2. NPS Outstanding Theses and Dissertations
A CHANGING LANDSCAPE: TURKEY’S DRONE DIPLOMACY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Turkey increasingly sees itself as mid-tier power capable of projecting influence from beyond its near periphery. This research examines the motivations for Turkey’s overtures to sub-Saharan Africa within the broader context ...
ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES: COST EFFECTIVENESS OF THE AIRLANDER 10 IN THE ARCTIC
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Melting ice in the Arctic Circle is opening international shipping lanes and exposing new resources. The 2022 National Strategy for the Arctic Region, Department of the Navy Strategic Blueprint for the Arctic, and U.S. ...
CLEARING FOR TAKEOFF: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE LATEST AVIATION SERVICE TEST BATTERY
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Training Naval and Marine Corp Aviators is an expensive, time-consuming process, and both branches use the Aviation Service Test Battery (ASTB) to screen applicants before flight training. The ASTB helps ensure aviation ...
DATA AUGMENTATION FOR SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR USING ALPHA BLENDING AND DEEP LAYER TRAINING
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Human-based object detection in synthetic aperture RADAR (SAR) imagery is complex and technical, laboriously slow but time critical—the perfect application for machine learning (ML). Training an ML network for object ...
DISPARITY IN RANSOM PAYMENT POLICIES OF WESTERN DEMOCRACIES: ROOT CAUSES AND MOTIVATING FACTORS
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Paying ransoms to recover hostages endangers a larger population because it funds terrorist organizations’ operations. To achieve counterterrorism strategy objectives, it is crucial that states consistently adhere to the ...
FEDERATED LEARNING OF BAYESIAN NEURAL NETWORKS
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Although federated learning and Bayesian neural networks have been researched, there are few implementations of the federated learning of Bayesian networks. In this thesis, a federated learning training environment for ...
GAME-THEORETIC MODELS FOR RAPID OPERATIONAL AIRLIFT NETWORK DESIGN IN CONTESTED ENVIRONMENTS
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
The growing threat of conflict with near-peer adversaries requires a robust air-routing plan to transport personnel and cargo effectively. In developing these plans, the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) must ...
LAUNDERING LOVE: A MULTI-CASE ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF ROMANCE SCAM VICTIMS INTO CO-OFFENDING MONEY MULES
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
This thesis addresses the problems of rapidly rising cyber-enabled fraud and concomitant money laundering by focusing on romance scam victims who evolve into willing partners in money laundering schemes, known as “witting ...
MEASURING THE IMPACT OF REGIONAL PRICE DISPARITIES ON FOOD INSECURITY RISK
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
This thesis analyzes the risk of food insecurity among active-duty servicemembers and evaluates current policies intended to reduce the high rate of food insecurity reported among servicemembers and their families. The ...
REFLECTION AND BRAGG SCATTERING ALONG ROCKY SHORES
(Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School, 2023-03)
Field observations of shoreline reflection and Bragg scattering for sea and swell waves along varying rocky shores from Monterey to Santa Cruz, CA, are described in comparison to sandy shores. The estimates are derived ...