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<p dir="ltr">Protecting personal information is growing increasingly important to the general public, to the point that major tech companies now advertise the privacy features of their products. Despite this, it remains challenging to implement applications that do not leak private information either directly or indirectly, through timing behavior, memory access patterns, or control flow side channels. Existing security and cryptographic techniques such as secure multiparty computation (MPC) provide solutions to privacy-preserving computation, but they can be difficult to use for non-experts and even experts.</p><p dir="ltr">This dissertation develops the design, theory and implementation of various language-based techniques that help programmers write privacy-critical applications under a strong threat model. The proposed languages support private structured data, such as trees, that may hide their structural information and complex policies that go beyond whether a particular field of a record is private. More crucially, the approaches described in this dissertation decouple privacy and programmatic concerns, allowing programmers to implement privacy-preserving applications modularly, i.e., to independently develop application logic and independently update and audit privacy policies. Secure-by-construction applications are derived automatically by combining a standard program with a separately specified security policy.</p><p><br></p>

Då den nuvarande kunskapen om vilka träslag det är i de olika delarna av kvarnverken i gotländska väderkvarnar baserar sig på bristfälliga muntliga uppgifter, har författaren tagit totalt 59 träprov från sju väderkvarnar i Eksta socken, Gotland, och genom mikroskopanalys försökt identifiera träslagen. Resultaten gav fyra olika träslag (furu, ek, oxel och björk) till totalt nio olika delar. Författaren diskuterar sannolika skäl till varför just de träslagen har valts till just de delarna. Resultaten kan anses vara (mer eller mindre) representativa för hela ön. Resultaten har vidare jämförts med uppgifter från Gotland, Öland och Dagö (Estland). En intressant diskrepans uppmärksammades: de delar (kuggar och drevpinnar) som på Öland och Gotland är av oxel (med undantaget björk), är på Dagö av ask eller äppelträd. Övriga delar överensstämmer (mer eller mindre). Författaren sätter detta i samband med en tes som estländaren Dan Lukas har, som går ut på att den estländska kvarntypen tog sig dit söderifrån genom väg över Gotland. Om denna tes skulle stämma, finns det anledning att förvänta sig stora likheter öarna emellan när det gäller träslagsvalen. Anledningen till att kuggarna och drevpinnarna på Dagö, till skillnad från på Öland och Gotland, där de är tillverkade av oxel (och i enstaka fall av björk), tillverkades av ask eller äppelträd, kan bero på att endast enstaka fynd av oxel (eng. Swedish whitebeam) har påträffats där eller att oxel inte alls växte där på den tid då kvarnarna byggdes, medan oxel är allmänt förekommande på Gotland och mindre allmänt förekommande på Öland. Författarens förhoppning är att undersökningens resultat ska kunna fylla ett praktiskt syfte för lokala antikvarier och väderkvarnsägare på ön vid restaurering, ifall en önskan finns om att ersätta eller återskapa skadade delar på ett ”antikvariskt korrekt” sätt, vad gäller materialvalet. / The current knowledge of what types of woods there are in the different parts of the Gotland windmill machinery are based on unsatisfactory verbal information. The author has therefore himself taken in total 59 wood samples from seven windmills in the parish of Eksta, Gotland, and through microscope analysis tried to identify the types of woods. The results gave four different types of woods (pine, oak, Swedish whitebeam and birch) for in total nine parts. The author discusses probable reasons to why just those types of woods were chosen to just those parts. The results can be considered (more or less) representative for the whole island. The results have furthermore been compared with information from Gotland, Öland and Dagö (Estonia). One interesting discrepancy was observed: those parts (the cogs and the wallower’s staves) which on Öland and on Gotland are made from Swedish whitebeam (with the exception birch), are on Dagö made from ash or apple tree. Other parts accord (more or less). The author relates this with a theory of the Estonian Dan Lukas, and the drift of that theory is that the Estonian type of windmill came there from the south by way over Gotland. If this theory would be true, there is reason to expect great similarities between the islands when it comes to selection of types of woods. The reason why the cogs and the wallower’s staves on Dagö are made from ash or apple tree, unlike on Öland and on Gotland where they are made from Swedish whitebeam (and in a few cases from birch), can be that only isolated finds of Swedish whitebeam have been found there or that Swedish whitebeam didn’t grow there at all during the time when the windmills were built, while Swedish whitebeam is common on Gotland and less common on Öland. The author’s hope is that the results of the investigation will be able to serve a practical purpose for local antiquarians and windmill owners on the island during restauration work, in case a wish would be existent to replace or recreate damaged parts in an “antiquarian correct” way, with regards to the choice of the material.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / James K. Koelliker / This research provides a deterministic model of in-vessel composting, based on Monod’s growth kinetics, to mirror biological-mixture decomposition. Existing models predict temperature curves assuming a single temperature-range organism, using a soluble (simple sugar) substrate, with bacteria as the microorganism, and they ignore the different temperature range environments that impact the growth rates of mesophilic and thermophilic microorganisms. The new computer-simulated model, written in MATLAB® by The MathWorks, has six unique features. First, three major carbon chain substrate groups are utilized: soluble, hemicellulose/cellulose, and lignin. An additional substrate group is used for inert substrates. Second, three major microorganism groups are utilized: bacteria for soluble substrate, actinomycetes for cellulose substrate, and fungi for lignin substrate. Third, two temperature-range microorganisms are included: mesophilic and thermophilic. Fourth, the model accounts for the death of microorganisms as the temperature transitions between the temperature ranges. Most of the dead cellular mass is returned to soluble substrate for reutilization and a portion is considered resistant to biological decomposition and is added into the lignin substrate. Fifth, stoichiometric equations account for substrate and microorganism compositions, oxygen and nitrogen requirements, and carbon dioxide and water production. Sixth, the relationship between biological activity and water is better defined. Experimental research was conducted to validate the model. Laboratory analysis distinguished the substrate types. The results indicate the model did differentiate between different levels of substrate types, and the mesophilic and thermophilic microorganism types. Also, the model did differentiate between the bacteria, actinomycetes and fungi. The influence was small, however, because of the different maximum growth rates of the three types of microorganisms. Returning dead microbes to the substrate pools as a result of temperature transitions affected the model results positively. Additional research is needed to account for the influence of volume reduction, develop a better microbial growth curve, include particle size influence, add temporal temperature fluctuations to the external boundary conditions, incorporate pH and nitrogen availability, and develop a three-dimensional model. KEY WORDS. Aerobic composting, mathematical composting model, substrate types, microorganism types, microorganism temperature range, mesophilic, thermophilic, microbial death utilization, moisture composting relationship.

Dans ce mémoire, après avoir défini le concept de déploiement, nous obtenons les variables des algèbres amassées et les classes de mutations associées aux carquois valués de types B et C en ramenant l'étude de ces concepts à celle des familles A et D, respectivement.

The majority of database system development projects end in failure. Reasons that include, the system not being developed on time, the system was developed over budget, and the system developed did not meet the planned project's criteria. These failures are compounded by the use of virtual teams which includes problems with team formation, the organizational environment in which the team operates, and the technology used for collaboration and communication. As more organizations use virtual teams, these problems have continued to impede the successful completion of database system development. The goal of the study was to determine what leadership type, transformational, transactional, or management-by-exception (passive-avoidant leadership) is most effective in leading a virtual team in developing a database management system. The target population for this study was Generation Y students at the Maine Business School who were assigned to virtual teams tasked with developing a database management system. Specifically this study answered these three research questions: 1) What is the effect of leadership type, as self-reported through the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire on the quality of completed team projects? 2) What is the impact of type of leadership on virtual team effectiveness as measured by the Virtual Teams Survey? 3) What is the joint effect of type of leadership, and virtual team effectiveness on the quality and uniqueness of the completed team project? Virtual team effectiveness was defined as the level of involvement in team formation, job characteristics, technical proficiency of team members, relationship between team members, teams process and attributes about the team leader, organizational environment in which the team operates, and technology the team used for collaboration and communication. The quality of the completed team project was defined as one that meets the team project criteria which included tables, relationships, forms, queries, and reports. Other attributes included the uniqueness of product defined by the addition of extra functions and controls added to the database system that go above and beyond the project criteria. The study found that for research question 1, only transformational and transactional leadership types had a significant and negative impact on the quality of completed team projects. Research question 2 found no significant correlation between leadership type and virtual team effectiveness. Research question 3 showed that none of the variables were significantly associated with the quality of the completed team project. These findings suggest that traditional concepts of leadership types do not work well in virtual environments.

State DOTs (department of transportation) spend billions of dollars on construction and maintenance of transportation projects every year. In addition, significant sums go to preliminary and construction engineering (PE and CE). For many projects, DOTs utilize engineering services from consultants, to supplement in-house engineering. The cost and quality of consultant’s engineering services compared to in-house, are important issues to justify the involvement of consultants. This report provides an analysis of those issues on Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) projects. Traditionally, the costs of PE and CE are calculated as a fixed percentage of total project construction cost, and the efficiency of engineering organizations is assessed by comparison of their gross percentages. However, the results presented here show that project scope and complexity are significant factors in PE and CE cost. Therefore, simplistic comparisons of PE and CE percentages can be misleading when applied across a mixed program of projects. / text

Scanning electron microscopy of Ar-ion milled samples from the Eagle Ford Formation, South Texas shows that the character and abundance of porosity changes significantly across burial conditions as a result of compaction, cementation, bitumen generation, and generation of secondary porosity within organic matter (OM). Samples displaying a range of compositions and maturities are imaged and quantified to provide insight into the effects of these processes. Porosity in low-maturity samples (Ro~0.5%) is volumetrically dominated (0.1% -12.5% bulk volume, average 6.2%) by relatively large, mostly interparticle, primary mineral-associated pores (median sizes range 35.9-52.7 nm). Larger pores are generally associated with coccolith debris that is commonly aggregated into pellets. Porosity and pore size correlate directly with calcite abundance and inversely with OM volumes. OM is dominantly detrital kerogen "stringers" that range in size and have spatial distributions and character suggestive of detrital origin. Destruction of primary porosity in low-maturity samples has occurred due to compaction of ductile kerogen and clays and, to a minor degree, as a result of cementation and infill of early bitumen. Smaller, secondary OM-hosted pores (median size range 11.1-14.9 nm) volumetrically dominate porosity (0.02%-3.6% bulk volume, average of 1.36%), in most high-maturity samples (Ro~1.2%-1.3%). Mineral-associated pores are present, but are typically smaller (median size range from 20.3-40.6 nm) and less abundant (0.0%-10.0% bulk volume, average of 2.5%) than at low maturity. Abundant mineral-associated porosity is present locally in samples where incursion of primary pore space by bitumen has not occurred. OM within high-maturity samples is distributed more evenly throughout the rock fabric, occupying spaces similar in size and morphology to primary interparticle pores, coating euhedral crystals (probable cements), and filling intraparticle porosity. These observations, and positive correlation between calcite and OM volumes (OM-hosted pore volume included) in samples with dominantly OM-hosted pore networks, suggests that a large portion of OM within high-maturity samples is diagenetic in origin and has filled primary pore space. Destruction of primary porosity in high-maturity samples has occurred through cementation, bitumen infill, and, possibly greater compaction. Additional porosity, however, has been generated through maturation of OM. / text

<p>A research review of 46 peer-reviewed articles with bisexuals as a target group was conducted with the objective to investigate methods of finding bisexual participants in empirical Social Sciences studies. The aim was to examine occurring definitions of “bisexual”, sample types, and sources of data. Results indicated that a self-identification definition was most frequently used, that sample type was seldom reported with an even distribution between probability and non-probability sample types when occurring, and that sources of data varied with media as most frequent. Some of the conclusions drawn were that bisexuals often occur in the same studies as lesbians and gay men, and that bisexual women have a poor representation in studies.</p>

My dissertation uses multiple methods to introduce the novel concept of racial sexual preference - individuals’ preferences for a sexual or romantic partner based on race. This project builds on an insight from Daryl Bem’s “Exotic Becomes Erotic” theory of sexual development: a diverse set of sexual preferences exists beyond gender. I argue the very real social consequences of race make preferences in regard to it (sexual or otherwise) an important area for systematic study. I focus on gay male subculture, which has uniquely developed a terminology for expressing racial preferences. I investigate how racial preference is understood and organized within this subculture by collecting gay men’s sexual history narratives of cross-race preferences through interviews, as well as collecting archival materials from the national organization Black and White Men Together (BWMT) that pertain to racial sexual preference. I find that racial sexual preferences are experienced early in the life course and are consistent over time, similarly to experiences of gendered sexual orientation, though generally less exclusive. Unlike gendered sexual orientation, identities are unlikely to form in relation to racial sexual preferences because there is little ideological structure to support expression of cross-race racial preferences. Even within the organizational structure of BWMT, founded to support racial sexual preferences, over time I find a decrease in discourse and identity related to racial sexual preference (in favor of a colorblind ideal of preferences). I end my study by using the concept of racial sexual preference, supported by the findings from interviews and case study, to build on and challenge the theoretical work of Daryl Bem, Lisa Diamond, and James Giles in the area of sexual development and desire.