Computer Sciences Commons^™

Smart Home Technology For Aging, Fareedh Meeran

Theses

The majority of the growing population, in the US and the rest of the world requires some degree of formal and or informal care either due to the loss of function or failing health as a result of aging and most of them suffer from chronic disorders. The cost and burden of caring for elders is steadily increasing. This thesis focuses on providing the analysis of the technologies with which a Smart Home is built to improve the quality of life of the elderly. A great deal of emphasis is given to the sensor technologies that are the back bone …

Model Driven Architecture - A Tool For Enterprise Architecture : A Look At Emergency Response Systems, Ritu Lamba

Theses

Today's fast changing markets and technology drive software industry to deliver high quality enterprise software solutions. The enterprise system architecture should be designed to keep business functions separate from technological implementation to accommodate the fast changing business environment.

In this thesis we have studied the current best practices in defining enterprise architectures and Zachman's framework in particular. We have further examined the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) approach and its application to enterprise architecture definition. MDA separates the business logic from the underlying platform technology and defines a representation model based on precise semantics. Zachman's framework defines a set of views …

Classifying Rna Secondary Structures Using Support Vector Machines, Prathy Usha Sunkara

Theses

In contrast to DNA, RNA prevails as a single strand. As a consequence of small self-complementary regions, RNA commonly exhibits an intricate secondary structure, consisting of relatively short, double helical segments alternated with single stranded regions. The amount of sequence data available is rising rapidly day by day. One of the problems encountered on a specific molecule is finding the relevant data between the massive number of other sequences to be done by reading lists with a short description of all new entries in large databases already existing. One of the main objectives of this work is to take the …

Classifying Malicious Windows Executables Using Anomaly Based Detection, Ronak Sutaria

Theses

A malicious executable is broadly defined as any program or piece of code designed to cause damage to a system or the information it contains, or to prevent the system from being used in a normal manner. A generic term used to describe any kind of malicious software is Maiware, which includes Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Backdoors, Root-kits, Spyware and Exploits. Anomaly detection is technique which builds a statistical profile of the normal and malicious data and classifies unseen data based on these two profiles.

A detection system is presented here which is anomaly based and focuses on the Windows® platform. …

A New Approach To Feature Extraction For Rna Structure Comparision, Girish Prakash Walawalkar

Theses

In recent years, RNA structural comparison becomes a crucial problem in bioinformatics research. Generally, it is a popular approach for representing the RNA secondary structures with arc-annotation sets. Several methods can be used to compare two RNA structures, such as tree edit distance, longest arc-preserving common subsequence (LAPCS) and stem based alignment. However, these methods may be helpful only for small RNA structures because of their high time complexity. In this thesis, we propose a simplified method to compare two RNA structures in O(mn) time, where m and n are the lengths of the two RNA sequences, respectively. The method …

Development Of A Service-Oriented Communication Platform For Heterogeneous Voice Over Ip Networks., Aisling O'Driscoll

Theses

As broadband services have become more widespread in recent years due to a variety of government initiatives and the establishment of Wireless Internet Service Providers, user requirements have evolved and the market has become more competitive. Whilst this is beneficial for consumers it means that Internet Service Providers must offer a more diverse range of services coupled with standard broadband packages to distinguish themselves from their competitors, generate new revenue and strengthen their competitive advantage. Therefore many providers are looking to Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) to provide communication platforms, enabling services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) along with other …

Electronic Mathematics, Aidan O'Donoghue

Theses

Recent times have seen an explosion in the use of interactive technologies in the delivery of learning content to students in all educational sectors in Ireland. This expansion has led to the creation of modem day phenomenons such as global and ‘teacherless’ classrooms.

The research study I have undertaken is to determine if students perform to the same standard when learning through an interactive educational software application as opposed to a more traditional setting of learning ’through’ a teacher in a classroom. The application being developed for this study enables students to learn the ordinary level leaving certificate mathematics course …

Evolutionary Algorithms For Production Scheduling, Pio Fenton

Theses

The permutation with repetition representation is a powerful representation primarily used in the GA-JSSP domain. Recently, attention has shifted from this representation for simple GA and towards JSSP resolution using messy GA. This work returns to the permutation with repetition representation for simple GA with the intention of exploring some previously unexplored aspects. A new 1-point crossover operator is introduced which is shown to be more successful than the current standard operator for this representation. A technique known as morphogenic computation is employed with this representation for the first time and a thorough analysis of its performance is presented. While …

Wireless Technology And Its Application In Wireless Local Area Networks Using The Ieee 802.11 Standards, Philip Curneen

Theses

This research thesis examines the area of wireless communication and its use in Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). It examines the Spread Spectrum methods of Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS) used in WLANs. The International Governing body, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) have devised standards and protocols called 802.11 to be used as guidelines for semiconductor chip and WLAN equipment manufacturers. These protocols have been adopted in implementing WLANs. Their specifications, which address data rates, bandwidth, power requirements, quality of service, spectrum management and security, are discussed in this thesis.

This …

Snp Auto-Calling Using Artificial Neural Networks, Damien Spivak

Theses

In recent years feedforward artificial neural networks (ANN) and their training algorithms have become an effective methodology for the construction of nonlinear systems that solve the statistical problem of classification. The ability of ANNs to solve this problem is highly germane to making progress in the refinement of DNA microarray analysis and techniques regarding this issue. This study attempts to deal with the classification of microarray data and the comparison and validation of simple feedforward ANNs in partitioning high dimensional data. In doing this the efficacy of using ANNs as a genotyping tool will be proven. Furthermore, it has been …

Approximation Algorithms For Variants Of The Traveling Salesman Problem, Ankur Gupta

Theses

The traveling salesman problem, hereafter abbreviated and referred to as TSP, is a very well known NP-optimization problem and is one of the most widely researched problems in computer science. Classical TSP is one of the original NP - hard problems [1]. It is also known to be NP - hard to approximate within any factor and thus there is no approximation algorithm for TSP for general graphs, unless P = NP. However, given the added constraint that edges of the graph observe triangle inequality, it has been shown that it is possible achieve a good approximation to the optimal …

Rebuild Performance Enhancement Using Onboard Caching And Delayed Vacation Termination In Clustered Raid 5, Akheel Ahmed

Theses

The Clustered Raid 5 (CRAID5) architecture with a parity group size(G) smaller than the number of disks(N) increases the load by the declustering ratio denoted by α = (G -1)/(N -1), which can be lesser than that in Raid 5 while switching to, and subsequently operating in rebuild mode. The Nearly Random Permutation (NRP) layout provides the flexibility to vary the declustering ratio (α) for a given N, and the Vacationing Server Model (VSM) of processing the rebuild requests provides acceptable rebuild and user response times.

The rebuild performance and the user response time can be improved by introducing an …

Sharing The Big Apple : A Survey Study Of People, Place And Locatability, Samer Nadim Karam

Theses

Over the past half century social trends and new technologies have weakened local social ties and thus, the fabric of civil society itself. Mobile location-aware community systems offer one path to redress these problems by enhancing community cohesion and the formation of social capital by helping people to meet each other and coordinate their actions. However, little is known about the general population's desire and attitude towards these systems.

The design space described by the People-to-People-to-Geographical-Places Framework (P3-Framework), was used to guide a survey study of the impact of 'place' on people's social information needs and their willingness to share …

Structure And Dynamics Of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase, Kentaro Sugino

Theses

Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) is one of the key enzymes involved in many fundamental biological processes including vasodilatation. It can be allosterically activated by synthetic compound such as YC-l. Recently, the 3D structure of adenylyl cyclase (AC), which is a homologue of sGC, was determined. Using AC as template and homology modeling, the 3D structure of sGC is predicted. Prior experimental work has suggested two binding modes of YC- 1. In the current investigation, molecular dynamics simulations (MD) were conducted to seek more detail of molecular mechanism of sGC activation.

From these MD simulations, a tentative mechanism of sGC activation …

Performance Evaluation Of Various Allocation Methods In A Heterogeneous Disk Array Architecture, Bogdan Alexandru Branzoi

Theses

Dataset attributes, such as data availability levels and access patterns, make their mapping to certain RAID levels more desirable than others. On the other hand, it is not economically viable for an installation to acquire multiple disk arrays to satisfy diverse data storage requirements. A Heterogeneous Disk Array (HDA) architecture is proposed, which allows device heterogeneity as well as RAID level heterogeneity. In other words, various disks of different types can be incorporated in a single HDA and multiple RAID schemes can coexist in the same array. The goal of this architecture is to utilize the resources of all its …

Digital Libraries And Middleware Technology, Muhammad Umar Qasim

Theses

Digital libraries deliver personalized knowledge directly to their users, without being restricted to the contents of a physical library. In a digital library information from any online source can be managed and shared, making more knowledge available to users than before. The information sharing is achieved by integrating many autonomous heterogeneous systems available. The challenge is to provide users with the ability to transparently access digital library contents in spite of the heterogeneity among the information sources.

Research communities have proposed several approaches to accomplish the system integration in digital libraries. In this thesis, the working of currently employed approaches …

Data Feed Management Automation : An Empirical Approach, Dibyendu Majumder

Theses

This thesis proposes a framework for automation of data feed management and control. The framework can be classified into two broad areas i) building an ontology for a feed system and ii) developing a test suite, that is, a set of statistical models to analyze and diagnose feeds and formalize the results to feedback into the ontology. This thesis concentrates more on the latter and will only outline the course of action required for the former. Detailed descriptions of the statistical models that are part of the test suite are given and their strengths and weaknesses discussed. Practical results of …

Next Generation Satellite Orbital Control System, Thomas Gerard Nowak

Theses

Selection of the correct software architecture is vital for building successful software-intensive systems. Its realization requires important decisions about the organization of the system and by and large permits or prevents a system's acceptance and quality attributes such as performance and reliability. The correct architecture is essential for program success while the wrong one is a formula for disaster.

In this investigation, potential software architectures for the Next Generation Satellite Orbital Control System (NG-SOCS) are developed from compiled system specifications and a review of existing technologies. From the developed architectures, the recommended architecture is selected based on real-world considerations that …

2d Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship Modeling Of Methylphenidate Analogues Using Algorithm And Partial Least Square Regression, Noureen Wadhwaniya

Theses

Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) analysis attempts to develop a predictive model of biological activity based on molecular descriptors. 2D QSAR uses descriptors, such as topological indices, that are independent of molecular conformation. A genetic algorithm - partial least squares (GA-PLS) approach was used to identify the molecular descriptors that correlate to the biological activity (binding affinity) of a set of 80 methylphenidate analogues and to construct a predictive model. The GA code was implemented using the fitness function (1-(n-1)(1-q²)/ (n - c)), where n is the number of compounds, c is the optimal number of components, and q …

Analysis Of Relationship Between Software Metrics And Process Models, Sadia Munir

Theses

This thesis studies the correlation between software process models and software metrics. To support our studies we have defined a Process - Metric Evaluation Framework and derived an evaluation template from it. The template served as a basic tool in studding the relationships between various process models, artifacts and software metrics.

We have evaluated a number of process models according to our template and have identified suitable software metrics. We have also recommended a root cause analysis approach at various points of the process models.

The suggested software metrics can be derived from various product and process artifacts. They can …

Revising And Unifying The Use Case Textual And Graphical Worlds, Pierre Metz

Theses

This thesis traces the evolution of use cases and use case relationships from the initial suggestion by Jacobson et al. in OOSE until today. This tracing reveals that there are two distinct streams of development, as referred in this thesis to as the “textual world” and the “graphical world”: the textual world being literature concentrating on textual use case properties, i.e. use case writing techniques and use case templates. The second stream that has been developed in parallel with the use case template progression is UML, i.e. Unified Modeling Language, which defines the standard for the use case diagram notation …

Numerical Modelling Of Sediments In Cork Harbour, Jérémy Pingon

Theses

In recent years there have been considerable developments in the new and emerging field of hydroinformatics. This relatively new discipline is concerned with the application of computer and networking technology for the planning, management and protection of water bodies.

Environmental issues in estuaries require accurate and detailed knowledge of cohesive sediment transport processes to assess different issues including water quality, pollutant dispersion, and dredging and maintenance of navigation channels.

This thesis presents a review of the main sediment properties and processes required for modelling the behaviour and transport of sediments. It also introduces a new approach to sediment properties using …

Building A Declarative Workflow Engine, Patrick Rushe

Theses

In the last two decades, technology has become available that not only allows certain activities of a business process to be automated, but also allows a business process itself to be automatically managed. A Workflow Management System assigns the work, passes it on, and tracks its progress. This technology is called Workflow. Workflow is the automation and formal management of a business process.

Many commercial and open-source Workflow Management Systems are available. However, the cost and technical difficulty in implementing either can be excessively high. The primary contribution of this work is to prove that building a workflow engine is …

Gmpac - The Generic Message Processing And Communications Framework, Eoin Barry

Theses

The Generic Message Processing and Communications Framework (GMPAC), is an extensible, communications architecture, which is concerned processing various message types. The GMPAC framework is designed around the java NIO API. It receives in various messages over a socket, decomposes them and extracts the payload. It then passes a message back to the sender in the same format as the received message. GMPAC uses xml files to define message formats, and decodes and decodes the messages using information contained in these definitions. This project was developed for Altobridge Tralee, meeting a set of requirements set out by them. This report provides …

Radio Resource Management For Cellular Wireless Local Area Networks., Olivia Brickley

Theses

The growing demand for mobile computing worldwide has led to the increasing deployment and use of Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) in the last number of years. During this time, user requirements have evolved, resulting in a more diverse mix of services being carried over the wireless medium. In particular, delay sensitive real-time applications such as streaming multimedia and voice over IP are growing in importance. The widely accepted IEEE 802.11b standard, however, was not designed with sufficient Quality of Service (QoS) constraints for such applications. A new draft of the standard named 802.1 le has been proposed that deals …

Static Source Code Weaving : Overcoming The Challenges Of Aspect-Oriented Programming, Stephen Malone

Theses

Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) is a relatively new programming paradigm, which promises to allow developers to express cross-cutting concerns independently of their application to the primary core concerns of a system. This promises to allow developers the freedom to reason about both the cross-cutting concerns of a system as well as its primary concerns. In allowing for the expression of cross-cutting concerns AOP is extremely powerful; significant benefits have been found such as the ability to reason about cross-cutting concerns, and in some cases dramatic reductions in the number of lines of code required to implement crosscutting behaviour. These benefits however …

The Pedagogical And Practical Issues Of Using Ict In Post-Primary Schools, Kay O'Sullivan Mc Carty

Theses

This study was an investigation into some of the pedagogical and practical issues that need to be considered when using ICT, with particular reference to post-primary schools. This investigation was prompted by the introduction of broadband into Irish schools in the next twelve months. Resources need to be developed that are subject specific and relevant to the Irish curriculum. The principle learning theories were examined and their pedagogical implications for post-primary teachers were discussed. The definition of learning styles was explored, different measurements were looked at and several internet based inventories were examined. The VARK questionnaire was administered to a …

A Case For Constructivism In Workplace Education : Substantiated With The Design, Development, Implementation And Evaluation Of A Collaborative And Resource-Based Web Learning Environment, Carmel Burke

Theses

This thesis addresses the role of constructivism in workplace education, where organisations are currently going through a time of great change. The study starts with questioning the suitability of information and communication technology in current web based learning in the workplace. Organisations increasingly require professionals to possess knowledge in a dynamic way in order to deal with change and just-in-time demands. The research is firmly anchored in learning theories as they apply to workplace education and particularly as they apply to collaborative and resource-based web learning. An extensive literature review is produced in order to establish a theoretical starting point …

Singular Value Decomposition Of Analogs Of Gbr 12909, Anna Fiorentino

Theses

Analogs of GBR 12909 are drugs that could potentially be used to treat cocaine addiction. Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is a multivariate analysis technique used to show relationships between the data and the variables associated with the data. The input data consists of the conformers of each analog (DM324, 728 conformers; TP250, 739 conformers) along with the eight torsional angles (Al, A2, B1-B6). A novel scaling technique was developed to address the problem of data circularity by subtracting the values of the torsional angles of the global energy minimum conformation from those of each conformer.

In SVD the original data …

Slimsvm : A Simple Implementation Of Support Vector Machine For Analysis Of Microarray Data, Avik Karmaker

Theses

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a supervised machine learning technique being widely used in multiple areas of biological analysis including microarray data analysis. SlimSVM has been developed with the intention of replacing OSU SVM as the classification component of GenoIterSVM in order to make it independent of other SVM packages. GenolterSVM, developed by Dr. Marc Ma, is a SVM implementation with an iterative refinement algorithm for improved accuracy of classification of genotype microarray data. SlimSVM is an object-oriented, modular, and easy-to-use implementation written in C++. It supports dot (linear) and polynomial (non-linear) kernels. The program has been tested with artificial …