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Title: The "Stop-It anti-fidgeting device.
Creator: Barnard, Scott A., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Fidgeting and otherwise constant movements in individuals can be beneficial in those who suffer from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as others. However this constant movement can also be a distraction to others as well as protrude an air of no self confidence. It is the drawbacks from these actions that we wish to address. By developing an intelligent system that can detect these motions and alert the user, it will allow the wearer of the...
Show moreFidgeting and otherwise constant movements in individuals can be beneficial in those who suffer from Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder or Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as others. However this constant movement can also be a distraction to others as well as protrude an air of no self confidence. It is the drawbacks from these actions that we wish to address. By developing an intelligent system that can detect these motions and alert the user, it will allow the wearer of the device to self correct. It is in this self control that one may exhibit more confidence or simply reduce the level of irritation experienced by those in the immediate vicinity. We have designed and built a low cost, mobile, lightweight, untethered, wearable prototype device. It will detect these actions and deliver user selectable biofeedback through a light emitting diode, buzzer, vibromotor or an electric shock to allow for self control.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/368612
Subject Headings: Restless legs syndrome, Treatment, Technological innovations, Agitation (Psychology), Biomedical engineering, Neural networks (Neurobiology)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Asset identification using image descriptors.
Creator: Friedel, Reena Ursula., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Asset management is a time consuming and error prone process. Information Technology (IT) personnel typically perform this task manually by visually inspecting assets to identify misplaced assets. If this process is automated and provided to IT personnel it would prove very useful in keeping track of assets in a server rack. A mobile based solution is proposed to automate this process. The asset management application on the tablet captures images of assets and searches an annotated database...
Show moreAsset management is a time consuming and error prone process. Information Technology (IT) personnel typically perform this task manually by visually inspecting assets to identify misplaced assets. If this process is automated and provided to IT personnel it would prove very useful in keeping track of assets in a server rack. A mobile based solution is proposed to automate this process. The asset management application on the tablet captures images of assets and searches an annotated database to identify the asset. We evaluate the matching performance and speed of asset matching using three different image feature descriptors. Methods to reduce feature extraction and matching complexity were developed. Performance and accuracy tradeoffs were studied, domain specific problems were identified, and optimizations for mobile platforms were made. The results show that the proposed methods reduce complexity of asset matching by 67% when compared to the matching process using unmodified image feature descriptors.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3342051
Subject Headings: Data mining, Technological innovations, Mobile computing, User-centered system design, Application software, Development
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Cement stabilization of organic soils for controlling secondary compression behavior.
Creator: Ramirez, Juan., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description: Western Palm Beach County, FL is characterized by thick deposits organic soils at shallow depths. Because of their high void ratio and compressibility, these soils undergo large primary consolidation followed by extended periods of secondary compression causing excessive premature structural distress. Although soil stabilization has been largely used with remarkable results in soft, expansive and non-organic soils, limited research and practice exist in the implementation with highly organic...
Show moreWestern Palm Beach County, FL is characterized by thick deposits organic soils at shallow depths. Because of their high void ratio and compressibility, these soils undergo large primary consolidation followed by extended periods of secondary compression causing excessive premature structural distress. Although soil stabilization has been largely used with remarkable results in soft, expansive and non-organic soils, limited research and practice exist in the implementation with highly organic soils. The main motivation of this research was to investigate the effects of cement stabilization on the compressibility behavior of organic rich soils, and develop mix design criteria for optimum cement contents necessary to induce the desired engineering behavior. This optimized mix design may provide guidelines for Deep Mixing Methods in organic soils.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/367760
Subject Headings: Soil consolidation, Measurement, Soils, Organic compound content, Soil remediation, Technological innovations, Concrete construction, Structural stability, Design
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Classification techniques for noisy and imbalanced data.
Creator: Napolitano, Amri E., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Machine learning techniques allow useful insight to be distilled from the increasingly massive repositories of data being stored. As these data mining techniques can only learn patterns actually present in the data, it is important that the desired knowledge be faithfully and discernibly contained therein. Two common data quality issues that often affect important real life classification applications are class noise and class imbalance. Class noise, where dependent attribute values are...
Show moreMachine learning techniques allow useful insight to be distilled from the increasingly massive repositories of data being stored. As these data mining techniques can only learn patterns actually present in the data, it is important that the desired knowledge be faithfully and discernibly contained therein. Two common data quality issues that often affect important real life classification applications are class noise and class imbalance. Class noise, where dependent attribute values are recorded erroneously, misleads a classifier and reduces predictive performance. Class imbalance occurs when one class represents only a small portion of the examples in a dataset, and, in such cases, classifiers often display poor accuracy on the minority class. The reduction in classification performance becomes even worse when the two issues occur simultaneously. To address the magnified difficulty caused by this interaction, this dissertation performs thorough empirical investigations of several techniques for dealing with class noise and imbalanced data. Comprehensive experiments are performed to assess the effects of the classification techniques on classifier performance, as well as how the level of class imbalance, level of class noise, and distribution of class noise among the classes affects results. An empirical analysis of classifier based noise detection efficiency appears first. Subsequently, an intelligent data sampling technique, based on noise detection, is proposed and tested. Several hybrid classifier ensemble techniques for addressing class noise and imbalance are introduced. Finally, a detailed empirical investigation of classification filtering is performed to determine best practices.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/369201
Subject Headings: Combinatorial group theory, Data mining, Technological innovations, Decision trees, Machine learning, Filters (Mathematics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Collabortive filtering using machine learning and statistical techniques.
Creator: Su, Xiaoyuan., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Collaborative filtering (CF), a very successful recommender system, is one of the applications of data mining for incomplete data. The main objective of CF is to make accurate recommendations from highly sparse user rating data. My contributions to this research topic include proposing the frameworks of imputation-boosted collaborative filtering (IBCF) and imputed neighborhood based collaborative filtering (INCF). We also proposed a model-based CF technique, TAN-ELR CF, and two hybrid CF...
Show moreCollaborative filtering (CF), a very successful recommender system, is one of the applications of data mining for incomplete data. The main objective of CF is to make accurate recommendations from highly sparse user rating data. My contributions to this research topic include proposing the frameworks of imputation-boosted collaborative filtering (IBCF) and imputed neighborhood based collaborative filtering (INCF). We also proposed a model-based CF technique, TAN-ELR CF, and two hybrid CF algorithms, sequential mixture CF and joint mixture CF. Empirical results show that our proposed CF algorithms have very good predictive performances. In the investigation of applying imputation techniques in mining incomplete data, we proposed imputation-helped classifiers, and VCI predictors (voting on classifications from imputed learning sets), both of which resulted in significant improvement in classification performance for incomplete data over conventional machine learned classifiers, including kNN, neural network, one rule, decision table, SVM, logistic regression, decision tree (C4.5), random forest, and decision list (PART), and the well known Bagging predictors. The main imputation techniques involved in these algorithms include EM (expectation maximization) and BMI (Bayesian multiple imputation).
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/186301
Subject Headings: Filters (Mathematics), Machine learning, Data mining, Technological innovations, Database management, Combinatorial group theory
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Computer interaction system to identify learning patterns and improve performance in children with autism spectrum disorders.
Creator: Petersen, Jake Levi., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affects one in every 110 children. Medical and educational research have demonstrated that ASD children's social skills and adaptation can be much improved, provided that interventions are early and intensive enough. The advancement of computer technologies and their ubiquitous penetration in people's life make them widely available to support intensive sociocognitive rehabilitation. Additionally, computer interactions are a natural choice for people with...
Show moreAutism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affects one in every 110 children. Medical and educational research have demonstrated that ASD children's social skills and adaptation can be much improved, provided that interventions are early and intensive enough. The advancement of computer technologies and their ubiquitous penetration in people's life make them widely available to support intensive sociocognitive rehabilitation. Additionally, computer interactions are a natural choice for people with autism who value lawful and "systematizing" tools. A number of computer-aided approaches have been developed, showing effectiveness and generalization, but little quantitative research was conducted to identify the critical factors of engaging and improving the child's interest and performance. This thesis designs an adaptive computer interaction system, called Ying, which detects learning patterns in children with ASD and explores the computer interactive possibilities. The system tailors its content based on periodic performance assessments that offer a more effective learning path for children with ASD.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3356786
Subject Headings: Autism spectrum disorders, Treatment, Technological innovations, Optical pattern recognition, Children with disabilities, Education, Technological innovations, Assistive computer technology, Compter-assisted instruction, Computers and people with disabilities
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Design and implementation of efficient routing protocols in delay tolerant networks.
Creator: Liu, Cong., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Delay tolerant networks (DTNs) are occasionally-connected networks that may suffer from frequent partitions. DTNs provide service despite long end to end delays or infrequent connectivity. One fundamental problem in DTNs is routing messages from their source to their destination. DTNs differ from the Internet in that disconnections are the norm instead of the exception. Representative DTNs include sensor-based networks using scheduled intermittent connectivity, terrestrial wireless networks...
Show moreDelay tolerant networks (DTNs) are occasionally-connected networks that may suffer from frequent partitions. DTNs provide service despite long end to end delays or infrequent connectivity. One fundamental problem in DTNs is routing messages from their source to their destination. DTNs differ from the Internet in that disconnections are the norm instead of the exception. Representative DTNs include sensor-based networks using scheduled intermittent connectivity, terrestrial wireless networks that cannot ordinarily maintain end-to-end connectivity, satellite networks with moderate delays and periodic connectivity, underwater acoustic networks with moderate delays and frequent interruptions due to environmental factors, and vehicular networks with cyclic but nondeterministic connectivity. The focus of this dissertation is on routing protocols that send messages in DTNs. When no connected path exists between the source and the destination of the message, other nodes may relay the message to the destination. This dissertation covers routing protocols in DTNs with both deterministic and non-deterministic mobility respectively. In DTNs with deterministic and cyclic mobility, we proposed the first routing protocol that is both scalable and delivery guaranteed. In DTNs with non-deterministic mobility, numerous heuristic protocols are proposed to improve the routing performance. However, none of those can provide a theoretical optimization on a particular performance measurement. In this dissertation, two routing protocols for non-deterministic DTNs are proposed, which minimizes delay and maximizes delivery rate on different scenarios respectively. First, in DTNs with non-deterministic and cyclic mobility, an optimal single-copy forwarding protocol which minimizes delay is proposed., In DTNs with non-deterministic mobility, an optimal multi-copy forwarding protocol is proposed. which maximizes delivery rate under the constraint that the number of copies per message is fixed . Simulation evaluations using both real and synthetic trace are conducted to compare the proposed protocols with the existing ones.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/210522
Subject Headings: Computer network protocols, Computer networks, Reliability, Computer algorithms, Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Feature selection techniques and applications in bioinformatics.
Creator: Dittman, David, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Possibly the largest problem when working in bioinformatics is the large amount of data to sift through to find useful information. This thesis shows that the use of feature selection (a method of removing irrelevant and redundant information from the dataset) is a useful and even necessary technique to use in these large datasets. This thesis also presents a new method in comparing classes to each other through the use of their features. It also provides a thorough analysis of the use of...
Show morePossibly the largest problem when working in bioinformatics is the large amount of data to sift through to find useful information. This thesis shows that the use of feature selection (a method of removing irrelevant and redundant information from the dataset) is a useful and even necessary technique to use in these large datasets. This thesis also presents a new method in comparing classes to each other through the use of their features. It also provides a thorough analysis of the use of various feature selection techniques and classifier in different scenarios from bioinformatics. Overall, this thesis shows the importance of the use of feature selection in bioinformatics.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3175016
Subject Headings: Bioinformatifcs, Data mining, Technological innovations, Computational biology, Combinatorial group theory, Filters (Mathematics), Ranking and selection (Statistics)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Impact of interference on connectivity and outage performances in wireless communication networks: interference-based channel models.
Creator: Mukasa, Constantine, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: In recent years, a plethora of wireless applications such as Bluetooth and Ultra-wide band (UWB) radio have emerged. This drastic increase has overly congested the spectrum. So, new networks such as cognitive radios that can solve the spectrum congestion have emerged. But in such networks, interference is introduced at the physical layer. We study and develop an interference model capable of capturing the intrinsic characteristics of the coexistence of such wireless applications. We...
Show moreIn recent years, a plethora of wireless applications such as Bluetooth and Ultra-wide band (UWB) radio have emerged. This drastic increase has overly congested the spectrum. So, new networks such as cognitive radios that can solve the spectrum congestion have emerged. But in such networks, interference is introduced at the physical layer. We study and develop an interference model capable of capturing the intrinsic characteristics of the coexistence of such wireless applications. We investigate the effect of interference using device isolation probability or outage probability in presence Rayleigh and Nakagami-m fading at the physical layer and the impact of lognormal shadowing. We assume that the devices are either deterministically placed or randomly distributed according to a Poisson point process. We derive explicit expressions for the isolation probability and outage probability that give insight into how these channel impairments affect communication in these applications. We use computer simulations to validate our analytical results.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362551
Subject Headings: Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations, Wireless communication systems, Mathematical models, Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Impacts of queue jumpers and transit signal priority on bus rapid transit.
Creator: Reza, R.M. Zahid., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description: Exclusive bus lanes and the Transit Signal Priority are often not effective in saturated peak-traffic conditions. An alternative way of providing priority for transit can be queue jumpers, which allows buses to bypass and then cut out in front of waiting queue by getting an early green signal. Utah Transit authority deployed Bus Rapid Transit system at Salt Lake County, Utah along W 3500 S. This research evaluates the impacts of queue jumpers with TSP on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and private...
Show moreExclusive bus lanes and the Transit Signal Priority are often not effective in saturated peak-traffic conditions. An alternative way of providing priority for transit can be queue jumpers, which allows buses to bypass and then cut out in front of waiting queue by getting an early green signal. Utah Transit authority deployed Bus Rapid Transit system at Salt Lake County, Utah along W 3500 S. This research evaluates the impacts of queue jumpers with TSP on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and private vehicular traffic. Four VISSIM models were developed for analysis : Basic scenario, no TSP with queue jumpers, TSP with no queue jumbers, and TSP with queue jumpers. In TQ scenario travel time was reduced between 13.2-19.82% with respect to basic scenario. At the same time, travel time of private traffic increased very little 0.38-3.28%. Two TSP strategies : green extension and red truncation are implemented in this research work.
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Date Issued: 2012
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355877
Subject Headings: Bus lines, Technological innovations, Traffic signs and signals, Technological innovations, Traffic signal preemption, Traffic congestion
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Implementation of a mobile data collector in wireless sensor networks for energy conservation.
Creator: Heshike, Pedro L., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is composed of low-cost electronic devices with sensing, data storage and transmitting capabilities, powered by batteries. There are extensive studies in the field of WSN investigating different algorithms and protocols for data collection. A data collector can be static or mobile. Using a mobile data collector can extend network lifetime and can be used to collect sensor data in hardly accessible locations, partitioned networks, and delay-tolerant networks....
Show moreA Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is composed of low-cost electronic devices with sensing, data storage and transmitting capabilities, powered by batteries. There are extensive studies in the field of WSN investigating different algorithms and protocols for data collection. A data collector can be static or mobile. Using a mobile data collector can extend network lifetime and can be used to collect sensor data in hardly accessible locations, partitioned networks, and delay-tolerant networks. The implementation of the mobile data collector in our study consists of combining two different platforms: the Crossbow sensor hardware and the NXT Legos. We developed an application for data collection and sensor querying support. Another important contribution is designing a semi-autonomous robot control. This hardware prototype implementation shows the benefits of using a mobile data collector in WSN. It also serves as a reference in developing future applications for mobile WSNs.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3171401
Subject Headings: Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations, Sensor networks, Design and construction, Compter network protocols, Ad hoc networks (Computer networks), Technological innovations
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Individual profiling of perceived tinnitus by developing tinnitus analyzer software.
Creator: Chaudbury, Baishali., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Tinnitus is a conscious perception of phantom sounds in the absence of external acoustic stimuli, and masking is one of the popular ways to treat it. Due to the variation in the perceived tinnitus sound from patient to patient, the usefulness of masking therapy cannot be generalized. Thus, it is important to first determine the feasibility of masking therapy on a particular patient, by quantifying the tinnitus sound, and then generate an appropriate masking signal. This paper aims to achieve...
Show moreTinnitus is a conscious perception of phantom sounds in the absence of external acoustic stimuli, and masking is one of the popular ways to treat it. Due to the variation in the perceived tinnitus sound from patient to patient, the usefulness of masking therapy cannot be generalized. Thus, it is important to first determine the feasibility of masking therapy on a particular patient, by quantifying the tinnitus sound, and then generate an appropriate masking signal. This paper aims to achieve this kind of individual profiling by developing interactive software -Tinnitus Analyzer, based on clinical approach. The developed software has been proposed to be used in place of traditional clinical methods and this software (as a part of the future work) will be implemented in the practical scenario involving real tinnitus patients.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1927612
Subject Headings: Medical care, Technological innovations, Tinnitus, Diagnosis, Aids and devices, Hearing disorders, Diagnosis, Technological innovations, Psychoacoustics, Research
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: An integrated framework for home healthcare delivery.
Creator: Conaster, Mark., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: With the increasing demands of rising medical costs in combination with a boom in elderly patients in need of quality patient care medical practices are being stressed. Patient to nurse ratios are increasing and government spending in the medical domain is at an all-time high threatening the futures of government medical programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In this thesis we propose a framework for the monitoring of a patient's vital statistics in a home-based setting using a mobile smart...
Show moreWith the increasing demands of rising medical costs in combination with a boom in elderly patients in need of quality patient care medical practices are being stressed. Patient to nurse ratios are increasing and government spending in the medical domain is at an all-time high threatening the futures of government medical programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. In this thesis we propose a framework for the monitoring of a patient's vital statistics in a home-based setting using a mobile smart device. We believe that in taking advantage of the wireless sensor technology which is readily available today we can provide a solution that is both economically and socially viable offering a solid quality of healthcare in a comfortable and familiar environment. Our framework exposes both 802.11 and Bluetooth wireless protocol transmitting medical sensor devices using an Android platform device as a monitoring hub.
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Date Issued: 2011
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3174510
Subject Headings: Home care services, Technological innovations, Telecommunication in medicine, Internet in medicine, Medical informatics, Medical telematics
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Joint TCP congestion control and wireless-link scheduling for mobile Internet applications.
Creator: Li, Zhaoquan., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite, which is used by major Internet applications such as World Wide Web, email, remote administration and file transfer. TCP implements scalable and distributed end-to-end congestion control algorithms to share network resources among competing users. TCP was originally designed primarily for wired networks, and it has performed remarkably well as the Internet scaled up by six orders of magnitude...
Show moreThe Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite, which is used by major Internet applications such as World Wide Web, email, remote administration and file transfer. TCP implements scalable and distributed end-to-end congestion control algorithms to share network resources among competing users. TCP was originally designed primarily for wired networks, and it has performed remarkably well as the Internet scaled up by six orders of magnitude in the past decade. However, many studies have shown that the unmodified standard TCP performs poorly in networks with large bandwidth-delay products and/or lossy wireless links. In this thesis, we analyze the problems TCP exhibits in the wireless communication environment, and develop joint TCP congestion control and wireless-link scheduling schemes for mobile applications. ... Different from the existing solutions, the proposed schemes can be asynchronously implemented without message passing among network nodes; thus they are readily deployable with current infrastructure. Moreover, global convergence/stability of the proposed schemes to optimal equilibrium is established using the Lyapunov method in the network fluid model. Simulation results are provided to evaluate the proposed schemes in practical networks.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3362481
Subject Headings: Wireless communication systems, Quality control, Mobile communication systems, Technological innovations, TCP/IP (Computer network protocol), Ad hoc networks (Computer networks), Computer network protocols, Wireless Internet
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Knowledge based evaluation of nursing care practice model.
Creator: Tripathi, Shubhang., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Provision of complete and responsive solution to healthcare services requires a multi-tired health delivery system. One of the aspects of healthcare hierarchy is the need for nursing care of the patient. Nursing care and observation provide basis for nurses to communicate with other aspects of healthcare system. The ability of capturing and managing nursing practice is essential to the quality of human care. The thesis proposes knowledge based decision making and analyzing system for the...
Show moreProvision of complete and responsive solution to healthcare services requires a multi-tired health delivery system. One of the aspects of healthcare hierarchy is the need for nursing care of the patient. Nursing care and observation provide basis for nurses to communicate with other aspects of healthcare system. The ability of capturing and managing nursing practice is essential to the quality of human care. The thesis proposes knowledge based decision making and analyzing system for the nurses to capture and manage the nursing practice. Moreover it allows them to monitor nursing care quality, as well as to test an aspect of an electronic healthcare record for recording and reporting nursing practice. The framework used for this system is based on nursing theory and is coupled with the quantitative analysis of qualitative data. It allows us to quantify the qualitative raw natural nursing language data. The results are summarized in the graph that shows the relative importance of those attributes with respect to each other at different instances of nurse-patient encounter. Research has been conducted by the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for the College of Nursing.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2683141
Subject Headings: Nursing assessment, Digital techniques, Nursing, Research, Methodology, Nursing, Technological innovations, Nursing, Practice, Nursing informatics
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Low complexity H.264 video encoder design using machine learning techniques.
Creator: Carrillo, Paula., Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: H.264/AVC encoder complexity is mainly due to variable size in Intra and Inter frames. This makes H.264/AVC very difficult to implement, especially for real time applications and mobile devices. The current technological challenge is to conserve the compression capacity and quality that H.264 offers but reduce the encoding time and, therefore, the processing complexity. This thesis applies machine learning technique for video encoding mode decisions and investigates ways to improve the...
Show moreH.264/AVC encoder complexity is mainly due to variable size in Intra and Inter frames. This makes H.264/AVC very difficult to implement, especially for real time applications and mobile devices. The current technological challenge is to conserve the compression capacity and quality that H.264 offers but reduce the encoding time and, therefore, the processing complexity. This thesis applies machine learning technique for video encoding mode decisions and investigates ways to improve the process of generating more general low complexity H.264/AVC video encoders. The proposed H.264 encoding method decreases the complexity in the mode decision inside the Inter frames. Results show, at least, a 150% average reduction of complexity and, at most, 0.6 average increases in PSNR for different kinds of videos and formats.
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Date Issued: 2008
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/166448
Subject Headings: Code division multiple access, Digital media, Technological innovations, Image transmission, Technological innovations, Coding theory, Data structures (Computer science)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Mechanisms for improving energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks.
Creator: Fonoage, Mirela Ioana., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is composed of a large number of sensor nodes that are densely deployed in an area. One of the main issues addressed in WSNs research is energy efficiency due to sensors' limited energy resources. WSNs are deployed to monitor and control the physical environment, and to transmit the collected data to one or more sinks using multi-hop communication. Energy efficiency protocols represent a key mechanism in WSNs. This dissertation proposes several methods used to...
Show moreA Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is composed of a large number of sensor nodes that are densely deployed in an area. One of the main issues addressed in WSNs research is energy efficiency due to sensors' limited energy resources. WSNs are deployed to monitor and control the physical environment, and to transmit the collected data to one or more sinks using multi-hop communication. Energy efficiency protocols represent a key mechanism in WSNs. This dissertation proposes several methods used to prolong WSNs lifetime focusing on designing energy efficient communication protocols. A critical issue for data gathering in WSNs is the formation of energy holes near the sinks where sensor nodes participate more in relaying data on behalf of other sensors. The solution proposed in this dissertation is to use mobile sinks that change their location to overcome the formation of energy holes. First, a study of the improvement in network lifetime when sinks move along the perimeter of a hexagonal tiling is conveyed. Second, a design of a distributed and localized algorithm used by sinks to decide their next move is proposed. Two extensions of the distributed algorithm, coverage and time-delivery requirement, are also addressed. Sensor scheduling mechanisms are used to increase network lifetime by sending redundant sensor nodes to sleep. In this dissertation a localized connected dominating set based approach is used to optimize network lifetime of a composite event detection application. A set of active nodes form a connected set that monitor the environment and send data to sinks. After some time, a new active nodes set is chosen. Thus, network lifetime is prolonged by alternating the active sensors. QoS is another main issue encountered in WSNs because of the dynamically changing network topology., This dissertation introduces an energy efficient QoS based routing for periodic and event-based reporting applications. A geographic routing mechanism combined with QoS support is used to forward packets in the network. Congestion control is achieved by using a ring or barrier mechanism that captures and aggregates messages that report the same event to the same sink. The main operations of the barrier mechanism are presented in this dissertation.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2975242
Subject Headings: Computer network protocols, Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations, Sensor networks, Design and construction
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Mechanisms for prolonging network lifetime in wireless sensor networks.
Creator: Yang, Yinying., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Sensors are used to monitor and control the physical environment. A Wireless Sen- sor Network (WSN) is composed of a large number of sensor nodes that are densely deployed either inside the phenomenon or very close to it [18][5]. Sensor nodes measure various parameters of the environment and transmit data collected to one or more sinks, using hop-by-hop communication. Once a sink receives sensed data, it processes and forwards it to the users. Sensors are usually battery powered and it is...
Show moreSensors are used to monitor and control the physical environment. A Wireless Sen- sor Network (WSN) is composed of a large number of sensor nodes that are densely deployed either inside the phenomenon or very close to it [18][5]. Sensor nodes measure various parameters of the environment and transmit data collected to one or more sinks, using hop-by-hop communication. Once a sink receives sensed data, it processes and forwards it to the users. Sensors are usually battery powered and it is hard to recharge them. It will take a limited time before they deplete their energy and become unfunctional. Optimizing energy consumption to prolong network lifetime is an important issue in wireless sensor networks. In mobile sensor networks, sensors can self-propel via springs [14], wheels [20], or they can be attached to transporters, such as robots [20] and vehicles [36]. In static sensor networks with uniform deployment (uniform density), sensors closest to the sink will die first, which will cause uneven energy consumption and limitation of network life- time. In the dissertation, the nonuniform density is studied and analyzed so that the energy consumption within the monitored area is balanced and the network lifetime is prolonged. Several mechanisms are proposed to relocate the sensors after the initial deployment to achieve the desired density while minimizing the total moving cost. Using mobile relays for data gathering is another energy efficient approach. Mobile sensors can be used as ferries, which carry data to the sink for static sensors so that expensive multi-hop communication and long distance communication are reduced. In this thesis, we propose a mobile relay based routing protocol that considers both energy efficiency and data delivery delay. It can be applied to both event-based reporting and periodical report applications., Another mechanism used to prolong network lifetime is sensor scheduling. One of the major components that consume energy is the radio. One method to conserve energy is to put sensors to sleep mode when they are not actively participating in sensing or data relaying. This dissertation studies sensor scheduling mechanisms for composite event detection. It chooses a set of active sensors to perform sensing and data relaying, and all other sensors go to sleep to save energy. After some time, another set of active sensors is chosen. Thus sensors work alternatively to prolong network lifetime.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/1870693
Subject Headings: Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations, Wireless communication systems, Design and construction, Ad hoc networks (Computer networks), Technological innovations, Sensor networks, Design and construction, Computer algorithms, Computer network protocols
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Non-destructive evaluation of reinforced asphalt pavement built over soft organic soils.
Creator: Pohly, Daniel D., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering
Abstract/Description: Research, tests and analysis are presented on several reinforcements placed in the asphalt overlay of a roadway built over soft organic soils. Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods and statistical analysis were used to characterize the pavement before and after rehabilitative construction. Before reconstruction, falling weight deflectometer, rut and ride tests were conducted to evaluate the existing pavement and determine the statistical variability of critical site characteristics. Twenty...
Show moreResearch, tests and analysis are presented on several reinforcements placed in the asphalt overlay of a roadway built over soft organic soils. Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) methods and statistical analysis were used to characterize the pavement before and after rehabilitative construction. Before reconstruction, falling weight deflectometer, rut and ride tests were conducted to evaluate the existing pavement and determine the statistical variability of critical site characteristics. Twenty-four 500ft. test sections were constructed on the roadway including sixteen reinforced asphalt and eight control sections at two test locations that possessed significantly different subsoil characteristics. NDE tests were repeated after reconstruction to characterize the improvements of the test sections. Test results were employed to quantify the stiffness properties of the pavement based on load-deflection data to evaluate the relative performance of the reinforced sections. Statistical analysis of the data showed the stiffness of the reinforced sections was consistently higher than the control sections.
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Date Issued: 2009
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/368253
Subject Headings: Soil remediation, Technological innovations, Structural stability, Design, Pavements, Performance, Management, Data processing, Structural analysis (Engineering)
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Patterns for wireless sensor networks.
Creator: Sahu, Anupama., College of Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Abstract/Description: Sensors are shaping many activities in our society with an endless array of potential applications in military, civilian, and medical application. They support different real world applications ranging from common household appliances to complex systems. Technological advancement has enabled sensors to be used in medical applications, wherein they are deployed to monitor patients and assist disabled patients. Sensors have been invaluable in saving lives, be it a soldier's life in a remote...
Show moreSensors are shaping many activities in our society with an endless array of potential applications in military, civilian, and medical application. They support different real world applications ranging from common household appliances to complex systems. Technological advancement has enabled sensors to be used in medical applications, wherein they are deployed to monitor patients and assist disabled patients. Sensors have been invaluable in saving lives, be it a soldier's life in a remote battlefield or a civilian's life in a disaster area or natural calamities. In every application the sensors are deployed in a pre-defined manner to perform a specific function. Understanding the basic structure of a sensor node is essential as this would be helpful in using the sensors in devices and environments that have not been explored. In this research, patterns are used to present a more abstract view of the structure and architecture of sensor nodes and wireless sensor networks. This would help an application designer to choose from different types of sensor nodes and sensor network architectures for applications such as robotic landmine detection or remote patient monitoring systems. Moreover, it would also help the network designer to reuse, combine or modify the architectures to suit more complex needs. More importantly, they can be integrated with complete IT applications. One of the important applications of wireless sensor networks in the medical field is a remote patient monitoring system. In this work, patterns were developed to describe the architecture of patient monitoring system., This pattern describes how to connect sensor nodes and other wireless devices with each other to form a network that aims to monitor the vital signs of a person and report it to a central system. This central system could be accessed by the patient's healthcare provider for treatment purposes. This system shows one of the most important applications of sensors and it application which needs to be integrated with medical records and the use of patterns makes this integration much simpler.
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Date Issued: 2010
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/2979380
Subject Headings: Wireless communication systems, Technological innovations, Wireless sensor networks, Design and construction, Computer network protocols, Multisensensor data fusion
Format: Document (PDF)

Wireless communication systems (14)	+ -
Ad hoc networks (Computer networks) (7)	+ -
Computer network protocols (7)	+ -
Sensor networks (6)	+ -
Data mining (5)	+ -

Design and construction (5)	+ -
Security measures (5)	+ -
Combinatorial group theory (4)	+ -
Filters (Mathematics) (4)	+ -
Computer algorithms (3)	+ -
Computer networks (3)	+ -
Mobile computing (3)	+ -
Coding theory (2)	+ -
Data structures (Computer science) (2)	+ -
Design (2)	+ -
Digital media (2)	+ -
Image transmission (2)	+ -
Machine learning (2)	+ -
Mobile communication systems (2)	+ -
Quality control (2)	+ -
Ranking and selection (Statistics) (2)	+ -
Reliability (2)	+ -
Research (2)	+ -
Soil remediation (2)	+ -
Structural stability (2)	+ -
Treatment (2)	+ -
Agitation (Psychology) (1)	+ -
Aids and devices (1)	+ -
Application software (1)	+ -

Florida (1)	+ -
Palm Beach County (1)	+ -

Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (27)	+ -
Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatics Engineering (3)	+ -
Altidor, Wilker. (1)	+ -
Badi, Ahmed. (1)	+ -
Barnard, Scott A. (1)	+ -

Carrillo, Paula. (1)	+ -
Chaudbury, Baishali. (1)	+ -
Conaster, Mark. (1)	+ -
Department of Ocean and Mechanical Engineering (1)	+ -
Dittman, David (1)	+ -
Florida Atlantic University (1)	+ -
Fonoage, Mirela Ioana. (1)	+ -
Friedel, Reena Ursula. (1)	+ -
Heshike, Pedro L. (1)	+ -
Holder, Christopher. (1)	+ -
Ibriq, Jamil (1)	+ -
Li, Feng. (1)	+ -
Li, Zhaoquan. (1)	+ -
Liu, Cong. (1)	+ -
Marcus, Anthony M. (1)	+ -
Morris, Melissa M. (1)	+ -
Mukasa, Constantine (1)	+ -
Napolitano, Amri E. (1)	+ -
Petersen, Jake Levi. (1)	+ -
Pohly, Daniel D. (1)	+ -
Ramirez, Juan. (1)	+ -
Reza, R.M. Zahid. (1)	+ -
Sahu, Anupama. (1)	+ -
Slavik, Michael J. (1)	+ -

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