Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces Commons^™

A Bandwidth-Conserving Architecture For Crawling Virtual Worlds, Dipesh Gautam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit via avatars. Content in virtual worlds such as Second Life or OpenSimulator is increasingly presented using three-dimensional (3D) dynamic presentation technologies that challenge traditional search technologies. As 3D environments become both more prevalent and more fragmented, the need for a data crawler and distributed search service will continue to grow. By increasing the visibility of content across virtual world servers in order to better collect and integrate the 3D data we can also improve the crawling and searching efficiency and accuracy by avoiding crawling unchanged regions …

Conceptual, Impact-Based Publications Recommendations, Ann Smittu Joseph

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

CiteSeerx is a digital library for scientific publications by computer science researchers. It also functions as a search engine with several features including autonomous citation indexing, automatic metadata extraction, full-text indexing and reference linking. Users are able to retrieve relevant documents from the CiteSeer^x database directly using search queries and will further benefit if the system suggests document recommendations to the user based on their preferences and search history. Therefore, recommender systems were initially developed and continue to evolve to recommend more relevant documents to the CiteSeer^x users. In this thesis, we introduce the Conceptual, Impact-Based Recommender (CIBR), …

Traveltant: Social Interaction Based Personalized Recommendation System, Sultan Dawood Alfarhood

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Trip planning is a time consuming task that most people do before going to any destination. Traveltant is an intelligent system that analyzes a user's Social network and suggests a complete trip plan detailed for every single day based on the user's interests extracted from the Social network. Traveltant also considers the interests of friends the user interacts with most by building a ranked friends list of interactivity, and then uses the interests of those people in this list to enrich the recommendation results. Traveltant provides a smooth user interface through a Windows Phone 7 application while doing most of …

Utilizing A Modular Approach To Gamification To Improve Nutrition And Fitness In Children, Chad Richards

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a worldwide epidemic that affects adults and children, impacts over 30% of the population in several states of the U.S., damages national economies, and is a factor in four out of the six of the leading causes of death, including diabetes and heart disease. Obesity is preventable: solution approaches include better education, more exercise, better nutrition, and changing eating habits. Still, it is difficult for many people to remain interested enough to educate themselves and to learn new behaviors to change their eating and exercise habits.

Gamification is a relatively new research area that involves using video game …

Personalized News Recommender Using Twitter, Satya Srinivasa Nirmal Jonnalagedda

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Online news reading has become a widely popular way to read news articles from news sources around the globe. With the enormous amount of news articles available, users are easily swamped by information of little interest to them. News recommender systems are one approach to help users find interesting articles to read. News recommender systems present the articles to individual users based on their interests rather than presenting articles in order of their occurrence. In this thesis, we present our research on developing personalized news recommendation system with the help of a popular micro-blogging service "Twitter". The news articles are …

Identifying Robust Sift Features For Improved Image Alignment, Sanjay Abhinav Vemuri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, we will study different ways to improve feature matching by increasing the quality and reducing the number of SIFT features. We created an algorithm to identify robust SIFT features by evaluating how invariant individual feature points are to changes in scale. This allows us to exclude poor SIFT feature points from the matching process and obtain better matching results in reduced time. We also developed techniques consider scale ratios and changes in object orientation when performing feature matching. This allows us to exclude false-positive feature matches and obtain better image alignment results.

The Design And Implementation Of A Mobile Game Engine For The Android Platform, Jon Hammer

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this thesis, a two-dimensional game engine is proposed for the Android mobile platform that facilitates rapid development of those games by individual developers or hobbyists. The essential elements of game design are presented so as to introduce the reader to the concepts that are crucial for comprehension of the paper. A brief overview of the Android Operating System is also included for those unfamiliar with it. Three primary design goals are identified, and a prototype solution is described in detail. The prototype is then evaluated against those design goals to see how well it accomplishes each task. The results …

A Modular Framework For Home Healthcare Monitoring, Blake Puryear

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Many patients with chronic health problems have multiple ailments but different patients may have different such ailments. Home monitoring systems for individual ailments exist but a patient may have multiple of these, all designed independently. There are no standard architectures so this leads to unmanageable diversity which causes problems for patients in having to learn to use a variety of monitors and for physicians in trying to monitor many patients. The purpose of this project was to design and prototype a next generation modular remote healthcare monitoring system capable of monitoring multiple ailments and extensible to new ailments in order …

Simple Touch-Based Gaming: Project Pond, Taylor Yust

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The mainstream success of smartphone technology has prompted the video game industry to invest resources into new types of mobile games. While seemingly successful on the surface, there are unseen issues and risks that may potentially harm the long-term sustainability of the market. In response, I’ve developed my own smartphone gaming app that addresses what I find to be some of the largest problems in the market. My intent is to test my design theories while also challenging the status quo in mobile game design. The fruit of my labor is Pond, a smartphone gaming app for Windows Phone 7. …

Three-Dimensional Scene Reconstruction Using Multiple Microsoft Kinects, Matt Miller

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Microsoft Kinect represents a leap forward in the form of cheap, consumer friendly, depth sensing cameras. Through the use of the depth information as well as the accompanying RGB camera image, it becomes possible to represent the scene, what the camera sees, as a three-dimensional geometric model. In this thesis, we explore how to obtain useful data from the Kinect, and how to use it for the creation of a three-dimensional geometric model of the scene. We develop and test multiple ways of improving the depth information received from the Kinect, in order to create smoother three-dimensional models. We …

Extending The Hybridthread Smp Model For Distributed Memory Systems, Eugene Anthony Cartwright Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Memory Hierarchy is of growing importance in system design today. As Moore's Law allows system designers to include more processors within their designs, data locality becomes a priority. Traditional multiprocessor systems on chip (MPSoC) experience difficulty scaling as the quantity of processors increases. This challenge is common behavior of memory accesses in a shared memory environment and causes a decrease in memory bandwidth as processor numbers increase. In order to provide the necessary levels of scalability, the computer architecture community has sought to decentralize memory accesses by distributing memory throughout the system. Distributed memory offers greater bandwidth due to decoupled …

Object Recognition Based On Shape And Function: Inspired By Children's Word Acquisition, Akihiro Eguchi

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

This paper explores a new approach to computational object recognition by borrowing an idea from child language acquisition studies in developmental psychology. Whereas previous image recognition research used shape to recognize and label a target object, the model proposed in this study added the function of the object resulting in a more accurate recognition. This study makes use of new gaming technology, Microsoft’s Kinect, in implementing the proposed new object recognition model. A demonstration of the model developed in this project properly infers different names for similarly shaped objects and the same name for differently shaped objects.

Investigating 3 Axis Cnc Processes For Creating 3d Objects, Michael Jake Newsum

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Using 3 axis CNC (computer numerical code) routing processes of the Visualization Lab, the CNC was tested for 3D object milling. The CNC process was designed for manufacturing 2D cut out objects with or without a 3D surface. The processes of modeling the object, using CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) programs, producing the Toolpath, post processing, editing G Code, positioning the stock material, and setting the machine origin were tested for an understanding of what changes had to be made to the process to accurately mill and cut out 3D objects. Solutions were discovered through digital and physical setups that are …

Powersearch: Augmenting Mobile Phone Search Through Personalization, Xiangyu Liu

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Cell phone has become a fundamental element of people's life. People use it to call each other, browse websites, send text messages, etc. Among all the functionalities, the most important and frequently used is the search functionality. Based on ComScore, in July 2008, Google was estimated to host 235 millions searches per day. However, unlike the search on desktop, the search on cell phone has one critical constrain: battery. Cell phone performing a normal Google search, the battery drains very fast. The reason is that when sending a query to and fetching the results from Google, cell phone keeps communicating …

Webtailor: Internet Service For Salient And Automatic User Interest Profiles, John Anderson

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Website personalization systems seek to give users unique, tailored content and experiences on the Internet. A key feature of these systems is a user profile that represents each user in a way that distinguishes them from others. In current personalization systems, the data used to create these profiles is extremely limited, which leads to a host of problems and ineffectual personalization. The main goal of this thesis is to improve these personalization systems by addressing their lack of data and its poor quality, breadth, and depth. This is accomplished by analyzing and classifying the content of each user's Internet browsing …

Making An Impact On The Obesity Epidemic By Deploying A Mobile Fitness Suite On The Android Market, Chad Richards

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Mobile Fitness Suite aims to make an impact on the obesity epidemic by deploying a set of mobile fitness applications on the Android Market. The thesis details the health and financial issues with the obesity epidemic, along with its causes, and how a set of fitness applications can aid with the obesity epidemic. It also explains the reasons for releasing the program on the Android Market and details each step in the process of deploying a mobile application to the Android Market. Further, it discusses the design and architecture that went into the development of the Mobile Fitness Suite …

Defining, Executing And Visualizing Representative Workflows In A Retail Domain, May Zeineldin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Our lives are filled with routine activities that we do more or less on auto-pilot such as driving to work and cooking. This thesis explores a workflow representation as a way to represent such activities of daily living. The domain of a retail store environment is used. Workflows are initially expressed in a structured English representation, then translated into a Petri net notation and implemented in mix of Petri nets, Lua, and C so that the resulting workflows can be displayed as the actions of collections of avatarbots (avatars controlled by programs) in a 3D virtual world, Second Life. One …

Research Note: Automated Path Finding Service For Second Life, Daniel Starling

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Smart Objects In A Virtual World, Akihiro Eguchi

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

The coming Internet of Things will usher in a smart semantic world where many more physical objects will be networked so that they can communicate with each other and with humans. This paper identifies protocols that smart objects will need to follow and the ways in which today’s virtual worlds can be used to better design and understand these protocols for tomorrow’s smart world.

Beyond The Pie: Communicating With Smart Objects Using Menu-Based Natural Language Interfaces, Tanmaya Kumar

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In both real and 3D virtual worlds, people and avatars (representations of people) need to be able to communicate with things around them. Without guidance, however, people cannot use the language that the things can understand. The goal of our research is to extend the 3D virtual world Second Life® to better model pervasive computing and overcome the boundaries of communication. The aim of this paper is to show how to build a dynamic menu-based user interface that enables humans to communicate with model entities. The focus is the applicability of object-specific grammars associated with things (objects in the real …

Mapping Reality Into Virtual Worlds, Josh Mcfarlane

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

As virtual worlds become more prevalent, they become increasingly useful as a means of information dissemination. This thesis examines the possible connections between real world objects and their virtual world counterparts. We look at how, by attaching sensors to an object, or by using a smart object with embedded sensors, the information can be relayed to a server. From this information, it will be possible to create a duplicate object in the virtual world and have it mirror the real world object in terms of state and movement. Almost all current solutions for remotely viewing a room or area are …

Adding Virtual Rfid To Second Life, Casey Bailey

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Second Life (SL) is a popular online 3D multi-player virtual world where the limits of creating objects and scripting interactions among objects and avatars are based on the player's imagination and scripting skill. Real life, by comparison, is often limited by current technology more than creativity. This thesis investigates a new way to merge reality and virtual reality, in particular, by modeling one emerging real world technology, radio frequency identification (RFID), in the SL virtual world. We investigate how RFID can be deployed and tested in a virtual world, a modeled healthcare facility, as a step before the much more …

Pitch Correction On The Human Voice, Suzanne Ownbey

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Singing is an excellent way to achieve fame, granted one can sing on key. Alternatively, a person who does not inherently have this ability or want to spend the time practicing to achieve it could use a programmatic solution to pitch correction. Proprietary products already exist that can correct the pitch of a singer, but the average mediocre singer may not be willing or able to purchase them. The focus of this research is to use the basic frequency altering algorithm of resampling, which alters the length of the wave to correct the pitch of a note. Small parts of …

Computer Generation And Processing Of Music: Pitch Correction For The Human Voice, Jason Hardy

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Music is something everyone can enjoy. Shows like American Idol and Dancing with the Stars show us that most everyone, namely more than those who enjoy voting, does enjoy it. Not everyone can make music, and only a special few can make it well. The musically impaired have an ally, though, and it is technology. There are many synthetic ways one may become the dream superstar, especially if they are willing to pay enough. The majority of music generation, processing, and correction software is highly proprietary to their respective owners and carries a high price. Thus, it is difficult in …

Improvement To The Data Logging Capability Of A Cough Monitoring System, Matthew Barlow

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Data logging capability of a previously developed self contained cough recorder using an accelerometer as the sensing element is improved by using a secure digital memory card for later retrieval on a computer. Firmware is developed to enhance the functionality of the cough recorder. Existing libraries are modified for increased write rates. Increased writing speed allows 8-bit sampling at rates exceeding 8kHz, allowing for detailed time and frequency domain analysis. Additional features have also been developed to enable easy management of recordings, such as a file system compatibility with Microsoft Windows., and unique file names for each recording.

Dynamic Composition Of Agent Grammars, Kyle Neumeier

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

In the very near future, as pervasive computing takes root, there will be an explosion of everyday objects that are uniquely identifiable and wrapped by a computational layer- effectively bringing the object to life. An important component of this system is the mechanism that will allow humans to interface with the objects. Menu Based Natural Language Interfaces (MBNLI) seem like a good candidate for this job because of the intuitive way in which they allow the user to build commands. However, the MBNLI system will have to scale with the number of objects in the system. This project describes context …

Interfacing Agents With Natural Language, Jared Allen

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

Technology is leading us to a world where computers are everywhere. A new breed of machines capable of sensing and reacting to stimuli in the real world is under development. Unfortunately, these new, powerful devices can oftentimes be difficult for the average person to understand. It is imperative that an easy to use interface be implemented to usher in this new world. Natural language (speech) would be an ideal solution. However, it has proven implausible on a large scale. A Menu-Based Natural Language Interface (MBNLI) could retain the intuitiveness of speech, while eliminating the obstacles impeding implementation. This research paper …

Simulation Video Electric Single Particle Aerodynamic Relaxation Time Analyzers, Steve Farmer, Robert A. Sims

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

The simulation of physical parameters provides a virtual environment for the design and optimization of instrumentation. applying physical laws and theorems to natural phenomena defines the behavior of analytical processes. Simulation provides means for the adjustment of specific operating parameters while maintaining the repeatability of constant parameters. The video Electric Single Particle Aerodynamic Relaxation Time Analyzer (VESPART) is an instrument that provides the diameter and charge-to-mass (q/m) ratio of particles. The simulation of the VESPART requires the modeling of the physical environment and application of modeling to simulations. Simulation includes characterization of the various natural forces that "feet particle motion …

Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of Virtual Interface Architecture For Power Pc Machines, Ben Mckenzie

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

The Virtual Interface Architecture (VIA) standard is a low-latency protocol that was designed for use in high-performance networks. VIA improves performance by reducing overhead in messaging. This research has two components. The first part of this research project is the development of a new tool for measuring the performance of a VIA implementation and comparing it to the more traditional high-overhead protocols used on the Internet. The development of the tool represents a significant contribution in and of itself, since the tool has been put into the public domain and will likely become useful by Lima users, both for measuring …