The purpose of this study was to determine Tennessee superintendents' perceptions of the educational application of the W. Edwards Deming Total Quality Management Model. The Total Quality Management Model was divided into four parts for the purpose of this study based on review of the literature. The parts are eight selected underlying principles, Deming's 14 points, Deming's deadly diseases, and process improvement tools. A survey instrument developed by the investigator was sent to all 139 Tennessee superintendents. A total of 112 of the superintendents responded representing 81% of the population. Fifty-one percent of the respondents are using some of the Total Quality Management concepts in their school district. Twenty percent have adopted a form of the Total Quality Management System in their district. Seventy-six percent indicated they would be interested in adopting some form of the Total Quality Management System if the State Department of Education offered assistance and training in methodology. A correlation analysis revealed significant relationships in superintendents' beliefs concerning the four parts of the Total Quality Management concepts and selected demographics. Certain conclusions were based on the findings in this study. It was concluded that Tennessee superintendents favor all of the educational applications of the industrial model of the W. Edwards Deming Total Quality Management theory. Their beliefs concerning the four parts of the Total Quality Management Model used in the study were significantly different at the.05 level. Superintendents' beliefs relative to the educational application of the four parts ranked in the following order: 14 points, eight underlying principles, seven diseases, process improvement tools. There was no significant difference in superintendent beliefs concerning the four parts of the total quality management model and selected demographics at the.05 level. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

A new normal form x2 + y2 = c2(1 + x2y2) of elliptic curves was introduced by M. Harold Edwards in 2007 over the field k having characteristic different than 2. This new form has very special and important properties such that addition operation is strongly unified and complete for properly chosen parameter c . In other words, doubling can be done by using the addition formula and any two points on the curve can be added by the addition formula without exception. D. Bernstein and T. Lange added one more parameter d to the normal form to cover a large class of elliptic curves, x2 + y2 = c2(1 + dx2y2) over the same field. In this thesis, an expository overview of the literature on Edwards curves is given. First, the types of Edwards curves over the nonbinary field k are introduced, addition and doubling over the curves are derived and efficient algorithms for addition and doubling are stated with their costs. Finally, known elliptic curves and Edwards curves are compared according to their cryptographic applications. The way to choose the Edwards curve which is most appropriate for cryptographic applications is also explained.

Groundwater and surface water in the Edwards Plateau region exhibits spatial variability arising from mineral differences in aquifers and mixing of groundwaters with diverse flow paths and ages. Integration of basic hydrochemical and isotope data (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr, [delta]¹⁸O, [delta]D, ¹⁴C, ³H) document that groundwaters in the Lower Cretaceous Edwards-Trinity (Plateau) aquifer system reflect intermixing of modern and Pleistocene recharge. Pleistocene recharge occurred under cooler paleo-climatic conditions, based on [delta]¹⁸O variance of 4.59%, and flow traversed sub-cropping Permian evaporite and Triassic strata under hydraulic conditions that promoted upward flow into the Plateau system. Recharge areas may have been in topographically elevated areas in New Mexico that no longer are connected with the Plateau. Present distribution of groundwaters with higher SO₄/Cl values occurring beneath topographic divides on the Plateau suggests that modern recharge occurs preferentially in losing-stream networks and is inhibited on divides by low-permeability soils. Relationships between ¹⁴C, tritium, [delta]¹³C, and Mg/Ca values confirm that effectively younger groundwaters occur beneath the upper parts of drainage networks, but down slope of divides. Thus, groundwater-age and hydrochemical data suggest that recharge preferentially occurs in the upper parts of drainage networks. Correlations between groundwater relative age and Mg/Ca enable estimation of the proportion of modern recharge at specific well locations based on Mg/Ca values and enables estimating local absolute recharge rates from regional-scale recharge estimates obtained from regional flow models. The Upper Colorado River bounds the northern and northeastern margin of the Plateau system and shows systematic chemical evolution along its flow path, including decreasing salinity and increasing SO₄/Cl values. The stream can be conceptually divided into three segments that each reflect groundwater inputs from five hydrochemically distinct intervals: 1) deep Permian and Pennsylvanian reservoirs similar to those that produce hydrocarbons in the region; 2) Upper Permian halite (Salado Formation); 3) the Triassic siliciclastic aquifer (Dockum Group); 4) the sulfate-evaporite-bearing Permian system (Ochoan, Guadalupian, and Leonardian Series); and 5) the Plateau aquifer system. Conservative mixing models suggest that any aquifer that the river is traversing at a specific location contributes a distinct hydrochemical signature, but the dominant contribution is from the Plateau system. / text

Στις μέρες μας, η ασφαλής διακίνηση πληροφοριών και δεδομένων αποτελεί ένα μείζον ζήτημα. Προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση, τα σύγχρονα συστήματα ασφαλείας χρησιμοποιούν κρυπτογραφικούς αλγορίθμους για να παρέχουν εμπιστευτικότητα, ακεραιότητα και αυθεντικότητα των δεδομένων. Αυτό έχει σαν αποτέλεσμα τα τελευταία χρόνια η επιστήμη της κρυπτογραφίας να αποτελεί ένα τομέα με μεγάλο ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η κρυπτογραφία δημοσίου κλειδιού παρουσιάζει γρήγορη ανάπτυξη και εφαρμόζεται ευρύτατα καθώς παρέχει μεγάλο βαθμό προστασίας των δεδομένων. Αυτό το χαρακτηριστικό επιτυγχάνεται χάρη στην υψηλή υπολογιστική πολυπλοκότητα που παρουσιάζουν οι χρησιμοποιούμενοι αλγόριθμοι κατά την προσπάθεια επίλυσής τους. Επιπλέον, αυτού του τύπου η κρυπτογραφία αποφεύγει το πρόβλημα της διανομής και διαχείρισης κλειδιών μέσα σε ένα μη ασφαλές κανάλι επικοινωνίας που παρουσιάζει η κρυπτογραφία ιδιωτικού κλειδιού. Παρόλα αυτά, η κρυπτογραφία δημοσίου κλειδιού εμφανίζει, και αυτή με τη σειρά της, το μειονέκτημα πως κατά την κρυπτογράφηση-αποκρυπτογράφηση απαιτούνται δαπανηρές αριθμητικές πράξεις (π.χ. modulo πολλαπλασιασμός, αντιστροφή). Το πρόβλημα αυτό επιβαρύνεται από το γεγονός πως το μήκος των κλειδιών σε αυτού του τύπου την κρυπτογραφία έχει πολύ μεγάλο μέγεθος έτσι ώστε να διασφαλιστεί ένα υψηλό επίπεδο ασφαλείας. Λύση στα παραπάνω προβλήματα αποτελεί η βελτιστοποίηση σχεδιασμού των αριθμητικών πράξεων που απαιτούνται σε ένα σύστημα δημοσίου κλειδιού καθώς και η χρήση ελλειπτικών καμπυλών αφού με αυτό τον τρόπο γίνεται χρήση μικρότερου μήκους κλειδιών για την επίτευξη του ίδιου επιπέδου ασφαλείας. Στην Κρυπτογραφία Ελλειπτικών Καμπυλών, ο Βαθμωτός Πολλαπλασιασμός αποτελεί την κύρια μαθηματική πράξη και περιλαμβάνει μια σειρά από άλλες λειτουργίες πάνω στα σημεία της καμπύλης οι οποίες αυξάνουν τη συνολική υπολογιστική πολυπλοκότητα του συστήματος. Οι χρησιμοποιούμενοι, λοιπόν, βαθμωτοί πολλαπλασιαστές αποτελούν τον κύριο στόχο των φυσικών επιθέσεων (επιθέσεων υλικού) οι οποίες έχουν ως σκοπό να αποκομίσουν σημαντικές πληροφορίες κατά τη διάρκεια εκτέλεσης ενός βαθμωτού πολλαπλασιασμού. Οι πιο ευρέως γνωστές τέτοιες επιθέσεις είναι οι επιθέσεις σφάλματος (Fault Attacks - FA) και οι επιθέσεις πλάγιου μονοπατιού (Side Channel Attacks - SCA). Η χρήση αντίμετρων, όμως, για αυτά τα είδη επιθέσεων κατά την υλοποίηση ενός βαθμωτού πολλαπλασιαστή δεν είναι μια απλή διαδικασία. Ο συνδυασμός διάφορων αντίμετρων σε μια ενιαία αρχιτεκτονική μπορεί να δημιουργήσει νέα τρωτά σημεία σε αυτό το σύστημα τα οποία μπορεί να εκμεταλλευτεί ένας επιτιθέμενος. Λόγω αυτού του γεγονότος και δεδομένου ότι το κόστος κάθε αντίμετρου στη συνολική απόδοση δεν είναι αμελητέο, είναι ιδιαιτέρως σημαντική η προσεκτική επιλογή του σχήματος προστασίας για την αρχιτεκτονική ενός βαθμωτού πολλαπλασιαστή. Στα πλαίσια αυτής της διπλωματικής εργασίας μελετήθηκε η κρυπτογραφία δημοσίου κλειδιού η οποία βασίζεται στις Ελλειπτικές Καμπύλες με στόχο να προταθεί και να υλοποιηθεί ένα αποδοτικό κρυπτογραφικό σύστημα, τόσο από πλευράς ταχύτητας και απαιτούμενης επιφάνειας όσο και από πλευράς ασφάλειας. Σε αυτή τη μεθοδολογία σχεδιασμού δόθηκε μεγάλο βάρος στην προσπάθεια χρήσης μιας νέας μορφής Ελλειπτικών Καμπυλών, τις iv Καμπύλες Edwards, οι οποίες παρουσιάζουν σημαντικά πλεονεκτήματα έναντι των συμβατικών ελλειπτικών καμπυλών (π.χ. Weierstrass), καθώς οι πράξεις πάνω στην καμπύλη μπορούν να υλοποιηθούν πιο αποτελεσματικά ενώ έχουν και ένα εγγενή μηχανισμό προστασίας ενάντια στις επιθέσεις πλάγιου μονοπατιού. Λόγω του γεγονότος πως οι καμπύλες αυτές ορίζεται πάνω σε ένα πεπερασμένο σώμα ( ), οι πράξεις μεταξύ των σημείων της καμπύλης βασίζονται στην αριθμητική πεπερασμένων σωμάτων. Για να αυξηθεί το προτεινόμενο επίπεδο προστασίας και η συνολική αποδοτικότητα χρησιμοποιήθηκε το Αριθμητικό Σύστημα Υπολοίπων (Residue Number System - RNS), το οποίο αντικαθιστά μια πράξη με δεδομένα μεγάλου μεγέθους με υπολογισμούς σε παράλληλα μονοπάτια μικρότερου μεγέθους. Επίσης, το σύστημα RNS λόγω της αναπαράστασης των αριθμών οι οποίοι βασίζονται σε αριθμητικά υπόλοιπα, έχει μια εγγενή προστασία ενάντια σε επιθέσεις σφάλματος καθώς οποιοδήποτε εισαχθέν σφάλμα σε μια μεταβλητή κατά τη διάρκεια ενός RNS υπολογισμού, διαδίδεται σε όλες τις άλλες μεταβλητές και καθιστά το αποτέλεσμα μη-χρησιμοποιήσιμο (αρχή μολυσματικού υπολογισμού). Για την περαιτέρω αύξηση του μηχανισμού προστασίας, ένας αλγόριθμος για το βαθμωτό πολλαπλασιασμό βασιζόμενος στο Montgomery Power Ladder υιοθετήθηκε ο οποίος χρησιμοποιεί τυχαιοποίηση και έλεγχο συνοχής σε μια προσπάθεια το προτεινόμενο σύστημα να παρουσιάζει αντοχή και ανθεκτικότητα ενάντια σε FA και SCA επιθέσεις χωρίς να δημιουργηθούν νέα τρωτά σημεία. / Nowadays, the secure transmission of information and data is a major issue. Towards this end, modern security systems use cryptographic algorithms to provide confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of data. As a result, in recent years the science of cryptography has become an area with a large scientific interest. In particular, public-key cryptography is being developed very fast and is widely applied as it provides a large degree of data protection. This characteristic is being achieved thanks to the high computational complexity of the used algorithms when trying to attack them. Moreover, this type of cryptography avoids the problem of distribution and key management in an insecure communication channel that is presented in private-key cryptography. However, public-key cryptography has the disadvantage that during encryption and decryption, costly arithmetic operations are required (e.g. modulo multiplication, inversion). This problem is aggravated by the fact that the length of the keys in this type of cryptography is very large in order to ensure a high level of security. A solution to the above problems is the design optimization of arithmetic operations required in a public key system and the use of elliptic curves due to the fact that shorter keys are used to achieve the same level of security. In the Elliptic Curve Cryptography, Scalar Multiplication constitutes the main mathematic operation and involves a series of other point operations that add up to the computational complexity of Elliptic Curve cryptography as a whole. Furthermore, scalar multipliers are the main target of physical, hardware, attacks aiming at extracting sensitive information during one scalar multiplication execution. The most widely used such attacks are fault injection attacks (FA) and side channel attacks (SCA). However, integrating FA and SCA countermeasures into a scalar multiplier implementation is not a straightforward task. Combining different countermeasures into a single architecture may create new vulnerabilities on this system that an attacker can exploit. Due to the above fact and since the performance cost of each FA-SCA countermeasure is not negligible, choosing the protection scheme for a scalar multiplier architecture must be done very carefully. In this thesis, public-key cryptography based on elliptic curves was studied aiming to propose and implement an efficient cryptographic system, both in terms of speed and space requirements and in terms of security. In this design methodology, great focus is given to the use of a new form of elliptic curves, Edwards Curves, which have significant advantages over conventional elliptic curves (e.g. Weierstrass), since the Edwards Curve operations can be more efficiently implemented and have an inherent protection mechanism against SCA. Due to the fact that these curves are defined over a finite field ( ), the operations between the points of the curve are based on arithmetic of finite fields. To enhance the proposed protection level and to increase performance efficiency, Residual Number System (RNS) was used, which replaces an operation of large data size with calculations on parallel paths of smaller size. Moreover, RNS due to its modulo basis number representation has inherent protection against fault injection attacks since any introduced fault in an involved variable during some RNS calculation, propagates to all the other variables and renders the result unusable (infective computing vii principle). To further enhance this protection mechanism, a Montgomery Power Ladder based scalar multiplication algorithm was adopted that employs randomization and check coherence in an effort to provide FA and SPA resistance against a wide range of attacks without introducing new vulnerabilities.

We are living at times, when information became one of the most – if not the most – required “product”. All the companies which want to survive, be productive and effective on the market sooner or later understand the value of information systems. In the near past a well configured and stable IS was an advantage, this is not the case nowadays. The competition is ruthless and managers realized that specialized information systems are needed to stay in the game. Because of these systems covers the complete company’s business they are extremely complex and without appropriate support they would be almost completely useless. The main objective of this thesis is to provide detailed information about the support of ERP systems and services provided after successful implementation.

No description available.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 22-25, 2001 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / The Edwards Digital Switch (EDS) provides mission critical voice and time-spaceposition information (TSPI) communication switching capability to the Edwards Test Range. The present system has been in operation for about 10 years. The core of this system is based on widely used commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) time-slot interchange switches that were designed for a 40-year service life. The application layers of the system, comprising the command/control elements and the communications and user interfaces, were custom developed by the prime contractor to satisfy the performance requirements of the Air Force Flight Test Center (AFFTC). Problems with the current system include difficulty in obtaining replacement items for equipment developed by the prime contractor and higher than expected failure rates for this equipment. Based on experience, the service life for the equipment developed by the prime contractor appears to be about 15 years. Another problem is that lower cost packet switches are taking market share from the more traditional time-slot interchange switches. This factor tends to accelerate the obsolescence of the existing COTS equipment. Solutions are being investigated to update or replace the EDS. One solution is to reuse the existing COTS core equipment and replace the present application layers, preferably with COTS. Another solution is to replace the entire system with COTS or vendormodified COTS hardware and software.

The primary aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate that Jonathan Edwards's "sense of the heart" as a principle of a new kind of perception or spiritual sensation given by the Spirit of God in regeneration, in which a believer tastes or sees God's beauty, can provide expository preaching with a meaningful direction for the restoration of religious experience. Chapter 1 focuses on the disappearance of religious experience in contemporary expository preaching and introduces, by illustrating the debate between the Old and the New Light in the First Great Awakening, an uncomfortable phenomenon in expository preaching that polarizes affectionate religious experience and cognitive-propositional truth. It argues that expository preaching should aim at affectional application because application is possible only when the listeners' fundamental affections are reoriented. Chapter 2 examines Jonathan Edwards's spiritual epistemology by analyzing Edwards's concept of the sense of the heart, through which the saints can experience God's beauty. The sense of the heart enables the saints to obtain a new habit or the heart that brings about new affections. The chapter contends that experiencing God's beauty through the sense of the heart is central to all genuine religious experiences. Chapter 3 defines the nature of Edwardsean religious experience as a spiritual-linguistic approach in the sense that the Spirit is the producer of genuine religious experience and the word of God illuminated by the Holy Spirit enables people to experience God's beauty and glory. It argues that expository preaching should create an experience for the listener, in Edwardsean sense, assuming that the conviction of the authority of the word of God and the encouragement of religious experience are completely compatible. Chapter 4 presents a homiletical analysis of Edwards's affective preaching. The chapter offers a comprehensive analysis of two of Edwards's sermons, as prime examples of his rhetorical strategies, to demonstrate how vivid and dramatic images are used in his sermons. The chapter suggests that expository sermons should pay more attention to language, just as Edwards recognized that the power in the sermon lies in the masterful use of language. Chapter 5 provides helpful implications for contemporary expository preaching. First, the chapter proposes preaching as a persuasion by illustrating Paul's use of rhetoric. Second, it indicates Edwards's power of imagination and suggests that expository preachers should pursue affective preaching by the use of their imagination and imaginative language. Third, it examines the implication of Edwardsean piety for expository preaching. Fourth, it offers preaching as a means of experiencing God's beauty. Chapter 6 summarizes the overall arguments established in the previous chapters. The goal of our preaching should be to touch the affections of our listener's hearts to bring them beyond a merely theoretical knowledge of spiritual realities.

Genetic variation was analyzed for populations of seven taxa comprising four cytotypes of the Geomys bursarius chromosome complex, including G. b. major, G. b. knoxjonesi, and the Edwards Plateau taxa, G. b. llanensis and G. b. texensis. Genetic relationships of the Edwards Plateau gophers with other taxa and between themselves were examined. Genetic similarity, number of fixed allelic differences, and ectoparasite distribution indicate the Edwards Plateau gophers are a distinct gene pool. Isolation of the Edwards Plateau taxa precludes contact zone analysis. However, genetic differentiation is typical of that between other species of Geomys, and the Edwards Plateau taxa should be recognized as G. texensis. Distributions of allelic frequencies indicate little justification in retaining the subspecific status of the Edwards Plateau forms.

Archaeological investigations at Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) have been ongoing for more than 40 years. Yet the findings from the vast majority of those efforts are available only as grey literature that is known only to a relative few. The primary purpose of this thesis was to investigate a late Holocene decline in obsidian frequency reported by researchers working in the Bissell Basin and Rosamond Dry Lake region of Edwards AFB near the turn of the 21st century. A secondary purpose of this thesis was to shine a light on an area of the western Mojave Desert that is not widely known despite more than four decades of research. In order to explore the reported decline in obsidian frequency, I created an obsidian database using data gleaned from nearly 50 cultural resources management reports and supplemented those data with sourcing and hydration information for 39 additional obsidian artifacts. Those data were organized into tables, charts, and histograms to look for patterns that would support or refute the claim that obsidian use decreased significantly after the Gypsum time period (4000 to 1500 Before Present [B.P.]). Two patterns emerged from my analysis. The first was one where the overall abundance of obsidian at Edwards AFB did not decrease during the late Holocene, thus contradicting the conclusions made in the previous research. The second was one where the obsidian abundance shifted among the various regions of the installation. Yet these shifts are nowhere near as significant as the previously reported decline. Therefore, while the total amount of obsidian that entered the archaeological record at Edwards remained relatively stable from 1500 to 100 B.P., the amount of obsidian decreased in certain regions and increased in others. Although not within the scope of my original intent, my research also identified two areas for future research. The first involves an apparent pattern where the number of archaeological sites from which obsidian was recovered gradually decreases during the middle-Holocene even as the overall quantity of obsidian remains essentially unchanged. The second relates to the lack of a well-established hydration rate formula for obsidian recovered from archaeological sites on Edwards AFB. Ultimately, I concluded that the previous findings that obsidian declined during the late Holocene were affected by sampling bias and faulty data organization. Most archaeologists understand that poorly implemented sampling can lead to poorly derived findings and conclusions. What may not be as well understood is that a perfectly appropriate sample where the data are not organized well can also lead to flawed results and conclusions. It is hoped that this thesis will inform archaeologists not only about how the manner in which they organize their data can affect their interpretation of past human behavior, but also about additional research opportunities at Edwards AFB.