Computer Engineering Commons^™

Measures Of Deviation (And Dependence) For Heavy-Tailed Distributions And Heir Estimation Under Interval And Fuzzy Uncertainty, Nitaya Buntao, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Traditionally, in science and engineering, most statistical techniques are based on the assumption that the random variables are normally distributed. For such distributions, a natural characteristic of the "average" value is the mean, and a natural characteristic of the deviation from the average is the variance. However, in many practical situations, e.g., in economics and finance, we encounter probability distributions for which the variance is infinite; such distributions are called heavy-tailed. For such distributions, we describe which characteristics can be used to describe the average and the deviation from the average, and how to estimate these characteristics under interval …

Qos-Aware Fine-Grained Power Management In Networked Computing Systems, Jiayu Gong

Wayne State University Dissertations

Power is a major design concern of today's networked computing systems, from low-power battery-powered mobile and embedded systems to high-power enterprise servers. Embedded systems are required to be power efficiency because most embedded systems are powered by battery with limited capacity. Similar concern of power expenditure rises as well in enterprise server environments due to cooling requirement, power delivery limit, electricity costs as well as environment pollutions.

The power consumption in networked computing systems includes that on circuit board and that for communication. In the context of networked real-time systems, the power dissipation on wireless communication is more significant than …

Relativistic Red-Black Trees, Philip William Howard, Jonathan Walpole

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Operating system performance and scalability on sharedmemory many-core systems depends critically on efficient access to shared data structures. Scalability has proven difficult to achieve for many data structures. In this paper we present a novel and highly scalable concurrent red-black tree. Red-black trees are widely used in operating systems, but typically exhibit poor scalability. Our red-black tree has linear read scalability, uncontended read performance that is at least 25% faster than other known approaches, and deterministic lookup times for a given tree size, making it suitable for realtime applications.

The Ordering Requirements Of Relativistic And Reader-Writer Locking Approaches To Shared Data Access, Philip William Howard, Josh Triplett, Jonathan Walpole, Paul E. Mckenney

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The semantics of reader-writer locks allow read-side concurrency. Unfortunately, the locking primitives serialize access to the lock variable to an extent that little or no concurrency is realized in practice for small critical sections. Relativistic programming is a methodology that also allows read- side concurrency. Relativistic programming uses dfferent ordering constraints than reader-writer locking. The different ordering constraints allow relativistic readers to proceed without synchronization so relativistic readers scale even for very short critical sections. In this paper we explore the diferences between the ordering constraints for reader-writer locking and relativistic programs. We show how and why the dfferent ordering …

On The Applications Of Deterministic Chaos For Encrypting Data On The Cloud, Jonathan Blackledge, Nikolai Ptitsyn

Conference papers

Cloud computing is expected to grow considerably in the future because it has so many advantages with regard to sale and cost, change management, next generation architectures, choice and agility. However, one of the principal concerns for users of the Cloud is lack of control and above all, data security. This paper considers an approach to encrypting information before it is ‘placed’ on the Cloud where each user has access to their own encryption algorithm, an algorithm that is based on a set of iterated function systems that outputs a chaotic number stream, designed to produce a cryptographically secure cipher. …

Kindle Forensics: Acquisition & Analysis, Peter Hannay

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The Amazon Kindle eBook reader supports a wide range of capabilities beyond reading books. This functionality includes an inbuilt cellular data connection known as Whispernet. The Kindle provides web browsing, an application framework, eBook delivery and other services over this connection. The historic data left by user interaction with this device may be of forensic interest. Analysis of the Amazon Kindle device has resulted in a method to reliably extract and interpret data from these devices in a forensically complete manner.

Column: The Consortium Of Digital Forensics Specialists (Cdfs), Christopher Kelly

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital forensic practitioners are faced with an extraordinary opportunity. In fact, we may never again be faced with such an opportunity, and this opportunity will challenge us in ways we may never again be challenged. At this point in the history of the Digital Forensics profession, digital forensic specialists have the unique opportunity to help this profession emerge from its infancy. But for this profession to mature -- and to flourish -- individuals and organizations integral to the practice must assemble and shape its future. This is our opportunity. In fact, this is our mandate.

Judges’ Awareness, Understanding, And Application Of Digital Evidence, Gary C. Kessler

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

As digital evidence grows in both volume and importance in criminal and civil courts, judges need to fairly and justly evaluate the merits of the offered evidence. To do so, judges need a general understanding of the underlying technologies and applications from which digital evidence is derived. Due to the relative newness of the computer forensics field, there have been few studies on the use of digital forensic evidence and none about judges’ relationship with digital evidence. This paper describes a recent study, using grounded theory methods, into judges’ awareness, knowledge, and perceptions of digital evidence. This study is the …

Technology Corner: Analysing E-Mail Headers For Forensic Investigation, M. T. Banday

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Electronic Mail (E-Mail), which is one of the most widely used applications of Internet, has become a global communication infrastructure service. However, security loopholes in it enable cybercriminals to misuse it by forging its headers or by sending it anonymously for illegitimate purposes, leading to e-mail forgeries. E-mail messages include transit handling envelope and trace information in the form of structured fields which are not stripped after messages are delivered, leaving a detailed record of e-mail transactions. A detailed header analysis can be used to map the networks traversed by messages, including information on the messaging software and patching policies …

Autonomous Mobility And Manipulation Of A 9-Dof Wmra, William Garrett Pence

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The wheelchair-mounted robotic arm (WMRA) is a 9-degree of freedom (DoF) assistive system that consists of a 2-DoF modified commercial power wheelchair and a custom 7-DoF robotic arm. Kinematics and control methodology for the 9-DoF system that combine mobility and manipulation have been previously developed and implemented. This combined control allows the wheelchair and robotic arm to follow a single trajectory based on weighted optimizations. However, for the execution of activities of daily living (ADL) in the real-world environment, modified control techniques have been implemented.

In order to execute macro ADL tasks, such as a "go to and pick up" …

A Dynamic Hierarchical Web-Based Portal, Matthew James Spaulding

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A dynamic hierarchical web-based portal was created to house a suite of web-based supply chain management applications. The portal was designed in a hierarchical manner to match the structure of large companies. Administrators of the the portal have the ability to form the portal in such a way to mimic the existing structure of their company. Access rights to the applications in the portal may be granted or denied per division and the users of the portal are placed in these divisions based on their duty in the company. In addition, users are granted roles which dictate their ability to …

Dynamic Video Object Detection With Single Ptu Camera, Yun Ye, Song Ci, Yanwei Liu, Hui Tang

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

This paper presents a video object detection method under dynamic background with single PTU (pantilt unit) camera. The overall procedure contains two steps. First the moving object is tracked through interactive Mean Shift estimation and PTU control. Camera angular speed is updated online according to the estimated object position, whereby the object can remain in the center area of the image plane. In the second step, the foreground is detected through background subtraction and shape contour. An adaptive correlation thresholding method is applied to mitigate the detection distortion in boundary areas. Variational level set contour is then applied to further …

Priority Preemption For Real-Time Application Qos Guarantees In Cooperative Vehicular Networks, Ting Zhou, Hamid Sharif, Michael Hempel, Puttipong Mahasukhon, Tao Ma, Pradhumna Shrestha

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

Inter-vehicle and roadside-to-vehicle communications can contribute to a safer and more efficient driving experience by providing time-sensitive and location-aware information. However, its performance suffers from vehicle mobility, intermittent user connectivity, and wireless channel unreliability. In this paper, we propose a novel cross-layer optimization approach based on our Adaptive Distributed Cooperative Medium Access Control (ADC-MAC) protocol to guarantee the quality-of-service (QoS) of real-time applications. Markov chain based theoretical analysis show that our proposed priority preemption approach can improve the quality of a real-time application by guaranteeing its bandwidth and reducing its transmission latency.

Agent-Based Analysis And Mitigation Of Failure For Cyber-Physical Systems, Jing Lin

Doctoral Dissertations

"Techniques exist for assessment, modeling, and simulation of physical and cyber infrastructures, respectively; but such isolated analysis is incapable of fully capturing the interdependencies that occur when they intertwine to create a cyber-physical system (CPS). The first contribution of this doctoral research includes qualitative representation of the operation of a CPS in a single multi-agent model. Dependable operation of a CPS is contingent upon correct interpretation of data describing the state of the system. To this end, we propose agent-based semantic interpretation services that extract useful information from raw sensor data. We utilize the summary schemas model to reconcile differences …

Sub Pixel Analysis And Processing Of Sensor Data For Mobile Target Intelligence Information And Verification, Theresa Allen Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation introduces a novel process to study and analyze sensor data in order to obtain information pertaining to mobile targets at the sub-pixel level. The process design is modular in nature and utilizes a set of algorithmic tools for change detection, target extraction and analysis, super-pixel processing and target refinement. The scope of this investigation is confined to a staring sensor that records data of sub-pixel vehicles traveling horizontally across the ground. Statistical models of the targets and background are developed with noise and jitter effects. Threshold Change Detection, Duration Change Detection and Fast Adaptive Power Iteration (FAPI) Detection …

An Investigation Into Internetworking Education, Woratat Makasiranondh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Computer network technology and the Internet grew rapidly in recent years. Their growth created a large demand from industry for the development of IT and internetworking professionals. These professionals need to be equipped with both technical hands-on skills and non-technical or soft skills. In order to supply new professionals to the industry, educational institutions need to address these skills training in their curricula. Technical hands-on skills in internetworking education can be emphasised through the practical use of equipment in classrooms. The provision of the networking equipment to the internetworking students is a challenge. Particularly, university students in developing countries may …

Semi-Automatic Management Of Knowledge Bases Using Formal Ontologies, Andreas Textor

Theses

This thesis presents an approach that deals with the ever-growing amount of data in knowledge bases, especially concerning knowledge interoperability and formal representation of domain knowledge. There arc multiple issues that must be addressed with current systems. A multitude of different formats, sources and tools exist in a domain, and it is desirable to develop their use further towards a standardised environment. Such an environment should support both the representation and processing of data from this domain, and the connection to other domains, where necessary. In order to manage large amounts of data, it should be possible to perform whatever …

Survey On Cloud Forensics And Critical Criteria For Cloud Forensic Capability: A Preliminary Analysis, Keyun Ruan, Ibrahim Baggili, Joe Carthy, Tahar Kechadi

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper we present the current results and analysis of the survey “Cloud forensics and critical criteria for cloud forensic capability” carried out towards digital forensic experts and practitioners. This survey was created in order to gain a better understanding on some of the key questions of the new field - cloud forensics - before further research and development. We aim to understand concepts such as its definition, the most challenging issues, most valuable research directions, and the critical criteria for cloud forensic capability.

Cat Detect (Computer Activity Timeline Detection): A Tool For Detecting Inconsistency In Computer Activity Timelines, Andrew Marrington, Ibrahim Baggili, George Mohay, Andrew Clark

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

The construction of timelines of computer activity is a part of many digital investigations. These timelines of events are composed of traces of historical activity drawn from system logs and potentially from evidence of events found in the computer file system. A potential problem with the use of such information is that some of it may be inconsistent and contradictory thus compromising its value. This work introduces a software tool (CAT Detect) for the detection of inconsistency within timelines of computer activity. We examine the impact of deliberate tampering through experiments conducted with our prototype software tool. Based on the …

Technology Management Trends In Law Schools, Carol A. Watson, Larry Reeves

Articles, Chapters and Online Publications

Discusses the role of librarians in law school technology management and analyzes technology staffing survey results for 2002, 2006, and 2010. While survey results indicate a trend toward establishing separate information technology departments within law schools, librarians are and will continue to be actively involved in law school technology.

Design Of Multi Agent Based Crowd Injury Model, Emin Kugu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A major concern of many government agencies is to predict and control the behavior of crowds in different situations. Many times such gatherings are legal, legitimate, and peaceful. But there are times when they can turn violent, run out of control, result in material damages and even casualties. It then becomes the duty of governments to bring them under control using a variety of techniques, including non-lethal and lethal weapons, if necessary.

In order to aid decision makers on the course of action in crowd control, there are modeling and simulation tools that can provide guidelines by giving programmed rules …

Predictive And Adaptive Game Development A Practical Application Of Development Models To The Independent Video Game Industry, Liam A. Hunt

Theses : Honours

Through the process of researching a number of game and system development models, this study defines two archetypical development models - the predictive and the adaptive. Using each of these models, two video games have been developed in order to measure the practical effect that they can have on the design, development process and player experience of a game. Using the knowledge gained through playtesting and an analysis of the relationship between each game and its development methodology, a number of development guidelines and recommendations have been specifically constructed for use by independent games developers. The practical development and written …

Electromagnetic Scattering From Layered Strip Geometries: The Method Of Moments Study With The Sinc Basis, Taner Oğuzer, Fadil Kuyucuoğlu, İbrahi̇m Avgin

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Electromagnetic scattering from strips of layers is analyzed using the method of moments (MoM) for both polarizations in spatial domain with the sinc-type orthogonal sets as basis and testing functions. We exploited the sinc function's properties of exponential convergence, the orthogonality, easy convolution and better handling of singular kernels in MoM procedure resulting in fast performance and reasonable accuracy even in ordinary MoM treatment. We transferred the integral of the Hankel function multiplied by sinc functions to Hankel function introducing a slight error with large band width. We proved that this relative error during the generation of the main matrix …

Robotic Testing Of Proximal Tibio-Fibular Joint Kinematics For Measuring Instability Following Total Knee Arthroplasty, Wael K. Barsoum, Ho H. Lee, Trevor G. Murray, Robb Colbrunn, Alison K. Klika, S. Butler, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Pain secondary to instability in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) has been shown to be major cause of early failure. In this study, we focused on the effect of instability in TKA on the proximal tibio-fibular joint (PTFJ). We used a robotics model to compare the biomechanics of the PTFJ in the native knee, an appropriately balanced TKA, and an unbalanced TKA. The tibia (n = 5) was mounted to a six-degree-of-freedom force/torque sensor and the femur was moved by a robotic manipulator. Motion at the PTFJ was recorded with a high-resolution digital camera system. After establishing a neutral position, …

Multi-Pose Face Recognition And Tracking System, Binu Muraleedharan Nair, Jacob Foytik, Richard Tompkins, Yakov Diskin, Theus Aspiras, Vijayan K. Asari

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We propose a real time system for person detection, recognition and tracking using frontal and profile faces. The system integrates face detection, face recognition and tracking techniques. The face detection algorithm uses both frontal face and profile face detectors by extracting the 'Haar' features and uses them in a cascade of boosted classifiers. The pose is determined from the face detection algorithm which uses a combination of profile and frontal face cascades and, depending on the pose, the face is compared with a particular set of faces having the same range for classification. The detected faces are recognized by projecting …

Fluorinated Templates For Energy-Related Nanomaterials And Applications, Mohammed J. Meziani, Fushen Lu, Li Cao, Christopher E. Bunker, Elena A. Guliants, Ya-Ping Sun

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Fluorinated ionomer membranes, as represented by the commercially available Nafion films, are macroscopically homogeneous and optically transparent but microscopically inhomogeneous with the presence of nanoscale hydrophilic cavities. These cavities serve as nanoscale reactors for the synthesis of nanoparticles from a variety of materials. The membranes with embedded nanoscale semiconductors, still optically transparent, have been used as sheet-photocatalysts for energy conversion applications, while those with embedded reactive metals used as nano-energetic materials for hydrogen generation and beyond. This chapter provides an overview on the templated synthesis of nanomaterials in fluorinated ionomer membranes and the various energy-related applications of this unique class …

Comparison Of Turbulence-Induced Scintillations For Multi-Wavelength Laser Beacons Over Tactical (7 Km) And Long (149 Km) Atmospheric Propagation Paths, Mikhail Vorontsov, Venkata S. Rao Gudimetla, Gary W. Carhart, Thomas Weyrauch, Svetlana Lachinova, Ernst Polnau, Joseph Rierson, Leonid A. Beresnev, Jony Jiang Liu, Jim F. Riker

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We report results of the experimental analysis of atmospheric effects on laser beam propagation over two distinctive propagation paths: a long-range (149 km) propagation path between Mauna Loa (Island of Hawaii) and Haleakala (Island of Maui) mountains, and a tactical-range (7 km) propagation path between the roof of the Dayton Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) and the Intelligent Optics Laboratory (IOL/UD) located on the 5th floor of the University of Dayton College Park Center building. Both testbeds include three laser beacons operating at wavelengths 532 nm, 1064 nm, and 1550 nm and a set of identical optical receiver systems with …

Obtaining Speech Assets For Judgement Analysis On Low-Pass Filtered Emotional Speech, John Snel, Charlie Cullen

Conference papers

Investigating the emotional content in speech from acoustic characteristics requires separating the semantic con- tent from the acoustic channel. For natural emotional speech, a widely used method to separate the two channels is the use of cue masking. Our objective is to investigate the use of cue masking in non-acted emotional speech by analyzing the extent to which filtering impacts the perception of emotional content of the modified speech material. However, obtaining a corpus of emotional speech can be quite difficult whereby verifying the emotional content is an issue thoroughly discussed. Currently, speech research is showing a tendency toward constructing …

On Improving Electrooculogram-Based Computer Mouse Systems: The Accelerometer Trigger, Johnalan Keegan, Edward Burke, James Condron, Eugene Coyle

Conference Papers

Eye tracking is a well-established method of computer control for profoundly paralysed people (Anson et al., 2002). Cameras are commonly used to track eye movements (Morimoto et al., 2005) but one alternative is the bioelectrical signal known as the electrooculogram (EOG). There are some EOG mouse control systems that facilitate the use of GUI applications, but certain actions, which are straightforward using a conventional mouse, remain impossible. Unless the eyes are tracking a target, they move in saccades (jumps), making it impossible to voluntarily trace out smooth trajectories with one's gaze, as would be required to draw a smooth curve. …

Automatic Knowledge Extraction For Filling In Biography Forms From Turkish Texts, İlknur Pehli̇van, Zeynep Orhan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This study presents a method for building an automatic knowledge extraction system for filling in biography forms from Turkish texts. Several biographies are analyzed in order to choose the set of biography categories to be studied. The fields of the biography form to be created are also defined based on this analysis. Information extraction techniques are used for implementation. A separate testing platform is designed to evaluate the accuracy of the extracted data. Results of the testing platform have shown this study to be a promising process to be further developed especially for creating forms in the Turkish language.