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Statement of the ProblemThe paramount purpose of the study was to develop a model disaster plan to assist practicing school administrators in being prepared for fiscal loss impacts after major man-made or natural disasters.Procedure UsedThe study was limited to agencies, persons, and materials relating to fiscal losses resulting from major disasters. Department of education officials in eight states that had been repeatedly plagued by major natural disasters submitted information regarding what steps a school administrator should take to offset fiscal loss impact resulting from a major disaster. Officials ofthree major insurance companies were interviewed to provide defined procedures for underwriters to follow in writing exposure coverage when Insuring public school corporations. Data were gathered from literature and personal Interviews. Persons Interviewed Included school officials, Insurance officials, and underwriters.FindingsFindings were based on the data gathered.1. There was a lack of conformity In writing insurance schedules.2. School administrators generally, did not exhibit insurance schedule writing and marketing. 3. Clear guidelines for school administrators in handling fiscal losses resulting from major disasters were not being provided by any of the state departments of education. 4. The school corporations studied were found to have insufficient insurance coverage and had depended upon P.L. 81-815 and P.L. 81-874 for funds to offset fiscal losses.5. School administrators frequently were reluctant to purchase contingency insurance for added fiscal protection in the event of fiscal disaster.ConclusionsConclusions based on the findings were as follows: l. A reluctancy exists among school officials to plan adequately for future disasters by carrying adequate insurance.2. Generally, administrators lack knowledge in insurance programming.3. Educational inventories are, in general, outdated and Incomplete.4. Fiscal losses arise from inept selection of underwriters or marketing the schedule of exposures.GuidelinesThe following recommendations are guidelines to aid acting school administrators in offsetting fiscal losses caused by major disasters.The recommendations, based on the findings and conclusions of the study were divided into two categories: (I) pre-disaster action and (2) post-disaster action.I. Pre-disaster Action:A. Conduct a complete inventory of educational property initially.1. Attach a replacement cost of each category of property to the inventories.2. Update the inventories at least once each year.B. Have all educational facilities evaluated by professional appraisers.1. Subsequent inventory reevaluation should be conducted by professional appraisersannually.2. Inventories should be maintained under custodial care in a safe guarded place,protected from storm and fire.C. Use updated appraisal inventory as a basis for the purchase of necessary disaster insurance coverage.D. Utilize risk managers, professional appraisers, and insurance underwriters in preparing blanket insurance coverage as dictated by Inventories II.Post-disaster Action:Design a hazard survey chart to determine the losses and particular areas effected. B. Ascertain to what extent the losses are covered by insurance.Use immediate means and agencies to offset fiscal loss due to disaster. D. Immediately set about planning for reestablishing the educational curricular instructional programs.Recommendations for Further ResearchThe following recommendations for further research were generated as a result of the findings ofthe study.1. Research should be conducted to determine attitudes of school boards about allocating resources for the purchase of sufficient insurance to offset fiscal losses resulting from man-made or natural disasters.2. A study should be conducted to determine what school administrative courses should provide preparation for school administrators in insurance programming and the marketing of insurance schedules.3. A similar study with a broader based sample should be undertaken to validate and/or improve upon the guidelines for school administrators generated from this study.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1966. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

In radiological protection, models are used to assess radiation risk by means of extrapolation from high dose and dose rate to low dose and dose rate. In this thesis five main biophysical models of radiation action have been evaluated, appraised and inter-compared. The five models are lethal and potentially lethal (LPL) by Curtis, pairwise lesion interaction (PLI) by Harder, cellular track structure (CTS) by Katz, hit size effectiveness (HSE) by Bond and Varma and track core (TC) by Watt. Each model has been developed based on certain underlying mechanisms or phenomena, to permit interpretation and prediction on the induction of a specified biological endpoint such as cell reproductive death, chromosome aberrations and mutations. Biological systems of interest are, for example, mammalian cells containing deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Evidence is mounting that double strand breaks in the DNA are the critical lesions for various biological end points. To proceed with this work the TC model has been chosen. Cancer induction by ionising radiation is the stochastic effect of prime concern in radiological protection. Cancer induction cannot be avoided entirely but its frequency of occurrence may be reduced to acceptable level by lowering the amount of radiation received. The methods of assessment developed by ICRP, in terms of the cancer risk coefficients, are presented in this thesis. In the conventional (legal) system of dosimetry, radiation is quantified by the amount of energy absorbed per unit mass of tissue. Quality factors, superseded by radiation weighting factors, are needed to account for the quality dependence on radiation type. As an alternative, a new dosimetry system is proposed here which is based on the mean free path for primary ionisation along particle tracks and the integral fluence generated by the radiation field, whether directly or indirectly ionising radiation. From the study of cellular data, the mean free path for primary ionisation along particle tracks (lambda) emerges as a parameter which best unifies biological damage data. Radiation effect is found to depend, not on the energy transferred but to depend mainly on the frequency and spatial correlation of interactions. Maximum effect occurs when lambda is equal to lambda0 (2 nanometre, nm). The term 'Absolute Biological Effectiveness' (ABE) is introduced as a parameter which indicates the probability to induce a specified effect, per unit incident fluence. In this endeavour, only direct effects are considered in deriving ABE values for various radiations. However other factors such as indirect effects, inter-track action, repair processes and radiation rate, can be incorporated later if required, in the derivation of ABE. ABE values for photons up to 60Co i.e 1253 keV and neutrons up to 105 keV, have been calculated and presented in this thesis. An attempt has been made to re-express the cancer risk coefficients, derived by ICRP, in the new dosimetry system, in terms of the ABE (Absolute Biological Effectiveness). The hypothesis put forward in this thesis is that the induction of a specified biological-end-point in a biological system due to ionising radiations, is determined not by the amount of energy absorbed per unit mass (dose), but rather by the number of events (ionizations) spatially correlated, along the primary radiation track. Based on this hypothesis, a new unified dosimetry system, independent of radiation type, is proposed. Suggestions are made for possible measuring instruments which have the equivalent response characteristics, namely maximum efficiency of detection for the mean free path Success in devising such types of instrument would ensure the practicability of the new dosimetry system, in operational radiological protection.

The concept of Intrusion Detection (ID) and the development of such systems have been a major concern for scientists since the late sixties. In recent computer networks, the use of different types of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) is considered essential and in most cases mandatory. Major improvements have been achieved over the years and a large number of different approaches have been developed and applied in the way these systems perform Intrusion Detection. The purpose of the research is to introduce a novel approach that will enable us to take advantage of the vast amounts of information generated by the large number of different IDSs, in order to identify suspicious traffic, malicious intentions and network attacks in an automated manner. In order to achieve this, the research focuses upon a system capable of identifying malicious activity in near real-time, that is capable of identifying attacks while they are progressing. The thesis addresses the near real-time threat assessment by researching into current state of the art solutions. Based on the literature review, current Intrusion Detection technologies lean towards event correlation systems using different types of detections techniques. Instead of using linear event signatures or rule sets, the thesis suggests a structured description of network attacks based on the abstracted form of the attacker’s activity. For that reason, the design focuses upon the description of network attacks using the development of footprints. Despite the level of knowledge, capabilities and resources of the attacker, the system compares occurring network events against predefined footprints in order to identify potential malicious activity. Furthermore, based on the implementation of the footprints, the research also focuses upon the design of the Threat Assessment Engine (TAE) which is capable of performing detection in near real-time by the use of the above described footprints. The outcome of the research proves that it is possible to have an automated process performing threat assessment despite the number of different ongoing attacks taking place simultaneously. The threat assessment process, taking into consideration the system’s architecture, is capable of acting as the human analyst would do when investigating such network activity. This automation speeds up the time-consuming process of manually analysing and comparing data logs deriving from heterogeneous sources, as it performs the task in near real-time. Effectively, by performing the this task in near real-time, the proposed system is capable of detecting complicated malicious activity which in other cases, as currently performed, it would be difficult, maybe impossible or results would be generated too late.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:30:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:18:33Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 cardoso_ad_me_guara.pdf: 1861118 bytes, checksum: 3ea37c834a1980696d42ea553da7a0fe (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema gerenciador de energia elétrica, do ponto de vista de sua concepção e do desenvolvimento de um protótipo que deve ser adaptado a medidores eletromecânicos de indução tipo Ferraris para leitura automática do consumo de energia para fins de faturamento. Incialmente se apresenta na fundamentação teórica os assuntos importantes para o desenvolvimento do trabalho. Na sequência o trabalho apresenta a concepção do sistema desenvolvido ilustrando as alternativas e opções técnicas adotadas. Em seguida se apresenta como o sistema desenvolvido pode ser utilizado pelas concessionárias de energia para implementar um esquema de tarifa diferenciada para seus consumidores. Uma análise de diferentes cenários de implantação é feita. O objetivo principal para a adaptação de medidores eletromecânicos é permitir um certo nível da automatização, a baixo custo, da leitura de unidades consumidoras do grupo B. O medidor adaptado envia um sinal para um concentrador através da própria rede de distribuição. A partir desse concentrador, os dados podem ser coletados ou retransmitidos por diferentes tecnologias exixtentes, no protótipo implementado os dados são enviados usando a rede de telefonica móvel GSM/GPRS. / This work presents the development of an electric energy managemnt system, with the point of view of its conception and of the development of a prototype that must be adapted to Ferraris induction electromechanical measures for automatic reading of the consumption of energy for incoicing ends. Initially we present the important subjects for the development of the work. Then we present the conception of developed system illustrating the alternatives and the techniques adopted. After that, it is presented as the developed system can be used by the energy concessionaires to implement a project of differentiated tariff for its consumers. Analyses of different implantation sceneries are made. The main objective for the adaptation of electromechanical measures is to allow a certain level of the automatization, at low cost, of the reading of units consumers of group B. The measurer sends a signal for a concentrator through the proper net of distribution. From this concentrator, the data can be collected or be relyed by different exiting technologies. In the implemented prototype the data are sent using the GSM/GPRS technology.

M.A. / The evolution of the Internet has led to the establishment of various value-adding products and services such as Internet banking (IB). Internet banking has changed the formal banking landscape forever. Some may argue that Internet banking has positively affected the lives of many, through providing services in a more convenient, efficient and effective manner, 365 days a year. However, the growth of the Internet has lead to the increase of various Information Technology (IT) problems and challenges. Today, individuals and organisations are faced with an increasing number of attacks via computer and Internet viruses, phishing scams and Internet hackers. Individuals and organisations must place greater emphasis on ensuring that their financial well-being is protected. The investment in adequate software and hardware has become critical to conduct financial transactions securely via the Internet. The level of security awareness should also be increased and established at various levels through comprehensive educational programmes. Extensive Internet banking awareness campaigns have been launched, but the level to which these campaigns are successful is uncertain. The main focus of this dissertation is to understand Internet banking customers’ perceptions on information protection when using Internet banking services and products, as various factors influence the perceptions of trust with regards to Internet banking. Trust is formed through a variety of factors from the influence of others on our own beliefs and values, to the experiences gained by using specific technology or processes over a particular period of time. An in-depth literature review forms the basic framework for the dissertation and is followed by an empirical component. The main goal of the literature review is to provide a solid theoretical framework and basis from which to conduct the empirical research. Chapters 2 to 4 delve into the evolution and development of the Internet and provide a perspective on the South African banking landscape. The various challenges the Internet banking domain is faced with, is explored, and the various opportunities that exist are extensively discussed. Trust, the major factor influencing the adoption of Internet banking services and products, is explored, and the factors that shape and diminish trust are discussed. The empirical study consisted of a close-ended questionnaire that was completed by a sample of University of Johannesburg (UJ) alumni. The study included 138 individuals who completed the close-ended questionnaire and the results were analysed by Statistical Consultation Services (StatCon), a statistical research unit within UJ. The results indicate that more should be done to ensure that individuals and businesses are well-versed on issues pertaining to Internet banking security and safety. The results further highlight that the quality of most of the individuals’ relationships with their formal bank branch diminished due to Internet banking. An interesting finding was that 80.7% of the respondents indicated that they would make use of Internet banking services and products, even though they are aware of fraudulent activities that take place via this Internet medium. The research findings provide financial institutions with valuable guidelines on how to plan and implement effective and efficient Internet banking education and awareness strategies.

M.Sc. / The exponential growth of the Internet contributes to risks and threats which materialize without our knowledge. The more computer and Internet use becomes a part of our daily lives, the more we expose ourselves and our personal information on the World Wide Web and hence, the more opportunities arise for fraudsters to get hold of this information. Internet use can be associated with Internet banking, online shopping, online transactions, Internet Relay Chat, newsgroups, search engines, online blogs and e-mail. The source behind online activities carried on over the Internet may be different from what we are led to believe. Communication lines may be intercepted, compromising sensitive information of the user. It is a risk to make digital payments and reveal sensitive information about ourselves to an unknown source. If the risk materializes, it may result in undesired circumstances. Using the Internet securely should be a prerequisite to every user before conducting online transactions and activities over the World Wide Web. Owing to the versatility and ease of the electronic medium, electronic databases and vast amounts of sensitive information are readily accumulated. This is cause for concern regarding the main issues, namely privacy, identity theft and monetary fraud. Major countermeasures to mitigate the main forms of security and Internet-related issues are awareness of these risks and how they may materialize as well as relevant protection mechanisms. A discussion about why the Internet is a popular medium for criminal behaviour, what risks are involved, what can be done about them and some technical as well as non-technical preventative measures are covered in this dissertation. The purpose of this dissertation is to create an overall awareness of Internet banking and the process of Internet transactions. The end result is the development of an information security awareness portal (ISAP) aimed at the general public and potential Internet users who may be subject to identity and credit fraud. The aim of the ISAP is to sensitize users and minimize the growing numbers of individuals who are victimized through online crimes. Individuals using the Internet need to be aware of privacy concerns governing the Internet and how searchers are able to find out almost anything about them. The false sense of security and anonymity we as users think we have when innocently connecting to the World Wide Web outlines threats lurking in the background where we would never imagine. By the time you are finished reading this dissertation, it may put you off transacting and revealing sensitive information about yourself online ever again.

This thesis is concerned with the choice of the uncertainty structure in robust control problems. This choice affects the optimization carried out to obtain a robust feedback controller, and determines how robust a feedback loop will be to discrepancies in the parameters or dynamics of the plant model. Firstly, it presents readily applicable distance measures, robust stability margins and associated robust stability and robust performance theorems for several commonly used uncertainty structures for linear time-invariant systems (additive, multiplicative, inverse multiplicative, inverse additive, right coprime factor uncertainty).Secondly, the thesis discusses the robust stabilization problem for linear plants with a coprime factor uncertainty structure where the coprime factors of the plant are not necessarily normalized. The problem considered here is a generalization of the normalized coprime factor robust stabilization problem. It is shown that the minimum of the ratio of (non-normalized) coprime factor distance over (non-normalized) coprime factor robust stability margin, termed the robustness ratio, is an important bound in robust stability and performance results. A synthesis method is proposed which maintains a lower bound on the normalized coprimefactor robust stability margin (as a proxy for nominal performance) while also robustly stabilizing a particular perturbed plant, potentially far outside a normalized coprime factor neighbourhood of the nominal plant. The coprime factor synthesis problem is also considered in a state-space framework. It is shown that it admits a simple and intuitive controller implementation in observer form. Via the solution of one Riccati equation, an optimally robust observer gain L can be obtained for any state-feedback matrix F. One particular method for obtaining a suitable F is also proposed, ensuring that the feedback loop is particularly robust to uncertain lightly damped poles and zeros.

The rapid growth of the Internet has served to intensify existing privacy concerns of the individual, to the point that privacy is the number one concern amongst Internet users today. Tools exist that can provide users with a choice of anonymity or pseudonymity. However, many Web transactions require the release of personally identifying information, thus rendering such tools infeasible in many instances. Since it is then a given that users are often required to release personal information, which could be recorded, it follows that they require a greater degree of control over the information they release. Hippocratic databases, designed by Agrawal, Kiernan, Srikant, and Xu (2002), aim to give users greater control over information stored in a data- base. Their design was inspired by the medical Hippocratic oath, and makes data privacy protection a fundamental responsibility of the database itself. To achieve the privacy of data, Hippocratic databases are governed by 10 key privacy principles. This dissertation argues, that asides from a few challenges, the 10 prin- ciples of Hippocratic databases can be applied to log ¯les. This argument is supported by presenting a high-level functional view of a Hippocratic log file architecture. This architecture focuses on issues that highlight the con- trol users gain over their personal information that is collected in log files. By presenting a layered view of the aforementioned architecture, it was, fur- thermore, possible to provide greater insight into the major processes that would be at work in a Hippocratic log file implementation. An exploratory prototype served to understand and demonstrate certain of the architectural components of Hippocratic log files. This dissertation, thus, makes a contribution to the ideal of providing users with greater control over their personal information, by proposing the use of Hippocratic logfiles.