Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

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.

Stock Market Predictions With Machine Learning ., Daniel Bezerra Martellini

ICT

The focus of this project is developing a tool that can be used in conjunction with other methods to help an investor and/or financial analyst in making an informed decision when making an investment choice taking into consideration stock data.

The project has three main goals which are to try predicting buy and sell signals with the use of a classification model, and to predict the approximate value for next day’s closing price of a stock of our choice with the use of a regression model.

My last goal with this project is to create models easy to use and …

The Quantitative Analysis And Visualization Of Nfl Passing Routes, Sandeep Chitturi

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The strategic planning of offensive passing plays in the NFL incorporates numerous variables, including defensive coverages, player positioning, historical data, etc. This project develops an application using an analytical framework and an interactive model to simulate and visualize an NFL offense's passing strategy under varying conditions. Using R-programming and data management, the model dynamically represents potential passing routes in response to different defensive schemes. The system architecture integrates data from historical NFL league years to generate quantified route scores through designed mathematical equations. This allows for the prediction of potential passing routes for offensive skill players in response to the …

Developing A Convolutional Neural Network (Cnn) Model For Facial Expression Recognition (Fer), Danrlei Martins, Leonardo Diesel

ICT

This Capstone Project focused on developing an accurate Facial Expression Recognition (FER) model by leveraging deep learning techniques, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The objective was to explore, design, and implement custom architectures and evaluate their performance against existing work. The process involved several stages, such as data preprocessing, data augmentation, architecture design, hyperparameter tuning, and performance assessment using metrics like accuracy and F1-score while utilizing the FER-2013 dataset for training. The resulting FER model exhibited competitive accuracy levels and generalization capabilities, opening up opportunities for real-time implementation and application across various domains.

Using Predictive Analytics To Identify Risk Of Heart Disease Based On Lifestyle Factors And Health Metrics., Luiza Cavalcanti Albuquerque Brayner, Edgard Pacheco

ICT

In this project, we will report an innovative application, for the healthcare sector usage, which basically is a health tracking and disease prevention application. The application will enable users to log their daily meals, exercise routines, and lifestyle habits, providing a comprehensive overview of the user's health status. By making use of Machine Learning and data analytics, our solution offers a personalised and automated insight and predictive analytics, which empowers users to proactively manage their well-being.

Through a detailed data analysis, users will gain valuable insights of potential diseases development and risk. This report will explore the development process, implementation …

Movie Recommendation System., Ingrid Menezes Castro, Robert Szlufik

ICT

This project is focused on implementing a Movie Recommendation System with the use of Machine Learning. The system was developed in Python and the datasets used were 'Movies' and 'Ratings' from MovieLens 25M. This project was developed with the CRISP-DM methodology and each of the phases is detailed in a report and Jupyter Notebook.

The system is a hybrid combining best qualities of collaboration filtering and user grouping. In the project we compare some models' accuracies, upgrade a chosen model and show the improved performance of our hybrid model that used the SVD algorithm. We are able to find recommended …

A Review Of Student Attitudes Towards Keystroke Logging And Plagiarism Detection In Introductory Computer Science Courses, Caleb Syndergaard

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The following paper addresses student attitudes towards keystroke logging and plagiarism prevention measures. Specifically, the paper concerns itself with changes made to the “ShowYourWork” plugin, which was implemented to log the keystrokes of students in Utah State University’s introductory Computer Science course, CS1400. Recent work performed by the Edwards Lab provided insights into students’ feelings towards keystroke logging as a measure of deterring plagiarism. As a result of that research, we have concluded that measures need to be taken to enable students to have more control over their data and assist students to feel more comfortable with keystroke logging. This …

A Holistic And Collaborative Behavioral Health Detection Framework Using Sensitive Police Narratives, Martin Keagan Wynne Brown

Dissertations

Identifying behavioral health is paramount for law enforcement officers to provide appropriate follow-up community care. In the current practice, law enforcement offices manually identify these behavioral health cases to allow the designation of the relevant follow-up resources. Police reports generated by officers' response to 911 calls remain an untapped resource for identifying such incidents. Therefore, we advocate for the incorporation of manual annotations from experts, natural language processing (NLP), active learning, advanced machine learning, and ensemble techniques to detect behavioral health cases within police reports. In this dissertation, we develop tools and frameworks to automatically detect behavioral health cases from …

Towards Erasing The Distinction Between The Computational And Syntactic Accounts Of Scientific Theories, Timothy Luft

Theses

One of the main goals of philosophy of science is to give a proper account of scientific theories and their structure. One way that accounts of the structure of scientific theories can be distinguished is by the mathematical or logical structures that they involve. For instance, syntactic accounts of scientific theories hold that theories are axioms in a logical framework, whereas semantic accounts are more liberal in the range of mathematical and logical structures they take as pertinent to the structure of scientific theories. Paul Thagard (1988) offers a computational account of scientific theories, which holds that theories are complex …

Predicting Biomolecular Properties And Interactions Using Numerical, Statistical And Machine Learning Methods, Elyssa Sliheet

Mathematics Theses and Dissertations

We investigate machine learning and electrostatic methods to predict biophysical properties of proteins, such as solvation energy and protein ligand binding affinity, for the purpose of drug discovery/development. We focus on the Poisson-Boltzmann model and various high performance computing considerations such as parallelization schemes.

Exploring Practical Measures As An Approach For Measuring Elementary Students’ Attitudes Towards Computer Science, Umar Shehzad, Mimi M. Recker, Jody E. Clarke-Midura

Publications

This paper presents a novel approach for predicting the outcomes of elementary students’ participation in computer science (CS) instruction by using exit tickets, a type of practical measure, where students provide rapid feedback on their instructional experiences. Such feedback can help teachers to inform ongoing teaching and instructional practices. We fit a Structural Equation Model to examine whether students' perceptions of enjoyment, ease, and connections between mathematics and CS in an integrated lesson predicted their affective outcomes in self-efficacy, interest, and CS identity, collected in a pre- post- survey. We found that practical measures can validly measure student experiences.

Editorial Preview, Su-Cheng Haw

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

This editorial highlights all 19 papers in the February issue that deal with the practical aspects of Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Mining (DM), the Internet of Things (IoT), and other topics in Computer Science. This issue also includes suggestions for several worthwhile works that deserve further research. With effective from this volume, we will be publishing triannually in our February, June and October issues.

Application Of Machine Learning Algorithms To Evaluate The Changes In Energy Consumption In The Leinster Area And Subsequently The Impact On Consumer Behaviour In The Commercial Sector., Maria Dominguez Alvarenga

ICT

This study focuses on predicting electricity consumption through data analytics and ensemble learning methods, addressing fluctuations influenced by external economic factors. Techniques like Gradient Boosting Regressor (GBR) and Random Forest Regressor (RFR) proved effective due to their ability to generalise well with new data. CRISP-DM served as the guiding methodology, supported by robust preprocessing techniques such as winsorisation to handle outliers, feature selection to refine variables, and scaling to standardise data for improved model performance.

The research involved datasets from non-residential clients and data centres, uncovering consumption patterns through visualisations in Tableau. Analysis showed that County Dublin and Kildare were …

Assessment Of The Impact Of Various Feature Extraction Techniques On The Effectiveness Of Music Genre Classification In Neural Network Models., Sabhdh Grace

ICT

This research focuses on Music Genre Classification (MGC) using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and various datasets, including raw audio files (WAV) and extracted features such as Mel Spectrograms (MS), Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC), and Chroma Features (CF). The study employs Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods (ESMM), combining qualitative research and experimental analysis to explore different model inputs and their performance. Several CNN-based models, including 2D CNN, 2D CNN-LSTM, 1D CNN, and 1D CNN-LSTM, were tested. However, the models generally underperformed, with most achieving accuracy of 10% or lower, and the best model (raw audio 1D CNN) reaching only 20%. The research …

Comparison Of Classification Methodologies Using Convolutional Neural Networks In A Dataset Of Plant Leaf Diseases., Ruairi O’Donohoe

ICT

This project investigates the impact of classification methodology selection on the performance of four Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models applied to a multi-label image dataset. The dataset consists of plant leaf images with one or more diseases. Two classification methodologies—multi-label and multi-class—are compared based on their model performance metrics. It was hypothesised that multi-label classification would perform better, but the results show that although multi-label models performed better for Loss and Accuracy metrics, they underperformed in terms of the F1 score, which is considered a more appropriate metric for this task. This surprising result refutes the initial hypothesis. Transfer learning …

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

ICT

This project focuses on applying Machine Learning (ML) techniques to detect hate speech and offensive language on Twitter, addressing ethical concerns like cyberbullying and fostering a safer online environment. The topic is chosen for its societal significance and business relevance, as hostile online behaviour negatively impacts user experiences and platform credibility.

To achieve this, the study implements four distinct ML models to develop an automated system capable of identifying and categorising content as offensive, non-offensive, or neutral. The system aims to contribute to mitigating harmful interactions on social media and improving user safety by effectively classifying potentially problematic content.

The …

Analysing Natural Language Processing Techniques: A Comparative Study Of Nltk, Spacy, Bert, And Distilbert On Customer Query Datasets., Patrizia De Camillis

ICT

This study examines the role of sentiment analysis in customer queries, emphasising its impact on brand perception and the risks of poor query management. It compares the performance of NLP models—NLTK, spaCy, BERT, and DistilBERT—on customer query and feedback data. The findings show that BERT and DistilBERT produce similar results, often categorising queries as neutral, indicating their strength in handling diverse sentiments. NLTK and spaCy also share performance patterns. The research offers insights into the capabilities and limitations of these models in sentiment analysis.

Evaluating The Performance Of Different Long Short-Term Memory Networks (Lstm’S) On Financial Timeseries Data Using Mean Squared Error In Order To Identify The Optimum Lstm Variant For Regression Performance On Financial Timeseries Data., Patrick O’ Connor

ICT

This study explores the use of Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) networks, a variant of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), in the context of financial forecasting, specifically oil price prediction. The research follows the CRISP-DM (Cross-Industry Standard Process for Data Mining) methodology and tests six different LSTM variants. The models are evaluated based on Mean Squared Error (MSE), aiming to determine the optimal parameter settings for each LSTM type. Among the variants tested, the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) emerged as the highest performer, achieving an MSE of 0.100. This was surprising, as simpler variants outperformed more complex ones, suggesting that simpler …

Ml Predictive Model For Earthquakes Integrating Mass, Distance, Gravity, And Magnitude., Aadarsh Kushwaha

ICT

This research investigates the application of machine learning regression models to improve earthquake prediction by integrating geophysical and astronomical factors such as Earth-Moon gravitational forces, their varying distances, and localized gravity fluctuations. Using data from 2011 to 2024, sourced from the US Geological Survey (USGS) and web scraping, the study tested models across four dataset proportions (25%, 50%, 80%, and 100%) with a 70:30 train-test split. The XGBRegressor model emerged as the best performer, achieving an R² score of 0.8706 on training data and 0.8632 on test data, along with a Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 0.1114 and Mean Absolute …

Maize Crop Pests And Diseases Classification Using Hybrid Models., Diana Flora Namaemba

ICT

This research focuses on improving the detection and classification of maize crop pests and diseases to enhance agricultural yield and food security. A dataset comprising 5389 images of maize conditions (healthy, pest-affected, and disease-affected) across seven classes was used. The images underwent preprocessing, including resizing to 299x299, class balancing using augmentation techniques, and noise reduction with Gaussian filtering.

Feature extraction utilised EfficientNetB0 and InceptionV3 architectures, with PCA employed for feature selection. Classification was conducted using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) with a One-vs-One strategy, alongside a baseline 2D CNN model. Data engineering included label encoding, standardisation, and an 80:10:10 train-test-validation …

Statistical And Machine Learning Techniques For Predicting Solar Power Generation In A Microgrid., Conor Dillon

ICT

This study investigates statistical and machine learning models for forecasting solar power generation in microgrids, focusing on the solar installation at Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall, UC San Diego. Accurate predictions are critical due to the variability of solar energy, aiming to optimise microgrid operations and solar power efficiency. The research compares the performance of SARIMAX, LSTM, Random Forest, and ANN models using meteorological and solar power time series data. It finds that current meteorological inputs, especially solar radiation, enhance short-term forecasting accuracy over reliance on historical patterns.

The Random Forest Auto Regressor (RFAR) outperformed other models in 10-day-ahead solar power forecasting, …

Supply Chain Optimisation With Machine Learning And Neural Networks: Applications To Demand Planning, Supply Planning, And Inventory Planning., Laurence Cully

ICT

This thesis explores the impact of machine learning (ML) on supply chain planning, particularly in demand forecasting, supply planning, and inventory optimisation. By analysing literature on supply chain management, data flow, and the intersection of ML and competitive advantage, the author contextualises the research within a globalised market's demands. Case studies, interviews with industry professionals, and raw data collection provide empirical support for evaluating the research objectives and documenting the integration of ML in supply chain processes.

The findings reveal that optimised ML models, particularly those using model stacking (autoregressors, GRUs, and Random Forests), significantly outperform traditional demand forecasting methods, …

An Investigation Into The Role Of Machine Learning And Deep Learning Models As A Means Of Leveraging The Ever-Expanding Volume Of Astronomical Data To Automate Stellar Classification., Gerard Heraghty

ICT

This research investigates the use of machine learning and neural network models for automated stellar classification in large astronomical surveys, addressing challenges posed by the increasing volume of data. Using the MK scheme as the classification standard, the study focused on spectroscopic data and balanced the dataset using SMOTE techniques to handle class imbalances. Various models, including Random Forest, SVM, MLP, and CNN, were trained and compared for classifying MK main and sub-classes. CNN achieved the highest accuracy (93.86%) for main class classification, while SVM excelled at sub-class classification (63.23%) on balanced datasets. However, when tested on real-world SDSS data, …

Using Unsupervised Learning Methods In Extracting Features For Classifying Rice Varieties From Rice Grains Images., Kevin Anthony Martinez

ICT

Rice, a staple food for nearly half of the global population, requires accurate classification of its varieties to ensure food quality, support agricultural trade, and enhance yield optimisation. Traditional manual classification methods are time-intensive and error-prone, prompting this study's exploration of unsupervised learning for feature extraction from rice grain images. The research tested classifiers on 75,000 rice samples across five classes, with 15,000 samples per class.

The study's DCGAN-CNN model achieved the highest classification accuracy of 99.67%. However, the PCA-CNN model underperformed, with only 20% accuracy, due to implementation errors. Recommendations for improvement include optimising model parameters such as learning …

Deep Learning Model Compression For Resource-Constrained Environments., Stephen Burke

ICT

This study examines the effects of three Deep Neural Network compression techniques—Quantisation, Pruning, and Weight Sharing/Clustering—on CNN and ANN models trained for image classification tasks. The models were tested on the CIFAR-10 dataset for multiclass classification and a binary classification task using a dataset derived from COCO. The best validation accuracy achieved was 74.7% with a CNN on CIFAR-10 and 53% with the best ANN. On the COCO dataset, a modified CIFAR-10 CNN model achieved 75%. The models were compressed using the three techniques and benchmarked on a ThinkPad laptop and Raspberry Pi 3B+ based on metrics relevant for resource-constrained …

Applying Neural Networks To Predict Factors Affecting Harmful Algal Blooms For Timely Alerting And Implementing Preventive Measures In Ireland's Marine Ecosystem., Nikolai Potapov

ICT

This study applies neural networks to predict harmful algal blooms (HABs) along the Irish coast, addressing ecological, health, and economic risks. Using primary interviews and secondary data on HAB species like Alexandrium and Karenia mikimotoi, the research incorporated Exploratory Data Analysis and tested three neural models: LSTM, Ensemble Stacking LSTM, and CNN-LSTM. Key factors influencing HABs, such as sea surface temperature and euphotic zone depth, were identified.

Results demonstrate the potential of neural networks to improve HAB prediction and monitoring, despite limitations. Future work aims to enhance model accuracy and integrate them into HAB warning systems.

Development And Optimisation Of Convolutional Neural Networks (Cnns) To Predict The Nutrition And Sustainability Scores Of Foods From Crowd Sourced Images., Cormac Mcelhinney

ICT

This research explores the use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for the automated classification and profiling of food products based on publicly sourced data. With the vast array of food products available worldwide and the complexity of labelling regulations, food business operators face challenges in ensuring compliance, while regulators struggle to verify adherence. This study addresses the need for efficient and accurate methods for food classification and eco/nutritional profiling. It begins with a comprehensive literature review on the application of CNNs in food product classification, followed by the collection of a large-scale dataset from Open Food Facts. A CNN architecture …

Evaluation And Implementation Of Machine Learning Models To Predict Customer Churn In The Telecommunications Sector., Stephen Hasson

ICT

This research addresses customer churn in the Telecom industry by utilizing Machine Learning (ML) models to predict customers at risk of leaving and provide data-driven retention strategies. The study highlights the effectiveness of ML, particularly in churn prediction, while noting the need for further exploration into the ethical implications of AI, such as potential biases towards vulnerable groups. Using the CRISP-DM framework, the study develops and compares three Supervised Learning (SL) models: Random Forests (RF), LightGBM (LGBM), and XGBoost (XGB), incorporating class resampling techniques to manage data imbalance.

The findings identified five key features as the most significant predictors of …