1,302 research outputs found
Configuration Management of Distributed Systems over Unreliable and Hostile Networks
Economic incentives of large criminal profits and the threat of legal consequences have pushed criminals to continuously improve their malware, especially command and control channels. This thesis applied concepts from successful malware command and control to explore the survivability and resilience of benign configuration management systems.
This work expands on existing stage models of malware life cycle to contribute a new model for identifying malware concepts applicable to benign configuration management. The Hidden Master architecture is a contribution to master-agent network communication. In the Hidden Master architecture, communication between master and agent is asynchronous and can operate trough intermediate nodes. This protects the master secret key, which gives full control of all computers participating in configuration management. Multiple improvements to idempotent configuration were proposed, including the definition of the minimal base resource dependency model, simplified resource revalidation and the use of imperative general purpose language for defining idempotent configuration.
Following the constructive research approach, the improvements to configuration management were designed into two prototypes. This allowed validation in laboratory testing, in two case studies and in expert interviews. In laboratory testing, the Hidden Master prototype was more resilient than leading configuration management tools in high load and low memory conditions, and against packet loss and corruption. Only the research prototype was adaptable to a network without stable topology due to the asynchronous nature of the Hidden Master architecture.
The main case study used the research prototype in a complex environment to deploy a multi-room, authenticated audiovisual system for a client of an organization deploying the configuration. The case studies indicated that imperative general purpose language can be used for idempotent configuration in real life, for defining new configurations in unexpected situations using the base resources, and abstracting those using standard language features; and that such a system seems easy to learn.
Potential business benefits were identified and evaluated using individual semistructured expert interviews. Respondents agreed that the models and the Hidden Master architecture could reduce costs and risks, improve developer productivity and allow faster time-to-market. Protection of master secret keys and the reduced need for incident response were seen as key drivers for improved security. Low-cost geographic scaling and leveraging file serving capabilities of commodity servers were seen to improve scaling and resiliency. Respondents identified jurisdictional legal limitations to encryption and requirements for cloud operator auditing as factors potentially limiting the full use of some concepts
Pristup specifikaciji i generisanju proizvodnih procesa zasnovan na inženjerstvu vođenom modelima
In this thesis, we present an approach to the production process specification and generation based on the model-driven paradigm, with the goal to increase the flexibility of factories and respond to the challenges that emerged in the era of Industry 4.0 more efficiently. To formally specify production processes and their variations in the Industry 4.0 environment, we created a novel domain-specific modeling language, whose models are machine-readable. The created language can be used to model production processes that can be independent of any production system, enabling process models to be used in different production systems, and process models used for the specific production system. To automatically transform production process models dependent on the specific production system into instructions that are to be executed by production system resources, we created an instruction generator. Also, we created generators for different manufacturing documentation, which automatically transform production process models into manufacturing documents of different types. The proposed approach, domain-specific modeling language, and software solution contribute to introducing factories into the digital transformation process. As factories must rapidly adapt to new products and their variations in the era of Industry 4.0, production must be dynamically led and instructions must be automatically sent to factory resources, depending on products that are to be created on the shop floor. The proposed approach contributes to the creation of such a dynamic environment in contemporary factories, as it allows to automatically generate instructions from process models and send them to resources for execution. Additionally, as there are numerous different products and their variations, keeping the required manufacturing documentation up to date becomes challenging, which can be done automatically by using the proposed approach and thus significantly lower process designers' time.У овој дисертацији представљен је приступ спецификацији и генерисању производних процеса заснован на инжењерству вођеном моделима, у циљу повећања флексибилности постројења у фабрикама и ефикаснијег разрешавања изазова који се појављују у ери Индустрије 4.0. За потребе формалне спецификације производних процеса и њихових варијација у амбијенту Индустрије 4.0, креиран је нови наменски језик, чије моделе рачунар може да обради на аутоматизован начин. Креирани језик има могућност моделовања производних процеса који могу бити независни од производних система и тиме употребљени у различитим постројењима или фабрикама, али и производних процеса који су специфични за одређени систем. Како би моделе производних процеса зависних од конкретног производног система било могуће на аутоматизован начин трансформисати у инструкције које ресурси производног система извршавају, креиран је генератор инструкција. Такође су креирани и генератори техничке документације, који на аутоматизован начин трансформишу моделе производних процеса у документе различитих типова. Употребом предложеног приступа, наменског језика и софтверског решења доприноси се увођењу фабрика у процес дигиталне трансформације. Како фабрике у ери Индустрије 4.0 морају брзо да се прилагоде новим производима и њиховим варијацијама, неопходно је динамички водити производњу и на аутоматизован начин слати инструкције ресурсима у фабрици, у зависности од производа који се креирају у конкретном постројењу. Тиме што је у предложеном приступу могуће из модела процеса аутоматизовано генерисати инструкције и послати их ресурсима, доприноси се креирању једног динамичког окружења у савременим фабрикама. Додатно, услед великог броја различитих производа и њихових варијација, постаје изазовно одржавати неопходну техничку документацију, што је у предложеном приступу могуће урадити на аутоматизован начин и тиме значајно уштедети време пројектаната процеса.U ovoj disertaciji predstavljen je pristup specifikaciji i generisanju proizvodnih procesa zasnovan na inženjerstvu vođenom modelima, u cilju povećanja fleksibilnosti postrojenja u fabrikama i efikasnijeg razrešavanja izazova koji se pojavljuju u eri Industrije 4.0. Za potrebe formalne specifikacije proizvodnih procesa i njihovih varijacija u ambijentu Industrije 4.0, kreiran je novi namenski jezik, čije modele računar može da obradi na automatizovan način. Kreirani jezik ima mogućnost modelovanja proizvodnih procesa koji mogu biti nezavisni od proizvodnih sistema i time upotrebljeni u različitim postrojenjima ili fabrikama, ali i proizvodnih procesa koji su specifični za određeni sistem. Kako bi modele proizvodnih procesa zavisnih od konkretnog proizvodnog sistema bilo moguće na automatizovan način transformisati u instrukcije koje resursi proizvodnog sistema izvršavaju, kreiran je generator instrukcija. Takođe su kreirani i generatori tehničke dokumentacije, koji na automatizovan način transformišu modele proizvodnih procesa u dokumente različitih tipova. Upotrebom predloženog pristupa, namenskog jezika i softverskog rešenja doprinosi se uvođenju fabrika u proces digitalne transformacije. Kako fabrike u eri Industrije 4.0 moraju brzo da se prilagode novim proizvodima i njihovim varijacijama, neophodno je dinamički voditi proizvodnju i na automatizovan način slati instrukcije resursima u fabrici, u zavisnosti od proizvoda koji se kreiraju u konkretnom postrojenju. Time što je u predloženom pristupu moguće iz modela procesa automatizovano generisati instrukcije i poslati ih resursima, doprinosi se kreiranju jednog dinamičkog okruženja u savremenim fabrikama. Dodatno, usled velikog broja različitih proizvoda i njihovih varijacija, postaje izazovno održavati neophodnu tehničku dokumentaciju, što je u predloženom pristupu moguće uraditi na automatizovan način i time značajno uštedeti vreme projektanata procesa
Fictocritical Cyberfeminism: A Paralogical Model for Post-Internet Communication
This dissertation positions the understudied and experimental writing practice of fictocriticism as an analog for the convergent and indeterminate nature of “post-Internet” communication as well a cyberfeminist technology for interfering and in-tervening in metanarratives of technoscience and technocapitalism that structure contemporary media. Significant theoretical valences are established between twen-tieth century literary works of fictocriticism and the hybrid and ephemeral modes of writing endemic to emergent, twenty-first century forms of networked communica-tion such as social media. Through a critical theoretical understanding of paralogy, or that countercultural logic of deploying language outside legitimate discourses, in-volving various tactics of multivocity, mimesis and metagraphy, fictocriticism is ex-plored as a self-referencing linguistic machine which exists intentionally to occupy those liminal territories “somewhere in among/between criticism, autobiography and fiction” (Hunter qtd. in Kerr 1996). Additionally, as a writing practice that orig-inated in Canada and yet remains marginal to national and international literary scholarship, this dissertation elevates the origins and ongoing relevance of fictocriti-cism by mapping its shared aims and concerns onto proximal discourses of post-structuralism, cyberfeminism, network ecology, media art, the avant-garde, glitch feminism, and radical self-authorship in online environments. Theorized in such a matrix, I argue that fictocriticism represents a capacious framework for writing and reading media that embodies the self-reflexive politics of second-order cybernetic theory while disrupting the rhetoric of technoscientific and neoliberal economic forc-es with speech acts of calculated incoherence. Additionally, through the inclusion of my own fictocritical writing as works of research-creation that interpolate the more traditional chapters and subchapters, I theorize and demonstrate praxis of this dis-tinctively indeterminate form of criticism to empirically and meaningfully juxtapose different modes of knowing and speaking about entangled matters of language, bod-ies, and technologies. In its conclusion, this dissertation contends that the “creative paranoia” engendered by fictocritical cyberfeminism in both print and digital media environments offers a pathway towards a more paralogical media literacy that can transform the terms and expectations of our future media ecology
FinOps : Monitoring and Controlling GCP costs
Cloud computing has gained significant popularity in today’s digital landscape, with companies relying on cloud-based solutions to manage their data, applications, and infrastructure. The cloud offers several advantages, including scalability, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. However, with the increasing adoption of cloud technologies, it is important for companies to keep a close eye on their cloud usage costs to ensure they are using the cloud efficiently and effectively. This is where the discipline of Financial Operations (FinOps) comes into play. FinOps seeks to optimize cloud spending, and it has become increasingly important for organizations that utilize cloud computing. By implementing FinOps practices, companies can achieve better cost visibility and control, leading to more efficient and effective cloud usage. While several cloud providers are available in the market, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, this work will focus specifically on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
The goal of this thesis is to present two implemented solutions for managing GCP costs: proactive anomaly detection and cost forecasting using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Thanks to anomaly detection, companies can detect unusual patterns in their cloud billing data and proactively alert teams to investigate and address any issues. Furthermore, forecasting future costs can help companies anticipate potential cost spikes and take proactive measures to avoid them
Design of an E-learning system using semantic information and cloud computing technologies
Humanity is currently suffering from many difficult problems that threaten the life and survival of the human race. It is very easy for all mankind to be affected, directly or indirectly, by these problems. Education is a key solution for most of them. In our thesis we tried to make use of current technologies to enhance and ease the learning process.
We have designed an e-learning system based on semantic information and cloud computing, in addition to many other technologies that contribute to improving the educational process and raising the level of students. The design was built after much research on useful technology, its types, and examples of actual systems that were previously discussed by other researchers.
In addition to the proposed design, an algorithm was implemented to identify topics found in large textual educational resources. It was tested and proved to be efficient against other methods. The algorithm has the ability of extracting the main topics from textual learning resources, linking related resources and generating interactive dynamic knowledge graphs. This algorithm accurately and efficiently accomplishes those tasks even for bigger books. We used Wikipedia Miner, TextRank, and Gensim within our algorithm. Our algorithm‘s accuracy was evaluated against Gensim, largely improving its accuracy.
Augmenting the system design with the implemented algorithm will produce many useful services for improving the learning process such as: identifying main topics of big textual learning resources automatically and connecting them to other well defined concepts from Wikipedia, enriching current learning resources with semantic information from external sources, providing student with browsable dynamic interactive knowledge graphs, and making use of learning groups to encourage students to share their learning experiences and feedback with other learners.Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería Telemática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: Luis Sánchez Fernández.- Secretario: Luis de la Fuente Valentín.- Vocal: Norberto Fernández Garcí
Human-AI complex task planning
The process of complex task planning is ubiquitous and arises in a variety of compelling applications. A few leading examples include designing a personalized course plan or trip plan, designing music playlists/work sessions in web applications, or even planning routes of naval assets to collaboratively discover an unknown destination. For all of these aforementioned applications, creating a plan requires satisfying a basic construct, i.e., composing a sequence of sub-tasks (or items) that optimizes several criteria and satisfies constraints. For instance, in course planning, sub-tasks or items are core and elective courses, and degree requirements capture their complex dependencies as constraints. In trip planning, sub-tasks are points of interest (POIs) and constraints represent time and monetary budget, or user-specified requirements. Needless to say, task plans are to be individualized and designed considering uncertainty. When done manually, the process is human-intensive and tedious, and unlikely to scale. The goal of this dissertation is to present computational frameworks that synthesize the capabilities of human and AI algorithms to enable task planning at scale while satisfying multiple objectives and complex constraints.
This dissertation makes significant contributions in four main areas, (i) proposing novel models, (ii) designing principled scalable algorithms, (iii) conducting rigorous experimental analysis, and (iv) deploying designed solutions in the real-world. A suite of constrained and multi-objective optimization problems has been formalized, with a focus on their applicability across diverse domains. From an algorithmic perspective, the dissertation proposes principled algorithms with theoretical guarantees adapted from discrete optimization techniques, as well as Reinforcement Learning based solutions. The memory and computational efficiency of these algorithms have been studied, and optimization opportunities have been proposed. The designed solutions are extensively evaluated on various large-scale real-world and synthetic datasets and compared against multiple baseline solutions after appropriate adaptation. This dissertation also presents user study results involving human subjects to validate the effectiveness of the proposed models. Lastly, a notable outcome of this dissertation is the deployment of one of the developed solutions at the Naval Postgraduate School. This deployment enables simultaneous route planning for multiple assets that are robust to uncertainty under multiple contexts
Front-end development of an Event-management web application: adopting component-based architecture with usability heuristics
The fast-paced world nowadays might be challenging for university students to keep track of and attend their events. For that reason, this thesis focuses on front-end development with a user-centric approach of a web service aimed at helping university student to manage their personal and social events. The platform uses component-based architecture to build user interfaces while emphasizing designing great user interfaces and user experiences. This thesis will explore the principles of user experience design and its application to web development. It will also discuss different web architectures and technology stacks available to design and implement a friendly front-end. With its detailed development strategy, this thesis will greatly assist aspiring software developers aiming to create a user-friendly web application front-end
Continuous Rationale Management
Continuous Software Engineering (CSE) is a software life cycle model open to frequent changes in requirements or technology. During CSE, software developers continuously make decisions on the requirements and design of the software or the development process. They establish essential decision knowledge, which they need to document and share so that it supports the evolution and changes of the software. The management of decision knowledge is called rationale management. Rationale management provides an opportunity to support the change process during CSE.
However, rationale management is not well integrated into CSE. The overall goal of this dissertation is to provide workflows and tool support for continuous rationale management. The dissertation contributes an interview study with practitioners from the industry, which investigates rationale management problems, current practices, and features to support continuous rationale management beneficial for practitioners. Problems of rationale management in practice are threefold:
First, documenting decision knowledge is intrusive in the development process and an additional effort.
Second, the high amount of distributed decision knowledge documentation is difficult to access and use.
Third, the documented knowledge can be of low quality, e.g., outdated, which impedes its use.
The dissertation contributes a systematic mapping study on recommendation and classification approaches to treat the rationale management problems.
The major contribution of this dissertation is a validated approach for continuous rationale management consisting of the ConRat life cycle model extension and the comprehensive ConDec tool support. To reduce intrusiveness and additional effort, ConRat integrates rationale management activities into existing workflows, such as requirements elicitation, development, and meetings. ConDec integrates into standard development tools instead of providing a separate tool. ConDec enables lightweight capturing and use of decision knowledge from various artifacts and reduces the developers' effort through automatic text classification, recommendation, and nudging mechanisms for rationale management. To enable access and use of distributed decision knowledge documentation, ConRat defines a knowledge model of decision knowledge and other artifacts. ConDec instantiates the model as a knowledge graph and offers interactive knowledge views with useful tailoring, e.g., transitive linking. To operationalize high quality, ConRat introduces the rationale backlog, the definition of done for knowledge documentation, and metrics for intra-rationale completeness and decision coverage of requirements and code. ConDec implements these agile concepts for rationale management and a knowledge dashboard. ConDec also supports consistent changes through change impact analysis.
The dissertation shows the feasibility, effectiveness, and user acceptance of ConRat and ConDec in six case study projects in an industrial setting. Besides, it comprehensively analyses the rationale documentation created in the projects. The validation indicates that ConRat and ConDec benefit CSE projects. Based on the dissertation, continuous rationale management should become a standard part of CSE, like automated testing or continuous integration
DESIGNING BLOCKCHAIN BASED NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN CERTIFICATE SHARING FRAMEWORK
The sharing of academic achievement certificates and credentials requires enhanced security measures to ensure faultless and fraud-free practices, while also prioritizing data trust and user privacy. It is crucial to provide convenience and secure control over access rights based on user roles. Traditionally, educational institutions issue hard copy certificates to students who have fulfilled the prerequisites. However, when it comes to sharing validated certificates, especially for students pursuing higher studies, different issuers follow varied approaches.
The traditional method of mailing certificates involves time-consuming and costly back-and-forth involvement with universities. Similarly, email-based approaches raise concerns regarding trust and authenticity. In all of these approach there exist intermediaries that are need for verification and validation. Existing sharing platforms restrict student's control over their data and limit the validation process. Moreover, once a certificate is shared through these methods, students often lose control over its further usage and distribution, which is not an ideal approach.
Until recently, there was no standardized approach to accurately monitor and verify the sharing of certificates, including the sender, recipient, and conditions. However, with the emergence of distributed ledger technologies, specifically designed for NFTs, a decentralized peer-to-peer network has now become the most efficient solution to address these challenges. This technology enables secure and verifiable sharing of certificates, ensuring transparency, trust, and greater control for students over their credentials. By utilizing NFTs, students can retain ownership and control over their certificates even after sharing them, thereby eliminating the concerns of loss of control and unauthorized distribution.
To achieve this, a distributed application layer was added on top of the centralized system to create a more feasible and practical approach. This study focuses on utilizing a permission-less blockchain, specifically the public network of the Ethereum blockchain, to develop a secure data sharing framework. The research proposes an architecture and delves into the necessary components and factors to consider during the design and implementation of the system. The aim is to provide students with complete ownership and permanent access to their digital certificates, which are verified by the university and accepted by employers. This framework supports immutability, authenticity, enhanced security, trusted records and is a promising means to share academic certificates involving students, universities and employers.
The framework is evaluated via a user study. The extended Technology Acceptance Model(TAM) and a Trust-Privacy Security Model are used to evaluate the usability of the NFT-framework. The evaluation allows uncovering the role of different factors affecting user intention to adopt certificate-sharing platforms. The result of the evaluation point to guidelines and methods for embedding privacy, user transparency and drivers of using the application
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