex Augmented Reality (AR) algorithms are becoming widely available due to advancements in affordable mobile computer hardware. To take advantage of this a new method is developed for tracking 2D regions without a prior knowledge of an environment and without developing a computationally expensive world model. In the method of this paper, affinely invariant planar regions in a scene are found using the Maximally Stable Extremal Region (MSER) detector. A region is selected by the user to define a search space, and then the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) is used to detect affine invariant keypoints in the region. …

Synthesis Minimizations And Mesh Algorithm Selection: An Extension Of The Ultrasonic 3d Camera, Taylor Johnson

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this Capstone project was to perform synthesis minimizations and optimal mesh algorithm selection for some of the digital components of a prototype Ultrasonic 3D Camera, the subject of my group senior design project for computer engineering. Both of the high-level design tasks that I performed were unnecessary for the scope of the senior design class, whose focus was simply to perform a proof-of-concept or create a basic, functioning prototype. The steps I took in performing synthesis optimizations and mesh algorithm selection went beyond the scope of the senior project, by doing the polishing that …

Bottom-Up Ontology Creation With A Direct Instance Input Interface, Charles C.H. Wei

Master's Theses

In general an ontology is created by following a top-down, or so called genus-species approach, where the species are differentiated from the genus and from each other by means of differentiae [8]. The superconcept is the genus, every subconcept is a species, and the differentiae correspond to roles. To complete it a user organizes data into a proper structure, accompanied with the instances in that domain in order to complete the construction of an ontology. It is a concept learning procedure in a school, for example. Students first learn the general knowledge and apply it to their exercise and homework …

Fuzzy Optimal Swarm Of Autonomous Aircrafts For Target Determination And Convergence Control System, Zach D. Richards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis project proposes analytical and theoretical algorithms for a networked swarm of autonomous vehicles, such as those used in planet exploration, and to be used in target location determination and convergence, an algorithm of this type could be used in an Autonomous Stratospheric Aircraft (ASA), thus having the possibility of being used for the exploration of a planet as well as many other applications. Upon locating an unknown location of a specified target, the algorithm would then swarm and eventually converge upon the location. There are two similar, but fundamentally different algorithms proposed in this project. These algorithms are …

Application Of Parent-Child Uav Tasking For Wildfire Detection And Response, Stephen T. Kubik

Master's Theses

In recent years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have become a dominant force in the aerospace industry. Recent technological developments have moved these aircraft from remote operation roles to more active response missions. Of particular interest is the possibility of applying UAVs toward solving complex problems in long-endurance missions. Under that belief, the feasibility of utilizing UAVs for wildfire detection and response was investigated in a partnership that included NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and Science Mission Directorate, and the United States Forest Service. Under NASA’s Intelligent Mission Management (IMM) project, research was conducted to develop a mission architecture that would …

Accessible Interactive Campus Mapping System For Syracuse University/Suny-Esf, Aaron C. Knight

Honors Capstone Projects - All

This written component of my Capstone Thesis in Computer Science covers the conceptualization and realization, and the process in between those stages, of my project, the Syracuse University Accessible Interactive Campus Map system. The system in its present state is launched at http://map.syr.edu. This project creates a usable and useful map and directions system for the Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF communities, which have long suffered without any properly oriented or fully functional map, much less an online one of any use. What this project also does is turn the Syracuse University Accessibility Map, produced by the Office of Disability Services …

Sexual Conflict Over Egg Allocation: A Dynamic Programming Approach To Modeling The Evolution Of Male Harm And Female Resistance, David Kelley

Honors Capstone Projects - All

Sexual conflict, which is expected to be ubiquitous among polygamous species, is known to occasionally result in male adaptations that are harmful to females. One theoretical model indicates that males may benefit from physically harming their mates by triggering a “terminal investment” reproductive response by them. Using dynamic programming, we explore how females optimize their lifetime egg allocation, how selection acts on males to exploit such allocation, and how females respond to resist this exploitation. The model reveals alternative female response pathways; one of the most effective of which is simply to forgo plasticity in egg allocation. By switching to …

Using Concept Maps To More Efficiently Create Intelligence Information Models, Christopher E. Coryell

Theses and Dissertations

Information models are a critical tool that enables intelligence customers to quickly and accurately comprehend U.S. intelligence agency products. The Knowledge Pre-positioning System (KPS) is the standard repository for information models at the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC). The current approach used by NASIC to build a KPS information model is laborious and costly. Intelligence analysts design an information model using a manual, butcher-paper-based process. The output of their work is then entered into KPS by either a single NASIC KPS "database modeler" or a contractor (at a cost of roughly $100K to the organization). This thesis proposes …

A Study Of Rootkit Stealth Techniques And Associated Detection Methods, Daniel D. Nerenberg

Theses and Dissertations

In today's world of advanced computing power at the fingertips of any user, we must constantly think of computer security. Information is power and this power is had within our computer systems. If we cannot trust the information within our computer systems then we cannot properly wield the power that comes from such information. Rootkits are software programs that are designed to develop and maintain an environment in which malware may hide on a computer system after successful compromise of that computer system. Rootkits cut at the very foundation of the trust that we put in our information and subsequent …

Jess – A Java Security Scanner For Eclipse, Russell Spitler

Honors Theses

Secure software is the responsibility of every developer. In order to help a developer with this responsibility there are many automated source code security auditors. These tools perform a variety of functions, from finding calls to insecure functions to poorly generated random numbers. These programs have existed for years and perform the security audit with varying degrees of success.

Largely missing in the world of programming is such a security auditor for the Java programming language. Currently, Fortify Software produces the only Java source code security auditor; this is a commercially available package.

This void is what inspired JeSS, Java …

Determining The Effectiveness Of Deceptive Honeynets, Nirbhay Gupta

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Over the last few years, incidents of network based intrusions have rapidly increased, due to the increase and popularity of various attack tools easily available for download from the Internet. Due to this increase in intrusions, the concept of a network defence known as Honeypots developed. These honeypots are designed to ensnare attackers and monitor their activities. Honeypots use the principles of deception such as masking, mimicry, decoying, inventing, repackaging and dazzling to deceive attackers. Deception exists in various forms. It is a tactic to survive and defeat the motives of attackers. Due to its presence in the nature, deception …

A Study Of The Security Implications Involved With The Use Of Executable World Wide Web Content, Christopher Hu

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Malicious executable code is nothing new. While many consider that the concept of malicious code began in the 1980s when the first PC viruses began to emerge, the concept does in fact date back even earlier. Throughout the history of malicious code, methods of hostile code delivery have mirrored prevailing patterns of code distribution. In the 1980s, file infecting and boot sector viruses were common, mirroring the fact that during this time, executable code was commonly transferred via floppy disks. Since the 1990s email has been a major vector for malicious code attacks. Again, this mirrors the fact that during …

Automatic Human Face Detection In Color Images, Son Lam Phung

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Automatic human face detection in digital image has been an active area of research over the past decade. Among its numerous applications, face detection plays a key role in face recognition system for biometric personal identification, face tracking for intelligent human computer interface (HCI), and face segmentation for object-based video coding. Despite significant progress in the field in recent years, detecting human faces in unconstrained and complex images remains a challenging problem in computer vision. An automatic system that possesses a similar capability as the human vision system in detecting faces is still a far-reaching goal. This thesis focuses on …

Analogue-To-Digital Conversion And Image Enhancement Using Neuron-Mos Technology, Joseph W. Austin-Crowe

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis describes the development of two novel circuits that use a newly developed technology, that of neuron-MOS, for the purposes of analogue-to-digital conversion and image enhancement. Neuron-MOS has the potential to reduce both the complexity and number of transistors required for analogue and digital circuits. A reduced area, low transistor-count- analogue-to-digital converter that is suitable for inclusion in a massively parallel array of identical image processing elements is developed. Supporting the function of the array some fundamental image enhancement operations, such as edge enhancement, are examined exploiting the unique features of neuron-MOS technology.

An Examination Of The Relationships Among Learning Style, Attitudes, And Outcomes Of Computer-Assisted Instruction, Daniel Glen Wilson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This research was based upon a hypothesized AptitudeTreatment Interaction (ATI). More specifically, the research investigated the relationships between student learning style (aptitude) and student outcomes with computer-assisted instruction (treatment). These outcomes included student achievement with computer-assisted instruction (CAI) and student attitude toward CAI.

To examine these relationships, a researcher-developed CAI program on light and color theory was validated and administered to 144 students in an educational media course at the University of Northern Iowa. Participants in the study were first asked to complete the Grasha-Riechmann Student Learning Style Scales (GRSLSS) inventory along with a demographic survey. Next, each participant completed …

Design And Applications Of A Graphics Package For The Hp1000 Computer., Hsiao-Chih George Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to develop the FORTRAN subroutine PLOTER which is a general-purpose plotting tool to plot charts on a Hewlett Packard plotter. The programs RESP and INVLAP which can plot the frequency and time responses of system functions are modified to adopt the PLOTER subroutine and are stored of the HP1000-A900 minicomputer whose software, the GRAPHICS/1000, supports the graphics ability of PLOTER. This thesis describes the theories, functions, software techniques and operations of the PLOTER subroutine and the application programs RESP and the INVLAP. It also provides program listings and example plots.