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- Creator:
- Gittins, Zane
- Description:
- In the public imagination Cybersecurity is very much about malware, even though malware constitutes only part of all the threats faced by Cybersecurity experts. However, malware is still one of the best methods to gain persistent access and control of a target system. There are many methods to deploy malware to a target system, a common method is a well socially-engineered phishing attack that deceives a user to gain a foothold on a system. Once the attacker gains a beachhead in the victim’s network, it may be used to download additional payloads and exploit vulnerabilities, to gain more control and access within a network. Using malware as their foothold, attackers are able to to conduct reconnaissance, gather intelligence (e.g., exfiltration of intellectual property) or simply inflict damage or extortion (e.g., ransomware). All of this has to be done in a way that allows an attacker to retain access for as long as possible; the ability to do so is called persistence, and this thesis examines some of the different techniques used by malware authors to accomplish persistence in an ever evolving landscape. In the second section of this thesis we propose an architecture for detecting malware persistence mechanisms, and give examples to detect the malware that we cover in the first section.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Department:
- Computer Science & Information Technology
- Creator:
- Trow, Andrew
- Description:
- To understand and improve the efficiency of LIDAR (Light Imaging, Detection, And Ranging) simulations used for robotic movement, an analysis of multiple variants of scanning algorithms was performed. Many challenges arose during the course of experimentation: creating a meaningful user interface, restructuring the problem into smaller segments, validating uncommon conditions, and enhancing overall performance. Time trials were observed for verified algorithms when appending multiple types of data used in a given simulation. An objective analysis was completed about the overall mathematical structure of the valid algorithms. This thesis confirms that performance for LIDAR simulations can be vastly accelerated with no loss in fidelity or precision. These findings demonstrate an exponential speed increase in LIDAR simulator execution for the average use case. This capability has the potential to improve 3D simulations as well as enable more comprehensive testing of fully autonomous mobile robots in the future.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Department:
- Computer Science & Information Technology
- Creator:
- Decanio, Samuel
- Description:
- Attribution, the ability to match events on the Internet to actors who caused them, is a difficult problem in Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics. The Internet was not designed to track behavior of users. In fact, being an easy to access and open platform, it is often thought of as synonymous with anonymity. When actors attempt to take advantage of this anonymity to break the law, it is up to law enforcement to track them down, in a way that can potentially hold up in a court of law. This is no easy feat though, and the odds are stacked against them. In this paper a tool is presented, called Voyager, based on the idea of a tracking pixel, meant to help investigators with problem attribution.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Department:
- Computer Science & Information Technology
- Creator:
- Shariff, Moosa Ahmed
- Description:
- Data mining is the process of finding patterns and relationships by analysing large datasets to solve problems. It involves using classifiers which help classify data into certain categories. Fake news detection is a popular topic in data mining. With easy and low-cost access to information online, it is available on every social media platform. As a result, people have started relying on these platforms for the consumption of news. This also makes it easier for the spread of intentional fake news. To combat this, various researches are being done. Traditional fake news detection relies on the context of the news, whereas in social media, auxiliary information can be used which are either linguistic based or visual based. Many natural language processing algorithms help us extract and use this information to create machine learning models which can successfully distinguish between fake and real news. Fake news is either written intentionally to make readers believe it or it is just satirical. Recent evidence has shown that about 62 percent of US adults use social media for news. Fake news is shared widely as people are more likely to believe it. To many people Reddit is a source of news. Reddit has many subreddits specifically for satire and real news. In this thesis, we gather data from these subreddits to apply data mining on the posts from them. A number of machine learning classifiers will be created and compared to achieve a high accuracy for fake news detection.
- Resource Type:
- Masters Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Department:
- Computer Science & Information Technology
- Creator:
- Escalante, Magda
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Creator:
- Wu, YueJia
- Description:
- Objectives. 1. To determine the presence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in rat embryo limb buds and adult rat knee joints. 2. To determine the pharmacological effects of recombinant human GDF-5 (rhGDF-5) on rat MSCs. 3. To determine the effect of rhGDF-5 on load bearing in a rodent model of osteoarthritis. Methods. Fluorescent-Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) was used to identify and purify MSCs from E18 rat embryo and adult rat knee cartilage. Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to assess the RNA profile of MSCs. qRT-PCR was specifically used to quantify the expression of chondrogenesis markers including Aggrecan (Agc), Type II collagen (Col2), and Sox9 and osteogenesis markers including Runx2 and Type I collagen. An Alamar Blue (AB) assay was utilized to assess effects of rhGDF-5 on MSC proliferation. An Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) assay was used to study the effects of rhGDF-5 on MSC differentiation. Neuroprobe migration chambers were used to assess rhGDF-5 effects on chondrocyte chemotaxis. In situ hybridization (ISH) was conducted to identify MSC (expression of chondrogenic RNA biomarkers) in rat embryos and in adult knee joints from normal and osteoarthritic rats. Differential weight bearing analysis was assessed using Bioseb's DWB system. Results. MSCs were obtained from E18 rat embryo limb buds and adult rat knee joint cartilage. qRT-PCR showed that MSC comprised pre-osteochondrocytes expressing Agc, Col2a1, Sox9, and GDF-5 RNAs. rhGDF-5 treated MSC showed a dose-dependent increase in AB intensity from Day 1 to Day 14, followed by an increase in rhGDF-5 mediated ALP activity on Day 14 and Day 21. The increased ALP activity coincided with increased Agc, Col2a1, Sox9, and GDF-5 RNA expression indicating that rhGDF-5 selectively promoted chondrogenesis. Greater chemotaxis effect of rhGDF-5 was observed with MSC that presumably were more differentiated after 23 days in culture with rhGDF-5. Following 23 days of treatment with rhGDF-5, MSC appeared as condensations and precartilaginous structures. ISH confirmed the presence of GDF-5, Sox9, and Runx2 in rat embryo hind limbs and in the experimentally-induced osteoarthritic joint of adult animals. DWB analysis revealed significant differential joint loading in the Medial Meniscus Tear (MMT) injured knee, but no reverse differential weight bearing was detected in rhGDF-5 treated rats after a 9-week treatment period. Conclusion. Mesenchymal stem cells are present in rat embryonic limb buds and adult rat knee joint. Our studies show that rhGDF-5 may promote an increase in metabolic activity of MSCs prior to commitment to the chondrocyte lineage. The positive chemotaxic effect of GDF-5 suggests a role in MSC cell homing, cell condensation, and formation of pre-cartilaginous structures. Taken together, GDF-5 is a selective chondrocyte differentiation factor. The presence of MSC in the damaged joint suggests that rhGDF-5 may act to differentiate endogenous MSC to chondrocytes.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Creator:
- Barker, Tom
- Resource Type:
- Other
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Creator:
- Owen, Diana and Soule, Suzanne
- Description:
- A variety of factors coalesce in civics instruction to promote political engagement. This study examines the extent to which political knowledge, classroom environment, and pedagogic approaches influence participatory dispositions among high school students. We address the research questions: What is the connection between political knowledge and different forms of political engagement? And, are particular instructional approaches associated with greater knowledge gain and propensity to participate in politics? We employ an original study of high school students in schools across the state of Indiana to investigate these questions empirically. We find that students gain political knowledge as a result of taking a civics class. We affirm that people who have a base of political knowledge are more inclined to engage in political and civic activities than those who do not. We establish a positive relationship between knowledge and contacting, voting, campaign engagement, community engagement, digital engagement, and activism. There are differences in the strength of the correspondence between knowledge and engagement based on the knowledge domain. Knowledge of the U.S. Constitution has the strongest relationship to political engagement followed by knowledge of government institutions. Students whose civics class was taught in an open environment and whose instruction included active learning approaches are the most inclined to engage in politics. The study’s strongest finding is that an open classroom climate is conducive to developing participatory inclinations among high school students.
- Resource Type:
- Other
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Creator:
- Petrie, Ragan, Castillo, Marco, and Barton, Jared
- Description:
- tWhy do candidates risk alienating voters by engaging in negative campaigning? One answermay lie in the large empirical literature indicating that negative messages are more effec-tive than positive messages in getting individuals to do many things, including voting andpurchasing goods. Few contributions to this literature, however, gather data from a fieldenvironment with messages whose tone has been validated. We conduct field experimentsin two elections for local office which test the effect of confirmed negative and positiveletters sent to candidates’ partisans on two measurable activities: donating to the candi-date and turning out to vote. We find that message tone increases partisan support in waysthat may help explain the persistence of negative campaigning. Negative messages are nobetter than positive messages at earning the candidates donations, but negative messagesyield significantly higher rates of voter turnout among the candidates’ partisans relative topositive messages. Positive messages, however, are not neutral relative to no message.© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
- Resource Type:
- Other
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands
- Creator:
- Danielson, Rachel
- Description:
- Higher education personnel face a myriad of tasks in the course of their professional duties. The timing and priority of these tasks are sometimes controlled by the staff themselves, but are often determined by campus or external constituents. Five enrollment management staff members were interviewed to identify specific occupational pressures, situations, and challenges in their places of employment. The goal of this study was to determine the common workplace experiences of enrollment management staff and how those circumstances and conditions may affect productivity, professionalism, and purpose.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- Channel Islands