ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / Traditional approaches to constructing 3D structural electronics with conductive and dielectric materials include ink-jet printed, silver-bearing ink and fine copper wire meshes. One approach combines stereo-lithographic 3D-printed photo-polymers with direct-printed silver-bearing conductive inks. Results have shown 3D conductive structures with conductivities in the range 2x10⁶ to 1x10⁷ S/m using annealing temperatures ranging from 110°C to 150°C for 10 to 15 minutes. However, the stereo-lithographic approach suffers from the high cost of the printer and structural deformation during annealing. This paper presents a new method for 3d printing high conductivity metal alloys using consumer-grade 3D printer. The design and construction of the necessary modification will be presented in addition to the new 3D design process. The method yields metal structures with expected conductivities exceeding 2.6x10⁶ S/m. The process is performed without an annealing step, so the polymeric structural material is not exposed to high temperatures for any prolonged time. A UHF ISM band antenna is constructed for an RFID application using this method, the antenna performance is measured, and the results are compared simulations in Ansys HFSS. This new method can reduce total cost, and several low melting-point alloys could raise the conductivity.

National discourse on cyberconflict has largely focused on defensive concerns, or protecting “critical infrastructure” from cyber threats. By contrast, the U.S. government’s employment of cyberattack is shrouded in secrecy and receives scant public attention. The seminal study on U.S. cyberattack, published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2009, noted that the clandestine nature of U.S. cyber operations hinders “widespread understanding and debate about the nature and implications of U.S. cyberattack.” This secrecy has contributed to a policy and legal framework for cyberattack that the NRC-NAS Report called “ill-formed, underdeveloped and highly uncertain.” Since the NRC-NAS Report was published, the U.S. government has signaled an unprecedented seriousness of purpose in addressing cyberconflict. It has marshaled its cyber resources under the leadership of a single “Cyber Command” and attempted to articulate formal “cyberstrategy.” Media reports from 2010-11 provide rare insight into cyberattack decision-making, and describe gradual development of policy and process for a specific type of cyberattack. The topic of U.S. cyberattack merits revisiting. This Report surveys the current international environment regarding cyberconflict, traces the development of “cyberstrategy” by the Executive Office of the President (EoP) and the Department of Defense (DoD) to make general points about the U.S. approach to cyberattack, and examines the statutory framework applicable to U.S. cyberattack in a narrow set of cases. This Report draws on news media reports about a series of cyberattack incidents to examine the dynamics of the cyberattack policy-making process, discusses recent attempts to address these issues, and summarizes lessons learned. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Philosophy

Since the end of the Cold War, the central puzzle of alliance theory is no longer why or how do alliances form, but (1) why do some alliances persist beyond the conditions in which they were created and (2) of these, why do some evolve in new directions ? Traditional realist scholarship cannot account for the persistence or evolution of military alliances when threats recede. This dissertation devises a model of alliance institutionalization and norm formation to explain and predict these processes. / When multidimensional threats exist, states facing a common threat ally, but they formalize and institutionalize the alliance so it can better manage multiple threats. Institutionalization encourages conditions conducive to persistence and evolution in two ways. First, by facilitating consultation and cooperation, it increases transparency, improves the performance of the alliance, and makes it costly for allies to renounce commitments or otherwise abandon one another. Second, institutions foster norms that in turn induce a form of attachment, or "loyalty" to the institution. / The strength of the norms embodied in the alliance and the allies' assessment of performance determine the behavior of institutionalized alliances. The alliance persists unaltered when performance is satisfactory, but norms are weak. It evolves, or expands its purpose and activities, when satisfactory performance combines with strong constitutive norms. Erosion occurs when strong norms encourage allies to salvage a poorly functioning alliance by curtailing its scope. Dissolution takes place when unsatisfactory performance and weak norms fail to prevent exit. / The most significant findings of this dissertation are that given institutionalization and norms, states do not exit an alliance immediately following a significant alteration in the strategic context or a decline in performance, but they try to preserve it. Only when these efforts fail will they curtail or dissolve the relationship. The dissertation tests the model by engaging in a comparative analysis of Cold War institutionalized alliances: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Warsaw Pact, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, and the Australia, New Zealand, and U.S. alliance. Therefore, policy makers should not assume that evolving institutionalized alliances are adversarial or rush to respond with destabilizing counter alliances and, to minimize the possibility of conflict, allies engaging in evolution must clearly communicate their objectives to non-participants.

Since the events of 9/11, there has been tremendous amount of renewed interests in the study of trade security. There has been an influx of security regulations and the private sector has been trying to keep pace in complying with them. However, due to the public externalities of security improvements and the lack of quantified and proven benefits, the private sector is struggling to establish business cases for their security initiatives. There is very little quantitative research in this area. Using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM), this study serves to fill this gap by introducing a statistical way of analysing and understanding the complex relationships amongst security effort, its motivators and performance and traditional supply chain performance (SCP). This study also proposes an evaluation framework for security efforts. EFA results show that security is a dimension of SCP. This means that organizations have all along been measuring an aspect of their operations that relates to security. As such, organizations should not perceive the current heightened interests in security as throwing them off-balance. In evaluating security efforts, organizations should select key performance indicators (KPIs) that represent each of the four areas of information, cargo, people and cost. SEM results show that organizations undertake security efforts as a result of both perceived security benefits and perceived collateral benefits, with perceived security benefits carrying a greater weight in the decision-making process. Results also show that organizations are implementing security initiatives out-of-compliance i.e. implementing initiatives that they perceive as not having significant impacts on security and SCP. In view of the positive relationships among perceived security impact, security effort and security performance, there is further imperative for an objective method for evaluating security efforts to prevent effort justification behaviour in determining the effectiveness of the same. Results also show that organizations perceive an improved performance in security leads to an overall improvement in SCP. However, as with other supply chain strategies, there are tradeoffs and not all aspects of SCP are impacted in the same way. Time, responsiveness and efficiency for instance are negatively impacted while reliability is positively impacted.

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