Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Towards Robust Classification In Adversarial Learning Using Bayesian Games, Anna Buhman

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

A well-trained neural network is very accurate when classifying data into different categories. However, a malicious adversary can fool a neural network through tiny changes to the data, called perturbations, that would not even be detectable to a human. This makes neural networks vulnerable to influence by an attacker. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been developed as one possible solution to this problem [1]. A GAN consists of two neural networks, a generator and a discriminator. The discriminator tries to learn how to classify data into categories. The generator stands in for the attacker and tries to discover the best …

Keep It Simple, Keep It Safe - Research On The Impacts Of Increasing Complexity Of Modern Enterprise Applications, Shawn Ware, David Phillips

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

As the Cybersecurity program within UNO continues to adapt to the ever-changing world of information systems and information security, the Cybersecurity Capstone has recently become an active, community-involvement project, where real-world organizations can receive valuable, useful research and information from students on their way towards a degree. This presentation encompasses two such projects from the Cybersecurity Capstone, looking at how modern, more complex systems can often increase system vulnerability.

Fire-Induced Mineralogical Changes In Midwest Tallgrass Prairie Soils, Lacey Legrand

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Tallgrass prairies are productive ecosystems that historically covered a large part of the Midwest and in the past were subjected to frequent, natural fire regimes. Today prairie remnants are often managed by ecological burns. Glacier Creek Preserve is a restored prairie in Omaha, Nebraska that includes randomized research plots established in 1978 to study the effects of burning on vegetation and provides a controlled field environment to investigate the effects of fire on soils. The purpose of this study is to compare soil mineralogy in long-term burned and unburned plots to answer the question: “Does prescribed burning induce mineralogical changes …

Extension Of The Ezsmt Software System For Non-Tight Constraint Answer Set Programs, Da Shen

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Answer set programming (ASP) is a programming language that plays a critical role in the development of software applications in areas of science, humanities, and industry. Yet, it is faced with some challenges. Therefore, researchers develop a related paradigm called constraint answer set programming (CASP) to tackle several issues of ASP tools. Recently, a method is proposed to find solutions to CASP programs by using satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solvers. SMT solvers are high-performance systems stemming from the software verification community.

This SMT-based approach is implemented in a system called EZSMT, which often outperforms its peers. Yet, it has several …

Collecting And Organizing Far-Left Extremist Data From Unstructured Internet Sources, Eric Perez

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Far-left extremism refers to a network of groups who adhere to and take direct action in accordance with one or more of the following ideas: Support for bio-centric diversity, the belief that the earth and animals are in immediate danger, and the view that the government and other parts of society are responsible for this danger and incapable/unwilling to fix the crisis and preserve the American wilderness (Chermak, Freilich, Duran, & Parkin). Far-left extremism groups self-report activities using publicly accessible, online communiqués. These activities include arson, property damage, harassment, sabotage, and theft (Loadenthal). The communiqués are structured like blog posts …

Amazon Alexa: The Best Personal Assistant Or An Eavesdropping Witch, Alisa Bohac, Michael Keck

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The prolific integration of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices into our homes is continuously generating discussions surrounding the security and privacy of these devices. One device that has received particular attention in the past few years is the Amazon Alexa, a ‘personal assistant’ IoT device, which listens to user commands and performs certain actions. According to Amazon, “millions of Alexa devices” were sold in the 2017 Holiday period alone [1]. However, the continuous amalgamation of technology has prompted the idea that many digital devices, through their overall functionality, could be utilized by cybercriminals to digitally intrude into our personal lives [2]. Hence, …

Superpositioning High Power Lasers For Mid-Air Image Formation, Auston Viotto

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Abstract

This research evaluates different methods to create voxels, 3-dimensional pixels, in air without the need for special glasses or reflections off of surfaces. Research on the advantages of superimposing or the culmination, focusing, of laser light will be conducted. The point of superpositioning/culmination will be evaluated by the brightness of the voxel due to the Rayleigh Scatter Effect. The voxel’s brightness is dependent on the laser output strength and inversely proportional to its wavelength. Once a superimposed/culminated voxel has been created in the lab the next step will be to manipulate the location of the voxel through 3-dimensional space. …

Intelligent And Human-Aware Decision Making For Semi-Autonomous Human Rehabilitation Assistance Using Modular Robots, Anoop Mishra

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Modular Self-reconfigurable Robots (MSRs) are robots that can adapt their shape and mobility while performing their operations. We are developing an MSR called MARIO (Modular Robots for Assistance in Robust and Intelligent Operations) to assist patients with spinal cord injury in performing daily living tasks. In this research, we are investigating computational techniques that will enable MARIO to autonomously adapt its shape while performing an assistive task, and, while remaining aware of the human user’s satisfaction in receiving assistance from MARIO. We are developing semi-autonomous decision making techniques within a computational framework called shared autonomy that will adapt MARIO’s movements …

Cora: Commingled Remains And Analytics – An Open Community Ecosystem, Nicole Mcelroy, Ryan Ernst

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Anthropologists at organizations such as the DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency) have the tough job of sorting through commingled remains of fallen soldiers. Under the direction of Professor Pawaskar at the College of IS&T, Ryan Ernst and I are currently developing a web application for the DPAA that will help them inventory the bones and record all the appropriate associations. After the inventory web application is built we will begin the analysis process using graph theory and other mathematical algorithms. This will ultimately help organizations like the DPAA get closer to the end goal of identifying fallen soldiers from commingled …

Visualize To Realize: Improving Safety Of First Responders, Vikas Sahu

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The goal of this study is to improve the safety of first responders during an emergency hazardous material (hazmat) incident.

• A first responder (FR) is an individual who arrives first during a hazmat incident and takes the initiative to act in order to minimize the risk to public health and property from such incidents. Often first responders are firefighters.
• The reports of National Fire Protection Association recorded a national average of more than 30,000 firefighter injuries between 2010-16 (National Fire Protection Association, 2017).
• According to the US Fire Administration, an average fatality of 120 firefighters were recorded between 2010-16 throughout …

Supercell Crystal Structure Of Na2ga2(Bo3)2, Grace Brown

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Na₂Ga₂(BO₃)₂O is an oxyborate with a reported crystal structure in the trigonal space group P1c. The literature states that the three-dimensional structure is created from infinite stacking of parallel [NaGa₂(BO₃)₂] ∞ sheets separated by sodium layers. Our single-crystal X-ray diffraction data requires some modification to this structure. We believe that Na₂Ga₂(BO₃)₂O actually possesses a supercell crystal structure with lower symmetry. The borate anions within the [NaGa₂(BO₃)₂ ] sheets are not parallel to each …