Research Title: Convergent and criterion-related validity of the short form of the International Physical Activity and the Incidental and Planned Physical Activity Questionnaires in people with multiple sclerosis

Author: Shatha Mofleh Al-Khazaaleh, Published Year: 2021

NeuroRehabilitation,

Faculty: Allied Medical Sciences

Abstract: Background: Assessing physical activity (PA) in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) is essential to follow-up the recommended PA level. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Incidental and Planned Exercise Questionnaire (IPEQ) have been widely used, but their validity has not been investigated previously in PwMS. Objective: This study aimed to assess the convergent and criterion validity of the IPAQ and the IPEQ in PwMS. Methods: 50 PwMS were asked to wear an Actigraph for seven days and to fill the IPAQ and IPEQ. Sedentary, moderate (MPA), vigorous (VPA) and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) levels were recorded. Results: Significant correlations were found between sitting time as reported by IPAQ and sedentary time as recorded by Actigraph (r = 0.41, p = 0.003), VPA by IPAQ and VPA as recorded by Actigraph (r = 0.46, p = 0.001), and MVPA by IPAQ and MVPA by Actigraph (r = 0.36, p = 0.011). IPEQ showed poor both criterion and convergent validity when compared to the Actigraph. Both IPAQ and IPEQ overestimate the intensities of PA for all the derived parameters. Conclusions: Findings of this study are important as they suggest that IPAQ in particular had convergent validity when compared to Actigraph data, but still had the problem of overestimating PA levels.

Keywords: Actigraph; IPAQ; IPEQ; Incidental and Planned Exercise Questionnaire; International Physical Activity Questionnaire; Physical activity; multiple sclerosis.

Research Title: A Model-Driven Engineering Transition-Based GUI Testing Technique

Author: Omar Fuad AlsheikhSalem, Published Year: 2016

2015 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI), Las Vegas, NV, USA

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Model Driven Engineering (MDE) have arisen as a new software development paradigm which is based on creating a set of models that represent the GUI, afterwards to generate the GUI based on these models using a series of transformations to convert the models between the different levels of abstractions, which enables the automation of the development process. This inspires us to think of a model-based testing technique that is able to test the GUIs that are designed using Model-Driven engineering by finding the proper model that can serve as a testing model. This paper proposes model-based testing technique that is derived from the design models used to develop the GUI in the Model-Driven Engineering paradigm.

Keywords: Testing , Graphical user interfaces , Unified modeling language , Navigation , Heuristic algorithms , Switches

Research Title: d-HMAC Dynamic HMAC function

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2006

International Conference on Dependability of Computer Systems,

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: In this paper, we want to enhance the powerful of HMAC function (key-hashed message authentication) to be more resistant against the exhaustive search attack and birthday attack by inventing d-HMAC function (dynamic HMAC function). To achieve our purpose we use dynamic values of ipad and opad. The values of ipad and opad are calculated in dynamic way instead of having fixed strings. The calculation of the values of ipad and opad will depend on the input parameters for HMAC and the input message

Keywords: d-HMAC

Research Title: IPv6 change threats behavior

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2015

International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 6

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: IPv4 address pool is already exhausted; therefore, the change to use IPv6 is eventually necessary to give us a massive address pool. Although IPv6 was built with security in mind, extensive research must be done before deploying IPv6 to ensure the protection of security and privacy. This paper firstly presents the differences between the old and new IP versions (IPv4 and IPv6), and how these differences will affect the attacks, then the paper will show how the attacks on IPv4 and IPv6 will remain mostly the same; furthermore, the use of IPv6 will give rise to new types of attacks and change other types’ behavior.

Keywords: IPv6 threats

Research Title: Detecting neighbor discovery protocol-based flooding attack using machine learning techniques

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2016

Advances in Machine Learning and Signal Processing,

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) is stateless and lacks of authentication which exposes it to flooding attacks. Securing NDP is critical due to the large deployment of open network. Commonly existing solutions for securing NDP violate its design principle in terms of overhead and complexity. Other solutions suffer from high false positive alerts which affects solution trustiness. This paper aims to investigate the use of machine learning mechanism for detecting NDP flooding attacks. It was found that the advantage of using machine learning is that the detection can be done without relying on attack signatures they can learn broader definitions of attack attributes.

Keywords: Neighbor discovery protocol anomaly detection , machine learning techniques

Research Title: Neighbor discovery protocol anomaly detection using finite state machine and strict anomaly detection

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2015

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) is a stateless protocol used by Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) to find hosts and routers in an IPv6 network. Lacking of authentication process makes NDP exposed to various attacks. Securing NDP is a critical task since the large deployment of the Internet is done in public areas such as airports, where no trust between users is existed. Many solutions were proposed to secure the NDP; however, most of them violate the design principle of NDP in terms of complexity and overhead. Hence, further research on NDP is needed in order to identify and model the points that would help improve NDP while reducing complexity. This research uses finite state machines (FSM) and Extended Finite State Machine (EFSM) to model the main mechanisms used by NDP for detecting NDP anomalies based on Strict Anomaly Detection. These models can be used as a network security tool or as research tool to study and investigate the behavior of NDP behavior.

Keywords: Neighbor discovery protocol anomaly detection

Research Title: Intrusion detection and prevention response based on signature-based and anomaly-based: Investigation study

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2012

(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,, 10

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: One of the fundamental topics in network Signature security is to detect intrusions and prevent them from exposing or destroying important information, or breaking down systems. In these systems the main problem is how to insure the abnormal activity is a harmful activity and what the prop irate response to stop the attack without affecting the whole process of the systems, because wrong response may affect the system more than the attempted intrusion, and because most organizations try to detect every intrusion, they examine every suspicious event; which means that more malicious events are detected but more resources are

Keywords: Intrusion detection and prevention, signature-based and anomaly-based

Research Title: Reliable behavioral dataset for IPv6 neighbor discovery protocol investigation

Author: Firas M.H S Najjar, Published Year: 2015

2015 5th International Conference on IT Convergence and Security (ICITCS), Malaysia

Faculty: Information Technology

Abstract: Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP), which is the main supported protocol for IPv6, has some security issues due to its intuitive trust of every device inside the local area network. Securing NDP becomes an important research area as the Internet is deployed widely in public areas, such as airports, where the trust is not necessary between hosts, which may expose them to attacks. In addition, securing network from inside is necessary, particularly when security hierarchical exist between users. One of the major problems in conducting research on IPv6 security is the absence of a reliable dataset, which is essential in testing and evaluating the proposed solutions. This research develops a reliable dataset of IPv6 NDP by capturing the normal and abnormal behaviors of NDP using specific dependable tools. Reliable dataset helps to understand and distinguish between normal behavior and anomalies in IPv6 NDP.

Keywords: Neighbor Discovery Protocol, dataset, IPv6, NDP Behavior

Research Title: Conciseness, Financial Disclosure, and Market Reaction: A Textual Analysis of Annual Reports in Listed Chinese Companies

Author: Fahd Mohammed Saleh Al-Duais, Published Year: 2022

Faculty: Business

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the conciseness and complexity of financial disclosures and market reactions, using the annual reports of Chinese-listed B-share companies over the period 2006–2018. We employed a set of statistical methods that were derived from other fields, such as computational and event studies, in order to derive the English annual reports of Chinese-listed companies, as well as to obtain other key financial indicators from the CSMAR database. Markets react significantly to increased report length, which means that managers that present poor returns with manipulated financial reports could be hiding poor returns. Additionally, the findings of this study are robust to additional tests that use alternative proxies. Furthermore, the results of this paper reinforce the hypothesis that the readability of financial reports affects financial market response. The results indicate that more complex financial reports are correlated with lower current returns and negatively affect the expectations of future returns. For the purposes of avoiding the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the results, we utilized data up to 2018. In light of this circumstance, we recommend that future research be conducted that compares results from before and after the coronavirus pandemic. The findings of our study have important implications for regulators, managers, and investors. Investors should obtain relevant information through annual reports; therefore, the importance of style is less relevant. Managers should be encouraged to write their annual reports more concisely. This study concluded that these reports are significant outputs of firms, and are widely read by investors. The study also provides empirical evidence of market reactions that are associated with readability and earnings, as well as with surprise earnings; thus, the complexity of annual reports provided by a variety of investors, using computational and event analysis, should be reduced.

Keywords: conciseness; annual report; textual analysis; future returns; Chinese-listed companies; Fog index

Research Title: Metabolic Syndrome (MS): Definition, Classification and Potential Associated Factors

Author: Hani Jameel Mohammad Hamad, Published Year: 2016

Faculty: Allied Medical Sciences

Abstract: Many lifestyle-related risk factors for cardiovascular disease have been identified. The most powerful and consistent risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) are dyslipidemia, hypertension, obesity (particularly central obesity) and diabetes mellitus, which are also known as metabolic syndrome. It is also commonly used term was insulin resistance syndrome (Syndrome X). At present, there is various accepted definition of the metabolic syndrome. When comparing to the defining level between The Adult Treatment Panel III (ATPIII) and World Health Organization (WHO), a higher blood pressure was required in WHO than in ATPIII. Instead of waist circumferences in ATPIII, body mass index (or increased waist: hip ratio) was used in WHO. The requirement of objective evidence of insulin resistance in WHO requirement should give more power to predict diabetes than does ATPIII, but like ATPIII, the presence of type 2 diabetes does not exclude a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. The differences in diagnostic criteria for this syndrome are partially responsible for variations in the reported prevalence among different studies. Metabolic syndrome is correlated with different possible factors which may associate and predict its existence and intensity. Some of these factors are explained in this review.

Keywords: Metabolic Syndrome (MS), Diabetes, Lipids Disorder, Blood Pressure (BP), Obesity & the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP III).