On Properties of Policy-Based Specifications

The advent of large-scale, complex computing systems has dramatically increased the difficulties of securing accesses to systems' resources. To ensure confidentiality and integrity, the exploitation of access control mechanisms has thus become a crucial issue in the design of modern computing systems. Among the different access control approaches proposed in the last decades, the policy-based one permits to capture, by resorting to the concept of attribute, all systems' security-relevant information and to be, at the same time, sufficiently flexible and expressive to represent the other approaches. In this paper, we move a step further to understand the effectiveness of policy-based specifications by studying how they permit to enforce traditional security properties. To support system designers in developing and maintaining policy-based specifications, we formalise also some relevant properties regarding the structure of policies. By means of a case study from the banking domain, we present real instances of such properties and outline an approach towards their automatised verification.Comment: In Proceedings WWV 2015, arXiv:1508.0338

Processing techniques development, volume 3

The author has identified the following significant results. Analysis of the geometric characteristics of the aircraft synthetic aperture radar (SAR) relative to LANDSAT indicated that relatively low order polynominals would model the distortions to subpixel accuracy to bring SAR into registration for good quality imagery. Also the area analyzed was small, about 10 miles square, so this is an additional constraint. For the Air Force/ERIM data, none of the tested methods could achieve subpixel accuracy. Reasons for this is unknown; however, the noisy (high scintillation) nature of the data and attendent unrecognizability of features contribute to this error. It is concluded that the quadratic model would adequately provide distortion modeling for small areas, i.e., 10 to 20 miles square

Laying the Groundwork for Court Reform - A Report of the Mississippi Bar\u27s Commission on Courts in the 21st Century - Discussion Draft

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Developing capabilities in the seed industry: which direction to follow?

Since the 1990s, many developing country policy makers have assumed that plant genetic engineering represents the only technological frontier in seed innovation; that it has been the leading technology for improving seeds and agricultural performance in those countries where it has been adopted; and that it is the area of biotechnology in which domestic capabilities in seed innovation should be accumulated. In this paper we challenge all those assumptions through an exploration of the role that both genetic engineering and other seed innovation techniques have played in explaining dynamism in the seed market, and wider agricultural economy, in Argentina, focusing on the case of soy. We argue that existing analyses of the impact of plant genetic engineering in Argentina either ignore the performance gains from seed innovations based on techniques other than genetic engineering or misattribute them to genetic engineering. Our analysis, based on data of registered plant varieties, evidence of agricultural performance in Argentina, and interviews with company managers and public sector researchers, seeks to distinguish between the impacts that different approaches to seed innovation have had on the soy sector. We argue that, from the data available, non-genetic engineering seed innovations appear to have had a very significant direct effect on farm-level soy productivity, much more so than those based on genetic engineering, and that they offer just as plausible a contributing explanation for indirect effects on productivity that are normally attributed to genetic engineering. Our findings are preliminary, but they stand in stark contrast to the very widely held view that genetic engineering has played a central, transformative role in the revitalisation and internationally competitive performance of soy production in Argentina over the last two decades. They also have a number of potential implications for the allocation of resources and policy support to the seed industry, and, more generally to how technological options should be considered and assessed in strategies for developing technological capabilities. Our analysis is framed by and contributes to an emerging body of research within the innovation literature that challenges deterministic, unidirectional approaches to analysing technological change in emerging economies

Decision Support Model For Construction Crew Reassignments

The reassignment of crews on a construction project in response to changes occurs on a frequent basis. The factors that affect the crew reassignment decision can be myriad and most are not known with certainty. This research addresses the need for a decision support model to assist construction managers with the crew reassignment problem. The model design makes use of certainty factors in a decision tree structure. The research helped to determine the elements in the decision tree, the appropriate combination rules to use with the certainty factors, and the method for combining the certainty factors and costs to develop a measure of cost for each decision option. The research employed surveys, group meetings, and individual interviews of experienced construction managers and superintendents to investigate the current methods used by decision makers to identify and evaluate the key elements of the construction crew reassignment decision. The initial research indicated that the use of certainty factors was preferred over probabilities for representing the uncertainties. Since certainty factors have not been used in a traditional decision tree context, a contribution of the research is the development and testing of techniques for combining certainty factors, durations, and costs in order to represent the uncertainty and to emulate the decision process of the experts interviewed. The developed model provides the decision maker with an estimate of upper and lower bounds of costs for each crew reassignment option. The model was applied contemporaneously to six changes on three ongoing construction projects to test the model and assess its usefulness. The model provides a previously unavailable tool for the prospective identification and estimation of productivity losses and potential costs that emanate from changes. The users indicated the model process resulted in concise and complete compilations of the elements of the crew reassignment decision and that the model outputs were consistent with the users\u27 expectations

The Continuing Leverage of Releasing Authorities: Findings from a National Survey

The Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice launched a national survey of releasing authorities in March 2015 to each state, and the U.S. Parole Commission. The importance of the survey was underscored by an endorsement from the Association of Paroling Authorities International (APAI). We are pleased to present the results from this important survey here. This is the first comprehensive survey of parole boards completed in nearly 10 years. Its findings provide a rich database for better understanding the policy and practice of paroling authorities. The last survey to be conducted of paroling authorities was in 2007/2008.The current report offers an expansion and update of previous surveys. The results summarized throughout the report offer a timely resource for paroling authorities, correctional policy-makers and practitioners, legislators, and those with a public policy interest in sentencing and criminal justice operations. It is our hope that the document and its findings provide key justice system and other stakeholders with an incisive snapshot of the work of paroling authorities across the country in a manner that contributes to a larger conversation about sound and effective parole release and revocation practices.The completion of this comprehensive survey and the reporting of its findings offers a timely and invaluable resource for releasing authorities. It provides them and other key justice system stakeholders with a comparative understanding of their colleagues' work across the nation, and contributes to a larger conversation pertaining to effective parole release and revocation practices

ECOPHYSIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF YIELD DETERMINATION IN SOYBEAN OF DIFFERENT RELATIVE MATURITIES

Soybean yield differences are a combination of the genotype, environmental conditions, and management practices. Understanding how these factors interact through the analysis of the components involved in yield determination, provides a way to increase potential and actual yields in Kentucky. Two irrigated experiments were conducted to quantify differences in the mechanisms of yield determination across soybean maturity groups (MG) 2 to 5 (Chapter 1), and to quantify management options (seeding rate and choice of MG cultivar) that increase yield potential of double crop soybean systems (Chapter 2). Results showed that cultivars used different physiological strategies to achieve high yields, but these were not always consistent across the environments studied. High yields were often associated to a higher efficiency partitioning biomass to seeds that lead to a higher seed number in some cultivars, as well as associated to low seed growth rates (Chapter 1). The choice of MG cultivar had a greater impact on double-crop soybean yields than increasing seeding rates from 40 to 54 seed m-2. The higher seeding rate increased yields by 5% without an interaction with cultivar. Optimal MG choices for double-crop soybean in KY were dependent on the environment