Project Type: Research Project Status: Reserved for Mr. Rea Proposer: Steven Rea, Computer Science (student) Supervisor: Jonathan Radue, Computer Science Approved: 27 Sep'95 (VW) Hardware : UNIX environment Language : PERL Prerequisites : Unspecified
The project that I am proposing as my CoSc 4F90 course requirement is to create a program that will link messages based upon equifrequent word fragments within the bodies of text. Equifrequent word fragments are parts of text that occur frequently within a specified size of text. After calculating the frequency of word fragments within each body of text, messages with fragments that are equally as frequent will be linked together.
For example, the departmental "Town Hall" list server will be relaying a number of messages monthly on various different topics. With a program, such as the one I propose, it would be easy to peruse all the email messages that contain a particular topic, phrase, or keyword that is specified by the operator. For instance, if a professor wanted to review all of the discussions on a particular course, he/she would be able to gather all pertinent messages that had more than just a couple of references to the topic in it. This can be accomplished by making the distinction between a discussion on the topic and a brief mention of the keywords by analyzing the frequency of the keywords and the context that it is used within the message text.
There have been extensive studies on equifrequent word fragments to generate several algorithms to examine, test and adapt for this project. (*)
The language that will be used is PERL in the UNIX environment as it is, in my opinion, the most efficient programming language for text manipulation. The text corpus that will be used is a collection of (anonymous) email messages without the From: field. The effectiveness and speed of threading by this means will be studied: if time permits, the same workbench could be used to test other clustering algorithms.
*) Ernst J. Schuegraf, "The Use of Equifrequent Fragments in
Retrospective Retrieval Systems", Department of Computing
Science, The University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, 1974.
Project Type : Development (for Hayes Dana) Project Status: Reserved for Ms. Harrison Proposer: Nicole Harrison, Computer Science (Student) Supervisor: Jonathan Radue, Computer Science Approved: 27 Sep'95 (VW) Hardware : Unspecified Language : Unspecified Prerequisites : Unspecified
Description:
The Aftermarket system is used for inventory control, producing sales orders and invoicing. However, an area that has been overlooked (due to time constraints) is that of Bills of Materials. A bill of material is(at present) a written report containing the part numbers needed to assemble another part or kit. This bill is dependent on the technical knowledge of the part and what it can be broken down into.
This project would involve the design and implementation of a database which would allow the user to construct different assemblies, save such configurations or delete. The user would be able to draw in costs and have the capability to add labour charges and the desired gross margin to produce a customer quotation. If the quote is accepted the necessary information would be exported to an inventory adjustment screen to produce a work order.
Since the bill of material is being converted from a paper format to an 'on-line' representation particular attention will be paid to developing an appropriate and easy to use user interface conforming to the latest findings in the field of User Interface design. Also, an on-line context sensitive help system will be developed to assist the user with the different aspects of the database.
The main tasks in this project are as follows:
Project Type: Development Project Status: Reserved for Ms. Lipischak Proposer: Karen Lipischak, Computer Science (student) Supervisor: Jon Radue, Computer Science Approved: 10 Feb'94 (VW)
Background:
CAA Niagara is the local club for the Canadian Automobile Association. One of the services offered by CAA is a free credit card registry, known as the Charge Guard Protection Program. Members may register their credit cards with the club. In the event of loss or theft, the member simply contacts the club and CAA will notify all the credit card companies of the loss, and arrange to have the missing cards re-issued. At present, there are approximately 5000 members participating in the program and each member has an average of 6 credit cards, although this number can go as high as 45.
At present, this process is being handled on a completely manual basis, with a paper record being kept for each member. These records are alphabetically filed in large binders and housed in several filing cabinets. Access is restricted to a single employee at the head office, which is opened from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays and 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Saturdays.
Recent policy changes at CAA require that 24-hour dispatch service be provided for Emergency Road Service. This will also provide for personnel to be available to handle any Charge Guard transactions that may arise at any time. In order to take advantage of these new developments and offer better service to the members, major changes to the Charge Guard system need to be made.
Description:
The proposed project is to create a database system to implement the ChargeGuard Protection Program. The database will allow for multiple credit card records for each member. Since each credit card company has specific and unique formats and procedures for the cancellation and re-issuance of cards, multiple credit card company formats will also be provided.
The security of this sensitive credit card information is a primary concern of the management. Two levels of access will be required. The Supervisor level will provide for maintenance of the database. The Operations level will allow dispatch personnel to execute the cancellation procedures when a member reports a loss.
User logon codes and a log transaction file will be kept, to record the activity and users of the system. A history of dates and times of all user logons will be kept. This will ensure that only authorized personnel are accessing the stored information.
When a membership is cancelled or allowed to lapse, the credit card information is no longer needed and must be purged from the database system. However, the master membership file resides on the club's main computer, which runs on a PICK operating system. The Charge Guard Protection Program will be designed to run on an IBM-compatible PC system. A facility will be provided to allow a cross- reference between the master membership file on the PICK system and the database membership file on the PC system, to detect any inactive members and remove them from the database.
Since many different users will be accessing the system, particular attention will be paid to the user interface. The most recent findings in the field of User Interface design will be employed, to provide clear, concise paths through the routines with a minimum of keystrokes and screen changes.
The program will provide complete on-line, context-sensitive help. At any point in any of the routines, the user will be able to flip to a help screen that specifically addresses the functions available and requirements at that point. If further information is required, the user will be able to access full documentation. All documentation will be provided on-line and readily available.
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