Continuous User Authentication Using Multi-Modal Biometrics

It is commonly acknowledged that mobile devices now form an integral part of an individual’s everyday life. The modern mobile handheld devices are capable to provide a wide range of services and applications over multiple networks. With the increasing capability and accessibility, they introduce additional demands in term of security. This thesis explores the need for authentication on mobile devices and proposes a novel mechanism to improve the current techniques. The research begins with an intensive review of mobile technologies and the current security challenges that mobile devices experience to illustrate the imperative of authentication on mobile devices. The research then highlights the existing authentication mechanism and a wide range of weakness. To this end, biometric approaches are identified as an appropriate solution an opportunity for security to be maintained beyond point-of-entry. Indeed, by utilising behaviour biometric techniques, the authentication mechanism can be performed in a continuous and transparent fashion. This research investigated three behavioural biometric techniques based on SMS texting activities and messages, looking to apply these techniques as a multi-modal biometric authentication method for mobile devices. The results showed that linguistic profiling; keystroke dynamics and behaviour profiling can be used to discriminate users with overall Equal Error Rates (EER) 12.8%, 20.8% and 9.2% respectively. By using a combination of biometrics, the results showed clearly that the classification performance is better than using single biometric technique achieving EER 3.3%. Based on these findings, a novel architecture of multi-modal biometric authentication on mobile devices is proposed. The framework is able to provide a robust, continuous and transparent authentication in standalone and server-client modes regardless of mobile hardware configuration. The framework is able to continuously maintain the security status of the devices. With a high level of security status, users are permitted to access sensitive services and data. On the other hand, with the low level of security, users are required to re-authenticate before accessing sensitive service or data

From Data to Software to Science with the Rubin Observatory LSST

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) dataset will dramatically alter our understanding of the Universe, from the origins of the Solar System to the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Much of this research will depend on the existence of robust, tested, and scalable algorithms, software, and services. Identifying and developing such tools ahead of time has the potential to significantly accelerate the delivery of early science from LSST. Developing these collaboratively, and making them broadly available, can enable more inclusive and equitable collaboration on LSST science. To facilitate such opportunities, a community workshop entitled "From Data to Software to Science with the Rubin Observatory LSST" was organized by the LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC) and partners, and held at the Flatiron Institute in New York, March 28-30th 2022. The workshop included over 50 in-person attendees invited from over 300 applications. It identified seven key software areas of need: (i) scalable cross-matching and distributed joining of catalogs, (ii) robust photometric redshift determination, (iii) software for determination of selection functions, (iv) frameworks for scalable time-series analyses, (v) services for image access and reprocessing at scale, (vi) object image access (cutouts) and analysis at scale, and (vii) scalable job execution systems. This white paper summarizes the discussions of this workshop. It considers the motivating science use cases, identified cross-cutting algorithms, software, and services, their high-level technical specifications, and the principles of inclusive collaborations needed to develop them. We provide it as a useful roadmap of needs, as well as to spur action and collaboration between groups and individuals looking to develop reusable software for early LSST science.Comment: White paper from "From Data to Software to Science with the Rubin Observatory LSST" worksho

The Dialogue Between Forensic Scientists, Statisticians and Lawyers about Complex Scientific Issues for Court

Since DNA analysis became part of forensic science in the mid-1980s, its impact on investigation of crime and at court has been immense. In a few years the technique became the gold standard for evaluative evidence, overtaking some other evidence types, and replacing others completely. Part of this impact was due to formal statistical calculations, replacing subjective opinions, on the weight of evidence provided for the prosecution and defence views. The technology has improved quickly with ever more sensitive tests being introduced; the statistical interpretation of increasingly complex DNA results has not been as swift. The absence of a forum for inter-disciplinary discussion between developers and end users has led to methods being developed by statisticians, with little input from the working forensic scientists. It is forensic scientists who will be using the software, and typically have little opportunity to discuss with lawyers the data impact and presentation for non-scientific audiences such as Judges, magistrates and juries. There is a danger for courts in these interpretations — which are produced by a black box — where the reporting forensic scientist has little input and less understanding. It is time for a dialog between the scientists producing the DNA results, the statisticians developing the calculation methods and software and, the lawyers who present the findings to the court

From Data to Software to Science with the Rubin Observatory LSST

editorial reviewedThe Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) dataset will dramatically alter our understanding of the Universe, from the origins of the Solar System to the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Much of this research will depend on the existence of robust, tested, and scalable algorithms, software, and services. Identifying and developing such tools ahead of time has the potential to significantly accelerate the delivery of early science from LSST. Developing these collaboratively, and making them broadly available, can enable more inclusive and equitable collaboration on LSST science. To facilitate such opportunities, a community workshop entitled "From Data to Software to Science with the Rubin Observatory LSST" was organized by the LSST Interdisciplinary Network for Collaboration and Computing (LINCC) and partners, and held at the Flatiron Institute in New York, March 28-30th 2022. The workshop included over 50 in-person attendees invited from over 300 applications. It identified seven key software areas of need: (i) scalable cross-matching and distributed joining of catalogs, (ii) robust photometric redshift determination, (iii) software for determination of selection functions, (iv) frameworks for scalable time-series analyses, (v) services for image access and reprocessing at scale, (vi) object image access (cutouts) and analysis at scale, and (vii) scalable job execution systems. This white paper summarizes the discussions of this workshop. It considers the motivating science use cases, identified cross-cutting algorithms, software, and services, their high-level technical specifications, and the principles of inclusive collaborations needed to develop them. We provide it as a useful roadmap of needs, as well as to spur action and collaboration between groups and individuals looking to develop reusable software for early LSST science

Evidence on Causes and Impacts from Indonesia

Human induced land-use change has direct economic and ecological consequences, which are felt the most in the poorest world regions. Therefore, the key question in land-use change research is how to protect and enhance the ecological functions of tropical landscapes while simultaneously improving human welfare. Addressing the complex links between the economic and ecological sphere, this dissertation seeks to shed a light on the socio-economic drivers of land-use change in developing countries. Taking Indonesia as an example, this thesis will specifically focus on the determinants and impacts of land-use change that are relevant for income growth of farm households in developing economies. The cumulative dissertation has five chapters, one introductory chapter and four separate papers. The first analysis within the second chapter uses a meta-analysis to explore the underlying drivers of land-use change at the farm household level across the tropics. In reviewing 91 recent empirical and theoretical studies, this chapter identifies the key determinants of households’ decisions on land-use change within the current literature. The literature on micro-level drivers on land-use change points towards micro-level economic growth (e.g. in income and capital endowments) being a strong catalyst of human-induced land-use change. Further, the review suggests that there is substantial heterogeneity among farm households regarding these endowments, which is also significantly associated with households’ land-use changes. The second paper explores how cocoa cultivation contributes to poverty reduction and whether income gains from cash crops are more volatile. The results show that cocoa cultivation is associated with strong and sustainable poverty reduction. Yet, yield gaps among cocoa smallholders remain large and are increasingly heterogeneous. Productivity heterogeneity can be traced back to farm management practices. Linking these findings to poverty transitions, results show that better management practices facilitate the transition out of poverty and shield against income losses. Having gained insights into households’ potential of cash crop cultivation, the third paper within the fourth chapter presents a dynamic ecological-economic model of land-use change. The integrated model explores the potential of landscapes with different land-use patterns to balance ecological and socio-economic goals. Within the economic submodel, smallholders’ land use and management decisions are based on a profit maximization assumption bounded by the available wealth of that household. Households’ land decisions are directly linked to the ecological submodel, which includes a simple account of carbon sequestration in aboveground and belowground vegetation. First simulations show that the relationship between carbon accumulation/storage and economic benefit might not be completely straightforward. The fourth paper complements the previous papers’ focus on the micro-level determinants of land-use change by concentrating on the broader scale effects, particularly on the trade-offs between economic gains and the loss of ecosystem functions achieved through the agricultural specialization within transformed landscapes. The analysis takes Jambi province, Indonesia, a current hotspot of rubber and oil palm monoculture, as a case study to illustrate these issues. It empirically shows that the level of specialization differs across scales, with higher specialization occurring at the household and village levels. Findings further suggest that there are gains from specialization at the farm level but that this specialization does not necessarily lead to a consolidation of smallholder farms to ever-larger units. This result can be set in the context of a conciliating landscape design within multi-functional landscapes, where land use patches of highly specialized smallholders are intermingled with areas characterized with high levels of ecosystem services

Precise Orbit Determination of CubeSats

CubeSats are faced with some limitations, mainly due to the limited onboard power and the quality of the onboard sensors. These limitations significantly reduce CubeSats' applicability in space missions requiring high orbital accuracy. This thesis first investigates the limitations in the precise orbit determination of CubeSats and next develops algorithms and remedies to reach high orbital and clock accuracies. The outputs would help in increasing CubeSats' applicability in future space missions

A computational corpus study of harmony in the music of Anton Webern

This thesis sets out to apply digital analysis to the music of Anton Webern, with the aim of quantifying elements of his harmonic style, and tracing their change across his practice. It is a corpus study, taking Webern’s 31 works with Opus numbers as its subject, and uses music21 for the data collection. Analytical subjects include distributions of pitch classes, intervals, and pitch-class sets; techniques for assessing these include clustering, regression analysis, and the Discrete Fourier Transform. Along the way, the thesis interrogates commonly-held assumptions about Webern’s music for which there is often little empirical evidence, and provides a multi-level perspective on the corpus, from the wide angle of whole-movement macroharmonies to the close-up detail of individual pitch-class sets. Chronologically, the results suggest that the advent of dodecaphony in Webern’s music had a limited effect on the surface features of the music he presented; rather that the major shift in his practice happened in his mid-period Lieder. Contra Allen Forte, I downplay the importance of octatonicism in his harmonic language in favour of a quartal quality, but in the process I explore the differing features between the various harmonic levels of Webern’s music

Forging a Stable Relationship?: Bridging the Law and Forensic Science Divide in the Academy

The marriage of law and science has most often been represented as discordant. While the law/science divide meme is hardly novel, concerns over the potentially deleterious coupling within the criminal justice system may have reached fever pitch. There is a growing chorus of disapproval addressed to ‘forensic science’, accompanied by the denigration of legal professionals for being unable or unwilling to forge a symbiotic relationship with forensic scientists. The 2009 National Academy of Sciences Report on forensic science heralds the latest call for greater collaboration between ‘law’ and ‘science’, particularly in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) yet little reaction has been apparent amid law and science faculties. To investigate the potential for interdisciplinary cooperation, the authors received funding for a project: ‘Lowering the Drawbridges: Forensic and Legal Education in the 21st Century’, hoping to stimulate both law and forensic science educators to seek mutually beneficial solutions to common educational problems and build vital connections in the academy. A workshop held in the UK, attended by academics and practitioners from scientific, policing, and legal backgrounds marked the commencement of the project. This paper outlines some of the workshop conclusions to elucidate areas of dissent and consensus, and where further dialogue is required, but aims to strike a note of optimism that the ‘cultural divide’ should not be taken to be so wide as to be beyond the legal and forensic science academy to bridge. The authors seek to demonstrate that legal and forensic science educators can work cooperatively to respond to critics and forge new paths in learning and teaching, creating an opportunity to take stock and enrich our discipline as well as answer critics. As Latham (2010:34) exhorts, we are not interested in turning lawyers into scientists and vice versa, but building a foundation upon which they can build during their professional lives: “Instead of melding the two cultures, we need to establish conditions of cooperation, mutual respect, and mutual reliance between them.” Law and forensic science educators should, and can assist with the building of a mutual understanding between forensic scientists and legal professionals, a significant step on the road to answering calls for the professions to minimise some of the risks associated with the use of forensic science in the criminal process. REFERENCES Latham, S.R. 2010, ‘Law between the cultures: C.P.Snow’s The Two Cultures and the problem of scientific illiteracy in law’ 32 Technology in Society, 31-34. KEYWORDS forensic science education legal education law/science divid