<p> Organizations of all types and their computer networks are constantly under threat of attack. While the overall detection time of these attacks is getting shorter, the average detection time of weeks to months allows the attacker ample time to potentially cause damage to the organization. Current detection methods are primarily signature based and typically rely on analyzing the available data sources in isolation. Any analysis of how the individual data sources relate to each other is usually a manual process, and will most likely occur as a forensic endeavor after the attack identification occurs via other means. The use of graph theory and the graph databases built to support its application can provide a repeatable and automated analysis of the data sources and their relationships. By aggregating the individual data sources into a graph database based on a model that supports the data types and relationships, database queries can extract information relevant to the detection of attack behavior within the network. The work in this Praxis shows how the graph model and database queries will reduce the overall time to detection of a successful attack by enabling defenders to understand better how the data elements and what they represent are related.</p><p>

<p> Data models built for analyzing student data often obfuscate temporal relationships for reasons of simplicity, or to aid in generalization. We present a sequence model that is based on temporal relationships in heterogeneous student data as the basis for building predictive models to identify and understand students at risk. The properties of our sequence data model include temporal structure, segmentation, contextualization, and storytelling. To demonstrate the benefits of these properties, we have collected and analyzed 10 years of student data from the College of Computing at UNC Charlotte in a between-semester sequence model, and used data in an introductory course in computer science to build a within-semester sequence model. Our results for the two sequence models show that analytics based on the sequence data model can achieve higher predictive accuracy than non-temporal models with the same data. The sequence model not only outperforms non-temporal models to predict at risk students, but also provides interpretability by contextualizing the analytics with the context features in the data model. This ability to interpret and explore the analytics, enables the development of an interactive exploratory learning analytics framework to involve the domain experts in the process of knowledge discovery. To show this potential of the sequence model, we developed a dashboard prototype and evaluated the prototype during focus group with our college faculty, advisors, and leadership. As a result, the dashboard facilitates generating new hypotheses about student data, and enables the discovery of actionable knowledge for domain experts.</p><p>

<p> The safeguarding of digital evidence, valuable corporate proprietary intellectual property and related original objects on which it resides, such as cell phones, tablets, external drives and laptops, becomes a more complex challenge when a natural disaster is imminent. Natural devastation disrupts the investigative and legal process, often destroying the evidentiary elements required to serve justice. Traditional methods such as backups to external drives, and copies as well as cloud storage options, are inadequate to serve the requirements of evidence-gathering and chain of custody documentation required by the courts to prove original evidence. Courts point to the original data-containing object as proof of digital evidence validity and admissibility. Current research provides general guidelines for safeguarding digital evidence, but lacks specific detail for its successful safeguarding or evacuation during a natural disaster. Recent natural disasters have completely destroyed law enforcement or court facilities leaving them open to the elements and water damage. In some cases, digital evidence has been destroyed and cases dismissed due to lack of evidence, post-natural disaster. For these reasons, geographical relocation of digital evidence makes sense and is the best way to truly protect digital evidence and continue analysis of data that will successfully serve justice and put criminals away. Borrowing from the U.S. Military, the mobile digital evidence room can be implemented into the law enforcement private digital forensic laboratory and commercial or business sectors, to ensure that digital evidence remains intact. </p><p>

<p> The Personal Computer is one of the most versatile inventions of the modern world. From its introduction in the 1980s, businesses have used these devices to perform everything from routine administrative tasks to complex engineering activities. Without proper attention to the security, companies put their ongoing operations and data at risk of theft, alteration, or destruction. Employees using personal computing systems are the primary gatekeepers of intellectual property and at the same time are the source of most data breaches. The purpose of this study was to analyze attitudes and behavioral patterns of end-users who repeatedly fall victim to simulated phishing attacks. Using a Q-Methodology approach, participants rated their level of agreement or disagreement of statements collected from research about end-user attitude and training towards computer security. Analysis of participant responses yielded three factors that demonstrated a pattern of behavior and opinion and categorized participants into three groups; <i>gatekeepers, oblivions</i>, and <i> conformists</i>. Analysis of the three group&rsquo;s alignment with the studies research questions reveals that although all groups are well trained in computer security procedure and policy, two of the groups demonstrate deficiency in recognizing cyber risk and understanding how to protect against the threat. For companies to be secure, the end-user must view themselves as the <i> primary gatekeeper</i> to protect intellectual property. Technology can be circumvented, passwords can be compromised, and systems can be penetrated. The most effective method therefore to combat cyber threat is to create a culture of vigilance that every end-user understands, accepts, and embraces as their primary responsibility.</p><p>

<p> Augmented Reality (AR) is very useful for many different fields and purposes such as entertainment, education, military, navigation, industrial, or electric utility. Electric utilities find use in AR due to the flexibility of location and the real-time information sharing with visuals to keep employees safe and efficient. This exploratory study investigated the use of infographic templates as a way to introduce this new technology to line workers in the electric utility field. Infographics were used as a way to prime workers to be more aware of the technology and its possible uses as well as usefulness. Through the use of Communication Accommodation Theory and the Technology Acceptance Model, the researcher found evidence indicating that presenting information in a clear and interesting way increased electric utility workers desire to adopt the new technology through perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (Davis, Bagozzi &amp; Warshaw, 1989).</p><p>

<p> Medical manufacturing leaders struggle to maintain their competitive position due to inefficient business strategies. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that in vitro diagnostics (IVD) medical manufacturing&rsquo;s leaders have used to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Porter&rsquo;s competitive advantage theory was used to understand how IVD medical business leaders maintain their competitive edge. Data were gathered through interviews with a purposive sample of 3 IVD medical device leaders from companies in California, Connecticut, and New York who had run IVD medical businesses for at least 10 years and who attended a 2014 medical exhibition in Dusseldorf, Germany. To reduce the risk of bias in measurement, triangulation methods included a literature review and intensive analyses of the interview responses, participant observation notes, company websites, and organizational records. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis to find essences of the participants&rsquo; perceptions. The themes were derived from coding and the number of references coded during the data analysis. Eight themes emerged representing strategies for improving competitive advantage: customer support; marketing, e-marketing, and branding; competitive collaboration; quality; cost structure; regulation; innovation; and information technology. The 8 general themes have been divided into 3 categories: cost leadership, differentiation, and focus strategies base on Porter&rsquo;s competitive advantage theory. Results can help U.S. IVD organizational leaders develop strategies to thrive and secure market advantages, which could provide the resources for creating new products and increasing employment opportunities.</p><p>

<p> Business leaders in Nigeria are concerned about the high rates of business failure and economic loss from security incidents and may not understand strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats on business performance. Guided by general systems theory and transformational leadership theory, the focus of this exploratory multiple case study was to explore the strategies small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) leaders use to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 5 SME leaders who worked in SME firms that support oil and gas industry sector in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, had a minimum of 2 years experience in a leadership role, and had demonstrable strategies for minimizing the effects of information security threats in a SME. The thematic analysis of the interview transcripts revealed 10 strategies for reducing the effects of information security threats: network security, physical security, strong password policy, antivirus protection and software update, information security policy, security education training and awareness, network security monitoring and audit, intrusion detection, data backup, and people management. The findings may contribute to social change by providing SME leaders with more insight about strategies to minimize the effects of information security threats on business performance. The improved business performance can increase the flow of funds into the local economy and allow community leaders to provide social services to residents.</p><p>

<p> This research informs an ongoing debate regarding a firm&rsquo;s incentives to invest in information security. Previous research reported that data breaches have had a decreasing impact on a company&rsquo;s stock price over time, leading researchers to conclude that market-based incentives are decreasingly effective. Some information security economists also suggested that further regulation is necessary because they found that capital market participants poorly accounted for the spillover effects of a breach&mdash;the effects of a breach that are external to the breached company. However, some studies indicate that sector-wide systematic risk could measure spillover effects and that the effects of a data breach on systematic risk may have changed over time. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively describe the relationship between the data breach of a firm and changes to the systematic risk of that firm&rsquo;s sector. This dissertation used event studies of sector-wide systematic risk within American stock markets to measure the external effects of breaches that occurred in companies within the financial, technology, healthcare and services sectors. The use of a repeated measures analysis of variance between those event studies allowed examination of longitudinal changes to sector-wide systematic risk between 2006 through 2016. This analysis found that the breach of an individual company had a significant impact on the systematic risk for that company&rsquo;s entire sector (1.08% in 2016) and that these impacts have increased over time (<i>p</i> = 0.015). The results were consistent across all measured sectors, without any significant correlation attributable to the scope of the breach. Together, these findings suggest that market forces are increasingly incentivizing sector-wide investment in information security. Further research should consider the potential for government enforced meta-regulation of sector defined information security standards.</p><p>

<p> Delight is present in several types of experiences, including those involving the use of interactive systems. To a great extent, we notice when certain design features of such systems provoke our delight. Such a feeling is crucial since it influences our perspective towards the system&rsquo;s performance, functionality, or relevance to our everyday lives. In this sense, delight appears as a persuasive dimension of the user experience. Hence it is reasonable to ask if rhetoric can help us study the relationship between delight and a system&rsquo;s design features. In this dissertation, I have taken a set of concepts from rhetoric as lenses to examine the design of interactive artifacts, including static and dynamic interface components and interactions. Specifically, I tested the following rhetorical concepts: the function of an image, enthymeme, mode of appeal, trope and scheme, and metaphorical tension. Through my examinations, I illustrate one way to bring rhetoric into interaction design and show its potential for framing delight in interactive artifacts. As a result, I have formulated the concept of interaction delight and other constructs which together work as a preliminary theory of delight in interactive systems. Finally, I propose an interpretive examination method whose purpose is the articulation of compositional and experiential qualities of interactive systems regarding the functions of rhetoric: to persuade, to identify, to invite to understanding, to help in self-knowledge and self-discovery, and to shape reality. This method is intended to help an interaction design researcher account for how the system argues during the user experience.</p><p>

Modern trends in medical and biomedical sciences education show the use of electronic databases as an invaluable tool because it provides users with current and up to-date information. It is due to this fact that the University of Ghana subscribes to a host of these databases. In spite of the usefulness of electronic databases, students of the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences do not make full use of these resources. This situation raised the question: How are final year students at the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences using electronic databases? Sub-questions included: • What has been reported on the use of electronic databases by students in academic contexts? • What are final year students’ at the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences level of awareness of electronic databases and other electronic information resources? • Which electronic databases are used by final year students at the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences? • Which challenges impact on final year students at the University of Ghana College of Health Sciences as they use electronic databases? The study employed a quantitative research design using a self-administered questionnaire among final year students of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana in October 2015. The participants were 242 final year students (under-graduate final year and post-graduate final year). The study revealed that 189/242 (78.1%) of the final year students were aware of the electronic databases to which the College of Health Sciences Library subscribes. HINARI, AJOL, EBSCOHOST and ScienceDirect were the most used electronic databases. It was also found that the use of electronic databases mainly improved accessibility to information, improved availability of current information and was perceived by students to enhance the quality of assignments and research. However, lack of guidance, lack of appropriate search skills, and internet connectivity problems were the major reasons that impeded the use of electronic databases among the final year students of the College of Health Sciences. Recommendations were made for theory and practice, as well as further research. / Mini Dissertation(MIT)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Carnegie Corporation New York and University of Pretoria / Information Science / MIT / Unrestricted