Computer Engineering Commons^™

An Adaptive Security Protocol For A Wireless Sensor‐Based Monitoring Network In Smart Grid Transmission Lines, Xuping Zhang, Feng Ye, Sucheng Fan, Jinghong Guo, Guoliang Xu, Yi Qian

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, we propose a new security protocol for a wireless sensor network, which is designed for monitoring long range power transmission lines in smart grid. Part of the monitoring network is composed of optical fiber composite over head ground wire (OPGW), thus it can be secured with conventional security protocol. However, the wireless sensor network between two neighboring OPGW gateways remains vulnerable. Our proposed security protocol focuses on the wireless sensor network part, it provides mutual authentication, data integrity, and data confidentiality for both uplink and downlink transmissions between the sensor nodes and the OPGW gateway. Besides, our …

Anchored Discussion: Development Of A Tool For Creativity In Online Collaboration, Georg J.P. Link, Dominik Siemon, Gert-Jan De Vreede, Susanne Robra-Bissantz

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Open innovation and crowdsourcing rely on online collaboration tools to enable dispersed people to collaborate on creative ideas. Research shows that creativity in online groups is significantly influenced by the interaction between group members. In this paper, we demonstrate how theory can be effectively used to design and evaluate a tool for creative online collaboration. Specifically, we use the body of knowledge on creativity support systems to inform the development of a tool to support anchored discussions. Anchored discussions represent a new mode for creative interaction. In anchored discussion every comment is tied to some aspect of an idea. We …

Grafalgo - A Library Of Graph Algorithms And Supporting Data Structures (Revised), Jonathan Turner

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

This report provides an (updated) overview of Grafalgo, an open-source library of graph algorithms and the data structures used to implement them. The programs in this library were originally written to support a graduate class in advanced data structures and algorithms at Washington University. Because the code's primary purpose was pedagogical, it was written to be as straightforward as possible, while still being highly efficient. Grafalgo is implemented in C++ and incorporates some features of C++11. The library is available on an open-source basis and may be downloaded from https://code.google.com/p/grafalgo/. Source code documentation is at www.arl.wustl.edu/~jst/doc/grafalgo.

System And Method For Identifying Electrical Properties Of Integrate Circuits, Mary Y. Lanzerotti

AFIT Patents

A new method for displaying electrical properties for integrated circuit (IC) layout designs provides for improved human visualization of those properties and comparison of as designed layout design parameters to as specified layout design parameters and to as manufactured layout parameters. The method starts with a circuitry as designed layout in a first digital format, extracts values for electrical properties from that circuitry as designed layout then annotates those values back into the first digital format. The annotated circuitry as designed layout is then converted from the first digital format to a second digital format that can be converted to …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Software-Based Training To Improve The Spatial Visualization Skills Of Students In Stem Disciplines In Higher Education Institutions, Peter Cole

Dissertations

This research investigates how software can be used to teach spatial skills leading to greater success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical (STEM) fields. Existing research indicates that spatial skills can be taught and that good spatial skills are common to people who succeed in STEM fields. In this work, a software-only testing system with a direct targeted, training intervention module was implemented to measure and teach spatial skills using mental rotations, which are believed to be one of the most significant indicators of success in STEM fields. Spatial skills were tested using a standardized and validated test that measures …

Forecasting Bike Rental Demand Using New York Citi Bike Data, Wen Wang

Dissertations

The idea of this project is from a Kaggle competition “Bike Sharing Demand”① which provides dataset of Capital Bikeshare in Washington D.C. and asked to combine historical usage patterns with weather data in order to forecast bike rental demand. This dissertation will extend this work, working with a broader range of project not only just focusing on the phrase of model building but all phases of KDD (Knowledge Discovery in Databases). This dissertation focuses on Citi Bike which is one of the biggest bike share projects in the world, collects Citi Bike data, weather data and holiday data from three …

An Evaluation Of Gamification To Assess Students’ Learning On Their Understanding Of First Year Computer Science Programming Module, Daniel Gebremichael

Dissertations

This research examines the use of gamification to develop an assessment tool, to assess students’ learning of a first year computer science module. The students’ undertaking of the first semester Programming and Algorithms module in 2015 were assessed on their knowledge of the programming language Python. The incorporation of gamification when assessing students can have various potential benefits. The research aims to identify these benefits and issues. Assessments and games have almost opposite effects on opinions on people, as games are usually expected to have an entertainment value but this is not the case for assessments. The research examines if …

How Do Teachers And Students Perceive The Utility Of Blackboard As A Distance Learning Platform? (Case Study From Taibah University, Saudi Arabia), Suad Alaofi

Dissertations

This research explores the role of Knowledge Management within the education field with a specific focus on the use of Learning Management Systems in the Distance Learning (e-learning) process. The aim of this study is to thoroughly examine how teachers and students perceive the utility of the Blackboard system as a distance learning platform. To achieve this, the study conducted qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaire surveys with the teachers and students of Taibah University, Saudi Arabia. Questions in both data collection tools were geared towards gaining insight about how these two groups of Blackboard users view its usefulness as a …

How Much A Quarter Cost: Allegory Of A Coin And Other Stories, Grant C. Gallo

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

The philosophical theories of Baruch Spinoza and George Berkley were described, compared, and contrasted. Various examples and metaphors were used to help fully illustrate their respective metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical positions. The relevance of their theories to current philosophical discourse was discussed; showing that even in today’s technologically advanced society, seemingly antiquated ideas may still provide useful knowledge. In the end, Spinoza and Berkley’s apparently conflicting paradigms are rectified through a multiplexual, relativistic lens.

3d Immersive Visualization: Expanding Human Sensation, Megan Davis, Francisco Gonzalez, Connor Waters

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Unmet Need: The constant push for better and more interactive data visualization aids: the Oculus Rift replaced a two-dimensional fixed monitor with head tracking and a three-dimensional virtual space to explore; the Novint Falcon replaces two-dimensional pointing tools with a haptic sensor with force feedback and three degrees of axial freedom.

Deliverables: A demonstration of the technologies involved, in the form of an Oculus- and Falconenabled physical simulation of a room containing several objects that can be handled and manipulated in three dimensions.

Constraints: The hardware is expensive and difficult to acquire, and it requires a beefy computer to run. …

Data Network Visualization, Marcangelo Dilinila, Carl Miranda, Chase Keech

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Data visualization is an essential component of any data analysis. A visual image can aid in more in-depth analysis of any researched data. Although there are data visualization products that already exist on the market, such as Gephi, yEd Graph editor, and OmniGraffle, they are platform-dependent and can be difficult for novice users to install and get started. Data Network Visualization eliminates these weaknesses by being fully accessible through the web, while having a less cluttered user interface. This allows a user to take advantage of a variety of visualization tools without the need to download a program.

To achieve …

Cryptocurrency: Proof Of Purchase, Adam Johnson, Robert Breckenridge, Kara Lucord

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The original purpose of this project was to research the capabilities of a relatively new cryptocurrency platform known as Ethereum. Extensive research brought to light Ethereum’s wide range of developmental capabilities and shifted our focus to the consideration of how the features that Ethereum offers can be used to improve some of the flaws within the world of cryptocurrency. Some cryptocurrency users find these systems useful, because it gives them a means of anonymity. This makes it pretty easy to launder money, make illegal purchases, and double spend. Our solution solves all of these issues, by tying a digital currency …

Will Wade’S Team Camp: An Online Registration Service For Will Wade’S Basketball Team Camp At Vcu, William Slattum, Melissa Nierle

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU) has made a name for its self on the national stage of NCAA Men’s Basketball. Success on the court has brought attention to the many programs VCU has to offer. One of these popular programs is Will Wade’s summer basketball camp. Teams come from all over the Atlantic region to attend the daylong team camp. With such wide-spread interest in the camp and about 50 teams signing up to participate annually and growing, how can VCU Athletics best handle and keep all of the information organized? The project deliverable was an online system that both registers teams …

Restful Api Framework: Golang Proof Of Concept, Gerard Briones, David Igou, Aaron Throckmorton

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Capital One has embarked on a journey of exposing useful services as RESTful APIs that can be utilized seamlessly by applications and clients. The purpose of this project was to develop an API framework that can be easily molded and deployed to reinforce this endeavor, standardizing the access and use of these services for every developer. This framework was built with a modern programming language, Golang, and excels in performance, scalability, and efficiency. A working prototype and proof of concept serve as the deliverables for this project, with notable constraints in the type of architecture (REST) used for the framework …

Welcome To Willowtree: Come Take A Closer Look, Shahim-Abdul Satar, Kent White, Ayesha Zafar

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The demand for more workers in tech related fields has given students the opportunity of choosing between multiple job offers and students can now be more deliberate about the jobs that they accept. Because of this employers also need to set themselves apart from other companies. Many companies do this is by sending out brochures, PDFs, and other information that may be outdated by the time it goes out. Our solution to this problem was to make an application which would provide relevant data to the user as well as provide insight into the company. The end result is a …

Integration Of Attributes From Non-Linear Characterization Of Cardiovascular Time-Series For Prediction Of Defibrillation Outcomes, Sharad Shandilya, Michael C. Kurz, Kevin R. Ward, Kayvan Najarian

Computer Science Publications

Objective

The timing of defibrillation is mostly at arbitrary intervals during cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), rather than during intervals when the out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OOH-CA) patient is physiologically primed for successful countershock. Interruptions to CPR may negatively impact defibrillation success. Multiple defibrillations can be associated with decreased post-resuscitation myocardial function. We hypothesize that a more complete picture of the cardiovascular system can be gained through non-linear dynamics and integration of multiple physiologic measures from biomedical signals.

Materials and Methods

Retrospective analysis of 153 anonymized OOH-CA patients who received at least one defibrillation for ventricular fibrillation (VF) was undertaken. A machine learning …

Find: Framework For Intelligent Research Discovery, Clint Cuffy, Tej Mehta, Hengbin Li

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Computers are essential to research yet the different ways in which computers can automate or speed up research have not been fully explored. Researchers are publishing experimental results faster than ever before and the number of articles to read on a single subject now presents an overwhelming task. FiND aims to expedite this process through an extensible backbone infrastructure for the automated synthesizing of data. FiND includes a Web User Interface, Perl Core and MySQL Database developed using the software constraints of Perl, HTML, CSS, CGI and MySQL. FiND attempts to simplify this task by reducing time spent in exhaustive …

Rfid Based Navigation, Mengyu Bai, Andrew Sainz, So Kim

Capstone Design Expo Posters

The RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) based Navigation System is built and designed to allow both commercial and recreational drivers to know and monitor traffic patterns while on the road. By using the RFID based Navigation System, drivers will receive real time data to aid navigation which is a major benefit especially in an emergency situation. Further studies of the RFID technology will potentially open doors to the development of autonomous vehicles. The RFID based Navigation application is available for Android devices, and it presents drivers with real time, current data to aid navigation across a terrain in the shortest possible …

Swummary: Self-Documenting Code, Keith Herbert, John Goldhamer, Dylan Ilvento

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Using Natural Language Summaries of Program Elements to Improve Code Search

There are countless people that are intimidated by reading computer programs, potentially driving away future engineers. Even current software developers, when moving from project to project, face downtime due to acclimating themselves with a new, poorly commented code base. Our project, which we call Swummary, strives to eliminate these problems by providing succinct natural language summaries of source code.

We were tasked with developing a functioning prototype of a natural language source code summarizer, based on the frameworks SrcML and Software Word Usage Model (SWUM), as well as the …

Hybrid Call Center: Amc Technology Llc, Tejas Trivedi, Joshua Stephens, Daniel Kim

Capstone Design Expo Posters

AMC Technology wanted to add voice over IP (VoIP) functionality to Salesforce.com (Customer Relationship Management system). As it is currently, Salesforce.com does not have voice functionality, in that you cannot place or receive calls using Salesforce. Adding voice functionality to Salesforce is incredibly useful because it eliminates the need for hardware phones and allows for a more modern and efficient approach to calling for companies that have/rely upon call centers, such as customers of AMC Technology whose products connect CTIs (Computer Telephony Interface) and CRMs. We used a voice service called Twilio to provide functionality with Salesforce. AMC Technology wanted …

Capital One Mobile Authentication: Authentication Using Biometric, Anh Dang, Hunter Miller, Matthew Mosca

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Capital One, a large US bank, is currently providing customers with a mobile servicing experience. One of the features of the mobile servicing app is easy and convenient access to account information. Capital One currently allows users to authenticate using a traditional username / password, their registered SureSwipe feature and even their finger on supported devices. The project's goal is to evaluate the viability of retinal recognition as a new method for biometric authentication.

By successfully developing this project, the application could offer retinal recognition as an additional biometric authentication option to customers. This can be used to help eliminate …

Imir: Identifying Mirna Regulation In Diseases: Bioinformatics Tool, Jeremy Yu, Bolade Ottola, Theo Contes

Capstone Design Expo Posters

Cancer mutations involves various biological factors and cellular mechanisms involving genes, miRNAs, transcription factors (TFs), chemicals etc. Hence, understanding the activity and role of all of these factors can be exploited for therapeutics. To aid this, iMir, a web portal with multi-tabbed design, analysis and user-guide has been developed to search, analyze and visualize the miRNA-disease, miRNA-TF-gene, miRNA-drug associations. Agile methodology was adopted for the software development of this tool. Weekly requirements and goals were discussed, drafted and accomplished and subject to review, testing and documentation. Code integrated upon approval. iMir has been developed using MySQL as a database and …

Establishing Performance Guarantees For Behavior-Based Robot Missions Using An Smt Solver, Feng Tang, Damian M. Lyons, Ronald Arkin

Faculty Publications

In prior work we developed an approach to formally representing behavior-based multi-robot programs, and the uncertain environments in which they operate, as process networks. We automatically extract a set of probabilistic equations governing program execution in that environment using a static analysis module called VIPARS, and solve these using a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) to establish whether stated performance guarantees hold for the program in that environment. In this paper we address the challenge of expanding the range of performance guarantees that are possible by using an SMT-solver instead of a DBN. We translate flow functions, which are recursive probabilistic …

Educational Methods For Inverted-Lecture Computer Science And Engineering Classrooms To Overcome Common Barriers To Stem Student Success, Kathleen Timmerman

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

New educational pedagogies are emerging in an effort to increase the number of new engineers available to enter the workforce in the coming years. One of the re-occurring themes in these pedagogies is variations of the flipped classroom. Often the additional classroom time gained from flipping is used to reinforce learning objectives. It is hypothesized that it might be more beneficial to students if a portion of that time is used to address common non-cognitive barriers that prevent students from succeeding in the major. In a freshman Introductory Computer Science course, three different pedagogies are compared: a hybrid lecture-active learning …

A Hybrid Approach To Aerial Video Image Registration, Karol T. Salva

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Many video processing applications, such as motion detection and tracking, rely on accurate and robust alignment between consecutive video frames. Traditional approaches to video image registration, such as pyramidal Kanade-Lucas-Tomasi (KLT) feature detection and tracking are fast and subpixel accurate, but are not robust to large inter-frame displacements due to rotation, scale, or translation. This thesis presents an alternative hybrid approach using normalized gradient correlation (NGC) in the frequency domain and normalized cross-correlation (NCC) in the spatial domain that is fast, accurate, and robust to large displacements. A scale space search is incorporated into NGC to enable more consistent recovery …

Stability And Sensitivity Measures For Solutions In Complex, Intelligent, Adaptive And Autonomous Systems, Andreas Tolk

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Simulation has become a pivotal tool for the design, analysis, and control of complex, intelligent, adaptive and autonomous systems and its components. However, due to the nature of these systems, traditional evaluation practices are often not sufficient. As the components follow adaptive rules, the cumulative events often exploit bifurcation enabling events, leading to clusters of solutions that do not follow the usual rules for standard distributed events. When using simulation for design, analysis, and control of such systems, the evaluation needs to be richer, applying bifurcation and cluster analysis to understand the distribution, applying factor analysis to understand the important …

Identifying Market Indicators And Content Quality From A Financial Micro-Blog Platform, Siobhán Mcnamara

Dissertations

Investment platforms and discussion platforms have come to change the face of finance. The stock market is open to both professional and non-professional investors via online financial channels. Information too comes via a shared domain as both professionals and non-professionals log onto online communication platforms to share, search and discuss market trends. Due to their growing role in finance, understanding online communities has become the focus of much stock market research. Determining who is influential in a network, how information spreads and what translates to buy or sell decision is potentially very lucrative. In this research paper a dataset from …

Predicting Intake Of Applications For First Registration In The Property Registration Authority, Orlaith Mernagh

Dissertations

The motivation for this dissertation is rooted in a real business need. The Property Registration Authority is the state organisation tasked with maintaining a register of land ownership on the island of Ireland. The PRA currently faces a series of challenges; a high level of staff retiring and the inherent loss of knowledge associated with this trend, a lack of recruitment in recent years and a large increase in lodgement of applications for first registration as a result of legislation. The organisation therefore requires a reliable system for predicting future intake. Prior to this project, there has also been a …

Development Of Cloud-Based Uav Monitoring And Management System, Mason Itkin, Mihui Kim, Younghee Park

Faculty Publications

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are an emerging technology with the potential to revolutionize commercial industries and the public domain outside of the military. UAVs would be able to speed up rescue and recovery operations from natural disasters and can be used for autonomous delivery systems (e.g., Amazon Prime Air). An increase in the number of active UAV systems in dense urban areas is attributed to an influx of UAV hobbyists and commercial multi-UAV systems. As airspace for UAV flight becomes more limited, it is important to monitor and manage many UAV systems using modern collision avoidance techniques. In this paper, …

A High Performance Ceramic-Polymer Separator For Lithium Batteries, Jitendra Kumar, Padmakar Kichambare, Amarendra K. Rai, Rabi Bhattacharya, Stanley J. Rodrigues, Guru Subramanyam

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A three-layered (ceramic-polymer-ceramic) hybrid separator was prepared by coating ceramic electrolyte [lithium aluminum germanium phosphate (LAGP)] over both sides of polyethylene (PE) polymer membrane using electron beam physical vapor deposition (EB-PVD) technique. Ionic conductivities of membranes were evaluated after soaking PE and LAGP/PE/LAGP membranes in a 1 Molar (1M) lithium hexafluroarsenate (LiAsF₆) electrolyte in ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and ethylmethyl carbonate (EMC) in volume ratio (1:1:1). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were employed to evaluate morphology and structure of the separators before and after cycling performance tests to better understand structure-property correlation. …