The amount of data and the development of new technologies used by all society-critical organizations are increasing dramatically. In parallel, data breaches, cyber-attacks, and their devastating consequences are also on the rise, as well as the number of individuals and organizations that are potential targets for such attacks. This places higher demands on security in terms of protecting data against cyber-attacks and controlling access to data that authenticated users want to access. The paper focuses on studying concepts of secure data practices in a GitLab-based cloud environment. The objective is to give answers to questions such as how to ensure the guarantee of secure data and protect it from unauthorized access and changes. The work behind this thesis includes exploring techniques for access control, data encryption, and data immutability. The study is followed by an implementation project that includes fetching code from GitLab verifying user identity and access control, managing data access, and displaying the results. The results of the thesis demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented security measures in protecting data and controlling access. / Mängden av data och utvecklingen av banbrytande teknologier som idag används av alla samhällsbärande organisationer ökar drastiskt. I samma takt ökar dataintrång, cyberattacker och dess förödande konsekvenser samt antalet personer och organisationer som utgör potentiella offer för sådana typer av attacker. Detta ställer högre krav på säkerheten när det gäller att skydda data mot cyberattacker, men även att kontrollera åtkomsten till data som autentiserade användare vill komma åt. Rapporten fokuserar på att studera hur data säkras i GitLab-baserade molnsystem. Syftet med detta arbete är att ge svar på frågeställningar som till exempel att lova säker åtkomst och skydd för data från obehörig åtkomst och ändringar. Arbetet bakom detta projekt inkluderade undersökning av tekniker som används inom accesskontroll, datakryptering och data-omutlighet. Studien resulterade i en implementation som möjliggör att hämta signerade ändringar (Commits) från GitLab, verifiera användaridentiteten och åtkomstbehörighet, hantera dataåtkomst samt presentera resultaten. Resultaten av detta examensarbete demonstrerar effektiviteten av den implementerade säkerhetsteknikerna i att skydda data och kontrollera access.

This thesis proposes an implementation for a decentralized version of the Git version controlsystem. This is achieved using a simple distributed DAG ledger. The thesis analyzeshow the decentralization of Git affects security. Use and misuse cases are used to compareand evaluate conventional Git web services and a decentralized version of Git. Theproposed method for managing the state of the Git project is described as a voting systemwhere participants in a Git project vote on changes to be made. The security evaluationfound that the removal of privileged roles in the Git version control system, mitigated thepossibility of malicious maintainers taking over the project. However, with the introductionof the DAG ledger and the decentralization, the possibility of a malicious actor takingover the network using Sybil attack arises, which in turn could cause the same issues as amalicious maintainer.

Was geschieht, wenn ein Komponist aus einem Klavierlied ein Orchesterlied macht? Dieser Frage geht dieses Paper anhand von Gustav Mahlers Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen mit besonderem Schwerpunkt auf dem zweiten Lied des Zyklus, »Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld«, nach. Dass dieses Lied nicht nur in einer Klavier- und Orchesterfassung existiert, sondern auch in Mahlers erster Sinfonie zitiert wird, macht einen Vergleich auf mehreren Ebenen möglich. Die bisherige Forschung beschäftigt sich intensiv mit der Entstehungsgeschichte der Gesellenlieder (Roman 1974, Mitchell 2005) sowie, Bezug nehmend auf die in großer Zahl auftretenden Zitate verschiedenster Komponisten, mit der Einordnung des Werks in seinen kulturellen, literarischen und musikhistorischen Kontext (Celestini 2010). Weniger erschöpfend wird die Frage behandelt, inwiefern der Instrumentalklang bei Mahler ein eigener Kompositionsparameter ist (Riehn 1996). Einen umfassenden Vergleich zwischen Klavier- und Orchesterfassung auf der Grundlage der Musik selbst gibt es hingegen auch in den größeren Mahler-Monografien (Schmierer 1991, Mitchell 2005) bislang nicht. Daher werden im Paper durch eine detaillierte Materialerfassung zuerst die Klavier- und die Orchesterfassung hinsichtlich Gesangsverdopplung, harmonischer Auffüllung des musikalischen Satzes und Ausgestaltung der Basslinie miteinander verglichen. Anschließend wird untersucht, welche Änderungen sich wiederum bei der Übertragung von der vokalen Gattung Orchesterlied in die rein instrumentale Gattung Sinfonie ergeben. Anknüpfend an die Ergebnisse dieses Vergleichs wird der Versuch unternommen, Mahlers Klangideal in dieser frühen Phase seines Schaffens zu formulieren. / What happens if a composer creates an orchestra song on the basis of a piano song? This paper deals with this question by taking a deeper look at »Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld« from Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. Not only does this song exist in a version both for piano and voice and orchestra and voice, but Mahler also quotes it in his first symphony. This makes it possible to conduct a multi-layered comparison. While previous research has focused on the genesis of the Gesellenlieder (Roman 1974, Mitchell 2005), their cultural, literary and music historical context (Celestini 2010) and Mahler’s skill in composing Klang (Riehn 1996), there is no detailed comparison of the piano and orchestra song versions existent to this day, not even in the more extensive monographs on Gustav Mahler (Schmierer 1991, Mitchell 2005). Therefore, this paper first compares the piano song with the orchestra song with the main emphasis on vocal doubling, arrangement of the middle voices and the bass line. Subsequently, the transfer from the vocal genre Orchesterlied into the instrumental genre of the symphony is examined. Based then on the results of these comparisons, it shall be attempted to formulate Mahler’s sound ideal in this early stage of his compositional output.

No description available.

<p><strong>Background </strong>External cephalic version (ECV) is an effective intervention to reduce breech presentation and the corresponding Caesarean section (CS) rate. The Early ECV (EECV) trials were international multicentre randomized controlled trials that compared the timing of ECV (early or delayed) on obstetric and neonatal outcomes. In consideration of current recommendations that multicentre trials should account for centre effects in their analysis, a secondary analysis of the EECV trials was undertaken.</p> <p><strong>Purpose</strong> To analyse the EECV Trial data using statistical methods that account for centre effect and compare the results to standard analysis.<strong></strong></p> <p><strong>Methods </strong>Fisher’s exact test was used to provide overall results unadjusted for centre effects. The outcomes of interest were CS, preterm birth, and non-cephalic presentation at birth.</p> <p>Seven statistical models that accounted for centre effects were applied to the data: i) Mantel-Haenzsel test, ii) fixed effects regression, iii) fixed effects regression with a treatment-by-centre interaction term (weighted and iv) un-weighted by centre size), v) random intercept model, vi) random intercept and random slope model, and vii) generalized estimating equations.</p> <p><strong>Results </strong>Accounting for centre effects showed strengthened statistical associations with point estimates moving away from the null value.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion </strong>Effect estimates and confidence intervals changed for the three selected outcomes after accounting for centre effects, but the overall conclusions of the trial did not change. For this application, the Mantel-Haenzsel test and the random effects regressions performed the best. This study provides empirical evidence to support recommendations that multicentre trials account for centre in both design and analysis.</p> / Master of Health Sciences (MSc)

This study explores the application of object detection models for detecting Arctic Foxes in camera trap images, a crucial step towards automating wildlife monitoring and enhancing conservation efforts. The study involved training models on You Only Look Once version 7(YOLOv7) architecture across different locations using k-fold cross-validation technique and evaluating their performance in terms of mean Average Precision (mAP), precision, and recall. The models were tested on both validation and unseen data to assess their accuracy and generalizability. The findings revealed that while certain models performed well on validation data, their effectiveness varied when applied to unseen data, with significant differences in performance across the datasets. While one of the datasets demonstrated the highest precision (88%), and recall (94%) on validation data, another one showed superior generalizability on unseen data (precision 76%, recall 95%). The models developed in this study can aid in the efficient identification of Arctic Foxes in diverse locations. However, the study also identifies limitations related to dataset diversity and environmental variability, suggesting the need for future research to focus on training models during different seasons and having different aged Arctic Foxes. Recommendations include expanding dataset diversity, exploring advanced object detection architectures to go one step further and detect Arctic Foxes with skin diseases, and testing the models in varied field conditions.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / L'objectif ultime de cette recherche est de doter les organisations québécoises d'un instrument fidèle et valide mesurant le climat de travail. La version expérimentale de l'instrument contient 114 énoncés regroupés sous huit dimensions, Elle est élaborée à partir des théories et des questionnaires actuels. Cette version expérimentale est soumise à 695 étudiants adultes inscrits à des cours du soir dans un Cegep de la région de Montréal, Une partie d'entre eux répondent aussi aux 18 énoncés de la version abrégée du " Likert organizational profil (L.O.P.) permettant ainsi d'établir la validité conceptuelle et convergente du nouvel instrument. Par la suite, les statistiques descriptives, une analyse de regroupement, une analyse factorielle avec rotation oblique, le calcul du coefficient alpha de Cronbach et l'analyse de contenu réduisent ces données à 34 items et cinq facteurs. Ces analyses permettent aussi de présenter l'instrument sous forme de variance expliquée et de corrélations. Les cinq facteurs du questionnaire détiennent un pourcentage de variance expliquée de 53.8, Les corrélations entre les facteurs se situent entre -.09 et ,39 et celles entre les énoncés d'un même facteur de .21 à .81. Les coefficients alpha des cinq facteurs varient entre .70 et .93. Pour ce qui est des corrélations avec le L.O.P., elles oscillent entre -.13 et .55. Les résultats obtenus ne sont ni concluants ni décourageants. La fidélité de l'instrument se compare avantageusement à celle des autres questionnaires sur le climat de travail. Les dimensions déterminées par l'analyse factorielle rejoignent celles de la littérature. Le questionnaire possède une validité de contenu grâce à la façon dont il est élaboré, une validité d'apparence selon les commentaires des sujets et une forte fidélité par consistance interne. Les résultats de l'analyse factorielle et le degré de corrélation avec le L.O.P, établissent des bases solides pour une validité de construit (conceptuelle). Cette recherche représente la première phase du processus de validation. Après quelques considérations particulières, il sera possible de vérifier la valeur de ce questionnaire directement auprès des organisations, En conclusion, la version finale proposée, suite à une démarche théorique et empirique rigoureuse, mérite l'attention des chercheurs désireux d'obtenir un outil de diagnostic adapté aux besoins particuliers des organisations du Québec.

This paper attempts to develop a mathematically rigid and unified framework for neural spatial interaction modeling. Families of classical neural network models, but also less classical ones such as product unit neural network ones are considered for the cases of unconstrained and singly constrained spatial interaction flows. Current practice appears to suffer from least squares and normality assumptions that ignore the true integer nature of the flows and approximate a discrete-valued process by an almost certainly misrepresentative continuous distribution. To overcome this deficiency we suggest a more suitable estimation approach, maximum likelihood estimation under more realistic distributional assumptions of Poisson processes, and utilize a global search procedure, called Alopex, to solve the maximum likelihood estimation problem. To identify the transition from underfitting to overfitting we split the data into training, internal validation and test sets. The bootstrapping pairs approach with replacement is adopted to combine the purity of data splitting with the power of a resampling procedure to overcome the generally neglected issue of fixed data splitting and the problem of scarce data. In addition, the approach has power to provide a better statistical picture of the prediction variability, Finally, a benchmark comparison against the classical gravity models illustrates the superiority of both, the unconstrained and the origin constrained neural network model versions in terms of generalization performance measured by Kullback and Leibler's information criterion.

This study explores the phenomenon of "Mission Mobilisation" and formulation of a contextual approach toward a successful and effective Church Mission Mobilisation in Africa that results an active involvement of the local church in missions. Using a qualitative exploratory case study method, the study of "Church Mission Mobilisation: the case of WMC in the Niassa Province of Mozambique" has served as a practical way to engage with the subject. Hence, the study demonstrates that the absence of contextualisation of the content and approach used by westerners to mobilise local churches, has left most African churches without interest for missions or involvement of any nature. There is a need for a paradigm shift in the way church mission mobilisation is carried out in modern society (specifically African churches) in order to effectively get the whole church involved in missions. The study concludes with practical recommendations on how the issues raised through this study can be applied to a broader field than the Niassa Province of Mozambique. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

The focus of this study is the Sixteen Personality Factor Quenstionnaire, South Africam 1992 version (16 PF, SA92). This personality questionnaire was derived from the 16 PF which was developed in the United States and was adapted for South African conditions in 1992. The aim of this study is to determine whether the scores of the 16 PF, SA92 are cross-culturally valid and comparable in South Africa. The sample consisted of White and African (male and female) applicants who applied for positions in a South African state department. To achieve the aims outlined in the introductory chapter, construct comparability and item comparability research was conducted. Descriptive statistics were also calculated to indicate the performance of the various sub-samples (White, African, male and female). The results indicated that the population variable as opposed to the gender variable had the greatest influence on the scores obtained. Problems existed with the construct and item comparability of the 16 PF, SA92 when the different population groups were compared. Mean differences were also found on the majority of factors of the 16 PF, SA92 when the scores of the different population groups were compared. The implications of using 16 PF, SA92 were outlined and several assessment options were presented for users of the 16 PF, SA92. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M. Admin. (Industrial Psychology)