Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancements To 4.4 Bsd Unix For Efficient Networked Multimedia In Project Mars, Milind M. Buddhikot, Xin Jane Chen, Dakang Wu, Guru M. Parulkar

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Cluster based architectures that employ high performance inexpensive Personal Computers (PCs) interconnected by high speed commodity interconnect have been recognized as a cost-effective way of building high performance scalable Multimedia-On-Demand (MOD) storage servers [4, 5, 7, 9]. Typically, the PCs in these architectures run operating systems such as UNIX that have traditionally been optimized for interactive computing. They do not provide fast disk-to-network data paths and guaranteed CPU and storage access. This paper reports enhancements to the 4.4 BSD UNIX system carried out to rectify these limitations in the context of our Project Massively-parallel And Real-time Storage (MARS) [7]. We …

Sequence Assembly Validation By Restriction Digest Fingerprint Comparison, Eric C. Rouchka, David J. States

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

DNA sequence analysis depends on the accurate assembly of fragment reads for the determination of a consensus sequence. Genomic sequences frequently contain repeat elements that may confound the fragment assembly process, and errors in fragment assembly, and errors in fragment assembly may seriously impact the biological interpretation of the sequence data. Validating the fidelity of sequence assembly by experimental means is desirable. This report examines the use of restriction digest analysis as a method for testing the fidelity of sequence assembly. Restriction digest fingerprint matching is an established technology for high resolution physical map construction, but the requirements for assembly …

An Introduction To Mobile Unity, Gruia-Catalin Roman, Peter J. Mccann

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Traditionally, a distributed system has been viewed as a collection of fixed computational elements connected by a static network. Prompted by recent advances in wireless communications rechnology, the emerging field of mobile computing is challenging these assumptions by providing mobile hosts with connectivity that may change over time, raising the possibility that hosts may be called upon to operate while only weakly connected to or while completely disconnected from other hosts. We define a concurrent mobile system as one where independently executing coponents may migrate through some space during the course of the computation, and where the pattern of connectivity …

Using Snapshot Streams To Support Visual Exploration, Delbert Hart, Eileen Kraemer, Gruia-Catalin Roman

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

The non-determinism, complexity, and size of distributed software systems present significant difficulties for designers and maintainers. Visualization can help alleviate these difficulties through interactive exploratory tools that allow both novice and experienced users to investigate a distributed computation using a common tool set. Essential to the success of a visual exploration tool is the ability to provide accurate representations of global states. This paper is concerned with the use of snapshots in support of interactive visual exploration of distributed computations. The nature of the visualization process requires snapshots that (1) are consecutive, thus facilitating smooth animation of state changes, (2) …

End-User Visualization And Manipulation Of Distributed Aggregate Data, T. Paul Mccartney, Kenneth J. Goldman

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Aggregate visualization and manipulation enables the viewing and interaction of dynamically changing data sets in a graphically meaningful way. However, off-the-shelf applications typically provide only limited ways to view static aggregates and generally to not support manipulation of aggregate data through the resulting visualization. To be fully dynamic, an aggregate visualization should be customizable to suit the individual's needs and should allow end-users to modify the data through direct manipulation. This paper describes a software system that empowers end-users to create interactive aggregate visualizations through a visual language interface. Included are mechanisms for specifying how aggregate data is processed from …

Random Number Generators For Parallel Computers, Paul D. Coddington

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

Random number generators are used in many applications, from slot machines to simulations of nuclear reactors. For many computational science applications, such as Monte Carlo simulation, it is crucial that the generators have good randomness properties. This is particularly true for large-scale simulations done on high-performance parallel computers. Good random number generators are hard to find, and many widely-used techniques have been shown to be inadequate. Finding high-quality, efficient algorithms for random number generation on parallel computers is even more difficult. Here we present a review of the most commonly-used random number generators for parallel computers, and evaluate each generator …

Java For Parallel Computing And As A General Language For Scientific And Engineering Simulation And Modeling, Geoffrey C. Fox, Wojtek Furmanski

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

We discuss the role of Java and Web technologies for general simulation. We classify the classes of concurrency typical in problems and analyze separately the role of Java in user interfaces, coarse grain software integration, and detailed computational kernels. We conclude that Java could become a major language for computational science, as it potentially offers good performance, excellent user interfaces, and the advantages of object-oriented structure.

Pcrc-Based Hpf Compilation, Guansong Zhang, Bryan Carpenter, Geoffrey C. Fox, Xiaoming Li

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

This paper describes an ongoing effort supported by ARPA PCRC (Parallel Compiler Runtime Consortium) project. In particular, we discuss the design and implementation of an HPF compilation system based on PCRC runtime. The approaches to issues such as directive analysis and communication detection are discussed in detail. The discussion includes fragments of code generated by the compiler.

A Prototype Fortran-To-Java Converter, Geoffrey C. Fox, Xiaoming Li, Zheng Qiang, Wu Zhigang

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

This is a report on a prototype of a FORTRAN 77 to Java converter, f2j. Translation issues are identified, approaches are presented, a URL is provided for interested readers to download the package, and some unsolved problems are brought up. F2j allows value added to some of the investment onFORTRAN code, in particular, those well established FORTRAN libraries for scientific and engineering computation.

A Comparison Of Optimization Heuristics For The Data Mapping Problem, Nikos Chrisochoides, Nashat Mansour, Geoffrey C. Fox

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

In this paper we compare the performance of six heuristics with suboptimal solutions for the data distribution of two dimensional meshes that are used for the numerical solution of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) on multicomputers. The data mapping heuristics are evaluated with respect to seven criteria covering load balancing, interprocessor communication, flexibility and ease of use for a class of single-phase iterative PDE solvers. Our evaluation suggests that the simple and fast block distribution heuristic can be as effective as the other five complex and computational expensive algorithms.

Evaluation Of High Performance Fortran Through Application Kernels, Hon W. Yau, Geoffrey C. Fox, Ken Hawick

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

Since the definition of the High Performance Fortran (HPF) standard, we have been maintaining a suite of application kernel codes with the aim of using them to evaluate the available compilers. This paper presents the results and conclusions from this study, for sixteen codes, on compilers from IBM, DEC, and the Portland Group Inc. (PGI), and on three machines: a DEC Alphafarm, an IBM SP-2, and a Cray T3D. From this, we hope to show the prospective HPF user that scalable performance is possible with modest effort, yet also where the current weaknesses lay.

Tango - A Collaborative Environment For The World-Wide Web, Lukasz Michal Beca, Gang Cheng, Geoffrey C. Fox, Tomasz Jurga, Konrad Olszewski, Marek Podgorny, Piotr Sokolowski, Tomasz Stachowiak, Krzysztof Walczak

Northeast Parallel Architecture Center

Geographical and logical growth of the World-Wide Web is accompanied by a fast technological development. Web can be successfully used as a platform for implementation of diverse applications. Distributed and collaborative systems are among the most challenging Web applications. TANGO is an integration platform which enables implementation of Web-based collaborative environments. The system provides means for fast integration of Web- and non-Web-applications into one multi-user collaborative systems. In this paper we describe the functional model, requirements, system design and certain implementation issues of the TANGO system.

A Compiler Algorithm For Optimizing Locality In Loop Nests, Mahmut Kandemir, J. Ramanujam, Alok Choudhary

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - All Scholarship

This paper describes an algorithm to optimize cache locality in scientific codes on uniprocessor and multiprocessor machines. A distinctive characteristic of our algorithm is that it considers loop and data layout transformations in a unified framework. We illustrate through examples that our approach is very effective at reducing cache misses and tile size sensitivity of blocked loop nests; and can optimize nests for which optimization techniques based on loop transformations alone are not successful. An important special case is the one in which data layouts of some arrays are fixed and cannot be changed. We show how our algorithm can …

The Hadamard Matroid And An Anomaly In Its Single Element Extensions, C. H. Cooke

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

A nonstandard vector space is formulated, whose bases afford a representation of what is called a Hadamard matroid, M_p. For prime p, existence of M_p is equivalent to the existence of both a classical Hadamard matrix H(p,p) and a certain affine resolvable, balanced incomplete block design AR(p). An anomaly in the representable single element extension of a Hadamard matroid is discussed.

Clusters Of Stars, Ileana Streinu

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

We solve two open problems posed by Goodman and Pollack[GP84] about sets of signed circular permutations (clusters of stars) arising from generalized configurations of points: recognition and efficient reconstruction (drawing). As a biproduct we get an O(n2) space data structure constructible in O(n2) time, representing the order type of a (generalized) configuration of points and from which the orientation of each triple can be found in constant time, a problem posed in [EHN].

Expert System For The Generation Of A Work Breakdown Structure, Bernard O'Callaghan

Theses

This thesis outlines research work carried out in the Mechanical & Manufacturing Department in Cork Regional Technical College, Ireland. With computers now having an increasingly dominant role in all areas of business, it was inevitable that computer-based project management packages would become more popular. To date however, these packages have concentrated on monitoring and controlling projects. The definition and brainstorming phases required to generate a project plan are still largely manual tasks. Planning a project initially involves generating a complete and organised list of all the tasks needing to be completed in order to achieve a project’s goal. This list …

The Ohio Gis Network: Stage 2 1996 Investment Fund Grant First Year Progress Report To The Ohio Board Of Regents (Ohio Gis Network), Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Ohio Geographic Information Systems Network (Ohio GIS-Net) is an innovative consortium of Ohio’s urban and rural universities. The consortium is building a center of excellence where state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) technology is applied to a research agenda that is critical to Ohio's economic development and central to research issues in policy sciences, civil engineering, public administration, economics and the environmental, urban and regional sciences. This cutting edge technology is an essential component of the basic research infrastructure of universities. It is also a critical resource in state and local economic development efforts, building and maintaining public infrastructure, and …

The Ohio Gis Network: Stage 1 1993 Investment Fund Development Grant Progress Report To The Ohio Board Of Regents (Ohio Gis Network), Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Ohio Geographic Information Systems Network (Ohio GIS-Net) is an innovative consortium of Ohio’s urban and rural universities. The consortium is building a center of excellence where state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) technology is applied to a research agenda that is critical to Ohio's economic development and central to research issues in policy sciences, civil engineering, public administration, economics and the environmental, urban and regional sciences. This cutting edge technology is an essential component of the basic research infrastructure of universities. It is also a critical resource in state and local economic development efforts, building and maintaining public infrastructure, and …

Curriculum Development And Evaluation For A Computer Literacy Course, Molly J. Fagan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This paper describes a curriculum that was developed and used for a computer literacy course at the University of Northern Iowa. The curriculum included a unit of computer programming, which has not been included as part of the computer literacy course in recent years at the University of Northern Iowa. Surveys were given at the beginning of the semester to determine the approximate level of students' prior knowledge. The same survey was given at the end of the semester and the results of both were compared to see how much more comfortable each individual student felt using the various computer …

Improving Minority Class Prediction Using Case-Specific Feature Weights, Claire Cardie, Nicholas Howe

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the problem of handling skewed class distributions within the case-based learning (CBL) framework. We first present as a baseline an information gain-weighted CBL algorithm and apply it to three data sets from natural language processing (NLP) with skewed class distributions. Although overall performance of the baseline CBL algorithm is good, we show that the algorithm exhibits poor performance on minority class instances. We then present two CBL algorithms designed to improve the performance of minority class predictions. Each variation creates test-case-specific feature weights by first observing the path taken by the test case in a decision tree …

The Development And Use Of The Secure Electronic Transaction (Set) Protocol On The Internet, Damon James Whyte

Theses : Honours

While still in its infancy, Electronic Commerce is growing at an exponential rate each year (Walson, 1997. p.53). Although few doubt that such growth will only continue in years to come, many people still have serious reservations about the levels of security offered by currently available applications for conducting such trade. This thesis identifies some of the key areas of concern regarding Electronic Commerce on the lnternet, and looks at the ways in which the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) model, proposed by Mastercard and Visa, succeeds or fails in addressing these concerns. It identifies and describes the key dements and …

The Effects Of Human-Computer Communication Mode, Task Complexity, And Desire For Control On Performance And Discourse Organization In An Adaptive Task, Cristina Bubb-Lewis

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The present study examined how different communication patterns affected task performance with an adaptive interface. A Wizard-of-Oz simulation (Gould, Conti, & Hovanyecz, 1983) was used to create the impression of a talking and listening computer that acted as a teammate to help participants interact with a computer application.

Four levels of communication mode were used which differed in the level of restriction placed on human-computer communication. In addition, participants completed two sets of tasks (simple and complex). Further, a personality trait, Desire for Control (DC), was measured and participants were split into high and low groups for analysis. Dependent measures …

Resolution Of Local Inconsistency In Identification, Douglas Ray Anderson, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper reports an algorithm for the resolution of local inconsistency in information-theoretic identification. This problem was first pointed out by Klir as an important research area in reconstructability analysis. Local inconsistency commonly arises when an attempt is made to integrate multiple data sources, i.e., contingency tables, which have differing common margins. For example, if one ha)s an AB table and a BC table, the B margins obtained from the two tables may disagree. If the disagreement can be assigned to sampling error, then one can arrive at a compromise B margin, adjust the original AB and BC tables to …

Review Of Personal Identification Systems, J. M. Cross

Research outputs pre 2011

The growth of the use of biometric personal identification systems has been relatively steady over the last 20 years. The expected biometric revolution which was forecast since the mid 1970's has not yet occurred. The main factor for lower than expected growth has been the cost and user acceptance of the systems. During the last few years, however, a new generation of more reliable, less expensive and better designed biometric devices have come onto the market. This combined with the anticipated expansion of new reliable, user friendly inexpensive systems provides a signal that the revolution is about to begin. This …

Examining Locally Varying Weights For Nearest Neighbor Algorithms, Nicholas Howe, Claire Cardie

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Previous work on feature weighting for case-based learning algorithms has tended to use either global weights or weights that vary over extremely local regions of the case space. This paper examines the use of coarsely local weighting schemes, where feature weights are allowed to vary but are identical for groups or clusters of cases. We present a new technique, called class distribution weighting (CDW), that allows weights to vary at the class level. We further extend CDW into a family of related techniques that exhibit varying degrees of locality, from global to local. The class distribution techniques are then applied …

The Toysim Project, Anthony Rodriguez

Theses : Honours

No abstract provided.

Computer-Aided Mechanical Assembly Design Using Configuration Spaces, Leo Joskowicz, Elisha Sacks

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Financial Prediction And Trading Strategies Using Neurofuzzy Approaches, K. N. Pantazopoulos, L. H. Tsoukalas, N. G. Bourbakis, M. J. Brün, Elias N. Houstis

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Performance Analysis And Visualization Tools For Parallel Computing, K. N. Pantazopoulos, Elias N. Houstis

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Future Scientific Software Systems, John R. Rice

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.