Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2003. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 108 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-72).

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This thesis deals with the problems of exploration and map construction of a dangerous network by mobile agents, and it introduces new general mechanisms for inter-agent communication, which could be applied to other mobile agents' problems. A dangerous network contains a harmful process called Black Hole that destroys all agents entering the node where it resides, without leaving any observable trace. The task for the agents, which are moving asynchronously, is to construct a map of the network with edges incident on the black hole unambiguously identified. Two types of communication mechanisms are considered: whiteboards and tokens. In the whiteboard model every node provides a shared memory on which agents can read and write. When communication occurs through tokens, instead, the agents have some pebbles that can be placed on and picked up from the nodes. Four different costs for comparing the efficiency of the protocols are taken into account: the number of agents required, the number of moves performed, the size of the whiteboard (or the token capacity at a node), and time. The black hole search problem is considered first in ring networks with whiteboards, and optimal exact time and move complexities are established improving all existing results. The same problem is then studied in arbitrary unknown graphs and it is solved in the token model by using a constant number of tokens in total. The protocol improves on existing results and is based on a novel technique for communicating using tokens. Finally, the new method of communicating using tokens described in the context of black hole search is generalized to propose a novel communication mechanism among the agents that could possibly be employed for any distributed algorithm by mobile agents.

Given that phishing is an ever increasing problem, a better authentication system than the current alphanumeric system is needed. Because of the large number of current authentication systems that use alphanumeric passwords, a new solution should be compatible with these systems. We propose a system that uses a graphical password deployed from a Trojan and virus resistant embedded device as a possible solution. The graphical password would require the user to choose a family photo sized to 441x331 pixels. Using this image, a novel, image hash provides an input into a cryptosystem on the embedded device that subsequently returns an encryption key or text password. The graphical password requires the user to click five to eight points on the image. From these click-points, the embedded device stretches the graphical password input to a 32- character, random, unique alphanumeric password or a 256-bit AES key. Each embedded device and image are unique components in the graphical password system. Additionally, one graphical password can generate many 32-character unique, alphanumeric passwords using its embedded device which eliminates the need for the user to memorize many passwords. / Computer Engineering

IEEE 802.16標準是針對無線城域網路(Wireless Metropolitan Area Network)而設計的，它支援服務品質(QoS)，而且具有相當高的傳輸速率。每一種應用服務都有不同的型態，根據這些不同的型態，802.16 定義了四個不同的服務品質類別。然而，最關鍵的部份－封包排程卻沒有被定義在802.16標準裡面。在這篇論文中，我們提出了一套完整的允入控管(call admission control)和上行封包排程的架構。首先，我們先以令牌桶(token bucket)機制為基礎，設計了一套802.16專用的允入控管和上行封包排程的模組。接著我們介紹如何將令牌桶機制套用至一般的連線。我們找出了一個預測連線的延遲(delay)和漏失率(loss rate)的模型，接著可以利用這個模型，並透過簡單的搜尋演算法來找出適合的令牌速率和令牌桶的大小。模擬的結果表示，我們的允入控管和上行封包排程能夠確實對具有即時性質的連線的提供保證，且我們將令牌桶機制套用到一般連線的模組也能準確的運作。最後，我們也提出了一個簡單的整合實例並評估其效能。 / The IEEE 802.16 standard was designed for Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN). It supports QoS and has very high transmission rate. According to different application types, there are four QoS classes defined in the IEEE 802.16 standard. The key part of 802.16 for QoS– packet scheduling, was undefined. In this thesis, a complete call admission control (CAC) and uplink packet scheduling is presented. We first proposed a token-bucket based uplink packet scheduling combined with CAC. Then a model of characterizing traffic flows by token bucket parameters, namely token rate and bucket size, is presented. We proposed a queuing model to predict the delay and loss rate for a token bucket controlled traffic flow. In order to fulfill token bucket based CAC, we need to find appropriate token rate and bucket size for any flows. A simple search algorithm coupled with our queuing model can be used to achieve this. Multiplexing of two traffic flows is also introduced. The simulation results show that our CAC and uplink packet scheduling can promise the delay requirement of real-time flows and prevent each class from starvation. The precision of our token rate estimation model is also validated. Finally, a simple integration of our CAC, uplink scheduling, and multiplexing is evaluated.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 64 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-43).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of Tulsa, 1972. / Bibliography: leaves 42-44.

Thesis (M. S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Jon S. Bailey, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Psychology. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 15, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 60 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is focused on authentication methods, for regular private users and company solutions. Based on the analysis of individual authentication methods discussed in a theoretical part, the most suitable solutions are chosen. The practical part then offers various solutions divided into categories based on the users profiles. This presented overview suggests possible follow up discussion topics and an outline of the future development in the area of authentication methods and tools.

This thesis deals with the problems of exploration and map construction of a dangerous network by mobile agents, and it introduces new general mechanisms for inter-agent communication, which could be applied to other mobile agents' problems. A dangerous network contains a harmful process called Black Hole that destroys all agents entering the node where it resides, without leaving any observable trace. The task for the agents, which are moving asynchronously, is to construct a map of the network with edges incident on the black hole unambiguously identified. Two types of communication mechanisms are considered: whiteboards and tokens. In the whiteboard model every node provides a shared memory on which agents can read and write. When communication occurs through tokens, instead, the agents have some pebbles that can be placed on and picked up from the nodes. Four different costs for comparing the efficiency of the protocols are taken into account: the number of agents required, the number of moves performed, the size of the whiteboard (or the token capacity at a node), and time. The black hole search problem is considered first in ring networks with whiteboards, and optimal exact time and move complexities are established improving all existing results. The same problem is then studied in arbitrary unknown graphs and it is solved in the token model by using a constant number of tokens in total. The protocol improves on existing results and is based on a novel technique for communicating using tokens. Finally, the new method of communicating using tokens described in the context of black hole search is generalized to propose a novel communication mechanism among the agents that could possibly be employed for any distributed algorithm by mobile agents.