With a new United States Army initiative to exploit commercially developed information technology, there is a heightened interest in using Internet protocols over the military's geosynchronous satellite links. TCP is the dominant Internet protocol used for reliable data exchange, but its own design limits performance when used over long delay network links such as satellites. Initially this research set out to compare TCP with another proposed protocol, the Satellite Transport Protocol (STP). However through a series of tests, we found that STP does not fulfill its claims of increased throughput over TCP and uncovered a flaw in STP's founding research. In addition, this thesis proposes and demonstrates novel performance enhancing techniques that significantly improve transport protocol throughput.

Os recentes avanços nas tecnologias de comunicação e computação viabilizaram o pronto acesso às informações do prontuário eletrônico do paciente (PEP). O potencial de difusão de informações clínicas resultante suscita preocupações acerca da priva-cidade do paciente e da confidencialidade de seus dados. As normas presentes na legislação dispõem que o conteúdo do prontuário deve ser sigiloso, não cabendo o acesso a ele sem a prévia autorização do paciente, salvo quando necessário para be-neficiá-lo. Este trabalho propõe o MACA, um modelo de autorização contextual para o controle de acesso baseado em papéis (CABP) que contempla requisitos de limita-ção de acesso ao PEP em ambientes abertos e distribuídos. O CABP regula o acesso dos usuários ao PEP com base nas funções (papéis) que eles exercem numa organi-zação. Uma autorização contextual usa informações ambientais disponíveis durante o acesso para decidir se um usuário tem o direito e a necessidade de acessar um re-curso do PEP. Isso confere ao MACA flexibilidade e poder expressivo para estabele-cer políticas de acesso ao PEP e políticas administrativas para o CABP que se adap-tam à diversidade ambiental e cultural das organizações de saúde. O MACA ainda permite que os componentes do PEP utilizem o CABP de forma transparente para o usuário final, tornando-o mais fácil de usar quando comparado a outros modelos de CABP. A arquitetura onde a implementação do MACA foi integrada adota o serviço de diretórios LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), a linguagem de pro-gramação Java e os padrões CORBA Security Service e Resource Access Decision Fa-cility. Com esses padrões abertos e distribuídos, os componentes heterogêneos do PEP podem solicitar serviços de autenticação de usuário e de autorização de acesso de modo unificado e coerente a partir de múltiplas plataformas. A implementação do MACA ainda tem a vantagem de ser um software livre, de basear-se em componen-tes de software sem custos de licenciamento e de apresentar bom desempenho para as demandas de acesso estimadas. Por fim, a utilização rotineira do MACA no con-trole de acesso ao PEP do InCor-HC.FMUSP, por cerca de 2000 usuários, evidenciam a exeqüibilidade do modelo, da sua implementação e da sua aplicação prática em casos reais. / The recent advances in computing and communication technologies allowed ready access to the electronic patient record (EPR) information. High availability of clinical information raises concerns about patients privacy and data confidentiality of their data. The legal regulation mandates the confidentiality of EPR contents. Everyone has to be authorized by the patients to access their EPR, except when this access is necessary to provide care on their behalf. This work proposes MACA, a contextual authorization model for the role-based access control (RBAC) that considers the ac-cess restrictions requirements for the EPR in open and distributed environments. RBAC regulates user’s access to EPR based on organizational functions (roles). Con-textual authorizations use environmental information available at access time, like user/patient relationship, in order to decide whether a user is allowed to access an EPR resource. This gives flexibility and expressive power to MACA, allowing one to establish access policies for the EPR and administrative policies for the RBAC that considers the environmental and cultural diversity of healthcare organizations. MACA also allows EPR components to use RBAC transparently, making it more user friendly when compared with other RBAC models. The implementation of MACA architecture uses the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory server, the Java programming language and the standards CORBA Security Service and Re-source Access Decision Facility. Thus, heterogeneous EPR components can request user authentication and access authorization services in a unified and coherent way across multiple platforms. MACA implementation complies with free software pol-icy. It is based on software components without licensing costs and it offers good performance for the estimated access demand. Finally, the daily use of MACA to control the access of about 2000 users to the EPR at InCor-HC.FMUSP shows the feasibility of the model, of its implementation and the effectiveness of its practical application on real cases.

Os recentes avanços nas tecnologias de comunicação e computação viabilizaram o pronto acesso às informações do prontuário eletrônico do paciente (PEP). O potencial de difusão de informações clínicas resultante suscita preocupações acerca da priva-cidade do paciente e da confidencialidade de seus dados. As normas presentes na legislação dispõem que o conteúdo do prontuário deve ser sigiloso, não cabendo o acesso a ele sem a prévia autorização do paciente, salvo quando necessário para be-neficiá-lo. Este trabalho propõe o MACA, um modelo de autorização contextual para o controle de acesso baseado em papéis (CABP) que contempla requisitos de limita-ção de acesso ao PEP em ambientes abertos e distribuídos. O CABP regula o acesso dos usuários ao PEP com base nas funções (papéis) que eles exercem numa organi-zação. Uma autorização contextual usa informações ambientais disponíveis durante o acesso para decidir se um usuário tem o direito e a necessidade de acessar um re-curso do PEP. Isso confere ao MACA flexibilidade e poder expressivo para estabele-cer políticas de acesso ao PEP e políticas administrativas para o CABP que se adap-tam à diversidade ambiental e cultural das organizações de saúde. O MACA ainda permite que os componentes do PEP utilizem o CABP de forma transparente para o usuário final, tornando-o mais fácil de usar quando comparado a outros modelos de CABP. A arquitetura onde a implementação do MACA foi integrada adota o serviço de diretórios LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol), a linguagem de pro-gramação Java e os padrões CORBA Security Service e Resource Access Decision Fa-cility. Com esses padrões abertos e distribuídos, os componentes heterogêneos do PEP podem solicitar serviços de autenticação de usuário e de autorização de acesso de modo unificado e coerente a partir de múltiplas plataformas. A implementação do MACA ainda tem a vantagem de ser um software livre, de basear-se em componen-tes de software sem custos de licenciamento e de apresentar bom desempenho para as demandas de acesso estimadas. Por fim, a utilização rotineira do MACA no con-trole de acesso ao PEP do InCor-HC.FMUSP, por cerca de 2000 usuários, evidenciam a exeqüibilidade do modelo, da sua implementação e da sua aplicação prática em casos reais. / The recent advances in computing and communication technologies allowed ready access to the electronic patient record (EPR) information. High availability of clinical information raises concerns about patients privacy and data confidentiality of their data. The legal regulation mandates the confidentiality of EPR contents. Everyone has to be authorized by the patients to access their EPR, except when this access is necessary to provide care on their behalf. This work proposes MACA, a contextual authorization model for the role-based access control (RBAC) that considers the ac-cess restrictions requirements for the EPR in open and distributed environments. RBAC regulates user’s access to EPR based on organizational functions (roles). Con-textual authorizations use environmental information available at access time, like user/patient relationship, in order to decide whether a user is allowed to access an EPR resource. This gives flexibility and expressive power to MACA, allowing one to establish access policies for the EPR and administrative policies for the RBAC that considers the environmental and cultural diversity of healthcare organizations. MACA also allows EPR components to use RBAC transparently, making it more user friendly when compared with other RBAC models. The implementation of MACA architecture uses the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) directory server, the Java programming language and the standards CORBA Security Service and Re-source Access Decision Facility. Thus, heterogeneous EPR components can request user authentication and access authorization services in a unified and coherent way across multiple platforms. MACA implementation complies with free software pol-icy. It is based on software components without licensing costs and it offers good performance for the estimated access demand. Finally, the daily use of MACA to control the access of about 2000 users to the EPR at InCor-HC.FMUSP shows the feasibility of the model, of its implementation and the effectiveness of its practical application on real cases.

The pervasiveness of autism has significantly increased over the past 2 decades with the 2014 Center for Disease Control and Prevention report indicating 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Early intervention is recommended as the most effective treatment approach. Nevertheless, previous research has indicated that White children are diagnosed with ASD about 1.5 years earlier than are Non-White children. A current gap remains in literature regarding ASD and different racial groups, and evidence has been inconclusive regarding disparities in identifying and diagnosing ASD. To fill this gap, this study investigated the relationship between child race, parents and teachers’ perceptions, and diagnosis of ASD among White and Non-White groups. The theoretical framework was the critical race theory. Archival data from the Psychological and School Services of Eastern Carolina included 48 preschool children from White (18) and Non-White (30) groups. The data’s variables of race, perceptions, and diagnosis were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. Results indicated a higher rate of diagnosis of ASD among the White group compared to the Non-White group. Yet, teachers’ perceptions of ASD were higher for the Non-White group, while parents’ perceptions of ASD were lower for the Non-White group. This finding confirms the nuances of ASD among racial groups which could promote efforts to better educate parents and teachers on developmental milestones, explore families’ unique beliefs, and emphasize the importance of accurate early detection. Also, considerations of culturally sensitive screening, diagnostic measures, protocols, and practices may be embraced to safeguard that children, regardless of race, receive timely and competent care.

Politically exposed persons have become a specific risk factor in money laundering. The Financial Action Task Force has formulated clear and specific requirements for dealing with these individuals. Internationally, various jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and the European Union have adopted effective legislation encompassing the 2003 Financial Action Task Force Recommendations. In South Africa the requirement to apply appropriate, risk based procedures to politically exposed persons has been limited to banks. The aim of this research study was to identify whether the South African anti-money laundering regulatory framework, adequately addresses managing the risks of politically exposed persons. The regulatory frameworks of the United Kingdom and the European Union, as well as the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force, were used to determine whether best practice is followed in South Africa with regard to politically exposed persons. The process of how money is laundered has been examined as well as the methods that corrupt politically exposed persons use in order to launder money. The study has shown that politically exposed persons are not regulated in South Africa in accordance with the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations issued in 2003, while the South African Anti-Money Laundering Regulatory Framework does not adequately address the risk posed by corrupt, politically exposed persons. Both international best practice and the recommendations of the World Bank were considered in terms of the way in which to address the risks posed by these persons effectively. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / Auditing / unrestricted

No description available.

The creation of the National Health Service is treated, analytically and historically, as a planning process involving major changes in the social organisation of health as a part of the larger set of social and economic reconstruction policies undertaken by the wartime Coalition and postwar Labour governments. Definitions of 'health' are considered as relative both to social expectations and ideology, and to theoretical models of the organisation of health services. These models are identified with certain socio-political agents or interests in the providing and consuming of health services: professional groups, public and private authorities, non-professional workers, and the public. The models of the health service advocates and of the medical profession are considered as reference points. A framework is presented for the analysis of the representation of these interests, by the state, in the planning and operation of the NHS, and as beneficiaries of its services. Through a detailed historical consideration of internal health service planning documents of the major interests, including the medical profession, the health service advocates representing the Labour party and trade unions, and recently released documents of the Ministry of Health and the Coalition and Labour Cabinets, the interaction of the interests with the two governments and with each other is traced, and the reconciliation by the state of the health service models proposed by them is analysed. It is argued that the changes wrought in the social organisation of health in Britain can be described according to certain principles of the organisation of pre- and post-NHS health services: principles of public access, structure of services, structure of administrative control and structure of planning representation. Tne major interests were represented differentially by the state with respect to each of these criteria; similarities and differences between the approaches of the two governments to the representation of interests are examined, and it is concluded that, although the health service advocates and the public benefited from a free and universal scheme, the public and non-professional health workers enjoyed considerably less representation than the medical profession in the particular services provided by the NHS and in its planning and administration.

Research on self-efficacy has been a productive field and abundant research has shown that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs influence teachers’ actions and performances and thus affect students’ learning outcomes. However, there is a lack of literature on EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and even less research was set in Chinese EFL contexts. On the one hand, this study was conducted to provide a general picture of the current status of EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency, self-rated self-efficacy beliefs and self-reported teaching practices in terms of some demographic perspectives; On the other hand, it aimed to explore the correlations among Chinese primary EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency, self-efficacy beliefs and teaching practices. The quantitative study surveyed 217 in-service primary EFL teachers. The descriptive results showed that: (1) EFL teachers varied in perceived English proficiency in terms of age, years of teaching experience and college major; (2) age and teaching experience did while college major didn’t make a difference for EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs; (3) the surveyed EFL teachers, in general, had a greater preference to communication-oriented language teaching (COLT) than form-oriented language teaching (FOLT). The results from the correlational statistics showed that: (1) perceived English proficiency (PEP), on the whole, had a significant predictive effect on self-efficacy beliefs (SEB). It was striking that among the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) of English language, speaking had the most significant predictive effect on self-efficacy beliefs; (2) EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs (SEB) had a predictive effect on COLT practices whereas not on FOLT practices; (3) The mediation model of showing the causal impacts of PEP (through SEB) on COLT was tested. i.e. Chinese primary EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs played a complete mediating role between perceived English proficiency and communication-oriented language teaching. The findings of the present study added on the compelling evidence that self-efficacy beliefs matter in the realm of primary EFL teaching in China. In light of these findings, implications were generated to primary EFL teacher education and in-service EFL teacher training programs, such as courses related to improving English proficiency, especially speaking skills, should be offered for non-English major EFL teachers; training courses related to improving self-efficacy beliefs, especially on classroom management strategies, and the recommended communicative-oriented language teaching practices should be offered to pre-service and inexperienced in-service EFL teachers.

In July 2031, a new chapter in the exploration of the Jovian system will begin with the arrival of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) at Jupiter. Launched on April 14 2024 as part of ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme, the mission aims to study Jupiter and its icy Galilean moons Callisto, Europa, and Ganymede. Juice carries a whole suite of instruments for in-situ and remote ground observations, one of which is the Jovian plasma Dynamics and Composition analyser (JDC). As a part of the Particle Environment Package (PEP), the particle detector will measure the energy, mass, charge and arrival direction of ions and electrons in the Jovian magnetosphere. Spacecraft charging caused by interactions between the spacecraft and its surrounding plasma environment poses a significant problem for JDC because the electrostatic potential of the spacecraft accelerates/decelerates charged particles, resulting in distorted measurements, particularly for the lowest energy particles.  In this report, we show the results of spacecraft charging and instrument simulations performed in the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction System (SPIS) for the solar wind and Earth’s magnetosheath—two environments that Juice will encounter at the start of the cruise phase. We found that the conductive surfaces that cover the majority of the spacecraft become positively charged as a result of a large photoelectron current in both the solar wind and magnetosheath environments. We show that these surfaces are expected to reach potentials of 9 V in the solar wind and 4 V in the magnetosheath. The four radiators on Juice that are covered with dielectric paint and shaded by the sun shield become negatively charged in both simulated environments. The radiator potentials can be as low as -40 V in the solar wind and -100 V in the magnetosheath. We also conclude that due to blocking by the spacecraft main body, the ion population cannot be sampled in the solar wind unless a spacecraft roll is performed. Furthermore, due to the high ion f low energy, spacecraft charging will not influence JDC measurements in this environment.  In the magnetosheath, the ion population can be sampled by JDC, and we identified three distortion mechanisms: (1) repulsion by the main body, (2) attraction by two of the radiators, and (3) repulsion by the MAG boom. Of all the distortion modes, the one originating from a negatively charged (-67.8 V) radiator close to JDC is the strongest, affecting ions with energies above 80 eV. The least powerful but most prevalent mode is the repulsion of ions by the main body. Our results can be compared with future in-situ measurements to identify distortion mechanisms well ahead of the science phase in which the scientifically important measurements will be carried out.

No description available.