The Edwards Plateau is the drainage area for the Edwards Aquifer, which provides water to over 2.2 million people. The plateau also provides other ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat and the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The public concern for continued delivery of these ecosystem services is increasing; with private landowners of the plateau region affecting the delivery of these services. A geographic information systems spatial analysis was conducted for Bandera and Kerr counties, with two components being: (1) biophysical and (2) landowner interest. Together these resulted in an overarching map depicting the optimal locations to allocate government assistance to landowners for managing their property to support three ecosystem services: water yield, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration.In April 2003, a mail survey of selected landowners was conducted to determine their opinions regarding ecosystem services and cost-share programs (Olenick et al. 2005). In July 2004, a supplemental survey of respondents to the first survey was conducted to follow-up on a few questions answered incorrectly and to focus on landowner opinions regarding cost-share assistance programs and land management activities. Overall, it appeared that five year performance contracts were the most chosen contract type for respondents of all property sizes, earning mid/high annual incomes, and for all length of ownership time periods. Based on our findings, the publicly-funded assistance programs that should be allocated to the optimal ecosystem service locations are five and ten year performance contracts based on property size, length of ownership, and income level categories. The spatial and statistical analysis results were successful, in that optimal locations and types of cost share programs were identified for each ecosystem service in order to prioritize the allocation of limited public resources. The patches of ecosystem target areas within the final target area map can be used as land management demonstration sites to reveal to surrounding landowners the benefits of participating in publicly funded cost-share assistance programs. However, the study has been limited by the generality of the GIS statewide wildlife data.

The Edwards Plateau is the drainage area for the Edwards Aquifer, which provides water to over 2.2 million people. The plateau also provides other ecosystem services, such as wildlife habitat and the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The public concern for continued delivery of these ecosystem services is increasing; with private landowners of the plateau region affecting the delivery of these services. A geographic information systems spatial analysis was conducted for Bandera and Kerr counties, with two components being: (1) biophysical and (2) landowner interest. Together these resulted in an overarching map depicting the optimal locations to allocate government assistance to landowners for managing their property to support three ecosystem services: water yield, wildlife habitat, and carbon sequestration.In April 2003, a mail survey of selected landowners was conducted to determine their opinions regarding ecosystem services and cost-share programs (Olenick et al. 2005). In July 2004, a supplemental survey of respondents to the first survey was conducted to follow-up on a few questions answered incorrectly and to focus on landowner opinions regarding cost-share assistance programs and land management activities. Overall, it appeared that five year performance contracts were the most chosen contract type for respondents of all property sizes, earning mid/high annual incomes, and for all length of ownership time periods. Based on our findings, the publicly-funded assistance programs that should be allocated to the optimal ecosystem service locations are five and ten year performance contracts based on property size, length of ownership, and income level categories. The spatial and statistical analysis results were successful, in that optimal locations and types of cost share programs were identified for each ecosystem service in order to prioritize the allocation of limited public resources. The patches of ecosystem target areas within the final target area map can be used as land management demonstration sites to reveal to surrounding landowners the benefits of participating in publicly funded cost-share assistance programs. However, the study has been limited by the generality of the GIS statewide wildlife data.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T15:54:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo9423_1.pdf: 6736856 bytes, checksum: 7f03b32b2fa913297725321598c5ecee (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Nos últimos 40 anos a Internet se tornou um componente central para o comércio eletrônico internacional, comunicações, e para o desenvolvimento técnico e científico. Inicialmente as pesquisas relacionadas à Internet se focavam em melhoramentos na velocidade de transmissão de dados, capacidade e cobertura geográfica. Atualmente medição, modelagem e análise em redes de computadores, particularmente classificação de tráfego, tornaram-se um ponto crucial para manutenção do funcionamento da rede. Isto se deve principalmente ao crescimento exponencial das redes de computares em termos de tamanho, complexidade e diversidade de serviços. Neste contexto, sistemas de Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) se tornaram um elemento importante para medição de tráfego, já que classificação de aplicações baseada em portas caiu em desuso devido ao tunelamento de protocolos e uso indevido de portas padrões, por exemplo, softwares P2P que usam portas não bloqueadas para burlar regras de firewalls. Tradicionalmente, sistemas de DPI classificavam tráfego usando técnicas de string matching, i.e., as assinaturas de aplicações eram representadas por strings (cadeias de caracteres). Dessa maneira o procedimento de busca de padrões se dava através da inspeção da carga útil dos pacotes a procura dessas strings. String matching funciona bem para padrões simples, porém falha ao descrever padrões mais complexos, e.g., padrões com tamanho variável. Para solucionar este problema, sistemas de DPI têm substituído assinaturas representadas com strings por padrões descritos através de expressões regulares. Embora mais precisos, sistemas de DPI demandam maior poder computacional e geralmente não escalam bem conforme as velocidades dos enlaces aumentam. Este fato abriu espaço para várias pesquisas relacionadas à otimização de tais sistemas. Aproveitando este espaço, esta tese propõe um novo modelo de Deterministic Finite Automata (DFA) para casamento de padrões em sistemas DPI, o Ranged Compressed DFA (RCDFA). O RCDFA, junto com três otimizações propostas, atingem níveis de compressão de até 98% em bases de assinaturas bem conhecidas. Além do mais, o RCDFA codificado com um novo layout de memória (ALE) proposto neste trabalho é até 46 vezes mais rápido que os motores de DPI baseados em DFAs tradicionais

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 240-245).

Producing fruits and vegetables in the Intermountain West can be challenging due a short growing season, extreme temperatures, and limited availability of irrigation water. This is particularly true of strawberries, where commercial production is limited due to late fall and early spring frosts that shorten the growing season. With the increasing demand for local produce as urban populations grow and as consumer buying habits change, growers are looking for ways to overcome these climatic challenges. High tunnels are one option growers can use. High tunnels are similar to greenhouses, but less expensive to construct and to maintain. Another way to protect crops against adverse climatic conditions is with low tunnels. As the name implies, they are a smaller version of a high tunnel, usually only tall enough to cover the canopy of the plant. Low tunnels can be used by themselves or in conjunction with (inside) a high tunnel. Adding heat is another option. However, heating can be expensive and may not be profitable. Targeting heat additions in the root zone may decrease cost of heat but still provide protection to the plant.These protection methods were evaluated in Cache Valley, Utah for effectiveness of increasing strawberry yield. High tunnels increased total yield, as did high tunnels used in conjunction with low tunnels. However, low tunnels by themselves were not able to increase yield in comparison to unprotected plants in the field. Targeted root zone heating was evaluated in both high and low tunnel with two target temperatures: 7 and 15 °C. There was no difference in total yield between the two temperatures, but both increased yield above the high tunnel alone and the 15 °C heating treatment moved the harvest season approximately 6.5 weeks earlier than unheated tunnels and approximately 12 weeks earlier than field production. The additional cost associated with using supplemental heat was offset by the increased yields and the higher value of early fruit.Separate experiments were carried out to determine susceptibility of strawberry leaves to damage from cold temperatures, which can then be used to provide guidelines for temperature management in high tunnels. Strawberry leaves were not significantly damaged when exposed to -3 °C, but significant damage occurred once leaves were exposed to -5 °C. To maximize the advantages of protected cultivation, growers should manage tunnels and heating to keep leaf temperatures above -3 °C. These results provide improved guidelines for growers interested in using protected cultivation strategies to provide fruit for local consumption in the Intermountain West.

The relative economic efficiency of acquisitions as a means of restructuring financially distressed firms is investigated. Yearly accounting and daily stock price data are extracted for the period between 1979 and 1998 on firms entering financial distress The behaviour and performance of these firms were traced for a five year period following their entry into distress or until their shares were no longer trading. These collected data forms the basis for analyzing the returns acquired from investing in potential takeover targets. Survival analysis is used to analyze the hazard rate for both the acquisition and bankruptcy of distressed firms. The results of the analysis indicate that the ZSCORE, a predictor of the probability of failure, and SPCSRM, the rating by Standard and Poor's, can be used as financial indicators in the screening mechanisms for financially distressed firms. A multinomial-logit acquisition model is used to predict three outcomes of financially distressed firms: survival, acquisition and failure. This model is tested using two methods by simulating the probability of acquisition. The first uses to compare the predicted versus the actual corporate events to maximize the predicted acquisition event. The second uses to compute abnormal return to maximize portfolio return over a given time period, continual on the ZSCORE, probability of acquisition, and the length of holding period. The predictive model of the acquisition probability is applied as a stock entry rule in a buy-sell system. The success of the model will serve two purposes. One is to predict the economic value of acquisition. The other is to provide successful strategies for investing in stocks.

The relative economic efficiency of acquisitions as a means of restructuring financially distressed firms is investigated. Yearly accounting and daily stock price data are extracted for the period between 1979 and 1998 on firms entering financial distress The behaviour and performance of these firms were traced for a five year period following their entry into distress or until their shares were no longer trading. These collected data forms the basis for analyzing the returns acquired from investing in potential takeover targets. Survival analysis is used to analyze the hazard rate for both the acquisition and bankruptcy of distressed firms. The results of the analysis indicate that the ZSCORE, a predictor of the probability of failure, and SPCSRM, the rating by Standard and Poor's, can be used as financial indicators in the screening mechanisms for financially distressed firms. A multinomial-logit acquisition model is used to predict three outcomes of financially distressed firms: survival, acquisition and failure. This model is tested using two methods by simulating the probability of acquisition. The first uses to compare the predicted versus the actual corporate events to maximize the predicted acquisition event. The second uses to compute abnormal return to maximize portfolio return over a given time period, continual on the ZSCORE, probability of acquisition, and the length of holding period. The predictive model of the acquisition probability is applied as a stock entry rule in a buy-sell system. The success of the model will serve two purposes. One is to predict the economic value of acquisition. The other is to provide successful strategies for investing in stocks.

A tutor's role has to be developted into a helmate's role and be the garuantee for succeful physicial and psychological evolution.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 129-140).

The security of powerful systems and large networks is often addressed through complex defenses. While these types of defenses offer increased security, they are resource intensive and therefore impractical to implement on many new classes of networked systems, such as mobile phones and small, embedded network infrastructure devices. To provide security for these systems, new defenses must be created that provide highly efficient security. The Moving Target IPv6 Defense (MT6D) is a network layer moving target defense that dynamically changes Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) addresses mid-session while still maintaining continuous communication. MT6D was originally written in Python language, but this implementation suffers from severe performance limitations. By translating MT6D from Python to C and taking advantage of operating system specific application programming interfaces (APIs) and optimizations, MT6D can become a viable defense for resource constrained systems. The Python version of MT6D is analyzed initially to determine what functions might be performance bottlenecks that could be performed more efficiently using C. Based on this analysis, specific parts of the Python version are identified for improvement in the C version by either using functionality of the Linux kernel and network stack or by reworking the code in a more efficient way. After this analysis, the information gathered about the Python version is used to write the C version, using methods specific to a moving target defense to capture, analyze, modify, and tunnel packets. Finally, tests are designed and run to compare the performance of the Python and C versions. / Master of Science