Computer Sciences Commons^™

Time-Optimal Tree Computations On Sparse Meshes, D. Bhagavathi, V. Bokka, H. Gurla, S. Olariu, J. L. Schwing

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The main goal of this work is to fathom the suitability of the mesh with multiple broadcasting architecture (MMB) for some tree-related computations. We view our contribution at two levels: on the one hand, we exhibit time lower bounds for a number of tree-related problems on the MMB. On the other hand, we show that these lower bounds are tight by exhibiting time-optimal tree algorithms on the MMB. Specifically, we show that the task of encoding and/or decoding n-node binary and ordered trees cannot be solved faster than Ω(log n) time even if the MMB has an infinite …

A Computational Paradigm On Network-Based Models Of Computation, Venkatavasu Bokka

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The maturation of computer science has strengthened the need to consolidate isolated algorithms and techniques into general computational paradigms. The main goal of this dissertation is to provide a unifying framework which captures the essence of a number of problems in seemingly unrelated contexts in database design, pattern recognition, image processing, VLSI design, computer vision, and robot navigation. The main contribution of this work is to provide a computational paradigm which involves the unifying framework, referred to as the multiple Query problem, along with a generic solution to the Multiple Query problem.

To demonstrate the applicability of the paradigm, a …

Monte Carlo Simulations Of Photoemission Characteristics From Gaas And Diamond, Abhishek Srivastava

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Monte Carlo based numerical simulations were performed to study photoemission from GaAs and diamond. The central goal was to assess the potential for NEA photoemission from diamond, and to predict its characteristics. The GaAs material system was also included in the simulation study to provide: (i) calibration and validation of the numerical model developed by carefully matching the simulation results with available experimental data, and (ii) quantitative comparisons between the response characteristics of diamond and the better known GaAs system.

Predictions of the energy distribution, temporal response and angular distribution of emitted electrons were obtained. Effects of various parameters, such …

Resource/Dataflow Graph Operating System Development, Sriram J. Coimbatore

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Implementation of a new dataflow schedule model is the objective of this thesis. The dataflow model algorithm called the resource/dataflow graph model is implemented on a peer-to-peer communication network comprising of six personal computers. This dataflow model is implemented making use of an earlier dataflow model called ATAMM (Algorithm to Architecture Mapping Model) developed by ODU and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Development issues include modification of the RDFG testbed operating system and a scheme to transfer data buffers using the ethernet channel from one processor to another processor. This, in turn, equips each sub-module of an application with …

An Investigation Of Software Reliability Models, Pamela Elaine Bowman

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Many software reliability models have been promoted in the literature in an attempt to provide a meaningful response to the growing need to know the reliability of software during and after the development process. However, there are well-founded concerns as to the accuracy of the individual model, as well as to the choice of which model to use for a particular program. A recent experiment based on the debugging history of a partially debugged program used a gold version to label a debugging graph from replicated data. This experiment concluded that presenting the replicated data to the models in a …

Exploring Knowledge Processes For Technology Assimilation, Rochelle K. Young

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the emerging knowledge society, the ability to make the experience and expertise of those involved in and affected by new technology unconditionally available to all members of an organization is becoming increasingly important. One of the problems in developing such knowledge processes for technology assimilation is that current social structures do not easily accommodate unconditional participation. Since the implementation of modern information technology is changing the workplace and the nature of work itself, alternative social structures are needed. This research takes as given that deep questions concerning knowledge processes and social transformation are in principle undecidable; and, only questions …

Neural Generalized Predictive Control For Real-Time Control, Donald I. Soloway

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis a computationally efficient Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) algorithm is presented and implemented. The algorithm is more efficient than others because the number of iterations needed for convergence is significantly lower with Newton-Raphson. The main additional cost with Newton-Raphson algorithm is the calculation of the Hessian. This overhead is not a problem because of the reduced number of iterations, making the algorithm suitable for real-time control. For nonlinear control applications, a neural network is used as a dynamical system predictor leading to a Neural Generalized Predictive Control (NGPC) algorithm which is presented in detail in this thesis. An …

Scalability In Real-Time Systems, Ramesh Yerraballi

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The number and complexity of applications that run in real-time environments have posed demanding requirements on the part of the real-time system designer. It has now become important to accommodate the application complexity at early stages of the design cycle. Further, the stringent demands to guarantee task deadlines (particularly in a hard real-time environment, which is the assumed environment in this thesis) have motivated both practioners and researchers to look at ways to analyze systems prior to run-time. This thesis reports a new perspective to analyzing real-time systems that in addition to ascertaining the ability of a system to meet …

Visual Speech Recognition Using Multiple Deformable Lip Models, Devi Chandramohan

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Motivated by the fact that human speech perception is a bimodal process (auditory and visual), several researchers have designed and implemented automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems consisting of both audio and visual subsystems, and shown improved performance relative to traditional purely auditory systems. Several visual speech reading approaches have used deformable templates to model the shape of a speaker's lips. Deformable templates are models of image objects, which can be deformed by adjusting a set of parameters to match the object in some optimal way, as defined by a cost function. Using a single deformable lip model has disadvantages such …

Scheduling Processors For Distributed, Critical, Real-Time Systems, Hari K. Narasimhamurthy

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The development of a procedure to obtain cyclo-static schedules for distributed, critical real-time applications is presented in this thesis. The applications considered in this thesis are characterized by hard deadlines and periodic inputs. The applica­ tions are described by a data flow graph model which guarantees performance. Given the data flow graph representation, processors are scheduled to complete tasks as specified in the representation. The scheduling technique separates the scheduling of tasks in time and the assignment of processors to tasks. While different criteria exist for task scheduling, a schedule which minimizes latency and maximizes throughput is used in this …

Adaptive Integration Of Audio And Visual Information Using Discrete And Semi-Continuous Hidden Markov Models In Audiovisual Automatic Speech Recognition, Qin Su

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

An audiovisual semi-continuous hidden Markov model (HMM)-based Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system and an improved method of integrating audio and visual information in an audiovisual discrete HMM-based ASR system are investigated.

In the audiovisual discrete HMM, an adaptive integration formulation is employed, which incorporates the integration into the HMM at a pre-categorical stage. A visual weighting parameter is determined automatically, which allows the relative contribution of audio and visual information to be adjusted adaptively. Using an adaptive weight, the accuracy increased by 13% compared to the same model with no adaptive weight.

The semi-continuous HMM is a class of models …

Speech Feature Computation For Visual Speech Articulation Training, Stefan Auberg

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new version of the Visual Speech Articulation Training Aid was implemented which provides real-time visual feedback for speech articulation training. This version was migrated to a Windows Multimedia PC from a previous version which used a Personal Computer (PC) system and additional specialized and expensive custom hardware. This new version will make the system more available to schools and private users. A new method was developed for computing spectral/temporal features which characterize the speech sounds. In addition to the typical frame-based spectral analysis parameters, the new method represents temporal changes of the spectrum with a small number of features. …

Variable Step Size Lms Adaptive Filters With Delayed Coefficient Updating, Guixian Xu

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A new approach to delayed LMS adaptive filtering is presented, which uses a variable step size for coefficient updating to increase convergence speed and improve tracking characteristics. The new algorithm, called delayed variable step size LMS (DVLMS), is explained, analyzed, and simulated to experimentally determine performance characteristics. Three different strategies for adjusting the step size are examined, and their performance is compared. Also, simulation results are presented to show that the proposed DVLMS systems provide faster convergence and lower mis-adjustment than previously proposed DLMS systems.

Visibility-Related Problems On Parallel Computational Models, Himabindu Gurla

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Visibility-related problems find applications in seemingly unrelated and diverse fields such as computer graphics, scene analysis, robotics and VLSI design. While there are common threads running through these problems, most existing solutions do not exploit these commonalities. With this in mind, this thesis identifies these common threads and provides a unified approach to solve these problems and develops solutions that can be viewed as template algorithms for an abstract computational model. A template algorithm provides an architecture independent solution for a problem, from which solutions can be generated for diverse computational models. In particular, the template algorithms presented in this …

A System For Structured Management Of Hypermedia Resources For The World Wide Web, Kevin L. Marlowe

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

The World Wide Web (WWW) is arguably the preferred method for disseminating information across the Internet. Most of the work to support the advancement of WWW technology has focused on servers used in storing and retrieving information, browsers for viewing this information, and editors or filters for creating the information.

One area which has received little attention is that of actually managing this information at the local host. This thesis describes the development of a means for organizing local data prior to its publishing on the WWW, a method for gathering local pages together and preparing them for distribution, and …

Parallel Newton-Krylov-Schwarz Solvers For The Full Potential Flow Equation, Jie Zhang

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Newton-Krylov-Schwarz methods are increasingly applied in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). We develop a parallel analysis code based on this method for the full potential flow model. The full potential model consists of a single nonlinear second-order partial differential equation of mixed type (elliptic/hyperbolic), which we solve as a steady boundary-value problem.

We use a nine-point finite-difference stencil to discretize the equation. A Newtonlike linearization and correction method is used to solve the resulting set of nonlinear algebraic equations. To solve the inner linear equations, we employ a Krylov space method. Preconditioners are used to improve the convergence rate. In order …

Data Compression Based On The Cubic B-Spline Wavelet With Uniform Two-Scale Relation, S. K. Yang, C. H. Cooke

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential artificial compression which can be achieved using an interval multiresolution analysis based on a semiorthogonal cubic B-spline wavelet. The Chui-Quak [1] spline multiresolution analysis for the finite interval has been modified [2] so as to be characterized by natural spline projection and uniform two-scale relation. Strengths and weaknesses of the semiorthogonal wavelet as regards artificial compression and data smoothing by the method of thresholding wavelet coefficients are indicated.

An Efficient Runge-Kutta (4,5) Pair, P. Bogacki, L. F. Shampine

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

A pair of explicit Runge-Kutta formulas of orders 4 and 5 is derived. It is significantly more efficient than the Fehlberg and Dormand-Prince pairs, and by standard measures it is of at least as high quality. There are two independent estimates of the local error. The local error of the interpolant is, to leading order, a problem-independent function of the local error at the end of the step.

A Family Of Parallel Runge-Kutta Pairs, P. Bogacki

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

Increasing availability of parallel computers has recently spurred a substantial amount of research concerned with designing explicit Runge-Kutta methods to be implemented on such computers. Here, we discuss a family of methods that require fewer processors than methods presently available do, still achieving a similar speed-up. In particular, (5,6) and (6,7) pairs are derived, that require a minimum number of function evaluations on two and three processors, respectively.

Time- And Cost-Optimal Parallel Algorithms For The Dominance And Visibility Graphs, D. Bhagavathi, H. Gurla, S. Olariu, J. L. Schwing, J. Zhang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The compaction step of integrated circuit design motivates associating several kinds of graphs with a collection of non-overlapping rectangles in the plane. These graphs are intended to capture various visibility relations amongst the rectangles in the collection. The contribution of this paper is to propose time- and cost-optimal algorithms to construct two such graphs, namely, the dominance graph (DG, for short) and the visibility graph (VG, for short). Specifically, we show that with a collection of n non-overlapping rectangles as input, both these structures can be constructed in θ (log n) time using n processors in the CREW model.

Text Independent Speaker Verification Using Binary-Pair Partitioned Neural Networks, Claude A. Norton Iii

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

A method is presented for the application of binary-pair partitioned neural networks to the task of speaker verification. This technique is based on a previously developed neural network classifier for speaker identification.

The main focus of this research was the development and testing of the algorithms necessary to extend the binary-pair partitioning approach from speaker identification to speaker verification. The method is based on the development of a user profile which is obtained from discriminative data provided by the binary-pair partitioned neural networks.

Experimental results are provided which demonstrate the viability of this approach, using the TIMIT speech corpus for …

Atomic Broadcast In Heterogeneous Distributed Systems, Osman Zeineldine

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Communication services have long been recognized as possessing a dominant effect on both performance and robustness of distributed systems. Distributed applications rely on a multitude of protocols for the support of these services. Of crucial importance are multicast protocols. Reliable multicast protocols enhance the efficiency and robustness of distributed systems. Numerous reliable multicast protocols have been proposed, each differing in the set of assumptions adopted, especially for the communication network. These assumptions make each protocol suitable for a specific environment. The presence of different distributed applications that run on different LANs and single distributed applications that span different LANs mandate …

Comparison Of System Identification Techniques For The Dexterous Orbital Servicing System (Doss), Allan Terrence Morris

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The major contribution of system identification is the development of analytical models of a system. Many identification techniques can adequately describe the input and output map. One of the challenges of these techniques is to correctly infer from the measured data the characteristics of the individual, contributing components producing a more accurate system model.

In this thesis linear, dynamic, multivariable state-space models for three joints of the Dexterous Orbital Servicing System (DOSS) are identified. DOSS is a representative space station manipulator at the NASA Langley Research Center. The dynamic models of the manipulator will first be estimated by applying nonparametric …

Fault Tolerance In Critical Real-Time Systems, Balaji Tirukarneswaran

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Critical real-time applications require work to be completed before a predefined deadline, else the consequences may be catastrophic. The anticipation of faults in such systems necessitates the need for fault tolerance. Fault tolerance can be achieved in many different ways. A real-time system designer may impose restrictions on any of the system performance measures such as the latency, throughput and number of processors, depending on the type of application. In this work, several different fault tolerant strategies for any given DFG (Data Flow Graph) are discussed. DFG models are developed using the strategies and the resulting worst case performances a.re …

Real-Time Communication In The Algorithm To Architecture Mapping Model, Somesh M. Varma

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The objective of this thesis is to analyze schedules of communication resources to obtain deterministic and contention-free communication in the Algorithm To Architecture Mapping Model (ATAMM). In ATAMM, performance must be deterministic to guarantee meeting deadlines. It is difficult to achieve deterministic performance in the presence of contention during communication. This thesis develops new data-flow models to study and analyze different schedules of communication resources to achieve deterministic and contention-free communication. These models are the Synchronous Communication Marked Graph (SCMG) and the Asynchronous Communication Marked Graph (ACMG). The SCMG is based on message passing synchronous communication. It defines schedules for …

Generalization Metrics For Neural Modeling Applications In System Identification, Denise M. Reeves

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this thesis a procedure to design multilayer feedforward networks for system identification with good prediction properties is presented. Central to the design procedure is a means to characterize the prediction capabilities of various trained neural networks. Such knowledge will allow for the identification of the best network design. For system identification purposes, a "good" model is one that is good at predicting, In particular, a good model is one that produces small prediction errors when applied to a set of cross-validation data. We formulate and implement a criterion function designed to measure the size of a trained neural network's …

Knowledge Acquisition And Structuring By Multiple Experts In A Group Support Systems Environment, Bernard Lee Lewis

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This study addresses the impact of Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) on expert system development by multiple Domain Experts. Current approaches to building expert systems rely heavily on knowledge acquisition and prototyping by a Knowledge Engineer working directly with the Domain Expert. Although the complexity of knowledge domains and new organizational approaches demand the involvement of multiple experts, standard procedures limit the ability of the Knowledge Engineer to work with more than one expert at a time.

Group Decision Support Systems offer a networked computerized environment for group work activities, in which multiple experts may express their ideas concurrently and …

Open-Loop State-Space Model Identification From Closed-Loop Data, Lori Guy

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This thesis provides an investigation of a system identification algorithm which identifies an open-loop state-space model from a linear system that is operating under closed-loop conditions. In order to investigate the system identification algorithm some basic ideas of system identification theory are reviewed. Examples using simulated data are presented to characterize the effects of varying the parameters for open-loop and closed-loop system identification processes. Both noise· free and noise contaminated cases are simulated. Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG) control theory is reviewed and the motivation for using iterative LQG control feedback is discussed. The derivation of the proposed system identification algorithm …

Electric Field Mapping System With Nanosecond Temporal Rosolution, F. E. Peterkin, R. Block, K. H. Schoenbach

Bioelectrics Publications

The electric field dependence of the absorption coefficient in semi‐insulating GaAs at the absorption edge was measured in a high‐voltage pulsed experiment. Pulse duration was kept below 50 ns in order to avoid thermal effects. A GaAs laser diode was used as a probe light source with wavelength varied from 902 to 911 nm. For fields up to 40 kV/cm the absorption coefficient increased from 3 to 17 cm⁻¹ at 902 nm, with smaller absolute increases evident at the longer wavelengths. Calculation from theory was consistent with this behavior. The spatial variation of the electric field was also recorded …

A Mathematical Model Of Cycle Chemotherapy, J. C. Panetta, J. Adam

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

A mathematical model is used to discuss the effects of cycle-specific chemotherapy. The model includes a constraint equation which describes the effects of the drugs on sensitive normal tissue such as bone marrow. This model investigates both pulsed and piecewise-continuous chemotherapeutic effects and calculates the parameter regions of acceptable dose and period. It also identifies the optimal period needed for maximal tumor reduction. Examples are included concerning the use of growth factors and how they can enhance the cell kill of the chemotherapeutic drugs.