The rapid growth and deployment of network technologies and Internet services has made security and management of networks a challenging research problem. This growth is accompanied by an exponential growth in the number of network attacks, which have become more complex, more organized, more dynamic, and more severe than ever. Current network protection techniques are static, slow in responding to attacks, and inefficient due to the large number of false alarms. Attack detection systems can be broadly classified as being signature-based, classification-based, or anomaly-based. In this dissertation, I present a multi-level anomaly based autonomic network defense system which can efficiently detect both known and unknown types of network attacks with a high detection rate and low false alarms. The system uses autonomic computing to automate the control and management of multi-level intrusion detection system and integrate the different components of the system. The system defends the network by detecting anomalies in network operations that may have been caused by network attacks. Like other anomaly detection systems, AND captures a profile of normal network behavior.In this dissertation, I introduce experimental results that evaluate the effectiveness and performance of the multi-level anomaly based autonomic network intrusion detection system in detecting network attacks. The system consist of monitoring modules, feature aggregation and correlation modules, behavior analysis modules, decision fusion module, global visualization module, risk and impact analysis module, action module, attack classification module, and the adaptive learning module. I have successfully implemented a prototype system based on my multi-level anomaly based approach. The experimental results and evaluation of our prototype show that our multi-level intrusion detection system can efficiently and effectively detect and protect against any type of network attacks known or unknown in real-time. Furthermore, the overhead of our approach is insignificant on the normal network operations and services.

Since the 1980s, regions have taken a strong interest in EU policy-making and increasingly demanded representation in the process. This has given rise to the concept of multi-level governance (MLG) in EU policy-making, which stipulates that subnational and supranational actors will interact and thus to some extent erode the authority of central governments. However, due to the scarcity of case study research looking at concrete instances of policy-making, a number of questions remain about the extent and the effectiveness of the interaction between regional governments and European actors. In addition, the extent and origins of differences in regional activity across regions and member states remain unclear. This thesis aims to contribute to the MLG debate by developing a theoretical framework with a set of hypotheses about regional activism in EU policy-making on the basis of rational choice institutionalist assumptions. It then investigates how seven legislative regions from four member states (the UK, Germany, Belgium and Austria) represent their interests in two concrete instances of EU policy-making and tests the core hypotheses against these fourteen cases. The thesis contributes to the MLG debate in three ways. Firstly, the principal objective of the thesis is to analyse the impact of different types of domestic intergovernmental relations on the strategies of regions at the European level. It is argued that the level and nature of a region's activity on the European level depends on the opportunities for influence in the domestic European policy-making process and the constraints that domestic rules place on European level activity. Secondly, a number of factors that could account for different levels of regional activity both within and between states are analysed. Domestic conflict and the capacity of a region are found to be particularly relevant for regional mobilisation. Finally, the thesis discusses the relative importance of domestic channels compared to European channels of regional interest representation, thus addressing one of the fundamental questions in the MLG literature. It is argued that unmediated interaction between European actors and regional governments is less common than predicted by the MLG literature, but that it can be effective, especially in cases where regions devise a comprehensive strategy of interest representation.

Health and well-being of older adults has become a worldwide public health concern and has been attracting increasing attention from scholars across the globe. But little is known about the health of the Chinese elderly. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) --Pilot, a pilot survey in 2008 in two provinces of China, Gansu and Zhejiang, this dissertation examines the association between social capital at both the individual- and community- levels and three health outcomes among older adults in China. A series of multi-level models were estimated using SAS 9.2. Statistical results indicate that such individual-level social capital variables as perceived help and support in the future, help from others, and birthplace significantly impacted health among older Chinese adults. When examining the relationship between community-level social capital and health, this study confirms the significant association between community-level social capital and good health independent of individual-level predictors. This study also indicates that the impact of gender and rural-urban Hukou status interacts with the province of residence. The results were discussed in terms of cultural legacy in the Chinese cultural setting, the current social dynamics related to old age support, health-related government reforms, and various disparities across different regions and across different social groups in China.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering / Ruth Douglas Miller / This dissertation presents the design of a novel multi-level inverter with FACTS capability for small to mid-size (10–20kW) permanent-magnet wind installations using modular multi-level converter (MMC) topology. The aim of the work is to design a new type of inverter with D-STATCOM option to provide utilities with more control on active and reactive power transfer of distribution lines. The inverter is placed between the renewable energy source, specifically a wind turbine, and the distribution grid in order to fix the power factor of the grid at a target value, regardless of wind speed, by regulating active and reactive power required by the grid. The inverter is capable of controlling active and reactive power by controlling the phase angle and modulation index, respectively. The unique contribution of the proposed work is to combine the two concepts of inverter and D-STATCOM using a novel voltage source converter (VSC) multi-level topology in a single unit without additional cost. Simulations of the proposed inverter, with 5 and 11 levels, have been conducted in MATLAB/Simulink for two systems including 20 kW/kVAR and 250 W/VAR. To validate the simulation results, a scaled version (250 kW/kVAR) of the proposed inverter with 5 and 11 levels has been built and tested in the laboratory. Experimental results show that the reduced-scale 5- and 11-level inverter is able to fix PF of the grid as well as being compatible with IEEE standards. Furthermore, total cost of the prototype models, which is one of the major objectives of this research, is comparable with market prices.

Le but de la thèse est de réaliser des filtres accordable en technologie planaire multi-niveaux proposé par l'entreprise allemande IHP. Les filtres sont réalisés aux ondes millimétriques,principalement autour de 60 GHz et 140 GHz. Nous étudions l'accordabilité en fréquence mais aussi l'accordabilité en bande passante ne utilisant un concept nouveau établie au cours de cette thèse. Les premiers résultats concernant les filtres accordables en fréquence ont permit la rédaction de plusieurs articles. Maintenant, nous venons de recevoir les mesures prouvant notre nouveau concept permettant l'accord en fréquence et en bande passante des filtres planaires à base de résonateurs en anneau / The thesis aim is to realize tunable filters using the BiCMOS planar technologie provided by thegerman company IHP. We are working on millimeterwaves, mainly 60 GHz and 140 GHz. Westudy the frequency tunability but also the bandwidth tunability using a new concept provided bythe study carried during this thesis. The first study about frequency tunability aimed to severalconference articles. Now, we just have the measurements proving the new concept of frequencycontrol while maintening a bandwidth control of planar ring filters

Cílem diplomové práce je porovnání systému řízení přímého prodeje s přímými i nepřímými konkurenty. Práce je členěna do teoretické a praktické části. Teoretická část pojednává o problematice přímého prodeje v ČR i ve světě, poodhaluje fenomén multi-level marketingu a pyramidových her. Analyzuje zadlužování českých domácností a zmiňuje se o benchmarkingu. Praktická část se zabývá popisem řízení systému přímého prodeje společnosti Provident Financial a oslovených konkurentů. Stěžejní část práce tvoří hodnocení těchto systémů metodou polaritního a konkurenčního profilu. Z hodnocení vyplývají návrhý a doporučení pro společnost Provident Financial.

The main purpose of the integrated marketing communication is to consolidate various marketing modes, to provide customers and prospects with clear and consistent information, and to bring the most benefits of communications. In these years, the direct-selling businesses have stepped on the right track, and have expelled the illegal or weak brands from this market. The existing companies and products are with competition-advantageous brands in the MLM market. The integrated marketing communications are becoming more important as it makes the customers focus on the uniqueness of the products and buy the products. This study discovers that the Bionatural (¦Ê¤ºº¸) Co. has achieved the merits of delivering clear and consistent image and information in using integrated marketing communication. It is in an advantageous position in the niche market that the Bionatural (¦Ê¤ºº¸) Co. held the rights of selling high-tech products in the 21st century. The purpose of multi-level marketing is the personnel marketing. It is using the principle of multiple markets and through the sharing power of customers¡¦ public praise in nice response, to set up a large selling system, and to let these customers obtain rational rewards. So it is not like any traditional companies using stores to sell their products. With fully utilizing communication tools, besides the traditional communication model of one-to-one, every direct selling co. in this study has used TV, newspapers, broadcast, magazines, and network to shape a clear image. This study provides 6 items of suggestion for the direct selling co. in the planning of integrated marketing communications: 1. Attach importance to the integrated marketing communications for companies and sellers synchronously. 2. Grasp the market¡¦s changes and trends. 3. Operate with the emphasis on major customers. 4. Focus on every opportunity where the brand comes to interface. 5. Utilize the various tools of communications to result in a better reword plan. 6. Incorporate network marketing resources to enhance the image of direct selling co.

In the global knowledge economy century, service sector has been representing the main stream of the industrial development in Taiwan, which also increasingly employs the majority of workers, multi-level marketing industry categorizes as network-building service industry. In the wake of international competition and the transformation of social structure in Taiwan, more and more people have been engaging into multi-level marketing industry. With the economic scale being forged, multi-level marketing industry is able to reduce marketing cost with its unique marketing channels. It can be predicted that multi-level marketing industry is crucial to the competitiveness of the global economy with highly potential for the years to come. Therefore, this research is based upon the multi-level marketing distributors of the ¡§B¡¨ company as samples trying to utilize the aspect of human resources management to explore the issues of transformational leadership of distributors, multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational cultures and organizational commitment. This research is instrumental in analyzing how these issues can achieve effective organizational performance management for multi-level marketing industry and the managers in this industry can use this research to succeed in business for future reference. The indications of the research results are as follows: 1.Age, awarded ranking of distributors and education are significant differences on multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational cultures partially. Besides, seniority, awarded ranking of distributors, entrepreneurial experiences and other multi-level marketing distributor experiences are significant differences on organizational commitment partially. 2.Transformational leadership has positive relation with multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational culture 3.Transformational leadership has positive relation with organizational commitment. 4.Multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational culture has positive relation with organizational commitment; the hypothesis above is supported partially. 5.Transformational leadership has significantly positive effect on organizational commitment; the hypothesis above is supported partially. 6.Multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational culture has significantly positive effect on organizational commitment; the hypothesis above is supported partially. 7.Multi-level marketing¡¦s organizational culture is the important factor to enhance the positive effect between transformational leadership and organization commitment, the hypothesis above is supported partially.

Objective: The purpose of this dissertation was to examine which student- and school-level factors differentiated (1) susceptible never smokers from non-susceptible never smokers, (2) experimental smokers from never smokers, and (3) current smokers from experimental smokers among a nationally representative sample of Canadian students in grade 9-12. Methods: Student-level data from Canada???s nationally representative 2008-2009 Youth Smoking Survey (2008 YSS) were linked with school-level data from the 2006 Census, and one built environment characteristic, and examined using multi-level logistic regression analyses. Results: Overall as hypothesized in these three studies, student-level and school-level characteristics were associated with smoking susceptibility among never smokers, experimental smoking and current smoking. The likelihood of susceptibility among never smokers (P=0.0002), experimental smoking (P<0.0001) and current smoking (P<0.001) significantly varied across schools. This study identified that attending a school in an urban (AOR=0.62; 95% CI 0.46-0.82) setting or in a high socioeconomic status (SES) neighbourhood (AOR=0.88; 95% CI 0.79-0.98) was inversely associated with odds of a student being an experimental smoker (versus a never smoker) when adjusting for student-level characteristics. The number of tobacco retailers located within a 1-km radius of each school was associated with the odds of a student being a current smoker (versus an experimental smoker) (AOR 1.03; 95% CI 1.01-1.05) and also associated with a student being a susceptible never smoker (versus a non-susceptible never smoker) (AOR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00-1.02) when adjusting for student-level characteristics. Additionally, several student-level intrapersonal and social context characteristics were associated with smoking susceptibility, experimental smoking and current smoking. Conclusions: This study showed that the characteristics of the school a student attends may increase their likelihood of a student being in any of the smoking stages that were examined. Additionally, several student-level factors were also associated with the three smoking stages. Understanding these factors will provide more insight to guide stakeholders interested in developing anti-tobacco strategies that are responsive to the risk and protective factors of adolescents in different smoking stages.

Zugl.: Hamburg, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2008