6,032 research outputs found

    Configuration Management of Distributed Systems over Unreliable and Hostile Networks

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    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

    UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024

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    The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp

    Inovação na diplomacia cultural: o caso da China

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    This study focuses on the innovation of China’s cultural diplomacy (CCD) by means of the Confucius Institute (CI). The main contents revolve around the following research goals: 1) to understand the strategic framework and practical path of CCD, and to clarify the context of its inheritance and innovation; 2) to analyze whether the CI, epitomized as a crucial innovation of CCD, has improved China’s national image in Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) and enhanced the attraction and international competitiveness of Chinese culture; and 3) to explore how China can better formulate its CD strategy in line with the exigencies of the modern era. The study combines the methods of literature review, case study, and questionnaire research to explore the topics from different perspectives to strengthen the scientific nature of the research results. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the connotation and value of CD. Chapter 2 expounds the development and innovation of CCD. Chapter 3 systematically summarizes China’s cultural interaction in its diplomatic process with PSCs. Chapter 4 elaborates on the CI in terms of its operation mode and diplomatic means. Chapter 5 forms the core of the study and involves empirical analysis of case-study and questionnaire data. It aims to investigate the functions, public image, influence, and practical means of CIs in the process of CD. Major findings indicate that CIs in PSCs have achieved ideal social feedback and play a positive role in shaping the image of China. However, according to the different continents where CIs are located, the survey results show distinct characteristics which are closely related to China’s different foreign policies towards Latin America, Europe, and Africa and are determined by the historical experiences and national conditions of the various countries. The future task for CCD is to clarify China’s institutional roots and the cultural genes behind its development by using cultural exchanges and China’s fluid culture to convey a message of China’s pursuit of peace, development, and cooperation.Este estudo tem como foco a inovação da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC) através do Instituto Confúcio (IC). Os principais conteúdos giram em torno dos seguintes objetivos de investigação: 1) compreender o enquadramento estratégico e o percurso prático da Diplomacia Cultural da China e clarificar o contexto da sua herança e inovação; 2) analisar se o IC, exemplo de inovação crucial da Diplomacia Cultural da China, melhorou a imagem nacional da China nos Países de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP) e aumentou a atração e competitividade internacional da cultura chinesa; e 3) explorar como a China pode formular melhor a sua estratégia de Diplomacia Cultural, de acordo com as exigências da era moderna. O estudo combina os métodos de revisão de literatura, estudo de caso e pesquisa de questionário para explorar os tópicos de diferentes perspetivas com o objetivo de fortalecer a natureza científica dos resultados de investigação. Além da introdução e da conclusão, a tese está dividida em cinco capítulos. O Capítulo 1 discute a conotação e o valor de Diplomacia Cultural (DC). O Capítulo 2 expõe o desenvolvimento e a inovação da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC). O Capítulo 3 resume sistematicamente a interação cultural da China no seu processo diplomático com os Países de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP). O Capítulo 4 discorre sobre o papel do IC em termos do seu modo de operar e dos seus meios diplomáticos. O Capítulo 5 constitui o núcleo da tese e envolve a análise empírica dos dados do estudo de caso e do questionário. Tem como objetivo investigar as funções, a imagem pública, a influência e os meios práticos dos IC no processo de Diplomacia Cultural (DC). As principais descobertas indicam que os IC nos PALOP alcançaram o feedback social ideal e desempenham um papel positivo na formação da imagem da China. No entanto, de acordo com os diferentes continentes onde os IC estão situados, os resultados da pesquisa apresentam caraterísticas distintas que estão intimamente relacionadas com as diferentes políticas externas da China para a América Latina, a Europa e a África e são determinadas pelas experiências históricas e pelas condições nacionais dos vários países. A futura tarefa da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC) será a de esclarecer as raízes institucionais da China e os genes culturais por trás do seu desenvolvimento, usando intercâmbios culturais e a cultura fluida da China para transmitir uma mensagem de busca de paz, de desenvolvimento e de cooperação por parte da China.Programa Doutoral em Políticas Pública

    Climate Change and Critical Agrarian Studies

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    Climate change is perhaps the greatest threat to humanity today and plays out as a cruel engine of myriad forms of injustice, violence and destruction. The effects of climate change from human-made emissions of greenhouse gases are devastating and accelerating; yet are uncertain and uneven both in terms of geography and socio-economic impacts. Emerging from the dynamics of capitalism since the industrial revolution — as well as industrialisation under state-led socialism — the consequences of climate change are especially profound for the countryside and its inhabitants. The book interrogates the narratives and strategies that frame climate change and examines the institutionalised responses in agrarian settings, highlighting what exclusions and inclusions result. It explores how different people — in relation to class and other co-constituted axes of social difference such as gender, race, ethnicity, age and occupation — are affected by climate change, as well as the climate adaptation and mitigation responses being implemented in rural areas. The book in turn explores how climate change – and the responses to it - affect processes of social differentiation, trajectories of accumulation and in turn agrarian politics. Finally, the book examines what strategies are required to confront climate change, and the underlying political-economic dynamics that cause it, reflecting on what this means for agrarian struggles across the world. The 26 chapters in this volume explore how the relationship between capitalism and climate change plays out in the rural world and, in particular, the way agrarian struggles connect with the huge challenge of climate change. Through a huge variety of case studies alongside more conceptual chapters, the book makes the often-missing connection between climate change and critical agrarian studies. The book argues that making the connection between climate and agrarian justice is crucial

    Safe passage for attachment systems:Can attachment security at international schools be measured, and is it at risk?

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    Relocations challenge attachment networks. Regardless of whether a person moves or is moved away from, relocation produces separation and loss. When such losses are repeatedly experienced without being adequately processed, a defensive shutting down of the attachment system could result, particularly when such experiences occur during or across the developmental years. At schools with substantial turnover, this possibility could be shaping youth in ways that compromise attachment security and young people’s willingness or ability to develop and maintain deep long-term relationships. Given the well-documented associations between attachment security, social support, and long-term physical and mental health, the hypothesis that mobility could erode attachment and relational health warrants exploration. International schools are logical settings to test such a hypothesis, given their frequently high turnover without confounding factors (e.g. war trauma or refugee experiences). In addition, repeated experiences of separation and loss in international school settings would seem likely to create mental associations for the young people involved regarding how they and others tend to respond to such situations in such settings, raising the possibility that people at such schools, or even the school itself, could collectively be represented as an attachment figure. Questions like these have received scant attention in the literature. They warrant consideration because of their potential to shape young people’s most general convictions regarding attachment, which could, in turn, have implications for young people’s ability to experience meaning in their lives

    Cultures of Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century: Literary and Cultural Perspectives on a Legal Concept

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    In the early twenty-first century, the concept of citizenship is more contested than ever. As refugees set out to cross the Mediterranean, European nation-states refer to "cultural integrity" and "immigrant inassimilability," revealing citizenship to be much more than a legal concept. The contributors to this volume take an interdisciplinary approach to considering how cultures of citizenship are being envisioned and interrogated in literary and cultural (con)texts. Through this framework, they attend to the tension between the citizen and its spectral others - a tension determined by how a country defines difference at a given moment

    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume

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    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum

    UMSL Bulletin 2022-2023

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    The 2022-2023 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp
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