16,123 research outputs found

    The Viability and Potential Consequences of IoT-Based Ransomware

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    With the increased threat of ransomware and the substantial growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) market, there is significant motivation for attackers to carry out IoT-based ransomware campaigns. In this thesis, the viability of such malware is tested. As part of this work, various techniques that could be used by ransomware developers to attack commercial IoT devices were explored. First, methods that attackers could use to communicate with the victim were examined, such that a ransom note was able to be reliably sent to a victim. Next, the viability of using "bricking" as a method of ransom was evaluated, such that devices could be remotely disabled unless the victim makes a payment to the attacker. Research was then performed to ascertain whether it was possible to remotely gain persistence on IoT devices, which would improve the efficacy of existing ransomware methods, and provide opportunities for more advanced ransomware to be created. Finally, after successfully identifying a number of persistence techniques, the viability of privacy-invasion based ransomware was analysed. For each assessed technique, proofs of concept were developed. A range of devices -- with various intended purposes, such as routers, cameras and phones -- were used to test the viability of these proofs of concept. To test communication hijacking, devices' "channels of communication" -- such as web services and embedded screens -- were identified, then hijacked to display custom ransom notes. During the analysis of bricking-based ransomware, a working proof of concept was created, which was then able to remotely brick five IoT devices. After analysing the storage design of an assortment of IoT devices, six different persistence techniques were identified, which were then successfully tested on four devices, such that malicious filesystem modifications would be retained after the device was rebooted. When researching privacy-invasion based ransomware, several methods were created to extract information from data sources that can be commonly found on IoT devices, such as nearby WiFi signals, images from cameras, or audio from microphones. These were successfully implemented in a test environment such that ransomable data could be extracted, processed, and stored for later use to blackmail the victim. Overall, IoT-based ransomware has not only been shown to be viable but also highly damaging to both IoT devices and their users. While the use of IoT-ransomware is still very uncommon "in the wild", the techniques demonstrated within this work highlight an urgent need to improve the security of IoT devices to avoid the risk of IoT-based ransomware causing havoc in our society. Finally, during the development of these proofs of concept, a number of potential countermeasures were identified, which can be used to limit the effectiveness of the attacking techniques discovered in this PhD research

    Economia colaborativa

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    A importância de se proceder à análise dos principais desafios jurídicos que a economia colaborativa coloca – pelas implicações que as mudanças de paradigma dos modelos de negócios e dos sujeitos envolvidos suscitam − é indiscutível, correspondendo à necessidade de se fomentar a segurança jurídica destas práticas, potenciadoras de crescimento económico e bem-estar social. O Centro de Investigação em Justiça e Governação (JusGov) constituiu uma equipa multidisciplinar que, além de juristas, integra investigadores de outras áreas, como a economia e a gestão, dos vários grupos do JusGov – embora com especial participação dos investigadores que integram o grupo E-TEC (Estado, Empresa e Tecnologia) – e de outras prestigiadas instituições nacionais e internacionais, para desenvolver um projeto neste domínio, com o objetivo de identificar os problemas jurídicos que a economia colaborativa suscita e avaliar se já existem soluções para aqueles, refletindo igualmente sobre a conveniência de serem introduzidas alterações ou se será mesmo necessário criar nova regulamentação. O resultado desta investigação é apresentado nesta obra, com o que se pretende fomentar a continuação do debate sobre este tema.Esta obra é financiada por fundos nacionais através da FCT — Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., no âmbito do Financiamento UID/05749/202

    Central-provincial Politics and Industrial Policy-making in the Electric Power Sector in China

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    In addition to the studies that provide meaningful insights into the complexity of technical and economic issues, increasing studies have focused on the political process of market transition in network industries such as the electric power sector. This dissertation studies the central–provincial interactions in industrial policy-making and implementation, and attempts to evaluate the roles of Chinese provinces in the market reform process of the electric power sector. Market reforms of this sector are used as an illustrative case because the new round of market reforms had achieved some significant breakthroughs in areas such as pricing reform and wholesale market trading. Other policy measures, such as the liberalization of the distribution market and cross-regional market-building, are still at a nascent stage and have only scored moderate progress. It is important to investigate why some policy areas make greater progress in market reforms than others. It is also interesting to examine the impacts of Chinese central-provincial politics on producing the different market reform outcomes. Guangdong and Xinjiang are two provinces being analyzed in this dissertation. The progress of market reforms in these two provinces showed similarities although the provinces are very different in terms of local conditions such as the stages of their economic development and energy structures. The actual reform can be understood as the outcomes of certain modes of interactions between the central and provincial actors in the context of their particular capabilities and preferences in different policy areas. This dissertation argues that market reform is more successful in policy areas where the central and provincial authorities are able to engage mainly in integrative negotiations than in areas where they engage mainly in distributive negotiations

    A reinforcement learning approach for transaction scheduling in a shuttle-based storage and retrieval system

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    With recent Industry 4.0 developments, companies tend to automate their industries. Warehousing companies also take part in this trend. A shuttle-based storage and retrieval system (SBS/RS) is an automated storage and retrieval system technology experiencing recent drastic market growth. This technology is mostly utilized in large distribution centers processing mini-loads. With the recent increase in e-commerce practices, fast delivery requirements with low volume orders have increased. SBS/RS provides ultrahigh-speed load handling due to having an excess amount of shuttles in the system. However, not only the physical design of an automated warehousing technology but also the design of operational system policies would help with fast handling targets. In this work, in an effort to increase the performance of an SBS/RS, we apply a machine learning (ML) (i.e., Q-learning) approach on a newly proposed tier-to-tier SBS/RS design, redesigned from a traditional tier-captive SBS/RS. The novelty of this paper is twofold: First, we propose a novel SBS/RS design where shuttles can travel between tiers in the system; second, due to the complexity of operation of shuttles in that newly proposed design, we implement an ML-based algorithm for transaction selection in that system. The ML-based solution is compared with traditional scheduling approaches: first-in-first-out and shortest process time (i.e., travel) scheduling rules. The results indicate that in most cases, the Q-learning approach performs better than the two static scheduling approaches

    Northern Powerhouses: the homes of the industrial elite, c.1780-1875

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    This thesis explores the world of the industrial elites of Manchester and Liverpool in the period c.1780-1875, through their houses. The homes of the industrial elites, namely merchants and manufacturers, were extremely important tangible communicators of wealth, taste, and comfort. Whilst status-building was closely connected to the house, this thesis argues that the industrial elites carved their own identities into their domestic spheres and that emulation was not solely linked with aspiration. The findings of this thesis are based around its three research aims regarding the changing location of houses in Manchester and Liverpool in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the appearance and use of houses, and the daily routines and involvement of the industrial elite in their domestic routines. An analysis of elite residential patterns in Manchester and Liverpool across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries has created a more nuanced look at urban geographies of the region in this period. Though some residential patterns differed because of economic and political structure, a key finding has been that the process of suburbanisation in and around Manchester and Liverpool commenced earlier than previous scholarship has suggested. Suburbanisation among the elites began in the latter decades of the eighteenth century and into the early decades of the nineteenth century, with elite suburban communities being firmly established by the 1820s. This thesis discovered that despite socio-economic and political differences, the industrial elites of Manchester and Liverpool used their houses, gardens, and landed estates in very similar ways. This was a result of conformity which arose from emulation at both a community-based level and the emulation and aspiration of elite, gentrified lifestyle. Also, the merchants and manufacturers analysed within this work were involved in their home at every level of domesticity, from the construction of the house to the financial management of the household, although this latter theme was often a cooperative effort between spouses and family members, adding more to our understanding of gender, domesticity, and familial relations. Through detailed case studies and a combination of sources, the private lives of the industrial elites have been revaluated and redefined, including showing how their houses functions metaphorically and in reality

    Translating erasure: Proposing auto-theory as a practice for artistic enquiry and analysis while comprehending personal grief

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    Erasure as an artistic technique has developed in my moving image work after my father's passing. I export videos into sequences of thousands of images and erase outlines of the targeted objects in each frame. The repetitive and low conscious labour is a way to ease the agony and to grieve my father. Hours compressed into thousands of frames, turning into a glimpse of illusion and leaving a ghostly emptiness on the images. Both its visual presentation and making reflect the life events and encounters I've experienced in the UK and Taiwan in the past years. I consider an artwork embodies interconnected relationships between one's personal impulses and artistic training. As an art student, I have found it challenging to describe such a creative process with conventional academic writing. Within a construct that inclines to present thoughts as reasonable and rational arguments, my personal experiences and the intensity of feeling seem out of place. Within an academic framework, how can I make an argument out of how I have developed the erasure in my artwork to perform the grief, fading memories of a loved one, existential crisis and what's in-between? Through auto-theoretical approaches to writing and making of moving image work, this research aims to build a structure that can express both the intimate and intellectual aspects of an art practice. This writing up process interweaves my personal stories that motivate my artistic expression into art theories. The memories about my late father, my relationship with languages, and my lives between the UK and Taiwan meet with different artists' uses of erasure. As the conversations between the introspections and theoretical analysis accumulate, my writing and moving image work unravel an art journey that encompasses the nuances and struggles I've experienced as an international student. Within the search for an ideal model to illustrate an art practice, this research further generates profound understandings of memory, grief, loss, language, conflicted identities and cultural belonging

    El desmantelamiento de las fronteras. Análisis comparativo de las actividades mercantiles de las mujeres en Brabante y Vizcaya, ca. 1420-ca. 1550

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    RESUMEN En Dismantling the Borders comparo las actividades laborales de mujeres en Brabante y Bizkaia de 1420 a 1550. Historiadores especializados en género han estado debatiendo las diferencias en las oportunidades laborales de mujeres premodernas en el norte y en el sur de Europa. Algunos investigadores argumentan que las diferencias en las estructuras legales y familiares conllevaron menos oportunidades económicas para las mujeres en el sur de Europa. En mi estudio, reevalúo este debate y argumento que se han de reevaluar los contextos locales, en concreto, las instituciones responsables de la organización del trabajo en las diferentes regiones. En las ciudades Brabantinas – Malinas y Amberes – la mayor parte de las ocupaciones estaban organizadas en gremio, unas instituciones extremadamente patriarcales y masculinizadas. Por ende, el trabajo de las mujeres dependía en gran medida de su estatus familiar y social. La ausencia de estas instituciones en Bilbao – la ciudad Bizkaína estudiada – favoreció unas oportunidades laborales más independientes para las mujeres activas en sectores del mercado laboral poco lucrativos.ABSTRACT In Dismantling the Borders I compare women’s labour opportunities in Brabant and Biscay from 1420 to 1550. Scholars studying gender in premodern Europe have been debating differences in premodern women’s labour opportunities in northern and southern Europe. Some scholars have argued that diverging family structures and legal structures in the two regions resulted in better economic positions for women in northern Europe. In my research project, I reassess this debate and argue for involving local contexts in the regional comparison – more specifically the institutions responsible for the organization of work. In the Brabantine case studies, Antwerp and Mechelen, most occupations were organized in guilds – extremely patriarchal and masculine institutions. As a result of this organization in guilds, women’s labour opportunities in Brabant were highly dependent on their social status and marital status. In Bilbao – the Biscayan case study – occupations were rarely organized in such corporations, resulting in more independent labour opportunities for women active in less lucrative market sectors in the town

    The Adirondack Chronology

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    The Adirondack Chronology is intended to be a useful resource for researchers and others interested in the Adirondacks and Adirondack history.https://digitalworks.union.edu/arlpublications/1000/thumbnail.jp

    Equity research - EDP Renováveis S.A. : the value of financial flexibility

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    Mestrado Bolonha em FinançasThe present document is the report of an Equity Research of EDP Renováveis, S.A. (EDPR). EDPR is a leading global renewable energy company, that develops, constructs, and operates onshore wind farms, solar energy plants, and offshore wind projects to deliver clean energy to its customers in over 20 countries. This report applies a DCF FCFF Sum-of-the-Parts approach to capture all the characteristics and risks of each segment. We issue a buy recommendation for EDPR, with a 2022YE price target of €24.7/share. This valuation implies a 24% upside potential from the January 12th, 2022 closing price of €19.9, with medium-low risk. Other valuation approaches were used to confirm the robustness of the analysis. Additionally, the valuation was subject to multiple sensitivity analyses to address its risk. Following the original research, a complementary approach was carried out to analyse EDPR’s Financial Flexibility. By using a Real Options approach with the BlackScholes-Merton model, we value the benefits of staying underlevered and provide a framework to support management’s decisions on the design of the capital structure. Our analysis shows that companies with certain characteristics may benefit a lot from financial flexibility. Specifically, EDPR distinguishes itself from its peers by maintaining flexibility in a current scenario of growth and uncertainty. The value of financial flexibility is not usually accounted for explicitly in the stock price. Thus, we update our recommendation to capture EDPR’s unique strategy in its industry. The report was finalized on January 16th, 2022. By March 2022, an updated snapshot was created, to reflect the impacts of the military invasion of Ukraine.O presente documento consiste num relatório de Equity Research sobre a EDP Renováveis, S.A. (EDPR). A EDPR é uma empresa líder global de energia renovável, que desenvolve, constrói e opera parques eólicos onshore, parques de energia solar e projetos eólicos offshore para fornecer energia limpa aos seus clientes. Neste relatório é aplicada uma abordagem DCF FCFF Soma das Partes de modo a capturar todas as características e riscos de cada segmento. Emitimos uma recomendação de compra para a EDPR, com um preço-alvo de €24.7/ação no final do ano de 2022. Esta avaliação implica um potencial de valorização de 24%, face ao preço de fecho a 12 de Janeiro de 2022 de €19.9, com um nível de risco médio-baixo. Outros métodos de avaliação foram usados para confirmar a robustez da análise. Adicionalmente, a avaliação foi sujeita a várias análises de sensibilidade a fim de abordar o seu risco. Foi realizada uma abordagem complementar para analisar a Flexibilidade Financeira da EDPR. Usando uma abordagem de Real Options com o modelo Black-ScholesMerton, avaliamos os benefícios de permanecer sob-alavancado e fornecemos uma estrutura para apoiar as decisões da gestão no que diz respeito à estrutura de capital. A nossa análise mostra que empresas com certas características podem beneficiar bastante ao mostrar flexibilidade financeira. Especificamente, a EDPR distingue-se dos seus peers ao manter flexibilidade num cenário atual de crescimento e incerteza. Normalmente, o valor da flexibilidade financeira não é incorporado explicitamente no preço da ação. Logo, atualizamos a nossa recomendação de modo a capturar a estratégia diferenciadora da EDPR na sua indústria. Este relatório foi finalizado no dia 16 de janeiro de 2022. Em março de 2022, foi criado um snapshot atualizado, para refletir os impactos da invasão militar à Ucrânia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Committing to the Discomfort of Care and Curiosity: Investigations of Cows' Welfare, Lives, and Relationships

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    In this dissertation, I investigate cow welfare on grass-fed beef farms to, in part, question and examine the possibility of grass-fed beef farming in providing cows with more care than conventional beef farming. In connection with this, I analyze cow welfare to explore the agencies, subjectivities, and relationships of cows whose lives are taken in the name of food. I unpack grass-fed beef farmers' understandings and practices of cow welfare and use animal geographies, biopolitics, and critical food studies to unearth the ethical complexities of farmer-cow relations, which complicate and strengthen cow welfare's multidimensionality. Alongside working with farmers, I acknowledge and engage with cows as research subjects who teach me about their welfare, lives, and intimate relationships with others. Woven into my analysis of cow welfare is my exploration of the entanglement of caring, loving, profiting, and killing that underscores farmer-cow relationships. Within this context, I write about the different ways that I physically, mentally, and emotionally navigated this exploration as a vegan, feminist animal geographer committed to the discomfort of care and curiosity that an analysis of life, death, and relationality summoned within me. Through the process of navigating this discomfort, I offer my own ethics of care with animals
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