Water supply systems’ vulnerability towards physical, chemical, biological, and cyber threats was recognized and was under study long before September 11, 2001. But greater attention toward security measures for water supply systems was focused after the incidents of September 11, 2001. In response to those events, several acts have been passed by the United States Congress, and numerous vulnerability assessment tools and methodologies for water systems have been developed. Although water supply systems are vulnerable to many forms of terrorist acts, most of the vulnerability analysis studies on these systems have been for chemical and biological threats. Because of the interdependency of water supply infrastructure and emergency fire response, any substantial damage in a water system would be a significant threat towards the community. In this study, attention is focused toward physical threats on water supply systems during a fire flow condition, and a methodology is developed to determine the vulnerable components of a water supply system during a fire event. The methodology utilizes dynamic programming optimization procedure to determine maximized disruption of fire flows as a function of number of attacks and/or failures in the water distribution system. Disruption is quantified at specific fire hydrants in two schemes using normalized values of (1) available flow and (2) available pressure and distance to the nearest operational fire hydrant. It is found that the pressure-based quantity is inferior to the flow-based one. However, using the flow-based disruption metric, clear functions of disruption versus failure number can be determined that exhibit discernable properties of robustness and resiliency – and the sequential failures in each. This methodology is applied to the water supply system of Micropolis, a virtual city developed by Brumbelow et al. (2005), and vulnerability analysis is performed with fire at several possible locations. On the basis of the results, three mitigation strategies are proposed to harden specific sets of water mains and more simulations are performed on the hardened water supply system to assess its changed vulnerability. The results from the simulations of the mitigation strategies show that the recommendations on specific mitigation measures reduce the serious consequences from such threats.

A review of the literature shows that the wearing of a mask has been hypothesised to bring about four main psychological effects: disinhibition, transformation, facilitation of the expression of aspects of the wearer's Self, and various psycho-somatic changes. Several different explanations have been proposed as to why each of these effects come about. Using theoretical and empirical research, the thesis explores in detail the hypothesis that a mask can disinhibit its wearer, and that this disinhibition comes about because the mask-wearer feels less identifiable. The findings show that a mask can significantly reduces its wearer's feelings of identifiability, and that it can also significantly reduce its wearer's public selfawareness as a consequence of changes in attentional focus. However, the empirical evidence suggests that the mask's disinhibiting effect is limited to situations in which an individual wants to behave in a particular way, but inhibits that behaviour out of a concern with 'maskable' facets of their public self. Concomitantly, the findings suggest that, if an individual wants to behave in a way for which they require 'mask-able' facets of the public self, then the wearing of a mask may be experienced as inhibiting. This thesis also examines the hypothesis that a mask can transform its wearer, and that this occurs through the self-attribution process outlined by Kellerman and Laird (1982). The thesis provides strong empirical support for both these hypotheses, showing that the wearing of a mask can make individuals feel less like their usual self and more like the character represented in the mask. However, the empirical evidence suggests that this latter effect only occurs under conditions in which an individual is specifically focused on their masked appearance. A final chapter discusses the theoretical and applied implications of these findings, with specific reference to the use of masks in therapeutic practice.

Rates of female Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection continue to rise despite the existence of effective methods of prevention. What is the fundamental variable acting as a barrier to women’s self-protection? Researchers have suggested that the oppression of women increases their vulnerability to HIV infection, and that the relationship between oppression and HIV infection must be examined to effectively address this public health issue. The purpose of this research was to gain greater insight into the life experiences of women with HIV, in order to clarify whether or not women with HIV have, indeed, experienced oppression. Answering this question was necessary prior to the study of the relationships between oppression and subsequent female HIV infection. Women, age 18 years of age or older, who live in Canada, are proficient at speaking English and HIV positive were recruited to this phenomenological study and each participant was asked to tell their “life story”. The findings of this study provide support for the ongoing use of both the oppression framework and feminist perspective in future research. Future studies may include replication of this study in partnership with women with HIV and other academic/community organizations, as well as further analysis of the use of both the Theory of Gendered Power and Social Dominance Theory/Four Bases of Gendered Power in addressing female vulnerability to HIV. / Thesis (Master, Nursing) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-31 10:23:53.052

Cybersecurity has become a top-of-mind concern as the threat landscape expands and organizations continue to undergo digital transformation. As the industry confronts this growth, tools designed to evaluate the security posture of a network must improve to provide better value. Current agent-based and network scanning tools are resource intensive, expensive, and require thorough testing before implementation in order to ensure seamless integration. While surfacing specific vulnerability information is imperative to securing network assets, there are ways to predict the security status of a network without taking exact measurements. These methods may inform security professionals as to where the weakest points of the network lie quickly, unobtrusively, and cost-effectively. This thesis proposes a methodology for identifying correlations between host configuration and vulnerability, then specifically examines easily queried characteristics within the Microsoft Windows operating system that may be vulnerability predictors. After taking measurements of forty hosts, it was discovered that there is a strong (r > 0.80) correlation between several metrics and total number of vulnerabilities as measured by the Tenable Nessus network scanner. Specifically, total number of open TCP ports (r = 0.82), total number of programs installed (r = 0.90), days since last restart (r = 0.97), and days since last windows update (r = 0.93) were found to be strong candidates for identifying high-risk machines. A significant correlation was also found when measuring the total number of logged in users (r = 0.68). Correlations were not as strong when considering subsets of hosts in similar environments. These findings can be used in tooling which will quickly evaluate the security posture of network hosts.

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Self disclosure, or sharing personal details about oneself with another, is an important communication construct that can impact relationship development, workplace satisfaction, mental health, and physical health, among other aspects of an individual’s life (Clevinger, Ablert & Raiche, 2019; Hyman, & McQuitty, 2000; Jourard, 1971; Rosenfeld, Civikly, & Herron, 1979). Much of the research on self disclosure has focused on why people choose to self disclose, how self disclosure impacts relationship development, or the risks individuals experience in regards to self disclosure (Greene, Derlega & Matthews, 2006; Smith & Brunner, 2017). The levels of self disclosure have also been studied (Harper & Harper, 2006; Morton, 1978). What has been overlooked thus far in academic research is the manner which individuals disclose information to one another. The benefits of filling this gap in self disclosure research by establishing self disclosure categories is multi-faceted. First, understanding how individuals self disclose increases the accessibility of self disclosure for non-academic circles. Categorizing self disclosure will provide individuals with the language to talk about how they make themselves known to others. Understanding how individual’s self disclose also creates new opportunities for self disclosure research among the academic realm.

There is a problem associated with the concept of vulnerability for research ethics. This problem is that we must identify populations in need of additional protections while also delineating these protections. Some have argued that the concept is too nebulous to warrant use since an increasing number of individuals may be deemed vulnerable such that virtually everyone is vulnerable in some way. In opposition to this, many have argued that that the concept of vulnerability needs to be more specific. In this thesis, I evaluate the concept of vulnerability in a number of ways. I touch on rejections of the concept, the history of the concept though both research guidelines and research ethics and seek to explore a way forward to a more useable account of vulnerability. I argue that no current account of vulnerability is adequality able to address the challenging questions posed by research trials involving human participants. A persuasive account of vulnerability should (1) have a plausible/persuasive definition of vulnerability; (2) figure out what the application of a theory of vulnerability looks like; and (3) what obligations or duties are owed to the vulnerable (and who is responsible for fulfilling these duties). In order to address this, I propose the Combined approach to vulnerability. This approach defines vulnerability as an increased likelihood to incur additional or greater wrongs. The Combined approach functions like a taxonomy and categorizes vulnerability into three groups with the use of layers and restricts the application of these layers with its formal the definition of vulnerability. This thesis marks a new novel contribution to the field of research ethics, in the way of a new theory to vulnerability that emerges from the current literature and makes progress towards a more useful concept of duties and obligations owed to the vulnerable grounded communal engagement. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / Vulnerability as a concept is thoroughly debated in the field of research ethics. Some argue that the concept is useless, while others argue that the concept of vulnerability needs to be more specific about who it applies to and why. This thesis situates itself within the latter side of the debate. The Combined approach to vulnerability is my answer to this question. The Combined approach defines vulnerability as an increased likelihood to incur additional or greater wrongs. The Combined approach functions like a taxonomy and categorizes vulnerability into three groups (inherent layers, contextual layers, cascade layers) with the use of the metaphor of layers and restricts the application of these layers with its formal the definition of vulnerability. The main contributions of this approach are its novel combination as well as its new approach to the duties owed to the vulnerable.

Assessing a network's vulnerability to attack and random failure is a difficult and important problem that changes with network application and representation. We furnish algorithms that bound the robustness of a network under attack. We utilize both static graph-based and dynamic trace-driven representations to construct solutions appropriate for different scenarios. For static graphs we first introduce a spectral technique for developing a lower bound on the number of connected pairs of vertices in a graph after edge removal, which we apply to random graphs and the power grid of the Philippines. To address the problem of resource availability in networks we develop a second technique for bounding the number of nominally designated client vertices that can be disconnected from all server vertices after either edge or vertex removal (or both). This algorithm is also tested on the power grid and a wireless mesh network, the Internet AS level graph, and the highway systems of Iowa and Michigan. Dynamic networks are modeled as disruption tolerant networks (DTNs). DTNs are composed of mobile nodes that are intermittently connected via short-range wireless radios. In the context of both human and vehicular mobility networks we study both the effect of targeted node removal and the effect of augmentation with stationary relays.

This thesis presents a damage model developed for the rapid prediction of the vulnerability of a ship concept design to AIREX weapon effects. The model uses simplified physics-based and empirical equations, threat charge size, geometry of the design, and the structure of the design as inputs. The damage volumes are customized to the design being assessed instead using of a single volume defined only by the threat charge size as in previous damage ellipsoid methods. This methodology is validated against a range of charge sizes and a library of notional threats is created. The model uses a randomized hit distribution that is generated using notional threat targeting and the geometry of the design. A Preliminary Arrangement and Vulnerability (PAandV) model is updated with this methodology and used to calculate an Overall Measure of Vulnerability (OMOV) by determining equipment failures and calculating the resulting loss of mission capabilities. A selection of baseline designs from a large design space search in a Concept and Requirements Exploration (CandRE) are assessed using this methodology. / Master of Science

This thesis presents a process and tool that generates representative preliminary ship models and arrangements for use in vulnerability analysis in the Concept and Requirements Exploration (CandRE) process used at Virginia Tech. CandRE uses a Multi-Objective Genetic Optimization (MOGO) to explore the design space for non-dominated ship design solutions based on design effectiveness, risk, and cost. Vulnerability is assessed as part of the CandRE using a Preliminary Arrangements and Vulnerability (PAandV) model. Representative ship arrangements for specified combinations of ship system options are created based on operability needs, ship mission needs, and improved vulnerability. These are then analyzed for vulnerability and are used to calculate a representative Overall Measure of Vulnerability (OMOV) which is used to calculate the Overall Measure of Effectiveness (OMOE) in the MOGO. / Master of Science / This thesis presents a process and tool for ship vulnerability analysis in early stage ship design. Vulnerability is defined as the probability of ship kill after taking damage from a weapon. The vulnerability is assessed on representative ships that are generated based on the systems required for the ship missions. The analysis results are used in the design process to compare different ship designs based on their effectiveness, risk, and cost. This thesis creates the representative ship arrangements based on expert opinion, ship characteristics, and a location damage analysis. This process considers the vulnerability of a design in calculating the effectiveness of the design to incorporate vulnerability early in the design process.