Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Deep Learning Of The Particulate And Mineral-Associated Organic Carbon Fractions Using A Compositional Transform And Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy, Mingxi Zhang, Zefang Shen, Lewis Walden, Farid Sepanta, Zhongkui Luo, Lei Gao, Oscar Serrano, Raphael A. Viscarra Rossel

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

We need soil organic carbon (SOC) and the SOC fractions, the particulate and mineral-associated organic carbon (POC, MAOC), to understand SOC dynamics. They have implications for soil management, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation. However, conventional laboratory measurements of the SOC fractions, which involve physical or chemical separations, are elaborate, time-consuming and expensive. Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate modelling can alleviate these limitations because the method can estimate SOC and its fractions rapidly, cost-effectively and accurately. Previous spectroscopic modelling has mostly ignored the compositional nature of the SOC fractions (i.e. SOC = ∑fractions), causing discrepancies in the estimation such …

Turbulence Prediction Using Non-Linear Phase Space Analysis, Jeremy Quijano

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Our research presents a novel approach for turbulence prediction in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations using a non-linear phase space analysis (NLPSA) and threshold algorithm. NLPSA has been utilized in medical applications to predict seizures, as well as in cybersecurity to detect malicious control and utilization of computing systems. NLPSA uses time-series data to learn the normal operating state of the system, then sets a threshold to predict when the system becomes abnormal. Turbulence prediction is similar, such that a fluid system changes from normal to abnormal. Turbulence prediction methods currently utilize machine learning tools, such as convolutional neural networks …

Out-Of-Band Anomaly Detection For Real Time Operating Systems, Jeff K. Holifield

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Real Time Operating Systems (RTOS) are increasing present throughout the industrial, business, defense, and healthcare spaces. These lightweight and efficient operating systems are designed to run on embedded, resource constrained devices, often within cyber-physical systems (CFS). A defining characteristic of RTOSs is that they are deterministic. Tasks are scheduled to run on fixed timelines within guaranteed execution windows. To accomplish tasks on time, real time software must conform to worst case execution times (WCETs) as design parameters. WCET is the maximum time a particular task can take to complete. Exceeding the WCET could cause system failure and lead to damage, …

A Framework For Design Recovery, Eric Diep

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Due to the increase in diverse chip production over the past decade, reverse engineering has become a difficult and daunting task. This research will create a guideline for methods to achieve design recovery of microchip logic. To accomplish this, we plan on using hardware tools such as laser delayering and microscopy imaging. We will be focusing on the DA14580 Dialog semiconductor, commonly implemented in tile trackers, to extract information for design recovery. This implementation technique is novel due to tools that have not been performed with this type of microchip. The purpose for this research is to create a framework …

Using Image-Based Representation For Network Intrusion Detection, Chakriya Suon, J. Todd Mcdonald

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The primary focus of our research is to evaluate the effectiveness of converting network traffic data, PCAPs, into image-based representations for anomaly-based network intrusion detection. We aim to analyze PCAPs to detect malware, or malicious software in hopes of creating a useful approach for anomaly detection against cyber threats including Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs). With the rise of cyber threats, cybersecurity continues to play a critical role in the ever-changing landscape of technology, by protecting and defending against threat agents. Our research will apply novel machine learning (ML) techniques to detect potential malware transmitted over a network effectively. The overall …

Directing Sophisticated Cyberattacks On Public Water Infrastructure, Ayrton C. Purdy, Jordan Shropshire

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

In recent years there has been an increasing number of cyberattacks on public water generation and distribution systems. Advanced persistent attackers could usurp sensor and control systems to contaminate public drinking water. In order to conceal their malicious activity, they can manipulate sensor data flows to give the appearance of normal activity. The compromised sensors would report normal chemical levels even though unsafe water is entering the distribution system. In response, this research proposes a multi-sensor, cross-validation approach to anomaly detection. The proposed approach is designed to detect sophisticated cyberattacks which are not easily detectable using traditional cyber tools. The …

Establishing A Framework For Evaluating Machine Learning Performance And Security Across Computational Ecosystems, Krista Stacey, Todd R. Andel

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

The rapid evolution of computational ecosystems—ranging from embedded systems and cloud platforms to hybrid and quantum architectures—has introduced new challenges in deploying machine learning (ML) applications. While cloud computing offers scalability, it comes with increased latency and security risks, whereas edge computing, such as FPGA-based systems, provides real-time processing with constrained resources. Hybrid and quantum ecosystems further complicate decision-making, requiring careful trade-offs between performance and security. This research seeks to establish a framework for evaluating ML performance and security risks across these ecosystems, forming the foundation of the Computational Performance And Security System (COMPASS) decision-support tool. The study will systematically …

Application Of Graph Neural Networks With Phase Space Graphs, Parker H. Cole, Ryan Benton, Ralf Riedel, David Bourrie

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Non-linear phase-space analysis models data represented as a graph transitioning between states in the time domain. By studying data transitions, we can predict the time a particular behavior occurs and classify the events (states) in a system. For example, we could classify neurological sensor data to determine if a person is asleep (state), or predict the direction in which a stock will move (transitions) based on micro trade patterns.

Previous research has demonstrated success in phase-space graphs in classifying malware, detecting network intrusions, and predicting seizures. However, the solutions either require calculating global graph features as inputs to a classifier, …

Topical Text Segmentation For Stream Of Consciousness Writing, Yuwei Lu, Ryan Benton

Shelby Hall Graduate Research Forum Posters

Stream of consciousness writing has a long history, including novelists James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. However, there has been little work done in automated and semi-automated analysis of such writing, which is the focus of this work. We plan to divide real streams of consciousness writing into distinct topical units and then capture different momentary meaningful topics from these units. By doing this, researchers and readers could gain a more nuanced understanding of the narrative structure and thematic elements. In addition, it would also support applications in fields like psychology and linguistics, where understanding thought processes and narrative structures is …

Managing Beyond Water: Utilizing Community Well-Being Interviews In The Upper Yakima River Basin, Usa, For Climate Change Adaptation, Rebecca Gustine, Alexander Theophilus, Courtney G. Flint, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, Emma Epperson, Claudia Mendez Wright, Jennifer C. Adam

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Student Research

In contemporary, natural resources dependent and specialized communities, community well-being is connected to the environment. Understanding the local connections between community well-being and the environment can provide a more complete understanding of how to manage social-ecological systems and promote community resilience. Herein, we combine semi-structured community well-being interviews with hydrologic modeling using the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model to suggest climate adaptation pathways for a diverse set of community interests. We found that community well-being across the Yakima River Basin was connected to water, snow, and the environment through recreation opportunities, aesthetics, livelihoods, and having clean water and air. Additionally, …

Learning: Human Versus Machine, Sanjay Sarma

Asian Management Insights

Outdated education paradigms must be revamped to reclaim the all-important human quality: agency.

Sanjay Sarma, CEO, President, and Dean of the Asia School of Business, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the Fred Fort Flowers (1941) and Daniel Fort Flowers (1941) Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), shares insights on the artificial intelligence (AI)-agency revolution and how the human brain works.

The Ethics Of Ai Nudges: How Ai Influences Decision-Making, Seema Chokshi

Asian Management Insights

And why decision-makers should care about it. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems, through mechanisms like nudges and choice architecture, actively, yet often subtly, shape human decision-making in everyday life and professional settings. AI systems can prioritise profit or efficiency at the expense of human agency, fairness, and well-being, highlighting the need to balance AI’s capabilities with ethical considerations. The EU AI Act is a landmark framework designed to curb manipulative AI practices, emphasising the protection of human autonomy and accountability in decision-making.

(Si14-02) Analysis Of Cross Diffusion Effects On Mhd Nanofluid Past An Oscillating Plate With Ramped Wall Temperature, Gopal Nanda, Harshad Patel

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

The primary objective of this research is to analyze the influence of cross-diffusion on the behavior of nanofluid flow, which is governed by unsteady hydrodynamics in the existence of a magnetic field. Additionally, this study considers the effects of thermal radiation and heat production. The flow occurs within a porous medium, passing through a vertically oscillating plate. The investigation focuses on two distinct nanofluid formulations, namely silver and titanium dioxide. The concept of similarity transformation is applied to simplify the governing system from partial differential equations (PDEs) to ordinary differential equations (ODEs). To obtain precise expressions for the concentration, temperature, …

Clay Minerals Origin And Paleoclimate Implications In Quaternary Deposits Of The Saïs Plain, Fez-Morocco, Ayman Agharabi, L. Karrat, Frank R. Ettensohn, N. Har, L. Gourari, H. Bedelean, C. Balica, C. V. Mircescu

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The city of Fez in northern Morocco is situated on northeastern parts of the Saïs Plain, an alluvial basin. It is spreading southwesterly onto Pleistocene sediments consisting primarily of alluvial, channel-fill conglomerates and overbank deposits, as well as Holocene tufas. As urban develop- ment expands, human activities are increasingly eradicating these deposits, about which little is known. This study focuses on the clay-mineral composition of these Pleistocene overbank de- posits, informally known as the “Red” and “Yellow” units, as well as of the Holocene tufas. In contrast to previous research that has emphasized the industrial uses of nearby Miocene marls. …

Plural Water Narratives: An Environmental Justice Lens On A Systematic Review Of Q-Methodology Water Research, Melissa Haeffner, Alida Cantor, Janet Cowal, Andrea Bryant, Darius Mani Yaw, Kinna Je Palacios, Daniela Serna, Bryce Sprauer, Abigail Tran-Gruver

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Environmental justice research has shown that people's experiences and perceptions of water differ because systematic inequalities shape the extent to which people access clean water and are exposed to water hazards. Q‐methodology is one technique that has been used to aggregate multifaceted subjective narratives and understand different perspectives on a topic. In this paper, we systematically review 77 case study articles applying Q‐methodology to water‐related topics, to inventory how people perceive their relationships with water. We create a classification system based on environmental justice theory to examine (1) distributive justice issues around alternative water sources and agricultural and urban water …

The Adoption Of The Braided River Model Toward An Inclusive Stem Workforce For All, Aixa Alemán-Díaz, Sakib Hussen, Abdul Siam, Candice M. Etson, Robin Mc C. Greenler, Taylor Lightner, Semarhy Quiñones-Soto, Simone B. Soso, Verónica A. Segarra

Physics: Faculty Publications

Despite decades of interventions aiming to transform the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce to be more inclusive and diverse, little progress has been made in creating long-lasting, sustainable change. For a long period of time, the STEM workforce has been described as a leaky pipeline. While there has been some utility to thinking about the STEM workforce in this way, in this article, we discuss how characterizing the STEM workforce as a leaky pipeline can impede the design of innovative interventions that contribute to sustainable change toward a more inclusive scientific enterprise. As an alternative, we join others …

Abolition By Algorithm, Peter N. Salib

Michigan Law Review

In one sense, America’s newest abolitionist movement—advocating the elimination of policing and prison—has been a success. Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, a small group of self-described radicals convinced a wide swath of ordinary liberals to accept a sweeping claim: Mere reforms cannot meaningfully reduce prison and policing’s serious harms. Only elimination can. On the other hand, abolitionists have failed to secure lasting policy change. The difficulty is crime. In 2021, following a nationwide uptick in homicides, liberal support for abolitionist proposals collapsed. Despite being newly “abolition curious,” left-leaning voters consistently rejected concrete abolitionist policies. Faced with the difficult …

Mind The Green Skills Gap, Panchali Guha

Asian Management Insights

The need to build tomorrow’s sustainable green economy today. Climate change and the shift towards a net zero economy pose significant risks to jobs globally unless workers are equipped with green skills and competencies. There is already a green skills gap in the labour market that will only widen over time if it is not addressed. Comprehensive and coordinated policies must be developed to define and measure green jobs and skills, enhance educational offerings, and provide support for workers and employers during the transition.

Reimagining Education: Keeping The Human In The Loop, Pradeep Varakantham, Sidney Tio

Asian Management Insights

How educators can work with generative artificial intelligence models to improve learning. Artificial intelligence (AI) helps break the mould of one-size-fits-all education by creating personalised learning paths that adapt to each student’s pace and style. By combining human expertise with AI capabilities, educators can create learning experiences that are both structured and flexible, thus getting the best of both worlds. While promising, AI used in educational contexts must carefully navigate privacy concerns, ensure fairness across all student groups, and support appropriate learning progression.

Graph Foundation Models: Concepts, Opportunities And Challenges, Jiawei Liu, Cheng Yang, Zhiyuan Lu, Junze Chen, Yibo Li, Mengmei Zhang, Ting Bai, Fang Yuan, Lichao Sun, Philip S. Yu, Chuan Shi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Foundation models have emerged as critical components in a variety of artificial intelligence applications, and showcase significant success in natural language processing and several other domains. Meanwhile, the field of graph machine learning is witnessing a paradigm transition from shallow methods to more sophisticated deep learning approaches. The capabilities of foundation models in generalization and adaptation motivate graph machine learning researchers to discuss the potential of developing a new graph learning paradigm. This paradigm envisions models that are pre-trained on extensive graph data and can be adapted for various graph tasks. Despite this burgeoning interest, there is a noticeable lack …

Leveraging Constraint Violation Signals For Action Constrained Reinforcement Learning, Janaka Chathuranga Brahmanage, Jiajing Ling, Akshat Kumar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In many RL applications, ensuring an agent’s actions adhere to constraints is crucial for safety. Most previous methods in Action-Constrained Reinforcement Learning (ACRL) employ a projection layer after the policy network to correct the action. However projection-based methods suffer from issues like the zero gradient problem and higher runtime due to the usage of optimization solvers. Recently methods were proposed to train generative models to learn a differentiable mapping between latent variables and feasible actions to address this issue. However, generative models require training using samples from the constrained action space, which itself is challenging. To address such limitations, first, …

Occlusion-Insensitive Talking Head Video Generation Via Facelet Compensation, Yuhui Deng, Yuqin Lu, Yangyang Xu, Yongwei Nie, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Talking head video generation involves animating a still face image using facial motion cues derived from a driving video to replicate target poses and expressions. Traditional methods often rely on the assumption that the relative positions of facial keypoints remain unchanged. However, this assumption fails when keypoints are occluded or when the head is in a profile pose, leading to inconsistencies in identity and blurring in certain facial regions. In this paper, we introduce Occlusion-Insensitive Talking Head Video Generation, a novel approach that eliminates the reliance on spatial correlation of keypoints and instead leverages semantic correlation. Our method transforms facial …

Marginal Benefit Driven Rl Teacher For Unsupervised Environment Design, Dexun Li, Wenjun Li, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Training generally capable agents in complex environments is a challenging task that involves identifying the “right” environments at the training stage. Recent research has highlighted the potential of the Unsupervised Environment Design framework, which generates environment instances/levels adaptively at the frontier of the agent’s capabilities using regret measures. While regret approaches have shown promise in generating feasible environments, they can produce difficult environments that are challenging for an RL agent to learn from. This is because regret represents the best-case (upper bound) learning potential and not the actual learning potential of an environment. To address this, we propose an alternative …

Adapting Knowledge Prompt Tuning For Enhanced Automated Program Repair, Xuemeng Cai, Lingxiao Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Automated Program Repair (APR) aims to enhance software reliability by automatically generating bug-fixing patches. Recent work has improved the state-of-the-art of APR by fine-tuning pre-trained large language models (LLMs), such as CodeT5, for APR. However, the effectiveness of fine-tuning be-comes weakened in data scarcity scenarios, and data scarcity can be a common issue in practice, limiting fine-tuning performance. To alleviate this limitation, this paper adapts prompt tuning for enhanced APR and conducts a comprehensive study to evaluate its effectiveness in data scarcity scenarios, using three LLMs of different sizes and six diverse datasets across four programming languages. Prompt tuning rewrites …

Adaptive Deviation Learning For Visual Anomaly Detection With Data Contamination, Aanindya Sundar Das, Guansong Pang, Monowar Bhuyan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Visual anomaly detection targets to detect images that notably differ from normal pattern, and it has found extensive application in identifying defective parts within the manufacturing industry. These anomaly detection paradigms predominantly focus on training detection models using only clean, unlabeled normal samples, assuming an absence of contamination; a condition often unmet in real-world scenarios. The performance of these methods significantly depends on the quality of the data and usually decreases when exposed to noise. We introduce a systematic adaptive method that employs deviation learning to compute anomaly scores end-to-end while addressing data contamination by assigning relative importance to the …

Improving Multimodal Human Pose Estimation By Adversarial Modality Enhancement, Jiangnan Xia, Qilong Wu, Yanyin Guo, Yi Li, Jianghan Cheng, Junwei Li, Zhiyuan Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Human pose estimation in computer vision predominantly focuses on the visible modality, with limited research on the infrared modality. No existing methods demonstrate robust performance across both modalities, missing their complementary strengths. This gap arises from the lack of a multimodal benchmark and the difficulty of developing robust multimodal capabilities. To address this, we introduce MMPD, a novel visible-infrared multimodal pose benchmark with high-quality annotations for both modalities. Leveraging MMPD, we expose the limitations of state-of-the-art methods due to modality variance. To overcome this challenge, we propose a novel method-agnostic scheme called AMMPE. By employing the Modality Adversarial Enhancement Stage …

Generalization Analysis For Deep Contrastive Representation Learning, Minh Hieu Nong, Antoine Ledent, Yunwen Lei, Cheng Yeaw Ku

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we present generalization bounds for the unsupervised risk in the Deep Contrastive Representation Learning framework, which employs deep neural networks as representation functions. We approach this problem from two angles. On the one hand, we derive a parameter-counting bound that scales with the overall size of the neural networks. On the other hand, we provide a norm-based bound that scales with the norms of neural networks’ weight matrices. Ignoring logarithmic factors, the bounds are independent of k, the size of the tuples provided for contrastive learning. To the best of our knowledge, this property is only shared …

Revisiting Sentiment Analysis For Software Engineering In The Era Of Large Language Models, Ting Zhang, Ivana Clairine Irsan, Thung Ferdian, David Lo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Software development involves collaborative interactions where stakeholders express opinions across various platforms. Recognizing the sentiments conveyed in these interactions is crucial for the effective development and ongoing maintenance of software systems. For software products, analyzing the sentiment of user feedback, e.g., reviews, comments, and forum posts can provide valuable insights into user satisfaction and areas for improvement. This can guide the development of future updates and features. However, accurately identifying sentiments in software engineering datasets remains challenging.This study investigates bigger large language models (bLLMs) in addressing the labeled data shortage that hampers fine-tuned smaller large language models (sLLMs) in software …

Understanding Individual Agent Importance In Multi-Agent System Via Counterfactual Reasoning, Jianming Chen, Yawen Wang, Junjie Wang, Xiaofei Xie, Jun Hu, Qing Wang, Fanjiang Xu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Explaining multi-agent systems (MAS) is urgent as these systems become increasingly prevalent in various applications. Previous work has provided explanations for the actions or states of agents, yet falls short in understanding the black-boxed agent's importance within a MAS and the overall team strategy. To bridge this gap, we propose EMAI, a novel agent-level explanation approach that evaluates the individual agent's importance. Inspired by counterfactual reasoning, a larger change in reward caused by the randomized action of agent indicates its higher importance. We model it as a MARL problem to capture interactions across agents. Utilizing counterfactual reasoning, EMAI learns the …

Backdoor Token Unlearning: Exposing And Defending Backdoors In Pretrained Language Models, Peihai Jiang, Xixiang Lyu, Yige Li, Jing Ma

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Supervised fine-tuning has become the predominant method for adapting large pretrained models to downstream tasks. However, recent studies have revealed that these models are vulnerable to backdoor attacks, where even a small number of malicious samples can successfully embed backdoor triggers into the model. While most existing defense methods focus on post-training backdoor defense, efficiently defending against backdoor attacks during training phase remains largely unexplored. To address this gap, we propose a novel defense method called Backdoor Token Unlearning (BTU), which proactively detects and neutralizes trigger tokens during the training stage. Our work is based on two key findings: 1) …