Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Discovering New Vulnerabilities In Computer Systems, Zhenyu Wu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Vulnerability research plays a key role in preventing and defending against malicious computer system exploitations. Driven by a multi-billion dollar underground economy, cyber criminals today tirelessly launch malicious exploitations, threatening every aspect of daily computing. to effectively protect computer systems from devastation, it is imperative to discover and mitigate vulnerabilities before they fall into the offensive parties' hands. This dissertation is dedicated to the research and discovery of new design and deployment vulnerabilities in three very different types of computer systems.;The first vulnerability is found in the automatic malicious binary (malware) detection system. Binary analysis, a central piece of technology …

Sequence Stratigraphy And Onlap History Of The Donets Basin, Ukraine: Insight Into Carboniferous Icehouse Dynamics, J. M. Eros, I. P. Montañez, D. A. Osleger, Vladimir Davydov, T. I. Nemyrovska, V. I. Poletaev, M. V. Zhykalyak

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The degree to which Permo-Carboniferous cyclothemic successions archive evidence for long-term variations in ice volume during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age is insufficiently resolved. Here we develop the sequence stratigraphy and onlap-offlap history for a 33-my interval of the Carboniferous using the U-Pb calibrated succession of the Donets Basin, Ukraine, in order to assess the relationship between sea-level, high-latitude changes in glacial extent, and climate. Integrated subsurface and outcrop data permit meter-scale correlation of 242 biostratigraphically constrained limestones and coals, and in turn individual cyclothems, across ~250 km of the Donets Basin. Rapid uniform subsidence and basinwide continuity of marker …

Partitioning Of Rare Earth And High Field Strength Elements Between Titanite And Phonolitic Liquid, Paul H. Olin, John A. Wolff

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

We present the results of a LA–ICPMS study of titanites and associated glasses from the mixed-magma phonolitic Fasnia Member of the Diego Hernández Formation, Tenerife, Canary Islands. We employ a method of identifying equilibrium mineral–melt pairs from natural samples using REE contents and a linear form of the lattice strain model equation (Blundy and Wood, 1994), where the Young's modulus (E_M) for the 7-fold coordinated site is an output variable. For felsic magmas that contain crystals potentially derived from a variety of environments within the system, this approach is more rigorous than the use of solely textural criteria …

Luminescent Nitrogen And Sulfure Adducts Of Cui Disubstituted Piperazine Complexes, Jason P. Safko

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Cross-Talk: A Shared Parameter Space For Gesturally Extended Human/Machine Improvisation, William Brent, Adam James Wilson

Publications and Research

This paper describes Cross-talk, a piece of music and performance system for two instruments augmented with infrared motion-tracking capability, and an artificial software improviser. Cross-talk was commissioned by the Ammerman Center for Arts and Technology at Connecticut College, for the 13th Biennial Symposium on Arts and Technology. The work is part of an ongoing collaboration focused on developing integrated hardware and software performance systems to extend the timbral and expressive capabilities of traditional musical instruments and to generate musical structure in response to information retrieved from human performers in real-time. Artistic motivations and prior related work are presented here, along …

Parity-Violating Asymmetry In The Nucleon To Delta Transition: A Study Of Inelastic Electron Scattering In The G0 Experiment, Carissa Lee Capuano

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

The parity-violating asymmetry arising from inelastic electron scattering at backward angle (∼ 95??) near the Delta resonance has been measured for both hydrogen and deuterium targets as part of the G 0 experiment. For Q2 = 0.34 (GeV/c) 2 and W = 1.18 GeV, the asymmetries were found to be AHinel=-33.4+/-5 .3stat+/-5 .1sysppm, ADinel=-43.6+/-1 4.6stat+/- 6.2sysppm. .;From the hydrogen asymmetry, the axial transition form factor, GAND , can be extracted. GAND is related to probability of the quark spin-flip that occurs as the proton transitions to the Delta. From the measured asymmetry, the form factor is found to be GAND=-0.046+/- …

An Input Centric Paradigm For Program Dynamic Optimizations And Lifetime Evolvement, Kai Tian

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

Accurately predicting program behaviors (e.g., memory locality, method calling frequency) is fundamental for program optimizations and runtime adaptations. Despite decades of remarkable progress, prior studies have not systematically exploited the use of program inputs, a deciding factor of program behaviors, to help in program dynamic optimizations. Triggered by the strong and predictive correlations between program inputs and program behaviors that recent studies have uncovered, the dissertation work aims to bring program inputs into the focus of program behavior analysis and program dynamic optimization, cultivating a new paradigm named input-centric program behavior analysis and dynamic optimization.;The new optimization paradigm consists of …

Searching, Selecting, And Synthesizing Source Code Components, Collin Mcmillan

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

As programmers develop software, they instinctively sense that source code exists that could be reused if found --- many programming tasks are common to many software projects across different domains. oftentimes, a programmer will attempt to create new software from this existing source code, such as third-party libraries or code from online repositories. Unfortunately, several major challenges make it difficult to locate the relevant source code and to reuse it. First, there is a fundamental mismatch between the high-level intent reflected in the descriptions of source code, and the low-level implementation details. This mismatch is known as the concept assignment …

Rogue Fishermen: Codfish, Atlantic Items, And The Isles Of Shoals, Megan Victor

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Holocene Arroyo Cut And Fills Cycles, South-Central Washington, Matthew Ian Durkee

All Master's Theses

Ephemeral streams have cut deeply incised arroyos into alluvial and eolian sediments in many of the watersheds within the Yakima Training Center (YTC) military reservation, south-central Washington. The most recent channel incision episode along Selah Creek is primarily attributed to multiple failures of an irrigation reservoir dam during the winters of 1909 and 1910. The modern arroyo exposed evidence of at least one previous episode of arroyo incision to a depth of ~4 m that occurred just prior to 1530- 1340 cal yr BP. Filling of this paleo-arroyo with fine to coarse grained sand ceased between 650-103 cal yr BP. …

Applying Gis Metrics To Determine Degree Of Glacial Modification In Mountainous Landscapes, Carl Delbert Swanson Ii

All Master's Theses

The ability to quantitatively assess the degree of glaciation in mountainous areas can be a powerful tool in unraveling the evolution of landscapes, and provide key insights in regions where field research is difficult. Here we determine, test, and apply metrics that assess the relative degree of past glacial modification in mountainous landscapes. Results show that slope results can be used to quantitatively assess the degree to which an area is modified by glaciation. In particular, analysis of basins using slope frequency distribution curves and slope vs. elevation plots capture steeper slopes, flatter valley bottoms, cirques, and arêtes of glaciated …

Circulation And Water Properties And Their Relationship To The Oyster Disease Msx In Delaware Bay, Zhiren Wang, Dale B. Haidvogel, David Bushek, Susan E. Ford, Eileen E. Hofmann, Eric N. Powell, John Wilkin

CCPO Publications

We apply a high-resolution hydro-dynamical model to investigate the role of physical factors influencing infection prevalence of Haplosporidium nelsoni, causative agent of MSX disease in the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica), in Delaware Bay, USA. Validation studies conducted for the years 2000 and 2010-2011 confirm that the model, based upon the Regional Ocean Modeling System, has significant skill in the recovery of observed water level, temperature, salinity, and velocity. Multi-year simulations are performed for periods representing temporal and spatial variations in H. nelsoni infection prevalence (1974-76, 1979-81, 1984-86, 1990-92, and 2006-09) to assess the degree to which the …

Gis Data: Prince William County, Virginia Tidal Marsh Inventory, Marcia Berman, Harry Berquist, Sharon A. Killeen, Carl Hershner, Karinna Nunez, Karen Reay, Tamia Rudnicky

Data

The 2012 Tidal Marsh Inventory update for Prince William County, Virginia was generated using on-screen digitizing techniques in the most recent version of ArcGIS® - ArcMap while viewing conditions observed in the most recent imagery from the Virginia Base Mapping Program (VBMP). Dominant plant community types were primarily determined during field surveys from shallow-draft boats moving along the shoreline. Land-based surveys were performed in some locations. One shapefile is developed that portrays tidal marsh areas represented as polygons. A metadata file accompanies the shapefile to define attribute accuracy, data development, and any use restrictions that pertain to the data.

Gis Data: Mathews County, Virginia Tidal Marsh Inventory, Marcia Berman, Harry Berquist, Sharon Killeen, Carl Hershner, Karinna Nunez, Karen Reay, Tamia Rudnicky, Daniel E. Schatt, David Weiss

Data

The 2012 Tidal Marsh Inventory update for Mathews County, Virginia was generated using on-screen digitizing techniques in the most recent version of ArcGIS® - ArcMap while viewing conditions observed in the most recent imagery from the Virginia Base Mapping Program (VBMP). Dominant plant community types were primarily determined during field surveys from shallow-draft boats moving along the shoreline. Land-based surveys were performed in some locations. One shapefile is developed that portrays tidal marsh areas represented as polygons. A metadata file accompanies the shapefile to define attribute accuracy, data development, and any use restrictions that pertain to the data.

Impact Of Tide-Topography Interactions On Basal Melting Of Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica, R. D. Mueller, Laurie Padman, Michael S. Dinniman, S. Y. Erofeeva, Helen A. Fricker, M. A. King

CCPO Publications

Basal melting of ice shelves around Antarctica contributes to formation of Antarctic Bottom Water and can affect global sea level by altering the offshore flow of grounded ice streams and glaciers. Tides influence ice shelf basal melt rate (w(b)) by contributing to ocean mixing and mean circulation as well as thermohaline exchanges with the ice shelf. We use a three-dimensional ocean model, thermodynamically coupled to a nonevolving ice shelf, to investigate the relationship between topography, tides, and w(b) for Larsen C Ice Shelf (LCIS) in the northwestern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Using our best estimates of ice shelf thickness and seabed …

Scale And Justice In Water Allocation, Marian J. Patrick

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Water allocation is a fundamental part of water resources management. Water allocation is often a contested process because it involves multiple uses and users of water. Issues of justice arise when resources are, or are perceived to be, in short supply. When water is allocated the rules for the distribution of the resource may result in just outcomes for some stakeholders but may create injustices for other stakeholders. Issues of scale thus form an important component of water allocation. This thesis draws from an amalgam of ideas on justice, scale and water management and aims to present a conceptual framework …

A Comparative Study Of Indigenous People's And Early European Settlers' Usage Of Three Perth Wetlands, Western Australia, 1829-1939, Susan Ujma

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study takes as its focus the contrasting manner in which the Nyoongar indigenous people and the early European settlers utilised three wetland environments in southwest Australia over the century between 1829 and 1939. The thesis offers both an ecological and a landscape perspective to changes in the wetlands of Herdsman Lake, Lake Joondalup and Loch McNess. The chain of interconnecting linear lakes provides some of the largest permanent sources of fresh water masses on the Swan Coastal Plain. This thesis acknowledges the importance of the wetland system to the Nyoongar indigenous people.

The aim of this research is to …

Coevolutionary Algorithms For The Optimization Of Strategies For Red Teaming Applications, Tirtha Ranjeet

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Red teaming (RT) is a process that assists an organization in finding vulnerabilities in a system whereby the organization itself takes on the role of an “attacker” to test the system. It is used in various domains including military operations. Traditionally, it is a manual process with some obvious weaknesses: it is expensive, time-consuming, and limited from the perspective of humans “thinking inside the box”. Automated RT is an approach that has the potential to overcome these weaknesses. In this approach both the red team (enemy forces) and blue team (friendly forces) are modelled as intelligent agents in a multi-agent …

Plant-Soil Feedbacks Provide An Alternative Explanation For Diversity-Productivity Relationships, Andrew Kulmatiski, Karen H. Beard, Justin Heavilin

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Plant–soil feedbacks (PSFs) have gained attention for their role in plant community dynamics, but their role in productivity has been overlooked. We developed and tested a biomass-specific, multi-species model to examine the role of PSFs in diversity–productivity relationships. The model predicts a negative relationship between PSFs and overyielding: plants with negative PSFs grow more in communities than in monoculture (i.e. overyield), and plants with positive PSFs grow less in communities than in monoculture (i.e. underyield). This effect is predicted to increase with diversity and saturate at low species richness because the proportion of ‘self-cultivated’ soils rapidly decreases as species are …

Three Geologic Cross Sections Across Portions Of Eastern Nebraska Showing Quaternary Lithologic Units And Stratigraphy Of Uppermost Bedrock, Jesse T. Korus, Dana Divine, P. R. Hanson, J. S. Dillon

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Three-Dimensional Hydrostratigraphy Of The Platte River Valley Near Ashland, Nebraska: Results From Helicopter Electromagnetic (Hem) Mapping In The Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (Enwra), P. R. Hanson, Jesse T. Korus, Dana Divine

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Three-Dimensional Hydrostratigraphy Of The Sprague, Nebraska Area: Results From Helicopter Electromagnetic (Hem) Mapping For The Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (Enwra), Dana Divine, Jesse T. Korus

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2012, A. R. Young, M. E. Burbach, J. T. Korus, L. M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Statewide Groundwater-Level Monitoring Report 2011, Jesse T. Korus Dr., Mark E. Burbach, Leslie M. Howard

Conservation and Survey Division

No abstract provided.

Univariate Probability Distributions, Lawrence Leemis, Daniel J. Luckett, Austin Powell, Peter J. Vermeer

Arts & Sciences Articles

We describe a web-based interactive graphic that can be used as a resource in introductory classes in mathematical statistics. This interactive graphic presents 76 common univariate distributions and gives details on (a) various features of the distribution such as the functional form of the probability density function and cumulative distribution function, graphs of the probability density function for various parameter settings, and values of population moments; (b) properties that the distribution possesses, for example, linear combinations of independent random variables from a particular distribution family also belong to the same distribution family; and (c) relationships between the various distributions, including …

Generating A Close-To-Reality Synthetic Population Of Ghana, Tyler Frazier, Andreas Alfons

Arts & Sciences Articles

The purpose of this research is to generate a close-to-reality synthetic human population for use in a geosimulation of urban dynamics. Two commonly accepted approaches to generating synthetic human populations are Iterative Proportional Fitting (IPF) and Resampling with Replacement. While these methods are effective at reproducing one instance of the probability model describing the survey, it is an instance with extremely small variability amongst subgroups and is very unlikely to be the real population. IPF and Resampling with Replacement also rely on pure replication of units from the underlying sample which can increase unrealistic model behavior. In this work we …

Structural Studies Of Blood Coagulation Factor Viii In Complexes With Inhibitory Antibodies, Rachel Werther

WWU Graduate School Collection

Normal blood clotting is regulated by blood plasma protein factors in a blood coagulation cascade. Deficiency in one of these proteins, Factor VIII (FVIII), causes the disease hemophilia A, in which the patient is unable to form blood clots. Treatment of hemophilia A involves the infusion of FVIII, and the most common complication in this treatment is the development of antibodies against the therapeutic infusions. Two mouse monoclonal anti-human antibodies, 3E6 and G99, were used as models of inhibitory action against FVIII by binding to the C-terminal C2 domain. A classical antibody, 3E6, blocks the ability of FVIII to bind …

Thermal Conditions And Movement Of Rock Glaciers In The North Cascades, Washington, Joseph Goshorn-Maroney

WWU Graduate School Collection

Rock glaciers are a largely unrecognized phenomenon in the North Cascades. In part this reflects their scarcity there. Additionally, because rock glaciers are widely held to be the product of permafrost conditions, the dearth of literature regarding North Cascade rock glaciers also reflects the notion that active rock glaciers should not exist at all in such temperate mountain ranges. Rock glaciers have been linked to specific air temperature conditions ( < -2°C), and, based on that link, are often used as visual indications of mountain permafrost. The North Cascades, a maritime mountain range with high snowfall and relatively warm climate, are a good location to test the permafrost-rock glacier link. Review of aerial photography and satellite imagery, however, reveals at least ten morphologically active rock glaciers and even more that appear inactive. To test the activity and possible link to permafrost conditions, I selected two of the active-looking rock glaciers for movement monitoring and thermal investigation. Movement monitoring was accomplished by conducting repeat scans with a terrestrial laser scanner; this investigation represents the first attempt to use this technique on rock glaciers in North America. The Craggy Peak rock glacier was shown to be moving downslope at a rate of 5 to 10 cm per year. Movement vectors toward the top of the rock glacier suggested deflation, while vectors toward the toe indicated a slight inflation. Flow toward the top and center of the rock glacier also was faster reflecting the steeper slope while flow toward the toe slowed and vectors radiated out. Movement was not detectable on second rock glacier, Star Peak, due mainly to lack of control points located on and around the scan target. Moreover, lack of a good vantage point at the site limited the scan coverage, inhibiting data processing. Because the North Cascades are a maritime mountain range with climate conditions thought to be too warm and wet to support rock glaciers, I also deployed miniature temperature data loggers in both rock glaciers to record air temperature at the surface and within the rubble. Three logger strings were deployed with three loggers. Each string contained one surface logger, one logger of intermediate depth and one logger that was between 1.5-2.3 meters deep in the rubble (depending on the string). One year of data has revealed that average ground temperature on the rock glaciers is probably near -1 ± 1° C and modeled near-surface air temperature above them is 0.0 ± 1.6° C. Air temperature is marginally to warm to support permafrost, though a more lengthy study period is needed. Thermal exchange during the summer appears to be governed by conductive processes in the form of rain water and solar heating. Moreover, forced convection occurs when wind pumps air into the regolith. During the fall, I document at least one instance where the data loggers capture natural convection when relatively warm air evacuated the regolith. Natural convection occurs when cold air overlays warm air and the subsequent density driven inversion results in warm air escaping into the air and cold air settling into the regolith.

Sedimentologic, Stable Isotopic, And Paleomagnetic Analysis Of Laramide Synorogenic Strata: Unroofing Of The Beartooth Range, Montana And Wyoming, Austin S. Hart

WWU Graduate School Collection

The timing and sequence of Paleogene proximal sediments derived from the rising Beartooth Range of Montana and Wyoming and shed eastward into the western Bighorn Basin have been interpreted differently by earlier workers. Improving our knowledge of the relationships between proximal and distal strata in the western Bighorn Basin will lead to a better understanding of basin development in the northern Laramide Province. The objective of this study is to use petrographic, stable isotopic and paleomagnetic datasets from Beartooth synorogenic deposits in order to address different hypotheses concerning the timing and sequence of sedimentation off the Beartooth uplift. The synorogenic …

The Isolated Sixth Gelsolin Repeat Of Villin Has A Calcium-Regulated Structure And Lacks Capacity To Bind F-Actin, Jacob A. Brockerman

WWU Graduate School Collection

Villin is a modular, epithelial, actin binding protein responsible for the regulation of microvilli in the brush border region of the small intestine and kidney. Villin is regulated by tyrosine phosphorylation, Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate and calcium concentration. These signal molecules control villin's multifunctionality and allow it to switch among its several opposing functional roles. Villin can cleave, nucleate, cap and bundle F-actin. This is achieved through villin's six gelsolin-like domains which are connected by a 40 residue linker sequence to a novel C-terminal headpiece domain (HP). It is known that the HP forms a calcium insensitive F-actin binding site that is …