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Analyzing CNN Based Behavioural Malware Detection Techniques on Cloud IaaS
No full textCloud Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is vulnerable to malware due to its exposure to external adversaries, making it a lucrative attack vector for malicious actors. A datacenter infected with malware can cause data loss and/or major disruptions to service for its users. This paper analyzes and compares various Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) for online detection of malware in cloud IaaS. The detection is performed based on behavioural data using process level performance metrics including cpu usage, memory usage, disk usage etc. We have used the state of the art DenseNets and ResNets in effectively detecting malware in online cloud system. These CNNs are designed to extract features from data gathered from live malware running on a real cloud environment. Experiments are performed on OpenStack (a cloud IaaS software) testbed designed to replicate a typical 3-tier web architecture. Comparative analysis is performed for different CNN models
Effects of Education in Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle in Children
No full textThis review of literature discussed the effects of education intervention within the middle to high school aged population in promoting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics supports the fact that all children and adolescents regardless of age, gender, socioeconomic status, racial, ethnic, linguistic diversity, or health status should have access to food and nutrition programs that promote optimal development. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has identified areas of focus that are crucial for the success of education intervention for students. These consist of: helping middle and high school aged students understand the importance of taking home what they learn to their families; surrounding themselves with peers who promote positive habits, and choosing healthier food options. Three programs were reviewed in this paper. All three programs have been implemented to promote healthy eating and an active lifestyle in school children: SmallSteps4Life, Mind, Exercise, Nutrition, Do it! (MEND), and FoodDudes. All programs showed improvement, measured by BMI, waist circumference, or an increase in the daily consumption of fruits and vegetables. There has been an increased focus on school funding and requirements for education regarding a healthy lifestyle. The funding provides the schools access to programs such as FoodDudes, MEND, and other related programs states or schools might support. In general, consistency and frequency of nutrition education is and will be vital for the goal of ensuring students are aware of a healthy lifestyle
The Effectiveness of Video Modeling in Teaching Individuals with Developmental Disabilities to Engage in Leisure Activities: A Review of Literature
Get PDFLeisure activities involve the use of an individuals’ free time to engage in activities of one’s choices. Leisure activities are not related to work or any other obligatory activities. Participation in leisure activities plays an important role in developing one’s social, communication and cognitive skills, which are essential for successful integration in the community. It is through leisure activities that individuals with developmental disabilities acquire skills and gain competencies that are a prerequisite for successful integration into the general public. Inclusion in the community is linked with an improvement in the quality of life for individuals with developmental disabilities. Most recreational activities for individuals with severe developmental disabilities are selected by parents and caregivers without consulting individuals with developmental disabilities. Video modeling is argued to be one of the evidence-based interventions to teach individuals with developmental disabilities to perform different activities independently. This study reviewed studies that used video modeling to teach individuals with developmental disabilities to engage in different leisure activities. Studies published from 1998 to 2018 (n = 10) were identified and evaluated using the standards of the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC). Results of the study analyzed through Visual analysis and Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data (PND) indicated that video modeling is effective in teaching individuals with developmental disabilities to engage independently in leisure activities, resulting in reduced adult or caregiver dependence. Attendees will understand that literature supports the use of video modeling to teach individuals to engage independently in leisure activities
Mathematical Modeling of Biomass Pyrolysis Using Discrete Element Method
Get PDFAs fossil fuels and other forms of carbon-based resources become increasingly scarce and environmentally detrimental, renewable sources of energy have progressively become the subject of green research. Because of its chemical and structural properties, lignocellulosic biomass has shown great promise in becoming a potential alternative to carbon-based fuels. The heterogeneous nature of the biomass produces numerous sustainable chemical fuels and resources when thermally degraded. To better understand and optimize these processes, mathematical modeling of microstructural changes, induced by pyrolysis, is the focus of this work. Although similar, pyrolysis research has been conducted over the years, most of these approaches have been continuum-based. Typically, such methods are effective when analyzing macrostructural changes. However, continuum-based approaches become less effective when studying changes in the microstructure of biomass. This work utilizes discrete element method (DEM) as an alternative platform to simulate pyrolysis-induced changes. A DEM-based approach allows individual particles within a cross-section of biomass microstructure to be tracked and analyzed
Recombinant Production of Fibrinogen for Wound Healing
Get PDFFibrinogen is a critical protein that is necessary, with the help of thrombin, to facilitate the process of wound healing. Studying how fibrinogen clots in the presence of thrombin and other clotting factors is beneficial in developing new techniques and materials to improve the wound healing process, resulting in less scarring. Unfortunately, as part of the purification process, most commercial fibrinogen comes prepackaged with factor XIII or other clotting factors with unknown quantities. Given these factors influence the clotting process, a lack of detailed information regarding the quantities of these contaminants makes it difficult to interpret results. By incorporating the necessary genes for production of fibrinogen into mammalian cell cultures that can be grown in the lab, fibrinogen can be extracted and purified. Creating a means to produce fibrinogen in the lab that gives pure samples from which one can add known quantities of various clotting factors to determine exactly how it is affecting the resulting clot represents an important next step. Additionally, this approach enables the ability to directly modify the genes to modify the fibrinogen protein that would be expected to result in changes to the forming clot, the results of which can then be studied and associated with various diseases in which mutations in the fibrinogen protein are known to occur. By incorporating human fibrinogen genes in mammalian cells, growing cell cultures, and isolating fibrinogen, the fibrinogen obtained is expected to be useful in understanding of the various effects of the species involved in wound healing
Prior 4-H and FFA Involvement on TN Tech SOA Enrollment
No full textOne hundred thirty (42% of total enrollment) randomly selected students in the School of Agriculture (SOA) completed a survey instrument designed to determine which factors impact their decision to attend Tennessee Tech and the SOA. More specifically, this section of the larger study aimed to determine the importance of prior involvement in 4-H and FFA and their decision to enroll in SOA. Students were asked how many years they participated in each of these organizations, and to rank the factors that influenced them to attend based on a Likert scale: 1 (no influence), 2 (little influence), 3 (some influence), 4 (influence), and 5 (high influence). Fifty-four percent of students surveyed were prior FFA members, with 80% responding that their agriculture education teacher had high influence on their decision to attend the SOA, followed by high influence from a friend (62%), family member (51%), and attendance at FFA State Convention (51%). Thirty-two percent of students surveyed were prior 4-H members, with 47% responding that their family had high influence on their decision to attend the SOA, followed by high influence from a 4-H agent (30%), 4-H club leader (19%), and 4-H Alumni (17%). As previously stated, the respondents represent 42% of total enrollment in SOA and the results indicate that both 4-H and FFA involvement played a significant role in their decision to attend Tennessee Tech. Current 4-H and FFA members should be targeted during future recruitment events
Allelopathic effects of cyanotoxin Microcystin-LR in greater duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid
No full textMicrocystin-LR is the most toxic microcystin produced by the cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa Kützing. Although it has widely been known that this toxin is hepatotoxic to animals, its effect on plants is still unclear. Given that this toxin acts as a protein phosphatase inhibitor, an allelopathic effect on aquatic plant growth is also possible. For our study, greater duckweed, Spirodela polyrhiza (L.) Schleid was grown in a gradient of Microcystin-LR concentrations (control, 0.1, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 µg/L) for four weeks. Although the results showed that final frond numbers and plant growth rates were significantly different (P= 0.0017 and P=0.0138 respectively) among concentrations, no clear concentration-dependent effects of Microcystin-LR were observed on final frond number and plant growth rate. Some plants exposed to higher concentrations had chlorotic spots and marginal necrosis. However, no significant difference (P=0.9679) was noticed for the final dry biomass of plants among different concentrations. Therefore, it appears that the growth of S. polyrhiza is not regulated by long-term exposure to Microcystin-LR at concentrations typically observed in cyanobacteria bloom
Freshwater Insect Mediated Transfer Of Polychorinated Biphenyls To Riparian Consumers
No full textArnold Air Force Base has a legacy of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination (PCB) in nearby streams and a commitment to monitoring its influence on people and wildlife. Assessment of potential human PCB exposure from fish has consistently established that the majority of fish fillets are below concern for at-risk groups for PCB exposure. However, these levels of risk are not translatable to ecosystems, because the majority of PCBs are dissolved in fats and most animals consume food items whole or do not avoid eating adipose tissue. Grey bats seasonally consume emergent freshwater insects from Woods Reservoir and contaminated streams, which creates risk for PCB exposure and subsequent associated toxicological issues with combatting disease and reduced reproductive output. A previous study has documented as having more than a magnitude higher PCB concentration than those of other areas of Tennessee and Kentucky, which may be due to historical contamination. We will be using estimations of emergence to assess the export of insect biomass from streams and spiders to assess trophic transfer of PCBs to riparian predators. Long-jawed orb-weaving spiders provide insight into PCB biomagnification in bats, as both species have similar aquatic food sources. By assessing the amount of aquatic insects are consumed by the bats, a spider-based PCB risk assessment can be created for local grey bats. We believe this study can help inform bat management and PCB influence on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems at Arnold Air Force Base
*WINNER* Spatial and temporal variation of uptake and retention rates of nitrogen and phosphorus in west Tennessee agricultural wetland
No full textExcessive nutrient runoff from agriculture fields in the Mississippi River basin negatively affects local stream water and the Gulf of Mexico by creating hypoxic environments caused by harmful algal blooms. Strategies to reduce nutrients entering rivers has become a national priority. One strategy involves the restoration of riparian wetland ecosystems, as wetlands are important for buffering excessive nutrient runoff. My project focuses on a riparian wetland in west Tennessee, transitioning from agricultural fields to a restored wetland. Specifically, I am measuring spatial and temporal variation of nutrient retention within wetland soils/sediment. Nutrient uptake and denitrification estimates are obtained from sediment cores from two dominant habitat types, remnant forests and shallow water areas. Then cores were incubated in a controlled environmental chamber using a water flow through setup for 4 days. Nutrients and nitrogen gas samples were taken from the cores once each day, and uptake rates calculated as the difference between these measurements. After incubation, the sediment within the cores is analyzed for nutrients, organic matter content, and above/below ground vegetation. In general, nutrients are retained in the shallow water cores with time but forest nutrient retention is variable. Denitrification rates with shallow water cores increase. Overall understanding how habitat variation scale how the restored wetland is mitigating the effects of excessive nutrient runoff, is key. Given the high vegetation, water, and soil heterogeneity within wetlands, good understanding of potential spatial and temporal variability in ecosystem services is crucial to designing management practices to maximize their ecosystem function
An Automated Approach to In-Syringe Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction
No full textDispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DiLLME) is an extraction technique developed over the last decade, with practical applications in both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The technique typically involves addition of small volumes of organic solvent to an aqueous sample, under conditions which favor dispersion of the organic phase into very small droplets. This research project develops and demonstrates an automated in-syringe DiLLME technique. The hardware platform consists of a home-built syringe pump with a multi-position valve that selects different liquids to be mixed in the syringe, such as a sample, buffers, extraction and dispersive solvents, and internal standards. Extracted samples are dispensed into separate vials for analysis by chromatography or spectroscopy. Best performance for the hardware requires optimizing voltage, current, and stepping speed for the stepper motor in the syringe pump, giving consistent and accurate volume displacement by the syringe pump. Quantitative application will be demonstrated by generating a calibration curve based on a parallel dilution of a dye standard. Qualitative application will be demonstrated by performing a previously-developed DiLLME-GC/MS method on common polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)