<p> Over the course of history, different means of object and person identification as well as verification have evolved for user authentication. In recent years, a new concern has emerged regarding the accuracy of verifiable authentication and protection of personal identifying information (PII), because previous misuses have resulted in significant financial loss. Such losses have escalated more noticeably because of human identity-theft incidents due to breaches of PII within multiple public-access environments. Although the use of various biometric and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies is expanding, resistance to using these technologies for user authentication remains an issue. This study addressed the effect of individuals&rsquo; perceptions on their resistance to using multi-method authentication systems (RMS) in public-access environments and uncovered key constructs that may significantly contribute to such resistance.</p><p> This study was a predictive study to assess the contributions of individuals&rsquo; perceptions of the importance of organizational protection of their PII, noted as Perceived Value of Organizational Protection of PII (PVOP), authentication complexity (AC), and invasion of privacy (IOP) on their resistance to using multi-method authentication systems (RMS) in public-access environments. Moreover, this study also investigated if there were any significant differences on the aforementioned constructs based on age, gender, prior experience with identity theft, and acquaintance experience with identity theft. As part of this study, a rollout project was implemented of multi-factor biometric and RFID technologies for system authentication prior to electronic-commerce (e-commerce) use in public-access environments. The experimental group experienced the multi-factor authentication and also was trained on its use. Computer users (faculty &amp; students) from a small, private university participated in the study to determine their level of PVOP, IOP, and AC on their resistance to using the technology in public-access environments. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) was used to formulate a model and test predictive power along with the significance of the contribution of the aforementioned constructs on RMS. The results show that all construct measures demonstrated very high reliability. The results also indicate that the experimental group of the multi-factor authentication had lower resistance than the control group that didn&rsquo;t use the technology. The mean increases indicate an overall statistically significant difference between the experimental and control groups overall. The results also demonstrate that students and participants&rsquo; increased levels of education indicate an overall statistically significant decrease in resistance. The findings demonstrate that overall computer authentication training do provide added value in the context of measuring resistance to using newer multi-method authentication technology.</p>

<p> Over the past decade, the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) has risen to forefront of cybersecurity threats. APTs are a major contributor to the billions of dollars lost by corporations around the world annually. The threat is significant enough that the <i>Navy Cyber Power 2020</i> plan identified them as a &ldquo;must mitigate&rdquo; threat in order to ensure the security of its warfighting network. </p><p> Reports, white papers, and various other open source materials offer a plethora of information to cybersecurity professionals regarding these APT attacks and the organizations behind them but mining and correlating information out of these various sources needs the support of standardized language and a common understand of terms that comes from an accepted APT ontology. </p><p> This paper and its related research applies the science of Natural Language Processing Open Source Intelligence in order to build an open source Ontology in the APT domain with the goal of building a dictionary and taxonomy for this complex domain.</p>

Shortening product development cycles and reducing cost are important aspects for all development work. Being able to reuse resources spent on earlier product generations is one way to lower costs by preventing the same job from being done multiple times. In this master’s thesis in Computer Science and Engineering an evaluation of a new microcontroller is made with the goal of reusing a large codebase from previous projects. Studied is also the currently used program loading methods at Haldex Traction and a new concept is suggested which would render some of the current limitations invalid. Finally a presentation of the practical work needed to adapt a small real-time kernel called TinyTimber to a new platform is explained. / Validerat; 20101217 (root)

Validerat; 20101217 (root)

This Master's Thesis work in Space Engineering was conducted at NASA Ames Research Center. It is a design concept pre-study on the feasibility of a small plant growth module for the lunar equator, based on theoretical modelling of the radiation thermal balance. The plant that will be used is a dwarf variety of Arabidopsis thaliana, a model organism widely used in plant biology research and the plant growth module will be using ambient light as energy source. The lunar equator imposes a big challenge due to the altered daylight pattern. The lunar day is 14 earth days long at the equator, followed by a 14 earth day period of darkness, which gives high variations in temperature and light intensities. The design for the plant growth module consists of a totally insulated box with a glass roof, tilted on the sides that will be facing the sun. Inside, attached to the roof, is a 45 degrees triangular mirror, providing shade to the plants when the sun is at zenith and reflecting horizontal morning and evening sunlight downwards to the plants. The glass roof is made out of two different types of glasses, with different transmission intervals, so that heat can radiate out from those sides of the roof that will not face the sun. Many different designs were invented and analysed before the final concept was established. This gives an inside temperature of between 5 and 28 degrees Celsius and a PAR level of between 440 and 710 micromoles per square meter and second. Based on the assumptions that were made in the modelling, a plant growth module on the lunar equator seems feasible. However, before further improvements of the details in the model can be done, uncertainties in the parameters have to undergo laboratory testing under lunar similar conditions and be determined. / Validerat; 20101217 (root)

Validerat; 20101217 (root)

Validerat; 20130813 (global_studentproject_submitter)

The purpose of this thesis is to suggest changes and improvements to youth housing, bothsocial, educational and environmentally and also look at alternatives to cheap construction ofbuildings so that the rents and production costs don’t increase so much or even possibly leadto a decrease in costs. This survey is done for Lulebo to get a better insight on what studentswant for housing and what features students ask regarding future student housing and howmuch they are willing to pay for these features. The aim of the thesis is through research andprevious studies to presents a complete design proposal in the form of student housing thatcan be implemented in a house designed for them. The design proposal must includedrawings, concept art, and the result until the final proposal and description of theaccommodation.To get the information what students are demanding for in a new student housing a survey hasbeen created to be distributed to the three different groups of students (high school students,first-year university students and final year university students). The questionnaire wasdesigned with quantitative method and the results are presented in bar graphs and text whichcan then be analyzed to be interpreted and used in the design. A panel was planned to obtain aqualitative result that can strengthen the results of the survey while contributing to otheraspects such as the opinions and thinking of the persons.A literature study of basic theories was also designed. This contributed to different outcomesmeasures that can reduce costs, but also how students are affected by their home environment,etc. Some of these theories were used in the development of the student apartments andhousing design.According to the survey, the average person who responded to the survey was 18 and 21 yearsold, single and lived in either a student apartment or a regular apartment. The average personspends most studies in group rooms, followed by the library. Those students that study athome always do it in the kitchen, followed by the bedroom with a desk in there. These areasshould have good comfort and light. He/she may even consider having handicappedaccessible home that would facilitate a visit from an acquaintance who is disabled. Theaverage person would rather have a two rooms and a kitchen followed by a one room andkitchen and double room apartment. The bed is an important feature that will take up muchspace in the apartment (they want to sleep in a hundred and twenty beds standing on thefloor). The average person does not want to have extra sleeping space for people who sleepover.The average person would also want the home located near school; have good transport linkssuch as bus stop, grocery store, etc. The laundry and bicycle room should be close on hand inthe house. The average person can even think of being more eco-efficient by scrap sorting andsave on electricity and hot water. It is also important that the apartments have reasonable rent. / <p>Validerat; 20131015 (global_studentproject_submitter)</p>

This study determined whether the quantity and quality of instructional television (ITV) use and attitudes toward ITV varies between teachers served by a centralized ITV delivery system or by a decentralized system. It determined the degree to which teachers' attitudes toward the use of ITV are related to their perceptions that the available ITV delivery system possesses the attributes of innovations proposed by Rogers and Shoemaker. / Centralized system users were teachers receiving ITV programming from a broadcast or district-wide closed-circuit television facility. Decentralized users were teachers utilizing videotape copies of ITV programs in their classrooms. / Quantity and quality of ITV use, attitudes toward ITV and perceptions of the attributes of the available ITV delivery system were measured by a specially designed instrument, the Comprehensive ITV Survey Instrument (CISI). The CISI was administered to 244 teachers at 53 elementary schools in ten Florida counties. Interviews were conducted to confirm CISI responses. / T-tests between the CISI responses on the quality and attitude scale measures revealed no significant differences between the two ITV delivery systems. Centralized system use was found to be significantly higher in quantity than the decentralized system use. / Pearson product-moment correlations revealed that there was a significant relationship between four of the five attributes of innovations and quantity, quality and attitude scores. The relationships were in the directions predicted by Rogers and Shoemaker, however, most of the correlations were low (-.0048 to .29) accounting for less than 11% of the variance. / There was no apparent advantage to the use of either delivery system in terms of quality of ITV use or attitudes toward ITV. Despite the statistically significant difference in quantity of ITV use, the actual differences were too small to be of practical significance. / Utilizing Rogers' and Shoemaker's attributes was not documented to be a strong predictor of teachers' use of or attitudes toward ITV. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-10, Section: A, page: 4259. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.

The purposes of this study were to investigate the effects of orienting activities in hypertext and printed text, and the interactive effect between orienting questions and prior knowledge on learning achievement, and learning efficiency. One hundred twenty-three 9th- to 12th-grade students were assigned randomly to one of four treatments--(a) printed text, (b) printed text with orienting questions, (c) hypertext, and (d) hypertext with orienting questions. / Based on the results obtained, five hypotheses were examined. Results indicated that hypertext was not more effective or efficient in facilitating learning than the corresponding printed version of the same text. Orienting questions presented in hypertext were found out to help learners to improve their understanding, but failed to improve their learning efficiency. Orienting questions, however, did not make hypertext a better medium to comprehend effectively and efficiently than printed text. / Results supported that hypertext was a more difficult instructional medium for students who had low prior knowledge than printed text. Results also indicated that orienting questions did not help students who lacked prior knowledge to improve their learning in hypertext. Limitations of the study and several implications for instructional practice future research in this area are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-11, Section: A, page: 4067. / Major Professor: David F. Salisbury. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.