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2026

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Gadamer's Interpretation And Reconstruction Of The Theory Of Imagination In Kant's Aesthetics, Wencong Nong Sep 2026

Gadamer's Interpretation And Reconstruction Of The Theory Of Imagination In Kant's Aesthetics, Wencong Nong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Gadamer repeatedly reflected on the concept of imagination in Kant's aesthetics from a critical perspective. His discussions on this subject constitute an important theoretical dimension of the hermeneutical conception of imagination. In Truth and Method, Gadamer grounds imagination in the play space wherein Dasein engages with beings, and, through ontological thinking, dissolves the subjectivization of the free play of imagination as well as the principle of the priority of understanding. In “Intuition and Vividness,” Gadamer liberates artistic intuition from mere receptivity under stimulative conditions through the original nature of imagination. At the same time, he interprets Kant's theory of …

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Biases And Paradoxes: The Politics Of New Aestheticism's Depoliticization, Fang Yuan Sep 2026

Biases And Paradoxes: The Politics Of New Aestheticism's Depoliticization, Fang Yuan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

New aestheticism is a school of literary criticism that emerged in the early twenty-first century. Rather than simply returning to traditional aestheticism, it incorporates insights from multiple theoretical traditions. It critiques social-historical criticism and cultural studies in an effort to downplay the political dimension of literary criticism, instead emphasizing individualized experience and aesthetic pleasure. However, new aestheticism reveals significant theoretical biases and inherent paradoxes. It overlooks the sustained attention that social-historical criticism and cultural studies have devoted to aesthetic questions; it attributes the perceived decline of English studies to the utilitarian tendencies of criticism; and it seeks to free itself …

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Pretext, Hypertext, And Potential Text: An Analysis Of Paul Valéry's Poetics Of Translation, Lu Gan Sep 2026

Pretext, Hypertext, And Potential Text: An Analysis Of Paul Valéry's Poetics Of Translation, Lu Gan

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

As one of the founders of modern French criticism, Paul Valéry's poetics not only inspired major intellectual movements within the French academic system but also transformed the landscape of literary studies. Central to his poetics is a sustained engagement with translation—both as a personal practice and as a theoretical pursuit. This engagement positioned translation as an embodiment of his poetics and gave rise to a distinctive poetics of translation. Focusing on Valéry's perspectives on language and literature, this article examines three dimensions of his poetics of translation: 1. treating the original text as a “pretext” and translation as both a …

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Deleuze, Freud And A Reinterpretation Of The Three Syntheses, Shubao Dong Sep 2026

Deleuze, Freud And A Reinterpretation Of The Three Syntheses, Shubao Dong

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In his Difference and Repetition, Deleuze offers a creative interpretation of Freud's late text “Beyond the Pleasure Principle”, proposing a novel structure of three syntheses at the level of repetition and the unconscious. This interpretation exemplifies Deleuze's productive engagement with Freud and psychoanalytic theory. Although Freud links the superego to the death drive, he remains confined to the perspective of material repetition. Deleuze, by contrast, reconceptualizes the death drive from the standpoint of spiritual repetition, ultimately revealing an impersonal death characterized by the coexistence of life and death and the dissolution of the subject. Deleuze sequentially integrate his three …

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Three Approaches To The Study Of Contemporary Western Political Aesthetics: A Re-Examination From The Perspective Of Historical Materialism, Xi Wang Sep 2026

Three Approaches To The Study Of Contemporary Western Political Aesthetics: A Re-Examination From The Perspective Of Historical Materialism, Xi Wang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

For a long time, studies on aesthetics and politics in the Western tradition have been situated in the framework of metaphysical philosophy. From Rousseau to Schiller, and further to the writings of European Romanticism represented by the Jena Romantics, scholars have sought to reconstruct the connection between aesthetic ideal and modern politics within the realm of speculative thought. Having undergone the theoretical refinement from Marx to the Frankfurt School, contemporary Western research on political aesthetics has “descended” from the metaphysical domain to the practical domain of social history, consciously distinguishing between the ideological practice of “aestheticized politics” and the critical-theoretical …

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The Middle Path To Materiality: Exploring The Origins Of Semiotic Materiality Theory, Xudong Guo Sep 2026

The Middle Path To Materiality: Exploring The Origins Of Semiotic Materiality Theory, Xudong Guo

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Media materiality studies seek to identify a middle path that accommodates both materiality and meaning, and semiotic materiality theory offers important theoretical resources for this endeavor from a semiotic perspective. Semiotic materiality theory originated in the work of Charles Sanders Peirce and in the Bakhtin circle's emphasis on the material properties of signs. It was later further developed within Marxist semiotics and social semiotics, through which it acquired a theoretical orientation grounded in Marxist materialism and social critique. The correspondence between semiotic materiality theory and media materiality studies lies in their comprehensive understanding of the relationship among signs, materiality and …

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From Acceleration And Resonance To Social Energy: An Interview With Hartmut Rosa, Siyu Yao, Hartmut Rosa Sep 2026

From Acceleration And Resonance To Social Energy: An Interview With Hartmut Rosa, Siyu Yao, Hartmut Rosa

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Building upon his theories of “acceleration” and “resonance”, Hartmut Rosa is currently advancing his thoughts on “social energy”. In this interview, Rosa first explains his emphasis on the “first-person perspective”, connecting his idea of socio-cultural energy with traditional Chinese thought. After addressing the influence of hometown on his “identity” and overall intellectual path, he underscores how the theory of “resonance” transcends previous conceptions of “identity”, highlighting the importance of transformation and of uncontrollability. In the discussion of the Frankfurt School, Rosa acknowledges the significant theoretical and methodological influences of Karl Marx and Max Weber, positioning himself closer to the first …

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Roland Barthes's Biographical Writing, Qiong Wu Sep 2026

Roland Barthes's Biographical Writing, Qiong Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Roland Barthes is regarded as one of the most influential theorists of the “text” in the second half of the 20th century. He not only developed a series of theoretical reflections on the concept of the “text,” but also transformed these reflections into a distinctive writing practice. Within this practice, biography as a literary genre became a central site for the refinement and testing of his text theory. Biographical writing and text theory can be understood as symbiotic in Roland Barthes's work. On the one hand, he employs text theory to rethink and reconfigure the fundamental generic assumptions of biography; …

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“Imagining For Delight” And “Gazetteer Of Dialects And Local Customs”: Zhou Zuoren's Conceptualization Of Aesthetic Education Through Nursery Rhymes, Chengzhu Cao Sep 2026

“Imagining For Delight” And “Gazetteer Of Dialects And Local Customs”: Zhou Zuoren's Conceptualization Of Aesthetic Education Through Nursery Rhymes, Chengzhu Cao

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

In response to the mysterious associations and political interpretations attached to nursery rhymes in ancient China, Zhou Zuoren explained the emergence of children's songs through anthropological theories that engage with human auditory development, the instinct of imitation, and the singing practice of early humans. He opposes the didactic and moralizing functions assigned to children's songs and advocates a view of pleasure that emphasizes “finding delight through imaginative association” and personal enjoyment. He evaluates the aesthetic value of children's songs from the child's perspective a, regarding them as “poetry for children.” He particularly focuses on their experiential recording of dialects, customs, …

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The Early Modern Literary Purport Of “Brain Transformation” And Its Enlightenment For Modern Fiction, Yishan Ye Sep 2026

The Early Modern Literary Purport Of “Brain Transformation” And Its Enlightenment For Modern Fiction, Yishan Ye

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the imperative to “enlightening the people” positioned “brain transformation” as a central concern among writers. In cross-cultural practice, the integration of “qi theory” and the reinterpretation of neural theory provided an ideological foundation and discursive resources for constructing the literary concept of “power” in the “new fiction”. Utilizing tropes such as medicine, magic, and universal electricity, novelists employed concepts of mechanical force and vitality to explore the human. Through aesthetic composites, they reconciled internal contradictions within science discourse and evoked the intrinsic beauty of science. Liang Qichao's aesthetic integration of “power” …

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A Discussion Of The Critical Creative Practice Of Lu Xun's Literary Philosophy, Xuan Wu Sep 2026

A Discussion Of The Critical Creative Practice Of Lu Xun's Literary Philosophy, Xuan Wu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Critical creative philosophical thinking internally transforms the concrete understandings of the world articulated in Confucian and Taoist philosophy. This mode of thinking constitutes the philosophical condition that makes Chinese literary classics possible, yet it also revels a blind spot in Chinese philosophical studies, which have often remained confined to cognitive interpretations of pre-Qin philosophy. Lu Xun consciously aligned himself with a tradition of literary-philosophical thinking represented by figures such as Zhuang Zi, Sima Qian, Su Shi, and Cao Xueqin. Taking The Classic of Mountains and Seas as a foundational text for understanding life, he undertook a critical reexamination of both …

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The Theoretical Connotations Of Modern Chinese Literary Historiography, Xiangxi Fu Sep 2026

The Theoretical Connotations Of Modern Chinese Literary Historiography, Xiangxi Fu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

The study of historical materials in modern Chinese literature explores the theories and methods regarding the formal characteristics, genesis and evolution, and the organization and utilization of literary materials. The fundamental principles of this field the pursuit of truth, the pursuit of completeness, and the maintenance of appropriateness. The “pursuit of truth” concerns the fundamental objective of the study of modern Chinese literary historical materials. The “pursuit of completeness” pertains to its scope and focus. The “maintenance of appropriateness” relates to its mechanism of balance. These three principles act as preconditions for one another, and they collectively constitute the theoretical …

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On The Nature And Composition Methods Of Historical Xiqu Plays, Hengfu Zhu Sep 2026

On The Nature And Composition Methods Of Historical Xiqu Plays, Hengfu Zhu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Modern and contemporary China has witnessed continuing discussions of the nature of historical xiqu plays and the methods of their composition, with roughly four major waves of concentrated debate. The first, in the early 1940s, began with Guo Moruo's proposition that historical research seeks factual truth, whereas the writing of historical xiqu plays seeks resemblance in spirit. The second, in the early 1960s, centered on intense debates over whether historical truth and artistic truth are unified. The third began in the 1990s and continued into the early years of the new century, bringing forward such views as a spirit-infused conception …

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A Contemporary Model For The Modernization Of Xiqu: On Xu Fen's Dramatic Writing, Wei Li Sep 2026

A Contemporary Model For The Modernization Of Xiqu: On Xu Fen's Dramatic Writing, Wei Li

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Xu Fen is a well-known contemporary xiqu playwright and a recipient of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles Lifetime Achievement Award. Her significance in current scholarship has not been fully recognized. When her dramatic writing is examined within the historical process of xiqu modernization, it becomes clear that, with a strong modern spirit and a distinct modern consciousness, she has adapted traditional xiqu repertoires as well as Chinese and foreign literary classics, created a series of vivid xiqu figures embodying modern values, and innovated the textual forms and stage styles of modern xiqu. As a result, her …

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The Origins Of Chinese Poetics And Its Conceptual Cornerstone, Mingdong Gu Sep 2026

The Origins Of Chinese Poetics And Its Conceptual Cornerstone, Mingdong Gu

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Poetics emerges from poetry, whose very raison d’être lies in language itself. Chinese poetics arose from the Book of Songs and its hermeneutical tradition. Its origins may be traced further back to the system of omens and associative correlations embedded in divinatory practices and the hexagram and line statements of the Book of Changes. By adopting an interdisciplinary approach that integrates philology, the philosophy of language, semiotic theory, psychoanalysis, poetic theory, and post-structuralist literary theory, this article argues that traditional Chinese poetics evolved from divinatory omens and from the poetic techniques of bi-xing (inspired metaphor) and eventually giving rise …

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The Blind Spot Of A Great Polymath: Elucidating Qian Zhongshu's “Chinese Poetry And Chinese Painting”, Ruoshui Jiang Sep 2026

The Blind Spot Of A Great Polymath: Elucidating Qian Zhongshu's “Chinese Poetry And Chinese Painting”, Ruoshui Jiang

Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art

Qian Zhongshu's “Chinese Poetry and Chinese Painting” underwent continuous revision over more than half a century, during which its central arguments remained largely unchanged. However, the theoretical foundation on which it rests, namely, the division of Chinese painting into Northern and Southern Schools proposed by Dong Qichang in the late Ming dynasty, has been demonstrated to be untenable by the scholarship of Teng Gu, Tong Shuye, Qigong, and others. As a result, Qian's factual assessments appear unreliable, and his evaluative judgments become open to question. This article examines both the direct and indirect intellectual relationships between Qian Zhongshu, Teng Gu, …

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Regional Creative Economy Resilience Index: An Analysis Of The Creative Industry's Role In Fostering National Economic Resilience According To Asta Cita, Dks Nugraha Nugraha, Ramadhania Mumtaz Keesa Sep 2026

Regional Creative Economy Resilience Index: An Analysis Of The Creative Industry's Role In Fostering National Economic Resilience According To Asta Cita, Dks Nugraha Nugraha, Ramadhania Mumtaz Keesa

Jurnal Vokasi Indonesia

Indonesia's creative economy has survived worldwide economic shifts, especially the COVID-19 epidemic. This industry now drives innovation, culture, and technology. No systematic technique exists to quantify the creative ecosystem's impact on regional economic resilience. The Regional Creative Economy Resilience Index (IRED) is a conceptual model based on Asta Cita 2024–2029's eight strategic missions. This article uses the Asta Cita framework to describe how the creative industry strengthens national economic resilience and advances the IRED idea as a data-driven research and policy tool. This qualitative-descriptive study synthesizes 20 periodicals (2020–2025), analyzes policy, and maps themes using Asta Cita. Source triangulation …

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“[Y]Et Another Victory For Deal Certainty”: Chancery Court Orders Specific Performance Of “Hell-Or-High-Water” Covenant To Remedy Reluctant Acquiror’S Obstruction Of Cfius Approval Process, Robert S. Reder, Ricky Bayon-Barrera Sep 2026

“[Y]Et Another Victory For Deal Certainty”: Chancery Court Orders Specific Performance Of “Hell-Or-High-Water” Covenant To Remedy Reluctant Acquiror’S Obstruction Of Cfius Approval Process, Robert S. Reder, Ricky Bayon-Barrera

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

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Chancery Court Refuses To Dismiss Claim That Activision Directors Failed To Satisfy Revlon Standard Of Conduct In Sale To Microsoft, Robert S. Reder, Jae Ho Yoon Sep 2026

Chancery Court Refuses To Dismiss Claim That Activision Directors Failed To Satisfy Revlon Standard Of Conduct In Sale To Microsoft, Robert S. Reder, Jae Ho Yoon

Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc

No abstract provided.

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The Fragmentation Of Helcar: A Paratethyan Model For Rhûn, Núrnen And The Dead Marshes, Federico Manzoni Sep 2026

The Fragmentation Of Helcar: A Paratethyan Model For Rhûn, Núrnen And The Dead Marshes, Federico Manzoni

Journal of Tolkien Research

This work proposes a conjectural paleogeographic model linking the Sea of Rhûn, Núrnen and the Dead Marshes to the former Sea of Helcar. Beginning from Christopher Tolkien's suggestion that Rhûn may represent Helcar ``vastly shrunken,'' the study combines textual evidence, the Ambarkanta, Fonstad's cartographic reconstructions, and terrestrial analogues drawn from the evolution of the Paratethys, the Messinian Salinity Crisis and other endorheic basins. Helcar is interpreted not merely as an isolated body of deep water but as the centre of a broader hydrological province subsequently partitioned by relief change, sedimentary infilling, basin isolation and drainage reorganization. Within this model, Rhûn …

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Cognitive Resilience At The Edge: Hyperdimensional Computing Versus Deep Learning For Hardware-Degraded Rf Classification, Adrian B. Cisneros, Jeong Yang Sep 2026

Cognitive Resilience At The Edge: Hyperdimensional Computing Versus Deep Learning For Hardware-Degraded Rf Classification, Adrian B. Cisneros, Jeong Yang

Military Cyber Affairs

Autonomous Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) operating in contested electromagnetic environments must classify Radio Frequency (RF) signals on edge silicon that degrades over the mission lifetime due to thermal stress, radiation, and manufacturing variation. Deep neural networks dominate RF classification on pristine hardware, but their weights are precise and interdependent, causing catastrophic accuracy collapse as the underlying chip ages. We investigate whether Hyperdimensional Computing (HDC), a brain-inspired paradigm that distributes information across thousands of dimensions, can provide a reliability floor where Deep Learning fails. Using the RadioML 2016.10A dataset filtered to five digital modulations relevant to drone command-and-control links, we trained …

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Hands-On Ransomware: An Experiential Wannacry Case Study For Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education, Eli Creek Richmond, Thomas R. Devine Sep 2026

Hands-On Ransomware: An Experiential Wannacry Case Study For Undergraduate Cybersecurity Education, Eli Creek Richmond, Thomas R. Devine

Military Cyber Affairs

Ransomware represents one of the most disruptive threats in the cyber landscape, yet hands-on malware analysis remains rare in undergraduate cybersecurity curricula. This paper presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of an experiential learning module centered on the WannaCry ransomware case study, deployed in a senior-level course at West Virginia University. Students performed static and dynamic analysis using industry-standard tools. Pre- and post-module assessments demonstrated measurable gains in self-reported competency across seven technical dimensions. The module's competencies align directly with DoD Cyber Workforce Framework Work Role 212, Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst, supporting education-to-workforce pipeline development.

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Breaking The Build: Detecting Software Supply Chain Vulnerabilities In Ci/Cd Pipelines, Mercedes R. Wahl, Dr. Benjamin Yankson Sep 2026

Breaking The Build: Detecting Software Supply Chain Vulnerabilities In Ci/Cd Pipelines, Mercedes R. Wahl, Dr. Benjamin Yankson

Military Cyber Affairs

This study examines whether integrating structured DevSec- Ops security controls into CI/CD pipelines can reduce software supply chain risk by preventing vulnerable components from progressing through the software development lifecycle. Software supply chain attacks frequently originate from weaknesses or compromises within dependencies, build environments, and trusted development stages, making early detection essential. A controlled sandbox experiment compared two pipeline configurations: a baseline CI/CD pipeline with no automated security enforcement and a secure DevSecOps pipeline integrating automated vulnerability scanning, SBOM generation, and artifact integrity verification. A known vulnerable dependency, the Python requests package (version 2.19.0) associated with CVE-2018-18074, was intentionally introduced …

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Mitigating Common Vulnerabilities And Exposures In Cobol-Based Critical Systems Using The Strangler-Fig Pattern, Lauren E. Caruso, Vincent J. Compeau, Assefaw H. Gebremedhin Sep 2026

Mitigating Common Vulnerabilities And Exposures In Cobol-Based Critical Systems Using The Strangler-Fig Pattern, Lauren E. Caruso, Vincent J. Compeau, Assefaw H. Gebremedhin

Military Cyber Affairs

COBOL-based legacy systems continue to underpin critical infrastructure in banking and government sectors despite their age and associated cybersecurity risks. Originally developed through a Department of Defense–sponsored initiative to standardize business computing, COBOL remains widely used in mission-critical environments. However, these systems face increasing vulnerabilities due to outdated security architectures, workforce shortages, and rising maintenance costs. This paper examines cybersecurity and operational challenges associated with COBOL systems and evaluates the Strangler Fig pattern as a modernization strategy that enables incremental replacement while maintaining continuity. The findings highlight implications for financial institutions and public-sector organizations dependent on legacy infrastructure.

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From Framework To Toolchain: Implementing Zero Trust Architecture In Cloud-Native Environments For Dow Compliance, Shelby C. Snyder Sep 2026

From Framework To Toolchain: Implementing Zero Trust Architecture In Cloud-Native Environments For Dow Compliance, Shelby C. Snyder

Military Cyber Affairs

Federal agencies face a fiscal year 2027 target for enterprise-wide Zero Trust deployment, but NIST SP 800-207A defines logical components without identifying the Kubernetes technologies that implement them. This paper proposes a three-tier mapping of the Policy Engine, Policy Administrator, and Policy Enforcement Point to service mesh, microsegmentation, and perimeter tooling, stating the criteria by which each component is classified. It then applies a defined rubric to six Zero Trust vendors across component alignment, Kubernetes capability, federal authorization posture, and evidence quality, finding that no single vendor covers all three tiers. The mapping is a testable architectural proposition; a Stage …

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Hybrid Deep (Cnn-Bilstm) Intrusion Detection For Defense And Mission-Critical Networks, Corey A Cheng, Jermaine Anim-Addo, Asma Jakir Hussain, Zion O Smith-Fox, Sanjay Goel, Yuksel Celik Sep 2026

Hybrid Deep (Cnn-Bilstm) Intrusion Detection For Defense And Mission-Critical Networks, Corey A Cheng, Jermaine Anim-Addo, Asma Jakir Hussain, Zion O Smith-Fox, Sanjay Goel, Yuksel Celik

Military Cyber Affairs

This article examines how hybrid deep learning can strengthen intrusion detection for military and defense networks. Using the CSE-CIC-IDS2018 dataset, the study evaluates a CNN-BiLSTM model designed to detect benign traffic and multiple attack categories, including DDoS, DoS, botnet, brute-force, web attack, and infiltration activity. The model achieved strong multi-class detection performance, with 0.9893 accuracy and 0.9979 ROC-AUC. The findings suggest that AI-supported intrusion detection can improve cyber defense operations, analyst triage, and protection of mission-critical networks.

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Are Large Language Models Safe? A Vulnerability Analysis Of Generated Source Code, James Richards-Perhatch, Mitchell Milander, James M. Halvorsen, Assefaw Gebremedhin Sep 2026

Are Large Language Models Safe? A Vulnerability Analysis Of Generated Source Code, James Richards-Perhatch, Mitchell Milander, James M. Halvorsen, Assefaw Gebremedhin

Military Cyber Affairs

The increasing complexity of software and demands for rapid deployment have pushed the software industry to rely more on large language models (LLMs) in developing source code. However, as this technology is still relatively recent, questions can arise about the safety of the generated code. This paper presents an analysis of seven LLMs with respect to the presence of vulnerabilities within source code. Our findings show that LLMs are more likely to produce vulnerable web applications than vulnerable C programs, and that vulnerabilities are more likely to occur when program size and complexity increases.

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Characterizing Advanced Persistent Threats With Cyber Attack Flow Metrics, Tyler Miller, Caleb Chang, Shouhuai Xu Sep 2026

Characterizing Advanced Persistent Threats With Cyber Attack Flow Metrics, Tyler Miller, Caleb Chang, Shouhuai Xu

Military Cyber Affairs

Cyber attack campaigns vary not only in scale but in structure, yet conventional characterizations often reduce them to a single dimension such as technique count or impact severity. In this paper we extend the concept of cyber attack flows by defining three new metrics, novelty, technique complexity and flow complexity. Then we characterize the attack flows of three advanced persistent threat campaigns using these metrics and draw insights regarding their capabilities. Our findings include that low novelty does not equate to low attack capabilities and that exploitation of an internet-facing appliance is a common initial attack vector.

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Semantic Shields: Automating Critical Infrastructure Defense Via Nlp-Driven Ransomware Profiling, Henry Trowbridge, Ian Zalcberg, Ryan Schley, Carter Yagemann, Natasha Phan, Srikar Maduposu, Vimal Buck Sep 2026

Semantic Shields: Automating Critical Infrastructure Defense Via Nlp-Driven Ransomware Profiling, Henry Trowbridge, Ian Zalcberg, Ryan Schley, Carter Yagemann, Natasha Phan, Srikar Maduposu, Vimal Buck

Military Cyber Affairs

Ransomware poses a growing threat to critical infrastructure, where successful attacks can disrupt operational technology (OT) and industrial control systems (ICS) with significant public safety consequences. However, attributing ransomware incidents to specific threat actors remains challenging due to ransomware-as-a-service ecosystems, actor rebranding, and the obfuscation of traditional indicators of compromise. This paper presents Semantic Shields, an NLP-driven attribution framework that leverages BERT-generated semantic embeddings and DBSCAN clustering to profile ransomware actors through the linguistic characteristics of ransom notes. Using a dataset of 295 ransom notes from 189 distinct threat groups, the framework achieved an 87.2% true positive clustering rate and …

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Closing The Interpretability Gap: Explainable Ml-Based Malware Detection For Defensive Cyberspace Operations, Tashi Stirewalt, Sean Hodgson, Puumaaya Tahiru, Assefaw Gebremedhin Sep 2026

Closing The Interpretability Gap: Explainable Ml-Based Malware Detection For Defensive Cyberspace Operations, Tashi Stirewalt, Sean Hodgson, Puumaaya Tahiru, Assefaw Gebremedhin

Military Cyber Affairs

This paper presents an end-to-end, explainable malware triage pipeline designed for defense-oriented cyber operations. It combines high-performance static detection methods with analyst-centered interpretability. Utilizing the EMBER 2024 Windows PE subset, we train and evaluate four classifiers and select LightGBM as the production model based on its predictive performance, inference efficiency, and compatibility with exact tree-based attribution. The deployed system consists of four sequential components: PE feature extraction, malware probability scoring, dual explainability (using SHAP and LIME), and large language model (LLM) report generation, all integrated within a Flask web interface. On a temporal test set of 1,080,000 samples, LightGBM achieves …

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