Digital Commons Network^™

Automated Photo-Identification Of Cetaceans : An Integrated Software Solution, Daniel Griggs

Theses : Honours

This study investigates current techniques used for automated photo-identification of cetaceans (i.e. dolphins and whales). The primary focus constitutes various techniques that can be applied to identify and extract dorsal fins from digital photographs. A comprehensive analysis of these techniques demonstrates the most effective software solution. To further support this analysis, four prototypes are developed to demonstrate the effectiveness of each technique in a practical environment. The analysis bases its final conclusions on test results generated from these prototype software examples. Final conclusions provide recommendations for an effective, accurate, and practical software solution. This software solution allows dorsal fins to …

From Physics To Illumination Models Of Subsurface Scattering, Huiying Xu, Yi Ru, Yinlong Sun

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Specification For Visual Requirements Of Work-Centered Software Systems, James Robert Knapp

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Work-centered software systems function as inherent work-aiding systems. Based on the design concept for a work-centered support system (WCSS), these software systems support user tasks and goals through both direct and indirect aiding methods within the interface client. In order to ensure the coherent development and delivery of work-centered software products, WCSS visual interface requirements must be specified in order to capture the cognitive and work-aiding aspects of the user interface design. Without the ability to specify such original requirements, the probability of creating an accurate and effective work-centered software system is significantly reduced. A new visual requirements specification language …

Addressing Cheating And Workload Characterization In Online Games, Christopher Chambers

Dissertations and Theses

The Internet has enabled the popular pastime of playing video games to grow rapidly by connecting game players in disparate locations. However, with popularity have come the two challenges of hosting a large number of users and detecting cheating among users. For reasons of control, security, and ease of development, the most popular system for hosting on-line games is the client server architecture. This is also the most expensive and least scalable architecture for the game publisher, which drives hosting costs upwards with the success of the game. In addition to the expense of hosting, as a particular game grows …

Group Key Management In Wireless Ad-Hoc And Sensor Networks, Mohammed A. Moharrum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

A growing number of secure group applications in both civilian and military domains is being deployed in WAHNs. A Wireless Ad-hoc Network (WARN) is a collection of autonomous nodes or terminals that communicate with each other by forming a multi-hop radio network and maintaining connectivity in a decentralized manner. A Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a special type of WARN with mobile users. MANET nodes have limited communication, computational capabilities, and power. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are sensor networks with massive numbers of small, inexpensive devices pervasive throughout electrical and mechanical systems and ubiquitous throughout the environment that monitor and …

A Dyadic Composition To Foster Virtual Team Effectiveness: An Experimental Study, Gamze Karayaz

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The importance of effectiveness for virtual teamwork continues to gain momentum as technology and globalization of work accelerate. The implementation of virtual teams provides one approach to enhance competitiveness, overcoming the disadvantages of space and time differences through collaborative technologies. The influence of structure to virtual team performance has not been clearly established in the literature. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the effectiveness of a dyad structured approach for virtual teams using a quasi-experimental research design.

This research investigated four questions related to the influence of structure on virtual team effectiveness related to task performance, communication …

A Survey Of Security Issues In Wireless Sensor Networks, Yong Wang, Garhan Attebury, Byrav Ramamurthy

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are used in many applications in military, ecological, and health-related areas. These applications often include the monitoring of sensitive information such as enemy movement on the battlefield or the location of personnel in a building. Security is therefore important in WSNs. However, WSNs suffer from many constraints, including low computation capability, small memory, limited energy resources, susceptibility to physical capture, and the use of insecure wireless communication channels. These constraints make security in WSNs a challenge. In this article we present a survey of security issues in WSNs. First we outline the constraints, security requirements, and …

Automatic Extraction Of Keywords And Co-Occurrence Keyword Sets, Mong-Hang Vo

Master's Projects

Internet search has become an essential part of almost everyone’s daily life and work. To make wise personal and business decisions in a timely fashion, one must access the most relevant information efficiently. Because the amount of information on the Internet is enormous, it is important that a search engine ranks the information appropriately when it presents search results to users. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) addresses relevance ranking based on how significant a search word is in each document. Some innovative approaches of computing higher dimensional LSI (HD-LSI) were explored in this project. In traditional LSI, the term frequency-inverse document …

Cooperative Interval Caching In Clustered Multimedia Servers, Kim Tran

Master's Projects

In this project, we design a cooperative interval caching (CIC) algorithm for clustered video servers, and evaluate its performance through simulation. The CIC algorithm describes how distributed caches in the cluster cooperate to serve a given request. With CIC, a clustered server can accommodate twice (95%) more number of cached streams than the clustered server without cache cooperation. There are two major processes of CIC to find available cache space for a given request in the cluster: to find the server containing the information about the preceding request of the given request; and to find another server which may have …

A Real-Time Virtual Classroom System With Two-Way Communication For Distance Learning At King Mongkut’S University Of Technology Thonburi, Thailand, Surachai Suksakulchai, Chalathip Chunkul

EDU-COM International Conference

Because of high demands for higher education in the provinces of Thailand, the school of Industrial Education and Technology at KMUTT has started off-campus courses since 2002. However, the major problem of operation is distance. To cope with the problem, a real-time virtual classroom system with two-way communication has been developed. The system has to overcome the bandwidth problem, which is the major struggle of web-based learning in Thailand, and to maintain the two-way communication between instructors and students. To cope with those problems, video streaming and live chat systems are used. The technique is the trade-off between two-way and …

The Roles Of Digital Libraries In Teaching And Learning Geography, Chew-Hung Chang, John Hedberg, Tiong-Sa Teh, Ee Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Adopting a problem-centred approach helps students to learn Geography more effectively as they are able to identify and generalize about where different resources or activities are spatially located and they learn to associate certain patterns and processes with geographical changes. In an era where web-based student-centred inquiry is gaining popularity as a mode of learning Geography, the role of digital libraries as delivery trucks (in Clark’s terminology, 1983) needs to be better understood. An obvious affordance of the digital library is that it organizes information around themes for problems to be solved. This paper describes a developmental project to build …

Securing Networks Of Information Age, Bilge Karabacak, Mert Uneri

All Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Internet and IT devices are being used for business and entertainment more frequently. Internet has been becoming a vital part of social fabric. Threats to Internet and other complex commercial networks are solid and growing. Globalization and the need for interoperability complicates security of IT Networks and Internet. Cyber threats have an important potential damage capacity. Proactive security methodologies are needed to protect valuable information. According to the situation described above, the purpose of this paper is to examine the current trends in network security, and to propose a roadmap for protecting information from cyber threats.

Home Networking, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

My coeditors (Paul Dubois and Konstantin Läufer) and I are among a growing number of individuals who install and maintain a home computer network. When Paul and I first discussed the idea of writing an article about the subject several months ago, my first thought was that you--our cherished readers-might consider this whole notion so trivial as to not be worthy of a column that focuses mostly on scientific programming and software development topics. But based on the realization that we three computer scientists devote a significant part of our time to network and system administration, it almost goes without …

Development And Delivery Of Coursework: The Legal/Regulatory/Policy Environment Of Cyberforensics, John W. Bagby, John C. Ruhnka

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper describes a cyber-forensics course that integrates important public policy and legal issues as well as relevant forensic techniques. Cyber-forensics refers to the amalgam of multi-disciplinary activities involved in the identification, gathering, handling, custody, use and security of electronic files and records, involving expertise from the forensic domain, and which produces evidence useful in the proof of facts for both commercial and legal activities. The legal and regulatory environment in which electronic discovery takes place is of critical importance to cyber-forensics experts because the legal process imposes both constraints and opportunities for the effective use of evidence gathered through …

Development Of An Ontology Based Forensic Search Mechanism: Proof Of Concept, Jill Slay, Fiona Schulz

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper examines the problems faced by Law Enforcement in searching large quantities of electronic evidence. It examines the use of ontologies as the basis for new forensic software filters and provides a proof of concept tool based on an ontological design. It demonstrates that efficient searching is produced through the use of such a design and points to further work that might be carried out to extend this concept.

The 2006 Analysis Of Information Remaining On Disks Offered For Sale On The Second Hand Market, Andy Jones, Craig Valli, Iain Sutherland, Paula Thomas

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

All organisations, whether in the public or private sector, use computers for the storage and processing of information relating to their business or services, their employees and their customers. A large proportion of families and individuals in their homes now also use personal computers and, both intentionally and inadvertently, often store on those computers personal information. It is clear that most organisations and individuals continue to be unaware of the information that may be stored on the hard disks that the computers contain, and have not considered what may happen to the information after the disposal of the equipment.

In …

Computer Forensics Field Triage Process Model, Marcus K. Rogers, James Goldman, Rick Mislan, Timothy Wedge, Steve Debrota

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

With the proliferation of digital based evidence, the need for the timely identification, analysis and interpretation of digital evidence is becoming more crucial. In many investigations critical information is required while at the scene or within a short period of time - measured in hours as opposed to days. The traditional cyber forensics approach of seizing a system(s)/media, transporting it to the lab, making a forensic image(s), and then searching the entire system for potential evidence, is no longer appropriate in some circumstances. In cases such as child abductions, pedophiles, missing or exploited persons, time is of the essence. In …

A Computational Model Of The Referential Semantics Of Projective Prepositions, John D. Kelleher, Josef Van Genabith

Conference papers

In this paper we present a framework for interpreting locative expressions containing the prepositions in front of and behind. These prepositions have different semantics in the viewer-centred and intrinsic frames of reference (Vandeloise, 1991). We define a model of their semantics in each frame of reference. The basis of these models is a novel parameterized continuum function that creates a 3-D spatial template. In the intrinsic frame of reference the origin used by the continuum function is assumed to be known a priori and object occlusion does not impact on the applicability rating of a point in the spatial template. …

Incremental Generation Of Spatial Referring Expressions In Situated Dialogue, John D. Kelleher, Geert-Jan Kruijff

Conference papers

This paper presents an approach to incrementally generating locative expressions. It addresses the issue of combinatorial explosion inherent in the construction of relational context models by: (a) contextually defining the set of objects in the context that may function as a landmark, and (b) sequencing the order in which spatial relations are considered using a cognitively motivated hierarchy of relations, and visual and discourse salience.

Using Sketches And Knowledge Bases For Geo-Spatial Image Retrieval, Michela Bertolotto, James Carswell, E Mcloughlin, D O'Sullivan, C Wilson

Articles

This paper presents research in the field of knowledge management for geo-spatial imagery including scanned aerial photos and satellite images. We have developed a web-based system that allows users to query a database of images not only using metadata, but also drawing sketches of configurations of objects they are interested in as well as inputting textual descriptions of their intended task. Our system integrates case-based reasoning techniques to form a knowledge base from previously issued queries that can be exploited to improve future query processing and to build organizational memory through experience capture. The effective design and implementation of a …

Improving Channel Throughput Of Wlans And Ad Hoc Networks Using Explicit Denial Of Requests, Maggie Xiaoyan Cheng, Yadi Ma, Yi Wang

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new Multiple Access Control scheme for wireless ad hoc networks and WLANs is proposed. This scheme uses explicit denial of channel requests and a busy tone to improve channel throughput. Performance analysis shows significant improvement when the network is under heavy traffic load.

Adaptive Scalable Protocols For Heterogeneous Wireless Networks, Vamsi Krishna Paruchuri

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is to propose analytical models to study the impact of collisions and interference in heterogeneous wireless networks and propose simple scalable and lightweight protocols that use these models to adapt to network conditions thus increasing efficiency, decreasing energy consumption and prolonging network lifetime. The contributions of this dissertation are multifold and are summarized as follows: - Analytical models to study the impact of collisions and interference on both broadcast and unicast messages. These analytical models are incorporated into the proposed protocols to adapt to the prevailing network conditions to improve their performance. - Optimized Flooding …

The Challenges Of Itil Implementations, Jason Gray

Theses : Honours

Originating from the UK, the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is an IT Service Management framework whose adoption is rapidly spreading throughout Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, India, USA, and Australia. Promoted as a collection of "Best Practices" in IT service management, ITIL is gaining a reputation as a "silver bullet" to IT Service Management woes and is now .gaining popularity amongst IT vendors and leaders of best practices worldwide. Increased IT productivity, IT accountability, increased compliance and reduced IT costs, are just some of the promised list of benefits. More and more organisations are plam1ing to embark on ITIL implementations as …

An Attitude And Perception Study Of Wireless Network Usage In Home Environments, Patryk Szewczyk

Theses : Honours

Research on the use of 802.11 wireless networking and wireless security has in the past focused predominantly on corporations who generally have access to resources specifically allocated to computer and network security. Research has also focused on identifying the flaws in wireless network security, and developing stronger and safer methods which may be incorporated. To date there has been a lack of research into determining what the individual at home perceives towards wireless security. As broadband Internet connections are now predominantly chosen, the amount of available bandwidth open to exploitation is significantly higher than the now becoming obsolete dialup connection. …

Grid-Partition Index: A Hybrid Approach To Nearest-Neighbor Queries In Wireless Location-Based Services, Baihua Zheng, Jianliang Xu, Wang-Chien Lee, Dik Lun Lee

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Traditional nearest-neighbor (NN) search is based on two basic indexing approaches: object-based indexing and solution-based indexing. The former is constructed based on the locations of data objects: using some distance heuristics on object locations. The latter is built on a precomputed solution space. Thus, NN queries can be reduced to and processed as simple point queries in this solution space. Both approaches exhibit some disadvantages, especially when employed for wireless data broadcast in mobile computing environments. In this paper, we introduce a new index method, called the grid-partition index, to support NN search in both ondemand access and periodic broadcast …

Observed Web Robot Behavior On Decaying Web Subsites, Joan A. Smith, Frank Mccown, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We describe the observed crawling patterns of various search engines (including Google, Yahoo and MSN) as they traverse a series of web subsites whose contents decay at predetermined rates. We plot the progress of the crawlers through the subsites, and their behaviors regarding the various file types included in the web subsites. We chose decaying subsites because we were originally interested in tracking the implication of using search engine caches for digital preservation. However, some of the crawling behaviors themselves proved to be interesting and have implications on using a search engine as an interface to a digital library.

The Antecedents Of M-Commerce Adoption, Morris Kalliny, Michael S. Minor

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

The growth of Internet shopping has been attributed to rapid advances in technology and other influences such as convenience. We empirically investigate the relationship between demographics, ease of use, convenience, usefulness and enjoyment and intention to use m-commerce and attitude toward m-commerce. Two studies were conducted where a student and a non student sample was used. Data analysis revealed age, gender and educational level of customers do not play a role in influencing intention to use m-commerce. However, convenience, ease of use, usefulness and enjoyment all play a role in the customer's intention to use m-commerce.

Effective Bootstrapping Of Peer-To Peer Networks Over Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, Wei Ding

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are vigorous, revolutionary communication technologies in the 21st century. They lead the trend of decentralization. Decentralization will ultimately win clients over client/server model, because it gives ordinary network users more control, and stimulates their active participation. It is a determinant factor in shaping the future of networking. MANETs and P2P networks are very similar in nature. Both are dynamic, distributed. Both use multi-hop broadcast or multicast as major pattern of traffic. Both set up connection by self-organizing and maintain connection by self-healing. Embodying the slogan "networking without networks," both abandoned traditional client/server …

Intelligent Resource Discovery Using Ontology-Based Resource Profiles, J. Steven Hughes, Dan Crichton, Sean Kelly, Chris A. Mattmann, Jerry Crichton, Thuy Tran

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Successful resource discovery across heterogeneous repositories is highly dependent on the semantic and syntactic homogeneity of the associated resource descriptions in each repository. Ideally, consistent resource descriptions are easily extracted from each repository, expressed using standard syntactic and semantic structures, and managed and accessed within a distributed, flexible, and scalable software framework. In practice however, seldom do all three of these elements exist. To help address this situation, the Object Oriented Data Technology (OODT) project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed an extensible, standards-based resource description scheme that provides the necessary description and management facilities for the discovery of …

Foreign Migration To The Cleveland-Akron-Lorain Metropolitan Area From 1995 To 2000, Mark Salling, Ellen Cyran

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report is one of a series on migration to and from the region using the five percent Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) of the 2000 Census of Population and Housing and provides a description of foreign migrants moving to the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain (CAL) Consolidated Metropolitan Area (CMSA) from 1995 to 2000.* The report identifies the countries of origin of migrants and compares the demographic, socioeconomic, and housing characteristics of the foreign migrants to the CAL with other groups, including foreign migrants to Ohio and the nation, and, at times, to domestic migrants to and from the CAL.