Computational Engineering Commons^™

Corgi: Compute Oriented Recumbent Generation Infrastructure, Christopher Allen Hunt

Master's Theses

Creating a bicycle with a rideable geometry is more complicated than it may appear, with today’s mainstay designs having evolved through years of iteration. This slow evolution coupled with the bicycle’s intricate mechanical system has lead most builders to base their new geometries off of previous work rather than expand into new design spaces. This crutch can lead to slow bicycle iteration rates, often causing bicycles to all look about the same. To combat this, several bicycle design models have been created over the years, with each attempting to define a bicycle’s handling characteristics given its physical geometry. However, these …

On The Development Of A One-Time Pad Generator For Personalising Cloud Security, Paul Tobin, Lee Tobin, Michael Mckeever, Jonathan Blackledge

Conference papers

Cloud computing security issues are being reported in newspapers, television, and on the Internet, on a daily basis. Furthermore, in 2013, Edward Snowden alleged backdoors were placed in a number of encryption systems by the National Security Agency causing confidence in public encryption to drop even further. Our solution allows the end-user to add a layer of unbreakable security by encrypting the data locally with a random number generator prior to uploading data to the Cloud. The prototype one-time pad generator is impervious to cryptanalysis because it generates unbreakable random binary sequences from chaos sources initiated from a natural noise. …

Convolutional Neural Networks For Predicting Skin Lesions Of Melanoma, Anuruddha Jayasekara Pathiranage

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Diagnosis of an unknown skin lesion is crucial to enable proper treatments. While curable with early diagnosis, only highly trained dermatologists are capable of accurately recognize melanoma skin lesions. Expert dermatologist classification for melanoma dermoscopic images is 65-66%. As expertise is in limited supply, systems that can automatically classify skin lesions as either benign or malignant melanoma are very useful as initial screening tools. Towards this goal, this study presents a convolutional neural network model, trained on features extracted from a highway convolutional neural network pretrained on dermoscopic images of skin lesions. This requires no lesion segmentation nor complex preprocessing. …

Blown To Bits Project, David Schmidt

Informatics Open Educational Resources

The book, Blown to Bits, uncovers the many ways that the new digital world has changed and is changing our whole environment. Some changes are incremental but others are more revolutionary. Some of the changes that we welcome are slowly eroding our privacy and are changing the rules of ownership. This book illuminates the complexities of these changes. I have attempted to capture the central points in selected chapters, and in some cases I have added new material or new examples to replace dated material. I picked chapters to summarize that address the following topics (and more). There are many …

An Empirical Investigation Of Collaborative Web Search Tool On Novice's Query Behavior, Mareh Fakhir Al-Sammarraie

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, research efforts dedicated to studying the process of collaborative web search have been on the rise. Yet, a limited number of studies have examined the impact of collaborative information search processes on novices’ query behaviors. Studying and analyzing factors that influence web search behaviors, specifically users’ patterns of queries when using collaborative search systems can help with making query suggestions for group users. Improvements in user query behaviors and system query suggestions help in reducing search time and increasing query success rates for novices.

This thesis investigates the influence of collaboration between experts and novices as …

An Operational View In Computational Construction Of Information, Florentin Smarandache, Stefan Vladutescu, Constantin Dima, Valeriu Voinea

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The paper aims to explain the technology of emergence of information. Our research proves that information as communicational product is the result of processing within some operations, actions, mechanisms and strategies of informational material meanings. Are determined eight computational-communicative operations of building information. Information occurs in two communication phases, syncretic and the segregation-synthetic. The syncretic phase consists of four operations: referral of significant field, primary delimitation of information, detection-looking information and an anticipative-draft constitution (feedforward). The segregation-synthetic phase also includes four operations: discrimination, identification, interpretation and confrontation (feedback). In the future we will investigate informational actions, mechanisms and strategies.

Leveraging Lexical Link Analysis (Lla) To Discover New Knowledge, Ying Zhao, Douglas J. Mackinnon, Shelley P. Gallup, Joseph L. Billingsley

Military Cyber Affairs

Lexical Link Analysis (LLA) is a form of text mining in which word meanings represented in lexical terms (e.g., word pairs) are treated as if they are in a community of a word network. LLA can provide automated awareness for analyzing text data and reveal previously unknown, data-driven themed connections. We applied LLA to develop authentic archetypes and conversely determine potential imposters of that same archetype. We use publically available social media data to develop a cyber professional as an example. This paper reports the development of the algorithm, the collection and labeling of data, as well as the results …

Teaching The Internet Of Things: Bridging A Path From Cpe329, Steven Han, Rafael Lopez

Computer Engineering

“The ability to connect, communicate with, and remotely manage an incalculable number of networked, automated devices via the Internet is becoming pervasive, from the commercial kitchen to the residential basement room to the arm of the fitness buff.” - WSO2

In this report, we will investigate procedures and technologies used in IoT. A variety of cloud platforms will be described to demonstrate its strengths and usage on IoT applications. Furthermore, demonstrate the most popular hardware being used in several of these applications. This report is aimed to give a good understanding on what it takes to put together an IoT …

Characterization Of Molecular Communication Based On Cell Metabolism Through Mutual Information And Flux Balance Analysis, Zahmeeth Sayed Sakkaff

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Synthetic biology is providing novel tools to engineer cells and access the basis of their molecular information processing, including their communication channels based on chemical reactions and molecule exchange. Molecular communication is a discipline in communication engineering that studies these types of communications and ways to exploit them for novel purposes, such as the development of ubiquitous and heterogeneous communication networks to interconnect biological cells with nano and biotechnology-enabled devices, i.e., the Internet of Bio-Nano Things. One major problem in realizing these goals stands in the development of reliable techniques to control the engineered cells and their behavior from the …

The Wotan Beowulf Cluster Project, Carson Wang, Krist Pregracke

ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium

The Wotan project moves into its second year in which high school students, in liaison with SIU, have implemented Hadoop and various experiments. Insight on the challenges and requirements of current practices in Big Data analysis will be presented.

Assisting Children Action Association Through Visual Queues And Wearable Technology, Anthony Young

Computational and Data Sciences Theses

Autism Spectrum Disorder makes it difficult to for a child communicate, have social interactions and go through daily life. Visual cues are often used to help a child associate an image with an event. With technology becoming more and more advanced, we now have a way to remind a child of an event with wearable technology, such as a watch. This new technology can help a child directly with the Visual Scheduling Application and various other applications. These applications allow children and their families to be easily able to keep track of the events on their schedule and notify them …

Gpu-Arraysort: A Parallel, In-Place Algorithm For Sorting Large Number Of Arrays, Muaaz Awan, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

Modern day analytics deals with big datasets from diverse fields. For many application the data is in the form of an array which consists of large number of smaller arrays. Existing techniques focus on sorting a single large array and cannot be used for sorting large number of smaller arrays in an efficient manner. Currently no such algorithm is available which can sort such large number of arrays utilizing the massively parallel architecture of GPU devices. In this paper we present a highly scalable parallel algorithm, called GPU-ArraySort, for sorting large number of arrays using a GPU. Our algorithm performs …

The Effects Of Latency On 3d Interactive Data Visualizations, Allen Korenevsky

Master's Theses

Interactive data visualizations must respond fluidly to user input to be effective, or so we assume. In fact it is unknown exactly how fast a visualization must run to present every facet within a dataset. An engineering team with limited resources is left with intuition and estimates to determine if their application performs sufficiently well.

This thesis studies how latency affects users' comprehension of data visualizations, specifically 3D geospatial visualizations with large data sets. Subjects used a climate visualization showing temperatures spanning from the 19th to the 21st century to answer multiple choice questions. Metrics like their eye movements, time …

High-Low, Cameron Burwell, Bryce Cheng-Campbell

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The card game High-Low is a cooperative game that provides a unique problem of where all players have partial information and build off other players guesses to win the game. This problem lends itself to creating an AI bot that can play the game with other human players. By making decisions that change as the other players make guesses through the rounds, we have created an AI bot that plays the game with a good degree of accuracy.

Anex: Automated Network Exploitation Through Penetration Testing, Eric Francis Dazet

Master's Theses

Cyber attacks are a growing concern in our modern world, making security evaluation a critical venture. Penetration testing, the process of attempting to compromise a computer network with controlled tests, is a proven method of evaluating a system's security measures. However, penetration tests, and preventive security analysis in general, require considerable investments in money, time, and labor, which can cause them to be overlooked. Alternatively, automated penetration testing programs are used to conduct a security evaluation with less user effort, lower cost, and in a shorter period of time than manual penetration tests. The trade-off is that automated penetration testing …

Source Separation Approach To Video Quality Prediction In Computer Networks, Ruairí De Fréin

Articles

Time-varying loads introduce errors in the estimated model parameters of service-level predictors in Computer Networks. A load-adjusted modification of a traditional unadjusted service-level predictor is contributed, based on Source Separation (SS). It mitigates these errors and improves service-quality predictions for Video-on-Demand (VoD) by :6 to 2dB.

“My Logic Is Undeniable”: Replicating The Brain For Ideal Artificial Intelligence, Samuel C. Adams

Senior Honors Theses

Alan Turing asked if machines can think, but intelligence is more than logic and reason. I ask if a machine can feel pain or joy, have visions and dreams, or paint a masterpiece. The human brain sets the bar high, and despite our progress, artificial intelligence has a long way to go. Studying neurology from a software engineer’s perspective reveals numerous uncanny similarities between the functionality of the brain and that of a computer. If the brain is a biological computer, then it is the embodiment of artificial intelligence beyond anything we have yet achieved, and its architecture is advanced …

Proactive Biometric-Enabled Forensic Imprinting, Abdulrahman Alruban, Nathan L. Clarke, Fudong Li, Steven M. Furnell

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Threats to enterprises have become widespread in the last decade. A major source of such threats originates from insiders who have legitimate access to the organization's internal systems and databases. Therefore, preventing or responding to such incidents has become a challenging task. Digital forensics has grown into a de-facto standard in the examination of electronic evidence; however, a key barrier is often being able to associate an individual to the stolen data. Stolen credentials and the Trojan defense are two commonly cited arguments used. This paper proposes a model that can more inextricably links the use of information (e.g. images, …

In-Field Fuel Use And Load States Of Agricultural Field Machinery, Santosh Pitla, Joe D. Luck, Jared Werner, Nannan Lin, Scott A. Shearer

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The ability to define in-field tractor load states offers the potential to better specify and characterize fuel consumption rate for various field operations. For the same field operation, the tractor experiences diverse load demands and corresponding fuel use rates as it maneuvers through straight passes, turns, suspended operation for adjustments, repair and maintenance, and biomass or other material transfer operations. It is challenging to determine the actual fuel rate and load states of agricultural machinery using force prediction models, and hence, some form of in-field data acquisition capability is required. Controller Area Networks (CAN) available on the current model tractors …

Control Of Cation Ordering In Zinc Tin Nitride And In-Situ Monitoring Of Growth, Brian Christopher Durant

Masters Theses

Semiconducting materials with a band gap around 1.5 eV are very much sought after due to their close match to the solar spectrum. However, some compounds that have shown promise for highly efficient solar cells contain rare, expensive, and sometimes toxic elements, such as indium and gallium. As such, a search for earth abundant materials has become more prominent recently. One such earth abundant semiconducting material that has garnered interest is ZnSnN₂. It has been shown through previous studies that there is the possibility of continuously tuning the band gap between 1.0 and 2.0 eV by controlling the …

Novel Software Defined Radio Architecture With Graphics Processor Acceleration, Lalith Narasimhan

Dissertations

Wireless has become one of the most pervasive core technologies in the modern world. Demand for faster data rates, improved spectrum efficiency, higher system access capacity, seamless protocol integration, improved security and robustness under varying channel environments has led to the resurgence of programmable software defined radio (SDR) as an alternative to traditional ASIC based radios. Future SDR implementations will need support for multiple standards on platforms with multi-Gb/s connectivity, parallel processing and spectrum sensing capabilities. This dissertation implemented key technologies of importance in addressing these issues namely development of cost effective multi-mode reconfigurable SDR and providing a framework to …

Face Recognition With Multi-Stage Matching Algorithms, Xianming Chen

Dissertations

For every face recognition method, the primary goal is to achieve higher recognition accuracy and spend less computational costs. However, as the gallery size increases, especially when one probe image corresponds to only one training image, face recognition becomes more and more challenging. First, a larger gallery size requires more computational costs and memory usage. Meanwhile, that the large gallery sizes degrade the recognition accuracy becomes an even more significant problem to be solved.

A coarse parallel algorithm that equally divides training images and probe images into multiple processors is proposed to deal with the large computational costs and huge …

Big Data Proteogenomics And High Performance Computing: Challenges And Opportunities, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

Proteogenomics is an emerging field of systems biology research at the intersection of proteomics and genomics. Two high-throughput technologies, Mass Spectrometry (MS) for proteomics and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) machines for genomics are required to conduct proteogenomics studies. Independently both MS and NGS technologies are inflicted with data deluge which creates problems of storage, transfer, analysis and visualization. Integrating these big data sets (NGS+MS) for proteogenomics studies compounds all of the associated computational problems. Existing sequential algorithms for these proteogenomics datasets analysis are inadequate for big data and high performance computing (HPC) solutions are almost non-existent. The purpose of this …

Using Eye And Head Movements As A Control Mechanism For Tele-Operating A Ground-Based Robot And Its Payload, Kathryn C. Hicks

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

To date, eye and head tracking has been used to indicate users' attention patterns while performing a task or as an aid for disabled persons, to allow hands-free interaction with a computer. The increasing accuracy and the reduced cost of eye- and head-tracking equipment make utilizing this technology feasible for explicit control tasks, especially in cases where there is confluence between the visual task and control.

The goal of this research was to investigate the use of eye-tracking as a more natural interface for the control of a camera-equipped, remotely operated robot in tasks that require the operator to simultaneously …

Software Metrics And Dashboard, Shilpika Shilpika, George K. Thiruvathukal, Saulo Aguiar, Konstantin Läufer, Nicholas J. Hayward

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Software metrics are a critical tool which provide continuous insight to products and processes and help build reliable software in mission critical environments. Using software metrics we can perform calculations that help assess the effectiveness of the underlying software or process. The two types of metrics relevant to our work is complexity metrics and in-process metrics. Complexity metrics tend to focus on intrinsic code properties like code complexity. In-process metrics focus on a higher-level view of software quality, measuring information that can provide insight into the underlying software development process.

Our aim is to develop and evaluate a metrics dashboard …

A Parallel Algorithm For Compression Of Big Next-Generation Sequencing Datasets, Sandino N. Vargas Perez, Fahad Saeed

Parallel Computing and Data Science Lab Technical Reports

With the advent of high-throughput next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, the amount of data being generated represents challenges including storage, analysis and transport of huge datasets. One solution to storage and transmission of data is compression using specialized compression algorithms. However, these specialized algorithms suffer from poor scalability with increasing size of the datasets and best available solutions can take hours to compress gigabytes of data. In this paper we introduce paraDSRC, a parallel implementation of DSRC algorithm using a message passing model that presents reduction of the compression time complexity by a factor of O(1/p ). Our experimental results show …

Classification Of Digital Communication Signal Modulation Schemes In Multipath Environments Using Higher Order Statistics, Meena Sreekantamurthy

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Automatic identification and classification of modulation schemes in communication signals and decoding of information from the captured signals has assumed great importance recently in the wireless communication industry. Advancements in communications have introduced a large variety of modulation schemes in the transmitted signals; consequently, reliable detection of the modulation scheme in the intercepted signal has become an important issue in communications. It is the aim of this thesis to address this issue of reliable detection. Therefore, this research is focused on modeling and simulation of an automatic modulation classifier and, in particular, on the development of algorithms to use higher …

Developing An Application For Evolutionary Search For Computational Models Of Cellular Development, Nicolas Scott Cornia

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

VPEvolve is a free and open source application that utilizes a Visual Programming Environment (VPE) for the setup of the Genetic Algorithm (GA), for optimization of computational models. Specifically, the User Interface uses connected glyphs to represent the genetic operators of mutation, reproduction, fitness and selection. These glyphs give the user an intuitive way to set the parameters for the GA, and better visualization of the population's flow through these operators.

VPEvolve is currently being developed alongside research being done in Biocomputing to create models of cellular regeneration based on the regenerative properties of Planaria or flatworms. Since these models …

Secure And Reliable Routing Protocol For Transmission Data In Wireless Sensor Mesh Networks, Nooh Adel Bany Muhammad

Dissertations

Abstract

Sensor nodes collect data from the physical world then exchange it until it reaches the intended destination. This information can be sensitive, such as battlefield surveillance. Therefore, providing secure and continuous data transmissions among sensor nodes in wireless network environments is crucial. Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have limited resources, limited computation capabilities, and the exchange of data through the air and deployment in accessible areas makes the energy, security, and routing major concerns in WSN. In this research we are looking at security issues for the above reasons. WSN is susceptible to malicious activities such as hacking and physical …

Does Choice Of Programming Language Affect Student Understanding Of Programming Concepts In A First Year Engineering Course?, Benjamin D. Mcpheron, Stephanie M. Gratiano, William J. Palm

Engineering, Computing & Construction Management Faculty Publications

Most undergraduate engineering curricula include computer programming to some degree,introducing a structured language such as C, or a computational system such as MATLAB, or both. Many of these curricula include programming in first year engineering courses, integrating the solution of simple engineering problems with an introduction to programming concepts. In line with this practice, Roger Williams University has included an introduction to programming as a part of the first year engineering curriculum for many years. However, recent industry and pedagogical trends have motivated the switch from a structured language (VBA) to a computational system (MATLAB). As a part of the …