Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Study Of Machine Learning Models For Predicting The Market Value Of Professional Football Players, Álvaro Salvador López

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The market value of professional football players is a critical factor in decision-making for clubs, agents, and analysts. Accurate player valuation impacts transfers, contract negotiations, and financial planning. In recent years, data-driven approaches have emerged to support traditional scouting with predictive analytics. This thesis presents a comparative study of machine learning models to estimate the market value of football players based on historical performance and personal attributes.

This thesis presents a comparative study of two independently developed machine learning systems designed to predict the market value of football players for the 2020–2021 season. Both systems were trained using real data …

Exploring Adversarial Threats To Neuralhash: A Perceptual Hashing Algorithm, Gurleen Kaur

Student Theses

Perceptual hashing algorithms are algorithms that generate content-based image hashes by extracting perceptual features from the images. Unlike cryptographic hashes, which exhibit significant changes with even slight input alterations, perceptual hashes do not change when modifications like compression, color correction and brightness are applied to the images. These hashes are designed to remain similar for inputs that are visually or perceptually alike, which has led to their widespread application in detecting duplicate images, finding similar images for reverse image search and to detecting inappropriate content of Child sexual abuse (CSAM) images by comparing image hashes with dataset of known perceptual …

Optimizing Distributed Boundary Exchanges For Benchmarks, Solvers And Sparse Matrix Operations, Gerald Collom

Computer Science ETDs

Boundary exchanges dominate the cost of both stenciled codes and those that rely on sparse matrix operations. The performance of large boundary exchanges is limited by synchronization overheads and injection bandwidth limitations. Irregular boundary exchanges incur additional overheads due to the large number of required messages. This thesis investigates multiple methods for improving the performance and scalability of both Cartesian and irregular boundary exchanges. Since boundary exchanges are typically performed iteratively, persistent communication presents an opportunity for optimization by sharing and amortizing setup costs. Partitioned communication is also explored to increase asynchrony, reducing bottlenecks from synchronization overheads and data congestion. …

Reviving The Lost Art: Historical Foundations And Future Pathways For Bespoke Service In Luxury Retail, Andrew Burnstine

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

The mid-20th century witnessed a zenith of deeply personalized, bespoke service within iconic luxury specialty retailers. This paper critically analyzes the foundational principles of this historical bespoke service model, extending Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic and retail evolution theory, to propose a robust framework for its modern revival. Employing a rigorous qualitative, multiple-case study approach, grounded in extensive historical and media analysis of four archetypal American and British luxury boutiques, and uniquely informed by an insider-ethnographic perspective on the central case exemplar ("Martha's"), the study distills six core principles: Profound Client Knowledge, Visionary Curation & Styling, Anticipatory & Proactive Service, The Exclusive …

Optimization And Model Averaging Of Histogram-Based Place Cell Firing Rate Maps Using The Point Process Framework, Murat Okatan

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The firing rate of hippocampal place cells depends on the spatial position of the organism in an environment. This position dependence is often quantified by constructing spike-in-location and time-in-location histograms, the ratio of which yields a firing rate map. The purpose of this study is to present a new method for optimizing the spatial resolution of histogram-based firing rate maps. It is pointed out that histogram-based firing rate maps are conditional intensity functions of inhomogeneous Poisson process models of neural spike trains, and, as such, they can be optimized through model selection within the point process framework. The point process …

Secure Frameworks For User Motion Data In Virtual Reality, Jayasri Sai Nikitha Guthula

Theses and Dissertations

Virtual Reality is an innovative technology transforming industries such as gaming, healthcare, and remote collaboration. The increasing deployment of these systems results in the continuous collection of telemetry data, including motion patterns, hand gestures, and spatial interactions. This data is valuable for enhancing user experiences and optimizing system performance. However, it also introduces significant privacy risks. Unlike traditional digital footprints, motion data captures fine-grained physical behaviors that can be linked to individual users, making anonymization ineffective in preventing re-identification.This research introduces secure frameworks for user motion data in virtual reality, each proposed framework addressing privacy preservation from a different angle. …

“Silent Is Not Actually Silent”: An Investigation Of Toxicity On Bug Report Discussion, Mia Mohammad Imran, Jaydeb Sarker

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Toxicity in bug report discussions poses significant challenges to the collaborative dynamics of open-source software development. Bug reports are crucial for identifying and resolving defects, yet their inherently problem-focused nature and emotionally charged context make them susceptible to toxic interactions. This study explores toxicity in GitHub bug reports through a qualitative analysis of 203 bug threads, including 81 toxic ones. Our findings reveal that toxicity frequently arises from misaligned perceptions of bug severity and priority, unresolved frustrations with tools, and lapses in professional communication. These toxic interactions not only derail productive discussions but also reduce the likelihood of actionable outcomes, …

Llput: Investigating Large Language Models For Bug Report-Based Input Generation, Alif Al Hasan, Subarna Saha, Mia Mohammad Imran, Tarannum Shaila Zaman

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Failure-inducing inputs play a crucial role in diagnosing and analyzing software bugs. Bug reports typically contain these inputs, which developers extract to facilitate debugging. Since bug reports are written in natural language, prior research has leveraged various Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques for automated input extraction. With the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs), an important research question arises: how effectively can generative LLMs extract failure-inducing inputs from bug reports? In this paper, we propose LLPut, a technique to empirically evaluate the performance of three open-source generative LLMs-LLaMA, Qwen, and Qwen-Coder-in extracting relevant inputs from bug reports. We conduct an …

Urban Landscape Recovery And Lulc Analysis: A Deep Learning Approach To Post-Extreme Rainfall Impacts In Dubai, Xin Hong

All Works

From April 14 to 18, 2024, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) experienced its heaviest rainfall in 75 years, resulting in widespread flooding across multiple emirates, including Dubai. This study utilizes high-resolution PlanetScope imagery and a U-Net deep learning model to assess the flood impact and analyze post-rainfall recovery patterns in Dubai’s urban landscape. By integrating Sentinel-2derived land use and land cover (LULC) data to refine the training dataset, a high-accuracy U-Net model was developed through transfer learning that effectively classified pre- and post-rainfall LULC. Post-rainfall LULC change detections indicate that 23.8 km² of land was flooded, which is equivalent …

Multilingual Cyber Threat Intelligence Feeds Preprocessing For Threat Intelligence Event Extraction: A Systematic Literature Review, Jamal H. Al-Yasiri, Mohamad Fadli Bin Zolkipli, Nik Fatinah N. Mohd Farid

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

In cyber threat intelligence (CTI), information security specialists face overwhelming data flows from multiple sources, including hacker forums, dark web markets, and social media. These diverse and multilingual information streams require extensive analysis and processing. However, the current state of CTI faces several challenges, such as reliance on manual annotation and evaluation, as well as limited support for non-English languages, which hinders advanced threat detection and comprehensive analysis. This systematic literature review proposes a conceptual framework designed to overcome existing state-of-the-art limitations. It evaluates recent advancements in CTI methodologies by following PRISMA guidelines and analyzing selected studies from reputable sources, …

Assessing The Adversarial Robustness Of Multimodal Medical Ai Systems: Insights Into Vulnerabilities And Modality Interactions, Ekaterina Mozhegova, Asad Masood Khattak, Adil Khan, Roman Garaev, Bader Rasheed, Muhammad Shahid Anwar

All Works

The emergence of both task-specific single-modality models and general-purpose multimodal large models presents new opportunities, but also introduces challenges, particularly regarding adversarial attacks. In high-stakes domains like healthcare, these attacks can severely undermine model reliability and their applicability in real-world scenarios, highlighting the critical need for research focused on adversarial robustness. This study investigates the behavior of multimodal models under various adversarial attack scenarios. We conducted experiments involving two modalities: images and texts. Our findings indicate that multimodal models exhibit enhanced resilience against adversarial attacks compared to their single-modality counterparts. This supports our hypothesis that the integration of multiple modalities …

Antibacterial Potential Of Tapanuli Orangutan (Pongo Tapanuliensis) Food In Batang Toru Forest Against Escherichia Coli And Salmonella Typhi, Herna Febrianty Sianipar, Wahyu Widoretno, Luchman Hakim, Rezi Rahmi Amolia, Fatchiyah Fatchiyah

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Diarrhea is a common disease affecting orangutans, primarily caused by Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi bacteria. To treat this disease, antibacterial food sources are essential as therapeutic agents for orangutans. The fruits consumed by Tapanuli orangutans include Campnosperma auriculatum, Agathis borneensis, Artocarpus heterophyllus, Castanopsis argantea, and Aglaia tomentosa. This study aims to examine the amino acid and phytochemical components with potential antibacterial properties in these five fruit species and their inhibitory effects on E. coli and S. typhi growth through cell lysis, observed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The samples were tested for amino acids, phytochemicals, vitamin C content, …

Multiscale Modeling And Dynamic Mutational Profiling Of Binding Energetics And Immune Escape For Class I Antibodies With Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein: Dissecting Mechanisms Of High Resistance To Viral Escape Against Emerging Variants, Mohammed Alshahrani, Vedant Parikh, Brandon Foley, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The rapid evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has underscored the need for a detailed understanding of antibody binding mechanisms to combat immune evasion by emerging variants. In this study, we investigated the interactions between Class I neutralizing antibodies—BD55-1205, BD-604, OMI-42, P5S-1H1, and P5S-2B10—and the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using multiscale modeling, which combined molecular simulations with the ensemble-based mutational scanning of the binding interfaces and binding free energy computations. A central theme emerging from this work is that the unique binding strength and resilience to immune escape of the BD55-1205 antibody are determined by leveraging a broad epitope …

Zero Trust Architecture For Electric Transportation Systems: A Systematic Survey And Deep Learning Framework For Replay Attack Detection, Grace Muriithi, Behnaz Papari, Ali Arsalan, Laxman Timilsina, Alex Muriithi, Elutunji Buraimoh, Asif Khan, Gokhan Ozkan, Christopher Edrington, Akram Papari

Montclair State University Scholarship & Creative Works

Modern and autonomous hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), as complex cyber-physical systems, represent a key innovation in the future of transportation. However, the increasing interconnectivity and reliance on digital components expose these vehicles to significant cybersecurity risks. To address these challenges, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) has emerged as a promising security framework. Operating on the principle of ‘never trust, always verify,’ ZTA offers a comprehensive approach to ensuring continuous trust verification in HEV systems. Despite its potential, the application of ZTA within cyber-physical vehicular systems remains underexplored, and its practical benefits and limitations are not yet fully understood by the engineering …

Effects Of Plasma-Activated Water On Wheat: Germination And Seedling Development, Wafaa Abdulrazzaq Abdullah, Hadeel O. Ismael, Duaa A. Uamran, Hammad R. Humud

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

The food sector must contend with issues such as pathogen resistance to some of the available chemical agents, environmental pollution, and climate change to provide healthy food for livestock and people. The application of atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJs) is one potential solution for such problems. Plasma is appropriate for effective surface decontamination regarding food products and seeds, surface decontamination, and achieving improved agricultural production yields. The impact of plasma-activated water (PAW) produced by plasma jet discharge (PJD) system on in vitro-cultivated wheat seeds is examined in this work. For this aim, a plasma jet system was constructed with a …

Policy-Based Redactable Set Signatures, Zachary A. Kissel

Computer and Data Science Faculty Publications

A redactable set signature scheme is a signature scheme that allows a redactor, without possessing the signing key, to convert a signature on set S to a signature on set S' if S' ⊂ S. This paper introduces a new form of redactable set signature scheme called a policy-based redactable set signature scheme. These redactable set signatures allow for a signer to provide a redaction policy at signing time that limits the possible redactions that can be made by a redactor. In particular, a signature on set S can only be redacted to a signature on if S' ⊂ …

Digital Identity Management As A Critical Criminal Justice And Homeland Security Legal Issue: A Qualitative Analysis Of The Reasonable Person Factors Involved In Court Decisions, William H. Nicholson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this descriptive qualitative applied study is to define and explain through analysis the reasonable person standard as it relates to prosecution and sentencing computer crime cases involving digital identities while addressing the problem of digital anonymity. This has been done by analyzing computer crime cases with the advent of current and planned technologies, and surveying potential jurors to understand the current state of knowledge of digital attribution. This descriptive qualitative research method analyzed the problem through the use of criminological theories of control and social learning theory to better understand the reasonable person standard in computer crime …

Securing Ai-Generated Code, Andreas E. Nelson

Scholarly Horizons: University of Minnesota, Morris Undergraduate Journal

The increasing use of AI for code generation presents significant security challenges, as these tools often lack inherent security awareness and can produce vulnerable code. This paper investigates these security risks, outlining common types of vulnerabilities (such as injection flaws and improper resource handling) found in AI-generated code. It further explores and evaluates mitigation techniques aimed at im-proving code security, including model fine-tuning and adversarial strategies like Security Verifier Enhanced Neural Steering (SVEN). Findings indicate that while current methods offer promising ways to reduce vulnerabilities, ongoing research and development are crucial for the secure and responsible deployment of AI in …

Towards Sustainable Community-Designed Ai Systems In The Public Sector, Victoria Chui, Kelly Mcconvey, Erina Seh-Young Moon, Maya Ghai, Shion Guha

Health Services and Informatics Research

Advancements in data-driven modeling and artificial intelligence applications in public sector settings can lead to increased ten sions between stakeholder needs and tangible model capabilities from developers. Engaging multiple stakeholder groups in model development through the gleaning of sociotechnical, theoretical in sights using qualitative methods can contribute to more impactful, beneficial model solutions. Qualitative methods can complement quantitative model development, emphasizing stakeholder priori ties, informing model design choices, and promoting sustainable connections and model longevity. We are excited to discuss human centered qualitative methods, sustainable modeling practices, and community engagement in this workshop, engaging with scholars on system-level modeling strategies.

A Comprehensive Deep Learning System With Mgrf Modeling For Predicting Breast Cancer Response To Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy, Ahmed Sharafeldeen, Fatma Taher, Norah Saleh Alghamdi, Eman Alnaghy, Reham Alghandour, Khadiga M. Ali, Sameh Shamaa, Abdelrahman Gamal, Mohammed Ghazal, Sohail Contractor, Ayman El-Baz

All Works

Accurate prediction of breast cancer (BC) response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is critical for tailoring treatment strategies and improving patient outcomes. This study introduces a novel deep learning-based framework that integrates multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (i.e., T1, T2, STIR, and DWI), along with clinical and molecular subtype markers, to classify tumor response into pathological complete response (pCR), partial response (PR), and stable disease (SD). First, tumor regions are delineated across MRI modalities and then modeled using a translation-invariant Markov-Gibbs random field (MGRF) with analytical parameter estimation to capture modality-specific spatial appearance patterns correlated with NAC response. Subsequently, diffusion-weighted MRI …

Strengthening Scientific Integrity: Digital Forensics For Biomedical Research Imaging, João Phillipe Cardenuto, Daniel Moreira, Anderson Rocha

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

To fight against the increasing misconduct cases in science, this Ph. D. research confronted the challenge of scientific integrity with a pioneering investigation into digital forensic analysis specifically tailored for biomedical images. This work conducted extensive research into key manipulation types–copy-move forgery, image reuse, and AI-generated content–developing novel, fully explainable, and auditable computational detection methods for each. In a commitment to transparency and to promote research to the area, these techniques are provided as open-source resources. Besides the isolated techniques for each type of image forged, a central contribution is the development of an end-to-end system, created through collaboration with …

Zeus: Zero-Shot Llm Instruction For Union Segmentation In Multimodal Medical Imaging, Siyuan Dai, Kai Ye, Guodong Liu, Haoteng Tang, Liang Zhan

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Medical image segmentation has achieved remarkable success through the continuous advancement of UNet-based and Transformer-based foundation backbones. However, clinical diagnosis in the real world often requires integrating domain knowledge, especially textual information. Conducting multimodal learning involves visual and text modalities shown as a solution, but collecting paired vision-language datasets is expensive and time-consuming, posing significant challenges. Inspired by the superior ability in numerous cross-modal tasks for Large Language Models (LLMs), we proposed a novel Vision-LLM union framework to address the issues. Specifically, we introduce frozen LLMs for zero-shot instruction generation based on corresponding medical images, imitating the radiology scanning and …

A Web Application For Generating Argument Maps For Essays Using Llms, Alexis R. Chalmers

Theses

Argumentative writing is a critical skill that strengthens students’ reasoning, communication, and analytical abilities. However, maintaining a clear and organized argument structure while writing can be challenging. Argument maps — visual diagrams which explicitly show an argument’s structure — have been shown to improve students’ writing, but are rarely used outside of the planning stage of an essay due to the time and effort required to create them. Automatically generating argument maps from student essays helps students to evaluate the structure of their argument as they write and makes identifying unsupported claims visible. To evaluate whether large language models (LLMs) …

Ai Project Facilitation Guidance For Research Computing And Data (Rcd) Professionals, Anna Alber, Laura Briggs, Paul Brunk, Manasvita Joshi, Atish P. Kamble, Amira Kefi, Timothy Middelkoop, Semir Sarajlic, Ana Maria Sokovic, Jeffrey N. Valdez, Ying Zhang

Administration and Staff Articles and Research

The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in research and education continues to rapidly grow, resulting in increased collaboration between researchers in AI and Research Computing and Data (RCD) professionals to meet the research and teaching demands. RCD professionals bridge the gap between research and technology by guiding and collaborating with researchers and educators through the process of selecting the hardware, software, and services best suited for executing their AI projects. This includes ensuring compliance with funding and regulatory requirements across the entire lifecycle of the project. In this paper, we present an overview of the AI project lifecycle and how …

Reliability Simulation Testing And Verification Technologies For Intelligent Systems: Frontiers, Progress, And Challenges, Zili Wang, Yuntian Gao, Dezhen Yang, Yeyang Liu, Yi Ren

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Intelligent systems are extensively deployed in domains such as transportation, energy and water resources, smart healthcare, and aerospace, where their reliability is directly linked to public safety and social stability, thus requiring thorough and scientifically rigorous verification. This article conducted an in-depth exploration of the current state of reliability simulation and verification techniques for intelligent systems. It defined the concept of reliability specific to intelligent systems and identified key challenges they face in areas including mission scenario modeling, characteristic modeling and simulation, evaluation and verification, and simulation platforms. Future development requirements were proposed to guide research toward more trustworthy, …

Large-Scale Social Simulator: Frontiers And Perspectives, Jinghua Piao, Chen Gao, Fang Zhang, Jun Su, Yong Li

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Social experiments, as a typical research method in social sciences, aim to study specific social phenomena or the impacts of policies by observing the behaviors of individuals, organizations, or social groups in real or simulated environments. However, traditional social experiment methods often face challenges such as random bias, high costs, and ethical risks, making them inadequate to address increasingly complex research demands. Against this backdrop, computational social experiments have emerged, enabling researchers to conduct social experiments within computational simulation environments that are free from random bias, cost-efficient, and ethically manageable. Meanwhile, China is currently undergoing a critical period of …

What Drives Weight Status Among Female University Students? A Machine Learning Analysis Of Sociodemographic, Dietary, And Lifestyle Determinants, Radwan Qasrawi, Abir Ajab, Leila Cheikh Ismail, Ayesha Al Dhaheri, Sharifa Alblooshi, Razan Abu Ghoush, Stephanny Vicuna Polo, Malak Amro, Suliman Thwib, Ghada Issa, Haleama Al Sabbah

All Works

Background: Obesity and underweight are increasingly common among young adult women, often resulting from complex interactions between diet, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors. This study addresses that gap by applying machine learning to a wide range of behavioral, dietary, and demographic data. The main research question asks: What are the key factors influencing weight status among female university students, and how accurately can machine learning models identify them? We hypothesize that different factors are significantly associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity, and that machine learning can reliably detect these patterns. The aim is to identify the strongest predictors and support more …

Stranger Disputes: When Artificial Intelligence Turns Arbitration Upside Down, Imre Stephen Szalai

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Arbitration agreements are everywhere in the United States. These agreements already block access to courts in a troubling manner, and pursuant to these agreements, parties must resolve their disputes before a private, human arbitrator with broad, virtually unreviewable powers. However, with the growth of AI, companies could easily redraft their contracts to require arbitration before non-human bots or AI arbitrators instead of a human arbitrator. Based on the history, values, policy, and text of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), this Article concludes that the FAA would govern and support the use of an AI arbitrator. As a result, a pre-dispute …

Detecting Android Malware Based On Static Analysis Using Classification And Modified Clustering Techniques, Abdullah Allawi Al-Sraratee, Ahmed Habeeb Al-Azawei

Journal of Intelligent Informatics, Networking, and Cybersecurity

Because Android malware harms internet security, prior research proposes several different approaches to detect it accurately. However, such proposed models depend on numerous number of features to attain high accuracy. This could lead to high computation cost and potential overfitting. Furthermore, manual data labeling is labor-intensive, requiring significant human effort and skills. This research aims to: 1) extend previous literature on Android malware detection, 2) improve the accuracy of Android malware detection based on a low number of features, and 3) modify a clustering technique to group data into two different clusters to address the issue of unlabeled data. To …

Limitations Of Using Large Language Models For Automated Essay Scoring, Thomas A. Fink

Theses

Background: Automated essay scoring (AES) is a challenging deep learning problem. The two most widely used methods for predicting essay quality scores, supervised learning-based and LLM-based, have their own limitations. Although supervised learning-based methods are more accurate, they only predict a score and do not offer descriptive feedback to students. On the other hand, LLM-based methods can offer rubric-guided feedback but are known to be less accurate.

Methods: This work focuses on improving the accuracy of state-of-the-art LLM-based AES methods. We began by thoroughly investigating why these methods were performing poorly for certain datasets and certain examples. This led us …