The impact on firms of ICT skill-supply strategies: an Anglo-German comparison

This paper compares the supply of specialist ICT skills in Britain and Germany from higher education and from apprenticeship and assesses the relative impact on companies in the two countries. In contrast to Britain, where numbers of ICT graduates have expanded rapidly, the supply of university graduates in Germany has not increased. Combined with the constraints of the German occupational model of work organization, it is concluded that this failure of supply may have contributed to slower growth of ICT employment in Germany. At the same time, German firms have turned to a newly developed model of apprenticeship to supply routine technical ICT skills. This strategy contrasts with British firms which recruit from a wide range of graduate specialisms and invest more heavily in graduate training. Probably in part as a consequence, apprenticeship in ICT occupations in Britain has failed to develop

The Impact on Firms of ICT Skill-Supply Strategies: An Anglo-German Comparison

This paper compares the supply of specialist ICT skills in Britain and Germany from higher education and from apprenticeship and assesses the relative impact on companies in the two countries. In contrast to Britain, where numbers of ICT graduates have expanded rapidly, the supply of university graduates in Germany has not increased. Combined with the constraints of the German occupational model of work organization, it is concluded that this failure of supply may have contributed to slower growth of ICT employment in Germany. At the same time, German firms have turned to a newly developed model of apprenticeship to supply routine technical ICT skills. This strategy contrasts with British firms which recruit from a wide range of graduate specialisms and invest more heavily in graduate training. Probably in part as a consequence, apprenticeship in ICT occupations in Britain has failed to develop.

Ecoute microsismique appliquée aux versants instables, exemple des ruines de Séchilienne (Isère, 38)

International audienceField observations and movements measured since 1985 by the Lyon CETE (Public works regional engineering office) monitoring system at the Ruines de Séchilienne show that the slope deformation and fault mechanisms are complex. To provide a deeper understanding of these mechanisms, INERIS has been investigating the site through the instrumentation of deep drillholes since 2009. An experimental multi-parameter monitoring system was installed on the western edge of the large active zone. It uses an integrated technology platform which combines microseismic, geotechnical, hydrogeological, meteorological and 3D displacements. The article outlines the objectives and the methodology applied by INERIS to meet the requirements of early warning multi-parameter systems applied to unstable rock slopes. The studied site and the main characteristics of the system are presented. Items dealing with the system calibration and characterization data are described and preliminary data are givenLes observations et les mouvements mesurés, depuis 1985, par le système de surveillance du CETE de Lyon sur le mouvement des Ruines de Séchilienne, montrent que les mécanismes de déformation et rupture du versant sont complexes. Pour progresser dans la compréhension de ces mécanismes, l'INERIS contribue depuis 2009 aux investigations menées sur le site par forages profonds. Un système d'observation multi-paramètres a ainsi été installé en bordure Ouest de la zone active. Il fait appel à une plateforme technologique intégrée qui combine des mesures microsismiques, géotechniques, hydrologiques, météorologiques et des mesures de déplacement tridimensionnel. L'article décrit les objectifs de la démarche et la méthodologie mise en oeuvre par l'INERIS pour répondre aux exigences des systèmes d'alerte précoce multi-paramètres, appliqués aux mouvements de versants instables. Le site d'étude et les principales caractéristiques du dispositif sont présentés. Des considérations sur le calibrage du système et la qualification des données sont décrites et les premières données sont présentées

Autonomic Management Architecture for Multi-HVAC Systems in Smart Buildings.

This article proposes a self-managing architecture for multi-HVAC systems in buildings, based on the “Autonomous Cycle of Data Analysis Tasks” concept. A multi-HVAC system can be plainly seen as a set of HVAC subsystems, made up of heat pumps, chillers, cooling towers or boilers, among others. Our approach is used for improving the energy consumption, as well as to maintain the indoor comfort, and maximize the equipment performance, by means of identifying and selecting of a possible multi-HVAC system operational mode. The multi-HVAC system operational modes are the different combinations of the HVAC subsystems. The proposed architecture relies on a set of data analysis tasks that exploit the data gathered from the system and the environment to autonomously manage the multi-HVAC system. Some of these tasks analyze the data to obtain the optimal operational mode in a given moment, while others control the active HVAC subsystems. The proposed model is based on standard standard HVAC mathematical models, that are adapted on the fly to the contextual data sensed from the environment. Finally, two case studies, one with heterogeneous and another with homogeneous HVAC equipment, show the generality of the proposed autonomous management architecture for multi-HVAC systems.post-print4413 K

Automated grid fault detection and repair

With the rise in interest in the field of grid and cloud computing, it is becoming increasingly necessary for the grid to be easily maintainable. This maintenance of the grid and grid services can be made easier by using an automated system to monitor and repair the grid as necessary. We propose a novel system to perform automated monitoring and repair of grid systems. To the best of our knowledge, no such systems exist. The results show that certain faults can be easily detected and repaired.TeXAdobe Acrobat 9.51 Paper Capture Plug-i

CloudSkulk: Design of a Nested Virtual Machine Based Rootkit-in-the-Middle Attack

Virtualized cloud computing services are a crucial facet in the software industry today, with clear evidence of its usage quickly accelerating. Market research forecasts an increase in cloud workloads by more than triple, 3.3-fold, from 2014 to 2019 [33]. Integrating system security is then an intrinsic concern of cloud platform system administrators that with the growth of cloud usage, is becoming increasingly relevant. People working in the cloud demand security more than ever. In this paper, we take an offensive, malicious approach at targeting such cloud environments as we hope both cloud platform system administrators and software developers of these infrastructures can advance their system securities. A vulnerability could exist in any layer of a computer system. It is commonly believed in the security community that the battle between attackers and defenders is determined by which side can exploit these vulnerabilities and then gain control at the lower layer of a system [22]. Because of this perception, kernel level defense is proposed to defend against user-level malware [25], hypervisor-level defense is proposed to detect kernel-level malware or rootkits [36, 47, 41], hardware-level defense is proposed to defend or protect hypervisors [4, 51, 45]. Once attackers find a way to exploit a particular vulnerability and obtain a certain level of control over the victim system, retaining that control and avoiding detection becomes their top priority. To achieve this goal, various rootkits have been developed. However, existing rootkits have a common weakness: they are still detectable as long as defenders can gain control at a lower-level, such as the operating system level, the hypervisor level, or the hardware level. In this paper, we present a new type of rootkit called CloudSkulk, which is a nested virtual machine (VM) based rootkit. While nested virtualization has attracted sufficient attention from the security and cloud community, to the best of our knowledge, we are the first to reveal and demonstrate nested virtualization can be used by attackers for developing malicious rootkits. By impersonating the original hypervisor to communicate with the original guest operating system (OS) and impersonating the original guest OS to communicate with the hypervisor, CloudSkulk is hard to detect, regardless of whether defenders are at the lower-level (e.g., in the original hypervisor) or at the higher-level (e.g., in the original guest OS). We perform a variety of performance experiments to evaluate how stealthy the proposed rootkit is at remaining unnoticed as introducing one more layer of virtualization inevitably incurs extra overhead. Our performance characterization data shows that an installation of our novel rootkit on a targeted nested virtualization environment is likely to remain undetected unless the guest user performs IO intensive-type workloads

Modernisations and digitalizations of fast timing techniques for γ - γ and e− - γ timing and lifetime measurements in middle-heavy rare earths nuclei

This doctoral thesis presents the modernisation and digitalization of two different experimental techniques and the results of different nuclear structure experiments in: The Orange conversion electron spectrometer setup was revised, rebuild in many hardware units and the usability has been restored by extensive software development of a control and acquisition software. Two different measurement modi are supported: a scan modes, which allows for conversion electron spectroscopy of an energy range during γ-source and in-beam measurements and an continuous mode, where one conversion electron energy can be selected by the strenghts of the magnetic field generated by the Orange spectrometer. Additionally, the implementation and validation of the digital fast timing technique with the recently commissioned fast-sampling digitizers Caen V1730 and additionally V1751 has been carried out. The digitizers have been installed and thoroughly been investigated and characterized in terms of time resolution and time walk and the settings of the integrated digital constant fraction discriminators have been optimized for digital fast-timing experiments. Both developments have successfully been commissioned in e− – γ and γ – γ fast-timing lifetime measurements in nuclei belonging to the neutron midshell N = 104, A ≈ 180 region. The lifetime results of four tungsten and osmium isotopes are discussed within the context of the deformation and transitional phenomena in the neutron midshell N = 104 region. All investigated nuclei lie at the edge of the strongly deformed region whose center is represented by the midshell-midshell nucleus 170 Dy. For 176,178,180 W, fast-timing methods using the newly revised and commissioned Orange conversion electron spectrometer and the Cologne HORUS spectrometer were employed. Different fusion evaporation reactions were utilized to populate excited states in these tungsten isotopes, allowing + + + for the measurement of lifetimes for the 2+ 1 , 41 , 61 , and 81 yrast states, with an additional 176 W. The extracted quadrupole deformation parameters, measurement of the 10+ 1 state in reduced transition probabilities, and B4/2 ratios were compared with Interacting Boson Model 1 calculations, confirming the deformed prolate rotor nature of the investigated tungsten isotopes. + + In the case of 182 Os the low-lying yrast states 2+ 1 , 41 , and 61 were studied using the newly implemented and commissioned digital fast-timing technique of the IKP. For the first time, + + lifetimes were determined for the 4+ 1 and 61 states, while the lifetime of the 21 state was re-evaluated to remove inconsistencies in the literature. The obtained lifetimes and extracted B(E2) values were analyzed in terms of collective signatures and transitional phenomena. The + + + calculated B(E2; 4+ 1 → 21 )/B(E2;21 → 01 ) ratio of 1.39(7) supported the interpretation of 182 Os as a rigid rotor, and its significance was discussed alongside neighboring isotopes and isotones within the framework of the interacting boson model 1. Furthermore, the structure of 182 Os was investigated under consideration of the influences of competing factors such as the nearby collective deformed region, γ-soft rotors, X(5) symmetry, and neighboring regions of shape coexistence in low excitation states. The study of higher-lying excitation bands in osmium isotopes and the associated isotones helped explain the structural transitions occurring at 182 Os, shedding light on the interplay of the different structural influences

Detecting piracy in standalone and network licensing systems

Software has been traditionally sold as executable files which require an additional license to run. Licenses come in many forms but all of them aim at the single goal of preventing unauthorized use, which is also known as software piracy. Piracy can lead to big losses for software companies so it’s important to study what can be done about it. Instead of trying to tackle the whole enterprise, I will focus on the first step of preventing piracy, that is, detecting it. This topic will be covered in the context of two traditional software licensing schemes: standalone licensing and network licensing. There are also modern cloud based licensing schemes like Software as a Service (SaaS) that don’t need a license in the same sense, but it seems like the traditional models aren’t going anywhere soon. Standalone licensing means that a unique license is required for each installation of the application. Think of product keys on good old installation CDs. In network licensing the application requires a license only when it’s actually running. This is achieved with the help of a dedicated license server which distributes licenses to client applications within the local network. I map out all notable attack vectors against both licensing systems, and suggest methods for detecting these attacks. Network verification is discovered to be an indispensable method for detecting piracy. Transport layer security (TLS) protocol will turn out to be the best line of defense against network based attacks. Even the often forgotten feature of client certificate authentication will turn out to be useful. Detection of local attacks, such as tampering and virtual machine duplication, is also covered. Overall this work is intended as a theoretical basis for implementing piracy detection systems in standalone and network licensing environments