Computer Sciences Commons^™

Adjust Decision-Making Targets Based On Psychological Thresholds, Jian Liu, Shun Xiang Wu, Si Feng Liu, Qiao Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper study the impact of psychological thresholds (PTs) on the decision maker's (DM's) decision target when making decision. A new approach of decision making is proposed in this paper. First, we construct criterion expected functions according to three different types of criteria: profit type, cost-type and intermediate-type, respectively. Then, we calculate the local degree of satisfaction (LDS) of each object when PTs exists, in order to adjust the initial decision target to make up new decision table. Later, by weighting the criteria reaching the DM's degree of satisfaction (DS) along with information aggregation algorithm, we obtain the overall satisfaction …

Zero-Sum Two-Player Game Theoretic Formulation Of Affine Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems Using Neural Networks, Shahab Mehraeen, Travis Dierks, S. Jagannathan, Mariesa L. Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the nearly optimal solution for discrete-time (DT) affine nonlinear control systems in the presence of partially unknown internal system dynamics and disturbances is considered. The approach is based on successive approximate solution of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs (HJI) equation, which appears in optimal control. Successive approximation approach for updating control and disturbance inputs for DT nonlinear affine systems are proposed. Moreover, sufficient conditions for the convergence of the approximate HJI solution to the saddle point are derived, and an iterative approach to approximate the HJI equation using a neural network (NN) is presented. Then, the requirement of full knowledge …

Efficient Routing For Wireless Mesh Networks Using A Backup Path, Amir Esmailpour, Nidal Nasser, Jehad Al Dallal

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Wireless Mesh Network (WMN) has a proven record in providing viable solutions for some of the fundamental issues in wireless networks such as capacity and range limitations. WMN infrastructure includes clusters of Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) connected through a fixed backbone of mesh routers. The mesh network can be constrained severely due to various reasons, which could result in performance degradation such as a drop in throughput or long delays. Solutions to this problem often focus on multipath or multichannel extensions to the existing ad- hoc routing protocols. In this paper, we propose a novel solution by introducing an alternative …

A Solar-Powered And Multi-Tiered Mesh Node For A Portable In Situ Emergency Response System, Adam Matthews

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aftermath of a natural disaster is typically characterized by lack of a reliable medium for dissemination of information to survivors. Current state-of-the-art emergency response systems rely on satellite radio-enabled devices, but survivors, unlike first responders, do not have access to such devices. To mitigate this problem, we present PERPETUU a solar-powered portable GIS microserver. The microserver node can be deployed in a disaster scene, and can serve maps to survivors viewable on browsers of off-the-shelf mobile systems. A key innovation in the design of the PERPETUU node is a multi-tiered hardware architecture-the system combines a low-power micro-controller, a medium-power …

Solutions To Finite Horizon Cost Problems Using Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning, Ivo Grondman, Hao Xu, Sarangapani Jagannathan, Robert Babuska

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Actor-critic reinforcement learning algorithms have shown to be a successful tool in learning the optimal control for a range of (repetitive) tasks on systems with (partially) unknown dynamics, which may or may not be nonlinear. Most of the reinforcement learning literature published up to this point only deals with modeling the task at hand as a Markov decision process with an infinite horizon cost function. In practice, however, it is sometimes desired to have a solution for the case where the cost function is defined over a finite horizon, which means that the optimal control problem will be time-varying and …

Design And Development Of A Low-Cost Handheld Picoammeter, Malcolm Stagg

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Nonlinear Adaptive Diffusion Models For Image Denoising, Ajay Kumar Mandava

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Most of digital image applications demand on high image quality. Unfortunately, images often are degraded by noise during the formation, transmission, and recording processes. Hence, image denoising is an essential processing step preceding visual and automated analyses. Image denoising methods can reduce image contrast, create block or ring artifacts in the process of denoising. In this dissertation, we develop high performance non-linear diffusion based image denoising methods, capable to preserve edges and maintain high visual quality. This is attained by different approaches: First, a nonlinear diffusion is presented with robust M-estimators as diffusivity functions. Secondly, the knowledge of textons derived …

Tonescale Compression For Electroluminescent Display, Michael E. Miller, Christopher J. White

AFIT Patents

A method for controlling an electroluminescent display to produce an image for display that has reduced luminance to reduce burn-in on the display while maintaining visible contrast, includes providing the electroluminescent (EL) display having a plurality of EL emitters, the luminance of the light produced by each EL emitter being responsive to a respective drive signal; receiving a respective input image signal for each EL emitter; and transforming the input image signals to a plurality of drive signals that have a reduced peak frame luminance value but maintains contrast in the displayed image to reduce burn-in by adjusting the drive …

Web-Based Visual Analytics For Social Media Data, Jun Xiang Tee, David S. Ebert

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Social media data provides valuable information about different events, trends and happenings around the world. Visual data analysis tasks for social media data have large computational and storage space requirements. Due to these restrictions, subdivision of data analysis tools into several layers such as Data, Business Logic or Algorithms, and Presentation Layer is often necessary to make them accessible for variety of clients. On server side, social media data analysis algorithms can be implemented and published in the form of web services. Visual Interface can then be implemented in the form of thin clients that call these web services for …

Stochastic Optimal Controller Design For Uncertain Nonlinear Networked Control System Via Neuro Dynamic Programming, Hao Xu, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The stochastic optimal controller design for the nonlinear networked control system (NNCS) with uncertain system dynamics is a challenging problem due to the presence of both system nonlinearities and communication network imperfections, such as random delays and packet losses, which are not unknown a priori. In the recent literature, neuro dynamic programming (NDP) techniques, based on value and policy iterations, have been widely reported to solve the optimal control of general affine nonlinear systems. However, for real-time control, value and policy iterations-based methodology are not suitable and time-based NDP techniques are preferred. In addition, output feedback-based controller designs are preferred …

Control System Of An Atomic Layer Deposition (Ald) Machine, Nitin Vishnu Hegde

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Atomic Layer Deposition is one of the most efficient deposition processes for obtaining ultrathin films. The deposition by this process happens one atomic layer at a time. ALD is known for its precision and ability to develop quality films with great thickness control. ALD machines simultaneously control DC and AC currents, low pressure operations, temperature control and heating (up to 500'C), precision flow control, precision timing intervals for deposition (milli-second intervals) and constantly monitor temperature. Such a high control comes at a high price. Furthermore, at the university level, the capacity to modify or enhance a machine is critical but …

Mispronunciation Detection For Language Learning And Speech Recognition Adaptation, Zhenhao Ge

Open Access Dissertations

The areas of "mispronunciation detection" (or "accent detection" more specifically) within the speech recognition community are receiving increased attention now. Two application areas, namely language learning and speech recognition adaptation, are largely driving this research interest and are the focal points of this work.

There are a number of Computer Aided Language Learning (CALL) systems with Computer Aided Pronunciation Training (CAPT) techniques that have been developed. In this thesis, a new HMM-based text-dependent mispronunciation system is introduced using text Adaptive Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (AFCCs). It is shown that this system outperforms the conventional HMM method based on Mel Frequency Cepstral …

Money Laundering Detection Framework To Link The Disparate And Evolving Schemes, Murad Mehmet, Duminda Wijesekera, Miguel F. Buchholtz

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Money launderers hide traces of their transactions with the involvement of entities that participate in sophisticated schemes. Money laundering detection requires unraveling concealed connections among multiple but seemingly unrelated human money laundering networks, ties among actors of those schemes, and amounts of funds transferred among those entities. The link among small networks, either financial or social, is the primary factor that facilitates money laundering. Hence, the analysis of relations among money laundering networks is required to present the full structure of complex schemes. We propose a framework that uses sequence matching, case-based analysis, social network analysis, and complex event processing …

Mitigating Event Confidentiality Violations In Smart Grids: An Information Flow Security-Based Approach, Thoshitha T. Gamage, Thomas P. Roth, Bruce M. Mcmillin, Mariesa L. Crow

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Modern smart grids, by and large, merge physical interconnections and cyber controllers. Invariably, this tight coupling results in cyber commands manifesting in the physical layer as observable changes, leading to possible disclosure of sensitive system settings. Thus, cyber event confidentiality of the smart grid is violated. Attacks on confidentiality can ultimately lead to integrity and availability attacks; with adequate knowledge of the system topology, internal settings, and how the physical layer responds to cyber commands, a malicious adversary gains knowledge to attack the system. This work shows how to develop self-obfuscating systems based on information flow security properties that can …

Using Meta-Ethnography To Synthesize Research: A Worked Example Of The Relations Between Personality On Software Team Processes, Fabio Q. B. Silva Dr., Shirley S. J. O. Cruz, Tatiana B. Gouveia, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Context: The increase in the number of qualitative and mixed-methods research published in software engineering has created an opportunity for further knowledge generation through the synthesis of studies with similar aims. This is particularly true in the research on human aspects because the phenomena of interest are often better understood using qualitative research. However, the use of qualitative synthesis methods is not widespread and worked examples of their consistent application in software engineering are needed. Objective: To explore the use of meta-ethnography in the synthesis of empirical studies in software engineering through an example using studies about the relations between …

High Memory Passive Rfid Tags With Multimodal Sensor Design And Application To Asset Monitoring In-Transit, Haifeng Niu, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, new passive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags with multimodal sensors and a high on-tag memory is proposed. First, the features preferred on the new passive RFID tags are motivated followed by a detailed description on the design and fabrication of the tags. Next, the performance of the tags in terms of read range is evaluated. The experiments results show that proposed tags have a range of 5.8 meters when all sensors are disabled while the range reduces when sensors are enabled. However, it is demonstrated that the range can be enhanced to 8 meters by using energy …

Fixed Final Time Optimal Adaptive Control Of Linear Discrete-Time Systems In Input-Output Form, Qiming Zhao, Hao Xu, S. Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, the fixed final time adaptive optimal regulation of discrete-time linear systems with unknown system dynamics is addressed. First, by transforming the linear systems into the input/output form, the adaptive optimal control design depends only on the measured outputs and past inputs instead of state measurements. Next, due to the time-varying nature of finite-horizon, a novel online adaptive estimator is proposed by utilizing an online approximator to relax the requirement on the system dynamics. An additional error term corresponding to the terminal constraint is defined and minimized overtime. No policy/value iteration is performed by the novel parameter update …

Optimization Of Solar Cell Arrays Using The Fibonacci Search Algorithm, Felicia Tyyan Farrow

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In our energy hungry world, there is a growing demand to develop creative mechanisms to extract, conserve, and use energy from different resources. The use of solar cells to extract and convert solar energy into electrical energy is a growing and popular field of study because solar energy is clean, free, and renewable. One limitation for photovoltaic (PU) or solar technology is its loss in efficiency and availability as a result of shading or partial shading. Shading or partial shading decreases the total capable output power that the PV system can produce because the array is receiving irradiation from the …

A Forensic Study Of The Effectiveness Of Selected Anti-Virus Products Against Ssdt Hooking Rootkits, Sami Al-Shaheri, Dale Lindskog, Pavol Zavarsky, Ron Ruhl

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

For Microsoft Windows Operating Systems, both anti-virus products and kernel rootkits often hook the System Service Dispatch Table (SSDT). This research paper investigates the interaction between these two in terms of the SSDT. To investigate these matters, we extracted digital evidence from volatile memory, and studied that evidence using the Volatility framework. Due to the diversity in detection techniques used by the anti-virus products, and the diversity of infection techniques used by rootkits, our investigation produced diverse results, results that helped us to understand several SSDT hooking strategies, and the interaction between the selected anti-virus products and the rootkit samples. …

An Ontology-Based Forensic Analysis Tool, Mohammed Alzaabi, Andy Jones, Thomas A. Martin

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The analysis of forensic investigation results has generally been identified as the most complex phase of a digital forensic investigation. This phase becomes more complicated and time consuming as the storage capacity of digital devices is increasing, while at the same time the prices of those devices are decreasing. Although there are some tools and techniques that assist the investigator in the analysis of digital evidence, they do not adequately address some of the serious challenges, particularly with the time and effort required to conduct such tasks. In this paper, we consider the use of semantic web technologies and in …

First Glance: An Introductory Analysis Of Network Forensics Of Tor, Raymond Hansen

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The Tor network is a low-latency overlay network for TCP flows that is designed to provide privacy and anonymity to its users. It is currently in use by many as a means to avoid censorship of both information to be shared and information to be retrieved. This paper details the architecture of the Tor network as a platform for evaluating the current state of forensic analysis of the Tor network. Specific attempts to block access to the Tor network are examined to identify (a) the processes utilized to identify Tor nodes, and (b) the resulting exposure of potentially inculpatory evidence. …

A Thematic Review Of User Compliance With Information Security Policies Literature, David Sikolia

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The adoption of computer and internet technology has greatly improved the way businesses operate. However the risk to the confidentiality, integrity and availability of organizational data and systems has greatly increased too. Information security is an ever present concern for all organizations. Financial estimates of the impact of security breaches to information and technology resources range from hundreds of billions to over one trillion dollars each year worldwide (D'Arcy et al., 2011b). Organizations have therefore developed a combination of technical, administrative, and physical controls to reduce this risk (D'Arcy et al., 2011a). Administrative measures include the development of information security …

Journey Into Windows 8 Recovery Artifacts, W. K. Johnson

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

One of the most difficult processes of digital forensics is to understand how new technology interacts with current technology and how digital forensic analysts can utilize current Digital Forensics technologies and processes to recover and find information hidden. Microsoft has released their new operating system Windows 8, with this new release Microsoft has added some features to the operating system that will present some interesting complications to digital forensics. Since the initial release of the Windows 8 Release Candidates there have been some research released that focus primarily on the new user created artifacts and a few artifacts that have …

An Image Forensic Scheme With Robust And Fragile Watermarking For Business Documents, Sai Ho Kwok

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This paper proposes an image forensic scheme with both robust and fragile watermarking techniques for business documents. Through a dual watermarking approach, the proposed scheme can achieve image forensics objectives of (a) identification of source; (b) authentication of documents; and (c) locating the tempered areas of documents due to attacks. An example is presented to prove the concepts of the proposed scheme.

Keywords: Image Forensics, Fragile and Robust Watermarking, Business Document.

Significance Of Semantic Reconciliation In Digital Forensics, Nickson M. Karie, H. S. Venter

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Digital forensics (DF) is a growing field that is gaining popularity among many computer professionals, law enforcement agencies and other stakeholders who must always cooperate in this profession. Unfortunately, this has created an environment replete with semantic disparities within the domain that needs to be resolved and/or eliminated. For the purpose of this study, semantic disparity refers to disagreements about the meaning, interpretation, descriptions and the intended use of the same or related data and terminologies. If semantic disparity is not detected and resolved, it may lead to misunderstandings. Even worse, since the people involved may not be from the …

System-Generated Digital Forensic Evidence In Graphic Design Applications, Enos Mabuto, Hein Venter

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Graphic design applications are often used for the editing and design of digital art. The same applications can be used for creating counterfeit documents such as identity documents (IDs), driver’s licences, passports, etc. However, the use of any graphic design application leaves behind traces of digital information that can be used during a digital forensic investigation. Current digital forensic tools examine a system to find digital evidence, but they do not examine a system specifically for the creating of counterfeit documents created through the use of graphic design applications. The paper in hand reviews the system-generated digital forensic evidence gathered …

Money Laundering Detection Framework To Link The Disparate And Evolving Schemes, Murad Mehmet, Duminda Wijesekera, Miguel F. Buchholtz

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Money launderers hide traces of their transactions with the involvement of entities that participate in sophisticated schemes. Money laundering detection requires unraveling concealed connections among multiple but seemingly unrelated human money laundering networks, ties among actors of those schemes, and amounts of funds transferred among those entities. The link among small networks, either financial or social, is the primary factor that facilitates money laundering. Hence, the analysis of relations among money laundering networks is required to present the full structure of complex schemes. We propose a framework that uses sequence matching, case-based analysis, social network analysis, and complex event processing …

Identifying Peer-To-Peer Traffic On Shared Wireless Networks, Simon Piel, Ej Jung

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Tracing contraband downloads leads investigators to an IP address, and in turn Internet Service Providers (ISP) can provide a physical location using this IP address. However, most homes and offices share this IP address among many computers using wireless networks. In other words, there needs to be another investigation to find out which computer was responsible for contraband downloads. To make matters worse, these shared wireless networks often have vulnerabilities in access control such as using WEP or using weak passwords. In such cases, any computer in range, not necessarily at the given physical address, could be responsible. We use …

On Resolving The Cloud Forensics Conundrum, John Bagby

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The “cloud” is idiom for an ill-defined set of online services. The cloud simultaneously offers IT savings and promises advances in functionality (e.g., ubiquity). However, the cloud also imposes poorly understood burdens on security and it may provoke injustice. Thus, the cloud presents a durable and seemingly irreconcilable conundrum for the digital forensics communit(ies). First, cloud proponents make efficiency promises for cloud services (SaaS, IaaS, PaaS). These translate well into the digital forensics domain. Indeed, the cloud may enable crowd sourcing of investigatory data vastly lowering costs of dispute resolution. For example, cloud-based litigation war rooms may reduce electronic discovery …

Cybercrime And Punishment: An Analysis Of The Deontological And Utilitarian Functions Of Punishment In The Information Age, Karim Jetha

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

This conceptual piece analyzes the role of criminal punishment and the nature of cyber crime to investigate whether the current punishment schemes are appropriate given the deontological and utilitarian goals of punishment: retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. The research has implications for policymaking in cybercriminal law.

Keywords: cybercrime, criminal law, punishment, retribution, deterrence, information economics