Computer Sciences Commons^™

An Instructional Designer Competency Framework For Complex Learning Designs, David Alan Schubert

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Learning design competency frameworks published by professional organizations, exist for typical instructional design efforts. However, a review of literature revealed a lack of frameworks available for the creation of complex learning designs (CLDs). The goal of this research was to develop a competency framework for the creation of CLDs. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed in the four phases of the design and development research approach In phase one, a survey based on the Educational Technology Multimedia Competency Survey (ETMCS) was sent to instructional designers who self-reported as having experience creating CLDs. The purpose of phase one was to identify …

Assessing The Effects Of Communication Media Affordances And The Awareness Of Media Security On Knowledge Sharing Behavior, Linda C. Greene

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Global Software Development (GSD) team members engage in intellectual activities that involve sharing business domain knowledge and technical knowledge across geographical areas, which is crucial to the successful development of software. In global software development, media choice may influence how virtual teams create and share knowledge. As digital technology advances and organizations become more digitally transformed, current communication theories for media selection lack the explanation to the complicated phenomena with the use of advanced media technologies. There have been many studies focused on the effectiveness of media, but they did not include user’s understanding of system security and its influence …

A Newborn Screening Disorders Online Portal For Primary Care Providers And Parents, Jean Becky Whittemore

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Parents do not always receive accurate, timely and comprehensive information regarding a positive newborn screening from their infants’ primary care providers. The dissertation outlines the investigation of this problem. The methodology of the study is discussed including the survey of parents and primary care providers using the past system, the development of a web portal with a focus on plain language and action focused handouts. Without a simple to understand parent handout the newborn screening process is more stressful to families. Review of the literature is detailed including newborn screening, patient education, health literacy, Internet usage, online health education, design …

Examining Shared Understanding And Team Performance In Global Virtual Teams, Alva Bullard

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Modern organizations face many significant challenges because of turbulent environments and a competitive global economy. These competitive demands have forced many organizations to increase levels of flexibility and adaptability through the use of virtual environments, and global teams are prevalent in business organizations. Although significant research has been conducted on virtual teams, the development of shared understanding among the members of these teams has not been studied adequately. Time/space barriers, communication complexities, and team diversity hinder the development of shared understanding in these teams.

Based on the Media Synchronicity Theory (MST), a new theoretical model was created that used the …

Comprehending The Safety Paradox And Privacy Concerns With Medical Device Remote Patient Monitoring, Marc Doyle

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Medical literature identifies a number of technology-driven improvements in disease management such as implantable medical devices (IMDs) that are a standard treatment for candidates with specific diseases. Among patients using implantable cardiac defibrillators (ICD), for example, problems and issues are being discovered faster compared to patients without monitoring, improving safety. What is not known is why patients report not feeling safer, creating a safety paradox, and why patients identify privacy concerns in ICD monitoring.

There is a major gap in the literature regarding the factors that contribute to perceived safety and privacy in remote patient monitoring (RPM). To address this …

Feature Set Selection For Improved Classification Of Static Analysis Alerts, Kathleen Goeschel

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

With the extreme growth in third party cloud applications, increased exposure of applications to the internet, and the impact of successful breaches, improving the security of software being produced is imperative. Static analysis tools can alert to quality and security vulnerabilities of an application; however, they present developers and analysts with a high rate of false positives and unactionable alerts. This problem may lead to the loss of confidence in the scanning tools, possibly resulting in the tools not being used. The discontinued use of these tools may increase the likelihood of insecure software being released into production. Insecure software …

Examining Task Conflict And Team Atmosphere In Virtual Teams Engaged In Outsourced Project Work, Harold Carr Osborn

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Global teams have become commonplace. As teams have become more dispersed, leveraging outsourced resources has gained popularity. Outsourcing can be a prudent move financially; however, when it is inappropriately applied, the damage it produces can easily overshadow any financial gains. Such ill effects can include impaired employee performance and morale caused by decreased job security. Moreover, it can lead to a less favorable team atmosphere and increased task conflict.

This study examined the effects of team virtuality along with the strategic alignment of outsourcing on team performance. The research utilized the intervening processes theory (IPT). The IPT posits that the …

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

CCAC 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 …

The Factors That Impact Patient Portal Utilization, William Carroll Reed

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Spawned by legislative mandates, such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009’s Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, and individuals desiring to have more personal accountability for their health and healthcare, the introduction and use of electronic personal health information (ePHI) has grown substantially. Given that most ePHI is maintained within the healthcare delivery system, an information portal is required for individuals to have access to the ePHI. As a result, the legislation required the introduction and use of patient portals to grant such access.

Despite substantial financial incentives and disincentives for healthcare organizations to …

An Examination Of User Detection Of Business Email Compromise Amongst Corporate Professionals, Shahar Sean Aviv

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

With the evolution in technology and increase in utilization of the public Internet, Internet-based mobile applications, and social media, security risks for organizations have greatly increased. While corporations leverage social media as an effective tool for customer advertisements, the abundance of information available via public channels along with the growth in Internet connections to corporate networks including mobile applications, have made cyberattacks attractive for cybercriminals. Cybercrime against organizations is a daily threat and targeting companies of all sizes. Cyberattacks are continually evolving and becoming more complex that make it difficult to protect against with traditional security methods. Cybercriminals utilize email …

Motivation Factors For Using Mobile Information Systems In M-Learning, Neelima Bhatnagar

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Organizations of all types have benefited from the development and use of information systems. With the explosion of mobile applications, also known as mobile information systems, new uses are emerging. One such application of mobile information systems is mobile learning, referred to as m-learning hereafter. M-learning has found its ways in the corporate world for employee training and development, and in higher education for teaching and student learning. However, m-learning has not seen the same extent of usage as distance learning and e-learning, often attributed to technological limitations. Motivational factors, though, may also contribute to the slow adoption of m-learning. …

Information Systems Security Leadership: An Empirical Study Of Behavioral Influences Of Leaders On Employees’ Security Compliance, Marcus Alan Winkfield

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

This empirical study examined the behavioral influences of leaders on employees’ security compliance. Organizations can use leadership concepts in the field of Information Systems (IS) security. Despite the adoption of technical and managerial approaches, organizations still face issues motivating employee IS security compliance. This dissertation argued that organizations need strong leadership to encourage employees. Using the expectancy theory, this paper created a theoretical model to help understand the influence of task and relationship-oriented leadership behaviors on nontechnical controls IS security compliance. The conceptual underpinnings translated into perceived security effort, perceived security performance, and expected security outcomes. The theoretical model was …

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

CCAC 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 …

An Investigation Of Factors Motivating Employee Attitudes And Intentions To Share Knowledge In Homeland Security, Evette Maynard-Noel

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The terrorist events of September 11, 2001, highlighted the inability of federal employees and officials to collaborate and share actionable knowledge-based information with the right people at the right time. However, much of the literature on knowledge sharing provided insight into knowledge sharing in private sector organizations and foreign public-sector organizations, instead of domestic public sectors or the United States federal government. While the importance of knowledge sharing for homeland security has been documented in the literature, there are no established frameworks that evaluate knowledge sharing motive and intentions in this context. The main goal of this research was to …

Cyber Situational Awareness And Cyber Curiosity Taxonomy For Understanding Susceptibility Of Social Engineering Attacks In The Maritime Industry, Guillermo Francisco Perez

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The maritime information system (IS) user has to be prepared to deal with a potential safety and environmental risk that can be caused by an unanticipated failure to a cyber system used onboard a vessel. A hacker leveraging a maritime IS user’s Cyber Curiosity can lead to a successful cyber-attack by enticing a user to click on a malicious Web link sent through an email and/or posted on a social media website. At worst, a successful cyber-attack can impact the integrity of a ship’s cyber systems potentially causing disruption or human harm. A lack of awareness of social engineering attacks …

The Influence Of Identifiable Personality Traits On Nurses’ Intention To Use Wireless Implantable Medical Devices, Vincent Molosky

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Technically-driven medical devices such as wireless implantable medical devices (WIMD) have become ubiquitous within healthcare. The use of these devices has changed the way nurses administer patient care. Consequently, the nursing workforce is large and diverse, and with it comes an expected disparity in personalities. Research involving human factors and technology acceptance in healthcare is not new. Yet due to the changing variables in the manner of which patient care is being administered, both in person and in the mechanism of treatment, recent research suggests that individual human factors such as personality traits may hold unknown implications involving more successful …

User Information Security Behavior In Professional Virtual Communities: A Technology Threat Avoidance Approach, Vivienne Forrester

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The popularization of professional virtual communities (PVCs) as a platform for people to share experiences and knowledge has produced a paradox of convenience versus security. The desire to communicate results in disclosure where users experience ongoing professional and social interaction. Excessive disclosure and unsecured user security behavior in PVCs increase users’ vulnerability to technology threats. Nefarious entities frequently use PVCs such as LinkedIn to launch digital attacks. Hence, users are faced with a gamut of technology threats that may cause harm to professional and personal lives. Few studies, however, have examined users’ information security behavior and their motivation to engage …

Usability Challenges With Insulin Pump Devices In Diabetes Care: What Trainers Observe With First-Time Pump Users, Helen Birkmann Hernandez

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Insulin pumps are designed for the self-management of diabetes mellitus in patients and are known for their complexity of use. Pump manufacturers engage trainers to teach patients how to use the devices correctly to control the symptoms of their disease. Usability research related to insulin pumps and other infusion pumps with first-time users as participants has centered on the relationship between user interface design and the effectiveness of task completion. According to prior research, the characteristics of system behavior in a real life environment remain elusive. A suitable approach to acquire information about potential usability problems encountered by first-time users …

The Impact Of Cross-References On The Readability Of The U.S. Internal Revenue Code, Jeffrey A. Lasky

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Scholars and practitioners have long argued that U.S. income tax law (“the Tax Code”) is excessively complex and difficult to understand, and hence imposes non-trivial adjudication, administration, planning, and compliance costs across the spectrum of income tax stakeholders: the courts, the Internal Revenue Service, tax practitioners, business managers, and individual taxpayers. Hence, there is considerable interest in reducing the effort needed to accurately understand and apply the provisions of income tax law. Prior scholarly work has strongly argued that exceptions to Tax Code provisions as expressed by cross-references embedded in the Tax Code text constitute a major source of reading …

A Data Mining Framework For Improving Student Outcomes On Step 1 Of The United States Medical Licensing Examination, James Clark

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Identifying the factors associated with medical students who fail Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) has been a focus of investigation for many years. Some researchers believe lower scores on the Medical Colleges Admissions Test (MCAT) are the sole factor used to identify failure. Other researchers believe lower course outcomes during the first two years of medical training are better indicators of failure. Yet, there are medical students who fail Step 1 of the USMLE who enter medical school with high MCAT scores, and conversely medical students with lower academic credentials who are expected to have …

Using Experiential Learning In Course Curriculum: The Case Of A Core Engineering Graphics Course, Martha Marie Snyder, Manuel Salinas, Molly J. Scanlon

CCAC Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

This work-in-progress paper overviews how an experiential education program was established at a private, non-profit university in the southeast, describes the process for certifying experiential courses using a formal course review process and qualification rubric, and details the case of a freshman engineering graphics course.

Grounded in the early works of Dewey, Lewin, and Piaget, experiential learning theory has become increasingly popular in higher education. Experiential learning serves as a foundation for lifelong learning and the development of the whole self as a citizen, family member and human being (Kolb, 2015). Austin and Rust (2015) define experiential learning as “‘hands-on’ …

Knowledge Sharing Among Academics In Higher Education Institutions In Saudi Arabia, Fahad M. Alsaadi

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) in Saudi Arabia aims to move toward a knowledge-based economy and many knowledge management (KM) and knowledge sharing (KS) initiatives have been taken to accelerate the achievement of this goal. Despite the substantial body of research into KS in the business environment, research that investigates factors that promote KS practices among academics in higher education institutions (HEIs) is generally limited, but particularly in Saudi Arabia. To bridge this gap, the goal was to explore what individual and organizational factors contribute to a person’s willingness to share knowledge and develop a profile of the current …

Identifying Factors Contributing Towards Information Security Maturity In An Organization, Madhuri M. Edwards

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Information security capability maturity (ISCM) is a journey towards accurate alignment of business and security objectives, security systems, processes, and tasks integrated with business-enabled IT systems, security enabled organizational culture and decision making, and measurements and continuous improvements of controls and governance comprising security policies, processes, operating procedures, tasks, monitoring, and reporting. Information security capability maturity may be achieved in five levels: performing but ad-hoc, managed, defined, quantitatively governed, and optimized. These five levels need to be achieved in the capability areas of information integrity, information systems assurance, business enablement, security processes, security program management, competency of security team, security …

Database Streaming Compression On Memory-Limited Machines, Damon F. Bruccoleri

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic Huffman compression algorithms operate on data-streams with a bounded symbol list. With these algorithms, the complete list of symbols must be contained in main memory or secondary storage. A horizontal format transaction database that is streaming can have a very large item list. Many nodes tax both the processing hardware primary memory size, and the processing time to dynamically maintain the tree. This research investigated Huffman compression of a transaction-streaming database with a very large symbol list, where each item in the transaction database schema’s item list is a symbol to compress. The constraint of a large symbol list …

Standardizing Instructional Definition And Content Supporting Information Security Compliance Requirements, Theresa Curran

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Information security (IS)-related risks affect global public and private organizations on a daily basis. These risks may be introduced through technical or human-based activities, and can include fraud, hacking, malware, insider abuse, physical loss, mobile device misconfiguration or unintended disclosure. Numerous and diverse regulatory and contractual compliance requirements have been mandated to assist organizations proactively prevent these types of risks. Two constants are noted in these requirements. The first constant is requiring organizations to disseminate security policies addressing risk management through secure behavior. The second constant is communicating policies through IS awareness, training and education (ISATE) programs. Compliance requirements direct …

Wireless Sensor Network Clustering With Machine Learning, Larry Townsend

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are useful in situations where a low-cost network needs to be set up quickly and no fixed network infrastructure exists. Typical applications are for military exercises and emergency rescue operations. Due to the nature of a wireless network, there is no fixed routing or intrusion detection and these tasks must be done by the individual network nodes. The nodes of a WSN are mobile devices and rely on battery power to function. Due the limited power resources available to the devices and the tasks each node must perform, methods to decrease the overall power consumption of …

Assessing The Role Of Critical Value Factors (Cvfs) On Users’ Resistance Of Urban Search And Rescue Robotics, Marion A. Brown

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Natural and manmade disasters have brought urban search and rescue (USAR) robots to the technology forefront as a means of providing additional support for search and rescue workers. The loss of life among victims and rescue workers necessitates the need for a wider acceptance of this assistive technology. Disasters, such as hurricane Harvey in 2017, hurricane Sandy in 2012, the 2012 United States tornadoes that devastated 17 states, the 2011 Australian floods, the 2011 Japan and 2010 Haiti earthquakes, the 2010 West Virginia coal mine explosions, the 2009 Typhoon caused mudslides in Taiwan, the 2001 Collapse of the World Trade …

The Effects Of Student Activity Dashboards On Student Participation, Performance, And Persistence, Edwin Hill

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have turned their attention to the use of learning analytics and dashboard systems in education. Schools are using knowledge gained in this area to address the issue of persistence to increase graduation rates. While dashboard systems have been developed and are starting to be implemented, it is not yet clear how activity and performance data from dashboards influences student behavior. In addition, much of the research has been focused on instructor-facing dashboards rather than student-facing dashboards. The current study implemented a student-facing dashboard in the learning management system and measured how information on the dashboard may have influenced participation …

Conservation Of Limited Resources: Design Principles For Security And Usability On Mobile Devices, Ann-Marie Horcher

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Mobile devices have evolved from an accessory to the primary computing device for an increasing portion of the general population. Not only is mobile the primary device, consumers on average have multiple Internet-connected devices. The trend towards mobile has resulted in a shift to “mobile-first” strategies for delivering information and services in business organizations, universities, and government agencies. Though principles for good security design exist, those principles were formulated based upon the traditional workstation configuration instead of the mobile platform. Security design needs to follow the shift to a “mobile-first” emphasis to ensure the usability of the security interface. The …

Assessing The Impact Of A Geospatial Information System For Improving Campus Emergency Decision-Making Of Novice Crisis Managers, Adam R. Albina

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

A significant increase in campus-based emergencies warrants the investigation into emergency management information systems that serve a novice crisis decision-maker. Institutions of higher education that are not large enough to have dedicated emergency management offices generally press novice decision-makers into emergency management roles. An investigation was conducted to assess the impact of an emergency management geospatial information system on the decision performance of novice crisis managers through the use of a scenario-based simulation. A mixed method sequential explanatory method was used to collect quasi-experimental data on decision time, decision accuracy and situational awareness. Qualitative analysis was conducted through interviews with …