Digital Commons Network^™

Enhancing Cybersecurity For Unmanned Systems: A Comprehensive Literature Review, Jonathan Gabriel Mardoyan

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This culminating experience project addresses the pressing cybersecurity challenges encountered by unmanned autonomous vehicles. The research provides a comprehensive literature review on how hybrid encryption techniques can improve the security of its communication systems. The chosen research questions guiding this study are: (Q1) How can we enhance cybersecurity measures to safeguard the communication and transmission of sensitive data from unmanned systems, thereby preventing unauthorized access by malicious actors? (Q2) How can we ensure the confidentiality and integrity of messages exchanged with unmanned systems to a command-and-control center operating on the tactical edge? (Q3) How can hybrid encryption tackle the consumption …

More Resilience, More Green Berets: A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Functional Imagery Training During British Army Commando Training, Emma S. J. Yates

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This study investigates the low completion rates of the British Army commando training course in 2018-2019, recorded at 20%, following concerns raised by course Directing Staff. It examines the relationship between resilience and performance in military contexts and evaluates whether resilience-building interventions can improve completion rates. To establish how completion rates could be improved, sixty-two candidates from three commando training cohorts were recruited and assigned to either a Functional Imagery Training (FIT) intervention or a control group. Interventions were delivered in week one of training with a booster in week five. FIT, a goal-centred imagery intervention, has previously improved resilience-related …

Characterizing Range-Dependent Variations Of The Evaporation Duct: A Meteorological Perspective, Daniel P. Greenway, Alexis E. Vaughan, Andrew J. Kammerer, Erin E. Hackett

Marine Science

Evaporation ducts (EDs) are an observed electromagnetic phenomenon caused by rapid decreases of humidity with altitude. Sensing technologies that operate at X-band frequencies (8–12 GHz) exhibit the extension of radar signals beyond the radar horizon and holes in coverage at high altitudes during evaporative ducting conditions. In addition, the evolution of the ED over range has been reported to cause further adverse effects on these technologies in some circumstances. However, in terms of the predictability of these effects, more research is still needed. This research explores ED variations over range and characterizes them based-on two numerical datasets from different latitudes, …

Promoting Ethical Technology Design Practices By Leveraging Human Psychology, Emily Foster-Hanson, Sukrit Venkatagiri

Psychology Faculty Works

The design of technology can result in unintended and unethical consequences. Despite a recent upswing in interventions for enabling more ethical technology design, however, there is little empirical evidence on which strategies work and why. In this review and provocation, we detail how research on the psychology of belief and behavior change can help shift ethical culture within technology design teams, organizations, and the industry more broadly. We suggest three approaches, each supported by empirical evidence: (1) questioning intuitive assumptions, (2) highlighting system complexity, and (3) targeting social and organizational structures. Crucially, these three approaches rely on both individual and …

Thinking Of Aerospace Equipment Systematization Simulation Technology Development, Weimin Bao, Zhenqiang Qi

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The aerospace field is flourishing in the new era. Aerospace equipment presents new characteristics such as systematization, new quality, high efficiency and intelligence. Simulation technology plays a more important role in the digital aerospace era as a means of enhancing efficiency and empowerment covering all stages of the entire lifecycle, including project demonstration, research and development, testing, manufacturing, training, and maintenance. The conception of aerospace equipment systematization simulation technology is introduced, the current development status and practices at home and abroad are elaborated, and the future development trends and challenges of aerospace equipment systematization simulation technology are evaluated. Focusing …

Curriculum Learning-Based Simulation Of Uav Air Combat Under Sparse Rewards, Jingyu Zhu, Hongli Zhang, Minchi Kuang, Heng Shi, Jihong Zhu, Zhi Qiao, Wenqing Zhou

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: To address the limited exploration capabilities and sparse rewards of conventional reinforcement learning methods in air combat environment, a curriculum learning distributed proximal policy optimization (CLDPPO) reinforcement learning algorithm is proposed. A reward function informed by professional empirical knowledge is integrated, a discrete action space is developed, and a global observation and local value and decision network featuring separated global and local observations is established. A methodology for unmanned aerial vehicles UAVs is presented to acquire combat expertise through a sequence of fundamental courses that progressively intensify in their offensive, defensive, and comprehensive content. The experimental results show that …

Mechanistic Rationale For Ketene Formation During Dabbing And Vaping, Kaelas R. Munger, Killian M. Anreise, Robert P. Jensen, David H. Peyton, Robert M. Strongin

Chemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

Ketene is one of the most toxic vaping emissions identified to date. However, its high reactivity renders it relatively challenging to identify. In addition, certain theoretical studies have shown that realistic vaping temperature settings may betoo low to produce ketene. Each of these issues is addressed herein. First, an isotopically labeled acetate precursor is used for the identification of ketene with enhanced rigor in vaped aerosols. Second, discrepancies between theoretical and experimental findings are explained by accounting for the effects of aerobic (experimental) versus anaerobic (simulated and theoretical) pyrolysis conditions. This finding is also relevant to explaining the relatively low-temperature …

Development Of Cyber Security Platform For Experiential Learning, Abhishek Vaish, Ravindra Kumar, Samo Bobek, Simona Sternad

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The cyber security education market has grown-up exponentially, with a CAGR of 13.9 % as reported by Data Intelo. The report published by the World Economic Fo- rum 2023 indicates a shortfall of 2.27 million cyber security experts in 2021 across different roles and hence manifest that Skill-based cyber security education is the need of the hour. Cybersecurity as a field has evolved as a multi-discipline, multi-stakeholder and multi-role discipline. Therefore, the need to address formal education with an outcome-based philosophy is imperative to address for a wider audience with varied past training in their formal education. With the Internet …

Trust, Transparency, And Transport: The Impact Of Privacy Protection On The Acceptance Of Last-Mile Drone Delivery, Jurgen Heinz Famula

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A common set of problems commercial delivery companies face is finding ways to increase the efficiency and reliability of the “last mile” of a package’s journey, all while reducing operating costs. This need for efficiency has driven many companies to explore using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, to get packages to their final destination. Although UAVs have great potential to help increase efficiency in commercial package delivery, this comes at a potential cost to the privacy of people who intersect the flight paths of these unmanned vehicles. This thesis explores the effect of a mobile phone application for commercial …

Embodied Urban Political Ecology Of Oil: Social Reproduction In Oil ‎Geographies Case Study: Ahwaz, Khuzestan, Iran, Maryam Amiri

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation examines the transformative impact of the oil industry on social ‎reproduction ‎‎within the urban and ecological landscapes of Khuzestan Province, Iran, and ‎its center, the city ‎of Ahwaz. Specifically, the study sought to understand the effects of ‎the oil industry on social ‎reproduction in three key areas: gender relations, race/ethnic ‎relations, and daily life ‎amidst ‎environmental pollution caused by the oil industry.

‎This is explored through three sub-questions: 1) How are hierarchical socio-‎spatial ‎relationships perpetuated through practices of ‎everyday life? 2) How are gender ‎relationships redefined and ‎reproduced in the oil city? 3) How ‎are ethnic relationships ‎redefined …

Artificial Intelligence As The Next Front In The Class War, Christopher Hill

Dissertations and Theses

For many years, artificial intelligence has been confined to the realm of science fiction, and while the technology has been in development, predicting the effects AI will have on our society has been a challenging endeavor. The release of ChatGPT in 2022, the subsequent mass adoption of the AI chatbot, and the response by other private firms in the field announced AI's permanent entrance into the public sphere. These recent strides made in the field of artificial intelligence reveal that the pace of technological development has outstripped the rate at which we are able to politically examine and understand these …

Communication Challenges In Underwater Wireless Networks: Mac Protocols And Software Solutions, Dmitrii Dugaev

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Underwater wireless networks (UWNs) represent a diverse and intriguing research domain, encompassing a wide array of scientific and industrial applications. This dissertation delves into the communication challenges at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within UWNs, stemming from the distinctive signal propagation conditions and the harshness of the deployment environment. The manuscript provides comprehensive coverage of key aspects of UWNs, including potential applications, communication protocols, methodologies employed in such networks, and existing software solutions that facilitate simulation, emulation, and real testbed scenarios for underwater research endeavors. Furthermore, this research introduces innovative software and communication solutions designed to facilitate the seamless …

Phase Error Scaling Law In Two-Wavelength Adaptive Optics, Milo W. Hyde Iv, Matthew Kalensky, Michael J. Spencer

Faculty Publications

We derive a simple, physical, closed-form expression for the optical-path difference (OPD) of a two-wavelength adaptive-optics (AO) system. Starting from Hogge and Butts’ classic OPD variance integral expression, we apply Mellin transform techniques to obtain series and asymptotic solutions to the integral. For realistic two-wavelength AO systems, the former converges slowly and has limited utility. The latter, on the other hand, is a simple formula in terms of the separation between the AO sensing (i.e., the beacon) and compensation (or observation) wavelengths. We validate this formula by comparing it to the OPD variances obtained from the aforementioned series and direct …

Molecular-To-Continuum Scale Modeling Of Aerosols: Atmospheric Application And Beyond, Ella Ivanova

Dissertations

Aerosol modeling is critical for various applications, such as climate forecasting, air quality, and human health impact assessment. During their lifetime, aerosols undergo a complex evolution, usually divided into several stages — formation, processing, transport, and removal — that occur on different scales. Thus, the choice of modeling methods depends on the stage considered. For example, certain stages of particle formation may require nano-scale modeling while aerosol-cloud interactions span from microscale to mesoscale. This study examines the modeling of aerosol behavior over a wide range of scales, from nano to microscale, with implications to mesoscale.

This dissertation focuses on two …

Security Fusion Method Of Physical Fitness Training Data Based On The Internet Of Things, Bin Zhou

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Physical fitness training, an important way to improve physical fitness, is the basic guarantee for forming combat effectiveness. At present, the evaluation types of physical fitness training are mostly conducted manually. It has problems such as low efficiency, high consumption of human and material resources, and subjective factors affecting the evaluation results. ”Internet+” has greatly expanded the traditional network from the perspective of technological convergence and network coverage objects. It has expedited and promoted the rapid development of Internet of Things (IoT) technology and its applications. The IoT with many sensor nodes shows the characteristics of acquisition information redundancy, node …

Pod-Ifying Mass Media: An Exploration Of Journalistic Integrity In Podcasting, Sam Graham

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Podcasting is a rapidly growing form of media that has expanded into nearly every genre of consumption from news to comedy to sports. It operates similarly to on-demand television or television streaming, though its reach has the potential to be much greater due to its on-demand structure. In past studies, audio has been found to be one of the most effective mediums of communication. As a result, it is my belief that the medium has the ability to shape the perceptions of large groups of people, and specific niches, leading them to opinions that are at times inaccurate, misguided, or …

Nidus Idearum. Scilogs, Xiii: Structure / Neutrostructure / Antistructure, Florentin Smarandache

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

In this thirteenth book of scilogs – one may find topics on Neutrosophy, Plithogeny, Physics, Mathematics, Philosophy – email messages to research colleagues, or replies, notes, comments, remarks about authors, articles, or books, spontaneous ideas, and so on. It presents new types of soft sets and new types of topologies.

Exchanging ideas with Mohammad Abobala, Ishfaq Ahmad, Ibrahim M. Almanjahie, Fatimah Alshahrani, Nizar Altounji, Muhammad Aslam, Said Broumi, Victor Christianto, R. Diksh, Feng Liu, Frank Julian Gelli, Erick Gonzalez Caballero, Riad Hamido, Yaser Al-Hasan, Ahmed Hatip, Yasin Karmouta, Nivetha Martin, Preda Mihăilescu, V. Lakshmana Gomathi Nayagam, Ze Carlos Tiago de …

Avoiding Pitfalls In Molecular Simulation Of Vapor Sorption: Example Of Propane And Isobutane In Metal–Organic Frameworks For Adsorption Cooling Applications, Filip Formalik, Haoyuan Chen, Randall Q. Snurr

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

This study introduces recommendations for conducting molecular simulations of vapor adsorption, with an emphasis on enhancing the accuracy, reproducibility, and comparability of results. The first aspect we address is consistency in the implementation of some details of typical molecular models, including tail corrections and cutoff distances, due to their significant influence on generated data. We highlight the importance of explicitly calculating the saturation pressures at relevant temperatures using methods such as Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo simulations and illustrate some pitfalls in extrapolating saturation pressures using this method. For grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations, the input fugacity is usually calculated …

Agroecology And Soil Stewardship: Values And Techniques Of Smallholder Farmers In Bernalillo County, Stephanie Olivas

Geography ETDs

Agrarian movements around the world use agroecology to build sovereignty and steward dynamic ecosystems. Research has shown that agroecological farmers steward more resilient crops, more resilient soil biomes, and greater biodiversity than conventional agriculture. GIS and remote sensing offer many tools to detect the impacts of these farmers on the environment, but it is less clear how such technologies fit into agroecological goals. This study asks: what values, experiences and knowledge do smallholder producers in Bernalillo County embody in their soil stewardship practices? Also, what experience or knowledge do smallholder producers in Bernalillo County have about remote sensing, and would …

Relative Influence Of Sea State And Mean, Turbulent, And Heterogenous Refractivity On X-Band Propagation, Douglas M. Pastore, Erin E. Hackett

Marine Science

In predicting electromagnetic wave propagation within the marine atmospheric surface layer, it is common to assume steady homogenous conditions. However, discrepancies between predicted and measured propagation remain, which could be due in-part to turbulent fluctuations of the refractive index, spatially heterogenous evaporative ducting environments, and mischaracterization of the rough ocean bottom boundary. To better understand the relative importance of these contributors, this study explores the sensitivity of X-band propagation to parameters describing sea-state conditions and refractive environments, including turbulent fluctuations and spatially heterogenous conditions. This study employs the extended Fourier Amplitude Sensitivity Test to compute sensitivity indices that evaluate the …

Surmounting Challenges In Aggregating Results From Static Analysis Tools, Dr. Ann Marie Reinhold, Brittany Boles, A. Redempta Manzi Muneza, Thomas Mcelroy, Dr. Clemente Izurieta

Military Cyber Affairs

Aggregation poses a significant challenge for software practitioners because it requires a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of raw data from diverse sources. Suites of static-analysis tools (SATs) are commonly used to assess organizational security but simultaneously introduce significant challenges. Challenges include unique results, scales, configuration environments for each SAT execution, and incompatible formats between SAT outputs. Here, we document our experiences addressing these issues. We highlight the problem of relying on a single vendor's SAT version and offer a solution for aggregating findings across multiple SATs, aiming to enhance software security practices and deter threats early with robust defensive operations.

Cctfv2: Modeling Cyber Competitions, Basheer Qolomany, Tristan J. Calay, Liaquat Hossain, Aos Mulahuwaish, Jacques Bou Abdo

School of Computing Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Cyber competitions are usually team activities, where team performance not only depends on the members’ abilities but also on team collaboration. This seems intuitive, especially given that team formation is a well-studied discipline in competitive sports and project management, but unfortunately, team performance and team formation strategies are rarely studied in the context of cybersecurity and cyber competitions. Since cyber competitions are becoming more prevalent and organized, this gap becomes an opportunity to formalize the study of team performance in the context of cyber competitions. This work follows a cross-validating two-approach methodology. The first is the computational modeling of cyber …

White Cell Support Application For Expo Ops Tactical Wargame System, Zackery Joseph Milder

Theses

The purpose of this project was to create a support application for a tabletop wargame currently used for training and scenario simulation by the United States Marine Corps. The EXPO OPS Companion is meant to enhance the capabilities of the White Cell/table director, the unbiased third party responsible for running adjudication for the EXPO OPS Tactical Wargames System. EXPO OPS TWS is “…a table top wargame covering contemporary and future conflict at the platoon, company and battalion level. It is a wargame toolkit that enables wargaming scenarios in the 2020 to 2030 timeframe. The design centers on plans and decisions …

Artificial Intelligence And Film: A Journey In Public Perception From 1960 To The Present Day, Kayla Anderson, Andrew Roggeman, Joseph Fuller

Celebrating Scholarship and Creativity Day (2018-)

An analysis of accomplishments in film from the 1960s-2020s that feature Artificial Intelligence to give a full picture of how public perception has changed towards these technologies over time, supplemented by historical and technological context.

Research On Cross-Domain Unmanned Swarm Cooperative Anti-Submarine Search Method, Ning Wang, Xiaolong Liang, Jiaqiang Zhang, Yueqi Hou, Aiwu Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: For the maritime ASW search, a cross-domain unmanned swarm cooperative search method is proposed in which USVs are used as the communication relay of UAVs. The digital grid map is used to characterize the mission area and the kinematic model of cross-domain platform is constructed. The cooperative method of cross-domain unmanned systems is proposed, and the distributed information fusion mechanism of unmanned systems is designed. The search objective function for heterogeneous platforms is designed to guide the unmanned systems to make real-time decisions in search task. The simulation results show that the proposed method can be effective to the …

Simulation Verification And Decision-Making Key Technologies Of Unmanned Swarm Game Confrontation: A Survey, Xiaolong Liang, Aiwu Yang, Jiaqiang Zhang, Yueqi Hou, Ning Wang, Xiao Huang, Junbin Gong

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Unmanned swarm game confrontation is a new combat mode and plays a crucial role in intelligent warfare. Its core is the autonomous generation of a series of game confrontation decision sequences to "empower" the swarm. The progress of system simulation verification for the unmanned swarm game confrontation is analyzed. The key technologies of the autonomous decision-making are discussed from three aspects, technology based on expert systems and game theory, technology based on swarm intelligence and optimization theory, and technology based on neural networks and reinforcement learning. The key technology research conducted by the author's team on the autonomous decisionmaking …

Research On Integration Of Virtual-Real Hybrid Simulation Experiment Environment For Unmanned Swarm, Huijie Yang, Taoshun Xiao, Chen Wu, Lingfeng Guo

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: Constructing the experiment environment and researching the core technology, key equipment and operation theory is the key step for the development of unmanned swarm. Based on the requirement of hybrid simulation environment for unmanned swarm, the elements of the experiment environment are analyzed, and the architecture is proposed, which is composed of common infrastructure, general experiment services, special experiment tools, security and support tool. The key experiment environment integration technology is studied from the aspects of experiment network, model data and experiment application. The feasibility of the method to construct the virtual-real hybrid simulation environment is verified by an …

Research On Theoretical Framework Of Simulative Experiment Evalution For Intelligent Unmanned Swarm Cooperation, Jipeng Wang, Xing Zhang, Hao Wu, Yu Gu, Huijie Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: As a typical representative of intelligent equipment, the technology, equipment and combat applications of intelligent unmanned swarm are being promoted globally. However, the research on experimental theory of unmanned swarm lags behind the technology and equipment in general. The emergence of swarm ability and complexity of confrontation of unmanned swarm, the nonrepeatability and non-generalization of swam experiment take great challenge to the basic theory and methods of unmanned swarm. The four experimental models including intelligent technology, intelligent equipment, intelligent swarm, and intelligent sos(system of systems) experiment from the perspective of system engineering and the whole life cycle of equipment …

Chemtrails: Deadly Skies Or Dangerous Misinformation?, Abigail Foust

Undergraduate Research Symposium

A common sight on a clear day is a thin strip of white across the otherwise blue sky: A contrail. Most people do not think anything of these contrails, and assume they have little to no impact on the world at large. Suppose for a moment, however, that they are not as harmless as some believe. Suppose these cloud trails are actually composed of dangerous chemicals, and are being used by sinister forces in a conspiracy to kill off the weak, mind-control the population, or simply dull our minds in preparation for a government takeover. As far-fetched as this may …

Thermal Frontal Polymerization – Applications In Coatings And Composites, Maria Martinez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Thermal frontal polymerization has long been used as a method to cure composites and coatings. However, this is the first time these applications have been used without the use of a catalyst, for the case of composites and coatings.

Chapter 2 discusses how to optimize cure-on-demand, thin layer coatings, using frontal polymerization. Previously, for the use of curing thin layer coating using thermal FP, it was known to just make the formulation viscous enough, as this would prevent premature quenching caused by heat loss. It was discovered that for a given layer thickness, a minimum viscosity and initiator concentration were …