Computer Sciences Commons^™

Defining The Competencies, Programming Languages, And Assessments For An Introductory Computer Science Course, Simon Sultana

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to define the competencies, programming languages, and assessments for an introductory computer science course at a small private liberal arts university. Three research questions were addressed that involved identifying the competencies, programming languages, and assessments that academic and industry experts in California’s Central Valley felt most important and appropriate for an introduction to computer science course.

The Delphi methodology was used to collect data from the two groups of experts with various backgrounds related to computing. The goal was to find consensus among the individual groups to best define aspects that would best comprise …

Usable, Secure Content-Based Encryption On The Web, Scott Ruoti

Theses and Dissertations

Users share private information on the web through a variety of applications, such as email, instant messaging, social media, and document sharing. Unfortunately, recent revelations have shown that not only is users' data at risk from hackers and malicious insiders, but also from government surveillance. This state of affairs motivates the need for users to be able to encrypt their online data.In this dissertation, we explore how to help users encrypt their online data, with a special focus on securing email. First, we explore the design principles that are necessary to create usable, secure email. As part of this exploration, …

Authentication In Wireless Body Area Networks (Wban), Nagalaxmi Yenuganti

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the advancements in technology and computing environment capabilities, the number of devices that people carry has increased exponentially. This increase initially occurred as a result of necessity to monitor the human body condition due to chronic diseases, heart problems etc. Later, individuals’ interest was drawn towards self-monitoring their physiology and health care. This is achieved by implanting various sensors that can proactively monitor the human body based on medical necessity and the health condition of the user. Sensors connected on a human body perceive phenomena such as locomotion or heartbeat, and act accordingly to form a Body Area Network. …

Back Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Training Learnings To Self-Explains: Designing Instructions And Examples To Improve Problem Solving, Lauren E. Margulieux, Briana B. Morrison, Richard Catrambone

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this experiment, we integrated two learning methods – subgoal learning and constructive learning – to explore their interactions and effects on solving computer programming problems. We taught learners to solve problems using worked example and practice problem pairs with one of three kinds of instructional design that either did not highlight the subgoals, described the subgoals, or prompted participants to describe the subgoals for themselves. In addition, we varied the distance of transfer between the worked example and practice problem pairs. We found that instructions that highlighted subgoals improved performance on later problem solving tasks. The groups that performed …

Front Matter

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

Masthead

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

No abstract provided.

A Smartphone-Based System For Clinical Gait Assessment, Andres Alfredo Perez Leon

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Patients with lower limbs problems are an increasing population in the US and many of them require surgery and its subsequent post-op Physical Therapy (PT). For all these patients, tracking their progress and evolution towards full recovery is very important. To assess the patients and track their progress, patients are usually required to perform very specific tests administered by a physical therapist. These tests either require very expensive equipment or rather require the subjective experience of the physical therapist who administer them. One of these tests is the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) test, perhaps the most widely adopted one for …

Monte Carlo Approaches To Parameterized Poker Squares, Todd W. Neller, Zuozhi Yang, Colin M. Messinger, Calin Anton, Karo Castro-Wunsch, William Maga, Steven Bogaerts, Robert Arrington, Clay Langely

Computer Science Faculty Publications

The paper summarized a variety of Monte Carlo approaches employed in the top three performing entries to the Parameterized Poker Squares NSG Challenge competition. In all cases AI players benefited from real-time machine learning and various Monte Carlo game-tree search techniques.

Impact Of Visualization On Engineers – A Survey, Dhaval Kashyap Shah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the recent years, there has been a tremendous growth in data. Numerous research and technologies have been proposed and developed in the field of Visualization to cope with the associated data analytics. Despite these new technologies, the pace of people’s capacity to perform data analysis has not kept pace with the requirement. Past literature has hinted as to various reasons behind this disparity. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate specifically the usage of Visualization in the field of engineering. We conducted the research with the help of a survey identifying the places where Visualization educational shortcomings may …

Oversampling Methods For Imbalanced Dataset Classification And Their Application To Gynecological Disorder Diagnosis, Iman Nekooeimehr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In many applications, the dataset for classification may be highly imbalanced where most of the instances in the training set may belong to some of the classes (majority classes), while only a few instances are from the other classes (minority classes). Conventional classifiers will strongly favor the majority class and ignore the minority instances. The imbalance problem can occur in both binary data classification and also in ordinal regression. Ordinal regression is a supervised approach for learning the ordinal relationship between classes. Extensive research has been performed for addressing imbalanced datasets for binary classification; however, current methods do not address …

Enforcing Security Policies On Gpu Computing Through The Use Of Aspect-Oriented Programming Techniques, Bader Albassam

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a new security policy enforcer designed for securing parallel computation on CUDA GPUs. We show how the very features that make a GPGPU desirable have already been utilized in existing exploits, fortifying the need for security protections on a GPGPU. An aspect weaver was designed for CUDA with the goal of utilizing aspect-oriented programming for security policy enforcement. Empirical testing verified the ability of our aspect weaver to enforce various policies. Furthermore, a performance analysis was performed to demonstrate that using this policy enforcer provides no significant performance impact over manual insertion of policy code. Finally, future …

Fast Computation On Processing Data Warehousing Queries On Gpu Devices, Sam Cyrus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Current database management systems use Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) as dedicated accelerators to process each individual query, which results in underutilization of GPU. When a single query data warehousing workload was run on an open source GPU query engine, the utilization of main GPU resources was found to be less than 25%. The low utilization then leads to low system throughput. To resolve this problem, this paper suggests a way to transfer all of the desired data into the global memory of GPU and keep it until all queries are executed as one batch. The PCIe transfer time from CPU …

Digital Integration, Jacob C. Boccio

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence is an emerging technology; something far beyond smartphones, cloud integration, or surgical microchip implantation. Utilizing the work of Ray Kurzweil, Nick Bostrom, and Steven Shaviro, this thesis investigates technology and artificial intelligence through the lens of the cinema. It does this by mapping contemporary concepts and the imagined worlds in film as an intersection of reality and fiction that examines issues of individual identity and alienation. I look at a non-linear timeline of films involving machine advancement, machine intelligence, and stages of post-human development; Elysium (2013) and Surrogates (2009) are about technology as an extension of the self, …

Secure Communication Scheme In Smart Home Environment, Hari Krishna Jonnalagadda

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Internet of Things, has started to mark its existence from past few years. Right from its inception with a coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University, it has come a long way, connecting billions of devices to internet. This journey is well supported by the advancements in networking, hardware miniaturization and sensing capabilities. Diverse nature of applications of Internet of Things, has cut the communication barriers between the varieties of fields ranging from manufacturing industry to health-care industry. Smart Home is one such application of Internet of Things. Connectivity of home appliances, to achieve automation in living, defines Smart Home. Out …

Energy Consumption Prediction With Big Data: Balancing Prediction Accuracy And Computational Resources, Katarina Grolinger, Miriam Am Capretz, Luke Seewald

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

In recent years, advances in sensor technologies and expansion of smart meters have resulted in massive growth of energy data sets. These Big Data have created new opportunities for energy prediction, but at the same time, they impose new challenges for traditional technologies. On the other hand, new approaches for handling and processing these Big Data have emerged, such as MapReduce, Spark, Storm, and Oxdata H2O. This paper explores how findings from machine learning with Big Data can benefit energy consumption prediction. An approach based on local learning with support vector regression (SVR) is presented. Although local learning itself is …

Video Data Collection For Continuous Identity Assurance, Janani Venkatesan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Frequently monitoring the identity of a person connected to a secure system is an important component in a cyber-security system. Identity Assurance (IA) mechanisms which continuously confirm and verify users’ identity after the initial authentication process ensure integrity and security. Such systems prevent unauthorized access and eliminate the need of an authorized user to present credentials repeatedly for verification. Very few cyber-security systems deploy such IA modules. These IA modules are typically based on computer vision and machine learning algorithms. These algorithms work effectively when trained with representative datasets. This thesis describes our effort at collecting a small dataset of …

Blind And Visually Impaired Users Adaptation To Web Environments: A Qualitative Study, Raneem Saqr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although much research exists on human behavior in online environments, research on users with disabilities is still rare. To draw more attention to this population, this dissertation explored browsing patterns and adaptive behaviors of people with visual disability across different online environments common in daily activities: social network, e-commerce, online information, and search engines’ websites. The main objective of this study is to propose a conceptual framework of how blind and visually impaired users browse and adapt to different web environments. We achieve this objective using a qualitative approach through three studies. In the first study, the researchers collect data …

Leveraging New Platforms To Provide Students With A Realistic Soc Design Experience, Andrew Danowitz, Antonio M. Leija

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Recently there have been a slew of digital design products released that promise to simplify the task of giving students a real-world System-on-Chip (SoC) design experience. These “programmable SoCs” from companies such as Xilinx, Cypress, and Altera combine modern multi-core ARM processors connected to an FPGA through a widely used SoC interconnect standard. This paper discusses a Real Time Embedded System Course I designed that uses the Xilinx Zynq platform to give students first-hand experience with modern System-on-Chip design methodologies and the challenges that designers face in both hardware and software bring-up for a modern IP-based design.

The first portion …

Demo: Wanda, Securely Introducing Mobile Devices, Timothy J. Pierson, Xiaohui Liang, Ronald Peterson, David Kotz

Dartmouth Scholarship

Nearly every setting is increasingly populated with wireless and mobile devices – whether appliances in a home, medical devices in a health clinic, sensors in an industrial setting, or devices in an office or school. There are three fundamental operations when bringing a new device into any of these settings: (1) to configure the device to join the wireless local-area network, (2) to partner the device with other nearby devices so they can work together, and (3) to configure the device so it connects to the relevant individual or organizational account in the cloud. The challenge is to accomplish all …

Sorting Under Forbidden Comparisons, Avah Banerjee, Dana Richards

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper we study the problem of sorting under forbidden comparisons where some pairs of elements may not be compared (forbidden pairs). Along with the set of elements V the input to our problem is a graph G(V, E), whose edges represents the pairs that we can compare in constant time. Given a graph with n vertices and m =(ⁿ₂) - q edges we propose the first non-trivial deterministic algorithm which makes O((q + n) log n) comparisons with a total complexity of O(n² + q^ω/2), where ω is the …

Msspark: Implementation Of Molecular Simulation Queries Using Apache Spark, Parneet Kaur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Huge amount of data is being generated in almost every field and it cannot be avoided, rather is essential for the advancement of the field. Analysis of this data requires intensive computing power. Molecular Simulation is a powerful tool for understanding the behavior of natural systems. The simulation generates large amount data while observing the spatial and temporal relationships. The challenge is to handle the analytical queries that are often compute intensive.

Although various tools exist to tackle this problem, but in this paper we have tried an alternate approach that uses Apache Spark- a modern big data platform – …

Design And Validation For Fpga Trust Under Hardware Trojan Attacks, Sanchita Mal-Sarkar, Robert Karam, Seetharam Narasimhan, Anandaroop Ghosh, Aswin Krishna, Swarup Bhunia

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are being increasingly used in a wide range of critical applications, including industrial, automotive, medical, and military systems. Since FPGA vendors are typically fabless, it is more economical to outsource device production to off-shore facilities. This introduces many opportunities for the insertion of malicious alterations of FPGA devices in the foundry, referred to as hardware Trojan attacks, that can cause logical and physical malfunctions during field operation. The vulnerability of these devices to hardware attacks raises serious security concerns regarding hardware and design assurance. In this paper, we present a taxonomy of FPGA-specific hardware Trojan …

From The Editors, Michael E. Whitman, Herbert J. Mattord

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Welcome to the inaugural issue of the Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice (JCERP).

Using A Virtual Computing Laboratory To Foster Collaborative Learning For Information Security And Information Technology Education, Abdullah Konak, Michael R. Bartolacci

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Virtual computer laboratories have been an excellent technological solution to the problem of providing students with hands-on experimentation in information technology fields such as information security in a cost effective and secure manner. A virtual computer laboratory was utilized in this work as a collaborative environment for student learning with the goal of measuring its effect on student learning and attitudes toward laboratory assignments. Experiments were carried out utilizing specially-designed computer-based laboratory activities that included student assessments and surveys upon their completion. The experiments involved both small groups and individual students completing their respective laboratory activities and subsequent assessments/surveys. …

Secure Software Engineering Education: Knowledge Area, Curriculum And Resources, Xiaohong Yuan, Li Yang, Bilan Jones, Huiming Yu, Bei-Tseng Chu

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This paper reviews current efforts and resources in secure software engineering education, with the goal of providing guidance for educators to make use of these resources in developing secure software engineering curriculum. These resources include Common Body of Knowledge, reference curriculum, sample curriculum materials, hands-on exercises, and resources developed by industry and open source community. The relationship among the Common Body of Knowledge proposed by the Department of Homeland Security, the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and ACM/IEEE are discussed. The recent practices on secure software engineering education, including secure software engineering related programs, courses, and course modules …

Metrics, Software Engineering, Small Systems – The Future Of Systems Development, William L. Honig

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this talk I will introduce the importance of metrics, or measures, and the role they play in the development of high quality computer systems. I will review some key mega trends in computer science over the last three decades and then explain why I believe the trend to small networked systems, along with metrics and software engineering will define the future of high technology computer based systems.

I first learned about metrics at the Bell System where everything was measured. Metrics can be understood easily if you think of them as measures, for example of calories or salt in …

A Framework For Measuring Security As A System Property In Cyberphysical Systems, Janusz Zalewski, Ingrid A. Buckley, Bogdan Czejdo, Steven Drager, Andrew J. Kornecki, Nary Subramanian

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper addresses the challenge of measuring security, understood as a system property, of cyberphysical systems, in the category of similar properties, such as safety and reliability. First, it attempts to define precisely what security, as a system property, really is. Then, an application context is presented, in terms of an attack surface in cyberphysical systems. Contemporary approaches related to the principles of measuring software properties are also discussed, with emphasis on building models. These concepts are illustrated in several case studies, based on previous work of the authors, to conduct experimental security measurements.

Road Sign Recognition System On Raspberry Pi, Enis Bilgin, Stefan Robila

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Digital image processing, i.e. the use of computer systems to process pictures, has applications in many fields, including of medicine, space exploration, geology and oceanography and continues to increase in its applicability. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate the ability of image processing algorithms on a small computing platform. Specifically we created a road sign recognition system based on an embedded system that reads and recognizes speed signs. The paper describes the characteristics of speed signs, requirements and difficulties behind implementing a real-time base system with embedded system, and how to deal with numbers using image processing …

A Multi-Objective Approach To Tactical Maneuvering Within Real Time Strategy Games, Christopher D. Ball

Theses and Dissertations

The real time strategy (RTS) environment is a strong platform for simulating complex tactical problems. The overall research goal is to develop artificial intelligence (AI) RTS planning agents for military critical decision making education. These agents should have the ability to perform at an expert level as well as to assess a players critical decision-making ability or skill-level. The nature of the time sensitivity within the RTS environment creates very complex situations. Each situation must be analyzed and orders must be given to each tactical unit before the scenario on the battlefield changes and makes the decisions no longer relevant. …