Digital Commons Network^™

Calibration Of The Software Architecture Sizing And Estimation Tool (Saset), Carl D. Vegas

Theses and Dissertations

This study attempted to analyze the effect of calibration on the performance of the SASET computer software cost estimating model. Data used for input into the model were drawn from the most current USAF SMC Software Database (SWDB). Once all the records to be used for analysis were identified, the DBMS-Calibration tool (which is part of SASET) was used to perform regression analysis on the relationship between program size (measured in SLOC) and the effort required to develop the program (measured in man-months). Productivity information reported from this tool was then input into equations used to calculate the Productivity Calibration …

Air Force Materiel Command (Afmc) Modeling, Simulation, And Analysis (Ms&A) Interactive Database, Timothy J. Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

This study develops a high level, unifying taxonomy for Modeling, Simulation, and Analysis (MS&A) products for the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC). AFMC is concerned that limited resources are being expended on duplicative MS&A efforts. No mechanism exists that would confirm or deny this concern, so it was suggested that a database could be developed to catalog and track AFMC's MS&A inventory. First, it was necessary to determine the information that a decision maker needs to select a suitable MS&A product. Potential traits and characteristics were identified through review of current regulatory guidance, interviews with MS&A users, and a study …

Virtual Celluoid, Switch Staffs

SWITCH

The article is an analysis of the author’s research pertaining to films relating to or containing the concept of virtual reality. The author lists several films such as Johnny Mnemnonic, Virtuosity, The Net, and Disclosure and provides a brief synopsis and review of each movie. Each film explains the concept of virtual reality through differing plots and methods such as cyberspace, progressive software, and artificial intelligence. The author also gives their own insight into and ratings of the films, explaining what they think is the most relatable in terms of overall storyline as well as how realisticly the movie portrays …

Group Creativity And Technology, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite the popularity of brainstorming, research has shown that verbal brainstorming is not always effective in increasing group creativity. On the other hand, its electronic counterpart, electronic brainstorming, appears to produce much better results. Is technology the panacea for group idea generation? This paper first reviews the theory of group creativity and then examines the characteristics of electronic brainstorming that makes it more effective than verbal brainstorming. From the success of electronic brainstorming, it then argues that the use of technology might be the key to overcome the space and time constraints that are commonly faced by creativity groups.

Measurements Of The B Baryon Lifetime, D. Buskulic, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The average lifetime of b-flavoured baryons measured with the OPAL detector is updated to include data collected between 1990 and 1994 at LEP. Bottom-flavoured baryons that decay semileptonically and produce aΛ baryon are identified through the correlation of the baryon number of theΛ and the electric charge of the lepton. To measure the lifetime, the decay point of the b baryon is estimated by theΛ-lepton vertex, and the observed distribution of decay lengths is fitted simultaneously in 874 right-sign and 384 wrong-sign combinations. In a separate method, the impact parameter distribution of the leptons is fitted in a subset of …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 71, No. Ii, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news. This issue contains articles:

• Vickrey, Eric & Charbonee LaBelle. Survey Aimed at Dropout Rate
• Good, Epha. NASA Grant Targets Minorities, Research
• Becker, Lori. Empty-Handed: Western Loses Out on $200,000 Gift in Will – Kathleen Carter
• LaBelle, Charbonee. Students Not Safe from Tow Trucks – Parking
• Weaver, Ron. Editorial Cartoon re: Pay Raise
• Slicing Pay-Raise Pie for Faculty, Staff
• Gentile, Mark. Non-Discrimination Policy Should Include Gays
• Gagliardi, Melissa. When in France, Know the Language
• Curtis, Stacy. Editorial Cartoon. Shannon Faulkner Quits Citadel
• Brown, Karen. Take Care of Business, Black Students …

Process Migration For Heterogeneous Distributed Systems, Matt Bishop, Mark Valence, Leonard F. Winiewski

Computer Science Technical Reports

The policies and mechanisms for migrating processes in a distributed system become more complicated in a heterogeneous environment, where the hosts may differ in their architecture and operating systems. These distributed systems include a large quantity and great diversity of resources which may not be fully utilized without the means to migrate processes to the idle resources. In this paper, we present a graph model for single process migration which can be used for load balancing as well as other non-traditional scenarios such as migration during the graceful degradation of a host. The graph model provides the basis for a …

Fast Spherical Transforms On Distance Transitive Graphs, J R. Driscoll, D M. Healy Jr, D Rockmore

Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Via-Rad: A Blackboard-Based System For Diagnostic Radiology, Erika Rogers

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The work described in this article presents an approach to the integration of computer displayed radiological images with cooperative computerized assistance for decision-making. The VIA-RAD system (Visual Interaction Assistant for Radiology) is a blackboard-based architecture, founded on extensive data collection and analysis in the domain of diagnostic radiology, together with cognitive modeling of the interaction between perception and problem-solving. The details of this system are presented in terms of domain knowledge representation and domain knowledge mapping. A small prototype of the system has been implemented and tested with radiology subjects, and the results of this study are also described.

Power Systems Marginal Cost Curve And Its Applications, Shaojun Wang, S. M. Shahidehpour, Nian-De Xiang

Kno.e.sis Publications

This paper presents a forward recursive procedure to calculate the expected system marginal cost curve (EMC). The EMC formulation allows for multi-state and multi-block dispatch of generating units and is used to determine the optimal energy of pumped-storage units. A new approach is developed to compute the first and second derivatives of the expected generation energy of a thermal unit with respect to the capacity of all thermal units in the system. The salient feature of the proposed approach is that it applies to hydro-thermal systems with multiple limited-energy hydro units.

A Comparison Of Methods To Allocate Tasks On A Multiprocessor System, Kelly Cousineau

Masters Theses

The task scheduling problem is defined as a sequential algorithm, with individual tasks, t₁, t₂, t₃… having associated execution times to be ported to a multiprocessor system. To determine the fastest parallel implementation is known to be an NP-complete problem, therefore heuristic techniques are employed to arrive at the best solution.

Some of the traditional methods used to solve this problem, are the list scheduling algorithm and the simulated annealing algorithm. However, evolutionary techniques are now also a consideration with the increased computation power available.

Evolutionary techniques, based on the popular theory of evolution, …

Disk-Directed I/O For An Out-Of-Core Computation, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

New file systems are critical to obtain good I/O performance on large multiprocessors. Several researchers have suggested the use of \em collective\/ file-system operations, in which all processes in an application cooperate in each I/O request. Others have suggested that the traditional low-level interface (\tt read, write, seek) be augmented with various higher-level requests (e.g., \em read matrix). Collective, high-level requests permit a technique called \em disk-directed I/O\/ to significantly improve performance over traditional file systems and interfaces, at least on simple I/O benchmarks. In this paper, we present the results of experiments with an “out-of-core” LU-decomposition program. Although its …

Signatures: A Language Extension For Improving Type Abstraction And Subtype Polymorphism In C++, Gerald Baumgartner, Vincent R. Russo

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Data Replication In Distributed Database Systems Over Large Number Of Sites, Xiangning Liu, Bharat K. Bhargava

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Frequency Of Pattern Occurences In A (Dna) Sequence, Mireille Régnier, Wojciech Szpankowski

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

A Greedy Algorithm For The Shortest Common Superstring Is Asymptotically Optimal, Alan Frieze, Wojciech Szpankowski

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Parallel Electronic Prototyping Of Physical Objects, Poting Wu, Elias N. Houstis

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

An Experimental Investigation Of The Effect Of Expert Decision Analyses And Explanations Support On Consensus And Decision Accuracy In Small Groups, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, I. Benbasat

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

An Expert Support System (ESS) provides expert advice to complement the knowledge of the decision maker, and is intended to support , rather than replace, the decision maker. The ESS technology provides two fundamental functions: (1) the ability to perform analyses and draw conclusions by providing users with expert opinions, judgments, evaluations and advice; (2) the ability to explain its reasoning and conclusions. The usefulness of expert support technology has been evaluated in a number of empirical studies. However these studies either examined the organizational impact of the technology [e.g., 1] or the use of the technology by single individuals …

Designing A Voice User Interface For A Fuzzy Expert System Tool (Fest), Scott Michael Josephson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis deals with the design and implementation of a Voice User Interface for the Fuzzy Expert System Tool known as FEST. The interface has voice input and voice output capabilities which allows for a closer communication between the end-user and the computer. The thesis discusses the grammar language, user training, and specific library routines used for the voice input part of the interface. Also the creation and usage of digitized speech is discussed for the voice output part of the interface.

An Integrated Framework For Learning And Reasoning, Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier, Tony R. Martinez

Faculty Publications

Learning and reasoning are both aspects of what is considered to be intelligence. Their studies within AI have been separated historically, learning being the topic of machine learning and neural networks, and reasoning falling under classical (or symbolic) AI. However, learning and reasoning are in many ways interdependent. This paper discusses the nature of some of these interdependencies and proposes a general framework called FLARE, that combines inductive learning using prior knowledge together with reasoning in a propositional setting. Several examples that test the framework are presented, including classical induction, many important reasoning protocols and two simple expert systems.

Preprocessing Of Microcirculatory Images., Mohamed S. Mansour

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis project consists of the development of a computerized image processing system to preprocess microvascular images of the mouse Latisimus Dorsi Muscle (LDM). This research has been conducted in association with the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Louisville. The input to the system is a set of 35 or more overlapping microscopic fields or sub_images containing segments of the LDM microcirculation, the output is an adjacent single montage encompassing the entire LDM microvasculature. The developed system presents practical solutions to the problems of image registration, overlap resolution, and image segmentation, in addition, the results …

Multiclass Query Scheduling In Real-Time Database Systems, Hwee Hwa Pang, Michael J. Carey, Miron Livny

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In recent years, a demand for real-time systems that can manipulate large amounts of shared data has led to the emergence of real-time database systems (RTDBS) as a research area. This paper focuses on the problem of scheduling queries in RTDBSs. We introduce and evaluate a new algorithm called Priority Adaptation Query Resource Scheduling (PAQRS) for handling both single class and multiclass query workloads. The performance objective of the algorithm is to minimize the number of missed deadlines, while at the same time ensuring that any deadline misses are scattered across the different classes according to an administratively-defined miss distribution. …

Measurement Of The D*± Cross Section In Two Photon Collisions At Lep, D. Buskulic, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The inclusive production of D∗± mesons in photon-photon collisions has been measured by the Aleph experiment at LEP with a beam energy of 45 GeV. The D∗+ are detected in their decay to D0π+ with the D0 observed in three separate decay modes: (1) K−π+, (2) K−π+π0 and (3) K−π+π−π+, and analagously for the D∗− modes. A total of 33 events was observed from an integrated luminosity of 73 pb−1 which corresponds to a cross section for Σ(e+e−→ e+e−D∗±X) of 155 ± 33 ± 21 pb. This result is compatible with both the direct production γγ → cc in the …

Limit On B0s Oscillation Using A Jet Charge Method, D. Buskulic, M. Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A lower limit is set on the Bs0 meson oscillation parameter Δms using data collected from 1991 to 1994 by the ALEPH detector. Events with a high transverse momentum lepton and a reconstructed secondary vertex are used. The high transverse momentum leptons are produced mainly by b hadron decays, and the sign of the lepton indicates the particle/antiparticle final state in decays of neutral B mesons. The initial state is determined by a jet charge technique using both sides of the event. A maximum likelihood method is used to set a lower limit of Δms. The 95% confidence level lower …

Surface Intersection Loop Destruction, Thomas W. Sederberg, Alan K. Zundel

Faculty Publications

The intersection curve between two surface patches consists of one or more connected components or branches. Each component can be classified as either an open branch, with endpoints on at least one patch boundary, or as a closed loop.

Weakest Pre-Condition And Data Flow Testing, Griffin David Mcclellan

Dissertations and Theses

Current data flow testing criteria cannot be applied to test array elements for two reasons: 1. The criteria are defined in terms of graph theory which is insufficiently expressive to investigate array elements. 2. Identifying input data which test a specified array element is an unsolvable problem. We solve the first problem by redefining the criteria without graph theory. We address the second problem with the invention of the wp_du method, which is based on Dijkstra's weakest pre-condition formalism. This method accomplishes the following: Given a program, a def-use pair and a variable (which can be an array element), the …

Scis Networking - July 1995, Nova Southeastern University

CCIS Networking / SCIS Networking magazines

No abstract provided.

An Object Oriented Implemtation Of Fractal Image Compression, Darrell Burkhead

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The technique of Fractal Image Compression, although new, has been described in several ways. Thus far, all descriptions of this compression algorithm read by the author have been in procedural form. The purpose of this paper is to present the Fractal Image Compression algorithm in an object-oriented form and to point out the advantages of this organization. The main advantages of taking an object-oriented approach to this problem are flexibility and maintainability. Different aspects of this algorithm are handled by different objects, thereby allowing for easy customization and testing of each part. Another advantage of this approach is that the …

Restoration And Reconstruction Of Avhrr Images, Stephen E. Reichenbach, Daniel Kohler, Dennis Strelow

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This paper describes the design of small convolution kernels for the restoration and reconstruction of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images. The kernels are small enough to be implemented efficiently by convolution, yet effectively correct degradations and increase apparent resolution. The kernel derivation is based on a comprehensive, end-to-end system model that accounts for scene statistics, image acquisition blur, sampling effects, sensor noise, and postfilter reconstruction. The design maximizes image fidelity subject to explicit constraints on the spatial support and resolution of the kernel. The kernels can be designed with h e r resolution than the image to perform …

Interview: Brenda Laurel, Jason Challas

SWITCH

This interview with Brenda Laurel, Virtual Reality (VR) author and thinker, discusses the applications and challenges of VR. Creating an emphatic experience using VR technology is possible, but the challenge lies in designing an environment that models the senses to stimulate emotions. VR enables experiences of different genders, but physiological differences between the sexes exist and are important to understand. However, technology used to create the environment and simulation of physical objects in VR is only in the developmental stage. Laurel believes in the importance of keeping the mind grounded in the physical body, in order to strengthen the appreciation …