Studying a Virtual Testbed for Unverified Data

It is difficult to fully know the effects a piece of software will have on your computer, particularly when the software is distributed by an unknown source. The research in this paper focuses on malware detection, virtualization, and sandbox/honeypot techniques with the goal of improving the security of installing useful, but unverifiable, software. With a combination of these techniques, it should be possible to install software in an environment where it cannot harm a machine, but can be tested to determine its safety. Testing for malware, performance, network connectivity, memory usage, and interoperability can be accomplished without allowing the program to access the base operating system of a machine. After the full effects of the software are understood and it is determined to be safe, it could then be run from, and given access to, the base operating system. This thesis investigates the feasibility of creating a system to verify the security of unknown software while ensuring it will have no negative impact on the host machine

An Android-Based Mechanism for Energy Efficient Localization Depending on Indoor/Outdoor Context

Today, there is widespread use of mobile applications that take advantage of a user\u27s location. Popular usages of location information include geotagging on social media websites, driver assistance and navigation, and querying nearby locations of interest. However, the average user may not realize the high energy costs of using location services (namely the GPS) or may not make smart decisions regarding when to enable or disable location services-for example, when indoors. As a result, a mechanism that can make these decisions on the user\u27s behalf can significantly improve a smartphone\u27s battery life. In this paper, we present an energy consumption analysis of the localization methods available on modern Android smartphones and propose the addition of an indoor localization mechanism that can be triggered depending on whether a user is detected to be indoors or outdoors. Based on our energy analysis and implementation of our proposed system, we provide experimental results-monitoring battery life over time-and show that an indoor localization method triggered by indoor or outdoor context can improve smartphone battery life and, potentially, location accuracy

Electrical Energy Efficiency For Retroffitting Commercial Building

The objective of this study is to reduce energy operating costs by introducing electrical energy conservation programmes such as improving lighting efficiency, reducing internal energy transmission losses along power cables and to replace inefficient equipment with energy efficient products for retrofit commercial buildings. Retrofitting commercial building has been defined as existing commercial building that will be undergoing major upgrading works such as replacing of wear and tear equipment and use products of new technologies or energy conservation techniques which can increase energy efficiency within the commercial building operation in order to remain competitive in operations. Energy conservation literature was reviewed and energy conservation techniques were implemented in a Malaysia Airlines System (MAS) headquarters building located at Lot 69, Section 57, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. In this study energy analysis and inefficient usage of energy was determined by tabulating energy consumption and expenditure by referring to previous monthly electricity bills; monitoring of power consumption by computing variables such as power factor value, reactive energy and harmonic contents using (HIOKI) power monitoring meters and degree of luminance by determining luminaires system lux value using (HIOKI) Lux meter. Analysis of the energy data revealed that practical energy conservation programme techniques can be implemented to alleviate inefficient energy usage and reduction in operation cost. The results showed that by retrofitting the existing luminaires system to the recommended parabolic mirror reflector (PMR) luminaire and replacing the conventional bulb ' EXIT' sign luminaires to light emitting diode (LED) technology, inefficient usage electrical energy can be reduced and will lead to cost saving. The power factor correction method derived from analysis of practical energy data indicated that internal energy transmission losses over power cable can be reduced and also improve power system distribution capacity. The wear and tear of the existing electric motor can be replaced with energy efficient electric motor based on the energy consumption data comparison analysis. Improving the power quality problem especially the harmonic contents in the power system can also reduce electrical energy transmission losses by correcting the non-linear current distorted waveform. The conclusion that can be drawn here is that the electrical energy conservation programme techniques are indeed able to reduce the electrical energy consumption as shown by cost saving calculations

Assessment of energy and emissions saving solutions in urban rail-based transport systems

Global warming and climate change are indisputable theories. Since the Industrial Revolution, the mean temperature of the planet has increased by 1°C. Now, temperatures are approaching a higher stage of +1.5°C and the attention is on both CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Transportation is a major component of the environmental impact, accounting for approximately 30% of air pollution and energy consumption. Due to the rapid urbanization in the EU, with an estimated 74.3% of the population living in cities, forecasted to rise to 80% by 2050, urban mobility is dramatically increasing its relevance. Therefore, a reduction in energy consumption and pollutant emissions is a crucial factor to consider in developing urban transportation and particularly rail-based systems, able to provide energy saving transport services by improving urban environment. Several methods and techniques are under development to improve the energy performance of Light Rail Transport (LRT), which spread from different typologies of power supply to improving energy efficiency. The purpose of this paper is to start from the last developments and innovative energy sources for LRT systems. The focus is on two parts: a) trams running on Hydrogen in parallel with on board batteries with energy saving control techniques, b) potential renewable energy sources to meet power demand. The comparison is with traditional power sources and equipment (e.g. Catenary-based). The methods, based on selected indicators, are under development and test by calculations and simulations with reference to the case study of the new tramlines in the city of Brescia (Italy)

Design and automated operation of a condensation-induced depressurization system

Typical examples of the use of the vacuum environments in industry include vacuum coating, vacuum drying, vacuum packing, vacuum casting, vacuum heat treatment, vacuum cooling for food storage and leakage detection. Most of these applications require a comparatively small volume of vacuum environment. However, there are also many applications where enormous vacuum chambers are needed. For example, a large vacuum chamber is used to simulate the conditions of space. This study investigates the design and the automated operation of a vacuum generation system based on the idea of the condensation-induced depressurization with prefilled condensable medium in a confined, adiabatic chamber. The operation process of this new system includes mainly four phases, steam filling phase, cooling phase, usage phase and transition phase, operating sequentially. An automated control system based on these phases is designed and implemented on a laboratory scaled experimental system. This experimental system serves as a vacuum environment application to demonstrate the automatic and continuous operation of the condensation-induced depressurization system. In order to obtain a better understanding on the selection of parameters for performance improvement, models of the first three process phases are developed and analyzed. These models provide a reference for the design of systems for other industry applications as well. Methods of improving the system design and operation are investigated. The analysis shows that high pressure and fast flow steam source will accelerate the steam filling process. Removal of the transition phase improves the steam filling phase and speeds up the vacuum preparation. Improvement can also be achieved on the coordination between vacuum generation and usage through control elements, as well as the proper selection of volume ratio between usage chamber and preparation chambers. The ultimate objective of this study is that the results can be used to develop guidelines for the design and operation of vacuum generation systems according to specific usage patterns of the vacuum environment applications

Power Management Techniques for Data Centers: A Survey

With growing use of internet and exponential growth in amount of data to be stored and processed (known as 'big data'), the size of data centers has greatly increased. This, however, has resulted in significant increase in the power consumption of the data centers. For this reason, managing power consumption of data centers has become essential. In this paper, we highlight the need of achieving energy efficiency in data centers and survey several recent architectural techniques designed for power management of data centers. We also present a classification of these techniques based on their characteristics. This paper aims to provide insights into the techniques for improving energy efficiency of data centers and encourage the designers to invent novel solutions for managing the large power dissipation of data centers.Comment: Keywords: Data Centers, Power Management, Low-power Design, Energy Efficiency, Green Computing, DVFS, Server Consolidatio