Digital Commons Network^™

Discontinuous Waveband Switching In Wdm Optical Networks, Bhavana Lekkala, Byrav Ramamurthy

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Routing techniques used in wavelength routed optical networks (WRN) do not give an efficient solution with Waveband routed optical networks (WBN) as the objective of routing in WRN is to reduce the blocking probability and that in WBN is to reduce the number of switching ports. Routing in WBN can be divided two parts, finding the route and grouping the wavelength assigned into that route with some existing wavelengths/wavebands. In this paper, we propose a heuristic for waveband routing, which uses a new grouping strategy called discontinuous waveband grouping to group the wavelengths into a waveband. The main objective of …

Performance Analysis Of Sparse Traffic Grooming In Wdm Mesh Networks, Wang Yao, Mengke Li, Byrav Ramamurthy

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Sparse traffic grooming is a practical problem to be addressed in heterogeneous multi-vendor optical WDM networks where only some of the optical cross-connects (OXCs) have grooming capabilities. Such a network is called as a sparse grooming network. The sparse grooming problem under dynamic traffic in optical WDM mesh networks is a relatively unexplored problem. In this work, we propose the maximize-lightpath-sharing multi-hop (MLS-MH) grooming algorithm to support dynamic traffic grooming in sparse grooming networks. We also present an analytical model to evaluate the blocking performance of the MLS-MH algorithm. Simulation results show that MLSMH outperforms an existing grooming algorithm, the …

An Empirical Study Of Fault Localization For End-User Programmers, Joseph R. Ruthruff, Margaret Burnett, Gregg Rothermel

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

End users develop more software than any other group of programmers, using software authoring devices such as e-mail filtering editors, by-demonstration macro builders, and spreadsheet environments. Despite this, there has been little research on finding ways to help these programmers with the dependability of their software. We have been addressing this problem in several ways, one of which includes supporting end-user debugging activities through fault localization techniques. This paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted in an end-user programming environment to examine the impact of two separate factors in fault localization techniques that affect technique effectiveness. Our results …

Technical Reports (1999 - 2005)

School of Computing: Technical Reports

Authors of Technical Reports (1999-2005):
Choueiry, Berthe
Elbaum, Sebastian
Goddard, Steve
Henninger, Scott
Jiang, Hong
Rothermel, Gregg
Scott, Stephen
Seth, Sharad
Soh, Leen-Kiat
Variyam, Vinodchandran

Balancing Exploration And Exploitation: A New Algorithm For Active Machine Learning, Thomas Osugi, Deng Kun, Stephen Scott

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Active machine learning algorithms are used when large numbers of unlabeled examples are available and getting labels for them is costly (e.g. requiring consulting a human expert). Many conventional active learning algorithms focus on refining the decision boundary, at the expense of exploring new regions that the current hypothesis misclassifies. We propose a new active learning algorithm that balances such exploration with refining of the decision boundary by dynamically adjusting the probability to explore at each step. Our experimental results demonstrate improved performance on data sets that require extensive exploration while remaining competitive on data sets that do not. Our …

In Memoriam: John Platt Bradbury (1936–2005), Walter Dean, Sherilyn C. Fritz, Cathy Whitlock, William Watts

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

John Platt Bradbury, a former United States Geological Survey (USGS) geologist, and a long time and much valued editorial board member for the Journal of Paleolimnology, died of cancer (abdominal mesothelioma) on August 15, 2005, in the log home that he and his wife Vera Markgraf built in the mountains near Monte Vista, Colorado. Platt’s interest in paleolimnology developed during his graduate school years at the University of New Mexico, working with Roger Anderson and Walt Dean. He received his Ph.D. in 1967. He went on to do post-doctoral research at Yale University under G. Evelyn Hutchinson and then …

High-Resolution Ocean Color Remote Sensing Of Benthic Habitats: A Case Study At The Roatan Island, Honduras, Deepak R. Mishra, Sunil G. Narumalani, Donald Rundquist, Merlin P. Lawson

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Natural resource managers clamor for detailed reef habitat maps for monitoring smaller scale disturbances in reef communities. Coastal ocean color remote sensing techniques permit benthic habitats to be explored with higher resolution than ever before. The objective of this research was to develop an accurate benthic habitat map for an area off the northwest coast of Roatan Island, Honduras, using high-resolution multispectral IKONOS data. Atmospheric (Rayleigh and aerosol path radiance) and water column corrections (water depth and water column attenuation) were applied to the imagery, making it a robust method for mapping benthic habitats. Water depth for each pixel was …

Groundwater Irrigation In The Development Of The Grand Prairie Rice Industry, 1896-1950, John B. Gates

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Elucidates some of the ways in which groundwater and groundwater irrigation have affected the Grand Prairie's rice industry over time and conversely how the development of the industry has altered the region's groundwater conditions. Concentrates on aspects of the industry's history that have often been overlooked in favor of rice cultivation's social dimensions and consider hydrological systems not just as resources awaiting exploitation or as simple constraints on production but as variables whose roles and effects can change over time.

New Stratigraphic Subdivision, Depositional Environment, And Age Estimate For The Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Southern Ulan Nur Basin, Mongolia, Demberelyin Dashzeveg, Lowell Dingus, David B. Loope, Carl C. Swisher Iii, Togtokh Dulam, Mark R. Sweeney

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Studies of key and newly discovered sections of the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation along the southern margin of the Ulan Nur Basin allow a new subdivision based on lithology. The formation and its members were mapped at both Bayn Dzak, an area that includes the Flaming Cliffs, and Tugrugyin Shireh, an area about 50 km to the northwest of Bayn Dzak. Stratigraphic sections at both localities were remeasured. The considerably enlarged formation comprises a lower Bayn Dzak Member, dominated by moderate reddish orange sands with subordinate mudstone units, and an upper Tugrugyin Member, composed of pale orange to light gray …

Do Meteorologists Suppress Thunderstorms? Radar-Derived Statics And The Behavior Of Moist Convection, Matthew D. Parker, Jason C. Knievel

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Most meteorologists are acquainted with the no- tion of a weather hole—that is, a place that receives less exciting weather than does its surroundings. Exciting weather takes many forms, but when people use the term weather hole, they tend to mean a place that thunderstorms often barely miss, or near which approaching storms often dissipate. For this paper, that is the meaning we adopt.

In our experience, many meteorologists and lay weather enthusiasts genuinely believe that they live in weather holes, and this belief, almost without fail, seems to stem from countless hours spent gazing at displays of radar reflectivity. …

Performance Of Quality Assurance Procedures For An Applied Climate Information System, K. G. Hubbard, S. Goddard, Bill Sorensen, N. Wells, Thomas Osugi

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Valid data are required to make climate assessments and to make climate-related decisions. The objective of this paper is threefold: to introduce an explicit treatment of Type I and Type II errors in evaluating the performance of quality assurance procedures, to illustrate a quality control approach that allows tailoring to regions and subregions, and to introduce a new spatial regression test. Threshold testing, step change, persistence, and spatial regression were included in a test of three decades of temperature and precipitation data at six weather stations representing different climate regimes. The magnitude of thresholds was addressed in terms of the …

Effects Of Aging On The Biomechanics Of Slips And Falls, Thurmon E. Lockhart, James L. Smith, Jeffrey C. Woldstad

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Although much has been learned in recent decades about the deterioration of muscular strength, gait adaptations, and sensory degradation among older adults, little is known about how these intrinsic changes affect biomechanical parameters associated with slip-induced fall accidents. In general, the objective of this laboratory study was to investigate the process of initiation, detection, and recovery of inadvertent slips and falls. We examined the initiation of and recovery from foot slips among three age groups utilizing biomechanical parameters, muscle strength, and sensory measurements. Forty-two young, middle-age, and older participants walked around a walking track at a comfortable pace. Slippery floor …

Details And Description Of Industrial Engineering, Paul Savory

Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This content paper addresses key questions for students interested in pursuing industrial engineering as an academic major: What is industrial engineering? What personality characteristics do Industrial Engineers have? What types of projects do Industrial Engineers work on? What types of jobs do Industrial Engineers have? Where do Industrial Engineers work once they graduate? How much can Industrial Engineers earn? I have never heard of IE, is it a new area? How do Industrial Engineers benefit society and business? What classes will I take as an industrial engineering student? What are examples of problems I will learn how to solve? Are …

Editorial, Robert W. Stewart, Michael W. Hoffman, Stephan Weiss

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

In the past years, digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms and architectures for baseband communication systems have fuelled the delivery of applications such as 3G mobile communications and wireless LAN to mass markets. This was made possible by a tremendous growth in the performance of computational devices such as digital signal processors and FPGAs, as well as an increase in sampling rates of conversion devices to potentially several 100 MHz. While the development of both computational devices and ADCs/DACs continues, thus permitting DSP to be applied at IF sampling rates and possibly beyond, the opportunities for further enhancing radio devices by …

Comparison Of Antenna Array Systems Using Ofdm For Software Radio Via The Sibic Model, Khoi D. Le, Michael W. Hoffman, Robert D. Palmer

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper investigates the performance of two candidates for software radio WLAN, reconfigurable OFDM modulation and antenna diversity, in an indoor environment. The scenario considered is a 20m × 10m × 3m room with two base units and one mobile unit. The two base units use omnidirectional antennas to transmit and the mobile unit uses either a single antenna with equalizer, a fixed beamformer with equalizer, or an adaptive beamformer with equalizer to receive. The modulation constellation of the data is QPSK and 16-QAM. The response of the channel at the mobile unit is simulated using a three-dimensional indoor WLAN …

A Novel Role For Gadd45Β As A Mediator Of Mmp-13 Gene Expression During Chondrocyte Terminal Differentiation, Kosei Ijiri, Luiz F. Zerbini, Haibing Peng, Ricardo G. Correa, Binfeng Lu, Nicole Walsh, Yani Zhao, Noboru Taniguchi, Xu-Ling Huang, Hasan H. Otu, Hong Wang, Jian Fei Wang, Setsuro Komiya, Patricia Ducy, Mahboob U. Rahman, Richard A. Flavell, Ellen M. Gravallese, Peter Oettgen, Towia A. Libermann, Mary B. Goldring

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45β (GADD45β) gene product has been implicated in the stress response, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. Here we demonstrated the unexpected expression of GADD45β in the embryonic growth plate and uncovered its novel role as an essential mediator of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) expression during terminal chondrocyte differentiation. We identified GADD45β as a prominent early response gene induced by bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) through a Smad1/Runx2-dependent pathway. Because this pathway is involved in skeletal development, we examined mouse embryonic growth plates, and we observed expression of Gadd45β mRNA coincident with Runx2 protein …

Range Imaging Observations Of Pmse Using The Eiscat Vhf Radar: Phase Calibration And First Results, J. R. Fernandez, R. D. Palmer, P. B. Chilson, I. Haggstrom, M. T. Rietveld

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

A novel phase calibration technique for use with the multiple-frequency Range IMaging (RIM) technique is introduced based on genetic algorithms. The method is used on data collected with the European Incoherent SCATter (EISCAT) VHF radar during a 2002 experiment with the goal of characterizing the vertical structure of Polar Mesosphere Summer Echoes (PMSE) over northern Norway. For typical Doppler measurements, the initial phases of the transmitter and receiver are not required to be the same. The EISCAT receiver systems exploit this fact, allowing a multistatic configuration. However, the RIM method relies on the small phase differences between closely spaced frequencies. …

Phased-Array Design For Biological Clutter Rejection: Simulation And Experimental Validation, B.L. Cheong, Michael Hoffman, R.D. Palmer, Stephen J. Frasier, F.J. Lopez-Dekker

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper highlights recent results obtained with the Turbulent Eddy Profiler (TEP), which was devel- oped by the University of Massachusetts. This unique 915-MHz radar has up to 64 spatially separated receiving elements, each with an independent receiver. The calibrated raw data provided by this array could be processed using sophisticated imaging algorithms to resolve the horizontal structures within each range gate. After collecting all of the closely spaced horizontal slices, the TEP radar can produce three- dimensional images of echo power, radial velocity, and spectral width. From the radial velocity measure- ments, it is possible to estimate the three-dimensional …

Additions To Corporate Boards: The Effect Of Gender, Kathleen A. Farrell, Philip L. Hersch

Department of Finance: Faculty Publications

During the decade of the 1990s the number of women serving on corporate boards increased substantially. Over this decade, we show that the likelihood of a firm adding a woman to its board in a given year is negatively affected by the number of woman already on the board. The probability of adding a woman is materially increased when a female director departs the board. Adding a director, therefore, is clearly not gender neutral. Although we find that women tend to serve on better performing firms, we also document insignificant abnormal returns on the announcement of a woman added to …

On The Performance Of Turbo Codes With Convolutional Interleavers, Sina Vafi, Tadeusz Wysocki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications (to 2015)

In this paper, some issues governing the block-wise performance of convolutional interleavers used in turbo codes are presented. Two different constructions of convolutional interleaver differing by the position of stuff bits in the interleaved data block are considered here. The performance assessment is based on the contribution of each weight to the overall code performance. For the given turbo code and each utilized interleaver, weight contribution is computed to finalize the code behavior in different signal to noise ratios. Simulations have been performed to verify the conducted analysis.

Combined Asterism And Sphere Decoder For Large Asymmetric Mimo Systems, Phillip Conder, Tadeusz Wysocki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications (to 2015)

The area of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications systems has received enormous attention recently as they can provide a roughly linear increase in data rate by using Multiple Transmit and Receive antennas. The optimal detection strategy for a MIMO receiver is to perform a Maximum-Likelihood (ML) search over all possible transmitted symbol combinations which has an exponential complexity when the constellation size of number of transmit antennas increase. Sphere and Asterism decoders are schemes that achieved ML performance for MIMO systems, but both have shortcomings in computational complexity, Sphere decoding when n_t > n_r and Asterism when n …

A Generalized Algorithm For The Generation Of Correlated Rayleigh Fading Envelopes In Radio Channels, Le Chung Tran, Tadeusz Wysocki, Jennifer Seberry, Alfred Mertins

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications (to 2015)

Although generation of correlated Rayleigh fading envelopes has been intensively considered in the literature, all conventional methods have their own shortcomings, which seriously impede their applicability. In this paper, a very general, straightforward algorithm for generation of an arbitrary number of Rayleigh envelopes with any desired, equal or unequal power, in wireless channels either with or without Doppler frequency shifts, is proposed. The proposed algorithm can be applied in case of spatial correlation, such as with antenna arrays in Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems, or spectral correlation between the random processes like in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) systems. …

Generalized Williamson And Wallis-Whiteman Constructions For Improved Square Order-8 Cois Stbc, Le Chung Tran, Tadeusz Wysocki, Jennifer Seberry, Alfred Mertins, Sarah A. Spence

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications (to 2015)

Constructions of square, maximum rate Complex Orthogonal Space-Time Block Codes (CO STBCs) are well known, however codes constructed via the known methods include numerous zeros, which impede their practical implementation. By modifying the Williamson and Wallis-Whiteman arrays to apply to complex matrices, we propose two methods of construction of square, order-4n CO STBCs from square, order-n codes which satisfy certain properties. Applying the proposed methods, we construct square, maximum rate, order-8 CO STBCs with no zeros, such that the transmitted symbols equally disperse through transmit antennas. Those codes, referred to as the improved square …

Asterism Decoding For Turbo Coded Mimo Systems, Phillip Conder, Tadeusz Wysocki

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications (to 2015)

The area of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communications systems has received enormous attention recently as they can provide a roughly linear increase in data rate by using multiple transmit and receive antennas. MIMO combined with an Turbo coding has been shown as a promising way to achieve near capacity for wireless channels.
Where previously described decoders provide linear decoding where the number of receive antennas is at least equal to the number of transmit antennas, are computationally burdensome when n_t > n_r. Asterism decoding is a scheme that achieved ML performance for MIMO systems for any number …

Christian Aramaism: The Birth And Growth Of Aramaic Scholarship In The Sixteenth Century, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Since the mid-nineteenth century, Jewish historians have marveled at the vigorous growth and vitality of Christian Hebrew scholarship in early modern Europe. Ludwig Geiger and Moritz Steinschneider chronicled parts of this astonishing and unexpected phenomenon. During the past 50 years, Karlheinz Burmeister, R. Gerald Hobbs, Bernard Roussel, Gerard Well, and Jerome Friedman have provided biographies and analyses of the achievements of some of the most important Christian and Jewish scholars who made this possible. In my own research I have sought to quantify the growth of Hebrew learning among Christians through analyzing the Christian Hebrew printing industry as it developed. …

"Spokesmen For Judaism": Medieval Jewish Polemicists And Their Christian Readers In The Reformation Era, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

When Christian Hebraists reprinted Jewish polemical works they served as "Spokesmen for Judaism" in two different ways. While it is true that Christian Hebraists did report authentically Jewish opinion when they ppblished Jewish polemical texts or excerpts from them, they did so in ways, which reflected Christian standards and expectations. All of the scholars who served as editors and translators of medieval Jewish polemics were university professors, who were obligated by law, oath and conscience to defend the Christian confession of the state, which supported their university. They were sometimes required to enforce the censorship ordinance of their locality as …

Reginald Pecock On The Authority Of Reason, Scripture And Tradition, Stephen E. Lahey

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Bishop Reginald Pecock (c. 1390–1461) is remembered for vernacular works formulated to combat Lollardy using reason, not the force of ecclesiastical authority. He argued that Scripture’s teachings are true not because they are in Scripture, but because they are evident to unassisted reason. While scholars have explored his arguments in ecclesiastical and historical context, little analysis exists of the scholastic background to Pecock’s conception of the relation of reason to faith. This article suggests that Pecock’s arguments are grounded in the thought of Aquinas and Scotus, and illustrates how his understanding of reason’s capabilities directs his conception of the authority …

Gendered Interpretations: Two Fourth-Century B.C.E. Performances Of Sophocles' Electra, Anne Duncan

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

While the evidence for theatrical practice in the ancient world is admittedly spotty, we are fortunate to have anecdotal evidence concerning two different performances of Sophocles' Electra, both from the fourth century B.C.E., by two of the most famous tragic actors in ancient Greece, Theodorus and Polus, who apparently played Electra. The evidence suggests that their performances may have differed widely; it is even conceivable that the role was something of a yardstick for measuring great actors of the day (a la Hamlet). I will argue that these two "star" actors gave radically different interpretations of the character of Electra, …

Johannes Buxtorfs Charakterisierung Des Judentums: Reformierte Orthodoxie Und Christliche Hebraistik, Stephen G. Burnett

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Die wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung mit dem Judentum erhielt durch Johannes Buxtorf (1564-1629) eine neue Perspektive. Obwohl sein Zugang durch die Theologie der Orthodoxie geprägt war, zeigte er sich außerordentlich gut informiert über das Judentum. Seine regelmäßigen Kontakte zu Juden und seine tiefe Vertrautheit mit der jüdischen Literatur gehen zurück auf seinen Lehrauftrag als Hebräischprofessor an der Baseler Universität, auf seine Tätigkeit als Zensor der Stadt Basel für Hebräische Druckwerke und auf seine Vertretung der Waldkirch-Druckerei von 1596 bis 1612. Buxtorf lebte und wirkte in einer Zeit, in der jüdisch-christliche Kontakte einen ,,Zweck" haben mussten, wie Jacob Katz herausgestellt hat. Dennoch besaß …

Women In Wisdom Tradition: Review Of Carol Fontaine, Smooth Words: Women, Proverbs And Performance In Biblical Wisdom, Sidnie White Crawford

Department of Classics and Religious Studies: Faculty Publications

Smooth Words is a well-researched and entertaining, if somewhat uneven, book on women in the Wisdom tradition in ancient Israel. Fontaine, a faculty member at a small Protestant seminary in Newton, MA, writes with her students constantly in mind, her interactions with them informing her scholarship throughout the book. She is also in dialogue with other scholars in the fields of Wisdom literature and feminist scholarship, a dialogue that gives the book academic rigor and depth.