Current Search: Leavens, Gary (x)
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- Title
- Approximate In-memory computing on RERAMs.
- Creator
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Khokhar, Salman Anwar, Heinrich, Mark, Leavens, Gary, Yuksel, Murat, Bagci, Ulas, Rahman, Talat, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Computing systems have seen tremendous growth over the past few decades in their capabilities, efficiency, and deployment use cases. This growth has been driven by progress in lithography techniques, improvement in synthesis tools, architectures and power management. However, there is a growing disparity between computing power and the demands on modern computing systems. The standard Von-Neuman architecture has separate data storage and data processing locations. Therefore, it suffers from a...
Show moreComputing systems have seen tremendous growth over the past few decades in their capabilities, efficiency, and deployment use cases. This growth has been driven by progress in lithography techniques, improvement in synthesis tools, architectures and power management. However, there is a growing disparity between computing power and the demands on modern computing systems. The standard Von-Neuman architecture has separate data storage and data processing locations. Therefore, it suffers from a memory-processor communication bottleneck, which is commonly referredto as the 'memory wall'. The relatively slower progress in memory technology compared with processing units has continued to exacerbate the memory wall problem. As feature sizes in the CMOSlogic family reduce further, quantum tunneling effects are becoming more prominent. Simultaneously, chip transistor density is already so high that all transistors cannot be powered up at the same time without violating temperature constraints, a phenomenon characterized as dark-silicon. Coupled with this, there is also an increase in leakage currents with smaller feature sizes, resultingin a breakdown of 'Dennard's' scaling. All these challenges cannot be met without fundamental changes in current computing paradigms. One viable solution is in-memory computing, wherecomputing and storage are performed alongside each other. A number of emerging memory fabrics such as ReRAMS, STT-RAMs, and PCM RAMs are capable of performing logic in-memory.ReRAMs possess high storage density, have extremely low power consumption and a low cost of fabrication. These advantages are due to the simple nature of its basic constituting elements whichallow nano-scale fabrication. We use flow-based computing on ReRAM crossbars for computing that exploits natural sneak paths in those crossbars.Another concurrent development in computing is the maturation of domains that are error resilient while being highly data and power intensive. These include machine learning, pattern recognition,computer vision, image processing, and networking, etc. This shift in the nature of computing workloads has given weight to the idea of (")approximate computing("), in which device efficiency is improved by sacrificing tolerable amounts of accuracy in computation. We present a mathematically rigorous foundation for the synthesis of approximate logic and its mapping to ReRAM crossbars using search based and graphical methods.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007827, ucf:52817
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007827
- Title
- D-FENS: DNS Filtering (&) Extraction Network System for Malicious Domain Names.
- Creator
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Spaulding, Jeffrey, Mohaisen, Aziz, Leavens, Gary, Bassiouni, Mostafa, Fu, Xinwen, Posey, Clay, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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While the DNS (Domain Name System) has become a cornerstone for the operation of the Internet, it has also fostered creative cases of maliciousness, including phishing, typosquatting, and botnet communication among others. To address this problem, this dissertation focuses on identifying and mitigating such malicious domain names through prior knowledge and machine learning. In the first part of this dissertation, we explore a method of registering domain names with deliberate typographical...
Show moreWhile the DNS (Domain Name System) has become a cornerstone for the operation of the Internet, it has also fostered creative cases of maliciousness, including phishing, typosquatting, and botnet communication among others. To address this problem, this dissertation focuses on identifying and mitigating such malicious domain names through prior knowledge and machine learning. In the first part of this dissertation, we explore a method of registering domain names with deliberate typographical mistakes (i.e., typosquatting) to masquerade as popular and well-established domain names. To understand the effectiveness of typosquatting, we conducted a user study which helped shed light on which techniques were more (")successful(") than others in deceiving users. While certain techniques fared better than others, they failed to take the context of the user into account. Therefore, in the second part of this dissertation we look at the possibility of an advanced attack which takes context into account when generating domain names. The main idea is determining the possibility for an adversary to improve their (")success(") rate of deceiving users with specifically-targeted malicious domain names. While these malicious domains typically target users, other types of domain names are generated by botnets for command (&) control (C2) communication. Therefore, in the third part of this dissertation we investigate domain generation algorithms (DGA) used by botnets and propose a method to identify DGA-based domain names. By analyzing DNS traffic for certain patterns of NXDomain (non-existent domain) query responses, we can accurately predict DGA-based domain names before they are registered. Given all of these approaches to malicious domain names, we ultimately propose a system called D-FENS (DNS Filtering (&) Extraction Network System). D-FENS uses machine learning and prior knowledge to accurately predict unreported malicious domain names in real-time, thereby preventing Internet devices from unknowingly connecting to a potentially malicious domain name.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0007587, ucf:52540
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007587
- Title
- Automated Synthesis of Memristor Crossbar Networks.
- Creator
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Chakraborty, Dwaipayan, Jha, Sumit Kumar, Leavens, Gary, Ewetz, Rickard, Valliyil Thankachan, Sharma, Xu, Mengyu, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The advancement of semiconductor device technology over the past decades has enabled the design of increasingly complex electrical and computational machines. Electronic design automation (EDA) has played a significant role in the design and implementation of transistor-based machines. However, as transistors move closer toward their physical limits, the speed-up provided by Moore's law will grind to a halt. Once again, we find ourselves on the verge of a paradigm shift in the computational...
Show moreThe advancement of semiconductor device technology over the past decades has enabled the design of increasingly complex electrical and computational machines. Electronic design automation (EDA) has played a significant role in the design and implementation of transistor-based machines. However, as transistors move closer toward their physical limits, the speed-up provided by Moore's law will grind to a halt. Once again, we find ourselves on the verge of a paradigm shift in the computational sciences as newer devices pave the way for novel approaches to computing. One of such devices is the memristor -- a resistor with non-volatile memory.Memristors can be used as junctional switches in crossbar circuits, which comprise of intersecting sets of vertical and horizontal nanowires. The major contribution of this dissertation lies in automating the design of such crossbar circuits -- doing a new kind of EDA for a new kind of computational machinery. In general, this dissertation attempts to answer the following questions:a. How can we synthesize crossbars for computing large Boolean formulas, up to 128-bit?b. How can we synthesize more compact crossbars for small Boolean formulas, up to 8-bit?c. For a given loop-free C program doing integer arithmetic, is it possible to synthesize an equivalent crossbar circuit?We have presented novel solutions to each of the above problems. Our new, proposed solutions resolve a number of significant bottlenecks in existing research, via the usage of innovative logic representation and artificial intelligence techniques. For large Boolean formulas (up to 128-bit), we have utilized Reduced Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams (ROBDDs) to automatically synthesize linearly growing crossbar circuits that compute them. This cutting edge approach towards flow-based computing has yielded state-of-the-art results. It is worth noting that this approach is scalable to n-bit Boolean formulas. We have made significant original contributions by leveraging artificial intelligence for automatic synthesis of compact crossbar circuits. This inventive method has been expanded to encompass crossbar networks with 1D1M (1-diode-1-memristor) switches, as well. The resultant circuits satisfy the tight constraints of the Feynman Grand Prize challenge and are able to perform 8-bit binary addition. A leading edge development for end-to-end computation with flow-based crossbars has been implemented, which involves methodical translation of loop-free C programs into crossbar circuits via automated synthesis. The original contributions described in this dissertation reflect the substantial progress we have made in the area of electronic design automation for synthesis of memristor crossbar networks.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2019
- Identifier
- CFE0007609, ucf:52528
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007609
- Title
- Data Representation in Machine Learning Methods with its Application to Compilation Optimization and Epitope Prediction.
- Creator
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Sher, Yevgeniy, Zhang, Shaojie, Dechev, Damian, Leavens, Gary, Gonzalez, Avelino, Zhi, Degui, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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In this dissertation we explore the application of machine learning algorithms to compilation phase order optimization, and epitope prediction. The common thread running through these two disparate domains is the type of data being dealt with. In both problem domains we are dealing with categorical data, with its representation playing a significant role in the performance of classification algorithms.We first present a neuroevolutionary approach which orders optimization phases to generate...
Show moreIn this dissertation we explore the application of machine learning algorithms to compilation phase order optimization, and epitope prediction. The common thread running through these two disparate domains is the type of data being dealt with. In both problem domains we are dealing with categorical data, with its representation playing a significant role in the performance of classification algorithms.We first present a neuroevolutionary approach which orders optimization phases to generate compiled programs with performance superior to those compiled using LLVM's -O3 optimization level. Performance improvements calculated as the speed of the compiled program's execution ranged from 27% for the ccbench program, to 40.8% for bzip2.This dissertation then explores the problem of data representation of 3D biological data, such as amino acids. A new approach for distributed representation of 3D biological data through the process of embedding is proposed and explored. Analogously to word embedding, we developed a system that uses atomic and residue coordinates to generate distributed representation for residues, which we call 3D Residue BioVectors. Preliminary results are presented which demonstrate that even the low dimensional 3D Residue BioVectors can be used to predict conformational epitopes and protein-protein interactions, with promising proficiency. The generation of such 3D BioVectors, and the proposed methodology, opens the door for substantial future improvements, and application domains.The dissertation then explores the problem domain of linear B-Cell epitope prediction. This problem domain deals with predicting epitopes based strictly on the protein sequence. We present the DRREP system, which demonstrates how an ensemble of shallow neural networks can be combined with string kernels and analytical learning algorithm to produce state of the art epitope prediction results. DRREP was tested on the SARS subsequence, the HIV, Pellequer, AntiJen datasets, and the standard SEQ194 test dataset. AUC improvements achieved over the state of the art ranged from 3% to 8%.Finally, we present the SEEP epitope classifier, which is a multi-resolution SMV ensemble based classifier which uses conjoint triad feature representation, and produces state of the art classification results. SEEP leverages the domain specific knowledge based protein sequence encoding developed within the protein-protein interaction research domain. Using an ensemble of multi-resolution SVMs, and a sliding window based pre and post processing pipeline, SEEP achieves an AUC of 91.2 on the standard SEQ194 test dataset, a 24% improvement over the state of the art.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006793, ucf:51829
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006793
- Title
- Techniques for automated parameter estimation in computational models of probabilistic systems.
- Creator
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Hussain, Faraz, Jha, Sumit, Leavens, Gary, Turgut, Damla, Uddin, Nizam, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The main contribution of this dissertation is the design of two new algorithms for automatically synthesizing values of numerical parameters of computational models of complexstochastic systems such that the resultant model meets user-specified behavioral specifications.These algorithms are designed to operate on probabilistic systems (-) systems that, in general,behave differently under identical conditions. The algorithms work using an approach thatcombines formal verification and...
Show moreThe main contribution of this dissertation is the design of two new algorithms for automatically synthesizing values of numerical parameters of computational models of complexstochastic systems such that the resultant model meets user-specified behavioral specifications.These algorithms are designed to operate on probabilistic systems (-) systems that, in general,behave differently under identical conditions. The algorithms work using an approach thatcombines formal verification and mathematical optimization to explore a model's parameterspace.The problem of determining whether a model instantiated with a given set of parametervalues satisfies the desired specification is first defined using formal verification terminology,and then reformulated in terms of statistical hypothesis testing. Parameter space explorationinvolves determining the outcome of the hypothesis testing query for each parameter pointand is guided using simulated annealing. The first algorithm uses the sequential probabilityratio test (SPRT) to solve the hypothesis testing problems, whereas the second algorithmuses an approach based on Bayesian statistical model checking (BSMC).The SPRT-based parameter synthesis algorithm was used to validate that a given model ofglucose-insulin metabolism has the capability of representing diabetic behavior by synthesizingvalues of three parameters that ensure that the glucose-insulin subsystem spends at least 20minutes in a diabetic scenario. The BSMC-based algorithm was used to discover the valuesof parameters in a physiological model of the acute inflammatory response that guarantee aset of desired clinical outcomes.These two applications demonstrate how our algorithms use formal verification, statisticalhypothesis testing and mathematical optimization to automatically synthesize parameters ofcomplex probabilistic models in order to meet user-specified behavioral properties
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006117, ucf:51200
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006117
- Title
- Detecting Semantic Method Clones in Java Code using Method IOE-Behavior.
- Creator
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Elva, Rochelle, Leavens, Gary, Johnson, Mark, Orooji, Ali, Hughes, Charles, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The determination of semantic equivalence is an undecidable problem; however, this dissertation shows that a reasonable approximation can be obtained using a combination of static and dynamic analysis. This study investigates the detection of functional duplicates, referred to as semantic method clones (SMCs), in Java code. My algorithm extends the input-output notion of observable behavior, used in related work [1, 2], to include the effects of the method. The latter property refers to the...
Show moreThe determination of semantic equivalence is an undecidable problem; however, this dissertation shows that a reasonable approximation can be obtained using a combination of static and dynamic analysis. This study investigates the detection of functional duplicates, referred to as semantic method clones (SMCs), in Java code. My algorithm extends the input-output notion of observable behavior, used in related work [1, 2], to include the effects of the method. The latter property refers to the persistent changes to the heap, brought about by the execution of the method. To differentiate this from the typical input-output behavior used by other researchers, I have coined the term method IOE-Behavior; which means its input-output and effects behavior [3]. Two methods are defined as semantic method clones, if they have identical IOE-Behavior; that is, for the same inputs (actual parameters and initial heap state), they produce the same output (that is result- for non-void methods, and final heap state).The detection process consists of two static pre-filters used to identify candidate clone sets. This is followed by dynamic tests that actually run the candidate methods, to determine semantic equivalence. The first filter groups the methods by type. The second filter refines the output of the first, grouping methods by their effects. This algorithm is implemented in my tool JSCTracker, used to automate the SMC detection process. The algorithm and tool are validated using a case study comprising of 12 open source Java projects, from different application domains and ranging in size from 2 KLOC (thousand lines of code) to 300 KLOC. The objectives of the case study are posed as 4 research questions:1. Can method IOE-Behavior be used in SMC detection?2. What is the impact of the use of the pre-filters on the efficiency of the algorithm?3. How does the performance of method IOE-Behavior compare to using only input-output for identifying SMCs?4. How reliable are the results obtained when method IOE-Behavior is used in SMC detection? Responses to these questions are obtained by checking each software sample with JSCTracker and analyzing the results.The number of SMCs detected range from 0 45 with an average execution time of 8.5 seconds. The use of the two pre-filters reduces the number of methods that reach the dynamic test phase, by an average of 34%. The IOE-Behavior approach takes an average of 0.010 seconds per method while the input-output approach takes an average of 0.015 seconds. The former also identifies an average of 32% false positives, while the SMCs identified using input-output, have an average of 92% false positives. In terms of reliability, the IOE-Behavior method produces results with precision values of an average of 68% and recall value of 76% on average.These reliability values represent an improvement of over 37% (for precision) of the values in related work [4]. Thus, it is my conclusion that IOE-Behavior can be used to detect SMCs in Java code with reasonable reliability.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004835, ucf:49689
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004835