This thesis examines how perturbing selected adversary capabilities in a design basis threat (DBT) may affect the assessment of a facility's security system performance. We found that using a strictly defined DBT to design and analytically test facility security systems can lead to invalid assessments that security measures are meeting standards. Design Basis Threats are intended to represent the most severe yet realistic attack a facility might face. However, the static nature of the standard DBT makes it unable to test the performance of a facility security system in the case where a specialized adversary may possess different capabilities than defined in the DBT. Our analysis of security system performance for various modeled facilities revealed significant vulnerabilities to certain perturbations of adversary capabilities. These vulnerabilities went undetected when the original strictly defined graded DBT was used in the assessment procedure. By maximizing one adversary capability at the expense of others, a specialized adversary force was able to efficiently defeat each facility. To address this problem, we proposed employing a so-called "point-based" DBT as an alternative to the existing strictly defined DBT. In a point-based DBT, multiple scenarios are assessed that test different sets of adversary capabilities to better uncover and understand any security system vulnerabilities that may exist. We believe the benefit of identifying these site-specific security vulnerabilities will outweigh the additional cost of generating a point-based DBT, especially if the vulnerabilities are identified during the initial design of the security system.

Since the introduction of modern computers, numerical methods for atmospheric simulations have routinely been applied for weather prediction, and in the last fifty years, there has been a steady improvement in the accuracy of forecasts. Accurate numerical models of the atmosphere are also becoming more important as researchers rely on global climate simulations to assess and understand the impact of global warming. The choice of grid in a numerical model is an important design decision and no obvious optimal choice exists for computations in spherical geometry. Despite this disadvantage, grid-based methods are found in all current circulation models. A different approach to the issue of discretizing the surface of the sphere is given by meshless methods, of which radial basis function (RBF) methods are becoming prevalent. In this thesis, RBF methods for simulation of atmospheric flows are explored. Several techniques are introduced to increase the efficiency of the methods. By utilizing a novel algorithm for adaptively placing the node points, accuracy is shown to improve by over one order of magnitude for two relevant test problems. The computational cost can also be reduced by using a local finite difference-like RBF scheme. However, this requires a stabilization mechanism for the hyperbolic problems of interest here. A hyper-viscosity scheme is introduced to address this issue. Another stability issue arising from the ill-conditioning of the RBF basis for almost-flat basis functions is also discussed in the thesis, and two algorithms are proposed for dealing with this stability problem. The algorithms are specifically tailored for the task of creating finite difference weights using RBFs and are expected to overcome the issue of stationary error in local RBF collocation.

Human enterovirus 71 (HEV71) is a member of the Human Enterovirus A species within the Family Picornaviridae. Since 1997, HEV71 has emerged as a major cause of epidemics of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) associated with severe neurological disease in the Asia-Pacific region. At the present time, little is known about the pathogenesis of acute neurological disease caused by HEV71. The major aim of this study was to generate infectious cDNA clones of HEV71 and use them as tools for investigating the biology of HEV71 and molecular genetics of HEV71 virulence and pathogenesis. Two infectious cDNA clones of HEV71 clinical isolates, 26M (genotype B3) and 6F (genotype C2) were successfully constructed using a low copy number plasmid vector and an appropriate bacterial host. Transfection of cDNA clones or RNA transcripts derived from these clones produced infectious viruses. Phenotypic characterisation of clone-derived viruses (CDV-26M and CDV-6F) was performed, and CDV-26M and CDV-6F were found to have indistinguishable phenotypes compared to their wild type viruses. Strains HEV71-26M and HEV71-6F were found to have distinct cell culture growth phenotypes. To identify the genome regions responsible for the growth phenotypes of the two strains a series of chimeric viruses were constructed by exchanging the 5„S untranslated region (5„S UTR), structural protein (P1), and nonstructural protein (P2 and P3) gene regions using infectious cDNA clones of both virus strains. Analysis of reciprocal virus chimeras revealed that the 5„S UTR of both strains were compatible but not responsible for the observed phenotypes. Both the P1 and P2-P3 genome regions influence the HEV71 growth phenotype in cell culture, phenotype expression is dependent on specific P1/P2-P3 combinations and is not reciprocal. In the previous study, in order to investigate the pathogenesis of HEV71 infection, a mouse HEV71 model was developed using a mouse-adapted variant of HEV71-26M. Mouse-adapted strain MP-26M caused fore- and/or hindlimb paralysis in mice, whereas HEV71-26M-infected mice did not develop clinical signs of infection at any virus dose or route of inoculation tested. In this study, the molecular basis of mouse adaptation by HEV71 was identified. Nucleotide sequence analysis of HEV71-26M and MP-26M revealed three point mutations in the open reading frame, each resulting in an amino acid substitution in the VP1, VP2 and 2C proteins; no mutations were identified in the untranslated regions of the genome. To determine which of the three amino acid mutations were responsible for the adaptation and virulence of HEV71-26M in mice, recombinant cDNA clones containing one, or a combination of two or three mutations, were constructed. Mouse virulence assays of the mutated viruses clearly demonstrated that a non-conservative amino acid substitution (G710„_E) in the capsid protein VP1 alone was sufficient to confer the mouse virulence phenotype on HEV71. In addition, a mouse oral infection model was established in this study. Oral inoculation with the mouse-adapted HEV71 virus, MP-26M, induced fore-or hindlimb paralysis in newborn mice in an age- and dose-dependent manner. As oral transmission is the natural route of HEV71 infection, this murine HEV71 oral infection model will provide a suitable tool for studying HEV71 pathogenesis, for defining neurological determinants, and for testing vaccine efficacy and immunogenicity in the future.

This thesis examines the historical development and current state of amendment law in the Australian patent system. Initial research on modern amendment cases immediately showed that the confused, inconsistent and complex state of the law is a significant problem. There is a plethora of different analytical tools and legal tests being applied to assess an amendment, yet they were developed in a different area of patent law, that of fair basing. Such tools and tests are ill equipped to provide any real assistance to decision-makers faced with assessing an amendment. In fact, they seem to lead decision-makers away from applying the correct investigation as set out in the amendment provisions of the legislation. The thesis examines the history of amendment law so as to place its discussion of the current problems in context and provide a better understanding of why the problems arose. Four major events are discussed in the thesis. Together, these events have shaped Australian amendment law over the past century: (i) the development and introduction of the “substantially larger than or substantially different from” test into the British and Australian statutory amendment provisions; (ii) the development and introduction of the concept of fair basing into British and Australian patent law; (iii) the development and introduction of the modern British and Australian statutory test for amendments and the tiered amendment scheme; and (iv) the analogies drawn in modern British and Australian cases between fair basing and amendment that ultimately led to fair basing tests being cross-applied in Australia to assess the allowability of amendments. The thesis shows how the very harsh early British treatment of requests for amendment ultimately led to statutory change. It also locates, for the first time, the common law origins of the notion of “fair basing.” The 1949 British legislation implemented a new and different statutory test that was intended to liberalise the whole area of amendment law. It also added the requirement of “fair basing” into the legislation. However, the thesis shows that this last development occurred via well-intentioned legislators with a significant misunderstanding of patent law. The notion of fair basing injected a great deal of uncertainty into an area of law that was previously settled. Theoretically, and in practical application, it caused problems. Then, when decision-makers sought guidance on the new amendment provision, they applied the tests developed in fair basing cases to assess amendments, with the consequent deleterious effects. The Australian experience largely mirrored the British experience until 1977 when the British Act changed. The significance of the thesis is that it clearly demonstrates that the currently accepted dogma – that fair basing is equivalent to the “in substance disclosure” statutory test for amendments, so fair basing tests can be used to assess amendment – is unsound. The thesis isolates the problems inherent in the dogma and the examination of relevant case law confirms the main hypothesis that the current approach should be rejected. It simply operates to the prejudice of inventors, their competitors, the public and the patent system itself. Most importantly, the thesis shows that reform is urgently needed. Some possibilities for reform are suggested.

Universiẗat, Diss., 1995--Frankfurt (Main). / Zsfassung in dt. und engl. Sprache.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2008. / Principal faculty advisor: Tobin A. Driscoll, Dept. of Mathematical Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Eng.(Mechanical Engineering))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Anke Meyer Baese, Florida State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 7, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 39 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Accounting. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.