Computer Sciences Commons^™

Context Awareness And Discovery For Helping The Blind, Martin Goldberg

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

A Survey And Analysis Of Solutions To The Oblivious Memory Access Problem, Erin Elizabeth Chapman

Dissertations and Theses

Despite the use of strong encryption schemes, one can still learn information about encrypted data using side channel attacks [2]. Watching what physical memory is being accessed can be such a side channel. One can hide this information by using oblivious simulation - hiding the true access pattern of a program. In this paper we will review the model behind oblivious simulation, attempt to formalize the problem and define a security game. We will review the major solutions pro- posed so far, the square root and hierarchical solutions, as well as propose a new variation on the square root solution. …

The Basic Scheme For The Evaluation Of Functional Logic Programs, Arthur Peters

Dissertations and Theses

Functional logic languages provide a powerful programming paradigm combining the features of functional languages and logic languages. However, current implementations of functional logic languages are complex, slow, or both. This thesis presents a scheme, called the Basic Scheme, for compiling and executing functional logic languages based on non-deterministic graph rewriting. This thesis also describes the implementation and optimization of a prototype of the Basic Scheme. The prototype is simple and performs well compared to other current implementations.

Using A Virtual World For Robot Planning, D. Paul Benjamin, John V. Monaco, Yixia Lin, Christopher Funk, Damian M. Lyons

CSIS Technical Reports

The architecture constructs a real-time virtual copy of the robot and its environment using PhysX, OpenCV, the Point Cloud Library, Soar, and Robot Schemas. A Match-Mediated Difference component compares actual sensory data with corresponding virtual-camera data and alerts the cognitive system to significant divergence. The virtual world can then be run faster than real time to search possible future trajectories for planning.

Measurement And Modeling Of Passive Surface Mount Devices On Fr4 Substrates, Rahulkumar Sadanand Koche

Dissertations and Theses

Passive components like resistors, capacitors and inductors are used in every electronic system. These are the very basic components which affect the system performance at higher frequencies and it is necessary to understand and model the behavior of these components in a very accurate manner. This work focuses on utilizing Printed Circuit Board (PCB) test boards, or fixtures, made of FR4 for characterizing Surface Mount Device (SMD) components. Agilent's Advanced Design System (ADS) microwave circuit simulation software was used for designing the microstrip transmission lines as well as for generating the layout for manufacturing of the PCB. SMD resistors, capacitors …

Re-Engineering Ccny's Business Process Of The Non-Tax Levy Disbursements Requisitions, Ferguson Rodley

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

A Data-Descriptive Feedback Framework For Data Stream Management Systems, Rafael J. Fernández Moctezuma

Dissertations and Theses

Data Stream Management Systems (DSMSs) provide support for continuous query evaluation over data streams. Data streams provide processing challenges due to their unbounded nature and varying characteristics, such as rate and density fluctuations. DSMSs need to adapt stream processing to these changes within certain constraints, such as available computational resources and minimum latency requirements in producing results. The proposed research develops an inter-operator feedback framework, where opportunities for run-time adaptation of stream processing are expressed in terms of descriptions of substreams and actions applicable to the substreams, called feedback punctuations. Both the discovery of adaptation opportunities and the exploitation of …

On The Effect Of Heterogeneity On The Dynamics And Performance Of Dynamical Networks, Alireza Goudarzi

Dissertations and Theses

The high cost of processor fabrication plants and approaching physical limits have started a new wave research in alternative computing paradigms. As an alternative to the top-down manufactured silicon-based computers, research in computing using natural and physical system directly has recently gained a great deal of interest. A branch of this research promotes the idea that any physical system with sufficiently complex dynamics is able to perform computation. The power of networks in representing complex interactions between many parts make them a suitable choice for modeling physical systems. Many studies used networks with a homogeneous structure to describe the computational …

Predicting Traffic On The Maine Turnpike Using Artificial Neural Networks, Robert Swain Ms

All Student Scholarship

In this thesis, I compare the forecasting accuracy of statistical models with artificial neural networks when predicting daily traffic counts on the Maine turnpike over holiday weekends.

Towards Real-Time Mixed Reality Matting In Natural Scenes, Nicholas Beato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mixed Reality scenarios, background replacement is a common way to immerse a user in a synthetic environment. Properly identifying the background pixels in an image or video is a dif- ficult problem known as matting. Proper alpha mattes usually come from human guidance, special hardware setups, or color dependent algorithms. This is a consequence of the under-constrained nature of the per pixel alpha blending equation. In constant color matting, research identifies and replaces a background that is a single color, known as the chroma key color. Unfortunately, the algorithms force a controlled physical environment and favor constant, uniform lighting. …

Volume 04, Matt Szemborski, Phillip Van Ness, Sarah Croughwell, Sarah Mayfield, Alyssa Strackbein, Marley Kimmel, Stephanie Skipp, Jamie Yurasits, Katherine Taggart, Alex Leonhart, Kristen Rawls, Andrew Armes, Amanda Haymens, Allison Paqlowski, Erica May, Stephanie Lane, Luke Acree, Cassandra L. Wilson, Stephanie Pishock, Erica Hopson, K. Juston Osborne, Katheryn Grayson, Kyle Fowlkes, Jessica Cox, Kaity Byrum, John-Harwood Scott, Ashley Johnson, Samantha Hockman, Emily Staskiel, Nancy Macdonald, R. Kruger Bressin, Benjamin P. Bilodeau, Andrea Irby, Kristin Macquarrie, Sarah Bietsch, Elizabeth Bednar

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Please note that part of pages 92-95 are redacted, in the digital copy, due to a misprint of the original printed article.

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross

The Internal Other: Transculturation and Postcolonial Magical Realism in Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children by Matt Szemborski

Photography by Phillip Van Ness

Photography “Waterfall” by Sarah Croughwell

Romancing the Bite: Statistical Analysis of Young Adult Vampire Novels by Sarah Mayfield

Photography by Alyssa Strackbein

Photography by Marley Kimmel

Wine and Society in the Viceroyalty of Peru by Stephanie Skipp

Analysis of Claud Monet’s Impression, Sunrise by Jamie Yurasits

Exploring Meaning: The Lindisfarne Gospels by …

Performance And Use Evaluation Of An Electronic Book For Introductory Python Programming, Christine Alvarado, Briana B. Morrison, Barbara Ericson, Mark Guzdial, Brad Miller, David L. Ranum

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Electronic books (ebooks) provide the opportunity to go beyond the limitations of a physical page. These opportunities are particularly important for computing education, where dynamic information is a key characteristic of our domain. An electronic book can provide opportunities to program or conduct analyses that are impossible on the physical page, integrating instructional information with creative exploration. However, just because ebooks provide these opportunities does not mean that we know how students will actually use ebooks in the context of a class. Miller and Ranum have produced an electronic book for teaching introductory computing in Python. We explored how students …

Effects Of Network Trace Sampling Methods On Privacy And Utility Metrics, Phillip A. Fazio, Keren Tan, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

Researchers choosing to share wireless-network traces with colleagues must first anonymize sensitive information, trading off the removal of information in the interest of identity protection and the preservation of useful data within the trace. While several metrics exist to quantify this privacy-utility tradeoff, they are often computationally expensive. Computing these metrics using a \emphsample\/ of the trace could potentially save precious time. In this paper, we examine several sampling methods to discover their effects on measurement of the privacy-utility tradeoff when anonymizing network traces. We tested the relative accuracy of several packet and flow-sampling methods on existing privacy and utility …

Wycinanki: Production Of A Non-Photorealistic Rendered Short Film, Irena Rindos

All Theses

Animals have traditionally occupied a special role in human culture and media, and are also often the focus of today's computer-animated films. The computer graphics (CG) short, Wycinanki, examines the human-animal bond through the story of a woman who rescues animals in Poland. Additionally, Wycinanki draws on the cultural history of its protagonist with its unique paper-cut render style. The goal of this film is to engage viewers and enhance the staying power of the film's message via a compelling story and visuals.
A significant amount of environment and character development and testing was necessary to translate the 2D art …

Beyond Spacetime Geometry – The Death Of Philosophy And Its Quantum Reincarnation, Wen-Ran Zhang

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Contrary to the “end” and “death” assertions on philosophy, this paper predicts an equilibrium-based and harmony-centered scientific reincarnation of philosophy. Logically, the reincarnation is backed by a formal system and a background independent geometry that transcends spacetime. Physically, it is supported by definable quantum causality and bipolar logical unifications of matter and antimatter, particle and wave, big bang and black hole, relativity and quantum entanglement. Philosophically, it is distinguished from Western metaphysics and dialectics as well as the Dao of Laozi. It is named a quantum reincarnation for its central claim that YinYang bipolar quantum entanglement is the source of …

Novel Techniques Of Using Diversity In Software Security And Information Hiding, Jin Han

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Diversity is an important and valuable concept that has been adopted in many fields to reduce correlated risks and to increase survivability. In information security, diversity also helps to increase both defense capability and fault tolerance for information systems and communication networks, where diversity can be adopted from many different perspectives. This dissertation, in particular, focuses mainly on two aspects of diversity – the application software diversity and the diversity in data interpretation. Software diversity has many advantages over mono-culture in improving system security. A number of previous researches focused on utilizing existing off-theshelf diverse software for network protection and …

Understanding "Just Enough" Computer Users: Motivation Style And Proficiency, Harriet Cook King

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Among daily computer users who are proficient, some are flexible at accomplishing unfamiliar tasks on their own and others have difficulty. Software designers and evaluators involved with Human Computer Interaction (HCI) should account for any group of proficient daily users that are shown to stumble over unfamiliar tasks. We define "Just Enough" (JE) users as proficient daily computer users with predominantly extrinsic motivation style who know just enough to get what they want or need from the computer. We hypothesize that JE users have difficulty with unfamiliar computer tasks and skill transfer, whereas intrinsically motivated daily users accomplish unfamiliar tasks …

Poplar Gene Expression Data Analysis Pipelines, Xiang Li

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Analyzing large-scale gene expression data is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. To make data analysis easier, we developed a set of pipelines for rapid processing and analysis poplar gene expression data for knowledge discovery. Of all pipelines developed, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) pipeline is the one designed to identify biologically important genes that are differentially expressed in one of multiple time points for conditions. Pathway analysis pipeline was designed to identify the differentially expression metabolic pathways. Protein domain enrichment pipeline can identify the enriched protein domains present in the DEGs. Finally, Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis pipeline was developed to …

Completeness For The Coalgebraic Cover Modality, Clemens Kupke, Alexander Kurz, Yde Venema

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

We study the finitary version of the coalgebraic logic introduced by L. Moss. The syntax of this logic, which is introduced uniformly with respect to a coalgebraic type functor, required to preserve weak pullbacks, extends that of classical propositional logic with a so-called coalgebraic cover modality depending on the type functor. Its semantics is defined in terms of a categorically defined relation lifting operation.

As the main contributions of our paper we introduce a derivation system, and prove that it provides a sound and complete axiomatization for the collection of coalgebraically valid inequalities. Our soundness and completeness proof is algebraic, …

Coalgebraic Logics (Dagstuhl Seminar 12411), Ernst-Erich Doberkat, Alexander Kurz

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12411 “Coalgebraic Logics”. The seminar deals with recent developments in the area of coalgebraic logic, a branch of logics which combines modal logics with coalgebraic semantics. Modal logic finds its uses when reasoning about behavioural and temporal properties of computation and communication, coalgebras have evolved into a general theory of systems. Consequently, it is natural to combine both areas for a mathematical description of system specification. Coalgebraic logics are closely related to the broader categories semantics/formal methods and verification/logic.

Yin Yang Bipolar Atom - An Eastern Road Toward Quantum Gravity, Wen-Ran Zhang

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

Based on bipolar dynamic logic and bipolar quantum linear algebra, a causal theory of YinYang bipolar atom is introduced in a completely background independent geometry that transcends spacetime. The causal theory leads to an equilibrium-based super symmetrical quantum cosmology of negative-positive energies. It is contended that the new theory has opened an Eastern road toward quantum gravity with bipolar logical unifications of particle and wave, matter and antimatter, relativity and quantum entanglement. Information recovery after a black hole is discussed. It is shown that not only can the new theory be applied in physical worlds but also in logical, mental, …

Scale Invariant Object Recognition Using Cortical Computational Models And A Robotic Platform, Danny Voils

Dissertations and Theses

This paper proposes an end-to-end, scale invariant, visual object recognition system, composed of computational components that mimic the cortex in the brain. The system uses a two stage process. The first stage is a filter that extracts scale invariant features from the visual field. The second stage uses inference based spacio-temporal analysis of these features to identify objects in the visual field. The proposed model combines Numenta's Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM), with HMAX developed by MIT's Brain and Cognitive Science Department. While these two biologically inspired paradigms are based on what is known about the visual cortex, HTM and HMAX …

Corporate Security: Using Knowledge Construction To Define A Practising Body Of Knowledge, David Brooks

Research outputs 2012

Security is a multidimensional concept, with many meanings, practising domains, and heterogeneous occupations. Therefore, it is difficult to define security as a singular concept, although understanding may be achieved by its applied context in presenting a domicile body of knowledge. There have been studies that have presented a number of corporate security bodies of knowledge; however, there is still restricted consensus. From these past body of knowledge studies, and supported by multidimensional scaling knowledge mapping, a body of knowledge framework is put forward, integrating core and allied knowledge categories. The core knowledge categories include practise areas such as risk management, …

An Overview Of Cloud Computing Challenges And Its Security Concerns, Krishnun Sansurooah

Research outputs 2012

There has been an increasing advancement about Cloud computing during the past couple of years. Cloud computing has become a new computer model which aims to deliver reliable, customizable and scalable computing environment for end-users. Companies are choosing to move their data, applications and services to the Cloud. The advantages are significant ranging from increasing the availability, reliability, light weight, easily accessible applications, and low cost but so are the risks associated with. Companies that require application hosting could potentially benefit from the provisioning of computing infrastructure resources as a service. In addition to the economic advantages of an on-demand …

A Proposed Method For Examining Wireless Device Vulnerability To Brute Force Attacks Via Wps External Registrar Pin Authentication Design Vulnerability, Symon Aked, Christopher Bolan, Murray Brand

Research outputs 2012

Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) is a certification scheme introduced in 2007 to ensure that wireless SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) and home networks could be connected to in a trusted, yet user friendly manner. Recently, WPS was shown to have a design and implementation flaw which makes the feature highly susceptible to attack. Although open-source tools have been written and released, no formal testing methodology has been developed. This research presents a proposed method for the testing of this vulnerability in a measured and systematic way.

User Reaction Towards End User License Agreements On Android Smartphones, Hamish Cotton, Christopher Bolan

Research outputs 2012

Smartphones are increasingly recognized as the most popular computing platform, forming an integral part of the way users interact with the online world. Accompanied with the advent of user-installed content, End User License Agreements have surfaced mirroring issues previously arising on more traditional platforms. This survey conducted in Perth, Western Australia looked at user behavior when viewing and accepting EULAs on smartphone devices. The results show that a majority of users do not read such agreements citing issues of readability and length.

Online Course Content Auditing: Templates And Practices, Justin Brown, Gregory Baatard

Research outputs 2012

This paper introduces and discusses the Blackboard Content Audit tool developed by a CS school within an Australian university. Based upon the key sections of a unit’s site in the Blackboard LMS, the tool establishes sets of basic, intermediate and advanced criteria and a rating scale upon which to assess the criteria. By specifying the basic criteria as a minimum standard, the consistency of unit sites can be improved. This helps to close the perceived quality gap between the schools online unit offerings, where in the past some staff had engaged more than others with the features of Blackboard. The …

Utilizing The Rfid Lock Command Against Multiple Targets, Christopher Bolan

Research outputs 2012

An unlocked Electronic Product Code (EPC) tag allows for issuance of most commands without the need for any authorization. This means that a system with unlocked tags would allow any attacker to modify tag data at will, whilst also opening the door to a range of other misuse. One possible avenue of active misuse against unlocked tags would be to issue LockID commands and ‘permanently’ lock some or all of a system‘s RFID tags. As this attack is simply an issuance of a valid command it fits firmly in the category of an active misuse and could also be considered …

Web Accessibility In Corporate Australia: Perceptions Versus Reality, Justin Brown, Vivienne Conway

Research outputs 2012

In this paper we describe the results of website audits and survey responses for organizations involved in the Australia Web Awards for 2011. 160 organizations entered their sites or sites they had developed as part of the awards, and in doing so were required to select the level of WCAG compliance for their site. Audits conducted on these sites after the awards completion showed that very few of the entrants actually met their selected level of accessibility compliance, regardless of the organization type. Survey responses from participating entrants in the AWA indicated that they were aware of the WCAG guidelines …

A Performance Comparison Of Hypervisors For Cloud Computing, Suganya Sridharan

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The virtualization of IT infrastructure enables the consolidation and pooling of IT resources so that they can be shared over diverse applications to offset the limitation of shrinking resources and growing business needs. Virtualization provides a logical abstraction of physical computing resources and creates computing environments that are not restricted by physical configuration or implementation. Virtualization is very important for cloud computing because the delivery of services is simplified by providing a platform for optimizing complex IT resources in a scalable manner, which makes cloud computing more cost effective.

Hypervisor plays an important role in the virtualization of hardware. It …