Digital Commons Network^™

Stoicism And Just War Theory, Leonidas D. Konstantakos

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ancient philosophy of Stoicism, itself one of the foundations for international law, can improve contemporary just war thinking by forming a coherent set of philosophical principles to serve as a foundation for a just war theory. A Stoic approach considers justifications for moral actions to come not from an appeal to human rights, conformity to deontological rules, or from the utility of the actions themselves, but from virtuous character traits and corresponding virtuous actions. As such, a Stoic approach to just war theory is a virtue ethics perspective in which metaethical incentive for moral action is the agent’s own …

Optimal And Secure Electricity Market Framework For Market Operation Of Multi-Microgrid Systems, Mohammad Mahmoudian Esfahani

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Traditional power systems were typically based on bulk energy services by large utility companies. However, microgrids and distributed generations have changed the structure of modern power systems as well as electricity markets. Therefore, restructured electricity markets are needed to address energy transactions in modern power systems.

In this dissertation, we developed a hierarchical and decentralized electricity market framework for multi-microgrid systems, which clears energy transactions through three market levels; Day-Ahead-Market (DAM), Hour-Ahead-Market (HAM) and Real-Time-Market (RTM). In this market, energy trades are possible between all participants within the microgrids as well as inter-microgrids transactions. In this approach, we developed a …

Privacy-Aware Security Applications In The Era Of Internet Of Things, Abbas Acar

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we introduce several novel privacy-aware security applications. We split these contributions into three main categories: First, to strengthen the current authentication mechanisms, we designed two novel privacy-aware alternative complementary authentication mechanisms, Continuous Authentication (CA) and Multi-factor Authentication (MFA). Our first system is Wearable-assisted Continuous Authentication (WACA), where we used the sensor data collected from a wrist-worn device to authenticate users continuously. Then, we improved WACA by integrating a noise-tolerant template matching technique called NTT-Sec to make it privacy-aware as the collected data can be sensitive. We also designed a novel, lightweight, Privacy-aware Continuous Authentication (PACA) protocol. PACA …

Understanding The Motivations And Pathways Of Women And Girls' Involvement In Terrorism In Nigeria, Peculiar M. Awa

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the experiences of 20 women and girls who lived in the Boko Haram camp in 2014-2018 and had varying levels of engagement in the organization's activities. The study employs a qualitative phenomenological in-depth interview methodology. Semi-structured interviews conducted in Nigeria and the United States yielded data on the experiences of the respondents before, during, and after their lives with Boko Haram. Based on the analysis of interview responses and field notes, several themes emerged. Overall findings suggest that family and community dynamics play a significant role in terrorism in Nigeria. The study found that early child marriage …

The Border-Seas Of A New British Empire: Security And The British Atlantic Islands In The Age Of The American Revolution, Ross M. Nedervelt

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

“The Border-seas of a New British Empire” explores the relationship between the rebellious thirteen colonies and the British Atlantic Islands of Bermuda and the Bahamas, and how the “on the ground” impact of the American Revolution explains not only why they did not join the rebellion—despite initial sympathy for the cause—but illustrates also the long-term political, cultural, commercial, and military transformation wrought by the war and its aftermath. To understand the British Atlantic islanders’ allegiances during the American Revolution and the impact of the islands’ loss on the United States, this dissertation employs Atlantic, borderlands and border-seas, and security interpretive …

Silenced Bodies: (En)Gendering Syrian Refugee Insecurity In Lebanon, Jessy Abouarab

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While there has been a shift in security studies from the security of states to that of people, realpolitik still takes place under the banner of an emerging discourse of ‘refugee crisis.’ Refugee insecurities are (en)gendered and experienced where their depth and breadth pose significant challenges to asylum seekers, neighboring host-states, and humanitarian agencies. To this end, this research captures the unique dynamics of a South-South refugee crisis in Lebanon, in which Syrians residents make up nearly one-third of its population. It applies a transnational feminist framework to trace how refugee security norms get defined, are managed, and how they …

A Simplified Secure Programming Platform For Internet Of Things Devices, Halim Burak Yesilyurt

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emerging Internet of Things (IoT) revolution has introduced many useful applications that are utilized in our daily lives. Users can program these devices in order to develop their own IoT applications; however, the platforms and languages that are used during development are abounding, complicated, and time-consuming. The software solution provided in this thesis, PROVIZ+, is a secure sensor application development software suite that helps users create sophisticated and secure IoT applications with little software and hardware experience. Moreover, a simple and efficient domain-specific programming language, namely Panther language, was designed for IoT application development to unify existing programming languages. …

Dynamics Of Iranian-Saudi Relations In The Persian Gulf Regional Security Complex (1920-1979), Nima Baghdadi

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploration of the dynamics of Iranian-Saudi relations from the earliest days of their encounter in the 1920s through 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. This is a period in the relations of the two states that has rarely been the subject of intellectual inquiry in the existing literature. This present research provides an analytical historiography of Iranian-Saudi relations with an aim to examine the elements constituting the dynamics of their relations. This is attained by contextualizing the milestones of Iranian-Saudi relations, triangulating historical accounts to identify the narrative among alternatives that best fits the meaningful causal processes …

Privacy-Preserving Protocols For Ieee 802.11s-Based Smart Grid Advanced Metering Infrastructure Networks, Samet Tonyali

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ongoing Smart Grid (SG) initiative proposes several modifications to the existing power grid in order to better manage power demands, reduce CO₂ emissions and ensure reliability through several new applications. One part of the SG initiative that is currently being implemented is the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) which provides two-way communication between the utility company and the consumers' smart meters (SMs).

The AMI can be built by using a wireless mesh network which enables multi-hop communication of SMs. The AMI network enables collection of fine-grained power consumption data at frequent intervals. Such a fine-grained level poses several privacy …

Development Of A Remotely Accessible Wireless Testbed For Performance Evaluation Of Ami Related Protocols, Utku Ozgur

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although smart meters are deployed in many countries, the data collection process from smart meters in Smart Grid (SG) still has some challenges related to consumer privacy that needs to be addressed. Referred to as Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), the data collected and transmitted through the AMI can leak sensitive information about the consumers if it is sent as a plaintext.

While many solutions have been proposed in the past, the deployment of these solutions in real-life was not possible since the actual AMIs were not accessible to researchers. Therefore, a lot of solutions relied on simulations which may not …

Contrasting Oil Security Objectives Within A Grand Strategic Framework: The Case Of The United States And China, Ryan C. Opsal

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Energy is a critical component of a state’s national security and economic considerations, and beginning in the 20th century, this focus has been acutely centered on oil. Having evolved globally, consisting of well-developed financial markets and maritime and pipeline routes traversing the world, the oil market provides massive amounts of crude to countries on a daily basis. However, not all states simply rely on the market for oil security, and instead take additional steps to secure their respective supplies. Oil supply security is a critical driver for large, consuming states, and merits further study. And, in terms of demand on …

Use It Or Lose It: Canadian Identity And The Construction Of Arctic Security Policy, Michael P. Mccormack

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the specific factors that drive state action in Canadian Arctic security policy, particularly in relation to securitization of the Arctic region and historical factors that influence decision-making. The purpose of this research is to develop stronger linkages between securitization processes and actual policymaking. When studying the Arctic as a defined geographical space, we see considerable differences between Arctic states when it comes to how cultural and historical attachment to the Arctic region may serve as a selling point for the ability of national governments to justify allocation of defense resources to their respective publics. Using the Canadian …

History, Identity Politics And Securitization: Religion's Role In The Establishment Of Indian-Israeli Diplomatic Relations And Future Prospects For Cooperation, Michael Mclean Bender

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation aims to provide an understanding of the historical and contemporary dynamics of India’s foreign policy towards Israel within the context of religious identity from 1947 to 2015. A historical analysis of the relationship between India and Israel exhibits the ways that religious identity has served as a primary factor impeding as well as facilitating relations between the two nations.

The analysis was done within the context of the historical Hindu-Muslim relationship in India and how the legacy of this relationship, in India’s effort to maintain positive relations with the Arab-Muslim world, worked to inhibit relations with Israel prior …

The Role Of Iran Policy The Saudi-American Rift, Christopher Parmly

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores what effect Saudi and American policy differences towards Iran have had on their bilateral relations. It is based on the recent thaw in Iran-U.S. relations, and the critical reaction of the Saudi government towards this policy. The question has two components – first, how severe the current Saudi-American rift is, and second, to what extent it can be traced to their differences over Iran. The topic will be addressed through process-tracing methods.

The thesis concludes that there is indeed a rift in Saudi-U.S. relations marked by an increasingly assertive and independent Saudi foreign policy, though its alliance …

Data Verifications For Online Social Networks, Mahmudur Rahman

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social networks are popular platforms that simplify user interaction and encourage collaboration. They collect large amounts of media from their users, often reported from mobile devices. The value and impact of social media makes it however an attractive attack target. In this thesis, we focus on the following social media vulnerabilities. First, review centered social networks such as Yelp and Google Play have been shown to be the targets of significant search rank and malware proliferation attacks. Detecting fraudulent behaviors is thus paramount to prevent not only public opinion bias, but also to curb the distribution of malware. Second, the …

Modeling Security And Resource Allocation For Mobile Multi-Hop Wireless Neworks Using Game Theory, Laurent L. Y. Njilla

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents novel approaches to modeling and analyzing security and resource allocation in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The research involves the design, implementation and simulation of different models resulting in resource sharing and security’s strengthening of the network among mobile devices. Because of the mobility, the network topology may change quickly and unpredictably over time. Moreover, data-information sent from a source to a designated destination node, which is not nearby, has to route its information with the need of intermediary mobile nodes. However, not all intermediary nodes in the network are willing to participate in data-packet transfer of …

Constructing Secure Mapreduce Framework In Cloud-Based Environment, Yongzhi Wang

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

MapReduce, a parallel computing paradigm, has been gaining popularity in recent years as cloud vendors offer MapReduce computation services on their public clouds. However, companies are still reluctant to move their computations to the public cloud due to the following reason: In the current business model, the entire MapReduce cluster is deployed on the public cloud. If the public cloud is not properly protected, the integrity and the confidentiality of MapReduce applications can be compromised by attacks inside or outside of the public cloud. From the result integrity’s perspective, if any computation nodes on the public cloud are compromised,thosenodes can …

Two-Bit Pattern Analysis For Quantitative Information Flow, Ziyuan Meng

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protecting confidential information from improper disclosure is a fundamental security goal. While encryption and access control are important tools for ensuring confidentiality, they cannot prevent an authorized system from leaking confidential information to its publicly observable outputs, whether inadvertently or maliciously. Hence, secure information flow aims to provide end-to-end control of information flow. Unfortunately, the traditionally-adopted policy of noninterference, which forbids all improper leakage, is often too restrictive. Theories of quantitative information flow address this issue by quantifying the amount of confidential information leaked by a system, with the goal of showing that it is intuitively “small” enough to be …

China's Military Modernization, Japan's Normalization And Its Effects On The South China Sea Territorial Disputes, Zenel Garcia

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

China’s military modernization has allowed it to take a more assertive position on the territorial disputes it currently has with Japan and its Southeast Asian neighbors. The South China Sea (SCS) dispute is a clear example. Meanwhile, Japan is normalizing its military status to play a more proactive security role in the region. Japan’s normalization process has been greatly influenced by China’s growing military capabilities as it fears that China could pose a threat to its sea lanes of communications. Although Japan does not have territorial claims in the SCS, it regards the SCS as a strategically vital area. It …

Trajectory Privacy Preservation In Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks, Xinyu Jin

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, there has been an enormous growth of location-aware devices, such as GPS embedded cell phones, mobile sensors and radio-frequency identification tags. The age of combining sensing, processing and communication in one device, gives rise to a vast number of applications leading to endless possibilities and a realization of mobile Wireless Sensor Network (mWSN) applications. As computing, sensing and communication become more ubiquitous, trajectory privacy becomes a critical piece of information and an important factor for commercial success. While on the move, sensor nodes continuously transmit data streams of sensed values and spatiotemporal information, known as ``trajectory information". …

Defense Against Node Compromise In Sensor Network Security, Xiangqian Chen

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent advances in electronic and computer technologies lead to wide-spread deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). WSNs have wide range applications, including military sensing and tracking, environment monitoring, smart environments, etc. Many WSNs have mission-critical tasks, such as military applications. Thus, the security issues in WSNs are kept in the foreground among research areas. Compared with other wireless networks, such as ad hoc, and cellular networks, security in WSNs is more complicated due to the constrained capabilities of sensor nodes and the properties of the deployment, such as large scale, hostile environment, etc. Security issues mainly come from attacks. In …