Jeffrey Stone
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Dickinson College
The purpose of this research was to gain an understanding of the processes involved in computer network design, and to learn how computer simulation can used to save time, effort, and money before flawed designs are implemented. Using a small, fictional business and guiding principles of current network methodology and tools, two distinct Ethernet network "scenarios" for the business were designed, including details such as the number of servers, hubs, switches, et al., and how they would be connected.
The Extend ä simulation tool was used to model my "scenario" networks. Hierarchical Extend ä blocks were constructed to simulate various network elements (hubs, switches, servers, workstations) and Extend ä models were constructed from these blocks. Specifications from (then-) current network devices were used to set the numerical parameters of the simulated devices. The models were run and numerical reports were analyzed to determine such things as node latency, switch congestion, and packet response times. It was from this comparative analysis that a preferred design was determined.
A "one-year-later" scenario was then performed on the winning scenario
to show the affects growth may have on the network. By showing the
network performance after the company had experienced growth, the goal
was to show whether the preferred solution was a good solution for the
long term. Finally, suggestions were offered to improve the chosen
network's performance.
Jim Bierman
Michael Schuckers
Biometric Identification devices (or simpley biometric devices) were once
considered to be purely in the realm of science fiction. These devices which
take a measurement of a physiological feature, e.g. fingerprint, iris,
hand geometry, and compare that measurement to an earlier stored template
are becoming increasingly prevalent. You can now buy a commercially
available laptop with a fingerprint reader build-in. The United States
Department
of Defense will spend several million dollars in the next decade to test and
implement biometric technology. Though much work has been done in this area,
standards and protocols for most aspects of these devices are under development
but are not yet uniformly applied throughout the industry. One of the most
important
issues facing this field is the quantification of the matching performance
of a biometric device. Matching performance is the devices ability
to determine that you are who you say you are. In this talk I will discuss
matching performance and discuss some of the statistical issues involved in
estimating the matching performance of a biometric device.
Stina Bridgeman
In the first part of the talk, I will introduce graph drawing, its
applications, and some approaches used in graph drawing algorithms. I will
then present GeomNet, a distributed computing system making graph drawing
algorithms easily available to users over the Internet. The goal of
GeomNet is to reduce the obstacles faced by users not in the graph drawing
community who need to visualize graphs.
Barry Lawson
We consider a simulation-based network model to determine the home
location of mobile servers in a congested network. A direct
application of this study is to determine the optimal placement of
EMS sites within a city by minimizing the expected response time for
emergency requests. With random request arrival times, response
times, and service times, we investigate the placement of servers on
a fixed network to minimize expected response and service times. In
addition, we compare results produced using two distinct server
response paradigms.
Patricia Johann
In the modular style of programming, solutions to larger computational
problems are constructed by solving, and then appropriately combining
solutions to, smaller such problems. The modular style of programming is
associated with greater reliability, clarity, mainatainability, and reuse
of software components. Because it is also associated with increased
programmer productivity, modular program construction is an integral part
of any reasonable software engineering process.
Unfortunately, modular programs also tend to be more inefficient than
their monolithic counterparts. As a result, automatable techniques for
transforming modular but inefficient programs into more efficient, but
equivalent, monolithic ones are needed.
Fusion is a technique for increasing the efficiency of functional programs
in precisely this way. In this talk we introduce short cut fusion, a
particular technique for automatically fusing functional programs. After
indicating how short cut fusion works (by applying it to a small example
program), we consider the problem of measuring the effectiveness of short
cut fusion and related techniques in practice (i.e., on "real" programs).
We discuss the progress made toward this goal in the undergraduate
research experience we hosted last summer, and conclude the talk by
indicating directions for further research along these lines.
4/2/01 - How businesses adapt their computer systems to the challenges of e-business and the economy.
Dickinson Class of '70
CFO Quintiles Transnational Corporation
3/26/01 - Some Statistical Aspects of the Performance of Biometric Identification Devices
Department of Statistics
West Virginia University
2/16/01 - GeomNet: Bringing Graph Drawing to Users
Department of Computer Science
Brown University
2/15/01 12:30 - Simulation of Mobile Servers on a Congested Network
Department of Computer Science
The College of William and Mary
2/7/01 11:30 - How to Improve the Efficiency of Your Programs without Even Trying
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Bates College
Chats from previous semesters:
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