Random number generators and their applications in Computer Science with the Monte Carlo Method
Monte Carlo methods are non-parametric algorithms that use random numbers and theorems of probability theory to approximate values that are not random. The purpose of my research was to approximate the surface of different geographical areas that can be easily approximated to polygons (e.g. lakes, glaciers, deserts) with Monte Carlo simulations starting from either Cartesian coordinates or pictures. Computer science would not exist without math, and this research project showed me the importance of a deep understanding of probability theory in the world of simulations and, more generally, the importance of developing new theorems and algorithms. The results of my research could be developed in different ways: it would be interesting to produce software that allows one to approximate areas from pictures taken from a smartphone; as well, the theorem I found has to be proven, and also Monte Carlo methods as a means of random number generation can always be improved. There are still many possibilities.
Automated Illustration of Text to Improve Semantic Comprehension
Millions of people worldwide suffer from aphasia, a disorder that severely inhibits language comprehension. Medical professionals suggest that individuals with aphasia have a noticeably greater understanding of pictures than of the written or spoken word. Accordingly, we design a text-to-image converter that augments lingual communication, overcoming the highly constrained input strings and predefined output templates of previous work. This project offers four primary contributions. First, we develop an image processing algorithm that finds a simple graphical representation for each noun in the input text by analyzing Hu mo-ments of contours in images from The Noun Project and Bing Images. Next, we construct a da-taset of 700 human-centric action verbs annotated with corresponding body positions. We train support vector machines to match verbs outside the dataset with appropriate body positions. Our system illustrates body positions and emotions with a generic human representation created using iOS’s Core Animation framework. Third, we design an algorithm that maps abstract nouns to concrete ones that can be illustrated easily. To accomplish this, we use spectral clustering to iden-tify 175 abstract noun classes and annotate these classes with representative concrete nouns. Fi-nally, our system parses two datasets of pre-segmented and pre-captioned real-world images (Im-ageClef and Microsoft COCO) to identify graphical patterns that accurately represent semantic relationships between the words in a sentence. Our tests on human subjects establish the system’s effectiveness in communicating text using im-ages. Beyond people with aphasia, our system can assist individuals with Alzheimer’s or Parkin-son’s, travelers located in foreign countries, and children learning how to read.
EmerApp+: An innovative application for personal security
EmerApp+ is software designed for intelligent devices as a personal security database manager. In case of emergencies, it is an application which integrates location, tracking, and communication tools. It is triangulated between a database to a communication server as well as a second which is NASA server that offers climate and seismic information for Mexico. This application has two sources of communication, SMS messages and a newly created social network. In case of natural disasters, an extension for drones has been developed for this application, enabling rescue teams to delimit the land boundary where the disaster struck. In order to speed up the search and rescue operations a triangulation of network-drone- smartphone is completed.