Computer Sciences Commons^™

A Comparison Of Forensic Evidence Recovery: Techniques For A Windows Mobile Smart Phone, George Grispos, Tim Storer, William Bradley Glisson

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Publications

Acquisition, decoding and presentation of information from mobile devices is complex and challenging. Device memory is usually integrated into the device, making isolation prior to recovery difficult. In addition, manufacturers have adopted a variety of file systems and formats complicating decoding and presentation.

A variety of tools and methods have been developed (both commercially and in the open source community) to assist mobile forensics investigators. However, it is unclear to what extent these tools can present a complete view of the information held on a mobile device, or the extent the results produced by different tools are consistent.

This paper …

Trends In Phishing Attacks: Suggestions For Future Research, Ryan M. Schuetzler

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Deception in computer-mediated communication is a widespread phenomenon. Cyber criminals are exploiting technological mediums to communicate with potential targets as these channels reduce both the deception cues and the risk of detection itself. A prevalent deception-based attack in computer-mediated communication is phishing. Prior phishing research has addressed the “bait” and “hook” components of phishing attacks, the human-computer interaction that takes place as users judge the veracity of phishing emails and websites, and the development of technologies that can aid users in identifying and rejecting these attacks. Despite the extant research on this topic, phishing attacks continue to be successful as …

Role Of Cloud Computing Interventions For Micro-Enterprise Growth: Implications For Global Development, Sajda Qureshi, Mehruz Kamal

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

While the majority of businesses around the world are micro-enterprises, they are the most vulnerable and are often run by people with limited resources, and skills to be able to avail the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). These are a form of small business which employs between 1-5 people and face challenges of limited resources, skills and ability to grow. When they do adopt IT their potential to survive and grow increases as they are then able to participate in the global economy. The challenge for global development lies in enabling these micro-enterprises to adopt the appropriate IT …

Overview And Guidance On Agile Development In Large Organizations, Jordan B. Barlow, Justin Scott Giboney, Mark Jeffrey Keith, David W. Wilson, Ryan Schuetzler, Paul Benjamin Lowry, Anthony Vance

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

A continual debate surrounds the effectiveness of agile software development practices. Some organizations adopt agile practices to become more competitive, improve processes, and reduce costs. Other organizations are skeptical about whether agile development is beneficial. Large organizations face an additional challenge in integrating agile practices with existing standards and business processes. To examine the effects of agile development practices in large organizations, we review and integrate scientific literature and theory on agile software development. We further organize our theory and observations into a framework with guidelines for large organizations considering agile methodologies. Based on this framework, we present recommendations that …

Rigorous Assessment And Integration Of The Sequence And Structure Based Features To Predict Hot Spots, Ruoying Chen, Wenjing Chen, Sixiao Yang, Di Wu, Yong Wang, Yingjie Tian, Yong Shi

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Background

Systematic mutagenesis studies have shown that only a few interface residues termed hot spots contribute significantly to the binding free energy of protein-protein interactions. Therefore, hot spots prediction becomes increasingly important for well understanding the essence of proteins interactions and helping narrow down the search space for drug design. Currently many computational methods have been developed by proposing different features. However comparative assessment of these features and furthermore effective and accurate methods are still in pressing need.

Results

In this study, we first comprehensively collect the features to discriminate hot spots and non-hot spots and analyze their distributions. We …

Ray Collection Bounding Volume Hierarchy, Kris Krishna Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents Ray Collection BVH, an improvement over a current day Ray Tracing acceleration structure to both build and perform the steps necessary to efficiently render dynamic scenes. Bounding Volume Hierarchy (BVH) is a commonly used acceleration structure, which aides in rendering complex scenes in 3D space using Ray Tracing by breaking the scene of triangles into a simple hierarchical structure. The algorithm this thesis explores was developed in an attempt at accelerating the process of both constructing this structure, and also using it to render these complex scenes more efficiently. The idea of using "ray collection" as a …

Techniques For Boosting The Performance In Content-Based Image Retrieval Systems, Ning Yu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Content-Based Image Retrieval has been an active research area for decades. In a CBIR system, one or more images are used as query to search for similar images. The similarity is measured on the low level features, such as color, shape, edge, texture. First, each image is processed and visual features are extract. Therefore each image becomes a point in the feature space. Then, if two images are close to each other in the feature space, they are considered similar. That is, the k nearest neighbors are considered the most similar images to the query image. In this K-Nearest Neighbor …

Modeling Human Group Behavior In Virtual Worlds, Fahad Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Virtual worlds and massively-multiplayer online games are rich sources of information about large-scale teams and groups, offering the tantalizing possibility of harvesting data about group formation, social networks, and network evolution. They provide new outlets for human social interaction that differ from both face-to-face interactions and non-physically-embodied social networking tools such as Facebook and Twitter. We aim to study group dynamics in these virtual worlds by collecting and analyzing public conversational patterns of users grouped in close physical proximity. To do this, we created a set of tools for monitoring, partitioning, and analyzing unstructured conversations between changing groups of participants …

Effective Task Transfer Through Indirect Encoding, Phillip Verbancsics

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

An important goal for machine learning is to transfer knowledge between tasks. For example, learning to play RoboCup Keepaway should contribute to learning the full game of RoboCup soccer. Often approaches to task transfer focus on transforming the original representation to fit the new task. Such representational transformations are necessary because the target task often requires new state information that was not included in the original representation. In RoboCup Keepaway, changing from the 3 vs. 2 variant of the task to 4 vs. 3 adds state information for each of the new players. In contrast, this dissertation explores the idea …

Forensic Analysis Of Plug Computers, Scott Conrad, Greg Dorn, Philip Craiger

Publications

A plug computer is essentially a cross between an embedded computer and a traditional computer, and with many of the same capabilities. However, the architecture of a plug computer makes it difficult to apply commonly used digital forensic methods. This paper describes methods for extracting and analyzing digital evidence from plug computers. Two popular plug computer models are examined, the SheevaPlug and the Pogoplug.

Determining A Patient Recovery From A Total Knee Replacement Using Fuzzy Logic And Active Databases, Robert Azarbod

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of the knowledge-based system is to predict the rehabilitation timeline of a patient in physical therapy for a total knee replacement. All patients have various attributes that contribute to their rehabilitation rate such as: weight, gender, smoking habit, medications, physical ability, or other medical problems. A combination of any one or several of these attributes will affect the recovery process. The proposed FRTP (Fuzzy Rehabilitation Timeline Predictor) is a fuzzy data mining model that can predict the recovery length of a patient in physical therapy for a total knee replacement and provide feedback to experts for revision of …

A Web Based Fuzzy Data Mining Using Combs Inference Method And Decision Predictor, Shajia Akhter Sharmin

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Fuzzy logic has become a very popular method of reasoning a system with approximate input system instead of a precise one. When qualitative variables are used to determine the decisions then we have to create some specific functions where the membership values of the input can be any number between 0 to 1 instead of 1 or 0 which is used in binary logic. When number of input attribute increases it the combinatorial rules increases exponentially, and diminishes performance of the system. The problem is generally known as “combinatorial rule explosion”. The Information Technology Department of Minnesota State University, Mankato …

Scholarship In International Technical Communication, 1950-1989: A Historical Study, Xiaoyan Huang

Masters Theses

"This thesis is a study of the published scholarship in international technical communication from 1950 to 1989. It provides insight into the four decades' worth of scholarship as well as a resource for the development of present and future scholarship in international technical communication. It attempts to answer the following research questions: What did scholars of international technical communication study in each decade? What are the similarities and differences among the four decades in terms of scholarship in international technical communication? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the relevant scholarship in the four decades? What can we learn from …

The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use And Identity Theft, Lewis O. Saunders

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The growth of mobile phone use has paralleled increased reports of identity theft. Identity theft can result in financial loss and threats to a victim's personal safety. Although trends in identity theft are well-known, less is known about individual cell phone users' attitudes toward identity theft and the extent to which they connect it to cell phone use. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how cell phone use is affected by attitudes toward privacy and identity theft. The study was based on social impact theory, according to which people's attitudes and behavior are affected by the strength …

Ohio's Use Of Geographic Information Systems To Demonstrate Public Participation In The Redistricting Process, Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems For Redistricting A Case Study In Ohio, Mark Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Public Participation Geographic Information Systems for Redistricting A Case Study in Ohio, Journal of the Urban and Regional Information Systems Association, Vol. 23, Number 1, forthcoming.

Moving Forward Together, Fred H. Cate, Christopher Kuner, Christopher Millard, Dan Jerker B. Svantesson

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Can Transportation Researchers Reuse Project Datasets And Programs?, Tyler Hayes, Lois Delcambre, Leonard Shapiro

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Data users involved in research and analysis typically invest a lot of eort cleaning and manipu- lating their data as they work. Based on this observation, we have investigated two hypotheses: 1) reuse of datasets and procedures is difficult, and 2) the inability to reuse datasets and procedures is primarily due to a lack of documentation. To test these hypotheses we conducted structured interviews with data users asking questions regarding the struggles in their work pertaining to data, their documentation habits, and the importance of documentation. The interviews revealed that the data users rarely reused data or procedures, frequently encountered …

A Secure Online Payment System, Shristi Pant

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

An online payment system allows a customer to make a payment to an online merchant or a service provider. Payment gateways, a channel between customers and payment processors, use various security tools to secure a customer’s payment information, usually debit or credit card information, during an online payment. However, the security provided by a payment gateway cannot completely protect a customer’s payment information when a merchant also has the ability to obtain the payment information in some form. Furthermore, not all merchants provide a secure payment environment to their customers and, despite having a standard payment policy, adhere to it. …

Checkpointing And Recovery In Distributed And Database Systems, Jiang Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

A transaction-consistent global checkpoint of a database records a state of the database which reflects the effect of only completed transactions and not the re- sults of any partially executed transactions. This thesis establishes the necessary and sufficient conditions for a checkpoint of a data item (or the checkpoints of a set of data items) to be part of a transaction-consistent global checkpoint of the database. This result would be useful for constructing transaction-consistent global checkpoints incrementally from the checkpoints of each individual data item of a database. By applying this condition, we can start from any useful checkpoint of …

Efficient Replica-Exchange Across Distributed Production Infrastructure, Abhinav S. Thota

LSU Master's Theses

Replica-Exchange (RE) methods represent a class of algorithms that involve a large number of loosely-coupled ensembles and are used to understand physical phenomena -- ranging from protein folding dynamics to binding affinity calculations. We develop a framework for RE that supports different replica pairing and coordination mechanisms, that can use a wide range of production cyberinfrastructure concurrently. Additionally, our framework uses a flexible pilot-job implementation, which enables effective resource allocation for multiple replicas. We characterize the performance of two different RE algorithms - synchronous and asynchronous - at unprecedented scales on production distributed infrastructure (Teragrid and LONI). The synchronous RE …

The Design Of A Computer System To Determine The Causes Of Edema Using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Carl Allen Fink

LSU Master's Theses

Diabetes is a growing problem in the U.S.A., closely linked to the current obesity epidemic. Two common complications of diabetes, osteomyelitis of the foot, and Charcot's joint, are impossible to differentiate via traditional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The background of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, which transforms the time-domain MRI signal into the frequency domain spectrum, is explored, and its use to aid in this differentiation is proposed. Artificial Neural Networks can be employed to evaluate the MRS data and to automate the process.

An Evaluation Of Synchronization Loss Rate Calculations On High Speed Networks, Aaron Tureau

LSU Master's Theses

This paper is broken down into two parts:(1) discussion of current formulas that are used to calculate synchronized loss rates among concurrent TCP flows with the results of those equations on flows running through a bottleneck on a high speed emulated network and (2)steps to create revised forms of these equations that are more accurate and give a more reasonable estimation without having the shortcomings of the current equations. This paper brings to light three equations that were previously proposed and were used in published research projects along with their strengths and shortcomings. Through the study of these equations a …

A Laplacian Energy For Document Binarization, Nicholas Howe

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

This paper describes a new algorithm for document binarization, building upon recent work in energy-based segmentation methods. It uses the Laplacian operator to assess the local likelihood of foreground and background labels, Canny edge detection to identify likely discontinuities, and a graph cut implementation to efficiently find the minimum energy solution of an objective function combining these concepts. The results of this algorithm place it near the top on both the DIBCO-09 and H-DIBCO assessments.

Data Remanence In New Zealand: 2011, Dax Roberts, H B. Wolfe

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

This paper presents findings from a study of computer data remanence in New Zealand and considers three research questions. Those questions are “What is the level of data remanence in New Zealand?”, “How does it compare with other countries?”, and “Are there industries in New Zealand that are more likely to have data remanence issues?” Computer data remanence is data that remains on a hard disk drive after that hard drive has been prepared for disposal. Typically data remanence research involves purchasing second hand hard drives without knowing the original source and then a variety of tools and techniques are …

Forensic Investigation Method And Tool Based On The User Behaviour Analysis, Namheun Son, Sangjin Lee

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

Today, people use a variety of digital devices, and events taking place in them are stored in specific forms mostly including data indicating when each event took place. So far, different methods have been constantly researched and developed to analyse various events, most of which analyse event data unnecessary for a forensic investigation. As a result, investigators should carry out additional work to select data needed for an actual investigation, making the process of analysis more difficult and longer. Besides, since the capacity of storage media gets higher and events become more diversified, such a phenomenon seems gradually worsened. Thus, …

Forensic Recovery And Analysis Of The Artefacts Of Crimeware Toolkits, Murray Brand

Australian Digital Forensics Conference

The total cost of cybercrime has been estimated to exceed US$388 billion annually. The availability of crimeware toolkits has lowered the bar for entry to the world of cybercrime. With very little technical knowledge required, cybercriminals can create, deploy and harvest financial data using banking trojans though a point and click graphical user interface that can cost less than US$1000. Technical support is also available for a fee, including technical infrastructure and servers to store harvested data. Fraudsters employing crimeware toolkits have been reported to have stolen US$3.2 million dollars in as little as six months. This paper presents preliminary …

Column: File Cabinet Forensics, Simson Garfinkel

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Researchers can spend their time reverse engineering, performing reverse analysis, or making substantive contributions to digital forensics science. Although work in all of these areas is important, it is the scientific breakthroughs that are the most critical for addressing the challenges that we face. Reverse Engineering is the traditional bread-and-butter of digital forensics research. Companies like Microsoft and Apple deliver computational artifacts (operating systems, applications and phones) to the commercial market. These artifacts are bought and used by billions. Some have evil intent, and (if society is lucky), the computers end up in the hands of law enforcement. Unfortunately the …

Column: Putting The Science In Digital Forensics, Fred Cohen

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

In a recent study, digital forensics was found to lack a consensus around even the most basis notions and terminology of the field. To quote: “These two preliminary studies individually suggest that (1) scientific consensus in the area of digital forensic evidence examination is lacking in the broad sense, but that different groups within that overall community may have limited consensus around areas in which they have special expertise, and (2) that the current peerreviewed publication process is not acting to bring about the sorts of elements typically found in the advancement of a science toward such a consensus. ... …

Technology Corner: Internet Packet Sniffers, Nick V. Flor, Kenneth Guillory

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The best way to understand an internet packet sniffer, hereafter “packet sniffer”, is by analogy with a wiretap. A wiretap is a piece of hardware that allows a person to eavesdrop on phone conversations over a telephone network. Similarly, a packet sniffer is a piece of software that allows a person to eavesdrop on computer communications over the internet. A packet sniffer can be used as a diagnostic tool by network administrators or as a spying tool by hackers who can use it to steal passwords and other private information from computer users. Whether you are a network administrator or …