Computer Sciences Commons^™

Technical Reports (1999 - 2005)

School of Computing: Technical Reports

Authors of Technical Reports (1999-2005):
Choueiry, Berthe
Elbaum, Sebastian
Goddard, Steve
Henninger, Scott
Jiang, Hong
Rothermel, Gregg
Scott, Stephen
Seth, Sharad
Soh, Leen-Kiat
Variyam, Vinodchandran

Balancing Exploration And Exploitation: A New Algorithm For Active Machine Learning, Thomas Osugi, Deng Kun, Stephen Scott

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Active machine learning algorithms are used when large numbers of unlabeled examples are available and getting labels for them is costly (e.g. requiring consulting a human expert). Many conventional active learning algorithms focus on refining the decision boundary, at the expense of exploring new regions that the current hypothesis misclassifies. We propose a new active learning algorithm that balances such exploration with refining of the decision boundary by dynamically adjusting the probability to explore at each step. Our experimental results demonstrate improved performance on data sets that require extensive exploration while remaining competitive on data sets that do not. Our …

Utilizing Device Slack For Energy-Efficient I/O Device Scheduling In Hard Real-Time Systems With Non-Preemptible Resources, Hui Cheng, Steve Goddard

School of Computing: Technical Reports

The challenge in conserving energy in embedded real-time systems is to reduce power consumption while preserving temporal correctness. Much research has focused on power conservation for the processor, while power conservation for I/O devices has received little attention. In this paper, we analyze the problem of online energy-aware I/O scheduling for hard real-time systems based on the preemptive periodic task model with non-preemptible shared resources. We extend the concept of device slack proposed in [2] to support non-preemptible shared resources; and propose an online energy-aware I/O scheduling algorithm: Energy-efficient Device Scheduling with Non-preemptible Resources (EEDS NR). The EEDS NR algorithm …

On Finding Consecutive Test Vectors In A Random Sequence For Energy-Aware Bist Design, Sheng Zhang, Sharad C. Seth, Bhargab B. Bhattacharya

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

During pseudorandom testing, a significant amount of energy and test application time is wasted for generating and for applying “useless” test vectors that do not contribute to fault dropping. For low-power testing, modification logic/ROM may be used to skip the LFSR states that generate useless test patterns. The overhead of extra logic increases rapidly with the number of such jumps. Since identification of useless patterns strongly depends on the order in which incremental fault simulation is performed, an elegant solution to this problem would be to find a minimum set of segments in the LFSR sequence, where each segment corresponds …

Special Section: Human-Computer Interaction Research In Management Information Systems, Ping Zhang, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, Izak Benbasat

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

No abstract provided.

End User Preference Of Customisable Features Within A Course Management System, Diana Taylor

Theses : Honours

Customisation is the means by which people alter and change various elements of their environment with the purpose of making it more suited to their immediate needs. This aids in creating a more personalised experience. People are extremely diverse in terms of age, gender, nationality, and with the dominant presence of technology people also have various levels of computer skills and experience. In the context of computer environments, customisation provides the ability to cater for a diverse user group, providing tools and options that assist with specific tasks, improve accessibility and achieve greater user satisfaction. Carter, MacLean, Lovstard & Moran …

Towards Persistent Resource Identification With The Uniform Resource Name, Luke Brown

Theses : Honours

The exponential growth of the Internet, and the subsequent reliance on the resources it connects, has exposed a clear need for an Internet identifier which remains accessible over time. Such identifiers have been dubbed persistent identifiers owing to the promise of reliability they imply. Persistent naming systems exist at present, however it is the resolution of these systems into what Kunze, (2003) calls "persistent actionable identifiers" which is the focus of this work. Actionable identifiers can be thought of as identifiers which are accessible in a simple fashion such as through a web browser or through a specific application. This …

Autonomous Vehicle Technologies For Small Fixed-Wing Uavs, Randal Beard, Derek Kingston, Morgan Quigley, Deryl Snyder, Reed Christiansen, Walt Johnson, Timothy Mclain, Michael A. Goodrich

Faculty Publications

The objective of this paper is to describe the design and implementation of a small semi-autonomous fixed-wing unmanned air vehicle. In particular we describe the hardware and software architectures used in the design. We also describe a low weight, low cost autopilot developed at Brigham Young University and the algorithms associated with the autopilot. Novel PDA and voice interfaces to the UAV are described. In addition, we overview our approach to real-time path planning, trajectory generation, and trajectory tracking. The paper is augmented with movie files that demonstrate the functionality of the UAV and its control software.

Real-Time Realistic Rendering And High Dynamic Range Image Display And Compression, Ruifeng Xu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the many issues that arise from the visual rendering problem. Of primary consideration is light transport simulation, which is known to be computationally expensive. Monte Carlo methods represent a simple and general class of algorithms often used for light transport computation. Unfortunately, the images resulting from Monte Carlo approaches generally suffer from visually unacceptable noise artifacts. The result of any light transport simulation is, by its very nature, an image of high dynamic range (HDR). This leads to the issues of the display of such images on conventional low dynamic range devices and the development of …

Development Of A Systems Engineering Model Of The Chemical Separations Process, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Sean Hsieh

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The chemical processing of used nuclear fuel is an integral component of any strategy for the transmutation of nuclear waste. Due to the large volume of material that must be handled in this first step of the transmutation process, the efficiency of the separations process is a key factor in the potential economic viability of transmutation strategies. The ability to optimize the chemical separation systems is vital to ensure the feasibility of the transmutation program.

Systems analysis, or total systems modeling, is one of the strongest tools available to researchers for understanding and optimizing complex systems such as chemical separations …

Development Of Integrated Process Simulation System Model For Spent Fuel Treatment Facility (Sftf) Design, Yitung Chen, Sean Hsieh

Separations Campaign (TRP)

The major objective is to create a framework that combines all the strengths of AMUSE’s complicated calculations, well established commercial system process package such as ASPENPLUS, HYSYS and PRO/II and TRPSEMPro’s flexible parameter optimization modules. Development of the process simulation code can be done using the solvent extraction process experience at Argonne National Laboratory and in collaboration with the NCACM.

The major activities of the task are the following:

• Develop a framework for simulating the SFTF process using AMUSE code, commercial process package, such as ASPEN- PLUS, and system engineering model.
• Develop a middleware package that can communicate between the …

Formalization Of Input And Output In Modern Operating Systems: The Hadley Model, Matthew Gerber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We present the Hadley model, a formal descriptive model of input and output for modern computer operating systems. Our model is intentionally inspired by the Open Systems Interconnection model of networking; I/O as a process is defined as a set of translations between a set of computer-sensible forms, or layers, of information. To illustrate an initial application domain, we discuss the utility of the Hadley model and a potential associated I/O system as a tool for digital forensic investigators. To illustrate practical uses of the Hadley model we present the Hadley Specification Language, an essentially functional language designed to allow …

Network Intrusion Detection: Monitoring, Simulation And Visualization, Mian Zhou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents our work on network intrusion detection and intrusion sim- ulation. The work in intrusion detection consists of two different network anomaly-based approaches. The work in intrusion simulation introduces a model using explicit traffic gen- eration for the packet level traffic simulation. The process of anomaly detection is to first build profiles for the normal network activity and then mark any events or activities that deviate from the normal profiles as suspicious. Based on the different schemes of creating the normal activity profiles, we introduce two approaches for intrusion detection. The first one is a frequency-based approach which …

Weak Factorizations, Fractions And Homotopies, Alexander Kurz, Jiří Rosický

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We show that the homotopy category can be assigned to any category equipped with a weak factorization system. A classical example of this construction is the stable category of modules. We discuss a connection with the open map approach to bisimulations proposed by Joyal, Nielsen and Winskel.

Learning Discrete Hidden Markov Models From State Distribution Vectors, Luis G. Moscovich

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) are probabilistic models that have been widely applied to a number of fields since their inception in the late 1960’s. Computational Biology, Image Processing, and Signal Processing, are but a few of the application areas of HMMs. In this dissertation, we develop several new efficient learning algorithms for learning HMM parameters. First, we propose a new polynomial-time algorithm for supervised learning of the parameters of a first order HMM from a state probability distribution (SD) oracle. The SD oracle provides the learner with the state distribution vector corresponding to a query string. We prove the correctness …

Using Process Modelling To Capture Requirements For A Digital Library, Michael Johnstone

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper describes the results of an action research study which explored how IT professionals used process modelling to capture requirements and design artefacts concerning a digital library system. The intention was to produce a web-based, non-relational (XML) database system to store publications of various types and to allow public domain access to the system. Traditionally, such systems are constructed with a data-oriented design, with little attention being paid to process concerns. In this study, process, described by business rules, was defined first which provides advantages as many business systems (including library systems) are often process-oriented. The team involved in …

An Ant Colony Optimization Approach To Test Sequence Generation For State-Based Software Testing, Huaizhong Li, Chiou Peng Lam

Research outputs pre 2011

Properly generated test suites may not only locate the defects in software systems, but also help in reducing the high cost associated with software testing, ft is often desired that test sequences in a test suite can be automatically generated to achieve required test coverage. However, automatic test sequence generation remains a major problem in software testing. This paper proposes an ant colony optimization approach to automatic test sequence generation for state-based software testing. The proposed approach can directly use UML artifacts to automatically generate test sequences to achieve required test coverage.

Using Adaptive Agents To Automatically Generate Test Scenarios From The Uml Activity Diagrams, Dong Xu, Huaizhong Li, Chiou Peng Lam

Research outputs pre 2011

Test case generation is one of the most important issues in software testing research and industrial practice. Test scenarios are frequently used to derive test cases for scenario-based software testing. However, the generation of the test scenarios is usually a manual and labor-intensive task. It is desired that test scenarios can be automatically generated. In this paper, we propose an automated approach using adaptive agents to directly generate test scenarios from the UML activity diagrams.

Seeking Information Superiority: Strategies For Business In The Commercial Application Of Information Operations, Martin Dart

Research outputs pre 2011

Information superiority is a condition that many businesses attempt to attain without truly understanding what it is, or how to get there. This paper presents an overview to help businesspeople recognize the road to information superiority, and some of the essential strategies to implement along the way. Information operations is a concept described to enable information superiority, when used with a network form of organization (as opposed to simply being networked). This paper describes information operations across their fundamental structure of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); and suggests a separation between industrial espionage and legitimate business information gathering. A model …

Storybook: Extending A Personalised Interactive Learning Environment To Children With Severe Learning Disabilities, Michael Collins, Sundrakanthi Singh

Research outputs pre 2011

Not all recipients of eLearning map well for measurement by such as the Kirkpatrick model, especially young students with severe learning disabilities. StoryBook is a tool specifically designed to aid teachers to create and include a simple, enjoyable, tailored interactive computer-based audio/visual learning environment as part of a custom curriculum for such students. In it, stories are currently gathered into libraries suitable for unique individuals or more common content, on a local, classroom basis. We describe prototype software for eLearning for such students, already trialled in a special educational unit in Perth, Western Australia. We then outline plans for a …

Issues Relating To The Forensic Analysis Of Pda And Telephony (Pdat) Enabled Devices, Craig Valli

Research outputs pre 2011

An emergent technology is the PDAT (Personal Digital Assistant & Telecommunicator) a hybrid of a mobile phone and coupled with a PDA's computing and storage abilities. Potentially every mobile phone is now an alternate or possibly primary computing and data repository for individuals. This paper explores current issues relating to its merger with mobile phone technology.

Multinomial Representation Of Majority Logic Coding, John B. Moore, Keng T. Tan

Research outputs pre 2011

Multinomial representations are derived for majority logic operations on bipolar binary data. The coefficients are given simply in terms of the readily computed lower Cholesky factor of Pascal matrices of order n for codes of block length n

A Uk And Australian Study Of Hard Disk Disposal, Craig Valli, Andrew Jones

Research outputs pre 2011

Recent studies in Australia and the United Kingdom indicate that a broad cross-section of organisations are failing to adequately protect or erase confidential data stored on hard disk drives before subsequent disposal. Over 90% of hard disks that were examined as a result of the two Independent studies were in an easily recoverable state with some drives simply requiring a boot. This paper will give an overview and comparison of the two studies conducted. Then an examination of possible factors responsible for the inadequate erasure of hard disk devices will be undertaken. Furthermore, possible future research directions will also be …

Integrating Open Source Protections Into Scada Networks, Craig Valli

Research outputs pre 2011

SCADA (Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition) networks control much of the industrialised nations production and supply complexes. Various government reports and investigations have highlighted the vulnerability of these systems. Many of these systems are on private networks which are increasingly being connected to systems that are accessible from other networks such as the Internet. There are a range of open source tools that now offer fonctionality that can be used to secure SCADA networks from intrusion or compromise. This paper explores some of the issues with current SCADA deployment trends from a network security perspective and then examines open source …

An Investigation Into The Efficiency Of Forensic Erasure Tools For Hard Disk Mechanisms, Craig Valli, Paul Patak

Research outputs pre 2011

One of the common anecdotal complaints used when defending the insecure erasure of hard disks is the length of time taken to affect a secure erasure. This paper discusses results of experiments conducted with Unix/Linux based hard disk wiping software when run on various machines and hard disk mechanisms in terms of size, speed and interface. The initial research has uncovered a range of issues and factors that affect the speed of erasure of hard disk mechanisms. Some of these factors included memory configuration and CPU but not in ways that were expected. This paper includes results from contemporary ATA …

After Conversation - A Forensic Icq Logfile Extraction Tool, Kim Morfitt, Craig Valli

Research outputs pre 2011

Instant messenger programs such as ICQ are often used by hackers and criminals for illicit purposes and consequently the logfiles from such programs are of forensic interest. This paper outlines research in progress that has resulted in the development of a tool for the extraction of ICQ logfile entries. Detailed reconstruction of data from logfiles was achieved with a number of different ICQ software, with other programs still to be tested. There are several limitations including timestamp information not adjusted for the time zone, data could be altered, and conversations must be manually reconstructed. Future research will aim to address …

Honeypot Technologies And Their Applicability As An Internal Countermeasure, Craig Valli

Research outputs pre 2011

Honeypots or honeynets are a technology that is rapidly maturing and establishing this archetype of countermeasure as viable and useful in modern network defence. Honeypot technology is now at a point of development where near real-time monitoring and forensic analysis of security events can occur. This paper explores the hurdles to be overcome for the internal deployment of honeypot technologies.

An Investigation Into Long Range Detection Of Passive Uhf Rfid Tags, Craig Valli, Andrew Woodward, Ken Wild, Reino Karvinen

Research outputs pre 2011

Radio frequency identification tags (RFID) have been in use for a number of years, in a variety of applications. They are a small computer chip like device that can range in size from a thumbnail to a credit card size device. They consist of a small silicon chip, and an antenna used to receive and transmit data. When a tag receives a signal from a valid reader it sends a response, typically a tag ID and any other requested/available data back to the reader device. The newer range of RFID chips that are coming into use now use higher frequencies …

Diversity In Information And Communication Technologies: The Cost Of Lost Opportunities, Susan Gail Webb

Research outputs pre 2011

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry develops products that are used by many people regardless of gender, age, social status, ethnicity, or religion. Technology has had a significant impact on the way that information is produced, stored and communicated, especially in the fields that have traditionally been heavy producers of information such as libraries and education institutions. Though all types of people use technology, not all types of people are involved in the design and development of technology. Women represent just twenty percent of Australian ICT professionals. They often receive less pay than their male colleagues and are greatly …

The Underestimation Of Threats To Patients Data In Clinical Practice, Patricia Williams

Research outputs pre 2011

Issues in the security of medical data present a greater challenge than in other data security environments. The complexity of the threats and ethics involved, coupled with the poor management of these threats makes the protection of data in clinical practice problematic. This paper discusses the security threats to medical data in terms of confidentiality, privacy, integrity, misuse and availability, and reviews the issue of responsibility with reference to clinical governance. Finally. the paper uncovers some of the underlying reasons for the underestimation of the threats to medical data by the medical profession.