Computer Sciences Commons^™

Realtime Query Expansion And Procedural Interfaces For Information Hierarchies, Saverio Perugini

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We demonstrate the use of two user interfaces for interacting with web hierarchies. One uses the dependencies underlying a hierarchy to perform real-time query expansion and, in this way, acts as an in situ feedback mechanism. The other enables the user to cascade the output from one interaction to the input of another, and so on, and, in this way, supports procedural information-seeking tasks without disrupting the flow of interaction.

Information Assurance Through Binary Vulnerability Auditing, William B. Kimball, Saverio Perugini

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The goal of this research is to develop improved methods of discovering vulnerabilities in software. A large volume of software, from the most frequently used programs on a desktop computer, such as web browsers, e-mail programs, and word processing applications, to mission-critical services for the space shuttle, is unintentionally vulnerable to attacks and thus insecure. By seeking to improve the identification of vulnerabilities in software, the security community can save the time and money necessary to restore compromised computer systems. In addition, this research is imperative to activities of national security such as counterterrorism. The current approach involves a systematic …

Topologies Of Agents Interactions In Knowledge Intensive Multi-Agentsystems For Networked Information Services, Qiuming Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Agents in a multi-agent system (mAS) could interact and cooperate in many different ways. The topology of agent interaction determines how the agents control and communicate with each other, what are the control and communication capabilities of each agent and the whole system, and how efficient the control and communications are. In consequence, the topology affects the agents’ ability to share knowledge, integrate knowledge, and make efficient use of knowledge in MAS. This paper presents an overview of four major MAS topologic models, assesses their advantages and disadvantages in terms of agent autonomy, adaptation, scalability, and efficiency of cooperation. Some …

Observed Web Robot Behavior On Decaying Web Subsites, Joan A. Smith, Frank Mccown, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We describe the observed crawling patterns of various search engines (including Google, Yahoo and MSN) as they traverse a series of web subsites whose contents decay at predetermined rates. We plot the progress of the crawlers through the subsites, and their behaviors regarding the various file types included in the web subsites. We chose decaying subsites because we were originally interested in tracking the implication of using search engine caches for digital preservation. However, some of the crawling behaviors themselves proved to be interesting and have implications on using a search engine as an interface to a digital library.

Fedcor: An Institutional Cordra Registry, Giridhar Manepalli, Henry Jerez, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

FeDCOR (Federation of DSpace using CORDRA) is a registry-based federation system for DSpace instances. It is based on the CORDRA model. The first article in this issue of D-Lib Magazine describes the Advanced Distributed Learning-Registry (ADL-R) [1], which is the first operational CORDRA registry, and also includes an introduction to CORDRA. That introduction, or other prior knowledge of the CORDRA effort, is recommended for the best understanding of this article, which builds on that base to describe in detail the FeDCOR approach.

Splai: Computational Finite Element Model For Sensor Networks, Ruzana Ishak, Shadaruddin Salleh, Stephan Olariu, Mohd.Ismail Abdul Aziz

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Wireless sensor network refers to a group of sensors, linked by a wireless medium to perform distributed sensing task. The primary interest is their capability in monitoring the physical environment through the deployment of numerous tiny, intelligent, wireless networked sensor nodes. Our interest consists of a sensor network, which includes a few specialized nodes called processing elements that can perform some limited computational capabilities. In this paper, we propose a model called SPLAI that allows the network to compute a finite element problem where the processing elements are modeled as the nodes in the linear triangular approximation problem. Our model …

Synchronization And Multiple Group Server Support For Kepler, K. Maly, M. Zubair, H. Siripuram, S. Zunjarwad, Yannis Manolopoulos (Ed.), Joaquim Filipe (Ed.), Panos Constantopoulos (Ed.), José Cordeiro (Ed.)

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In the last decade literally thousands of digital libraries have emerged but one of the biggest obstacles for dissemination of information to a user community is that many digital libraries use different, proprietary technologies that inhibit interoperability. Kepler framework addresses interoperability and gives publication control to individual publishers. In Kepler, OAI-PMH is used to support "personal data providers" or "archivelets".". In our vision, individual publishers can be integrated with an institutional repository like Dspace by means of a Kepler Group Digital Library (GDL). The GDL aggregates metadata and full text from archivelets and can act as an OAI-compliant data provider …

On Static And Dynamic Partitioning Behavior Of Large-Scale Networks, Derek Leonard, Zhongmei Yao, Xiaoming Wang, Dmitri Loguinov

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper, we analyze the problem of network disconnection in the context of large-scale P2P networks and understand how both static and dynamic patterns of node failure affect the resilience of such graphs. We start by applying classical results from random graph theory to show that a large variety of deterministic and random P2P graphs almost surely (i.e., with probability 1-o(1)) remain connected under random failure if and only if they have no isolated nodes. This simple, yet powerful, result subsequently allows us to derive in closed-form the probability that a P2P network develops isolated nodes, and therefore partitions, …

Enhancing Undergraduate Ai Courses Through Machine Learning Projects, Ingrid Russell, Zdravko Markov, Todd W. Neller, Susan Coleman

Computer Science Faculty Publications

It is generally recognized that an undergraduate introductory Artificial Intelligence course is challenging to teach. This is, in part, due to the diverse and seemingly disconnected core topics that are typically covered. The paper presents work funded by the National Science Foundation to address this problem and to enhance the student learning experience in the course. Our work involves the development of an adaptable framework for the presentation of core AI topics through a unifying theme of machine learning. A suite of hands-on semester-long projects are developed, each involving the design and implementation of a learning system that enhances a …

Automatically Discovering The Number Of Clusters In Web Page Datasets, Zhongmei Yao

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Clustering is well-suited for Web mining by automatically organizing Web pages into categories, each of which contains Web pages having similar contents. However, one problem in clustering is the lack of general methods to automatically determine the number of categories or clusters. For the Web domain in particular, currently there is no such method suitable for Web page clustering. In an attempt to address this problem, we discover a constant factor that characterizes the Web domain, based on which we propose a new method for automatically determining the number of clusters in Web page data sets. We discover that the …

Personalization By Program Slicing, Saverio Perugini, Naren Ramakrishnan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Personalization involves customizing information access to the end-user. As any new area of computer science research it lacks formal models to guide the design of systems. In this paper, we present a modeling methodology, based on generative programming, for personalizing interactions with hierarchical websites. The methodology entails modeling a user’s interaction with a site in a program and applying program slicing to personalize the interaction. While preserving interactivity, this approach does not require the designer to anticipate all possible user interactions a priori and provide interfaces for each. Moreover, it provides a theoretical, systematic, and implementation-neutral way to design systems …

Hierarchical Kohonenen Net For Anomaly Detection In Network Security, Suseela T. Sarasamma, Qiuming Zhu, Julie Huff

Computer Science Faculty Publications

A novel multilevel hierarchicalKohonen Net (K-Map) for an intrusion detection system is presented. Each level of the hierarchical map is modeled as a simple winner-take-all K-Map. One significant advantage of this multilevel hierarchical K-Map is its computational efficiency. Unlike other statistical anomaly detection methods such as nearest neighbor approach, K-means clustering or probabilistic analysis that employ distance computation in the feature space to identify the outliers, our approach does not involve costly point-to-point computation in organizing the data into clusters. Another advantage is the reduced network size. We use the classification capability of the K-Map on selected dimensions of data …

Pigtail: A Pig Addendum, Todd W. Neller, Clifton G.M. Presser

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The object of the jeopardy dice game Pig is to be the first player to reach 100 points. Each turn, a player repeatedly rolls a die until either a 1 is rolled or the player holds and scores the sum of the rolls (i.e., the turn total). At any time during a player’s turn, the player is faced with two choices: roll or hold. If the player rolls a 1, the player scores nothing and it becomes the opponent’s turn. If the player rolls a number other than 1, the number is added to the player’s turn total …

Unifying An Introduction To Artificial Intelligence Course Through Machine Learning Laboratory Experiences, Ingrid Russell, Zdravko Markov, Todd W. Neller, Michael Georgiopoulos, Susan Coleman

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper presents work on a collaborative project funded by the National Science Foundation that incorporates machine learning as a unifying theme to teach fundamental concepts typically covered in the introductory Artificial Intelligence courses. The project involves the development of an adaptable framework for the presentation of core AI topics. This is accomplished through the development, implementation, and testing of a suite of adaptable, hands-on laboratory projects that can be closely integrated into the AI course. Through the design and implementation of learning systems that enhance commonly-deployed applications, our model acknowledges that intelligent systems are best taught through their application …

State Aggregation And Population Dynamics In Linear Systems, Jonathan E. Rowe, Michael D. Vose, Alden H. Wright

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We consider complex systems that are composed of many interacting elements, evolving under some dynamics. We are interested in characterizing the ways in which these elements may be grouped into higher-level, macroscopic states in a way that is compatible with those dynamics. Such groupings may then be thought of as naturally emergent properties of the system. We formalize this idea and, in the case that the dynamics are linear, prove necessary and sufficient conditions for this to happen. In cases where there is an underlying symmetry among the components of the system, group theory may be used to provide a …

A Generative Programming Approach To Interactive Information Retrieval: Insights And Experiences, Saverio Perugini, Naren Ramakrishnan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We describe the application of generative programming to a problem in interactive information retrieval. The particular interactive information retrieval problem we study is the support for "out-of-turn interaction" with a website – how a user can communicate input to a website when the site is not soliciting such information on the current page, but will do so on a subsequent page. Our solution approach makes generous use of program transformations (partial evaluation, currying, and slicing) to delay the site’s current solicitation for input until after the user’s out-of-turn input is processed. We illustrate how studying out-of-turn interaction through a generative …

Recommender Systems Research, Saverio Perugini

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We outline the history of recommender systems from their roots in information retrieval and filtering to their role in today’s Internet economy. Recommender systems attempt to reduce information overload and retain customers by selecting a subset of items from a universal set based on user preferences. Research in recommender systems lies at the intersection of several areas of computer science, such as artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction, and has progressed to an important research area of its own. It is important to note that recommendations are not delivered within a vacuum, but rather cast within an informal community of users …

The Good, Bad And The Indifferent: Explorations In Recommender System Health, Benjamin J. Keller, Sun-Mi Kim, N. Srinivas Vemuri, Naren Ramakrishnan, Saverio Perugini

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Our work is based on the premise that analysis of the connections exploited by a recommender algorithm can provide insight into the algorithm that could be useful to predict its performance in a fielded system. We use the jumping connections model defined by Mirza et al. [6], which describes the recommendation process in terms of graphs. Here we discuss our work that has come out of trying to understand algorithm behavior in terms of these graphs. We start by describing a natural extension of the jumping connections model of Mirza et al., and then discuss observations that have come from …

A New Fault Information Model For Fault-Tolerant Adaptive And Minimal Routing In 3-D Meshes, Zhen Jiang, Jie Wu, Dajin Wang

Computer Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Final Report For The Development Of The Nasa Technical Report Server (Ntrs), Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The author performed a variety of research, development and consulting tasks for NASA Langley Research Center in the area of digital libraries (DLs) and supporting technologies, such as the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). In particular, the development focused on the NASA Technical Report Server (NTRS) and its transition from a distributed searching model to one that uses the OAI-PMH. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) is an international consortium focused on furthering the interoperability of DLs through the use of "metadata harvesting". The OAI-PMH version of NTRS went into public production on April 28, 2003. Since that …

Lessons Learned With Arc, An Oai-Pmh Service Provider, Xiaoming Liu, Kurt Maly, Michael L. Nelson

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Web-based digital libraries have historically been built in isolation utilizing different technologies, protocols, and metadata. These differences hindered the development of digital library services that enable users to discover information from multiple libraries through a single unified interface. The Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is a major, international effort to address technical interoperability among distributed repositories. Arc debuted in 2000 as the first end-user OAI-PMH service provider. Since that time, Arc has grown to include nearly 7,000,000 metadata records. Arc has been deployed in a number of environments and has served as the basis for many other …

Archive Ingest And Handling Test, Michael L. Nelson, Johan Bollen, Giridhar Manepalli, Rabia Haq

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The Archive Ingest and Handling Test (AIHT) was a Library of Congress (LC) sponsored research project administered by Information Systems and Support Inc. (ISS). The project featured five participants: Old Dominion University Computer Science Department; Harvard University Library; Johns Hopkins University Library; Stanford University Library; Library of Congress. All five participants received identical disk drives containing copies of the 911.gmu.edu web site, a collection of 9/11 materials maintained by George Mason University (GMU). The purpose of the AIHT experiment was to perform archival forensics to determine the nature of the archive, ingest it, simulate at least one of the file …

Protecting The Communication Structure In Sensor Networks, S. Olariu, Q. Xu, M. Eltoweissy, A. Wadaa

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In the near future wireless sensor networks will be employed in a wide variety of applications establishing ubiquitous networks that will pervade society. The inherent vulnerability of these massively deployed networks to a multitude of threats, including physical tampering with nodes exacerbates concerns about privacy and security. For example, denial of service attacks (DoS) that compromise or disrupt communications or target nodes serving key roles in the network, e.g. sink nodes, can easily undermine the functionality as well as the performance delivered by the network. Particularly vulnerable are the components of the communications or operation infrastructure. Although, by construction, most …

Introduction: Data Communication And Topology Algorithms For Sensor Networks, Stephan Olariu, David Simplot-Ryl, Ivan Stojmenovic

Computer Science Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) We are very proud and honored to have been entrusted to be Guest Editors for this special issue. Papers were sought to comprehensively cover the algorithmic issues in the “hot” area of sensor networking. The concentration was on network layer problems, which can be divided into two groups: data communication problems and topology control problems. We wish to briefly introduce the five papers appearing in this special issue. They cover specific problems such as time division for reduced collision, fault tolerant clustering, self-stabilizing graph optimization algorithms, key pre-distribution for secure communication, and distributed storage based on spanning trees …

Recommender Systems Research: A Connection-Centric Survey, Saverio Perugini, Marcos André Gonçalves, Edward A. Fox

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Recommender systems attempt to reduce information overload and retain customers by selecting a subset of items from a universal set based on user preferences. While research in recommender systems grew out of information retrieval and filtering, the topic has steadily advanced into a legitimate and challenging research area of its own. Recommender systems have traditionally been studied from a content-based filtering vs. collaborative design perspective. Recommendations, however, are not delivered within a vacuum, but rather cast within an informal community of users and social context. Therefore, ultimately all recommender systems make connections among people and thus should be surveyed from …

Bcl2 Translocation Defines A Unique Tumor Subset Within The Germinal Center B-Cell-Like Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Javeed Iqbal, Warren G. Sanger, Andreas Rosenwald, Diane L. Pickering, Barbara Dave, Sandeep Dave, Li Xiao, Kahai Cao, Qiuming Zhu, Simon Sherman, Christine P. Hans, Dennis D. Weisenburger, Timothy C. Greiner, Randy D. Gascoyne, German Ott, H. Konrad Müller-Hermelink, Jan Delabie, Rita M. Braziel, Elaine S. Jaffe, Elias Campo, James C. Lynch, Joseph M. Conners, Julie M. Vose, James O. Armitage, Thomas M. Grogan, Louis M. Staudt, Wing C. Chan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Gene expression profiling of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has revealed prognostically important subgroups: germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) DLBCL, activated B cell-like (ABC) DLBCL, and primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma. The t(14;18)(q32;q21) has been reported previously to define a unique subset within the GCB-DLBCL. We evaluated for the translocation in 141 cases of DLBCL that were successfully gene expression profiled. Using a dual-probe fluorescence in situ hybridization assay, we detected the t(14;18) in 17% of DLBCLs and in 34% of the GCB subgroup which contained the vast majority of positive cases. In addition, 12 t(14;18)-positive cases detected by polymerase chain …

Algorithmic Fusion Of Gene Expression Profiling For Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Outcome Prediction, Qiuming Zhu, Hongmei Cui, Kahai Cao, Wing C. Chan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Many different methods and techniques have been investigated for the processing and analysis of microarray gene expression profiling datasets. It is noted that the accuracy and reliability of the results are often dependent on the measurement approaches applied, and no single measurement so far is guaranteed to generate a satisfactory result. In this paper, an algorithmic fusion approach is presented for extracting genes that are predictive to clinical outcomes (survival-fatal) of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma on a set of microarray data for gene expression profiling. The approach integrates a set of measurements from different aspects in terms of the discrepancy …

Optimal Play Of The Dice Game Pig, Todd W. Neller, Clifton G.M. Presser

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The object of the jeopardy dice game Pig is to be the first player to reach 100 points. Each player's turn consists of repeatedly rolling a die. After each roll, the player is faced with two choices: roll again, or hold (decline to roll again).

• If the player rolls a 1, the player scores nothing and it becomes the opponent's turn.
• If the player rolls a number other than 1, the number is added to the player's turn total and the player's turn continues.
• If the player holds, the turn total, the sum of the rolls during the turn, …

Ice Dynamics Preceding Catastrophic Disintegration Of The Floating Part Of Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, Jesse V. Johnson, Paul R. Prescott, Terence J. Hughes

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The floating terminal of Jakobshavn Isbræ, the fastest Greenland ice stream, has disintegrated since 2002, resulting in a doubling of ice velocity and rapidly lowering inland ice elevations. Conditions prior to disintegration were modeled using control theory in a plane-stress solution, and the Missoula model of ice-shelf flow. Both approaches pointed to a mechanism that inhibits ice flow and that is not captured by either approach. Jamming of flow, an inherent property of granular materials passing through a constriction (Jakobshavn Isfjord), is postulated as the mechanism. Rapid disintegration of heavily crevassed floating ice accompanies break-up of the ice jam.

Efficient Linkage Discovery By Limited Probing, Robert B. Heckendorn, Alden H. Wright

Computer Science Faculty Publications

This paper addresses the problem of discovering the structure of a fitness function from binary strings to the reals under the assumption of bounded epistasis. Two loci (string positions) are epistatically linked if the effect of changing the allele (value) at one locus depends on the allele at the other locus. Similarly, a group of loci are epistatically linked if the effect of changing the allele at one locus depends on the alleles at all other loci of the group. Under the assumption that the size of such groups of loci are bounded, and assuming that the function is given …