Computer Sciences Commons^™

Synaptic Annealing: Anisotropic Simulated Annealing And Its Application To Neural Network Synaptic Weight Selection, Justin R. Fletcher

Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning algorithms have become a ubiquitous, indispensable part of modern life. Neural networks are one of the most successful classes of machine learning algorithms, and have been applied to solve problems previously considered to be the exclusive domain of human intellect. Several methods for selecting neural network configurations exist. The most common such method is error back-propagation. Backpropagation often produces neural networks that perform well, but do not achieve an optimal solution. This research explores the effectiveness of an alternative feed-forward neural network weight selection procedure called synaptic annealing. Synaptic annealing is the application of the simulated annealing algorithm …

Analysis On Alergia Algorithm: Pattern Recognition By Automata Theory, Xuanyi Qi

Master's Projects

Based on Kolmogorov Complexity, a finite set x of strings has a pattern if the set x can be output by a Turing machine of length that is less than minimum of all |x|; this Turing machine, that may not be unique, is called a pattern of the finite set of string. In order to find a pattern of a given finite set of strings (assuming such a pattern exists), the ALERGIA algorithm is used to approximate such a pattern (Turing machine) in terms of finite automata. Note that each finite automaton defines a partition on formal language Σ*, ALERGIA …

Analyze Large Multidimensional Datasets Using Algebraic Topology, David Le

Master's Projects

This paper presents an efficient algorithm to extract knowledge from high-dimensionality, high- complexity datasets using algebraic topology, namely simplicial complexes. Based on concept of isomorphism of relations, our method turn a relational table into a geometric object (a simplicial complex is a polyhedron). So, conceptually association rule searching is turned into a geometric traversal problem. By leveraging on the core concepts behind Simplicial Complex, we use a new technique (in computer science) that improves the performance over existing methods and uses far less memory. It was designed and developed with a strong emphasis on scalability, reliability, and extensibility. This paper …

Dna Analysis Using Grammatical Inference, Cory Cook

Master's Projects

An accurate language definition capable of distinguishing between coding and non-coding DNA has important applications and analytical significance to the field of computational biology. The method proposed here uses positive sample grammatical inference and statistical information to infer languages for coding DNA.

An algorithm is proposed for the searching of an optimal subset of input sequences for the inference of regular grammars by optimizing a relevant accuracy metric. The algorithm does not guarantee the finding of the optimal subset; however, testing shows improvement in accuracy and performance over the basis algorithm.

Testing shows that the accuracy of inferred languages for …

A Communication Protocol For Nanogrids And Its Application In Off-Grid Rural Areas Of Developing Countries, Sowmya Srikanth

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a developing country such as India, 44% of the population does not have access to power and for many others, the power supply is unreliable. A nanogrid, defined as “a single domain for voltage, reliability and administration”, is a possible solution to distribute power to such off-grid areas. Built from the bottom up, nanogrids have the ability to function independently, using locally generated power (such as solar power) as the power source. Such grids enable residents to lead more productive lives, with improved access to power. This thesis designs a new communication protocol for nanogrids to enable matching demand …

Optimizing The Mix Of Games And Their Locations On The Casino Floor, Jason D. Fiege, Anastasia D. Baran

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

We present a mathematical framework and computational approach that aims to optimize the mix and locations of slot machine types and denominations, plus other games to maximize the overall performance of the gaming floor. This problem belongs to a larger class of spatial resource optimization problems, concerned with optimizing the allocation and spatial distribution of finite resources, subject to various constraints. We introduce a powerful multi-objective evolutionary optimization and data-modelling platform, developed by the presenter since 2002, and show how this software can be used for casino floor optimization. We begin by extending a linear formulation of the casino floor …

An Interference-Free Programming Model For Network Objects, Mischael Schill, Christopher M. Poskitt, Bertrand Meyer

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Network objects are a simple and natural abstraction for distributed object-oriented programming. Languages that support network objects, however, often leave synchronization to the user, along with its associated pitfalls, such as data races and the possibility of failure. In this paper, we present D-Scoop, a distributed programming model that allows for interference-free and transaction-like reasoning on (potentially multiple) network objects, with synchronization handled automatically, and network failures managed by a compensation mechanism. We achieve this by leveraging the runtime semantics of a multi-threaded object-oriented concurrency model, directly generalizing it with a message-based protocol for efficiently coordinating remote objects. We present …

Stationary And Time-Dependent Optimization Of The Casino Floor Slot Machine Mix, Anastasia D. Baran, Jason D. Fiege

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

Modeling and optimizing the performance of a mix of slot machines on a gaming floor can be addressed at various levels of coarseness, and may or may not consider time-dependent trends. For example, a model might consider only time-averaged, aggregate data for all machines of a given type; time-dependent aggregate data; time-averaged data for individual machines; or fully time dependent data for individual machines. Fine-grained, time-dependent data for individual machines offers the most potential for detailed analysis and improvements to the casino floor performance, but also suffers the greatest amount of statistical noise. We present a theoretical analysis of single …

Image Spam Analysis, Annapurna Sowmya Annadatha

Master's Projects

Image spam is unsolicited bulk email, where the message is embedded in an image. This technique is used to evade text-based spam lters. In this research, we analyze and compare two novel approaches for detecting spam images. Our rst approach focuses on the extraction of a broad set of image features and selection of an optimal subset using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). Our second approach is based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA), where we determine eigenvectors for a set of spam images and compute scores by projecting images onto the resulting eigenspace. Both approaches provide high accuracy with low …

Defeating N-Gram Scores For Http Attack Detection, Samyuktha Sridharan

Master's Projects

Web applications that generate malicious HTTP requests provide a platform that attackers use to exploit vulnerable machines. Such malicious traffic should be identified by network intrusion detection systems, based on traffic analysis. Previous research has shown that n-gram techniques can be successfully applied to detect HTTP attacks. In this research, we analyze the robustness of these n-gram techniques. We show that n-gram scores are surprisingly robust, but can be defeated using certain obfuscation strategies. We also consider the need for a more costlier HMM-based intrusion detection system.

Machine Learning On The Cloud For Pattern Recognition, Tien Nguyen

Master's Projects

Pattern recognition is a field of machine learning with applications to areas such as text recognition and computer vision. Machine learning algorithms, such as convolutional neural networks, may be trained to classify images. However, such tasks may be computationally intensive for a commercial computer for larger volumes or larger sizes of images. Cloud computing allows one to overcome the processing and memory constraints of average commercial computers, allowing computations on larger amounts of data. In this project, we developed a system for detection and tracking of moving human and vehicle objects in videos in real time or near real time. …

Static And Dynamic Analysis For Android Malware Detection, Ankita Kapratwar

Master's Projects

Static analysis relies on features extracted without executing code, while dynamic analysis extracts features based on code execution (or emulation). In general, static analysis is more e cient, while static analysis is often more informative, particularly in cases of highly obfuscated code. Static analysis of an Android application can rely on features extracted from the manifest le or the Java bytecode, while dynamic analysis of Android applications can deal with features involving dynamic code loading and system calls that are collected while the application is running. In this research, we analyzed the e ectiveness of combining static and dynamic features …

VigenèRe Score For Malware Detection, Suchita Deshmukh

Master's Projects

Previous research has applied classic cryptanalytic techniques to the malware detection problem. Speci cally, scores based on simple substitution cipher cryptanal- ysis and various generalizations have been considered. In this research, we analyze two new malware scoring techniques based on classic cryptanalysis. Our rst ap- proach relies on the Index of Coincidence, which is used, for example, to determine the length of the keyword in a Vigenère ciphertext. We also consider a score based on a more complete cryptanalysis of a Vigenère cipher. We nd that the Vigenère score is competitive with previous statistical-based malware scores.

Determining The Effectiveness Of Soil Treatment On Plant Stress Using Smart-Phone Cameras, Anurag Panwar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plants are vital to the health of our biosphere, and effectively sustaining their growth is fundamental to the existence of life on this planet. A critical aspect, which decides the sustainability of plant growth is the quality of soil. All other things being fixed, the quality of soil greatly impacts the plant stress, which in turn impacts overall health. Although plant stress manifests in many ways, one of the clearest indicators are colors of the leaves. In this thesis, we conducted an experimental study in a greenhouse for detecting plant stress caused by nutrient deficienceies in soil using smartphone cameras, …

Cayley Graphs Of Semigroups And Applications To Hashing, Bianca Sosnovski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In 1994, Tillich and Zemor proposed a scheme for a family of hash functions that uses products of matrices in groups of the form $SL_2(F_{2^n})$. In 2009, Grassl et al. developed an attack to obtain collisions for palindromic bit strings by exploring a connection between the Tillich-Zemor functions and maximal length chains in the Euclidean algorithm for polynomials over $F_2$.

In this work, we present a new proposal for hash functions based on Cayley graphs of semigroups. In our proposed hash function, the noncommutative semigroup of linear functions under composition is considered as platform for the scheme. We will also …

Data-Driven Synthesis And Evaluation Of Syntactic Facial Expressions In American Sign Language Animation, Hernisa Kacorri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Technology to automatically synthesize linguistically accurate and natural-looking animations of American Sign Language (ASL) would make it easier to add ASL content to websites and media, thereby increasing information accessibility for many people who are deaf and have low English literacy skills. State-of-art sign language animation tools focus mostly on accuracy of manual signs rather than on the facial expressions. We are investigating the synthesis of syntactic ASL facial expressions, which are grammatically required and essential to the meaning of sentences. In this thesis, we propose to: (1) explore the methodological aspects of evaluating sign language animations with facial expressions, …

Analysis Of A Parallel Machine Scheduling Problem With Sequence Dependent Setup Times And Job Availability Intervals, Ridvan Gedik, Chase Rainwater, Heather Nachtmann, Edward A. Pohl

Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Faculty Publications

In this study, we propose constraint programming (CP) model and logic-based Benders algorithms in order to make the best decisions for scheduling non-identical jobs with availability intervals and sequence dependent setup times on unrelated parallel machines in a fixed planning horizon. In this problem, each job has a profit, cost and must be assigned to at most one machine in such a way that total profit is maximized. In addition, the total cost has to be less than or equal to a budget level. Computational tests are performed on a real-life case study prepared in collaboration with the U.S. Army …

How Resilient Modulus Of A Pavement Depends On Moisture Level: Towards A Theoretical Justification Of A Practically Important Empirical Formula, Pedro Barragan Olague, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Resilient modulus is a mechanical characteristic describing the stiffness of a pavement. Its value depends on the moisture level. In pavement construction, it is important to be able, knowing the resilient modulus corresponding to one moisture level, to predict resilient modulus corresponding to other moisture levels. There exists an empirical formula for this prediction. In this paper, we provide a possible theoretical explanation for this empirical formula.

Computers Of Generation Omega And The Future Of Computing, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

No abstract provided.

George Klir And The Great Chain Of Ideas, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Earlier this year, I received sad news that my good friend and dear colleague George Klir is no more. George was a great scientist -- and, in my opinion, a greatly underestimated one. I therefore believe that it will be beneficial to explain his true role in science.

Why Compaction Meter Value (Cmv) Is A Good Measure Of Pavement Stiffness: Towards A Possible Theoretical Explanation, Andrzej Pownuk, Pedro Barragan Olague, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

To measure stiffness of the compacted pavement, practitioners use the Compaction Meter Value (CMV); a ratio between the amplitude for the first harmonic of the compactor's acceleration and the amplitude corresponding to the vibration frequency. Numerous experiments show that CMV is highly correlated with the pavement stiffness, but as of now, there is no convincing theoretical explanation for this correlation. In this paper, we provide a possible theoretical explanation for the empirical correlation. This explanation also explains why, the stiffer the material, the more higher-order harmonics we observe.

Fuzzy-Inspired Hierarchical Version Of The Von~Neumann-Morgenstern Solutions As A Natural Way To Resolve Collaboration-Related Conflicts, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich, Martha Osegueda Escobar

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In situations when several participants collaborate with each other, it is desirable to come up with a fair way to divide the resulting gain between the participants. Such a fair way was proposed by John von Neumann and Oscar Morgenstern, fathers of the modern game theory. However, in some situations, the von Neumann-Morgenstern solution does not exist. To cover such situations, we propose to use a fuzzy-inspired hierarchical version of the von Neumann-Morgenstern (NM) solution. We prove that, in contrast to the original NM solution, the hierarchical version always exists.

Similarity Beyond Correlation: Symmetry-Based Approach, Ildar Batyrshin, Thongchai Dumrongpokaphan, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

When practitioners analyze the similarity between time series, they often use correlation to gauge this similarity. Sometimes this works, but sometimes, this leads to counter-intuitive results. In this paper, we use natural symmetries -- scaling and shift -- to explain this discrepancy between correlation and common sense, and then use the same symmetries to come up with more adequate measures of similarity.

Security And Privacy Analysis Of Medical Wearables, Brian M. Chalif

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

The release of Google glass and the Apple and Samsung smart watches in the past two years pushed wearables to the forefront of technology. The realm of medical wearables will specifically see a huge growth as wearables become more common place. There are documented cases of security and privacy breaches in the five main potential breaching areas: wearable device itself, Bluetooth communication, smartphone or personal computer app, Wi-Fi data exchange, cloud storage. Privacy policies for individual wearables are not always in the best interest of the individual and government regulations on wearables security does not always fully vet wearables. Interviews …

Bae: Before Anyone Else; The Answer To Mobile Dating For The African Diaspora, Jordan S. Kunzika

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

As online dating becomes increasingly popular, millions of people across the country utilize various dating services that allow them to meet, chat, date, and develop meaningful relationships with people they would probably not have met otherwise. While mass market dating apps work well for the majority of online daters, and while many niche dating apps have been created to target a number of specific demographics such as the Jewish population, Southeast Asian population, farmers, homosexuals, etc., the African-American market has been largely underserved. African-Americans have the worst experience on mass market dating apps due to negative racial bias, and before …

Devising A Framework For Efficient And Accurate Matchmaking And Real-Time Web Communication, Charles Li

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

Many modern applications have a great need for matchmaking and real-time web communication. This paper first explores and details the specifics of original algorithms for effective matchmaking, and then proceeds to dive into implementations of real-time communication between different clients across the web. Finally, it discusses how to apply the techniques discussed in the paper in practice, and provides samples based on the framework.

Air Keyboard: Mid-Air Text Input Using Wearable Emg Sensors And A Predictive Text Model, Jacob A. Gaba

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

The human body is full of electrical signals. We propose to use the electric signals produced by the human body to input text without the use of a physical keyboard. We allow users to tap their fingers in the air as if typing on an imaginary keyboard. To detect the tapping, we created a wearable armband that uses electromyography (EMG) sensors to track individual finger muscle activation. Each finger is mapped to several characters, and based on the finger-sequence the user taps, a list of possible typed words is presented. Augmented reality and virtual reality headsets are becoming more prevalent …

Interactive Data Visualization Of Christian Demographics, Allison C. Wang

Dartmouth College Undergraduate Theses

My thesis will attempt to use the affordances of interactive data visualization to showcase the global movement of Christianity from North to South since 1900 and projected and interpolated up until 2050. Through the usage of demographic data, honest and accurate visualization, and compelling graphics, I hope to create a tool that users can use to explore this monumental movement of Christianity in just the last century.

Creating A Probabilistic Graph For Wordnet Using Markov Logic Network, Lubomir Stanchev

Computer Science and Software Engineering

The paper shows how to create a probabilistic graph for WordNet. A node is created for every word and phrase in WordNet. An edge between two nodes is labeled with the probability that a user that is interested in the source concept will also be interested in the destination concept. For example, an edge with weight 0.3 between “canine” and “dog” indicates that there is a 30% probability that a user who searches for “canine” will be interested in results that contain the word “dog”. We refer to the graph as probabilistic because we enforce the constraint that the sum …

Why A Testing Career Is Not The First Choice Of Engineers, Pradeep Kashinath Waychal, Luiz Fernando Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

No abstract provided.