Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Prediction Of Sudden Cardiac Death Using Ensemble Classifiers, Ayman Momtaz El-Geneidy

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is a medical problem that is responsible for over 300,000 deaths per year in the United States and millions worldwide. SCD is defined as death occurring from within one hour of the onset of acute symptoms, an unwitnessed death in the absence of pre-existing progressive circulatory failures or other causes of deaths, or death during attempted resuscitation. Sudden death due to cardiac reasons is a leading cause of death among Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients. The use of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) systems has made a wealth of medical data available for research and analysis. Supervised …

A Pcnn Framework For Blood Cell Image Segmentation, Carol D. Lenihan

CCE Theses and Dissertations

This research presents novel methods for segmenting digital blood cell images under a Pulse Coupled Neural Network (PCNN) framework. A blood cell image contains different types of blood cells found in the peripheral blood stream such as red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets. WBCs can be classified into five normal types – neutrophil, monocyte, lymphocyte, eosinophil, and basophil – as well as abnormal types such as lymphoblasts and others. The focus of this research is on identifying and counting RBCs, normal types of WBCs, and lymphoblasts. The total number of RBCs and WBCs, along with classification …

Adaptive Strategies Of Multi-Objective Optimization For Greener Networks, Hatem Yazbek

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Increasing energy costs and environmental issues related to the Internet and wired networks continue to be a major concern. Energy-efficient or power-aware networks continue to gain interest in the research community. Existing energy reduction approaches do not fully address all aspects of the problem. We consider the problem of reducing energy by turning off network links, while achieving acceptable load balance, by adjusting link weights. Changing link weights frequently can cause network oscillation or instability in measuring the resulting traffic load, which is a situation to be avoided. In this research, we optimize two objectives, which are minimizing network power …

Reduction Of False Positives In Intrusion Detection Based On Extreme Learning Machine With Situation Awareness, Donald A. Burgio

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Protecting computer networks from intrusions is more important than ever for our privacy, economy, and national security. Seemingly a month does not pass without news of a major data breach involving sensitive personal identity, financial, medical, trade secret, or national security data. Democratic processes can now be potentially compromised through breaches of electronic voting systems. As ever more devices, including medical machines, automobiles, and control systems for critical infrastructure are increasingly networked, human life is also more at risk from cyber-attacks. Research into Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) began several decades ago and IDSs are still a mainstay of computer and …

Assessing The Presence Of Mindfulness Within Cyber And Non-Cybersecurity Groups, Christopher Wilder

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Corporations and individuals continue to be under Phishing attack. Researchers categorizes methods corporations and individuals can employ to reduce the impact of being caught in a Phishing scheme. Corporation enable technical mechanisms such as automated filtering, URL blacklisting, and manipulation of browser warning messages to reduce phishing susceptibility costing billions of dollars annually. However, even with robust efforts to educate employees about phishing techniques through security awareness training the abundance of attacks continues to plague organizations. This study aims to identify whether a correlation exists between mindfulness and phishing susceptibility. The goal of this research is to determine if mindful …

Algorithmic Foundations Of Heuristic Search Using Higher-Order Polygon Inequalities, Newton Henry Campbell Jr.

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The shortest path problem in graphs is both a classic combinatorial optimization problem and a practical problem that admits many applications. Techniques for preprocessing a graph are useful for reducing shortest path query times. This dissertation studies the foundations of a class of algorithms that use preprocessed landmark information and the triangle inequality to guide A* search in graphs. A new heuristic is presented for solving shortest path queries that enables the use of higher order polygon inequalities. We demonstrate this capability by leveraging distance information from two landmarks when visiting a vertex as opposed to the common single landmark …

Aspect Mining Using Multiobjective Genetic Clustering Algorithms, David G. Bethelmy

CCE Theses and Dissertations

In legacy software, non-functional concerns tend to cut across the system and manifest themselves as tangled or scattered code. If these crosscutting concerns could be modularized and the system refactored, then the system would become easier to understand, modify, and maintain. Modularized crosscutting concerns are known as aspects and the process of identifying aspect candidates in legacy software is called aspect mining.

One of the techniques used in aspect mining is clustering and there are many clustering algorithms. Current aspect mining clustering algorithms attempt to form clusters by optimizing one objective function. However, the objective function to be optimized tends …

Empirical Analysis Of Socio-Cognitive Factors Affecting Security Behaviors And Practices Of Smartphone Users, Joseph P. Simpson

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The overall security posture of information systems (IS) depends on the behaviors of the IS users. Several studies have shown that users are the greatest vulnerability to IS security. The proliferation of smartphones is introducing an entirely new set of risks, threats, and vulnerabilities. Smartphone devices amplify this data exposure problem by enabling instantaneous transmission and storage of personally identifiable information (PII) by smartphone users, which is becoming a major security risk. Moreover, companies are also capitalizing on the availability and powerful computing capabilities of these smartphone devices and developing a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) program, which makes companies susceptible to divulgence …

An Empirical Assessment Of Employee Cyberslacking In The Public Sector, Wilnelia Hernández

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With the increasing use of the Internet, new challenges are presented to employees in the workplace. Employees spend time during work hours on non-work related activities including visiting e-commerce Websites, managing personal email accounts, and engaging in e-banking. These types of actions in the workplace are known as cyberslacking. Cyberslacking affects the employees’ productivity, presents legal concerns, and undermines the security of the organization’s network. This research study addressed the problem of cyberslacking in the public sector, by assessing the ethical severity of cyberslacking activities, as well as how employees perceived that the frequency of such activities occurred by their …

Mutable Class Design Pattern, Nikolay Malitsky

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation proposes, presents and analyzes a new design pattern, the Mutable Class pattern, to support the processing of large-scale heterogeneous data models with multiple families of algorithms. Handling data-algorithm associations represents an important topic across a variety of application domains. As a result, it has been addressed by multiple approaches, including the Visitor pattern and the aspect-oriented programming (AOP) paradigm. Existing solutions, however, bring additional constraints and issues. For example, the Visitor pattern freezes the class hierarchies of application models and the AOP-based projects, such as Spring AOP, introduce significant overhead for processing large-scale models with fine-grain objects. The …

A Study Of The Success Of Group Formation In Virtual Teams Using Computer-Mediated Communications, Eliel Melón-Ramos

CCE Theses and Dissertations

In the digital domain, virtual teams within organizations and corporations are becoming common. Restructuring an organization or corporation is vital because competition and globalization are increasing. In this era of globalization, distributed working groups need to develop a competitive advantage in these ever-changing environments. Historically, teams had experienced problems stemming from geographical and temporal limitations. With the increase of technology in telecommunications, organizations are increasingly forming virtual teams, which have become critical to the survival of nearly any corporate entity.

Virtual teams have some of the same problems that regular teams have. One of the key challenges is the method …

Enhanced Method Call Tree For Comprehensive Detection Of Symptoms Of Cross Cutting Concerns, Saleem Obaidullah Mir

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Aspect oriented programming languages provide a new enhanced composition mechanism between the functional sub units as compared to earlier non aspect oriented languages. For this reason the refactoring process requires a new approach to the analysis of existing code that focuses on how the functions cross cut one another. Aspect mining is a process of studying an existing program in order to find these cross cutting functions or concerns so they may be implemented using new aspect oriented constructs and thus reduce the complexity of the existing code. One approach to the detection of these cross cutting concerns generates a …

An Investigation Of Socio-Technical Components Of Knowledge Management System (Kms) Usage, Noel Wint Jr.

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Existing literature indicates that although both academics and practitioners recognize knowledge management (KM) as a source of competitive advantage, users are not always willing to use a knowledge management system (KMS). Because of the social nature of knowledge transfer, a KMS can be considered a socio-technical system. Many explanations have been presented for this failure to utilize the KMS. These explanations include a number of the socio-technical factors relating to people, processes, and technologies. While these factors may have significant explanatory power when examined independently, existing studies have not sufficiently addressed the interactions among all three socio-technical factors or their …

Capturing, Eliciting, And Prioritizing (Cep) Non-Functional Requirements Metadata During The Early Stages Of Agile Software Development, Richard Rabin Maiti

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Agile software engineering has been a popular methodology to develop software rapidly and efficiently. However, the Agile methodology often favors Functional Requirements (FRs) due to the nature of agile software development, and strongly neglects Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs). Neglecting NFRs has negative impacts on software products that have resulted in poor quality and higher cost to fix problems in later stages of software development.

This research developed the CEP “Capture Elicit Prioritize” methodology to effectively gather NFRs metadata from software requirement artifacts such as documents and images. Artifact included the Optical Character Recognition (OCR) artifact which gathered metadata from images. The …

A Study Of Data Sharing Practices Within Scholarly Research Communities, Mary Harward

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Recent literature acknowledges the importance of data and effective data management strategies to facilitate collaboration between disciplines of research. Likewise, understanding the policies and practices that support data sharing is a growing area of research in the fields of information and social studies of science. Shared data allow researchers to build on fellow researchers’ work to enrich and facilitate advancements in science. While much has been written to identify the elements that adversely affect data sharing in scholarly research, a definitive framework remains unclear. Several theories have been presented to explain this shortfall; however, the reasons are highly diverse. Some …

Service Quality And Perceived Value Of Cloud Computing-Based Service Encounters: Evaluation Of Instructor Perceived Service Quality In Higher Education In Texas, Eges Egedigwe

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Cloud computing based technology is becoming increasingly popular as a way to deliver quality education to community colleges, universities and other organizations. At the same time, compared with other industries, colleges have been slow on implementing and sustaining cloud computing services on an institutional level because of budget constraints facing many large community colleges, in addition to other obstacles. Faced with this challenge, key stakeholders are increasingly realizing the need to focus on service quality as a measure to improve their competitive position in today's highly competitive environment. Considering the amount of study done with cloud computing in education, very …

Efficient Variations Of The Quality Threshold Clustering Algorithm, Frank Loforte Jr.

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Clustering gene expression data such that the diameters of the clusters formed are no greater than a specified threshold prompted the development of the Quality Threshold Clustering (QTC) algorithm. It iteratively forms clusters of non-increasing size until all points are clustered; the largest cluster is always selected first. The QTC algorithm applies in many other domains that require a similar quality guarantee based on cluster diameter. The worst-case complexity of the original QTC algorithm is (n5). Since practical applications often involve large datasets, researchers called for more efficient versions of the QTC algorithm.

This dissertation aimed to develop …

The Importance Of A Pictorial Medical History In Assisting Medical Diagnosis Of Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities: A Telemedicine Approach, Grace Bonanno

CCE Theses and Dissertations

When face-to-face physical medical exams are not possible, virtual physical exams, in the form of a pictorial medical exam/history, can be substituted, and telemedicine can be the means to deliver these virtual exams. The goal of this work was to determine if presence in the form of a visual and/or pictorial medical history can be of benefit to clinicians in the diagnosis of medical conditions of individuals with developmental disabilities (DDs) and/or intellectual disabilities (IDs), in particular those who cannot, because of their cognitive and/or physical disabilities, verbally relate their illness to a clinician. Virtual exams can also be useful …

Usable Security Using Goms: A Study To Evaluate And Compare The Usability Of User Accounts On E-Government Websites, Amran Din

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The term e-Government refers to providing citizens a series of services that can be conveniently conducted over the Internet. However, the potential to redefine and transform e-Government increasingly relies on citizens successfully establishing and managing a user account profile online. E-Government has not adequately addressed user-centric designs for social inclusion of all citizens on e-Government websites. There is a lack of research on the usability of user account management, and a clear lack of innovation in incorporating user-friendly authentication interfaces to accommodate a diverse user population given the wealth of existing research in web authentication techniques within Identity Management. The …

Immunology Inspired Detection Of Data Theft From Autonomous Network Activity, Theodore O. Cochran

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The threat of data theft posed by self-propagating, remotely controlled bot malware is increasing. Cyber criminals are motivated to steal sensitive data, such as user names, passwords, account numbers, and credit card numbers, because these items can be parlayed into cash. For anonymity and economy of scale, bot networks have become the cyber criminal’s weapon of choice. In 2010 a single botnet included over one million compromised host computers, and one of the largest botnets in 2011 was specifically designed to harvest financial data from its victims. Unfortunately, current intrusion detection methods are unable to effectively detect data extraction techniques …

Building Cloud-Based Information Systems Lab Architecture: Deriving Design Principles That Facilitate The Effective Construction And Evaluation Of A Cloud-Based Lab Environment, Thomas J. Trevethan

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The problem explored in this dissertation report was that at the time of this study, there were no design principles or methodologies based on design science research (DSR) available to use for artifact construction, implementation, and effective evaluation of cloud-based networking lab environments that can be used to foster hands-on technology skills in students. Primarily based on Hevner’s 7 guidelines of DSR, Peffer’s design science research methodology (DSRM), and Gregor’s IS design theory, this study forms the groundwork for the development of procedures and specifications derived from DSR literature to facilitate the construction, implementation, and evaluation of a comprehensive cloud-based …

Math In The Dark: Tools For Expressing Mathematical Content By Visually Impaired Students, Patricia M. Mcdermott-Wells

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Blind and visually impaired students are under-represented in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines of higher education and the workforce. This is due primarily to the difficulties they encounter in trying to succeed in mathematics courses. While there are sufficient tools available to create Braille content, including the special Nemeth Braille used in the U.S. for mathematics constructs, there are very few tools to allow a blind or visually impaired student to create his/her own mathematical content in a manner that sighted individuals can use. The software tools that are available are isolated, do not interface well with other …

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Accessibility Awareness Among Faculty In Online Learning Environments, Rachael Sessler Trinkowsky

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Although all organizations and institutions should consider accessibility when developing online content, inaccessibility is a recurring issue in recent literature pertaining to online learning environments (OLEs) and faculty accessibility awareness. The goal was to describe how online faculty gain knowledge regarding accessibility, to explore the lived experiences of online faculty who have worked with students who have disabilities, and to gain a better understanding of how faculty experience the process of accessibility implementation. The following research questions guided this study: How do faculty in OLEs experience encounters regarding accessibility for students who have print related disabilities? How do faculty in …

An Electroencephalogram (Eeg) Based Biometrics Investigation For Authentication: A Human-Computer Interaction (Hci) Approach, Ricardo J. Rodriguez

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Encephalogram (EEG) devices are one of the active research areas in human-computer interaction (HCI). They provide a unique brain-machine interface (BMI) for interacting with a growing number of applications. EEG devices interface with computational systems, including traditional desktop computers and more recently mobile devices. These computational systems can be targeted by malicious users. There is clearly an opportunity to leverage EEG capabilities for increasing the efficiency of access control mechanisms, which are the first line of defense in any computational system.

Access control mechanisms rely on a number of authenticators, including “what you know”, “what you have”, and “what you …

Determinants Of Intention To Use New Technology: An Investigation Of Students In Higher Education, Yolanda Dupree

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The federal government continues to monitor the cost of paper texts as an essential component of postsecondary education expenses. The Higher Education Act (HEA), which was initially passed in 1965, was created to buttress the educational resources of colleges and universities. Along with addressing the benefits of financial aid in postsecondary and higher education, the act referenced the projected financial burdens of paper texts. The last 2008 reauthorization suggested that colleges and universities develop plans to reduce the costs of college. Congress is currently working to reauthorize the legislation. Based on this information, the problem identified in this study explored …

Incremental Sparse-Pca Feature Extraction For Data Streams, Jean-Pierre Nziga

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Intruders attempt to penetrate commercial systems daily and cause considerable financial losses for individuals and organizations. Intrusion detection systems monitor network events to detect computer security threats. An extensive amount of network data is devoted to detecting malicious activities.

Storing, processing, and analyzing the massive volume of data is costly and indicate the need to find efficient methods to perform network data reduction that does not require the data to be first captured and stored. A better approach allows the extraction of useful variables from data streams in real time and in a single pass. The removal of irrelevant attributes …

A Predictive Modeling System: Early Identification Of Students At-Risk Enrolled In Online Learning Programs, Mary L. Fonti

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Predictive statistical modeling shows promise in accurately predicting academic performance for students enrolled in online programs. This approach has proven effective in accurately identifying students who are at-risk enabling instructors to provide instructional intervention. While the potential benefits of statistical modeling is significant, implementations have proven to be complex, costly, and difficult to maintain. To address these issues, the purpose of this study is to develop a fully integrated, automated predictive modeling system (PMS) that is flexible, easy to use, and portable to identify students who are potentially at-risk for not succeeding in a course they are currently enrolled in. …

Use Of Entropy For Feature Selection With Intrusion Detection System Parameters, Frank Acker

CCE Theses and Dissertations

The metric of entropy provides a measure about the randomness of data and a measure of information gained by comparing different attributes. Intrusion detection systems can collect very large amounts of data, which are not necessarily manageable by manual means. Collected intrusion detection data often contains redundant, duplicate, and irrelevant entries, which makes analysis computationally intensive likely leading to unreliable results. Reducing the data to what is relevant and pertinent to the analysis requires the use of data mining techniques and statistics. Identifying patterns in the data is part of analysis for intrusion detections in which the patterns are categorized …

Designing An Effective Information Security Policy For Exceptional Situations In An Organization: An Experimental Study, George S. Antoniou

CCE Theses and Dissertations

An increasing number of researchers are recognizing the importance of the role played by employees in maintaining the effectiveness of an information security policy. Currently, little research exists to validate the relationship between the actions (behaviors) taken by employees in response to exceptional situations (antecedents) regarding an organization’s information security policy, the impact (consequences) those actions have on an organization, and the motives that prompt those actions. When these exceptional situations occur, employees may feel compelled to engage in behaviors that violate the terms of an information security policy because strict compliance with the policy could cause the organization to …

Examining The Security Awareness, Information Privacy, And The Security Behaviors Of Home Computer Users, Keith Edwards

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Attacks on computer systems continue to be a problem. The majority of the attacks target home computer users. To help mitigate the attacks some companies provide security awareness training to their employees. However, not all people work for a company that provides security awareness training and typically, home computer users do not have the incentive to take security awareness training on their own. Research in security awareness and security behavior has produced conflicting results. Therefore, it is not clear, how security aware home computer users are or to what extent security awareness affects the security behavior of home computer users. …