Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Software Testing And Code Refactoring: A Survey With Practitioners, Danilo Leandro Lima, Ronnie Souza Santos, Guilherme Pires Garcia, Sildemir S. Silva, Cesar Franca, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Nowadays, software testing professionals are commonly required to develop coding skills to work on test automation. One essential skill required from those who code is the ability to implement code refactoring, a valued quality aspect of software development; however, software developers usually encounter obstacles in successfully applying this practice. In this scenario, the present study aims to explore how software testing professionals (e.g., software testers, test engineers, test analysts, and software QAs) deal with code refactoring to understand the benefits and limitations of this practice in the context of software testing. We followed the guidelines to conduct surveys in software …

Metaverse’S Rise And Decline, Nir Kshetri, Jeffrey Voas, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Diana Rojas Torres, Gayle O'Keefe

Business: Faculty Publications

Major companies in diverse industries have recently downsized or closed down their metaverse divisions. The authors look at the factors that have led to such strategies.

Water Current, Volume 55, No. 3, Fall 2023

Water Current Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Phys 201

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Development Of Cu-Catalyzed Oxidative Alkylboron Homocoupling, Dan Khazaei, Andrew Baggett, Katie Russell

Student Presentations

No abstract provided.

Phys 441/841

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Syllabi

No abstract provided.

How To Deal With Inconsistent Intervals: Utility-Based Approach Can Overcome The Limitations Of The Purely Probability-Based Approach, Kittawit Autchariyapanitkul, Tomoe Entani, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many application areas, we rely on experts to estimate the numerical values of some quantities. Experts can provide not only the estimates themselves, they can also estimate the accuracies of their estimates -- i.e., in effect, they provide an interval of possible values of the quantity of interest. To get a more accurate estimate, it is reasonable to ask several experts -- and to take the intersection of the resulting intervals. In some cases, however, experts overestimate the accuracy of their estimates, their intervals are too narrow -- so narrow that they are inconsistent: their intersection is empty. In …

How To Make Machine Learning Financial Recommendations More Fair: Theoretical Explanation, Tho M. Nguyen, Saeid Tizpaz-Niari, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Machine learning has been actively and successfully used to make financial decisions. In general, these systems work reasonably well. However, in some cases, these systems show unexpected bias towards minority groups -- the bias that is sometime much larger than the bias in the data on which they were trained. A recent paper analyzed whether a proper selection of hyperparameters can decrease this bias. It turned out that while the selection of hyperparameters indeed affect the system's fairness, only a few of the hyperparameters lead to consistent improvement of fairness: the number of features used for training and the number …

Astr 224

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Bat Occurrence And Diversity In Urban, Suburban, And Rural Locations Around Nashville, Tennessee, Penny Keith, Cassie Tull, Darlene Panvini

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

As urbanization increases, awareness of the effects of urbanization is crucial for the preservation of wildlife. Many species have adapted to urban areas while others are less successful in locations with a large extent of human impacts, such as noise and light pollution. Bats can be bioindicators for the impact of urbanization on wildlife. During this study, bat echolocation was recorded using an Echo Meter Touch 2 starting around sunset for an hour, once a week, during late September and October 2023. Bat species were confirmed using Kaleidoscope Pro Analysis Software. Environmental variables that could affect the presence of bats …

Csci 632/Csci 492: Machine Learning, David Harrison

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Es/Ph/Ra 626: Statistical Analysis I, Paul D. Loprinzi Ph.D.

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Math 575: Mathematical Statistics I, Xin Dang

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

An Ai-Based Framework For Translating American Sign Language To English And Vice Versa, Vijayendra D. Avina, Md Amiruzzaman, Stefanie Amiruzzaman, Linh B. Ngo, M. Ali Akber Dewan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a framework to convert American Sign Language (ASL) to English and English to ASL. Within this framework, we use a deep learning model along with the rolling average prediction that captures image frames from videos and classifies the signs from the image frames. The classified frames are then used to construct ASL words and sentences to support people with hearing impairments. We also use the same deep learning model to capture signs from the people with deaf symptoms and convert them into ASL words and English sentences. Based on this framework, we developed a …

Understanding How To Diversify The Cybersecurity Workforce: A Qualitative Analysis, Maria Chaparro Osman, Maureen Namukasa, Cherrise Ficke, Isabella Piasecki, Tj Oconnor, Meredith Carroll

Aeronautics Faculty Publications

A robust cybersecurity workforce is critical for protection against a range of malicious attacks. However, it has been noted that there are many vacancies and a shortage of individuals entering the cybersecurity workforce. The workforce shortage has been partially attributed to the lack of diversity in the cybersecurity domain, with women, African Americans, and Hispanics remaining underrepresented in educational and professional settings. Using a qualitative approach, this work sought to investigate what led underrepresented minorities currently involved in cybersecurity to the industry, with the goal of determining methods to attract underrepresented minorities and diversify the workforce. A thematic analysis was …

The Coastal Monitor: Vol. 10 No. 2, John Tanacredi Ph.D.

The Coastal Monitor

Stephen J. Gould’s prophetic piece, “The Golden Rule: A Proper Scale for Our Environmental Crisis”, noted that, “Patience enjoys a long pedigree of favor”, which he elaborated, “usually involves a deep understanding of the fundamental principle… rarely grasped in daily life – the effects of scale.” Scientists observe changes incessantly, in dimensions and time, from microscopic conditions of cellular biology to the inconceivable distances of galaxies and their influences on Earth.

The Great Displacement: Climate Change And The Next American Migration, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Weather/Natural Disasters

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Scandium Triflate-Catalyzed Aromatic Aldehydic C-H Activation, Nicholas Griffin

Honors Projects

Herein described is a scandium triflate-catalyzed C-H activation of commercially available aromatic aldehydes achieved in low yields. The reaction occured in a one-pot synthesis over a two-hour duration and required minimal purification. Inclusion of a fluorine-tagged phenol allowed for reaction monitoring via ¹⁹FNMR.

Exploring Approaches To Engage K-12 Students In Learning Computational Thinking Using Collaborative Robots, Zoila Anuri Kanu

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Minority students are largely underrepresented in the STEM field. The goal for this project was to develop a program which promotes the inclusion of computation skills among students and help them work collaboratively with the use of human – robot interaction. Robots are such a strong tool that can be used to enhance computational thinking and engage students towards a technical field. Through workshops and readings about computational thinking we worked on building a block-based program that introduces the uses of robots as teaching tool for computational thinking.

Dei: Exploring Academic Reflections Using Natural Language Processing To Create A Roadmap Of Student Success And Foster Inclusive Engineering Education, Rajvir H. Vyas, Nidhi Raviprasad

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Every year, the College of Engineering (CENG) students and faculty reach out to admitted students through “Text-a-Thon” programs to answer their questions about being a student at Cal Poly. In order to improve CENG outreach efforts, we analyzed these text conversations to predict the likelihood of an admitted student accepting an offer of admission from Cal Poly. Through our research, we discovered key factors that play a role in a student committing to Cal Poly through data-based insights. Additionally, we successfully used a human-on-the-loop system to help create Machine Learning (ML) models that predict satisfaction of response by way of …

Ai For Search And Rescue - Locating A Missing Person, David Hernandez, Sai Rama Balakrishnan, Timmy Chin, Aditya Manikonda, Vasanth Pugalenthi

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

Building on the work done initially as a SURP 2021 project and continued through 2021-23, the focus for this summer project will be on the use of computer technology for locating a missing person. Over the last year, we developed the digital equivalents of about 30 paper-based S&R forms and the infrastructure to collect the respective information. In their current use, these paper forms are filled out by search teams, collected in a command post, and reviewed by search coordinators. This process is time-consuming, prone to errors and loss of information, and relies heavily on the experience, skills, and mental …

Trustguard: Containment Architecture, Michael Hu, Sophie Russ, Stephen Beard

College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program

All software security relies on proper execution at the hardware level. This research extends work on containment architectures, which ensure that any ill effects of malicious or buggy hardware are contained within the system. This is accomplished by a small, security hardware component, called the Sentry, validating communication before it leaves the system. This research assesses the advantages and disadvantages of using the CHISEL hardware language, from a security and verification standpoint. Further, this research investigates more efficient Merkle trees to optimization caching within the Sentry chip to improve performance and power utilization.

Cybersecurity Policy Rubric And Analysis For The State Of Maine Electrical Transmission Grid, Benjamin Plummer M.S.

All Student Scholarship

The State of Maine’s (SOM) electrical grid is aging. While there are public and private efforts to bring it up to date, gaps in cybersecurity policies and laws exist (NERC, n.d.; see also MPUC, n.d.; CISA, n.d.). This policy and law research may also apply to other states and the protection of their critical infrastructure. The researcher examined the grid’s controls, policies, and laws to determine the influence each exerts over the grid and where that influence presents vulnerabilities in security. The research focused on the controls, policies, and laws that play a role in protecting the grid. The researcher …

Sound Energy Could Change The World, Tyler Bugiel

Op-Eds from ENSC230 Energy and the Environment: Economics and Policies

The energy crisis is a problem that has been growing more concerning for many years, and yet there has not seemed to be a good solution to the problem. That being said, I think that there is a solution that has not been explored thoroughly enough, that solution being sound energy. Solar and wind are both energy systems that use natural resources and things that occur on a day to day basis to convert those things into energy, but sound has not been explored as much.

Extending The Reach Of The Point-To-Set Principle, J. H. Lutz, Neil Lutz, E. Mayordomo

Computer Science Faculty Works

The point-to-set principle of J. Lutz and N. Lutz (2018) has recently enabled the theory of computing to be used to answer open questions about fractal geometry in Euclidean spaces ℝⁿ. These are classical questions, meaning that their statements do not involve computation or related aspects of logic.

In this paper we extend the reach of the point-to-set principle from Euclidean spaces to arbitrary separable metric spaces X. We first extend two algorithmic dimensions—computability-theoretic versions of classical Hausdorff and packing dimensions that assign dimensions dim(x) and Dim(x) to individual points x ∈ X—to arbitrary separable …

Challenges Of Embedding Sustainability In Organizational Culture, Jyro B. Triviño

Leadership and Strategy Faculty Publications

Advocating for robust, aggressive, and advanced sustainability is a direction that is ideal yet challenging. It means not only decreasing additional harm to the environment but, at the same time, objectively using renewable energy flow. Embedding sustainability as part of organizational culture appears to be a daunting task. Not all enterprise managers comprehensively understand the phenomenon, which entails proper awareness of its benefits and consequences. This qualitative study focuses on Philippine business enterprises' ability to embed a regenerative sustainable culture. It includes salient insights from five Philippine medium-sized enterprise owners who were also acting as managers. It shows that the …

The Role Of Feedback Within Scrum For Engineering Department Operations, Massood Towhidnejad, Omar Ochoa, James J. Pembridge, Radu Babiceanu

Posters

The Scrum framework is built on the principles of inspection and adaptation. Feedback drives the inspection process, and the team adapts based on that feedback to optimize its performance and outcomes. Within engineering departments, Scrum requires departments to examine how and when feedback is obtained to ensure that the department is remaining agile. This poster illustrates the role of feedback within two Scrum teams, one focused on student success and the other focused on faculty rewards and incentives. The two cases emphasize the need for continuous introspection at team and department levels.

The Relationship Between Personality And Achievement-Related Factors, Olivia Yake, Sophie Grant, Kate Downey, Emma Bosman

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

Previous research has demonstrated that an individual’s self-concept has an impact on their academic achievement (Steinmayr et al., 2019). Aspects of a person’s self-concept include their personality and feelings of imposter syndrome, fear of failure, and academic self-efficacy. Personality, specifically neuroticism and openness, has been used to predict individual’s academic motivations (Komarraju et al., 2009), as well as their academic achievement (Wang et al., 2023) and prevalence of imposter syndrome (Bernard et al., 2002). However, research has not elaborated on how specific aspects of personality influence one’s self-concept as expressed through imposter syndrome, fear of failure, and academic self-efficacy during …

Impact Of Media Consumption On Automatic Associations, Davis Eddleman, Taylor Allen, Wesley Gerndt, Amilya Bryant, Ninivet Ossa

Science University Research Symposium (SURS)

The concept of studying media’s effects on implicit and explicit bias has been studied many times in the field of psychology. Previous research has shown exposure to media coverage containing stereotypes of minorities increased implicit bias (Arendt & Northup, 2015; Dixon & Maddox, 2005; Arendt et al., 2015) and explicit bias (Arendt et al., 2015). This pool of research has previously focused on crime stories and right-wing political advertisements that contain stereotypical tropes of out-group minorities. In these studies, generally, there has been an effect such that priming stereotypes surrounding dark-skinned individuals, may activate automatic associative stereotypes, such as the …

A Colorful Tribute To Staerkel Planetarium, Erik Johnson

Natural Science Faculty

On October 1, 1987, the William M. Staerkel Planetarium was dedicated at Parkland College. Alongside the debut of the 50-foot wide dome, the Zeiss M1015 opto-mechanical star projector, dozens of slide projectors, and a 35-mm film projector, a stained glass art piece was installed in the lobby. The piece, called the solar window, was a gift from William and Mary Lou Staerkel in memory of their parents and a tribute to the faculty and staff of the college. The solar window was created by Arthur Stern and has brought light into the planetarium in several unique ways.