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--- projects [2011/09/03 21:14] – dymond
+++ projects [2012/09/05 19:28] – jonathan
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-====== Currently offered Projects, Fall 2011 (updated September 3, 2011)  ======
+====== Currently offered Projects, Fall 2012 (updated September 5, 2012)  ======
 (Listed in order received.)
-====== Building an autonomous motorboat ======
+====== Continuation of a Path Diagram to Syntax Application ======
-**Supervisor**: Michael Jenkin
+**Supervisor**: Jeff Edmonds
 **Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites
-**Recommended Background**: Robotics
+**Recommended Background**: Java software development
-__Description__
+Structural equation modeling (SEM) is a statistical technique that is becoming increasingly popular in the educational and behavioral sciences. SEM allows researchers to test the validity of hypothesized models involving complex relationships among multiple variables. Collected data is used to estimate the parameters of the equations and assessing the fit of the model.
-An opportunity exists for a small number of students to build an autonomous motorboat using a RC motorboat as a base and integrating computation and control in the form of a Beagleboard. Students will participate in lectures and labs associated with CSE6324 (Part I). Interested students should attend the first lecture of CSE6324. See the departmental schedule for time and place.
+The software required is an application that allows researchers to define their hypothesized models visually and will output the correct syntax for the analytical software of their choosing.
+To date a promising functional application has been developed in JAVA by a Computer Science student as a 4080 project. The existing software allows the user to draw a path diagram and outputs code for the R package sem.  There are a number of improvements to be made (refinements and additions to graphical user interface) and then the application needs to be extended to output syntax appropriate for additional software applications (openMX, MPlus and EQS).  Though this project may not begin at “the first stages” of the software lifecycle, this scenario is likely common in the software development market. In addition, the student will be working with a primary “client” who is far less technically advanced, which is also reflective of real-world situations.
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+More details {{:continuation_of_a_path_diagram_to_syntax_application.pdf|here}}.
-:
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-====== Athenians Data Project ======
+====== YUsend Thermal Vacuum (TVAC) Test Manager ======
-**Supervisor**: Nick Cercone
+**Supervisor**: Rob Allison (co-supervised with Hugh Chesser, Space Engineering)
-**Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites
+**Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites, familiarity with C++ and Windows software tools
-**Recommended Background**: Data Mining
+**Description** The YUsend (York University Space Engineering Nanosatellite Demonstration) Lab has procured a Windows XP-based industrial computer and temperature acquisition card (as well as other hardware) for performing TVAC testing of nanosatellites in the CSIL Lab (PSE 003). A “TVAC Test Manager” application written using LabView's G programming language will oversee the acquisition of temperatures (thermal test outputs) and control of IR lamps (thermal test inputs) during the rather long periods (4 or more days, 24 hours a day) of a TVAC test.
-__Description__
+Specific tasks include: 1. Writing temperature acquisition card (OMEGA Engineering CIO-DAS-Temp) drivers for LabView - should be written in Visual C++ or similar and compiled into SubVI format. 2. Write LabView VI's (“Virtual Instrument”) to perform (a) Test set-up activities - checkout of sensor and lamps, assigning neumonics to temperature sensors, setting of alarm conditions for sensors and lamps (b) Acquire and monitor temperature data and control lamp voltage during test, raise operator alarms for temperature or IR lamp anomalous conditions as required © Store temperature and control data for subsequent analysis and reporting. 3. (Optional) Interface the Test Manager with an orbital simulation tool which would be used to compute IR lamp inputs based on a simulation of the nanosatellite's orbital position and attitude (eg - in the sun, lamps on, in eclipse lamps off). The simulation tool is a package called Satellite Toolkit (STK) which has an TCP/IP-based API.
-The Athenians Project is a multi-year, ongoing project of compiling, computerizing and studying data about the persons of ancient Athens.
-Possible project ideas for this term span from simpler ones such as
-how to present data in the best possible way, add spatial characteristics to existing data,
-add multimedia data, improve text searching, etc. to more complex ideas such as filling
-missing parts for the "broken" words on the existing inscriptions. Filling text for the broken
-words has been done in the past using expert knowledge. Those experts have establish
-certain rules/guidelines that may be possible to extrapolate in some kind of expert system
-when talking in IT terminology. Furthermore, any hypotheses on word completion enters
-the database with some likelihood. Associating probabilities with hypotheses introduces
-another opportunity for research projects.
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-:
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-====== Three-Dimensional Context from Linear Perspective for Video Surveillance Systems ======
-**Supervisor**:  James Elder
+====== Game Playing Framework in Eiffel ======
-**Requirements**:  Good facility with applied mathematics
+**Supervisor**: Jonathan Ostroff
-__Description__
+**Required Background**: Eiffel software development method
-To provide visual surveillance over a large environment, many surveillance cameras are typically deployed at widely dispersed locations.  Making sense of activities within the monitored space requires security personnel to map multiple events observed on two-dimensional security monitors to the three-dimensional scene under surveillance.  The cognitive load entailed rises quickly as the number of cameras, complexity of the scene and amount of traffic increases.
+**Description** Game playing frameworks in Eiffel such as Eiffelmedia usually wrap C frameworks in Eiffel. The goal of this project is to develop (initially, a simple) framework using pure Eiffel/EiffelVision so that the framework can be used on any platform (Windows, Linux, Mac) without external dependencies. Games provide a rich source for exploring object oriented software construction and design patterns, so that the framework would be useful in software design courses.
-This problem can be addressed by automatically pre-mapping two-dimensional surveillance video data into three-dimensional coordinates.  Rendering the data directly in three dimensions can potentially lighten the cognitive load of security personnel and make human activities more immediately interpretable.
+====== Numerical Methods ======
-Mapping surveillance video to three-dimensional coordinates requires construction of a virtual model of the three-dimensional scene.  Such a model could be obtained by survey (e.g., using LIDAR), but the cost and time required for each site would severely limit deployment.  Wide-baseline uncalibrated stereo methods are developing and have potential utility, but require careful sensor placement, and the difficulty of the correspondence problem limits reliability.
+**Supervisor**: Mike McNamee
-This project will investigate a monocular method for inferring three-dimensional context for video surveillance.  The method will make use of the fact that most urban scenes obey the so-called “Manhattan-world” assumption, viz., a large proportion of the major surfaces in the scene are rectangles aligned with a three-dimensional Cartesian grid (Coughlan & Yuille, 2003).  This regularity provides strong linear perspective cues that can potentially be used to automatically infer three-dimensional models of the major surfaces in the scene (up to a scale factor).  These models can then be used to construct a virtual environment in which to render models of human activities in the scene.
+**Required Background**: Good grade in a Numerical Methods course and good knowledge
+of Fortran, C or similar language.
-Although the Manhattan world assumption provides powerful constraints, there are many technical challenges that must be overcome before a working prototype can be demonstrated.  The prototype requires six stages of processing:    1)The major lines in each video frame are detected.  2)  These lines are grouped into quadrilaterals projecting from the major surface rectangles of the scene.  3)  The geometry of linear perspective and the Manhattan world constraint are exploited to estimate the three-dimensional attitude of the rectangles from which these quadrilaterals project.  4)  Trihedral junctions are used to infer three-dimensional surface contact and ordinal depth relationships between these surfaces.  5)  The estimated surfaces are rendered in three-dimensions.  6)  Human activities are tracked and rendered within this virtual three-dimensional world.
+**Description**: Write, debug and run several Fortran programs related to solving
+polynomial equations, with a view to comparing different known methods.
-The student will work closely with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at York University, as well as researchers at other institutions involved in the project.  The student will develop skills in using MATLAB, a very useful mathematical programming environment, and develop an understanding of basic topics in image processing and vision.
+====== Enabling SaaS access to an experimental AI planner ======
-For more information on the laboratory: [[http://www.elderlab.yorku.ca]]
+**Supervisor**: Sotirios Liaskos (liaskos at yorku dot ca)
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+**Required Background**: Good knowledge of Unix tools / Python, Perl or Awk. Comfort with algorithms and programming. Essential: 2031 -- Software Tools. Desired:
-:
+ -- Functional & Logic Programming,
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+ -- Design and Analysis of Algorithms,
+ -- Compilers and Interpreters.
-====== Estimating Pedestrian and Vehicle Flows from Surveillance Video ======
+**Description**: This project involves enriching and integrating a set of fairly complex scripts, which are components of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) planner, and exporting them to the public in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) fashion.
-**Supervisor**:  James Elder
+The components are various Unix executables and LISP programs that need to interact in complex ways. The components may be residing in different servers in different universities. Currently integration is performed manually, at the expense of usability. Thus, we aim at constructing a module that: (a) integrates involved components to deliver output in one call, (b) exports a unique web interface (preferably following WSDL/SOAP) to be easily accessed by custom front-end tools by anyone, anywhere, (c ) offers a simple front-end for human users.
-**Requirements**:  Good facility with applied mathematics
+Learning objectives:
+  * Understand the technologies and process involved in turning native code into a web-service ("servicizing").
+  * Study a state-of-the-art AI planner and understand its workings.
+  * Exercise scripting skills.
-__Description__
-Facilities planning at both city (e.g., Toronto) and institutional (e.g., York University) scales requires accurate data on the flow of people and vehicles throughout the environment.  Acquiring these data can require the costly deployment of specialized equipment and people, and this effort must be renewed at regular intervals for the data to be relevant.
+====== Predicting Angular Error in Rigid Registration ======
-The density of permanent urban video surveillance camera installations has increased dramatically over the last several years.  These systems provide a potential source of low-cost data from which flows can be estimated for planning purposes.
+**Supervisor**: Burton Ma
-This project will explore the use of computer vision algorithms for the automatic estimation of pedestrian and vehicle flows from video surveillance data.  The ultimate goal is to provide planners with accurate, continuous, up-to-date information on facility usage to help guide planning.
+**Description**: Registration is a fundamental step in image-based surgical
+navigation. Several (seemingly) different approaches for predicting
-The student will work closely with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at York University, as well as researchers at other institutions involved in the project.  The student will develop skills in using MATLAB, a very useful mathematical programming environment, and develop an understanding of basic topics in image processing and vision.
+distance errors in registration are known, but for some surgical
+procedures, the angular error in registration is more important.
-For more information on the laboratory: [[http://www.elderlab.yorku.ca]]
+This project will validate an approach for predicting angular
+error in registration; the student will use a combination of
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+simulated and actual registration data for testing purposes.
-:
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-====== Tandem repeat detection using spectral methods ======
-**Supervisor**: Suprakash Datta
-**Required Background**: The student should have completed undergraduate courses in Algorithms and Signals and Systems.
-**Recommended Background**: Some background in Statistics is desirable but not essential.
-__Description__
-DNA sequences of organisms have many repeated substrings. These are called repeats in Biology, and include both exact as well as approximate repeats. Repeats are of two main types: interspersed repeats (which are spread across a genome) and tandem repeats, which occur next to each other. Tandem repeats play important roles in gene regulation and are also used as markers that have several important uses, including human identity testing.
-Finding tandem repeats is an important problem in Computational Biology. The techniques that have been proposed for it fall into two classes: string matching algorithms and signal processing techniques. In this project, we will explore fast, accurate algorithms for detecting tandem repeats and evaluate the outputs of the algorithms studied by comparing their outputs with those of available packages, including mreps (http://bioinfo.lifl.fr/mreps/), SRF (http://www.imtech.res.in/raghava/srf/) and TRF (http://tandem.bu.edu/trf/trf.html).
-The student will implement existing spectral algorithms based on Fourier Transforms and on an autoregressive model. He will then make changes suggested by the supervisor, and evaluate the effect of the modifications. Throughout the course, the student is required to maintain a course Web site to report any progress and details about the project.
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-:
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-====== Touch- and Gesture-based Text Entry With Automatic Error Correction ======
-**Supervisor**: Scott Mackenzie
-**Required Background**:
-CSE3461 (or equivalent), CSE3311 (or equivalent), CSE4441 (or equivalent)
-A student wishing to do this project must be well versed in Java, Eclipse, and developing java code for the Android operating system.
-**Recommended Background**:
-Possession of an Android touch-based phone or tablet would be an asset, but is not essential.
-__Description__
-This project involves extending a touch-based text entry method to include automatic error correction.  The method, as is, uses Graffiti strokes entered via a finger on a touch-based Android tablet.  The stroke recognizer works fine, but it is not perfect.  Some strokes are mis-recognized while others are un-recognized.  The fault is sometimes attributable to the recognizer, but, often, the fault is simply that the user's input was sloppy.  The work involves developing, integrating, and testing software.  The core software is already written, but automatic error correction is lacking. The primary task of the added software is to receive a sequence of characters representing a word and matching the sequence with words in a dictionary.  If a match is found, all is well (presumably).  If a match is not found, the search is extended to find a set of candidate words that are "close" to the inputted sequence.  "Close", here, involves using a minimum string distance algorithm (provided).  The user interface must be modified to present the user with alternative words in the event an error occurred.  The user selects the desired word by tapping on a word in the list.  The project will involve testing the new input method in a small user study and writing up a report describing the work and presenting the results of the user study.
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-:
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-====== Early Breast Cancer Detection based on MRI’s. ======
-**Supervisor**: Amir Asif
-**Required Background**: General CSE408x prerequisites
-**Recommended background**: Signal processing
+====== Calibration of a Tracked Pointer ======
-Project Description: This research will develop advanced computer-aided, signal
+**Supervisor**: Burton Ma
-processing techniques for early detection of breast cancer using the available
-modalities. In particular, we propose to develop time reversal beamforming imager,
-based on our earlier work in time reversal signal processing, for detecting early stage
-breast cancer tumours from MRI data.
-Our preliminary work has illustrated the type of
-results that are possible for breast cancer detection by applying time reversal signal
-processing on MRI breast data. In this research, we propose to extend these results to
-provide a quantitative understanding of the practical gains provided by time reversal
-in MRI based breast cancer detection and its limitations. This will be accomplished
-a local hospital, and running our algorithms on these datasets. The first step is
-important to check the validity of our algorithms. The next step is to compare the
-estimated locations of the tumours (as derived with our algorithms) to their precise
-locations as identified by the pathologists. The second step will quantify the accuracy
-of our estimation algorithms.
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+**Description**: Tracked pointers are the most common tools used in surgical
-:
+navigation systems. A typical pointer has a tracked target on one
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+end and a sharp or ball tip on the other end. Finding the location
+of the tip relative to the target is a calibration problem. One
+solution to the calibration problem involves pivoting the pointer
+about the tip while tracking the target; if the tip is kept
+stationary, then the target moves on the surface of a sphere.
+Fitting the tracking data to the surface of a sphere yields the
+location of the tip as the sphere center. Unfortunately, the
+calibrated tip position obtained using such a spherical calibration
+has high variance. This project will investigate how much variance
+there is in the calibrated tip position, and methods for reducing
+the variance of the calibrated tip position.