No description available.

Background There is a lack of knowledge about how mature Swedish authorities are in their agile work. At one of the Swedish Transport Administration's ICT units, proposals have been submitted to implement the scalable agile framework SAFe. The unit has four development teams that have a regular collaboration with the business side, where users and business-related managers are located. Today, it varies between different development teams how agile you work and the business side generally does not work agile at all. Aim The purpose of the study is to contribute with knowledge about how problems with working methods can be met by SAFe and provide an indication of the agile maturity of the relevant authority through the use of the Gartner model for agile maturity. The model has 6 levels on a scale of 0-5. The study also compiles challenges and recommendations for large-scale agile implementations and places them on a strategic, tactical and operational level. Method Interviews were conducted with three people on ICT and one person on the busi-ness side. A survey was conducted in which 16 of the 27 people at the Unit responded. The literature review found 9 studies with a total of 68 challenges and 67 recommendations from previous large-scale agile implementations. Criteria from the Gartner model were identified at each level and the findings from the data collection were compared against all criteria. Results At the ICT unit, the following areas were identified as challenges: training, auto-mation, collaboration with the business, commissioning, collaboration between teams, and workload. The literature study's findings of the most common challenges and recommendations at each level are: Strategic level - Challenge: inappropriate agile implementation method. Recommendation: develop an integrated, agile concept; Tactical level - Challenge: agile introduction from above creates resistance. Recommendation: ensure support from management; Operational level - Challenge: general resistance to change and Lack of education. Recommendation: offer training in agile methods. Conclusions SAFe could meet most of the unit's challenges, with the exception of "training" which is not met by any of SAFE's components. Based on the Gartner model foragile maturity, the unit was placed at level 2. In an agile introduction, the unit can take advantage of the literature study's challenges and recommendations. The result is interesting for organizations that are considering introducing a large-scale agile framework.

This thesis conducted a case study in order to identify and analyze the benefits andthe challenges of SAFe and DevSecOps adoption in governmental organizations. Ithas been identified that governmental organizations are falling behind the market inrespects of SAFe and DevSecOps adoption while in the same time not much researchhas been done in the specific market area, aim of this study is to provide moreinsights in the subject. In particular this research is trying to answer the followingquestions, how are the Governmental Organizations benefit from the DevSecOps andSAFe adoption and why is the adoption of DevSecOps and SAFe challenging forGovernmental Organizations.From the conducted case study identified clear benefits on the SAFe and DevSecOpsadoption for Governmental Organizations which are summed up to the bettermanagement of existing demand, increased transparency and compliance, bettersecurity assurance. At the same time challenges also surfaced in the scope of thestudy related with organization’s culture, administrative challenges related withorganization processes and security ones. Most of the results are in line with previousresearch on the broader market though specific challenges observed in correlationwith governmental organizations in particular.

The main objective in optimizing train control is to eliminate the waste associated with classical design where train separation is determined through the use of "worst case" assumptions to calculate Safe Braking Distances that are invariant to the system. In fact, the worst case approach has been in place since the beginning of train control systems. Worst case takes the most conservative approach to the determination of train stopping distance, which is the basis for design and capacity of all train control systems. This leads to stopping distances that could be far more than actually required under the circumstances at the time the train is attempting to brake. A new train control system is proposed that utilizes information about the train and the conditions ahead to optimize and minimize the Safe Braking Distance. Two methods are proposed to reduce safe braking distance while maintaining an appropriate level of safety for the system. The first introduces a statistical method that quantifies a braking distance with various hazards levels and picks a level that meets the safety criteria of the system. The second method uses train mounted sensors to determine the adhesion level of the wheel and rail to determine the appropriate braking rate for the train under known circumstances. Combining these methods provides significant decreases in Safe Braking Distances for trains. A new train control system is utilized to take advantage of these features to increase overall system capacity. / Electrical and Computer Engineering

Progress in the field of quantum computing has shown that, should construction of a sufficiently powerful quantum computer become feasible, much of the cryptography used on the Internet today will be rendered insecure. In lieu of this, several approaches to “quantum-safe” cryptography have been proposed, each one becoming a serious field of study. The youngest of these approaches, isogeny based cryptography, is oriented around problems in algebraic geometry involving a particular variety of elliptic curves. Supersingular isogeny Diffie-Hellman (SIDH) is this subfields main contender for quantum-safe key-exchange. Yoo et al. have provided an isogeny-based signature scheme built on top of SIDH. Currently, cryptographic algorithms in this class are hindered by poor performance metrics and, in the case of the Yoo et al. signature scheme, large communication overhead. In this dissertation we explore two different modifications to the implementation of this signature scheme; one with the intent of improving temporal performance, and another with the intent of reducing signature sizes. We show that our first modification, a mechanism for batching together expensive operations, can offer roughly 8% faster signature signing and verification. Our second modification, an adaptation of the SIDH public key compression technique outlined in [CJL + 17], can reduce Yoo et al. signature sizes from roughly 688λ bytes to 544λ bytes at the 128-bit security level on a 64-bit operating system. We also explore the combination of these techniques, and the potential of employing these techniques in different application settings. Our experiments reveal that isogeny based cryptosystems still have much potential for improved performance metrics. While some practitioners may believe isogeny-based cryptosystems impractical, we show that these systems still have room for improvement, and with continued research can be made more efficient - and eventually practical. Achieving more efficient implementations for quantum-safe algorithms will allow us to make them more accessible. With faster and lower-overhead implementations these primitives can be run on low bandwidth, low spec devices; ensuring that more and more machines can be made resistant to quantum cryptanalysis. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

The chicken is a classic model organism that has provided key insights into embryonic development. Chicken embryos can be directly manipulated and observed during development while retaining the potential to reach adulthood. Despite this benefit, the utility of the chicken in studying development has been limited by the difficulty of introducing genetic changes to the genome. The recent development of cell culture conditions for chicken primordial germ cells (cPGC) has made it feasible to produce transgenic chickens, but there is still a lack of tools for introducing genetic modifications into cPGCs. Recombinase Mediated Cassette Exchange (RMCE) is a technique that has been utilized in traditional genetic systems to generate multiple alleles at a given locus but has not yet been adapted to the chicken. In order to use RMCE in the chicken, we inserted Lox sites into cPGC using CRISPR/Cas9. We targeted the ovalbumin locus and potential genomic safe harbor sites (GSH) identified using genomic data. We performed RMCE to exchange green fluorescent protein (GFP) into these loci. We observed RMCE efficiency as less than 1% at each loci. We then designed a system using a drug inducible Caspase 9 (iCasp9) to select for cells that underwent cassette exchange. This method enabled us to obtain a population of 100% edited cells. We anticipate that this tool will increase the utility of the chicken as a model organism, livestock, and bioreactor.

Thesis advisor: Christopher Higgins / The heightened use of “safe space” in educational settings has been the subject of polarizing contemporary controversy and protested by conservative and progressive camps alike, raising concerns about whether “safe space” remains an educationally viable concept. In response to claims that safety is conflated with “coddling” students, censoring unpopular speech, or reinforcing privilege, this dissertation argues that safe spaces signify enduring pursuits of diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education that are too important to be abandoned. Instead, this interdisciplinary, mixed methods project considers how safe spaces can be rehabilitated to best serve subaltern undergraduate students. Informed by the experiences of six of my former students, I investigate how predominantly White institutions (PWI), like Boston College, can be rehabilitated as places where risky, transformative education is possible. By integrating situated educational philosophy and participatory design research (PDR) that features artistic and embodied methods of relationality (self-portraits, walks, and interactive workshops), I offer a spatial turn in the safe space debates that reveals the ideologically laden ‘normative geography’ of university campuses. Attuning to safe space controversies as spatial struggles uncovers who and what is positioned as “in place” or “out of place” on campus, as well as subaltern students’ transgressive acts of place-making—the quotidian tactics of making a hostile place more habitable for themselves. My dissertation therefore culminates by proposing a risky model of higher education, inspired by Judith Butler’s proposal of ethical formation, that insists on a collective responsibility for inclusive campus place-making. In this iterative framework, safety serves not as a barrier to risk, but as a crucial, co-constructed threshold condition that makes educative risk-taking possible for all students. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2024. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teaching, Curriculum, and Society.

This study examined public primary school teachers' perceptions of the factors contributing to safe school learning environments. Teachers' perceptions and behaviors were examined to assist task force members to develop and conduct a self-study process for enhancing a safe learning environment for pupils. Twenty-eight primary school teachers from one public primary school in Malawi participated in the study. Data on teachers' perceptions and behaviors were collected through a survey. Frequencies and percentages were used to analyze the survey data on teachers' perceptions. The data from the self-study process generated the discussions in the task force meetings where teachers shared their perceptions of classroom practices that contributed to a safe learning environment. The task force conducted a four-step self-study process. The steps of the process were building awareness and community, developing a group focus, implementing the ideas of the group focus, and reflecting on the practice. The participating teachers' experiences suggested that the process discouraged teachers from direct instruction and encouraged them to actively engage students more in their learning. As a result the teachers experienced fewer discipline problems in their classes. The perceptions of teachers in the survey indicated that the school environment was generally positive for teaching and learning. However, there were some elements that could adversely affect school safety. For example, there were problems in maintaining some of the school facilities such as books and children's latrines. The finding of the self-study process indicated that the school could develop elements of school safety. For example, the teachers in the study developed positive attitudes toward their teaching and learning. They reported for school activities on time and involved learners in their learning. The study had a number of implications for teaching and learning and teacher educators. The self-study process, for example, was able to change teachers' attitudes about their learners, thereby enhancing the learner-teacher classroom relationship. Suggestions for further research are also given. For example, further studies could focus on the replication of the study in other schools in order to examine the self-study process in different school contexts. And such replication could assist further understanding and refinement of the self-study process for addressing school safety as well as other identified school problems. / Ph. D.

Yes / This article proposes an approach named SafeML II, which applies empirical cumulative distribution function-based statistical distance measures in a designed human-in-the loop procedure to ensure the safety of machine learning-based classifiers in autonomous vehicle software. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) and data-driven decision-making systems in autonomous vehicles is growing rapidly. As autonomous vehicles operate in dynamic environments, the risk that they can face an unknown observation is relatively high due to insufficient training data, distributional shift, or cyber-security attack. Thus, AI-based algorithms should make dependable decisions to improve their interpretation of the environment, lower the risk of autonomous driving, and avoid catastrophic accidents. This paper proposes an approach named SafeML II, which applies empirical cumulative distribution function (ECDF)-based statistical distance measures in a designed human-in-the-loop procedure to ensure the safety of machine learning-based classifiers in autonomous vehicle software. The approach is model-agnostic and it can cover various machine learning and deep learning classifiers. The German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark (GTSRB) is used to illustrate the capabilities of the proposed approach. / This work was supported by the Secure and Safe MultiRobot Systems (SESAME) H2020 Project under Grant Agreement 101017258.

Yes / A recent randomised controlled trial indicated that providing long-term multifocal wearers with a pair of distance single-vision spectacles for use outside the home reduced falls risk in active older people. However, it also found that participants disliked continually switching between using two pairs of glasses and adherence to the intervention was poor. In this study we determined whether intermediate addition multifocals (which could be worn most of the time inside and outside the home and thus avoid continual switching) could provide similar gait safety on stairs to distance single vision spectacles whilst also providing adequate ‘short-term’ reading and near vision. Methods: Fourteen healthy long-term multifocal wearers completed stair ascent and descent trials over a 3-step staircase wearing intermediate and full addition bifocals and progression-addition lenses (PALs) and single-vision distance spectacles. Gait safety/caution was assessed using foot clearance measurements (toe on ascent, heel on descent) over the step edges and ascent and descent duration. Binocular near visual acuity, critical print size and reading speed were measured using Bailey-Lovie near charts and MNRead charts at 40 cm. Results: Gait safety/caution measures were worse with full addition bifocals and PALs compared to intermediate bifocals and PALs. The intermediate PALs provided similar gait ascent/descent measures to those with distance single- vision spectacles. The intermediate addition PALs also provided good reading ability: Near word acuity and MNRead critical print size were better with the intermediate addition PALs than with the single-vision lenses (p < 0.0001), with a mean near visual acuity of 0.24 0.13 logMAR (~N5.5) which is satisfactory for most near vision tasks when performed for a short period of time. Conclusions: The better ability to ‘spot read’ with the intermediate addition PALs compared to single-vision spectacles suggests that elderly individuals might better comply with the use of intermediate addition PALs outside the home. A lack of difference in gait parameters for the intermediate addition PALs compared to distance single-vision spectacles suggests they could be usefully used to help prevent falls in older well-adapted full addition PAL wearers. A randomised controlled trial to investigate the usefulness of intermediate multifocals in preventing falls seems warranted.