This dissertation investigates modeling techniques and computing algorithms for detection of anomalous contents and traffic flows of ingress Internet traffic at an enterprise network gateway. Anomalous contents refer to a large volume of ingress packets whose contents are not wanted by enterprise users, such as unsolicited electronic messages (UNE). UNE are often sent by Botnet farms for network resource exploitation, information stealing, and they incur high costs in bandwidth waste. Many products have been designed to block UNE, but most of them rely on signature database(s) for matching, and they cannot recognize unknown attacks. To address this limitation, in this dissertation I propose a Progressive E-Message Classifier (PEC) to timely classify message patterns that are commonly associated with UNE. On the basis of a scoring and aging engine, a real-time scoreboard keeps track of detected feature instances of the detection features until they are considered either as UNE or normal messages. A mathematical model has been designed to precisely depict system behaviors and then set detection parameters. The PEC performance is widely studied using different parameters based on several experiments. The objective of anomalous traffic flow detection is to detect selfish Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, flows which do not conform to one of the handful of congestion control protocols in adjusting their packet transmission rates in the face of network congestion. Given that none of the operational parameters in congestion control are carried in the transmitted packets, a gateway can only use packet arrival times to recover states of end to end congestion control rules, if any. We develop new techniques to estimate round trip time (RTT) using EWMA Lomb-Scargle periodogram, detect change of congestion windows by the CUSUM algorithm, and then finally predict detected congestion flow states using a prioritized decision chain. A high level finite state machine (FSM) takes the predictions as inputs to determine if a TCP flow follows a particular congestion control protocol. Multiple experiments show promising outcomes of classifying flows of different protocols based on the ratio of the aberrant transition count to normal transition count generated by FSM.

No description available.

In techno-organisational innovation, knowledge is reconstituted. Understanding this process in its complexity and its outcomes asks for an inquiry and interpretation that heed to the conditions at the end of modernity, and must therefore take recourse to practical philosophy. This understanding has been formulated with reference to a field study that inquired into the conduct of reform and effectuation of new information technology by the central department of a regional government over a period of approximately eight years. In considering this ambience, the study has been informed by (i) a synopsis of hermeneutic thinking on knowledge; (ii) an outline of governmentality and (information) technology; (iii) a reflection on the conditions of the social sciences and their relation to information technology; (iv) an exploration of the possibilities of social inquiry at the end of modernity. Deliberating the stipulations of social inquiry, the destructive narrative is proposed that allows for a rational and argumentative appropriation of the past, beyond scientific method and mere perceptivity. Events, ideas, and experiences indicate the reciprocal relation of political and organisational rationalities, on the one hand, and managerial and informational technologies on the other. Within these dimensions, the knowledge of governmentality is being re-defined, shifting expertise into the harness of business discipline. The rationalities of information, process, integration, prediction and performance, and ultimately efficiency, make bureaucracy itself an object of increased scrutiny. These rationalities also remind that the challenge of Ge-stell and the rule of politics-as-fabrication do neither come to pass primarily in implementations of managerial technologies, nor in instantiations of information systems, but within the articulations of the technological worldview. Due to the fragmented and contentious nature of knowledge, innovation as routine nevertheless appears disjointed and asynchronous, yet upholding the representational and disciplinary constellations.

The existing scholarship on women in China suggests that gender inequality still exists against the background of the country’s reform and opening in recent years. However, the situation of women in enterprise ownership and leadership seems to indicate that under the surface of women being disadvantaged, some of them are playing a more active and significant role in China’s economic development. Based on a series of interviews with women enterprise owners, wives of enterprise owners and women managers conducted in three localities in three difference provinces of China, this research aims to discover the deeper socio-political realities of leading women in enterprises. By analyzing information on these women’s personal experiences, career and families, this thesis investigates their status at work and at home, as well as their connections with local politics. The research results suggest that although traces of gender inequality can still be found in these women’s lives, they appear to be actively engaged in the business establishment and operation and gradually casting off the leash of domestic responsibilities. At the same time, these women have developed strong connections with the Party-state, not necessarily in their own right, but largely through their family ties. The research has also highlighted that the varied socio-economic development of each locality has its effects on these women’s development.

In a rapidly globalizing economy, many communities are stranded in unemployment or work without meaning. This thesis asks the question: can local communities create economic development with fulfilling work? The experience of the author in African development projects is used to pose questions about modernist approaches to development. The alternative approaches to work and human development by Fritz Schumacher, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers are melded with the political insight of Robert Putnam, to suggest that the answer to the above question can be positive. Their theories are distilled into an approach called Local Enterprise Facilitation, which is based on four principles: 1. Only work with individuals or communities that invite you. 2. Do not motivate individuals to do anything they do not wish to do. 3. Trust that they are naturally drawn towards self-improvement. 4. Have faith in community and the higher social needs that bond it together. The author’s experience of twenty years in applying and developing this approach is traced from its origins in rural Western Australia, through other parts of Australia and New Zealand to its extensive application in North America. The experience has created a methodology for successful Local Enterprise Facilitation based around a community Board that can provide the necessary support for networks for new enterprises. In particular the methodology uses a “Trinity of Management” approach whereby the separate skills of production/enterprise, financial accounting and marketing are facilitated as no individual can do more than one of these skills successfully. The Local Enterprise Facilitation philosophy has many implications and some of these are suggested in terms of planning, education, bureaucracy, and conservation. Whilst an evaluation of the businesses created can only be done in the long term, Local Enterprise Facilitation has opened up some hope for communities seeking to create good work.

Zugl.: Stuttgart, Univ., Diss., 2005 u.d.T.: Breidung, Michael: Bewertung von Enterprise-Ressource-Planning-Projekten in Klein- und mittelständischen Unternehmen

Stuttgart, Univ., Fachstudie, 2006.

Stuttgart, Univ., Diplomarbeit, 2008.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 215-223) Also available in print.