Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Development And Evaluation Of Machine Learning Models For Early Pediatric Sepsis Prediction, Ancita M. Andrade

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Sepsis is a leading cause of pediatric mortality, claiming more lives in the United States annually than all childhood cancers combined. Early identification in Emergency Departments (EDs) remains challenging, as the current Phoenix criteria establishes an updated international consensus definition for sepsis, however is not designed for use as a screening tool. This study aimed to develop predictive models identifying pediatric patients at risk of sepsis within 24 hours of admission. Multiple tree-based and deep learning models were trained utilizing clinical and laboratory data from the initial four hours of presentation. Both the LightGBM and LSTM architectures demonstrated superior performance, …

Wearable Sensor Data Analysis For Machine Learning-Based Detection Of Posture And Autonomic Responses, Chaitanya Vardhini Anumula

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This study investigates how Iyengar yoga postures influence autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity by analyzing multimodal physiological signals collected via wearable sensors. The physiological mechanisms underlying Iyengar yoga’s therapeutic effects remain under-explored at the granular, pose-level. Using data collected from 16 participants, this research evaluates whether machine learning models can distinguish between baseline, parasympathetic-dominant, and sympathetic-dominant states based on wrist-worn sensor data. The goals were to explore whether subtle postural variations elicit measurable autonomic responses and to identify which sensor features most effectively capture these changes. Participants performed a sequence of yoga poses while wearing synchronized sensors measuring electrodermal activity …

Impact Of Graph Structures For Rag Outcomes In Llms, Chris Davis Jaldi

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Explainability, interpretability and adaptability (EIA) remain three central motivations for next-generation Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially as Large Language Models (LLMs) continue to engage with ever-increasing knowledge bodies. As the landscape pushes toward controllable agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems where AI agents engage in iterative, guided reasoning, a critical question arises as to the extent to which the knowledge design itself shapes these models' reasoning behavior. This work conducts a systematic evaluation of how different conceptualizations and representation of the identical knowledge affect an LLM's path-based reasoning capabilities. Through the introduction of controlled variations along graph structural complexity, linguistic and semantic …

Re-Parameterizing Adversarial Reprogramming In Low-Dimensional Subspace For Efficient Software Vulnerability Detection, Hootan Alavizadeh

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Software vulnerabilities are a major cause of security breaches, making effective detection critical. Traditional learning-based methods require large datasets and significant computational resources, which are often impractical due to high annotation costs and data scarcity. To address this, we propose an innovative system, RearVul, which Re-parameterizes adversarial reprogramming in a low-dimensional subspace for software vulnerability detection. Unlike conventional approaches, RearVul repurposes a pre-trained classification model using adversarial reprogramming, enabling detection with minimal modifications. It learns a universal perturbation applied to program representations, preserving the original model’s feature extraction capabilities while adapting it to a new domain. Furthermore, we introduce a …

Subjective Readiness Forecasting Using Supervised Machine Learning And Wearable Device Data, Nathaniel Michael Weiland

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Recent advances in wearable technology allow continuous monitoring of physiological and behavioral data, opening new opportunities for real-time assessments of readiness and well-being. However, creating predictive models that generalize across diverse users remains challenging, especially in high-stakes settings like the military, where preventable injuries, illnesses, and stress-related performance declines are frequent. This research assesses the feasibility of using supervised machine learning models trained on wearable device data to predict subjective readiness indicators—recovery, stress, injury, and illness. Data from over 10,000 users in the OHWS (Optimizing the Human Weapons System) program combined daily check ins with physiological metrics from Garmin, Polar, …

Isometric Centroid Encoder (Ice) And Synthetic Data Generation Approaches For Biological Datasets, Prathyusha Kanakamalla

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This thesis addressed two main challenges in biological data analysis: structure-preserving dimensionality reduction and synthetic data generation for small sample datasets. I proposed the Isometric Centroid Encoder (ICE), a supervised dimensionality reduction method that preserves pairwise distances between class centroids during dimension reduction. Unlike existing methods like Centroid Encoder and Super Encoder, ICE explicitly maintains geometric relationships between biological classes, achieving nearly perfect structure preservation at C dimensions (where C equals the number of classes) with strong performance even in 2D and 3D spaces. Additionally, I compared three generative models (VAE, LSH-GAN, and scDiffusion) for synthetic data generation on small …

Leveraging Counterfactuals For Enhanced Natural Language Inference: A Multitask Knowledge Distillation Approach, Brian J. Davis

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Natural-language inference (NLI) asks whether a hypothesis is entailed by, contradicts, or is neutral with respect to a premise. Modern transformers reach high raw accuracy on benchmarks such as SNLI, MNLI, and ANLI, yet they often rely on brittle lexical shortcuts and provide little insight into their decision process. This thesis shows that counterfactual-augmented knowledge distillation can simultaneously boost robustness and supply faithful, token-level explanations—without scaling model size. Four T5-v1_1 students (60M, 220M, 770M, 3B parameters) are trained under four curricula: (1) standard fine-tuning, (2) fine-tuning with free-text rationales, (3) multi-task distillation with naive counterfactuals, and (4) multi-task distillation with …

Patient Subset Classification Using Encoded Embeddings And Knowledge Graph Retrieval-Augmented Generation, Benjamin A. Holmes

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The widespread adoption of electronic medical records has created a vast reservoir of clinical data that can be leveraged to better understand how interventions relate to patient outcomes. Much of this information, however, exists as unstructured free-text, posing significant challenges for traditional statistical and machine-learning methods. Solving these challenges would allow the extraction of specific patient subpopulations (clinically relevant cohorts of individuals who share overlapping symptoms, risk factors, or diagnostic criteria), which could be used in precision medicine. Despite this promise, extracting these subpopulations from unstructured medical notes is an ongoing challenge due to the variability of clinical language and …

Generative Adversarial Networks (Gans) For High-Dimensional Biological Data, Harigovind Harikumar

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This thesis investigates the application of Generative AI models, mainly Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) models to high dimensional and low sample size biological datasets like Motion Sickness, Breast Cancer, Crohn, and Melanoma. We utilized and compared three generative AI frameworks: Vanilla GAN, Wasserstein GAN (WGAN), Locality-Sensitive Hashing GAN (LSH-GAN) and Omics GAN. To address the challenges associated with high-dimensionality and low sample size, which was leading to very poor outputs of biological synthetic samples, we came up with an approach to stop the model when it reaches its saturation level. That is, we printed the loss plots to see where …

Learning Under Data Scarcity: Reasoning And Negative Distillation For Texts And Graphs, Calvin T. Greenewald

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Modern machine learning (ML) models rely on large amounts of high-quality labeled data to achieve optimal performance. However, in many real-world domains, such as cyber security, acquiring sufficient labeled data is often infeasible due to cost, privacy concerns, and the rapid evolution of underlying phenomena. This challenge underscores the importance of learning under data scarcity. This thesis addresses this challenge by proposing distinct, modality-specific techniques for text and graph domains, which allow models to generalize effectively with minimal data. For text classification task, we incorporate distilled rationales from large language models and adversarial perturbations into the input space to improve …

Analysis Of Early Interventions To Retain Underrepresented Students In Computer Science, Michael Conti

Open Access Dissertations

Computer science, like many STEM disciplines, faces persistent challenges in recruiting and retaining women and individuals from racially and ethnically minoritized backgrounds. This study examines whether targeted interventions can produce sustained improvements in academic performance and sense of belonging among these underrepresented groups. By analyzing longitudinal data, this research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in promoting equity and persistence in computer science education.

Measuring And Improving Api Usability And Quality: A Comprehensive Framework And Empirical Study, Sultan Alanazy

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Cloud computing provides on-demand access to flexible computing resources, enabling rapid application deployment without substantial infrastructure investment. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) play an important role in ensuring the success of cloud applications. The primary users of APIs are the extensive community of application programmers who search, read, and understand APIs before integrating them into their applications or systems. In addition, developers often turn to online API support when seeking help. Problems in such support can result in incorrect API usage and integration problems. There is an urgent need to measure API usability and support issues to identify, characterize, and assess …

A Summer Class Exploring Computer Science With Educators Of Deaf And Hard Of Hearing Students, Meghan L. Mcsherry, Becca A. Leininger, Maria L. Johnson, Annmarie P. Thomas, Susan Outlaw, Douglas C. Orzolek

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The purpose of this research project was to design, deliver, and informally assess the content and methodology of an introductory course focused on the block-based coding language, Scratch, for educators of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students (N=20). Prior work by The Playful Learning Lab examined various STEM resources and their effect on student perception of STEM topics and content retention when utilized for Deaf and Hard of Hearing K-12 students. Previous research has shown that computer science and programming resources and curricula available today are not fully accessible for Deaf and Hard of Hearing K-12 students. Educators and teachers …

Graph Neural Networks Powered Scientific Paper Recommendation, Junhao Shen

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Scientific paper recommendation systems aim to help researchers discover relevant papers amidst the vast and ever-growing body of literature. With the exponential yearly increase in scientific publications, the demand for effective paper recommendation solutions has become both critical and increasingly challenging. In recent years, deep learning techniques have revolutionized recommender systems, and scientific paper recommendations have naturally integrated these advancements. In this dissertation, we address these challenges through three progressive contributions.

First, we enhance traditional content-based methods using Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) by introducing a Graph Convolutional Network-strengthened Topic Modeling (GCN-TM) approach. This method improves upon conventional topic modeling techniques …

Cmos-Based Rotational Spectroscopy: Massive Spectral Fingerprint Generation And Molecular Detection With Deep Learning, Yasamin Fozouni

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

Rotational Spectroscopy is a powerful spectral fingerprinting approach that can be used for identifying different gas molecules in a sample. Gas molecules are free to rotate, with inertia, in fixed states of quantized energy. In Rotational Spectroscopy, radiative beams are shown onto a sample to cause an energy-based transition between quantized rotational states. By sweeping the frequency of the radiative beams and monitoring the absorption with a sensor, one can profile the different rotational states, monitoring for energy based transitions. These transitions are dependent on unique properties of the molecules, thus presenting a unique molecular identification fingerprint (in the form …

Between Copyright And Computer Science: The Law And Ethics Of Generative Ai, Devin R. Desai, Mark Riedl

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Copyright and computer science continue to intersect and clash, but they can coexist. The advent of new technologies such as digitization of visual and aural creations, sharing technologies, search engines, social media offerings, and more, challenge copyright-based industries and reopen questions about the reach of copyright law. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence research, especially Large Language Models that leverage copyrighted material as part of training, are the latest examples of the ongoing tension between copyright and computer science. The exuberance, rush-to-market, and edge problem cases created by a few misguided companies now raises challenges to core legal doctrines and may shift …

Cisc 3310 Principles Of Computer Architecture, Miriam Briskman

Open Educational Resources

Introduction to digital logic. Basic digital circuits. Boolean algebra and combinational logic, data representation and transfer, digital arithmetic. Instruction sets. Introduction to assembly languages ALU and memory reference instructions, flow control, subroutine linkage, arrays and structures. Memory. I/O systems. Performance. Relationship between software and architecture.

Cisc 3130 Data Structures, Moshe Lach

Open Educational Resources

Container classes: their design, implementations, and applications. Sequences: vectors, linked lists, stacks, queues, deques, lists. Associative structures: sets, maps and their hash and tree underlying representations. Sorting and searching techniques. Collection frameworks and hierarchies.

Exploring The Potential Of Neutrosophic Topological Spaces In Computer Science, A. A. Salama, Huda E. Khalid, Ahmed K. Essa, Ahmed G. Mabrouk

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Neutrosophic topological spaces (NTS) offer a novel framework for uncertainty modeling by incorporating degrees of truth, indeterminacy, and falsity. This paper investigates the potential applications of NTS in computer science. We provide background on neutrosophic sets and their extension to topological spaces. We then explore how NTS could be used for uncertainty modeling in data analysis (e.g., handling noisy data in sensor networks), pattern recognition (e.g., improving image classification with imprecise features), and information retrieval (e.g., enhancing search results by considering relevance uncertainty). We discuss the challenges associated with applying NTS and highlight promising areas for future research, such as …

Exploring The Potential Of Neutrosophic Topological Spaces In Computer Science, A. A. Salama, Huda E. Khalid, Ahmed K. Essa, Ahmed G. Mabrouk

Neutrosophic Systems with Applications

Neutrosophic topological spaces (NTS) offer a novel framework for uncertainty modeling by incorporating degrees of truth, indeterminacy, and falsity. This paper investigates the potential applications of NTS in computer science. We provide background on neutrosophic sets and their extension to topological spaces. We then explore how NTS could be used for uncertainty modeling in data analysis (e.g., handling noisy data in sensor networks), pattern recognition (e.g., improving image classification with imprecise features), and information retrieval (e.g., enhancing search results by considering relevance uncertainty). We discuss the challenges associated with applying NTS and highlight promising areas for future research, such as …

Real Time Pii Scanning, John David

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The increased amount of web applications and internet software solutions utilizing cloud frameworks has contributed to large data sets of system log messages being generated constantly. These messages may contain sensitive data, creating an additional security risk for the systems and contributing to the need for analysis of such large volumes of data in real time. Large commercial data monitoring systems can solve for these analysis requirements, but they can be costly. We present a solution to analyzing web application log data which ingests it, processes it and visualizes sensitive data found within in real time. Our solution utilizes an …

Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Person-Following In Constrained Environments, Ori A. Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Maintaining visibility of a person requires effective systems. Security cameras or ground robots might be ideal, but they often fail in uncontrolled or unknown environments. A single ground robot struggles to navigate and track an agent at the same time. This work addresses the challenge by developing a multi-robot system with a slow ground robot and an agile aerial robot. Three methods are evaluated: FORWARD-PF, RL-Person Following (RL), and a baseline closed-loop method. FORWARD-PF proved the most reliable, completing all nine paths and reaching targets nearly twice as fast as RL. Despite completing seven paths, RL faltered on complex tasks. …

Integrating Authentication Schemes In Augmented And Virtual Reality Classrooms, Naheem Noah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) technologies are revolutionizing educational experiences, but their widespread adoption hinges on addressing critical security and usability challenges, particularly in the domain of user authentication. This research presents an investigation into the security landscape of AR/VR and explores a graphical authentication scheme called “Things” that enhances both security and usability in immersive learning environments. Through a systematic evaluation of popular AR/VR devices and applications, potential vulnerabilities and limitations were identified, such as high usage of pin/passwords which are susceptible to shoulder-surfing attacks, lack of multi-factor authentication, and unclear data-sharing practices. A review of existing knowledge-based …

Informed Intervention Design, Deployment, And Analysis For The Computer Science Classroom, Jaxton J. Winder

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Improving the teaching of computer science is a challenging task. Educators and computing education researchers devote large amounts of time, energy, and resources towards doing so effectively. One of the ways this is done is through research-informed design, deployment, and analysis of targeted interventions to the classroom. This thesis will detail research conducted at Utah State University targeting classroom interventions: centered around their design, deployment, and analysis.

One of these interventions aims to tackle student procrastination through the offering of “grace points”–forgiving a small amount of mistakes on a student’s assignment–for analyzing a homework assignment early. Through studying this intervention, …

Trust, Transparency, And Transport: The Impact Of Privacy Protection On The Acceptance Of Last-Mile Drone Delivery, Jurgen Heinz Famula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A common set of problems commercial delivery companies face is finding ways to increase the efficiency and reliability of the “last mile” of a package’s journey, all while reducing operating costs. This need for efficiency has driven many companies to explore using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to get packages to their final destination. Although UAVs have great potential to help increase efficiency in commercial package delivery, this comes at a potential cost to the privacy of people who intersect the flight paths of these unmanned vehicles. This thesis explores the effect of a mobile phone application for commercial …

Bridging Design And Perception: Novel Tools And Technologies For Creating Effective Human-Robot Interactions, Benjamin Dossett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores human perception of robots through the use of novel tools and technologies. First, the impact of Augmented Reality (AR) data presentation on human perception of robots is investigated. A study conducted with the AR human-robot teaming system found that robot performance significantly influenced participants’ perceptions, overshadowing the impact of matching or mismatching robot confidence feedback. Second, the DU Want to Build-A-Bot platform is presented, which enables participatory robot design and opens the door for novel research of how robot design affects human perception. The Build-A-Bot platform enables the collection of diverse robot designs, facilitating machine learning analysis …

Building A Data Pipeline And Machine Learning Model For Insurance Data, Connor Weyers

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Insurance telematics is an emerging and exciting field. It combines the advancements in GPS tracking, computational analytics, data processing, and machine learning into a useful tool to help insurance companies make the best product for their consumers. This is why National Indemnity looked to implement a telematics portion to their business processes of underwriting insurance policies and sponsored a School of Computing Senior Design project. In this report, we will first review existing solutions that been used to solve problems and subproblems similar to that we are given in this project. We then propose designs for the data pipeline and …

Integration Of Agent Models And Meta Reinforcement Learning (Meta-Rl) Algorithms For Car Racing Experiment, Vidyavarshini Holenarasipur Jayashankar

Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Achieving optimal performance in 2D racing games presents unique challenges, requiring adaptive strategies and advanced learning algorithms. This research explores the integration of sophisticated agent models with Meta Reinforcement Learning (Meta-RL) techniques, specifically Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML) and Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), to enhance decision-making and adaptability within these simulated environments. We hypothesize that this innovative approach will lead to marked improvements in game performance and learning efficiency.

Methods: In our experimental setup, we applied MAML for its rapid adaptation capabilities and PPO for optimizing the agents' policy decisions within a 2D racing game simulator. The objective was …

Story Of Your Lazy Function’S Life: A Bidirectional Demand Semantics For Mechanized Cost Analysis Of Lazy Programs, Laura Israel, Nicholas Coltharp

Student Research Symposium

Lazy evaluation is a powerful tool that enables better compositionality and potentially better performance in functional programming, but it is challenging to analyze its computation cost. Existing works either require manually annotating sharing, or rely on separation logic to reason about heaps of mutable cells. In this paper, we propose a bidirectional demand semantics that allows for reasoning about the computation cost of lazy programs without relying on special program logics. To show the effectiveness of our approach, we apply the demand semantics to a variety of case studies including insertion sort, selection sort, Okasaki's banker's queue, and the push …

Using Machine Learning To Identify Hate Speech And Offensive Language On Twitter., Mayara Lorens, Thayene Lorens

BSc (Hons) in Computing in IT

The central theme of this project is the application of Machine Learning to identify both hate speech and offensive language on Twitter. We chose this topic for its ethical relevance in the technological environment and its business potential. This topic raises concerns such as cyberbullying and the existence of a hostile environment for users. For this reason, we sought to implement four different models to create an automated system capable of identifying and categorizing whether specific content is offensive, non-offensive or neutral.