An investigation of networking techniques for the ASRM facility

This report is based on the early design concepts for a communications network for the Advanced Solid Rocket Motor (ASRM) facility being built at Yellow Creek near Iuka, MS. The investigators have participated in the early design concepts and in the evaluation of the initial concepts. The continuing system design effort and any modification of the plan will require a careful evaluation of the required bandwidth of the network, the capabilities of the protocol, and the requirements of the controllers and computers on the network. The overall network, which is heterogeneous in protocol and bandwidth, is being modeled, analyzed, simulated, and tested to obtain some degree of confidence in its performance capabilities and in its performance under nominal and heavy loads. The results of the proposed work should have an impact on the design and operation of the ASRM facility

Usability of Sound-Driven User Interfaces

The model for interacting with computing devices remains primarily focused on visual design. However, sound has a unique set of advantages. In this work, an experiment was devised where participants were tasked with identifying elements in an audio-only computing environment. The interaction relied on mouse movement and button presses for navigation. Experiment trials consisted of variations in sound duration, volume, and distinctness according to both experiment progress and user behavior. Participant interactions with the system were tracked to examine the usability of the interface. Preliminary results indicated the majority of participants mastered every provided test, but the total time spent finding the solution varied highly between participants. Suggestions for expanding the investigation and conducting future work are provided

Complexity as Fitness for Evolved Cellular Automata Update Rules

We investigate the state change behavior of one-dimensional cellular automata during the solution of the binary density-classification task. Update rules of high, low and un- known fitness are applied to cellular au- tomata, thereby providing examples of high and low rates of successful classification. A spread factor, ω, is introduced and investi- gated as a numerical marker of state change behavior. The nature of ω describes complex or particle-like behavior on the part of the cellular automata over the middle region of initial configuration density-distribution, but breaks down at the ends. Because of the lim- itation on ω, a related jump-out term, jot, is selected for incorporation into the finess func- tion for genetic algorithm evolution of update rules. The inclusion of jot in the fitness func- tion significantly reduces the number of gen- erations required to reach high rates of suc- cessful classification (≥90%)

Complexity as Fitness for Evolved Cellular Automata Update Rules

We investigate the state change behavior of one-dimensional cellular automata during the solution of the binary density-classification task. Update rules of high, low and un- known fitness are applied to cellular au- tomata, thereby providing examples of high and low rates of successful classification. A spread factor, ω, is introduced and investi- gated as a numerical marker of state change behavior. The nature of ω describes complex or particle-like behavior on the part of the cellular automata over the middle region of initial configuration density-distribution, but breaks down at the ends. Because of the lim- itation on ω, a related jump-out term, jot, is selected for incorporation into the finess func- tion for genetic algorithm evolution of update rules. The inclusion of jot in the fitness func- tion significantly reduces the number of gen- erations required to reach high rates of suc- cessful classification (≥90%)

Complexity as Fitness for Evolved Cellular Automata Update Rules

We investigate the state change behavior of one-dimensional cellular automata during the solution of the binary density-classification task. Update rules of high, low and un- known fitness are applied to cellular au- tomata, thereby providing examples of high and low rates of successful classification. A spread factor, ω, is introduced and investi- gated as a numerical marker of state change behavior. The nature of ω describes complex or particle-like behavior on the part of the cellular automata over the middle region of initial configuration density-distribution, but breaks down at the ends. Because of the lim- itation on ω, a related jump-out term, jot, is selected for incorporation into the finess func- tion for genetic algorithm evolution of update rules. The inclusion of jot in the fitness func- tion significantly reduces the number of gen- erations required to reach high rates of suc- cessful classification (≥90%)

Solving the WDM Network Operation Problem Using Dynamic Synchronous Parallel Simulated Annealing

Abstrac

TruncTrimmer: A First Step Towards Automating Standard Bioinformatic Analysis

Bioinformatic analysis is a time-consuming process for labs performing research on various microbiomes. Researchers use tools like Qiime2 to help standardize the bioinformatic analysis methods, but even large, extensible platforms like Qiime2 have drawbacks due to the attention required by researchers. In this project, we propose to automate additional standard lab bioinformatic procedures by eliminating the existing manual process of determining the trim and truncate locations for paired end 2 sequences. We introduce a new Qiime2 plugin called TruncTrimmer to automate the process that usually requires the researcher to make a decision on where to trim and truncate manually after importing and demultiplexing sequences in the Qiime2 pipeline. By automating this process and removing the need for manual interaction by the researcher, this plugin provides another opportunity to automate another standard bioinformatic analysis procedure

MOSAIC: A Scalable reconfigurable 2D array system for NDT

This paper documents the development of a scalable 2D array system, or Mosaic that can be targeted at a wide range of NDT applications by way of a reconfigurable tile that can be tessellated to form arrays of any size and shape. Close coupling permits utilization of excitation voltages as low as +/-3.3V with insertion loss of 48dB on reflection from an aluminum back wall at 73mm achieved using 2D arrays without decoding