Databases and Information Systems Commons^™

Automatic Vulnerability Detection And Repair, Siqi Ma

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Vulnerability becomes a major threat to the security of many systems, including computer systems (e.g., Windows and Linux) and mobile systems (e.g., Android and iOS). Attackers can steal private information and perform harmful actions by exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities. Vulnerabilities often remain undetected for a long time as they may not affect the typical functionalities of systems. Thus, it is important to detect and repair a vulnerability in time. However, it is often difficult for a developer to detect and repair a vulnerability correctly and timely if he/she is not a security expert. Fortunately, automatic repair approaches significantly assist developers to …

Quantitative Phenotype Analysis To Identify, Validate And Compare Rat Disease Models, Yiqing Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction

The laboratory rat has been widely used as an animal model in biomedical research. There are many strains exhibiting a wide variety of phenotypes. Capturing these phenotypes in a centralized database provides researchers with an easy method for choosing the appropriate strains for their studies. Current resources such as NBRP and PhysGen provided some preliminary work in rat phenotype databases. However, there are drawbacks in both projects: (1) small number of animals (6 rats) used by NBRP; (2) NBRP project is a one-time effort for each strain; (3) PhysGen web interface only enables queries within a single study – …

Recommending Apis For Software Evolution, Ferdian Thung

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Softwares are constantly evolving. This evolution has been made easier through the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). By leveraging APIs, developers reuse previously implemented functionalities and concentrate on writing new codes. These APIs may originate from either third parties or internally from other compo- nents of the software that are currently developed. In the first case, developers need to know how to find and use third party APIs. In the second case, developers need to be aware of internal APIs in their own software. In either case, there is often too much information to digest. For instance, finding the …

Cslc Tutoring Portal, Brian Hodges

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

A web portal designed for the Computer Science Learning Center to track students requesting help

Three Essays On Trust Mining In Online Social Networks, Gelareh Towhidi

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation research consists of three essays on studying trust in online social networks. Trust plays a critical role in online social relationships, because of the high levels of risk and uncertainty involved. Guided by relevant social science and computational graph theories, I develop conceptual and predictive models to gain insights into trusting behaviors in online social relationships.

In the first essay, I propose a conceptual model of trust formation in online social networks. This is the first study that integrates the existing graph-based view of trust formation in social networks with socio-psychological theories of trust to provide a richer …

Efficient Reduced Bias Genetic Algorithm For Generic Community Detection Objectives, Aditya Karnam Gururaj Rao

Theses

The problem of community structure identification has been an extensively investigated area for biology, physics, social sciences, and computer science in recent years for studying the properties of networks representing complex relationships. Most traditional methods, such as K-means and hierarchical clustering, are based on the assumption that communities have spherical configurations. Lately, Genetic Algorithms (GA) are being utilized for efficient community detection without imposing sphericity. GAs are machine learning methods which mimic natural selection and scale with the complexity of the network. However, traditional GA approaches employ a representation method that dramatically increases the solution space to be searched by …

Supporting User Evaluation Of Messaging Interactions With Potential Romantic Partners Discovered Online, Douglas Zytko

Dissertations

Online dating systems have transformed the way people pursue romance. To arrive at a decision to meet for a face-to-face date, users gather information about each other online pertinent to romantic attraction. Yet sometimes they discover on the date that they made the wrong choice. One aspect of online dating system-use that may be a contributing factor, but is largely overlooked in the literature, is interaction through text-based messaging interfaces. This dissertation explores how messaging interactions inform face-to-face meeting decisions through two qualitative studies, and explores through a mixed methods field study how innovative messaging interfaces that embody theory from …

Cross-Platform Openhds Web Application, Nick Littlefield

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

A proof of concept cross platform data collection application for Demographic and Health studies has been developed. This application allows for the collection of information about locations, individuals, births, and deaths within a region. This application can be run on both mobile devices, laptops, and desktops.

Environmental Restoration Database, Joao Nascimento

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Environmental restoration projects face many challenges. Public awareness, funding constraints, unpredictable weather, unknown biological/chemical factors and the uncertainty about how the targeted ecosystem will develop work against the planned and ideal restoration.

One way the projects’ efficiency can be improved is by using software tools for data and quality management systems, in order to share information, make field practice follow rules, keep track of maintenance tasks, measure results and, therefore, increase the rate of success by the amount of resources invested.

Since the conception of every project, all resources involved need to be focused and coherent to the final restoration …

Supporting Scientific Analytics Under Data Uncertainty And Query Uncertainty, Liping Peng

Doctoral Dissertations

Data management is becoming increasingly important in many applications, in particular, in large scientific databases where (1) data can be naturally modeled by continuous random variables, and (2) queries can involve complex predicates and/or be difficult for users to express explicitly. My thesis work aims to provide efficient support to both the "data uncertainty" and the "query uncertainty". When data is uncertain, an important class of queries requires query answers to be returned if their existence probabilities pass a threshold. I start with optimizing such threshold query processing for continuous uncertain data in the relational model by (i) expediting selections …

The Application Of Text Mining And Data Visualization Techniques To Textual Corpus Exploration, Jeffrey R. Smith Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Unstructured data in the digital universe is growing rapidly and shows no evidence of slowing anytime soon. With the acceleration of growth in digital data being generated and stored on the World Wide Web, the prospect of information overload is much more prevalent now than it has been in the past. As a preemptive analytic measure, organizations across many industries have begun implementing text mining techniques to analyze such large sources of unstructured data. Utilizing various text mining techniques such as n -gram analysis, document and term frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and topic modeling methodologies, this research seeks to develop …

The Cybher Program Supported By Cisse Framework To Engage And Anchor Middle-School Girls In Cybersecurity, Pamela Rowland

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

There is a piercing shortage of personnel in the cybersecurity field that will take several decades to accommodate. Despite being 50 percent of the workforce, females only account for 11 percent of the cybersecurity personnel. While efforts have been made to encourage more females into the field, more needs to be done. Reality shows that a change in the statistics is not taking place. Women remain seriously under-represented in cybersecurity degree programs and the workforce.

Prior research shows that elementary girls are equally as interested in the cyber path as boys. It is in middle school that this interest shifts, …

Black Business Owners Overcoming Barriers In Texas, Henry Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Black entrepreneurs in the state of Texas reported that they did not achieve the same level of success as nonminority enterprises. Many Black entrepreneurs have obtained education from top tier institutions and have the managerial experiences, skills, and working knowledge that facilitate business success, but they are not able to sustain business growth. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Black Texan entrepreneurs. This research was established using the conceptual framework of human capital. The overarching research question concerned the lived experiences of Black Texas entrepreneurs who were not as successful in business as …

Equity Trading Evaluation Strategies In Switzerland After The European Mifid Ii, Linn Kristina Karstadt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Swiss bank traders are affected by technological and regulatory challenges, which may affect their broker voting process and may result in a change of trading and evaluation behavior in 2018. Compounded challenges exist when broker evaluation strategies are not effective or Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) II compliant. This qualitative, single case study, built on efficient capital market hypothesis and innovative disruption theory, was focused on effective broker evaluation strategies after MiFID II in Switzerland. The sample consisted of 4 buy-side traders, who shared their unique perspectives. Methodological triangulation was achieved through semistructured interviews, a review of the institution's …

Management Strategies For Adopting Agile Methods Of Software Development In Distributed Teams, Igor A. Schtein

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Between 2003 and 2015, more than 61% of U.S. software development teams failed to satisfy project requirements, budgets, or timelines. Failed projects cost the software industry an estimated 60 billion dollars. Lost opportunities and misused resources are often the result of software development leaders failing to implement appropriate methods for managing software projects. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies software development managers use in adopting Agile methodology in the context of distributed teams. The tenets of Agile approach are individual interaction over tools, working software over documentation, and collaboration over a contract. The conceptual …

Automating Ciri Ratings Of Human Rights Reports Using Gate, Joshua M. Joiner

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis involves parsing document-based reports from the United States Human Rights Reports and rating the human practices for various countries based on the CIRI (Cingranelli-Richards) Human Rights Data Project dataset. The United States Human Rights Reports are annual reports that cover internationally recognized human rights practices regarding individual, civil, political, and worker rights. Students, scholars, policymakers, and analysts used the CIRI data for practical and research purposes. CIRI analyzed the annual reports from 1981 to 2011 and then stopped releasing the dataset for any further years, but a possible reason is due to the manual process of scouring the …

Organizational Information Security: Strategies To Minimize Workplace Cyberloafing For Increased Productivity, Hawazin Al Abbasi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Productivity loss occurs in organizations that experience high levels of personal Internet use by employees on company time, which includes employees using smartphones to surf without needing the firm's Internet connection. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore reliable ways for organizational leaders to monitor or limit their employees' use of smartphone technology for personal use (cyberloafing) while on the job to minimize wasted work time. Social cognitive theory, which includes an emphasis on human behavioral changes based upon the environment, people, and behavior, served as the conceptual framework. The general research question was as follows: How …

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

CCE 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 …

Perceptions Of Female Cybersecurity Professionals Toward Factors That Encourage Females To The Cybersecurity Field, Kembley Kay Lingelbach

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Despite multiple national, educational, and industry initiatives, women continue to be underrepresented in the cybersecurity field. Only 11% of cybersecurity professionals, globally, are female. This contributes to the growing overall shortage of workers in the field. This research addressed the significant underrepresentation of females in the cybersecurity workforce. There are many practitioner and industry studies that suggest self-efficacy, discrimination and organizational culture play important roles in the low rate of women in the cybersecurity field. A limited number of scholarly studies identify causal factors; however, there is not a general consensus or framework to explain the problem thoroughly. Moreover, there …

Multi-Robot Complete Coverage Using Directional Constraints, Stefanus Malan

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Complete coverage relies on a path planning algorithm that will move one or more robots, including the actuator, sensor, or body of the robot, over the entire environment. Complete coverage of an unknown environment is used in applications like automated vacuum cleaning, carpet cleaning, lawn mowing, chemical or radioactive spill detection and cleanup, and humanitarian de-mining.

The environment is typically decomposed into smaller areas and then assigned to individual robots to cover. The robots typically use the Boustrophedon motion to cover the cells. The location and size of obstacles in the environment are unknown beforehand. An online algorithm using sensor-based …

Evaluation Of Machine Learning Techniques For Early Identification Of At-Risk Students, Mansour Hamoud Awaji

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Student attrition is one of the long-standing problems facing higher education institutions despite the extensive research that has been undertaken to address it. To increase students’ success and retention rates, there is a need for early alert systems that facilitate the identification of at-risk students so that remedial measures may be taken in time to reduce the risk. However, incorporating ML predictive models into early warning systems face two main challenges: improving the accuracy of timely predictions and the generalizability of predictive models across on-campus and online courses. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate predictive models …

Determining Vulnerability Using Attack Graphs: An Expansion Of The Current Fair Model, Beth M. Anderson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) provides a framework for measuring and understanding factors that contribute to information risk. One such factor is FAIR Vulnerability; the probability that an event involving a threat will result in a loss. An asset is vulnerable if a threat actor’s Threat Capability is higher than the Resistance Strength of the asset. In FAIR scenarios, Resistance Strength is currently estimated for entire assets, oversimplifying assets containing individual systems and the surrounding environment. This research explores enhancing estimations of FAIR Vulnerability by modeling interactions between threat actors and assets through attack graphs. By breaking down the …

Information Technology Infrastructure: Global Economy And National Development In Haiti, Reynolds Alcena

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Political and environmental chaos recently experienced in Haiti has damaged the economic sector and telecommunication infrastructure. Developmental data from Haiti show 3 major trends: inadequate social and economic development, insufficient benefits from the global economy, and poorly planned information technology infrastructure (ITI). The specific problem addressed in this study is a knowledge gap in the views of stakeholders within Haiti's national culture on how the country's ITI can be developed to better engage Haiti in 21st century global and digital economy. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the views of 48 expert participants regarding ITI development …

The Relationship Between Leadership Style And Cognitive Style To Software Project Success, Jacquelyne L. Wilson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Project managers can be change agents providing direction and motivation for subordinates to meet and exceed goals; however, there is a lack of information about the soft skills needed to achieve project success. Understanding the relationship between cognitive style and transformational leadership to software project outcomes is important. This study describes the lived experiences of software project managers by focusing on their attitudes towards, perceptions of, and behaviors related to using transformational leadership and cognitive styles in agile software development environments. Husserlian phenomenological design was used to identify the structure of participants' experiences. The naturalistic decision-making model and the theory …

Estimating The Optimal Cutoff Point For Logistic Regression, Zheng Zhang

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Binary classification is one of the main themes of supervised learning. This research is concerned about determining the optimal cutoff point for the continuous-scaled outcomes (e.g., predicted probabilities) resulting from a classifier such as logistic regression. We make note of the fact that the cutoff point obtained from various methods is a statistic, which can be unstable with substantial variation. Nevertheless, due partly to complexity involved in estimating the cutpoint, there has been no formal study on the variance or standard error of the estimated cutoff point.

In this Thesis, a bootstrap aggregation method is put forward to estimate the …

Staff Education Module For Bar Code Medication Administration, Francoise Juste

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) is a technology-supported nursing tool that has become the standard of practice for medication administration. When used effectively and efficiently, this tool has the potential to reduce medication errors in acute care settings. In a pediatric unit at a major urban hospital in the northeast region of the United States, the absence of a BCMA nursing staff educational module affected the use of this safety tool leading to an increase of medication errors. The purpose of this DNP project was to develop a comprehensive educational module to promote BCMA in the pediatric unit of the …

User Interface Challenges Of Banking Atm Systems In Nigeria, Felix Chukwuma Aguboshim

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The use of banking automated teller machine (ATM) technological innovations have significant importance and benefits in Nigeria, but numerous investigations have shown that illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians do not perceive them as useful or easy-to-use. Developing easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces is essential to accommodate over 40% illiterate and semiliterate Nigerians, who are potential users of banking ATM systems. The purpose of this study was to identify strategies software developers of banking ATM systems in Nigeria use to create easy-to-use banking ATM system interfaces for a variety of people with varying abilities and literacy levels. The technology acceptance model was …

Social Media Policy To Support Employee Productivity In The Finance Industry, David Shaun Rogers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business leaders may see social media as a distraction for their workers; however, blocking access could lead to a reduction in productivity. Using social media technologies with knowledge workers could achieve cost reductions for payroll of 30% to 35%. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore how business leaders used a social media policy to support employee productivity. The conceptual framework for this study was social exchange theory, which supports the notion that dyad and small group interactions make up most interactions, and such interactions enhance employees' productivity. The research question was to explore how finance industry …

Patient Satisfaction Management In Office Visits And Telehealth In Health Care Technology, Todd Price

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Telehealth and remote medical treatments have begun to be more commonly used in healthcare systems. Researchers have theorized that providers' abilities to treat patients are not directly tied to the proximity of the patient to the doctor, but by the identification and treatment of the patient's symptoms. Although the treatment and cure rates are being established within individual health systems and professional medical associations, empirical research is lacking regarding patient satisfaction with this remote treatment situation. The purpose of this quantitative study was to address this gap by examining satisfaction ratings of patients between virtual provider visits and face-to-face provider …

Strategies For Healthcare Payer Information Technology Integration After Mergers And Acquisitions, Kishore Maranganti

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the high rate of failure in merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions, many organizations continue to rely on M&As as their primary growth strategy and to address market competition. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore strategies managers from a large healthcare payer in the midwestern United States used to achieve operational and strategic synergies during the postacquisition information technology (IT) integration phase. Haspeslagh and Jemison's acquisition integration approaches model was the conceptual framework for the study. Methodological triangulation was established by analyzing the data from the semistructured interviews of 6 senior executives and 6 IT …