Computer Sciences Commons^™

Fast -- Asymptotically Optimal -- Methods For Determining The Optimal Number Of Features, Saied Tizpaz-Niari, Luc Longpré, Olga Kosheleva, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In machine learning -- and in data processing in general -- it is very important to select the proper number of features. If we select too few, we miss important information and do not get good results, but if we select too many, this will include many irrelevant ones that only bring noise and thus again worsen the results. The usual method of selecting the proper number of features is to add features one by one until the quality stops improving and starts deteriorating again. This method works, but it often takes too much time. In this paper, we propose …

Context-Aware Gaze-Based Interface For Smart Wheelchair, Tien Pham

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Human-Computer Interfaces (HCI) is an essential aspect of modern technology that has revolutionized the way we interact with machines. With the revolution of computers and smart devices and the advent of autonomous vehicles and other machines, there has been a significant advancement in this area that brings convenience to users to interact with technology intuitively and efficiently. However, the importance of HCI goes beyond the convenience of everyday technology. It has become crucial in the development of assistive technologies that empower people with disabilities to live more independently. Person with disabilities, who lack control of one or more parts of …

Enhancing Health Tweet Classification: An Evaluation Of Transformer-Based Models For Comprehensive Analysis, Foram Pankajbhai Patel

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

The task of health tweet classification entails identifying whether a given tweet is health-related or not. While existing research in this area has made significant progress in classifying tweets into specific sub-domains of health, such as mental health, COVID-19, or specific diseases, there is a need for a more comprehensive approach that considers a broader range of health-related topics. This thesis addresses this need by proposing a diverse and comprehensive dataset that includes various existing health-related datasets, data collected through a keyword-based approach, and manually annotated data. However, the use of health-related keywords in a figurative or non-health context poses …

Emauth: A Usable Continuous Authentication Scheme, Vighnesh Sivaraman

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

ABSTRACT: In recent years, wearables have become an integral part of daily life for most users. Wearables provide a seamless supplement to their main counterparts such as smartphones, and tablets. With the increasing prevalence of smart devices in a ubiquitous manner, protecting data has become a crucial aspect of security in all areas of life, as individuals can be vulnerable to such threats regardless of their location. As a security measure, authentication measures have been adopted. Traditional/ Legacy Authentication mechanisms such as TouchID, FaceID, and Password/PIN are incorporated into the everyday life of users. There also exists another mode of …

Quantum Multi-Solution Bernoulli Search With Applications To Bitcoin’S Post-Quantum Security, Alexandru Cojocaru, Juan Garay, Fang Song, Petros Wallden

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

A proof of work (PoW) is an important cryptographic construct which enables a party to convince other parties that they have invested some effort in solving a computational task. Arguably, its main impact has been in the setting of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain protocol, which have received significant attention in recent years due to its potential for various applications as well as for solving fundamental distributed computing questions in novel threat models. PoWs enable the linking of blocks in the blockchain data structure, and thus the problem of interest is the feasibility of obtaining a sequence …

Caspi: Collaborative Photon Processing For Active Single-Photon Imaging, Jongho Lee, Atul Ingle, Jenu V. Chacko, Kevin W. Eliceiri, Mohit Gupta

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Image sensors capable of capturing individual photons have made tremendous progress in recent years. However, this technology faces a major limitation. Because they capture scene information at the individual photon level, the raw data is sparse and noisy. Here we propose CASPI: Collaborative Photon Processing for Active Single-Photon Imaging, a technology-agnostic, application-agnostic, and training-free photon processing pipeline for emerging high-resolution single-photon cameras. By collaboratively exploiting both local and non-local correlations in the spatio-temporal photon data cubes, CASPI estimates scene properties reliably even under very challenging lighting conditions. We demonstrate the versatility of CASPI with two applications: LiDAR imaging over a …

Toward A Deeper Integration Of Low-Fidelity Sketches Into Mobile Application Development, Soumik Mohian

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Mobile application development often starts with creating low-fidelity sketches of user interfaces. Integrating these sketches into the software development process can reduce repetition, narrow the gap between user perception and final implementation, and improve app resilience. In this study, we introduce the DoodleUINet dataset, which comprises over 10K sketches of UI elements. Our Doodle2App tool converts low-fidelity sketches into a single-page, compilable Android app. At the same time, our PSDoodle provides an interactive, partial sketch-based search engine with a top-10 screen retrieval accuracy comparable to the state-of-the-art SWIRE line of work but with a 50% reduction in the average required …

Bluetooth Low Energy Indoor Positioning System, Jackson T. Diamond, Jordan Hanson

Whittier Scholars Program

Robust indoor positioning systems based on low energy bluetooth signals will service a wide range of applications. We present an example of a low energy bluetooth positioning system. First, the steps taken to locate the target with the bluetooth data will be reviewed. Next, we describe the algorithms of the set of android apps developed to utilize the bluetooth data for positioning. Similar to GPS, the algorithms use trilateration to approximate the target location by utilizing the corner devices running one of the apps. Due to the fluctuating nature of the bluetooth signal strength indicator (RSSI), we used an averaging …

Connecting The Dots For Contextual Information Retrieval, Pei-Chi Lo

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

There are many information retrieval tasks that depend on knowledge graphs to return contextually relevant result of the query. We call them Knowledgeenriched Contextual Information Retrieval (KCIR) tasks and these tasks come in many different forms including query-based document retrieval, query answering and others. These KCIR tasks often require the input query to contextualized by additional facts from a knowledge graph, and using the context representation to perform document or knowledge graph retrieval and prediction. In this dissertation, we present a meta-framework that identifies Contextual Representation Learning (CRL) and Contextual Information Retrieval (CIR) to be the two key components in …

Uibee: An Improved Deep Instance Segmentation And Classification Of Ui Elements In Wireframes, Cahi̇t Berkay Kazangi̇rler, Caner Özcan, Buse Yaren Teki̇n

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

User Interface (UI) is a basic concept in which individuals interact with any computer program or technological device to create a graphical design. In the initial stages of app development, UI prototype is a must. An automatic analysis system for the basic execution of UI designs will considerably speed up the development of designs according to old-fashioned methods. In this approach, it is aimed at saving cost and time by automating the process. For the aforesaid objective, we present a new approach rather than the traditional methods. For this reason, a high amount of elements in wireframes are detected and …

Toward Digital Phenotyping: Human Activity Representation For Embodied Cognition Assessment, Mohammad Zakizadehghariehali

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Cognition is the mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and senses. Based on Embodied Cognition theory, physical activities are an important manifestation of cognitive functions. As a result, they can be employed to both assess and train cognitive skills. In order to assess various cognitive measures, the ATEC system has been proposed. It consists of physical exercises with different variations and difficulty levels, designed to provide assessment of executive and motor functions. This thesis focuses on obtaining human activity representation from recorded videos of ATEC tasks in order to automatically assess embodied cognition performance. Representation learning …

Optimizing Resource Utilization, Efficiency And Scalability In Deep Learning Systems, Xiaofeng Wu

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

This thesis addresses the challenges of utilization, efficiency, and scalability faced by deep learning systems, which are essential for high-performance training and serving of deep learning models. Deep learning systems play a critical role in developing accurate and complex models for various applications, including image recognition, natural language understanding, and speech recognition. This research focuses on understanding and developing deep learning systems that encompass data preprocessing, resource management, multi-tenancy, and distributed model training. The thesis proposes several solutions to improve the performance, scalability, and efficiency of deep learning applications. Firstly, we introduce SwitchFlow, a scheduling framework that addresses the limitations …

Repytah: An Open-Source Python Package For Building Aligned Hierarchies For Sequential Data, Chenhui Jia, Lizette Carpenter, Thu Tran, Amanda Y. Liu, Sasha Yeutseyva, Mariun Tapal, Yingke Wang, Zoie Kexin Zhou, Jordan Moody, Denise Nava, Eleanor Donaher, Lillian Yusha Jiang, Ben Bruncati, Katherine M. Kinnaird

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

We introduce repytah, a Python package that constructs the aligned hierarchies representation that contains all possible structure-based hierarchical decompositions for a finite length piece of sequential data aligned on a common time axis. In particular, this representation–introduced by Kinnaird (2016) with music-based data (like musical recordings or scores) as the primary motivation–is intended for sequential data where repetitions have particular meaning (such as a verse, chorus, motif, or theme). Although the original motivation for the aligned hierarchies representation was finding structure for music-based data streams, there is nothing inherent in the construction of these representations that limits repytah to only …

Identifying And Analyzing Multi-Star Systems Among Tess Planetary Candidates Using Gaia, Katie E. Bailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exoplanets represent a young, rapidly advancing subfield of astrophysics where much is still unknown. It is therefore important to analyze trends among their parameters to learn more about these systems. More complexity is added to these systems with the presence of additional stellar companions. To study these complex systems, one can employ programming languages such as Python to parse databases such as those constructed by TESS and Gaia to bridge the gap between exoplanets and stellar companions. Data can then be analyzed for trends in these multi-star exoplanet systems and in juxtaposition to their single-star counterparts. This research was able …

The Six Emotional Dimension (6de) Model: A Multidimensional Approach To Analyzing Human Emotions And Unlocking The Potential Of Emotionally Intelligent Artificial Intelligence (Ai) Via Large Language Models (Llm), Jay Ratican, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) research, particularly in training large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI's ChatGPT 3.5 and 4, hold significant potential for future applications in education, healthcare, and assisted living. Emotionally intelligent AI systems can provide personalized and adaptive educational experiences, enhancing engagement and educational outcomes. In healthcare, they can offer empathetic mental health support, augmenting existing resources. In assisted living, AI companions can provide emotional support, cognitive stimulation, and monitoring services, promoting independence and safety. However, ethical considerations and privacy safeguards are crucial to ensure responsible deployment. Integrating emotionally intelligent AI in these domains has …

Compositional Prompt Tuning With Motion Cues For Open-Vocabulary Video Relation Detection, Kaifeng Gao, Long Chen, Hanwang Zhang, Jun Xiao, Qianru Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Prompt tuning with large-scale pretrained vision-language models empowers open-vocabulary prediction trained on limited base categories, e.g., object classification and detection. In this paper, we propose compositional prompt tuning with motion cues: an extended prompt tuning paradigm for compositional predictions of video data. In particular, we present Relation Prompt (RePro) for Open-vocabulary Video Visual Relation Detection (Open-VidVRD), where conventional prompt tuning is easily biased to certain subject-object combinations and motion patterns. To this end, RePro addresses the two technical challenges of Open-VidVRD: 1) the prompt tokens should respect the two different semantic roles of subject and object, and 2) the tuning …

Neural Episodic Control With State Abstraction, Zhuo Li, Derui Zhu, Yujing Hu, Xiaofei Xie, Lei Ma, Yan Zheng, Yan Song, Yingfeng Chen, Jianjun Zhao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Existing Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) algorithms suffer from sample inefficiency.Generally, episodic control-based approaches are solutions that leveragehighly-rewarded past experiences to improve sample efficiency of DRL algorithms.However, previous episodic control-based approaches fail to utilize the latentinformation from the historical behaviors (e.g., state transitions, topological similarities,etc.) and lack scalability during DRL training. This work introducesNeural Episodic Control with State Abstraction (NECSA), a simple but effectivestate abstraction-based episodic control containing a more comprehensive episodicmemory, a novel state evaluation, and a multi-step state analysis. We evaluate ourapproach to the MuJoCo and Atari tasks in OpenAI gym domains. The experimentalresults indicate that NECSA achieves higher …

Diffseer: Difference-Based Dynamic Weighted Graph Visualization, Xiaolin Wen, Yong Wang, Meixuan Wu, Fengjie Wang, Xuanwu Yue, Qiaomu Shen, Yuxin Ma, Min Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Existing dynamic weighted graph visualization approaches rely on users’ mental comparison to perceive temporal evolution of dynamic weighted graphs, hindering users from effectively analyzing changes across multiple timeslices. We propose DiffSeer, a novel approach for dynamic weighted graph visualization by explicitly visualizing the differences of graph structures (e.g., edge weight differences) between adjacent timeslices. Specifically, we present a novel nested matrix design that overviews the graph structure differences over a time period as well as shows graph structure details in the timeslices of user interest. By collectively considering the overall temporal evolution and structure details in each timeslice, an optimization-based …

Algorithms For Unit-Disk Graphs And Related Problems, Yiming Zhao

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In this dissertation, we study algorithms for several problems on unit-disk graphs and related problems. The unit-disk graph can be viewed as an intersection graph of a set of congruent disks. Unit-disk graphs have been extensively studied due to many of their applications, e.g., modeling the topology of wireless sensor networks. Lots of problems on unit-disk graphs have been considered in the literature, such as shortest paths, clique, independent set, distance oracle, diameter, etc. Specifically, we study the following problems in this dissertation: L₁ shortest paths in unit-disk graphs, reverse shortest paths in unit-disk graphs, minimum bottleneck moving spanning …

Oriented Crossover In Genetic Algorithms For Computer Networks Optimization, Furkan Rabee, Zahir M. Hussain

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Optimization using genetic algorithms (GA) is a well-known strategy in several scientific disciplines. The crossover is an essential operator of the genetic algorithm. It has been an active area of research to develop sustainable forms for this operand. In this work, a new crossover operand is proposed. This operand depends on giving an elicited description for the chromosome with a new structure for alleles of the parents. It is suggested that each allele has two attitudes, one attitude differs contrastingly with the other, and both of them complement the allele. Thus, in case where one attitude is good, the other …

Brif: A Novel And Efficient Implementation Of Random Forests Based On Bit Packing And Parallel Computing, Yanchao Liu

Industrial and Systems Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Random forests are powerful and popular machine learning methods. While general principles of tree induction are straightforward and well-understood, the numerous algorithmic treatments implemented in software tools, as well as their impacts on performance, are less familiar to most users. This paper introduces a new random forest toolkit (the ‘brif’ package in R and Python) along with its key algorithmic design features, and demonstrates the effects of the forest’s hyper-parameters such as the split search method, tree depth and the voting mechanism, on the classification performance. Summaries of benchmarking experiments are also presented. Results show that ‘brif’ stands out among …

Using Immersive Technology To Improve Mechanical Design: Use Cases, A Review Of Current Technology, And An Experiment In Requirement Elicitation In Virtual Reality, William Hawthorne

All Theses

There has been a growing trend in the use of immersive technologies within engineering design. This research is focused on understanding how Virtual Reality (VR) technologies support design reviews. Modern tools including virtual reality hardware and software were tested for current capabilities and challenges. In a review of literature, two key gaps are identified: the rapid advancements of VR and AR technology and limited formal studies to determine the costs and benefits of immersive technology within engineering design reviews. This research has resulted in three key outcomes. First, use cases of immersive reality technologies are identified, through the lens of …

Modeling And Predicting Emerging Threats Using Disparate Data, Ismael Villanueva Miranda

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Early detection is crucial to mitigate the impact of emerging threats. This work proposes four innovative frameworks that build machine learning and deterministic epidemiological models using multiple domain-specific datasets to detect the onset of emerging threats in two domains: infectious diseases and cybersecurity. Our models are designed to detect infectious disease outbreaks, model their spread, detect malware activity, and analyze the relationship between software/hardware weaknesses and attack techniques.

First, we present a novel framework to detect multiple infectious disease outbreaks by integrating standardized disease-specific domain knowledge and public search trend data. Our framework showed high performance in identifying infectious disease …

Enhancing Basic Geology Skills With Artificial Intelligence: An Exploration Of Automated Reasoning In Field Geology, Perry Ivan Quinto Houser

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the use of Artificial Intelligence, specifically semantics, ontologies, and reasoner techniques, to improve field geology mapping. The thesis focuses on two use cases: 1) identifying a geologic formation based on observed characteristics; and 2) predicting the geologic formation that might be expected next based upon known stratigraphic sequence. The results show that the ontology was able to correctly identify the geologic formation for the majority of rock descriptions, with higher search results for descriptions that provided more detail. Similarly, the units expected next were correctly given and if incorrect, would provide a flag to the field geologist …

Multiple Sequence Alignment Guided By Clam, Emily Light

Senior Honors Projects

For my honors project, I am continuing my research with my academic advisor, Dr. Daniels on creating an approach to the Multiple Sequence Alignment problem in the Rust programming language. This approach will be attached to Dr. Daniels’ CLAM (Clustered Learning for Approximate Manifolds) to enable it to globally and locally align DNA sequences. This research was divided into three separate parts: building the algorithms, implementing them into CLAM’s metric, and measuring and improving the performance of the algorithms. This project includes two separate but related algorithms; Needleman-Wunsch algorithm and the Smith-Waterman algorithm.

The Needleman-Wunsch algorithm takes in two DNA …

Modeling User Behavior For Cyber Security With Formal Methods And Agent Based Simulation, Hamdah Albalawi

Theses and Dissertations

Despite society’s positive outlook, technology poses real cyber security threats. Technology’s benefits can sometimes make it difficult to believe that potential threats lurk behind every device and platform. As cybercrime rises, we have come to rely increasingly on flawed devices and services. As cyberattacks become more prevalent, security professionals are committed to developing more robust and dependable security solutions. In cyber security, human error is regarded as the weakest link since all technical security solutions are vulnerable to human error. Among other human characteristics, risk-taking, logical decision-making, extraversion, and gender can significantly affect cyber security. However, there still is the …

Trace Dna Detection Using Diamond Dye: A Recovery Technique To Yield More Dna, Leah Davis

Master's Theses

This study aspires to find a new screening approach to trace DNA recovery techniques to yield a higher quantity of trace DNA from larger items of evidence. It takes the path of visualizing trace DNA on items of evidence with potential DNA so analysts can swab a more localized area rather than attempting to recover trace DNA through the general swabbing technique currently used for trace DNA recovery. The first and second parts consisted of observing trace DNA interaction with Diamond Dye on porous and non-porous surfaces.

The third part involved applying the Diamond Dye solution by spraying it onto …

The Identification Of Rogue Access Points Using Channel State Information, Irene Mcginniss

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Today's wireless networks (Wi-Fi) handle more significant numbers of connections, deploy efficiently, and provide increased reliability and high speeds at low cost. The ability of rogue access points (RAPs) to mimic legitimate APs makes them the most critical threat to wireless security. APs are found in coffee shops, supermarkets, stadiums, buses, trains, airports, hospitals, theaters, and shopping malls.

Rogue access points (RAP) are unauthorized devices that connect to legitimate access points and networks and bypass authorized security procedures. RAP detection has been attempted using hardware and software-based solutions requiring the developing of dedicated tools or beacon frame modification. (Arisandi, 2021). …

The Construction Of A Static Source Code Scanner Focused On Sql Injection Vulnerabilties In Java, Carla Zurita Rubin De Celis

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

SQL injection attacks are a significant threat to web application security, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary SQL commands and gain unauthorized access to sensitive data. Static source code analysis is a widely used technique to identify security vulnerabilities in software, including SQL injection attacks. However, existing static source code scanners often produce false positives and require a high level of expertise to use effectively. This thesis presents the design and implementation of a static source code scanner for SQL injection vulnerabilities in Java queries. The scanner uses a combination of pattern matching and data flow analysis to detect SQL injection …

Internet Programming, Kwame A. Baffour

Open Educational Resources

CSC 31800 – Internet Programming

The design and implementation of websites from a Human-Computer Interaction point of view. Covers client-side technologies such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript and server-side technologies including Node.js and relational databases. Responsiveness, inclusion and accessibility by persons with mobility and vision impairment is necessary and must be addressed in the final project.