Lori L. DeLooze

Fuzzy Q-learning in a nondeterministic environment: developing an intelligent Ms. Pac-Man agent

This paper reports the results from training an intelligent agent to play the Ms. Pac-Man video game using variations of a fuzzy Q-learning algorithm. This approach allows us to address the nondeterministic aspects of the game as well as finding a successful self-learning or adaptive playing strategy. The strategy presented is a table based learning strategy, in which the intelligent agent analyzes the current situation of the game, stores various membership values for each of the several contributors to the situation (distance to closest pill, distance to closest power pill, and distance to closest ghost), and makes decisions based on these values.

Providing Web Service Security in a Federated Environment

One of the Internets biggest successes has been the automation of the travel-reservation system. Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz have all thrived in a fickle economic sector. The key to their success is Web services, which are exploding across government and industry. A business federation is very similar to a political federation, which is a union of self-governing states united by a central government. Each individual member maintains its individual sovereignty rights while participating as a federation member. Travel sites, therefore, are federations of companies that provide services, yet maintain a separate identity outside the group. Membership in a business federation, however, usually involves much less diplomacy and political discord than a political federation. Business federations must provide security for their day-to-day operations. A comprehensive Web services architecture that incorporates security standards enforces federation security policies and enables critical data exchanges. As such, we must explore ways to create an automated means for each organization to securely pass critical information using a service-oriented approach

Bridge Bidding with Imperfect Information

Multiplayer games with imperfect information, such as Bridge, are especially challenging for game theory researchers. Although several algorithmic techniques have been successfully applied to the card play phase of the game, bidding requires a much different approach. We have shown that a special form of a neural network, called a self-organizing map (SOM), can be used to effectively bid no trump hands. The characteristic boundary that forms between resulting neighboring nodes in a SOM is an ideal mechanism for modeling the imprecise and ambiguous nature of the game

Incorporating simulation into the computer security classroom

Attacks on Department of Defense computer systems are a serious and growing threat. The cornerstone to the protection of these highly valuable networks is education and training. The U. S. Naval Academy is examining a new tool to teach computer security to determine if the complex concepts relating to computer security can be more effectively taught by including simulations in the classroom. The simulation environment under investigation consists of both an Internet attack simulator and a network simulator. The Internet attack simulator has a menu of attacks that can be launched against the network simulators virtual network. The system is essentially an interactive virtual cyber world which requires the student defender to implement security measures and respond to attacks. Novice computer science students and information technology professionals benefit from the visualization of cyber behavior afforded in the risk free environment that simulation provides. The simulation reinforces the lecture in both concurrent demonstrations of the principles being taught, and later, in individual practical exercises.

Counter hack: Creating a context for a cyber forensics course

A typical hacker follows the ldquohacker methodologyrdquo by going through the following distinct phases: Footprinting, Probing, Gaining Access, Escalating Privileges, Exploiting, Covering Tracks and Installing Backdoors. This hacker methodology is used to direct the overall forensic process. Many of these phases leave artifacts that can be examined by a forensic investigator to piece together an incident. We designed a cyber forensic course that begins with a background of computer media and file systems, and then looks at static files, network logs and volatile system data. Students who understand how a typical hacker operates will be able to discover appropriate clues, and may even be able to prevent future destruction or disruption.

Creating a microcosm of industry in the classroom

Electronic Commerce has challenged traditional business thinking. Electronic Businesses are expected to be always available, from anywhere in the world, rich in content and experience, customizable to the user, and conform to technology standards. Features available in such an enterprise must support both Business-to-Customer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B) electronic commerce. We have designed an innovative course that teaches students how to develop an organizations Enterprise Architecture that becomes part of a microcosm of the consumer entertainment industry in the classroom. Seven groups represent each of three levels of businesses within the industry (manufacturing, distribution, and retail) and together they develop an online community to sell movies, books and music to the general public - a la Amazon.com. Students were given three major projects designed to lead to a fully-functioning, integrated industry architecture: an enterprise portal, internal messaging system and B2B communication via XML. Because students were overwhelmed by the amount of work required to complete the projects, we plan to break the tasks into weekly lab assignments for the next offering that build up to the overall working architecture.

Eclectic method for feature reduction using Self-Organizing Maps

This paper presents an eclectic method for extracting simple classification rules using a combination of a genetic algorithm, a self-organizing map and the ID3 decision tree algorithm. After outlining the method for extracting rules, we assess them for effectiveness, complexity and precision and compare them with similar methods which use support vector machines. While it is no surprise that the method proposed reduced the complexity of classification, it was surprising that the simple rules extracted from the SOMs were both more effective and more precise than the SOM from which they were extracted.

He who does not learn history is doomed to repeat it

Although Information Technology (IT) seems to be changing at a shocking rate, common themes can be observed. These themes have been repeated throughout history. IT students should have a solid foundation of these historic trends and ongoing evolutionary progress before beginning the bulk of their studies in the field of computing. The course, IT Revolutions Past and Present, at the United States Naval Academy is required of IT students and sets the context for their coursework. Students explore the impact of both successes and failures in the field and analyze the value that IT professionals bring to commercial and government organizations.

Simulation for training computer network operations

Attacks on Department of Defense computer systems are a serious and growing threat. The cornerstone to the protection of these highly valuable networks is education and training. The U. S. Strategic Command is examining a new tool to train and exercise computer security to determine if the complex concepts relating to computer security can be more effectively taught by including simulations in the classroom. The simulation environment under investigation consists of both an Internet Attack Simulator and a Network Simulator. The Internet Attack Simulator has a menu of attacks that can be launched against the Network Simulators virtual network. The system is essentially an interactive virtual cyber world which requires the student defender to implement security measures and respond to attacks. Novice computer science students and information technology professionals benefit from the visualization of cyber behavior afforded in the risk free environment that simulation provides. The simulation reinforces the lecture in both concurrent demonstrations of the principles being taught, and later, in individual practical exercises.