Wide-band spectrum sensing is an approach for finding spectrum holes within a wideband signal with less complexity/delay than the conventional approaches. In this thesis, we propose four different algorithms for detecting the holes in a wide-band spectrum and finding the sparsity level of compressive signals. The first algorithm estimates the spectrum in an efficient manner and uses this estimation to find the holes. The second algorithm detects the spectrum holes by reconstructing channel energies instead of reconstructing the spectrum itself. In this method, the signal is fed into a number of filters. The energies of the filter outputs are used as the compressed measurement to reconstruct the signal energy. The third algorithm employs two information theoretic algorithms to find the sparsity level of a compressive signal and the last algorithm employs belief propagation for detecting the sparsity level.

Reasoners who adopt the perspective of another can increase the proportion of logically valid inferences they make (Thompson, Evans, & Handley, 2005). A possible explanation is that shifting perspective promotes analytic reasoning. If this were the case, then shifting perspectives should also reduce the belief-bias effect. Furthermore, strong evidence should be preferred over weak evidence. To test this, 256 participants read twenty-four research descriptions that varied in evidence quality and degree of personal belief content. Participants indicated whether the data supported the researchers hypotheses. Belief bias was reduced when participants evaluated the data from the researchers perspective relative to their own. Evidence strength was an important determining factor in decision-making and it was sensitive to perspective and individual differences.

Computer networks are constantly being attacked by malicious entities for various reasons. Network based attacks include but are not limited to, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), DNS based attacks, Cross-site Scripting (XSS) etc. Such attacks have exploited either the network protocol or the end-host software vulnerabilities for perpetration. Current network traffic analysis techniques employed for detection and/or prevention of these anomalies suffer from significant delay or have only limited scalability because of their huge resource requirements. This dissertation proposes more scalable techniques for network anomaly detection. We propose using DNS analysis for detecting a wide variety of network anomalies. The use of DNS is motivated by the fact that DNS traffic comprises only 2-3% of total network traffic reducing the burden on anomaly detection resources. Our motivation additionally follows from the observation that almost any Internet activity (legitimate or otherwise) is marked by the use of DNS. We propose several techniques for DNS traffic analysis to distinguish anomalous DNS traffic patterns which in turn identify different categories of network attacks. First, we present MiND, a system to detect misdirected DNS packets arising due to poisoned name server records or due to local infections such as caused by worms like DNSChanger. MiND validates misdirected DNS packets using an externally collected database of authoritative name servers for second or third-level domains. We deploy this tool at the edge of a university campus network for evaluation. Secondly, we focus on domain-fluxing botnet detection by exploiting the high entropy inherent in the set of domains used for locating the Command and Control (C&C) server. We apply three metrics namely the Kullback-Leibler divergence, the Jaccard Index, and the Edit distance, to different groups of domain names present in Tier-1 ISP DNS traces obtained from South Asia and South America. Our evaluation successfully detects existing domain-fluxing botnets such as Conficker and also recognizes new botnets. We extend this approach by utilizing DNS failures to improve the latency of detection. Alternatively, we propose a system which uses temporal and entropy-based correlation between successful and failed DNS queries, for fluxing botnet detection. We also present an approach which computes the reputation of domains in a bipartite graph of hosts within a network, and the domains accessed by them. The inference technique utilizes belief propagation, an approximation algorithm for marginal probability estimation. The computation of reputation scores is seeded through a small fraction of domains found in black and white lists. An application of this technique, on an HTTP-proxy dataset from a large enterprise, shows a high detection rate with low false positive rates.

I Sverige genomförs årligen 35 000 - 40 000 aborter. Kvinnor i åldersgruppen 20-24 är de som utför allra flest och risktaganden i sexuella sammanhang är betydligt större än vad det tidigare har varit. Litteraturstudiens syfte var att beskriva unga kvinnor sexuella riskbeteenden och deras attityder till abort. Systematiska sökningar gjordes i Cinahl, PubMed och PsycINFO och artiklar som motsvarade syftet granskades kritiskt. Slutligen valdes 11 vetenskapliga artiklar som bearbetades och analyserades. Utifrån syftet delades resultatet upp i två delar. Under riskbeteenden framkom följande underteman: alkohol gör unga kvinnor mer riskbenägna, liberala attityder till sex, inkonsekvent användande av preventivmedel, upplevda nackdelar med preventivmedel samt brist på information om preventivmedel och sexualkunskap. Dessa teman beskriver på olika sätt de sexuella riskbeteenden som visat sig finnas hos unga kvinnor idag. Unga kvinnors attityder till abort delades upp i två underteman: abort som ett accepterat alternativ samt blandade känslor kring en oplanerad graviditet och beslut om abort. Abort sågs som en självklar rätt men även rädsla att ångra sitt beslut uttrycktes. Preventiva insatser vad gäller oönskade graviditeter är ett ansvar som åligger hälso- och sjukvården. Sjuksköterskan kan i sin profession använda sig av motiverande samtal. Det vilar också ett ansvar på hälso- och sjukvården att erbjuda en god abortvård samt möjlighet till återhämtning där sjuksköterskan spelar en viktig roll vid samtal och stöd. / Every year implements 35,000 to 40,000 abortions in Sweden. The most are performed by women aged 20-24 and risk-taking in sexual context is much more common than before. The aim of this study was to describe young women´s sexual risk behaviors and their attitudes toward abortion. Systematic searches were made in Cinahl, PubMed and PsycINFO and articles that corresponded the aim was critically reviewed. Finally 11 research articles were selected and after that they were processed and analyzed. Based on the purpose the result was divided in two parts. To risk behaviors following subthemes revealed: alcohol makes young women more willing to take risks, liberal attitudes to sex, inconsistently use of contraception, perceived disadvantages of contraception and lack of information about contraception and sex education. These themes describe the sexual risk behaviors that exist in young women today. About young women's attitudes to abortion two subthemes were emerged: abortion as accepted alternative and mixed feelings about an unplanned pregnancy and the decision on abortion. Abortions were seen as a natural right, but also fear of regretting their decision was expressed. Preventions of unwanted pregnancies are a responsibility of health and medical care. Nurses can in their profession use motivational interviewing. The health sector also has a responsibility to offer a good abortion care and allow for recovery. The nurse plays a particularly important role in the support.

I defend a version of cognitivist motivational internalism which I call belief internalism. The constitutive claim of any version of cognitivist motivational internalism is that moral belief entails motivation. But, while this internalist thesis captures the practical nature of morality, it is in tension with the dominantly held Humean theory of motivation. The constitutive claim of the Humean thesis is that no belief could entail motivation. In defence of this internalist it is tempting to argue either that the Humean constraint only applies to non-moral beliefs or that moral beliefs only motivate ceteris paribus. But, while succumbing to the first temptation places one under an ultimately insurmountable burden to justify the motivational exceptionality of moral beliefs, succumbing to the second temptation saddles one with a thesis that fails to do justice to the practical nature of morality. I avoid the temptation to defend this thesis in either of these flawed ways by defending a more radical departure from the Humean theory of motivation. I avoid the first temptation by arguing for a motivationally efficacious conception of belief. I start the defence by demonstrating that it is conceptually coherent for belief to entail motivation. I then argue that all beliefs have behavioural dispositional properties that are not predicated on desire; in particular, all beliefs can motivate assent without the assistance of a conceptually independent desire. I then develop a unified and inclusive account of cognitive motivation, according to which unqualified normative cognition—which includes moral cognition—motivates normative actions without the assistance of such a desire. Beliefs of the form ‘I ought to ф’, in other words, motivate the believer to ф. I avoid the second temptation by arguing that moral belief motivates simpliciter as opposed to ceteris paribus. There are, however, both commonsense and scientifically informed counterexamples which prima facie demonstrate that it is possible to both fully believe and fully understand one’s first person cognitive moral judgement and yet not motivated by that judgement. I argue that the commonsense prima facie counterexamples are not decisive; and I argue that the scientifically informed prima facie counterexamples misinterpret the empirical research on salient psychological conditions.

The belief bias effect – the finding that prior beliefs influence judgments of logic and evidence – has been a topic of much empirical investigation in both deductive and causal reasoning. However, to date, no research has examined the degree to which such biases are the result of common or distinct mechanisms in these two domains. By using common scales of measurement, I examine the degree to which individuals show common biases in these two domains in two experiments. Surprisingly, although the belief bias effect was observed in both paradigms, biases in one domain were unreliably associated with biases in the other domain. Experiment 2 included 6 measures of individual differences in an attempt to uncover the observation of differential biases in these domains. Dogmatism was found to be the single most predictive measure of belief bias, but only in deductive reasoning. These data are discussed in terms of dual process theories of reasoning.

Women smokers with heart disease (HD) are at increased risk for negative health effects. At the time of invasive cardiovascular (CV) interventions is a critical opportunity to make lifestyle changes to reduce future CV interventions. The purposes of this study guided by the Health Belief Model were to determine which factors predict smoking cessation (SC) in women following an invasive CV procedure and to explore assistance received with SC. A correlational, prospective design was used. Data were collected from women smokers at the time of an invasive CV intervention and three months later. Instruments measured commitment to stop smoking, perceived threat of HD and future interventions, cessation self efficacy, barriers to SC, benefits of SC, cues to action, and motivation. Analyses included Chi-square, t-tests, and multiple, hierarchical, and logistic regression. On average women (N = 76) were middle-aged (M = 55.9 ± 8.0 yrs), smoked M = 15.3 ± 9.8 daily cigarettes and smoked for M = 33.6 ± 10.2 years. At baseline, fewer perceived barriers to SC, high cessation self-efficacy, and being more autonomously motivated to quit smoking explained 67 % of variance in commitment to stop smoking, F (6, 67) = 19.37, p < .001. At 3 months, only 8 (n = 54) women had quit smoking. Women smoked fewer daily cigarettes (M = 10.6 ± SD = 8.5) at 3 months compared to time of procedure (M = 15.3 ± 9.8), t(51) = 3.43, p < .01. Higher baseline cessation self-efficacy and lower HD threat were predictors of SC at three months, X2 (4, N=54) = 18.67, p = .001. At the three month follow up, the most common barrier to SC was anxiety (24%) and cigarette cravings (24%). While women were highly committed and confident they could quit, they reported receiving little help from their health care provider (HCP) other than simple advice to quit smoking. Most women undergoing an invasive CV procedure were unable to quit smoking even with a high desire to do so. Referrals for assistance from HCP to decrease anxiety and nicotine dependence and to address ongoing challenges to SC are needed.

The belief bias effect – the finding that prior beliefs influence judgments of logic and evidence – has been a topic of much empirical investigation in both deductive and causal reasoning. However, to date, no research has examined the degree to which such biases are the result of common or distinct mechanisms in these two domains. By using common scales of measurement, I examine the degree to which individuals show common biases in these two domains in two experiments. Surprisingly, although the belief bias effect was observed in both paradigms, biases in one domain were unreliably associated with biases in the other domain. Experiment 2 included 6 measures of individual differences in an attempt to uncover the observation of differential biases in these domains. Dogmatism was found to be the single most predictive measure of belief bias, but only in deductive reasoning. These data are discussed in terms of dual process theories of reasoning.

Reasoners who adopt the perspective of another can increase the proportion of logically valid inferences they make (Thompson, Evans, & Handley, 2005). A possible explanation is that shifting perspective promotes analytic reasoning. If this were the case, then shifting perspectives should also reduce the belief-bias effect. Furthermore, strong evidence should be preferred over weak evidence. To test this, 256 participants read twenty-four research descriptions that varied in evidence quality and degree of personal belief content. Participants indicated whether the data supported the researchers hypotheses. Belief bias was reduced when participants evaluated the data from the researchers perspective relative to their own. Evidence strength was an important determining factor in decision-making and it was sensitive to perspective and individual differences.

Modern societies are for the most part pluralistic in their compositions and world views. As such, we are given a variety of possibilities to embrace in our everyday lives and social interactions. The plethora of religious choice is a prime example of societal pluralism. John Hick is an eminent proponent of religious pluralism. His adoption of the religious pluralist stance arises from his experience and observations of various religions and their practices wherein he has noted similarities in the development of moral individuals in spite of vastly different and exclusive truth claims made by their religious systems. Hick, in a huge leap of faith, believes these similarities among such great differences must indicate a unitary source of revelation from a Transcendent Ultimate Reality to humankind sometime during the great Axial Age of human development more than two thousand years ago.<p> Religious pluralism, in its Hickean formulation, is a call for individuals to not only abandon their religions claims to exclusive truth about the Transcendent Ultimate Reality but also to reduce religious dogmas to their essential elements and modify them in order to preclude contradictory assertions that would exclude other religious systems. The benefits would be to reduce or eliminate religious intolerance and claims to superiority; incidents of religious violence should also be expected to decrease.<p> This thesis critically examines Hicks thesis and finds that religion has a greater role to play in individual lives than Hick acknowledges. For those with weakly held religious beliefs, the call to religious pluralism may find appeal. However, for those with strongly held religious views, operating within religious structures that serve their needs and eschatological hopes, the adoption of religious pluralism of the Hickean variety may cause them to abandon something that is working well for them without replacing it with something of equal benefit. In the final analysis, I find Hicks call to embrace religious pluralism to be unpersuasive since it is not in itself a religious system; it is, rather, a philosophical system which attempts to address the epistemological challenges associated with the myriad systems of faith and belief found within the great world religions.