Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Distrust, Fear And Emotional Learning: An Online Auction Perspective, Glenn Bewsell

Dr Glenn Bewsell

This exploratory research explores the emotional perspective of online distrust, where distrust is a fear. Fear is one of the negative emotions where the situational state is motive-inconsistent and uncertainty is present. A review of literature explores distrust as a fear, emotions, emotional learning and identifies cognitive dimensions consistent with fear. These cognitive dimensions are motive-inconsistent situational state, uncertainty, goal-path obstacle, effort, and agency/control. Textual data is collected from an online auction community website to support this research. The dimensions consistent with fear are identified within the data collected and analyzed using qualitative analysis. Goal-path obstacles are identified within the …

Online Trust Mechanisms: A Domain Study Of Online Auctions, Glenn R. Bewsell

Dr Glenn Bewsell

This research investigates mechanisms that impact trust at online auctions. A qualitative study is discussed within this paper to identify mechanisms that impact trust at online auctions. The mechanisms identified are discussed within normative and grounded theoretical approaches to trust. A result of this discussion I seek to answer the question: what factors do people perceive as important to increase online trust prior to an online transaction? This discussion will help professionals understand the factors that emerge from normative and grounded theoretical approaches to online trust research. A better understanding of online trust adds to the body of theory and …

Quantification Of Emission Reduction From Electricity Network With The Integration Of Renewable Resources, M. Abdullah, A. Agalgaonkar, K. Muttaqi

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

Integration of renewable energy resources into the electricity network is one of the strategies for overall emission reduction in the network. The quantification of emission offset from renewable distributed generation (DG) needs to be incorporated in planning to assess the effectiveness of integrating these resources from emission reduction perspective. In this paper, a numerical method is proposed for quantifying the emission reduction from distribution network with the integration of renewable resources by examining the coincident hours between the time varying nature of load and generation. The factors influencing annual emission reduction are also identified along with the use of energy …

Dynamic Modelling Of Hydroelectric Turbine-Generator Unit Connected To A Hvdc System For Small Signal Stability Analysis, Yin Chin Choo, Ashish P. Agalgaonkar, Kashem Muttaqi, Sarath Perera, Michael Negnevitsky

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

This paper presents the linearised small-signal dynamic modelling of hydroelectric turbine-generator (TG) unit with CIGRE first high-voltage direct current (HVDC) benchmark system in the synchronously rotating D-Q reference frame for small-signal stability analysis. The interaction behaviour between the hydroelectric unit and the dynamics and control of HVDC system is investigated utilising eigen-analysis,participation factor analysis and by conducting sensitivity studies. The computation of eigenvalues and eigenvectors for small signal stability analysis provides an invaluable insight onto the power system dynamic behaviour by characterising the damping and frequency of the system oscillatory modes. Theconsequences of different operating conditions, such as active and …

Investigating The Operation Of Multiple Voltage Regulators And Dg In A Distribution Feeder, Dothinka Ranamuka, A Agalgaonkar, K Muttaqi

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

Integration of distributed generation (DG) in a distribution network may introduce adverse effects including control interaction, oscillatory transients and operational conflicts. This paper investigates the operation of multiple voltage regulators such as on-load tap changer (OLTC) and step voltage regulator (SVR), and DG in a medium voltage distribution feeder. Investigations have been carried out using time domain simulation studies conducted using MATLAB-SimPowerSystems. The results are reported for a case study involving radial distribution feeder, derived from New South Wales (NSW) electricity distribution network in Australia.

Optimal Allocation Of Renewable Enegy Resources For Minimising Emissions In The Distribution Network, M. Abdullah, A. Agalgaonkar, K. Muttaqi

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

Integration of renewable Distributed Generation (DG) into the distribution networks is one of the effective ways to ensure emission reduction with the added benefits of network support and transmission and distribution system expansion deferral. Emission reduction by renewable DGs mostly depends on the generation technology, size and type of DG units and curtailment of fossil fuel based grid energy. This paper proposes a strategy for evaluating the size and type of renewable DG and determining the best mix of different renewable DG technologies by minimising primary and operational emissions without violating network constraints. A methodology based on time sequential optimisation …

Support Of Distribution System Using Distributed Wind And Pv Systems, Kai Zou, Ashish P. Agalgaonkar, Kashem Muttaqi, Sarath Perera, N Browne

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

The application of renewable distributed generation (DG) could be considered as an alternative approach for distribution system expansion planning not only to reduce power loss and carbon emission, but also to improve system voltage profile. This paper investigates technical aspects relatedto voltage support and loss reduction in distribution systems with distributed wind and solar generation. The probabilistic wind, solar, and load models have been developed in order to address uncertain nature of wind speed, solar radiation, and load demand. Investigations have been carried out using Monte Carlo based probabilistic load flow analysis to estimate the probability distributions of system state …

Optimisation Of Distributed Generation Units And Shunt Capacitors For Economic Operation Of Distribution Systems, Kai Zou, Sarath Perera, Kashem Muttaqi, Ashish P. Agalgaonkar

Dr Ashish Agalgaonkar

The integration of Distributed Generation (DG) units and shunt capacitors can be considered as an alternative approach for distribution system expansion planning not only to improve power supply quality and reliability, but also to defer major system updates. In this paper, the techno-economic issues of distribution system expansion planning with optimal sizing and siting of DG units and shunt capacitors are addressed. The minimisation of overall investment cost with the integration of DG units and shunt capacitors is assessed with the consideration of supply quality, reliability and energy loss. A new planning methodology by using Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) is …

Pbtrust: A Priority-Based Trust Model For Service Selection In General Service-Oriented Environments, Xing Su, Minjie Zhang, Yi Mu, Kwang Mong Sim

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

How to choose the best service provider (agent), which a service consumer can trust in terms of the quality and success rate of the service in an open and dynamic environment, is a challenging problem in many service-oriented applications such as Internet-based grid systems, e-trading systems, as well as service-oriented computing systems. This paper presents a Priority-Based Trust (PBTrust) model for service selection in general service-oriented environments. The PBTrust is robust and novel from several perspectives. (1) The reputation of a service provider is derived from referees who are third parties and had interactions with the provider in a rich …

A Fuzzy-Based Approach For Partner Selection In Multi-Agent Systems, Fenghui Ren, Minjie Zhang, Quan Bai

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Traditional negotiation approaches pay intensive attention to decision making models in order to reach the optimal agreements, while placing insufficient efforts on the problem of partner selection. In this paper, a fuzzy-based approach for partner selection in multi-agent systems is proposed. By employing both the fuzzy logic and the extended dual concern model, agents can adapt their individual behaviors for partner selection in negotiation. The proposed approach has three merits, which are: (1) both the agent’s own benefit and its potential partners’ benefits are considered for partner selection in negotiation; (2) by employing the extended dual concern model, agents’ attitudes …

Secure Mobile Agents With Designated Hosts, Qi Zhang, Yi Mu, Minjie Zhang, Robert H. Deng

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Mobile agents often travel in a hostile environment where their security and privacy could be compromised by any party including remote hosts in which agents visit and get services. It was proposed in the literature that the host visited by an agent should jointly sign a service agreement with the agent's home, where a proxy-signing model was deployed and every host in the agent system can sign. We observe that this actually poses a serious problem in that a host that should be excluded from an underlying agent network could also send a signed service agreement. In order to solve …

Ontology-Based Resource Descriptions For Distributed Information Sources, Hui Yang, Minjie Zhang

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Content-based resource description is the key to find appropriate information sources that are most likely to contain the relevant documents for a given user query. However, semantic heterogeneity makes it difficult to acquire accurate and meaningful resource descriptions from distributed, heterogeneous information sources. To address this problem, we describe an ontology-based approach which uses domain-specific ontologies to extract content-related information from information sources, and to generate ontology-based resource descriptions. The preliminary experimental results demonstrate that our ontology-based approach could improve selection accuracy.

Ontology-Based Knowledge Representation For A P2p Multi-Agent Distributed Intrusion Detection System, Dayong Ye, Quan Bai, Minjie Zhang

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Many research efforts on application of ontology in network security have been done in the past decade. However, they mostly stop at initial proposal or focus on framework design without detailed representation of intrusion or attack and relevant detection knowledge with ontology. In this paper, the design and implementation of ontology-based knowledge representation for a peer-to-peer multi-agent distributed intrusion detection system (ontology-based MADIDS) are introduced. An example which demonstrates the representation of an attack with ontology and the relevant detection process is also presented. In ontology-Based MADIDS, ontology technique enables peers in the system and agents in one peer to …

P2p Distributed Intrusion Detections By Using Mobile Agents, Dayong Ye, Quan Bai, Minjie Zhang, Zhen Ye

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Traditional hierarchical intrusion detection systems have a central manager which attracts hackers to attack and might overload when there are too many client requests. To overcome these drawbacks, some researchers suggested to apply Peer-to-Peer approaches in intrusion detection. Most current Peer-to-Peer intrusion detection systems only allow hosts to collect related information from "neighbours" (one hop hosts). The limitation of information sources may lead a system to make inaccurate decisions. In this paper, we propose a Mobile Agent Based Peer-to-Peer Distributed Intrusion Detection Framework. Agents are included in this framework to achieve intrusion detections. In addition, a mobile agent migration strategy …

A Coloured Petri Net Based Strategy For Multi-Agent Scheduling, Q. Bai, Minjie Zhang, H. Zhang

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

In the last decade, the focus of agent research has shifted from single agent systems to multi-agent systems (MASs). Dynamic agent coordination is one of the challenge problems of multi-agent research. One coordination problem is how to achieve agent scheduling under open dynamic environments. Petri Nets (PNs) and Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) are system study tools that provide an appropriate mathematical formalism for the description, construction and analysis of distributed and concurrent systems. In this paper, we present a CPN based strategy to schedule and allocate new tasks to suitable agent(s) or agent combinations. In this strategy, through using CPNs …

An Agent-Based Peer-To-Peer Grid Computing Architecture, J. Tang, Minjie Zhang

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

We propose a multi-agent based peer-to-peer grid computing architecture in this paper to solves the issues that the conventional grid architecture is limited in modeling computer systems with highly dynamic and autonomous computing resources, and its super-local resource management and scheduling strategy limits the utilization of the computing resources. Besides, the new architecture provides reasonable compatibility and interoperability with the conventional grid systems and clients.

An Agent-Based Peer-To-Peer Grid Computing Architecture, Jia Tang, Minjie Zhang

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

The conventional computing Grid has developed a service oriented computing architecture with a superlocal resource management and scheduling strategy. This architecture is limited in modeling computer systems with highly dynamic and autonomous computing resources due to its server-based computing model. The super-local resource management and scheduling strategy also limits the utilization of the computing resources. In this paper, we propose a multi-agent based Peer-to-Peer Grid computing architecture. This novel architecture solves the above issues, while provides reasonable compatibility and interoperability with the conventional Grid systems and clients. The main characteristics of this architecture are highlighted by its promising performance and …

An Ontology-Based Approach For Expert And Knowledge Mining In Complex Multi-Agent Systems, Minjie Zhang, Xijin Tang, Quan Bai, Jifa Gu

Associate Professor Minjie Zhang

Complex problems require diverse expertise and multiple techniques to solve. In order to solve such problems, complex multi-agent systems include numbers of heterogeneous agents, which may include both of human experts and autonomous agents, to work together toward some complex problems. Most complex multi-agent systems are working in open domains. Due to heterogeneities and dynamic working environments, expertise and capabilities of agents might not be well estimated and presented in the system. Therefore, how to discover useful knowledge from human and autonomous experts, make more accurate estimation for experts' capabilities and to find out suitable expert(s) to solve incoming problems …

Using Coverage Information To Guide Test Case Selection In Adaptive Random Testing, Zhiquan Zhou

Dr Zhiquan Zhou

Random Testing (RT) is a fundamental software testing technique. Adaptive Random Testing (ART) improves the fault-detection capability of RT by employing the location information of previously executed test cases. Compared with RT, test cases generated in ART are more evenly spread across the input domain. ART has conventionally been applied to programs that have only numerical input types, because the distance between numerical inputs is readily measurable. The vast majority of computer programs, however, involve non-numerical inputs. To apply ART to these programs requires the development of effective new distance measures. Different from those measures that focus on the concrete …

Automated Software Testing And Analysis: Techniques, Practices And Tools, Z. Q. Zhou, B. Scholz, G. Denaro

Dr Zhiquan Zhou

As computer systems are permeating our society in daily life and are performing an increasing number of critical tasks, research in software testing and analysis has become of paramount importance. Although we are currently not able to prove program correctness for real-world applications, rigorous software development processes in combination with testing provides us with confidence in the quality of software. Software testing and analysis, however, is a very involved task. As the size and complexity of software continue to grow, manual testing becomes very tedious. Automation of software testing and tool support for testing, therefore, have been emerging as a …

A Parallel Complete Anytime Procedure For Project Scheduling Under Multiple Resource Constraints, Reza Zamani

Dr Reza Zamani

No abstract provided.

A Polarized Adaptive Schedule Generation Scheme For The Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem, Reza Zamani

Dr Reza Zamani

This paper presents a hybrid schedule generation scheme for solving the resource-constrained project scheduling problem. The scheme, which is called the Polarized Adaptive Scheduling Scheme (PASS), can operate in a spectrum between two poles, namely the parallel and serial schedule generation schemes. A polarizer parameter in the range between zero and one indicates how similarly the PASS behaves like each of its two poles. The presented hybrid is incorporated into a novel genetic algorithm that never degenerates, resulting in an effective self-adaptive procedure. The key point of this genetic algorithm is the embedding of the polarizer parameter as a gene …

A Hybrid Decomposition Procedure For Scheduling Projects Under Multiple Resource Constraints, Reza Zamani

Dr Reza Zamani

No abstract provided.

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 11, 2012, Rich Tinker

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 11, 2012 (12/11/12) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

A Regionalized National Universal Kriging Model Using Partial Least Squares Regression For Estimating Annual Pm2.5 Concentrations In Epidemiology, Paul D. Sampson, Mark Richards, Adam A. Szpiro, Silas Bergen, Lianne Sheppard, Timothy V. Larson, Joel Kaufman

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Many cohort studies in environmental epidemiology require accurate modeling and prediction of fine scale spatial variation in ambient air quality across the U.S. This modeling requires the use of small spatial scale geographic or “land use” regression covariates and some degree of spatial smoothing. Furthermore, the details of the prediction of air quality by land use regression and the spatial variation in ambient air quality not explained by this regression should be allowed to vary across the continent due to the large scale heterogeneity in topography, climate, and sources of air pollution. This paper introduces a regionalized national universal kriging …

A Guide To Documenting Software Design For Maximum Software Portability For Software Defined Radios, Joseph Snively

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The use of software defined communications systems is growing incredibly fast. The field of software engineering as a discipline has not adequately addressed the subject of software portability which makes large and costly software development efforts less ready to port to future platforms. By understanding the causes of portability problems, they can either be avoided altogether in development or very well documented so that they are easier to overcome in future efforts. Literature, case studies, and surveys are used to collect opinions and information about large software programs where portability is a desirable characteristic in order to best establish the …

Error Correction In Next Generation Dna Sequencing Data, Michael Z. Molnar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Motivation: High throughput Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies can sequence the genome of a species quickly and cheaply. Errors that are introduced by NGS technologies limit the full potential of the applications that rely on their data. Current techniques used to correct these errors are not sufficient, and a more efficient and accurate program is needed to correct errors.

Results: We have designed and implemented RACER (Rapid Accurate Correction of Errors in Reads), an error correction program that targets the Illumina genome sequencer, which is currently the dominant NGS technology. RACER combines advanced data structures with an intricate analysis of …

2012 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report, 2012 Fall Engr333

ENGR 333

Calvin College is considering an addition to the West Wing of the Spoelhof Center to provide additional space for the art and business programs. The construction of this new addition provides the opportunity to investigate the feasibility of installing new, sustainable technology. This semester the students of Engineering 333 were presented with the following challenge: “What it will take for Calvin College to install a geothermal HVAC system for the West Wing?” A geothermal HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system utilizes the relatively constant temperature of the earth to provide heating during winter and cooling during summer. Geothermal HVAC …

Improvements On Seeding Based Protein Sequence Similarity Search, Weiming Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The primary goal of bioinformatics is to increase an understanding in the biology of organisms. Computational, statistical, and mathematical theories and techniques have been developed on formal and practical problems that assist to achieve this primary goal. For the past three decades, the primary application of bioinformatics has been biological data analysis. The DNA or protein sequence similarity search is perhaps the most common, yet vitally important task for analyzing biological data.

The sequence similarity search is a process of finding optimal sequence alignments. On the theoretical level, the problem of sequence similarity search is complex. On the applicational level, …

Arctic Cold Spring Mineralogy As An Indicator Of Spring Deposits, Water, And Habitable Environments On Mars, Melissa M. Battler

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Springs exist in many terrestrial settings and have supported microbial communities throughout Earth’s history. There is mounting evidence for spring deposits on Mars from Noachian age to present, implying that water may be circulating in Mars’ subsurface despite current cold, arid conditions. Current datasets for most of Mars are limited to mineralogy via orbital spectroscopy and geomorphology from visual imagery and laser altimetry. Much is known about terrestrial spring morphology, but few springs exist in Mars analogue settings, and of those, few have been investigated for mineralogy. This study reports on two sets of cold spring sites in the Canadian …