Computer Sciences Commons^™

Using Class Interfaces And Mock Objects To Unit Test Aspects, Michael Bryan Snider

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In object oriented programming (OOP) class objects are individual units of code that encapsulate the desired functionality of each object. AOP is an attempt to handle the cross-cutting concerns that represent functionality needed by a class, but is not specific to that class. The cross-cutting functionality is implemented in AOP by using a class-like structure, the aspect. Aspects do not have their own context and as such are dependent upon other objects for their context. By not having their own context it is difficult to test the functionality of aspects. This study investigated the effectiveness of using class interfaces and …

Security Policies That Make Sense For Complex Systems: Comprehensible Formalism For The System Consumer, Rhonda R. Henning

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Information Systems today rarely are contained within a single user workstation, server, or networked environment. Data can be transparently accessed from any location, and maintained across various network infrastructures. Cloud computing paradigms commoditize the hardware and software environments and allow an enterprise to lease computing resources by the hour, minute, or number of instances required to complete a processing task. An access control policy mediates access requests between authorized users of an information system and the system's resources. Access control policies are defined at any given level of abstraction, such as the file, directory, system, or network, and can be …

Designing For Statistical Reasoning And Thinking In A Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment, Wendy Tu

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Difficulties in learning and understanding statistics in college education have led to a reform movement in statistics education in the early 1990s. Although much work has been done, there is more work that needs to be done in statistics education. The progress depends on how well the educators bring interesting real-life data into the classroom.

The goal was to understand how course design based on First Principles of Instruction could facilitate tertiary-level students' conceptual understanding when learning introductory statistics in a technology-enhanced learning environment. An embedded single descriptive case design was employed to investigate how integrating technology and real data …

Secure Mobile Deployment Of Nfl Training Materials, Alexander R. Corris

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The problem addressed is the lack of empirical research describing the delivery of individualized learning material in a secure and mobile manner. The goal was to investigate the effectiveness of deploying training materials to National Football League (NFL) players during a recent NFL season. Over the past few seasons, NFL teams have started to deliver player training material to mobile devices. The training material is sensitive and includes planning documents for upcoming games. An effort was made to survey a representative at each of the 32 NFL teams in order to gain insight on effectiveness, security, and process. Nearly half …

Performance Comparison Of Projective Elliptic-Curve Point Multiplication In 64-Bit X86 Runtime Environment, Ninh Winson

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

For over two decades, mathematicians and cryptologists have evaluated and presented the theoretical performance of Elliptic-curve scalar point-multiplication in projective geometry. Because computation in projective domain is composed of a wide array of formulations and computing optimizations, there is not a comprehensive performance comparison of point-multiplication using projective transformation available to verify its realistic efficiency in 64-bit x86 computing platforms. Today, research on explicit mathematical formulations in projective domain continues to excel by seeking higher computational efficiency and ease of realization. An explicit performance evaluation will help implementers choose better implementation methods and improve Elliptic-curve scalar point-multiplication. This paper was …

Understanding Usability-Related Information Security Failures In A Healthcare Context, Edward D. Boyer

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

This research study explores how the nature and type of usability failures impact task performance in a healthcare organization. Healthcare organizations are composed of heterogeneous and disparate information systems intertwined with complex business processes that create many challenges for the users of the system. The manner in which Information Technology systems and products are implemented along with the overlapping intricate tasks the users have pose problems in the area of usability. Usability research primarily focuses on the user interface; therefore, designing a better interface often leaves security in question. When usability failures arise from the incongruence between healthcare task and …

Assistive Technologies Used By Students With Asperger’S Syndrome To Improve Performance In The General Education Classroom, Sara (Beth) Cardwell Foreman

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind Act requires all students; regardless of poverty level, learning disability, limited English proficiency, or racial/ethnic origins; to be in general education classrooms meeting high standards of proficiency in reading/language arts and mathematics by 2013-14. Meeting high standards of proficiency in a general education classroom is particularly challenging for students diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorders, such as Asperger's syndrome. Limited interests, inflexible language, and social skills deficits without a history of cognitive or language delays before the age of three characterize the disorder. Other symptoms, such as clumsiness, unusual sensory reactions, and talk in unusual ways …

An Investigation Of The Key Factors That Affect The Adoption Of Smartphones In Global Midmarket Professional Service Firms, Mark S. Kocour

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The evolution and proliferation of mobile devices (m-devices) in the workplace have been rapid. In comparison to conventional services provided by mobile phones (m-phones), smartphones feature sophisticated functionality, such as Internet access, video/audio streaming, and business productivity applications. As a consequence of increased demand for smartphones in the workplace, an understanding of the factors that determine the decision to adopt smartphones in business settings is necessary. The goal of this investigation was to identify the key factors that have an impact on the adoption of smartphones.

This dissertation investigation provided an understanding of the key factors that affect the adoption …

Investigating The Determinants Of Disaster Recovery Technology Investment Choice In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises, Faranak Afshar

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Due to the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as drivers of economic growth, it is essential to explore the security issues impacting SMEs' success and failure. One of the main security risks that could significantly impair the operability of the organizations is the permanent loss of data due to man-made and/or natural disasters and interruptions. Research has shown that SMEs are not taking disaster preparedness for their computer and networking systems as seriously as they should. This dissertation is an attempt to explain the process of a risky choice, specifically the decision maker's choice of not investing in …

Employee And Organization Security Value Alignment Through Value Sensitive Security Policy Design, Dianne Blitstein Solomon

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Every member of the organization must be involved in proactively and consistently preventing data loss. Implementing a culture of security has proven to be a reliable method of enfranchising employees to embrace security behavior. However, it takes more than education and awareness of policies and directives to effect a culture of security. Research into organizational culture has shown that programs to promote organizational culture - and thus security behavior - are most successful when the organization's values are congruent with employee values. What has not been clear is how to integrate the security values of the organization and its employees …

Improving The Selection Of Surrogates During The Cold-Start Phase Of A Cyber Foraging Application To Increase Application Performance, Brian Kowalczk

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Mobile devices are generally less powerful and more resource constrained than their desktop counterparts are, yet many of the applications that are of the most value to users of mobile devices are resource intensive and difficult to support on a mobile device. Applications such as games, video playback, image processing, voice recognition, and facial recognition are resource intensive and often exceed the limits of mobile devices.

Cyber foraging is an approach that allows a mobile device to discover and utilize surrogate devices present in the local environment to augment the capabilities of the mobile device. Cyber foraging has been shown …

Dynamic Pricing In Heterogeneous Wireless Cellular Networks, David Shrader

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Smart communications devices are giving users instant access to applications that consume large amounts of data. These applications have different requirements on the network for delivery of data. In order to support these different applications, operators are required to support multiple service classes.

Given the regulatory and technology constraints and the relatively high cost associated with wireless spectrum licensing and utilization, demand will exceed supply leading to congestion and overload conditions. In addition to new broadband radio technologies offering higher data rates, operators are looking at deploying alternate heterogeneous technologies, such as WLAN, to provide additional bandwidth for serving customers. …

A Cognitive Apprenticeship Approach For Teaching Abstract And Complex Skills In An Online Learning Environment, Reinaldo Fernandez

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate courses such as mathematics, science, and computer programming require high levels of decision making, concentration, and cognitive demand. Researchers in the field of instructional design are interested in effective instructional strategies that can aid practitioners in teaching such abstract and complex skills.

One example of an instructional strategy that has proven effective in teaching these skills is cognitive apprenticeship (CA). While CA has been applied to courses such as mathematics and computer programming in face-to-face and blended learning environments, there is little evidence of the advantages of applying CA in a fully online computer programming course. Specifically, the introductory …

Helping Children With Autism Learn With Mathematics Software, Michelle Hansen

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are conditions where a person may exhibit developmental disabilities, significant social, communication and behavioral challenges, and process information differently than people without ASD. The Federal Government guidelines mandate inclusion of all students into the public school facilities. All school age children in the United States are afforded the same opportunities for public education.

The goal of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI) as a treatment for teaching mathematics to a group of autistic pupils in an elementary school environment. The public later elementary school is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan and had …

Development Of Virtue Ethics Based Security Constructs For Information Systems Trusted Workers, John M. Gray, Gurvirender Tejay

CCE Student and Alumni Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches and Lectures

Despite an abundance of research on the problem of insider threats only limited success has been achieved in preventing trusted insiders from committing security violations. Virtue ethics may be a new approach that can be utilized to address this issue. Human factors such as moral considerations and decisions impact information system design, use, and security; consequently they affect the security posture and culture of an organization. Virtue ethics based concepts have the potential to influence and align the moral values and behavior of Information Systems workers with those of an organization in order to provide increased protection of IS assets. …

Application Of Cellular Automata To Detection Of Malicious Network Packets, Robert L. Brown

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

A problem in computer security is identification of attack signatures in network packets. An attack signature is a pattern of bits that characterizes a particular attack. Because there are many kinds of attacks, there are potentially many attack signatures. Furthermore, attackers may seek to avoid detection by altering the attack mechanism so that the bit pattern presented differs from the known signature. Thus, recognizing attack signatures is a problem in approximate string matching. The time to perform an approximate string match depends upon the length of the string and the number of patterns. For constant string length, the time to …

The Impact Of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems On Small And Medium Enterprises, Miguel Buleje

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are considered the price of entry in today's business environment, and the number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) retiring legacy systems in favor of ERP systems is increasing exponentially.

However, there is a lack of knowledge and awareness of ERP systems and their potential benefit and effect on performance, and overall value to SMEs. While ERP adoption costs and potential benefits are high, it is not apparent whether the end result will translate into higher productivity for SMEs.

The goal of this study is to evaluate the benefits that accrue to a firm on …

An Information Security Control Assessment Methodology For Organizations, Angel Rafael Otero

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In an era where use and dependence of information systems is significantly high, the threat of incidents related to information security that could jeopardize the information held by organizations is more and more serious. Alarming facts within the literature point to inadequacies in information security practices, particularly the evaluation of information security controls in organizations. Research efforts have resulted in various methodologies developed to deal with the information security controls assessment problem. A closer look at these traditional methodologies highlights various weaknesses that can prevent an effective information security controls assessment in organizations. This dissertation develops a methodology that addresses …

A Study Of The 8th Grade Technology Literacy Of A Michigan Charter School, James Edward Spruill

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

As states adopt the common core state standards and next generation assessments for the 2014 - 2015 school year, the importance of students' technology literacy will increase Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. The next generation assessments will require students to complete technology performance tasks. For the first time in mandatory testing, students' technology literacy will directly impact a school's Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) rating. Technology literacy is defined as the ability to operate hardware and software (computer literacy), conduct effective research for and then evaluate digital content for accuracy and merit (internet and information literacy), and digitally communicate effectively(digital media literacy). …

The User Attribution Problem And The Challenge Of Persistent Surveillance Of User Activity In Complex Networks, Claudio Taglienti

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In the context of telecommunication networks, the user attribution problem refers to the challenge faced in recognizing communication traffic as belonging to a given user when information needed to identify the user is missing. This is analogous to trying to recognize a nameless face in a crowd. This problem worsens as users move across many mobile networks (complex networks) owned and operated by different providers. The traditional approach of using the source IP address, which indicates where a packet comes from, does not work when used to identify mobile users.

Recent efforts to address this problem by exclusively relying on …

Evaluating Heuristics And Crowding On Center Selection In K-Means Genetic Algorithms, William Mcgarvey

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Data clustering involves partitioning data points into clusters where data points within the same cluster have high similarity, but are dissimilar to the data points in other clusters. The k-means algorithm is among the most extensively used clustering techniques. Genetic algorithms (GA) have been successfully used to evolve successive generations of cluster centers. The primary goal of this research was to develop improved GA-based methods for center selection in k-means by using heuristic methods to improve the overall fitness of the initial population of chromosomes along with crowding techniques to avoid premature convergence. Prior to this research, no rigorous systematic …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Telehealth Champions, Ragan A. Dubose-Morris

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

The implementation of telehealth applications is resource intensive and fraught with challenges unique to the people and places involved. The use of telehealth to provide clinical care to patients, educate patients and providers, and conduct research studies to advance medical science has been shown to positively affect issues of access and the quality of care. Previous research has focused on the use of specific technologies, known barriers to adoption and diffusion, and the general efficacy of these applications. Few studies have researched the role champions play in the deployment and operation of telehealth networks. The researcher proposed conducting an interpretative …

Validating The Octave Allegro Information Systems Risk Assessment Methodology: A Case Study, Corland Gordon Keating

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

An information system (IS) risk assessment is an important part of any successful security management strategy. Risk assessments help organizations to identify mission-critical IS assets and prioritize risk mitigation efforts. Many risk assessment methodologies, however, are complex and can only be completed successfully by highly qualified and experienced security experts. Small-sized organizations, including small-sized colleges and universities, due to their financial constraints and lack of IS security expertise, are challenged to conduct a risk assessment. Therefore, most small-sized colleges and universities do not perform IS risk assessments, which leaves the institution's data vulnerable to security incursions. The negative consequences of …

A Five-Year Study Of Sustaining Blended Learning Initiatives To Enhance Academic Engagement In Computer And Information Sciences Campus Courses, Laurie P. Dringus, Amon B. Seagull

CCE Faculty Books and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Role Of User Computer Self-Efficacy, Cybersecurity Countermeasures Awareness, And Cybersecurity Skills Toward Computer Misuse Intention At Government Agencies, Min Suk Choi

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities are causing substantial financial losses for governments and organizations all over the world. Cybersecurity criminals are stealing more than one billion dollars from banks every year by exploiting vulnerabilities caused by bank users' computer misuse. Cybersecurity breaches are threatening the common welfare of citizens since more and more terrorists are using cyberterrorism to target critical infrastructures (e.g., transportation, telecommunications, power, nuclear plants, water supply, banking) to coerce the targeted government and its people to accomplish their political objectives. Cyberwar is another major concern that nations around the world are struggling to get ready to fight. It …

The Effectiveness Of Virtual Learning Tools For Millennial Generation Students In A Community College Criminal Justice Degree Program, Lawrence Snyder

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

An analysis of data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and multiyear analysis of pretest/posttest scores in introductory criminal justice courses revealed there was a systemic decline in student engagement and achievement. Because of this analysis, a commercial virtual learning tool (CJI) that purported great success in improving student engagement and performance was identified and implemented on the college's course management application in the spring of 2010. CJI, a comprehensive learning tool that incorporated Web 2.0 activities, such as video, simulations, and study aids, was designed to improve student engagement and performance. The inclusion of Web 2.0 activities …

Online Deception Detection Using Bdi Agents, Richard Alan Merritts

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

This research has two facets within separate research areas. The research area of Belief, Desire and Intention (BDI) agent capability development was extended. Deception detection research has been advanced with the development of automation using BDI agents. BDI agents performed tasks automatically and autonomously. This study used these characteristics to automate deception detection with limited intervention of human users. This was a useful research area resulting in a capability general enough to have practical application by private individuals, investigators, organizations and others. The need for this research is grounded in the fact that humans are not very effective at detecting …

Code Clone Discovery Based On Concolic Analysis, Daniel Edward Krutz

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Software is often large, complicated and expensive to build and maintain. Redundant

code can make these applications even more costly and difficult to maintain. Duplicated

code is often introduced into these systems for a variety of reasons. Some of which

include developer churn, deficient developer application comprehension and lack of

adherence to proper development practices.

Code redundancy has several adverse effects on a software application including an

increased size of the codebase and inconsistent developer changes due to elevated

program comprehension needs. A code clone is defined as multiple code fragments that

produce similar results when given the same input. …

Authorship Attribution With Function Word N-Grams, Russell Clark Johnson

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has considered the sequential order of function words, after the contextual words of the text have been removed, as a stylistic indicator of authorship. This research describes an effort to enhance authorship attribution accuracy based on this same information source with alternate classifiers, alternate n-gram construction methods, and a genetically tuned configuration.

The approach is original in that it is the first time that probabilistic versions of Burrows's Delta have been used. Instead of using z-scores as an input for a classifier, the z-scores were converted to probabilistic equivalents (since z-scores cannot be subtracted, added, or divided without …

Effectiveness Of Evidence-Based Computerized Physician Order Entry Medication Order Sets Measured By Health Outcomes, Jacob Krive

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In the past three years, evidence based medicine emerged as a powerful force in an effort to improve quality and health outcomes, and to reduce cost of care. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) applications brought safety and efficiency features to clinical settings, including ease of ordering medications via pre-defined sets. Order sets offer promise of standardized care beyond convenience features through evidence-based practices built upon a growing and powerful knowledge of clinical professionals to achieve potentially more consistent health outcomes with patients and to reduce frequency of medical errors, adverse drug effects, and unintended side effects during treatment. While order …