Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Social Pot: A Social Media Application, Reid Long

Honors Projects

The Social Pot is a web application that allows a user to post to Instagram and X simultaneously from one place. The user creates a Social Pot Account and from there can set their Instagram username and password within the home page. Once the user attempts to post, it will redirect them to login to X which once successful will make the tweet. Used the API 'instagram-private-api'. User needed to give access to my X Project which in turn gave an Auth token (via X redirect URL). The auth token was then sent to my endpoint in order to get …

The Quest For New Music: A Recommendation Algorithm For Spotify Users, Ian Curtis

Honors Projects

Music is one of the rare forms of communication that can be understood on a profound level by anyone; it has the power to cause significant emotional effects, to spark inspiration, to ignite change, to spread knowledge, and more, even regardless of song language. A popular subject of research in music pertains to recommendations; determining a song a listener would enjoy is not an easy task. Moreover, certain factors may influence a user's satisfaction with recommended songs and their likelihood to continue using a service. Focusing on the major streaming service Spotify, we build a K-Means clustering algorithm to recommend …

Using Machine Learning For Detection Of Covid-19, Justin Rickert

Honors Projects

Currently, the most widely used diagnostic tool for COVID-19 is the RT-PCR nasal swab test recommended by the CDC. However, some studies have shown that chest CT scans have the potential to be more accurate and are also capable of detecting the virus in its earlier stages. Unfortunately, CT results are not instantaneously available as it may be days before a radiologist can review the scan. This delay is one of the factors preventing the widespread use of CT scans for COVID detection. To address the delay, this project investigated Convolutional Neural Networks, an advanced form of machine learning used …

Making The Easy Accessibility Package, Aaron G. Trudeau

Honors Projects

The Easy Accessibility Package is a code package for Unity (a game engine bundled with game development software) that is meant to help video game developers quickly and easily make their games accessible to disabled gamers. The two main features I include in the project were remappable controls (changing which button performs which in-game action) and screen reader support (reading on screen text or game status aloud), both of which are vital to making games accessible.

The repository for the project at the time of submission can be found here: https://github.com/trudeaua21/EasyAccessibilityPackage/tree/v0.1-alpha

The up-to-date repository for the project can be found …

Text Anomaly Detection With Arae-Anogan, Tec Yan Yap

Honors Projects

Generative adversarial networks (GANs) are now one of the key techniques for detecting anomalies in images, yielding remarkable results. Applying similar methods to discrete structures, such as text sequences, is still largely an unknown. In this work, we introduce a new GAN-based text anomaly detection method, called ARAE-AnoGAN, that trains an adversarially regularized autoencoder (ARAE) to reconstruct normal sentences and detects anomalies via a combined anomaly score based on the building blocks of ARAE. Finally, we present experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of ARAE-AnoGAN and other deep learning methods in text anomaly detection.

Using Alteryx Designer In Audit, Nolan Asiala

Honors Projects

My senior project was built around data analysis and how it relates to the auditing profession. Initially, I was planning on attending a data analytics competition, but that was canceled due to the events of COVID-19. This project utilized the Alteryx Designer program to demonstrate how it can be used during an audit engagement. By creating a workflow in Alteryx Designer, a report from a client can be cleaned and reformatted into a working dataset. My project includes two Excel files, a Microsoft Word document that serves as a brief introduction to the program, and a video describing the workflow …

Improving 3d Printed Prosthetics With Sensors And Motors, Rachel Zarin

Honors Projects

A 3D printed hand and arm prosthetic was created from the idea of adding bionic elements while keeping the cost low. It was designed based on existing models, desired functions, and materials available. A tilt sensor keeps the hand level, two motors move the wrist in two different directions, a limit switch signals the fingers to open and close, and another motor helps open and close the fingers. All sensors and motors were built on a circuit board, programmed using an Arduino, and powered by a battery. Other supporting materials include metal brackets, screws, guitar strings, elastic bands, small clamps, …

Workoutbuddy, Bekah Suttner

Honors Projects

WorkoutBuddy is a proof of concept (POC) for an iPhone and Apple Watch application to improve safety during outdoor workouts by providing a virtual buddy system. To use the application, a user first sets their planned route for an outdoor workout using a map on their iPhone. Then, during the workout, the application uses the cell phone and GPS capability of the Apple Watch Series 3 to record location data, share it with the user’s iPhone, and check whether the user has stayed on their planned route. If the user goes off of their route, their phone sends a text …

Evaluating Reproducibility In Computational Biology Research, Morgan Oneka

Honors Projects

For my Honors Senior Project, I read five research papers in the field of computational biology and attempted to reproduce the results. However, for the most part, this proved a challenge, as many details vital to utilizing relevant software and data had been excluded. Using Geir Kjetil Sandve's paper "Ten Simple Rules for Reproducible Computational Research" as a guide, I discuss how authors of these five papers did and did not obey these rules of reproducibility and how this affected my ability to reproduce their results.

Rendering Hypercomplex Fractals, Anthony Atella

Honors Projects

Fractal mathematics and geometry are useful for applications in science, engineering, and art, but acquiring the tools to explore and graph fractals can be frustrating. Tools available online have limited fractals, rendering methods, and shaders. They often fail to abstract these concepts in a reusable way. This means that multiple programs and interfaces must be learned and used to fully explore the topic. Chaos is an abstract fractal geometry rendering program created to solve this problem. This application builds off previous work done by myself and others [1] to create an extensible, abstract solution to rendering fractals. This paper covers …

Differential Self-Presentation Across Multiple Social Network Sites, Joshua M. Amaral

Honors Projects

This study investigates the ways in which users of multiple social network sites (SNSs) differ their self-presentation across the various SNSs that they use; as well as analyzes how SNS users alter their self-presentation on SNSs based on their perceived audience. This study was granted permission by participants to follow their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat accounts and to perform content analysis on the artifacts that they generated during the phase of observation. A grounded theory approach was implemented and was effective in coding and analyzing both the ephemeral and non-ephemeral content observed in this study. Results indicate that participants …

Encoding Lexicographical Ordering Constraints In Sat, Wenting Zhao

Honors Projects

Symmetry occurs in many constraint satisfaction problems, and it is important to deal with it efficiently and effectively, as it often leads to an exponential number of isomorphic assignments. Symmetric rows and columns in matrices are an important class of symmetries in constraint programming. In this work, we develop a new SAT encoding for partial lexicographical ordering constraints to break symmetries in such places. We also survey all the previous complete lex-leader encodings in literature and translate them into SAT encodings. We perform experimental analysis on how these lex-leader constraints impact the solving of Balanced Incomplete Block Design (BIBD) instances. …

Visualizing Sorting Algorithms, Brian Faria

Honors Projects

This paper discusses a study performed on animating sorting algorithms as a learning aid for classroom instruction. A web-based animation tool was created to visualize four common sorting algorithms: Selection Sort, Bubble Sort, Insertion Sort, and Merge Sort. The animation tool would represent data as a bar-graph and after selecting a data-ordering and algorithm, the user can run an automated animation or step through it at their own pace. Afterwards, a study was conducted with a voluntary student population at Rhode Island College who were in the process of learning algorithms in their Computer Science curriculum. The study consisted of …

Crossing The Line, Cameron Bryce

Honors Projects

In The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, author H. Porter Abbott defines narrative as “the representation of an event or a series of events” (13). Given this broad definition, narrative events can be represented in a number of ways, as seen in different storytelling mediums like literature, film, television, paintings, video games, or even daily oral storytelling. Narrative is the way in which one communicates a story. In literature, writers must use text and the placement of text on a page or a screen in order to convey a series of events. Writers can utilize narrators in literature in a number …

Set Lister, Cyril Casapao

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Knotswithstanding!, Erik S. Nestor

Honors Projects

Knotswithstanding! is an internet based application built using HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. It is a pedagogical utility that facilitates the construction and analysis of mathematical knots, as well as the demonstration of knot theory fundamentals. It uses a "stick based" tile layout system, allowing a user to draw a knot by dragging the mouse pointer across a grid. Once a knot is complete, functionality is available to check for validity, identify the number of crossings, and determine other invariants including tricolorability and Dowker notation. It features 500 iterable storage banks, and functionality for a sequence of knot renderings to be …

Graph-Ene, James E. Torres

Honors Projects

GRAPH-ENE is a rich internet application for building and manipulating undirected, simple graphs. It is intended for use as a classroom teaching aid, plus as a tool for students to interactively manipulate graphs for assignments. Being web based, it is portable—it can run anywhere a browser is available. Since it is interactive, it provides problem-solving capabilities that are not available using pencil and paper.

Analyzing And Extending An Infeasibility Analysis Algorithm, Ammar Malik

Honors Projects

Constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) involve finding assignments to a set of variables that satisfy some mathematical constraints. Unsatisfiable constraint problems are CSPs with no solution. However, useful characteristic subsets of these problems may be extracted with algorithms such as the MARCO algorithm, which outperforms the best known algorithms in the literature. A heuristic choice in the algorithm affects how it traverses the search space to output these subsets. This work analyzes the effect of this choice and introduces three improvements to the algorithm. The first of these improvements sacrifices completeness in terms of one type of subset in order to …

Native Cardinality Constraints: More Expressive, More Efficient Constraints, Jordyn C. Maglalang

Honors Projects

Boolean cardinality constraints are commonly translated (encoded) into Boolean CNF, a standard form for Boolean satisfiability problems, which can be solved using a standard SAT solving program. However, cardinality constraints are a simple generalization of clauses, and the complexity entailed by encoding them into CNF can be avoided by reasoning about cardinality constraints natively within a SAT solver. In this work, we compare the performance of two forms of native cardinality constraints against some of the best performing encodings from the literature. We designed a number of experiments, modeling the general use of cardinality constraints including crafted, random and application …

Inter Spem Et Metum, Fiat Lux, Michael A. Mota

Honors Projects

Explores the design and development of a simple, 3D flight simulator. The resulting application allows users to pilot an abstract human avatar and to create free-hand strokes and physically-based explosions onto the environment through a ball discharge meta-game feature. Uses the C++ language, and the ancillary programming API libraries, OpenGL, GLEW, and Win32.

Rapid Face Detection Using Independent Component Analysis, Aditya Rajgarhia '07

Honors Projects

Face detection is the task of determining the locations and sizes of human faces in arbitrary digital images, while ignoring any other objects to the greatest possible extent. A fundamental problem in computer vision, it has important applications in fields ranging from surveillance-based security to autonomous vehicle navigation. Although face detection has been studied for almost a decade, the results are not satisfactory for a variety of practical applications, and the topic continues to receive attention.

A commonly used approach for detecting faces is based on the techniques of "boosting" and "cascading", which allow for real-time face detection. However, systems …

Proe: Pseudo Random Optimized Encryption, Louis J. Ricci

Honors Projects

Examines the development and testing of the PROE encryption algorithm, including design decisions ensuring security and speed. Demonstrates implementation in the x86-64 assembler.

Unsupervised Learning To Improve Anomaly Detection, Daniel H. Garrette '06

Honors Projects

An intrusion detection system (IDS) is used to determine when a computer or computer network is under attack. Most contemporary IDSs operate by defining what an intrusion looks like and checking traffic for matching patterns in network traffic. This approach has unavoidable limitations including the inability to detect novel attacks and the maintenance of a rule bank that must grow with every new intrusion discovered. An anomaly detection scheme attempts to define what is normal so that abnormal traffic can be distinguished from it. This thesis explores the ways that an unsupervised technique called "clustering" can be used to distinguish …

Limits Of Diagonalization And The Polynomial Hierarchy, Kyle Barkmeier '06

Honors Projects

Determining the computational complexity of problems is a large area of study. It seeks to separate these problems into ones with "efficient" solutions, and those with "inefficient" solutions. Of course, the strata is much more fine-grain than this. Of special interest are two classes of problems: P and NP. These have been of much interest to complexity theorists for quite some time, because both contain many instances of important real-world problems, and finding efficient solutions for those in NP would be beneficial for computing applications. Yet with all this attention, there are still important unanswered questions about the two classes. …

Rhode Island College Mobile Course Catalog, Lianne Elsner

Honors Projects

Consists of a suite of computer programs written in Visual Basic.net and embedded Visual Basic 3.0, whose purpose is to display the RIC course catalog on a Pocket PC device running Windows Mobile. The program package allows major course requirements and information to be viewed on a single screen. Included is a desktop computer program which allows faculty and staff to make changes to the database of courses.

Using Binary Space Subdivision To Optimize Primary Ray Processing In Ray-Tracing Algorithms, Mark Portolese '05

Honors Projects

Ray-tracing algorithms have the potential to create extremely realistic three-dimensional computer graphics. The basic idea is to trace light rays from the user through the computer screen into the hypothetical three-dimensional world. This is done to determine what objects should be displayed on the screen. Furthermore, these rays are traced back to the light sources themselves to determine shading and other photorealistic effects. However, without optimization these algorithms are slow and impractical. This paper explores the use of the classic binary space subdivision algorithm in order to speed up the process. Binary space subdivision is the use of binary trees …

Automated Annotation Of Heegaard Diagrams, Dmitry Mogilevsky '03

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

P-Fastus: Information Extraction System Implemented In A Constraint Programming Language -Sicstus Prolog, Rajen Subba '03

Honors Projects

P-FASTUS is an Information Extraction system developed in SICStus Prolog based on the implementation of FASTUS. It is program that extracts prespecified information such as the name of the companny, location and the position being advertised from" Job PostingIs'' in text files. The system is composed of different levels of processing phases that are implemented using finite-state transducers.

The Virtual Beta: An Interactive Fish Using Java Script And Css, Lauren B. Carroll '03

Honors Projects

My first version of the fish was written in C, because it was the language I was studying at the time. I wanted something that more people could view easily, however and one that could manage images more simply than C. I ended up choosing ]avaScript. At first I tried to translate my C program directly to ]avaScript, but I soon found this was too complex a task.

The Use Of A Genetic Algorithm To Evolve Networks For A Natural Language Processing Task, Alexander E. Dimov '02

Honors Projects

In this project a novel approach was taken for performing a natural language task. The task requires a neural network to predict the grammatical category of the next word in a stream of sentences. There are two main reasons why this task is interesting. In natural language processing, it is sometimes very difficult to determine the grammatical category of a word in a sentence when that word could belong to different grammatical categories depending on the context. For example, the word "run" can either be a noun or a verb in a certain sentence. The ability to correctly determine the …