Active Analytics: Suggesting Navigational Links to Users Based on Temporal Analytics Data

Front-end developers are tasked with keeping websites up-to-date while optimizing user experiences and interactions. Tools and systems have been developed to give these individuals granular analytic insight into who, with what, and how users are interacting with their sites. These systems maintain a historical record of user interactions that can be leveraged for design decisions. Developing a framework to aggregate those historical usage records and using it to anticipate user interactions on a webpage could automate the task of optimizing web pages. In this research a system called Active Analytics was created that takes Google Analytics historical usage data and provides a dynamic front-end system for automatically updating web page navigational elements. The previous year’s data is extracted from Google Analytics and transformed into a summarization of top navigation steps. Once stored, a responsive front-end system selects from this data a timespan of three weeks from the previous year: current, previous and next. The most frequently reached pages, or their parent pages, will have their navigational UI elements highlighted on a top-level or landing page to attempt to reduce the effort to reach those pages. The Active Analytics framework was evaluated by eliciting volunteers by randomly assigning two versions of a site, one with the framework, one without. It was found that users of the framework-enabled site were able to navigate a site more easily than the original

U.S. Naval Strategy in the 1970\u27s

This work is part of a four-volume set of studies within the Naval War College Press’s Newport Paper monograph series. A broad introduction to the history of strategic and doctrinal thinking within the U.S. Navy in the period between 1970 and 2000 is found in these Newport Papers; it may be useful to read them in the order in which they appeared rather than in the chronological order of the periods that they cover. Thus, the basis of this series begins with The Evolution of the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Strategy, 1977–1986. That work is followed by the three separate volumes of documents, including this one, each devoted to one of three decades of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/1028/thumbnail.jp

Engineering Local Electricity Markets for Residential Communities

In line with the progressing decentralization of electricity generation, local electricity markets (LEMs) support electricity end customers in becoming active market participants instead of passive price takers. They provide a market platform for trading locally generated (renewable) electricity between residential agents (consumers, prosumers, and producers) within their community. Based on a structured literature review, a market engineering framework for LEMs is developed. The work focuses on two of the framework\u27s eight components, namely the agent behavior and the (micro) market structure. Residential agent behavior is evaluated in two steps. Firstly, two empirical studies, a structural equation model-based survey with 195 respondents and an adaptive choice-based conjoint study with 656 respondents, are developed, conducted and evaluated. Secondly, a discount price LEM is designed following the surveys\u27 results. Theoretical solutions of the LEM bi-level optimization problem with complete information and heuristic reinforcement learning with incomplete information are investigated in a multi-agent simulation to find the profit-maximizing market allocations. The (micro) market structure is investigated with regards to LEM business models, information systems and real-world application projects. Potential business models and their characteristics are combined in a taxonomy based on the results of 14 expert interviews. Then, the Smart Grid Architecture Model is utilized to derive the organizational, informational, and technical requirements for centralized and distributed information systems in LEMs. After providing an overview on current LEM implementations projects in Germany, the Landau Microgrid Project is used as an example to test the derived requirements. In conclusion, the work recommends current LEM projects to focus on overall discount electricity trading. Premium priced local electricity should be offered to subgroups of households with individual higher valuations for local generation. Automated self-learning algorithms are needed to mitigate the trading effort for residential LEM agents in order to ensure participation. The utilization of regulatory niches is suggested until specific regulations for LEMs are established. Further, the development of specific business models for LEMs should become a prospective (research) focus

U.S. Naval Strategy in the 1980\u27s

This volume is designed to complement and extend the previously published history of The Evolution of the U.S. Navy’s Maritime Strategy, 1977–1986, and to present publicly for the first time the detailed changes and developments that occurred during the decade in the five (now declassified) official versions of the strategy and three directly associated unclassified public statements by successive Chiefs of Naval Operations that were made in the years between 1982 and 1990.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/1032/thumbnail.jp

Understanding and Improving Security of the Android Operating System

Successful realization of practical computer security improvements requires an understanding and insight into the system\u27s security architecture, combined with a consideration of end-users\u27 needs as well as the system\u27s design tenets. In the case of Android, a system with an open, modular architecture that emphasizes usability and performance, acquiring this knowledge and insight can be particularly challenging for several reasons. In spite of Android\u27s open source philosophy, the system is extremely large and complex, documentation and reference materials are scarce, and the code base is rapidly evolving with new features and fixes. To make matters worse, the vast majority of Android devices in use do not run the open source code, but rather proprietary versions that have been heavily customized by vendors for product differentiation. Proposing security improvements or making customizations without sufficient insight into the system typically leads to less-practical, less-efficient, or even vulnerable results. Point solutions to specific problems risk leaving other similar problems in the distributed security architecture unsolved. Far-reaching general-purpose approaches may further complicate an already complex system, and force end-users to endure significant performance and usability degradations regardless of their specific security and privacy needs. In the case of vendor customization, uninformed changes can introduce access control inconsistencies and new vulnerabilities. Hence, the lack of methodologies and resources available for gaining insight about Android security is hindering the development of practical security solutions, sound vendor customizations, and end-user awareness of the proprietary devices they are using. Addressing this deficiency is the subject of this dissertation. New approaches for analyzing, evaluating and understanding Android access controls are introduced and used to create an interactive database for use by security researchers as well as system designers and end-user product evaluators. Case studies using the new techniques are described, with results uncovering problems in Android\u27s multiuser framework and vendor-customized System Services. Finally, the new insights are used to develop and implement a novel virtualization-based security architecture that protects sensitive resources while preserving Android\u27s open architecture and expected levels of performance and usability

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the “real world” of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its “corporate” legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as “corporative”. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is “embedded”, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to “save” capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

ABSTRACT This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the real world of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its corporate legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as corporative. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is embedded, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to save capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance

Anuário Científico – 2009 & 2010 Resumos de Artigos, Comunicações, Teses, Patentes, Livros e Monografias de Mestrado

O Conselho Técnico-Científico do Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), na senda da consolidação da divulgação do conhecimento e da ciência desenvolvidos pelo nosso corpo docente, propõe-se publicar mais uma edição do Anuário Científico, relativa à produção científica de 2009 e 2010. A investigação, enquanto vertente estratégica do Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), tem concorrido para o seu reconhecimento nacional e internacional como instituição de referência e de qualidade na área do ensino das engenharias. É também nesta vertente que o ISEL consubstancia a sua ligação à sociedade portuguesa e internacional através da transferência de tecnologia e de conhecimento, resultantes da sua atividade científica e pedagógica, contribuindo para o seu desenvolvimento e crescimento de forma sustentada. São parte integrante do Anuário Científico todos os conteúdos com afiliação ISEL resultantes de resumos de artigos publicados em livros, revistas e atas de congressos que os docentes do ISEL apresentaram em fóruns e congressos nacionais e internacionais, bem como teses e patentes. Desde 2002, ano da publicação da primeira edição, temos assistido a uma evolução crescente do número de publicações de conteúdos científicos, fruto do trabalho desenvolvido pelos docentes que se têm empenhado com afinco e perseverança. Contudo, nestes dois anos (2009 e 2010) constatou-se um decréscimo no número de publicações, principalmente em 2010. Uma das causas poderá estar diretamente relacionada com a redução do financiamento ao ensino superior uma vez que limita toda a investigação no âmbito da atividade de I&D e da produção científica. Na sequência da implementação do Processo de Bolonha em 2006, o ISEL promoveu a criação de cursos de Mestrado disponibilizando uma oferta educativa mais completa e diversificada aos seus alunos, mas também de outras instituições, dotando-os de competências inovadoras apropriadas ao mercado de trabalho que hoje se carateriza mais competitivo e dinâmico. Terminados os períodos escolar e de execução das monografias dos alunos, os resumos destas são igualmente parte integrante deste Anuário, no que concerne à conclusão dos Mestrados em 2009 e 2010.A fim de permitir uma maior acessibilidade à comunidade científica e à sociedade civil, o Anuário Científico será editado de ora avante em formato eletrónico. Excecionalmente esta edição contempla publicações referentes a dois anos – 2009 e 2010