Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Simulation Of Living Processes Utilizing Concurrency And Object-Oriented Programming, Aaron Ziegler

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

What does it mean to be alive? Is it possible to create artificial life-forms that are truly alive? Can a computer program be alive? To answer these questions, I first explore the history of artificial life, beginning with John von Neumann, who designed algorithms possessing lifelike capabilities, and moving on to other famous attempts, such as Horton Conway's 'Game of Life', and Thomas Ray's remarkable 'Tierra' project.

Also included is a discussion on the merits of Object-Oriented programming for simulating, and ultimately synthesizing life on a computer. concurrency is defined, and its value for stimulating and synthesizing life is made …

A Look At Kabbalah, Scott M. Wellman

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

No abstract provided.

Semantic Analysis Of The Postscript Page Description Language, Ben Knuth

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The Postscript page description language is a functional programming language. Central to the effective use of the language are the functional properties of delayed evaluation and referential transparency. Postscript performs all of its operations via distinct, multiple stacks which stores function binding lists, function parameters, and function code. By way of these stacks, Postscript creates dynamic computational states which leads identical expressions to evaluate to different results. This hints towards the polymorphic quality of an object-oriented language, even though it contradicts the functional precept of manifest interfaces thereby introducing a nonorthogonality. One other streak of object-orientation that shows up in …

How Secure Transactions Are Achieved On The Internet Using Ssl: An Honors Presentation Of Internet Security Practices And Protocols, Julie Klinefelter

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

The goal of this project is to research and present the security protocol "Secure Sockets Layer" or as it is more commonly referred to, "SSL." SSL is one of the main encryption techniques used by the internet industry to help ensure the secure transfer of information across the internet. It is one of the main encryption techniques currently under review by Internet Engineering Task Force. SSL is comprised of a strict protocol that initiates a secure "session" between two computing devices. The session is established above the transport level (on the OSI model) and encrypts from the session up. Therefore …

Object-Oriented Development In Creating Software Systems, Brooke Frost

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Object-oriented development has become quite popular and well-known throughout the computer industry. There are three components that are a part of object-oriented development. One component is object-oriented analysis which involves the creation of an object-oriented model based on the application domain of the software system. The second component is object-oriented design which is when the programmers develop an object-oriented model based on the defined requirements for the software system. The last component is object-oriented programming which is the process of implementing the software system so it becomes a reality. Together these three components provide programmers with a beneficial tool in …

The Effects Of Network Latency On Multimedia Applications, James Beach

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Network latency slows the response time of networks such as the Internet. This is an ever increasing problem as applications migrate towards interactive multimedia. To make multimedia applications viable across the Internet, the underlying data delivery structures of the Internet need to be changed. new technologies in network connections and data delivery schemes need to be further researched and implemented. Two cooperating technologies which demonstrate potential in delivering Internet multimedia applications are RealAudio systems and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) networks. Reducing network latency will help in bringing smooth, real-time audio and video to networked computers.

Genetic Algorithms: A Visual Search, Paul W. Jones

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

Genetic algorithms apply the biological principles of selection, mutation, and crossover to a population set containing individuals representing target solutions to a given problem. Using these principles genetic algorithms attempt to create a migration of the individuals in subsequent generations toward the optimal solution.

This project is an attempt to visually represent the progress of a genetic algorithm. The coordinate fitness program attempts to find the maximum or minimum value of a given function. It visually represents the progress of the algorithm by providing a plot of each individual in each generation in time. It is then possible to view …

The Use Of Prime Numbers As An Effective Method Of Cryptology, Joshua Flynn

Honors Theses, 1963-2015

With the increasing amount of information transmitted over networks, there is a need to be able to keep this information from falling into the wrong hands. The method that has been used for the past couple of decades is that of cryptography. This paper gives an explanation of cryptography, as well as different alogorithms that are used to solve the problem. One unique thing about a couple of the algorithms is that they use properties provided by prime numbers. In particular, the RSA model, invented by Rivest, Shamir and Adelman, is one model which utilizes the theory that it is …