Databases and Information Systems Commons^™

Robust Cache System For Web Search Engine Yioop, Rushikesh Padia

Master's Projects

Caches are the most effective mechanism utilized by web search engines to optimize the performance of search queries. Search engines employ caching at multiple levels to improve its performance, for example, caching posting list and caching result set. Caching query results reduces overhead of processing frequent queries and thus saves a lot of time and computing power. Yioop is an open-source web search engine which utilizes result cache to optimize searches. The current implementation utilizes a single dynamic cache based on Marker’s algorithm. The goal of the project is to improve the performance of cache in Yioop. To choose a …

Nosql Databases In Kubernetes, Parth Sandip Mehta

Master's Projects

With the increasing popularity of deploying applications in containers, Kubernetes (K8s) has become one of the most accepted container orchestration systems. Kubernetes helps maintain containers smoothly and simplifies DevOps with powerful automations. It was originally developed as a tool to manage stateless microservices that run seamlessly in containers. The ephemeral nature of pods, the smallest deployable unit, in Kubernetes was well-aligned with stateless applications since destroying and recreating pods didn’t impact applications. There was a need to provision solutions around stateful workloads like databases so as to take advantage of K8s. This project explores this need, the challenges associated and …

Fridge Tracker And Recipe Provider : Fridgechamp, Matt Dudek

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

FridgeChamp is a website to allow people to track their fridge/pantry contents while providing them recipes they can make with said ingredients. Currently there are few ingredient trackers and recipe matchers that exist as websites, and of those many lack simplistic recipes that a home chef would use. In addition to lacking some recipes, many tracker/recipe apps do not have a function to remove from your stock what a recipe requires, making you tediously update the stock every time you cook/use something.

Technical Training To Nonprofit Managers Influences Using Big Data Technology In Business Operations, Dr. Arslan Isaac Phd

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This nonexperimental, survey-based online quantitative study on nonprofit managers’ technical training measures the extent of the influence on big data technology use. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology is a theoretical framework to determine whether business managers are trained to have know-how in using big data technology. This study followed a quantitative methodology to help narrow the gap in research between what is not known in relation to the nonprofit manager’s technical training on the use of big data technology. Today’s data is the most critical asset, but progress toward big data technology-oriented usage needs to be …

Analyzing Small Business Strategies To Prevent External Cybersecurity Threats, Dr. Kevin E. Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some small businesses’ cybersecurity analysts lack strategies to prevent their organizations from compromising personally identifiable information (PII) via external cybersecurity threats. Small business leaders are concerned, as they are the most targeted critical infrastructures in the United States and are a vital part of the economic system as data breaches threaten the viability of these organizations. Grounded in routine activity theory, the purpose of this pragmatic qualitative inquiry was to explore strategies small business organizations utilize to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The participants were nine cybersecurity analysts who utilized strategies to defend small businesses from external threats. Data were collected …

Perceptions And Knowledge Of Information Security Policy Compliance In Organizational Personnel, Jesus M. Mosqueda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

All internet connected organizations are becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks due to information security policy noncompliance of personnel. The problem is important to information technology (IT) firms, organizations with IT integration, and any consumer who has shared personal information online, because noncompliance is the single greatest threat to cybersecurity, which leads to expensive breaches that put private information in danger. Grounded in the protection motivation theory, the purpose of this quantitative study was to use multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between perceived importance, organizational compliance, management involvement, seeking guidance, and rate of cybersecurity attack. The research question for …

Knowledge-Sharing Practice As A Tool In Organizational Development In Nigerian Higher Educational Institutions, Emmanuel Ajiri Ojo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractUnderstanding knowledge management is key to understanding organizational development and innovations. Inadequate knowledge-sharing practices in Nigerian educational institutions has impeded innovation and management development. The purpose of this qualitative modified Delphi study was to seek consensus among administrators from Nigerian educational institutions and scholars from Nigerian universities regarding knowledge-sharing practices that nourish innovation in Nigerian higher educational institutions. The organizational development framework was used to guide the study. Data collection included a nonprobability purposive sampling of 25 participants and three rounds of surveys administered online. A consensus was reached on eight factors after coding and thematic analysis: setting knowledge-sharing expectations, …

Leadership Strategies Supply Chain Managers Use In Adopting Innovative Technology, Bukola Loveth Olowo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Supply chain managers face challenges when adopting new technologies to remain competitive and satisfy consumer demands involving expedited delivery of food and services. Supply chain managers who fail to adopt new technology have a decreased propensity to stay competitive. Grounded in the transformation leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore leadership strategies supply chain managers use in adopting innovative technology. Participants were six supply chain managers who successfully used leadership strategies to adopt new innovative technology. Sources for data collection were semistructured interviews, company archival documents, and field notes. Research data were analyzed via thematic …

Strategies Information Technology Managers Use To Retain Qualified Information Technology Employees, Wayne Arnold Reu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Retaining qualified information technology (IT) personnel can take time and effort, given the high demand for skilled positions. Business leaders are concerned with the high turnover of IT employees because of the cost of recruiting and training personnel and the disruption to organizational processes and performance. Grounded in job characteristics theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore IT managers' strategies to retain qualified IT employees in organizations across the southwestern United States. Eight IT leaders participated because of their years of experience implementing strategies to retain qualified IT professionals. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and …

How It Professionals Acquire Soft Skills, Paul Majett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractIn this study, I investigated how information technology (IT) professionals learn/acquire soft skills. Little is understood about how IT professionals describe and apply the soft skills that they consider necessary for their own employability. Exploring how IT professionals describe and apply soft skills is important to their future work and career advancement. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to better understand how IT professionals learn/acquire soft skills. Bandura’s 1986, social learning theory served as the organizational conceptual framework of this study and guided the research question, which asked how IT professionals acquire learn/acquire soft skills. This research question …

Effective Strategies For Using Telecommuting By Owners Of Small Businesses, Thomas Law

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who lack effective strategies to incorporate telecommuting may be unable to retain teleworking employees, create a flexible working environment, or improve workforce morale, negatively impacting company productivity and profitability. Grounded in transformational leadership theory and sociotechnical systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners use to incorporate telecommuting to retain teleworking employees. Data were collected from five small business owners in Texas with at least 1 year of management experience and created and maintained remote working strategies. Data collection included semistructured interviews and company documents. Three themes emerged …

Relationship Between Strategic Dexterity, Absorptive Capacity, And Competitive Advantage, Ifechide Monyei

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) manufacturing executives and managers are concerned with the rapid technological changes involving artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data. To compete in the global landscape, effectively managing digital and artificial intelligence changes among SME manufacturing executives and managers is critical for leaders to compete in 2023 and beyond. Grounded in the dynamic capabilities view theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between strategic dexterity, absorptive capacity, and competitive advantage. The participants were 66 executives and managers of SME manufacturing organizations who use big data and analytics daily and …

Ai Usage In Development, Security, And Operations, Maurice Ayidiya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a growing field in information technology (IT). Cybersecurity managers are concerned that the lack of strategies to incorporate AI technologies in developing secure software for IT operations may inhibit the effectiveness of security risk mitigation. Grounded in the technology acceptance model, the purpose of this qualitative exploratory multiple case study was to explore strategies cybersecurity professionals use to incorporate AI technologies in developing secure software for IT operations. The participants were 10 IT professionals in the United States with at least 5 years of professional experience working in DevSecOps and managing teams of at least …

Developing Consensus On The Use Of Emotional Intelligence Training In Small Utility Companies, Nathaniel E. Holloway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Park and Shaw shared the impact on organizations from unmotivated and unsatisfied employees link to higher turnover ratios. The use of emotional intelligence in manager training lowered employee turnover by 13%. The problem address in this Delphi study was that small utility companies do not have an emotional intelligence plan in place for managerial training. Goleman and Mayer’s framework was used as the theorical lens for examining response of participants to the Delphi study. A panel of experts submitted data in the form of responses to three rounds of questions regarding the use of emotional intelligence training in small businesses. …

El-Vit: Probing Vision Transformer With Interactive Visualization, Hong Zhou, Rui Zhang, Peifeng Lai, Chaoran Guo, Yong Wang, Zhida Sun, Junjie Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nowadays, Vision Transformer (ViT) is widely utilized in various computer vision tasks, owing to its unique self-attention mechanism. However, the model architecture of ViT is complex and often challenging to comprehend, leading to a steep learning curve. ViT developers and users frequently encounter difficulties in interpreting its inner workings. Therefore, a visualization system is needed to assist ViT users in understanding its functionality. This paper introduces EL-VIT, an interactive visual analytics system designed to probe the Vision Transformer and facilitate a better understanding of its operations. The system consists of four layers of visualization views. The first three layers include …

Dual-View Preference Learning For Adaptive Recommendation, Zhongzhou Liu, Yuan Fang, Min Wu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While recommendation systems have been widely deployed, most existing approaches only capture user preferences in the , i.e., the user's general interest across all kinds of items. However, in real-world scenarios, user preferences could vary with items of different natures, which we call the . Both views are crucial for fully personalized recommendation, where an underpinning macro-view governs a multitude of finer-grained preferences in the micro-view. To model the dual views, in this paper, we propose a novel model called Dual-View Adaptive Recommendation (DVAR). In DVAR, we formulate the micro-view based on item categories, and further integrate it with the …

Contextual Path Retrieval: A Contextual Entity Relation Embedding-Based Approach, Pei-Chi Lo, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Contextual path retrieval (CPR) refers to the task of finding contextual path(s) between a pair of entities in a knowledge graph that explains the connection between them in a given context. For this novel retrieval task, we propose the Embedding-based Contextual Path Retrieval (ECPR) framework. ECPR is based on a three-component structure that includes a context encoder and path encoder that encode query context and path, respectively, and a path ranker that assigns a ranking score to each candidate path to determine the one that should be the contextual path. For context encoding, we propose two novel context encoding methods, …

Learning Large Neighborhood Search For Vehicle Routing In Airport Ground Handling, Jianan Zhou, Yaoxin Wu, Zhiguang Cao, Wen Song, Jie Zhang, Zhenghua Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Dispatching vehicle fleets to serve flights is a key task in airport ground handling (AGH). Due to the notable growth of flights, it is challenging to simultaneously schedule multiple types of operations (services) for a large number of flights, where each type of operation is performed by one specific vehicle fleet. To tackle this issue, we first represent the operation scheduling as a complex vehicle routing problem and formulate it as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. Then given the graph representation of the MILP model, we propose a learning assisted large neighborhood search (LNS) method using data generated …

Efficient Approximate Range Aggregation Over Large-Scale Spatial Data Federation, Yexuan Shi, Yongxin Tong, Yuxiang Zeng, Zimu Zhou, Bolin Ding, Lei Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Range aggregation is a primitive operation in spatial data applications and there is a growing demand to support such operations over a data federation, where the entire spatial data are separately held by multiple data providers (a.k.a., data silos). Data federations notably increase the amount of data available for data-intensive applications such as smart mobility planning and public health emergency responses. Yet they also challenge the conventional implementation of range aggregation queries because the raw data cannot be shared within the federation and the data partition at each data silo is fixed during query processing. These constraints limit the design …

Sequence Checking And Deduplication For Existing Fingerprint Databases, Tahsin Islam Sakif

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biometric technology is a rapidly evolving field with applications that range from access to devices to border crossing and entry/exit processes. Large-scale applications to collect biometric data, such as border crossings result in multimodal biometric databases containing thousands of identities. However, due to human operator error, these databases often contain many instances of image labeling and classification; this is due to the lack of training and throughput pressure that comes with human error. Multiple entries from the same individual may be assigned to a different identity. Rolled fingerprints may be labeled as flat images, a face image entered into a …

A Sociotechnical Systems View Of Computer Self-Efficacy And Usability Determinants Of Technical Readiness, Stefani L. Tucker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The specific research problem was that it is unknown whether computer self-efficacy and usability determine technical readiness in hourly and exempt information technology support employees in the United States. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between computer self-efficacy and technical readiness, usability and technical readiness, and computer self-efficacy, usability, and technical readiness in hourly and exempt information technology support employees in the United States. Sociotechnical system theory suggests that every transaction has a human and technical aspect; thus, the theoretical framework. The convenience sample included 136 information technology support employees aged 18-70. The regression results …

Generational Information Security Awareness And The Role Of Big Five Personality Traits, Gloria Mccue

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractTechnological change drives organizations to safeguard information systems. However, such safeguards are dependent upon people to follow security rules. This study examined generational cohorts and personality traits and their impact on information security awareness. Participants in this study were 137 volunteers who completed an anonymous survey online. Two tools were utilized to collect data from the participants: the Human Aspects of Information Security Questionnaire and the Big Five Inventory, which captured behaviors and personality traits, respectively. The three main generational cohorts represented in the study, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y, were in today’s workforce. The results of the …

Diversification Strategies Business Managers Use To Improve Profitability, Kayode Itiola

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A lack of diversification strategies can negatively impact business profitability. Business managers of small and medium-sized enterprises who implement appropriate diversification strategies can improve business profitability, ensuring the firm’s sustainability. Grounded in the modern portfolio theory, the purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore diversification strategies business managers use to improve profitability. The participants were five business managers who successfully used diversification strategies to enhance business profitability. Sources for data collection were semi-structured interviews, company archival documents, and field notes. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: concentric diversification strategy, horizontal diversification strategy, customer needs …

Effective Strategies For Using Telecommuting By Owners Of Small Businesses, Thomas Law

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners who lack effective strategies to incorporate telecommuting may be unable to retain teleworking employees, create a flexible working environment, or improve workforce morale, negatively impacting company productivity and profitability. Grounded in transformational leadership theory and sociotechnical systems theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies small business owners use to incorporate telecommuting to retain teleworking employees. Data were collected from five small business owners in Texas with at least 1 year of management experience and created and maintained remote working strategies. Data collection included semistructured interviews and company documents. Three themes emerged …

Knowledge-Sharing Practice As A Tool In Organizational Development In Nigerian Higher Educational Institutions, Emmanuel Ajiri Ojo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractUnderstanding knowledge management is key to understanding organizational development and innovations. Inadequate knowledge-sharing practices in Nigerian educational institutions has impeded innovation and management development. The purpose of this qualitative modified Delphi study was to seek consensus among administrators from Nigerian educational institutions and scholars from Nigerian universities regarding knowledge-sharing practices that nourish innovation in Nigerian higher educational institutions. The organizational development framework was used to guide the study. Data collection included a nonprobability purposive sampling of 25 participants and three rounds of surveys administered online. A consensus was reached on eight factors after coding and thematic analysis: setting knowledge-sharing expectations, …

Analyzing Small Business Strategies To Prevent External Cybersecurity Threats, Dr. Kevin E. Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some small businesses’ cybersecurity analysts lack strategies to prevent their organizations from compromising personally identifiable information (PII) via external cybersecurity threats. Small business leaders are concerned, as they are the most targeted critical infrastructures in the United States and are a vital part of the economic system as data breaches threaten the viability of these organizations. Grounded in routine activity theory, the purpose of this pragmatic qualitative inquiry was to explore strategies small business organizations utilize to prevent external cybersecurity threats. The participants were nine cybersecurity analysts who utilized strategies to defend small businesses from external threats. Data were collected …

Progenitor Cell Isolation From Mouse Epididymal Adipose Tissue And Sequencing Library Construction, Qianglin Liu, Chaoyang Li, Yuxia Li, Leshan Wang, Xujia Zhang, Buhao Deng, Peidong Gao, Mohammad Shiri, Fozi Alkaifi, Junxing Zhao, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Constantine A. Simintiras, Joseph Francis, Jiangwen Sun, Xing Fu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Here, we present a protocol to isolate progenitor cells from mouse epididymal visceral adipose tissue and construct bulk RNA and assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing (ATAC-seq) libraries. We describe steps for adipose tissue collection, cell isolation, and cell staining and sorting. We then detail procedures for both ATAC-seq and RNA sequencing library construction. This protocol can also be applied to other tissues and cell types directly or with minor modifications.

For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Liu et al. (2023).¹

*¹ Liu, Q., Li, C., Deng, B., Gao, P., …

Neighbor-Anchoring Adversarial Graph Neural Networks, Zemin Liu, Yuan Fang, Yong Liu, Vincent W. Zheng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Graph neural networks (GNNs) have witnessed widespread adoption due to their ability to learn superior representations for graph data. While GNNs exhibit strong discriminative power, they often fall short of learning the underlying node distribution for increased robustness. To deal with this, inspired by generative adversarial networks (GANs), we investigate the problem of adversarial learning on graph neural networks, and propose a novel framework named NAGNN (i.e., Neighbor-anchoring Adversarial Graph Neural Networks) for graph representation learning, which trains not only a discriminator but also a generator that compete with each other. In particular, we propose a novel neighbor-anchoring strategy, where …

Reks: Role-Based Encrypted Keyword Search With Enhanced Access Control For Outsourced Cloud Data, Yibin Miao, Feng Li, Xiaohua Jia, Huaxiong Wang, Ximeng Liu, Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, Robert H. Deng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Keyword-based search over encrypted data is an important technique to achieve both data confidentiality and utilization in cloud outsourcing services. While commonly used access control mechanisms, such as identity-based encryption and attribute-based encryption, do not generally scale well for hierarchical access permissions. To solve this problem, we propose a Role-based Encrypted Keyword Search (REKS) scheme by using the role-based access control and broadcast encryption. Specifically, REKS allows owners to deploy hierarchical access control by allowing users with parent roles to have access permissions from child roles. Using REKS, we further facilitate token generation preprocessing and efficient user management, thereby significantly …

Is A Pretrained Model The Answer To Situational Awareness Detection On Social Media?, Siaw Ling Lo, Kahhe Lee, Yuhao Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Social media can be valuable for extracting information about an event or incident on the ground. However, the vast amount of content shared, and the linguistic variants of languages used on social media make it challenging to identify important situational awareness content to aid in decision-making for first responders. In this study, we assess whether pretrained models can be used to address the aforementioned challenges on social media. Various pretrained models, including static word embedding (such as Word2Vec and GloVe) and contextualized word embedding (such as DistilBERT) are studied in detail. According to our findings, a vanilla DistilBERT pretrained language …