Computer Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Virginia Computer Science Standards Of Learning: A Qualitative Multiple Case Study, Valerie Sledd Taylor

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Computer science education is being recognized globally as necessary to better prepare students in all grade levels, K-12, for future success. As a result of this focus on computer science education in the United States and around the world, there is an increased demand for highly qualified teachers with content and pedagogical knowledge to successfully support student learning. As a result, there is a call to include and improve the computer science training offered to pre-service teachers in their educator preparation programs from methods courses to practicum and student teaching experiences. Thus, it is important to understand how pre-service teachers …

Cybersecurity Legislation And Ransomware Attacks In The United States, 2015-2019, Joseph Skertic

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Ransomware has rapidly emerged as a cyber threat which costs the global economy billions of dollars a year. Since 2015, ransomware criminals have increasingly targeted state and local government institutions. These institutions provide critical infrastructure – e.g., emergency services, water, and tax collection – yet they often operate using outdated technology due to limited budgets. This vulnerability makes state and local institutions prime targets for ransomware attacks. Many states have begun to realize the growing threat from ransomware and other cyber threats and have responded through legislative action. When and how is this legislation effective in preventing ransomware attacks? This …

Encryption And Decryption With A Raspberry Pi Device, Taylor Powell

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The functioning of our modern digital world relies heavily on the security of modern encryption algorithms and their resistance to systematic attempts to access secure information. For the 2020 Department of Computer Science’s Raspberry Pi Programming Competition, I decided to explore encryption and decryption techniques available to any user with some programming knowledge and a desire to secure information from unwanted access.

I developed a program which allows a user to select between three types of encryption algorithms: a Caesar Cipher, a Vigenère Cipher, and a Stream Cipher. I also gave the user the option to further secure their encrypted …

Wg2An: Synthetic Wound Image Generation Using Generative Adversarial Network, Salih Sarp, Murat Kuzlu, Emmanuel Wilson, Ozgur Guler

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In part due to its ability to mimic any data distribution, Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) algorithms have been successfully applied to many applications, such as data augmentation, text-to-image translation, image-to-image translation, and image inpainting. Learning from data without crafting loss functions for each application provides broader applicability of the GAN algorithm. Medical image synthesis is also another field that the GAN algorithm has great potential to assist clinician training. This paper proposes a synthetic wound image generation model based on GAN architecture to increase the quality of clinical training. The proposed model is trained on chronic wound datasets with various …

Role Of Artificial Intelligence In The Internet Of Things (Iot) Cybersecurity, Murat Kuzlu, Corinne Fair, Ozgur Guler

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

In recent years, the use of the Internet of Things (IoT) has increased exponentially, and cybersecurity concerns have increased along with it. On the cutting edge of cybersecurity is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which is used for the development of complex algorithms to protect networks and systems, including IoT systems. However, cyber-attackers have figured out how to exploit AI and have even begun to use adversarial AI in order to carry out cybersecurity attacks. This review paper compiles information from several other surveys and research papers regarding IoT, AI, and attacks with and against AI and explores the relationship between these …

Statistical Analysis And Comparison Of Optical Classification Of Atmospheric Aerosol Lidar Data, Mohammed Alqawba, Norou Diawara, Kwasi G. Afrifa, Mohamed I. Elbakary, Mecit Cetin, Khan Iftekharuddin

Mathematics & Statistics Faculty Publications

In this article, we present a new study for the analysis and classification of atmospheric aerosols in remote sensing LIDAR data. Information on particle size and associated properties are extracted from these remote sensing atmospheric data which are collected by a ground-based LIDAR system. This study first considers optical LIDAR parameter-based classification methods for clustering and classification of different types of harmful aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Since accurate methods for aerosol prediction behaviors are based upon observed data, computational approaches must overcome design limitations, and consider appropriate calibration and estimation accuracy. Consequently, two statistical methods based on generalized linear …

Using Torchattacks To Improve The Robustness Of Models With Adversarial Training, William S. Matos Díaz

Cybersecurity: Deep Learning Driven Cybersecurity Research in a Multidisciplinary Environment

Adversarial training has proven to be one of the most successful ways to defend models against adversarial examples. This process consists of training a model with an adversarial example to improve the robustness of the model. In this experiment, Torchattacks, a Pytorch library made for importing adversarial examples more easily, was used to determine which attack was the strongest. Later on, the strongest attack was used to train the model and make it more robust against adversarial examples. The datasets used to perform the experiments were MNIST and CIFAR-10. Both datasets were put to the test using PGD, FGSM, and …

Hybrid Models As Transdisciplinary Research Enablers, Andreas Tolk, Alison Harper, Navonil Mustafee

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Faculty Publications

Modelling and simulation (M&S) techniques are frequently used in Operations Research (OR) to aid decision-making. With growing complexity of systems to be modelled, an increasing number of studies now apply multiple M&S techniques or hybrid simulation (HS) to represent the underlying system of interest. A parallel but related theme of research is extending the HS approach to include the development of hybrid models (HM). HM extends the M&S discipline by combining theories, methods and tools from across disciplines and applying multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary solutions to practice. In the broader OR literature, there are numerous examples of cross-disciplinary approaches in …

Measurement Study Of Energy Impact On Blockchain Technologies: Cryptocurrency Mining, Qaylin Holliman

Cybersecurity: Deep Learning Driven Cybersecurity Research in a Multidisciplinary Environment

Blockchain technology facilitates the flow of information and the speed of information through a faster and more decentralized network. It has its advantages as compared to more centralized networks and legacy networks. With the evolution of mainstream technology, blockchains is predicted to be more effective and sufficient to consumers and commercial companies. In this paper, blockchains will be scaled to cryptocurrency mining, where cryptocurrencies utilize blockchain technology to record transactions and orders. Mining will also be examined through energy consumption, the algorithms behind some cryptocurrencies, their sustainability issue, and resolutions to combat high energy consumption. While the pace of energy …

Exploring Cybersecurity Education At The K-12 Level, Weiru Chen, Yuming He, Xin Tian, Wu He, E. Langran (Ed.), D. Rutledge (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

K-12 cybersecurity education is receiving growing attention with the growing number of cyberattacks and a shortage of cybersecurity professionals. However, there are many barriers for teachers to implement effective cybersecurity education in formal classroom environments. This study conducts a systematic literature review to examine the current state-of-the-art on K-12 cybersecurity education. Through the systematic literature review, we identified 20 closely relevant papers and recognized that a well-designed curriculum in cybersecurity education at the K-12 level is strongly needed to motivate students to pursue cybersecurity pathways and careers. The challenge and suggestions of curriculum design, teaching strategy, and learning assessment are …

Promoting Diversity In Teaching Cybersecurity Through Gicl, Yuming He, Wu He, Xiaohong Yuan, Li Yang, Theo Bastiaens (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

In summary, it is necessary to develop a diverse group of K-12 students’ interest and skills in cybersecurity as cyber threats continue to grow. Evidence shows that educating the next generation of cyber workers is a crucial job that should begin in elementary school. To ensure the effectiveness of cybersecurity education and equity at the K-12 level, teachers must create thoughtful plans for considering communities’ interests and needs, and to continually reconsider what’s working and how to adjust our strategies, approaches, design, and research plan to meet their specific needs, challenges, and strengths, particularly with students from under-served and underrepresented …

Interactive Agent-Based Simulation For Experimentation: A Case Study With Cooperatve Game Theory, Andrew J. Collins, Sheida Etemadidavan

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

Incorporating human behavior is a current challenge for agent-based modeling and simulation (ABMS). Human behavior includes many different aspects depending on the scenario considered. The scenario context of this paper is strategic coalition formation, which is traditionally modeled using cooperative game theory, but we use ABMS instead; as such, it needs to be validated. One approach to validation is to compare the recorded behavior of humans to what was observed in our simulation. We suggest that using an interactive simulation is a good approach to collecting the necessary human behavior data because the humans would be playing in precisely the …

Human Characteristics Impact On Strategic Decisions In A Human-In-The-Loop Simulation, Andrew J. Collins, Shieda Etemadidavan

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper, a hybrid simulation model of the agent-based model and cooperative game theory is used in a human-in-the-loop experiment to study the effect of human demographic characteristics in situations where they make strategic coalition decisions. Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a computational method that can reveal emergent phenomenon from interactions between agents in an environment. It has been suggested in organizational psychology that ABM could model human behavior more holistically than other modeling methods. Cooperative game theory is a method that models strategic coalitions formation. Three characteristics (age, education, and gender) were considered in the experiment to see if …

Blockchain For A Resilient, Efficient, And Effective Supply Chain, Evidence From Cases, Adrian Gheorghe, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour, Unal Tatar, Omer Faruk Keskin

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In the modern acquisition, it is unrealistic to consider single entities as producing and delivering a product independently. Acquisitions usually take place through supply networks. Resiliency, efficiency, and effectiveness of supply networks directly contribute to the acquisition system's resiliency, efficiency, and effectiveness. All the involved firms form a part of a supply network essential to producing the product or service. The decision-makers have to look for new methodologies for supply chain management. Blockchain technology introduces new methods of decentralization and delegation of services, which can transform supply chains and result in a more resilient, efficient, and effective supply chain. This …

Best Cybersecurity Practices For Companies, Post Van Buren, Mary Riley

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Imagine this scenario: you are a small business owner, and you’ve just been informed of a network security breach. In your Zoom meeting with the IT Department, you learned the details: network activity logs revealed aberrant behavior after hours. Threat actors accessed systems containing sensitive information and downloaded copies of key files containing company trade secrets, market strategies, and customer data – all within a matter of minutes. Immediately, you review the consequences of the breach in your mind: reputational harm, monetary loss, and potential lawsuits. You ask the IT professional about the root cause of the breach. Was it …

Tackling Ai Bias With Gans, Noam Stanislawski

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

Throughout the relatively short history of artificial intelligence (AI), there has been a significant concern surrounding AI’s ability to incorporate and maintain certain characteristics which were not inherently modeled out in its coding. These behaviors stem from the prominent usage of neural network AI, which can inherit human biases from the input data it receives. This paper argues for two possible avenues to combat these biases. The first is to rethink the traditional framework for neural network projects and retool them to be usable by a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). In a GAN’s zero-sum game, two network techniques can combat …

Leverage Psychological Factors Associated With Lapses In Cybersecurity In Organizational Management, Chad Holm

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

With computers being a standard part of life now with the evolution of the internet, many aspects of our lives have changed, and new ways of thinking must come. One of the biggest challenges in most cyber security problems is not related to the software or the hardware; it is the people that are using the computers to access the data and communicate with others, where the hackers could simply find a weak entry point that naturally exists and a weak link caused by human hands. The human factor as an “insider threat” will affect unauthorized access, credentials stealing, and …

On The Usage And Vulnerabilities Of Api Systems, Conner D. Yu

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

To some, Application Programming Interface (API) is one of many buzzwords that seem to be blanketed in obscurity because not many people are overly familiar with this term. This obscurity is unfortunate, as APIs play a crucial role in today’s modern infrastructure by serving as one of the most fundamental communication methods for web services. Many businesses use APIs in some capacity, but one often overlooked aspect is cybersecurity. This aspect is most evident in the 2018 misuse case by Facebook, which led to the leakage of 50 million users’ records.1 During the 2018 Facebook data breach incident, threat actors …

Cybersecurity: Building A Better Defense With A Great Offense, David M. Cooke

Cybersecurity Undergraduate Research Showcase

The current industry standard for cybersecurity is risk mitigation, which is the identification, evaluation, and categorization of threats that are posed to an organization's network. The goal is to prevent attacks and if an organization is attacked popular standard is to react and remedy the attack. This form of cyber defense isn’t very reassuring to an organization and its users, once an attack is executed based on a study conducted by Booz Allen the average time an advanced persistent threat (APT) dwells on a victims’ network before it’s discovered is 200-250 days. That’s plenty of time for a malicious third …

A Monte-Carlo Analysis Of Monetary Impact Of Mega Data Breaches, Mustafa Canan, Omer Ilker Poyraz, Anthony Akil

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The monetary impact of mega data breaches has been a significant concern for enterprises. The study of data breach risk assessment is a necessity for organizations to have effective cybersecurity risk management. Due to the lack of available data, it is not easy to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the interactions among factors that affect the cost of mega data breaches. The Monte Carlo analysis results were used to explicate the interactions among independent variables and emerging patterns in the variation of the total data breach cost. The findings of this study are as follows: The total data breach cost …

Enhancing Cyberweapon Effectiveness Methodology With Se Modeling Techniques: Both For Offense And Defense, C. Ariel Pinto, Matthew Zurasky, Fatine Elakramine, Safae El Amrani, Raed M. Jaradat, Chad Kerr, Vidanelage L. Dayarathna

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

A recent cyberweapons effectiveness methodology clearly provides a parallel but distinct process from that of kinetic weapons – both for defense and offense purposes. This methodology promotes consistency and improves cyberweapon system evaluation accuracy – for both offensive and defensive postures. However, integrating this cyberweapons effectiveness methodology into the design phase and operations phase of weapons systems development is still a challenge. The paper explores several systems engineering modeling techniques (e.g., SysML) and how they can be leveraged towards an enhanced effectiveness methodology. It highlights how failure mode analyses (e.g., FMEA) can facilitate cyber damage determination and target assessment, how …

A Blockchain-Enabled Model To Enhance Disaster Aids Network Resilience, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour, Paul Niculescu-Mizil Gheorghe

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The disaster area is a true dynamic environment. Lack of accurate information from the affected area create several challenges in distributing the supplies. The success of a disaster response network is based on collaboration, coordination, sovereignty, and equality in relief distribution. Therefore, a trust-based dynamic communication system is required to facilitate the interactions, enhance the knowledge for the relief operation, prioritize, and coordinate the goods distribution. One of the promising innovative technologies is blockchain technology which enables transparent, secure, and real-time information exchange and automation through smart contracts in a distributed technological ecosystem. This study aims to analyze the application …

A Hybrid Gene Selection Strategy Based On Fisher And Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm For Breast Cancer Classification, Mohammed Hamim, Ismail El Moudden, Mohan D. Pant, Hicham Moutachaouik, Mustapha Hain

EVMS School of Health Professions Faculty Publications

Breast cancer poses the greatest threat to human life and especially to women's life. Despite the progress made in data mining technology in recent years, the ability to predict and diagnose such fatal diseases based on gene expression data still reveals a limited prediction performance, which may not be surprising since most of the genes in expression data are believed to be irrelevant or redundant. The dimensionality reduction process may be considered as a crucial step to analyze gene expression data, as it can reduce the high dimensionality of the breast cancer datasets, which may result into a better prediction …

A Literature Review Of Quantum Education In K-12 Level, Yuming He, Shenghua Zha, Wu He, Theo Bastiaens (Ed.)

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Quantum computing is an emerging technology paradigm of computing and has the potential to solve computational problems intractable using today’s classical computers or digital technology. Quantum computing is expected to be disruptive for many industries. The power of quantum computing technologies is based on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, such as quantum superposition, quantum entanglement, or the no-cloning theorem. To build a highly trained and skilled quantum workforce that meets future industry needs, there is a need to introduce quantum concepts early on in K-12 schools since the learning of quantum is a lengthy process. As fundamental quantum concepts derive …

Generic Design Methodology For Smart Manufacturing Systems From A Practical Perspective, Part I—Digital Triad Concept And Its Application As A System Reference Model, Zhuming Bi, Wen-Jun Zhang, Chong Wu, Chaomin Luo, Lida Xu

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Rapidly developed information technologies (IT) have continuously empowered manufacturing systems and accelerated the evolution of manufacturing system paradigms, and smart manufacturing (SM) has become one of the most promising paradigms. The study of SM has attracted a great deal of attention for researchers in academia and practitioners in industry. However, an obvious fact is that people with different backgrounds have different expectations for SM, and this has led to high diversity, ambiguity, and inconsistency in terms of definitions, reference models, performance matrices, and system design methodologies. It has been found that the state of the art SM research is limited …

A Novel Dimensionality Reduction Approach To Improve Microarray Data Classification, Mohammed Hasim, Ismail El Mouden, Mounir Ouzir, Hicham Moutachaouik, Mustapha Hain

Department of Medicine Faculty Publications

Cancer tumor prediction and diagnosis at an early stage has become a necessity in cancer research, as it provides an increase in the treatment success chances. Recently, DNA microarray technology became a powerful tool for cancer identification, that can analyze the expression level of a different and huge number of genes simultaneously. In microarray data, the large genes number versus a few records may affect the prediction performance. In order to handle this "curse of dimensionality” constraint of microarray dataset while improving the cancer identification performance, a dimensional reduction phase is necessary. In this paper, we proposed a framework that …

Image Source Identification Using Convolutional Neural Networks In Iot Environment, Yan Wang, Qindong Sun, Dongzhu Rong, Shancang Li, Li Da Xu

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

Digital image forensics is a key branch of digital forensics that based on forensic analysis of image authenticity and image content. The advances in new techniques, such as smart devices, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial images, and social networks, make forensic image analysis play an increasing role in a wide range of criminal case investigation. This work focuses on image source identification by analysing both the fingerprints of digital devices and images in IoT environment. A new convolutional neural network (CNN) method is proposed to identify the source devices that token an image in social IoT environment. The experimental results …

Improving Stock Trading Decisions Based On Pattern Recognition Using Machine Learning Technology, Yaohu Lin, Shancun Liu, Haijun Yang, Harris Wu, Bingbing Jiang

Information Technology & Decision Sciences Faculty Publications

PRML, a novel candlestick pattern recognition model using machine learning methods, is proposed to improve stock trading decisions. Four popular machine learning methods and 11 different features types are applied to all possible combinations of daily patterns to start the pattern recognition schedule. Different time windows from one to ten days are used to detect the prediction effect at different periods. An investment strategy is constructed according to the identified candlestick patterns and suitable time window. We deploy PRML for the forecast of all Chinese market stocks from Jan 1, 2000 until Oct 30, 2020. Among them, the data from …

Simulation For Cybersecurity: State Of The Art And Future Directions, Hamdi Kavak, Jose J. Padilla, Daniele Vernon-Bido, Saikou Y. Diallo, Ross Gore, Sachin Shetty

VMASC Publications

In this article, we provide an introduction to simulation for cybersecurity and focus on three themes: (1) an overview of the cybersecurity domain; (2) a summary of notable simulation research efforts for cybersecurity; and (3) a proposed way forward on how simulations could broaden cybersecurity efforts. The overview of cybersecurity provides readers with a foundational perspective of cybersecurity in the light of targets, threats, and preventive measures. The simulation research section details the current role that simulation plays in cybersecurity, which mainly falls on representative environment building; test, evaluate, and explore; training and exercises; risk analysis and assessment; and humans …

Internet-Of-Things Devices In Support Of The Development Of Echoic Skills Among Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Krzysztof J. Rechowicz, John B. Stull, Michelle M. Hascall, Saikou Y. Diallo, Kevin J. O'Brien

VMASC Publications

A significant therapeutic challenge for people with disabilities is the development of verbal and echoic skills. Digital voice assistants (DVAs), such as Amazon’s Alexa, provide networked intelligence to billions of Internet-of-Things devices and have the potential to offer opportunities to people, such as those diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), to advance these necessary skills. Voice interfaces can enable children with ASD to practice such skills at home; however, it remains unclear whether DVAs can be as proficient as therapists in recognizing utterances by a developing speaker. We developed an Alexa-based skill called ASPECT to measure how well the DVA …