Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and filled out the appropriate web form. / Oracle Smoke Machine is a collection of poems / 2999-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geotechnical characterization of crystalline rock is often dependent upon the influence of the rock's fracture system. To test ensemble fracture behavior in situ, a series of cross-hole and single-hole electrical conductivity measurements were made within saturated Oracle granite. The tests were conducted with a point source and a point reference electrode and employed electrode separations ranging from 8 inches to over 100 feet. A volume of rock approximately 50 x 50 x 150 feet was tested (as bounded by the vertical test borings). Analysis of the data in terms of an equivalent homogeneous material showed that the effective electrical conductivity increased with electrode separation. The cross-hole data indicate that the rock can be treated as a non-homogeneous, isotropic material. Further, the spatial variation of measured conductivities along a line can be fit to a fractal model (fractional Brownian motion), implying that the scale-dependence is a result of a fractal process supported by the fracture system. Scale-dependence exists at the upper scale limit of the measurements, hence a classical representative elemental volume was not attained. Two directions were taken to understand the scale-dependence. The rock mass is treated in terms of a disordered material, a continuum with spatially varying conductivity. First, a percolation-based model of a disordered material was examined that relates the conductivity pathways within the rock to the backbone of a critical percolation cluster. Using the field data, a fractal dimension of 2.40 was derived for the dimensionality of the subvolume within the rock that supports current flow. The second approach considers an analytic solution for a non-homogeneous, isotropic material known as the alpha center model (Stefanescu, 1950). This model, an analytic solution for a continuously varying conductivity in three dimensions, is a non-linear transform to Laplace's equation. It is employed over a regular grid of support points as an alternative to spatially discretized (piece-wise continuous) numerical methods. The model is shown to be capable of approximating the scale-dependent behavior of the field tests. Scaling arises as a natural consequence of the disordered electrical structure caused by the fracture system.

La stéganographie est l'art de la communication secrète. L'objectif est de dissimuler un message secret dans un médium anodin de sorte qu'il soit indétectable. De nos jours, avec la généralisation d'Internet et l'apparition des supports numériques (fichiers audio, vidéos ou images), plusieurs philosophies de conception de schéma stéganographique ont été proposées. Parmi les méthodes actuelles appliquées aux images numériques naturelles, nous trouvons les méthodes d'insertion adaptative, dont le principe repose sur la modification du médium de couverture avec une garantie d'avoir un certain niveau de sécurité. Ces méthodes représentent une véritable avancée en stéganographie.Dans ce manuscrit, après avoir rappelé les concepts récents de stéganographie adaptative, nous présentons une procédure automatique et complète pour l'insertion adaptative de données secrètes dans des images numériques naturelles. L'approche proposée est une « méta-méthode » basée « oracle », appelée ASO (Adaptive Steganography by Oracle), qui permet de préserver à la fois la distribution de l'image de couverture et la distribution de la base d'images utilisée par l'émetteur. Notre approche permet d'obtenir des résultats nettement supérieurs aux méthodes actuelles de l'état de l'art, et est donc l'une, si ce n'est la meilleure approche du moment. Par ailleurs, nous définissons également un nouveau paradigme en stéganographie qui est la stéganographie par base, ainsi qu'une nouvelle mesure de sélection pour les images stéganographiées, permettant d'améliorer encore plus les performances de notre schéma d'insertion. Les différentes expérimentations, que nous avons effectuées sur des images réelles, ont confirmé la pertinence de cette nouvelle approche. / Steganography is the art of secret communication. The goal is to hide a secret message in an unsuspicious object in such a way that no one can detect it. Nowadays, with the Internet spread and the emergence of digital supports (audio files, videos, or images), several philosophies of designing steganographic methods were proposed. One of the most usual embedding methods used with real digital images is the adaptive embedding algorithms, which is based on the modification of the cover image with a guarantee of a certain security level. These methods represent an important progress in steganography.In this Ph.D. Thesis, we present a fully automated procedure for the adaptive embedding of secret data in digital images. For this, after recalling the recent concepts of adaptive steganography, we first introduce a clear formalism to define a new "meta-method" steganographic approach based on "oracle", whichwe called ASO (Adaptive Steganography by Oracle). Then, we define a new steganographic paradigm called "the steganography by database paradigm", and propose a new selection criterion to further enhance the security of the transmission phase of ASO. Experimental results show that our embedding approach ASO provides the highest level of steganographic security. It is then currently the best or one of the best approaches of the state of the art.

Šiame darbe yra sukurtas ir pasiūlyta architektūra duomenų mainams tarp atviro kodo DBVS ir XML dokumento. Ši sistema leidžia vartotojui XML dokumente aprašyti SQL užklausas.Po to kai bus vykdomas kreipimasis į šį XML dokumentą iš naršyklės, sistema sugeneruos naują XML dokumentą, kuriame bus atvaizduotas XML struktūros dokumentas su duomenim išgautais iš DBVS pagal anksčiau pateiktame XML dokuemnte SQL užklausą (-oms). Ši sistema buvo sukurta, pasinaudojus Microsoft SQLXML programinės įrangos pagrindu, tačiau mūsų sistema turi privalūmą tame, kad saveikauja nesvarbu su kokiom DBVS, t.y. MySQL, Oracle ir t.t. / In this study, has been created software, that support XML documents interfacing with open source data base management systems. This system enables in XML document write SQL query or queries. When this XML document (file) will be requested from internet browser, this system generate a new XML document in which instead placed SQL query or queries, would be inserted generated query answer from data base written in XML format. This system has been created similar as Microsoft product SQLXML. Only our system has a feature, that it interfacing with open source data base management systems, such as MySQL.

This work examines current situation on the reporting field of enterprises, kind of reports from the content and the form point of view. Moreover this work compares approaches about XBRL report's processing and designs application's solution, that uses one from these approaches. The solution's goal is to increase the efficiency of a work by exchange of informations related to financial and nonfinancial reporting within and outside of enteprises.

Down-hole injection and sampling equipment was designed and constructed in order to perform diverging-flow tracer tests. The tests were conducted at a field site about 8 km southeast of Oracle, Arizona, as part of a project sponsored by the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to study mass transport of fluids in saturated, fractured granite. The tracer injection system was designed to provide a steady flow of water or tracer solution to a packed off interval of the borehole and allow for monitoring of down-hole tracer concentration and pressure in the injection interval. The sampling system was designed to collect small volume samples from multiple points in an adjacent borehole. Field operation of the equipment demonstrated the importance of prior knowledge of the location of interconnecting fractures before tracer testing and the need for down-hole mixing of the tracer solution in the injection interval. The field tests were designed to provide data that could me analyzed to provide estimates of dispersivity and porosity of the fractured rock. Although analysis of the data is beyond the scope of this thesis, the detailed data are presented in four appendices.

The amount of electronically stored data is constantly growing. That's why we should consider the data security. Most electronic information is stored in the database. This thesis is concerned with ensuring data security in the Oracle database. First of all, I describe some of the available security surveys, to make it clear why we need to ensure the data security. In addition, I also describe the main aspects of information security. The aim is to introduce what we mean by security of information. Then I examine the recommendations of ISO 17799 standard, which is one of the sources for the measures described in the main part of this thesis. The next part is dedicated to finding the important security threats, which are used as a basis for following description of security tools. The aim of described recommendations and threats is to discover what is needed to ensure the data security. In the main part of this thesis I discuss the various security tools and procedures. The main objective of this thesis is the description of tools and procedures to ensure data security, following the recommendations of international standards and typical security threats. All described tools are part of the Oracle database. I place emphasis on the user access control.

The main goal of this diploma thesis is to provide advice and recommendations to increase the effectiveness of Business Intelligence using Oracle database. More specifically, the focus of the thesis is the optimization of ETL processes and objects in a data warehouse. Tests to compare different optimization techniques are performed to meet the defined goal. These tests are based on common tasks solved in data warehouses on daily basis. Tests are also supported by publications of leading authors in Oracle environment. The second goal of this work is the implementation of appropriate optimization techniques to real ETL pro-cess in order to increase its effectiveness. Performance changes are compared and measured using metrics defined for the ETL process and requirements from client. Optimization techniques presented for main objectives are used to achieve the second objective. Contri-bution of the thesis is to show the most important optimization techniques and tips that every developer should know and be able to use effectively. Another added value is au-thor's practical experiences in real data warehouse environment.

Thesis deal with tuning of database Oracle, which is used by digital archive SAFE. In the concrete deal with setting parameters of database. It is divided to three parts. In first part it characterizes factors that influence performance of database. In second part it describes possibilities of tuning and setting Oracle database. In third part it is first introduced digital archive SAFE, after that it is chosen suitable testing tool for workload generation and described test scenarios and last are performed tests and compared results at different database database settings. Goal of thesis is description and trial tuning of Oracle database, which is used by digital archive SAFE. Other goal is test of files inserting into digital archive at different settings (saving to the database, on file system). These goals are achieved by testing tool workload generation and compare response time at different settings. Contribution of this thesis is above all trial of tuning Oracle database, which is used by digital archive SAFE. Document can be used like handbook for implementatory of tested implementation of digital archive SAFE.

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.