Information Science and Technology Center (ISTeC)

Permanent URI for this community

https://hdl.handle.net/10217/195492

These digital collections include materials from ISTeC Distinguished Lectures and Industrial Advisory Council presentations, and publications, grants, and student research posters from ISTeC.

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 25

Open Access
A brief introduction to: organizational learning, performance, & change
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2013-10-11) Korte, Russell, author
Key Take-aways: Work is embedded in a social, political, and informal contexts; The social, political, and informal contexts are primary drivers of learning and performance; Organizations have a major responsibility to help newcomers succeed; A culture that supports onboarding is a best practice; Effective onboarding helps develop engaged, top performers.
Open Access
A wireless sensor network based system for underground chemical plume tracking
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Bandara, Herath M. N. Dilum, author; Jayasumana, Anura P., author; Illangasekare, T. H., author; Han, Qi, author
A real-time subsurface chemical plume monitoring and tracking system is being developed that uses wireless-sensor networking to automatically extract data from underground chemical sensors. This system is aimed at tracking plumes caused by the release of toxic chemicals and biological agents into the environment as a result of accidental spills and improper disposal. Current practice involves manual collection of samples from monitoring wells followed by laboratory analysis, an expensive process taking days to weeks; such a delay reduces the effectiveness of mitigation techniques as well. Virtual Sensor Networks (VSN), a novel resource efficient approach for sensor networking being developed to track the migrating underground plumes, will be applicable to a broad class of problems. Laboratory based experiments and simulations are in progress to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach for large-scale plume tracking.
Open Access
Active sensing in an urban environment: closing the loop
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Barbosa, Patricia de Rezende, author; Li, Yun, author; Chong, Edwin Kah Pin, author
When compared to tracking airborne targets, tracking ground targets on urban terrain brings a new set of challenges. Target mobility is constrained by road networks, and the quality of measurements is affected by dense clutter, multipath, limited line-of-sight, and other interferers. In order to improve the accuracy of track estimates under such complex scenarios, it is important to use prior knowledge of the environment. We investigate the integration of detection, signal processing, tracking, and scheduling by exploiting distinct levels of diversity. This poster is approved by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) for public release, distibution unlimited.
Open Access
Application-aware in-network service deployment for collaborative adaptive sensing of the atmosphere (CASA)
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Lee, Panho, author; Banka, Tarun, author; Lim, Sang-hun, author; Jayasumana, Anura P., author; Chandrasekar, V., author
An Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) funded by the National Science Foundation, seeks to revolutionize the way we detect, monitor and predict atmospheric phenomena by creating a dense network of small, low-cost, low-power radars that could collaboratively and adaptively sense the lower atmosphere. Such a network is expected to provide more timely and accurate forecasts for tornadoes, flash floods, and other hazardous weathers. In addition, the networked radars can offer improved accuracies and more specific inferences that could not be achieved by the use of a single long-range radar. In CASA, multiple end users may be present that have distinct sensing, communication and computation requirements for their operations. In addition, the underlying network infrastructure may itself be subjected to adverse conditions due to severe weather and link degradation/outage along wired and wireless links. We use overlay networking to provide acceptable quality of service (QoS) and robust data transport service for the CASA end-users. At CSU, we have developed an AWON (Application-aWare Overlay Networks) architecture for deploying application-aware services in an overlay network to best meet the end-users' QoS requirements over the available networking infrastructure; based on this, we have implemented an application-aware multicast service for CASA. We also present a multi-sensor fusion framework which can provide a mechanism for selecting a set of data for data fusion considering application-specific needs, and a distributed processing scheme to minimize the execution time required for processing data per integration algorithm.
Open Access
Automatic generation of bit-vector analyses using OpenAnalysis
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Hovland, Paul, author; Strout, Michelle, author; Behere, Shweta, author
Effective program analysis is essential for program optimization, program understanding and error detection. Classic data-flow analysis techniques assume only scalar variables within a program. However, real programs consist of pointer usage, structures and arrays. One approach is to lower the higher-level semantics involving structures and arrays to a representation that has only scalar temporaries and accesses to memory. A conservative analysis assumption would be that all accesses to memory possibly overlap. Language-specific transformations must be performed on higher-level representations; therefore the lowering approach is not always applicable. Our aim is to effectively analyze programs containing aliases, arrays and other complex structures at a higher semantic level, while still using data-flow analysis specifications for scalars. In our approach, we describe the data-flow analysis specification in a set-based specification language, and automatically generate an analysis implementation that uses aliasing information to obtain precise dataflow analysis results. We generate the analysis implementations for the OpenAnalysis(OA) framework, so that they are language independent. OA is an open source analysis toolkit that separates program analysis from program representation. OA can be coupled with any imperative or imperative-based object-oriented programming language, by implementing various abstract interfaces. Thus, our data-flow analysis implementations can be used with any compiler infrastructure that has implemented an OA abstract interface. We currently limit our scope to separable bit-vector analyses. Future work includes extending the implementation generation technique to any domain specific data-flow analysis.
Open Access
Committee findings and recommendation
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-01-31) ISTeC Data Management Committee, author
Data management is a core competency in most research projects. As datasets grow in volume, velocity and variety, they can quickly become unwieldy. The CSU research community, like those at many other research institutions, is rapidly becoming overwhelmed with data management, diverting time and energy from research projects. A recent survey shows CSU's research community has challenges in storage availability, organization, preservation and collaboration. While there is no panacea for these challenges, much can be done to reduce or eliminate hurdles in the research function. Four initiatives can begin to ease these challenges at CSU: 1. Learn from one another through Affinity groups. Like assembling a puzzle, individuals may hold the key to certain pieces of the puzzle and, through the sharing of ideas and knowledge, puzzles may be partially or wholly assembled. 2. Spread knowledge broadly through easily accessible vignettes that focus on specific data management challenges faced by researchers. 3. Build an information technology infrastructure, including both storage and compute capacity, to facilitate research. 4. Merge the research process with data curation practices to make data management seamless for the CSU research community. Confronting this issue now is important, as some research is churning in the data management morass. Other research institutions are further along than CSU in addressing data management challenges. To remain a viable, competitive and thriving research institution, CSU needs to take action.
Open Access
For Your AMUSEment! Creating an online literary magazine to showcase student talent and achievement
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Johnson, Amanda, author; De Miranda, Michael Anthony, author
This poster highlights/illustrates how technology can be integrated into an English Liberal Artsssroom using Publishing software. Designed for a high school level English student, students will express their school work, art work, and creativity by designing, advertising, and building an on-line literary magazine.
Open Access
Good Samaritan mini: urban search and rescue robot
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Hoover, Nathaniel David, author; Haygood, Nicholas John, author; Guthrie, Brian D., author; Bernstein, Ian H., author; Rector, Michael Holman, author; Maciejewski, Anthony A., author
In the wake of disasters such as the 9/11 attacks, it becomes clear that immediate rescue efforts must take place in a way that doesn't put the lives of the rescue workers themselves at stake. It is situations like these where urban search and rescue robots (USARs) can save lives while keeping rescue workers safe. Over the past few years, Engineers at Colorado State University have been developing a USAR platform dubbed "Good Samaritan (GS)," for the RoboCup USAR Competition. This competition presents mock building collapses to competitors in an attempt to advance robotics technology towards eventual real-world use. GS Mini is the latest iteration in the GS series and offers a platform size that is roughly half that of the 2005/2006 design. By analyzing the current GS design, and Pro/E structural analysis, our team has come up with a solution to reduce the overall size of the robot while maintaining as many features of the larger platform as possible. This allows it to access harder to reach victims in more confined spaces. Over the next six months our team will be constructing the GS Mini platform from our design and competing in the 2007 RoboCup competition.
Open Access
Good Samaritan robotics user interface team
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Tranby, Steven Michael, author; Schmitt, Josh C., author; Robinson, Jonathan Shea, author; Goebel, Stephen Richard, author; Darbonne, Kenneth C., author; Wilkins, Brent H., author; Kaiser, Carl L., author
This poster presents the topic of the user interface team for the Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) Robot, Good Samaritan, senior design project. The USAR senior design project consists of four teams: platform, robotic arm, miniature, and user interface. The user interface team is responsible for: human interaction controls, on-robot computing, networking, localization and mapping, sensing (CO2, distance, audio, visual, thermal), and sending motor controls. The user will input controls using a Logitech gamepad into a laptop computer, which will be sent via 802.11a wireless network to the robot's client-side AMD Geode single board computer. This computer will send the appropriate signals and receive feedback of motor positions and status of sensors. The user will be interfacing with Good Samaritan's Linux computer through C++ software, written by the team, on a Windows laptop.
Open Access
Integrating multiple knowledge bases within Google Desktop
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Houser, John R., author; Galvin, Peter, author; Hayne, Stephen C., author; Smith, Charles A. P., author
Google is clearly the preferred solution when searching for information. However, how does one search for information within proprietary knowledge bases? We believe that we can use the power of Google Desktop (GD) as a repository and search mechanism for local proprietary knowledge. We have constructed a multi-socketed server (using C++) which allows network clients explicit control of textual input to GD. Using the ATL/COM interface, our software registers as a GD plug-in. Our server supports GD API "events", such as note, email, and instant message, and processes events at approximately 10/s. To test the effectiveness of the system, we downloaded 600,000 posts from a popular, public threaded discussion forum and 150,000 posts from a subscription-based forum. Our server partitions these knowledge sets so that they can be independently searched. We found that when compared to forum string search functions, our partitioned GD search tool produced significantly superior results.
Open Access
Integrating technology in the classroom: how technology can enhance social studies
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Perry, Lynsey Malia, author; De Miranda, Michael Anthony, author
This poster highlights the integration of technology within the classroom, focusing on U.S. History as a content area.
Open Access
Measuring the robustness of resource allocations for distributed domputer systems in a stochastic dynamic environment
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Dewri, Rinku, author; Alqudah, Amin, author; Govindasamy, Sudha, author; Janovy, David, author; Sutton, Andrew, author; Ladd, Joshua, author; Prakash, Puneet, author; Renner, Timothy, author; Siegel, Howard Jay, author; Maciejewski, Anthony A., author; Briceño, Luis D., author; Smith, Jay, author; Shestak, Vladimir, author
Heterogeneous distributed computing systems often must function in an environment where system parameters are subject to variations during operation. Robustness can be defined as the degree to which a system can function correctly in the presence of parameter values different from those assumed. We present a methodology for quantifying the robustness of resource allocations in a dynamic environment where task execution times vary within predictable ranges and tasks arrive randomly. The methodology is evaluated through measuring the robustness of three different resource allocation heuristics within the context of the stochastically modeled dynamic environment. A Bayesian regression model is fit to the combined results of the three heuristics to demonstrate the correlation between the stochastic robustness metric and the presented performance metric. The correlation results demonstrated the significant potential of the stochastic robustness metric to predict the relative performance of the three heuristics given a common objective function.
Open Access
Model the system security risk by an attack tree
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Poolsappasit, Nayot, author; Edwards, John, author; Ray, Indrajit, author
Traditional Vulnerabilities scanners only give a list of vulnerabilities of the systems. This one dimensional information does not give analysts the perception of how exploits can be chained together and form more complex attack scenarios. We are developing an automate tool that takes the list of vulnerabilities and generates all possible attack scenarios known to the current security intellectual in the form of an attack tree model.
Open Access
Opportunistic scheduling for wireless networks
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Zhang, Zhi, author; Chong, Edwin Kah Pin, author
We consider the problem of downlink scheduling for multi-user OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) systems. We derive optimal scheduling policies under three QoS/fairness constraints -- temporal fairness, utilitarian fairness, and minimum-performance guarantees. To calculate these optimal policies, we interpret the problem as a maximal bipartite matching problem. To solve this problem, we apply the modified Hungarian algorithm and a practical suboptimal algorithm. The simulation results show that our schemes achieve significant improvement in system performance compared with a non-opportunistic scheme.
Open Access
Portfolio management using partially observable Markov decision process
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Zahedi, Ramin, author; Chong, Edwin Kah Pin, author
Portfolio theory is concerned with how an investor should divide his wealth among different securities. This problem was first formulated by Markowitz in 1952. Since then, other more sophisticated formulations have been introduced. However, practical issues like transactions costs and their effects on the portfolio choice in multiple stages have not been widely considered. In our work, we show that the portfolio management problem is appropriately formulated as a Partially Observable Markov Decision Process. We use a Monte Carlo method called "rollout" to approximate an optimal strategy for making decisions. To capture the behavior of stock prices over time, we use two well known models.
Open Access
Publishing your most important work
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2014-03-24) Schekman, Randy, author and speaker; Chong, Edwin, speaker; Information Science & Technology Center, producer
The assessment of scholarly achievement depends critically on the proper evaluation and publication of research work in scholarly journals. Investigators face a dizzying array of journal styles that include commercial, not-for-profit and academic society journals that are supported by a mix of subscription and page charges. The Open Access (OA) movement, launched in Britain but greatly expanded by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), seeks to eliminate the firewall that separates published work from public access. OA journals are funded by a mix of page charges and philanthropic or foundation support. Most OA journals embrace a more liberal licensing agreement on the use and reuse of published work, favoring the creative commons license rather than a copyright held by the publisher. Some publishers, particularly commercial firms, view the OA movement as a threat to the viability of their business plan. Major commercial publishers, particularly Elsevier, have fought against government mandates for OA publication of publicly funded research. The most selective and successful journals, Science, Nature and Cell (a life science journal owned by Elsevier), maintain a firm hold on the high end of the scientific literature by appealing to investigators to submit only their most important work. Typically, these journals publish only a small fraction of the papers they receive and for the most part they rely on professional editors rather than active scholars to make key editorial decisions. These publishers, particularly Nature and Cell, reinforce their high standing by relying on a metric, the impact factor (IF) that computes the average number of citations of papers published in the journal during the preceding two-year period. As a consequence, many investigators, who quite naturally seek career advancement, strive to publish in these journals even at the expense of repeated cycles of review, wasteful additional experimental work and ultimately lost time. I will argue that it is time for scholars to reassume authority for the publication of their research work and to eschew the use of IF in the evaluation of scholarly achievement and favor OA publications over what I have called the "luxury" journals.
Open Access
Retrieval of surface-layer moisture fields using CSU radars
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Fritz, Jason, author; Chandrasekar, Chandra V., author
The surface-layer refractivity, i.e., the refractive index of air near the earth's surface, can be retrieved from radar by examining the phase of stationary ground targets. The index of refraction is a function of pressure, temperature, and humidity, and variations are dominated by humidity in warmer weather. Since the refractivity has a significant impact on the phase of propagating radar waves, it can be measured by observing the range integrated phase change between two stationary ground targets. This index, in turn, can be used to estimate the water vapor near the surface to explore convective storm initiation and storm evolution, and to enhance quantitative precipitation forecasts. This procedure was recently performed using the CSU-CHILL and Pawnee s-band radars, in addition to several other radars and sensors in Colorado. Estimated refractivity fields and the result of automatic stationary target identification are presented as well as phase comparisons with an x-band radar.
Open Access
Robust resource allocation in a client/server hybrid network for virtual world environments
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2008) Wedyan, Fadi Ibrahim, author; Teli, Mohammad Nayeem, author; Lock, Bradley Leo, author; Hong, Ye, author; Briceno, Luis D., author; Zhang, Chen, author; Panaccione, Charles, author; Siegel, Howard Jay, author; Maciejewski, Anthony A., author
HC is the coordinated use of different types of machines, networks, and interfaces to maximize performance. A virtual world environment is a multi-user program that creates a game world. In this study we maximize the robustness in the system. Robustness for this study is the number of additional players that can be added.
Open Access
Spin wave propagation in non-uniform magnetic fields
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Kabatek, Michael J., author; Tucker, James Derek, author; Wu, Mingzhong, author; Patton, Carl E., author
There has been extensive work on spin wave dynamics in ferrite film structures for both fundamental understanding and device applications. However, all previous work has mainly involved spin wave propagation in spatially uniform magnetic fields. This work demonstrates, for the first time, high resolution time and space resolved inductive probe imaging of spin wave propagation in spatially non-uniform magnetic field configurations. Spin wave propagation in spatially non-uniform fields allows for wave packet manipulations that involve changes in both the carrier wave number and the wave packet group velocity. These spin wave properties can be used to extend basic understanding of linear and nonlinear spin wave dynamics, and to develop a new class of wavelength and velocity selective devices.
Open Access
Study of an iterative resource allocation technique to minimize machine completion times in a distributed computing system
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2006) Oltikar, Mohana, author; Briceño, Luis D., author; Maciejewski, Anthony A., author; Siegel, Howard Jay, author
Heterogeneous computing (HC) is the coordinated use of different types of machines, networks, and interfaces to maximize the combined performance and/or cost effectiveness. Heuristics for allocating resources in an HC system have different optimization criteria. A common optimization criterion is to minimize the completion time of the last to finish machine (makespan). In some environments, it is useful to minimize the finishing times of the other machines in the system, i.e., those machines that are not the last to finish. Consider a production environment where a set of known tasks are to be mapped to resources off-line before execution begins. In this study, we present an "iterative" approach for decreasing the finishing time of each machine in a given resource allocation, by repeatedly running a mapping heuristic to minimize makespan on all machines and then the non-makespan machines; i.e., ignoring the current makespan machine and the tasks assigned to it. This work identifies heuristics that can offer improvements in the completion time of non-makespan machines using this "iterative" approach.