Towards secure message systems

Message systems, which transfer information from sender to recipient via communication networks, are indispensable to our modern society. The enormous user base of message systems and their critical role in information delivery make it the top priority to secure message systems. This dissertation focuses on securing the two most representative and dominant messages systems---e-mail and instant messaging (IM)---from two complementary aspects: defending against unwanted messages and ensuring reliable delivery of wanted messages.;To curtail unwanted messages and protect e-mail and instant messaging users, this dissertation proposes two mechanisms DBSpam and HoneyIM, which can effectively thwart e-mail spam laundering and foil malicious instant message spreading, respectively. DBSpam exploits the distinct characteristics of connection correlation and packet symmetry embedded in the behavior of spam laundering and utilizes a simple statistical method, Sequential Probability Ratio Test, to detect and break spam laundering activities inside a customer network in a timely manner. The experimental results demonstrate that DBSpam is effective in quickly and accurately capturing and suppressing e-mail spam laundering activities and is capable of coping with high speed network traffic. HoneyIM leverages the inherent characteristic of spreading of IM malware and applies the honey-pot technology to the detection of malicious instant messages. More specifically, HoneyIM uses decoy accounts in normal users\u27 contact lists as honey-pots to capture malicious messages sent by IM malware and suppresses the spread of malicious instant messages by performing network-wide blocking. The efficacy of HoneyIM has been validated through both simulations and real experiments.;To improve e-mail reliability, that is, prevent losses of wanted e-mail, this dissertation proposes a collaboration-based autonomous e-mail reputation system called CARE. CARE introduces inter-domain collaboration without central authority or third party and enables each e-mail service provider to independently build its reputation database, including frequently contacted and unacquainted sending domains, based on the local e-mail history and the information exchanged with other collaborating domains. The effectiveness of CARE on improving e-mail reliability has been validated through a number of experiments, including a comparison of two large e-mail log traces from two universities, a real experiment of DNS snooping on more than 36,000 domains, and extensive simulation experiments in a large-scale environment

Mathematical Algorithm Design for Deep Learning under Societal and Judicial Constraints: The Algorithmic Transparency Requirement

Deep learning still has drawbacks in terms of trustworthiness, which describes a comprehensible, fair, safe, and reliable method. To mitigate the potential risk of AI, clear obligations associated to trustworthiness have been proposed via regulatory guidelines, e.g., in the European AI Act. Therefore, a central question is to what extent trustworthy deep learning can be realized. Establishing the described properties constituting trustworthiness requires that the factors influencing an algorithmic computation can be retraced, i.e., the algorithmic implementation is transparent. Motivated by the observation that the current evolution of deep learning models necessitates a change in computing technology, we derive a mathematical framework which enables us to analyze whether a transparent implementation in a computing model is feasible. We exemplarily apply our trustworthiness framework to analyze deep learning approaches for inverse problems in digital and analog computing models represented by Turing and Blum-Shub-Smale Machines, respectively. Based on previous results, we find that Blum-Shub-Smale Machines have the potential to establish trustworthy solvers for inverse problems under fairly general conditions, whereas Turing machines cannot guarantee trustworthiness to the same degree

Waste Management

The Productivity Commission�s inquiry report into �Waste Management� was released in December 2006. The Australian Government asked the Commission to identify policies that would enable Australia to address market failures and externalities associated with the generation and disposal of waste, and recommend how resource efficiencies can be optimised to improve economic, environmental and social outcomes. In the final report, the Commission maintains that waste management policy should be refocused on the environmental and social impacts of waste collection and disposal. The Commission noted that policy makers and community attitudes will need to be guided by more open and rigorous analysis of costs, benefits and risks, if waste management measures are to best serve the community. The Commission also recommends that the Australian Government play a leadership role in facilitating relevant reforms and in developing sound, nationally consistent waste management policies. The Commission makes further recommendations in several other areas including target setting, landfill regulation, disposal charges and levies, product stewardship, government procurement and performance indicators. The Commission�s findings and recommendations are categorised under the following headings: waste management in Australia; the costs and benefits of waste; the case for government intervention; a waste policy framework; the waste hierarchy and target setting; regulation; market-based instruments; extended producer responsibility and product stewardship; Government information provision and procurement; institutional and regulatory impediments to resource recovery; and performance measurement.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Innovation in resource-based technology clusters: investigating the lateral migration thesis

Commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology, Februar

The Washoe, Tourism and Lake Tahoe Landscapes: Examining Reciprocal Effects Between Washoe Cultural Heritage and Tourism

This research examines the cultural heritage landscape as both representing and the medium through which tourism influences cultural heritage production and preservation. It explores the reciprocal effect between tourism and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, looking at the landscapes of Lake Tahoe that embody and reflect this relationship. Lake Tahoe is examined as a large, single landscape and smaller landscapes within it, Tahoe City, Cave Rock, the Tallac area and Meeks Bay; all represent Washoe and Euro-American landscape formation processes through time. This research introduces and employs the reciprocity of tourism model and the hybrid tourist/cultural heritage landscape as methods to examine complex relationships represented in the Lake Tahoe landscapes. The reciprocity of tourism model engages the reciprocal relationships between tourism and cultural heritage by examining five factors, representation, identity, production, practice and agency, allowing for the interconnected multi-dimensionality of this relationship to be more fully represented. The analysis of hybrid tourist/cultural heritage landscapes examines landscape formation through time using two factors, tourism and cultural heritage. The Washoe were marginalized from the published work about Lake Tahoe and their presence in the Lake Tahoe landscapes was limited when examined in the Euro-American-centric media and from a Euro-American viewpoint. However, this study re-examines tourist and popular media from the 1850s to today. It employs the reciprocity of tourism model to show how the Washoe used the practice of tourism and the tools of survivance to overcome Euro-American subjugation and colonization of their traditional lands and cultural heritage practices. Early in the history of Lake Tahoe tourism, the Washoe provided tourist services as hunting and fishing guides; estate caretakers; handymen; hotel employees and domestic servants. During this time the Washoe remained at Lake Tahoe, and Euro-Americans ascribed to the Washoe a negative, generic “Indian” identity, representative of the cultural ethos at the time. However, individual Washoe identity remained; it was mainly associated with their basketry tradition and was represented in tourist photographs and guidebooks. The basketry tradition is tied to Lake Tahoe, in particular Tahoe City. The landscape of Washoe basketry exemplifies the reciprocity of tourism because traditional basketry was re-worked for the tourist market and, in turn, created an appreciation for Washoe cultural heritage. Washoe agency within Lake Tahoe landscapes came to the forefront beginning in the 1930s and by the 1990s became increasingly evident. Today Lake Tahoe landscapes, large and small, reflect the cultural heritage of both the Washoe and tourists, creating hybrid tourist/cultural heritage landscapes. Washoe cultural heritage permeates Lake Tahoe landscapes in both obvious and subtle ways. For example, the Tallac area is the only area where Washoe use has remained uninterrupted; early on Washoe families owned property and stables and also worked in resorts and summer homes. Later in the twentieth-century, the Washoe began to host cultural festivals and presented Washoe-curated exhibits on the grounds of Tallac area summer estates, now an historic site for tourists. Another example can be seen in the Washoe Tribe’s current management of Meeks Bay Resort, one of the oldest tourist resorts still in operation. Additionally, the Washoe were successful in their litigation to ban sport rock climbing from Cave Rock, one of their most sacred sites. The reciprocity of tourism shows how the Washoe clearly remained and influenced Lake Tahoe landscapes through time. They adapted to and used tourism as a means of survival that today has come full circle. The Environmentalist Landscape, represented by the “Keep Tahoe Blue” campaign, is perhaps the most identifiable tourist landscape today, promoted through government, academic and tourist media. The environmental and ecological awareness of Lake Tahoe today unconsciously promotes Washoe traditional land ethics and land use practices; the very ethics and practices used by Euro-Americans as justifications for colonization. Through their ecological restoration work, the Washoe represent their cultural heritage as forefathers and stewards of Lake Tahoe landscapes. As a result of Euro-American settlement pressures, the Washoe reworked and adapted their cultural heritage and in the process they also reshaped Euro-American cultural heritage at Lake Tahoe

Higher education looking forward: relations between higher education and society

This report includes the five thematic overview reports which were prepared for the European Science Foundation ‘Forward Look’ on ‘Higher education in Europe beyond 2010: resolving conflicting social and economic expectations. The five reports are: • Higher education and the knowledge society discourse (Jussi Välimaa and David Hoffman); • Higher education and the achievement (or prevention) of equity and society justice (John Brennan and Rajani Naidoo); • Higher education and its communities: interconnections and interdependencies (Ben Jongbloed, Jürgen Enders and Carlo Salerno); • The ‘steering’ of higher education systems: a public management perspective (Ewan Ferlie, Christine Musselin and Gianluca Andresani); • The changing patterns of the higher education systems in Europe and the future tasks of higher education research (Ulrich Teichler)

3rd International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2020)

Research methods in economics and social sciences are evolving with the increasing availability of Internet and Big Data sources of information.As these sources, methods, and applications become more interdisciplinary, the 3rd International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA) is an excellent forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and advances on how emerging research methods and sources are applied to different fields of social sciences as well as to discuss current and future challenges.Doménech I De Soria, J.; Vicente Cuervo, MR. (2020). 3rd International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2020). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/149510EDITORIA

Overfishing, uncertainty, and ocean governance: Lord Perry's question revisited

“Why does overfishing persist in the face of regulation?” The author argues that over fishing,a fundamental cause of the crisis facing our oceans, is the result of the failure of our fishing management agencies (ultimately our politicians and communities) to embrace a small suite of powerful tools (more correctly strategic approaches) which have been developed to account for uncertainty. Broad success in managing fisheries to achieve sustainability goals will only come if these tools are enthusiastically applied. This will not happen until organisational cultures within fishery management agencies undergo a major shift leading to an asset-based biodiversity conservation, rather than resource exploitation, to be placed at the centre of ocean governance.This thesis examines these issues in the context of case studies covering regional, national and provincial (State) fishery management agencies. With the exception of the case study of a regional fishery (the southern ocean krill fishery) all case studies are drawn from Australian experiences. The central recommendation of the thesis is that fishery management agencies, worldwide, should be replaced by biodiversity asset management agencies

The context of communication : factors affecting early language, interaction and socioemotional development

This thesis focused on two studies designed to investigate the influence of communicative context on parent-child interactions. Study 1 looked at the effects of different communication intervention systems (Baby Sign (BS), Enhanced Verbal (EV), and Enhanced Nonverbal (ENV) techniques) on language acquisition, nonverbal behaviours, and socio-emotional development. Study 2 measured the effects of chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) on interactions between parent and child. The investigative platform for both studies was to ascertain how the environment in which parent-infant interactions occur may be affected positively by the enhancement of communication and/or negatively by constitutional conditions (such as OME). Study 1 compared BS to other types of intervention. Typically-developing infants were recruited between the ages of 9-11 months and followed longitudinally for 20 months. BS was chosen due to its claims of advancement in IQ rates, symbolic development, complex language acquisition and development, as well as self-esteem (for example, www.babysigns.com). Using the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MCDIs) results showed that infants in all the intervention groups (at around 14 months of age) evidenced early language comprehension benefits (for phrases). BS also appeared to have an effect on single word comprehension. This may be a temporary advancement. No single group showed specifically enhanced benefits for language production over the others. Equally, there were no significant differences between the groups for the type of emerging lexicon. By 24 months the BS group evidenced a significant improvement in socioemotional development not evident in other groups, although the mechanism behind this was unclear. It was concluded that effects of BS on language development were restricted to early improvements in comprehension; and that these benefits may impact on subsequent socioemotional development especially around the 24 month age. This impact was not evident in the other intervention groups or in the non intervention control. This study has added to previous literature on BS by embedding the technique in context (taking into consideration the full communicative environment, verbal and nonverbal behaviours of parent and infant; and related areas of development, such as attachment and socioemotional changes). This is important as there are many pressures on parents to optimise their infant’s development and specific methods may be marketed as better than others. Findings here suggest that the quality of the interaction rather than the mode may be the key ingredient, although there are still questions regarding the effects of BS on socioemotional development. Study 2 measured the effects of chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) on interactions between parent and child and how OME impacted on the parent’s quality of life. OME is often asymptomatic; therefore parents can be unaware of the condition’s effects. Previous studies have tended to focus on the full OM spectrum and its effects on language development. Some, however, have shown that behavioural problems can result from persistent episodes of chronic OME (Maw et al., 1999) although many of these studies investigated older children, targeted attention as a behavioural measure, or included aspects such as reading ability as a behavioural outcome. This thesis explored the impact of OME on communicative style through the comparison of three groups: Group 1 - children with chronic OME; Group 2 - children with chronic throat and nose conditions; and Group 3 a non-medical control. Data for Groups 1 and 2 were collected during single appointments and involved dyads sourced from two ENT outpatient departments. Children were between the ages of 17-47 months. Results showed significant differences between the OME group and the other two for nonverbal and socioemotional behaviours. During parent-child play interactions, OME children glanced (with rapid, short glances) towards the parent more often than children in the other groups. One interpretation of this is that children with chronic OME persist in active triadic attention strategies whilst other children locate the topic of reference from the speech signal alone. Secondly, parents of children with OME raised significantly more concerns regarding their child’s socio-emotional development – especially in interacting with others - than parents in the other 2 groups. They also reported more family tension and arguments than in the non-OME ENT group. This suggests that experiencing chronic OME and its associated periods of hearing loss has either a direct or indirect detrimental impact on a child’s socioemotional wellbeing. This may relate to similar socioemotional difficulties reported in children with different types of communication problems e.g. late talkers (van Balkom et al, 2010). These concerns however were not reflected in the Parental QoL Questionnaire - used with the two medical groups. Findings imply the Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socioemotional (AQS: SE) may be a more accurate measure for assessing parental concerns regarding socioemotional behaviour. Study 2 adds to previous research into the socioemotional development of children with OME by showing that nonverbal and pragmatic skills can be altered by the condition and thereby can affect the communicative context of parent-infant interaction. More research in this area is implicated