Engineering Commons^™

Cs/Bio 471/671: Algorithms For Bioinformatics, Michael L. Raymer

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Theory-oriented approach to the application of contemporary algorithms to bioinformatics. Graph theory, complexity theory, dynamic programming and optimization techniques are introduced in the context of application toward solving specific computational problems in molecular genetics. 4 credit hours.

Ceg 790: Emerging Networks, Bin Wang

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This is a graduate level course on emerging networking technologies. The course involves a reading/lecture/presentation/discussion component, paper review component, and a project component. It will provide an in-depth study on a number of focused areas: dense wavelength division multiplexing (D\VDM) optical networks, optical burst switching networks, peer-to-peer networks, and wireless mobile networks (including Ad-hoc wireless networks, sensor networks). Various technical and research issues involved will be studied. These areas of emerging networking technologies will play central roles in future communication networks.

Back-Up Server For Computer Science Department, Victoria Gaylord

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Because Western Kentucky University does not maintain a back-up system for its departments, the Computer Science Department has implemented its own. Using Bacula software on a Unix server, files from faculty desktop computers and servers are backed up to a tape drive on a daily basis. The server is protected from outside threats with a carefully configured firewall script. This paper explains how both the firewall and the back-up software were implemented and how successful that implementation has been.

Bactericidal Effects Of Cold Plasma Technology On Geobacillus Stearothermophilus And Bacillus Cereus Microorganisms, Angela D. Morris, Gayle B. Mccombs, Susan L. Tolle, Mounir Laroussi, Wayne L. Hynes

Dental Hygiene Faculty Publications

Cold plasma is a state of matter that contains a large number of particles that are electrically charged. Plasmas generate chemically reactive species and ultraviolet radiation making them useful in decontamination applications (Kong & Laroussi, 2003). Research regarding the inactivation of gram-positive bacteria by cold plasma has been studied by Laroussi et al (2003); however, there is limited research regarding the germicidal effectiveness of cold plasma on Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus cereus microorganisms. The purpose of this study was to determine if cold plasma technology inactivates Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Bacillus cereus vegetative cells and spores. This study consisted of 981 …

Control Of Nonholonomic Mobile Robot Formations Using Neural Networks, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Travis Alan Dierks

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper the control of formations of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots is attempted by integrating a kinematic controller with a neural network (NN) computed-torque controller. A combined kinematic/torque control law is developed for leader-follower based formation control using backstepping in order to accommodate the dynamics of the robots and the formation in contrast with kinematic-based formation controllers. The NN is introduced to approximate the dynamics of the follower as well as its leader using online weight tuning. It is shown using Lyapunov theory that the errors for the entire formation are uniformly ultimately bounded, and numerical results are provided.

Comparisons Of An Adaptive Neural Network Based Controller And An Optimized Conventional Power System Stabilizer, Wenxin Liu, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Donald C. Wunsch, Mariesa Crow, Li Liu, David A. Cartes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Power system stabilizers are widely used to damp out the low frequency oscillations in power systems. In power system control literature, there is a lack of stability analysis for proposed controller designs. This paper proposes a Neural Network (NN) based stabilizing controller design based on a sixth order single machine infinite bus power system model. The NN is used to compensate the complex nonlinear dynamics of power system. To speed up the learning process, an adaptive signal is introduced to the NN's weights updating rule. The NN can be directly used online without offline training process. Magnitude constraint of the …

Use Of Max-Flow On Facts Devices, Adam Lininger, Bruce M. Mcmillin, Badrul H. Chowdhury, Mariesa Crow

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

FACTS devices can be used to mitigate cascading failures in a power grid by controlling the power flow in individual lines. Placement and control are significant issues. We present a procedure for determining whether a scenario can be mitigated using the concept of maximum flow. If it can be mitigated, we determine what placement and control setting will solve the scenario. This paper treats fourteen cascading failure scenarios and reports on the use of the max-flow algorithm both in determining the mitigation of each scenario and in finding FACTS settings that will mitigate the scenario.

Energy-Efficient Hybrid Key Management Protocol For Wireless Sensor Networks, Timothy J. Landstra, Maciej Jan Zawodniok, Jagannathan Sarangapani

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, we propose a subnetwork key management strategy in which the heterogeneous security requirements of a wireless sensor network are considered to provide differing levels of security with minimum communication overhead. Additionally, it allows the dynamic creation of high security subnetworks within the wireless sensor network and provides subnetworks with a mechanism for dynamically creating a secure key using a novel and dynamic group key management protocol. The proposed energy-efficient protocol utilizes a combination of pre-deployed group keys and initial trustworthiness of nodes to create a level of trust between neighbors in the network. This trust is later …

Neural Network Based Decentralized Controls Of Large Scale Power Systems, Wenxin Liu, Jagannathan Sarangapani, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, Donald C. Wunsch, Mariesa Crow, Li Liu, David A. Cartes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a suite of neural network (NN) based decentralized controller designs for large scale power systems' generators, one is for the excitation control and the other is for the steam valve control. Though the control inputs are calculated using local signals, the transient and overall system stability can be guaranteed. NNs are used to approximate the unknown and/or imprecise dynamics of the local power system dynamics and the inter-connection terms, thus the requirements for exact system parameters are relaxed. Simulation studies with a three-machine power system demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller designs.

Lazy Preservation: Reconstructing Websites From The Web Infrastructure, Frank Mccown

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Backup or preservation of websites is often not considered until after a catastrophic event has occurred. In the face of complete website loss, webmasters or concerned third parties have attempted to recover some of their websites from the Internet Archive. Still others have sought to retrieve missing resources from the caches of commercial search engines. Inspired by these post hoc reconstruction attempts, this dissertation introduces the concept of lazy preservation{ digital preservation performed as a result of the normal operations of the Web Infrastructure (web archives, search engines and caches). First, the Web Infrastructure (WI) is characterized by its preservation …

Self-Organization In Cathode Boundary Layer Discharges, Nobuhiko Takano

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Cathode boundary layer (CBL) discharge, which has been developed as a UV light source, operates in a direct current between a planar cathode and a ring-shape anode that are separated by a dielectric with an opening of the same diameter as the anode. The nonthermal CBL discharges operate in a medium pressure range down to 30 Torr, emitting excimer radiation when operated with noble gases. The radiant excimer emittance at 172 nm in xenon reaches 1.7 W/cm², and a maximum excimer efficiency of 6 % has been obtained. The high excimer radiant emittance, in addition to low cost …

The Urban Heat Island Mitigation Impact Screening Tool (Mist), David J. Sailor, Nikolaas Dietsch

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A web-based software tool has been developed to assist urban planners and air quality management officials in assessing the potential of urban heat island mitigation strategies to affect the urban climate, air quality, and energy consumption within their cities. The user of the tool can select from over 170 US cities for which to conduct the analysis, and can specify city-wide changes in surface reflectivity and/or vegetative cover. The Mitigation Impact Screening Tool (MIST) then extrapolates results from a suite of simulations for 20 cities to estimate air temperature changes associated with the specified changes in surface characteristics for the …

Radical Impact Of Change In Actions And Confidence Index On Reverse Decision Making An Application Based Study, Swatee Trimbak Paithankar

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

While making decisions under uncertainty, people are often unaware of the logical approach to form the decision process. It is assumed that collecting details, analyzing and evaluating data is enough to make 'proper' decisions. However, past research in the decision making arena has significantly validated that there exists a class of decision problems which is complex, ill-structured and not defined to the level where decision makers can draw logical conclusions based on existing traditional decision approaches. RDM (reverse decision making), one of the novel approaches of decision making under conditions of uncertainty, has shown potential towards addressing some of these …

An Adaptive And Non-Linear Technique For Enhancement Of High Contrast Images, Saibabu Arigela

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In night time surveillance, there is a possibility of having extremely bright and dark regions in some image frames of a video sequence. Neither the object details in the low intensity areas nor in the high intensity areas can be clearly interpreted. Several image processing techniques have been developed to retrieve meaningful information under low lighting conditions. The algorithm based on integrated neighborhood dependency of pixel characteristics, and that based on the illuminance reflectance model perform well for improving the visual quality of digital images captured under extremely low and nonuniform lighting conditions. But these techniques cannot perform well in …

Distributed Cluster-Based Outlier Detection In Wireless Sensor Networks, Swetha Gali

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks find several potential applications in a variety of fields, such as environmental monitoring and control, battlefields, surveillance, smart buildings, human health monitoring, etc. These sensor networks consist of a large number of very tiny, inexpensive, and low power sensor nodes, which are deployed in a variety of harsh environments that may result in the sensor data getting corrupted. It is thus critical to detect and report these abnormal values in the sensor data, in order to have a better understanding of the monitored environment. Detection of the abnormal values is of special interest for the sensor network …

Neighborhood Defined Adaboost Based Mixture Of Color Components For Efficient Skin Segmentation, Ramya Reddy Maaram

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A skin segmentation algorithm robust to illumination changes and skin-like backgrounds is developed in this thesis. So far skin pixel classification has been limited to only individual color spaces and there has not been a comprehensive evaluation of which color components or combination of color components would provide the best classification accuracy, Color components in a given color space form the feature set for the classification of skin pixels. The combination of the color components or the features present within a single color space may not be the best when it comes to skin pixel classification as the discriminatory power …

A Robust Method For Multiple Face Tracking Using Kalman Filter, Zaheer Shaik

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A robust method for tracking faces of multiple people moving in a scene using a Kalman filter is proposed. This method overcomes the problem of partial and total occlusion for a short period. The method uses a combination of face detection and cloth matching to track and differentiate between people. A Template matching technique for face and a non-parametric distribution for cloth are used. Face templates are obtained from the first frame of a video sequence by applying the Viola-Jones face detection method. Cloth color distribution is obtained from people's clothes, assuming that the bodies move along with the faces. …

Integrating Game Technology And Discrete Event Simulation To Analyze Mass Casualty Scenarios, Jason Loveland

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the last 10 years, video games have become complex simulation environments with high resolution 3D graphics enabled by powerhouse rendering engines, multi-player client server networks, user friendly displays and graphical user interface , while remaining relatively inexpensive. There is a critical need for systems engineering analysis and rapid trade studies due to changes in operations caused by current events such as terrorist attacks, asymmetric threats, natural disasters, etc. Modem games provide a unique way to visualize and interact with these complex environments, scenarios, missions, and operations. A discrete event simulator (DES) provides an environment to model system architecture behavior, …

A Modular Kernel Linear Discriminant Analysis Of Gabor Features For Improved Face Recognition, Neeharika Gudur

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Automatic face recognition is one of the major challenges in computer vision and pattern analysis. This thesis presents an efficient face recognition system that is robust with regards to changes in illumination, facial expressions and partial occlusions. Modular Kernel Linear Discriminant Analysis performed on Gabor Features obtained from the face images is employed for improving face recognition accuracy. A face image is pre-processed using the 2D Gabor wavelet transform to achieve invariance to illumination in images. Modular approaches that divide the pre-processed images into smaller sub-images provide improved accuracy, as the facial variations in an image are confined to local …

Parmela Based Simulations On Jefferson Lab Free Electron Laser Injector, Deepesh Kumar Koppunuru

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Free Electron Lasers (FELs) have many applications and are under continuing development to meet various needs and in areas from materials processing to life sciences research. This is because of its unique capability of generating high-average power, coherent, and wavelength tunable light by employing relativistic beam of un-bounded electrons. The main challenge in FEL development is the generation of a high intensity, high-quality electron beam in an injector. Further acceleration to relativistic energies is accomplished in a linear accelerator (LINAC) for producing laser light in a device known as wiggler. The Jefferson Lab FEL team intents to increase the injector …

Gnep Quarterly Input – Unlv July 1 Through September 30, 2007, Harry Reid Center For Environmental Studies. Nuclear Science And Technology Division

Transmutation Research Program Reports (TRP)

Quarterly report highlighting research projects, activities and objectives of the Transmutation Research Program at the Nuclear Science & Technology Division, Harry Reid Research Center.

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas supports the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) through research and development of technologies for economic and environmentally sound refinement of spent nuclear fuel. The UNLV program has four components: infrastructure, international collaboration, student-based research, and management and program support.

Blueprint For Iteratively Hardening Power Grids Employing Unified Power Flow Controllers, William M. Siever, Ann K. Miller, Daniel R. Tauritz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A stable electricity supply is vital for modern society. However, many parts of our power transmission grid are operating near their operational limits. Such stressed systems are vulnerable to cascading failures, where a few small faults can induce a cascade of failures potentially leading to a major blackout The unified power flow controller (UPFC), the most powerful highspeed, semi-conductor based power flow device, can be used as a theoretical model to study how these devices can be used to improve power grid resilience. The blueprint presented here can be used to iteratively identify critical weaknesses in power grids and to …

2007 Engr333/Biol354 Project Assignment, Matthew K. Heun

ENGR 333

The Fall 2007 semester ENGR333 project involved a collaboration with students in BIOL354, taught by my colleague Dave Warners. We asked our students “What would it take to make Calvin College carbon neutral?”

This project resulted in the first-ever carbon dioxide emissions and sequestration assessment of Calvin College, attached below.

The student presenters animated the pie charts, and an audible gasp filled the hall when the imbalance between carbon emissions and carbon sequestration became clear.

The students also studied potential routes to carbon neutrality, one of which was a green revolving fund.

This class project resulted in a co-authored publication …

Dolce Ergo Sumo: On Foundational And Domain Models In Swinto (Smart Web Integrated Ontology), Daniel Oberle, Anupriya Ankolekar, Pascal Hitzler, Philipp Cimiano, Michael Sintek, Malte Kiesel, Babak Mougouie, Stephan Baumann, Shankar Vembu, Massimo Romanelli, Paul Buitelaar, Ralf Engel, Daniel Sonntag, Norbert Reithinger, Berenike Loos, Hans-Peter Zorn, Vanessa Micelli, Robert Porzel, Christian Schmidt, Moritz Weiten, Felix Burkhardt, Jianshen Zhou

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

Increased availability of mobile computing, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), creates the potential for constant and intelligent access to up-to-date, integrated and detailed information from the Web, regardless of one's actual geographical position. Intelligent question-answering requires the representation of knowledge from various domains, such as the navigational and discourse context of the user, potential user questions, the information provided by Web services and so on, for example in the form of ontologies. Within the context of the SmartWeb project, we have developed a number of domain-specific ontologies that are relevant for mobile and intelligent user interfaces to open-domain question-answering …

Examination Of Energy And Group Velocities In Positive And Negative Index Chiral Materials With And Without Dispersion, Monish Ranjan Chatterjee, Partha P. Banerjee

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Concepts of energy and group velocities, Poynting and propagation vectors are examined for both positive and negative index materials. Known definitions for these entities are explored in terms of the interplay of chirality and dispersion.

Reliability Modeling For The Advanced Electric Power Grid, Ayman Z. Faza, Sahra Sedigh, Bruce M. Mcmillin

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The advanced electric power grid promises a self-healing infrastructure using distributed, coordinated, power electronics control. One promising power electronics device, the Flexible AC Transmission System (FACTS), can modify power flow locally within a grid. Embedded computers within the FACTS devices, along with the links connecting them, form a communication and control network that can dynamically change the power grid to achieve higher dependability. The goal is to reroute power in the event of transmission line failure. Such a system, over a widespread area, is a cyber-physical system. The overall reliability of the grid is a function of the respective reliabilities …

Ontology-Enriched Semantic Space For Video Search, Xiao-Yong Wei, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Multimedia-based ontology construction and reasoning have recently been recognized as two important issues in video search, particularly for bridging semantic gap. The lack of coincidence between low-level features and user expectation makes concept-based ontology reasoning an attractive midlevel framework for interpreting high-level semantics. In this paper, we propose a novel model, namely ontology-enriched semantic space (OSS), to provide a computable platform for modeling and reasoning concepts in a linear space. OSS enlightens the possibility of answering conceptual questions such as a high coverage of semantic space with minimal set of concepts, and the set of concepts to be developed for …

Practical Elimination Of Near-Duplicates From Web Video Search, Xiao Wu, Alexander G. Hauptmann, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Current web video search results rely exclusively on text keywords or user-supplied tags. A search on typical popular video often returns many duplicate and near-duplicate videos in the top results. This paper outlines ways to cluster and filter out the nearduplicate video using a hierarchical approach. Initial triage is performed using fast signatures derived from color histograms. Only when a video cannot be clearly classified as novel or nearduplicate using global signatures, we apply a more expensive local feature based near-duplicate detection which provides very accurate duplicate analysis through more costly computation. The results of 24 queries in a data …

Evaluating Bag-Of-Visual-Words Representations In Scene Classification, Jun Yang, Yu-Gang Jiang, Alexander G. Hauptmann, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Based on keypoints extracted as salient image patches, an image can be described as a “bag of visual words” and this representation has been used in scene classification. The choice of dimension, selection, and weighting of visual words in this representation is crucial to the classification performance but has not been thoroughly studied in previous work. Given the analogy between this representation and the bag-of-words representation of text documents, we apply techniques used in text categorization, including term weighting, stop word removal, feature selection, to generate image representations that differ in the dimension, selection, and weighting of visual words. The …

Robust Local Search And Its Application To Generating Robust Schedules, Hoong Chuin Lau, Fei Xiao, Thomas Ou

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose an extended local search framework to solve combinatorial optimization problems with data uncertainty. Our approach represents a major departure from scenario-based or stochastic programming approaches often used to tackle uncertainty. Given a value 0 < ? 1, we are interested to know what the robust objective value is, i.e. the optimal value if we allow an chance of not meeting it, assuming that certain data values are defined on bounded random variables. We show how a standard local search or metaheuristic routine can be extended to efficiently construct a decision rule with such guarantee, albeit heuristically. We demonstrate its practical applicability on the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem with minimal and maximal time lags (RCPSP/max) taking into consideration activity duration uncertainty. Experiments show that, partial order schedules can be constructed that are robust in our sense without the need for a large planned horizon (due date), which improves upon the work proposed by Policella et al. 2004.