Digital Communications and Networking Commons^™

Automatic User Profile Construction For A Personalized News Recommender System Using Twitter, Shiva Theja Reddy Gopidi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Modern society has now grown accustomed to reading online or digital news. However, the huge corpus of information available online poses a challenge to users when trying to find relevant articles. A hybrid system “Personalized News Recommender Using Twitter’ has been developed to recommend articles to a user based on the popularity of the articles and also the profile of the user. The hybrid system is a fusion of a collaborative recommender system developed using tweets from the “Twitter” public timeline and a content recommender system based the user’s past interests summarized in their conceptual user profile. In previous work, …

Detecting, Modeling, And Predicting User Temporal Intention, Hany M. Salaheldeen

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The content of social media has grown exponentially in the recent years and its role has evolved from narrating life events to actually shaping them. Unfortunately, content posted and shared in social networks is vulnerable and prone to loss or change, rendering the context associated with it (a tweet, post, status, or others) meaningless. There is an inherent value in maintaining the consistency of such social records as in some cases they take over the task of being the first draft of history as collections of these social posts narrate the pulse of the street during historic events, protest, riots, …

Panorama: Multi-Path Ssl Authentication Using Peer Network Perspectives, William P. Harris

Computer Engineering

SSL currently uses certificates signed by Certificate Authorities (CAs) to authenticate connections. e.g. Google will pay a CA to sign a certificate for them, so that they can prove that they're not someone pretending to be Google. Unfortunately, this system has had multiple problems, and many believe that an alternative needs to be found.

One of the ideas for alternatives is using multiple "network perspectives" to authenticate a server. The idea behind this is that, though playing man-in-the-middle (MITM) with one connection is easy, it should be difficult for an adversary to do so with many connections, especially if they …

Non-Invasive Detection Of Moving And Stationary Human With Wifi, Chenshu Wu, Zheng Yang, Zimu Zhou, Xuefeng Liu, Yunhao Liu, Jiannong Cao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Non-invasive human sensing based on radio signals has attracted a great deal of research interest and fostered a broad range of innovative applications of localization, gesture recognition, smart health-care, etc., for which a primary primitive is to detect human presence. Previous works have studied the detection of moving humans via signal variations caused by human movements. For stationary people, however, existing approaches often employ a prerequisite scenario-tailored calibration of channel profile in human-free environments. Based on in-depth understanding of human motion induced signal attenuation reflected by PHY layer channel state information (CSI), we propose DeMan, a unified scheme for non-invasive …

Tweetement: Pseudo-Relevance Feedback For Twitter Search, Kanatbay Bektemirov

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Microblogging platforms such as Twitter let users communicate with short messages. Due to the messages’ short content and the users’ tendency to type short queries while searching, it is particularly challenging to locate useful tweets that match user queries. The fundamental problems of word mismatch due to ambiguity are especially acute. To solve this problem, this thesis explores and compares multiple automatic query expansion methods that involve the most frequent hashtags and keywords. We built a Web service that provides real-time Twitter Search results incorporating automatic query expansion. Six pseudo-relevance feedback methods were studied and the numbers indicate that results …

Design, Programming, And User-Experience, Kaila G. Manca

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis is a culmination of my individualized major in Human-Computer Interaction. As such, it showcases my knowledge of design, computer engineering, user-experience research, and puts into practice my background in psychology, com- munications, and neuroscience.

I provided full-service design and development for a web application to be used by the Digital Media and Design Department and their students.This process involved several iterations of user-experience research, testing, concepting, branding and strategy, ideation, and design. It lead to two products.

The first product is full-scale development and optimization of the web appli- cation.The web application adheres to best practices. It was …

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 …

Matchmaking Game Players On Public Transport, Nairan Zhang, Youngki Lee, Rajesh Krishna Balan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper extends our recent work, called GameOn, which presented a system for allowing public transport commuters to engage in multiplayer games with fellow commuters traveling on the same bus or train. An important challenge for GameOn is to group players with reliable connections into the same game. In this case, the meaning of reliability has two dimensions. First, the network connectivity (TCP, UDP etc.) should be robust. Second, the players should be collocated with each other for a sufficiently long duration so that a game session will not be terminated by players leaving the public transport modality such as …

Ambient Rendezvous: Energy Efficient Neighbor Discovery Via Acoustic Sensing, Keyu Wang, Zheng Yang, Zimu Zhou, Yunhao Liu, Lionel M. Ni

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The continual proliferation of mobile devices has stimulated the development of opportunistic encounter-based networking and has spurred a myriad of proximity-based mobile applications. A primary cornerstone of such applications is to discover neighboring devices effectively and efficiently. Despite extensive protocol optimization, current neighbor discovery modalities mainly rely on radio interfaces, whose energy and wake up delay required to initiate, configure and operate these protocols hamper practical applicability. Unlike conventional schemes that actively emit radio tones, we exploit ubiquitous audio events to discover neighbors passively. The rationale is that spatially adjacent neighbors tend to share similar ambient acoustic environments. We propose …

Teaching Cybersecurity Using The Cloud, Khaled Salah, Mohammad Hammoud, Sherali Zeadally

Information Science Faculty Publications

Cloud computing platforms can be highly attractive to conduct course assignments and empower students with valuable and indispensable hands-on experience. In particular, the cloud can offer teaching staff and students (whether local or remote) on-demand, elastic, dedicated, isolated, (virtually) unlimited, and easily configurable virtual machines. As such, employing cloud-based laboratories can have clear advantages over using classical ones, which impose major hindrances against fulfilling pedagogical objectives and do not scale well when the number of students and distant university campuses grows up. We show how the cloud paradigm can be leveraged to teach a cybersecurity course. Specifically, we share our …

Exploring Discriminative Features For Anomaly Detection In Public Spaces, Shriguru Nayak, Archan Misra, Kasthuri Jeyarajah, Philips Kokoh Prasetyo, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Context data, collected either from mobile devices or from user-generated social media content, can help identify abnormal behavioural patterns in public spaces (e.g., shopping malls, college campuses or downtown city areas). Spatiotemporal analysis of such data streams provides a compelling new approach towards automatically creating real-time urban situational awareness, especially about events that are unanticipated or that evolve very rapidly. In this work, we use real-life datasets collected via SMU's LiveLabs testbed or via SMU's Palanteer software, to explore various discriminative features (both spatial and temporal - e.g., occupancy volumes, rate of change in topic{specific tweets or probabilistic distribution 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 …

Wireless Networking For Vehicle To Infrastructure Communication And Automatic Incident Detection, Sarwar Aziz Sha-Mohammad

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Vehicular wireless communication has recently generated wide interest in the area of wireless network research. Automatic Incident Detection (AID), which is the recent focus of research direction in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), aims to increase road safety. These advances in technology enable traffic systems to use data collected from vehicles on the road to detect incidents. We develop an automatic incident detection method that has a significant active road safety application for alerting drivers about incidents and congestion. Our method for detecting traffic incidents in a highway scenario is based on the use of distance and time for changing lanes …

Reminiscing About 15 Years Of Interoperability Efforts, Herbert Van De Sompel, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Over the past fifteen years, our perspective on tackling information interoperability problems for web-based scholarship has evolved significantly. In this opinion piece, we look back at three efforts that we have been involved in that aptly illustrate this evolution: OAI-PMH, OAI-ORE, and Memento. Understanding that no interoperability specification is neutral, we attempt to characterize the perspectives and technical toolkits that provided the basis for these endeavors. With that regard, we consider repository-centric and web-centric interoperability perspectives, and the use of a Linked Data or a REST/HATEAOS technology stack, respectively. We also lament the lack of interoperability across nodes that play …

Data Transport System, Rahav Dor

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

To facilitate the WU Smart Home research [21] we built a system that collects data from sensors and uploads the data to the cloud. The system supports data collection from multiple locations (typically apartments) that are independent from each other, endowing the system with two benefit: distributed data collection and alleviating privacy concerns. Each location is managed by a local micro-server (μServer) that is responsible for receiving data packets from sensors and managing their transient storage. Periodically the μServer triggers a data transport process that moves the data to a cloud server where it is stored in a centralized database. …

Is The Smartphone Smart In Kathmandu?, Seth Bird

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This is the extensive study of the smartphone in the developing country of Nepal, specifically the Kathmandu valley. Throughout my research I conducted various interviews with businesses, Tibetan refugees, and Nepali millennials (18yrs-33yrs) with the goal of identifying how the smartphone is used and understood. I chose the Kathmandu valley as my main area of research because the usage of smartphones in rural Nepal is extremely limited, and the valley represents the economic hub where progressive thinking flourishes. As a main objective I sought to understand how, if at all, the smartphone is used differently between Nepal and America. All …

Simulation, And Overload And Stability Analysis Of Continuous Time Sigma Delta Modulator, Kyung Kang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The ever increasing demand for faster and more powerful digital applications requires high speed, high resolution ADCs. Currently, sigma delta modulators ADCs are extensively used in broadband telecommunication systems because they are an effective solution for high data-rate wireless communication systems that require low power consumption, high speed, high resolution, and large signal bandwidths.

Because mixed-signal integrated circuits such as Continuous Time sigma delta modulators contain both analog and digital circuits, mixed signal circuits are not as simple to model and simulate as all discrete or all analog systems. In this dissertation, the delta transform is used to simulate CT …

Strategies For Sensor Data Aggregation In Support Of Emergency Response, X. Wang, A. Walden, M. Weigle, S. Olariu

Computer Science Presentations

PDF of a powerpoint presentation from the Military Communications Conference (MILCOM), Baltimore, Maryland, October 7, 2014. Also available on Slideshare.

Camera Viewpoint Invariant Vehicular Traffic Segmentation And Classification, Jeffrey B. Flora

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The goal of this intelligent transportation systems work is to develop a computer vision method that is view angle independent for segmenting and classifying vehicular traffic on highway systems. In order to achieve this goal, this work implements an algorithm for vehicle segmentation, feature extraction, and classification using the existing Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) infrastructure on networked traffic cameras. The VDOT traffic video is analyzed for vehicle detection and segmentation using an adaptive Gaussian mixture model algorithm. Speed estimation is performed using a single camera calibration. Size and shape features from morphological properties and texture features from histogram of …

Gate Monte Carlo Simulations In A Cloud Computing Environment, Blake Austin Rowedder

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The GEANT4-based GATE is a unique and powerful Monte Carlo (MC) platform, which provides a single code library allowing the simulation of specific medical physics applications, e.g. PET, SPECT, CT, radiotherapy, and hadron therapy. However, this rigorous yet flexible platform is used only sparingly in the clinic due to its lengthy calculation time. By accessing the powerful computational resources of a cloud computing environment, GATE's runtime can be significantly reduced to clinically feasible levels without the sizable investment of a local high performance cluster. This study investigated a reliable and efficient execution of GATE MC simulations using a commercial cloud …

A Framework For Web Object Self-Preservation, Charles L. Cartledge

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

We propose and develop a framework based on emergent behavior principles for the long-term preservation of digital data using the web infrastructure. We present the development of the framework called unsupervised small-world (USW) which is at the nexus of emergent behavior, graph theory, and digital preservation. The USW algorithm creates graph based structures on the Web used for preservation of web objects (WOs). Emergent behavior activities, based on Craig Reynolds’ “boids” concept, are used to preserve WOs without the need for a central archiving authority. Graph theory is extended by developing an algorithm that incrementally creates small-world graphs. Graph theory …

Influences Of Influential Users: An Empirical Study Of Music Social Network, Jing Ren, Zhiyong Cheng, Jialie Shen, Feida Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Influential user can play a crucial role in online social networks. This paper documents an empirical study aiming at exploring the effects of influential users in the context of music social network. To achieve this goal, music diffusion graph is developed to model how information propagates over network. We also propose a heuristic method to measure users' influences. Using the real data from Last. fm, our empirical test demonstrates key effects of influential users and reveals limitations of existing influence identification/characterization schemes.

Humanity Hyper-Externalized, Josh Gloe

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

First Step Mental Health App, Joshua Martin, James Faraday, Mackenzie Lopez

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The goal of this project is to create a tool that provides students at Minnesota State University, Mankato with mental health information through a freely available smartphone application (App). Our approach uses a software engineering design process that focuses on who our customers are, what resources are available, and how we can best connect the two to improve student lives. We identified the stakeholders involved and worked with campus mental health professionals to help shape our App. While there is a broad range of mental health topics, we have focused on materials related to depression. The first process gives the …

Transparent Spectrum Co-Access In Cognitive Radio Networks, Jonathan Daniel Backens

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The licensed wireless spectrum is currently under-utilized by as much as 85%. Cognitive radio networks have been proposed to employ dynamic spectrum access to share this under-utilized spectrum between licensed primary user transmissions and unlicensed secondary user transmissions. Current secondary user opportunistic spectrum access methods, however, remain limited in their ability to provide enough incentive to convince primary users to share the licensed spectrum, and they rely on primary user absence to guarantee secondary user performance. These challenges are addressed by developing a Dynamic Spectrum Co-Access Architecture (DSCA) that allows secondary user transmissions to co-access transparently and concurrently with primary …

Web Archive Services Framework For Tighter Integration Between The Past And Present Web, Ahmed Alsum

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Web archives have contained the cultural history of the web for many years, but they still have a limited capability for access. Most of the web archiving research has focused on crawling and preservation activities, with little focus on the delivery methods. The current access methods are tightly coupled with web archive infrastructure, hard to replicate or integrate with other web archives, and do not cover all the users' needs. In this dissertation, we focus on the access methods for archived web data to enable users, third-party developers, researchers, and others to gain knowledge from the web archives. We build …

Conception, Design And Construction Of A Remote Wifi Vehicle Using Arduino, Clayton Broman

Physics

The scope of this senior project was to make a wireless vehicle controlled via Internet Protocol. This vehicle operates remotely and without direct line of sight. Commands are sent from a program running on a laptop and transmitted using a wireless router. Visual data is retrieved from a network camera, mounted on the vehicle, in real-time, to see where you are going.

Mobile Device Vulnerabilities & Securities, Luke Rondeau

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

An investigation on current mobile vulnerabilities and research into security. Also, a proof of concept to show the ease of injecting an Android phone with a virus.

Efficient Cooperative Mimo Paradigms For Cognitive Radio Networks, Wei Chen, Liang Hong, Xiaoqian Chen

Computer Science Faculty Research

This paper investigates the benefits that cooperative communication brings to cognitive radio networks. We focus on cooperative Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology, where multiple distributed single-antenna secondary users cooperate on data transmission and reception. Three cooperative MIMO paradigms are proposed to maximize the diversity gain and significantly improve the performance of overlay, underlay and interweave systems. In the paradigm for overlay systems the secondary users can assist (relay) the primary transmissions even when they are far away from the primary users. In the paradigm for underlay systems the secondary users can share the primary users’ frequency resources without any …