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Cyber Risk Assessment And Scoring Model For Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Dillon M. Pettit

Theses and Dissertations

The commercial-off-the-shelf small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) market is expanding rapidly in response to interest from hobbyists, commercial businesses, and military operators. The core commercial mission set directly relates to many current military requirements and strategies, with a priority on short range, low cost, real time aerial imaging, and limited modular payloads. These small vehicles present small radar cross sections, low heat signatures, and carry a variety of sensors and payloads. As with many new technologies, security seems secondary to the goal of reaching the market as soon as innovation is viable. Research indicates a growth in exploits and vulnerabilities …

How Quantum Cryptography And Quantum Computing Can Make Cyber-Physical Systems More Secure, Deepak Tosh, Oscar Galindo, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

For cyber-physical systems, cyber-security is vitally important. There are many cyber-security tools that make communications secure -- e.g., communications between sensors and the computers processing the sensor's data. Most of these tools, however, are based on RSA encryption, and it is known that with quantum computing, this encryption can be broken. It is therefore desirable to use an unbreakable alternative -- quantum cryptography -- for such communications. In this paper, we discuss possible consequences of this option. We also explain how quantum computers can help even more: namely, they can be used to optimize the system's design -- in particular, …

From Carriage Wheels To Interest Rates: The Evolution Of Word Problems In Algebra Textbooks From 1901 To Today, Jemma Lorenat, Elodie Arbogast, Ethan Baer, Carla Condori Bazan, Robert Bettinger, Emily Carpenter, Hiawatha Davis Iii, Derick Grant, Olivia Howe, Neil Kelley, Maya Minier, Naima Orozco-Valdivia, Alan Peck, Carolina Saavedra, Sumesh Shiwakoty, Hunter Sidel, Carter Stripp, Josephine Terrien, Simone Wolynski, Leana Yearwood

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In teaching algebra, extra-mathematical word problems can bridge the gap between questions about abstract numbers and questions about everyday life. Thus, more than other aspects of elementary algebra, we would expect word problems to have changed in the recent past. This paper documents the findings of a collective research project that examined the content of such word problems over the past century. Alongside amusing and provocative examples, this paper shows how students can participate in exploratory research with primary sources from the history of mathematics.

Differential Mobility Spectrometry-Mass Spectrometry (Dms-Ms) For Forensic And Nuclear-Forensic Applications, Ifeoluwa Ayodeji

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In forensics and nuclear-forensics, the current lab-based analytical technique employed can be laborious, time consuming, and less suitable for in-situ and real time screening. However, it is important to develop fast and fieldable instrumental technique, without a tradeoff for its high throughput, for drug screening and radionuclear analysis. The underlying factors to be considered in the instrument development ranges from: high potency of samples, even at very low concentration; complex nature of samples in the surrounding environment; real-time chemical composition variation; and instrument size, weight and power (SWAP) consideration. Differential mobility spectrometry (DMS), also known as field asymmetric waveform ion …

Teaching About The Dark Web In Criminal Justice Or Related Programs At The Community College And University Levels., Scott H. Belshaw, Brooke Nodeland, Lorrin Underwood, Alexandrea Colaiuta

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Increasingly, criminal justice practitioners have been called on to help solve breaches in cyber security. However, while the demand for criminal justice participation in cyber investigations increases daily, most universities are lagging in their educational and training opportunities for students entering the criminal justice fields. This article discusses the need to incorporate courses discussing the Dark Web in criminal justice. A review of existing cyber-criminal justice programs in Texas and nationally suggests that most community colleges and 4-year universities have yet to develop courses/programs in understanding and investigating the Dark Web on the internet. The Dark Web serves as the …

Brain Disease Detection From Eegs: Comparing Spiking And Recurrent Neural Networks For Non-Stationary Time Series Classification, Hristo Stoev

Dissertations

Modeling non-stationary time series data is a difficult problem area in AI, due to the fact that the statistical properties of the data change as the time series progresses. This complicates the classification of non-stationary time series, which is a method used in the detection of brain diseases from EEGs. Various techniques have been developed in the field of deep learning for tackling this problem, with recurrent neural networks (RNN) approaches utilising Long short-term memory (LSTM) architectures achieving a high degree of success. This study implements a new, spiking neural network-based approach to time series classification for the purpose of …

Landscapes Of War Permanently Altered Topography Is One Of The Casualties Of War, But Battlefields Can Also Be Of "Collateral Value", Todd R. Lookingbill, Peter D. Smallwood

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

But the rationale for creating battlefield parks has changed over the past 100 years, as have attitudes about battlefield conservation with a related emphasis on the physical landscapes themselves, leading to their management for multiple, layered assets through principles of constructive conservation. Existing battlefield parks provide perhaps the longest-standing examples of the evolution of landscapes of war toward generators of multiple ecosystem benefits. Moving from battlefield parks that, in some cases, have not seen warfare for hundreds of years, we examined landscapes of more recent conflict and considered the future collateral values that could be attained by establishing parks at …

Implementing Asynchronous Linear Solvers Using Non-Uniform Distributions, Erik Jensen, Evan C. Coleman, Masha Sosonkina

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Asynchronous iterative methods present a mechanism to improve the performance of algorithms for highly parallel computational platforms by removing the overhead associated with synchronization among computing elements. This paper considers a class of asynchronous iterative linear system solvers that employ randomization to determine the component update orders, specifically focusing on the effects of drawing the order from non-uniform distributions. Results from shared-memory experiments with a two-dimensional finite-difference discrete Laplacian problem show that using distributions favoring the selection of components with a larger contribution to the residual may lead to faster convergence than selecting uniformly. Multiple implementations of the randomized asynchronous …

The Interdisciplinary Impacts Of Technology Semantics And Communicational Bypassing In The Cybersecurity Field, Brooke Nixon

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

In 2012, former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller shocked many when he warned, “[t]here are only two types of companies: those that have been hacked and those that will be.” As technology and information systems develop rapidly, security has become a topic of increasing interest and concern. In 2018, it was noted that the total cost to account for cybercrime on a global scale surpassed US$1 billion (Milkovich, 2020). In the United States, a hacker attack occurs every 39 seconds, and each year, 1 in 3 Americans are personally impacted by a form of hacking …

Chemically Stabilized Oil-In-Water Emulsion Separation Using A Custom Aquaporin-Based Polyethersulfone (Pes) Forward Osmosis Membrane System, Annmarie Ricchino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The stability of oil-in-water emulsions is enhanced by the presence of surfactants in the water, thereby increasing difficulty of remediation. In this study, mineral oil and a standard bilge mix (SBM) were used as model oils for forward osmosis (FO) performance evaluation and two different high-concentration feed solutions (FS) were tested: 10,000 and 100,000 ppm oil/surfactant (9:1 Oil/Surfactant, wt %). It was hypothesized that the charge-charge interactions between the surfactant portion of the micelles and the membrane would play an important role in membrane fouling. Therefore, the effects of both an anionic surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate [SDS]) and a nonionic …

Initiating A Collaborative Cybersecurity Governance Framework At The State Level, Autum C. Pylant

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Cybersecurity risk is dynamic and rapidly evolving. Today, cyber incidents can significantly impair government operations, erode public confidence, undermine operations of critical infrastructures, and put citizen data and whole industries at risk. Managing these risks to cyber assets must be part of a state’s overall risk management portfolio. To do this successfully, state leaders must have effective cybersecurity governance. To achieve this, governors and state legislatures must ensure that their states have the essential governance mechanisms necessary for understanding and managing cybersecurity risk and for translating awareness about cyber threats into action. This dissertation gives an overview of three different …

Interview With Deborah Winslow Of The National Science Foundation, Jerome W. Crowder, Mike Fortun, Rachel Besara, Lindsay Poirier

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Books

Chapter Abstract:

In this chapter the editors interview Dr. Deborah Winslow about her work at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the evolution of data management plans (DMPs) in Anthropology and the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). She outlines what the NSF expects to see in a DMP and what not to include. The conversation moves into how anthropologists collaborate with “adjacent disciplines” and how the ideas and terms for data, and the expectations of data change. She emphasizes thinking about the kind of data you will collect and what you plan to do with those data later, in …

Epidemiological Investigations Of Bighorn Sheep Respiratory Disease And Implications For Management, Brandi L. Felts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Infectious respiratory disease has long been identified as the cause of bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) historical declines and extirpations, and Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi) is the primary pathogen inducing disease and mortality. Population-level effects of pneumonia events range from mild to extirpation. Variable individual response to pathogen exposure emerges from dynamic interactions between competing evolutionary processes within the host and pathogen. Understanding impacts of this evolutionary warfare is essential to assessing long-term impacts of pathogen invasion and developing appropriate countermeasures to protect population health. Freeranging populations are faced with spillover infections from domestic sheep and goats as well as …

Scavenger Hunt: The Search For Sulfur Mustard-Neutralizing Compound In 2-Chloroethyl Ethyl Sulfide (Cees) Treated Human Keratinocyte (Hacat) Epithelial Cells, Tanner Diemer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sulfur mustard is a highly toxic and dangerous vesicant that has been utilized as a chemical warfare agent (CWA) since World War I. Despite its extensive history, an effective antidote to sulfur mustard exposure still does not exist. With detectable levels of unreacted sulfur mustard lasting days after initial contact, a window of opportunity exists to administer a “scavenger” to affected individual immediately and in the days following exposure in hopes of reducing harm by neutralizing unreacted sulfur mustard. For this strategy to be effectively implemented, it is essential to identify a candidate compound with excellent affinity towards sulfur mustard …

Abstraction Techniques In Security Games With Underlying Network Structure, Anjon Basak

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In a multi-agent system, multiple intelligent agents interact with each other in an environment to achieve their objectives. They can do this because they know which actions are available to them and which actions they prefer to take in a particular situation. The job of game theory is to analyze the interactions of the intelligent agents by different solution techniques and provide analysis such as predicting outcomes or recommending courses of action to specific players. To do so game theory works with a model of real-world scenarios which helps us to make a better decision in our already complex daily …

Protecting The Protector: Mapping The Key Terrain That Supports The Continuous Monitoring Mission Of A Cloud Cybersecurity Service Provider, Chris Bush

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Key terrain is a concept that is relevant to warfare, military strategy, and tactics. A good general maps out terrain to identify key areas to protect in support of a mission (i.e., a bridge allowing for mobility of supplies and reinforcements). Effective ways to map terrain in Cyberspace (KT-C) has been an area of interest for researchers in Cybersecurity ever since the Department of Defense designated Cyberspace as a warfighting domain. The mapping of KT-C for a mission is accomplished by putting forth efforts to understand and document a mission's dependence on Cyberspace and cyber assets. A cloud Cybersecurity Service …

Novel Substrate-Free Cholinesterase Based Sensing Of Organophosphorus Compounds, Hailey J. Marini

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The increasing concerns of chemical weapons used by terrorists is growing, creating a need for infield detection methods that can rapidly detect these compounds that are a major health concern for civilians and military personnel. Displacement is a novel concept for the detection of cholinesterase inhibitors, including organophosphorus compounds, that could replace the classical instrumentation methods currently being used for diagnostics.

Cholinesterase Based System For Fentanyl Detection, Alyssa Shoemaker

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Opioids and other illicit drugs have become a very prevalent problem across the world, especially in the United States. In fact, every day more than 130 people die from an opioid overdose. Despite many public warnings explaining the risks of opioid and drug use, the epidemic has continued to grow. As illicit drugs are becoming more rampant in society, law enforcement officers need a reliable, rapid, and non-invasive method to detects when someone may be on drugs, for example while driving, and to assess unknown powders or substances when presented at a crime scene containing drugs. Currently, at traffic stops …

Development Of Analytical Methods For Toxic Inhaled Hazards (Tih) And Their Metabolites, Obed Adu Gyamfi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Toxic inhalation hazards (TIHs), such as methyl isocyanate (MIC) and hydrogen cyanide (HCN), are noxious gases and vapors that are harmful, and often deadly, to humans. However, because of their low cost and high reactivity, they are extensively used for industrial productions, creating risk of exposure for both industrial workers (e.g., occupational exposure) and civilians (e.g., accidental release during transport). The illicit use of TIHs, including as terrorist agents, is also concerning. Considering the rapid toxicity of TIHs and the danger they pose to both human and animal lives, there is a critical need to develop of analytical methods for …

Hacking For Intelligence Collection In The Fight Against Terrorism: Israeli, Comparative, And International Perspectives, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

תקציר בעברית: הניסיון של המחוקק הישראלי להביא להסדרה מפורשת של סמכויות השב״כ במרחב הקיברנטי משקף מגמה רחבה יותר הניכרת בעולם לעיגון בחקיקה ראשית של הוראות בדבר פעולות פצחנות מצד גופי ביון ומודיעין ורשויות אכיפת חוק למטרות איסוף מודיעין לשם סיכול עבירות חמורות, ובייחוד עבירות טרור אם בעבר היו פעולות מסוג אלה כפופות לנהלים פנימיים ומסווגים, הרי שהדרישה לשקיפות בעידן שלאחר גילויי אדוארד סנודן מחד והשימוש הנרחב בתקיפות מחשב לביצוע פעולות חיפוש וחקירה לסיכול טרור מאידך, מציפים כעת את הדרישה להסמכה מפורשת. במאמר זה אבקש למפות הן את השדה הטכנולוגי והן את השדה המשפטי בכל האמור בתקיפות מחשבים למטרות ריגול ומעקב. …

Emulsion Characterization Study For Improved Bilgewater Treatment And Management, Daniela Diaz Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The need for proper management of bilgewater to meet discharge regulations (e.g., 15 ppm oil) has revealed the necessity to expand the current understanding of bilgewater emulsions. This study proposed to evaluate emulsion stability under various environmental conditions and to identify governing parameters for emulsion formation. The stabilizing properties of eight-commercial cleaners and two-neat surfactants were evaluated. In situ characterization techniques were used for monitoring emulsion stability. Additionally, a needle-type pH microsensor and fluorescence spectroscopy were used for analyzing mass transfer at the oil-water interface. Water quality of extracted bilgewater showed to highly vary between vessels (e.g., conductivity: 1.74 -- …

Interactions Between Humans, Virtual Agent Characters And Virtual Avatars, Tamara Griffith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Simulations allow people to experience events as if they were happening in the real world in a way that is safer and less expensive than live training. Despite improvements in realism in simulated environments, one area that still presents a challenge is interpersonal interactions. The subtleties of what makes an interaction rich are difficult to define. We may never fully understand the complexity of human interchanges, however there is value in building on existing research into how individuals react to virtual characters to inform future investments. Virtual characters can either be automated through computational processes, referred to as agents, or …

Anthrax Event Detection: Analysis Of Public Opinion Using Twitter During Anthrax Scares, The Mueller Investigation, And North Korean Threats, Michele E. Miller

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

When people allow fear to drive their decision making, they often make decisions that do more harm than good. Examples of this include stocking up on ciprofloxacin, flooding doctors’ offices and buying black market antibiotics after the anthrax attacks of 2001. Therefore, it is important to be able to address what people are saying when another anthrax attack occurs. Supervised and unsupervised machine learning methodologies can be utilized to detect an event, classify the tweets by event, and to determine the main topics of discussion. Over the period of data collection, twenty events were detected. Three of these events concerned …

Innovation And Market Leadership In A Technology Industry, Wilson Zehr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to the Abernathy-Utterback (A-U) model, firms focus on technological product innovation early in the product lifecycle and then shift to process innovation as markets mature. However, there is no consensus on the forms that non-technological innovation can take. In addition, the A-U model, which guides innovators, does not include forms of non-technological innovation that are generally accepted by experts. In this study, a hybrid e-Delphi technique with an AHP decision model was used to evaluate the forms of innovation used to establish market leadership over the historical lifecycle of the personal computer industry in the United States. In Phase …

Denial Of Service Attacks: Difference In Rates, Duration, And Financial Damages And The Relationship Between Company Assets And Revenues, Abebe Gebreyes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractDenial-of-service/distributed denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on network connectivity are a threat to businesses that academics and professionals have attempted to address through cyber-security practices. However, currently there are no metrics to determine how attackers target certain businesses. The purpose of this quantitative study was to address this problem by, first, determining differences among business sectors in rates and duration of attacks and financial damages from attacks and, second, examining relationship among assets and/or revenues and duration of attacks and financial damages. Cohen and Felson's routine activity theory and Cornish and Clarke's rational choice theory served as frameworks as they address the …

Correlation Coefficients Of Pythagorean Hesitant Fuzzy Sets And Their Applicationto Radar Lpi Performance Evaluation, Cheng Xiu Yang, Qianzhe Wang, Weidong Peng, Shaoting Pei

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Evaluating low probability of intercept (LPI) performance is the first step to design parameters and arrange radar resources. In the evaluation process it is hard to rely on the intercept receiver?s working scenarios and operating parameters. On the other hand, indicators that affect the LPI performance of radiating side are difficult to consider comprehensively. Thus, building an effective evaluation system is crucial. This research considers the natural parameters of radar extracted from a radiating scenario. Subsequently, a number of criteria are selected, including spatial, time, frequency domain, polarization status, energy status, and waveform features. A multidomain radar LPI performance evaluation …

Applications Of Drones In Atmospheric Chemistry, Travis J. Schuyler

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) has changed the composition of the atmosphere during the Anthropocene. A major technical and scientific challenge is quantifying the resulting fugitive trace gas fluxes under variable meteorological conditions. Accurately documenting the sources and magnitude of GHGs emission is an important undertaking for discriminating contributions of different processes to radiative forcing. Therefore, the adverse environmental and health effects of undetected gas leaks motivates new methods of detecting, characterizing, and quantifying plumes of fugitive trace gases. Currently, there is no mobile platform able to quantify trace gases at altitudes(UASs), or drones, can be deployed on-site in …

Exploring Strategies For Recruiting And Retaining Diverse Cybersecurity Professionals, Vivian Lyon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The cyber threat landscape has led some cybersecurity leaders to focus on a holistic approach encompassing people, processes, and technology to make their government agencies and organizations more responsive to a more diverse and inclusive cyber workforce to protect critical infrastructure from hackers or cybercriminals intent on causing harm. This qualitative multiple case study used Schein’s organizational culture theory to explore strategies used by cybersecurity leaders to attract, recruit, and retain diverse cybersecurity professionals to effectively and efficiently protect sensitive systems from rising cyber threats. The study's population consisted of cybersecurity leaders from 3 government agencies and 9 organizations in …

Strategies For Implementing Successful It Security Systems In Small Businesses, Martins Donbruce Idahosa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Owners of small businesses who do not adequately protect business data are at high risk for a cyber attack. As data breaches against small businesses have increased, it has become a growing source of concern for consumers who rely on owners of small businesses to protect their data from data breaches. Grounded in general systems theory and routine activity approach, the focus of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies used by owners of small businesses to protect confidential company data from cyber attacks. The process used for collecting data involved semistructured face-to-face interviews with 5 owners of …

Securing Technological Privacy: Modernizing The Texas Disciplinary Rules Of Professional Conduct To Protect Electronic Data, Ashley "Nikki" Vega

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

This comment explains how and why the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (the “Texas Disciplinary Rules”) should be updated to reflect the modernization of technology. Lawyers must keep abreast of changes in the law and its practices; including those which are technological in nature. The American Bar Association (the “ABA”) recently amended the “technology provisions” of its Model Rules of Professional Conduct (the “Model Rules”); namely Rule 1.1 “Competence” and Rule 1.6 “Confidentiality of Information” in order to keep up with the benefits and risks associated with technology in the legal profession. Additionally, over half of all jurisdictions have …