Computer Sciences Commons^™

Using A Focus Measure To Automate The Location Of Biological Tissue Surfaces In Brightfield Microscopy, Daniel Toby Elozory

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The study of microstructures in brightfield microscopy using unbiased stereology plays a large and growing role in bioscience research. Stereology enables objective quantitative analysis of biological structures within a tissue sample. A first step in the stereology process is to calculate the thickness of a tissue sample by locating the top and bottom surfaces of the sample. The aim of this project is to fully automate this location process by using the relative optical focus measure as an indicator of tissue surface boundary.

The current method for identification of focus bounding planes requires a trained user to manually select the …

New Media Photographic Representations Of Women`S Collegiate Volleyball: Game Faces, Action Shots, And Equipment, Alicia Pack

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers consistently find that mainstream media often represent women athletes in stereotypical ways including trivialization, sexualization, infantilization, passivity, and utilization of camera down-angles. However, research on new media's visual representation of women athletes is still in its infancy. This study adds to the growing literature on new media's representation of women athletes and concurs with previous findings suggesting that new media might be an outlet that can counter old media gender stereotypes. This thesis used mixed methods of qualitative content analysis and photovoice in order to better understand how Big East volleyball players are represented in photographs on websites: Instances …

Realizing Virtuality: Tracing The Contours Of Digital Culture, Nicholas Andrew Riggs

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

People connect digitally through social media, fusing their relationships with meaning in a non-space of relational potential--a translucent and fluctuating enclave where the self becomes elastic. This thesis explores how I have formed bonds in virtual space through ritual interaction. Looking at the ways I learned to use technology through the progression of a close personal relationship, I suggest that social media use is a performance of identity--a virtuality that exposes how people negotiate the digital enclosure of contemporary society. My story is one of digital nativity and reclaiming love through virtual performance. I show how these performances have had …

Cryptography Using Steganography: New Algorithms And Applications, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

Developing methods for ensuring the secure exchange of information is one of the oldest occupations in history. With the revolution in Information Technology, the need for securing information and the variety of methods that have been developed to do it has expanded rapidly. Much of the technology that forms the basis for many of the techniques used today was originally conceived for use in military communications and has since found a place in a wide range of industrial and commercial sectors. This has led to the development of certain industry standards that are compounded in specific data processing algorithms together …

Why Is An Einstein Ring Blue?, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

Albert Einstein predicted the existence of `Einstein rings' as a consequence of his general theory of relativity. The phenomenon is a direct result of the idea that if a mass warps space-time then light (and other electromagnetic waves) will be `lensed' by the strong gravitational field produced by a large cosmological body such as a galaxy. Since 1998, when the first complete Einstein ring was observed, many more complete or partially complete Einstein rings have been observed in the radio and infrared spectra, for example, and by the Hubble Space Telescope in the optical spectrum. However, in the latter case, …

Defining Routing Policies In Peer-To-Peer Overlay Networks, Michael Pickering

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This master’s thesis involves the definition and development of a policy-based routing scheme for peer-to-peer overlay networks. Many peer-to-peer networks are in existence today and each has various methods for discovering new peers, searching for content, and overcoming connectivity problems. The addition of efficient policy-based routing enhances the ability of peers within overlay networks to make appropriate routing decisions. Policy-based routing provides a means for peers to define the types of network traffic they are willing to route and the conditions under which they will route it. The motivations for these policies are many and are described in upcoming sections. …

A Low Cost Adaptive Graphical User Interface For The Visually Handicapped With Multiple Conditions, David Veal, Stanislaw Maj

Research outputs 2011

Limited trials have been demonstrated that a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for the visually handicapped called Dynamic Pattern System (DPS) can adaptively utilize residual vision by generating different patterns, colors and shapes. Low vision simulators, used by normally sighted, have allowed researchers to clearly identify visual impairments that can be helped by DPS. However, it is not uncommon for the visually handicapped to suffer from multiple conditions having a multiplicative degenerative effect on their sight. This paper demonstrates how DPS can be used to assist individuals with compound sight disorders.

Teaching Software Engineering Project Management-A Novel Approach For Software Engineering Programs, Craig Caulfield, David Veal, Stanislaw Maj

Research outputs 2011

In response to real and perceived short-comings in the quality and productivity of software engineering practices and projects, professionally-endorsed graduate and post-graduate curriculum guides have been developed to meet technical developments and evolving industry demands. Each of these curriculum guidelines identifies better software project management skills as critical for all graduating students, but they provide little guidance on how to achieve this. One possible way is to use a serious game - a game designed to teach and educate players about some of the dynamic complexities of the field in a safe and inexpensive environment. This paper presents the results …

Reinforcement Learning Of Competitive And Cooperative Skills In Soccer Agents, Jinsong Leng, Chee Lim

Research outputs 2011

The main aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive numerical analysis on the efficiency of various reinforcementlearning (RL) techniques in an agent-based soccer game. The SoccerBots is employed as a simulation testbed to analyze the effectiveness of RL techniques under various scenarios. A hybrid agent teaming framework for investigating agent team architecture, learning abilities, and other specific behaviours is presented. Novel RL algorithms to verify the competitiveandcooperativelearning abilities of goal-oriented agents for decision-making are developed. In particular, the tile coding (TC) technique, a function approximation approach, is used to prevent the state space from growing exponentially, hence avoiding …

A New Seal Verification For Chinese Color Seal, Zhihu Huang, Jinsong Leng

Research outputs 2011

Automatic seal imprint identification system is highly demanded in oriental countries. Even though several seal identification techniques have been proposed, it is seldom to find the papers on the recovery of lost seal imprint strokes caused by superimposition. In this paper, a new seal verification for Chinese color seal is proposed. This approach segments the seal imprint from the input image in terms of the adaptive thresholds. The lost seal imprint strokes are recovered based on the text stroke width that can be detected automatically. In addition, the moment-based seal verification is to compare the reference seal imprint and the …

High-Dimensional Objective-Based Data Farming, Zeng Fanchao, James Decraene, Malcolm Low, Wentong Cai, Suiping Zhou, Philip F. Hingston

Research outputs 2011

In objective-based data farming, decision variables of the Red Team are evolved using evolutionary algorithms such that a series of rigorous Red Team strategies can be generated to assess the Blue Team's operational tactics. Typically, less than 10 decision variables (out of 1000+) are selected by subject matter experts (SMEs) based on their past experience and intuition. While this approach can significantly improve the computing efficiency of the data farming process, it limits the chance of discovering “surprises” and moreover, data farming may be used only to verify SMEs' assumptions. A straightforward solution is simply to evolve all Red Team …

Behaviour Profiling For Transparent Authentication For Mobile Devices, Fudong Li, Nathan Clarke, Maria Papadaki, Paul Dowland

Research outputs 2011

Since the first handheld cellular phone was introduced in 1970s, the mobile phone has changed significantly both in terms of popularity and functionality. With more than 4.6 billion subscribers around the world, it has become a ubiquitous device in our daily life. Apart from the traditional telephony and text messaging services, people are enjoying a much wider range of mobile services over a variety of network connections in the form of mobile applications. Although a number of security mechanisms such as authentication, antivirus, and firewall applications are available, it is still difficult to keep up with various mobile threats (i.e. …

Estimation Of Cbr Value Using Dynamic Cone Penetrometer, K S. Gill, A K. Choudhary, S K. Shukla

Research outputs 2011

IRC•37-2001, the Indian Roads Congress standard deals with the design of flexible pavements and recommends the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) as an indicator of subgrade soil strength. The subbase/base thickness of pavement is governed by the CBR value of the subgrade soil along with some other parameters such as traffic intensity, climatic conditions, etc. The conventional CBR testing method is expensive, time consuming and its repeatability is low. Additionally, it is very difficult to mould the sample at the desired in-situ density in the laboratory CBR test. Values of in• situ density are underestimated due to local dampness of surface …

Website Accessibility In Western Australian Public Libraries, Vivienne Conway

Research outputs 2011

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has established international standards for website accessibility which attempt to ensure that everyone has the same opportunities to use materials published on the World Wide Web (Web). This article provides a summation of the research conducted into the accessibility of public library websites in Western Australia. A discussion is provided of the website audit methods used and results obtained. The research demonstrates the level of compliance with Australian and International standards as well as results of surveys used to determine the perceived willingness to comply with those standards, barriers to compliance and benefits of …

Adaptive Use Of Thresholding And Multiple Colour Space Representation To Improve Classification Of Mmcc Barcode, Siong Khai Ong, Douglas Chai, Alexander Rassau

Research outputs 2011

Colour 2D barcodes, such as the MMCC barcode, have been developed recently to improve the data capacity of monochrome barcodes. However, the use of colour imposes greater challenges in decoding the symbols correctly as different lighting conditions on the barcode vary the values of the colours significantly. Hence, it is desirable to have an adaptive classification of the data cells so as to adapt to various lighting conditions. In this paper, we propose a classification method that is able to adapt to different lighting conditions during the classification of the MMCC data cells in a mobile environment. To highlight the …

Multi Camera Visual Saliency Using Image Stitching, Christopher Wing Hong Ngau, Li-Minn Ang, Kah Phooi Seng

Research outputs 2011

This paper presents and investigates two models for a multi camera configuration with visual saliency capability. Applications in various imaging fields each have a different set of detection parameters and requirements which would result in the necessity of software changes. The visual saliency capability offered by this multi camera model allows generic detection of conspicuous objects be it human or nonhuman based on simple low level features. As multiple cameras are used, an image stitching technique is employed to allow combination of Field-of-View (FoV) from different camera captures to provide a panoramic detection field. The stitching technique is also used …

Managing Multidisciplinary Student Design Teams, Martin Masek, Joo Jung, Barnard Clarkson

Research outputs 2011

The management of multidisciplinary student teams is a challenge. In this paper we describe our experience in running a shared assessment across several units. Four multidisciplinary teams were formed, and success was mixed, with one team splitting into two along discipline lines and all experiencing communication issues. The main management challenges that arose were based around difficulty in communication and the understanding of the other disciplines requirements. We outline the process we used to construct the shared assessment, and provide some insight in how the student groups dealt with issues that arose.

Kindle Forensics: Acquisition And Analysis, Peter Hannay

Research outputs 2011

The Amazon Kindle eBook reader supports a wide range of capabilities beyond reading books. This functionality includes an inbuilt cellular data connection known as Whispernet. The Kindle provides web browsing, an application framework, eBook delivery and other services over this connection. The historic data left by user interaction with this device may be of forensic interest. Analysis of the Amazon Kindle device has resulted in a method to reliably extract and interpret data from these devices in a forensically complete manner.

From Isotropic To Anisotropic Side Chain Representations: Comparison Of Three Models For Residue Contact Estimation, Weitao Sun, Jing He

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The criterion to determine residue contact is a fundamental problem in deriving knowledge-based mean-force potential energy calculations for protein structures. A frequently used criterion is to require the side chain center-to-center distance or the C-alpha-to-C-alpha atom distance to be within a pre-determined cutoff distance. However, the spatially anisotropic nature of the side chain determines that it is challenging to identify the contact pairs. This study compares three side chain contact models: the Atom Distance criteria (ADC) model, the Isotropic Sphere Side chain (ISS) model and the Anisotropic Ellipsoid Side chain (AES) model using 424 high resolution protein structures in the …

Multitissue Tetrahedral Image-To-Mesh Conversion With Guaranteed Quality And Fidelity, Andrey N. Chernikov, Nikos P. Chrisochoides

Computer Science Faculty Publications

We present a novel algorithm for tetrahedral image-to-mesh conversion which allows for guaranteed bounds on the smallest dihedral angle and on the distance between the boundaries of the mesh and the boundaries of the tissues. The algorithm produces a small number of mesh elements that comply with these bounds. We also describe and evaluate our implementation of the proposed algorithm that is compatible in performance with a state-of-the art Delaunay code, but in addition solves the small dihedral angle problem. Read More: http://epubs.siam.org/doi/10.1137/100815256

User Experiments Of A Social, Faceted Multimedia Classification System, Liuliu Fu, Kurt Maly, Elizabeth Rasnick, Harris Wu, Mohammad Zubair

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Internet document sharing systems such as Flickr store billions of user-contributed images. Many collections on the Web contain large numbers of multimedia objects such as images. While such systems are designed to encourage user contributions and sharing, they are not well-organized collections on any given subject and are not easy to browse for specific subject matters. We have built a system that systematically organizes a large multimedia collection into an evolving faceted classification. This paper discusses the evaluation of such a system through a number of usage studies in a university setting.

Computational Network Analysis Of The Anatomical And Genetic Organizations In The Mouse Brain, Shuiwang Ji

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Motivation: The mammalian central nervous system (CNS) generates high-level behavior and cognitive functions. Elucidating the anatomical and genetic organizations in the CNS is a key step toward understanding the functional brain circuitry. The CNS contains an enormous number of cell types, each with unique gene expression patterns. Therefore, it is of central importance to capture the spatial expression patterns in the brain. Currently, genome-wide atlas of spatial expression patterns in the mouse brain has been made available, and the data are in the form of aligned 3D data arrays. The sheer volume and complexity of these data pose significant challenges …

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks, Syed R. Rizvi, Stephan Olariu, Christina M. Oinotti, Shaharuddin Salleh, Mona E. Rizvi, Zainab Zaidi

Computer Science Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have recently been proposed as one of the promising ad hoc networking techniques that can provide both drivers and passengers with a safe and enjoyable driving experience. VANETs can be used for many applications with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. In the United States, motor vehicle traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for all motorists between two and thirty-four years of age. In 2009, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 33,808 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. The US Department of Transportation (US-DOT) estimates that …

Security Risk Management: A Psychometric Map Of Expert Knowledge Structure, David Brooks

Research outputs 2011

The security industry operates within a diverse and multi-disciplined knowledge base, with risk management as a fundamental knowledge domain within security to mitigate its risks. Nevertheless, there has been limited research in understanding and mapping security expert knowledge structures within security risk management to consider if parts of security risk management are unique from more general risk management. This interpretive study applied a technique of multidimensional scaling (MDS) to develop and present a psychometric map within the knowledge domain of security risk management, validated with expert interviews. The psychometric MDS security risk management concept map presented the expert knowledge structure …

Analysis Of Data Remaining On Second Hand Adsl Routers, Patryk Szewczyk

Research outputs 2011

In theory, an ADSL router can provide an additional layer of security to a wired and wireless network through; access control, wireless encryption, firewall rule sets, and network event logging. An ADSL router may also contain the users’ usage habits and broadband account credentials. However, end-users may be unaware of the intricacies of the security measures available and the potentially confidential information stored on their device. As a result a second hand ADSL router may contain a wealth of user-specific information if not wiped and disposed of in a secure manner. This paper shows the data that was acquired from …