Computer Sciences Commons^™

Using Software-Based Decision Procedures To Control Instruction-Level Execution, William B. Kimball

AFIT Patents

An apparatus, method and program product are provided for securing a computer system. A digital signature of an application is checked, which is loaded into a memory of the computer system configured to contain memory pages. In response to finding a valid digital signature, memory pages containing instructions of the application are set as executable and memory pages other than those containing instructions of the application are set as non-executable. Instructions in executable memory pages are executed. Instructions in non-executable memory pages are prevented from being executed. A page fault is generated in response to an attempt to execute an …

Understanding Human Learning Using A Multiagent Based Unified Learning Model Simulation, Vlad T. Chiriacescu

Department of Computer Science and Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Within cognitive science, computational modeling based on cognitive architectures has been an important approach to addressing questions of human cognition and learning. Modeling issues such as limited expressivity in representing knowledge and lack of appropriate selection of model structure represent a challenge for existing architectures. Furthermore, latest research shows that the concepts of long-term memory, motivation and working memory are critical cognitive aspects but a unifying cognitive paradigm integrating those concepts hasn’t been previously achieved.

Derived from a synthesis of neuroscience, cognitive science, psychology, and education, the Unified Learning Model (ULM) provides this integration by merging a statistical learning mechanism …

Data Management In Cloud Environments: Nosql And Newsql Data Stores, Katarina Grolinger, Wilson A. Higashino, Abhinav Tiwari, Miriam Am Capretz

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

: Advances in Web technology and the proliferation of mobile devices and sensors connected to the Internet have resulted in immense processing and storage requirements. Cloud computing has emerged as a paradigm that promises to meet these requirements. This work focuses on the storage aspect of cloud computing, specifically on data management in cloud environments. Traditional relational databases were designed in a different hardware and software era and are facing challenges in meeting the performance and scale requirements of Big Data. NoSQL and NewSQL data stores present themselves as alternatives that can handle huge volume of data. Because of the …

Efficiency And Reliability Of The Transit Data Lifecycle: A Study Of Multimodal Migration, Storage, And Retrieval Techniques For Public Transit Data, Matthew Ahrens

Honors Program Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Reduced Row Echelon Form And Non-Linear Approximation For Subspace Segmentation And High-Dimensional Data Clustering, Akram Aldroubi, Ali Sekmen

Computer Science Faculty Research

Given a set of data W={w1,…,wN}∈RD drawn from a union of subspaces, we focus on determining a nonlinear model of the form U=⋃i∈ISi, where {Si⊂RD}i∈I is a set of subspaces, that is nearest to W. The model is then used to classify W into clusters. Our approach is based on the binary reduced row echelon form of data matrix, combined with an iterative scheme based on a non-linear approximation method. We prove that, in absence of noise, our approach can find the number of subspaces, their dimensions, and an orthonormal basis for each subspace Si. We provide a comprehensive analysis …

Rigidity And Flexibility Of Protein-Nucleic Acid Complexes, Emily Flynn, Filip Jagodzinski, Sharon Pamela Santana, Ileana Streinu

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

The study of protein-nucleic acid complexes is relevant for the understanding of many biological processes, including transcription, translation, replication, and recombination. The individual molecules in such complexes must be rigid enough to allow geometric matching of complementary shapes, yet sufficiently flexible to perform their functions. © 2013 IEEE.

Designing Optimal Innovation Portfolio, Arcot Desai Narasimhalu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

There have been many approaches towards investing in innovation projects. There has been very little discussion about the need to align such investments with the mission, vision, goals, leadership style, value discipline and risk appetite of an organization. This paper reviews existing approaches to innovation related investments and suggests the setting up of a proper innovation portfolio management process along with three dashboards that will help make innovation related investment decisions in an informed manner. The resulting innovation portfolio will be optimal in its alignment with an organizations mission and vision. We expect this method to be used by all …

Using Intelligent Prefetching To Reduce The Energy Consumption Of A Large-Scale Storage System, Brian Romoser, Ziliang Zong, Ribel Fares, Joal Wood, Rong Ge

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Many high performance large-scale storage systems will experience significant workload increases as their user base and content availability grow over time. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) center hosts one such system that has recently undergone a period of rapid growth as its user population grew nearly 400% in just about three years. When administrators of these massive storage systems face the challenge of meeting the demands of an ever increasing number of requests, the easiest solution is to integrate more advanced hardware to existing systems. However, additional investment in hardware may significantly increase the …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2013, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs, and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge. The senior design competition helps focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects on …

Twitter Influence And Cumulative Perceptions Of Extremist Support: A Case Study Of Geert Wilders, Gabrielle Blanquart, David M. Cook

Australian Counter Terrorism Conference

The advent of Social media has changed the manner in which perceptions about power and information can be influenced. Twitter is used as a fast‐paced vehicle to deliver short, succinct pieces of information, creating the perception of acceptance, popularity and authority. In the case of extremist groups, Twitter is one of several avenues to create the perception of endorsement of values that would otherwise gain less prominence through mainstream media. This study examines the use of Twitter in augmenting the status and reputation of anti‐Islam and anti‐immigration policy through the controlled release of social media information bursts. The paper demonstrates …

An Exploratory Study Of The Lived Experience Of Being An Intelligence Analyst, Sharon Moss, Jeff Corkill, Eyal Gringart

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Since the World Trade Centre terror attacks of 2001 the intelligence domain has grown rapidly. In keeping with this growth has been a significant increase of scholarly interest in the domain. The intelligence literature is dominated by research into the failures of the discipline, organisational structure and the politics of intelligence. The intelligence analyst is a critical component of the intelligence domain yet is remarkably absent from the intelligence literature. This research seeks to address that imbalance by examining the lived experience of the analyst operating in the law enforcement intelligence domain. To this end, interpretive phenomenology was employed to …

Breaking The Theft-Chain-Cycle: Property Marking As A Defensive Tool, William J. Bailey, David J. Brooks

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Any viable method of protecting property, dissuading the theft of property or ensuring the swift recovery of stolen property could be considered essential to general society. A number of crime preventive measures have been used in an attempt to achieve this objective. One such measure is property marking, employing various techniques to make property more readily identifiable. The study assesses technology to investigate effectiveness, both for dissuasion and for tracing once stolen. Mechanism for the disposal of stolen property forms an important part of this study, commencing with the mapping of the theft‐supply‐chain. Using a mixed methods approach, the research …

The Contemporary Australian Intelligence Domain - A Multi Dimension Examination, Alan Davies, Jeff Corkill

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

In the complex and interconnected post 9/11 world the roles and functions of intelligence have evolved beyond being a secret capability of governments focused on national security needs. Intelligence has become recognised as a critical function necessary to support decision making across the full breadth of government and corporate activity. The concept of an intelligence community being purely national security centric and bounded by secrecy has become limited. Intelligence in support of decision making has become a far broader domain than previously believed. This paper investigates the degree of intelligence embedded‐ness across government agencies and departments at the federal, state …

Physical Security Barrier Selection: A Decision Support Analysis, Agnieszka Kiszelewska, Michael Coole

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Physical security controls aim to reduce risk through their ability to systematically deter, or detect, delay and respond against deviant acts within a risk context. Holistically the aim is to increase the difficulty and risks while reducing the rewards associated with an act of deviance as captured in Clarke’s Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) framework. The efficacious implementation of such controls commensurate with the risk context requires a considered undertaking referred as informed decision‐making. Informed decision‐making is effective when a suitable choice is made accordant with base rate data that achieves its defined objectives within costs versus benefits framework. The study …

Is Emergency Management Considered A Component Of Business Continuity Management?, Kenny Frohde, David J. Brooks

Australian Security and Intelligence Conference

Emergency Management (EM) and Business Continuity Management (BCM) frameworks incorporate measures of strategic and operational aspects. Defined within a number of Australian and international standards as well as guidelines, such concepts may be integrated to provide increased resilience for disruptive events. However, it has been found that there is some degree of misalignment of concept integration amongst security and EM bodies of knowledge. In line with cognitive psychology exemplar‐based concepts, such misalignments may be associated with a lack of precision in communality in the approach to EM and BCM. This article presents stage 1 of a two‐stage study. Stage 1 …

A Conceptual Model For Federated Authentication In The Cloud, Abdulwahid Al Abdulwahid, Nathan Clarke, Steven Furnell, Ingo Stengel

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Authentication is a key security control for any computing system, whether that is a PC, server, laptop, tablet or mobile phone. However, authentication is traditionally poorly served, with existing implementations falling foul of a variety of weaknesses. Passwords are poorly selected, reused and shared (to name but a few). Research has suggested novel approaches to authentication such as transparent authentication and cooperative and distributed authentication. However, these technologies merely focus upon individual platforms rather than providing a universal and federated authentication approach that can be used across technologies and services. The advent of cloud computing, its universal connectivity, scalability and …

A Comparison Of Information Security Curricula In China And The Usa, Huaying Chen, Sean B. Maynard, Atif Ahmad

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Information Security (InfoSec) education varies in its content, focus and level of technicality across the world. In this paper we investigate the differences between graduate InfoSec programs in top universities in China and in the United States of America (USA). In China, curriculum emphasises Telecommunication, Computer Science and InfoSec Technology, whilst in the USA in addition to Computer Science and InfoSec Technology the curriculum also emphasises Enterprise‐level Security Strategy and Policy, InfoSec Management, and Cyber Law. The differences are significant and will have a profound impact on both the perceptions and capabilities of future generations of information security professionals on …

The Effectiveness Of Internet Activity Erasure Tools To Protect Privacy, Brian Cusack, Andrew Woodward, Scott Butson, Benjamin Leber

Australian Information Security Management Conference

When most people go to the trouble of getting erasure tools to remove data from their hard drives they expect the job is done correctly. Using erasure tools is a step to protect privacy by assuming the applied tools erase data rather than simply delete data that may be recovered using forensic tools. In this research we tested the performance of the delete function on three web browsers against the performance of eight erasure tools with alarming results. It was found that the erasure tools had almost the same capability to delete data as the web browsers delete function; and …

A 2013 Study Of Wireless Network Security In New Zealand: Are We There Yet?, Alastair Nisbet

Australian Information Security Management Conference

This research examines the current level of security in wireless networks in New Zealand. A comprehensive wardrive covering the length of the country was made in January 2013 to ensure accurate comparisons from two previous wardrives as well as comparisons between the four main cities and the suburbs can be made. With 16 years since the introduction of the original IEEE 802.11 wireless standard having passed, an examination is made of the current state of wireless security of networks throughout New Zealand and the Auckland suburbs, and where possible compares these results with similar studies undertaken in 2004 and 2011. …

Privacy And Legal Issues In Cloud Computing - The Smme Position In South Africa, Mathias Mujinga

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Cloud computing (CC) brings substantial benefits to organizations and their clients. Information technology (IT) users in developing countries, especially those in underdeveloped communities, are gaining easy and cost‐effective access to a variety of services, from entertainment to banking. South Africa has outlined a national e‐strategy that aims to improve those communities, by providing frameworks for access to information and communications technology (ICT). The products and services of small‐, medium and micro‐sized enterprises (SMME) are now reaching a wider audience through the use of technology. CC can go a long way to help government realize the national e‐strategy. There are numerous …

Determining What Characteristics Constitute A Darknet, Symon Aked, Christopher Bolan, Murray Brand

Australian Information Security Management Conference

Privacy on the Internet has always been a concern, but monitoring of content by both private corporations and Government departments has pushed people to search for ways to communicate over the Internet in a more secure manner. This has given rise to the creations of Darknets, which are networks that operate “inside” the Internet, and allow anonymous participation via a de‐centralised, encrypted, peer‐to‐peer network topology. This research investigates some sources of known Internet content monitoring, and how they provided the template for the creation of a system to avoid such surveillance. It then highlights how communications on the Clearnet is …

3d Visual Method Of Variant Logic Construction For Random Sequence, Huan Wang, Jeffrey Zheng

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

As Internet security threats continue to evolve, in order to ensure information transmission security, various encrypt and decrypt has been used in channel coding and decoding of data communication. While cryptography requires a very high degree of apparent randomness, Random sequences play an important role in cryptography. Both CA (Cellular Automata) and RC4 contain pseudo‐random number generators and may have intrinsic properties respectively. In this paper, a 3D visualization model (3DVM) is proposed to display spatial characteristics of the random sequences from CA or RC4 keystream. Key components of this model and core mechanism are described. Every module and their …

The Influence And Deception Of Twitter: The Authenticity Of The Narrative And Slacktivism In The Australian Electoral Process, Benjamin Waugh, Maldini Abdipanah, Omid Hashemi, Shaquille A. Rahman, David M. Cook

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

It is uncertain how many discreet users occupy the social media community. Fake tweets, sock puppets, force‐multipliers and botnets have become embedded within the fabric of new media in sufficient numbers that social media support by means of quantity is no longer a reliable metric for determining authority and influence within openly expressed issues and causes. Election campaigns, and their associated political agendas, can now be influenced by non‐specific virtual presences that cajole and redirect opinions without declaring identity or allegiance. In the lead up to the 2013 Australian Federal Election, the open source Twitter activity for the two major …

Complementary Feature Level Data Fusion For Biometric Authentication Using Neural Networks, Mark Abernethy, Shri Rai

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

Data fusion as a formal research area is referred to as multi‐sensor data fusion. The premise is that combined data from multiple sources can provide more meaningful, accurate and reliable information than that provided by data from a single source. There are many application areas in military and security as well as civilian domains. Multi‐sensor data fusion as applied to biometric authentication is termed multi‐modal biometrics. Though based on similar premises, and having many similarities to formal data fusion, multi‐modal biometrics has some differences in relation to data fusion levels. The objective of the current study was to apply feature …

Towards Detection And Control Of Civilian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Matthew Peacock, Michael N. Johnstone

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

Considering the significant number of non‐military unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that can be purchased to operate in unregulated air space and the range of such devices, the potential for security and privacy problems to arise is significant. This can lead to consequent harm for critical infrastructure in the event of these UAVs being used for criminal or terrorist purposes. Further, if these devices are not being detected, there is a privacy problem to be addressed as well. In this paper we test a specific UAV, the Parrot AR Drone version 2, and present a forensic analysis of tests used to …

Towards An Automated Forensic Examiner (Afe) Based Upon Criminal Profiling & Artificial Intelligence, M Al Fahdi, N L. Clarke, S M. Furnell

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

Digital forensics plays an increasingly important role within society as the approach to the identification of criminal and cybercriminal activities. It is however widely known that a combination of the time taken to undertake a forensic investigation, the volume of data to be analysed and the number of cases to be processed are all significantly increasing resulting in an ever growing backlog of investigations and mounting costs. Automation approaches have already been widely adopted within digital forensic processes to speed up the identification of relevant evidence – hashing for notable files, file signature analysis and data carving to name a …

Acquisition Of Evidence From Network Intrusion Detection Systems, Brian Cusack, Muteb Alqahtani

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

The literature reviewed suggests that Network Intrusion Systems (NIDS) are valuable tools for the detection of malicious behaviour in network environments. NIDS provide alerts and the trigger for rapid responses to attacks. Our previous research had shown that NIDS performance in wireless networks had a wide variation under different workloads. In this research we chose wired networks and asked the question: What is the evidential value of NIDS? Three different NIDS were tested under two different attacks and with six different packet rates. The results were alarming. As the work loading increased the NIDS detection capability fell rapidly and as …

A Rapidly Moving Target: Conformance With E-Health Standards For Mobile Computing, Patricia A.H. Williams, Vincent B. Mccauley

Australian eHealth Informatics and Security Conference

The rapid adoption and evolution of mobile applications in health is posing significant challenges in terms of standards development, standards adoption, patient safety, and patient privacy. This is a complex continuum to navigate. There are many competing demands from the standards development process, to the use by clinicians and patients. In between there are compliance and conformance measures to be defined to ensure patient safety, effective use with integration into clinical workflow, and the protection of data and patient privacy involved in data collection and exchange. The result is a composite and intricate mixture of stakeholders, legislation, and policy together …

A Privacy-Preserving Framework For Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (Pcehr) System, Mahmuda Begum, Quazi Mamun, Mohammed Kaosar

Australian eHealth Informatics and Security Conference

The electronic health record (eHR) system has recently been considered one of the biggest advancements in healthcare services. A personally controlled electronic health record (PCEHR) system is proposed by the Australian government to make the health system more agile, secure, and sustainable. Although the PCEHR system claims the electronic health records can be controlled by the patients, healthcare professionals and database/system operators may assist in disclosing the patients’ eHRs for retaliation or other ill purposes. As the conventional methods for preserving the privacy of eHRs solely trust the system operators, these data are vulnerable to be exploited by the authorised …

Developing A Mobile Audiometric Sound Booth Application For Apple Ios Devices, Luke J. Brook, Patricia A.H. Williams

Australian eHealth Informatics and Security Conference

Hearing loss in Australian children, particularly those in rural and remote areas, is a growing health concern. Resultant deafness has significant impact on the educational and social development of such children. Whilst telehealth had provided other benefits for rural and remote areas, the absence of suitable testing equipment and associated healthcare specialists has meant that there is a gap in this area of child health that could be addressed using a mobile solution. This paper discusses the research and development of a mobile application for testing and diagnosis of hearing loss in children. It is unique in its ability to …