An Extensible, scalable microprocessor architecture

An extensible, scalable stack-based microprocessor architecture is developed and discussed. Several unique features of the architecture, including its non-memory oriented interface, and its use of a stack for holding and executing code, are detailed. A programmed model is used to verify the architecture, and a hardware implementation of a small-scale version of the architecture is constructed and tested. Notes for future implementations are provides. Possible applications based on the latest technological trends are discussed, and topics for further research into the architecture are listed

Military and Security Applications: Cybersecurity (Encyclopedia of Optimization, Third Edition)

The domain of cybersecurity is growing as part of broader military and security applications, and the capabilities and processes in this realm have qualities and characteristics that warrant using solution methods in mathematical optimization. Problems of interest may involve continuous or discrete variables, a convex or non-convex decision space, differing levels of uncertainty, and constrained or unconstrained frameworks. Cyberattacks, for example, can be modeled using hierarchical threat structures and may involve decision strategies from both an organization or individual and the adversary. Network traffic flow, intrusion detection and prevention systems, interconnected human-machine interfaces, and automated systems – these all require higher levels of complexity in mathematical optimization modeling and analysis. Attributes such as cyber resiliency, network adaptability, security capability, and information technology flexibility – these require the measurement of multiple characteristics, many of which may involve both quantitative and qualitative interpretations. And for nearly every organization that is invested in some cybersecurity practice, decisions must be made that involve the competing objectives of cost, risk, and performance. As such, mathematical optimization has been widely used and accepted to model important and complex decision problems, providing analytical evidence for helping drive decision outcomes in cybersecurity applications. In the paragraphs that follow, this chapter highlights some of the recent mathematical optimization research in the body of knowledge applied to the cybersecurity space. The subsequent literature discussed fits within a broader cybersecurity domain taxonomy considering the categories of analyze, collect and operate, investigate, operate and maintain, oversee and govern, protect and defend, and securely provision. Further, the paragraphs are structured around generalized mathematical optimization categories to provide a lens to summarize the existing literature, including uncertainty (stochastic programming, robust optimization, etc.), discrete (integer programming, multiobjective, etc.), continuous-unconstrained (nonlinear least squares, etc.), continuous-constrained (global optimization, etc.), and continuous-constrained (nonlinear programming, network optimization, linear programming, etc.). At the conclusion of this chapter, research implications and extensions are offered to the reader that desires to pursue further mathematical optimization research for cybersecurity within a broader military and security applications context

Improving the Effectiveness of End User-Developed Software as a Medium for Communicating and Reusing Problem-Solving Knowledge

End-user development of software is the largest and ever-growing source of software artifacts. What distinguishes end-user programmers from professional programmers is the goal of their work: for end-user programmers, the goal is solving a problem, and the creation of software is incidental to this. In solving the problem, the end user also creates knowledge about how the problem was solved and the context in which the solution may be applied in the future, as well as design rationale about the implementation of the solution itself. Much of this knowledge remains tacit; the only tangible artifact is the software, which may informally expose some of this knowledge. The lack of explicitness in this artifact-associated information decreases comprehensibility and reusability of the solution presented through the software. The problem addressed in this dissertation is that of providing design guidelines for media through which end user-developed software artifacts can more effectively communicate their associated knowledge to users of the software in such a way as to effect an improvement in problem-solving knowledge transfer and reuse. Toward this objective, the literature across end-user programming, software engineering, human-computer interaction and the design of communications is examined and a collection of evidence-based design guidelines around annotation paradigms appropriate to end-user development needs enumerated. Artifacts embodying these features are evaluated through artifact and user studies, and recommendations for further design iterations and research are discussed