Quantum Computers, the next wave of computing, and an emerging field in computer science have brought numerous advancements to problem solving and a quantum approach to programming a certain machine. This thesis tackles three main areas in the approach to quantum computers. First, the thesis provides a state-of-the-art review to Quantum computers/ Second it proposes a timeline for the progress of the technology and highlights the importance of early action. Finally, it focuses on the implications of such advancements on the current standards of network security. Specifically, it proposes ...

Cement is one of the most fundamentally used material all over the world. Among the many different properties of cement, compressive strength conventionally determined at the age of 28 days remains the most important parameter to assess cement quality. Waiting for 28 days to obtain a test result urges cement manufacturers to set quality parameters higher than the minimum accepted by norms, which means higher unnecessary manufacturing costs. The aim of this study is to assess the performance of cement mortar when nano silica (Nano-SiO2) is used as supplementary cementitious material (SCMs) and ...

Technology and educational systems have been going hand in hand over the years, creating various digital examination platforms to further improve and digitize the pen and paper examination process in schools and universities. However, these improvements still offer the same stress and anxiety a student may experience during a pen and paper exam. Virtual reality technology has been making its way to desktop computers and mobile phones and its use has varied between many fields including medical, scientific, and military. In this thesis, the use of virtual reality technology focuses on the education ...

Existing smart contract development languages are unique to their related block chain platforms. Thus, multiple versions of the same smart contract must be developed for different block chains. This thesis presents a model-driven approach to smart contract development with automatic code generation. This approach encompasses a new XML-based programming language to develop smart contracts and a code generator that transforms those contracts to a platform-specific programming language. The XML-based language was discussed, and all supported constructs were illustrated. The code generation tool ...

Pollution has long been a burden to humanity, and among the most prominent types is plastic pollution. Plastics have been an expedient source for human activity and progress, however its large carbon footprint and harmful effects on animals, humans and habitats outweighs its advantages. Despite recycling efforts, plastic’s non bio-degradability continues to harm the environment. Bioremediation has been the most recent endeavor in managing plastic pollution, where recently discovered microorganisms have shown the capacity to break down different types of plastics. This paper highlights all ...

In this thesis digital image is introduced as an amount of data, which is produced when a 2-D light intensity function is sampled and quantized to create a digital image. Its principle objective is to define the segmentation process, in which we can partition an image into meaningful regions that correspond to part of, or the whole of objects within a scene. This is done by systematically dividing the whole image up into its constituent areas or regions. If the regions do not correspond directly to a physical object, or object surface, then they should correspond to some area of uniformity. Major ...

Ceratitis capitata or the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) is a highly invasive and destructive pest due to its tolerance of various climatic and environmental conditions as well as broad host range, including hundreds of fruits and vegetables. Medfly has a great economic impact on fruit production, national market and world trade. The population in Lebanon has been on the rise since 2007 due to several factors including optimal climate and host conditions, insecticide resistance, and negligent regulatory and detection measures during fruit harvest and transportation. Medfly infestation in Lebanon ...

This thesis uses the link structure of the World Wide Web as a basis to create better search engines. It focuses on the HITS algorithm, which was the first algorithm to up the link topology. HITS is implemented with slight modifications and tested with variations of its input parameters. It is also used in order to discover emerging communities in cyberspace. Other related algorithms, which use the link structure of the web as an undirected graph are described and compared with HITS. Finally, an attempt to combine link-based with text-based analysis in order to create more accurate search methods ...

Software components enable practical reuse of software parts and amortization of investments over multiple applications. Software components are binary units of independent production, acquisition that are combined together to form a functioning system. Building solution by combining bought and made components improves quality and supports rapid development, leading to short time to market. For these reasons, component technology is expected by many to be the corner stone of software in the year to come. Even though component software is a very promising way of building applications, it is very ...

This thesis is an introduction to some of the classical theory and results of Differential Geometry: The geometry of curves and surfaces lying (mostly) in 3-dimensional space. One of the most important tools used to analyze a curve is the Frenet frame, a moving frame that provides a coordinate system at each point of the curve that is adapted to the curve near that point. Given a curve, one can define two quantities: its curvature and torsion. Both quantities are scalar fields and depend on some parameter which parametrizes the curve that is in general the arc length of the curve. The Fundamental ...