Digital Commons Network^™

A Multi-Agent Approach For Solving Optimization Problems Involving Expensive Resources, Hoong Chuin Lau, H. Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose a multi-agent approach for solving a class of optimization problems involving expensive resources, where monolithic local search schemes perform miserably. More specifically, we study the class of bin-packing problems. Under our proposed Fine-Grained Agent System scheme, rational agents work both collaboratively and selfishly based on local search and mimic physics-motivated systems. We apply our approach to a generalization of bin-packing - the Inventory Routing Problem with Time Windows - which is an important logistics problem, and demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our approach.

Scaling A Dataflow Testing Methodology To The Multiparadigm World Of Commercial Spreadsheets, Marc Randall Fisher Ii, Gregg Rothermel, Tyler Creelan, Margaret Burnett

School of Computing: Technical Reports

Spreadsheet languages are widely used by end users to perform a broad range of important tasks. Evidence shows, however, that spreadsheets often contain faults. Thus, in prior work we presented a dataflow testing methodology for use with spreadsheets, that provides feedback about the coverage of cells in spreadsheets via visual devices. Studies have shown that this methodology, which we call WYSIWYT (What You See Is What You Test), can be used cost-effectively by end-user programmers. To date, however, the methodology has been investigated across a limited set of spreadsheet language features. Commercial spreadsheet environments are multiparadigm languages, utilizing features often …

The Icdm Development Toolkit: Technical Description, Russell Leighton, Lakshmi Vempati, Alan Davis, Mark Porczak, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This report provides a technical description of the Integrated Cooperative Decision-Making (ICDM) software toolkit for the development of intelligent decision-support applications. An overview of the transformational forces that have precipitated the need for a development toolkit capable of supporting a distributed, information-centric software environment, and the objectives of ICDM are contained in a companion CDM Technical Report (CDM-16-04) entitled: “The ICDM Development Toolkit: Purpose and Overview”.

ICDM is an application development framework and toolkit for distributed decision-support systems incorporating software agents that collaborate with each other and human users to monitor changes (i.e., events) in the state of problem situations, …

Secure Context-Sensitive Authorization, Kazuhiro Minami, David Kotz

Computer Science Technical Reports

There is a recent trend toward rule-based authorization systems to achieve flexible security policies. Also, new sensing technologies in pervasive computing make it possible to define context-sensitive rules, such as ``allow database access only to staff who are currently located in the main office.'' However, these rules, or the facts that are needed to verify authority, often involve sensitive context information. This paper presents a secure context-sensitive authorization system that protects confidential information in facts or rules. Furthermore, our system allows multiple hosts in a distributed environment to perform the evaluation of an authorization query in a collaborative way; we …

A Performance And Schedulability Analysis Of An Autonomous Mobile Robot, Ala' Adel Qadi, Steve Goddard, Jiangyang Huang, Shane Farritor

School of Computing: Technical Reports

We present an autonomous, mobile, robotics application that requires dynamic adjustments of task execution rates to meet the demands of an unpredictable environment. The Robotic Safety Marker (RSM) system consists of one lead robot, the foreman, and a group of guided robots, called robotic safety markers (a.k.a., barrels). An extensive analysis is conducted of two applications running on the foreman. Both applications require adjusting task periods to achieve desired performance metrics with respect to the speed at which a system task is completed, the accuracy of RSM placement, or the number of RSMs controlled by the foreman. A static priority …

A Bayesian Technique For Task Localization In Multiple Goal Markov Decision Processes, James Carroll, Kevin Seppi

Faculty Publications

In a reinforcement learning task library system for Multiple Goal Markov Decision Process (MGMDP), localization in the task space allows the agent to determine whether a given task is already in its library in order to exploit previously learned experience. Task localization in MGMDPs can be accomplished through a Bayesian approach, however a trivial approach fails when the rewards are not distributed normally. This can be overcome through our Bayesian Task Localization Technique (BTLT).

Variable Resolution Discretization In The Joint Space, Christopher K. Monson, Kevin Seppi, David Wingate, Todd S. Peterson

Faculty Publications

We present JoSTLe, an algorithm that performs value iteration on control problems with continuous actions, allowing this useful reinforcement learning technique to be applied to problems where a priori action discretization is inadequate. The algorithm is an extension of a variable resolution technique that works for problems with continuous states and discrete actions. Results are given that indicate that JoSTLe is a promising step toward reinforcement learning in a fully continuous domain.

Requirement Elicitation Of Large Web Projects., David E. Frazier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One of the most important aspects of developing a large Web-based project is getting the correct requirements from the client. Time and money can be lost if the requirements are incomplete or inaccurate. Traditional Web design sources tend to gloss over this important activity.

Software engineering is a mature field that can help in the quest for more complete and accurate requirement gathering. This paper explores the ways that traditional software engineering techniques can be applied to Web projects. A methodology is presented based on both existing and new techniques. Several experiments are conducted to determine the usefulness of each …

Annotation Manager: An Automated Web-Based Content Management System For Digital Libraries With Annotated Bibliographies, Frenny Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

With the expansion of the World Wide Web in the 90s, individuals (especially students) are always on a quest for information resources especially in the form of Web sites. Yet many of them are overwhelmed when faced with deciding which site will best suit their research needs. As a result, these individuals may select a resource for less than optimal reasons. To ease some of the burden, libraries have made great advances to provide a place to organize information resources. Such places are called library portals, and they typically provide a gateway to web resources by categorizing and annotating them …

Using Fine-Grained Cycle Stealing To Improve Throughput, Efficiency And Response Time On A Dedicated Cluster While Maintaining Quality Of Service, Gary Stiehr

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

For various reasons, a dedicated cluster is not always fully utilized even when all of its processors are allocated to jobs. This occurs any time that a running job does not use 100% of each of the processors allocated to it. Keeping in mind the needs of both the cluster’s system administrators and its users, we would like to increase the throughput and efficiency of the cluster while maintaining or improving the average turnaround time of the jobs and the quality of service of the “primary” jobs originally scheduled on the cluster. To increase the throughput and efficiency of the …

A Credit-Based Distributed Protocol For Long-Term Fairness In Ieee 802.11 Single-Hop Networks, Yan Wu, Sonia Fahmy

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Robust And Distributed Computation Of Aggregates In Wireless Sensor Networks, Jen-Yeu Chen, Gopal Pandurangan, Dongyan Xu

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Unstructured Peer-To-Peer Networks For Sharing Processor Cycles, Asad Awan, Ronaldo A. Ferreira, Suresh Jagannathan, Ananth Y. Grama

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

On The Use Of Randomness In Computing To Perform Intelligent Tasks, Ryan Scott Regensburger

Theses and Dissertations

The study of Artificial Intelligence attempts to simulate the processes of human intelligence in a set of computable algorithms. The purpose of Random Algorithms in this field is to provide a best-guess approach at identifying the unknown. In this thesis, research shows that random algorithms are able to break down many intelligent processes into a set of solvable problems. For example, solving puzzles and playing games involve the same estimating ability shown in standard problems such as the Coupon Collector problem or the Monty Hall problem. This thesis shows Random Algorithmic applications in two overlapping categories of intelligent behavior: Pattern …

Statistical Tools For Digital Image Forensics, Alin C. Popescu

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

A digitally altered image, often leaving no visual clues of having been tampered with, can be indistinguishable from an authentic image. The tampering, however, may disturb some underlying statistical properties of the image. Under this assumption, we propose five techniques that quantify and detect statistical perturbations found in different forms of tampered images: (1) re-sampled images (e.g., scaled or rotated); (2) manipulated color filter array interpolated images; (3) double JPEG compressed images; (4) images with duplicated regions; and (5) images with inconsistent noise patterns. These techniques work in the absence of any embedded watermarks or signatures. For each technique we …

Forensic Analysis Of Digital Image Tampering, Jonathan R. Sturak

Theses and Dissertations

The use of digital photography has increased over the past few years, a trend which opens the door for new and creative ways to forge images. The manipulation of images through forgery influences the perception an observer has of the depicted scene, potentially resulting in ill consequences if created with malicious intentions. This poses a need to verify the authenticity of images originating from unknown sources in absence of any prior digital watermarking or authentication technique. This research explores the holes left by existing research; specifically, the ability to detect image forgeries created using multiple image sources and specialized methods …

Distributed Artificial Neural Network (Dann): Model Of Human Memory Behavior, Karen Meriweather

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is believed that a distributed network system will provide a general means of understanding cognitive functions that occur in the brain. This study provides a framework for modeling human memory behavior using a Distributed Artificial Neural Network (DANN) architecture. This approach presents a different method for modeling cognitive functions using peer-to-peer computing. The computers on the network represents different memory stores, and by using Hopfield Neural Network Techniques, along with the software application Joone, the final product is a DANN system that exhibits human memory behavior and the ability to associate input vectors from the Fisher's Iris Classification output …

Modeling The Spread And Prevention Of Malicious Mobile Code Via Simulation Cs-2004-15, Christopher Brian Shirey

Theses and Dissertations

Malicious mobile code causes billions of dollars every year in damages, and that cost keeps increasing. Traditional signature-based anti-virus software is a reactive solution that can not detect fast spreading malicious code quickly enough to prevent widespread infection. If we hope to prevent widespread infection of future malicious mobile code, new prevention techniques must be developed that either stop a new infection completely, or at least limit the spread until signature-based anti-virus software can be updated. Simulators exist that model the spread of malicious mobile code, but none currently exists that can efficiently model host-based and network-based spread prevention techniques …

Analysis Of Hostile Network Reconnaissance To Anticipate And Mitigate Network Attacks, Luis Angel Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Network security systems today such as current intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems and firewalls are good at reacting to attacks as they occur or shortly after they occur. Current security systems lack the ability to identify and detect the activity that usually precedes an attack. This activity is known as network reconnaissance. In this thesis we have developed a technique that can assist current security systems to detect hostile network reconnaissance to anticipate and mitigate network attacks.

U-Commerce: Emerging Trends And Research Issues, H. Galanxhi-Janaqi, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Ubiquitous commerce or u-commerce is the combination of traditional e-commerce and wireless, television, voice and silent commerce. U-commerce implies ubiquity, universality, uniqueness and unison. It is not a replacement for other types of commerce, but an extension of them. While bringing many benefits, there are challenges and impediments to overcome. Research is needed to assess the value of u-commerce and to address its related issues and challenges. Questions that need to be addressed are: What is the value of u-commerce? What are the ways to maximize the benefits and value of u-commerce? Is it the right technology and what directions …

Method For Identifying Individuals, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A method and system for identifying a subject comprises obtaining a digitised recording of an electrocardiogram measurement of the subject to be identified, the digitised recording being a cyclic waveform having a peak amplitude. The digitised recording is normalised to reduce variations due to physiological effects, and the normalised recording is processed to determine a feature vector in the frequency domain. The distance between the determined feature vector and a predetermined feature vector is measured to identify the subject.

Automatic Model Structuring From Text Using Biomedical Ontology, Joshi R., Li X., Ramachandaran S., Tze-Yun Leong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Bayesian Networks and Influence Diagrams are effective methods for structuring clinical problems. Constructing a relevant structure without the numerical probabilities in itself is a challenging task. In addition, due to the rapid rate of innovations and new findings in the biomedical domain, constructing a relevant graphical model becomes even more challenging. Building a model structure from text with minimum intervention from domain experts and minimum training examples has always been a challenge for the researchers. In the biomedical domain, numerous advances have been made which may make this dream a possibility now. We are currently trying to build a general …

Secure Hardware Enhanced Myproxy: A Ph.D. Thesis Proposal, John Marchesini, Sean Smith

Computer Science Technical Reports

In 1976, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman demonstrated how "New Directions In Cryptography" could enable secure information exchange between parties that do not share secrets. In order for public key cryptography to work in modern distributed environments, we need an infrastructure for finding and trusting other parties' public keys (i.e., a PKI). A number of useful applications become possible with PKI. While the applications differ in how they use keys (e.g., S/MIME uses the key for message encryption and signing, while client-side SSL uses the key for authentication), all applications share one assumption: users have keypairs. In previous work, we …

Automating The Extraction Of Domain-Specific Information From The Web-A Case Study For The Genealogical Domain, Troy L. Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Current ways of finding genealogical information within the millions of pages on the Web are inadequate. In an effort to help genealogical researchers find desired information more quickly, we have developed GeneTIQS, a Genealogy Target-based Information Query System. GeneTIQS builds on ontology-based methods of data extraction to allow database-style queries on the Web. This thesis makes two main contributions to GeneTIQS. (1) It builds a framework to do generic ontology-based data extraction. (2) It develops a hybrid record separator based on Vector Space Modeling that uses both formatting clues and data clues to split pages into component records. The record …

Target-Dominant Chinese-English Machine Translation, Dan Su

Theses and Dissertations

Information exchange is increasing rapidly with the advent of globalization. As the language spoken by the most people in today's world, Chinese will play an important role in information exchange in the future. Therefore, we need an efficient and practical means to access the increasingly large volume of Chinese data. This thesis describes a target-dominant Chinese-English machine translation system, which can translate a given Chinese news sentence into English. We conjecture that we can improve the state of the art of MT using a TDMT approach. This system has participated in the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) 2004 …

Perceptual Evaluation Of Point-Based Object Representation, Paul Schwarz

Computer Science Honors Theses

Researchers have proposed several methods of representing three-dimensional objects in computer memory along with different methods of displaying these objects on two-dimensional computer displays. Using a polygon-based representation that linearly interpolates between a set of sample points is by far the most popular way of representing objects today, mostly because of its ability to display an object on a computer screen at a fast and consistent rate. However, as graphics hardware increases in speed, polygon-based models prove to be increasingly inefficient. Point-based representations have been proposed that consist of densely sampling some surface and using solely the samples to portray …

Does The Halting Necessary For Hardware Trace Collection Inordinately Perturb The Results?, Myles G. Watson

Theses and Dissertations

Processor address traces are invaluable for characterizing workloads and testing proposed memory hierarchies. Long traces are needed to exercise modern cache designs and produce meaningful results, but are difficult to collect with hardware monitors because microprocessors access memory too frequently for disks or other large storage to keep up. The small, fast buffers of the monitors fill quickly; in order to obtain long contiguous traces, the processor must be stopped while the buffer is emptied. This halting may perturb the traces collected, but this cannot be measured directly, since long uninterrupted traces cannot be collected. We make the case that …

Synthesizing Realistic Spine Motion Using Traditional Rig Controllers, Jabbar Raisani

Computer Science Honors Theses

This thesis presents a specific method for simulating realistic spine motion through the use of traditional rig control objects. The spine's motion and flexibility is based on a curve as opposed to the more traditional three bone spine. This allows for a more fluid animation more closely resembling that of a spinal column. However, this setup keeps the traditional three control rig setup in order to mimic the control system of a traditional three bone spine. Currently, three bone systems are well understood by animators and the motion is easy to control. The problem with this setup is that although …

1-Hyperbolic Projection For User Interfaces, Alexander Kolliopoulos

Computer Science Honors Theses

The problem of dealing with representations of information that does not fit conveniently within allotted screen space is pervasive in graphical interfaces. While there are techniques for dealing with this problem in various ways, some properties of such existing techniques are not satisfying. For example, global structure of information may be lost in favor of local focus, or information may not be mapped into a rectangular area. The 1-hyperbolic interface is proposed to deal with some of these deficiencies, and the mathematics involved in display and interaction are derived. The calculations necessary for this interface are easy to implement, and …

Improved Signal Integrity In Ieee 1149.1 Boundary Scan Designs, Efren De Jesus Rangel Taboada

Theses and Dissertations

This work is an analysis of solutions to problems derived from inherent timing and signal integrity issues in the use and application of the IEEE 1149.1 Standard at the board level in conjunction with its test system. Setup or hold times violations may occur in a boundary scan chain using IEEE 1149.1 compliant devices. A practical study of the TDI-TDO scan data path has been conducted to show where problems may arise in relationship to a particular board topology and test system. This work points to differences between passing and failing scan path tests for problem characterization. Serial data flow …