Business Commons^™

Harnessing Technology To Solve Social Problems, Ian Hassell

SMU Human Trafficking Data Conference

No abstract provided.

Self-Learning Algorithms For Intrusion Detection And Prevention Systems (Idps), Juan E. Nunez, Roger W. Tchegui Donfack, Rohit Rohit, Hayley Horn

SMU Data Science Review

Today, there is an increased risk to data privacy and information security due to cyberattacks that compromise data reliability and accessibility. New machine learning models are needed to detect and prevent these cyberattacks. One application of these models is cybersecurity threat detection and prevention systems that can create a baseline of a network's traffic patterns to detect anomalies without needing pre-labeled data; thus, enabling the identification of abnormal network events as threats. This research explored algorithms that can help automate anomaly detection on an enterprise network using Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity data. This study demonstrates that Neural Networks with Bayesian …

Study Of Stochastic Market Clearing Problems In Power Systems With High Renewable Integration, Saumya Sakitha Sashrika Ariyarathne

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

Integrating large-scale renewable energy resources into the power grid poses several operational and economic problems due to their inherently stochastic nature. The lack of predictability of renewable outputs deteriorates the power grid’s reliability. The power system operators have recognized this need to account for uncertainty in making operational decisions and forming electricity pricing. In this regard, this dissertation studies three aspects that aid large-scale renewable integration into power systems. 1. We develop a nonparametric change point-based statistical model to generate scenarios that accurately capture the renewable generation stochastic processes; 2. We design new pricing mechanisms derived from alternative stochastic programming …

Price Optimization For Revenue Maximization At Scale, Nikhil Gupta, Massimiliano Moro, Kailey A. Ayala, Bivin Sadler

SMU Data Science Review

This study presents a novel approach to price optimization in order to maximize revenue for the distribution market of non-perishable products. Data analysis techniques such as association mining, statistical modeling, machine learning, and an automated machine learning platform are used to forecast the demand for products considering the impact of pricing. The techniques used allow for accurate modeling of the customer’s buying patterns including cross effects such as cannibalization and the halo effect. This study uses data from 2013 to 2019 for Super Premium Whiskey from a large distributor of alcoholic beverages. The expected demand and the ideal pricing strategy …

Bert For Question Answering On Bioasq, Eric R. Fu, Rikel Djoko, Maysam Mansor, Robert Slater

SMU Data Science Review

Machine reading comprehension and question answering are topics of considerable focus in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). In recent years, language models like Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) [3] have been very successful in language related tasks like question answering. The difficulty of the question answering task lies in developing accurate representations of language and being able to produce answers for questions. In this study, the focus is to investigate how to train and fine tune a BERT model to improve its performance on BioASQ, a challenge on large scale biomedical question answering. Our most accurate BERT …

Automated Interactive 3d Geospatial Data Assimilation, Formatting And Visualization System For Development Of Subsurface Conceptual Site Models, Aaron Cattley, Gavin Hudgeons, Bruce Lee

SMU Data Science Review

The natural evolution of the collection and storage of sub- surface data in Texas has resulted in the current state where data for certain resources, such as water resources, have not been assimilated with state oil and gas and injection data in a meaningful way that allows for rapid understanding and data analysis for a physical land site. The consequences that result due to data from different spheres not being in sync are often duplication of work being performed but not in a consistent manner. However, the reality is that the infrastructure and impacts of these sectors are deeply intertwined. …

Blockchain And Its Transformational Impact To Global Business, Mohammed Qaudeer

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

The advent of internet to the public back in 1994 resulted in the 4th industrial revolution disrupting and transforming business and communication models. As much as the transformation changed our lives and experiences, it has resulted in centralized models like Amazon and Facebook. It also resulted in exponential growth of Fraud, Identity theft, and lack of trust. Blockchain is considered an emerging technology of this era, which will trigger the 5th industrial revolution enabling another massive storm of disruptive transformation completely changing the current business models based on trust, security, collaboration and crypto currency. As the evolution of blockchain technology …

Qlime-A Quadratic Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanation Approach, Steven Bramhall, Hayley Horn, Michael Tieu, Nibhrat Lohia

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we introduce a proof of concept that addresses the assumption and limitation of linear local boundaries by Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), a popular technique used to add interpretability and explainability to black box models. LIME is a versatile explainer capable of handling different types of data and models. At the local level, LIME creates a linear relationship for a given prediction through generated sample points to present feature importance. We redefine the linear relationships presented by LIME as quadratic relationships and expand its flexibility in non-linear cases and improve the accuracy of feature interpretations. We coin …

Generalized Relay Network Design And Collaborative Dispatching In Truckload Transportation, Amin Ziaeifar

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

The truckload industry faces a serious problem of high driver shortage and turnover rate which is typically around 100\%. Among the major causes of this problem are extended on-the-road times where drivers handle several truckload pickup and deliveries successively; non-regular schedules and get-home rates; and low utilization of drivers dedicated time. These are by-and-large consequences of the driver-to-load dispatching method, which is based on point-to-point dispatching or direct shipment from origin-to-destination, commonly employed in the industry. In this dissertation, we consider an alternative dispatching method that necessitates careful design of an underlying network. In this scheme, a truckload on its …

Big-Data Talent Analytics In The Public Sector: A Promotion And Firing Model Of Employees At Federal Agencies, Rabih Neouchi

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

Talent analytics is a relatively new area of focus to researchers working in analytics and data science. Talent Analytics has the potential to help companies make many informed critical decisions around talent acquisition, promotion and retention. This work investigates data science to predict “shiny star” employees in the U.S. public sector, defined as top-notch performers over the years of a given time span. Its scope falls within talent analytics, also called people analytics, a relatively new research area.

We clean a data set made available by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and present two models to predict the …

Wireless Channel Characterization Based On Crowdsourced Data And Geographical Features, Rita Enami

Electrical Engineering Theses and Dissertations

To design and plan wireless communication systems, an accurate propagation estimate is required of a deployment region. Propagation prediction models consist of two types of fading: large-scale and small-scale fading. With large-scale fading, the path loss information is crucial for cell planning, coverage estimation, and optimization. With small-scale fading, the statistical fluctuation on the local variations of the average signal level can have a dramatic effect on protocol decisions and resulting performance. To obtain accurate estimates of both types of fading, typically field measurements are needed that use drive testing, which is expensive in terms of time and cost. Recently, …

Improving Vix Futures Forecasts Using Machine Learning Methods, James Hosker, Slobodan Djurdjevic, Hieu Nguyen, Robert Slater

SMU Data Science Review

The problem of forecasting market volatility is a difficult task for most fund managers. Volatility forecasts are used for risk management, alpha (risk) trading, and the reduction of trading friction. Improving the forecasts of future market volatility assists fund managers in adding or reducing risk in their portfolios as well as in increasing hedges to protect their portfolios in anticipation of a market sell-off event. Our analysis compares three existing financial models that forecast future market volatility using the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX) to six machine/deep learning supervised regression methods. This analysis determines which models provide best …

Project Insight: A Granular Approach To Enterprise Cybersecurity, Sunna Quazi, Adam Baca, Sam Darsche

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we disambiguate risky activity corporate users are propagating with their software in real time by creating an enterprise security visualization solution for system administrators. The current problem in this domain is the lag in cyber intelligence that inhibits preventative security measure execution. This is partially due to the overemphasis of network activity, which is a nonfinite dataset and is difficult to comprehensively ingest with analytics. We address these concerns by elaborating on the beta of a software called "Insight" created by Felix Security. The overall solution leverages endpoint data along with preexisting whitelist/blacklist designations to unambiguously communicate …

Yelp’S Review Filtering Algorithm, Yao Yao, Ivelin Angelov, Jack Rasmus-Vorrath, Mooyoung Lee, Daniel W. Engels

SMU Data Science Review

In this paper, we present an analysis of features influencing Yelp's proprietary review filtering algorithm. Classifying or misclassifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended affects average ratings, consumer decisions, and ultimately, business revenue. Our analysis involves systematically sampling and scraping Yelp restaurant reviews. Features are extracted from review metadata and engineered from metrics and scores generated using text classifiers and sentiment analysis. The coefficients of a multivariate logistic regression model were interpreted as quantifications of the relative importance of features in classifying reviews as recommended or non-recommended. The model classified review recommendations with an accuracy of 78%. We found that reviews …

Comparative Study: Reducing Cost To Manage Accessibility With Existing Data, Claire Chu, Bill Kerneckel, Eric C. Larson, Nathan Mowat, Christopher Woodard

SMU Data Science Review

“Project Sidewalk” is an existing research effort that focuses on mapping accessibility issues for handicapped persons to efficiently plan wheelchair and mobile scooter friendly routes around Washington D.C. As supporters of this project, we utilized the data “Project Sidewalk” collected and used it to confirm predictions about where problem sidewalks exist based on real estate and crime data. We present a study that identifies correlations found between accessibility data and crime and housing statistics in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. We identify the key reasons for increased accessibility and the issues with the current infrastructure management system. After a thorough …