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- Title
- A Collision-Free Drone Scheduling System.
- Creator
- Steinberg, Andrew, Cardei, Mihaela, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
Today, drones have been receiving a lot of notice from commercial businesses. Businesses (mainly companies that have delivery services) are trying to expand their productivity in order bring more satisfaction for their loyal customers. One-way companies can expand their delivery services are through the use of delivery drones. Drones are very powerful devices that are going through many evolutionary changes for their uses throughout the years. For many years, researchers in academia have been...
Show moreToday, drones have been receiving a lot of notice from commercial businesses. Businesses (mainly companies that have delivery services) are trying to expand their productivity in order bring more satisfaction for their loyal customers. One-way companies can expand their delivery services are through the use of delivery drones. Drones are very powerful devices that are going through many evolutionary changes for their uses throughout the years. For many years, researchers in academia have been examining how drones can plan their paths along with avoiding collisions of other drones and certain obstacles in the civil airspace. However, researchers have not considered how the motion path planning can a ect the overall scheduling aspect of civilian drones. In this thesis, we propose an algorithm for a collision-free scheduling motion path planning of a set drones such that they avoid certain obstacles as well as maintaining a safety distance from each other.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004994, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004984
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Drone aircraft., Algorithms., Scheduling., Drone aircraft--Safety measures.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Analysis of Eye Response to Video Quality and Structure.
- Creator
- Pappusetty, Deepti, Kalva, Hari, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
Real-time eye tracking systems with human-computer interaction mechanism are being adopted to advance user experience in smart devices and consumer electronic systems. Eye tracking systems measure eye gaze and pupil response non-intrusively. This research presents an analysis of eye pupil and gaze response to video structure and content. The set of experiments for this study involved presenting different video content to subjects and measuring eye response with an eye tracker. Results show...
Show moreReal-time eye tracking systems with human-computer interaction mechanism are being adopted to advance user experience in smart devices and consumer electronic systems. Eye tracking systems measure eye gaze and pupil response non-intrusively. This research presents an analysis of eye pupil and gaze response to video structure and content. The set of experiments for this study involved presenting different video content to subjects and measuring eye response with an eye tracker. Results show significant changes in video and scene cuts led to sharp constrictions. User response to videos can provide insights that can improve subjective quality assessment metrics. This research also presents an analysis of the pupil and gaze response to quality changes in videos. The results show pupil constrictions for noticeable changes in perceived quality and higher fixations/saccades ratios with lower quality. Using real-time eye tracking systems for video analysis and quality evaluation can open a new class of applications for consumer electronic systems.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005940
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Eye tracking., Video., Quality (Aesthetics)
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Assessment of Links between Sea Level Variations and Climate Variability and Change.
- Creator
- Schmidt, Alejandra R., Teegavarapu, Ramesh, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
A comprehensive study is conducted to evaluate global sea levels for trends and variations due to climate change and variability by using non-parametric methods. Individual and coupled effects of inter-annual ENSO, decadal PDO, multi-decadal AMO, and quasi-decadal NAO on sea levels are evaluated. Combined influences of different phases (cool or warm) of PDO, AMO, and NAO influences and ENSO are also evaluated. The results from this study showed that sea level at 60% of the sites is increasing...
Show moreA comprehensive study is conducted to evaluate global sea levels for trends and variations due to climate change and variability by using non-parametric methods. Individual and coupled effects of inter-annual ENSO, decadal PDO, multi-decadal AMO, and quasi-decadal NAO on sea levels are evaluated. Combined influences of different phases (cool or warm) of PDO, AMO, and NAO influences and ENSO are also evaluated. The results from this study showed that sea level at 60% of the sites is increasing with time with all four oscillations impacting global sea levels. AMO warm phase individually and PDO warm combined with La-NiƱa phase contribute to higher sea levels throughout the world. Trends and variations in sea levels are noted to be spatially non-uniform. Understanding and quantifying climate variability influenced variations in sea levels and assessment of long-term trends enables protection of coastal regions of the world from sea level rise.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005936
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Climatic changes., Sea level., Sea level rise, Global.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Characterization of Internal Wave Activity in the Straits of Florida.
- Creator
- Tarantul Soto, Andrew, Dhanak, Manhar R., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
The Gulf Stream current in the Straits is typically dominated by a strong northerly current, associated shear, and eddies. The water column also includes a prominent thermocline and periodically features internal waves centered on the upper or lower edges of the thermocline. Despite numerous previous related studies, there is limited available field data on internal waves in the Straits of Florida. Here, study and analysis of velocity, temperature and conductivity data acquired in the Straits...
Show moreThe Gulf Stream current in the Straits is typically dominated by a strong northerly current, associated shear, and eddies. The water column also includes a prominent thermocline and periodically features internal waves centered on the upper or lower edges of the thermocline. Despite numerous previous related studies, there is limited available field data on internal waves in the Straits of Florida. Here, study and analysis of velocity, temperature and conductivity data acquired in the Straits over a period of time are described, in support of identifying presence of internal waves in the flow. A systematic procedure is employed in modifying the universal Garrett- Munk spectrum for internal waves in the open ocean for application to flow in the Straits of Florida. Using this process, identified internal waves are characterized and related velocity fluctuations in the time series are isolated to facilitate consideration of their correlations with simultaneously observed magnetic fields.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005946
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Florida, Straits of, Gulf Stream (Fla.), Internal waves.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Design of a Test Framework for the Evaluation of Transfer Learning Algorithms.
- Creator
- Weiss, Karl Robert, Khoshgoftaar, Taghi M., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
A traditional machine learning environment is characterized by the training and testing data being drawn from the same domain, therefore, having similar distribution characteristics. In contrast, a transfer learning environment is characterized by the training data having di erent distribution characteristics from the testing data. Previous research on transfer learning has focused on the development and evaluation of transfer learning algorithms using real-world datasets. Testing with real...
Show moreA traditional machine learning environment is characterized by the training and testing data being drawn from the same domain, therefore, having similar distribution characteristics. In contrast, a transfer learning environment is characterized by the training data having di erent distribution characteristics from the testing data. Previous research on transfer learning has focused on the development and evaluation of transfer learning algorithms using real-world datasets. Testing with real-world datasets exposes an algorithm to a limited number of data distribution di erences and does not exercise an algorithm's full capability and boundary limitations. In this research, we de ne, implement, and deploy a transfer learning test framework to test machine learning algorithms. The transfer learning test framework is designed to create a wide-range of distribution di erences that are typically encountered in a transfer learning environment. By testing with many di erent distribution di erences, an algorithm's strong and weak points can be discovered and evaluated against other algorithms. This research additionally performs case studies that use the transfer learning test framework. The rst case study focuses on measuring the impact of exposing algorithms to the Domain Class Imbalance distortion pro le. The next case study uses the entire transfer learning test framework to evaluate both transfer learning and traditional machine learning algorithms. The nal case study uses the transfer learning test framework in conjunction with real-world datasets to measure the impact of the base traditional learner on the performance of transfer learning algorithms. Two additional experiments are performed that are focused on using unique realworld datasets. The rst experiment uses transfer learning techniques to predict fraudulent Medicare claims. The second experiment uses a heterogeneous transfer learning method to predict phishing webgages. These case studies will be of interest to researchers who develop and improve transfer learning algorithms. This research will also be of bene t to machine learning practitioners in the selection of high-performing transfer learning algorithms.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005925
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Machine learning., Algorithms., Machine learning Development.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Development of a Biosensor to Detect Landfill Odors Using Human Odorant Binding Protein.
- Creator
- Roblyer, Julia Gia, Meeroff, Daniel E., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
Landfills receive odor complaints from local residents potentially resulting in legal ramifications and decreasing quality of life of the neighboring communities. However, analytical technologies to objectively measure odors in the field that will reflect human odor perceptions at a reasonable price do not currently exist. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is detectable by humans at low odor thresholds and may be one of the main nuisance odors emanating from landfills. For the first time, hOBPIIa...
Show moreLandfills receive odor complaints from local residents potentially resulting in legal ramifications and decreasing quality of life of the neighboring communities. However, analytical technologies to objectively measure odors in the field that will reflect human odor perceptions at a reasonable price do not currently exist. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is detectable by humans at low odor thresholds and may be one of the main nuisance odors emanating from landfills. For the first time, hOBPIIa complexed with 1- AMA has been used to detect H2S concentrations by spectrofluorometry. The optimal ratio of hOPBIIa-to-1-AMA was determined to be approximately 1:1. A strong linear regression model was generated to predict H2S concentrations from peak fluorescent emission intensity measurements within a range of 0-8.3 g of H2S. A novel experimental exposure chamber prototype was developed that has the potential to be incorporated into a portable sensor because it is compact.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005939
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Landfills., Biosensors., Odor sensors., Odor control.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Development of a Comprehensive Design Methodology and Fatigue Life Prediction of Composite Turbine Blades under Random Ocean Current Loading.
- Creator
- Suzuki, Takuya, Mahfuz, Hassan, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
A comprehensive study was performed to overcome the design issues related to Ocean Current Turbine (OCT) blades. Statistical ocean current models were developed in terms of the probability density function, the vertical profile of mean velocity, and the power spectral density. The models accounted for randomness in ocean currents, tidal effect, and ocean depth. The proposed models gave a good prediction of the velocity variations at the Florida Straits of the Gulf Stream. A novel procedure...
Show moreA comprehensive study was performed to overcome the design issues related to Ocean Current Turbine (OCT) blades. Statistical ocean current models were developed in terms of the probability density function, the vertical profile of mean velocity, and the power spectral density. The models accounted for randomness in ocean currents, tidal effect, and ocean depth. The proposed models gave a good prediction of the velocity variations at the Florida Straits of the Gulf Stream. A novel procedure was developed to couple Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) with blade element momentum theory. The FSI effect was included by considering changes in inflow velocity, lift and drag coefficients of blade elements. Geometric non-linearity was also considered to account for large deflection. The proposed FSI analysis predicted a power loss of 3.1 % due to large deflection of the OCT blade. The method contributed to saving extensive computational cost and time compared to a CFD-based FSI analysis. The random ocean current loadings were calculated by considering the ocean current turbulence, the wake flow behind the support structure, and the velocity shear. The random ocean current loadings had large probability of high stress ratio. Fatigue tests of GFRP coupons and composite sandwich panels under such random loading were performed. Fatigue life increased by a power function for GFRP coupons and by a linearlog function for composite sandwich panels as the mean velocity decreased. To accurately predict the fatigue life, a new fatigue model based on the stiffness degradation was proposed. Fatigue life of GFRP coupons was predicted using the proposed model, and a comparison was made with experimental results. As a summary, a set of new design procedures for OCT blades has been introduced and verified with various case studies of experimental turbines.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005931
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Turbines--Blades--Design and construction., Turbines--Blades--Materials., Composite construction--Fatigue., Ocean currents--Mathematical models.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Development of Smart Phone-based Automated Microfluidic-ELISA For Human Immunodefciency Virus 1.
- Creator
- Coarsey, Chad Thomas, Asghar, Waseem, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
The majority of HIV prevalence is found in Sub-Saharan Africa with 36.9 mil- lion living with HIV/AIDS. The cultural implications such as patient non-compliance or denial of available routine medical care can potentially cause limitations on the ef- fectiveness of detecting such virulent pathogens and manage chronic disease. The lack of access to healthcare and further socioeconomic impacts hinder the ability to ade- quately diagnose and treat infection in resource-limited settings....
Show moreThe majority of HIV prevalence is found in Sub-Saharan Africa with 36.9 mil- lion living with HIV/AIDS. The cultural implications such as patient non-compliance or denial of available routine medical care can potentially cause limitations on the ef- fectiveness of detecting such virulent pathogens and manage chronic disease. The lack of access to healthcare and further socioeconomic impacts hinder the ability to ade- quately diagnose and treat infection in resource-limited settings. Intervention through diagnosis and treatment helps prevent the spread of transmission, where pre-exposure prophylaxis or active disease prevention measures are not readily available. The cur- rent gold standard for HIV detection is by molecular detection; Reverse-Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction is widely used that employs cycles of temperature condi- tions that require a thermal cycling platform and typically laboratory space for RNA extraction separate from RT-PCR space required. Serological detection can be ad- vantageous for surveillance and screening, Lateral Flow Assays and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) can detect a viral protein (antigen) or antibodies. The ELISA can require at least 12 hours of assay preparation and takes a diagnostic laboratory many resources to run. There is need to develop Point-of-Care (POC) testing that can potentially be used for decentralized testing that can leverage ex- isting technologies such as smart phone capability and routine medical or diagnostic tests with cutting edge applications leveraging micro uidics, nanotechnology and in- tegrated circuit design. Such technologies allow for automated, rapid turnaround and cost-e ective diagnosis of HIV, where these assays could potentially be read- ily deployed. It is such technology that can potentially change the way diagnostics are performed, as POC technology can be rapidly disseminated, enable decentralized testing and, is user-friendly. A novel smart phone-enabled automated magnetic bead- based platform was developed for a micro uidic ELISA for HIV-1 detection at the POC to meet this demand.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005945
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Fracture and Fatigue Behavior of Geosynthetic Reinforced Asphalt Concrete for Pavement Overlays.
- Creator
- Polidora, Jamie Barbara, Sobhan, Khaled, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
Flexible or asphalt pavements constitute nearly 94% of the 2.7 million miles of existing roadways in the United States. In a typical rehabilitation project, the existing asphalt pavement is milled up to a prescribed depth for removing the near surface distresses such as excessive cracking and rutting, and a new overlay is placed. The average time between resurfacing projects varies depending on the level of pavement deterioration which is significantly accelerated when poor subgrade...
Show moreFlexible or asphalt pavements constitute nearly 94% of the 2.7 million miles of existing roadways in the United States. In a typical rehabilitation project, the existing asphalt pavement is milled up to a prescribed depth for removing the near surface distresses such as excessive cracking and rutting, and a new overlay is placed. The average time between resurfacing projects varies depending on the level of pavement deterioration which is significantly accelerated when poor subgrade conditions are encountered. The use of geosynthetic reinforcement within the new asphalt overlay is often perceived as a mitigation strategy that can delay the onset and propagation of reflection cracking, and also control the rutting and differential settlement. However, some mixed reviews about the performance of the geosynthetic reinforced overlays have been reported in the literature. In Phase I of this study, a laboratory investigation was conducted for evaluating the flexural fatigue behavior, permanent deformation response, and fracture characteristics of geogrid reinforced asphalt beam specimens made from a typical overlay material. The laboratory specimens included geogrid as a single-layer inclusion either at the bottom third depth or at the mid height, and as double-layer inclusion, with geogrid placed both at the bottom third and at the middle of the beam. In Phase II, a case study involving geogrid reinforced overlay constructed over a deteriorated pavement underlain by soft subgrade in southeastern Florida was numerically simulated. It was found that the geogrid reinforcement significantly improved the fatigue and fracture properties of the asphalt beams compared to unreinforced specimens. Results from numerical simulation demonstrated that the double reinforced overlay resulted in the minimum tensile stress at the bottom of the asphalt layer (reducing the cracking potential) and minimum vertical strain on the top of the subgrade (reducing the rutting potential), compared to unreinforced or bottom-third reinforced overlays. Accordingly, it is concluded that the double layer reinforcement of asphalt overlays with an appropriate geosynthetic product can be beneficial for the performance and long term preservation of the pavement system when soft soils are encountered.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004972, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004962
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Reinforced concrete., Asphalt pavements., Geosynthetics., Pavements--Overlays--Evaluation.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Improving Privacy With Intelligent Cooperative Caching In Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks.
- Creator
- Glass, Stephen C., Mahgoub, Imad, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
With the issuance of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications by the United States National Highway Tra c Safety Administration (NHTSA), the goal of the widespread deployment of vehicular networking has taken a signi cant step towards becoming a reality. In order for consumers to accept the technology, it is expected that reasonable mechanisms will be in place to protect their privacy. Cooperative Caching has been proposed as an approach that can...
Show moreWith the issuance of the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) for Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communications by the United States National Highway Tra c Safety Administration (NHTSA), the goal of the widespread deployment of vehicular networking has taken a signi cant step towards becoming a reality. In order for consumers to accept the technology, it is expected that reasonable mechanisms will be in place to protect their privacy. Cooperative Caching has been proposed as an approach that can be used to improve privacy by distributing data items throughout the mobile network as they are requested. With this approach, vehicles rst attempt to retrieve data items from the mobile network, alleviating the need to send all requests to a centralized location that may be vulnerable to an attack. However, with this approach, a requesting vehicle may expose itself to many unknown vehicles as part of the cache discovery process. In this work we present a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based Cooperative Caching system that utilizes a genetic algorithm to selectively choose members of the mobile network to query for data items with a focus on improving overall privacy. The privacy improvement is achieved by avoiding those members that present a greater risk of exposing information related to the request and choosing members that have a greater potential of having the needed data item. An Agent Based Model is utilized to baseline the privacy concerns when using a broadcast based approach to cache discovery. In addition, an epidemiology inspired mathematical model is presented to illustrate the impact of reducing the number of vehicles queried during cache discovery. Periodic reports from neighboring vehicles are used by the genetic algorithm to identify which neighbors should be queried during cache discovery. In order for the system to be realistic, vehicles must trust the information in these reports. A PKI based approach used to evaluate the trustworthiness of each vehicle in the system is also detailed. We have conducted an in-depth performance study of our system that demonstrates a signi cant reduction in the overall risk of exposure when compared to broadcasting the request to all neighbors.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004975, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004965
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Public key infrastructure (Computer security), Privacy., Cache memory., Public key infrastructure (Computer security).
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Optimal Energy Scheduling of a Hybrid Microgrid Considering Environmental Aspects.
- Creator
- Moradi, Hadis, Abtahi, Amir, Zilouchian, Ali, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
Lower costs of clean energy generation, the need for a more secure grid, and environmental concerns are leading to create more opportunities for integration of renewable energy resources utilization in the power systems. The recent concept of Microgrid (MG), as a part of the development of smart grid, is required in order to integrate the renewable sources in the utility grid. An MG is described as a small-scale distribution grid that consists of diversified Distributed Energy Resources (DERs...
Show moreLower costs of clean energy generation, the need for a more secure grid, and environmental concerns are leading to create more opportunities for integration of renewable energy resources utilization in the power systems. The recent concept of Microgrid (MG), as a part of the development of smart grid, is required in order to integrate the renewable sources in the utility grid. An MG is described as a small-scale distribution grid that consists of diversified Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESSs), and local flexible loads that typically can either be operated in islanded or grid-connected modes. The optimal utilization control of such an MG system is a challenging task due to the complexity of coordination among the DERs, BESSs and load management possibilities. Therefore, in this dissertation, optimal component sizing and operation of MGs under different operational strategies is proposed. MGs typically consist of Photovoltaic (PV) systems, wind turbines as well as microgas turbines, fuel cells, batteries and other dispatchable generating units. Firstly, a methodology to perform the optimal component sizing for DERs in islanded/grid-tied modes is developed. The proposed optimal algorithm aims to determine the appropriate configuration among a set of components by taking into consideration the systemās constraints. An Iterative optimization technique is proposed in order to minimize the annual cost of energy and cost of emissions including CO2, SO2, and NOx. A case study from South Florida area, given the local weather data and load demand is investigated for the modeling verification. Using the results from optimal component sizes, a day-ahead optimization problem for the operation of an MG under different scenarios is introduced. Also, the objective function is formulated as a constrained non-linear problem. The uncertainties of stochastic variables (solar radiation, wind speed, and load) are modeled and renewable generations and load demand are forecasted. An advanced dynamic programing procedure is proposed to assess various operational policies. The simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed method.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005014
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Patterns for Enterprise Application Design and Development.
- Creator
- Rubis, Ruslan, Cardei, Ionut E., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
Designing and developing enterprise applications is a complex and resource intensive process, as it often must address thousands of requirements. At the same time, the software architecture of most enterprise applications at their core have many features and structures in common. Designers from different teams do not normally share design elements because of the competitive and proprietary nature of development, and enterprise applications design and development teams end up re-inventing the...
Show moreDesigning and developing enterprise applications is a complex and resource intensive process, as it often must address thousands of requirements. At the same time, the software architecture of most enterprise applications at their core have many features and structures in common. Designers from different teams do not normally share design elements because of the competitive and proprietary nature of development, and enterprise applications design and development teams end up re-inventing the wheel when tackling a new product. My objective is to formulate new design patterns for enterprise application architectures that assist software architects with reusable solutions to improve design quality and productivity. I achieve this by presenting seven patterns, each providing a solution to a specific challenge or a problem that is common to many enterprise applications. The Business Object Pattern provides a generic approach to design extensible Business Objects and their frameworks for enterprise applications. The pattern covers a number of concepts, including the Dynamic business object, the Static business object, constraints for validity, editability, and attribute visibility, as well as the mechanisms for workflow. The Business Object Life Cycle Pattern introduces the concept of stages which comprise a business objectās life cycle, and their relation to the business objectās integrity during that life cycle. The Simple Change History Pattern provides a concept of enforcing record keeping of the owner and date of the last change performed on a given business data object. The Business Data Object Versioning Pattern offers a solution by introducing a new version of a given business data object which allows for preservation of the original data. The Change History Record Pattern defines a solution for cases when there is a need to capture detailed information about the changes performed on a given business object, such as who made the changes, when, and what changes were made. The Permission Based Granular Access Control Pattern offers a basic approach for access control to objects and their attributes. Finally, the Money Object Pattern offers a language neutral approach to internationalization and globalization of business applications which require multi-currency capability. It is hoped that applying these patterns will provide many advantages, ranging from quicker delivery times to a more reliable software, and ultimately help achieve a systematic approach to designing and building complex enterprise applications.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004976, http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00004966
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Enterprise application integration (Computer systems), Software architecture--Development., Software Design., Application software--Design., Patterns.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Predicting Levels of Learning with Eye Tracking.
- Creator
- Parikh, Saurin Sharad, Kalva, Hari, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
-
E-Learning is transforming the delivery of education. Today, millions of students take selfpaced online courses. However, the content and language complexity often hinders comprehension, and that with lack of immediate help from the instructor leads to weaker learning outcomes. Ability to predict difficult content in real time enables eLearning systems to adapt content as per students' level of learning. The recent introduction of lowcost eye trackers has opened a new class of applications...
Show moreE-Learning is transforming the delivery of education. Today, millions of students take selfpaced online courses. However, the content and language complexity often hinders comprehension, and that with lack of immediate help from the instructor leads to weaker learning outcomes. Ability to predict difficult content in real time enables eLearning systems to adapt content as per students' level of learning. The recent introduction of lowcost eye trackers has opened a new class of applications based on eye response. Eye tracking devices can record eye response on the visual element or concept in real time. The response and the variations in eye response to the same concept over time may be indicative of the levels of learning. In this study, we have analyzed reading patterns using eye tracker and derived 12 eye response features based on psycholinguistics, contextual information processing, anticipatory behavior analysis, recurrence fixation analysis, and pupils' response. We use eye responses to predict the level of learning for a term/concept. One of the main contribution is the spatio-temporal analysis of the eye response on a term/concept to derive relevant first pass (spatial) and reanalysis (temporal) eye response features. A spatiotemporal model, built using these derived features, analyses slide images, extracts words (terms), maps the subject's eye response to words, and prepares a term-response map. A parametric baseline classifier, trained with labeled data (term-response maps) classifies a term/concept as a novel (positive class) or familiar (negative class), using majority voting method. On using, only first pass features for prediction, the baseline classifier shows 61% prediction accuracy, but on adding reanalysis features, baseline achieves 66.92% accuracy for predicting difficult terms. However, all proposed features do not have the same response to learning difficulties for all subjects, as we consider reading as an individual characteristic. Hence, we developed a non-parametric, feature weighted linguistics classifier (FWLC), which assigns weight to features based on their relevance. The FWLC classifier achieves a prediction accuracy of 90.54% an increase of 23.62% over baseline and 29.54% over the first-pass variant of baseline. Predicting novel terms as familiar is more expensive because content adapts by using this information. Hence, our primary goal is to increase the prediction rate of novel terms by minimizing the cost of false predictions. On comparing the performance of FWLC with other frequently used machine learning classifiers, FWLC achieves highest true positive rate (TPR) and lowest ratio of false negative rate (FNR) to false positive rate (FPR). The higher prediction performance of proposed spatio-temporal eye response model to predict levels of learning builds a strong foundation for eye response driven adaptive e-Learning.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005941
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Eye tracking., E-Learning.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Real-Time Localization of a Magnetic Anomaly: A Study of the Effectiveness of a Genetic Algorithm for Implementation on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle.
- Creator
- Philippeaux, Harryel Arsene, Dhanak, Manhar R., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering
- Abstract/Description
-
The primary objective of this research is to investigate the viability of magnetic anomaly localization with an autonomous underwater vehicle, using a genetic algorithm (GA). The localization method, first proposed by Sheinker. et al. 2008, is optimized here for the case of a moving platform. Extensive magnetic field modeling and algorithm simulation has been conducted and yields promising results. Field testing of the method is conducted with the use of the Ocean Floor Geophysics Self...
Show moreThe primary objective of this research is to investigate the viability of magnetic anomaly localization with an autonomous underwater vehicle, using a genetic algorithm (GA). The localization method, first proposed by Sheinker. et al. 2008, is optimized here for the case of a moving platform. Extensive magnetic field modeling and algorithm simulation has been conducted and yields promising results. Field testing of the method is conducted with the use of the Ocean Floor Geophysics Self-Compensating Magnetometer (SCM). Extensive out-of-water field testing is conducted to validate the ability to measure a target signal in a uniform NED frame as well as to validate the effectiveness of the GA. The outcome of the simulation closely matches the results of the conducted field tests. Additionally, the SCM is fully integrated with FAUās Remus 100 AUV and preliminary in-water testing of the system has been conducted.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005948
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Autonomous underwater vehicles, Genetic algorithms., Geomagnetic field, Geomagnetism.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Stochastic Modeling of Wireless Communications in a Fading Environment via Fox's H-Function.
- Creator
- Mukasa, Constantine, Aalo, Valentine A., Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
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In wireless communications systems, it is well known that the instantaneous received signal is a random variable that follows a given distribution. The randomness mainly stems from e ects such as multipath fading, shadowing, and interference. The received signal is a relevant metric, such that several distributions have been used in the literature to characterize it. However, as new radio technologies emerge, the known distributions are deemed insu cient to t simulated and measure data....
Show moreIn wireless communications systems, it is well known that the instantaneous received signal is a random variable that follows a given distribution. The randomness mainly stems from e ects such as multipath fading, shadowing, and interference. The received signal is a relevant metric, such that several distributions have been used in the literature to characterize it. However, as new radio technologies emerge, the known distributions are deemed insu cient to t simulated and measure data. Subsequently, as the wireless industry moves onto the fth generation (5G), newer distributions are proposed to well represent the received signal for new wireless technologies, including those operating in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band. These are mainly application speci c and may not be adequate to model complex 5G devices performance. Therefore, there is a need to unify and generalize the received signal distributions used for performance analysis of wireless systems. Secondly, an explosion of new radio technologies and devices operating in the same limited radio spectrum to collect and share data at alarming rates is expected. Such an explosion coupled with the 5G promise of ubiquitous connectivity and network densi cation, will thrust interference modeling in dense networks to the fore-front. Thus, interference characterization is essential when analyzing such wireless networks. Thirdly, the classical distributions used to model the received signal do not account for the inherent mobility feature for emerging radio technologies, such as avionics systems (e.g. drones), which may make the distributions inadequate as mobility e ects can no longer be ignored. Consequently, in this dissertation, we propose the use of a unifying distribution, the Fox's H-function distribution, with subsume ability to represent several traditional and future distributions, as a statistical tool to evaluate the performance of wireless communications systems. Additionally, two interference models, one with a xed number and the other with a random number of interferers, are considered to derive interference statistics, and further utilize the results to analyze system performance under the e ect of interference. Finally, we extend the classical distributions to include the mobility regime for several wireless network topologies, and perform network analysis. The analytical results are validated using computer Monte Carlo simulations.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005934
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Wireless communications systems., Stochastic modeling., H-functions.
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- Utilizing a Game Theoretical Approach to Prevent Collusion and Incentivize Cooperation in Cybersecurity Contexts.
- Creator
- Golchubian, Arash, Nojoumian, Mehrdad, Florida Atlantic University, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Abstract/Description
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In this research, a new reputation-based model is utilized to disincentivize collusion of defenders and attackers in Software Defined Networks (SDN), and also, to disincentivize dishonest mining strategies in Blockchain. In the context of SDN, the model uses the reputation values assigned to each entity to disincentivize collusion with an attacker. Our analysis shows that not-colluding actions become Nash Equilibrium using the reputationbased model within a repeated game setting. In the...
Show moreIn this research, a new reputation-based model is utilized to disincentivize collusion of defenders and attackers in Software Defined Networks (SDN), and also, to disincentivize dishonest mining strategies in Blockchain. In the context of SDN, the model uses the reputation values assigned to each entity to disincentivize collusion with an attacker. Our analysis shows that not-colluding actions become Nash Equilibrium using the reputationbased model within a repeated game setting. In the context of Blockchain and mining, we illustrate that by using the same socio-rational model, miners not only are incentivized to conduct honest mining but also disincentivized to commit to any malicious activities against other mining pools. We therefore show that honest mining strategies become Nash Equilibrium in our setting. This thesis is laid out in the following manner. In chapter 2 an introduction to game theory is provided followed by a survey of previous works in game theoretic network security, in chapter 3 a new reputation-based model is introduced to be used within the context of a Software Defined Network (SDN), in chapter 4 a reputation-based solution concept is introduced to force cooperation by each mining entity in Blockchain, and finally, in chapter 5, the concluding remarks and future works are presented.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005950
- Subject Headings
- Dissertations, Academic -- Florida Atlantic University, Software-defined networks (Computer network technology), Blockchain, Cybersecurity
- Format
- Document (PDF)