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Digging for Gold: Examining DNS Logs on Windows Clients
No full textInvestigators can examine Domain Name Service (DNS) queries to find potentially compromised hosts by searching for queries that are unusual or to known malicious domains. Once the investigator identifies the compromised host, they must then locate the process that is generating the DNS queries. The problem is that Windows hosts do not log DNS client transactions by default, and there is little documentation on the structure of those logs. This paper examines how to configure several modern versions of Windows to log DNS client transactions to determine the originating process for any given DNS query. These configurations will allow investigators to determine not only what host is compromised, but what the malicious process is more quickly
Estimating Variability in the Implementation Cost Growth of Military Base Realignments and Closures Using Historic Data
No full textThe Department of Defense (DoD) periodically conducts a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) round to improve the stationing of its force structure, eliminate excess infrastructure, and attain cost savings. The most recent BRAC round in 2005 far exceeded its estimated cost to implement; in a 2012 report, the Government Accountability Office reported that the 2005 BRAC implementation cost grew from the original estimate by 67%. The DoD requires an improved cost estimate and understanding of inherent uncertainty. Using data from 58 observations of BRAC 2005 recommendations, this thesis examines trends in cost growth. The thesis does not find any statistically significant differences in cost increases among subsets of data analyzed by type of DoD recommending agency, presence of Commission amendments, BRAC action complexity, or size of estimate. Variation in implementation cost growth is mildly narrower for BRAC actions that were amended by the Commission and for actions that were more complex. The analysis detects a bias in estimating large BRAC actions, which indicates a systematic hesitancy or inability to fully estimate the most expensive BRAC actions. The distribution of BRAC 2005 actions’ cost increases is used to inform an improved, three-point estimate for future BRAC rounds. Under conditions comparable to BRAC 2005, this thesis shows that the true mean of future BRAC actions’ cost increases may be expected to be 93% with a 95% confidence interval of [57%, 129%]
Association Between Running Shoe Characteristics and Lower Extremity Injuries in United States Military Academy Cadets.
No full textBACKGROUND: Running-related overuse injuries are very common among recreational runners, with the reported annual injury rates ranging from 39% to 85%. Relatively few large prospective cohort studies have been conducted to investigate injury risk associated with different running shoe characteristics, and the results of the existing studies are often contradictory.
PURPOSE/HYPOTHESIS: The purpose was to investigate the relationship between running shoe characteristics and lower extremity musculoskeletal injury. It was hypothesized that the risk of injury would be increased in individuals wearing shoes with minimal torsional stiffness and heel height compared with those wearing shoes with greater levels of torsional stiffness and heel height.
STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2.
METHODS: The study included 1025 incoming cadets. Shoe torsional stiffness and heel height were calculated and recorded. Demographic data were recorded and analyzed as potential covariates. Lower extremity injuries sustained over 9 weeks during cadet basic training were documented by use of the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application and the Cadet Illness and Injury Tracking System. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were estimated, with time to incident lower extremity injury as the primary outcome by level of the independent predictor variables. Risk factors or potential covariates were carried forward into multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. Absolute and relative risk reduction and numbers needed to treat were calculated.
RESULTS: Approximately 18.1% of participants incurred a lower extremity injury. Cadets wearing shoes with moderate lateral torsional stiffness were 49% less likely to incur any type of lower extremity injury and 52% less likely to incur an overuse lower extremity injury than cadets wearing shoes with minimal lateral torsional stiffness, both of which were statistically significant observations. Injury risk was similar among cadets wearing shoes with minimal and extreme lateral torsional stiffness.
CONCLUSION: Shoes with mild to moderate lateral torsional stiffness may be appropriate in reducing risk of lower extremity injury in cadets. Shoes with minimal lateral torsional stiffness should be discouraged in this population
A new mindset for the Army: silent running
No full textIn the past two decades, the U.S. Army has continually added new technology to the battlefield.
While this technology has enhanced the ability to fight, it has also greatly increased the ability for an adversary to detect and potentially interrupt and/or intercept operation
Optimization problems with low SWAP tactical computing
No full textIn a resource constrained low SWAP computing environments, computational efficiency depends optimization of computational resources and intelligent time versus efficiency trade-offs in making decisions. Some of the optimization problems could be discrete while others are continuous with constraints. In this paper we address the complexity of various optimization strategies related to low SWAP computing and hence only a small subset of less complicated and fast computable algorithms can used for tactical adaptive computing
Hip muscle response to a fatiguing run in females with iliotibial band syndrome.
No full textImpaired hip muscle function has often been cited as a contributing factor to the development of iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS), yet our full understanding of this relationship is not well established. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of fatigue on hip abductor muscle function in females with ITBS. Female runners, 20 healthy and 12 with a current diagnosis of ITBS, performed a treadmill run to fatigue. Prior-to and following the run to fatigue, gluteus medius strength and median frequency values (an indicator of fatigue resistance) were measured. Additionally, onset activation timing of the gluteus medius and tensor fascia latae was measured during overground running. Both healthy and injured runners demonstrated decreased gluteus medius strength following the run to fatigue (p = 0.01), but there was no interaction between groups (p = 0.78). EMG onset activation timing did not differ between groups for the gluteus medius (P = 0.19) and tensor fascia latae muscles (P = 0.52). Injured runners demonstrated decreased gluteus medius initial median frequency values suggestive of fatigue (P = 0.01). These findings suggest that the gluteus medius muscle of female runners with ITBS does not demonstrate gross strength impairments but does demonstrate less resistance to fatigue. Clinicians should consider implementation of a gluteus medius endurance training regimen into a runner\u27s rehabilitation program
Computer Predictions of Tunnel Response to Blast
Get PDFDeeply buried bunkers offer a level of protection that is unmatched by conventional, above-ground, construction methods. The construction of the bunker itself, as well as ingress/egress and ventilation for the completed bunker, requires substantial digging. Thus, deeply buried bunkers are usually located within a mountain and accessed via tunnels. In order to better predict the response of tunnels and bunkers to an average design blast load, computer simulations were performed. First, a simplified groundshock numerical code based on an assumed geology and buried depth was used to predict the demand. Then, analytical methods were utilized to design the tunnel wall and bunker slab geometries and reinforcement details. Finally, high-fidelity models were developed to predict the structural response. Physical tests on scaled specimens validated the baseline simulations. Additionally, three concrete materials models are compared
Effects of a Loaded Ruck March of Isometric Muscle Strength Measured with a Novel HHD Fixation System
No full textPURPOSE: Understanding the effect that field exercises have on soldier muscular strength is an area of interest for the US Army. Reliably quantifying muscle strength in this context has been limited by availability of portable assessment equipment. The widely used hand-held dynamometer (HHD) presents a challenge when assessing strong muscle groups of healthy soldiers accurately. We devised a portable, field-ready HHD fixation solution to assist researchers in the evaluation of lower body and core isometric maximal muscle contractions. Reliability of the fixation system (patent pending) was assessed prior to implementation at a large- scale data collection during a military field exercise. The purpose of the current investigation was to identify strength changes in select muscle groups prior to and immediately following a loaded road march.
METHODS: 39 soldiers (36M, 3F) performed 4 maximal isometric contraction types, including lumbar extension, lumbar flexion, hip flexion, and knee extension. 3 trials of each contraction type were recorded during a pre-mission baseline, and 2 trials were recorded immediately following a 6-mi road march executed with an average load of 50% body weight. Measurements were recorded using the system developed, which provided repeatable subject stabilization, muscle group isolation, and HHD fixation.
The maximum force recorded from each muscle group during a session was used for analysis. A paired sample t-test was conducted to compare pre and post road march strength measures.
RESULTS: No significant change in lumbar extension strength was identified between the pre and post conditions. Significant decreases in strength performance were observed in the hip flexion (8.3%; p=.003), knee extension (7.8%; p=.032), and lumbar flexion (9.9%; p=.009) measurements between the pre and post conditions.
CONCLUSION: While lumbar extension strength did not change following the road march, the decreases identified for hip flexion, knee extension, and lumbar flexion followed the hypothesized trend. This study provides novel insight into the effects of field activities on soldier muscle strength that were not quantifiable prior to the portable HDD fixation system, and presents a range of new opportunities to understand the impact of military exercises on strength
The U.S. Army in the Iraq War – Volume 1: Invasion – Insurgency – Civil War, 2003-2006
Get PDFThe Iraq War has been the costliest U.S. conflict since the Vietnam War. To date, few official studies have been conducted to review what happened, why it happened, and what lessons should be drawn. The U.S. Army in the Iraq War is the Army\u27s initial operational level analysis of this conflict, written in narrative format, with assessments and lessons embedded throughout the work. This study reviews the conflict from a Landpower perspective and includes the contributions of coalition allies, the U.S. Marine Corps, and special operations forces. Presented principally from the point of view of the commanders in Baghdad, the narrative examines the interaction of the operational and strategic levels, as well as the creation of theater level strategy and its implementation at the tactical level. Volume 1 begins in the truce tent at Safwan Airfield in southern Iraq at the end of Operation DESERT STORM and briefly examines actions by U.S. and Iraqi forces during the interwar years. The narrative continues by examining the road to war, the initially successful invasion, and the rise of Iraqi insurgent groups before exploring the country\u27s slide toward civil war. This volume concludes with a review of the decision by the George W. Bush administration to “surge” additional forces to Iraq, placing the conduct of the “surge” and its aftermath in the second volume.
This study was constructed over a span of 4 years and relied on nearly 30,000 pages of handpicked declassified documents, hundreds of hours of original interviews, and thousands of hours of previously unavailable interviews. Original interviews conducted by the team included President George W. Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Robert Gates, Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and every theater commander for the war, among many others. With its release, this publication, The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, represents the U.S. Government\u27s longest and most detailed study of the Iraq conflict thus far.https://digitalcommons.usmalibrary.org/books/1018/thumbnail.jp
Data Science at USNA
Get PDFData Science is increasingly important to the Navy and Marine Corps. We survey some of the ways that civilian institutions are delivering Data Science curriculum, outline a vision for developing Data Science curriculum at the United States Naval Academy (USNA), and summarize some of the accomplishments and planned activities of the Data Science group at USNA