Clustering versus SVM for Malware Detection

Previous work has shown that we can effectively cluster certain classes of mal- ware into their respective families. In this research, we extend this previous work to the problem of developing an automated malware detection system. We first compute clusters for a collection of malware families. Then we analyze the effectiveness of clas- sifying new samples based on these existing clusters. We compare results obtained using �-means and Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering to those obtained us- ing Support Vector Machines (SVM). Using clustering, we are able to detect some malware families with an accuracy comparable to that of SVMs. One advantage of the clustering approach is that there is no need to retrain for new malware families

Design and Performance Analysis of an Aeronautical Routing Protocol with Ground Station Updates

Aeronautical routing protocol (AeroRP) is a position-based routing protocol developed for highly dynamic airborne networks. It works in conjunction with the aeronautical network protocol (AeroNP). AeroRP is a multi-modal protocol that operates in different modes depending on the mission requirements. Ground station (GS) update mode is an AeroRP mode in which the GS sends geolocation or topology updates to improve routing accuracy. The main contribution of this thesis is to develop and implement the GS updates in AeroRP and analyse its performance in the various modes and compare them against canonical MANET routing protocols such as DSDV, OLSR, AODV, and DSR. The simulation analysis shows that AeroRP outperforms the traditional MANET protocols in various scenarios

Master of Science

thesisHigh energy materials are commonly used as solid rocket motors propellants. The properties of HE materials can be determined experimentally; however, the hazards associated with experiments on these materials, as well as the costs, make this approach unattractive. The simulations of these materials require techniques that can bridge submicron scales and engineering scales. Micromechanics provides such techniques. The objective of this research is to investigate the effects of stress bridging on predicting the effective properties of high energy materials group. The research focused on polymer bonded explosives (PBXs), since detailed numerical simulations of PBXs are computationally expensive. The generalized method of cells was explored for this research and its predictions of elastic moduli with and without stress bridging. The results show that stress bridging affects the estimated properties considerably. The generalized method of cells without stress bridging is shown to underestimate the elastic moduli of the polymer bonded explosives. Micromechanics analysis requires that the fundamental material properties of the constituents are known initially. The composite material properties can be determined experimentally by testing actual composite specimens. However, in recent years, more and more attention has been given to the development of the analytical and numerical models for predicting composite material properties from the properties of the constituent materials and their relationship to each other. The other part of this research is to identify the Representative Volume Element (RVE) and the boundary conditions for calculation of transverse shear modulus (G23) and then compare the results to the other classical micromechanics solutions. The results show that the proposed approach for identifying the Representative Volume Element (RVE) and the boundary conditions predict as accurately as the other classical micromechanics solutions

Web Auction System

Auctions are perhaps the oldest market places in history. For centuries, people were allowed to place a price on an item for sale. The person who pledged the highest amount won. Although there were no legal contracts and laws in place, the underlying concept remained the same; both buyer and seller gained something from the transaction. This Computer Science Masters project is aimed at designing an online auction system that is scalable, robust, and flexible to meet the increasing demands of secure and efficient transactions. This project proposes the use of a three-tier architecture system to conduct online auctions in order to ensure reliability, flexibility and scalability. The system uses HTML and JSP for the front end, WebLogic server as the middle tier, and Oracle as the backend database. This online auction system is built to ensure smooth and efficient transactions between buyers and sellers. This report describes the basic concepts underlying auctions, specifically online auctions. The report goes on to explain in detail the design and logic of the system by incorporating figures and screen shots for illustration

Semantics-Based Calorie Calculator

In recent years, people are considering healthy diet habits and many of them are trying to track and maintain their daily diet and consumption. To assist them, there are many applications available online and those applications are capable of recording calories for the ingredients consumed, but users must check individual calories and calculate total calories manually. In this paper, we propose a new technique to calculate calories for a given recipe in multiple formats. The new technique uses tokenization, hashing techniques and fuzzy matching for entity extraction and finally does the unit conversion to calculate calories. We compared the results of the proposed technique with the outcomes of the existing applications. These results proved that the new technique has the capacity to produce similar results compared to that of the existing applications and able to calculate calories for recipes in the different formats available on the internet

Impending Natural Gas Supply Glut and Biogas Developments in Europe: Economic and Environmental Implications

The recent trend in the global energy consumption as a result of growing demand from rapidly industrializing countries such as China, India, Brazil, etc. have called for an urgent need to find an alternative and economical source of energy. Natural gas from various sources (conventional, non-conventional) has long been touted as a potential replacement for heavily-polluting crude oil and coal. The recent development in natural-gas production has seen output from non-conventional sources such as shale bed increasing significantly in countries with substantial investment in pipeline and technology for the exploitation and production of gas from this new source such the US. This has created a gas boom in countries with a head-start in tapping into this economical but environmentally controversial source, as well as a slump in global natural-gas prices. In Europe, there has been a stiff opposition to gas production from non-conventional sources such as shale gas on environmental ground, and the focus here is on securing gas supply from existing conventional sources through long-term contracts with major gas suppliers as well development of environmentally friendly alternatives such as biogas from biomass. This paper examines the effects of the impending natural-gas supply glut in the global energy market with respect to biogas developments in Europe and environmental aspects of both sources of energy. Keywords: Natural gas; Biogas; Shale gas, Substrates

Optimal control of piezoelectric anisotropic plates

This paper is concerned with the application of optimal control techniques to a static piezoelectric anisotropic thin plate model. To take physical limitations into account, the space of electric potential fields is restricted, i.e., control constraints are imposed. After deriving the first-order necessary conditions for the problem, a primal-dual active set strategy for its solution is presented. In a numerical study we consider a plate composed of two layers of different piezoelectric materials. We investigate the abilities of our approach and the influence of certain parameters

Of What Use Is Sex to Bacteria?

Though bacteria are predominantly asexual, the genetic information in their genomes can be expanded and modified through mechanisms that introduce DNA from outside sources. Bacterial sex differs from that of eukaryotes in that it is unidirectional and does not involve gamete fusion or reproduction. The input of DNA during bacterial sex generates diversity in two ways — through the alteration of existing genes by recombination and through the introduction of novel sequences — and each of these processes has been shown to aid in the survival and diversification of lineages