Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Adopting The Cybersecurity Curriculum Guidelines To Develop A Secondary And Primary Academic Discipline In Cybersecurity Postsecondary Education, Wasim A. Alhamdani

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

A suggested curriculum for secondary and primarily academic discipline in Cybersecurity Postsecondary Education is presented. This curriculum is developed based on the Association for Computing Machinery guidelines and the National Centers of Academic Excellence Cyber Operations program.

Cybersecurity Education: The Need For A Top-Driven, Multidisciplinary, School-Wide Approach, Lucy Tsado

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The human resource skills gap in cybersecurity has created an opportunity for educational institutions interested in cybersecurity education. The current number of schools designated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and National Security Agency (NSA) as Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) to train cybersecurity experts are not sufficient to meet the shortfall in the industry. The DHS has clearly mapped out knowledge areas for cybersecurity education for both technical and non-technical disciplines; it is therefore possible for institutions not yet designated CAEs to generate cybersecurity experts, with the long-term goal of attaining the CAE designation. The purpose of this …

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

Faculty Articles

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.

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 Articles

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 …

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

Faculty Articles

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 …

Understanding How Map Kinases Influence Endothelial Nitric-Oxide Synthase Activity, Xzaviar Solone

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPK) p38 and ERK have both been reported to bind endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) with submicromolar affinity via proposed interactions with a pentabasic non-canonical MAPK binding sequence in the autoinhibitory insertion of eNOS. The neuronal isoform, which lacks the pentabasic motif, did not bind either MAPK significantly. In the present study, the pentabasic motif was validated using predictive modeling programming, and eNOS phosphorylation by MAPKs (P38, ERK and JNK) was examined using in vitro kinase assays and immunoblotting. JNK phosphorylation at Ser¹¹⁴ contrasts with ERK, which phosphorylated Ser⁶⁰⁰, and p38, which phosphorylated …

A More Efficient Method For Extracting And Analyzing Pesticides In Baby Foods, Oluwatobi Fabunmi

Master of Science in Chemical Sciences Theses

Pesticides that are used to control pests such as insects, rodents, bacteria, mold, and fungus in food production end up in the fruits and vegetables that we consume. Clearly, concentration levels of pesticides must be carefully monitored. Successful monitoring of the concentrations is critically dependent upon pesticide extraction efficiency, the pesticide structure and the matrix (food product) in which the pesticide is found. Variables such as polarity, solubility, and pH must be investigated. A common approach to develop analysis methods involves spiking food products with pesticides and evaluating method efficiency by calculating percent recoveries from the foods. Sample results from …

Design Of Cotton Fabric-Based Binary And Ternary Composite Materials Containing Nanostructured Zno, Tio2, And Plasmonic Nanoparticles: Photocatalytic Applications, Latanya Downer

Master of Science in Chemical Sciences Theses

Nanostructure metals and metal oxides can be used for surface functionalization and combined with different materials to increase functionality. Recently, surface functionality has been of interest due to its multi-component and its ability to generate new material properties. One of its main application is the creation of nanomaterials because of its novel physical properties which contribute towards stabilization, strength, and catalytic properties. Nanomaterials makes it possible to fabricate objects in the nanoscale size range which offers beneficial physical properties. The nanomaterial distinctiveness allows for the creation of materials with unique characteristics for different applications such as photocatalytic coatings. Semiconductor and …

Deep Embedding Kernel, Linh Le

Doctor of Data Science and Analytics Dissertations

Kernel methods and deep learning are two major branches of machine learning that have achieved numerous successes in both analytics and artificial intelligence. While having their own unique characteristics, both branches work through mapping data to a feature space that is supposedly more favorable towards the given task. This dissertation addresses the strengths and weaknesses of each mapping method through combining them and forming a family of novel deep architectures that center around the Deep Embedding Kernel (DEK). In short, DEK is a realization of a kernel function through a newly deep architecture. The mapping in DEK is both implicit …

Spring 2019, Joëlle Walls

The Investigator Research Magazine

We are excited to launch The Investigator, a new magazine which will be produced annually by the Office of Research at Kennesaw State University. You will find stories that span the spectrum and which impact the community through the research, service and creative activities conducted by KSU faculty, staff and students.

One feature describes how Jonathan McMurry and John Salerno partnered to create KSU’s first incubator company, New Echota Biotechnology. Another feature details the first year success of KSU Upward Bound programs, implemented in Polk and Paulding county high schools which help prepare students for college.

You will read how …

The Evolution Of Data Science: A New Mode Of Knowledge Production, Jennifer Lewis Priestley, Robert J. Mcgrath

Faculty Articles

Is data science a new field of study or simply an extension or specialization of a discipline that already exists, such as statistics, computer science, or mathematics? This article explores the evolution of data science as a potentially new academic discipline, which has evolved as a function of new problem sets that established disciplines have been ill-prepared to address. The authors find that this newly-evolved discipline can be viewed through the lens of a new mode of knowledge production and is characterized by transdisciplinarity collaboration with the private sector and increased accountability. Lessons from this evolution can inform knowledge production …

Stochastic Ordering Of Pólya Random Variables And Monotonicity Of The Bernstein–Stancu Operator For A Negative Parameter, Florenţa Tripşa, Nicolae R. Pascu

Faculty Articles

In the present paper, we prove that the probabilities of the Pólya urn distribution (with negative replacement) satisfy a monotonicity property similar to that of the binomial distribution. As a consequence, we show that the corresponding random variables are stochastically ordered with respect to the parameter giving the initial distribution of the urn. An equivalent formulation of this result shows that the new Bernstein–Stancu-type operator introduced in (Pascu et al. in Proc. Rom. Acad., Ser. A: Math. Phys. Tech. Sci. Inf. Sci. 2019, in press) is a monotone operator. The proofs are probabilistic in spirit and rely on various inequalities, …

Fr0 Radio Galaxies And Their Place In The Radio Morphology Classification, David Garofalo, Chandra B. Singh

Faculty Articles

So-called FR0 radio galaxies have recently emerged as a family of active galaxies with all the same properties as FRI radio galaxies except for their ratio of core to total emission, which is about 30 times higher than that of FRI sources. We show how their properties fit within the gap paradigm as low, prograde, spinning black holes whose progenitors are powerful FRII quasars that transitioned rapidly from the cold mode into advection-dominated accretion over a few million years. The prediction is that if sufficient fuel exists, FR0 radio galaxies will evolve into full-fledged FRI radio galaxies and the observational …

From The Editors, Herbert J. Mattord, Michael E. Whitman

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

A message from the editors.

Outcome Prediction In Intensive Care Unit Settings With Claims Data, Lauren Staples, Ryan Rimby

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

The MIMIC III data comes from an Intensive Care Unit in Boston over a period of 10 years. This data contains billing codes as well as lab and demographic data. This project predicts the outcome “death within 30 days of discharge” through the lense of a healthcare billing company, to see if healthcare companies can play a role in healthcare quality, by only using data that they would have access to (billing and demographic data). This project used a unique method of nominal data variable reduction specific to ICD 9 and CPT codes, and compared the performance of logistic regression …

Radically Simplifying Gated Recurrent Architectures Without Loss Of Performance, Jonathan Boardman, Ying Xie

Published and Grey Literature from PhD Candidates

Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) units are a family of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architectures that have proven incredibly effective at learning from sequence data. They are also extremely complex, making them expensive to train and difficult to understand. A recent trend towards simplification has produced the Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and the Minimal Gated Unit (MGU), both of which perform as well as the LSTM (or better) on a variety of tasks. The MGU is one of the simplest gated recurrent architectures at the moment. Our study demonstrates that it is possible to radically simplify the MGU without significant loss …

Investigating The Impact Of Publicly Announced Information Security Breaches On Corporate Risk Factor Disclosure Tendencies, Sandra J. Cereola, Joanna Dynowska

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

As the reported number of data breaches increase and senators push for more disclosure regulation, the SEC staff issued a guidance in 2011 on disclosure obligations relating to cybersecurity risks and incidents. More recently, on February 26, 2018 the SEC Commission issued interpretive guidance to help assist public companies prepare disclosures regarding cybersecurity risks and incidents. As reported incidents of cybersecurity breaches occur, investors are concerned about the risks associated with these incidents and the impact they may have on financial performance. Although the SEC staff guidance warns public companies to make timely disclosure, recognizing the threat that cybercrime poses …

Sit Back, Relax, And Tell Me All Your Secrets, Sarah Kirk, Daniel Foreman, Cody Lee, Shannon W. Beasley

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

The goal of this research is to describe an active learning opportunity that was conducted as a community service offering through our Center for Cybersecurity Education and Applied Research (CCEAR). As a secondary goal, the participants sought to gain real world experience by applying techniques and concepts studied in security classes. A local insurance company tasked the CCEAR with assembling a team of students to conduct penetration testing (including social engineering exploits) against company personnel. The endeavor allowed the insurance company to obtain information that would assess the effectiveness of employee training with regard to preventing the divulgence of sensitive …

Multi-Branch Ensemble Learning Architecture Based On 3d Cnn For False Positive Reduction In Lung Nodule Detection, Haichao Cao, Hong Liu, Enmin Song, Chih-Cheng Hung

Faculty Articles

It is critical to have accurate detection of lung nodules in CT images for the early diagnosis of lung cancer. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to reduce the false positive rate of detection. Due to the heterogeneity of lung nodules and their similarity to the background, it is difficult to distinguish true lung nodules from numerous candidate nodules. In this paper, in order to solve this challenging problem, we propose a Multi-Branch Ensemble Learning architecture based on the three-dimensional (3D) convolutional neural networks (MBEL-3D-CNN). The method combines three key ideas: 1) constructing a 3D-CNN to make the …

Sustainability Education And Organizational Change: A Critical Case Study Of Barriers And Change Drivers At A Higher Education Institution, Edwin E. Akins Ii, Elizabeth Giddens, David Glassmeyer, Amy Gruss

Faculty Articles

Integrating sustainability within institutions of higher education can have a tremendous impact on students, faculty, and the larger community. Sustainability efforts also experience many barriers to implementation within higher education contexts. A change management perspective can help characterize these barriers and ways to overcome them. In this critical case study, we use a process model to examine the kinds of barriers Kennesaw State University (KSU) has faced regarding implementation of academic sustainability and to evaluate change drivers that can advance sustainability during a time of leadership change. The process model evaluates barriers and change drivers according to published frameworks, and …

Unpinning The Skyrmion Lattice In Mnsi: Effect Of Substitutional Disorder, Chetan Dhital, L. Debeer-Schmitt, D. P. Young, J. F. Ditusa

Faculty Articles

By employing magnetization and small angle neutron scattering measurements, we have investigated the behavior of the skyrmion lattice (SKL) and the helical order in MnS i 0 . 992 G a 0 . 008 Our results indicate that the order of the SKL is sensitive to the orientation of an applied magnetic field with respect to the crystal lattice and to variations in the sequence of small temperature and applied magnetic field changes. The disorder caused by the substitution of the heavier element Ga for Si is sufficient to reduce the pinning of the SKL to the underlying crystalline lattice, …

Web-Based Recommendation System For Smart Tourism: Multiagent Technology, Raheleh Hassannia, Ali Vatankhah Barenji, Zhi Li, Habib Alipour

Faculty Articles

The purpose of the study is to design and develop a recommended system based on agent and web technologies, which utilizes a hybrid recommendation filtering for the smart tourism industry. A hybrid recommendation system based on agent technology is designed by considering the online communication with other sectors in the tourism industry, such as the tourism supply chain, agency etc. However, online communication between the sectors via agents is designed and developed based on the contract net protocol. Furthermore, the design system is developed on the java agent development framework and implemented as a web application. Case study-based results considering …