Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 316 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-316).

Thesis (M.S.F.S.) / Swabs are an integral part of any forensic science “toolkit”. They can be used to gather many types of evidence at crime scenes, in the lab, or even in the hospital or morgue. Cotton swabs have been the traditional choice for most forensic laboratories, and for sexual assault kits. They have been the obvious choice for decades as cotton swabs were really the only option and they were and still are relatively inexpensive and easy to obtain. In the past dozen years or so, new synthetic fibers have been incorporated into novel swab designs. Fiber swabs can be made of polyester or rayon, polyurethane foam swabs can be round, narrow, oval or arrow shaped; swabs can also be flocked, or sprayed with strands of material such as nylon. The effectiveness of any type of swab used to collect biological material is based on three characteristics: the ability to pick up the material for which they are designed, the ability to hold that material until processed and then the ability to release as much of that material as possible to be analyzed in the lab. In this study, the efficacy of four different commercially available swabs to collect, store and release spermatozoa was evaluated. Puritan Cotton fiber swabs, Fisher Polyester fiber swabs, Fisher polyurethane swabs, and Copan nylon flocked swabs were all compared for their ability to pick-up and elute cells from solid surfaces. The surfaces included three types of commonly found tile: a smooth glossy ceramic tile, a rough non-porous ceramic tile, and a smooth semi-porous quarry tile. In general, polyester fiber swabs outperformed both the polyurethane foam and the nylon flocked swab when used on all three surfaces (P < 0.05). Polyester swabs were not significantly different from the cotton fiber swabs even though the average number of cells picked-up and eluted was higher overall. Swabs used to collect postcoital samples were also compared. Volunteer couples were given a variety of swabs to use after intercourse. The result of the comparison for the same four swab types when used as postcoital swabs was different from the results of the tile study. After estimating the number of cells collected and released from each swab, a comparison was made within each couple. Nylon flocked swabs yielded the highest level of cellular material overall and foam swabs recovered the least. This study demonstrates the need for further research into different swab types and in what capacities they are to be used in forensic science.

Identity Theft could be currently considered as a significant problem in the modern internet driven era. This type of computer crime can be achieved in a number of different ways; various statistical figures suggest it is on the increase. It intimidates individual privacy and self assurance, while efforts for increased security and protection measures appear inadequate to prevent it. A forensic analysis of the digital evidence should be able to provide precise findings after the investigation of Identity Theft incidents. At present, the investigation of Internet based Identity Theft is performed on an ad hoc and unstructured basis, in relation to the digital evidence. This research work aims to construct a formalised and structured approach to digital Identity Theft investigations that would improve the current computer forensic investigative practice. The research hypothesis is to create an analytical framework to facilitate the investigation of Internet Identity Theft cases and the processing of the related digital evidence. This research work makes two key contributions to the subject: a) proposing the approach of examining different computer crimes using a process specifically based on their nature and b) to differentiate the examination procedure between the victim’s and the fraudster’s side, depending on the ownership of the digital media. The background research on the existing investigation methods supports the need of moving towards an individual framework that supports Identity Theft investigations. The presented investigation framework is designed based on the structure of the existing computer forensic frameworks. It is a flexible, conceptual tool that will assist the investigator’s work and analyse incidents related to this type of crime. The research outcome has been presented in detail, with supporting relevant material for the investigator. The intention is to offer a coherent tool that could be used by computer forensics investigators. Therefore, the research outcome will not only be evaluated from a laboratory experiment, but also strengthened and improved based on an evaluation feedback by experts from law enforcement. While personal identities are increasingly being stored and shared on digital media, the threat of personal and private information that is used fraudulently cannot be eliminated. However, when such incidents are precisely examined, then the nature of the problem can be more clearly understood.

The main goal of this thesis is complete description of all typical aspects of methodology for investigation of robbery, including ilustration of all the specifics, that distinguish this methodology from other investigative methodologies. The thesis is divided into five chapters, which are related and organized mostly according to the model of the criminological publications. The first chapter deals with a crime of robbery from the point of view of criminal law. The first subchapter describes the historical progression of the legal regulation of this crime from antiquity to the present. The second subchapter is focused on the current legislation, which is contained in the Criminal Code. The second chapter is focused on robbery from the point of view of criminology. In the first subchapter is characterized a typical criminal situation, according to the aspects of the crime scene, the time of committing robbery and the character of the object under attack. The second subchapter describes typical ways of committing robberies, focusing on acts committed with a firearm. The following two subchapters are devoted to the motivation of the offender to commit a robbery and then to the offender himself. The fifth subchapter deals with victims of robberies. The third chapter is devoted to the theoretical...

The aim of this research paper is to evaluate the techniques used to collect latent prints from documents in Addis Ababa Police Commission and give some recommendations on how to cope with the problem. The researcher started off by looking at the general orientation of the research and how the research has been done. Then in the next chapter, the meaning and objective of Forensic Investigation, right or mandate to investigate, the meaning of physical evidence and the prints and techniques used internationally to collect latent prints are discussed. In the third chapter, the best method of collecting latent prints from documents and the method and practice of collecting latent prints from documents at Addis Ababa Police Commission Forensic Evidence Collection Department were discussed. Finally, the finding of the research and some critical recommendations were given. Latent prints from documents are very crucial to identifying the suspects and for legal proceedings or the court process. Even if it is known by the police officers, the techniques and the materials they are using to collect latent prints are with powders which are less effective. According to the research, the Ninhydrin chemical is the best technique recommended to collect latent prints from documents This research paper gives a truly unique perspective on how latent prints should be collected from documents.

Cloud computing has been advancing at an intense pace. It has become one of the most important research topics in computer science and information systems. Cloud computing offers enterprise-scale platforms in a short time frame with little effort. Thus, it delivers significant economic benefits to both commercial and public entities. Despite this, the security and subsequent incident management requirements are major obstacles to adopting the cloud. Current cloud architectures do not support digital forensic investigators, nor comply with today’s digital forensics procedures – largely due to the fundamental dynamic nature of the cloud. When an incident has occurred, an organization-based investigation will seek to provide potential digital evidence while minimising the cost of the investigation. Data acquisition is the first and most important process within digital forensics – to ensure data integrity and admissibility. However, access to data and the control of resources in the cloud is still very much provider-dependent and complicated by the very nature of the multi-tenanted operating environment. Thus, investigators have no option but to rely on the Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to acquire evidence for them. Due to the cost and time involved in acquiring the forensic image, some cloud providers will not provide evidence beyond 1TB despite a court order served on them. Assuming they would be willing or are required to by law, the evidence collected is still questionable as there is no way to verify the validity of evidence and whether evidence has already been lost. Therefore, dependence on the CSPs is considered one of the most significant challenges when investigators need to acquire evidence in a timely yet forensically sound manner from cloud systems. This thesis proposes a novel architecture to support a forensic acquisition and analysis of IaaS cloud-base systems. The approach, known as Cloud Forensic Acquisition and Analysis System (Cloud FAAS), is based on a cluster analysis of non-volatile memory that achieves forensically reliable images at the same level of integrity as the normal “gold standard” computer forensic acquisition procedures with the additional capability to reconstruct the image at any point in time. Cloud FAAS fundamentally, shifts access of the data back to the data owner rather than relying on a third party. In this manner, organisations are free to undertaken investigations at will requiring no intervention or cooperation from the cloud provider. The novel architecture is validated through a proof-of-concept prototype. A series of experiments are undertaken to illustrate and model how Cloud FAAS is capable of providing a richer and more complete set of admissible evidence than what current CSPs are able to provide. Using Cloud FAAS, investigators have the ability to obtain a forensic image of the system after, just prior to or hours before the incident. Therefore, this approach can not only create images that are forensically sound but also provide access to deleted and more importantly overwritten files – which current computer forensic practices are unable to achieve. This results in an increased level of visibility for the forensic investigator and removes any limitations that data carving and fragmentation may introduce. In addition, an analysis of the economic overhead of operating Cloud FAAS is performed. This shows the level of disk change that occurs is well with acceptable limits and is relatively small in comparison to the total volume of memory available. The results show Cloud FAAS has both a technical and economic basis for solving investigations involving cloud computing.

Magister Legum - LLM

To date attention appears to have been mainly concentrated on the development and support of the learning, skill and competence requirements that entrepreneurs and small business owners need to succeed. However, very little attention is placed on the ability of support practitioners to provide the required support. Generally accepted standards with regard to the knowledge, skills and competence requirements for support practitioners seem to be lacking. Support practitioners are also drawn from various education and work experience backgrounds. The lack of industry standards as well as the fact that support practitioners are drawn from various education and work experience backgrounds may be the reason why no clear guidelines exist with regard to the knowledge requirements for support practitioners. In view of the above, the problems that this study is concerned with are the following: <ul> a) To investigate the nature of entrepreneur and small business support; b) To determine what the knowledge criteria for entrepreneur and small business support practitioners should be; and c) To investigate whether support practitioners possess the required knowledge to provide relevant and meaningful support to entrepreneurs and small businesses as suggested by the literature on entrepreneurship.</ul> To obtain a better understanding of the need for this study, a logical framework was developed using the Transcendental Model development methodology. The conceptual model (see Figure 4.2) and theory building process have provided two main benefits:<ul> <li>Firstly, a holistic view of the broader problem environment within which support practitioners function has been provided. </li> <li>Secondly, the focus for the research study and where it fits into the broader problem environment has been established. </li> </ul> The transcendental research methodology was also used to develop a stratified research model (see Figure 4.3) which highlights three phases that the research should move through:<ol> <li>The first phase starts with investigating existing theories and standards relevant to entrepreneur and small business practitioners at the real level. This was done through the exploratory discussions and the literature review. The literature review assisted to determine the knowledge areas that are required by support practitioners.</li> <li>The second phase investigates what knowledge with regard to entrepreneurship, business management and the practice disciplines support practitioners possess at the actual level. This was done through the field research which measured the knowledge that support practitioners actually possess.</li> <li>The third phase investigates whether the required results with regard to the industry objectives of reducing the high failure rates of start-ups and the development of sustainable ventures were obtained at the empirical level. </ol> The study uses the abovementioned approach to obtain the following goals:<ul> <li>firstly, to investigate the knowledge, skills and competence criteria that support practitioners should possess in order to assist entrepreneurs and small businesses to create and develop sustainable ventures that would in turn lead to the decline in start-up failure rates; and</li> <li>secondly, to establish what knowledge, skills and competencies practitioners do possess.</li></ul> The study identified the key measures required to evaluate support practitioner outputs and it also identified that support practitioners lack specific knowledge constructs in all three knowledge areas. It further provides suggestions of how these knowledge gaps can be addressed. As there is a dearth of South African and international research with regard to the knowledge criteria for support practitioners, this study makes a unique contribution to the field in this regard and specifically in the South African small business landscape. / Thesis (PhD (Entrepreneurship))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

The proliferation of the Internet has amplified the use of social networking sites by creating a platform that encourages individuals to share information. As a result there is a wealth of information that is publically and easily accessible. This research explores whether open source intelligence (OSINT), which is freely available, could be used as a digital forensic investigative tool. A survey was created and sent to digital forensic investigators to establish whether they currently use OSINT when performing investigations. The survey results confirm that OSINT is being used by digital forensic investigators when performing investigations but there are currently no guidelines or frameworks available to support the use thereof. Additionally, the survey results showed a belief amongst those surveyed that evidence gleaned from OSINT sources is considered supplementary rather than evidentiary. The findings of this research led to the development of a framework that identifies and recommends key processes to follow when conducting OSINT investigations. The framework can assist digital forensic investigators to follow a structured and rigorous process, which may lead to the unanimous acceptance of information obtained via OSINT sources as evidentiary rather than supplementary in the near future.

No abstract available / Dissertation (MA (Research in Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Practical Theology / unrestricted