Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

A Tribute To Richard A. Dolbeer: Scientist, Innovator, Manager, And Mentor, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Richard A. Dolbeer retired in September 2008 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services (WS) program. Over the last 30 years, his research has encompassed the areas of population dynamics of pest species, economic assessment of losses, development of practical management techniques for resolving human–wildlife conflicts, and integrated pest management programs in the United States and abroad (Africa, Asia, Latin America). Most notably, he is one of a few individuals who recognized, early on, the cost in lives and property due to wildlife collisions with aircraft and that much of that cost is avoidable through the application of findings …

A Decade Of U.S. Air Force Bat Strikes, Suzanne C. Peurach, Carla J. Dove, Laura Stepko

Human–Wildlife Interactions

From 1997 through 2007, 821 bat strikes were reported to the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Safety Center by aircraft personnel or ground crew and sent to the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, for identification. Many samples were identified by macroscopic and or microscopic comparisons with bat specimens housed in the museum and augmented during the last 2 years by DNA analysis. Bat remains from USAF strikes during this period were received at the museum from 40 states in the United States and from 20 countries. We confirmed that 46% of the strikes were caused by bats, but we …

Suspending Vulture Effigies From Roosts To Reduce Bird Strikes, Steven A. Ball

Human–Wildlife Interactions

I observed very few vultures over the airfield after deploying the effigies, and vultures were completely absent most days. Hanging vulture effigies seemed to be effective in pushing the vultures farther away by denying them their observation point looking over the Coastal Plain near the airfield. This meant that their forage center point had been relocated far enough from the airfield that few individuals extended their range as far as the airport.

Reinforcement-Learning-Based Output-Feedback Control Of Nonstrict Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems With Application To Engine Emission Control, Peter Shih, Brian C. Kaul, Jagannathan Sarangapani, J. A. Drallmeier

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A novel reinforcement-learning-based output adaptive neural network (NN) controller, which is also referred to as the adaptive-critic NN controller, is developed to deliver the desired tracking performance for a class of nonlinear discrete-time systems expressed in nonstrict feedback form in the presence of bounded and unknown disturbances. The adaptive-critic NN controller consists of an observer, a critic, and two action NNs. The observer estimates the states and output, and the two action NNs provide virtual and actual control inputs to the nonlinear discrete-time system. The critic approximates a certain strategic utility function, and the action NNs minimize the strategic utility …

Cs/Bio 471/671: Algorithms For Bioinformatics, Michael L. Raymer

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Theory-oriented approach to the application of contemporary algorithms to bioinformatics. Graph theory, complexity theory, dynamic programming and optimization techniques are introduced in the context of application toward solving specific computational problems in molecular genetics. 4 credit hours.

Cs 499/699: Cloud Computing, Keke Chen

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

In this course, we will explore a few aspects of cloud computing: distributed data crunching with MapReduce, cloud and datacenter filesystems, virtualization, security&privacy, Amazon Web Services, and interactive web-based applications. Students are expected to finish a few mini projects, read some papers, and take the final exam. Participation in the class discussion is strongly encouraged. Guest speakers might be invited for some particular topics. (3 Hours Lecture+ 1 Hour lab).

Cs 480/680: Comparative Languages, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course will introduce fundamental concepts and paradigms underlying the design of modem programming languages. For concreteness, we study the details of an object-oriented language (e.g. Java), and a functional language (e.g., Scheme) . The overall goal is to enable comparison and evaluation of existing languages. The programming assignments will be coded in Java 5 and in scheme.

Cs 415: Social Implications Of Computing, Leo Finkelstein

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

CS 415 is a communication skills course using as its subject matter current salient issues associated with the social implications of computing. In addition to the course text, you will need to use certain reading materials in the library and elsewhere, and you will be responsible for using concepts and theories provided in class lectures and discussions.

Cs 410/610: Theoretical Foundations Of Computing, Thomas Sudkamp

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course is an introduction to one of the fundamental topics in the theory of computer science: computability theory. Computability theory is concerned with determining whether there is an algorithmic solution to a problem. The study of computability uses the Turing machine as the basic computational model. A Turing machine is a random access, read-write, finite state automaton. Although the Turing machine provides a simple computational framework, the Church-Turing thesis asserts that any problem that can be solved in any algorithmic manner can be solved by a Turing machine.

Cs 400-01: Data Structures And Algorithms, Sarah Gothard

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Cs 240: Computer Programming I, Sarah Gothard

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Basic concepts of programming and programming languages are introduced.
Emphasis is on structured programming and stepwise refinement.

Accurate Extraction Of Morphological Information From Volumetric Imagery, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science and Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ceg 724-01: Computer Vision I, Arthur A. Goshtasby

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course covers basic a]algorithms for low-level and mid-level vision. The algorithms deal with reducing image noise and segment images into objects or their parts. Other a]algorithms covered in the course analyze and quantify texture, register images, and recover 3-D shapes from 2-D images.

Ceg 720-01: Computer Architecture I, Soon M. Chung

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Review of sequential computer architecture and study of parallel computers. Topics include memory hierarchy, reduced instruction set computer, pipeline processing, multiprocessing, various parallel computers, interconnection networks, and fault-tolerant computing.

Ceg 476/676-01: Computer Graphics I, Thomas Wischgoll

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

By the end of this quarter, you will have learnt techniques for constructing 2-D and 3-D objects as well as manipulating and rendering the objects using OpenGL.

Ceg 460/660-01: Introduction To Software Computer Engineering, Thomas C. Hartrum

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

This course is concerned with the techniques of designing and constructing large programs. Some of the required basic concepts necessarily have to be developed using small programs as examples. To this extent, we also study programming-in-the-small. The overall objectives are to present an overview of issues in the development of software, to discuss terminology, to illustrate via example case studies, and to give sufficiently detailed advice on how to develop quality software. Hands-on experience is emphasized through the use of homework and a class project.

Ceg 360/560-01: Digital System Design, Travis E. Doom

Computer Science & Engineering Syllabi

Design of digital systems. Topics include flip-flops, registers, counters, programmable logic devices, memory devices, register-level design, and microcomputer system organization. Students must show competency in the design of digital systems. 3 hours lecture, 2 hours lab. Prerequisite: CEG260.

Ibm Altocumulus: A Cross-Cloud Middleware And Platform, E. Michael Maximilien, Ajith Harshana Ranabahu, Roy Engehausen, Laura Anderson

Kno.e.sis Publications

Cloud computing has become the new face of computing and promises to offer virtually unlimited, cheap, readily available, "utility type" computing resources. Many vendors have entered this market with different offerings ranging from infrastructure-as-a-service such as Amazon, to fully functional platform services such as Google App Engine. However, as a result of this heterogeneity, deploying applications to a cloud and managing them needs to be done using vendor specific methods. This "lock in" is seen as a major hurdle in adopting cloud technologies to the enterprise. IBM Altocumulus, the cloud middleware platform from IBM Almaden Services Research, aims to solve …

Rc-Chord: Resource Clustering In A Large-Scale Hierarchical Peer-To-Peer System, Daniel R. Karrels, Gilbert L. Peterson, Barry E. Mullins

Faculty Publications

Conducting data fusion and Command and Control (C2) in large-scale systems requires more than the presently available Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technologies provide. Resource Clustered Chord (RC-Chord) is an extension to the Chord protocol that incorporates elements of a hierarchical peer-to-peer architecture to facilitate coalition formation algorithms in large-scale systems. Each cluster in this hierarchy represents a particular resource available for allocation, and RC-Chord provides the capabilities to locate agents of a particular resource. This approach improves upon other strategies by including support for abundant resources, or those resources that most or all agents in the system possess. This scenario exists in …

Detectability Of Convex-Shaped Objects In Digital Images, Its Fundamental Limit And Multiscale Analysis, Xiaoming Huo, Xuelei (Sherry) Ni

Faculty Articles

Given a convex-shape inhomogeneous region embedded in a noisy image, we consider the conditions under which such an embedded region is detectable. The existence of low order-of-complexity detection algorithms is also studied. The main results are (1) an analytical threshold (of a statistic) that specifies what is detectable, and (2) the existence of a multiscale detection algorithm whose order of complexity is roughly the optimal O(n(2) log(2) (n)).

Our analysis has two main components. We first show that in a discrete image, the number of convex sets increases faster than any finite degree polynomial of the image size n. Hence …

A Radical Transformation, Michael Castelbuono

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Plasmonic Enhancement Of Forster Energy Transfer Between Two Molecules In The Vicinity Of A Metallic Nanoparticle: Nonlocal Optical Effects, P.T. Leung, H. Y. Xie, H. Y. Chung, D. P. Tsai

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

The problem of Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two molecules in the vicinity of a metallic nanoparticle such as a nanoshell is studied within a phenomenological model which takes into account the nonlocal optical response of the metal. This model allows for arbitrary locations and orientations of the two molecular dipoles with respect to the metal particle which can be of ultrasmall sizes (nm) and for which nonlocal effects are of high significance. In particular, for the nanoshell case, the molecules can be located both outside, both inside, or one inside and one outside the shell. Also, the case …

Performance Optimisation Of The Ait Campus Wireless Mesh Network Deployment, Eduardo Brito, Robert Stewart, John Allen, M. H. Hassan

9th. IT & T Conference

The deployment of an 802.11x wireless mesh network in urban areas is a complex task and is traditionally based on an exhaustive site survey, rules-of-thumb or past experiences. In this research we propose exploring the spatial distribution of the clients, the topology and the clutter using software tools from Motorola in a VoWiFi mesh network before deployment. The objective is to obtain the optimal position for the wireless access points that allows an increase in the overall capacity and performance. The cost savings inherent in running real-time applications over IP based wireless mesh networks will be of interest to industry, …

Efficient Uwb Indoor Localisation Using A Ray-Tracing Propagation Tool, Tam Huynh, Conor Brennan

9th. IT & T Conference

A novel method of applying Ray Tracing to the problem of Ultra-wide Band (UWB) indoor userlocalization is presented. This novel method for UWB localization is based on correlation between the received signal and a database of pre-computed ray-traced signals computed on a search curve. In the absence of real data the technique is validated by generating synthetic received signals using ray tracing plus Rayleigh distributed random multipath clusters as well as random amplitude and delay factors which account for database uncertainty. Results are presented that indicate that acceptable location and tracking performance can be achieved with a single sensor.

Desktop Virtualisation Scaling Experiments With Virtualbox, John Griffin, Paul Doyle

9th. IT & T Conference

With recent advances in virtualization and a growing concern regarding the administration and cooling costs associated with managing legacy servers, organisations are moving towards server and desktop virtualisation. Virtualisation provides the ability to provision a servers resources efficiently thus increasing hardware utilisation and reducing costs. While server virtualization provides clear advantages with regard to system management, higher system availability and lower recovery times, desktop virtualization is often complicated by the issue of determining the number of concurrent virtual desktops capable of running on a single server while providing acceptable performance to each desktop user. Determining the number of virtualised desktops …

Power Save-Based Adaptive Multimedia Delivery Mechanism, David Mcmullin, Ramona Trestian, Gabriel-Miro Muntean

9th. IT & T Conference

The use of mobile computing devices has become more and more common as such devices have become more and more affordable and powerful. With increases in throughput speed and decreases in device size, wireless multimedia streaming to battery powered mobile devices has become widespread. However, the battery power has not kept up with the advances in technology and has not increased so rapidly. This deficiency in battery power provides motivation for development of more energy efficient multimedia streaming methods and procedures. As such, an adaptive delivery mechanism is proposed to take into account the various drains on battery life and …

A Study Of Mobile Internet Capability Trends To Assess The Effectiveness Of The W3c Default Delivery Context (Ddc), Ivan Dunn, Gary Clynch

9th. IT & T Conference

The mobile Internet is becoming increasingly popular, but the usability of many Web applications provides a negative mobile Internet experience. This paper researched the Internet capabilities of Web-enabled mobile phones through statistics generated using the R programming environment with data sourced from MobileAware’s Device Description Repository (DDR). Time series analysis and measures of location were applied to the data set. Hands-on testing using selected mobile browsers were carried out to backup and prove findings. The data set contained 1384 device descriptions from LG, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson mobile phones that have a browser capable rendering XHTML Basic 1.0 …

Sensing Learner Interest Through Eye Tracking, Haolin Wei, Arthir-Nicolae Moldovan, Cristina Muntean

9th. IT & T Conference

Due to the rapidly growing of the amount of information, a stronger need emerges for efficient and flexible strategies for personalisation of the educational content. E-learning systems are very helpful for learners, however, people differ in knowledge level, learning styles and may seek for different information when they access web based e-learning systems. Therefore, content adapted to the user’s needs should be supported by the e-learning systems. In this paper we introduce a new e-learning environment that makes use of eye tracking mechanism to follow learner interest in certain topics and to perform content personalisation. The framework of the e-learning …

Development Of A Moodle Course Content Filter Using Meta Data, Kyle Goslin, Markus Hoffmann

9th. IT & T Conference

Moodle is an E-Learning platform that is in use by many educational institutions across the world. This paper outlines the development of a Course page Content Filter created in PHP which can be applied to a Moodle course page to filter the course’s learning objects, displaying only those documents matching the filter selections. The Course Content Filter has been developed as a code patch to be installed to the Moodle installation and activated by the Moodle administrator. It comprises of additional settings to both the Moodle course page and the learning object upload pages. Filter controls appear at the top …

An Improved Camshift Algorithm For Target Tracking In Video Surveillance, Chunrong Zhang, Yuansong Qiao, Enda Fallon, Chiangqiao Xu

9th. IT & T Conference

Target tracking in a cluttered environment remains a challenging research topic. The task of target tracking is a key component of video surveillance and monitoring systems. In this paper, we present an improved CamShift algorithm for tracking a target in video sequences in real time. Firstly, a background-weighted histogram which helps to distinguish the target from the background and other targets is introduced. Secondly, the window size is calculated to track the target as its shape and orientation change. Finally, we use a Kalman Filter to avoid being trapped by a local maximum. The introduction of the Kalman Filter also …