Other Computer Sciences Commons^™

Analysis Of An Existing Method In Refinement Of Protein Structure Predictions Using Cryo-Em Images, Maytha Alshammari, Jing He, Willy Wriggers, Jiangwen Sun

College of Sciences Posters

Protein structure prediction produces atomic models from its amino acid sequence. Three-dimensional structures are important for understanding the function mechanism of proteins. Knowing the structure of a given protein is crucial in drug development design of novel enzymes. AlphaFold2 is a protein structure prediction tool with good performance in recent CASP competitions. Phenix is a tool for determination of a protein structure from a high-resolution 3D molecular image. Recent development of Phenix shows that it is capable to refine predicted models from AlphaFold2, specifically the poorly predicted regions, by incorporating information from the 3D image of the protein. The goal …

Leaderboard Design Principles Influencing User Engagement In An Online Discussion, Brian S. Bovee

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Along with the popularity of gamification, there has been increased interest in using leaderboards to promote engagement with online learning systems. The existing literature suggests that when leaderboards are designed well they have the potential to improve learning, but qualitative investigations are required in order to reveal design principles that will improve engagement. In order to address this gap, this qualitative study aims to explore students' overall perceptions of popular leaderboard designs in a gamified, online discussion. Using two leaderboards reflecting performance in an online discussion, this study evaluated multiple leaderboard designs from student interviews and other data sources regarding …

Few-Shot Object Detection Via Baby Learning, Anh-Khoa Nguyen Vu, Nhat-Duy Nguyen, Khanh-Duy Nguyen, Vinh-Tiep Nguyen, Thanh Duc Ngo, Thanh-Toan Do, Tam Nguyen

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Few-shot learning is proposed to overcome the problem of scarce training data in novel classes. Recently, few-shot learning has been well adopted in various computer vision tasks such as object recognition and object detection. However, the state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods have less attention to effectively reuse the information from previous stages. In this paper, we propose a new framework of few-shot learning for object detection. In particular, we adopt Baby Learning mechanism along with the multiple receptive fields to effectively utilize the former knowledge in novel domain. The propoed framework imitates the learning process of a baby through visual cues. The …

Performance Analysis And Improvement For Scalable And Distributed Applications Based On Asynchronous Many-Task Systems, Nanmiao Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As the complexity of recent and future large-scale data and exascale systems architectures grows, so do productivity, portability, software scalability, and efficient utilization of system resources challenges presented to both industry and the research community. Software solutions and applications are expected to scale in performance on such complex systems. Asynchronous many-task (AMT) systems, taking advantage of multi-core architectures with light-weight threads, asynchronous executions, and smart scheduling, are showing promise in addressing these challenges.

In this research, we implement several scalable and distributed applications based on HPX, an exemplar AMT runtime system. First, a distributed HPX implementation for a parameterized benchmark …

The Global Rise Of Online Devices, Cyber Crime And Cyber Defense: Enhancing Ethical Actions, Counter Measures, Cyber Strategy, And Approaches, Naresh Kshetri

Dissertations

The rise of online devices, online users, online shopping, online gaming, and online teaching has ultimately given rise to online attacks and online crimes. As cases of COVID-19 seem to increase day by day, so do online crimes and attacks (as many sectors and organizations went 100% online). Technological advancements and cyber warfare already generated many ethical issues, as internet users increasingly need ethical cyber defense strategies.

Individual internet users have challenges on their end; and on the other end, nation states (some secretly, some openly), are investing in robot weapons and autonomous weapons systems (AWS). New technologies have combined …

Dissecting Mutational Allosteric Effects In Alkaline Phosphatases Associated With Different Hypophosphatasia Phenotypes: An Integrative Computational Investigation, Fei Xiao, Ziyun Zhou, Xingyu Song, Mi Gan, Jie Long, Gennady M. Verkhivker, Guang Hu

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Hypophosphatasia (HPP) is a rare inherited disorder characterized by defective bone mineralization and is highly variable in its clinical phenotype. The disease occurs due to various loss-of-function mutations in ALPL, the gene encoding tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNSALP). In this work, a data-driven and biophysics-based approach is proposed for the large-scale analysis of ALPL mutations-from nonpathogenic to severe HPPs. By using a pipeline of synergistic approaches including sequence-structure analysis, network modeling, elastic network models and atomistic simulations, we characterized allosteric signatures and effects of the ALPL mutations on protein dynamics and function. Statistical analysis of molecular features computed for the …

Diabetic Foot Exam System, Stephanie Trusty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The diabetic foot exam system aims to perform certain aspects of the dermatological and musculoskeletal assessments that are typical to a 3-minute diabetic foot exam. Utilizing the RaspberryPi computer and camera module, the system seeks to capture a series of images of the patient’s foot. It then evaluates these images for calluses, blisters, and three types of deformities: claw toe deformities, hammertoe deformities, and bunions. This evaluation is performed using a trained TensorFlow image classification model, which categorizes the image as a callus, blister, or deformity. The system was tested using six different images: four callus images, a hammertoe deformity …

Covid-19 Classroom Occupancy Detection System, Stephanie Trusty

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The classroom occupancy detection system aims to limit the spread of COVID-19 and support mitigation efforts advised by national and international health organizations by enforcing social distancing in classroom environments. Utilizing the RaspberryPi computer and its compatible camera module, the system accomplishes this by capturing an overhead image of a classroom and assessing the image for violations. Here, violations are defined as the presence of adjacent occupied seats. As such, for an acceptable state to be detected, there must be at least one vacant seat between all students seated in the classroom. The system communicates the classroom’s state with two …

A Deep Learning-Based Approach To Extraction Of Filler Morphology In Sem Images With The Application Of Automated Quality Inspection, Md. Fashiar Rahman, Tzu-Liang Bill Tseng, Jianguo Wu, Yuxin Wen, Yirong Lin

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Automatic extraction of filler morphology (size, orientation, and spatial distribution) in Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) images is essential in many applications such as automatic quality inspection in composite manufacturing. Extraction of filler morphology greatly depends on accurate segmentation of fillers (fibers and particles), which is a challenging task due to the overlap of fibers and particles and their obscure presence in SEM images. Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs) have been shown to be very effective at object recognition in digital images. This paper proposes an automatic filler detection system in SEM images, utilizing a Mask Region-based CNN architecture. The proposed system …

Incorporating Semi-Automated Approach For Effective Software Requirements Prioritization: A Framework Design, Fang-Fang Chua, Tek-Yong Lim, Bushra Tajuddin, Amarilis Putri Yanuarifiani

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

Software Requirements Prioritization (SRP) is one of the crucial processes in software requirements engineering. It presents a challenging task to decide among the pool of requirements and the variance of the stakeholder’s needs in prioritizing requirements. Semi-automated requirements prioritization is implemented in both manual and automatic processes. When prioritizing requirements, these aspects such as importance, time, cost and risk, should be taken into account. The emergence of machine learning is advancing to improve and automate the SRP process whereby decision making can be performed with minimal human intervention. Incorporating machine learning approaches in prioritization techniques can be implemented in the …

Performance Of Sentiment Classification On Tweets Of Clothing Brands, Muhammad Shafiq Jalani, Hu Ng, Timothy Tzen Vun Yap, Vik Tor Goh

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

Social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter ease the sharing of ideas, thoughts, videos, and photos and information through the building of virtual networks and communities. This has allowed companies and products to reach a wider audience in terms of marketing and advertising, and to gauge feedback from the public. This research investigates clothing brand mentions on Twitter to perform sentiment analysis on users’ thoughts on three clothing brands, namely Asos, Uniqlo and Topshop. The data is collected by applying python libraries, Tweepy to access data from the Twitter streaming API. Following that, data pre-processing such as tokenization, …

Backup Automation Using Power Automate For Malaysian Vaccination Centres, Raadhesh Kannan, Chin Ji Jian

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the world, especially the vaccine centres when it comes to logistics, maintenance of records, and issuing of vaccination certifications. The Malaysian vaccination centres (PPVs) known as Pusat Pemberian Vaksin in Malaysia have a secure, and reliable system to maintain records of who has been vaccinated and when. No system is fully secure and reliable, thus there needs to be a backup if anything happens to the records like data loss or tampering of records. Although the information flow is simplified using the MySejahtera app and scanning of QR codes, there is no contingency prepared should …

The Impacts Of The Use Of Thematic & Chronologic Multi-Modal Information Representation On Sequential And Global Students’ Historical Understanding, Ling Weay Ang, Sellappan Palaniappan

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

This study examined the two different modes of multi-modes information presentations that affected sequential and global learners' history understanding: thematic and chronological. A total of 134 secondary schools’ students were enrolled (69 learning in chronological mode, 65 learning in thematic mode). Before the start of the treatment session, students were given a pre-test. The results showed that multimodal information presentation did not have a significantly great impact on historical learning or between pupils who learn in chronological and thematic ways. The chronological frame of reference technique, which reflected an interactive timeline, was reported to have supported students' sequential learning in …

Localization Techniques Overview Towards 6g Communication, Nawaid Hasan, Azlan Abd Aziz, Azwan Mahmud, Nur Asyiqin Binte Hamzah, Noor Ziela Abd Rahman

Journal of Informatics and Web Engineering

Worldwide Researchers and scientist have started the investigation of the sixth generation (6G) while the fifth generation (5G) cellular system is being deployed. Under this main investigation the main aim of 6G is to provide intelligent and ubiquitous wireless connectivity with Terabits per second (Tbps) data rates. Accurate location information of the mobile devices is very much useful to accomplish these aims with the improvements of various parameters of wireless communication. The development in communication technology often creates new opportunities to improve the localization efficiency as demonstrated by the expected centimetre-level localization accuracy in 6G. While there are comprehensive literatures …

A High Precision Machine Learning-Enabled System For Predicting Idiopathic Ventricular Arrhythmia Origins, Jianwei Zheng, Guohua Fu, Daniele Struppa, Islam Abudayyeh, Tahmeed Contractor, Kyle Anderson, Huimin Chu, Cyril Rakovski

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Radiofrequency catheter ablation (CA) is an efficient antiarrhythmic treatment with a class I indication for idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia (IVA), only when drugs are ineffective or have unacceptable side effects. The accurate prediction of the origins of IVA can significantly increase the operation success rate, reduce operation duration and decrease the risk of complications. The present work proposes an artificial intelligence-enabled ECG analysis algorithm to estimate possible origins of idiopathic ventricular arrhythmia at a clinical-grade level accuracy.

Method: A total of 18,612 ECG recordings extracted from 545 patients who underwent successful CA to treat IVA were proportionally sampled into training, …

Three Wave Mixing In Epsilon-Near-Zero Plasmonic Waveguides For Signal Regeneration, Nicholas Mirchandani, Mark C. Harrison

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Vast improvements in communications technology are possible if the conversion of digital information from optical to electric and back can be removed. Plasmonic devices offer one solution due to optical computing’s potential for increased bandwidth, which would enable increased throughput and enhanced security. Plasmonic devices have small footprints and interface with electronics easily, but these potential improvements are offset by the large device footprints of conventional signal regeneration schemes, since surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) are incredibly lossy. As such, there is a need for novel regeneration schemes. The continuous, uniform, and unambiguous digital information encoding method is phase-shift-keying (PSK), so …

Autonomous, Long-Range, Sensor Emplacement Using Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Adam Plowcha, Justin Bradley, Jacob Hoberg, Thomas Ammon, Mark Nail, Brittany Duncan, Carrick Detweiler

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Automated, in-ground sensor emplacement can significantly improve remote, terrestrial, data collection capabilities. Utilizing a multicopter, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) for this purpose allows sensor insertion with minimal disturbance to the target site or surrounding area. However, developing an emplacement mechanism for a small multicopter, autonomy to manage the target selection and implantation process, as well as long-range deployment are challenging to address. We have developed an autonomous, multicopter UAS that can implant subsurface sensor devices. We enhanced the UAS autopilot with autonomy for target and landing zone selection, as well as ensuring the sensor is implanted properly in the ground. …

Improving Adversarial Attacks Against Malconv, Justin Burr

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation proposes several improvements to existing adversarial attacks against MalConv, a raw-byte malware classifier for Windows PE files. The included contributions greatly improve the success rates and performance of gradient-based file overlay attacks. All improvements are included in a new open-source attack utility called BitCamo.

Several new payload initialization strategies for use with gradient-based attacks are proposed and evaluated as potential replacements for the randomized initialization method used by current attacks. An algorithm for determining the optimal payload size is also proposed. The resulting improvements achieve a 100% evasion rate against eligible target executables using an average payload size …

Patterns Of Academic Help-Seeking In Undergraduate Computing Students, Augie Doebling

Master's Theses

Knowing when and how to seek academic help is crucial to the success of undergraduate computing students. While individual help-seeking resources have been studied, little is understood about the factors influencing students to use or avoid certain re- sources. Understanding students’ patterns of help-seeking can help identify factors contributing to utilization or avoidance of help resources by different groups, an important step toward improving the quality and accessibility of resources. We present a mixed-methods study investigating the help-seeking behavior of undergraduate computing students. We collected survey data (n = 138) about students’ frequency of using several resources followed by one-on-one …

Multi-Dimensional Security Integrity Analysis Of Broad Market Internet-Connected Cameras, Mark A. Stanislav

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

This study used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional, descriptive analysis survey design to examine the adherence of 40 internet-connected cameras against three IoT security frameworks to determine their overall security posture. Relevant literature was reviewed showing that prior studies in a similar regard had limitations, such as a small sample population, singular market segment focus, and/or a lack of validation against formalized frameworks. This study resulted in a uniform and multi-dimensional set of findings with supporting evidence, leading to a mapping against selected IoT security frameworks that was then quantitatively analyzed for their relative adherence as individual cameras, across …