Islam and the Cyber World

The mixed reactions on the use of the internet technology which have resulted in different debates and crimes in the cyber world calls for assessment of the Islamic point of view of the issue. Cyber world created avenue for the Muslim Ummah in a form of virtual global community and it encouraged dialogue as well as access to information on a real time basis; and above all facilitated easy access to the Qur’an. Nonetheless, th same tool has opened doors for crimes such as pornography, victimization, bullying, stalking etc. Hence this study reviews the benefits of the internet technology and consequences of its misuse. The frame of reference in measuring both the negative and positive aspects of this technology will be the Islamic standpoint. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014.v4n6p51

ESTABLISHMENT OF CYBER-PHYSICAL CORRELATION AND VERIFICATION BASED ON ATTACK SCENARIOS IN POWER SUBSTATIONS

Insurance businesses for the cyberworld are an evolving opportunity. However, a quantitative model in today\u27s security technologies may not be established. Besides, a generalized methodology to assess the systematic risks remains underdeveloped. There has been a technical challenge to capture intrusion risks of the cyber-physical system, including estimating the impact of the potential cascaded events initiated by the hacker\u27s malicious actions. This dissertation attempts to integrate both modeling aspects: 1) steady-state probabilities for the Internet protocol-based substation switching attack events based on hypothetical cyberattacks, 2) potential electricity losses. The phenomenon of sequential attacks can be characterized using a time-domain simulation that exhibits dynamic cascaded events. Such substation attack simulation studies can establish an actuarial framework for grid operation. The novelty is three-fold. First, the development to extend features of steady-state probabilities is established based on 1) modified password models, 2) new models on digital relays with two-step authentications, and 3) honeypot models. A generalized stochastic Petri net is leveraged to formulate the detailed statuses and transitions of components embedded in a Cyber-net. Then, extensive modeling of steady-state probabilities is qualitatively performed. Methodologies on how transition probabilities and rates are extracted from network components and actuarial applications are summarized and discussed. Second, dynamic models requisite for switching attacks against multiple substations or digital relays deployed in substations are formulated. Imperative protection and control models to represent substation attacks are clarified with realistic model parameters. Specifically, wide-area protections, i.e., special protection systems (SPSs), are elaborated, asserting that event-driven SPSs may be skipped for this type of case study. Third, the substation attack replay using a proven commercially available time-domain simulation tool is validated in IEEE system models to study attack combinations\u27 critical paths. As the time-domain simulation requires a higher computational cost than power flow-based steady-state simulation, a balance of both methods is established without missing the critical dynamic behavior. The direct impact of substation attacks, i.e., electricity losses, is compared between steady-state and dynamic analyses. Steady-state analysis results are prone to be pessimistic for a smaller number of compromised substations. Finally, simulation findings based on the risk-based metrics and technical implementation are extensively discussed with future work

Mastering Uncertainty in Mechanical Engineering

This open access book reports on innovative methods, technologies and strategies for mastering uncertainty in technical systems. Despite the fact that current research on uncertainty is mainly focusing on uncertainty quantification and analysis, this book gives emphasis to innovative ways to master uncertainty in engineering design, production and product usage alike. It gathers authoritative contributions by more than 30 scientists reporting on years of research in the areas of engineering, applied mathematics and law, thus offering a timely, comprehensive and multidisciplinary account of theories and methods for quantifying data, model and structural uncertainty, and of fundamental strategies for mastering uncertainty. It covers key concepts such as robustness, flexibility and resilience in detail. All the described methods, technologies and strategies have been validated with the help of three technical systems, i.e. the Modular Active Spring-Damper System, the Active Air Spring and the 3D Servo Press, which have been in turn developed and tested during more than ten years of cooperative research. Overall, this book offers a timely, practice-oriented reference guide to graduate students, researchers and professionals dealing with uncertainty in the broad field of mechanical engineering

Education and Social Work Handbook 2009

Tese de doutoramento em Arte Contemporânea, apresentada ao Colégio das Artes da Universidade de CoimbraEsta não é uma tese somente sobre o estatuto da imagem. A razão para isso é que nenhuma teoria é ou pode ser adequada à imagem e que o próprio estatuto provoca todas as ferramentas da reflexão teórica. Porque escolhi investigar imagens a partir da fotografia? Poderia falar de imagens a partir do desenho, da pintura e da tradição escultórica. Como inventar no espelho e aceitar os dogmas acerca da imagem, as definições que se tornaram convicções? Na escola de arte, embora tivesse habilidade para o desenho e para a pintura, meu interesse era nas imagens prontas. Uma tentativa de tirar o verniz das imagens é a chave daquilo que hoje chamo de a Imagem Emancipada. Vemos isso nos pintores, nos cineastas que se divergem e se vê através da tecnociência. Como amante da arte não posso desenvolver meu interesse pela técnica mais do que meu interesse pela crítica. O projeto de um futuro em Warburg: a antropologia da cultura ocidental em que a filologia, etnologia, história e biologia convergem com uma iconologia do intervalo, no qual o trabalho incessante é a memória social. A Imagem Emancipada são os clarões dentro das imagens que buscamos. Embora tivesse influência dos planos de cinema, as imagens que buscava construir, sempre vieram de minhas referências de pintores e suas soluções de espaço, cor e, por que não dizer, tempo. Foi no início dos anos oitenta, com a atmosfera de regresso à pintura e ao figurativismo, que a fotografia encontrou terreno fértil para se desenvolver rumo a novas direções.This is not a thesis that only covers image statute, and the reason is that no theory is, or can fit the image, and the thesis itself causes all theoretical reflection tools. Why have I chosen to investigate images from photograph? I could have talked about images from drawing, painting and sculpture tradition. How to invent in front of the mirror and accept the dogmas concerning the image and definitions that became convictions? At the art school, although I had the ability to draw and paint, my real interested was in finished images. An attempt to remove the varnish from images is the key of what I call today as Emancipated Image. We can see that in painters and filmmakers that diverge and see themselves through technology. As an art lover, I can not develop my interest for the critic. The project of a future in Warburg: western culture anthropology in which philosophy, ethnology, history and biology converge with an iconology of the recess, where the non stopping work is the social memory. Emancipated Image are the flash inside the images we seek. Although I had influence by cinema plans, the images I tries to build, always came from my references of painters and their solutions to space, color and why not mention, time. It was in the beginning of the 1980’s, with the return atmosphere to painting and to figuration, that photography found breeding ground to develop towards new directions