Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ordinal Hyperplane Loss, Bob Vanderheyden

Doctor of Data Science and Analytics Dissertations

This research presents the development of a new framework for analyzing ordered class data, commonly called “ordinal class” data. The focus of the work is the development of classifiers (predictive models) that predict classes from available data. Ratings scales, medical classification scales, socio-economic scales, meaningful groupings of continuous data, facial emotional intensity and facial age estimation are examples of ordinal data for which data scientists may be asked to develop predictive classifiers. It is possible to treat ordinal classification like any other classification problem that has more than two classes. Specifying a model with this strategy does not fully utilize …

Finding A Viable Neural Network Architecture For Use With Upper Limb Prosthetics, Maxwell Lavin

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

This paper attempts to answer the question of if it’s possible to produce a simple, quick, and accurate neural network for the use in upper-limb prosthetics. Through the implementation of convolutional and artificial neural networks and feature extraction on electromyographic data different possible architectures are examined with regards to processing time, complexity, and accuracy. It is found that the most accurate architecture is a multi-entry categorical cross entropy convolutional neural network with 100% accuracy. The issue is that it is also the slowest method requiring 9 minutes to run. The next best method found was a single-entry binary cross entropy …

Evaluating The Impact Of Proactive Care Management With Idstrat, D.J. Donahue, Lauren Staples

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

This purpose of this study is to quantify potential cost savings and member care improvements as a result of engagement through BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s (BCBST) Identification and Stratification (IDStrat) process. Commercial members engaged in clinical management that were identified through IDStrat were compared to commercial members identified through other means across several metrics including per-member, per-month (PMPM) cost and physician visits. Members identified by IDStrat experienced a statistically significant 7% greater reduction in costs after being engaged when compared with those identified by other methods. Members identified by IDStrat also experienced a significant reduction in emergency room visits after …

Effectiveness Of Tools In Identifying Rogue Access Points On A Wireless Network, Ryan Vansickle, Tamirat Abegaz, Bryson Payne

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Wireless access points have greatly improved users' ability to connect to the Internet. However, they often lack the security mechanisms needed to protect users. Malicious actors could create a rogue access point (RAP), using a device such as the WiFi Pineapple Nano, that could trick users into connecting to an illegitimate access point (AP). To make them look legitimate, adversaries tend to setup RAPs to include a captive portal. This is very effective, since most public networks use captive portals as a means to provide genuine access. The objective of this study is to examine the effectiveness of RAP identification …

Automatic Security Bug Detection With Findsecuritybugs Plugin, Hossain Shahriar, Kmarul Riad, Arabin Talukder, Hao Zhang, Zhuolin Li

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The security threats to mobile application are growing explosively. Mobile app flaws and security defects could open doors for hackers to easily attack mobile apps. Secure software development must be addressed earlier in the development lifecycle rather than fixing the security holes after attacking. Early eliminating against possible security vulnerability will help us increase the security of software and mitigate the consequence of damages of data loss caused by potential malicious attacking. In this paper, we present a static security analysis approach with open source FindSecurityBugs plugin for Android StThe security threats to mobile application are growing explosively. Mobile app …

Automated Reverse Engineering Of Automotive Can Bus Controls, Charles Barron Kirby, Bryson Payne

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

This research provides a means of automating the process to reverse engineer an automobile’s CAN Bus to quickly recover CAN IDs and message values to control the various systems in a modern automobile. This approach involved the development of a Python script that uses several open-source tools to interact with the CAN Bus, and it takes advantage of several vulnerabilities associated with the CAN protocol. These vulnerabilities allow the script to conduct replay attacks against the CAN Bus and affect various systems in an automobile without the operator’s knowledge or interaction.

These replay attacks can be accomplished by capturing recorded …

A World Of Cyber Attacks (A Survey), Mubarak Banisakher, Marwan Omar

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The massive global network that connects billions of humans and millions of devices and allow them to communicate with each other is known as the internet. Over the last couple of decades, the internet has grown expeditiously and became easier to use and became a great educational tool. Now it can used as a weapon that can steal someone’s identity, expose someone’s financial information, or can destroy your networking devices. Even in the last decade, there have been more cyber attacks and threats destroying major companies by breaching the databases that have millions of personal information that can be sold …

An Exploratory Analysis Of Mobile Security Tools, Hossain Shahriar, Md Arabin Talukder, Md Saiful Islam

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The growing market of the mobile application is overtaking the web application. Mobile application development environment is open source, which attracts new inexperienced developers to gain hands on experience with applicationn development. However, the security of data and vulnerable coding practice is an issue. Among all mobile Operating systems such as, iOS (by Apple), Android (by Google) and Blackberry (RIM), Android dominates the market. The majority of malicious mobile attacks take advantage of vulnerabilities in mobile applications, such as sensitive data leakage via the inadvertent or side channel, unsecured sensitive data storage, data transition and many others. Most of these …

Iot: Challenges In Information Security Training, Lech J. Janczewski, Gerard Ward

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Both consumers and businesses are rapidly adopting IoT premised on convenience and control. Industry and academic literature talk about billions of embedded IoT devices being implemented with use-cases ranging from smart speakers in the home, to autonomous trucks, and trains operating in remote industrial sites. Historically information systems supporting these disparate use-cases have been categorised as Information Technology (IT) or Operational Technology (OT), but IoT represents a fusion between these traditionally distinct information security models.

This paper presents a review of IEEE and Elsevier peer reviewed papers that identifies the direction in IoT education and training around information security. It …

Proposal For A Joint Cybersecurity And Information Technology Management Program, Christopher Simpson, Debra Bowen, William Reid, James Juarez

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management programs have many similarities and many similar knowledge, skills, and abilities are taught across both programs. The skill mappings for the NICE Framework and the knowledge units required to become a National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education contain many information technology management functions. This paper explores one university’s perception on how a joint Cybersecurity and Information Technology Management program could be developed to upskill students to be work force ready.

Adversarial Thinking: Teaching Students To Think Like A Hacker, Frank Katz

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Today’s college and university cybersecurity programs often contain multiple laboratory activities on various different hardware and software-based cybersecurity tools. These include preventive tools such as firewalls, virtual private networks, and intrusion detection systems. Some of these are tools used in attacking a network, such as packet sniffers and learning how to craft cross-site scripting attacks or man-in-the-middle attacks. All of these are important in learning cybersecurity. However, there is another important component of cybersecurity education – teaching students how to protect a system or network from attackers by learning their motivations, and how they think, developing the students’ “abilities to …

Internet Core Functions: Security Today And Future State, Jeffrey Jones

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Never in the history of the world has so much trust been given to something that so few understand. Jeff reviews three core functions of the Internet along with recent and upcoming changes that will impact security and the world.

Preparing For Tomorrow By Looking At Yesterday, Peter Dooley

KSU Proceedings on Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Why do we learn? Why do we study history? Why do we research the work of others? The answer is that there is value today in what was already learned and experienced, successes and failures. Mr. Dooley, a 25-year security professional and 20-year hospitality executive, will share his experiences and how our history in security will help us in thinking about our future.

Development Of Spatiotemporal Congestion Pattern Observation Model Using Historical And Near Real Time Data, Betty Kretlow

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

Traffic congestion is not foreign to major metropolitan areas. Congestion in large cities often is associated with dense land developments and continued economic growth. In general, congestion can be classified into two categories: recurring and nonrecurring. Recurring congestion often occurs at certain parts of highway networks, referred to as bottleneck locations. Nonrecurring congestion, on the other hand, can be caused by different reasons, including work zones, special events, accidents, inclement weather, poor signal timing, etc. The work presented here demonstrates an approach to effectively identifying spatiotemporal patterns of traffic congestion at a network level. The Metro Atlanta highway network was …

Cloud Computing Architecture For Elearning Systems In Secondary Schools In Tanzania, Kennedy F. Mwakisole, Mussa M. Kissaka Dr, Joel S. Mtebe Phd

The African Journal of Information Systems

In recent years, schools have been investing heavily on information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to implement eLearning systems to enhance the quality of education in secondary schools in Tanzania. The majority of these systems are implemented using a traditional web-based eLearning approach on school premises which is costly and limits usage due to lack of scalability and flexibility. Consequently, many schools have started adopting cloud computing as a solution. However, this adaption depends on well-defined cloud eLearning architecture. This study proposed cloud architecture for implementing an eLearning system in secondary schools in Tanzania by adopting various layers proposed in …

On The Yellow Brick Road, A Path To Enterprise Architecture Maturity, Avsharn Bachoo

The African Journal of Information Systems

This study concentrated on the relationship between the Enterprise Architecture (EA) maturity of an organization and the business value associated with it in the South African financial services environment. It was developed within the critical realism philosophy, which states that mechanisms generate events by accentuating the underlying EA mechanisms that lead to business value, as well as provide insights into the opportunities and challenges organizations experienced as they progressed to higher levels of maturity. Constructed using the resource-based view of the firm as the underlying theoretical framework, this research examined EA as an intangible resource and maturity as a source …

Factors Influencing Knowledge Transfer In Onshore Information Systems Outsourcing In Ethiopia, Solomon A. Nurye, Alem Molla, Temtim Assefa Desta

The African Journal of Information Systems

Knowledge transfer in onshore information systems (IS) outsourcing projects in Africa is an important but under-researched phenomenon. This study focuses on the client-vendor perspective and examines the factors that influence knowledge transfer in onshore information systems outsourcing in Ethiopia. Conceptually, knowledge-based perspectives of IS outsourcing is used to identify an initial set of factors to frame the empirical study. This is followed by semi-structured interviews with ten project managers. The findings indicate that five key factors, namely mutual absorptive capacity, mutual learning intent, mutual trust, mutual disseminative capacity and project staff turnover influence knowledge transfer in outsourced IS projects. The …

A Mathematical Model For The Effect Of Domestic Animals On Human African Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping Sickness), Sagi Shaier, Meghan Burke

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a parasite infection that is spread by the bites of tsetse flies and it is almost 100% fatal if left untreated (World Health Organization, “Neglected”). Our hypothesis is that by adding domestic animals to areas where humans are found (villages and plantations), we can reduce the amount of biting on humans, and therefore reduce the rate at which humans become infected. Numerical simulations supported our hypothesis, showing that increasing the number of domestic animals (pigs in our model) slows down the spread of the disease in both humans and domestic animals.

Texture-Based Deep Neural Network For Histopathology Cancer Whole Slide Image (Wsi) Classification, Nelson Zange Tsaku

Master of Science in Computer Science Theses

Automatic histopathological Whole Slide Image (WSI) analysis for cancer classification has been highlighted along with the advancements in microscopic imaging techniques. However, manual examination and diagnosis with WSIs is time-consuming and tiresome. Recently, deep convolutional neural networks have succeeded in histopathological image analysis. In this paper, we propose a novel cancer texture-based deep neural network (CAT-Net) that learns scalable texture features from histopathological WSIs. The innovation of CAT-Net is twofold: (1) capturing invariant spatial patterns by dilated convolutional layers and (2) Reducing model complexity while improving performance. Moreover, CAT-Net can provide discriminative texture patterns formed on cancerous regions of histopathological …

Social Inclusion In The Digital Era: Rethinking Debates And Narratives In The World Bank Report., Calisto Kondowe, Wallace Chigona

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

The 2019 (5th) proceedings of ACIST focuses on how African societies are leveraging and can leverage the smart capabilities in digital technologies to address organizational and societal challenges. Technology-enabled solutions offer solutions to many of these challenges. Digital technologies are increasingly becoming integral to and interdependent with the African society.

An Electronic Framework To Shepherd The Pastoral Livestock (Resolve Conflicts In Pastoral Communities), Frezewd Lemma, Anteneh Alemu, Desta Zerihun, Endale Aregu

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

This paper proposes a tracking framework based on GPS enabled location sensors, the GSM/WCDMA wireless network, and algorithms running in an edge clouds to resolve deadly conflicts that arise in the Africans pastorals community. The paper also proposes an automatic digital identification mechanism that helps resolve conflicts during animals mixup. This algorithmic based solution would totally relief the community from using the traditional identification mechanisms such as hot branding which are known to be cruel to animals. To communicate with the pastorals, the framework takes into consideration the low level literacy of the community as well as their use of …

Factors Influencing Customers’ Attitude For Using M-Birr Adoption In Ethiopia, Gebremedhin Gebreyohans, Abdurehman Ali

African Conference on Information Systems and Technology

Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) is a theory to explain how and over time new philosophies and then technology diffuse into different contexts. This research tested the attributes of DOI and other variables empirically,usingM-Birr system as the goal of the innovation. The research was conducted among customers of M-Birr service in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The data collection instrument was a closed-ended questionnaire administered to 360 respondents of which 211 were returned giving 58.6% return rate. The demographic make-up of the respondents showed that most of them were between the age of 30 to 50 and degree holders. From the factor analysis …

Small Angle X-Ray Scattering Study Of Conformational Changes In Steroid Responsive Activator (Sra) Rna Upon Binding With Suppressor Protein Sharp, Diane Diatta

Master of Science in Chemical Sciences Theses

ABSTRACT

Differentiation and proliferation are known to be influenced by steroid stimulation. The steroid receptor activator (SRA) RNA is a large RNA transcript indicated to be an epigenetic regulatory component in the steroid receptor coactivator-1 (SRC-1) acetyltransferase complex. It is needed for a response to steroid hormones by tumor cells. However, this activity is hindered by suppressive RNA binding proteins like the SMRT/HDAC1-associated repressor protein (SHARP), which binds the STR7 domain of SRA RNA through its four RNA recognition motifs (RRMs); it is not fully understood how SHARP executes this role as there are no SRA RNA-SHARP structures available for …

One And Two-Step Estimation Of Time Variant Parameters And Nonparametric Quantiles, Bogdan Gadidov

Doctor of Data Science and Analytics Dissertations

This dissertation develops and discusses several one-step and two-step smoothing methods of time variant nonparametric quantiles and time variant parameters from probability models. First, we investigate and develop nonparametric techniques for measuring extreme quantiles. The method involves aggregating data by an explanatory variable such as time and smoothing the resulting data with a nonparametric method like kernel, local polynomial or spline smoothing. We demonstrate both in application and simulation that this two-step procedure of quantile estimation is superior to the parametric quantile regression. We then develop a one-step method which combines the strength of maximum likelihood estimation with a local …

Use Of Pope Engagement Index To Measure Cognitive Load Of Physical Modeling Activities In Organic Chemistry, Jenifer Calvert

Master of Science in Chemical Sciences Theses

Understanding how students learn and process information is critical to developing physical modeling activities that facilitate student learning by decreasing cognitive load in the working memory. Optimizing cognitive load during physical modeling activities in organic chemistry is the key to effective and efficient learning. Using EEG (electroencephalogram) and eye tracking technologies, researchers measured and recorded the cognitive processing of participants while they completed a chiral physical modeling activity. Analysis of the data using the Engagement Index developed by Pope et al provided information necessary to develop curriculum that does not undermine student learning due to excessive cognitive load.

An Architecture For Blockchain-Based Collaborative Signature-Based Intrusion Detection System, Daniel Laufenberg

Master of Science in Information Technology Theses

Collaborative intrusion detection system (CIDS), where IDS hosts work with each other and share resources, have been proposed to cope with the increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks. Despite the promising benefits such as expanded signature databases and alert data from multiple sites, trust management and consensus building remain as challenges for a CIDS to work effectively. The blockchain technology with built-in immutability and consensus building capability provides a viable solution to the issues of CIDS. In this paper, we introduce an architecture for a blockchain-enabled signature-based collaborative IDS, discuss the implementation strategy of the proposed architecture and developed a prototype using Hyperledger …

A Descriptive Study Of Variable Discretization And Cost-Sensitive Logistic Regression On Imbalanced Credit Data, Lili Zhang, Jennifer Priestley, Herman Ray, Soon Tan

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

Training classification models on imbalanced data tends to result in bias towards the majority class. In this paper, we demonstrate how variable discretization and cost-sensitive logistic regression help mitigate this bias on an imbalanced credit scoring dataset, and further show the application of the variable discretization technique on the data from other domains, demonstrating its potential as a generic technique for classifying imbalanced data beyond credit scoring. The performance measurements include ROC curves, Area under ROC Curve (AUC), Type I Error, Type II Error, accuracy, and F1 score. The results show that proper variable discretization and cost-sensitive logistic regression with …

The Sub-Eddington Boundary For The Quasar Mass–Luminosity Plane: A Theoretical Perspective, David Garofalo, Damian J. Christian, Andrew M. Jones

Faculty and Research Publications

By exploring more than sixty thousand quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5, Steinhardt & Elvis discovered a sub-Eddington boundary and a redshift-dependent drop-off at higher black hole mass, possible clues to the growth history of massive black holes. Our contribution to this special issue of Universe amounts to an application of a model for black hole accretion and jet formation to these observations. For illustrativepurposes,we include~100,000 data points from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 where the sub-Eddington boundary is also visible andpropose a theoretical picture that explains these features. By appealing to thin …

Self-Consistent Quantum-Kinetic Theory For Interplay Between Pulsed-Laser Excitation And Nonlinear Carrier Transport In A Quantum-Wire Array, Jeremy R. Gulley, Danghong Huang

Faculty and Research Publications

We propose a self-consistent many-body theory for coupling the ultrafast dipole-transition and carrier-plasma dynamics in a linear array of quantum wires with the scattering and absorption of ultrashort laser pulses. The quantum-wire non-thermal carrier occupations are further driven by an applied DC electric field along the wires in the presence of resistive forces from intrinsic phonon and Coulomb scattering of photo-excited carriers. The same strong DC field greatly modifies the non-equilibrium properties of the induced electron-hole plasma coupled to the propagating light pulse, while the induced longitudinal polarization fields of each wire significantly alters the nonlocal optical response from neighboring …

Search For X(3872) And X(3915) Decay Into Χc1Π0 In B Decays At Belle, The Belle Collaboration, Luminda Kulasiri

Faculty and Research Publications

We report a search for X(3872) and X (3915) in B+→χc1π0K+ decays. We set an upper limit of B(B+→X(3872)K+)×B(X(3872)→χc1π0)<8.1×10−6 and B(B+→X(3915)K+)×B(X(3915)→χc1π0)<3.8×10−5 at 90% confidence level. We also measure B(X(3872)→χc1π0)/B(X(3872)→J/ψπ+π−)<0.97 at 90% confidence level. The results reported here are obtained from 772×106 B¯B events collected at the Υ(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider.