Computer Engineering Commons^™

From The Editor-In-Chief, Ibrahim Baggili

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Welcome to JDFSL’s second issue for 2015! First, I would like to thank our editorial board, reviewers, and the JDFSL team for bringing this issue to life. In this issue, we continue our multidisciplinary tradition. The first paper, Two challenges of stealthy hypervisors detection: time cheating and data fluctuations, showcases an important contribution to the computing discipline. The use of virtualization has dramatically increased given our strong reliance on cloud services both private and public. Even though hypervisors enhance security, they can also be exploited by malware. Therefore, this paper is of importance given that it introduces a novel method …

From The Editor-In-Chief, Ibrahim Baggili

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Welcome to JDFSL’s first issue for 2015! First, I would like to thank our editorial board, reviewers, and the JDFSL team for bringing this issue to life. It has been a big year for JDFSL as the journal continues to progress. We are continuing our indexing efforts for the journal and we are getting closer with some of the major databases.

Comparing The Efficiency Of Heterogeneous And Homogeneous Data Center Workloads, Brandon Kimmons

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Abstract

Information Technology, as an industry, is growing very quickly to keep pace with increased data storage and computing needs. Data growth, if not planned or managed correctly, can have larger efficiency implications on your data center as a whole. The long term reduction in efficiency will increase costs over time and increase operational overhead. Similarly, increases in processor efficiency have led to increased system density in data centers. This can increase cost and operational overhead in your data center infrastructure.

This paper proposes the idea that balanced data center workloads are more efficient in comparison to similar levels of …

Cyber Blackbox For Collecting Network Evidence, Jooyoung Lee, Sunoh Choi, Yangseo Choi, Jonghyun Kim, Ikkyun Kim, Youngseok Lee

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

In recent years, the hottest topics in the security field are related to the advanced and persistent attacks. As an approach to solve this problem, we propose a cyber blackbox which collects and preserves network traffic on a virtual volume based WORM device, called EvidenceLock to ensure data integrity for security and forensic analysis. As a strategy to retain traffic for long enough periods, we introduce a deduplication method. Also this paper includes a study on the network evidence which is collected and preserved for analyzing the cause of cyber incident. Then, a method is proposed to suggest a starting …

Intelligent Network Intrusion Detection Using An Evolutionary Computation Approach, Samaneh Rastegari

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the enormous growth of users' reliance on the Internet, the need for secure and reliable computer networks also increases. Availability of effective automatic tools for carrying out different types of network attacks raises the need for effective intrusion detection systems.

Generally, a comprehensive defence mechanism consists of three phases, namely, preparation, detection and reaction. In the preparation phase, network administrators aim to find and fix security vulnerabilities (e.g., insecure protocol and vulnerable computer systems or firewalls), that can be exploited to launch attacks. Although the preparation phase increases the level of security in a network, this will never completely …

Network And Device Forensic Analysis Of Android Social-Messaging Applications, Daniel Walnycky, Ibrahim Baggili, Andrew Marrington, Jason Moore, Frank Breitinger

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this research we forensically acquire and analyze the device-stored data and network traffic of 20 popular instant messaging applications for Android. We were able to reconstruct some or the entire message content from 16 of the 20 applications tested, which reflects poorly on the security and privacy measures employed by these applications but may be construed positively for evidence collection purposes by digital forensic practitioners. This work shows which features of these instant messaging applications leave evidentiary traces allowing for suspect data to be reconstructed or partially reconstructed, and whether network forensics or device forensics permits the reconstruction of …

An Empirical Comparison Of Widely Adopted Hash Functions In Digital Forensics: Does The Programming Language And Operating System Make A Difference?, Satyendra Gurjar, Ibrahim Baggili, Frank Breitinger, Alice E. Fischer

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Hash functions are widespread in computer sciences and have a wide range of applications such as ensuring integrity in cryptographic protocols, structuring database entries (hash tables) or identifying known files in forensic investigations. Besides their cryptographic requirements, a fundamental property of hash functions is efficient and easy computation which is especially important in digital forensics due to the large amount of data that needs to be processed when working on cases. In this paper, we correlate the runtime efficiency of common hashing algorithms (MD5, SHA-family) and their implementation. Our empirical comparison focuses on C-OpenSSL, Python, Ruby, Java on Windows and …

A Collaborative Adaptive Wiener Filter For Multi-Frame Super-Resolution, Khaled M. Mohamed, Russell C. Hardie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Factors that can limit the effective resolution of an imaging system may include aliasing from under-sampling, blur from the optics and external factors, and sensor noise. Image restoration and super-resolution (SR) techniques can be used to improve image resolution. One SR method, developed recently, is the adaptive Wiener filter (AWF) SR algorithm. This is a multi-frame SR method that combines registered temporal frames through a joint nonuniform interpolation and restoration process to provide a high-resolution image estimate. Variations of this method have been demonstrated to be effective for multi-frame SR, as well demosaicing RGB and polarimetric imagery. While the AWF …

Robust Super-Resolution By Fusion Of Interpolated Frames For Color And Grayscale Images, Barry K. Karch, Russell C. Hardie

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Multi-frame super-resolution (SR) processing seeks to overcome undersampling issues that can lead to undesirable aliasing artifacts in imaging systems. A key factor in effective multi-frame SR is accurate subpixel inter-frame registration. Accurate registration is more difficult when frame-to-frame motion does not contain simple global translation and includes locally moving scene objects. SR processing is further complicated when the camera captures full color by using a Bayer color filter array (CFA). Various aspects of these SR challenges have been previously investigated. Fast SR algorithms tend to have difficulty accommodating complex motion and CFA sensors. Furthermore, methods that can tolerate these complexities …

From The Desk Of The Editor

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

No abstract provided.

Design Of An All-In-One Embedded Flight Control System, Joel D. Elmore

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes an all-in-one flight control system (FCS) that was designed for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The project focuses on the embedded hardware aspect of a stand-alone system with low-cost and reliability in mind.

Visual Slam And Surface Reconstruction For Abdominal Minimally Invasive Surgery, Bingxiong Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Depth information of tissue surfaces and laparoscope poses are crucial for accurate surgical guidance and navigation in Computer Assisted Surgeries (CAS). Intra-operative Three Dimensional (3D) reconstruction and laparoscope localization are therefore two fundamental tasks in CAS. This dissertation focuses on the abdominal Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) and presents laparoscopic-video-based methods for these two tasks.

Different kinds of methods have been presented to recover 3D surface structures of surgical scenes in MIS. Those methods are mainly based on laser, structured light, time-of-flight cameras, and video cameras. Among them, laparoscopic-video-based surface reconstruction techniques have many significant advantages. Specifically, they are non-invasive, provide …

A Comparative Study Of Dual-Tree Algorithms For Computing Spatial Distance Histogram, Chengcheng Mou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Particle simulation has become an important research technique in many scientific and engineering fields in latest years. However, these simulations will generate countless data, and database they required would therefore deal with very challenging tasks in terms of data management, storage, and query processing. The two-body correlation function (2-BCFs), a statistical learning measurement to evaluate the datasets, has been mainly utilized to measure the spatial distance histogram (SDH). By using a straightforward method, the process of SDH query takes quadratic time. Recently, a novel algorithm has been proposed to compute the SDH based on the concept of density map (DM), …

Reducing The Control Burden Of Legged Robotic Locomotion Through Biomimetic Consonance In Mechanical Design And Control, Caitrin Elizabeth Eaton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrestrial robots must be capable of negotiating rough terrain if they are to become autonomous outside of the lab. Although the control mechanism offered by wheels is attractive in its simplicity, any wheeled system is confined to relatively flat terrain. Wheels will also only ever be useful for rolling, while limbs observed in nature are highly multimodal. The robust locomotive utility of legs is evidenced by the many animals that walk, run, jump, swim, and climb in a world full of challenging terrain.

On the other hand, legs with multiple degrees of freedom (DoF) require much more complex control and …

Improvements On Scientific System Analysis, Vladimir Grupchev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thanks to the advancement of the modern computer simulation systems, many scientific applications generate, and require manipulation of large volumes of data. Scientific exploration substantially relies on effective and accurate data analysis. The shear size of the generated data, however, imposes big challenges in the process of analyzing the system. In this dissertation we propose novel techniques as well as using some known designs in a novel way in order to improve scientific data analysis.

We develop an efficient method to compute an analytical query called spatial distance histogram (SDH). Special heuristics are exploited to process SDH efficiently and accurately. …

Impact Of Repeaters On The Performance Of Indoor Visible Light Communications, Refi̇k Çağlar Kizilirmak

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this study, we examine the performance of fixed gain amplify-and-forward repeaters for visible light communication (VLC) systems. We present the wireless optical channel model for VLC with the repeater and we evaluate the bit-error-rate (BER) performance for pulse-position modulation over the multipath channel with additive white Gaussian noise. The results reveal that when a repeater is placed, both the BER and the illuminance performance can be improved at any location in a typical office space. The benefit of VLC repeaters is also discussed when the channel from the source to the destination is shadowed. It is found that when …

New Metrics For Clustering Of Identical Products Over Imperfect Data, Zeki̇ Yetgi̇n, Furkan Gözükara

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper introduces the concept of product identity-clustering based on new similarity metrics and new performance metrics for web-crawled products. Product identity-clustering is defined here as the clustering of identical products, e.g., for price comparison purposes. Products blindly crawled over web sources, e.g., online marketplaces, have different description formats, where the features describing the same products differ in both number and representation formats. This problem causes imperfect feature vectors, where the vectors are considered to be not uniform in length and structure, with the features of various data types (numeric, categorical), and unknown vector structures. Furthermore, the product information usually …

Impact Of Large-Scale Installation Of Led Lamps In A Distribution System, Sohel Uddin, Hussain Sharef, Olav Krause, Azah Mohamed, Mohammad Abdul Hannan, Naz Niamul Islam

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The aim of this paper was to examine the utilization of a large number of nonlinear light emitting diode (LED) lamps in a distribution system and its impact on system power quality. Initially, harmonic and others electrical characteristics were identified by carrying out an experiment on four types of LED lamps available on the local market. On the basis of the identified characteristics, a new LED lamp model was developed in MATLAB Simulink. This model is called the time-dependent current source model and gives more accurate results than the fixed current source model. Then this model was applied to a …

Central Coordination Relay For Distribution Systems With Distributed Generation, Fati̇h Mehmet Nuroğlu, Ayşen Basa Arsoy

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

As distributed generation resources penetrate into distribution systems, protection and service continuity are becoming major issues. A new approach for protection coordination and higher reliability of a distribution system with distributed generation is explored in this paper. The concept of central coordination relay (CCR) is developed for this purpose. After a brief introduction of the design and operating procedures of CCR, the utilization of the proposed relay on two feeders of a substation in the Kocaeli region of Turkey is simulated using DIgSILENT PowerFactory. The study results show that CCR can provide better protection coordination and improved reliability indices for …

High Definition 3d Printing – Comparing Sla And Fdm Printing Technologies, Tyler Finnes

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

For consumer level additive manufacturing, there are currently two main methods to 3D print objects: Stereo lithography and Fused Deposition Modeling. Both processes add material, layer by layer, to create objects. Stereo lithography (SLA) uses a UV light source to selectively cure resin while Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) extrudes semi-liquid plastic in a specific layout to create objects. As with most technologies, both styles of printing have advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage of SLA 3D printing is very high resolution. SLA 3D printing can produce objects with more than double the resolution of FDM printers. The mUVe 3D SLA …

Applications Of Ultrasonic Non-Destructive Testing In 3d Printing, Parker Lawley

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

To determine the capabilities of ultrasonic non-destructive testing methods in 3D printing, test specimens were designed to evaluate advantages and limitations in using ultrasoundC-scanning to determine 3D printing effectiveness. A Matlab program was written to process the data obtained from the UTwin software and ultrasound tank, as well as produce 3D models of the parts being tested. Thickness, types of features, and various printing methods were evaluated to determine how these characteristics vary in effectiveness of C-scan imaging. Results from the UTwin software C-scans were compared to the Matlab program’s imaging and three-dimensional modeling. After determining the capabilities of ultrasonic …

Mobile Apps In Collection Development: Supporting A Mobile Learning Environment, Stefanie Havelka, Rebecca Arzola

Publications and Research

We will discuss our rationale and thoughts on why we believe mobile apps should be part of a library’s collection development policy. An updated policy with apps encourages a mobile learning environment that is technologically diverse while being holistically supportive of its users and research.

The Design And Vlsi Implementation Of Digital Arithmatic Processors - A Case Study Of A Generalized Pipeline Cellular Array, Yudi Xie

Wayne State University Theses

A generalized pipeline array appeared in IEEE transaction in 1974. The array appeared in a few textbooks on computer arithmetic. From time to time, a number of papers appeared which reflected the modifications of this array. The objective of this thesis is to present the design and VLSI implementation of this array, which can add, subtract, multiply, divide, square and square root of binary numbers. In this thesis, we suggest a step-by-step procedure by which the design can be sent to MOSIS and to get the fabricated chip back. The array has been extended from 5 rows to 7 rows …

Adopting Problem Based Learning In Third Level Computer Science, Martin Mchugh

Reports

It has been recognised that the traditional teaching approach of the teacher being solely a transmitter and the student being a receiver is not sufficient. This is evident when a traditional style of teaching is compared to a more hands-on approach to learning. When discussing the traditional style of teaching, Earl and Ellington (1999, p.83) describe how in this approach to learning; (current) teaching methods are almost invariably of the ‘face-to-face’ type. The whole system is generally geared towards the smooth operation of the teaching institution, with little or no attempt being made to cater for the different learning styles …

Multi-3d System: Advanced Manufacturing Through The Implementation Of Material Handling Robotics, Jose Luis Coronel Jr.

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Since the rise of additive manufacturing (AM), innovation has been at the forefront. Additive Manufacturing systems that incorporate complex processes are steadily being developed. One example is the Multi3D System, which was designed to integrate the ability to print multi-material parts with that of embedding electronics. To achieve this automated process, the Multi3D incorporates a six-axis robotic arm to transfer a build platform containing a printed part, to various manufacturing stations (two fused deposition modeling (Stratasys, FDM400mc) systems and a computer numerical control router (Techno CNC Router). The robot is a Yaskawa Motoman MH50 chosen for its payload capacity of …

Simulation Of Locating Buried Objects Via Fringe Pattern-Based Measurements In An Optical Fiber Sensor-Integrated Continuous-Wave Ground-Penetrating Radar System, Asaf Behzat Şahi̇n, Hati̇ce Gonca Bulur

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

A new ground-penetrating radar system that can determine the depth and position of a buried metal cylinder, which is the combination of an optical fiber sensor (OFS), continuous-wave transmitter, and optical communication link, is proposed and simulated in the MATLAB and Optiwave program packages. Employing an optical sensor instead of a standard radio frequency (RF) receiver offers the advantage of preventing electromagnetic interference along the sensor's main unit cable and lower amplification noise. In this paper, the electric field distribution at the OFS due to reflections from the soil surface and the buried object is obtained mathematically using Green's function. …

A New Cascaded Multilevel Inverter With Series And Parallel Connection Ability Of Dc Voltage Sources, Ebrahim Babaei, Saeed Sheermohammadzadeh Gowgani, Mehran Sabahi

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

In this paper, a new multilevel inverter is proposed based on the connection of DC voltage sources in series and parallel. The proposed topology is composed of series basic units that consist of series and parallel connections of DC voltage sources. The values of the DC voltage sources differ from one unit to another. A new algorithm to determine the magnitude of the DC voltage sources of the proposed structure is presented. All of the related equations for the proposed multilevel inverter are extracted and the optimum structure from several points of view such as the maximum blocked voltage by …

A Hierarchic Approach Based On Swarm Intelligence To Solve The Traveling Salesman Problem, Mesut Gündüz, Mustafa Servet Kiran, Eren Özceylan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The purpose of this paper is to present a new hierarchic method based on swarm intelligence algorithms for solving the well-known traveling salesman problem. The swarm intelligence algorithms implemented in this study are divided into 2 types: path construction-based and path improvement-based methods. The path construction-based method (ant colony optimization (ACO)) produces good solutions but takes more time to achieve a good solution, while the path improvement-based technique (artificial bee colony (ABC)) quickly produces results but does not achieve a good solution in a reasonable time. Therefore, a new hierarchic method, which consists of both ACO and ABC, is proposed …

Epilepsy Diagnosis Using Artificial Neural Network Learned By Pso, Nesi̇be Yalçin, Gülay Tezel, Ci̇han Karakuzu

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is used routinely for diagnosis of diseases occurring in the brain. It is a very useful clinical tool in the classification of epileptic seizures and the diagnosis of epilepsy. In this study, epilepsy diagnosis has been investigated using EEG records. For this purpose, an artificial neural network (ANN), widely used and known as an active classification technique, is applied. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, which does not need gradient calculation, derivative information, or any solution of differential equations, is preferred as the training algorithm for the ANN. A PSO-based neural network (PSONN) model is diversified according to …

A Fault Detection, Diagnosis, And Reconfiguration Method Via Support Vector Machines}, Rana Ortaç Kabaoğlu

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This paper presents a fault detection, diagnosis, and reconfiguration method based on support vector machines. This method is appropriate for certain or predetermined faults and involves a fault detection and diagnosis unit and an online controller selection type reconfiguration mechanism. In this method, when a fault is detected and diagnosed by the fault detection and diagnosis unit, a suitable controller, which has been determined via an optimization algorithm in an off-line fashion, is activated to maintain proper closed-loop performance of the system in an on-line manner. In the detection, diagnosis, and reconfiguration stages of the method, support vector classification and …