1393 research outputs found
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Two Project on Information Systems Capabilities and Organizational Performance
Get PDFInformation systems (IS), as a multi-disciplinary research area, emphasizes the complementary relationship between people, organizations, and technology and has evolved dramatically over the years. IS and the underlying Information Technology (IT) application and research play a crucial role in transforming the business world and research within the management domain. Consistent with this evolution and transformation, I develop a two-project dissertation on Information systems capabilities and organizational outcomes.
Project 1 examines the role of hospital operational effectiveness on the link between information systems capabilities and hospital performance. This project examines the cross-lagged effects on a sample of 217 hospitals measured over three years, to ascertain the effect of Hospital IS capability variants on Hospital performance in terms of quality of care and profitability, as mediated by hospital operational effectiveness. Hospital operational effectiveness was studied as process efficiency and service efficiency. The results of our study provide evidence for a considerable causal impact of hospital IS capabilities on hospital performance as mediated by hospital operational effectiveness.
Project 2 investigates the impact of CEO’s communication styles on organizational performance using text-mining approach on CEOs tweets from social media. The contribution of our study is three-folded: 1) From a methodological standpoint, we present a model to establish a relationship between CEO communication styles on social media and firm performance. Additionally, we apply text mining to identify communication styles of CEOs. 2) From a performance management, we evaluate organizational performance in three types: Operational, Financial, and Reputational. 3) From a management practice and policy perspective, our study results will help organizations evaluate the CEO candidates from a communication style standpoint
Improving the Effectiveness of Security Controls to Prevent APT Attacks
Get PDFAn advanced persistent threat (APT) is a prolonged, aimed attack on a specific target. Cyber attackers gain access to a system or network and remain there for an extended period without being detected. The goal of APT attackers is generally stealing data and intellectual property. Despite all the awareness, technological advancements, and massive investment, the fight against APTs is a losing battle. A false sense of security is a belief that the organization is safer than it is. We researched whether organizations have a false sense of security against APT attacks and what contributes to that belief. Our research indicated that employees were not confident about organizations’ cybersecurity posture. In this paper, we discuss one of our research contributions, which suggests remediation strategies that organizations can employ to increase the effectiveness of security controls against APT attacks
CEO’s Communication Styles and their Effect on Organizational Performance
No full textSeveral studies have highlighted the importance of leadership communication in establishing stakeholder alignment, implementing strategy, and achieving superior organizational performance. In this way, this study investigates the impact of CEO’s communication styles on organizational performance using text-mining approach on CEOs tweets from social media. This study aims to examine the relationship between CEO communication styles and organizational performance. The contribution of our study is three-folded: 1) From a methodological standpoint, we present a model to establish a relationship between CEO communication styles on social media and firm performance. Additionally, we apply text mining to identify communication styles of CEOs. 2) From a performance management, we evaluate organizational performance in three types: Operational, Financial, and Reputational. 3) From a management practice and policy perspective, our study results will help organizations evaluate the CEO candidates from a communication style standpoint
Medical Device Security Regulations and Assessment Case Studies
No full textThe ever-expanding world of technology connects more devices to the Internet; medical devices are no exception. Thus, a newly emerging area in development is Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). This research explores medical device vulnerabilities by conducting security assessments and identifying practical approaches to mitigate security risks in healthcare. Another goal of this project was to demonstrate an outline of the regulations, requirements, and stakeholders from both the United States, European Union, and their respective sub-organizations. Challenges arose with security of hospitals, manufacturers, and paywalls for European documents. Three medical devices, i.e., SmartLinx Axon 810 Capsule, Alaris 8015 PC Infusion Pump, and Samsung Hospitality TV, were selected for this research. These three devices are used alongside other devices in an extensive network that plays a crucial role in hospitals. The research methods used for security assessment in this project include network traffic analysis, vulnerability scanning, and brute force attacks; in addition, incorporating security tools such as NMAP, Wireshark, Metasploit, and Burp Suite. By doing vulnerability testing and mitigation, this research aims to improve medical device cybersecurity
A comparative analysis of anti-vax discourse on twitter before and after COVID-19 onset
Get PDFThis study aimed to identify and assess the prevalence of vaccine-hesitancy-related topics on Twitter in the periods before and after the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Using a search query, 272,780 tweets associated with anti-vaccine topics and posted between 1 January 2011, and 15 January 2021, were collected. The tweets were classified into a list of 11 topics and analyzed for trends during the periods before and after the onset of COVID-19. Since the beginning of COVID-19, the percentage of anti-vaccine tweets has increased for two topics, government and politics and conspiracy theories, and decreased for developmental disabilities. Compared to tweets regarding flu and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, those concerning COVID-19 vaccines showed larger percentages for the topics of conspiracy theories and alternative treatments, and a lower percentage for developmental disabilities. The results support existing anti-vaccine literature and the assertion that anti-vaccine sentiments are an important public-health issue
A Deep Learning Model Compression and Ensemble Approach for Weed Detection
Get PDFSite-specific weed management is an important practice in precision agriculture. Current advances in artificial intelligence have resulted in the use of large deep convolutional neural networks for weed detection. In this paper, a transfer learning, model compression, and ensemble learning approach is introduced that is suitable for resource-limited hardware such as mobile and embedded devices. The resulting ensemble model achieves 91.2% classification accuracy which is comparable to the performance of state-of-the-art deep learning models (such as the vanilla VGG16, DenseNet, and ResNet) while being about 62.22% smaller in size than DenseNet (the smallest-sized full-sized model). The approach used in this study is beneficial for further development of deep convolutional neural networks on smaller resource-limited hardware typically used in agriculture, as well as other industries such as healthcare and telecommunication
Improving Adversarial Attacks Against MalConv
Get PDFThis dissertation proposes several improvements to existing adversarial attacks against MalConv, a raw-byte malware classifier for Windows PE files. The included contributions greatly improve the success rates and performance of gradient-based file overlay attacks. All improvements are included in a new open-source attack utility called BitCamo.
Several new payload initialization strategies for use with gradient-based attacks are proposed and evaluated as potential replacements for the randomized initialization method used by current attacks. An algorithm for determining the optimal payload size is also proposed. The resulting improvements achieve a 100% evasion rate against eligible target executables using an average payload size of only 300 bytes. The results are substantially better than those reported by other open-source tools or attacks proposed within the research literature.
Existing gradient attacks against MalConv contain a long-running byte reconstruction phase necessary to map backwards across a non-differentiable embedding layer used by the model. Three proposals are presented to significantly improve the runtime of this phase, including the addition of parallelism, limiting the scope of reconstruction to the payload only, and introducing a K-D tree data structure to allow for blazing fast spatial searches in comparison to the L2 distance metric used by current attacks.
A pre-detection mechanism proposed in previous research checks if executables have the same code section hash but a different overall hash with respect to known malicious files, allowing adversarial examples to be immediately rejected by a detection pipeline before MalConv evaluates the sample. This dissertation proposes a single-byte code section attack that can completely bypass this defense mechanism in over 63% of samples. The pre-detection attack can be used in conjunction with the other new improvements to offer a formidable attack capability against MalConv and other detection models sharing a similar architecture
Management Strategies and Distribution of Aphanomyces Root Rot of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa), a continuing threat to forage production in the United States
Get PDFAlfalfa (Medicago sativa) is one of several legumes that is affected by Aphanomyces root rot (ARR) caused by Aphanomyces euteiches. Symptoms of ARR on alfalfa seedlings include a yellow-grey discolouration of roots, rotting and loss of lateral roots, stunted growth, chlorotic foliage and reduction of nitrogen-producing nodules on roots. Infection can also occur on adult plants leading to loss of lateral roots and nodules. At the seedling stage, ARR decreases alfalfa stand establishment, and field longevity is reduced when adult plants are infected. A. euteiches is an oomycete pathogen that has motile zoospores and thick-walled oospores that can survive for many years in soil. Two races are currently recognized by pathogenicity on differential alfalfa check cultivars. Most alfalfa cultivars contain race 1 resistance, but there is an increasing development of cultivars with resistance to race 2. Management strategies include planting resistant cultivars, avoiding planting in fields with poor drainage and rotating crops with nonhost plants
