Theory and Algorithms Commons^™

Side Channel Detection Of Pc Rootkits Using Nonlinear Phase Space, Rebecca Clark

Poster Presentations

Cyberattacks are increasing in size and scope yearly, and the most effective and common means of attack is through malicious software executed on target devices of interest. Malware threats vary widely in terms of behavior and impact and, thus, effective methods of detection are constantly being sought from the academic research community to offset both volume and complexity. Rootkits are malware that represent a highly feared threat because they can change operating system integrity and alter otherwise normally functioning software. Although normal methods of detection that are based on signatures of known malware code are the standard line of defense, …

Toward A Quantum Neural Network: Proposing The Qaoa Algorithm To Replace A Feed Forward Neural Network, Erick Serrano

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

With a surge in popularity of machine learning as a whole, many researchers have sought optimization methods to reduce the complexity of neural networks; however, only recent attempts have been made to optimize neural networks via quantum computing methods. In this paper, we describe the training process of a feed forward neural network (FFNN) and the time complexity of the training process. We highlight the inefficiencies of the FFNN training process, particularly when implemented with gradient descent, and introduce a call to action for optimization of a FFNN. Afterward, we discuss the strides made in quantum computing to improve the …

Using Torchattacks To Improve The Robustness Of Models With Adversarial Training, William S. Matos Díaz

Cybersecurity: Deep Learning Driven Cybersecurity Research in a Multidisciplinary Environment

Adversarial training has proven to be one of the most successful ways to defend models against adversarial examples. This process consists of training a model with an adversarial example to improve the robustness of the model. In this experiment, Torchattacks, a Pytorch library made for importing adversarial examples more easily, was used to determine which attack was the strongest. Later on, the strongest attack was used to train the model and make it more robust against adversarial examples. The datasets used to perform the experiments were MNIST and CIFAR-10. Both datasets were put to the test using PGD, FGSM, and …

Feature Extraction And Analysis Of Binaries For Classification, Micah Flack

Annual Research Symposium

The research project, Feature Extraction and, Analysis of Binaries for Classification, provides an in-depth examination of the features shared by unlabeled binary samples, for classification into the categories of benign or malicious software using several different methods. Because of the time it takes to manually analyze or reverse engineer binaries to determine their function, the ability to gather features and then instantly classify samples without explicitly programming the solution is incredibly valuable. It is possible to use an online service; however, this is not always viable depending on the sensitivity of the binary. With Python3 and the Pefile library, we …

Cylindrical Similarity Measurement For Helices In Medium-Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy Density Maps, Salim Sazzed, Peter Scheible, Maytha Alshammari, Willy Wriggers, Jing He

College of Sciences Posters

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) density maps at medium resolution (5-10 Å) reveal secondary structural features such as α-helices and β-sheets, but they lack the side chains details that would enable a direct structure determination. Among the more than 800 entries in the Electron Microscopy Data Bank (EMDB) of medium-resolution density maps that are associated with atomic models, a wide variety of similarities can be observed between maps and models. To validate such atomic models and to classify structural features, a local similarity criterion, the F1 score, is proposed and evaluated in this study. The F1 score is theoretically normalized to a …

Prediction: The Quintessential Model Validation Test, Wayne Wakeland

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

It is essential to objectively test how well policy models predict real world behavior. The method used to support this assertion involves the review of three SD policy models emphasizing the degree to which the model was able to fit the historical outcome data and how well model-predicted outcomes matched real world outcomes as they unfolded. Findings indicate that while historical model agreement is a favorable indication of model validity, the act of making predictions without knowing the actual data, and comparing these predictions to actual data, can reveal model weaknesses that might be overlooked when all of the available …

Using Mapreduce Streaming For Distributed Life Simulation On The Cloud, Atanas Radenski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Distributed software simulations are indispensable in the study of large-scale life models but often require the use of technically complex lower-level distributed computing frameworks, such as MPI. We propose to overcome the complexity challenge by applying the emerging MapReduce (MR) model to distributed life simulations and by running such simulations on the cloud. Technically, we design optimized MR streaming algorithms for discrete and continuous versions of Conway’s life according to a general MR streaming pattern. We chose life because it is simple enough as a testbed for MR’s applicability to a-life simulations and general enough to make our results applicable …

The Intersection Between Science And Computer Science Is Almost Empty, Dick Hamlet

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Traditionally, a science such as physics overlaps with mathematics and engineering in a way that has been astonishingly productive. The math provides precise expression for the science, which in turn supplies the engineering with the information it needs to exploit physical phenomena. Computer science naturally wishes to put itself in the center of the traditional picture as a science. Unfortunately, it won't wash. The `science' of programming is pure and simple mathematics, not science. The distinction is more than linguistic, since science and mathematics have quite distinct goals and methods. By making the wrong choice, computer science research has been …

Hardware Acceleration Of Inference Computing: The Numenta Htm Algorithm, Dan Hammerstrom

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

In this presentation I will describe the latest version of the Numenta HTM Cortical Learning Algorithm and why it is interesting for doing research into radical new computer architectures. Then I will discuss the hardware acceleration research we are doing, and briefly look at some preliminary applications development.

Higher-Level Application Of Adaptive Dynamic Programming/Reinforcement Learning – A Next Phase For Controls And System Identification?, George G. Lendaris

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Humans have the ability to make use of experience while performing system identification and selecting control actions for changing situations. In contrast to current technological implementations that slow down as more knowledge is stored, as more experience is gained, human processing speeds up and has enhanced effectiveness. An emerging experience-based (“higher level”) approach promises to endow our technology with enhanced efficiency and effectiveness.

The notions of context and context discernment are important to understanding this human ability. These are defined as appropriate to controls and system-identification. Some general background on controls, Dynamic Programming, and Adaptive Critic leading to Adaptive Dynamic …

Shared Memory, Message Passing, And Hybrid Merge Sorts For Standalone And Clustered Smps, Atanas Radenski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

While merge sort is well-understood in parallel algorithms theory, relatively little is known of how to implement parallel merge sort with mainstream parallel programming platforms, such as OpenMP and MPI, and run it on mainstream SMP-based systems, such as multi-core computers and multi-core clusters. This is misfortunate because merge sort is not only a fast and stable sort algorithm, but it is also an easy to understand and popular representative of the rich class of divide-and-conquer methods; hence better understanding of merge sort parallelization can contribute to better understanding of divide-and-conquer parallelization in general. In this paper, we investigate three …

Random Automata Networks: Why Playing Dice Is Not A Vice, Christof Teuscher

Systems Science Friday Noon Seminar Series

Random automata networks consist of a set of simple compute nodes interacting with each other. In this generic model, one or multiple model parameters, such as the the node interactions and/or the compute functions, are chosen at random. Random Boolean Networks (RBNs) are a particular case of discrete dynamical automata networks where both time and states are discrete. While traditional RBNs are generally credited to Stuart Kauffman (1969), who introduced them as simplified models of gene regulation, Alan Turing proposed unorganized machines as early as 1948. In this talk I will start with Alan Turing's early work on unorganized machines, …

Dragon Age: Origins - Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant, Bioware Corp

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Maps extracted from Dragon Age: Origins with help and explicit permission from BioWare Corp. for use and distribution as benchmark problems.

Contains 156 maps and benchmark problem sets.

Room Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Contains 40 maps of size 512x512 and problem sets. Maps are divided into rooms of size 8x8, 16x16, 32x32, and 64x64. There are 10 maps and problem sets for each room size. Maps with differing room sizes are not scaled: thickness of walls and passages differs.

Maze Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Contains 60 maps of size 512x512 and benchmark problem sets. These maps are algorithm-generated mazes with corridor widths of 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32. There are 10 maps and problem sets for each corridor size.

Random Obstacle Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Contains 70 maps of size 512x512 and benchmark problem sets. These maps are algorithm-generated by blocking grid cells. Maps contain 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%, 35%, or 40% blocked cells. There are 10 maps and problem sets for each percentage.

Warcraft Iii - Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant, Blizzard Corp.

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Maps extracted from Warcraft III from Blizzard Corp. for use and distribution as benchmark problems.

Contains 36 maps and benchmark problem sets, scaled to 512x512 and converted to a simple grid-based format.

Baldur's Gate Ii - Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant, Bioware Corp

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Maps extracted by Yngvi Björnsson from Baldur's Gate II with explicit permission from BioWare Corp. for use and distribution as benchmark problems.

Contains 75 maps and benchmark problem sets scaled to 512 x 512 and 120 original scale maps.

Starcraft - Maps & Benchmark Problems, Nathan R. Sturtevant, Blizzard Corp.

Moving AI Lab: 2D Maps and Benchmark Problems

Maps extracted from Starcraft from Blizzard Corp. for use and distribution as benchmark problems.

Contains 75 maps and benchmark problem sets, converted to standard format by Dave Churchill and post-processed to remove all but the largest connected component.

Parallel Probabilistic Computations On A Cluster Of Workstations, Atanas Radenski, Andrew Vann, Boyana Norris

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

Probabilistic algorithms are computationally intensive approximate methods for solving intractable problems. Probabilistic algorithms are excellent candidates for cluster computations because they require little communication and synchronization. It is possible to specify a common parallel control structure as a generic algorithm for probabilistic cluster computations. Such a generic parallel algorithm can be glued together with domain-specific sequential algorithms in order to derive approximate parallel solutions for different intractable problems.

In this paper we propose a generic algorithm for probabilistic computations on a cluster of workstations. We use this generic algorithm to derive specific parallel algorithms for two discrete optimization problems: the …

Development And Utilization Of Parallel Generic Algorithms For Scientific Computations, Atanas Radenski, Andrew Vann, Boyana Norris

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Books and Book Chapters

We develop generic parallel algorithms as extensible modules that encapsulate related classes and parallel methods. Extensible modules define common parallel structures, such as meshes, pipelines, or master-server networks in problem-independent manner. Such modules can be extended with sequential domain-specific code in order to derive particular parallel applications. In this paper, we first outline the essence of extensible modules. Then, we focus on a case study of the cellular automaton, a message-parallel generic algorithm from which we derive diverse parallel scientific applications.