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Browsing by Author "Gray, David Todd"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    J-WAVE: A Java Web Application for Vulnerability Education
    Kyer, Michael Alexander (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-28)
    Static application security testing (SAST) tools are commonly used by professionals to identify security vulnerabilities before deployment. While there are many such tools, they offer competing features and can be difficult and time-consuming to install and configure. To simplify the usage of these services for professors and students alike, this paper describes the Java web application for vulnerability education, or J-WAVE. J-WAVE combines 5 SAST tools into one web application: PMD, FindSecurityBugs, Semgrep, Yasca, and SonarQube. Making these tools available in an educational context is a proactive application of tools typically used in a reactive manner. J-WAVE offers simplicity to users by handling each tool's setup internally, while offering access to the large, collective rule set contributed by the combined tool suite. These attributes allow students to easily scan their own projects to detect a variety of security issues prior to submission. Likewise, educators can scan their students' code to detect common vulnerabilities present. This process is made easier as J-WAVE can accept batch submissions containing thousands of files. The SAST tools in JWAVE are complementary, and using them together helps detect a wider range of problems. However, different tools should be prioritized depending on what files are being scanned. PMD and SonarQube reports should be prioritized within general applications. Whereas, Semgrep and Yasca reports should be prioritized for scans of web applications. This paper reports on experiences from applying J-WAVE's tool suite to student submissions in two courses: an advanced data structures course, and a web application development course.
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    Put Your Back Into It: A Structural and Mechanical Characterization of Iliac Crest and Cervical Spine Autograft for ACDF Surgeries
    Comer, Jackson Simon (Virginia Tech, 2024-07-31)
    Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) is one of the most common cervical spine surgery procedures performed worldwide. ACDF utilizes autologous bone graft (autograft) from the iliac crest to induce fusion between neighboring vertebrae following the procedure. The iliac crest is widely considered the gold-standard autograft for ACDF procedures due to its osteoinductive, osteoconductive, and osteointegrative properties. However, harvesting from a second surgical site, as seen with iliac crest autograft, is commonly associated with short- and long-term complications. To mitigate iliac crest harvest site complications, a novel autograft location must be identified. The adjacent cervical vertebral body has been identified as a potential alternative donor site to the iliac crest. Previous studies have shown that this novel autograft site does not biomechanically compromise the vertebral body harvest site and has demonstrated clinically successful fusion rates comparable to those of the iliac crest. Despite prior successful fusion, a direct morphological and mechanical comparison between autograft from the adjacent cervical vertebra and iliac crest has not been thoroughly investigated. The primary goal of this thesis was to morphologically and mechanically compare the cervical spine and iliac crest. It was hypothesized that the cervical spine and iliac crest would not significantly vary in their morphological properties; however, due to daily physiological loading at each graft location, it was hypothesized that the two graft locations would differ mechanically. A clinical model utilizing iliac crest and cervical vertebral bone from human donors was characterized at the meso- and microscale to quantify morphological properties and collagen organization using micro-computed tomography (microCT) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging modalities, respectively. A pre-clinical large animal model was used to characterize the mechanical and material properties of lumbar spine tissue, under similar physiological loading as the cervical spine, relative to the iliac crest through uniaxial compression testing. No significant difference was identified in the morphological and collagen organization properties in tissue from a human clinical cohort; however, directionality and anatomical location significantly impacted the mechanical and material properties in a bovine comparative anatomy model. Here, trabecular bone from the lumbar vertebra was found to be transversely isotropic whereas iliac crest trabecular bone was nearly isotropic; thus, directionality and anatomical location should be considered and quantified when selecting autograft tissue for future ACDF surgeries. Further characterization of the mechanical properties of cervical vertebral tissue and determination of correlations between directionality, anatomical location, and morphology through microCT and compression testing should be completed before adopting the cervical vertebra as the gold standard autograft for ACDF procedures.