Publications

You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Book Chapters

Equifinality in Cybersecurity Research: Opportunities and Future Research

Published in Effective Cybersecurity Operations for Enterprise-Wide Systems. (Publisher: IGI Global) - Authors: Brett Landry, Renita Murimi, Greg Bell, 2023

There are many paths to achieving cybersecurity resilience. Equifinality denotes this notion of multiple paths leading to a final outcome. This chapter explores how equifinality in cybersecurity resilience can be achieved through efforts at individual, firm, and community levels.

A framework for enterprise cybersecurity risk management

Published in Advances in Cybersecurity Nanagement (Publisher: Springer International Publishing) Authors: Samir Jarjoui, Renita Murimi, 2021

This chapter uses a systems theory perspective to propose a framework for enterprise cybersecurity risk management that focuses on business and IT alignment along multiple key dimensions.

Use of Botnets for mining cryptocurrencies

Published in Botnets (Publisher: Taylor & Francis CRC Press) - Author: Renita Murimi, 2019

This chapter describes the challenges posed by botnets to the mining of cryptocurrencies and offers a range of countermeasures to mitigate these challenges.

Visualization Tools for Big Data Analytics in Quantitative Chemical Analysis: A Tutorial in Chemometrics

Published in Handbook of Research on Big Data Storage and Visualization Techniques (Publisher: IGI Global) - Authors: Gerard G Dumancas, Ghalib A Bello, Jeff Hughes, Renita Murimi, Lakshmi Chockalingam Kasi Viswanath, Casey ONeal Orndorff, Glenda Fe Dumancas, Jacy D ODell, 2018

This chapter discusses research and challenges at the intersection of data analytics and analytical chemistry.

Wireless body area networks in mhealth

Published in Mobile Health: A Technology Road Map (Publisher: Springer International Publishing) - Authors: Garth V Crosby, Craig A Chin, Tirthankar Ghosh, Renita Murimi, 2015

This chapter provides an overview of design and performance challenges in the use of wireless body area networks for healthcare.

Journal Articles

Communities, Agency, and Resilience: A Perspective Addressing Tragedy of the Cyber Commons

Published in Cyber Defense Review (Authors: Samir Jarjoui, Robert Murimi, Renita Murimi), 2024

This paper studies cybersecurity challenges from the context of the tragedy of the commons. Who is responsible for cybersecurity?

SoK: A Taxonomy for Critical Analysis of Consensus Mechanisms in Consortium Blockchain

Published in IEEE Access (Authors: Wei Yao, Fadi P Deek, Renita Murimi, Guiling Wang), 2024

This paper presents a state-of-knowledge (SoK) of consensus mechanisms in consortium blockchains and offers a taxonomy of these algorithms based upon three criteria: reliability, performance, and security.

An Exploration of Factors Influencing Work from Home During Covid-19

Published in Information Systems Management (Authors: Sue Conger, Renita Murimi, Sandra Blanke), 2024

This paper presents a new model for technology resources and employee satisfaction with these resources in work-from-home environments created in the wake of Covid-19.

Decentralization, Blockchains, and the Development of Smart Communities in Economically Challenging Environments

Published in Ledger (Authors: Brett Bourbon and Renita Murimi), 2024

This paper examines how blockchain can be used in decentralized, resource-constrained environments to create smart communities. Four case studies are presented.

Blockchains: A review and research agenda for international business

Published in Research in International Business and Finance (Authors: Renita Murimi, Greg Bell, Abdul A Rasheed, Sri Beldona), 2023

Trust is a prerequisite for business transactions.This paper makes the case that the emerging applications of blockchain technology help to mitigate the issues surrounding trust in international business transactions, thus facilitating transactions by minimizing transaction costs, reducing uncertainty, and improving speed.

Governance in DAOs: Lessons in Composability from Primate Societies and Modular Software

Published in MIT Computational Law Report (Author: Renita Murimi), 2022

This paper presents a framework for composable governance in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) drawing upon insights from two distinct sources that exhibit decentralized governance: primate societies and object-oriented software.

On the Design of Social Robots Using Sheaf Theory and Smart Contracts

Published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI (An earlier version was presented at the 2019 MIT Media Lab: Symposium on Blockchain, Robotics, and AI systems (BRAIS 2019)) - Author: Renita Murimi, 2021

This paper proposes a framework that uses the blockchain for the storage of robotic interactions, and the use of sheaf theory for analysis of these interactions.

When Humans Judge Other Humans Using Machines

Published in MIT Computational Law Report (Author: Renita Murimi), 2021

When AI-enabled machines are designed for computational law, how do we ascertain intent in the judicial process?

On the complexity of assimilation in urban communities

Published in Applied Network Science (Author: Renita Murimi), 2021

Assimilation of communities is a complex phenomenon. In this paper, I study how assimilation of communities in urban environments is influenced by three factors: education, income, and language proficiency.

A Framework for Contractual Graphs

Published in Frontiers in Big Data: Representation Learning for Graph Mining and Generation (Author: Renita Murimi), 2021

A contract between two entities can be conceptualized as the addition of an edge to a graph. This paper studies graphs of smart contracts, and the role of ambiguity in contract parameters as well as timing of contract initiation on the the computational resource allocation specified in the contracts.

On Elastic Incentives for Blockchain Oracles

Published in Journal of Database Management (Authors: Renita Murimi, Guiling Wang), 2021

Blockchain oracles serve as an intermediary between a trusted blockchain environment and the untrusted external environment. This paper provides a framework for a commoditized trust mechanism that considers the selfishness of the oracle, and the collective trust placed by the blockchain in the oracle.

Disruptive Change in Today’s Innovation: A Case Study Analysis of OptimalPlus

Published in Management and Economics Research Journal, 2019

This paper provides a case study analysis of technology disruption and competitiveness at OptimalPlus, an electronics manufacturing company.

A Blockchain Enhanced Framework for Social Networking

Published in Ledger (An earlier version was presented at the MIT Media Lab: Symposium on Blockchain for Robotic Systems (BROS 2018)) - Author: Renita Murimi, 2019

This paper provides a framework for using blockchain to design secure, trusted social networking platforms.

Chemometrics: From Data Preprocessing to Fog Computing

Published in International Journal of Fog Computing, 2019

This paper studies challenges at the intersection of analytical chemistry and data analytics (chemometrics).

Wireless body area networks for healthcare: A survey

Published in International Journal of Ad Hoc, Sensor & Ubiquitous Computing (Authors: Garth V Crosby, Tirthankar Ghosh, Renita Murimi, Craig A Chin), 2012

This paper presents a survey of design challenges in networks of wearable or implantable sensors that can be used in healthcare.

Coverage Properties of Clustered Wireless Sensor Networks

Published in ACM Transactions on Sensor Networks (Authors: Renita Machado, Wensheng Zhang, Guiling Wang, Sirin Tekinay), 2010

This paper studies how the clustered topologies in wireless sensor networks affect their connectivity and network performance.

Diffusion-based approach to deploying wireless sensor networks

Published in International Journal of Sensor Networks (Authors: Renita Machado, Sirin Tekinay, Wensheng Zhang, Guiling Wang), 2010

This paper studies a diffusion-based deployment approach for wireless sensor nodes that can satisfy a given level of reliability, where reliability is measured in terms of the amount of data sensed by the WSN.

Redundancy Estimation and Adaptive Density Control in Wireless Sensor Networks

Published in Adhoc and Sensor Wireless Networks (Authors: Renita Machado, Haibo He, Guiling Wang, Sirin Tekinay), 2010

In a random deployments of sensor nodes, how can we estimate the redundancy of the network without location information? This paper uses an information-theoretic approach to estimating this redundancy, and also studies the relationship between redundancy and network lifetime in WSNs.

Adaptive density control in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks with and without power management

Published in IET Communications (Authors: Renita Machado, Nirwan Ansari, Guiling Wang, Sirin Tekinay), 2010

This paper studies the design of a two-tiered heterogeneous wireless sensor network for optimized network performance (active coverage and network lifetime).

Towards Developing Attentive Wireless Sensor Networks

Published in International Journal of Multimedia and Ubiquitous Engineering (Authors: Renita Machado, Sirin Tekinay), 2009

Wireless sensor networks gather data about the environment. In that sense, they are paying attention to the environment in which they are deployed. This paper develops a foundation for understanding the association between the nature of attention in WSNs and their real-world applications.

A survey of game-theoretic approaches in wireless sensor networks

Published in Computer Networks (Authors: Renita Murimi, Sirin Tekinay), 2008

This paper surveys the use of game-theoretic constructs in the design of wireless sensor networks.

Selected Conference Papers

Medical Advisories as Deterrents in Healthcare Cybercrime

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE Cyber Awareness and Research Symposium (CARS) - Authors: Nastaran Hadipour, Renita Murimi, 2024

This paper provides an overview of medical advisories published by the CISA as part of their Industrial Control Systems (ICS) advisories intitiative, and highlights the cybersecurity-related complexity in the networked environments within which healthcare operates.

A Framework for Building Cognitive Knowledge Management Systems

Published in Proceedings of the International Information Management Association (IIMA) Annual Conference (Authors: Samir Jarjoui and Renita Murimi), 2023

This paper provides a framework for the development of cognitive knowledge management systems that are focused on strategy, people, processes, learning, and technology for improving knowledge management and organizational memory.

Equifinality in Blockchain Resilience: The Role of Organizational, Environmental, and Cybersecurity Factors

Published in Proceedings of the 2023 European DSI Conference, 2023

Blockchains are not inherently resilient. This paper takes a look at organizational, enviromental, and cybersecurity factors that influence the level of resilience in blockchain, and advocates for the adoption of equifinality, or multiple paths, to resilience.

What Makes AI Addictive? The Role of Discounting, Risk Aversion and Self-regulation

Published in Proceedings of the International Conference on Big Data Intelligence and Computing (DataCom), and part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13864)) - Author: Renita Murimi, 2022

We have limited attention spans, and children, more so. This paper uses game-theoretic models to investigate the impact of short-term and long-term discounting tendencies, as well as the degree of risk-aversion in influencing the ability of children to get hooked to addictive AI-enabled technologies.

A Decade of Development of Mental Models in Cybersecurity and Lessons for the Future

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media, and part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Complexity (SPCOM) (Authors: Robert Murimi, Sandra Blanke, and Renita Murimi), 2022

Mental models help us learn and adapt to new and complex environments. This paper presents an overview of research over the past decade in the area of mental models in cybersecurity.

On a Territorial Notion of a Smart Home

Published in Proceedings of the 1st ACM Workshop on Cybersecurity and Social Sciences (CySSS) - Authors: Shreenidhi Ayinala and Renita Murimi, 2022

A home is a personal territory. Yet smart homes are vulnerable to violations of this notion of territorial integrity due to cyberattacks. This paper uses a territorial notion of a smart home to analyze how cyberattacks on smart devices can disrupt our experience of a home.

DeFi Primitives Without Parallels: An Overview of AMMs, Consensus Algorithms, and Flash Loans

Published in Proceedings of the 2022 Academy of Finance Conference (Authors: Anthony Hoang, Renita Murimi), 2022

This paper presents an overview of several unique DeFi primitives such as algorithmic exchanges, consensus algorithms and oracles, as well as novel DeFi applications such as flash loans.

The Gossip Economy of Online Social Media

Published in Proceedings of the 2021 ACM CHI Misinformation Workshop (Authors: Brett Bourbon and Renita Murimi), 2021

This paper conceptualizes the spread of information as part of an economy of gossip, where social dynamics rather than veracity are key drivers of the spread of information and misinformation.

Hold My Beer: A Case Study of how Ransomware Affected an Australian Beverage Company

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Cyber Situational Awareness, Data Analytics and Assessment (CyberSA) - Authors: Samir Jarjoui, Robert Murimi, and Renita Murimi, 2021

This paper examines the impact of ransomware and Covid-19 disrupted the operations of an Australian beverage company.

The Vagaries of Robotic Trolls

Published in Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Social Science IC2S2 (Authors: Brett Bourbon, Renita Murimi), 2021

This paper studies robotic troll behavior in the 2016 Presidential election in the United States.

Online Social Networks for Meaningful Social Reform

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE World Engineering Education Forum (Author: Renita Murimi), 2021

This paper proposes a framework for the design of online social networks based on the principles of social exchange.

An Analysis of Trimming in Digital Social Networks

Published in Proceedings of the Workshops of the 30th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence Incentives and Trust in Electronic Communities: Technical Report WS-16-09 (Author: Renita Murimi), 2016

This paper studies how social networks decrease in size, as a function of sharing preferences of the user and their contacts (friends) within the network.

Sparking Creativity in Computer Science for Interdisciplinary Students

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (Author: Renita Murimi), 2013

This paper discusses the design of a new interdisciplinary course involving robotics for non-majors, and the student learning outcomes of the course.

Advances and Challenges of Wireless Body Area Networks for Healthcare Applications

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC) - Authors: Craig A Chin, Garth V Crosby, Tirthankar Ghosh, Renita Murimi, 2012

This paper describes design, implementation, and performance challenges of wireless body area networks for healthcare applications.

Network planning for heterogeneous wireless sensor networks in environmental survivability

Published in Proceedings of the 21st IEEE International Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence (ICTAI) - Authors: Renita Machado, Wensheng Zhang, Guiling Wang, 2009

This paper proposes a framework for the design of online social networks based on the principles of social exchange.

Neural network-based approach for adaptive density control and reliability in wireless sensor networks

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (Authors: Renita Machado, Sirin Tekinay), 2008

This paper studies a neural-network informed mechanism for WSN design that considers the tradeoff between sensing, coverage, network lifetime, and performance.

Bounds on the error in estimating redundancy in randomly deployed wireless sensor networks

Published in Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Sensor Technologies and Applications (SENSORCOMM 2007) - Authors: Renita Machado, Sirin Tekinay, 2007

This paper provides an information-theoretic framework for estimating the redundancy in a random deployment of nodes without the need of location information of nodes.